Food From The Garden

Hey all! There is so much I love about Young Living that makes me feel so blessed to be working with such a wonderful company, but there are a few things I would love to be able to get from Young Living that would be the cherry on top and be so convenient if I could just put those items on my ER instead of having to outsource (if they even exist). Among those include... 1. Vegan deodorant. Young Living's deodorants contain beeswax and therefore are not vegan. I would like to reap the benefits of an all natural deodorant but would also like for it to be vegan. This means I have to get it elsewhere to find a vegan one, which may not meet the same seed to seal standards the Young Living ones do (though it would still be infinitely better than mainstream ones that contain aluminum) and I wouldn't get ER points for it. 2. More choices of carrier oils. Young Living does have the V6 carrier oil, but more often I use a single carrier oil such as coconut oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, or

 Hey all! Fridge space is precious, even more so when you're sharing a small refrigerator with your family and also like to prep things in advance and don't want to hit the grocery store every five seconds (okay I don't think anyone goes to the store THAT much but sometimes it feels like that). All those factors sometimes make "my" shelf of the fridge feel a little bit cluttered. Lord knows I am not a stickler about organization. I am one of those people who is not fazed by clutter in other parts of the house and I can function as long as I feel some sense of order and know where my basic things are (even if everyone I know thinks it's a mess) and I don't expect to be perfectly organized, so it speaks volumes that in quarantine, the fridge situation was getting overwhelming, not functional, and a headache to even think about opening! And when I AM bothered by something, all my close friend and family will tell you it REALLY bothers me. These are a few tips

 By now I don't need to tell you that the world has spent at least part of the last several months on lockdown because of the coronavirus, and that stay at home orders have changed virtually everything. We all know that school, church, work, etc is all or mostly online for most of us, but for some of us, so is grocery shopping. Prior to the pandemic, all of my grocery shopping happened the traditional way, at the grocery store that you have to drive to, go into, get what you need, and check out. I had heard great things about different ways to grocery shop online such as produce delivery services, Thrive Market, meal kits, Instacart, etc but had never tried any of them. I hopped on the bandwagon as the pandemic was unfolding and now the majority of my grocery shopping is through Misfits Market and Thrive Market, so I am going to be talking about each of those services and why I like them as well as the role of the grocery store in my quarantine grocery shopping routine. Misfits Mar

Growing up, I loved French Onion dip on everything. My grandparents lived out in the country on a lake and always hosted the 4th of July party at which family and friends would gather, and that was where I was first introduced to it, as we always used to have chips while we waited for the food and the Frito Lay French Onion Dip was one of the choices for dips, but I thought the broader term "condiment" was a better fit. Quite funny, it was also at that same party (but I don't think it was the same year. I don't remember for sure) that I learned what "condiment" meant. My great aunt was one of the first people to arrive that year and she and my grandparents put me on duty taking people's orders so grandpa knew what to put on the grill, and after I did that, they asked me to set up the condiments, and I looked for opportunities to use that word all throughout the day because, like any kid, I loved to learn "big words" and felt grown up using them

Every one of us has had an everyday object, food, idea, concept, something that was just part of their everyday-ness of everyday, until it was brought to life. That's what today's recipe is. Some of you probably know that I make my own green juices all the time and most of the time I don't follow a recipe for them. Usually I'll just throw in whatever produce I've got hanging around and/or is on sale. But occasionally I do follow a recipe. I devised this one this past Advent for a church function. It was just my monthly meeting with the Creation Care Team but we decided to, instead of prioritizing agenda items (even though we did hit them), have a mini party where everyone who is able to bring in a little treat to share does so and we just chat. In other words, a meeting where the main objective was to build camaraderie. I brought the Trader Joe's Beet Crackers, two choices of dips for which they'd be the vehicles, and this green juice. This green juice was i

"That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither- whatever they do prospers." Psalm 1:3 A snippet from today's responsorial psalm both describes a person who puts their trust in the Lord and also reminded me of my Instagram post from January 28th, 2020, where I posted a picture of a three-ingredient fruit salad I had after work before heading to my yoga class that evening, paired with my go-to peanut butter cookies and cold pressed juice and coconut milk. The fruit salad was actually not a planned recipe! I was about to go out of town and was trying to clean out the perishable items so nothing would spoil in my absence, and among them were honeydew melon, blueberries, and a clementine, so I made them into a fruit salad. Jesus compares himself to a vine in the Gospel according to John. He says "I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. A

One thing Lent and the rest of the liturgical year have in common is that we pray and read the scriptures (or at least we should be doing so). One thing that sets Lenten prayer and scripture reading apart from that of the rest of the year is that my church will put anyone interested in small groups that meet weekly to do it, and the Lenten small groups are really good because you get to make friends and have fun while praying and learning together because it takes a lot of discipline to do it on your own and while it's wonderful and necessary to undertake independent efforts to grow in faith, God meant for us to have a community in the church to encourage and form one another in the Spirit. Lenten small groups help accomplish just that. One thing my church is doing differently this year with Lenten small groups is that a lot of them are meeting on Friday nights at the church and the Hospitality committee is hosting complimentary soup and salad suppers beforehand. I asked our pastor

Today I'm going to show the world that snacking vegan doesn't have to be that difficult. My mom came to me with an interesting request: a friend of hers is considering going vegan and asked her to have me devise a list of vegan snacks. She's not necessarily looking for healthy options; just stuff she can buy at the store so she can snack vegan. Stuff that most people (at least in the US) would likely be familiar with. I'm sure some of these items will blow your mind. When I first went vegan, I was just as surprised about the things that ARE vegan as I was about the things that AREN'T. I have for the most part phased out these items in part because I have since stopped eating gluten (except to receive the Eucharist), but mostly because I'm eating healthier in general and have simply made a habit of not eating a lot of processed foods. So the items on this list will be things that most of my American viewers are probably familiar with. I know that in some countrie

Occasionally, I'll buy or be gifted some new products to try, and a big source of said products I try are airplane snacks. I know a few flight attendants, and I also know a few people who travel a lot because of their jobs but don't work for an airline. American Airlines is through the roof when it comes to both healthy and not so healthy vegan snack options, and the options, especially in first class but probably also in main cabin, rotate seasonally and are ever changing. My travelling friends and family bring home some of those items for me to try and see what I think of them. Some I have liked and some I haven't. One of the products I've been introduced to this way is Seneca Apple Chips, original flavor. I wouldn't rank them quite at the top but I would absolutely not rank them at the bottom either. This post will cover my thoughts regarding the taste, nutritional profile, and what I'd be inclined to do with them. What I like about them Not greasy or me