The end of our 21 days and doing it all over again

It has been so long that my blog forgot who I was. How sad is that? So, my birthday was Friday and that was the last day of DH 21 day vegan diet. I will get pictures of my birthday as soon as I get them uploaded from Brandie's camera. DH had a few vegetarian days and a couple "chicken" days (at least it wasn't beef). He told me he wants to do it again and do it right so we are continuing on. Here is a quick photo essay of a few of our days.

What better way to start off then to have a green smoothie baby!

This was a spinach, beet, and grape smoothie, which he loved!

Quick dinner this night. Just open a can of Amy's Minestrone soup. We rarely eat these because of the sodium content, but some nights are just too crazy!

DH veganized his habanero chili and it was fantastic! Good job, babe



DH's chili over baked potato. This really hit the spot!



Veggie burgers, with heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, and some delicious zucchini mash. Mash, you ask? Well, I put the zucchini, sunburst squash, and tomatoes in the pan and steamed them until they were just done. After draining them I put them on our plates and the water just kept running on the plate. Not wanting soggy buns they went back in the colander were mashed together with added nooch, "poof" zucchini mash. :o) It was really good!

Here is DH with his new beginning green smoothie of spinach, mango, banana, and super foods Boco green powder.

Wish us luck everyone!


Jr. sure loves to swim!

Busy week and "burgers"

First DH is grateful for all the encouragement. It has not been real easy nor real hard, but he is still trying to hang in there. Well, this week has been busy. We have either been watching our adorable grandson or going to doctors. All is ok, just tests for DH's back. Brandie has been cleaning some houses for some of the ladies in our church, which gave us time with Jr. We get to enjoy playing while she is working hard earning a few bucks. This has been a blessing on both accounts. So proud of you sweetheart. You are such a hard worker. Now on with some food porn. :o)

Look at this healthy Vegan grandson of ours!

He loves smoothies. This one is spinach, bananas, and blueberry.

Snack time at work. Heirloom tomatoes, peach, and carrots all from our CSA.

Can't forget "An apple a Day keeps the Doctor Away"

Apples are near the top of the deadly dozen. They are heavily coated with pesticides.

I only eat organic apples.

Organic Fuji. Yummm my favorite

Green smoothies are the breakfast of choice. Here we have spinach, banana, pineapple, and a little bit of kiwi. Don't you just love the color?

Boca burger dinner. DH loved these. I coated them with just a bit of BBQ sauce, added lettuce, onion, yellow heirloom tomatoes and mustard. Along side is some CSA zucchini and potato salad with cherry tomatoes from our garden.

Now isn't that a priceless picture. Two very important men in my life. DH and Jr.

DH loves green smoothies

Morning all! DH loves green smoothies. So far his favorite is blueberry. This morning we had spinach, strawberry, and banana. Yum! Can you believe that DH is drinking 4 cups of spinach in the mornings. His body is celebrating and throwing a party. He said that he woke up hungry this morning, but feels good. Today for Linner (we combine lunch and dinner on Sundays), we are having burgers and potato salad. Fingers are crossed on the veggie burger. DH has had Boca burgers, but these are going to be homemade thanks to Joni! Testing for her was so much fun!

Dinner to be posted later!

Question of the day: What is your favorite veggie burger, bought or homemade or your favorite side? Oh feel free to link to any good recipes. :o)

Now to get ready for church.

Hugs all!

DH made it through day 1

I know, I know, two posts in one day? lol... DH made it through day one. He razed me all day for a diet soda (bad stuff), and notice his anonymous comment? He laughed his head off razing me. All and all he said he survived. He liked dinner, but we both agree that the eggplant should be skinned before cooking. The cheese sauce is amazing as is the tomato sauce. I am going to use them both to make pizza one night this coming week, so stay tuned. On to our dinner photo.

This is Susan's Vegan Eggplant "Parmesan" along with a fresh garden salad of romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado.

Definitely worth making. Enjoy!

DH going vegan for 21 days!!!

