Veganism FTW

Magical Healing Soup

2010-10-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

Ever since I have read The Kind Diet, I have wanted to make her Magical Healing Soup to see if it really is magical.

Unfortunately I did not have all the ingredients for it (I didn't plan on getting sick this week ;) ) So instead I made Roasted Garlic Soup from VwaV (Vegan with a Vengeance). I also roasted a squash. I don't really know what kind of squash it was because I just grabbed one off of the pile of various squashes at the grocery store, but if I had to guess I would say "Danish" squash. It was tasty. I put brown sugar on it :)

Now, about the soup...
I don't actually know if this is how it was supposed to turn out.
Because I spilled nearly all of the soup onto the kitchen floor.

I did not take heed of the "max fill line" on the food processor and then a tidal wave of veggie broth washed over the kitchen. Luckily, no lives were lost in the damage. To remedy the situation, I mopped up the mess and heated up some more broth and added that to it.
My final product was good, and I believe that it cured my sickness!
My nose is still all stuffy but I feel probably 90% better. :)

Now,
Lets hear about one of your kitchen disasters, so I can feel better about myself ;)

Buzzzz.

2010-10-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

I have been a busy bee!
I do have good news, though. I am caught up with homework and have today and tomorrow off work as well!
I actually made almost everything on my meal plan last week, and plan on making the last thing today!
Bad news: I'm sick.
Its not terrible, I've just got the sniffles and I'm a little achy, but having a plugged-up nose drives me absolutely bonkers. To fix myself up, I'm making soup for lunch after school. I plan on making roasted garlic soup (If I remember correctly the recipe is in Vegan with a Vengeance, but I'll post more about it later :) )

Here are some things I have created since I have checked in last:

Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Casserole

I didn't use enough broccoli in this recipe so it was really just a cheesy rice casserole with a sprinkling of green. I was really good, though! I took it to work and Danielle said she really liked it :). I found the recipe here at Vegan Awakening, a blog that I found just recently. I actually stumbled upon the blog the day she posted the casserole and fell in love! Most anything that boasts being cheesy without actually containing cheese captures my attention.

I also tried out some faux sausage this morning with breakfast. That is sauteed red kale on the side there. The sausage was LightLife brand and came in a plastic tube that reminded me of ready-to-bake cookie dough. I cooked it up on the stove in a matter of minutes. I discovered that it tasted really good with the Kale on top (is that weird?). As for the sausage itself, I thought it tasted like and had a a very similar texture to actually sausage. The only thing is that I thought the spices/flavoring in them was a bit overused. I plan on making a gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance using the sausage later. The actual recipe calls for tempeh but I could not find it in my normal grocery store :(

I also made "The Best" pumpkin muffins from VwaV. The boyfriend even tried one! (Yes, I have a boyfriend! I don't think I've mentioned him yet). He lives about 3 hours away so visits are somewhat staggered, but he managed to come down yesterday and we hiked to a waterfall (Romantic, right?). The reason I sounded surprised that he tried one of my muffins is not because he has some ridiculous aversion to muffins, but because he is an outrageously picky eater (and that is coming from a vegan). I may go into that another time, but to put things into perspective, his usual diet consists of Dr. Pepper and Taco Bell. :P

Do you know any adults who avoid "healthy" food like the plague? How do you deal with it???"

I'm late, I'm late!

2010-10-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

For a very important date.
Well not quite.

Just behind in... everything.
If you guys have noticed I have been silent on your blogs it is because I have been run ragged.
School in the morning, work in the afternoon/night, and then homework until I'm too tired to stay awake anymore.
It is a vicious cycle, and one that may kill me (probably not though.)
My next day off (tomorrow) I'm planning on getting caught up, but sometimes my mind just wants to relax >.<

I have been trying to keep up with my October Go The Distance challenge but I keep sleeping in by accident and not having time to run! If I have enough time I am going to try to squeeze in a run today in between school and work while I make "Cheesy" Broccoli and Rice Casserole. I will let you know how that turns out!

What do you do when life seems like it is going so fast that it's about to run you over?

Vegan with a Vengeance

2010-10-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the scant posting lately, school and work have got my schedule packed. And to make matters worse (Or better, depending on how you look at it) patch 4.0 for World of Warcraft came out yesterday!
Many of the changes they had been talking about since BlizzCon last year are finally being put into place. I am SO EXCITED. The expansion, Cataclysm, is also set to come out in December. Wooo :)

Now on to the good stuff. I have recently delved right into my new cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.I made Pumpkin Pancakes (waffle recipe) and Orange Glazed Scones.

I really liked the pancakes, which was surprising. I have never liked pancakes before. They were always my least favorite Sunday breakfast food. I think it has something to do with how you eat one and you feel like you've consumed 50 sponges that are just puffing up in your tummy. Also, the recipe makes about a bajillion pancakes, so I've got breakfast for quite some time ;)

The scones were an interesting story.

I have never made or really seen a scone before, so I was not sure at all how they were supposed to turn out looking (do they look okay?).

My mom said they looked fine, and we BOTH thought they were pretty delicious :)

They make an excellent school snack because they really fill you up. In the picture above, I had taken some leftover orange glaze and drizzled it over my pumpkin pancakes. YUM!

For those of you who are wondering, I did go to the picnic, and I brought chili stuff and fizzl'd fruits skittles (my new favorite)! It consisted of beans, diced tomatoes, veggie broth and carrots. It was alright.

Ever had a scone? How was it? :)

Pros and Cons

2010-10-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been making an effort to reduce my impact on the world.
I do this mostly by not supporting factory farming, but I also try to recycle anything I can and whenever I replace cosmetics or cleaners I try to find something earth-friendly AND animal-friendly.

So I was brainstorming ways to take the next step and the most obvious one kind of hit me in the face:
Ride your bike to school!

Source
Riding My Bike to School

Pros:

Exercise is good for me.
Fresh air is good for me.
Cool morning air is usually refreshing and would be effective in waking me up before class.
Saves fuel and money spent on fuel.

Cons:

I don't actually own a bike.
It gets cold in the winter.
My bags can get kind of heavy.
There seems to be a shortage of bike racks at my college.
Most importantly: The world is filled with rabid dogs waiting to taste my flesh and I am sure that the fear will consume me.

Final word: Riding my bike would be an excellent thing to do, but considering my absurd fear of getting attacked while outside, I do not think I can do it. I encourage anyone who can to try it out, though!

Using Cloth Napkins / Cleaning Rags:

Source

Pros:

You can fold them into cute napkin-origami shapes!
They are pretty, fancy, stylish, simple, whatever floats your boat.
Washable / reusable (this is what makes them 'green').

Cons:

If you're like me, you won't want to get them dirty because they are so much nicer than a regular napkin!
You gotta buy them in the first place. I don't know if they are pricey, but it is possible that they are.

Final Word: I think they would be excellent! However, Mom (who I live with) loves regular napkins because she feels that they are more sanitary -- the germs go right into the garbage. So I will have to convince her! The key point here: they are WASHABLE.

A reusable lunch box, or better-- A bento box!

Source

Pros:

They come in nearly any shape, size, color, or style that you can imagine!
No more gross brown bags or 5 ziploc baggies per lunch. It comes with little compartments!
It will make you cool (note: this is not a fact. Just my opinion.;) )

Cons:

The initial purchase cost (though I found some pretty cheap ones on Amazon).
You can't throw it away when you're done to free space in your purse/backpack.

Final Word: I really want one. And I feel all giddy when I think of not using up a bazillion ziploc baggies just to take my lunch to school or work!

Also, my city/county/whoever runs the sanitation department just recently announced that we should put all our food waste in with our 'yard debris,' and renamed the bin "organic matter" or something of that nature. If you have a similar type of program in your city I recommend that you embrace it! For the planet :)

I know there are hundreds of other ways in the world to "go green." What are some of your ideas? :)

Fiesta!

2010-10-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

I recently made a vegan version of a childhood favorite.
This time, I made a vegan version of a dish I hadn't even tried until last year.

Enchiladas.
Before I tried them, I didn't even know what they WERE.
Turns out, they are just burritos drowned in enchilada sauce.

Before

I stumbled upon them on VegWeb, and even though I hadn't really had experience with Enchiladas, my taste buds got excited when I saw a vegan recipe for "Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas."

