Stricken!!!!

Yesterday I was stricken.

I was craving terrible things and the want was becoming so overpowering that I became quite cranky, and even hostile about it. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not an angry person, or one that becomes hostile or aggressive, but for some reason, I was out of my mind with cravings for cheese. I wanted Ooey Gooey drip down your chin, greasy cheese. I know, I know....It is disgusting. I know there is puss in it, I know it would make me sick if I ate it. But I wanted it, something awful! I went to town on a mission to buy some pizza with extra cheese on it. I was in such a terrible mood that my oldest daughter yelled at me! Emma told me that if I wanted the cheese just eat it. We got into a stupid fight and I settled myself down and decided to just go home and make goulash.

Is the craving gone? Heck no. Will I eat cheese......no, probably not. But I want it.....

It is in the back of my mind that I need it.

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Here is my story......

Over the last two years I have been really ill. I have been in and out of the hospital, on a dozen different medications and finally put on steroids and told that my vegan lifestyle would just not work at this time. Of course I fought their decision to stop me from being a vegan. I went against them for about 3 months....until they told me I was anemic and my white blood count was so dangerously low they would have to admit me to the hospital for an extended stay if I did not follow their plan. My body was breaking down, it did not have enough of something to fight off the free radicals invading my system. I had (this is the doctors) to eat meat.

I am not going to lie to you , I have always liked the taste of meat. I love ice cream and cheese. But my body doesn't break down animal protein and it makes me really ill, so it was pretty easy for me to stop eating everything that had to do with animals when I became a true vegan in 2002.

Per doctors request, I started eating some organic chicken and cheese, and on rare occasion I ate beef, I also continued to eat my vegan diet with ton of vegetables and fresh fruit too.

I have never liked milk, I think it is gross, but cheese and I have had a love affair. You see I love all cheeses, Blue cheese, sharp cheddar, Havarti, Swiss, you name it, if it was cheese I would eat it.

I was just released to start back on my vegan foods in December.

From September 2008 until December 2009 I gained 60lbs. The combination of steroids, different medications and adding "BAD" foods back into my pure clean lifestyle really did me in. I am normally a size 13 give or take, and I am deeply happy with that size, but now sadly I am an 18 and craving CHEESE!!!!

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I need an intervention, I desperately need some support.

Hi, My name is Brandi....and I have an addiction to cheese.........Hi Brandi.......

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If anyone has ever gone through this please help me.

What did you do? Did you eat cheese? Did you lock yourself in the bathroom?

I cannot believe this is happening to me!!!!!

I have always been very faithful to my vegan lifestyle, It must be the addictive compounds in the dairy that are leaving my system and fighting with my brain to stay!

Chinese Dinner and a word about Snow

First off..... Hello Friends,
Where I live is blanketed in about 8 inches of snow right now and I cannot get any Internet connection on my computer. I am sitting at my friend Felissa's house using her computer signal. Thank goodness she lives only a block away!!

Until the snow melts some I will not be blogging as often as I normally do, I apologize in advance.

My daughter and I went to Starbucks yesterday to grab some tea. I have to tell you, I forgot the name of the tea I drank, but oh...yuck! It tasted like black pepper in water, so gross. The good thing about going to Starbucks was my daughter discovered Grounds for your garden!! Starbucks is giving away 5lb. bags of their used coffee grounds to use in your garden!! I thought it was a brilliant idea and we grabbed some on the spot. Since we will be having several gardens this year I will take all the extra help I can get!!!! Yay Starbucks for being Eco friendly!!! ( somewhat, anyway)

This is what we had for dinner, I wanted to have Chinese, so I made a buffet of sorts.
Vegetable Lo Mien
Tofu Fried Rice

Green beans and baby portabello mushrooms

Vegetable Pot stickers with Red pepper garlic shoyu sauce and sesame oil sauce

Here is the entire meal.

I was not thrilled with the way things turned out, but my family loved it and ate all of it!!!

I am really picky when it comes to oriental food, and the sesame oil I used was to overpowering for me. I used way too much tofu in my rice, and I bought the pot stickers last month from Dillon's, because I am lazy..

Next time I will only use about 1/4 cup tofu, ditch the sesame oil and definitely make my own dumplings and try not to be so lazy, it makes a difference!

