This is why Psychology is fun

Perk #523: I get to post pictures of celebrities while conducting serious scientific research!

Takin' care of business!

Today, I changed a cabin filter all by my lonesome. For those of you car-literate, this may not seem like a big deal, but for me, it was humongous accomplishment.

I've been meaning to change the cabin filter for awhile, but my carshop quoted me $49.99 for the filter and $29.21 for the labor. Not to mention the fuel system service and radiator flush/fill I still need to schedule. To save money, I figured I should be intelligent to change something as simple as a cabin filter myself!

I ordered a filter online for about $20. I found the filter behind the glove box and simply switched the two filters myself:

 Check out how dirty the old filter (left) is compared to the new (right)!

 Cash saved = $59.21!

 Next month's project: The Radiator Flush and Fill.

Holy Brocamole?!

I LOVE guacamole. It is my comfort food. In fact, whenever I sound a little down or tired on the phone, my dear friend Heather always knows to have homemade guacamole waiting for me when I visit, or she chooses our happy hour locales based on the quality of their guacamole.

Anyway, today I picked up another box of vegetables from the Farmer's Market and planned out some recipes for the week. I wanted to do something a little different with the broccoli this time so went to Allrecipes.com and entered in some of the ingredients I had. Believe it or not, I found a recipe for BROCAMOLE!

Here is the recipe:

• 1 avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1 large head fresh broccoli
• 2 tablespoons red onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• salt to taste

1. Boil or steam broccoli until very soft.
2. In a large bowl, mash broccoli with avocado. Mix in onions, garlic, lime juice, hot pepper sauce, and cilantro until mixture resembles the consistency of mashed potatoes. 
3. Season to taste with salt.

I ended up boiling the broccoli because it was quicker to cook that way. I made sure to rinse the broccoli with cold water and drain completely before mixing it in with the avocado. I bought Hass Avocado which are very small right now so I ended up using about 4.5 Avocados. I left out the hot pepper sauce since I'm not a huge fan of spicy foods. For the lime juice, I squeezed in an entire lime. Next time I might actually squeeze in an orange.

The results, as Rachael Ray says, YUMMO!

Storms

Rembrandt. Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee. 1633.

"The beauties of nature come after the storm. The rugged beauty of the mountain is born in a storm, and the heroes of life are the storm-swept and battle-scarred." - unknown

Goal Pose of 2011

After some thought, I have chosen my goal pose of 2011: Dwi Pada Sirsasana.

Photo courtesy of Kino MacGregor

I will keep you all posted on my progress!

Hearty Winter Soup

I made this soup to use up more vegetables before they began to wilt. This recipe was meant for a crockpot, but since mine broke right before I left for Christmas, I tried to adapt it into a regular stovetop recipe. Here is the original recipe:

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 head cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 pound turkey bratwurst, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 
  
• 1. Place the sweet potatoes, cabbage, and carrots into a slow cooker, then place the bratwurst slices on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle with the salt, thyme, rosemary, and pepper. Pour the wine and chicken broth over the vegetables.
  2. Cook on Low until the sweet potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, 5 to 6 hours.
• 
  
• Instead of Turkey Bratwurst, I thawed and used the ground beef I had brought back from our trip. I then simmered the soup in the chicken broth, and then when the broth all but evaporated, poured more in and simmered it again. Altogether, I used about 8 cups of chicken broth until the soup was ready.
• 
  
• I think that either my friend Steph had pre-treated the ground beef, OR the white wine I used was not dry enough because Holy Batman the soup was SWEET. Don't get me wrong - it was tasty, but I ended up having to eat some salty vegetable chips along with it to balance out the sweet flavor. Note to self: next time buy drier wine. 

Kitchari Recipe

I made my first meal since getting back from vacation. To settle me back into a routine, I made Kitchari which is meant to be a balancing and nourishing meal according to Ayurveda. I added in sweet potatoes and broccoli from my CSA produce. The result turned out to be delicious!

