What do you get when you mix Paula Deen, golf, football, and carrot cake??

A perfect weekend!

Yesterday was the Library of Congress Annual National Book Festival on the National Mall. All kinds of authors were there from Judy Blume, to John Grisham, to Nicholas Sparks, to... Paula Deen! Even though I love, love, love to read, I also enjoy cooking, so the highlight of my day was standing in line with my friends Danielle and Stephen so we could meet the fabulous Paula Deen! And, she is fabulous in every way! Seriously, she just sparkles! I'm looking forward to trying some of her recipes in the cookbook I had signed, but with vegan margarine of course!

After the festival, Ryan picked me up from the pouring rain and took me to a driving range for the first time! Before yesterday, I had never golfed or swung more than a mini-golf putter and it totally showed! Ryan said I did ok for a first-timer which is good enough for me but I'm looking forward to the next time we go! The range we went to is set up kind of like a video game. There are huge 20-yard holes on the range that look like targets and you can choose to play different games like just driving it for distance, hitting for accuracy, or hitting for consistency, and it keeps your score on a screen in your box. You can also order food and beer to be delivered your box so it feels more like a bowling party. It was fun to be out in the cool rain without being rained on while learning a new sport!

Today, as it is Sunday, meant Football!! There's a big difference between watching one game, just the two of us, in our lonely little apartment and watching multiple games surrounded by crazy fans in a fun place, so we have been trying out new places to enjoy watching the Giants kick butt and watch other games between plays. One of the coolest things about being a football fan in DC is you won't be in a bar completely surrounded by Redskins fans, since barely anyone in DC is actually from DC! Today we watched four games simultaneously while surrounded by fans of the Giants, Redskins, Ravens, Eagles, Vikings, Patriots (ew), Lions, 49ers... you get the picture! It was so much fun! Plus, there are tons of girl football fans out here!! We never saw groups of girls only watching football in Cali, but you'll see it here all the time, and they're wearing their jerseys, cheering for their teams, and completely understand what's going on! So, come out here and join us for a football Sunday!

Finally, carrot cake! Yum! I made a carrot cake early this week and we devoured it in two days! I made it again today and would like to share the recipe with you!

Vegan Carrot Cake and "Cream Cheese" Frosting

Cake:

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup light vanilla soy milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup finely shredded carrot
1 tsp fresh grated ginger or 1/2 tsp dry ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add milk, soy milk, vanilla, apple sauce, carrot, and ginger, and mix gently. Pour ingredients into a 9x9 inch glass baking dish or 9x5 glass loaf pan moistened with cooking spray. If you use the 9x9 inch dish, bake for 25-30 minutes. If you use the 9x5 inch dish, bake for 50 minutes. Check center with a toothpick to make sure it is baked through. Allow to cool before topping with frosting.


"Cream Cheese" Frosting:

1/2 cup tofu "cream cheese"
1 tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Blend all ingredients in a small food processor until smooth. Pour on top of cake, muffins, or cookies.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ryan didn't like these too much, but I did! They taste like autumn!! They're really tasty even a few days after baking.

Makes 40 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cups applesauce
2 tbsp molasses
1 cup canned pumpkin (I used pumpkin pie mix)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp flax meal
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Without walnuts, this is the per cookie nutrition information:
85 calories, .3 g fat, 1.3 g protein

If you add walnuts it changes the per cookie nutrition information to:
104 calories, 2 g fat, 20 g protein

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray baking pans with non-stick spray.

Mix flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and spices. In separate bowl mix sugar, applesauce, molasses, pumpkin, vanilla, and flax meal. Add dry ingredients to wet. Fold in raisins and walnuts.

Drop by tablespoon onto baking sheet.

Bake for 16 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the pan and then transfer to cooling rack.

Pumpkin Pancakes

We have had these for breakfast two Sundays in a row!! The recipe makes 6 to 8 very filling pancakes.

1/2 cup canned pumpkin pie mix
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp grated orange peel
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp applesauce
3/4 cup light vanilla soymilk

Combine pumpkin with dry ingredients and spices. Add water, applesauce, and soymilk to dry mix. Mix until smooth. Heat griddle or frying pan and moisten lightly with vegetable oil, flax oil, vegan butter, or butter spray (which is actually non-dairy). Use 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Flip when bubbles appear on top and pancakes lift easily.

I like mine with bananas and sugar free maple syrup or vegan butter with sugar free maple syrup. Ryan likes his with peanut butter and sugar free maple syrup. Enjoy!

Vegan Health Part 2 and Pear Smoothies!

I also officially lost 4.5 pounds... without exercising. I have gone on probably 3 or 4 bike rides since the study began and have been walking less since I have been out of work for nearly a month, so this is pretty impressive! I think half a pound a week is a very healthy way to lose weight! If I keep it up, that's 26 pounds over the year! (Or more if I actually exercise)!

