Green Veggies--A green, vegan family living in the South

Outside

2012-02-25T07:00:00.003-06:00

Thursday was a warm day, and since I knew some cold days were coming, I decided to sit outside in the sun and warmth. In shorts. In February!

Macy brought a toy and came outside with me.

My accessories: cell phone and current mystery novel.

This is our sweet gum tree. No leaves but some of the fruit is still hanging on. It's not fruit in the "eating" sense, just the hard, prickly, interesting fruit of this species of tree. My grandmother had one of these in her backyard and I remember how painful it was to walk over the sweet gum balls.

I watched the sun set.

Noticed I need to refill the squirrel feeder with a new ear of dried corn.

And the bird feeder needs a new supply as well.

I spent some time just watching the clouds float on by.

Until it was finally time to head inside, although I kept the door open with the screen across the doorway so I could listen to the frogs singing in the pond behind our home.

Macy brought her toy back in.

And eventually figured out there was a better way to hold it.

Sometimes you just need a simple, not-so-healthy meal

2012-02-23T17:03:00.000-06:00

Mr. GV makes these sometimes for us--sourdough bread, pizza sauce, vegan pepperoni, and Daiya cheese. Well, that's mine.

Mr. GV often addes pineapple. This particular time we didn't have any, so he added mango.

Valentine's Treat

2012-02-15T20:59:00.000-06:00

*Pictures are from my cell phone, so not ideal, but still show the highlights from the weekend!

Mr. GV and I decided to take a weekend away from home. Some years we exchange Valentine's gifts, and some years we don't. This year I had said that I just wanted a weekend away from home that I didn't need to plan. And so that is what I got!

The highlight of the weekend was the show that Mr. GV surprised me with:

Yes, we saw South Pacific! It was very enjoyable. I had no idea what the story was about (well I knew it took place in the South Pacific during WWII) so the theme of racism was a surprise to me. My favorite song was "You Have To Be Taught" which essentially says you have to be taught to hate. So true!!

It was freezing cold so we got there early to get valet parking. That meant we had a long wait but we passed the time reading, talking to my mom on the phone, and snapping pictures of ourselves.

That was the big event of the weekend, but we packed a lot more into our 3 days/2 nights! Friday we arrived in time for lunch, so we headed to Woodland's, an Indian vegetarian restaurant in time for the buffet. Iddly, dosa, rice, potato bonda, plus a couple of main dishes, and of course delicious tamarind.

After lunch we checked into our hotel, and then it was time to head to the movies to see Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 3-D. This was my first time using Fandango, and I have to say I loved it. If you have to travel to see movies or don't want to stand out in the cold while waiting for tickets, Fandango is the way to go. The movie itself---well, it is Star Wars, so right there I knew I wanted to see it again. But as Mr. GV and a coworker discussed, it is probably the worst of the 6. My thought was Jar Jar Binks was just as annoying this time around. lol

Whole Foods was right down the street from the movie theater, so we popped in after and picked up a few things for dinner. The rest of the evening was spent in our room, watching TV and just spending time together.

Saturday Mr. GV worked out, we went by the recycling facility with our glass/#3-7 plastics, and headed to The Wild Cow restaurant for lunch. I don't have any pictures of lunch but I can tell you what we ate: Mr. GV had the Philly, Mixed Vegetables with Peanut Sauce, and Garlicky Kale, and I had the Wild Reuben, Pesto Couscous, and Zucchini-Artichoke-Greens Soup. (Both my sides were DElicious, by the way!) Oops I do have one picture, of dessert naturally. We shared a slice of TN Terrapin Cake (chocolate and vanilla cake, caramel, yum yum.)

After lunch Mr. GV dropped me off at McKay Used Books to trade in some books for credit and look around for a bit, while he hung out at Starbucks. I came home with 4 books---3 cozy mysteries and one non-fiction. Then it was off to change and get ready for South Pacific.

Sunday we had lunch at The Wild Cow again. I again went for the Reuben. What can I say? I love those things! My side was chickpea salad. Mr. GV had the French Quarter Dip, along with mashed sweet potatoes and the soup of the day, sweet-potato ginger. For dessert we shared another piece of cake, a caramelized hazelnut cake with vegan Nutella frosting. I enjoyed it, but Mr. GV really loved it. We rarely have dessert at home, so when we are eating out and they have vegan dessert, I am not going to pass it up.

After lunch we took our first ever trip to REI. Mr. GV found some biking/running clothes and I even came home with a slouch beanie that I love.

Last it was on to Whole Foods to stock up on things we can't get in our small town, organic kale being one of those things.

We had a great weekend away from home, and it was nice to just focus on each other for a couple of days. Even with no children at home, there are still responsibilities that keep us from always appreciating the time we have with each other!

Cutting the cord

2012-02-04T21:22:00.000-06:00

A little over a month ago, we finally cut the cord to cable TV land!

I wasn't sure how it would go. I thought I'd be fine with it, but wondered if after having easy access to television for so many years, I'd miss it terribly. But guess what? I don't!

I don't want to give the impression we are completely "deprived" here at the GreenVeggie household. Oh no. We reactivated our Netflix subscription (streaming only for right now) and signed up for Hulu+. And we bought a Roku box, which we use for Netflix/Hulu. I am not one to sit around a small computer screen to watch a program, we don't own a game system, and we don't have internet-ready TV. So a Roku or something similar was needed.

We could watch a lot of TV and movies with what's available to us, if we so desired. But somehow getting rid of cable service and all those channels has taken most of our TV-watching need from us. And no more flipping through the channels means no more being sucked into an assortment of mind-numbing shows.

Mr. GV quit watching most of the series he enjoyed, and figures he will get them through Netflix when the season comes out---if he still wants to see them. Seems TV shows just become habit sometimes. I find I am enjoying what I do watch a lot more, maybe because TV doesn't seem like an "obligation" to delete off our Tivo.

As a nice perk, we are saving some money too. The cable bill has gone from $135 to $45 (still have internet), Tivo was cancelled ($5 or $6, can't remember exactly.) We did add Hulu and reactivate Netflix, but the savings is still substantial.

Eventually we'd like to replace our dinosaur TV with a newer snazzy model, and the savings from cutting cable will allow us to pay for that in just a few months.

Anybody else cutting the cord or thinking about it?

The Good, The Bad, and the Really, Really, Ugly

2012-01-26T19:39:00.000-06:00

The good:

Mr. GV brought home a huge stack of journals, mail, and other papers from his mailbox at work. Included in the assortment were the course materials for a certificate program he took 15 years ago. He doesn't need the materials anymore, and I imagine with the way medicine moves they are out of date anyway.

From this notebook I salvaged:

-one huge 3-ring binder (will probably offer up on Freecycle, along with a couple others)

-21 dividers that can be reused or if no one wants them I will cut off the tab and use for scrap paper for me/art paper for my nephew

-322 sheets of paper that are only printed on one side so will go next to my printer to be reused for just about everything. (I just printed out my 2011 mortgage interest statement on a used piece of paper. I don't think my accountant is going to mind!)

-And best of all, only 3 sheets of paper are going into the recycling bin, because they were printed on both sides.

The bad:

Below you see the stack of professional journals, along with a few paper envelopes and medical updates that are sent to Mr. GV at work. He, along with (dare I say it?) the bulk of medical professionals, never look at these journals. In my opinion, these particular ones are more like magazines. They contain ads every few pages (54 total pages in one, 27 which are ads, and 95/44 in a second one, if you include half-page ads with text on the same page.) Most people in Mr. GV's department throw them into the trash. I told him today if he wanted to let his coworkers know, I would be happy to recycle their copies too.

The ugly:

The plastic bag that comes with almost every single "journal." This is ridiculous. Sometimes they are including a second supplement with the first, but the majority are ads for more products!

I have both emailed and sent back response cards asking to please take Mr. GV off their mailing list, but one company in particular simply will not do it.

I have looked online and cannot find a definitive answer as to whether or not this plastic can be recycled, and there is no recycle number on the bags. So for now, I will be throwing this in the trash, into the landfill, where it will pollute this planet for as long as any of us can fathom. Remember---plastic never actually goes away. It will eventually break down into smaller particles, but it's never actually "gone."

And so, even though I'm happy to reuse and recycle, what I'd most like to have done here is REFUSE. And I can't, and that makes this a definite "ugly."

The little things

2012-01-21T07:00:00.002-06:00

A few little things I've been doing recently, green-wise:

Mr. GV attends continuing education every year, and that always means a lot of paper. Two full binders of paper, as a matter of fact. All things that he will never reference again. There are a few sheets that are blank on one side, and they are pulled out and put beside our printer. We don't do a lot of printing in this house, but there are coupons and a few other things, and I use those papers.

The pages in this picture are all printed on both sides, and there wasn't much I could do with those, so they have gone to the recycling facility.

Mr. GV went through the items hanging up in his closet that he hasn't worn in the past 6 months. He managed to let loose of these 6 shirts, plus one more that I am going to keep for myself, to wear around the house. I'm proud of these 6 that will be leaving our house soon, because it is tough for Mr. GV to let go of things, and I sincerely appreciate it when he does. These shirts will be headed to Goodwill in the next couple of weeks.

I had stopped using dryer sheets for a couple of years, but the static is just terrible in the winter. I found 2 boxes of dryer sheets in my laundry closet, and cut the sheets all in thirds. That is enough to keep the static down, and as a bonus, one box will last three times as long!

(Dark picture--sorry about that.) I buy conditioner that comes in a plastic bottle. Is there any other kind? I have to be honest--I have finally found a vegan conditioner that makes me happy, so I haven't bothered to check to see if they sell conditioner in a container other than plastic.

Lately I've been cutting the bottles open and using a spatula to get the last bit out before recycling the bottes. The amount I got out of 2 bottles was enough to do my 'prone to super-tangles' hair a couple of times.

As I was putting my Christmas decorations back into their tubs for another 11 months, I pulled out a few pieces of which I don't have any sort of attachment. This includes a stocking I was given when I held a volunteer position, a small Beanie, 3 candle holders (minus one glass that broke), and some bud vases. I will admit that I am waffling about the vases though, as I kinda love them. They may not make it to the thrift store, but the rest certainly will.

I'm not sure if you can really see how big this bag is, but that's a wide doorway between my dining room and kitchen. There is some heavy-duty bubble wrap in there, the likes of which I have never seen before. It came with our new microwave, and is extremely sturdy. The rest of the bag is filled with regular bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and air pockets.

A few months ago I offered up some bubble wrap and packing peanuts on Freecycle, and the owner of a local used bookstore took them, as they use it all in shipping books and handcrafted wooden items that her husband makes. I save it up, and whenever I get an assortment together, I take it by.

All on their own, these little things don't seem like very much, but when you add them all together, you can see what a boost the environment is getting from recycling and reusing. Of course the VERY BEST thing to do is Refuse! Refuse that plastic bag, refuse to buy that dust collector, etc. But sometimes we made poor choices in our past, we have no choice in the matter, or darn it--we just don't want to change that one thing that we love so much!

2012-01-15T07:00:00.002-06:00

New Year's Day was a lazy day for some of us.

Unfortunately Mom had to go to work. Mr. GV, middle sister, and I just hung around the house for the most part. Eventually Mr. GV and I went to visit his parents.

Later we had a traditional meal of blackeyed peas, cornbread, and greens. Notice there are no collards on my plate. That's my New Year's tradition---refusing to eat the greens! I did have some okra (green--does that count?) and a riblet.

New Year's Eve 2011

2012-01-14T07:00:00.001-06:00

New Year's Eve we had our second annual game night with Mr. GV's brother and his family.

