A Gift To Touch The Heart

There are many gifts I've given and received. Yet as time progresses it's the intangibles that stand out. For me, in a season amidst dinners and goodies, this is the time the true thoughtfullness of family and friends comes to the forefront.

It is always appreciated when the response I get after telling someone my diet, to hear, "Tell me more." I feel that they are genuinely interested in the friendship between the two of us and want to deepen it by digging deeper and showing interest. Yet, I am deeply touched when not only does that someone remember my needs, but fills them.

Many vegans attend dinners by either eating prior to or taking their own food. I attended a party this Christmas where the hostess, bless her, had a spread of mostly vegan food. Her response, "well we can all eat your food but you can't eat all of ours, so we catered to you." She does the same for her celiac friends. True gracious hostess, true friend, truely felt.

There are simple adjustments easily made, with a little research. This hostess researched and found the consensus on Tofutti cream cheese, yes, it's as good as the real stuff. I'll add a few more hints to veganizing a dish. Veganaise is awesome, better than the real stuff. Earth Balance is a simple butter substiute, found for less at the biggest of big box retailers.  A simple google search can yield plenty of options for egg substitute (who doesn't have vinegar, water, and baking powder in their cupboard?). And lastly, keep a shelf stable box of non-dairy milk around. It's easily swapped out for the cow milk in recipes.

Thank you to friends and family that not only invited me to your functions, but also provided me sustance that I didn't have to make myself. It was truely a treat that fed hunger in both my stomach and heart.

Bean Dip

I used to make a slow cooker bean dip and never bothered to veganize it because of all the dairy it contained. I don't miss it anymore. Earlier this week my husband stumbled upon a very similar taste when he was being creative in the kitchen.

We originally ate this dip with corn chips then expanded to burritos. It would be great in a layer dip with green onions, tofutti, tomatos, etc. Try it!

First, make this "Cheesy" sauce. It's great on macaroni noodles (good enough for company) and then use the leftovers in beans, like we did. Here's the sauce, in case you don't want to flip pages.

¹/₂ cup nutritional yeast flakes
¹/₂ cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
¹/₂ teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups water
¹/₄ cup oil
1 teaspoon prepared mustard 

Mix nutritional yeast flakes, flour, salt, and garlic powder in a 2-quart saucepan. Whisk in water.

Cook over medium heat, whisking, until mixture thickens and bubbles. Cook 30 seconds more, then remove from heat and whisk in oil and mustard. Sauce will thicken as it cools.

Then add a can of refried beans (no lard kind) or reconstitute bean flakes. Add salsa to taste.

Seriously, this tastes like a nacho cheese dip with beans. I was even tempted to add a can of green chiles.

Jellies and Jams

Thanks to the email about sugar that I posted I've tried to substitute out sugar whenever I can.  I've been making my own jam for a while, after I discovered this freezer jam pectin that only requires 1 1/2 cups of sugar for 4 cups of crushed fruit, instead of a one-to-one ratio. Saturday I attempted to try making it with honey instead of sugar. Raw honey, to be exact, since I didn't cook it and could preserve its qualities. It turned out great, but it taste's like berry jam with honey instead of just berry jam. Next time I'll try fructose or evaporated cane juice.

If you're someone who's trying to eliminate high fructose corn syrup or corn sugar from your diet, or cares about finding non-GMO sugar sources, I highly recommend trying your hand at making jam. Just about all my neighborhood friends (even those who previously couldn't cook) have adopted this method because it's so incredibly easy. Here's pictures of the supplies you need.
Both these pectins are the same, just packaged differently. In the Phoenix area, you can find them at Albertsons and sometimes Wal Mart. Don't buy any other pectin though, it will require more sugar. Amazon carries it too.



These jars are a must. If you put jam into any other plastic container, the minute it falls out of the freezer the container will crack and shatter. These have fallen out many times and are still intact.

I'd love to hear about your attempts and successes!

The Best Apple Pie

My baking apples stacked up and I attempted my hand at an apple pie. It's been declared by our head-of-house, "It the best apple pie I've EVER had!"

AND it was so easy and simple.

First, invest in Marie Calendar's frozen pie crusts. They're vegan and delicious. I never mastered pie crust making, nor did I enjoy eating one, but this was enjoyable to prep and eat. two come packaged together. Thaw one crust while you prepare the filling:

5 large baking apples (Granny Smith is best) peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425. Mix together the filling ingredients. Pour into the second, frozen crust. Cover the pie with the thawed crust. Crimp edges and bake for 10 minutes. Lower temp to 350 and bake for 45 minutes. The pie comes out perfect, no burnt crusts.

Top with coconut cream

Coconut cream: open a can of Thai coconut milk, scoop out all the cream and whip it up with powdered sugar to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate for firmer cream.

Retrench and Clean out the cupboards

How to save money on big spending months, like December, or save the pennies for another trip to Disney. Call it what you will, this is what I'm doing.

Every time I come home from vacation I run to my discount produce market, Superstition Ranch, and stock up. I have now made an exception, especially with December upon us. I decided to look through and eat all those canned foods I ignore because I've been so spoiled with eating fresh all the time. Even my back up frozen foods have gotten a good hard look.

Since I can't get my family to eat soup the majority of the year (can I blame them? Who wants soup when it's 80 degree or higher outside?) I busted out the #10 can of soup I dry-pack canned five year ago. One cup of this stuff, 8 cups of water, some seasoning, and an hour makes for a great meal. It has alphabet noodles, split peas, lentils, rice, carrot, and onion, all our dietary requirements. It goes a long way and I'm hoping to really off set any further expenses this year.

I've also pulled out the freeze-dried foods we started eating a little while back and have those out for snacks. The kids love it. Freeze-dried corn and pears - it's candy!

