WOW

It has been a chaotic couple of months, and I have found myself either not in the mood to write due to strange circumstances or running around like a crazy person. We had a death in the family(one of Joey's uncles.RIP), a sick dog, and all sorts of other drama which I will not go into. Be looking for new posts soon!!

Will it ever stop raining?

It feels as if it has been raining forever!!! I am going to go insane if it doesn't let up soon. So the strawberry pie did not work out at all. In fact all of the cornstarch that was used to thicken the mixture settled to the bottom of the Graham cracker pie crust. UGH!! I will definitely be tinkering with that recipe.

So last Tuesday in the midst of a slight reprieve from the rain, joey and I went to the zoo. He had free passes and we thought what the hell??? Now I know as a vegetarian I should be opposed to animals in captivity. But I do love going to the Memphis zoo. Compared to how bad the living conditions used to be-they have come a long way. When I was a child all of the animals lived surrounded by concrete walls and looked absolutely miserable. And some of them still do not have the best living arrangements, but they are slowly redoing the entire place. And I have to confess that I find something so calming in watching the Polar bears since they have updated their living conditions. Something about being able to stand so close as they swim by is very soothing to the soul. They are so beautiful. However I would recommend that you don't go on Tennessee day, where all Tennessee residents get in for free after one in the afternoon. The place was packed!!

I have pictures, but left my camera at my mother in laws w when I was showing her the pictures of the grandogs(lol). I hope all of the mothers out there had a great day today

With a sigh of relief.......

Hopefully things can slowly start to return to normal, oh, wait! I'm not normal, so how can things ever be normal? Anyhow. She returned home late Thursday afternoon, amidst much drama and small panic attack(she does suffer from those rather frequently these days.)

I have several pictures to post later this week, having been unable to get in the kitchen for several days I was going crazy! So when the opportunity arose I kinda went crazy playing around with some recipes.

I have had a lifelong affinity for muffaletta sandwiches mainly due to the olive salad. And have been trying to find a good recipe to make my own with Portobello mushrooms rather than the meat that normally graces these delectable delicatessen delights. I found a recipe that I like, but it's a little too soupy for my taste. Once I get to a good texture I will share pictures and the recipe.

I'm also working on a strawberry pie recipe that closely resembles Shoney's strawberry pie but without the gelatin. Several recipes have called for seven-up, so I might try that. I also have to substitute something for the red food coloring. I am thinking maybe a couple of drops of beet juice might do the trick. And, I have a cookie recipe that were supposed to be key lime cookies, but I changed mine to lemon, and they will be so easy to veganize! ! The only non-vegan ingredient is butter, if I had had some earth balance in the refrigerator I would've made it completely vegan.

Sorry

Sorry guys, I did not fall off of the earth. My mother in law has been in the hospital since last Thursday and I have not had the time to write at all. I should however have some new posts soon as it appears she will hopefully be released tomorrow hopefully.

Pics

Pictured above is the strawberry cake that I prepared, and yes I am quite aware that looks as if some of the icing swirls are sliding off, but I assure you that my icing was really thick, creamy, and damn tasty.

The other picture in the lemon ice box pie that I mentioned earlier in the week. To tell the truth I actually have another one of these sitting in my refrigerator right now, I wanted to tweak the

recipe and see if I couldn't make it a little tangier. It was just a little too sweet for my personal preference. You can find the original recipe at the following link http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Lemon-Pie/Detail.aspx

I highly recommend this recipe if you're looking for good lemon pie, and I do apologize for the horrible crumbling of the Graham cracker pie crust. L O L

Easter

So for this Easter holiday, I was in charge of cooking a meal for the family. I decided upon Turkey, dressing, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, green beans, black-eyed peas, homemade yeast rolls, strawberry cake, and lemon ice box pie.

Ambitious, yes!!!! Doable, yes!! Successful, yes!!!! I know that this sounds more like a thanksgiving menu but due to dietary restrictions I had to switch things up. I am all about making everything from scratch until it comes to my mother-in-law, and with all the medications she is currently taking, I have to be extremely careful with what I fix.

Everything on my menu was completely homemade save for the strawberry cake. I really despised having to use a cake mix, however she was concerned that a homemade cake might upset her stomach due to the seeds from strawberries. If it was a cake mix, I was informed that the seeds would not affect her. So as much as I despised having red food coloring and bleached enriched flour in a box mix, I've made it as requested. I made the icing from scratch, a yummy butter cream.

