It's Tofurkey Time!

Just a quick reminder to pick up your Tofurkey as soon as you can!  Of course, you do not have to eat  tofurkey roast, but I have noticed that they go quickly at small stores.  At my grocery store, there is now an entire freezer case of single roasts and the Tofurkey Feasts!  I am getting excited about the holidays, I cannot wait to start cooking!  And, another reminder, if you live in the NOVA area, Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, MD is having their Thanksgiving with the Turkeys this weekend, November 17th.  It is the biggest vegan potluck I have ever been to, and my kids have a super time every year.  I have linked to it on the sidebar!

Veggie Awards Flash!

I LOVE VegNews Magazine!  I love it so much that I begged my local grocery to carry it for two years and they finally started carrying it a year ago.  For over five years I have waited in anticipation of VegNews' yearly Veggie Awards...the best of the year for the Veg world.  You must pick up a copy or subscribe for the full details (so worth it), but here are some of the highlights from the 2012 awards, as voted for by VegNews Readers!

Person of the Year: The Vegan Athlete (Many were profiled in the article)
Restaurant of the Year:  Vedge in Philadelphia
Product of the Year:  Victoria Vegan Sauces
Company of the Year: VEGA (like, the vitamins)
NonProfit of the Year: Humane Society of the US
Book of the Year:  The Lucky Ones by Jenny Brown
 There was also a section of the Veggie Awards dedicated to highlighting some of the newest vegan celebrities on the scene, which I found interesting!  New to the vegan list this year are:
Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor
Anne Hathaway
Scarlett Johansson
Mischa Barton
Michelle Pfeiffer
Larry Hagman (of Dallas fame!)
Rosie O'Donnell
Chaka Khan

Lovely Puerto Rico

 I just got back from a wonderful trip to Puerto Rico to celebrate my sister's birthday...it was amazing and, of course, sweltering!  I loved it!  I cannot stand cold weather and snow, so I had the time of my life just baking.  I also ate some very good food.  I have the Happy Cow app on my iPhone, so I did some searches for some good places to eat!  The following is a photo diary of some of my culinary experiences while staying in San Juan, PR.  If you might be traveling to Puerto Rico in the future or are thinking of finding a place to vacation, check out the choices at Happy Cow.

The first thing I did was go to the grocery store, the Super Maxx.  NO JOKE this was the freezer section.  I decided that since there was an enourmous selection of vegan foods at the grocery (in addition to countless ethnic and local foods), I want to move to Puerto Rico.  That and, did I mention it's HOT?

We ate at a wonderful restaurant call the Cafe Berlin in Old San Juan.  I had the vegetarian "steak" with vegetables and it was so filling and delicious.  They had a LOT of vegan/veg choices on the menu, and if we had been there for longer, I would have tried to make it to the brunch.  Also, a little old man serenaded me with his guitar.  Bonus points.

At the Super Maxx, I bought a can of vegan "skallops".  I was curious, so I thought that I would take them home.  Well, they never made it home because one night we were so tired that we ate at the hotel restaurant.  I did not want to eat hummus again (yes, you can have too much of a good thing), so I went out on a limb and brought the waiter the can of "skallops" and asked him if he could do something with it.  This is what I got.  It was amazing.  Thank you Hosteria Del Mar!

For my sister's birthday, we ate at a lovely eatery called The Garden.  I had the curried tofu with jasmine rice.  It was so good, I am so glad that there are so many places that I can eat at in Puerto Rico.  Almost too many...I am seriously going to have to hit the gym hard this week.

Sidenote: There are some places that you should never eat.  This is one of them.  If you see a string of roadside "cafe's" that have their food sitting out and basically look shady, go to Subway of Burger King.  Your stomach will thank you.

Read Your Labels!

