80s night at league. hehe.

well, we decided as a team, that is licious decided that it would be funny to dress up like 80s hooligans. so we did and i thought it was hilarious. 

the rest of the league kinda thought we were stupid and being a little retarded. that is to say they were not amused. we apologize that you take yourselves so seriously and cannot have a good chuckle just for the hell of it.  

birthday shenanigans!!!

well i must admit to having a fabulous birthday/july 4th! on friday night, Brandon and i went to see Wicked, the musical. the book is one of my absolute favorites so i was a bit concerned that the show would be quite different than the book, but i was pleasantly surprised. even Brandon was impressed and that is no easy task!! :) he bought me a defy gravity shirt at intermission. the whole evening was wonderful. then saturday morning, Brandon decided to make me breakfast. so we went to the store to get some bananas for walnut banana pancakes. even though he has little to no experience cooking (especially vegan food!) he made some scrumptious pancakes and even used the leftover batter for muffins! his birthday gift to me was paintings of cuppy cakes, including a vegan, princess, 4th of july cuppy cake along with a zombie cuppy cake and a pirate cuppy cake. i also got a magic the gathering pad (yes, im a dork). my mom ordered vegan almond cupcakes from Muddys Bake Shop, the only place in memphis i know of that makes vegan cakes/cupcakes/goodies. Brandon and I later hung out with Jeff. that's always a good time!
















my mom also got me a month unlimited yoga from Bikram Yoga Memphis. while my sister got me two vegan cookbooks, The Joy of Vegan Baking and The Vegan Table.
somehow, i managed to brat my way through an entire birthday weekend and sunday we went to Dona's. my mother in law loves me as proven by the fact that she bought two vegan cookbooks in an effort to make me a vegan cake. she baked a Strawberry Cake for me and made me a yummy dinner. :)

















she also bought a BYM yoga mat and some Shakti shorts for class.
really, it was a ridiculously fabulous weekend made very special by everyone involved.

double.

i felt the need yesterday to try to make it through two bikram classes in a day. the first class was at 9am and the second was at 4:30. in the first class, i had a difficult time with dizziness. im not sure if this is because i took half of a vitamin before i went or if it has more to do with when i ate, but it was challenging just to stay standing right around balancing stick. i made it thorough triangle, which thankfully, is not such a difficult pose for me anymore. after savasana, i felt much better and was able to get through the rest of class without a hitch. at the second class, i felt like a stretchy rubber band!! i nearly locked my knees in pada hastasana (hands to feet pose). and no, this photo is not me. i am not usually that close to my legs at all!
i also noticed in bow that my leg is MUCH higher than it used to be. i still fall out but i am deeper in the posture. today, when i woke up i felt soreness in my back due to repeating the class but i went ahead to the 9:30 and did well. i had a bit of trouble with bow because my back muscles were tired, but everything else went very well. so now i know, i can push myself through two classes in a day and not die :)

my birthday is this saturday, july 4th. i wonder how that will go aside from delicious cupcakes from muddy's bake shop. :)

memphis over new orleans

I failed to mention that Memphis Hustlin Rollers beat out the Big Easy Roller Girls this past weekend. The final score was MHR- 119 to BERG- 61. my favorite trick of the night was jumping between two girls to take lead jammer.

i was told i did a fabulous job, but surprisingly i did not really think much about it. i just did it.

i do think i am getting better at juking. which i appreciate. :)

yeah, that blood taste, it's not a good one....

went to the dentist yesterday just for a regular cleaning. as soon as my hygienist busted out that sonar pick thing, my gums started bleeding like crazy. apparently, i have not been getting enough iron or something. i went to whole foods and grabbed a vegan friendly supplement.

and as an update- storms came crashing through memphis at about 5pm last friday. trees were uprooted, cars were shaken, power was knocked out. we were without power for only one day. we made it out easy. 

at the time the storm hit, my sister and i were at the local mall looking for something for her late birthday present. we were corralled with the rest of the mall patrons into the employee exits used in the early morning or late evening. these tunnels flow from behind the stores out to the parking lots and resemble warehouses with bare concrete and exposed support. add that to my list of weird life experiences. it reminded me of tornado drills in elementary school.

