Please feel free to comment! I love talking to fellow bloggers and I getting feedback really helps!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hello Veggie
Well, I am here and I am enjoying keeping up with my fellow vegan bloggers. I would like to put out a plug for my website http://helloveggie.org
Monday, October 6, 2008
Blogs
Well, I've started a blog for my business, Details. Also, I'm in the midst of starting a blog about learning to be Vegan.
Obviously, I've posted some blogs here that are about cooking or nutrition. But so many different subjects start to get things congested after time. So, I'm think about breaking it down! Stuff about justjenn, goes here. Stuff about veganism, go there. Details, over there.
Things are great at the home front right now. David and I are both little working machines and we're trying to stay strong. It can be tough making time for each other in the midst of everything else. David has his career, personal/free lance projects, friends, family, second job, his band. That's a lot.
Tonight may just be laundry night for me! I cannot express enough how much I love to have a clean house, all messes put away, and all laundry and dishes done! And when I say messes 'put away', I mean put where they belong and not just shoved in a closet! Because then, when you open the closet you get to look at a messy gross pile of crap and realize that you're house only LOOKs tidy and that it's not really true! It's a 'wanna-be' neat and clean!
Speaking of clean. I love David, I love him more than anyone. And I love my little 1br 1ba apartment. HOWEVER, sharing a bathroom with a man is a lot trickier than just having your own. Did you know, Blog, that if a man shaves his face you are left with all of these teeny, short, straight hairs all over your sink, faucet, and countertop? Not only do you have to clean up more frequently, but those little suckers can be hard to get!
I'm ready for fall/winter. You know, not summer/fall but fall/winter. We've been keeping the windows open in our apartment all day and night. It's been amazing. I hate having the air conditioners blazzzzing...and we haven't had to have them blaze anymore. Hooray! Thank you God! You are good!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Stir-Fry. Oh, one of my favorites!
Brown rice. Good for you, just a little chewy. Luckily, when you eat it with a tasty sauce it gets moistened up nicely and is delicious!
Get a large pan or preferrably a wok. Put a couple of tablespoons of sesame oil in there and let it start to heat up. Med-high heat. Nothing to fierce, we wouldn't want to start a fire.
(five words= little sister, wok, fire, tuscaloosa)
It's super easy and tasty to use a frozen bag of stir fry veggie. Frozen veggies are great because you don't have to rush to eat them before they go bad, they are much more healthy than canned veggies, and they are cheaper than fresh produce.
So, dump in a bag of frozen stir fry veggies. I like to add in some extra broccoli, fresh or frozen, to hearty up your stir fry. Those stir fry bags are great but I say, the more large crunchy veggies the better!
Once you've got all your veggies sizzlin', add in some minced fresh giner (about two or three tsp) and a large clove of minced garlic. Mix it around. THEN douce that junk with some soy sauce!
OH mercy. So tasty. You'll have your rice cooking before hand, since rice takes longer to cook- duh. So, once your rice is done just get yourself a hearty scoop of vegestable stir-fry and you're golden.
I also like making stir fry with noodles. However, that recipe requires more of a saucy saucy, whereas the rice resonds well to the light, thin, sesame oil and soy sauce combo. Oh yum. This is what I shall make Thursday night for dinner.
Get a large pan or preferrably a wok. Put a couple of tablespoons of sesame oil in there and let it start to heat up. Med-high heat. Nothing to fierce, we wouldn't want to start a fire.
(five words= little sister, wok, fire, tuscaloosa)
It's super easy and tasty to use a frozen bag of stir fry veggie. Frozen veggies are great because you don't have to rush to eat them before they go bad, they are much more healthy than canned veggies, and they are cheaper than fresh produce.
So, dump in a bag of frozen stir fry veggies. I like to add in some extra broccoli, fresh or frozen, to hearty up your stir fry. Those stir fry bags are great but I say, the more large crunchy veggies the better!
Once you've got all your veggies sizzlin', add in some minced fresh giner (about two or three tsp) and a large clove of minced garlic. Mix it around. THEN douce that junk with some soy sauce!
OH mercy. So tasty. You'll have your rice cooking before hand, since rice takes longer to cook- duh. So, once your rice is done just get yourself a hearty scoop of vegestable stir-fry and you're golden.
I also like making stir fry with noodles. However, that recipe requires more of a saucy saucy, whereas the rice resonds well to the light, thin, sesame oil and soy sauce combo. Oh yum. This is what I shall make Thursday night for dinner.
CHIPS.
Why buy a bag of Pita Chips when you can make your own, pay less, and get more?
