Green Lane, Good Eats, and First Zucchini!

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well! I took a hike in Green Lane with my family on Father’s Day; we wore masks and kept our distance. There was a lot of natural beauty… 

As well as some cheerful human-made art that we found along one of the trails… 

After the hike, we went to Rita’s for water ice; I got watermelon! 

This week, I made more fettuccine alfredo, served with Wegmans “Don’t be Chicken” vegan chicken…

I got a lot of leftovers out of the big batch that I made; I started mixing in Wegmans “Don’t be Piggy” sausage patties when I ran out of the chicken… 

I also tried this jerky in a pepperoni and cheese bagel sandwich, served with tater tots and broccoli; it was good! 

Avocado toasted bagel with everything seasoning… 

And takeout from SuTao Cafe! I got vegetable lo mein and fried tofu, which came with a nice dipping sauce… 

And Zach got the spicy Sichuan style tofu with white rice… 

In garden news, I started harvesting some snow peas, as well as my first zucchini! 

And here’s Rogue lounging and being a cutie up in the cat tower… 

Peace. :)

Pumpkin Dandies Rice Crispy Treats

Hi everyone! Short post today – the exciting food from this week was from Blackbird Pizzeria on Sunday; of course I forgot to take pictures, but I got a slice of mushroom pizza (so good!) and a cheesesteak, which is always great!

On Wednesday, I made rice crispy treats using the pumpkin-flavored Dandies marshmallows I’d gotten from V Marks the Shop. I just followed the recipe on the back of the bag, which was nice and simple – I melted the marshmallows with some Earth Balance and maple syrup and then mixed in crisp rice cereal. I brought them to D&D for a snack, and the group enjoyed them. I still have some leftovers for myself, though!

I made another batch of the kale and pasta dish on Monday, so the leftovers (plus avocado) were perfect for easy lunches throughout the week… 

In other news, I’m almost done NaNoWriMo; I’m at 42,000 words! And I’m currently reading Beasts of Burden by Sunaura Taylor…

Daisy was super cute today squeezing through the banister in the hallway by the stairs. She posed for some pictures before backing her way out…

And here’s sweet Leela! 

Peace. :)

Rice Salad with Avocado Dressing (Giant Food)

The new recipe I tried this week was the rice salad with avocado dressing that my aunt had clipped out for me (the recipe can be found online here). I was especially excited for the dressing, since I’ve been enjoying avocados recently, and this one was absolutely perfect when I cut it in half! 

I made some changes to the recipe, though: I was able to grill the zucchini on the panini press/grill but not the corn, so I boiled it instead. I left out the red onion because I’m not a fan of raw onion, and I used just a bit of dried cilantro as a garnish instead of fresh. The dish worked out with these modifications but it took me longer than the recipe’s estimate of 35 minutes, and the end product was just OK. I probably won’t make it again, but if I did, I’d leave out the red wine vinegar (it made the dressing taste a bit odd) and add more salt. 

Served with tortilla chips and salsa.

And here’s what I had for a quick and easy dinner tonight… 

Gardein fishless filets, golden wax beans, and tater tots with ketchup

Here’s the Sharpie sketch that I did yesterday of a cross-looking kitty… 

And the one I did today, of the mini automaton my D&D character is going to be working on building hehe… 

I went to a writers group last night, and I was a little nervous; while it was my third time attending, it was the first time that I’d submitted something to the group to critique. It was a 4,000-word excerpt from a story I wrote for National Novel Writing Month; the first person narration shifts between five characters. I knew I needed to do a better job making each character’s voice more distinct and unique, and this was reinforced in the feedback I got. (Especially since what I’d shared only included the perspective of the first two characters, and they both sounded a bit too similar to the people reading it, haha!) But yeah, everyone provided really helpful feedback, and they all seemed to have enjoyed reading it. I marked up my copy with all the comments, suggestions, and questions that came up, and three people gave me their copies with recommended edits and other notes. So that was pretty cool, and now I have lots of things to think about and rework!

