Category Archives: Vegetarian or Vegan

Sleep Schedules Can Mess You Up

Posted on 23 January 2010 | Leave a comment

Today was supposed to be a day of getting lots of work finished. In fact, I was supposed to finish my dissertation proposal revision today. Instead, I worked on my stuff for teaching because I was incredibly groggy all day and didn’t think I needed to concentrate as intently on reading a bad textbook about children’s literature as I would need to concentrate on my dissertation proposal.

I think I should write a review of this book and submit to some education journal. Because it is so poorly organized and schizophrenic, it is difficult for me to follow what the authors are saying sometimes. I wish they would have simply put all the information about each genre together in separate sections, maybe include a section about fantasy, one about contemporary realistic fiction, and so on, and then break it down into grade levels. But, no, the authors decide it is way better to break it down by age level and then by genre, so the reader of the textbook never gets a complete definition of, or feel for, what the author means by science fiction, or informational text. Their focus is on developmental stages and literature, which I dig, but it’s like wading through the poo-canal at McCullough Park in flip-flops searching for your disc golf disc in the middle of winter.

Sometimes my sleep schedules get all messed up, and for the past week I haven’t slept well. I even had a few nightmares, which always sucks. When I wasn’t wasn’t having horrible dreams, I would wake up at 2 or so and be awake until 4ish when I would finally fall back to sleep. I haven’t gone to bed before 11 any night this week and have been up by 730 in the morning at the latest. If you know me, you know I need at least 8 hours of decent sleep to function.

Since I have only been getting about 6 hours, which haven’t been of the best quality, I have fallen asleep twice in the middle of the day. I already wrote about playing Rip Van Winkle in the library, but I had the amazing opportunity (note the sarcasm) to play him again today. I really didn’t have time for a nap, but as I already said was a bit groggy, so foolishly I thought I would take a Jack-nap—a short rejuvenating nap—to get myself going for the afternoon study session. Well, when 6:09 rolled around and I woke up in time to make dinner, I realized that I need to figure out how to get this sleeping thing under control. Any suggestions?

Both of my grandmothers now have Alzheimer’s. My Grams will soon have to be placed in a nursing home that has a special Alzheimer’s unit, and my mom and Aunt Zoe are looking for a decent one that still takes Medicaid/Medicare. My grandma has been in Warren Home in a locked-down Alzheimer’s unit for so long, I don’t really even remember what she looks like. I don’t want to discuss this matter for two reasons: (1) It makes me incredibly sad that two such amazing god-fearing women have to suffer in this manner, and (2) I am already starting to forget things. I am 35, too young to forget as much as I do, and Alzheimer’s is hereditary. It scares me.. This is the extent to which I wish to discuss this matter.

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I am thankful for being able to make conscientious decisions.

Exercise: walked the dogs, ran 3 miles

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, salad, left over pizza, Lorna Doones, Ginger Ale, Spicy Basil pasta with tofu, mushrooms, and pinenuts, bread

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Insomnia, Reading, School, Teaching, Vegetarian or Vegan

Soy Milk Charge! BWs and Moustaches.

Posted on 22 January 2010 | Leave a comment

I had the opportunity to spend time with several friends today. First I got to have coffee and pal around with Elizabeth, which is always a good time. We went to the Tillotson Starbucks and had some of the shadiest service I have ever had there. One girl was working while the other two who were supposed to be stood at the end of the counter chatting with an off-duty shift leader and another person who wasn’t buying coffee. Finally, when the line reached almost to the door, the girl who was working looked down the counter and said, “Could one of you help me?” A little ridiculous, and they now charge $.50 for soy milk (as creamer) in an Americano. Really? Fifty cents for a splash of soy? Starbucks, oh, Starbucks, stop trying to pretend that you are my friend. It is getting more than a little felt up.

When we left Starbucks, we then went to Shoe Carnival so I could pick up my new running shoes. I will be wearing the heck out of them between now and May 8. I got two pairs of the same shoe, but one is light grey and purple and the other is dark grey and fuschia. I think I may wear one of each color at the same time, just for shits and giggles. And, I think it would be fun to have two shoes of two different colors. You know, like a trumped up version of wearing two different colors of shoe laces.

Elizabeth was thinking about getting some new Chucks, but they are so stinking expensive—$39.99 at Shoe Carnival—that she opted against it. “You know,” she said, “Chucks were the only type of shoes Ben and I could have as kids, and they were $5 a pair!” I reminded her that even when we were in high school they were between $15 and $20. Of course, that was before they were haute couture. Now that Converse is cool, their clothing and shoes are ridiculously expensive. And at least their clothing is made for tiny folks. Size XL in their women’s clothes is similar to most clothing lines’ M. It’s great for the self-esteem.

