Quick and Easy Vegan Fried Rice

Wow!  It is already March and I'm finally settling down to blog.  With 2 of my girls in a charter school this year that mostly has at-home-work, my days have been more filled than in the past.  That being said, I've been meaning to post one of my favorite easy and tasty meals that has become one of my favorite lunch (and/also supper) dishes to make.  I like fried rice and chow mein, but they aren't usually the healthiest coming from a restaurant, so I decided to make my own at-home version of vegan fried rice. My instructions are approximate because this dish can be made with various ingredients and amounts of ingredients.  You can tinker with it and modify it as needed.  This is a great way to use your left-over rice.

Vegan Fried Rice

 

 

Ingredients:

 





2-3 cups of already cooked brown rice (or white rice)
Olive Oil
Garlic powder
Dried chopped onions (I use Kirkland brand)
Dried Thai chili or chili flakes of choice
Soy Sauce
Salt (if desired)
1 - 1 1/2 c. of chopped green cabbage
1 - 1 1/2 c. of chopped broccoli

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat in a large non-stick saute pan.  Saute the broccoli for 4-5  minutes.  Then, add the chopped cabbage, 1-2 teaspoons of garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of chopped onions, a small sprinkle of salt, and the desired amount of dried chili.  Saute this for a few more minutes until the cabbage starts to become opaque.  Put the rice and about 1/4 cup of soy sauce in the pan.  Saute and stir every couple of minutes until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, but not overcooking the vegetables.   Serve and enjoy!  I like it best with some Sriracha as garnish. 

Back from Summer Vacation

Our first day of summer vacation started by taking our 2nd daughter, Selah, down to Children's Hospital for a week where she received antibiotics via a PICC line that aren't given orally.  This was followed up by giving the second week of antibiotics at home via the PICC line on our own after being instructed on the proper technique by an at-home-care nurse.  This, of course, was not how we planned to start the summer, but over the past year we have come to accept that there are situations that have to be accepted and walked through as part of our journey of having two daughters that have bronchiectasis (a chronic lung condition stemming from permanent lung damage).  During that time, I never once got back on the computer to blog and after that, I just disconnected from my school year routine for awhile along with the rest of the family while on summer vacation.  With a husband that is also a teacher, we really do live on the school schedule, so summer is our big time for kicking back and taking a break from the routine, doing household projects, and taking road trips.  Now, however, that is all quickly coming to an end.  School is quickly approaching and  my calendar book is filling up with appointments and events.  I will have new blog material as I start on a new adventure of sending to of our girls to a charter school where the majority of the school work is done at home, all while welcoming another litter of new little goldendoodle puppies into the household in the next couple of weeks. 

Another big part of our summer has been food preparation and eating.  No matter how the routine changes, feeding a family of 7 takes time and is always a big part of my day.  It has been a year now since we began eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet and the more we eat this way, the more excited I get about continuing to explore this way of preparing foods and enjoying the tasty results.  So, I will try and post food ideas and recipes here, too, to share our love of plant-based eating. 

May Photo A Day 5/23/13 - 5/28/13

5/23/13 - "PJ's"

 

My favorite warm, fuzzy fleece pajama pants.

 

5/24/13 - "Go"

Go to the rodeo and ride a sheep.  Arianna at Friday night's rodeo.

 

 

5/25/13 - "Us"

 

5/26/13 - "Fave Thing To Do On Sunday"

Snooze.

 

5/27/13 - "Can't Live Without"

 

Our daughters' respiratory therapy machine.  They use it every day to stay healthy.

 5/28/13 - "What You're Doing Now"

 

May Photo A Day - 5/5/13

"Paper"

 

 

 

I won these darling cards at a giveway on my friend's blog:  whimspirationphoto .You can check out the Etsy store they came from at: out of the bag creations .



