Vegan Monday: 1/52

I have a dozen other ideas for blog posts but somehow this is the only thing I'm staying on top of. Hopefully I'll get to the other ones soon.

Verdict for today: planning is everything, and this is getting easier.

Breakfast
Turkish Coffee - black
I almost slipped up and made regular coffee but I remembered before it was too late
Toast with peanut butter and jam
Banana

Lunch
Homemade Butternut Squash soup
I actually made this last week but ended up not eating it so I froze it for today. It was literally roasted squash, a carrot, some onion, garlic, a dash of olive oil and water. Not as spectacular as when I make it with my homemade chicken stock but still warm and filling. One of these days I will make vegetable stock so I have it on hand.

Snack
Pom Tango tea from DavidsTea
Hard cinnamon candies
The snacking is definitely the hardest. Especially after Christmas. I have a ton of junk food left over but most of it has milk chocolate or other milk products so I can't eat it. Soon that will all be cleared out and I can really get on track.

Supper
Green Onion Cakes
My friend Amanda posted about these last week and I've been looking forward to them for days. They're pretty easy and just something fun to try. I halved the recipe and still have a bunch for breakfast tomorrow. This counts as my "one new thing" too since it was a new recipe!
Salad: greens, yellow pepper, tomatoes, green onions, black beans, navy beans and balsamic vinegar as a dressing.

Vegan Monday: Take two

Being prepared is key. Knowing this was coming made it much easier to plan for and get mentally prepared for. Because I am only doing this one day a week at this point it's just a matter of deciding what I eat today and what I eat tomorrow. Decisions I make all the time, but now with a bit more structure.

Breakfast
Red River Cereal with maple syrup straight off a farm in Waterloo
a naval orange
Turkish coffee - black

I mentioned before that not having milk in my coffee is likely going to be one of the hardest parts of this challenge. However, I received some Turkish coffee from a friend who visits Turkey often so I just planned to drink this instead since it is intended to be drunk black. I'm still working on learning how to make it properly but it definitely gave me the kick I needed!

Lunch
Two Barley, Wild Rice & Cranberry in a White Tea & Honey Dressing
Leftovers from a last minute purchase for a potluck I attended yesterday. I realize most Vegans don't approve of eating honey but I I figured that was one concession I was willing to make.
1/2 an avacado
a handful of Triscuits
a pickle

Snacks
Popcorn made with grape seed oil
Brazillionaire black tea from DavidsTea as well as Organic White Tea
In-shell Sunflower seeds

Supper
Roasted Veggies using this recipe
Except I used butternut squash, carrots, mushrooms, onions and a few grape tomatoes. Gotta use what's in the fridge!
Vegan Potato Pancakes

So today the vegan thing went really well! I already have some recipes lined up for next week and I also found a restaurant within walking distance of my house. Maybe I'll check it out one of these weeks. Tomorrow though? It's all about the cheese ;)

ETA: I'm aware that aside from the salad at lunch there was a pretty distinct lack of protein in my diet today. That's largely because I wasn't home and able to prepare the dried beans I like to use. I'll definitely focus on remedying that next week.

Vegan Mondays?

I go back and forth on the idea of vegetarianism. I think there are some good reasons to embrace that kind of lifestyle but I like meat. I don't eat a LOT of meat, I am a student after all and meat is expensive. I was reading the (now defunct) blog God, I Love Paris because I read her book this summer and really enjoyed it. She has dabbled in Vegan Mondays and I'm wondering if this might not be something good to try. Vegetarian or Meatless Monday's really isn't an issue. I used to joke that I was more likely to have a "Meaty Monday" because it seemed like it was the one day I'd actually eat meat. But vegan? Once a week? It's worth a try. If only to be more mindful of what I'm actually eating. What I like about Amy's approach is she doesn't beat herself up if she does slip up. She just notes it and moves on. So, if I was to try and implement this for the new year, that gives me two Monday's to practice. Today and next week. Neither are really ideal since I'm going away over Christmas so I'm frantically trying to eat up the leftovers in my fridge, many of which contain meat or meat products, but in the spirit of Amy, I'll just list things and move on. So here's what I've had to eat so far today with the "non-conforming" items bolded:

Breakfast 
Pumpkin Breakfast Quinoa (actually vegan since I didn't eat it with yogurt)
Coffee with 2% milk (this will be hands down the hardest switch.)

