Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Vegan Recipes on VegWeb.com

Last year, I found out about a lot of new things as a vegan.  One thing I learned about was the Vegan Month of Food (also known as vegan MOFO).  It was a neat way to join the community of vegan bloggers and find out more about different foods that vegans eat.

One Web site I found during this time was VegWeb.  I like this Web site because it has a lot of great recipes.  There are other features on the site, but I have to be honest and say that I haven't really looked at them.  There are lists of vegan substitutes as well that are very helpful when you might not have all the ingredients on hand.

What I find very helpful are the reviews.  It's nice to see feedback on any given recipe so that you know how it turned out.  Many users will also give suggestions like I changed this and added that or I cut the sugar in half, etc.  It really makes it easier to experiment when other people are willing to let you know how their changes worked out.

The have an iPhone app as well.  It was $2.99 well spent in my opinion.  I like that I can save recipes, browse through dishes and have everything in my hand.  I don't have to haul my laptop into the kitchen and try to find a spot to put it.  Now I can just use my phone to see all the details.

I thought I'd share with you a couple of recipes that I've tried and loved on VegWeb.

I'm a chocoholic and this can be a bit of a problem when you are trying to stay away from milk products.  Enter vegan brownie recipe.  This recipe is so easy to make and tastes delicious.  My kids love when I make these (which I do whenever I need my chocolate fix).

We also like Easy Pancakes.  They are exactly what they say--easy.  They taste great and you wouldn't know that they were made without eggs except for the fact that they are lighter than regular pancakes.  Even my omni-vore husband liked them and that's saying something!  You can add fruit or chocolate chips to these to make something different.  I've enjoyed thawing some frozen fruit and pouring it on top (with the juice from the fruit too) and adding a bit of syrup.

So, there you go, 2 of my favourite recipes from VegWeb.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Slightly More Organized, A Lot Healthier

Fall I can't believe how fast the summer has passed me by. It was pretty good as far as getting more organized and more healthy. Getting fit? Not so much. I was able to declutter a lot this summer. I got pretty ruthless, but I'm hoping to be able to telecommute for my job soon, so I need office space. To get office space, I had to stop procrastinating and start doing. I've said it before, but it feels really good to let things go. Getting things out of the house releases the guilt tied to them and releases the space they were taking up. Still have a little way to go to complete the main area of the basement for my office.

The best part is that I was able to use a desk that my husband had taken apart but never delivered to his sister. When enough room was cleared out, he put it together for me and now it's not cluttering up my basement any more. It would be really nice if my family would stop putting stuff on the desk though!  I don't have my computer yet, but I will need somewhere to put it when they come to install it.

As for healthier, I really attribute the way I've been feeling to visiting our chiropractor. We've gone through the most intensive part of our treatment and we're now down to 1 treatment a week. When we started, I could not look over my shoulder to see in the back seat of the car. The first time I could turn my head that far, I was amazed. I hadn't even realized I was in that bad shape! My headaches have been greatly reduced. I have maybe take acetaminophen two or three times in the last few months. Considering I was taking it daily and sometimes multiple times in a day, this is a huge improvement! I've had a headache for most of the day today and I think it's mostly because I am very tired. It's nice when pain becomes something you're not accustomed to. I had to take my prescription for my headache today and it has been weeks since I've done so. I'd love to be able to say that I have boundless energy, but I suspect that the fact I'm always tired is because I'm working a late shift at work. I work from 5pm to 10pm, and I take awhile to unwind after work. Hopefully I can go back to a day shift next month and this will start to get better again. I do have more energy than I did before, and I can get more done in a day than I could before I started treatment.

The best part is that I am able to spend more time and energy on my kids. When I was feeling yucky, I was no good to anyone and I think my kids suffered for that. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm making it a point to spend more time with them. They are pretty incredible little girls and I would hate to miss out on getting to know more about them.