Save the whales again !

Check out the Save the whales again ! website and do what you can to help....

Cold Weather blues

For the last 3 days the winter weather has been taking its misery out on John and I. Three days ago the water pipes froze when it was -10 (windshield -22). So that morning John drove to work then had to come home to try to get the pipes unfroze. He was out side working on it for over and hour in the frigid temps and the water pipe didn't budge. So I turned the water off in the tub. I had it on so I would know if John was helping it unfreeze. So I turned it off and John went back to work. It was like 7 am and I had had only 2 hours of sleep so I went back to bed. The phone kept ringing all morning. So I finally tuned it out of my head and fell asleep on the couch. I woke up around 11:30am. To my surprise while I was sleeping the water came unfroze! It was only 8 Degrees outside... So I'm not sure how they got unfroze. Yes that was good... but what I didn't know was John had turned the tub and sink facets back on thinking I had left them on. So both were totally wide open.... Needless to say a lot of water was wasted. But I haven't even got to the best part yet.... The sewer pipe is now frozen!!! who knew that could happen? not me... It has now been 3 days. I can't use the water anywhere in the house. Plus the water froze in the line under the toilet Busting it and put water all over our bathroom floor... So now we have to pull up the floor around the toilet and install a new toilet. I am glad we have a new toilet and all because I have been wanting one that has low water usage. But this isn't the way I wanted to come about doing it. But I still cannot run any water in the house.. the toilet has not been replaced and it will be a few more days till that can happen. On top of that yesterday the heater went out. John came home and fixed it that evening. But I was at home all day with a space heater. I am so ready to move to warmer weather..................................

Knitting & Food

Well I have been trying to get a lot done lately. Trying to quit procrastinating. Which I am so bad about. I have tried a few new recipes which I am going to write about and I have been working on knitting some stuff and getting supplies for the stuff I am going to make for Etsy. There have been so many creative things running through my head it has been hard for me to concentrate on one thing at a time. Which is where my problems come in. Like today I spent 3 hours at JoAnn Fabrics trying to pick out fabric and notions. I had such a head ache from trying to get all of the items that I finally gave up and went home. At least I got my grocery shopping done first. Which I really enjoyed. I love grocery shopping.... I love to find new products to try and just stuff that I have looked for in the past and then someone finally gets it in. I will say after the fabric store (which I normally enjoy) I was so stressed out that I didn't go to the 2nd grocery store that I wanted to hit. O well. But on to the food.

So I have been trying some new recipes. I love trying new recipes and I am going to do more of that this year. As well as cooking in bulk to freeze stuff like pasta sauce, soups, pies, pastries, breakfast food, breads, etc. I will post those recipes or links on this website or my other Vegannatura.blogspot.com. So keep a heads up. This summer I will also be posting bulk recipes for garden veggies. Anyways....

General Taos Tofu turned out great.... I have not really cooked Asian food in the past and I would love to try some more recipes. I have always had a hard time cooking tofu and this turned out really good. I can't wait to make sweet and sour tofu!!!!!! I will post pictures of that soon. :)

I also tried the Chili recipe off of Vegandad.blogspot.com. It turned out pretty good. I am not much for chocolate and cinnamon in my chili though. But it was a good Change. With this recipe I made some cool Chili corn dog muffins with the vegan smart dogs. They turned out really good. John loved them. I used the corn bread recipe from PPK. It was good as well. For more info Check out Vegannatura.blogspot.com.

This week I have been trying to hit food items I have had trouble with in the past .. Like the tofu. The next Item I tried was another Vegan Mac & Cheese recipe from Veg web called Delightful mac & cheese. Well I will just say I wasn't a big fan and neither was John. I hate wasting food but everytime I try a new Vegan mac & cheese recipe it ends up in the garbage... This version had a kinda "chickeny" taste to it. Which like I said on Vegan Natura .. It has been many years since I have had any meat so maybe I am a little off on this but... I just could not stomach it.... But It does have a ton of good reviews at veg web.. So try it. You may like it... But by the end Copper kitty had to come check it out.... lol ....

But Check out more details of my cooking experiments, the recipes & substitututions and other food ideas and more about just food. On my food only blog Vegannatura.blogspot.com

The Blue Zones

This is something I seen on Oprah originally but have looked into it a little further since then. The Blue zones are zones around the world where large numbers of people live to be centenarians. Centenarians are people who live to be 100 years and over.

So the 4 hot spots are:
1. Nicoya Peninsula, Coasta Rica
2. Sardinia, Italy
3. Loma Linda, CA- The home of the 7th day Adventist church
4. Okinawa, Japan
There are also other blue zones as well. This is the most recently updated list.

These places all have alot in common.

