Misc Ramblings – Page 39 – a hippie with a minivan

warning: do not click if hungry…

I shared this site with Annie yesterday and I couldn’t believe that she didn’t already know it…

She couldn’t believe that I hadn’t shared it with her before yesterday… so I thought I would share it with everyone…

It features food pictures from blogs…

good looking food… yummy looking food… and food that will make you drool…

you can also put it by category… (at the bottom of the page if you can reach it) I always seem to get lost somewhere between the top and the bottom of the first page… clicking on a picture that brings me to cool foodie blogs with amazing recipes and then just following links from there…

made a decision this morning…

Soon… we will have no more cable…

Though I watch a few shows…I more often use it at background noise in the evenings while on the computer.. however, the boys watch pretty much everyday… it isn’t really a struggle in general but I have to admit that since the boys interests are changing and they want to watch shows that I don’t like very much on channels with tons of commercials directed toward kids I have been feeling more uncomfortable about their watching habits…

We also have decided that we are buying a Wii for a family gift, so the money that we save in about 6 months will pay for that expense…

I do think that it will be weird not having TV, but I also think that it will be a good thing for the family… what I find scary though is realizing that it was a bit of a hard decision to make.. we are so used to having TV and having cable that even of we don’t really watch it, it has become such a habit that we keep paying for it….

So on Dec 4th we will be TV free…

Adventures with Seitan…

Since last week I have really felt really put off by meat… So last week my meal plan involved more veggie meal than meat based ones and this week they are all veggie based…

Yesterday when making my meal plan I looked over a few YouTube videos on how to make Seitan… and having Vital Wheat Gluten already in my cupboard today I decided to try it out and make some Seitan Souvlaki…

So I put about 1 1/2 cups of gluten in a bowl with nutritional yeast, a bit of flour and a few spices

Added Broth (water, tamari and spices)

Knead together and let rest…

Boil in Broth and simmer for an hour…

It doubles in size and looks… well… a little like a brain…

Took it out of the broth and patted it dry…

and then I cut it in bite size pieces and marinated it in a bit of oil, lemon juice, garlic, tamari and oregano for a few hours… and then took it out and placed it on a baking sheet…

Then Broiled it for about 10 min…

It turned out really good!!

I made some Tzatziki with some homemade yogourt that I drained a bit before mixing with drained shredded cucumber, garlic, salt and a bit of dill… and then served it on a pita…

I really liked the texture, especially after broiling, and the broiling added a bit of crunch like when you BBQ…. Simon and the kids liked it also…. So I think that I will be trying out different ways to eat it…

long but great day yesterday…

Yesterday was my great friend Gen’s baby shower… she is having boy/girl twins! She is so beautiful!

It was held at her mom’s in the afternoon…. the weather was pretty bad… grey, raining, cold… so I left a bit early from the house to have the time to go to Fabricville and then called to see if her mom minded if I got there a bit early… In the end it was a good things because I was able to help them get ready…

Gen arrived and was pretty surprised, she knew that there would be a party but she didn’t know when it would be… and I think she was also a bit overwhelmed at the amount of people that were there and the amount of gifts that they recieved… (I gave her a buckwheat nursing pillow and an amber necklace)

I got some great pics which I still have to process and then went back to her house with her after to pick up a co-op order and hang out… by the time I started heading home it was pretty late and it was raining and I was exausted… so I did everything I could to not fall a sleep at the wheel… I hate feeling like that…

Another thing that happened yesterday was that at one point my jaw got really sore and wouldn’t stop hurting… I noticed just before that I was clenching my teeth a lot and I was also eating a bit too much sugar… I am not sure what caused it but it is not going away and it is really annoying…

anyway… I cheated a bit yesterday for my post because I got home and then headed for bed pretty much straight away… I think that my body is starting to get used to the new time that I have been heading to bed at…