Apple Oat Pancakes

I made these pancakes from Vive le Vegan! this morning for breakfast. Billy wanted toast, so I halved the recipe. It ended up making one big pancake. I only ate half of it (woo hoo for me on portion control :P) with some strawberries and soymilk. The pancakes were really good, and I loved the hot apple slices in them! The only thing was a boo boo on my part. I didn't cook them long enough so they were slightly mushy, but still yummy.














I'm going to try and eat really well today, and minimally, to make up for yesterday. Billy and I both work at the same restaurant and we usually work opposite shifts, so as one person is leaving the other is starting. We finally both had the night off last night, so we went to Boston Pizza for dinner. I had a garden salad to start and a small Californian Pizza. It was good, it had pizza sauce, zucchini, onions, sundried tomatoes and tomatoes. The waitress was awesome and made sure the kitchen kept the parmesan out of the sauce and that they didn't put any on top. We made sure to leave her a really good tip. Our last BP visit was not so great, but this definitely made up for it! So, the pizza was pretty healthy, plus I didn't eat most of the crusts, plus I didn't eat all the food!

But then we get to the movies to see The Matador, and that smell of popcorn hits me! So I got a regular popcorn (which was huge) and a bottle of water. I should not have gotten that popcorn! I should've just gotten the small. I felt bad almost immediately after eating it, that popcorn has so many calories! But, I guess its okay to treat myself every once in a while, as long as I balance myself. So today will be three squares, lots of veggies and fruit and lots of water! And maybe a workout.

I don't have any other food pictures. Today is leftover soup and casserole day. The butternut squash soup is even better leftover. I brought it to work yesterday so I could eat a quick lunch while working. Some people were rude and said it looked like roadkill or baby food while others said it looked good, and one girl even tried it! :) Meh, screw 'em.

Well, I'm off to do homework!

Woot!

I lost four pounds! Do the happy dance with me! :)

Check out what I had for dinner last night, it was a bit of an indulgence:















It's butternut squash soup with a "turkey" sandwich. mmm. The soup was good, but the pieces of steamed collards weren't so hot...I think I would've prefered it if had been blended along with the rest of the soup, it was kind of rubbery. But the soup is still very good! The sandwich was on whole wheat, with Yves turkey slices (I really like their new texture and taste!) with some vegenaise(why must you be so fattening?), mustard and spinach leaves. Oh and a slice of tofutti cheese. A very good dinner, and easy to prepare (if you've got leftover soup lying around) right before work.

I was having a major snack attack yesterday. But I tried to ride it out. I had a raspberry punch orange (awesome!) and 4 or 5 almonds after my semi-workout, and a bunch of raw veggies. Another thing that helps me avoid the munchies is a glass of lemon perrier with some fresh lemon wedges added. I love mineral water, it helps me avoid pop.














I garnished it with a strawberry. I bought some yesterday from Smith's Market, they were surprisingly good. Other strawberries I've bought in the winter are never really that great, but these are juicy and flavourful. I love strawberries.

As for breakfast today, I wanted to make pancakes or something as my weekend "treat" but I didn't have all the ingredients to make any of the ones I wanted. I did, however, have a bunch of leftover kale (its impossible to use up a whole bunch!) so I made kalewiches from Table for Two. I put the steamed kale on whole wheat toast and drizzled it with some good olive oil, sea salt and some fresh lemon juice. Mmmmm, that hit the spot, and its healthy! I had some more delicious strawberries and chocolate soymilk. Oh ya, and some green tea/mint/ginger tea. I actually used the water from steaming the kale to make my tea! You can't taste a difference and that way you're still getting any nutrients that were lost from the kale by steaming! :) I did this with the butternut soup too, I used the steaming water to make vegetable stock. So there's my tip of the day, I'm sure some of you veteran vegans have been doing this for years.














Ever since I got my camera, I've mostly taken pictures of food, so I was goofing around yesterday with my cat, trying to get a good picture. She kept moving around though, obviously, but here's one of my fur baby, Whiskers.














Speaking of Whiskers, she just puked all over the floor. I told Billy not to let her drink that milk! He's gonna get it now....grrrr Thank God for hardwood flooring.

I'm all cooked out!