Soup is very well accompanied by a cool house. Cool, but not a cold house. We have turned on our heat once. In the winter I save energy by making bread or cleaning the oven when the house is too cold. Easy right? It needs to be done anyway. And those sweatshirts need a little bit of exercise in the short time we can use them.

I can really appreciate my produce even more after these sacrifices. Sometimes I look back and am amazed, who knew I'd get so excited over broccoli and lettuce from my garden or a new vegetable or fruit in my basket? I can't wait for the month to be over and can have all that lovely inspiration for meals again!

I Miss 'Nog

Egg Nog.

I used to consume it by the gallons this time of year. I tried Rice Nog last year. Not the same. BUT...
Meander over here and try out the Holiday Nog. I recommend less water for a thicker drink. Yum...and sugar free!

Detoxing from Disney

My husband and I both recognized Disneyland was stimulation overload for our little ones, but I didn't realize quite how overloaded they were. No, it wasn't hearing "It's a Small World" a million times over. Lucky for us, It's a Small World played Christmas songs as well as its theme music. My over-threes just needed a little extra sleep after we got home. The younger-than-threes were a whole different story.

My baby only pooped two times of the four days we were there. This is a mother's biggest worry sometimes, especially if she's ever had a child that has had a problem. I have, and I was concerned. Most doctors say it's normal for a breast-fed baby to poop once every ten days. Well, maybe that's true if mommy is an omnivore, but for me, that just isn't the case. She also didn't ever get a big block of nap time, like sleeping her usual three to four hour nap. When we got home, she slept beautifully and boy have I had my share of dirty diapers. Hooray!!!!

My two-year-old's detox was interesting. She's not normally a napper, but got plenty of rest in the stroller. Her issue was actually food.  I didn't restrict her eating. I let her decide, within bounds, what good food she wanted. Well, in four days, despite my soy milk, Trio, and Cliff bars, she got animal-product overload and threw up and had a fever for a couple days after we got home. Thank goodness it wasn't while we were there! She's now back to normal and it was refreshing to have a little less craziness for those couple days. Now, out of the pjs and back to life!

Disneyland with young kids and Vegan

It's magical and fun. As I mentioned before here, going to Disney Parks has been a new experience for me everytime. This was no exception. This time, I did it with my four kids, five and younger. It helped to have a few extra adult family members in tow. I learned a few lessons along the way. So in addition to my earlier post, here goes:

• Always book down time. Be it naps, or waiting for a parade, or having a enough seats for tired kids to nap in a stroller, be ready for down time.
• Use cranky bucks. I got this idea from the Family Fun magazine. It worked wonders. The bucks were in $5 denominations, equaling 5 minutes of cranky time. If they didn't use it, they could cash it in for real money and buy a toy. We use justice and mercy at our house. Justice took away the bucks when the kids used them, mercy kicked in on the last day. They'd been so well-behaved the whole trip I couldn't deny them forgiveness and mercy. They got to use the whole amount.
• Character Meals. I decided this is the only way to see characters. It's expensive, but so worth the money. Our most expensive meal was at Goofy's Kitchen for dinner. Yet, it was this meal we saw the most characters at one time, seven, and Chip and Dale each gave my son such great attention! They teased and teased him with hiding his pen and then his autograph book. You can't get that kind of fun at the Meet and Greets in the park! PCH Grill was the most intimate, fun, and least expensive. It reminded me a lot of O'Hana at the Polynesian Resort at WDW. Our third was Ariel's Grotto, to see the princesses. I don't know how hard it normally is to see princesses in the park, but I sure enjoyed sitting down to food and eating while they came to me. My feet thanked me too!
• Character Meals and vegan: Not a problem. Notify somebody, the server, cast members in the buffet area, just about anyone with a name tag. They will either have the chef come chat with you, or notify the chef and have him create a plate for you. These plates of food were enormous. You will not leave hungry or feel neglected. I did make sure the dietary need was on my reservation.
• Bathrooms. Take note of every bathroom marked on the map. We visited every single one. 
• Baby stations. I wish there were more of these. Sometimes it was so out of the way that I'd sit with my Hooter Hider and nurse on a bench. It was comforting to see other mothers do the same. Other times I just wore my sling and nursed the baby while in cue lines for the ride. If the baby station is close, and your child is under 48 inches, use it! I could always convince a child to use the bathroom when I told them there was a special little potty waiting.
• Ample time. We took four days to do both parks. It was enough time to hit all the rides, parades, and still get in naps or early bed times. Although I do wish we'd done more napping. We were very tired by the fourth day.
• Beware of weekends. It started to get busy on Friday night and was totally packed on Saturday. I'm used to early December crowds at Disney World and I quickly learned that the local population uses Disneyland as weekend entertainment, rather than a destination vacation as we were using it. With young kids, I will totally vote for using vacation days so we can go during the week and fight fewer crowds.
• Use the Disney transportation. The train around Disneyland was fun! And a great way to get to Toon Town. The monorail was a great ride and saved walking when we took it from Tomorrowland to Downtown Disney to get to our Character Meals in the hotels.
• Be honest and kind. Use honey, not vinegar, to get help. If you try to slide by the rules or bully a cast member you won't get nearly as much help then if you are up front and honest. I was in a sticky situation with timing and this technique saved a night from going sour.

The Pumpkin Pie

Sure, you can have Thanksgiving without the bird, there's some very good Tofurkey's out there, but you can't have Thanksgiving without the pumpkin pie! I attempted a vegan pumpkin pie last year. I scoured the internet and found a few recipes. My husband and I ate it, but our palates missed out. In fact, he ate it, but with real cream on top to tone it down. This year I pulled out my favorite recipe and veganized it. Success again! With the exception that it had too much ginger in it (he thought the same thing when I made it normal a few years back) it was good. Even my neighbor thought so when she stopped by after I'd made it. I had to get that second opinion from the non-vegan's palate too!

