Vegan In Tennessee

Some cakes I've made recently.

2011-01-02T07:46:00.002-06:00

Everyone's gotta have a hobby right?

All vegan and all made using mostly natural and organic ingredients barring food colour.

Belize

2010-10-21T08:25:00.003-05:00

In Belize we spent our time going to a recently found Mayan ruin area. Altun-Ha. The main languages in Belize are English and Creole. Its a different type of creole than spoken in the South East United States but apparently they can understand each other as there was a creole
couple on the bus that spoke to our guide.

Sugar cane. Warning. Eating this without a knife to cut off
pieces to put in your mouth results in seriously chapped
lips.

If you are familiar with some spanish slang then you know what
cohones (sp?) are. I didn't know the word came from an actual
object. Its a tree that has these oval type fruits/nuts that grow
from it.

J holding his cohone.

Cohone tree.

This picture shows the original mayan building and the renovated part.
The renovated part is the top diagonal half.

For a buck you too can hold a baby alligator. :)

Money from Belize. Belize is like other countries that were once
ruled by England. They operate on their own but in major matters
England has final authority.

Big rain storm coming our way!

Caribbean Cruising Part 2 Isla Roatan

2010-09-14T09:43:00.005-05:00

Today we visit Isla Roatan. It's an island off of the coast of Honduras.

The tourism trade here is fairly new so they only have a small area for tourists.
There is some bartering here on the island outside of the touristy port area but its very
easy to barter. They practically drop the prices for you just so you will buy something.

Roatan has two shipwrecked ships here. One from the 1960's and one from 1980's.

This one was from the 60's.

This one was from the 80's.

The first shop we walked into off of the pier welcomed us with HUGE bottles
of booze!!!!

YUMMMMM!!!!!

Liquor is cheap here. Most of those huge bottles didn't even hit $100.

I had more pictures to share of Roatan but the uploader for blogger is not letting me
put up anymore pics today. I will have to try later.
When we came back from our day trip we were welcomed with towel animals. We found out that we had to hide the previous animals for them to make new ones.

Another half eaten meal. Sorry :(
I practically ate this everyday since there really wasnt much else for lunch
on the ship. Veggie burgers, fries, salsa/chips, and salads.

When I can get more pics up I can show you what most of my dinners looked like.

Cruising the Caribbean Part 1 Grand Cayman

2010-09-09T17:17:00.009-05:00

A month ago I took a cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines to the Western Caribbean. The trip as a whole was great but the food was not so great. I knew going in I was going to have some issues with the food portion of the trip but I will get to that soon enough. For now. Pictures!!

Grand Cayman

It occured to me after I came home that I really should have taken a picture of the whole plaque. Oops.

Me with Big Black Dick :D He is the reason for great Caribbean Rum. Yummm!
I won't tell you how many bottles we brought home of that stuff.

These are some of the turtles at the Turtle Farm of Grand Cayman. These particular turtles are in the mating pond. Turtles (unfortunately) are a main part of cuisine at Grand Cayman. But the good news is that at this farm they raise turtles and let some of them out into the ocean.

This one is child size. They have separate ponds for adults, "teenagers", "children", and babies.
This little guy was hamming it up for us.

The chickens and roosters just run around free as a bird (haha) on this island.
A hurricane several years ago took out a chicken farm and they just never built a new
one.

Wild Chickens

This house is the oldest house on the island at 100 years old. It's called the Gingerbread house.

Yes, the water really is this blue and clear. I was awed by it the whole time I was in the Caribbean. And its so warm! You get different colours of blue depending on how deep the water is. The light reflecting back gives you a deeper colour the further down you go. It's absolutely beautiful.

All along the Caribbean there are coconut trees and vendors who cut down the coconuts, shuck them, put them in ice cold water and then for a nominal fee will open a hole for you, put in a straw and you get to drink ice cold coconut water. Some vendors will even break open the coconut for you when you're done so you can eat the coconut.

Coconut Tree

Almond Tree

As for food, like I said. It wasn't all that great. This was my very first meal on the ship.

A lettuce, tomato and grilled pepper sandwich on rye bread. Pathetic. But I was sooooo
hungry that I ate half of it before I remembered to take a picture. This unfortunately had
to keep me going until dinner.

This is part of the salad bar that they have every night on the Lido deck. I made a huge salad and it tasted great but I could not go on dinky sandwiches and a salad everyday.

