27 weeks and counting

I am feeling huge!

I'm not that big for 6 months, I guess...but it sure does feel that way!

Now's about the time I'm starting to miss my flat stomach. Oh well. I'll get it back (somewhat, right ladies?)

No vegan recipes for now. I've been eating lots of stuff that I've already put up here. (and I've had my fair share of meat lately...should I just cancel this blog?)

GOOD NEWS

Today we bought a Wii.

Probably one of the coolest things about a Wii is getting to make your own avatar...notice the similarities between the man below and the man above?

Yeah, I know! The bulging biceps really give it away, huh?

Look! The Dude is in the background! :)

Anyway, on to our VeganMommy dinner today: "B"LTA's. These are composed of Smokey Tempeh Strips, lettuce, tomato, and avacado on whole wheat bread. I am amazed at how simple, fast, AND yummy this was! Tempeh is a great meat substitute. We've used it before to make those sausage patties. The recipe was taken from yourveganmom.com. Below is the tempeh:

This was our lone tomato that we saved specially for today! Mmmm...it was good.

The finished product: lettuce, tempeh, tomato, and avacado.

With a little veganaise:

MMMMMMM!

Nothing is quite so delicious like brownies and ice cream! This is a tried and true recipe from The Complete Vegan Kitchen cookbook that Wil bought a few years back in college. The secret ingredient? Espresso instead of eggs.

We also put our ice cream maker to the test! We'll be making a few modifications next time, but overall this was a pleasant dessert!!

Now I'm off to bed.

bah.

I did not eat vegan AT ALL today. TWO (count 'em: 2) hamburgers today...

Oh well, I don't really feel bad about it. They were delicious.

This week is VBS week at the Friends Church and I'm helping out every day by taking pictures and documenting the fun for a daily slide show. I'm not quite sure how I got roped into this because, believe it or not, I am camera savy, but NOT tech savy...AT ALL. So today was a complete disaster in uploading pictures and making this slideshow. Tomorrow, I have high hopes that things will go much smoother. :)

Anywho, after VBS, I was terribly worn out from running all over the church and trying to get kids to make goofy faces...so I scarfed down a Sonic burger (mmm) and headed home....then later we went to lunch/dinner and I had a cheeseburger (and a milkshake!) from 59 Diner. Whoops!

BUT! Here's the plan, folks. Wil and I went to Whole Foods Market today (which is a whole other blog anyway...Whole Foods Market shoppers make me cringe.) to get some goods for the upcoming week. I'm so stoked about our menu choices this week. You wanna hear 'em? Get excited and get ready for some snerious awesome vegan meals. Some of these are recycled from the past, some are taken from various websites (you can see links on the side menu of my blog):

-"B"LTA ("bacon" (tempeh), lettuce, tomato, and avacado) sandwiches with some fruit on the side


-Black bean burgers


-Tomato soup and grilled cheez


-Lentil tacos


-broccoli cheez soup

But I saved the best for last:

LOOK at this baby! Okay, we already have the red mixer, but look what is attached! (Can you see it?)

It is none other than an ICE CREAM MIXER ATTACHMENT!

That's right, vegan ice cream to help cool me off for the summer. I am SO STOKED.

Hope your week is going fabulously.

Vegan Waffles...a little nutmeggy...but oh-so-delicious!

I have to say that breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day.  Given the opportunity, I would prefer to go get breakfast with you rather than lunch...there's something so special about sharing the beginnings of one's day with a friend (or husband!).   Making fancy breakfast is something Wil and I like to do.  Yesterday I was having a mad craving for waffles, so Wil searched online and found a website called Waffleparty.com.  This place was great!  Although it has some VERY interesting waffle combinations (anyone down for some Vegan Carrot Ginger Sage Oat Waffles?), we decided to play it safe this first time and tried the Banana & Oatmeal-based recipe.

DELICIOUS!