as if that was not weird enough, this morning, the main road out from my house was blocked by a car engulfed in flames. we are not talking some little fire either. this was a black smoke producing, orange flame throwing mess. really bizarre. the cops wouldnt let me get close enough to photograph. boo. 

oh! and there's this: i am growing vegetables in the back yard thanks to some gentle coaxing from the husband. we have tomato plants, herbs, and garlic so far. i want to try my hand at this whole growing vegetables thing before we convert the plot of land by our shed into a full blown veggie garden. mmmmm. yum!

Heaven is a bowl of homemade chocolate ice cream.

A few weeks ago I thought I had found Canaan in a carton of vegan chocolate ice cream. I was only partially correct.  I stumbled upon a recipe for chocolate ice cream in my Veganomicon book shortly thereafter. As luck would have it, I also noticed a new product in the Shnucks a few days later- Chocolate silken tofu by NaSoya. I thought then that asking for an ice cream maker for my birthday which is only a month away, would be a wonderful idea and a crafty way for me to experience the joy of homemade ice cream once again. 

I mentioned this to my little sister in law while spending the day with my husband’s parents. Dona, his mother, went straight over to her walk in pantry, pulled out the exact ice cream maker i had just added to my Amazon wish-list, and handed it to me saying something about it not making enough ice cream for a family party which is when she would want homemade ice cream anyway. Let me just tell you for the record, that i have the most amazing mother in law in the history of the world. Just last week she made me vegan twice baked potatoes. She sought out vegan sour cream and butter just so that I could have a potato like everyone else at Sunday dinner where no one else is a vegan or even understands the point. (i live in the South. people think i am depriving myself like some sort of monk. they obviously have not seen my ice cream! oh, but they will....)

All that to say, the next day, i was off and running making chocolate ice cream in my spiffy new Cuisinart ice cream maker. 

I based my recipe on a Veganomicon recipe for vanilla ice cream but made adjustments based on the products i was using. 

I used most of the package of chocolate tofu (what i had not eaten with a spoon out of sheer excitement), 1 cup of coconut milk (mostly cream, keep reading for specifics*), 1/2 cup raw sugar (though i dont think it needed it. the sugar was in the recipe i was basing off of so i added it anyway), and 1 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla. 

*In Veganomicon, you are instructed to put the coconut milk in the fridge overnight so that the cream will rise to the top and you can scoop it out. I used all the cream that had formed and a bit of the leftover coconut milk to get my 1 cup.*

I mixed the ingredients together until they were well blended, poured it all into my ice cream maker, and let that baby run for about 30 minutes. I doubt I will ever buy vegan ice cream ever again or cry about missing chocolate ice cream. I know it will do nothing for my girlish figure, but it’s summer and life without ice cream in Southern summer is hardly one worth living. And anyway, I will just burn it off at Bikram  :)

my parent's shimmy.

My parents are too cute.

They operate an alumni charity golf tournament and fundraiser (party) each year for the high school that my dad graduated from. Watching my parents dance on a wooden floor was one of the most beautiful sights of my adult life. It was as if time peeled away and there was no one else swaying back and forth but a young man and woman basking in the glow of it all. Wondrous really.

that cheesy song from the movie "ghost" came on at one point and he even re-enacted the scene with the penny. (buncha dorks. they are cute)

Shortly thereafter, my father “got down with his bad self” and disco danced all over that floor much the same as he had in his heyday. My dad is a mean dancer. Of course it just makes me laugh, a bit embarrassed, but whatever makes him happy is fine with me.

