meatless monday: thanksgiving edition

Even before I was a vegetarian, Thanksgiving was definitely not one of my favorite holidays.  Not only is there a ridiculously large amount of meat involved,  but I hate getting so full I can hardly breathe. (Um, don't worry, I still do it - every year. without fail.)   

And don't get me wrong, I do love some things about the holiday, and I am definitely NOT judging you turkey lovers out there.  And I'm definitely not reserving my Tofurkey at Whole Foods either, because that sicks me out even more than real meat.  I am, however, ready to stuff my face with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie!  So, over the next few days I'll be posting some easy vegetarian and vegan Thanksgiving side dishes, most of them with a delicious twist,  and hopefully you'll find a few new things to try this year...

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

 

Ingredients:

2 whole garlic bulbs

1 tbsp olive oil

2lbs mealy potatoes, peeled

1/2 cup milk*

4 tbsp butter*

salt and pepper

Separate the garlic cloves, place on a large piece of foil and drizzle with the oil.  Wrap the garlic in the foil and roast in a preheated oven, 350 degrees for about 1 hour, or until very tender.  Let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into chunks, then cook in a pan of lightly salted boiling water for 15 minutes, or until tender.

Squeeze the cooled garlic cloves out of their skins and push through a strainer into a pan.  Add the milk and butter and season with salt and pepper.  Heat gently until the butter has melted.

Drain the cooked potatoes, then mash in the pan until smooth.  Pour in the garlic mixture and heat gently, stirring until the ingredients are combined. Serve hot.

**I substitute the milk with soy milk and the butter with vegan butter, like Smart Balance.)

Pictures from our weekend to come!! I officially became that mom - and took Scarlett to see Barney live. Ugghhh....

you're far too kind...

Raise your hand if you wish there were more hours in the day!

Sorry I have been pretty much MIA this week. I feel like it's been pretty much non-stop around here. But I wanted to make sure and thank all the sweet bloggers who have given me awards lately...

 Thank you to Katie for tagging me with the Honest Scrap award. (I'm not sure if this is technically an award but still...) 

Read the July version HERE.

 Katie is such a sweet, genuine, down-to-earth, CUTE girl, so go check out her blog. Her letters to her future husband will absolutely make your day!

 

 Thank you to Jennifer for the Kreativ Blogger award.  You MUST follow her blog so you can read about PRECIOUS baby Addie.

So for this award I'm supposed to tell you all 7 things you  may not know about me...

1.  I am 5 feet tall.  When I was pregnant with Scarlett, my doctor measured my height and said I was 4'11". I told her that was incorrect and made her measure again.

2. The one and only thing stopping me from being completely Vegan is my love of Parmesan cheese.

3. I have two tattoos. One huge-mistake-of-a-fairy on my lower back, and the word LOVE on my wrist in pink in honor of my sweet Val. She's serving in the Peace Corps. The "O" in love has a peace sign in the middle. Why don't I just show you...mine is on the left. Five of my best friends and I got these right before Val left in April.

4.  I drive a yellow car.

5. I am extremely talented in imitating foreign accents.

6.  I am a very un-jealous person. It takes a lot.

7. I'm working on a little "business" and I'll reveal it soon :)

 

 Thank you to Kerbi for the Over the Top Award!

The little survery...

1. Where is your cell phone: Always somewhere close by.
2. Your hair: is depressing me at the moment.
3. Your mother: is the absolute healthiest person I know and it shows.
4. Your father: is the absolute hardest worker I know.
5. Your favorite food:  chips and salsa. I literally eat it every day. I don't know what to do with out salsa in the house.
6. Your dream from last night: So random...Target got a fabric/sewing section and carried Amy Butler fabric.
7. Your favorite drink: Tazo Passion Iced Tea
8. Your dream/goal: To be an a good mom, always. And to finish my half marathons!
9. What room are you in: On the couch in the living room.
10. What is your hobby: Running
11. What is your fear: I'm a little neurotic about carbon monoxide poisoning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years: Living in Austin, TX
13. Where were you last night: Running @ the Clements track
14. Something you are not: tall
15. Muffins: Not really a fan
16. Wish List items.: a camera so nice that I have no idea how to even use it, and a juicer :)
17. Where did you grow up: all over the great state of TEXAS
18. Last thing you did: watched Real Housewives of OC
19. What are you wearing: Yoga pants and a t-shirt
20. Your TV: is always on Nick Jr.
21. Your pets: none and I intend to keep it that way for at least a little while longer...
22. Your friends: are the most encouraging and supportive people in the world
23. Your life: busy and blessed
24. Your mood: kind of annoyed because I'm watching the new Girls Next Door and it just isn't the same...
25. Missing someone: Val in Bulgaria!!
26. Vehicle: Ford Escape
27. Something your not wearing: make-up
28. Your favorite store: Target, Anthropologie, Tory Burch, Forever 21 and ETSY!!!
29. Your favorite color:  Coral and Turquoise
30. When's the last time you laughed: Watching Scarlett attempt to "spit" while brushing her teeth.
31. When's the last time you cried: Might have teared up when Taylor Swift accepted her Entertainer of the Year award.
32. Your best friend: Ohhh so many. I am blessed with amazing, amazing friends.
33. One place you go over and over: Target and my parent's
34. One person who emails me regularly: MEREDITH
35. Favorite place to eat?: Chuy's -- IN AUSTIN -- has to be in Austin.

