You know it's Tuesday if it's spaghetti!

Wow!  It's been a while!!  Sorry about that, I've been dealing with some stuff and couldn't get on (or was too tired to when I could!!)  So I was suppose to weigh in today, but my husband disconnected the Wii to mess around with cords.  I don't know why but it always seems like men have cords to mess with.  I'm kinda bummed because I feel thinner!  I'm branching out, spreading my wings, I flew away from Tess' nest and tried some different recipes AND even improvised!!  I must be getting more comfortable now.  I made an "egg" tofu salad.  It was so good and easy.  Even my husband liked it (remember- family vegan meals).  I got to say that Tess really got me ready for this adventuring in vegan foods.  Between her pantry suggestions and explanations, and eating with a weight control conscious structure throughout the day, she gave me some kick butt tools at my disposal!!  Any recipes I've looked at, I have about 95% of the ingredients called for.  Amaranth?  Oh, yes!  No problem.  My friend Tracy and I talked about how we were both afraid to use certain ingredients.  Mine was miso and tofu.  I would look at it in the fridge and cower.  But, not anymore!  Now if I could only be that brave with tempeh, phyllo dough and nori.  More mountains to climb, but I'm enjoying the challenge.  I'm really enjoying just eating and cooking in a new way.  I think I was in a rut.  You know it must be Tuesday if it's spaghetti!!  Still feeling great.  Had huge meat craving the other day.  I wanted a hot ham and cheese sandwich.  A big one.  I had errands to run at a couple of friends houses and I could've sworn they were cooking meat at each house.  They weren't, and after seeing my wild eyed look as I asked for meat, they hid their small children from me!!  So of course I didn't cave, but that night I had a crazy dream where I was hosting a Thanksgiving potluck.  And all these random people were there, some I knew some I didn't.  I put on my plat what looked to be a huge biscuit, but browner and taller.  I was told it is an African muffin and there's ham and cheese in it.  My mind raced with thoughts:  I should put this down, I really want this and (my favorite) Well, maybe it's okay since it's Thanksgiving!  Anyway, I ate it and felt guilty.  Then I woke up and still felt guilty until I remembered I didn't really eat it.  I was fine then, no more ham & cheese cravings.  I had another suckarific (it's an industry term) restaurant experience.  This time: Bob Evans.  And now I know what Bob does "down on the farm" because it's all over their meat drenched menu!!  Wow, eating out stinks.  I'm going to have to move to the west to get any kind of vegan love, because here in the heartland (and now I know why it's called that- heart attack central!) if you don't want a side of meat with your meat with cheese on it, then you have to eat grass in the back yard.  Okay, I MAY be exaggerating that slightly, but come on...you know it's true!  I didn't (of course) realized it till I became vegan, although I always was slightly horrified when someone mentioned being vegan, because I couldn't imagine what they COULD eat.  Now I know why.  Anyway, to help combat anymore meat cravings I re-read all the medical analysis of meat based vs. veggie based diets.  That always kicks the meat cravings to the proverbial curb.  And sometimes I tell it to my husband too (who at least pretends to listen), just to cement it in there.  Well, my birthday is 2 weeks away and I've been dropping STRONG hints to my husband as to what to get me (kitchen toys!  food processor, pressure cooker, juicer...) unfortunately, he just pretends to listen (see above) and has the prize for being the worlds worst present gifter.  It's true.  One year (a very memorable Christmas) he got me a water britta filter, a microwavable egg cooker (!!!!) and a space saver drawer for between your washer and dryer.  Wow.  Nothing says love like an egg cooker!! =)  I don't really care, it's just fun to see what he comes up with.  I try to keep my expectations low and that helps.  I know I'm suppose to be exercising, but I still haven't.  I keep thinking about it though.  You know how people who change their life always starts training for marathons?  Well, I'm going to start training to participate in the Olympic sport of Curling.  Yep, I'm good at sweeping and I have a lot of cleaning to do so there you go.  When I sweep my floor I can count that as training for the Olympics and therefore it's exercise!!  Hahaha, count on me to find a loophole to get out of it!  Hey, you don't get this chubby without a bag of excuses!!  Well, I better go.  I'm getting tired.  Let's do stats:


Hunger:  manageable
Mood:  Honestly, volatile crabbiness!  Hide the kids!!
Cravings:  Just the ham and cheese day
Health:  Pretty good, except a big fat pimple on my chin....hmmmm, PMS?

Well, my goal is to add some exercise into my day (real not my curling idea), and to eat more veggies (always a challenge for me).  I usually make one of Tess' dressings and dip cold veggies in it and that gets them in.  I just have to do it more!  Good night everyone, I missed you.  Be happy =)

Danielle