Katie's Cooking Tips: for vegetarians and individuals seeking a meat-free life.

There was a lot of information going around at Bloggy Boot Camp.

Here are some of the awesome tips I got:

• In regards to blog reviews and testimonials: Limit the amount of “I,me,my,mine” words. Focus on the brand and the product
• Try to review local companies and services
• Disclaimers are important but they lie with the brand and the image they want to project

Ask yourself some questions:

• What are my distinguishing characteristics and personality traits?
• What are my guiding principles and values?
• What is my role on the web?
• What is my promise?
• What is my story?

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Next week I am off to BlogWorld NYC!

This will be my second time going to a BlogWorld event and I am very excited.

BlogWorld tends to pull in a great amount of bloggers, advertisers and affiliates.

Should be a good few days with the after parties and networking events

Okay! So after the first night, we settled into bed and had a nice long sleep.

Errr. NOT!

We had to wake up early early early for classes the next day and it was so horrible outside! Raining, windy. Yuck.

Melissa and I made it to the Seaport Hotel for the breakfast and sat at a table with some lovely ladies. One rep from Invisalign, and some really wonderful bloggers.

Classes started immediately after breakfast and continued until 5pm. I really enjoyed all the sessions and definitely learned a lot from the ladies that taught them.

I was blown away by how successful some of the women were and how self supporting they were.

I wish I could type up all of the awesome points and information that I learned but I will save that for another time.

The lunch was absolutely delicious, here is a little taste

So fantastic. Mmmhmm.

So after lunch we went right back into classes for a few more hours. The session I really enjoyed was one led by The Mod Chik. She was fantastic and really unique.

After sessions we had a chance to network with the brands and bloggers again. It was cool to be able to talk to the reps of the companies sponsoring the event. It was nice to hear why they chose to be a part of the conference.

After a hard day full of learning and note taking, we got our goodie bags courtesy of BBC and Walmart and went back to the hotel for a nice needed nap.

Hey readers!

Today is May 10th and I must say that I had a great weekend.

I went to Boston for the Bloggy Boot Camp Conference.

On Friday, my friend Melissa and I took the 11:30am train out of Metro Park Station.

We were about to embark on a 5+ hour journey to Boston South Station.

We made many stops on the way which included,

After downing two Dramamine, I was asleep like a baby. I was not going to chance my motion sickness like I did back in October at BlogWorld. I learned from that big mistake that I do get motion sickness after long transportation rides and was not going to do that to myself again. So off to dream world I went.

A couple hours passed and I awoke to a growling stomach that could not be ignored. I decided it was time to woman up and buy some train snacks…erm overly priced train snacks. I weighed my options and my wallet and decided a bag of pretzels and a Diet Pepsi would do. And it did.

Finally after another nap, passing through more of Connecticut and Rhode Island, we arrived in Boston. Melissa and I grabbed a cab and made our way to our hotel, The Club Quarters.

Exciting! Our hotel was tiny and cute and just perfect. We unpacked and relaxed for a few hours, had a delicious sushi dinner and waiting until we had to make our way to the wine tasting and networking event. Here we met some fabulous blogging ladies! After the event we walked around Boston a bit and tried to find somewhere cozy to hang out at. We asked some locals for a good spot and ended up at Clarke’s. It was nice for a little bit but soon the fatigue overtook us and we made our way back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Part 2….coming soon!

When sandwiches and salads start to get boring, it can be fun to bring a hot lunch to work.  Unfortunately, keeping hot food warm until lunchtime can be difficult in some environments.  That’s why I was really excited to find out about portable food warmers that are designed to keep your meal just the right temperature until you’re ready to eat it.

Everyone in my office has been talking about food poisoning recently – it seems to be happening more often than it used to!  One good reason to use the food warmer is that the food will stay hot enough to kill off any germs or bacteria that could make a person sick.

Of course, portable food warmers aren’t just for work.  They’re also really useful at picnics and pot-lucks, and they would come in handy at a church gathering as well.  Any time people are coming together to share food and make memories, you can try out your warmer and save the day!

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As you may or may not know, I am obsessed with cats. I own 5, and I love them all dearly. Salem is 12 years old, he’s a black domestic long hair. Lucky, we saved from outside. I heard her meowing on our doorstep. She’s 8 and a tabby. Baby is an orange and white domestic short hair. Taken in, someone was giving him away at Sam’s Club. Boogie is a maine coon, I adopted him And Squishy is my brothers cat and he came to us when my brother moved back in.

Lately, cat food has been so-so-so expensive. And it is NOT something that we can skimp on. It’s not like we can go shopping and put back the cat food like we put back candy or chips and say, “Well we don’t need this, we just want it.” I love my cats, and I spoil them.  While watching Jeopardy last night, I kept the channel on ABC7 after seeing a preview for this video on the Best Pet Food Deals.

I found it absolutely helpful, but I noticed that all of the “Cheap deals” weren’t necessarily the best brands to feed my cat. My cats tend to get hairballs a lot, so we usually buy food that helps with that issue. My cats are also picky, and they do like what they like.

