I LOVE SMOOTHIES!!

Since we turned vegan, Greg and I have fallen in love with smoothies! Ours are a bit different, however. They're protein smoothies!!

We use chocolate almond milk and Nutiva hemp powder for our smoothies. I've actually been known to make a hemp milkshake with the chocolate almond milk. It's makes an excellent snack, and since it's protein, it keeps hunger at bay for a couple of hours.

Watching My Garden Grow!

I'm happy to report my garden is growing like a bunch of weeds. Well, not everything, but the pepper plants, arugula, and basil look AMAZING!!! I'm so excited about how well everything is growing! Apparently, the compost we made is quite fertile!!

The Arugula, which needs to be transplanted.

Make Your Own Pizza Night!

My husband had a great idea for dinner the other night. He was going to make pizza, but decided we should all make our own. So, he cut all the toppings, and made three different pizza crusts. It was a brilliant idea, and we all enjoyed arranging our toppings together. It was a great family activity! Mondays have now become “Make your own pizza” nights!

Time For Replanting!

Arugula Spinach Mix... Yum!

Our seedlings have finally gotten to the point when it’s time to replant them in new homes. We decided to do mostly container gardening since this hurricane season is threatening to be active. It’s easier to bring containers inside than it would be to uproot plants and put them in containers.

My hubby also thought of an ingenious way to recycle a container that we get almost weekly at the store! We go through a ton of salad greens, obviously. One of the greens we splurge on is a container of pre-cleaned spinach and arugula (although I’m really not fond of arugula). The container the mix comes in is fantastic for replanting seedlings!

Our pepper plants took forever to germinate, but it was well worth the wait. They are the best looking seedlings we have! I’m not sure our lettuce is going to make it. I may have to plant new seeds. We’ve had quite a bit of rain lately, and the sun hasn’t been seen in three days. The little seedlings have obvious signs of not getting enough sunlight.

YUMMY!!!

Today (6/8/12), I planted a little herb garden in one of these awesome spinach/arugula containers. I planted dill, parsley, and basil. We have one container in the fridge that is almost empty, and once it is, I’ll plant a ton of oregano in it.

Planting Our Garden

So, we planted a bit late this year. Things have been rough lately. But, I finally got everything seeded!! We started a compost pile in February and it looks amazing!

We picked up one of those Jiffy greenhouse starter kits which has 72 spots for seeds. I planted about 2 rows of each:

·Red Bell Peppers

·Redina Lettuce

·Broccoli

·Nevada Lettuce

·Arugula

·Spinach

·Cherry Tomatoes     

·Yellow Squash

·Basil

·Parsley

·Dill

·Carrots

·Cucumbers

·Dark Green Lettuce

My Favorite Lunch

I've never been one to try new things, until I met my husband. I was pretty boring. I liked my routines, and I ate the same TV dinners every night (for the 3 months after my divorce) and I was happy with that. When I met my husband I was inspired to start trying new things. He's from Maine, so he's used to eating a variety of foods and when we went vegetarian I had to get creative with dinners. Lunch tends to be pretty simple for me, and while salad is nothing new, I thought I'd do a post on this because my hubby, once again, turned me on to something new... Sunflower Seeds.

My First Vegan Recipe

I attempted my first vegan recipe yesterday. I made banana bread! My husband had made banana bread about a week ago, but used a regular recipe. About 10 minutes before my bread was done, my entire house smelled like cinnamon and nutmeg.

When I pulled the loaf out, it was smaller than my hubby's banana bread, but WOW did it taste SO much better! My daughter and I ate it in one day (hence why I don't have a picture!) 

I'll make more in a couple days and share what it looks like. I really thought the bread would taste horrible. Applesauce instead of eggs? I've been wanting to get away from eggs for months now, and this is my step toward making veganism in my home a reality. 

I wanted to prove to myself and my family that banana bread the vegan way was just as good if not better than the bread my hubby made the week before. WOOHOO I was right!!

I hate bananas!

I've always hated bananas. Anything banana. You know those little bananas in the Runts candy boxes? I always gave or threw them away. In December 2010 however I found out that my potassium levels were dangerously low. So low in fact it caused heart palpitations and excess swelling in my knees after injury. So, I started eating bananas (I get really nauseated if they aren't green ones) and bought a potassium supplement. I was getting no where near the 4700mg we need daily. I was getting maybe 1000mg, and that's being generous.

I've become somewhat immune to the taste of bananas as long as they are green. I sometimes can't eat a bunch of bananas before the green turns to brown so the brown ones end up as banana bread because my hubby hates to waste ANYTHING!

Those bananas? They're too ripe for me.

My hubby is the best at making bread. He uses a bread machine most of the time, but not for banana bread. I LOVE his banana bread. A little butter and I'm all set!

The recipe for this bread is in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook on page 124. (It's the 15th edition.) Here's the recipe now that I've given credit to the author!

The First

I haven't been vegetarian for very long, just about 6 months and have just recently found an interest in Veganism. I went vegetarian for the health benefits. 

I suffer from high blood pressure, migraines, osteoarthritis and generalized anxiety disorder. I was also quite overweight. I was 250lbs, and only 5'9" tall. I was pretty depressed about my weight, and I knew I had to do something about it. 

I started working out in November 2010 when the Kinect came out for the Xbox 360. The game Your Shape Fitness Evolved came out shortly thereafter, and I got my hands on it for $20! (These games are usually $59.99!)