Lunch at Franconia Heritage Restaurant

Hi everyone, no new recipe again, but I do have an awesome lunch to share! My mom, aunt, and I took my sister to Franconia Heritage Restaurant for her birthday this week. They have a separate vegan menu, so we ordered lots of good food and were pleasantly surprised to find that the portions have increased since a previous visit in 2018. They had two vegan soups, so I ordered the creamy broccoli and carrot soup while my sister ordered the vegetable chowder. The soup arrived in an overflowing bowl, and it was incredibly delicious! 

My sister got the vegan chicken Parmesan (a breaded cutlet this time instead of Beyond Chicken strips) with fries, and I got the vegan tortellini, which was another gigantic serving, and a much better pasta-to-sauce ratio than it had been before… 

I was only able to put a small dent into that after finishing the soup (and the fries, which were an unexpected side), so I had some really nice leftovers for lunch this week! 

Here’s everything all together… 

And here’s a sleepy Cringer… 

Peace. :)

Carrot Dogs (Protest Kitchen)

Hi everyone! This week I made the carrot dogs from Protest Kitchen; the marinade was really good, and the carrots were a fun substitute for hot dogs -- and yes, that’s a piece of bread for the bun; when I went out for groceries this week, the only hot dog buns in stock at the health food store had honey in them, so vegan white bread to the rescue, lol! I had the carrot dogs with Annie’s vegan mac and corn on the cob. 

For some bonus food, here’s a meal from earlier in the week that featured some of the wax beans I grew in my garden (plus the vegan chickenless tenders from Aldi and tater tots)...

And here’s Leela in her favorite summertime napping spot in the corner of the bathroom…

“Why do you disturb my slumber?”

*ignores you and goes back to sleep*

P.S. Bethlehem VegFest is tomorrow!

Peace. :)

Squash Casserole, Tofu Scramble, Bagels, and More

Hi everyone! I tried two new recipes this week and lots of other good food as well. First up was the squash casserole from Vegan Crunk; I made it on the stovetop and mixed in crushed Ritz crackers instead of topping with breadcrumbs and baking it. It turned out really well – I used two big yellow crookneck squashes from my garden – and the leftovers were awesome, too. I had it with a vegan chickenless patty from Aldi, which was really good. 

On Tuesday, my sister Alena visited and we did a lot of cooking together, including the second new recipe, which was the herbivore’s tofu scramble from Eat Like You Give a Damn. It was super simple and quite tasty, paired with a hashbrown (also from Aldi). 

We also made nachos with Tostitos scoops and Daiya pepperjack shreds for a snack (not pictured), and then we dug out my bread machine to make bagels, which turned out quite nicely due to Alena’s bagel-forming skills! 

Dinner was a bagel with pasta.

Yesterday I threw together a random lunch because I’d harvested more corn and wanted to have some; it was great! 

Hashbrown, black bean burger, corn, and carrot sticks with Daiya ranch.

And I also tried these blackberry sorbet bars that Zach picked out; he said he had to get them because of the name…

Yum!

Here are a couple fruit sketches I did this week…

gooseberries (original photo)

ground cherry (original photo)

And here’s Leela with her toy mice in the background…

P.S. The themes & prompts have been announced for this year's Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo), which will be taking place in September, and sign-ups are open until August 24. I haven't decided what specifically I'm going to do (I'm debating the idea of creating my own theme this year), but I know I'll be participating -- will you?

Peace. :)

February MiniMoFo: Food is Love

Hi everyone! February’s MiniMoFo theme is “Food is Love,” so I have two similar dishes here. The first is what I made for a quick Valentine’s Day dinner for me & Zach. He skipped the peas & carrots and only had the Gardein porkless bites and the white rice.

more veggies for me = love

The other dish I thought I’d include here is one of my favorites that I’ve mentioned countless times – the veganized orange chik’n from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. I love this recipe, but every time I make it, I try to do something different to make it a little more mine, so I added some turmeric to the sauce when I made it earlier this week.

orange tofu = love

leftovers = love

In other news, our ancient furnace died this week, and we were thankfully able to get it replaced yesterday. But we had a chilly Thursday night; here are where the kitties had settled in as I was getting ready for bed…   

Cringer still wanted to sleep downstairs like she usually does, so I tucked her in with Buttons’ favorite blanket.

Upstairs, Leela was already in the bedroom, hanging out close to the space heater that Zach had moved in.

And Daisy had curled up tightly on her folded comforter nest.

Peace. :)

Potatoes, Garden Veggies, and Some Treats

Hi everyone! This week I had lots of potato meals and finished up my garden carrots… 

I also tried to embrace the cooler weather with some mashed potatoes and lightly-steamed green beans, which were a gift from another neighbor… 

Zach and I finally found some Miyoko’s VeganMozz, so last night, we gave it a try on pizza bagels! When I first pulled them out of the oven, it didn’t look like the cheese had melted at all, but pressing down lightly with a fork spread the cheese out nicely. And of course, it was delicious! 

Oh, and I can’t forget to share the goodies I got from Vegan Treats at Bethlehem VegFest last week! The lemon blueberry cheesecake was absolutely amazing, and I warmed up the sticky bun and had it for breakfast the next day; yum! 

Here’s a sleepy Cringer, photo by Zach... 

Peace. :)

Harvests and More

Hi everyone! This week has been a bit chaotic with getting some house repairs done, but I’ve still managed to cook some good meals, prepare more pickles, and harvest more veggies... 

Over the weekend, our neighbor gave us a bag of tomatoes from his garden, so I made another big batch of the spinach tomato linguine. 

And then on Wednesday night, I made one of my favorite recipes, the veganized orange chik’n from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food, because I had some tofu I needed to use up. 

On Thursday, I made two jars of pickles and steamed some snow peas (store-bought due to the bunnies eating my snow pea sprouts) to add to the veganized orange chik’n leftovers, which made it even better! 

And then I harvested all of my carrots; they turned out a bit short and chubby, so I think I need to dig even deeper next year when I’m preparing the soil for them. So, these 13, plus the one that Zach pulled earlier, for a total of 14 carrots. And of course the cherry tomatoes keep coming... 

Today I made a final jar of pickles with the last of the harvested cucumbers. I’ve pulled up all my cucumber plants since they were dying, so my grand total for cucumbers this year was 95!

Here’s a sunshine-y Cringer… 

P.S. Tonight I went to a solidarity with Charlottesville rally here in Phoenixville; there was an incredible turnout. I made this sign for it... 

Peace. :)

Post-MoFo Post

Hi everyone! Well, Vegan MoFo has come and gone, but I am still in the blogging everyday mode. Not sure how long it will last, of course, but let's roll with it!

Tonight I made a simple dinner to use up the last of the Morningstar steak strips that I'd gotten for my Philly cheesesteak and the small red potatoes that came with the yellow and purple potatoes I used in the multicolor meal. It was quite yummy!

Also, here are two fun things that I bought as holiday treats to try out...

And finally, here are some cute pictures from today; first Cringer and Leela were hanging out on the bed, and later Daisy and Buttons were sharing the sunshine on the floor...

Peace. :)