Yep, I'm alive

Holy! It's been awhile, hasn't it? I had good intentions then life started ramping up the speed a little bit:)

Things I've had to deal with been up to lately:

Fllings at the dentist - I was there for 3 hours on Tuesday. Ya, great fun!

I injured my back - Third round of What's My Name Workout and bam a shooting pain ran from my lower back down my whole leg. And being the stubborn person that I am, I stretched out the muscles a little bit until I could move with greater ease..and then I did two tabatha rounds of high knees with the jump rope. Ya, very smart I know! Let's just say this week has been a painful one!

Oddie needed care - I noticed he was acting quite odd on Saturday and was having a hard time going pee and so I looked up his symptoms and immediately thought he may have crystals in his urinary tract. So, off to the vet we went where they decided to get a urinalysis done. One of the vet techs said orange cats are more susceptible to urinary tract infections then other breeds. We got the results yesterday and nothing very serious was discovered from the testing. The vet said that some cats will have infections every so often through the year and they don't know why. So, we are putting him on antibiotics and we hopefully don't have a chronic case.

Homework - Boo!

Spring Cleaning - So, I do most of the cleaning in our house because Ry works long hours and well..I don't so I try to get most things done myself. I don't mind for the most part but sometimes doing dishes, upon dishes gets me down. Yes I have a dishwasher and it sucks!! So, to prevent myself from scrubbing endlessly, I just do them by hand.  But, sometimes Ry get's in the "mood" to organize and I don't stop him for one minute:) Usually this get's me motivated and so last week I started cleaning areas of the kitchen that I knew needed some serious TLC - My pantry and cutlery drawer! See below for some picts.

Anywho, here's a little re-cap of some eats!!

Mmmm

The lovely Katie sure does know her dips!! This Indian-Spiced Cauliflower dip was awesome!

Then I had a sudden craving for everything and anything pumpkin! I especially was craving a pumpkin pudding!

I found a basic recipe on Care 2. Then I just adjusted from there!

Perfect Pumpkin Pudding

1/2 cup cashews, soaked for a couple hours
1/4 cup maple syrup (or other sweetener of choice)
1/4 cup coconut oil ( I used coconut butter instead)
3/4 cup Carrot juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
1+ cup canned pumpkin

Start blending the cashews first (especially if you don't have a high powered blender like me) then add in the remaining ingredients until smooth. Add more pumpkin to get desired consistency.
A little maple, a little coconut, a little spice, and a little pumpkin = BLISS!
Very delicious!!

Then it was spring cleaning time! 
My poor pantry needed some structure so I organized everything into groups. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it more clean this way!

It feels good to walk in her knowing where I can find the quinoa and the garbanzo flour without searching and dropping jars everywhere!

On Sunday I picked up some of these crazy things? Any guesses?

They are milk kefir grains! I'm planning on making my own dairy and non-dairy kefir! I don't have enough grains to make just non-dairy kefir at the moment (they produce more grains after each batch, kind of like the scoby with kombucha. Once you make a batch in non-mammalian milk, they stop growing.So, I've got goat's milk kefir brewing away..in my pantry. See it on the top shelf in my pantry? I tasted the first batch and it tastes like tangy yogurt!! I can't wait to try the grains with almond milk and coconut milk!

Anyone have an experience with kefir, good or bad?

I better run! I'm about to top up my garden with a fresh batch of organic soil goodness! Some greens are already alive and cookin. More garden and kefir to come! Have a great day everyone.