Our Christmas Mantel

I've started decorating for Christmas- I'll start with the mantel:

I'll post our tree tomorrow!

family and food and fun

We had a fabulous weekend of family, food, board game playing, shopping and just hanging out. My pictures are spread between 2 different sd cards, so they're a bit out of order. These are from our Saturday trek to Branson for some shopping & eating.

I realize this is picture overload of Mike & I, but two things: 1. It's my blog and I'll post what I want to! haha and 2. for every semi-normal picture I get Mike to take, there are a dozen awful pictures where he poses as a zombie. Annoying.

Thanksgiving Desserts--- Vegan-ized.

The countdown is on for Thanksgiving and I'm so excited! Mike and I alternate holidays with our families and this year is a Bull (aka my family) year. We'll spend Christmas with Mike's family (ummm on a freaking fabulous Caribbean cruise, but that's for another post!!). Normally for Thanksgiving I make a huge turkey, and all the typical dishes.. but since this is our first Thanksgiving as vegans, the menu is being modified a bit!

My parents are bringing a few seafood dishes, since they're still meat eaters and it will travel better than a bird. I'll be making some side dishes, and most importantly desserts! I have cheated a bit and ordered a vegan organic carrot cake from our favorite local co-op store, but I'll actually be making the other desserts. I thought I'd share the recipes:

The Best Vegan Pumpkin Pie Ever

SERVES 8

INGREDIENTS
1 can (16 ounces) pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice, optional
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
2-3 tablespoons cornstarch to firm up the pie filling
1 package (10-12 ounces) silken/soft tofu
1 9-in unbaked vegan pie shell

STEPS
Preheat oven to 425 F. 
Blend the pumpkin and sugar.
Add salt, spices, cornstarch and tofu, mix thoroughly. 
Pour mixture into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350 F and bake for another 60 minutes. 
Chill and serve. 
NOTE: Don't use the low fat tofu, then the pie tastes like it was made with tofu.
We'll be topping it with some non-dairy whipped cream. YUM!


Pumpkin Cheesecake with Candied Cranberries

Candied Cranberries

INGREDIENTS
2 Cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained

2 Cups sugar substitute (either maple syrup or agave nectar, whichever you prefer)

STEPS 
Prick each cranberry several times with straight pin.

Bring sugar substitute and water to boil over medium heat.

Cook until sugar reaches 230 F on candy thermometer.

Add cranberries, and cook ten minutes or until syrup gels a bit.

Remove berries with slotted spoon and lay out on plate.
Save in refrigerator for adding to top of cheesecake later.



Crust 

INGREDIENTS
Pre-made organic vegan graham-cracker crust (for ease)
or, if you prefer to make your own
10 sheets vegan graham crackers

1/4 tsp salt

2 oz Earth Balance butter

STEPS (if you aren't using premade)

Process crackers and salt into fine crumbs in food processor.
Add Earth Balance and pulse to combine.

Press mixture into bottom and half way up sides of 9 inch spring form pan.



Cheesecake Filling

INGREDIENTS 
12 oz. silken tofu

8 oz. vegan cream cheese

3/4 can Whole Foods Organic Pumpkin Pie Filling

1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon



STEPS
Puree all ingredients in food processor until very smooth, about 3-5 minutes.

Pour into crust and bake at 350 F for 50 minutes.

Chill completely in refrigerator at least 3 hours, up to overnight.

Garnish with candied cranberries, slice and serve.


I can't wait to make both of these! A big thanks to The Kind Life for being such an amazing online community and resource for vegans- both recipes and pictures from the site.

Ornament Exchange

I participated in an ornament exchange recently-- see the button on my sidebar------>

These arrived on Saturday, I love them!

A big thanks to Joelle- I wish you had a blog so I could thank you there!

Remember when I said I already wanted to see it again??

