Wonderful Wednesdays...

Ok, so realistically, there's nothing especially wonderful about Wednesday, it's kind of like the middle child, slightly forgotten, everyone know's it's there, but ehhhh nothing special. Unless of course you make it special. Part of my ongoing self renewal, self awareness, path, I try to find things to be grateful for everyday, as well as things that renew my soul. Today I have plenty of little things, nothing big, but as they say, the little things add up and make me realize what a good life I have. I had to go to the grocery store today, I do the bulk of my shopping at Publix about 50 miles away. I like them because of the great deals and the large availability of vegan items. I had little Millie this morning so off we went, halfway down one of the aisles she was trying to hop out of the cart and I told her she couldn't jump out, but asked what she wanted, she pointed to the shelf displaying tiny muffins, "Cookie" she plead. Instead of the nice relatively clean muffin, Papa gave her a sugar dusted mini donut. As many of you know, that leads to big big messes. It did put a smile on my face though as she stuffed the last half in and smiled and said, "cookie". I love a 2 year old. So darn cute. The great savings I got on many things I needed put the next smile on my face. The only part of the trip today put  a frown on my face was when I wanted an Iced Coffee, apparently there isn't one darn place that makes it with non dairy milk. WTF mates? I really wanted that. We made the trip back home and got everything put away, watched a little Barney, and then I asked her if she was sleepy, she jumped up and went to her bed, no fuss at all. Another smile on my face. I sat down to some peaceful time and a bowl full of beautiful watermelon, one of my favorite things on earth....another smile.

The beautiful bowl full of tomatoes picked from my garden sent the next smile.

I think I'll make a tomato salad to go with dinner tonight. Now I just have to figure out what's for dinner....some days that can be a problem, I would be happy with something very light, (it's in the mid 90's again), but my grandson will want something else, so I either have to make 2 separate meals, or combine the different preferences. I'll let you know how that turns out.

So, all in all, although it's only 2p.m., I have already found so many things to be grateful for, and so many things that make me smile. I'm truly blessed. Now if I could only get Dunkin Donuts to make me a fat free non dairy Iced Coffee, this truly would have been a Wildly Wonderful Wednesday.

I love a Sunday morning...

One of the things that gets me through a busy week is looking forward to Sunday morning. I don't know about you, but I long for it all week long. Waking up early, sitting with my cup of coffee and the Food Network shows, lingering over the Sunday paper. Seriously, who wouldn't love that? I walked through my garden this morning and picked a few tomatoes, some bell and banana peppers. It will probably all become a salad for lunch. This week has been a tough one and I'm looking forward to quiet. With watching my grandkids at the same time I was battling the "Killer Cold", plus trying to get numerous projects completed, I feel (and unfortunately, look), exhausted. Yesterday was Millie's 2nd birthday. Yay!!! It was an outside party, did I mention it was 99 here yesterday? I was sorely tempted to get into the kiddie pool with them, but I restrained myself. They cooked hot dogs on the grill, and had cake and other lovely junkie stuff. Myself and the hostess's sister are both veg and often find ourselves in the situation at get togethers where nobody has thought of providing food that we can consume. How do you handle a situation like that? Often I make something myself to bring along, or just don't have anything until I get home, but I was thinking about situations like this last night. My mom taught me that when you have people over you take into account their likes, dislikes, allergy etc...is that a lost teaching? I still do it, when I have people over I always keep their tastes in mind when providing food and drink, and even though I don't eat meat, and quite frankly find it really disgusting to have around, if we are having a family get together, like a cookout, we provide meat options as well as the veg options. Well, enough of that, on to some of the food I've had this week. Although I have been a bit too under the weather to blog, I still took pictures to share with you now. First up, a beautiful taco salad I had for lunch one day. The night before I had made taco's for the grandkids dinner, using Boca grounds as the base. The taco salad was made from those leftovers with lettuce and orange cherry tomatoes from my garden, red onion, black beans, salsa and a dollop of guacamole.

It was so delicious. I also squirted lime all over it.

