My 4th BJP Creation + Recipe

This is only the 4th one I've created this year, so I'm a bit behind but still beading. I love flowers, so at least once a year, my Bead Journal Project is all about flowers, usually the May piece, but not this year.

I used a cabochon of real flowers under acrylic, not home made, as the focal point. Each month, I'm using a different material for the focal point. I also love color, so I'm playing with color combinations as well. Purple and green is one of my favorite combinations, and although I've used the same colors before, they look so different in each piece.

My favorite bead to use is the pearl and I use them on all my pieces. In addition to pearls, I've used Swarovski crystals, glass beads, and a plastic button for the clasp.

I'm really enjoying this challenge, even though it is taking me a long time to finish each, as I don't always feel like beading, nor do I always have the energy to do so. However, since my trip to Germany for hyperthermia and no more chemo, I find my energy is returning. Maybe I'll even catch up to make it one piece a month.

Since I am writing a cookbook for cancer survivors and folks with celiac's disease, so the book will be gluten-free, I always like to add a recipe to my blogs. If you don't cook, go no further.

Tasty Roasted Yams

I love cinnamon. However, making mashed yams is a lot of work. This is much easier and just as delicious. It is a lot of "by taste," so don't use too much nutmeg or cardamon.

Ingredients:

1-2 large yams, diced into inch pieces

2 tablespoons Coconut oil

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Cardamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place yams in a plastic bag.
3. Pour in oil and sprinkle with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamon.
4. Close the bag and massage the yams until they are covered with all the ingredients.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, and then stir. 
6. Cook for another 10 minutes and check for softness. They are done when they are soft enough for your taste.

Enjoy!

Feb & Mar Bead Journal Project and recipe

It's been an interesting few months, and as you can tell, I'm a bit behind on getting my monthly projects completed. In Feb, I was told I had a recurrence of my cancer and it was inoperable, which is how I had managed my last recurrences. Chemo seemed the way to go, although it was not an easy decision, and one I had resisted for four years. So, my beading took a back seat. Although I had finished my Feb in Feb, we needed a new scanner which took a while. These two photos were actually taken with my phone. They are both brooches and pendants.

Feb, for me, has always been about love. I used the darker seed beads as my diagnosis was a dark one. So, we contacted the healing group my husband is part of, and the outpouring of love, support, and such great suggestions of complementary medicine to help support the chemo were incredible. I love using pearls and always have them on my pieces, whether it's jewelry or bead embroidery. I had thought I would use only stones, but this called for glass beads as well. The hearts are Rhodonite and Howalite, as well as red glass and clear glass with a green interior. I also used sequin flowers, as flowers and hearts go together too.

In March, I started my chemo protocol; so that month's project is a healing brooch/pendant. I have an angel looking out for me and a four leaf clover for luck. My sister, Karen L Cohen, also a member of the BJP, came to visit and that visit is represented by the buttons; our Dad was in plastics and buttons were part of his inventory. One of the buttons is the Susan button and the other is the Karen button; wonder who they were named after? My sister still had them (she is concentrating on dealing in buttons and is creating fabulous ones in bead embroidery, enamels, and metals and more) and gave them to me to use. The semi-precious stones I have used are red jasper for healing cancer, hematite for grounding, protection, and promoting new blood cells, mother of pearl for focusing one's attention, malachite for detox against tumors, tiger eye for courage to combat fear, pearls, for calm and beauty, stomach digestion and emotional stress, and turquoise for healing, balance, and strengthening. I added the believe charm, as I truly believe that the chemo is working and all will be well.

I hope to finish and publish my April one before the end of the month. However, we leave for Boston on Wed for my scan and then to meet with my doctor at Dana-Farber. We will know more then. In the mean time, here's a recipe:

Quinoa Salad

The basic recipe comes from a bag of Quinoa. Each time I make it, I change the vegetables I use. This was for the pot luck lunch we went to for the Chinese New Year 2012, Year of the Dragon, and I made one and a half recipes. All of the ingredients are organic, and it doesn't matter what vegetables you use, as they all tasted wonderful.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup Quinoa

4 cups vegetables and fruit combined:

     steamed broccoli, small florettes and stem pieces

     steamed zucchini, small chunks

     cucumber, small chunks

     red pepper, diced

tomatoes, diced

sugar snap peas, cut into pieces

mango, diced

edamame

½ large red onion, minced

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon coconut vinegar (can use any vinegar you like)

3 ½ tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt and fresh pepper to taste

3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted (can use any nuts, like almonds)

½ cup chopped cilantro

Instructions:

1.  Cook the quinoa with the broth as directed on package. Allow to cool. This could be done the day before.

2.  In a large bowl, combine the vegetables and everything else except the nuts and cilantro.

3.  Add the quinoa, nuts, and cilantro, and mix well.

4.   Taste and adjust the seasonings. Can be served cold or room temperature.

ENJOY!

