Flip Flops and Jeans

Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:05:00 +0000

I just want to start off by saying that we had a wonderful Christmas. Now get out. I'm ready to de-Christmas my house. Out out out!

I spent all day wearing an ass-sized crater into the couch.

Over the last two days I've watched all 8 Harry Potter movies. Neville, wow. Who woulda thunk? Whoa.

Borrowed book from the library. I'm about 6 chapters in and it's very good.

My couch buddy. They're the *new* Kleenex cool touch ones. I prefer the Puffs with Vicks. #firstworldproblems

Lunch of veggie spring rolls. It's been so long since I've had food from the frozen section. They hit the spot, I didn't have to think hard to make myself lunch. Win.

Then I ate my feelings. I'm sick and I needed some comfort. I'm alone this week, so no one is here to take care of me. I totally used the breadstick thingies to scoop out the nutella.

Hello luvvvr. So many horizontal places to take a nap.

Have you tried this tea? I like a lot of different teas, but this and chai are what I always keep around. I had probably 3 cups today.

Right now we're watching this documentary.

Dive!: Living Off America's Waste

"Digging into the hidden recesses of the American food industry, this eye-opening documentary reveals the appalling amount of edible, nutritious goods that are thrown away -- wasted -- every day in a nation where millions of citizens still go hungry." via Netflix

If you can get passed the first few minutes (please don't sit down with a sandwich to watch) it's actually a pretty good documentary.

I tried to watch The Vampire Diaries, honest I tried.

Skip The Romantics too. Unless you feel like watching an hour long J. Crew commercial.

Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:36:00 +0000

Hope everyone had an excellent Holiday!

We did. :)
I got everything I wanted...plus something I didn't even know I wanted but once I got it in my hot little hand there was no way I was going to give it back. Ever.

The UPS elves were very good to us. I pretty much did all of my shopping online in my pajamas (as opposed to those at Walmart in their pajamas, ahem) and went out two days before Christmas for one last grab for stocking stuffers (books, socks, underwears, toothbrushes, hot wheels and legos).

Then we didn't go out for 3 days. It snowed and snowed and snowed. So we just hung around the house.

Monday I drove the kids half-way to Grandma's house so they can sleepover...for a week!

My nieces were with my parents, so almost all the Grandkids were finally all together in one place. That doesn't happen very often. We were missing one.

Of course now that the kids are gone I feel under the weather; sniffly, achy, stuffy head, sore throat, itchy ears.

So Harry Potter marathon it is. :)
With spicy cajun popcorn.

And coffee.

Lots of coffee.

Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup {recipe}

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

I found this recipe where I usually find all things, Pinterest. When I followed the link, it took me to Cook Like a Champion's blog. Beautiful. I can't wait to go back and read through more of their blog.

The recipe posted wasn't vegan, but what a fantastic recipe to veganize.

It made a filling, rounded soup. The flavors were so full and it was simple to make. I made it once, then made it again and again. I tweaked it each time and this last time I really nailed it. And the kids liked it. Win.

I used two heads of cauliflower (one large, one smaller) and two heads of garlic. Yes, that much garlic. When you roast garlic an amazing thing happens to it. It's not sharp, it rounds out and mellows. For our tastes, the modified recipe works for us.

Multiply this photo times two.

Cut off the cauliflower florets and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper to roast. Place whole garlic heads on the roasting pan and top with a bit of olive oil as well.

Roast cauliflower for 25-30 minutes (check it and turn it half-way through). Remove from pan and let garlic roast for an additional 5 minutes. Let garlic cool.
When the garlic is cooled, squeeze it out of the paper. I did a bad job of it. They make it look so easy. With a SHARP knife, remove the root (bottom) of the garlic. Pinching the top of the garlic, squeeze down and the cloves should pop out. (To remove the smell from your hands, rub your hands on the stainless steel sink before you wash them)

This is where I stop taking pictures again. I get busy cooking and forget about the camera. Whoops.
2 carrots, diced
1 leek
We like leeks. Leeks are good.
In a heavy pot, sweat the leeks and carrots. Let them get some slight color on them...and the bottom of the pan.

Combine salt, pepper, paprika and dried thyme.
You also need 1 tbls flour (I used white whole wheat. It's what I could reach)
After the veggies sweat, add in spices and flour.

Let the flour pick up some of the color.
Then add 1/2 cup of water to de-glaze the bottom of the pan.
Scrape up the bottom of the pan and get all that flavor goodness.

Now more steps I don't have pictures of.

Add cauliflower and roasted garlic to the pot.

Throw in 4 cups of water or vegetable broth (I use water, the soup has enough flavor on it's own. Plus it's becoming harder to find veggie broth around town.)

Using an immersion blender (I used to have one...somewhere) or the blender in batches, blend the soup to your desired consistency. I like mine not so smooth.

After it's blended to your likeness, add some parsley (fresh or dried, I used dried, I don't judge) and soy creamer. Yup, like the kind for your coffee. Use the original, obviously. I don't think the soup would taste so good with vanilla creamer.

I used 2/3 cup soy creamer and heat through.
It's fantastic.
The kids loved it.

Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup

2 heads of cauliflower (one large, one smaller)

2 heads of garlic

Olive oil

2 carrots, diced

1 leek, cleaned and cut

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 1/2 tbls flour

1/2 cup water

4 cups water (or vegetable broth)

2/3 cup soy creamer

1 tbls fresh or dried parsley

Heat oven to 400.