I am a busy mom and a full-time teacher...I love to cook and do it regularly, but it absolutely thrills me when I find a product that is yummy and makes me proud to serve it to my family.  That's why I read labels!  It's like a treasure hunt at the grocery store, and I typically find what I am looking for.  For example, recently I started craving cinnamon rolls.  Made a batch from scratch...took forever.  I felt good about it but I cannot do that frequently, I just do not have time.  So I kept thinking that there MUST be something at the grocery store...I was right!  After reading the labels for several different brands of easy bake cinnamon rolls, I found that the store brand was exactly what I was looking for.  You see, many of the everyday products that people eat are, in fact, vegan and they do not even realize it.  Potato chips, oreos, pastas, you name it.  So I read a LOT of labels, and it does take time.  But that's OK, because finding those products that are quick and easy but good for my ethics saves me time in the long run.  I love it when I can whip up a hot and wholesome meal...after working all day, picking up the kids from swim training, and squeaking home around 5:30 pm.  Just be careful, when you are reading those labels, there are a few key words you want to avoid that a lot of people do not usually recognize: sugar, rennet, lard, sodium, bha, caffeine, caramel, carrageenan, calcium disodium, lactic acid, maltol dextrin, modified food starch, mono-and diglycercides, monosodium glutamate(msg), nitrites, polysorbate, propyl gallate, red dye 40, saccharin, aspartame, & GUMS-arabic,cellulose,xanthan gums.

Ice Cream Dreams

Every once in a while I come across some new product at the grocery store that I didn't even know existed...this is one of my new favorites!  Yours Truly cones are remarkable, they taste delicious and they are reasonably priced.  When I was a kid, I was a big fan of drumsticks, and these are even better.  Instead of nuts, it has cookie crumbles on top of hard chocolate on top of soy ice cream on top of a cone.  There is even solid chocolate in the tip of the cone.  My kids love, love, love these, and I can get them to do just about any chore around the house if I bribe...errr...REWARD them with a Yours Truly cone.  These are not at most grocery stores yet, but it is worth taking a look in your store's organic section or taking a trip to a whole foods type store.  I mean, I love a pint of soy or rice milk ice cream, but this is just a different experience altogether...yumm...

While we were on vacation, I wanted to cook with my aunt and make a big meal for the whole family.  I know you're like, "Who wants to cook on vacation!?!".  Well, usually I don't, but I wanted to make a good impression on my family members that I had not seen in a while.  I got to go to the Navy Commissary, where I hadn't been in a while.  Decades, actually.  I decided to do a nice Italian Casserole, easy and cheap to feed a bunch of people.
Italian Casserole (Vacation Bum Slacker Style)
1. Sautee lots of vegetables...whatever you can find (squash, zucchini, muchrooms, peppers, etc.)
2. OPTIONAL: Heat up a bag of Gardein beefless tips, just sautee in a little oil and set aside.
2. Boil a box of pasta and drain.  Put in a LARGE bowl.
3. Add a jar of pasta sauce (check the label, make sure there is no cheese in it) and a large can of crushed tomatoes to the pasta.
4.  Add the sauteed veggies and beefless tips.  You can also add crumbled veggie burgers if you cannot find Gardein.  How many?  I don't know, like, 4 maybe?  Keep crushing and adding till it looks right.  Just make sure to COOK those veggie burgers first!
5. Add some fresh herbs like basil and oregano if you have them.  Crush two cloves of garlic into the bowl as well.
6. Stir well, put in a casserole dish.  Shred vegan cheese on top!  Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  
7. Go relax and have a glass of vacation juice (translation: whatever you want, especially if it's nice and boozy) while you're waiting. This is the most important step.
8.  Let cool and serve with bread if you like bread.  Belissimo!
 

Time Flies!

I cannot believe it, but this month marks our FIVE year anniversary as vegans!  I guess five years in kid years is a long time...my two don't remember being omnivores.  My youngest was breast fed for a year, and when we went vegan he was only two, so this lifestyle is pretty embedded in him.  It's certainly not always easy, and we do miss out on what the "Joneses" are doing every once in a while (although we have never been too concerned with what the Joneses are doing...they don't look like they are having any fun and they are always a little grouchy), but it's just such a part of now that I cannot imagine living any other way!  Everyone benefits!  Let's put this into perspective with a handy-dandy statistic (from Vegan Heights):

