Vegan Chocolate Coconut Pie

I am super bummed that my camera is out of battery juice right now-I've been working on making party snacks all day! I will make sure to get pics and post recipes of all that stuff tomorrow-for now I will just tell you about the awesome pie I made. Ryan has been wanting some chocolate cream pie so after looking at a few different recipes I decided to go with this one. Haven't actually had a slice but sampled a little taste(I just covered the spot up with some shredded coconut hehe) and it is frickin' DELICIOUS.

Other than that not too much happening today. I took the day off of working out and basically just cooked and puttered around all day. It was nice to have a relaxing day for once!

Party Pack!

Me and my sister-in-law have a tradition of giving each other "party packs" for each others birthdays. It is basically one big gift like a gift card,a book or something like that,and then a bunch of fun little things like candy,candles,little treats we don't usually get for our selves. It is also fun because we both like the same kind of stuff,so I just basically get stuff I know I would like! This birthdays party pack:

• ladybug dish and cup(lady bugs have special meaning to our family)-I was thinking they would be cute for her to keep at work for snacks and such


• waterfall candle-it smells like something she already has so I figured she must like the scent right?


• new "natural" lip smacker


• cute socks($1 at target!)-and yes I got some of those tie dye ones for me too =)


• Twilight graphic novel-we are both big fans of the series(yeah,so what if we are 30!) and I know she doesn't have this


• cute Hello Kitty gift bag(again,so what if we are old ladies!)

I didn't get the requisite candy yet but the party is not til Monday. We are doing a "little bites" type party and everyone is bringing appetizers. I'm making those tomorrow-stay tuned to see what I'm bringing!

Easy Veggie Garden

So I saw this article in Mother Earth News and decided it was finally time to take the plunge and start a veggie garden. I started with jalapenos,zucchini and cucumbers---here they are in all their glory:

And yes,I fell for the Topsy-Turvy trend-Black Prince tomatoes-I can't wait!

I plan on doing some container lettuces,herbs and I might try to grow a pumpkin.I also want to include a pic of our rhododendron bush-it is so gorgeously in bloom right now:



And my little woodland friend Wilbur the Welcome Bear-just cuz he is so cute!

Vegan Hot Pockets

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I know I need a new camera! My food pics are disgusting and for that I apologize! I guess I will just have to describe how good everything tastes instead! So last night I got home at 8 o'clock famished from swimming at Ry's moms house and there was no food to be found so I had to make something quick. I had some leftover steamed broccoli and the now famous cashew cheese on hand. At first I was just going to have some cheesy broccoli but decided I needed some protein so opened a can of black beans. So I heated up the broccoli and cheese until it was all melty and then added about a quarter cup of the beans. Then I figured since I just MUST have burnt some calories swimming(even though all I did was float in the pool and relax haha) I stuffed it into a burrito shell and made a quesadilla of sorts. I fried it in a dry pan until it was golden and crispy on each side.

All I could think of were those Hot Pockets with the turkey broccoli and cheese I used to eat when I was little-except better because I knew the devil didn't make it in his little hell bakery. And on that note-ladies and gentleman-JIM GAFFIGAN!!!

Vegan Cheddar Cheese

I could not get a good picture of the cashew cheese! In the picture(and kinda in real life too) it looked pretty bad. Kinda like an off-white lump of nothing. It tasted good though! It's one of those things though-if you are weird about that kind of stuff you are better off thinking of it as a spread or a topping. I chilled mine into a block and shredded it-which it did BEAUTIFULLY I must say-into corn tortilla quesadillas. I thought it tasted akin to american cheese-but then again I haven't had cheese in a really long time so I may not be the best judge! I figured I would give a kind of pros and cons list to help you out:

PROS:

• It was pretty easy to make


• It shredded and melted nicely


• It would be a great topping for all of those naked vegan pizzas out there!


• I enjoyed the flavor-mild ,creamy and nutty

CONS:

• It is a little expensive to make-the agar mostly


• Cheese people who think it will taste like cheddar will be disappointed

Oh on another note-I halved the recipe. The original made 4 cups! Even halved,it made a lot. In my opinion, I say try the recipe.I enjoyed it and I have big plans for my brick. I'm going to melt some on broccoli,make a pizza and probably shred and freeze some. Since I copied the recipe exactly,I wont put it here but here is the book I got it from. I also made the BBQ tofu last night from the book and it turned out great.