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup Basmati Rice

1 cup Mung Dal

2 tbsp Ghee

1 tsp Cumin Powder/Seeds

1 tsp Turmeric Powder/Seeds

1 tsp Coriander Powder/Seeds

1 tsp Fennel Powder/Seeds

1 tsp of Mustard Seeds (only if you are feeling a bit lethargic)

Vegetables of Choice

7 cups boiling water

salt to taste

1. Wash Rice and Mung Dal separately

2. In a large saucepan, heat ghee. Cook any seeds you are using in the ghee until seeds pop

3. Add in Mung Dal, Cumin, Coriander, Fennel, and Salt and pour in 7 cups of boiling water. Bring mixture to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Dice Vegetables and stir into saucepan along with Rice. Bring mixture to boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add water if necessary, but make sure all water is absorbed before serving.

Enjoy!

My First CSA

I am proud to announce that I joined my first CSA! Many things led up to this decision:

1. I realize despite not eating a lot of meat, I do not eat nearly enough produce (most of my diet consists of starches, grains, and dairy/soy).
2. When I do eat produce, I do not eat enough of a variety of them.
3. I watched the movie Food, Inc. which really convicted me to eat organic and buy local to support local farms.

So I joined a local CSA that has a pickup site about a quarter mile from my apartment. I'm giving it a two month trial period to see how I like it, and I'm only buying a vegetable box every other week due to the sheer amount that they give me. Here is what I got this week:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Beets (which I traded in for tomatoes)
• Salad Turnips
• Mustard Greens
• Cabbage
• Dill
• Swiss Chard
• Kohrobi
• Green Onions
• Sweet Potatoes

Yum!!!

Human Trafficking

Photo originally found on www.curatormagazine.com

I listened to a powerful message today called Human Trafficking by Benji Nolot. If you are interested AT ALL in human trafficking, I highly recommend it. It has completely changed the way I view social justice.

Did you know as of 2007, there were conservatively 27-30 million slaves on our planet? Some experts even estimate there being actually over 200 million slaves, most of who are not accounted for. Out of the slaves over 70% are sex slaves. The women might end up servicing 50 men a day, and suffer through countless abortions over the years. Tens of thousands of women are smuggled EVERY DAY to fuel this grossly profitable industry. When we think about sex trafficking, we often think of countries such as Cambodia and Bangkok. Although what is happening in those countries are no less than atrocious, the top three countries in which women are outsourced are Australia, Japan, and the United States. The United States!?!! Who knew that the land of the free would be importing over 100,000 sex slaves a year!

We think about social justice as being simply an earthly thing, yet it is so much more than that. Social Justice is a spiritual issue. Benji Nolot shared stories and testimonies that point to there being dark spiritual forces creating and perpetuating oppression of human lives. As evidenced in Daniel 10 in the Bible, there is a "prince" over different dominions that we are fighting against. If this is true - if the source of social injustice lies in the spiritual realm - this changes how we must live our lives.

Whenever we participate and give into lust, objectification, sexism, racism, etc., we are coming alongside the very same spirit that is fueling human trafficking, poverty, and other forms of social injustice. Thus, our purity and personal holiness matter! Furthermore, in the Bible we are told repeatedly that the government sits on Christ's shoulders (Isaiah 9). If this is true, OUR PRAYERS MATTER. We cannot simply fight social injustice on an earthly level, we MUST also appeal on a spiritual realm. The only way we can do that is through prayer, both individually and corporately.

I have often lamented the fact that my enrollment in school has kept me from uprooting myself abroad to stand in the front lines of fighting human trafficking. Now I realize I CAN stand in the front lines by getting on my knees everyday and appealing to the One who holds the government on His shoulders. And I can only pray that soon, I'll be able to use my skills and talents to take action and fight one of the biggest evils facing our planet today.

Christian Fasting

John Piper writes in his book A Hunger for God:

"Half of Christian fasting is that our physical appetite is lost because our homesickness for God is so intense. The other half is that our homesickness for God is threatened because our physical appetites are so intense. In the first half, appetite is lost. In the second half, appetite is resisted. In the first, we yield to the higher hunger that is. In the second, we fight for the higher hunger that isn't. Christian fasting is not only the spontaneous effect of a superior satisfaction in God; it is also a chosen weapon against every force in the world that would take that satisfaction away."