Kidney Bean Quinoa Burgers, Close Call, & Vaquitas

Well THIS was a challenge!  I was trying to make something with less than 5 ingredients, on the cheap, based on what I had on-hand, and of course, VEGAN.  I came up with these Kidney Bean Quinoa Burgers.  These are the raw patties.  I'm still testing them.  They weren't bad.  But I think I will be adding garlic next time!  I would also like to try these in my dehydrator.  What you see above contain the following...Kidney Beans, Tri-Color Quinoa, Smoked Paprika, and Nutritional Yeast.

When I left for work this morning I saw this.  A tree limb fell on or near my Fiat.  I looked and looked and couldn't see any scratches or dents.  That was a close call!

The weather has been overly nuts this winter!  No real snow to speak of...not that I'm complaining...I'm not a fan of snow!  We had 50+ degrees and thunder and lightning yesterday!  VERY unusual for us here in the snow belt.  Over the next couple of days, we could see some snow and today has turned colder with wind gusts!

The feedback I have received so far about adding more animals to my posts was a very positive one!  I won't be doing this every day but I hope to include many more in my posts when I'm able to.

I'll tell you one of the species that has really been on my heart lately is the Vaquita (pictured above).  Look at those eyes!  According to many sites, there are less than 30 individual Vaquitas left.  I've even seen some sources say as few as 12 to  15 remain.  They are only found off the coast of Baja California/Baja Mexico and are usually seen thru illegal fishing operations.  They were discovered in 1950 when a dead bleached skull was found.  The following year 2 (or 3) additional skulls were found and that was enough to declare a new species of porpoise by 1958.  By 1997, the population was estimated at around 600.

To put that into perspective, I graduated in 1997...so in just about 22 years WITH these beauties being on the endangered species list and the focus of many efforts to save them...they have gone from 600 down to between 12-30 individual beings!  It breaks my heart!  But if we can continue to protect them and educate others about them MAYBE we can bring them back from the brink of extinction! 

Animal Friends, Plant Life, Hot Temps, and Colorful Meals!

Last week I took a walk in a nearby park.  This nearby park has a Pollinator Garden in it.  There were some plants that had already 'expired' for the season but there were several that were left blooming and beautiful including this one so I took a picture.

Last weekend I spent commutating back and forth to the fairgrounds.  We still camp there and volunteer each weekend on the grounds.  This coming weekend there is a folk art festival that we will be attending on the grounds, too!  I hope to take more photos of the grounds and of this years festival before we are no longer down there for the winter months.

Since Monday was a holiday I didn't have to work so I decided to take Cricket with me.  She had fun with my mom and dad's dog Lexi and some other dogs that were down there.  She played and walked a lot.  On our way home she was sooooo tired!  She laid down on my lap while I was driving and fell asleep!  She was even sluggish the next day!  So cute and so funny!

Some of you know I adore goats!  Each time I see one I have to spend some time with him/her, make a fuss, talk to them, etc.

This is one of the goats I saw over the weekend - last weekend!  He was giving me kisses and nibbles!

I should be able to see more goats this coming weekend.  Usually, at this festival we go to there is a guy who rehabs animals and brings them for the kids to pet.  I remember blogging about them before/in previous years.

I do have some vegan items to share for Vegan MoFo but first I will get all of the non-food stuff out of the way!

It's been a hot summer but I have to say that the last 3 weeks has been a little NUTS!  I LOVE hot temperatures but I don't like it when the humidity gets out of hand on top of those hot temps!  That is exactly what has been happening these last few weeks. 

The other day it was over 100 degrees AND I swear it was near 100% humidity...then...the power went out for at least 3 hours! 

This is the dash of my new Fiat!  I have to say I love it more and more each day!  I already put almost 2500 miles on it!

Now on to the food!  Today is COLORFUL Meals!  Well, I had to try and fit this into today's prompt for Vegan MoFo!  It's last weekend's Vegan Fair Food Option.  We ended up going to Stoneboro Fair and there was a Mexican Food Truck there and they were SO NICE!  I asked all the 'normal content/ingredient questions' that 'we vegans' tend to - and they told me what everything was made with/how it was made/what it contained!

