Been a while, lets get back on track!

It's been a while since my last post.... I know. I'm lazy! Ugh!
I have to admit though, I've just been enjoying life for a change. Since I quit the restaurant back in April, I have been so much happier and I have had a ton of free time! It is so nice to be able to just go do whatever I want and not have to worry about slaving away   working at the restaurant. Still loving my newish job (6 months in September! Whooo!!)  I haven't been puting a whole lot of time into antiquing and repainting lately, but thats partially due to the fact that it has been so ungodly hot, and umm, I am always broke (lol). I've been nannying of a girlfriend a couple times  month which has been quite helpful but that is going to slow down here soon, and now that the weather seems to be cooling off.... (in August...weird) I'll try and pick it back up with the antiques. I was scouring craigslist yesterday and found a TON of stuff...too bad I couldn't get my hands on any of it...no $$$ >____< oh well...  I have 2 desks that I need to get done (one is almost there) so that will help with getting me on track.

So my Kitchen & Bath Design program starts so soon!! I am getting really excited for this, and yeah, ok I'll admit it is going to suck being back in school, but, thankfully its all online (and I can do it....) and I can still keep my regualr job, plus its only a year so I'll be done next spring. This is definitely the next step for me, and seeing as a Bachelors just isn't good enough these days, getting some professional credentials under my belt will help I think. I still need to do the LEED thing, but I have plenty of time do to that, however most likely it will be after I finish this KBD program. I am definitely working towards becoming more career focused from here on out because I have to be able to find a decent job when I make that big move back to Seattle.

OKAY!! Now back to the Veggie stuff....had to get life out of the way first :)

So yeah....I feel likeI'm kind of at a stand still with the Vegan thing. I have gotten comfortable with being like half  Vegan.... I'm not going to lie, I am still working on building up my will power and sometimes I just don't have time to prepare my meals properly, or I just "couldn't be arsed"  (my new favorite saying) to deal with it. It has been a struggle for me, because no one I know personally is Vegan. My roommate respects that I am trying it, though she doesn't think it is necessary. We do meals together, and sometimes when we want to share, its just easier to eat what she is making (convenince is a killer I tell yah....) or going out to eat sometimes...ugh. It is getting difficult. Plus, I love buffalo chicken wings :( I really have to just start to try a little harder I guess. I will openly admit that I like the idea of being Vegan and I feel better when I have been sticking to it at least 50% of the time. I totally fell off the boat last weekend, and honestly I felt like crap. My body was in total mutany against me and I knew exactly why.

I just have to work on my commitment level a bit, and start looking for more recipes to try. I love my Happy Herbivore stuff...and I bought the Kindle versions of both books, but I think I need a paper copy, because honestly, a cookbook should be tangible and I like to flip through and look at all the pages. Can't really do that on a Kindle.  I love how easy Lindsay at HH makes things so easy and not weird. Yeah, I have to go to the "health food" store but thats fine. A great thing about the new HyVee here in Madison, is it has a small but bountiful "health market" which is basically a mini Whole Foods  in my opinion, and I love it. I still wanna try and check out Trader Joe's at some point, because I am sure I will be able to get a few things a little more cheapl there, and the Whole Foods is kind of a hike, which I don't mind but thats only when I need something specific.

And also, thanks to HH and Twitter I found a new blog to follow which I think will be a huuuuuge help for me, because this gal has lots of great reference material, and frankly, it sounds like we are in the same boat! Gonna have to try and have a nice chat with her one of these days (perhaps) This is the link to her blog http://chubbygirlintraining.blogspot.com/ not sure how to do the linky things -- I would definitely recomend checking it out!

So...with that all being said, I suppose it is time for me to get back to work 'eh? :) Good thing I am great at multitasking

I haven't been keeping up with the blog lately, but you know how life gets in the way and blah blah blah. Working 2 jobs was becoming too much, and it left me little time for myself, let alone blogging and cooking. I finally quit my job at the restaurant, for many reason, one mainly to have more time for myself and to be able to prepare healthy meals. As I am still learning, its taking a little extra time for me to prepare meals.
Last night, I kind of had a break down. Converting to being vegan is SO damn hard, it really is. I think that the cutting out the meat part is totally a no brainer for me. That has been relatively simple. Its the dairy part, specifically cheese and sour cream based dips that has been the challenge. I really feel like for me to see the results that I want, I can't do this bit by bit. I want to do it all at once. I kind of feel dirty knowing that I ate cheese or pigged out on french onion dip and chips (like I did last night) or ate a frozen pizza (like I did 4 days ago).
Curbing the cravings is so hard and filling up on veggies can be hard too. I ate the crap out of some baby carrots yesterday, mainly as a snack, but they just didn't really curb my appetite for more than an hour so so. I'm trying to drink more water, but I can only handle going to the toilet every 15-20 min for so long. Last night I went to the store to get stuff to make this really yummy looking Crispy Sweet & Sour Tofu recipe and I got ticked off in the parking lot (5:30 pm grocery trips are a BAD idea in my book). Of course I was starving when I got there, and angry, so after I found all my healthy goodies, I got that pang for chips and dip. So what did I do....bought chips and dip. And cookies for work (and cookies for home). Cookies almost totally destroyed, along with the dip and chips. You can not imagine how crappy I felt after that, and so far most of today.
Tonight, I WILL go home and make that S&S Tofu, because it sounds really great. And I'll have to make sure I have something ready for tomorrow, because I have a CPR class right after work...gonna be a long day, so I need to be ready for it.

Hopefully, I will be able to beat these cravings of mine in the future, because they really suck.

I have to admit, I've been doing this yo-yo Vegan thing for almost a year now. I fell off the wagon after a week the first time around. Whoops. Now that I'm back home, I've been able to make it work a little better.
I found this incredibly helpful blog that has really made things easy for me. I still don't have the time I need or that I would like to really put 100 percent into it, however I'm also realizing that going 100% is not going to happen over night. I've made a lot of small adjustments, and so far it has been working well. I fell off the wagon for a few days because of a work pot luck, and a night drinking with friends, but I am now back on the right track!
Until I have more time to prepare meals, and figure out which things will keep ok being prepared ahead of time, I'll be sticking to Amy's Kitchen meals for a while. I'm sure most, if not all the ones I have eaten are not vegan, and that is ok for now. I'm doing my best and putting your best foot forward is what is important.

Tomorrow evening, my meal is going to be a semi experimental one, of a pizza that I have edited, from the restaurant I work at.

Truth is, I absolutely love mushrooms. We have this amazing mushroom pizza at work, but unfortunately its loaded with cheese. I decided to have a go at making this myself, but I had to prep. We use 4 different types of mushrooms, but I started with two (and I don't recall what they were). I bought them presliced, added some minced garlic, sea salt, olive oil and crushed red pepper, tossed it all together, and roasted them in the oven for about 15 min @ 425* F.

They are in the fridge now cooling, and I will be using them tomorrow. I haven't decided if I want to use a whole wheat pita or a wrap as my "crust". I also picked up some Daiya vegan mozzarella cheese. This will be my 2nd time working with vegan cheese. The first was almost a year a go when I made Mac & Cheese (from the Skinny Bitch book). I didn't really notice it because it was melted and mixed in. This is going to be a totally different experience since its going to be an actual pizza. I am excited to try this out!

I plan on hitting the gym tomorrow also after work. I got a membership to the Y almost a month ago, but due to working nearly 70 hours a week, it was virtually impossible to go. So tomorrow, I will be there, exploring what they have. Then I'll make my pizza, and share photos :)