 



Derailed by Life

Once again, and this happens to me a few times a year, my blogging has been completely derailed by "doing life".  Since whelping a litter of puppies and selling them, I sort of collapsed and had to take a little break.  Not to mention that the kids' school activities increase in number at this time of year, we have been running to and fro from softball games for our oldest for the past 2 months, and I finally put my nose to the grindstone and started training for real for my upcoming marathon at the beginning of June.  So, to kick start myself back into blogging more regularly again, I've decided to join in a "photo a day" challenge for the month of may.  I've done a few of these in the past and they are a lot of fun.  If I had a smartphone with instagram, it would be 10X easier, but it can still be done with a regular camera and a computer.  So, let the fun begin!  Here is the list of picture prompts for the month. 

A New Year - 2013

I can't believe 2013 is already here and we are 6 days into it.  I had thought I would blog more over the kids' Christmas break, but then it is always busy around the house on a vacation, so alas my blogging went by the wayside.  Then, on Jan. 2, our dog Lilah, that we bred a couple of months ago with a Goldendoodle, went into labor 5 days early and we now have four, small little Goldendoodles at home.  Thank goodness, my hubby was still on his Christmas break for a few more days because the last few days have been a blur of delivering puppies, caring for our wonderful mama dog, making sure our little "preemies" are being looked after 24/7, and getting a lot less sleep than usual.  I have to say, after having had 5 newborns (but not at the same time, thankfully), that puppies are even more work in the first few days.  There are more than 1, even when they are sleeping I keep a close eye on them so that Lilah doesn't accidentally roll on them, and due to their size, they need a little extra help getting the hang of eating off of mama.  From all that I've read, the first week of a puppy's life is pretty critical and when it comes to animal care, I can be a bit obsessive, so between the house, kids, and puppies things are pretty busy around here.  So, 2013 in our household has come in with a whirlwind and I for one, am just hanging for the ride.  To all those I know and don't know out there, Happy New Year and may God bless you richly in this coming year!

Blogger Dilemma Update

I didn't seem to be making much progress on my picture storage issue on Picassaweb, but I did delete a few old pictures from a previous blog that I shut down and some unnecessary extra profile pics of myself.  I found some tips from others about exporting photos from Picassaweb and resizing them, but never really figured out how to make it work for me, at least not yet.  Then, I looked down at my Picassaweb account just not and it says I'm only using 19% or my available storage.  I have no idea how that happened as it said I was using 99.8% of it a few days ago, but as long as this lets me post pictures to my blog, I'm not complaining.  And, I'll be resizing them before posting so that hopefully I won't have this problem reoccur to soon in the near future. 

Blogger Dilemmas and Such

I'm feeling a bit stalled on my blogging right now and let me tell you why; then, maybe somebody will have some feedback or ideas for this problem of mine.

I have come up against the photo storage limit that Blogger has set (1GB); the photos are actually stored at Picasaweb which is part of Google, too.  I don't really know if the photo storage limit has always been in effect or is something newer that Google has done, but it is might annoying.  I think posting pictures with blog posts make things so much more interesting, but right now I might be able to post one more picture, and then I'm done for.  Here are the solutions I've thought of thus far.
1.  Erasing the oldest year of my blog posts, or just taking the pictures off the oldest year of my blog posts to free up some more space.  Of course, that will only last so long.  Also, I don't really like the idea of altering my blog because it is my personal online journal and I don't want to mess with the memories I've put there.
2.  I could just keep blogging on a different web address at Blogger, but then my "mamaoffivegirls" part of my blog address changes, too.  Is there any way that I can get my present blog to just automatically redirect a viewer to a different page? 
3.  I could just get a domain name and have an internet address that is mine.  I guess I'll check in with the hubby on how that works.  I just don't want to run into the same photo storage problems as before if it is a web hosting sight (I really don't even know what I'm talking about here; fortunately, I know people that do). 