Water saved in one year by being vegan - 1,400,000 gallons

Water saved by 4 people being vegan for 5 years - 280,000,000 gallons

Mediterranean in Virginia Beach

Vegan Moussaka

 We recently when on a vacation to Virginia Beach, VA.  Nothing complicated, but my aunt and uncle live there, so it was nice to visit them and have some fun, too!  We played disc golf at Munden Point Park, went to Croatan beach (where I got on a surf board for the first time in 10 years!), saw the state aquarium, and made/ate some great food!  One of the best things about going away for a vacation is eating food that you do not normally eat!  We are so busy that we quickly get into a rut with meals...spaghetti, enchiladas, mac and "cheese", stir-fry, vegan meatloaf...they are all pretty easy, and good for a typical week night.  When I am on vacation, though (as you know if you have been following this blog for a while!) I want to send my taste buds on vacation as well!  So one restaurant that we tried was Baladi Mediterranean Cafe.  It is pretty close to where all the action happend in VA Beach...the boardwalk, the beach, the carnival, etc.  I checked the website before hand (thanks again Happy Cow!) and was very pleased to see lots of green "V's" on the menu, indicating that a dish was vegan.  EVERYTHING (yes, I am serious!) on the starter menu was vegan, and they also had some nice entrees and wraps as well.  I tried the vegan moussaka...they brought me a huge plate of it and my first thought was that I would never be able to finish it all...well, it was gone in no time because it was THAT good.  I also had some really great baklava (vegans, when was the last time you had that!?!?), made with agave nectar instead of honey.  Oh, and some Turkish delight!  Overall, the atmosphere was great, the staff was so polite, and the chef personally came out to see how we liked our meal.  Do NOT go by Virginia Beach without going to Baladi!

Vegan Baklava with a Turkish Delight!

A Blueberry Muffin Obsession

This is not the first (or the second, even) time I have posted about blueberry muffins.  I don't know what it is about a delicious, warm blueberry muffin that makes any morning so much better!  So I have posted recipes for muffins before (search breakfast), but I do not usually have time to make muffins from scratch.  Surprise!  Most of the time I have not given much thought to the muffin mixes at the store until now.  Duncan Hines has a Blueberry Streusel muffin mix that is amazing.  Not only do they use real ingredients with nothing artificial, but they also include a can of REAL, wild blueberries.  Fast, simple, but you will need to make sure you have a box of egg replacer handy.  If you try this mix, please let me know what you think, my kids gave it two thumbs up!

A Meal Away From Home

So here in the USA, it is summer (yeah!), which of course to many means summer vacation.  We typically go to the beach and avoid busy places like theme parks so that we can spend at least a few days being relaxed...not stressed out!  Because we are not staying at resorts, we often end up looking for places to eat out.  I love cooking, and it is very economical to cook during your vacation, but on vacation I do not want to be cooking all the time.  Enter HappyCow.net.  You can use this website to search for veg friendly and all-veg restaurants all over the world.  We typically find at least a few good places to eat whenever we use Happy Cow.  For example, let's say you are in...New Zealand.  Love New Zealand, used to live there, it should be on your bucket list!  Now that I am vegan, I need to find a place to eat because I am starving!  It is so easy to click on the map on Happy Cow, narrow down the search to cities, and I now see that there are 47 veg-friendly restaurants in Auckland!  Woah!  While the website is very user-friendly, the mobile app is even better, check it out.  Oh, and make sure you download the app BEFORE you are starving,it's better that way ;-)

A Home Run Dinner!

Many people are familiar with the famous White Castle...a burger joint famous in the northeast for it's pint-sized, greasy burgers, also called sliders.  In my home town, we have a similar burger joint called the Snow White Grill.  It's burgers are about 3/4 of the size of a regular burger, but full of flavor.  I do not often miss things I used to eat before going veg, but I do occasionally miss those burgers.  They were just right, and I admit it, while I try to cook healthy most of the time, I LOVE a greasy burger.  Don't know why, I just do.  So whenever I miss something that I used to eat, my first thought is...I can totally veganize that.  So I did.
You can get slider-sized buns at the grocery store sometimes, OR you can use square rolls like the kind grandma used to serve for dinner.  Either way, you need something like a mini hamburger bun.  For the burger itself, I actually minced and sauteed onions (about one onion) and mixed them with GimmeLean vegan sausage.  It looks like sausage in a tube, but it makes a better, more flavorful burger than the "ground beef" style that I usually use for meatloaf.  Shape about a palmful of that mixture into a square-shaped patty.  Slice another onions into rings and also some mushrooms and throw into a large pan with some vegetable oil...sautee for about 5 minutes, shove to the side of the pan, and use the same pan to fry your patties.  You should have about a centimeter of standing oil in the bottom of your pan (for the "greasy spoon" experience).  Flip your patty after a few minutes and then put a slice of vegan American cheese on top.  Cover that with some mushrooms and onions and cook till the cheese is melty.  Put your buns on the counter (no, don't sit on the counter!), and put on patty on each bun.  Make as many as you are going to eat, although leftover taste AWESOME heated in the microwave the next day.  Before you put the top on, place it face down (the flat side that hugs the patty) in the oil you were just cooking in for about 10 seconds.  Greasy.  That step is optional.  Put the top on the burger and serve with fries.  This will taste so good, like something your doctor would tell you not to eat, but because of the fact that it's vegan and you are cooking with vegetable oil instead of animal fat, you can indulge and still rest easy.

