Thrifty Vegan & Raw Vegan Cookbook Finds!

Hi Folks!  A bit of an easy-out on a post today.  It's all about Thrifty Finds from Ollie's, mostly, on vegan cookbooks and raw vegan cookbooks.  WHY?  Because, I'm still trying to catch up on blogging things and because we received more bad news 2 days ago...my step-father-in-law passed away.  His viewing and funeral are Sunday and Monday.  This year has been a rough one.  At times I feel pretty numb.  Including right now.

  Anyhow...the first book I wanted to tell you about was Hannah Kaminsky's Vegan A La Mode.  I haven't been able to make anything out of these books YET but I'm thinking about getting together with my mother once a week and trying to make something out of each book this fall and winter as long as the weather cooperates.

This was another book I found this past spring.  Funny thing...I don't have an Instapot YET but hope to soon!  I think all of the books I have found at Ollie's were only $2.99 each!  I do know that I have to invest in a different bookcase for the house at this point.

This is one of my newest ones to my collection.  Matthew Prescott.  I found him on Instagram and it seems like he and his wife have done books on different things.  This one was plant-based and had a lot of vegan (and non-veggie) contributing comments so I thought I would grab it.

These last two are both from Susan Powers.  And they are BOTH Raw Vegan books.  Something I need to start doing more of again and soon!  I have been relying too much on store-bought processed vegan stuff lately.  For a couple of reasons, one being I have been on the go and not really at home much in 6 months to concentrate on cooking and the other being I have been finding so many interesting vegan options and products in stores as of late that I have given into those temptations.

I'm LOVING that these books are available locally in our rural area and for CHEAP!  What kind of books have you found lately?  What kind of CHEAP stuff have you spotted near your home, too!?  Do tell!

Reads, Recent Kitchen Experiments, & Build-Your-Own-Wrap

WARNING!  This is going to be a lengthy post!  And most likely one to jump around a lot, too!

First I want to share with you a new-to-me-vegan-cheese that I found at Wegman's this past weekend on my mini haul!  It's from Parmela Creamery and it's an aged nut cheese that is on the sharper side and made with cashew milk.

I used these shreds in the recipe/meal idea below, too!  The verdict is still out on this one.  I liked it but I have had others that were more tasty.  It doesn't melt as good as some of the other ones I have worked with but it does have it's perks, too!  The aroma is much like an artisan aged cheese.  Tonight I tried it in a wrap (which I will get to a little bit later in this post) and I really enjoyed it in a wrap situation.  There were a couple of other flavors for sale but I wanted to try this one first.

The other night I was trying to throw together a bowl of sorts and it ended up turning in to something completely different.  Let me explain.  

THIS photo is of the bowl mixture which was pretty tasty in its own right but it made me left wanting.  I will go on to show you what I did with it shortly, but first, the ingredients for this include: 1 C Multi-color Couscous, About a pound of roasted veggies I found at Trader Joe's a while back that I heated up and put into a blender on pulse, and then I made a simple creamy sauce made of Cashews, Almond Milk, Sea Salt, Garlic, Onion Flakes, Dill, Nutritional Yeast, and a splash of Balsamic.  Everything was eye-balled so sorry I don't have the exact measurements.

So here is what I ended up doing with the mixture.  It was holding together pretty good on its own so I made them into little balls and pressed them down into a muffin pan.  As you can see I used the plant-based shreds on top of all of them.  On half of those I squirted some Sriracha on top.  Both were tasty.  I think I liked the ones with Sriracha on top better.  I then made another Vegan Ranch type sauce for dipping. 

Here's a close-up of the dressing/dip/sauce.  Because I was out of cashews I decided to use Sunflower Seeds for this one.  Below is that recipe...

1 C Sunflower Seeds
About 1 C Almond Milk
2 t Lemon Juice
2 Cloves Garlic
2 t Dill

1 t Smoked Paprika

1 t Black Sea Salt
2 t Dijon Mustard

2 t Onion Flakes

Here's a closer look of the little Couscous Bites I made.  I have to say for me just throwing something together I was pretty proud of these lil guys!  The roasted veggies in the frozen package I got at TJ's was made up of Eggplant, Red Peppers, Onions, and had a bit of Balsamic for flavor in them, too!