One thing you should know about the dining room is if you have assigned dining then you can talk to your waiter about your food preferences and they can accomodate you.
If you have anytime dining you will need to talk to the Maitre D, since you may not be in the same seating area everynight or have the same waiter. They will work with you to make out a meal plan for the whole week and check on you every night to make sure everything is okay.
When you walk into the dining room tell the person at the counter that you would like to talk to the Maitre D. It may be a wait though.

One thing I did find out while talking to the Maitre D is that they cook some of their vegetarian foods in chicken stock and I would almost guess that they would use beef stock as well. I told her that cooking vegetarian foods in chicken stock no longer make the food vegetarian. She was unmoved by this comment. I feared for my vegan food. I opted for Indian, since that is one of the easiest foods to make vegan. I'm not entirely sure that my dinners were vegan but my breakfasts were. She was specific about using soy milk in my pancakes and gave me other options for foods that did not have animal products. The oatmeal by default is cooked with water. It is a bit watered down though.

There is also plenty of fruit on the ship. Lunches are all on the Lido deck. They have veggie burgers ( not sure how vegan they were), fries, salads, burritos, and tacos. I did okay on the ship but most of my foods were based on starches. Just about everyone on the ship that is staff is from another country. They speak English but really trying to grill someone on info about vegan products is sometimes like talking to a wall so be careful and use your own judgement.

Coming up, Isla Roatan, Belize and Cozumel

1 month later

2010-07-13T17:51:00.004-05:00

This photo was taken 6/5/2010 and I weigh in at 40 lbs less than when I first started and
10 lbs lighter than the last picture. The muscles don't look that much bigger though.
Patience. I've only been lifting since the middle of May. I shouldn't expect miracles.

Stats

weight 155
hips 39
waist 36 3/4
arms 12 1/2

Here is a picture of a pair of my pajamas. MOO!!!!!

On my way to vegan bodybuilding.....well, one day.

2010-06-16T13:21:00.007-05:00

A very long story short I've been dieting since I was 12. I decided back in October of '09 that I had enough of my body size. I was sick of it. It's too damn hot here in Tennessee in the summer and I can't take the heat. Here is the closest 'before' picture that I can find.

This picture was taken in March of '09

In this pic I am 4'11''

I weigh 188
size 15/16
hips 44"
waist 41.5"

After this picture I yo- yo'd between 195 and 188. So I decided I would have to force myself to lose weight. The only way I could do this was to treat excercising like it was my second job. I must mention here that I have no discipline and can become quite lazy in the excersice department.
Since then I have lost 40lbs and would like to lose another 20.
People ask me what I've done to lose so much weight. Nothing spectacular really. I just watch my calories and excersice every day , or almost everyday, but the excercise is minimal since like I mentioned before I am lazy but I know I need to go work out. I also eat what I want because if I start restricting myself I know that I am going to binge and thats never good.

I also stumbled upon a link to Robert Cheeke and got motivated to start lifting. He is a vegan bodybuilder. I used to make fun of bodybuilders when I was younger and I never wanted to look like any of them. But as I start lifting weights I find I like it and I love feeling the muscles growing stronger inside my body. Now I know why bodybuilders have a tendency to "feel themselves up" in a sense.
I love being able to move in ways I couldn't before and I have so much more stamina. For those that know me they must think I have become the energizer bunny because before all of this I had an insane amount of stamina so just multiply that by 10! It's crazy.
Really my only crutch has been food. I love to eat. I'm a carbohydrate addict!

I'm writing this blog at this point in my life to really keep tabs for myself on how I am doing in my slow progression to possibly becoming a bodybuilder and for your possible curiosity. For now I just like seeing where my body is taking me on this journey.
Here are some pictures that I took about a month ago. Don't mind the armpits. It's not hair. I have some kind of wierd skin thing where all the places that rub together on my body get dark. I can't stand it. If anyone knows how to get rid of it please let me know!!!

Stats:
165.5 lbs
hips 42
waist 391/4

I also thought I should probably share some of the food that I am eating since this is a food blog :p

I made some coconut soup today.

Very easy to make.

4 cloves of garlic minced
1 lg onion sliced
2-3 cups of chopped veggies
( i generally use water chestnuts, brocolli, cubed tofu thats been previously pan fried, tomatoes, carrots and celery but you can use whatever you want)

saute in 2tbsp of olive oil or canola oil
then add
3 c of veggie broth or water
1 13.5oz can of coconut milk
1 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of ground coriander
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 tsp of ground black pepper
4 soaked stalks of dried lemongrass or if you
use essential oil
2 drops of organic lemongrass oil

cook on med-low for 1 hour.