There was no turning back at that point.

It requires three cans of beans, and listed 'White Kidney, Black, and Pinto." I got a little creative and used black beans, pinto beans, and vegetarian refried beans.

I think the refried beans added a really nice texture to the enchilada filling!

I also have a question here:

Is there a way to make enchiladas that DOESN'T make you look like you just committed a messy murder?

In the process of rolling up my enchiladas, I got red enchilada sauce all over my hands, arms, a spoon, mom's ceramic pitcher we use to hold our kitchen utensils, and probably on the counters, sink, and floor.

I am not always known for being the most tidy or the most efficient, so there could be a simple and clean way to do this that I just don't know about (but something tells me there isn't).

I watched House while they were baking (good episode this week :) ) and when they came out they looked delicious

Yum! They sure LOOK cheesy, don't they? I cannot clearly remember the enchiladas I had as an omnivore, but if I remember correctly they were chicken enchiladas, and I would be so bold as to say that these were better!

I was going to bring the leftovers to a picnic and feed my friends, but I ended up eating them all. Whoops.

So I am still tossing around picnic food ideas.

On a side note, I was mentioned in Tina's Blog, Faith Fitness Fun! If you haven't checked her out yet, she writes about how she finds balance in her daily life, and has all kinds of inspiring posts including her 30 days of self-love series. I love her writing and visit it daily, so you can probably imagine how thrilled/thankful/excited/starstruck/surprised I was. :)

Thanks again, Tina!

I also wanted to take a moment to say thanks to you readers.

Without you guys, I'm just a girl who talks to herself.

With you, I'm a girl who shares pieces of her life, thoughts, and feelings and gets new ideas, support, suggestions, and all other kinds of helpful and inspiring feedback. :D

So now I need some help.
What do people normally bring to a picnic?

I need something I can make vegan that will wow all my friends! Pasta salad is being brought by another friend, so that's out!

'Til next time!

Two in One!

2010-10-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was pretty hectic for me. Someone was sick so I ended up having to go into work half an hour after I got home from school. Then I had to stay up 'til midnight-thirty to finish the good old calculus homework.

I shouldn't be complaining though, because:

It could have easily taken until 1 or 2 am, and it didn't
More importantly, while doing my calculus I made muffins!

I wish I could say I made them from scratch, but I didn't. They came out of this box:

What I like best about these is that they are two of my favorite muffins (lemon poppyseed, and blueberry) all rolled up into one! Minus the poppy seeds!

I had one last night and it was delightful. Fluffy and moist and good.

These babies will be perfect to add to my packed school lunches, but they are not like big jumbo muffins so I'll need other things to accompany them (What that will be? I don't know!)

Thank the vegan gods for Ener-G Egg Replacer!

For anyone who doesn't know what that is, (I didn't before I read about it) it is a box of white powder that looks like this. After reading about it, I found it in the health food section of our local Fred Meyer (they have the best health food section of all the nearby groceries).

To use it, you mix 1tsp of the powder with 2T of water, mix it WELL, and then just add it into your recipe wherever you normally use an egg! It works brilliantly.

However: This does not work for making scrambled eggs or anything of the like. It simply mimics the way eggs act in baking and such.

This morning I also added 2 miles to my total distance for October's Go the Distance Challenge. I am starting to realize how tough this will be. 1.6 miles a day is definitely doable but I am so LAZY. This challenge is really going to tug at my motivation and force me to get out of my warm cozy bed and onto the cold, unforgiving treadmill. However it is only cold for so long, then I'm pouring out sweat so I guess that's alright ;)

Off to school with me!

What's your favorite kind of muffin? Don't like muffins? How about your favorite cookie? Don't like cookies? Well maybe you should.

Comfort in a Casserole

2010-10-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

This morning my knee was still hurting, so I did not want to push it and run two miles.
Breaking my knee would have been awful (or whatever the technical term for that is).

I still have 46.2 miles to go,
So I am precisely 0.99 miles behind schedule.

On the bright side, I do not notice any pain now so I will hopefully be right back on track for my Go the Distance challenge tomorrow!

On another bright side, I found a headset that works fantastically and it was $75 cheaper than the one I just returned.

Note to self: simpler, less snazzy computer accessories are better! I don't need my headset to do a hundred 'extra' things of average (or worse) quality, I just need it to do two things VERY WELL. Play sounds in my ears and make my voice crystal clear when I speak into the Mic.

On a third and even more spectacular bright side, I made one of my old favorites for the first time today!
Green Bean Casserole.

It looks kind of soupy in this picture since I dished it up seconds after removing it from the oven (because I was incredibly impatient and just wanted to shovel the entire casserole into my hungry face hole). The rest of it, though, did thicken up into an even tastier green bean casserole. The recipe was found at Vegweb.com, here.

However, I noticed a rift in the recipe.
A little piece that just didn't quite fit together.

The ingredient list calls for minced garlic and 1/2 an onion, but the directions use the words 'garlic powder' and 'onion powder'.
I used minced garlic and 1/2 an onion and just put it into the recipe where it said powder and it turned out great. I am sure you could use the powder and get along just fine, but there are no amounts in the actual recipe, so beware! I am planning on improving this recipe and making it my own.
Perhaps with some sautéed mushrooms?

Sounds good to me!

Do you have a dish you ate as a child that you haven't tried making on your own yet? I've got tons, and I'd love to hear yours :)

Dead Tired.

2010-10-02T23:31:00.001-07:00

First things first:
I am sure you noticed that I redecorated. You like it?

I signed up for the October Go The Distance Challenge and I am excited! It is a challenge where you pick a distance and an exercise and try to meet your goals for October! My goal is to run/walk 50 miles throughout October. This means an average of 1.61 miles per day. So far I have been right on track. Ran 1.9 miles yesterday and the same today. I’m feeling really good about this month and recommend you check out that challenge for yourself.

I’ve been eating a lot of meals that look like this:

Simple and effortless.

If you look there, on the left, you will see some kind of white substance behind a makeshift tater-tot fence (to keep it out of the sweet potato fries). This was a dip made out of tofu. I didn’t like it, but I really just kind of threw it together based on a few online recipes. I also attempted to make pudding with the rest of the tofu, again based loosely on a few online sources but primarily my own experiment. That was disappointing as well, though it looked delicious.

Today I took a trip to Office Max and Best Buy and bought myself: 8 new pens, speakers for my computer, ear buds to work out with, and a wireless headset. I was most excited about the headset, because I have been mute while playing World of Warcraft for a few months now. Turns out, after charging it for three hours and plugging it in, the headset was crap. When trying to talk to my online friends, I sounded like a static robot. So I’m taking it back tomorrow and going to try a good old-fashioned wired headset.

Bummer.

And to make my day EVEN BETTER, Work was completely slammed. I was working, hard and without any rest, all night. I know that sounds normal, working at work, but the pizza kitchen gets hectic and I really wasn’t built to be moving and on my feet for hours at a time. My knee mysteriously started hurting at the end of the night and now I am walking with a kind of limp due to the pain.

Don’t worry.

I am sure I will be fine.

Now I know how Doctor House feels ._. I hope people don’t start calling me ‘gimpy’.
‘Til next time.

Did you have a good day?

Picture-Palooza

2010-10-01T05:38:00.001-07:00

I’ve been taking a lot of pictures but I haven’t found anywhere to squeeze them into a post so today I’m giving you a picture parade!
Here we go!

Do you ever just crave baked beans and jalapeno garlic hummus toast for breakfast, followed by pumpkin cookies? No? guess it’s just me then.

Veggie sushi made with brown rice that I acquired from the grocery.

Physics extra credit (I thought it looked high-tech)

More pumpkin pie overnight oats!

Noodles from “A Taste of Asia” box, steamed broccoli and vegenaise/mustard dipping sauce for my veggies :D Omnomnomnom.

I have no clue what happened to this picture.. (these are my adopted children)

Quinoa with lemon juice, spicy Creole seasoning, and garbanzo beans! (chickpeas!) Yay!
All in all, it’s been good week. A LOT of homework (and it’s only going to get worse from here) but if that’s what it takes to prepare for a career..

(note: upon writing the above sentence, I wrote ‘tastes’ instead of ‘takes’ at first. I think it’s time for breakfast!)
(note 2: tummy just grumbled. Definitely time for breakfast)

Because of school I haven’t squished much cooking in, but I hope to change that next week, now that I have fallen into my school schedule. Wish me luck!

