I Heart Faces -- Week 22 -- Barefoot week

This was taken last summer in Old Montreal on our first day of a week long vacation. Luke was often barefoot back then. Now, he's a little shoe lover. He loves to put on shoes to go for a walk, to go to the park, to just go. He'll bring me his shoes sometimes -- like, hint hint, Mama! Or he'll walk around in my shoes, even my heels! I'm actually a foot hater -- something about feet gives me the shudders. But this little baby's feet, I could kiss and pet all day.

See more fun "Barefoot" photos at I Heart Faces!

Oh, and, this week, instead of making it a photo competition, the blog is raising awareness for a great organization called Soles 4 Souls. Go check it out here! 

I heart Faces -- Week 21 -- Yellow

First time I'm doing the I Heart Face photo challenge. Fun times.

I snapped this last March in South Carolina. We were so excited to go to his sister's wedding and stay in an ocean-side house. Who knows when I'll get to stay on the ocean again?!And then it looked like this the entire time. EXCEPT for an hour of sunshine that appeared out of nowhere, get this, right in time for the wedding! Nutty eh?

Anyway, the weather sucked, but I sort of love the gray photos. And this one I really love the facial expressions. Give a little baby a plastic beach toy, and boy, you better watch it.

Also I like seeing how small Luke was. A little scoop of a baby. 





See more photos featuring yellowy yellow at IHeartFaces.

Recipe: spicy black bean soup

I am kicking butt in the eating less meat department. I'm eating it here and there, but it's definitely not a daily thing. Besides a mindless bite of Luke's turkey meatball, I haven't eaten any this week besides dinner Tuesday, which was pretty crappy chicken. I think that was what they called it at the grocery store: "Sale on pretty crappy chicken!"

Anyway, tonight's dinner was a Spicy Black Bean Soup. It's a recipe from a book that I made all my own by adding in an extra can of black beans. Hopefully, that means Weight Watchers can't sue me.

Here's how you can enjoy this deliciousness:

1 onion, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped, seeds discarded
3 cloves of garlic chopped
big splash of extra version olive oil, until you look in the pan and feel happy.

Saute those together for five minutes until the veggies are soft.

Then add:
1 cup of water
2 cups of veggie stock (organic!)
2 cans of drained and rinsed black beans (also organic)
big old dump of cumin, kind of big dumb of ground coriander, salt and pepper

Let it boil, then drop the heat and cover. Simmer for 45 minutes. Then haul the whole thing to the closest blender. The recipe said to let it cool first: I didn't. Why? Anyway, dump it in, and blend until it's smooth as smooth can be.

Warning! Warning!

My soup was an unhappy, yucky looking color.

But if you get past that, it's very tasty. My version with double the black beans was maybe thicker than what WW intended, but I like that. It was still soupy enough, but it had some weight to it on your spoon. And some bite -- use only one jalapeno if you're a wimp.

 

Not entirely pretty. But tasty and meatless. 

No. 6 -- Take Luke to the beach

Why it's on the list: Because...

I know he really likes playing outside...

And because the only time we really took him to a beach, it looked like this:

Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey.

Plus now he can run around like a crazy-man, which I suppose would be equally entertaining and terrifying at the beach.

Also: I love the beach.  Le sigh.

How I'll do it: Pick a day. Pray for sun and 78 degrees. Pack a cooler with fixins. Find a frisbee and Luke's beach toys. Lather on the sunscreen. Head for the sunny skies and the softest sand we can find.

Should be delightful. I can't wait.