I'll take a current picture soon since I did say I lost 40lbs I should probably show it.

by the way, if you are reading this vegan sugar I can't post on your blog for some reason. Maybe the commentary settings are set wierd???

Update on Smart Balance light margarine and more ChrisPaulCreations photos

2010-03-15T09:18:00.007-05:00

Sorry its been a while. I wanted to let you know that I have tried frying and baking with the Smart Balance light margarine. The pacakge says its not suitable for either and to use the regular Smart Balance for frying and baking ( which is NOT vegan ) . I've realized that I really don't use margarine for much other than to make icing but I did carmalize some onions with the margarine and I also baked scones. Both came out great, for me anyway. I would recommend using this product for whatever you use Earth Balance for. The Smart Balance light is cheaper and has less calories, fat and other things. It does taste different than Earth Balance. EB has a little more flavor. SBL is not nasty by any means but if you are used to EB you will notice a difference.

Here are some more goodies that I've made recently.

This is my newest cookie called Choc3.
Its basically a choc cookie with choc chips and white choc chips.

A simple birthday cake for man

A floral birthday cake for a woman

My website kinda sucks right now as I am trying to figure out what my webguy is doing/or not doing with it. Big mess. But if you live in or around the Nashville area and are interested in ordering cookies, cakes or cupcakes you can visit the site at ChrisPaulCreations.
I use natural and organic ingredients. Everything is vegan by default.

Cakes and Cookies from ChrisPaul Creations

2010-02-07T05:54:00.005-06:00

I wanted to let you guys know that I'm trying to start my own business. Vegan custom cakes, wedding cakes, cookies and cupcakes. Working out of the Nashville area.
It's called ChrisPaulCreations. I make 9" single, double and triple layer cakes, sheet cakes 1/4, 1/2 and full. 2 types of cookies, mini and standard sized cupcakes.
I use natural and organic ingredients but not exclusively.
Right now I am testing things out so I'm not an official business yet. Once I get the licences and an add on the house for a separate kitchen I will be official.
In the mean time for your curiosity :D
I have 8 1/2 years experience in baking and cake decorating. I was serv safe certified. I let the certification run out and am working on getting another one.
After checking out the website, if you or someone you know would like to place an order email is best. I work 3rd shift at the moment and getting me on the phone is near impossible.
Here is a sample of some of the stuff that I've done recently.

German Chocolate Cupcake

9" single layer German Chcolate Cake

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Beach Memories Cookie

Banana Coconut Cupcake

Happy New Year. Lots of pics this time! Enjoy.

2010-01-02T16:04:00.011-06:00

Our Christmas Day food feast was homemade Samosas. I love these. I love Indian food in general and according to my husband I make it too much. This is just a sample of what we had that day.

To make samosas you will need:

For the potato mix:
4 lg potatoes cooked, diced or mashed
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp mango powder ( optional )
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 c mixed veggies or peas

Once the potatoes are cooked you can either add the spices to the
potato and place in the fridge for when you need it or you can use a
frying pan to place a little oil in the pan with the spices and add the
potato, frying until all is mixed together.

for the dough:
3 c flour
2 tbsp margarine, room temperature
water

mix together the margarine and flour and add a little
bit of water at a time until you get a pliable dough that you
can roll out. Roll this dough out and make 4x4 squares.

Place a little of the potato mixture into the center of the dough. About
a tablespoon or so of mix. Close up the dough by pinching the edges.
If you have kitchen scissors you can cut off the excess dough and keep
rolling it out to make more squares.

Deep fry samosas or fry them in a pan with at least an inch of oil.

We brought in New Years Day with orange currant scones. I recently was
given about a pound and a half of dried currants and needed to do something with
them.
Here are the currants. Don't they look great?!

Orange Currant Scones. I gave them a triple layer of orange
icing glaze.

To make these scones you will need:

2 c flour
3 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 c dried currants or raisins
1/4 c margarine
1/2 cup soy or rice milk
almost 1/4 cup of orange juice
1 tbsp of orange zest or 1/4 tsp orange extract

place all dry ingredients in a large bowl and cut margarine into
the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or two butter knives.
Add the liquid and mix until all the flour and stuff is just moistened.

What I usually do at this point is take the dough, pat it down to a
height I want and cut off the edges to make a square. I then cut
triangles into it. Place the shapes onto an ungreased sheet pan.
Bake at 425 degrees for 8-9 mins.

