Sloppy Joes, not sure why they are called that, not sure I really need to know either. What I do know is that I haven't had one in years, so long ago that I forget when the last time was. I wasn't really a big fan of them to be honest, it was kind of like having a pasta sauce sandwich! 

However, last night I had made both fresh onion dill buns, and seitan. I had thought about frying sliced seitan up, and doing a "steak on a bun" type meal, but the sloppy joe idea hit me instead. That's the nice thing about cooking at home vs for someone else, I get to make instant changes to the menu! Personal freedom to make it different than what was initially planned on. 

The funny thing was when darling hubby came home from work he looked disappointed that I had diverted from the original plan, he'd been thinking about seitan on a bun for over 3 hours by that point in time. But when he tasted the sloppy joe mixture, the joygasm he had was worth it. Then he looked in the oven and saw the home baked bread, which just made it even better! 

The bread buns were just my standard white bread recipe, with red onion powder and dill weed added to it. Use soy milk to glaze and sprinkled with black sesame seeds and corn meal. 

It was so very good! Hope you try it! 

Freecycle is an amazing network that helps keep things out of landfill and gives homes to items that are just collecting dust in your closet. For instance, I am heading up to Newmarket to meet up with a freecycler who has a GPS unit for my car. I posted on the freecycle groups I am part of, it goes by town, that I was looking for a working gps unit so I do not get lost or feel lost at least, and lo and behold a lovely man came through as he has a couple of units he is no longer using. This is the beauty of Freecycle. Whether you need gadgets, clothes, household or garden items, you can find it on places like Freecycle, Kijiji (for a cost usually there), Craigslist, and in second hand stores. Do not buy new until you have exhausted the other resources. Save the planet, and your pocket book at the same time. 

So I am looking forward to getting the gps today, and using it in this business so I can navigate those quiet back country roads in York Region as I visit my clients! 

Have yourself a great day! 

So much has happened in the past 5 days, that my head is spinning ever so slightly as I find new bearings and get a grip on my new and improved schedule. 

What happened? Well I advertised my business. I was surprised by the influx of new business, I really wasn't sure what to expect though. I am overjoyed to say that the response to my first online deal was a success. Not only did it bring in new customers, as it is supposed to, but it opened new doors for my business as well. 

First I ended up with a Tea & Tarot call for help. Another reader out of my working area connected with me as she needed a reader for an event. I had an absolute amazing time that night, as did the guests of the event according to the hostess.  

Also, I now have a regular spot in the middle of town to work out of, and will be working out of this lovely restaurant every Friday from 6pm to closing. People can call ahead to book their reading or as a walk in basis for the restaurant/pub's customers. The owner of the restaurant is amazing, as he is open to any suggestions I might have with regards to my business working out of his place. It's a win win situation, and that is the best situation one can have. 

So, how did this happen? I manifested it! Literally, I had considered for some months what 2012 was to bring for my business, new clients, new opportunities, growth and prosperity, so on and so forth. I have to be proactive though, advertising, so on and so forth, as well, of course, providing a great service and connecting with my clients on a deeper level.  I happen to like doing that though, so this is a good thing. 2012 is like having that chalk board washed clean with soap and water and then rinsed and dried off. We have the chalk, and can put whatever we want on that board. Seriously. Think about what you want in your life, focus on it, write it down, put it on a vision board, or similar Manifest It place, and be proactive. It is all fine and good to put the order to the Universe for what you want, but, you won't win the lottery unless you buy a ticket. Make sure you are proactive and work towards you own personal goals.

So my 2012 planner is looking rather colourful already, as I schedule my Hot Yoga times, Lions and Rotary Club events/dinners/volunteer times, any personal appointments and my Masti Mystic nights too. I love highlighters, I love colouring and I love scheduling appointments for my business, so this is fun! 

Ok - So I guess I'd better advise my weight management results for January. My first weigh in was 193.2lbs, and my final weigh in for January was 183.8lbs. So just under 10lbs worked off in January. I'd say that this is a great start to the year. February brings in Hot Yoga classes 5 or 6 days a week. I am going to be feeling this one, but with the hot yoga, I feel it is easier on the body, especially in winter when it's so cold and damp here in Ontario. 

