Swimming, Magical Music, and Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Cauliflower

I know this is a bizarre title but it's what I'm thinking about. Please excuse the lack of segues.

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As an update to last week's post, I have joined the YMCA! On Wednesday morning I got up at 5AM and was in the pool swimming laps at 5:30AM. It felt great! I'm planning on doing it again tomorrow morning.

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Does anyone remember the song from the 80s called "We Belong"? It was performed by Pat Benatar, but written by one of my favorite groups, Lowen and Navarro. I bought their Broken Moon album after hearing them on NPR. I went to see them in concert a few times and purchased a few more albums. When my son was a few months old Lowen and Navarro's music became magical for our family as it would calm our fussy infant and get him to fall asleep. All of you former or currently sleep-deprived parents out there can certainly agree that this would be magical! My son continued to fall asleep to Lowen and Navarro until last year when he discovered Adele and Robbie Schaeffer, of Eddie From Ohio. His favorite music to fall asleep to now is Robbie Schaeffer's La La Love, which is an awesome song for a good cause, an organization called One Voice.

Getting back to Lowen and Navarro, they have some absolutely beautiful songs. One of my favorites is Crossing Over, from their album Pendulum. My favorite album is Live Radio, which is acoustic versions of some of their songs. Unfortunately, Eric Lowen passed away last year from ALS, but Dan Navarro is still performing. Their final album, Learning to Fall, is particularly poignant.

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This recipe is something I threw together because my grocery store was lacking most of the veggies I was looking for, such as squash, parsnips, and turnips. So, I decided to try cauliflower because I'm starting to like it now that I know it's good roasted. It was a hit, even with the almost-3-year-old. And, it was easy! Who doesn't like that?


Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Cauliflower
The cauliflower can be cut and washed the night before. The sweet potato can be peeled, cut, and stored in water until ready to use.

• 2-3 sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2"-3/4" cubes
• cauliflower, 1/2 head, cut into florets
• salt and pepper
• nutmeg

1. Cook sweet potatoes and cauliflower together. I pressure cook them for 4 minutes with 1/2 cup of water. Boiling or steaming would also work. Depending on your cooking method, you may need to drain cooking water.
2. Mash them and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. They will be somewhat lumpy.

This recipe has been shared on Diet, Dessert and Dogs' Wellness Weekend, Vegetarian Mamma's Gluten Free Fridays, Allergy Free Alaska's Whole Food Fridays, and The Daily Dietribe's 5-Ingredient Mondays.