Tag Archives: Wacky Pets

I’m an Overachiever Because I Play with My Food

Posted on November 26, 2011 | 2 Comments

FOOD

What can I say….LEFTOVERS!!!  That is certainly what this holiday weekend is about.  And not just reheating what we ate on Thursday (though that’s happened too), but getting fun with it.

Breakfast on Friday was a leftover wrap.  I threw a little bit of everything (except the apple pie) into a warm tortilla; Tofurkey, sweet potato casserole, salad, and green bean casserole.  Very tasty and filling – and a great pre-workout meal.  I will say the sweet potatoes dominated the flavors, but it was still fun to eat.

it's a wrap!

Today, breakfast was some cold diced Tofurkey on the rest of the leftover salad with a home-made dressing from a week or so ago.  Again, very yummy.

incredibly simple, but was definitely craving some raw food this morning. With the tofurkey on top, definitely kept me full for hours

Dinner was a combination of leftovers and a different side dish.  I made Panini sammiches with leftover Tofurkey, vegan mozz cheese, spinach, and avocado.  I have a cuisinart griddler that we use a LOT, but this is the first time I actually used it as a Panini press.  It was quite cool.  Even though S called me a overacheiver when I was texting her what was for dinner.  She’s just jealous ;)

prepping the sammiches for the Panini press

Served with a side of Mac N Trees (a yummy vegan macaroni and “cheeze” dish with broccoli from Appetite for Reduction), and dinner was a huge hit.  R had two huge helpings of the Mac N Trees – which made me really happy since it’s such a healthier version than the traditional alternative.  I used brown rice pasta, and no one seemed to notice at all, so this was not only low cal/fat, but gluten-free too.  Bonus!

For dessert I made Root beer Float Cupcakes!  When I went to Vida Vegan Con in August, we were given a copy of My Sweet Vegan in our swag bags.  I admit that it took me awhile to read through it, and I wish I had sooner.  What makes this book so different is how whimsical her desserts are.  I mean…root beer float cupcakes is brilliant.  I made them this evening, and it was totally fun to watch everyone’s faces as they ate them and realized they tasted JUST like rootbeer floats!  I will say, I couldn’t find root beer extract in any local store, and D ordered some for me from Amazon.  It came yesterday, so this has been on my to-do list for several days.  They didn’t disappoint!

cupcake, chocolate ganache, and vanilla frosting

a TON of leftover chocolate ganache. I'm sure I can think of lots to do with this...like maybe just get a spoon and eat it as-is!

FITNESS

Even though I wasn’t too glutenous on Thursday, I still wanted a good workout when I got up on Friday.  While D napped (he had eaten SO much on Thanksgiving, he couldn’t sleep), I popped in a strength training/interval workout DVD.  I rarely use DVD’s because I get annoyed with the repetition after the first time I do it, but I have to say…I only have pretty light weights at home, I didn’t want to go to the gym, and without either a workout partner or a video, I’m NOT going to strength train.

I have to say, the workout was good, and even though the weights were pretty light, I’m sore everywhere today.  In a good way, but still.  I plan on doing it tomorrow again….

About 20 min after my DVD, I decided I still felt great and had a ton of energy, so I went for a run.  That, in retrospect, may have been a mistake.  The run was great until about half way, when I just lost so much steam.  I made it through, but that last half wasn’t too much fun.

LIFE

It’s been a nice weekend, most definitely.  The weather has been beautiful (high 60′s-low 70′s during the day), and we’ve enjoyed it.  During the day, the front and back doors have been open, and last night, we went to Busch Garden’s for opening day of Christmas Town.  This is their 3rd year, and it’s better than ever.  Every ”country” (we live by Busch Gardens – Europe) is decked out with beautiful lights and even fake snow.  They run about half of their rides, but the draw is really the lights.  We just ended up having a great evening wandering around, loving the scenery, visiting the local artist bizarre, and totally loving the nice weather.

I did some online Black Friday shopping, and got a few great deals.  I’m now done with D and mostly done with M.  Lots left for R and A, but at least we know what this year’s “big gift” will be for each of them.