Casper and Macy, as you can see, were really into it.

The cats were similarly enthused. This makes me think of the Princess...er....the Prince and the Pea.

Nephew and my mom giving clues with Pictionary.

Nephew and ESIL (Essentially Sister-in-Law) preparing to battle it out.

The men, going up against the women in "Battle of the Sexes."

Mom is just a tad bit competative....this is her "SCORE!" move.

Chicken-Fried Tofu

2012-01-13T07:00:00.001-06:00

Mr. GV doesn't do a lot of cooking. It's not that he isn't a good cook, he just doesn't do a lot of work in the kitchen. But when he does---wow! He is good at cooking with his instincts, whereas I am much more a follower of recipes.

There's a yummy bit of food on the hot bar at Whole Foods called Chicken Fried Tofu. And it is so good.

Mr. GV thought he would try his hand at making a similar recipe, and he did a great job of it! It wasn't exactly the same, but very close, and very delicious. He steamed vegetables and cooked rice to go along with it, and I so enjoyed it!

Chocolate!!

2012-01-12T15:16:00.000-06:00

My husband knows me so well. He filled my stocking with lots of vegan chocolate goodies, all ordered from Vegan Essentials. VE is a great resource for anyone looking for vegan items for yourself or as a gift. There are other great online vegan stores out there, but VE is the first one we tried and the one we have ordered from most often. We also order vitams and other supplements from them as well. (Notice one of the candy bars is open and one is actually empty--just a wrapper left. I simply could not wait!)

I'm not getting anything out of mentioning VE. It's just an online vegan store that we've had good results from, and I want to make sure others know about it.

Christmas dinner

2012-01-08T07:00:00.002-06:00

Our Christmas dinner this year was....breakfast! It's nice to get a break from the "traditional" Christmas dinner that takes so long to prepare. And after all, we had pretty much the same thing just a month previously for Thanksgiving.

I actually remembered the Christmas crackers this year!

My mil got in on the fun

as did my mom.

I even got Mr. GV to pose with me for a picture. (And immediately after, he took that paper crown off as fast as he could. lol)

I'm so glad my in-laws came over for dinner. We spent so many years running from one house to the next. Last year was the first year we didn't go to their house on Christmas Day (although we have never missed a Christmas Eve) and the only reason we didn't then was because Mr. GV had to work all day and we were waiting for him in the evening to do our family Christmas. I see a new pattern developing---the in-laws can now come to us!

After my sister and her boyfriend left, Macy decided she could finally play with her new toy in peace, and the squeaking commenced.

Christmas #5

2012-01-07T07:00:00.002-06:00

We spent Christmas Eve night with Mom. Christmas Day morning we Skyped with J and enjoyed his excitement over his Christmas toys plus watched the "unveiling" of the wooden kitchen we got him, and that his dad put together for him.

Around noon we finally got around to opening our gifts. lol I passed them out this year. I cracked up at the fact that Macy's toy was put in a Victoria's Secret bag from last year!

This year we all had good cameras on our phone, as evidenced below.

(I don't have a picture of my sister with her Ipod Touch camera, but it was in play too!)

Mr. GV got a good laugh out of this shirt that Mom got for him.

Mom is not a big reader (the only one in the family, including both son-in-laws and grandson) but she enjoys a good biography every now and then, and she is a big fan of Regis.

My sweet old girl. I'm just thrilled to have her here for another Christmas. I'm missing her brother, Max, bunches right now. I miss Callie the cat too, but she kept to herself a lot.

Sparky getting his lion from Mom and his cube from us.

Again, she was SO OVER all this Christmas stuff. She was also sitting in the same chair as me, safe from my sister's boyfriend. Macy is nervous around anyone who she hasn't known from birth. Seriously. Well, except for J, and we say that she thinks he is her puppy, because she is protective over him.

She decided to just ignore her toy for the time being.

Here's Casper with his goose and rope toys.

Casper getting some lovin' from B earlier.

Mr. GV just hanging out, waiting for the fun to start.

My toe socks. Mom gifted my sisters and I each with a pair last Christmas. I've never had a pair before. Not so sure how I feel about them---it's kinda like a permanent toe wedgie. lol

S and B with their stash.

Christmas #4

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve evening, we took my Mom with us to my in laws house. Here's just a few pictures from that evening.

My mom got an adorable ornament with "Doodlebug" on it, which is the nickname she's had for J since he was born.

We were having a good laugh over something at this point.

A Debbie Macomber book--the last in her Cedar Cove series. *Sob*

Mr. GV explaining to his mom how her new home phone works.

We decided to drag Mr. GV's dad into the 21st century by giving him his first cell phone! He's 71 and has a history of heart attack. I consider it a necessity to have a cell phone for emergencies at this point in his life.

Christmas #3

2012-01-05T07:00:00.000-06:00

Our next quick Christmas celebration was here at our home. We exchanged our gifts Christmas Eve morning.

Naturally Macy was looking forward to this part. lol Here she is checking out her stocking, which had a bag of treats inside.

Meanwhile Gabby enjoyed her own bit of treats from her stocking.

Mr. GV enjoyed getting his tablet computer.

And so did I! (I got the Kindle Fire.)

If you have dogs, do they know how to get their toys out of gift bags? All our dogs have always been able. Matter of fact, Buffy the cocker spaniel, our first dog, would search under the Christmas tree until she found her toy. lol

Macy seems to enjoy her penguin. She also got a Lambchomp (like the puppet) from her Nana, and a bone-shaped plush toy from her Grandma.

Christmas #2

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

This year we had 5 different Christmases, simply because our family is spread out now and we take advantage of whatever time we can get together. The first was on Thanksgiving, with my youngest sister and her family.

The second was a few days before Christmas. My adult nephew (on Mr. GV's side) just got back from a tour of duty in Korea and visited for a couple weeks here. He new duty station is in Nevada, so he drove his new car out there, and his dad and brother went with him, in order to visit with bil's daughter and her three little ones.

This is just a random picture of our tree with gifts underneath.

Younger nephew, bil's partner, and myself.

Bil opening his gifts.

The three children of my in-laws and two of their grand kids.

A few eco doings

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

I know this blog has been very nephew and Christmas oriented lately (and there's going to be more in the next few days, since I like to document events for family members who can't be here, and also as a record for myself.)

So here's a quick vegan/eco post!

I had a few bananas that were quickly going bad. I just wasn't into making banana bread at the moment, so I turned to my trusty The Joy of Vegan Baking, where I found a recipe for a delicious banana crumble. So simple!

I had plenty of vegetable scraps in my freezer, so it was time to make another batch of broth. I threw in some whole peppercorns and bay leaves with the vegetables, and that was it!

I am trying to get back into the habit of making tea for Mr. GV. We've got quite a stash of flavored tea bags, so really I don't have a good excuse for this one except laziness! It's much cheaper than buying the bottled tea that he likes, and more ecological as well.

2012-01-02T07:00:00.001-06:00

Who had a birthday in December? My mom (and my baby sister, but she wasn't here.) Middle sister and I were around for that, and Mr. GV had to work.

Here Mom is showing off her earrings from S.

It was a very busy day! Mom also had to go to the restaurant she works at in order to help out at the party for their angel tree recipients, and she needed to make a dessert as well.

Mom shared her birthday brownie I made with J via Skype. He even helped her blow out the candle!

Before Mom went to work, the three of us went to our hometown Christmas parade. It was a chilly day! We had our usual spot in front of a local burger joint, where we always eat before (French fries for me.) This year the owner said she was expecting us. I guess it's a bonafide tradition now. lol

Just a few entrants in the parade:

There was a lot more---police, big rigs, fire trucks from the volunteer fire departments around the county, church floats, boy scouts, the high school band, etc. I'm so glad I was able to be there with part of my family again this year!

A fresh slate (if we want it)

2012-01-01T07:00:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!! I hope you all have a wonderful, satisfying 2012! Even more than that, I hope that you are able to let go of anything in 2011 that disappointed, saddened, or angered you. It's sometimes hard to do that (believe me--I know!), but the truth is, it only hurts us when we hang on to those things, and not the object of our anger, disappointment, or sadness.

Here's to a wonderful year for us all!

Decorating Mom's Tree

2011-12-31T07:00:00.002-06:00

Mom usually puts up an artificial tree, but this year we decided she'd go with a real, smaller one.

And here is my strong sister lifting the tree.

The cat (Thing 1 I think. Yes there is a Thing 2 as well...) enjoyed playing with the lights.

Lights!

My sister's shoes are made of catnip apparently.

My mommy!

Me!

And my strong sister!

Christmas decorations

2011-12-30T22:16:00.000-06:00

Just a few pictures from our Christmas decorating this year:

We lost two four-legged family members this year (Max the dog and Callie the cat), and this is the first year all our stockings fit together on the mantle. *Sigh.*

I have several snowmen and Santas, although I don't actively collect them anymore. The wooden decorations on the left and the middle were decorated with help from my two sisters many years ago.

Macy was so over the decorating, once she got through with her annual "barking at the tree."

Here I am hanging our 2011 ornament. It reflects somewhere we went for the first time this year, Virginia Beach.

This is as good as family portrait as we could get this year. Gabby the cat was thrilled, as you can see. Ha!

And Macy had to get into this one too. :)

Christmas snacks

2011-12-20T18:07:00.000-06:00

Part of Mr. GV's family is headed out to Arizona for Christmas, so we had our Christmas get together with them last night. I made some snacks to take along.

Vegan sausage balls---Lightlife sausage, Daiya cheese, and Bisquick. So good, and all the non-vegans (meaning everyone other than Mr. GV and myself) thought they were good too!

Homemade Chex Mix. I couldn't find bagel chips that didn't have several chemicals thrown in, so used pita chips instead.

Fudgy Oatmeal cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Were they good cookies? Please see Exhibit A below; Mr. GV enjoying the last of the dough out of the mixer bowl.

Park time

2011-12-14T07:00:00.002-06:00

One day in November J and I decided to go to the park. I think we picked the coldest day possible! We were the only ones there (it was during school hours) but J seemed to stay warm running around in the sun.

Learning to balance...

As we were walking to the car, J spotted some tiny acorns and decided he should take them home for the squirrels at my house. I guess the squirrels who live at the park are on their own!

Flower power

2011-12-13T07:00:00.001-06:00

J is just learning to use scissors. Right now he's using his left hand, but we'll see see if that sticks. (He also does a lot of writing with his left hand. His great-grandfather, great-uncle, and his Ahna are all left-handed, so it wouldn't surprise me if he sticks with that.)

We cut out some shapes together and glued them on to craft sticks.

He decided one of the flowers would be for his mommy, and one for his daddy, as a welcome present from him. They arrived a few days before Thanksgiving.

Pinecone bird feeders

2011-12-12T07:00:00.001-06:00

In November, J and I made pine cone bird feeders. I just happened to find the project listed at an online kids' site, and J's mommy had told me he had been wanting to do this same thing since he saw Agent Oso do it on his show.

First step was to collect the pine cones. We had a pine tree that fell along the edge of the woods a couple months ago, so there were plenty of pine cones to be found.

J decided 5 was enough. I think he was tired of his hands being pricked through his gloves.

The next step is to smear peanut butter all over the pine cone,

which takes a lot of concentration of course. lol

Next you roll the pine cones in birdseed.

You might get messy, but that is half the fun!!

Then you tie some twine around the end. He was SO PROUD of what he made. This was the most excited I saw him get over a project.

Then we tied them around tree branches and near the bird feeder. On the way back in he said "This was so much fun!! " We checked the next day and it appeared the birds had been nibbling.

