Easter 2020

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing well! Zach and I usually host Easter for his folks and mine, but this year it was just the two of us. It was kind of sad not being able to have everyone over and cook a big spread, but I kept reminding myself that skipping this Easter was so that we could have many more together in the future.

On Sunday afternoon, Zach and I took a walk along another section of the Schuylkill River Trail, which also included these views along the Perkiomen Creek… 

After our walk, we went home and I prepared a simple Easter dinner for us: I cooked the Tofurky ham roast that I’d picked up earlier in the year, made soup, and heated up some frozen collard greens… 

My newest Easter decorations were a few pisanki (painted wooden eggs) that I’d found at an antique shop back in February. Side note: I really miss going out on adventures with friends; that’s another thing I’m looking forward to when all of this is over… 

Here is a daffodil that I sketched… 

And here is a cute silly Daisy… 

Peace. :)

Easter 2019

Hi everyone! Another Easter hosted, and lots of great food was had! I always forget to photograph the snacks, but we started off with Miyoko’s cheese and crackers, as well as a vegan cheese dip for tortilla chips from Zach’s mom. For dinner, I kept my dishes the same as last year since they seemed to work well.   

Vegetable soup.

Potatoes with onions and dill, crescent roll, pineapple stuffing (a new dish from my mom), green beans (also from my mom), asparagus stir fry, corn & mac (from my sister), and Tofurky ham!

Dessert was crumb cake (from my mom) and a variety of little cupcakes (from Zach’s mom). There were also vegan sour jelly beans, but again, I forgot to get a picture, haha!

Bonus food: My new favorite pasta bowl – Light 'n Fluffy macaroni dumpling noodles, asparagus, Tofurky kielbasa, and ¼ tsp of Krakow Nights seasoning from Penzeys Spices. 

Cute little Rogue... 

Peace. :)

Easter Food

Hi everyone! Zach and I hosted Easter dinner again this year; I think I’m getting better at perfecting the menu, haha! For a snack, we had Treeline cheese (we’d been planning on Miyoko’s but couldn’t find any nearby) with crackers, and I made a vegetable soup, but I forgot to take pictures of them, so moving on to the main event, here’s my plate...

asparagus nut stir-fry, crescent roll with garlic powder and oregano, green beans (from my mom), corn and mac bake (from my sister), Tofurky vegan ham, and boiled potatoes with caramelized onions and dill

Dessert was a cake from my mom and a pie from Zach’s mom...

Bonus food: For dinner yesterday, I made yellow rice and asparagus, with some Gardein crabless cakes. The rice and asparagus were good, but the crabless cakes were just OK. I probably won’t get them again since there’s other Gardein foods that I enjoy more.

Here’s Daisy being a kitty loaf…

And then posing for her close-up...

Peace. :)

Vegan Easter 2017

Hi everyone! On Sunday, Zach & I hosted Easter. For a snack, we had Miyoko's chive & garlic herb cheeses with crackers... 

Next was an Easter vegetable soup (we also had rolls, made by Zach’s mom)…

And for dinner, we had: 

Tofurky ham!

Roasted red potatoes (made by my mom)

Boiled potatoes with caramelized onions & dill

Roasted asparagus (with canola oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper)

And green beans (also by my mom)

Here’s a picture of my full plate… 

Dessert was a messy but yummy chocolate mousse pie with So Delicious coco whip to top it off, but I forgot to take a picture!

Here are Cringer and Daisy being sunshine kitties in the doorway…

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. :)

Easter Recipes

As mentioned in my last post, I tried out two new recipes for Easter: Chickpea “tuna” salad (a modified recipe from the PAN Vegan Pledge) and chamomile lavender cupcakes (recipe from Banana Curl, Vegan Girl). 

Chickpea “Tuna” Salad 

 
Ingredients:
--1 can chickpeas
--1 small carrot, diced
--1/2 stalk of celery, diced
--squirt of mustard
--1 T vegan mayonnaise (I used Just Mayo)
--a few drops of Bragg liquid aminos

Directions:
Drain & rinse the chickpeas, mash them with a fork, and then add the rest of the ingredients, mixing everything together. Serve with crackers.

Chamomile Lavender Cupcakes 

 
I pretty much followed the recipe as is, though I left out the lavender extract (because I couldn't find any) and I tried using blueberry juice as a natural purple food coloring for the icing (didn't work out too well, though, haha). And instead of using a food processor for the sugar, chamomile tea, and lavender, I hand-ground them, with some help from Zach. The cupcakes turned out really well, quite delicious and moist, so this is definitely a recipe I will make again. 

Today's been a bit of a dreary day, so here are pictures from a month ago of Buttons & Leela being sunshine kitties. 

Peace. :)