Traveling

Our first day of travel, Miami to Los Angeles, was a relatively easy one. Early morning pick up so we arrived at the airport before 9:30AM, not bad traffic. Our taxi driver was from Haiti, luckily from Gonieves, so he didn't have family in Port-Au-Prince and hadn't lost anyone close to him in the recent earthquake. We're still waiting to hear from our supplier down there about how he and his family are; no news and the waiting is painful.

Going through security at an airport is always a treat. I made a delicious salad for my lunch and brought salad dressing, Organicville's Tarragon Mustard yummy, with me. However, in this case, I forgot about the no large amounts of liquid with security. I offered to just pour a bit on my salad and throw out the rest, but they wouldn't let me - this isn't a cafeteria, I was told. They wanted us to put our shoes back on, go all the way around, back out of security, pour whatever I wanted, and then come back through. I decided to forgo my dressing, as I had also brought a lemon and would use the lemon juice on the salad. Oh well. Somehow, it's gotten turned around and it's politically incorrect to target someone who looks like a terrorist, but salad dressing, where I was going to put it on my salad and eat it, is a threat.

I know it's not true for everyone, but, for me, food and eating are among the great pleasures in life. Having had cancer has opened up a whole new world in learning about different foods and trying out new recipes, or tweaking the ingredients in ann old one to suit what I'm choosing to eat. It's all a choice - no one had told me I couldn't eat such and such, although recommendations have been made about what inhibits the growth of cancer cells and how to have a more alkaline body. I get choose what I want to do for myself! It's important to realize this and KNOW that it is a choice. It makes it easier to not eat chocolate, because if I choose to have a piece, I will, but I usually choose not to, due to the caffeine and sugar contents.

One the first things we did after dropping our luggage off at Brian's home was go to Whole Foods to pick up some alkaline water. At home, I have a filtering machine which separates the alkaline from the acid water; it's the Jupiter brand and works really well. While at Whole Foods, since it was dinner time, and Grace wasn't suppose to be home until close to 8PM, we had dinner there. I discovered raw falafel - delicious. Too bad there wasn't a soup there I chose to eat, due to cream, sugar, or something else I'm not having. It's really cool here, 55 degrees when we landed and rainy, so something hot would have hit the spot. However, the falafel and salads were good too. We finished our shopping and went home to find Grace got there earlier than expect. Great to see her too.

I'm finishing this Wednesday morning, as I was too tired last night. Off to have breakfast.

The Beginning

Okay. Here goes... I guess I need to start somewhere, but Im just not sure where that is. Food. I seem to be all about food. At least, that's what I'm told by my very good friends. It seems that no matter what else I do, and I do a lot, plus I'm writing a cook book, food always seems to be part of it.

We're (my husband, Art, and I) getting packed for a seven week trip and we leave tomorrow morning. All my stuff is out but not yet packed. So, maybe I should leave this for a bit later when I'm really ready to go.....

Part of my packing is also about food. I'm a cancer survivor, which I'll be blogging about too, so I follow certain parameters with my diet. Traveling is sometimes a challenge if you're watching what you eat. I'm taking certain items with me that may be difficult to find in New Zealand, or at least they will start me off down there, until I find my way around, such as cereals (I'm gluten-free), so I'm taking Puffed Millet and Quinoa Flakes, one cold and one hot, both very tasty and found at Whole Foods, a health food store. Also for breakfast I have a couple of different raw granola mixtures - although I don't usually eat dried fruit, which is in both, as dried fruit's natural sugar is more concentrated (I'm sugar-free, using only Stevia and Agave). I have crackers I really like, made of millet, brown rice, and flax seeds (www.samisbakery.com), and then several other items that need to be packed.

Resources will be shared here and in my cookbook. I'm toying with two different titles, and I may end up with something completely different once I've completed it. Here's what I'm thinking about:
A Wellness Journey Cookbook:One Cancer Survivor’s recipe for eating and being well with the spice of life
or
The Spice of Life Wellness Journey Cookbook

This cookbook will be for cancer survivors and people with Celiacs Disease who can't eat gluten. Of course it'll be healthy for anyone who wishes to use it, as each item will be delicious, so you don't have to be on a diet, or you can be on one like Art is, the See Food Diet, if he sees it he eats it, in order to use the book.

I design jewelry and do bead embroidery; here's a link to my website, Mermaid's Jewelz

Got to go for now. Have to make dinner and finish packing. I'm open to all comments.

Susan