Vegans

I didn't realize until this fall that vegans won't eat honey.  It makes sense, but I just never thought about it.

Lifestyle Bloggers:

Interesting article about how many lifestyle bloggers are LDS.
http://www.good.is/post/sister-bloggers/?mid=52

Too bad the dog isn't a bird dog.

I don't watch television,  so you all may have seen this commercial, but I found it really cute.  My fave part?  The poster in the goose's office.

Wordless: Bear Lake Area Edition

PSA: Wild Flag

Have you ever found a new band and want to tell everyone how awesome they are?  Well, this is Wild Flag, a chick "supergroup" that has an awesome debut album of the same name.  Tell your friends, tell the children that this band is great.

(Lentil) Sloppy Joes!

I mentioned to my sister in law that I had a decent lentil sloppy joes recipe so she asked for it.  I then realized I took pictures of the recipe way back this Spring with the intention of blogging it.  So here it is.  It's really quite good and don't let the amount of ingredients intimidate, the recipe comes together in a flash!  Easy enough for a weekday dinner!  These are so good, my dad would love them (he has a thing against lentils).

Sloppy Lentil Joes

Adopted from JamieOliver.com and tastyeasyhealthygreen.com

•                    1 cup French lentils

•                    1 tablespoon olive oil

•                    1 small onion, peeled and diced

•                    1-2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

•                    ¾ cup tomato puree

•                    2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

•                    1½ tablespoons light brown sugar

•                    ½ tablespoon honey

•                    2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

•                    ½ teaspoon spicy chili powder

•                    ½ teaspoon smoked paprika

•                    Salt and pepper to taste

•                    Whole wheat tortillas/wraps

•                    Lettuce or baby spinach for garnish

Place lentils into a medium-sized pot.  Fill pot with water and stir in a good pinch of salt.  Cook the lentils for about 15-20 minutes or until they are cooked through.  Drain remaining water from the pot and set aside.

Heat oil in a medium-sized skillet.  Add onions and cook until they just turn translucent.  Add carrots cook until they are tender crisp. Add the cooked lentils to the skillet and then stir in the tomato puree, vinegar, brown sugar, honey, mustard, chili powder, and smoked paprika.  Add salt and pepper to taste and cook until the sauce has thickened up a bit.

http://tastyeasyhealthygreen.com/?p=1453

A Thought

I've been reading "Dimensions of Faith: a Mormon Studies Reader" for a little while.  The book is a collection of papers on Mormonism or "Mormon Studies."  Some are written by participating LDS members, while others are written by non-members or less active.  Most of the authors have a phd, but not all.  One is even written by a friend of mine (which is how I came to own a copy of the book).  Anyway, so far I've found the essays very enlightening, but I especially love the forward.  Let me share with you the last paragraph which is a view I share with the editor on Mormonism:

"I think that religion especially, instead of being treated with solemnity and deference, ought to be thought out and understood so that we're not unduly influenced by proselytizers or lack confidence in our position in the world and so that we understand other people's beliefs." Stephen C. Taysom

I also quite like the back jacket summary of the book:

"Believing is one thing, deciding what to believe is harding for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that what is known and what is known is a moving target.  The world changes daily as new revelations burst onto the scene in religion, science, social studies and the humanities............Where new ideas impinge on faith, it is up to us to interpret and manage these views.  Rather than tremble in the face of change we can look confidently at the empirical world through the twin lenses of religious heritage and a grounding in secular learning."