#GWCRD: George Washington Carver Recognition Day! #Peanuts #SweetPotatoes #STEM #ChildhoodHero

As an asocial geeky little girl, I gravitated toward the life stories of those who used their intelligence and ingenuity to overcome adversity and contribute to society. (I've mentioned my esteem for Ben Franklin in this vein before, but) This day belongs to a man who held particular significance in my juvenile mind. Today is George Washington Carver Recognition Day. Salute!

Born into slavery in the Deep South (Missouri), Carver became an inventor who made lasting contributions to the field botany, in part by promoting alternative crops to cotton that would allow poor farmers to not only provide food for their tables, but also provide products that could improve their quality of life. (Because he spent a good deal of his life at Tuskegee University in Alabama, which is only a hop, skip and a jump away from my native Georgia, I read a children's version of his biography at quite a young age. His extensive use of crops like peanuts --- a mainstay in Georgia's agriculture --- and sweet potatoes, which were very familiar to me as a poor rural Southerner only heightened my interest.) He also took a lead in advocating environmentalism. George Washington Carver was a man ahead of his time. Thank goodness.

#Vegeversary What Can I Make with... #ingredients #recipes #pantry to Satisfy My Sweet Tooth?

Ever had a random craving that will not go away until it's satisfied? It happens. (Luckily for me, not often.) I hate it, but what does one do? The body is a strange and wonderful machine with a mind of its own. I try to listen to my body, but sometimes it speaks a foreign language I have yet to learn.

'Tis the season! Winter officially arrives at 5:44a this morning. The Winter Solstice and the Summer Solstice each coincide with an important date in my life.

Yesterday, for whatever reason, I randomly craved sugar. Don't get me wrong, I like sweets perfectly well, but I tend to only eat sweets in spells. Day to day, if you were to find me snacking, it would most likely be on something salty or savory. So while I do eat sweets, I seldom crave them so intensely that I start searching the pantry for them, as I did then. Unfortunately, the cupboard was bare.

Frustrated, I resorted to examining the potential ingredients I had on hand in order to determine what I could make quickly and without hassle. As I have yet to do any grocery shopping this week, I used one of those recipes search engines that seeks matches based upon an ingredients list that one inputs. Out of milk, butter and oil, but with sugar, eggs and a few other sundries, I got a short list of results. I rapidly scanned down the page, until my eyes fell upon a recipe for a simple peanut butter cookie.

Who'd have thought that 1:1:1 egg, sugar and peanut butter would combine into simply the best peanut butter cookie. It was wonderful. Craving satisfied. (I believe in satisfying one's cravings within reason. I don't deny myself, instead opting to use moderation as a guideline. You only live once, why work at making yourself unhappy? There's enough crap in the world as is. Mindful indulgence works to the benefit of your mental health, if not your physical self. Both mental and physical health is needed, so a balance must be struck.) Have a cookie.

FOOTNOTE: I don't eat meat, but this was a natural progression for me, because I didn't desire it. Giving up meat, therefore, was not truly denying myself anything. Today is my vegeversary! I became a lacto/ovo vegetarian by way of a conscious choice to give up meat on 21-12-1989. Having spent more of my life without meat, than with it, at this point, I don't recall what meat tastes like. It has all the appeal of cardboard.