In other news...
I had to break down and buy my lunch the other day and didn't want to go too far from the office so I stopped in at Total Evolution.  I opted for the Build-Your-Own-Wrap.  I decided to go with Sprouts, Avocado, Shredded Carrots, Hummus, Tomatoes, and they make their own Vegan BBQ Marinated Chickpeas.  They also make their own Vegan Cilantro Ranch Dressing so I went with that, too!

I have a lot of things I will be thumbing thru over the next couple of days including the following...

Raw Healthy & Delicious Recipes from Norbu (Australia)
Maranda Pleasant's Mantra Yoga & Health
Raw Food Lifestyle - back issues from March/April & May/June 2014
Rawmazing Easy Raw Food by Susan Powers

I've also recently found a website for those with Dyslexia.  They have resources for children but they also have a section for adults so I decided to subscribe to their newsletter and got my first issue today.  I will continue to locate resources for adults and try and report back here.

What do you think about the experiments in the kitchen?  Or about the little Build-Your-Own I found in my small town?  Or about the currently reading list?  I will be featuring more mini hauls over the next week or so!  A few other things I'm wondering about are...what do you think about the changes to my site so far?  The FurKid Section/Tab?  The Into description and photo in the upper right hand corner of my nav bar?  And what do you think about the links section?  There are over 100 links there, now!  YAY!  I can't wait to visit and comment more frequently on both old and new friends sites!  Please let me know if I don't have your link listed and I will add it ASAP!  CHEERS!!!

My Sprouting Journey: I Couldn't Resist! And I'm Glad I Didn't!

Last week I found this Sprouting Kit at my local 'Herb Store'.  I probably shouldn't have bought it but I couldn't resist and I'm glad I didn't.  Come to find out you can buy this same kit online at Walmart for just under $29.  I bought it for roughly $27.  YAY!

You can see that it comes with 3 Sprouting Packets and 3 Trays!

Here's the back of the box.  I think I'm going to keep it.  Or at least cut off the back and save it.  Not sure yet.

I have been pondering a bit of crafting again and starting with Vision Boards.  Maybe on a Monthly Basis.  This would be GREAT to include in this month's Vision Board.  It's plain and simple but inspiration just to look at it.

I tend to go in spurts with sprouts!  If you have been a blogging buddy of mine for a while you might already know this about me.  Previous Posts on Sprouting: Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, and Here.  Oh yeah and Here, Here, Here, and Here!  HaHa!

A few things I am doing different this time...

I'm sprouting at work and not at home.  This time of year I have found unexpected guests in years past and I don't want to encourage that this year.

I'm not sure why but my office at work I have come to be VERY fond of for many reasons.  One is the windows and natural light.  Not that you need these things for sprouting but I just thought I would mention it.  Another being that I have had a lot of luck with various plants growing around my office space so I figured I would try it!

The photo above is DAY 1 on this specific Sprouting Journey.  This was after soaking for 12 hours.  The second photo was taken yesterday at the end of the day.  I have to say that I am OVERJOYED with the first time results.  They seem to sprout much faster than my other attempts in Mason Jars!  It took less than 2 days!

This is the Protein Powerhouse Sprout Mix that came with the kit.  The Mix has Adzuki, Garbanzo, Pea, and Mung.

My goal is to have sprouts going throughout the week - all week long - and break on the weekend.  Another goal is to snack on them throughout the day and include them in my lunches.

I have been rinsing them twice a day.  Here are 2 more photos of them up-close and personal.  Aren't they beautiful!?

Next week I hope to have all of the trays sprouting at the same time.  This week I only did the one tray.

I mentioned that I would be sprouting all week and taking a break on the weekends while I'm not at work...I have a plan for that, too!  I'll take any leftover home for the weekend!

I think these are really reachable goals.  I will post progress here for sure!

