OMG... look at that face!!! He is adorable, Carla. I do remember you mentioning him now because I looked up the breed. I swear my memory lately... can't remember half what I have forgotten. Glad you are recovering from the migraine. Those suck. I have a couple Black and Decker battery operated yard tools. They are very cool, but I don't even do my own yard maintenance anymore. I have a guy who comes over and takes care of it because it's just too much for me. I have no time or energy left after work and taking care of the house. I definitely see a condo in my retirement future. One floor, no yard to deal with, no snow to shovel.

A friend of mine came today to help me finish clearing up the main floor and clean. I spent about 6 hours on it and she was here for 4 hours. Everything is done! Just waiting for the new living room furniture now. Everything is back ordered right now, but they had said late April or early May for delivery so I hope furniture will be here soon. I love my new kitchen. Seriously. Love. If I had any energy left I'd cook tonight but I will wait until tomorrow. I'm crazy tired and will just have salad with some beans added. I'm at nearly 11,000 steps for the day so far which is really rare. My job is so sedentary that my goal is only 7000 and I sometimes don't even meet that if I don't treadmill or take a walk after work.

Cooking plans for the week are a big ol' stir-fry (bok choy, snow peas, green onion) and brown rice, balsamic roasted mushrooms, roasted broccoli (of course!), tacos (I enjoyed those a lot... with the baked corn tortillas for shells, pinto beans, stir-fry peppers and onion, salsa), Salads will be lettuce, radish, carrot, daikon, zucchini, punchy mustard dressing. I will spend a few hours tomorrow cooking and the rest working. I'm so far behind on everything at the office and I did not do any work at all today and don't intend to tonight.

B - ezekiel toast with a smidge of PB
L - too busy to eat
D - SO hungry! Going to have a huge salad with beans added, maybe a couple wasa crackers, a pear

Looking forward to traveling this plant based road with y'all another month.

I was wiped out yesterday. My back and knees were sore from the seemingly thousands of trips up and down the stairs doing laundry, cleaning and moving things around on Saturday. Spent yesterday alternating work at my desk and taking breaks to read in bed which was more like naps with a book.

I did make the stir-fry last night. Started to make the balsamic roasted mushrooms but the mushrooms were really slimy and had some moldy ones in the package. Very disappointing. I ended up throwing them all out. Did make a sheet of roasted broccoli. I truly missed my broccoli last week.

Carla, you are always so ambitious with your projects and hobbies. I'm envious! I've never been that good at anything artistic so I lose interest because I'm unhappy with the end results.

Today...
B - oats (plain just moistened with hot water... I was in a hurry)
L - leftover stir-fry with soba noodles (this was really good last night and for lunch, light and refreshing), a handful of cashews
D - big ol' salad with chickpeas and a simple miso ginger dressing, a pear

Carla, good luck with your vaccine. I still feel like maybe I'm a bit more fatigued than usual after the second shot last week, but overall the reactions weren't terrible and didn't last long.

I can't find my Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue book with the recipe but I found a prior post where I shared the recipe. I love it. Light and tasty, and easy peasy. You don't even need to clean the blender it mixes up nicely with a whisk.

For about 1/2 cup...
2 T white miso
2 T peeled and grated fresh ginger
2 T pure maple syrup
1 T rice vinegar
3 T water
1 tsp sesame seeds

I usually use about 1/4 tsp dried ginger rather than fresh because I'm lazy like that and don't always have fresh ginger on hand. I also use less water because I like it thicker. I always have a jar of toasted sesame seeds and use those. If I am planning a whole week of dressing then I make a double batch and leave the sesame seeds out just add a sprinkle to the salad when I serve it up. If you wanted it ETL compliant you could use date sugar dissolved in a bit of hot water rather than maple syrup and use the full amount (or more) of water.

I made hummus last night and planned to use the Engine 2 Seven Day recipe, but as I mentioned I can't find the book so I used this recipe:

1 can chickpeas, drained
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 - 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos
3 tablespoons water or vegetable broth

BUT, I changed it up because I remember the book recipe had dijon so I added a tablespoon of that. I also reserved the aquafaba for liquid rather than using water or broth. I started with about 3 T and kept adding a little more to the food processor until it looked smooth and creamy. I have to say, this is the best batch of no oil hummus I've ever made. I am totally addicted. I think the addition of the bragg's may be the key adding that bit of umami.

Today was busy, but I left work early to take the boy to the vet. He's good and doc says he's in good shape. Yay!

B - oats with chia seeds and blueberries
L - leftover roasted broccoli
D - will be a big ol' salad topped with the hummus, maybe a pear

Hi there!
Sorry to have been quiet. I have been eating, well, badly. I have been battling the blues and been stressed out about the end of the school year (2 more weeks of classes!).
My pants are tighter, so time to buckle down!