Today, I took R to gymnastics, brought her home, and then met up with S for a late lunch and a couple of beers.  We haven’t seen each other since we were up near DC, so it was high time to catch up.

The rest of this evening has been spent cooking, cleaning, and writing!  I’ll probably spend the rest of the evening catching up on the posts of the past few days, and double checking my Xmas budget!

Until then, here are a couple of pics from this evening!

Bumble sitting on R's lap. She was very proud because the cat pretty much never sits on her...

D and R with Bumble

 

 

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Baked Pumpkin Stew and a MoFo Camping Wrap-Up

Posted on October 16, 2011 | 4 Comments

It’s nice to be back home in my kitchen.  Don’t get my wrong…I had a great weekend, but I usually spend most of my Sunday’s cooking, so I was happy to be home.

Today’s dinner is a Mexican flavored baked pumpkin stew.  I first made this recipe 3 years ago, when it was in the October edition of Vegetarian Times.  I’ve made it a handful of times over the years, and have been thinking about it now that the weather has turned.

I typically use a buttercup squash and always skip the cheese.  I suppose I could use Daiya, but when I first started making this, Daiya wasn’t on the market, so I’ve always made it cheese-less and I don’t feel it’s lacking because of it.

my buttercup squash

stir frying veggies and spices

ready for the oven!

ready to scoop out and eat!

I’ve successfully made this in a crock pot too for potlucks.  Just put about 1/4 cup of water in bottom before cooking, and cook on low for 8 hours.

For the Poblano-Cucumber Salsa (trust me..don’t skip this part…it makes the meal), I roasted my peppers in my toaster over on the broil setting.  I turned them a few times, and within 7-10 minutes, I had nicely blackened and blistered peppers!

toaster oven poblanos

finished salsa. I'll be eating this on everything all week!

Served with a loaf of fresh bread right out of the bread machine and a grilled Portobello, we had a great Sunday dinner!

a simple bread...nothing fancy tonight

bread with some Earth Balance Coconut spread, grilled balsamic mushroom, and pumpkin stew. I'm stuffed!

Camping Wrap-Up

We had a great time this weekend.  Aside from my husband hurting his back very badly (just by sleeping there), it was wonderful.  Here are some pictures of our fun!

our rustic cabin in the woods

playing cribbage with D. Yep...I beat him.

Sammie snuggling up on M at bedtime

playing Boochie Ball with the kids

playing Yahtzee with R. Yep, she beat me.

family hike/geocaching adventure

my honey grilling!

Yeah….it’s been a great weekend :)

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

Epic Cookie Fail

Posted on September 3, 2011 | 5 Comments

FOOD

My day of cookery started out very promising.  I made a tofu scramble with red bell peppers and onions, and served it in corn tortillas with hot sauce and a side of roasted herbed potatoes.  All courtesy of Happy Herbivore again (amazing book, I’m telling ya).

they tasted as amazing as they looked!

After breakfast I had eaten a piece of the gluten-free brownies I made last night.  It.  Was.  Awesome!!!  I think it benefited from being wrapped up and in the fridge.  I noticed that last night it was a bit crumbly, and today it wasn’t.

pie shaped brownies are a new idea to me....but no less amazing.

I will tell you that those breakfast tacos and potatoes kept me filled up for at least 5 hours!  Which was good since I spent most of the day grocery shopping.

I had ordered two new allergy-free cookbooks right after I got home from Vida Vegan Con.  Both were recommended during the specialty diet session.  One is called Cookies for Everyone and one is The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook. Over the past few days I’ve either shopped for or ordered the major ingredients in the books so I can replicate gluten-free goodness.

Today.  I failed.

I earmarked (with my stickies) about a dozen cookie recipes that I had the ingredients for.  I started with the thumbprint cookies – I hadn’t made those since I was a very little girl (and our version had Hersey Kisses in them, not jam).  So I popped in my iPod, poured a glass of wine, and got baking!

