Lent

I made a kind of last minute decision this year on what to give up. And the decision is....

*drum roll*

Ahaha you'll have to keep reading to find out...

Keep imagining a drum roll...

I actually read a really cool Lenten poem on my friend Tammy's blog:

A Lenten Reflection

Give up complaining — focus on gratitude.
Give up pessimism — become an optimist.
Give up harsh judgments — think kindly thoughts.
Give up worry — trust Divine Providence.
Give up discouragement — be full of hope.
Give up bitterness — turn to forgiveness.
Give up hatred — return good for evil.
Give up negativism — be positive.
Give up anger — be more patient.
Give up pettiness — become mature.
Give up gloom — enjoy the beauty that is all around you.
Give up jealousy — pray for trust.
Give up gossiping — control your tongue.
Give up sin — turn to virtue.
Give up giving up — hang in there!

These can be lifelong things to give up, not just for Lent. Buuuuuuut for these 40 days of Lent, I'll be giving up......

Ready?

*drum roll continues*

The convenience of microwaves.

Yup.

So instead of reheating stuff in the microwave, I'll either reheat it in a pot on the stove, or on a tray in the oven, depending on what it is. I'm looking forward to this actually. My friend Alison decided two years ago to give up her microwave (check out her Mind the Microwave May post), and I guess you could say she's part of my inspiration of doing this now. The main reason I've chosen to give up the microwave is for health reasons, to go along with my better eating. Microwaving food can cause the food to lose its nutritional value, and could also leak chemicals from plastic containers into the food, YUCK!

Today for dinner I made spaghetti and home-made sauce. Except I had made the sauce on Sunday, and so I reheated it in a pot as the spaghetti cooked. The sauce is AMAZING!!!!! I just used a bunch of veggies that I had kickin' around in the fridge: a red onion, red, yellow, and green peppers, some leftover roasted peppers, and a bunch of tomatoes. And of course some sea salt to bring out the flavours. Oh and some fresh oregano at the end.

Once it was all cooked up, I put it through the blender, just enough to chop everything up, but still keeping it chunky.

Once the spaghetti was cooked and drained, I put it back in the pot and mixed the sauce in. And of course, served it up with some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, delish!!!! =D

I must say, this sauce is WAYYYYYYYY better than the sauce I used to make from canned tomatoes (*shudder*). Absolutely wonderful, so full of flavour! =D