For the orange icing glaze, I just added some orange juice to
powdered sugar and used a pastry brush to place the glaze on.

One of my recent goals was to try and find a cheaper margarine that
was not hydrogenated and was also vegan. I almost succeeded. I say almost
because I don't know if I can bake with this stuff yet. From the same
people who brought you Earth Balance, its Smart Balance light.
Its a dollar cheaper, its non hydrogenated and its vegan! The container says
its not recommended for baking but I will put this to the test.
I checked out the nutritional information and its also a bit healthier than
Earth Balance. Check this out.

Nutrition Information of Smart Balance Light

Nutrition Information for Earth Balance Original

I know the pics are not all that great at showing the whole
thing. I'm sorry.
I'll let you know how the Smart Balance does with baking.

Finally today we took a trip to The Wild Cow for lunch.
I almost forgot to take pics of what we ate. Here you can see
my huge bite taken out of the veggie burger. I think it had rice
and black beans in it. Toppings were sliced white onion, tomato,
and romaine. I added ketchup. Tortilla chips were a side.

My husband had 3 sides. Hummus with chips, mashed potatoes
and gravy, and portebello mushrooms.

My son had 3 sides. Mashed potatoes w/gravy, 2 bean chili
and vegan mac&cheeze. They both fell in love with the chili so my
husband ordered some and my son had another serving.

If you've never been to The Wild Cow before its a cute place
but pretty small so expect it to be a bit crowded.
You find your own table and you order at the register. They will call your
name and you get up to get your food.
We were lucky enough to sit at the bar where we got to check
out all the action.
All of the food was pretty good and I am definately going back.
The cost was pretty affordable too considering it was vegan and
vegetarian. Not overpriced at all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! The year is over and a new one is beginning

2009-12-28T07:30:00.008-06:00

2009 was a year of firsts for me. Let be begin by saying that I have come to the realization that I am a picky eater. It all seems normal to me until I look outside myself and realize that to the general public I don't like much of anything at all. Then add veganism to it and it really looks like there is nothing I eat. I don't really care much for sauces, dressings. I eat the same veggies over and over again. I won't touch anything with corn syrup in it or very rarely. I decided it was time to rectify this or at least a little. I added veggies to my diet. Veggies that I have either never tried or was scared to try all my life. This includes

Brussel Sprouts

Asparagus

Purple (blue) potatoes

Not pictured but also tried was Jicama.
I also tried twice to make seitan.

The first attempt was horrible. I got the recipe from veg cooking which surprised me because every recipe I've ever used off of the site has been wonderful. I finally found a recipe for pepperoni seitan from fat free vegan and it was wonderful, easy, tasty. I made it twice already. Awesome stuff.

So here is to hoping that 2010 will bring a more healthier me with new veggies and fruits to try. I've got 20lbs more to lose before July so I can look great on my first cruise. I've already lost 18 and that took a little more than a year and a lot of tweaking done to my diet.
May all of you have a great new year and I hope the year brings wonderful new experiences your way.

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-24T07:37:00.003-06:00

It's been a very busy week and I'm still not done yet. We still have presents to wrap and food to cook. Fortunately I have all the cookies done and some bread as well.
Hope all of you have a great Christmas this year.
Here are some pics of the cookies and pumpkin cranberry nut bread (with a baked sugar top)

Happy Hanukkah!!!!

2009-12-12T07:54:00.000-06:00

Last night was the start of Hanukkah and I celebrated with making Latkes ( shredded potato pancakes mixed with onion, salt, pepper and a couple of other things ).
I'm not Jewish but I once lived in a Jewish neighbourhood and I hold the Jewish people in high esteem so this was my excuse to make such a wonderful recipe.
I had to search online for a vegan version of these and I picked one out of several. They came out great.

Very easy to make.
2lbs potato shredded
1 small onion shredded
1 tbsp egg replacer
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt ( i like salt )
2 tbsp flour

Mix it all up together and shallow fry in oil. Make sure that each side is very golden so that the middle is cooked thoroughly.

Latkes are traditionally eaten with applesauce but you could also use some vegan sour cream.

For some history on Hanukkah you can go here

Grow your own and then make these

2009-12-07T08:08:00.001-06:00

Whole wheat pizza crust topped with sauce and veggies

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes

What do these yummie foods have in common? Herbs!
Grow your own. It's easy and its fun. Well, I think its fun and best
of all its way cheaper than buying fresh herbs and tastes better
than dried on the grocery store shelf herbs.

