Stupid 40 year old woman tricks-take 2

I couldn't believe it! Last night, I got out of the car, grabbed a bag of groceries from the trunk, turned, and was on my butt! I know how slippery our driveway is and I thought I was being careful; apparently, I wasn't careful enough. I didn't break anything (grocery or body) so I guess that's good. I just added to my bruises. Above is a pic from Christmas morning. We had a small tree this year so we wouldn't have to worry so much about the puppy getting in it.

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Yesterday, I said I'd try to think of something exciting for dinner--didn't happen. Hubby said he liked my stir-fried teriyaki veggies so that's what I made. The veggies were celery, onion, carrots, garlic, bell pepper, and butternut squash. I sauteed them in coconut oil for a while then added a Hawaiian teriyaki sauce and continued to cook until they were done. We had them served over polenta. (Yeah, I know, teriyaki is Asian and polenta is Greek (I think). But they went together well anyway.)

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This morning, I made up some of the leftover polenta like grits--polenta, soy milk, and turbinado warmed up in the microwave.

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For lunch I had left-over teriyaki veggies in a tortilla (Yeah, I know, Mexican and Asian--but it was good.)

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Tonight, we will go out for an early dinner (to beat the rush) and then come home and have my folks over. I'll do a veggie plate with red pepper nut cheese for a dip and a chocolate fondue with all sorts of stuff to dip. The kids like to dip brownies and marshmallows--I don't have those in a vegan variety so I'll skip them and dip bananas, strawberries, and Graham crackers. Then, if it's like usual, my folks will go home, hubby and I will go to bed around 10 and the kids will stay up to watch the ball drop.

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I think I get more boring with each passing year.

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Work is going good. I got a lot done Monday, Tuesday, and so far today. I'm doing really well as far as year-end goes. I always worry about it, but it always goes fine. I guess I just blow it out of proportion because I only do it once a year.

I'll leave you with a picture of my "dog-pile"--Little Girl and Dubby on the chair, Ki-Ki on the rug.

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Ciao for now.

The Holidays March on

OK. Here it is December 30 and I'm just getting around to looking at my blog--first time in like a week. I haven't haven't looked at any of the other blogs I follow, either. Hey, CCV--thanks for the comment. I really like your blog. So anyway, here's a synopsis of my holiday (short and sweet).
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Christmas Eve--I worked for a couple of hours and then made Sugar Cookies, Whole Wheat Bread, and Pumpkin Muffins. Son made Date Balls. And then we all frosted the cookies (all of the stuff was vegan, of course). That evening, my folks came over and brought presents and then we went to a couple of friends' houses to deliver goodies.
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Christmas day--We got up and opened presents. Santa was good to my kids. Daughter got an easy bake oven and mixes, and son got bionicles. From us, kids got cameras. From grandparents, kids got camera cases. Hubby got tools. I got a mandolin and a new food processor. Grandparents got pictures.
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Then during the day, I made a devils food cake and re fried beans; daughter took pictures and "baked"; son took pictures and built bionicles; hubby napped. Later that day, we went over to my folks house and had tacos for dinner and cake and pie for dessert. My brother and his family were there too. We gave them vegan bread and goodies--they gave us a meat and cheese gift pack (gag).
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December 26th--more bionicle building, picture taking, easy baking etc. by kids. More napping by hubby. I worked. We did have one disaster related to the cameras. The kid's cameras can take videos and they both loved that. Daughter did a "hurricane" video and ended up losing her camera for a week because "we don't treat cameras like that!" (She just didn't understand that you don't toss a camera to make it look like the hurricane took it. I am pretty sure she understands now.)
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December 27th--Saturday--I played at "stupid 40 year-old woman tricks" and did a face plant in the parking lot at the movie theater. I said some choice words. I'm still sore, and my knee is beyond bruised. It was snowing on top of slightly melting ice so was really slick and I was in a hurry because I didn't want to be late and I just slipped. By the time we got into the theater, I was laughing at myself for being so stupid. We saw Disney's "Bedtime Stories" by the way. It was good, but not one I'd want to see over and over again.
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December 28th--Sunday--we went down to the hot tubs and swam. Really fun and eased the soreness.
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December 29th--Monday--I just worked. It was a really busy day.
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And that brings us back to today. I am resolved to start eating better again. I ate all together too many of the Christmas goodies and need to get back on top of things. I didn't lose all that weight only to gain it back my first Holiday season thin.
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I'll try to do something wonderful tonight for dinner and then I'll blog all about it tomorrow. Take care, all. And I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Hubby's Back Working Weekdays!

My hubby is back working weekdays again! I am so excited! He came home from work Saturday and said he would be off on Sunday and then back to regular weekdays starting Monday. It is so much nicer having him here on the weekends and gone on the weekdays. Honest, I'm not trying to be picky, but it's hard to work and get anything else done around here during the week if he's home; and I hate going to bed by myself only to wake up in the middle of the night when he gets in. And as far as weekends go, I'm just used to having him around. I was so tired last week--getting up in the middle of the night is hard for me.
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So he's back on his regular schedule because they got ahead of schedule on the job they're on so 2 of them got taken off that and put back to their regular work. Fortunately, he was one of the two.
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Now I just have to put up with the kids being home for the next two weeks. It won't be too bad--I'm just a creature of habit and I'm not used to having the kids home. Earlier, I had to put on earphones to drown out the sound of the TV so I could get some work done.
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Here's the recipe (sort of):
Butternut, Pea and Potato Curry
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1/2 onion-diced
2 stalks celery-diced
2 carrots-diced
2 TBSP coconut oil
1/2 butternut squash-cubed
1/2 large sweet potato-cubed
3 small potatoes-cubed
1 TBSP curry powder
1/2 tsp each-ginger, turmeric, paprika
1 tsp chili powder
2 cups yellow pear tomatoes (mine were out from the freezer from my garden)
1 can coconut milk
1 can peas-drained
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Saute the onion, celery, and carrot in the coconut oil until the onions get translucent. Add the potato, sweet potato, and squash. Sprinkle all of the spices on and saute for about 10 minutes.
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Blend the tomatoes and the coconut milk in the Vita-Mix and pour over the veggies (add more water if needed to make a nice sauce). Simmer covered until veggies are as done as you want them. Stir in the peas.
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Serve over brown rice.
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It was supposed to be a curry, but the flavor and consistency, etc. reminded me of another dish I had at an Indian restaurant--I don't remember the name of it, but it was really good.
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The puppy is doing really good. I told the kids that since they are home for a couple of weeks, they need to let the big dogs in and watch the puppy. Hopefully, by the time they go back to school, the puppy won't be so crazy every time she sees them so I can have them in here (being good) while I work.
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It started out rough, but now everyone is being good.
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Well, I guess I'd better get back to doing something productive. It's too much fun blogging, though.
Ciao for now.

Baby It's Cold Outside

To steal a line from a Christmas song. It has been really cold here. Today is warm by comparison--23 degrees at 4pm.
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This is my third shot at this post. I tried two other times from my cell phone while son was sledding and both times I accidentally did something (I thought I just hit the backspace key, but apparently not) and everything I had typed just disappeared.
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This is KiKi. She was a rescue dog--a friend found her and we brought her home in 2004. She is a little slow, but such a good dog.

This is Dubby. She was a K-Mart parking lot freebie that we got in 1998. She was supposed to be half lab and half Rottweiler. (I think her lab momma was friendly with a German Sheppard that the Rottweiler didn't know about.) Son was about a year and a half at the time and called her "the dubby". (That's little kid language for "the puppy".) The name stuck--she's Dubby.
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The kids are out for Christmas break now--2 weeks of it. Daughter is at a friend's house for a birthday party/sleepover. We took son sledding. Hubby and I sat in the car and tried to stay warm while he slid down the hill over and over again. Right now, hubby and son are gone--son's violin lesson.

