All type of RECIPES!..

I am staying at my old house (and have been for several days as my X is out of town).. I've brought tons of my own food over to use, but made use of some lasagna noodles he had. Everything else is from my own house. I made a filling of collard greens, tvp, tomato powder, onion, garlic, spices and a bunch of white beans To top it off, I made some sunflower/white bean cheese which worked well. I wasn't sure my kids would like it, but they did.. I didn't tell them it was vegan. That makes all the difference I think.

I have around 2 cups of the filling leftover and I am going to turn it into burgers for the week.

I still have my big crockpot at the house, so I made use of it. First, I cooked the beans on the stove then placed them in the slow cooker with a homemade bbq sauce.. YUM!

I am committed to sticking to my plan of only spending $60.00 this month on food. I want to add the leftover $40 to my bulk fund. (not to mention, the less I spend, the better.. I am trying not to FREAK OUT right now.. it is hard to not let stress take over. I can't believe that BOTH my X and I are out of work)

I digress.... back to my budget.. obviously I am doing this because I HAVE TO. This is not just a fun little project I've decided to dream up and I can go back to my normal life when it's over..

... Do I sound bitter? I'm trying not to be..

I wish people would actually READ what I write and why I'm doing this before sending me insensitive emails!

Sorry...

BACK TO MY BUDGET.. I spent $2.28 today on another huge bunch of collards and 7 LBS potatoes! I got 7 lbs of potatoes for $.99 in the reduced produce bin!!

Spent this month: $45.09

I have $14.91 left for the month and I KNOW I can do it!

Julie of Everydaydish.com sent me a tofu mold and some coagulant! How AWESOME is she?? Thank you so much Julie! I am going to make my own tofu this week!

I've also got another tofu sub in the works right now! I love the blogosphere so much.. every day I learn new things and this method of making split pea tofu sounds awesome! As of now, it reminds me of polenta, so I'd imagine the 'tofu' will be like polenta croutons.. and that's fine! I just want another cheap protein source that I can make at home that is not SEITAN! I have tons of ideas for this.

All in all, as much as I really really want a job cooking vegan (or vegetarian) food, I may have to suck it up and find some shit job that I hate for a while. We'll see what happens..

I am soooooooo passionate about what I do... and love it so much. I just think I'm in a very bad area for opportunities. I haven't hit up Boston yet... it's a bit far to commute for any length of time, but I would definitely consider working there now and moving in June when my lease is up. I want to be in the same town as my kids, but they are much older (15 and 17 and my 17 year old is graduating this fall)... and if I have to move a little over an hour away, then so be it.

I'm still working hard on my E-book and hope to have it up for sale by April 30 at the latest.. (I am shooting for April 15)...

If you're still reading, thanks for listening to me vent!