This Not-So-Little Piggy

So if you have been following my blog for a while, you remember that back in August of 2010, my husband bought me an adorable teeny pot-bellied pig.  We call him Ollie.  At almost 2 years old, Ollie is now as tall as a Labrador and WAY heavier.  Well over 100 pounds.  Now, I think he is just the most handsome pig in the world, but most of our friends and family are shocked at how big he has gotten.  He even has some nice tusks, to boot!  I meet people all the time who want a pig when they find out that I have one, they see videos on YouTube of a sweet little football-sized piggy doing tricks.  It is a myth that even the famed "teacup" pigs stay really small...a mini potbelly can get up to 200 pounds!  And SO, this is the problem with fad pets.  Fad pets are pets that suddenly become popular and everyone "has to have one".  The problem is that many folks will acquire a fad pet and not think about how much work it is to take care of one.  For example, even our yard has to be pig-proof.  Ollie will tear up trash if it is left around.  He needs to be fed and watered regularly.  He needs a pool of water and a warm, dry bed.  He even has his own pig house, and comes inside often during the cold months.  These reasons contribute to why so many fad pets end up in sanctuaries or abandoned.  People just do not educate themselves.  If you have the time and the patience, a mini potbelly is a great pet.  If you like your yard hole-free, your furniture upright, and your time to yourself, it is not a good choice.  Of course, you can say that about most pets.  If you are not willing to love them unconditionally, perhaps you should reconsider owning a pet.  If the demand goes away, the population of these animals will naturally go down over time because humans will stop intentionally breeding them to sell as pets.

Pesto!

We have been lazily enjoying our summer vacation here in Northern Virginia...wait...no, that must be some family from some other house because I have been "losing my mind" busy!  I have increased my tutoring hours trying to make a little extra dough, especially since those fine folks at the student loan institution insist on having their money.  Go figure.  We decided not to go on a big vacation, so that means lots of little trips here and there.  All is not lost for my adventures in the kitchen, though, because there is always time for pesto!  Man, this stuff is really easy to make and we will eat it on anything from Italian bread to plain old pasta.  Here is my quickie recipe, even quicker if you are growing your own basil like we are.
Quickie Pesto
What you need:
About a cup or two of fresh basil leaves
Olive oil
Salt
Walnut halves (Pine nuts...I am currently walnuts because, well, read the student loan line above)
Fresh garlic cloves...maybe 2-4, depending on how much you like garlic
What you do:
Get out your blender.  The best thing for a quickie recipe is a "Magic Bullet", but a blender works fine.  Crush your garlic into the blender.  Pour in about a quarter cup of olive oil and about a half cup of walnuts or pine nuts.  Throw in a half teaspoon of salt, less if you want less salt.  Blend for 10-15 seconds.  Put in all the basil, and pour another half cup of olive oil on top of that.  If using a blender instead of a magic bullet, you will want to use a wooden spoon to mash everything down before blending for about 20-30 seconds more.  Mix it up, add more oil to give it a syrup-like consistency.  Notice that this recipe is not terribly accurate...go with how it looks.  Taste as you go...that's the best part of cooking.  If it is too lumpy, add a little more oil and blend a little more.  Leave out the salt if you want.  Make it your own, and enjoy it right away, super-fresh!

