Grocery Shopping yeah!!

We finally went grocery shopping! Unfortunately it was mostly for Amerie and Tim…but hey at least they have food..now as long as they don’t eat it all within a week!!! When there’s no food they complain but they survive..when there is food, they eat all of it too quickly so within a week they are once again complaining! Crazy kids I have..you would think that I had two teenage boys or something with the way they throw down!

So I woke up early this morning slightly hungry…hanging on by a food thread and decided that I wanted old-fashioned restaurant style oatmeal. As a kid (and teen =-)) I always loved going to a breakfast diner and ordering oatmeal or cereal. Sad, I know, (trust me they all thought I was crazy) considering I could make oatmeal or cereal easily and probably more affordable at home, but I liked the fact that it came ready to be assembled by the hungry, crafty me..I mean what kid doesn’t like to assemble his/hers meal! So I decided I would make my oatmeal that way..I cooked my oats in a little less than recommended water, served it in a bowl with a small dollop of buttery spread and assembled it with three mini-bowls filled with almonds and flax, cinnamon brown sugar and cold soy milk lining the bowl and on the side, some cantaloupe sprinkled with flax and almonds. I had a blast stirring my oatmeal, pouring in some milk, and topping it with my sugar and nuts! I also actually used less milk and sugar then what I would have used if I cooked and prepared it all together. That made preparing it “restaurant style”, so worth it!!!! As for Tim and Amerie, they had their “becoming a Saturday Tradition” bowl of cream of wheat and some fruit! Yum-Yum!!

So I decided after breakfast I would do a quick ab workout; double crunches, side “crunches”, bridges, etc. Well that was a bad idea because for the rest of the day I had the worse stomach cramps and pains! Silly me. But before we left to go shopping we went ahead and had lunch and I got in a request for Garlic-Ginger Broccoli and some spaghetti noodles, so while I prepared and cooked Amerie and Tim’s meal, I decided to have a simple grilled hummus sandwich and some Garlic-Ginger Broccoli topped with cashews, but then I thought about my one apple slice snack from yesterday and decided to add apple slices into my sandwich. Very, very good!
I loved the creamy hummus combined with the juicy crunch of the apple. The combination was just as good as yesterday…mmmmm..mmm

As for our grocery shopping..I was pleased to find that Tim and Amerie finally filled their area in the food pantry, fridge and freezer back up..as for me I was very very disappointed..I usually buy Giant brand Natural Smooth Peanut Butter but decided to go for Smucker’s Natural this time since I had a coupon (Gotta save money!!) and I wanted to see if there was any difference in taste, texture and oil content. But as I went to grab two jars I found that Wal-Mart had ran out!!!! I was sooo upset!!! So tomorrow I’m going to Food Lion to go get my PB….I have to feed my addiction!!! We had so much fun though. We explored the food aisles, finding old favorite and discovering new things to try… a good family trip in all. Afterwards we were starving so we stopped by Chipotle on the way home and had a enjoyable, relaxing and delicious dinner outside in the warm and breezy afternoon weather before we had to go home and unpack.


Chipotle is one of our favorite “fast food” restaurants to go to. The meals are pretty reasonably priced and very filling and satisfying; and they support local family farms buying all natural food and naturally, hormone free, organic meats so even though I’m vegan, I love the fact they support our locals and that my husband and daughter’s meal is actually healthy for them in so many different ways! For more info, definitely check out the site at www.chipotle.com. Anyways. As for my meal: I love to get a Burrito Bol which is a Burrito in a Bol instead of in a tortilla. It’s layered with Cilantro-Lime Rice, Grilled Veggies, black beans, corn or tomato salsa, creamy guacamole and lettuce..the best vegan meal ever!!!!! Seriously! Tim adores the place and Amerie loves eating rice, meat, guacamole and cheese and, most of all, the freshly made warm, salt and lime flavored, Tostitos chips. If you have never been you need to go, because as a Vegan it’s the most satisfying, delectable Mexican meal you could ever dream of!!!