During the silent auction, I bid on a set of

three books by an author named Rick Bragg. He grew up penniless in Alabama and, in his own words, “crawled up the backbone of his mother” to be come a Pulitzer Prize winning writer. His father abandoned his wife and three small children after battling with demons left over from the war in Korea and a fondness for the bottom of a bottle. Reading his story has rearranged my perception on a lot of things, one of which is my grandparents. I do not doubt that the experiences of his mother; taking in ironing, cleaning houses, and pocking other people’s cotton just so that she could feed her children, were not much unlike my grandmother’s experiences. It is sobering in an ironic way given that so many men return from war to find solace in a jug of what the author refers to as “likker.” Should anyone have an interest or a link to someone who worked in the fields in the South shortly after the Depression, they should consider reading “All Over But the Shouting.”

my grandmother went to town once a week. she just told me on the phone while i was talking to her. i should interview her to find out more....

fire breathing dragon

today in my bikram class, i decided to challenge one of my patterns and move my location. i set up in the front row in the far right corner and prepared myself for class. i felt a little unnerved this morning because of a fatigue day (due to a monthly cycle thing...) and i thought being right up in front would keep my mind from wandering. little did i know i was setting up right below the dragon. you see, the vents are apparently in the front and the back of the yoga studio. hot air blasted through the vents the entirety of the class. it did help my focus. i had to concentrate on staying upright! ultimately, it was an amazing class. i did all of the postures to the full extent of my energy and only slipped out of bow early. i had my typical hopping around session in bow pulling, but one day i will do a full split in the air.

in the middle of the class.

pizza and ice cream kinda weekend

seriously, the most delicious things ever.

i was bad this weekend. well i guess you would call it bad. i celebrated memorial day with ice cream, pizza, beer, grilled corn, and burgers. i didnt eat all of this in one sitting, but still.

first, the ice cream. i had never tried vegan ice cream before until i tried soy delicious. its apparently sweetened with fruit which i initially thought was strange, but it is so yummy that i dont care! another thing i appreciate about this product is that i dont have to eat a ton of it to feel tasty ice cream warm fuzzies.

now, the pizza. another thing i had not tried- follow your heart mozzarella on pizza. i followed the crust recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance sort of (i added spices to my crust), topped it with the FYH and vyes peperoni. dear Lord, thank you for pizza. i am sure it is the food of heaven. (cant get the picture to load cuz blogger is being retarded.)

otherwise, i had a nice three day weekend vacation with Brandon. hooray!

tulsa

this face i am making is scary and hilarious. but you better believe she did not knock me down!!

well it is summer and that means Hustlin' Rollers season.
we went to tulsa this weekend to face off with the Green County Rollergirls who stood 12th in the region. i say stood because we knocked them out of their spot. Memphis beat them 87 to 130. we maintained the lead the entire bout. i went out as second jammer and claimed 10 points for memphis.
i have to give these girls their props though. they are not exactly small and they hit like mac trucks. it was a hard fight but in the end, we just played well as a team and we played defensively. its a good thing that we had that atlanta experience to give us a better idea of how to keep an opposing jammer down while helping our own out.
we also got to do a bit of venturing through the city's mayfest while we were in town. they had a fabulous representation of artists along with rock climbing, and very nonvegan fair food that i stayed far away from. rock climbing at the festival was exciting because i have always wanted to do it but because i am a bit scared of heights, i have never had the nerve. i found it surprisingly easy. Jessie said i just scampered up the wall like a spider monkey.
look i am lead jammer!!! (love it when that happens!)

they say the heat makes people crazy

in memphis, people commonly say, "it isn't the heat it is the humidity." but the end result is all the same. people get cranky when they get hot. add that with the humidity and some folks lose they dang minds.

since bikram yoga is heated to around 105 degrees, i always wondered if people sometimes got really frustrated and ran screaming out of the room. instead, today i witnessed a student arguing with the teacher in the middle of class. really weird. let me backtrack a bit- first she drank water while the rest of the class was in the middle of a pose. that's not a good thing to do in a bikram yoga class as it distracts the others in  class. a few poses later, she refused to get into the pose and was told to just sit down. after that, the whole arguing thing happened. so it was more of a continual disregard for the class and the teacher. all that to say, it put the rest of the class in a weird place. our teacher was able to pull it all together anyway and we got through the class with smiling faces. it was strange, then annoying, then comical.

things i have learned from bikram yoga:

if it hurts, you need it. 

life is not comfortable, learn to be present and ok with being uncomfortable and/or suffering. let it be. 

triangle is not easy. most people's hips are not as strong as they should be. 

lock the (freaking!!!) knee. 

locust is not really the devil, the attitude i have toward it is.

commit.

less think, more action.