Cut off the cauliflower florets and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper to roast. Place whole garlic heads on the roasting pan and top with a bit of olive oil as well.

Roast cauliflower for 25-30 minutes (check it and turn it half-way through). Remove from pan and let garlic roast for an additional 5 minutes. Let garlic cool.

When the garlic is cooled, squeeze it out of the paper. With a SHARP knife, remove the root (bottom) of the garlic. Pinching the top of the garlic, squeeze down and the cloves should pop out.

In a heavy pot, sweat the leeks and carrots. Let them get some slight color on them...and the bottom of the pan, approximately 10 minutes.

Add in spices and flour.

Let the flour pick up some of the color.
Then add 1/2 cup of water to de-glaze the bottom of the pot.
Add cauliflower and roasted garlic.

Add in 4 cups of water or vegetable broth.

Using an immersion blender or the blender in batches, blend the soup to your desired consistency.

After it's blended to your likeness, add some parsley and soy creamer.

Heat through and serve.

Kitchen Tip: Keep It Handy

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

You probably did some grocery shopping over the weekend, didn't you? I bet you might have bought some stuff to make salad. But when you get down to it, making a salad can be kind of a pain, huh? All the washing, chopping, prepping and oooo...is that pumpkin pie? It's much easier to slice a piece of pie than dice tomato, cucumber, cabbage and lettuce.

Next thing you know, your kitchen looks like a cool-whip/pie crime scene, you feel bloated and your jeans won't button.

Maybe that's just me.

I saw a really cute idea on pinterest where the salads were prepped in mason jars (everything on pinterest is made with mason jars, isn't it?) and the dressing on the bottom and the lettuce on top. I don't think that far ahead, but I like the idea of having prepped stuff on hand.

I don't like the pre-washed bagged lettuce. It scares me. I hate when I buy it and it seems okay on the outside, but the leaves on the inside are slimy. Ewwwww! So you buy the lettuce to prep it yourself, only you can't use a regular knife on it because the blade will oxidize the lettuce and now you have brown on the edges of your lettuce.

I bought this handy plastic knife on amazon for less than $5. It's serrated and awesome.

Pretty cool, huh?

I have a large Tupperware that I use for my salad lettuce. I found it at a yard sale. It's a total throwback. The lid fit nicely and it's big so I don't have to squish my lettuce. My husband has a thing about squished lettuce.

My lovely lovely greens. This weeks were romaine and green leaf. Rinsed and ready to go.

Pretty.

I put 2 paper towels in the bottom of my Tupperware. It helps with the moisture. I think. I could be wrong. I'm sure I'm doing it all wrong, but this is what works for me.

I chop off all my rinsed lettuce and toss it in the bowl.

I grab another paper towel and mix it around in the bowl.

Just to get some of that additional moisture out of the lettuce.

Then I top it all off with a new dry paper towel.

This keeps my lettuce for a week. It has totally cut down on our wasted food. I don't throw out nearly as much spoiled/wasted/unused vegetables anymore. (I suppose you could use a salad spinner thing, I had one and it took up a lot of space and the knob/spinner broke. If you have one and it works for you, Rock on! Please tell me which one you have/recommend.)

Another big prep I do is all our salad ingredients. I chop/slice/dice/grate all our veggies. Chopped tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, shredded red cabbage, grated carrot and diced radishes (also cooked quinoa and lentils). I was using my food processor with the grate wheel on it, then I dropped the bowl and it shattered. This weeks prep took a little longer than normal.

It's all totally worth it when your husband makes his own salad.

Friday...on Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

It has been one of those weeks.

Monday and Tuesday were so cold, I holed up in the kitchen near the oven to keep warm.
Monday night I went to pick up a pizza for the kids and my car door was frozen shut.
I hopped in the car after coaxing it open and let the car warm up for a while.
Then half-way to Little Caesar's (they have drive-thru pizza for $6. Don't judge me) I realized my window was frozen shut and I'd have to go in.
IN MY PAJAMAS.
Who have I become? Driving out in the snow for cheap, drive-thru pizza?
IN MY PAJAMAS.

Tuesday I hung out in front of the computer with some books.

Wednesday we finally ventured out of our bubble, armed with a Sam's gift card my mom sent to us for a wedding gift. We agreed that the money wasn't going to be used for food or anything like that. We were gonna pick something just for us. After 2 hours, we picked up...ready for it...I don't think you can handle it...SLIPPERS. Yup. The only thing we found that was truly for ourselves were slippers. It's slightly pathetic, but it was also nice to think that anything we needed, we already have. Anything we wanted, we already have.

So we did the responsible thing, grabbed a movie (Hangover 2 "I'm a stay-at-home son" funniest line of the movie) some dog food, pomegranates, avocados and a few various other things and still had $50 on the card. So we got...ready for it...I don't think you can handle it...a BLENDER.

We still have something like $15 and we agreed to spend it all. COFFEE.
So we blended up some soup, ate some pomegranate for dessert, made coffee and watched our new movie while wearing our new slippers.
We're dorks.

When we got home and checked the mail, this is what we found:

I bought a subscription for my husband and they only issue 8 magazines a year. I'm pretty sure they didn't ship it this way. I swear our mailman is like the one from Funny Farm.

I spent Thrusday in bed with Shane. We hung out and watched movies and I re-read Island of the Blue Dolphins. And I posted an awesome recipe for Stuffed Peppers. (They are really good) We had pick-your-soup night since I had leftovers. It was way better than having left-over night. Everyone settling down with a warm bowl of soup.