Any recipes that I “need” to try? Let me know! I eat nearly anything vegan, and could possibly try my hand at veganizing something (never done that before).

It’s That Time of Year Again

2010-09-28T18:41:00.001-07:00

And I’m not talking about Christmas (but it’s pretty close!)
It is the beginning of the school year! I have been busy getting my homework schedule in order for the past few days but now I am back! I have been fairly anonymous up until now, but I think today I will share a little bit about myself.

This is me.
I’m seventeen and starting my second year of college. I am currently going for a degree in computer science so I can maybe one day be involved in writing code for video games. I am still on the fence about my future career choice, and am also considering a career in writing sci-fi or fantasy fiction or perhaps a career in nutrition.

Web design is another interest of mine (It just occurred to me that I didn’t even design my own blog…). As some of you may have realized, I am a World of Warcraft addict (for the horde!). I work at a pizza franchise as your basic pizza assembler.

Anything else you want to know? Maybe if it’s something I feel like sharing, I’ll answer!

This term I am taking Integral Calculus, Computer Science, Technical Writing, and Physics 1. Sounds like a blast, right?

With school taking up a chunk of my time, I find myself struggling to pack things for lunch! So far I have packed a sandwich and a can of mountain dew. Definitely not the ideal healthy lunch, but it got the job done.
Homework for the week: brainstorm lunch ideas and find a way NOT to starve in the meantime. Oh, and calculus. X.X

Share something about yourself, or share a delicious, easy, healthy, portable lunch idea!

Pumpkin Day

2010-09-24T00:27:00.001-07:00

Today was a pumpkin day.
I started it off with something inspired by this post.
I used her recipe, except I added some greens and a banana. I also replaced the vanilla protein powder with a tiny bit of vanilla extract (since I don't have protein powder. Is that something I should invest in?) and the stevia (which I also did not have) was replaced with a healthy drizzle of agave nectar. It was not bad, but I am sure it would have been more like pumpkin pie if I left out the greens ;)
I was feeling lazy again today, but I actually did a fair amount of cooking! No workout though.
I made lasagna rolls from Happy Herbivore.
They were pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of marinara sauce, but if I was I am sure I would have loved these. They tasted very similar to lasagna that I have had in my omnivore days, and I didn't even miss the cheese! And I usually always miss cheese.

Here are the cute little tykes bathing in marinara

And here’s my happy lunch! Also, I should note: I replaced the tofu with two crumbled up veggie burgers. Sometimes the thought of tofu makes me lose my appetite. No idea why, because other times it’s just fine. The smiling part of my lunch is a piece of toast with jalapeno and garlic hummus :D
After lunch, I made dessert!
I made pumpkin cookies, from a recipe I found on Ohsheglows. It was actually a donut recipe, but I don’t have a donut tin, so I made them into cookies. They were amazing! I wish I had doubled (or tripled) the recipe. I made a bunch of regular round cookies and two heart shaped ones! I didn’t get very good pictures, because I just wanted to devour them all, not stop and take photos ;)

The glaze kind of got picked off by the plastic wrap I wrapped it in, but it was still delicious.
Mom was gone for most of the day, so Sasha-dog helped me cook. By pure luck, I caught a picture of her making a silly face

Whenever people find out I have a dog, they go, “What? I thought you were afraid of dogs!”
Yes, I am. However, this dog has proven herself to be trustworthy. Though, sometimes when she’s full of beans and starts barking and running around like a crazy woman, I still get scared.
It was a pretty good day. Very lazy, despite the cooking. And the new season of Fringe started tonight! I had been looking forward to this night for months! And now after watching that adrenaline-packed first episode, I wait anxiously for next week.
Its TV show season! What’s on your must-watch list? Mine: Fringe and House (along with as much family guy as I can get my hands on).

Easy Peasy

2010-09-21T23:18:00.001-07:00

I haven’t really COOKED anything in the past few days. I mean I have, but they have all been easy things, with very little prep. I have just been feeling lazy. This could be due to my recent “re-addiction” to World of Warcraft. I haven’t played much all summer but now the fire has been lit in me once again.
In related news, my headset broke, which means no voice chat for me until I get a new one. Just randomly stopped working one day :(
Now, on to what you’re REALLY interested in (I think): Food.
Recently my mother cracked open a can of pumpkin to make a smoothie. She used probably 1/16th of the can and told me to find a use for the rest of it. One use I have found for the leftover pumpkin is Ohsheglows’ Pumpkin Pie Oats. The first time I made them, I forgot the syrup, so they weren’t sweet enough! I was frustrated, and since it was a reader top rated recipe I knew I had done something wrong. So I revisited the recipe and corrected my mistake.
It was pretty awesome, and it DID taste like pumpkin pie!

I took a picture of my new running shoes (I LOVE pink).

I also discovered a few delicious things at the grocery store yesterday. One of these delicious things was a box of Thai food.
Me and Thai food have a rocky relationship. I don’t usually like Thai food, but it always LOOKS tasty, so I try it and then I think “Eh, why did I try that, I knew I didn’t like it…” I have the same problem with cheesecake (At least I did, before I stopped consuming dairy. I guess there’s still vegan ‘cheesecake’ though). However, this box of Thai food was an exception.

I wasn’t a big fan of the peanut topping (I didn’t like having ‘crunchy’ on top of my soft noodles), but the flavor was excellent. I actually grabbed two boxes of Thai food, in different flavors, but I didn’t read the ingredients thoroughly enough and discovered when I got home that the other flavor wasn’t vegan. It had anchovies in it. Don’t make the same mistake I did! Different “flavors” of foods have different ingredients!
Item number two:

Throwback mountain dew. Made with REAL sugar! No HFCS in this baby. Still not healthy, but oh so satisfying.
I saved the best for last.

Smoked Jalapeno and Garlic Hummus. It tasted SO MUCH like Nacho cheese bean dip that (even though it had “vegan” written right on the container) I had to re-read the ingredients several times to make sure there was no cheese in it. I have been chowing down on this stuff like crazy, I can’t get enough. Danielle at work also tried some and loved it so much that she went out and got some for herself that very night! I am very eager to try and make this from scratch, because the little tub was pretty spendy!
I have not done much else, but I have recipes I want to try so I have to convince myself to do some cooking before the week is up! Until next time :)
What is your favorite chip dip? Veggie dip? Dip that is good on ANYTHING?

"Precious," Shopping, and Larabars!

2010-09-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

Let me start with yesterday.
I had my first Larabar (lemon flavored)
It was really good!

I had never seen one outside of it's wrapper before, so I was expecting something like a granola bar. Crunchy.

My braced teeth were so happy when it found out that it was actually a SOFT bar (with pieces of nuts in the middle).

I was so surprised by how good it was, considering there were only like 4 ingredients in it! Take that, preservatives and high fructose corn syrup! We don't need you! I have two more flavors that I have yet to try and I have high hopes for them! I am super excited for 'apple pie' flavor!

I have also been eating a LOT of brownies (see this post) and I recently discovered how delightful sunflower seed butter is!
My mom heard about it and picked some up. I've been putting it on toast, brownies, and making brownie sandwiches out of it.

So as you can see, I haven't really been having very nutritious breakfasts ;) But (you will probably hear me say this more than once) I think it is okay to be a little bad sometimes. So to get back on track with healthy breakfast, I think I will try another batch of overnight oats tonight. Probably will snag some ideas from Angela at Ohsheglows, but I'm sure she won't mind ;)

I also went shopping yesterday, and I bought some running shoes. I didn't have any before, so I was running in my DC's. Mom would panic every time I left the house, saying I was going to ruin my feet (and she's probably right) so I got a pair of Nikes. I'll get a picture for those soon!

I was also interested in the Nike+ thing that tracks your workouts, but it turns out (according to a Nike store employee) that you need some kind of Apple product (like an Ipod nano, Iphone, etc) to use it! Screw that, I am happy with my Droid and my PC, thank you very much.