BREATHE!!!

oh! and as an aside- i got an A in methods. that's right. heh.

weekend paintball, i.e. Underdog's Birthday Bash

Brandon and i traveled to Nashville this weekend to celebrate Third Eye Vision (pump paintball team) member Underdog. His lovely wife Fatine (and i hope i am spelling that right) threw him a surprise birthday party. it was fabulous to hear everyone's excuses for not being able to hang out after playing paintball until about 3:30pm.  Jeff (Underdog) and the usual suspects plus some Memphis Flair (Brandon) went to Ruby Tuesday after embarrassing some military paintball players out on the field. its always makes me giggle when people shooting 15 balls a second accuse pump players, who have to pump the gun each time they want to shoot, of cheating. usually it just means they are mad they got beat by someone playing with a slower gun. 

this is Jeff swearing at everyone for lying to him/not telling him about the surprise party:

and Underdog and Assassin 8 (wearing a true ballers jersey for irony's sake)

$5 cover

filmmaker Craig Brewer has created a web-based miniseries for mtv, casting memphis musicians as partially true-to-life partially fictional versions of themselves.  within each mini episode, memphis musicians are showcased. viewing $5 cover made me aware of memphis music that i had not previously been exposed to. i have heard other people mention similar phenomena: "we have roller derby in memphis??" memphis is an unquestionably rough and tumble city with lots issues we will not discuss here, but the artistry of Craig Brewer puts all that aside in an effort to return to the heart of the music and the characters that live in this city. $5 cover promotes this city in the way it should have always been promoted but no one could quite figure out.

be on the lookout for musicians Amy LaVere, Valerie June, and bands Two Way Radio and Snowglobe. i must admit to being impressed with the talent in this town!

check $5 cover out on:

http://www.mtv.com/fivedollarcover/videos.jhtml

the fine folks at live from memphis have also created accompaniment material in the form of short clips called flipside memphis. where $5 cover has fictionalized memphis, flipside shows the world the reality.

http://www.livefrommemphis.com/projects/flipsidememphis

zombies take over memphis.

this last friday marked Memphis' third annual zombie walk. a few derby girls, my husband, and i all went marching from Beale down through South Main and back again. it was really bizarre to watch hundreds of zombies marching down the streets of downtown memphis grabbing flesh blood (people marked with "x" on their shirt) and converting them to zombies. heheh. not very vegan i suppose but  it was truly a sight to see.

beer carrying zombies dragging their legs down the street to boogie on beale. hilarious.

georgia

oh atlanta, you had so much potential....

well we got educated on how older leagues play roller derby. it was quite a surprise, their pack managed to slow down to a crawl to get us out of play and then they would rush us when their jammer was coming through. though we lost, i did not sustain any damages save a very sore sternum. a nice can opener to the chest was blocked by my own arms which meant my wrist guard went into my sternum and left a deep bruise. this is me jamming while The Victator holds back Sk8 Outta Compton, at Atlanta blocker.

we stayed at the highland inn and wouldn't you know we were right next door to a vegetarian/vegan restaurant that i never got to go into because of scheduling conflicts. sheesh. atlanta is huge in comparison to memphis.

i won't say i would not like to return, it seemed like a fun place to visit. anyway, much respect to the Dirty South Roller Girls for showing us how its done. we just have to learn from the experience and get better than ever.

changing seasons

 i can really tell my Bikram practice is affected during seasonal changes. i think that i forget that changes in the season result in changes in the body. in memphis, when spring delivers a significantly higher humidity level, you have to drink more water and get more electrolytes to keep up in Bikram's torture chamber. i was apparently dehydrated and working out a lot of school related stress yesterday during class. 

it was a very challenging class. there were 55 people in our class used to about 30. Lori even asked, "Is it a holiday or something?"