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Yesterday was the annual third grade formal Christmas breakfast so last night, daughter was all gung-ho on manners. Now we're not heathens, but we are also a far cry from a Martha Stewart family. So daughter kept trying to correct everything we did at dinner. "That's not how you are supposed to hold your spoon." "Your napkin is supposed to be in your lap except when you are wiping your mouth with it." Etc. We finally got her calmed down. I explained that manners are to make a meal enjoyable, not miserable.

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For dinner we had pumpkin soup. I got the recipe off MSN.com. It was really good. And easy! :-)

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The puppy got her stitches out this morning! Ya-Hoo! So she no longer has her wiener wrap or her big collar. Her tummy is still sore from where the stitches were pulling, but the vet said that as active as she is, that was better than taking them out earlier and possibly having to take her back to surgery and re-sew her up. I guess I agree. I don't think I'd have wanted to do another 10-14 days of that.

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Son had his violin concert. I was so disgusted with that. The teacher also teaches at the local charter school so she had her private lesson students play with school orchestra. The show was the "winter showcase" for the charter school and there were so many kids there. And of those kids, way too many of them were behaving obnoxiously--I hate that. And of all of the parents there, way too many of those were just as obnoxious as the kids. The teacher had the orchestra kids all lined up ready to go on stage and another teacher came in and started having kids change their shoes for another part of the show. The violin teacher tried to stop her telling her that they needed to be ready to go on in a minute and she had them lined up and they didn't have time to change shoes and the other teacher hollered out "my third graders need to change shoes. My third graders change shoes." I mean really! Why was her group supposed to be allowed to get out of the line up to change shoes? Just a guess, but judging by her attitude, I would bet that if someone had pulled this other teacher's kids out when they were lining up for anything, this other teacher would have thrown a fit. Anyway, watching some of the teachers and some of the parents, I can pretty well figure out why the kids were acting the way they were.

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Oh, and also, I didn't even get to see the concert from the audience. I went to sit down and they were charging admission! The charter school is a public school! And none of the other public schools charge to see your own kid preform. So anyway, I watched from the wings backstage. Son didn't do very well--he was put in the back. He had never played with most of these kids and he was uptight. (Also, he is like his mom--doesn't do well in chaotic situations.)

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OK, so enough complaining now. I haven't been writing much lately because of hubby being home. His getting in at 2 am from work and then getting up at 7 or 8 and then taking a nap at like 2 pm has kind of put a crimp in my style. I'll be glad when he is back on days. Make that I will be glad when he is back on weekdays. I don't like him working the weekend. It would be nice if we were both off on the same days.

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When hubby and son get back, we are going to go get dinner (our usual Friday routine is to go out to dinner). Hubby wants Mexican food tonight. And then I was thinking that maybe the kids and I would go see a movie tomorrow while hubby is working (after sleeping in and after daughter gets home, of course).

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Well, I guess I'll go now.

Ciao for now.

Whew, I've been away from my Blog a while

Hi! I've been away from my blog for awhile. I have just been really busy!
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Look at my poor puppy.
She is just too active. She won't let her belly heal up so now she is in a wiener wrap and a fancy collar. Fortunately we'll try to get the stitches out on Friday, so we've only got a few more days of this.
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Son got his braces on yesterday!


Isn't he cute? He'd hate me for saying that. His mouth was sore so he had some broth and a smoothie for dinner last night. For breakfast, he had cream of wheat. I made him mashed potatoes to take to school for lunch, but he decided he'd try the Christmas dinner they were doing. It'll have mashed potatoes.
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Here's a picture of our yard right now. It started snowing last night and just quit a few minutes ago. We now have some sunshine, but it's only 21 degrees.

Hubby is on the couch trying to catch some ZZZ's. He has to work again tonight. He got home last night a bit after 2 am, slept until 7am, and is now catching some more sleep. I would be really grumpy if my sleep was broken into bits and pieces. I hope he's not.
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I haven't done anything exciting with food lately, so I don't have anything to talk about there. I did get a start for Kefir from my aunt. She has hers in milk, I rinsed mine and am doing it in soy milk. It definitely imparts a yogurt-y taste to smoothies. And from what I've read, it's supposed to be really good for you.
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We have a piano recital tonight, a violin recital and a boy scout Christmas party tomorrow night, and trumpet lesson and a girl scout Christmas party on Thursday night. Then on Friday, the kids are out for a 2-week Christmas break. Saturday and Sunday, hubby works and on Monday, we have another Christmas party.
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It just gets so busy this time of year.
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Well, I had better get back to doing something constructive.
Ciao for now.

Friday Morning

Good morning. I'm sitting here at my computer waiting for one of the gals at work to get in. I'm certainly not lonely this morning--Daughter is home sick today and hubby is home again today.
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Daughter has had a runny nose for a couple of days and now she's really feeling rough. It's just a cold. I'm listening to Disney's "Lion King" on the TV. She and her daddy are watching it.
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I'm also really cold this morning. The thermostat doesn't say it's any different than usual, but I get cold easily and once cold, I don't warm up easily.
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Depending on my boss and the office manager, I'm either going to be really busy today or have nothing at all to do. (I'm waiting on each of them before I can get into certain projects.) I was kind of hoping for slow and then I was going to take off and go to the mall and get a haircut and a pair of shoes. (I have a jumper I was going to wear to hubby's work Christmas party tomorrow night, but I don't have any shoes to go with it. I just need a pair of super cheap black flats.) With daughter home, I doubt I'll make it shopping even if I am slow at work.
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Dinner last night was steamed cauliflower, sweet potato mash (left-overs from thanksgiving that I took out of the freezer), and a small bean burrito (leftovers from last night). Hubby and the kids had ham in lieu of burrito--hubby bought a ham with his gift card from his employer.
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Then we went driving around to look at Christmas lights. They were so pretty.
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Then we came home and had a strawberry/banana smoothie for a snack and went to bed. It was a nice evening.
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Well, I should be getting a call any minute now--she was going to be in at 9.
Ciao for now.

Betty's Burrito Beans (and still the dog)

Last night's dinner was roasted squash (or "squishie" as we say in my household) and bean burritos. She squash was drizzled with olive oil and molasses and then baked until soft. The burritos had sauteed onions and peppers, homemade "re fried" beans, and spinach on whole wheat tortillas.

Funny story about the beans. A couple of years ago, I had a big container of dried pinto beans. Daughter got it out of the cupboard, opened it, and filled zip-lock bags with the dried beans. Then in sharpie, she wrote on the bags:

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"Betty's Burrito Beans

(or you can try to make coffee)

$2.00"

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She didn't know the difference between beans and coffee beans apparently. But anyway, ever since then, whenever I make re fried beans, they are called "Betty's Burrito Beans". Here's my recipe--they aren't really "re fried" at all.

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Betty's Burrito Beans

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1 1/2 cups dried pinto beans sorted and soaked

2 stalks celery

2 carrots

1 medium onion

2 cloves of garlic

1-2 tsp salt

1/4 cup barbecue sauce

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Boil the beans. Let them boil down until there is just enough water to cover them when they are almost done.

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Chunk the vegetables and put in the vita-mix with just enough water so they will blend well. Blend them and then pour the mixture onto the beans and bring back to a boil.

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When the beans with the veggies are done, put in the salt and pepper. There will still be water over the beans, this is OK. Blend with an immersion blender. Put in the barbecue sauce and stir.

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If the beans are too runny, cook down. If they're to thick, add enough water to get them to the correct consistency.

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And that's all there is to it. I get asked to bring my beans to family things as a bean dip or when we have tacos. Also, my family likes them really well so I know they will eat (picky little boogers, anyway).

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Last night after dinner, when I went to feed Little Girl, I noticed that her belly was all swollen to one side of the incision. And then this morning, even though the swelling was down, when she sat up, there was one area that bulged. So I took her in to the vet as soon as they opened (had hubby take kids to school since he's off today) and found out (Whew!) that it was just inflammation and it should be fine if she takes it easy.

