Homemade Peach Iced Green Tea

I loooooooove green tea. It's so comforting and its umami flavor is grounding when you're feeling a little anxious. I love it iced. I love it hot. I love it room temperature, really. I just love it.

(Speaking of anxious, tea has a potent amino acid, L-theanine, which is a natural anti-anxiety compound. That's why even when you drink caffeinated tea you feel relaxed and have no caffeine jitters.)

With my love for green tea, I was knocking back generous amounts of Arizona Decaf Green Tea from the grocery store, but that stuff is loaded with sucralose, which is not something I want to put into my body in large quantities. Instead, I started buying the expensive stuff from Whole Foods, but it had caffeine in it. I'm not a big fan of caffeine either.

What's a girl to do? Make her own.

Peach Iced Green Tea
2 cups hot water
4 small green tea bags (or decaf in my case)
2 cups cold water
1 peach, diced

Directions:
Boil the water, pour into container. Let it cool for 2 minutes.
Toss the tea bags into the hot water (not boiling). Let them steep for 2 minutes. (Green tea is delicate and does not need to steep long.)
Remove tea, toss in peaches.
Store in the fridge overnight, remove peaches next day or drink it all!

PS. For those who want to know, it really is important that the water is not boiling and that it only steeps 2-3 minutes. I've heard lots of people say that they don't like green tea, but they're usually treating it like black tea and as a result are both scorching and over-steeping it.

Personality

I've started to share my love of personality with the world at:

http://allaboutpersonality.blogspot.com/2012/10/who-are-you.html

Enjoy! ~L

Smothered Cabbage

If smothered cabbage were a woman, she wouldn't make it as the cover girl of any magazine. She's just the girl next door who you take home and marry. Whoa! A little too personal for cabbage? Probably, but it's just a darn good comfort food.

Why is smothered cabbage so dear to my heart? I remember my mom making smothered cabbage, deep in the heart of Cajun Louisiana. And it wasn't limited to cabbage - we'll smothered-any-vegetable! It's the Southern cook's go-to vegetable preparation...and you know I love me some Southern cookin'.

I made it for friends last night, and they didn't even know they were eating cabbage. So, if you know a picky vegetable eater, this recipe might even make them like cabbage.

Smothered Cabbage, Laura Style
1 onion
2 TBS olive oil (or fat of your choice)
1 head of cabbage (the green kind, not purple)
1TBS sweetner of your choice
Salt to taste
Spritz of lemon juice to taste
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup water

Slice onions into half-moon slices. Heat the oil in a large skillet and heat it over medium-high heat for about a minute. Place the onions in the skillet, and cook for about 7-10 minutes until carmalized. Add more oil if you need to keep it from burning, but don't be afraid of getting them brown...that's what you want!

Once the onions are carmalized, add the rest of the ingredients except for the water and stir until cabbage is slightly wilted. Put the water in the pan, turn the heat down to medium low, cover the pan, and smother it! You'll want to keep an eye on it to make sure you have enough water in the pan so the cabbage doesn't burn. Don't be afraid if it does turn a little brown, it's better that way.

Enjoy your Southern comfort food goodness!

Get Started with your Gluten Free Diet

Chocolate Sweet Potato Torte I made for Reid

People are curious about my diet. It's probably because I'm vegetarian and gluten and soy-free. (Reid would say that I don't have a food pyramid but a food-puzzle. Sometimes I would agree with him.) Recently a friend asked me for advise on how to go gluten-free. Here are the suggestions I gave her, and would give you if you're starting on a GF diet:

#1) Plan your meals around rice and corn. These are inexpensive and entire food cultures, like Asia and Latin America, are dedicated to these grains. That's a lot of people eating mostly rice and corn - you can do it too! You won't feel like you're going without when you're stuffing enchiladas down your pie hole.

