Mexican Beans and Rice

A week ago, I mentioned I wasn’t sure what kind of diet we were eating. I believe I have decided.

A little more than a week ago, I began to eliminate meat and animal products (like eggs and dairy–the only dairy left in my diet was raw milk kefir) from my diet, and began eating a diet of 85% raw fruits and vegetables, and 15% cooked food.

It sounds like a radical decision, but there is some background to the story, which I will explain in the very near future. In the meantime, I’ve been on a quest to introduce my family to delicious foods that will convince them that this decision is liveable–even enjoyable. It’s had me scrambling, rifling through cookbooks and scouring the internet for new recipes. I’ve also ordered some cookbooks, but they are obviously on the slow boat to China.

I found this little gem in a book I bought some time ago, and never really explored fully. It’s brilliant because everything goes into one place and cooks together: the rice cooker. Hey, I have one of those!

This recipe has been such a hit that my most picky eater has specifically requested it twice since I made it the first time. I made it (and took the picture of it) today, but didn’t have the red pepper the recipe called for. Still delicious!

The recipe calls for white rice, but I always cook with brown rice. I added the vegetables at about 20 minutes into the cooking cycle (which is about twice as long as that). Also, I used fresh tomatoes, not canned, so added them along with the onions to soften up a little before adding them into the rice cooker.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup long-grain white rice
1 cup chicken or veggie stock
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion
1 red bell pepper, halved, seeded, and sliced
1 jalapeno chiles, seeded and minced
1 15-oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can plum tomatoes
1 tsp. crumbled dried oregano leaves
2 Tbsp. capers, rinsed
freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro leaves, chopped, for garnish

Directions:

1. Coat the rice cooker bowl with nonstick cooking spray or a film of vegetable oil. Add the rice, stock, and salt; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle.

2. While the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Open the cover of the rice cooker and add the jalapeno, onion-pepper mixture, pinto beans, tomatoes, oregano, capers, and a few grinds of black pepper, stir to combine. Close the cover and let the cycle complete.

3. When the machine switches to the Keep warm cycle, let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour.

4. Serve hot, garnished with the cilantro.

Taste of China: Grass

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Remember when you were a little kid and you ran around outside barefoot? Me too.

But my kids really have little idea what that’s like. Here in our city, grass is pretty sparse. Nature seems carefully controlled. One of our laughable memories is a trip we took to a mountainside park to get away for a little nature break. The paved paths through the park were no surprise–we see those everywhere. What shocked us was the piped-in music blaring over a loudspeaker system, covering up the sounds of the sea below, the birds, the wind. The speakers seemed to be cutting in and out, so the kids and I said a quick prayer that it wouldn’t play while we were there. Soon the music stopped, and we were able to really enjoy all the sights, smells and sounds.

There are large, sprawling parks here, but they often have firm reminders posted:

There are one or two parks where it’s fine to sit on the grass, but people usually don’t come into direct contact with it, because as my son discovered recently, human and animal influence in such a populated place means you really should be vigilant at all times. On a recent outing, he came home with quite a bit of doggy doo-doo on his clothes. (Yuck!)

So we were thrilled that our Mother’s Day outing included a trip to a local golf course. The day included a tree-planting ceremony, a buffet lunch, and afterward, while JavaMan turned into the resident golf pro, the kids and I shed our shoes and socks and ran in the glorious grass! A few people looked at us like we were crazy foreigners, but we didn’t care.

Grass. Glorious grass.

Real grass!

Barefoot!

Tree planting: Sweetpea digs in.

Golf pro :)

Future golf pro

What to do with Outrage

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I’ll let you in on a little secret about me: I am opinionated.

Actually, it’s no big secret at all. I think likely most any person with a blog fits that category. It’s our opinions we fill the blogosphere with, after all. Without opinions, what would there be to write about?

In fact, I think just about everyone in our age is opinionated. Forget blogs, take a look at Facebook or Twitter or the the DJ on the radio or the person sitting next to you on the bus. Everyone has an opinion. And we’ve never had so much access to the opinions of others as we do today.

