Best of 2017

To wrap up 2017, here are a few “bests” from my year...

Eight Best Books (of the 52 I read): Cordelia’s Honor (Lois McMaster Bujold); The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Naomi Klein); Lords and Ladies (Terry Pratchett); History of Wolves (Emily Fridlund); A People’s History of the United States (Howard Zinn); Etta and Otto and Russell and James (Emma Hooper); The Shepherd’s Crown (Terry Pratchett); and Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (Lois McMaster Bujold).

Best New Experience: Going to protests – I went to 14 different protests, rallies, and vigils this year, in addition to other activism events and meetings!

Two Best Adventures: My roadtrips with Zach to Maine – to explore Acadia National Park – and Missouri – for the solar eclipse!

Best Harvest: Cucumbers – I harvested 95 cucumbers from my garden this year!

Best Timing: The Vegan Month of Food – Vegan MoFo taking place in October coincided with the absolute worst part of this year for me (Buttons’ cancer, her declining health, and her passing), and yet it helped me keep it together in spite of all of that was going on. I could hang out with Buttons while she rested, reading about all the great food everyone was enjoying around the world; in those moments, I was experiencing the lives of other people instead of dwelling on all the worries and anxieties I had for my dear Buttons girl. Additionally, if I hadn’t committed to posting every day and trying new foods and fun recipes, I know I wouldn’t have eaten well in October; Vegan MoFo kept me cooking, and I sketched my food every day as part of Inktober as well. The Vegan MoFo community was so incredibly supportive during this difficult time; all the comments and love and understanding definitely got me through it. Thank you so much, everyone! <3

What are some “bests” from your 2017, and what are you looking forward to in 2018? I’m excited to read more good books, cook and eat more good food, grow my garden, cuddle with my kitties, make more art, and have some fun adventures! 

Thanks for reading and commenting this year, and I’ll see you again soon!

Peace. :)

Vegan MoFo 2014 Wrap-up

Hello on the 30th day of the Vegan Month of Food! This month has flown by so fast! So much cuteness and so many great themes! Tonight's final Vegan MoFo post will include my five favorite dishes, as well as a super long list of the bookmarked recipes I want to try! But first, here was today's lunch...

Mac & cheese with potato chips and pickles.

...And tonight's dinner.

Avgolemono (with added broccoli, diced red onion instead of shallots, and vegan chicken broth instead of vegetable broth).

Five Favorite Dishes I Made This Vegan MoFo:
 
Garlic Green Beans, Smashed Potatoes, and Spicy Corn
 
Classic Cornbread and Down-Home Chili
 
French Toast
 
Burger, Fries, Veggies, and Spice
 
Meera's Avgolemono

Recipes I've Bookmarked to Try:
 
Banana Breakfast Rollup from A.Cook in the Making

Chilly Monkey Biscuits from Adventures in Vegan Bento

Miniature Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels; Easy Apple Nachos; and One Minute Flourless Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Brownie from AfroVeganChick

Thai Chicken Laksa from Alien on Toast

Pizza Rolls from Bake Eat Love

Broccoli, Cheese, and tempeh bacon pot pie; Jackfruit Chick’un Noodle Crockpot Soup; French Onion Soup; and Chamomile Lavender Cupcakes from Banana Curl, Vegan Girl

Fabulously Fruity Muffins from Cat and Ju Vegan Cooking

Sesame Sriracha Noodles; Vegan Jackfruit BBQ; and Harvest Wild Rice Salad from Danielle Atkins

Easiest Weeknight Pasta Ever from East Meets West Veg

Carrot gnocchi with fennel en papillote and Chickpea flour pancakes with cumin and fresh coriander from Eating with the Rabbits

French Fries and Drown Your Sorrow Waffles from Evolution of Jill

Super Cheesy Easy Mac & Cheese; Popcorn Chick'n; and Cinnamon Sugar Bagel Chips from Floral Frosting

Grandma's chex mix; Toasted Walnut Maple Buns; Vegan Cheez Its; and Country Fried Seitan with Homemade Seitan Cutlets from House Vegan

