Just had to get something off my chest

I've recently become aware that a few people have "un-friended" me on facebook because I've offended them.  Well, I stand by what I've said before, sometimes you have to offend the mind to expose the heart.  I think if I have offended someone (unintentionally) then, it's probably more about them than it is about me.  Instead of being offended why not open up a dialog (again something I've said before).  Offense can be an invitation to a conversation.  How in the world are we supposed to work things out and find common ground if there's no dialog?

I spent the first 34 years of my life trying to be everything to everyone all the time and it got me no where fast.  These days, I know who I am and Whose I am.  And if that offends someone, well then so be it. 

There's a line in the song 'I just showed up" by Sara Groves that goes:

I'm going to look you in the eyes

I'm going to listen and hear until it's finally clear and it changes our lives

Those are the kind of relationships I want. 
I hope you find something that fills you with beauty today.
 
Ciao.

Recipe of the week: Roasted Red Potatoes

 This is one of my family's favorite way to eat potatoes.  It's super easy, you can use red or yellow bell peppers if you want but I usually use green.  Let me know what you think.  A Votre Sante!

Roasted Red Potatoes

1 lb red potatoes cleaned and quartered (about 10-12)
1 green bell pepper diced
1 onion diced
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375degrees. Toss potatoes, bell pepper and onion together and spread out in a 9X13 baking dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake covered for about 45 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.  Enjoy!

Mother's Day Blessing

I know Mother's Day is over but I was so blessed by this I wanted to share it.  My friend Lisa, from Minnesota sent this to me.   Lisa said to imagine it being read very slowly, each word distinct and purposefully chosen. I hope it speaks to your heart as it did mine.  I'd love to hear how this impacts you.

I hope your week has been beauty-filled.

Ciao.



Mary’s Mother’s Day Blessing by Mary Martin Wiens

I am the mother of three little boys ages three and under. I am also a woman who struggled with many years of infertility. During that time of suffering and waiting, the invitation that I heard from God was to become a mother in my spirit with no guarantee that there would ever be children from my body. Because of that invitation, I began to see that there are many ways to give birth, to give life, and to nurture life. So, as I pondered what kind of blessing to offer today, it felt important to honor the mother I was before children, the mother I am now, and the many women I know who mother in both traditional and untraditional ways. I have seen friends do the work of a mother by giving birth a book, by giving medical advice, by teaching, by standing up for justice, by laying hands on others in prayer, by listening. Just to name a few.

So, today I want to bless each of you women who sacrifice so that life can come through you to another. I invite you to let in whichever of these words seem to be for you and let go of whatever is not for you…Now, mothers, receive this blessing…

Mothers of children
Mothers of adults
Mothers to ailing parents
Mothers in spirit
Mothers of creative works
Mothers to those in need
Mothers with empty wombs
Mothers whose arms ache to be filled with one who once was there
You life givers and life nurturers
You who hold the small essential things that make a world
You who are the sole witness to private stories unfolding
You who are the ground on which others find their footing
You who respond to cries of hunger, heartache, fear, or pain
You who shelter growing things
You whose most significant work is unseen
You bringers of tenderness and comfort
To mother is to make oneself vulnerable to loss
To give oneself wholly to something that has the guarantee of at least a measure of failure
To give birth to something beyond you, that doesn’t belong to you, that you can’t control
To engage in a work that reveals both your best and your worst
To surrender your time, your body, your rhythms, your resources
For the joy set before you
So Mothers,
May God the Life Giving Spirit be your source
May God be both witness and companion to all the unseen moments of your life
May God preserve you at your core when the needs of others threaten to wash you away
May God give grace as you seek to unwind the knot of both founded and unfounded guilt and enable you to bring healing in places where you have brought harm
May God give you courage at thresholds of change
May God make of your emptiness a wide and free place
May the One who holds all things together, assure you that divine arms surround all that is beyond your reach
And, When you lift up your eyes to see your life, may your joy be great.

Recipe of the week: Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I made this a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty good. I got the original recipe from The Flat Belly Diet website. (Which in my opinion is a great resource). As usual I've done some tweaking, I added the cocoa powder and the walnuts and flaxseed and reduced the amount of chocolate chips. I think bittersweet chocolate is better than semisweet, it has a higher cocoa percentage and is less sweet, so it makes it seem more decadent. (I use Ghirardelli 60%)  Let me know what you think. A Vorte Sante!


Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1 & 3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c cocoa powder
2 eggs
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/3 c canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 c shredded zucchini
2 c bittersweet chocolate chips, divided
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c flaxseed

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat an 11" x 8" baking pan with cooking spray. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cocoa and salt in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs, sugar, yogurt, oil, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Whisk in the zucchini and 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips, walnuts and flaxseed. Stir into the flour mixture just until blended. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups chips over the cake. Spread with a small spatula as they melt to form an icing, placing back into the warm oven, if needed, for about 1 minute. Makes about 12 servings. Enjoy.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the women I know.  Even if you haven't had a biological child, you are a nurturer, you love, you are a care-giver.  If those things aren't mothering then I'm not sure what is.  I thought I'd share a few of my favorite mothering quotes with you...

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body" ~Elizabeth Stone

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.

God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers. ~Jewish Proverb

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother. ~Abraham Lincoln

Today I am grateful, that God saw fit to entrust me with my children; Jade, Christian and Mackenzie.  It truly has been like having my heart walk outside of my body!  I wouldn't change a moment of it. 


Have a beauty-filled Mother's day!

Ciao.

I love dresses

Dresses are a complete outfit, just add shoes. A dress can be fun, sexy, flirty, comfortable, or drop dead gorgeous. They are so versatile and so feminine. They're used for milestones...flower girl dress, prom dress, little black dress, wedding dress.

I didn't always love dresses. I remember in the third grade my mom made me wear a dress every day to school (except one), probably because I'd lived the previous 2.5 years in Mammoth and hardly ever wore a dress. I remember being teased for being "too girly" and I grew up going to a church where you had to wear a dress every Sunday or else. Bleck.

Now, it's my choice to wear dresses, and as far as being "too girly" I don't care, its part of who I am!  I'm especially fond of ones you can dress up or dress down. Over the past year I've bought a couple of my favorite dresses, ever. At Anthropologie, of course =) (Sometimes you can get great deals there.)

So for my dress loving friends my encouragement to you is to find a dress you love and wear it. Tomorrow is Mother's Day and you'll find me wearing a dress.

I hope you have a beauty-filled weekend!

Ciao.

Recipe of the week: orange salsa

Happy Cinco de Mayo. In honor of the day, I thought I'd share my recipe for orange salsa. I've been making this for a few years. My husband was at an event and had a salsa like this and asked me to try to duplicate it. This is what I came up with. As always, play with it and see how much heat you like, you can always add more jalapeno seeds or more ground pepper. If you like lots of cilantro, you may want more. My favorite way to eat this is with lime chips. (Have'A Corn Chips are my favorite!) This salsa is also really good on carne asada. Let me know what you think. A Votre Sante!


Orange Salsa
1 red onion chopped
2 jalapeno's chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 oranges, peeled, segmented and cut into small pieces
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Once you've chopped the onion and jalapeno cook it for about 3-4 minutes, with no oil or anything in the pan. Basically you're making them sweat, it takes a little bit of the edge off. You don't want them mushy though, so watch it closely. Let them cool. Combine everything else in a large bowl. Once the onion and peppers are cooled, add to rest of the ingredients. Grind fresh pepper to taste and stir. You can add sea salt if you like but I usually don't, I think the tomatoes add enough salt but it all depends on your taste. Enjoy!