If you are interested in shirts, sweaters, bags and aprons – spread the love and visit my new SpreadShirt shop!

Great news going on right now on Cook.Vegan.Lover.! You can get a  Netbook/Laptop Sleeve for FREE! from my Spreadshirt Shop

A minimum order of $40 will qualify you for a free laptop sleeve:

• 12″ Sleeve (labeled Netbook)
• 15″ Sleeve (labeled Laptop)

Important: In order for you to use the coupon code and only when one of the netbook or laptop sleeves is added to the basket, will you be able to use the coupon code.

The coupon codes FREESLEEVE (for the U.S.) or CADFREESLEEVE (for Canada) are valid from September 6th through October 1st, 2010.

Last night however I decided that I would try out some Indian Sampler spices that I received from Juliet Mae.

I love that these spice mixes are so easy to use and are much more convenient than having to purchase all of the individual spices that I may or may not use in other dishes.  I also love that they have recipes on the back of them which are easily adaptable to my vegan diet. Tonight I used the Tandoori and the Classic Curry Blend for dinner.

I made Tandoori Tofu- the recipe was right on the back of the spice packet; I subbed lite coconut milk for yogurt and light firm tofu for the chicken and I marinated it and then baked it in the oven- so good.  For the potatoes and onions I kept it simple and just tossed the potatoes and onions with the curry powder, salt and a little oil and baked at 400F for 40 minutes.  On the side we had red wine and garlic broccoli.

Since I loved this Indian Sampler I decided to add it to my OpenSky shop and I hope that you are inspired to try it yourself! Buy Now

The Hubz and I headed downtown after dinner to relax and enjoy the nice weather.  We talked about going to Stogo for vegan ice cream, but got a little lost,  so we decided to try Lula’s Sweet Apothecary .  I really wanted a sundae but didn’t think I could eat one on my own and the Hubz just didn’t feel it. I asked one of the staff members which flavor was her favorite and she said she really liked the lemon and chocolate fudge brownie, but her favorite was the soft-serve twist (cake batter & chocolate).  After tasting a few of the hand-packed ice creams, I decided to go with the soft serve twist and the Hubz went with butterscotch.

Both of our choices were really good, but honestly, I enjoy Stogo’s ice cream more.  However, Lula’s was a fun little place that had soft serve which made me happy as I have been wanting some for years.

A minimum order of $40 will qualify you for a free laptop sleeve:

• 12″ Sleeve (labeled Netbook)
• 15″ Sleeve (labeled Laptop)

Important: In order for you to use the coupon code and only when one of the netbook or laptop sleeves is added to the basket, will you be able to use the coupon code.

The coupon codes FREESLEEVE (for the U.S.) or CADFREESLEEVE (for Canada) are valid from September 6th through October 1st, 2010.

So after  a million a few last minute photos were taken we made our way to Candle Cafe for an early dinner.

I have always wanted to go to Candle Cafe, ever since years ago when my mom bought me the cookbook for kitchen. I have made many of the recipes myself but was ready to get the full experience. We all would have liked to visit Candle 79 but considering we had been at a ball game all day and weren’t staying the the city where we could head back to our hotel and shower and change, we decided casual would be better. However, after this visit to Candle Cafe we will for sure be heading to Candle 79 next visit.

After reviewing the menu about 30 times we all finally made decisions, since we couldn’t justify ordering one of everything we all got different things so we could get a little taste of a variety of items.

Mine: INDIAN PLATE tofu spinach saag, black-eyed pea masala, yellow basmati rice, date-raisin chutney, cabbage salad and parata bread.

Hubz: CAJUN SEITAN SANDWICH Pan-seared seitan, steamed greens, caramelized onions and avocado. Served on toasted focaccia with an ancho chili aioli and coleslaw.

Ma: GRILLED SEITAN BURGER Seitan burger on a seeded bun with fried potatoes, lettuce, tomato, onion, coleslaw and pickles.

