Catzlover’s Cooking

Happy Earth Day!

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day than to eat a vegetarian meal.

The lower down the food chain you eat, the less resources are used to produce your food and that is better for the planet.

After much thought, I have finally decided where I want to go with this blog. Gone is Organizing Wednesday. The entries even bored me. Occasional rants will remain.

Primarily, though, I want to promote a vegetarian/healthier style of eating.

I want to share menus, recipes, and products I like in the hopes that you will give them a try. I want to let you know that being vegetarian is not a hard thing to do. Nor do I expect everyone to convert overnight. Try a meatless menu once a week. I’m okay with that.

I am not a vegan although I sometime eat vegan meals. There are a few sites out there that make you feel guilty about EVERYTHING you eat. I will try not to do that. I would like you to remember that beef is really a cow and that pork is really a pig. But, I won’t harass you if you want to eat an egg or some sharp cheddar on your baked potato.

I also know that getting a meal to the table in a timely fashion is important for many folks these days. There are some who think that being a vegetarian means spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Au contraire! I have a number of short cut recipes. Recipes that get dinner done fast or at least don’t take much longer to prepare than to eat.

I hope you will stop by on Monday for menus ideas. On Thursdays, I will talk about products to try or a super speedy recipe idea. We will see what develops after that.

Be kind to each other! Be kind to all creatures great and small!

Sandra

When I was coming of age there was a television commercial that had a woman singing about bringing home the bacon, frying it up in a pan, and never letting her husband forget he’s a man. It was the message that we could do it all.

I tried that when I was in my twenties. Worked full time, had small kids, cleaned, and did yard work. It got old really really really fast. I learned quickly that I was not a “I can do it all” kind of gal.

Over the years I have done a lot of trade offs and I just refuse to feel bad about any of them.

I hardly ever make a bed, but I almost always make dinner.

Sometimes the dust accumulates while I organize a closet.

My kitchen floor isn’t always spotless, but I make time to exercise.

Sometimes I am renovating a house and sometimes I am planting a garden but never both at the same time.
And I don’t think I ever regretted answering an email or making a wreath for the front door or petting a cat or playing dolls with my kids instead of sweeping cob webs or washing the windows.

I am really okay with NOT doing it all. How about you?

Sandra

At 5 a.m. this morning I was still asleep.

I did not participate in the Black Friday craziness.

Nor do I feel that it is my personal responsibility to revive the economy.

A few years ago I realized that since I was trying to pare down my “stuff” and my mother was trying to pare down her “stuff” it made little sense to keep buying more “stuff” at Christmas. How incredibly liberating it is not to be rushing around spending money I don’t have to buy things that are not needed!

Our holidays are now low key, enjoyable, and relaxing. We focus on spending time together NOT on who got what for whom. Try it!

Sandra

Why do people blog?

I think it is because we all have interests, opinions, and passions and want to be able to connect with other people that share our interests, opinions, and passions.

I think, too, we would all like to make a small mark in the world.

So here will be my small mark.

Although, I guess that this blog is really my second mark. My first would be Bry-Back Manor. I will have to confess that I still get a kick out of doing a google search for Activity Pages and seeing my site come up as the first and second search result. Why is that so remarkable you wonder? Because I am not a corporation marketing anything. I am just a stay at home mom in Central Virginia who thought it would be fun to have a web site back in 1996.

But enough about that.

Now I want to do something a little different. My children are in their twenties. One is on her own and the other – my daughter with Down Syndrome – is still at home. I thought I would put together a site that is a little more grown up.

I happen to love to cook. I have been cooking since I was fourteen and never seem to get bored with putting together good meals or trying new recipes or checking out the latest kitchen gadgets.

I recently saw the movie Julie and Julia. What was not to like there! Cooking, computing, and Meryl Streep. I could do that, I thought!

Instead of the Art of French Cooking, however, I would be more likely to make every recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook. Or I could just share some of the recipes I love to make. And so that is what I plan to do on this site.

And I also plan to blog.

Sandra