Today was spent grocery shopping, grabbing things for the kids classrooms and just an over all feeling of blah.
I didn't get my cup of coffee until 4:30. It was a looong day.

He actually ate the carrot. It was awesome.

When I went out to feed the dogs, the moon was out. No eclipse yet, but it was nice and full.

Did you catch the eclipse Friday night?

Dogurday

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:00:00 +0000

I know that today is Caturday...so I'm blog-bombing Caturday with some dogs. Lazy dogs.

Dug and George are twins. They come from the same litter. We picked out Dug when he was a week old (You can read all about Dug here). When he came home at 6 weeks, I tried to smuggle George home. My husband was having no part of that. Plus we had a smaller yard then too.

We got George in May. We call him our used-but-new-to-us dog.

He was kind of a trouble dog. He has a record with the Dona Ana Animal Control.

They are golden retrievers, and they work hard. They spend all day...they chase...and they, uhhhh...

What do my dogs do all day?

Dug has a slight excuse. His back legs still don't work quite right. He has good days and bad days. This was actually a good day.

George is very busy keeping the ground still. It's very hard work. Chuck Norris can't do it all alone, you know.

Dug is obviously doing... something.

George still keeping the Earth still.

Who says cats lay around more than dogs?

Stuffed Peppers {recipe}

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 01:30:00 +0000

This year for Thanksgiving, we keep it super simple. I've never been so un-stressed for a holiday. I'm usually pulling out my hair, checking everything and drinking coffee like crazy. Okay, so I do that last part anyway.

I usually stick to the old standards of Turkey, Stuffing (which for some reason, I always insist on making even though the husband and kids don't eat it) Garlic Mashed Potatoes (which are killer, BTW), Green Bean Casserole (one year I made it with fresh green beans and it wasn't the same.).

This year we totally shook things up. No turkey. None. No stuffing. None.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Green Beans

Black Bean Burgers

Sunflower Burgers

Sweet Potato Pie

and these Stuffed Peppers.

I found the recipe in Tosca Reno's The Eat-Clean Diet. I've had the cookbook for about 3 years now and this is the first recipe I've ever made out of it. I find the majority of them fussy and full of ingredients. I'm a 5-ingredient kind of girl.

I slightly modified the recipe, so I feel comfortable sharing it (vs. ripping it off or just telling you to go buy the book. If I ever use a recipe verbatim or only change one or two things, I'll tell you. I will always link to the blog I found it.)

One of the things I liked about this recipe was that the majority of it can be prepped ahead of time. Actually, I suggest you prep the filling/stuffing ahead of time to the flavors can get "how you doin'?" time. I didn't prep any of this ahead of time, but I can tell you that it was better the next day. Also, it makes a lot of filling. You will have extra and it's pretty good scooped with chips, on a salad or as a salad with your favorite dressing (hello Newman).

It starts with a butternut squash. This one was easy to peel. The sides were pretty straight. I know the really curvy ones are pretty, but they are a pain to peel.

Peel it, cube it, throw it on a roasting pan for 30 minutes at 375-400. I also put a little salt and pepper on it. It's all about building layers of flavor.

Get 4 bell peppers. I'm partial to the yellow and orange, but those were not on sale and the red ones were. I splurged on the yellow and orange.
Make sure they stand up on their own. Brandon had a great time putting his hands all over the bell peppers at Albertson's checking to see if they stand up. These 4 were the winners.
Lob off the tops, remove the seeds and the ribs.
Now...now...I get frustrated. It's a necessary step but a pain. It pains me to partially cook anything, then stick it in the oven to finish. PAINS ME. But I did it and you should to.
In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Add the prepped peppers (say that 5 times fast) and cook briefly. BRIEFLY. Like until they get a little soft. Remove them and set them upside down to dry on a paper towel, like so. (Do you know how long it takes to boil water when you are on a schedule and only have 4 burners, all of which are being used? ETERNITY, that's how long. Necessary step though.)

On to the filling! I used
half a yellow onion, diced. (It was big, and we're not that big on onion, so half was right for us.)
1 large carrot, grated
1 cup of your roasted butternut squash (stop eating off the pan)
3 finely diced/chopped/mutilated cloves of garlic

In a large skillet (make sure it has a lid) with some olive oil, begin to saute your onion, carrot, butternut squash and garlic. Cook until your carrots get soft and your onion becomes soft and begins to turn slightly brown/tan.

Then add:
2 cups Roma Tomatoes, chopped and deseeded
1-15oz can of black beans, rinsed (or 1 1/2 cups of fresh black beans)
1 cup corn kernels (If you use frozen, I won't judge you. It's December)

Cook for 5 minutes more.

In a large bowl, (LARGE) I mixed up 1 cup of brown rice with 1 cup of wild rice mixture. Because I could. You can use all brown rice, but I probably wouldn't use all 2 cups wild rice mixture. It doesn't have enough moisture.

Add your vegetable mixture to the rice.

Season with

1/2 cup cilantro (or less if you like less. Or parsley if you don't like it at all)

Juice of 1 fresh lime

Salt and Pepper

This is where you would want to give your stuffing the "how you doin'?" time. If you make the filling ahead of time, you can refrigerate it overnight. It really gives the lime and cilantro time to do it's thing. Don't prep the peppers ahead of time.

