Vegan can be good

I have given vegan cooking a go. So far, baking has been more successful than cooking. We have enjoyed some yummy pumpkin bread, banana bread and peanut butter cookies. But, the grossest thing I have ever tasted was a version of cheeseburger macaroni. I should have known, it had tumeric, yeast and soy in it. It smelled terrible and tasted even worse! To top it off, the night I made that meal David and I were supposed to go to the Morrissey concert and we decided not to go because the weather was so bad in Vegas that we were afraid of crashing and dieing and leaving our kids homeless. So I was pretty bumbed that night. So we left the kids at home with Gigi and went out to dinner. Oh, I tried a vitamin B12 patch this week. It's the same concentration as the shot, which gives you energy and mental clarity, but costs less. I think I feel better.

Here is the recipe for Super Moist Pumpkin Bread. I'm sharing because I don't want to be a recipe nazi, no one likes that. I don't put walnuts or coconut flakes in it, instead I use vegan chocolate chips (choc. chips without any milk or butter derivitive, I like the walmart brand chip).

1 cup chopped walnuts

3 1/2 cups flour

2 cups dark brown sugar

2/3 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 cups pumpkin puree

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup coconut milk

2/3 cup flaked coconut



Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 8" X 4" loaf pans. Spread walnuts in a single layer on an ungreased baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 8 - 10 minutes until lightly browned. Set aside. In a large bowl mix dry ingredients. Add the pumpkin puree, oil and coconut milk. Fold in the coconut flakes and walnuts. Divide evenly into pans. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with foil to allow to steam. Remove foil and let cool.

Okay, fine!

Okay fine, I'll cook vegan. I have spent the last few days searching through vegan recipes. Most of which contain things that nobody wants to eat and are full of way too many ingredients. I'm a simple girl and when I try complicated recipes they turn out bad. But I think that I can do this, at least for dinner. What can I say, David is a good husband and works hard, the least I can do is feed him what he wants. If I don't feed him he does not eat and when he doesn't eat he is not so nice to be around. So I have been driving all over town getting the right ingredients. I know, things could be far more difficult, but having three little kids with me all the time tends to get trying at times. I am starting to accept that having a job just would be too difficult to manage right now. I almost started real estate school last week. I like the idea of working a few hours a week. I had a job in January. I worked in an office for three hours day for three days a week and worked at home also. It was too difficult to manage my time and priorities. So I have decided to embrace scrubbing toilets and doing the laundry. I'm greatful to be here for the kids. It is a joy. They will be grown soon and I will have the rest of my life to sew my oats. But for now I am needed at home. I'm fortunate to be around so many women that make homemaking an art. Did you know that you can make your own maple syrup, just ask Emily. And, believe it or not, I didn't know that people made homemade icing, just ask Lori. I have been trying to keep the house clean. I admit that I am not good at that. It isn't easy with all these kids and animals. But I feel so good and calm when my house is clean. If I could just keep both the upstairs and downstairs clean at the same time.

Vegan? Really?

Yesterday was one of those days that leaves you with a not-so-good feeling. David was sick with the flu, I wasn't feeling well, my house was a MESS and to top it all off I forgot about Sophia's ballet class which starts at 4:45. When I remembered her class it was already 4:50. I ran upstairs to get Sophia, who was taking quiet time, and got her dressed real quick and threw her tangled hair up into a sloppy ballet bun. With her face covered in chocolate and dirt we ran out the door. When we got to the studio about 20 minutes late we were greated with some "better than you" glares from the other moms who's girls were there on time. I felt like such a worm. This experience is on top of my already having forgot to pick Sophia up from school on Friday. Fridays are early day. I was across town having lunch with David prepared to pick her up at the normal time of 11:45. While I was enjoying lunch my poor baby was yelling towards our house, which is directly next door to the school, "somebody pick me up!" Good thing my friend and neighbor was able to pick her up and waite for me to get her. So as you can imagine I was not feeling too good about myself or things in general yestaerday. But the icing on my yucky cake was when my sweet husband told me that he had decided to become vegan. If I can remember correctly, I think I yelled at him. "You're crazy" and "good luck with that" are some of the things I told him. He told me about a video he had seen on the internet that showed the standard practices of the animal industry and said that he did not want to be any part of that. Keep in mind that our family is already vegetarian, even the baby. I was so frusterated about the idea of having to buy and fix him"special food." I appreciate that he is a man who is always looking for ways to better himself and become a more conciencious person. He is very sensitive to the plight of others. But as for me and the kids, we will eat animal by-products. I can't even keep the house clean or remember to get the kids where they need to go, let alone read labels and make sure that everyone is getting their nutrients. Maybe I am a lazy American. I acknowledge the truth and choose to continue to eat cheese and milk. David showed Sophia the video of the animals being tortured and she was able to make her own decision. This morning when David asked Sophie if she wanted soymilk with her cereal she said,"no thank you, I'll have cow milk." I did go out and get the man some soy milk. But I had just gone to the market and planned all of the week's meals, none of which are vegan. So David will have to pick through everything. Again, good luck with that.

Well, I did it!

I took the leap and let everyone know about our blog. Now everyone will know how poorly I spell, yikes! Currently, Sophia and Nathan are upstairs getting ready for bed and David is outside working on his garden. The man is addicted to his plants. It is still hot outside, I look foreword to when it starts to cool-off. It is hard to believe that it gets cold here. Things to look foreword to this week are going camping and going to see Morrissey in Las Vegas again! I finally got David to come with me to a Morrissey concert last month. Every time I got tickets he told me he would come with me and then would back-out last minute and I would have to take everyone from my sister (who had fun I hope) to my mom! Finally, he agreed to go and he had a great time. I was so excited to find out that Morrissey was coming to Las Vegas again this month. This Friday we are hoping to head up to Bryce Canyon with our 1965 pink trailer "Priscilla". Good times!

Is this thing on?

We are just figuring out this blogger thing. It could be a great tool to let those we know and love know what our family is up to.