i began the black out process somewhere in the standing series. eagle seemed to be the beginning of the problem.... i'm blaming in on the concentration of twisting like ropes. once we got to poses with slight inversion- standing separate leg stretching specifically, the blackness went away and i could hear again. blast you electrolytes! savasana was even surprisingly exhausting. i had a very strong floor series despite the shaky start. even locust (salabasana) was not so bad. my elbow did make a nice snap sound but it seemed to be releasing something as opposed to being painful.

i suspect as the season change completes practice will become easier and less likely to put me into sensory deprivation mode. it is all just a part of the process that your body goes through. it is different every day and your practice will be different each day as well.

moving right along.

between my parent's moving, the end of the semester, the beginning of the roller derby travel season, and trying to keep up with my Bikram practice, i am a busy girl!!

for the most part, my parents are all moved into their new house (which kinda makes me sad because it is the house i grew up in) but the garage floor needs to be coated and i am sure i will be volunteered for that. isn't it funny how parents get volunteering rights, i mean they can volunteer anyone to do just about anything. its crazy.

as long as i make it through this week, the school stuff will be taken care of. i might not get much sleep this evening....

this weekend we are traveling to atlanta to take on the Atlanta Rollergirls. i will be jamming, it should be a good time. i suspect that memphis will reign victorious at the completion of this bout.

so because of the madness, i have not had much time to cook much less blog about cooking. poor Hot Rod Husband hasn't even had much attention. i guess it's a good thing he is geeking it up with magic the gathering cards.

i did manage to make a nice acorn squash last night. i filled it up with vegan "meaty" crubles, corn, peas, and agave nectar. yum!!

now then, if i could just find some vegan restaurants to eat at while in atlanta......

lunch box glory

i have neglected to let you all in on my lunch time festivities. a few months ago i bought the cutest bento box from iloveobento.com. Jiji and Perren are the names of the black and white rabbit that grace this cute little box. it is typically a bit of a conversation starter around here.

last night, while i was writing a paper, i put some black beans, lentils, corn, carrots and asparagus in the rice cooker. i later cooked a batch of brown rice to add to my veggies and protein mix. i brought it to school today in my cute bento box. (college campuses= only vegan friendly if you want to eat a veggie subway minus the cheese EVERY day of your life....)

now back to the endless paper writing!  :P

spicy

last night i made veganomicon's hot sauce glazed tempeh with some alterations including the fact that i used sriracha as the hot sauce. yum!

i put mine in the oven at 400 for about 15 to 20 minutes because i was already making dinner for Brandon (thought i may as well just use what was already on).  afterward, i made a giant mess. i put my tempeh in a bowl with mashed potatoes, corn, a few carrots, asparagus, and peas. it was not pretty but it was very much like a spicy shepherd's pie. delish.

and can i just say, hello weekend, i love you. about three weeks until the semester is over.

support

its great to know that when i am having a bit of a freak out, there are people who randomly bring kindness my way. Brandon and i share a mutual friend who also happens to play roller derby.  last night at league practice, Jessie brought me this:

it's a labeling system that i had on my amazon wish list. she is sneaky and bought it without me knowing. i wanted this littele item to label all my various flours, cereals, grains, legumes, etc.  it is really geeky but it makes me pretty happy. i have started storing most of my pantry items in snapware containers and i don't want to forget what is in which container.

then, Susie came in to practice with two bags full of clothes that she did not need anymore as she has a new job making more money and she wants to get new clothes. yay!

with all these new goodies, how could i possibly keep my grumpy-ness?

rough

life is out of control when you dont have time to blog.  :P

it is getting down to crunch time at school with all the wrap up work and final projects.

the bout this weekend is between the PrissKillas and the Women of Mass Destruction. it may be a long shot for us, but i think we can beat WMD. we almost had them the last time we played.

and i have not been feeling up to maximum capacity lately, its probably a mixture of seasonal change and bikram whipping me back into optimal strength. although the past two days i have felt much better.

mentally- im a bit on shaky ground but i feel confident that i can pull myself together.

