"How It All Vegan"

With this elimination diet that I have been on, I've been trying tons of new recipes! I have to avoid all dairy and all meats except chicken...so I've been looking to vegan recipes for inspiration! Then I can add the meat or the eggs if I want...or not! My wonderful sister-in-law, Erin, gave me this fabulous vegan cookbook for Christmas called, How It All Vegan! (click on the "books" link) by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. I love it and here is my new favorite recipe:

Jen's Chocolate Cake (pp. 146) with Maple Butteresque Icing (pp. 150)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour


• 2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 3/4 cup margarine (I used Earth Balance)


• 3/4 cup cocoa powder


• 11/2 cups dry sweetener (sugar)


• 1/4 cup water


• 2 cups soy milk


• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In a food processor (I used my mixer), blend together the margarine, sweetener, and water. Add this to the flour mixture along with the milk and vanilla and mix together until "just mixed". Pour into a lightly oiled cake pan (I used 2, 8" cake pans) and bake for 30 minutes (mine took longer, approx. 45). When cooled ice and serve.

Maple Butteresque Icing

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup margarine (Earth Balance)


• 3 cups powdered sugar


• 6 tbsp. maple syrup


• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:

In a medium bowl (I used my food processor), thoroughly mix together the margarine and sugar. Stir in the maple syrup until consistency is light and spreadable. Stir in nuts.

I found it easier to ice after I refrigerated the icing for a little while, but no so long that icing was too stiff to spread. I also finely chopped in my food processor another 1/2 cup walnuts and sprinkled them on top of the cake once it was iced for looks (and taste!) Mmmmm!! The cake was a big hit with out dinner guests and my fam last night!!

ENJOY!!!

Life Lessons

Over the past few months I have been undergoing a series of tests and x-rays and CT scans to try and discover why I have this prolonged cough. The conclusion for now is asthma! Whew! I was worried there for a while as there was talk of chronic lung infections and yada yada...the waiting for test results has been tough and I feel a weight lifted for now.

Today I was at the gym and my trainer/friend Hillary came over to me as I was huffing and puffing away on the bike and watching the shoe "Ellen" (which is hilarious, by the way), I asked her the usual stuff about holidays and her recent absence from the gym...I questioned about a possible vacation. As I was waiting to to hear about this warm weather vacation so I could vicariously live through her "fun in the sun", I was surprised to hear her confess to me that she has been undergoing a series of serious tests...spinal MRI's, "regular" MRI's, spinal taps (yes, that is plural) and so on...to find out she has a brain tumor! It is directly in the middle of her brain, of which less than 7% of brain tumors are. She has been having serious side effects like inability to sleep, and then narcolepsy, her thyroid stopped working because of her lack of sleep...the tumor is inoperable and she just has to live with it until they can learn more. In the mean time the docs are trying to stabilize her symptoms. She was so strong in telling me all about it, answering my questions.

After hearing all about this it really put my little persistent cough into perspective. What an eye opener. She is younger than me, newly married and a new home-owner. No kids...yet...if ever now.

I am a very lucky woman.

Dating Success

Well my play date today went very well. Gretchen and her boys were wonderful company on this cloudy day and I really loved getting to know her better. She is definately an AP mom and had both her boys at the local birth center. We talked and talked, never seeming to have a quiet moment. Her eldest son and Sam played really well together and seemed to have a great time once they warmed up to each other.

I feel so much better about life today. It is amazing what one night can do to change your perspective!

I am Dating Again!

After almost 6 months in Wenatchee I find myself "dating" for friends again! No, really...finding friends, as a woman/at-home mom is just like dating. Here are the similarities:

1. When dating you are, for lack of a better phrase, "tasting flavors to find your favorite" (thanks, mom)...right? So you have a few dates (or maybe one is it's awful) and see if you like what you've found...the same when finding friends. If you don't like what you've found you don't call them back or just never call them to begin with and hope you don't bump into them at your favorite bar...with friends it's the same, except you hope not to see them at your regular grocery store or gym (for fear you might have to switch).

2. When dating you have a somewhat solid idea of what you're looking for...perhaps a list of qualities, i.e. good paying job, nice teeth, wants to have children someday. With finding friends you still have these ideal qualities, they just might be: similar job to you, nice teeth, has children that are close to yours in age. ( You get the idea.)

3. When dating and when finding friends, very rarely do you find your "perfect match" on the first date. I am having little luck here....I am dating a lot.

