Valley Forge, Zucchini Cakes, and More!

Hi everyone! On Sunday, I met up with a friend for a social distance hangout/picnic in Valley Forge National Historical Park. We found a shady spot above Valley Creek and settled in to have some snacks and catch up…

I tried these baked graham bites that Zach had gotten for me at Wegmans, and they were pretty good! 

I also made more zucchini cakes this week, of course! This one with whole wheat flour, peanut butter powder, frozen mixed berries, and walnuts… 

And this one that I made yesterday, which I think was my favorite version so far. If I remember the measurements correctly, I used 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup peanut butter powder, 1 tsp baking soda, ½ tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup applesauce, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 cups zucchini, and 1 cup frozen mixed berries, baking the cake for 55 minutes. 

My packed lunch this week was a burrito with rice, black beans, Cajun seasoning, and guacamole… 

I had the last of the rice, beans, and guacamole in a bowl with blue corn tortilla chips for lunch yesterday… 

Here are some recent harvests… 

A bunny hanging out in the backyard… 

And finally, Rogue and her cute floofy belly... 

Peace. :)

Skillet Meal, Beans & Rice, Chex Mix, and Flowers!

Hi everyone! On Sunday, I made the Gardein chick’n fiesta skillet meal for me and Zach… 

Last night I made beans and rice; I added some of this Cajun seasoning, which was a nice touch… 

And this morning I made chex mix, using up the last of the bagel chips and multigrain squares… 

In other news, I started sketching again… 

Zach and I took a walk along the Schuylkill River Trail yesterday afternoon; here are some pretty flowers we saw… 

And here is a sweet, sleepy Cringer… 

Peace. :)

BBQ Baked Beans & Coleslaw (Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations)

Hi everyone! This week I made two new recipes – the BBQ baked beans and coleslaw – from the 4th of July section of Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations by Alicia C. Simpson. I also made the chipotle macaroni & cheese salad from AfroVeganChick because people enjoyed it last year. Here’s my plate from yesterday's BBQ, which was hosted by my sister and her husband… 

Chipotle macaroni & cheese salad, coleslaw, potato salad (made by my mom), vegan burger from Aldi, and BBQ baked beans.

Here’s Daisy, making a funny face. I’m not sure what had so grabbed her attention, but I got several pics of her like this... 

Peace. :)

Three-Bean Chili (Vegan Crunk), then a Buttons Update

Hi everyone. Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "Let's get boozy!" I don't drink, but the three-bean beer chili recently posted over at Vegan Crunk sounded really good. So, I modified it for my lunch today. The recipe already calls for including mushrooms, so I simply replaced the beer with a package of mushroom gravy (Imagine brand), making it a three-bean mushroom chili instead. The three-bean cans I found contained chickpeas (garbanzo beans), kidney beans, and pinto beans. The chili was good, and I have lots of leftovers, so those will be nice to enjoy throughout the week.

My other changes: I used Morningstar's vegan pulled pork since I already had a bag in the freezer and couldn't reach the last bag of Beyond Meat crumbles at the far back of the very top shelf at the grocery store last night (aka "short people problems"). And I only used half the chili powder because I realized as I was measuring it out today that that was all I had. 

Here's my Inktober sketch...

Here's Cringer cuddling with Buttons last night (photo by Zach)...

Here's Buttons this morning, looking out the window from her cat tower once again...

Buttons update: I'm so sorry to share this news, but we had to let her go today. I'll do a memorial post after Vegan MoFo is over; writing anything more right now is going to lead to even more breaking down and crying. I just miss my Buttons girl so much, and I'm heartbroken and numb.

My last photo of Buttons at home, in the sunshine, before we brought her to the vet.

Peace...

Forbidden Rice with Black Beans

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is: Goth Day – Blues, purples, blacks? Let your dark side shine, so I made forbidden rice with black beans. Zach said it looked like "dinner from the Black Lagoon," but it was really good! I cooked the rice in vegetable broth, and added salt & pepper to the black beans.

Here's Leela, fitting perfectly inside her own personal sunbeam...

Peace. :)

Baked Beans & Kale

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo theme is Complimentary colors – For instance, Red & Green, Purple & Yellow, Blue & Orange. I chose to go with red & green, so tonight I made baked red kidney beans with kale.

Here's Cringer being a loaf kitty on the bed...

Peace. :)