So here's for all you last-minute pie makers that can't let the holiday go by without that familiar taste of Thanksgiving.



This was super fun to make with my toddler. The ingredients are put together so nicely that she was able to mix them without much spillage, and so proud to help mommy out. Involve them! They're more likely to eat it if they help.

Williams-Sonoma Classic Pumpkin Pie - veganized

1 1/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 Tbs. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Less than 1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (I always just do 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg)
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
2 cups pumpkin puree
Ener-G egg replacer for 3 eggs
1 cup heavy cashew cream
1/3 cup non-dairy milk
Pre-baked and cooled deep-dish piecrust - Marie Calendars ready made is vegan and tasty
(This recipe requires deep dish, if you choose to not use deep-dish, you can divide it into two pies. Pre-baked is a MUST - trust me)

Preheat oven to 375.

In bowl, whisk together brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Add pumpkin, egg replacer, cream, and milk. Whisk to combine.

Pour filling into prebaked piecrust; bake until center is set, 60-65 minutes, covering edges of crust with foil after 30 minutes if it browns too quickly. Transfer pie to wire rack; let cool completely, at least 2 hours. before serving. Serves 10.

Yummy, sugar-free and fat-free

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 15 oz can white, great northern, or butter beans, rinsed and blended
3 cups honey
2 Tbsp ground flax seed
6 Tbsp. water
1 30 oz can pumpkin
5 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. allspice
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup nuts (optional)
3 cups chocolate chips

Mix wet ingredients. Slowly stir in dry ingredients. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.
**Update note: If 80 cookies are made with this recipe the cookies are 100 calories each.

Sugar - in all its glory

I received an email from a dietician right before Halloween. It made me think, I hope it makes you think too. I'll post a recipe I adjusted, but still kept yummy, after considering the information she sent.
--------------------------------------------------------
Back in March of 1948, the "Improvement Era" magazine published an article called: REFINED SUGAR: ITS USE AND MISUSE. Since the article is quite lengthy, I will only post some excerpts from it which are most important, and rather interesting being this was in print in 1948:


"The definition of a food is, 'That which sustains life and promotes growth.' Sugar refined to the state of being a pure chemical or drug, has been fed to rats and found to shorten life and stop growth. Therefore sugar can't be called a food. Like alcohol, sugar furnished only calories to the body.

"A drug is defined as 'any substance used as a chemical ingredient in the arts.' Pharmacists agree that sugar meets the requirements of this definition of a drug……

"Like alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, and chocolate, sugar is habit-forming. Sugar eaters crave candy or sweet drinks. Cola drinks are doubly habit-forming because they also contain caffeine, in addition to a large amount of sugar……

"…If mothers would improve their own sugar-saturated diets by eating proper nutritious foods instead, they could more easily nurse their babies and would have children less susceptible to disease, both of the infectious type, as well as of the degenerative type. It is doubtful practice to start a child on habit-forming sugar diets in its early days and weeks of life……

"The resulting malnutrition especially in children is one of the strongest arguments against refined sugar. Foods containing refined sugar taken either during or between meals, destroy the appetite for the nourishing foods, which are important to normal life and growth. Parents of malnourished children often use sweets as a reward for eating a small portion of vegetables or milk, and the scene is thus set for repetition at the next meal……

"Children are by no means the only sufferers from excessive sugar eating. The most common unkind blow to middle age is the development of chronic diseases, including arthritis and its allied rheumatic diseases. Sugar eating is a number one predisposing cause of arthritis, neuritis, and rheumatism, as well as many of the other chronic diseases& hellip;…

"From childhood to old age the chronic complaint of gas on the stomach and bowel has been widespread. One of the causes of this condition is the use of refined sugar……

"Sugar irritates the innings of the stomach and intestine…..This results in failure of the normal digestive process and delayed emptying time of the stomach. In the meantime the sugar ferments and forms gas which creates pain and other symptoms of indigestion……

"Lowering of the hydrochloric acid content of the stomach is another result of refined sugar eating…

"Sugar and fats in the diet are now not only probably higher than ever before in the history of the race of man (if they only new???), but fats, sugar, and white flour – a bad combination – are now also used widely in pastries, cake cookies, and many other modern recipes. This is thought to be a chief cause of low stomach acidity frequently confused with 'sour' stom ach and is often even by doctors themselves mistaken for too high acidity…

"Low stomach acidity, resulting at least in part from the use of refined sugar leads to a long list of other degenerative diseases that are seen especially among the middle-aged and elderly people in American where the people have been called the 'sugar gluttons of the world' (still are in 2010!!).

"Obesity is another unpleasant condition justly earned by 'sugar gluttons' (this isn't coming from me). Sugar and other refined carbohydrates lead to a waterlogging of the body tissues.…

"The growth of cancer is accelerated by refined sugar eating. Cancer in America is also on the increase right now when sugar consumption is greatly increasing……

"Colds, tonsillitis, sinus infections, and other catarrhal diseases are worse in eaters of refined sugar…

"Patients do not become allergic to refined sugar, but through sugar eating they have changes take p lace in their body biochemistry that puts them in a position in which their glands are unable to cope satisfactorily with their allergic state…

"Among the conditions included under this heading of allergy are asthma, hay fever, eczema, hives, migraine or nervous headache, and various food allergies, many of which cause stomach and bowl disorders…

"Heart disease – today's number one killer – is another condition made worse by vitamin deficiencies. Especially bad for the heart is deficiency of Vitamin B or thiamine which a person develops from excessive eating of refined sugar…

"Hardening of the arteries and high blood pressure result from the use of refined sugar in the diet. It also causes calcium deposits in the vessels……

"Sugar eating should be avoided by athletes and all those engaged in important physical activities, because of refined sugar's ability to lower physical efficiency…

"Conclusion: If one can avoid eating refined sugar, one can expect more vibrant health, and a longer life with greater freedom from some of the acute and chronic diseases and complaints which many modern doctors are unable to diagnose or to treat successfully."

