Oldies but Goodies

Hi everyone! Yesterday I cooked up two big batches of some favorite meals, so I’ll have plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week. I made butternut squash risotto with Aldi vegan meatballs for lunch, and then fettuccine Alfredo with kale for dinner! 

Here are some pretty flowers… 

A sketch… 

And sweet Rogue keeping me warm while I sit at my desk… 

Peace. :)

Fries, Risotto, and Gummies!

Hi everyone! On Sunday, I used the last of my potatoes to make a big batch of oven fries; I had some with green beans and an Asian veggie burger from Aldi…

Yesterday I made butternut squash risotto, which I enjoyed with some Aldi vegan meatballs… 

And I found these cute gummies today when I went out on a quick grocery run…

Here is a picture from a walk that Zach and I took yesterday. It was raining, so there weren’t many other people out, making social distancing easy! 

Schuylkill River

And here are Cringer and Rogue hanging out together… 

Peace. :)

Elementary, My Dear Vegan: Risotto and Cheese Sticks

Hi everyone! Today’s “Elementary, My Dear Vegan” is from S2E7 (“The Marchioness”). Mycroft, the brother of Sherlock Holmes, requests that they take on a case for his ex-fiancee. Later, Holmes finds Mycroft cooking in the kitchen.

Mycroft: I thought I’d make myself useful. I know you and Joan rarely sit down for a meal.
Holmes: That’s by design. A lingering dinner, especially in the midst of a case, is an indulgence.
Mycroft: You think conversation is an indulgence?
Holmes: The meal itself is an indulgence. Conversation is an annoyance within an indulgence.

Holmes then opens the fridge, takes out some cheese sticks, and starts eating one as he leaves the room, having decided that it would be “harmless enough” for his brother to prepare dinner. In the next scene, Watson and Mycroft are enjoying dinner while Holmes continues working in the other room.

Watson: This is the best risotto I’ve ever had. Why are you hiring a chef? You should do it.
Mycroft: Owning restaurants is a lot more fun.
Holmes: (from the other room) He means less work.
Mycroft: (to Holmes) Yes, I suppose you could say that. (to Watson) I don’t quite believe I’m gonna say this to a grown man. (to Holmes) Your food’s getting cold.
(Holmes comes to stand at his place at the table and eats a single forkful of risotto.)

Last night I made the saffron-scented risotto alla Milanese from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen, and it was amazing! I’m definitely going to have to make this again soon! I also tried the Daiya mozzarella cheese sticks (I found them at Wegmans), and they were pretty good! 

P.S. Phoenixville VegFest is today!

Here’s a silly spinny Daisy… 

Peace. :)

Red's Mushroom Risotto

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is Dream Holiday Destination – what would you eat on your dream holiday? So I decided it was time for another Veganlist post!

Grief-ridden after the events that transpired in "Mr. Solomon (Conclusion) (No. 32)" (Season 3, Episode 18), Red heads to Cape May, New Jersey, in "Cape May" (the only Blacklist episode so far without a "blacklister"). He thinks he's alone at the beach; it's still cold & no one else is vacationing yet. But when Red rescues a woman from the water, his vacation from reality takes a darker turn. The woman is being pursued by dangerous men, so she and Red hole up in an empty beachfront hotel. At one point, the woman makes a dinner of mushroom risotto for the two of them...

Red: This is superb. The rice is just right.
Woman: Canned mushrooms. Best I could do.
Red: It's excellent.

To make the mushroom risotto, I cooked 1/2 cup of arborio rice with 1/2 cup vegetable broth until the liquid was gone, then repeated the addition of 1/2 cup vegetable broth & cooking until 2 cups vegetable broth total had been used. I sauteed some canned mushrooms in canola oil, then mixed 3/4 of the mushrooms into the rice, using the rest to top off the rice once served. Simple and tasty, especially considering how few ingredients were used.

(Spoiler Alert: Of course, it's eventually revealed that the "dream" part of Red's dream holiday was quite literal. The woman was a hallucination; Red was alone the entire time.)

Today's cute kitty is Buttons, dreaming of what she would eat on vacation...

Peace. :)