It's not fall without a leaf pile

2011-12-11T17:38:00.000-06:00

One October night at bedtime, J and I were discussing what our favorite season was. We both agreed fall was our favorite. He said he couldn't wait for fall. I clued him in that fall had been around for oh....about a month already. lol We talked about our favorite things to do in fall, and his was jump in a pile of leaves. So naturally, I had to oblige! I mean really, what is easier to do than that?

There's that look of concentration.

He decided he wanted to rake up a pile for me, so that I could jump in.

Boys playing

2011-12-08T07:00:00.001-06:00

Friday afternoon we went to my aunt and uncle's house so J could play with a couple boys near his age--a cousin and the cousin of a cousin. That's how we roll in a small town, when both sides of the family are from the same place. We grow up knowing not just our cousins, but the cousins of our cousins from their other side of the family.

Naturally if it's fall, there's got to be some time playing in leaf piles!

They discovered the old well.

Uh oh! Here comes Great-Uncle Stanley/Papa!

Oh OK, after he talked to us about the well, he got in on our light saber fight.

And then D, J's daddy, got in on it too.

I love this picture because it looks like J has picked his daddy up off the ground. lol

Cousin Leslie throwing the ball to J, while his daddy helps him at bat.

Rolling down the hill in the house where his great-grandparents lived (and now his great-aunt and uncle live there.) He hasn't quite got the rolling-down-a-hill thing, but he's getting there!

Posing a couple of 3 year old boys who just finished a long session of playing? Not easy.

Cousin K had his finger in his ear, so J decided to do it too!

After we went back to NaNa's house, J and I spent some time outside visiting with the horses. We pulled grass and J practiced feeding them out of his hand.

And there was some kitty-loving happening too.

No Black Friday for us!

2011-12-07T07:00:00.001-06:00

The day after Thanksgiving, we had part of our Christmas gift exchange! We did some fancy footwork to try and get all of us together. J and his parents had to leave the next day for their mid-Atlantic home, S works nights and would drive the hour to mom's house after work that morning, Mom had to be at work at 10 (and actually got called in early) and Mr. GV had to be at work that afternoon at 1:00. So we had our partial Christmas around 8:30-9:00 that morning.

The main thing of course was getting to see J open his gifts that we gave him.

J and I had been perusing the toy aisles of my local big box store and he had been asking for things he saw in commercials. I would look at each one and read out the recommended age. Most of them start at age 4, and he would be so disappointed. Finally we saw Don't Break the Ice and the age was 3! Oh the joy that came from him seeing the number three! "Free? I'm free! I can play that game." So even thought it wasn't in my original plan, I had to get that game for him.

Helping his RaRa open her gift.

NaNa's gift from J and his parents.

Mr. GV opening his gift from J and his parents.

D and J opening his gifts.

Macy enjoying an ear rub from Mr. GV.

K opening her birthday present (25 soon--woot!)

J with his haul.

Playing Don't Break the Ice with RaRa.

Enjoying his Alphie.

Making a PlayDoh pizza. (Notice the tongue--he was concentrating.)

Thanksgiving

2011-12-06T19:06:00.000-06:00

I can't believe I didn't take a single picture of the food prep for Thanksgiving or the actual meal on the table. We had a lot to choose from---mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, dressing, cranberry sauce (homemade), rolls, Field Roast, sweet potato casserole, and for dessert pumpkin pie and an ooey gooey chocolate bar recipe that I only make a couple times a year.

I did snap a few pictures that evening:

Mom

Casper

Mr. GV and J playing a computer game. Naturally Mr. GV couldn't possibly win without J offering up suggestions. ;)

I'm here

2011-11-16T20:23:00.000-06:00

I'm here, just enjoying a break from blogging. The boy will be gone after Thanksgiving, and I expect to catch up on more than a month of what we've been doing.

See you then!

MoFo: Treats with my Sweet

2011-10-31T07:00:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, J and I made Halloween cookies. This time I already had the dough made ahead of time, which let him help with the best parts---rolling, cutting out, and frosting!

J using his great-grandmother's rolling pin. I have other things that belonged to her, but this is probably my favorite. Granny P was a fantastic cook and baker.

Cutting out the cookies.

Frosting them after they cooled.

My contribution to this batch. I had already frosted a batch 3 days earlier to take to the library Halloween party. And yep, I burned a few this time!

A couple of the cookies I had made in the first batch, along with Mr. GV's delicious hot chocolate with Dandies marshmallows.

I used the cookie recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. They are great.

You know, I defy anyone to tell me a vegan can't have the same yummy things that a non-vegan can. And of course we vegans know the bonus to our cookie dough is you can eat it raw without worrying about the eggs!

And so concludes my very first Vegan MoFo!! I'll admit I found it a struggle to keep up at times, even writing a few posts ahead. With my nephew going between my house and my mom's, I find myself on the road 4 days a week and spending the night away from the house at least one night each week due to her work schedule. When I'm here I just want to spend time with my husband and get some things done around my house. And of course I like to spend lots of time with my nephew!

I hope you've enjoyed the time you spent reading my posts! I'll be getting back to more family-type posts soon, and catching up on what J and I have been doing during the month he's been with us. If you are so inclined, stick around and get to know my family a bit! Otherwise, I hope to see you during MoFo 2012!

MoFo: Produce vs Production

2011-10-28T10:34:00.000-05:00

Today I'm sharing a simple picture--my latest haul from my garden. With Halloween upon us, I've been busy with my nephew. We've been to the pumpkin path, a fall festival, and a party at library story hour. This morning I had a doctor's appointment as well, and had a painful temporary fix on a leg cyst performed, so I rather doubt there will be any cooking done today!

The tomatoes have come in very late this year. There are still many green ones out there, and we will see if they turn or not. There's just one tomato in this picture, but I've given about 13 to my mom already. I think we'll have a few more bell peppers after this to freeze for use in chili and other dishes this winter. And the kale is just getting started, which thrills Mr. GV!

MoFo: Home Cooking Part 2

2011-10-27T07:00:00.001-05:00

A delicious dish I made recently, thanks to Mama Pea and her cookbook Peas and Thank You. Mr. GV absolutely loved this Spicy African Peanut Slow Cooker Soup. I used the alternate directions and cooked it on the stove since I wanted Mr. GV to have the dish for work that day.

This is a hearty soup, with chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and peanut butter. This was the first dish I made from the cookbook, and if it's any indication, I will be cooking from this book a lot!

MoFo: Home Cooking

2011-10-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

Although we've been busy, I've been making a homecooked meal every few days. One of those dishes was Happy Herbivore's 5-Spice Harmony Bowl. I was just sure I wouldn't find Chinese 5-spice powder around this area, so imagine my surprise when I found not just the spice but an organic version at a little Mennonite store in the next town.

Mr. GV thought this dish was OK, but he was not a fan of the wild rice. It just doesn't appeal to him visually, and of course when a food doesn't look good, it's hard to put it in your mouth and enjoy it. I'll probably make this dish again sometime with some brown rice instead.

MoFo: A J kind of day

2011-10-25T07:00:00.003-05:00

My nephew J and I have been hanging out a lot these last 3 weeks. We have developed our little rituals, and one thing he enjoys is checking out my garden and helping me collect the veggies on our way back up from the mailbox.

He even had a little buddy join him one day. J reached out to pick a bell pepper, and this cute frog jumped right on his hand. There was a brief moment of panic as J wasn't sure how he should react, but soon he was enjoying him for a minute, before the frog jumped onto the grass.

J was so proud of the veggies we picked. This cucumber had grown a bit too large while we were away on vacation, so I threw it over the fence to let the wild critters that roam around our woods eat it.

J's dinner that night---vegan nuggets, baby carrots, and a whole cucumber he had picked from the garden just minutes before.

MoFo: Convenience foods, The Sequel

2011-10-24T07:00:00.001-05:00

Continuing on with a few more convenience foods:

Nate's meatballs--We tried these for the first time recently and thought they were very good. I had bought them for my nephew, J, who is staying with us for a couple of months, (and is neither vegan nor vegetarian, but can easily eat vegan in our household.) Sadly, he was not a fan, but Mr. GV and I don't think we'll mind finishing the bag for him.

Breakfast burrito from Amy's. These are convenience in the sense that you don't have to make them up from scratch, but they are not quick to cook. We are not big breakfast eaters but we get these every few months and Mr. GV will heat them up while I am sleeping in. Ahhhh.....

Mr. GV enjoys this Amy's Indian dish,

and I enjoy the Enchilada meal.

MoFo: Convenience foods

2011-10-21T07:00:00.002-05:00

Most all of us have them---a few convenience foods we rely on when we can't or don't want to cook every little thing from scratch. I thought I'd share a few of the favorites here in the Green Veggies household:

Mr. GV enjoys these Ezekiel Sprouted Whole Grain muffins. Luckily two of our local (meaning within 30 miles) health food stores carry them, so he doesn't have to go without. I've made English muffins a time or two, but the recipe I used didn't call for sprouted whole grain flour, and it wasn't all that healthy.

Frozen organic orange juice: I love the Trader Joe's brand because it's a bit cheaper than the other frozen organic orange juice I have tried, and it's *much* cheaper than the organic OJ in a plastic jug.

Many of the recipes I make call for garlic. I really don't enjoy the smell of garlic on my hands, so I sought out a version that was already chopped and was organic. There's no oil--only garlic, water, citric acid, and a small amount of salt. This is by far my favorite shortcut in the kitchen!

Ah, Clif bars. This is something I like to keep in my purse for those times when you just don't have any other options. There are lots of flavors, but I like to keep it simple with the peanut butter flavor. A lot of the others are so sweet and dessert-like that I wind up eating them when I really should be eating something else, so I don't keep them around very often!

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Days 9 and 10

2011-10-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

Days 9 and 10 found us on the road again, this time headed south towards home. We had an extra passenger this time, which made things a little more challenging but for 14 hours in a booster seat, he was very well behaved!

We drove to Knoxville the first day, checked into our hotel, then went down the road to Earth Fare. They are always reliable in having vegan food in their cold case.

Included in dinner that night was apple almond quinoa, oriental noodles, and a chick'n curry dish.

And a nice salad.

Mr. GV also had some mock crab cakes, and we ended the meal with a slice of vegan carrot cake. I knew that would be good, because a couple of years ago when we were traveling I picked up a whole carrot cake there for his birthday.

On Day 10, we stopped at Whole Foods in Nashville and bought some groceries plus lunch. I love their chick'n fried tofu. I don't fry at home (very rarely saute in oil) but I do love to splurge on that fried tofu when we occasionally get to a Whole Foods. There was more to our lunch--earth and sea salad, which I also love, and veggies.

And then-----we were finally home!!! Vacation is great, but there is nothing like being in my own kitchen!

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 8

2011-10-19T07:00:00.002-05:00

Our last day in Virginia Beach, and Mr. GV and I really wanted to eat at a vegan or vegetarian restaurant. So we headed into Norfolk, near ODU, and ate at Path, which is 100% vegan!

Path is located in what I guess is a nightclub (The Edge.) I have personally never been inside one in my life. It just never was my thing. When you look in the door during the day, it appears very dark, so you might think it's closed, but they are in there. There's a few tables you can eat at, or you can of course get it to go.

We were sharing our items as we normally do, and we ordered the buffalo chicken on a bun, and potato salad (which was so good!!),

plus the teriyaki wrap and hand-cut fries.

They also serve breakfast (all day long I believe, but check if that's what you're hankering for) and have homemade cookies.