OK, I have lots of stuff to post about, so bare with me. Not all of it is food, either.
First of all, to the person who stole my extension cord that I use to plug my car heater in, you suck. You better not let me catch you using it in the same parking lot, and shame on you!
Secondly, after you guys ever noticed how ugly the meat section is in the grocery store? The produce area is full of different colours, as are most of the aisles. Then you walk past the meat section and its like bloody red stuff shining under fluorescent light. Yuck!

My herbs are a-growin'! Let's do a flash back, shall we?









This last one is from today...I'll have useable herbs in no time! The garlic chive sprouts already taste like garlic/onion. Keep growing little babies :D



I've been in the kitchen all afternoon. I made butternut squash soup from CalciYum! and also the Greens and Grains mushroom casserole from the same book. The casserole took longer than expected, as my dad highjacked the oven to cook his pork, ick. So I have to violate my "don't eat after 8 pm" law for the day. It better be worth it! I only had a bite of the soup, I'll be having that for dinner tomorrow before work.
This is the soup:














From the bite I had, it was good. I'll have to write more about it once I've had a hot bowl of it. It has soymilk in it, but it would be equally as good without the milk. It's a good way to use up that squash sitting in your fridge. The green stuff is collard greens and kale (great sources of calcium).
The casserole, which I'm eating right now, is good! I was worried it would suck, just because it doesn't look all that exciting at first, but it browns nicely in the oven. Its not as flavourful as I would've liked, but I'm sure that could be fixed with some gravy or something. It sure does make a lot, leftovers galore! It has organic quinoa, brown rice, collards, kale, tofu, a veggie mixture and spices.
Just a nice, simple dinner. :) The cookbook says this recipe has about 350 mg of calcium per serving! Nice! With a glass of soymilk, that's about two thirds of the RDA. The book also points out that those of us who don't eat animal protein and limit our sodium intake, need less calcium. Dang, those green beans were good!

Today, in my tea (mint/green) I added some chopped up ginger (thanks to Dreena for the recommendation and advice!) and it was awesome. It actually, in my opinion, improved the taste. And hopefully if I do it regularly, it'll help ward off the flu/cold.

Oh yes, the rice crackers I had are these ones:


Mmmm, I really love them!

I've been going through Sinfully Vegan (which has nutritional information) to see if there are any desserts/snacks I can make that won't pack on the pounds. There's only a few things (cookies if I have 1, puddings) that would be ok. I'm starting to think its better not to know how fattening food is. One slice of cake=600 Calories???Eeeeek. That'll make me think next time I go to eat it!

I just have to say...the sesame rice crackers I had with my chili were so yum. They were a little salted, and were great for scooping up the chili. Mmmm Mmmmm. And they were crunchy, which I love. In a serving of 10 crackers, there's 80 calories. And it was definitely enough to make me feel satisfied. I was surprised that I still had a few after I'd polished off the chili. Now I'm nice and full from my dinner. I don't remember the brand of crackers, I'll have to post the name later.

Have a good night, guys. I don't think I'll post tonight...I'm not cooking ;)

Lots-o-Food

I think I'm going to be at school all day tomorrow (8:30 am to 8-9 pm) so I'm going to bring lunch and dinner, plus snacks, with me. I could go home between labs, but I'll lose time. I can just work on my experimental methods lab before it starts at 6 and hopefully hand it in right away.
So, here's what's on the menu:

For lunch:
Leftover green split pea soup, an apple, and a President's Choice Too Good to Be True Vanilla soy pudding. Have you ever had it? They also have chocolate. They're great! Its a nice 100 Calorie snack when the munchies set in.

For Dinner:
Sherri's Black Bean Chili (From La Dolce Vegan), with 10 sesame rice crackers, 2 cups of raw veggies (broccoli, cauliflower and baby carrots), and tomato juice.















Sorry that I didn't plate the food or anything (Food Network talk), but I figured I could show you guys the food while at the same time getting my food ready for tomorrow ;).

I had the chili today for dinner. If you can call it dinner! Maybe on the go dinner. The chili was good, but unfortunately I had to eat it out of a coffee thermos on the way to school! I just barely finished my lab assignment before I had to leave for the lab. So I warmed up the chili, put some Silk Chocolate milk in another mug and grabbed some celery. And I ate it all while driving. While I may have been a hazard on the road, I have to say it was a pretty good meal. The chili is very spicy, but not too spicy. You can alter the spicyness by leaving out some of the green chilies or adding more (if you're crazy!).