I opted for these Nachos that I customized.  They had Salsa, Lettuce, Black Beans, and Rice.

They were tasty!  Sometimes...all you have to do is ask, right!?

One of the things I have had at the camper all summer - just in case - I got the munchies and couldn't find anything FAST - and/or didn't feel like a sandwich - or cooking - I had these Salted Caramel Organic Brownie things from Nature's Bakery!  I've tried their other flavors before but this was a FIRST for me with their Salted Caramel!  They are rich, that is for sure!  I have to say...I'm a fan!

Another thing I wanted to mention...my parents went to Erie the other day and brought back one of the Mad Mex's vegan options for the Angry Hippie Burrito...they offer Daiya Cheese and Tofutti Sour Cream as options!  It's been too long since my last trip to Mad Mex!

I'm Back & Will Be Catching Up for a LONG Time!

I didn't fall off the face of the Earth, really.  I am back and I want to thank everyone for all the notes in the meantime.  Life has gotten in the way - yet again!  It will take me a VERY long time to get back into the swing of things are caught up so for the foreseeable future I'm sure to have a lot of mishmashy type posts.  Hope you don't mind!

One of the main reasons I have been avoiding a blog post is because we lost our dear Paco to his immune issues back in Early May.  He was just shy of his 7th birthday.  It all happened so fast and I'm not sure if I can fully explain everything that happened within the 12 hours of it actually happening.  Plus it was very graphic when it did happen because he was dealing with clotting issues.  Not only was he dealing with his ITP but he also had IHMA.  Up to this point he had dealt with 1 immune disease but that dreadful night he developed a 2nd one.  In addition, he was developing Cushing's again.  Because he was on a high dosage of long-term steroids he was losing muscle mass, too.  Since he was diagnosed at about 2 and a half we knew something like clotting could be in his future but NOTHING prepared us for what actually took place.

Eventho, I haven't been able to take down his pen area YET I was able to 'keep busy' and that seemed to help a little bit.  I know it sounds weird but I have to keep busy to deal with certain things.  It's not that I'm running away from my problems - it just helps me to focus on multiple things to help me heal in the meantime.   

I'm not sure if I blogged about this before my hiatus or not but back in March, I traveled to the Capitol Building.  It was my first time there.  It was a rainy day but I'm glad that I was part of it.  It was a Rally for Fair Districts and to stop Gerrymandering which is a HUGE problem in our state.  Over the past several months it's been a whirlwind and eventho we didn't get the results we had hoped we are still fighting for VOTING RIGHTS!

The county I live in doesn't have a large Refugee population but we neighbor a city that does.  Back in January and February our League of Women Voters invited the director of the Multicultural Resources Center to do a Refugee 101.  We wanted to do this because there is a lot of misinformation and incorrect assumption about how Refugees come to America and integrate into life in a new country.  The feedback was positive and a group of citizens decided to start hikes for Refugees locally since we are smack dab in the middle of the Allegheny National Forest and have other natural beauties in our area.  So...the middle of May we hosted our first of 2 hikes.  The first one was for Refugee Kids.  Ukraine, Syria, Somalia, Eritrea (a country bordering Somalia), and Nepal were the countries they fleed from.

A little over a month later we hosted another hike.  This time for a group of Senior Citizen Refugees.  Some of the participants were part of a sign language group, too.  Within this group were mostly people from Bhutan and Pakistan.

In the beginning of the Summer another outing we had was to Erie, PA, where we went to a Food Truck Festival in hopes to have one locally some day.  I was thrilled that there were vegan options!

Another thing that has been on my mind is a local tragedy.  K9 Choper - our local K9 Officer - passed away from his injuries during a training day.

During the end of June I was a committee member for the annual car and craft show at our fairgrounds and I was pleased to see more vendors that offered vegan friendly products.  One of them being these Vegan Lip Balms.

Of course we have been busy with work, too, an have had many live remotes lately including a few at local businesses and during fair week.  More on fair week in a future post but here is a neat snapshot from Employee Appreciation Day at a local business.

Another thing that has been keeping us busy has been trading in our vehicles on new ones!  Here is the new Fiat I traded my old one in for.  I LOVE it!

