Virtual Vegan Bookshelf & Shout Outs!

Just a mini post of sorts at the moment.  I might post another one later in the day, too!  Here is another book that has been on my wishlist for a long time.  The Vegan Stoner Cookbook.  No...I'm not a stoner.  But, I do find this book funny, cute, and interesting on several levels!  There are some real thrown-together dishes in this book and they are really speaking to me since I tend to throw oddball dishes together when I don't know what to make or really try and Eat From The Pantry!

I've been pondering another tab up top to create a Virtual Vegan Bookshelf.  I'm still trying to think how to tackle this project.  I would like to archive the books I have and display them here on the site, too!  I'm a visual person so I want to have photos of the book covers which is easy enough but with the books I want to include (all of the ones I have on my actual bookshelf at home), it will be a lengthy page for sure.

Another thing I will be posting about soon is FotoJet.  I have been playing around with the site and really LOVE some of the graphics I have been able to create while using the site.

Finally, I'm totally addicted to my new(er) Flag Counter and checking in often to see which new flags I am virtually collecting.  Over the last 2 or 3 days, I have had new visitors from Belize, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Svalbard, Portugal, Poland, South Korea, Ukraine, Eritrea, and Brunei.  Thanks so much for visiting!  I have been looking into World Foods from those areas and would like to do veganized versions soon!  If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Surprises at Dollywood!

Check this out!  It's part of my lunch at one of the places inside Dollywood!  I had their Salad Bar which also included a Mac & Cheese Bar.  I asked them if I could do it with no meat or dairy and the wonderful lady who was doing the custom mac n cheese orders went back to the kitchen and found the olive oil and did mine vegan style!  I thanked her multiple times for the special treatment!  This is what we came up with!  Macaroni in Olive Oil with tomatoes, green onions, read peppers, onions, mushrooms and it turned out yummy!  A special shout out and THANK YOU to Dollywood!

One of the many things I enjoyed about Dollywood was the friendly ducks throughout the park just waiting to greet passerby's.  Everyone who worked at Dollywood treated them like guests of the park...they were completely free to come and go as they please.  There were many natural places for them to frequent including ponds and streams.

Another neat part of Dollywood was the artisans and their demonstrations.  This guy was one of the blown glass guys.  Everything they make during the day goes into the last part of the process to cool over night and then it's available for sale the next day in the gift shop next to the demo area.  I posted a bunch of photos of me over at the Travel Blog if you want to check it out and I will have a lot more from Dollywood in the very near future.

Vegan Zombie Crew - Part 2

HEY!  Check this out!  The Vegan Zombie Tweeted about this post!  Thanks guys! 
About a week after the WNY VegFest I sent a 'thank you' email over to the guys for taking a good 15 minutes or more to chat with my sister and I.  They wrote back!  YAY!  They also linked to the post linked above on their social media!  These guys are cool!

I've been waiting to post these photos but now seems like the perfect time!  Here's the book I bought from them when I met them :) And they signed it inside.  One of the first things I made was their "Cheese Sauce" and I put it on some mac...I used Brown Rice Pasta, actually...here's what it looked like and it was oh-so-tasty!

Another recipe that is in this book is one I did a while back based on an older video of theirs.  It was their Lasagna Rolls and they were super good, too!  But I was very excited to see they included that recipe in this cookbook!  I told my sister I thought she would really like that one.

Up On The Roof

I've kind of been 'sitting on' these photos and this post for a few weeks so I figured I should probably blog a little bit about the space in which we will be trying to grow some fruits and veggies.  This is the roof area we will be trying to grow our Rooftop Garden.  We are still in the planning stages because of the awful weather we have been having but I think the first step is to start them indoors for 6 to 8 weeks and gradually bring them outside.  Eventho spring is only 16 days away it sure doesn't feel that way!  It was -9 this morning.  Brrr!

If you look at the very top of this photo you can see that 'our neighbors' also have a Rooftop Garden of sorts up there.  They have some trees in Rubbermaid containers.  I don't think they are doing any produce or flowers...just trees.  In the summer last year they had a table and chairs out there as well as a small grill.  Prior to last summer no one had been in that building for YEARS.  I'm glad someone is using it!  I think they might be vampires because we never see them during the day! LOL

Because this building is so old and looks 'pretty bad' we are going to have to give it some TLC but because we 'just work here' there isn't much we can do to it.  Sure...we can clean it up a bit but that's about it.  that's ok...I'm sure we can make something 'grow' in the meantime.  I think by bring some life to the rooftop it will make it look a bit better than it looks right now.  Like I said in previous posts - most of the things we will be using will be reusing and re-purposing such as old equipment that has just been laying around.