Vegan Pasta Broccoli casserole, so tasty and easy to make. 

Pre cook your pasta to al dente, steam your broccoli if you want less crunchy veggies. 

In another pot combine a can of coconut milk, half a pack of your favourite Daiya Cheese, 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast flakes, and one small can of tomatoe paste, and 1 cup of water. Heat until the cheese is melted and it's all combined. 

Sautee some onions and garlic for flavour, add to the sauce, and then toss it all together with the pasta and broccoli. Sprinkle cayenne or paprika on the top, cover, and bake at 300F for 45 minutes. 

That's it. Simple, easy, and very tasty! 

Now I did find that mine was on the dry side, but I baked mine at 350F for just over an hour, I also did not add the water. So the recipe above is adjusted to increase the sauce factor. I also did not precook my broccoli, I think that would be a better option, to steam it ahead of time. 


Let me know if you try this, and how it turned out for you! 

Yellow beans were steamed for 10 minutes, hot and crunch, with split peas with Earth Balance & Black Pepper, and my "honey" garlic veggies over rice. 

The peas were simple to do, split peas, like lentils do not require soaking before cooking, just rinse well, cover with water, bring to a boil and turn down to medium heat. 45 minutes or so and they are done. Watch them though, add more water when needed. Once they were done I drained them, tossed them in Earth Balance and black pepper and they are ready to serve. 

The honey garlic veggies, have no honey in them what so ever, all my food creations are vegan. Basically I sauteed some red onions, elephant garlic, jalapeno pepper (just 2), added chopped green peppers and as you can see, roughly chopped carrots. Add water to almost cover, 1/2 cup soy sauce, and a thickener. I like to use glutenous rice flour. 2 - 3 tbsps added to 1 cup of water. Add to your hot liquids and stir well so do you not get any lumps. For the sweetness, I used 1/2 cup of brown sugar. I like Red Path sugar as they do not use any animal bone char in their filtering process, so their sugars are vegan in that respect. So once you have added your sugar, stir to dissolve and then just simmer gently until the carrots are tender but still have a crunch to them.  

Rice, I think most of us know how to make that by now. :-) 

Here are some more photos of this dish. 

Eggplants are not a veggie that I have had any particular affinity with, or love of, until I started making them into casseroles. Shown above on the left side is my creamy cheesy chana chaat curry casserole - no I didn't do that on purpose - and off to the right is an almond tomato version with lots of oregano! 

Now I promised that I'd share how I make these today, so here we go: The other thing is that you'd be surprised by how little it really costs to make dishes like this. 

So here we go. To make two LARGE casseroles I used the following:

6 Eggplants - $6.00
2 Onions Large - $0.30
1 pack thin carrots - $2.00
1 pack of round red radishes - $1.00
1 four pack of green peppers - $2.00 
1 can coconut milk $2.20
1/2 pack Daiya Cheese $2.50 (for half the pack)
200grams ground almonds $2.00
1 head of Elephant Garlic $2.00
1 tin diced tomatoes $1.00
Various spices/oil/flour etc $0.50
Total Cost (not including energy/water) $21.50

So for $20.50 I got two huge casseroles from the above ingredients. That is of course $10 per dish, and each dish fed 4 people both dinner and lunch the next day. 

That equates to about $2.60 per person per meal. Considering that the average cost of a home cooked meal per person is $5, I'd say that came in pretty darn good! 

Now for the pics and how I made them. 

Largely dice and then toss in salted water ( I use a 26% solution of pink Himalayan salt for cooking with) and sit to one side for at least an hour. This brings out some of the bitterness of the eggplant and adds a nice flavour as well. 

After an hour, rinse and drain well!

Trimmed and tailed, then quartered, radishes add a nice surprise crunch and flavour to the casserole! 

I apologize for the picture quality, but it's just a big bowl of roughly diced cooking onions. Used two rather large onions for these two casseroles. 

