jenk30

I’ve had this on my list of things I want to do for quite some time. I had done this in the past as well and it really helped me re-frame my perspective. It was a mental shift that I notice in myself even to this day. I definitely felt it was a beneficial practice and wanted to make the time to do it again. So I recently became a member of Grace In Small Things and have been going there to list 5 things I’m grateful for each day. I’ve been doing that for approximately 30 days now. I’d like to keep at this for a year before I mark it as done though.

http://graceinsmallthings.ning.com/

The man and I are making an attempt to eat less meat, so to that end we are trying to include 1-2 meatless dinners per week.

I found this recipe for curried quinoa at this site:

http://www.quinoa-recipes.com/

We both think it is pretty tasty, and really isn’t that much work.

Ingredients:
1/2 c Quinoa
1 c Water
1 1/2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1/2 c Diced Onion
1 tsp grated Fresh Ginger Root
Fresh Green Chile (finely chopped)
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Coriander
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 c frozen Peas

Directions:
1.Place oil and diced onions in a heavy saucepan. Saute the onions on medium high heat for four to five minutes.
2.Add the ginger root, chile, and quinoa. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.
3.Stir in the turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, and salt. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.
4.Add the water and bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
5.Stir in peas. Cover and cook for four or five minutes or until peas are tender and all the water has been absorbed.

We’ve had it twice now. I usually don’t have fresh chiles around, so both times we have not included those. Also the recipe on the site calls for salt, and we always omit extra salt when we are cooking.

Well, we’ve managed to make a good start on this goal as well. Starting in February we decided to go for a walk at least 5 times a week. So most mornings we are up at 5:00 am to get our walk in for the day.

We’ve done really well so far. My only concern is that with summer coming up, the heat might make us lose our motivation. We live in Phoenix, AZ so during the summer at times it seems like it never cools off out here. I’m hoping getting up as early as we do will let us continue with our daily routine. So far it has. If not we’ll just have to find an alternate way to get some exercise in.