{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

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{this moment} ritual from Soulemama

it needs meatloaf

green juice for breakfast. pineapple, strawberry, watermelon and KALE!

So, this vegan thing is kicking my butt.  Every time I turn around I'm wanting to eat something with meat or an animal product.  Honey, a little parmesan and fish sauce are nothing compared to my prosciutto break down yesterday in the space between getting home from work and dinner.  Oh, and also?  Yesterday, I could not stop thinking about barbecue and cheesy grits... at breakfast time.  So, I'm taking this vegan challenge with a little caveat. I'm going to try my best, but not punish myself with guilt when I 'cheat'.  The point is to try, and to learn more vegan recipes and you know what?  If I end up at the end of the month having NOT eaten vegan for 30 days, I guarantee I'll still have consumed less meat and less dairy than if I had never tried.  And the vegetable consumption is making me a new woman.  Yesterday, I tallied my vegetable count for the day at 11 servings. What-what!

tasty, but incomplete.

Knowing all of that, it should be no surprise that I sat down with my vegan lunch of sauteed baby zucchini with garlic and rice today and thought to myself, "it needs meatloaf."  Turkey meatloaf (we use this recipe but always add garlic in with the onions), baby zucchini and jasmine rice is one of our favorite meals. I should have known better than to try the meal with a missing component and no substitution.

looks good and green, though!

I added a quarter of an avocado and my dish was transformed. I felt full when I was done, but not quite satisfied. I am not sure if that is because my meal was kind of boring or if it is a mental thing. I'm so used to eating meat and dairy it's entirely possibly that my lack of satisfaction is all in my head. I had a square of sugar free dark chocolate when I was done and that was that.

wild horses

welcome visitors!

wildlife everywhere!

a warning. we didn't see any horses do these things, though.

Assateague National Park has been on my trip list for awhile. Besides wanting to explore the National Parks from coast to coast, this particular park has the allure of wild horses. While we were at the beach several weeks ago (you know, during the whole month of April when I never wrote?), we took a few hours and drove out to the park.  We got lucky because it was National Parks Week (free admission) AND because we saw horses everywhere!

no fees during National Parks Week!

there were several horses chilling on the beach near some campsites.

nap-time: 30!

she needed a backrub.

this fellow may be a horse, but I think you can still describe him as 'emo'.

Horses were definitely a highlight at Assateague, but we saw all kinds of wildlife.  We pulled off on one of the park roads to see a bald eagle snatch something from a marsh and take off.  We saw marine wildlife scooped from the water by rangers giving a demonstration.  And there were several types of birds with which I was unfamiliar.

bald eagle in flight

shrimp!

white heron? egret?

there were clouds of these butterflies.

We enjoyed our Saturday visit so much that we made a visit on Sunday, as well.  We weren't as lucky spotting horses on Sunday, but it was still a beautiful day and we were able to explore another area of the park.

Dave took this photo for us.  I didn't get any photos of Dave and Leslie at Assateague!

so peaceful.

oudoor shower doesn't look so bad... especially when it's on the beach!

Assateague has campsites, and Mark and I discussed going back to camp on the beach. This is just another reason to be excited about the impending summer-- camping is one of the things I have learned to look forward to the most when it comes to seasonal activities.  I am certain we will have a camping adventure at least one weekend this summer!

these look like strawberry flowers

a fresh start for spring

starts are acquired and ready to be planted!

The interspersed cooler weather and rain remind me that while my Texas roots make me think it should be summer already, in the land of four seasons, we are still experiencing spring.  And a good thing, too, because Spring is all about new life and fresh starts after the death of winter.

african blue basil

regular reliable sweet basil

purple ruffles basil

Although it now feels like late spring, it's never too late for a fresh start, so I'm going to be giving myself a month-long fresh start through the fruits of my kitchen!  I am participating in Heather Brueggeman's 30 Day Vegan workshop which begins today.  While I can't claim to be adhering to a vegan diet perfectly, I am trying!  And, I fully anticipate that I will not only learn a lot about redesigning our dinner plate through this workshop, but also that the emphasis on whole foods and plants will help me reset my palate.  The sweets have been a little much for me these past few weeks (although I am happy to report that while I have not made any further progress on my weight loss, I have also maintained the weight I had already lost)!

Today's diet consisted of homemade granola and fresh fruit/veggie juice from the juicer for breakfast, Italian Pane bread from Trader Joe's with some mashed avocado and homemade pesto for lunch, snacks of pistachios and pear sauce, and an awesome version of skinny Thai eggplant curry with jasmine rice.  My vegan slips include honey in the granola (although the next time I make it I will substitute agave nectar), a little parmesan in the pesto, and fish sauce in the curry.  It's not perfect, but it's a much modified diet for a regular meat-eater!  The granola and the pesto were made before the workshop and so we are finishing those up (the pesto was homemade and frozen late last summer- this is the last of it).  The fish sauce was a choice, because I really feel like it makes this curry what it is.

we made this over the weekend from this recipe.  we modified the recipe - no chicken, and a few other things. we did leave in the parmesan :)

I suppose I have high hopes for these 30 days, particularly because I am also still counting my WW points.  Heather's blog has been a delight to follow over the past several years, and I have long admired and been curious about her way of life.  I'm excited to insert a little introspection and further consideration not only in what we eat but how we live our days.  This pairs well with the start of our summer garden-- we've got so many good things going in the ground it deserves it's own post.  We are planting at least three types of basil (so far. I'm still looking for Thai basil).  Here's to the vegan challenge and focusing on sustenance from the ground!

vegan lunch: avocado on bread, sauteed mushrooms, broiled tomatoes and roasted green beans with garlic tahini dressing.

do you know the value of avocado on toast with kosher salt and fresh black pepper? yum. yum.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

. . . . . . . .

{this moment} ritual from Soulemama