Super full and now, feeling tired and reluctant to go home and unpack..we headed out and finished our day unpacking, slicing and washing meats and other foods that needed to be stored in separate packaging, rearranging and kind of cleaning the fridge, freezer and pantry with Amerie and Kaya running around talking and screaming, keeping themselves entertained while we finished up. Then the Redskin’s (YEAH REDSKIN’S) VS the Jets came on just in time, so we ended the day with a well deserved Ice-Cold Bud Light to relax…..auhhh!

Cooking Lesson One: Read the Instructions..

A little less than a week ago, I made Tex Mex Tortilla that for some reason wouldn’t wrap up right until I discovered I hadn’t fully read the instructions right…salsa was supposed to be served on top or on the side not inside….well that was all my fault..well “Fool me once, shame on me..fool me twice, shame on you” because this time it was more their fault then mine!

Next fruity victim up for breakfast: The fuzzy, juicy peach!! We had planned on going to church today, but serviced started at 10 and we had to leave at 9:30 AM so I needed a quick breakfast. I wanted something creamy to go with my peaches….I was thinking a hot, fruity breakfast wrap with cream cheese and fruit, but I decided just to do a quick look up of vegan recipes at my two fave sites..vegcooking.com and chooseveg.com just to kind of see if there was anything good to try out. Well, I didn’t find anything good for breakfast. So I searched a little more and found a great site called all-creatures.org which contains a serious load of recipes and on it I found a healthy and nutritious breakfast; Peach Banana Crisp that can be tossed together and microwaved. Perfect!!! Quick, Easy, Nutritious, Hearty and reallly yummy!




So last night I sliced the peach, combined all the dry ingredients in a container, and in the morning, threw them all in a oven-proof dish, stirred and threw it in the microwave for 5 minutes. Well, the house began to smell absolutely wonderful as my crisp was being nuked…then when it was finished I realized that it looked and smelled wonderful, but something wasn’t right…first, I might have overcooked it a little considering the recipe called for a family-of-four size dish and I modified it to make a single one, so I probably should have just nuked it for half the time or baked it, but that was a “I’m half asleep and have no common sense” mistake. But you know when you cook something and it’s absolutely delicious but you know something didn’t go right in the cooking process because of the way it looks?? That’s what happened to my crisp….It smelled so delicious..I love the smell of warm peaches…the flavor…the sweet and tart juicy peaches combined with the starchy subtle banana, the oats; slightly moist and chewy, plump juicy raisins and crunchy warm walnuts..iand I added a splash of cold milk..it just seemed right..it was soo scrumptious! I fell in love with it and decided to add it to my breakfast category list…but as for the mistake….

I looked at the recipe again and ..”Oh My Goodness..Not AGAIN!”…”Place all the ingredients in a covered glass or baking dish…COVERED…but as the instructions go on it never actually says to cover the dish before you throw it in the microwave or oven…but as I searched the other crisp recipes they had..some of them said cover before throwing…whatever!!! So I have come to learn a great cooking lesson and experience….read every bit of instructions and stop scanning!! Because obviously there are hidden details in these well written instructions that can make or break a dish! But I also learned something else….that although it may be a mistake due to the lack of attention to detail…that mistake might make the dish better tasting and more pleasing and appetizing then the resulting dish of following the instructions…I loved it the way it was… warm, chewy and melt in your mouth good!



Amerie's Brekfast: Yogurt with Tapioca Balls, toast, and peaches, grapes and blueberries

It was 1pm when church ended and we were famished!!! Tim wanted expensive Golden Corral so we just went..we were hungry enough for a buffet! What I hated though was the fact that they don’t have a price for just the salad bar..but I had a great salad, lots of fresh fruit, steamed veggies, potato and I discovered the best vegan dessert for anyone stuck at a buffet….an ice cream cone with crushed Oreos and shredded coconut (from the toppings at the ice cream bar and yes, Oreos are vegan!!!)..Oreos and coconut go so well together and I just love eating plain cones! I was addicted! I had two tiny plates of the stiff and a cone!! Soo good…..as for Tim and Amerie..those two threw down..let’s just say those two alone ate enough to cover my cost!!





As for dinner…yeah we were way too full to cook anything so I had a tea and some crackers with cream cheese, peanut butter and strawberry preserves and later on a glass of OJ with ice and frozen blueberries which was really sweet but satisfying, Amerie had some PB and J crackers too and Tim had OJ with pretzels and raisins…

Overall it was a pleasant day……a Happy, pleasant day!!

