"Meaty" pasta sauce

So for dinner last night, I made "pasta with meaty sauce". But the pasta wasn't pasta and the meat wasn't meat. Here's what I did.

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Bake a spaghetti squash and the fork it into pasta.

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The sauce was a little more complicated, but not overly so--here goes

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Rehydrate 1 cup of TVP with 1 cup of veggie broth. Saute TVP, chopped onion, and chopped garlic in a little coconut oil. Throw in zucchini, red pepper, and broccoli chopped into small pieces and saute just a little longer. Add a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce. Add lots of Italian seasoning along with whatever fresh herbs you have (I had parsley). Salt and pepper to taste and scoop it over the spaghetti squash.

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It was really good. The family paired it with a hamburger. I just had lots of "pasta" and a piece of Ezekiel bread.

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This morning, daughter was sleeping on the couch (she gets up with her daddy and then crashes on the couch until it's really time for her to get up) and the pup crawled up on her and they were sleeping nose to nose. When I took this pic, the dog woke up so they aren't nose to nose here, but they were until I got the camera.

And just so he doesn't feel left out, here's the sleepy boy, too.If I do say so myself, my kids are pretty cute!

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So I had to go get more Girl Scout Cookies today to fill the last order daughter got. And then I bought a few boxes so that she would be at her goal. Now she just has one shift at a cookie booth and then we are done with cookies for another year (I hope).

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I really hate these fundraisers that sell crap food.

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On a totally unrelated note, I tried shirataki noodles today. They are made out of "yam starch" and have very few calories. I was after kelp noodles in an Asian food market and ended up getting those by mistake. They look gross--like clear worms packaged in a bag of water. But I wanted to try them so I drained and rinsed them and mixed them with left over pasta sauce for lunch. The texture was weird and I couldn't quite get over the look of them. I don't think they tasted bad, in fact, they didn't have much taste at all. I won't buy them again, but at least I can say that I have tried them.

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Well, I guess I'm off. Tonight is going to be a busy night: Son-violin lesson, Daughter-guitar lesson, dinner, Symphony concert. Then tomorrow we are going to Boise to a banquet hubby wants to attend and we'll spend the night there. So I probably won't get back on until Monday. You all have a great weekend!

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Ciao for now.

Chocolate Give-away, exercise, and my new peeler

First of all, I was perusing CCV's blog just a few minutes ago and she is having a Jocolat bar give-away. If you want to participate, here is the web address. http://chocolatecoveredkatie.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/so-what-about-this-chocolate-giveaway/ (Sorry, I don't know how to do links, so I just copied and pasted the URL.)
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It's a great blog. I visit it regularly. She had a recipe for Tofu pudding--basically just blended silken tofu with flavors. I had it for an afternoon snack yesterday--mine was tofu, cocoa, agave, and a splash of vanilla. It was really good. Who would have thought that something that simple would be that good?
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I'm really proud of myself. I have exercised 2 days in a row. Last night, daughter and I exercised while we watched Biggest Loser--about 35 minutes worth. And today, I exercised after the gals at the office went to do lunch and errands--about 30 minutes worth. I don't know why I have such a hard time exercising. I feel so much better after I do it, but I can't seem to get motivated to do it regularly. It's frustrating. I would really like to be a runner. I have daydreams of myself jogging out in the sunshine with our pup. But the reality is that I am so self conscious (I still see myself as a fat chick) that I only jog on the treadmill or in place in the living room. I am going to try to exercise more regularly.
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I was also proud of my daughter for exercising with me. We did it as sort of a game. I need to do that with her more often.
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Last night, daughter and I played with the Titan Peeler. I still love the peeler, but the jury is out on the julienne cutter. We were playing with the dinner potatoes--peeling, making "chips", making hash-browns, etc. All of the product went into the curry to cook. And all of the little bitty potato pieces cooked down to make the sauce really thick.
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Today, I julienned a zucchini for my lunch. It takes longer than my julienne attachment on my mandolin, but the clean-up was so much easier. Also, the shreds are a lot finer using the Titan. I like it, I'm just not sure if I like it better than my mandolin.
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Well, I ought to get back to work.
Ciao for now.

I'm going crazy!

OK for the last week or so, Ki-Ki, our big yellow dog, (that's her, under my desk) has been getting out of the kennel. We put her back in and hubby figures out where she gets out and patches the wire. She has been out of the yard several times and I'm afraid she's going to get run over.