So, I will try and fiddle some more with my pics so that I can keep posting for awhile longer, but I think I need a better solution long-term.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Garcias Going Vegan

When we spend our summer in our North Dakota house, we have plenty of time to think, talk about our life goals, read books, and try out new things.  It seems we make end up making some sort of life-changing decision while we are there.  Last time (in 2010), we decided that we really needed to make the leap from our small mobile home that has an even tinier yard in the suburbs to a house with a little more room and a piece of property in the country.  So, when we got back to So.Cal., we started our house hunt right away and had found the right place for us in about a month's time (of course, it helps immensely having a mother for a realtor :-).  This summer (2012), we were already focused on health issues due to Selah's hospitalization last spring and diagnoses of bronchiectasis.  We had brought along a book to read called, McDougall's Medicine, a book that was written quite some time ago, by Dr. John McDougall (McDougall's Medicine: A Challenging Second Option).  We also watched a fascinating documentary at the beginning of the summer while in Oregon on our Amazon Prime account (thanks to my father-in-law for recommending it as being extremely interesting!) called Forks over Knives in which several renowned scientists and physicians discuss the ill effects that animal proteins have on our bodies and their link to many of the diseases of affluence that are all to common in the U.S. today.  This led us to delve further into this topic and at our North Dakota house, we purchased two other e-books from Amazon to do further research.  The China Study was one of the books discussed in the Forks over Knives documentary; it is written by Dr. Campbell and I found it very compelling because he presents his scientific research done over decades which have led him to the conclusion that a whole-foods, plant-based, very low fat diet are the most beneficial for one's health.  The cardiologist, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., and a California-based physician, Dr. John McDougall, also appear in the documentary and talk about the ways in which their patients bodies have actually healed themselves through a change in diet in everything from heart disease and diabetes, to obesity and M.S.  We decided we wanted to read one of Dr. McDougall's more recent books, so we purchased The Starch Solution and read that as well.  

As a family, we have never been big meat eaters, eating maybe a few meals a week that included meat.  We were much heavier dairy consumers, though, and loved eating cheese and, also, eggs (as evidenced by having 11 laying hens).  But, given our daughter's chronic lung condition, my hubby's pre-hypertension blood pressure reading, and our oldest's propensity for coughing and congestion as well, we decided that a change in the way we ate would be worth the try.  We had begun to make changes little by little even as we began our summer travels, but on our wedding anniversary, July 21, of this year, my hubby and I decided that it would be our official date to go vegan.  I know there are plenty of connotations that go with the term vegan and I'd venture a guess that we don't fit most of them.  We haven't made this decision based on the ethical treatment of animals, but rather based on our own conviction that this will improve the overall health of our family.  Because of this, we aren't just looking for vegan foods (there are many junk-food vegans and junk-food vegetarians that avoid many foods, but still aren't "healthy"), but rather ones that fit the suggestion given by the doctors referenced above which really means it is a whole-foods, plant-based diet that is very low in fats.  Being that we didn't start out trying to lose weight, though, we don't eliminate all fats and definitely let our children have healthy plant-based fats such as avocados, nuts, nut butters, etc.  

So far, we have been very pleased with the results of this way of eating, and also our own enjoyment in the type of eating.  My hubby's blood pressure lowered considerably, and Selah was able to stay healthy and antibiotic-free during the summer months.  Recently, Selah caught a virus at school and despite being sick at home for a few days, she has been improving on her own without antibiotics.  I am pleased to see that her body seems to be building up its natural immunity by taking the nutrients it needs from the foods that we eat without being obstructed by a lot of the foods that might stand in the way of improved health.  From the materials that I have read on bronchiectasis, many individuals experience difficulties with dairy, eggs, wheat, and soy, anyway.  So, it seems we are on the right track  As far as the potential for boredom with solely vegan foods or the problem of missing foods we used to eat, I think we are doing rather well.  We thoroughly enjoy the whole-grain starches, eating lots of fresh produce, and eating beans and legumes, all foods that we enjoyed eating earlier and still enjoy.  Thankfully, I'm quite an experimenter when it comes to cooking and baking, so I'm doing a lot of improvising in my food preparation and most items have been a success.  I also have been using the recipes in the McDougall books that I own to help stimulate new and different ideas for meals.  And, of course, I'm looking at many blogs and websites to find tips and recipes for vegan cooking and baking.  I will be blogging about this topic along with all the other regular stuff so that you can follow along with us on our new vegan journey. 

