It's been a yr since I posted last.

I ususally use Facebook for displaying most of my work, and I have a food gallery on there too that I ususally add pictures to. As an update with the vegetarianism, I just want to say, that I've moved into veganism with great pride and joy. My diet is very satisfying, and I don't ever plan on returning to meat eating again. This also includes other animal products such as dairy or eggs.

I can suggest a few great YouTube videos to watch to get you started, such as Meet Your Meat, Earthlings, and Food Inc. We need to be conscientious about not only the quality of the food we injest, but where it comes from. From a humanity point of view, everyone should be well educated in how their food is treated prior to inhumane slaughter. I have a new passion in educating people along these lines, but I'm not a "shove it down your throat" type either. If you have any questions, please feel free to throw a comment in my direction!

As far as my photography goes, my job change a yr ago, kind of put a damper in the amt of wk I am taking on, but still love shooting portraits! Let me know if you need some photographic services.

I hope all are well, and I plan on getting this blog up and running again! Hope you have some wonderful holidays coming up!

I met my first weight loss goal!

16 weeks and 20 pounds lighter, I am finally posting some pictures. It is a rare site to see me in pictures, especially when I've asked someone (Ashley who happened to be home) to do them for me. Good job Ash BTW.

I will have a new pic to use on my blog for now, until the hair grows out some more, (and then I'll have to take a new one). Man, I hate this part of it, when you can't do anything with it yet. But it will get longer this summer, and not any too soon.

so here are two shots of me.....I have set a new goal now, and it has to be done by the end of June, when it's going to be really warm out.

Thanks for looking....this isn't as fun as looking at cute kids in pretty dresses!

Added some color to a dinner shoot

I used some Pampered Chef items for a picture of dinner tonight. I love their white dishes, but don't use them enough!, and a towel from a previous Fall Collection added some base color.

Tonight's dinner was Black Bean Chili Pot Pie (I used kidney beans in this dish)

The Recipe is from The Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook


taken while still hot and in the dutch oven. If you don't have a peice of cast iron cookware, but esp a dutchoven, you don't know what you are missing! It's a great addition to the kitchen, but is useful for so many reasons.

Dinner Fare......

I have really gotten into cooking again this past 3 weeks, trying out new recipes, and actually realized tonight, that we haven't had a repeated meal yet! Tonight's fare, with items bought at the co-op this am, was spinach fettucini with yellow squash and tomatoes, grilled fresh pinapple, corn frittata, and I made/ate beet greens for the first time ever. I really liked them too!

I have to say, that my dad is enjoying the lighter fare, if he is down for dinner, which is usually once a weekend.

I'm going to challenge myself to try setting up little sets on weekends for food photography. I think this is an area I'd like to experiment with!

Vegetarianism and good food too!

Here's a weight check in....down 15#! I've slowed down again, staying the same weight for a whole week, but I honestly think it has to do with not drinking enough water on a lot of days. That all has to do with how busy I am at work, and how available it is to drink.

So instead of being a Flexitarian as stated in my post before this, I went the whole way, and gave up all meats, and I'm on day 17 now, and absolutely love it! I thought I would really miss sea food, and I really don't. Shrimp was always my favorite, but I am quite content with just my veggies and whole grains. I hardly eat any processed foods now either, so it's basically a whole food diet that we are consuming.

Steve is down about 22-25 lbs too, and I'm so proud of him for sticking to this. He wants to continue his occasional salmon eating, but other than that, he's a vegetarian too. (Technically he'd be called a pescetarian), but he has still significantly changed his eating habits.

Here's a pic to share with you, since I haven't updated very often. This is a salsa rice and beans dish with a fresh fruit salad and beans....it was very good.



Basic recipe is easy too: 4 cups of cooked brown rice (either long cooked or quick cooking, it doesn't matter), 1 cup of salsa, and 2 cups of any beans (or 1 can of canned beans).

This came from the new cookbook I just bought last week, called The Vegetarian 5-ingredient Gourmet, by Nava Atlas

Give a Meatless meal a try sometime, and actually even the government is encouraging Meatless Mondays!