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Well today, she got out of the kennel but stayed in the yard. I can't fix fence so I've let her stay in the house and the pup is driving me bats. The pup wants to go out, but then as soon as she sees that Ki-Ki is staying in, she wants back in. Over and Over and Over again.

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And the pup wants to play and Ki-Ki doesn't so there's been a lot of growling and trying to hide under me going on.

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I'm going crazy! Dog out, dog in, dog out, dog in, "Little Girl back Off!", dog out, dog in, "Little Girl back Off!". So right now, Little Girl is in her kennel whining and Ki-Ki is asleep at my feet. And I'm ready to scream!
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On a lighter note--the second Titan Peeler came in the mail today. I'm going to give it to my aunt and we're going to split the cost. I really don't need 2 of them. But I really like it. Did I say that earlier?

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Bye again.

I got a new peeler...

Yeah, I know. That doesn't sound really exciting, but I was excited. I saw an infomercial for the "Titan Peeler" and it comes with a julienne tool and a plastic thing that makes it into a mandolin. It looked so cool and hubby said to order it so I did. It is really cool. They are heavy tools--I expected them to be light and feel cheap. And it worked great! I made butternut squash soup for dinner last night and I have never peeled a butternut squash as easily as I did with that peeler. My old peeler just wouldn't even peel one--I had to do it with a knife.
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Below is a picture of the soup. Son used the "triangle cutter" on the mandolin attachment to make citrus crowns. I thought he did a pretty good job.

I was really nervous about purchasing based upon an infomercial, but I'm glad I did this one. It was supposed to be a 'buy one get one free' offer so with shipping, they ended up being $15 a set (14.99 for the set, 13 some-odd for shipping, 0.00 for the second set). I haven't gotten the second set yet, the paper said they were shipped separately so I would guess I'll get it today.

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I haven't tried the julienne tool yet. I'll do that later--probably for a zucchini salad.

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Yesterday, I also made blueberry-coconut fruit leather and apple chips. This time I turned off the dehydrator while it was still leather so we didn't end up with blueberry/coconut chips. Both the leather and the chips were really good.

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Speaking of fruit leather, daughter couldn't seem to get "leather" figured out when I made the strawberry leather. It got called "strawberry felt" and "strawberry velvet" before she finally got it straight.

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Right now, I have crackers dehydrating. The recipe is from Ani Phyo's Raw Food Kitchen. I hope they will turn out good. The certainly smell good, but I think they are more of a savory vs a sweet cracker. They will go better with soups than with almond butter and jelly.

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I had to get up at the crack of midnight this morning--well, not quite, but early. Son had his sixth grade ski trip today and he had to be at the school by 6:45. I think he'll have fun. He took his own skis and stuff so he could get on the hill faster. I hope he's careful! I'll pick him up (exhausted, probably) at around 5:30, feed him and send him to scouts.

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Well, I ought to get back to work now.

Ciao for now.

It's Monday (and a soap-box alert)

Good morning!
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I survived another weekend. Now just to survive another week..........
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Son had a ball skiing yesterday. It's a good thing they ran into someone they knew up there, though. Son did the big lift for the first time--he got going too fast and fell and lost his skis. This guy from the kids' karate class was wonderful and helped him get up and going again and stayed with him until he had gotten it all figured out and was OK on his own. Here is a big THANK YOU to him.
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Son is his own person. He loves going and doing things like that. It didn't matter to him that his dad was in the lodge. He is secure and comfortable enough in his own skin that he can do things by himself. I don't think I would have at his age.
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Daughter and I just hung around here and then went to the Home & Garden show with a friend of mine.
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yesterday's food:
-coffee and a scone for breakfast
-leftover Chinese rice & veggies for lunch
-Broccoli salad (cuz lunch didn't fill me up) for a snack
-a chocolate, 1/2 and orange, nibbles of stuff I was making for the dehydrator for other snacks
-broccoli, mashed potatoes, TVP crumbles for dinner (family had fried chicken and gravy)
-soy ice cream and girl scout cookies for snack.