PA: TUSCAN SEITAN PARMESAN SANDWICH Breaded seitan cutlet with melted tapioca cheese and roasted garlic tomato sauce on a potato onion roll. Served with a mesclun salad drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette and fried potatoes.

Everything was delicious however here is a run down of everyones favorites:

• Ma: Seitan Burger
• Pa: Seitan Burger
• Hubz: Cajun Seitan and Tuscan Parm
• Me: Cajun Seitan, Tuscan Seitan Parm or the date-chutney

I loved everything and now I am ready to go home and make some more recipes from my cookbook and hope that they taste as good.

Making Our Way to The Bronx

Ma and Pa

The Hubz and I

We got to the stadium early to get the most out of our day- we got to see the Jays batting practice but unfortunately got in too late to see the Yankees.  After we checked out the field and a few stores we headed to the Memorial Park.

Hubz with his favorite players number

Me with my childhood favorite players number

Watching the Ball Game

We didn’t really eat much at the game as we had a sandwich earlier in the morning and were saving our appetites for Candle Cafe after the game.  I did see however veggie burgers, veggie sushi, guacamole and chips and veggie noodle bowls along with your normal ballpark food like french fries, popcorn and pretzels.

Garlic Fries- debatably vegan- my sources say yes and others say no- oh well they were good

We also ran around the stadium trying to locate the Brooklyn Brewery beer because what is a ball game without a beer and I was not spending $9 on Bud or Miller-yuck.  So we finally located the Brooklyn Lager after going to almost the top level of the ball field but it was worth it even if they were $9.

Brooklyn Lager

We sat back in our comfy seats and enjoyed the game.

To Be continued…..

Now the place leaves a little to be desired like it only has seating for 14 people and you are crammed into a small place.  However the restaurant is more focused on it’s take out orders and the food makes up for the not so ideal dining space. Here is what we shared:

Vegetable Hot Sesame Oil Dumpling

Garlic Spinach and Tofu (favorite dish)

Cashew Vegetables

Chili Garlic Noodles

Vegetable Manchurian

The good people at Juliet Mae’s sent me their Indian Spice Sampler to try and I was so excited I dove right in.  After work I made myself a sandwich for lunch filled with yummy Cool Vindaloo Spice mix.

The spice mix suggested adding vinegar to my mix to enhance the mustard flavor so I decided to add some coconut water vinegar. It really enhanced my tempeh, mushrooms and onions.

Melon from our CSA, unsweetened Hemp Milk, Chia Seeds and Raw Almond Butter

I really love to add chia seeds to smoothies because it adds omega-3′s and are loaded with antioxidants, calcium, protein, fiber, and vitamins including calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, copper, niacin, and zinc.  They really help to bulk up my smoothie. Buy Now

I also add the raw almond butter to bulk up this simple smoothie since I am having it for breakfast and want it to fill me until lunch. This raw almond butter is great because it is silky smooth and just nice a creamy with a sweetness you don’t get from regular almond butter which generally is made from roasted almonds. Also just a reminder that this almond butter is available in my OpenSky shop and until September 7, 2010 for every jar purchased $1 will be donated to The Lunch Box Project and I will make a donation for every jar sold as well. Buy Now

Oh and of course the Hubz and I drank ours out of our GlassDharma straws- decorative dots for me (Buy Now) and simple elegant for the Hubz. (Buy Now)  I love these straws and am so glad I was finally able to try them – I will have a mini interview coming at you next week from the crew at GlassDharma- so keep your eyes peeled!

To help you get a little better aquainted with one of my favorite products in my OpenSky shop I did a short interview with Dr. Ayala:

What is the inspiration behind HerbalWater?

I am a pediatrician and one of my main interests in pediatrics was preventive medicine, especially the role good nutrition has on overall health.

Well before everyone became concerned with the obesity epidemic, I started advising parents to stay away from sweet drinks, because there are so many calories and so much junk in most sweet drinks and drinking sweet is so habit forming.

You see, the average American consumes about 300cal/day in sweet beverages, mostly empty calories from sugar.  There’s pretty good evidence that these calories don’t register the way solid food does, and therefore they’re not compensated for.  Just attacking this habit is a going to make a huge impact on our waistlines.