So I will keep using my free Droid apps to keep track of my workouts :)

That is all I have really done in the past few days, besides watching the movie Precious. Has anyone else seen it? I have found that I really dislike "inspirational" movies. I don't enjoy watching movies about people who were abused, or bullied, or disabled in some way. I don't enjoy finishing a movie thinking, "Wow, the world kind of sucks," regardless of whether or not they "make it" in the end. I guess that's just me, though, because the "inspirational" movies seem to make it pretty big.

If you have seen Precious, or another similar movie: What did you think?

Attacked.

2010-09-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

Danielle was feeling sick this morning, so I got to sleep until 8.
I played The Sims 3 for a while (made an inventor, and started inventing stuff)

I started to feel lazy so I decided to try and go on a jog by myself.

Here is where you need some background information. I am terrified of leaving my house alone because 2 years ago, I was chased and bitten by a dog while riding my bike. If you've never been chased by an animal, I will tell you: it is the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced. Dogs are fast, people cannot usually outrun them, they've got teeth and claws, and usually have jaws strong enough to break your bones. They're killing machines. The first time, I had a small bite on my ankle, nothing too big. But I was scared of the outdoors for a while and got rid of my bike.

A year or so later I had recovered from my phobia and I had to walk home from the bus stop every time I went to my dad's house (once a week).
I was attacked by TWO small dogs, probably Lhasa Apsos if I had to guess the breed. They chased me all the way home and left me bleeding from a bite on my leg and a big fat bruise around the bite. That pretty much scarred me. I refused to walk home after that.

Today I ran half a mile before I heard a dog barking. I panicked for a second-- that noise, along with the sound of jingling dog tags or the sound of dog claws tapping on pavement, terrifies me to my very core-- before realizing that the dog in question was in a house behind a screen door. I took a deep breath and tried to relax.

It jumped through the screen and came after me, growling with it's teeth bared.

I did not sustain any injuries, luckily the dog did not venture too far from it's house, so once I got far enough away it stopped chasing and went back home. I called my mom to pick me up and I have made a decision.

I am never leaving my house alone again (except to get into my car parked in the driveway).

Back to my trusty treadmill.

Pain

2010-09-16T21:39:00.001-07:00

Braces hurt.

A lot. Not only do you have general mouth and jaw pain from the fact that your teeth are moving around in there, you also have the metal rubbing on your lips. Yeah, I know that’s what the wax is for but that stuff is more trouble than it’s worth.

My teeth better be perfect after this!

Okay, now that I’m done complaining, I’ll put on a smile (metaphorically, because smiling makes my lips rub on metal even more) and tell you about my day.

I woke up at 6 AM, right on schedule, got dressed and went out for a workout with Danielle. We were both pretty tired to we walked the whole way. Tomorrow, though, we plan on doing mostly jogging to make up for it. One thing I have noticed about walking outside, as opposed to on a treadmill, is that it doesn’t FEEL as long.

On the treadmill, I’d be done in 20 minutes. Outside with Danielle, we’re out there for 45 minutes and it barely seems like it. I think it is a combination of scenery and conversation.

When I got home I had a green (purple) smoothie. For lunch, I had more smoothie, and after lunch I had even more smoothie. Then, I tried to eat some cabbage soup that my mom made, and it hurt! Just chewing the tender cabbage. So I finished my evening off with another smoothie and called it good.

Maybe tomorrow I can tackle some solid foods again.

Getting up bright and early again tomorrow, so I should be going!

On a completely unrelated note:

Do you believe in ghosts?

Brownies for the win!

2010-09-15T23:14:00.001-07:00

In case you ever wondered what ‘ftw” was on my blog name. It’s “for the win.” It’s mostly a gamer term, meant originally that the object in question would lead to success (a win). But nowadays it’s used pretty loosely to say [it] rocks! So veganism ftw = I think veganism is awesome. There’s your 1337 Speak lesson for the day (leet speak).
Yesterday I attempted to make Happy Herbivore’s Black Bean Brownies. From here.
I did not like them.
I was SO suprised, because they got such good feedback and praise! And I do not, by any means, want to put down a fellow blogger, and it is entirely possible that I messed something up in the recipe, but I thought they were the worst ones I have made yet. Though I could not taste the beans, the bananas were very prevalent and they tasted overall very mushy and wet. Like I said, I may have done something wrong. If you do happen to try these and enjoy them, let me know! :)
Today still craving chocolate, I decided to give these a shot. Nicole, from Another One Bites The Crust, told me they were the best brownies she’d ever made and gave me the link, and I am forever in her debt. They were just the right consistency, cakey but still fudgy, and they were soooo sweet and chocolaty. Everyone at work loved them (even my boss, who assumes that ‘vegan’ means you eat lettuce and carrots every day), and fought over who would get the last one that I had brought.

This picture doesn’t really do them justice…
Another thing that I did today was get braces. Again.
I feel like an awkward teenager for the second time in my life, and god knows you shouldn’t have to go through that twice!
I had them before, in middle/high school, and since then I have lost several retainers, and it was getting too pricey to keep replacing them! I asked my orthodontist if he could possibly stick a permanent retainer in there, so I don’t have to keep replacing them, and he said yes, but that it wouldn’t really be worth it since my teeth had already shifted so much. So here I am, with braces for a second time (only on my top front 8 teeth though, and only for a few months).
That being the case, my teeth hurt a LOT. Good thing I made a nice mushy sweet potato casserole! No chewing involved whatsoever :)
Well I am getting up at 6 AM once again to work out with Danielle, and its 11:11 (make a wish) so I better get to bed!
Were you awkward as a young’n or did you mature gracefully? I sure went through that awkward stage (and probably am still in it)!

Netflix = Amazing

2010-09-14T22:24:00.001-07:00

My family recently invested in Netflix, shortly after the closest video rental store went out of business, and I LOVE IT. Movies to my computer INSTANTLY. Its like having a whole host of illegally downloaded movies at my fingertips, except without the illegal part!

I watched Super Size Me and Four Episodes of Morgan Spurlock’s show, 30 Days. I am addicted! I think that Morgan Spurlock is a hero for doing that to his own body to show others just how bad McDonalds is for your body.

Walked with Danielle again this morning. Not as far, but it was a lot shorter and a higher percentage of it was jogging! I had granola for breakfast and then for lunch I made something delicious out of one of my favorite foods on the planet: sweet potatoes.

It was soooooo perfect. I found the recipe at Ohsheglows, along with a bajillion other recipes that just look delicious! It was like Thanksgiving in September.

I also picked something up while I was at the store today:

Cruelty-free, natural, mostly-recycled vegan toothpaste! And it’s Cinnamon Clove Flavored! Mmmm. And there are my footsies!

Dinner consisted of frozen things that I heated and/or cooked. Potstickers and Tater Tots! After watching Morgan Spurlock devour a McDonalds’ hash brown I was craving tater tots! For the dipping sauce I mixed Veganaise with Mustard, best combo EVER.

It was pretttttty tasty.

Look at all those happy little tots. Yum!

I pretty much vegged out in front of my computer screen all day, but it was nice! I haven’t really spend much of my life watching TV or movies up until now so it’s time for me to do some catching up!

What do you do on your day off?

21 Dollar Challenge – Day 7

2010-09-13T22:58:00.001-07:00

The last day.

Eating was kind of chaotic today. For starters, my overnight oats did not turn out as planned. The ginger in it was WAY too strong and it was so incredibly gingery that despite my attempts to eat it anyway, I simply could not. Better luck next time.

What I did next, not wanting to waste the oats, was blend my oats into my green smoothie. I have done this before with pearled barley I didn’t want to waste, and I don’t even taste a difference. I added some collards and some apple juice and water/ice and it mellowed out the ginger taste a bit (thought it was still pretty strong).

It was niiiice and green (usually my smoothies turn out brown and don’t look very appetizing)

My date with my exercise buddy went well! We walked two miles around the track at my college, and jogged one lap. We’ll do a lot more jogging if I have any say in it ;) Same time, same place, bright an early tomorrow morning!

Also, if you care, I added a neat little widget on the side of my blog that says how many miles total I have gone, starting today! I Thought it was cute!

Breakfast:

A cup of oats: $0.36
Some ginger and stuff: included in spice deduction
Molasses: Including with the oil/spice deduction because I very very rarely purchase molasses.
Some almond milk: $0.37
Collards: Like $0.20
Apple juice: $0.30

Breakfast Total: $1.23

I also ate breakfast twice (before and after my run) and snacked on the smoothie leftovers all day. :)

Lunch was fun! I was craving cheese and had to use up the last of the tofu, tomatoes and some spinach so I made the BLT casserole from La Dolce Vegan, except I changed it a little bit.