Fast Dinner, Mixed Reviews

So I love Pinterest, I get a lot of ideas from friends, family, and others for all kinds of things from home decorating to vintage items to just stuff in general.  And I NEVER spend too much time looking for new things to post (you don't either, right?).  Well I also look for good gluten-free vegan recipes to try.  My latest was the Spinach Quinoa salad in the picture above.  The tempeh was easy enough...I mixed equal parts of maple syrup and hickory barbeque sauce together (about a half a cup or so...I'm not really big on measuring) and maybe a teaspoon or two of olive oil to keep stuff from sticking.  Then I just sliced up a few blocks of tempeh, coated them in the sauce, and broiled them for a few minutes of each side.  You could do that with seitan, tofu, or whatever.  I love to broil, as things get a little crispier!  The salad, on the other hand, was something that I had been wanting to try, so I purchased all the ingredients a week ago and thought I might give it a go tonight.  I was tired from working all day, so this was actually not a bad recipe.  It was pinned from the website Gluten-Free Goddess.  Here it is:

What you need:
1 cup organic quinoa (get instant, trust me)
Sea salt
2 good handfuls of organic baby spinach leaves, washed, drained
1 large ripe pear, cut into pieces (my pear went bad before I could make this, so I used apple)
1/2 cup chilled chick peas, rinsed, drained (forgot the chick peas, it was still great, haha)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
A handful of pecans, pan toasted and salted to taste (my husband, bless his heart, bought walnuts instead of pecans...and because I was tired, I didn't toast...again, it was still good...this recipe is one you can get creative with)
Dressing:

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
What to do:
Place the quinoa in a saucepan or a rice cooker. Add 2 cups fresh water, and a pinch of sea salt. Cover and cook on a low simmer until all the water is evaporated and the quinoa is tender- roughly 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork and dump it into a large salad bowl.
Add the baby spinach, pear, chick peas, and chopped parsley to the quinoa and fluff.
Whisk together the vinaigrette, pour it over the quinoa salad and toss gently to coat. Season to taste with sea salt and ground pepper.
Just before serving, add the toasted pecans and lightly combine.
Makes four main course servings, six side dish servings.

The review from the fam: half and half.  My daughter and I loved both the tempeh and the salad, it was very yummy.  My husband (even though he purchased the ingredients) would not even put the salad on his plate because he decided that he hates quinoa...plus, he put the tempeh between two pieces of bread.  Ten minutes later he had a plate of french fries...fail.  AND in turn my six year old also hates quinoa, now (gee, so suddenly)...but he's part mine so I MADE him eat some because it is so GOOD for you.  I am mean mommy now, of course.  If you have picky eaters, you may want to skip this meal and make veggie dogs and french fries instead.  For something different if you have a family with an adventurous palate, this was a winner in my book!!  Bon Appetite!

Valley Earth Fest Pasta Salad!

Wow, it has been SUCH a long day! I can't believe how much fun it was to table at the Valley EarthFest today...I met a lot of great people and passed out a ton of samples and literature. I want to post more, but being as tired as I am, I am just posting quickly for those of you that I promised the pasta salad recipe to! It cannot be easier...or tastier :) Chick'N Pasta Salad
What you need:
Two packages of Gardein Chick'n Scallopini (frozen food section)
 One box of pasta shells
 One jar of vegan mayo (I used Nayonaise, but Vegenaise would also be great)
Diced: cucumber (seeded), bell pepper, celery, black olives, spring onions
 Two TBSP olive oil
 Salt and pepper to taste
What to do:
 Cook your pasta and drain it well. Add olive oil to the water to prevent sticking. Put into a large bowl. Put some olive oil into a skillet and sauté your Chick'n Scallopini cutlets. What is nice about Gardein is that it caramelizes if you cook it for long enough! Once they are cooked, set them aside to cool for a bit. While the cutlets are cooling, add the veggies to the pasta. Add about half of the jar of Nayonaise and stir well. add the salt and pepper...I said to taste, but I add about a half of a teaspoon of salt and an entire teaspoon of ground pepper. Stir again. Dice your Chick'n, and put it into a container. Chill the rest of the salad. When you are ready to serve, add the Chick'n. If you add it too soon, it will not have the same chicken-like texture. Serve and enjoy! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to see me today, I hope you take the time to read some of my earlier posts, there is all sorts of useful information, especially if you are like me...working full time and trying to create a healthier lifestyle for my kids at the same time. If you were lucky enough to talk to my fantastic children today, you know what I mean!! Check back again soon for more about my experience at the Earth Fest today, including my thoughts on some of the topics that you lovely people brought up to me today!

