Be thankful and live life to the fullest!

I am still working on my Thanksgiving post, it is taking much longer than I had anticipated so until then I have a short thought for today.

Today's post I am dedicating to my brother in law Carl. Today he set out to spend some time living in Rome. Watching him leave this morning was hard, he is a dream of a brother in law, but it also got me thinking of my own life. You see, Carl is one of those people that really lives life. He is fearless when it comes to new challenges, new places, new culture and language. He loves good food, good wine, good people with a real passion many people do not have. So many of us go through life afraid of trying something new, afraid of failing or looking stupid. If I have learned anything from my brother in law it's that sometimes you don't know you are living until you do mess up. Until you see places in the world you'd only see in pictures. Until you've tasted food so good you could cry and have met people in faraway places with such warmth and zest for life it is contagious. Living in America is safe. It's comfortable, it's....easy most of the time. So today, think about your life. Are you living it? How could you make even the most mundane of tasks extraordinary. How could you try something new and not be fearful. It might be awkward and it might not even work out but hey, at least you know you enjoyed your day to the fullest!

"I came that you may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance, until it overflows"

John 10:10

The Perfect Green Christmas Gift

Does the idea of jumping into a green lifestyle give you cold feet. Why? Because most people just don’t know where to begin. To help the intimidated, but well-intentioned, consumer, Greensender, a New Jersey-based company, created a starter kit filled with eco-friendly basics: an aluminum water bottle, reusable grocery bag, energy-efficient light bulb and an organic cotton t-shirt. Properly armed, beginners can baby step toward a greener future.Better yet, buy one for yourself AND a friend and make your Christmas a little bit Greener this year.

"To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to have succeeded."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Prepare to be inspired

I'm always hoping someday I will do something physically extraordinary. Hike a big mountain, bike a long distance, learn to run. There is a small voice, more of a whisper actually, that often says "come on, try something daring". I think for many people that voice is either much louder or they are listening much harder than I am. That is certainly the case for this story I heard on NPR this evening. I was so inspired I thought would do a post on it. Too often we put too many restrictions on ourselves, come up with too many excuses. I'm too old, I'm out of shape, I have no time, I'm not good at this or that. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we silenced that voice and started listening to the one that says, come on you can do it, it will be fun, imagine the experience. If you feel this way as well you will be inspired reading the story below of Jill Homer, of Juneau, Alaska, who is training to ride her bicycle in the Iditarod Trail International — 350 miles of wintry pedaling over tough terrain. You'll also see a link to her blog where you can follow her story, I know I will be!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16314506

Jill's blog - http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it"
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Fun Vegan Bloggers Survey

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love surveys. I feel the same as the fellow blogger that I got this vegan survey from. It's not so much answering as it is reading what others answer. I got this one from fellow blogger Bazu from Where's The Revolution http://wherestherevolution.blogspot.com/. I've inserted my answers so feel free to do this survey on your blog or comment and insert a few of your own answers!

1. Favorite non-dairy milk? Pacific Hazlenut Milk. In a bowl of cereal this tastes so luxurious. Now that I’ve switched to nut milks I don’t even miss real milk

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook? I want to try my fellow blogger Bazu’s sourdough starter for thanksgiving. Also want to try a butternut squash risotto for thanksgiving and I really want to learn to can and make my own preserves/jam

3. Topping of choice for popcorn? Rosemary infused olive oil and a little salt, yummy

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure? My mother in law’s Pasta sauce. The recipe is my husbands family recipe from his grandmother in Italy. My 1 attempt turned out horrible and I had such guilt about it I have not tried it since.

5. Favorite pickled item? Definitely pickled beets

6. How do you organize your recipes? Hmmm does on my cookbook shelf in piles count as organized???

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal? We produce very little trash, we recycle or compost nearly everything and don’t use our garbage disposal much

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)? Brown rice (you could mix sweet or savory things with rice) chocolate chip cookies (in order to be happy on a deserted island I have to have cookies) tortillas (I could not go without Mexican food)

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood? Thanksgiving dinners…my mom does the best thanksgiving

10. Favorite vegan ice cream? Unfortunately I am not a huge ice cream eater….I know it’s criminal isn’t it?? I have many other weaknesses.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance? This is a toughie, I love my kitchen aid mixer, it’s so helpful and it’s yellow and cute too!