All was vegan except for the girl scout cookies--they have milk products in them.
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Speaking of that, I was looking at another website yesterday (can't remember what it was for sure, sorry) and there was an article on it that, to me, sounded like its author felt like anyone who ever ate non-vegan was not vegan at all. She made it sound like vegan was a moral and ethical issue--like murder. Like it's not OK to murder someone just because you "fell off the wagon" and it's not OK to have an occasional non-vegan item for that reason.
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I totally agree that it is an ethical consideration, but sometimes it is so hard to avoid all animal products or to find substitutes at that specific time that I am not going to beat myself up for an occasional lapse. The way I eat and live is a choice that I made. It is vastly different than most of the people around me and, frankly, my decision has less to do with the treatment of the animals (although that is big) and more to do with just the fact of what it is--dead flesh, mother's milk for baby bovine, and blighted chicken ovum. (EW, I just made myself nauseous.)
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And as far as the animal welfare is concerned, the milk products and eggs are what bother me the most--and they seem to be the hardest items to avoid. The milk cows are born, raised on a bottle in a little bitty pen, inseminated against their will (isn't that rape?), have their baby taken, get their milk taken, live in nasty pens, and get it done all over again and again and again until they can no longer make the milk they once did. Then they are killed. This is the same for egg-hens, minus the bottle and the rape. Plus, with chickens what is taken is just disgusting. The meat animals honestly have it a little better because they are fed and treated slightly nicer (they have to be so they will be fat) and their suffering ends earlier (no one wants stringy steak).
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Sorry for that soap-box. If you don't like it; don't read it. It's just my opinion. I'll get on to other things.
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I didn't watch my oatmeal this morning and it boiled over and made a huge mess in the microwave--I ended up with only about half of my breakfast left. Good thing I had one small scone left. (OK, that was boring. I'll just get back to work now.)
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Ciao for now.

My Birthday Present

First of all, sorry I haven't blogged for a while. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, I was busy. Thursday, I was busy playing. I got my birthday present from the Fed-Ex man. (Actually from my family, but Fed-Ex delivered it.) It is a GooD4U 6 tray dehydrator--ain't she purty? As soon as I had a break from working, I called hubby and asked if he minded if I got out my present and played. He didn't mind. So Thursday, I made dehydrator bread, banana chips, and dried parsley. FYI-Banana chips take a lot longer than I would have ever thought. They weren't ready until Friday. Right now I have carrot crackers going.

I got online and got Kristen Suzzane's dehydrator cookbook--I'm going to make some fruit leather after I get done here.

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hubby and son are up skiing today. Well, son is skiing; hubby is probably drinking coffee in the lodge. Daughter and I are taking it easy. We are still our my jammies as a matter of fact.

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Well, that's it for the time being.

Ciao for now.

Butternut Squash Soup

Today's Food
Breakfast-Peanut butter oatmeal and coffee
Lunch-Butternut squash soup and Almond butter/jelly on Ezekiel bread
Snack-chocolate-soy ice cream and graham crackers (bad me--but it was good)
Another Snack-wasabi peas
Dinner-Miso good gravy over Ezekiel bread and steamed cauliflower
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Easy Butternut Squash Soup
1/4 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 stalk celery
1 1/2 cup cubed butternut squash
2 cups veggie broth
chili powder to taste
paprika to taste
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put all of the above in a glass casserole dish and microwave until the veggies are soft (took 2 rounds of 4 minutes each for me). Pour into the Vita-Mix and blend. Turn down to low and add 1 tsp lime juice and a little cilantro-keep blending on low until the cilantro is lightly chopped.
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Pour in bowls and enjoy--Makes 2 big bowls of soup.
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Son and I had this for lunch. He liked it this way better than when I make it on the stove--on the stove, though, I don't blend it. I think he liked the blended texture.
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Well, that's all for now. I'm going to watch Biggest Loser and will probably have a smoothie for a bedtime snack.
Ciao for now.

A quick wrap-up

We woke up to snow again today. I am so ready for spring. It is still snowing, but it is a heavy, wet snow. Plus it's 34 degrees out so there is no more accumulation. The level on the ground is staying steady where it's at. OK, I think I will work backwards from today. It's easier for my brain. Yesterday, the kids had a dentist appointment plus they were off school so we visited with friends before their appointment. It was a good day. We don't get to see them often and I miss having coffee and visiting while the kids play--we started that when our boys were babies and they lived a lot closer. The real bummer is that son woke up sick today with a bad cold. I really hope he didn't infect them. I will feel so bad if he did.
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Sunday, we didn't really do anything other than grocery shopping. Boring.
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Saturday--Valentine's day and daughter's birthday party.
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I didn't have time to go shopping for a valentine for the kids so I made them "gift certificates" on the computer--good for a book, a CD, or a toy--both kids got a Lego set from Target. Then hubby took daughter to a girl scouts thing at Lowe's while son and I cleaned the house and I made and decorated the cake. The cake and stuff is below.

