Mini Pizza

Addisyn recently had a pizza party at her preschool and I wanted her to feel included so I put together some mini  pizzas that can be frozen then easily baked for lunch, dinner, a snack or to stick in a lunch box for a pizza party!

One box of english muffins

Bag or block of vegan mozzarella

Canned tomato sauce (cook the tomato sauce on the stove with a little olive oil and garlic and what ever seasonings you want, bring to a boil then simmer for 15 min.)

One can of olives (chopped)

New Cookbooks

We got a few new cookbooks for Christmas and we love them! I especially love the Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook by Kim Barnouin, she has a few other books that I can't wait to read and a really great blog http://www.healthybitchdaily.com/.

Happy Cooking!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream!

Addisyn like any child LOVES ice cream, we have tried the store bought dairy free ones and really enjoy them, but when we have none in the house I make my own. It only takes a few minutes and is so yummy!

In a food processor throw in a few frozen bananas, process them until they are chopped small, slowly add a little bit of non dairy milk until the bananas become nice and smooth. Be careful not to add too much liquid, you don't want it to become to runny.  Add the peanut butter and chocolate and process, taste it and add more if needed. Scoop into a bowl or a cone and enjoy!

We have done this with all kinds of fruits and what ever add ins we have in the house or are craving at the time. It's fun for kids to watch and an easy this for them to help with.

Enjoy!

Welcome 2011!

It has been one year since we started our Vegan journey and started this blog. We get questions all the time about what we are eating and that we are doing about clothing, products and how Addisyn is doing compared to other non vegan children. So we created a place for friends and family to go and see what we are cooking, what products we are using and how we are incorporating veganism into our lives. I haven’t been as good about updating as I would like to be and that is something that I will strive to do in 2011.


This year has been big, we have had allot of changes, we moved across the country and again had to leave wonderful friends behind. It was bitter sweet move, we were really excited to get back to the coast and back to family but sad to leave the life we had created in the north.

We went Vegan, and while at home it is a very easy thing to do, out in the world it is a whole other story. We are doing what we think is best for our family, we try to choose the best possible option in different situations and learn from every one of those choices good of bad.

For example this year after much discussion and debate we decided to be non vegans for the holidays. We intended it to be just the Thanksgiving meal and the Christmas meal but it ended up being a few days around each holiday.

Some of our reasons for choosing to do this was because we didn’t want to put anyone out, we didn’t want to be a burden to those fixing the holiday meals and we didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. In the end we fell like it was the wrong choice for us. The guilt that we felt was more than I anticipated and we were feeling very hypocritical. We want to set a good example for our children and while this year Addisyn doesn’t really understand what was going on what happens next year when she questions why we are going against our beliefs and choosing to eat meat or dairy. How do we justify that to her and how is that teaching her to be a strong independent woman and to stand behind her beliefs (whatever those may be) if we are showing her that we don’t?

I’m not going to say I regretted our choice of being non vegan for the holidays because if we never did it we would never be feeling this way and we would never know that this was something that didn’t work for us. This is all al learning experience, trial and error. Learning what realistically works best for our family.

We have learned allot in 2010, veganism has opened our eyes to not just things food related but many other issues that are going on around our world. We have become so much more aware of our environmental footprint, and while we are not perfect we are doing our best to treat lightly on our mother earth.

This year our New Year resolutions are much the same as anyone’s, be more active, get strict with a budget, more family time, less TV time……I’m really excited about them all and for the first time ever I know that we are able to stick to a resolution, we are able to make drastic changes on our lives for the better and I feel that 2011 is going to be an amazing year!

Happy New Year to you all!

XOXOX

Katie, Lonny, Addisyn and Toby!

Merry Christmas!

The last 3 years we have been in Wisconsin and were unable to spend the holidays with family. This year we were thrilled to be able to go to my parents house for their annual Christmas Eve celebration!

Friends and family!

My wonderful friend Kim! We have been friends for 31 years and have been spending Christmas Eve together at my parents for at least 20 years.

Jamaica and Kim! We have all spent Christmas together since we were in High School. I feel so blessed to have these amazing women in my life! Due to Kim and I moving away this is the first time in 5 years that we were all here at Christmas together!

Our little family!

Our tree at home! We went with a fake one this year for a few different reasons. The space we have is small, the cost of buying a tree every year and the simple fact that we are cutting down a perfectly good tree to stick inside our house. I did struggle with the fact that this tree is most likely made of toxic material and will one day be sitting in a landfill (we would donate it if we were ever to get rid of it). I grew up with a living one, and that would be a good option, but since we move around so much that might not be something that we can do until we are out of the military. I don't know what the answer is....this is the first year we are really thinking about it and looking to make a change.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Our First Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread Vegans

Vegan Lunch Box

By Jennifer McCann

1/3 cup earth balance butter, at room temp
1 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 cup sweet unsulphured molasses
¾ cup water
6 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon allspice


Cream together butter, brown sugar, molasses and ½ cup water. In another brown sift together the flour, baking soda, salt cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, adding just enough of the water to incorporate all the flour and form a dough that holds well together.

Turn the dough out of the bowl and form 4 equal balls. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper and spray with non sick spray. Set aside.

Working with one ball at a time roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and a lightly floured rolling pin. Roll the dough about ¼ inch think and use cookie cutters to cut your desired shapes. Place on cookie sheet 1-2 inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 min, until surface is firm.



Icing

1 cup sifted powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ tablespoon Silk Nog or 1 tablespoon water
Food coloring (optional)


Combine the powdered sugar and vanilla. Sprinkle in the Silk Nog or water, stirring well with a spatula and using just enough liquid to make a smooth icing. Add food coloring id desired and decorate!

Enjoy!