A few months ago I became a Zonta Member, too!  It's been fun so far and I'm looking forward to getting involved with more of the service and advocacy end of things.  Each summer they have a Summer Surprise and members don't know what it is until they get there.  This year we went to the Lucy-Desi Museum.  We had dinner in The Tropicana that they set up to look like the real TV set.  There were also recreations of the sets from I LOVE LUCY, too!  Since I'm in radio I found this tidbit extra interesting!

In other news...our local mall is going thru a major redesign and revamp.  They are turning it from a shopping mall to a strip/plaza type thing.  A co-worker has gotten me into indoor plants more the last year or more and she was upset when I told her that the indoor plants at the mall were going to be trashed.  We asked the project manager if we could take some and he said YES so we are trying to save some of them.  More on that in upcoming posts, too!

And before blogger gives up on me I think I will end this post right here.  But I will be regularly blogging again so please check back.  I really didn't scratch the surface of the stuff I have to share with you and I know I will be adding more to the list very soon!  Thanks again for staying with me the last couple months!  I appreciate you all!

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (Minus the Trains)

I can't believe it's already been over a week and a half since my last post and I can't believe it's been nearly 5 weeks since hubby and I attended this RC Plane Show up in Olean, NY!

Life has just been flying by that is for sure!  I figured I should post a bit about our trip to see a friend fly his radio control plane and out Car Show from a few weeks ago BEFORE post about the fair and concerts of last week.

Pardon me while I get my past posts caught up!

Yup!  About 5 weeks ago hubby and I went to Olean, NY, to see a friend of ours fly his RC Plane.  It was pretty neat!  I remember it being chilly that day - one of the few chilly days of this summer so far - and a bit gloomy and rainy - as well.

We were able to get our Abarth detailed prior to a local car show we actually participated in this summer!

Because our vehicle was 'too new' and not modified enough we weren't judged to be awarded anything but it was still fun because we were able to meet up with some of our Fiat Friends.

We had a guy in Corry, PA, do the detailing work on our Abarth and it turned out really nice!

I still can't believe it's taken me this long to post about these two day trips!

I will have many more posts coming soon - so stay tuned!

I will have a recap (or several) from the WNY VegFest as well as many from our Warren County Fair.

But first - how about some more photos from the car show, eh!?  This is our car next to our friend Tom's car.  He qualified to be judged for the modified and he won first place!

I still really like the orange graphics and paint we did last year.  My parents don't love it as much as we do - apparently - they think it makes it look like one of those 'Fast and Furious' cars!

That makes me laugh but in a way it's true!

More MidWeek Munchies!

Yesterday we brought back MidWeek Munchies so I thought I would do another post today about it.  If you would like to participate the current link-up is active THRU next Tuesday the 13th!  Read more about it HERE.  In this first photo you will see it's all produce!  I stopped at my favorite produce stand (Lindell's Hatch Patch) and grabbed a few things...Spring Mix/Greens, Celery, Red Bell Peppers, Spaghetti Squash, Kabocha Squash, and I even grabbed a FREE SAMPLE of one of their newest apple offerings...it's a Blondee Apple.  Kabocha Squash and Blondee Apples are new-to-me so more on that soon!

I then ran to Walmart and noticed these vegan options!  Amy's Kitchen Vegan Burrito (might be my dinner), Hummus (my lunch), Organic Carrots (my Lunch), 2 types of Fig Bars (I LOVE these and now they carry the VEGAN Seal!), Coconut Milk, and I couldn't pass up a new-to-me TRIO of non-dairy milk (Coconut, Almond, Chia).  I also bought a small cutting board and pairing knife for my car/office/Lunches-on-the-go!

Also part of my lunch today was 2 of the Red Peppers from the first photo!  YUM!

One thing I forgot to mention earlier this week is this new-to-me beverage my father gave me.  It's Alo Watermelon Peach and it tastes just like a smoothie!  YUM!  I've had a few of their other flavors before but I have to say this is by far my favorite!

Yes, I have been driving around a lot again and eating and munching on-the-go so you can see I'm in my Fiat while taking this photo!

Have you tried any of the Alo drinks yet?