i guess my point is i am just taking it one day at a time for the next month in an effort to not get overwhelmed.

monday night is grill night

my fabulous mother in law gave me this grill pan a few weeks ago. monday night is steak night at the Workman house and usually it is just the boys- that is the husband and his friends Randy and Scott.  i finish yoga at 6:15 ish and then go entertain myself in an effort to not put a damper on all the testosterone in the house  :)   (really it is more like an effort to not be trapped in the testosterone sea that was once my dwelling)  sometimes i meet one of my girl friends for dinner or crash dinner at the parent's house and other times i catch up on the endless graduate student work. but last night, the guys were unable to make it. Brandon grilled his steak outside and i made curry grilled tofu "steak" from Veganomicon in my handy new grill pan. i only wish the tofu would have been more cooked in the middle. otherwise, yum. onlookers would giggle at the differences between our plates. 

practice yesterday was quite nice. i actually did not ball up my fists and secretly swear at the third part of locust. something about "kiss the towel" invokes rage. but i was surprised when my legs easily lifted from the floor using my back strength. 

simple- one pot (rice cooker) meal

an effort to get back to blogging about food.

so after rushing around all day yesterday i realized that i had not prepared anything for dinner and i was at a total loss. i threw some lentils in my rice cooker and added some salt and garlic.  right before the lentils were done i added spinach and chopped carrots and let them cook in the rice cooker until tender. this meal is yummy because it is so fresh tasting and simple. it also helps that it took little actual work and not very long at all.

on the yoga front, i have been reading blogs that people kept during teacher training and i am finding them very interesting.  during teacher training, each participant completes two yoga classes a day, lectures, and posture clinics. it is non stop learning and is exhausting physically and mentally but well worth the effort. im considering taking on the 30 day challenge- going to Bikram 6 times a week for a month. i am even wondering if i could do two classes in a day.... might be an interesting summer project.

and look at what mean Buddy did to Brandon. it looks like he was mauled by a wolverine even in this over exposed photo....

this is only one of about eight scratches all over his arm from playing with our SPASTIC Boston Terrier. 

my triangle is droopy....

yesterday i took class with Gregg. i have always taken class with female instructors so it felt a bit strange to hear a male saying The Dialogue. my usual spot- in the corner near the wall was taken so i had to put my mat in the middle of the floor directly in front of the instructor. apparently, i have subconsciously been trying to avoid instructor critique by hiding over in the corner. well, i had my fair share in class to make up for the days i have passed under the radar.

this is Bikram's triangle pose. it looks a bit different from some other forms of triangle. the benefits of this pose are listed as follows:

An excellent cardiovascular workout.

Intensely stretches each side of the body.

Opens and increases flexibility of hip joints.

Good for kidneys, thyroid, and adrenal glands.

Opens shoulder joint, good for frozen shoulder.

Strengthen and tones legs and buttocks.

Helps regulate hormone levels.

Works all muscular groups simultaneously.

Helps conditions of constipation, colitis, low blood pressure, appendicitis, spondylitis, menstrual disorders.

it is important in this pose to make sure that the top of your bent leg is parallel to the floor. i have limited strength in my hips and i have been crunching my upper body to get into this pose when i should be keeping my back straight. my lower body was not deep enough into this pose to allow me to put my hand in between my big and second toe properly. it looks like im going to have to work on triangle outside of practice in order to correct my posture.

yoga

ok. im about to brag, try not to be annoyed. 

i am married to a brilliant man who is observant enough to tell me to go to yoga- now. it is more clear to him than it even is to myself that i am more energetic and happy when i am practicing Bikram faithfully. 

grad school forced me into a sort of hiatus and i justified by claiming that getting hot and then cold because of the winter weather would just make me sick. (to those who may not know about Bikram yoga- the room is heated to about 105 with 60% humidity.) what i should have done instead is treat my own winter depression crap by going to yoga. especially on days when i did not want to. well, consider the hiatus over.