Then we had a quick lunch and it was party time. I am an extreme introvert. I hate having too many people in the personal sanctuary of my home and still I let daughter invite lots of girls. WHAT WAS I THINKING? We had 8 girls in addition to her and all I can say is "ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!" I was so glad when they all went home. (It probably wasn't as bad as I feel like it was, it's just that I don't deal well with things like that.)
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We did a game, presents, cake & ice cream, a pinata (did it inside because we had an impromptu blizzard), and I put in a girl movie. They still destroyed daughter's room (not that it was far from destruction in the first place, mind you).
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One girl's mom called asking if we had found her i-pod. What was a 9-year old girl doing bringing an i-pod to a birthday party in the first place? I certainly wasn't going to babysit it--I didn't even know she had it. Another girl didn't want to stay with the others and I was constantly having to herd her out of where she didn't belong. Another girl decided she would stay longer and called her mom to tell her that she would call when the movie was over--she was the last to leave and only then because I told her to call her mom. And all of the little girls were loud and rowdy--I guess that's just how little girls are when they get together.
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Son was an angel; he helped me clean the house and get ready and he put up with all the little girls. He told me that he decided he did like the movie he got sis for her birthday after all because it was the only thing that finally settled the girls down. He also ended up being in charge of the pup.
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Then we went out to Prasai--an excellent Thai restaurant--for our valentine dinner.
Friday--the daddy/daughter dance. Above is the picture they had taken there. I think they had fun.
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Well, I need to go.
Ciao for now.

Friday the 13th

Hi all,

It's Friday the 13th. The kids are out of school today so after they had both gotten ready and both practiced both of their instruments and we had lunch, we took the puppy to Petsmart. She got spoiled rotten--A new squeaky, a new chewy rope, and a new T-shirt. The brown with pink trim looks really good on her--see?

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It's actually more of a muscle shirt and on the back it says "being cute is a full time job". So true....... She loves her new toys. Her old squeaky broke and quit squeaking and her old rope was falling apart. right now she is in puppy heaven.

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The kids are playing the Wii (as usual) and I'm blogging for a few before I get back to work.

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Tonight, hubby and daughter are going to a father-daughter ball. Daughter is so excited. She'll be wearing her birthday dress (if I go get it out of the dryer, that is) and she picked out a black shirt for her daddy. I really think it's sweet. I remember when I was a kid and our church had a daddy-daughter dance. I got to go with my piano teacher's husband because my dad was working (yeah, just a bit of bitterness there). I am so glad hubby does stuff like this with the kids. I'll take a picture of them and post it.

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I'm not sure what son and I will do tonight. Probably not much of anything.

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Today's food:

coffee and pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast

PB & J on Ezekiel bread and some steamed butternut and sweet potato for lunch

1 (yes, only one) of my daughter's chocolates

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I'm going to make a green smoothie after while (apple, almond, and spinach) and see if I can't get the kids to try it and then I'm not sure about dinner and snack yet. Hubby and daughter are going out before the dance so son and I might either just fend for ourselves or go to Pita Pit. He and I like it, but hubby and daughter don't so we never go there.

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By the way, I like the comments. Thanks.

Ciao for now.

A haul of Dolls

Daughter got this American Girl doll from hubby and I, and the Hannah Montana doll from Grandma and Grandpa. She also got some stuff for her American Girl doll from us and an American Girl movie from her brother.
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So that was yesterday.
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Today wasn't too exciting--here's the food:
coffee and pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast
Zucchini salad and left over pasta for lunch
an orange and a leftover pumpkin muffin for snack
1 (yes, only one) little chocolate from daughter's valentine party haul
tofu scramble served over spinach for dinner (pic is below)


I'm starving again now--I think I'll have some graham crackers dipped in brewed chocolate for my evening snack. I'm going to wait a while, though.
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Daughter is fighting a cold--I sure hope she gets better without giving it to me!
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The kids are off school tomorrow--we'll see how much work I get done tomorrow.
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Well, not a very exciting day. Hubby is at a meeting, the kids are playing the Wii, and I'm here typing. Think I'll get off this machine and read.
Have a good evening.
Ciao for now.

She's dreaming of a White Birthday....

Daughter got her wish. She has been saying that she wanted a white birthday since Christmas. She got her wish--we woke up to 2 inches of snow this morning. Right now, it's starting to melt off so I'm not sure how much will be left when she gets out of school.

The picture above is over exposed, but that's her in her birthday dress--a Hanna Andersson. Below is a full view.

Notice the snow boots. Don't they just add that extra special "something" to the ensemble?

