I think I am pretty good at scouring the internet for recipes. It's what I do. I do not eat meat, haven't for almost a year, and I have to find recipes that my meat eating family will enjoy---so I turn to the internet. I love cookbooks--LOVE them, but I also love to waste my time searching blogs for new, exciting vegan/vegetarian recipes. In my search I have found some amazing recipes, and also come up with some really really yummy meals. I also love to tweek non-vegetarian recipes and make them mine, and in doing so I have come up with some pretty good recipes myself. So it's only fitting that I start my own blog and post my own recipes and ideas for someone else to search!
My youngest child was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome right after she turned 1. It was devastating to say the least. All the dreams I had for my only daughter seemed to disappear in that doctor's office and I fell apart. I turned to comfort food at first---stuffing my face with fast food, wings and beer, mexican and margaritas, lots of potato chips in bed, etc. After a couple months of feeling horrible I did a complete change and started to read about a raw food diet. I juiced, I dehydrated, I blended. I did this for a month, maybe two. I lost tons of fast food weight, felt great, and started to deal with the depression I had from the diagnosis. Then I stopped. Maybe it was the move, maybe it was the stress from my new life, maybe it was everything, but I stopped. I didn't go back to eating all bad, but I wasn't eating good and I didn't feel good.
About a year ago I decided to stop eating meat. Nothing really prompted me to, I just decided to do it. I wanted to feel good again. On special occasions I will have fish---I seem to digest this better than any other meat. Since cutting out meat, I feel much better and I just want to feel even better. I now have a primarily vegan diet with the occasional egg and cheese--anyone who knows me knows how I feel about cheese. I just can't quit it! I'm determined not to go back this time. I will eat better and cut out all the crap that drags me down. I love to eat healthy, good for me food. I truly believe that what we put into our bodies really effects how we feel emotionally and physically. I feel happy when I eat healthy. I feel lighter and sexier when I am stuffing my face with a lentil burger than I ever did stuffing it with a cheeseburger. I have found my happy not only in my acceptance of Angelman Syndrome and my new life, but I have found my happy in feeding myself and my family really good healthy food.
Today I started off pretty good. I found a bag of blood oranges at the grocery store yesterday right next to a pineapple and thought "Pineapple blood orange mimosa!". Then I remembered that I am not Carrie from Sex in the City and I can't have brunch everyday and sit around drinking cocktails--I have children to take care of. So, I made some fresh pineapple blood orange juice today to wash down a cup of soy yogurt, a handful of almonds, and some raspberries and blueberries.
It was a really rainy day today so I wanted something spicy for lunch--I don't know why rain does that to me, but spicy is comforting to me. I made the best Mexican Bowl ever......ever. If you don't know what a bowl is, let me tell you. I love them. It is basically a grain, a green, and a protein. Throw some sauce on top and call it a meal. Today my grain was a brown rice/quinoa blend, my protein was some cooked lentils, and my green was a bunch of steamed kale. I topped this with some fresh pico di gallo I whipped up and then a wonderful green sauce made of avocado, habanero salsa, spinach, a pinch of salt, and lime juice. It was soooooo good!
Dinner was not so good. I made a brown rice, soy cheddar, spinach pie that I saw in Eating Well magazine. I think it was the cheese that made it taste a little funky. I'm going to work on it and make it again. I like the concept of it though. I did make a honey mustard dressing to go with my green salad that was so delicious. It was 1 tablespoon each of dijon mustard, white vinegar, agave nectar, 1 tsp. lemon juice or more to taste, a tiny bit of fresh garlic, and 4 tablespoons of grapeseed oil. I shook it up and it was delicious. Even my children loved it---my five year old actually ate all of his salad!
I promise all posts will not be this long---I just have so much to say!!