Bragg's Vinegar Drink

Me and Ry decided to give this whole apple cider vinegar health drink a go. We bought a huge bottle of the good stuff-Bragg's, and mixed it up-2 tsp. to 8 oz. water. We chilled it and started drinking it this morning. It tastes okay-there is no denying that it tastes like vinegar,but it is tolerable. I want to drink a glass in the morning,afternoon and one at night. So far I do feel less hungry than usual,which is my biggest motivator-haha. There are more benefits too including:

• Rich in enzymes & potassium


• Support a healthy immune system


• Helps control weight


• Promotes digestion & ph Balance


• Helps soothe dry throats


• Helps remove body sludge toxins

That is just the internal benefits-there are external ones listed on the website too. I figure I will try it for a week and see what happens. Check back later- I made cashew cheddar cheese from the "Real Food daily" cookbook-I'm letting it chill and we will see how it tastes!

Vegan Summer Treats!

Now that summer is here,it's time to bust out some of our favorite warm-weather foods. I mean, yeah I had apple cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast but later in the day it got MUGGY. It was time for something easy,cold and delicious. For dinner: tofu "fish" tacos with my "world famous" guacamole. It's actually kind of a joke because my guacamole is so simple but everyone asks how I make it because it really is that good.



Seriously,that is all there is in it. I mash up avocado,squeeze lime juice in it,a few drops of hot sauce(Texas Pete WOOT WOOT!), a LITTLE garlic powder and salt to taste. That's it. Sometimes a little cumin or lemon juice if I have no lime. I have to say that it is better if you chill it a little after you make it though.

Up next: raw raspberry ice cream for dessert.

[caption id="attachment_99" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Before"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_97" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="After"][/caption]

I froze some sliced bananas and raspberries. Then I blended them up in my food processor until creamy with about 3 T. maple syrup and a few drops of vanilla. It was so good. Even Ry liked it and he is pretty picky about his desserts.

We also did some lawn work today in this heat. My job is to pick up pine cones from the two ENORMOUS tree in the front so Ry doesn't hit them with the mower. I also nominated myself to pick up the dog poo from Mulder's room from now on-I must really be feeling bad about not working-haha =).

CNY Pet Expo A Success!

So we did great yesterday! All of the dogs were so well behaved(they always are),there were lots of donations and quite a few people interested in the dogs! Here are some of Response-a-Bulls finest(and cutest!):

[caption id="attachment_82" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="That's Texas-you can't see his face but he is a big goofy boy who loves to play! He made friends with a couple of kiddos who gave him a tennis ball."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_83" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="That is Pretty-it is such a good name for her because she really has such a unique and pretty face. She had a family quite enamoured with her and I'm pretty sure she will be theirs!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_84" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Little Brooke doing the "Superman". She was Ry's charge for the day and they were quite the couple! "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_85" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Little Baya was my girl for the first half of the day. She was such a little cutie-they call her "mini pittie". She loved every little kid who stopped by. She was so tired halfway through she had to go in her crate and take a nap."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_86" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Parker! He has been a favorie of mine and Ry's for a long time. He is a big cuddle bear and dogs really don't get better looking than this ya know?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_87" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Little Presley. He was so warm he just wanted to lay on the nice cool floor-smart pup!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_90" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Response-a-Bull's booth. Kate and Laura do an amazing job and care so much about this cause. They are heroes to these pups!"][/caption]

Unfortunately those are all the pics I was able to get-most of the day we were go,go,go! There are more pups that were there like Hazel-who I'm pretty sure will get adopted as well! I'm also bummed because I wanted to get a group shot of all the volunteers-they had awesome shirts made-we looked mighty cool if I do say so myself. If you are interested in Response-a-Bull check them out here!

CNY Pet Expo Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the CNY Pet Expo and I can't wait. We are volunteering with our favorite rescue group, Response-a-Bull. There are pets for adoption,vendors(the homebaked treats one is Mulder's favorite,he only gets them twice a year,once at the expo,once during BarnFest!),pet training,micro chipping and more! If you are in the area be sure to check it out-it is a wonderful event.

Today I am working on making treats for the expo. I am going to make a huge batch of my chocolate chippies,tempeh bacon for our sandwiches for lunch and I have a bunch more prepping to go. I REFUSE to eat fast food! That is the only bad part is that there is no real healthy options for eating there. Once our lunch bag is all packed up I will take a pic.

Mulder says:"Go to the Pet Expo! You'll be glad you did!"

