Oldies but Goodies

Hi everyone! Yesterday I cooked up two big batches of some favorite meals, so I’ll have plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week. I made butternut squash risotto with Aldi vegan meatballs for lunch, and then fettuccine Alfredo with kale for dinner! 

Here are some pretty flowers… 

A sketch… 

And sweet Rogue keeping me warm while I sit at my desk… 

Peace. :)

Recent Noms

Hi everyone! I hope you’re doing well! Here are some of the yummy meals I’ve enjoyed recently… 

Annie’s vegan mac & cheese (topped with nutritional yeast and salt) with broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, and a hash brown with ketchup

spaghetti cooked in vegan chicken broth with soy curls and kale

pierogi with Morningstar pulled pork and sauerkraut and golden wax beans

For some cuteness, here’s a rabbit hanging out in our yard… 

And Daisy says hello! 

Peace. :)

Some Food and More Signs of Spring!

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all doing well! For breakfast on Sunday morning, I had my leftover baked oatmeal while Zach tried out the Gardein southwest saus’age & veggie breakfast bowl he’d found; his review: “It was pretty good.” 
 

photo by Zach

An easy lunch of leftover rosemary potatoes, Gardein fishless filets, and ½ can of Amy’s lentil vegetable soup… 

With a bag of baby carrots being the only veggies left in the house, I finally went out to Giant yesterday (two weeks since going for groceries). I got three bags of frozen greens (kale and collard greens), two little cans of green beans, two little cans of golden wax beans, and a little can of sauerkraut (I have pierogies in the freezer). I also got two bottles of apple juice since I was running low. Back at home, I made another batch of chex mix, which I’ve been having for a snack at night… 

For dinner, I had leftover fettuccine Alfredo with a Boca burger and some kale!

And today was another easy lunch: The last of the chickenless nuggets from Aldi, two hash browns, and some canned golden wax beans… 

A sign of spring in our front yard yesterday… 

And more signs of spring around the neighborhood this morning… 

To close today’s post, here we have Cringer and Rogue, hanging out together on the couch… 

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. :)

Vegan Treats, Yummy Meals, and Kitties!

Hi everyone! NaNoWriMo is going well for me so far; I’ve managed to stick to my 2,000 words/day goal, even though some days the writing has been a bit slow-going. And I still need to get today’s writing done, so let’s get to the food, shall we? On Sunday we stopped at Vegan Treats; I got the nutella cheesecake, and it was really good! 

On Tuesday, I prepared a bag of the Light ’n Fluffy macaroni dumpling noodles and tossed in a bunch of kale near the end. After draining out the water from the pasta and kale, I added the dressing ingredients for the kale salad that I first tried during Vegan MoFo, and it made for a lovely dish with some great leftovers for the rest of the week. 

Last night for dinner I needed something simple, so I tried the ramen soup cup from Trader Joe’s; I added in some broccoli (and later, after the picture, some chopped-up Boca chik’n as well), and it was nice! I also enjoyed the everything but the bagel seasoning on a toasted vegan-buttered bagel. 

Leela got nice and comfy to meditate with me this morning… 

And here’s Rogue being a snuggly little sweetheart… 

Peace. :)

Elementary, My Dear Vegan: Kale Salad with Dressing

Hi everyone! The food for today’s “Elementary, My Dear Vegan” is one that didn’t end well for the person who ate it in S1E4 (“The Rat Race”)…

Holmes: I think there’s a good chance Peter Talbott was murdered.
…
Gregson: You think someone dosed his salad dressing?
Holmes: I think it’s worth exploring.

When the salad was briefly shown on screen, it looked like it might be kale, so I made the only-kale-can-save-us-now salad from Eat Like You Give a Damn. The dressing was amazing and super easy to prepare. I enjoyed the salad even though I’m not the biggest fan of raw kale; if I make it again, I might steam the kale a bit first.

Bonus quote from the episode:
Fowkes: We’d like to hire you and your, uh, associate.
Holmes: Bodyguard.

Here’s a close-up of Cringer… 

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. :)

Meals with Garden Veggies

Hello everyone! My garden's coming along pretty well so far -- I've already harvested some radishes, a cucumber, kale, and lots of snow peas!

On Monday, I had a harvest dinner which included some roasted snow peas and radishes (as well as leftover biscuits and Boca chik'n)...

...And tonight, I chopped up a bit of the cucumber and cooked the kale using the collard greens recipe from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. (As you can see, I wasted no time in making the cheddar cheesy garlic biscuits again hehe.)

If you have a garden, how's it going? If you're planning a garden, what do you hope to grow?

Here's Cringer at the top of the cat tower...

Peace. :)

Salt and Vinegar Fries

For my new recipe this week, I decided to try making salt and vinegar fries (I've never really liked them much). I glanced at this recipe posted here from Chloe's Kitchen and got cooking... 

I washed and sliced two medium red potatoes (didn't bother with soaking them) and baked them with about a tablespoon of olive oil and some salt at 400°F, flipping them every 10 minutes or so. 

For the last 10 minutes, I lowered the heat to 350°F and added the broccoli and carrots. After moving the broccoli and carrots to the plate, I added ½ tablespoon of vinegar to the fries, stirring and flipping them, and adding a bit more salt. 

Served with a Boca chik'n patty.

The verdict: Delicious! This is definitely something I will make again, and I might even add a bit more vinegar next time! 

I had the leftover salt and vinegar fries with carrots and collard greens (including kale this time, like the recipe from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food suggests).

Here are Leela and Buttons being silly and sprawling out.

Peace. :)