ramblings

Sure haven't been blogging much lately....wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I know I have been busy trying to get my volunteer activities in line, working and just enjoying myself this spring. Our rescue is still plugging along and we finally adopted out Hemi after almost 18 months in foster care. He was such a special boy. We are very glad he finally got the right home.

Seems like sometimes I define myself by my volunteer activities and how active I am in rescue. I may need to revisit this and look at myself and what I like to do. Why is it that I always have to be doing something productive or something that I think makes a difference? Some days I feel like I am far too hard on myself and I need to just relax and spend a few days doing nothing. Just nothing productive so I can recharge my batteries.

Please stop American Horse Slaughter

Spay/neuter your pit bulls - stop breeding!

 

Vegan Baklava

Found a great recipe on the internet the other night for Vegan Baklava and it turned out wonderful. I cooked it for the time but allowed it to stay in the oven while I finished up the nectar.  Hindsight says I probably should have taken it out and left it a little less cooked.  That will be next time : ).  It is pretty yummy and no-one knew it was "vegan" unless I told them.

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=12942.0

I made the traditional.

ugly shoes

Couldn't resist the sale of Ugly Shoes!  Actually I was looking for work shoes and came across these beauties.  They were so ugly, I said to myself that I just had to try them on. Man!  What comfortable shoes!  They are rubber, water proof and super comfy. So, I bought them for a fraction of their original price. Which I can not imagine anyone paying, however on the way out, I saw the exact same shoes in light blue and brown for spring at full price....wow.

 

Worn them once already to walk the dog in the rain.

Dog treat recipe of the month

Go Bananas Training Treats

3 cups oatmeal
1 1/4 cups flour
2 eggs  (to make it vegan, use EnerG egg replacer, Flax seed & water or skip the eggs)
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup honey (skip if you want vegan)
1/2 cup milk (soy or rice milk)
2 mashed bananas

Blend liquid ingredients, eggs and mashed bananas, making sure to mix well. Add flour and oatmeal. Mixture will be similar to cake mix. Spread into a well-greased pizza pan and bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes. Cut into tiny squares or strips using a pizza cutter. Keep refrigerated; store unused in freezer.

mushroom minestrone soup

Cooked in a Crock pot

 

1 baking potato (washed and chopped)

2 carrots (quartered and chopped)

1 piece of celery (split and chopped, greens included)

1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)

1 can pinto beans (rinsed and drained)

1 can corn (fresh cut, drained)

1 can of diced tomatoes

3 cloves garlic (chopped or pressed)

1/2 large sweet onion chopped

1 whole small container of the small brown mushrooms (washed and sliced)

vegetable boulion (cubes or paste from a jar - I used both)

ground pepper corns (to taste)

basil (only a little)

parsley (only a little)

cooked pasta added when the soup is finished.

 

2 cups of water to start and 1 boulion cube with the carrots and potato and slowly add other ingredients. Add water and more boulion as needed. I think I ended up using three boulion cubes in the entire batch of soup and some of the paste boulion.  If the soup doesn't taste rich enough, add a little more boulion.  Use a pepper grinder for the peppercorns to taste. I let it cook all day and it was ready that evening for dinner.  Still tastes good as left overs.