First I scrambled the last of my tofu with spices and spinach. Then I made the nutritional yeast cheese sauce (it tasted legit!), sliced tomatoes, and toasted some bread.

I layered toasted bread slathered with vegenaise on the bottom of the casserole dish, half of the cheese sauce on top, then tofu scramble, then tomatoes, and then more cheese sauce! Baked in the oven at 325 for 15 minutes. It was just what I was hungry for!

I forgot until I put the picture in there, but I guess I had some cantaloupe too :)

Lunch:

2 Roma Tomatoes: $0.26
Tofu: $0.63
Spinach: $0.10
Nut. Yeast: $0.05
Spices: in spice deduction
4 Pieces of Bread: $0.16
Vegenaise: $0.05
Cantaloupe: $0.18

I think that’s everything…

Lunch Total: $1.43

Dinner was simple. The second half of the casserole I made and a piece of toast:

Toast with Earth Balance: $0.10

Dinner Total: $0.10

Day 7 Total: $2.76

The Grande Total: $18.76

My thoughts on the week:

I really liked this challenge. For one reason, I hope it shows a good example of how you can spend a mere $80 a month on groceries and still be a vegan. Sure, it CAN be expensive if you splurge on vegan convenience foods and fake meats and cheeses, but you can have a healthy and tasty diet on real produce and be perfectly happy (and your wallet will be happy too). I also liked it because I really like numbers. It was fun to see where the money went and what kinds of food really blew my budget (like skittles, even though they looked all innocent at just $0.69). I encourage more people to try out this challenge. Even if you aren’t really a blogger, knowing what you spend your money on is the first step in finding where you need to cut back, so you can save money! And we all love doing that, right? :) It was fun, but it will be nice not to have to do all those calculations!

Ever messed up a recipe (or didn’t like it) and ended up transforming it into something else, so you didn’t waste it? :)

21 Dollar Challenge – Day 6

2010-09-12T22:49:00.001-07:00

Today was another busy yard work day and I am thinking that tomorrow will be too. When I sat down to write this post I panicked for a minute because I could NOT, for the life of me, remember what I had for breakfast! After some mental struggling (and asking my mom, who also could not remember) it finally dawned on me that I had toast for breakfast. And my leftover green monster.

I built this:

No, it is not a stylish hat for my garden box. It is a device to keep squirrels, birds, and most importantly the dog out of the vegetables that I plan on growing! I built it out of PVC pipe, Zip Ties(And string when I somehow used all 100 of the zip ties), and chicken wire. I also heard on the radio that if you string up a broken CD in your garden, lights will reflect off of it and scare skittish squirrels when they see the movement.

So I built one of those, too, for good measure. Now I’ll get on to the money stuff, which I know you all just find thrilling!

Breakfast:

2 Pieces of bread: $0.08
Some Tofu cream cheese, peanut butter, and jam: $0.15
A small Roma tomato: $0.13

Breakfast Total: $0.36

Now, lunch and dinner are tricky. I went out for lunch and ate the leftovers for dinner. However, I did not pay for lunch and if I were living on foodstamps, I would not be able to use that at a restaurant (at least in this state) so instead of just leaving it as $0.00 for my total, I’m going to look at other dishes I made and estimate lunch and dinner.

Lunch Total: $0.50

Dinner Total: $0.50

In case you’re wondering I got a veggie burrito at a Mexican restaurant, ordered without cheese or sour cream. It was covered in delicious guacamole, and I took a picture for you, but my silly phone didn’t save it I guess so you will have to use your imagination ;)

Day 6 Total: $1.36

Money “left”: -$.60

Oops. I officially blew all my cash.

BUT.

I did some research and the amount of food stamps that I would receive in a week to just feed myself in this state is actually about $44, double the amount for the challenge. I am not trying to make excuses for blowing my budget, simply stating that if the challenge was created using figures particular to my state, I would be WAY under budget :)

Just one more day! And tomorrow morning, I have the first batch of VOO (Vegan Overnight Oats) that I have EVER made. I saw this recipe and fell in love instantly. I took a tiny taste before I stuck it in the fridge and it made me even more excited. I will let you know tomorrow how it tastes!

On a final note: Tomorrow is my first day walking with my new exercisebuddy Danielle. Gotta get up at 6:00! I’m probably up too late already, so I better get to bed.

Do you have an exercise buddy? If not, what motivates you to get up and moving (assuming that you do get up and get moving ;) )

21 Dollar Challenge – Day 5

2010-09-11T22:56:00.001-07:00

Day five went well. Today I didn’t really cook because I was working in the yard all day. It’s kind of a mess right now, so I spent the day clearing out our raised garden boxes so I can plant vegetables in them!

I also took a few trips to Lowe’s to get some PVC pipe, chicken wire, and zip ties. With these items, I am creating something! Stay tuned!

I will post a picture once it is complete. Should be tomorrow!

So lets start with breakfast:

1 cup of oatmeal: $0.35
Banana: $0.20

Breakfast Total: $0.55

For lunch I had leftover quinoa and sweet potato chips:

Quinoa: Included in yesterday’s total
Sweet potato chips: Included in yesterday’s total

Lunch Total: $0.00

For dinner, after all the yard work and such, I had MORE quinoa, along with peanut butter and earth balance toast. I also made a green monster (that made two servings) for work:

Quinoa: Included in yesterday’s total
Toast: $0.08
Peanut butter and Earth balance: $0.10

Dinner Total: $0.18

Total for Day 5: $0.73

Money left: $0.68

Sorry about today’s short post, I’m wiped out!

How do you re-energize when you’re exhausted?

21 Dollar Challenge – Day 4

2010-09-10T22:59:00.001-07:00

Today was crazy. I woke up with a killer headache that decided to stick around all day. We had a plumber come out and re-do our pipes (or something) because apparently pipes only last 40 years, which is how old our house is, so they were decaying from the inside out. Sounds scary, huh?
That being the case, the water was off ALL day (until dinner). And me with no real leftovers! I pretty much ate toast whenever I was hungry. But I also was really bad and got some skittles at the store. I don’t know for sure if skittles are vegan, but I did not see any non-vegan ingredients on the package so I happily ate them while watching The Last Song. I was strangely hungry ALL day, so instead of meals my day consisted of constant snackage.

Breakfast was the remaining two servings of my leftover green monster and half of a banana:

Green Monster: Included in yesterday’s total
Half of a banana: $0.10

Breakfast Total: $0.10
I am going to include everything else that wasn’t dinner in the ‘lunch’ category, just to keep things simple.

4 pieces of bread: $0.16
Some earth balance, peanut butter, and tofu cream cheese: $0.20
A tomato: $0.13
Skittles: $0.69
Some Spinach: $0.06
Half a can of beans: $0.33

I think that is everything. It probably seemed like more food because I kept getting up to grab something else!
Lunch Total: $1.57
Here, I would like to point something out. If I had NOT gotten the skittles, my lunch total would be just $0.88. Just sayin.
Dinner was simple: Quinoa with lemon juice and some spices, accompanied by some sweet potato chips. I had leftovers from both. Hello, tomorrow’s lunch! I used this recipe at allrecipes.com and it was really good. I just improvised for the sweet potato chips. My previous experiences with quinoa have not really been noteworthy, but this was! I can count on this to be my go-to meal when I’m short on time (There’s no picture, but to be honest it just looked like cooked quinoa in a dish).

Quinoa: $1.20
Sweet Potato: $1.60 (Note to self: Sweet potatoes, while delicious, are kind of pricey!)

Dinner, including leftovers: $2.80
Total for Day 4: $4.47 (Without the skittles: $3.78)
Money left: $1.41
I think it is safe to say that I will not come in under $15. So far I have learned that Sweet Potatoes, Candy, Avocados, and Tofu are kind of spendy! Even though that tempting bag of skittles is only $0.69, think of the beans and veggies you could buy for that same amount! Quinoa is pretty pricey too. I also learned that bread (if chosen carefully) can be VERY cheap, along with greens, beans, and bananas. Even though I will most definitely go over, I am going to keep on trucking until day 7 to see what the week total is. I might not be able to reach my goal with the $6.00 deducted for spices and oils, but I am certain I can stay under $21.00, and maybe even under $18.00.
What do you find yourself snacking on when you can’t (or don’t want to) prepare a meal? Mine’s toast!

