Abu

This evening I found Abu really out of it in the bottom on her cage and rushed her to the vet. We could not find any ferret specialists but the vet on call did all she could. When they brought her back to me she was almost gone. She displayed with all the signs of being hypoglycemic but we just caught it to late... So we made the decision to have her euthanised. We love her so much. She crossed the Rainbow Bridge around 7:55pm tonight. She will be terribly missed not only by us but by her cage mate Spanx.

This is Abu last fall. 

Pasta with Kale, Tomato, Garlic, & Thyme

Link to Recipe Below!
I loved this recipe so much. It took a couple minutes to make because I made it all in one pot. But it was worth it! Most of the time is inactive and the flavor is awesome! I am excited to make this for my husband because I know he will love it!

This is another Martha Stewart Website Recipe. I changed only one thing I added a couple pinches of dried thyme instead of fresh. Plus the pasta is pictured but not talked about in the recipe... So I used a 16oz pack of Fettuccine. Well Actually half of it since I only made half a recipe.

2 Kale Soups & Raspberry Vanilla Cupcakes

Kale is highly nutritious filled with antioxidants and is also an anti-inflammatory food. So when I notice we haven't been having enough greens in our diet I turn to kale. There is a ton of ways you can make it and I have been trying some of the recipes I have found online out. Here is the first two I tried this time. I will have more to come though. In the past I have also posted about Kale & Potato Soup & Kale and Potato Enchiladas. 

Sausage and Kale Soup

This is one recipe I loved from the Martha Stewart Website. She has a whole list of kale recipes and this has been my favorite. 

 Here are my simple & quick changes I made to make it vegan. So Simple.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes

5 potatoes (1 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 1/2 Boxes of No Chicken Broth By Imagine or Veg stock of your choice

1 Bunch kale (12 ounces), stemmed and shredded

1 Package Light Life Veggies Sausage, Pre-Cooked before you add it to the soup. You could use Tofurky sausage as well. 

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Sausage-and-Kale Soup - Martha Stewart Recipes 

Kale and White Bean Soup

This was also from the Martha Stewart Website. It turned out ok. But It wasn't one of my faves.
It would be a good soup when your sick. It kinda reminds me of a "chicken" soup type soup. But with an extra boost of Nutrition!!! So I will have it next time I get sick... But with some added pasta. The left overs I used as pasta topping :)

The Changes I made to this soup recipe was that I used No chick broth by Imagine and No Parm Cheese. Oyeah and I forgot to buy bread, so no bread...

Cupcakes for My Mom's B-day! Yum.

The Joy of vegan baking Vanilla Cupcakes! Yum.

Homemade Raspberry Sauce for the Cupcakes. This sauce reminds me of the sauce that is in those Non Vegan  swirl cakes in the cookie section of stores. It was so good and I had a lot left over. So I have been adding it to

I used this recipe for Strawberry filling minus the soy milk. When it was cooked down quite I bit I started adding powdered sugar to the raspberries because they are more sour/bitter then strawberries and take alot more sugar. So I just kept adding extra heaping tsps of Powdered sugar till it was a good taste for me. Probably atleast 8 heaping tsp.

http://dulcedoblog.blogspot.com link above.Frosting
Adapted from a recipe by Cheryl at The Cupcake Bakeshop
1 cup butter, room temperature
6-8 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup light vanilla soy milk

Vanilla Cupcakes from The Joy of Vegan Baking. With some Fudge icing and shredded chocolate.

These are the same vanilla cupcakes from The Joy of Vegan baking with the Raspberry Glaze under the icing. With Raspberry Vanilla "Butter" Creme. John and I Loved these! I added a little to much "Butter" to the frosting so it kept melting... oops. But it was so good. I used two tubs of Premaid vegan icing and then added 2 sticks of Vegan butter. It was really good but wouldn't hold shape.  Plus I added some Raspberry sauce to the frosting. Next time I will drizzle the raspberry sauce over the cupcakes to make them super cute! And fill them.

A Doctors Visit

Again I have been missing from my own blog. I have cooked a few times and I have been doing a few other things that hopefully I will get updated soon.

Just a small update on my Health issues:

I did finally go back to the Doctor..After waiting almost a year because I was in so much pain after I went for a few sessions last year with my normal Doctor. I went back to the same office but to the Doctor who bought the office from the Doctor I normally see. Both of them are Spine Manipulator/ GPs. The Newest Doctor is younger, really nice and seemed interested in not only finding out what I did to my back over a year ago, but finding out why I have EN and determining a few other personal things that go along with it. He was astonished that no one had taken X-rays of my back or done testing on some other issues that I have had for a long time. He took 6 or 7  X-Rays of my Mid spine and sent for the chest X-rays & one blood test that was done a few years ago. So I am waiting on my X-ray results and to see what he thinks of the Chest X-rays and Blood work.  Then he will let me know what we are doing next. I would be more specific with my health issues but I would rather get the results first before I decide if I would like to share it with everyone.