This office is only used once a month at the most so we are thinking about setting some of them on the windows for the 6 to 8 week period to tend to the seeds.  We do have other windows throughout that we might also use in this process.  More on that later.

I can't help but think of the song by The Drifters...Up On The Roof!  I'm hoping this will give us an escape or an oasis of sorts!

A little off topic but I did want to do some daily shout outs to those who visited from Brazil, Bahamas, Angola, and Bosnia & Herzegovina.  I appreciate you!  Feedback always welcome!  Have a great day!

Blog Randomness, Funnies, and Around The World Shout Outs!

Well, NOT 15...but a few!  I enjoy reading the search words and phrases that some enter to get to my blog!  Some make sense and others just leave me laughing and/or scratch my head.  Regardless here are a few that I have seen lately...

Wine Cork Leprechaun (Rock, Paper Scissors...I WIN!)

I'm So Irish My Liver Hurts (Well, LIVER alone!)

And While I Was Waiting (I waited LONGER?)

And speaking of looking at some Website Stat's...you know how I LOVE visitors from all sorts of countries!  It's not uncommon for me to see the following over and over and I appreciate them...USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Russia, Australia, China, Malaysia, Poland, Israel, Italy, Indonesia, Netherlands, etc.  But more recently I have seen more and more from...Morocco, Greece, Ecuador, France, Hong Kong, Jordan, Lithuania, and South Korea.  Now...I'm not saying those are the only countries that have people to visit me...just a few shout-outs to those showing up recently on my top hits!  Is your country not represented?  Let me know in comments!

Keywords, Q&A, and FAQ

I've been looking at my stats again and thought it might be a good time to do some 'explaining'.  Whether you have searched my site or searched the web and stumbled upon a post of mine I appreciate and welcome you!  Last time I did a bit of a techie post I shouted out to some sites I have received some visitors from as well as mentions from around the world.  Today I thought I would write a little bit about the things that have been searched for here.  Some of them have been "Cold Curried Beans", "Corona Beans", "Raw Stuffed Peppers", and "Pickle Power".  The latter made me giggle - I'm not sure why. 

One of the things I have been asked a lot lately as well as been receiving hits for is..."Are Wildtree Products Vegan".  As some of you know my mom, sister, and I are all Wildtree Reps.  The answer in simple form is YES...and NO!  As a vegetarian or vegan or even just a responsible shopper and consumer you should always read your labels!  With Wildtree they are very open about their ingredients and have always been all natural.  The end of last year they were certified organic.  There are many Wildtree Products that are vegan.  Others are vegetarian (but may contain dairy).  There are a select few that are NOT Vegetarian or Vegan...but again they are clearly marked in the ingredients!  One thing I have learned and LOVE is to NOT assume that something of theirs is NOT veg.  You will be surprised at just how many of them are!  If you have a question about a specific product PLEASE let me know.  I can help.  Also...my store/link is in the side bar if you would like to browse (or buy).  But I am low pressure so I will never twist your arm!

A few other keywords lately have been..."Healthy Vegan Cabbage Rolls", "Make Norwegian Sweet Soup", "Vegetarian Irish Stew", and "Vegan Meals In A Bottle".  This makes me wonder if I should start my Vegan Foods From Around The World Weekly Theme back up again...hummmm.  Speaking of Around The World - I would like to give a shout out to my readers in (of course the US and Canada) as well as Russia, Germany, Ukraine, the UK, Poland, Austria, France, New Zealand, and Switzerland!  AND...speaking of Shout Outs...another phrase searched, here, was "I Want Shout Outs".  Well, I have been known to give "shout outs" on my blog from time to time.  The best way is to first and foremost be a legit reader/visitor and not a spam3r.  If you visit often and have a blog of your own I will - probably - at some point - give you a shout out or two!  Thus far...my individual post/blog entry with the most hits of all time is THIS ONE.  It's wonderful because I LOVE that company and their products and have a few other products from them on tap for reviews down the road.

I will say that feedback-wise I have gotten a lot of positive feedback about my Mixed Media lately and will be doing more soon!  Thanks for all of the encouragement!  My friends and readers contribute to this truly being a "Blissful Journey".  I appreciate you all!