Rolling Along with vegFund

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am tabling at the Valley EarthFest (VEF) in Berryville, VA this month...April 22nd to be exact!  Well I decided to apply to VegFund for a grant to be reimbursed for the costs of literature to hand out to festival-goers as well as the ingredients for all of the samples that I will be handing out.  VegFund "empowers vegan activists worldwide by funding and supporting effective outreach activities that inspire people to choose and maintain a vegan lifestyle" (from the VegFund website).  In the past when I set up an informational table with my friend Dale Ball from New Leaf Vegan Society, she applied for VegFund to cover the costs of the materials that we used.  Now that I am going solo for VEF, I knew that I needed some help.  I definitely cannot afford to do this without a little monetary support.  It was a long application but I finished it in about an hour.  GREAT NEWS...It has been less than a day since I sent in my application and I have already been approved!  I am so excited, I cannot wait to get started cooking so that I have plenty of great vegan food to entice people to try MORE plant-based delicacies :).  Stay tuned for more updates as I decide how long it is going to take me to MAKE all this delicious food!  Probably going to start cooking DAYS ahead of time!

"But Humans Were Meant to Eat Meat, RIGHT?"

Wow, do I get into this discussion a lot!  It just happened again the other day, where someone was trying to convince me that because we are ABLE to eat meat (sort of), we HAVE to eat meat.  What I WANTED to say was, "Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?"  But I didn't, because I care :)  What I wish I could do is show everyone the following movie for several reasons.  First, it is backed up by scientific facts, and I love facts.  Second, it makes a great argument without being too, well, IN YOUR FACE!  I love a civilized vegan discussion.  Last, it is kid-friendly (watch it first before you show it to kids, only you know what's truly appropriate for your child!) and HILARIOUS!  No joke, I thought it was great and so did my kids!  Take a look, it's an interesting 5 minutes!

Gluten-Free Vegan?

Gluten-free vegan chocolate chip pancakes.

Being vegan is more challenging than the average American diet...it's more challenging than just shoving whatever looks good into your mouth!  You have to put some thought into what you are going to eat, how it is going to be prepared, when you are going to eat, and even why you are going to eat it.  After any major change to your life, though, you get used to it and it is no big deal anymore.  That is what happened to my vegan family.  We have been vegan for almost 5 years now, and it is really just second nature...we know what we are doing, haha!  So I was in the nice groove at home, I knew exactly what I wanted to get at the grocery unless I was trying a new recipe here and there, and life was good, smooth sailing.
Now, insert daughter with stomach/digestive problems.  We had already given up milk because of a lactose intolerance (we gave up dairy before we even gave up meat or eggs!)...what's a mom to do?  I made a doctor's appointment, but that is still weeks away.  Something that seemed to help a lot of people with stomach issues is a gluten-free (GF) diet.  RED FLAGS: we eat a LOT of wheat products...even gluten just by itself (seitan, beautiful seitan!).  But I felt like I HAD to try something before the doctor.  I did some research and found that my little vegan's symptoms were very similar to those exhibited by those with a wheat intolerance.  So I decided to try it for a week, and the results were undeniable.  She said that after a few days, her constant stomach aches and gas were gone...that was enough for me, but she looked less bloated as well.  So it has been 2 weeks and she is doing great, although you can tell right away if she accidentally eats something with wheat in it!
So WHAT, you may ask, are you possibly giving that child to eat that is vegan AND GF?  Well, it is not as hard as I though it would be, although her choices have been significantly reduced.  We have a great local grocery that has several sections of GF products from crackers and cereal to pasta and bread.  If we have stir fry and noodles, she has stir-fry with rice.  If we have tacos with Boca grounds, I might make her some separate filling with rice or Textured Soy Protein.  On a typical day she eats corn chex and fruit for breakfast, has PB&J on tapioca-flour bread, potato chips, and apples for lunch, and for dinner we substitute a lot.  It just takes a little extra thinking, but it is worth it in the end.  A happy kid means a happy mom, gluten-free vegan or not!