On Friday night we had a simple dinner from the makings in the garden. The highlight was a platter of Fried Green Tomatoes. If you've never had them, quit reading right now, go find some green tomatoes and get em cooked, because you are missing out on something amazing. I picked about 4 small to medium green tomatoes, and sliced them up, sprinkled with salt and pepper and let sit for 10 minutes. Here they are:

After they've been sitting, I pat them with a paper towel slightly and then continue with the recipe:

Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients
4 medium green tomatoes, sliced about 1/2 inch thick, sprinkled with salt and pepper
1 cup fine white cornmeal
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 TBS Creole Seasoning, I use Tony Chachere's
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup almond or soy milk
3 tbs canola oil

1. You will need 3 shallow bowls for dreding. In first bowl, combine flour, salt and pepper. In second bowl add your milk. In last bowl combine cornmeal, breadcrumbs and Creole Seasoning.

2. Dredge your tomatoes in flour, tapping off any excess, you want a very light coating. Dip in milk, shake excess and dredge in cornmeal mixture to get a nice thick coating.

3. Heat a cast iron skilled with the 3 tbs of oil. If you don't have a cast iron, use the heaviest skillet you have, it will hold the heat better and you will need less oil.

4. Cook tomatoes in skillet over medium heat about 4 minutes per side, until golden brown. If you are cooking a large batch, keep them warm in oven set at 225 degrees.

Sauce

1/2 cup Veganaisse
1/4 cup relish, I use a homemade zucchini relish
1 tbs Louisianna Hot Sauce

Mix all the ingredients together, serve with the tomatoes.

And here is the finished product:

Okay, now you know how to make them, run and do it. As for me, this is how I plan on spending the rest of my Sunday, it's going to be another 99 degree day, so that means lots of Crystal Light Pink Lemonade:

Hit and Run...

I'm pretty sure there is a very large truck out there somewhere with bits of me all over it's tires. It has to be what hit me and then kept running back over me, because only that could have left me feeling as lousy as I did the last week. Fortunately, I believe I am on the mend. I can actually breathe out of my nose and mouth again, my lungs don't feel as though they are being squeezed in a vise and I'm not coughing up said lungs. Yay!!! Seriously folks, I'm not sure what kind of virus it was, but it hit every part of me and really played havoc with my asthma. But....I'm baaaaaack. My meals over the last week consisted of whatever I could easily grab, lots of fruit, cereal, etc...nothing to write home (or blog) about. What do you eat when you are feeling sick? For me I often want spicy comfort type food when it's a cold. When I was on about the second day of feeling sick I threw together some things in my slow cooker and it turned out delicious eaten over brown rice. Basically it was spicy lentils and chickpeas in a tomato broth, lots of Indian type spices. It really hit the spot when my head was very congested. Now that I'm feeling a bit better I need to tend to all the things I've neglected in the last week. Any one who's in charge of a household understands that. The other news to report is on my garden. Gosh I really love my garden. Makes you want to vomit right? Sorry I go on and on but for years I wanted a beautiful vegetable garden and now I have one and I take such joy from it. Anyway, on to the news, just before I started feeling ill I had pulled up all the potato plants and then the green bean plants, which had come to their natural end, and planted butterbeans. Well, they are up and starting to grow. We also pulled up the squash and put in sweet potato, I'm not sure if they'll grow, it may already be too hot here for them, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If you have a garden I hope you get as much happiness from it as I do. If not, I hope you find something today that makes you smile. Hope it's a great one...

Messages from the Universe...

Often times in my life, if I actually stop, and listen, I am given the answers I need. Sometimes, I don't listen the first time, and am given the answer multiple times. I'm pretty sure I have just been given an answer to a question, it took me several times of hearing the answer, but yes universe, I have heard you. Finally. I haven't been feeling well, for the last 6 months, probably longer. I have felt tired, never refreshed after sleep, I ache, my knees hurt, and many other things, I get alot of headaches, often feel sick to my stomach and this week I have a cold that is kicking my considerable bootie. A couple of weeks ago I went to the doctor for a checkup. I have a few chronic ailments which require monitoring, high blood pressure, iron deficient anemia, asthma. So, feeling run down and concerned the anemia had flared I trodded off the the doctor. A new doctor, ARNP actually, (in the same practice) because mine had left private practice. So as many of you know the routine, we discussed how I was feeling blah blah blah. I brought up that I have been vegetarian for many years and was about to go completely vegan, and she discussed the various ways to get a complete nutrional diet. I made the comment that "I'm pretty sure that this is what I need to start feeling better". She nodded her head a bit, and said "yes a lot of people do feel much better on a plant based diet, but you should also consider eliminating sugar, it can be a real culprit especially with your symptoms." She left it at that, allowing me to absorb the info and scheduling a follow-up. On some level I heard her, but not enough, so I went about my business. In the last two weeks I have heard a couple news reports regarding research on sugar, I saw a Dr. Oz show about it and this morning I read a blog post on Crazy Sexy Life. It was a guest post in which the writer discussed the same issues and her relationship to sugar. She conveys ridding her diet of sugar like weeding a plant. As I read that, it clicked, this I could relate to and when I read:

"I love looking at a plant and finding what doesn’t need to be there, removing injured or dying flowers, branches and leaves, and cutting away the dead wood.