Once I finish off the leftover soup and chili, I have plans to make a few things from Calci-Yum. I bought the book at the book fair at school for only ten bucks! I've made a few things from it, and in my quest to better use all of my cookbooks (as good as LDV is), I'm going to make a soup from it and a casserole, I think. I'll be sure to post some pictures when they're done!

And now for no reason other than to put up another picture, here's my cutie, I somehow managed to get him to look at the camera!!














I ate pretty healthfully today. Oatmeal for breakfast with fruit, leftover Smoked wheat sandwich with veggies and fruit, and of course, the chili. And I didn't eat after 8 pm, as much as I want to. C'mon fat, burn off! :P I didn't eat many veggies today, so I stopped at Smith's market on the way home to pick up some veggies to snack on at school tomorrow.
My current temptations include a fudgie brownie recipe calling my name...resist, Melissa, resist! At least until next week ;).

Have a good night! :D

Smoked Wheat

I saw Smoked Wheat in Super C today and the name made me laugh. I'd never heard of it before so I just had to buy it! I put it in a sandwich with lettuce, vegenaise and mustard on whole wheat bread. It was pretty good for what it was. I was never a fan of meat sandwiches so I wouldn't say it's the best sandwich filler I've ever had, but definitely something to try!

Speaking of Super C, why do they suck so much? That grocery store had nothing! Of course, Billy was able to find plenty of junk food. But do they have canned black beans? No! Do they have canned green chilies? No! Do they have green split peas? No! Do they have anything good? No! I was so mad, I think Billy was about to tell me to calm down. To be fair, I think I was saying rather loudly: "They have no selection/products here! Let's go, I'm never coming back!" They don't have many vegetarian things, no soy ice cream, no good soy milk, etc. I was quite upset, and ended up going to my regular Independent Grocer instead, where they usually have everything I need except Silk. Oh, Super C does carry Lick's veggie burgers though, so I suppose I'll have to go back if I ever want to buy them. They are quite yummy.

Today I made Sarah's Green Split Pea soup from La Dolce Vegan. I am so into soups right now. This one was great! It had so much flavour and was hearty enough to be a meal in itself, with a side of broccoli.

Mmmmm, yummy potatoes and carrots! The yellow colour is from turmeric, one of my favourite spices!

Now I'll have some food for lunch or dinner on Wednesday. For dinner tomorrow I made Sherri's Black Bean chili from LDV as well. I didn't quite taste it, just a few bites to check the rice, but it seems spicy as hell! I hope its not too spicy for me to eat. I knew I shouldn't have used the whole can of chilies! I'll post a picture and review it tomorrow after I eat it!

Confession time: the munchies hit big time yesterday while I was doing homework. I had a whole wheat bagel with pb and chocolate chips (one of my fave snacks) and then a big spoon of pb with more chocolate chips. This wouldn't be too bad, but I also used a bagel to make a sandwich for lunch. So I limited the rest of my food for the day, and I didn't let it ruin my resolve. Just wanted to get it off my chest.

I've decided to not eat after 8 pm. Or at least to make a big effort not to. That might be hard with three night labs in a row, but I'm gonna try! I hope it helps. I definitely usually eat more junk food later at night. And on Oprah's DVD yesterday her trainer was saying that those little/big pangs we get to nibble/pig out is our body going into our fat stores and using them up. We can either let them be or feed it, which only makes us fatter.

Did I mention my body is rebelling against yesterday's skating? My abs and back are in quite some pain...but I like it :D

My goals for the week:
-eat lots of veggies every day
-do not eat after 8 pm

Nice Afternoon

I went skating today, with my brother and his friend, and Billy. I havent' been skating since I was in high school (about 3 years!), so Billy did a few laps with me, just going slow. I eventually got the hang of it and we played a game of hockey, 2 vs. 2. I had so much fun! I completely suck but I don't even care. Billy is an awesome skater and hockey player, who knows how far he could've gone if he hadn't lived so far up north in Alberta when he was playing hockey. His parents couldn't afford 3000+ dollars a year to let him keep playing on an organized team. He was so sexy in his element today, lol. I was going to bring my camera to get some pictures of us skating but I was afraid of falling and breaking the camera! Oh ya, I only fell once, and only because I was trying for a breakaway goal! heehee

Anyways, I was skating for about an hour and a half, which according to fitday.com, is about 400 calories burned! Woot! I got exercise and had fun at the same time!
Then I came home and had a nice bowl of navy bean soup and a sandwich on a whole wheat bagel with Yves turkey slices, vegenaise and mustard.

