Creative pursuits

Thanks for the complements on the eggs yesterday ! They are something I just love doing and I have never had the ambition to do them to sell or to enter them in any kind of competition. I do them just because I love them and they "speak" to something deep inside of me that is genetic or something. My mom is Ukranian, Irish and German, and she never knew most of her family so she has no idea if anyone ever made these or how to make them herself. Call it a fantasy , but in doing them it is like coming in contact with family I never met or something. To answer a question, I make these with raw eggs and the egg stays in them. Belive it or not there is no smell and eventually the egg inside petrifies. I have tried blowing them out, but I crack too many doing this. In truth I dispose of them sometime in the summer, as psanky were never meant to be kept forever. They were given to welcome a new baby, when someone moved into a house, as an Easter blessing or some were kept for times of sickness. Strange as it sounds , the egg was rubbed over the body of the person to absorb the sickness and then tossed- in the belief that the egg would absorb the bad things and getting rid of the egg would bring a cure. In the days before microbiology, people had a lot of creative ways of dealing with disease !

Meanwhile, yesterday brought new forms of creativity all of it's own- beginning with breakfast
It was something we will call Quinoa Cereal with fresh fruit

Quinoa Cereal with Fresh Fruit- serves 2

* Quinoa
* 1/2 cup quinoa
* 1 cups water
* sea salt to taste
*

* Topping
* 1/2 cup rolled oats
* 1/2 cup blueberries
* 2 TBS pumpkin seeds
* 2 TBS sliced almonds
* 1/2 cup plain yogert mixed with 1 tsp honey

1. Placed well-rinsed quinoa with water and salt in a saucepan, cover and bring to a boil.
2. Turn the heat to low, keep covered, and simmer for 15 minutes.

It made a nice, chewy, fruity , lite feeling breakfast that really stuck with us. We had a really fun morning involving plant biology lab work and yet another break through with math concepts, then time for lunch
A garbanzo salad, another new and creative dish where which mom discovers that Altoid Mint flavor is not too strong but fresh chopped peppermint is ( makes no sense).Not just ouch, but enough ouch to make his eyes water and bring on a dance of pain. I really liked this one but it was painful on Nick's tongue so we will not be making this on again. Daddy will take the leftovers !

15-Minute Greek Garbanzo Bean Salad


* 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
* 2/3 cup minced scallion
* 3 medium cloves garlic, pressed
* 1 medium ripe tomato, seeds removed and chopped
* 3 medium ribs celery, diced about 1/2-inch pieces
* 3 TBS fresh lemon juice
* 2½ TBS chopped fresh mint (or 2½ tsp dried mint)
* 3 TBS chopped fresh parsley (or 3 tsp dried parsley)
* extra virgin olive oil to taste
* 1 small head chopped romaine lettuce, outer leaves removed, and discarded
* salt & cracked black pepper to taste

1. Mix all ingredients except lettuce and cheese in a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Serve on bed of chopped romaine lettuce . Serves 4

Bob came home with a new addition to our home- 2 more stability balls ! Our living room is not typical- we do not have a couch or other traditional forms of furniture, so we live with office chairs. These are all well and good, but get uncomfortable on your butt after a while. We had debated switching these for stability balls, or at least using them part of the time, to relive pressure, sneak in some easy exercise and more. So home he came home with two, we blew them up and our living room now contains "the three bears". I predict a fair amount of shenanigans will happen with these !
Dinner was pasta with roast vegetables ( eggplant, yellow squash, butternut squash roast and tossed with tomatoes, fresh basil and whole wheat pasta) and a grilled pork loin chop. I really, REALLY love this combination of vegetables ! I would never have even thought to put butternut squash with eggplant, but BOY does it work !

Biggest Loser again tonight. I really have a love /hate relationship with that show ! However it seems once you watch the first episode in any season , you get kind of sucked in and find certain people who you really wish to see succeed and others who you just wish would go away fast.And in the end they have all transformed their lives , so it's a guarenteed happy ending. I love happy endings.