My Recent Favorite Obsession, Peanut Butter And Fruit On The Bottom Yogurt

In an effort to blog more this month, here is a short but sweet post.  I'm going to share something I can't get enough of right now.  Peanut butter and fruit and fruit spread on the bottom yogurt.

It all started when I saw this post at Oh She Glows.  When I first looked at it, I mistakenly thought it was peanut butter and fruit topped with yogurt.  Although it was something completely different, I couldn't get the idea out of my head (I've admitted before how much I love peanut butter).

So, I put some peanut butter in a bowl, topped it with an organic fruit spread, then put Wildwood Vanilla Soyogurt on top of both.  I stirred it all together and tasted it.  Amazing!  I didn't take a picture of the finished product, it tastes better than it looks.  :)  Since then, I've made it with various fruit spreads, and added thawed frozen fruit in (imagine a berry fruit spread with mixed berries).  If you are a peanut butter lover, you seriously need to try this if you haven't already.

Vegan Meet Up At The Red Herring And A Vegan Hot Dog Question

Last night, I went to a Vegan Meet Up at The Red Herring Restaurant.  The Red Herring is a hip, kinda funky, local vegetarian restaurant on campus.  They are open M-F during lunch,  Friday and Saturday nights for dinner (I read they have jazz on Saturday nights), and are occasionally open for special dinners throughout the week.  Since they are the only all vegetarian/vegan restaurant in town, our local Vegan Meet Up Group wanted to support them.

The theme last night was comfort food and it was totally comforting.  :)  For our entree, we could choose between a county fried chickpea and quinoa cutlet with brown gravy or a lentil loaf with tomato gravy.  The side choices were mac 'n' cheese, collard greens, or broccoli and cauliflower, I think.  I went with the country fried cutlet, mac 'n' cheese, and greens.  Everything was really good!  I cleaned my plate, which was impressive considering it was a lot of food.  I read they are serving dinner again next Thursday night, and I believe it is going to be enchiladas and jack fruit carnitas, which sounds awesome.  If you are local, or close, and able to, you should swing by The Red Herring sometime.

The meet ups are inevitably a lot of fun.  I got to meet new people last night, which is always nice, and visit with friends from the very first meet up I ever went to, over a year ago.

Sometime during our conversations, don't ask me how, we got on the subject of vegan hot dogs.  This led to a discussion about which vegan hot dog is the best.  My exposure is limited, so I didn't have a lot to offer.  One of the ladies at the table, is somewhat of a vegan hot dog connoisseur, but she hasn't met a vegan hot dog she doesn't like, so no strong opinion from her either.  Other than that, the opinions were mixed, with Tofurky hot dogs being a top contender.  Now, I want to get some and see what my grandkids think (and try them out for myself of course).  So my question to you is, which vegan hot dog do you like best?

September Vegan Food Swap And Gardein In The Slow Cooker

I'm still here, and I'm sorry I haven't posted much recently.  In my last post I mentioned things were going to slow down a little, but so far they haven't.  I guess maybe I just need to get used to my new normal.  :)

I'll start this post with my delayed September Vegan Food  Swap reveal.  As you know, in August I joined a Vegan Food Swap hosted by Cat at The Verdant Life.  I am having so much fun sending and receiving vegan food items.  This month I was paired with a non blogger named Saniel.  Saniel sent me a box filled with goodies from Trader Joe's.

I love getting and trying new things.  The Nothing But Banana Flattened is a really fun take on dried bananas, they are literally flat, and definitely yummy.  The bag of almonds is actually filled with individual packs of raw almonds, which is really handy for grabbing on the go.  The Corn Pasta is a gluten free pasta, and a nice change up from traditional pasta.  Popcorn is one of my all time favorite snacks.  Last, but not least, the little individual packets of Artisana Nut Butters.  Last month, I got two individual Artisana raw cashew butters with berries and acai in them, which I loved.  This month, I got raw almond, raw cashew, and raw walnut butters.  I had never tried walnut butter before, but now that I have, it needs to be a staple in my kitchen.  :)  I'm hoping we have it locally and I've just missed it.  Otherwise, I'll have to figure out how to get my hands on some.  Thanks again Saniel for sending me the awesome goodies!  