I gotta go do some Roman Civilization homework. Have a great day! :D

Porridge

I made Millet and Amaranth Porridge this morning from Vive le Vegan! I have never before used either grain, and I have to say, it was really good. I used organic millet and amaranth from the health store. I served it with flax meal, some soymilk and a bit of maple syrup. This recipe is awesome for all you students out there like me. It makes more than one serving, so you can refrigerate the rest and have a quick breakfast in the morning before school! I'm constantly looking for new ideas. Or, like the book says, you can serve it with ice cream as a dessert! (which I will not be doing lol)
I had my heart set on making the Coconut Pie Pancakes this morning, but last night I discovered I didn't have any bananas :(. But lucky for me, I found this recipe! I had it with an orange and a nice big glass of peppermint/green tea. I've always wanted to drink green tea for the health benefits, but didn't like the taste. I found one at the store that was mixed with mint. It was still too strong for me so I brewed it with a bag of just mint tea, and that seems to work. Hopefully, I get more used to the taste and won't need the mint bag in a while.

I weighed myself this morning. I haven't stepped on the scale since way before Christmas. I was too scared to weigh myself after all of the Christmas goodies I indulged in! But its not so bad. I only gained about a pound since then, so its not like I have another million pounds holding me back! I'm still not happy with my weight, especially since I know that I used to weigh less. But at least I know that I've done the weight loss thing before (after high school) and I can do it again! When I got home last nite, it turns out Billy wasn't able to eat all of the chocolate chip cookies I made so he left one for one of my parents to eat. It was staring and calling for me as soon as I found out! But I resisted and my mom ate the cookie shortly after.

Moral of the story: I can resist temptation, and one really is enough! I have finally shown myself that I can resist that primal urge that comes over me after a night shift at work. I had an orange instead :D

My herbs are on a wild growing spree! The basil seems to have slowed down a bit, but the parsley, oregano and chives are on their way!



The only one not in the picture is the oregano.

I think I'm going to go to the new Yves Rocher store in the mall. Their website says they don't test on animals and that their products are plant derived. I'm still a little skeptical. Does anyone know if they are actually vegan or just kind of vegan :P ? If they are, I'm more than willing to buy my makeup and body stuff from there. I'll pay the extra money for such convenience, just 5 minutes from my house!

Well, I suppose I should go do some laundry, clean my room and do some homework! A girl can't cook all the time! Or can she?

Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you made these yet? They're from Vive le Vegan! by Dreena Burton. If you haven't made them, do it! They are so good! I'm allowing myself one cookie, with a nice big glass of cold Vanilla Silk soymilk. These are just like the ones you used to have. They're soft on the inside and have just the right amount of slight crunchiness that I love! These are right up there with the ones from La Dolce Vegan and How It All Vegan.



My sister is eating some right now. Somehow my family never minds eating my baked goods but avoids my other meals like the plague. And Billy is on his way home with the assignment of eating all the rest of the cookies to remove the temptation!

In other news, humankind just might stand a chance. I went to the elementary school where I'm doing my practicum today and in geography class the teacher was talking about animal adaptation and ecosystems and such, and how us humans disrupt everything. The kids had plenty of questions: "Are we bad?"; "Is there anything we can do?" and the likes. The teacher was great at answering everything, and they talked about pollution, how we can help and all that. I so wanted to jump in and tell them about how so much of their daily diet can be destructive to Mother Earth too. Anyways, all in all, I had fun, and I actually got to walk around the class and talk to the students about their science fair projects.

As I was writing that last paragraph, my sister went back for a second helping of cookies...that means they're half gone since I took them out of the oven like 15 minutes ago! mmmm that hit the spot!

Have a nice day...oh and Sarah, I hope your back feels better soon! xoxo

I've been in the kitchen all afternoon!

