HOME COOKING

Hello all,

As promised, I whipped out my culinary skills and cooked two meals this weekend! So, we made up for eating out the entire weekend last week!

On Saturday JJ and I planned to go chill out at the park and go over some H.E.L.P. for Youth, Inc. business (our non-profit) since it was due to be a nice day and it was beautiful! So, I decided to surprise him by making one of his favorite meals so that we could have a picnic. I made veggie wraps with artichoke and garlic hummus. I did not make the hummus myself, but I vow to do that next time! Anyway, I just sauteed some onions, mushrooms, yellow squash and zucchini in some extra virgin olive oil until tender and seasoned lightly with sea salt. I then spread some hummus on soft tortillas and piled on the veggies. So, quick and easy. I apologize for not having pictures, but I was working alone and in a bit of a rush! I packed the wraps, some organic garden vegetable tortilla chips and some Newman's Own cinnamon raisin cookies (see below for the picture of these tasty treats) and it was off to scoop up JJ and head to the park to dig in and catch some sun!

Takin' in the sun with some good food

Newman's Own yummy cookies

On Sunday, after going to the grocery store to pick up goods for the week and Sunday dinner, we headed to a high school right by Piedmont Park to hit up the track and bleachers. Getting in there was definitely a feat. All the fences surrounding the stadium are locked but there is a broken fence that people crawl under to get in or people just climb the part of the fence where there is no barbed wire (another missed photo op, my bad). Whatever works! LOL! JJ enjoys running on the track while I opted to speed walk it (never been a long distance runner). I focused my workout on going up and down the bleachers which REALLY works out the lower body. Below are some shots of each of us taking the bleachers on! In the shots below, I took the picture of JJ closer to the top than he did of me, but best believe I made it to the top at least six times!

JJ

CWrites (had my hood on 'cause the wind was kickin')

So, after our workout we headed back to JJ's for me to start dinner. On the menu, Amy's veggie burgers, mashed potatoes and green beans.

So, I started by washing and then cutting the potatoes in quarters. I used the small red potatoes and kept the skin on. I then placed them in a pot of water and turn on the heat to bring them to a boil. Once the potatoes were fork tender, I removed them from the heat and drained them in a colander. I then returned the potatoes back to the pot to mash them and added soymilk, earth balance (the vegan variety) and sea salt to taste.

For the green beans, I sauteed onion and mushrooms ( I am a sucker for mushrooms) in extra virgin olive oil. Once they started to become tender, I added the green beans (I used the organic frozen variety) While everything was cooking, I added sea salt, a little bit of crushed red pepper and oregano (JJ's suggestion), a touch of fresh lemon juice, earth balance, red cooking wine (JJ's suggestion again) You of course could use any seasonings that you like. All of the seasonings we used, created a perfect blend and wonderful taste!

GREEN BEANS PART I

GREEN BEANS PART II

While the green beans were finishing up, JJ threw the vegan burgers in the pan to heat through.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT! DELICIOUS!