This is a bad pic, but I wanted to share a recent success story I had with Gardein Beefless Tips in the slow cooker (this picture is before cooking, dark morning light and flash being funky).  I was actually a little leery about how Gardein would work in the slow cooker.  I was afraid it wouldn't hold up and might even disintegrate during the long cooking process.  Looking online didn't yield a lot of information, so I decided to just go for it and give it a try (worse case scenario, I'd have PB&J for dinner).  My fears were definitely unfounded.  If anything, I think the slow cooking process made them even more palatable for non vegan husband.  This dinner was so good!  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it again.  As a matter of fact, the night we had this for dinner, my mouth was still watering two hours later remembering it.

My camera was really not cooperating with me that day.  Here it is on top of some brown rice, before I devoured it and went back for seconds (I seriously ate way too much).  Here's the recipe:

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Beefless Tips (adapted from this recipe)

Serves 2 (very generously, probably 3-4 normal servings)

This could easily be doubled, not sure if cooking time would have to be adjusted

1 bag of Gardein Beefless Tips (I took them right out of the freezer, and put them in frozen)

1 T.Earth Balance (I used the coconut spread)

1 small onion or 1/2 of a large onion, cut in chunks

1 sweet potato, cut in chunks (my sweet potato was ginormous, so I only used a little over 1/2 of it, but assuming a normal size sweet potato, I would use a whole one)

1 can of coconut milk

2 T. fresh lemon juice

2 cloves of minced garlic

1 t. grated fresh ginger

2 t. brown sugar (I think agave or molasses would be nice here too)

1 t. curry powder

1 t. cumin

1 t. crushed red pepper flakes (this made for a nice amount of heat, but not over the top, it did make my nose run while eating it, so adjust accordingly)

1/2 t. ground coriander

Turn crockpot on and put earth balance in it while getting the other ingredients ready.  If it melts before you are ready to put everything else in great, if not, don't worry about it (mine wasn't all the way melted).  Put everything in the crockpot (I started with the Beefless Tips and pretty much just went down the line from the onion on) and give it a good stir to mix everything together.  Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.

Serve over brown rice or quinoa.

I'm confident this will be making many repeat appearances on my table.  Yum!

I hope everyone is getting a chance to enjoy some of the Vegan MoFo posts out there.  I haven't gotten to read as many as I would like, but I am enjoying reading the ones I can.  I didn't sign up to participate, but I'm planning on posting more this month than I did last month.  :)  

No End To The Craziness

It's been crazy around here the last few weeks.  I've heard an expression before that goes something like 'I meet myself coming and going', and that is definitely how I've been feeling.  During the last few weeks, I'm ashamed to admit I've eaten more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches than I can shake a stick at.  Luckily, last month I stocked up on peanut butter and got a couple of really good organic fruit spreads from bionature.   At least my PB&J's aren't the sugar filled variety I ate when I was a kid.  The Hickory Smoked flavored Tofurky and I have also become very close, to say the least.  :)

While I'm being honest, the reason for so many sandwiches lately is really due to lack of planning on my part.  When I'm not so busy, I can usually wing it most of the time and be fine, but when my schedule is hectic, I find  I need a plan.  If I'm walking in the door late, exhausted, with nothing planned for dinner, and I don't feel like going out to eat, my options are delivery (which means eating even later), trying to figure out what to make (not happening) or something easy like a sandwich (jackpot!).  I'm starting to use my slow cooker a little more for these busy days, and I'm trying to plan a little better.  I'm really hoping things will get back to normal soon though, or at least a little closer to normal.  :)

Here are a few things I did manage to squeak out recently:

Baked tofu over rice with mixed vegetables.  I topped this with a little sriracha.  The tofu was dry rubbed, before baking, with the Peruvian BBQ seasoning I got in my August vegan food swap.  The rub on the tofu was amazing.  I can't wait to make this again.

Vegan Linda was talking about making homemade tomato soup last month, and ever since reading about it I had been in the mood for tomato soup.  Her's had fresh tomatoes from her garden (I'm envious).  Mine more closely resembled the recipe in Vegan Diner.  I used canned organic crushed tomatoes with basil, garlic, fresh basil, organic vegetable broth, and cashews.  I took some leftovers to my daughter's house for lunch one day (and remembered to take a picture, I forgot to take one at home).  I had it with whole grain toast topped with vegan cream cheese and homemade vegan pesto.  My granddaughter Lexi loved it!  Lexi is still pretty young, and her r's aren't always real defined, depending on what word she is saying.  It was so cute to here her ask twice for "mo soup please".  She ate 3 bowls!  :)

Nothing elaborate here.  Gardein Crispy Chik'n Patty, Alexia Sweet Potato Puffs, Seapoint Farms Eat Your Greens Veggie Blend, cheesy quinoa, and honeydew.  I just mixed a little vegan cheese into the warm cooked quinoa to get the cheesy quinoa.