Lunch
Brown Rice California Rolls from Trader Joe's (this was kind of a snack while I was shopping in the US and then I had actual lunch when I got home an hour later)
Quinoa Bean Salad (quinoa, black beans, navy beans, yellow peppers, tomatoes and avocado)
Buffalo Chicken Roll-ups (leftovers: chicken, cream cheese and hot sauce in Pillsbury crescent rolls because I saw something similar on Pinterest and the crescents were on sale)
Christmas Cookies (butter and eggs)

Chocolate Chai tea (I'm thinking chocolate disqualifies it?)

Supper: 
Roast chicken (leftovers)
Roasted potatoes
Steamed Carrots
Steamed Brussel Sprouts
Dill Pickles
Cranberry Jelly

So essentially none of my meals were meat/dairy free but I could definitely do it. We'll see how next week goes.

My $8.80 Gamble

So, as a follow up to my previous post, I present My $8.80 Gamble. This is the dry goods I bought at the bulk foods store as a result of reading Pinterest. (clockwise from top left) Dry kidney beans, dry pinto beans, bulgur, flour, couscous, dry black (turtle) beans and cornmeal. The flour and cornmeal aren't really a gamble, I've used them before and I was low. The beans, bulgur and couscous however, were. I have used beans before but only ever the canned kind. I even called my mom and asked why she never used dry beans. They are SOOOOO much cheaper! And, in the spirit of "real food" don't have any additives like salt. Her response was mostly that it just took too much planning to get them, soak them, cook them, and THEN include them in a recipe. It's much easier to just open a can and dump them in your pot. Fair enough but I'm finding that all the prep that goes in to cooking, especially clean cooking, is part of the fun of it. It's kind of a game for me. Now, I realize that I'm one person and if a dish I'm planning isn't ready I can just have cereal for dinner. It's different when you're feeding a family. I get that. But still, it seems worth it to me. So the black beans were for a delicious Black Bean Salad that I'm already craving again. The kidney beans, pinto beans and bulgur were for a vegetarian chili. It took me almost a week to prep it. Tuesday I started soaking the beans, Wednesday I cooked them on the stove. Thursday I soaked the bulgur and would have made the chili but it was a GORGEOUS day and just not chili weather. Friday I finally made it. Vegetarian chili is initially a little different to get used to because it doesn't have that hearty meaty taste but I added extra chili powder so it's still got kick and it's very satisfying. Plus, removing the meat makes it much healthier which is the point. I made cornbread muffins to go with it. Lastly I used the rest of the pinto beans for Easy Slow Cooker Refried Beans. My landlord has a slow cooker which she stores downstairs and has given us permission to use. This was my first time using a slow cooker, ever. I like refried beans as a base for my version of Mexican food (basically just a tortilla with beans and lots and lots of veggies on top). This recipe was easy. The only thing I would do in the future is be sure to only let them cook for eight hours. I left them in for closer to nine and all the water was gone. They're a bit dry but I just add water before reheating and they're perfectly fine. The good news is that even though I've eaten over a third of it already (in wraps, pitas, etc) I still have a ton so I won't even be trying it again for a long time. 

So there, that's my report on the cooking adventures that eight dollars and eighty cents bought me. And I haven't even use the couscous yet! I have some plans for that though. I'll let you know how it goes. And who knows, maybe I'll inspire someone else to use dry goods. 

How Pinterest Changed My Life

That sounds dramatic but stay with me here. I'm online every day and accessing certain websites via my phone all day. Before Pinterest the websites I visited were very limited. Facebook, ScrapShare, my school's website, Hotmail, the bank, and a couple of radio stations. There were a handful of blogs that I visited as well but I mostly read those through the updates sent to my email. I was aware of Pinterest but avoided it like the plague because it seemed to all consuming. I finally broke down back in March or so and asked a friend for an invite. As predicted, it was immediately addicting but I found that I didn't only repin things, I actually clicked the links and visited the websites. And I made the stuff I found! So Pinterest has opened up a whole new world of websites to me (ones that I never ever would have visited on my own) and it's inspired a new passion for cooking. I have a separate board for some of the Recipes I've Tried if you're interested.