Taking away the useless, even harmful parts of a bush or tree help it grow stronger, create more blooms and leaves, and result in a more vibrant plant." 

It was as if the Universe were shouting it from the rooftops...well, thank you Universe, I hear you now, and I appreciate your persistence. 

This was the final message I needed to hear, so now dear friends, I must act on it, and it's not going to be easy. As I mentioned early on, I love to bake, and so I'm going to need to relearn that particular thing. I have to be realistic though, I know I'm not going to give it up, I can't. Baking is therapy to me, when things are crazy or confusing or sad, I bake. It's calming and ritualistic, and you must be completely present because it's also scientific. So I guess I'll start experimenting with unrefined sugars and flours to deal with that issue. On the larger front I need to examine the hidden sugars my body gets. It feels all a bit overwhelming, right now my head is saying ..."hey hold on there, you want me to become vegan and sugar free all at the same time?"....well, yes, I guess that's what we'll be doing body, but let's take it easy, one meal at a time as we take  this journey. We can handle that can't we?

Ahhhh Monday.....

Usually my weekly routine is pretty structured. At the end of the week I get my daughter-in-law's schedule for the next week which dictates when I will have the children and I plan from there. The first thing I generally look at is which nights I will have them and thus need to feed them dinner, and then I look at the extra curricular activities to see if those coincide and dinner needs to be a quick affair or we can relax and linger. Somehow this week didn't happen in that fashion so on Monday late afternoon I stood strumming my fingers on the counter top trying to figure out what we'd be eating, which of course, if anyone has a 6 year old, also includes trying to balance what is available in the house with what that 6 year old will actually eat. It can be quite overwhelming as I suggest things to him and he stands shaking his head no at most offerings. The 2 year old is a piece of cake because she has been with me every day since about the age of 3 months, so she has always eaten the way I cook. All of that leads me to what was for dinner last night. I had another large pile of veg from my garden so I decided to make a Spring Veg Tart. I can put most things under a crumb topping and my grandson will eat it. For a "wing it" recipe, it came out really good and the only change I would make would be to pre cook the potatoes slightly. Here's the recipe with the added instruction of precooking the potatoes:

Spring Vegetable Tart

1 piecrust (your favorite recipe or store bought)
Olive Oil
4 oz Toffuti Cream Cheese
1 tbs finely chopped basil
1 med onion sliced thinly
1/2 red bell pepper sliced thinly
1/2 green bell pepper sliced thinly
2 small/med red potatoes sliced thinly
1 small zucchini sliced thinly
1 Japanese eggplant sliced thinly
4 roma tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence
Salt and Pepper to taste

Topping:
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbs melted vegan margarine

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Spray a baking sheet and lay potato slices in a single layer, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Bake for 10 -15 minutes, until they are just slightly brown and softened. In a saute pan with about 2 tsp olive oil cook the onion, peppers and garlic until golden brown.
3. In small bowl combine all topping ingredients.
4. Lay your pie crust into a pie pan and flute edges. Prebake for 10 minutes.
5. Mix cream cheese and basil together until very soft, spreadable and combined. Spread on bottom of prebaked pie crust.
6. Layer the vegetables in this order sprinkling a little Herbes de Provence, salt and pepper between layers, onion pepper mixture, potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes and then zucchini. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover, top with Panko topping and bake for additional 25 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 15-20 minutes. Slice and serve.

This was a really tasty, fresh dinner. While the prep and cooking times are a bit long, once it's in the oven you've got time to carry on with other things, in my case, setting the table, getting the kids baths and after dinner we had time to read books on the porch, which we always enjoy. Although my granddaughter seems slightly confused, I was reading O Magazine and she kept pointing to Oprah and saying "Mama". Is there something I don't know?