I love eating guac. and salsa, but I hate eating too many corn chips (with it) and getting that 'ew, full, i just ate too much junk food' feeling after I'm done with my would have been healthy snack.
SO, I like to eat my dips with whole wheat pita chips. And when I make them, I can flavor them as I like!
Take one bag of pita bread (1.99$) and take out three of six pita breads in the bag. Cut the three pita breads in half, length wise. Now you have 6 halves. Cut each half stack of three into fourths (triangles) and you now have 24 triangles. As we all know, Pita Bread is 'pouch style', which basically mean that each triangle has two sides to it. So, tear each triangle into two seperate triangles. You know have 48 pita chips! I DOUBT a $2.99 or $3.99 bag of Pita Chips has 48 chips.
Lay your 48 pieces of pita bread on two baking sheets. You don't want to over crown one sheet because having a little bit of space between them helps them to crisp.
Put a light layer of olive oil on each piece. Now, this is the best part! You can season your chips however you want! If you're doing them with a dip, you can leave them plain. If you're having them with a soup or with another main dish, you can give them a little spice or herbs. Whatever works!
I prefer doing one baking sheet of chips with only olive oil and sea salt (to keep them plain). I like to make the other sheet full of chips a little more tasty! Combine, in a small prep bowl, some onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper, lemon juice of about half a lemon or less, and some fresh basil, chopped. Mix this up into a gritty little paste. Spread a dallop on each chip. Some can be more and some can be less. This makes for a tasty tasty treat! You can easily omit the lemon and basil and stick to dry seasonings.
You may have 48 chips, but they'll go fast! You'll be using that other half of the pita bread pack before you know it!
YUM YUM.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Two nights ago I tried a Black Bean Burger recipe and also made some sweet potatoe fries.
The sweet potatoe fries were delicious, but not as crisp as I would like. If only I had a pizza stone to cook them on...the crisping part would be so much easier.
The black bean burgers...well. They were OK as far as taste goes. But they weren't that great to eat. I used bread crumbs in them- perhaps I used too fine of crumbs or I used too many. BUT, the patties had a chalky or sandy type of texture to them as I chewed it. This was not enjoyable.
I ate it, I got through it, I'm even eating the leftovers today for lunch. I will admit though, it was somewhat of a last resort.
Next time, I'm going to try using rice or perhaps rolled oats with my veggie burgers. I'll post the results.
I love eating guac. and salsa, but I hate eating too many corn chips (with it) and getting that 'ew, full, i just ate too much junk food' feeling after I'm done with my would have been healthy snack.
SO, I like to eat my dips with whole wheat pita chips. And when I make them, I can flavor them as I like!
Take one bag of pita bread (1.99$) and take out three of six pita breads in the bag. Cut the three pita breads in half, length wise. Now you have 6 halves. Cut each half stack of three into fourths (triangles) and you now have 24 triangles. As we all know, Pita Bread is 'pouch style', which basically mean that each triangle has two sides to it. So, tear each triangle into two seperate triangles. You know have 48 pita chips! I DOUBT a $2.99 or $3.99 bag of Pita Chips has 48 chips.
Lay your 48 pieces of pita bread on two baking sheets. You don't want to over crown one sheet because having a little bit of space between them helps them to crisp.
Put a light layer of olive oil on each piece. Now, this is the best part! You can season your chips however you want! If you're doing them with a dip, you can leave them plain. If you're having them with a soup or with another main dish, you can give them a little spice or herbs. Whatever works!
I prefer doing one baking sheet of chips with only olive oil and sea salt (to keep them plain). I like to make the other sheet full of chips a little more tasty! Combine, in a small prep bowl, some onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper, lemon juice of about half a lemon or less, and some fresh basil, chopped. Mix this up into a gritty little paste. Spread a dallop on each chip. Some can be more and some can be less. This makes for a tasty tasty treat! You can easily omit the lemon and basil and stick to dry seasonings.
You may have 48 chips, but they'll go fast! You'll be using that other half of the pita bread pack before you know it!
YUM YUM.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Two nights ago I tried a Black Bean Burger recipe and also made some sweet potatoe fries.
The sweet potatoe fries were delicious, but not as crisp as I would like. If only I had a pizza stone to cook them on...the crisping part would be so much easier.
The black bean burgers...well. They were OK as far as taste goes. But they weren't that great to eat. I used bread crumbs in them- perhaps I used too fine of crumbs or I used too many. BUT, the patties had a chalky or sandy type of texture to them as I chewed it. This was not enjoyable.
I ate it, I got through it, I'm even eating the leftovers today for lunch. I will admit though, it was somewhat of a last resort.