Heres Rosemary

Oregano

Oregano on the left and Rosemary on the right ready
for chopping.

Basil

You can grow herbs in the house on a windowsill, which I think is
the best way. Less bug problems. Basil is pretty easy to grow outside if
you do it in the spring into summer. By autumn the weather is too cold for
them. Herbs can be planted year round if you keep them in the house. Just
be mindfull of cold air around your windows. You may have to take them
away during the night and replace them in the morning.

One of the best kitchen tools ever and a product review

2009-11-29T08:07:00.000-06:00

The cleaver. Huge and intimidating but awesome and wonderous once you get to know it.
I was determined to figure out how to use this puppy. It slices, it dices, chops, smashes. It does it all. Once I finally bought one ( a cheap one at that ) I had no idea how to use it but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I knew all the possibilities that were in store for me.
The first week using it was really awkward. To have such a huge utensil in my hands. Really I felt like an idiot but the coolest thing happened. Once the cleaver knew I was serious about learning how to use it it started to give me its secrets.
I didn't have to go online to figure this stuff out. The knowledge flowed from the knife, up my arms and into my brain. We are now best friends and I can't imagine life without him.

Here is my product review of a great bar of dark chocolate I discoverd about a week or so ago.
As you can see from the wrapper it's dark chocolate, no milk product at all and says it has almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts. Notice it does not say chopped or pieces of.
I picked it up and felt nothing but bumpiness. Good sign. So I took this $4 potential yumminess home. I NEVER pay that much for chocolate so I was really hoping that this would be worth it.

As you can see from the front of the bar it has separation. Separation doesn't usually affect the taste of chocolate so I wasn't scared.

Until I saw the back of it. How long has this thing been sitting on the shelf anyway????

Well, as you can see I took a bite of it before I took the pic and let me tell you. The separation did nothing to take away from the taste of heaven that this chocolate provides. It's a complete shame that its just been sitting on the shelf ignored when its just chock full of nutty dark chocolate goodness. Well no worries. I am willing to spend the $4 on you my chocolate lover. Oh yes. I will be there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T08:51:00.000-06:00

Ahh Thanksgiving. The day where you know you are not the only one spending the whole day in the kitchen slaving away. That millions of others are doing the same thing at that same precise moment. A moment of unity...well sort of. My day wasn't focused on what to make surrounding a once alive and beautiful turkey. I've been reading some blogs lately and thought about adopting a turkey. Money is really tight right now though but maybe soon.... In the mean time here are some pics of what I've made for lunch today, well actually made yesterday but you know what I mean. I didn't make too much because we always go in my in-laws for Thanksgiving. I just bring enough food for myself and some to share.

Roasted Garlic mashed potatoes with fresh oregano and fresh rosemary

Vegan Mac and Cheese with fresh spinach, chopped carrots and meatless beef ( which I forgot to add when I took this pic)

Pumpkin cranberry nut bread. One with chopped pecans and the other with chopped walnuts.

Here is a pic of one my cats.
Osugimasu basking in the sun. Check out how twisted her body is!

Did you know that according to National Geographic Thanksgiving Day became a national holiday in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln? And according to this website Hogue News Lincoln appointed it the last Thursday of the month of November while President Franklin D. Roosevelt made it the 4th Thursday of the month since there can also be 5 Thursdays in the month.

Changed blog name

2009-11-23T09:46:00.001-06:00

I have changed my blog name to a more appropriate one. Vegan In Tennessee.
It seems I live in a state where there is hardly anything for vegans unless you make it yourself.
I am vowing to change this. Vegetarian and vegan restaurants barely make it a year here before going under. That being said I want to let you know about a new vegetarian/vegan restaurant opening next month. Its called The Wild Cow. I also want to let you know that I have never met the owners of this restaurant or anyone working for this place. Just want to get to word out so people here in Middle Tennessee can go and support this place. I will be there. Will you?

