Every Dog Can... Right?

Tonight marks Jack Bauer's second obedience class. The school he's attending is called Every Dog Can. His first class was last Tuesday and it went really well! He's learning tons and hopefully at the conclusion of the course he'll be a little gentleman. :-) Jack was actually enrolled at a different obedience school until I learned more about their techniques. Every Dog Can is all about positive reinforcement, no harsh training techniques, no pinch or choke collars--which is exactly what we wanted for JB. The class is small, only 5 other dogs, and the instructor is fantastic. Wish us luck tonight!

P.S. Direct from my dear husband's twitter account a few minutes ago: "Looking forward to Jack showcasing his incredible mediocrity in training tonight."

How rude!! Smartass.

Eggplant and Pine Nut Rolled Lasagna

I had to share this awesome recipe with you guys. I came across a fantastic vegan blog: http://veganyumyum.com/

The recipes and pictures there are amazing! This is my second time making the eggplant and pine nut lasagna roll-ups and I'm hooked! Here are some pictures I took this evening when I made it for dinner.

The recipe:

Eggplant and Pine Nut Rolled Lasagna
Serves 4

8 Lasagna Noodles
1 Eggplant
Olive Oil
Salt
Black Pepper
2+ Cups Marinara Sauce (your favorite)
Vegan Mozzarella cheese (or your favorite dairy mozzarella)

Pine Nut Spread
1 Cup Pine Nuts
1 Tbs Water
1/2 tsp White Wine Vinegar, or lemon juice
1 tsp Dried Italian Herbs
1/4 - 1/2 tsp Salt

Slice off both ends of the eggplant and peel.







Begin slicing the eggplant vertically, then slice those in half. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.





Boil water for the lasagna noodles.



In a large skillet, begin browning the eggplant strips in olive oil. When strips are very tender and nicely browned on both sides, set aside.





Add lasagna to the boiling water.



Measure out one cup of pine nuts.



Add them to the same pan you used for the eggplant. Toast them over medium-low heat until golden brown, careful not to burn them.



Drain the noodles and set aside. I lay mine out on wax paper.





Add the pine nuts to a food processor. Grind the nuts then add the remaining ingredients for the pine nut spread. Process until well combined.







Spread over the noodles.



Place eggplant in the middle and roll.



Place seam side down in a baking dish.



This is the cheese we like:



Cover with the marinara sauce and the cheese.



Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Serve!

Why Vegan

This question was posted in my comments and I thought the easiest way to address it was to blog about it. (and it gave me a great excuse to write another blog!) :)

"What made you go Vegan? I'm really curious. I don't do red meat and I could give up chicken/pork/etc. very easily. I'm sort of intrigued."

I guess I should preface this by saying that technically my diet could be referred to as pescetarian. Meaning that I consume fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, and beans. I started by cutting out dairy. I've always been a little bit lactose intolerant. I went off and instantly felt so much better! I started to do some reading about the dairy industry and it made me sick. I can safely say that I'll never consume dairy again. There are great substitutes out there even if you're not a fan of soy. I don't feel deprived in any way.

As I was researching the dairy industry I started reading about factory farms and what really happens to the animals. It's so incredibly sad. The mistreatment, the abuse- it's just wrong. It's so easy to just not think about where our food comes from, it's what I'd been doing my whole life! When I really just thought about it, I couldn't reconcile my deep love for animals with my meat eating ways. Not to be overly dramatic, but the stuff I read & watched devastated me.

PETA (and many other pro-vegan, pro-vegetarian sites) has a ton of literature & video on their site that discuss factory farms and the appalling treatment of the animals. I wish people would just read a little bit, watch a video or two- see if it changes the way you think. For me it did. Everything kind of clicked and just made sense to me. From that day forward I haven't had any animal product (except fish & honey). My husband saw how great I was feeling and wanted to give it a try. We both feel better than we have in years. :)

I'm still fairly new to this. And eventually I'd like to eliminate fish from my diet. Now, I do feel like a hypocrite, because I just haven't been able to give up fish. And I still carry leather bags and wear leather shoes. But baby steps, right? I don't judge anyone's diet, people have to eat what works for them. But for me this is the best choice.

Grocery Shopping Hell

I mentioned this a few posts back, but Mike and I have been following a mostly vegan diet for a while now. I say mostly vegan because we just haven't been able to axe fish from our diet. I cannot give up sushi! I also can't stop buying expensive leather purses, but that's another blog. :-) The vegan diet is going really well for us. I've been eating this way for about 5 or 6 months and Mike is well into his 2nd month. I went into this thinking I'd just give it a try... but now I don't think I'll ever go back to my former dairy & meat eating ways. This is all fine and dandy until I have to go grocery shopping. What a nightmare!!!