On the box of the kit, it said their website is HandyPantry.com but it forwards to another site now.  It's now under the direction of True Leaf Market.

In the short time, I have been thumbing thru the True Leaf Market website I have already fallen in LOVE with it!

I know I will learn a lot but I will probably be so intrigued with their other products that I will have to look into buying some more of them!

I have also been storing my other sprouting seeds in a cool, dry place for a while now so I will be busting those out soon!  PLUS...the ban on selling sprouting seeds in the state of PA has been lifted!  YAY!  I still can't believe that they were banned for 2 or 3 years.  They made it illegal to sell sprouting seeds in the state.  Other seeds were still ok but not seeds that were specifically geared toward sprouting sprouts!  Oye!

Indigo Kumquat Tomatoes, Cherry Drops, and Jackfruit

Say hello to one of my NEW favorites!  This is an Indigo Kumquat Tomato.

It's a orange fruit with dark indigo-colored shoulders. Very sweet flavor with a surprising, tart kick of acidity.  It requires minimal pruning and yields well, even in unfavorable conditions. Stunning combined in mixed quarts with Indigo Cherry Drops or with other grape or cherry varieties, but unique enough to offer alone and brand by name. Harvest when background color fills in uniformly orange and fruits begin to soften. Indigo color is derived from anthocyanin, a known antioxidant.

What is an Indigo Cherry Drop?  I'm so glad you asked...Indigo Cherry Drops has striking dark-blue anthocyanin coloration over red flesh. The plant habit is much improved, from the small semi-determinate of Indigo Rose to a vigorous indeterminate. 

These are 2 little gems that were calling to me yesterday at The Busti Apple Festival.  I believe this is the 4th year my parents and I have sold our Wildtree products outside of this event in a friends front yard.  If you have been reading my blog for a while you might remember the apple that was as big as my Dad's face 2 years ago!

A co-worker brought some Jackfruit in this morning and of course I am gobbling it up!  Oddly this is the first time I have had fresh and whole Jackfruit.  I have had frozen, freeze-dried, and BBQ-ed/Packaged before. 

I'm probably going to eat a lot of it raw but might try and do a curry dish with the more fiber-eque parts.

What unique fruits have you been eating lately?

Raw Vegan Ranch Dip & Dressing

I was having a serious Ranch Dressing Craving not too long ago and threw a bunch of things in my blender and came up with this.  The first recipe is for the dip.  It's thicker and tangier.  Perfect for carrot sticks and dipping!  To make a dressing just add a few tablespoons of water and/or non dairy milk of your choice!
1/2 C Cashews
1/2 C Sunflower Seeds
1 C Water
3 T Lemon Juice
3 T Coconut Aminos (or Maple Syrup)
1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
3 t Onion Powder
2 t Dill


You can add a splash of oil and/or sea salt or Braggs Liquid Aminos if you wish.  Optional, of course!

Creamy Red Pepper Vinaigrette - Vegan!

Just a quick post today with a new recipe for Creamy Red Pepper Vinaigrette that is VEGAN!  This can actually be a dip or a dressing!  It's super yummy!  I was going to make something completely different and already put a large amount of Apple Cider Vinegar into my blender and realized I didn't have 2 main ingredients I needed for the recipe I was looking at so instead of wasting what was already in there I shifted gears and came up with a Creamy Red Pepper Vinegar Diddy!

I had some leftover cauliflower and multi-colored mini peppers for dipping.  This was a snack last night and RAW too!

Below you can check out the recipe!  I had a few other things I was going to try and blog about this week but will hold off until next week instead!  Happy Weekend!


Creamy Red Pepper Vinaigrette Recipe

1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 C Cashews
3 T Hemp Seeds
5 Mini Sweet Red Peppers
1/2 T Minced Garlic
1/2 C (or more to thin) Water
3 T Nutritional Yeast
1 tea Smoked Paprika

For a more savory flavor feel free to add a squirt or two of Bragg's Liquid Amino's!