My desire to bake was fueled by a few different things.  First, my kids go back to school next week, and I’d be a bad mom if I didn’t put something fun in their lunches!  Also, I really want to get good at allergy-free baking.  I’m good at nut-free baking because that’s what is important to my family…but after VVC, I started thinking more about food allergies in general.  I want to send treats to school with my kids that are safe for everyone!  My child with a food allergy isn’t the only one on the planet – and there are 8 major food allergies.  I feel sorry for R when she can’t participate in another kids’ treats, but I never gave another thought to the kids who can’t eat wheat or soy, etc.  My treats will not exclude those kids either.  My third motivator was a wish to give cookies to my next door neighbor.  They rebuilt the Irene destroyed fence (it faced them, but still…they did it within days and without question).  The least I could do is bring them some homemade goodness.  And since I don’t know if they have any allergies in their family, I wanted to provide something awesome for all.

All was going very well.  I followed the recipe exactly and the dough came out as expected.  I put it in the oven, and started on the next batch, happily listening to my audiobook.

Look...they start out so promising and normal looking!

D came into the kitchen to give me a kiss and to check on the cookies.  They had spread out so much they had turned into some strange jelly pancake thing.  Ugh.  I let them cook and cool through - even trying another batch.  On a positive note – they tasted amazing (the bits I could scrape together).  Unfortunately, they weren’t really edible much less giftable.

I then made the pumpkin harvest cookies.  They looked awesome.  They even stayed looking like cookies while they cooked!  Much better than my hot mess of jelly thumbprints.  I thought it was due to my genius of using wax paper.  Alas..the cookies won’t come OFF the wax paper.  Another cookie fail.

they look like cookies...but I can't tell....can't even get them off the wax paper!

LIFE

The highlight of my day today was being a guest blogger on Veggin Out with Christa!  It was my first ever time as writing as a guest blogger on someone else’s blog!  I was so thrilled and touched.  I wrote about how I became a vegan – which was full of starts and stops along the way.  Click on the link to learn more!

A quick bit about Christa.  I actually met her because I started talking to her Mom!  It was the end of the cupcake and champagne reception, and I noticed her sitting at a table and yawning.  I mentioned that she must be an East Coaster too…to be yawning that early in the evening.  Sure enough, she’s a close neighbor in Northern VA (I’m in Southeastern), and we soon started chatting it up.  She came from VA to see her daughter Christa (who lives in L.A. now) speak at the conference (and to see Portland and get her shopping on).  She was hilarious and sweet, and we talked a lot about our love of the East Coast.  She was heading to Chicago after Portland (my old stomping ground) to see a good friend.  I think meeting Christa’s mom helped make my night!

The next morning after dishing up my yummy buffet breakfast, I was searching out a table to sit at.  I saw Christa’s mom, and bee-lined right there.  It was the first time I really got to talk to Christa too (we all shared stories at the table about how we became vegans) and it was a great morning.  I also got to meet Kathy from Healthy Slow Cooking (a fellow East Coaster from NC), and Andrea from Easy Vegan Cooking.

Anyway, Christa was hilarious and sweet and gracious and smart and beautiful.  We hit it off right away, and I talked to her throughout the weekend whenever I could.  She laughed at me when I told her I was really shy when first getting to know people.  I have a tendency to not shut up once I meet someone, but that initial “hello” can be tough.

Anyway – check out her blog.  You’ll see what I mean :)

Back to my day…

I spent most of it hitting up grocery stores in Virginia Beach, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and attempting to make cookies.  At least the wine was good.

I also have to show a picture of my yellow lab, Sammie.  She has a bizarre desire to block all walkways within the house.  I’m guessing she figures if she blocks everything, you have to stop and rub her belly.  It obviously works well for her since she’s 9 and still blocks all the doorways.

entrance that converges the dining room, the living room, and the kitchen. Sam is strategically placed to block all 3.