In any case, another Vegan Monday down, with only minimal effort. Yay Monday!!!

Weekend Recap

Do you ever have one of those weekends where you know there are certain things to get done, but you never find the possibility of doing it? That was how my weekend went. I kept wanting to update this blog, but with something constantly popping up, didn't get the chance. So instead you will get a weekend recap.

Friday night....found me with my darling grandson. His other grandma and grandpa were in town last week and on Friday before he got home from school they decided to visit their other daughter in Tallahassee and took the baby Millie with them. So my grandson was out of sorts and felt very left out. I can't stand to see him sad like that and feeling dejected so I asked him if he wanted to spend the night with me, and of course he did. With nothing playing at the movies, our entertainment prospects were slim. We decided on a campfire in the backyard and a SmartDogs weenie roast. Brian LOVES a hot dog and the only thing he loves better is when he is allowed a campfire for roasting. So that's what we did, and I must say, we enjoyed ourselves entirely. I love time spent with this child so much, he's at a wonderful age (6) and really enjoys the outdoors. We roasted our hot dogs and then scavenged the cupboards for the last of some vegan marshmallows I had, and made smores for dessert. Not healthy at all, but it was worth it, my grandson was able to feel loved and cherished, which he is. Here are our Friday night pictures:

SmartDogs Weenie Roast

I like mine with the works, Ketchup, Mustard, Relish, Onions

Brian likes his plain, no condiments, on a bun. 

Smore's deliciousness

On Saturday morning we had to wake up, and get things moving, Brian had a baseball game at 8:30, whoever invented the early morning little league game was cruel. He had a great game though and scored his second homerun of the season. I took video, but I won't embarass myself by showing it here. My daughter said upon watching it, and hearing me overzealously cheering him on, "you do realize this is only 6 year olds right"....blah blah blah, I'll cheer if I want to. Saturday afternoon was spent gardening and getting some things done in the house. My potato plants were about on their last legs so I pulled them up, reworked the dirt and put in Butterbeans, which to my northern friends is a Lima bean. Whichever you call them, they are delicious, and one of those veggies that I don't have to use persuasion to get Brian to eat, he loves them. His baby sister Millie adores them, and will eat only that if it's allowed. We had a bit of company on Saturday afternoon which was nice and then I started to feel sick later in the day on Saturday and woke to real illness Sunday morning. My head hurt, sore throat, sick to my tummy. Not a fun morning. 

Sunday, Mother's Day, was spent quietly. I wasn't feeling well, so that was a big reason. The other is this, my two children now live far away. My youngest, my daughter lives in Australia. She moved there in November 2011 and it makes me very sad that  she's so far away, but a mom's job is to give her children wings, and she has them. She enjoys new experiences and adventures and will take on whatever she finds. My son, Brian's dad, now lives in Ohio. So it was a sad day for me not to have them close. Brian's mom, my ex-daughter-in-law, is always very mindful of that and lovingly shares those two darlings. It's nice that they live right across the road. Brian came over later in the day on Sunday and begged me to give him some basketball coaching so we went to the back for a bit. Then we watched a little tv and I sent him on his way home. In the evening I skyped (got to love technology) with my daughter and then decided to call it a night. This morning I woke feeling slightly better, head still hurts as well as my throat, but so far I've kept down my coffee. Yay!!! So, here's to a lovely weekend filled with love and the start of a busy busy week. The first week of my vegan journey has come to a close. It's been filled with delicious food and a full heart. 