Until I blog again, have a wonderful day!

Stoup, Whole Wheat bread and Apple Pie

Tonight I wanted something....homey. When I was younger my mother would make a peasant soup that was a cross between stew and soup, Rachel Ray calls it Stoup, I call it comforting.
I am not a bread baker. I want to be, but bread and I do not get along......It hates me.....
So, I go to my neighborhood store and buy 3 loaves of vegan bread dough and bake it, and pretend I made it! My family thinks I am brilliant, even though they know I did not make it from scratch. Instead of getting my usual white bread dough I opted for some whole wheat. It is really tasty, with the taste of honey without the brutality associated with it.
I pause to wonder if I should post the Stoup recipe here. It is so simple.....
I'll do it...

Peasant Soup:

1 can organic corn, do not drain
1 can organic green beans, do not drain
1 can organic sliced stewed tomatoes
2 not chicken bouillon cubes
3 peeled and sliced carrots
2 stalks organic celery, sliced
5 yukon gold potatoes, washed and chunked
3 cups filtered water
1/3 pkg. Ditallini pasta
salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in a large crockpot, except pasta. Cook on high for 4 hours. Taste before you season it, canned veggies have a high salt content. Season with salt and pepper. In a medium pot, boil water for noodles. Add noodles when water is at a rolling boil and cook for about 9-12 minutes, until al dente`. Drain and add to soup. Serve...
Since this is a peasant soup, you can add anything you like. I like to keep it really simple, it is peasant after all.
This in my opinion is the quintessential comfort food. There is just something wonderful in the simplicity of it.




I have alot of apples.....probably 12 lbs. I went to Smith's market and they had a sale, buy a 3lb. bag of Fuji apples, get a 3lb. bag of granny smith for free. So I bought 4 bags. I eat apples everyday, so it was a good deal. But....the granny smith, were uncharacteristically tart, really tart. So I made a pie.

Before my mother died, we would put up a dozen apple pies every year right after Halloween. That way we could eat them all year long. I love homemade apple pie, I would say it is my favorite homemade pie after rhubarb.

I hate to brag, but I have the best pie crust. It is so simple~

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Perfect Pie Crust

2 cups Organic All purpose Flour

1 Cup Non Hydrogenated vegetable shortening (I use an organic brand)

1 tsp. sea salt

6 Tbls. Ice water

Place your flour and salt in a large bowl, add your shortening, using a pastry cutter or two knives work the shortening into the flour, add water a tablespoon at a time until it looks like right....hmmm, it should look like the above picture, You do not want to make it completely mixed in, or you will have a tough dough.

Separate into two balls.

Sprinkle flour on a cutting board or on your cabinet top, dump dough onto it and flour your rolling pin. Roll the dough into a circle as best as you can, the bottom crust is not going to show, so I really do not worry about it's presentation.

Fold in half and lay over your pie pan. Make sure your crust covers the entire pan and cut off any excess hanging off the sides.

Add your fruit, I used 3lbs. Granny Smith apples that I peeled, cored, and sliced thin into cold water that I added lemon juice in to keep the color.

Add 1- 1 1/2 cups of cane sugar, 3 Tablespoons flour (to tighten your filling) and about 3 Tablespoons cinnamon. Mix well. This makes one 9inch deep dish apple pie.

Roll out the second crust, this crust you want to be pretty, make it as round as you can, Once again fold over and lay across pie filling.

Pinch the edges to seal in your filling. You do not want the juice from your pie to leak out and spill in the bottom of your oven. As a precaution, I always place a baking sheet under my pies.

Cut 3 or 4 steam holes into the top. I like to polish the top of my pie with soy creamer to give it a nice sheen and then I sprinkle it with some organic cane sugar before I bake it!! Bake @ 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until the filling is soft, but not mushy and the crust is a light brown.

The finished pie.....I had to wait until it was cool....so sad

As you can tell, I have no paitence at all and cut it before it cooled completely. I lost some of the juice, but look at that flacky crust!!!

Make this crust, take it to your county fair and enter your Vegan pie, and you will win!