Today went pretty well, in terms of food and exercise. I did a 50 minute outdoor walk with my husband and several hours of yard work. I am sore!
B - coffee and cashew milk
L - collards, garbanzo beans & chopped tomatoes; steamed mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli & carrots; chopped mango, guava & apple
S - apple & mango
D - apple & mango, cashew milk (salad would have been better but I was beat!)

Tomorrow -- salad for dinner, more yard work, an outdoor walk, hopefully some yoga (I signed myself up for a challenge to do an hour of yoga this week)

@Mihani - Thanks for saying I was missed! I felt all warm and fuzzy at that thought!
Enjoy that restaurant trip!

@Carla_wfpb - Radar is the cutest! Great name, too. I had a pet rooster as a kid, and he was named Radar.

Hi Austin! I am glad you checked in. Hope the stress gets better. All those steamed veggies sound delicious. Hope you aren't as sore today. I had a pet rooster too, back in high school... how funny! Don't even feel like you shouldn't be here when you aren't 100%. If I felt that way this group would have died years ago. LOL

Carla, I have been out to a restaurant exactly once since probably December 2019 and that was just a couple months ago to meet a couple friends at the bar for one drink then headed on home. I am SO looking forward to this. We have lost a lot of small independent restaurants too, which makes me so sad. My favorite restaurant is still around though, and that's where we're going. It's not a chain but the owner has two locations in town. I have plans to get together with another friend next Thursday. I hope you are feeling better today. I was really tired for several days after that second shot. I hope you enjoy naps with books!

B - roasted broccoli and a slice of ezekiel toast with some of my homemade hummus
L - Dr. McDougall soup and an apple, raw veggies and hummus
S - got into the pretzels at the office... ugh!
D - big ol' salad with punchy mustard dressing

Hi all, had a great time tonight. Got stuck at the office late so I didn't have time to get home and let the boy out, so I only stayed a little over an hour, but it was really nice. Felt good to be out with friends. One of the guys said it felt like a decade since we've had a real party, and that's so true. I'm planning to have a party here as soon as all the work on the house is finished. Had two drinks. Will eat a good healthy salad for dinner now that I'm home.

Carla, I am still somewhat fatigued almost two weeks after that second shot. One of my friends tonight said it was a good two weeks before he started feeling like he was back to usual level of energy, so I guess we're "normal".

B - ezekiel toast with a smidge of PB, melon
L - Dr. McDougall soup, an apple, couple wasa crackers
D - big ol' salad with punchy mustard dressing and chickpeas

Austin, love all the fruit! I have a watermelon to cut into today. Yummmm. Hope you got a good night's sleep. And you keep reminding me that I have to get jicama. I only had it that one time and loved it.

I slept in this morning, had some coffee (which I rarely do), and then had a slice of ezekiel toast and some lentil veggie soup from my freezer stash which was like a late breakfast/early lunch. Tonight I plan to make baked tofu, sauteed onion and greens (have beet greens, collards and kale), and roasted cauliflower and carrots with lemon tahini glaze. That should last several days of dinners. Salads this week will be mixed lettuces, carrot, radish, beet, scallions, english cucumber, chickpeas. Going to make ginger miso dressing again.

Got a little work done earlier, going to take a nap and then get at more work. I plan to work all day tomorrow although I'm also going to visit my "mom" who was my mom's best friend and has been so wonderful to me all these years since my own mother died. It will be 30 years this June since my mom died, and I have scheduled that day off. Going to have lunch with a friend who was close with her, and plant some daisies since it was her favorite flower (and mine). I used to have a bunch of daisies but the dogs trampled and killed them all. I think I will plant them in the front yard this time.

Hey there!
I am sleepy but wanted to check in and say hello!
I am continuing to do lots of yard work, and I am tired and ready to rest!
I a little bit wish that I had taken "before" pictures to share with you later, but (A) I forgot and (B) I'd have been embarrassed to share them, if I had. Maybe I'll do "after" photos, though! We really had let the yard get out of shape, and the the Big Freeze in February killed so many things. Anyway, Wednesday is our trash pickup day, and I put out 15 of the 30-gallon brown paper leaf trash bags this morning. And then I filled two more working n the yard today. Phew!

Oh, and I have gotten to plant a couple of new things. More of that soon. The new additions were Mexican heather and hummingbird bush.

On the negative side, I had a so-so food day.
B - coffee & cashew milk
L/S - peanut butter & raisins
D - steamed greens with black beans and tomatoes; corn and romaine salad; fresh apple; peaches & blueberries
Better tomorrow!

Mihani -- like you, I have sometimes logged on, gotten distracted and taken ages to finish a post!
And thanks for the reminder to Eat More Greens!

Carla_wfpb - I look forward to hearing ab9ut your plants!

awww... the piglet is so cute, Austin! I forget to look for cute gifs and they brighten up the thread.