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Here in about 20 minutes, I'm leaving to take the muffins over to her class, and then after school, Grandma and Grandpa are coming over so she can open presents. Then we'll take her our for her birthday dinner. Then we'll drop son off at scouts.

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She chose Carino's Italian Grill for dinner. I like eating there--it's pretty easy to eat vegan.

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We are having her open her presents from us today for 2 reasons. First, it is her actual birthday and second, I'm afraid that there will be so many little girls here on Saturday that she won't notice our presents as much. (Not to mention the fact that maybe there will be less handling of the presents by others if she doesn't open them at the official party.)

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Well, I know this was quick, but I'm off.

Ciao for now.

Muffins and Pasta

When daughter got home we started in on the muffins. I made a double recipe so we'd have some for home, too. We ended up with 32 muffins and a small loaf. Here they are (along with the birthday girl--the big "9" tomorrow)!

Then I made the pasta--I stir fried red pepper, zucchini, onion and garlic in olive oil. Then I added capers and artichoke hearts (and a little garlic salt because it was bland). Then I served it over whole wheat angel hair pasta. Ta-Da.

That's all.

Ciao for now.

I'm making muffins tonight

Daughter wants muffins for her school birthday treats tomorrow so we're making muffing tonight! The really cool thing is that her favorite type of muffins are "The Best Pumpkin Muffins" from Vegan with a Vengeance. Maybe not the healthiest of my vegan recipes, but it's a step in the right direction.
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And speaking of that, the cake she wants for her party on Saturday is the "Devil's Food Cake" from vegcooking.com with the icing from the "Chocolate Devastation Cake" recipe--same website. That cake is my family's favorite. Hubby had it for his B-day, son had it for his B-day, we had it for Superbowl, and now daughter wants if for her B-day. My B-day is in 3 weeks, I'm going to have to find a different recipe for my cake (just to be different).
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Yesterday's food:
coffee and banana oatmeal for breakfast
Miso soup and spinach salad and asparagus for lunch
apple and a piece of toast w/ very light pb&J for snack
broccoli and tofu/sweet potato scramble for dinner
2/3 of a serving of banana oatmeal for snack
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Today's food so far:
coffee and the rest of the banana oatmeal for breakfast
green tea/soy milk latte for snack (home-made, not bought)
zuke/red bell pepper salad and Almond Butter & Jelly on Ezekiel for lunch
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I'm going to make a green smoothie w/ apple, spinach, and almonds for a snack and I haven't figured out what for dinner--maybe ww pasta with stir fried zuke, pepper, onion, garlic, capers, and artichoke hearts over it. That's always good.
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I talked to daughter's teacher today--daughter wasn't tested for GT and she was bummed so I just wanted to ask about it. Apparently daughter made the first cut but then wasn't selected to be tested. I then e-mailed the GT teacher to find out the details. I think daughter needs to be challenged-she's in third grade and reads 3+ grade levels above that, she started doing multiplication on her own in first grade, she plays 3 instruments, she used to bug her brother by looking over his shoulder and answering his homework problems before he did (he's 3 years older than her). She does let her social life and her emotions get in the way at school sometimes, but I do know that she needs to be challenged and that she is bright. I hope I hear back from the GT teacher soon. (Son was passed over for GT when he was first tested, too. The reason he was passed over, though, was because of his Aspergers--he couldn't do the testing in the time they wanted him too. His teacher and I were both upset--she had had him working on advanced stuff for several month's prior to the testing just to keep him from getting bored.)
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Oh listen to me! I sound like a mom who thinks her kids are all that and bag of chips. No really, I'm not like that; I just know my kids. We were at the school orientation and talking with son's teacher this year and one of the other mothers butted in and started talking about her boy and how smart he was and all the extra stuff they did for him at his last school, and how he was so smart that he didn't even need to listen to the teacher, and on and on. Hubby and I rolled our eyes at each other and later I told him that if I ever got like that, he should slap me upside the head.
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No, I think my kids' work and their personalities need to speak for themselves. I have told them a million times that if they work really hard and get a C, then I am even more proud of that C than I am of the A that they didn't have to do anything to get.
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Well, I ought to get going and get something else done. Work is finally settling down, but there is still stuff to do. Then it'll be time to go get kiddos from school.
Ciao for now.

Sunday Night

There's a picture of last night's dinner--Fat Free Vegan's BBQ Seitan Ribz, fried spuds & onions (with ketchup), and steamed carrots. It was really good. Hubby even ate the ribz! I was amazed! Son ate 2, and daughter ate 1/2 (so what's new with her, right?).