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So I asked if I could just quit the medicine they had given me for her. I told them that she was like a hummingbird on speed with the meds--they laughed and told me that I should only give her the meds from now on if she really acted like she was in pain. (Hello, I don't think that dog feels any pain.) And right now, she is actually taking her usually morning nap (usual before her surgery that is).

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Like I said above, hubby is home today and tomorrow and then will be working Saturday and Sunday. After he got home from taking the kids to school, he came over and stood over my desk and started talking. Apparently, since he is home, I am supposed to be ready to have him all over me. I told him that work time was not that time. He decided to go for a drive and see if he could find a deer (whatever, at least he's not here bugging me).

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I'm hoping to have a busy day at work, but right now, I'm blogging while I'm waiting for a call to discuss the things I hope to be able to get done today. I'll have to wait to get started until a couple of things up at the office are done so I may or may not be busy (I'm hoping for the "may").

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Ciao for Now.

Zucchini Noodle Salad and life in general

Last night for dinner, I made the above salad. It was kind of a last minute thing that came out really good. I made it up as I went along--here is the recipe:

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Zucchini Noodle Salad

.1 1/3 zucchini

1/3 Diakon radish

1 red bell pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 heaping tablespoons Tahini

1/2 tsp ginger

2 tablespoons soy sauce

black pepper to taste

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Run the zucchini and radish through a spiral slicer and dice the red pepper into small even dices. Toss the veggies together.

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Put the remaining ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together for the dressing.

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Pour dressing over the veggies and toss again.

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That salad was so good. I ate the leftovers a few minutes ago and I think it was even better this morning--it was like the veggies got softer.

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Well, that's my grand dinner experiment. Then came this morning.........

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Son was supposed to get his braces on this morning but he woke up an hour early (I thought it was nerves). He puked (again I thought it was nerves). I talked to him and he felt it was just nerves and he would be fine. Then, as we were getting ready to head out the door, he puked again. So I cancelled the appointment. And now he is pale as a sheet and lying on the chair asleep. I guess it wasn't nerves after all.

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Yesterday, the puppy went crazy and wouldn't settle down at all. she usually takes several naps during the day, but yesterday, after her short morning nap, she suddenly went nuts wanting to run and play. She didn't settle down until 9:00 last night. I called the vet this morning and found out that the pain med they were having me give her does that to some dogs. They cut her dose in half--so far, she seems a bit more normal today--we'll see if she goes nuts after her nap.

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I wish humans snapped back as fast after surgery as she does. But then again, I fear that she's going to pop her sutures open and then have even more troubles. One of our older dogs, Ki-Ki, did that. Fortunately she was healed enough that it just gave her a really wide scar.

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Hubby is going to have a weird schedule from now until sometime in January. This week he has Friday off, and then, starting Saturday, his schedule is going to be Saturday and Sunday-days and Monday through Wednesday-6:30 pm to 3:00 am. They are doing an office remodel so are going to work after the office closes 3 days and the weekends. What a pain! Oh well.

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Well anyway, I had better get to work.

Ciao for now.

Little Girl's recovery

We went over to the vet's office after I got the kids last night and picked Little Girl up. Poor baby felt so bad. I know it's a routine surgery that most female pets have, but I can't help but feel bad for her--I remember how much my appendectomy and cholecystectomy hurt.

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So last night, she just wanted to be held. She yiped if she moved wrong or tried to get up or down off the chair. I even had to help her go outside to the bathroom because she couldn't get down the three steps to the yard.

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At one point, she was shivering so I went and got the little yellow blanket and wrapped her up. This morning she was sleeping all sprawled out on her back (not very lady-like, but oh will)--see her scar?

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Today, she can get up and down by herself, although she has yiped a couple of times. She also is wanting to play fetch, which she is not supposed to. Right now, she is chewing on her Kong (I filled it with peanut butter to keep her still and busy).

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For dinner last night, the family wanted hamburger gravy. So while hubby made that, I made the potatoes (vegan), the steamed broccoli, and then some vegan gravy for myself. (I just melted a little vegan margarine, seasoned it, stirred in some whole-wheat flour, and then added soy milk and stirred on the stove until it got thick.) There was just enough vegan gravy for me. It was so good.

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I had my annual physical today (it has actually been 2 years since my last). I was so pleased! The nurse went on and on about my weight loss, the doctor talked about it a lot and congratulated me on doing it the "old-fashioned" way. He told me that I am the healthiest he has ever seen me!

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(I was a bit frustrated when the nurse asked me where I got my protein. She asked if I ate chicken even though I was vegan. Uh, no. You would think a nurse would have at least a bit of nutrition knowledge. I remember we had a course on it when I went to nursing school--apparently if you don't use it, you lose it.)
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I did a stupid-40-year-old-woman trick last night. Since the dog couldn't get down the steps to go potty, I carried her down (hubby wouldn't do it because he wasn't dressed; hello, my stunning outfit was jammies at the time). So I carried her down the steps and started to put her down and started losing my balance. I tried to get her put down quickly without hurting her, while trying to re-gain my balance by pushing with my toes. I went over forward anyway. I got the dog down just in time to put my hand out to break my fall. I have a skinned knee, sore toes, and a bruised hand. Hubby had me in tears (laughing at myself) as he re-enacted my slow-motion fall.

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I also made some crock-pot oatmeal last night before bed. You put steel cut oats, water, and soy milk in the crock-pot. Turn it on low just before bed and when you get up you salt it lightly, stir it a lot, and you have oatmeal! It was good. I will do that recipe again for sure. For a topping, I blended 1/2 cup of soy milk with 3 dates (my favorite sweetener) until smooth and then threw in a handful of almonds and blended just enough more to rough chop the nuts and then poured that on my oatmeal. YUM,YUM!

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Well, that's all I have.

Ciao for now.