Random Shout-Outs, Mini-Goals, Product Reviews

Hello everyone!  I will have multiple posts again, today!  First off I want to do a few random shout outs!  I was looking at my stats and I was so happy to see people from all over the world swing by!  Of course people here in the US - but also people from: Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Malaysia the last few days!  If you are stopping by from one of these countries let me know!  Also...if your country is NOT listed here - let me know about it, too!  Ever since I was in middle school I have loved hearing from people all over the world!  I had over 120 pen pals from over 40 countries!  I think the art of letter writing and snail mail is becoming extinct.  I'm thinking about starting it up again.  Another thing I noticed while looking at my stats I have been getting visitors from various sites but I want to do a little shout-out to these top 3 today!  Special Thanks to those visiting from: Peas & Crayons, I'm Celebrating Life, and The Charm Of Home.  Let me know if you are from one of these sites or have been referred by another site!  I would like to stop by their place and thank them!  And finally...here are my top 3 'search phrases'.  Thanks to those who have come across my blog via a search engine!  I was very excited to see these three phrases pop-up: "Vegan Mason Jar Meals", "Norway Vegan Recipes", and "Vegan Buffalo Chickpea Recipes".  Which brings me to my next topic!  My near-future mini-goals!  I'm going to set some mini-goals for myself based on these three searches!  I want to provide more Vegan Mason Jar Meals!  I have been chatting with a friend about this.  She isn't vegan but also wanted to see more ideas on my blog.  I also want to prepared these for lunches as well as consume more of them!  When I was doing Vegan Foods from around the world I tried to do a Norwegian Foods week as I have Norwegian roots in my family tree.  I will say it was a little hard to find vegan Norwegian foods but I am going to try and shoot for more!  I might even start trying to bake!  I know there are some Norwegian Cookies I have been wanting to try.  But I am NOT a good baker at all!  I have been avoiding it after many failed attempts!  And since I am originally from Buffalo I like to incorporate Buffalo Flavors or Spicier things into my foods.  I'm going to continue to try and do Buffalo Inspired Vegan Flavors and foods!  If you have any suggestions - please let me know!

I have now tried all 3 of these Defender Meal Bars from Core and I really enjoyed all of them!  I actually ate the 3rd one long ago and took notes for a later post.  The last one I tried was the Walnut Banana flavor.  Many of you know I HATE Bananas and I was sort of afraid to try this one!  BUT...keep reading...this was DARNED TASTY!  I didn't think this one was in-tact as much as the other two were - it fell apart a little easier than the others did.  I'm not saying that is good, bad, or indifferent, it's just something I noticed.  The dates and walnuts offset the banana so it wasn't 'all about the banana'...and that I appreciated.  The spices were similar to Banana Nut Bread...subtle and not overpowering.  It had a slight raisin after-taste that was nice and sweet!  The texture was a bit flakier and grainer than the others but it all worked out really well and the product was top-notch!  I still can't believe how filling these are!  They really ARE a full meal!  WOW!

Another thing I wanted to share with you in this post is my NEW LOVE for Antho.  This will be the first of a few product reviews for them!  I LOVE this company!  I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover by they had me at first glance!  Their website is beautiful!  Do check it out!  Their products are truly natural and pure, effective, eco-friendly, Made in the USA, and vegan!  Their creams are only made from unrefined, raw, organic oil!  They sell Body Butters, Oils, Bath Salts, Soaps, Shower Gels, Body Scrubs, Deodorants, Face Moisturizers, Cleansers and Toners, Masks and Scrubs!  They also have Scent Inspirations, Gift Boxes, Organic Gourmet, plus items for your home like Soy Candles, Laundry, and Home Fragrance products!  I LOVE their packaging, their bottles and jars, their labels!  Everything is really lovely!

 I'm so very excited about this product, specifically!  A few months ago I had a callus on my left hand on the inside by my first two knuckles and it was the only place on my hands that was dry.  I started using their Raspberry and Mint Hand and Body Butter and within 3 days it was 'back to normal'.  It was AMAZING!  I was overjoyed with the outcome!  I have been using it on and off for about 2 or 3 months now and I have only used a VERY little bit!  You can see in this photo it's barely 'touched'.  The jar is 4 ounces and I have almost all of it left!  This is going to last me for a good, long while!  I'm VERY happy about that because it WORKS and because it smells awesome!  I'm a fan of anything MINT but I loved that they did a Raspberry/Mint Combo!  It creates a scent of its own!  It's priced at $18.50 on their website but this product will certainly go a long way!  Totally worth it!  I think I will leave you guys with this info below and do another blog post later today because I kind of rambled a bit here - but - when I find things I am excited about - I just feel compelled to share it with the world! 

Here is a little bit more about this specific product that is listed on their website:

Raspberry Mint - Organic Body Butter

Why it is better:  99% USDA certified organic ingredients – extra high organic content  Scented with premium, therapeutic grade USDA certified organic essential oils  Synthetics & Preservative Free  Anti aging, nourishing & moisturizing for all skin types, especially dehydrated, damaged skin  100% vegan and cruelty free  Creamy, smooth, alluring texture  A little goes a very long way and saves you money!  Stylish dark amber apothecary glass with elegant silver metal cap – to protect the precious cream from light and keep it fresh for a long time  Deliciously sweet raspberry aroma 4oz/120 ml