Cherry Festival at 21 Brix

Blogger is acting up with insert photos so I am sorry I don't have any photos at this time but I do have video!  Two of them, actually!  The first one you can hear my mother in and the second one features my sister!  We took these videos at 21 Brix Winery during their Cherry Festival a few weekends ago!  We had our Wildtree tables set up and took breaks and turns to go Cherry Picking!  I completely nerded-out because they had 16 different kinds of cherries and 2 or 3 thousand trees!  Each video is only 2 minutes!  Take a look!



My sister was pretty funny in this video!  We was "overwhelmed" with the variety of cherries! LOL  And YES we did try all 16 different kinds!  They were sooooo good!  On a side note ALL of the wines that 21 Brix sell are listed as SAFE on the Vegan Wine Site I'm told.  YAY!

Vegan MoFo ~ Seasonal Produce

Guess how much I paid for this produce?  I bought 3 peppers are they are HUGE...2 mini eggplants, 2 smaller zucchinis, 2 large sweet banana peppers, and a pint of potatoes.  I only paid $6.75 total!  I bought them locally at one of my favorite produce stands...Lindell's Hatch Patch!

Today for Vegan MoFo we were challenged with using all seasonal produce in a dish.  Take a look at some of the dishes that I was able to create using seasonal produce.  I will note if there are any other ingredients that come from different produce stands that aren't pictured in the Hatch Patch haul!

First up...is Vegetable Curry!  Curries never seem to photograph very well but I will tell you that this was tasty.  I tried a sample of if when it was complete but I actually pre-made this for my dinner tonight.

In this dish is...1 C Green Beans (frozen from fresh obtained thru a friend), 1 Carrot (from previous Hatch Patch haul), 1/2 Zucchini (above), 1 Mini Eggplant (above), 1/2 T Wildtree Garlic Galore, 1 Frozen Ginger Cube (can use 1 T Fresh Ginger), 1 T Grapeseed Oil, 1 t Turmeric, 1 t Cumin, 1 t Curry, 3/4 C Coconut Milk, 1/2 t Black Himalayan Sea Salt (or to taste).

Last night for dinner I wanted to throw something together SUPER FAST and I literally did just that.

I pan fried the following...2 Potatoes (above), 1/2 Zucchini, 1 C Corn (Frozen from fresh given to me by my sister who got it at a local produce auction), Earth Balance & Grapeseed Oil combo for flavor and pan frying, and I topped it with the Pine Nut Parmesan I blogged about HERE.

This was TASTY!

Now for this last dish you are probably thinking 'there is no produce in that dish' and you would be mistaken...there IS!  Sure...this is a recipe for Vegan Mac & Cheese but it DOES have local produce in it to create it!  Here's what I did...

4 Small Potatoes (above)
1 Carrot (Mentioned above)
1 Small Onion (From Papa's Produce - another local stand)

*at this point I boiled the above until soft.  I then put 1 and 1/2 C of the boiling water into my Vitamix along with the softened produce above.  I also added 1/2 C Cashews, 1/2 T Wildtree Garlic Galore, 1 t Onion Powder, pinch or to taste of Black Himalayan Sea Salt, 2 T Nutritional Yeast.

I originally was sent this recipe by my husband on Facebook.  I tried it the way it was suggested but HAD to add some things because it was lacking flavorful.  Most notably the Nutritional Yeast and Garlic.  It certainly has potential.  I will be doing this again and probably a different way each time.  Yes...I should have used macaroni noodles but didn't have any...I used what I had on hand and that was spaghetti noodles.  I will say that I think by using the potato in this recipe that it certainly helps with the texture and starchiness of the dish.  I'm sure you will be seeing variations of this dish in the future from me.

Vegan MoFo ~ Late Summer Foods

Today's Vegan MoFo Prompt is...What's Your Favorite Late Summer Food?

I wasn't completely sure how to take this prompt so I am running with what came to mind first which was...what IS food?  Food is fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, grains...not packaged or prepared stuff.  FOOD is what makes up those prepared items, right, so for this post I will focus on 4 of my favorite summer foods and by that I mean 4 individual ingredients.

The first 4 late summer foods/ingredients that I LOVE are...Watermelon, Squash, Corn, and Tomatoes.  I will expand on that each on in just a moment but first take a look at this Watermelon Gazpacho I made not too long ago.

The recipe for this raw vegan soup will be posted on The Raw Foods World NEWS Site RECIPE Section in the near future.  I won't release the entire recipe here YET but I will tell you it has 5 Cups of cubed Watermelon, 2 Cups of Cubed Mangoes, and some Lemon Juice, Agave, and Mint.

I LOVE watermelon and could eat it all year if it was available.

Another food I LOVE for a different reason is various squashes!  The main reason I LOVE squash is because there are so many different types of it.  Zucchini is one of the best and more readily available.  Last year I made Raw Vegan Salt & Vinegar "Chips" made from Zukes in my Dehydrator.

 Another Summer Food I can't get enough of is CORN.  But I have 'issues' with corn in general but if you LOVE something you make it work, right!?  Here are my issues with corn...one...I don't like eating it straight off the cob like I used to when I was little in fear of getting it stuck in my teeth.  That is one my pet peeves as I get older.  So for the past several years I have been cutting off the cob and eating it that way.  It's just as good so that's awesome!  What isn't awesome is that corn is one of the MOST GMO-ed foods these days.  That's awful, isn't it?  But in my area there are not many non-GMO and organic corn offerings available so I have to do my best, right?  In this photo you will see a little thrown together dish of seasoned rice, corn, and sun-dried tomatoes.  YUM!