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 7

2011-10-18T07:00:00.002-05:00

Day 7 involved a visit to the dentist for J, and later on we all ate lunch at Baker's Crust. The waitress checked for us when we asked her to make sure there was no dairy or other animal products in the crust. After assuring us there was none, we ordered the margherita pizza, minus the cheese, and adding caramelized onions and wild mushrooms.

We also shared the spa veggie sandwich, which was interesting. It had hummus, grilled eggplant, avocado, red onion, and watercress. It came with some homemade chips, which I was ready to munch on until I realized the crumbly stuff on top of them was probably Parmesan.

That evening Mr. GV and I, plus brother-in-law, went to Nawab again, only this time a different location. The service and food were both still great. This time we shared some pakoras and Mr. GV had the vegetable jhalfrazie. I again had the channa masala, because it was just so darn good the first time!

We made a trip into Fresh Market grocery store, where Mr. GV looked and looked and LOOKED, and finally located a vegan wine.

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 6

2011-10-17T20:12:00.001-05:00

Day 6 had preschool story hour at the library, so mom and I trooped along with J and his mom. Afterward we hit up good ol' Taco Bell. (Choco Bell according to the 3 1/2 year old.)

That afternoon we finally made it to the beach, and then for our evening meal we went to the Silver Diner.

We shared a basket of sweet potato fries (minus the sauces that come with them.) J had his fair share too!

Mr. GV and I shared the veggie chili.

Mr. GV ordered the summer citrus salad. He said it was a bit on the sweet side, but otherwise was very good.

And I had the mango vegetarian stir fry. It was a bit too full of mango for my liking, but I shared the last half of the dish with Mr. GV, and he took care of any leftover mango for me. :)

Somebody else enjoyed the noodles too.....

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 5

2011-10-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

Day 5 found us at the mall buying a shirt and shoes for Mr. GV. When it was time to eat from the food court, we consulted the Vegan Express app. I have an Ipod Touch (not an Iphone) but the nice thing about the Vegan Express app is you don't need an internet connection in order to access it. Johnny Rockets seemed the best choice for us, so that's where we all ate.

We had the Streamliner burger and fries. It was good--nothing too exciting, just a veggie burger, but I want to say thanks to Johnny Rockets for realizing there are those of us who don't always want an animal for lunch!

That evening we met for dinner with a friend we hadn't seen in over 20 years! We ate at a nice Indian restaurant called Nawab. We shared the vegetable samosas, I had the chana masala, and Mr. GV had the eggplant bhartha.

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 4

2011-10-13T07:00:00.001-05:00

Day 4 started off with vegan pancakes made by my brother-in-law, with maple syrup on top. They were so light and fluffy, and we found out his secret ingredient was club soda. I'll be giving that a try in the near future!

I left a bag of cucumbers at my house for my mother-in-law, who was checking in on Gabby the cat while we were gone. I also brought a couple along with us, and J decided he'd like to eat one of them.

That evening we were ready for our first meal out in Virginia Beach, and we chose a Mediterranean cafe called Baladi. Several things on the menu were marked vegan, and we had plenty of dishes from which to choose.

Mr. GV of course started with the dolmas.

We ate outside, and were losing the light, so this dish doesn't look all that appetizing in this picture. But I swear, it was good! This was the moussaka, which was a special of the day. We are not lovers of eggplant in this house, but we enjoyed it cooked this way.

I chose the Falafel Supreme, which was deeeelish!

There were two vegan desserts on the menu, so even though we were stuffed, we just had to get some of those to go. Here you have Mamool, made with semolina flour and dates, and Baklava. The owner has both vegan and non-vegan baklava on the menu. We had a nice chat with the owner about veganism and how we found his cafe (Happycow.net) and we went away with two complimentary cups of herbal tea and some Turkish Delight.

Biltmore

2011-10-12T19:00:00.001-05:00

On our way to Virginia, we were excited to be able to take my mom to Biltmore for the first time! Mr. GV and I had been twice before. Once on our honeymoon (I remember standing on the porch and thinking "Oh, we've been married for 24 hours now!") The second time was on an anniversary trip a few years ago.

If I lived near Asheville, I would have a season pass to Biltmore for sure. I would go at least once each season to admire the gardens. None of our trips has been exactly the same either, as there are different exhibits set up, new rooms that have been opened to the public, and extra tours you can take.

Mom had a good time, even if she was worn out (we all were) by the end of the day.

Mr. GV enjoyed himself too, even if I did make him do a lot of posing for my camera.

While were there, a model was posing for a photographer. The whole thing was kind of fascinating. She put on her "model face" when the camera started clicking. If you make the picture bigger, you can better see what she was wearing.

Mr. GV, myself, and my mom posing at the front entrance.

The architecture is really stunning. If we go back, I would love to take the tour that explores the design more closely.

After our tour of the house, we went into the gardens and the greenhouse. If you do it right, you'll be touring the gardens alone for a couple of days.

Can you tell how big these leaves are? I have seen some really big ones before, but these are the largest.

We went down the trails (which meant we had to come back UP the steep trails and stairs, and it almost did us in.) But the beauty of it all was so worth it.

We met this sweet girl, Smiley, along one of the paths. She looks almost exactly like my dad's dog, Sparky, only she's a bit smaller and her nose is longer. She had the same smile and personality though.

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 3

2011-10-12T07:00:00.003-05:00

Day 3 was spent driving from Asheville to Virginia Beach. We had hoped to eat breakfast in Asheville, but being a Sunday, the place we wanted to try was wrapped up. We stopped at Earth Fare instead, and had a tofu scramble and home fries.

While there we went ahead and picked up lunch too, so we didn't wind up eating Taco Bell. Taco Bell will do in a pinch, but I would certainly rather have a different meal if possible.
Mr. GV enjoys dolmas, so when he found them on the food bar, he had to get a few, plus a blueberry, strawberry, and spinach salad.

We also each had a veggie hummus wrap, which was very good. Thankfully we didn't have to try and eat in the car. We found a very nice rest area with picnic tables in a wooded area, and had our lunch there.

After a long day of driving, we finally made it to our destination. My brother-in-law had made a vegan Shepard's pie for us, along with a mustard-based gravy, and my sister had searched until she found vegan rolls.

Your VEGAN two cents: Do you eat Taco Bell and Subway when you're traveling? What is your dream fast food item (healthy or not) you wish were vegan-friendly? Anything else you'd like to add?

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 2

2011-10-11T07:00:00.009-05:00

Our second day of vacation found us at Biltmore. We spent most of the day there, and still could have spent at least one more day to have seen everything we wanted. I looked all over online and couldn't find any type of prohibition to bringing in our own food, so for lunch we had some extra breakfast sandwiches and Clif bars, along with some smoothies from a cart. I did notice a couple of things we could have had in their Stable Cafe, but it's expensive and we just decided to eat in the courtyard.

After wearing ourselves out walking in the gardens, we headed out to try Laughing Seed Cafe! We've only been to Asheville once since going vegan 8 years ago, and never had the opportunity to try Laughing Seed.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we asked for a table outside. And then the food deluge began!

For a starter we decided on the Crispy Asian Dumplings. They were great, and my mom (a non-veg) even enjoyed them, tempeh and all.

I also ordered a side of jalapeno onion fries. I had no idea we would get so many. They were a bit hot for me, so Mr. GV wound up eating most of them.

Of course I had to try the Reuben. It was so good--maybe the best I've had. I never in my life had a Reuben before going vegan. Sauerkraut on a sandwich just never sounded good to me, and frankly it wasn't a very popular sandwich here in the South when I was growing up. A few years ago, though, I decided to give one a try and I am so glad I did.

Mr. GV had the Thai Panang Seitan Curry. I tried a couple of bites, and it was good too but a bit too spicy for me.

My mom had the Harmony Bowl. There was a *lot* of food in that bowl!

Believe it or not, we had room for dessert. I find it very hard to pass up vegan desserts because I just don't run across them unless we are at a veg restaurant. We had the homemade ice cream of the day, which was blueberry coconut,

and the coconut cream tart with blueberry compote, which was delish!

My mom had an oatmeal raisin pecan cookie.

I wish we could have had brunch there the next morning, but we had to get on the road to our final destination.

Your VEGAN two cents: Do you seek out veg restaurants when you're traveling? Do you have to try vegan dessert just "because it's there?"

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 1

2011-10-10T07:00:00.002-05:00

(Note to Vegan MoFo readers:) I'm going to have some non-MoFo posts coming up. I only show pictures of vegan food/refer to vegan food normally on my blog, so that won't change. I obviously won't have MoFo in the title of the post, so you can skip those that aren't food-related if you want. But if you're interested in seeing pictures of a family having fun, and some cute kid pictures, stick around!

My family recently traveled to see my baby sister and her family. It was a 2 day trip, and we added in an extra day to take in some sights along the way. My night before we left was spent prepping, and not by just packing, but making breakfast for the next 3 days.

Have you ever had Happy Herbivore's nomelet? It's delicious, and I always make it when we are going to be traveling. I use a glass to cut it into circles, cook up some sausage, add a slice of cheese, and slap it on an Ezekiel muffin (all vegan of course!) The nomelet is also very good on bagels, but I hardly ever have those here.

But do I have a picture? Nope. Every time I thought of it, my mind flitted off to a hundred other things I needed to do. lol

We headed out on a Saturday morning, and made it to Asheville, North Carolina that evening. Along the way we stopped in Knoxville, Tennessee to eat at Sunspot.

(Warning--cell phone pictures following. Sometimes I get a little shy about bringing my camera out at the table in a restaurant.)

Mr. GV ordered the Celestial Tofu Salad, minus the goat cheese naturally. He enjoyed the blackened tofu, mango jalapeno vinaigrette, and corn salsa, plus everything else that was included.

I had the Solar Flare, their homemade veggie burger, and fries.

We've been to Sunspot a couple of times before, but I've never taken any pictures of the quirky decor. For instance, we were seated at the haiku table, where lots of haikus written on little slips of paper were underneath the see-through tabletop.

I got a couple pictures outside too. Love it!

Your VEGAN two cents: Do you make vegan travel food? What's your favorite?

MoFo: Pickle Me This

2011-10-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

This garden season I had a bumper crop of cucumbers and some other veggies, so I got to try my hand at making an assortment of pickles. I pulled out my trusty Ball Blue Book and used their recipes.

Mr. GV likes peppers, so I decided to make a mixed pickle recipe for him. The recipe called for cukes, carrots, celery, pearl onions, sweet peppers, cauliflower, and hot peppers, plus spices, sugar, and vinegar of course.

I prefer a sweeter pickle, so I went with the cucumber sandwich pickles. I can't wait to give them a taste!

But Mr. GV prefers a tangy sort of pickle, so he is getting bread and butter pickles.

This is my first year canning pickles. In the past I've made pickles that just needed refrigeration. Hopefully these will turn out great and we'll be eating pickles all winter long!

Your vegan two cents: Do you enjoy pickles? What's the strangest thing you've ever pickled?

MoFo: Snack Time, and a Favorite Appliance

2011-10-06T07:00:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite snacks is popcorn. I was tired of having to use oil every time, though, so decided it was time to purchase an air popper. And I have never regretted it!

I doesn't get much simpler than this--add popcorn, plug in the machine, and you're done.

Sometimes I eat it plain, sometimes I add a little salt, or you could even add herbs. We have added VegIt before and loved that as well.

But my favorite topping would have to be nutritional yeast. My popcorn is practically swimming in nutritional yeast (referred to as nooch by many people.) Unfortunately it doesn't stick very well. I don't want to add any butter (vegan of course) so have tried tamari. It wasn't my favorite, but the nutritional yeast did stick.

Your vegan two cents: What's your favorite vegan snack? Are you a lover of nutritional yeast like I am?