Next time, I'm going to try using rice or perhaps rolled oats with my veggie burgers. I'll post the results.
Monday, September 22, 2008
YUMMY.
I was looking at two recipes, both of which called for a couple of ingredients I didn't have. I decided to nix the stuff I didn't have, add in a few more things I did have but that weren't called for, and do what I could. The result? A delicious, healthy, hearty, vegestable stew. We can eat it all week, easily take it to-go (to work) as long as we can reheat it, get our tummy's super stuffed because it's THAT hearty, and be comfortated. Who doesn't think healthy soup is a comfort food, it is! MY creation was a perfect welcome to the new season!
Saute: Two medium carrots copped, 3/4 large onion, one stalk celery (too much celeray=yuck!), half a green pepper diced, in a couple tablespoons of oil until the onions become translucent.
Shortly after you start sauteing the veggies, add in a large minced clove of garlic.
Chop into cubes: one large zucchini, one medium butternut squash, and a handful of red potatos
Dice: about 5-8 (however many you choose) tomatoes - one of the recipes said you can add a can of crushed tomatoes instead of this but I prefer fresh over canned any day I have it on hand!
Add in all of these veggies that you have prepared while your saute was going strong. Also add in 2 1/4 cups of watter and two veggie. boion cubes ( I think I totally raped the spelling of that word, but hopefully you'll get the idea).
After you have all of those veggies mixed up bring to a boil, then pull back down to simmer. At this time add in a cup of brown rice, some seasoning (salt, pepper, cheyenne pepper, cumin, orageno, thyme- any of these would be tasty as long as you don't go overboard or mix and match in gross ways...obviously). Cover and let simmer for 45 minutes. Durring the last 10 minutes throw in a chopped fresh herb if you have any. I have an indoor herb garden, so I grabbed some margoram. It's was tasty but pretty mild.
--------------
Overview: veggie broth, brown rice(=great grain), butternut squash, carrots, peppers, onion, garlic, potatos, zucc., tomatoe==== YUM YUM hearty, healthy, comfort food! Eat it with a couple of whole wheat melba toasts and you've got a winner. I'll be honest, my soup could have done well will a little more spices than I actually added ( I used salt, pepper, and the the fresh herb at the end) but if you use a variety of veggies like I did they'll provide enough tasty flavor to get you by!
I think this stew would do well with some whole wheat pasta shells instead of the rice, or with some white, kidney, or lima beans. That would be a great addition of protien! YUM!
Saute: Two medium carrots copped, 3/4 large onion, one stalk celery (too much celeray=yuck!), half a green pepper diced, in a couple tablespoons of oil until the onions become translucent.
Shortly after you start sauteing the veggies, add in a large minced clove of garlic.
Chop into cubes: one large zucchini, one medium butternut squash, and a handful of red potatos
Dice: about 5-8 (however many you choose) tomatoes - one of the recipes said you can add a can of crushed tomatoes instead of this but I prefer fresh over canned any day I have it on hand!
Add in all of these veggies that you have prepared while your saute was going strong. Also add in 2 1/4 cups of watter and two veggie. boion cubes ( I think I totally raped the spelling of that word, but hopefully you'll get the idea).
After you have all of those veggies mixed up bring to a boil, then pull back down to simmer. At this time add in a cup of brown rice, some seasoning (salt, pepper, cheyenne pepper, cumin, orageno, thyme- any of these would be tasty as long as you don't go overboard or mix and match in gross ways...obviously). Cover and let simmer for 45 minutes. Durring the last 10 minutes throw in a chopped fresh herb if you have any. I have an indoor herb garden, so I grabbed some margoram. It's was tasty but pretty mild.
--------------
Overview: veggie broth, brown rice(=great grain), butternut squash, carrots, peppers, onion, garlic, potatos, zucc., tomatoe==== YUM YUM hearty, healthy, comfort food! Eat it with a couple of whole wheat melba toasts and you've got a winner. I'll be honest, my soup could have done well will a little more spices than I actually added ( I used salt, pepper, and the the fresh herb at the end) but if you use a variety of veggies like I did they'll provide enough tasty flavor to get you by!
I think this stew would do well with some whole wheat pasta shells instead of the rice, or with some white, kidney, or lima beans. That would be a great addition of protien! YUM!
FOOD.
Ever since I started the vegetarian lifestyle I've been researching lots of tasty recipes and ideas for cooking. I love to cook, but have never made tons of stuff from scratch. Now, that I'm stratteling the Vegetarian/VEGAN line, I have more of need to experiment with different ingredients and methods of cooking. In order to cook vegan, you pretty much have to re-learn how to cook. No more MEAT, MILK, EGGS, or CHEESE. OH MY! Yes, not only is it possible- it's VERY healthy adn VERY tasty.