And since I try very hard to practice what I preach, and I believe that anything you put in your mouth should taste good, and not just be good for you, I started exploring calorie free beverages for my home

I grow an organic herb garden, and have an abundance of herbs in the warm months.  I love cooking with herbs: Culinary herbs are the natural way to flavor anything, while adding health benefits.  Herbs are also, to me one of the most sensual foods, and really connect you to nature and memories.  I would make herbal beverages to pair with meals, and our guests were offered this herbal water as an alternative to regular water or wine.  They came to expect it, and asked for it whenever they came. But I couldn’t make it in the winter, since I didn’t have the fresh herbs growing then.

The enthusiasm for this healthy alternative led my husband to believe that this beverage answers a need in the market, and we should make it commercially available.  My enthusiasm for making this drink widely available is so great because there just aren’t many truly healthy alternative drinks out there.

What is your favorite flavor and why?

I love all my kids the same, really.  I find that I’ll tend to drink the Cloves Cardamom Cinnamon Herbal Water with a meal, the Verbena Geranium with dessert, the Lavender Mint when I want to relax and the Lemongrass Mint Vanilla on a warm day after exercise.  The Ginger Lemon Peel and Cinnamon Orange Peel are my “anytime, anyplace” drinks.  Each of the Herbal Water flavors has a place in my own routine, and a lot of it also depends on the mood I’m after.

What makes Herbal Water a better choice than other flavored waters and functional drinks?

Ayala’s herbal water is a delicious flavored water that is 100% good for you.  It is made by infusing pure water with organic herbs, adding nothing else.  It has no calories, no preservatives and no additives and it delivers the wonderful taste and aroma of herbs.  Herbs are the natural way to flavor water without adding calories.  We achieved a full flavored plant based drink, without manipulating the ingredients, or using any additives and preservatives.

Unlike some of the other functional offerings, Ayala’s Herbal Water doesn’t throw in the new hot nutrient, thinking you can get away from eating well by drinking nutrients, many times mixed in lots of sugar and artificial ingredients.  What we offer is a centuries old traditional food that was always known for both its benefits and wonderful taste.

To get my favorite flavors you can simply click here for Lemongrass Mint Vanilla And here for Ginger Lemon Peel

To purchase any of the other flavors, which are all on my OpenSky Shop please click here.

The Hubz and I shared the grilled veggie sandwich (sundried tomato pesto is vegan!), a Gus soda and a bag of Zapp’s Spicy Cajun Crawtators chips. Everything was delicious!

After our bite to eat we went for a walk to kill some time before our spa appointment.

Finally it was time to enjoy our spa treatment! Since there were no cameras or cellphones allowed I didn’t get any shots but let me tell you it was amazing! Here are some photos from the Jivana website:

Entrance

Entry and Massage Room

The Sugar Scrub Table

After the amazing Balinese massage I had a sugar scrub and left the spa feeling refreshed, renewed and so relaxed.  I decided to go with the lemongrass massage oil and body scrub and it really did smell wonderful.

After our spa appointment it was getting pretty late so we decided to go out for some yummy Asian Food.  We got the avocado roll to share and then I got a big bowl of tom kar soup with tofu, veggies and udon noodles. The Hubz got this great dish which was almost like a deconstructed sushi roll both amazing and ridiculously filling.

Q: What are you treating yourself to this year?

1. Run a 5K
2. Try Bikram Yoga
3. Do an overnight hike on the Long Trail
4. Vist Montreal (again)
5. Visit Ottawa (again; first time ever with Hubz)
6. Visit Toronto (again; missing my bff)
7. Visit Key West because the Hubz
8. Visit Chicago- a place the Hubz and I have both never been
9. Attend the Healthy Living Summit
10. Start my Health Counseling Business
11. Create an e-book of my recipes
12. Laugh more.
13. Do more yoga.
14. Work on my writing skills.
15. Get all the stamps in my VT Brewers Passport Stamped
16. Go to a driving range and hit some balls
17. Read 10 new books.
18. Update my blog with a new fun look
19. Eat more oatmeal.
20. Drink more green monsters
21. Call my girlfriends more.
22. Get a massage*
23. Get a pedicure
24. Get a facial (see the trend- love the self care)
25. Final outfit our house so that it is “grownup” and organized.