Great texture, and you would never believe that there were actually oats involved!  The best part about this recipe: no sugar! The banana sweetens the deal.  Wil and I added some chopped pecans (because you can't eat pancakes or waffles without pecans, honestly), and topped it off with some vegan margarine and syrup!  So great...I can't wait to try these again.  I'm posting this recipe because it takes seriously less than 5 minutes to prepare.  The long part comes when you have to do the waffle ironing.  If we keep this up I might invest in an industrial waffle iron (you know, the ones in college cafeterias where you flip the iron and wait like 3 minutes?).  We had to wait 15-20 minutes per waffle pair, so we kept them warmed in the oven while we made more.  And one more thing: I am a nutmeg FIEND, but Wil prefers spices that are a little less powerful.  If you like nutmeg, keep the recipe as is.  I think next time we may take out nutmeg and replace with more cinnamon or perhaps All Spice? Okay, here is the recipe:

I find that these, like other banana-based waffles, need a slightly longer cook time so they’re not “mushy” in the center–but they’re still very tasty. Using a  potato masher to mash the bananas very well seems to help, and the oats help to provide additional structure and binding.

1 ripe banana, mashed 2 cups water 1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg (best if freshly grated!) vanilla extract to taste (optional)

Mix together the mashed banana and water. Add dry ingredients and mix, leaving lumps in the batter. Cook on a waffle iron, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

The batter also works well for pancakes, and is especially tasty when you add small berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.) to the mix. To make pancakes, pour 1/2 cup of batter into a hot, lightly oiled frying pan. When bubbles rise through the middle of the pancake and break on the top, flip the pancake and cook until browned underneath. (Note: Test the pan before cooking the pancakes by throwing a few drops of water onto it. If the water jumps around and then disappears, the pan is at the correct temperature.)

Top with margarine, syrup, fruits, or preserves.

22 Weeks

This was last week.  As of today I'm 23 weeks! :)

Weird baby dreams?

So I had a dream last night that I was walking around with this baby boy in my arms. At first everything was going fine, but then the baby just kept wiggling so bad that he would try and wiggle out of my arms. I was having a hard time keeping his head from falling back...and after a while his neck got all stretchy from his head bouncing around. I know, so weird. He also talked to me, though I dont' remember what he said.

At the same time there was a little tiny baby, like the size of a fetus, except fully developed, floating around and talking to me too. Trying to get the two of them to behave in my arms was quite a task.

vegan breakfast and a not-so-vegan mother's day

So these pictures will not be in sequential order, but here are the events of the past weekend...deeeeelightful!

Okay, so this is DEFINITELY not a vegan option (with 7 eggs and CREAM in the frosting?! no way jose).  This cake is called Truffeltorte and it is a chocolate GENIUS.  It has 11 tbsp of butter and 2 cups of cream...30 oz of semi-sweet chocolate...that's a little less than two pounds.

TOTALLY worth it.

This is Marcy Ramsey, my cute little mother in law, enjoying some tea at Papa's.  We went there to celebrate her cumpleaños.

My husband baked her this cake for her birthday.  MMMMMM!

First taste...APPROVED!

Okay, back to VEGAN options here....this was our breakfast a few days ago.  It consisted of tofu scramble, vegan sausage patties, and butter-free biscuits!  Seriously...best vegan breakfast EVER.

Up close on the tofu scramble bit.  You can find a link to it here.

pregnant!

best dog ever.  Totally blog worthy.

not a good day

I am feeling fat and lazy and i do NOT want to talk about food.

Pasta and Tacos

Here's some delightful favorites:

Pasta Della California (aka linguine with spinach, broccoli, and avocado.  This has to be my all-time favorite pasta recipe. It's fast and delicious and a little spicy!!!  ahhh soo good.  I want some right now!)  Taken from Veganomicon.

This dinner is made complete with some "white wine" (aka white grape juice)

Black bean and brown rice enchiladas (with a little bit of "sour cream"). We enjoyed these with some fantastic Jarritos (you know, the 35 cent fruity drinks?  so good), Mexican coke, and chips and salsa (despite all the fuss about the swine flu!)

And good ol' tacos with some vegetable protein instead of meat!  We get this at Krogers and we just love it!  I prefer soft tacos, but here is Wil's fav: crunchy style!