Better Late Than Never - Easter Dinner

2009-04-28T08:41:00.000-05:00

Tomato Basil Bread

Eggplant Lasangna

Fruit

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Blackberry Wine from a local winery
Beans Creek

Yummy Stuff

Views from my hike

2009-04-21T09:29:00.001-05:00

I see this every morning that I hike

TURTLES

DEER

OLDE ABANDONED ENTRANCE TO THE FAERIE REALM

LAKE VIEW

ANOTHER LAKE VIEW

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

From my garden to you

Food.........YuMmY

2009-04-12T06:55:00.001-05:00

Whole wheat pasta, white bean alfredo sauce and sauteed veggies

Onion Rings, one of the best comfort foods ever

The struggle for food and saving money tips

2009-04-02T08:24:00.000-05:00

I figured out that I eat on average 1800- 2100 calories a day. The latter being the days I don't work. Now that it's warmer I can go hiking which is good. The downfall is that hiking makes me hungry so I have to make sure that I don't go over my average caloric intake. Doing this will help me lose more weight. I've lost 15 pounds since last year but my goal in another 10 this year. That means I have to shave another 200 calories off my day. That also means retraining my brain to remind myself that I am not going to starve. There is plenty of food at home. I'm sure I can do it but it will take some time.

Saving money tips.
I keep reading articles online about how families are saving money on this that and the other. None of it helps us since we already do those things. I guess that means we are doing okay. But I have come up with more ways to save money......I hope.

Start a garden. The initial money spent on starting a garden is kinda high but you will make up your money in a year or two, at least we will. We've had to spend a lot of money on our garden because our soil is nothing but clay and chalk. So that means lots of dirt having to be bought. If you don't already have a fence its a good idea to make one around your garden to keep animals out. Thats another expense we've had to deal with. Once our harvest comes in we will save about 20 -30 dollars a month. We already spend about 400 a month for 4 people and 2 cats and sometimes we can shave that to 350 so the extra 20-30 a month will be great.

If you don't have the space for a garden container gardening and windowsill gardening are great options. Especially if you know someone who works at a place where you can get containers for free. It looks like I am going to have to use the option of container gardening for some of my veggies since they are not liking the mixture of dirt and clay outside in the garden. My garlic and onion on the other hand have no problem being in that mixture. I grow herbs on my windowsill all year round, especially basil. The price of basil in the grocery stores really disgust me. I can grow 3 years worth of basil all year round on my windowsill for less than the price of a package of basil in the store. Why do people buy this stuff?

Make your own candles.
Do you burn a lot of candles? I do. Sometimes there is wax left in the container. Did you know that you can reuse that wax for another candle? All you need are your containers and wicks. Wicks by the way are pretty cheap. I just bought a bunch on ebay for $3. To get that wax out of your containers those hot plate things for your candles work perfectly.
This option of making your own candles only works if you don't mind the mixture of colours and smells that will be likely by remelting and combining old candles. It is a great option for emergency candles though since I would hope the smell and look of a candle wont be the first thing on your mind during an emergency.

Nails and California

2009-03-27T11:08:00.000-05:00

I took a picture of my nails last week but it didn't come out good. Here is my hand this week. As you can see I stumbled with my goal of not biting. My middle finger had a deep split in it so I bit it off to even it out ( a horrible excuse I know ) and my index finger was right next to it so I just had to bite it too. :(

Here is some scenery from my friends backyard out in Placentia, CA.

Birds of Paradise and two bushy looking palm trees

My first day there we went hiking in the mountains. I wish I could remember the name of the mountain. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. I really missed seeing the mountains. I lived for a small spell in Colorado and had the priviledge of seeing Pikes Peak everyday. The mountains here brought it all back.

Here is a view of the mountains on the trail.

A pretty vine that grew onto the trail.

The view at sunset.

I think one of the places that I liked most was Santa Monica. It had a view of the mountains and it has the ocean. Here is what you see when you enter the pier.

We also went to The Huntington, a botonical garden in San Marino. One of my favourites are wisteria

I thought these cacti were quite interesting and somewhat alien looking...

I have to give a hug to every oversized character that I see and this shrimp was no exception. Here I am at Universal Studios giving a hug to the Bubba Gump shrimp.

My friend took me to this awesome crepe place that sells these drinks called boba. I had never heard of them before but it looked interesting. I did some research and found out that the little balls that are in your drink are huge tapioca pearls. The point of the drink for those of you who don't know what boba is, you suck up the pearls with the drink in a huge straw. The tapioca has little flavour so it soaks up the flavour of the juice you have it in. Drinking this with a straw forces you to drink up the tapioca. It's really wierd and really fun to drink.
Traditional boba is made with tea that is sweetened and has milk in it. Mine had blueberry juice. You can kinda see the tapioca in the cup.

I never had a desire to go to California before and everyone told me I would love it there. After having gone there I have to agree. It's quite beautiful and the weather is nice too. I wouldn't live there but I do plan to make another trip out there.

