MiniMoFo #1: Signature Dish

Hi everyone! For this prompt, I decided to make one of my favorite easy meals: vegetable orzo. 

It's something I made a lot when I first went vegan, and there's been at least three potlucks that I can remember making some variation of this as my contribution. I hadn't had vegetable orzo in a while, though, so it was fun and nostalgic to prepare it for this challenge. 

Just cook the orzo in vegetable broth, add the frozen veggies (in this case: broccoli, carrot, cauliflower) to steam for a few minutes at the end, and mix in a chopped-up Boca chick'n patty. Nice & simple!

Daisy, being a little creeper, asks, "Is there any for me?"

Check out the first MiniMoFo round-up here and the prompt for the second challenge here!

Peace. :)

Peaches & Cream Popsicles

Hello everyone! I know I promised a post about Phoenixville's VegFest, but believe it or not, I haven't finished all my goodies from it yet -- I still have to try the blueberry chocolate bark that Zach & I bought from Bridge Street Chocolates. So, once we get to that, I'll put the post together. But I will say that it was an amazing day, and I'm already looking forward to next year!

On to the main event: I put together a nice & simple recipe this week! I had the idea to make peaches & cream popsicles, so I looked up "peaches and cream" recipes online, saw this one, and used its measurements for vanilla and confectioner's sugar. 

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk
2 tsps vanilla
2 tsps confectioner's sugar
1 peach, cut into small pieces*

Directions:
Whisk together the first three ingredients. Add half of peach pieces to ice pop molds. Pour in half of milk mixture. Add remaining peach pieces. Top off with remaining milk mixture (I had some left over). Freeze & enjoy!
 
*The peach pieces I used had been frozen, but feel free to use fresh!
 
Here's Buttons napping in the sunshine on the first day of fall...
 

Peace. :)

Asparagus Nut Stir-Fry

Hello everyone! I tried another recipe from my random cookbook this week (did a search online and found the original here, obviously use a vegan "chicken" broth). I'm not sure why, but I wasn't expecting this to be that great, but it turned out amazing! I will definitely make this again; it was so good & I've been loving the leftovers, too!

Served with a cheesy biscuit and garden cherry tomatoes.

Here's a photoset of Cringer sprawling out on the stairs...

"Um, excuse me, I was sleeping..."

P.S. I am so excited for Phoenixville's first-ever VegFest tomorrow! I am going to get there early to help set up (and then help with break-down at the end). There are some great vendors lined up and lots of restaurants with regular vegan menu items (some places are only doing specials, but that's cool; hopefully they will get added to the menu if there's a good response). I'm just so excited, and I will be sure to make a post about how it goes!

P.P.S. You've heard about Vegan MoFo, but have you heard about Mini MoFo?

Peace. :)

Tropical Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Hi everyone! The new recipe I tried this week was one from my random recipe collection: tropical grilled sweet potatoes (recipe can be found online here). It was OK, but it's not one I'll make again. Still, it was fun to try something new, and now I've made space for a better recipe to take its spot!

Served with brown rice & pineapple.

Here's a sequence of Daisy in a patch of sunshine this morning...

Peace. :)

New Foods in June, July, and August

Hello everyone, and happy September! It feels so weird to not have Vegan MoFo (Vegan Month of Food) going on now, but have no fear, it's scheduled for November this year! Of course, that means it's the same month as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but my first time doing both events was back in November 2010; I survived that trial by fire during my junior year of college, so I know I can definitely manage it now!

Onto the main event: I tried lots of new foods in June, July, and August, and first up are the Field Roast frankfurters; they were good chopped up & mixed in with Daiya's mac & cheese.

I tried Amy's Indian Vegetable Korma when it was on sale; I liked the dal & rice the best.

Next up are some goodies from Vegan Treats: the cinnamon sugar pretzel donut and the double chocolate chip brownie. The donut is one of my favorites from Vegan Treats, and the brownie was good, but so, so chocolate-y, I couldn't eat it all at once!

The Tofurky slow roasted chick'n (sesame garlic) was another one I got on sale; I had it over brown rice, carrots, & broccoli. It was good, not my favorite by Tofurky, but still good!

Next up are the muffin pan mini omelets from Isa Does It; they were so cute and tasty! I had them with toast buttered with Earth Balance, as well as shiitake bacon, hash browns, Lightlife bacon, and Field Roast's appple maple breakfast sausage (another new item I tried; they were OK).

I had coupons for Ben & Jerry's vegan ice creams, so I tried the chunky monkey first. I really liked it, though the walnut chunks were gigantic; I would have preferred them to be chopped up more.

Next, I made the fresh fruit (strawberry) lemonade pops. Way too sweet for me, so I will have to cut down on the sugar next time, but these popsicles were great because there was no blending required!

Then I made a cheesy BLT, toasted in the pan with Field Roast Chao cheese (creamy original), Lightlife bacon, lettuce, and tomato.

Now we're on to the food at Ocean City, not really new but still fun! My sister Alena & I cooked while we were there, making Gardein chick'n fingers, Daiya mac & cheese, and corn one night, and spaghetti, Gardein meatballs, and oven-roasted snow peas from my garden the next night!

I tried the So Delicious ice cream sandwiches because Zach's coconut milk had a coupon on it for another So Delicious product. These were good, but the Tofutti ones are still my favorite. Plus, it was kinda awkward -- one of them was missing the top sandwich layer, haha!

I've made the veganized orange chick'n from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food before, but this time I had it with steamed snow peas from my garden and sliced garden cucumber as well, so it was extra delicious!

I found some vegan yogurts on sale; the Daiya strawberry was good, but I really loved the So Delicious strawberry!

I made another recipe from VegNews: the mint chocolate chip sundae, using some of my own fresh mint! (I left out the spirulina.)

This sandwich was a fun & super simple one: a cheese & pepperoni panini, served with chips & sliced garden cucumber!

I've been trying several of these fruit spreads, and I think the apricot one is my new favorite for peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.

I tried another new recipe, this time for pizza dough, and it turned out great, so much so that I've already made it again! Topped with spaghetti sauce, shredded Follow Your Heart mozzarella, and Tofurky pepperoni.

Here's another of the vegan Ben & Jerry's, the chocolate fudge brownie. Pretty good, very chocolate-y. I liked the chunky monkey better, though, but I think that's just because I tend to prefer a vanilla base to a chocolate base.

And last but not least, another VegNews recipe, this time for fudge popsicles. I misread it as 3 bananas instead of 3 cups bananas, but it worked out well regardless!

Overall, my favorite summertime treat has probably been popsicles since they're so fun to make & it's definitely something I'm going to miss as the weather gets cooler!

Time to check in with the kitties! First up, we have Cringer and Daisy on the stairs. They have this really bad habit of sprawling out on the stairs (it started with Cringer, and then of course Daisy had to copy her). In this picture, they only just got settled in and haven't sprawled out yet, but the two of them seriously turn the stairs into an obstacle course.

Next we have Leela, hanging out in the bookcase in the cat room...

And finally we have Buttons, who apparently loves this fan with all her heart...

Peace. :)