An Ice Cream recipe and ramblings from the weekend

Well, I made it through another weekend. Weekends just seem to wear me out! And we didn't even really do that much.
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Friday after school, son had violin lessons then we went over to girl scouts where daughter's troop was having a dinner (chili and hot dogs--oh goody. I had an apple brought from home) and then walking over to the Christmas lights parade. We thought the troop had a float, but nooooo, they were walking the parade route giving out fliers about girl scout cookies. The leader's girl took off (after being told by her mom "you don't need to follow me") with my daughter in tow. So I walked after them--there was no way, I was letting her out of my sight in the dark in a crowd when the leader wasn't watching them. So anyway, I froze my patootie off.
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Then, I was hungry (and apparently so was hubby) so hubby suggested we get some dinner somewhere. Can't even remember where we went, so it must not have been too memorable.
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Saturday, we did get to sleep in for a while. Then the kids did karate their demonstration at the Festival of Trees (Son did the Bo Kata and daughter did a self-defense demonstration of her against 3 attackers). After that was the Karate Christmas luncheon at the China Buffet. Daughter was promoted to Brown Belt (she was so excited that she caught up with her brother) and son got his Bo pin.
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Then we did some errands, went home and had a quick snack and went to see the community college music department preform Handel's Messiah. I really like that, but I don't think hubby did.
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Sunday, we took a drive out in the desert. Hubby was looking for a deer, but not too hard. We took the puppy with us. We took a few walks and looked at a cave, and then went to Wal-Mart and came home.
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Exciting weekend, huh?
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Last night I got the hankering for ice cream so I made some. It was my own throw together but it was really good. I thought so anyway. Hubby complained about the texture of the nut based vanilla ice cream so this time I used soy milk as the base. He complained this time about the coconut texture--I just can't please him. I would guess he would be pleased it either had been made with a quart of heavy whipping cream--YUCK.
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Anyway, here's the recipe--notice the exact measurements.
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Put the following in the Vita-Mix:
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around 3/4 cup of dates
a couple of handfuls of shredded coconut
approximately 2 tsp vanilla
enough soy milk to come up to the 3 cup mark on the blender container
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blend it all until smooth. Taste and see if you like it. Add anything else if you want to. Pour into your ice-cream maker and crank until it's done.
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Easy. By the way, my ice-cream maker is way cool. I got it at a yard sale and it is one that has an outer insulated plastic shell, an inner metal container with some type of liquid in between the inner and outer walls, a paddle beater, a lid, and a handle. You keep the inner container in the freezer until you have the ice cream mix made. Then you put the inner container into the outer container, pour in the mix, set the beater in, put the lid and handle on, and then start turning the handle. It take about 15 minutes (you don't have to be turning constantly, just every couple of minutes) and you have a soft-serve type ice cream. If you want it harder, then you let it get to that stage, take the beater out, replace the lid and cover it with a towel for another 15 minutes.
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This morning was the pits. Just before he left for work, hubby stepped in dog crap in the yard and made a trail through the house--front door; through the living room, dining room, and kitchen; back through the dining room and living room; into daughter's room; and back to the living room before I noticed it. I was so MAD! I had so many dog crap spots to clean up! And he was all like "it was an accident, I didn't know I had stepped in it." I have the kids trained to check their shoes but, for some odd reason, the adult male can't seem to remember to check his. He was all put out that I got mad at him when it was an "accident" but I know he would have been mad at the kids had they done it. (If he hadn't been almost late for work, I would have made him clean it up. As it was, I wasn't going to live with it all day so I cleaned.) I would have just liked a stupid, sincere "I'm sorry" instead of excuses--"it was an accident", "I didn't know I had stepped in it"--and an attitude because I was upset.
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I grew up with the mantra--You are responsible for your actions whether you intend them or not. I have taught it to my kids. For some reason, hubby thinks it doesn't apply to him.
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After I got the kids off to school, I took Little Girl in--she got spayed, micro chipped, and a tooth pulled today. The vet said she came through everything fine. I'm supposed to call here in a while to check and see if she is ready to come home today or will need to stay the night. (I don't think I'd be ready to come home the same day as I had all that done.)
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I also had a dentist appointment today. Look Ma, no cavities!
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I don't have a clue as to what we're having for dinner tonight. I had a cabbage, apple, date, and almond smoothie for breakfast; leftover veggies (from a veggie pasta last night), a piece of bread, and some homemade hummus for lunch; a tiny bit of left over ice cream from last night for a snack; and will have an apple for another snack while I'm waiting to pick up the kids from school.
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Whew! That's a rambling post. Oh well.
Ciao for now.

Curry for Dinner and Christmas Ramblings

We had a curry for dinner. I got the recipe off of vegcooking.com (it was the eggplant and cauliflower curry but I substituted a pumpkin type squash for those two ingredients). It came out pretty good, but I like my regular curry better. (This is so fun--snapping pictures of my cooking with my phone and sending them to my computer and uploading them to my blog. Yeah, I know, I'm weird.)
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Last night we took son shopping for his sister's Christmas gift while she was at Girl Scouts. He wanted to get her an easy bake oven. Well, that's like her number one item on her list and I'm pretty sure Santa has his elves making it for her (ahem, ahem). So I had to put on a show saying that he is not getting her an easy bake oven because it gets hot and I don't want her to burn herself. Hubby said I did a good job of it. And I made son promise not to tell his sister what I said--so it won't hurt her feelings and make her think I don't believe she could do it. He ended up getting her a metal detector made for kids. I can't help but wonder if he really thinks she'll like it or if he thinks he'd like it.
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Sis picked out a bionicle for her brother. Hubby took her shopping while son and I were at his ortho appointment and doctor's appointment on Tuesday. With him you can't go wrong getting him Lego's.
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I want a new food processor and a dehydrator for Christmas. The food processor I have is a really small attachment to a really old (not very good) stand mixer). I want a bigger one that I don't have to put together so much and will work better than what I have now. I have been looking at different stores and there is one on sale now at Target. I thought hubby and kids were going to get me that, but son told me that they had already gotten me something (I hope I started hinting long enough ago that it's something I want--I have to love whatever they get me but I am so tight that I really hate them spending money on me if it's not something I really want or need.) I'm not really looking for a dehydrator, for now I just use my oven on a really low temperature.
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Hubby is torn between a spotlight they have at Wal-Mart and a tool kit they have at Costco. I keep telling him he needs to decide so I can take the kids shopping and steer them right.
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And by the way, speaking of ovens (two paragraphs up), yesterday afternoon I made some Seitan (the round thing beside the curry is a slice of it.) I took a recipe I got off of the Post Punk Kitchen website and changed the seasonings to how I wanted it. It came out really good, but it's a baked recipe instead of a boiled or steamed one (I love that--it's easier for me to put it in the oven and leave it alone rather than having to keep a pot on the stove). Well anyway, I either made it too wet or didn't wrap it up tight enough or something because it expanded out the ends of it's foil wrap and then there was liquid from it that ended up all over the bottom of my oven. I had to clean my oven. (It wasn't a whole lot, just a bit, but I don't like my oven all gross.) Next time I'll bake it in a pan with sides, just in case.
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Well, that's all for now. The dog is sleeping; the cat is sleeping; I wish I were sleeping, too.
Ciao for now.

Red Pepper Hummus and some frustrations

I just got done with lunch. (that's it up above) I wanted something good, so I had hummus, thin sliced diakon radish, and a piece of "winter wheat" bread. It was really good and quite filling. I ate earlier than usual so I hope I'm not starving by this afternoon.
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Red Pepper Hummus:

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1 red bell pepper

1/8 of an onion (approximately)

1 clove garlic

1 heaping tablespoon tahini

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 can drained chickpeas (save the liquid)

Salt to taste

chickpea liquid to get it to the right consistency

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put everything in the Vita-Mix except the salt and liquid. Blend it using the tamper to get everything down and adding enough liquid to get to the right consistency. Taste and add salt if needed. Note--don't add the salt until after you add the liquid you need. The liquid off the chickpeas is sometimes salty enough that you don't need to add any more.

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Now my frustration. Last night we went to the grocery store and tossed out over a hundred dollars. This morning my hubby tells me that he has a Christmas lunch at work and he forgot to get the stuff to make the 'fruit & cookie dessert' that he wanted to bring. He him-haws around saying he wonders if he has enough time to go to the ATM and then to the store before work so he could put it together at work. So I finally told him that I'd go to the store after I drop the kids at school and come home, make the dessert, and take it out to him.

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Now here's where my frustrations lie! 1-he would have to take my card to hit the ATM so he'd have my card all day. 2-there's no money in my account because I hadn't gotten my check into it yet. YOU CAN'T JUST "GET MONEY" OUT OF THE ATM BECAUSE YOU WANT IT . THERE HAS TO BE MONEY IN THE ACCOUNT! 3-I end up having to make the stupid dessert that I don't even want to eat (it has buttermilk, whip cream, and chocolate covered cookies in it).

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Well I did it. I have to save his backside sometimes because I have been known to have a stupid attack myself. And when I do, he saves my behind. Turn-about-fair-play, I guess.

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The pup is getting spayed on Monday. Poor Little Girl.

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Son got his spacers put it for his braces yesterday. And then he lost 2 of them overnight. The gal at the ortho office said that it wasn't a big deal; that if they came out while he was sleeping, then his teeth probably aren't jammed too closely together so it won't matter much. We are just supposed to go in next Tuesday and get them replaced so maybe they will have one day to work before he gets his braces on Wednesday. My guess is that if those fell out over night, the new ones will, too.

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Well, back to work.

Ciao for now.