Roughly chopped fresh green peppers. I love keeping things chunky as they hold the sauce well, and remain crunchy in the curry!

Elephant Garlic, now those are large but sweet cloves of garlic! They impart an amazing flavour to whatever you add them too, although I don't suppose they'd do well in cake! 


You want to dice this thinly and finely. As seen in the photo below.

Yummy carrots. I love having carrots in my morning juice, especially as when you juice a carrot you actually separate the betacarotene from the fibre making it increasingly available to your body, however, they are great in casseroles too. These were thin carrots so I chopped them into 1" pieces. Sweet crunchy goodness! 

Now for the Creamy Cheesy Curry Casserole....

Basically you take half of the above ingredients, and toss it all together. Add 1 cup of flour and your favourite curry spices, and toss to coat the entire bowl of veggies. 

Put it into a baking dish, I used a deep oven proof pan, and press it down into it. 

Shake your can of coconut milk as sometimes it separates a bit, and pour over the top of your coated veggies.  Do not add water, the veggies will add sufficient liquids to the dish. 

Over the top of the coconut milk, I added half a package of Daiya Cheese, the mozzarella version. On top of that I put some thinly sliced jalapeno peppers for both colour and flavour. With the creamy sauce you end up with, the occasional punch of heat you get is welcome!  

Bake this at 350F for one hour, but do not cover the pan. This way the veggies remain somewhat crunchy and you end up with a creamier sauce. 

The end result, a creamy rich curried casserole, that's ooey and goey with vegan cheesy goodness! Very rich though. 

This one was a little easier on the fats and calories as it did not have coconut milk nor cheese in it. Instead, I added 1 tin of diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup of dried oregano and tossed it all together. Put it in my largest roasting pan, and again pressed it down. This time I sprinkled the ground almonds over the top, with some black pepper and knobs of vegan margarine. I baked this covered for 1 hour at 350F. 

The end result was amazing. In fact, the left overs will be added to a jar of my home made marinara sauce and served over rice or pasta for dinner tomorrow night. 

So there you have it, bake them both at the same time, and feed yourself healthy hearty meals for under $3 per person! Whomever said eating vegan was expensive needs to come shopping with me! 

Love Light and Laughter

WAIT! 

NO!

Do NOT eat 

THAT!!!! 










It's ok, honest, it's completely vegan. No animals were harmed or used in the making of this awesome sandwich.  The bread is vegan, as is the lettuce. The mayo is made by Earth Island called Veganaise, and the cheese is a vegan rice based "italian flavoured" cheddar style cheese. Both I got from Loblaws. The "meat" however I made myself. I use a recipe on one of my favourite vegan blog sites (here) but I change up the type of beans used, spices, etc, to make various flavours. This one I had a 1/8th cup of my home made red onion powder, and cracked red pepper corns in it. Once again, I find it a little on the dry side, so next time I will use a bit more water than the recipe calls for, or even add some oil. I'd rather try more water first off though vs adding calories and fats that might not be needed if the amount of water used was increased. 

So there you have it, a normal looking sandwich for you regular meat eating types. Seriously, you'd not know the difference when it's done like this. 

So for all my vegan followers, it's ok.. you can relax now. I haven't changed my way of eating. :-) 

So SWS is going to be on Ethical Deal before the end of this month all being well. I am to say the least, very excited, as it is the first time I have used any online advertising such as this. I like the way it works. I love the deals you get, and what's more, I like what Ethical Deal stands for. Only ecofriendly companies are using it. So you can find great deals with local companies that are also concerned about the state and wellbeing of not only you, our customers, but also the planet! 

I know this is a short blog entry, however, I also have Lions tonight, and I am the two minute speaker. I had thought I knew what I was going to talk about, but now I am sat here with 4 hours to go, and I am at a loss. Do I discuss veganism and it's many benefits, or mental health in York Region. What about my experiences running a psychiatric group home, or conquering my own fears this past August when I was on the glaciers at the Columbia Ice Fields, or how about my own weight loss/health story.  There are so many things I could share with this amazing group of people, and all of it is important to not only myself, but to others as well, that I am now lost as to where to start. 

