To avoid working on Boogie's dress and coming clean about my lack of progress, I've decided to post about food. I don't remember where I got this Recipe but it is incredibly delicious and perfect for the vegetarian in your life. This is a crockpot recipe so those not into crocking their food might want to turn away.

Hearty Bean and Vegetable Stew



Ingredients:
1lb. assorted beans, dry
2 cups vegetable juice
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup apple juice
Vegetable stock or water
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, diced
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. black pepper
1 cup cooked rice or pasta (I use brown rice)

Directions:
Sort and rinse beans then soak overnight in water. Drain beans and place in crockpot. Add vegetable juice, wine, soy sauce and apple juice. Cover with vegetable stock or water, the amount depends on whether you prefer a soup or a stew. Cook on high for 2 hours. Add vegetables, herbs, spices and cook for 5-6 hours at low until carrots are tender. When tender, add rice or pasta and cook for 1 additional hour.

I serve this with cornbread. Yes, you are looking at a very blurry image of made-from-scratch Southern cornbread. It's a family recipe. You didn't actually think I'd give you the recipe, did you?
It's even baked in an iron skillet! How's that for homey goodness?

I mentioned earlier I have a lot of cute critters in my home and here's one of them:

Cecil is part Cocker Spaniel (mom) and whatever mutt jumped the fence and her (dad). Likes include chewy toys, playing fetch with Boogie and snuggling under the covers. Dislikes include leaving said covers, anything that requires a great deal of exertion on his part and people clapping for him.

I've been toying around with the idea of moving my blog somewhere else. Although I've enjoyed Blogger, there are some features that I'm looking for and am simply to lazy to program into my current template. Right now, I'm trying the 30 day free thing at Typepad. I'll let you know if I make the jump.