42 years!?

Has it really been 42 years since High School graduation??!!  Surely not!!

Dusty Britches, (aka Byron Townley and fellow HHS 1971 graduate) was inducted into the Bandera Music Hall of Fame. (I Gotta Talk to You)

...always been a StoryPeople goddess!!....hoping all of you boot scootin' boogie goddesses can take a turn around the dance floor with the man of your dreams.....


McDougall Gallo Pinto (Spotted Rooster)

Servings: 4

1⁄4 cup vegetable broth or water
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans black beans, drained (liquid reserved) and rinsed
3 cups cooked brown rice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper

Place the water in a large non-stick frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently until onion softens and begins to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add a bit more water or broth and re- peat until onion begins to stick again. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Add a bit of the re- served liquid from the beans to make the rice look “dirty”, if desired. Cook until heated through. Serve hot with salsa on top.
Hint: To be more authentic, you can cook dry black beans in water to cover until tender (about 3-4 hours). You will need about 3 cups of cooked black beans. Save some of the cooking liquid to mix with the beans and rice.

Participatory Universe

Gregg Braden--"In a participatory universe, you and I are part of the equation. We are both creating the events of our lives, as well as the experiencers of what we create. Both are happening at the same time! In other words, we are like artists expressing our deepest passions, fears, dreams, and desires through the living essence of a mysterious quantum canvas. The difference between us and conventional artists, however, is that we are the canvas, as well as the images upon the canvas. We are the tools as well as the artists using the tools. And just as artists refine an image until it is just right in their minds, we may think of ourselves as perpetual artists, building a creation that is ever changing and never ending. Through our artist’s palette of beliefs, judgments, emotions, and prayers, we find ourselves in relationships, jobs, and situations of support and betrayal that play out with different people in different places. What a beautiful, bizarre, and powerful concept."

Homemade Sausages (PostPunkKitchen.com)

1/2 cup pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup cold vegetable broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced (or 1 t garlic granules)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Several dashes fresh black pepper
1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten

Before mixing your ingredients, get your steaming apparatus ready, bring water to a full boil. The rest of the recipe comes together very quickly.

Have ready 6 sheets of tin foil.

In a large bowl, mash the pinto beans until no whole ones are left.

Throw all the other ingredients together in the order listed, except for the vital wheat gluten and mix with a fork.  Mix in vital wheat gluten.

Divide dough into 16 even parts. Place one part of dough into tin foil and mold into about a 5 inch log. Wrap dough in tin foil, like a tootsie roll. Don’t worry too much about shaping it, it will snap into shape while it’s steaming because this recipe is awesome.

Place wrapped sausages in steamer and steam for 40 minutes.

Serves 8

Happy Mother's Day

"Take a deep cleansing breath and give yourself three minutes to relax with this short inspirational movie" from Simple Truths.....

Inner peace is sent to you all the sweet mothers in my life.....


Cornmeal Pancakes

2 c almond milk
2 T agave nectar
2 T cider vinegar
1 c cornmeal
1 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t salt

In a 2 cup glass measuring cup mix together almond milk, agave and vinegar.  Set aside.

In a medium size mixing bowl stir together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add milk mixture, stirring just to remove any lumps and make a pourable batter.  Add a bit more almond milk if batter seems too thick.

Cook on a hot griddle and serve with pure maple syrup or warmed preserves.

Serves 4

Selflessness

Cheryl Richardson--"Self-care is good for the planet.  From years of personal experience, as well as coaching great men and women, I’ve come to understand that selfishness leads to selflessness.  When we care deeply for ourselves, we naturally begin to care for others – our families, our friends, our greater global community, and the environment – in a healthier and more effective way. We tell the truth. We make choices from love instead of guilt and obligation.  And we soon realize that we’re all connected and that our individual actions affect a greater whole."  "Affirmation + Action = Miracles"

Healthy Nutty Pancakes

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup oats

½   cup chopped nuts

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups almond milk or water

Mix the dry ingredients and then stir in the wet ingredients.  If the batter is too thick, add water a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency, is reached.

Pour batter onto a nonstick pan and cook over med heat, turning once when the edges begin to bubble and brown.

Serves 8

Higher Self

Angel Therapy--Doreen Virtue: The voice of the ego is always fear based. It will make you feel like you’re getting away with something; like you’re sneaking. It will make you feel anxious or edgy. It will make you feel filled with guilt and fear. The voices of the higher self, which is one with your angels, will always make you feel loved, safe, nurtured, affirmed and honored. The higher self will push you to do things that may intimidate you because you don’t know whether you can do it, but it won’t make you feel afraid. It’s like a loving motivational coach.

Song of the Day:  Wish You Were Here....

Maja's Granola
7 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup cranberries, currents or chopped raisins
1 cup chopped dates

2 cups chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews & pumpkin seeds)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup agave nectar

Mix together and spread out onto parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hr stirring every 15 minutes.

Farmers

― Wendell Berry, Bringing it to the Table: Writings on Farming and Food

“As Gil says, 'every man is called to give love to the work of his hands. Every man is called to be an artist." The small family farm is one of the last places - they are getting rarer every day - where men and women (and girls and boys, too) can answer that call to be an artist, to learn to give love to the work of their hands. It is one of the last places where the maker - and some farmers still do talk about "making the crops" - is responsible, from start to finish, for the thing made. This certainly is a spiritual value, but it is not for that reason an impractical or uneconomic one. In fact, from the exercise of this responsibility, this giving of love to the work of the hands, the farmer, the farm, the consumer, and the nation all stand to gain in the most practical ways: They gain the means of life, the goodness of food, and the longevity and dependability of the sources of food, both natural and cultural. The proper answer to the spiritual calling becomes, in turn, the proper fulfillment of physical need.'”

Check out Ecology Action...and the instructional videos....how wonderful to have found a life's mission!!


Ratatouille 'Caviar' 
(International Vegetarian Union)

SERVES 6
• 1 vidalia onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 zucchini, diced
• 1 medium sized eggplant, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 4 roma tomatoes, pulp and seed removed, diced
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs
• salt and pepper
In order to taste proper, vegetables have to be sautéed separately. Eggplant taste like poop if its boiled. Take a small pan, and start sautéeing the onions and the garlic in some olive oil.
When they are slightly browned, add to a pot.
In the same pan, cook all the vegetables (except for the tomato) separately, until they are slightly colored (we call that The Maillard Reaction!).
Then add the tomatoes and the thyme to the pot, and simmer on low heat until mixture hold together and looks like a compote (approx 30 minutes).
Taste, then season to your taste, If it's going to be served cold, add a little bit more salt.

Old Love Songs

StoryPeople's Old Love Songs....

We listened as he played the guitar & sang old love songs & then there was a moment we looked at each other & discovered we were much younger than other people might suspect & it was good to know we had that much more time together.

Song of the day.....Falling Slowly....


Provencal Olive (Bean) Spread 
(from Cooking Light-June 2005)
Makes 3 cups—enough for 8
• 3 (15 1/2 ounce) cans great northern beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
• 6 teaspoons capers
• 6 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 24 kalamata olives, pitted
Place all ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth.
Place bean mixture in a bowl and refrigerate.