Tofu (cheater's) Lo Mien

For dinner last night, I made a Tofu (cheater's) Lo Mien. It was really good. hubby and kids picked out the tofu and ate mostly the noodles, but still, it went over well. Here's the recipe:
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Tofu (Cheater's) Lo Mien
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1 package extra firm tofu
Olive Oil
2 small zucchini
1 small onion
1 yellow bell pepper
4 cloves of garlic (or less if you don't like it as much as I do)
2 stalks of celery
2 packages of Oriental flavor Ramen noodles (I don't know if the other flavors are vegan)
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Drain and cube the tofu. Chop your veggies into bite size chunks. Heat the olive oil in a big fry pan then put the tofu and veggies in and saute them for just a couple of minutes.
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Put water on to boil per the package directions for the noodles.
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Sprinkle the flavoring packets onto your veggies and continue to saute.
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Cook the noodles per package directions (sans the seasonings which are already on the veggies).
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When the noodles are done, drain them and toss in with the veggies. Dish up and serve with chopsticks (to make it seem like authentic Lo Mien even though it's not).
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That's all there was to it. And it was really good. Sorry the picture doesn't do it justice.
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We are getting into full swing for the holiday season. The kids are doing a karate demonstration at the Festival of Trees on Saturday, daughter has a school Christmas program tomorrow night (she can't decide if she would rather do that or go to girl scouts--I don't mind if she skips it because I'm kind of mad at the music teacher. She isn't doing anything with the kids in my son's grade! They go to the same school and have the same music teacher, but she is leaving one grade out of the Christmas program!), we are going to go see Handel's Messiah, piano recital is coming up, violin recital is coming up, work parties are coming up, etc.
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It just feels like we spend this whole month running around!
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Oh well, I'm going to get back to work now.
Ciao for now.

Tuesday

That's a picture of our Little Girl. While I work hard, she sleeps. I got up and went to the bathroom and on my way back I saw her so had to get out my phone and take this picture. Oh, the dog's life is a good one. (She looks a little skinny the way she is laying, but honest, she's not.)

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Son is home sick today. He got up not feeling well and then had dry heaves so I kept him home. He puked a couple of times and then went back to bed--he's been asleep now for 3 hours. I guess he needs it.

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Last night I made a wonderful Mango smoothie. Here's the recipe (it made 3 servings):

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2 carrots

3 small hands full of almonds

3 cups (approx) of mango cubes (mine were frozen)

6 dates

enough water to make it all blend nice.

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I blended it in the vita-mix and it was super yummy. So yummy, in fact, that I made a single serve size for my breakfast today.

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I think I have a current new favorite lunch--zucchini pasta with tomato sauce. I made that again for lunch today.

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I also tried another bread--it was the same as my whole wheat quick bread but I didn't have any wheat so I blended up some oatmeal, quinoa, and walnuts in my vita-mix and used that instead of the wheat flour. It was really good but really crumbly so I put it in a bowl with soy milk and used it as a cereal. So my lunch was that cereal and the zucchini with tomato sauce.

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Work has been a bit slow today and I don't mind at all. I got my list together so tomorrow I can get started on some stuff to help with year-end (hopefully advance preparation will make it go smoothly).

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When we were at Ikea in Salt Lake, I got a pack of containers (Rubbermaid-type). 17 containers for $4.99 or something. So a little while ago, I cleaned out my dry goods cupboard and put the stuff from the bulk section of the grocery store in containers and labeled them. It looks so nice not to have all of those plastic bags! I hated it when I'd get the gluten out and snag the bag and have a gluten trail from the cupboard to the counter.

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Well son just got up. And I just got an e-mail from work so I guess I'm done. Ciao for now.

Weekend out of Town

I'm Back!

We spent the weekend in Salt Lake City. We did a little shopping, a lot of eating, and some visiting, but mostly it was just to get away.

Saturday, we ate lunch at Sage's Cafe. It's this little vegan cafe over by Trolley Square. It won a Veg News award in 06. I was really excited to go there--the first time I've ever been to an actual "vegan" restaurant. I had a raw Pad Thai--it was sooooooo good. The dressing on it was just wonderful. Hubby ordered coffee with cream to drink--I reminded him that they didn't have dairy so he said that soy was OK for creamer. For lunch he had a portabella stroganoff-type stuff which was really good, too (but I liked mine better). Daughter ordered milk and was upset when reminded that they didn't have dairy. She settled for soy chocolate milk--she complained that it still tasted like soy milk, but she drank it. Both kids had french toast which they devoured. The meal was a little pricier than I would normally do, but once in a while it would be fine.

I really wish they had something like that here...........

We also went to Smith & Edwards, which is like a surplus everything store. I have been looking for a spiral slicer ever since I saw it on a web video about making zucchini pasta. They had one there for 19.95. I grabbed it. Later, we were at a kitchen store in the Gateway mall and they had the identical one for 29.95. I was feeling pretty good.

We went to Ikea as well. I love that store! We actually got out of there for less than $10 this time. We usually find things we just have to have.

We also went swimming in the hotel pool. I love to swim, but it seems that the only time I ever go is when we are out of town.

Had lunch with my sister and her friend on Sunday at Thaifoon. that was good. Went to Bed Bath and Beyond (amazingly enough, I had never been to one before). And then we came home.

Anyway, it was a good weekend. Better for just having gotten away.

Today, for lunch, I used the spiral slicer to make zucchini pasta and just put plain old tomato sauce on it. It was great! (I also had a piece of wheat bread with almond butter.) The thing is a bit of a pain to clean, but not too awfully bad.

Well, I ought to go get back to work so I can get everything done before I go get kiddos from school. Cuz after that, hubby will be getting home and we are going to be going over to a friend's new shop so hubby can do the plumbing to the tub. Little Girl also has her last puppy class tonight and kids have piano. Whew! OK now, I will quit typing this time and get back to work.

Ciao for now.

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Well, first of all, I hope everybody out there had a wonderful thanksgiving!

Yesterday, after posting, I made my vegetable soup (Mexican Butternut Squash Soup--recipe off MSN.com with a few modifications; add potatoes and carrots, and cook in a crock pot.) and my Sweet Potato Mash (recipe from Kristen's Raw holiday food recipe book). My food processor is really small, so to make enough sweet potatoes for both dinner at Mom's and the church dinner we were helping at, I had to run 6 batches! It took forever, but oh well.

Then I got ready and we went over to the church. It's not a church we go to, but hubby was asked by someone where he works if he'd like to help out and he said yes. So we took our sweet potatoes and were supposed to help serve. It was a great idea, but I don't do well with too many people I don't know. I'm basically a hermit. Also, we stayed for the first 2 hours and served only 3 people--and they were all volunteers, too. There just weren't many people there. And there was so much food--I really hope they had somewhere to donate the leftovers. We took our sweet potatoes home with us and they hadn't even been touched except by me (I had a small serving because I was bored and getting hungry).

So then we went over to Mom's. She did turkey (a 19 pound bird for 5 people eating off it), stuffing, potatoes and gravy. I did bread and pumpkin pie (made on Wednesday) and soup and sweet potatoes. When we got over there, she asked me to make the gravy. I cringed, but went ahead and did it. Then I mashed the potatoes for here (using soy milk and vegan margarine) and we ate.

No one said anything when I passed over the turkey, stuffing or gravy. We had a really nice meal--my folks, my 2 kids, my hubby and me.

After dinner, when Mom and I were cleaning up, she asked me to take the rest of the meat off the carcass and I declined. She said that was fine and asked (for the first time) why I had quit eating meat. So I told her about the book (Skinny Bitch) and how I had done some more research on my own and how now, I just can't even stomach the thought of eating meat now. And how if a few fewer animals are bread and/or killed every year because I choose not to eat them, then that was just so much the better with me.

During dinner, Dad brought up how beautiful wild turkeys were and how domestic turkeys don't even resemble the wild ones much anymore. So I piped up that it was because the only reason domestic turkeys even exist is for meat--so all of their wonderful qualities have been bread out in favor of stupid fast growing meat. I think my attitude surfaced because he quickly changed the subject.

At Fred Meyer, I got some Soyatoo! soy whipped topping. It was just like the canned stuff made from cream. So I got whip cream on my pie, too. (Thanks to my friend for showing it to me!)