Hi all! Well here is the latest and greatest news! My DH has made the decision to go VEGAN for 21 days. Now all of you may or may not know that my DH is a 100% carnivore! So there maybe some grumpy days, but he wants to do this. Detoxing is not always easy. He is a great advocate for veganism and knows it is best for him. He is my best supporter, always telling everyone he talks to how healthy a vegetarian diet is. Today is the day he marked as his starting day. I am going to be eating a very healthy vegan diet to help him along. He wants to detox a bit so he is hoping to have breakfast, lunch, and snacks HIGH RAW. Pictures are worth a thousand words. :o) You can do this honey! I believe in you! Enjoy!!

Green smoothie breakfast. Spinach, banana, and blueberries. Look at that awesome watermelon! It is huge, sure hope it tastes as good as it looks. :o)

He is so melodramatic!

His last words before drinking his green smoothie were, "No More Steaks!"

All gone! 2 quarts consisted of 4 cups of spinach, 1 banana, and blueberries. I added a bit of stevia because DH has an awful sweet tooth. His last words after drinking his smoothie were,

"Hey this was really good!"

Snack time and he was ready! We had been out working in the yard, garden, and pool so his morning calories were burnt. 2 organic white peaches and an ounce of raw mixed nuts.

I only had a peach, but man was it a good peach. I love my CSA!

Lunch time! DH had CSA cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes along side a chocolate protein drink. His drink is made with chocolate rice milk (yes he loves chocolate), banana, and Sun Warrior Raw Brown Rice Protein Powder. Veggie girl turned me on to this and I love it. DH said it was a good lunch, but the drink was a bit grainy.

He said he will get used to it because the flavor was great.

Here is my lunch. Cherry tomatoes fresh from the garden, cucumbers, and carrots. My protein drink is made from vanilla hemp milk, Sun Warrior Raw Brown Rice Protein Powder, and a bit of orange juice. I was trying to get a "50- 50 bar flavor" Kinda worked.

Dinner tonight is going to be Eggplant Parmesan from Susan at Fatfreevegan.com.

I will keep you posted on DH's success! I am hoping that he will feel so good and see such great results that he will want to continue on with a vegetarian diet.

Oh you ask, why 21 days? Because my birthday is in 21 days so it

just seemed like a good number. :O)

Thanks for visiting!

High Raw Week and Feeling Great!

I finally feel good this morning! Even with a stressful week, I somehow feel emotionally, mentally, and physically good. Yes, my back hurts, but it is the inside that feels good! Could it be my high raw week? Below I am only posting 2 days worth of food, but my mom is here on vacation and she was supposed to fly home last Tuesday, but ended up in the ER last Sunday with heart problems and pneumonia. All fingers crossed that she will be able to get out of the hospital today and fly home this coming Tuesday. Scary, very scary! Even DH was scared. We just lost dad and didn't want to loose mom too. Praise the Lord there has been daily improvement and things are looking up.

Also, this week was the last week of my workout class at college. I will miss all the good friends I made. A few of us plan on staying in touch. I am hoping to take a nutrition class with my good friend Jasmine and I am already signed up for the water aerobics class with Heather. Taylor, I hope we can get together even though you are going to be a busy girl at State. Now on to food.

I got myself focused this week to eat a high raw diet and to get some low key detoxing done, I needed to get out of my toxic waste land. I feel as though I met my challenge head on and feel good about it. Everyday was pretty much the same. With work and being at the hospital with mom I only have 2 days worth of pictures. Enjoy!

I am in love with GREEN SMOOTHIES! Breakfast was a combination of spinach,

banana, and a few blueberries.

Lunch was Sun Warrior Raw Rice Protein Drink made with Hemp milk
(gotta get those Omega 3's) and fresh from the garden cherry tomatoes and corn on the cob, which I lightly steamed.

Oh my Gosh! Our CSA included fresh white organic peaches. Peaches are one of the fruits that I will only buy if it is organic. They are at the top of the dirty dozen list and I do not want all that pesticide in my body. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I saw them. Along with an organic apple and some raw almonds my afternoon snack was perfect!