Last night I had the hee-bee-gee-bees and need to make something in my blender to snack on.  I ended up making this...it's close to a Vanilla Pudding or some sort of Cake Batter Cashew Cream type thing.  It was pretty yummy!  I submitted the recipe to The Raw Food World NEWS Site and their Recipe Section so be on the look out over there.  It contains the following ingredients: Cashews, Almond Milk, Organic Vanilla Extract, Coconut Butter with Coconut Sugar, Agave Nectar and/or NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia, a pinch of sea salt.

After having a little bit of this pudding last night I spent most of the evening doing research and writing.  Cricket sat at my feet when I was at the computer.  She was so patient - which isn't usually her strong point.  So I laid with her for a while before falling asleep.  She seemed to really LOVE it.  Paco was a bit of a slug last night because I had to give him a pain pill for his knees/hips.  He was still running around but you could tell he was like a penguin on slick ice half the time.  Riley was lazing-out, too!

Remember there is still time to LINK UP on this week's MidWeek Munchies - CLICK HERE!

Current Vegan Eats & Winner Announcements!

Hello there!  Before we get into all of these vegan eats - even some RAW Vegan Eats...I wanted to announce the winners of my last contest which was the NuNaturals $70 Prize Pack!

Linda K from the USA

Brenda P from Canada

Suituapui from Malaysia

Ashley R from USA

Thanks so much to everyone for participating the feedback was AMAZING!  Congrats to all of the winners!

In the first photo you will see a dip that I did a while back!  My thought behind it was to incorporate Mesquite Powder because I recently received a slew of it in an order from The Raw Food World and I wanted to start experimenting with it.

In this dip I used Cashews, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Red Bell Pepper, Garlic, Apple Cider Vinegar, Mesquite Powder, and Parsley.

Check out the entire recipe HERE it's one of the featured recipes over at The Raw Food World NEWS Recipe Section.

In other news I recently acquired like 20 pounds of bananas for FREE from a local produce stand! How awesome is that!?  They had a SLEW of over ripe bananas and they were due to get more in the following day and asked me if I wanted them!  Of course, I jumped at the opportunity even tho I'm not a fan of bananas I have been trying to incorporate more and more of them in my smoothies because I know how GOOD bananas are for you!  I shared a few pounds with 2 of the girls at work and went home to freeze the rest of them!

I also found a new-to-me flavor of Naked Smoothie at a nearby store.  I REALLY liked this flavor and grabbed it while traveling for work the other day!

Not too long ago I threw together a Farro Dish!

It was similar to the one I did HERE but I didn't have any artichokes or pine nuts to add to it this time around.

Before I get to my next few photos I wanted to let you know that this weekend my sister and I are going to the WNY Veg Fest in Buffalo!  We had so much fun last year we decided to make it a priority to go again this year.  I've already contacted Chis from The Vegan Zombie and he and Jon will both be there again!   This year I think I will make up some cards to pass out for my site!  I really want to start networking more with people in the Tri-State area and more online!

Here's a Mediterranean Chickpea Salad of sorts I did this past week!   Here's what's in it...

2 C Chickpeas
1 C diced tomatoes
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1/4 C Parsley
1/4 C Chives
1 T Oregano
3 T Balsamic
Sea Salt/Pepper to taste

I loved the way this turned out!  It was so yummy!

Question of the Day...what's the last dish you made using Chickpeas?

And FINALLY...some raw vegan ice cream...

What it contains:

4 Frozen Bananas
5 T Almond Milk
1 C Frozen Strawberries
3 to 4 T Nut Butter of your choice

For the Nut Butter I used Jem Organic's Super Berry Maqui Camu and it was wonderful!

I blended the Frozen Bananas first (with the Almond Milk) and then added half of the nut butter.  I blended the strawberries separately and added both mixtures into a large glass dish and mixture by hand because I wanted chunks of fruit.  I then added the remaining nut butter.  It was great!

Tater Tots & Fiats!

Happy Friday!  Last night I literally threw this Tater Tot Casserole together!

I started with Spinach, Chickpeas, and Carrots.  I made a mild cheesy sauce with Almond/Coconut Milk, Earth Balance, and left over Egg Trick Seasoning (the recipe for that is from The Vegan Zombie Cookbook).  I then topped it with baked Tater Tots.  Next step - I covered it in leftover vegan cheese sauce I made with a combo of almond milk, Daiya Cheese, and spices.  Then I sprinkled Wildtree Taco Seasoning and Hemp Seeds over it!  This was pretty amazing if I do say so myself!  I think I just might have to make more of these!  Oh!  And I didn't bake this casserole either...stovetop!

