Happy Autumn All!

Hello my dear friends. I have missed you all! Everything has been so crazy over here in Gretna, Nebraska, but it should start to calm down within the next week. We will be moving into our new home tomorrow! Hip hip HORRAY! So thanks for still coming around my site even though I have been so bad about updating and commenting. 

Let me start by saying, Happy Harvest! That just sounds fitting seeing as where I live now, corn is being harvested on all sides of me. I absolutely LOVE Fall. I have always loved it, even when in the islands. This is my first Fall living in a place with the actual "Fall Season". It is so amazing to watch the leaves change colors and fall to the ground, as well as seeing squirrels out running around collecting acorns. (We don't have squirrels in Hawaii so bare with me.)

You know what this time of year calls for don't you? APPLE CIDER! And it's actually cold here, so it's even funner to drink! I used my normal Apple Cider recipe, which you can find HERE. Everyone said they loved it. I always buy a big thing of organic apple juice to make it and I honestly think organic apple juice is so much better than normal apple juice. 

A huge bin of baby pumpkins at the pumpkin patch here. I work with kids and we got to go on a field trip to Vala's Pumpkin Patch. It was so fun!

More pumpkins...I love pumpkins...so very much.

Just a shot from my car of the pretty sun going down.

Strawesome Review

Strawesome is an awesome company that makes reusable, stylish glass straws. I don't know about you all, but  I have been trying to eliminate plastic from my daily life more and more now days. Once I discovered Strawesome, I knew I had to check them out!

The lovely Daedra from Strawesome was kind enough to send me a sample 8 inch straw along with a straw cleaner. Coincidentally, I won a drawing for another Strawesome straw around the same time! How lucky could I be? For those of you who have not heard of Strawesome yet, here are a few facts. These straws are hand made from borosilicate glass. They are also guarenteed not to break! If your straw breaks, it will be replaced. Nothing better than satisfaction guaranteed! This is also great news for those of you with kids and little hands that might drop things:) Strawesome straws are sold in sizes 6 inch all the way up to 12 inch.

Why else should I buy a glass straw, you say?

• Limit you and your families exposure to plastic and the toxins it contains.
• These straws are hypo-allergenic.
• Microwave and dishwasher safe!
• These straws will encourage your kids to drink more smoothies & water, because they are just so fun to drink with!

These are my two straws that I received. One is an 8 inch and one a 10 inch. They are so awesome for smoothies. I normally drink smoothies daily, so these are perfect for me. Plus, most of my smoothies are pretty thick because of all the things I add to them including spinach, kale, avocado, bananas, chia seeds, etc. I have come up with a whole new "smoothie system" because of Strawesome. I have a mason jar, which I cut a hole on top just big enough for my straw. Then I just fill the jar up and seal! I don't know if it is just me, but I think the smoothies taste better through a glass straw. I have always preferred glass to plastic. One last thing I have to show you guys is the straw cleaner. 

This will only run you $2 and it is totally worth it. You don't necessarily need it if you use a dishwasher, but I do not and this comes in so handy. Just in case you have anything stuck in your straw that you need to wash out, this is a lifesaver. You HAVE to get this with whatever straw you purchase. Thanks so much Strawesome for allowing me the opportunity to review and talk about this great product. 

Please check out her site STRAWESOME for all the styles you could want! As always, I was not paid for this review and these items were donated to me.

Old Market

Organic Red Swiss Chard & Apple Juice

Yummy apricots for a snack

I loved this horse and carriage ride! It looked just like cinderella's! I didn't ride but I did ask if I could pet the horses. Normally I get mad at this kind of situation and think that the animals are not being treated properly, but these guys seemed to be ok. It was cool weather and they had hay and water at their resting stop so that made me happy.

Everyone must think I am such a weirdo here. I was freezing and it was in the 50's. Everyone else was wearing skirts it seemed like!