I steamed some Trader Joe's Vegetable Gyoza and made this Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce from Alton Brown.

Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Chik'n finished off the meal.  I love this stuff!  :)  I served broccoli with this.

A day where I actually sort of planned and made lentils in the slow cooker.  I made the Honey Lentils out of Make It Fast, Cook It Slow and subbed agave for the honey (I used a little less than called for).  I forgot to plan for the rice, so I made couscous (gotta love how fast couscous can be done and on the table).  I had the Eat Your Greens Veggie Blend with this meal too.  This meal was a protein powerhouse.  :)  A heads up, Make It Fast, Cook It Slow is not a vegan or vegetarian cookbook.  It does have some nice sounding recipes that are vegan, and some that could easily be veganized.  The author is also gluten free.  It's worth checking out from your local library if you're interested in using the slow cooker.  She also has a lot of recipes posted on her blog.

August Vegan Food Swap

Last month, I signed up for a Vegan Food Swap that is hosted by Cat from The Verdant Life.  I had been reading about bloggers doing these swaps for awhile now, so I was super excited to find one I could join.  August was my first month participating and it was a lot of fun.  I sent goodies to Steffi from Don't Fear The Vegan (I love the name of her blog, every time I see it I can't help but think of Don't Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult), and I received goodies from a non blogger named Jannifer from Texas.  One of the really neat things about this vegan food swap is that you don't have to be a blogger to join.

Jannifer is lucky, she lives in the hometown of Whole Foods.  Since we don't have one nearby, it was awesome to receive goodies specific to them.  I love, love, love berries, and mixed berry to me means extra yumminess, so I was immediately excited to see the Mixed Berry Conserve.  As a matter of fact, the morning after I opened my food swap package, I put a little conserve on top of my oatmeal for breakfast.

That same night I mixed a little in with some frozen berries, and made a delicious sauce to top my Almond Dream ice cream.  Amazing!

Mexican night was in store (sorry no pictures) with the yummy Herdez Salsa she sent, along with the Whole Foods Organic Taco Seasoning.  She also sent me some Whole Foods Organic Peruvian Barbecue Seasoning which I haven't tried yet (I've just been so busy), but I am planning on using it soon.  I've been thinking it'd be really good on some baked tofu.

The Sahale Soledad Snacks she sent me had a nice blend of salty, spicy, and sweet.  It has almonds,  apple, flax seeds, dates, balsamic vinegar, and red pepper.  I dug into these almost as soon as I opened my box.  :)

She also sent me some Wizard's Vegan Worcestershire Sauce, which I'm eager to try.  I usually use Annie's brand, since it's easy for me to get where I live.  I don't know if there is much difference in taste, but Jannifer said she would be curious to hear what I think.  I will have to post after I try it.  I don't know if any of you have tried both.

Lastly, I got two individual squeeze packets of raw cashew butters from Artisana.  One was the Acai Berry and one was the Berry AntiOxidant.  I have got to see if I can find these someplace local.

Thanks again Jannifer!

A Busy, Busy Week Means A Bunch Of Quick Dinners

I know I stated in my last post, I've been really busy recently, and that's putting it mildly!  Along with quick and easy breakfasts, my dinners have been pretty quick and easy, too.  It's times like these, I am extremely thankful for stuff I make and tuck away in my freezer.  I'm also thankful for vegan convenience foods, reliable cookbooks with easy recipes, and takeout.  :)

Occasionally I have to work on a Saturday, and last Saturday afternoon was one of them.  I actually suspected I might have to work into the evening, which I did.  My son Blake had been helping me with yard work that morning, and we were both hungry.  I knew I wanted to eat something a little filling, just in case, but it couldn't be too time consuming, and it needed to be non vegan friendly, since Blake isn't vegan (yet).  I decided on the Sloppy Joes out of Vegan Junk Food (I just got this cookbook, and ironically, purchased Alicia Simpson's new Low Cal Vegan Comfort Food at the same time, go figure).  The Sloppy Joes were good.  Blake loved them, which is always a plus.  Next time I make them, I will probably reduce the salt called for by half, because I thought they were a tad salty (Blake, however, thought they were perfect as is and didn't need adjusting).  I topped mine with a little Daiya shredded cheddar, and had a mix of broccoli and cauliflower, along with some Trader Joe's Crunchy Curls on the side.  :)  Despite the name of the cookbook, the Sloppy Joes were filled with lots of good things.  Vegan Junk Food does have it's share of special occasion treats and once in awhile type meals, though, for sure.  This cookbook appears to have a lot of things in it that will appeal to non vegans, so I am definitely glad to have it in my arsenal of cookbooks.