I am excited to work with this Doctor. He actually sat down and talked with me about everything that everyone else had blown off. He said that he can work with me since I have no insurance and find me lower cost places to have some tests ran after he finds out which ones he wants to per sue. So I hope my expectations are met and I don't get my hopes dashed by another Doctor.  I am a little worried to see the test results, it has been a long time since some of my health issues started.  Fingers crossed that he can get my back to feeling better and he can figure out my other health issues and that its not anything bad. But it is better to know then not to know so things can be done....

One the upside.... For the last two years I have not had a cold or the Flu.... Knock of wood... lol... I used to get atleast 2 colds a year, One at the beginning of winter and one at the end and normally another somewhere in the middle. But since becoming vegan I haven't had this issue.... I don't know exactly why since I haven't ate the best since I have hurt my back... But I guess I am eating healthy enough that the colds by pass me... Thank God... and I don't take any Vitamins or Medications at all either... So Its not like Pilled Vitamins are taking up for my slack... I do however still have allergies..hmmmm. wish they would go away...

New Truck

Purchased a New truck! Well New to us. It is actually a 2002 Dodge Dakota. John has been wanting a truck for a while. We had paid off some of our debt and his job has been going well so we decided it was time. We both really love the truck.  We can haul things in the truck instead of the back of the car...lol... so I am looking forward to be able to get some things done this year without cutting wood into a million pieces and then putting it back together.

So far we have hauled: 3 Half ton loads of gravel, OSB , A Door, Kerosene, my new credenza (to post soon), and many more things,.....

Getting ready to bring home: our new sofa!!! yay :) Some mulch, bulk pea gravel, some more sub flooring, siding for the chicken coop, flooring for the two bedrooms, and we need a new bath tub because ours cracked... But we will have to wait till Johns job picks back up some so we have the money for the tub and surround. Hope thats before the end of summer... We have some other things to haul but I will  not bore you. I am excited and can't wait. Just hope my back will let me help get this work done!

Blah...

Well I have again been missing for the last month... missing from not only the blog but it feels like I have been missing from life.

My back is killing me again. I wish I could figure out what I did last January to kill it and I wish I could figure out how to fix it... I am so afraid to go back to the Chiropractor after he finished demolishing me last year and put me in more pain then ever. So I am thinking about going to a Chiropractor that works with him? Is that stupid of me... ? I haven't decided yet. I just think I shouldn't judge his partner just because he killed me last time. I have been to the first Chiropractor, actually he is a manipulator, not in the devious kind of way.. But in the manipulating your back kinda way... many of times before and he did great, fixed me every time. But I went many times last year each time was worse then the one before it. I would be in even more pain afterwards for days. So I swore off Doctors and decided hopefully it would fix its self with time and hanging upside down on an inversion table... well here I am and no it hasn't healed...

Some times I have very little pain and I am afraid to move because I don't know what exactly I do that makes the pain come back with in a flash of a second... Sometimes I am just in a ton of pain... and I sleep the day or two or week away...  This month has been awful again... I have done barely anything around the house only doing dishes when I run out of spoons... and I know that sounds gross but its the truth I am in pain and I don't know what to do. I don't want to take medication... I can't live on medication that could give me cancer once it builds up in my system in ten years.... Or a stomach ulcer now... I am not going to live on  pain meds... But what do I do to manage the pain.... Better yet what do I do to fix the problem that I feel is never going to go away...?

I have had lower back pain for years.. since gymnastics when I was 13 or so.... I have had my top rib out of place several times and wasn't even able to sit up on my own, but at least the Manipulator was able to fix that..  But just above the center of my back... which is the support structure... with a dull, ache, pressure pain constantly and half the time radiating pains... I don't know what makes that so hard to get fixed but it really sucks. I am just so tired of being in pain and missing out on my life. I want to get my house clean, get ready to plant the garden, make summer plans, get all the projects done that need donw... but how can I plan if I am in pain all the time?

I sure hope my appointment on the 7th helps me... Maybe he will decide to do X-rays to see whats going on.. If this doesn't work I don't know what to do...

ABC News Finding on our Faith & Cola

Religious competition in America ....

