Election Day was November 3rd but you or your friends may have some leftover election signs now. If so do not just toss them!

Put Old Campaign Signs to Good Use

The results are in which means election season is officially over. It’s time to take those campaign signs off the front lawn but instead of throwing them away, why not put them to good use!

Disney FamilyFun magazine recommends turning those old campaign signs into special birthday signs for your children. Just prime and paint them “Happy Birthday Ryan!” and reposition them in the front yard for a very special birthday surprise.

Your kids will love this new tradition and the signs can be repainted and stored for years to come!

See & Spell Puzzles

First time I have ever made chili without the meat and its been awhile since we had chili. But this was good… perfect for a cold Fall night and my hubby’s second meatless meals experience.

I didn’t follow a recipe because none I found online sounded good to me. So I winged it. In the slow cooker I threw together some black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, some other beans that were in an unmarked jar, a chopped onion, some chopped garlic, a big can of stewed tomatoes, a jalapeno, and some vegetable stock. Oh and some cumin, chili powder, and other assorted spices.

Together with raw flax, sesame, almond pulp crackers… it was delish. The two younger kids did not like it though… too spicy. They ended up eating crackers, fruit and celery with almond butter.

Next time I will make some of Alicia Silverstone’s vegan cornbread from The Kind Diet… a book I am devouring right now. Just didn’t have any cornmeal or sorghum.

I must say that hubby loved this. He had one bowl at dinner time but after I went to bed he ate all the leftovers up… another meatless meals success story.

Here is a time tested and much loved product for ya. We started buying up these lucious leg warmers when my two youngest were pretty darn young:

Now… nearly 4 years later we STILL love our Babylegs. Yesterday my daughter wore organic wool babylegs under a skirt to school. Today is an off-school day for her but she still came out sporting the babylegs… this time to keep her arms worm with a short sleeve tee. The color is called Mossy and they are organic too. I love that any of my kids could wear these… boy or girl, and they do.

For breakfast: Bear Naked Granola, almond milk, and deydrated strawberries and blueberries.

And remember that adorable babe in the top photo… well that little guy still wears his too. Although for this photo he was wearing mismatched ones since it was wacky Wednesday at school.

So what do you do when the two people in a marriage have fundamentally different ideas about what constitutes a healthy diet?

My husband and I were discussing my core diet mission plan and asked if he had a choice in this. You see for awhile now he is has been half hearted with the raw vegan thing and often makes his own meals but I REALLY want to get us ALL on the same page. Although he has really amazed me in some respects. This is a guy who used to take hot dogs (eeeeewwww!) and Ramen noodles to work for lunch and now I see him grabbing handfuls of dehydrated fruit and raw flax crackers instead. But the man still loves bacon, ham, steak, pork chops, and all that MEAT.

Yesterday we discussed how we could all get what we want without driving each other crazy and without any more meals were two people are making separate things. He told me he was up to letting me take charge if I back up the truck and start from an easier place… like vegetarian meals with raw side dishes or something. I was ecstatic to say the least! Wahoo!

Tonight I sought to amaze him and prove that meatless can be good. After building up a good repertoire of veggie meals then I can start transitioning him to vegan, followed by mostly raw… in a perfect world, LOL. I like a challenge and he is finally willing to meet me halfway. So back to tonight… Italian is a favorite of his so I made Whole Wheat Capellini with Tomatoes and Artichokes.

You start with the ingredients above… onion and garlic…  and saute them in olive oil for a few minutes. Add diced tomatoes and halved artichoke hearts. I use canned artichoke hearts that had been well rinsed and cut.

Saute those for about 10 minutes, reduce heat, and add some vegetable stock and cream. I wonder if nut milk would be a tasty alternative… I will have to try it. While this is cooking you can make up a pot of whole wheat pasta. Thin pasta like capellini works best. Dole out the pasta, top with the tomato artichoke sauce, and sprinkle with a hard Italian cheese (optional).

Oh yummo!! We hadn’t had pasta in quite awhile and it was such a treat. The serving sizes were on the small side… those are small plates, but it was filling. My hubby went out and got the bread while the meal was cooking… I told him I wanted a hard, whole wheat bread but he came home with something like French and it was white. I didn’t like it or eat it. Guess I might need to look into bread making if he is going to insist on bread.

Anyway… no meat and hubby LOVED it. He had three servings. He did keep saying that some bacon or prosciutto would really rock this dish but admitted that it was stellar on its own. My stomach was upset by the cream but I got lots of sympathy points from hubs. He cleaned!

Along with this meal we all had a big Cranberry Spinach Smoothie with banana, goji berries, flax seed, and Amazing Grass mixed in. Another big yum!

So… for you veggies and vegans…. can you direct me to some recipes powerful enough to win a meat eater’s heart? Now that he is willing to try, I need to convince him that meatless is GOOD. Comment and let me know!