Simple Cashew Cream

My father AND my husband cannot consume nuts but LOVE them.  I remember making this Simple Cashew Cream a while back andI know my dad would LOVE it.  I really need to get my rear-in-gear and try and make some for the holidays...or really ANY time...because it's SO EASY!  Throw everything into a high speed blender and there you go!

Simple Cashew Cream

1 C Soaked Cashews

1/4 C Water

1 T Agave Nectar

1 t Garden of Life OPP Vanilla

More Vegan Options From Mainstream Candy Shows & Back To Basics!

I have more to share with you from a not-so-long-ago Candy Show.

Eventho I wasn't the person to attend 'said Candy Show' I was lucky enough to get my hands on some of the vegan products thanks to my lovely parents!

First up - today - are these wonderful Matcha Snakaroons from Laughing Giraffe.  I have had a half dozen flavors from this company before and am a fan but I have to tell you these top my list!  YUM!  Since they are a Matcha product I might even review them for the Sororitea Sisters Blog, too!

You have probably seen Nature's Bakery's FIG BARS nearby.  This is the FIRST time I have seen their Brownie Bars and WOWZA are they TASTY!  As you can see I was lucky enough to try their NEW Double Chocolate Brownie!  Yippeee Skippy...these are VEGAN!

My parents said that this year was WONDERFUL for vegan products and many of them shined bright during the show!  This is a annual, national candy show that he's attended for YEARS, too!

Up next are a few different flavors of breakfast and/or snack bars from Orchard Bar.

These are a mix of fruit and seeds but the thing I want to point out right away is that these are MOIST.  The fruit "jelly" surrounding the whole bar is quite gooey and fresh!

I can't say as I have had another bar quite like it!  It was memorable for that fact.  Secondly - the fruity flavors never failed to pack a powerful tarty punch and blast of flavor in your mouth!

Here's one of the other flavors I had recently.  I can't tell you which one I liked better.  They were both good!

I'm also liking that more and more companies are stating that the product is vegan.  Regardless I am still a label reader - but - it's great to have it identified right away and SEE the word VEGAN if you know what I mean!?

This next product I am hot and cold about.  I'm happy that it clearly states Maple Bacon Flavored Almonds VEGAN on the label.  And the label itself is pretty cool if you are into label EYE CANDY like I am.

BUT...I didn't think these really tasted like bacon.  Not that I ever liked bacon even before going veg.  Therefore, I personally don't care that they weren't closely bacon-esque anyways.  However, if you are a 'bacon person' and looking for a TWIN of bacon-with-out-the-bacon...I don't know if this would fit the bill.  Having said that...a co-worker who is NOT veg in anyway really liked these so I guess that is all that really matters!

That about does it for the Candy Show wrap-up!  But I have more to share with you in today's post...so here goes...This next photo is my new Positively Posh Easy Peasy Big Bath Chunk Bar.  I realized eventho they aren't a vegan company they do have many vegan beauty care product options!  That I am thankful for!  This Sweet Mint Lemonade flavor smells AMAZING!  It certainly lives up to it's name, too, it's so large of a bath bar that you might need two hands to hold it.  The retail price for this specific bar is $9.  Yes...that IS pricey...but I didn't make any other purchases this past weekend and haven't bought any pampering products as of late so I thought I would treat myself!

Monday I stopped in a Wegmans while traveling to have some lunch - which I will show in the next photo - but - also spotted these two 'rays of light'.  That's RIGHT...I was FINALLY able to get my hands of Daiya Dressings locally!  I bought Home Style Ranch and Blue Cheeze.  I will already say I am a fan of BOTH.  I have made my own vegan ranches at home before and some where better than others but this VEGAN Blue Cheese...OMG!  Winner!  Winner!  Tofu Dinner!!!!  It's out of this WORLD!  Yum!  Because these are priced at $3.99 each this was another 'once in a blue moon' type of purchase for me but I will certainly be buying them again I just have to pace myself!

And finally this last photo of this post...my lunch that day!  It included: corn, watermelon, roasted yams, raw mushrooms, HUGE Blackberries, celery, and I think that is about it!

