And here's the house...

I wasn't kidding when I said it looked like something made from a Barbie lego set. I still haven't even seen it, just a few pictures, and apparently it's very nice and we're moving probably within a week. I hate packing, bleck.
Anyways, I don't really have anything to say, just wanted to post this picture.

*cough*cough*

My cold is pretty much over, aside from a lingering cough. And I think that's not so much a cold, it's more my body rediscovering my asthma. Which sucks. I went for years using my inhalor only every few months, and now I'm using it every day. Geez. Let's hope I get over this soon.

In terms of food, I've been thinking about soy a lot these days. Soy is such a debated topic, and I tend not to believe most of the apparent problems. Basically, I think you should go for everything in moderation, and obviously not feed soy to young children as it's a common allergin. But I'm not sure how moderate I've been with it lately, is all. I started using my soy protien powder in shakes (with frozen strawberries, bananas, soymilk and a pinch of vanillin) and I've basically been living off leftover lasagna the past couple days (made with homemade tomato veggie sauce and textured soy protien, with spinach instead of cheese, since soy cheese is nonexistant here), cereal with soy milk, even my Boca products are soy-based. So yeah... I need to vary my protien sources again, I go through phases, and I should start with my beans and lentils again. I actually found a bean recipe I like, which is awesome since I hate beans, so hopefully I'll make that and have it with some rice tonight.

Another hot topic these days? People being designed, or however you want to word it, to eat meat. I don't understand why people are so proud of their canines, using them as evidence of our bloody destiny. I was reading about this and of course I went straight to a mirror to check out my teeth. And guess what? I think I'm a natural vegan because my canines are basically flat! Yep, there's no way I could tear into a raw cow with those pathetic little things. Either everyone else is like this, or I'm evolved. I hope I'm evolved, that would be cool.

Oh oh oh! I almost forgot! I took my English exam yesterday and I'm pretty sure I aced it. Well, maybe not aced, but I'm pretty sure I passed. And that's good enough cause it's only worth 30% of my final grade, and my grade going into the exam was something like 96% so as long as I pass the exam, I'm safe.

I've been hiccupping pretty much the whole time I've been writing this, gosh it's annoying. I'm going to go hold my breath for awhile, and then do some math.

Tissues and tea...

I'm sick :(
Like, making myself a nest on the couch surrounded by blankets, tissues, and dirty dishes that I can't be bothered to bring to the kitchen kinda sick. Yuck. This is the first bad cold I've had in almost six months, and it's annoying.
On the bright side, nobody has tried to blame it on my being a vegan, which is a nice surprise. I was sure my mom would go into a rant about how if I ate healthy I wouldn't be sick, but I guess she's realized that I am eating healthy now. Sweet.
On that note, time for some instant soup lol.

playing with flax and nutritional yeast :)

I wanted to wait until I'd finished my schoolwork to post this, and then realized my cookies were disappearing too fast and it was now or wait until the next time I make these. Which, believe me, will be very soon.

I got my foods from Canada yesterday; soy protein powder (like the bodybuilders use, hellz yeah lol), nutritional yeast, and flax seeds. I was hanging out in the kitchen and decided to taste the flax seeds. Just plain.
I decided I liked them, they tasted a bit like wheat germ and would taste good with oatmeal, and oatmeal tastes best in cookies! So making oatmeal-flax cookies became my second mission of the day.
Those are the four I managed to round up (I ate one right after I took this picture too)

I used the quick oatmeal cookie recipe from The Joy of Cooking (that cookbook is nowhere near vegan, but I still adore it) I just replaced the eggs with banana and baking powder and obviously soymilk for the milk. Then I just dumped in the flaxseeds. The banana added a touch of extra flavour that was really good, and worked perfectly as as egg replacement.

I had a couple of friends over at the time, and these cookies were being eaten as fast as they came out of the oven. I made about five cookie sheets full, and when I pulled the last ones out of the oven, there were maybe three left from the first four sheets.

My other cooking adventure yesterday: nutritional yeast sauce!

I used:
1/2 c soymilk
1/4 c nutritional yeast
some olive oil.. about 1/4 tsp I'd guess
quite a bit of garlic powder and pepper

I just heated the stuff and when it came to boil, I added a cornstarch and cold water mixture to thicken it a bit.

