2010

There are only a few more days in 2009. It was definitely a rough year and I'm hoping that next year gets better. With that in mind, I decided to make a list of goals for the new year to help keep things on the upswing.

1. Bake and cook more. I've been baking and cooking quite a bit. I've started making most things from scratch since we went vegan this spring. Next year I want to start making even more things that I haven't tried yet. And I want to make lots of food to share with others and spread the vegan love. :)

2. Decide what I want to do with my life. I've had 5 jobs since I graduated from college in 2005. Not a great track record. Next year I want to really focus on figuring out what I want to do and make it happen.

3. Go biking. I had a blast riding the bike trail this summer. I did it almost every day for a while and it was so much fun. I was in great shape and I felt great, too. I noticed the difference in my stamina when we hiked Giant Mtn. in August. As soon as the snow melts, I want to start riding again.

4. Work towards becoming a 46er. We started off hiking a lot this year, but slacked off and only ended up climbing 3 High Peaks. Next year I want to hike at least one High Peak a month, or at least 12 for the year.

5. Save money and pay down our debt. This one is huge. We need to put all of our extra money toward our credit card bills and then start socking it away in savings.

6. Let go of old grudges and deal with the anger issues. I don't think anyone would be surprised to find out that I have anger issues. Long story short, some stuff happened a while back and now I become enraged at the drop of a hat. I've gotten much better in the past few years, but I've stopped working on getting even better. Next year I want to work on keeping my patience, not losing my temper and getting over things that I've been holding on to for a while. This is going to be the most difficult one for me. If you see me about to lose it, remind me to count to ten!!


I'm sure I'll think of more things, but those are it for now. Let's see if I can stick to them!

Where did I go?

I'm not exactly sure how long it's been since my last update, but I know it's been a while! I've been kind of anti-internet lately. However, I really want to get back into blogging because I like keeping track of my cooking, baking and hiking. Obviously I'm not doing much biking these days.

What have I been up to? Working mostly. I'm still cooking and baking a lot, but I've been slacking in the picture-taking department.

Here are some pictures to sum up this year. My next post will be goals for 2010.

January 10th: Here's me hugging a big grandpa tree when we went bushwacking around the road to Dacy Clearing.


January 16th: Nine Mile Swamp on West Mountain.


January 17th: Hiking St. Regis. There was a ton of fresh snow and the trail hadn't been broken. It took forever to reach the summit, but it was totally worth it! We saw a deer and a bear print. I'd like to try this hike in warmer weather.


January 17th - 19th: Winter camping in Paul Smiths, NY.


March 14th: Riding at the polo barn.


March 28th: Hadley Mountain. This was one of my favorite hikes ever.


April 5th: Goodnow Mountain. It was warm when we left home. By the time we got to Newcomb it was really cold and snowing! We were definitely not dressed for the weather. And I fell on my butt right off the bat. We ended up having a great time as usual though!


April 5th: View of Goodnow Mountain from the Newcomb VIC. It's hard to tell, but you can see the firetower we climbed from there!


April 10th: Canoeing on the Schroon River. It was my first canoe trip.


April 11th: The summit of Severance Mt.


April 11th: Trail to Spectacle Pond.


April 17th: Mt. Marcy from the summit of Mt. Redfield (our 4th high peak).


April 18th: On the summit of Mt. Marcy. Unfortunately it was cloudy and snowing, so we didn't get any pictures of the view.


April 25th: Canoeing on the Hudson.


May 29th: Relay for Life.


June 6th - 7th: Camping at Tioga Point for Pat's birthday.


June 11th: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Pirates and Mermaids Masquerade Party. We dressed as box jellies, met lots of new friends and got to see Captain Paul Watson!


June 11th - 13th: Camping at Glen Rouge. Toronto totally rocked my socks!


August 2nd: Buck Mtn.


August 16th: From Giant Mtn. (our 6th High Peak).


October 18th: Inman Pond


October 21st: Biking the trails off Hogtown Rd.


December 11th: VanDusen Tract with our newest addition, Gabby.


That was our year in a nutshell. As you can see, we started out hiking and camping a lot, but slacked off as the year went on. I hope to do lots more next year!

Biking, birthdays, High Peaks and more!

I wish I could record all of my thoughts from my bike rides, because I always think of lots of stuff to write about. But, of course, I forget it all by the time I get home. I'm waiting til later to go on a bike ride. Badge says he wants to go for a ride after work. So we're going after work.

Speaking of work, I think I'm starting to feel the effects of this isolation during the day when he's gone. No car. No humans. Just the little fuzzy children. I may be going crazy.