21 Dollar Challenge – Day 3

2010-09-09T22:40:00.001-07:00

Today was day 3. I woke up excited again, because I had been hearing about banana soft serve ALL over the interwebz lately today was the day to make it! I then spent the rest of the day super-cleaning my kitchen.Took everything off the counters and shelves, wiped down every surface possible, and put everything back in a very organized manner. It took ALL DAY but it was so worth it. I would show you before and after pictures, but I am sure my mother wouldn’t like it if I showed our kitchen to the world in a dirty state :P
Anyways, on to the breakdown!

For breakfast, banana soft serve (Just two frozen bananas pulverized) and the last of my French Toast! My blender was having trouble with the bananas, so I did end up adding a little water to thin it out.

French Toast: included in yesterday’s breakfast
Banana Soft Serve: $0.40

Breakfast Total: $0.40
For lunch I had leftover Cauliflower Rice and a glass of tasty apple juice:

Cauliflower Rice: included in yesterday’s total
Apple Juice: $0.33

Lunch total: $0.33
Finally, for dinner… Let me say it was spectacular. I made a tofu scramble. I didn’t follow any recipe to the letter, it was a lot of improv, but this is the recipe that I used as a guideline: at the post punk kitchen.
It consisted of tofu (obviously), onion, celery, cumin, thyme, paprika, lemon juice, salt, turmeric, spinach, and avocado.

I REALLY love avocados, and ended up eating a good bit of mine so I had less in the recipe than I intended, but its okay! It was SO good. I will definitely make this again. I had a side of steamed kale with olive oil with my meal.

1/2 block of tofu: $0.63
a stalk of celery: $0.12
1/6 of my huge onion: $0.19
1 avocado: $0.78
Spinach: $0.10
Spice and lemon juice: included in spice deduction
Kale: $0.05

Dinner Total: $1.80
I also made a green monster before work that made 3 servings, so it will last for breakfast tomorrow :)

half a banana: $0.10
a nectarine: I don’t know for sure, but I would venture a guess at $0.45
a slice of cantaloupe: $0.11
Some Kale: $0.06
Some Spinach: $0.08
water/ice: free

Total for Day 3: $3.33
Money left: $5.88
Ouch. Now that I think of it, the tofu and avocado were pretty pricey. Lesson I learned today: keep it simple. I think my scramble with tofu and avocado sucked up all my cash. This leaves me about $1.47 per day from here on out.
Do you keep your kitchen spotless, or does it fluctuate between clean and dirty constantly like mine does?

21 Dollar Challenge – Day 2

2010-09-08T23:11:00.001-07:00

Today is the second day of the 21 dollar challenge and I woke up to some AWFUL news. I had an email on my phone that said my World of Warcraft account was ‘locked’ due to “suspicious activity.” Another email stated that my password had been changed (and I was not the one who changed it).
I’d been hacked.
To those of you who don’t play WoW, when your account gets hacked, it usually means all of the items you worked hard to acquire get sold for game gold, your game gold gets sold to idiots who buy it with real money, and occasionally your characters get transferred to another server, costing 15 dollars and a month of waiting to get them back. And usually, getting Blizzard (The game company) to restore your items usually takes about 3 hours on hold or 2 weeks waiting by email.
My characters, account, and items were restored in ten minutes. It was glorious. I am so thankful to Blizzard for resolving it so quickly.
After the flush of relief swam through me, the rest of my day went as planned. I made Vegan French Toast for breakfast, which I found at The Raw Cure, a blog that I happen to frequent.

It took me a few slices of bread before I got the temperature right, and I burned one to a crisp, but in the end I made a pretty tasty stack of French Toast:

I topped it with a little bit of earth balance and some blueberries

It was SO GOOD. I liked it better than regular French Toast by a LONG shot. I will definitely make this again!
Breakfast:

2 bananas: $0.40
3/4 cup of soymilk: $0.26
Cinnamon: included in spices deduction
Earth Balance: $0.10
Blueberries: $0.33
9 slices of bread: $0.40

So for 9 slices of French toast + toppings for 3 pieces(Yay leftovers!): $1.49
For lunch, I took the cauliflower rice recipe found at Master of Her Romaine (another great blog) and tweaked it a little bit. I did everything the same, but added a little bit of curry, a diced tomato, and half a can of pinto beans right into the mix.

It was really good. Mom had a bite and she liked it too. I really liked Sonia’s creativity when inventing this dish so I thought I’d try it out too :) This made quite a bit of leftovers, as well!
Lunch:

1/2 of a head of cauliflower: $1.38
1 Tomato: $0.13
1/6 of my monster onion: $0.19
1/2 a can of pinto beans: $0.35
various spices

So the cauliflower dish cost: $1.85 and made at least another meal!
I packed dinner to take to work, and that consisted of 2 slices of leftover French toast and 2 slices of cantaloupe.

French Toast: included in breakfast
Cantaloupe: estimated at $0.23

I also had my leftover curried rice after work and some apple juice

Curried rice: In yesterday’s total
Apple Juice: $0.33

Dinner + After Work Snack: $0.56
Day Two’s Grand Total: $3.90
If that seems really high, think of all the leftovers I have!
Money left: $9.19
Its getting tight, but I think I can make it.
Have you ever ‘invented’ your own recipe? Was it good or a flop?

21 Dollar Challenge – Day 1

2010-09-07T22:29:00.001-07:00

I woke up this morning completely psyched for the challenge. I had my grocery list in hand and got up at 7 am.
Turns out my mom (who buys my food, thanks mom!) didn’t want to go grocery shopping until around ten. So I whipped up a green monster for breakfast. I made three cups’ worth, intending it to last for a few breakfasts, but I ended up drinking them in one day, with each meal.
Here is what my triple Green Monster consisted of:

a big handful of collard greens: estimated at $0.36
a leaf or two of kale: $0.05
a leaf or two of spinach: $0.05
about 3/4 cup of blueberries: estimated at $0.20
one banana: $0.20
a drizzle of agave nectar: Included in oil/spice deduction
water: free

So my 3-serving green monster cost: $0.86
For lunch:

Sorry, all the pretty bowls were in the dishwasher!
This is curried rice, the recipe found here. A note about the recipe: there is a LOT of spice in this recipe. Not “hot” spice, but very, very strong spice. It was delicious, and better than I expected, but next time I will use probably 1/3 of the spice, maybe less!
It included:

1 cup of brown rice: $0.34
various spices: included in spice deduction
Vegetable Bouillon: $0.15
Olive oil: Included in oil deduction
A piece of toast with earth balance: $0.16

Total for lunch: $0.65
For dinner:

a DELICIOUS sandwich and my last helping of smoothie. Tomato and cream cheese is the BEST combination ever, and leafy greens only make it better. If you haven’t tried a tomato and “cream cheese” sandwich, I recommend you go hunt down some vegan cream cheese and try it right this moment!
It had:

1 Roma tomato, sliced: $0.13
a big shredded spinach leaf: $0.05
Two pieces of toasted bread: $0.12
a dollop of tofutti cream cheese: leftover from last week, est. at $0.10
Made with lots of love: Priceless.

Dinner: $0.40
Total for day 1: $1.91
That leaves me with: $13.09 and leftover curried rice!
Tomorrow I’m planning on:

Vegan French Toast Beans and Rice with Avocado! Yum! Leftover Curried Rice

Stay tuned!
Something for you to think about: What is your favorite sandwich ever?