The other highlight of my night was R making a turtle suit with a box.  She made the correct (almost) 8-year-old assumption that Kiko didn’t scamper off of her rock because she “was in turtle form”.  I can’t even express how cool this is.

side shot of R in her turtle boxtwo turtles communing with each other

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Missing Luggage, Restocking, and Hot Shoes

Posted on August 31, 2011 | 6 Comments

Back to our regularly scheduled format!

FOOD

Can you believe that my first day home, I ate an Amy’s bean burrito for breakfast??  After a week of feasting on ridiculously cool vegan food, I made a microwave burrito.  I will say that not only was I ridiculously hungry when I woke up, but there was also nothing in the house for me to eat!  D doesn’t exactly do a stellar job of keeping fresh fruits and veggies in the house when I’m not home.

For lunch, I had a bowl of veggie Pho from my favorite little stand in Virginia Beach.  Tons of tofu, cabbage, broccoli, and rice noodles.  Add some siracha, and I was in heaven!

I munched on a banana while reading some new cookbooks I picked up today.  I had to or I’d have been baking (and eating) a ton of cookies, brownies, and cupcakes!

My dinner was a BAS full of lettuce, cabbage, avocado, tomatoes, and lemon juice.  Exactly what I needed and craved today!

After dinner, R and I got to making the brownies!  I let her use the KitchenAid.  Which is miraculous…it’s sort of like giving the keys to my BMW to a newly licensed teenager.  No I don’t actually have a BMW, but you get the idea…

FITNESS

I failed to mention on my last post that I hit up a local yoga studio when I was on the West Coast for a class on Monday.  It was a really nice class and I had fun telling the studio owner that I was visiting from the distant East Coast in order to attend the first ever vegan bloggers conference.  She gave me half off on the class. WOO HOO.

And speaking of fitness…I miss running.  I miss it so much it’s starting to piss me off.  I know I had sworn that I’d wait until after the holidays…when I can pretty much bet my back is fully healed…before I run again, but I think I spoke to soon when I said that.

I want to start running again, but I know I can’t push it too hard.  I also want to start running without headphones.  Aside from being a potentially dangerous distraction, I realized while I was hiking around on my own last week how much fun I was having just thinking and observing without an iPod, etc.  So I now have a NEW plan!  I’m going to re-do (yet again) the Couch to 5K program.  Sans headphones.  I figure it would be a good way to ease back into running without accidentally overdoing it and hurting my back, and it will build up my tolerance to running without audio books.  Sounds good in theory.  We’ll see.  I can’t swim for a few weeks until the new tattoo is healed, so that means back to running and Zumba sooner than I anticipated!

LIFE

I arrived finally last night…with half of my luggage.  The bag the TSA agent got crappy with me about ended up not making it.  Ugh.  I was annoyed since it was the bag with all of the conference swag and the gifts I had bought D and the kids while away.  At least they knew it was still in Atlanta and was delivering it to my house today.  Small favors.

Bumble missed my suitcase more than me! She has a bizarre obsession with lying on suitcases...a fair warning in case you ever come to my house.

We finally got home last night and after all 5 of us (and the cat) lying on my bed chatting, it was finally time for bed.  Which was a good thing because I was exhausted!  I fell asleep right away…and then sat bolt upright at 1230 am unable to sleep.  Ugh.  I tossed around the rest of the night getting increasingly annoyed that I was awake, checked my email, put in some earplugs (D was snoring), and fell asleep soundly in just enough time for my alarm to go off.  Joy.

Let me preface the next part of my story by mentioning how badly D injured his back while I was away.  He has two very big things wrong with his back – one is a birth defect (that I can’t come close to pronouncing) and one is the result of an injury when in the Navy.  Both cause him constant pain, and when he’s hurt…it’s bad.  Unfortunately while preparing for Hurricane Irene, he hurt himself to the point where he can barely move.  So while he was snoring away, I didn’t have the heart to push him over – hence the earplugs.