 

And finally, thank you to Mackenzie, Leigh, and Kate for the Fabulous Sugar Doll Award!

I'm supposed to tell you all ten interesting things about me but REALLY I think I've said enough.

If you actually read this, you're the bomb.

Thanks again ladies!!!

meatless monday

Whit's Easy Veggie Chili

1 15-oz can each: dark kidney beans, white kidney beans, garbanzo beans

1 16-oz bag frozen mixed veggies

3 cloves garlic

1 small chopped onion

1 package chili powder mix

1 16-oz can crushed tomatoes

1 cup spicy V-8 juice

1/4 cup pineapple juice

Hot sauce, to taste

Directions:

Toss all ingredients in large pot and heat for 20 minutes or till hot. Stir as needed.

Recipe from MeatlessMonday.com

I haven't personally made this, but it just looks too easy not to try. Not really sure about the pineapple juice?  If someone makes this let me know how it comes out!

I wish I had more time to write, but I have a to-do list the length of my arm.  Hope you're all having a great Monday!

my awesome morning in pictures

I decided to bust out the Christmas mugs in celebration of my new Gingerbread coffee creamer.  Not quite as good as my favorite Starbucks drink ever, the Gingerbread Latte - yes, even more favorite than the PSL. But it's still pretty good.

Then I turned on the TV -- to  Zack and Kelly getting married!  How could I not watch?? Takes me right back to 4th grade.  (Can you believe they got married 15 years ago?)

Scarlett got a surprise package in the mail from her great-grandma Jo, the self proclaimed "specialist in sending stupid souvenirs and junk no one needs."  I have to say, this is almost always true, but in this case, she actually sent something pretty good.  Much better than the creepy life-size stuffed ballerina Scarlett got as an infant.

And I got a surprise package too!  My shirts for the Austin Half came in - SO EXCITED!  I think I need this as motivation for my 7 mile run tomorrow....

Then Scarlett and I played around on Photo Booth for a good 15 minutes.  I cannot get her to look at the actual "camera" for the life of me.

Close enough.

I was supposed to watch Rileybug today, but her poor mama is sick, so she's staying home with her.  I'm thinking we'll go kill some time at Target, stop by my parent's for lunch, and then wander the aisles of Whole Foods with my mom.

Hope you all have an awesome Friday! Yay for the weekend!!!

best of intentions

So yesterday was definitely one of those days that I had about a million things to do and only got about 3 of them accomplished.   I totally intended to do a meatless monday post and when I woke up this morning I had 84 entries in Reader.  I think that gets me a big fat FAIL in the bloggy world.

But, I have a valid excuse.  I kept sweet baby Riley for a friend from church most of the afternoon.  She was pretty much the easiest baby ever, but keeping 2 kids entertained all day was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. I'm sure all you moms of multiple children are rolling your eyes at me, and that's okay.  I completely own the fact that I am nowhere near ready for another child.

It was good practice for Carson though, who's getting a baby sister  sibling @ the end of June.

Sweet girl.  Not even three months old.

Scarlett loved having Riley over for most of the day, but towards the end I think she was ready to get her mommy back.  She kept asking "When is Riley's mommy coming?"

Hopefully keeping Riley will become a permanent thing for us, and if so, I'll be super excited!

Now we're off to play @ the park on this GORGEOUS beautiful amazing day.

xoxo

halloween oh nine

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

fun day.

Today my sweet mama took Scarlett for the day so I could FINALLY organize her new room - which was COMPLETELY out.of.control.

My child has more toys than any kid should ever have, so I needed to do a little consolidation, especially since Christmas is just around the corner.

Mom took Scarlett to the store to pick out her very own pumpkin to carve...

Apparently this is the one she wanted, so bad that she was trying to pick it up herself...

 

When I came to pick her up she couldn't wait to show it to me!

Then we went to Target to get some cookies to bake.  (and by bake I mean open package and place pre-cut, pre-decorated cookies on baking sheet)

Pretty sure this is the first time we have ever "cooked" together.  She was super cute and super excited.

Then she decided we needed to share...so we made Carson a little Halloween gift package and left it outside the door as a surprise!!

 Doesn't she look so BIG?!

 It seems like yesterday that I was writing this post about Scarlett's first Halloween.

Such a little munchkin she was.

 And the cutest little monkey you ever did see.

 Hope you all have a very HAPPY and safe HALLOWEEN!

xoxo.