Fall Treats Plus Mac & Cheese

Hi everyone! So, one of my favorite fall treats this year is a vanilla So Delicious yogurt to which I add allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, making it into a pumpkin spice yogurt!

I also placed a little Vegan Essentials order to get some Halloween goodies; these are Sjaak's white chocolate skull pops and chocolate bites; the orange ones are orange-flavored, the black are peanut butter...

I also got these new-to-me items to try...

This pumpkin spice cookie that I got with my last Kimberton Whole Foods grocery order was really good...

And a friend picked up a chocolate cookie sandwich for me from Crust Vegan Bakery; it was delicious!

And finally, some mac & cheese (using Miyoko's cheddar slices) with some chick'n tenders (the chick'n tenders were just OK, so I doubt I'll get them again)...

Some pictures from my outdoor walk with friends...

And Daisy's face as she realizes that with the weather getting cooler, being a pillow for her sister is going to be her life now...

Peace. :)

Freezer Food, Pretzels, and “Catifying” Updates

Hi everyone! This week I’ve been working on using up stuff that’s in the freezer; here’s the Daiya pumpkin spice cheesecake that I’d gotten back in fall and then forgotten about – I had it with some So Delicious coco whip, and it was really good! 

I also enjoyed some delicious mashed potato bowls with carrots and a chopped-up Boca turk’y burger, topped with gravy I’d frozen back in November… 

I tried the sweet & salty pretzels last week and really enjoyed them, and then I saw the gluten-free version this week when I was grocery shopping, so I’ll try these next! 

The “catification” is progressing nicely, and the kitties have seemed to enjoy testing out the changes. Here are the shelves I’d mentioned Zach had installed; I got some mats and double-sided tape at Lowe’s, so now the shelves are safer, and I moved the dog bed that Leela had sometimes slept on up to the top of Zach’s old desk that he doesn’t use anymore. (And yes, Zach added Tigger as a masthead to the longest shelf, haha!) 

I got this tablecloth at Goodwill and draped it over the shelves we use as a shoe rack, so now it’s nicer for the kitties when they want to hang out at the window. Here is Cringer modeling… 

We’ve had this cat tower for a while, but I experimented with turning it ninety degrees, and now Daisy is watching the birds more often! 

I got this new scratcher on sale at Pet Supplies Plus; the one we’d had there was a lot less sturdy and kept getting knocked over. Here’s Rogue with a nice big stretch! 

I moved this lidded plastic bin to a low window and added an old seat cushion and folded sheet for some padding… 

And last but not least, I moved this cat bed that had been Leela’s up to the top of the fridge. No one had shown any interest in it when it was on the ground, and they were ignoring it on the fridge as well, until Zach caught Cringer hanging out up there one night and managed to snap a pic for me! 

To end today’s post, here’s Daisy posing so perfectly… 

Peace. :)

Elementary, My Dear Vegan: Coffee, Yogurt, Assorted Fruits

Hi everyone! Today’s “Elementary, My Dear Vegan” is also from S1E10 (“The Leviathan”), and it’s the first time Holmes brings Watson breakfast in bed. (One of the best and funniest things about Elementary is all the different methods that Holmes uses to wake up Watson, who is definitely not a morning person. Since he rarely sleeps, Holmes is almost always the first one awake and ready to go, especially when they have a case. Every now and then, Watson gets the opportunity to wake Holmes, but this was not one of those times.)

Holmes: Good morning. Coffee, yogurt, assorted fruits. (sets tray down on Watson’s bed)
Watson: (tiredly, still lying down) Thanks.
Holmes: Seven minutes for you to eat. Twenty-three minutes for you to shower and get dressed.

For breakfast this morning, I made coffee (for Zach, since I don’t drink coffee, haha!) and had some vanilla So Delicious yogurt with a mix of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries (plus a couple leftover crepes from yesterday, but those aren’t pictured).

Compare a still Rogue… 

To a Rogue in motion…

Peace. :)

Chester County Vegan Festival and More

Hi everyone! On the 25th, I went to the Chester County Vegan Festival with Zach and my sister Alena. We hadn’t been there for a few years, but decided to try it again. It used to be a picnic buffet, which was really cool – you got to pick what you wanted to eat and fill up your plate from the great variety of food – and it used to cost $10 (or $9 if you brought your own place setting). This year it was in a different park, catered by El Burrito, and more expensive ($15, or $13 if you brought your own place setting, which we all did). Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, you ended up with less food. At the start of the food line, you were asked to pick either a vegetable tamale or a mushroom tamale. Both sounded good but you could only get one, so I went with the vegetable and Zach got the mushroom and we ended up sharing them between us. I would have loved to be able to get both because they were amazing! The mango salsa was pretty good, too, but the corn was just OK (I’ve been spoiled by the corn I grew in my garden this year haha) and the salt didn’t stick to it (they rubbed lime over the corn before sprinkling the salt on). Additionally, the whole mango was a) a bit redundant since we’d already been given mango salsa and b) way too sweet to eat all of it. 

