Breakfast of Champions

This was my crave this morning and thank goodness I had it on hand:  broccoli rabe, garlic and organic sunflower seeds sautéed in coconut oil.  YES!

Sustenence + Odds-n-Ends

Just a couple of weeks out now, when fueling body, mind and spirit, it behooves us to choose wisely. This Italian preparation of one of my all time faves -- broccoli rabe -- fit the bill perfectly this morning. This was lovely with a tiny drizzle of balsamic vinegar (a little goes a LONG way!) but it would also be great with nutritional yeast on top. Here's my simple recipe:

Italian Broccoli Rabe

1 large bunch of broccoli rabe, washed and trimmed roughly
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium tomato, diced
1 can of chick peas, rinsed (you may choose white beans instead)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. earth balance "butter"
a pinch of salt

On medium high heat, quickly saute onions and garlic in the oil, stirring frequently for about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add chick peas and salt, stirring frequently for a couple more minutes. Turn the heat back up to medium high and add the tomato and the broccoli rabe, stirring constantly as the greens wilt. You may need to add the greens in batches since they take up a lot of room when raw. Don't worry, no need to remove the original batch before adding the next. The size will quickly dramatically reduce, and the next batch can be stirred right in. I use two wooden spoons to more easily keep it all in the pan. Once all the greens have begun to wilt, add the earth balance to temper the bitter greens and silken the texture. Stir for a couple more minutes and remove the pan from heat, covering so it can continue to steam  until you plate it. This would be perfect with polenta, pasta, brown rice, quinoa or amaranth.

Incidentally, my sweet Mom made that pretty plate! I have mugs to match. I don't use her homemade pottery often because I would hate to break it, but I do feel closer to her when I use it.

For the odds-n-ends portion of the post, here are a couple of photos from the last few days --

The other night we attended a "white elephant" party where you bring an anonymous gift, pick a number and either choose a gift from the pile or steal one from someone else who has already opened it. The party goer whose gift is stolen then gets the same choice, and so on. When it was my turn, I stole this blooming tea system from a very sweet lady who is married to one of Andres' coworkers. Luckily, since I was the 11th chooser, I had already witnessed the sometimes ruthless nature of the game, so I didn't feel too bad about engaging in the shenanigans, myself. I love this! Isn't it cool? You boil water, put a little dried tea pellet into the teapot and then add the water and watch the tea bloom into a lovely flower. There are about 8 other pellets of different flavors and colors, so if I bloom any more pretty ones, I will share photos. I'm not competitive by nature, but I do enjoy this game.

My brother and his family sent us this beautiful  holiday arrangement all the way from Kazakhstan! Thanks, guys! Enjoy the season.

Supermom

This photo is unrelated to today's short post -- it's just pretty, recognizable, vegan food: broccoli rabe, tomatoes, chick peas, pine nuts, sauteed. Yum -- this dish was made and consumed some time ago, but now I'm craving it again. I've only had a fabulous green juice today, and you've seen enough of those on AMLV+, hence the above photo.

I've been thinking about the roles we play. The role dearest to my heart -- the core of who I am -- is MOM. I've been doing a pretty good job of momming lately! No, not mamming (a recent online trend for breast cancer awareness -- google it if you've not seen it), momming. We get to an age where there's no point in being humble about what we do well. I'm tooting my own horn -- TOOT!

Being a parent of teens is no joke. I believe it is much harder now than it ever was "back in the day". I don't need to go into all the ways the world has changed since I was a teen, challenging my own sweet mom. As a mom, myself, I've made mistakes and I've had successes. I have no doubt there will be more of each but today, for my own brilliant, talented, multi-dimensional, out-of-the-box kids, I can see that I'm being a good mom. Ah, the Zen that brings. My husband is being a great Dad too, by the way -- thanks honey!

Yes, I'm tooting my horn, but I want to give credit where it's due -- my inspiration, always:

My own gorgeous, amazing mom, Jeanine McKenzie Allen. Following your example brings sunshine to my life, and I'm so grateful. I miss you, Mommy.