It was a solid lunch!

I have a confession to make...not so much in the last month...but..prior to that for a few months I was being LAZY.  I was consuming beer on a weekend sometimes.  I was falling back on pastas and had a little bit too much bread, I think.

Well, I think the beer, bread, and pasta caught up with me.  Eventho I was rather bloated this past week I can FEEL that I have gained a notable amount of weight back and just seemed to realize it.  Therefore, I think it might be time for a reboot!  I've already started this reboot and plan on continuing with it for a while...at least a month...maybe more.  What I am doing is this...MOSTLY juicing, smoothies, salads.  I will fill in holes from time to time with other things such as raw veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds.  I think my cheats for the most part will be with my dressings.  The dressing may or may not be store bought...and/or if I make them at home may or may not be higher in fat.  But with me cutting back on so many other foods I shouldn't be that concerned about the higher fat in a dressing once a day.  Another thing I may do once or twice a week is include blended soups I make at home, myself, too!  Years ago I did this in the summer months...June, July, August...I believe...and for the most part this worked well.  What non-veg people might not understand is that - when I do a salad - I do a salad!  I throw all sorts of stuff on my salads!  I hope to post most of them here!  Stay tuned for some REALLY FUNKY salads, and salad dressings...not to mention dips and/or spreads.

These are the type of recipes you will be seeing from me in the very near future!  So it's Back To Basics for me!!!

Also...I don't have a code for MIDWEEK MUNCHIES but let me know if you participated this week in comments!  I would LOVE to see them!

BIG LUNCH and Other Odds~N~Endz

Last week I while traveling around the region for work I stopped at Wegman's for lunch.  They have a WONDERFUL hot and cold lunch bar which is priced by the pound.  I believe it's $8.99 per pound and this worked out to be about a pound but I had heaps of food here!  The photo really doesn't do it much justice!  What you can see, may see, and can't really see...

* Marinated Zucchini, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Onions (Raw), 

* Roasted Multi-Colored Sweet Peppers, Eggplant, Sweet Onions

* Raw and plain Corn

* Raw and plain Mushrooms

* Grilled Asparagus

* Grilled Pineapple

* Herb Tofu

* Raw Blueberries, Raw Raspberries

* Raw Sweet Peas

* Sweet and Raw Coleslaw with Raisins and Cranberries

I think that is it...might be a few other items in there.  But I will tell you...this was an AMAZING lunch!  I wish I could eat something like this EVERY DAY!!!

A few weeks ago I started my random watermelon mono meals for lunch again but there is a lull in flavorful watermelon here at the moment so I will hold off on that for a while until it improves!

And speaking of watermelon...here is a snapshot of pure watermelon juice from our Juicing Journey!

One of the other juices I forgot to post about from last week's juicing session was this one!  This is Spinach Lemon Pineapple and it was TERRIFIC!

And I will end this post with some CUTENESS from my parents house!  These are the cats in their household...Bernie on the left and Jeter on the right!  They LOVE their sun room!

Raw Vegan Juices of the Moment

Yesterday I mentioned how behind I was in posts for taking a little bit of time off from blogging but I didn't know how far back I was logging stuff until I went to edit photos!  OMG!

So this post will be ALL juicing and juices!  This is the first of at least 2 (or 3) posts today so be sure to check back!  I have so much to share with you over the next few days and weeks!

First up...take a look at this rich, deep color of the Blueberry, Raspberry, Grape, Lemon Juice my mom and I recently did!  I believe this was made out of 1 container of raspberries (maybe 2), 2 containers of blueberries, about 2 pounds of grapes, and 1 whole lemon.  This made well over a quart.  My father LOVED it so he kept the quart!

This one is simply Plum Watermelon Juice.

We bought a watermelon that wasn't very flavorful so instead of 'chucking it' we decided to juice it!  We used about a pound or more of watermelon and 3 pounds of plums!  YUM!