All the little old ladies with their lard crusts will stare in disbelief. They will be huddled together trying to figure out how a vee-gun made a flaky crust with only 4 ingredients. One of them will be so jealous, I bet they try and steal your recipe. You can just stand there and smirk knowing how easy it really is.......Enjoy!!!!!!!!!

I am having a love affair.......with Jasmine Tea

I am so in love with Jasmine Tea! The smell, the taste, the cute little organic packaging and the way the string pulls out of the bag. It is complete joy! I have had at least 4 big coffee cups today, and yesterday at least 3. If you haven't tried it yet, put the computer down, get your shoes on and RUN to the store and get some!!!

What are you waiting for....GO NOW!

I am seriously thinking about the raw lifestyle. I read about several of my fellow bloggers who have adapted to a semi-raw liestyle. Can anyone give me a few pointers for starting out?

Sorry about the small post, but I am very busy getting my spring cleaning/ garage sale lists ready and clearing out my pantry that has been over run by extra cookware I never use.

I am seriously thinking about getting rid of my microwave, it really is bad for our health and I hate that it takes up valuable cabinet space.....What to do....What to do...

I've got Spring FEVER!

I have spring fever really bad!
I want to get out and dig in the dirt, to go running barefoot with my children. There are so many things to do, springtime really makes me want to get outside in the sunshine and just be. I am a child of the sun, to me there is no other place I want to be than in my yard!

We start planning my gardens in January, we have 4 different gardens that my husband and I plant together.

Here are our gardens
1. Traditional vegetable garden, Green beans, cucumbers, potatoes, cabbages, onions, beets, okra, turnips, carrots, brussel sprouts, tomatoes and zucchini
2. Watermelon garden, completely dedicated to growing two different kinds of watermelon
3. Spring garden, sugar snap peas, snow peas, kale, lettuce, spinach, green onions, and radishes
4. Pumpkin and squash bed, sugar pumpkins, Giant Jack pumpkins, acorn squash, and butternut squash.

I usually do a traditional English style garden, with many different layers and rows. I like to incorporate flowers and herbs among the rows, not only for beauty but as a deterrent for pesky bugs and rabbits.

My favorite thing to do, is to go out to overgrown pastures where the trees have gone wild and gather the fallen limbs and make teepee's for my beans to grow on and fences for our morning glory's to climb.

My mother always said when the Golden Forsythia blooms spring is here! I have a beautiful Forsythia in the front of our yard that we can look at as we sit on our porch.

We are lucky to have a really large yard, it is 3/4 of an acre and pretty open all the way around with our house placed right in the middle.

With spring comes lighter meals, I adore salads and fresh fruit. It feels good to finally be rid of all the stews and casseroles of winter. My absolute favorite thing to make in the spring is strawberry lemonade!!! We drink gallons and gallons of it, and it is good for you too!

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Strawberry Lemonade:

1 1/2 cups Fresh Organic Strawberries, cleaned and left whole
2 cups Organic cane sugar plus 2 tsp. You can use organic agave, it tastes really good too!
1 cup hot water
2 cups fresh Organic lemon juice
1 gallon cold filtered water
1 Organic lemon, sliced

Directions
Take 1 cup strawberries and mash them with 2 tsp. sugar, set aside

Place sugar and hot water in a gallon jar and stir until sugar dissolves. Add lemon juice and cold water to render 1 gallon. Stir until well mixed. Add strawberries and mix well. I let mine set for about an hour so the flavors mix together. Pour lemonade over glasses of ice, Take a whole strawberry and slice it to fit over the rim of your glass, then place a slice of lemon beside it or twist and insert in lemonade.

If you want to make just the lemonade just omit the strawberries.

This is a really nice, tart lemonade, I sometimes adjust the sugar if I am in a tart mood or a sweetie pie mood!

I think I got this recipe from Paula Deen ages ago. Thanks Paula, sorry I had to make it healthier!

I would like to know, is anyone else planning a garden, and what will you be planting??

Thank you to the people that loaned me their pictures. It means alot to me!!!

Things I have eaten lately Part 2

I thought I would do another "Things I have eaten lately"!!
While the above picture is not the best I have ever taken , it was delicious! It my version of a Eggplant Po' Boy!! I served it with a pasta salad.