I knew I’d have to take him to either our doctor, the Urgent Care, or the ED this morning.  When I woke, I texted my boss (BBE) to ask if we could reschedule our meeting at 9.  She was awesome as always and said yes.  D had his appt at 11, was prescribed prednisone, vicodin, and a referral to see my chiropractor.  He can’t take motrin due to the Crohn’s and Tylenol just wasn’t cutting it.  And he’s not allowed to return to work or pretty much move until next Tuesday.  Poor thing.

Oh, and my suitcase was delivered this morning as promised.  Without A’s tube of henna paste (stupid TSA agent probably threw it away and didn’t tell me), and with one of my new bento boxes broken (I found a cool Japanese store while away that had an entire row of bento).  However, a very sweet snarkyvegan has some she doesn’t want, and is going to ship them to me!  In return, I’m thinking I need to send her vegan cookies.

Wall O Bento!

Anyway, after loading all my pics onto the main computer at home (while M sat in the room with me snuggling both Bumble and Sammie), and D was relaxing his back, A and I took off for a little shopping.  I had to replenish my supplies of fresh foods.

Bumble, Sammie, and M snuggling on the Green Room couch

We went first to the mall to pick up a new video game that D and M wanted – and a few new cookbooks for me!

very excited to finally get the Happy Herbivore's book...and to find a book specific to D's Crohn's. Never seen anything like that before.

Then it was off to the Asian grocery where we tried to figure out what we were looking at…since pretty much nothing was in English.

Afterwards, it was a trip to the sad little Virginia Beach farmers market.  Aside from growing up near a HUGE one and having just visited Pike’s Market in Seattle – arguably the coolest farmers market I’ve ever seen – due to Irene, many of the little stands were closed.  The little organic grocery was open though, and we stopped in there for a few items.

The following are all of Pike’s Market in Seattle:

LOVE this sign on the avocados!

At least we have a little local grocer trying to do the right thing and offer our community something!

When we got home, there was a box on the porch.  A new pair of shoes I ordered a little over a week ago arrived!  They are so cute…vegan…and TALL.  Can’t wait to wear them!

they're like extreme penny loafers!

I’m so happy to be home and life is starting to return to normal.  I made a ton of new friends, feel energized, and can’t wait to take what I’ve learned this past week at Vida Vegan Con and start applying it!

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

Food, Activism, and Hurricanes. WHAT A DAY!

Posted on August 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

FOOD

How can you come to a vegan bloggers conference and food not be an absolute focal point?  You can’t.  And believe me, you wouldn’t want to.  We’re all obsessed with it.  Pictures, cooking, creating recipes, writing and talking about it, and (of course) eating.

Today’s breakfast buffet started at 8am, and the offerings were certainly plentiful.  Biscuits and gravy, gluten-free pancakes, coconut milk yogurt, tofu scramble with mushrooms, chia pudding, fruit cobbler, fresh fruit, and plenty of soy and coconut milk options.

I piled up my plate (woo hoo, appetite is back!), and headed to a table.  I sat with Christa from Veggin’ Out with Christa and her mom (so sweet, her mom came just to see her speak at the conference), Andrea and her husband from Andrea’s Easy Vegan Cooking, and several other wonderful people.  We all had great discussions about what drove us to veganism, what we’ve learned over the years, and just told stories (many very funny, all very inspiring) and enjoyed each other’s company.

I pretty much ate it all!

I will admit that I snuck off to the Homegrown Smoker All Vegan BBQ food cart for lunch.  There was a very nice buffet lunch offered, but the line was SO long, and I had heard such amazing things about this food cart, that I had to check it out for myself.  I am SO glad I did.  I ordered the special, which was a vegan Reuben and a side of mac and no-cheese.  The cart guys were open special hours this weekend just because of the conference (which is right across the street).

it looks so naughty, doesn't it?? Ben & Ben..whipping up awesome vegan food with a smile and a nice conversationa whole block of food carts. So cool...

Dinner at the fundraising gala this evening sounds amazing, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty of pictures and descriptions on my next post!

