wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

seriously, this gadget is a whole lot of fun. wii fit is even fun. how i am having fun doing jack knives and push ups- i dont know. this system is tricky.
i was surprised to find that my balance when i am simply standing is shifted to my heels and a bit to the right. i have been working on it for the past week and it is getting more centered.

tonight is new years eve. im wondering what 2009 will bring.
i am also curious as to what Brandon and i will ultimately decide about the bulldog puppy. i mean, five dogs is a lot. will six be too many? we could be insane.....

the promised land- aka, vegan mac and not so cheese

i was on a quest. this seems to be a bit of a vegan mission- find the perfect mac and "cheese" recipe or go completely insane trying. i missed my mom's super fattening- butter, sour cream, velveeta, pasta concoction at holiday meals. i knew i had to come up with something!

a little while back i came across this post at Veganize it Don't Criticize It! and i knew that i would have to try it. this was the closest vegan option to what my mother has made for years.

When i began making this dish, i was missing a few ingredients (as i usually am) and so i had to improvise a bit. Instead of following the recipe exactly i did the following:

1 16oz package of Shell Pasta
3 Tbsp Vegan Smart Balance
1/2 tub Tofutti sour cream
1/2 Tbsp Miso paste
1/2 Tbsp yellow mustard
1/2 cup cashew butter
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup water
1 tsp salt

Cooked the pasta. Blended the remaining ingredients to form the "cheese sauce" and then cooked the two together in a sauce pan just long enough for everything to be heated and get a little thick.
I had finally done it! i created the perfect mac and "cheese" for my taste. the only meal that would satiate that beast who craves the dairy. i actually even added some frozen veggies to the meal to round it out and so i wasn't actually eating my weight in carbs. i had some of this creamy goodness with my Christmas dinner and since i'm the only vegan around here, i have leftovers! seriously so good. i'm glad i finally know the trick- cashews and tofutti sour cream!

Christmas!!

my Christmas was fabulous! im not a huge "gifts" person as i feel like other things are certainly more important. that being said, i obviously don't mind getting fun things- like a lovely bracelet that Brandon got me- and lots of other Twilight related items (huge dork, i know), a wii, wii fit, and raving rabbids or a gift card to get tickets for WICKED! when it arrives in Memphis. and Brandon made out like some kinda bandit! all sorts of gear and other goodies.
staying at his parent's house on Christmas Eve was a nice change in pace. and i looove his family, so waking me at 6am did not result in hostility. it was great being there. i really admire people in his family- his mother most of all. that is a bit of a sappy story for another day.

on to the food goodness!
first of all- vegan fudge. i should have never made this! it is tooooo good and will cause me to gain pounds and pounds if i eat it. (Hello Wii Fit!)
of course i made a few variations on the recipe that i found but it turned out like some sort of culinary miracle. people again could not tell it was vegan despite the tofutti sour cream. yeah, you read that right. i got creative, ok? but it worked! the original recipe came from here.
this is what i actually did:

1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips
1/2 tub Tofutti sour cream
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan set to low (or medium low). Continually stir to avoid burning/ sticking. Set aside when melted completely.
In a large mixing bowl, add remaining ingredients and beat with a mixer. Add a cup of sugar at a time mixing in between additions. Mix well for about 2 more minutes until all ingredients are evenly distributed and smooth. Spread into wax paper lined 8"x8" pan and refrigerate for at least two hours to set. Try not to eat all or even half of the fudge in a one day time frame.....

The night before Christmas

So, i caved and gave Brandon his presents early. I had to make sure that one of them fit.
Lucky for me, it does fit and he seems to really enjoy this ring.






I still have not quite figured out my menu for tomorrow. Better get with it pretty quick.

Yesterday, i did make green curry from veganomicon although i was missing some of the ingredients.... i seemed to make it work anyway.

tonight, we are going to stay at Steve and Dona's for christmas eve so we will already be there in the morning. we made his mom a stocking! that will be a fabulous surprise for her! :)

snobby joes with a kick!

these are basically Veganomicon Snobby Joes. the main differences are that i added carrots because i am a rabbit and i love carrots and instead of the can of tomato sauce i used rotel with habaneros. i like food to burn. im weird.
my lunch was delicious all the same. snobby joes with a kick to the face and spinach on wheat.

getting geeky

i dont have to go far for that. im a huge geek.

anyway! let me just brag about this site for a second. i feel like most people know about ETSY but i try to promote it all of the time anyway. this site is filled with handmade items and also houses vintage items and some supplies to make your own handmade crafts. in my opinion- this is the best place to get gifts for people and with Christmas right around the corner, i have been scouring this site even more frequently.
you can find anything from photography -check out this site for thousand words to puppy art Dog Art by Brian Ruebenacker to hand knit items at Jeannie knits.
I just think it is really cool. Instead of going to the crazy mall to give your money to huge corporations- you can support actual creators of unique products.

to add to the dorkiness- i am really excited about maybe getting a wii. of course i want a wii fit too cuz what is more fun than "riding a bubble" on a balance board?


:)

while im at it, i wanna kill zombies too!! killing zombies is vegan, right??

let me embarass my husband for a minute- at least he has his paintball mask on....

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

yay!!!

i got an A in all my first semester classes including advanced stats!
hooray for rockin at grad school!

weeeeeeeeeee!!

now im off to little rock to lead the PrissKillas against their derby team.

glad that's over with

earlier today i had a three hour long advanced statistics final. i'm actually mind-numb at this point.

that class has been hoarding all of my brain cells the entire semester. whew! i'm glad that it is over and done with and im sure i passed. i dont know if i got an a or a b but at least i dont have to do it again!!



afterward i was so exhausted that i didn't have the energy to make anything complicated. i crumbled some Happy Herbivore chickenless nuggets into a salad, threw a bit of vadalia onion dressing on top and called it lunch. not terribly exciting but it got the job done. and these nuggets are oh so good that they made the meal. chickenless salad.

i need to get cracking on some more "warm you up food" because it is COLD! outside.

fat dog in a little coat

since it is getting cold out, my mother and i decided to dress the pugs in the house to keep them warm. as if all the blubber and fur wasn't enough.
This is the Mookie during her torturous photo session. she was so happy running around in circles outside with these clothes on. until she actually got really hot wearing this doggie nightgown. it was adorable while it lasted. my favorite little detail about this getup is the way all of her fat is pushed up and coming out of the top of her outfit. it is great.


i made a HUGE pizza a couple of days ago and thought i would experiment a bit. instead of pizza sauce, i made some pesto for the base and added some squash, onions, red bell peppers, and zucchini on top. i had been craving pizza and this cured me straightaway.
now its back to studying for my finals until my eyes fall out... id rather be cooking.

Vegan Rum Cake!

This cake is delicious. It's so good in fact, i am going to have to limit myself to only making it on special occasions- thanksgiving, christmas, my birthday. It's clearly not something i eat all the time.

Cake-
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 box vegan yellow cake mix (or use a recipe for a vegan yellow/white cake)
2 servings EnerG Egg Replacer
1/2 can coconut milk
1/2 cup vegan butter (i like the vegan smart balance, personally)
1/2 cup rum

Glaze-
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rum (unless you just get a little heavy handed....) :)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a nonstick coating in a Bundt pan. Make your two "eggs" as per instruction on the box. Mix all of the cake ingredients together and beat on high with an electric mixer (something like two minutes). Pour into your prepared pan and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Invert onto a serving plate. Then make your glaze. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the water and brown sugar and boil for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add the rum being careful of the steam that will rise from your saucepan.

Enjoy!