When we got home, I put the rest of my sweet potatoes in the freezer so we can have them 4 more times. I put the rest of my soup in the fridge for lunch today, and then we sat and vegged on the couch and watched TV. Just before bed, we had a piece of son's left over B-day cake and then went to bed early.

This weekend, we are planning on going over to see my sister and doing some shopping and goofing off. She lives about 4 hours away. Her birthday is next week so I made pumpkin muffin (from Vegan with a Vengeance) for her for her birthday.

I guess I should say we were planning on going. Daughter is feeling a little puny this morning. puked and runs once. I hope it's from eating too much yesterday, but if she's still feeling poorly, we won't be going.

I also have a friend moving her shop today. My hubby did the plumbing on the shop she's in now and she's asked him to help. So after I get around to getting dressed, I'll go help her move and when he's done with the deer, he'll come over and help with the plumbing. (If daughter is too sickly, we may end up taking shifts staying here with her.)

Well anyway, that's all that's going on around here.
Ciao for now.

Blogging From a Mobile Phone

Here I am. It is a little after 7 on Thanksgiving morning and I am blogging from a telephone! This new thing is pretty cool.

It is a little time consuming, though--I type much faster on a ful size keyboard.

I actually need to learn how to use the camera, so I'll get off here and do that before I go in to start making my soup and sweet potatoes.

Ciao for now.

Almost Thanksgiving

It's the day before Thanksgiving and my son's birthday. I wanted to take Friday off, but had stuff that had to be done this week so I busted my tush to get it done. And I had to get some of my cooking for tomorrow done, too. So this morning, I got up early and got started. I had son's birthday cake in the oven, bread rising, and was sitting at my desk starting work by 8:30.

Well, I got it all done. I made cake, bread, and pumpkin pie today and got my work done. (I'm so proud of myself.)

Son turned 12 today. He and hubby went hunting this morning and he got his first deer--they'll eat good this winter. Daughter went over to my mom's and they made Thanksgiving decorations today. We went out for son's birthday dinner to a tepanyaki place--I had veggies. Then my folks came over and son opened presents and we had cake (vegan devil's food-recipe from vegcooking.com) and vanilla ice cream (vegan-recipe from Ani Phyo's book).

I like a green smoothie for breakfast--usually a piece of fruit, a vegetable, a small handful of almonds and ice and water. I usually use spinach or green cabbage for the veggie but I'm out of both. So yesterday I used apple, red cabbage, and almonds. It was so good! It was such a pretty shade of lavender, too.

We got our new phones, today. Mine is so cool. It does e-mail and Internet and has a GPS as well as text and phone. I need to learn how to use it better, though. I guess I'm pretty pathetic, tech-wise.

Well, tomorrow morning, I'll make the veggie soup and the sweet potato mash and then watch the parade and then off to serve lunch at the Agape center. Then we'll go over to my folks and have dinner with them.

This has been pretty rambly. I think I'll go look at some of the other blogs, now.
Ciao for now.

Whole Wheat Quick Bread

So last night, I realized that I only had half of a pita bread left; nothing at all in the way of vegan breads, otherwise. (We do have a loaf of store bought whole-wheat, but it has dairy.) So I decided that I needed to make some bread this morning.

Well, I got an early start--dropped the kids off at school and then was going to get the bread rising before starting work. I looked in the baking cupboard and (horror of horrors!) I only had enough yeast left for one batch of bread. Usually that wouldn't be a problem, but now it is because I didn't want to go to the store before Friday and I need that yeast to make bread for Thanksgiving.

So anyway, I decided to try a whole wheat quick bread. It went together super quick (thus the name "quick bread", right?) and tastes really good. (I just had a piece with vegan margarine and organic jelly.) This is a totally made-up recipe and it came out good, so here it is:

Whole Wheat Quick Bread

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup gluten

1 Tablespoon turbinado

1 teaspoon salt (actually, a bit less than that)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder (a bit heaped)

1 3/4 cup water

2 Tablespoons olive oil

With a fork, mix the dry ingredients. Stir in the oil and water. Pour into an oiled loaf pan. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Let cool for a few minutes and then run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn the bread out to cool on a rack.

How's that for easy? Now it does have the texture of a quick bread--no one's going to be fooled into thinking its a yeast bread, but it will definitely make for great toast or sandwiches.

(I'm kind of proud of myself.)

Ciao for now.

Cell Phone trade-up time and general rambling

Don't you hate it when your cell phone company suddenly decides they aren't going to provide service anymore? But of course, they will help you get switched over to the company that is taking their accounts. Argh!

It might not be bad if they just switched you over and the cost and the service and everything stayed the same, but, of course, that's not how it works. So today, I stood at the kiosk at the mall trying to get switched over. Of course we had to get new phones and the new plans were different, and they had to fill out a bunch of stuff on the computer, and on and on and on. I started at the kiosk a couple of weeks ago and they didn't really know what they were doing. So last week, I went in to a regular Verizon store and got it figured out what we needed--but, we needed to do it all through our current company to avoid the activation fees, and the deposit, and get the new phone discount, etc. And today, I went back to the kiosk and got it taken care of (I hope).

The new phones are supposed to come via Fed-Ex next week. I upgraded my plan and my phone so I'll have to learn how to use everything, but I'm hoping it'll be good.

I also had to go shopping for my son's B-day present from my folks. Mom called and asked if I'd go shopping for her. So I did since I was going to be at the mall anyway--of course it took several calls to her while I was shopping, but we finally got it all figured out.

When I went out, I actually went out for lunch and then to get file folders that I needed for work--I never got the file folders. Oh well, there is always Monday.

Hubby and son are on a scout camp-out tonight. Daughter loves my homemade french fries so I have both sweet potato and Yukon gold potato fries in the oven right now. I haven't a clue what we are going to have with it.

For my fries I just peel the potatoes I want and cut (I cut them into rounds instead the traditional shape). Then I place them on a cookie sheet spritzed with olive oil and spritz a bit more over the fries. I bake at 350 for a while, flip them and bake until they are fork tender. I don't have how long it takes because I usually just follow my nose--when I first start to smell them I flip and when the smell really good, I take them out.

I also made some dehydrator bread from a recipe I got off of GoneRaw.com. It's good, but it came out more like a granola than a bread. I think the reason is that my food processor didn't chop the sprouted wheat very good. I doubt I'll make that one again.

Well, I think it's time to get the fries out of the oven. They smell really good.
Ciao for now.

Thursday Lunch

Yesterday's food (all vegan):
Breakfast Coffee w/ Soy Milk
Green Smoothie
Lunch Spinach & Nut Cheez Sandwich on Whole Wheat
1/2 of another sandwich on a Whole Wheat Pita
Snack Apple
Dinner Seitan, Spinach & Nut Cheez Sandwich on 1/2 a ww pita
Cauliflower
1/2 a ww pita w/ Agave
Snack cup of Decaf w/ Soy Milk
2 Date Balls

Today (so far):
Breakfast: Cup of coffee w/ soy milk
Green Smoothie (used apple instead of banana--I will
definitely make it that way again. Very good!)
Lunch: Broccoli salad
1/2 a ww pita with Tahini

The Seitan that I made yesterday afternoon was very good. My hubby even ate some (of course he slathered his with nut cheez). It came out like a salami; the seasonings were even similar. Thanks, Post Punk Kitchen!

When I told kiddos what was for dinner, they both complained. I told them "fine, the food is on the counter, you put it together however you want." I was impressed--son had 1/2 a spinach and nut cheez pita, seitan by itself, and cauliflower; daughter had cauliflower, seitan, a pita, and tasted the nut cheez (she didn't want the spinach and that's OK because she did have cauliflower). And both put a big pile of margarine on their plates to dip use on the cauliflower. And of course both of them put agave on a piece of pita for desert (that's where I got the idea). Hubby did a plate of butter with some cauliflower, a piece of seitan with a gob of nut cheez, and a pita with tons of butter and agave.

