Yummy and Healthy Lentil Salad

I love to get creative in the kitchen!  As a vegetarian, making beans and lentils is important for nutrition and you feel so accomplished when you make something so satisfying!  Lentils fill you up with great protein yet they are tasty and you absolutely know they are good for you.

Here is a picture of my completed salad, and by the way, the napkin I made with a sashiko stitch in a lotus design.  If you wish, check out my Sashiko Placemat and Napkin Pattern on Etsy:  Bonnie Lynn Young's Sashiko Placemat & Napkin Pattern.

Here is my nice lentil salad for a hot summer day:

Lentil Salad with Roasted Veggies

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Toss in 2 TB olive oil:  2 cups of chopped carrots and 4 shallots, cut into thin wedges.

3. Spread this mixture onto large baking sheet and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and lots of freshly ground pepper.

4. Roast the veggies about 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, place 1 1/2 cups of brown lentils, 1 bay leaf and 2 cloves of garlic (crushed flat but left intact) in a saucepan.

6. Cover with water about 1 inch or so over the lentils.

7. Bring to a boil; then reduce heat to med/low and cover.  Simmer about 15 minutes.

8. Stir in 1/2 tsp. salt.  Recover and cook about 10 more minutes, until lentils are tender but still hold their shape. Drain and toss out the bay leaf and garlic.

9. Mix the lentils and roasted veggies together and toss with olive oil, balsamic vinegar (the best, from Williams Sonoma, is aged 25 years), and some fresh lemon to taste.

10.  Put lentils over fresh spinach and pour on some more yummy balsamic vinegar.  I used cherry balsamic!

Here is the result:

This recipe is a twist on a similar one I found on Pinterest.  Please go to my Pinterest account, http://pinterest.com/youngbon2/ 
to find more delicious vegetarian/vegan recipes.

Until next time, keep creating and I will too!

Creatively Getting Ready for Dinner with Friends

Getting ready to host a dinner for friends is one of the joys of entertaining.  I absolutely adore creating a menu, choosing linens, setting the table with a mix of interesting dishes, and creating a centerpiece.  Every time I have guests over my table has an entirely different ambiance.

I recently had two friends, Beth Flaherty and Phyllis Campbell, and my sister, Carol Swindler, over for a meal.  The vegetarian menu included zesty carrot, sweet potato and coconut milk soup, a fruity quinoa salad served over spinach, ziti with sun dried tomatoes and kale, and lemon bars.  I will share these recipes another day.

Today I will describe how I set the table and share a picture of my friends and sister:

My sister is wearing black, Phyllis is in the gray and Beth in the pink flowered sweater.  We had a wonderful time dining, talking and laughing together!

When selecting the linens, first I decided to go with a green tablecloth and denim runners.  The runners I made by hand and I added a kind of a Sashiko (running stitch) design to hem them.  I didn't want the lines to look perfect, but rather folksy, so I stitched them without first marking a chalk line.  Here is a closeup:

Here is the runner on my buffet:

I wanted the centerpiece to look refreshing, since it was a warm day, so I decided on a white bowl for the Ikebana arrangement and added gray, black and turquoise rocks in the water.  The unopened bud is a gorgeous peony in pale pink and the arrangement felt crisp and cooling:

 For a candle, I used one of my homemade ones (I could share that creative activity another time) and I set it inside a metal holder, like this:

I definitely want to host many dinners for friends, because not only is the party fun, but the fun I have being creative before the party starts brings added dimension to life.

Until next time dear friends, be creative! 

Bonnie Lynn Young's Green Smoothie

My other blog, http://www.babyboomervegan.blogspot.com mentions the wonderful Vegetarian Summerfest, where I learned to make a terrific green smoothie.  This new smoothie, my own recipe, is really simple to make and you could have the ingredients on hand at any time!

Here are the easy ingredients to add to your vitamix blender:

1/2 bunch of kale
1 apple
1 individual can of pineapple juice
1 individual packet of coconut water
2 bananas

First strip the leaves off the stems of the kale and only use the leaves (torn into pieces) because otherwise the woody stems might wreck your machine.  The bananas could be frozen and you could add more than two if you want the smoothie thicker.  Just whorl everything in your blender and voila!  Done!

Here is the delightful and delicious result:

Our little grandson, Miles, is living with us and his parents while they search for a new home, so sometimes I get up early and make a smoothie for little Miles:

Little Miles is very picky and he hardly eats anything, but he LOVES his green smoothie!  Here's a picture of the little sweetie.

Being creative can include cooking, making new recipes and all kinds of wonderful homemaking activities.  And this brings such pleasure in life.

Until next time dear friends,
Bonnie Lynn Young: Designs for a Creative Life.

Leopard Gloves

What do you do when you see a fabulous pair of leopard gloves on Pinterest (see "my style" Bonnie Lynn Young's boards)  but you want them for only 50 cents?  Why, you go to Goodwill, buy a large stretchy ladies top from the 50cent bin, and make them!

After finding the perfect "fabric," trace your fingers adding one-quarter inch all the way around:

Be sure to put the fabric right sides together when you trace your hand, and trace all the way up to your elbow.  After tracing, pin and cut them.  Then sew the gloves with 1/4" seam allowance.  Hand hem the top of the gloves and because they are stretchy, they will fit "like a glove."  Done!

Now they look like this:

It is SO much fun to be creative - every day, if possible!

By the way, here are my latest photos of the garden -- lots of growing going on right now!

It's such a joy to see this!  Next time I come back, I will share another fun and fantastic crafty, creative project.  Talk to you soon, Bonnie

"Designs for a Creative Life"

I am starting a new blog that will include the ongoing joys of living a creative life.  This new blog will include fun and fabulous activities such as vegetarian/vegan cooking, sewing, designing, gardening, fashion, my patterns, and other wonderfully satisfying homemaking activities.

Today I will start by showing you my little garden.   It is still early spring so many of the plants, started from seed, are very tiny but promising!   It is exciting to see the little lettuces, spinach and pea pods springing up from the earth.

This is the first year I tried my hand at planting in raised beds, mostly from seed.  The seed is organic and I purchased some Chinese stir fry greens that are growing in the bed with the statue.  I am excited to cook with them and will show you that when they are ready.  Other fun vegetables that are planted, (but not up yet), are the Chinese long (green) beans, the Thai red long beans and the Chinese red long beans.  Will keep you posted on those as they come along and are used in yummy stir fry dishes!

Here are some pictures of my little raised bed garden:

This will be my Chinese stir-fry garden, once the little plants grow some more:

 Goodbye for now.  I will soon be back with more "designs for a creative life."  Bonnie