Tofu Stroganoff

As always, I am not sure the exact measurements, but these are the ingredients I used:

Tofu

Mushrooms

Vegetable Stock

Onion

Garlic

Sour Supreme

Earth Balance

Salt

Pepper

Thyme

Fresh Peanut Butter Cups

SO GOOD!

Not totally pretty but hey, this was my first attempt. I have been seeing a lot of people making these lately like my blogger friend River- Wing It Vegan. Here is my version with the ingredients I had available.

1/4 cup Earth Balance

3/4 cup natural (no sugar) peanut butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

Cook together in a sauce pan until sugar is melted.

Pour into sprayed cupcake pan.

In separate pan:

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

1/4 cup coconut milk (or almond, soy)

Cook in sauce pan until melted. 

Pour over peanut butter.

Put in freezer until solid

Edward & Sons Review

This one is LONG past due, sorry Edward & Sons!

Edward & Sons were kind enough to send me a box of goodies! They sent me organic sliced peaches, miso-cup, organic croutons, quick gravy, coconut milk, two gluten free crackers- brown rice snaps & exotic rice toast. What I love about this company is that they have such a wide variety of products to chose from. I enjoyed their organic canned peaches in a peach cobbler that I made and the organic croutons on a few different salads. You guys all know how I feel about things being organic too, so that always makes me happy to see that label on products. My mother in law was happy to know that they carried gluten free options for her as she is gluten free. If you go to THIS page it will tell you which of their products are vegan, dairy-free, corn-free, egg-free, etc. 

I LOVE their organic coconut flakes! I make an awesome raw dessert with their coconut flakes. You can check out the recipe HERE. They also make organic coconut flour which I would love to try! 

Check out their website and products HERE.

Thanks again Edward & Sons!

*As always, I was not paid for this review and Edward & Sons sent me these products for free to sample.*

CSN Winner

Just a quick post to say who won the CSN award.....drumrollllllllll....Emily from Muffin Topped you won!!! I put all your names is order of your comments 1-16 and put your numbers into random.org and number 2 won! Congrats! Hopefully I can do another contest for you guys all soon.

CSN Giveaway

Hey guys guess what? I have a giveaway for ya! CSN contacted me and asked if I would be interested in hosting a giveaway on my site, so here it is! CSN Stores has all kinds of fun things for your home. They have everything from area rugs, to wine racks, to breakfast bar with stools,
dining tables and more! The winner of this giveaway will receive a $40 gift certificate. I have been looking around on their site just to see what all they carry and I listed a few things below that really caught my eye, just so that you guys can have an idea of what they carry.

Bar table with bar stools

Cute dragonfly area rug

Baker's rack

Thank you CSN for this fun giveaway!

Prize: $40 gift certificate for CSN.

To Enter: Follow my blog and post a comment about what you would like from their store :)

Giveaway Closes: September 19, 2010

Prize Ships: To US & Canada only. Sorry all my other international friends!

Good luck!

Most Versatile Blogger Award

For this award, I am to share 7 things about myself and then pass it on to 5 deserving blogs. Thanks Jessica :)

 I broke my back when I was 15 jumping off a water fall. It was in the newspaper and on TV.

 I like animals more than people :)

My personality type is INFP from the book Please Understand Me. It is a very rare personality type.

I love fruit and could eat it all day every day!

Jesus is the Lord of my life and I would probably be dead today without Him.

 I have almost stolen animals from pet stores before because their living conditions were sooooo bad.

I would love to have a few farm animals. I've never lived anywhere where that was possible but if I could I would have one pig, one cow, a turkey (two if he/she wanted a friend), a chicken, a sheep and a goat. They would all be best friends, I decided. If I could only chose one though, it would be a cow. People need to come face to face with the reality of what they are serving for dinner. 

Now, the five people I would like to pass this on to are: 

Tiffany - Bread without Butter

Ali- Vegan Epicurean

Blessed Mama- Blessed Vegan Life

Rose- Dandelion

Crooked Moon Mama

Sorry but I could only chose 5. You know I love you all :)