peppermint piggies

hey!!! how is everybody??? i miss being on here. our internet connection is so bad it was just getting ridiculous. add that to the fact that new things skerr me, like how you have to have a google account to leave comments now etc...i was just not doing to well on the computer front.

i made these today and i wanted to let you all know how good and EASY they are to make! i got the recipe from here but doubled it. good thing my parents are coming over or i would be pickled with mint-y-ness:) im not sure if she rolled out her sugar dough...i did and then used cookie cut outs. froze them and then dipped them in chocly..i mean chocolate..i forget to write like a grownup sometimes. i did a few with carob for myself. im not allowed to have chocly....it makes me cray cray...which is a cuter way of saying crazy.

                                                        

                                                              

this is one that i didnt fully dip, i wanted you to see the inside. stomper says that they taste EXACTLY like york PP. he WOULD NOT say that if it werent true, he is brutally honest about stuff like that.then i called my vegfriend and she came over nd had some also, she had good reviews also. i think york PP should redo their recipe.

dont be mad at me for not being around...i love you all so much:(

pictures of the summer

HIII!! so.....whats been going on?? (as she tries to pretend like she hasnt been a horribly absent friend) this has been a busy summer, i have gotten more done these past few months than the past three years put together i think. just getting my house put to rights and then keeping up with everything. i am not an orderly person so it takes a lot of practice for me to get into good housekeeping habits. i LIKE doing stuff around the house, i just needed to get used to the fact that housekeeping isnt something you do only once...lol. 

here are some pictures from this summer:)

 

this pic was after it sun stormed. do you see the double rainbow? i know the poles are in the way, everyone here has em' this close to their homes.

i went to California this summer!! it was the first week of September so i pretended that the whole trip was specifically designed to cater to my birthday...which wasnt until the middle of September...

this pic is from mimis cafe, DO NOT order their version of vegetable side dishes..8 pieces of broccoli and a few carrots is pathetic....and that was a double order...BUT look at this picture (of a picture:) closely...this weirdo is stuffing a giant duck(ok its really a live swan) into a car!!!

uh huh, uh huh...not seeing any resemblance...

this is monster:) i found her running around San Diego seven years ago covered in fleas,with a bad haircut....which is the worst travesty you can inflict on a dog that thinks shes a purebred...something....anyway my parents are in love with her now:)

this is in my parents back yard...practically a vineyard!!

then we went to my grandmas house...

i made(all vegan) gluten free cranberry muffins, reg blackberry muffins, GF brownies, two GF apple crisp pies, two layer vanilla cake...and...i think thats it? oh and some dark chocolate mint bark for my grandma. she is  GF so i made lots of things that she could freeze. that vanilla cake looks a mess but omgosh was it good! the best part was that everyone ate all of my stuff and nobody was worried about it being vegan! i did have a vegan police moment that im not to proud of...i was about to cut the cake (after i insisted everyone sing happy birthday to me) and my aunt was all " ill go see if we have ice cream" and im all...."no! no! its all vegan it'll ruin my all vegan birthday desserts!! " so.. you know i was trying to make a joke out of it...but i was serious. no ice cream for you!

after!!!

then the next day we went to this Mexican restaraunt that had a special VEGAN section!! it was really neat!my Uncle had been there before and saw that section on the menu and so he brought us all there. my food was one of the best looking plates the waiter brought out!! the fajita skillet is kinda blending in to the background in this pic.

this is also in my parents back yard. a fig tree!!! the thing is HUGE. it used to be to my hip, it grows like a monster. everyday i got to go out to their yard and pick my breakfast. two kinds of grapes, figs, and apples!

little wiggles, you think she is being sweet but she is just hoping for some food...

a very worried wet wiggles:)

did i already post this pic?