Homemade Hamburger Buns

I am making sloppy joes tonight and lo and behold I have no bread products in the house whatsoever except some corn tortillas. We bought a HUGE pack of them a while ago and have been using them for everything though,so I thought I would try to make some hamburger rolls. I used Vegan Brunch's recipe for pull apart poppy rolls except I used sesame seeds instead of poppy and I made individual rolls instead of pull apart. Warm out of the oven one of these babies became my afternoon snack and it was GOOD. It wasn't that soft fluffy hamburger roll at all-hearty with a thicker and crispier crust-more like a dinner roll for sure. Next time maybe I will try to make them with a softer crust recipe like parkerhouse roll dough or something. But these are wonderful just the way they are and they will be wonderful with our sloppy joes tonight!

Frugal Beauty

Remember when I was talking about the homemade sugar scrub? Well yesterday I did baking soda-and it worked even better. Just keep your mouth shut tight because it tastes horrible! Another cool thing I came upon by chance today is this article by "Daily Bread"-check it out here.

The Dreaded Weight Post

I know that it is not a good thing to dwell on and talk about it too much on your blog,trust me I do. I suffer from bouts of binge eating,severe restriction,over-exercising and just giving up. I just know that over the past few weeks I have definitely gained 5 pounds and it is ALL in the stomach area. I have been working out MORE and eating about the same. I know it has to do with me not running around at work anymore and burning up all of those calories. It is just so frustrating because I really don't want to go back to counting calories. I did it before and lost 20 pounds,but it was such a hassle. It would also be even harder now because I am pretty much eating all whole foods and no convenience foods with the calories already counted and portioned for you. Unfortunately I will be counting for the next month or so-I won't post too much about it as to not be a trigger to myself or others-but when none of my pants are fitting I have to do something!

RIP Ronnie James Dio

First Peter Steele and now Ronnie James Dio-two awesome musicians gone too soon. Read Ronnie's wifes touching tribute here.[gallery columns="2"]

Perfect Shade of Olive

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Okay,so we are finally making some headway on our house! We bought it last August but never had any time to do anything with our horrible work schedules. Now that I am home, we have more time to get stuff done. First project is the dining room. When we moved in it had old stained wall paper and a verigated golden colored rug. We tore up the rugs and got the wallpaper off within the first month but the project was at a standstill until now. We filled in all the holes and gouges and now we are sanding it all down. Hopefully by the end of the week it will all be primered and then paint! We are going with this Egyptian Nile color(I think) by Behr. It is really hard to settle on a color because once you do the "virtual" color thingie on the website it always looks different! I know I want a dark green color,not too bluish, more on the yellow side but not too trendy. Any suggestions?

Baking! Lifting!

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This week I did a lot of baking. Homemade pizza crust-it was so delicious! I made a whole wheat crust,split it into two and toppped them with tomato "sausage" sauce(TVP) and sauteed zucchini. Round two was vegan chocolate chip cookies-only did a half batch because they were just for me and babe. As if that wasn't enough I also made banana raisin muffins. The muffins are delicious and a favorite of mine, but very dangerous because Ry doesn't really like them and I always eat them all. I love baking and scratch cooking but I also love eating it all! YIKES!

Thank goodness I am starting my new weights plan today. I yoinked my dad's Modern Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding (it was how he got his beginning)and I'm going to do the split routine #1 in it for a month. When I first lost 20 lbs last year I did mostly light circuit training because I didn't want to put any muscle mass on because I was in a Biggest loser competition at work and it was based upon pounds lost,not body composition. When that was done however,I started Body for Life and I was making good  progress-my whole body got super tight and I looked great. I gained about 3 pounds,but I'm sure it was all muscle. Well I decided to try to switch it up and started the Muscle and Fitness Hers "get ready for summer" plan and my body went backwards. I don't think that it is enough of a plan for me. It probably would be great for a beginner but after Body For Life it was too easy!

So today's workout consists of:

CHEST-bench press,incline press and pullovers

BACK-rows,one armed rows and deadlifts

ABS-leg lifts(lower crunches)

I am really interested to see how my body responds to this new program-my body does best with lots of lifting and not as much cardio.

Raw Swiss Chocolate Ice Cream

This is a variation of the raw banana ice cream that everyone is blogging about these days.

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen bananas(peeled and in chunks)


• 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder


• 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup


• slivered almonds

In a food processor,blend banana chunks until smooth and creamy. Add syrup and cocoa. Pour into a dish and stir in almonds. Freeze for about 2 hours. Top as you wish(peanut butter or chocolate syrup are both good choices) and enjoy!

This is very delicious and makes a big serving-very filling! You could cut the calories by using stevia if you wish-this recipe is quite forgiving. I made it last night with chocolate chips and it was equally delicious.

Every Other Day!

As you all know by now,I am trying out all sorts of tactics to save money these days-a penny saved really is a penny earned!