Not to worry though, by the time I have to leave, I will have it figured out... I hope!!! 

Sometimes when I make dinner here for us, I have a specific thing in mind, but it ends up being something else instead. Tonights dinner was one of those "it started out as, but ended up being" type meals. 

I had some cauliflower that needed using up, so I figured I'd make a cream of cauliflower soup for dinner, and have fresh bread with it. Hearty comfort food for sure. So I started out sauteeing in the soup pot some onion and garlic, then I added the two small heads of cauliflower cut up into large chunks, and 4 potatoes, skin on, and largely diced. Add some cardamon and cumin for flavour, little soy sauce, and water, then turned it on and let it cook... now this was to be a "cream of"  soup, so I was going to put it all through the blender afterwards. However, this was not to be. Once the cauliflower finished cooking, and broke down, I added a can of coconut milk to it for that "cream" aspect... I looked at it, and thought, Hmm, a little frozen sweet corn that I had put down in the summer would be a great addition to this, and it was! Only thing was, I was only going to add about 2 cups worth, the bag did a funky dance and the entire contents (8 cups) fell into the soup! Kasplosh!!! 

Ok, so now I have a corn chowder cream of cauliflower type soup.. I let it cook some more, and mixed it all together. Added a little more water to thin it out, and taste tested it... OH MY... is it ever good... just needed a titch more salt and black pepper. Perfect! 

For those who want the basic recipe it is as follows: 
2 tbsp sunflower oil 
2 large yellow onions
4 cloves garlic
2 heads of cauliflower
4 large potatoes
1 can coconut milk
8 cups sweet corn
water to cover/cook/thin out. 
spices you like. Mine were as mentioned cumin and cardamon, with salt and pepper. 

I just had it simmer on the stove, no boiling required. Another amazing one pot wonder! 

I am a happy camper today, actually I have been happy since Friday the 13th. Most feel that Fridays that happen to be the 13th day of any month to be unlucky. I on the other hand have always found the opposite, this one being no exception. 

A little background: 

My Darling Husband has been without full time employment since late November, and with the YRT / Viva strike happening in our area, this has made finding a job that much harder. In fact, due to this strike, he had to turn down a nice job offer with a very strong and reputable company, it even had a medical benefit package, which we could do with. Only one issue, there were then, and still are at the time of writing this entry, no buses running from Markham to Newmarket to enable him to have taken the job when it was offered. 

However, good things come to those who wait. 

So, with some persistence, a daily number of resumes emailed out, and a dash of time, a job finally arrived. He was one of two "finalists" - it is like a competition out there right now after all - for this part time position. Well, he was the lucky chosen one, and that life changing phone call came in on Friday the 13th! I can honestly say that I cried with relief. In this economy, with the bus strike, and the hundreds of people applying for the same jobs, we feel extremely blessed with what we have, and DH is over joyed at being hired on, even if it is part time! 

So that was some amazing news on the 13th, the other things I noted were the number of unique visitors to this site on that day. Not sure who is into numerology, or follows Doreen Virtue, however, the number of individual IP addresses that were logged on the 13th were 111. Now according to Doreen, 111 in a nut shell symbolizes new beginnings, in fact, to quote Doreen from one of her books "Healing With The Angels" she says "111 - Monitor your thoughts carefully and be sure to only think about what you want, not what you don't want. This sequence is a sign that there is a gate of opportunity opening up and your thoughts are manifesting into form at record speeds. The 111 is like the bright light of a flashbulb. It means that the universe has just taken a snapshot of your thoughts and is manifesting it into form. Are you pleased with what thoughts the universe has captured? If not, correct your thoughts (ask your angels to help you with this if you have difficulty controlling and monitoring your thoughts)."  

