Field Roast Vegan Mini Corn Dogs & Odwalla Vegan Shakes

I normally don't care for fake meats because I never liked the taste of real meat growing up.  Going vegetarian was overly easy for me because of that.  However, with all of the new vegan products coming out these days I'm not opposed to trying them at least once.  You never know unless you try, right?  There are very few vegan meats I would buy often.  I could probably count them on 1 hand, actually.  But then there is what I would consider 'convenience and social' storebought vegan foods.  By that I mean, if I am going to a BBQ or camping I might buy them just to have them to be more social.  I think this is one of those items.  Field Roast Mini Corn Dogs.  They were one of the more tasty products I have found but I would put it on that 'convenience and social' list of things.  I wouldn't eat this product every week but I'm glad it's an option.

2 other items I have tried for the first time recently have been these two Odwalla Vegan Shakes.  They are made with Almond Milk and are clearly marked VEGAN.

The first one is the Mocha Latte.  It was ok.  I didn't love it so much that I have to buy it over and over again but I was grateful I was able to find it locally and chug it down last week.  I really thought I would ADORE it but it was just 'ok'.

I'm not loving the press photos of these shakes because they look a lot lighter in color than they actually are when you hold them in your hand.  The photo is a bit misleading, I think.

Oddly, the other one I grabbed was this Snickerdoodle one and I thought I would try it and not love it but I ended up liking it way better than the Mocha Latte one. 

In other news - I'm having a hard time getting into Christmas Shopping and the Christmas Season this year.  One of these days I will elaborate on that more but not now.

This past weekend we attended our last craft/vendor show as Wildtree Reps.  We were involved with the product for 9 years and thought after MANY corporate changes this past year we would call it quits.  It was nice while it lasted and we still LOVE the product line but with everything else going on such as our full-time work, lots of volunteering, my niece and other family happenings, we thought the time has come to move on.

Comfort Zone Cafe & Fun With Parents!

I have almost all of my vacation time still left for the year so I decided to FINALLY take a day off this past Monday.

I didn't spend it alone.  I was with DH and my parents all day.  My parents have been looking at campers and still had yet to visit Camping World which is where we go ours a few years ago.  We spent a few hours going thru MANY of them but before we get to the final decision I thought I would share with you where we went for lunch while mulling it over...

The place you are seeing in the first photo is called Comfort Zone Cafe and it's in a really neat looking section of Hamburg, NY.  The owner and workers were all super nice and loaded with personality.  They had a nice selection of panini's, soups, beverages, etc.

They said on their website that they always have (at least) 1 Gluten Free and Vegan "Boat" available and it changes with the season.  Of course, that is what I was interested in and this next photo is what I opted for.  It's an Acorn Squash Boat.  It was very yummy!  PLUS it was something 'outside of the box' when it comes to vegan options which I ALWAYS appreciate!  It was stuffed with mashed squash, celery, cranberries, apples, onions, and Cannellini Beans, etc.

And finally...here is a photo of my parents with their recent purchase!  It's a Jay Flight Camper and it's about 28-feet long.  I LOVE the expressions on their faces!  The only downside is that they have to wait until spring to get it out of storage and enjoy it!  WHY?  Because winter is upon us.  Yup!  In case you don't already know - I live in the snow belt and it will arrive any day now - I'm sure...sigh...Regardless it was a fun day and we had a delightful lunch at Comfort Zone Cafe in Hamburg!

Cricket, Hair, and Such

TGIF!  Just doing a quick post for today as I plan to switch gears starting next week post-Vegan MoFo.  Remember you can still sign up for the MoFo Off Season Community just click on the first graphic at the top of my sidebar for full details.  Today I thought I would share some photos of Cricket.  These were taken a few weeks ago when we are camping.  I brought her the one day and she really loved hanging out!

That first photo - I swear she's going to start speaking English or something - look at the LOOK on her face!  In the 2nd and 3rd photos she was looking out the window.  And the 4th one was one of the days I took her to work.  She walks around the office like she owns the place - I swear!  I will have near future posts and updates on the other furkids very soon!  Thanks to those of you who always ask about Paco (who has ongoing immune issues)

Here's a silly photo of me - a selfie - after getting my hair done.  It was LONG overdue.

Tonight is my husband's 25th High School Reunion.  I have some ideas as to how the events might go down but I will save it for a post next week!

It's sure to be a brew-haha!

The weather is REALLY cooling down RAPIDLY.  I will for-sure have to wear layers tonight to the reunion.

This week has been a week of QUICK MEALS, Convenience Items, and Comfort Foods.  Next week I will be changing that.  My goal is to start in with more warming soups next week and I want to get back to veganizing world foods, too!

This last photo is of one of the vegan white sauces I made for pasta this week.  Its base is Pine Nuts.  It was quite good but still me I don't think I wrote down the recipe!  Eeeeek!

Question of the Day: Tell me about the last sauce you made from scratch!

Vegan MoFo ~ Something Blue

I'm digging thru the archives for this one!  Blueberry Hemp Smoothie!
I may be cheating with this since it's not a NEW recipes it's one that I have used before.  Forgive me!

2 one-inch chunks of frozen banana
1 C Blueberries
2 T Hemp Seeds/Hemp Hearts
1 C Water
1 Handful of Spinach
1 Date

I have been so jazzed about Vegan MoFo this year that I have nearly forgotten to post a few other things I wanted to share with you so here it goes!  First...a random Kombucha!  I know Vegan Peace will appreciate this!  I have been wanting to make my own but still haven't pulled the trigger on it yet.  I'm still pretty nervous!  But I learned a lot from YouTube and my buddy Opal about making your own...I just haven't!  I know...I know...stop procrastinating!  Just DO IT!  One of these days I will...just not today!  I will say I was surprised at how tasty this bottled flavored Kombucha was!  Raspberry and Lemon!  It was about 60/40 Raspberry/Lemon flavor ratio!  It had that lightly carbonated tingle but wasn't vinegary...the last bottled Kombucha I had was like vinegar.

Another thing I wanted to share in this post is what we did this past weekend.  It was a nice 3-day weekend!  We went camping and met up with some people on the board that hubby belongs to as well as being able to see some friends we haven't seen in about a year.  It was actually former band mates and friends!  It was FUN and I would love to do it again!  We hope to meet up with our buddies Tom and Nicole for dinner in a month or more (before the snow starts flying again).  I can't believe it's that time of year again...time to wonder when the snow is going to start in again...sigh...

Here's a pic of the band.  Well, it's a reunion photo of sorts since they no longer play on a regular basis, I guess.

In case you are new to my blog...my husband's former band(s) were of the Bluegrass variety. 

The 5 you see here made up the band Northern Railroad Bluegrass.  My husband is on the far right...then there is his uncle, our buddy Joel on base in the middle, then Tom on Mandolin with the white T-Shirt, and Bud on the far left with the other guitar!

I took some video but don't know if it came out or not.  It was fun and I hope they get together again soon!  I miss the music and friendship!

My Blissful Camping Journey Begins

Because of all the goodies I have been sharing and contests and giveaways I have been slacking on my other posts but I have LOTS to share! Over the next couple of weeks I have LOTS going on so I will be schedule-posting a lot of things and when I get back from fair week in a few weeks I will have many more posts to share. 

Special THANKS to every who entered the NuNaturals Giveaway!  I will be choosing 4 winners today and will announce them later today in a separate post!  

As you can see above I have something new to tell you about!  Yup!  We bought a camper!  We do have an older camper that is 'planted' up in the woods near my husband's family's land but that has been there since we bought it YEARS ago and will remain there.  This recent purchase is the one we will be 'babying'.  For the most part we will be storing it at the fair grounds and doing a lot of camping there.  Maybe next year we will branch out and take it places but for now we have a plan and that plan involved being at the grounds most of this year.  Hubby's on the fair board and I've been helping when I can.  Last night I stained a wishing well and over the weekend I stained a few decks near the Entertainment Office and Radio Booth.  Saturday there was a show and I worked the food booth, too!

Friday Night and again on Sunday I took Cricket with me over to the grounds.  She really enjoyed it.  Hubby's aunt/uncle's dog Abby was there and the two of them played a while.  Before going back on Sunday I took Cricket over to my parents house and she played with their dog Lexi.  She was quite active this weekend.  I took her into the camper for the first time and as you can see she approved!

The fair is less than 3 weeks away and it seems we are living and breathing everything fair!  Not only is Dale on the fair board we are there full time there for work that week, too!  One of the things I will be posting about is my adventures in mostly vegan food that week like I did last year but this year I will be there even more than previous years so I am sure I will have more to share this time around!  That and the music!  We have 4 concerts this year!  AND new to the radio booth we will have a prize wheel!  AND we always pass out 3 or 4 thousand Whirley Mugs and this year we will pass out about 300 bags of chips for free, too!  Yes...it will be a busy one!  OH!  And I almost forget...this year I will be Dale's co-host on the air each day! 

I'm sure I will have more pictures and posts from the fair grounds before, during, and after that week.  In the meantime I thought I would also show you a neat pic of one of the mushrooms I saw last weekend!

Warning! Cute Puppies Ahead...

This past weekend we spend quite a bit of time at 'camp'.  My husband's family has almost 120 acres of land in the woods and a bunch of us have standing campers planted in the middle of nature!   My husband's cousin and her husband's 2 dogs BOTH had puppies within a week of each other!  Between the two of them they had 17 that 'made it' and 7 that didn't.  Could you imagine TWO DOZEN puppies!  Oh my goodness!  These two adorable ones were at camp for a while on Saturday.  They fell asleep like this under one of the 4 wheelers someone had up there.  Camp is not a stranger to kids AND furkids visiting so everyone knows to proceed the camping area with extreme caution.

