I gotta tell ya, these pumpkin muffins were pretty great. I did have to resist the urge to put a little Earth Balance butter on them though, but not because they weren't delicious, but because I love Earth Balance.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Pumpkin Muffins...
I gotta tell ya, these pumpkin muffins were pretty great. I did have to resist the urge to put a little Earth Balance butter on them though, but not because they weren't delicious, but because I love Earth Balance.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Lots of green tomatoes...
I've wanted to have my own garden for years. Once I went vegan, it seemed like a must-have. My husband built me an 8'x4' raised bed. Growing your own vegetables is definitely a learning experience. I can't wait to put what I learned into action next year. First of all I need to stake my tomato plants. There are only three of them, but they are huge and they spread out everywhere. I won't be growing carrots again, much cheaper to buy them (even the organic kind). I will definitely plant kale, lots of kale!
The weather here in NKY is pretty chilly. It's starting to frost in the morning and I still have a ton of green tomatoes growing in my garden. Jenn's grandma told her that I should pick them all, wrap them in tissue paper and put them in a cool, dark place. They will turn red. So, that's what I'm going to do.
Just look at all those tomatoes! Check out my crazy garden in the background!!!
Off to make some Tomato Killer with some of my red tomatoes!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Being Vegan Has Changed Me...
Compassion is one of the best side effects of being vegan. I first noticed this when I found a spider in my house after reading "Eating Animals" by Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I was unable to kill the spider. I've killed hundreds of spiders in my previous, non-vegan life. In fact, I've even made fun of my husband for being afraid of these spiders because he didn't grow up in the country like I did. I'm not afraid of spiders, but now I don't want to step on them. Erin Red once said, "that spider is just going about it's day being a spider doing spider things."
Now that I'm filled with all this compassion I find myself signing all sorts of petitions. This morning on twitter I stumbled upon a picture of a dog with hooks in it's mouth. That is bad enough, but then I read the caption "Live and dead dogs and cats are being used as shark bait. They are thrown into the water, towed behind a boat until a shark bites." Absolutely mortifying! I couldn't get the image of that poor dog out of my head. You can read the full article here. Please, please, please sign the petition here. I can't believe I live in a world where this is happening.
On a lighter note, I also signed a petition for Starbucks not to charge extra for soy milk. They are penalizing people that can't digest cow's milk as well as those that don't want to harm animals with our coffee fix. You can sign the Starbucks petition here.
I sign petitions of all kinds now, whether it be about animal rights, school lunches, vegan issues, etc. I feel like I can make a difference, and if I share it on my FB page and Twitter and others sign, then I really can make a difference. Be the change you want to see in the world.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Juice Cleanse Recap...
Howdy! So, this juice cleanse was okay. It could have been worse. I could have felt like crap like my friend Jenn, the detox dropout. Although if I felt that badly I probably would have quit too.
-It cost me $69.15 (I only had a couple ingredients already on hand). That could be a pro or con for some people. For me, I think it would have been worth paying the extra $15-$20 to buy the juice already made at a juicing specialty store. There was a Groupon going around recently for a three days juice cleanse for $87.
-I lost 3.6 pounds in three days! I know I didn't do this for the weight loss, but to get myself back into eating a plant based diet, but that's still pretty awesome! I have a pair of shorts that are snug when I put them on, but after a while they loosen. Well, today they were loose when I put them on!
-My complexion is glowing! Seriously y'all!
-Since the first day of the cleanse I haven't craved anything. My stomach only growled when it was time to drink another juice. Most times I wasn't even hungry when it was time to drink, but if I didn't drink it I'd be left with two juices at bedtime.
-I did find it hard to prepare food for my kids. I was putting grapes in their lunch boxes and almost popped a grape in my mouth. So, I didn't crave food unless it was sitting in front of me.
-I had to turn down an invitation to dinner.
-I had a headache for two days, most likely from the caffeine withdrawal. I'm switching to decaf now that it's out of my system.
-Most of the juices were gross, like hold your nose and chug gross.
-The juicer was a pain in the you-know-what! It needed to be at least rinsed out between each juice. It had a blade and mesh sort of disc thingie that was really hard to get completely clean.
-I've developed a phobia of beets.
-My kitchen was taken over by juicing for three days.
-I was in a happy mood for the entire cleanse. Just a reminder, my husband is out of town and I have two kids, and I was HAPPY? Kinda weird, but good weird.
-I went to Kroger every day for three days. I always forgot something.
