White Bean and Cabbage Soup (Plant Based Living)

Hi everyone! This week I tried the White Bean and Cabbage Soup from Plant Based Living. I haven't made soup in a while, and now that it is finally spring, I figured I should have some before it warms up too much. The soup turned out really well; it was simple to make and very tasty. 

The leftovers are great, too; I've been adding some orzo to make the soup a bit more filling.

Here are Buttons, Cringer, and Daisy being sunshine kitties. Daisy decided to get even closer to the other two when she noticed I was taking pictures, hehe!

Protest reflection time! The protest this Tuesday was small, but right near the end, a man got agitated enough by our few signs ("Resist," "Phoenixville loves our immigrant community," and "Refugees are welcome here") that he decided to pull his car over, park, and approach our group of mostly women to demand that we explain to him why we were protesting. He could clearly read our signs, so his angry insistence that we explain ourselves made it clear that he was looking for a fight. The two women and I didn't engage, but the one man in the group decided to argue with him, loudly and right behind us, which was rather uncomfortable. I mean, I could have easily seen this coming to blows. We moved a few steps away from the confrontation, but it wasn't long before we noticed the time and had to call it a day anyway.

Apart from this guy's repeated "I'm a Christian, I believe in Jesus Christ" (he apparently thinks Jesus would turn away refugees and deport immigrants), he kept insisting that "Trump is just trying to protect us." 

Who is "us"? My definition of "us" includes refugees and immigrants, so there is no way Trump can protect us with things like the Muslim ban, raids, and deportations. I hope that the presence of our little group made this guy realize that not everyone has given in to fear and xenophobia. He may have, but we haven't. 

Who knows, maybe one day, he'll decide he doesn't want to be afraid anymore, either.

Peace. :)

March MiniMoFo: Baked Stuffed Shells (Vegan Vittles)

Hi everyone! March's MiniMoFo theme is "stuffed and filled foods" -- aka, the prompting I needed to finally make vegan stuffed shells! I used the recipe in Vegan Vittles, halving it, with some further modifications: using Chipotle Vegenaise instead of a plain vegan mayonnaise, Italian seasoning (which included basil) instead of just basil, only 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce, and some FYH vegan mozzarella (shredded) instead of vegan Parmesan. The stuffed shells turned out great, but definitely spicy due to the Chipotle Vegenaise haha! Zach liked them, too, so I'll definitely make these again for us! (They are also great as leftovers.)

In other news, the PAN Vegan Pledge is going well! There are 22 people taking the pledge -- so many that some mentors, myself included, were assigned two people to mentor! On Saturday, we're having a first week celebration dinner at Thai L'Elephant, a restaurant in town with a vegan section in their menu.

I've been continuing to attend the Tuesday protests in Phoenixville; this week, I made a new, double-sided sign using the cardboard of a cereal box (it was raining at the start & I didn't want my bigger sign to get wet -- this one was small enough for me to hold safely under my umbrella).

Here are Leela and Buttons being sunshine kitties ...

Peace. :)

Banana-Berry Scones (Isa Does It)

Hi everyone! The MiniMoFo theme for February is "red," so I'm trying red recipes this month. Yesterday, I made the Banana-Berry Scones from Isa Does It. I made them a bit too big (next time I'll make them smaller; the recipe says it should make 12 scones) but they turned out so, so good! I think I might also try using a bit more raspberries and mashing them with the bananas, instead of just putting them on top of the scones.

On Tuesday, I went to a protest here in Phoenixville. It was focused on immigrant rights, so I used my Refugees Are Welcome Here / #NoBanNoWall sign again. There were maybe 25 of us, but it was a good group overall; we stood on a small sidewalk at a busy intersection in town holding our signs. We got a lot of honks and waves in support, lots of thumbs-up & peace signs. Of course, there were also people driving by who shook their heads at us, gave thumbs-down, and flipped us off. But they were much fewer in number.

Here's Leela in her favorite place to nap -- between my dresser and a heating vent. 

Peace. :)

Spiced Nuts (Fresh & Fast Vegan Pleasures)

Hi everyone! The new recipe I tried this week was the spiced nuts from Fresh & Fast Vegan Pleasures by Amanda Grant. (The ingredients list awkwardly included the mixed nuts line twice, with one of the repetitions calling Brazil nuts "Bazil notes" lol.) Unfortunately, the finished product was disappointing. The amount of soy sauce the recipe called for was excessive (1 T would have been enough); it covered up any hint of the chili powder, so the nuts weren't spicy at all. Well, I had to get the first recipe fail of the year out of the way sooner or later!

In other news, I've gone to my second protest! On Sunday, January 29, Zach went with me to the Philadelphia International Airport for Protest Refugee Deportations at PHL! It was another great experience; I'm so glad I went. Here are the pictures of my sign (front & back); I re-used my signs from my first protest by flipping them, duct-taping them together, and writing on the blank sides.

"No hate, no fear; refugees are welcome here!"

"No ban, no wall; sanctuary for all!"

Here are the cuddly sisters Daisy & Cringer. I found them snuggled like this when I got back from a walk earlier this week. 

Peace. :)

Lentil Sloppy Joes (Food52 Vegan)

Hi everyone! Continuing with MiniMoFo's January theme of “new,” I tried another new recipe from another new cookbook. On Wednesday, I made the Lentil Sloppy Joes from Food52 Vegan by Gena Hamshaw; Zach & I enjoyed them on hamburger buns, with waffle fries on the side.

The leftovers came in handy for a quick late dinner on Thursday; my mom and I spent the day in Philadelphia at the Resistance in Philly: Fighting for Our Lives rally & march protesting Trump & the GOP who were staying at the Loews Hotel. The rally had a lot of great speakers, and then we marched, and wow, was it a crowd; the energy was absolutely amazing! I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, it was amazing and I am so glad that I went! 

[“If we don't get no justice, they don't get no”] Peace. :)