On to dinner! Yes this is my cooked meal. Fresh from the garden we have cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and corn all lightly steamed. CSA also included golden beets, which are the bomb. I roast them in the oven in a covered dish with about 1/4 inch of water. Perfection. Last and certainly not least Julie's Smokey Sausage. Yes, I am still addicted to them. :o) Oh and everything is always better with a small sprinkling of nooch.

Another GREEN SMOOTHIE! Yes, it really is a green smoothie. 2 cups of spinach, about 1/2 cup of cherries, a few strawberries, and a couple blueberries. I did find out that maybe 1/2 cup of cherries was too much. Very cherry smoothie, that turned brown from oxidation by the time I drank it at work. Everyone was, "What the heck are you drinking?"I reassured them that the color did not mean the taste.

Morning snack was another CSA treasure. Organic peach, carrots, and cucumbers. I am in love with fresh organic cucumbers. Try a taste test for yourself. I have found that conventional cucumbers have a slightly bitter taste to them, which I really do not care for. The organic ones are sweet with a hint of a watermelon taste. I know weird sensation, but that is how my taste buds taste them. :o)

Lunch was quick as I was on the run to pick up DH, he is still in his cast, so he can't drive. Another wonderful Sun Warrior Raw Rice Protein Smoothie made from hemp milk and organic strawberries from our CSA. Oh and we can't forget my organic fuji apple! You know what they say: An apple a day keeps the doctors away and I want them far, far, away!

This is a repeat dinner without the nooch. Gotta eat yummy leftovers. This time I did slice my tomatoes in half before cooking them with my zucchini. Does anyone else remember the zucchini and stewed tomatoes in a can? Well, I grew up on that stuff. I am not sure I ever had a fresh zucchini until I was married. My mom still raves about those canned zucchini.

Boy, she needs to try the fresh version!

Question of the day?

What memory do you have of a canned food that you now

make with fresh goodness?

Stuck in a toxic wasteland.

Hi Folks, Sorry for the absence. I want to say that my life of sadness, pain, frustration, and inability to survive has caused my absence and stranded me in a toxic wasteland, but then that would be passing the buck and not standing up to my own stupidity, laziness, and lack of self control. Some of you know and some of you don't know that I have been trying to beat this every trying issue of obesity, which can be a very difficult struggle. Yes, I had been trying hard, but just fell off the wagon. My DH is so encouraging and supportive of my vegan lifestyle and healthy eating. He always tries in a very loving way to help me keep exercising and stay on track. He was so excited for me to take this new class at the college, which I did. Only one week left. I met some really good friends. One of my friends, Jasmine, has struggled with the same issue and has done a fantastic job of making it. Check out her blog if you need to see a real hero! She is such an uplifting person and always encouraging me to keep on going, just one day at a time. Her smile is so contagious. Needless to say, maybe if I am accountable to the world one of two things are going to happen. One, I will succeed, be proud of myself, be a healthier wife, mother, and daughter of God or two I will make a complete fool of myself, embarrass myself, and feel totally useless in life. Ok, put your mind at ease, because number one is my goal.

Lately my dinners have consisted of PB&J toast, chips, and ore's. Yes, they are vegan. Not at all in anyway shape or form healthy, but edible. Or good old fried tofu, fried vegan egg rolls, and rice, thus the toxic wasteland! I have cried all I want to cry, done beating myself up, and poor DH is really tired of my complaining and watching me self destruct. I want to be a good example to him too and don't want to fail at that. I am grateful for the 82lbs I have lost, but that feels like only the tip of the iceberg. I still have between 85 and 95 to go. So now that I have spilled my guts to the world let me leave you with a picture of my morning green smoothie. This is 2 cups raw spinach, 1/2 a frozen banana, fresh blackberries, and a bit of stevia blended all together in my magic bullet. Note to self, when using blackberries you will need to strain your smoothie or you will drink what feels like little rocks. lol... I hope I can really post my daily meals and be accountable to myself and not make a complete fool of myself.

I really want to succeed! Thanks Yogi for your love and putting up with my bad times. BJ and M I appreciate all your support too. Thanks for letting me spill my guts to you and know that I love each and everyone of you for your support and visiting me on my blog.

Saddness hits our home

Chuck, my sweet husband and his dad in April.

