Keep On Keepin' On

Heeeeeey!  So the weekend was okay.  Mentioned in my last post that there were some recipes I wanted to try.  Dang, this herbivore stuff is pretty good with the right tools.  My favorite being my Happy Herbivore cookbooks.  I never thought I could be someone who could live without cheese and it's been almost three weeks now!!!  Say whaaat???  Here's a couple things I tried and they definitely did not disappoint!!  First up, Easy Mac & Cheese, or should I say "Cheese".  While this doesn't taste like cheese, it has all the important qualities of macaroni & cheese that are important.  Kind of salty, creamy, a little bit rich, and mixed with noodles, you can't go wrong.  I loved it and I actually made just the sauce tonight and put it on steamed broccoli.  With recipes like these, I can totally go without dairy cheese.  This recipe was from the Happy Herbivore cookbook which you can buy here.  I don't know what the rules are about posting actual recipes so I'm just not going to do it, unless she has the recipe on her website (she does have a lot) and in that case, I will link to it.  Also, if you are thinking about adding more veggie dishes and decreasing meat and dairy in your life, I highly recommend these books.  Previously, I found vegan/vegetarian recipes complicated with weird ingredients and just plain difficult.  These are simple simple simple.  I can't stress that enough.  Trust me when I say that if it wasn't, I am the first one who wouldn't be doing it.

I also tried the Cinnamon Bun Smoothie.  While it was really tasty, it didn't really taste like a cinnamon bun.  It tasted like banana and cinnamon. I'd make it again but would like to try it with less banana to really increase the cinnamon flavor and make the banana less strong. The next thing I tried was the Lasagna Rolls.  AMAZING!!  I actually fed these to my brother-in-law and he said "hey I guess you started eating cheese again eh?"  Umm, nope, you just INHALED tofu.  :)  He was so surprised, he had no idea it wasn't ricotta.  One thing about the recipe online and the recipe in the book is that the book instructs you to wrap the tofu block in a clean tea towel and put between two cutting boards and put a can of something on top to press out extra moisture for about 20 minutes.  After this it crumbled up perfectly and looking just like ricotta with seasonings.  See below! 8 oz of the lasagna noodles came out to 10 noodles but I really could have probably gone with 12 because I had enough stuffing leftover.  It's in the fridge and I plan to use it for a personal pizza tomorrow night.  

I will likely pick out a few more things to make this weekend too.  So happy that everything I've tried so far is a big winner.  Excited to make another batch of Lasagna Rolls to freeze for lunches too.  

On Saturday night, my sister from White Rock, BC messaged me and said she was about to start watching The Vow.  I hadn't seen it yet and it was on video on demand so I ordered it and we started it at the same time and text messaged our way through it.  Haha!  Hilarious and we will definitely be doing that again.  Good movie - better than I expected from what I'd heard from a few people.  Here's a little of how the movie night went . . . 

On Sunday afternoon, I went to the zoo with my sister, her husband, and the cutest baby in the world.  I came home with intense heat stroke, three pictures of animals, and 50 pictures of the cutest baby in the world.  Seriously, the heat stroke knocked me on my ass for about four hours.  My head pounding, my face pale, I was comatose.  I was supposed to be studying up some policies etc for a job interview I had on Monday but I couldn't open my eyes and read so I crammed Monday morning.  The only thing that looks like it might hold me back from the new job is seniority.  A few others applied that have more than me and unless my experience and qualifications blow them out of the water, that job won't be mine.  Fingers crossed!!!

And I will leave you with pictures of this Cutiepie Monkey in her natural habitat.

(source)

Oh wait!  I'm not done yet!  Survivor!!  Yes!!!  Although the season started off crappy and Colton was horrid, Kim played a wicked game and totally deserved to win.  What's crazy is that she managed to win and not have anyone actually hate her and she won the extra 100 grand awarded by viewers.  Now THAT is a flawless game.

When did it become necessary to bring something ridiculous in order to be memorable???  Glass slippers, bobbleheads, ostrich egg, dressed up as a Grandma, arriving in a helicopter???  Hey I know, just show up and be funny, smart, and cute!!  From now on I'm calling the mansion where the dudes stay "the toolbox", I think you know why.