Snowdays, Happiness and Philosophy

Yesterday was a snow day. For a grown person, there is a system to snow days. You wake up a bit early to begin watching the news and lay in bed a wee bit longer waiting for your school district to run by on the ticker at the bottom of screen, hopeful that you'll be able to stay there. I love, love, love snow days. Growing up in Alaska we had two the entire 13 years I was in school. Both of these days I went to school only to find an empty parking lot because it didn't occur to me that there wouldn't be school (we had new superintendent of schools who was from Texas). Its an unplanned treat that I relish. Something in the winter to look forward to. A day off without a list of household chores, weekend jobs, or Krav classes.
So yesterday I spent extra time snuggled in bed, coffee in hand and puppy at my feet watching local news and The Today Show. I know, I know.... guilty pleasure, I guess. Really, I was doing some work for the university, drinking coffee with the TV was on for background. But I turned the volume up for this segment. The Happiness Project. Basically, a lady devoted a year to being happier. Taking pleasure in the little things. Her book is a best seller. Really? Really? Is this what we've come to? We need someone to remind us to take pleasure in the little things and that will make us happy?
Apparently so.
There is a part of me that is amazed by this. And then there is the other part of me. The discourse analyst (ya'll forget about that part of me, dontcha?). This part of me hears what people say. I hear the complaining they do. Christmas is too hard, grocery shopping is lame, I hate my job, the kids are driving me nuts, its too cold, its too hot, blah-zey skip.
I think about how my interactions with people go.
*****
"Oh. Junior high...that's a hard age."
Its an honor. I love it.
"Well. You're crazy." (read as: full of shit) Why would you do this with a doctorate?
I want to give back to a community that gave me a great deal.
Blank stare. I don't know why you got a doctorate if you're not going to use it.
Um. Well I do teach part time at the university and ya know, I like to think it helps the kids.
******
Looking at my green monster smoothie: "That is nasty. I don't know how you eat that. You're one of those weird healthy people. Working out all the time. That's all you do and its not like you're a size two."
Um. Don't really want to be a size two, I sort of like looking like a girl. The smoothie just tastes like any fruit smoothie. I like them it gives me 2 veggies and 3 fruits to start my day. I like to run and stuff. Its fun.
You have a weird idea of fun.
******
How do you drive so far to work every day?
Well ya know... I'm looking forward to being closer, but I've got a reliable car, and its kind of nice. I drink my coffee on the way in, talk to friends on the way home...its about the only time I'm sitting in the same spot every day. And plus, I have a beautiful country road drive every day. I get to watch the sun rise in the morning. I don't mind.
Well, I couldn't do that.
******
I think about my own life. The joy I get out of puppy snuggles or watching my rescue dogs who've come so far playing and being silly with each other. I enjoy immensely going to the grocery (I come from people who rarely have what they'd like to eat and sometimes haven't had enough...I love the grocery). I feel wonderful after a crossfit workout where I do a hundred push ups or a zillion squats (ok. maybe that's an exaggeration...but not much of one) before I go to work at 7 am. I am tickled to make a pizza with homemade rosemary crust that is as good as a pricey restaurant for only a couple of dollars (and it is healthy!). I think about how my students make me laugh everyday and how I think I broke a kid's heart when I told my class that I would be 35 in July (this makes me older than his parents...and he's got a bit of a crush...and older than his parents makes me old by 8th grade standards). Are you really?? I'm tickled to take my mom her lunch after 18 years of her making mine. The sunrise on the way to work really is beautiful and I drive past the homestead (the 33 plus acres that will someday be home) and smile at the way the sun comes up behind the woods.
I don't lust after fancy purses (ok. I like a sharp purse but I don't need a collection), I don't need fancy cars (something to hold two big dogs and camping gear and a bike rack will do me), and the house we're looking to build is for us and our simple life, not status. Granted, I've decided what life I want to have. I didn't go to the academy full time...it wasn't a good fit for me...it doesn't lend itself to simplicity. I chose an odd match of a partner, but a good and healthy relationship...and I stick to it. I choose friendships that are positive and supportive. But I didn't need a book to tell me not to take for granted that Big Dog just put his head on my knee and is wiggling his tail at me telling me things with this doggie telepathy.
What the hell has happened to the world that we need books to remind us of this?

An experiment in black beans...

I found this recipe for black bean soup over the holiday break.
I love black bean soup.
According to he Law of Soup (see Rules for Being Dr. Err section 8) it is imperative that I try to make a large batch of soup to freeze for easy dinners (read as: when I get home late and The Boy has to make dinner). Typically, I take about half of my homemade soups to my mom for her lunches at work. Its a joy to know that she is getting a good/whole meal in and she likes it. She and my dad both work a lot (wonder where I get it...) and my dad fixes all dinners when my mom works. But he's not as into the whole food philosophy as I am... or vegetables for that matter. That's a RIOT considering that not eating veggies was.not.an.option. when I was growing up.