The other part of how Pinterest "changed my life" is more directly credited to a website I found because of Pinterest. 100 Days of Real Food doesn't really say anything different than anyone else but it's presented in a way that just makes sense. Initially, as a student on a very, VERY limited budget, I was drawn to Lisa's 100 Days on a Budget. If she can feed a family of four healthy, filling "real food" on $125 a week, then surely I can do it on even less than that. Especially since I have a ton of staples in the cupboard already. I read all the entries for the 100 Days on a Budget and then moved on to the Original 100 Day Pledge. Lisa follows Michael Pollan's mantra from his book "In Defense of Food" "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I haven't read the book yet myself but I plan to this summer. This plan just makes sense and in the twoish months since I discovered Lisa's blog, I have started making these changes. For the first couple of weeks to say I had "changed" was laughable because I was still eating the food I had on hand. All the processed frozen things in my freezer and boxed items in my pantry. Over time the change was reflected in my shopping habits. The best part about how Lisa presents her suggestions is that is empowering. Instead of feeling deprived because I "can't" eat certain things, the difference is that now I "can" but I CHOSE not to. For a stubborn person like me who HATES to be told what I SHOULD do (should is my most hated word ever) being given the choice of eating crap or eating whole, clean, real food, is liberating.

So this discovery of a website (with recipes) that focus on "real" food along with the eye catching pictures from Pinterest, have combined to really, finally, change how I think about food. And the best part? It's FUN! I look forward to each meal I prepare now. What a concept. :)

Christmas Ribbon Squares

I started writing this entry on August 28, 2007 SEVEN! Yikes!!!

I was looking through my cupboards a few weeks ago and I realized that I had most of the ingredients needed to make a favourite dessert of mine. Only one problem. I didn't have the recipe. No problem, I know it's a Jello thing so I started with my fancy All Things Jello recipe book. No luck.

Move on to the internet. Still no luck.

So I call my mom. I describe the recipe I want and she knows what it is almost immediately. She locates it and starts reading off the ingredients. I'm copying them down but it's taking forever. Finally I get a brilliant idea. "Scan it for me!" Of course walking her through the process of scanning it, saving it, and then attaching it to an email probably took as long as writing the whole thing down would have, but now I have my own copy of the original :)

And now, close to three years later, I want to make it again. Good thing I saved the scan in a draft blog post!!!

April 12 of 12

I believe that after over a year of doing 12 of 12's, this is the first time I've ever uploaded the pictures ON the 12th!!! Go me! So, I actually totally forgot about it until lunch. Well, I knew about it, I just didn't have ANY time. With year end having just passed and the bookeeper in today, my office was like Grand Central so it wasn't really conducive to taking pictures. The first shot I got during the day was of the beautiful cherry blossoms that I park under each day at lunch. The smell so wonderful. I love this time of year!

I had a good mail day today. An official letter from WLU welcoming me to the school (the acknowledgment I've been looking for!) and a CM workshop gift certificate as a thank you for referring a friend to a local CMC.

On the way back to work I treated myself to a Dark Cherry Frappacino with the gift card I got from my cousin a few days ago. It came in thank you card for letting them stay with me during the Olympics.

My cousin mentioned this book in her Facebook status. It's VERY different from what I usually read but it's extremely captivating already. I'm only a little way in to it but I really want to find out what happens next.

The picture on the left is symbolic but it requires a lot of explanation. First the time, I left the office at 5 (I get off at 4:30) That means I was in my car listening to my radio at 5pm which means it's on FM2/CH6 which means it's on 94.1 KMPS out of Seattle. Why? Because at 5pm Tony Thomas plays his "Five O'Clock Test Track". Today was Dierks Bentley's new single called "Up On The Ridge" Love new music from Dierks!!!

I had a new recipe I wanted to try so I stopped at the grocery store for broccoli and parmesean cheese...$30 later...well you get the picture :P

This is the recipe. It's a super simple one from Kraft. My finished product is on the left.