My friend Jenn had mostly negative side effects (bloating, lethargic, headache). Her complexion did look really good though. When she wasn't juicing, she ate a whole foods plant diet.
So far today I've been able to stick with eating a vegan plant-based diet. Lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, a little peanut butter, probably another salad for dinner. So far so good!
Would I do this again? Probably too soon to tell. I will say that if I did I would go the pre-made juice route. Shopping for the produce, washing the produce, cutting the produce to fit in the jucier, juicing the produce and then cleaning up was really time consuming!
I hope that gave you a little insight into juicing. I'm happy to say I survived!
PS. Here's the link to the three day juice cleanse I did.
You can read about Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 of the cleanse and my reasons for giving the cleanse a try here.
Day After 3 Day Juice Cleanse: I woke up this morning and didn't feel the urge for coffee. Not really hungry. Got on the scale and it turns out I lost 3.6 pounds in three days! Not too shabby! I wasn't really doing this for the weight loss because I've read that you just gain it right back anyway.
I took the kids to school and then sat down to eat an apple. I could really feel my stomach moving. It didn't feel weird to chew again after not doing it for three days, Jenn said she missed chewing. The apple didn't really fill me up so I had a big bowl of cereal (Rip's Big Bowl: healthy cereal, lots of fruit, soy milk). Later in the day Jenn and I trekked to Whole Foods to eat lunch at the salad bar. I had a lot of veggies and some tabbouleh (a first for me, and I liked it!). I expected some stomach/gastrointestinal issues, but none so far!Overall Thoughts of Juice Cleanse:
-It cost me $69.15 (I only had a couple ingredients already on hand). That could be a pro or con for some people. For me, I think it would have been worth paying the extra $15-$20 to buy the juice already made at a juicing specialty store. There was a Groupon going around recently for a three days juice cleanse for $87.
-I lost 3.6 pounds in three days! I know I didn't do this for the weight loss, but to get myself back into eating a plant based diet, but that's still pretty awesome! I have a pair of shorts that are snug when I put them on, but after a while they loosen. Well, today they were loose when I put them on!
-My complexion is glowing! Seriously y'all!
-Since the first day of the cleanse I haven't craved anything. My stomach only growled when it was time to drink another juice. Most times I wasn't even hungry when it was time to drink, but if I didn't drink it I'd be left with two juices at bedtime.
-I did find it hard to prepare food for my kids. I was putting grapes in their lunch boxes and almost popped a grape in my mouth. So, I didn't crave food unless it was sitting in front of me.
-I had to turn down an invitation to dinner.
-I had a headache for two days, most likely from the caffeine withdrawal. I'm switching to decaf now that it's out of my system.
-Most of the juices were gross, like hold your nose and chug gross.
-The juicer was a pain in the you-know-what! It needed to be at least rinsed out between each juice. It had a blade and mesh sort of disc thingie that was really hard to get completely clean.
-I've developed a phobia of beets.
-My kitchen was taken over by juicing for three days.
-I was in a happy mood for the entire cleanse. Just a reminder, my husband is out of town and I have two kids, and I was HAPPY? Kinda weird, but good weird.
-I went to Kroger every day for three days. I always forgot something.
My friend Jenn had mostly negative side effects (bloating, lethargic, headache). Her complexion did look really good though. When she wasn't juicing, she ate a whole foods plant diet.
So far today I've been able to stick with eating a vegan plant-based diet. Lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, a little peanut butter, probably another salad for dinner. So far so good!
Would I do this again? Probably too soon to tell. I will say that if I did I would go the pre-made juice route. Shopping for the produce, washing the produce, cutting the produce to fit in the jucier, juicing the produce and then cleaning up was really time consuming!
I hope that gave you a little insight into juicing. I'm happy to say I survived!
PS. Here's the link to the three day juice cleanse I did.
You can read about Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 of the cleanse and my reasons for giving the cleanse a try here.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Juicing, Day 3 (last day!!!)...
Hey Y'all! Well, I didn't wake up at all to pee at all in the middle of the night. I think it's because most of the juices yesterday were around 16 ounces whereas the first day they were more like 24-32 ounces. I haven't been hungry at all really and I've generally been happy, which is unusual for when my husband is out of town. Usually I'm just bummed because he's gone.
7:45am - Apple-Carrot-Beet (breakfast)
-I'm never eating beets, ever. Cooked, raw, whatever, it's not happening. They just taste like dirt even after peeling them.
-I only used about a half of a beet in this juice (it called for 2), and my juice still tasted a little like dirt.