/*disclaimer* I am totally thankful for his making me eat vegetables when I was a kid because it has shaped who I am now. However, that led to considerable drama when I was a young person and once it led to me carrying around a nasty slimy cooked carrot for a day or two when I was four. *ahem* I get my stubborn streak from my dad. /*disclaimer*

This recipe appealed to me for many reasons. One, because I think I like TGIF's black bean soup (yes, I still have to ask my mom what kind of gravy I like when I go out to eat. shoot me.). Two, I know my mom likes it and she's a third of my eating audience. Three, it has a potential for a high vegetable content. So I doubled the recipe and gave it a go.


Doubling the recipe leads to a lot of veggie cut-up prep work (one reason I used this recipe is because I figured I could sneak in a serving of veggies in each bowl). To cut up double amounts (and i always add a bit extra in the veggie department) and some extra celery for lentil tacos later this week, my total cut up time was 15 minutes or so. I'm not a real cook people....no real knife skills for this kid.


*notice I cut the green peppers larger....I really like green peppers and wanted to really be able to taste them.

You need 8 cans of black beans for a double batch of this soup. I had 4. Crap. Lucky for me, I had 6 cups of frozen beans that I had cooked in the garage. Sweet. Except for that when I got them in the pot, I wasn't sure if they were black beans or red ones...but I'm pretty sure they were black beans. :)

Once everything was in the pot I let it simmer for an hour and a half or so.


I got right around 10 large bowls out of this recipe. Serving and a half of veggies per bowl. *suh-weet!* I garnished with vegan cheese and tofutti sour cream. My mom and TB love, love, love it. In fact, TB said its the best soup that I've ever fixed. I dunno that I'd go that far...but with a side of cornbread it is a wonderful dinner. I will totally be fixing it again.

All in all, its a way cheap, healthy, and high protein meal. And the more I think about it... the more sure I am that the beans were black....

And the cooking begins

It has been wonderful to have some time off. I worked the first week of break and then spent much of the week after Christmas with one of these dogs in my lap.



Can you blame me? 74 pounds for the light colored one and 60 pounds for the little black one, I often end up with both of them trying to squeeze next to me. There is no better way to recharge one's batteries than by sucking up the good energy of these two boys.

I've been relieved of my duties at my mom's store until there is a busy day, she can't be there, or one of her (I'll save my commentary here) employees quits to do um...nothing. Good help is damn hard to find, people. I've got only one class to teach at the university and am looking forward to working on getting to that sense of balance in my life. I'm very much looking forward to trying some new recipes that I've been drooling over the last couple of months. I've got a fancy new food processor (like, I'm a little scared to use it) and a big butcher's block cutting board and am ready to get busy using them. We'll see just how fuzzy that fantasy/reality line gets between my kitchen and the food network.

Although...a side note for those of you who know me.... I hate stuff out on my counters. I even put the burner thingies away on my stove and get them out when I need them. However, with my little kitchen and little bit of storage I am doing a piss poor job of it.... My cutting block, red Kitchen Aid stand mixer (swoon), Kitchen Aide Architect processor, Kitchen Aid blender, (thus far, I have been really happy with these appliances) espresso machine and coffee pot all live on the counter. I've also added some lovely large glass jars for things like onions, potatoes, apples, and garlic because my crisper drawers (and meat drawer which is usually full of stuff that should be crispered) isn't big enough. They are pretty and look really sharp, but they are on the counter. Gah. I have to keep a beat down like hold on my inner Rain(WO)man.

I've been wanting to make my own veggie burgers. Making them yourself, you control things like salt, additives and any overly processed ingredients. Also, you're looking at a buck or so for maybe 8 burgers instead of maybe eight bucks for the same bought in a store. That extra money goes pretty far on organic root veggies and apples. I noticed on Vegan Dad (see my blog roll) a recipe for sausages and thought it would be the same. FAIL. Somewhere, I blew it. Maybe its because I don't have a real steamer.

This is my stock pot full of water going at a full tilt boogie boil.
I've decided that even if it had worked, the hour plus it would have taken to make four... was not worth it. I can live with buying my vegan sausages from Trader Joe's.

However, in my ongoing quest to 'eat the rainbow' and increase my veggie intake (in a real way...beyond, 'this is my side of veggies' which often leaves you feeling like you're grazing) I also made squash cakes. They're like potato cakes only um, with no potatoes. I cooked a spaghetti squash, mixed in a third cup of flour, 4tbsp Earth Balance, a half cup of Veggie cheese and a healthy dose of pepper.



I think I could have gotten away with less oil because of the fats on the inside (maybe just cooking spray or olive oil in my Misto). Likewise, I think I could have cut the Earth Balance a wee bit, although damn... it was good. Additionally, I think a plant based diet can get a bit lean on the fats if you're not careful. Finally, the smaller you make these, the better. a quarter of a cup is pretty good.

These were got yummier, the more I thought about it. I like them for dinner better than breakfast, I think. Next time I'd like to add a pinch of chili flakes. But a great and inexpensive way to get in some yellow veggies. I've got some good left overs, but am going to reheat them in the oven because the 'crisp' value is important.

Today I've got a black bean soup I'm itching to make and some pinto bean veggie burgers I want to cook ahead. Wish me luck that my new processor doesn't outsmart me.