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.

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.

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.

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.