Newlywed, Newly Veg!

Hey guys! This post will have to be quick because I’m headed out the door to teach my classes.  Even though I’ve been teaching for going on five years now, I still get a little nervous at the beginning of each new semester.  But it’s always exciting to get a fresh start and meet my new batch of students!

SO, I obviously don’t have time to talk about ALL that went down on The Bachelor last night, but WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?!?  Why would you go on The Bachelor just to hook up with a staffer?  Crazy!  Chris Harrison writes a Bachelor blog on Entertainment Weekly’s site, and he talks about it in more detail there.  Check it out if you want the “insider’s take” on the craziness that was last night’s episode.  I am currently rooting for Ali and Gia.  If you watch the show, who are your favorites so far? 

Today’s lunch was a big bite of sunshine.  Sunshine burger, that is!

Easy peasy:

Can’t get enough of these Sunshine burgers.  Too bad there’s only three to a case!

So, question to any of you loving dog owners who live in a cold climate: HOW do you get your dog to go to the bathroom outside?  Baxter is having major accidents inside, but anytime we take them out, he refuses to go…it’s like he seizes up from the cold and actually CAN’T go.  He’s really small (9 pounds), and I know he’s just miserable going outside…but at the same time, I refuse to have a house full of accidents ALL winter long.  Any tips from any other small dog owners out there?  Maybe I need to call the dog whisperer!

Have a great day, guys!  I was hoping that I’d have time to make soup this morning so that we could come home to a warm meal, but I went to the gym instead!  So, dinner is pulling a George Clooney right now (aka, up in the air.  Funny, right?  Ha. Ha.). 

Wish me luck on my first round of classes!  Spring semester has officially begun!

Hey y’all!  Did your Monday wrap up nicely? 

We had a busy afternoon, running errands…we FINALLY picked up a recycling bin from the courthouse (I know, I know…it’s taken us forever. Feel free to wag your fingers at our lack of “greenness.”).  Now we’re ready to do some heavy-duty recycling…I might have to throw Baxter in there if he keeps making the living room his personal toilet.

After running a few boring errands, we ran a really fun one and I got…my new i-Phone!! Yay!!!  I think I’m going to really like it—I’ve been playing around with it ever since we got home.  It will probably be really good for blogging, too!  I can read your comments and questions, even when I’m on campus waiting to teach in between my classes!  Love it!

So, as we were leaving the mall, we noticed that our Walden Books was having a going out of business sale (I didn’t even know these stores were still around?!? Maybe ours is one of the last to go.).  Ummmm…we kind of went crazy.  We were both running around the store panting like English majors in heat. Nerd alert!  Everything was 50-70 percent off!!! It was a book lover’s dream come true!  I got some really good books that I’m excited to get started on—I’ll let you know which one I choose to read first.  They also had a lot of good cookbooks on sale, but alas, none of them were really veg-friendly.

When we got home, I was ravenous!  One thing that we’ve both noticed about eating vegan and even vegetarian to an extent is that the meals FILL you up at mealtime, but then you get hungry much sooner afterwards.  No problem—I’ve always been a lover of snacks, and now I just have an excuse to eat them even more! I ate half a pb cookie Luna bar around 2:45 before we ran errands, and I scarfed the other half down when we got home from the mall.  Mmmm…I’m not a huge fan or Luna bars, as I’ve mentioned, but this flavor was pretty good!

I did some work online for about 30 minutes, and then around 6, we headed down to make dinner.

On the menu tonight: stir fry!

Our stir fry contained: bok choy, red bell pepper, broccoli, and tempeh, along with tamari, a LOT of fresh ginger, and a bit of Chinese 5-spice. Served over brown rice pilaf.  Yum!  This meal was fast and furious!

Hairy ginger:

Plated up and lookin’ good:

I went back for seconds.  Delicious!  I love tempeh in stir fries…it gets so chewy and nutty!

Well, T-minus ten minutes and counting for Bachelor takeoff.  Are you ready?  Is your seat in upright position?  Is your tray table secured?  Are you sick of my flying references?

I hope not, because they’re going to last ALL. SEASON. LONG.

Hope your week got off to a great start!  See you tomorrow, chickens!