I have to say these cupcakes did not turn out how I expected them to. When you think of cupcakes you think of something with three inches of frosting on top in a cute little swirl. The recipe I used suggested making homemade icing for them instead. Also the original recipe is called root beer float cupcakes. I decided to use cream soda in place of the root beer. In my opinion these so called cupcakes were more like muffins. They still tasted amazing though.
The Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 cup root beer or cream soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl whisk applesauce, sugar, soda and vanilla together.
In another bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined.
The brand Virgil's is amazing. It's made with natural ingredients.
Slowly combine the dry and wet ingredients together, stirring as little as possible.
After placing the mixture into the baking cups, bake for 15 to 25 minutes.
Then put your icing on. I made mine using (lots) of powdered sugar, vanilla and almond milk.
I just kept mixing it all together till I liked the consistency. It turned out rather yummy.
Even though I couldn't taste the cream soda at all, these little cupcakes still were really good. They reminded me of cinnamon buns which is strange since there is no cinnamon in the recipe. Maybe it was the super sweet icing that I made. We ate some the next morning with our coffee. If you want to start your day off with a little sugar buzz then these cupcakes (muffins) are right for you! They do have apple sauce in them,....that's healthy right? These were a treat for us since we never eat sugar.
This is a harder one to post about because I don't have physical proof of accomplishing it, just my story. My entire life I have struggled with always wanting everyone to like me. I've always wore my heart on my sleeve and been hurt many times because of it. Over the years though I learned that when something bad happens to me, I just become a little bit stronger. Last year when my vegan lifestyle was more fresh and new to me I really had a hard time adapting emotionally. I didn't know how to ignore negative comments or reactions that I would receive from people. I didn't get what the big deal was. Yes, I don't eat animals, what's the problem?
I would seriously just fall apart. I know now that people are going to dislike me because of my values and beliefs. There is always going to be haters. It doesn't matter what you do or say. Over time I realized that people feel attacked personally if you talk about not eating animals. Some people view it as you are trying to be pushy and change them. I have never wanted to make someone feel that way. I just like giving information to people. Plus I just simply get excited when I talk about it. I feel like I am glowing and I have a smile from ear to ear. I get so happy when someone asks me questions about the food I eat and why. It's so nice when someone is curious and listens to what I have to say. I've learned to just focus on the people who are willing to accept me for who I am and not treat me like a freak or a crazy person. Why waste so much energy on those who don't care or show interest? This was the lesson I needed to learn and I feel like in the last 6 months I have.
I used to stress over influencing family and friends to go vegan. It's hard to influence the people I love since they live 1,200 miles away. The best way to prove to people that eating a plant based diet isn't hard is by cooking for them. Since I can't cook for them on a regular basis, they will never understand that I don't just eat tofu and carrots. When I post things about animal rights on Facebook they can just choose to ignore me. Which would cause me to get very sad sometimes. I could never understand why no one cared. One of the reasons Cody and I visited Ohio back in April was to hopefully talk to our families about adapting our diet. I didn't expect my family to want to go join Peta and become animal activists, but I would love for everyone to be healthier. Once I was there with the people I love I decided not to bring it up. It's like the saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink." One of my blogger friends said that to me once and it's stuck every since.
During our visit we fed people good vegan meals, they saw how happy we are and how healthy we have become,....done. All I ever hope to do is inspire people and lead by example. Conversations were started with family but ended fairly quick. It just proved to me that I need to let things be. Even though it's hard on me at times, I definitely learned from it as well. Things don't seem to be bothering me as much. I still struggle with watching people eat meat or even seeing it. I don't know if that will ever change, maybe just get easier over time. I do, however, not worry about what people think or say when I tell them I don't eat animals. I also will straight forward tell them why. Which leaves me with this video below. I stumbled across it by accident. This guy is vegan and he took the words right out of my mouth. I found it very inspiring. He speaks out about why vegans shouldn't be scared of speaking their minds.
Skip ahead to 2 minutes and 15 seconds. That is where he starts talking about vegans.
I speak my mind when it's appropriate and I'm never mean or pushy. That doesn't get you anywhere in any aspect of life!! I have always treated people the way I want to be treated. It's so simple yet very powerful. A few months back I had someone tell me that I was going to live a life of depression by being vegan. This was said to me because one day I was really sad over animals being killed for food. As if we don't all get sad about something that happens in the world from time to time. We are human aren't we? Those words were said to me as a personal attack.
