15/20 Principle of Cleaning

On Monday, I took the advice Charyl (a friend of mine on Facebook) shared with me, advice she'd gotten from FlyLady... set a timer and work for 15 minutes then rest for 20 minutes, work 15, rest 20.... I accomplished a fair bit here, well, compared to what I usually accomplish, I did a lot!!!! I reached a point where I knew I should stop, yet knew I couldn't.

I put a bunch of little bags of food scraps for the compost into a big garbage can outside. I had them in the fridge and on the steps outside, too much snow to get to the compost pile so needed to come up with a better plan. I washed dishes and cleaned my kitchen to the point of where I could actually manage to cook in there!! Then I started to cook. I was going to my monthly Vegan Potluck & Health Video evening so had to get this food cooked, couldn't just say "enough for one day"... also had to stop the rest periods in order to finish things up. It was the first time I made this recipe, but it was basically easy, and it's healthy, though it turned out to be somewhat bland. Needs more spices. Needs more salt, but I don't like using much salt. I usually find that most recipes call for way too much salt, but apparently this one didn't, lol. I posted the recipe here a few days ago.

The evening was great though my back was hurting some. Tuesday I did the dishes I left from cooking as I rushed out in a big hurry, going to be late if I didn't move fast. When I got home I went straight to bed with my laptop. I mostly sat here on my Chaise Lounge, with the laptop, all day long. My back hurt too much to do much else. So, I do think the 15/20/15/20 etc. works well, I also know one can only do this for so long, especially one with FM & other physical issues. I hope to soon be back doing the 15/20/15/20 and getting this place cleaned up. I think in order to get my home organized and cleaned up to where it once was and needs to be again, I could use about three of those conveyor things like we had on some of the jobs I've worked, only instead of bringing bottles down the line for me to pack into boxes to be shipped out, I would be putting things onto the conveyors to sort them and get them out of my way.  1 to take "Recycle" papers, cans, bottles, etc. down to a big clear or blue plastic bag... another 1 for "Donate" items to be boxed... 1 for "Sell" items.... and 1 for "Garbage".... and 1 for "Keep/Put Away"   Okay, so I need at least 5 conveyors, and since my home is not big enough for that many I guess the idea won't work.  More for doing things in a shop or warehouse.

 My second favorite household chore is ironing.  

My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.  

                                                                  ~Erma Bombeck

                                                 Nature abhors a vacuum.  And so do I. 
                                                                   ~Anne Gibbons

Housework is something you do that nobody notices until you don't do it.  

~Author Unknown

GRRRRRR

I am having some serious issues with this blog again!! I can only see 1 post, and can't find a way to show several posts again as it always has done.  I have wasted a lot of time searching for ways to set these things, things that used to be here for changing the look of the blog, etc, but with the new set ups Blogger has developed, I can't find any way of setting up my blog the way I want it. GRRRRR.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

The PCRM website has a number of very interesting articles to read about health.  I recently (about 3 weeks ago) signed up their "21 day Vegan Kickstart" program and received an email from them each day.  Unfortunately, I have not had the time or organization to stick to it and follow along, but since I have all the emails saved I know I can and will get with the program in time.  Meanwhile, I did manage to read some of the emails and enjoyed reading the recipes. I even managed to cook one!! I really am ''kitchen illiterate" and don't do much in that room of my house, but since becoming Vegan I am more interested than I ever was before.

The following recipe is one that was emailed to me recently from PCRM.   As soon as I read it I knew I wanted to make it. It's easy enough even for me to make, and yet healthy and sounded delicious too.  One evening each month, I go to a Vegan Potluck dinner and I decided to make this soup for just that occasion.  It really was easy to make and did taste good, though I found it a little bit bland. Since I rarely use salt I tend to find most recipes call for too much salt, and most soups in restaurants are so salty I can't eat them (and now that I'm Vegan I don't want to eat them as they are meat or cream based).  I brought home left over soup as there is so much food there that we always have left overs, and I added some Mrs. Dash seasoning to it as well as a bit more Himalayan Crystal Salt and fresh ground pepper. This helped a lot and I really quite enjoyed it.  I plan to make this soup again in future and do a bit of experimenting with it.  Also, I had Almond milk in the house but not Rice milk, so used the Almond.  It works just fine.

 Creamy Broccoli Soup

 

This soup gives the texture and taste of a rich creamy soup without the added dairy and high saturated fat content. Enjoy it with whole wheat or rice crackers.

Makes about 8 1-cup servings

 

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes, scrubbed and diced
2 medium celery stalks, sliced
6 cups broccoli florets
2 cups water
3 cups plain rice milk, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 - 4 tablespoons Sesame Seasoning  

Place potatoes, celery, broccoli, and water in a large pot. Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until potato chunks are tender when pierced with a sharp knife (do not overcook).

Transfer about 3 cups of the vegetables to a blender. Add 2 cups rice milk, basil, tarragon, salt, and black pepper. Blend for about 60 seconds, or until completely smooth. Pour blended mixture into a clean pot.

Place remaining vegetables in blender along with the cooking liquid and remaining 1 cup rice milk. Blend vegetables until they are completely smooth or leave them slightly chunky, depending on your taste. Combine blended mixtures, then stir in Sesame Seasoning. Heat gently, stirring frequently, until steamy.

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Per serving (1 cup): 126 calories; 2.8 g fat; 0.4 g saturated fat; 19.7% calories from fat; 0 mg cholesterol; 3.4 g protein; 23.8 g carbohydrates; 6.1 g sugar; 3.8 g fiber; 343 mg sodium; 187 mg calcium; 2.1 mg iron; 41.2 mg vitamin C; 532 mcg beta-carotene; 1.8 mg vitamin E

Recipe from Foods That Fight Pain by Neal Barnard, M.D.; recipe by Jennifer Raymond, M.S., R.D.