More Vegan Finds, Plants, Community, and Such!

With the many months I took off from blogging - I still have TONS of photos and things to share!  I'm trying to schedule a few blog posts in between to try and catch up, too!

Here you can see one of the painted rocks I found this year.

This was on the fairgrounds.

I'm still LOVING these Swapples!  If you haven't tried them yet you should!  They are VERY dense and VERY filling!  Soooo versatile, too!

I ended up grabbing 3 different flavors of these at the beginning of summer and they helped me in between meals during fair week.  They are a little dry but the flavor is good.

I'm having some ups and downs with my office plants lately.  I'm pretty sure it's because fall and winter are coming.  I remember that happening last year.  This is one of the plants that seem to be doing well lately.  It's one of my newer plants.  It's called a Dragon's Tongue.

Near the end of August I attended a community event in Irvine, PA, at the Wilder Museum.  There was a speaker from SUNY JCC highlighting the life of a local suffragist by the name of Elnora Monroe Babcock who was born in Freehold Township and grew up around Columbus, PA.  She went on to do AMAZING things in the Suffrage Movement throughout the state of New York, too!

This isn't one of my plants but it's a hanging basket I got for my mom for Mothers Day and it's still going strong!

This past summer I spotted a new-to-me product from Earth Balance and HAD to try it.  It doesn't taste extremely different from their other vegan butters but it is tasty!

I was going to safe this for a work lunch some day but I ended up having it for dinner one night in stead.  It has been way too long since my last vegan meal from Annie Chun's!

I'm pretty sure my new favorite shreds are from VioLife!  I got these at Mustard Seed but just spotted them LAST WEEK at my local Tops and I couldn't be happier about it!

I also spotted a new-to-new product from Gardein while at Giant Eagle in Erie, I believe.  They are still in my freezer and I haven't tried them yet but I'm thinking it will be SOON!

At first taste I wasn't overly thrilled with this Good Karma product but have since paired it with some things like Salsa and it wasn't too shabby.

This is a product that Hillary and I have been boasting about on IG.  I really enjoyed it and wish I would have bought 5 more!  I'm pretty addicted to it, actually!

And here is one of the new-to-me Amy's Kitchen products I found at the Erie Target a while back.  I really enjoyed this, too!

MidWeek Munchies & Shame On Me!

It's been a weird few weeks! I know I have been spotty with my posts! So sorry! Shame on me! Now that I am so far behind I have tons and tons of stuff in the works! 

Today is Wednesday and that means it's time for MidWeek Munchies! I hope you will participate - we had a great week last week! So if you have anything VEGAN you would like to share and link up with we welcome you and your posts! It can be a grocery store haul, garden or farmers market trip, online purchase, or anything you made and munched on that happens to be vegan! 

As for me...this particular post is a boring one...so sorry! This past week I didn't buy all that much. I did, however, get some Earth Balance and Chickpeas. With the Chickpeas I made what you see above...it's one of the many Chickpea Spreads I have whipped up. This one has sun-dried tomatoes in it, too, and it was YUMMERS!

I also met up with one of my best friends on Monday. I took a vacation day from work. Her and I went to Wegmans and grabbed some Polenta and Salsa. She had never had Polenta before so I got some that was packaged and used a little of the Earth Balance and did it up in a frying pan and topped it with Salsa. We both enjoyed it! She and I met in college and have had a connection ever since. I wish I could spend more time with her! She told me that she is back to being a vegetarian again! Lacto-Veg! I thought that was wonderful! She was in college for a while, too, and she's really excited to start back up again! She might just be reading my blog now...so...if she is...HEY GIRL! 

The winner of the MyKind Organic's Vegan D3 Spray was Emily! CONGRATS! There will be another chance to win a prize from Garden of Life this weekend so stay tuned!

Tell me...what have you been munching on?

An InLinkz Link-up

Vegan MoFo ~ Bonus Items!

Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is..."What 3 endless food supplies would you take if you were going to be stranded on an island?  Imagine your nutritional needs have been met - these are a bonus'.

Well, this one really has me stumped because nearly everything I initially came up with were fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, grains, etc.  The only thing I could come up with would be luxury items or supplies of packaged items, I guess.  But before I get to those I thought I would talk about a few things that could probably be on the fringe.  I mean...Nutritional Yeast!  But...since all my nutritional needs have been met I would assume that would also include Nutritional Yeast, right?  B Vitamins and all!

And another one would be Grapeseed Oil.  Sure I could take a variety of over 30 grapes and cold press the seeds on the island but it would be pretty difficult.  The other oils would be more accessible and easier to put into oil form such as coconut oil, avocado oil, etc.  Since I showed a picture of Wildtree Grapeseed Oil I figured that would be a good segue into my actual 3 items that I would choose.  Instead of doing 3 individual items I have chosen 3 endless supplies of items from the following companies.

I know that is kind of cheating - but oh well!  The Vegan items from Wildtree would be on that list.  And I would probably say Earth Balance would have to be in there, too!  They are coming up with some pretty good products.  The 3rd company that I would have endless supplies of their products would be Daiya.  Where I live they have only scratched the surface of their offerings so I think by living on an island with an endless supply would certainly be a step up!

