February MiniMoFo: Food is Love

Hi everyone! February’s MiniMoFo theme is “Food is Love,” so I have two similar dishes here. The first is what I made for a quick Valentine’s Day dinner for me & Zach. He skipped the peas & carrots and only had the Gardein porkless bites and the white rice.

more veggies for me = love

The other dish I thought I’d include here is one of my favorites that I’ve mentioned countless times – the veganized orange chik’n from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. I love this recipe, but every time I make it, I try to do something different to make it a little more mine, so I added some turmeric to the sauce when I made it earlier this week.

orange tofu = love

leftovers = love

In other news, our ancient furnace died this week, and we were thankfully able to get it replaced yesterday. But we had a chilly Thursday night; here are where the kitties had settled in as I was getting ready for bed…   

Cringer still wanted to sleep downstairs like she usually does, so I tucked her in with Buttons’ favorite blanket.

Upstairs, Leela was already in the bedroom, hanging out close to the space heater that Zach had moved in.

And Daisy had curled up tightly on her folded comforter nest.

Peace. :)

Candied Yams (Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food)

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "Practice run a dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or another upcoming holiday," so I made the candied yams from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. This was a super simple dish, but very delicious! I had them with some leftover quinoasage.

Here's my Inktober sketch…

And here's Daisy half-in, half-out of the sunshine…

Peace. :)

Fettuccine Alfredo (Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food)

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "Go go gadget," so I chose to try a recipe that uses a blender (sauce one from "Fettuccine Alfredo Two Ways" in Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food). 

This Alfredo sauce was seriously amazing and so creamy; with all the recipes I've tried from Q&EVCF so far, I can't believe I hadn't tried this one yet. I'll definitely make it again because it is perfect comfort food and absolutely delicious.

Here's my Inktober sketch...

Here's Daisy...

...and today's weather was rather dreary, but thankfully the sun came out for a bit this afternoon; here's Buttons meditating in the sunshine...

Peace. :)

Yet Another Buttons Update, then Baked Ziti

Hi everyone. The results from Buttons' aspirate came back inconclusive; it's still most likely cancer, but they think they can rule out lymphoma. At this point, we could re-do the aspirate, get a CT scan done of her chest, or a biopsy. The biopsy is a big risk, and the vet said even if they do it, determine exactly what type of cancer it is, and start chemo, Buttons would still only have "months" at most. We really don't want to put her through the aspirate procedure again (especially for what would probably just be more inconclusive results), the CT scan likely won't tell us much that will actually be helpful, and we've ruled out the biopsy, so that means that what we're left with is, well, keeping her comfortable until it's time to let her go. And that really sucks, and I hate writing this out, and I hate making it more and more real, and there's really not much more to say that isn't me just rambling, so I'm going to switch gears to Vegan MoFo...

Today's prompt is "Conversion meal," so I made baked ziti, another recipe from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. I halved the recipe, and it turned out pretty good. I feel like pasta dishes are perfect for helping to show people that vegan food really isn't all that weird. It's simply food that doesn't have animal products in it. And in the case of this ziti, it's really tasty & comforting. 

My Inktober sketch doesn't make it look too appetizing, though, haha...

Here are some pics I took of Buttons today. Her new favorite thing is Zach's sleeping bag. He had another "sleep-over" with her last night, and as soon as he got up for work in the morning, she claimed the sleeping bag, returning to it several more times throughout the day...

Peace...

Another Buttons Update, then Red Beans with Quinoa (Q&EVCF)

Hi everyone, just getting this typed up as I wait to hear back from the vet. The cardiologist checked Buttons this morning and found that she has very mild HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy). She also has a little bit of fluid around her heart, likely caused by the probable cancer. The good news is that her heart doesn't seem to be causing any real problems; the cardiologist said she doesn't need any medication, basically we just need to keep an eye on her for things such as dizziness/fainting, and have her heart checked again in 6-8 months. The potential cancer, however, remains the big issue, so they are doing a chest ultrasound before trying to get a sample of the cancer or whatever else it could possibly be in her chest now that she was cleared for sedation. The procedure will take place around 3 p.m., and I'll hear back about an hour or two after that, and hopefully she will be cleared to come home with us tonight. I'll respond to everyone's kind comments on my last post as soon as I get the chance, but I did just want to say thank you to everyone who has commented; it really means a lot to know that there are so many people who care about Buttons and are pulling for her.