One of the things I am doing now is cutting back the frequency of using things. For example, I used to take a vitamin every day(expensive ones-RAW ONE),and I figured I eat pretty healthfully so I could get away with taking one every other day. I feel just as good and I will make my bottle stretch much longer. Another one is shampooing my hair. Every other day is just fine. If do a sweaty workout, I just rinse and condition.

It may seem that these things don't save very much money,but over the long haul they really do! My vitamins for instance:

A bottle of 75 costs $30

One everyday for a year costs $146 (PUKE!)

One every other day costs $73

That adds up! In all reality I probably could get cheaper vitamins or not take them at all,but I am not quite so comfortable with that option yet. The moral of the story is whether its shampoo,vitamins or a magazine habit,consuming or using less can really benefit your pocket book!

Free $200!

So me and my babe are quite the music lovers and both brought our extensive music collections into the relationship 6 years ago. My half spanned 13 years-so I had  quite a few. Well we moved that box through 3 moves now and barely listened to at least three quarters of them. We decided to trade the majority in to FYE (150!) and see what happened. We thought if we got .50 for each we would be happy just to get rid of some clutter. We were very excited when we got almost $200! I guess some of them were pretty rare or originals so we did good. We had about 30 that they didn't take because they already had too many copies of-those I will donate to the Salvation Army.Some words of advice:

• Go early and during the week so you aren't holding the whole place up-it takes awhile


• realize that it is easy to get a hold of songs online these days-don't hold on to a disc for one song!


• Make sure that the case and artwork is all intact


• Be courteous to the person doing the transaction-that's just a given =)

So now we are richer and have less stuff collecting dust around the house. We didn't get rid of everything-we have a couple of bands that we follow religiously and have a lot of rare stuff from them,but we really didn't need two copies of Everyday by Dave Mathews and 3 different greatest hits collections by the Doors. By the way-the greatest hits collections fetched some good money!

Breakfast With Spongebob

I  had a coupon for Spongebob Cream of Wheat,so I picked some up. In the box are Maple Sugar Bikini Bottom and Chocolate Lagoon. The Chocolate one is really good when you make it with soymilk,sometimes I will eat it for a late night dessert =). The Maple one is good as well and works better for breakfast-type applications. Now I like oatmeal but Cream of Wheat has always been a favorite of mine as well,I think its a texture thing. So this morning after a walk with the puppy doo,I cooked up a packet of the Maple-1/3 c. light  soymilk,1/3 c. water and the packet in the micro for 1 minute 30 seconds. While it was cooling and thickening I chopped an apple and micro'd  that for a minute. When it came out I sprayed it with some spray margarine(don't judge me,I'm trying to use all that crappy stuff up =)),and mixed it all together. It was pretty good,usually I would have added some PB,but I ate a ton of that last night on a pb&j wrap with butterscotch chips,so I figured I didn't need the calories.

On the agenda for today-library,home depot(we're finally gonna paint the dining room-Yay!),upperbody workout and chili for dinner---have a great Monday!

Happy Mother's Day!

...to me! That's my furbaby and he is most certainly my child!

To all the mothers out there today-ENJOY!

Cheap Face Scrub!

In my quest to use it up,make do or do without I came up with this little trick today. I have always used St Ives. Apricot Scrub for as long as I can remember and I love it. Sadly I ran out of my stash and while it is not expensive, I do not want to buy anymore right now. Before if something like this happened I would have driven to the store and bought some,wasting gas and time.  However,my vain old self will not let my skin become all rough and scaggy looking,so I still need to exfoliate in some manner. Enter: Sugar In The Raw packet I had in my cupboard. I mixed it with a little bit of my gel facial wash and scrubbed it up. It worked perfectly because it dissolved a little bit and wasn't too harsh on my delicate red-headed skin. I think it would work really nice with cornmeal as well.

Thanks for joining me!

Until I import my posts from my old blog,here is a link---enjoy!

Shortening the Food Chain

I watch this show on the Planet Green channel called "Future Food". It's a really interesting show where they are very inventive with food and have a theme each episode that they follow. They use a lot of those funky ingredients like gelling agents,foams and stuff I'm sure would be difficult for us to incorporate into our home kitchens,but nonetheless they are fun to watch. Last night they had a burger episode. They wanted to make a burger out of just the things that a cow eats. The ingredients were:

• corn that they charred
• beets that they juiced(I think they only used the pulp but I'm not sure)
• oats
  
• corn starch that they "disturbed" with sonic beams to mimic fat

I would love to try this burger,they were saying that it tasted like a real one. Since I don't have access to a sonic beam machine I'm pretty sure that won't be happening though =(.