Wow! They did know a thing or two over 60 years ago! Are we paying attention and doing anything about avoid refined sugar in our diets?

Think about how sugar really does and will affect you and your children, especially since the upcoming celebrations are slathered with sugared treats! You can avoid it!

Sugar Cookie - Veganized

I veganized my favorite sugar cookie recipe! Not only veganized, but improved and, if I do say so myself, awesome. So, in holiday celebration, shaping and sharing treats and the awesome "no animals harmed in my cooking" spirit, share it!

Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance or Smart Balance Lite (it's vegan too!)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 tsp. vanilla (or a little more!)
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 egg substitute - Ener-G egg replacer or flax seed (1 T. ground flax seed, 3 T. water) if you don't mind seeing the flecs of flax in your cookie
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tarter

Cream sugar, Earth Balance, and oil. Add each ingredient and mix well. Refridgerate one hour. Roll out, cut shapes, or use a cookie press. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes.

Enjoy this soft tasty cookie!

A Whole Head

Have you ever eaten a whole head of lettuce in one sitting? Do you have multiple heads of lettuce in your fridge from Bountiful Baskets that just keep stacking up? Find the right recipe and you will! I loved this recipe so much that I ate it for breakfast one morning, and found myself eating a whole head of lettuce! Beautiful ruffage!

See if you love it too!

Fruit Nut Lettuce Salad with Poppy dressing


Romaine lettuce, torn bite-sized (1st layer)
2-3 nectarines sliced (or pears or peaches)
roasted pecans (recipe below)
poppy seed dressing (recipe below)

Poppy Seed Dressing
Combine in shaker or blender:

1 c. canola oil
½ c. red wine vinegar
½ c. white sugar
1 t. salt
1 t. onion powder
1 t. poppy seeds
½ t. dry mustard

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.Spread pecans on cookie sheet and bake in oven for 10 mins. Let cool about 30 mins. Break apart. Store in airtight container.

Vegan Baby update

So how different are vegan babies? Really? Well, I think they are brought back to the "normal" weight that existed years ago. Years ago, perhaps the thirty or more, before the dairy counsel pushed money through the government and increased the public consumption 3 fold to what it used to be. Before there was an epidemic of childhood obesity and diabetes. Here's the stats:

My non-vegan babies: 90th percentile in weight and height
My vegan babies:        40th percentile on weight, 90th percentile on height

THAT's a difference!

Vegan Babies

I created this blog to answer the questions I couldn't find. How was it to be vegan and pregnant? Raising kids? Breastfeeding infants?

I read that vegan kids and non-vegan kids are essentially the same in weight and development while adult vegans are 20% lighter. Well here's my story. My baby is running in the "normal weight range", but lighter than my other kids. She was 9 oz. lighter at birth (the others weighed in at the exact same weight!) and not moving into bigger sized clothes as quickly as the others did. I love it. More mileage with clothes, more "staying little."

Doing Disney in California as a vegan

Everytime I visit Disney Parks it's a different experience. The last time I was there I was a newly married young adult. This time, a seasoned married mom with infant in arms. Oh, and I got to see what it's like to do it vegan.

Not bad! I tried to research it online and got some advice from blogs. The advice I got at Disneyland's town hall was check with the cast members at the dining location (any of them, table or quick-service) and the chef will talk with you. Sure enough! We splurged at did the Blue Bayou. The portabello mushroom dish on the menu was vegan, but they offered to make me a pasta dish if I didn't want mushrooms. No thanks, I love getting stuff I don't normally make at home! And it was yummy with the couscous.

I thought I was a bit crazy to stop at Pizza Port in Tomorrowland to ask about dining, but that's were everyone else in the party was eating, so I gave it a shot. Done in true Disney fashion, they were gracious and helpful. Salad and pasta were the winners there.

At California Adventure the Trattoria was recommended and we were lucky to dine there without a reservation. Again, vegan was easily accomodated and I didn't feel like I was missing out on any taste.

Next time with the whole fam in will be in tow. Stay tuned for doing it vegan and with 4 kids!

When Life hands you tofu...Make...

We visited our favorite chain restaurant the other day. We ordered our favorite dishes, but forgot to request they change the tofu in one of the dishes. We really dislike the cubed silken tofu most restaurants serve. Well, they forgot, and served us fried silken tofu. We sent it back and they tried again, this time it was steamed silken tofu, and they insisted on leaving it on the table while they made it right again. I was fine with that. A light bulb went off in my head. Hey! I'll take it home and put it into the blender. It will be a perfect pre-seasoned creamy sauce. Indeed, I did just that, served it with the broccoli that was with the tofu, all over rice and it was pretty good. Reminded me of creamy crockpot chicken. Next time there's a mixup, I'll just accept the peace offering and blend it!

Acorn Squash and Tamari Almonds

Last night my dinner was baked acorn squash. Easy-peasy. Cut into quarters, add coconut oil and brown sugar, bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Super yum. Wish my kids thought so...

They preferred the almonds my husband made. It's amazing what inspiration he can find in the bulk foods isle. He put them in a plastic container with some Braggs Amino Acids (tamari or soy sauce will work the same) sealed and shook the container, spread it in a cooking dish with too much salt, and roasted them at 425 for about 10 minutes. Yes, my son preferred that over sugared squash.

It's a good thing kids eat half their calories before noon. My best cooking is then. Forget dinner...