*To start crossing things off the list the Hubz and I will be visiting Jivana Holistic Spa this afternoon for some body treatments which includes a Balinese Massage. Here are some photos from the Jivana Holisitc Spa sight since I probably won’t be able to take any photos inside.

The Sauna

Hope Aurorae Yoga Mat

Considering I had a huge day ahead of me I decided that I needed to enjoy a healthy yummy breakfast. This morning I enjoyed miso soup, whole wheat toast and I attempted to enjoy some melon from our CSA but it as just awful.

I made myself some lunch which was good minus a little failure; I made a mesclun salad with chickpeas, raisins and heirloom tomatoes. Raisins a little old and were supper sugary and secondly I HATE MESCLUN MIX. There I said it. I have tried to like it but it just isn’t going to happen. With my chickpeas and tomato salad I had a dijon balsamic dressing and had some dried mango and Mr. Krsipers on the side.

Dressing: 1t agave, 1t dijon mustard, 1t hemp oil and 3t balsamic

For dinner I made some grinders (aka heros, submarine sandwiches) for the Hubz and I which had sauteed onions, peppers, fennel, vegan sausage, tomatoes, lettuce, dijon mustard and Nasoya vegan mayo.

Grinders with squash "fries" and a few crackers

Nasoya sent me a coupon for a free jar of Nayonaise so I tried fat free Nayonaise.  I honestly never was a fan of Nayonaise when I have had it before but decided since it had been years since I last tried it that I would give it another chance.  Honestly though the consistency and the flavor just isn’t very great.  I find that Vegenaise is much more similar to what I remember as mayo. So I have to say this was a sample fail for me

Q: What is your favorite vegan mayo?

Tomorrow starts my Birthday Weekend! On the agenda:

• Spa Treatments
• Shopping at Target
• Dinner with Friends
• Homework—yeah I know, I know

We have to improvise a bit lately since we no longer have a toaster but it can be fun using our $2 camping toaster for fun.  We had left over cheezy tofu scramble with lots of broccoli which was delicious before our crazy days started.

After a getting a cracked tooth filled and crazy day at work and prepping for another crazy day tomorrow I met up with my mom for a drink and a snack.

After we finished our drinks we met up with this guy:

C.V.L. Dad! (cook.vegan.lover. dad)

Then we did a little shopping and headed to A Single Pebble for dinner.

Double Garlic Broccoli

Dry Fried Green Beans

Vegetarian Pot Sticker

Vegan Ants Climbing a Tree

Buddha's Sesame Beef

Also if you heckle the food blogger for photographing the food  you suffer the consequences. Welcome to the blog post hall of shame:

Meet C.V.L. Mom who on the evening of August 25, 2010 who knowing the consequences decided to heckle the food blogger regarding her photographing the meal. Welcome to the hall of shame. XO MAMA just j/k all in good fun.

Meet the Hubz who decided to join in the heckling fun. love you lots but welcome to the hall of shame.

Disclaimer: the blog post hall of shame is all in good fun don’t worry.

Between Bread with Jam

In My Overnight Oats

In My Banana Soft Serve

On top of My Oatmeal

In My Raw Cookies

And the Best way to eat Almond Butter is Straight out of the JAR!

As you probably saw earlier this week launched the OpenSky Lunch Box Project where a dollar from select items will go to help this charity. “The Lunch Box provides schools with free, tangible tools to transform school lunch from highly processed foods to made-from-scratch meals using nutritious, fresh ingredients. It contains tools for real change including school-tested recipes with nutritionals and training tips, financial modeling guides, budget templates, downloadable, customizable calendars, and training videos.” Source

In honor of this amazing charity and my love for almond butter you can now find Artisana Almond Butter in my OpenSky shop and  for every jar sold from now until September 7th  $1 will be donated by OpenSky and I will also be making a donation for every jar sold as well to The Lunch Box Project.