Here's a recipe for ya!

This smoothie is sooooo delicious, subtly sweet, and refreshing! I made it for Ryan for the first time today and he can't wait for the next!

In a blender, combine the following ingredients (you might have to chop a little bit depending on the strength of your blender):

1 cup of green grapes
1 bartlett pear
1 orange
1 banana
1 cup of kale (yes, the green vegetable)
1 cup of light vanilla soy milk
1 tbsp flax seed
1 or 2 cups of ice

Blend well and enjoy immediately. Makes 2 big smoothies or 4 small ones.

If you just want to make enough for one smoothie for yourself, just cut the ingredients in half. I recommend using the remaining halves of the grapes, pear, orange and banana as a fruit salad with a splash of orange juice, lemon juice, and shredded coconut. Put the fruit salad in a storage container and eat it later in the day as a snack.

Proof that being a Vegan is making me healthier!

I have been a vegan for almost 2 months already! Can you believe it!? I just wanted to share with you the proof that it is working. We did baseline labs the week before the study began and will be doing them again next week. Well, I needed to get labs done two weeks ago in order to refill a prescription for my polycystic ovarian syndrome so I was able to get a sneak preview of my progress and was really impressed by my results.

I want to share my numbers from two years ago, two months ago, and two weeks ago (being vegan for 6 weeks) compared to what is normal. The numbers from two years ago are what provided the diagnosis of PCOS.

Triglycerides
Normal=Less than 150
2 Years Ago=295
2 Months Ago=234
2 Weeks Ago=114 (normal!)

Total Cholesterol
Normal=Less than 200
2 Years Ago=216
2 Months Ago=201
2 Weeks Ago=163 (normal!)

HDL Cholesterol
Normal=40 or Higher
2 Years Ago=35
2 Months Ago=38
2 Weeks Ago=36 (I need to exercise more and eat more Omega 3s like flax seeds, walnuts, soy, and winter squash and this will be ok)

LDL Cholesterol
Normal=Less than 130
2 Years Ago=120
2 Months Ago=116
2 Weeks Ago=104 (normal!)

Fasting Blood Sugar
Normal=Less than 100
2 Years Ago=109
2 Months Ago=101
2 Weeks Ago=93 (normal!)

Hemoglobin A1c
Normal=Less than 6
2 Years Ago=6
2 Months Ago=6
2 Weeks Ago=5.7 (normal!)

This is so awesome! My diet is great! My triglyceride and total cholesterol blew me away! What these number tell me is that by working out and continuing to take my meds, I just might start to function normally on the inside, reduce my external symptoms of PCOS (acne, being heavy around my middle, and male pattern hair growth and loss (yuck!)), and hopefully obtain my ultimate goal of becoming pregnant without using fertility drugs and have a pregnancy without the risks PCOS causes (miscarriage, gestational diabetes, hypertension, and premature delivery).

Now let's just hope I am able to get health insurance so I can stay healthy!!

I'm going to stand on my soap box for a minute and you can skip this if you like: Funny thing is, here is proof that with regular care, I can be healthy, but every insurance company will deny me if I am honest on my application because I have a reproductive disorder which is considered to be very expensive. With the right medication (and I only take one pill daily), regular check-ups, and nutrition information, I am perfectly healthy. It is because of situations like my health situation and involuntary lack of employment that I believe universal health care should be an option!

Catching up on pics!

I have been a photo uploading slacker!! Here are some highlights from our weekend in Ocean City, MD, in July and my trip to visit Jenn (and Ryan) and Jac (and Jeff) in Miami in August!!

In the Atlantic together for the first time!

My first time in the Atlantic! Everyone said it would be warmer, but they clearly lied!

These kites were massive!

Art?

Dinner at Brass Balls... (the ocean is there behind us!)

He never remembers his sunglasses...

Before getting a dozen Maryland blue crab.

During his tasty crab meal. Such a happy Ryan!

Gross.


Now these pics are from my weekend in Miami!

I'm standing in Jenn and Ryan's apartment parking lot and the ocean is just on the other side of those high rise buildings!

Real coconuts!

Jac, me, and Jenn.

The best ocean water ever! We just hung out in the water! Waaay better than Cali beaches because it's just so darn relaxing and clear!

We went on an airboat tour of the Everglades. This guy lives under the dock... Snaggletooth.

I asked the boat driver how deep the water was and he jumped off the boat to show me! It's pretty much one foot deep everywhere!

This is actually a picture of the water. It moves so slow there aren't any waves and it reflects beautifully!

This guy swam out from right under where we were sitting!

I thought these were so gorgeous!

What did it feel like? A purse!

I asked some Germans to take our picture! Love that you can find German tourists just about anywhere!
We just got back from spending a week and a half in Cali. Those pics will be up soon too!