Super Why! FHE theme

Inspiration struck when I listened to Super Why! say, for the upteenth time, "when you have a problem...Look...in a book!"


During our impromptu Family Home Evening the inspiration continued to flow. I started by reminding them of this theme and then said "There is ONE book that can give us ALL our answers to our problems." I asked each of the kids if they could guess, and then hinted by pulling out the scriptures so I could search out a particular passage.

Once they guess "book of scripture" I continued the lesson with, "When we have a problem, who should we talk to? God. How? We say a prayer. When we need to hear his answer what do we do? Listen with our heart and mind, and LOOK...In a book of...SCRIPTURE!"

I am grateful for inspiration God gives us to teach our children about Him.

I'm a huge fan of homebirth

I had a successful homebirth/waterbirth. I recently had a friend mention how they are postponing children because they need insurance first. Consider a homebirth! Especially if you live fairly close to a hospital (I didn't at the time). Of course you are entilled to know what is best for you, so pray about it, God will tell you.

Consider the cost breakdown:
Paying cash for a birth (aka no insurance), in a hospital, with an OB, and perhaps an epidural: $10,000-15,000.
Paying with insurance: this varies. I've known some folks who have to contribute $5,000-8,000. Some just have co-pays with a deductible, and some have just co-pays. Others don't have to contribute anything outside of their paycheck contribution. For me, it actually cost more to do it at home than in the hospital.

Cost for a midwife: $1500-4000, depending on her experience and the going rate in your area. Here, it's typically around the $2000 mark.

A great parenting book

I've considered myself fairly successful in the parenting arena. I figure if I can go into a restaurant by myself with my kids, eat, and leave, only bothering surrounding tables with the stares and smiles of my little ones, I'm doing well. 

I am, like everybody, imperfect and have my days. At the suggestion of a friend I bought Parenting with Love and Logic. She's used the school version in her classroom. I love it! It's all about giving children choices, the younger they are, the earlier they learn consequences and the prices are small.

Case in point: My son sucks his finger. I'm trying to break him of the habit, unsuccessfully. In the name of using love and logic, he received two choices. One, continue to suck or two, break the habit for one day so he could join us for soy ice cream at a restaurant after dinner. Not two minues later he was in his room doing his favorite thing. Later that night as we started on dessert he was gently reminded. Our heartstrings were pulled as we watched him bury his head in a chair and silently lament his decision. He knew. He knew the outsome was all his making. No crying, no screaming, no tantrum. We finished our ice cream in peace. He was even happy to leave and bounced his way to the car, probably relieved to be free of the situation.

I've learned my lesson. Finger sucking is his problem, not mine. I'll still work to help him!

More parenting

I watched Real Families Real Answers on BYUtv (while I still have it!) on Thursday night. It gave me good ideas of what I'm doing right and what I need to improve on. If only parenting wasn't "trial and error." I was a perfectionist once upon a time, but in this life, nobody is perfect, so I cut myself some slack and gave myself permission to try, try again. As is sung my Angela Lansbury "It's a step in the right direction!"

Helping kids understand money

I bought a great product to help my kids understand money better. I wasn't sure if they would understand it, as young as they are, but it's a good system that keeps me organized and simple enough for them to understand it. A couple days ago I realized how much my oldest, 5, caught onto.

I was headed out for a date and the house was in a terrible state. I couldn't motivate the kids to help me so my husband came up with a brilliant thought and told them, "If you don't clean up we'll have to pay the baby sitter to clean up for you. But we're paying them with YOUR money, since it is YOUR job to clean YOUR toys."

Fifteen minutes later - toy free house.

Check out the product blog for more fabulous parenting ideas. http://www.sticktoitcharts.blogspot.com/

The Why's by Brad Wilcox

We don't normally have cable. The only reason we do now is BYU Football. Sadly, because I'm out-of-state we can't get season tickets, so we subscribe to cable for a few months. Two of my loves during this season - DVR and BYUTV.

I'm watching a rebroadcast of Brad Wilcox speaking at Women's Conference. One thing stands out that I have to remember. Explaining "the why's" to teenagers. Explaining "the why's" turns the "rules" into understanding and perspective for them.

Distilled down:
Pornography = bad
Why?
Conversation between father and teenage son about not viewing pornography, the why.
"Do you want a good sex life in your marriage one day?"
"Of course, yes!" What else is a teenage boy going to say?
"Sexual satisfaction depends on emotional closeness as well as physical closeness. If you view pornography you set yourself up for failure by training yourself to think selfishly of the physical. That will do nothing to improve your relationship with your future wife."
It made sense.

Hubby and I occasionally think of topics (frequently sexual purity) and how we'll explain it to them. We already want to explain why's and have a mental list of how. I'm adding this to the list and recording it for future use.

What do you eat?

We (vegans) all get this question. Well let me tell you. Tonights dinner took exactly 10 minutes to prep and stick in the oven.
Neat loaf and potatos. No, no side dish of vegetable, it was all in the meal.

And it was a hit. No bribes, spoon feeding, or demands necessary. The kids asked for seconds and thirds!

Neat loaf was quickly prepared by throwing the vegetables and walnuts in the food processor, then slowly adding the rest of the ingredients (tofu - yeah for Morni-nu in the cupboard!), rice (it was white, not brown tonight), breadcrumbs, seasonings. It was awesome to get it thrown together so fast!

My mashed potatos were a frozen leftover from a month ago when I boiled potatoes with garlic cloves (2 cloves for every potato) and put cauliflower in a steam basket in the same pot. Mash it all together and it was awesome! No one could detect the cauliflower...

...or the rest of the vegetables for that matter. No complaints about "green things" in my meal! AND my hubby didn't doctor it beyond a sprinkling of garlic salt. What a score!