To tell you a little more about the HUMANWEAR, the company behind this shirt, I interviewed the Jellie Stanton the founder:

Q: Why did you choose to partner up with OpenSky?

I believe that OpenSky is a great new e-commerce platform for introducing innovative products to those who follow bloggers that they share common interests with and respect.  I’ve bought products myself based on recommendations from bloggers I follow.

Q: What is the inspiration behind the different shirts that you offer?

It all started after watching the documentary “Go Further” where Woody Harrelson and a group of friends take a road trip to demonstrate ways to be environmentally responsible.   I decided that I was going to become really involved in the green movement, just like they were hoping to inspire.

My desire was to form a company that would create the “greenest” t-shirt possible, that met the conditions of being stylish, really appealing colors that could be found in nature, with light-hearted yet thought-provoking messages, and was affordable.

Q: Besides making green t-shirts what other environmentally responsible practices does your company do?

We use recycled paper for our hangtags and gift cards and offer really cool recycled wrapping paper.  We also ship in recyclable boxes and buy carbon offsets so all shipments are made carbon-neutral.

Q: Tell me what is your favorite shirt?

My favorite t-shirt is COMMUNAL EVOLUTION-a collective push towards a higher state.  Woody talks about this concept in the movie and to me, it really sums up the idea that we must come together as a world-wide community to effect the change needed to preserve our planet.                  I also love HUMAN BEING because it says so much without you having to say anything.

Disclaimer: HUMANWEAR provided me with a discount to purchase this shirt of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway or add this to my OpenSky shop in return for a discount on this product.

Traditionally tamales are made with a lot of lard or oil or vegetable shortening and it just wasn’t going to happen for me.

Low-Fat Black Bean & Corn Tamales

Ingredients:

14 dried corn husks, plus extra husks to make ties

2.5 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 cups masa harina
1/2 cup warm vegetable broth
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons canola oil

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small red onion, diced small
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1t chili powder
salt and pepper

Directions:
Place the corn husks in a bowl of water to soften for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse well. Pat dry and set aside.

In a food processor, process the 2.5 cups of corn kernels until pureed.

In a large bowl, combine the pureed corn, masa harina, lukewarm water, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and oil and use your hands to combine into a dough.

Spray a medium pan with cooking oil and place over medium-high heat. Add the onion, black beans, corn chili powder and salt and pepper and saute until the onions are soft and lightly browned; remove from the heat.

To assemble a tamale, place about 3 tablespoons of masa mixture in the center of corn husk. Flatten with your hand until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Place 1 tablespoon of the black beans on the masa mixture. Fold the long side of the corn husk over the filling to cover, then fold over the ends, overlapping them. Tie with a thin strip torn from an extra soaked husk. Repeat to make 14 tamales in all.

Layer the wrapped tamales in the steamer. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and steam until the filling becomes firm and the tamales are heated through, 50 to 60 minutes.

After dinner the Hubz and I went for a walk down the bridge behind our house to watch the sunset and we got to see this guy fly in:

Now off to relax with the Hubz!

P.S. Don’t forget that Almond Butter is for sale in my OpenSky Shop from now until September 7th.  A $1 from each jar sold will be donated to The Lunch Box by OpenSky as well I will make a donation for every jar sold.

Maura’s Salad  $9 with baby greens, roasted garlic, red grapes, toasted pecans, balsamic and grilled tofu

Summer Vegetable Crepe  $16 with grilled tofu, baby arugula and balsamic

Dirty Martini

Overall the Hubz and I weren’t too impressed with things although the Hubz just kept telling me how much he loved the pancake. That’s right pancake! The “crepe” was this big fluffy pancake and it really changed the dish completely. The best part of the “crepe” dish was the massive amount of chanterelles that were on top of it the “crepe”; however it was otherwise expensive for what it was. As for the salad it was pretty blah. I really didn’t enjoy that the greens had become super wilted and it was small for the $10 it cost me. Neil had a beer which was great and I had a dirty martini which was pretty awful. We haven’t totally written the place off because we did enjoy the atmosphere but it is a one more chance type of place.

