What do vegans eat? (and other questions) answered

I get a lot of emails asking what sort of things we eat. Frankly, we eat well. Really well. Like I've-gained-four-pounds well. Seriously. Being vegan isn't a sure path to thinness (the other big question). In fact, I find myself not being as careful at times because of the inherent "virtue" of a plant-based diet. Since my camera was handy I took some pics of recent meals.

Dinner:

Chickpea cutlets with red wine and shallot gravy and mashed potatoes. We ended up using the majority of a stick of vegan margarine in this meal and it was so worth it. The picture doesn't do it justice.


Breakfast:

Watermelon, Pineapple and Mocha Chip Muffins.



Lunch is leftover potato and greens soup with leftover focaccia bread. Scroll down to my last post if you want to see it.

My point is, we eat a lot better now than we ever did before. And I still need to watch my portions.

All the recipes are from Veganomicon or Vegan with a Vengance.

vegan

I Should Have Known...

I should have known when I made this:

and this:


for dinner that the Children's Claritin was causing "excitability".

...Or maybe when I was too hyper to stay in the hot tub the whole twenty minutes.

... Or when I was still up at 5:30 AM - wide awake- and decided it was way too late to go to bed and get some sleep.

*sigh* I hate that I don't tolerate meds very well. These little glitches can be as irritating as sand in your shorts.

Both recipes are from Veganomicon - my very favorite recipe book. You can also find the soup recipe here.

And the Winner is...

Cake Junkie!

Thanks so much for playing everyone. I loved all your projects and was so inspired by them.

Once the grand prize winner is announced I'll post it here.

Earth Day Challenge Cards

Hello~

Just wanted to remind you all that you have until midnight PDT to make and post your entries and be eligible for the prizes.

I decided to play along too. My mom had asked for some photo cards of scenery or nature so Godelieve's challenge was just perfect. I ended up making five as I haven't yet found the right number of cards for a set. With my mom, I assume more is better. Here they are:

Remember that cornmeal box I altered yesterday? It's the perfect size for my Cuttlebug embossing folders and plates:



All Stamps Used are by Odd Bird Planet: Let Your Dream Soar, des Fleurs, fall (JJ mix), don't get your feathers in a fluffle

Happy Earth Day - with PRIZES!!!

[The Tick, after being asked if he is powerful enough to destroy the Earth]

Ye Gods! I hope not! That's where I keep all my STUFF!

Happy Earth Day!

This third rock from the sun is an amazing spot to call home and we all need to do our part to keep her in ship-shape. Some simple things to consider:

* Plan your route and combine errands during the same trip so you drive less, reduce your carbon footprint and save time and money too

* Eat at least one meat-free meal per week. Your grocery budget, waistline and the earth will thank you. Some ideas: pasta marinara/primavera, beans and rice, curries, stir fry... there are a lot of yummy options (even here on my blog).

* When crafting use your stash. Seriously. You probably have some awesome stuff in your closet or scrap room. Reduce is the most important member of the reduce, reuse, recycle trio if you ask me :-) Imagine the money, time, gas, resources you saved if you checked what you had at home first.

My Earth Day challenge is to re-purpose packaging into a craft project. I know you've got Altoid tins by the dozen in your alter box... admit it :-) Here are some other ideas of fun ways to waste not, want not.

1. When I saw this:


I was enchanted by the kraft, punched, stampy backing that the flower came on. Instead of tossing the packaging after using the flower I made this:


Stamps Used: Take Care of the Earth, Kelly's Stump, le bandit left

2. I needed a two... I checked my chipboard and came back empty handed. All my letter stickers were too small and I didn't want to wrestle the Cricut into submission. What's a crafty girl to do? That's right, make her own. So I took this:

I tell you, chipboard is EVERYWHERE!

And made this:


Close-up of the 2:


On this LO I indulged my current passion, and I mean Edward and Bella level obsession here, for making my own patterned paper. All you do is stamp a main image - making sure to bleed some of the images off the edge of the page - fill in the bare spots with a smaller complimentary image and then color with markers. The distressed solids by Basic Grey are particularly great for this.