In a non-stick/sprayed baking dish that fits the peppers nicely (and dirtying 3 others trying to get them to fit) stuff the peppers. Don't over stuff them.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Stuffed Peppers

1 cup roasted butternut squash
half a yellow onion, diced.
1 large carrot, grated
3 finely diced/chopped/mutilated cloves of garlic

2 cups Roma Tomatoes, chopped and de-seeded
1-15oz can of black beans, rinsed
1 cup corn kernels

1 cup brown rice

1 cup wild rice mix

1/2 cup cilantro (or less if you like less. Or parsley if you don't like it at all)

Juice of 1 fresh lime

Salt and Pepper

4 large bell peppers

Filling/Stuffing:

Peel and cube a butternut squash, throw it on a roasting pan for 30 minutes at 375-400.

Then add the tomatoes, black beans and corn.

Cook for 5 minutes more.

In a large bowl, combine rice and vegetable mixture.

Season with cilantro (or parsley), lime juice and S&P.

Pepper Prep:

Lob off the tops, remove the seeds and the ribs.

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Add the prepped peppers (say that 5 times fast) and cook briefly, until they get a little soft. Remove them and set them upside down to dry on a paper towel.

Put it all together:

In a non-stick/sprayed baking dish that fits the peppers nicely stuff the peppers. Don't over stuff them.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Serve immediately

Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:04:00 +0000

I don't know what it was about today, but I felt like keeping the camera on-hand.
It snowed last night and stopped sometime around 3am (I only know this because we were still up watching Breaking Bad.)
By 2am the road outside the house had started to ice up.
We only had a 2 hour delay for school.
So it was pumpkin waffles for everyone!

I'm not a perfect vegan. I found a pumpkin waffle I like and I haven't bothered looking for a vegan one. I know it's just one Google search away...

Earth Balance keeps my vegan karma in check.

Breakfast is served.

Then I had to convince the boys they had to go to school. One was not happy, the other one was ecstatic. Then I tried to convince them to both stay home. The unhappy one was now happy an the ecstatic one was less enthused.

One went to school. One stayed home.

I spent the morning going through the kids books. Our school has an Accelerated Reader (AR) program that they use to keep track of the kids reading levels. I have issues with it. I try not to make my issues my kids issues.

According to AR, Caedon reads right at a 3rd grade, 3rd month level (right where he should be) HOWEVER I know my kid can read much higher than that seeing as he's read all the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and those are rated at a 5th grade level. (Caedon, Brandon and I read The Lightening Thief when they were in the 1st and 2nd grades...and that's a 4th grade level book).

I think that if kids are truly interested in a book, they will find a way to read it NO matter what "level" it is. I can tell Caedon is frustrated with his choices. All I can do is encourage him to do what he has to do to get it done so he can move up to the books he wants to read. Luckily, they can test on books from home or the library as long as the book is in the AR system.

This is only a fraction of the books they have. A small fraction. I just found 3 boxes in storage with more books.

I LOVE BOOKS! I have a dream to either work at the library or own a small independent bookstore. How cool would that be?

I just read The Chronicles of Narnia over the summer. I never read them in high school or junior high. I assumed they were a little too fantasy for my taste at the time. Plus I didn't want to be that book-nerd girl who read Narnia in high school. I might as well have just worn head-gear to school while I was at it. (BTW I never had head gear. I'm totally projecting a false image at this point. I've watched Never Been Kissed too many times. Josie Grossie)

My kids have such a varied taste in books. Brandon loves the Magic Tree House series. He gobbles them up faster than I can buy them. I've been known to buy 4 and he'll have them all done in a weekend. They are really cool books and they are fact-based and some have companion reference books. It's a great series for kids.

I encouraged Caedon to read one and it was like pulling teeth. I overheard Brandon telling Caedon what it was about and the questions that would be on the AR quiz. Sigh.

I loved Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell in the 5th grade. I felt mighty proud of myself when it was required reading in the 7th grade and I had already read it...twice. I didn't have a copy so when we went to Albuquerque over the summer, I found a copy at a used bookstore.

Since I only had one kid at school, we went to the library after I picked him up. I try to make it to the library at least once a month. To be honest, I'm not fond of borrowing books from the library. I don't like to give them back. ;)

They didn't have the book I was looking for (I read the second book in the series, so there's a few things that happened and I know that they did happen but I don't know why they happened). I grabbed these 3. I've checked the bottom one out about 4 times. It's awesome. I need to buy a copy off amazon. It's on the list of books I've read but want a copy for my shelf. That list is loooooong.

We spent about an hour at the library. Caedon and I were the only ones at the shelves. Almost every time I've been at the library, the aisles are empty and the computers are full (and about half of them are on facebook.) One of the girls is suuuuper sweet. The library was hiring back in September and I thought I had until the last day of September to apply. Turned out the job opening closed a week before. I heard about the job at 4pm on the closing day. I was actually pretty down about it. Anywho, she and I got to chatting and I told her I was sad that I missed the deadline and she told me "Oh I wish you would have gotten your application in! I would have pushed hard for you to get hired." How sweet is that?

I came home, we had 4 episodes left of Breaking Bad, so I made some soup and sat down on the couch and haven't moved since. Now that we've caught up on the series we can go back to being good, productive members of society. Or hardened criminals; I think it's safe to say we've learned a thing or two about the trade in our late-night viewing.

Aren't leeks beautiful? That green is just gorgeous. Not as beautiful as a beet, but still pretty darn nice to look at.

