Comments, questions . . . .

Hey y'all! I've been catching some shit from friends who want to leave comments but don't have a blogger account. Let me just apologize, I didn't even know that I had selected that option. I'm pretty new to this blogging thing and the situation has been rectified. So please feel free to leave a comment and keep reading the adventures!

Have a great day!

Tacos, a no-go!

Just a quick entry to tell you about the little vegan taco's that couldn't. Brad and I eat a lot of tacos. We love them! So we decided to try the vegan tacos, after eating vegetarian tacos for years. Some of you may be wondering, what the hells the difference?

Well let me tell you, it's all in the cheese. Normally we use Yves Ground Round, salsa, tomatos, whatever we can find and marble cheese, LOTS of marble cheese.

This day, however, we tried out a different kind of ground round called LightLife Smart Ground, which I'm sure was good but I didn't get to taste much. It kind of mushed up a little in the frying pan. Anyways, vegan cheese is so gross to me (the kind I have anyways) and especially raw. So I thought, why don't I melt the cheese in with the 'meat' beforehand so I won't notice it. HUGE MISTAKE!

I took two bites and all I could taste was the cheese's disgusting chemically wierd taste. I couldn't take anymore bites. I'm sad to say that I threw my tacos out. I would have shared them with Brad, but he loved the tacos so much that he ate all his and couldn't eat anymore he was so stuffed.

Verdict: Keep trying Vegan Cheese to find the right one. Keep cheese separate from all other things in case you don't like cheese but could eat the rest of a dish!

Brad's Verdict: He likes tacos.

Stir fry, a land of discovery!

Let's make a list of things that I ate in this stir fry and have never eaten before but now do . . .

Ginger, sesame marinated tofu (although, I didn't like this particular tofu, I will keep trying)
Stir fry Vegetables: mini corn
waterchestnuts
sprouts
Thai Rice Noodles

Now I've only ever eaten a stir fry twice in my life, Brad made them to my very picky specifications and I liked them.

This stir fry was different. Brad started by crumbling the tofu up in the cooked onions. Too Gross for me!

Then we threw in the stir fry vegetables and cooked them up. They weren't as crisp as our fresh vegetable stir fry, but they looked bright and delicous. That's when Brad said "Hey I thought you didn't like water chestnuts. They're in these vegetables." I was going to have to try them.

We added in the noodles and mixed it all together and served! Honestly, this stir fry was ok. I didn't enjoy the tofu, it weirded me out a bit. I loved the veggies and the noodles. Resident Skeptic Brad liked the stir fry alot. But I'm beginning to think he'll eat anything as long as I'm cooking. I guess that's ok with me!

Cucumbers!

This is another phobia post. I've believed my entire 25 years of living that I hate cucumbers. Cucumbers are my brothers favorite vegetable. I am sickened by them. I hate it when they hide them in salads and wraps.

Today I got a salad and on top were three cucumbers just taunting me, saying "Hee! Hee! We are gross! We are getting our disgusting cucumber juice all over your delicious salad! Watch out tomato because we're spreading our disease!"

So I'm sitting there at my meeting looking at the discarded cucumbers on the side of my plate thinking: Do I really not like cucumbers or is this just one of my strange dillusions? Could I even remember eating a cucumber ever?

I decided that in the spirit of my new lifestyle, a choice needed to be made. I must try the cucumber. I must take a bite and just taste it. If I don't like it then that's fine, I'll give up on cucumbers forever. But, if this is like the fruitcake situation, and I like it even though I thought I always hated it, I could be stumbling upon something worthwhile here.

And so I did. I took a big bite. How can I describe for you my surprise? It tastes like the white rind of watermelon. It's not disgusting, it's good! I like cucumber! Mindboggling!

And so it is, another discovery has taken place. Another vegetable has been introduced successfully. Cucumbers . . . and I thought they were only good for one thing! I KID!

I had a dream . . .

I had a bun. I had a banana. I had peanut butter. I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich phobia. That's right! I was scared to try peanut butter and bananas on bread. Together.

I looked that phobia right in the face and said "You can't keep ME down!" I took that bun, spread on that peanut butter, sliced up that banana, and stuck em right on!

Brad came out to be a part of this momentous day and thought he should have a sandwich too.

That's right folks, I HAD a peanut butter and banana sandwich phobia, but now I have a new favorite sandwich. If it's good enough for the King, it's good enough for me.

Berry Muffins

I had to use up that damned silken tofu! There was no way I was letting it go bad! I started doing some research about what other foods I could make with it. Then I saw it . . . what dessert food do I love to make now that I got my Magic Bullet? Muffins of course! My Bullet came with some recipes about making muffins, so I followed it and then added the Tofu in instead of egg. I whizzed it all up and then added a handful of the frozen berries that I keep on hand for smoothies.