CONFERENCE

Wow, where to start??  I want to complete a thought I started up above.  Vegans are obsessed with food, but that’s certainly not the complete picture.  For whatever reason someone makes the decision to become vegan (health, animal activism, environmentalism, how they were raised, etc), you can’t help but learn and become consciously aware of the impact that the lifestyle in general brings.  And among things other than food obsession, I am meeting a whole slew of people who are as passionate about that side as well, and I can’t help but rekindle that in myself – and see it growing stronger in the future.  I’ve never been overly vocal about all of my reasons for being vegan, and I’m certainly not going to become militant now (I do believe in to each his/her own and having the right to choose), but that does not mean I can’t become more involved in my own community activism…or start an outreach program.  And those are some of the ideas swimming around my melon today.

I went to several very cool sessions today led by some amazing bloggers and authors.  Some highlights…

The morning Build-a-Blog session really got my brain going.  I have so many questions and ideas, and these ladies put on one heck of a panel – chock full of resources and advice.  It got me thinking a LOT about my own blog, my blog name (I will admit…it’s weird being one of the few people here without the word Vegan or Veg in my name), how it’s set up, it’s content, and what I can do to really ratchet things up.  More on that to come.

The podcasting workshop!  I got to see and listen to the cookbook author who is single-handedly responsible for re-introducing baking into my life as a vegan.  Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, the über vegan author, writer, podcaster, and the brains behind the Joy of Vegan Baking.  I got some great advice on podcasting in general, and best reason ever for starting a podcast…talking shit and drinking beer.  I’m totally going to listen to the Cosmopolitan Hour now!

A good session on community blogging really got my head spinning.  It’s something I am very interested in, but no idea how to go about doing it.  Being the only vegan I know in my community, how the heck to I start?  This panel offered lots of advice, and when I asked my question, really responded with some great comments and ideas.  Look for a whole new post (and blog) in the future…backed by a whole community of writers.  How cool is THAT?  Thanks to Vegansaurus, Super Vegan, and Vegan Score for that one – not to mention the VegNews author/moderator who directed the panel with very good questions that I’m sure made us all think.

There’s so much more to say, but the details will all come later.  I have too much to process first!

IRENE

For those that know me or have read me for a while, you know that I live in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Chesapeake, VA area.  And that I’m married and have three kids, a dog, a cat, and a turtle.

If you read – anything – (and chances are if you’re reading this blog at the very least, you’ve demonstrated that you do, indeed, read), then you know that we currently have a Hurricane crawling up the east coast.

I fretted about leaving home and coming to the conference because of the potential impact to my area.  The afternoon I left, the projection was that she’d turn right and have little impact on my area.  By the time I landed in Seattle, slept, and woke up, she had gone left – a sure bet she’d smack right into Hampton Roads.  And she did.  This morning.

My husband made the last-minute decision to stay home.  He spoke to neighbors who’d been through this before (this is our first hurricane), and felt that the orignal plan to leave for Richmond wasn’t going to be necessary.  They’re stocked up on a weeks worth of bottled water, food, flashlights, and board games.  Besides, with Sammie, Bumble, and Kiko, (the aforementioned animal members of the clan), finding a safe haven we could bring them to would prove to be a bit difficult.

His decision ended up being a sound one.  While we’ve lost a section of fence, the power has stayed on and we haven’t had any flooding or other damage.  It’s not quite past yet, but the worst is over, and they weathered it just fine.  It’s been pretty wicked, several people I know have lost power, and I’m sure the damage reports will be coming, but over all, things have been okay.  Thankfully.  Now it’s time to concentrate on New England and hope they escape Irene with little effect.

To quote a good friend of mine who lost power today…”alright…. who gave Momma Nat Jaegerbombs? Easy girl… we know Hampton Roads is the place to party, but take it easy!”

Let’s hope her hangover sets in quickly and she decides to go sleep it off.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

I Got to Be a Pigeon Today!

Posted on August 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

FOOD

I was up earlier than everyone else (as usual), so I had a couple of cups of coffee while first reading some more blog posts, and then while watching the last recorded episode of Hell’s Kitchen.  It was perfect timing when R came downstairs as the show ended, she could watch cartoons, and I could start making breakfast.