MoFo: Baking Bread

2011-10-05T07:00:00.003-05:00

Who doesn't love homemade bread? If you raised your hand, then you probably haven't found the right recipe yet! I am still perfecting mine, but I think I may have recently hit on the right one.

I used to use a bread machine, and it made good bread. In fact, I wore out my first one, given as a Christmas gift back in 1998, and had bought a second one at a yard sale. I recently gave that one to my sister so she could try her hand at making bread for the first time.

Here in this house, we've moved on to using a KitchenAid mixer and the oven, which is better only in the sense that you don't have that little hole in the side where the mixing paddle bakes in as you do in the machine.

Right now I'm using a half whole wheat/half white recipe from a bread machine cookbook, and following the rising and baking directions from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Here's the bread after rising. You could leave it in this shape, or you could put it into pans like I do, to make it into traditional sandwich bread shape.

Dough split in half, folded as shown in the cookbook, then left to rise again.

The finished product. For those who have never baked bread before, the idea can be a bit overwhelming. After you've done it two or three times, though, it becomes routine, and you won't even need to refer to your recipe. Plus you get to avoid the high prices of wholesome store bought bread, or the nasty ingredients of the other kind of store bought bread. It is most definitely worth it!

Your vegan two cents: Do you like to bake bread? Do you prefer a bread machine or oven? How about kneading, do you use it as stress relief or is it just another annoying chore?

MoFo: Soup's On

2011-10-04T07:00:00.003-05:00

I have heard it said that cool weather is soup weather. Well, that may be so, but around the GreenVeggie house, it's *always* soup time. Granted, there is something especially satisfying about a warm soup on a cold day, but no matter the temperature outside, we're always ready for a bowl of yummy soup!

One of Mr. GV's favorites is Curried Red Lentil Soup, from The New McDougall Cookbook, by Dr. John McDougall and his wife Mary. It's a great cookbook, and almost all the recipes we've tried from it have been hits.

If you've never cooked wth red lentils before, you're in for a treat. They cook quickly, and don't need to soak like other beans. It may not look like a whole lot in the picture below, but it's a very filling soup.

Your vegan two cents: Are you a lover of soups? What's your fav?

MoFo: Smoothie time and a confession

2011-10-03T07:00:00.002-05:00

I figure I might as well start MoFo off with a confession, and it's a big one. OK, here goes:

(Deep breath) I don't like greens.

I know, I know, some of you may think I need to turn in my vegan card. But maybe there are a few out there who agree with me, and are secret (or public) non-lovers of greens. I have tried to fall in love with greens. I know they are so good for me. I have had them so many different ways, and no matter what I cannot bear to eat the things. Raw, cooked, made into chips, I just don't like them. The taste of kale, turnip greens, collards, spinach, mustards--it's all the same to me--bitter and overwhelming to my mouth. And so I just gave up on them. Until I learned a little trick:

Put them in a smoothie! With the added tastes of cocoa, fruit, and other ingredients, plus the miraculous work of an immersion blender, my taste buds have zero indication that greens are passing by on their way to becoming excellent nutrition for my body.

Here's what went into my most recent smoothie--almond milk, goji berries, frozen fruit, banana, cocoa powder, acai powder, green powder, and hemp seeds. Plus the kale of course.

So if you're like me and had given up in on those greens, hide the taste in a fruit smoothie. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Your vegan two cents: Fess up! Do you loathe greens as much as I do? Any other sneaky ways to hide them from yourself?

Welcome!

2011-10-01T07:00:00.003-05:00

Welcome MoFoers! This year I am participating in my first Vegan Month of Food! I am so excited, and thought long and hard about having a theme. In the end I decided not to, as October is going to be a busy month already, and I didn't want to complicate things any more. I will have my 3 1/2 year old nephew here the entire month, so I think that will be experiment enough. My plan is to blog weekdays for the 20 minimum posts that we MoFoers hope to do. Any more from me will be a bonus in my mind.

What can you expect from me this month? You'll get an assortment of posts, from homemade dishes, foods eaten on vacation, cooking with my nephew, and some food preservation. I might also have the occasional non-MoFo post, since this is a blog about my whole life, and not just food.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy what you see here this month!

October

2011-09-30T07:00:00.002-05:00

October is coming soon, and with a new month will come some new challenges for me!!

First off, as you can see by the banner up above, I am participating in my first Vegan MoFo!! I am so excited to be part of a worldwide vegan event. Last year my Google Reader could hardly keep up with all the participants, and I found so many new blogs I wanted to follow, not to mention new recipes to try.

I'll be doing my best to keep up (the goal is to blog at least 20 days) and try to have a post every day. Wish me luck!

Other things going on in October:

there will be a few days of vacation
my 3 1/2 year old nephew will be with me the entire month
crafts, projects, Halloween, fun fall activities, and all the other yummy stuff that comes along with having a little one around

I have a feeling the month will be something of a blur, but I can't wait!

Birds Don't Share

2011-09-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

One little bird resting,

and enjoying his bath.

Just taking it all in.

Until the bluebird decided he wanted the space.

And the little one flew off.

Because apparently the bluebird just needed a nice concretey place to sit. No bath was taken, no drinking ensued. In the words of the illustrious Michelle Tanner, "How rude!"

Reading

2011-09-27T07:00:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been reading quite a bit. One series I started was the "Miss Julia" series. So far I've read:

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind
Miss Julia Takes Over
Miss Julia Throws a Wedding
Miss Julia Hits the Road

There are 8 more in the series, although I've listened to one of them on audio book, so I've got 7 more to go. The author, Ann B. Ross, is still writing the series, so hopefully there will be more for quite a while.

I also read an interesting non-fiction book called The Winter of our Disconnect by Susan Maushart. She and her 3 teen children took a break from technology/media in their home for 6 months. I laughed out loud a lot at the stories she told, and learned a lot from the interesting studies she referenced.

Feathered friends

2011-09-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

I've noticed a big increase in the visibility of birds in our backyard lately. We have a fairly bird-friendly backyard I like to think, with a bird bath, wild bird seed, and a hummingbird feeder. And of course---BUGS.

We've had plenty of Eastern bluebirds.

The hummingbirds have been enjoying the nature-made nectar from the cannas (and buzzing Mr. GV's head when he is wearing his bright yellow bike jersey-lol), but they also like the woman-made nectar I put out. We have two that I have seen, both either female or juvenile (no red band around the neck.) I imagine they will be heading south soon, so I will load them up with energy as long as they stick around.

We *finally* refilled the finch feeder. We had the thistle and we had the feeder. It was just a matter of cleaning the thing and getting the socks set up. The elastic wears out over time and of course you can buy new ones, but why do that when a rubber band works just as well? They are holding up well, with very heavy amounts of thistle bearing down on them. The finches took about a day to find the feeder, and since then they feed regularly.

Apparently the Eastern bluebirds like to bathe solo. One takes off as another one prepares to land.

One Day

2011-09-23T07:00:00.003-05:00

Sitting outside, watching the sun set through the trees,

watching the world go by,

sewing up Mr. GV's bike clothes

and watching the moon rise.

Turtle

2011-09-21T07:00:00.003-05:00

We have all sorts of visitors to our yard---deer, turkeys, squirrels, birds, rabbits, cats, the occasional dog, etc. But it's not too often that we spot a turtle, although I've no doubt they are out there. We did have that big snapping turtle in our backyard last year, and that was a whole process trying to get the thing out of our yard without hurting it or letting it bite off a finger.

But recently I looked out into our front yard and saw a new visitor---a cute box turtle. I had a little turtle when I was a child, a cute little fellow I named Dinky. I can't even remember where he came from, but it was wild. Now feeling as I do about animals, I would never keep a wild animal as a pet. They belong in the wild (duh.)

This one had made it over to the garden boxes where our compost melons are growing.

We (OK, Mr. GV) moved him over to the edge of the woods. I'm not scared of a box turtle, Mr. GV just got to him while I was busy snapping pictures. lol We had a half-eaten melon that was in our garden bed already, so we offered it up to him, along with a few in-shell peas. I'm not sure what his dining choices were (my Dinky ate freeze-dried worms that came in cubes, and I believe we gave him some fresh produce too) but somebody enjoyed the melon and peas, because they were completely gone when I checked the next day.

Produce and herbs

2011-09-19T07:00:00.003-05:00

My garden is still producing quite a bit. Mainly it's peppers right now. I have been putting them on Mr. GV's salads and will be freezing more of them today. I'm still getting a few cucumbers and peas too.

I was running low on dried thyme, so picked up an organic packet at the grocery store and have it drying on a clean dish towel. If I'm not growing it myself or buying it from an organic farm, then this is the best way for me to get organic herbs. The little jars are so expensive, but the packets are not, and often they are on clearance.

Little bit of decorating

2011-09-12T17:46:00.000-05:00

For my birthday this year, my mother-in-law gave me these cute decorations. I decided to hang them above the doorway between the foyer and living room.

What's so great about something as light as these--you don't have to use nails or picture hangers. I just used straight pins with a small head on them. If I decide to move them, the holes where they are now will be virtually invisible.

Budget

2011-09-05T14:56:00.000-05:00

Mr. GV and I have decided to try a new budget. Now I am not one to talk much about money in public. There are two things that I believe should ONLY be between two partners and not shared with others---one of those things being details of their intimate life, and the other being the details of their money situation. That doesn't mean if someone needs advice/monetary help then they shouldn't open up to those that want to help them; I just mean I don't believe in talking about EXACT NUMBERS of income or savings on a public forum or in a group of people. Others willingly share these details and that of course is their right to do so. (Sharing amount saved in coupons, growing their own veggies, etc of course is a completely different thing.)

So--the budget. Mr. GV and I have never been good with a budget. For most of our 17 years of marriage, we haven't had a written budget. We just know how much we have coming in and how much we generally have going out. We put money into retirement, savings, and our only debt is our mortgage.

But we've got a few big expenses coming up in the next couple of years, and we want to save more aggressively toward them. So it's all on paper now, categories, amounts allotted in each category, and every transaction we make.

We've only been doing this about 2 weeks now. So far so good. Ha! Let's see how we're doing when the holidays roll around!

Around here

2011-09-04T16:40:00.000-05:00

Organizing, including spices. Yes I use them all, and they all went back in the cabinet except for a few doubles that are going to my sister.

Making "spa water." These particular ones had sage/cucumber and lemon balm/cucumber.

Letting the peas dry on the vine and shelling them when I get around to it.

Building a fence in the backyard. I've wanted the area partitioned ever since we buried our first dog there, 7 years ago. We're just now getting around to it though.

Walking Macy in the park. We've only done this once in the last couple of weeks, but as it cools off it will be happening more often.

Grape-tastic Fail

2011-09-01T18:22:00.000-05:00

My mom harvested enough grapes this year to make some jelly. And that's just what I decided to do, for the first time ever.

The grapes were washed and cooked.

Then they were strained through a jelly bag.

I let the mixture refrigerate overnight, according to directions in my handy dandy book. Apparently there were crystals that might form. And looky here--crystals the next day, just like they said. Being the science geek that I am, this excited me even more than the thought of homemade grape jelly.

Next I cooked until it reached the gelling point, then used the water bath canner to make up beautiful jars of grape jelly. And here you go, the final product:

What? Don't see a picture here? Well, that's because there isn't one. Because my jelly didn't set, so I have a bunch of little 4 oz jars of super sweet grape juice. I have bought some liquid pectin (which I was trying to avoid because it has preservatives in it, thus using the no-pectin required recipe the first time) and will be giving it another try soon. Maybe then I'll have some pretty jars of jelly to show off!