We live in northwest Arkansas. 10 minutes away from 4 different Walmart stores, 15 minutes away from a Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, a giant mall... and 2 hours away from a Whole Foods. :-( FML

I've been making due by shopping at this tiny (and I mean tiny) natural food store about 10 minutes away. It looks bigger than it is because it shares it's space with a medical supply business. Weird.


This place has about 5 aisles of food. Everything is so expensive because they have no competition. It sucks. Today I drove a little further- to Fayetteville. I figure a college town must have some vegetarians/vegans, right? Well, sorta. I shopped at the one natural food store there and it was okay.

Prices a little better, selection a little better but still not great.

So the point to all of this is that I'm seriously considering making a monthly trip to Tulsa solely to shop at Whole Foods.


How insane is that?? Yeah, pretty insane. We stopped at Whole Foods a few weeks ago when we were wrapping up our Tulsa trip. I was in heaven! Not only do they have tons of vegan cheese, vegan yogurts, mock meats, etc They have vegan baked goods!!! omfg, the vegan chocolate cake was divine. So I'm thinking I could make the drive in once a month, bring a big cooler and buy enough of those staples to last us the month. I can still go to the farmer's market every Saturday for produce and to WM for the other stuff. Or Whole Foods could just open up a store here. C'mon Whole Foods, do it!!

Grown-up Furniture

We spent some of our weekend purchasing new desks for our home office. :)

Mike's old hideous desk:

glass, metal and totally not my style.

a pic from when we were moving in last year- please overlook the moving boxes and clutter:


and the new desks:


I love the change! The room looks so much bigger and put together. :) My next project for this room will be finding 2 new bookshelves and some cute desk accessories.

Pics of some actors- I think you'll know at least one!

So another round of pics from the Trek Expo- these are some of the celebs that were in attendance. Unless you are a hardcore sci-fi fan, most of these people will be random D-listers to you. :-)

Rousseau!! Yep, it's the French woman from LOST!

Spock aka Leonard Nimoy:


Marina Sirtis aka Counselor Troi


Tony Todd aka the Candyman (those movies terrified me as a child!)

Denise Crosby aka Tasha Yar:


Avery Brooks & Cirroc Lofton:


Mike & I (we're definitely D-listers) LOL

Robert Pattinson (I wish!)

Trekkies... in costume!!

We had quite a whirlwind of activity the past few days- we left for Denver on Wednesday night and by Friday we were in Tulsa. The Denver trip was last minute and unexpected. Mike's grandmother passed away. :( She was an amazing lady and we loved her dearly. I have a separate post planned that will be dedicated to her. Our Tulsa trip has been in the works for a while- Trek Expo!! Yes, we go to a Star Trek convention. I have to admit the first year he had to drag me kicking and screaming, now I keep track of the date and the guests they add all year long- I'm hooked!! My husband has definitely allowed me to embrace my inner geek and I love it.

One of the best parts of the con are all the costumes! Here are some from this weekend:

Princess Leia in the slave costume and a jedi:

President Laura Rosslin & Kara Thrace aka Starbuck from BSG

a jedi, Darth Vader, and a stormtrooper

"Q" from Star Trek

one of the many Captain Kirk's


Borgs and a stormtrooper


some trekkies and a tribble!


the ghost buster car


and the ghost buster dude!


2 of my favorites- vulcan Star Trek girls


a green chick


adorable mini trekkie


Mike being attacked by a stormtrooper and protected by 2 jedi's


and to prove we were not in costume:



I have pictures of the celebs that attended (Leonard Nimoy!!!) and I'll post them later this week!

Unimportant Things That Make Me Happy

I saw this on Jackie's blog and had to participate!

Here are the rules:
1) List Six Unimportant Things That Make You Happy.
2) Mention and link to the person who tagged you
3) Tag six of your favorite bloggers to play along, and comment on their blog to let them know they've been tagged. (Yeah I'm not doing this! If you want to participate, go for it!)

1. Changing purses/wallets. Super weird, I know! I just got a new wallet- and I just enjoy moving the stuff from one bag to another or moving my cards/ receipts, etc to a new wallet. Haha!

2. Packing. Whether it's for a week long vaca or just an overnight trip, I love it.

3. Vacuuming. I love the lines it leaves on the carpet, how clean it makes the house smell and look. Lame!

4. Getting snuggles from Jack Bauer. He is such a little lover and even though he's a giant, love when he climbs up on the couch and loves on me.

5. Decorating for holidays. Doesn't matter if it's for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas-- even the 4th of July. I love it.

6. Planting flowers. I just started doing this a few months ago and I'm addicted.