Yesterday's bike ride was brutal. I think I made it in 42 or 43 minutes each way, which is average for me. But I felt like garbage pretty much the whole way. I think it's the heat and humidity. I wanted to give up and walk twice; once on the hill to the 149 bridge on the way to Lake George and once on the hill to Magic Forest on the way home. That is insane talk. I've ridden the bike trail 7 times in the last 9 days. There is no reason I should have to give up and walk. Actually I'd never do that because I'd be too embarrassed if anyone saw me.

I kept up my pace and, as usual, passed a few people twice. I passed them on my way to Lake George and again on my way home. That's always a good feeling for me. Not so much for them, I'm sure. Yesterday I was about to pass this man for the second time on my way home, but I couldn't for some reason. It was the oddest thing. I kept catching up to him and then he'd zoom on ahead. Well, he had a rear view mirror on his handlebars, so he must've seen me coming and didn't want me to pass him. I think he finally got tuckered out because I passed him and never saw him behind me again. He totally dropped off the radar. Obviously if I'm about to pass you for the second time you're not going to be able to keep up with me! I'm not trying to brag, but I do most of the passing. I've only been passed a couple of times by road bikers. They're always so super fast!

However, I read this article yesterday about a guy who won a road race on a mountain bike! Hooray! :) Everyone made fun of him at the beginning, thinking he'd never make it. I bet they were embarrassed when he won! Too awesome.

My sister's birthday is today and she wants to go to El Mexicano for dinner. I'm freaking out, as usual, at the thought of going out to eat. This area is not vegan-friendly at all. I'm going to call later to find out if they can make us something vegan, but I have such trouble trusting people to know what is vegan and what is not. I was blown away the first time I saw the list of animal byproducts. It's a lot to know and I would never expect a non-vegan to have that great a grasp on it. I guess I'll see what they say. We can always eat at home and just go to hang out.

Now onto the delicious food I made yesterday! It really was a successful day.

First I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. I used the recipe from chooseveg .com, but tweaked it a little. Obviously I added chocolate chips...

(...and I have a confession to make... they're most likely not vegan choc chips. They're leftovers from our pre-vegan days. We said we were going to use up what we had rather than waste anything. Well, the chocolate chips were slow to go and I don't have the original packaging, but I assume that they aren't vegan. But don't worry, I'd never offer something that wasn't totally vegan to another vegan! And now you're thinking, if I'm making non-vegan cookies, why am I worried about eating something non-vegan by accident at a restaurant. Well, that's just where I draw my line. I believe that we all need to decide where our own personal lines are drawn).

Anyway, so I added chocolate chips because I was craving PB and chocolate. Also, my dough didn't come out doughy at all. It was more crumbly that anything and wouldn't form into balls, so I added somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of water. Not sure what I did wrong... Maybe because I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup white flour? Not sure.

They came out great though! So yummy! Not too sweet either. I had two this morning for breakfast. Oops! :)


Don't they look delish?!?

Then it was time to make dinner. I decided on Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe with Rotelle from Veganomicon, which incidentally was a good-bye gift when I left my job. It's been a month already! Time sure flies!

Anyway, I didn't have broccoli rabe, in fact I've never had it! So I was going to use broccoli, until I took it out of the fridge and it had gone bad! What? Yes, it went bad. Broccoli never has time to go bad in this apartment! For shame...

Soooooo, I decided to use cauliflower. Yes, the cauliflower was still good and so delicious!


I thought I was getting better at taking food pictures, but obviously this one came out weird. Oh well. Can't you still see the yumminess?

It was super spicy! We also thought it kind of tasted like pepperoni but we decided it must be the fennel. But I loved it! I've been looking for more tempeh recipes besides our old standby Tempeh Toss. This was so good. I had a craving for pasta last night, but didn't want to make the usual tomato sauce. I'm going to try this with all different kinds of veggies next time. I seriously recommend getting this cookbook. It's totally fab!

Today's task: granola bars. We're trying to plan a trip up to the High Peaks to climb Giant Mountain. It'll be our 6th peak. We haven't been up there since climbing Mt. Marcy in April. I miss it so much.

Here's me on top of Mt. Marcy, the highest peak in New York State:


You can't really tell anything from this picture. It was snowing and windy and yes, those are the clouds you see all around me. Supposedly you can see 44 of the other 45 High Peaks from the summit, but we couldn't see any due to the nasty weather. So sad. Also, Badge is afraid of heights so he took this picture sitting down a little lower on the summit. I'm very proud of him for making it though since he wanted to turn around more than once. It was definitely a little bit scary!

So, anyway, I want to try making granola bars because they'll be good snacks for the trip! Wish me luck!

New bike seat!

Man, is it hot out or what?