I also saw 111 elsewhere that day, even my credit card balance was $111.00 exactly. So, I made sure to set my thoughts, my intent on the right course on Friday.  I did a one day juice fast on that day too, which I extended into Saturday up until dinner time. Then I had snow peas and mushroom stirfry, and a Chinese green onion pie from T&T my daughter had bought. Not bad, high on the calories and fats though. Anyway, back to Friday the 13th. So, as you might be able to discern, it was a good day, and even the numbers were showing that it is the fresh start, make it what you want it to be, manifest what you want NOW, and keep going forward, making progress. 

That's the thing about progress, even if you are on the right track, unless you are moving forward, you are going to get run over by someone or something! So, keep moving forward, even if it is in small baby steps, don't stop, slow down if need be, but never stop those positive changes!  

Anyway, I digressed. So tomorrow DH and I will be up early, I am actually happy about that, as I am definitely a morning person, and I miss the morning routines I get into when DH is working days. Personally, I love watching the sky change colour, hearing the birds wake up, seeing the community I reside in wake up and start moving about in their daily routines, and just enjoying the peace and quiet of it all, and I prefer to exercise in the morning, get it over and done with, and energize my day! 

So, DH will need a lunch for work, now one of the things I do to keep our food bills under control is to make more than is needed at one time at dinner. For example, today I made a large pot of veggie chili, and another pot of basmati rice with lemon. The rice was used tonight, save for some I set aside for DH's lunch tomorrow, and the chili will not only do him as well for lunch, but everyone else at least twice over!  DH doesn't mind having left over's for lunch, in fact, most often if I offer something different and there are left over's he will tell me to use them first. He's good that way. Not fussy I guess, that and loves my home cooking. 

The veggie chili was really good. Especially over the lemon rice, sounds really really odd, and you really wouldn't expect them to go together, but surprisingly it was quite lovely.  

So tomorrow's exercise is 45 minutes on the bike. At least that is what I have scheduled. If the weather is nice, (read warmer), then I might go out to the track at the highschool and do laps instead, but, the bike does give me a higher cardio workout than the speed walking.  

Oh, and although one can get rid of excess fat by choosing to eat less calories than one needs in a day, but when you incorporate even 30 minutes of exercise a day into your routines, the weight can and does come off easier, and lasts oh so much longer, as you are using your body and using the fuel you have been feeding it! 

Oh and some other news....My official 2012 starting weight was 193.2lbs, and two weeks into my new routines I am already down to 185.6lbs. That's not bad for 2 weeks!!!! Not too shabby at all. Actually, if anything, it's a little too much, but my body is shedding the bit of "holiday weight" I put on in December. I find that if I put a few lbs back on, it comes off faster than the "old fat" that is still on my frame. 

So, there you have it, I am so looking forward to Monday the 16th and I was so very thankful for Friday the 13th, as it brought a number of good things to our lives. I also have a new business service now too that I added on that day and created a new website for. Relaxation Therapy. You can check that out at www.taketimeforyou.weebly.com if you feel you want to. 

Love, Light and Laughter to you all! 

Why juice? Why not juice? I like juicing. I was never one for eating breakfast, in fact I can recall my mother making shakes for me as a child for breakfast, milk, fruit, raw egg (ewwwww) etc, as I simply didn't like to eat in the morning. I still don't, yet it is the, as in THE, most important meal of the day. 

Why is that? Well think of it, BreakFast.. you are literally breaking your overnight fast. If you eat dinner in the early evening, and then do not eat until the next day, then you've had at least 8 - 12 hours of fasting! So you Break the Fast every day with, you guessed it, breakfast! So what you consume in the morning really does set the tone, and your body, for the day. Provides you with the energy to get up and move, and gets other things moving again. Juicing provides a nutrient dense solution to the fast pace of today's lifestyles. The other thing that I find important is not to eat (or drink in this case) until you feel ready to do so. Listen to your body. 

So here is what my breakfast looked like the other day, before it hit the juicer that is.

It was a great combination, however, I do like just a simple orange, apple, carrot combo with a knob of ginger. I rarely find myself drinking tea anymore, I just do not need that morning artificial jolt. I get my kicks from my fruits and veggies! 