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For a snack last night we went to Dairy Queen--the family got blizzards and I got a "star-kiss" (it's kind of like a popcicle--the only thing there that's vegan). I ate half my star-kiss and then put it back in freezer and got out some leftover cabbage salad and ate that instead. Yeah, I'm weird.

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Today's Food:

breakfast-coffee and banana oatmeal (again, what's new, right?)

lunch-ribz sandwich (ribz, bbq sauce, veganaise, and spinach on ezekial bread) and spuds & onions

snack-a Starbucks soy green tea latte and some pumpkin seeds

dinner--miso soup and asparagus (we pronounce it "Asper-grass". That came from me--I'm still weird.)

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Daughter got her valentines and her valentine box done today. We also got her B-day invitations done. She also had a birthday party to go to for a friend from girl scouts.

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Both kids also got both of their instruments practiced. Son was a bit moody today. I have heard (from a gal that had both sons and daughters) that sons are just as moody as they get into their teen years as daughters are. I think he is there. I would have sworn he was approaching TOM if he'd have been a girl.

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We went to Barnes & Noble last night and I got a new book--Empress. So far, it's really good.

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Jeez! I re-read what I've written and realize that my life is really boring. I guess that's OK. Whenever something exciting happens, it's usually not exciting in a good way.

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Well, I'm off.

Ciao for now.

Saturday Check-in (work, food, family)

Yesterday's food:
coffee and banana oatmeal for breakfast
Bean-loaf sandwich and cabbage salad for lunch
an apple and an almond yogurt pop for snack
Golden Corral for dinner
1/2 a bowl of pb oatmeal for snack
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We usually go out on Friday night. Hubby and kids wanted other things, but we finally settled on Golden Corral. I pretty much stuck to the salad bar--raw veggies w/ vinaigrette and some sunflower seeds. I did have 3 Brussels sprouts, 1/4 of a dry baked potato w/ cocktail sauce for dipping, and one bite of rice (I only had one bite because it tasted like it had been cooked in broth and I figured it was probably not veggie broth. For dessert, I put some chocolate sauce on the crushed peanuts. Good stuff. It wasn't great, but I had a lot of veggies and it was better than some of the other things the family suggested.
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I meant to write yesterday, but I messed up big-time at work. Posted a whole payroll in the wrong period and ended up on the phone with tech support hoping there was a way to undo it in one shot like I had messed it up in one shot. No such luck. So I ended up having to void and re-do each one individually. I really should have paid better attention. I kept apologizing to the office manager and she was like "we all do it". And I'm fine with that as long as "we all" is more like "you all". I'm a lot harder on myself than I am on anyone else. Oh well, I got through it and got it all fixed. I only missed getting one thing done that needed to get done yesterday and it's on top of my to-do list for Monday.
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After work, it was pick kids up from school, get my deposit ready for the bank, and take kids to lessons. Son is getting some pretty bad habits with his violin. His teacher wants me to help him out, but he doesn't practice as good when I try to help. (In fact, when he first started private lessons and his teacher was helping him with some stuff he asked me "Mom, why didn't you ever show me this?" And I was just stumped. "Uh, hello, I have been showing you, but you didn't think I knew what I was talking about.")
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We got a guitar case for daughter's guitar. Up until now, she has been toting it around in the cardboard box it came in. I have been so afraid that sooner or later it would get hurt--the box is really getting ratty. I am wondering if she is going to play both trumpet and guitar or if she is going to drop the trumpet.
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Anyway, then it was dinner, like I said above. Then to Fred Meyer to get a couple of things that Winco doesn't have. And then home to watch a movie--The Wild.
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This morning we were lazy--I paid bills, the kids both practiced their piano, and then we got around to getting ready. We finally left the house around 11:30-ish. We grabbed a Subway (veggie delight flatbread with no cheese and oil & vinegar) then went to Shopko (hubby socks), Costco and Winco (groceries), Zurchers (party stuff for daughter's birthday party, and then we came home. The veggie sandwich didn't hold me over very good so after putting the groceries away, I had a piece of bean-loaf, a piece of whole-wheat bread, and an apple. Then I laid down for a while. Now I'm up and going again.
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So today's food:
coffee and PB oatmeal for breakfast
veggie delight flatbread for lunch
bean-loaf, ww bread, apple for snack
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dinner is going to be:
BBQ Seitan Ribz from fat free vegan's blog, steamed carrots, and fried spuds & Onions.
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I keep trying to blog daily and I keep getting off track. It's kind of cathartic to keep a journal and I seem to do better with this one than a paper one, so I'll keep trying.
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I think I'll go read for a while (kids are doing doggie duty in the yard) and then it'll probably be time to get started on dinner.
Ciao for now.

