Vegan Diet - 6 days left

Six days left in the 2 month vegan diet that I am sick of. Not that I'm craving chicken or anything in particular (maybe just chocolate and ice cream). But last night was awesome. I made a soup. A sweet potato, corn and jalapeño soup. It was thick and yummy and took very little effort. Also it was a nice change from the Curried Lentil Soup that has been a vegan staple. Once again I am delighted that I finally bought a hand blender. I use it constantly.

I used a recipe from 2 different sources and guessed on the ingredient amounts. I had 2 very large sweet potatoes to work with and the recipes differed in potato size and numbers. Everybody Likes Sandwiches was the one I focused on mostly because hers made more soup and I have a habit of returning to a pot of something I like until there are no leftovers for lunch. She got her recipe from the Wednesday Chef whom I have read religiously for about 2 years.

Try the links, try the soup. It's very passive cooking. I put on the onions and garlic to fry while Chris cut and peeled the potatoes. I added the broth, turned up the heat and let them boil for 25 minutes until I blended everything, added the rest of the ingredients and ate supper. Yum!

I'd post a picture but I don't have one. But I can verify that the sweet potato soup is orange and looks like a bisque. :)

Vegan Diet - 2 weeks left

We're 6 weeks into our vegan diet.

I don't think it's nearly as much fun as last time.

I'm super interested to see what kinds of habits we keep. I think I'll very quickly go back to drinking milk and eating eggs. Mostly because I don't drink a lot of milk. We have a ton of potatoes in the house from our CSA box and my favorite thing to do with potatoes is to put them in a frittata. And I can't do that. So we have a ton of really nice looking potatoes sitting in the kitchen. Just waiting for some sort of inspired idea. Vegan potato salad is pretty yummy. And they can be added to curry and chili. Ummmm..... and broccoli and potato soup. What else? Any suggestions? Please!

Also, I'm sick of pasta with roasted veggie pasta, lentil soup and couscous. Even though I made couscous just once, I find it bland. I'm still on board with the soy ice cream treats, hummus wraps and vegan curry. 2 weeks should be nothing. But last week I cheated a lot. I got home from the pasta buffet at the Delta on Thursday and I said to Chris, "The vegan pasta was super boring....and I think there was dairy in my cheesecake."

I think I should add an extra week just for that.

vegan diet

About a month ago Chris and I decided to do a two month vegan diet. We did it once before for 2 months. It was about a year ago that we tried it and we only had good memories. Although I recall missing eggs.

So we're a month into our 2 month vegan diet and I cheated. I ordered a veggie wrap and I was so careful to not get pesto on it because of the Parmesan cheese. Well that's great. But I was distracted and didn't noticed that it was made with mozzarella cheese.

I did not unwrap my spinach wrap to dig out the cheese. I ate it. And it was so good. I miss cheese. I am sad I can't buy home made cheese when we pick up our CSA box. I don't really care about eggs this time. And I certainly don't care about meat. But OMG I am dying for a dairy product or two...or three. *Sigh*

Wedding Album

I finally ordered and received my wedding album. Super exciting. It took a couple days to put together. It took a couple of months to work up the motivation. I love it. Too bad I didn't think ahead and decide to order a storage box. Oops. Either way its kinda gorgeous.

My parents still have their wedding album. My dad hauls it out a couple of times a year. :) I kind of wanted one to look at in 35 years too.

This is the front cover.

This is the back.

The inside is full of fun stuff too.

16

I'm having a crappy day at work. And it's dragging on. And for some reason the thought that popped into my head was that my 16 year old self would be pissed about my job. And that's true. But you know what 16 year old Jill would love? The fact I married Chris. I had a crush on him when I was 16. His friend's locker was just down the hall from mine and he hung out there for a bit every morning. And I'd pass him and think, "Frig, he's hot."

Dream

I had a dream that we got married again. It was totally planned. People attended both ceremonies that were supposed to be exactly the same. Except I forgot to have my dress cleaned. And I forgot to tell the minister. So my second wedding was a disaster. I don't think there was any alcohol to make myself feel better either.

Better just stick to the first wedding and not do it again.

Soap nuts

I'm a wanna be hippy. Total wanna be. My best friend in high school was a hippy and I loved that about her. I loved how she made her own pillows, was a vegetarian, made friends with random homeless teenagers and weird grassroots organizations. I was glad her patchouli faze was a quick one.

But I will never be a hippy. Used clothing stores drive my allergies crazy. I don't make friends with randoms. And I can't list any songs by the Grateful Dead. So when I find anything that remotely appeals to my inner flower child I am all over it. And that's what brings me to my love of soap nuts.

I came across an ad for them last year on kijiji. There are a couple of Canadian websites that sell them. I also found some at Plovers in Halifax and on ebay. Online companies give a ton of info on their websites about them.

Soap nuts are the seed from a tree called Sapindus and people have been using their shells to clean for thousands of years. I've been using them to do my laundry for about 9 months now, and while removing stains isn't their strong suit, they make everything smell fresh and clean and wonderful. And they disinfect. Apparently they're really good for cloth diapers. The big plus is you put a handful of shells into a wash bag and you can use it 5-10 times. Makes laundry easy when I'm in the mood to do any. :)

I think they rock and everyone should use them so I thought I would spread the word. They are cheap, have no phosphates, and come from a renewable resource. Therefore everyone should use them.

Yes, this may be my only hippy tendency. But I always worried my dad would yell at me if I got dreads. He's big and scary. However, I am testing out vegan-ism again, starting tomorrow. That so counts.