It's already Thursday!!! The last two days have been incredibly full and busy. I've been trying to finish up a couple of projects I've got going on, canning all the goodies from my garden and of course taking care of those darling grandchildren. It all would be enough to send me running towards the nearest bag of potato chips, but you'll be happy to know I resisted. What kept me from diving head first into a bag you ask? Two things, I didn't buy any so there's none hanging around the house, and I prepared for these occasions by keeping some good things on hand in case I got super hungry or wanted a snack. Those good things were lots of fruit that I peeled, chopped etc and had waiting in bowls in the refrigerator, and Lara Bars in my cupboard and purse. Often times I find myself looking at the clock, it's 11 a.m. and I'm ravenous and realize I haven't eaten anything yet. That's actually happened a lot this week with so much going on. Luckily I was able to pull out cubes of fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, or grapes and snack on that while I prepared an easy meal. I also had cooked quite a bit over the weekend so I had things on standby in the freezer to pull out, like beet burgers, my new favorite veggie burger. I make a batch and then freeze them individually and pull them out to cook when I need a good, nutritious meal, yet I want it to taste fantastic. I'm not one of those people who can eat healthy food just for the sake of it being healthy, I need it to taste great, not just good, but great. These beet burgers fit the bill. The recipe is one I adapted from here...http://www.theppk.com/2012/02/quarter-pounder-beet-burger. I'll let you get the recipe from that site, but I'll tell you that while I follow the basics of it, using the beets, brown rice and lentils, I changed the spices for mine to suit my own tastes. So instead of the thyme, fennel, and mustard, I use 1 tsp roasted cumin, 1 tsp ancho chili powder, 1/2 tsp Mexican oregano, 1 minced chipotle chili and 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. I also use tahini instead of the almond butter, and I make 6 burgers from it instead of 4. The rest of it remains the same including the process, because let's face it, Isa is a Goddess and I worship at her feet. These delicious burgers were on the menu today, served with green beans and potatoes from my garden and corn from the farmers market. You definitely want to try these burgers, even if you think you don't like beets, you will love these and get all the health benefits. My six year old grandson loves them, and believe me that's not an easy task to accomplish. You get to see a few of the steps to the burgers below and then a dazzling picture of the final result. Lucky you, luckier me for getting to eat it.

 The Beet Burger mixture after you've combined everything. Looks shockingly like beef, but thankfully no beautiful cows were harmed in the making of these lovelies.

 A stack of burgers ready for the freezer. I got this tupperware burger stacker at a yard sale for $1. I love a yard sale.

Today's delicious dinner. Beet burger on wheat bun with mustard and relish, roasted new red potatoes, green beans and corn on the cob  served my favorite way with chili powder and lime squirted on it. Heaven on a plate. 

Now you know how I survive busy days, being prepared. Time to go chop some mango for tomorrow, btw, I've never eaten mango before but they were on sale for $1 each at Publix. So I'm up for something new.

Garden Dining....

My vegetable garden is providing me with a daily abundance of beautiful veggies. This of course is making my vegan path quite lovely at this time of year. I think I chose pretty wisely to make this jump now. I started my day at 5:30 a.m. out in the garden picking the lovely offerings. I got 3 gallons of green beans, assorted peppers (green, banana, jalapeno), another eggplant, zucchini and about 20 red potatoes. Seems like a lot right? My garden must be huge you say? No, it's actually not. I have one raised bed which measures 16x16, another which is 4x16 (it is home to the squash and zucchini), various plants snuggled up against the house and a couple of lettuce/spinach beds that I keep on my front porch out of the blazing sun. Oh, and of course I have 10 tomato plants in containers that are kept in the little area on the side of the house.  Really not that big at all, just well plotted out and this year it is all producing quite heavily.

So here's how my day went. After starting with coffee, I did my garden work (just picking really), had some breakfast consisting of a bowl of pineapple and a Green Smoothie (lots of antioxidants and protein), worked on a few work reports (have to pay the bills somehow). Early afternoon found me in the kitchen whipping up a batch of Smoky Chickpeas (recipe courtesy of Robin Robertson and can be found here (http://veganplanet.blogspot.com/) and a Mushroom and Chickpea loaf (meatloaf style), which I slice and use in sandwiches during the week when things get busy. After I got those 2 cooking items out of the way I picked some assorted lettuce and whipped up a yummy salad. It consisted of the lettuce, cucumbers, yellow and orange bell peppers, banana pepper, Greek olives and the Smoky Chickpeas, and topped with a simple vinaigrette.

 Lunchtime Garden Salad with Smoky Chickpeas

Smoky Chickpeas...these things are addictive.

The rest of my day was spent working, picking up my grandson from school, shuttling him to his T-Ball game (which ended up being rained out), and then back home again to get dinner ready. Tonight's dinner was of course culled mainly from the garden. I sauteed zucchini, eggplant, peppers, onion and tomatoes with a little olive oil, added fresh parsley, oregano and basil, a large pinch of red pepper flakes and a bit of salt and pepper and served it over whole wheat penne. It was outstanding. I love dinner from the garden, it really doesn't get much more local than that. 

Well, that's how my day progressed. Another few steps in my vegan journey, and they have been magnificent.