• Value: 1/5
• Food: 2/5
• Atmosphere: 3.5/5
• Vegan Friendly: 2/5

Today kicks of the OpenSky Lunch Box Project where a dollar from select items will go to help this charity. “The Lunch Box provides schools with free, tangible tools to transform school lunch from highly processed foods to made-from-scratch meals using nutritious, fresh ingredients. It contains tools for real change including school-tested recipes with nutritionals and training tips, financial modeling guides, budget templates, downloadable, customizable calendars, and training videos.” Source

In honor of this amazing charity I will be selling Artisana Almond Butter and for every jar sold from my OpenSky shop a dollar will be donated by OpenSky and I will also be making a donation for every jar sold  as well to The Lunch Box Project.

I know that there are lots of almond butter junkies out there just like me and what better way to enjoy a jar but by knowing that you have helped someone out with your purchase?

If you have never enjoyed raw almond butter before you are in for a treat because unlike it’s non-raw cousin it has an amazing creamy sweetness that you don’t get from the non-raw version.  I like mine on celery, carrots or in green monsters!

This Charming Couple Joined Us Friday Night

Sauteed Veggies

Fire Up the Grill Fajitas

Gucacamole

Tortillas

Delicious Organic and Vegan Beer

Nicobella Truffles - So delicious

The Best Coffee Of Your LIfe

The boys getting things working

Rise and Shine!

Morning!

Morning walk on Stowe Mountain Ski Resort before the rain and heading home a night early

Tempeh Bolognese Napoleon

This dish is tempeh bolognese with a white wine tomato sauce topped with sauteed spinach and crispy eggplant over spaghetti.

Tempeh Bolognese:

• 1-8oz package of tempeh, grated
• 2 carrots, small dice
• 2 celery stalks, small dice
• 8oz mixture of mushrooms sliced (I used shiitake and baby bella)
• White Wine Tomato Sauce:
  • 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
  • 1T olive oil
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1t Italian seasoning
  • salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350F.

For the Sauce: Heat the olive oil in a medium pot over medium-high and add onion; saute for 5-7 minutes.  Stir in garlic; 30 seconds.  Add the italian seasoning and white wine; cook 3 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and salt and pepper.

Toss the tempeh with the veggies and tomato sauce and place in a casserole dish.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until vegetable are soft.

Sauteed Spinach:

• 1T olive oil
• 10oz frozen spinach
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• salt and pepper

In a cold pan add the garlic and olive oil and heat until garlic is warmed. Add the spinach, salt and pepper and toss together until heated through and well coated.

Crispy Eggplant:

• 1 small eggplant, thinly sliced
• 1T olive oil
• 1/4 cup of flour mixed with 1t each of salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.
• 1T salt

Toss the eggplant with the salt and place in a colander and let sit for 30 minutes.  Rise the eggplant and drain.  Pat out on paper towel until mostly dry and then dredge in the flour. Heat the olive oil in a large sautee pan over medium high and fry the eggplant until crispy.

4 servings of cooked spaghetti

To assemble:

On the based put the spaghetti, top with bolognese then the spinach, then the eggplant and sprinkle with vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast.

Serve with Italian wine and a yummy side salad.

]]> http://cookingforaveganlover.com/2010/08/22/recipe-tempeh-bolognese-napoleon/feed/ 6 http://cookingforaveganlover.com/2010/08/21/camping-highlights/ http://cookingforaveganlover.com/2010/08/21/camping-highlights/#comments Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:28:48 +0000 cookingforaveganlover http://cookingforaveganlover.com/?p=3756

Until then for your entertainment:

The Name Says It All

After a Few Wackos we all felt like this

That’s right folks the old man and I are headed to the great outdoors to test our camping skills.  Now this won’t be easy with our nice new tent, camping mattress and of course that newish camping stove but I think we can tough it out and survive. I will hopefully be back on Sunday with a nice post, unless of course a bear eats us, so until then here are a few things for your enjoyment (oh and don’t forget that there is still time to enter the Care Package Swap of 2010:

hmmm is this thing on?