A Tree Falls in the South (my apologies to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

2011-08-30T18:07:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago we had a storm blow through. We actually got some rain, which was much needed, but there was also some wind damage in a few counties. We were the lucky ones once again, with no damage to our home and electricity the next day in the sweltering heat.

We did, however, lose a pine tree along the edge of our woods. It hasn't been cleaned up yet because Mr. GV hasn't been able to wield a chainsaw until recently. (More on that to come.)

I might collect some of the pine cones, make sure they are not buggy, and use them to decorate with this fall.

My Sweet Boy

2011-08-21T17:33:00.000-05:00

We were hoping and praying for the best, but it wasn't to be. Instead of a ruptured disc, they found a tumor on Max's spinal cord when they did the CT. It was on the top cervical vertebrae, and as such, not operable. He had been in a tremendous amount of pain before, and so his daddy and I made the decision to have him euthanized. It was the right thing to do, the only thing really. But my heart is still broken into a million pieces today.

He was with us for 11 years and 4 months, from the day he walked up to our house, begging. His ribs were sticking out, and he was starved for both food and love. I of course fed him and my husband agreed he could stay as long as he wasn't let into the house.

A few days later my husband was out of town for a couple nights and the weather turned cold again. I couldn't leave him out in the cold alone, so I let the dog in. He had seemed to get along well enough with our cocker spaniel, who was inside, so I thought it would be OK. I let him in, he jumped onto our bed, laid his head on my husband's pillow, put his paw over on me, closed his eyes, and let out a big sigh. And we both knew then that he was home.

He proved to be the most gentle and loving dog I have ever had the privilege of having in my life. He was friendly to every single human he ever laid eyes on. Oh yes, he might bark at you if you were coming up his driveway or onto his porch, but once you were inside he knew you were a friend and he was all over you for petting and playing.

He was a huge cuddler. Head on the lap, laying on you, sitting beside you in a big chair, leaning on you---he was very fond of the lean.

For the first while when he came to us, he was a shoe collector. I believe he chewed up a couple at the beginning (along with our bedpost) but after that he just collected. We would come home and find him on the couch with his collection after we had been gone. Later he converted to socks. If you left your dirty socks out on the floor, expect to find at least one of them missing. My mom can attest to that fact. He would hide them---between couch cushions, under dog beds, under pillows or the bed covers.

He enjoyed playing in the snow. After we adopted Macy (referred to as 'Max's puppy' for a while) he had a running buddy. Snow or not, they would fly off the deck and into the yard and take off running, but the cold snow made them particularly playful.

I could write a book listing all the good things about Max. He was a wonderful companion, a loving dog, smart, and just so gentle. He had the softest ears that he loved for you to rub, and the sweetest little brown eyelashes. Although I know the pain will dim as time goes on, our love never will, that is for certain. Love you old boy.

MAX

June 1999-August 20, 2011

"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
then when I die I want to go
where they went."

Will Rogers, 1897-1935

Waiting

2011-08-20T17:30:00.000-05:00

I am currently in the waiting room of the vet hospital. Max is having a test now and if all goes well will have surgery in the next couple of hours. Right now the thinking is a bad disc in his neck although because of his age (12) there is of course concern that there could be a tumor. We have been fighting this for a while and hoping surgery would not be necessary, but he is in so much pain, something has to be done. The hospital is about 2 1/2 hours from home, so I feel certain I will be staying in town overnight. Plus there was very little sleep last night at our home, so it wouldn't really be smart for me to drive back.

I'm typing this on my phone, so please excuse any typos. Now back to my regularly scheduled worrying.

In my garden lately

2011-08-18T10:46:00.000-05:00

The compost bed has been growing like crazy, which as you can imagine makes me chuckle. Matter of fact, it's doing better than the beds we actually planted. Here you see melon plants growing, with tons of blooms. The type of melon plants are TBD.

Speaking of melons, Mr. GV had his first ever golden honeydew, and he loved it. And then the peel and seeds went into the compost. So here we have a whole bunch of little seedlings. We'll see if they do anything this late in the year.

Peas! Purple hulls I believe. I have absolutely no memory of throwing out any peas in the compost so I am stumped by this one. They are growing wonderfully though. The wasps and bees love the blooms and we happily coexist when I am watering the plants. I am picking them and leaving them to dry, so I just pick the few that are dry every time I am out there.

This tomato took ages to turn from green to red. I mean weeks. I can't believe it wasn't all rotten inside. I have had maybe 3 tomatoes total from 6 plants. They put on blooms but just didn't do anything. I need to read more on growing tomatoes and see what amendments I should put in the soil next year.

On the other hand, this one cucumber plant is growing very well. The vine is taking up half the bed, and if every single bloom/baby cucumber were to turn into a grown-up cucumber, I would get over 40 cukes from this one plant! I've already harvested several. I'll be making them into refrigerator pickles.

Here's a couple of recent harvests. The broccoli is finally, finally just about finished for the years.

One bell pepper plant is doing really well too. I'll be cutting and freezing these to add to chili and the like this winter.

On a completely unrelated note, today marks Mr. GV's and my 24th anniversary of being a couple. We were together as a couple for 7 years before marrying, through most of my high school years and all of college. I had a crush on him from the time I was 12, which turned into a serious crush by the time I was 14, and we became best friends about that time too. Every now and then I think about the girl I was, and the boy he was, and get a wave of those 'first love' feelings in my gut. Anyone who's been in a long-term relationship knows the feelings change over time, from infatuation-type love to a long-lasting committment type of love. But that first blush of love, that pit you feel in your stomach, that swelling ache in your heart, that 'wow I can't believe he loves me' feeling--it still comes around from time to time, to remind you why you fell in love in the first place.

A visit from cousins

2011-08-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

Recently my cousin and two of her children (also my cousins of course) came to visit and stay the night with my mom. My mom's house is on the way to the campus where the third child was graduating with her master's degree, so it was a convenient, fun stopover.

Little N is an almost-2 1/2 year old, and he's a sweetie pie. He enjoyed playing with J's toys and reading J's books. (Shh....don't tell J---you know how those 3 year olds don't like to share!)

N is not very verbal yet, but that doesn't keep him from laughing and giggling. We had a great time playing "Where's N?" while he hid under his blanket.

Here he is playing with his great-aunt, (my mom).

And here's sweet M, who is 7 and smart as can be. Her sister finished college, both her B.A. and M.A., with a 4.0, and I can see this one following right behind her.

There was lots of running, playing, and giggling. We all went out to dinner and then stopped by the cemetery where family is buried. M got to see where her great-grandparents are buried, and she was interested in learning that both sides of my family are buried there too.

Oh, M is also a cheerleader, so we had to take some pictures of her doing some stunts. My birthday was coming up the next day so both M and N drew me a picture, which I proudly hung on my fridge. :)

Eventually it was bedtime for the little one, and Great-Aunt enjoyed having a little one to rock to sleep again.

Here is myself and my cousin L. We grew up together, even though she lived a couple hours away. Our mothers are sisters, and I know we will always be close, even if we don't get together that often. She was maid of honor at my wedding, and I was matron of honor at hers. We have a nearly 40-year shared history, and that's something you don't forget.

Birthday time

2011-08-08T16:23:00.001-05:00

I had a birthday a while back, and Mr. GV and my mom made sure it was a well-fed one! :)

I slept in to find a big breakfast made for me. We don't normally cook a breakfast-type meal, so this was a real treat.

First off, fruit that Mr. GV cut up.

And then there was this feast--tofu scramble, sausage, and walnut-battered French toast with yummy syrup and cinnamon.

In the afternoon we headed to my mom's house, where Mr. GV did more cooking---cake and ice cream, both from scratch. (Funny note--I told J on Skype that Mr. GV was making me a cake from scratch. He said "Ewww......from scratch!" Apparently he didn't know that little phrase yet, and thought the cake-making involved scratching. lol The mind of a 3 year old!)

Of course there has to be a picture of mom peeling potatoes!

Mr. GV making the frosting for the cake.

My birthday supper---lima beans, crowder peas, corn, stewed potatoes, kraut, and cornbread. We had a couple of riblets but decided not to heat those up.

My yummy cake!

Spumoni ice cream with chocolate chips, cherries, and pistachios.

It was a very nice day, and I have a couple more things to look forward to--a massage, courtesy of a gift certificate from Mr. GV, and a play put on by a local animal rescue group, which is a gift from my mom.

I also heard from both my sisters, my bil, and my nephew that day, plus an aunt, an uncle who shares my birthday, and my mother-in-law.

We brought both pups with us, and Miss Macy was tuckered out and ready to go home by this point.

Bit o' shopping

2011-08-08T07:00:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we ventured to a city for the main reason of seeing "Green Lantern." There were a few other fringe benefits to going to this particular city, though.

We shopped at a couple of Asian stores that we haven't been to in a few years. Here's Mr. GV checking out one of the items.

We checked out a Goodwill, where we wound up with 3 books between us, and browsed around a bookstore, where Mr. GV found a cord he wanted for his Ipod. And right before the movie we had dinner at a favorite Indian restaurant of ours. We were there not long after they opened, so we had our pick of seating (we chose traditional) and we had the place to ourselves most of the time.

Yum--samosas!

We each chose a dish, but knew we would be sharing. I decided on aloo gobhi,

while Mr. GV picked chana masala.

Here's what we wound up buying between two Asian stores. There's different kinds of noodles, seaweed, and dried mushrooms.

I need to figure out a dish to make with these. I'm thinking of them as a kind of dumpling. They would probably be good with just a tasty broth and some chopped cooked veggies. Hmmmmm....

On My Mind

2011-08-05T11:41:00.000-05:00

On my mind today is what I should sprout next. I recently sprouted some mung beans we had in our cabinet forever. It was my first time sprouting, and was oh so easy! Next time I will only sprout a couple tablespoons at a time though, because I wound up throwing several of these sprouts in the compost.

This is a Friday feature from Rhonda at Down to Earth.

Things acquired

2011-08-02T07:00:00.002-05:00

We did acquire some items while at Summerfest. We each got a T-shirt and I got a lovely basket, the kind you see at the natural foods stores, handmade in a fair trade business somewhere in Africa. They usually have leather on the handle and obviously I'm not buying that, so I was delighted when I was able to purchase a cruelty-free basket this year.

We had to make our way to the bookstore of course. :)

And I got a couple pieces of jewelry that I'm thrilled to have. The second one is actually a necklace but sometimes I like to wear it as a bracelet too.

I think we should stay home for a while...

2011-08-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

Gabby sez: You not go anywhere for a while, you unnerstand?

The Road Home

2011-07-31T07:00:00.002-05:00

We found an Indian restaurant in Louisville, KY, on the way home and wanted to give it a try. But we were worried there wouldn't be enough for a couple vegans. Well, we were totally and happily wrong! Everything except a couple of meat dishes and one with dairy yogurt were vegan! There were noodles, idli, salads, rice of course, and a new one for both of us--upma. This is a sampling of what I tried.

And of course brought out freshly cooked were the dosas. Yum. I need to learn how to make those...

We drove home after lunch and picked up the pups from my mom. We had a wonderful time at Summerfest, but it felt so good to be back in our own bed that night.

Summerfest Day 5

2011-07-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Our last day. *Sigh* We had a great breakfast--rice, corn and quinoa pancakes, lotus rice, Field Roast sausages, and zucchini muffins.

We attended the morning plenary, listening to Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr, Amie Hamlin, Dr. Greger, Rae Sikora, and Will Tuttle. After that it was time to pack up and leave. There were some more sessions, but we needed to get on the road. Boxed lunches were available, and we packed those up to eat in the car. I had savory tofu salad, a tofu Reuben, and tabouli salad.