That's all I have for now.
But....
I thought ahead and loaded photos for Stuffed Peppers, Butternut Squash Soup, Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup and a story of two lazy dogs. (Seriously lazy dogs. I think Dug has taught George how to milk being special needs. Seriously.)
All I have to do is get them written up.
And I have time to do that now since we're not loafing on the couch watching a fictional character make meth.

Brrrr...

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:11:00 +0000

We're on day 3 of a Breaking Bad marathon. Netflix viewing up, productivity is down.

It started snowing Sunday night and hasn't really stopped. School wasn't cancelled, I'm pretty sure it will be tomorrow since we haven't had the worst of it yet.

This cinnamon roll is a lie. LIES I tell you. I actually heated it up and my husband threw it in the trash. HE. THREW. IT. IN. THE. TRASH! Then he took me out to breakfast. Going out and having someone make you breakfast on a cold snowy morning...I don't think there's anything better. After two cups of coffee, a bean and hashbrown burrito smothered in green chile and I forgave him for throwing away my cinnamon roll.

My constant companion. I probably had about 5 cups today. That is not a lie.

Yay!

Roasted Cauliflower and roasted garlic soup....veganized. I saw a recipe on Pinterest and modified it. It was a big hit. I'll share later this week.

I've gone from Felicity to Breaking Bad. Talk about a change of genre.
We love Breaking Bad. They are soooo bad and do horrible things but I root for them.

I am now rambling because the laptop is warm and it is chilly chilly chilly.

Quick

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:31:00 +0000

Want to see what three boys looking for squirrels looks like?

Fittingly, there were three squirrels in the tree.

We've been enjoying the last couple of days of warmer weather (low 70's, high 60's) before the weekend sets in. Wednesday's high was around 65, Friday's high is supposed to be 35! Tonight's forecast is rain/snow mix. Snow. Snow! SNOW!!

Monday:

Shane's face in this next photo makes me laugh.

Wednesday:

And just like that, fall is over. Just in time for December 1st.

White Bean Tofu Chili and Green Chile Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:21:00 +0000

I like chili. A lot. I like regular tomato-based chili (oooo...I think I have a few pictures of that.)
At my baby shower, my aunt made white chicken chili and it was sooo good.

Fast-forward three years later and I've modified it a great deal. I am not a recipe writer. I'm really really bad at it. Mostly because I never measure anything. I just throw stuff in. And I either start taking photos and forget to get a photo of the finished dish, or I don't take any photos and snap a photo of the leftovers.

But this is too good not to share.

White Bean Tofu Chili

half lb of white beans
vegetable broth
1 package tofu (I like the Mori-Nu in the box)
2 heaping spoons Hatch green chile, blended
1/2 tsp cumin
salt
pepper

Normally this is where a good recipe writer/blogger would number the steps.
I really stink at that.

So here we go:

Cube tofu. I usually slice it 3 times along the long side, 4 times on the flat side, and cube it several times.

Sprinkle with cajun seasoning (as I do with all my tofu endeavors) and bake at 325 until firm and roasted brown. (I like to use the Easy Release Foil. Any other time I've tried to bake/roast tofu it's always fused to the pan)

Add white beans and vegetable broth to a large pot. I usually add only half of the vegetable broth and use water for the rest. I'm silly like that.

Add green chile and cumin and bring to a boil. Add tofu when it is ready.

Cook until beans are soft.

Green Chili Sauce (also my go-to enchilada sauce)

1 lb of roasted green chile
half a cup of soy or almond milk
2 heaping tablespoons of milled flax seeds
3 garlic cloves (We love garlic)

Put it in a blender. Blend

in a minute

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:43:00 +0000

I spent all morning up and down with Shane. Down for a nap, up for potty. Over and over and over. That kid can pee.

I'm going to go pick up kids from school.

Then I'm going to post either a White Tofu Chili recipe or our afternoon at the park.

but all of that will have to wait because Tracy just proposed to Elena.

I love Felicity.

Kitchen Tip: Baking Organization

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:39:00 +0000

Happy Monday!

I feel pretty good today. I'm on my third cup of coffee. That probably (certainly) has something to do with it.

Thanksgiving came and went and you probably realized one of two things:
1. I am one organized mofo
2. Holy moly! Where is the flour/sugar/cornstarch/cinnamon/oregano?! I can't find a freaking thing in this house! Arghanioxnldinfriloshbnonkjgnds

I fall somewhere in the middle; as far as life goes I'm around 1.5. In the kitchen I proudly claim 1. Boom. I have crappy crappy cabinets. No fancy pantry, just ridiculously deep cabinets (about a third of which I can't reach). Stuff hopelessly rolls or gets shoved to the back (was that peanut butter? Oh Gah! I hope that wasn't peanut butter).

When we moved a year ago, I ended up with lots of extra clear plastic bins. Bing! Is there nothing a good plastic bin can't do? Love them.

Anyway...I put all my baking stuff in one bin above my stove. Stuff I don't use all the time, but that all go together. I have a variety of flours, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder, brown sugar all in one bin! How awesome is that? I can keep it all together and it's easy to see when the spelt flour is getting low without searching through cabinets for a half used bag hidden behind something else.

I think I'm gonna need a bigger bin.

In the bottom cabinets, I employed another box for all my spices. These are the guys that always end up rolling around to the back-lands of the cabinets. Now they are all corralled in one plastic bin.

I purchased a few of the small Glad throw-away storage thingies. I sometimes buy loose spices and these are okay for storing them. Not as ideal as glass jars, but I go through cumin and chile powder pretty quickly. I use a dry-erase marker to write the spice on the top of the lids and it wipes off nicely.