Well, I skipped my bike ride yesterday due to the weather. I hate that. I always feel like garbage when I don't exercise. Today I got to Lake George in 42 minutes and home in 44 minutes. There was a ton of traffic out though, so I had to wait to cross some roads. I think that contributed to the slowness in getting home. I also don't think that skipping yesterday's workout helped at all!

My new bike seat came today! I can't wait to try it out tomorrow! Here's a slightly blurry picture of it...


Snazzy, eh? I wanted to get a pink bike, but I could only find cheap ones and super expensive ones. So I got a black bike so I could put pink accessories on it! I know it shouldn't matter what color it is... but I love pink! So I'm hoping this seat matches my pink water bottle cages! :)

I have some food pics to post, but I honestly can't even get myself to do it. We had homemade pizza last night. I bought mozzarella Teese by Chicago Soy Dairy. I was so excited to try it, but in the end I wasn't impressed. I've heard so many great things about it, too. I was really disappointed. It just had a weird smell and a weird taste. I can't explain it, but it was bad enough that I barely touched my pizza. And I love pizza. So sad. Maybe I'll try the Teese another way sometime.

I've been feeling discouraged about my cooking/baking. I know I cook and bake well. I just wish I could come up with my own recipes and stuff. I'm sure some day I'll be able to. I only just started making things from scratch a couple of months ago when we became vegan. I guess it'll come with time. I just don't have any patience!

Vegan Shepherds Pie

This is one of those things that I make that don't really have a recipe. I mean, I'm sure there are recipes out there, but I don't use one. So here is my process...

Vegan Shepherds Pie is one of my favorite dinners (shown here with some homemade Olive Oil and Thyme Bread).


I use Yves Meatless Ground, frozen corn (sometimes we add other veggies as well), mashed potatoes and gravy. That's it! How much easier can dinner get? I'm thinking about trying this with lentils instead of the fake beef next time.

Mashed Potatoes:
I use 6 large potatoes or 8-10 small/medium ones. Wash them, but leave the skin on. Cut into chunks and boil until tender. Use masher and mix in soymilk and vegan margarine (we use Earth Balance). Add any spices you like! I like onion, garlic and parsley.

Yves Meatless Ground can be found in most supermarkets. They have it at Hannaford, near the tofu and tempeh in the produce section. I'm not sure about Price Chopper. We buy a couple and freeze them so we always have some on hand. So unless I remember to thaw it out before starting, I just pop in into the microwave to thaw. I use one 12 oz package for this meal.

Steam the corn (about 2 cups) while the taters are boiling.

We used to use a vegetarian brown gravy packet for this. I can't remember what brand, but it's not vegan, so we can't use it anymore. The most recent time we had Vegan Shepherds Pie I used a wonderful gravy recipe from Happy Herbivore. It's delicious! Follow her blog, she's a vegan food genius! :) For the stock, we use Better Than Boullion. It's super easy and cheaper than buying the big cartons or little cubes. We do make our own stock sometimes, but we use this when we don't have any on hand.

In a casserole dish layer the meatless ground, gravy, corn and potatoes. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!! I'm sure you'll love it!

MMMBanana Bread and more!

I've been riding my bike just about every day lately. Usually to Lake George and back on the Warren County Bikeway. According to this map, it's 9.4 miles from downtown Glens Falls (or my front porch, as it were) to Lake George. I've been taking 45 minutes each way... until today. Today it took me 43 minutes to get to Lake George and only 40 minutes to get back! WOOHOO! I used to hate going to LG because of that damn 149 bridge. It's still my arch nemesis, but I'm getting much better at climbing all of the hills along the way. They've been getting easier each day, thankfully!

This is my bike...


Mine is the black Trek in the front. I'll get a better picture another time. It's my baby. It's the most awesome bike. That being said, road bikes are so much faster! My bike is great for riding through trails, going over roots, rocks, curbs, you name it. But whenever I see people riding road bikes they're FLYING! My bike is much bulkier and heavier. However, I most usually pass anyone not riding a road bike and leave them in the dust! Yeah!

Another note about the link above. The rules are all there... stay right at all times, no more than 2 across on the trail, if you need to stop get off the trail. I don't know how many morons I pass each day taking up the entire trail, riding on the left, stopping in the middle of the trail. Come on... the serious bikers out there are usually riding pretty fast, so you need to be out of the way. Hmph.

Now on to the yumminess... Banana Bread from How It All Vegan.


