Leela Update

We said goodbye to our dear sweet Leela on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning, we’d gotten confirmation from another vet that not only was the growth in her mouth almost definitely cancer, but that it had gotten significantly worse and started spreading. By Tuesday night, Leela had stopped eating and drinking again, even while on the pain medication that had helped last time.

We had one last night of cuddles in bed with Leela, and even though we knew it was the right thing to do, it was so heartbreakingly difficult to bring her to the vet to be put to sleep when morning rolled around.

My sister Alena came over Wednesday afternoon to keep me company when Zach had to get back to work. On Monday, I’d tried the pierogies I’d gotten from V Marks the Shop, so we had the leftovers for lunch, adding mustard to the kielbasa. 

my pic from Monday’s lunch; served with Tofurky kielbasa, sauerkraut, and homemade pickles

Later, I made mac & cheese for dinner; there were enough leftovers for lunch yesterday and today, so that was nice. 

elbow macaroni, soy milk, Daiya mozzarella shreds, nutritional yeast, turmeric, with frozen mixed veg and Boca chik’n added in

After dinner, Alena headed home and I left for D&D; Zach and I agreed that it would be good for us to get out of the house for a bit that night. Someone from the group brought a vegan banana bread with berries; she does a lot of baking but rarely vegan, so she’d made this with me in mind, which was super sweet of her. I had a slice during D&D and took another slice home for my snack on Thursday; it was really good. 

Here are the last pictures Leela posed for… 

As always, peace…

Marbled Banana Bread

Hi everyone! This week I took a break from popsicle recipes to make the marbled banana bread from Isa Does It, and it was amazing! I still love the best banana bread recipe from VegWeb, but this is definitely a step up. While a little bit messier and more involved, it's certainly worth it for a fun and fancy banana bread. 

These three goobers decided to keep me company in the kitchen... 

Peace. :)

Baked Beans and Banana Bread

My new recipes this week aren't quite “new” – they're variations on old recipes. So, kinda new. New enough.

Baked Beans: For my new twist on baked beans, I incorporated ingredients from the maple-smoked baked beans recipe in Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food into the recipe I usually use. I added some hickory liquid smoke, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder, which turned out to be nice additions that I'll likely do again. 

Banana Bread: I used my favorite banana bread recipe, adding cinnamon and raisins. I had a piece last night with some vegan vanilla ice cream; delicious!

And here are Buttons & Leela, as always.

Peace. :)

Cooking with My Sister

Hello everyone! My sister came to visit yesterday, and we made a delicious mac & cheese for dinner. 

Ingredients:
--1 ½ cups elbow noodles
--3/4 cup soymilk
--1 T Earth Balance butter
--1/2 cup shredded Daiya cheddar cheese
--salt, pepper, and garlic

Cook the noodles, drain out the water, return the noodles to the stovetop and add the remaining ingredients, stirring well and letting simmer on low, covered, until the liquid had been absorbed. It turned out nice and creamy, and we both went back for more even though we were stuffed. 

For our snack later that night, we had tea and some banana bread that I’d made the night before. This is the recipe I use. 

For lunch today, we made oven-roasted golden potatoes. We sliced them up, added some olive oil, seasoned with garlic, pepper, salt, and rosemary, and put them in at 350° F for 15 minutes and then flipped them for another 15 minutes.

Along with the potatoes, we also had brown rice with broccoli, and carrots (not pictured).

Mystery really enjoyed having a new cuddle buddy. She even hunkered down for an #OccupyHallway as she waited for my sister to get out of the shower and snuggle some more.

Peace. :)