Lemon, Lavender, Vanilla, Pistachio Bites

This week I tried another of my bookmarked recipes from Vegan MoFo 2014, the Raw Lemon, Lavender, Vanilla, Pistachio Bites from REAL FOOD + TRAVEL.

My main changes were using roasted & salted pistachios instead of raw, using hemp (instead of vanilla) protein powder because I had a little sample pouch lying around, using cranberries instead of pitted dates, and leaving the lemon zest out of the coating.

These were simple to put together and I love that they didn't need to be baked. They turned out well, a bit sweet, but good. I'm definitely interested in trying out different variations of this recipe in the future.

As for Buttons, she did great at her yearly checkup earlier this week and was weighed to see that she has lost one pound in her first year with us! Yay for Buttons and her 15 pounds of cuteness!

And here's Leela; she proved her adventurousness today by jumping up onto my lap while I was sitting in my desk chair, and then jumping from there onto my desk, where she posed regally, taking in the sights from her new vantage point. (Buttons has jumped up onto my desk several times, but this was Leela's first time.)

Peace. :)

Another Lazy Saturday Post

Hello on the 20th day of the Vegan Month of Food!  No new recipe tonight, just a post about a dinner from earlier this week with leftovers and quick fixin's.  

Menu:
--leftover mushroom vegetable soup
--snap peas and mushrooms (with soy sauce and lemon)
--plain potato
--garlic rolls
--lemon water

The leftover mushroom vegetable soup was good; I added a little less than 1/4 cup water to it before re-heating it since some of the liquid had gotten absorbed.  The rolls were nice for dunking in the soup.  My mom was just going to make the snap peas plain--cooking them in olive oil, with soy sauce and maybe garlic salt--but I decided it would be interesting to try adding chopped mushrooms and lemon juice.  It wasn't.  (I didn't like the way they turned out, because a) mushroom overload with it already being in the soup and b) the lemon was way too strong.  But my mom liked it, so I guess that balances out.)  Not much to say about a plain potato, haha, though I did end up adding some ketchup to it, so it wasn't completely plain.  And finally, the lemon water--a nice touch, but probably only something I'll do when I have a lemon I'm wanting to use up.  Otherwise, plain water is more my style.

Mr. Boogie, on his new favorite perch, with my sister's soccer blanket.

Peace.  :)

Onion Soup Potatoes

Hello on the 15th day of the Vegan Month of Food!  Today I have a new and improved recipe, mainly because I decided to buy some random ingredients--such as mushrooms and lemons--this weekend.  I got the idea for this recipe as we were driving back from visiting my sister, and I went ahead and made it that night as part of our dinner.  Without further ado, here ya go!

Onion Soup Potatoes

 

    

Ingredients:
--8 small- to medium-sized potatoes
--1/2 of a dry onion soup mix
--4 medium-sized mushrooms
--2 slices of lemon
--olive oil

Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes to soften them up.  Chop up the mushrooms nice and fine and add to a glass baking dish.  Chop up the potatoes into small chunks and add to the mushrooms.  Over the mushrooms and potatoes, sprinkle 1/2 of the dry onion soup mix, pour out some olive oil (I didn't measure this exactly, but at least 1-2 T), and squeeze out the juice of the two lemon slices.  Mix it all together well, cover with aluminum foil, and cook for about half an hour at 350 degrees F.  

I was skeptical about including the mushrooms (I'm really not a fan of mushrooms, so I don't know what possessed me to buy them), but I figured that since I chopped them up real small, I'd be able to ignore them.  When I've made this recipe before, I've done slices of potatoes, with just the onion soup and olive oil, and it's always been good, but this version turned out perfect.  The mushrooms were more than tolerable, and the lemon was a nice addition, though I might do a bit more next time since the lemon flavor wasn't as pronounced as I'd imagined it would be.  All in all, it was a great success.  This potato dish is great as a side, and I know for sure that this is going to be one that I'll do for part of my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner this year.

And now, some photos of Mr. Boogie "meditating" on the chair...hehehe...

Peace.  :)