Daddy has gone on to the Lord. He passed away Sunday morning. The last time we were able to speak to him was last Wednesday. He kept saying to me, "Pumpkin why is it taking so long to go to the Lord. I am ready. I am tired of being her like this." All I could say to him was, "In the Lord's time, Daddy." Then he would ask Chuck and all my DH could say was, I don't know dad, just keep praying. It was heart breaking. By Thursday all he would do was make sounds, but never acknowledged anyone. Still we asked them to put the phone to his ear so we could tell him we love him. Every night we prayed that he could go and no longer suffer. Early Sunday morning I woke from an amazing dream. I was there with Daddy and he was suffering something awful. I put my arms under his back and held him, while I sang, "Hush Little Baby", (I sing this to my grandson and it always calms him down.) Daddy became calm and looked at me completely lucid and said, "Pumpkin will you pray with me?" "Sure, daddy, I will pray with you." Then I kissed him on the forehead and woke up. It was so real. I could feel Daddy's soft skin and hear his voice as if I was really there. About 3 hours later daddy passed away. We went to church and talked to our Bishop. He said he just needed help passing and your spirits met and you helped him across. What an awesome experience and sad one at the same time. I can still feel him, hear him, and see his sweet eyes.

Daddy and me in April.

Thank you to all of your prayers during the last few months and those who made is possible for DH and I to visith him. DH in March and both of us in April. He went to the Lord knowing he was well loved and that we will be together again. Daddy was an incredible man. Daddy was a wonderful father to my DH and told me I was his only daughter. He never treated me as a daughter-in-law, but as I was born to him. He loved his granddaughters and his only regret was that he did not get to meet his great grandson, Jr, his squirt as he lovingly named him.

We love you Daddy!!!

Tasty test recipe for Julie's next cookbook

It is so much fun testing recipes for upcoming Vegan cookbooks! The hardest part is deciding on which recipe to test. Here I give you another delicious quick bread that is so moist and delicious that you have to be careful to save some for others. I am sorry the recipe is still under wraps, but when Julie finishes the cookbook you need to , BUY IT!

Fresh out of the oven! Smells so good!

Yummy and moist!

Cream cheese delight! Just what the doctor ordered!

Gone crazy for smokey links and nooch!

I am obsessed with Julie's Smokey Links over at the special members site of Everyday Dish. They are amazing. If you can, you should join because the recipes are amazing! It has been warm here and all I want is simple yummy food. Fresh tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, quick couscous, and mouth watering smokey links!!!!

Told you I was obsessed! This time roasted red potatoes, fresh zucchini, asparagus, beets, and the stars smokey links and nooch! (nutritional yeast to those of you who don't know the nickname).

Oh my gosh!!! More nooch and darn ran out of smokey links. I still have more fresh beets, zucchini, asparagus, red potatoes, and out of this world pineapple!

I know I promised more fun and new recipes along with testing for Julie, but the past couple weeks have been crazy. We are hit hard in June with family birthdays. But don't fret, I have new recipes to test next week so stay tuned. :o)

Testing Breakfast Recipes for Julie. Delish!!!

Some test recipes for Julie. Sorry to make everyone drool, but you will have to just keep drooling until Julie's new book, "Vegan Diner" comes out. Trust me you will want this book for the biscuits and gravy alone!!! Enjoy! :o)

Breakfast anyone?

New Sausage and pancake recipe. Can you say YUM?

Ok, stop drooling on your keyboard.


Now wipe your chin, folks!

This is my weakness. Can I say RED LIGHT FOOD?

You bet. They are perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

You ask, How do I know? Trust me I ate biscuits and gravy 4 times in one day. lol

The next day I walked 5.6 miles.

:o)

Were back! Fun Photos and Delicious Sausages/Hot dogs!

