THE Most Delicious, Ugly Mushroom Sauce,

This is not a company dish. Let me start off by giving that opinion. Dark green spinach leaves in a salad are ok, or even in a little steamed heap, green lettuce is ok, but for some reason, the appearance of this delicious pasta sauce is just a little off-putting. And really, I think that deleting the offending ingredient so that the sauce is more appetizing to look at, would also lessen the taste appeal. So what can you do? You mix it up and learn to like the sight of a bright green pasta sauce.

So here's the recipe and I'm almost positive (99.5%) that you will love this as much as I did. Here I don't post for ages and suddenly twice in one day! Go figure. Anyway, I'm going to write down the recipe for you here and it gives me a chance to write it down before I forget what I did to get this yumminess. So enjoy the sauce folks:


Mushroom Parsley Sauce

(could be served over pasta or any vegetable dish)

1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup water
1/2 vegetable soup cube (or to taste)
2 cups chopped mushrooms
1/4 tsp Herb de Provence
1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
1/4 cup coconut cream

Take note here: If you don't have coconut cream, then sub the water for coconut milk and you could add a few more mushrooms just to make sure you get enough of their thickening power in the sauce.

Chop up the mushrooms and saute til tender
Put all ingredients, including the sauteed mushrooms
Blend til creamy.
Return to pan, cover and warm til needed.


So there you are, and yes it is bright green, but it's good for you and (maybe even a learning experience). So if you try it and like it, let me know---or not---and enjoy the day. There's gotta be something good about it; maybe a new and easy recipe!






I just want to say that I borrowed these beautiful photos from another site and I couldn't see anywhere that said they had to be purchased, so I thought you might enjoy seeing someones wonderful talent.

A Semi-Clean Break

I was just looking at the date of my last post and it's been a long time! My gosh time flies when you're having fun doesn't it? But in that time, I've made changes, started some things and finished others. One of the things that I decided to do was change the focus of my blog and to that end, just to make it a 'semi-clean' break, I have actually started a new blog. You can find it here, http://quarkspiritualstuf.blogspot.com/2011/04/its-all-just-opinion-isnt-it.html The blog you are looking at now will be maintained (and I do promise to try and keep it up better than of late)and will be more along the lines of what is going on in our day to day life for the benefit of family, and the new one will focus on my philosophies and viewpoints as regards the environment, the economy, spiritual stuff and so on. And in the spirit of my developing outlook on life, you may enjoy the new blog, or you may not, but it's all ok with me, because after all, we are all welcome to our differing perspectives. Besides, those various viewpoints all lend themselves to creation of a fascinating world right?

Latest art....

A few pictures of a recent art project. Polymer clay over an armature and painted to finish.

Beginning the Cycle Again!

So one more time, we begin the cycle of packing, moving, unpacking. Will it never end!!! At this point, I've given up saying never again. There must be something about living in a state of anxiety/anticipation that we find titillating. So there, we're moving again. Mind you it won't be until May but there's much to do before we get to that moment. We're planning our own little house, nothing elaborate, but keeping a few things in mind. Things like, almost no windows on the North Side which is also protected by a windbreak of 30 feet worth of trees, and the other side of the house, situated directly south facing will have windows the full length of it. Extra insulation in the ceiling, insulating foam on the exterior and an on demand hot water system. Little things like that will make the house a little bit environmentally worthy. So lots to think about and plan we'll keep you posted.

And PS: it's snowing today and I was planning on going into town today, but I think I'll wait. Sure is pretty to look at and not even really cold, only about 0 degrees.

Liam the photographer

And just so sweet Liam doesn't feel left out, here are some recent ones that I took the day that Pappa came to pick me up. He had brought his camera so that he could take pictures of Elsa and Liam was just obsessed with it. That little fellow is so quick with electronics! I tried to put a movie on for him and he had to come and show me which buttons to press to get it going. So anyway, Don's camera was all he wanted to play with. And because he is so cute and so insistent, it wasn't long before he had Pappa showing him how to take a picture. Look at how intent he is and he looks through the right hole and presses the right button. We kept telling him to take a picture of our face because it seemed that the camera was always pointing down. Then Kim figured out that he didn't know what a face was, he knows eyes, nose, mouth but he didn't know that collectively they made up a face. Once we straightened him out on that detail, then he pointed the camera up high enough and managed to get a couple shots that weren't all that bad (for a three year old). It was so much fun. Anyway, here they are, student and teacher, for you to enjoy.

More Elsa.....

Few more pictures of the new little munchkin Elsa. She is of course older (two weeks) now but this is all I've got so far. Maybe after Christmas day I'll put some more here for Great Grandma to look at. Enjoy!

Congratulations Kim and Oliver

Personally, I've always found phrases like "we're pregnant" or "a new little person in the world" a little odd. Men are never pregnant, don't care how you look at it, they just aren't. As for "a new little person in the world", well really, that little person was in the process of getting big enough to survive without the enfolding of their mom, who happens to be in the world, so really, they were in the world in some form from conception on. But the difference is that now we get to see them, hear them and snuggle them even if we aren't mom. This preamble is just leading up to introducing a newly visible little person to the rest of the world.

Her name is Elsa Jane Naumann and she was born on November 28th, 2010 at 7:14am and she weighed in at 9 pounds, 2 ounces. As you can see by the photos, she is very cute and has lovely auburn hair and sweet little fat cheeks. What a darling and bonus!!! she has all her fingers and toes and a great appetite. So let's all send a big congratulatory hug to Kim and Oliver and Liam! Wahooo!