We stopped outside of Cincinnati that night, and found our dinner at Whole Foods, plus loaded up our cooler with kale and other produce, since we would be home the next day. Mr. GV shared my burgers with me, but I was still too full to eat the large salad I also made. It became dinner the next night, after we got home.

Wrap up: This was our second year at Summerfest, and even though the friends we made last year did not come this year, it was at least as enjoyable as last year. I think that was due to knowing what to expect, how everything worked, and feeling more relaxed about trying to get to every session we were interested in. Mr. GV even got in a couple of bike rides, and I had a rest period once or twice. When you are going from 6:00 a.m. straight through to 11:00 p.m. or later, you need a rest every now and then.

Summerfest Day 4

2011-07-29T07:00:00.003-05:00

This was the last full day of Summerfest. First on my agenda was a session about getting rid of your sugar habit. And then I was lucky enough to get a seat in a packed room to see Melanie Joy, Phd. speak about communicating, advocating, and living in a meat-eating world.

Next up was lunch, which for me was 1/2 a baked sweet potato (plain--seriously you don't need brown sugar or butter--they are so sweet and delicious all by themselves), Italian bean something-or-other (ha!), brown rice,

Tuscan vegetable soup, and dessert--a brownie, cookie, and pudding--so sue me, I had to try them all. lol

But to redeem myself somewhat, I also had a big salad.

After lunch was another session with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau about how to tackle popular excuses people might give when they say they "want to go vegan, but..."

We had our farewell dinner that evening, and it was lovely--French onion soup, brown rice, whole wheat pasta with sauce, broccoli raab, chik'n picata,

and an ice cream bar. Mr. GV and I shared this dessert.

The plenary that evening included many lovely things, including the induction of Dr. Neal Barnard, founder of PCRM.

The children of Summerfest performed a few songs for us, and it was lovely to see so many happy faces up on the stage. Dr. Michael Greger presented his popular "Latest in Nutrition" in a quiz-show format, and we all had a lot of laughs and were able to catch up on some nutrition news.

After the plenary, there was the usual social and dancing, but added on was a drawing for a free package for next year. I was so happy for the lucky winner!

Summerfest Day 3

2011-07-28T07:00:00.002-05:00

Day 3, and the only pictures I have from this day are a couple of food pics.

I decided to try some of the raw food selections. I was skeptical, but you know what? They were delicious! I am not a fan of either raw cauliflower or raw mushrooms, but I enjoyed both of them. Here we have cauliflower with olive spread, mushrooms with nori, and a cashew creme.

And here you see potato strata, brown rice with nutritional yeast, grilled veggies, a corn tortilla, and a soup that I did not like so did not eat.

As far as other, non-culinary activities went, I attended a session about raw foods, one about vegan sweeteners and fats, and one regarding women's cancers. They were all interesting, however the last one was frankly below my level, leaving it rather boring to me. But that wasn't the fault of the presenter, but mine. That is, after all, what I completed my college degree in, along with an intense 4th year program and clinical rotations. Mr. GV attended some fitness-based sessions. In the afternoon, together we attended a session presented by Dr. Milton Mills. Dr. Mills gave an informed yet humorous presentation about how a plant-based diet protects you from many chronic diseases. If you are interested in this topic, I recommend you do a search for his presentations. I believe you can find some of them on YouTube.

Next for me was a session with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, cookbook author, public speaker, and owner of one of the best vegan podcasts out there. Again, if you are interested in the subject, or have some "But why..." type questions, then her podcasts are for you. I appreciate her compassion and the fact that she is so well-spoken on the subject. This particular session was about upholding values and honoring tradition, and how to deal with people who try to make you feel guilty or don't understand about not eating certain foods at holidays or other get togethers.

We had another great plenary that night, including an 11th century poem entitled "I No longer Steal from Nature", set to music and sung by an excellent young singer named Sarah.

Summerfest Day 2

2011-07-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of Summerfest brought our first full day of presentations, demonstations, and all sorts of fun events. The meals that day were great as usual but I have no pictures, so no need to talk too much about that.

After the plenary I went to a few sessions while Mr. GV went for a bike ride. And he found out all about those Pennsylvania hills while he was out and about!

First on my agenda for the day was a session with Dr. Richard Oppenlander, who spoke concerning food choices and how they contribute to global depletion. I was glad to see more environmental sessions this year. After that I saw Julieanna Hever again, and she spoke about (and debunked) many of the common myths regarding plant-based nutrition.

In the afternoon it was time for Lindsay Nixon's food demonstration. She has a very popular website, Happy Herbivore, and a great cookbook. I actually took my cookbook along on the trip so I could have her sign it. :) The demo was entertaining and the food we got to sample was delicious!

We had Hawaiian Chickpea Teriyaki with a mango salsa, Low Fat Peanut Butter Spread, Potato Salad, and Black Bean Brownies, all yummy! My camera phone certainly does none of the foods any justice!

After that I skedaddled over to another building to catch the premiere of Vegucated. To be honest, I almost didn't go because there were other presentations I wanted to attend. But after randomly having lunch with the director right before, I changed my mind. And I'm so glad I did. It was both funny and touching.

This is a small portion of the crowd who filled the auditorium and who gave the writer/director/editor (all one in the same) a standing ovation afterward for the wonderful job she did on this documentary.

Marissa Miller Wolfson, filmmaker.

The day ended with another plenary, including a great presentation by Victoria Moran. She is such an interesting speaker. She just knows how to reach out and grab your attention.

Road trip Day 3, and Summerfest!

2011-07-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

Day 3: We had a leisurely drive from West Virginia to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The anticipation was wonderful, because we were almost at Vegetarian Summerfest! We completed our registration and headed to our room to see our Laura and Rob beds. (That's what I call the twin beds we sleep in. As in the characters from the Dick Van Dyke Show, who slept in separate twin beds.)

But first we grabbed some of the free samples that were laid out for us at registration.

And then it was time to head to our first Summerfest meal! As you can see here, I forgot to snap a picture until we had already chowed down on part of the meal.

Here you see the tofu Reuben which was excellent.

And dessert.

After lunch it was time to get started with the classes. I attended a session where Julieanna Hever spoke about recipes and having a good vegan pantry/kitchen, and some important things to remember regarding plant foods.

Next was the topic of the myths and science involved in a plant-based diet, given by Dr. Stephan Esser. Mr. GV learned about wild edibles in a different session.

Next was dinner, which for me was black bean chili, greens, tabouli salad, and brown rice.

Plus a salad and a piece of garnet yam cake with caramel icing, which was really yummy.

After dinner was the plenary, where we all meet together in an auditorium. Rae Sikora spoke, along with a couple of other well-known people. But to me, Rae is the most inspiring in her work towards a cruelty-free world. She shared with us the intelligence and emotions found in chimps, chickens, and many other animals.

After the plenary, it was time for the get acquainted party. We hung around for a while, enjoyed our snacks, and then moved outside to do a little sky gazing. We saw Saturn through a high-powered telescope and it was amazing. It looked....exactly like it looks in illustrations, just perfectly formed with its rings.

And after that? It was time to retreat to our room, drop into our Rob and Laura beds, and pass out!

Road trip Day 2

2011-07-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of our road trip found us driving from Kentucky to Morgantown, West Virginia. This was July 4th, so I had planned it where we would be off the road by dark. I am not a fan of driving after dark on holidays because frankly there are too many people who choose to drink and drive, especially late at night.

We checked into our hotel, then went in search of somewhere to eat. We had hoped to try out a local business, but they were closed for the holiday. (Sad face.) So we settled for Qdoba, which was our first time there. We have a handy little app on our Ipods called Vegan Express. It is a great way to find out what's available for us to eat at chain restaurants, which unfortunately sometimes you have to depend on, especially when you're on the road.

After eating and driving around town for a while, we headed back to our room and just hung out there for the rest of the night. We saw more fireworks from our window, plus watched a couple different specials on TV.

No pictures today. The only one I have is of my half-eaten wrap at Qdoba. Pretty sure ya'll don't wanna see that. lol

2011-07-24T14:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I stayed home and had an eco-frugal kind of day. Sometimes being frugal or green feels like a burden, so it's nice to think through the day and see all the things I've done that help out finances and the world around us.

First up I got some (soaked) dried beans going--chickpeas, kidney, and black.

I spent a few minutes in the early morning sitting outside on the deck.

I hung out a couple loads of clothes (this is just the first one.)

Defrosted some vegan hot dogs for Mr. GV. Yep they're in plastic so not the *best* thing but they were in the freezer and I'm trying to use up some old things in there.

Rinsed out a couple of plastic bags for reuse later.

I got some cushioned air pockets together for recycling. I've emailed the place we take our plastics above #2 to see if they will take these. If not, the company will accept them back for recycling.

Got the cans/jars we had used for the day together, to take for recycling today with the rest.

Saved the end of the onion I was cutting up for a later batch of vegetable broth.

Made up a new batch of vegetable wash.

Had a yummy, nutritious snack of popcorn with nutritional yeast.

Listed to entertaining and informative podcasts while I worked in the kitchen.

Made up a big pot of chili with the aforementioned beans.

Used the soap slivers we've accumulated over the past few months to make up another batch of liquid soap.

Made some more homemade cheeseless parm.

Fixed 8 bottles of tea, per Mr. GV's request.

Walked to the mailbox and pondered what, if any, trees should replace the two we lost to the storms earlier this year.

Wondered if the persimmon tree is EVER going to give us any fruit.

Admired my cucumber plant and how the fencing acts as a great trellis.

And was happy to see at least a couple of tiny baby cukes!

Was grateful to see the broccoli plants are still proving me wrong and sending up small side shoots, which we are enjoying in our salads.

A few other things I managed during the day:

-Made a donation online and printed out the tax receipt on the back of a used sheet of paper, only turning on the printer when needed.
-I washed and dried our sheets later in the day so as not to heat up the house. Sheets are the one thing I don't like to put out on the line. Allergens seem to bother us when I do.
-I went through my filing cabinet and pulled out the book for the non-working TV we recycled as e-waste earlier this month. The book was recycled this morning.
-I paid attention to the dishwasher's cycle so I would know when to cancel it. I've found that even on eco-wash, a large portion of the last part of the cycle is devoted to heated drying. There is no way to turn that off as there was on my old dishwasher, so I just listen and stop it when I am able.
-Paid attention to when the central air was running. With the current temps, it seems as though it wants to run all the time, even when I have it turned up to 75 or 76. I kept turning it up yesterday when I was sitting, because being in front of the fan is enough to keep me cool then.

Anybody else want to share some of the eco-frugal things you've been doing lately?

Road trip Day 1

2011-07-24T07:00:00.002-05:00

*Note: Most of the pictures from our road trip/Summerfest were taken with my phone camera. It does an OK job, but expect a few blurry pictures.*

We headed out on our road trip on July 3rd. I was upset that we had to miss the 35th annual July 4th celebration put on by one side of my family, but it couldn't be helped. We spent the night before with my mom, then left our dogs with her. *Sniff* That was really tough. They are both getting up there in age but Max especially is not doing so well right now.

We ate breakfast on the road. I made up the nomelet recipe from Happy Herbivore, then added vegan sausage, Tofutti cheese, and Ezekiel muffins, and we had ourselves a homemade, vegan breakfast sandwich. I made 6 and we had one each morning of the trip to Pennsylvania.

Our first day we made it to the Lexington, KY area, where Mr. GV has family. But first, we stopped off for a vegan meal at a Chinese restaurant.