We’re home! A big hug and thank you to all of your for your thoughts and prayers for dad. I have to say that driving to Texas from the San Diego area is a very long trip. Total we drove almost 3,800 miles. Along the way we were granted the privilege of staying in KOA camps, the great, the ok, and the ugly. I also learned that as a vegan traveling on the road I need to pack more foods that I could eat. We encountered thunder storms, tornado watches, humidity, and wind, and I mean THUNDER STORMS, TORNADO WATCHES, HUMIDITY, and AND WIND! All of these wonderful aspects of nature gave us little time to BBQ or cook on our camp stove. The problem with that is that you can’t do cooking inside of the cabins. We were supposed to tent camp, but Mother Nature had other plans. :o) Needless to say DH, my omniman could get food anywhere, but me I had little choices. PB&J was big, along with potato chips. I was craving a bean burrito, but quickly found out that all the Mexican places in our area used lard in their beans. GROSS! Now

I have to give a big shout out to VEGGIE GIRL, for turning me on to Sunwarrior Rice Protein Powder. This stuff was and is a life saver. I brought along almond milk, my Magic Bullet, and my kitchen scale. This is the best vegan protein drink you will ever find. I use the vanilla flavored and give it a double thumbs up!! Mix it with your choice of milk, fruit, and a little stevia if you are using some not so ripe fruit and WA LA Heaven! Thank you so much, Liz!!! I couldn’t have made it without you! The Sunday before we left we had a family reunion with my side of the family. My mom and sister live south and did a bit of shopping at a Whole Foods market for me. They brought me veggie burgers, rice cheese, strawberries, lettuce and tomatoes so I would have something yummy to eat while the rest of the family devoured Texas BBQ. Thanks mom! Thanks sis! Oh, let me tell you that strawberries are a perfect addition ot the Sunwarrior Rice protein drink!

On to family: Dad was so happy to see us. He became more alert and ready to fight the longer we stayed. By the time we left he was able to walk with the help of his physical therapist, shower and dress himself, and even stand. We had lunch with him everyday out on the patio, which brought color and smiles back into his face. Sadly, we had to say good-bye, which is the hardest thing I ever had to do. We left him with a mini photo album to look at and remember who loves him and to continue fighting. We invited him to come live with us and we are hoping he will take us up on it. Phones calls everyday just isn’t enough. We miss him so and can’t wait to be together again.

My family lives in Texas too, which gave us a great reason to have a family reunion. It was nice to see my family. Enjoy the pictues. Not sure if I am pale from a lack of vegan food (:o)) or really bad lighting.

I have not seen my big brother for about 10 years.

My brother is a hunter and a cyclist.

My sister love animals. She has probably 15 dogs and maybe 8 cats. If it is a fur person it can find a home at my sister’s house.

Our oldest daughter moved back to Texas in 2005 right before Katrina hit. It was good to see you kiddo.

Mom and Dad are retired and moved to Texas last August.

Hi Family!!! Thanks for the fun reunion!

Well my friends I have been trying to make some decisions to get myself back in the kitchen, which I have missed, but my slump still exists. So to help me get back in the swing of things I have decided to do the following. Next week I will focus my meals from cookbooks that are sitting on my shelves gathering dust along with hundreds of recipes I have printed out to try. I am also going to be testing some new recipes for some new cookbooks, which will be on bookstore shelves or available via the internet soon from some great chefs with great recipes and blogs. So stay tuned for next weeks posts!!!

I have to say that I did join Julie's new Members Only area on Everdaydish and you gotta join! The recipes are amazing. Here is just a little pick at the best vegan sausage/hot dogs you will ever eat. I mean you can forget all the store bought brands and stock up your freezer with these. Yes, they freeze perfectly. I have gilled them as you can see in the picture, sliced them and fried them up, and eaten them cold. Dear hubby, my omnivore says they are spot on!!! Go for it all you foodies!

With that I leave you with hugs and appreciation for you wonderful friendship!!!

We never know what the future holds

Hi everyone, Sadly Chuck's dad is not doing well at all so we are off to Texas. I am not sure how long we will be gone. We have some dear friends staying at the house with the fur kids, which we are so thankful for.

Please keep Dad and us in your prayers. It is a long drive.

Love you all and will post as soon as we get back.

HUGS!!!

Cooking for others is great therapy!