-This juice wasn't bad, pretty pleasant except for the tasting a little like dirt.
-I noticed my headache was finally gone!
11:30pm - Great Greens Juice (mid-morning snack)
-This juice wasn't awful, but not good either. I've been judging them based on if I have to hold my nose or not. I didn't have to hold my nose.
-It also helped that this juice was less than 16 ounces.
-I made the other three juices for the day, thoroughly cleaned the juicer and sat it by the front door to return to Jenn. If I don't ever see that juicer again I will be a happy girl!
2:30pm - Tabbouleh Juice (lunch)
-This juice was actually pretty good. One I wouldn't mind having again. It called for 1/2-1 lemon, so I used a whole lemon, which is probably why it was so acidic.
5:00pm - Bruschetta Juice (mid-afternoon snack)
-This one was good too. It only called for tomatoes, garlic, and basil. It was very garlic-y!!! It din't make very much, say 10 ounces, but it had two cloves of garlic. I love garlic, but it burned going down!
9:00pm - Green Juice (dinner)
-This was the only juice I needed to hold my nose while drinking today. I think I had to do it 4 times yesterday! Unfortunately this one was 32 ounces!!!
-I was a little excited for the juicing to be over that I took too big of a last gulp and almost hurled green juice all over.
-I'm DONE! It feels good to take on a challenge and KILL IT!
I'll post again tomorrow a recap to share if I'd lost any weight (fingers crosses) and how I felt about juicing overall. See you then!!!
7:45am - Apple-Carrot-Beet (breakfast)
-I'm never eating beets, ever. Cooked, raw, whatever, it's not happening. They just taste like dirt even after peeling them.
-I only used about a half of a beet in this juice (it called for 2), and my juice still tasted a little like dirt.
-This juice wasn't bad, pretty pleasant except for the tasting a little like dirt.
-I noticed my headache was finally gone!
11:30pm - Great Greens Juice (mid-morning snack)
-This juice wasn't awful, but not good either. I've been judging them based on if I have to hold my nose or not. I didn't have to hold my nose.
-It also helped that this juice was less than 16 ounces.
-I made the other three juices for the day, thoroughly cleaned the juicer and sat it by the front door to return to Jenn. If I don't ever see that juicer again I will be a happy girl!
2:30pm - Tabbouleh Juice (lunch)
-This juice was actually pretty good. One I wouldn't mind having again. It called for 1/2-1 lemon, so I used a whole lemon, which is probably why it was so acidic.
5:00pm - Bruschetta Juice (mid-afternoon snack)
-This one was good too. It only called for tomatoes, garlic, and basil. It was very garlic-y!!! It din't make very much, say 10 ounces, but it had two cloves of garlic. I love garlic, but it burned going down!
9:00pm - Green Juice (dinner)
-This was the only juice I needed to hold my nose while drinking today. I think I had to do it 4 times yesterday! Unfortunately this one was 32 ounces!!!
-I was a little excited for the juicing to be over that I took too big of a last gulp and almost hurled green juice all over.
-I'm DONE! It feels good to take on a challenge and KILL IT!
I'll post again tomorrow a recap to share if I'd lost any weight (fingers crosses) and how I felt about juicing overall. See you then!!!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Juicing, Day 2
Okay, so I slept pretty well except for getting up to pee twice (too much info for an opening sentence?) and my bladder was about to explode both times. I also got up to pee twice before even getting to sleep.
Today I'm making sure the juices are spread out.
7:30am - Purple Power Juice (breakfast)
-Kids helped make this one. They are fascinated by the juicer.
-Thankfully it didn't even make 16 ounces. But, this one tastes really good!
-I was laying in bed after drinking this playing on my iPad, the bed was a little too cozy so I decided to take a little cat nap. I talked to Jenn later and she said that she also took a nap after drinking it. Maybe it was something in the drink or most likely because neither of us had our morning coffee.
11:15am - Green Lemonade (mid-morning snack)
-This one isn't horrible, but not yummy either. I was able to drink it without holding my nose.
-I didn't have all the ingredients so I headed up to Kroger to purchase some tomatoes for my next juice as well as all the ingredients for tomorrows juices.
-I made the rest of the three juices for the day.
2:30pm - V28 (lunch)
-This has got to be one of the worst juices! Chugged it with my nose plugged. Gross!
-Still feeling really good or like normal. Just that slight head ache.
-Jenn is not feeling well at all. She has to go to work tonight. She drank some coffee and ate a salad but still feels horrible. She's had no energy yesterday and today. I wonder why our bodies are reacting so differently?