4. When dating there are specific places you look to meet someone, like a nice pub or the library, maybe at an art opening. Then there are places you'd rather not meet your future partner, like in jail. The same goes for finding friends. We look at the local park, the library...maybe a pub...certainly not jail.

5. Last but not least, when dating and looking for a life partner, chances are good you don't sleep with them on the first date...right? Maybe I am wrong and for those of you that did...more power to you, I was never brave enough to do that. When finding friends I'd hope we aren't sleeping with them on the first play date, but we are also not going to share our most private thoughts and stories with them either.

Whether dating or finding friends it is a winding road with bumps and turns and dark, scary sections and bright, sunny comfortable sections....I have a play date tomorrow with a new woman I met at a LLL meeting. I hope it goes well. I am in dire need of some companionship. It seems that my dark, scary section is longer these days. Just when I think I see that bright, sunny patch ahead the clouds come back. Dating sucks!

Foot in Mouth

After writing and really deciding that I'd stay clear of conferences for a while...Matt tells me today that there is another conference coming up in March in ...um...Maui!! {Place foot in mouth now!}

However, then he tells me that the abstract for the conference was due today and he did not submit one...so the point is moot...whew!

New Blog Title

After reading a few of my friends blogs and looking at blogs online I realized that the header and title of my blog really didn't fit me or my family. So after lots of thinking and deliberating...I have come up with "AT HOME". I think that these two words really describe me right now. I am going to leave the URL the same so people can still find me...but I am at home.

I read a great article while working out today in the Jan.2004 issue of "O" magazine. It was written by a woman who was a travelling author and then had a baby with her husband. It was well written and I can't find the article online...I will keep looking and post it when I find it. I read another article about a women who lost 175 pounds and it was really great too. I had underestimated that magazine. Not that I am getting a subscription or anything...but I will be more likely to pick it up at the gym!

Portland...Part 2

Portland continued...

This conference, being agricultural, was predominately male. I have never attended a conference with Matt that was this big and out of state. So, I was under the assumption that there would be more "wives" there and that I would have more interaction with adults. I did not, however and was a little disappointed about that. The first day we were there a social gathering was hosted so that the conference attendees (and spouses/families...of which we were the only family, only 2 other spouses) could socialize and have a few pre-dinner drinks and catch up. It was rather formal and all the men looking nice (a work casual) had drinks in hand, were forming little groups all over the ballroom with old AG friends and co-workers chatting. Then Matt, Sam and I arrive. All of a sudden there is this toddler running around, weaving in and out of legs and under the tables and up and down and up and down the escalators....it was all I could do to keep up with him and keep him happy. (This is after doing this all day in the city in the rain.) Matt offered to get me a drink and then take Sam so I could chat a little with the few folks I knew. As he was winding his way through the crowd to the bar, I lost him and found myself lodged in the middle of three men. One of them men, very tall, said loudly to me, "Who are you?, Why are you here?" I politely said I was Matt's wife and Sam and I were along for the fun in the city. He continued to go on about how he knew Matt and how he thought Matt's glasses looked very dorky! Then he told me how attractive he thought I was and wondered if I was trying to sell Sam so I could be alone!! I was appalled and nervous and angry and lost. I didn't quite know how to respond, but managed something polite and then quickly wiggled myself away from him. UGH! I always attract the crazies! So, later, drink in hand, I was able to chat with the few folks I knew and it ended up being a nice event. However, after that I stayed clear of the conference "activities"!

Thus, I spent the remainder of the trip with just Sam and occasionally Matt. I enjoyed my time there, but it was a lot of work!! More work than being at home with Sam!! I never though I'd say it, but I am not sure I will go with Matt to another conference until the kid(s) are older! A toddler in the city is trouble waiting to happen! When we'd walk on the sidewalk Sam wanted to walk on his own without holding my hand. Which was fine, but I had to be so extremely attentive as he has NO street smarts (after all he is only 20 months). Then if I tried to hold his hand he'd make a big stink, so being in the stroller was better for me, except then Sam didn't like it. The buses require you to hold the kids on your lap and they can't be in a stroller...that was something Sam didn't like. PLUS, the buses were so crowded that the stroller seemed to take up so much space and just be in the way. Not to mention the rain again....

I don't want to sound like I am complaining...I shouldn't be, but it was much, much harder and more lonely that I though it was going to be.