So how do you get kids to eat decently when their daddy eats like crap? I can't seem to convince hubby that he needs to be an example for the kids. And his idea of cutting down is using 3 spoons of sugar in his coffee instead of 4 or using 2 TBSP of butter instead of 2.5. He just doesn't get it. He is on blood pressure meds, and diabetes meds, and is quite overweight. He is also of the attitude that doctors are there to take care of him so he doesn't need to take care of himself. Since he doesn't want to take care of himself for himself, I try to get him to do it for the kids. I also try to lead by example; if I am active and eating right and have good foods available, I think maybe he'll catch on. (He is a little due to the "laziness factor"; it's easier to eat what's already there than to have to make your own food.)

But then again, he didn't stop smoking until he had a bad health scare and decided that he'd rather be a live non-smoker than a dead smoker. I hope it doesn't take a scare to make him take care of himself--heart attacks and strokes don't always give you second chances.

Enough of the ranting. I saw a recipe for "oatmeal raisin muffins" on VeganDad's blog. I think I'll try them. I also have wheat sprouting for some dehydrator bread that I got a recipe for on goneraw.com.

I haven't figured out what's for dinner yet, but I had better not worry about it now. I should get back to work.

Ciao for now.

Wednesday lunchtime

I'm back! It has been a busy morning! I only got around to lunch here just a few minutes ago. Then I made some Seitan and got it in the oven (from the Post Punk Kitchen's website) and now here I am!

The nice thing about working at home is that I can do things around here when I take a break--for instance, I would never be able to start dinner during my lunch break if I worked in an office. I think I would also feel guilty about blogging on breaks, too.

Last night, after the kids got home from Karate, everyone wanted pudding. The pudding mix looked to be vegan (except sugar of course) so I had daughter make it with soy milk--it turned out pretty good.

I made some pita bread yesterday, and have some Cheddah sauce from lunch yesterday, so for dinner, we are having a steamed veggie (probably cauliflower because daughter likes it) and pita-bread sandwiches with cheddah sauce, seitan, and spinach for fillings. That sounds good to me, and I know that the kids will at least eat the cauliflower.

The picture is of a praying mantis we had on our pumpkin vines in September, by the way. I like blogs with pictures so thought I might add some to mine.

I'm back to work now.

Ciao for now.

It's Tuesday

I made it through Monday--I didn't have time to post, but that's because it was a really weird day. I called hubby around 8:30 to remind him that he needed to pick up our daughter from school because I'd be at an orthodontist appointment with our son and he said he'd be home soon anyway.

It turns out that last week, his department had been doing touch up painting. They guys he works with warned him not to do too good of a job or he'd be sorry. Well, he did a good job because that's what you are supposed to do, right? And his area had too many touch ups so he had to paint the whole wall so it would look more uniform. And he couldn't paint while there were people there, so he was sent home and had to go back to work at 7:30 and paint. How's that for rewarding mediocrity? The guy who does a good job gets sent home and has to return to work from 7:30 until midnight and then has to show up the next day at 7 again. The guys who do a poor job get to continue doing a poor job.

It made me mad!

Anyway, since he was home, I took off a few hours and we went Christmas shopping form both kids and birthday shopping for my son. And then we went to lunch at a Thai place that had a really good vegan green curry on the lunch menu. Then we came home and hubby slept while I worked.

Then, I took son to his ortho appointment. They showed us a clay model of his mouth, and all the weird pictures they took, and examples of the braces and appliances he'll need, and we talked about cost (OUCH!). He starts with spacers on December third and gets his full braces on December tenth.

Then, hubby took the kids to piano and I took the puppy to puppy class. She is such a little freak! She does so good with all of the stuff at home and can't pay attention to save her life at class. The trainer says she's a typical sporting dog puppy.

When I got home, hubby was back at work and the kids had already had dinner. I got told that "Daddy didn't make us eat your leftovers, we got popcorn chicken and sandwiches". Yeah, Daddy. That's the way to keep you kids nice and healthy--feed them dead fish in chicken embryo sauce and dead poultry. I warmed up leftover curried veggies over pasta.

Although I have to admit, it was nice to finish the evening just me and the kids. I hope that's not bad to say, but sometimes, that's how it is.

My food intake yesterday was horrible! It was all vegan, but I had too many cookies and date balls. It's weird but some days, I just can't seem to get filled up. (I guess it's a fall back to my fat days.) My scale showed me up one and a half pounds from yesterday--I know I didn't eat 5,250 calories in excess of my caloric needs yesterday but I also know that when I do eat too much, I kind of retain water. In fact, I can feel it in my fingers today.

People say you shouldn't weigh every day, but for me it is a help. I see the scale as a tool to help keep me on track. I'm not strictly limiting portions or counting calories anymore, and the scale tells me when I need to watch closer. For now anyway, I need to weigh everyday if I want to maintain my weight loss.

Well, I'm going to go get some lunch and then get back to work. Food today so far has been:

coffee with soy milk
smoothie (1 banana, small handful of walnuts, 2 dates, big handful of spinach, ice, and water--it was very good.)

For lunch I'm going to make Rhio's broccoli in cheddah sauce and dinner will be the leftovers daddy didn't make them eat last night. (I'm such a mean mom!)

Ciao for now.

Sunday Night

It was a pretty good weekend, I guess. Let's see if I can remember what all we did......

Friday, after son's violin lessons, we went out to Barne's and Noble. I got Ani Phyo's raw cookbook. Then we went to dinner--the waitresses at Perkins look at you really weird when you order a chicken salad, hold the chicken and the cheese.

Saturday, daughter had her trumpet lesson and then we did a lot of shopping--I think we were out of everything. We went home for lunch and to relax for a while then hit Walmart, went out to dinner, and then over to my folks. Dinner was at a Chinese place that didn't seem to know what tofu was; the waitress said they had "egg-fu". Ha-ha-ha, not. They did have a stir fried veggie dish that was good, though.

Over at my folk's house, my dad started in on meat--talking about how he was sure I like a good steak (NO) or a good hamburger (NO) etc. He was trying to get at how there were plenty of places to put feed lots and dairies that wouldn't bother people with the smells. (Well, let's see. I'm sure no one would be offended by the the amount of green-house gasses that are being farted out of each of those bovine behinds. And I'm sure no one would mind that those animals are eating so much that pounds and pounds of corn, etc. are being re-routed away from hungry people so other overfed people can have a good steak or a good hamburger or a glass of milk. No one would be offended at all.) Sorry, I've got a bit of a soap box on that.

Today, I froze pumpkin so we can eat it through the winter, I cleaned the fish tank, Hubby trimmed the trees and we all picked up limbs. That's about all.

Today's food:
Breakfast: cup of coffee w/ soy milk
smoothie out of Ani Phyo's book
Lunch: Seitan and Spinach with Veganaise on Whole Wheat
left over veggies from last night's dinner
Snack: apple
cookies and soy milk
Dinner: pasta with a curry veggie sauce

After while, I'll probably have a couple of date balls (donut holes out of Ani Phyo's book).

That's right, yesterday, I also made date balls. They are actually what Ani Phyo calls donut holes. I know my husband, though. If I made something like that and called it "donut holes", he would take one taste and decide he didn't like them because they weren't like "real" donut holes. So instead, I called them what they were--date balls--and he thinks they are great. They are sooooo good.

By the way, the cookies I had today, they were vegan except for the sugar. I would be willing to guess that the sugar would be cane sugar which would probably be filtered through bone char. I just don't know how to get around that so I just do the best I can most of the time.

Well, I had better get moving. I've got to get my daughter out of the tub so I can get kids to bed (and then get me to bed).

Ciao for now.

It's finally Friday

Well, I made it through to another Friday. One of the gals at the office is leaving early this afternoon, so it will give me a chance to go do a couple of errands, too.