6:00pm - Spinach Fennel Cucumber (mid afternoon snack)
-This is where my timing gets off track. This juice is better than the last, but what isn't? Still held my nose and chugged it.
-Did the 20 minute Pilates video again. This time I didn't do it right after drinking a juice. I felt kinda sloshy last night afterwards.
-Thinking about drinking my next juice is making me nauseous for some reason. Maybe it's because the V28 tasted so horrify bad?
9:00pm - Bountiful Brassica Juice (dinner)
-A little late for dinner, I know.
-Okay, this juice is gross and really acidic. I almost threw up after drinking it. I'm having second thoughts about if I can make it through tomorrow. Ugh, I just want this to be over!
Wish me luck with my last day! It's a busy one so hopefully it'll go fast.
Today I'm making sure the juices are spread out.
7:30am - Purple Power Juice (breakfast)
-Kids helped make this one. They are fascinated by the juicer.
-Thankfully it didn't even make 16 ounces. But, this one tastes really good!
-I was laying in bed after drinking this playing on my iPad, the bed was a little too cozy so I decided to take a little cat nap. I talked to Jenn later and she said that she also took a nap after drinking it. Maybe it was something in the drink or most likely because neither of us had our morning coffee.
11:15am - Green Lemonade (mid-morning snack)
-This one isn't horrible, but not yummy either. I was able to drink it without holding my nose.
-I didn't have all the ingredients so I headed up to Kroger to purchase some tomatoes for my next juice as well as all the ingredients for tomorrows juices.
-I made the rest of the three juices for the day.
2:30pm - V28 (lunch)
-This has got to be one of the worst juices! Chugged it with my nose plugged. Gross!
-Still feeling really good or like normal. Just that slight head ache.
-Jenn is not feeling well at all. She has to go to work tonight. She drank some coffee and ate a salad but still feels horrible. She's had no energy yesterday and today. I wonder why our bodies are reacting so differently?
6:00pm - Spinach Fennel Cucumber (mid afternoon snack)
-This is where my timing gets off track. This juice is better than the last, but what isn't? Still held my nose and chugged it.
-Did the 20 minute Pilates video again. This time I didn't do it right after drinking a juice. I felt kinda sloshy last night afterwards.
-Thinking about drinking my next juice is making me nauseous for some reason. Maybe it's because the V28 tasted so horrify bad?
9:00pm - Bountiful Brassica Juice (dinner)
-A little late for dinner, I know.
-Okay, this juice is gross and really acidic. I almost threw up after drinking it. I'm having second thoughts about if I can make it through tomorrow. Ugh, I just want this to be over!
Wish me luck with my last day! It's a busy one so hopefully it'll go fast.
Juicing, Day 1...
It's day 1! I had so many second thoughts this morning. The idea of juicing is always so much better than the reality.
- I woke up at 7:00am, got the kids ready for school, drank a cup of hot water with lemon (I usually have coffee). I planned on running to the grocery store after dropping the kids off at school to stock up on fruits and veggies, but Jenn had the ingredients I didn't for the first juice of the day. Yay, I didn't have to run to Kroger looking like a zombie!
-Woke up with a headache, but I went to sleep with one as well.
-Met Jenn at the kids school to get the juicer and the rest of the ingredients I needed for the juice.
-Got home, washed up the juicer and made juice #1
9:00 am - Carrot Apple Ginger Juice (breakfast)
-This juicer is amazing! It pulverizes anything you stick in it! This is going to be fun!
-This is delicious, I think I'm going to like juicing!
-Rinsed out juicer, not too much of a mess.
-Went to Kroger to buy all the fruits and veggies I would need for the next two days. I left my list at home! Thank goodness Jenn was there with her list. We looked like two veggie-loving fools in the produce department.
-Man that bread baking in the Kroger bakery smells good, tummy rumbles.
-I totally underestimated the amount of produce we would be buying/consuming! I think I left with 6-7 bags of produce. I bet the check-out lady thought I was crazy!
12:30pm - Mean Green Juice (mid-morning juice)
-Does it look like I drank this mid-morning? Whoops!
-Set the juicer up again, this time the recipe made 24 ounces of juice! The first one was only 16 ounces. Crap, how am I going to drink all this juice today?
-Ugh! This juice is terrible!!! I don't know how I managed to drink it all. I'm sure holding my nose and gulping helped.
-What have I gotten myself into? There's no way I am doing this for 6 days! 3 days it is!
-Feeling discouraged, but I made the other three juices for the rest of the day.