But before I get to that, I was going to post my picture of food from the other day. I had school from 8:30 a.m until almost 9 p.m (with breaks in between classes and lab) so I had to bring lunch and dinner and snacks with me to school. So I cooked a bunch of stuff the night before to prepare. I made a black bean spread for toast (upper left), which I had for breakfast, to start my day off with a good, healthy meal. Then for lunch I had Wolffie's Cajun beans and rice (bottom left) which I mentioned earlier. Man, it was good! Billy liked it too, he had some yesterday with his sloppy joe's. Then for dinner, it was leftover lasagna again(bottom right). The salad in the upper right corner is romaine with pomegranate seeds ( I got the idea from Dreena Burton's Vive le Vegan! blog), tomatoes and carrots with an oil and vinegar dressing which has cumin in it (its from La Dolce Vegan).I have since frozen the leftover lasagna. I was overdosing and needed some variety. Anyways, it was a big pain in the butt lugging all this food around campus with me, but way better than anything I could've bought there! Campus is so not vegan-friendly.

For dinner tonite, I'm having chickpea ratatouille (Vive le Vegan recipe) with a bed of organic brown and wild rice. As a side, I made the Dijon Mustard Brussels Sprouts from La Dolce Vegan . I think I've made them three times now, they're just so good. The ratatouille is awesome! Its full of flavour and was really easy to make. I just had to mix all the ingredients in a casserole dish and let it do its thing in the oven! Its a great dinner!




I also made soup today. Its navy bean soup from Table for Two by Joanne Stepaniak. I work tomorrow night, so I wanted to have something I could just reheat quickly before leaving. I had a small bowl as an appetizer, and it is good! My dad tried some and said it was delicious. That is an extreme rarity for him to a) willingly try my food and b) say he likes it! He even recommended it to my sister and she ended up having some for dinner! I love when that happens. They're just a little slow on what we already know, that vegan food rocks!


Now....does someone want to come clean my kitchen?

Oh and in the entertainment world...stay tuned for a vegan chocolate pudding wrestling match between me and Berna...or is it a tournament now? All this to determine who gets Joaquin Phoenix ;) more details at the Forum

We'll be extinct by 2100

Redheads that is! I heard on the radio yesterday that the gene for red hair is in recession and that by 2100 it won't exist anymore! Reddies unite and have many red haired babies!! :P I always knew I was a rare kind ;)

I don't have a picture for this post. I took one of all my meals yesterday. I had to bring lunch and dinner to school with me. I'll post the picture when I can upload it. I had Wolffie's Cajun beans and rice from La Dolce Vegan. It was so good. I'd consider it comfort food and a great way to get some beans in you! Leftover lasagna for dinner again. I'm getting sick of it by now. I think I'll freeze the leftovers. The cravings came back yesterday, but I just had popcorn and a sandwich with some vegenaise and Yves Turkey slices. That's not too bad considering the pig out sessions I used to have! I didn't plan my meals as well today, so I have leftover beans and rice for while I'm here at school. I hope I have something healthy to eat tonite when I get home from my lab.

I want to give a shout out to Julie (Miaou) and her latest arrival Harper! Hope you're feeling okay and get lots of rest (if you even read this!)

Other than that, I don't have much new stuff about any vegan recipes. I don't have much time to cook from Monday to Wednesday, I have a night lab each night. I did have time to make the beans and rice the other night. It doesn't take much time.

Anyways, I'll post my food picture later. Oh and did I mention how excited I am for winning soap from Sarah?? I can't wait! Thanks Sarah! xoxo

My first real craving

I'm starting to want junk food again! I knew it would happen in a few days. I had lasagna for dinner and allowed myself a small baked potato with a bit of Earth Balance on it mmmm. And I had a few chocolate chips too. I'm making baked bananas to tide me over. Its just bananas with sugar, a bit of Earth Balance, cinnamon and lemon juice. I'm hoping this dessert satisfies me enough. Its one of the dessert recipes I mentioned from Vegan Cooking for One, so that there are no leftovers to be tempted by. Lets hope this works! I think I'm over the worst of it (I sound like a crack junkie!) but the bananas are already in the oven, so I might as well try it!