It's Thursday

I've been away for a while again. This time it's totally because of Terry Goodkind! I got to the climactic ending of his last book Confessor and couldn't put it down. I have to get my work done, I have to get certain things done around the house, and I have to take care of kids. But, when that is all done, I can read, blog, exercise, or whatever. The last 3 days have been READ!
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And now that the book is done, I'm going into fiction withdrawal. I can feel the shakes starting even as we speak. (Just kidding) I started in on Eragon again so I'll have that and Eldest re-read before Bresinger comes out in paperback (all by Christopher Paolini). But what I really want to do is go to the bookstore and park myself in the Sci-Fi aisle and read the first chapter of whatever catches my eye until I find another book (or series of books) that I can't put down.
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I've been having issues with my family eating my cooking. All I get is complaints. And my hubby tries to talk with the kids to get them to settle down and all he does is make it worse ("mom has a right to be however she wants to be" and "yeah, some of her food is not as good as we like, but mom can cook what she wants to cook"). HELLO--I"M RIGHT HERE AND I CAN HEAR YOU.
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I ended up in the car crying while the family finished dinner Tuesday night. When hubby came out to talk to me, I don't think he appreciated it when I said that I didn't care anymore--he can have a f-ing heart attack and daughter can weigh 300 pounds and I'm just sick of caring anymore. I'm not actually there yet, but at times I feel like I am beating my head against the wall and he's working against me. If I decide I don't care about him anymore, I still have to care about daughter--I pointed out to him that, yeah, we can be however we want, but it is our RESPONSIBILITY to do our best to help our kids be healthy. That's what I'm trying to do.
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For dinner last night, we had a bean loaf and steamed cabbage. Daughter asked if she had eaten enough to have candy (NO) but I told her to ask her dad. He, of course, asked me. I glared at him and told him that I was sick of worrying about it, he could do it.
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Sorry to rant. Maybe that's another reason why I haven't been blogging so much lately--I hate to just complain.
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OK, here's a grateful list to get me back on track:
1-I have a husband that I love and who loves me (even if he doesn't love himself enough to take care of himself)
2-I have two (for the most part) very good kids
3-I have a job that I enjoy that pays well
4-I have enough money for a roof over our heads, and food on our table, and to occasionally play.
5-I have a few friends that are the best friends that anyone could ever ask for
6-I have a healthy body and a bright creative mind (that one probably should have gone first)
7-I have pets that love me unconditionally and are willing to show me whenever I need a hug
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I need to keep remembering those things when I get to feeling low.
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Yesterday's food
coffee and banana oatmeal for breakfast
leftover curry over pasta for lunch
cabbage and bean-loaf for dinner
1-apple, 1-orange, 1-piece of bread w/ jelly, 1-almond yogurt pop for snacks (not at the same time--this was 3 snacks)
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Today's food
coffee and banana oatmeal for breakfast
steamed cabbage and bean-loaf sandwich for lunch
Dinner will be cauliflower and leftover bean-loaf
Snacks will probably be fruit and an almond yogurt pop
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Well, the pup is sleeping and I ought to get back to work. Isn't that a cute picture of her with her blanket?
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Ciao for now.

Superbowl party and revisiting "restaurant reviews"

OK. First things first. I went back and read my restaurant review post and something stood out to me. So let me clear something up. This is regarding "A Taste of Thai". The restaurant owner is totally allowed to have his own point of view about his customers. I just think it is extremely poor business practice to make fun of some customers when other customers are withing hearing distance. Even if I hadn't been included in the group he was talking about, I still would have been offended thinking "gee, if he talks bad about other customers, what is he saying about me when I'm gone." So I'm not saying he's not entitled to his opinion, I'm just saying that he was exercising extremely poor judgement. Whew, that's out of the way.

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Now on to the Superbowl Party! I don't really care for football and fortunately, hubby doesn't watch too much of it either, but we do usually watch this one game of the year. (Actually, I do more reading and paying attention to the commercials that I do watching football.) I made the cake pictured above, nut cheese, and guacamole (all vegan, of course).

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Then we had a light dinner (bocca burger and broccoli--kids and hubby had chicken nuggets and broccoli) at the start of the game. Around half-time we had cake. And in the last half, we had popchips and nut cheese and guacamole.