Earlier this week I blogged about the Fiat Meet Up from last weekend but I nearly forgot to post these photos so here they are!

I really wanted to post these because you can see our new orange graphics and rims!

Yup!  That is our Abarth on the right!  I just LOVE the orange color!

We might adjust and/change the back a bit in the near future tho!

In case you missed the previous post - this was the Western NY - Southern Ontario Fiat Club and we went to the Grand Opening of the Erie, PA, Fiat and Alfa Romeo Dealership!

Here's another look at some of what we did with the graphics and rims!

We have the rims done first at a local tire store - they did a great job!

We had the graphics done locally, too, and I do like the sides the best out of everything!

We have a few things we hope to do in the near future with the club - one being European Car Day in Clarence, NY.  We may try to get to Pittsburgh for Fiat Freakout if we are able to for the weekend part of the meet up.

This weekend will be a Wildtree Weekend!  We will be at Chapman Dam State Park. 

The Fiats Are Coming! The Fiats Are Coming!

This past weekend was fun!  It was the first Fiat Meet Up of the season that Dale and I were able to make!  We first met another couple in Jamestown, NY, and then headed to Dunkirk, NY, to meet up with a group that was traveling from Buffalo, NY.  After chatting for a while we all headed over to Erie, PA.  There were about 12 or 13 cars that was on the ride!  It was a little cool and windy but at least the sun was shining!  The reason for the meet up was to get a group of us from the Western NY - Southern Ontario Fiat Club over to the Grand Opening for Auto Express Fiat Alfa Romeo of Erie.  During their Grand Opening of the Fiat Dealership they were raising money for an animal shelter there, too!  Dale and I made a small donation.  I think they raised over $1,000 for the shelter that day.  After we all left the dealership after spending a couple of hours there many of us went to Southern Tier Brewery in Lakewood/Busti, NY, and enjoyed the sun, some of the group ate, and others tried some of the brews.  There was a Reggae/Folk Fusion type band that played on the outdoor stage and we listened for a bit.  After Dale and I left the group we went out for dinner.  It was a great day!  We met some new people and met up again with some new friends we made from last year, too!  Oh!  We took our Abarth - not the Fiat 500 Pop - but we hope to take both of the cars to an upcoming cruise-in soon!

In case you are trying to find me in the photo above - I'm the one in the grey shirt next to the guy in the blue shirt to the left of the red car.  The guy in the blue is Dale.

Sunday - my mom and I traveled over to Nobel Winery near Westfield, NY, to meet up with my sister who was putting on a bridal shower for her soon-to-be-sister-in-law.  It was the first time I met her.  But it was a nice day and I am always happy to see my sister!

Monday - Dale and I did some yard work.  We did some major trimming of the trees in our front yard...which isn't much of a yard since we live so close to the street...we will call it our front garden instead.  It was long over due and now it's done...it looks much better.  So YEAH it was a busy weekend!  What did you do?

Past Weekend Adventures, Yogivore, Thrown Together Meals

Slowly but surely I am trying to catch up on blogging!  This post will be a mish-mash of a post but there are two other posts if you scroll down that I wrote earlier today that DO have a method to their madness!

A few weeks ago my husband's brother and his girlfriend, Dale, and I went on a ride.  He recently bought a used Mini Cooper so we drove around a bit in our Abarth.  We ended up in Bradford, PA, one weekend and the next weekend we ended up near Bemus Point, NY.  Neither are too far away from where we live but still a nice day trip!

The first photo is of Dale and myself in front of the Kinzua Dam near where we live.  Believe it or not this was just a few short weeks ago!  There were hardly any leaves on the trees and now the trees are FULL and green and gorgeous!  Mother Nature is funny sometimes!

With how crazy work has been paired with family and extended family health issues I have been throwing a lot of meals together based on when is on hand.  This photo is actually taken at my mother's house.  She doesn't usually stock her pantry very well since it's just the two of them and neither one of my parents are vegetarian.  Plus they haven't been doing much cooking at home lately.  I was able to find some white rice I 'doctored up' with some Wildtree sauce and did some potato/fries on stove top instead of in the oven with a bit of grapeseed oil.  They turned out good and filled my tummy that day!