I felt bad that there was no compost nearby (or at least not one that I could find, maybe I missed it) for the corn husks (from the tamale), corn cob, and leftover mango; it felt like such a waste throwing all that out. As for the rest of the festival, which we explored after lunch, there weren’t as many vendors as in the past, and only two offered free samples (one had small pieces of Violife cheese and one had bread topped with a vegan cheese and also cups of potato salad, which were awesome). There was a food truck there (Self Love), and their menu seemed nice; I don’t know if I plan to go back to the Chester County Vegan Festival next year, but if I do, I think buying from the food truck makes more sense than paying for the catered lunch. All in all, though, it was still a nice day; we got to hang out and see cute dogs that people had brought with them, and we got some free snacks to bring home, too – these were pretty good… 

Some other fun things I’ve enjoyed this week include these ice cream popsicles…

And these veggie burgers from Aldi… 

Here are some of my sketches from this week…

bell pepper (original photo)

potato (original photo)

snow pea (original photo)

spinach (original photo)

And here’s Leela… 

See you all tomorrow for the start of Vegan MoFo!

Peace. :)

Buttons Update, then Pretzels & Ice Cream

Hi everyone; I'm a bit out of it right now because this afternoon we learned that Buttons probably has cancer. She's staying overnight at the emergency vet; they are going to try to get a sample tomorrow in the hopes of getting a definitive diagnosis. 

I'd brought Buttons in to the emergency vet earlier today because she hasn't been eating much, has been a bit coughy, and Zach noticed she was a bit wobbly when she stood up last night. The vet did bloodwork and the plan was to have her stay overnight and then see internal medicine in the morning. When the vet called with the bloodwork results, she suggested doing an ultrasound (at that point thinking it could possibly be pancreatitis based on the bloodwork). Well, then the vet called back with the ultrasound results, and I just went numb when I heard "multiple masses in the chest... probably cancer." I started crying but kept it together until the end of the call; after hanging up I just kept screaming "Fuck!" and punching a padded chair and crying some more. 

It'll probably be several days until we get the results. Right now I'm just focusing on: "I'm picking her up tomorrow, I'm picking her up tomorrow..."

Anyways, all of that is to say that today's Vegan MoFo prompt is perfect timing: "Junk food forever!" Here's some So Delicious salted caramel cluster ice cream that I had a few days ago with pretzels and will obviously be having again tonight...

Here's my Inktober sketch...

And here's a pic of Buttons hanging out with Leela in the sunshine...

As always, peace...

New Foods in September and October

Hello everyone, and Happy Halloween! Here are the harvest dinners and new foods I've tried in the past two months. First up is a yummy bowl with garden veggies -- cucumber, snow peas, and carrots -- and some waffle fries, broccoli, and more (non-garden) carrots.

Next we have Ben & Jerry's P.B. & Cookies ice cream; it was pretty good!

I also enjoyed the Peanut Butter Zig Zag ice cream by So Delicious...

I tried another fruit spread; it was good on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, but not my favorite of all the ones I tried.

Next up are three different frozen dinner bowls. First I had the Kashi Black Bean Mango Bowl, but it wasn't that great.

Served with garden cucumber & cherry tomatoes.

The Morningstar Thai Yellow Curry was good.

Served with garden cherry tomatoes.

Finally, Amy's brown rice and vegetables bowl was my favorite of the three.

I made a yummy chocolate zucchini cake with a zucchini from Zach's mom. This version had all-purpose flour.

And here's the second of my chocolate zucchini cakes, this one made with whole-wheat flour and quite delicious as well.

With so many cherry tomatoes, I could barely eat them fast enough, so I made spinach and tomato linguine, a recipe that required 3 cups of diced tomatoes!

I tried out Tofurky's Barbecue Slow-Roasted Chick'n and had it with Smoky Nacho Fries (recipe from the September/October 2016 VegNews). This was a really good, but certainly spicy, combination!

Served with garden cucumber.

I bought this pumpkin chai mix from Pureblend Tea at the Phoenixville Farmer's Market; it was good, but I still prefer my rooibos chai from Numi this time of year.

Another farmer's market purchase was the vegan mushroom chili from the HEART food truck; it was really good!

Zach and I made another visit to the Great American Pub on Bridge Street because we wanted to sit at the glider tables again before it got too cold. This time I ordered the vegan carrot dogs (2 pita "buns" with carrot dogs and toppings, plus vegetable chips), and they were so good! Pictured are my leftovers, which I had the next day.

Zach also suggested we try out some new waffles; these were really good, with raspberry syrup.

This noodle cup was kinda meh; it's definitely one where you need to add in some of your own ingredients. But when I'm having a soup cup, I'm already feeling lazy, so I don't want to have to add anything more.

These kale chips were pretty good, but most of them got super crumbled and broken up. Still tasty, though.

Another soup cup; this one I really liked, but then it had a weird and very persistent aftertaste haha.

And here's the first of several goodies I got from Grocery Outlet; my mom and I went one day when she came to visit. Cringer, of course, needed to inspect these kale chips. I liked them, but again, it was less chips and more crumbs.

Another awesome Grocery Outlet find were three variations of empanadas by Candle Cafe. The plantain & black bean ones were really good...

The chipotle vegetable ones were good, too, but obviously more spicy... 

Creepin' Cringer *sniff sniff*

The chili tempeh vegetable ones were also really good!

Again from Grocery Outlet, the Beanfields ranch chips were OK; I really liked the ranch flavoring, but the actual chip was kinda meh.

Last but not least, another kale chip variety from Grocery Outlet -- this one was my favorite because it had nice big, hearty chips, and the flavoring, while spicy, was really, really good!

Whew, long post is done! Vegan MoFo begins tomorrow, and I think I'm pretty well-prepared. NaNoWriMo, on the other hand, well, let's just say I still have absolutely no idea what I am going to write a 50,000-word novel about! :O But I'll worry about that later; it's time to grab a quick dinner before the trick-or-treaters arrive!

Peace. :)