• Plant based diets...... Some do take in small abouts of meats and cheese but only as a side and very infrequently. Most of them also grow their own fruits & veggies. Which means no pesticides, herbicides, & insecticides. Legumes & beans are of huge benefit! And nuts are as well. Also make sure you eat a variety of color. Different colors mean different vitamins and minerals. Remember unsaturated fatty acids lower your LDLs..... Plus a glass of wine or two a day is good for you.... The alcohol & antioxidants help your arteries. But don't over do it.
  
• Also they all exercise.... not what you and I call exercise on a piece of equipment but they walk long distances daily, they tend there gardens daily, they live like we did 50 years ago. They do almost everything from scratch... So moderate intensity exercise through all ages.
  
• Being Spiritual- They have found their happiness. Their reason for living. They also find time to relax and find time for themselves.
• Family. They all have tight family and friend bonds. Family is more important then anything and they put it above all other.
  
• Being socially involved through all ages.
  
• Not putting extra chemicals into their bodies.. like smoking..

For more information on THE BLUE ZONES click this link. Or check out the book The Blue Zones. There are other informational pages as well.

The Oprah BLUE ZONE LINK

Cleaning , sewing, and hibernation plus dinner

Well I have been working on cleaning up the house some. It always seems to stay a huge mess and I get so tired of it. So hopefully I will get closer to it being cleaner. I think we just need a bigger house... and its getting about that time. But until then I have been organizing everything into those 3 shelf store containers. 2 stacks of them around my house now. Just seems to be the easiest way to organize everything and not have to worry about it any more. But every time I got o buy one of those drawer the price goes up. I must be the only person supporting their company.... They started at $15 a year ago and they have been at a steady rise till they hit $20.... who knows what they will be next time I want one... anyways moving on....

I have been working on things to start my etsy store. But I need to go to the store to get some notions I forgot.... and that won't happen till probably Thursday... Thats a long drive just for Velcro, elastic, and fusible interfacing... So I haven't brought myself to do it yet... Have I mentioned my sewing projects have taken over my kitchen table. So I haven't done a ton of cooking lately but I have done some.

Moving on to hibernation. Well when I am doing something like cleaning or sewing the cats & dogs can't seem to stay away. They must have invisible strings attached to me. So that every time I move they know and come to get right in the middle. But when I decide to sit down for a while or when they get tired of walking around what I'm doing.. They fall over and decide its time to hibernate. and they won't move.... and if I move them .. when I turn around they come back to the same spot. Even if I want to put a large box there...
So here are some pictures of my babies when they finally decided to lay down. After I was done cleaning for the day I finally went and cooked dinner. We had Rice with Ginger broccoli. It turned out pretty good although I should have let the sauce cook down a little more. This Rice & Broccoli RECIPE is super easy and pretty quick. I also made a Faux Tuna Sammie for Johns lunch. He loved it!!!! Click on the links and it will take you to the recipes. Located on my other blog.

Peace out everyone!!!!

New Years Again ... Resolutions

Yes... it is that time of the year again. And I am here once more to post my Resolutions....

1. To go totally VEGAN.. Yes! , I am so excited......
2. To get my Etsy sales up and running
3. To exercise regularly probably about 4 times a week.... I mean lets be honest if I'm going to hit it. Lets make it a realistic number. lol...
4. To be a better blogger... Blog more often and have ons of pictures.
5. Cook as often as possible- 4 times a week.
6. Keep the house cleaner....
7. Work on lower our debt to credit ratio. :)

I know some sound broad but I know what they mean... So let me know some of your....

I also have a new blog. I am going to keep this one to post a little about everything. The other blog Vegannatura.blogspot.com is exclusively food. So please check it out. and give me a good month or so to get it up and running gracefully before you leave me any mean "I hate your blog comments".. lol

O yeah I did cook today. Yes I had a green. But I also had other food too. I posted the recipes on Vegannatura.blogspot.com but here are some pictures.

Dumplings which the recipe is on this blog somewhere aswell.

No- Roles Cabbage dish for dinner....

But I am also doing something kind of cool with Vegannatura.blogspot.com. I am doing Duplex Dining... Which is meal that have some of the same main ingredients. So say you use half a cabbage you can use the other half that week with a recipe on the very same site. Plus I am going to futher do menus that will do the same thing as well. But again it will be awhile before everything goes up online. Although I did list a Duplex dining post today.


So what did you do on the last day of 2008.. I tried to work on some loose ends that I was procrastinating about. Like making some very cute ferret hammocks. Making some Male Dog " dribble" dippers.. lol for my moms dog, some cat toys, and worked with some clay. So I did get a little bit done. That evening I did have some time with my husband and we brought in the new year with a kiss at midnight watching the ball drop..... Actually we watched the channel but I really don't remember the overly expensive ball. I can't believe our country is in a ton of debt but yet we pay like 5 million or more for a glowing ball... For one night. Plus upkeep all year.. anyways. Sorry just a rant.... anyways...

Here are Abu & Spanx enjoying one of the new hammocks.. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!