Vegan Pizza

Unfortunately for us vegans, pizza covered in loads of yummy, stringy cheese is not an option.  For me, cheese has been the most difficult temptation to overcome.  Even after all of these years I still find cheese lures me!  One day when I had been missing pizza terribly, I came across a mushroom and veggie no cheese pizza by Amy.  Even without the cheese it was delicious but also $11 for a small!  For a while when the temptation for pizza hit I would pick one up but it didn't seem worth the money.

 When visiting my sister one afternoon she offered to make us pizzas.  She would buy the pizza crusts from the grocery store which also came with the marinara sauce, then put whatever toppings she wanted on them!  Why I never thought of this before I wasn't sure but I was ready to give it a shot!  I got 2 crusts and the sauce for $4, then would just buy whatever veggies I wanted to top it with.  I still missed 'real' pizza but this satisfied the majority of my pizza cravings.

Now it's been a year since I started making my own pizzas and I'm still missing the cheese!  Pizza just isn't pizza without the ooey gooey goodness of cheese!  Sure there are vegetarian cheeses available but many of them aren't vegan.  The few that I've found that are, taste like chemicals or don't melt.  So lately I've started crumbling seasoned tofu over my pizza.  Although it doesn't necessarily taste like cheese it does adds some extra density to the pizza kind of tricking my brain in to believing the pizza isn't missing anything.  Plus it is pretty yummy!


To make your own pizza with crumbled tofu first get a bowl out and put a few shakes of parsley, oregano, sage and basil in it.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper, then go on to crumbling 1/3 package of firm tofu in to the bowl.  Use your fingers to mix the tofu, making sure the spices cover it well.  Set aside.  Next cover your pizza crust in sauce and toppings of your choice.  Finally sprinkle your crumbled tofu on top of your pizza, cook and enjoy!

Chatty Birdies

On a whim, I decided to bring Ella to the cottage with us.  We were loading everything in to the truck and Ella was playing and chirping in her cage while I carried everything down from the kitchen.  At that moment I decided I couldn't leave her behind.  Unlike our bunnies, cats and hammy, Ella would enjoy the hot weather, being outdoors and listening to the noises outside.  So I emptied her food and water dishes, then managed to squeeze her cage behind my seat and we were off.

She loved it! The deck gets the morning sun so I set her on a table in the far corner.  That way the wind could blow through her cage but wouldn't be strong enough to shake her.  It was warm and sunny, perfect weather for her!  She chirped and sang, rang her bells and played with toys while she listened to the other birds chirping and flying overhead.  Even down at the lake, we could hear her on the deck.

In the early evening when the bugs would start to get bad, I'd move her inside and put her at the patio doors so she could still see outside.  Hubby and I would eat dinner near her - sharing veggies, fruit and a few pieces of naan with her.  The whole time she danced and sang away.  It was adorable!

At night when she was settling in for the night, I'd move her to a table in another corner of the cottage.  It was still close to us but didn't get the early morning sunlight.  I didn't want her to wake up at 5am!  She would sit there clicking her beak contentedly while her eyes drooped.

So Ella adjusted to cottage life easily.  And Hubby and I delighted in watching her enjoy it so much.

The Longing

For Christmas, Genevieve and Murray were given new toys.  Not just any toys, these ones have specific colours that are supposed to make it easier for your dog to find.  To make them extra fun they also float.  They also are made of material and stuffing - the exact recipe for disaster.  So we put them on a shelf in the garage until our next trip to the cottage.

Unfortunately for us Genevieve has a major case of OCD and just can't let them go.  Every time the garage door opens she's out there next to the shelf, staring longingly up at them.  It's kind of sad really, especially since it's been almost 7 months since Christmas and she hasn't let up.

Neither her or Murray know what the word 'cottage' means.  If they did they'd know we're heading up there tomorrow.  With the toys.

The Itch!

Lately I have been getting the itch to write.  So much in fact that I even created my own Twitter account, just so I could tweet about my daily adventures.  The problem with tweeting of course is that you are limited to so many characters per tweet and it seems I have more to say than that.  So to solve this problem I could either write to myself or write to all of you.  It may seem presumptuous for me to think that anyone would really care what I have to say but you never know.

I actually already have a blog, the problem is it's so specific that when I don't want to write about rabbits toys I feel like I'm deviating from the reason everyone reads it.

By the way if you're a rabbit lover please check it out at BudgetBunny.ca - your source for DIY rabbit toys, housing and everything bunny!

Back to this blog.  It's going to be about everything else.  I am what most would classify as a crazy animal lady except I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful husband who supports and loves me dearly.  I guess you could say we're crazy animal people.  We live with our 2 Golden Retrievers, 2 Cats, 4 Rabbits, Parrotlet and Hamster in a nice little home.  This blog will probably be about them most of the time.  Sometimes it may be about my passion for photography or the fact that I'm a longtime vegan.  It might be about a great new recipe I tried or a movie I just watched.  So if you're in to any or all of these things feel free to pop in now and again.