Rosemary and Potato Focaccia from iheartcrapkitchen

Vegan Stovetop Mac and Cheese and Easy Broiled Breakfast Sandwiches and the Best Tofu Ever from Jessicat Cooks

Polish Potato and Cheese Pierogi Made Vegan and Aloo Paratha from The Judgmental Vegan

Potato Cheese Soup from Just the Food

Apple Cranberry Hand Pies from Kim Cooks Veg 4U

Pretzels from KZ Cakes

Onion Cake from Life by Six Mile Creek

Broccoli Corn Chowder and Apple Muffins from Lisa's Project: Vegan

Vegan Buckwheat Tabbouleh and Vegan Orange-Glazed Tempeh from Odd Little Vegan

Garlic Knots from Peabrain and Nosewhistle

Cream of Mushroom Soup from Plant Base Living

RAW LEMON, LAVENDER, VANILLA, PISTACHIO BITES from REAL FOOD + TRAVEL

Cawl; Welsh onion cake; Creamy leek soup with garlicky bagel croutons; and Leek and cashew pizza pie from Rosie's vegan kitchen

Runner Bean Pie; Couscous Stuffed Vegetables; Asparagus Pea & New Potato Pakoras; Homemade Tomato Sauce; and Courgette & Lentil Loaf from Self Sufficient Cafe

Buttermilk Dill Smashed Potatoes and Sprouted Chickpea Hummus from soy division.

Pureed Broccoli and Cheezy Soup from Sprouts and Chocolate

Chikn Noodle Soup with Rosemary Bread Rolls; Smokey Potatoe Baycn Bisque with Dark Rye Bread; Italian Wedding Soup with Gluten Free Basil Crackers; Cheezy French Onion Soup with French Baguette; Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup with Roti; and Mushroom-Burger Soup with Soft Pretzels from stairway to vegan

Split Pea Soup from the sunflower kitchen

Vegan Orange and Pecan Rooibos Teabread from Tea and Sympatico
 
Filthy Toxic Hot Chocolate from Thistle and Yellow Rose

Biscuits and Gravy; Lentil Loaf; Peanut Sauce with Super Easy Tofu-and-Broccoli; Vegan Chicken N' Noodle Casserole; and Rich Brown Gravy from Tofu Mom

Five-Cheese Baked Pete-aroni and Cheese and Deep Dish Mac & Cheese Pizza from V for Vegan

Cherry Buckwheat Breakfast Salad from Veg Fiend

Chick'n pot pie and Chick'n noodle soup and A Bac*n sandwich the TbLT from Vegan Knyquol 

Sweet Rolls and Sweet and White Potato Pancakes with Mushroom Sauce from Vegan Sweet and Simple

Lemony Risotto with Shiitake Shrimp from Vegan4One

Vegan Ham Cheese Stromboli from veganopoulous

Fudgy Black Bean Brownies and Chocolate-Orange Chia Pudding from vegga

Golden Gravy; Dijon Mushroom Potatoes; and Cheezy Baked Macaroni from VeggieSue's Veggie Adventures

Jewelled Rocky Road Bars from veghotpot

Smoky Chickpea Stew from Walk, Talks and Eats

Sweet & Easy Dessert Rolls and Squirrely Cookies from x means no onions

Pizza Burger from Zsu's Vegan Pantry

New Blogs I've Started Following:
I've updated my “Blogs I Follow” in the sidebar, so check it out! (Some, like House Vegan, Sprouts and Chocolate, and Panda With Cookie won't show up because Blogger keeps rejecting them when I try to add them to my list, but I'll keep trying!) I know I'll be adding more in the coming weeks; I still have a bunch of Vegan MoFo blogs to visit and read through!

Some More Vegan MoFo 2014 Highlights:
Buttons on the Round Up,
Winning the Vegan MoFo mug giveaway,
33 posts,
And nearly 6,000 pageviews!

And finally, an addendum to my favorite themes (how did I forget this one yesterday?): Soup & Bread by stairway to vegan.
 
I hope you all have had a great time this Vegan MoFo! Here's to an even better one next year, and lots of cooking, baking, and blogging in between! 

Buttons and Leela enjoyed meeting everyone this year, but they're going to rest up now; they're all worn out from having their pictures taken so much! 