Here's a photo of a dish I made last year that combined my love of corn and squash (among other wonderful veggies) and can you tell what kind of grain that is in there?  It's Freekuh!  If you aren't familiar with Freekuh check out THIS POST.

I was going back thru my archives and didn't see this photo posted apparently I forgot to put it on my blog!  But I did put it on my InstaGram!

Oops!

Oh well...you get the idea!

That leaves us with my 4th choice for Late Summer Foods...TOMATO...and for some reason Blogger won't let me post anymore photos today, sorry about that...but we all know what tomatoes look like and they are oh-so-good!!!!

Happy Weekend (on a Monday)!

Happy Weekend...on a Monday!  Yeah...so I did the following THREE short videos last week and uploaded them to YouTube but didn't blog about them yet...sorry about that!

In this first video you will get to see some LOCAL strawberries!  YAY!  A few quick ideas and tips to getting your friends, family members, and co-workers to eat more fruits and veggies!  I also give you a heads-up on a walk thru the park in this next video...

This 2nd video is about a pollinator garden at a local park nearby and taking a look at some of the flowers, herbs, etc.  Do you have a community park like this or something similar where you live?

And the 3rd and last video from last week was more-so about the weather and me blabbing a bit.  Also some deals I found on mangoes and avocados at my local Aldi Store!  I've already used a few of them and have some recipes coming very soon!  What are your favorite things to do with Mangoes and Avocados?

Rooftop Gardening 2015!

If you have been reading my blog for a while now you may remember last year we started a Rooftop Garden at work.  It was COMPLETELY Trial and Error!  We learned a lot and will continue to learn a lot!  We know a lot of what NOT to do this year and from here on out I will be sharing with you what we will try and do THIS year!  That's right!  It's the 2015 Rooftop Garden, folks!  First up...Rhubarb!  Now that I am in sales in addition to other tasks at work I am able to get out and chat with our local growers!  I LOVE this!  I have been able to get more of them to advertise with us, too!  So far I have grabbed a Rhubarb starter from a local outlet.

It's DOUBLED in size since I bought it, too!  We are REALLY excited about that!

A few things we won't be doing this year on our Rooftop is tomatoes...they didn't do well at all last year.  We did a few different kinds of peppers and we still might try and do some this year but the yield wasn't too high last season.  Maybe this year we will have better luck!

One of our Basil Plants made it thru the whole winter and we had it in our production room.  We might take that outside again.  In the meantime we purchased another starter!

They seem to be doing well so far but I will be SHOCKED if they get as big as the ones did last year!  They might but I'm not banking on it...those were CRAZY HUGE last year!

I hope to introduce something new each week.  If I do I will let you know!

We got quite a bit of rain over the weekend so some of the area farmers and markets already have corn nearly ready!  And Strawberry season is near, too!

And check this out!  Our chives came back!  Even after the horrible winter we had!  Actually they came back TWICE as strong!  As a matter of fact last fall we threw one of the chive plants away in the compost pile and it sprouted up like crazy this year so we replanted it!

One of the plants is flowering!  I have been reading up on Chive Flowers lately and might try to start using them in dishes, too!

It was a slow start this spring but I'm getting super excited about the potential of the Rooftop and Container Gardens once again this year!

The Labyrinth's Vegan Take-Out & Conspiracy Theorist for Halloween

Work has ALMOST been FUN, again!  YAY!  I know this post is VERY late!  This is the FIRST time I have 'dressed up' for Halloween in YEARS!  A few co-workers and I were talking about simple yet funny things to do for Halloween!  I decided to make this tin foil hat and go as a Conspiracy Theorist.  I thought it was pretty original. LOL.

I had some neat feedback on Instagram.  One guy said I should have had all sorts of newspaper clippings in my pockets and stuff to go along with it.  Making this Foil Hat was a bitter harder than it looks.  I did wear it nearly all day, tho!  A fellow Co-Worker went as "Mother Nature" and wore a wine like halo.

It's so nice having a happier work atmosphere around here!  I'm VERY thankful for that!  Another thing I was thankful for recently was my trip to The Labyrinth in Jamestown.  I've posted about this Vegetarian/Vegan Restaurant before but it's been while since I have stopped by.  I pre-ordered 2 Sunday's ago and picked up my order for BOTH Brunch and Dinner.

Yes, you could say I treated myself!  It traveled pretty well considering what I ordered!  For Breakfast/Brunch I had this little gem!  I know, I know...WHAT?  No Pictures!?  So sorry!  I started eating it before I snapped a pic.  It was really wonderful, tho!  The Lemon wasn't over the top tarty or puckery and the Raspberry was AWESOME!  The Vegan Butter was on the side and I dipped my finger in it but didn't feel it 'needed it' so I didn't add it to the Waffle.  Same with the Vegan Creamed Cheese.  The Maple Syrup was local and super sweet.  I usually don't care for Maple Syrup on my Waffles but it was tasty.  Next time I might ask for it on the side so I exclusively taste the Lemon and Raspberry on top of it!

Later than Night I grabbed the 2nd course...Veggie Burger!  This place has some great 'burgers'.  This one was a goodie but there are some others I enjoy a bit better like their Tofu Rodeo Burger, for example. 

BUT...this was pretty good, regardless!  I opted for the Vegan Cheddar.  The Pickle was puckery but in a good way!  The Hot Sauce was a nice touch, too!  Their Home Fries are similar to Breakfast Potatoes.  I really wish we had more veggie places in my region but I sure am thankful for this one!