Anyways, as a way to keep myself busy today, I made my Vegan MoFo dish for lunch. The prompt for today is "But where do you get your protein?" so I made the red beans with quinoa from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. It was a really simple recipe and I have to admit, as much as it stung, it was kinda cathartic to get teary-eyed from chopping an onion rather than from thinking and worrying about Buttons. I halved the recipe, and only used a few drops of hot sauce. In the past, I haven't had much luck preparing quinoa, but today, it turned out perfectly, nice & fluffy. 

All in all, this was an easy dish to prepare and made for a tasty, filling lunch. I don't usually worry about calculating this sort of thing, but since it was the prompt today: A serving size of the red kidney beans provides 9 grams of protein, and the quinoa, 5 grams. Seeing as how I probably had about 1.5-1.75 servings of the beans, I'd estimate about 18-20 grams of protein total for this meal. Not bad.

Here's my Inktober sketch...

And here's a pic of Buttons in the sunshine again, this time with Daisy...

Peace...

Fruit Salad Smoothie (Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food)

Hi everyone! June’s MiniMoFo is “fruit,” so I tried a new smoothie recipe, the fruit salad smoothie from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. It was really good! The fruit in it is banana and frozen strawberries, but it also contains romaine lettuce, making it the first “green” smoothie I’ve actually liked, hehe!

Here’s Buttons resting in the kitchen...

Peace. :)

Strawberry Pineapple Green Smoothie

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is: It’s Easy Being Green – Look after the environment, or just eat green veg – go green today! A few days ago, I made an attempt at a green smoothie, specifically the Strawberry Pineapple Green Smoothie from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. Everything looked great going into the blender: the kale, the frozen strawberries, the fresh pineapple, so pretty and colorful...

... but it turned out brown, even though the cookbook said it would be "a rich green color"...

If you look closely, there are little flecks of green!

I tried a few sips and wasn't too impressed with the taste, so I thought, might as well add the optional protein powder, but that didn't help any. Well, at least I tried; I just prefer to eat my greens than to drink them, that's all!

Here's Cringer warming up Zach's gloves for him...

Peace. :)

Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food

Hello everyone! Today's prompt is "Tell us about your favorite cookbook!" Mine is Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia C. Simpson (link goes to my posts about recipes I've tried from it). 

Other than my "photo album" cookbook (random recipe cards and recipes cut out from newspapers and magazines), Q&EVCF is the one I've used the most, but I don't have many cookbooks to begin with. Here's my little collection, for reference. (I've only tried a few recipes from Isa Does It so far, and the bottom two I've never made anything from, lol.) 

In Q&EVCF, there's a thorough section on stocking a vegan pantry and essential kitchen tools, as well as a section on smoothies, though I haven't tried any of them. She also has a list of 65 meal ideas that combine different recipes in the book (she uses a $ to indicate meals that are less expensive), and then the heart of the cookbook begins – breakfast; side dishes; soups and salads; main courses; sauces, dips, and dressings; and desserts. Some of my favorite recipes that I've tried this year include the mushroom gravy, collard greens, banana pancakes, and veganized orange chik'n (which is probably my most favorite!).

Tonight I decided to try a new recipe from Q&EVCF – the veggie "meat" loaf. It's been a while since I've had meatloaf, but I think this turned out pretty well, plus it finally got me to find some vegan Worcestershire sauce. And referencing the suggested "quick and easy meal idea," I also made the garlic green beans and smashed potatoes (using purple potatoes!) to go along with it.

As always, here are Buttons and Leela...

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. :)

Baked Beans and Banana Bread

My new recipes this week aren't quite “new” – they're variations on old recipes. So, kinda new. New enough.

Baked Beans: For my new twist on baked beans, I incorporated ingredients from the maple-smoked baked beans recipe in Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food into the recipe I usually use. I added some hickory liquid smoke, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder, which turned out to be nice additions that I'll likely do again. 

Banana Bread: I used my favorite banana bread recipe, adding cinnamon and raisins. I had a piece last night with some vegan vanilla ice cream; delicious!

And here are Buttons & Leela, as always.

Peace. :)