OK, they're out of the oven, they look good enough but I just can't get into them. I guess I don't like the taste of baked bananas. Oh well, I tried :) They might have been better with some ice cream but I'm trying to avoid that stuff!

Anyways, I don't think I've ever disliked a dessert so much. Not even the melted chocolate chips could save it! But the good news is I'm over my junk food attack and the worst of it was a baked potato with margarine and a couple tablespoons of chocolate chips! Plus they have iron in them so they're good for you ;)

Do you guys have any tips on how to get past these times?

My babies

Oh and check out the growth that's happened since only yesterday! I can't believe how noticeable it is, these things grow like weeds!
Here's yesterday:










And here's today:










Please tell me you can see a difference and that I'm not crazy! :P Or at least that you see a difference!

Breakfast Rules!

I figured that since its Sunday I can treat myself to a great breakfast, instead of oatmeal or cereal (which are still good for breakfast!). You have to mix it up if you want to stick to a healthy diet. Plus these banana pecan pancakes are pretty healthy anyways. Another miracle from Sarah Kramer. I put about a tablespoon of maple syrup on mine ( I only needed one to feel full!) and had a bunch of grapes with it. I ate mine too fast and forgot to take a picture so I took a picture of Billy's, which he had with cantaloupe. The sweetie got out of bed before me and started making the pancakes for me. :D Of course, he's picky and didn't like having something crunchy in his pancakes (although he loved them anyways) so next time I'm going to keep the pecans but grind them up a bit. The banana flavour was spectacular!















More leftovers for lunch, but that pot pie just keeps getting better and better...it holds up more every day. I was going to have plain old fruit for a snack ( I was actually craving it) but decided to make it look and feel more desert-y so I don't feel deprived. I blended up some different frozen fruit that I had laying around, like a kiwi and cantaloupe mix, a little bit of rhubard and raspberries. I pureed it with some water and soymilk to smooth it out and voila!
















A fruity type of ice cream/sorbet. Its enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. Also, I know I'm going to want to make desserts and stuff as the weeks go by. I think I'll flip through my Vegan Cooking for One cookbook. There's a bunch of recipes for desserts that only make one serving! That way I can have a little something after dinner, be satisfied, and not be tempted by leftovers, like a whole cake! Examples: Apricot Brown Betty, Gooseberry Dessert, Rhubarb and Date Cream, Nutty Plum Crumble, Rich Chocolate Pudding, Fudge Custard, etc. Most of them involve fruit.
I just ordered from Amazon: Slim the Vegetarian Way for 20 cents. The book is out of print so people are selling their copies online. With shipping it came to 1o bucks lol. Hopefully its got some good tips in there...if not, meh it was 20 cents!
Oh ya, I walked to and from work yesterday and I think I will do the same today! Exercise is great :)

Beautiful day

I woke up to sun shining on my face and this...















Awww what a cutie :). He hates it when I tease him about his curls, but they're so cute!

Update on my gramma: My mom says she's feeling better, and that the spinal tap shows she has inflammation in her spinal column. She has something similar to MS. She isn't going to die from whatever the problem is (Thank God) but she may not be able to walk as easily. Get better Gramma!!

I tell ya, those herb seeds sure grow fast, they're growing more and more by the minute. Check it out!















Based on the picture, I guessed that basil was a dicotyledon plant and I was right. I guess I did learn something from Ethnobotany class already! I'm so excited about my herbs! Hee hee. The garlic chives seem to be going pretty slow, I don't know if they just take longer or if maybe I didn't plant them as well.

Still eating good! I wanted to really eat last night after work. I told myself I could have some air popped popcorn and that's it, but it didn't matter, I fell asleep as soon as we got to the apartment. I had oatmeal for breakfast today and for lunch...



leftover pot pie again and a big salad with red peppers, cucumber, tomato and baby carrots, with Wolffie's Delicious Dressing from La Dolce Vegan. It was...delicious!







Billy's finally looking at information about school online, so maybe he'll finally apply! lol I've been on his butt about not waiting til the last minute. It'll be 5 more years of school for him, and kinda throws off all our past plans but if it makes him happy it makes me happy.

Well, I guess I should go do some homework...if I have to ;)

Its alive!

