Do Life Right

Yummy and Simple!  Here is a very quick and easy meal that everyone in my family loves.

Vegan “Beef” Taquitos:

• 12+ large whole wheat flour tortillas
• 1 package Morningstar or Boca vegan beef crumbles (found in the frozen section)
• 1 jar Peach and Mango Salsa (our secret ingredient) — Bean and Corn salsa is also good
• Nacho Chreese (vegan cream cheese and/or Vegan Gourmet cheddar is also good)
• Optional: diced tomatoes, onions, peppers, corn, etc.
• Tofutti sour cream

In a large bowl, mix crumbles, salsa and any extras together.  Lay a tortilla flat on a large clay tray/cookie sheet.  Spoon a bit of nacho chreese onto the middle of the tortilla.  Add 2-3 spoonfuls of the mixture on top.  Fold the tortilla almost in half.  Roll the whole thing up into a tight tube.  Lay all the taquitos together on a sheet and bake at 375F for about 30 minutes.  If you use a clay baking dish, no oils are necessary.  Top with vegan sour cream and/or fresh salsa (pico de gallo) if desired.  Eat and enjoy!  Feeds 3-4 hungry people.

This recipe is also good with corn tortillas and/or vegan chicken strips instead.

When I was a kid, I couldn’t stand biscuits and gravy.  My parents thought it was a real treat and raved about it on the rare occasions we had it (usually at a restaurant).  Since I’ve never liked it, I was surprised when I decided to make it a few days ago.  It started when I bought a nice white gravy mix from Vegan Essentials for us to have a gravy for our potatoes at Thanksgiving.  The gravy tasted EXACTLY like the gravy in Biscuits and Gravy.  So, anyway, here is my quick and easy veganized recipe.

Vegan Biscuits and Gravy

• 1/2 cup white gravy mix
• 3 cups soymilk (vanilla or plain) or water
• 2 tubes Gimme Lean vegan sausage (often found in the produce section)
• 12+ homemade biscuits (Bisquick makes a nice whole wheat mix) or 2-3 tubes whole wheat biscuits (note that the non-whole wheat ones have either dairy, beef tallow, and/or eggs in them — making them unhealthy and definitely not vegan)

Start the sausage first.  Fry in a pan with A LOT of water — using water allows you to not use any oils.  Keep adding water as necessary to have the sausage not stick to the pan. While it is cooking, mix the gravy mix with either water or soymilk (I used vanilla soymilk).  Heat until boiling, mixing fairly frequently with a whisk.  As soon as it is done, start the biscuits in the oven - they only take 10 minutes.  Everything should finish at the same time.  Assemble and add salt and/or pepper as desired.  Eat and enjoy.  This feeds 4 hungry adults or 2 hungry adults with plenty of leftovers. 

We’ve had a bit of rain where I live recently, and it’s made me crave a certain type of movie.  Since we’re in the midst of a fairly major remodeling project I haven’t had the chance to watch all of these, but I’m craving to (sometimes enjoying a bit of melancholy with a batch of hot soup is fun).

Top Ten Movies for a Rainy Day:

Casablanca; A bit cliche, but perfect to cuddle up with a blanket to.  Actually, just about anything Humphrey Bogart fits this category.

Gene Kelly Collection (Singin’ in the Rain / An American in Paris / On the Town / Anatomy of a Dancer); Who (other than Bogey himself) is more perfect for a rainy day than Gene Kelly?

Joe Versus the Volcano; Starts with gloom and rain and turns fabulous.

Sleepless in Seattle; Rain reminds me of this city.  Wonder why?

Murder, She Wrote; Not a movie, but this series is great for a rainy day.

Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles; Darker old detective stories always seem to be set in the rain…

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express

Columbo - The Complete First Season; If only Columbo existed in real life…

Paw Prints Of Thieves & Hot Diggety Dawg and Wishbone - Impawssible Dream; Wishbone is about the closest to a kid’s version of mystery melancholy fun.

The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection and The Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection; I’m actually not a big Hitchcock fan, yet give me a rainy day and I’m wanting to see them all. 

Our Girl Scout troop recently had a Talent Show.  My oldest daughter’s talent was cooking.  Since each act could only be 5 minutes (or less) long, she had a difficult time deciding what to cook.  She finally decided on wedding mints (which could be shown in stages).  They are relatively simple to make, easy to store, and very yummy!  The first time I made these was for my high school graduation party and we’ve been making them for nearly every special occasion since (including my wedding and my first baby shower).  The original recipe was not vegan, but we’re pretty good at veganizing recipes since there are so many vegan products ready-to-eat these days. 

Vegan Wedding Mints

• 1 container Tofutti cream cheese
• 6 cups vegan powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon flavoring (choices include: mint, butter, strawberry, almond, etc. I’m looking forward to trying prickly pear, and perhaps maple - quantities might need to be adjusted for these)
• ~1/2-1 cup vegan granulated sugar in a small bowl
• Food coloring if desired (we like ours without, but if you are making several flavors it’s nice to add a small amount of coloring to distinguish the flavors unless you like to live on the wild side)
• Cookie sheet, mixing bowl, large spoon, Silicone Candy Mold, storage container, waxed paper

Warm cream cheese to room temperature (microwave if necessary). Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Some people prefer to add the flavoring directly to the cream cheese before slowly adding the powdered sugar.  Taste to make sure the flavor is perfect before continuing.