Co-op(s)

2009-03-13T08:47:00.000-05:00

We just joined a co-op. It's interesting enough. A lot of the stuff I can find cheaper somewhere else. There is also a lot of stuff we don't even buy. But the real savings especially for us in the bulk items are the staples. Rice, rice milk, soy milk, beans, sugar, seasonings. All cheap. The seasonings especially. Just ground cumin alone if I buy 1 lb shows more than half in savings!!! I go through a lot of cumin. Once I am done with all that stupid white rice I bought a year ago I will be buying a 25lb bag of brown rice. $26!! I'll be putting in my first order today.

Teriyaki Bowls and Lent

2009-03-11T08:58:00.001-05:00

I know I've posted this photo before on my other blog. My teriyaki bowls all pretty much look the same and are all tasty. A great way to get veggies and salt. I seem to be craving salt a lot in the past few months and teriyaki bowls are a good way to get salt without downing a bunch of chips.

Week 2 of Lent and no nail biting. Not much change from last weeks photos but there is a little more white now on the nail.

The Body Detox Part 2

2009-03-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

Foods to eat on a detox include fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. All fresh vegetables. Be sure to include brocolli, cauliflower, onions, garlic, artichokes, beets, red and green vegetables.
Rice, brown or basmati rice, rice cakes, rice crackers and rice pasta.
Other Grains like quinoa, amaranth, millet, and buckwheat can be used instead of rice.
Beans, split yellow and green peas and lentils are easiest to digest and require the least soaking time. Other acceptable beans include kidney beans, pinto beans, mung beans and garbanzo beans (chickpeas).
Nuts and Seeds, unsalted nuts, seeds and nut butters can be sprinkled over any meal. Includes flaxseed, pumpkinseeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews and walnuts. Avoid peanuts. Peanuts have a high allergen rate and should be avoided.
Oil, Extra-virgin olive oil
Condiments like vegetable salt, sea salt, vinegar, naturally fermented soy sauce or tamari, any culinary herbs or spices, limited amounts of honey.
Herbal Tea, non-caffeinated teas, green tea.
Other Beverages, water, lemon water, 100% natural fruit and vegetable juices, rice milk
And be sure to drink lots of water at warm or room temperature. Water helps to clear waste from the blood. Also remember that thirst is often mistaken for hunger.
* Dilute fruit juice with 50% water.

Foods you may want to avoid during a detox are refined sugars and mixtures containing refined sugar, including sucrose, dextrose, corn syrup, brown sugar, turbinado. Avoid artificial sweeteners.
Dairy Products, milk, butter and other dairy products.
Wheat and products containing wheat.
Gluten. All gluten-containing grains, including barley, rye, spelt and kamut. Some people are sensitive to gluten, a protein fragment in these grains.
Caffeine, coffee, both regular and decaffeinated, black tea, and other drinks containing caffeine should be reduced. Green tea is a great substitute to regular coffee.
Other Foods to Avoid
* Yeast
* Alcohol
* Food additives and preservatives
* Chocolate
* High-Fat Foods

Here is a sample detox menu that I found online

When you wake up have....

* 1/2 lemon squeezed into a glass of warm water
* 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds in a glass of water

Breakfast

* breakfast smoothie made with pear, rice milk and rice protein powder
* supplements: vitamin C and B complex

Snacks

* apple juice diluted with water
* water
* vegetable broth
* celery sticks and hummus

Lunch

* chunky vegetable soup made with vegetable stock and your choice of vegetables
* steamed broccoli with sesame seeds and beets sprinkled with lemon juice on brown rice
* apple sauce
* supplements: multivitamin

Snacks

* carrot sticks with hummus dip
* water
* supplements: milk thistle

Dinner

* curried lentils on quinoa
* salad with mixed greens, red peppers, artichokes and sprouts drizzled with salad dressing of garlic, lemon juice and olive oil
* vegetable broth

Before bed

* 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds in a glass of water

Why Detox? Detoxing the body has great health benefits. If you feed your body better food then in return your body will
give you better skin, hair, nails and that's just on the outside. On the inside you will have more energy. You're cravings for sweets will be less and you will actually find yourself avoiding the fast food restaurants, eating less when you go out to eat, and actually craving those healthful foods.
So if you decide to detox I say good luck and remember to have fun creating new menus to help you along your way. Remember to always do your own research before starting any new diet or program.

Veggie goodness, Lent and White Bean Alfredo

2009-03-06T08:48:00.001-06:00

See my beautiful bounty? Our new vegetable is bok choy. I've been pretty much using it in stir fry but I did make some potatoes the other day and put in some bok choy with other veggies and 1 tbsp of hot curry. It was really good.