So there you have it. Imagine you are getting ready to make sugar cookies and all you have to pull down one bin and not search around several cabinets/drawers for everything you need. :)

Dismissing the Elephant in the Room

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Since I posted last week about putting the whole photography business on hold, i feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me. Like some one took the elephant off my shoulders.

It feels really good.

My husband has been amazingly supportive. He literally took me by the hands and urged me to get back to what I used to do; blogging and taking photos of everything. He said he's missed seeing the camera in my hand. I had no idea he would ever miss the camera. ;)

We sat down Tuesday morning and put together our Thanksgiving menu from a few cookbooks. He choose everything based on color, so I can take pictures and blog about it.

We are having:
*chickpea and sunflower burgers
*garlic mashed potatoes
*green beans
*stuffed bell peppers
*rolls
*artichokes (per Brandon's request)
*roasted chicken (my kids aren't strict vegetarians and I'm more than okay with that)
*sweet potato pie (I make a killer SPP. Non-vegan. I'll still share the recipe)
*cinnamon rolls (from scratch. I think I will call them hypocrite rolls since I'm making non-vegan rolls with a vegan buttercream frosting)

So I guess I'll be blogging about Thanksgiving per my husband's request.
For now, I have some prep work to do and Felicity isn't going to watch itself. (I can't bring myself to watch when my husband is home. I can't explain the cheesy-ness in a way he'll understand.)

Why Now?

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

When you know better, you do better.

~Maya Angelou

Why vegan? Why now?
I know better, so I'm trying to do better. I wish I could tell you it's about being good to animals and lowering my carbon footprint and all that stuff...but I'm not so noble. I'm vain. (Iiiiii'm so vain. I think that this blog is about me, I'm so vain)

I feel better and even better than that...I look better. My hair and skin are so much better. Soft and not splochy. Soft is good; Splochy is bad.

When I look back and read some old posts I realize this has been a long time coming. I've had vegetarian phases...all my life. So slowly, since the beginning of this year, we've been phasing things out of our diet. With each success, it made the next challenge easier. Sugar, refined carbs, pasta (doesn't that make you always feel so bloated?)

So we've finally made the choice to just do it. Dairy was the hardest for me. I think the trick to eliminating milk is to find a substitute you like. You have to get that "it tastes just like regular milk! Honest!" out of your head. No, it doesn't. And that's okay. Rice milk is by far my favorite. I like soy creamer for my coffee.

My husband had a hard time eliminating eggs. I scramble tofu with a little salt, pepper and tumeric. He's happy.

So there's the short of it. We made a choice, we're sticking to it, we've stuck to it since September 1st.

With this week being so crazy with Thanksgiving and stuffing recipes swamping the blogs, I'll skip the soup recipes I have (yes, I made soup. Vegan soup. It's chilly out and the soup is delicious. So is the chili.) and save them for next week. So you can detox. :)

For now, enjoy some food p0rn. No animals were harmed in the making of this post.

I love those carrots. I like dirrrrty veggies. Yay dirt!

Eggplant enchiladas. You know you want my green chile sauce recipe. It's vegan, has omega-3 and fiber. (PS. that is not vegan cheese.)

Sauteed squash with jalapenos and cajun spice. Yummy side dish.

I've told you about this one.

This is for some upcoming soup. So delicious. I have an aversion to smooth butternut squash recipe. It reminds me of baby food.

Three

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:05:00 +0000

Friday was this guys birthday.

I have only ever thrown one birthday party for my kids. When Brandon turned four. They have yet to complain, so I'll stay with the status quo.

We had a full morning with an awards assembly and a Thanksgiving play. Caedon's science project won First Place! He was soooo happy. The night before he turned it in he was trembling, excited and nervous. We went for the open house on Thursday evening and his teacher said that he was getting an award. I figured maybe something like honorary mention or display (he had a sweet display, no pun intended on the sweet). At the awards assembly they called 3rd place, 2nd place and 1st place was Caedon. I'm so proud of him. :)

Then, pulling out my I-desperately-need-you-to-take-a-nap (so I can finish the wedding photos that are hanging over my head like an Acme anvil) I announced it was time for a "BIIIIIIIIRTHDAY NAP!" It totally worked.

Two hours later, I had photos finished, a rested three-year-old and a long grocery list.

Kid pick up, coffee pick-me-up, photo drop-off and birthday dinner shopping.

He picked Thanksgiving cupcakes. It made him happy. I didn't have to bake. Win-Win. Plus they didn't taste half-bad.

***I wrote this post while backing up the finished photos...and then my computer decided it needed a much deserved break. it quit on me. So I watched Felicity all day long and didn't feel guilty about it at all. A power cord later, and i'm back in business. i have some recipes to share with you...or should I wait until after Thanksgiving when everyone else is done posting their turkey/stuffing/squash recipes?

Making Myself Happy

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:28:00 +0000

I have one wedding left to edit.
After that is done...I'm taking my hobby back.
Enjoying what I do is far more important than making money.
Having fun is far more important than stressing out.
Feeling free of guilt is far more important than feeling guilty.
I have been stressing over deadlines that I begin to feel guilty about grocery shopping, laundry and even checking email.
I feel guilty for snapping photos of my kids when I should be doing something else.

How bad is that? Feeling guilty for my kids? No more.

I'm taking my priorities back.

