Cranberry Wild Rice Pilaf (Taste of Home)

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "Unconventional grains," so I decided to make a cranberry wild rice pilaf (the original recipe can be found here; obviously be sure to use a vegan chicken broth and vegan butter). Pearl barley, a second unconventional grain, is another main ingredient in this recipe. 

The pilaf turned out really well and was a nice lunch today.

Here's my Inktober sketch...

And here's Cringer up in the cat tower this morning...

Peace. :)

Scalloped Potatoes (My cat loves Daiya!)

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "Making the humble potato the star of the show," so I immediately knew where today's recipe was going to come from: My cat loves Daiya! I made the scalloped potatoes for dinner tonight, and they were really good!

Here's my Inktober sketch...

Here's Leela on the sleeping bag this morning...

Ramblings: Today felt like a wrapping-up-the-mourning day. I woke up and went to go downstairs to feed the kitties without instinctively glancing in at Buttons' fort (Zach had made it by draping a blanket over a chair). Later, I finished the book I'd been reading when Buttons was still alive. For lunch, I finished the leftovers from the meal I cooked before we brought her to the vet. Nearly everything we'd rearranged to make things easier for Buttons has been put back to where it used to be. I typed up a bunch of memories this afternoon; I don't think I could ever forget her, but I sure as hell am not taking that risk. I certainly don't like the idea of life going back to "normal" without Buttons, but I know she wouldn't want me mourning forever, so I'm OK with it.

A photo from the first day Buttons came to live with us.

Peace. :)

Deconstructed Pizza (Long Island Vegan)

Hi everyone. Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "Deconstructed dish," so I made the deconstructed pizza from Long Island Vegan. (When I told Zach the prompt and what I was making for our dinner, he reminded me of this xkcd comic.) It turned out really good and was a fun way to have pizza.

Here's my Inktober sketch...

And here's Cringer and Daisy in the cat tower this afternoon... (Guess who got up there first and who decided there was definitely room for two lol.)

Peace...

Stuffed Apples with Maple Syrup (Taste for Life)

Hi everyone. Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "A dish with five ingredients or fewer (not including cooking oil and salt and pepper)," so I made stuffed apples from a Taste for Life recipe cut out from a magazine. The ingredients are apples, nuts (I used pecans), dried cranberries, cinnamon, and maple syrup (plus a pinch of salt). These were really simple to make and a nice little treat to have after dinner.

Here's my Inktober sketch; I really like how this one turned out...

And here's Leela...

Peace...

Chocolate Cake

Hi everyone. Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "Chocolate," so I made this chocolate cake with glaze and added some sprinkles for a bit of brightness...

Here's my Inktober sketch...

And here's Daisy...

Peace...

Three-Bean Chili (Vegan Crunk), then a Buttons Update

Hi everyone. Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "Let's get boozy!" I don't drink, but the three-bean beer chili recently posted over at Vegan Crunk sounded really good. So, I modified it for my lunch today. The recipe already calls for including mushrooms, so I simply replaced the beer with a package of mushroom gravy (Imagine brand), making it a three-bean mushroom chili instead. The three-bean cans I found contained chickpeas (garbanzo beans), kidney beans, and pinto beans. The chili was good, and I have lots of leftovers, so those will be nice to enjoy throughout the week.

My other changes: I used Morningstar's vegan pulled pork since I already had a bag in the freezer and couldn't reach the last bag of Beyond Meat crumbles at the far back of the very top shelf at the grocery store last night (aka "short people problems"). And I only used half the chili powder because I realized as I was measuring it out today that that was all I had. 

Here's my Inktober sketch...

Here's Cringer cuddling with Buttons last night (photo by Zach)...

Here's Buttons this morning, looking out the window from her cat tower once again...

Buttons update: I'm so sorry to share this news, but we had to let her go today. I'll do a memorial post after Vegan MoFo is over; writing anything more right now is going to lead to even more breaking down and crying. I just miss my Buttons girl so much, and I'm heartbroken and numb.

My last photo of Buttons at home, in the sunshine, before we brought her to the vet.

Peace...