Baked Oatmeal and Other Good Stuff

Hi everyone! The star of this post is my version of the Strawberry Banana Baked Oatmeal (Vegan) that The-Student-Turned-Doctor shared on Food for Dissertating. 

I made it for breakfast this morning, and it was such a nice treat! I don’t have strawberries or bananas, so I used some of this frozen berry mix that we have in the freezer… 

And no chocolate chips, so those were replaced with cocoa powder. But other than that, I followed the recipe, and it was delicious! 

Earlier this week I whipped up a batch of alfredo sauce, so I’ve been portioning that out for fettuccine alfredo, one of my favorite comfort foods! This bowl included chickenless strips from Aldi. 

Yesterday I had my shift at the food pantry. Things are running a bit differently with everything that’s going on, and we’ve been very busy. The increased need is being met with an enthusiastic outpouring of donations, so we were moving a lot of food in and out. I’m usually just there in the morning, but I ended up going home for a quick lunch (Amy’s Asian Dumpling Bowl) and then heading back for an afternoon shift as well. 

Zach was a sweetheart and picked up vegan soups and other goodies for me when he went out for some groceries yesterday. I’m still planning to try cooking through the food I already had, but these will be good to have in case I need a break! 

Here is the foundry on the first day of spring… 

And Daisy offers you a virtual high-five for being your awesome self! 

Peace. :)

Pantry Cooking and Some Flowers

Hi everyone! How are we all doing? I’m trying to make the best of things and treat this whole social distancing thing as a reason to cook some meals and snacks that I’ve been meaning to make but haven’t (even though I’ve had the ingredients). First up was this breakfast-for-lunch of scrambled tofu, Field Roast apple maple breakfast sausage, and hash browns with ketchup, which was delicious… 

Yesterday I made chex mix; it’s been a while since I’ve made this, but I always love it! 

Of course I’ve still been having my usual oats for breakfast lol… 

I forgot to take a pic, but I also made a Gardein skillet meal (chick’n florentino) that I’d had in the freezer for a while; it was a nice weekend dinner for me and Zach. And I’ve been making some faves for myself like my peanut butter brown rice burritos.

In addition to cooking, I’m getting lots of reading done, making good progress on my writing, and having lots of cuddles with the kitties. I’m cleaning and reorganizing things in the house. I’m catching up on movies and TV; I finally watched the new Jungle Book, and I also realized that Good Girls started up again, so I watched the first episode of the new season online last night. Every afternoon, Zach (he’s working from home) and I get some fresh air outside; when we’re not working on preparing the garden (weeding, turning the soil, and mixing in compost from the bin), we’re kicking a soccer ball back and forth in our yard. And I’m always happy to see these lovely signs of spring… 

I moved this stepladder to the back door so that Rogue could better observe the nest-building birds under the overhang. Can you see the little bird in the first pic? 

Peace. :)

More Good Food and Kitties!

Hi everyone! For breakfast last Saturday I made myself the pumpkin oatmeal from Food for Dissertating, and it was so good! 

And then for lunch we went to the Great American Pub (Phoenixville), where I got the garden vegetable quesadilla from the vegan section of the menu, and that was delicious as well! 

I found some goodies on sale at Giant this week – I grabbed the Kite Hill strawberry (good) and blueberry (OK) yogurts. My favorite yogurt brand is still So Delicious, but it was fun to try something new! I haven’t gotten to try the Morningstar Farms cheezeburgers yet, but I’m looking forward to it!

And here’s my favorite version of green bean casserole so far (makes four servings), which I made this week: Cook 1 cup rice in 4 cups mushroom soup, stir in 1 cup TVP near the end and remove from heat, letting sit for about 10 min. Then add in 1 cup of a mix of green beans and yellow wax beans (I prepared mine from the garden the day before by cutting them up, boiling them for about 30 min, and then running them under cold water). Top each serving with ¼ cup of crispy onions. 

And now for the kitties! Here’s a sketch I did this week of a sleepy kitty…

I caught Leela sticking her tongue out for a second and managed to get a picture; she says that’s what she thinks of her medicine, hehe! But it does seem to be helping – her mouth still bothers her now and then, but she is eating much better!

And Cringer says, “If I fits, I sits...” 

Peace. :)

Sweet & Spicy Foods This Week

Hi everyone! Last Saturday, we got to meet Chuck, a very cute pup currently being fostered by my sister and brother-in-law. 

photo by Zach

And then my sister and I made a delicious spicy lunch! 

tortilla chips topped with Morningstar Farms vegan chorizo crumbles, Aldi vegan mozzarella, salsa, and guacamole

My breakfasts this week have been extra sweet as I’ve been making the nutnog overnight oats from Kittens Gone Lentil (minus the pomegranate arils, and heating up the oats for at least a minute in the microwave since I don’t like cold oats). 

I also made the sweet & spicy sauce from My cat loves Daiya! for a bowl of rice, veggies, baked tofu, and avocado. I used sambal oelek when I couldn’t find gochujang paste, and it was still really good! 

Here’s Daisy being her cute little self... 

Peace. :)

Tea & Oatmeal

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is: Autumn/Fall Traditions – Are there any foods you traditionally make in this season? Back in October, I tried two new fall recipes: Chickpeas and Dumplings and Coconut Pumpkin Bread, but I guess my main tradition is that when fall begins, I start drinking tea in the morning and having oatmeal instead of cereal. I prefer Numi's rooibos chai this time of year, and I make my oatmeal with a bit of water, some soy milk, a spoonful each of chia seeds and coconut oil, a handful of raisins, several pinches of salt, and a few shakes of cinnamon. It's a nice, warm, fortifying breakfast. 

Here's Leela; her current fall tradition is that she joins me in the morning when I meditate...

Peace. :)

Oatmeal

Hello on the 13th day of the Vegan Month of Food! Today is the final day of my dollar store vegan week, so this morning, I used three items from the dollar store – oats, soy milk, and raisins – to make my super simple breakfast.

Quick to prepare; just combine 1/2 cup oats with 1 cup soy milk, heat in microwave, and add a handful of raisins and any other toppings you'd enjoy (my additional toppings were cinnamon and chia seeds).

A warm, filling breakfast; can't complain.

Overall, I didn't notice much difference in taste with this soy milk, but comparing it nutritionally to the soy milk I normally get, this one isn't as great. While it does have the same amount of calcium, more vitamin A, less fat, and less sodium, it also has less vitamin D, less protein, less potassium, less iron, less riboflavin, and no B12. So, I think I'll stick with my usual soy milk.

During the day, I had a variety of snacks: A banana, some trail mix, hummus with pita, and chips. And then dinner was a quick quesadilla with tortilla chips and salsa.

Bonus pic of the cute squash from my mom:

Tomorrow begins my health food store vegan theme, so stick around to see what fun foods I discover in the third week of Vegan MoFo!

This morning, Leela enjoyed snuggling into the shallow box I set out for the kitties to try.

"Thank you, human; this will do just fine..."

"...much better than that silly bed you bought me."

And Buttons was very leery of the bird puppet Zach brought home later today...

*sniff sniff* “What's this?”

“Oh **** no!” *backpeddles*

Peace. :)