First up today was a smoothie.  My latest favorite of watermelon, banana, and frozen strawberries.  My bananas are turning fast, and so right now they’re only good for smoothies or baking – and barely for smoothies.

smoothie!!!

A half hour later, I had a mini bagel with tofutti cream cheese.  I wanted something a little more substantial than just the smoothie, since I was going to be gone for a few hours.

For lunch I made a creamy butternut squash soup.  I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do, only knowing that I had some cubed up butternut squash I picked up on sale at the grocery yesterday, and wanted to do something with that.  I’ve made a few apple and butternut squash soups in the past, but I really wanted to go for something creamier.  I decided on a butternut squash/coconut milk concoction.  It came out very tasty and I was pleased with it.  I made up a batch of savory quinoa (using vegetable broth instead of water), and put about 1/3 cup in the bottom of my bowl to make the soup a hearty meal.

squash in my micro steamer heading for the microwave

onion, garlic, and the quinoa before I rinsed it

I rarely have straight broth on hand, so I use some Penzy's vegetable base mixed with water.

my whole wheat flour

spices!

my lunch, with a little extra cinnamon on top

I’ve started using Living Cookbook 2011 to build my personal recipes (and capture the ones I read online that I love!), so now I can include nutritional calculations too!

Crissie’s Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

Eat plain, or serve over quinoa or rice for a heartier dish.  I like to use the So Delicious Vanilla flavored coconut milk if I have it on hand.  Regular coconut milk would work great too.

3 cups butternut squash chunks
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 small onion — chopped
3 cloves garlic — finely chopped
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp sea salt

1. Steam butternut squash in the microwave for 7 minutes to soften.  Could also be roasted at 450 for 20 minutes if coated lightly in olive oil first.

2. Sauté onion and garlic on medium heat in a non-stick pan or one slightly sprayed with oil until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

VITAMIX/HIGHPOWERED BLENDER DIRECTIONS

1. Place broth and flour in vitamix and blend, starting on low, and then on high for about 4 minutes.  This will heat up the broth.

2. Add onion mixture and squash.  Blend until smooth, about 15-30 seconds.

3. Add spices and coconut milk, blend for another 15 seconds.

STOVE TOP DIRECTIONS

1. After the onion mixture is completed, add the flour to the pan and stir to combine.

2. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and slowly add the broth, stirring constantly.

3. Add the coconut milk, and stir until thick, about one minute.  Turn the heat up if you need to.  My gas stove gets touchy, and I often have to put it to high when making a white gravy – which this essentially is.

4. Add butternut squash and either blend with a hand blender, or put in batches (carefully, as it will be very hot) into a normal blender.

5. Add spices, and stir.

Servings: 4

Amount Per Serving
Calories 152.05
Total Fat 4.53g
Total Carbohydrates 26.44g
Fiber 3.72g
Sugar 3.08g
Protein 3.7g

I wasn’t very hungry for a while, and snaked on some pita chips with avocado hummus around 630pm.  I suppose that ended up being my dinner!

FITNESS

I went to the best yoga class today!  I wanted to go to a hot or warm class, as it tends to be more challenging, and I felt the heat would be great for my muscles and especially penetrate my back.

So I went to a 315pm class at my local hot yoga studio, Chesapeake Hot Yoga.  I went to their Light & Warm class – I didn’t want to push it TOO hard after all!

I spoke to the instructor just before hand and let her know about my back injury.  She asked several questions about where the pain is, what caused it, what treatments have I had, and wanted to be sure I saw a doctor.  The owner was there along with another instructor.  She gave me some tips before class started, mostly about listening to my body, not going into camel pose or anything with a deep back bend, going to child’s pose whenever I felt my back was being taxed too much, etc.  Common sense things.

Anyway, I went into the room at about 310.  I usually like to be 10-15 minutes early for a hot or warm class so I can lie down and get accustomed to the heat.

There was only one other girl in the class (hot yoga decreases in popularity around here when the temps get hot – I asked!), and she told us this was her first ever yoga class!  How cool.

