Vegan, Gluten-Free Mac ‘n’ Cheese!

Baked mac ‘n’ cheese has always been a favourite of mine, and I am pleased to say that I have finally found an incredible recipe for vegan mac ‘n’ cheese:

 

• Mac ‘n’ Cheese by Allison Rivers Samson (via VegNews)

 

Believe it or not, this recipe has no soy and no nutritional yeast – instead, it has potatoes, carrots, onions, and shallots!

To make the recipe gluten free, simply substitute your favourite gluten free macaroni (I’ve used both GoGo Quinoa Macaroni and Tinkyada Brown Rice Elbows) and bread crumbs (I’ve used PaneRiso Rice Bread Crumbs).

Also, to make the recipe even healthier, decrease the quantity of salt and margarine (I sucessfully decreased the quantity of salt by half).

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

 

Recipe: Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers (via Vegetarian Times)

 

Note: I omitted the cheese and celery, and I added corn (frozen, thawed).

Zombie Fluxx

Zombie Fluxx

 

Ever-changing rules, ever-changing goals, and a card that requires players to “groan like a zombie” . What more could you want from a game?

Interrobang

Are you familiar with the ‘interrobang’? Merriam-Webster defines ‘interrobang’ as:

 

a punctuation mark ‽ designed for use especially at the end of an exclamatory rhetorical question

 

Though seldom used, it was designed to replaced the combined use of a question mark and exclamation point, like in the following sentence: 

 

She said what?! (see Interrobang)

 

To test your knowledge of lesser-known punctuation marks, try Mental Floss‘ ”$#@!: The Punctuation Quiz“.  

 

To read more about punctuation and grammar, try:

 

• Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss
   
• The Bare Essentials Plus, by Sarah Norton et. al. (this was assigned to me in an English composition class, and I found it to be very helpful) 

Reading Habits and Nonfiction Books

 

Diane at The Book Resort asks:

Do you read non-fiction regularly? Do you read it in a different way or place than you read fiction?
(via VioletReads and Just One More Page…) 

I do not consider myself to be a big nonfiction reader. I do, however, read magazines (my current favourite is Mental Floss), cookbooks, craft books, and professional development/reference books.

Since I often read nonfiction books for information (rather than for leisure), I tend to scan and skim them, extracting only the information that interests me. I also tend to read them at my desk or while multitasking (e.g. eating, watching t.v.) – I rarely curl up, get comfortable and devote all of my attention to a nonfiction book.

There have, nevertheless, been some nonfiction books that I have devoured in the same way that I devour fiction books. For example:

 

A Leaf in the Bitter Wind, by Ting-Xing Ye

 

 

For more nonfiction books that read like fiction, try books on these lists:

• “Nonfiction That Reads Like Fiction” on Overbooked.org
• “Nonfiction That Reads Like Fiction, Pt. 1 & Pt.2” on Morton Grove Public Library’s Webrary
• The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction

 

Some other nonfiction books that I have enjoyed recently include:

 

The Pilates Body, by Brooke Siler

 

Getting Things Done, by David Allen (abridged audiobook version)

So…

Do you read non-fiction regularly? Do you read it in a different way or place than you read fiction?

 

Kettle Brand Baked Potato Chips

Potato chips have always been a weakness of mine, and since joining a gym 2.5 months ago, I have been trying to avoid eating them. Last night though, I really wanted to have some chips with my veggie burger and salad. As a compromise (with myself), I decided to try Kettle Brand Baked Potato Chips, Salted flavour.

 

Ingredients: potatoes [with the skins on!], safflower and/or sunflower oil, salt.

 

Nutritional Facts: According to my bag, a serving of 30-32 “Salted” chips (just over 1/3 of the bag) has 170 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, and 190 mg of sodium. Interestingly, the Kettle Brand website does not list a “Salted” flavour, only a “Lightly Salted” flavour. According to the website,  a serving of 20 “Lightly Salted” chips has 120 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 135 mg of sodium.

 

Pros

• Less fat (than fried chips)
• Less sodium (than fried chips)
• Large serving size 
• Short list of natural ingredients 
• Strong potato flavour
• Nice crunch (though not quite as crunchy as a fried Kettle chips – which is actually  plus for me)

 

Cons

• Not organic
• Still junk food (albeit healthier than some junk food)

 

For more on baked potato chips, check out this CTV “[Baked] Potato chip taste taste” video.

 

To make your own potato chips, try this recipe for “Microwave Potato Chips“.

Stuffed Animal Sleepover

Yesterday, 11 preschoolers dropped their beloved stuffed animals off at the library for a fun-filled sleepover, which featured story time, play time, snack time, and of course, sleep time. 

After the sleepover, the preschoolers were invited to join their stuffed friends to hear stories and to see photos of their friends’ adventures.

 

Here are some of those photos:

 

 

To see more photos of the event, visit our Flickr page.

i know it’s over

 

i know it’s over, by C. K. Kelly Martin features the raw, honest emotions of sixteen-year old teens, as seen in the following quote:

 

I love her so much, only the love is all pain now.

i know it’s over, by C. K. Kelly Martin

 

And in Martin’s book trailer.

 

While reading this book, I was reminded of the song “Brick“, from Ben Folds Five’s album, Whatever and Ever Amen.

 

C. K. Kelly Martin, however, was reminded of different songs. Here is the book playlist that she has posted on her website:

 

1. Ten Days Late – Third Eye Blind

2. Feel It In The Air – Beanie Sigel

3. There She Goes – The La’s

4. Unsent – Alanis Morissette

5. Poster of a Girl – Metric

6. The Scientist – Coldplay

7. S.O.S. – Rihanna

8. Stickwitu – The Pussycat Dolls

9. Get The Party Started – Pink

10. Whenever, Wherever – Shakira

11. Deep Inside of You – Third Eye Blind

12. The Lonely End of The Rink – The Tragically Hip

13. Lose Yourself – Eminem

14. Hot In Herre – Nelly

15. Rockstar – Nickelback

16. Show Me What You Got – Jay-Z

17. I’m With You – Avril Lavigne

18. Sometimes Wanna Die – Joydrop

19. It’s Over Now – Paddy Casey

20. Landslide – Dixie Chicks version

21. Times Like These – Foo Fighters

 

UPDATE: C. K. Kelly Martin talks about why she strongly associates music with each of her books on Bookluver-Carol’s Reviews.

 

Which songs did this book remind you of?

Talk Like Shakespeare Day

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare!
 

In celebration of Shakespeare’s 445th birthday, the Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has declared that today is Talk Like Shakespeare Day, and he is encouraging everyone to “incorporate phrases such as ‘prithee,” “thou,” “fie!” and “knave” into their parlance as a way to celebrate the legacy of this language.”

 

Get Your Own Mask Here: http://www.talklikeshakespeare.org/res/ShakespeareMask.pdf

 

If you wish to brush up on the language of Shakespeare, check out this video of author John Greek dropping some Shakespearean Insults (the insults start at approximately 1:38):

 

Things I Saw

Here are five things that I saw today:

1. A young woman reading Deception Point by Dan Brown.
2. An upside down stroller in a not-so bubbling brook.  
   

   Photo taken by ginghisklown, http://tinyurl.com/ginghisklown

3. Four five year-olds lunging for Star Wars books.
4. Rain gathering on a window.    
   

   Photo take by likeyesterday, http://www.flickr.com/photos/likeyesterday/

5. My cat eating a pizza crust.   
   

   On another occasion, I saw my cat eating a grilled cheese sandwich.

 

What are five things that you saw today?