Peace. :)

Favorite Vegan MoFo Themes

Hello on the 29th day of the Vegan Month of Food! Today's wrap-up post is a list of my favorite monthly themes this Vegan MoFo. Quick post of my dinner before we get started... 

Tonight I had my peanut butter brown rice and broccoli, along with carrots and bottom-of-the-bag scraps of lentil chips. Simple and delicious. 

And look who I found making his way along my sink after I'd finished dinner...

Cute little green caterpillar. :)

Wouldn't have been a Vegan MoFo without a picture of an insect (Vegan MoFo 2013, Vegan MoFo 2012)!

OK, on to the wrap-up as promised...

I always admire the bloggers with monthly themes, so I'd like to acknowledge some of my favorites here. Three cheers to all these blogs for having such awesome themes!

Favorite Vegan MoFo Themes:
 
Entertaining Me at Detroit Made
 
Food Friends at Food Feud
 
Bizarre and Outdated Cookbooks at Hasta La Vegan
 
Robin Robertson Rocks at Kittens Gone Lentil
 
Recipe Roundup at Lisa's Project: Vegan
 
Vegan Finds At Target at MissMuffcake
 
September Harvest at Self Sufficient Cafe
 
Tea at Tea and Sympatico
 
Vegan Month of Food... & Gravy! at Tofu Mom
 
Carbs & Recreation at V for Vegan
 
Food from Harry Potter at Vegan Knyquol
 
Vegan Nom Noms Does America at Vegan Nom Noms
 
Vegan Around the World at Vegan Sweet and Simple
 
International Cheese & Chocolate Month at vegan.in.brighton
 
Will My Kids Eat It? at Veganopoulous
 
But where do you get your protein?! (And calcium, and iron, and…) at vegga

Vegan Month of Burgers at Zsu's Vegan Pantry
 
Next, here's my quick Cuteness Addendum to yesterday's post: Check out Chewy over at East Meets West Veg and Marco at Self Sufficient Cafe. What cuties!

And, finally, this one fits under both cuteness and favorite themes: Food That Looks Like My Cat, which took place on Thursdays at Panda With Cookie.

(I'm sure I missed some awesome themes, so let me know in the comments if you had a favorite that you didn't see on my list!)

Buttons wanted to play hide-and-seek today with Leela.

Leela agreed to count slowly to one hundred, but she refused to close her eyes in case Buttons was playing a trick on her. 

P.S. Bonus post coming later tonight!

Peace. :)

Cuteness during Vegan MoFo

Hello on the 28th day of the Vegan Month of Food! These last three days will consist of wrap-ups; today I've compiled a list of some of my favorite Vegan MoFo posts with cute animal photos. But first, I want to quickly post a meal that I threw together last night for dinner. 

I wanted to use some stuff up, so the ingredients were as follows: What remained of the creamy mushroom soup (1/2 cup?), water (1 cup?), miso, broken fettuccine, and some frozen broccoli. The soup turned out surprisingly well for me not bothering to measure. (Not pictured: I also had two strips of Beyond Meat chicken, which I dunked in ketchup.) 

And another similar version that I had for dinner tonight: Miso with noodles, broccoli, and Gardein beefless tips. 

OK, on to the main event, here are 20 links to just some of the cuteness I saw this Vegan MoFo! (Some blogs have had multiple posts with cute animal photos, so I've just linked to the most recent post I could find.)  

Adventures in Vegan Bento

Cat and Ju Vegan Cooking

Danielle Atkins

Detroit Made

Food Feud

Hasta La Vegan

House Vegan

In Rad Taste

Kittens Gone Lentil

Lazy Smurf's Guide to Life

Melon Collies and the Infinite Sandwich 

Popcorn and Nooch

Rock My Vegan Socks

Rosie's Vegan Kitchen
 
The “V” Word  

Thistle and Yellow Rose

Vegan Crunk
 
Vegan Sweet and Simple

Walks, Talks and Eats

Zsu's Vegan Pantry

Of course, Buttons and Leela wanted to make a (sleepy) contribution to the cuteness:

P.S. Bonus post coming later today!

Peace. :)