Believe in the Magic Traci Diary

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  • One frustration with eating vegetarian (Day 5 of 31)

    It’s not always easy eating a vegetarian diet.  The Standard American Diet is meat-based.

    Most restaurants have a variety of main meat dishes but little variety regarding vegetarian main dishes.  This can be infuriating.  Plus, you never know if the dinners are truly vegetarian.  Sometimes they will use ingredients like chicken stock in their recipes.

    Similarly, when you go to a potluck, you never know what ingredients were used when cooking the food.  In late August, I went to a family reunion.  I took a helping of what I thought was regular mac and cheese.  I found out that it was actually mac and cheese with shrimp.

    I ate some other food at the reunion.  My stomach ached for the rest of the evening.  I wondered if I had eaten something that was made with meat.

    You can remedy this by making a dish or two that you know is safe.  I cooked a vegan baked bean dish and a potato salad that was safe to eat.  However, it was not the main dish, so I tried eating some of the other dishes that were prepared.  Bad mistake.

    So the next potluck I went to, I made a vegan pumpkin chili and brought along mac and cheese, so I could eat safe foods.  I ate those two dishes and also had some raw veggies.

    Another issue is when work brings us food.  Sometimes there are vegetarian-friendly foods.  While other times there is no vegetarian-friendly food.

    It’s truly frustrating, but with planning, it can be doable.

    With restaurants, plan ahead.  Check their menus before going out to eat, if possible.  I also know the vegetarian-friendly restaurants around my area.  I also know the best places to get a meal and what I can eat there.

    Hubby told me that it is not easy to be flexible on road trips because I can’t eat at some restaurants.  It was harder to find places to eat when I was gluten-free.

    When you are going to a potluck, make sure you bring a dish or two with you that is vegetarian-friendly.  Or bring something that you can eat.   Something that you don’t have to share with anyone else.

    When you know your work is bringing food, have a backup plan.  I have cups of easy mac, cracker sandwiches, and cans of vegetarian veggie soup in my work closet.  So if there is nothing to eat, I can eat something.

    As I said, it’s frustrating but doable.  The key is to plan ahead.

    Happy vegetarian eating,
    Traci

  • Menu Plan Monday – Week of October 1, 2018 (Vegetarian) – Day 1 of 31

    To start off my Write 31 2018, I’m going to provide you with my meal plan for this week.

    I’m glad it’s soup season because I can make a big pot or two of the soup and have it for the week.

    Here’s what I’m planning for the week.

    Sunday – Lasagna stuffed Portobello mushrooms with Italian chopped salad, Fres

    Monday – Minestrone soup with the left over Italian chopped salad

    Tuesday – Tacos (I’ll share my recipe during this month’s Write 31)

    Wednesday – Enchilada skillet

    Thursday – Grilled cheese with minestrone soup

    Friday – Leftovers

    Saturday – Out

    Breakfasts for the week:  chocolate chip ricotta muffins and cheese sticks, apple slices (I need easy on the go breakfasts.)

    Lunches for the week:  Garden veggie soup, fruit on the bottom yogurt (recipe coming tomorrow), Wheat Thin type crackers

     

    Now onto my family’s Standard American Diet meals for the week.  I don’t get off of work until almost 4 o’clock.  Hubby needs to leave for work around 5:20 so I don’t have time to cook him dinner any more.  He fends for himself with me planning meals.  He and the boys are not real adventurous eaters.  I’ve attempted over the years to introduce them to more foods but they always fall back on the foods that they are comfortable eating.  :(

    Sunday – Chicken, roasted potatoes, veggies, Hawaiian rolls, and pumpkin roll

    Monday – Pulled pork sandwiches on the remaining Hawaiian rolls

    Tuesday – Tacos

    Wednesday – Chicken Nuggets and French fries

    Thursday – Grilled cheese and tomato soup – The last few times we have had grilled cheese I did not have tomato soup.  Since then, I’ve remedied that and have several containers of soup.

    Friday – Chili

    Saturday – Out

    Join tomorrow for one of my favorite ways to eat yogurt.

    Happy eating,
    Traci

     

  • Welcome to 31 Days of Vegetarian Meals (Day 0 of 31)

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    Last February, I was in the midst of my gallbladder disease.  On February 12th, I ate kielbasa from my favorite childhood butcher.

    The next day I was very sick.  Even though I did eat some chicken salad that day, I made the decision to start eating vegetarian.

    So Valentine’s Day/ Ash Wednesday 2018 is my vegetarian anniversary.

