be good, 2010

goodbye oh nine, helloooo 2010! okay, so "oh nine" had a better ring, but i can still tell this is going to be a great decade.

and decided that i'm going to work on making this year the best that it can possibly be. 2009 was tough, but i also learned a lot through the hard times.

honestly, stress got the best of me and i unfortunately lost some weight because of it (i've always been small so this loss was hard). fortunately for me, i have a loving family and great friends that helped me remove the stress from my life. i'm really thankful for all of their support and for finding a love of yoga and cooking through all of this. actually, i ended up making my life better than it had been because i was determined to live my life.

now i'm absolutely sure that good things can come out of any situation.

anyway, here are my hopes for the new year:

• keep gaining the weight back in a healthy way. i've been doing so well and have shown that it's possible to do it while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. yes, it's been challenging (for any of you who have tried to gain or lose weight, you know what i mean), but this girl is not giving up. nu-uh!i respect myself and think i should feed my body what makes it feel good.
• regain my positive attitude. i lost some of my positivity when things got rough, but i shouldn't let me get that down. now i'm not going as far as to say that everything is always perfect, but now i see that there's always a silver lining.
• embrace my decisions. ever since learning the truth of animal treatment, i have wanted to go vegan. this year i embraced my decision to go lacto-vegetarian (i've been wanting to be veg since i was very little) and i have wanted to become vegan, also. after doing a lot of research to make sure my nutrition as a vegan would be healthy, i think i am finally ready. (not to mention my skin has been breaking out a lot because of the dairy and my stomach just doesn't tolerate it. either way, i've not had much dairy for a while anyway. greek and frozen yogurt was it.)

but now that i've had my little new years rant, on to the food (keep reading, there is a must-try dessert below)-->

this morning i had a yummy breakfast. inspired by Katie, Shelby, and Heather, i made vegan pancakes! i haven't had pancakes in at least a year, maybe more (i'm not even exaggerating. i know, i know, there's no way that's happening again).

holy yum! Blackberry was my flavor of choice (thank you, Costco. oh how i adore bulk produce... <3)>

for lunch i made a simple clean-out-the-fridge stir-fry with seitan and frozen veggies in a garlic and tamari sauce. sadly no picture because i was too excited to eat it. whoops.

and dinner was a classic. chickpea cutlets from veganomicon, of course. now i know every blogger out there has tried them, so naturally i wanted to join the fun. i tried this recipe when i first got v'con, but made so many substitutions and baked them in the oven that they turned out simply ordinary. but when i made them this time (yes, i oddly stuck to the recipe), i used a non-stick pan (i refuse to fry anything) and they were perfect. horrible picture, but perfect. go try them. now.

(doesn't it look like a smiley face? organic ketcup and annie's bbq sauce for dipping.)

and who could forget dessert? my family finished off the last of the vegan chocolate mousse cake i made for new year's eve. all omnis other than my mom, they adored it. i don't mean to brag, but it's probably the best thing i've ever made. i got the recipe out of a cookbook from one of my favorite restaurants. if you ever go to new york city, please go to candle cafe. you'll be soo happy you did.

well nightynight!