Then I ate it the best way you can eat anything; out of a huge mixing bowl with my friend, each of us with our own spoon, and other people wandering in and taking some too.

This was a hit with everyone too, especially since I made it before the cookies. It made about four cups of cooked pasta, and there was only a small bowl of leftovers for lunch today.

I love feeding people, it's an instict I have I think... it just makes me happy. And it makes me even happier to fill up someone's stomach with healthy(ish) cruelty-free food, replacing whatever omni meal they would've eaten instead. One less serving of meat for at least three people every couple days... it's gotta add up, right?

Warning: bit of a vegan rant...

Jennifer Lopez. Yuck.
I'm sure everyone knows why she's the enemy of vegans everywhere. Not only vegans, but normal people who care about animals in any way. She's worn basically every type of dead animal there is, fox, mink, even chinchilla! I knew somebody who kept chinchillas as pets, they're adorable. And she wears them.
I don't support her in any way, I won't buy her products, and when my sister went perfume shopping a little while ago, I didn't even let her smell the JLo stuff.

And that is why I smiled when I saw how she looked at the Oscars. She is definately not attractive at all here, her hair's slicked back, her face is cakey and grossy tanned, and she is wearing a puke-green dress! Bad things happen to bad people, and Jennifer, you are a bad person.
Check out: http://www.jlodown.com



Jennifer could learn something from this year's Best Actress winner, Reese Witherspoon.
Reese is gorgeous, talented and vegetarian. Just look at her:

I promise I'll try not to go on these vegan rantings too often, but I couldn't help it here.

Things to do...

I've been up to my ears in schoolwork lately (and still am actually, so I shouldn't even be writing this) so I haven't been as productive as I should be. So here's a list of what I'm planning to do as soon as ancient history gets off my back:
-Stock up my freezer even more. I think I have some squirrel genes in me somewhere because I feel so secure having a freezer full of food. Right now it's full of homemade yummies like soup, fries, pasta and rice (with sauce mixed in) and some individual sauce portions as well. Also, I finally found some vegan food so my freezer has some Boca burgers and chick'n patties (after not even having tofu for six months, I was so happy to see a store here stock these products for the first time). Oh, and I've got some frozen corn, spinach, and beans... But it's not enough for Squirrely Monica, no way. So next up I want some treats (banana ice cream maybe? And sliced frozen bananas rolled in oats and drizzled with chocolate... mmmm...), I bought a loaf of brown bread to french toast and freeze, also I want to make some pizza pockets and veggie fried rice. I hope my freezer will be big enough. Oh!! And I'm getting a bunch of veg foods from Canada in a couple days, so I'll be experimenting with nutritional yeast and fun things like that. I'm craving mac 'n cheese, let's see if this nutritional yeast is as good as everyone says...
Oh, anyone have any ideas of what to do with my huge container of black beans? I'm thinking of throwing together a soup, or maybe chilli... but if you can think of something better, let me know? Thanks :)

-Clean my room! When my room is clean, it's awesome, I love it:

Unfortunately it is looking nothing like this these days. In fact, to be completely honest, I think I've managed to get sand in my bed. I know I live in the desert, but really, that's not much of an excuse. I mean, I didn't end up with pinecones in my bed back in Canada. I really need to work on this.

-Paint a picture. I haven't done that in forever, and as you can see from the above picture, I have an easel with a blank canvas set up. Having that sitting there makes me feel like a poser, so I really need to paint something soon. I also need new brushes, but I can work with what I have, so I should.

-Meditate! I shouldn't have to make time for this, it should be routine... It was for awhile too, brush my teeth, wash my face, meditate, go to sleep. And while I was doing that, I felt so at peace with myself and other people (even those who I thought I would never be able to forgive or be friends with again), I was generally happier, I slept better than ever, and even felt fully rested on four hours of sleep (not that I do that very often). I don't understand why I stopped. It would be like my stopping my veganism now that I've seen all the postive effects... stupid and pointless. I think I'll start that again tonight, hopefully.

...I think that's all, but I feel like I'm missing something.

-Oh yeah! I need to get my butt back to the gym now that I'm eating properly and my body can handle it.

So there's my plan, but I've got quite a bit of work to do first. So yeah, don't hold your breath...