My yard is also a big mess. I have a friend who does landscaping so he's been working on it a little at a time, but I wish he'd get back here and finish it. He doesn't charge me much though, so I always tell him to take care of his higher paying customers first. Wow, 15 bags of yard waste... no wonder you are tired!!!

Secretary is still sick and I highly doubt she will be back tomorrow so I'm just screwed here. Although, my boss seems to be making some effort not to make me completely crazy. He usually freaks out when he's going on vacation and thinks everything has to be done before he leaves, and he's not doing that quite as much.

I got some new dishes and running them through the dishwasher. I had 25+ year old white porcelain dishes with 16 place settings and they were definitely showing some wear and tear. Some stains and scratches, but really still in good shape so I will donate them somewhere. I got 8 place settings of Gibson stoneware dishes. They are still pretty simple, but color on the rims. I'm not a fan of fussy patterns for the table other than serving dishes and dessert plates. I honestly still liked my old plain white dishes, but now that my house is getting close to finished I'll be thinking about having parties here again and needed to replace them. I am having the family over next weekend so I have a little over a week to get ready and plan my menu. They are very open to vegan food so no problems there. First time entertaining in probably 15 years so I'm actually a little nervous about it. I used to LOVE to host parties.

B - nope
L - raw veggies, Dr. McDougall soup, half an apple (I got huge apples so I am splitting them with my boss)
S - got into the dang pretzels again ughhhh! Just a handful but still. Can we say stress eating? LOL
D - big ol' salad, watermelon

Hi Susannah! Welcome to the group. I also have joint pain and arthritis as I am aging, although not RA and really feel for you coping with that. One of our members, Magic (who hasn't been around lately) has said that eating WFPB and avoiding sugar really helped her arthritis. Wow, 21 day fast is ambitious. I don't think I could do that. Have you been vegan for a while?

Carla, can't wait to see pics of your flower beds.

I did a lot of prepping today and still loving cooking in my new kitchen. Today's preps:

Roasted veggies (green beans, broccoli, carrots) in lemon tahini sauce. I had leftover sauce again so will use it for salad dressing for a few days.

Balsamic roasted mushrooms with paprika and rosemary.

Sauteed onions, carrots, kale and collards with garlic and a splash of bragg's.

Pot of brown rice.

Cheezy chickpeas https://plantstrongfoods.com/blogs/plant-strong-recipes/cheezy-chickpeas I forget sometimes how simple to make and good these are. I love them, but if you are not a fan of nooch steer clear. It is definitely an acquired taste but I have been using it for many years and enjoy it. I am thinking I need to start saving aquafaba even when I drain and rinse my chickpeas so I can just make the cheeze sauce to freeze for other purposes. I know aquafaba freezes fine, not sure if the cheeze sauce would. Guess I'll experiment. I have a local place that sells unfortified nooch for a very reasonable price so I always have plenty on hand.

Other than that just working today trying to catch up a bit. Going to the office tomorrow so my boss and I can wrap up a few things before he leaves on vacay. Hopefully secretary will be back on Monday.

Hi Susannah, I tend to use vegan interchangeably with WFPB which I should stop doing! I have cousins who farm and raise livestock, and nobody else in my close circle of friends and family is vegan, but like you I don't worry about other people's choices. I think the word "vegan" can be negative to a lot of people.

I have been vegetarian longer than I can remember, and coming up on 10 years vegan. I started down this road just because even as a little kid I hated the idea of eating an animal. Not that I didn't eat my fair share of burgers and chicken when I was younger.

Then I was a very unhealthy and overweight vegetarian eating far too much cheese and pasta and bread (and drinking far too much beer) so I decided to take the next step, and now I strive for actual WFPB. Sometimes I'll go off the rails for a time and eat junky vegan foods.

Carla, if I don't prep I don't stay on track. It has taken me a long time to get into the habit. Hiring my friend to prep my salads a year or so ago sure helped because I was constantly buying veggies and letting them rot in the fridge. You've been really busy on the yard this spring!

Austin, I've never seen Egyptian geese, How cool. Excellent menu for the day. I want to plant an herb garden but it will likely be next year at this rate. There is so much work left to do in the house and yard just to get things cleaned up that the last thing I need is to add anything right now.

Hey, for those with a sweet tooth, I saw something not long ago that Dr. F's daughter, Talia, published a WFPB dessert cookbook. I think it is only available on Dr. F's website and is kind of pricey but she has tons of recipes on her website: http://taliafuhrman.com/category/recipes/desserts/ She does note that some of her older recipes use Earth Balance and you can just substitute cashew butter in those.

I'm headed to the office today. My boss and I need to wrap up a few things before he takes off. Didn't get around to laundry yesterday so I need to do that when I get home.