21 Dollar Vegan Challenge

2010-09-07T16:31:00.001-07:00

Some of you I know have heard about Vegan Hope’s 21 dollars per week challenge. The rules basically are to live for a week on just 21 dollars. Using your own spices? Subtract 3 dollars. Using your own oil? Subtract another 3 dollars. This leaves most of us with $15 to eat for the week. Another rule is that you cannot use kitchen gadgets/appliances that cost more than $15 besides your oven and microwave. I do not know how much a blender costs, but I am sure that you can get a used/older one out there for really cheap, so I will continue using our blender.
I plan on completing this challenge during the week, and I will post everything I eat, breaking it down so you know just where each penny went. It will be fun!
I made up a rough meal plan and already went grocery shopping and this is what I purchased:

Bag of collard greens : $2.28 (Mom bought this before we went shopping)
A bunch of spinach: $0.89
6 Bananas: $1.19
A loaf of wheat bread: $0.89
A head of cauliflower: $2.35
A Couple Roma tomatoes: $0.50
Blueberries: $1.75 (This is an estimate, mom bought them previously and froze them)
Soymilk: $2.79
Block of Tofu: $1.25
A huge onion: $1.16
Celery: $0.93
A sweet potato: $2.16
Quinoa: $1.25
Lemon Juice: Including in Spice/Oil Discount because it was last longer than this one week
Better than Bouillon: Including in Spice/Oil discount
2 Cans of Pinto Beans: 1.38
Box of Pasta: $1.05
Can of Corn: $0.59
2 Avocados: $1.56
10 Tortillas: $1.99
Apple Juice: $1.99

If you do the math, this comes out to more than 15 dollars. It comes out to a grand total of:
$27.95
However, there are a few things to take into account.
1. I will not eat all of this food by myself. I will not use all the celery, bananas, blueberries, tortillas, apple juice, avocados, etc. I live with my mother and sister, so some of the food will go to them.
2. I think I underestimated the leftovers I should have, so there is a good chance some of this food will roll over to next week.
That being said, that is what I spend on groceries,
I will further break down the cost of each meal to figure out how much money I am ACTUALLY eating.
I may go over the limit in the end, but this is still a valuable learning experience and should be fun! :D
Do you think you could live on $21 a week? I definitely think it is possible. What strategy would you use to make your money stretch across 21 meals (plus snacks)?

The Super Tortilla

2010-09-06T00:00:00.001-07:00

To start things off,
Happy Labor Day!
(tomorrow.)
Last night I delved into another recipe from La Dolce Vegan, called Wendy’s Lentil and Brown Rice Casserole. There is a cute little clock next to this recipe because the casserole takes an hour and a half to cook. BUT! It also takes literally 5 minutes (if that) to put together before you put it in the oven.
This is what it looked like before:

It looked a lot like tomato soup with seasonings and onions swimming in it. But after an hour and a half, the rice and lentils soaked up all the liquid and it turned into a tasty rice casserole:

This reminded me of “Santa Fe Style Rice and Bean” T.V. dinners I used to eat (before I learned how to cook). I liked it! If you have plenty of time before dinner, but not any time to actually tend to your cooking, just throw this in the oven and stir it every so often and you’ve got a meal.
I also got “what are you cooking, it smells so good!” from nearly all the meat-eaters in my house. I’d call that a success!
I would give this recipe a 4 out of 5 stars. It had a nice flavor, easy prep, and can be eaten alone, in tortillas, and probably with a hundred other things I haven’t even though of!
And today I stumbled across these:

Super tortillas!
These babies have a whopping 80% daily dose of iron.
When I saw that I was like O.O WUT?
Turns out the flour was fortified with iron. But, iron or not, my rice/lentil casserole wrapped up in one of these with some salsa and tomatoes made a delicious lunch!
Have you ever been surprised (pleasantly or not) by the nutrition facts or ingredient list?

Rice and Beans and Beans and Rice

2010-09-04T11:24:00.001-07:00

Food can be expensive. That is a sad fact that we all have to live with.
These days, a piece of fruit can be the same price as a dollar-menu hamburger. The icky, slimy, greasy, dead-flesh food is getting to be more affordable than the good, whole foods! I have two responses to this epidemic:
1. Products usually sell for what they are worth, so keep that in mind when you buy a $1 hamburger.
2. There are inexpensive, whole, vegan options out there!
An excellent and timeless example of this is a bean and rice dish. I made some very rough estimates and found that you can get 5 cups of uncooked rice for $1.69. Taking into account how much rice expands when you cook it, that is a LOT of rice. Dried beans are similarly cheap, and then all you need is a veggie or two to make a tasty, wholesome meal.
I had two recipes I wanted to try out this weekend. They are both from La Dolce Vegan. The first one I actually made yesterday, called Bountiful Beans and Brown Rice.

Don’t mind the pizza. The rest of the family had pizza last night, as they tend to avoid my ‘freaky vegan food’ like the black death.

This was the final product and it was good. It was not complicated at all, took no longer than the time to cook the rice, and it had a simple but satisfying flavor. One thing to note: the recipe also calls for green peppers and jalapenos. I don’t much like green peppers and didn’t have any jalapenos so I left those out. I imagine it is even more flavorful if you leave those in!
I would give this recipe a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
It was no gourmet dish, but it didn’t have to be. It was simple to prepare and made me happy and full, which is all I can ask :)
How do you save money on food without giving up great taste?
If there’s one thing you can’t have too many of, its money- or time-saving tips!

A Leftover Day

2010-09-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

I didn't do a lot of cooking today.
However, I'm getting to the point where I can just 'throw' things together and still get a delicious lunch!

Like this Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato-Cheese sandwich, made with Smart Bacon and Almond Cheese.
It was actually really delicious, and I think the makers of Smart Bacon really have it down! Also, tomatoes are one of my favorite vegetables. Or fruits, or whatever kind of edible delight they may be!

Other than that sandwich, I had leftover pizza, leftover carrot soup, and the last cinnamon roll!

I also wanted to try something other than running, so today I did Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. I don't think I will do it for 30 straight days, but I would like to do it more often. It was really intense, and even though at the end I was begging for it to stop, I think that is just what my body needs: intensity.

On another fitness-related topic, I have an exercise buddy! :D
My co-worker and personal food-taster Danielle has agreed to do laps at the community college track with me. We're going to be starting next week! I'm real excited :)

----Yesterday----

Yesterday I made Cream of Tomato and Basil Soup and Maple Flax Brownies! Both from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer. I was incredibly impressed by the Tomato soup. I thought it was absolutely DELICIOUS. It was rich and smooth and creamy and took almost no time to make. I didn't really see a downside to this dish, so I give it 5 out of 5 stars :)

The brownies, however, I thought were a little iffy. The texture was alright, and the taste was alright, too. But it was just alright. The brownies weren't really sweet and flavorful like I was expecting them to be, but Danielle at work loved them so I'm gifting the rest to her :)
Brownies: 3 out of 5 stars.

I also purchased Vegan Vengeance from Amazon, so I'll be 'testing' recipes from that cook book once it arrives in the mail. Stay tuned!

Also, I feel that it gives readers something to respond to if I answer with a post-related question:

I have made two different vegan brownie recipes so far, and I have found that they just don't quite cut it. Have you found a recipe that really works for you or do you have the same problem as me??

Until next time :)

Nothing Special

2010-09-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

These last couple days I haven't encountered anything that just WOWed me.

I have been having a lot of smoothies for breakfast and to take with me to work.

I absolutely love putting greens in smoothies. I also started calling them "Green Monsters" after stumbling upon this.
Also, the woman who created the green monster has another blog, here, that I highly recommend you check out.

I haven't mentioned this yet, but I work at a pizza shop. The other night, I took a bag of Daiya vegan mozzarella and used that on my pizza.
It was good!
I've noticed that vegan cheese [particularly Daiya brand] is a lot stickier than normal cheese, but tastes cheesy all the same!

Yesterday, I also made Carrot Ginger Soup from La Dolce Vegan.
The flavor was really good. Mom liked it too.
The only thing... It had the consistency of baby food or applesauce. Perhaps I did something wrong, or perhaps that is how it is supposed to be. I don't know.
My grade out of 5 stars: 3.7

Also, those dark green things next to my carrot soup?
Kale chips!
I coated them in oil, sprinkled with salt and True Lime, and stuck em in the oven for about 10 minutes.
They were SO addicting. I ate nearly an entire bunch of kale in chip form. Speaking of which, I'm going to go get the few that I saved for leftovers. That's all for now :)

Mmmm. Cinnamon, Sugar, and Bacon.

2010-08-29T15:53:00.001-07:00

When I first decided to go vegan, the two things I knew that I would miss the very most were cheese and bacon. It was heartbreaking to give up the two foods I loved most in the world.

But my broken heart has been mended because I have found a solution!

Sarah Kramer's BLT Brunch Casserole.

