Is it time for Baseball yet?

My little buddy Wyatt came to see me today. As you can see....he's as anxious for baseball to start as I am. GO YANKEES!!!!

Veggie Update

Still doing good. I did have a chicken salad sandwich last night though. I found a can of chicken in the cupboard and didn't want to throw it out.  So...1 hit on the veggie living in 3 months. Doing better than I thought.  These next few weeks I am concentrating on clearing out the freezer and cupboards of all of this stock that I have.  I am so bad about planning menus and making lists. I end up with 9 cans of something I barely ever use.  If something is on sale...I tend to pick up more than I need.  But...my ultimate goal is to go 80Raw this summer. That is...to have 80 percent of my diet be raw whole unprocessed foods.  I know that I love icecream and that for me....smoothies are a good replacement for that...so I do intend to stock a bunch of frozen fruits. Most of the raw sites say that since fruit is flash frozen after harvesting...that it is technically raw.  YAY.  Of course, I can't do raw milk or yogurt...so thats where the 20 percent comes in. It'll be a challenge thats for sure. But honestly...I  like raw veggies way better than cooked and I can't eat cooked fruit at all so I might not be as hard as I think.  Raw foods/whole foods are so much better for you. Cooking foods takes some of the nutrients out of the food, and the more that go into your body...the better it is for you. I also read that your body has to kick up the metabolism to digest whole, raw foods. Bonus right?

Anyway...today for dinner...I took a bag of frozen Spinach Stuffed Rigatoni that I bought months ago at Aldi, layered  it with a large can of crushed tomatoes, some Tastefully Simple Tomato, Basil and Garlic Pesto, and topped it with some shredded mozzarella. Baked it at 350 for 40 minutes. Easy veggie lasagna.  Turned out very good. No pictures I'm sorry to say...I just couldn't wait to try it I guess ;)

Vegetarian Orange Chicken

Orange Chicken from Panda Express is one of my favorite things.  But being meat free means no trips for me. When I seen that my grocer now stocks Panda Express sauces, I decided to give it the ol' homemade try. 

First take these...cut the nuggets in half to make nice bite size pieces. Use just enough Orange Sauce

to coat, and then bake as directed on packaging.

Then take some of these...whatever frozen stirfry veggies that you like and cook according to package.

I added in some of these to absorb the extra moisture from the frozen veggies.

When done....add the veggies to a bowl...

add in the nuggets....

 And you have a nice bowl of tasty Orange Chik'n. You can even add in a little extra sauce at this point but beware...it is very strong stuff. Does it taste JUST like Panda Express? NOOOOOO but it is pretty good and it's very low in fat and calories. And VERY easy to make.

For I Will Yet Praise Him.

Two steps forward, one step back. We still get there, just a little slower.  For the past few years, I've been dealing with health issues with one or the other of my cats. I'll post a future blog about the miracle of my TuffyBear, but today I want to focus on Little J.  Little J is 16 and a half years old. He will be 17 on the 4th of July. Little J is actually short for Little Mr. Fourth Of July.  For the past year and a half, Little J has been slowly showing his age.  Trip after trip to the vet has resulted in very little information and a lot of frustration on the parts of both myself and the vet.  Test after test has failed to reveal what was going on with him.  He showed many of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism, but his T-Levels were always low and never at a level that would suggest a presence of the disease let alone a necessity for a course of treatment. Yesterday, I took Little J in for another round of testing. I had been in an anxious state of worry for a week wondering what this visit would bring. Little J is the worst I have ever seen him. I think I have been praying for Little J more than I have ever in the past.  To many times to count, I would stop what I was doing and say a quick prayer. A prayer for peace, for understanding, for resolution.  Mostly I prayed that God would give me the strength to do whatever was necessary for Little J.  I worried. I would like to say that I placed it in God's hands and left it there, but I couldn't. I'm weak. Sometimes I would snatch it back and work on it some more and give it up to Him again.  But my God is a gracious and wonderous God and does not hold that against me.  Today, when the vet called to give me the news that FINALLY Little J was testing in definite levels and we could start following that and treating it....I felt something in me go absolutely weak. I was happy. I was elated. And yet...I could not keep myself from crying.  I felt like it was God showing me that He is still in control, still in charge, no matter how much I snatch back those worries.  Tonight, I have a sense of peace. Tonight, I find myself stopping in the middle of doing something, closing my eyes, and thanking Him. Repeatedly.  And I know, that no matter what comes, no matter the course, I know He will be in control.

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5).

Baby Portraits-Posed or Unplanned

When it comes to portraits...I am always at a loss to choose between posed "professional looking " portraits like the one below...

or capturing those quiet, unplanned moments.

Each has it's merits, no doubt. But, I can never choose which works best. Until I can, I think I'll just make it a practice to shoot both.