We had this for dinner last night, Field Roast Brand Meatloaf, skin on mashed potato's with a onion mushroom gravy and beets

Tonights dinner, I like to make homemade sub sandwiches. Italian bread, lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, cucumbers, jalapeno's and wax peppers. Olive oil and red wine vinegar....salt and pepper. YUM! I ate mine with some Lays potato chips

I was craving something southern tonight, so I whipped up some Peach dumplings. I was talking to Valerie the other day about peach dumplings and I really stared to crave them, so here is the recipe..

Gypsy Peach Dumplings:
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
2- 280z cans peaches in pear juice
2 cups AP flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tbls sugar, optional
1/2 rice milk or soy cream, more or less
cinnamon, optional

Preparation:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup sugar, and hot water. Add peaches and cinnamon if using, bring to a boil. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar, if using; stir in rice milk or soy cream to form a stiff batter. Drop large spoonfuls of batter onto the boiling fruit. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes. Spoon out dumplings and fruit into bowl. If desired, sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar. Sometimes we serve with rice dream or soy ice cream. Serves 4 to 6.

ME ME ME ME ME!!!!!!

It’s all about you, so why not? The only challenge is the thinking part. Let’s go!

1. Where is your cell phone? to my left
2. Your hair? Really short, blondish brown
3. Your mother? Very missed
4. Your father? a cool guy
5. Your favorite food? Anything chinese
6. Your dream last night? bizarre
7. Your favorite drink? At the moment flavored tea
8. Your dream/goal? To have a best selling novel on simple living
9. What room are you in? In the living rom
10. Your hobby? Gardening, reading, shopping
11. Your fear? lossing another person I love
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Oregon
13. Where were you last night? Wichita
14. Something you aren’t? A liar
15. Muffins? Yes please!
16. Wish list item? New windows for the house, an outdoor entertainment area, and a silver volvo
17. Where did you grow up? Newton, Iowa and Overland Park, Kansas
18. Last thing you did? Mashed some potatoes for dinner
19. What are you wearing? A grey and navy blue long sleeved baseball t-shit and green, yellow, and white sleep pants....WHAT! I don't match.....and......
20. Your TV? Just turned on
21. Your pets? obnoxious and loving
22. Friends? Wonderful
23. Your life? Pleasant
24. Your mood? Really happy, Chris just got home, and I spent a great day cooking with Kaiti
25. Missing someone? Horribly
26. Vehicle? Chevy Excursion van
27. Something you’re not wearing? Socks
28. Your favorite store? Coming Home
29.Your favorite color? Orange
30. When was the last time you laughed? 10 minutes ago
31. Last time you cried? Last week
32. Your best friend? Felissa
33. One place you go to over and over again? Felissa's
34. One person who e-mails you regularly? My father is law....
35. Favorite place to eat? At home, the food rocks and it has a nice atmosphere....LOL

Now, copy this and make it your own, go and tag someone and let the game begin!

Saturday shopping extravaganza!!!!!!

First off, Hello Bloggies!!!!
I am hoping all of you are having a wonderful weekend doing something that makes you happy!
As you know I had a date with my hubby Chris yesterday! This was the first date we have gone on in about a year and a half, whew...that is a long time! Ever since we moved back from Illinois it has been a whirlwind of work, fixing our home and taking care of the kid. So when I tell you this was way over due, you can relate!!!

We decided to go to the bustling city of Wichita, Kansas!
Wichita has alot of great health food stores and a couple of vegetarian restaurants.
I have only been to two health food stores and I have never been to a veggie restaurant in my life, so our mission was set!!!