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The game was actually good. I watched more of it than I usually do.

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And then, just before bed, I have to admit it, we had cake and ice cream (rice dream for me). Oh well.

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So today is going pretty good. I'm having a hard time getting my mind around a spreadsheet I need to get done. I might get it about half done today, but it's going slow.

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For food, I had coffee and banana oatmeal for breakfast and spinach salad and home-made whole wheat/oat flour bread w/ margarine. I was going to have a sandwich and then I realized about 11:00 that I had no bread so I made the whole wheat quick bread (I posted a recipe here a while back) and used 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 oat flour. It came out really good. I didn't even bother with the sandwich fixings it was so good.

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I'm going to make a curry tonight. I'll finally try that curry paste I got at the Asian food market last week.

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Well I'm off again.

Ciao for now.

A Saturday Drive

So anyway, Saturday, we got things done around the house in the morning and decided to take a drive. It was overcast at home and I was craving sunlight so we headed north. We didn't even leave the house until about noon and then we got back home around 8:00.
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We went to Ketchum and ate at the cafe I mentioned in my last post--yum! Then headed back to Timmerman hill and over to Fairfield. We got into the wind by Fairfield and had snow drifting over the roads. It was overcast there, but the rest of the day, we were in sun. Then we went on over to Mountain home and headed back towards home on the freeway. We turned off the freeway by Glens Ferry and went around by King Hill. Just past King Hill we saw hundreds of deer and probably half that many antelope (winter range).
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See the picture above about the petrified watermelons? That's right there by where we saw the deer. In the fields there are these watermelon sized boulders--all nice and rounded. They were dropped by the Bonneville flood (eons ago) and somewhere around the time when my hubby was a kid, the Stinker Station put that sign there and it's still there. Kind of funny, huh?
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So anyway, from there we went through Bliss, down to Hagerman, back up to Wendell, and back on the freeway to home.
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It was a lot of driving, but it was so nice to be in the sunshine. Sometimes, this time of year, especially, I crave it. I feel like if I don't get some, I'll just have to scream.
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So anyway,
Ciao for now.

Restaurant Reviews--The good and the bad

The Bad
Friday night we went to one of my favorite Thai places. A Taste of Thai in Twin Falls, Idaho. I am giving you the name and location so you can boycott them. The food was excellent and the service was really good, so why boycott them? because the owner is a an Ass.
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As we were sitting there eating dinner, he notices some friends of his at the booth right behind me and goes over to visit. He is talking quite loudly and he starts in on customers who ask for chopsticks. (I ask for chopsticks at any restaurant that has them because I enjoy using them.) He goes on about "And these people ask for chopstick and I'm like 'give me a break--what do you think we are? Chinese? I've never been to China' I don't mind when they ask for them with noodles because we kind of stole noodles from China anyway, but when they ask for chopsticks with a curry or stir-fry! I mean really!"
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He was being very loud and continued to go on and on. The waitress came over and asked how everything was and I told her that it was kind of hard to eat with him over there wragging on customers that use chopsticks. He heard me and started in that he was just visiting with his friends and that he wasn't talking about me, he was talking about someone else. I pointed out that I am a customer who asked for chopsticks and he said he didn't know I had asked for them and he was just visiting with his friends.
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Anyway, I felt bad for the waitress who was stuck in the middle of that. The end of it was that we didn't have to pay for dinner and the owner (who by the way was drunk and belligerent the whole time) said he didn't care if we never came back.
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Guess what? We won't ever go back there. So we only ended up getting half a dinner, but we got it for the price of the tip.
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The Good
On Saturday, we took a drive. (I'll tell you about that in my next post.) We went to a raw vegan place in Ketchum, Idaho called Glow Live Foods Cafe. It was really good but pricey (everything in Ketchum is, though.) I had a quinoa, veggie, and Indian seasonings bowl (I don't think the quinoa was raw, though) Hubby and kids had the pizza (nut cheese, tomatoes, and klamata olives on sprouted bread). The bread wasn't raw either. The kids also shared a banana and chocolate hemp milk smoothie. We got desserts too--Macaroons (excellent), date ball (mine are better), banana bark (excellent), raspberry buckwheat crispy bar (better at home with soy milk over it--then excellent).
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My only thing on this place was that they should have made a point of noting what items were not raw since they hold themselves out to be a raw foods cafe (the hemp milk was noted in the menu, the bread I asked about because I was expecting a dehydrator bread, and the quinoa was obviously cooked.)
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Well that's it for restaurant reviews.
Ciao for now.