Marc's Graduation & Poha with Coconut & Cashews from Michael Natkin

It's been a busy few weeks and I've missed blogging but Marc just graduated from college last weekend and we were fortunate enough to celebrate with family and friends.

How I love these two!

Gorgeous photo of my gorgeous parents with Marc taken by Gabby.

Wonderful family friends even came from California to celebrate making the weekend even more special.

Words cannot express how proud I am of Marc and the wonderful young man he has become. His future is in God's hands and I can't wait to see it unfold. It was a crazy busy, deeply emotional and ultimately blessed time.

We had a great time at his party.  My friend Ruth helped me with set up.  Gabby not only made a trio of dips and her amazing beachy fruit salad but she also took gorgeous photos that we will treasure. Marie and her mom made shrimp skewers, watermelon skewers and the hit of the party - gluten free lemon bars garnished with strawberry slices.  They've shared the recipe and I'll be sure to pass it along soon.

She loves him as much as I do!

Oh my gosh!

I haven't had much time for catching up here or anywhere else for that matter. There are several posts that need to be done - one on Martin's Curry Rice's South Indian Sunday Brunch (which is amazing), one on our weekend in New York and a scrumptious gluten free bakery we enjoyed while we were there and some new recipes I've played with, too.

If you've stuck with me this far you deserve a great recipe!  Here's a new favorite recipe from an old favorite site I love. The website is called Herbivoracious.com and it is such a wonderful place to visit and just wander through. Michael Natkin presents vegetarian recipes from around the world with gorgeous photographs and the unique combinations he comes up with make simple foods really shine.  While not a gluten free site, many recipes are either already gluten free or easily adaptable. His Enfrijolada recipe is a family favorite and once you've made it the first time you'll find you can adapt it a million different ways for quick weekday meals.

This Poha with Coconut & Cashew is a recipe I intended to make a month ago or more. I've always got a bag of raw cashews in the freezer in case I need a quick fix of Sri Lankan Cashew Curry and I'd just gotten a nice big pail of shredded coconut from Tropical Traditions. All I needed was the Poha (flattened rice from the Indian market) so I ran out to get it that afternoon. Then something came up and I didn't make it that night or for the next couple of weeks. I finally got to make it right before all the graduation craziness began.  Although there are a few ingredients to gather everything comes together very quickly if you have everything ready and measured before you start. Our meal was a simple one of Sri Lankan Lentils, Basmati Rice and quick frozen organic veggies.  It was flavorful, satisfying and absolutely delicious.

I think you'll enjoy this as much as we did - let me know if you try it!