After dinner I headed out to my last regular evening of Square Dance. I was glad that it landed on the 12 of 12 because I wanted to capture it but I didn't expect having so MUCH to capture! We had the graduation for the new dancers. The club president enlisted me to put grad caps on each of the dancers. When I finished I realized there was an extra one. It was for ME! I actually technically progressed from beginner to Mainstream in April 2007 but I was in Texas when that grad ceremony happened so I missed out. I got my certificate but not everything that went with it. It was really special to be recognized and included in the celebrations tonight. Kind of symbolic as well because I'm "graduating" from this group of friends and going out in to the big world! One person said "just think, the next cap you'll wear will be black - when you graduate university". I have to admit, I've been so focused on STARTING school that the idea of FINISHING hasn't really even been on my mind. Realizing what I'm committing to is huge and exciting.
What followed was an evening of fun and silliness. Have you ever tried to dance with paper bags on your feet? The worst part is simply how loud it is!!! LOL

A few weeks ago we had a "recycle sale". Everyone brings the square dance clothes that they're not wearing anymore and offers them up for sale. I got rid of most of the stuff I don't wear at our Fall sale but this Spring I brought my club jacket in. (You can see it in the last picture of my first 12 of 12 post here" I can't remember if I actually paid anything for it or if I was just given it so I decided to pass it on to someone at no charge. Mostly I just didn't want it sitting in a box because I won't be wearing it. Maureen (middle) just happened to be downstairs when I went down to find a lucky soul to adopt my coat and since it fit her, I gave it to her. She's a new dancer so I thought it was appropriate. This evening, as a thank you (because I wouldn't accept money) she brought me this plaque. It says "DREAM: Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars" She also included a little note that reads "

Dear Heidi, When I was in nursing school, I had a sign over my study area that said Though semesters never last, tough students do". I couldn't find that one, so I hope this one will do.

Thanks again for the jacket. We will miss your friendly smiling face at square dancing. I am sure you will do well with your studies.

Best of luck! Maureen.

She had no way of knowing but this plaque is extra special because "DREAM" is my One Word for 2010 and I didn't have anything to represent it. I made sure to tell her and I know this is one thing I'll find room to bring with me to Ontario.

The club also gave me a card with a special name tag that says "Missing Link". That choked me up a bit. I guess it's the first of many goodbyes! I'd better get used to this!!!

So there we go, a 12 of 12 posted before 12 on the 12th! Woohoo!!!

Food Adventures

Taken from Shirley's Blog

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.


1. Game from an animal that someone in your family killed. My uncle was/is a hunter (he was my uncle, he is a hunter) I've eaten bear, moose and deer that he's shot

2. Ice cream from a dairy farm that makes their ice cream on the premises. Bonus points if you can eat your ice cream and see the herd of cows that it came from. Birchwood Dairies has wonderful ice cream. I'm currently craving their frozen yogurt but I haven't made the time to go out there lately.

3. Wild berries that you find, pick and eat yourself. The blackberries along the river here are awesome. We didn't get any this year but it was mostly because we ran out of time. I did pick raspberries this year but they weren't exactly wild.

4. Something deep-fried that was never meant to be deep-fried. Mars Bars? After fish n' chips? Yeah heartattack!!!

5. Pizza from a NY City pizzeria that's at least 40 years old. Not yet but talk to me in 18 months

6. Bread made from scratch, still warm from the oven. Yep, mom has a bread maker that we've used a few times. We've done rolls and stuff too.

7. Food from a street vendor. Bonus points if you and that vendor don't share a language in common. I'm not a huge fan of street vendor food. I know I've had stuff though. Definitely roasted chesnuts. I can't remember what language he spoke. Probably English.

8. Fish you have caught and cleaned yourself. Yeah but it was kind of cheating. It was an "Outdoors" Trade Show and they had a pool full of fish for the kids. I caught one and we ate it but it's not the same as in the wild.

9. Birthday cake (and frosting!) from scratch. Always. I don't do cake mixes.

10. Salad from someone's garden. Most of the greens I bought this year were from the farmers' market and were all grown locally. They included interesting bits like dandelion leaves too!

11. Homemade salad dressing. Yep, I made this salad last week

12. Baseball park food. Bonus points for a Fenway Frank. Never been to Fenway but I have had a hamburger at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver.

13. Homebrewed beer. Wow. #13 and we've finally found one I haven't had! I've had micro-brew and homemade wine but not homemade beer.

14. Something baked in an EZ-Bake Oven. My cousin was "baking" with one a few years back. The cake turned out pretty gooey but I swiped some of the icing...

15. Slab bacon from a butcher shop or meat market. I don't really eat bacon so no.

16. Real maple syrup. For sure! Lots of it. Especially yummy on ice cream!

17. Astronaut ice cream (purchased from a gift shop on a school field trip, if possible). Something tells me yes but I can't summon a specific memory.