For Lent I am giving up biting my nails. A trivial thing for most people but for it's one of the hardest things ever. I have been a chronic nail biter since I was 5. I think only 4 times in my life I stopped enough to have nails but it never lasts long. The longest I've ever had nails is a year and a half. This is a pic of my nails one week after Lent started. Most people when they stop biting nails start at this point. Look closely. Imagine the nails shorter and the meat around the nails chewed to oblivion. Yeah........

For dinner last night I got an idea from
VegCookingBlog on the PETA site. Amy offered up a dish of "Alfredo Sauce" with pasta. It looked so good I had to go try it. I miss alfredo very much. Its made of white beans with garlic, vegan margarine, salt and pepper. I added some Italian Seasoning to it, a dash of chilli pepper and some onion.
Everyone loved this sauce!!!! They raved about it all through dinner. It tastes absolutely delicious and its good for you too. I cooked up a little bit of vegetable to add to the pasta to get those extra veggies in.
Next time I will have to double the recipe.

If anyone can tell me how to do a link on blogger it would be much appreciated. Apparently the a href thing does not work on here.

The Body Detox Part 1

2009-03-04T16:55:00.000-06:00

Detox is short for detoxification, Although detox is primarily thought of as a treatment for alcohol or drug dependence, the term is also used to refer to diets, herbs, and other methods of removing environmental and dietary toxins from the body for general health. The reasoning behind this is to clean the major functions of the liver, lower gastrointestinal tract and kidneys.

Many of you have heard of detoxing the body. There is no way to be completely free of toxins. Our world is filled with them and we literally ingest thousands of different type of toxins throughout the day that are so imbedded in our food, our water, our air, there is no escaping it. But what we can do is get rid of as much as possible in our bodies. Doing this will help our bodies grab more minerals and vitamins from our food than we did before. There are a lot of detoxifying programs out there from juicing, to fasting. Most of it is just diet.

Many foods are considered detoxifying. First and foremost is water. Water is extremely important in your diet. It helps to eliminate toxic waste.Your body also uses more water than you realize. Your main organs are the ones that need it most. The brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys. They will pull water from other "lesser" important organs and parts of the body so that they can function normally. When you start to feel dehydrated it's too late. Drinking plenty of water ensures that all of your body functions normally and that no organ has to pull water away from another part of your body just to do its job. Non-chlorinated, filtered water is great for you. It is recommended that you take half of your body weight and drink that in ounces for your water intake, for instance if you weight 190lbs, half of that would be 80 lbs., so you should drink 80 ounces of water a day. Now I personally think that this is a LOT of FREAKIN water. If you are not used to drinking water this is killer. Try starting out with 36 ounces of water a day until you get used to that and then build up from there. Don't like the taste of water? There are now choices in your tea/kool aid aisle at the grocery store that have these handy little packets of lemon and lime to add to your water. They are dehydrated crystals. No sugar, aspartame or sucrose included. I have not been able to find anything yet without sweeteners that are non-citrus, sorry guys.

Now you can also get water from veggies and fruit. In fact if you are the type to put on water weight easily try eating your water. Most veggies and fruit are over 85% water, so if you like veggies be sure to add more to your diet. Veggies and fruit are also a great detoxifying food. Most are better in the antioxidant/detoxifying stage if eaten raw. Unfortunately a lot of us don't like to eat raw veggies. If you must cook them, steam your veggies until they turn into a nice bright color. If you have cooked them until the color has turned dull you have cooked all the vitamins and minerals out of your vegetable.

Another way of getting veggies into your system is homemade soup made with as little salt as possible. So where can you get flavor? God didn't leave us with anything. Herbs are great for adding flavor to soup or just about anything and are also benefiting to the body. Onions and celery have salt naturally in them, which is why you find these items in low-salt diet recipes all the time. For a great listing of veggies and their benefits click or copy/paste here.

http://www.detoxification.ws/Vegetable_Guide.htm

Added Flaire

2009-03-03T13:29:00.000-06:00

Writing about food, thinking about food and eating food is a major part of my life. This blog has been started to make the most out of it.
The struggle for food. I'm not struggling for food. I'm struggling to stay away from it. I am a notorious over eater. I blame it on old Roman blood.
Read about me learn/struggle how to control food portions and eat like a normal person should.
Diet, lifestyle, vegetarianism, veganism and health. I'm obsessed. Are you?