Back to VFV!

So it's been a couple months since I last blogged...this is a busy, busy time of year for the special education teacher, I have to say!  I have had several new additions to my caseload in the last month, and we barely escaped an audit from the Dpt. of Education...whew!  At least my files finally look amazing!  So now that it is spring I am back full force...those buds on the trees and flowers on the hills have me thinking about plants, the environment, and chocolate peanut butter eggs :)  Yes, I put in my order to Pangea Vegan Store in Rockville, MD for the Easter Bunny's annual visit...that old bunny comes around every year and leaves all sorts of goodies that he ordered from Pangea.  This year he's leaving those big chocolate bunnies, peanut butter eggs, and creme-filled eggs.  Probably some Nerds, too, because I am a Nerd-aholic.  I love this tradition of having the Easter basket on Easter morning...we really stress the idea of Easter being a celebration of spring, new life, and new beginnings :)  We will probably take a trip out to Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary, too.
Some things coming up for Vegan Family Values...The Valley Earth Fest, where I will be tabling solo for the first time, lots of new recipes to try, the Poplar Springs 5K run, Earth Day, gardens and the Mother's Day Plant Sale, Apple Blossom Festival, and more!  Loving spring!

Shocked?

Paula Deen, stuffing her face.

It has recently come out in the news that Paula Deen, the Queen of Southern Cooking (whom I have dubbed the Master of the Lard) has Type 2 Diabetes.  I cannot say that I am surprised that she has the disease, she probably eats her own deep fried macaroni and cheese.  But I am disappointed that rather than take advantage of this to promote a healthier diet and lifestyle, she has teamed up with a pharmaceutical company to push drugs. C'mon Paula, get real.  My only hope is that people take a lesson from this and choose to better their own lives because she is a bad example and a terrible role model.  My guess is that many will just use her as an excuse as to why they "can eat whatever they want".  Only time will tell.  For more information, try this link to DiabetesMine.

Gardein Rules

 I am in LOVE with Gardein, and my love for it only gets stronger with time, haha!  My local grocery store has recently started carrying even more selections from this fantastic brand of mock meats.  IF you are a fan of plant-based meats and you are in an area that carries this brand, give it a try.  My personal favorite so far is the orange chick'n...I sautee it in a frying pan and then set it aside on a small plate while I cook a frozen vegetable stir-fry mix that I buy in bulk from the wholesale store.  After the stir-fry veggies are cooked, I put the chick'n back in and add the sauce that it came with.  One pan, unless you cook up a few packages of Ramen Noodles (minus the seasoning packets) to put the stir-fry on top of.  Be sure to use the plate that you put the chick'n on as a serving plate, less dishes.  After working all day at the school and squeezing in a workout before picking up the kids, it is nice to have a fast but really yummy meal to put on the table.  If there is no Gardein to be found near you, look back through to my 2010 recipes and mix up a batch of seitan for your stir-fry.  AND if meat analogs are not your thing (I understand!) then get some REALLY great mushrooms and pile them on top!  As soon as you are finished, rinse your plate, it makes the dishes easier to do :)

Snowballs!

There is no better time of the year than winter to make snowball cookies.  My aunt used to make them when I was a kid, and I always remembered them.  Before this year, I had never thought to even bother making them, but there is no time like the present.  Here is a great recipe that I picked up at VegBlogger.  It is very good...I do not chop my own nuts, I buy crushed walnuts from the grocery store.  These are pretty fast to make, and they go well with any plant-based milk :)
What you need:

1 cup of vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)
1/4 cup vegan sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans work best)
1 cup confectioner's sugar
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Add the butter, sugar and vanilla to a mixing bowl and use a hand mixer on it until it is fluffy. Then add in the flour and combine the ingredients. Next, add in the nuts and mix everything together. Then, have the kids take small amounts to create one inch balls out of the dough. Place them on the cookie sheet, at least an inch apart. Bake for 28-30 minutes. Once you take them out of the oven, roll them in the confectioner's sugar while they are still hot. Place back on the cookie sheet to cool. Enjoy!