Takeout Vegetable Lo Mein from I Wok in Savoy.  I added some baked tofu that had been marinated in Island Soyaki sauce and a little sriracha for good measure.  The food at I Wok is good, and you can easily take it with you or eat in.  The owners are a really nice young couple.  Although I Wok is slightly farther from me than other places, I will definitely go there occasionally to help support this nice family.  Luckily, I have family members that live in Savoy, so finding a reason to be in the area won't be too hard.  :)

This dinner took advantage of some Italian Sausage Cutlets I had stashed away in the freezer.  The cutlets are from Vegan Diner.  I grilled them real quick and served them with a Caprese Salad I made using some of the Mozzarella Teese I got at Veggiefest, along with tomatoes and basil from the farmer's market.  I really, really like the Mozzarella Teese in a cold salad like this.  I've also had the mozzarella in a grilled sandwich, and although it was quite good, I think cold is where it really shines.  I have to be fair and say I haven't used it yet on a pizza or melted in an Italian pasta dish, but I am excited that there is a vegan mozzarella that is so good straight from the package.  My tomatoes were pretty big, which is why I cut them in half for the salad (I know it looks a little funny).  The potatoes were another recipe from Vegan Junk Food.  They were really saucy and delicious.  After I shot the picture, I drizzled some of the sauce over my cutlet.  :)

Field Roast Mexican Chipotle Sausage in a Rudi's bun smothered with PPK Cashew Queso (I know I have this a lot), mustard, and diced red onion.  This time I had some baby tomatoes with smoked salt, and a broccoli/cauliflower blend topped with, you guessed it, Cashew Queso.  :)

A quick and easy noodle dish from Chloe's Kitchen.  These are the Peanutty Perfection Noodles.  I didn't have any green onions, so I added a little bit of sweet onion.  I also had part of a yellow pepper I wanted to finish off, so I threw it in.  Despite the fact that my rice noodles were a little overdone (I'm easily distracted sometimes), this dish was right up my peanut butter loving alley.  I sure hope things slow down this week.  :)

A Busy, Busy Week Means A Bunch Of Quick Breakfasts

I have been really busy this week!  Most days I've been up and running pretty early.  My breakfasts haven't been anything too elaborate, but they have been good.

One of my quick go to breakfasts, leftover quinoa (when I'm planning on using it for breakfast, I make it with plain water or non dairy milk) reheated with more almond milk, dried cherries, and sliced banana.

Super easy Carrot Cake and Zucchini Bread Oatmeal from The Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester.  This really does sort of taste like a marriage between carrot cake, zucchini bread, and oatmeal.  The next time I make this I will probably only use half the sweetener she calls for, it was a little sweet for me, although still amazing.  I love that she uses steel cut oats for her slow cooked oatmeal, and it is great to put it in the crock pot before you go to bed at night, and wake up to yummy oatmeal in the morning.  She has tons of oatmeal (and other) recipes on her blog that look delicious.  I can see using these recipes a lot when the weather gets colder.

Another couldn't be easier breakfast.  Nature's Path Chia Plus frozen waffles, heated in the toaster oven for a few minutes, then topped with homemade peach jam given to me by a friend.  These waffles are another thing I just tried for the first time this month, and they are really good.  They are also gluten free.

My most elaborate breakfast this week.  I did actually take the time to make a throw together tofu scramble one morning.  I had it with whole wheat toast and honeydew.

Something I've been eating for breakfast, snack, and even dessert lately, is Nature's Path Apple Crumble Love Crunch.  The story about how the original Love Crunch came to be is nice, it's on the back of the bag, plus they donate money and organic food to a food bank for every bag purchased.  I like the Dark Chocolate and Red Berries flavor (I think this might actually be the one they originally created, the dark chocolate and the apple are the two flavors that are vegan), but the Apple Crumble is the one that's really stolen my heart.  The apple is so good I almost have to hide the bag from myself when I buy it.  :)

A Veggie Fest Filled Saturday

My husband and I went to Veggie Fest in Naperville on Saturday.  We had so much fun.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, and I didn't really get any good pictures with my phone.  There was so much amazing vegan food.  For our main courses, we had the most wonderful Cajun Chik'n and Rice from Auntie Hannah's Caribbean Kitchen (I'm seriously drooling just typing about it, it was that good), and delicious 'Beef' and Broccoli and Sweet and Sour Chik'n from Asian Palace.  For dessert, we tried the award winning Carrot Cake from Cafe Indigo and Chocolate NadaMoo!  I attended a couple of the food demos, one of which was Ellen Jaffe Jones author of Eat Vegan on $4 A Day.  She had a lot of good basic information and it was interesting to hear her story.  She is basically the only female in her family who hasn't had breast cancer.

