Cupcakes and Tofu Steaks

I love it when I tell people that I've gone vegan. They always, always ask "What are you gonna eat?!?!"

It's called vegetables. Really. One does not have to fill themselves with milk and meat to stay alive. Hell, I'm overweight and I've been vegetarian for 4 years now. I'm a shining example that you can still eat badly while cutting out meat. I do not graze in pastures or gorge on rabbit food. I make a mean butter noodle dish and my tofu-steak rivals your chicken any day. Ask my meat eating husband.

I also love when I make cookies and hand them out to voracious meat eaters at work and they LOVE them. I tell them that they're vegan (afterwards, of course) and their faces change to slightly confused. But I'm malicious like that.

I'm forging into making vegan cupcakes for New Years. I made Crimson Velveteens from Vegan Cupcakes take Over the World last night and they turned out beautifully. When I get home I'm starting on the Peanut Butter cupcakes. As a avid eater of sweets, I know what's tasty and what's weird. These are definitely in the tasty category.

I'm it!

So I've been tagged by the ever charming Eliandme:

Here are the rules:1. Link to the person that tagged you 2. Post the rules on your blog 3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself 4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs 5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Six quirks? I think I can come up with that.

1) While sitting idle, I run my hands through my hair and pull strands out. I don't force them out but I like pulling the loose stuff. There's an actual name for this - trichotillomania - but I don't know why I do it. I just do.

2) I will sit and eat french fries until I hurl. I'm not conscious of being full, only of french fries. This happened last night. Sigh.

3) I cry over the stupidest things. Previews for Extreme Home Makeover, commercials with little kids, almost any movie I watch....

4) I absolutely love to cook. I absolutely hate the dishes. That means we usually have a couple stacks of dishes waiting until I get annoyed enough to wash them.

5) Yarn gives me the chills. I can't look at it without feeling gross.

6) One of my favorite smells is bleach on my arm. I discovered the wonder of it while I worked in pizza and I miss the nightly huffing.

I don't really know anyone to tag so if you'd like to take part, you're tagged!

Vegan - Smegan.

About a week before Thanksgiving, I decided to go vegan.

I have awesome timing.

Not only did I slightly cheat on Thanksgiving (I can't help if someone else puts eggs in food) but I slightly cheated that weekend with a grilled cheese sandwich. I can't help myself. It's my favorite-ist food. Lucky for me, I found a decent substitute in Soya Kaas.

Since I started this adventure, I've been cooking a lot of vegetables, and in all different ways. I roasted my first peppers last night and let me tell you, I was eating them straight after peeling the charred skin off. I sauteed some kale (!), caramelized some onions and threw the whole mess in some pasta. Yum.

Unfortunately, this is sort of a bad time to start such a way of life. Vegan-specific products (nutritional yeast, vital wheat gluten for seitan, soy milk) are not exactly cheap. And I'm not exactly raking in the big bucks right now. So far we've been managing well as long as we load up on veggies and bulk pastas and grains. For Christmas this year we're handing out apple butter, blueberry syrup and hummus cups to friends. All are easy and cheap to make and oh-so-good. Here is the documentary on apple butter:

First you acquire a couple pounds of apples - best if they're all different types.


Chop 'em up. I used a wedding gift I didn't really anticipate using, ever - the apple master.


Throw them in the crockpot and add sugar and spices. Let it cook overnight. When you wake up your house will smell of apple pie.






Boil them for 15 minutes and then allow them to seal. I filled 14 of these baby jars.




It was a really simple process and the end result is some of the best apple product I've ever tasted. It's more of an applesauce consistency and I love it on toast and in oatmeal.

Mmmmm.

Cold.

I hate being sick.

I wouldn't mind staying home if I didn't just lay around all day.

I wouldn't mind taking time off if that I meant I got paid for it.

I wouldn't mind playing hooky if it meant Jeff was there.

But here I am, at home, unpaid and lonely. I've read the books I want to read until it got too dark in our living room sans light. I watched the movies I hadn't seen (note to self - it's ok that you wanted to see what the buzz was about. You just didn't like There Will Be Blood. Get over it) I watched Maury and Oprah and Jeopardy. I don't feel any better.

I start to think about school. How much would I love to quit working and go back full time. But I'd have to give up my car and learn the fantastic public transit system we have. I'm afraid.

I think about the money I'm not making at this particular moment. My checks are small enough.

I don't feel any better. In bed that night, pressure on my right side subsides as I flip over and it starts in on my left side. My nose is running, I'm sure of it. If I could only fall asleep, my headache would quit. If only my headache would quit I could fall asleep.

I'm so getting expensive espresso tomorrow. That will cure it.

Wedding Planning and such....

Jeff and my competition. Back off Poison Waters.

Planning is not nearly as hard as I believed it would be.

I've found the most difficult part of planning is a tie between deciding what we wanted to do for the invitations and getting the sister in law in sync with our needs. She wanted something extravagant, I want something fun and laid back, I want my family and friends there, and I want veggie burgers. I want I want I want!!

One of the adorable flower girls.

But really, to me it all comes down to a commitment I made long ago, finalizing itself on paper. No amount of money could change that. This man has changed my life in so many ways and I cannot express how happy I've become. Work doesn't seem so horrible, money issues are working themselves out and I've lost my aggression at the wheel. Hooray!

Mr & Mrs Cheesy McCheeserson.

Goals.

I have a couple of things I would like to accomplish this year.

1) Lose some fat. I'm not overweight, but I have wide hips and a tummy on those hips that bothers me. Not the kind of tummy that inspired the phrase "muffin top" but I would like to have more definition in that area. With the lose fat idea, I would like to be able to cook more with a healthy approach. J and I have been going to the farmers market across the street but one of these days I would like to just pick up a veggie I've never cooked before and create a meal surrounding it. The people that are able to accomplish that amaze me.

2) Start and maintain a side job with my photography.

3) Finally start that promotion that was promised to me in December!

4) Improve my writing. I love to do it and I would like to pen the literary creations that makes other people take notice.

5) Pick up a new set of friends. Mine are too busy partying to spend a quiet Saturday drinking tea. I've been replaced by gin and cheap beer.

6) Help my baby to quit smoking. I don't know what I would do without him.