It was cheesy, bacon-flavored and had juicy tomatoes on top. Mmmm. If I graded this one a five-star scale, I'd probably give it 4.8 stars. Very very good :)
The vegan "bacon" was a little difficult to track down (ended up finding it at LifeSource) but boy, was it worth it.

If I could change anything about this dish, I would dice the tomatoes instead of slicing them. That way they can more easily mix with the rest of the casserole.

So far La Dolce Vegan has given me three good meals out of three!
I am really looking forward to tracking down her other two books, I can only imagine what kinds of delicious recipes await me in them.

On another note, these were for dessert:

Cinnamon rolls!
Everyone in the house wanted to try these.
They take a pretty long time to make (roughly four hours) but again, worth it.
They were sweet and gooey and fluffy and everything you could ever want in a cinnamon roll. The best part?
The recipe is available online.
You can find them here at a wonderful blog, VeganYumYum.

But I must warn you, you will probably have to buy another tub of Earth Balance when you are done :)

----Highlights from yesterday-----

Yesterday for lunch I tried out the first thing on my list, Artichoke heart pasta!
I personally love artichoke hearts and cannot fathom how anyone could NOT love them! Actually, scratch that. I love the whole artichoke :)
This made a really delicious dish. It gave off a greek/italian vibe.

If I do anything differently next time I make this dish, I would use smaller or fewer noodles for a better noodle-to-sauce ratio.

Finally, on a completely non-food related topic,

I found THE COOLEST LAMP EVER at a garage sale yesterday.

That is all :)

Putting Sarah to the Test

2010-08-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hello again,
I know I have been very here-and-there lately but now that I am home, my blogs should be much more consistent!
Last night I planned out my meals for the week and came up with the following recipes to try out:

Artichoke Heart Pasta
BLT Brunch Casserole
Chickpea Salad
Ginger Carrot Soup
Cream of Tomato and Basil
Kale Chips
Peach Cobbler
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lemon Garlic Asparagus

All of these recipes EXCEPT for the last one and Kale Chips are from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer.

I don't know in which order I am going to prepare these, but I will do my very best to take pictures of each one and write a short review on it :)
So far I have made one other recipe from Sarah Kramer's book:

Chili!
and it turned out pretty delicious, so I have high hopes for these!

This morning for breakfast:

One Vita-Mix Smoothie with:
- 2 leaves of Kale
- a handful of blackberries
- a handful of blueberries
- a cup [maybe more] of fruit juice
- a couple of ice cubes
A bowl of tasty pumpkinseed-flax granola with almond milk!

I am planning artichoke heart pasta for tonight's dinner, so I'll keep you updated!
Goodbye for now.

Thank goodness for the public library!

2010-08-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

So I think I officially have every vegan cookbook that the public library owns in my possession right now.
If there is one tip that I give you for becoming vegan, it is: ARM YOURSELF!
Give yourself the weapons you need to fight off self-doubt and others' nagging questions and concerns by keeping tasty recipes at hand, always, and always having something that you can prepare quickly when you don't have time to cook.

If you feel like being vegan is too hard, you will almost certainly cave in. So you need to make it easy! Keep tasty vegan snacks at hand 24/7 so you have no reason to stop by McDonalds and grab a burger.
That, and keep a picture of a cute cuddly little piggie nearby :)

Like this one that I found on photobucket!

Another tip that I cannot stress enough is PLAN AHEAD.
Pick out some recipes for the week and get EVERYTHING you need at the grocery store.
Actually, that could work for non-vegans too :). It is always good to be organized so there's no confusion while you're cooking later on.

If you're concerned about money, plan recipes which use the same ingredients and buy in bulk! For example, have a "brown rice week" or a "black bean week" and plan all your meals around the staples you buy. One bag of brown rice makes a LOT of rice!

However, make sure you keep variety in your diet! This makes it more fun, more interesting, and more nutritious!

That is all I have to say for today, once I am back home I will make sure to photograph more things that I cook to share with you!

Busy busy busy!

2010-08-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

Okay.
I have been very busy. My stepmother has the week off and therefore has decided to pack as much activity as she possibly can into every day.

Saturday, we cleaned.
Sunday, we helped my grandmother move
Monday, we went hiking
Tuesday, we went to the zoo
and Today, finally I get a day off (or so I think).

Due to all the activity, I have mostly been eating oatmeal, fruit, and leftover pizza (without cheese and meat, of course).
However, yesterday I cooked a lovely Split-Pea Soup from a recipe I found at Adventures of a Food Slut.

When my stepmother found out I had decided to lead a vegan lifestyle, she went out and bought:
1. A bunch of fruit
2. A bag of split peas
3. A bag of pearled barley
Then she told me to cook something with them.

So I ate the fruit (Mmm. Nature's candy!) and I dumped in the pearled barley with my split pea soup.

I learned a lesson when doing this: grains will swell up and absorb all of your soup liquid!
Note to self for next time: Add less pearled barley OR Add more water!

Also, since I did promise more pictures, here are some pictures of my visit to the zoo!

Sweet Potatoes!

2010-08-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

After I rolled out of bed all groggy this morning and filled my tummy with granola and Grape Nuts, ran a mile, and took a shower, I realized I was out of leftovers again and would have to cook myself lunch.

Now, when I decided I wanted to really stick to this for good, I went down to the public library and borrowed every book about vegan living and every vegan cookbook they had. This was good for me because before going vegan I'd never cooked anything more complicated than a T.V. dinner. Okay, I made some Kraft Mac and Cheese but there were occasions where even Rice-A-Roni was above my skill level.

Anyways, in one of the books, Conveniently Vegan, by Debra Wasserman, I found a recipe for "Quinoa/Sweet Potato Patties." Not a very appealing title, but I absolutely LOVE sweet potatoes and would probably eat them with anything! All the recipes in her book used "normal" ingredients and usually are pretty simple! I am constantly surprised by how her recipes create such good, pure flavor out of so few ingredients!

The basic process for these sweet potato patties was to cook and mash sweet potatoes, cook some quinoa, and mix it all together with some cinnamon. The result was something that looked like a hamburger, but sweet enough to pass as a dessert! I topped my patties with a little Earth Balance and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. The best part? Whole grains in every bite :D

Another thought that occurred to me is that they would be perfect portable snacks! Portable snacks are always incredibly convenient for me because I work evenings, right through dinner and don't usually get to eat a meal until I get home around 10 o clock.

I'm setting myself some goals:
-Find more simple-to-prepare [Or perhaps just something I can prepare large amounts of and save] snacks for work!
-Take pictures of what I cook! Hopefully next time I'll have a nice, colorful blog post :)

Taking The Dive

2010-08-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

When I was in seventh grade, I had a vegan health teacher. When she explained that she did not eat meat, eggs, butter, cheese, milk, or anything else that came from an animal, I was confused and more than a little weirded out. One day at lunch she even came up to my table and told me that my Jell-O was made from animal products.

You probably think you know where this is going, but my seventh grade health teacher had absolutely nothing to do with my choice to embrace veganism. The reason that I brought her up is because even though she seemed like some weird extremist at the time, now I understand her reasons and her passion.

I have chosen to be a vegan because the treatment of animals in the food industry sickens me. I think it is disgusting the way they raise animals as quickly and cheaply as physically possible with no regards for the environment, the happiness and health of the animal, the working conditions and treatment of employees, or the quality of the product they are pushing onto our tables. I will not go into further detail because we may be here all night, but if you are interested in learning more, some resources may be the GoVeg Website, the documentary Food Inc., or a book by Alicia Silverstone called The Kind Diet.
People like to tell me that I am "just one person" and that I cannot possibly have any effect on the big bad meat and dairy industry. My response is twofold:

First, any group that has a lasting impact on the world is made up of individual people. While I am "just one person", I am not the only person who is making this lifestyle choice. While I am "just one person," without "just" people like me standing up for what we believe is right, there would be no larger movement.

Second, even if my actions did not make the food industry any less corrupt, or any less abusive to their animals, employees, and customers, at the very least I can be satisfied with the fact that they will not be getting my support and my money. :)

Now that I have explained my reasons we can get into the fun stuff! I plan on using this blog to document my vegan adventures. I hope that I will shed some light on how satisfying a vegan diet can be (sensually and morally) and show that vegans aren't just skinny freaks who life on tofu and salad :P