Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's!!!

I love this picture of my son and I.  It is very representative of how we are most of the time...weird, goofy and we both love the Lorax.  He tells me I am the best mom in the world, what a great kid (I have him fooled)!  I am very tough on my son and sometimes I feel guilty about being so tough on him.  But there is no perfect, no right, no wrong, we Mom's just do the best we can do with what we were taught by our mom's and what we have learned ourselves.  It isn't the easiest job, nor do I think it is the most rewarding job because it is for the most part the most thankless job.  Plus everyone has an opinion on how you should raise your child and there are many online commentators who rip mother's apart for their decision to breastfeed or feed their kid a vegan diet or pre-chew their food.  We mother's are a tricky group, we want to make everyone think we are Martha Stewart or June Cleaver and that being a mom is the most fun and enjoyable thing in the world and we, for the most part, lack the ability to support other mothers.

Don't get me wrong, I love being a mother, but I am real about it too.  It is messy, dirty, frustrating and thankless plus everyone is ready to judge you if you have one hair out of place and there is dirt on the floor or your kids act out.  Being a mother has done one thing for me for sure...appreciate mine a heck of a lot more! My mother raised three very difficult (of course I was the easiest and best daughter), very different daughters during a time were there wasn't many single mothers and we were not a very close family on either side of my parents.  So I see now looking back how hard it was for her and she did the very best, I certainly am not up to the challenge of raising three kids on my own!!!

What is the point of this post you say???  Well I say this thank your mom no matter how awful you think she was and if you are a mom...turn off the computer, laptop, iPad, cell phone and play with your kids this weekend.  Instead of asking for some jewelry or gift of material expense...just play or garden or go to the library...ask for the gift of time with your kids.  They will be older with their own lives soon enough and the gift of each other outlasts any material gift in my opinion.

Gifts are great but Mother's Day is about the gift you gave the world a child so spend time with that gift.....that is a gift you can't replace!

Much love and happiness this Mother's Day! 

~Deanne

*Oh and the next time you see a mother struggling...don't judge her, support her, help her, love her because she is doing the same job maybe with less help or less knowledge....who knows. We mothers are like no others so stand together not apart!!! *



Yeah it is Friday..Easter just around the corner.

I had planned a rather large post regarding Easter and some greener options but scrapped the whole thing in disgust!!!  My lack of focus this week, thanks to major finals in school my brain is mush.  So I put this little gem together in a flash and splash!!!

Whether Easter brings images of bunnies and egg hunts...

Or remembrance of a sacrifice.

It is a great time for family, food and friends.  Enjoy it some greener options like natural dyes for your Easter Eggs, buy organic foods including that main meat dish (if you are a meat eater that is) so it is free of all those nasty chemicals and hormones and lastly go for fair trade organic candies.

Most of all avoid the trap of buying chicks and bunnies!!! I know they are super cute but please refrain...

Unless you are thinking of making your own chicken coup those cute little yellow furry chicks grow up and are not so cuddly anymore.  And bunnies, well there isn't as many shelters complaining about the onslaught of dropped off bunnies, why because people release them into the wild or neighborhoods (then they multiply).

Portobello Stroganoff, Vegan

Here are a few food ideas (a cook I am not so these are off some sites I follow)!

Easter Olive Calzone, Vegan

"Ham", Vegan

Hot Cross Buns

Can't forget all my fav sugary treats...but veganized! Fantastic!!

Raw Cadbury Eggs, Vegan




Vegan-carrot-cake



Bunny Cake

Peanut Butter Eggs

Enjoy your Easter, maybe even incorporate one or two of these vegan ideas or all!

~Deanne

thumper look-a-like pic

Christ pic

baby chicks pic

baby bunnies pic



St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick was actually born in Britain around the end of the 4th century.  It is believed he died around March 17th about 460 A.D.  He was actually taken prisoner at the age of 16 by a Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate.  According to the History Channel he spent approximately 6 years in captivity.  After escaping, he reportedly walked 200 miles County Mayo to the Irish Coast then back to Britain.  Upon returning to Britain he began his religious training which sent him back to Ireland to minister to the Irish Christians and convert others to Christianity.

There are loads of stories regarding St. Patrick, some true some false...read more at www.history.com.



Here are some interesting facts thanks to the History Channel, click the link below to see a larger view.

*st-patricks-day-by-the-numbers

Try some veggie versions of the standard St. Patrick's Day recipes.

Vegan Corned Beef and Cabbage, Roasted Potatoes, and Soda Bread

Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Lazy Corned "Beef" and Cabbage w/ Veggies

no pic

Tempeh Bacon

Irish Stew

no pic

Shepherds Pie

Irish Boxty

no pic

Vegan Colcannon

no pic

Irish Soda Bread

no pic but looks like recipe below

Soda Bread

Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Irish Coffee

May the Irish blessings look favorably upon you, for today we are all a wee bit of Irish!

Enjoy, have fun...drink responsibly!

~Deanne



*Blessings pic

*Four leaf clover pic

yuck...that ridiculous holiday is coming Valentine's Day!

I originally was not going to post about the upcoming Valentine's Day because it is a ridiculous holiday that my son has been completely sucked into.....thanks to candy all over the store.  It is a holiday I just do not understand but realize it has become another marketing attempt at getting us (especially men) to buy more stuff!  Drive me crazy!!

Now I have this list that came home from my son's teacher for Valentine's Day.  With how many kids there are along with their names and the candy to buy!

So annoyed.  She wants all the candy to be Red in color and none of it is Fair Trade or Organic by any means.  I have no issue with candy in general, I love it immensely.  I just do not like how the school is promoting it.  Besides the red dye color listed in these sugary treats have been linked to behavior problems.

I am protesting her list and sending candy from the Natural Candy Store!

If you are going to buy flowers look for Fair Trade Flowers...you would be amazed how this holiday hurts farmers around the world.

Try:

One World Flowers, well known place for Fair Trade Flowers

Even 1-800-Flowers has Fair Trade Flowers.

When buying items for Valentine's Day or any holiday (real or not) look for Fair Trade symbols to support farmers, manufacturers and laborers around the world.

Check out the History of this weird day below!

~Deanne

Here is some back history on Valentine's Day thanks to History.com in their own words.

The Legend of St. Valentine

"The history of Valentine's Day--and the story of its patron saint--is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl--possibly his jailor's daughter--who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed "From your Valentine," an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and--most importantly--romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.

Origins of Valentine's Day: A Pagan Festival in February

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial--which probably occurred around A.D. 270--others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Valentine's Day: A Day of Romance

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”--at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine's Day should be a day for romance.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of AgincourtLydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

Typical Valentine's Day Greetings

In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap." Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines."