Mixed Berry Smoothie, Ups & Downs of LightLife, Butternut Vegan Mac & Cheese

Time has been flying by!  I do have things to share but haven't had time to share it.  I almost forgot it was my birthday today, too!  But then again - it's just another day!  So, this will be a mishmash of a blog entry - yet again!

Kicking things off with a smoothie I had the other night!  I've been pretty bad about eating fruit lately.  I mean...technically...Tomatoes, Avocadoes are fruits, yes, but other fruits I have been passing over lately.  I think it's just because I find them too sweet lately.  My sensitive teeth have been avoiding the naturally sugary jolt.  I think a way around this is smoothies and I've going to try and work on this!  Having said that - what do you think about the photo above?  I have been trying to take some better pictures and have been tinkering with lighting a bit.

The Smoothie contains:

1 c Coconut Milk
1 T Flax Meal
1 T Hemp Seeds
1 T Chia Seeds
2 C Frozen Mixed Berries

This next photo is from Monday.  It was our League of Women Voters 2nd Annual Sunshine Event.  I blogged about it last year a little bit so I figured I would mention it again this year.  This time around we took a tour of the City/Municipal Building and had about 5 speakers including our Mayor, City Manager, Chief of Police, Freedom of Information Officer, and a couple of Council Members.  I think the event was a success and it was something that has been in the works for a couple of months!

Here's a new-to-me-product.  I found them a while back on one of our weekend grocery shopping adventures.  It's been a couple of weeks since I actually ate them but wanted to share it.  They were quite tasty.  It's been a long time since I have tried anything from LightLife because I'm not into fake meats and I found a bunch of their items salty (years ago) but I see they are coming out with a bunch of new products so I'm happy to see them kicking it up a notch!  I made a simple homemade Thousand Island type dressing/dip for them.  It was a complete meal and quite filling, too!

This was a completely thrown together meal one day while working.  I went to a grocery store nearby and grabbed 3 items...frozen cauliflower rice, Daiya cheese sauce, and LightLife Vegan Dogs.  I only bought them because they were 2 for $5 and then there was a dollar off coupon on top of that so far $1.50 I thought I would revisit them.  I still didn't care for them.  I ate a few of them in this dish and then picked around it and just ate the cheesy cauliflower rice!  

The weather has still been awful here but I was able to visit my parents and brought Cricket along for a playdate with their dog Lexi.  They surprised me with Amy's Vegan Curry for dinner last night!

As for this double photo...it was a Butternut Squash based Vegan Mac and Cheese dish I made earlier this week.  The recipe is below - all in a blender:

1 Can Organic Butternut Squash Puree
2 T Tahini
3 T Nutritional Yeast
1 t Minced Garlic
1 t Smoked Paprika

1 t Turmeric

To Taste: Yellow Mustard, Lemon Juice, Balsamic, Braggs Liquid Aminos, Almond or Coconut Milk

Marinated Cucumber Tomato Hemp Seed Salad, Butternut Squash Lentil Walnut Kale Curry, Today's Lunch!

TGIF!  What am I eating today!?  Well, here's a peak!

From top left - Butternut Squash, Lentil, and Kale Curry (Recipe Below), on the side - Cucumber, Tomato, and Hemp Seed/Hemp Heart Marinated Salad (Recipe Below), at bottom - store brought dried crisp "snapeas"...I found at a random store that aren't too bad but I will be dehydrating some of my own in the near future.

I used a Cucumber and a half and a Large Tomato for this.  After I cut them...I added the following...

3 T Red Wine Vinegar
2 T (or less) of Wholesome Sweeteners' Organic Sugar
1 to 2 T Hemp Seeds/Hemp Hearts (Manitoba Harvest)

I marinated it overnight in the frig.  It's very flavorful and yummy!  Since I haven't gotten cut with the decor in the Bento Boxes I'm hoping the colors of Red & Green will qualify for this week's Christmas Theme?

For the Butternut Squash, Lentil, Walnut, Kale Curry
I did the following...

1-pound of Butternut Squash
1 C Kale
1 Shallot
Splash of Grapeseed Oil (Wildtree Basil Pesto Flavor)
2 tea Curry Powder
1/2 C Walnuts
2 T Cilantro
Lime Juice to Taste

Participating in: Pin Me #64, Bento For Kidlet's Meatless Monday, Freedom Fridays, Bento Blog Network #116, Leftovers On Fridays, 

Fake Meats, Vegan Casseroles, Awesome Vegan Buffalo Sauce, Smoothies, Apple Adventures

As many of you know...I'm NOT generally a fan of "Fake Meats".  Mostly because I was never a fan of "Real Meats" to begin with.  For me...the transition to Vegetarian was the EASIEST thing I have EVER done.  Many people don't believe me when I say that I never liked "meat" from the start.  But that is another story for a different day.  Another reason I don't usually like meat alternatives is because they are usually too salty for my taste.  I tend to 'eventually' try products from time to time more-so to be social or convenient - for example - while camping.  But I saw this Soyrizo which is Melissa's Brand and it was on sale for a really good price and I had not seen it anywhere else so I thought I would grab it.  I ended up making a few things with it.  

 

First...I made this in my skillet on the stove top.  I combined The Soyrizo (cooked) with some Frozen Kale, Canned Diced Tomatoes, and Onion and Garlic.  

Because I made up all of the Soyrizo at once this made a HUGE amount of this.  So...I used this as my base, really.  I started out eating this as a "side" as-is.  Then I THOUGHT to use it as a 'stuffing' for Acorn/Butternut Squash and I should have (instead I used it in a FAILED attempt in Squash/Apple Soup!)

But THEN...I took what I had left and added just a little bit of Spiral/Elbow Pasta (about a cup) and cooked that up and added it to the mix.  I then baked it in the oven but not before I was done adding a few more things to the top of this Casserole!  I topped it with Vegan Bread Crumbs AND just a very little bit of Daiya Shredded Cheddar.

I have to say...this turned out REALLY REALLY GOOD!  I was quite surprised!  It had a Mexican or Spanish type flavor to it already and then with the additions it made a very hardy meal as well as a nice comfort food!

Speaking of my Soup FAIL here is a photo of it.  It looks harmless enough, doesn't it?  Either Soups with Apple in them are NOT my forte and/or I am just NOT a fan of sweet/fruity soups!  Either or Both could certainly be the case!

This had Onion, Garlic, 1 Apple, 2 Small Butternut Squash(s), a bit of Thyme, Nutmeg, Almond Milk, Black Pepper, etc in it.  I won't bore you with the actual recipe because it won't be something I will do again nor is it something I would suggest! LOL

Because I had to do QUICK foods last week and didn't want to buy a lot of additional produced - not only because I wanted to finish up what I had on hand - but also because we were 'here, there, and every where' - I didn't want it to go to waste if we were not going to be around.

Because I have been making White Rice and Jasmine Rice so much for Hubby I decided to eat it, too!

I found some Sun Dried Tomatoes with Garlic in a glass Jar at one of our discount stores and thought I would give them a whirl.  The flavor is WONDERFUL and so I thought I would try a tablespoon or two mixed in with the white rice.  It complemented it NICELY!

 

 I know, I know...TWO Fake Meats in the same posts!    Well I actually had these a while back.  They are Wegman's Brand and are VEGAN Chicken Nuggets of sorts.  I've now tried them baked as well as in Grapeseed Oil in a skillet (fried).  I think I prefer baked but both ways are fairly good!  They're made of soy protein, spices, wheat gluten, grains, various veggie fibers, wheat flour and rice flour.  It does have canola oil in it but not as bad as some alternative meat products.  They are high is protein and fiber and fairly low in sodium considering the packaged/fake meat thought behind it.

My FAVORITE part of making these was the sauce I made.  And the reason I am posting about them on my blog!  It's my Vegan Version of Buffalo Sauce and I am totally LOVING IT and think it will be my go-to Buffalo Sauce Recipe from now on!

2/3 C Frank's Hot Sauce

2 T Earth Balance

1/4 tea Vegan Worcestershire Sauce (I used Wizards)

1/4 tea Cayenne 

1/4 tea Garlic Powder

Dab of Balsamic (not very much at all maybe 1/4 to 1/2 tea)

AND...FINALLY...a Smoothie Recipe for you!

This is the SWEETEST Smoothie I have EVER tasted.  I prefer them toned down a bit but enjoyed the attempt.  I will know for next time NOT to go as hardcore with everything, I guess!  

I used...

1 C Strawberry Banana Soymilk

1 Scoop Garden of Life's Perfect Food RAW - Apple

2 T Apple Sauce

Ice to taste/consistency 

 

Again...this is SUPER Sweet!  I ended up finishing it and my mind was STILL focused on the dreaded BANANA that was in the Soymilk!  HA!  The Apple was nice but next time I will do it GREENER.  I was thinking about using the Apple Flavor from GoL with some Apple Sauce and Cinnamon and doing some sort of "cookie" in my Dehydrator!  So many thoughts...so little time!

 

Part 2 on the Grain Dish From Yesterday & Savory Spinach Butternut Squash

 I knew I forgot something yesterday!  I told you about my Heritage Blend Dish and forgot to post the photo of the actual DISH!  Sorry about that!  So, here, it is!  Recipe is in yesterday's post. 

I was also mentioning yesterday how CRAZY BUSY it's been because of everything happening in the news, nationally, well the last few days we have had several BIG local stories, too!  There are LOTS of scary things happening.  Once again...I am grateful to have this blog as an escape!

Last Night I had an eventful and productive evening.  I went Late-Night Grocery Shopping - I haven't done that in a WHILE!  I basically got a bunch of larger items - dog and cat food - paper products - etc.  I was able to find a deal on Mangoes for just 66 cents each so I bought 3.  I also found some bagged, pre-cut, organic butternut squash so I bought that!  I ran home and came up with this Squash Dish!

It has about 1 pound of Butternut Squash
1/8 C Wildtree Savory Spinach
Splash of Garlic Grapeseed Oil
Sprinkle of Wildtree Lemon Pepper as well as Wildtree California Garlic Pepper Blend to taste!

Just a quick note to say HI and show you these two dishes!  It's been another DO-ZEE of a day!  How are things in your part of the world?

Get Your Greens On - Kale Chips & Spinach Butternut Salad

 Yes...I swiped that phrase from Dara Dubinet!

See!  I DO make my own Kale Chips!  Here is one of my attempts!  It wasn't one of my better attempts but they were still yummy!  There is a Cashew Type of Concoction on them, here.  I also added some of Wildtree's Hot Chili Pepper & Garlic Blend to this!

And this is the Spinach & Butternut Salad we did for Thanksgiving, too!  So...we have Baby Spinach, Red Onions & Butternut Squash, Grapeseed Oil, Wildtree's Lemon Rosemary to taste, and Craisins.  It was DARN TASTY!