An Introduction to Vegan Living

So I'm not really a vegan. I mean, I like to think I am. I try to cook that way at home, though it's not always 100% vegan.

However, my breakfast is a great vegan start to the day. It has tons of fiber, which is good for you. When I've been traveling and not eating very well, I always look forward to this morning meal.

Here it is:
Fiber cereal
Fruit and nuts
Almond milk

The fiber cereal is a mixture of four different kinds of cereals: Uncle Sams, wheat squares, Grape Nuts, and rolled oats (non-instant). I just layer them up in a big container, then shake it up until it's all combined.

Once I pour that mixture into my bowl, I add fruit and nuts. The fruit is important because--let's face it--that batch of cereal is pretty tasteless! I always add raisins, since they're easy to keep on hand. And I like to add a banana, too, if I can. The most important point is to remember to have a bit of fruit in every bite! Otherwise it's not very good.

The nuts are important in the beginning, when I was learning to get used to almond milk. Almond milk tastes nutty (surprise, surprise), so I could reason with myself that the nutty flavor was coming from the walnuts (or pecans) I had in my cereal. Usually only four or five halves is enough. And now I'm used to the almond flavor, so the nuts aren't as important, but I like them, so I still use them.

Next is the almond milk. I use Blue Diamond non-sweetened vanilla, and it's really good! It did take some getting used to, I admit. It's not cow's milk. But I really like it now, and try to use it instead of cow's milk whenever I can. I especially like making hot chocolate with it!

One note about this cereal: It is very filling! I started out making a large bowl, like I always did with my Frosted Mini Wheats or whatever I was eating, but I never could finish it! So I make a small bowl, and it stays with me until lunch.

So, skeptics out there are reading this and thinking, "Wow, she has a lot of provisions to make up for the bad taste. Why doesn't she just grab a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and call it good?"

Most of us were not raised vegan, and by the time I was 30, I had trained myself to add some sugar here, a bit of butter there, and to choose taste over health. Well, as the rate of obesity increases, as well as diabetes and heart disease, it's become more obvious to me that choosing foods because they satisfy my taste buds isn't perhaps the best idea. So, this little breakfast bowl is one way that I'm re-training my taste buds. So if right now I don't like the taste of some healthy foods...I'm adding other, tastier, healthy foods to compensate. I'm retraining my sense of taste.

Not that all healthy foods taste bad; on the contrary, I think it's mostly a matter of training ourselves out of liking healthy foods, when in fact they are quite tasty! On this little vegan journey, I have learned to enjoy foods I've never tried before, or tried and hadn't liked. Next week, I'm going to take on brussel sprouts, and am fully prepared to love them!

How to Mark Butter

I've gotten in the habit of marking my sticks of butter by tablespoon. Before I did that, I kept the butter paper so I would have its markings. But the paper would get messy, and it was a less than ideal solution. So, this is what I do now. It works for me, and maybe it will work for you. Start with your butter still in its paper, and a clean knife you pulled from the drawer.

Using the dull side of the knife, gently press on each tablespoon marking, rolling it a little to indent the butter beneath.

Unwrap your butter, and voila! Each tablespoon of butter is marked out nicely for you!

Place in your butter dish (sans paper), and you're ready to bake! Mmmm...butter....

Beans and Rice Recipe

Yesterday I made a great beans and rice recipe, and I wanted to pass it on to you because it turned out so great! I had everything I needed except for the sausage, so it was a very cheap meal for us. I was proud of myself because I took an allrecipes.com recipe for red beans and rice and added my own flavor to it, partially because of what I had in my pantry and partially because I thought it might taste good. The picture to the left is not of my beans and rice, and actually uses red beans instead of pinto like I did, but it looks pretty close. I eyeballed all my measurements, which means it'll probably never taste the same again, but it'll be close.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried pinto beans
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 t salt
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 t white sugar
• 1/2 t Tony Cachere's
• 2 t celery seed
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 t gumbo file
• 1 t paprika
• 1 can Rotel, undrained
• 1 lb jalapeno sausage, sliced

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients except for Rotel and sausage in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. (I started with just beans and water and used the 35 minutes to get everything chopped and stirred in. That made it fun because I really don't like the smell of cooking beans, and then it just got better and better and better!)
2. Transfer everything into a crock pot. Stir in Rotel and sausage. Add enough water to cover ingredients. Simmer on low for 6 hours.
3. Skim grease off the top (I used slices of bread to soak it up), and serve with rice.

Notes:
Jon and I like things a little spicy, so we added Tabasco to our individual bowls, leaving it a little milder for Caleb. Today instead of Tobasco I used more Tony's on my leftovers. This would be great with corn bread (I forgot until too late), and a fruit salad, to temper the heat and heaviness of it.

Date night!

Jon and I had a great date night tonight! Freebirds and Julie & Julia. Uncle Dave and Aunt Karen used their aunt/uncle magic and kept Caleb happy, fed and bathed him, and got him off to bed with barely a tear! Let me tell you, that makes me quite the happy mom to come home to a good report like that. We were so grateful for the night out! And Momma, you've GOT to find a theater near you that's playing Julie & Julia. You would LOVE it!

Off to bed for now, but tomorrow I just might have to peruse some recipe books....too bad I packed most of them away in an effort to free up room in my kitchen!

Yummy chocolatey-ness

So the other day I got a hankering for Jason's Deli chocolate mousse. You know, the one on the salad bar. Anyway, not only did I end up going to Jason's Deli, I also found a recipe for something similar. Then I got the wrong sizes of ingredients and a little bit extra and came up with my own recipe, purely by accident. That being said, it's pretty dang good!