If you are interested in juicing, then I suggest you find someone who has a juicer and borrow it for a few days, to get an idea of how it works for you. Then go and buy yourself a decent one. Spend no less than $100 or you will be wasting your hard earned pennies if you ask my thoughts on it. I have come to believe that even my $100 juicer is not big enough for the demands we put it through, to make 2L of juice, I am taking it apart at least once throughout the juicing process to make room for more pulp and getting the fibres out of the cutting blades (ginger, celery, and other fibrous plants clog it quickly). I know it only takes a minute to do that, but it's a pain anyway. Darling Hubby and I joke how we need an industrial sized juicer now, and just pack this one for road trips. Have you seen Fat Sick and Nearly Dead yet? He has a juicer in his car!!!! Way cool!

So today, Friday the 13th (insert scary music here) is day one of my juice fast. Mind you I only planned on doing the fast for one day, maybe even two, just to get the feel for it. I have never fasted before, and being the chef of the house, I think I already know what my challenge is going to be when I get into doing 10, 20, 30, and 60 day juice fasts... FOOD! As in what I cook for everyone else... for instance, here is a snap of tonights feast for the family! 

Roasted squash with a basmati rice stuffing. Now I did tweet that the recipe for this stuffing would be on todays blog so here it is. I do not have exact quantities for the ingredients, I rarely measure anything and go by the feel and look of it all, unless baking, that's more science than aesthetics! 

So, what is in that stuffing you ask, and here is the answer:
~sauteed onions and garlic
~whole rolled oats
~uncooked basmati rice
~crumbled and soaked black fungus
~diced button mushrooms
~crumbled soft tofu
~sultanas
~cranberries
~green pepper
~black pepper
~brown sugar

I packed the stuffing in tight, and baked them uncovered at 350F for 2 hours. It was rather funny as I was the only one on the main floor of the house, in the kitchen working on my computer. I could hear the humidifier in the piano room, the trickle of the fish tank and the love birds nattering at each other, and something else. A high pitched squeal type hissing sound, I wondered what on earth had gotten into my kitchen and was hurt or trapped or ..... then I realized the sound was coming from the area by the stove, opened the oven door and lo and behold dinner was singing! I considered video taping it, just to capture the sound it was making, but by the time I had formulated the idea, and decided to do it, the sound had stopped. 

It smells better than it looks, and according to the family, tastes better than it smells. Which is more than I can say for durian by the way, get to that in a minute. So here is the only real potential nemesis to my fasting, my own vegan kitchen creations...but I love to cook, and if I can over come the temptations I make, then I think I have it made. This will take some doing, but I am game for it. 

Ok, back to that durian... for those that do not know what a durian is, it is a fruit, a very large one at that... here take a look!

Now I can get these frozen whole at the local chinese markets, but I have not seen them fresh. I had read about these stinky fruits, and believe you me, they REAK! Seriously, it's like a cross between rotting onions and sweaty feet with some garlic tossed in for good measure. However, the flavour is entirely different, it's like a hybridization of pineapple and onion. Rather weird. Personally, I could not get past the texture. I am pretty sure that when it's not been frozen it is not quite so, umm, slimy... I can't handle slime! A Ghostbuster I am not, especially when it comes to eating. I think I can manage to pull off some rather intriguing desserts with it though because of it's consistency and sweetness... it will be something to fiddle with that is for sure. If you want to read up a bit on this exotic fruit, here is the wiki link.  

Well, time for a drink and relax for the rest of the night. 

Love , Light and Laughter! 

Basmati rice with Star Anise and cinnamon. Easy. Just when making your rice, add a couple star anise and a stick of cinnamon, and make as you usually do. I steam mine for the most part. It infuses those delightfully exotic flavours into the rice quite nicely. Can do this with many herbs and spices, garlic, onions, cardamon, cloves, etc... you can use powdered spices, but having them whole makes for a lovely presentation and usually no change in the colour of the rice when you are done. So Sunday's dinner was Basmati rice, lemon/ginger veggie stirfry and a lima bean dish in coconut milk & nutritional yeast flakes as a sauce with a good amount of dill and garlic powder. Very yummy and very filling. .