There are many awesome substitutes for you typical animal products. 'Animal Products'. Have you ever really stopped and thought about what that term means. It means that people take the milk from cows (which is meant for baby cows to be nurished) and decided to pasturize and drink! What are eggs, really? Like, chicken abortion by-products? Is that totally wacky to think of it that way? Are eggs just the would-be little chicks? I'm not trying to be radical or gross, I swear, honest. I'm jes saying, when did eating animal products start? Why did it start? Personally, I don't think that Adam and Eve were snoopin in a Chickens nest for treats or slaughtering the roaming cattle or deer for dinner. There wasn't the forbidden poultry, the bird that God said 'don't eat!'. NO, it was forbidden fruit. That is what they ate. They ate plants.
Let me go on a min-tangent from my main tangent for a moment, if you will, Blog. EVEN IF I ever ate meat again (which I'm not planning on) I would NEVER eat animal products of any kind that was not free-range and organic. I'm not even going to go there right now and talk about animal foods. Also, I'm not going to go there and talk about factory-farming. I'm hungry and I don't want to lose my appetite. BUT abusing the animals which you raise for food and dousing your food in chemicals (most of which are illegal in other countried due to their likelyhood to be carcinogens) then that is ...tisk tisk, bad! Yuck yuck, bad bad.
-----------------------
Back to the innocent intent of my blog today. OK, in order to cook vegan you practically have to re-teach yourself to cook. ( I said this already, yes). This means, in your pancakes you need to use a ground flax seed/water combo. OR banana instead of eggs. This means in and recipe which calls for milk, you use rice - soy - almond - or coconut milk instead of mooo mooo milk. You get used to using things like whole wheat flour and whole wheat pasta instead of the conventional, white, processed starchy kind.
What gives? What's the point of all of this? Well, I'll save the whole kitten-kaboodle for another post. But, your food is WAY healthier, your food is tastier, and your food makes you feel better!
You get equally full and satisfied. BUT, you don't have that 'uugghh, I can't move and feel like I have a little brick in my tummy' feeling after your meal is over. It's a-w-e-s-o-m-e. I didn't lose that much weight when I first converted, but I'm already a pretty little person after all. I did feel a lot better (both physically, and mentally). I didn't have that guilt or ignorance of nutritional value feeling after I had a mean. It's amazing what just being conscience of what you are eating and making a daily effort to get the nutrients you need does for your moral. You feel pretty good about yourself. OK, so I didn't lose that much weight ( I don't think...) but my husband dropped 10 pounds in what seemed like over nights. AND he isn't quite as convicted about the dairy/egg intake as I am...but just give me time...I"ll convert him yet!
----------------
So, changing your lifestyle via diet is one thing. But changing your lifestyle via budget is a whole other ball of wax. My hubby and I have decided to eliminate the moderately small amount of debt that we have and we have a pretty strict time-line. We've both taken up second jobs. So, not only are we trying to eat more healthily, we are trying to spend less on food, and are twice as busy as before! So, when do we stop and cook our healthy meals? Man, it has been a task!
Last Friday I was feeling freakishly fatigued during the day and I realized the lack of veggies and fruit that I had over the couple of days before hand. YIKES! So now, if my man is working at night and I have a few free hours to myself. . . cooking from scratch is my new hobby! I started last week...it was ok. I didn't make much and ...well, it was the thought that counted. Last night I gave it another go and I'll be keeping my blog updated. So far, this post is too long. So I'm going to start a fresh one. Yum. Yum.
There are many awesome substitutes for you typical animal products. 'Animal Products'. Have you ever really stopped and thought about what that term means. It means that people take the milk from cows (which is meant for baby cows to be nurished) and decided to pasturize and drink! What are eggs, really? Like, chicken abortion by-products? Is that totally wacky to think of it that way? Are eggs just the would-be little chicks? I'm not trying to be radical or gross, I swear, honest. I'm jes saying, when did eating animal products start? Why did it start? Personally, I don't think that Adam and Eve were snoopin in a Chickens nest for treats or slaughtering the roaming cattle or deer for dinner. There wasn't the forbidden poultry, the bird that God said 'don't eat!'. NO, it was forbidden fruit. That is what they ate. They ate plants.