So here it is, Chocolate Mousse:

Ingredients:
1 lg. pkg (5.85oz, I believe) instant chocolate pudding
2 1/4C milk (I had skim)
8 oz. extra creamy cool whip, thawed
1/2C semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Mix the pudding and milk. Fold in cool whip. Add chocolate chips. Chill in fridge (I waited overnight, but I bet it'd be good in an hour or so). Stir and serve! Garnish with chocolate chips, if desired.

The second time I made this, I used 16oz cool whip, which is what the original recipe calls for. It's not as thick or rich, but still good, and goes further at parties. I'd still go with 8oz, but Jon recommends 16, hence this paragraph.

And um...yes, I did have seconds just so I could take the photo.

The New Year's Resolutions: 2008

I don't know why it is. There's really nothing different about January 1st than there is about November 3rd or June 22nd. But, for some strange reason, I'm much more motivated on Jan 1 than June 1 to improve myself. Maybe it's the pounds of food eaten during the holidays, or the lack of exercise during the cold and very busy months. Maybe it's the breath of fresh air that comes after all the Christmas decorations are put away. Or perhaps it's the impending doom of swimsuit season. Whatever the reason, the beginning of the year happens to be the time when I think of ways in which I can improve. So, without further ado:

1. Be consistent in my Bible study. You'd think a Christian of 19 years would have this down, but I don't. Problem: No planned time for it. Solution: Wake up right when the alarm goes off.
2. Be consistent in my exercise. Biking went the way of Bermuda shorts when the temps got below 55. Plus, Jon doesn't have lunch time to bike any more, and who wants to exercise alone? Problem: No motivation. Solution: Competition. Jon and I are creating a friendly competition with the goal being to keep up with each other in time spent exercising.
3. Be consistent in my guitar practice. Problem: Seemingly no time. Solution: Plan my day better.
4. Read more. Problem: When I read, I can't get anything else done until I finish the book, so it's very unproductive. Solution: Plan small increments of reading time each day, and stick to it.
   
5. Do less. Problem: I can't help it. "Yes" always comes out of my mouth. Solution: Don't make a decision on the spot. Talk with Jon about it before responding.
6. Be more organized. Problem: No motivation or time. Solution: Plan in time each day for picking up, choose a spot a month to clear away the things that never found permanent homes, and keep reading "Organized for Life" over and over again. :)
7. Be politically informed. Problem: I don't know what I think about the election. Solution: Watch the news, listen to conversations, and read up on the candidates.
8. Be romantic. Problem: Jon beats me hands down in this area. Solution: Carry out one romantic gesture a week (bigger than the daily "I love yous").
9. Cook more. Problem: Frozen bag meals just aren't appealing any more. Solution: Pick simple meals and keep staples in the pantry to make them.
   
10. Make a schedule and stick to it. Problem: Not enough time in the day to accomplish all my resolutions. Solution: Go to bed on time, get up earlier, and plan the day with bits of time for each goal.

This morning I started my resolutions. I usually roll out of bed by 7:30 or so, but today I was up when Jon got up (6:00), and I had my quiet time, practiced guitar, biked and showered before work. Who knew I could be so productive?

I'm still working on my schedule, but hope to have it satisfactory soon. Then I'll print these resolutions and the schedule, and stick them where I can see them every day.

Good luck to you in your resolutions!

I did it.

As many of you know, I love salsa. LOVE it. Chips and salsa is just about the perfect snack. Or meal. Whichever. I wouldn't call myself a connoisseur of salsas, but I am kind of picky. I only like Mexican restaurant salsa. As a matter of fact, good salsa is one way I rate Mexican restaurants (the other is cheese enchiladas, but that's another topic). I do NOT like salsa from a jar. Grossie.

So, I make my own. I've got a good recipe that's easy with few ingredients (some of you may know it). Jon is not a picky salsa eater, but his one complaint was the consistency. He likes salsa that stays on the chip, and my blender was creating a thin puree of the oh-so-lovely salsa.

Enter: the food processor! When I requested a food processor for Christmas, it was for two reasons. One, because I can't seem to chop onions without also chopping myself, and two, because I figured it was a way to get a thicker salsa. And I was right!

Let me segue for a moment and also say I'm in constant pursuit of better salsa. This combined with the fact that the key ingredient of my normal salsa--Trappy's Torrido Peppers--seems to have become persona non grata led me to try out a new recipe.

Here it is:

Put these ingredients into the processor with the chopper blade and chop on high:
1 bunch cilantro, gathered and tops cut off (maybe about 2C loosely packed?)
6 hot chili peppers (mine was Mezzetta brand)
2 green onions
3 Chili Cascabel (they're dried chipotle peppers--mine was Fiesta brand)

Then add these and chop on low:

1 28 oz. can Hunt's whole tomatoes (some of the liquid poured off)
1 10 oz. can Rotel
Garlic, Salt and Cumin to taste

Mmmmm......a perfect salsa.... Look at it! Great color, wonderful taste (I love the cilantro!), and the chunky consistency Jon likes. I was worried that the cilantro wouldn't chop well in such a big processor, but it worked beautifully. And it added such a great flavor! The chipotle peppers add the darker color and a little more depth to the flavor as well.

So now go! Why are you still reading? Go get some cilantro, some yummy peppers, and a food processor! Go!

Oh, and then invite me over! I'll bring the chips!