The difference between vegans and vegetarians is that strict vegans don’t consume dairy products, pre-cooked processed foods, honey, gelatin or anything that isn’t plant based.  I’ve been learning first hand from a young vegan woman how difficult it is for us carnivores to adapt to cooking for vegans.

My first attempt at feeding this vegan girl bombed like Hiroshima!  The poor thing would have starved if she hadn’t brought some of her own food to the barbecue.   I was genuinely interested in learning how to prepare vegan meals so she vowed to help me.  (And maybe try to convert me as well. LoL)

With her guidance, and a strict, very detailed guideline of products and brand names she would and wouldn’t eat I hit the grocery store.  I think I did a little happy dance in the aisle when I found gluten free, wheat free pancake mix.  My dance didn’t last long though when I realized I would be paying $5 and some change for a very small bag of pancake mix.

We planned a get together in which the vegan woman’s family would drive into town and stay the night at our house for a barbecue and fun.  My vegan menu went over well.  She was fed and she was happy.  I was happy too.  If you’re interested here’s my overnight menu and the links to my recipes.

Hord’ourves:

Baby carrots

Celery

Cucumber slices

Vegan Onion Dip for Chips

Kettle Chips

Dinner

Brown Rice Pasta Salad

French Fries

Tofu Mushroom Burgers served on Alvarado Sprouted Whole Grain Buns

Dessert

Soy Butter Pecan Icecream

Organic Chocolate Chips

Slice Banannas

Next Morning Breakfast

Scrambled Tofu and Soyrizo

Vegan Buckwheat pancakes

Raspberries

Soy Yogurt

Organic orange juice

Popularity: 3% [?]

Summary: Making organic buckwheat pancakes may sound easy but I never would have imagined there’s VEGAN buckwheat pancakes. These are as simple to make as regular old Bisquick pancakes.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Photo courtesy of Veganopolis

Summary: Tofu and soyrizo is a good way to mix up your breakfast routine. It’s vegan and dairy free. The person I first made this recipe for loved it and has since been making it in her own kitchen.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Summary: This pasta salad goes well with traditional barbecue foods, lunch or dinner.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary: This burger was a huge experiment that paid off. The mushrooms and tofu hold together nicely and the flavor is rich and zesty. As someone who eats regular hamburgers, I thoroughly enjoyed this tofu mushroom burger.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Popularity: 13% [?]

We all know the importance of giving our kids a good healthy lunch to fuel them through the afternoon. Sandwiches are easy and fast but there are other alternatives to peanut butter and jelly, ham, bologna, tuna….blah. Would you eat that for lunch, every single day? I wouldn’t so I can’t blame my kids for not wanting to either. When kids get sick of eating sandwiches for lunch every day try one of my easy sandwich alternatives.

Monday Menu:

Ritz crackers
cheddar cheese cubes
salami
Pineapple cubes
grapes

You can’t get any healthier than that. It’s sweet. It’s crunchy. It’s spicy and it’s easy to pack. Best of all it’s all finger food which kids love.  Be sure to pack each item in seperate ziplock baggies or containers with divided compartments.

Tuesday Menu

Taco  Salad

This dish is filling enough that you shouldn’t have to add any other foods unless you want to throw in a plum or apple or something.

Fry up half a pound of ground beef. Add half a package of Lawrey’s taco seasoning or salsa to meat. Add a bit of Russian or French dressing for a touch of sweetness. Pack a couple of tablespoons of taco meat in a small bowl. Pack some shredded cheese and lettuce in separate ziplock baggies. Throw in a bag of dorito chips and you’ve got taco salad.  Be sure to let your child know they are to mix the ingrediants together.

Wednesday Menu
Chicken Salad
Garlic Crouton Breads
Celery Stick and Baby Carrots
Ranch Dressing

Either buy some premade chicken salad at your local deli or mix it up yourself. Put some garlic dipping crouton breads in a zip lock baggie. Garlic dipping breads a great alternative to bread or crackers. Toss a few celery sticks and baby carrots in a baggie and add a small bowl of ranch dressing for dipping.

Thursday Menu

Chili topped baked potato
Trail Mix
Graham crackers and nutella

This is incredibly simple.  Make a baked potato, slice it open like you normally would and wrap in 2 layers of aluminum foil so the potato stays warm.    Heat up a can of Hormel chili and pack in a thermos.  Let your child know the chili is to go on top of the potato.

For trail mix simply throw some cheezits, pretzels, nuts, M&M candies and dried fruit into a zip lock baggie.

Friday Menu

Parmesan bow tie pasta
Tomato soup in a thermos
Goldfish crackers

You can find my recipe for parmesan bow tie pasta by clicking here.  It’s a simple pasta recipe that only takes minutes to prepare and is good warm or cold.

I have many more lunchtime sandwich alternatives so be on the lookout for future recipes.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I have to tell you about Big Universe. Big Universe® is an award-winning web community devoted to beautiful children’s picture books, online. Teachers, students, parents, authors, and others can share and learn while they enjoy this educational and entertaining website.

If you have small children up to the age of 11 or 12 then please, please take advantage of this offer.  Big Universe has given me permission to to give away a promotion code for a 30 day free subscription to their service.

Before I give you the promotion code let me tell you about my experience with Big Universe.   The promotion code will be at the bottom of this post but please read whole post.  :)

The Big Universe website is a library of children’s books written by both published author’s and amateur authors.  A great many of the amateur authors are members of Big Universe and are children.

Big Universe provides child authors (and amateur adult authors of childrens books) to create, publish and share their own childrens books.  The creation process is amazing.   The creation tool is a fully functional  design studio that includes clip art for those who do not have their own illustrations.  Those that do can upload them.

