Cranberry Wild Rice Pilaf (Taste of Home)

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is "Unconventional grains," so I decided to make a cranberry wild rice pilaf (the original recipe can be found here; obviously be sure to use a vegan chicken broth and vegan butter). Pearl barley, a second unconventional grain, is another main ingredient in this recipe. 

The pilaf turned out really well and was a nice lunch today.

Here's my Inktober sketch...

And here's Cringer up in the cat tower this morning...

Peace. :)

Roasted Acorn Squash with Wild Rice Stuffing

Hello everyone! Here's a new fall recipe I tried out last week.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Wild Rice Stuffing

I found the recipe here (just use a vegan butter & the recipe's vegan). My other changes included leaving out the shallots and celery, only making a third of the recipe (one acorn squash/two halves), and roasting first at 400°F for 15 minutes and then another 15 minutes, filled with the stuffing.

I had to poke the squash a couple times with a knife and then microwave it for a couple minutes to make it easier to cut in half. 

Cute little seeds.

 

Then I scooped out the seeds and the pulp (I later roasted the seeds).

The roasted acorn squash turned out OK, but not as good as I was hoping it would be. When I had the second half the next day as leftovers, it was a bit better, though. I think if I were to make it again, I would cook the rice in vegetable broth, add the celery back in, use less brown sugar, and leave out the cranberries as well (maybe use raisins instead?). (It was a bit too sweet for me.)

I also had a spinach salad and baby carrots with vegan ranch dressing.

 

As promised, here's the first picture I got of Mystery lying in the sun.

Peace. :)

Some Food Since Vegan MoFo, Book Recommendation

Hello everyone! For my third post this week, I thought I'd share photos of some of the food I've had since the end of Vegan MoFo, as well as give a book recommendation.

Spinach, Daiya cheese, and Lightlife pepperoni pizza

Peanut butter brown rice with peppers

Daiya frozen cheese pizza that I split with Zach (the instructions on the box called for it to be baked a) at way too high a temperature and b) for way too long a time; we took it out early). It was good, though the crust was really thin.

Brown rice with squash (yellow & green) and onions, also turmeric, cumin, salt, and I forget what else; I had this with shiitake bacon, but took the picture before it was done baking.

Plain "chicken" broth with rotini noodles and crackers (to help me get over a cold)

Baked beans with wild rice and broccoli

Ingredients:

2 cans beans (I used 1 can dark and 1 can light kidney beans)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp mustard

1/2 cup ketchup

Directions:

Mix brown sugar and mustard. Add half of mix on one can of beans in a baking dish. Add second can of beans and remaining mixture. Pour ketchup over and bake at 325°F for two hours (I usually stir it every half-hour). I think I'm going to start making these with less brown sugar because they seemed a bit too sweet to me.

To utilize some of the leftover baked beans, I made a quick burrito (baked beans, Daiya cheddar, sautéed onions, salsa).

In other news, if you are looking for a sweet story about an adorable cat, I'd recommend reading Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper, a book about a blind kitten she adopts.

It's a quick read with lots of short chapters and several photos; kinda wish it had been longer! I really enjoyed the funny and cute stories about Homer's various adventures, quirks, and interactions with others. (Note: I personally could have done without the "None So Blind" chapter where the author discussed meeting her future husband. To me, it just seemed to drag on; the only way it related to Homer was that he inspired her to "take the leap" and start dating this individual.) Now for the sad part, the only reason I heard of this book in the first place was that I saw an article about Homer having died at the age of 16 years old. In the book, however, he is very much alive and his story is one that I'll definitely remember. You can find the book here on Amazon.

Mystery, resting on the floor (she doesn't do this much, usually prefers to rest on the couch or bed)

Yesterday, I noticed Mystery just standing on the floor, in the sunlight coming through the window. She seemed hesitant to lie down but was enjoying the warmth of the sun, so I set a folded-up blanket on the floor beside her in case she wanted a little "bed." She climbed on top of it, climbed off, and then laid down next to it! I didn't get any pictures, unfortunately, but I'll definitely try to if she does it again.

Peace. :)

Herb Dijon Chick'n with Wild Rice

Hello on the 12th day of the Vegan Month of Food! Today I have a fun recipe as well as a story about losing power yesterday. (Vegan candles save the day!)

Herb Dijon Chick'n with Wild Rice

Ingredients:

(rice)

--1/2 cup wild rice* (I used Lundberg Wild Blend rice)

--(slightly less than) 1 cup water

(chick'n)

--1 Gardein herb Dijon chick'n "breast" and sauce

(broccoli)

Bring water and rice to boil, cover, and turn heat to low, allowing to simmer for 45 minutes to an hour (until majority of water is absorbed). Remove from heat, add several pieces of broccoli atop the rice, and cover to steam for 10 minutes. While broccoli and rice are steaming, sauté the Gardein chick'n "breast" over medium heat, flipping until golden-brown on both sides. Turn heat to low, pour the herb Dijon sauce over the chick'n, and allow to simmer briefly before turning off the burner. Stir rice and broccoli; serve**. Add the chick'n and sauce atop the rice; enjoy!

*this makes 2 servings of rice

**so I set aside half the rice as leftovers

My fun yesterday involved the power shutting off around five different times while I was trying to cook dinner. Each time, the power came back on quickly, but it did get frustrating, as I was trying to multi-task by typing out the cooking instructions for this meal as well as planning for my Parks and Rec week of Vegan MoFo, so thank goodness for document recovery! 

I decided to add a ring of baby carrots :)

I did eventually get around to having my dinner, though, and it was pretty good. I'm generally not that interested in meat analogs (other than Boca chik'n patties, which I love!), but I wanted to try something new, and this was a pretty nice meal, so it might be something I make every now and then.

After dinner, I checked out some more Vegan MoFo blogs, and then while I was watching TV, the power went off. (By this point, it's dark outside and I've closed the shades, so it is literally pitch black in the apartment.) I decided to close my eyes and just stay on the couch, figuring that the power would come back on quickly like it had earlier. Well, I was wrong. After a couple minutes, I knew it was going to be out for some time, and I got up to find my cell phone, which I used as a flashlight to navigate my way to the shades and open them. The entire apartment complex was dark, completely out of power, so I just left the shades open to get a tiny bit of light (at least the sky was brighter than the inside of the apartment, so it was better than nothing). Then I made my way to the bedroom, where I gathered up all my decorative battery-powered tea light candles, switching them on and arranging them in the living room. It looked so cool with all the candles going (they have a pretty realistic candle "flicker"), and I wanted to take a picture, but I knew it wouldn't turn out right, so I just took a picture of them all together today.

here's all my decorative little candles (unlit)

I called Zach to give him a heads-up (he was already on his way back from work), and when he got back, we searched for my vegan candles (when we found them, we decided to light the rosemary mint one that I'd ordered from Vegan Essentials).

rosemary mint candle, after being lit last night

By this point, Mystery had woken up from sleeping on the bed; she came out to see what was going on. (She was likely confused as to why we weren't in bed if all the lights were off.) So the three of us had a cuddle pile on the couch, and about an hour after the power had gone out, it was back on. I had fun with all the candles in the dark, but I'm glad the power came back on because it had started to get warm without the air conditioner and it was muggy outside (a senior cat, Mystery does not do well in the heat). So, once the power came back on, we were able to cool off and carry on with our night.

Mystery decided to put on her grumpy face for the camera today.

cute little feet

Peace. :)