Roll small marble sized pieces of the mix with fingers and thoroughly dip into the granulated sugar.  Push into Silicone Candy Mold and immediately take out and put onto a sheet of waxed paper (that is on a cookie sheet, or similar).  Once the tray is full, refrigerate or freeze for at least ten minutes.  Once the outer part is hard, they can be stacked into storage containers.  One batch makes ~75 mints (assuming several taste tests) and can be frozen up to a year in advance.

Enjoy!

Are you enjoying having your kids home from school? Do you consider your children the coolest people in the universe?

Did you know that you don’t have to send them back to school? It is possible to legally homeschool in all 50 U.S. states and many (most?) countries around the world.

Homeschooling comes in all shapes and sizes. Have your children been thriving in the relaxed atmosphere of the holidays?  Are you thinking these are the best times of the year?  Then, keep your kids home.

How?

• Find out the laws in your state or country. Do a quick google search for “<Your state/country> Homeschooling Laws”.
• Talk with your spouse and children about the idea of them staying home.
• Make it a trial. You can always send your kids back to school, but you can never get this time with them back.

Empower yourself and your children by giving them the childhood they deserve and the freedom in which to grow on their own paths in their own way in their own timeframes.

Have you picked a word to represent your 2009 dreams, desires, and ambitions?  The idea of this is very similar to vision boards, yet even more focused.  This idea has been wildly popularized from Christine Kane (read here for more of my articles which mention her) and I love it, yet 2009 will be my first year of actually picking a word.  I’ve found it too difficult in the past.

My word for 2009 is: ALLOW.

I’ve been personally struggling with the same half a dozen or so ambitions for the past five or so years.  Over and over I’ve tried to accomplish these things.  I’ve gotten super close a few times, only to have the actual goal crash right in front of me leaving me years behind (further back than square one) again and again.  Yet, simultaneously, I’ve had some incredibly amazing things happen to me and for me during these same years of struggle — things that I’d barely pondered, yet just fell into my lap with very little (and sometimes no) effort at all.

This is how I want my whole life to be.  It is for many people and I believe it can be for me, too, so long as I ALLOW it to happen.  I’m going to live with this word in mind every day until I trust it to be the way life is.  This isn’t a goal to become lazy, far from it - it’s a goal to allow the good things to happen because of the actions I am already taking.

If you have any desire to pick a word for yourself, now is the perfect opportunity.  Can’t pick a word?  I like Christine Kane’s advice to try on several (one at a time for a few hours or days) until you pick one that feels right.

Happy New Year!  I wish that all of your dreams and desires come true as well!

Have you had the chance to browse through the HUGE list of citizen recommendations on Change.org yet?  I love their question:  What do You want to Change in the World?

There are a variety of worthy ideas to support on that site, but only the top 10 (as of midnight tonight - December 31, 2008) will be given to the new president on January 20, 2009.

Check out Naomi Aldort’s “Support for Mothers and Children” idea.  Naomi is the popular mindful parenting author of Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves. Here is a snippet of her idea on Change.org:

Children should be raised by parents, not by strangers in substitute facilities. Ours is the first society in human history to deprive children of their very basic need for parental constant care. We do so in the name of money. I suggest that the money spent on day care should be used to support mothers/parents in staying home, and to make financial adjustments that make one salary be viable for families, the way it used to be.

While not perfect in its overall wording, it is a great starting point for a revolutionary idea.  I know my family and many of the families around us would have been (and still could be) a lot more stable and secure if our government supported our decisions to have an at-home parent (or even 1/2 time at-home parents splitting the childcare).  Our children should be raised by us parents, not by random strangers and other unsupported children.

Make your voice heard before midnight tonight!  Vote today! You can make a difference!

Since before my family was officially a homeschooling family, I’ve heard the stories of “poor stifled homeschooled children”.  Who hasn’t?  It’s these poor kids (well, actually their parents) who give homeschoolers a bad name.  I’ve met them, they absolutely exist — so I’m not about to tell you that they don’t.  I will say though that Unschoolers are living the lifestyle that is exactly the opposite of being stifled.  Their worlds are WIDE open!

There is an interesting range of homeschooling styles, but here are the basic categories:

• The strict book-work curriculum homeschoolers (often called “School-at-Homers”).  These are often the ones who also have a strict home life with chores and rules with the parents firmly “in charge”.  These are also often the ones who homeschool for religious reasons.
• Then, there are the virtual schoolers who are basically going to school (with their parent(s) as their teachers) at home.
• Then, there are the eclectic homeschoolers.  These people take a variety of curriculum ideas and customize their programs to fit the adult’s and children’s “needs”. [This category and the previous one often are flexible enough to allow their children's school work to come between outside interests, rather than in lieu of them.]
• Lastly, and most importantly, is the Unschooling style of homeschooling.  Unschooling parents view it to be their job to facilitate their children’s learning by being partners in life with their children.  While curriculum based homeschoolers homeschool in order to protect their children from the world, Unschoolers choose to homeschool in order to open the world up to their children; they are polar opposites.

