blueberry crumble with vanilla sauce

being on this new diet, (the specific carbohydrate diet), has made me miss things like warm oatmeal with fruit on top to start off my day.  when fall and winter roll around, nothing sounds better for breakfast.  waking up in the morning, pulling the down comforter off my warm body and feeling the cool breeze of the morning air kiss my skin until it becomes cold, and then running as fast as my half-asleep body can to the shower to warm up is nice, but not satisfying enough.  i need to eat something warm to heat me up from the inside out.  

now that we are on this diet, oatmeal is out of the picture, for now.  but luckily we created this amazing dish that has a similar feel to oatmeal but it tastes like blueberry pie.  let me know what you think.

blueberry crumble with vanilla sauce

the goods

1 1/2 cups nuts, (i use a mix of almonds and cashews)

6  T. of dried fruit, (i use either dried dates or dried cherries)

1/2  t. ground cinnamon

1 t. lemon juice

1/2 cup cashews

1/2 cup filtered water

1/2 t. vanilla

2 t. honey

1-2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

the how-to

grind the 1 1/2 cups of nuts in a high speed blender. add dried fruit and cinnamon.  pour in a bowl and set aside.

for vanilla sauce

blend cashews, water, lemon juice, vanilla and honey until smooth and creamy

for blueberries

place blueberries in a sauce pan and heat them over low heat.

in a bowl layer blueberries and crumble.  drizzle sauce on top and sprinkle a little cinnamon on top.  enjoy.

thanksgiving at church

we have been extremely blessed to be at a church that we like. the people are kind, generous and have invited us into their homes. the pastor preaches from the bible. and they even had a thanksgiving feast to bring a little bit of home to us. the buffet table was lined with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, salad, kimchi, bipimbop and 3 tables full of dessert. we were able to have a great meal, meet some new people (some of whom were the puppet team for ryan's awana group in wisconsin), and wish we were at home with our families. we are blessed.

trick-or-treat

finally i am posting our halloween photos.  we had a fun time at school for the halloween party.  the kids were adorable in their costumes, and i'm especially proud of all the korean teachers dressing up this year.

halloween is in my top three favorite holidays.  i love that there is a day dedicated to dressing up.  i only wish more people (girls) would use the opportunity to have fun rather than be as sexy as they can.  they don't necessarily have to wear a costume like the one i wore, but they could use their creative juices for something more than a sexy cat, sexy nurse or sexy witch.  

regardless, i adore this holiday, especially being a kindergarten teacher.

after the school party we went to a friends house for another halloween party.  i have to say that we won the costume contest at that party.

why we love our hamsters

i woke up on sunday to find power ranger sleeping on his side. how can you not love this?

korean zoo

we went to the zoo and these were my favorite animals that we saw.  the bear kept sitting upright with his belly facing everyone and rawr-ing.  the tiger kept pacing back and forth smelling unmarked spots and taking that opportunity to mark his territory.  the giraffe walked along the rail towards a building with a tall doorway and he just stood there in the doorway not moving.

i enjoy zoos for the most part, but eventually i end up leaving depressed because of how sad the animals seem and how they have nowhere to run and stretch and be free.  ryan convinced me that the san diego zoo is a lot less depressing.  none-the-less, we enjoyed our time there.