Chris and I woke up late, but finally got on the road about noon. We were about 35 miles away from home when I realized I left the camera and directions to the stores......OOPS! We forged on anyway!
I know Wichita really well, but Chris hates city traffic so I usually drive, but he wanted to, so needless to say there were some tense moments once we hit city limits....and the occasional bad word thrown out for good measure. Sigh.....
Our first stop on our adventure was to go to Whole Foods on 21st. and Amidon.
We got lost....Luckily Chris is a man who asks for directions!! We asked a police officer if he could help us and did he ever! Not only did he give us the directions, but he followed us to our turn to make sure we didn't get lost. Before he left, we got a wave and a really nice smile, thanks Officer Friendly!!!!
When we arrived at Whole Foods, they were in the process of moving their store to a new location, so the whole store was 25% off. They had 4 tables marked 50% off, BOO-YA!
I bought two cheese less pasta meals, some saltines, granola, and ritz like crackers. We also bought a box of organic cocoa ball cereal and two bags of organic vegan chocolate chips!!! We only spent $20.16!! Woo-hoo
Next we decided to try and find Green Acres.
As we were driving I spotted The Thai Binh Supermarket. I have never been in any foreign food store, and I was amazed at the wonderful and creepy things we found...
Stepping inside was like falling through a rabbit hole for me. I have been pretty sheltered my entire life, and this was.....frightening to be honest. I held onto Chris and let him lead me through.
Chris was stationed in Saudi Arabia during the Desert Storm War and got to go into some of their stores while he was there, he said it reminded him of it alot.
I have never seen so many dried mushrooms in my life...every kind I had ever heard of and some I had never seen. They were packaged in huge 5 lb. bags.
There were several types of soy sauce and hot pepper sauces too, also in large containers.
They had a huge asortment of canned items. From mushrooms to turkey. I will give you a small list of canned items we saw.
Apples, whole fish, lychee, strawberries, durian, mustard leaves, whole shrimp, whole duck, mock duck, mock abalone, and squid. There were tons of dried fish, and crustaceans too. The front of the store smelled delicious, there was fresh baked goods, and fresh fried tofu. They had a great little deli section full of fresh tofu, and rice cakes. The candy aisle was awesome!

Then we made our way to the back of the store......Que the creepy music...da da dum dum da da dum dum
We found where the dead things were......Oh my gosh, how can I explain the smell? Death, yes that is obvious....but oh, it was so bad. I wanted to leave, Chris soldiered on...and I followed.
There were live carp swimming in a huge aquarium, and lots of frozen fish laying or I should say tucked in ice. There was a huge freezer section where I found frozen seitan in chunks, and a huge display of vegan and vegetarian meats.....right beside pigs blood, congealed and fresh...hurp! Let's just say I passed on getting any veggie meat there...The vegetable department was directly across from the pig blood and I was having a hard time not vomiting, but I did get a good look at some of it. They had Chinese long beans, whole durian, fresh lychee fruit, lots of strange and alien looking squash, some beautiful mung bean sprouts, the best I have ever seen, and some assorted fresh herbs I could not identify.
In case you do not know what Durian is, it is a fruit. It is larger than a football, but about that shape. When cut open, it has a very distinct smell, some say it smells like sweaty stinky socks, others say it smells of decomp. In some provences, you cannot carry an opened Durian with you on a bus or plane, due to the smell.......Durian are a cash crop in Indomalesia.
We decided to be cowards and just buy some seaweed jelly candy and a pkg. of Mango wafer cookies for Kait, and a pkg. of strawberry for Emma. I dared Chris to buy some scary looking snack cakes and of course he did. I thought I would buy someVietnamese valentines for Kaiti, but they turned out to be valentines envelopes....oh well.
We left a little wiser and definitely will return when I pluck up the nerve to buy something exciting.( By the way, if you know of anything good to buy in stores like this one let me know and I will try it)
Our next exciting stop was Green acres health food store...can you say pricey! Oh my goodness, they thought their food was laced with gold. Half of the things in there I could buy at my usual health food store for at least 25% cheaper.. Still I bought....a loaf of Rudi's organic garlic bread (it is my favorite) a cookie, Smart hot dogs and a pkg. of smart bacon. We spent $26.00 there. Holy Cow!
By then it was about 3pm and we were starving. We decided to go to Zen Garden Restaurant.
I have been quietly stalking them since I found them on Happy Cow. The reviews were excellent and the prices reasonable.
I was absolutely beside myself with anticipation, Chris was like...whatever.....He is a meat eater, blah...
So we get there and it was dead.....Chris and I were the only people in the restaurant....cricket..cricket..
The decor is wonderful, very upscale for a restaurant in a strip mall. lol