It's my first official day as a vegan!!! Yay go me!!! Ok to lay all my cards on the table here, although it's my first OFFICIAL day, I've often eaten vegan, and often cook vegan. My 22 year old daughter has been vegan for about 7 years now. So I do have quite a bit of knowledge on the subject under my belt. I also follow many vegan bloggers. I just haven't always eaten the way I intellectually know I should. We understand each other? Okay then, moving on. I've already had a pretty busy day. I went out to my vegetable garden and picked a bucket full of cucumbers, both the eating kind and the pickling kind. The eating kind I quickly divided up to give  most away, I'm currently up to my eyeballs in cucumbers and cannot possibly eat all of them. The pickling kind I made into Spicy Garlic Pickles (my fave). I got 10 jars out of it. Add that to the 12 jars of Bread and Butter Squash Pickles I did last week. Yep, it's canning season around here.

 Spicy Garlic Pickles

Bread and Butter Squash Pickles

"Around Here" by the way, happens to be Sneads, Florida. Never heard of it? Not many have. When most people think Florida, they think, Miami, Tampa, Orlando....yeah, it's none of those, not even close. Sneads is in the panhandle of Florida, very close to the Alabama and Georgia lines. That makes us very very influenced by the south. Very rural, quite "redneck", very very southern. I'm originally from Rhode Island but moved here 16 years ago. I really love it most of the time. Really the only time I don't is when I'm searching for vegan/vegetarian friendly food. It can be a bit difficult. Another obstacle to my vegan path, but one that can definitely be overcome. I just drive 50 miles to Tallahassee. I also keep a vegetable garden almost year round, (definitely a perk to living here), and don't rely on processed food, not even the vegan kind. I figure if I'm making this journey towards health it really defeats the purpose to buy processed vegan food. So I've been stocking up on recipes and tweaking them to my tastes and I try to make batches of things and keep them in the freezer for those busy days, which can be quite alot of the time. I keep my grandchildren (ages 6 and 2) every day during the week,  and with school, T-Ball and all the other various things, the days can be hectic. Well, that's about it, time to go pick up my grandson from school. 

I'm including the recipes for the Spicy Garlic Pickles below, I hope you enjoy them.  

Spicy Garlic Pickles

*makes 10 pint jars

6 cups water

6 cups white vinegar or apple cider vinegar

6 tablespoons of pickling salt

2-3 cloves garlic per jar

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes per jar

18 pickling cucumbers

1.Sterilize jars and linds in boiling water.

2.Prepare Water Canning Pot.

3.In a large saucepan bring the water, vinegar and salt to a boil.

4. Slice cucumbers into 1/4 inch rounds.

5. Place 2-3 cloves garlic (the amount depends on how much you like garlic and the size of the cloves), the cucumber slices and the pepper flakes into the jars. Ladle the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumbers until they are covered by the liquid and put lids on and bands. 

6. Place jars into the canner and bring back to a boil, after the water is boiling, allow to boil for 5 minutes ( some people feel it is necessary to boil for 10 minutes but I always do 5 and never have a problem) boiling for 5 ensures the pickles stay crisp. 

7. Remove from canner and allow to cool for 24 hours before labeling and storing. Will keep 12 months. 

My Virgin Post

It's Sunday May 6, 2012 and this is my very first post. I've recently made the decision to jump wholeheartedly into veganism. I came to this decision for many reasons, the main one being health and the secondary being an ongoing inner debate about conscious eating. I've been a vegetarian for 6 years and have dabbled with being vegan, always falling off the wagon, so to speak, when it comes to cheese. The time for playing is over. I'm 47 years old and lost both my parents before they reached the age of 55, and a brother at the age of 39. All to diseases that could have been prevented through diet. There is no cheese good enough to make me want to die in the next 8 years, which is what I figure my life span will be if I don't get serious about things. Here are the roadblocks to my getting my health in order...the aforementioned cheese issue, and my love for baking. I LOVE TO BAKE, and I'm good at it. So I need to be able to satisfy my love for baking and still maintain a healthy existence. This is a tough one. I am hoping that blogging when the going gets tough will help me maintain  my new healthier eating lifestyle. I need to do it, I currently take 4 medications for my blood pressure and need to lose weight. So here we go, day one starts tomorrow morning. I hope you'll join me on this journey and speak up whenever you feel like it. I'll be talking about everyday life, food, my garden, challenges etc. Here's to life, let's make it a great one.