In the Kitchen

To introduce, I'm the baker, my husband is the cook. We make a good team.

After 20  months of vegan I finally went through my cupboards and purged the cookbooks that no longer support my diet. It was amazing how many recipes I have that will cause me to grow a hip! Butter, cream, sweetened condensed milk, it's no wonder I've lost so much weight. It is absolutely amazing that once upon a time I would have defended myself fiercely against any suggestions that I ate a lot of cholesterol and now I'm utterly amazed at how much I ate!

Now I'm going through the books I couldn't get rid of and trying recipes. You know, the books made by groups, like the Relief Society at church, of all our favorite recipes. One recipe my hubby loves is chicken enchilada casserole. It's hard to veganize or replace because it is cream of chicken soup, pepper jack cheese, sour cream and of course, chicken. I never thought we'd find a replacement, until we did.

I got an eggplant in my bountiful basket and needed a recipe so I googled "Eggplant enchilada" and got a fairly simple recipe with normal pantry ingredients. It called for cheese and my husband insisted we needed to replace it, so he mashed up a can of white beans. Then he had to add cilantro, green pepper and green chile, (no measurements of course!) and suddenly it was not at all the original recipe. The result? He loved it and called it his new favorite. My parents were around and try the concoction too. Mom, not the biggest fan of my diet, requested the recipe!

Now moving on. For the baker in me, I've almost got my favorite brownie recipe perfected (the one that used to be on the Hershey container), and Erleen Tilton's Carob Cashew pie is my all time favorite dessert, especially for summer heat. In between naptimes I'm also falling in love with Babycakes recipe book.

Here's to not growing a hip!

Autoimmune diseases

I have two autoimmune diseases. One has been solved by going vegan. The other? It's a lot like Type 1 diabetes. A specialist pronounced the organ dead but I have minimized the side effects by going vegan. I often wonder if a lot of autoimmune diseases could be cured or minimized by going plant-based.

On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal featured an article on celiac disease, also an autoimmune disease. This has increased 20 fold since the 1950s. What else has doubled since the 1950s? Our dairy intake. How about processed foods? I don't know the rate of that consumption but I'll guess it's similar. Then stop to think, what foods are available on WIC? What are grocery ads full of? What foods are cheapest for the poor in our society? And then you wonder why healthcare is such an issue? I digress...

I can't imagine how frustrating it is for someone like, say, Dr. Neal Barnard who has already discussed and proven how Type 1 diabetes occurs. (Bovine milk proteins are passed into the blood stream in some children, whose bodies then make antibodies, then mistake insulin-producing cells for the milk (they are molecularly very similar), thus resulting in diabetes.) And then sit back and watch an increase of Type 1 occur in children because your recommendation hasn't been followed. I know I get terribly frustrated when I find people, loved ones, who would benefit from this and won't even give it a try.

Yet...It is so exciting when someone does come on board and expresses how great they feel! Yes! Another convert! For me, it's so very similar to sharing the Gospel. Until someone "experiments upon the word" they won't know the joy; but when they do, and they feel the joy, even if we mess up sometimes, it feels wonderful to have another brother or sister in Christ.

This week I found out I have another covert through a convert, and from church no less! One more person to share recipes and dinners with!

The Breastfeeding Vegan

Nothing can help the human milk supply than a diet rich in produce. Even as I experimented with veganism 18 months ago I quickly discovered this was the fastest way to weight loss and more-than-sufficient lactation. Now, with trial 2 I'm doing even better. As someone who normally puts back on the pounds to feed my infants, the pounds plus more have come off. I feel like the body is fine-tuning itself.

I've fugdged here and there (who wouldn't want to eat fabulous wedding cake?), but when that cheesecake is looking tempting I remind myself that carrying around an extra 20 pounds isn't worth it and the compliments I receive is much more fulfilling.

And to those wondering how it went with pregnancy all I can say is awesome. Minimal weight gain, perfect-sized   baby, no complications. I didn't even take the glucose test!

Have I mentioned Bountiful Baskets?

Bountiful Baskets has expanded it's reach and with your help it can go further.

I've been participating in this co-op to get my veggies and fruits on the cheap...and I throw away a lot fewer expired produce than when I shop at the grocery store. Thanks to it's expansion, I could even order my basket and pick it up near my vacation home, keeping my grocery budget still reasonable and ensuring I fed my enormous appetite. As a vegetarian I order a basket once a week. As my family gets older I'll probably order two. For my omnivore neighbors ordering twice a month is sufficient.

Check it out! www.bountifulbaskets.org Orders are due Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, depending on your location. This week they even have bulk pears and mangos for those who love to can and dehydrate for food storage.

More dining in Utah

Again, while on vacation, I dine out much more often than when I'm trying to stay in a budget at home. Here's the result.

Pizza Factory: If you have ANY dietary restrictions steer clear of this place. The poor waitress ran to the kitchen several times for me while I seriously told my table-mates that all I could have was water with a lemon for dinner. Ultimately the sweet waitress was determined to help and created a pasta dish. $9 for a bowl of veggies with Asian sauce. Decent, but hardly a dinner.

Olive Garden: As a national chain this restaurant does better with diets. Ultimately I had a gluten-free pasta. Lessons at Pizza Factory taught me to make sure I at least order a drink in case the meal is less than satisfactory. Thanks to our wonderful server, he set aside a salad without dressing for me and brought me un-doctored bread sticks.

The best for last...
Gingers Garden Cafe: This is in Springville peeps, (15 minutes south of BYU, next to Magleby's) but it is the best vegan dining I've come across yet. They do offer some meat options and cater beautifully to raw foodists. I ordered the portabella burger and a salad. It felt good to taste ranch dressing again and all the sprouts in my salad just made me feel great! Ah, healthy eating.