Anyway, the instructor came in about 5 minutes late, but had a piece of paper with her.  As soon as class started, I knew that she had conferred with the owner and the other instructor about poses that would be good specifically for me.  The entire class was perfect.  The poses she had us doing were challenging, but none were stressful on my back.  They were mostly hip opening poses and back stretching.  Not once during that hour of class did I feel any pain whatsoever – at least not from my back.  I struggled though the balance poses – especially Warrior 3 – but I ALWAYS struggle with those!  I’ve always hated Warrior 3….

We did do my favorite ever pose though – pigeon.  It was towards the end of class when I was very warmed up and feeling limber, and I was able to get deep into it, so it felt great.

After class was over, Melanie (the instructor) went through a few poses she thought would be good for me to do at home once or twice a day.  Namely, Rabbit pose, which I’d never done before.  We also talked about injuries in general and her past history with them.  She also had injuries and found she couldn’t go back to running, though she’s currently in the best shape of her life.  She could see that I’m struggling with not running, and could relate, though I refuse to think my running days are over.  I can admit they are “suspended”, but I can’t imagine giving it up permanently.  I’m sort of in running Lent right now.  I’m giving it up for awhile in order to heal.  And to deepen my intense appreciation of having a body that CAN be physical.  It’s just acting cranky and self-absorbed right now.

LIFE

I had a mixed bag with sleep again last night.  D wasn’t feeling so well (not Crohn’s pains…just regular malaise feelings), so he went to bed around 9.  I was in the middle of a blog post (which takes me nearly an hour!) plus reading all my new ones, so I wasn’t ready quite yet.

I went to bed around 1030 and read my latest book for a bit.  I was asleep by 11.  I was smart enough to put ear plugs in as soon as I started reading so at least snoring wouldn’t wake me.  Alas…I was up by 130 anyway and tossed and turned most of the rest of the night.  I didn’t lie awake for a long time like I did the other night.  Last night I would fall right back to sleep, but I woke every 20-30 minutes, even if only for a minute.  I’ve felt okay today though, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.  Not sleeping well seems much more catastrophic at the time!

D was clearly not feeling well today.  He’s been running a low-grade fever and feeling horrible.  Again – not Crohn’s related – but if he isn’t careful about eating and taking his meds, being sick can bring on a flare up.  Thank goodness he has me to nag the crap out of him to remind him to take his meds.

D and Bumble spent most of the day on the couch (though Bumble doesn't look like she could possibly be comfortable)

speaking of Bumble...she puts her toys in her food dish. And then roots around them to get to her food. Silly kitty. And pay no heed to the bad banana - its destined for some bread tomorrow.

After breakfast, I took R to gymnastics, and then we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond in search of a doughnut pan.  I didn’t find them.  My original intent was to make an upside down dinner tonight (when we have breakfast for dinner) replete with vegan doughnuts (Oh She Glows kept writing about them, and now I need some).  The biggest reason I didn’t is because D loves those big breakfast meals so much – and he’s too sick to enjoy them.  So it’s going to wait until tomorrow.

she's the one crouched down just getting on the beam. They practiced walking backwards and sideways and my normally silly girl was oh so serious

I brought my laptop to gymnastics so I could finally catch up on the blog reading.  It was D’s idea and absolutely brilliant.

The afternoon was spent making soup, and then getting some work done.  Then it was off to yoga and then to the Apple store!  I am now the proud owner of an iPad 2!!!  D and I were talking today about what a pain in the butt it would be to drag my laptop to the vegan bloggers conference next week, and discussed what a brilliant idea an iPad would be.  So…I got my birthday gift 2 months early.  And it’s cool.  I’m still playing with it, but it seems (as by evidenced by my last mini-post), that I can use it for all my blogging adventures while away next week.  It’s also fully integrated at work, so that’s a huge bonus for me.

After I got home it was really all about playing with the new toy…which is probably why I didn’t actually make myself any dinner :)

And now…I’m going to go play some more!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,