12. Spice/herb you would die without? Fresh basil and Rosemary, they make me happy just smelling them

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time? I basically started cooking when I got married, I know I know how cliché so most of my cookbooks are newer. Out of all of them I use my Alex Jamieson book w/ recipes the most

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly? Blackberry

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend? Vegan chocolate chip cookies

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh? tempeh

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)? I love cooking dinners, big 3 – 5 course dinners

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator? Bread box

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking. Frozen berries for the winter, frozen chocolate chip cookie dough (shocker right) lemoncello (from our trip to Italy)

20. What's on your grocery list? Right now it’s all about Thanksgiving

21. Favorite grocery store? Well since I live in KC right now it’s whole foods but when we move to Syracuse I’m hoping it to be the Syracuse Real Food Co Op

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet. Not a recipe but I’d like to make a good vegan Mexican feast

23. Food blog you read the most Cookin In the Cuse and Where’s The Revolution (they have both given me hope there is foodies in CNY

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate? Gummy bears

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately? Date sugar, for some reason no one in Missouri uses it so it is super expensive at the one store that sells it

26. Veganaise or Nayonaise? I’d have to go with Nayonaise, my sister even got my dad to try it

27. What is one recipe or ingredient or cooking technique that you've become familiar with in the last year that you can't imagine you ever lived without?Date Sugar, I love saying buh bye to white sugar!

28. What chef or cookbook has inspired you to be a better cook?
Bar none Mario Batali, after going to Italy he is the closest to cooking like they do as far as chefs go

29. Make up your own question to put here (and answer it!)

"If you visit the killing floor of a slaughterhouse, it will brand your soul for life"
Howard Lyman

Be Thankful For Those Cravings

It's the Holiday's again and we all know what that means. Time to start craving turkey, stuffing, pies and cookies right? Then spend the 1st half of the year correcting our indulgences.

But, what if for one Holiday season we decided to be thankful for those cravings??? Yes, that’s right, be thankful for your cravings.
Ever since I can remember I have had a love affair with chocolate chip cookies. I love all kinds, with nuts, without, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, vegan, it does not matter. A few months ago Tim and I adapted a recipe to actually be good for us and it doesn't even use sugar. Generally I am pretty aware of what I eat, when I eat it and why. Lately I've noticed I've been eating a LOT of cookies. Baking them, buying them, having one with Tim when we go out for coffee and it got me thinking “What am I doing in my life to trigger such an extreme craving, that has seem to come out of nowhere?”
Learning to listen to your body is essential. The longer you ignore your body’s messages, the more extreme the backlash. Many people view cravings as a weakness, when in reality they are important messages meant to help you maintain balance.
The past few months have been very chaotic and stressful for Tim & I. We both work full time, we are planning a huge move to the East Coast, Tim is in school, I am taking a very difficult IT class, we are trying to sell our house, etc...etc..... The more I have tuned in to what is going on in my life the more I noticed that despite a dinner here or there or watching a movie together, Tim and I have not spent real, quality time with eachother for quite some time. We used to do it all the time, daily it seemed like. We've always been the couple who spent every waking minute together and loved it but sometimes life catches up to you and you start to develop distance between eachother. This provided a huge clue for me, I was turning to my cookies for sweetness, something to make me feel happy inside, sweet inside, something to give me that boost of energy and excitement that sugar gives us. These were all the things that deep down I was missing from my Tim so in turn I turned to food without even realizing it.

The lesson here is to look for the foods, deficits and behaviors in your life that are the underlying causes of your cravings.
So I talked to Tim about it and he felt the same way! The two of us sat down and had a good talk and we decided to get back in our rhythm of hanging out. Going for coffee more often, seeing a movie, sharing dinner at home and amazing for the last few weeks I have not even thought about cookies!

We all have this innate wisdom that urges us to eat foods that will dissipate, at least temporarily, our physical tension, give us more energy or lift our moods. Food can act as a kind of medicine to regulate our current inner state.
So whenever your body is craving something, pause for a moment and wonder, “What’s really going on here?” When you find yourself impulsively reaching for some food, take a moment to slow down, breathe and reevaluate the situation and consider what your body is really asking for.

“Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.”

Marcus Cicero