When choosing what style of homeschooling you want for your family, consider the following:

• Do you want your children to be stifled, or enlightened?
• Do you want a dictatorship in your family, or a partnership?
• Do you want to be strapped down to a kitchen table for hours every day making your children learn to hate certain subjects in life, or do you want the freedom to live and learn as humans are naturally meant to do?
• Do you want to be with your children as they grow and experience the world, or do you want their first experiences of the real world to happen when they move out (and are not with you)?

Choose the style which will give you the relationship with your children that you and your kids deserve.

This is a guest post from my husband, Greg:

As with 2007’s list, these are movies I watched (or re-watched) over the previous year.  They didn’t necessarily come out in 2008.  Since we usually wait for movies to come out on DVD rather than go to the theater, I tend to see things a bit late.  I have a pile of made-in-2008 movies that I got for Christmas that look like they have a good chance of making my 2009 list.

At any rate, here’s the list (in no particular order):

1. The Last Castle; This was a better movie than I expected - after all, prison movies have been done to death.  But Robert Redford and James Gandolfini were both great.  And of course, any movie that manages to work in a trebuchet earns bonus points.
2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Don’t listen to the naysayers.  Indy is back, and this one is every bit as good as the others.  I went in to the theater with low expectations after being sorely disappointed at how George Lucas did with revisiting his other famous trilogy.  I was very pleased to see that Indiana was still as exciting and funny as in the original movies.
3. Quantum of Solace; Daniel Craig is the best James Bond since Connery.  His portrayal of 007 makes the character seem gritty and real.  This movie was very much a part two of Casino Royale and I’m anxious to see part three.
4. Live Free or Die Hard; It was fun watching Bruce Willis play John Maclaine again.  I also enjoyed Justin Long in this.  (He’s an actor who I think doesn’t get enough attention.  Also watch for him in Galaxy Quest and Accepted.)  Watch for Kevin Smith’s cameo.
5. Red Green’s Duct Tape Forever; If you haven’t seen Red Green yet, you need to.  While the show is made up of a series of sketches, this movie is one continuous story.  In either, you’ll see that anything can benefit from some duct tape.  Remember - if it ain’t broke, you’re not trying hard enough!
6. Spider-Man 3; More great super hero adventure.  In this one, Spidey gets an unlikely ally and breaks up with MJ.  Maybe it’s just me, but I was annoyed with Mary Jane (or perhaps just the actress) and found myself rooting for him to dump her!  In the end though, the webhead puts everything right.
7. Air Force One; Harrison Ford plays the kind of President we all wish we had.
8. Big Trouble in Little China; What if the side kick didn’t realize he was just a side kick (and a comic relief one at that!)?  That’s Kurt Russell in this quirky martial arts action movie.
9. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang; I wouldn’t have thought that film noir and comedy could go together but this movie proved me wrong.  It manages to be funny without ridiculing classic noir.
10. The Terminator; The first in the series didn’t have a ton of flashy special effects, just huge unstoppable Arnold!  It’s an exciting chase, and an interesting science fiction story.  Is the future written, or can we change it?

I hope you (or the guy in your life) finds something enjoyable here.  We highly recommend viewing the above movies at home in your own private theater.  Please support Do Life Right and buy your movies with the links above.  If you click through a link from here, all of your purchases will help support this site without any additional cost to you.  Thanks!

My family loves appetizers.  Sometimes we’ll make a whole meal of several appetizers; it’s wonderful and fun and makes great party foods too.  Last night, my older daughter made us Vegan Bacon Wrapped Scallops.  Other items, such as chestnuts or vegan shrimp can be used in this same recipe — I actually prefer fresh roasted chestnuts in this recipe, but they’ve been incredibly difficult to find this winter.

Vegan Bacon Wrapped Scallops

• 2 cans vegan scallops
• 2-3  boxes vegan bacon (we like both the Fakin’ Bacon and Smart Bacon — they taste completely different, but are both delicious
• Dry spaghetti noodles

Open everything.  Wrap a scallop in one piece of bacon. Skewer it with a piece of uncooked spaghetti.  Break off the extra to use in another piece.  Put on a cookie sheet or clay baking sheet. Bake at 350F for ~30 minutes.  The spaghetti noodles completely cook and are edible (unlike toothpicks which could be used instead of the spaghetti).  A variety of dipping sauces are fun with this, but they taste great alone, too.  Our favorite dipping sauces include: BBQ sauce, vegan Ranch dressing, French dressing, Balsalmic vinegar, and ketchup (well, just my youngest daughter loves this).  Eat and enjoy!