A bean, a grain and a vegetable..the vegetarian's guide to a simple meal

When we first decided to eat more vegetarian, I spent hours and hours searching for different meals that sounded easy, familiar and appealing. It made me want to bang my head on my desk, literally. It took us way too long to figure out that all you need is a bean, a ''green'' and a grain to have a meal in 20 minutes. You can create a variety of tastes with these 3 things and some different spices. They don't always look all that appealing but they usually taste pretty good! Earlier in the week I went "Mexican'' with some left over zucchini and yellow squash, black beans, brown rice and a southwestern seasoning I have from Pampered Chef. One night we had potatoes with black beans, rotel tomatoes, sour cream, southwestern seasoning and a little sharp cheddar cheese with grilled veggie shish kabobs on the side. That meal inspired my conversation with Elijah about how beans weren't making him grow fast enough. :-)

Today's lunch was quinoa, a bag of asian medley veggies, pinto beans and Szechuan spicy sauce. Yum!
It's not rocket science. It's actually quite easy to eat healthy as a vegetarian.

Levi Joshua's birth story

In the years since Elijah's birth, Ryan and I have learned even more about healthy, drug free living. When I got pregnant a second time, we knew we wanted a drug free home birth. Unfortunately, after chasing our tales for months (and switching from Vanderbilt, to the Farm and back to Vandy) we found out that because of the way they sutured me after my cesarean, a home birth was not an option. I was disappointed and scared that going to a hospital meant a harder labor and possibly another cesarean. God reminded me at that time that He is faithful, and that He alone was in control of Levi's birth.

In the last weeks of my pregnancy, I found out that Levi (like Elijah had been) was posterior. I feared that this pregnancy and birth would go like the last because of all the similarities. During this time, God led me to a passage in Isaiah 40: 28-31 ²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. ³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, ³¹ But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Telling me that in ALL things, I needed to rest in Him. In His strength I would be able to manage the last weeks of pregnancy and birth with grace. He proved it to me when I wanted to go to the chiropractor but we didn't have the money. I prayed about it and felt like I should check Ryan's email. He had been trying to sell some things on Craigslist for months and hadn't had any luck. When I checked his email, he had a buyer for a rather large piece of music gear!!
At 40-41 weeks, I began trying everything under the sun to get him to turn and to send myself into labor.
On June 29th (5 days ''over due") I tried acupuncture. I remember thinking, Ok, God. This is my last attempt. I'm going to try this and the rest is up to you. At least I'll know that I tried everything before consenting to an induction. Needless to say, nothing (not even acupuncture) sent me into immediate labor.
Friday, July 1st, I went to my 41 week appointment. I basically verbally vomited on my midwife Erin and her student, telling her I wasn't going into labor on my own because of how my last pregnancy went. Oh how quickly we forget God's promises!! She gently scolded me and told me everything would be ok. I left there feeling better because of her and because once again, I was remembering Isaiah 40.
On July 2nd, I woke up at 2:30 a.m. with a pretty good contraction. I thought, Ok if this is it, I need to sleep while I can. If it isn't, I need to sleep so I can take care of Elijah. At 4:00 a.m. I woke up with another contraction that was even more serious and knew I wouldn't be going back to sleep. I labored on my own for an hour, timing my contractions. I wanted to make sure that it was the real deal before I woke up Ryan. After an hour of contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart and about 1 minute long I woke up Ryan and told him to start getting things ready. I texted Gaylea, our doula and monitrice, to put her on alert. Then I ate a little oatmeal and got into the tub to relax. I didn't care for labor in the tub but I was crazy enough to be worried about showering before having my baby. (At one point I was dumb enough to think I would care about putting on make up between contractions. Yeah, right!) At 7:00 I had Ryan call Gaylea and tell her I needed her. I said goodbye to Elijah and went and layed down. At this point, I was making my birthy noises and trying to rest between contractions. When Gaylea got there at 8:30, I was so relaxed in between that I was sleeping. She put a TENS unit on my back. I couldn't decide if I liked it or if I found it annoying, but I figured it was at least a distraction. I continued to labor on my side and then in tailor pose, sleeping in between. I had Gaylea check me at 11:00. I was 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced!!! WHOO!! I tried standing and that made me want to push during contractions so I sat on the birthing ball and leaned over onto pillows on the bed. At that point, contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. At around 11:30 I decided I wanted to head to the hospital. I thought if contractions were this intense already, transition in the car would suck! I was still wanting to push during contractions so Gaylea told me to do ''horse lips''. The contractions seemed to back off in the car and I got some rest.
We got to triage at 12:30 and Marie, the midwife working that day, checked me. I was already 10 cm dilated and 100% effaced with a bulging bag of water!! Wow!! Unfortunately, they didn't have a room for me, so they wouldn't break my water and didn't want me to push. At around 2:00 I got into a delivery room but Marie was finishing another delivery so I still had to wait for her to break my water. Several nurses were telling me how well I was doing and how I was doing it the way it was supposed to be done. All I knew was they were breaking my concentration and precious sleep with their questions. I also knew that it was allllll God. He was my strength! I kept doing my horse lips and sometimes some vocalization and in between was praising God and sleeping (and praising God for sleep lol). It felt good to vocalize and do the horse lips. Being able to channel all the energy and power of the contractions out through my mouth really helped me keep relaxed everywhere else and helped me not push. For some reason, sitting on my hands helped too. At 3:00 Marie came in and broke my water and I started pushing. Everyone was so encouraging, telling me I was doing great! I was so excited at this point because I felt like I got to DO something instead of just letting my body go. I got onto my side and started pushing that way. Soon, baby began to crown and they told me to stop pushing. Cruelest words you can ever say to a laboring woman! Push, don't push, Push, don't push, Push... until his head was born. Then, a couple more pushes to get his gigantic shoulders out and he was born!! At 3:14 pm, after only 14 minutes of pushing!! I did it!! God gave me the strength to VBAC a fat little 9 lb baby-in 14 minutes of pushing no less!! He is SO faithful!!

