DUOFILIA

No Nightshade BBQ Sauce

I wish you could see the color of this sauce in real life. It is a brilliant raspberry red. This is the barbeque sauce I invented today. I can’t have nightshade vegetables – tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant — although I love them and sometimes have a little. But then I pay for it with muscle and joint pain and my skin breaks out.

I had made an awesome sandwich for the girls the night before. Since I have only veggie juice for supper, I have their supper leftovers for lunch the next day. Works out great. But I had made them a BBQ Chik’n Sandwich on ciabatta bread. I really wanted to have one for lunch today, but I’ve cheated on the nightshades too much recently and have a rash already. So I made up this recipe, which I call NoNight BBQ sauce, and it is very yummy. It would work as ketchup, too, but it is more barbecuey.

So I toasted my ciabatta  roll, spread on Veganaise mayo, then a good dollop of my BBQ sauce, then some Gardein Chik’n Tenders, then red leaf lettuce, and added the “lid.” It was SO GOOD. Next time I’ll add just a bit of onion.

So what is it made out of, if not tomatoes?? I’ll give you a hint: this vegetable grows under the soil.

not quite the Italian flag

And for the girls’ supper — and my lunch mañana  – I made a pasta dish with a creamy sauce made with these bright veggies. Almost a mirepoix, but with spinach standing in for the celery.

Squirrelly Dirt Road

My wishes for rain came true. So far, rain only comes with thunderstorm, but I love the thunder and lightning. I drove to the Y today and the dirt road in this picture was just damp enough to make driving very squirrelly, which was awesome. I just wish I was in something other than a minivan, so I could weave all over the road properly. I planned to drift in a right turn, but a car was coming slowly my way, and since I might know the people, I slowed down and drove properly.

my supper

I’m already eat pretty healthy but I’m trying to eat even healthier to support my journey to wellness. So I get the girls to school and then eat my breakfast, then I have a late lunch, and then I have a light supper. The light supper is typical for me, but I’m making it lighter by just having fresh vegetable juices or a green drink. Some people can skip supper altogether, but I found that I can rarely do this. But this is a great time to slip in those juice I need to drink and I feel satisfied. In this picture is a carrot, celery and cucumber blend, which was quite yummy and refreshing.

devotions

So finally it is getting late, the girls do their evening devotional studies before bath and then bed time. Then the lights go out and then they come to my room several times to tell me that her sister poked her, or that she has a sudden new owie, or that she can’t find her water bottle, or that the lightning is keeping her awake, or…

And eventually I go to bed, too.

Goodnight everyone, and God bless.

The girls, Aunt Jana (our beloved roommate) and I went to the Andover YMCA Waterpark yesterday. No photos because I was in the water with the girls. It’s a great park and I’m very happy it is free to us Y members. The park features a waterslide, an innertube waterslide, a river for innertubers, a water play structure, as well as  the pools. Yes, I went with the girls on all of the above. The only thing I didn’t do was the lily pad obstacle course and that was because I don’t think grownups were allowed.

About 40 minutes into our water play I noticed a black cloud and lightening headed our way. I wondered if they allowed people to stay in the pool during a thunderstorm. Within 5 minutes all lifeguards blew their whistles and ordered everyone out of the pool. So the crowd went in to the indoor family pool. The girls swam straight for a very large snake floating in the pool, and I watched them goof off from the soothing hot tub.

Then we all piled back in the car and went home. The girls were so hungry after the busy day that they ate plate after plate of food and I was beginning to fear they’d start gnawing on my leg.

A couple years ago my friend Teresa had a brain storm and said something like, “you should move to Steps to Life in Kansas. The girls could go to school there and you and David could add your talents to the Step staff.”

I don’t know if I gave her a look of “yeah, right, I don’t think so,” or if I just laughed outright. Or both. Sheryle and Kansas. That doesn’t even look right in print. Now don’t get me wrong, I love to travel and I would love to visit every state in the union. However, I admit to being prejudiced in regards to the Midwest. I mean, how many cornfields can one see without one’s mind going, well, just going.

As I write this, I sit at my desk in Kansas, looking out my window at the waving prairie and roly hay bales. Kansas is not only Midwest, but it is the center point of the continental U.S.  If I had chosen to get as far away from an ocean as possible, Kansas would be the place.

But, having said all that, I admit that this state is much more pleasant than I expected. The prairies are not brown, but green and gold. The sky seems higher than Oregon’s and the ever-present string symphony of the cicada is actually quite soothing.

The constancy of the blue sky is a bit annoying, however. Don’t they have rain around here??

Lodi, California

So, finally, tomorrow is the day. For the BellaVita trip, that is. BellaVita is a lifestyle center in Lodi, California. Which basically means they use natural and alternative therapies to help heal health conditions. I have had sort of a spiralling down of my Lyme in the past months and so I am looking forward to this boost.

I’m there for 10 days and then come home; will be home for less than a week and then we go on our road trip to Kansas. I’ve had SO much to do to prepare for both trips, mainly the KS trip, and I’m exhausted, so good thing I’m going to go to the “sanitarium” tomorrow to get rest and hopefully some sanity. I’ve heard that’s a good thing.

Frankly, I have mixed feelings about the Big Trip to KS. No second thoughts at this point, but it’s such a huge change. I know some people there, and love the ones I know, but I don’t know others, and don’t know their microculture. You know what I mean, every place, every family, has a microculture. Which is part of why most of us act reserved in a new place because you need to observe and then find out how you can fit in.

The girls will have no such issues. Well, maybe for the first hour, and then they will be part of whatever group they land in. Especially Summerbug, the social butterfly. Sydney will be more reserved and then will end up in some leadership role.

The thought of the Big Trip is exciting in the way that I actually enjoy change and love an adventure. We Atkin folk have a lot of adventure in our blood. In my family we have the immigrants to America from Britain; Oregon Trail Pioneers (that gave birth to twins along the way, yes ma’am); my great-grandparents who were missionaries to exotic places; my grandparents who went from farming in Southern Oregon to moving to Costa Rica and farming there; my great uncle and aunt who traveled the world by sailboat for 20 years; and Dad who went back to live in Costa Rica and who would scuba dive in any handy body of water.

Kansas seems absurdly tame, now that you mention it.