Check this one out!  He seriously feel asleep like this on Jodi's lap!  So cute!  Wendy knows a lot of people and thankfully all of them have homes lined-up.  We would have taken one if we didn't already have 3 of them.  Plus these kiddos are Lab/Retriever Mixes and are going to be much larger than we are used to in our home of vertically challenged puppers!

BUT...guess who DID take one home!?  My Borther In Law Mike!  On Sunday they brought three of them to camp and the one snuggled up to Mike right away and stayed right with him the whole time!  I found an old sweater in the camper and his new puppy claimed it right away!  Mike has decided to name him "Blue".  For various reasons, really, but it stems from an inside joke of our love for the movie "Old School" with Will Ferrell.  That night Dale and I went home and grabbed a few toys from our stash (ones that we were hiding from our 'kids' because they were too fragile) as well as a leash, collar, and X-Pen...and brought it back for him to take home.  Right away I text messaged him yesterday to see how Blue did overnight and he did really well and him and Junior (his adult cat) and the new addition are already bonding well!  It's perfect because Mike has a nice sided yard that is also enclosed for Blue to run and play when he gets a little older.  Something that we lack at our house.  I'm so happy for him and know he's already 'attached'.

Weekend of Remembering, Wildtree, Wineries, and Camping!

I have a lot to post, once again!  I will have at least 3 - if not more - blog entries today!  I figured I would start with some of the events of the weekend.  Of course it was Memorial Day Weekend a time to remember our Military Members - Past and Present.  My father was active during Vietnam.  He was in the Navy but in with the Marines on the USS Kitty Hawk.  My Grandfather was in the Military as well...During WWII.  My Cousin's Husband is still in the Military and made a life long career of it.  He hopes to retire in the next couple of years.  I had another cousin who was a Marine and in Desert Storm.  Many Co-Workers and others, too!  I think we all know some one who has served or is serving.  I thank all who have put their lives on the line for us and this country.  Thank You!

This past weekend a co-worker of mine attended our local Four Flags Ceremony in Heritage Park, Crescent Park.  It's always a wonderful ceremony.  The photo above it one that he took and we used for our FB Pages at work.

Another photo that wasn't taken by me is this one of Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies.  It was taken by the family of Melissa Swanson Braley.  Click on her name to visit the Caring Bridge Site for her.  2 days ago you will see the story of the Butterflies.  I cannot get over this story!  Unfortunately, Melissa lost her battle with cancer over the weekend.  You may have read mentions of the fundraiser we were doing with our Wildtree Stuff for her to raise funds for her treatment.  We are still raising fund for her family to help pay the medical bills as well as donate money towards her 2 young girls she left behind.  She was only 33 years old.  This weekend we will attend her service.  CANCER SUCKS!  Too many people are struggling with it and it's devastation is NOT slowing down!  I was chatting with Opal about this on her blog earlier today.  Each day - it scares me more and more!  It seems each day I hear YET ANOTHER person with cancer regardless of who they are, what they do, how they try to prevent it.  If you or someone you know would like to contribute to the Wildtree Fundraiser for Melissa Swanson Braley - CLICK HERE.

In other Wildtree News - we were over at Noble Winery in Westfield, NY, on Saturday and did well.  We sold out of the Hot Pepper Jelly and a few of the oils.  Here's our set-up.  It was really cold that day and we were near the water.  I did manage to get some neat photos of the land, tho!  Some of which are playing havoc with my blog post so I might save those for later in the week!  Here is one of them, tho!  I used a filter in a new App I am tinkering with!

Oh!  Here we go!  Here's another one I was able to insert in the blog post!  It's a view from the front of the tasting portion of the facility looking across the parking area and drive way - looking at the Vineyard!
They also have a wonderful dog that roams the grounds!  I didn't get a photo of her but she was awesome.  I took a break and played 'fetch' with her for a while.

Next time we visit there the weather will be MUCH better!  And I hope to get some better photos of the water past the "green" on the other side of their building.  It's beautiful!

Sunday and Monday my husband and I spent some time in the woods.  His family owns over 100 acres.  There are several branches of the family that camp there on occasion as well as other branches of the family who live full-time on the same road as the camp!  Here are some of the generations of the family as well as the greenery of the land.  You can see some campers, 4-wheelers, a campfire pit, picnic tables, and many people scattered throughout.  It was chilly but fun.  A few people bring their dogs up, too!  We brought Sammy up when he was alive but I don't think our 3 now would handle all of the activity - they are pretty low-key!

Here's one of Wendy's Dogs.  She has 'twins' and they are gorgeous!  Wendy is Dale's Cousin.  There was so much that took place this past weekend and I took LOTS of photos!  I have LOTS more to share with you, too, but the posts will be long so I will leave it here, for now.  In the meantime...how was your weekend?  Do anything special?  Take any photos?  How was your weather?  Anyone specific  you want to remember - feel free to do so in comments - too!  Thanks for stopping by!  More coming soon!