So what do I do? Do I save money and give my cats crappy food? Or so I spend a little more on premium brands that promise higher quality food for your special friend. I honestly do NOT know the difference. I look at the ingredients for all of these cat foods and everything looks the same. Why is one bag of cat food $6 and another $15 if they just have the same damn things in them?

I did some research and came upon this blog post about making your own cat food. It gave tons of helpful information about preparing your own cat food recipes. I had my questions about how natural or organic cat food would be better for my cats. This blog answered all of my inquiries. I found out a lot of helpful things about what ingredients are good for cats and which ones aren’t. I don’t want to do the wrong thing with this and get my cats sick.

One thing I absolutely will try are the Cat Nip Treats. My cats (as all do) love cat nip and they know what it means when they see that cat nip container.

Moist Catnip Treats

½ pound ground meat
1/4 cup grated carrot
1 tablespoon shredded cheese
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon dried catnip
½ cup bread crumbs
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a cookie sheet. In a large bowl, mix together the first six ingredients. Lastly, blend in the tomato paste and beaten egg. Roll the meat mixture into small balls, and bake them for approximately 15 minutes or until they are firm and lightly browned. Allow the cat treats to cool completely on a wire rack, and store them in the refrigerator. These cat treats may also be frozen.

Awesome, absolutely awesome! This blog is definitely in my bookmarks now. I love it!

Sorry guys, I have been extremely busy.

Finishing up my classes, and I have finals coming up.

Soon I will be updating more often as soon as I have the time to!

As a vegetarian, people may think I do not get all of the necessary vitamins and minerals that meat gives.

This isn’t true! All of the foods that I eat are high in protein and do replace the vitamins and minerals that meat provides.

I also take a daily vitamin for the days that I feel that I didn’t get enough iron or protein. My doctor told me that the iron was not necessary, because I am in no way iron deficient. So there! HAH!

But I could see that many people do need to take extra iron or protein. Many of these types of people are bodybuilders and weight trainers.

A lot of these people also take protein supplements to build extra muscle, in addition to their work out routines.

I used to be a dancer and gymnast, so I remember the days of being a wall of muscle. This is not the case anymore. But if I was ever interested in building muscle again, I would look into these types of supplements with creatine in them. Creatine is a naturally occuring acid in the body that helps supply energy to all cells in the body which includes our muscles. That sounds great to me!

I came across a neat little article today while reading the VRG Blog – (where VRG stands for Vegetarian Resource Group; )

Top Restaurant Chains for Vegetarians & Vegans

In our ongoing reader’s poll which asks “What is your favorite restaurant chain for vegan and vegetarian options?”, the top choices currently are:

1. Chipotle
2. Taco Bell
3. Qdoba Mexican Grill
4. Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes
5. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
6. Subway
7. Panera Bread
8. Noodles & Company

I personally have never been to Qdoba, Souplantation, PF Changs, or Noodles and Company. There aren’t really any of these close to my house.

But as far as Chipotle, Subway, Panera and Taco Bell are concerned, I am a fan and I also am not.

When it comes to Chipotle, the price really turns me off.

That place is SO expensive. I would rather make my own burrito or fajitas.

So not worth it. I am also not a fan of beans, so there is really no option for me.

Subway, is okay. It’s usually a hit or miss for me.

You just gotta make sure the sub maker changes their gloves.

I also make sure they either don’t cut it, or use an extremely clean knife.

I have a phobia that the knife they used still has meat remnants on it.

Panera is also a hit or miss for me. It depends on what soups they are making that day.

It’s a good thing their creamy tomato is availible everyday because it’s honestly the only one I like.

I hate beans, as I have previously said so the black bean soup is gross.

Years ago, they had an asparagus one I loved, but I haven’t seen it on the menu since.

Taco Bell, ugh. It’s so bad for you. But it’s cheap.

They only thing I can tolerate are they crispy potato soft tacos.

Without sour cream though. So, that is another place I really don’t go to.

I don’t trust what really goes on back there in the kitchen either.

So, overall…I think Subway wins. But even that is a stretch. I really don’t like going out to eat. I don’t trust what people do to my food. I really don’t know what could have happened. I know I may seem really paranoid, but after seeing the movie “Waiting…” and hearing stories from friends that work in restaurants, there is a lot more that goes on behind those doors. Anyway, it’s understandable that there is a difference between the quality of service and food when it comes to Taco Bell and let’s say..Katsuya. I am put at ease when there is a section that it labeled “Vegetarian” on the menu so I know it’s probably kept away from meat.

My favorite place to eat as a vegetarian is probably…my kitchen.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/03/10/teennick-goes-retro-with-90s-programming-exclusive/

THAT IS ALL.

Wow, you know what I am craving right now?

Croissants! YUM!

Seriously, there is almost nothing better than a good, delicious buttery soft croissant and a hot cup of coffee for breakfast.

I really love it when they basically melt in your mouth.

I remember going to this cafe in New York one time, and I ordered a spinach and cheese croissant and it was so good you don’t even know.

I would do anything for one of those right now! The cheese was perfectly melted, the spinach was fresh, the croissant was warm and flakey.

That was all I needed to make me happy all day But I am going to be honest, those Pillsbury canned things do NOT cut it.

So gross! Do you guys agree? They’re just blah and plastic tasting. :{