i always know when im back in AZ

oh and we got a scooty!!! we have driven over 700 miles already on it, and its only been  a bit over a month! stomper surprised me one day asking if i wanted to go to the next town over and get a scooter....my makeup was tragic that day i was in such a rush,hahaha.(hes changing the oil with ginger pup helping:))

whew, thats a mish mash of pictures!! hope everyone had a great summer!! i love the fall!!

there is a down side to clean food?

i was so happy to read this article. it cleared up all confusion about vitamin B12. i will never be able to articulate what this doctor so elegantly wrote, but i am better prepared for any questions i get on my vegan diet.

 vit b12 is made from bacteria and we used to get enough just by eating foods that came from the earth. now, with everything so sterile (not complaining:)) we dont get the trace amounts that we used too. i just read this article on choosing raw it was really good!   i hope he will do more Q&A about other vitamins that vegans often have questions about!

stomper had the audacity to ask if i was serious.

hand crochet duck bikini

hey maybe she can make me a matching one!!!

been awhile....

i got so out of blogging. first my parents came and then i helped out my friend who is a pet sitter. i was busy pet sitting from before nine to after nine on some days. ginger didnt get dragged for her walks all week, and i drove the equivalent of  CA and back...at least!!lol.but its all mostly is back to normal now. also, when all that trouble with blogger was going on, it was really getting on my nerves. youd write a whole comment and not be able to post it, is all that fixed yet????

lately i have been trying to really reduce the amount of "stuff" that i have. its crazy what commercials and ads will make you think you need!! i fell head first into all of it, im the worst at thinking i need something that i dont. i have gotten rid of bout 1/3 of my clothes so far. do you ever buy stuff and not wear it/use it because you want to save it for a special occasion? i mean, i dont want to be using nice stuff while im cleaning up after animals you know? but having something go out of style in the back of my closet...with the tags still on...is going a bit far!

Lillians foot got hurt earlier this week, so she probably wont be going to the lake to watch fireworks and swim like she did last year. its back into a bucket for her. at least for the time being:)

 any plans for the fourth?

how have you all been? i have a lot to catch up on in your lives and i miss you.

 im sorry i left so abruptly. ive also been working on some personal issue type things.trying to kick some OCD habits that have been plaguing me for way to long. hows that going you ask? ocds getting a beating.

ten years vegan!!

and i almost missed it! you know how i told you awhile back 'bout how i took spanish 1 twice..and failed twice...weeeeell..i thought "cinco" was six until i used my fingers to count....so...

happy cinco de mayo:)

im so excited that today marks ten years of not purposefully contributing to the cruelty of the meaty,dairy,bee,silk,leather,and wool industry!!

what id like to do is write a few of things that i have done on accident or without thinking it through. because ten years might seem daunting to some new vegans. and it shouldnt because we all make mistakes and i have made QUITE a few really really REALLY dumb ones!!

(at this point i was a four year vegan) a few years ago i was at a ladies house to get a bunny(hers had babies) and outside she had free range chickens and i saw some eggs dotting the nest boxes. since i am against the way that factory farms force chickens to lay eggs in such horrible conditions, this to me was an ideal situation. we took a few home.  i thought that all "free range" eggs came from places like that. i was wrong.  after buying a couple (maybe three) cartons of eggs later, it still felt wrong somehow. and it was.buying free range eggs is still supporting the meat and egg industry. how? only females can lay eggs. only 50% of chickens that are born are female. the boy chicks are disposed of. needless to say i felt sick, and have regretted that ever since.

another instance, was buying shirts or clothing that were made of silk.i have dont this only once that i know of but still felt pretty bad. i mean if something is on clearance you wouldnt think it was made of silk darn it!