There were tons of booths handing out samples, giving away coupons and goodies, and running special festival pricing on things you could buy to take home with you.  There was also a booth where they were giving free massages.  I had too many other things drawing my attention, but my husband was on that booth like jelly on peanut butter.

After we got home, I did take some pictures of a few things I picked up.  One of the things I'm most excited about is this adorable skirt I got for only $12.  I love it and just couldn't resist sharing.  :)

Chicago Vegan Foods, makers of Dandies marshmallows and Teese vegan cheeses had a booth.  They were giving out marshmallow samples and had awesome festival pricing on both the marshmallows and the cheeses.  I love the marshmallows so I knew for sure I wanted to snag a few of those.  I'd heard about Teese before, but had never tried it.  Although Teese is made in Chicago, which isn't very far, none of our local stores carry it (thank goodness they do carry the marshmallows).

I got The Simple Little Vegan Dog Book.  It's a cute little book filled with a decent number of recipes for our four legged family members.  This book is more of an encouragement for those who have already decided to feed their dog/dogs a vegan diet.  It's not meant to be a comprehensive book for those researching the subject.  Last night, I made Rover's Risotto to supplement Duchess and Hollie's vegan kibble for the week.  They gobbled up there first helping this morning.  :)  There is everything from basic meals and treats to Bowser's Birthday Cake.  I'm glad I picked it up on a whim.

Trader Joe's was pretty much on the way home, so of course we stopped.  There are several things I like to get when I'm at Trader Joe's, but I am always on the lookout for new things.  I don't remember seeing the Coconut Milk Yogurts the last time I was there, but I spotted them this time.  They had Blueberry and Vanilla, and even though it doesn't say it on the front, when you read the ingredients on the back, it's got organic ingredients.  The Blueberry was good, although a little sweet for me, but I loved the Vanilla.

No trip to Trader Joe's is complete without these.  :)

Cream Cheese Three Ways

I have two daughters that work at Atlanta Bread (which is similar to Panera, if you're not familiar with it).  My youngest daughter is a manager, and my middle daughter, although she's graduated from college and has a job in her field now, still works there on Saturdays while she is saving up to buy a house.  Atlanta Bread has a couple of vegan options, and several things that can easily be made vegan.  For any of you locals out there, both of my daughters are very knowledgeable in that area.  ;)

Most of Atlanta's bagels are vegan, although if you are eating in, you are pretty much limited to peanut butter and/or jelly to put on it (their peanut butter is really good though).  A couple of Saturdays ago, I stopped in to get a drink (they have lots of good teas) and say hi to my daughters.  They had samples out of a cream cheese spread they had just made, jalapeno cheddar.  Although I wasn't going to eat it, I admitted to my middle daughter that the concept sounded good.  She commented that I could easily make it at home with vegan ingredients.  That girl's a genius I tell you.  :)  It made perfect sense in its simplicity, why hadn't I thought of it.  From there, I embarked on a journey of vegan cream cheese spreads.

The first one I made was, of course, after my initial inspiration.  I used half an 8 oz. container of vegan cream cheese (I like Galaxy brand), then I threw in some chopped up pickled jalapenos ( to taste) and part of a Daiya Jack wedge chopped into small pieces.  I mixed it all together and it was good to go.  The amount of cream cheese ended up being enough to generously cover 2 bagels and a few crackers.  It was even better the next day after the flavors had melded a little more.

Sorry, I almost forgot to take a picture of this one.  :)

My next cream cheese spread was inspired by the strawberry flavored cream cheese I use to buy before I became vegan.  This was another success.  I used this recipe and halved it, subbing vegan cream cheese and I used agave instead of powdered sugar.  Again for me, this ended up being enough for 2 bagels and a little extra.  This was even better than I remember buying at the store.

The most recent one I made was after something I think I tried at some point, but can't really remember for sure.  It was sundried tomato and basil.  Just like before, I started with half a tub of vegan cream cheese, threw in some sundried tomatoes and some chopped fresh basil and mixed it all up.  I used sundried tomatoes packed in oil, rinsed off, but I would have rehydrated dried ones if I'd have had any at the time.  This picture is what it looked like later in the day.  Initially it was white with the red and green flecks, but after sitting in the refrigerator a couple of hours, I stirred it again and it turned this color.

