Vegan Corn Bread

Vegan Corn Bread

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups cornmeal

1 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup applesauce

1/4 cup soy or almond milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions - Pre-heat oven to 350º Combine the applesauce and baking powder in a dish and set aside (the applesauce will foam up so be sure to use a dish with a little room for expansion). Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Pour the batter into a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish. Bake in preheated 350° oven for about 30 minutes or until the bread springs back when pressed by a fingertip near the center.

Source: HungryBearFarm.com (cut from a printed publication.)

Veggie Chili Recipe

Ingredients

    1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

    1/2 medium onion, chopped

    2 bay leaves

    2 tablespoons ground cumin

    2 tablespoons dried oregano

    1 teaspoon salt (Add more later if not salty enough)

    3 stalks celery, chopped

    2 green bell peppers, chopped

    3 cloves garlic, chopped

    1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers (get the mild for kiddos)

    3 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, with juice

    1/4 cup chili powder (I like the ancho chili powder, yum!)

    1/4 tablespoon ground black pepper (this was “1” but it made the chili too spicy after a long simmer) Add it later if you can’t live without it.

    1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained

    1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, drained

    1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained

    1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

Directions Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion,. Cook and stir until onion is tender, green bell peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.

Pour the diced tomatoes & celery into a large crock-pot. Next, season with cumin, oregano, salt, bay leaves, chili powder and the green pepper. Stir in the onion, green pepper mixture from the saucepan. Drain (and rinse) all the beans, then stir in the kidney beans, pinto beans, and black beans. Simmer on med-high setting 3-4 hours.

I use the petite-diced tomatoes due to my picky eaters. I also use the store-brand tomatoes and beans since they always seem to offer lower sodium/sugar options with their beans. (At least where I live.) If you prefer a whole foods approach to your beans (soaking them yourself the night before) please do!

5 Minutes before serving: Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving. I will post the dairy-friendly, vegan corn bread Michelle makes later. It will blow your mind, it’s really that good.

iPhone 5 lines in my town

Yesterday was the launch of Apple's new iPhone 5. It is a pretty good upgrade for someone still using any iPhone prior to and including the "4" and I was all set to wait several months to upgrade after asking for Apple Store Bucks for Christmas this year.

After my friend sent me a copy of his email order confirmation from VzW I found it amusing he would be waiting until they (one white/one black) arrived on October 15th!

So, after a quick stop at our favorite coffee house in town we stopped in at the VzW store. There were 4 people outside the store (around 11am) and one fat dude wearing the standard black VzW polo short holding a clipboard and taking names for what he referred to as the "limited access" for customers wanting to buy the new device. We just wanted to see the display unit but they wanted us to wait in line! We laughed at the fat dude and went our separate ways.

I went home for lunch and did a little math. A friend wants to purchase my old iPhone 4 for $100, I'll get a $50 discount to renew since I was eligible for a "new every two" and the new "5" costs $200. Hook, Mouth, Done.

I headed back to VzW, this time at lunch, expecting to see a large crowd during the work break on a Friday. The humble line of "limited access" folks was gone. I walked right in and was served immediately. $60 later, iPhone 5. I didn't even have to pay the $30 activation fee!

I sent an SMS image of my hand on the new "5" to my friend (now waiting until the 15th for his) and he cancelled his order and ran to the VzW store to get two there "today." I sometimes really like sub-suburban life. No line/no waiting.

Sack lunch all next week and coffee at home.

Spencer's Salsa Recipe

Spencer's Salsa

You sit down at your favorite "Mexican-themed" restaurant and order drinks. While the server is away filling your glass with ice and beverage of choice, another server drops off the chips and salsa (very distinctive restaurant salsa they obviously make fresh).

My uncle Spencer thinks he has nailed it with this recipe (& I agree!), you be the judge.

Ingredients:

28 oz diced tomatos (We use the store brand, it is only tomato right?)

½ Med Sweet or White onion

1 tsp Chopped or minced Garlic (Again we use the store-bought minced garlic)

1 tsp Kosher Salt

1/4 cup of Cilantro (tightly packed)

¼ cup pickled (or fresh seeded) Jelapenos

1 lime (for juice)

Chop the onion, measure the garlic and salt, then add them to the tomatoes in your favorite electric blender. Next add the juice from your lime. Finally add the chopped cilantro but be sure to leave it atop the rest of the ingredients to be mixed as they spin about in agony. I ran it on the Smoothie setting for about 20 seconds.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Onion& Salt

Onion & Salt

Jalapeño & Garlic

Jalapeño & Garlic

Cilantro

Cilantro

After running the "Smoothie" operation for 20 seconds, yummy.

After running the "Smoothie" operation for 20 seconds, yummy.

Next time I will pre-chop the cilantro adding it later in the mixing process. Plus I'll add more Garlic!I must admit, it's not as good as we had on the beach this weekend but that might be in my mind and I like how special that is.

 The Sea air makes everything much better, right?

Next time I will pre-chop the cilantro adding it later in the mixing process. Plus I'll add more Garlic! I must admit, it's not as good as we had on the beach this weekend but that might be in my mind and I like how special that is.

The Sea air makes everything much better, right?

Something, something, something, Mountain Lion:

If you haven't heard yet, Apple released its latest version of OS X codenamed Mountain Lion today. It's available exclusively in the Mac App Store and costs a mere $19.99. If you know how to use Google, you can find all sorts of other people writing and posting on blogs about all the new features and new services included in its release.

Now go get it.

I ponied up my $20 and it took only 35 minutes to download and each of my Macs upgraded in roughly 30 minutes with no negative impacts operationally yet to report.

My only complaint was for upgrading my iMac's OS X Server software. The App was not searchable in the App Store at the time of my OS upgrade so I had to Google it and found the direct link to iTunes online at Apple.com: http://tinyurl.com/cc9thzw

Oh, and as usual, the damn thing runs hot. I have a Early 2012 MBP 17" collector's item running 10.8 and man, it is hot!

I'm going to try to reset my SMC tonight to see if that helps any. Who knows. Then, I'll try killing all the Apps running in the background on my iOS devices (Geek humor).

Enjoy!

Update:

The SMC reset seems to have helped a great deal, coupled with the fact the Spotlight indexing is done. There are some preferences I am discovering were reset by the upgrade (exclusions in Time Machine for example) so if you have your VMs excluded for DropBox folders for instance, go check them. Great update so far in my opinion.

What a difference 40 pounds makes:

4 months and 4 days ago my wife Michelle and I embarked on a new journey together to eat more healthy in an attempt to lose weight and live better together. Let's face it, if you live and dine every day with someone it helps tremendously for them to be on the same pathway and she has been a truly inspirational wife and partner in her embracing this 'whole foods' lifestyle. She is a champ!

252 lbs:

252 lbs:

4 months and 4 days later. 212 lbs:

4 months and 4 days later. 212 lbs:

Please, if you haven't already, watch 'Forks Over Knives" on DVD or NetFlix streaming. It changed our lives.