Accordion Potatoes and Onion Soup

Hello everyone! I tried two nice & simple recipes for dinner on Thursday -- Accordion Potatoes and Onion Soup -- both from Lisa's Project: Vegan. The potatoes were super simple & delicious (I did add a bit of salt). The onion soup (without the bread & cheese) was OK, but the broth was a bit plain/thin, so I think I'll use vegetable broth instead of water next time. 

served with cucumbers, carrots, and grape tomatoes

Tomorrow's the last day of the Vegan Pledge, so I'm off to bake chamomile lavender cupcakes for the potluck.

Here's Buttons and Leela hanging out -- Buttons at the top of the cat tower, and Leela enjoying the sunshine.

Peace. :)

Simple French Toast

Hello everyone! This morning I made French toast using a nice & simple recipe for the coating (mashed banana, soy milk, vanilla), shared by the person I'm mentoring for the Vegan Pledge.

Zach suggested we add raspberry syrup, a delicious choice.

Also, earlier this week, I made the Lemon Rice with Avocado & Asparagus from Vie De La Vegan again, this time including the asparagus, and it was great! 

Leftover lemon rice with guacamole chips and sriracha.

Here's Buttons, commandeering the table for a nap... 

Peace. :)

Blackbird Pizzeria and Vegan Tree

Hello everyone! Today Zach and I visited my sister Alena in Philly, and it was a lot of fun! We went to Blackbird Pizzeria for lunch, ordering a large pizza (half pepperoni, half plain) to share. The pepperoni (made with seitan) was great, and Zach enjoyed the plain pizza. 

Alena also got a cheesesteak (Blackbird Pizzeria won this year's Best Vegan Cheesesteak in Philly contest)... 

...and Zach got a side of fries (not pictured, but they were good; I made sure to grab some hehe).

After that, we walked along South Street, checking out a comic book store, and then heading over to my favorite bookstore -- Wooden Shoe Books -- but it was closed for the day.

Alena had recommended that I try the banana strawberry smoothie at Vegan Tree, so she and I each got one, and it was amazing (a bit messy because it got overfilled and then a lid squished on, but absolutely delicious and well worth the sticky fingers haha). Here's a pic of Alena's, almost finished... 

And here's some nice art we saw on our walk... 

P.S. I got to see this cutie, the sweet little Blu!

Peace. :)

Lemon Rice with Avocado

Hello everyone! This week I made the Lemon Rice with Avocado & Asparagus (minus the asparagus, whoops!) from Vie De La Vegan. 

It was super delicious; I'll definitely make this recipe again, hopefully with the asparagus next time, too! 

Here's a pic of Daisy and Buttons resting near each other... 

P.S. The Phoenixville VegFest has been scheduled for September 17 (rain date September 18)!

Peace. :)

Vegan Easter 2016

Hello everyone! Zach and I hosted a vegan Easter dinner this year, and it was pretty fun! For a snack before dinner, we had two Miyoko's Creamery cheeses (garlic herb & chive) with three different kinds of crackers, but I forgot to take a picture!

For dinner, my dad made Easter vegetable soup... 

My mom made roasted red potatoes and green beans... 

Zach's mom made cinnamon butter crescent rolls... 

And I made agave-glazed kielbasa (ingredients: Tofurky kielbasa, olive oil, agave nectar, cinnamon, orange juice, and brown sugar), asparagus and saffron and garlic aioli, and au gratin potatoes...

My plate :)

For dessert, I made chamomile lavender cupcakes. I've made them before, but they turned out looking a bit weird this time (I think the problem was too much coconut oil), but they still tasted good. I made another batch of the cupcakes last night (minus the icing), experimenting with some changes: grinding the lavender, chamomile, and 1/4 cup sugar (then adding the 1/2 cup remaining sugar); only 1/8 cup melted coconut oil; combining the coconut oil thoroughly with the lavender/chamomile/sugar before adding the coconut milk (instead of almond milk); 1 ¼ cups flour; and 3 T of the final batter for each cupcake. And they turned out much better this time... 

In other news, tomorrow starts the Phoenixville Vegan Pledge (by Peace Advocacy Network); this will be my fourth year being a mentor, so I'm excited!

Peace. :)