Ok so I have to admit…

This vegan thing really hasn’t been so bad. I was a bit bitchy the first few days (that explains the last post!) but now I am feeling great! No more hives, stomach cramps, bloating, and so on.
So what have I been eating?
Mostly yummy stuff! I have tried soy and coconut yogurt and I liked both, the coconut milk one is good stuff! I love almond milk. Soy cheese is just ok. I even found a rice milk chocolate bar at PCC and that was really, really good, just to name a few things. Some other favorites so far...

Black bean salsa / salad. I made a huge batch. I can just toss it over lettuce for a light meal or warm it up with refried beans and add guacamole on top, it is super filling and is packed with protein.

These yummy artichokes. I have gotten 4 from the produce man in the last 2 weeks and I will go back for more tomorrow! They are huge; one is a full dinner for me. They are also packed with flavor, I don’t even miss the butter, just add a little salt to the heart and call it good.

My snack / obsession. Nuts, mostly almonds and dried fruit.

I have even been able to bake. I made zucchini, sweet potato bread and orange cranberry scones. Both were a total hit. I used vegan butter, almond milk and fake egg and no one even knew! I tested them out on Sarah, Sreng and their kids and they were all shocked (after stuffing the faces) when I told them they were vegan. I am going to make the bread again this weekend, after much bagging I should add.
So like I said it really hasn’t been as bad as I thought. I have been trying lots of new things and that is always a good thing. In a few more days I will try dairy again and see what happens. For now I am a happy and content vegan! : )

Going Vegan?

Not happily!!!
I have been having a lot of stomach issues lately not to mention the hives that come and go for what seems like no reason, so after intense stomach cramps for over a week (at first I was thinking it was a stomach bug but everyone around me had it come and go so fast I don’t think that what it was) I started thinking about what could be causing it. After talking to Dr. Mom and doing some research it kind of all clicked, it may be that evil, yummy, milk that is messing up my poor body! I have all the symptoms for lactose intolerance. When I was a baby I could not have any milk and I have never been a big milk drinker. Lately my milk intake has been much higher than it was in reason years and I have been living for cheese. Kind of explains things.
The only way to really find out if this is what is causing my problems is to go without any dairy for 2 weeks than try a little and see what happens. Great! Did you know dairy is in everything? It’s been 3 days, all my symptoms are gone. (Not good news for me!) I will keep this up for the 2 weeks and see but if this is my problem I am not going to be happy about it. Being a Vegetarian is hard enough if I can’t have dairy I am pretty much a vegan and that seems really hard and like a lot of work. Ugh! We will see I guess.

The window garden has expanded!

Yesterday I got strawberry and bell pepper starts form the produce farm I have been shopping at. I can't wait until my little garden can move outside!

I had a super productive day today!

I had to wake up early to take the dogs to the groomer and my plan was to come home after that and go back to sleep. But once I got up this morning I knew that there was no way I would be falling back asleep.
After I dropped the dogs off I went by Target to see if they had any salad spinners. Who knew they would want $40 for a small one!?! Nope, not getting one at that price. I stopped by the grocery store after that to do my shopping for the week. I got home, unloaded, cleaned, cut and bagged all the produce. Then I pulled out the juice maker. I made my juice for the week, cleaned up the juice that the juicer shot on the wall and ceiling. After that I figured I had all the cleaning stuff out so I might as well just keep going and I cleaned my house. Just when I finished putting the cleaning stuff away the groomer called and the dogs were done.
When we got home I made myself some lunch, a yummy salad with raspberry vinaigrette that I whipped up, and gave the dogs a few treats. Next I tackled my storage closet. After I got that organized I took the dogs for a 5 mile run. Got home had dinner , did another little workout, washed, folded and put away my laundry. Few!!! Now I am sipping some tea and going to sit down for a little TV!
I wish I could be this productive every day!!!

Two years ago this week…

I brought home a one and a half pond fluff ball that I named Sophie!

The story goes like this...

I had been looking for the perfect little puppy for quite some time. When I started out I was going to adopt from shelter but for some strange reason I didn’t meet the qualifications to be a good pet owner. (Really!?! I know, crazy, right?) Then I hit The Seattle Times online. I was looking for a boy Yorkie. (Thank god that didn’t happen! I have since learned they can take four years to potty train and are not good with kids. Yikes!) I wanted to name him Chewbacca and call him Chewy or Chaz. After a few weeks of looking with no luck Sarah found an ad for adorable Shih Tzu / Pekingese puppies. They looked like little Chewbacca’s so I emailed about them. Bad news only girls left. But they were SO cute I just had to have one! I thought I could live with a girl, if I had to I guess. :)

This was Wendy (I renamed her Sophie) at 5 weeks old

I drove two and a half hour to look at the puppies and pick out my little girl. When I got there they were all so cute! I sat down in the middle of the room and this tiny little runt came over and climbed in my lap. She was so sweet, loving and quiet. She did not leave my side the entire time I was at the house. I picked her or I should say she picked me.