The funny thing is that my mom LOVES watermelon but doesn't like watermelon juice by itself.  Lucky for me I LOVE BOTH!  I did find out that my dad like plum juice...he also like things with lemon in them were as my mother doesn't.  It's fun learning what each one likes to zone in on and how taste buds are different!

What are your favorite things to blend with watermelon?  I wanted to do Strawberry Watermelon but I wasn't able to find any strawberries YET.

Hubby has been CRAVING Orange Juice.  Since he was diagnosed with Crohn's he hasn't been able to drink it because of the pulp.  I won't drink store bought OJ because it freaks me out...most OJ here in the US has funky ingredients in it (some even contain fish or fish bi-products!!!!)  So it's been a while since I had a good, solid, NATURAL, freshly squeezed cup of OJ.

This was great!  We took about 3 to 5 pounds of navel oranges and juiced them.  It made more than you see here but for the jar I brought home for my husband it was less because we strained it 3 more times.  I'm SO HAPPY he liked it!  It didn't seem to affect his stomach either!

I've heard that the Tribest SlowStar Juicer I use is one of the best to yield more juice and less pulp!  I will try and post a few videos in the near future!

Next up...Pineapple Kale Blueberry!

Here we used 1 container of Blueberries, a whole Pineapple, and about 6 to 10 leaves of kale.  The kale I used was of the sweeter variety and smelled like cabbage.  It was white with dark green highlights!

I will say this smelled weird.  I will also say this is one I sipped on a bit and revisited the following morning.  Word to the wise on this one...if juicing and refrigerating overnight you most likely will have to restrain this in the morning!  Some of the pulp that got thru the juicer and strainer expanded overnight!

ALL of these would make FANTASTIC Freeze Pops, too!  I have some more juices to share with you in the near future and I know my parents are both excited to be trying new juices so I am sure this will be at least once week or every other week I will have new ones to share!  If you have any suggestions let me know in comments!

MacIntosh Apple Juice

Nope...this IS NOT Beer!

It's Pure Apple Juice!

A sample of the MacIntosh Apple Juice that my mom and I juiced this weekend and it turned out GREAT!

3 pounds!

I know I went 'missing' for a bit again but I should be back in full force again tomorrow with plenty more to share!!!

Carrot Orange Juice with my SlowStar Juicer

Another quick post of my most recent SlowStar Juicing Adventures and Journey!

This juice consisted of Mandarin Oranges and Baby Carrots!  That's it!  

I LOVE the color!

My mother really liked this juice which kind of surprised me but I was delighted when I found out!

We juiced about 3 pounds of oranges and 2 pounds of baby carrots for this!

Today I will leave you with this photo!  For some reason I kept forgetting to post it!  So sorry!  I found this lovely couple on my walk home from work a few weeks ago!  They were right near the road - a brick road - to be exact - right near a beautiful Methodist Church in downtown!

Pure Apple Juice With My SlowStar Juicer

Yesterday I blogged about my most Juicing Adventures and I wanted to keep the momentum going!  Since it's the weekend I wanted to Keep It Simple!

Here is a quarter of PURE Apple Juice that my mom and I juiced the other night!

It's about 5 pounds of Gala Apples!  That's it!

Both my mother and father were a fan of this apple juice!

Just a short post today!

I will leave you with this sweetie-of-a-pup...Cricket from the other night!  Everyone have a great weekend!

Spinach Pineapple Lemon Juice!

I FINALLY did it!  I FINALLY started Juicing again!  Last night I grabbed my Slowstar Juicer and everything that came with it and went over to my parents house!  I did this for several reasons!  My parents have more kitchen space not only for storage, display, and counter space while actually juicing but they also have better lighting, too!  Another reason I decided to take my juicer over to my parents house is because my father has shown interest in juicing lately and when I mentioned it to my mother she seemed semi-interested as well.  I figured it was something we could do together!  The 3 of us!  I go over to their house at least once a week anyways so why not do something good for us while we are together, eh?

I have this juice that you see here!  It's a Tribest Slowstar Juicer.  I bought it over at The Raw Food World and you can check that out HERE.