Is there something that you thought would make you happy, only to find out that it really wasn't what you wanted? Please tell me I'm not alone in feeling this way.

saturday night fun

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 01:43:00 +0000

we blew up the air mattress, got in our jammies, busted out the marshmallows and are watching cartoons.

i'm busy editing photos (not the ones posted, obviously), being distracted and thinking of a way to sneak a pumpkin waffle without anyone noticing.

my favorite photo of the bunch:

sonic iced tea makes me happy. so happy i'm not even slightly temped to order a vanilla dr. pepper or a cranilla craze (have you had a cranilla craze? seriously so good. it's cranberry-vanilla-sprite. and it's pink)

ever notice how happy marshmallows make people?

what are you up to tonight? reading blogs? wasting time? doing one thing while you should be doing another?

Hello, November

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:47:00 +0000

This year has been going by wicked fast.

Dug Update: He is doing much better. We have some pretty special Angels in our lives (You know who you are ;-) ) and we finally figured out what was going on. There was talk of distemper (he is fully vaccinated. The vet said she's been doing this for 7 years and she's seen 4 cases of distemper, 3 of them in the last 6 months. The last case was a dog she vaccinated.) talk of botulism and of Myasthenia Gravis (MG for short). He was treated for all three (trust me, don't google distemper or botulism for canines. SCARY!) He came home looking better and within a week bulked back up.
Three weeks later, his symptoms came back. Walking funny, not stooping to drink. This and a test confirmed what we all thought, its MG.

It's all good though. We can maintain it though steroids and he'll be fine. I'm actually pretty familiar with the condition since we have a family member with it. It's a pretty rare disease and the vet was surprised when I told her I knew what it was. He will have good days and bad days (where he gets spoiled, lays around the kitchen and get lots of love from the kids; he actually enjoys it and is sad when he as a good day and I kick him out to run and play).

Luckily we have a back-up dog to keep things running smoothly and keep an eye on the neighbors. ;-) (And its chilly today so George is a grouchy. Who knew he was so touchy about the temperature?)

Vegan Update: We are now fully Vegged Out! We successfully eliminated the last few things and are two months animal free. My hair, skin and body feel sooooo much better (for reals, within a week my hair was softer and shinier. It's also growing like mad!). I lost 10 lbs just from eliminating dairy! We're almost completely gluten-free. That's completely by choice, we have no allergy to gluten but I do think my husband has a serious sensitivity to it. When he has gluten he feels sluggish, begins wheezing and I notice the whites of his eyes become less brilliant and bloodshot.

We also got a juicer and I LOVE IT! My favorite juice is carrot, ginger, beet, pear and kale. I've discovered that I LOVE beets and have to resist singing "I've got the beet, I've got the beet, I've got the beet. Yeah! I got it!" every time I'm at the store. Have you ever cut open a fresh beet? The color is just Oh My God gorgeous.

They should name a beet colored crayon that. "What color is that?" "Oh, it's Oh My God Gorgeous."

I feel like this is the only place we're I can talk about being vegan openly without defending our decision. I'm surprised that what we eat offends so many people! (Mostly my mom) I'm so grateful to all the vegan/vegetarian blogs out there. It makes me feel a lot less "weird" and "eccentric."

The kids are more-or-less vegetarian. They still have milk (they are not fans of soy or rice milk) pizza with cheese and occasionally ribs or steak tacos (they request meat about once a month). Caedon's teacher pulled me aside and told me that she noticed he eats all the fruit and veggies first and makes faces at the nuggets. She's never seen a kid snub chicken nugget day. I should be better about packing their lunches. I'll put that down for the next challenge.

Overall Update: We're doing well. I'm still trying to finish up a wedding I shot last month. I don't know why it's been so rough to get it done. There are a ton of photos (not an exaggeration).
Soccer is finally over. It was a short but busy season.

Halloween was fun. We met up with some friends who are also new the area, went trick-or-treating downtown and went for pizza afterwards.

I was accompanied by a very adorable Luigi and Captain Jack Sparrow. Oh that wig! I am so glad I don't have girls! If I had to comb/brush hair like that every day I'd go crazy!

I am not a "crafty" person. I see all these amazing things to make on Pinterest and think "hey, that looks like something I could make." Then this happened:

I lack creativity and good scissors. I marked the eye holes with lip gloss for Pete's sake! And they still came out crooked!! (It's a good thing I can cook.)
In my defense I had less than an hour to feed the kids, get them in costumes and cut eye-holes in a sheet. He was happy, I was embarrassed and we got candy.

He only wore it for about 20 minutes, ripped it off and went trick-or-treating in his normal clothes. He has insisted on wearing it around the house for the last 2 days though.

So that's all I have for now. Hopefully it won't be another month before I get back here. :)

Please Pray

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:58:00 +0000

this is about a dog named Dug.
a dog who is very, very sick at the animal hospital right now.

{the day I picked him out}

late last week I noticed Dug's right front leg was a little funny. he was walking on it weird and was sort of protecting it. we thought he must have hurt it running around with George. no biggie, we let him rest and figured it would heal up. there weren't any wounds or blood and he didn't wince when i poked and prodded at it.

sunday I noticed Dug was walking very wobbly on his hind legs. almost like he had no control of them. the right one was going waaaay right and the left one was going waaaay left.

yesterday morning, while I did my circle of the yard, grabbing trash from the neighbors good time from the night before, i noticed blood in Dug's hiney fur. Blood.

my husband came home early and for some strange but perfect timing, my parents came into town. I haven't talked to my mom in over three months and they surprised us after school. I know this sounds silly since I haven't been in touch with them, but having them come into town last night was a relief. we left the kids with them (that's the relief part) and zoomed to the animal hospital.

we had figured one of us would go with Dug (me, since I knew more about what was going on) and the other would stay with the kids. (remember what happened last time I had to take all three kids and Dug to the vet? Oy to the vey) taking Dug to the vet this time wasn't something I wanted to have to face alone.