Here is a cute little Leela… 

Peace. :)

Bookmarked Recipe: Macaroni With Butternut Squash & Avocado (AfroVeganChick)

Hi everyone! Today I made the macaroni with butternut squash & avocado from AfroVeganChick (Vegan MoFo 2017), and it was so, so good; I loved the combination of butternut squash and avocado!

(Topping changes: I used Phoney Baloney’s coconut bacon and left out the basil leaves.)

Here’s a big yawn from Leela! 

Peace. :)

Avocado Pasta

Hello on the 5th day of the Vegan Month of Food!  For dinner last night, I made some avocado pasta, using this 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta recipe from Oh She Glows.  My modifications included leaving out the lemon juice/lemon zest, using garlic salt instead of garlic cloves and salt, only using 1 T olive oil instead of 2, and only using a sprinkle of basil (along with the pepper) as a garnish.

Avocado Pasta

 

While the pasta (spaghetti) was boiling, I turned to the last of my two avocados.  

I figured why bother using a food processor when it was so easy to just mash up the first avocado with a fork for the guacamole the other day, so I did the same this time around.  Once it was all mashed up, I added about 1/2 tsp garlic salt and 1 T olive oil, and stirred it up well.  

Next, I strained the pasta and plopped it into the bowl, mixing it in well with the avocado sauce.  For my plate, I sprinkled a bit of basil and pepper on top of the pasta and dug in.  

Overall, I liked the way it came out.  It was definitely very filling, but I'm not used to such creamy textures with pasta.  My mom tried some of the pasta (without the basil and pepper, but with added garlic salt) and enjoyed it, so I'll probably make it again.  My dad was a bit skeptical of the green pasta, but he tried it anyway.

After dinner, I noticed a gigantic praying mantis outside the house.  I snapped some photos before my dad, Uncle Mark, Zach, and I headed out to play some disc golf.  Looking over these pictures now, I definitely think this was a zombie praying mantis.  O_O

At the disc golf course (9 holes), we did two rounds, and I finished last in both of them (+8 and +10), but that's really no surprise since I prefer to play for fun and am known to often give dramatic flourishes--instead of always focusing on accuracy--as I throw the disc, especially when I get closer to the basket.  It was a good time, though, and the course was pretty crowded by the time we headed out, probably because of how nice the weather was.  Yay for fall!  :)  

Uncle Mark and I talked a lot this morning about different healthy foods we like and had a good conversation about the many problems with milk, not just health-wise (the hormones in milk, lactose intolerance, etc.) but also the ethical/moral issues.  He says he wants to stop drinking milk, so I told him about all the different types of plant "milks" (soy, almond, coconut, rice, etc.) he can try in place of cow's milk.

And some cute pictures to bring this Friday post to a close...

Mr. Boogie being adventurous and curious...

...and posing for the camera.

Peace.  :)

Guacamole

Hello on the 4th day of the Vegan Month of Food!  I mentioned making guacamole yesterday, so here's my post about it as promised.  I used this Basic Guacamole Recipe as a starting point.

"Hmmm, you used a recipe?"

However, I am very stubborn and rarely follow recipes exactly, and this was no exception.  I made it without the lemon juice (since I didn't have any), just used garlic salt instead of garlic powder and salt, and left out the optional cayenne, etc.

"Close enough."

Guacamole 

So, the ingredients I used were as follows:

--1 avocado

--1/4 cup salsa

--1/4 tsp garlic salt

Cut open the avocado and scoop out the "meat" of it, mashing it up in a bowl, then add the salsa and garlic salt, mix together, and enjoy your guacamole with tortilla chips, potato chips, or any other snacks you like to have with a dip. 

Well, I'm off to do some cleaning and straightening up around the house; my Uncle Mark is stopping by early before the camping trip he's going on with my dad and his friends this weekend, so we'll be talking about recipes and about writing, and hopefully (if it's dry enough) Zach and I will be able to take him disc-golfing.

Peace.  :)