Funny thing is, it did the opposite. It made me learn to "Ignore Haters" and I think I am stronger now. I am just going to keep being me. Which is actually a rather happy person I think. If I inspire some people along the way then that's just an added bonus. I hope that this post wasn't just another vegan one to you. I think we all have things in our lives that we are passionate about and wish that others were as well. Just lead by example and always wear a smile on your face. It's contagious. ;)
I've been enjoying lots of tea. My newest tea obsession is Sweet Coconut Thai (It's decaf by the way).
I'm doing pretty good with my caffeine/coffee addiction.
Down to only one cup in the morning and sometimes an extra on the weekend as a treat.
Glad to be wearing flip flops and hanging out on my deck.
The cats love watching me outside. They are so curious, but too scared to venture outside on their own.
Flowers are in full bloom in my backyard.
Getting some longer bike rides in with Cody. My absence from the internet is due to my love for my bicycle.
So far we are only doing 30 mile rides, which on average takes around 3 hours to do.
I hope to at least be able to do 50 miles in one day by the end of the month.
Not sure if we will have time to pull this off, but I can be hopefully. :)
Since I have been using my new clip in pedals I have crashed every ride.
I always have a little blood and a lot of grease on me. hahaha
One of our parks has a little box full of books for people to read and share.
Isn't that cool? I may have to donate a few. They are trying to encourage people to grab a book and read at the park.
There has been lots of cuddling happening with my fur babies. :)
Overall things have been good. I have been enjoying my new found freedom since blogging less. I think during the colder months when I am pinned up instead blogging is better for me. I'm also super busy painting our kitchen cabinets still! (BOO!) Hopefully they will be done by the end of the month and I can share some photos. How is your summer going? (I guess Fall for some of my readers?)
Recently Cody and I watched all five seasons of the TV series Fringe. It is definitely one of my favorite shows ever. Above is one of my favorite scenes featuring the character Walter. Walter is my favorite thing about the entire show. I decided to share this scene with you because Walter has a melt down at the grocery store over the ingredients in some toaster pastries. As Cody and I were watching it we looked at each other and said, "This is so us". We always read all the ingredient labels on boxes before placing anything in the cart. The show is really cool. If you like Sci-Fi and Government conspiracy type shows you should check it out. Visit the Fringe website HERE.
A blog that I really enjoy reading is Musings of an Unapologetic Dreamer, written by Keith. The above image is one that he shared on his blog in a post called Don't Let Yesterday Take Up To Much Of Today. Keith always chooses great topics to blog about. I love how inspiration his posts can be for me. He also keeps them short and sweet a lot of time, yet they usually make you "think". Visit his blog HERE.
Currently I am obsessed with building a tiny home, living mortgage free, downsizing and downsizing some more! I love the above video by IKEA about living in a small space. I always enjoy a trip to IKEA browsing all there staged rooms. IKEA is so great about providing storage solutions for all areas of any sized home. A few weeks back I shared a post entirely dedicated to Tiny Homes HERE. Ever since I have become a bit obsessed with them! For instance, the home below I am head over heels for. It is a little over 500 square feet and AMAZING....
It's amazing how some of these tiny homes don't seem tiny at all. Open floors plans, smart design and simple decorating make these downsized homes so appealing. I've been sketching floor plans, building Sims houses and doing a lot of research on the topic the past few weeks. It will be a few years before any of this can happen for Cody and I since he has three more years in the Air Force. Plenty of time to plan and save money! You can see all the photos of the above home HERE. Check it out, it's beautiful.
I've gotten quite accustomed to getting weird reactions about eating a vegan diet. When you mention that your dogs are also vegan you really get some strange looks. Honestly though I just laugh about it. I'm the type of person who believes in physical proof or solid evidence. The results I have seen in both my dogs since switching them to a vegan dog food formula have been amazing. That's all I need to know that it's the right choice for my Fur Babies.
Photo taken just a few days ago.
Let me give you a little history about Muffins. She is 13 years old and has a curved spine. Also when she walks her knee caps move out of place. Things started getting hard for her back in 2011 when we lived in California. Back then she still had a lot of spunk and we were able to take her for walks on the beach. Shortly after California she seemed to be in a lot of pain when she walked and she became very lazy. When we moved to Wyoming I took her to a vet and had her put on pain meds. I didn't like giving her meds because I know they cause liver damage. I kept her on them for about a month and saw no improvement at all. I stopped giving them to her.
Muffins in California, 2011
Fast froward to 2012, which is when Cody and I went vegan. I never would of thought that I would find a vegan dog food or even consider switching my dogs to a meat free diet. My views and beliefs changed overtime, I educated myself on how the dog/cat food is made and I just decided that if meat causes so many problems in the human body, isn't it possible it does the same to our pets? Made sense to me.