Bikram has too many benefits for me to just not go.  the spine series is a big challenge for me. when i am skipping out on yoga my back hurts even when i am just going to sleep. there are not many other options for me to strengthen my back muscles in such a complete way. 

yoga also makes me more aware. i am more conscious of what i put in my body which reflects in my weight and overall health. concentrating on myself also allows me to better deal with anything going on around me. i can better monitor my response to the environment and people around me when i practice awareness. if life is how you respond then Bikram is constant preparation.  i have heard the owner of Bikram Memphis, Lori, say during savasana "Life is not always going to be comfortable." She went on to talk about how 105 degrees is hot. you know how hot the room is before you step into it. hot is going to be uncomfortable but it serves a purpose of keeping your muscles safe while you stretch. "Just be here. Be ok with being uncomfortable." that is really profound to me. this type of yoga is just you, your breath and your will. you learn determination despite difficulties. you learn how to find stillness where none seems to exist.

reason #332 to be a vegan

prepare your gag reflex....

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

does ANY of that look vegan?

no.

it looks like people trying to kill themselves.

technicalities

well, Brandon's paintball team won the tournament this weekend (if you ask me). in actuality, they were given the second place trophy. now mind you, second place for a pump team pump the gun, shoot, pump shoot) against all semi teams (15 balls a second, no pump), is not bad at all! but the problem was the refs unnecessarily assessing penalties and not being able to adjust scores after the score card was signed after each game.... all that to say- they won but took home second.  i was proud regardless. Brandon turned around a poor outcome on a dime.  he was alone against three semis during one of the final games and managed to take two of them out, no problem. next month Dark Covenant is coming after all of those teams and they will take home first.

one recipe- two meals

i, the vegan clearly living under a rock, had not tried River's meatless loaves until today. i made one recipe and used half for a meatless loaf and half for meatballs. 

i did not have any bread crumbs so i just used what i had and put some grape nuts in the blender until they were the consistency of bread crumbs. instead of the mrs dash concoction, i used chipotle peppers in adobo. the peppers gave the meatlessness an extra zing! 

 after my meatless balls and meatless loaf came out of the oven, i decided on going with a "pasta" dish for dinner.  i baked a spaghetti squash and topped it with marinara and meatless balls. you know what that means? tomorrow night, im having meatless loaf.

i was really excited about the way this batch of faux meat turned out and that i was able to make two separate meals from the same batch. (nevermind the non-loaflike qualities of the photo....)

River's recipe is as versatile as it is delicious.

hit the switch

humor me for a minute while i get a little geeky. i just made the switch from windows operating pcs to a macbook. i'm surprised that i have lived this long without throwing a laptop out of a window now that i have such a user friendly laptop with so many cool features. take iphoto for example- i took photos this weekend when it snowed and within 2 minutes of uploading them, i created a slideshow to let my mother in law see the snow fight she had missed a few minutes earlier.

love it.

and i dont have to fight to get on the internet, it is just an automatic.

in a world where i find myself frustrated about school work load and other junk, the macbook makes my life easier. and im ok with being geeky.

here are more photos even!

the snowbunny hubby with his brother chunking a snowball at him.

him again shooting his traditional bow.

snow in memphis- march 1st

so a couple of days ago it was 70 degrees outside. i went to school wearing flats and no socks. yesterday it began to snow. and snow. there was at least 4 inches of snow on the ground this morning. Brandon and the puppies had a fun time playing in the snow.

we then went to his parent's house and played in the snow even more. here is Brandon chasing his sister Hannah.

exploded panini

i pulled out the george foreman this evening to grill some zucchini and yellow squash. i was kinda in the mood for a panini but i had no acceptable bread. so i improvised a little.
i spiced up my grilled veggies with some sea salt and garlic and laid them over some quinoa. then i added the one ingredient that screams panini to me- sundried tomatoes. i later added some not so chicken for some added protein.i was rushed for time and needed a protein source.

so there you have it- grilled veggies with quinoa instead of bread. when i make this again and have some more time on my hands, i will top it with some pesto!

















as for the rest of things- i just took a methods exam today so we will see how that goes. now i'm off to a four hour roller derby practice. hooray!