I have 3 people that I would like to THANK for their Slowstar inspiration!  Chris over at The Vegan Zombie, John Kohler, and Linda & Jay Kordich.  You can click on their names for a video from each!

Now...on to the Green Juice you see at the beginning of this post!

It's Spinach, Pineapple, Lemon!

I took a large bag of organic spinach and juice it all!  I also juiced about 4 lemons and about a half of a pineapple!

With the lemons I left the skin and peel on.  This was hardcore LEMON...lucky for me...I LOVE Lemon!  I have LOTS of others juices on tap!  I will be posting over the weekend so be sure to see what else I have juicing!

Recap of the Week

TGIF!  I'll get the not-so-great-news out of the way, first!  This past week Paco (our Chihuahua who has immune issues) had a puffy nose and I took him to the vet and they are thinking it's tooth related so long story short...they are going to do dental surgery next Thursday.  Because of his immune issues and those issues having to do with clotting and NOT clotting properly they have to treat this a bit differently.  I'm hoping all goes well.  Please send positive thoughts, prayers, vibes our way!  In other crazy news...my Fiat needs 4 new tires!  Blah!  Plus...I'm still without a dishwasher!  AND...our gutter fell off the house...so...YEAH...it's been a rough go-around!

Anyways...on to more positive things...such as FOOD...First photo is part of my lunch from Monday.  It's a Red Cabbage Crunch Salad of sorts.  Raw...carrots, cabbage, onion, pumpkin seeds, parsley, sunflower seeds, etc...

Next photo is simply Oil Roasted Brussels Sprouts with herbs!

I got both of these at Wegman's which are clearly marked whether or not they are vegetarian, vegan, or otherwise.  Why can't every eating establishment be that obvious!?

I was able to meet up with my sister for lunch that day since I was in her neck-of-the-woods.

Not too long ago I made this Pimento Cheese.  It turned out super YUMMY!

Silly me...I didn't save the recipe!  I can tell you that it has Cashews, Pimentos, Nutritional Yeast, SeaClear, and more in it, tho!

I've been into more comfort and convenience foods as of late and need to throw in more grains.
I hope to do more casseroles, one-pot-meals, and thrown-together-bowls in the near future, too!

So  many vegan food combos - so little time, eh!?

Last night I did this Plant-Based Cheese and once again I don't have the recipe with me.  It is in need of some tweaking, first, so it might be for the best that I don't post it now but I will tell you that it had potatoes, carrots, cashews, almond milk, nutritional yeast, minced garlic and onion, and a few other little things thrown in.

It turned out ok but I felt it was missing that last little something-something.

Something else I should mention that was pretty awesome this week was that it reached 72 degrees the other day!  Yes...in mid-march...in the snow belt!

Last week I stopped in at a semi-local produce market.  I say semi-local because it it still about 40 minutes away from my house but since I am traveling up that way for work at least once a week now I am able to stop in and see what they have.  It's also one of the few places of its kind that is open year-round in this area.

I found these Honey Tangerines on sale 2 for $1.  I also found Honey Bell Oranges that you can see in the next photo.  The Honey Bell Oranges were 79 cents each.



This might not sound like a deal to some of you in sunny Florida or California where citrus is plentiful but here for this time of year the price was right for me.

So these 4 items made up my lunch that day!

I'm still waiting for a semi-local restaurant to re-open.  It's a vegetarian and vegan restaurant that has been under construction for well over a year.  The owner is doing all the renovations himself so I understand the delay but I won't lie...it's nearly killing me! LOL

I will leave you with this photo of Cricket.  She's doing well and still a crazy lady that is for sure!  Riley is doing good, too, and so is Charlie the feral cat we have!  Here's hoping all goes well with Paco's dental surgery on Thursday!

I will say I have been tempted to adopt another dog from a local shelter...his name is Tipper.  I think 3 dogs is maximum capacity for our house but I will tell you that this specific dog has been 'haunting me' for WEEKS.  I have been visiting him at the shelter and smuggling in treats for him.