#2) Add in some Gluten Free essentials. I personally cannot imagine living the rest of my life without bread, pasta, or an occasional cookie. I'm sure you can't either. Experiment with products from your local health-food store. I'm lucky to have Sprouts, Whole Foods, Central Market, and Sunshine Health Foods all within 10 miles of me. If you don't have one of these stores near, look online. I've listed some resources below. 

#3) Keep it to yourself. If you live with other people, this is essential. Gluten-free foods are expensive compared to conventional foods. Keep them to yourself! Label them, just buy enough for you, cook your own pasta in a separate pot. You get the idea. 

#4) Have fun exploring. Although at first it may seem like a big hassle, hopefully you'll soon be excited that you get to learn a new way of eating. And the most exciting part, it doesn't cause you pain. (Cause why else would you do this diet?!) In the resources, I list websites that are either dedicated to the GF diet or have a good GF filter. 

#5) Buy Xantham Gum. Just spring for it. It lasts forever, and is absolutely essential to GF baking. When  you can make a GF king cake or batch of cornbread. You'll be happy that you had it!

#6) Be picky. Welcome to the world of being a picky eater. To protect your health you absolutely must read food labels, eschew questionable food, and ask waiters tons of questions. You also may have to send food back to the kitchen. It's a pain, but it's less of a pain than a hurting stomach.

#7) Tell everyone. Tell all of your friends because they'll want to cook something special for you. You can help them too. Offer to bring a side or small main dish so that you'll have something to eat. Tell the waiter, tell the hotel where you're having a a business lunch, tell the wedding coordinator, tell the party hostess. They'll feel badly if you show up and can't eat anything. With a little preparation, your needs can be met and the party can go on without a hitch.

Resources:
Bettty Crocker
Bob's Red Mill
Gluten Free Goddess
Vegetarian Times
Xantham Gum

Three Years!

Reid and I - our Third Year picture.

Reid and I have been married for three years now, as of June 7, 2011. It's been a great year! I'm more in love with him than I was a year ago, and here's the fun we had together (in reverse chronological order from 6/7/11-6/7/10):

• Reid was accepted into grad school!!!
• had fun with Maegan and Joy in Colorado!
• started fixing up our house and finished a few projects!
• got up at 4AM to watch the Royal Wedding (yes, this was a highlight for Laura)
• Laura conducted the Christmas & Easter choirs at Hope
• saw Rebecca & Daniel marry
• put up a real Christmas tree - watched it fall - put it up again
• saw Harry Potter 7.1
• gained two fabulous roommates. Thanks Ben & Kristin for being so awesome!
• Laura collaborated on the short-film score to Moira
• welcomed two new little friends into the world: Linc & Claire!
• watched way too much World Cup. I want a vuvuzela...

Love you, sweetie! We're on our way to a Happy Four. :-D

Just for kicks - here's our Second Year picture.

Over Easy

I'm officially a vegetarian now. Let's call a spade a spade: I was pretty much vegetarian with dabbles of pescatarian since I went vegan. Now that I've embraced my true food identity, I have really enjoyed adding eggs back into my diet. They're pretty much the perfect food. They cook quickly, fill you up, and you can decide how many fat and calories you want to eat by omitting the yolk. I love it!

Recently, I learned the method to cooking a perfect over-easy egg, thanks to my husband's insatiable information consumption. And I've got to give it to him - it's a good egg! How many times have you tried to make an egg over-easy, only to break your precious soft yoke when you flip it? And then the yolk ends up cooking half-way before you can scrape it off the pan? It's happened to me so much that I had pretty much given up cooking eggs over-easy. But NO more! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 tablespoon of water

a misting of oil

non-stick skillet and lid

Directions:

1) turn on the burner to medium high

2) mist your non-stick pan with oil. (If using a regular non-non-stick skillet, add more oil.)

3) add your egg

4) Once the translucent part of the egg has turned white, add 1 tbsp of water, and cover the pan

5) The yolk will cook with the steam.

6) Cook till desired done-ness.