I am!! :-) Tomorrow at 1pm. It will just be me, a diet coke, some dark chocolate and Edward (plus, you know a theater full of insanely excited Twilight lovers).  I actually love going to the movies by myself. Mike was such a good sport to go to the midnight showing with me, but I want to see it by myself too- so I can sigh a little too loudly when Edward appears on the screen, and I can tear up when Bella is being tormented by the bad dreams! haha- there are some things Mike doesn't need to see. :-)

And since no post is complete without a picture--

 and I promise to return with a non-Twilight post asap!

I already want to see it again.

Okay so last year I reviewed Twilight here and I was completely honest that I am way biased. They could probably just air random footage of Rob & Kristin staring longingly at each other and I'd give it two thumbs up. Having said that, I think New Moon was actually fantastic!! I think every aspect of the movie improved since Twilight- the acting, the makeup, the special effects- everything. I thought I would miss Edward throughout the movie because I am pretty hardcore Team Edward (haha, lame!!) but I was completely enthralled with Jacob & Bella. I even found myself feeling badly for the smelly dog. haha!! I honestly didn't expect much-- New Moon wasn't my favorite out of the four books, but I was pleasantly surprised.

There were two scenes in particular that took my breath away- I won't give away too many details because I don't want to post any spoilers, but near the beginning of the movie they manage to capture a part of the book so perfectly that I instantly teared up. Fantastic. The final scene was the other one that was so perfect to me. LOVED IT!!!

New Moon!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it's finally here-- I'll be sitting in a packed theater at midnight tonight watching New Moon!!

(Bless my dear husband for agreeing to go with me)

A Sneak Peek!

I've been working on these new dining room curtains for a few days- the goal is to have them finished in time for Thanksgiving! As you can see, I only have the middle window left to finish!

Please ignore the sewing supplies all over the table. :-) These are semi-functional (haha, I'm not skilled enough for completely functional!) faux roman shades. I even lined them with muslin! I'll be so happy to get rid of those awful paper shades. I'm such an amateur seamstress, but these were simple and kinda fun to work on. I need to work on fluffing them out a bit and just messing with them to get them to lay correctly. But, I'm really pleased! I'll tackle that last window this week.

spelt flour? weird name but sooo good.

finally found a recipe for AMAZING vegan pancakes. I'm not kidding, best pancakes ever! They're quickly becoming our weekend tradition...

I had to snatch the picture before Mike ate them all! haha

Here is the super easy and super yummy recipe- all my substitutions are listed.

1 1/2 cups Organic Spelt Flour (we get ours from War Eagle Mill- a local mill, and they do deliver!)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs. honey (we use organic brown rice syrup, but non-veggies can use honey)
1 tbs. vegetable oil (we use coconut oil or olive oil because I never seem to have vegetable oil in the house)
1 1/4 cup soy milk (you could use regular milk too)

These cook fabulously- quick, easy and so good! We put a little bit of Earth Balance vegan butter and some maple syrup on top.

powerful to me

I don't expect you guys to read this, but I wanted to write a blog about it because it was very powerful to me (and to Mike). This is an excerpt of the sermon our priest did a few weeks ago based on Mark 10:46-52. It sums up so completely why Mike and I are members of All Saint's and members of the Episcopal Church. You can read the full sermon here.

Living in an environment where Christianity is characterized by ignorance, control, bigotry and exclusion, I listen to the voices cry, “Show me how I can once again be a follower of Jesus.”

Before coming to Arkansas I didn’t fully understand the nature of our mission here.  I didn’t know that in building an Episcopal Church here in the Ozarks that the true nature of our endeavor would be to let people see again.  To allow them to discover that their intellect, their belief in science, their sexual identity, their love for beauty in worship are not obstacles to an acceptance of Christ.  I didn’t know that we could enable people to see again by insisting that the Bible is too precious, too important be taken literally.  And I didn’t know that by accepting the legitimacy, the sanctity, of the path to God chosen by our Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim brothers and sisters we would enable open minded people to see again - that the true path to Jesus is one of love and acceptance.