for nine years i have eaten white sugar. some vegans say that this is not a vegan food. some think thats going to far. i always felt guilty eating sugar but i did. i thought that taking sugar out of my diet would be just to much. id be even "weirder" now i dont care.(if people think its weird:))

ive eaten cookies that i thought were vegan, only to be mindlessly reading the label and shocked to find that they changed the recipe:) cookie crumbs spewed everywhere:)

another thing that i feel strongly about. not being grossed out by meat or dairy(stay with me for this one). i no longer freak out if i have to to touch(in a package) meaty things (i help bag at the grocery store) i have a different attitude now. i want to treat that animal body with respect. it isnt its fault that its dead. and to treat it like its icky/gross/disgusting? no thats wrong also.you know what i mean? like i shouldnt be like. flicking it away or have a sour look on my face. its sad, not gross.

thats just MY opinion:) but for some reason i think im gonna get some bad backlash...give it ta me, ill find out where you live.

anyway, ten years is a long time so im going to go celebrate! love to hear if anybody else has made ny mistakes...im figuring you cant top my egg one....

whos been typing on my computer with sticky watermelon fingers??

oh thats me...


i just got this from Maud at food fued i always enjoy hearing about what other people eat and i dont share to much about what i eat on here:) so here goes!

1. What is the most extravagant food item you've purchased of late? just tonight i bought agave syrup and miso, both pretty expensive. i love miso since it is such a strong flavor and low in calories. agave because its...well..really good:) tonight i made a salad dressing out of miso (1ts), some cashew butter(1 ts) i had made in my blender, agave (1 ts), some rice vin (maybe 2 tbs) grainy mustard(about 1 or 2 tbs and some nutritional yeast(1/4 cup?) and some water to make it the consistency you like. it was enough for about 3 big salads. normally i use stevia instead of agave, but tonight i tried something new:)  actually i normally dont use cashew butter either....ok i think im dont answering this question....lol




2. What was your favorite meal growing up?
i loved when we would make our own huge salads from the "salad bar" my mom would make or the "taco bar" my mom would set up:)



3. What food item do you most wish you could expertly make every time? corn bread, im getting close to what the jiffy kind tastes like. but i want it exactly so i can make it for stomper so he will stop buying eggs and milk and jiffy, for just one meal!!(he is pretty picky..so its a harder than just making vegan cornbread.



4. Do you have a favorite dish you've ordered at a restaurant? Which restaurant? i like broccoli...in any type of (vegan)sauce:)



5. What do you eat that makes you feel healthiest? huh...its more like what i dont eat. i dont feel good if i eat to much heavy/junk foods. taking it easy on white flour products is what makes me feel the best. once you kick the "white food" habit its really easy(er pretty easy) to stay away.



6. What was the first cookbook you obtained? "i cant believe its tofu" when i first moved to back to CA i hung out with one of my brothers old friends (the funniest guy in the world!!) and he had lots of vegan friends and he took me shopping and showed me that tons of store brand cookies were actually vegan!!!!(if you eat white sugar) and when we went back to his parents house his mom gave me a copy of a book she had bought for when some of his vegan friends came over:) and thats how i got my tofu book:)



7. What is the oddest meal you've ever cobbled together? well, i add everything to my salads, so probably every single meal i eat is odd...i do remember when i was a baby vegan i ordered three different types of potato at dennys..without realizing it until i got the plate...it was a sea of brown...



8. Best sandwich concoction? EDS DELI!!!!!!!shredded lettuce,quac,tomato,onion,oregano,olives.... piggy likes it too...grrr i cant find the post but she got my sandwich off the couch and it looked like a lettuce patch exploded! it was awful seeing my beautiful eds deli being abused like that!!



9. Quick! What is the last food you just ate? salad:) with a piece of enchilada bake on top:)



10. Describe your usual breakfast scenario. What, when, where, why...ok i get up, drink a glass of water, try to wait a few min before i start on something else...dont make it and eat fruit. ill eat in the kitchen or in stompers office watching tv. or ill make a smoothie and drink that while snuggling a piggy and watching tv.piggy, as soon as she is done looking around the house for missed food...is ready to take a snuggle nap.



11. What, if anything, would you like to change about your diet? id like to stop eating so much at night. thats my biggest problem!!
 
 

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