Stamps Used: Lovely Skull and Bones and circus star

3. Do you have any luscious Crate chipboard cans lying about?

Before:


After:


These make great neighbor/just because gifts. I've filled them with chocolate-covered pretzels, cookies, taffy. Yummy!

Stamps used: Whimsical Frame (one of my favorites), circus star and madricaine owl

4. And finally a girlie-girl up-cycling gift to myself. Who among us can't use a little more storage? First, we had cornmeal mush for breakfast and emptied the box:


Realizing how sturdy and nicely proportioned it was I made this little cutie:


Side View:

Can't you just imagine it filled with embossing folders or alphas?

I started with a white(ish) sheet of BG paper and stamped it with strawberry pair and then filled in the open spaces with grass. Next I hole-punched an old book page and glued on the dots. Here's a closer look:

My challenge is for you to re-purpose some packaging into a new project. It can be a card, layout, altered item etc. Once you are done take a picture and post it on your blog then leave a comment here. If you don't have a blog let me know and I can post it here for you.

To Enter the Repurposed Packaging Challenge:

1. Create a NEW card or other project that uses repurposed packaging. While we would love you to showcase your Odd Bird Planet stamps, this is not a requirement. If you do not have any, that's okay! Play anyway!

2. Upload a photo of your work to your blog. If you do not have a blog you can upload your card to the new Odd Bird Planet Forum located at PaperCraftPlanet.

3. Post a link to your card on THIS post on my blog. For the other challenges, you will need to post on the appropriate DT member's blog. This is important, as winners will be chosen from DT blog posts.

4. Spread the word about the Earth Day Extravaganza! Okay this is not a requirement, but it would be awfully nice of you.

You have only 24 hours after the last challenge is posted to finish and post a link to your card on my blog (this post); the challenge ends at midnight on Thursday, April 23rd PDT.

A challenge winner will randomly be selected from posts on my blog who have successfully completed the challenge; all challenge participants will be entered into the Grand Prize drawings

You may enter each challenge as many times as you wish, but each entry must be a new card and new post made for each challenge alone. Please do not combine challenges.

I will post the winner here on Friday the 24th. Winners need to provide name, email address and phone to have their goodies shipped (all this info is required by the shipping company).

Prizes:

o Each winner of the blog challenge drawings will win a Limited Edition Stamp or an Earth stamp

o Each of the blog challenge participants will be entered into a grand prize drawing for:

• One winner will receive $100 in Odd Bird Planet stamps
• One winner will receive $50 in Odd Bird Planet stamps
• Five winners will receive a 25% discount coupon when they place an Odd Bird Planet order

Other OBP design team blogs to check out for challenges (Times are PST):

6:00 am – 9:00 am – Rina, Suzy, Godelieve
9:00 am – 12:00 pm – Tracy, Dianne
12:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Kim, Tanis
3:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Beth, Marnie, Teresa
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Laura, Sparkle
9:00 pm – 12:00 am – Debbie, Kathi

Earth Day Sneak Peek

Are you excited about the Earth Day challenges tomorrow? I am. In fact I made a bunch more stuff than I intended to because I was having so much fun. Life is short - we need to play all we can.

Wanna peek?



Hope you check back tomorrow and join in.

Another Romantic Card

Here is a new card I made, I was still in a romantic mood but wanted something a little more manly and rustic. This finished up the last of my Cosmo Cricket Wanted paper. I think it's the first time I've bought a whole line and used every scrap. I couldn't get enough of the vintage, masculine look. I also broke down and cut into a new treasure - the brown and red highly textured, distressed handmade specialty papers from Provo Craft ( shall I throw in any more adjectives?) It's so thick I could barely wiggle it into my punches!


Odd Bird Planet stamps used: Mummy Chicklet right, Wrapped Up in You

Don't forget, tomorrow is Earth Day and I'll be hosting an Odd Bird Planet challenge at 9:00 AM PST and there are great prizes to be won.

Free Sketch Class

I'm so excited, TSR is offering a free sketch class during the month of May. Susan designs the most awesome sketches and did I mention it's free? You don't need to be a member to take the class but you do need to sign up to the message board. I hope to see all my friends there hanging out and playing along.