The breeder, Dawn, was one of the nicest people I have ever met. She loved her dog more than anything and knew she would make a great little mommy. Although because she loved her dog so much she only ever had the one litter of puppies. Her dog was a Shih Tzu and her best friend had a boy ½ Shih Tzu, ½ Pekingese mix so they decided to let them try to have a litter of puppies. It worked on the first try. The puppies were born while Dawn and her husband were out seeing the play Peter Pan. She gave all the dogs temporary Peter Pan names. There was Peter, Wendy, Tinker Bell, Captain, and Nana.

Like I said I fell in love with the runt, Wendy. I set up a time one week later when she would be 7 weeks old to come and take my baby home. I was SO excited! I got everything a new puppy could need, the best food on the market, shampoo, leashes, a collar, bowls, beds, treats, toys… You name it I got it, Only the best for my baby!

One week later I made the drive again and brought Sophie home. I got the name from the play Mama Mia. I was crazy in love with the play at the time and thought it would be a good name for my pup. She was the perfect puppy! Potty trained in 2 day! She really only ever had one accident. She never chewed on anything, loved to sleep and snuggle with me. Soph was VERY bonded with me even from the beginning and loved to just sit in my lap no matter what I was doing. (She still does.)

She has been a great addition to my life! In some ways it seems like I have had her for so much longer than two years and in other ways I just don’t know how it’s been that long already. She knows me better than I think most people do. When I am sad, I don’t even have to show it, she just knows and will be in my lap or face giving me loves. When I am happy or excited she is too.

A little more about Sophie?She hates Baths! Is a total fashionista Gets stuck in all kinds of things Can't swim but does ok with her life jacketShe loves people, especially kids Her cousin Hank is her BFF She LOVES to sleep in bed right next to me and can even somehow tuck herself in. Although she snores louder that a lot of humans! And Sophie is the best big sister to Panda

I feel so blessed to have had her to spend the last few years with and look forward to many, many more!

A few words on vitamins

So most people don’t know it but I am a bit of a vitamin junky. I take 10 a day! Recently I was doing some research and was shocked at what I found. First off did you know that the FDA is not involved in approving vitamins? I didn’t! I kind of thought a vitamin was a vitamin and the brand didn’t really mater. Wrong again!
Recently both Consumer Reports and Consumer Lab did testing on the quality of tons of brands of multivitamins, what they found surprised me and changed the way I will buy vitamins from now on. They found many brands contained much higher levels of lead than labeled and some had lead leaves that could possibility be dangerous. For example The Vitamin Shoppe women's product contained 15.3 micrograms of lead per daily serving; this amount of lead is more than 10 times the amount permitted without a warning in California. They also found many companies lied or misrepresented the amounts of each vitamin. Example, The Vitamin Shoppe’s product I talked about before contained just 54 percent of the 200 milligrams of calcium stated on the label.
So what do you look for? Vitamin makers do have 3 independent companies they can go through to get some kind of approval. Look for these seals on your vitamin bottles, USP (United States Pharmacopeia), CL (Consumer Labs), and NSF (National Formulary). If your vitamin doesn’t have one of those seals it means they either did not pass the testing or they didn’t want to submit to the testing. Either way I will try to never again buy a vitamin without one of those seals.
The top three brands for adults from both Consumer Reports and Consumer Lab were Centrum, Nature Made and Kirkland (Costco) brands. For kids, stay with either Centrum Children’s One-A-Day or Flintstones brands. Flintstones is what my mom always bought when I was growing up, thought that was funny. She was always ahead of the times. :) Costco happened to carry all of the recommended brands (Go Costco!!!) and that’s where I always shop for my vitamins because it saves money to buy them in bulk.
Do you know the best source of calcium? Not those expensive calcium chews or fancy pills. It is Tums! Yep, the cheap stuff most of us have in the medicine cabinet right now.
Well I hope I didn’t scare you too much. But hopefully you will look twice before buying your next batch of vitamins, I know I will!

My vitamin containers. The the blue is for morning and the pink one is for before bed .

Happy Easter!!!

A Zink can't back down from a dare!

So after the success of the pita bread last week I thought I would try homemade pasta. I was telling Sarah I felt like I could now make anything and she said "how about some bread to go with it?" The Zink in me came out and I took it as a dare, a Zink can’t back down from a dare. I slaved away in the kitchen for hours but I did it! I made rustic whole wheat pasta with a cheesy pesto and veggie sauce and whole wheat parmesan bread all from scratch. It all turned out delicious!!!

Uncooked pasta

Dinner

Can you tell the bread was a hit? Half of it was gone before I even got a photo!