Et voila! The perfect egg over-easy, and no broken yolk ever again! Happy egging, everyone!

Perfect Love Casts out Fear

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." I John 4:18

Image from http://traceycaponephotography.com/

I'm anxious about a lot of things. It ranges from the mundane to the existential, depending on my mood. It's the human condition, and at times in my life this anxiety has been more or less present. Lately, it has been less present thanks to the help of pulsatilla and indoplex. These two keep your girl hormones and mood in check, and I'm so thankful for them!

I was talking to Randy Vorce - of all people - about my anxiety, and he suggested contemplative prayer. I had heard it mentioned, but I didn't know much about it. Tell me more.... In his understanding contemplative prayer is simply releasing your concerns to God and receiving his love. Sounds simple enough.

For the past few weeks, this has been my pattern in prayer. I release prayers of thanksgiving, supplication, confession, and after each I peacefully meditate on receiving God's love. It's slow and heart-warming.

It's been a wonderfully anxiety-reducing way to pray. Things in my life that are constant worries seem softened, and my heart feels encouraged that God is with me. He genuinely accepts me in the middle of the messiness of life. And best of all, I look forward to it. I find myself spontaneously praying this way during the day without much effort. Which is really helpful because I don't feel an internal pressure to "keep up my spiritual discipline."

If you find yourself going through a time of anxiety, I would recommend trying this mode of prayer. It is a good rest and reminder of how we are genuinely taken care of by our God.

Buying Online

I've thought for a while that I'd like to buy some things in bulk online. Before I decided to take the plunge, I wanted to make sure that I'm actually going to save money. So, I did some comparison shopping.

Here we go:
Jason's Natural Shampoo. Store = $8.50. Online = $5.50
Seventh Generation Laundry Detergent. Store= $20. Online = $16
Seventh Generation Dish Liquid. Store $2.50 to $3. Online = $2
Toothbrushes. Store = $2.50. Online = $2.00 (Plus I found these awesome replaceable head brushes, so that I don't have to replace the whole brush every time the bristles give out.)


I bought this and several other items. For a 6 month supply of laundry, dish and bath products...
I saved $45. Go me.

Here are some neat things that I found:
1) Amazon.com will do a subscription service where they automatically re-ship your products to you at specific intervals. I put my laundry soap on this service because I know how long it takes to run out. I'm going to try to figure out other items and put them on there too. If you use this service, shipping is free.
2) LuckyVitamin.com has really good prices on natural care products. I compared them to HEB, Whole Foods, and Amazon (and other stuff I could find online). They totally won.
3) Lucky Vitamin, and I'm sure other bulk stores, will give you discounts the more you buy from them. Cool.
4) If you buy enough, shipping will be free.

Oh, and one added bonus: shopping online is totally more eco-friendly than going to the store. This makes a happy Laura.

Grad School...here he comes! Yesterday, Reid was named a Fellow at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. This means among other things, that he's fully funded for his LBJ portion of grad school! He's also doing a duel degree at in Urban Planning at the School of Architecture.

I'm so, so, so, so, so happy for him. We've been praying about this opportunity for over a year, and it has happened. I know that he'll go onto do awesome things.

How do I know? Because he's married to me, of course!

Weekday Vegetarians

Vegan Indian Food made by R&L

Q: Can't handle the thought of giving up meat entirely but still want to help your health and the planet? (Eating a vegetarian diet is proven over and over to help you, the animals, and the planet = win, win, WIN!)
Q: Went veg in the past but thought it was impractical to your lifestyle?

A: Think about becoming a "flexitarian" and giving up meat on certain days of the week! Or you can even go with cutting out meat on certain portions of the week. Check out the Time Magazine Article: Weekday Vegetarians.

Daily Ritual

I've realized that I'm not as relaxed at home as I'd like to be. Why? I could probably start with the general disarray of being in my new home. Or the lack of furniture. Or the unfinished master bedroom. Or possibly the non-specified lack of time between getting home from work, cooking, musicing, exercising, showering, and hanging out with my hubby to do much housework that would make life neat!