Two Posts in One Day

I'm chatty.

Have I mentioned how much I love my husband lately? He's the coolest thing to happen to me and I love him to bits. I was thinking of him when I made this:



I used You Light Up My Life and Kelly's Lightbulb stamps from Odd Bird Planet

New Glasses and a Big Earth Day Surprise

I only have to wear my glasses for distance - like the TV or spotting roadside deer from the passenger seat - not all the time. You'd think that would be great but it means I'm constantly leaving them at home. Since my glasses, even if I throw in every special, super-duper feature, cost about $125 bucks I decided to take the old health spending account out for a spin and get a second pair to keep in my purse. Oh my goodness. It's so awesome to have two pairs. While I was thinking practically - not being without them - it's really fun to have two different looks to play with. My old ones are tortoise shell (plastic) with moons and stars in blue on the temple. These are black and the back side (near my skin) is light green so you can see green depending on the angle. They're SO cool:



Now on to my fun news. Odd Bird Planet is having a full day of challenges for Earth Day - this Wednesday - and one of the events will be taking place here on my blog from 9:00 AM- 12:00 AM. And there are BIG PRIZES to be had:

o One winner will receive $100 in Odd Bird Planet stamps
o One winner will receive $50 in Odd Bird Planet stamps
o Five winners will receive a 25% discount coupon when they place a Odd Bird Planet order


And you can enter as many times as you want! So be sure to check back here Wednesday morning and see what fun I have planned for you. I promise it's something you've seen me do/talk about regularly and it's something I've seen you ladies do too.

Fun, fun, fun!

ROFLMBO

This video was made by the Government of Canada to get new information out quickly on YouTube:



Mounties? Check!
Hockey? Check!
Poutine? Check!
The Queen? Check!
Maple Syrup? Check!
Hockey Player? Check!

Could they include any more stereotypes??? Gotta love a country that doesn't take itself too seriously :-)

Edit: My friend E brought it to my attention that a lot of people who would have been granted Canadian citizens under the old rules lost their citizenship yesterday. Which is no laughing matter at all. You can read about it here and here I wonder though (and will look into it further) if they couldn't register their kids as babies born abroad. Up until yesterday our boys were NOT Canadian unless registered as such due to be born out of Canada even though Chris and I are both Canadian citizens born in Canada. As far as I understand - at this point - the people most effected are the third generation born abroad (for example, our grandchildren).

I Made Something!!!!

Hey everyone :-)

Things are still pretty pathetic on the moving around front but I'm doing all I can to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible. Of the changes made, doing some gentle exercise and stretches at the height of my medication seems to be helping restore my strength the most. I'm back off of wheat and am on the more rigorous version of my diet again.

My disagreeable hands continue to be too trembly to make anything as nuanced as a card but I did attempt a simple LO and it came out well enough. The journalling was the hardest part and it's barely legible - but that too is part of the story.


Hope you are having a glorious Friday. We've had three straight days of snow. The amount is such that we have to shovel several times a day to keep ahead of it. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm so most likely it'll melt again.

We also found an acceptable church. This weekend they are having a New Members class. We are going to attend as it'll be a great way to discover if we're a good fit theologically before we invest a lot of time.

My Big Guy

Trenton decided that having long hair is too much trouble so he asked if we'd take him to the hairdresser to get it lopped off. *sigh* I loved his '90s rocker hair.

Here's the before shots:


And here's the after:



Avery and Brayden got their hair cut too:

On Easter, Everything's a Basket

Happy Easter everyone!

Here's a couple of cards I want to share with you on this glorious sunny Resurrection Sunday.


Stamps: Happy Easter, Two maids a milking


Don't you get the impression that the gal in charge is planning a full-blown assault on the egg hunt?

Stamps: Happy Easter (whimsy), Three Maids a Milking

Card Sketch a Day Blog

Hey Friends,

I'm the Saturday Spotlight this weekend on Card Sketch a Day Blog.