    My emergency surgery to have my gallbladder out was on February 24th.  Even though I was allowed to eat a regular diet afterwards, I continued eating a vegetarian diet.

    My first goal was to make it until Easter and then I would maybe eat some seafood.  I still have not eaten an seafood or meat.

    It’s been 8 months since I became a vegetarian.

    During this year’s Write 31, I’m going to be focusing vegetarian cooking.

     

  • The Wilds – Part 3 (Pasture Tour)

    “Did you know that giraffes sleep for only 5 to 30 minutes a day?”

    Part 1

    Part 2 – Pasture Tour Part 1

    On July 10, one of the giraffes had a live birth.  Those who were on the pasture tour during that day got to watch the baby being born.  Our instructors got to watch it because they were at the Wilds to prepare for our workshop.

    I got to see some of video they took of the baby being born.

    Sadly 2 months after the baby was born, the baby died unexpectantly.  I was fortunate to get some great photos of Masai.

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    The last collage is of Masai and his mother.

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    Did you know that a group of rhinos is called a crash?

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    These are the sable antelope from Africa.  The tsetse fly spreads a disease called the sleeping disease.  However, at one point it was thought it was spread by the sable antelope.  They started to kill the sable antelope which in turn caused the occurance of the sleeping disease to increase.  It was later discovered that it was not the sable antelope but the tsetse fly that spread the disease.

     

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    The beautiful hawk that was flying.

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    The Pere David deer – This deer is actually extinct in the wild.

    Interesting fact about the Pere David deer is their mating rituals.  They go into the water and gather algae on their horns (sort of like decorations).  Then they roll around in the mud.  The lady deer love it.

     

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    Bactarian deer

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    The male Pere David deer with all of his ladies.

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    View from the over look

    I hope you enjoyed my photos from my visit to the Wilds.  It’s one of my favorite places to visit.

     

    Have a magical day,
    Traci

  • The Wilds – Part 2 (Pasture Tour)

    “Did you know that the Sichuan takin’s funny looking nose helps warm up the air?”

    Part 1

    After eating our lunch, sketching animals, and then the keeper talk with the African painted dog, the workshop participants got back on the bus for a condensed pasture tour.

    We lucked out with a great tour guide who had a lot of knowledge about the animals.  Plus many animals were out in the pasture.

    I brought my long lens so I was able to get a lot of great photos.

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    This is a banteng and an eld’s deer.  The banteng is a wild cow species typically found in Thailand.

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    The winter home for some of the animals, some of the scenery, and how the mow some of the pasture.

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    The Sichuan takin and one of the deer species.

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    The Sichuan takin – He actually a goat-antelope.  They live in cold regions so their noses warming up the air helps their lungs not seize up with cold air.

    They live in the same bamboo forests as the giant panda.

    Aren’t they cute animals?

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    More of the winter homes.

    There was a back up at the one gate.  The giraffes were in an ackward spot.  If they opened the gate, the girafees might have escaped.  So those tours needed to wait.

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    The zebras just wanted to stand under the shelter.

     

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    The scimitar-horned oryx – This species has been extinct in the wild for the past 40 years.  Several zoos and conservation organizations have been working on reintroduced them to the wild.

    Since I have a lot of photos from the pasture tour, I’m going to have a part 3 of this series.

    In the next blog post, I’m going to share the giraffe, Pere David’s Deer, and Bactarian camel photos.

    Have a magical day,
    Traci

  • The Wilds – Part 1

    On my mental summer list, the Wilds was one of the places I wanted to visit.

    Then I got an email from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium about a teacher workshop.  One day was going to be at the Zoo and the other day was going to be at the Wilds.

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  • 5 Reasons to Love Fall

    This morning I made some pumpkin spice latte syrup so I could make myself a homemade pumpkin spice latte.  After I put the syrup in the cute bottle I got from Meijers, I started dancing around the kitchen singing “Pumpkin Spice” to the tune of “Jingle Bells.”

    Sorry there isn’t a video of me dancing around while singing a crazy song.

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  • New Concord, Ohio (S-Bridge and Garland Hotel)

    After I left the John and Annie Glenn House, I went to find the S-Bridge.

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  • New Concord, Ohio (John and Annie Glenn House)

    After I was done visiting Zanesville, I drove the 10 or so miles to New Concord.  New Concord is known as being the hometown of John Glenn.

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  • Zanesville, Ohio

    At the beginning of the month, I took a class at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.  The class was held on 2 separate days – a Tuesday and a Friday.  The Friday portion of the class was at the Wilds which is located near Zanesville, Cambridge, and New Concord.

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