I don't usually do that - create a plate lacking veggies - but that day it was what was available.  Since then I have been doing much better and I hope to post more of the meals I have been making soon, too!

One thing I will be starting today is my Yogivore Adventures!  For more information on that swing by The Happy Herbivore Blog!

I'm mostly doing this to challenge myself but also break up the day a little bit.  I've been getting into this routine of waking up - going to work - eating - writing - and going to sleep - and I need to switch it up a bit!

Around The Grounds...

I still have a few more posts to blog about with more pictures to show off from our trip to West Palm Beach Florida last month and our stay at The Breakers!

Today I thought I would share with you some of the random photos I took from around the grounds of The Breakers.  I still have pics coming soon from our trip to the Garden of Life Headquarters as well as our downtown West Palm Beach Walk.

First up...I'm pretty sure that this is an old Fiat.  I could be wrong I couldn't get much closer to it that day but I thought it wasn't something we saw every day and thought I would take a pic of it.

In addition to all of the photos I've already posted having to do with the Organic Herb and Vegetable Gardens they have at The Breakers I thought I would post this, too!  It's a photo of a sign that I saw more than once on their grounds.

The Breakers utilizes reverse osmosis, an environmentally friendly alternative water source, to irrigate our golf course and landscaping.

I thought this was so cool!  The Breakers is a very old and historic place and even they are able to take steps to help the environment so why can't everyone else?  Every little bit or large step helps!

Here's a photograph of one of the ducks we saw on a walk one day.  It was on the one golf course.  He wasn't afraid of us in the slightest!

This duck is a Muscovy Duck.

He was pretty cool!

I wish I was able to see more wildlife while we were there - we did see more birds in the middle of flight - but we didn't see very many on the ground while we were there.

For those of you who are from or have visited Florida - what's your favorite bird of the region?

And finally - this is one of the many hallways in The Breakers.  I just LOVED all the lamps, tapestries, chandeliers, ceilings, rugs, comfy chairs - you name it!  They really have mixed past and present with the decor at just about every turn!

To the left of this hallway was one of the bars and restaurants called HMF. The name of the restaurant stood for Henry Morrison Flagler the owner of the original Breakers. Did you know that The Breakers Hotel Complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973? In 1973, the 105-acre listed area included 15 contributing buildings and one other contributing object.

Fiats, Remotes, & Food

It's been a few weeks since we took our Fiat and Abarth over to the Warren County Fairgrounds for their Car Cruise-In.  It was a lot of fun and our new friend Tom brought his over as well.  He took this pic of the 3 of ours lined up together.  Mine is the black one in the back, his is the red Abarth, and Dale's (ours) is the Grey Abarth in front.  We fielded a LOT of questions as we usually do.  The weather held up ok for the most part, too!  I hope we are able to meet up with more of the Fiat Club Members before the snow flies!

At work we are busier than we've ever been and doing it with less and less people.  There are only about 6 of us that are full time.  The 3 people you see here in addition to 3 others.  Yes...that's ME in the middle and YES...I'm THAT short!  It really doesn't help when Dale and Casey are as tall as they are either.  But...I'm getting used to it...been that way all my life!  This is a photo of us during one of 3 remotes during the month of July.  Our Fair Week is coming up next week and we will be on location all week!  It's a pretty crazy week!  But FUN!  Just a LOT of hours!  The concerts this year are Tyler Farr with opener Joey Hyde and Lorrie Morgan and Joe Diffie.

But more on those concerts after they actually happen!  I've been BIG on dips lately.  Here's a photo of one of the flax crackers I have been munching on as of late with a Pesto Dip I tweaked. 

It's Living Tree Community Brand.  It's WONDERFUL and something I can see myself having on hand to return to often. 

I took a few tablespoons of it and added some Earth Balance and a splash of Almond Milk to make it a bit runnier.  It turned out super YUMMY.  I might also try and pair it with a vegan mayo at some point and see how that goes for a flavored Vegan Mayonnaise.