Sure I know I could MAKE my own vegan cheeses on the island from the ingredients already there but sometimes I just like the convenience of these items, ya know?

Oh...I almost forgot to mention BALSAMIC VINEGAR!  Sure I like just about any type of vinegar but Balsamic is in a class of it's own...and HEY, guess what?  Wildtree has various Balsamic Vinegar products, LUCKY ME!

And on MY island...

Daiya is the distributor of Chao!  So...I'm clustering in Chao Vegan Cheeses with Daiya Vegan Products!

It's my dream world and Island, right, so I can do anything I want...haha!

I know - I know...I cheated!  This was a HARD prompt but it ended up being a FUN one, too!

Vegan MoFo ~ Cheesy Corn Grits Broccoli

Sometimes when I stock my pantry I grab items that are on sale and then not really know what to do with the product.  I have to admit corn grits isn't something I do a lot with but after I did this dish last night - I will be doing more in the future with this product.  The corn grits I bought were Bob's Red Mill's Brand and YELLOW Corn Grits.  Here's my recipe for this yummy comfort food.

1/2 C Yellow Corn Grits
2 Cups Water

1 C Broccoli (in Ninja/Food Processor)
2 T Nutritional Yeast
2 to 3 T Earth Balance

Optional Add Ins:
Sprinkle Wildtree California Garlic Pepper
Sprinkle (on top) Parma! Vegan Parmesan - Garlicky Green Flavor

Other Add In Ideas that I didn't Use in the Photo Above:
Spray (or two) Bragg's Liquid Aminos (if you want it a bit saltier)
GoL Perfect Food RAW - Green Super Food (if you want to get more 'greens' in there)

A few reasons I enjoy GoL's Green Super Food:

• One serving of Perfect Food Super Green Powder is equivalent to 140g of fresh grass juice.
• Excellent source of natural Vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene and a good source of natural Vitamin C.
• Contains spirulina that supports healthy immune function.^†
• Contains algae and cereal grass juices that provide a natural source of alkalizing minerals.
• Select ingredients in Perfect Food Super Green Formula are produced through the Garden of Life proprietary Poten-Zyme^® fermentation process to make the nutrients more available to the body.
• Includes a Probiotic Blend to support digestive health.^†
• Supports healthy carbohydrate metabolism.^†
• Great for those on low carbohydrate diets or people who are unable to eat enough green foods.
• Perfect Food comes in two easy-to-use forms: Powder and Caplets.

Mailtime Monday...on Tuesday!

I LOVE getting mail!  I always have!  It could be a package or just a simple letter...I just LOVE it! 

Yesterday I received this neat Tea Box from Tea Box Express and I will be doing a Full Length Review over at Sororitea Sisters in the near future.  Tea Box Express is a monthly subscription service for tea lovers.  Each month you will get a featured tea and a few other tea related or tea themed items in your box.  This month Teatulia was the featured tea.  I have had this black tea from Teatulia before and it's a good go-to black tea.  The box is very well done with lovely 'thoughts' and things to make you smile along the way.

One of the other things that was featured in this month's box was tea honey.  No...this isn't vegan.  I will be giving this to my husband - he's a honey fan. 

Another item that I will be sharing because it's NOT vegan is this cookie.  I decided to pass this along to my mother in law.  This cookie was HUGE...like one you might see in a specialty gift shop that is a couple dollars each.

I do really like the tea bag holder or the spoon dish - I guess you could use it either way.  It's sitting on my desk at work, actually.

And you can see the teapot themed stir stick on the bottom of the one photo - it's really neat, too!  Eventho I use Agave I think this would work well with honey or a honey alternative or if you are one of those people who have a milk or milk alternative in your tea and just use it as a stir stick - it's still super cute!  Since I drink all of my teas straight-up with no additives I will most likely be using that for decor OR if I have guests over.


Another piece of HAPPY MAIL I received yesterday was a coupon for an Earth Balance item valued at $6.99 - I won it last week over at the VeganMoFo site!

Vegan Mac & Penne Cheese

On Friday Night I wanted something quick and didn't have that much to work with.  This isn't much for nutritional value but it's a great comfort food and I was tickled at how good it turned out!

Vegetable Based Penne Pasta

with a "cheese-like" sauce!

Here is what went into my sauce...

About 1 C of Almond Milk

1/2 tea Savory Spread (Organic Gourmet)

1 T (or more) of Earth Balance

Handful of Daiya Shredded Cheddar

I cooked and stirred often until desired consistency!  This has been my BEST Vegan mac & Cheese Attempt YET!  It was so creamy and tasty!

Participating Post:
Blue Monday
Just Another Meatless Monday
Macro Monday
Made By You Monday
Monday Mellow Yellow
My Meatless Monday
Simple As That
Veggie Mama's Meatless Monday
Make The Scene
Project 52
Mix It Up Monday

Vegan Stuffing - Wildtree Style

 Above is what my stuffing looked like this year.  Below is how it all started!  I used Vegan Equivalents which included Earth Balance and Vegan Bread.  Viola!  Vegan Stuffing thanks to Wildtree!  BAM!