18. Something you didn't think you would like, but you tried anyway. Aligator. It's just kind of fishy.

19. Yuengling beer. Say what? Umm...no.

20. Mastroianni Brothers bread Never heard of it

21. Bueon Y Sano burrito Nope but I've had some yummy burritos!

22. Guiness draft. Warm, in a pub in the UK somewhere. Guiness draft yes and I discovered I liked it more than the other beers I was trying. I was in a Pub in Victoria though. A city that has a very, very UK feel but it's in Canada.

23. Haggis (not for taste, for bragging rights!) LOL! I would totally eat it for bragging rights if given the chance. So far I haven't had the chance though.

24. Beets Pickeled? With every. freaking. meal. as a kid. I don't mind them but I don't keep them in my fridge.

25. Avocado My weakness. Most "memorable avacado" would be the guacamole at Catina Laredo with Sherilyn. I still dream of that meal.

26. At least 10 different kinds of sushi. Over the years, yes. I still prefer California rolls though.

27. Something you've grown from seed Hmmm I was never responsible for the actual planting part.

28. Something with the head still attached when it was served. Fish. It sounds so nasty when you say it this way though.

29. Crawdads/Crayfish (Bonus points if you caught/cleaned them yourself). Crayfish in Texas...no...wait...it might have been catfish. I forget...no, I think I did crayfish too.

30. Alcohol that was older than you were. Nah, I'm cheap. I'm not opposed to it though!


So, 21/30? I'm pretty adventurous if I do say so myself!

Now I'm off to find Homebrewed beer, bacon, astronaut ice-cream, Yuengling beer, Mastroianni Brothers bread, a Bueon Y Sano burrito, some Haggis, some seeds to grow into something and Alcohol that is older than I am. Stay tuned for some tipsy blog entries!!!

I stand corrected

I have a prejudice against prepared foods. Pre-packaged is one thing. Things like cake mixes, instant mashed potatoes or stuffing etc is another. If you can't make it from scratch, I don't want it. It comes from growing up in a house where everything was make from scratch.

For St. Patricks Day I needed to make something green for dance. I saw a recipe for brownies with green coloured cream cheese icing. I printed it off and THEN realized that the brownie recipe was actually a cake mix. I was going shopping that day and because I knew I didn't have much time, I decided I'd try it.

OMFSM I am in love. Betty Crocker Chocolate Chunk Supreme Brownies Mix. It is SO good! I screwed up on the icing so they look kind of ugly (which meant they weren't good enough to bring to share :D ) By the time I was supposed to share them though, there wasn't really enough anyways. So, I take back anything negative I ever said about cake mixes. And Betty Crocker rocks! LOL

Mint Cookies!

Lately I've had a craving for chocolate mint cookies. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the Girl Guide cookies I polished off? Anyways it took me three shopping trips to find mint extract (my grocery store was out but I found it at another one) and I even bought green food colouring. Actually I bought a whole box of food colouring. It's Christmas. You never know when you need food colouring.

So I had the food colouring and the extract. Next I needed a recipe. I checked all my cookbooks. Nothing. I searched online. Nothing inspiring. I mentioned it to my mom. She didn't know of any off the top of her head but she said she'd keep her eyes opened.

Re-wind a few weeks to when I had a craving for cherry chip almond muffins. Mom is a subscriber to Taste of Home's "Cooking for 2". I had flipped through one of her issues and saw this recipe. I didn't write it down and then when I wanted to make it, I couldn't find it online. Within our conversation I ended up signing up for the Taste of Home "Light Desserts" email blast. I've gotten a handful of recipes so far and none of them have been appealing. On Wednesday I was actually considering unsubscribing because it was just email clutter.

Yesterday I got the email from ToH and it was a recipe for "Chocolate Mint Whoopie Pies" I admit I'm not totally sure what a Whoopie Pie is but they looked good so, on the way home I stopped by the grocery store and picked up cocoa powder. When I got home I checked my email and Mom had forwarded me the recipe!

Long story short? Last night I finally made choclate mint cookies :) They're really good too. The second batch is bigger than the first batch because I wasn't sure how much they'd spread so I didn't flatten them very much. I have a bunch of icing left over too so I may make another batch of cookies today. Aren't they pretty though?