We shared an order of potstickers,

and then I had the sesame Kwachic. I'm not sure what Mr. GV had, but I'd bet money it was General Tso's Kwachic, which looks basically the same as mine, but with a spicy/not sweet sauce.

We ran through a lovely hail storm that eventually caused us to have to pull off under an overpass. I was a bit nervous, because where there's hail, oftentimes at home there are tornadoes. But luckily it was just hail and rain, and after several minutes we were able to get back on the road.

We checked into our hotel, then went to visit family. There were 2 aunts, an uncle, and a multitude of cousins, including this newest little doll baby. She is adorable and I loved knowing that she is going to grow up in a house full of multiple generations, plus aunts, uncles, and more cousins living near her.

After spending several hours visiting, we headed back to our hotel room, where we watched fireworks going off in all directions. Apparently it just became legal in KY to buy fireworks and everyone was so excited, as you can imagine.

A recent supper

2011-07-23T07:00:00.002-05:00

Mr. GV had been asking me to make this meal for a while. Both recipes are from Veganomicon. I had canned chickpeas on hand so didn't even have to really plan ahead for this meal.

Herb-scalloped potatoes. They are so creamy and...well, just delicious!

Chickpea cutlets, a very popular recipe from the cookbook. I thought of making a gravy to go over the cutlets, but when the potatoes first come out of the oven, there is plenty of liquid, and I used it over my cutlet.

Homemade Parm

2011-07-22T07:00:00.001-05:00

Back in my omnivorous days, I never was a huge fan of Parmesan cheese. At least not the kind you buy in a plastic bottle. Actually I wasn't much of a fan of any kind of cheese, and you would never catch me eating a piece of cold cheese. Ugh.

But Mr. GV and I ran across a parm substitute a few years ago when we were visiting Chicago. We bought a container and enjoyed it as a topping on pasta dishes. I have since bought it online from a vegan store.

And then I saw a recipe for it that was exactly like the ingredients on the back of the container, so decided to start making it myself.

It really doesn't get much easier than that, and the result is a delicious, healthy topping. You can use other nuts or seeds instead of almonds too. I used the recipe from Vegan on the Cheap, one of my favorite cookbooks. I'm using my old Parma bottle for right now, although I'd like to get a glass shaker eventually.

Another closet

2011-07-20T07:00:00.001-05:00

The hall closet was next on my list. I keep some cleaning supplies in there, my hard floor steamer, batteries, and meds, plus some other odds and ends.

I had all these cute frames in there. The 8x10 will be going, because I don't really care to display pictures that large. The small ones on the right are dog or cat-themed, and for now I am keeping one dog and one cat one. Same for the dog ones on the left--one goes and one stays. The wooden one with flowers I really like and won't have any problem getting a picture in it. The other four I will give myself a deadline for, and if I don't have them filled with pictures and displayed by then, they are going too.

Recycling I found in the closet.

Two heavy glass lightswitch plates that were a gift several years ago. I might put one in my guest room, which is decorated with some antiques. Again, if it's not done quickly, I'm getting rid of both.

The random stuff that is leaving my hall closet for good.

And the finished product. I don't have a before, so just pretend it's filled with random junk I've held on to way too long. Ha.

Good Eatin'

2011-07-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

I have been cooking lately, just not too much new or notable. But I did cook this little number recently, General Tso's Tofu, with rice and steamed veggies. The sauce was delicious!

Also on my plate that evening was pulihora, an authentic Indian rice dish made by a friend of a coworker to Mr. GV. The coworker knows we love Indian food, so she brought us a big bowl of the pulihora.

Mr. GV had an additional dish on his plate that night--a collard dish I have made many times before. He remarked that it was interesting having Chinese, Indian, and Southern soul cooking all in one night. lol

Backyard

2011-07-16T07:00:00.001-05:00

Little white frog (I swear it's white--I couldn't find anything online about it, but it looks white to me) hanging out in the fold of the canna.

Loving this burst of color.

Behold the purge

2011-07-14T10:15:00.000-05:00

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath to see what crap I got rid of out of the master closet. Ha!

Random stuff--air purifier, lamp, travel pillow, cat waterer, etc.

My clothes:

2 shorts
2 dresses
3 skirts
5 pants
5 pair shoes
7 shirts
13 (!) sweaters
a multitude of socks
3 pairs heel supports
new bra

Oh yeah, 3 more shirts I found, plus a photo album. Underneath the shirts are a couple sheets that I have sewn numerous times, and they're not holding together anymore. I might try to patch them or I will cut them up for rags. Either way they are not sitting around in my closet any longer.

Three purses, two belts, wallet that were mine, and a pair of sandals and shirt that belonged to Mr. GV.

Here is the whole gigantic mess. Of course right now it's all moved into my spare room, but in a few weeks hopefully it will all be gone!

Closet cleanup

2011-07-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

We have a fairly large master bedroom closet. And because of that, it becomes the catch-all and gets junky. So I set out to give it a good cleaning.

Here is my (shameful) before picture. On the right are Mr. GV's clothes, and mine are on the left, mostly hidden behind the door. Ahead you see sheets, and below that (behind the mess on the floor) are the shoes. See that red box? Fragile Christmas decorations that I don't want up in the attic. Green clothes basket? Random stuff.

After: winter comforters and blankets on the top, blankets, bags, and beach towels on the next two shelves

sheets (two sets flannel, two sets regular, and top sheets to keep schmutz from the dogs' and cat's paws off the comforter. So much easier to change out a sheet than the comforter...)

My hang-up clothes, before

and after. I'm not into the whole 'put in order by color' thing. It may not look like much less than the before, but I also hung up several shirts that I had laying in a pile in the bottom of the closet.

Pants/sweaters before

and after. I tried on all the pants, and if they were too big, they were out of there. I've kept the weight off for a few years now, and am still losing more, so I figured it was time to finally get rid of the big pants. All the sweaters are gone too, as I just don't wear them.

Mr. GV's side of the closet (plus my wedding dress obviously) before

and after. I put the shirts together by type (T, short, and long-sleeved.) Mr. GV doesn't have the time right now, but very soon he's going to go through and get rid of quite a few. He only wears scrubs to work now, and in his off time sticks to T-shirts. Maybe once or twice a year he needs a dress shirt.

Bottom rack, before. See those cables peeking out behind the clothes? That's our electronics box. My goal is to eventually get rid of that entire box of assorted cables and gizmos, but for now at least it has been neatened and the box found a new home.

After.

Another harvest

2011-07-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

I think this will be the last of the broccoli. I'm going to leave the plants for another couple of weeks, then I will pull them up if they aren't doing anything. A couple of years ago I grew broccoli from seed, and those plants kept putting on side shoots that kept going for quite a while. I bought these from a local organic farm as plants, and so far all they've put on are the one main head.

I really thought we were done with raspberries but Mr. GV tells me no. There are still a few more out there, but it will be up to Mr. GV to get them. The cultured blackberries are starting to ripen, as are the wild ones on the edge of the woods. There are thousands upon thousands of the wild ones, but a lot of them are a few feet into the woods, and I would have to be suited up in armor to go in there visiting the snakes. Or starving of course. The ticks are bad enough. We pulled 5 or 6 off of me yesterday, plus had a couple more crawling. There are lots of new canes on the very edge of the woods, so if all goes well next year hopefully those will fruit.

And we have a few potatoes too.

Then and Now

2011-07-08T07:00:00.003-05:00

In the picture below, you see myself, my baby sister, and our ringbearer. He is a cousin to Mr. GV, and he was a real cutie pie way back then.

Fastforward 16 years and 51 weeks, and here is our ringbearer, now himself the groom. His bride is lovely, and I guess you could still say he's still a cutie pie. ;)

Television

2011-07-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

I go in phases with my television watching. I'll make up my mind that I'm ready to give up cable, we cancel anything but the smallest cable package, and then a few months later I'm trying to convince Mr. GV that I *need* to watch "19 Kids and Counting." lol Just a wee bit irrational.

But lately something's changed. I'm much more resolved about not watching as much TV. I just......don't wanna. So I got rid of several of my season passes on Tivo. And I've made a vow to not set any new* season passes. That is a big deal for me. *Note--I will make one exception for a new season pass, and that is for "Big Bang Theory" when it starts in syndication this summer. I told Mr. GV I would watch it with him, and I'm keeping my promise.

So what do I currently watch?

1. Chuck--Mr. GV and I watch together. It will have 13 episodes in it's last season this fall, and I'm not replacing it.

2. Saturday Night Live--I enjoy some good snarky, topical TV every now and then. For now I will keep this timer, but it might be on the chopping block as well.

3. Desperate Housewives--Haven't decided if I will continue to watch this in the fall.

4. Good Eats--I only watch an episode of this every now and then, because I skip the meat-based episodes.

5. Psych--Another show Mr. GV and I watch together.

6. Mad Men--Not giving this one up, as I adore it. If we get rid of cable, this will be one of the few shows I will be anxiously awaiting from Netflix.

7. Aarti Party--We love Indian food, so I occasionally watch an episode of this on Food Network.

8. Mike and Molly--Mr. GV and I watch together.

9. The Sing-Off--Mr. GV and I watch together and it only lasts for a couple weeks a year.

10. Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes--Have enjoyed this look behind the curtain and it will be over soon.

11. 19 Kids and Counting--Thinking of getting rid of this one as well. (Kicked Kate Plus 8 to the curb recently.)

12. Days of Our Lives--This is something I have watched on and off since I was young, due to my mom watching it. For now it's staying. I admit I also half watch it sometimes, because I usually have my laptop out at the same time.

Wow--that looks like a lot of TV. Of course, some of these are fall shows and some are summer, so I'm not watching tons each week. This coming week, for instance, will have 5 hours of TV.

How does Mr. GV feel about this? Well, I don't think he cares too much. He is probably expecting me to flip-flop about it in the near future. lol But I'm hoping not. I'll report back here occasionally on how it's going.

Happy Happy Fourth!

2011-07-04T07:00:00.001-05:00

To all my fellow Americans, I hope you have a great Independence Day, whether you are celebrating with family, friends, taking in the fireworks on TV, or just having a quiet day!

Normally we would be with a large group of family, but I'm sad to say that was not possible this year as something else took precedence. I'll miss the fireworks, all the little ones running around, and seeing family and friends, but I'm making the most out of my day anyway!

Raspberries, day 3

2011-07-02T07:00:00.002-05:00

I think this will be the last batch of raspberries. The majority of these have gone into the freezer, and I'm thinking of a few different ways to use them up later.

The wild blackberries are just starting to turn. If we beat the birds to them, we will have quite a bit of these fruits too.

The dime is there for size comparison, because the wild ones are much smaller than the ones we planted. I found that dime earlier in the day in the parking lot of our local health food store.

Raspberries, day 2

2011-06-30T07:00:00.002-05:00

Mr. GV went out for round 2 of raspberry picking. I'm freezing most of these, as they only last a couple days fresh.

So pretty!

Compost bed

2011-06-28T07:00:00.002-05:00

Our compost bed is kind of like a grab bag--you just don't know what's going to pop up from there!

I've got some sort of squash. What kind is yet to be determined.

Here I'm thinking maybe it's butternut squash.

And here I think maybe it's acorn squash. Or maybe some type of mutated zucchini? Ha. I can't really even tell how many plants there are, because it's a big tangled mess.

Underneath there's an onion growing. I'm interested to see how that turns out.

Cat nap

2011-06-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

This is part of the recycling. It's in my dining room with a couple of cardboard boxes, waiting to be taken to the collection bin. Actually I think I'll unscrunch it and fold it up so J can color on it to his heart's content the next time he visits. At any rate, right now it is apparently the *perfect* place for a cat nap.