Q: How many Canadians does it take to light a Camp Stove?

A: TWO (and no those aren't mine or my husbands if you were wondering)

Oh and I almost forgot to mention that I am participating in Project Food Blog check it out!

So, if you are a blogger and are interested please comment here and send me a note  to Lindsay (at) cookingforaveganlover dot com with the e-mail address that you would like to be contacted at as well as the following information:

• Name
• Location
• blog URL
• whether you will ship internationally or not
• Would you like to receive only vegan, vegetarian or do you have no preference (including non-veg items)

Please do not send me your address. I will match people together, give each other your e-mail addresses and then you can go on to exchange mailing addresses.

Please expect to spend around $25 on  goods, if you would like to spend more than do so, however, do not be disappointed if your partner does not do the same.  Also you do not have to be vegan to participate in this swap however you do need to have a blog and unless paired with another non-vegan you will be expected to only include vegan items in your care package.

Please enter to participate by August 22, 2010. I will match people up and let them know their pairs by August 24, 2010. You will have one month to gather your items and mail them out- so all packages should be mailed by September 24, 2010. Once you receive your package please photograph the contents and make a post to your blog detailing what is in your package, link to your partners blog and a link to this posting.

*Disclaimer: Please remember that this swap is based on trust and only for those who are serious about participating and will follow through.

The Care Package Hubz received - 2009

The Care Package I received 2009

I love that the Hubz is a coffee drinker now and that we can make a french press of coffee for the two of us in the mornings and share it while waking up and getting ready for the day.  I however have been trying to be good and cut back on my coffee intake because it isn’t great to have too much of it but I have a cup or 2 a day and tons of water. My favorite Bodum french press (above) is in my OpenSky shop and is such a good deal too.

Oh and here is breakfast:

I finally have got myself back in the yoga groove again and am loving how the balance between my running and hiking and gentle yoga that helps to stretch my tight body.  I have recently received a new yoga mat from Aurorae and I am really starting to like it.  For me and I assume most people it takes a little time to get used to a new yoga mat and work it in but I am really starting to enjoy this one.  I also love that each of the Aurorae mats are a different color which are meant to define your inner self; mine is pink which is Hope.

The qualities that the Hope (pink mat) define are intuitive, faithful, visionary, power of positive thought, energetic & healing.  Additionally I really like that this mat is longer and thicker than some of my other mats which is great when I want a gentle practice or meditation.  Lastly one of the great features of this mat is the focal point icon at the end of the mat to help with concentration.  I find myself drawn to focusing there and it helps me balance and focus. Since I really like this mat I’ve decided to add it to my OpenSky shop hope you check it out!

Lastly don’t forget to let me know if you are interested in participating in the vegan care package swap.  At this point there is no commitment I am just trying to get a feel for how many people are interested.  You do not have to be vegan to participate in this swap however you do need to have a blog and unless paired with another non-vegan you will be expected to only include vegan items in your care package.  These items can be store bought or homemade and can be anything from food to clothes to gadgets or basically anything you like and want to share with someone else. If you are interested please go here and leave a comment letting me know.  Oh and you can be international so long as I have participants who want to ship internationally! In the next day or 2 I will be posting more information about what the swap entails and how to sign up.

Disclaimer: Aurorae provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Last night we had our first dinner party at our new home!  I made a peanutty pad thai, cucumber salad and tempeh lettuce wraps.

After dinner we played a game “What is Yours Like” which was pretty fun, however, the best part of after dinner were the Coco-Zen Truffles that we ate.  Isn’t the tin really cute that they came in? It turns into a lunch box after!

Also I am excited to say that all of my OpenSky stuff that I ordered on Tuesday came yesterday, service was quick and efficient!

Q: Have you ordered anything from OpenSky yet?