Here's a peek at what you'll see over there:



Tomorrow Susan will be creating a sketch based on an original card design of mine so check back again on Sunday.

Odd Bird Planet Stamps: Life is Delicious and Orange You Sweet.

Happy Easter

Sorry to recycle content but I'm in the midst of a major bone disease flare-up and can hardly hold on to my scissors for all the shaking nor walk over to my paper to make a card. *sigh*

But, this weekend is a celebration of my resurrected Lord and it just won't due to let it pass unmentioned.

Happy Easter Everyone!

I hope to be creating and posting again soon.

Stamps:

Teresa's Banner
Nest with eggs
Fairy Chicklet Left
Bunny Ears Chicklet
Floppy Ears Chicklet Right

Counting Blessings

1. Found a pair of intact and appropriately colored hose in my drawer so I could wear my new green dress yesterday.
2. Spent time with a dear friend last night.
3. Pink blanket from mom gives me much warmth and comfort.
4. I have really well-behaved kids.
5. Chris. Everyday in every way.

Skiing, Cooking, Life

Chris took yesterday off work so he could take the boys skiing during the last week of ski season. I don't fully approve of skiing so our deal is that I don't have anything - and by anything I mean any work - to do with it and it is wholly and entirely a dad and boy thing.

Our Bubby just topped 61 pounds and he is still a crazy-man on a leash so when they ski the pup goes to doggy daycare. Chris and the boys got to Pets Hotel only to realize they didn't have a leash. After wrestling him into the building (past all the pets, treats, toys and EXCITEMENT!) they got him settled and headed to Solitude. There were some mishaps on the way - like sliding down a slippery hill and nearly hitting a Land Rover - but the biggest was when they were getting their gear on and realized Brayden hadn't brought a jacket. Such a Brayden thing to do. You have to check, double-check and then check again with that boy. Then Chris realized he hadn't brought the ski passes. Such a Chris thing to do. You have to check, double-check... Brainy and Chris are so alike!

So they drove an hour home, got the leash, jacket and passes and four hours later were skiing. Poor guys. It does serve as a nice explanation as why I am so anal about asking questions like, " Do we have everything? Passes, coats, leashes etc." Because if you don't ask those irritating questions over and over you end up leaving things behind. I had tried to call when they were only a few minutes from home but they were using the iPhone as an iPod so music trumped messages.

Trying to decide how to best use my time without kids was a toughie. There was a lot of things needing to be done but I was just dragging. I decided to cook meals for the whole week so I could bank about an hour or more each day and make room for our additional school schedule. I made:

Pesto and mock ricotta stuffed shells:


Tofu Cacciatore:


Curried Chickpeas and Potatoes:




White bean and tempeh sausage patties:

Not pictured as they haven't been made into patties and cooked yet.

and Mocha Chip Vegan Muffins:


I kept a colander of trimmed spinach next to the stove and shredded it into everything. I was amazed at how it either made no difference at all or it added a little something to most dishes. For me, if I want to make sure we use something keeping it on hand like that really helps.

While making the white bean and tempeh patties I got violently ill. It was horrible. I managed to get most of the food into the fridge and collapsed on the couch. When everyone came home hours later they were all shocked by how horrible I looked. I was so sick. Ugh. So much for goofing off all afternoon after working all morning. Today I feel quite a bit better - if only by comparison.

In the end, the boys had a good day skiing with dad and I got a lot done - but the details were killer.

ATC's and Posies

The theme of the last ATC swap at TSR was buttons so I made this one for Daisy. I had the teeniest buttons in my stash and had no idea where to use them. The small scale of the ATC was just the right proportion to use them.



Janine, this month's TSR diva, is having two guest designers each day make samples of a certain kind of homemade or altered embellishment. Today I was tapped to make fabric posies and this is what I came up with:



Close ups:






And here's the sort of thing you can do with fabric posies:

Healthy: Ate a decent breakfast at a proper time. You have no idea how I struggle with this simple task.
Wealthy: Making a week's worth of meals. Hopefully we'll keep our one week without restaurant streak going.
Wise: Did my reading assignment first thing this morning.

scrapbooking