Not at all what I expected, low lighting, highly polished maple wood floors, sleek black table and chairs. I though we were under dressed, but I guess we fit in, none of the waiters stared. Our waitress turned out to be the owner and was very stern looking, Scary, but pleasant all the same. I ordered the fresh fruit watermelon lemonade and Chris got water, he said he felt it would be wrong to order soda in a healthy restaurant...silly boy. I LOVED my watermelon lemonade, and I am sooo gonna make it alot this summer.
We ordered the tempura veggies, there was broccoli, mushrooms, yam, zucchini and green beans, served with a light shoyu sauce. Delicious!! Next, we ordered dinner. Chris got the Love and Compassion dinner, it was sweet and sour soy protein with white rice, green peppers and carrots. I got the General Tao's Soy, Battered mushrooms in a dark brown sauce with celery (YAY... celery, ok, so I know celery is boring..but it is my favorite veggie evaa!)
Everything was so delicious, I couldn't stop eating and I stuffed myself so badly.....but that didn't stop me from asking about Boba Tea and if they had a vegan version...Sadly they did not ,but our waitress/owner asked me how I would make one being a vegan.
I then went into detail about how mine would be made and guess what! SHE MADE US A VEGAN ONE AND WE GOT IT FOR FREE!!!!! Chris being a meaty and a manly man. Did not like the tapioca balls and had a hard time swallowing them, I on the other hand adored it. I have never had one before, I have seen them on Food Network, but that is as close as I have come. The owner liked it so much she put my Boba tea recipe on the menu for Vegans!!!! Yay!
You can't see it but I am doing a victory dance!!!! I have a couple pictures if you have never seen a Boba Tea.
And I have the recipe....I know.......I know...... You love me...
Thank you, Thank you!!!

Boba Tea ,Vegan Dairy Version, !!!!!!so my recipe!!!!!!

1 cup fresh fruit, honeydew, cantaloupe, strawberry, blueberry or peach (these are traditional flavors)
1/2 cup coconut milk, you can use canned or refridgerated type
2 tablespoons silken tofu
1 tablespoon bubble tea sugar syrup, of your choice, see recipe below for suggestions
1 cup crushed ice
3 to 4 full tablespoons cooked black tapioca pearls

Put all ingredients except bubble tea tapioca pearls into a blender and blend until the fruits are liquefied. Add bubble tea tapioca pearls to a cup, and pour your drink over. Cover and shake well.

Tapioca Pearls for Boba Tea (or bubble tea tapioca pearls):

1/2 cup large tapioca pearls, black are the authentic type used
4 cups water

1. Boil water in a large pot

2. Add in the tapioca pearls to boiling water.

3. Stir initially to prevent tapioca from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

The tapioca pearls should float in the water.

4. Boil for about 25 minutes with the cover on

5. Turn the heat off and let the tapioca sit in the water for another 25 minutes.

6. Rinse the cooked tapioca pearls in warm water and drain out the water.

7. Cover tapioca with agave, sugar syrup, brown sugar, or maple syrup and serve.

Serves 8-10

Mini Tapioca Pearls for Bubble Tea:

1 cup mini tapioca pearls 8 cups water

1 Boil water in a large pot

2 Add in the mini tapioca pearls to boiling water.

3 Stir initially to prevent tapioca from sticking to the bottom of the pot. The tapioca pearls should float in the water.

4 Boil for about 15 minutes with the cover on

5 Turn the heat off and let the tapioca sit in the water for another 7 minutes.

6 Rinse the cooked tapioca pearls in warm water and drain out the water.

7 Cover tapioca with agave , sugar syrup, brown sugar, maple syrup

Serves 8-10

You will need a large boba straw, unless you use tiny tapioca pearls. Half the fun is sucking up the pearls! I truly had a great day with my husband! When we got home we got into some jammies and curled up in bed with some popcorn, and watched The Mentalist, really good show! I hope you try to make my vegan Boba tea, and enjoyed my blog!

Back from my date with My hubby to Wichita!!!

This is going to be a short post.


My husband is sitting next to me waiting for me to finish this blog for we can go watch,
The Mentalist!!!!!
I will tell you all about our adventure tomorrow, but I do have a picture of the stuff we bought!!! Enjoy.....Oh and I forgot my camera while we were out today......I am lame....




As you can see, Chi was exhausted from our trip......strange, he didn't go with us....