Pentecostals up150,000 well known Pentecostals' :Sarah Palin  (hack hack barf)
Protestant down 2.7million since 1998 to 17 million members
Jehovah's Witnesses up 4.4% this year which is the largest growth.. Famous New Witnesses:  Venus and Serena Williams
Total church membership continues to decline...
15% of people now have no religion...


That Caramel Color in your soda (and Mine)...

4-me chemical when sugar and ammonia make caramel color and produces cancer in mice...

More research to be done... hmmm... I drink a good bit of soda. I have been thinking about stopping for years... Maybe it is time to get serious...

More Awesome Retro Finds

Wild Flower 1978- Found 3 Salad Plates, 4 Coffee Cups, and what I am considering as a Dessert Cup.  Found these IN Mannington WV. At the store across town I found a Petite Pan and Lid that matches this set. A few weeks later I also found 3 of the Green Lined Coffee Cup plates at a Thrift store in Fairmont WV.

This is the Wild Flower Petite Pan Found in a thrift store IN Mannington WV. 

I also found these at a thrifty store in Mannington WV. They were listed as a set but one is made by Pyrex and the other Corning. So they are actually compatibles. 

This is a Red Pyrex Hostess bowl from the 1950s. It was originally sold with or w/o serving bowls and a lid. I only found this one serving bowl. It is in very good condition. This is one piece I really love even though I am not a big fan of red. I do love the shape though.

This is a green Pyrex Cinderella mixing bowl. Originally thought it was from the crazy daisy set. But it is actually from a green 4 mixing bowl set.

This is a Fireking Canister. In great shape. Wish there was a whole set but only one. Purchased this at an antique store in Fairmont WV at 20% off...

Also found two of these at a great antique store in Fairmont WV. I love these! They are in my favorite  Friendship Pyrex. Also got them at 20% off and at a great price!

Not sure where I picked this up but got it for a great price. Wish they would have had the glasses that match.

This was also found in Mannington WV.. I found 1 at each location. One was in not so great condition and one in pretty good condition. I have both and I think I might sale the one in not so great condition.

Found this at a very expensive antique store called Back in time in Anmoore WV. Everything was so high priced that this was the only thing I ended up with. It originally had a 75 cent yard sale sticker... Wish I would have found that yard sale... But no I paid $2 which was a good price for an antique store. But she only gave that to me because it wasn't priced for her store and I think I had asked her so many times how much stuff cost that she figured she should let me purchase something. I doubt I ever go back there. she wasn't the nicest lady. But I have seen these for $6  to $10 elsewhere. 

Found this at another thrift store in Fairmont. 

Pyrex Verde from 1964 Two sided Veggie Dish

Well I have been collecting alot of awesome Pieces lately... Hope I can find a nice place for them all.

Sparkpeople

Well a couple years ago I ran across a website called spark people. Sparkpeople is a community of people who are interested in losing weight, sustaining their weight, or just have a general interest in nutrition. They have all kinds of useful information and some counters and charts to keep track of things like weight loss, nutrition, exercise, etc. Plus its free.... So unlike alot of those other websites that I don't use because they cost some absurd amount this website is great and costs nothing but a few minutes to update everyday. Plus they offer blogging and talking to people in the sparkpeople community about just everyday life. I have been going here for a long time and I am still uncovering some of the features that I haven't tried out. Like the Healthy cooking sections where there is Chef Meg who teachers you how to make some of your favorite dishes more healthy. She has alot of good ideas. But there are tons of nice features to try out.

Last time Sparkpeople  helped me loss 15 lbs but over the last couple month I have put about 4lbs on and then over the last 2 years I had put 4 lbs more on. So I am starting Sparkpeople again. I would like to loss (if my scale is right... it gave me three different #'s this morning... ) 25 to 30lbs. Which is a pretty good chunk of weight. For me that is were I want to be. That is were I will be happy.

This is part of the main page...

I have also decided what part of my reward will be when I meet this goal.... A new tattoo. I haven't had a tattoo in 5 or 6 years because I am not sure what to get and they are pretty expensive.  But I am excited. I want to get a Vegan Tattoo sooner or later and I am not sure what to get... any ideas??? I have seen a couple I like but I really wanted something original... Or I have also wanted to get a tattoo of my three dogs, or their paw prints, or names... So I am really not sure yet.

I will still be blogging about food. But probably not as often as last year. Hopefully I will still try alot of new things and also show some old favorites but it really all depends on how many calories I can have a day and even though Sparkpeople says its ok to have upto 1,550 I would like to stay around 1,200 which comes with small meals that have few ingredients.

