Vegan MoFo 2019: Introduction

Hi everyone, and happy MoFo! Today’s prompt is: “Introduce yourself – Tell us about yourself, your veganism, why you’re participating this year, and anything else we need to know!” I did an introduction last year, and not much has changed about me or my veganism, so I’ll link to it here. The updates are that I’m 29 now, and that we’ve adopted a fourth cat – but if you’ve stopped by since last year, you’ve probably seen her on the blog already. Her name is Rogue and she is both a sweetheart and a little hellion, and we take lots of selfies together...

Why I’m participating this year: Because Vegan MoFo is awesome! I love discovering new blogs and connecting with fellow vegans, and there’s such an amazing sense of community that stretches beyond just this month. P.S. I participated in my first Vegan MoFo in 2010 (even though I’ve only kept my posts going back to 2012 lol), so this is my tenth year! :o

Anything else you need to know: I’m going to be doing my own theme this time, which I’m calling “Elementary, My Dear Vegan” – I’ll be sharing food inspired by the TV show Elementary. (Note: I’ll only cover the first two seasons, and in addition to today, I will do the official prompts tomorrow and on the final day of Vegan MoFo.) For anyone not familiar with Elementary, it’s a modern retelling of the Sherlock Holmes story. Holmes (played by Jonny Lee Miller), previously a consultant for Scotland Yard, is a recovering drug addict; Joan Watson (played by Lucy Liu), a former surgeon, becomes his sober companion. Starting over in New York City as a consulting detective for the NYPD, Holmes begins teaching Watson the art of deduction; it’s not long before they become partners in (solving) crime.

Since today is the introduction, I’ll just share one of my recent easy (and delicious!) dinners – a mashed potato bowl with kale and Boca chik’n…

Also, as always, there will be kitty pictures at the end of each post, so without further ado, here’s Daisy, being her cute little self…

Peace. :)

Vegan Apple Chocolate Cake (AfroVeganChick) and an Introduction!

Hi everyone! Yesterday I made the vegan apple chocolate cake from AfroVeganChick, and it was delicious! (I added some splashes of soy milk to the chocolate icing because mine turned out too thick.) 

And here’s one of my harvests this week – I got a bunch of snow peas and my first (and probably only) pepper! 

Here are some more of my Inktober sketches…

a bloodhound (original image)

a little creeper

some jars

a chilly witch

And now it’s time to introduce… a new kitty! Zach and I have been thinking for a while about adopting another cat, and it’s been almost a year since Buttons died. Cringer and Daisy still play with each other, but they seem to miss having another cat to play with (Leela has absolutely no interest in playing with them like Buttons did). We’ve been looking around at adoptable cats for some time now, and we finally put in an application last week. We heard back that we’d been approved, so we met and took this cutie home on Sunday… 

Her name is Rogue; her foster told us that the rescue (Noah’s Ark Rescue Project and Sanctuary) pulled her from ACCT Philly. She had five kittens (they have all been adopted) and is spayed now. She is still very young (~1 year old) and very energetic and playful. We’re keeping her in her own room and doing slow introductions with the other cats; we really hope they will get along well!

Peace. :)

Vegan MoFo 2018: Introduction

Hi everyone, and happy Vegan Month of Food! Today’s prompt is: “Tell us a bit about you, your veganism, and what you like to cook and eat!”

Me: I’m Julie! I'm 28 years old, and I like reading, writing, sketching, photography, growing veggies in my garden, and spending time out in nature, especially if I’m exploring the trails – and old ruins! – along the Schuylkill River and French Creek. I’m married to Zach, and we live with three kitties: Leela, who we adopted through The Grannie Project in August 2014, and the sisters Cringer and Daisy, who we took in from Zach’s family in September 2015 when they needed a home.

My veganism: I’ve been vegan for 8 years now; I don’t know my exact “veganniversary” since I went vegan from vegetarian over the course of several months, but I think it’s probably somewhere around May 2010? I was first motivated by concern for the animals, and I remain vegan for the animals. Often when people find out that I’m vegan, they say, “Oh, you must be so healthy!” To which I generally respond with some rambly version of, “I guess? I mean, I certainly eat more vegetables and a greater variety of food now than I did before, but that’s not why I’m doing it, and I still eat a fair amount of ‘junk food’ as long as it’s vegan.” But then people are confused – why would you be vegan if not for your health? – so I explain that it’s an ethical thing for me, that I care about animals and don’t want to harm them; most people tend to accept that and move on without a debate (at least in my recent experience).

What I like to cook and eat: For cooking, my main question is, is it (relatively) simple to make? If so, I’ll give it a try. For eating, if it’s tasty, I’m there; I’m not very complicated about food, haha! I tend to follow other people’s recipes when I’m cooking because I’m not the best at coming up with my own, though I do have a few good ones, if I do say so myself. And in the spirit of keeping it simple for the start of Vegan MoFo, here’s a recent dinner I made: jasmine rice (which I microwaved) and Gardein porkless bites and green bell pepper (which I cooked together on the stovetop). 

What Vegan MoFo will look like here at My Apologies for the Novel: I’ve followed the daily prompts for the past three Vegan MoFo’s, and in the past, I’ve also done weekly themes, too – nostalgia week, Parks & Recreation, cookbook week, dollar store vegan, health food store vegan, and The Veganlist (veganized recipes from The Blacklist hehe) – but this will be my first year of doing a month-long theme. I always bookmark a ton of recipes during Vegan MoFo, and I do a fairly good job of trying new recipes throughout the year (I aim to do at least one new recipe a week, though that doesn’t always work out). Even so, I still have so many recipes I’ve meant to try but just have never gotten around to, so that led me to my theme of Bookmarked Recipes of Vegan MoFo Past! This month, I’ll try 28 recipes that people have shared in previous years; I’m sure they’ll look familiar if you’ve participated in Vegan MoFo for a while, hehe!

I’ll wrap it up today’s post with a kitty picture; here’s Daisy napping in the cat tower… 

Peace. :)