A confession, a testimony, and some summer recipes

Hello St. Louis Arch

As most of you know by now, S and I are moving back to St. Louis.  Puerto Rico has been a wonderful adventure and I am very sad to leave, but it is time for us to move on.  Now me and my fellow lovely PM&C bloggers will have all moved on from where we originally met.  I have learned a lot about myself through this experience though and I am immensely grateful for all of it.  I have made some amazing friends here and God has taught me a lot.  In fact, He is still teaching me as we speak.

Playa Susia

I confess that I have really been struggling for months with where God wants me to be.  S was deeply unhappy here, and I was very happy, so there was a disconnect in our marriage as well.  I also have a really hard time trusting in God to lead me where I need to go.  As a concept, I totally get it, but when I have to apply this concept to real life situations, my controlling personality takes over, and it ends up totally lost on me.  Especially when it is something I don't really want to do.  I have been praying and praying that God would show me clearly that St. Louis is where He wants me to go next and, as always, He listened.

Playa Combate

A couple of weeks ago, we made the decision to officially make the move back to St. Louis.  I was still fighting that decision, but I knew it was happening so I needed to get okay with it.  As we were trying to figure out details last week, such as how to transfer the car loan from PR to the mainland (which is apparently not possible) and other major roadblocks, the answers just kept coming to us.  It was as if all of the problems just fell away with super simple solutions because of the generosity of Scott's work.  I know now that this was God working in our lives to show me that this is what I need to be doing.  I still really don't want to go back to St. Louis, but God has shown me that that is where He wants me right now.  I know that He has some sort of plan for me there and I am going to do my best to trust in Him.



For now, as we plan our next move, I wanted to leave you all with some sort of a post so that I am not abandoning you entirely.  You've heard my confession and my testimony.  Now all that's left are some summer recipes to get you by.  I don't know if these are actually any good, but in looking them over, they look like they will be.  Anyway, here is a roundup of "29 Meat Free Meals You Can Make Without Your Stove".  I hope you enjoy them.

Cueva Ventana

Please pray for us if you believe in that stuff, and if not, send positive thoughts our way.  Much love to you all.

My Yogi Tea Bag 

Donna AKA Mindful

Real Food Resources

Chana Dal and Roti (Indian flatbread) from Leanne Brown's Free Cookbooks.

I am writing this blog post ahead of time in an effort to keep from skipping out on writing during busy weeks.  Today, I was surfing the internet and I came across a website that is run by a food studies scholar named Leanne Brown.  She has generously put together two completely free cookbooks on her website which look phenomenal.

Brown's newest book called Good and Cheap, is a collection of real food recipes designed for families on SNAP (aka food stamps).  Don't get me wrong though, these recipes are not just for those on SNAP.  They are healthy, simple, REAL FOOD RECIPES that anyone can make.  The added bonus is that they can be made for very little money.  In fact, according to the author, these recipes fit into a $4 per day food budget.

The author apparently wrote this cookbook for her capstone project while getting her Masters degree.  After it received positive feedback online, she decided to launch a kickstarter campaign in order to get this book into the hands of those who need it and may not have access to a computer.  How wonderful is that?!?!?!  The author states on her kickstarter page:
      "It bothered me that so many ideas for fixing the food system leave out the poor: it seemed like they didn't have a voice in the food movement. I wanted to create a resource that would promote the joy of cooking and show just how delicious and inspiring a cheap meal can be if you cook it yourself."

I agree with her wholeheartedly.  The poor are almost always left out of the discussion and often, they are the ones most affected by "junk" food because it is so cheap.  Have I mentioned how awesome I think this is yet?  

Rolling out the Roti.  

My absolute favorite part of all of this though, is the fact that the author is addressing eating real, wholesome food on a budget, while utilizing less meat and more filling vegetables and fruits.  As we all know, I am a huge proponent of at least being conscious of your meat intake, while substituting fresh fruits and vegetables.  But, I think that the most important thing you can do for your health and the health of your family is to cook your own food from scratch.  There is no better way to find out exactly what is going into your body, and this helps you to make healthful decisions.  

The first cookbook that Brown wrote, From Scratch, is also a great looking read.  She says on her website that "From Scratch is a vegetarian cookbook intended for people just becoming comfortable in their own kitchens".  Most of you may have noticed that I am very comfortable in the kitchen, but I still thoroughly enjoy the recipes and ideas that she has presented here.  Again, all of these recipes utilize real, whole food ingredients to make delicious looking, nutrient rich meals.   

Closeup of the dal with kale stems.

The great thing about both of these books is that Brown explains how to cook for yourself.  She gives ideas for substitutions and teaches you how to make things from what you have in your own fridge or pantry.  This is super important because, too often, people try to change their eating habits too drastically, which, in turn, often leads to failure.  When people learn to look at a recipe and substitute the ingredients that they like, they will find it easier to stick to a real food plan.      

I have to mention that the photographs in both of Brown's books are amazing!  After looking through these books, my mouth is literally watering.  It might also be dinner time, but the fact remains, I want to try out every single one of these recipes.  Well, maybe not the roasted chicken or the pulled pork, but almost all of them.    

Chana Dal cooking away.

You can download both of Brown's cookbooks for free here.  If you feel so inclined and can afford it, I encourage you to check out her kickstarter campaign here as well.  I hope you all enjoy her cookbooks as much as I do.  

Note: I made Brown's version of chana dal with spinach and roti last night for dinner and it was phenomenal.  Even though I made a rookie mistake and used yellow split peas instead of actual chana dal which is apparently a split chickpea.  Whoa!  Anyways, my pictures are not nearly as pretty as hers, but I have included them in this post for some added color.  The only substitution I made was to add some extra water and to use kale instead of spinach because that is what I had this week.  In case you are wondering, the recipe for the chana dal can be found in From Scratch on page 67 and the recipe for roti, the Indian flatbread can be found in her other book, Good and Cheap on page 104.    

~Donna