All of his blood work came back normal; no parasites, heart worms, poison (which was a concern considering how our neighbors treat our dogs), or cancer.

after talking to the vet yesterday and describing all of Dug's symptoms and observing him, she said confidently "I'm almost positively certain it's neurological. he is still young enough that there's a small possibility it might be a bone disease, but not likely." I asked if it was hip dysplasia, which is very common in golden retrievers and she said no, because it's not just in his back legs, it's the front too. she said "he's very sick and he's in trouble." oh pull my heart out and put it on the table now. sigh.

so now we wait. wait for x-rays and ct scans. wait for answers. wait for the bill (!!!!. I don't want to be like that, but how much is this going to cost us? it's not something that we've arranged for. it's a legitimate concern)

wait for phone calls.

I don't want to sound like one of those kooky dog-owners, but Dug knows things. like knows. he has this intuition and i completely trust his judgement.

normally Dug goes about his day, starting off by circling the perimeter of the yard, followed by a stillness minute in the middle of the yard where he just takes in the morning.

see i'm a kooky dog-owner.
my dog takes zen time-outs in the morning to appreciate the rising sun.
(did I mention he's a vegetarian and his coat has never looked healthier?)
my zen, vegetarian dog watches over the birds, never chases them.
he looks after George, who is more brute than brain.
he chastises the neighbors for smoking and bothering our little bubble of home.
he likes the mailman/UPS guy/FedEx guy (they deliver treats!)
he makes an excellent foot warmer.

please pray for my dog. i know its "just a dog" but to me he's more than that. he's MY dog, who I picked out of a litter of 7, who I put a big "D" with brown permanent marker inside his ears to claim him. who I have spent hours foot-cuddling with while Shane naps.

winter is coming and I need my buddy back.

(I'm posting most updates on Dug on Facebook.)

In Full Swing

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:01:00 +0000

Soccer season is in full swing.
I have many pictures.
I took this one after his game on Saturday.
He was chatting while I got gas.
He was buttering me up to take him for a post-soccer treat.

He's easily grown about 4 inches and put on 15 pounds since Spring Soccer.

I love that his freckles are starting to show.

Um...yeah. I don't really know what that's about.

Since it was just the two of us we went out for ice cream after the game. His ice cream of choice?

Superman

(with colors that do not occur naturally)

There was this super sweet couple getting afternoon ice cream. Now, maybe it's because I'm a mom of boys but I am always watching teenage boys. I find myself wondering if my sons will dress/act/be similar to that one or that one. It sounds silly but I can't help it.

This guy was so sweet with his girlfriend. I caught a cute moment of them leaning over the table talking to each other, but it felt too personal to share without their permission.

I like his sunglasses and Hurley hat.

I also like that he wasn't too cool to get Superman ice cream.

:-)

Wednesday Words

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:53:00 +0000

You can go your own way

~Fleetwood Mac

Wednesday Words

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:51:00 +0000

The Beatles believed. And if you believe, you can change anything.

~taken from Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul

This has to be one of the most tedious books I've read in a while. In fact, I started the book back in July and I'm only on page 74. The page this quote is on.

I don't mean tedious in a horrible way; I mean in a mind-full, wrap-your-head-around way. Even jacked up on a quad-venti, it's slow reading for me.

I think most of all I'm reading it slowly because I'm trying to understand and pull all the information I can from it.

{On the flip side of the quote...sometimes the only thing on the other side of the road is the other side of the road. Know what I mean?}

Veganize Me

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:04:00 +0000

Here we go...we are now: Vegans.

Goodbye eggs.
Goodbye dairy.

Meat has been out for a while.

It's been 9 months in the making.
We're 2 weeks successful. (Minus the chocolate chips in the cookies. We didn't get the vegan ones in the mail yet...what am I supposed to do if the USPS shuts down? How am I supposed to get my chocolate, marshmallows and tempeh? Aaaaaaaghhhhhh!)
The kids are on board (Brandon scored 6 goals at soccer practice and he yelled "Veggie Power!!!!")

Can anyone tell me why there is High Fructose Corn Syrup in veggie broth? And why it has to be redundantly specified at Vegetarian Vegetable Broth? Is there Carnivore Vegetable Broth out there? Oh Swanso...I shouldn't name names.

Emeril it is. You have no idea how much that pains me. Off to make my own and figure out why the crock pot I had plugged in for 2 hours isn't working and if dinner can be saved.

Working On...Coming Up

noreply@blogger.com (Trysha) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:40:00 +0000

Soccer...practice 3 nights a week, games twice a week.

Cutting out dairy. It doesn't make my tummy happy.
If I'm giving up dairy, my husband agrees to give up eggs.
Almost-gluten free, vegan cookies. (Would've made it if it weren't for the chocolate chips)

Going gluten-free and vegan. I'll let you know how long that lasts.
I participated in a summer reading challenge. I read 18 books between June 1 and August 31. I'll be recapping all of that.

Home improvement. Not our home, not Holmes on Homes type of improvement. Just a lot of painting.

Kids with cookbooks. I'll explain later.