I found myself spending quite a bit of time on the Big Universe website even though I don’t have any kids that young anymore.  The interface is just so cute and fun for kids that it draws you in.

One of the things I really liked about the Big Universe website is simplicity of the reader itself.  It really is a one click operation with navigation being basic enough that kids should be able to get around easily in no time.  Plus there’s a cool puzzle at the bottom of the reader.  Having an activity included was a nice surprise.

For homeschoolers Big Universe is a must have!  Be sure to check out the available resources for educators.

Check out these screenshots of books I read at Big Universe.

This is the screenshot of a book cover.

Promotion Code

1. Go to https://www.biguniverse.com to sign up for your free account

2. After filling out a short form, you will be sent a confirmation email to activate your account

3. After activation sign in

4. When in your account, use promotion code: BUMOM09

This offer expires October 31, 2009

Popularity: 82% [?]

After spending the day sewing I decided tonight would be a Pizza Hut night.  Their $5 Pizza Mia deal is right up my alley.  Maybe tonight wasn’t a good night to order pizza though because I ordering my pizza over the phone was excruciating and a tad bit frightening.

Frightening, you ask?  Yes, frightening and here’s why, in a nutshell.  If the girl who took my order is considered an “average” teenager then the world is doomed!  Placing my Pizza Hut delivery order went like this:

Pizza Hut Employee – Thank you for calling Pizza Hut, will that be pick-up or delivery?

Me – Delivery

Her – Your phone number please.

Me – ###-….

Her – silence….

Me – Hello?

Her – Yes. Ok that was 7?

Me – 726-####

Her – silence….

Me – 726 – did you get that?

Her – Yea, 7?

Me – (sigh) 726

Her – 726?

Me – 726-####

Her – 726?

Me – 7

(pause)

Me-2

(pause)

Me-6

(Pause)

Me- Are you ready?

Her – Yes. 726.

Me – next number

Her – pause and then ok?

Me – next number and repeat ritual until I’ve given her the whole phone number.

Then she says –  pay attention, this is where it gets hilarious and frightening  - “What is your area code?”

I am not lying to you.  This girl asks me for the area code.  As if I were going to request delivery to another area code over an hour away where there are twice as many Pizza Hut restaurants.

As if Pizza Hut would send a delivery driver out on a delivery over an hour away, one way.

The girl is daft I tell ya!

If only the idiocy and terror this girl was frustrating me with had ended there.  But it didn’t.  It was down right painful trying to get her to take my credit card number over the phone.

My husband said I should asked for the manager to take my credit card numbers but I”m not worried about her stealing my identity.  She’s too stupid to know what to do with it.

Sad really.  And scary.

Popularity: 2% [?]

If there’s one thing I love it’s one pan meals.  Chicken and stuffing can easily and cheaply be made in one pan.  Here’s my family’s favorite chicken and stuffing recipe.

Recipe: chicken & stuffing

Popularity: 3% [?]

Amongst the thousands of foods available in the supermarket there are 5 foods that help the body defend itself against disease and stay healthy. Whether you eat them as snacks or incorporate them into meals, the nutrients provided in these 5 foods boost health and keep disease at bay.

1. Nuts. Almonds, pecans, cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, coconuts, chestnuts, macadamia nuts and hazelnuts are loaded with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats which help fight obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Nuts are also a good source of protein, fiber and omega-3 fatty acids as well as antioxidants.

According to Health Castle, researchers have found that regular consumption of nuts lowers the risk of heart disease in both men and women. In 2002, the Physician’s Health Study discovered that the risk of death by cardiac failure was significantly lowered in men who ate nuts at least 2 times a week.

2. Coconut Milk. Asian cultures have been using coconuts to stay healthy for generations. Coconut milk helps promote healthy bones and boosts the body’s immune system. The type of fat found in coconut milk is the same type of fat found in human milk which is why it is doesn’t cause why gain.

In studies conducted in the U.S. there has been very little research that claims coconut milk is effective in treating heart disease although many coconut enthusiasts swear it works.

Scientists would like us to have more knowledge on the health benefits of coconut milk but their efforts have been thwarted by the vegetable oil industry. Either way, whether you are eating fresh coconuts, drinking coconut milk or using coconut oil there are good health benefits to be had in coconut

3. Beef. Beef is full of vitamins. B vitamins, zinc and iron are the 3 most common and coincidentally are also the 3 vitamins most people don’t get enough of. The only problem with beef is that we have gone from eating grass-fed beef to grain-fed beef.

Grass-fed beef is leaner than grain-fed beef and has more CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) which is an anti-cancer fat, as well as omega-3 acids.

Omega-3 fatty acids lower your risk of heart disease and lowers cholesterol. CLAs contain more vitamin A and E which are known to help fight cancer, heart disease, immune diseases and diabetes.

4. Olive Oil. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats, phenols and Vitamin E. All of which are good for you skin, hair, nails, heart and nerves. It is also known to help with inflammation.

The Polyphenols found in olive oil are antioxidants that reduce the risk of cancer. Proof of the magic of olive oil can be found in those living in European parts of the world where consumption of olive oil is high. These are people with less statistics of cancer than Americans.

5. Cinnamon. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, cinnamon helps steady blood sugar, blocks cancers cells and is an anti-inflammatory ingredient. Cinnamon also provides the body with manganese, fiber, iron, and calcium.

Cinnamon causes blood to rise from the center of the body and brings it up to the skin. This helps with circulation and blood pressure. Circulation is imperative for keeping oxygen flowing throughout the body.

Recent studies have been conducted on diabetics and the results have shown that cinnamon enhances the effects of insulin. These studies have found that one dose of cinnamon twice a day helps lower blood sugar, cholesterol and fight gum disease.

There you have it, 5 foods to help you stay healthy. Eat well, sleep well and feel well.

Popularity: 3% [?]