Let me go on a min-tangent from my main tangent for a moment, if you will, Blog. EVEN IF I ever ate meat again (which I'm not planning on) I would NEVER eat animal products of any kind that was not free-range and organic. I'm not even going to go there right now and talk about animal foods. Also, I'm not going to go there and talk about factory-farming. I'm hungry and I don't want to lose my appetite. BUT abusing the animals which you raise for food and dousing your food in chemicals (most of which are illegal in other countried due to their likelyhood to be carcinogens) then that is ...tisk tisk, bad! Yuck yuck, bad bad.
-----------------------
Back to the innocent intent of my blog today. OK, in order to cook vegan you practically have to re-teach yourself to cook. ( I said this already, yes). This means, in your pancakes you need to use a ground flax seed/water combo. OR banana instead of eggs. This means in and recipe which calls for milk, you use rice - soy - almond - or coconut milk instead of mooo mooo milk. You get used to using things like whole wheat flour and whole wheat pasta instead of the conventional, white, processed starchy kind.
What gives? What's the point of all of this? Well, I'll save the whole kitten-kaboodle for another post. But, your food is WAY healthier, your food is tastier, and your food makes you feel better!
You get equally full and satisfied. BUT, you don't have that 'uugghh, I can't move and feel like I have a little brick in my tummy' feeling after your meal is over. It's a-w-e-s-o-m-e. I didn't lose that much weight when I first converted, but I'm already a pretty little person after all. I did feel a lot better (both physically, and mentally). I didn't have that guilt or ignorance of nutritional value feeling after I had a mean. It's amazing what just being conscience of what you are eating and making a daily effort to get the nutrients you need does for your moral. You feel pretty good about yourself. OK, so I didn't lose that much weight ( I don't think...) but my husband dropped 10 pounds in what seemed like over nights. AND he isn't quite as convicted about the dairy/egg intake as I am...but just give me time...I"ll convert him yet!
----------------
So, changing your lifestyle via diet is one thing. But changing your lifestyle via budget is a whole other ball of wax. My hubby and I have decided to eliminate the moderately small amount of debt that we have and we have a pretty strict time-line. We've both taken up second jobs. So, not only are we trying to eat more healthily, we are trying to spend less on food, and are twice as busy as before! So, when do we stop and cook our healthy meals? Man, it has been a task!
Last Friday I was feeling freakishly fatigued during the day and I realized the lack of veggies and fruit that I had over the couple of days before hand. YIKES! So now, if my man is working at night and I have a few free hours to myself. . . cooking from scratch is my new hobby! I started last week...it was ok. I didn't make much and ...well, it was the thought that counted. Last night I gave it another go and I'll be keeping my blog updated. So far, this post is too long. So I'm going to start a fresh one. Yum. Yum.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Who am I? What do I DO?
This year I've gotten married, moved to a new city and state leaving all family behind, gotten my first fulltime job, quit my first fulltime job, gotten my second fulltime job, and have overall been in a beautiful position of growth and transition. I don't feel like paragraphs, I feel like lists:
2008 Hobbies: 2008 Top Interests: 2008 Top 5 Ways Life has Changed:
Jewelry Politics Marriage
Business Development Health Vegetarian/Vegan Lifestyle
Researching Interests Finances Nashville
Cooking Friends Work
Organizing HUSBAND (#1) Blonde Hair, again
Furniture
2008 Top 5 Goals: 2008 Top 5 Achievements:
Paying off ALL debt Financial indepedence from my parents! glorious.
Making a habbit out of Yoga Getting professional help with my anxiety problems
Saving money for Hap ki Do for '09 Moving Forward
No longer being a hypochondriac. sp? Remaining Ambitious
Growing my business
Finding a Church
2008 Top 5 Favorite Things to Do:
Taking walks- in the park, through the city, whichever!
Traveling.
Being cozy.
Drinking hot beverages.
Buying furniture.
Work.
2008 Hobbies: 2008 Top Interests: 2008 Top 5 Ways Life has Changed:
Jewelry Politics Marriage
Business Development Health Vegetarian/Vegan Lifestyle
Researching Interests Finances Nashville
Cooking Friends Work
Organizing HUSBAND (#1) Blonde Hair, again
Furniture
2008 Top 5 Goals: 2008 Top 5 Achievements:
Paying off ALL debt Financial indepedence from my parents! glorious.
Making a habbit out of Yoga Getting professional help with my anxiety problems
Saving money for Hap ki Do for '09 Moving Forward
No longer being a hypochondriac. sp? Remaining Ambitious
Growing my business
Finding a Church
2008 Top 5 Favorite Things to Do:
Taking walks- in the park, through the city, whichever!
Traveling.
Being cozy.
Drinking hot beverages.
Buying furniture.
Work.
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