I'm glad I recently stocked up on vegan cream cheese, because now I'm thinking maybe a black olive spread or raspberry, the possibilities are endless.

Corned Seitan And A Summer Dinner

I love Robin Robertson.  Her cookbooks are among some of my favorites.  I know if I want to make something, I can almost always find it in one of her cookbooks (or on her blog), and count on the recipe to be solid.

Her Corned Seitan with Cabbage, out of Vegan on the Cheap was no exception to this rule.  It utilizes a slow cooker, which I've been quite interested in lately, and is really good.  The first night I had corned seitan and cabbage with potatoes and made a mustard sauce to go over it (sorry no picture).  Yum.

Here it is before cooking.  It's a good size seitan roast.

For breakfast the next day, I made corned seitan hash.  I chopped the seitan, onions, potatoes and red pepper into pieces approximately the same size, and sauteed in a little olive oil until the potatoes were tender.  Yum again.

Then for lunch, I made a reuben with the seitan, sauerkraut, Daiya mozzarella and the Very Secret Sauce out of Vegan Diner.  I actually made these a couple of days in a row.  Yum again and again!  Needless to say, I definitely got a lot of use out of the Corned Seitan, and it came together easy without heating up the kitchen.

This was my dinner tonight.  Look at that plate of summer deliciousness.  Sweet corn and tomatoes from the farmer's market, as well as homemade pesto using basil from the farmer's market.  The pesto was on whole wheat baguette from Strawberry Fields.  I also had truroots organic sprouted quinoa trio.  I just got this quinoa for the first time last month and I really like it.  It's so pretty to look at, and I think it has a slightly nutty taste.  If I'm not making it for breakfast, I usually add just a tiny amount of Better Than Bouillon No Beef Base or No Chicken Base to the water to give it a little extra flavor.  I talked about the Gardein Southern BBQ Riblet here.  The bbq sauce on these is so good, and bbq anything screams summer to me.  This dinner was made complete with some iced tea, lightly sweetened with stevia and agave syrup, and a fresh peach from the farmer's market.  I love eating like this in the summer.  :)

A Fun Day And A Dinner Disappointment

Saturday was my husband's company picnic.  We decided to take the granddaughters.  We knew they would have a blast with all of the activities planned for kids.  I have to admit, I was impressed, not only with everything they did for the employees and their families, but the thought put into it.  They had a vegan food option, which was a pleasant surprise.  It was an awesome veggie wrap.  They also had all kinds of blow ups for the kids, everything from a bouncy house to an obstacle course, a huge slide and a giant blown up slip and slide with water spraying in all directions.  There was miniature golf, bingo, giveaways, face painting, and a giant monster truck called The Raminator that we could ride in.  They had snow cones from a Mahomet youth club and two other local vendors (who are regularly at the farmer's market) with free goodies for us.  There was definitely no lack of things to do.  With a heat index that day of 105, the water slide was a huge success.  Both girls loved it, especially Kaia, who went on it at least 30 times.  :)  They both got a kick out of The Raminator, surprisingly Lexi liked it the most.  Of course, both girls wanted their face painted.

Lexi loves Minnie Mouse.  This is early in the process.

My little Hello Kitty.

We were all pretty exhausted when we left (we were there for almost 4 hours).  I gave the girls baths when we got home and that seemed to revive them, although Lexi hated to wash the remnants of her Minnie Mouse off.  :)

We decided to go to a local Italian restaurant for dinner, my husband had a half off certificate he had purchased earlier.  I ordered a vegetarian pasta that had tomatoes, black olives, onions sauteed in olive oil and fresh basil, omitting the parmesan cheese sprinkled on top to make it vegan (or so I thought).

This is the picture I took before realizing what was wrong.

I had clarified with the waitress that the dish was vegetarian, and that the only dairy or egg in it was the cheese sprinkled on top.  She also double checked my salad dressing and left the croutons off of my salad.  