Some of my seeds in the herb jar are already sprouting! I wrote down on a paper what hole I planted each type of herb in, but I can't find it, so I don't exactly know what's sprouting, but time will tell! I think its the basil...mmmmmmm They're my little babies and they're so cute! heehee

Anyways, still doing good on the healthy eating thing. I don't know if I ate enough yesterday, my snacks were only produce, so I'll have to work on incorporating crackers or nuts (I had almonds today for my snack) or maybe some healthy muffins.

I would be posting stuff from yesterday, well, yesterday but our internet isn't working right now, so I have to wait til I'm at school and have some extra time.

So yesterday for lunch I had some leftover portobello pot pie (its even better the next day) with steamed yellow beans and cucumber.



And last nite, I wanted to make a lasagna for Billy, because its one of his favourites. I found a recipe for "cheesy" lasagna on vegweb.com and figured I'd try it because with Billy, the cheesier the better. The recipe calls for 16 oz. of spinach, I just bought two boxes of frozen spinach, and ended up using not even half of one box, it was enough. But of course, when I asked Billy for his opinion, he said to use less spinach next time. He said overall it was ok but the spinach was a bit overpowering. I actually agreed with him on my first bite, but I got used to it, and I think it was a good lasagna. Not the best I've ever had, but still really good. The Tofutti cream cheese really did add something nice.


So now I have a half eaten portobello pie and almost a whole lasagna I have to eat before they go bad! I don't think Billy will really want to eat the leftover lasagna. I wonder if it would freeze well? What's a girl to do, when she's trying to eat healthy and has so much food! lol I'll just have to keep eating one for lunch and the other for dinner.

As for the exercise thing...I really wanted to go for a walk yesterday, but its been raining, so everything is either slushy or frozen over and dangerous! I work today and I've used a pedometre at work before and found out that on an average shift where its pretty busy, I get about 10 000 steps in! So I'm going to try and stay moving, even if there's not much to do and the restaurant isn't very busy.

Its not a resolution...

because if I call it that, it won't work. I really need to get into gear. My jeans that used to be loose and hung off my butt are now tight! I'm too scared to step on the scale, I think I might be back up to what I was in junior high/high school. I take full responsibility for what happened. I hardly ever exercise, make desserts all the time (damm you yummy vegan desserts!) and just generally choose activities that don't require much exercise. I need to get off my butt! I don't like running outside or anything. We have an elliptical trainer at home, but its covered with boxes and stuff lol.
I've been looking at the YMCA page for my city, I think I might consider joining. They're open pretty early and late, so I could go before class or at night when I'm not working. I just need to make sure I'd make good use of it! At least you can pay for membership by month, so if its a flop I don't lose as much money. Maybe Billy would join with me, so I would have a workout buddy and wouldn't feel as self-conscious. Of course, he doesn't really need to lose any weight, he's great just the way he is!


I hate the way I feel all the time, like a blimp.
:(

And my eating habits need to change too. I eat a lot of healthy food, but I also eat a lot of not so healthy food. I think the biggest change I need to make is to stop making any desserts at all until I'm on the right path again. And portion control!! I'm going to miss baking. I actually enjoy baking more than I do eating the stuff! I would be fine just making it all and having to give it all away, then it wouldn't be there to tempt me!


Does anyone read this blog?? If so, please leave a comment so I'll know :P

Major garlic breath

I wanted to post this yesterday but somethings up with the internet at my house so I had to wait til I was at school. And I'm too lazy to walk all the way to my car in "the pit" to get my school books, so I'll just do this instead!
I forgot to mention I planted my herbs in my herb garden kit this weekend (I got it for Christmas). I really have doubts about whether this is going to work, as I could barely keep an already grown basil plant alive this summer, but we'll see! I'll just keep watering and talking and try to grow me some babies :P Its got chives, basil, parsley and oregano, all in the one pot! Its funny, because parsley is the only one that needs partial shade, so its going to be a challenge making sure the rest get plenty of sun, while the parsley only gets some!
















Let's hope this works, then I won't have to buy as many herbs at the store and end up wasting half of them!