-Cleaning out this juicer is a pain in ass!
3:00pm - Gazpacho Juice (lunch)
-Drank half on the way to get the kids from school, the rest a couple hours later.
-This juice is pretty bad too, but not as bad as the last one. It made about 32 ounces of juice!
5:45pm - Citrus Inspired Green Juice (afternoon snack)
-Drinking these closer together so I can fit them all in.
-Why are these recipes making so much! Another 32 ounces.
-I've been peeing a ton!
-Still not a very yummy juice.
-This juice was better than the last two, but not anything I would ever voluntarily want to drink.
8:30pm - Sunset Blend Juice (dinner)
-Drank this over the next hour. Not bad at all, but there is a strong dirt after-taste. I'm thinking it's from the beets or sweet potato since they do come from the ground.
-Another 32 ounces of juice!
-I'm finished with juice for Day 1!!!
Finishing the day at 9:00 with a 20 minute pilates video and a cup of herbal tea. I wonder how many times I'll get up in the middle of the night to pee?
Today was a pretty normal feeling day. I had a slight headache all day. I didn't really feel tired until about 7:30pm. This day was extremely busy though, so not surprised I'd be worn out. I noticed my face had a little more color in it already! That's always a good sign something is working. It was really hard cutting up fruit and making the kids meals without popping a little something in my mouth.
Okay folks, tune in tomorrow as my juicing adventure continues!
- I woke up at 7:00am, got the kids ready for school, drank a cup of hot water with lemon (I usually have coffee). I planned on running to the grocery store after dropping the kids off at school to stock up on fruits and veggies, but Jenn had the ingredients I didn't for the first juice of the day. Yay, I didn't have to run to Kroger looking like a zombie!
-Woke up with a headache, but I went to sleep with one as well.
-Met Jenn at the kids school to get the juicer and the rest of the ingredients I needed for the juice.
-Got home, washed up the juicer and made juice #1
9:00 am - Carrot Apple Ginger Juice (breakfast)
-This juicer is amazing! It pulverizes anything you stick in it! This is going to be fun!
-This is delicious, I think I'm going to like juicing!
-Rinsed out juicer, not too much of a mess.
-Went to Kroger to buy all the fruits and veggies I would need for the next two days. I left my list at home! Thank goodness Jenn was there with her list. We looked like two veggie-loving fools in the produce department.
-Man that bread baking in the Kroger bakery smells good, tummy rumbles.
-I totally underestimated the amount of produce we would be buying/consuming! I think I left with 6-7 bags of produce. I bet the check-out lady thought I was crazy!
12:30pm - Mean Green Juice (mid-morning juice)
-Does it look like I drank this mid-morning? Whoops!
-Set the juicer up again, this time the recipe made 24 ounces of juice! The first one was only 16 ounces. Crap, how am I going to drink all this juice today?
-Ugh! This juice is terrible!!! I don't know how I managed to drink it all. I'm sure holding my nose and gulping helped.
-What have I gotten myself into? There's no way I am doing this for 6 days! 3 days it is!
-Feeling discouraged, but I made the other three juices for the rest of the day.
-Cleaning out this juicer is a pain in ass!
3:00pm - Gazpacho Juice (lunch)
-Drank half on the way to get the kids from school, the rest a couple hours later.
-This juice is pretty bad too, but not as bad as the last one. It made about 32 ounces of juice!
5:45pm - Citrus Inspired Green Juice (afternoon snack)
-Drinking these closer together so I can fit them all in.
-Why are these recipes making so much! Another 32 ounces.
-I've been peeing a ton!
-Still not a very yummy juice.
-This juice was better than the last two, but not anything I would ever voluntarily want to drink.
8:30pm - Sunset Blend Juice (dinner)
-Drank this over the next hour. Not bad at all, but there is a strong dirt after-taste. I'm thinking it's from the beets or sweet potato since they do come from the ground.
-Another 32 ounces of juice!
-I'm finished with juice for Day 1!!!
Finishing the day at 9:00 with a 20 minute pilates video and a cup of herbal tea. I wonder how many times I'll get up in the middle of the night to pee?
Today was a pretty normal feeling day. I had a slight headache all day. I didn't really feel tired until about 7:30pm. This day was extremely busy though, so not surprised I'd be worn out. I noticed my face had a little more color in it already! That's always a good sign something is working. It was really hard cutting up fruit and making the kids meals without popping a little something in my mouth.
Okay folks, tune in tomorrow as my juicing adventure continues!
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