She was very nice and I thought we understood each other. I never try to be difficult, but I am specific.  I was enjoying my dinner, when about a third of the way into it, something tasted fishy (literally).  I started looking through my pasta and I found pieces of anchovy!  I was upset and got the waitress's attention.  When I mentioned the anchovy, she said "Oh sorry, they use one as a secret ingredient in the sauce, but they don't usually leave it in when it's served."  I told her it's not vegetarian when it has fish in it, which anchovy is.  She apologized and took the dish away.  I wasn't going to finish it, and at this point I had lost my appetite so I didn't want anything else.  I didn't want to ruin dinner for everyone, so we stayed, and my husband and the girls finished their dishes.  When our bill came, they had taken $3 off of a $14 dinner for my inconvenience.  Still trying to be diplomatic, I spoke to the manager about the confusion.  She also commented that the anchovy is a secret ingredient, but that it can be made without it to be vegetarian.  I pointed out that unless my server asked the chef for me, I have no way of knowing to ask for it to be made without anchovy, since I wasn't even told it had anchovy in the first place.  They did end up taking my dinner off the bill, which I'm glad they did, but more than that I wanted them to understand what was wrong.  I tried not to be the 'crazy vegan lady' but I don't know how well I did.  Have you ever had a similar situation and if so how did you handle it?

I Can Make Good Indian Food At Home

I was recently at a local vegan meet up where one of the couples brought some really good Chana Masala they had made.  I started talking with one of the other ladies there about how I love Indian food, but never feel like I really do it justice when I try and make it at home.  It's usually edible, but nowhere near restaurant quality. It's usually not even what I would call really good.  She commented that she has had success at home, and told me maybe I should give it another try with a different recipe, so that's what I did.  I searched the web and decided on Vegan Belle's Vegetable Korma.  

I'm so glad I decided to try cooking Indian food at home again because this was delicious.  My husband (apparently not noticing the dishes and pans ?), asked where I got it from.  Rather than be offended, I took it as a compliment, it was restaurant quality.  :)

I didn't have any cauliflower, so I used frozen broccoli.  I also added some golden raisins.  Other than that I followed her recipe exactly.  I will say, while she states that it's mild, mine seemed a little spicy.  Luckily, we love spicy food!  I know the cayenne pepper I use is a little wicked, and it's always possible I grabbed the hot curry powder instead of regular sweet curry powder.  :)  This made quite a bit, so I even got to freeze myself a helping for later.  I served it with naan bread and tamarind chutney.  Yum!

Food Network Monthly Cookalong: Grilled Spice-Rubbed Seitan Tacos

I'm finally posting, with only a day to go, for the Food Network Monthly Cookalong.  The theme this month is grilling.  While I've been grilling off and on this month, it's mostly been simple marinated tofu, or plain Field Roast sausages and frankfurters.  Nothing worthy of the monthly cookalong, until yesterday that is.

I have to admit, I love Bobby Flay.  Maybe it's because he's a fellow red head, maybe it's his smile, I don't know why exactly, but whatever it is, I love him.  :)  That being said, if I was going to do some "Food Network" style grilling, it would most likely be one of his recipes, and it was.  I chose his Spice-Rubbed Chicken Breast Tacos with Grilled Poblanos, BBQ Onions, and Coleslaw.

These were really easy to veganize.  I used seitan for the chicken (I would think you could easily sub tofu or Gardein) and Vegenaise for the mayonnaise, everything else was already vegan.  The tacos and all of its components were quite tasty, although the real standouts for me were the spice rubbed seitan and the grilled bbq onions.  Grilling the poblanos to put on the tacos and in the guacamole, along with grilling the onions, making the guacamole and coleslaw, grilling the seitan (which I had already made previously) and warming the tortillas on the grill, from start to finish took around two hours, which is a lot for tacos.  I'm not the fastest person in the kitchen, but I'm not the slowest either, so these are a bit of an undertaking.  Like I mentioned earlier though, the seitan and the onions were what really made these for me, and I think these tacos could easily be a weeknight meal if you focus on grilling the seitan (or other substitute) and the onions, but keep the rest of your toppings simple.  I could see using shredded lettuce or cabbage, red pepper slices or jarred roasted red peppers, diced avocado, and maybe a little extra barbecue sauce or hot sauce drizzled on top.  I intend to test out my theory in the near future, because the seitan and onions were delicious.  :)

Sorry, really bad picture of the seitan.

I only used the first teaspoon of salt in the rub, I didn't use the extra teaspoon he calls for, I don't think it needed it.  For the seitan, I brushed a little oil on both sides and put the rub on both sides as well.  I grilled it just until it got some nice char marks on it, which didn't take long, probably only a few minutes on each side.  On the onions, I used a bbq sauce we really like instead of the Mesa Grill BBQ Sauce (sorry Bobby).

Right before taking a bite.  :)

  

A Cool Treat For The Dog Days Of Summer

This is going to be a short, but sweet (pardon the pun) post.  :)  I'm not sure about where you live, but around here it has been hot and miserable a lot lately.  Today the high is somewhere between 100 and 105 degrees depending on your source.  I love ice cream anytime of the year, but weather like this seems to call for it.

