i’m gonna begin this gigantical megapost with a sadfaced note guysers, so if you’re not feeling it just skip on down to the eats we’ve enjoyed.
a few weeks earlier we had to let Jasmine go.
my parents were kind enough to let her stay with us as of August as she and Julie really seemed to enjoy each other’s company. our family had cared for Jasmine ever since i began high school and she lived with my parents once we all left the house – she loved living in the country with them, but as she grew older she needed a little more assistance that dan and i were able to provide her as i come home on my lunch breaks and am up very early in the mornings. dan had built her a little bridge (complete with little railings) off of our back porch so she wouldn’t have to take the steps any longer to get into the back yard on our way out to the field for long walks with Julie. it was super cute to see a little more pep in Jasmine’s step as she walked with Julie and it warmed by heart to see Julie being ever-so patient with Jasmine – waiting for her when she would be walking more slowly, letting her go through doors first, and checking on her throughout the day. they quickly became good pals and learned a lot from each other in such a short time. one day a few weeks ago, what we thought was simply an upset tummy turned out to be a very large mass that was blocking Jasmine’s stomach and preventing her from being able to get her food to her stomach. surgery wasn’t an option due to her age of 17 years and because food wasn’t making it to her stomach she would eventually starve if we didn’t do anything. we decided to let Jasmine go – it was one of the hardest things i’ve ever had to do. after 17 years of being in my life she’s not around anymore. there’s a really big hole in my heart right now. waking up and not seeing her is tough – my lunch break walks with Julie are rough because she’s not there, Julie misses her and mopes around a little and is by our side a lot more, and coming home in the evenings is really hard, too. i know things will become less sad, but right now i really miss one of my best friends.
on a much more happyfaced note, dan left his desk job as a network engineer last week to pursue a career as a professional firefighter. he’s been volunteering as a firefighter for the past year, and in September he competed with 1,400 applicants for one of 20 (or so) spots as a firefighter for chesterfield fire & EMS. after weeks of extensive mental and physical tests, reference & background checks, and multiple interviews and lots and lots of waiting to hear if we was accepted – he finally got the word. he made it!!!!!!!! this past week he started recruit school and for the next four months he’ll be going through even more rigorous & intense training to get him where he needs to be for fighting fires as a career. if he successfully finishes recruit school (which is very physically and mentally intense – and i know he’ll finish!) he’ll be fighting fires professionally this coming may! i’m so proud of him for working so hard to get to this point and i am ridiculously excited that not only does he know in his heart what he wants to do with his life, but that he’s also able to do just that. :)
two weeks ago i traveled to buckingham viriginia for a weekend workshop on the “basics of meditation” in yogaville
with my friend, emily. it was an absolutely amazing adventure and i learned soooooo much & so much about myself and had lots of time for much reflection. i’m working on figuring out where i am and where i want to be, slowing down and becoming more mindful – and since the workshop i’ve been meditating every single morning (and i can honestly say i look forward to it each morning!). it’s been surreal. i took a lot with me from my visit to yogaville and i know i’ll be returning soon. the energy there is amazing, the people are so open-minded and warm-hearted, i felt so at peace, the food was simply delicious (it’s vegan!), and the land is breathtaking. makes me smile and relax just thinking back to it all.
okay dokey…..now that i’ve got’cha all caught up let’s get on to the grub! my lovely sister gave us Viva Vegan! for christmas and we’ve been cooking up a few deeeeelicious dishes from Terry’s cookbook of awesomeness. not photographed was the most delicious stew ever – the portobello feijoada. we used crushed up soy curls in our feijoada as we didn’t have any chunky tvp/tsp and it worked great. a thick ‘n hearty stew that was ridiculously good and also ridiculously easy to make. yeah, we’re lacking the photograph, but you’ve gotta trust is – it’s amazing!
we also really enjoyed Terry’s quick red bean posole & it ‘twas was outta-this-world! i’ve never had hominy before and i have to say i’m a little sad that i had gone soooo many years without it. it’s my new favorite, fo ‘sho. here’s the glorious spicy tortilla casserole with roasted poblanos. just look at that pine nut crema & all the fun ‘n tasty pumpkin seeds! 
her casserole packed so much flavor and heat and we had fun roasting the poblanos and went crazy for the combination of potatoes and spicy tomato sauce (we added a habanero to it). oh yes, and then there’s the corn-crusted tempeh pot pie - 
hellllllloooooooo there, love of my life! wows all around, my friends.
meals as of late have been fast ‘n easy – snobby joes ‘n cheezy potatoes, tofu scramble
, spicy tofu bowls...
and cake. mmmmmmmmm!
well, not that cake is a quick thing to make, but it sure was easy to whip up. last weekend we celebrated my dad & sister’s birthdays and i made a gluten-free carrot cake for everyone to enjoy. no one believed me when i told them it was gluten-free, and my dad called me a few days later to say he was a little sadfaced because he had just finished off the last piece. seeing as this is a megapost i’m gonna leave you all the gluten-free carrot cake recipe (and next time we make it i'll be sure to snap a better picture of it. we were so damn excited to devour it!). it’s a tweaked version of the ginger-macadamia-coconut-carrot cake from Vegan With A Vengeance. i figured it would kosh to post the recipe as it’s adapted and tweaked a ton.
gluten-free (and of course, vegan) carrot cake
ingredients:
2 cups of your fav gluten free flour mix (we used a chickpea-potato starch-tapioca blend of 5:3:2)
2/3 cup warm almond milk (we used plain un-sweetened)
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
2/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup crushed pineapple
1/3 cup pineapple juice (we simply strained our can ‘o crushed pineapple for this)
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
2 cups grated carrots (packed)
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup macadamia nuts or toasted walnut pieces
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
what you’ll need:
- large mixing bowl
- medium mixing bowl
- your favorite frosting (you can whip this up while the cakes are cooling)
- (2) 8” round cake pans
- shortening for greasing the pans + a little flour for dusting them
- cooling rack(s)
what’cha gotta do:
preheat oven to 350 degrees. lightly grease (with shortening) and dust (with gluten-free flour – we used a little bit of our g-f mix) two 8-inch round cake pans (make sure to dump the excess flour once the pans are lightly coated).
combine the ground flax seeds with the warm almond milk & continue combining until you get an “eggy” consistency. set aside.
combine gluten-free flour mix, baking soda & powder, cinnamon, xanthan gum, & sea salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl & set aside.
in a large bowl combine the canola oil, both sugars, crushed pineapple & its juice, ground flax seeds and almond milk “egg” mixture. combine well for at least a minute.
slowly add in the dry flour mix ingredients and mix only until blended and smooth. gently blend in carrots, nuts, and coconut.
pour & divide the batter into your prepared cake pans and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes (ours took 37 minutes) or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
remove the cakes from the oven & cool them for at least 10 minutes in their pans on a cooling rack. use a knife to go around the edges of the pan if the cake it sticking a bit to them & remove the cake from pans to finish cooling on the racks (we ever-so gently flipped our pans over the cooling racks – but be careful not to flip 'em too far away from the racks or else they make drop too fast & potentially break or crack.
make up whatever icing you love the most (we used the VWAV coconut icing recipe, but i bet a cream cheese icing or a “butter”cream would be just as lovely) and wait for those cakes to be completely cool. once cooled, add a thick layer o’ frosting to the top of your base cake layer & stack your second layer on top and finish icing the cake. eat it up!!!