Welcome to the world Levi Joshua, "Attached'' "Yahweh is Salvation" Attached to the God of my salvation!

Comfort Food Weekend (Spaghetti and ''meatballs''

After making moussaka on Friday, I got to be with my friend while she gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Armed with 3 hours of sleep I decided to make spaghetti and ''meatballs'' (beanballs) for dinner on Saturday night and I have to say, they turned out really well! I found a basic recipe on the net and added and subtracted to it. Here's what I came up with. :)

2 15-0z cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 carrot, minced (I put mine in the blender along with several other ingredients)
handful of fresh parsley, minced
2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1-2 Tbsp your favorite Italian seasoning
1/2 small onion, minced
crushed red pepper (optional)
fresh basil ribbons
fresh parmesan cheese

Mash beans and all ingredients together until they're about the consistency of ground beef. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake 375 degrees for 20 minutes, turning half way through. Nestle into your favorite marinara sauce for a couple minutes to absorb the flavors. I'm still working on my homemade marinara, so that night it was compliments of Prego. :-) Cut up some fresh basil and grate some fresh parmesan cheese for the top.
Next time I think I will try to pan fry them in just a tiny bit of oil to make them a little more crunchy (they were a little too mushy but the flavor was great). Serve with a veggie and some whole grain Italian or French garlic bread. Enjoy!

What the heck is it?

Is it lasagna?? Nope, it's Eggplant-Potato Moussaka with Pine Nut Cream. Don't worry, I don't know what moussaka is either. They tell me it's Greek. All I know is even Elijah ate it..3 helpings worth. Yay for hiding veggies!! Layers of eggplant, zucchini and potatoes make up the ''meat'' of this recipe. Add home-made marinara sauce with a hint of cinnamon and pine nut-tofu cream sauce on top and it makes an interesting and tasty dish. :-) It's a long and involved recipe, one I'm not going to write down out of pure laziness. You can find it here. Serve with a side salad and some crusty Italian bread and olive oil and you have a comfort meal that will put you in a coma for the rest of the night. Enjoy...

The way Southerners should make their greens ;)

BBQ Collard Greens with Wild Rice. So this was my big hit last night. Elijah even ate some of the collards (we were careful not to look at him, just in case we jinxed it). I know what you're thinking too. Either- what the heck are collard greens or, the only way they should be eaten is boiled with ham hocks and enough salt to preserve your insides. Trust me. Try this. :)

Stuffed BBQ Collard Greens

12 large collard leaves
1 Tbs. canola oil
8 oz. baby portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 c. chopped collard greens
15 oz. black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
3 c. BBQ sauce (I used a lot less but this is what the recipe called for)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Submerge large collard leaves, cover and steam 6 minutes or until tender. Take them out of the water and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, saute mushrooms in oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add chopped collards. Cook 7-10 minutes or until the moisture is cooked off. Add black-eyed peas and cook through. Pour on 2 c. of BBQ sauce and cook 5 minutes. Lay out your large collard leaves and roll 2 Tbs. of the black-eyed peas mixture into the leaf. Tuck corners under. Pour remaining BBQ sauce over. Serve with steamed wild rice or your choice of carbs. Enjoy!!

From the cookbook Veganomicon

Am I really going to do this?

I never thought I would start my own blog, much less write one from a stand point of trying to be healthy-and on the verge of a hippie. But, here I am! So my first blog is just going to be about what I want the rest of my blogs to be about. A little background info, if you will.
Ryan and I started on a journey to wellness about 2 and a half years ago. It started with me getting pregnant with our son, Elijah. After meeting with a Christian childbirth instructor and doula, we started to realize that we needed to take control of our medical health. From there, it went to trying to take control of our over-all health. No more fried foods, no more empty carbs. We (when I say ''we'', I mostly mean Ryan) started working out. And now, GASP, we have become vegetarians! I know, I shouldn't swear in my blog and vegetarian is a dirty word in my circle. But that's what we are becoming. Crunchy, granola, green, vegetarians.
I don't want my entire blog to be about my ''weird'' diet though. That would bore way too many people. You will also see my adorable little boy from time to time, my walk with God, and whatever else is on my mind in the moment.
Hope you enjoy!