December 1st 2005

Little Scooby's meal is a mac and veggie cheese that I got from a recipe off of www.vegweb.com and it turned out really good. I put the elbow macaroni in a pot and just covered it in Imagine No-Chicken Broth and boiled for about ten minutes. Then I added a little soy cheese right on top. There are few versions of vegan cheese but I've only been able to find vegan singles which I don't like as much as veganrella. Any store execs reading this listen up - VEGANRELLA. Anyway so I added a slice on top of the macaroni. Altogether little scooby is getting the mac'n'cheese, raisins, orange slices and an apple-grape minute maid. Oh she also wanted two golden oreos. Its a lot less food than I've been giving her but she seems to be eating much less food lately. So far everyday this week she has came home with her lunchbox half full. Oh and little scooby lost her first tooth on Saturday night. And is about to loose the one next to it. Maybe the missing and loose tooth have something to do with eating less food.

A Vegan Thanksgiving

Sometimes it is hard to see past all the dead turkey carcasses and pilgrims and Indians and the propaganda that surrounds this holiday and just be thankful for the blessings in our lives. This past year has been a rough one for our family. My daughter lost a grandmother at the beginning of the year. My own memories go back to 1979 to Sundays at my gramma's house where my aunts, uncles, and cousins would gather. And my grandmother's brothers and sisters and their children and grandchildren were all very likely to drop in after Church on a Sunday afternoon and stay for hours visiting. My grandmother got polio in 1907 and spent the whole of her life that she could remember unable to walk or run. By 1980, she was unable to get around by herself on her crutches or wheelchair and she came to live with my mom, my dad, my brother and myself. Sundays at Gramma's were suddenly sundays at our house. Gramma died in her sleep on an April day in 1985. That day my brother moved out of the house and it seemed I had lost the two people who I loved most. A house that had been so full of people was empty. My little heart broke as I walked into her bedroom and kissed her good-bye for the last time. No one holding my hand because I was too young to understand. Earlier this year, I held my five-year old's hand as she kissed her own grandmother good bye. I don't know if my daughter will remember her grandmother or not.. I've found that most people's memories don't go back as far as my own so probably not. The best that I can do is talk with her so that she can remember her memories and keep them fresh in her mind.
So here we are after very emotionaly rough year alive and healthy. My grandmother taught me to be thankful for the things that others take for granted - being able to run, walk and play. Everyday I try to teach my daughter that the people we love live on thru us and in us. In how we see the world and in turn make a difference in other people's lives. So this Thanksgiving we are thankful for our health, our family, our friends, and our jobs.

Lil' scooby and me pulling our tofurky jerky wishstix and making a wish for this year.











Our Thanksgiving Feast (this is not all the food.. we had some additional gravy, stuffing, and mashed potatoes but didn't need to have them out). We had a tofurky roast marinaded in orange juice, soy sauce, and brown sugar uh not exactly like how it says to do it on the box no, also baked and marinaded with the roast we had onions, potatoes and carrots. We had a stuffing made with no-chicken broth, mushroom and giblet gravy, vegan mashed potatoes, and a vegan pumpkin pie. We decided we had enough food and we'd leave making the apple pie until later. We also had the tofurky cranberry dumplings - but guess what I defrosted them and I couldn't find a single thing that said what to do should this happen. I obviously couldn't cook them according to the directions - so should this happen to you - I sauteed them over low heat in a frying pan until they were cooked thru and lightly browned on both sides... I lost some of the bread which stuck to the bag but overall they came out okay.








Here's wishing that you all had a peaceful, cruelty-free Thanksigiving.

The Olympics

This isn't a lunch-box or food related post in anyway. I just read on msnbc that the bill to give Tanith Belbin her citizenship failed in Congress yesterday. I can only ask.... WHY? She's lived in this country since she was a teenager and if she'd applied for citizenship just a little bit LATER she'd be an American by now. But because she didn't wait until after 'the rules' had changed she's stuck waiting until after the Olympics for her citizenship. What is wrong with Congress that they don't want the best figure skater in the world right now (yeah I know second at world's so that's kind of opinion) compete in the Olympics. Tanith Belbin will be an American citizen SOMEday.... the 2006 Winter Olympics are coming and the January 10th deadline is right around the corner. Tanith Belbin and her partner Ben Agusto are the best in the world -> Let them PROVE it.

Just a rant day....

This is not a lunchbox nor a school related blog.. doesn't really have anything to do with my little one. A coworker and I went to a vegetarian restaurant down the street from where I work that has in huge letters on top of the building where the name of the restaurant ought to be "VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT." These two women came in - looking for meat on the menu and said they couldn't believe there was no meat anywhere on the menu or buffet. They were being just loud and obnoxious.. I really wanted to say something to them.. you know like 'you bleeping retard did you not read the sign' well obviously they read the sign or else they wouldn't have came in acting the way they were. So I was already in a bad mood when I returned back to work yesterday afternoon.

Today we are having a Thanksgiving potluck. There won't be any turkey.. but I'm sure most of the dishes that will be prepared will have animal broths, cheese or butter at least in them if there isn't any 'meat'. I'd just rather not participate. So when I returned to work I was hassled about not wanting to have to cook for everybody else when nobody else will give a damn about what is there for me to eat. So I kind of got into with several of my coworkers who will now probably put unvegan stuff in whatever they make even if they hadn't planned to in the first place. I was asked about what I do to celebrate Thanksgiving? And what does my family eat? I had to defend our family's choice to eat tofurky. Well why do you have to eat something that is made to look and taste like a turkey and stuft like a turkey. Why do you have to do that? Why do you people always try to mimic your foods to look like ours. I AM so tired of hearing that kind of crap from people. Well for starters of all the holidays I've always hated Thanksgiving the most. As a vegetarian child I snubbed my nose at Thanksgiving and watched football on the tele while eating my cheese pizza. Only in the past ten years since I've been with my hubby and then raising our own child have I even began to sit aside one day a year to be thankful for the blessings in my life. Our extended family and friends are always welcome to share in a peaceful Thanksgiving meal with us. In the beginning we made homemade pastas stuft with spinach and our own sauces. It was a lot work but we were doing it in the name of making our own traditions. But I've come to learn that we don't have to eschew the Tofurky because it 'symbolizes' the sacrificed bird on other families tables. And we can eat a vegan apple pie or pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes, stuffing and gravy. We can be traditional or untraditional or whatever we choose as long as no animals were harmed in the process. And we can be thankful this year without celebrating the conquering of America and the genocide of so-called savage race.