26. make a new recipe every week #1 of 52

#26 is make a new recipe every week. Well, 32 weeks have past and I definitely have not done a new recipe every week. However, if we change this goal to mean "do 52 new recipes in the next year" then I will be all set! Just yesterday I did three new recipes and here is #1.

Zucchini Verrines with Tahini Dressing
(from vegetariantimes.com)



* 3 Tbs. tahini
* 1 tsp. lemon juice
* 1/2 clove garlic, minced (1/2 tsp.)
* 2 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
* 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
* 2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds

1. Whisk together tahini, lemon juice, and garlic in small bowl. Stir in 3 Tbs. water, a few drops at a time, and mix until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Cover, and chill.

2. Combine zucchini and mint in bowl. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

3. Divide zucchini among glasses. Top each with dollop of tahini dressing, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with small forks.

Two years old

As I was pulling weeds, pruning bushes, and planning my fall clean up this morning I got overwhelmed at just how fast things have grown. Here it is two years later and I have way too many huge plants in my yard. So, I dug out the old pictures and here is the evolution.

October 08 - planting day


April 09 - the beginning of the first growing year


October 09 - one year after planting


August 10 - almost two years later and thriving!

17. improve the energy efficiency of my house

A few months ago we had a church service about the environment and individual's impact on a daily basis. The talk was terribly depressing because it was full of facts and figures about how much damage people are doing to the earth. However, at the end of the talk the speaker handed out this two paged chart. It has a long list of big and small things each person can do to make their environmental foot print smaller. In an effort to not retype the entire thing, I have scanned it in the blog. Hopefully you can click on the images to make them bigger and check out the list. I filled it out for my life and I hope you feel inspired to do the same!

13. find a local charity for routine volunteering

Pets on Wheels has become my routine volunteering of choice! I'm sure you are all not too surprised by my choice to include my dogs in my giving back to the community. Lula and I visit a nursing home just about every other week. We have met some artists and veterinarians, heard stories and seen pictures of many generations of dogs who have lived on the Eastern Shore, and we get cookies, give kisses, and entertain everyone with our silly tricks. Leni will join us eventually but her crazy puppy energy is still too much for wheel chairs and walkers to handle.

23. break even financially in my childbirth business

I start my 6th round of childbirth classes this week. Each class session has been privately taught in my home with one or two couples. The families I have met have been truly inspirational and many have even become friends. The intimate and personalized nature of the classes have been a great compliment to my busy clinic office days. And with the income of this next class I can officially say that I have broken even financially!

Farmers Market - # 27 and # 28

The heat and humidity finally broke so this morning so we opened our windows, packed the trike basket, and took off for an adventure. With the girls attached to the basket we flew (them running at full speed and me just chilling on the bike seat) down to the farmers market. We filled our bags with peaches, peppers, beans, and bread. We ran into a few two legged and four legged friends along the way too. Now it is 11 am, the girls are exhausted, and I'm fixing myself a 100% local lunch of bruchette and green salad. Life doesn't get much better than this!

This is a perfect example of two of my goals for this year:
27. ride my bike more often
28. shop as local as possible