So, instead of trying to do more to get it all done, I decided to add a small ritual in my life: The After Work Relaxer. Reid's been bugging me about this for ages. He says, "Laura, don't you want to relax when you get home from work?" But I figure that I'll be more relaxed after I get some stuff DONE. Not true. I'm usually flying into bed, thinking "What did I do tonight? I don't feel relaxed at all."

The After Work Relaxer is very simple and fun. I just come home and make something special happen. Here are some that I've been trying out...

Relaxing Ideas:

open the windows, lie down and do nothing

have some sparkling water with lime and berries (my personal favorite!)

sit on the sofa with your hubby and have a heart to heart

tell jokes, or read a funny book

mix up some guac

Things that don't work:

getting on the computer

organizing my paperwork

start folding clothes immediately

I think that there's a general lack of ritual in our modern lives. Ritual helps make things special, helps to differentiate one part of the day from the other. Probably most importantly it helps cue our emotions, thoughts, and bodies what to do when by creating a rhythm in our life.

So, I think I'm going to try to do more of this ritual thing.

Laundry Line

We just hung a make-shift laundry line in our back yard. I love it! I love going outside to dry my clothes. (I don't love getting bit by mosquitos). I feel like I'm participating in work that people have done for generations, and that people still do all over the world. I feel more connected. I actually think it's good for my emotional health. I just LOVE it! AND - I'm saving, like, $600 by not buying a clothes dryer. Good for my pocket book. Good for the environment. Can't get better than that!

I think we're going to go to ikea some time this week to look for a better system. Because right now, the only thing I can really hang in the middle of the line are 12in washclothes.

Don't want scratchy clothes? Here are some outside clothes-drying tips:
1. Don't hang them in the sun.
2. Don't let them get rained on. Rain = crispy, crunchy clothes.
3. Pull them off the line when they're about 95% dry.
4. Put 1/2 cup of baking soda in your laundry to help keep clothes soft. (I haven't tried this one yet. Not sure how to do it in my HE washer)

Any suggestions of yours?

Anniversary

Reid and I had an amazing Anniversary Vacation week! Highlights: Shakespeare in the Park, Memorial Day Pig Roasting (my vegan heart wouldn't let me eat any), Dining for 2 at Z-Tejas, Lots of IKEA (for future home improvement posts), and SHLITTERBAHN!! Here's a fun picture from Z-Tejas overlooking the hill country.

If that weren't enough, on the actual day itself, 6/7, we woke up groggy-eyed on our first morning back to work. Reid had placed a HUGE vase of flowers in the bathroom. It was so big, it scared me, literally. I was tickeled pink! So precious. I have them up in my cubical now. It's not a glorious setting, but it brightens up my florescent

world.

We had lunch together that day and I thought the festivities were over - but no! There's more. He gave me a sweet little journal because he knows I like to write, and a carry-in-your-pocket music journal. It's a tiny journal lined with music staves. Now, ain't that sweet? He supports me a loves me so much. I just kept giving him the sweet eyes all lunch long!

At precisely 9:45PM that night, we arrived home for the first time since 7:00AM (long day.) He had even MORE gifts for me! He bought some soap that I've been longing for. It's all natural and the scents are lavendar and mint & lavendar and rosemary. I love them both, but I'm extra in love the lavendar and rosemary. I feel like I"m cooking in a French Kitchen. Ooh la la. C'est vrai!

You may be thinking, "What did you get for him?" I didn't. I didn't even know that we were exchanging gifts. But I've got something up my sleeve....

It's true R+L=Love.

Newness

The Porters have officially joined the blogosphere. Coming attractions: before and after pictures of our house projects, stories about our adventures in Austin, the musical stylings of the Artist Formerly Known as Laura Daigle, maybe even a puppy!

(…hopefully.)

-R