Finally, I ended the night hanging out with some old high school friends at BWs. I had their veggie burger with Caribbean Jerk sauce and some onion rings. My dinner was fantastic. We took some amazing photos, too.

Special, huh?

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I am thankful for laughing until I almost pee my pants.

Food: juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, pizza and breadstick, veggie burger with onion rings, four Lorna Doones, decaf Americano, scone, popcorn

Exercise: walked dogs

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Posted in Coffee, Food, Relationships, Vegetarian or Vegan

Rip Van Winkle

Posted on 21 January 2010 | Leave a comment

Only not so absurd. Since I have become addicted to Sherlock Holmes and have to tear myself away from him in order to accomplish anything else, I decided that I would stop in the library to read one short chapter of the book. Then I would move from the library to my office to work on my dissertation, giving myself not only time delineation, but also physical space delineation. I thought the very act of stopping to have a pleasant read at the library would energize me for the long afternoon of working on my proposal and hammering away at things I didn’t necessarily want to think about on a day so absurdly disgusting as today. Surprise. I was going to read from about one o’clock until whenever I finished “The Red-Headed League.”

At 3:30, I woke up with a start and realized I had fallen asleep and essentially slept through my office hours and my dissertation proposal time. I blame this on my Wild-Fire Tomato soup that I had for lunch. I think it had chicken broth in it. Does chicken have tryptophan? Or did I just catch a major case of sleep exhaustion from the intensity of Holmes and Watson’s debacle with John Clay? On further exploration, I find that chicken does in fact contain the same amount of tryptophan as turkey. Well, f. I must admit that I had dreams of Irene Adler, which were welcome. I love somebody with a little wicked, wild side. Strange. Elementary.

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I am thankful for food labeling.

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, chicken-laced tomato soup, salad, papa john’s, two chocolate covered grahams

Exercise: walked the dogs, walked from Burris to RB, swam a mile, ran for 30 minutes

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Reading, Running, Swimming, Vegetarian or Vegan

Vegan Lasagna

Posted on 16 January 2010 | Leave a comment

We went grocery shopping today, and I decided I wanted to try to make vegan lasagna, but not for any particular reason. My desire to do so was prompted by Meijer’s 10 for $10 sale, which included whole wheat pasta. Besides buying multiple boxes of other types of pasta, we bought lasagna noodles and because I was feeling up for a challenge, I put together the following recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 8 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked
  • two packages frozen spinach, thawed
  • one package frozen winter squash, thawed
  • one package of crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • half a head of cabbage, shredded or chopped
  • one package of tofu
  • one can of tomato sauce
  • one can of diced tomatoes
  • a couple of cloves of garlic, minced
  • some onion to taste
  • crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and other herbs to taste (If anything, put in more than you think will be necessary. Mine was a little bland.)

Process:

  1. Saute seasonings and garlic in some olive oil.
  2. Add in mushrooms, spinach, diced tomatoes and cook until mushrooms are tender.
  3. In a blender combine squash, tomato sauce, and tofu.
  4. Cover the bottom of a 9″x13″ glass casserole dish with nonstick spray, then spoon in some of the blender mix and a bit of the saute mix. You will want to use a slotted spoon for the saute mix, because it will be really juicy. Layer four noodles over the mix.
  5. On top of the noodles add half of the cabbage, pour over half of the remaining blender mix, spoon on half of the remaining saute mix, and then add the rest of the cabbage.
  6. Next layer on four more noodles, then the rest of the saute mix, and top it all with the left over blender mix, spreading it all over the top.
  7. Cover the whole pan with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Place it all in the oven at 350º for 60 minutes. Voila!

I thought the tofu in the tomato sauce and squash mix made it taste cheesy even without the cheese. I bought some vegan cheese to use, but I decided to do it without it once I tasted the heartiness of the mix. And, vegan cheese is always sketchy. If it wasn’t for the weird look of the mix on the top once it cooked, I think most people would think there was cheese inside. It looks like a creamy marina at the least, but it’s unsettling to see lasagna with a naked top and no gooey cheesy goodness. Except for the crunchiness of the cabbage, this tastes quite a bit like regular vegetarian lasagna.

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I am thankful for imagination and innovation in the kitchen.

Food: caramel corn from Christmas, vegan lasagna, sunflower seed bread with soy-peanut butter, bread and olive oil dip, soy milk, leftover pancake, banana, tea

Exercise: walked the dogs

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Posted in Food, PBJ, Vegetarian or Vegan