Sorry for my absence, but sometimes life just doesn't go the way you expect. Many of you know I have been out of work with a back injury and it is just going on too long. My last day of work was last October 10. We were hoping I would be back to work by December and here is it April and I am still not working. It looks like it could be another 3 months, but I am shooting for sooner. Needless to say I have been in a rut.

I have not cared about cooking in the least. I have been living on Purebars, but that is another post. Last week I tried to cook, but everything that could go wrong did. We were having a Birthday breakfast at church and since I am vegan and other ladies in the church have various dietary needs I figured I would try to help out. See cooking for others was to be my therapy. First I needed to make gluten free mini muffins. Let me tell you that when you that the muffins grew so big that they spilled over my oven, made a horrible burning smell, and became a disaster. I was so frustrated. My fresh blueberries gone! I also needed to make a vegan quiche. Got myself pumped up and encouraged only to find out that I was out of mushrooms and leeks. One of the ladies at church is allergic to onions and dairy so I always make my dishes with leeks. Off to the store I go only to find out that they are out of leeks. They have not been able to get them for 5 weeks. What? Leeks, they grow year round! Frustration begins to get the best of me. I call my mom, she lives in Texas and I am in California, just to have someone to cry to. She was laughing, can you believe that? I told her this is not a laughing matter, but she just couldn't help herself. THANKS MOM! Off to another store, which I did not have time for, but what is a girl to do. Thank God, they had leeks. I arrived back home, did some deep breathing for stress relief, and attempted the gluten free muffins again. This time I made regular size muffins and they came out super! Now I was on a roll. Sugar free blueberry vegan muffins done, (made with stevia) check! Gluten free apple cinnamon vegan muffins done, check! Mini orange poppy seed vegan muffins done, check!

In the end, Saturday morning was perfect. I got up at 4:15 am and started making the quiche. I used a recipe from Whole Foods and it was awesome! I did add a couple tablespoons of nutrtional yeast to the recipe. I know that there are a lot of vegan quiche recipes from great cooks, but this one set up perfect and tasted great. I couldn't get a decent picture so here you have before cooking and after. As far as the muffin pictures, I forgot and they were gone in a flash

Getting ready to go into the oven.

Sliced and ready to devour.

Another picture. Does the green spinach and the blue plate make a yellow quiche?

I was blessed with a new toy, but you will have to wait. :o)

Hugs to all! I miss you all!!

Happy Anniversary!

First off I would like to say, "Happy St. Patrick's Day" to all of you in blogland! Although it is a very special day to many of you, to me and my sweetie it is our own special day, our wedding anniversary. Yes, we got married on St. Patrick's Day, and no I did not wear green. :o) That is usually the first question. Actually we are old married folks and browns and creams were the big colors of the day. Seems very odd now, but it was way cool back in the day. Hey back in the day was great, we paid $6.00 for our marriage license!

Here we are 32 years ago, the happy couple!!

And here we are today! Even though are looks have changed, the love just keeps on growing. We are still that happy couple. My sweetheart told me he is shooting for at least another 32 years! My thoughts, which I verbalized, "It's for eternity sweetheart"! Oh, yeah! :o

Off to spend a very mushy day together!!!

Rough few weeks, but comfort food helped!

Hey everyone, I am alive and hoping to be on the mend. Some how a UTI found me and has caused me havoc and pain over the last couple weeks. I did my best to go the natural way, by using herbs, homeopathic meds, and chiropractor, but after 7 days of peeing razor blades it was time for a call to my medical doctor. Sure enough, a UTI, which I knew already. Well I have been on the meds for 3 days and I am seeing some improvement. Granted me and AZO have a very tight relationship. Ladies if you ever get one of these nasty infections get your AZO right away. I have also increased my intake of cranberry and blueberry juice to help keep those nasty bacterias away. So enough of the painful whining and onto a new vegan blogger I found and one of his tasty recipes.

Check out Josh's vegan blog. His recipes sound great. I tried his Mock Swiss steak and thought I was in Heaven with the tomato gravy type sauce served over brown rice. The steaks have a wonderful texture. He says it serves 2, but I made mine to serve 4 and it was plenty. Enjoy my friends.

Thanks Josh for an awesome recipe!!!