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. :)

Leela Update

We said goodbye to our dear sweet Leela on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning, we’d gotten confirmation from another vet that not only was the growth in her mouth almost definitely cancer, but that it had gotten significantly worse and started spreading. By Tuesday night, Leela had stopped eating and drinking again, even while on the pain medication that had helped last time.

We had one last night of cuddles in bed with Leela, and even though we knew it was the right thing to do, it was so heartbreakingly difficult to bring her to the vet to be put to sleep when morning rolled around.

My sister Alena came over Wednesday afternoon to keep me company when Zach had to get back to work. On Monday, I’d tried the pierogies I’d gotten from V Marks the Shop, so we had the leftovers for lunch, adding mustard to the kielbasa. 

my pic from Monday’s lunch; served with Tofurky kielbasa, sauerkraut, and homemade pickles

Later, I made mac & cheese for dinner; there were enough leftovers for lunch yesterday and today, so that was nice. 

elbow macaroni, soy milk, Daiya mozzarella shreds, nutritional yeast, turmeric, with frozen mixed veg and Boca chik’n added in

After dinner, Alena headed home and I left for D&D; Zach and I agreed that it would be good for us to get out of the house for a bit that night. Someone from the group brought a vegan banana bread with berries; she does a lot of baking but rarely vegan, so she’d made this with me in mind, which was super sweet of her. I had a slice during D&D and took another slice home for my snack on Thursday; it was really good. 

Here are the last pictures Leela posed for… 

As always, peace…

Deconstructed Pierogi Bowl

Hi everyone! This week I decided to be super fancy (more like lazy, bahaha!), so I made a “deconstructed” pierogi bowl in order to use up the leftover pierogi filling from Vegan MoFo. All I did was to combine dumpling noodles with the re-heated sauerkraut and mushroom filling, but it was super delicious!

When The Student-turned-Doctor suggested these noodles for stroganoff, I’d picked up a bag. I haven’t gotten a chance to try them in stroganoff yet, but they were perfect for this!

I also used some elbow noodles to make a batch of baked pumpkin walnut rotini mac, which worked out really well! 

Here’s a sleepy Leela wondering why her nap is being disturbed for something as silly as a picture… 

Peace. :)

Bookmarked Recipe: Sauerkraut and Mushroom Pierogi [Vegan Kitty Patrol (VKP)]

Hi everyone! Today I made a recipe I’d bookmarked back in Vegan MoFo 2013, the sauerkraut and mushroom pierogi from Vegan Kitty Patrol (VKP). It definitely took some patience and focus and determination – the sticky dough was my biggest hurdle, even with extra flour on hand – but it all worked out for some delicious pierogi! (After boiling them, I didn’t want to press my luck, so I skipped the pan-frying step; I was nervous they might fall apart, haha!) I had some with leftover caramelized leek & onion miso soup, which was a delicious combination!

Daisy tries to take a selfie…

And then decides to let me go back to being her photographer… 

Peace. :)

Purple Potato and Blueberry Pierogi

Hello everyone! Today's prompt is "Something blue," so I chose to use purple potatoes and blueberries as pierogi fillings. 

For the pierogi dough, I halved this recipe, which resulted in 10 pierogi circles.

For the purple potato filling, I boiled six tiny purple potatoes (but three would have been sufficient) and then mashed them with some Earth Balance and salt and pepper.

For the blueberry filling, I rinsed two small handfuls of blueberries, then mixed in 1 tsp sugar. 

After tightly pinching the pierogi closed, I boiled them and then fried them in some canola oil. 

If you're looking for something to have with these pierogi, how about some sauerkraut and seitan?

Oh, and feel free to get this stuck in your head like I did (I was singing "I'm blue..." over and over and over while kneading the pierogi dough, haha)...

Here are some sleepy pics of Leela and Buttons...

Peace. :)

Pierogi

I tried another bookmarked recipe this week with my sister Alena, and it's one that I've been looking forward to for a while: the Potato and Cheese Pierogi from The Judgmental Vegan. We often had pierogi (and kielbasa) growing up, so it's something I've missed, plus our Poppy would get super creative with fillings the times when he made his own pierogi. 

I halved the dough recipe and only kneaded it for 5 minutes instead of the full 10 since my hands were cramping up. We made two different fillings, the first being potato and cheese (with some salt, pepper, and vegan butter), and the second being potato and blueberry since Poppy's blueberry pierogi stood out in our memories. 

They turned out pretty good, and now that I know how to make my own pierogi from scratch, I'm definitely going to make them more often and experiment with different fillings.

potato and blueberry pierogi

potato and cheese pierogi (side one)

potato and cheese pierogi (side two)

Here's Buttons sprawling out, and Leela hanging out in the bathroom. They both seem to prefer the hottest parts of the house during the day. Silly kitties.

P.S. Coming up in a week is the Chester County Vegan Festival; hope to see you there!

Peace. :)