Skinny Seed

Chia seeds. Sound at all familiar? How about chia pets? Jogging your memory yet? Our family has just discovered the "skinny seed" as it's commonly known, and found it to really work. Ideally, you eat it, then it expands to 9 times it's size in your tummy, making you feel full or quite a while. Well, we tried it and here's the result.


First, I sprinkled it into our pancake batter (about 1/4 cup for a double batch of batter) and it promptly made my fairly runny whole wheat pancake batter a much thicker consistency. We all consumed a lot few pancakes too.
Next we sprinkled it into our oatmeal. No, it didn't make us feel fuller longer.

At this point we're thinking "it's a nice nutrient rich seed, but maybe it doesn't work when you're already on a vegan diet." Not so...

I kept experimenting. I added a couple tablespoons to water and let it gel up overnight, then added it to our oatmeal and smoothies. Again, it didn't make us feel any fuller BUT...It appeared that everyone was getting a good intestinal scrub.

Just as I started to give up I also went on an Oreo binge. I couldn't get enough! It was a really bad craving. The result? Well, prior to all this my pregnancy net weight gain was teetering at 13 pounds. This morning my gain has dropped to 8, with 9 plus weeks to go! I think I'll keep the seeds around!

I daresay it actually does make you skinny; it just might take a few days to get there.

Oh, and where do you get it? Well, if you're in Arizona, try Food Wise!

Fabulous Food Shopping for my Arizona vegan counterparts

I discovered a must-see store for all vegans and vegetarians that live or can easily travel to Chandler.

Food Wise is a fabulous store to get all the grains, organic freeze-dried food, and spices you could need. I'm desperately trying to wean my family off sugar and the sheer number of flavored agave nectar on the shelf was so exciting! I was like a kid in a candy store! They even have TVP chunks flavored in beef, taco, chicken, pepperoni, to name a few. They'll even give you samples of what you're thinking of buying so you know it tastes good before you buy it. If you're "green conscious" you'll love that they sell their products in containers that, when you're done with, you bring it in and simply refill, saving $3. It was obvious I am not the first vegan to shop there and hopefully not the last! Try it!

Another step in a unique direction

I'm more than midway through my pregnancy and I decided to can my OB. She came highly recommended and for the most part I was glad to use her. However, after I told her I was switching to a midwife whom she does co-care with, she flat out said, you don't keep coming to me, I won't be available if you have to be transferred to the hospital mid-labor. Well thanks Mrs. OB, with that attitude, and waiting a whole hour to see you for my 15 minute appointment which has become 5 minutes because I'm so late in picking my kids up, you're done.
*This is one thing I've learned, it's very hard to keep strong emotions in check during pregnancy. The tears, the frustrations, hurt feelings, annoying door-to-door solicitors, and it seems like the doctor really should know better.*

Therefore, it is official, I have a midwife, I'm doing a homebirth, and after reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth I couldn't be happier with my decision.

What brings a person to this conclusion? Do you tell people? One advice I was given is no, don't tell people, they expect that something will go horrifically wrong to confirm all their expectations. For the most part, it appears that the reason women switch is an unpleasant experience with their doctors or the routine of things. I personally have had pretty good experiences  with birth, my doctors, and the hospitals. The best experiences were my first two, when I gave birth at the Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH. If I lived in the East, I would travel there for this one. As it stands though, I had two nagging thoughts. First, only 10% of birth really need to be attended by a specialist, namly an OB. The other 90% can be done with midwives and in the comfort of your own home if you want. Second, the why not now? wouldn't go away. Sure the closest hospital is 25 minutes away, but I'm switching to a provider that can use the Gaskin maneuver if need be, instead of ordering an emergency C-section.

The clinchers have been wanting a waterbirth and the pampering. My hospital has allowed 1 waterbirth. It would cost me a lot of grief and petitioning to both my OB and the hospital, then an additional $200+ to rent a tub (another reason I really miss the CMC, they had jetted tubs in every room!). The pampering aspect is actually in favor of the hospital. Where else can I take 24 to 48 hours of room service and friends and family happily providing child care for me while I rest and relax? Well, that's where we hit a snag, the room service and rest. Can the hospital really provide yummy vegan food? or simply oatmeal and smoothies? Thanks, but my husband can provide that for me. As for resting, I'm the person who has to sleep in a new bed and place for 2-3 nights before I can actually get a good nights sleep, not to mention nurses coming in every few hours to do stats on me and the baby. I still have good neighbors and family willing to watch the kids so a little white noise and blackout curtains will help me at least rest well right after birth.

So it came down to my husband, "What do you think dear?" He's all for it. He has no idea what has happened to his wife, who told him when we were dating "I will never do a homebirth and homeschooling is out of the question" just so he knew where I stood before deciding to pop the question. Yet, here I am, open to homeschooling, eating a vegan diet, and super excited to make this birth a family event at home instead of appearing to be a medical potential emergency in the hospital.

Times change!

"Do you ever wish to have some of the foods you used to eat?"

My husband posed this question to me a little bit ago. I thought about it. Because pregnancy makes my memory incredibly short, I only reflected on the last week or so of instances. "Not really," was my response. Sometimes I'm at a function, like church choir practice, and someone announces a treat they brought. In this case, white chocolate fudge. My first thought is "yum! Too bad I can't have any." But to truely feel better, and show the baker some interest in her food, I'll ask how she made it. Five minutes later I have the perfect counter argument for myself. "So you put a ton of butter and sugar, in different forms, into a pot, boil, then pour it into a pan. Do you know how much cholesterol you are consuming? Talk about a sugar rush!" Now I'm cured.