Let's Have Fun!!!

I’ve come to the realization of something..this blog about my life, my food, my family…I found that the reason I am doing this is because I need to talk. I am a stay-at-home mom with a perky toddler. I am not into the mommy and baby social clubs because I’m not that confident or comfortable to be there with just my daughter and I..I’m one who likes to go out with my husband as a family or be one on one with close friends or family…it’s weird honestly because I love being social and going to social gathering in the neighborhood and such…I just like to keep close by to my family and try to stay slightly reserved not to get involved in any drama or gossip… and my husband doesn’t really want to chat when he gets home from a hard day’s work so I’m left to expressing myself through my daughter’s daily diary I have of her describing our days and any milestones she’s reached and through this blog..but I’m talking too much so Ima tone it down a notch…let’s see if it works!

First and Foremost you are welcome anytime to ask for RECIPES..I will be glad to share them and where I got them from..if I can remember!

So Friday’s is our outing day..we usually go to my mom’s so she can see her Mimi, Pappaw, Tita and Tito as well as Alexis the Dog and Shelley the Cat. We either go out and chill…so today we went out and went shopping with them! Well, I usually make my lunch and bring it with me whether we stay in or go out with Mimi…which means yes…there are times I bring and eat my food at fast food sit down restaurants (NO NOT Sit Down Only restaurants…I’m not that ghetto!!!) while the rest of my family, including my daughter orders food because I’m tired of eating plain old salads with Fat Free Italian..these places don’t offer anything vegan and I find it a waste of money to order a chicken salad for almost 7 dollars without the chicken, cheese, bacon, croutons etc…so I make my own food to enjoy and I am not ashamed…my family finds me a little cookoo but they have gotten used to it..plus it does save me money!!! But anyways….breakfast it is…


I think I found this one on the P.B. Loco website..anyways it’s a Cinnamon and Raisin Peanut Butter, Vanilla Cream Cheese and Granny Smith Apple Stuffed French Toast with Caramel Granny Smith Apples in butter, sugar and nutmeg on top with a sprinkle of walnuts…it sounds complicated but it actually took no time and it was sweet, creamy, tart and crunchy and actually pretty darn delectable! =-) Amerie had a plum, two eggs, and a honey vanilla rice cake topped with baby apple yogurt and half of my caramel apples and a drizzle of honey….It was so funny actually…my daughter loves eggs but not the yolk so she ate all her whites and played with her yolk, then she destroyed the plum and munched on the rice cake but preferred a crunchier one instead…well I was working on getting us ready..snacks, drinks and all.. when I discovered she had finished her plum…well there is a pit and I couldn’t find it…I was like there’s no way she could have swallowed it..I began to panic thinking am I going to have to take her to the doctors???..will she poop it out??..Fortunately I found it in her lap and obviously underestimated the size because the pits are no bigger than a penny…bad mommy move!

For lunch my mom and dad took us out where I had to dive into yet another side salad with Italian dressing, some crackers and a dry baked potato..but I love baked potatoes so it wasn’t too bad! The rest of our day was filled with fun as we went shopping for clothes and shoes (thanks to my parents =-) and played a little soccer outside for a little while before dinner since my husband was practicing on his soccer moves for the upcoming season..then dinner was simple

I had make my lunch this morning thinking I was gonna need it but was told to leave it home so my food was ready to plate and eat…I made Pasta, Black Beans and Salsa Salad (Eat, drink and be vegan book)..it actually called for orzo but I subbed elbow mac instead since I didn’t have any orzo and didn’t want rice…I love pasta, black beans and salsa together…it’s the best meal ever!!! The flavors just meld so well together. As for Amerie and Tim, they had Stir Fried Chicken and Broccoli and Rice! And Amerie ate her chicken..surprise!!


After dinner we did a little house checking outing and saw some nice places…of course all I really look at is the kitchen..I want space and lots of countertops!!! We can’t wait to purchase a home of our own…now if only I can get a job! Best time to buy a house, the worse time to find a job..go figure! It’s all in God’s time!

Verse of the Day: Romans 8:38 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither heights nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God..” So powerful I had to write it down!!!