One thing I do find hard when I am trying to lose weight is the fact I really do love food. I love to cook, I love to try new things, I like to experiment, I like to go out with my husband and have dinner, and try new Restaurants... Our lives revolve around food... When I was younger when I did weight watchers I was a really picky eater. I didn't eat many different things, I had some foods I always stuck with, and I never went out and ate... Which made it alot easier to lose weight.... So now I crave a hundred different things a day and have to figure out ahead of time what I am going to eat for the next couple of days. That is the only way I find I stick to the program and not go over in calories.

Sparkpeople also has a vegetarian option and they will give you a menu for the day. Most things you will have to take the dairy out of. But they do have a few good Ideas. One of my favorite lunch/dinners came from there original vegetarian menu. It is no longer on the menu but I am posting it here.

A baked potato, 1/2 cup kidney beans, and broccoli. I add smart balance light w/ omega 3.  This is such a good meal. Most of the time instead of broccoli though I use green beans it easier but it doesn't have all the  nutritious benefits of broccoli... But I love this!!!! and it is my dinner for the day... :)

They also have a White bean chili that is pretty good and easy to make.

They used to have alot more option on there meal plans for vegetarians then they do now but don't let that stop you from trying there website. It still has a huge bank of foods that you can search click add the amount you wish to eat and it will give you all the information and track it for you.

This is the recipe section that has a ton of vegan recipes.
And there are many different ways to search so you can get just what you are looking for.

Below is the vegetarian options they have on their meal menu. Once you put them on your screen then you can just  not click on the dairy stuff and it will not add it to your calories.

Already listed Breakfast options

Already listed Lunch options

Already listed Dinner options

Already listed Snack options

This is were I entered in my food for breakfast and lunch. It was super easy and quick.  Plus say my smoothie isn't in my menu list then I can click the button and tell them to add it to a certain day. But you can also put it in your recipe box or you menu plan so that you can choice your exact meal that you planned for one of the days and it will save it for the future.

This is my Breakfast smoothie which I had made differently then what I have in my menu
so I just looked up the chances and did it this way. This is the Banana Oatmeal Fuel from 500 Vegan Recipes.

My lunch although I actually planned on having their planed pinto beans, broccoli, potato, and apple sauce...
I decided to have left over pasta and red sauce instead. See the little boxes over to the
 left those are the boxes you mark to say what part of there meal plan you ate.

Although I haven't ate my dinner yet.. This is what I am going to have...
 Except the katchup and mustard... it was with my snack just got put in the wrong place.. oops

My snack and my daily total.. So I went over my 1200 calorie goal but I was still in my limits :)

This is the meal calculator. You enter in all your ingredients. How many portions it makes and then
 it will give you all the nutritional info you need for you nutrition tracker. Plus you can
add it to your recipe box and to your menu for future use.

This is some of my recipe box.I enter alot of vegan cookbook recipes to add to my menu.

You can also share the recipes from your recipe box with other sparkpeople users.
And you can use there recipes and add them to your menu, or recipe box for further use.

This is part of the exercise trackers. This is what I was supposed to do today..
and did I do it... No.. My back still sucks? 

Here is the quick tracker... If you don't want to use the other portion.
 Plus this add your goal minutes up to let you know you totals for the year.

This is some of the other things in the community section were you can connect with every one...

They also have tons of articles on just about everything health related and even more...

This just touches the top of what Sparkpeople can offer you. It does so much and all for free. So check it out you won't be sorry and it may even help you shed a few pounds or just learn something new about nutrition or exercise.

Simple Yummy Pasta Sauce

I seen this on the Martha Stewart show yesterday and I was craving pasta so I said what the heck and made it. Its simple, good, cheaper than on organic jar and you don't have to stand in the kitchen and chop up a hundred things. I like it :)


Red Pasta Sauce

2- 28oz Cans Whole Tomatoes ( I used organic)
2 cloves garlic (I grated it, She chopped it)
1/4 cup olive oil
I used a little dry basil... She added something green but didn't say what it was.
Optional- Pinch Red pepper flakes
Then I let it boil for an hour. She said to boil it 30 minutes but I wanted more flavor to develop. Then at the end add a small amount of salt and pepper to taste and your done.

Simple and easy. She also added it to the pan with her pasta and a little starchy cooking liquid to let it cook a bit more. I didn't
Next time I might add a few red pepper flakes to give it some warmth. But I really liked it.

The yummy sauce in all its glory :)

This one had a little added Vegan Parm.