I discovered a raw, vegan, frozen dessert recently when a friend was ordering it from the buying club, Coconut Secret Berry Fusion Raw Coconut Cream.  This stuff is delicious, light and refreshing.  While I love to make homemade vegan ice cream, sometimes it's nice to just grab a container out of the freezer and scoop it into a bowl (or cone) without having to work for it.  The Berry Fusion flavor includes blueberry, raspberry and acai, along with a new kid on the block, at least to me, maqui berry.  I love that there are so many new vegan products rolling out, and in this heat, I'm glad some of them are of the sweet, cold variety and healthy to boot!

Egg McMuffin I'm So Over You

Okay, I have to be honest here and tell you I was a fan of Egg McMuffins pre vegan.  After I went vegetarian, but before going vegan, I would sometimes still go order an Egg McMuffin minus the canadian bacon.  I know, sad but true.

Since going vegan, I've played around with a few different breakfast sandwiches with some success, but I finally hit the nail on the head after I found this recipe.

  

It must be something about the poaching process with the tofu that does it, because this sandwich tastes just like a traditional breakfast sandwich minus the cruelty.  She named her sandwich a McMaria after her daughter, which is nice, but I kind of like calling it an Egg McNot.  :)  When I make it, I do everything the same as she does with the tofu, except I don't bother cutting mine into a round shape.  It would be cute, and I might do it if I was making it for someone else, but for just me I don't bother.

Look at that close up.

Usually when I make it, I use the Smoky Curls from Vegan Diner, because I love them, but I have made it with the Smart Deli Ham before and it's delicious that way as well.  I really like the new Daiya wedges for sandwich making, but I have used the shreds when that's all I had.  I've been adding spinach or kale to my sandwiches lately, it makes me feel healthier eating them and tastes good.  I like to put Earth Balance on one side of my english muffin and Chipotle Vegenaise on the other side.  Since first trying the Chipotle Vegenaise, I eat it on almost everything I like it so much.  Before that, I used to put mustard on one side and Earth Balance on the other.

Here it is with the Smart Deli Ham on a Rudi's Whole Wheat Bun with Daiya Jack.  When I don't have any english muffins, I use hamburger buns, hot dog buns, wraps, or just plain bread.  I've found it really doesn't matter, this tofu fried "egg" is awesome on anything.

My Baby Boy Turns 23

My son Blake turned 23 yesterday.  I'm waxing nostalgic today, as I always do around my children's birthdays and other milestones in their lives.  Where do the years go?  I know it doesn't serve me well to live with regrets, and I try to avoid doing so when possible, but if I had it to do all over again there are a few things I would do differently.

For one thing, I would slow down and spend more time playing with my children and just enjoying them.  Yesterday, at Blake's birthday party, my granddaughter Kaia asked me to dance with her, and I did of course, but I think sometimes as "Mom" I was too busy to "dance".  If I could go back, I wouldn't be too busy.  It reminds me of the poem 'Babies Don't Keep'

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
Empty the dustpan, shoo out the moth,
Hang out the washing and make up a bed.
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Oh where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

This is Blake with one of his older sisters 20 years ago.  He's a cutie!

Blake wanted to get together at my parents for dinner and have pizza.  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to order the Vegan Medley Pizza from One World Pizza that I'd recently heard about.

The pizza was delicious.  Unfortunately it wasn't as warm as I would have liked by the time I ate it, but that was more my fault I think then One World's.  I will definitely order this again.  While all of the pizza ordered wasn't vegan, all three of my daughters tried the vegan pizza and liked it.  My oldest daughter didn't even eat any of the non vegan pizza, and my middle and youngest daughter, after trying it, said they would eat it in the future with no problem.  :)  Yay vegan pizza!

I made the Banana Cupcakes with Lemon Icing out of Chloe's Kitchen for dessert.  The banana cupcakes are moist, delicious little gems.  The lemon icing is really more of a glaze then a frosting, so I actually made a lemon frosting to go on top of the glaze.  The lemon and banana is an interesting flavor combination, it's good, and definitely lighter than say a peanut butter frosting or chocolate ganache topping would be.  I have to admit though that I want to make these cupcakes again and try either peanut butter or chocolate on top.  :)

Here's Blake and Kaia after blowing out his candle.  Kaia sure loves her Uncle Blake.

I am blessed to have such wonderful children and such a wonderful family!