Right, so back to my reason for garlic breath yesterday. I had a major craving for Caesar salad, so I whipped up some dressing from a recipe in La Dolce Vegan. I had some tomato basil croutons left and put a bit of "parmesan alternative" on the salad too. Mmmm mmm it really hit the spot. The dressing may not be white like the non-vegan version, but this one was so yummy, and I knew exactly what was in it, and it was so fresh! Along with the salad, I had a bowl of leftover garlic soup with some crusty multigrain bread and a glass of water. So I had to brush my teeth a few times last nite, but it was so worth it! Billy was at work anyways, so there was no need to worry lol.














And even though I already had some had lunch, I had to have another few more bites of rhubarb crunch...its just too good!

*******

My car is a piece of crap. Here is why:
-the windshield wipers used to turn on and off randomly and I had to devise a complicated system to work them
- I say they "used" to do that, because now they just don't work
-the automatic lock on the drivers side is pushed into the door and does not work
-the heating/AC system is computerized and the computer has a tendency to shut off every few minutes
-you have to beat the computer to get it to turn on, my tool of choice at the moment is my window scraper
- there has been a recall on the transmission, interlock shifter doo hickey something or another, which I got in the mail a couple of months ago, and still haven't gone in

I do have an appointment today (finally) and hopefully they can fix my wipers too. If it costs too much to repair, my dad says I should just get/lease a new car.....I don't know if I could afford it but I know what kind of car I want, either a tiburon or a smart car!! :D

More dessert

I went out and got some vanilla soy ice cream so I could eat it with the rhubarb crunch I made from Garden of Vegan. I bought some frozen rhubarb a while ago and wanted to use it so this seemed like the perfect way to do it!

Of course, it didn't look as pretty once I started eating it! Still have my cold but I forced myself to go to school today, can't be skipping at the beginning of the semester! That'll set some bad habits. I only had two hours of classes today anyways.

Stupid me, I wanted to make another yummy meal from La Dolce Vegan but I forgot to go through it and pick one before going to the grocery store. So I guess I'll have some leftover Garlic soup and salad or whatever I can come up with for dinner. I've got a huge craving for brussels sprouts again....

Man, Billy better help me eat the leftover rhubarb crunch or I'm gonna end up eating it all its so good!

Sick...

So my sore throat developed into a full blown sickness, cough, runny nose, the works. I had to call in sick to work, which I hate doing! I would've gone, but I'm probably contagious and working in a restaurant, its probably not a good idea!

I managed to get my first unit done for my Roman Civilization class. I really love these kinds of subjects, I'm just a bit worried about taking it as a distance course...I might need some help to clarify things! Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

There's a football game on so I don't know how much of Billy I'll see this afternoon. The Princess Bride is on though...hmmmm.
We watched the March of the Penguins last night. It was pretty good. We got attached to the little guys :P

Made some Cure What Ails Ya Garlic Soup for lunch...hopefully it helps fight the microbes! Of course, since I'm sick, I allowed myself to take some shortcuts such as frozen chopped onions and I used prepared garlic instead of doing it myself...don't judge me!! :P














urgggg maybe I'll go back to bed...

Billy's Apartment

Billy's apartment became available on New Year's Eve, so we moved some stuff in then, and since then we've been able to get most of his stuff that I'm not allowed to call junk into it. Its just a little bachelor pad, but its so exciting. I'm not technically moving in with him but I will spend some nights there. I can't wait to break in the kitchen! I've been buying lots of stuff for him and installing/assembling stuff (garbage rack, microwave stand) and its so much fun.
He insists on having the big screen tv in there, so there's not much room for a table. I guess we'll be eating all our meals at the couch. I made a peach crumbcake that he requested for New Year's Eve to eat on our first night there.
















No, we're not sitting on a couch in the forest...its this god awful mural on his wall. The landlord was going to take it down before he moved in but the building owner said it had to stay in case Billy wanted it...which he doesn't, so I'm seeing some painting in our near future.

Here's some more pictures to get a feel for what the place looks like...

Sinfully Vegan

I got Sinfully Vegan for Christmas from my boyfriend's mom. Today I put the finishing touches on the chocolate raspberry celebration loaf. It is great! I had to put it in another room to keep from eating too much! The icing is a recipe from the book too, and you can't tell that the icing is made from tofu!
















I was going to make the Boston cream donuts, but they are kind of time consuming, and I have stuff to do for school right now, so I guess that will have to wait.