We're back, and better than before!

Well, our internet guys came back and after much wrangling and testing were able to find a different place for our wireless antenna that gets great reception and lets us get back to our usual internet usage.  Given, it doesn't look terrible attractive; the antenna is mounted on a long pole that extends up from our front deck on one side, but in this case, I am much more concerned with function over form and aesthetics.  It was nice having a local company that is close by and was willing to come out repeatedly to really see the problem through.  Needless to say, we are happy have the internet back with such a happy solution to the matter.  Three cheers to be back to blogging!

Internet Troubles

I've been absent for my blog for a while now because our internet connection has been rather sporadic.  We have wireless internet with a local company because we live a bit out of range for the usual cable high-speed internet and that has been serving us fairly well for a little over a year.  Unfortunately, our live oak trees, of which we have many, are growing too high and blocking our reception from the internet tower closest to us.  Trimming the trees isn't a very feasible option as they are quite high and very numerous.  Satellite internet is another option we could consider, but the downloading limits are very restrictive; watching TV shows or movies with our Amazon Prime account would all but be a thing of the past.  I had thought recently that AT&T had extended their lines out further and were on my street, but it turns out that they haven't come quite far enough - boo!  So, until we find a better solution, I will do my best to keep up with blogging as I am able and "save" my posts often so as not to lose all my typing and pictures.  Living out away from it all is definitely worth it, but also has its challenges.  Hope you all have a very blessed day!

Ronald McDonald House

Wow!  It's been a while since I've had a chance to sit down and post anything.  It's hard to find the time to write with people in and out of the hospital room, and then I tried using my kindle fire to do a blog post, but it wasn't working for me.  So, here we are, finally at home again.  I will post next about Selah's health and a bit about our stay, but for now I wanted to tell everyone I know about a super, easy fundraiser going on for the Ronald McDonald House Charities sponsored by HP. 

While we were at Rady's Children's Hospital in San Diego for the last 9 days, the Ronald McDonald house was a huge blessing providing free meals, coffee, showers, etc. Until April 15th, you can e-mail them an eSmile (1 per day) and HP will give them $1 for each e-mail sent. An e-smile is : a cute photo, a funny phrase, words of encouragement, anything to bring a smile to our families' faces. I just sent my first one today and will keep it up until April 15th. If anyone feels like doing this, it is quick an really helps families going through a hard time. This is the e-mail address: RMHCSanDiego@ePrinteSmiles.com

 

Photo Challenge Delay

I will finish this photo challenge, even if I end up going into the beginning of April.  Right now, I will have a few days delay.  My second child is in the hospital right now because sickness for her is complicated by a lung condition that she has that is under investigation at present.  We are thankful for the good care she is and will be receiving, and that her doctors are making every effort to find answers to the questions marks about her health.  This has and continues to be a bit of a wearing and tiring process, so my blogging will have to be sporadic until things normalize again.  We appreciate all prayers for Selah for her good health!

March Photo A Day Challenge

My friend, Janene, is game for all sorts of challenges when it comes to blogging and photography.  I'm not nearly as disciplined or creative as she is, but I'm going to join her in this March photo challenge that was created by another mom blogger at http://www.fatmumslim.com.au/2012/02/march-photo-day.html
This should be fun . . . now let's see if I can keep up, day by day.  :-)

Here are the prompts and they are open to interpretation, which is a good thing in my case because I usually need to improvise and figure out a picture that can be taken close to home and that isn't time consuming.