Consequences

"Think of the consequences if you do nothing."  Fuelism

Summer flowers from Dad's yard...have never seen a red sunflower before....

McDougall’s Creamy Garlic Soup

2 whole heads of garlic

2 medium onions, chopped

4 white potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (2 lbs)

5 cups vegetable broth or water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the loose papery skin from the garlic. Slice a thin strip off the top of the head and discard. Place the garlic in a dry baking dish and bake for one hour. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Place the onion is a large pot with a small amount of liquid. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until the onion softens slightly, about 3 minutes. Add the potatoes, broth or water and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.

Press the cooled garlic cloves out of the skins and discard all the skins. Add the garlic to the soup pot. Continue to cook for 25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Puree the soup in batches in a blender. Return to the pan and heat through. Season with pepper, if desired.

Number of Servings: 5

Before Dawn

"I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be, so it's easier to remember who I am." Storypeople

Assignment from the youngest...think about the dream job if money, family, time, etc were no object!!  That's a tall order!!...where do you even begin??

...in the garden is a good place to start!!

McDougall Baja Soup

4 cups water

1 cup salsa

1 medium onion, coarsley chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 green pepper, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

1 celery stalk, sliced

2 red potatoes, cut into chunks

1 cup corn kernels

1 cup shredded cabbage

1 tomato, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup cup fresh cilantro (optional)

Place the first eight ingredients in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the corn and cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes. Add the tomato and heat through. Garnish with cilantro, if desired, before serving.

Number of Servings: 6

In an instant

Cheryl Richardson--A Simple Act--"life as you know it can change in an instant."

“There is a power inside every human against which no earthly force is of the slightest consequence.” ~ Neville Goddard

Song of the Day: Hotel California....acoustic version....



Bernadette's Chocolate Mousse

6 pitted medjool dates, soaked in warm water (reserve date water)
¼ cup pure maple syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ avocados, mashed
¼ cup plus 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa or carob powder
¼ cup date water
Yield 1 cup or 2 servings.

Double-batch:
12 pitted medjool dates, soaked in warm water (reserve date water)
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 avocados, mashed
¾ cup cocoa powder
½ c date water
Yield 2 cups or 4 servings.

Triple batch recipe
14 pitted medjool dates, soaked in warm water (reserve date water)
½ c pure maple syrup
¼ c agave
2 t vanilla
5 avocados, mashed
1-¼ c cocoa powder
¾ c date water
Yield 3 cups or 6 servings

Place the dates, maple syrup and vanilla in a blender and process until smooth.

Add the avocado and cocoa powder and process until creamy.

Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add the date water and process briefly.  Store in a sealed container.

Serving suggestion:  layer in parfait glass with diced strawberries

Chocolate mousse will keep for three days in a refrigerator or two weeks in the freezer.

Comfortably Numb

Cheryl Richardson--"When we are tolerating a mediocre life, it's as though we step into this comfortably numb place. It's where we operate on autopilot. On autopilot we end up not seeing the signs that say, 'Hold on, here, something's not right.'"


Chai Rice Pudding

1 1/2 cups water
4 cups unsweetened almond milk, divided
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons dates, chopped
1/4 cup raisins

In a medium pot, bring water and 2 cups almond milk to a boil.  Add rice, agave nectar, and salt.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 mins.

Add remaining almond milk, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and ginger.  SImmer, uncovered, for 20 mins or until rice is very soft.

Remove from heat, add dates and raisins, cover, and let sit for 10-15 mins.  Dust with additional cinnamon and cardamom and serve warm or at room temperature.

Life Purpose

Self-Growth--Gay Hendricks: "...ask yourself a big question that reveals your life purpose. One way you can do that is by saying, 'If my life was a success at the end, what would be one thing that made it a success?' I say that each human being has the power and potential to make five big dreams or wishes come true in their life. Ask yourself to look back through your whole life and find what was it that you most loved to do? What was the thing that when I’m doing it, time disappears. For me I get that feeling when I’m doing my writing in the morning. It’s the same kind of thing I used to feel as a kid when I’d be absorbed in playing with something. It’s that same sort of consciousness that when you look back through your life you find moments where your heart, body and mind are really engaged and you’re of out of touch with time."

"There is plenty for everyone, and we bless and prosper each other."  Louise L. Hay

Song of the Day:  Stairway to Heaven.....


Agave Chocolate Pudding (food.com)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups soymilk (plain or vanilla)
1/2 cup agave nectar or 1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine cocoa powder, corn starch, salt in a 1 quart saucepan. Add just enough soy milk to make a smooth paste. Gradually stir in rest of the soy milk and agave nectar or honey.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into serving dishes and chill. Serves 4.

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