In regards to my children, I still let them have a taste. They have a right to it. I'm learning to be a "Love and Logic" parent. LL parentss know that children need to make decisions for themselves, younger the better, when the cost to do so is low. They also know that when kids are out of their home and control kids have an even greater opportunity to choose consequences for their actions. Therefore, probably to the disapproval of vegan parents world-wide, I let my kids choose what they want to consume when they aren't at home with my approved options available. My daughter loved the fudge and asked for more (definitely a girl at heart). My son totally rejected it after one lick. Not even the baker was offended saying with a laugh "well, don't force that one if he doesn't want it! That's a good thing!" Whew!

Heartburn? acid reflux?

I've been asking myself if I'll get heartburn or acid reflux this pregnancy. I guess if I am still asking, that's already a good sign. In fact, I was totally 100% vegan over the holidays and 100% nausea-free as a result. Then I came home, got totally disinterested in cooking, and in a moment of weakness took the kids to Costco and got pizza. Later that night I could feel the heartburn/acid building. My first thought was the same as all the other pregnancies, "oh, It must be the sauce that causes it." Then I stopped to think, "duh, I've had tons of marinara sauce with spaghetti and haven't had one issue." Could it be the pepperoni and cheese? What meat does pepperoni come from anyway? How is it seasoned? Bet I could season tofu in the same manner...

My husband decided to do the 21-day vegan kickstart challenge nutritionmd.org is sponsoring. I have heard Dr. McDougall's name a lot and looked up his comments. Interesting. Plant-based diets soothe the stomach lining. GERD and ulcers are a result of animal products in the system in an unhealthy manner over a long period of time.

Pregnancy does all sorts of fun stuff to a body. I might get heartburn, but I'll bet if I do, it won't be nearly as bothersome as before.

What no one has mentioned about raising a vegan child

I'm the kind of mom that doesn't freak out when my kids eat cheese at Grandma's house, or ice cream at Grandpa's house, or eat the meat that is served at big family dinners, or even help Grandpa consume all the Christmas treats he brings home from the office. All of that is considered, to me and my little family, "sometimes" food. I can't do it anymore.

First my 18-month-old had about a 4 day episode. It started with throwing-up everywhere, the moved to diaharrea. Several days later my 4-year-old started the same episode. Nothing else accompanied it; no fevers, no chills, just no appetite. My husband and I decided that it must be the animal products they've consumed; much larger quantities than normal for an extended period of time. The baby has been vegan since the day I started table food and must have a much lower tolerance.

Lesson learned: I must still act in my children's behalf and put a cap on quantities they can eat, or at least remind them how sick they will get and let them choose for themselves. I hope this helps any other moms out there like me.

Eating out in the Greater Salt Lake area

Here's a note to all those interested in vegan options in the greater Salt Lake area. I only tried a few, and since some of these are nation-wide chains, my experience can help a greater audience.

First: The favs
Vertical Diner. IGNORE the restaurant guide highlighted on vegcooking.com (endorsed by PETA). It listed four  restaurants, 2 went out of business at least a year ago. That leaves Sage's Cafe and The Vertical Diner. Both are owned by the same family, so I choose to sample the slightly less expensive one, the diner. It was good. They catered to the needs of a family member with gluten intolerance just beautifully. I loved taking a break from sending servers to the kitchen on ingredient verification and just knowing that whatever I ordered was going to be 100% guaranteed vegan. My kids inhaled their version of chicken strips, and we all loved the ranch dressing for the "chicken" and carrots sticks. They even gladly accepted my request for the order "to-go" which, upon receiving my paper plate wrapped very well in plastic-wrap, I guessed they don't get very often. My all time favorite vegan restaurant is still The Green Restaurant in Tempe, AZ; this one takes a close second.

Papa Murphy's. When a family gathering called for pizza, I put in a request for a veggie, cheese-less one. Papa Murphy's filled the request wonderfully. They don't actually have an option on the menu, but get the regular crust, marinara sauce, and veggies and it's great. I verified the ingredients on the crust, not the sauce. However, any tiny amount of animal product makes my morning sickness come back and the absence of this problem confirmed the sauce is a-ok.

Cheesecake Factory. My visits here with family mark the 5th and 6th since I've gone vegan. Everytime I visit I quiz the server, sometimes asking the exact same questions. Everytime I learn which chef is willing to have patience with the server, because the attitude is quickly translated in the server's behavior, and which ones actually know the ingredients of the items. I also do it to force the server to educate himself on the menu and let the restaurant know people with these needs come in, please accomodates us. Here's a run-down
*Bread basket. This has sourdough and a type of brown bread. While the chef's differ on whether the sourdough is actually 100% vegan, the culture usually originates in milk. I find that the fermenting process eliminates enough product that I can eat all the bread I want and not get sick. The brown bread I get differing views on. Honestly, I can't figure out who's telling the truth, so the risk is yours.
*Salads. There are about three you can veganize. You can't even depend on the vinagrette dressing to be vegan. Ordering this will require trips to the kitchen to confirm.
*Pasta. There is one. Evelyn's pasta. Beware, this dish is dripping in olive oil. I was assured the pasta is egg-free, but again, it never hurts to confirm. When we order this we eat a small amount, take it home, boil up a pot full of pasta, and toss in Evelyn's. It spreads the oil out a lot better and feeds all of us for that second meal.
*Dessert. Uh, duh it's the cheesecake factory, right? Don't even bother, right? Not so. I've only had one server with enough knowledge of the menu to point out, but not force the sell, of the bowl of strawberries - for $6.50.

And...the disappointment
Mimi's Cafe. This used to be my all-time favorite, now it's just the biggest disappointment. They have nothing for lunch and dinner. They do serve breakfast all day, and there's a glimmer of hope there. Order the bowl of oatmeal, side of fruit. They have no milk substitute, so I ordered cranberry juice instead, and asked for the sugar on the side, in case the juice was sweet enough.