Tag Archives: green beans

Foggy 4th

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I love the 4th of July.  As a kid, I would anticipate shooting off fireworks.  I loved it!!  My family would always cookout, and my brother and I would have friends over.

As years went on, my parents divorced and my brother and I grew up, but one thing remained– the 4th of July.  We would always be at my dad’s house, swimming in the pool, cooking out, hanging out with friends, and shooting off fireworks.

After Luvy and I married, it was hard for me not to spend the 4th at home.  However, we got the college group together and had our first 4th of July here at home.  We had a crowd!!!  Fireworks were illegal (until this year!) here in Kentucky, but that didn’t stop us.

This year was a bit different.  Both of us were exhausted from the trip home from London.  Plus, Luvy had school work to do.  His PhD classes are in full swing.

The morning of the 4th, I cleaned the bathrooms, Luvy and I did 6 loads of laundry!!, and I ran to Passifiume’s and Whole Foods.  That was all before 1pm!

I had no time to shower or anything when I got back, because it was time to head over to Barbara’s house for a picnic.  Barbara wouldn’t pose for a picture, so I got a good one of the gals instead…

I just love them!  Barbara, you are warned… one of these days you have to let me get a picture of the two of us!

I have so much fun hanging out with these girls.  They are wonderful!

She had an AMAZING spread of food.

Of course, I ate way too much.  I ended up eating 2 plates full!  I took a green bean and lentil salad.  It was a huge hit!  It’s amazing how much people like vegetarian/vegan food if they give it a chance.

It was based on Emily’s Green Bean and Lentil Salad.  She has amazing recipes!  Plus, she was one of my biggest inspirations to start cooking and blogging!  The only thing I changed was that I subbed white wine vinegar (because I didn’t have red), cut the oil in half, and drizzled some sesame oil in at the end.

Even Luvy and Jason like my meat-free dishes, and they are also meat lovers!  Luvy is very good to eat meat free probably 75% of the time.

Luvy had to eat and run, because he had to head back to the books.

I came home for less than an hour to pack up Luvy a dinner.  Lucky for me, Barbara gave me a ton of leftovers!!  I didn’t have to cook one meal yesterday!  Luvy had to go to the seminary to meet up with his group to work on a presentation.  After packing him up and eating dinner myself, I headed over to the Mann’s house for our annual college group get together!  

The Mann’s know how to throw a party!!!  I’m going to start hanging out over there more often!

They had a ton of food, plus BEAUTIFUL desserts!  I’m so excited to get the cobbler recipe!!  If there wasn’t dairy in it, I would have dove into that cobbler!!  I can’t wait to make it with Earth Balance!!

At this point in the day, I was doing my all to hold my head up.  Plus, I still hadn’t had a shower!  Yuck.

I was starting to doze watching them play hillbilly golf and cornhole.  Before it even got dark, I had to go.  I was about to pass out on the picnic table!

I was in bed before the fireworks even began.  I did get a shower first though!  :)

Today, I feel more energized, but not yet 100%.  Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be back to normal!

What are your favorite 4th of July traditions or memories?

He’s Back!

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LUVY’S HOME!!!

He got in yesterday afternoon.  As soon as he got in, we had to drive to Lexington to take back the rental van.

We didn’t get it back until close to 8pm, so we went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner.

I couldn’t eat the regular pizza because it has soy, so we had to get the gluten free.

It was piled high with veggies, just the way we like it!  They have Daiya cheese there!!!  The crust was thin and not too tasty, but I didn’t care.  I was with Luvy.

Since Luvy hadn’t slept much all week, we decided to sleep in.  I woke up around 8.  By 8:45 I couldn’t lay in bed any longer, so I snuck out of bed.  I did some homework, made granola, and talked to my dad.  Luvy finally emerged around 11am!!!!

He was exhausted!  Poor thing.

So, we had “brunch” at noon.

Luvy brought me home Caribou Coffee!!!  He made a pot this morning.

It was delightful, especially served in my Caribou Coffee mug!!

I made buckwheat muffins!

Plus fruit.  Lots of fruit.

I had to get Luvy eating healthier.  No hot dogs and pretzels in this house!

We hung out all day, and it was great.

For dinner, we made a very green and healthy meal.

Grilled salmon on a cedar plank (that caught on fire!)

Grilled vegetable skewers.  

Plus, green beans with garlic.  This best part was the lemon spinach and tomato base I made for the salmon!  YUM!!

I made my salmon with a new seasoning I picked up today at Meijer.  Luvy put Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning on his.  His was the best!

Tonight, we walked around the neighborhood and now we are off to relax.

Having Luvy home is bittersweet, however.

Our brother-in-law, Matt, left yesterday for Kuwait.  Please be praying for my sweet sister-in-law, Jennifer, and their beautiful family while Matt is gone.  Pray for God’s protection for Matt and his family while he is away.

We love you Matt, Jennifer, Jordan, Joshua, McKenna, and Laura.