So after they all developed their recipes, they took them to the streets so people could taste them and vote. Burger 1 was a regular beef burger,burger 2 was a veggie burger made with soybeans,spinach and other veggies and burger 3 was the beet burger. The winner was the veggie burger which was awesome. Everyone said how flavorful it was, I just was a little concerned because it looked like fried baby poop. Oh well,I give these guys mad props for doing things like that and helping people see how wonderful and delicious meatless food can be. I think I may do some experimenting and see if I can't mimic that beet burger...

Amazing Mushroom Barley Soup

In my attempts to reduce our food bill I have been looking for recipes that are inexpensive. I came across a recipe on allrecipes.com but I modified it quite a bit-here's my recipe-

Nicole's Vegan Mushroom Barley Soup

• 1 c. barley
• 3 c. water
• 2 tbs. margarine(I use willow run)
• 2 onions chopped
• 1 carrot thinly sliced
• 2 stalks celery thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
  
• 10 oz. mushrooms chopped
• 5 c. veggie broth(I used knorr)
• 2/3 c. red wine
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

In a large pot combine barley and water. Bring to a boil,lower heat and simmer 30 minutes.
Meanwhile in another pan heat margarine and saute onions carrots and celery for 10 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and saute 5 more minutes. Add broth and wine to veggies and simmer15 minutes. Add mixture to barley and add salt,pepper and rosemary.

This soup was absolutely delicious. It is rich and tasted very decadent although there is hardly any fat in it. Definitely a winner. The best part is that the barley cost 50 cents and the mushrooms ended up costing around a dollar because they were marked down. Everything else was stuff I always have on hand-a perfect inexpensive pantry meal! Feel free to experiment too-white wine instead of red,rice instead of barley and so on and so on-this recipe is very forgiving.

In My Cupboard

In my (messy) cupboard:

• All natural salad dressing(Annie's that I bought for pasta salad and Drew's Lemon Tahini which is like manna in our house)
  
• salsa! I don't know why I bought this brand,I think it was on sale. We usually get Newman's.
  
• Teddy's PB
  
• cooking spray(a necessary evil til I get a Misto)
• salt and pepper-the salt is awesome primordial sea salt-I found it at Marshall's strangely enough
• Those are all beans in the back-refried,black,chickpeas,red and white.
• canned tomatoes and paste
• that little box on the right is bouillon
• also hiding behind the salt is some magic shell stuff I bought for a party-shameful =)
• On the upper shelf I keep all our grain staple stuff-bags of beans and barley,falafel mix,polenta,tvp,chickpea flour-stuff like that.
• There is ANOTHER shelf above that which has all of our noodles and rice

So that is just one of the food storage areas in my kitchen-more to come next post!

Poor People's Food

So on my last day of work one of my co-workers wanted to make a going away lunch for the whole department that I could eat(vegan). She decided she would make "lazy pierogie" which is basically a layered dish with lasagna noodles,sauerkraut,mushrooms and onions. I guess she decided against the potato version when I informed her,"no I can't eat condensed cheddar cheese soup"! Now,don't think I am an ungrateful brat because I told her multiple times thanks but no thanks,don't worry about me blah blah blah. So anyways,she went with the cabbage version. It was good,I ate some even though I am pretty sure the margarine wasn't vegan and I thought it was very nice until I heard her telling one of the other girls in the back who didn't want to eat it that it was "poor people's food"! I was honestly surprised that there are still people who are so ignorant that they think of healthy veg based food negatively. I didn't say anything because I just wanted to finish my shift quietly and get the frig out of there but I thought that was really annoying. I NEVER ask anyone to go out of their way for me and this is why. The way I eat is a huge part of who I am and when someone disses it like that it is a huge slap in the face.

Steps Toward Self-Sufficiency

We are trying to make some progress towards eventually being self-sufficient. Right now we are working on fixing up our house in town and we are going to try and sell for a profit. I quit my job so we can accomplish that quicker. Those are some of the big steps we have begun to take but the smaller ones are almost harder sometimes because it involves breaking little habits that you don't really think about. Here are some of those things I am working at right now:

• Drinking more water and tea made at home rather than soda and coffee out
• Making our groceries last longer,using stuff that I keep in the pantry
• Getting rid of cable-a time sucker and a money sucker
• Using the library more-for entertainment and information

That is just a little of what I'm working on right now. I must say that it was really nice to get up this morning,eat some fruit,read the paper,exercise,eat some cereal,take a shower and then start some house work and computer work. I'm going to work on listening to my natural rhythms and try to find the times where I am most productive. I realize that I am VERY lucky to be able to do this because not everyone has this opportunity. Here's to the first day out of the rat race!!!!