3 ripe bananas, mashed (Mine usually come from the freezer. I always buy too many bananas so that I have a few to freeze when they ripen.)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup sweetener
3/4 cup chopped dates
1 1/2 cups flour (I usually use part wheat and part white, however I was running low on wheat, so this picture is of white flour only)
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until very mushy, then add the lemon juice, oil sweetener and dates (I leave the dates out), and stir together. In a separate large bowl, stir together the flour, wheat germ, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix together gently until "just mixed". Spoon into a lightly oiled loaf pan and bake for 40-50 minutes. Test with a knife to see if done. Makes 1 loaf.

This recipe is perfect. So delicious! In fact, I'm eating a slice right now for a snack with my Peaceful Planet shake. Yum!

Vegan Shepherds Pie for dinner. I'll post tomorrow!

Kittens and Rodents and Tempeh, oh my!

Let's start with the kittens, shall we?

This would be Henry inside an empty beer case. They sure love boxes!

And here are Henry and Ferdinand snuggling up for a nap. Notice Henry's eye is open? Yeah, he sleeps like that. It's so creepy!

I guess I can't let the rest of the brood feel left out...

Kobe :)

Dwayne (right) and Captain

The very handsome Noel, found Christmas Eve digging in our snowy driveway with a mouth full of french fries.

Josephina in her wheel, getting some exercise.

This is Chester. We spent an insane amount of money getting him neutered so that he wouldn't get Joey pregnant once every 40 days or so! :) They really love each other. If you ever have rodents and live near Saratoga, take them to Upstate Animal Medical Center. Dr. Lucas is totally hip and a whiz with rodents!

Now onto the food! Tempeh Toss is my favorite meal by far! I got the recipe from The Garden of Vegan. I've changed it a little. Here's the original recipe, in case you'd like to make the official dish, then I'll let you know how I make it.

1 cup tempeh, cubed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium carrot, chopped
1/3 cup shallots, chopped
1 leek, chopped (pale green end only)
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp Braggs
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup zucchini, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped and seeded

In a large saucepan on medium-high heat, saute the tempeh in oil until lightly browned. Add the carrot, shallots, leek, garlic, red pepper flakes and Braggs. Saute until carrots are tender but firm to the bite. Add water, vinegar, red pepper, zucchini and tomato. Cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes until zucchini is tender. Serve on a bed of rice. Makes 2-4 servings.

I don't use the leek, zucchini, tomato or shallots. I use broccoli and occasionally cauliflower when we have it in the house. And I use orange or yellow bell peppers because they're my favorites. I use 4 cloves garlic (the more the better!) and I use more than 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes because I like it spicy! I might try the original recipe sometime, but it's just so delicious the way I make it!

Here's the finished product, along with some fresh bread from the bread machine! Yummy!

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Buck Mtn and Taco Salad

Today I finally conquered Buck Mountain. We attempted this hike on New Year's Day using snow shoes, but my stomach was so full of Taco Bell (my pre-vegan days) that I couldn't make it. I felt disgusting and thought I'd barf if we kept going. So we went back home to save it for another day.

Today was the day. Finally! It was super steep in some places, but the views from the top were great! It was really windy when we got higher up and it poured the entire way down. But we did get to see a deer when we were signing out at the trailhead! What a day


That's the whole bunch of us! It was great. I hadn't been hiking since Mt Marcy way back in April! I missed it so much. We were going just about every weekend for a while. I just love being in the mountains and it's such a great feeling when you finally get to the top!

We were ravenous when we got home! I decided to make something simple, so I went with a new twist on one of our old favorites... taco salad! Usually this includes lettuce, Amy's Organic Low Sodium Refried Black Beans (my all time fave!), peppers, tomatoes (for Pat only... I don't do tomatoes) and taco sauce. But today I added quinoa. I love the stuff. And it was delicious in the salads! Gave them a really neat texture, too!


I plan to post updates with all of my hikes and fabulous vegan food here. I may post some updates with past hikes and food, too, depending on my mood. :)

That's all for now. Pardon my updates if they're a little, well, awkward for a while. I'll get better at all of this! I promise!

Post Numero Uno

Hey all! Here is my attempt at a blog! Finally! I'm always behind the curve... i.e. I haven't joined Twitter yet. But I'm an avid Facebook user, just go to facebook.com/jessica.ryle and add me as a friend!

I'm just a simple vegan gal looking for the next big thing and also looking for like-minded friends, as there are none in her hometown, save for her boyfriend who she already spends all her time with.

I am also hugely into hiking (5 Adirondack High Peaks to date; more when I have extra money for gas to drive the 1.5 hrs there!) and animals! I have the pleasure to live with 3 cats (Kobe, Dwayne and Captain), 2 kittens (Ferdinand and Henry), 2 gerbils (Josephina and Chester) and 1 hamster (Noel; found on Christmas Eve in our snowy driveway).

I hope you'll follow my blog and share you interests and ideas with me!