I have to post the pictures and the recipe link for the lemon ice box pie. This was the best recipe I have ever used in my life. I followed the recipe without the meringue(I hate that stuff), and instead made a homemade whipped cream with the addition of lemon zest for that extra tang. I should have made more than one considering how quickly this went. I am looking forward to trying this recipe with a key lime juice instead of lemon.

I also found a really good yeast roll recipe that I will pass along later this week along with the photos.

Ughhhhhh.

Sorry for not having any of the Easter pics up yet. My camera is in the process of recharging and I cannot access my photos right now. Needless to say I worried over nothing in regards to my own cooking skills. Besides having to reheat everything it was a good meal. And my desserts kicked ass!!!

Now on to the ughhh! Having fan of special K cereals, I was searching everywhere for special K chocolaty delight. Boy, was I ever disappointed. The cereal itself is just special K cereal with nasty, waxy, gummy tasting chocolate. All of the chocolate sinks to the bottom of the bowl, and to be quite honest just tasted like shit. It was the type of chocolate I think. I do not recommend this at all.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!! While I do not buy in to the commercialism of baskets filled with goodies, I do remember and appreciate the true reason for Easter, and thank God daily for the gift of salvation.

I will be preparing the meal for the first time(why did I suddenly hear alarms in my head??) and will attempt to get some decent pics.

My Clock Must Be Broken

The biological one I mean. I have grown weary of people asking when I am going to have kids or even how old my kids are(I hate assumptions). Not everyone was put on this earth to procreate. Joey and I have never wanted kids, ever. I don't want to have to find a babysitter anytime I want to go out, I don't want to hear kids screaming, I want to eat where I want too, not where the kids do, and I know that I can't handle a kid due to my own physical limitations, so why should society pressure me to have a child? So I can be like everyone else? Not me!!!

In the old days, a woman's worth was seemingly measured by how good of a mother and wife she was. Fully devoting her life to her husband and children, keeping her desires to herself to instead fulfill what society told her she had to do. Women were raised to believe this was the only life she could lead. True, some women truly enjoyed their roles as wife and mother, but others didn't.

Thank God for Women's lib!! I would have gladly burned my bra! We have come so far in so many ways as women, achieving equality among a society that prior to the Women's lib movement was based solely upon men being the providers. Not saying that things are completely even now.

My point is that I understand that as women we have the right to bear children(and arms....lol), and more power to you if you are a mother and enjoy it. But must I be hassled about not wanting them for myself? If one more person tells me I don't understand because I don't have kids, I might scream!!! I don't want to hear about how bad your kid is, because honestly I don't care. And by the way, if you cannot control your kids in public, please leave them at home.

I'm not trying to come off as a bitch, and kudos to all of you wonderful women who have kids and love them!! But if I don't harass you about having children, must you harass me about not having any?


And to be honest, I would be scared shitless of having a child in today's society. Everyday on the news it's another child missing, and it breaks my heart to think of the pain that these families are suffering. I couldn't endure that. So I think I will stick with my adorable fur babies and enjoy the fact that they actually listen when I say sit down and be quiet.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

What To Do?

I have an extreme case of Arachnophobia, stemming from a frightening overnight trip to the ER at the tender young age of sixteen. I awoke around two AM with a horrible stomach ache, decided to take a bath and blacked out. Thankfully the noise had awoken my mother, who pulled me up out of the tub and brought me too.

To make a long story short, I had to have a shot of epinephrine, because I couldn't breathe and was just ill and out of it. We tried to figure out what had caused the episode, until later that week I discovered a large spot on my leg. Turned out to be a brown recluse bite that had caused all of the drama. Ever since then I see a spider and freak out.

The weather was really warm this weekend and then dropped a good fifteen degrees. Which of course made the spiders want to fuck with me!! No kidding, I was cleaning the bathroom to look up and see a good sized brown spider right in front of my face, I run to wake Joey up to come save me, he came in, took care of it and returned to bed. I go about cleaning again, and screamed so loud my neighbors banged on the wall!! It was back!! The dogs are barking, i'm screaming, and the neighbors are knocking on the wall, and Joey sleeps right through this! I rouse him again to finish the job. Then............

I move on to the kitchen to find another one on my ceiling! I left this one alone till it was actually time for Joey to get up. Now, I know not all spiders are bad, and I know that they do a lot of good. And being a vegetarian I really feel bad killing bugs, but I just cannot see a spider without freaking out! Any suggestions?

Thanks for the suggestions and understanding!! I don't think I have the balls for the catch and release method, but I am going to try to not scream anymore!! And hope for no more spiders!