ginger raisin bran goodness

i took a break from my behavioral medicine paper to bake these yummy Vegan with a Vengeance ginger raisin bran muffins. i used fresh ginger instead of the crystal ginger the recipe called for. The fresh grated ginger is very spicy, which i prefer over the sweeter crystal ginger anyway.

i tend to shy away from muffins because of my paranoia that muffins=chunky=pants fitting tighter than i want them to, but these at least seemed healthy(ish). what with the bran and the whole wheat flour i used and the raisins? anyway. i'm not sure why my muffins didn't get fluffy and cloud like on top..... they are tasty nonetheless.

week after week

thank you for rescuing me from a rabid grizzly bear in my dream last night. that was almost a close call.

current status: conscious, at school

current workload: behavioral medicine I paper due tomorrow afternoon, lab work- at least 11 article reviews due tomorrow morning, research methods and design test thursday

extracurricular and admittedly mandatory: roller derby practice this evening for two hours, thursday evening for four hours, color guard practice on wedneday for one hour

what i would rather be doing: geeking out with a vegan cookbook, making ginger raisin bran muffins from vegan with a vengeance, sitting in warm sunlight, having my hair played with



but i like to be busy, so i guess its good, right?

i need to try this!

There really are days when i am sad about alfredo sauce. On the flip side- i would be more sad if i actually ate it and got sick and knew i was contributing to the meat industry.

Vegan Alfredo Sauce from Lachesis on the Post Punk Kitchen Forum
1/2c Earth Balance (or a little more is fine, to taste)
2 cups soymilk (unsweetened is best)
1 package Extra firm tofu (Mori-nu.. the kind in the tetra pack, appr 12 ounces)
1-2 tbsp white cooking wine
2 tbsp onion powder
2-3 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp sea salt
1-2 tsp black pepper (to taste)
pinch of nutmeg
3-4 tbsp arrowroot powder (more or less, as needed.. it should be creamy and the margarine should not separate)

this would be delicious as a pasta primavera with artichoke flour fettucini....

hitchhikers guide...

do they make one of those for grad students? anyway. this is me attempting to not panic. it's past midnight and despite the fact that i am writing a paper for tomorrow i somehow feel like i have time to pause and reflect in this blog. interesting. well, what's really going on is i have been typing and organizing my thoughts for the past hour and a half and i just needed a break for a minute.
i have to get this paper done before tomorrow, make it through tomorrow's office hours with undergrad folks asking me about their upcoming test, discuss my personal research in a meeting with my major professor, enter a TON of data and run analyses, and write the results up before thursday. no big deal, right? riiiiight....



as for food- i dont have a photo because i assure you it was not pretty, but my dinner this evening was good! my mom used to make me this awesome squash casserole with tons of cheese and butter in it. once i went vegan i just had to do without. so tonight i thought i would at least try something like it. i sauteed squash and onions, made some "cheese" out of almond butter, tahini, miso, a bit of mustard, salt and garlic powder and added it to my veggies. then i put grape nuts on top cuz i am a little obsessed with grape nuts and i cannot explain it.

valentines

well. i usually do not suggest drinking the koolaid, but maybe there are a few instances when it is understandable. my dear sweet husband's opinion about valentine's day is about the same as mine- it is a commercialized day designed to sucker men into buying flowers, candy, and jewelry to show their "sweetheart" that they care about them at least one day a year as if they are unable every other day of the year. that being said- he thinks its important for me to have a special day even if the hype is a bunch of hooey. he got me a rose and some yummy vegan cookies!

these are called speculoos and are a favorite in europe where they are referred to as biscuits. this company even makes a spread that is comparable to nutella without the milk. these are my new favorite treat and my sweet husband went out to find some for me! :)

we also went to j alexanders for lunch and then went to see "taken." our not yet created children will never be allowed to leave the country without taking one of us. hell, neither of us is leaving the country without the other. crazy crazy things go on with underground trafficking.

he also got me this really cool shirt that says vegetable mafia! that's right.

all that to say- i had a very special day and i appreciate the effort and special attention given to me :)