Some Good, Some Not So Good

good: Tal Ronnen's EVERYTHING. Split Pea soup with Tempeh Bacon and Chipotle Cream last night; cucumber and mint salad side dish the night before... YUM! I need to give his black bean cakes a try again...

not so good: taking a regular recipe, changing 50% of the ingredients to be vegan, and expecting it to come out yummy. Martha Stewart's Dutch Apple Pancake case in point. Total Ick - had to have cereal for breakkie.

On to more experiments tonight - tofu ricotta ravioli's....

More Vegan Fun

This week has been challenging and rewarding. I traveled to Atlanta and ended up having fish for dinner both nights - not really a vegan option outside of the garden salad. But I made up for it by finding a vegan-friendly place for lunch - the Dynamic Dish. A very cool small place.

I didn't feel very well for about two days after getting back to Colorado. I'm not sure if it was the fish or just general illness. But I'm feeling better now!!

I made a couple of my old vegan recipes this week - black eyed peas with spinach and a little cayenne; tofu and broccoli stir-fry; flatbread with rice-cheese, spinach and garlic... But I bought Tal Ronnen's The Conscious Cook cookbook yesterday and have many new recipes to try. Today I tried Moby's Vegan Blueberry Pancakes, and they were better than all of the mixes I've tried. His recipe is on Epicurious.

I hope to get to VG Burger in Boulder this week - they are all vegan! I want to support that as best I can.

Here are a couple of pics from this weekend's skiing. Ash had his last day of ski school, so Sean and I hit the slopes in Breckenridge. When we got to the top of the 6-chair, we could see they were just opening the hiking above the Imperial Lift. So up we went - amazing weather and views! Then I had to get the confidence to actually ski down one of the double blacks... :) We chose Snow White and it was pretty horrible - solid frozen chunks of avy debris... It would be epic on a good day - hopefully we'll have one this year...

The Vegan Experiment

A couple of friends have recently 'gone vegan.' I hadn't thought too much of it - other than it was a bit stressful to think what to feed them when we get together. But they both sited the influence of The China Study. After picking a few arguments, I finally read it - and now I, too, want to Go Vegan. So I'm dragging the family through this with me - experimenting with a mostly vegan diet.

Here are some recent experiments - and the results.

Items I never thought I'd be buying:
Plain soy milk - not a fan.
Sweetened rice milk - fan.
Earth Balance - tastes just like butter!!
Cashew cream - good to thicken soups and on grilled pizzas / flatbreads.
TVP
Vegan-aise - still tastes like mayo, which would be great if I liked mayo.

A few surprise dishes - soy meatballs with yummy tomato sauce over sauteed polenta rounds. Soy-sausage with leek, fennel, red pepper, mushrooms, garlic then mixed with wild rice and some brown rice. Jarred tikka masala sauce with boiled potatoes, steamed cauliflower and lima beans. TVP (textured veg protein) chili, with red and yellow peppers and mixed beans. Black bean cakes with Slap Yo Mama and cilantro.

So, Sean and I are having a bit of fun trying new things, seeing how vegan we can be without feeling deprived or annoyed. I did have a little chicken twice last week and some lobster, but that was nearly it for non-vegan things. We won't get into Sean's huge hamburger!

PS - day 4 since Lasik - LOVING IT!!!

Woooooooo Whooooooo honk honk

Ash's over-acheiver genes dictated that he would not be just a Fireman for Halloween, he needed to be the Fire TRUCK! Check out his 'Daddybilt' machine!!

My Digital History

I'm committing anew to my blog. Not because I love talking about myself (oh, wait...), but because I just had a great lunch break reading through old posts, remembering the early days of the potato, and really enjoying the hubby's way of telling a story. Yes, I finally, after 10 years of marriage, can understand what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks he is saying.

So, with that, Themes as of Late:
-Huge crane arrived yesterday to plop 2 five ton boulders in our back yard. Pretty much entirely so Sean can have a slack line that holds up his heft. Yes, you can say 'excessive'!!
-Ash has declared that he no longer wants to be a fire truck for Halloween. He now has to be (HAS to be) a tractor trailer. Thank goodness I totally procrastinated getting started on his costume - think of the time I saved being lazy!
-Sean is actually cross racing!
-Ash now says, "Holler" and "Can I get a Whoop Whoop" on a regular basis.
-I am traveling like a madwoman, but focused on my free xmas vaca to St. Maarten with my lovely air and hotel points.
-I need to figure out how to connect this to Facebook...

Where Did January Go?

Another year began and before we knew it, January was a thing of the past. We had an eventful month to say the least. Starting with a crazy-amazing trip to Bora Bora (thanks to Fair Isaac!!) and pretty much ending with a not so fun trip to the hospital with Ash (thanks to pneumonia).

But sunburns are turning back to pasty winter color and Ash is back to school and as feisty as ever. Here are a few brag shots in case you didn't catch them on Facebook.

Skiing

The first day skiing with boy this past weekend. Some shuffling. The big winner was the gondola and bus ride to get on the hill.