The internet brings such diversity into our immediate experience every day. My Facebook friends are comprised of a pretty eclectic group. I’m doubtful I’d be able to entertain in one place the people who I intersect with on a daily basis on Facebook. Among my friends there are:

gun-toting Conservatives
Canadians, raised in an environment of strict gun control
Liberals
homosexuals
pro-choice men and women
pro-life men and women
a self-confessed “cougar”
a self-professed witch
believers in New Age philosophy
at least three staunch atheists
one Creation scientist
many Bible-believing Christians
several self-professed hedonists

With all the status updates and recommended links from all those friends, it’s inevitable I’ll see at least one thing–often many things–that I don’t agree with. Often there are many that I vehemently disagree with.

It’s also no secret that modern society serves up a lot for us to be outraged about. Let’s face it. Everywhere we look there’s tragedy, the inaction of government, the wrong action of government, sex trafficking, the pro-choice/pro-life debate, the gay/lesbian marriage debate, the list could go on and on and on.

And being the opinionated person I am, it’s tempting to want to contribute my two cents to the conversation–even give someone a piece of my mind. More than once, JavaMan has recommended I simply “step away from the computer screen.”

Be Tolerant?

“Be tolerant” has been thrown around as a mantra for our society to the point that it would seem we’re all supposed to retreat to a place where we hold no strong opinions. And yet in the face of such societal “wisdom,” it seems that loud, passionate voices are growing, not shrinking, in number. And more and more we are polarizing ourselves at extremes on just about every conceivable issue.

Even when we try to seek out homogeneity, it can’t really be done. I identify with fellow writers and also with homeschoolers, yet even among my “own,” there’s considerable diversity: Is modest apparel (ankle-length skirts for girls) a necessity, or are jeans okay? Do you have as many children as possible? Or are some methods of birth control acceptable? Do you teach Classical, Charlotte Mason, Delight-Directed, copy public school at home or unschool? Do tests or let children learn through experience? And don’t get me started about writers! ;)

So what can we do with the inevitable outrage that results when viewpoints collide?

Step back. JavaMan’s advice is good advice. There are times when we need to speak up. But those times are probably few and far between. Rarely does an argument win friends or even win over the opposition. So what’s your real goal in expressing your opinion? It is true we are called to have an answer for our faith. However, I think it’s significant the word choice used here. If it’s an answer, chances are, we’ve been engaged by a question. We don’t need to go looking for opportunities to argue.
Talk to God about it. Nine times out of ten, our words won’t help the situation. And maybe, just maybe, we’ve got the wrong perspective on things in the first place. By bringing it to the Father, we can pray for the individuals involved, but we can also just hang out with Him and ask for His eyes on the issue. He might have an entirely different take than we suspect. It’s helpful to remember that in the heavenly perspective, none of what caused your outrage is a big surprise to God. He hasn’t been dislodged from His throne because of it. He knows all about it, and he knows why it’s happening–it’s a direct result of sin (either yours or the other person’s or a little of both). It’s also helpful to recognize that those sins have been dealt with, and all that’s left in God’s heart is love for the sinner.
Align our perspective. Getting God’s mind on a matter will also involve spending time in his Word and allowing his thoughts to become our thoughts.
Think happy thoughts. Not to be trite, but sometimes, we simply have to purposefully place our thoughts elsewhere. The apostle Paul issued some timeless advice in Philippians 4:8. Here it is in the Message translation:Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.
Speak the truth in love. On rare occasions, we should speak up. But there are a lot of people out there who’ve forgotten the second half of that phrase from Ephesians 4:15: speaking the truth in love. We all want our chance to speak the truth. The love part is harder to incorporate. But as 1 Corinthians 13:1 says (also in the Message translation): If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. Not a glorious image.
Work on your logic. I’ve lately been learning how vital it is to measure my words and to examine my logic. In an argument or debate, it’s so easy to fall victim to poor logic–either by being distracted by the other person’s red herring, or by following some tangent of one’s own. A good course in logic would serve every Christian well.
Expect disagreement. If you choose to issue an opinion, don’t expect everyone to agree with you. Given the diversity of ideas out there, if you unleash your passion on the world, don’t be surprised when someone equally passionate on the other side of the spectrum fires back. And if you can’t stand the heat…(you see where this mixed metaphor is going).

Our energies are better spent in a positive way on the things we can change. Like arming the next generation to know and love the truth–and to speak it in love.

How about you? Are you opinionated? What do you have to say? Is there anything you’d add to this list? Or change?