My latest cravings (not for the faint of stomach)

OKRA - preferably boiled or steamed, in any quantity possible.  I've been making this pretty much every night for about a week, eating it straight out of the pot.  I love it.  Wil, however, hates the smell of boiled okra.  Sorry Wilbur!  Hopefully this craving will subside soon...for his sake at least.  I stinkin' love okra.

HOT CHEETOS - another yummy one!!!  One of my students brought me a bag the other day and I was thrilled!  Hooked for life, or at least for the next 5 1/2 months.  Not quite sure if these are vegan or not, but when the craving strikes, I don't seem to mind.

Anything fruity or citrus-y is good...especially limes and PINEAPPLE.  Ah geez, we've gone through two pineapples already and any time I get a chance to have a lime, I take it! 

Cream-cheese wontons....need I say more?

All the food I've eaten since February 11th

Sorry for the delay on the postings.  I really have been trying to eat vegan (or at least vegetarian) for the past three months.  I've gotta be honest though...I have slipped up a few times.  Overall, though, I've found that I feel my best when I am avoiding the meat products.  I have less bloating, less constipation (sorry for that detail), and I generally feel more energized with the meals that we prepare.  

Most of our homemade meals come from either The Complete Vegan Kitchen, Veganomicon, or the internet.  These two cookbooks have great recipes.  The only problem is that most of them require lots of prep and cook time (usually over an hour).  With our crazy schedules, Wil and I are trying to figure out recipes that are faster and easier to prepare.  We haven't accomplished much.  The following are pictures from the past two months of foods that I consider blogworthy.

MMMM Delicious!  This is Seven Bean Chili (although we only used Four Beans) taken from The Complete Vegan Kitchen (written by Carl Lewis!) Wil put it all in a bread bowl (the BEST way to eat soup).

One night, Wil and I made Tomato Soup (made creamy with potatoes instead of cream...or whatever it is that is dairy that makes it creamy) and grilled cheese sandwiches (with Veggie Slices...aka cheez.).  Tomato Soup and grilled cheese is one of my favorite dinners.  I've had it ever since I was a wee little yung'in and I can't wait to feed this to my child.

Ok, seriously, this is the best snack in the WORLD (besides okra, which I have been craving a lot these days).  Cream cheez wantons.  All you do is go buy some wanton wrappers at Kroger, get a bowl and mix together cream cheese, green onions, and garlic powder in a bowl (however much you want...all determined by how many stinkin' awesome wantons you want to make).  Then you put a liiiittle bit of that mixture into the center of each wanton, pinch the sides together in the center to make a pretty little bow shape.  And WAH-LAH!  You are ready to fry or bake your yummies. Bake 'em if you're already feeling guilty about eating nothing but dough and cheez.  You can get dairy free cream cheese at probably any grocery store in the world (except Walmart or Target)

Here is the finished product (MMMMM Delish!)

Oh yes, and don't forget the sweet and sour sauce! :)

Speaking of Chinese, here we have Sesame Tofu (recipe taken from the internet).   Best when eaten with chopsticks.

This is really something I love, though the picture is not too enticing.  That sandwich is a spinach, mozarella, mushroom, and tomato panini on sourdough bread.  We have to each eat a half because it's so filling!  To the left of the sandwich is my special taste of Spain, papas bravas.  Wil and I ate this several times while we were in Spain and we missed the taste!  The best part about the brava sauce is the saffron (expensive, but it completely makes the sauce...although saffron costs more than GOLD).

Earlier this week I was having a MAD CRAVING for a margarita!  While we made lentil-sloppy joes (called Snobby Joes in Veganomicon), Wil was AWESOME and made me a virgin lime margarita (although this is ironic for a pregnant woman to be drinking something called "virgin").  Complete with salt on the rim.  mmmmmmm!!!  I want some more!

Black bean burgers.  Always a favorite of Wilbur's.

Alright, that's the latest!  ENJOY!

Mushroom Stroganoff

Delicious and filling!  Wilbur had this prepared in the time it took me to get from Galveston to Webster (less than 30 minutes!  this is uncanny!  we haven't experienced this swiftness of preparation since...well...EVER in the history of our vegan cooking!)  What a relief to find a dish that is easy AND stocked full of protein (26 grams)!