Puppy class went really well last night. It was just me, the pup, and the instructor. (We did a make-up class since we missed the official one on Monday.) Seems I've been teaching the pup just as I should, but once we got there and were in the arena (or whatever she calls her work area), Little Girl couldn't remember anything. "Oh boy! I'm in a new place and there are such great smells here! And if I pull hard enough on this leash, I'm sure I can get over there--cough cough!" etc. She did finally settle down and we worked on a couple of new things. When we got home, she proudly showed them off to the rest of the family as if she had been paying attention in class and working really hard--the smarty-pants little show-off.

yesterday's food:

Breakfast: 1 cup of coffee w/ soy milk
green smoothie
Lunch: Seitan & spinach w/ veganaise on whole wheat
butternut squash soup
snack: apple, almond butter, and some pumpkin seeds
Dinner: butternut squash soup (yes again--we still have leftovers)
Snack: peanut butter and agave on 1 piece of whole wheat

Ciao for now.

Today is going better than yesterday did. Although there have been work frustrations galore. Oh well, that's life. I can deal with work frustrations--it's family and personal frustrations that get me down.

The pup (the famous "Little Girl" for which I named this blog) starts school tonight. She's a 4 month old German Shorthair Pointer. Her name is Little Girl because my hubby is stubborn. We picked her out the day she was born and visited her once a week until she was 8 1/2 weeks old when we took her home. He kept calling her the "little girl". We kept trying to get him to come up with a real name. He was stubborn so here she is with the name of Little Girl for life.

Anyway, she starts school tonight with me as her handler. I had a really good time when I did puppy school with our 10 year old German Shepherd cross. I want the pup to be well trained--hubby wants to be able to take her out into the field and have her mind. Since the kids and I are the only ones that really work with her, I'm not sure how well she will ever mind him, but she is smart so maybe she'll figure it out. Her biggest problem is that she is a puppy--sometimes she has ADHD (or whatever you call it in hyper dogs) and has the attention span of a gnat; sometimes she gets it into her head that she needs to concentrate on something (the cat or a fly, for instance) and you can't distract her.

She does "sit" and "come" pretty well. We are still working on "down" and "off". And "heel" is just starting. She has also been about a month without an accident so I'm hoping potty training is down pat.

Let's see, to change the subject--food today:

Breakfast:

1 cup of coffee w/ soy milk

1 green smoothie

Lunch:

Seitan and spinach w/ veganaise on whole wheat

small bowl of butternut squash soup (leftovers from last night)

I'll probably have an apple for a snack when I go get the kids, we'll have the leftover soup for dinner, then who knows what for an evening snack.

We tend to eat dinner early--like about 5 or so on most nights so we all need an evening snack. We're almost out of fruit, but I do have some frozen strawberries so maybe we could do a smoothie. That would be good.

Well, back to work now,

Ciao for now.

Dinner Frustration

I am sooooo frustrated right now. For dinner I fixed Mexican Butternut Squash (I got the recipe on msn.com). I have made this soup twice before to rave reviews--once as per the recipe and the second time with added potatoes and carrots. This time, it was as per the recipe with seitan (recipe from the Urban Vegan's blog) added. I decided to add some protein so it would be a complete meal with a piece of whole wheat bread.

Daughter ate 1 piece of Seitan, 2 bites of squash, and her bread. Son ate a few bites of veggies, the broth, and his bread. Hubby ate a few bites of veggies, his broth, and his bread. I am the only one who ate the soup! I thought it was really good.

Peeling and cubing a butternut squash ought to be an iron man event and yet I did it so my family would have a good healthy dinner and no one liked it. I get so frustrated that they won't do healthy! If it was just the kids, I would just chuck everything else in the house and they'd either eat or starve, but with a hubby that doesn't care about nutrition (or his extra weight or his diabetes or his high blood pressure) it makes it hard. I can't force him to eat right and he buys crap for the house. If he has it, he lets the kids have it, too.

I worry so much about my daughter. She's overweight I don't want her to go through what I went through as a fat kid. And I don't want her to have self-esteem issues caused by my constantly harping on her. So I'm trying to go low key by going healthy and active for the whole family. I've told hubby that's what I'm doing (as well as doing it for me); he acts like he's on board until it actually comes time to eat healthy or move. I don't know what to do.

My food today was:

1 cup of coffee w/ soy milk
Green Smoothie
Seitan & spinach sandwich on whole wheat
pumpkin soup
1 banana
butternut squash soup w/ Seitan
1 piece of whole wheat bread w/ vegan margarine

Later I'll have:
1 apple
sunflower seeds.

I think it was a pretty good day--all vegan.

Work went pretty well today, too. I've got quite a bit to do tomorrow, but that's often the case. I worry about work sometimes--with the economy and all. I don't really think my company is going anywhere, but we are having a few economic issues. And to be honest, I have a good job! I get to work from home; I'm available for my kids; I set my own hours as long as I get everything done in a timely manner; the boss is giving me more projects--it's perfect. Maybe that's why I worry--you know the old saying "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". I've had this job for a year and a half. I don't think it's going anywhere, but I worry anyway.

Well, I'm off. Hubby should be home soon from taking son to scouts and daughter is practicing piano. Think I'll read for a few minutes.
Ciao for now.

Lunchtime on Wednesday

My conference was pretty good. I went up on Monday (a 2 hour drive) and had dinner with a friend. We went to a place called Mai Thai--we shared edamame, I had a green curry with Tofu, and for dessert we shared black rice with coconut creme. I was pretty impressed with the waitress--I asked for the vegan red curry and she came back to tell me that the chef couldn't do the red curry completely vegan tonight, but he could do the green. Would I like to have the green or could she help me find something else? It would have been so easy for her to just bring me the red curry--I'd have never known there was meat broth in the sauce--but she took the time to let me know and offered me alternatives. It was very good and the service gets excellent marks as well.

At the motel, I had some fruit and plain oatmeal off of their buffet for breakfast and a banana for a snack. For lunch, I had requested a vegan alternative--everyone else got a pasta buffet; I got a great salad made up of all kinds of raw vegetables cut into really tiny squares over a bed of shredded leaf lettuce served in a cabbage bowl. It had a really light vinaigrette over it. I think I definitely got the better end of the deal over the other participants. For an afternoon snack, I had raw sunflower seeds (out of my purse) and an apple.

Then I had to drive home. I had rain the whole way--I HATE DRIVING IN BAD WEATHER! When I got home, I had a piece of whole wheat bread with a little almond butter and jelly on it. I had to have something--I was starving and the kids were just leaving for karate so we wouldn't be able to have dinner for another hour and a half!

For dinner we had stir-fried teriyaki veggies and sauteed teriyaki marinated tofu (hubby and daughter had hot dogs and cottage cheese instead of the tofu).

My veggies are so easy. Here's what I do:

Cut up into like sized pieces whatever veggies you have in the house (we had zucchini, onion, carrot, yellow bell pepper, celery).
Put a little oil in the wok and heat (I use soybean oil).
When the oil is hot, put the veggie in and toss for a few minutes over the heat.
Pour in 1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce (I use kikoman--just like the soy sauce but teriyaki), toss the veggies some more, and turn down heat.
continue cooking until the veggies are as done as you'd like them. (I like them crisp, but hubby likes them pretty much well done so I do them somewhere in between for us).

tofu:
drain, press, and marinate extra firm tofu (I marinated in a bit of veggie broth and teriyaki sauce for about 20 minutes).
lightly oil small fry pay and fry tofu on both sides (about 3 minutes per side or just until lightly brown.

My son really liked the tofu. And by the way, I buy a block of the extra firm tofu and cut it into 3 steaks. They are a little fatter that way, but that's how I like them.

I was so tired last night, I fell into bed as soon as we got the kids in bed. A 2-hour drive, sleeping in a hotel bed, then an all day class, then a 2-hour drive in the rain had taken their toll on me.

Well, I'm back to work, I had a sandwich--seitan with vaganaise and spinach on whole wheat--and now I'm ready to work again.

Ciao for now.