As you can see, it made a perfect batch of six large muffins. So I put it into the oven and waited. and waited. and waited! They took forever! Silly me, I put too much tofu in and not enough dry ingredients! When they were finally cooked through, they sagged in the middle. It got worse as they cooled off!
So in the end, I couldn't even try one because they looked so disgusting! I wasted that damned tofu! Oh well I just bought some more.

The Cat Paradise - Stage 1

Brad and I decided that the cats needed to stop clawing on the doors and the trim, a logical decision. So Brad made this cat post thing that they never used. We needed something more. Landon the white, loves scratching or "washing with his paws" at anything and does it constantly. He also loves to climb up high to get away from it all (read "Sassafrass").

Sassafrass is still young and loves running around and playing and sleeping, so we needed something for her to have fun on. And let's face it, we're like the best cat parents EVER!

We'd been talking about it for a while, but nothing was rolling on it. Then one day a few weeks ago, Brad started looking up ideas online and that night we had our plan! We spent 2 and a half hours at Home Depot trying to work out the logistics of it. Would we use wood or cardboard cementing tubes? How would we secure cardboard to wood? It was a difficult road but we got er done. We decided that 4x4 cedar posts would work well with decking brackets for support.

Now Brad has done so much work on this thing it's crazy. It's more than 6 feet high! But it's almost all the way built, we just need to add on the top landing, carpet the platforms, wrap sisal rope around the posts for scratching, create a fabric hammock for under the base, and find the little tubes and houses that are on the plan that we couldn't make ourselves. All in all it's looking good, and the cats have stopped scratching on the house and focus their claws of death on the Cat Paradise. They also love climbing onto it already and laying on the platforms. We know it's a success so far. I can't wait to see the final product!

French Toast! again!

So it's Saturday and I've just eaten a miracle of bread and batter! My first real tofu experience that I wasn't looking at someone else making it, saying "EWWWW!" It started a little weird, a nice queef from the tofu as it slid out of it's tetra-pac style box.

But I regained my composure and did what I had to do. I followed my awesome recipe from the awesome Sarah Kramer (author of How it All Vegan and La Dolce Vegan) putting the tofu and all the other ingredients in my Magic Bullet. Then I started cooking!

When it was all cooked I let Brad the Brave have the first taste test. Just to let you know, Brad is a meateater and he's the resident Skeptic here at Manic Pandemic, so what he says about taste I believe. This is what he had to say about my awesome French Toast: "You can't even tell that no eggs or milk were used! So GOOD!" He went on to say later that he didn't feel gross and bloated like he usually feels after eating a big plate of French Toast! So that's a good thing!

MMMMMMmmmmmm! This is some good French Toast! I made it through my first tofu experience today and it's so exciting! If anyone wants a good French Toast recipe, I've got one!

Keep tuned cause I'm going to use up the rest of the soft Tofu and create something good!

Rebirth! Vive le Vegan!

So it's been a tough road trying to figure out what I can use this blog for. At last I have a reason! On Thursday I decided that I am going to become a vegan. I've been a vegetarian for 8 or 9 years (ovo-lacto) eating the occasional piece of bacon. Lately I've just felt funny eating cheese and eggs. So after consulting with my very reluctant boyfriend, I've decided to try it! See where it takes me and I'm taking you along for the ride too! Because with a new lifestyle comes trying things that are new! Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I am horrible for being a picky eater. I'm the worst kind of vegetarian because I'm afraid of most vegetables and terrified of tofu. So I'm trying. I will keep you updated on my adventures.

First up: Tonight was Friday night and I decided it should be pizza night! I had a long week at school and deserved some normal weekend treats. So Brad and I went a shoppin'! We got a nice pizza crust, some fake pepperoni, and some vegan soy mozzarella cheese. Now if you've ever touched this cheese you will know that it's soft and wet! A little sickening to look at and my beginners weak stomach didn't want to touch it, let alone eat it!

Luckily, BRAD TO THE RESCUE! Brad used to date a vegan and has some experience with this cheese. So while I sauced up the crust, Brad grated some of the cheese (he left the plastic around it so you didn't have to touch it!!! Genius) then I put the pepperoni on and then the cheese. Then I grated a little more cheese all by myself! It was sick and tasted disgusting but I did it nonetheless!

We stuck the pizza in the oven and let it cook!

We brought it out and it looked delicious! I cut it up into 4 and served it up!

Brad and I both enjoyed it, the cheese tasted good melted and we always love wholewheat crust! This will definately be a redoer, especially since I have another pizza crust and more cheese and pepperoni. A very good meal for our first experience with vegan cheese. Keep posted I purchased my first tofu today and will be making Brad some "welcome home from your first night shift" tofu french toast! YUM!