Stephanie from Share The Love informed me that the pet food brand Natural Balance made a vegan dog food formula. I was so excited about it and I was able to just go to my local pet food store and buy it. The price is pretty comparable to brands like IAMS, which is what they were eating prior to switching to Natural Balance. Within only a few weeks of switching the dogs to their new food I saw results. When I fed Muffins IAMS she would barely eat a bowl worth a day, even go a few days without eating. It was heartbreaking.
There were days where I would come home from work and have to check to see if she was still breathing. It was awful. Sometimes I would just start balling my eyes out because I feared the worst. Muffins would sleep for hours and never even get up to drink water or go outside. I had watched my poor little dogs health decline very badly over the last year. She was super skinny and had trouble getting off the deck to use the restroom and even going over the doorway to get in and out of the house she would fall.
It's so hard to watch your pets get old. For a long time I didn't think she would make it to the end of this year. However, after switching her diet I have this completely different dog. It's as if I rolled back time. For one she loves the food and she is eating regularly. She has gained some much needed weight. She wants to be up and about. She goes outside multiple times a day on her own without being forced. She shows happiness and excitement again. All I did was switch her food.
I actually was talking to a co-worker about the vegan dog food the other day. It was so refreshing to have someone show interest and ask questions about it. She planned to tell her aunt about the food because she has a dog that's older and not doing that well. That's when I knew I really wanted to share it with my readers. :) Cody and I plan to take a vacation this year to California. It means a lot to me to take Muffins to see the ocean again. I've never seen her so happy. As far as Chloe goes, she has lost some much needed weight.
Chloe eating a vegan dinner
Chloe is no longer the shape of a barrel. She now has an hour glass shape the way she should. The results with both my dogs have been great. I wrote this post so that I could pass the information along. I know not everyone will agree with me and that's fine. Again, this is my choice and all the proof I need is in front of me everyday. I can't wait to walk Muffins on the beach again!
The next big step for me to take in cycling was to put clip in pedals on my bike. What are clip in pedals you may ask? I'm sure you know what a traditional bike pedal looks like. A clip in pedal is designed to "clip in" to a cleat on the bottom of cycling shoes. Below you can see my cute little shoes and a also a photo of the circle shaped clip in pedal.
I started out just riding my bike on my trainer in my basement to practice the motion of clipping in and out of the pedal with my shoes. It does take sometime to get used to the feeling. The benefits of having the clip in pedals is that they give you more strength while riding your bike. Since your shoe is now attached to the pedal you get more power while you are pedaling. Not only do you push on the pedal, you are also it pulling up. However, Cody didn't inform me how much it was going to hurt my legs the first ride. I felt pain in muscles I didn't know I had! It really becomes a full leg workout.
I did fall/crash twice. With clip in pedals you basically become part of the bike, so it's easy to make mistakes as a beginner. You are attached and need to know what you are doing to get off. The first time I fell was because I didn't push myself up high enough to get on my seat when starting. The padding on my shorts caught the seat just enough to turn it into a failed attempt. I tried to get off and save myself, but with my right foot still clipped in, down I went. My second fall didn't hurt so bad. I was coming to a stop and I had clipped out of my left pedal. This is the foot I always put on the ground when I get off the bike. Somehow I accidentally clipped it back in. Since I didn't know I was clipped in, I just went to get off the bike "thinking" my foot was free. I think my exact words were, "Shit, I'm still clipped in." Crash. hahaha
Caution: Hot Dogs Ahead
We have been riding on actual roads more. I feel fairly comfortable doing it because the people in the area are used to seeing cyclists. I do tend to stay as far over as possible or use the shoulder if there is one. I don't believe in hogging the road because I'm on a bike. I do hope that people don't get too close either. When I lived in Ohio you rarely saw cyclists. When I did see them I'd get so mad and cuss about it. I thought that roads were only for cars. Boy, how my views have changed. It's also very hard for a cyclist to stop and go. It's so nice when people wave you on or have patience. Especially for a beginner like me. :)
I love snapping photos while we are riding. The above photo is a common site here in town. Lots of people have there own junkyard or car lot going on. Cars and campers lined up rusting away. I joke with Cody that I think there are more campers in our city then people. It's a very interesting place to live and I'm sure someday when we move away we will miss it. You really get to see things differently when you are out on a bike. This ride was one of the most physically hard rides I've done, since I was working all kinds of new muscles in my legs. I can't wait to just keep getting stronger!
Recipe adapted from Happy Herbivore by Lindsay Nixon