I paid $8.29 for this tiny meatloaf, is that normal??? It's the size of a bar of soap... LOL

I paid half price for these mini vegan chocolate chips!! The store is moving to a new location, so everything was 25-50% off!!!

Chris and I found these in a Vietnamese market.

Here is our great haul! I can't wait to tell you about everything that happened,

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!

This is different

Has anyone ever seen this before? I like to make Kaiti a semi-raw lunch at least once a week, well tonight one torn in half and I tossed it in the sink... I should have known it would stick, but it stuck down like it was super glued and is at this moment being scraped off by my loving husband.

Here is Kaiti's lunch. Rice vegetable wraps with butter lettuce, cucumber and carrots. The sauce is siracha and soy sauce. An apple and Organic Tropical tango juice with some candy coated sunflowers. After I took this I noticed how gross the lunchbox looked and scrubbed it till it shined! I was going to retake the pictures, but this is real life and I am a real mom and sometimes I forget things like wiping out the lunchbox everyday.

This is my midnight snack tonight. Fuji apple slices...Yum

I have a secret.... I am still wearing pajama's

I am soooo lazy, I have been wearing my jammie's all day!!!! I have loved every minute of it! Sometimes it just pays to be lazy. I have helped Chris clean up the yard, did laundry and wrote some in my book. I woke up late, thanks to my wonderful hubby and just relaxed! Then I decided that we should eat something. I grabbed Isa's Vegan Brunch cookbook and got to making PANCAKES! I am not going to post the recipe since you all probably have Isa's cookbooks, if you don't, let me know and I will post it in my next blog!

I made a stack of 3 and served them with a fruit salad. In the fruit salad I put, granny smith apples,clementines, and banana slices. Simple and yummy!

For dinner I decided to make lasagna.

Lasagna:

1 box no boil lasagna noodles, I used 9 sheets

1 jar Prego mushroom spaghetti sauce ( I use the really large bottle, it is 45oz.)

7 oz. extra firm tofu, drained and pressed

Garlic powder

Parsely flakes

1 small zucchini

1 can diced tomatoes, drained well

1 cup fresh spinach, lightly steamed

1 12 oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained well (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350`. Spray your 9x13 casserole dish with Organic Evoo. Cover the bottom with sauce, place 3 noodle sheets down. In a medium bowl take your drained tofu, sprinkle with garlic powder and parsley to taste. Cover the pasta with tofu mixture, then cover with half the drained diced tomatoes. Cut your zucchini in half and then slice thinly, place on the tomatoes. Cover with next layer of pasta. Use up the rest of your tomatoes, then top with mushrooms if using. Now spinach layer. Finally cover with remaining 3 pasta sheets, cover with sauce and bake for 45min.-1 hour. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes.

I served this with some roasted brussels...Easy peasy..

1 1/2 bags frozen brussel sprouts

about 3 tbls. olive oil

Red sea salt

Pepper

Preheat your oven 350`

Place your sprouts on a baking sheet, coat with olive oil and salt and pepper

Cook for about 30 minute....Done

I have been craving Chocolate Chip Blondies ever since I had one at Chili's, like forever ago! I was buzzing the web, and then it hit me....I bet there are Blondie recipes on VegWeb.com...............and there are, but they just fell kinda flat for me, so I made one up and it rocks!

BOO-YA! Blondies

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup sliced almonds

3/4 cup Organic Chocolate chips

1 cup cane sugar

1 Tbls. Molasses

6 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine, cold

1/4 cup Vegenaise, I know it sounds weird, but it really makes a difference!

2 teaspoons rice milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 inch round baking pan with olive oil.
In a medium bowl mix your margarine and sugar,rice milk, vegenaise, and vanilla, with a wire whisk gently.
Add all of your dry ingredients and mix well, then fold in your almonds and chocolate chips.
Pour into pan, sprinkle with more almonds. Bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

Let cool......if you can!

This is the richest most decadent blondie! I use to make a totally bad for you version and I incorporated it into this the best I could. With a scoop of rice dream and some chocolate syrup, this would put you in a sugar coma!



NOW THE GRATUITOUS PICTURES!!!!

Tomorrow it will be back to wearing clothes and doing things I need to do.

Sigh....today was totally worth it! Thanks for sharing it with me!!!