Every week since coming to Benton County, I have people say to me. “I can no longer accept a literal interpretation of the Bible. Can I be a Christian? or “I’m gay.  I was raised in the church. I have faith, but the church has rejected me.” or “I’m Roman Catholic.  I love the church, but I can’t live in hypocrisy any longer.” And with those words they all say, “Teacher, let me see again.”

Three Years!

Today is our three year anniversary- I can't believe it! It really doesn't seem like three years since our wedding day. It was the happiest day of my life (so far!) haha

and about to walk down the aisle!

the ceremony was so special and personal to us- every detail was meaningful and I still can't watch the video without crying. It was so amazing to have all of our loved ones together in one place!

and two of my favorite pictures- Mike lifting the veil (check out Hank's face!)--love it.

I'll stop with the wedding pictures- I post them on every anniversary because I love them so much.

Happy Anniversary babe- you are my very best friend and I love you dearly.

Honoring Our Veterans...

Today is Veteran's Day and I wanted to dedicate a post to all our brave men and women who fight for our country... especially the members of my family who serve or have served:
My Dad, Paul- United States Air Force
My Brother, Connor- United States Marine Corps
My Grandpa Tom- United States Air Force
My Biological Father Bill- United States Navy
My Uncles Ray & Mark- United States Marine Corps
My Grandpa Russell- United States Navy & United States Air Force

Some pictures I took on our honeymoon back in 2006 of the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor:

this means something, right??

These are all over the internets today...

hand holding???? eeeek!! yes I'm a 12 year old fangirl and I don't care!!! haha

Happy Birthday USMC

Today is the 234th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Last year my brother was celebrating the birthday at boot camp in San Diego. He said it was awesome because boot camp was hell and this day was a little reprieve- they even had birthday cake! This year he's celebrating on a base in Japan. I'm scared to think of where he'll be this time next year. I am so proud of him and he is so proud to be a Marine!

And of course I have to include a few pictures of my favorite Marine:

He was showing off his Devil Dog tattoo (I mean isn't it almost a rule that a Marine has to have a Marine tattoo? haha) on our way to drop him off on his first deployment. And I love the super cheesy picture of us- that's the smile you get from Connor after you've forced him to take hundreds of pictures!

Miss you little brother!

Maybe Rob Will Be Next!

You guys know I'm a Twilight fanatic, and when I heard that someone from the movies just stripped down for a new "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" ad, I admit I was more than hoping it was Mr. Pattinson. haha!

But, it wasn't-- it was Christian Serratos, who played Angela, Bella's good friend. Here she is in character:

and, here is her Twilight-esque PETA ad:

I think she looks fantastic! And I fully support the cause. Wearing fur is gross.

McSexy? McHottie? McMercy West-er?

I tried to hate the Mercy West people, but I kinda love one of the new doctors- Dr. Jackson Avery aka Jesse Williams. I've been searching for decent pics of him and this is all I came up with.

HOT!

 

 

I don't want him to screw up the Cristina/Owen relationship, but I sure hope he sticks around!

Don't Be Tardy For The Party

If you don't know the song title above, consider yourself lucky. I did manage to get it stuck in Mike's head this morning, so that was fun! haha
This is a completely random posts of odds and ends that I've gathered:

Bella and Edward...HOT!!
errr I mean Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. From Harper's or Vanity Fair, I can't remember.

 

 Next, I just discovered this stuff at the grocery store- I checked the ingredients and nothing looked suspicious. No casein or whey hiding in there... I was about to google it on my iPhone until I looked on the back of the label and found the certified vegan logo---SCORE!!! mmmm chocolate!!

 

Next, a good friend is working on a project for her daughters and we were talking about children's book artwork- Peter Rabbit and WTWTA came up-- I love the muted colors. So pretty!!

 

 

 

 okay, last thing--- a pic of me, as a ZOMBIE!! Disgusting, right?? Check out those cloudy eyes. The skin lesions- so gross!! LMAO Picnik.com is the photo editing site I use and I just had to try out the zombie feature before they got rid of the Halloween editing tools. :-)