Fall, Food, and Furkids!

Fall, Food, & Furkids!  Those three things are what you will find in this post!  This past weekend was a little less busy than the last 3 or 4 months of weekends have been and it was NICE.  Saturday I did a few things around the house and spent a lot of time with the furkids. Hubby about about 30 others went to help a friend who is having back problems gather and cut firewood for the upcoming winter months.  Sunday we went grocery shopping!  I will share more about that on Wednesday for the next MidWeek Munchies LINK UP!  Before I jumped in the car to go to the store I took a few pictures of the changing leaves.  I didn't do that last year and regretted it!

This 2nd photo is part of the tree in front of our house.  It's a Japanese Maple and it's my favorite tree on our property at home.

I have been wanting to get a few photos of the forest/mountains/trees where I live but the photo is ruined by power lines.  The mountains I mention where I live are mountains of trees not like snow covered mountains that you would see in Colorado for example.  I live right by The Allegheny National Forest.
Maybe one of these days I will take some panoramic photos worth posting!

Last week I posted photos of Cricket - our newest addition - and I was so excited when I saw so many comments asking for MORE CRICKET!  Well, ask and ye shall receive!  I have two more photos of Cricket to share with you today!  She seems to be calming down quite a bit which is nice.  And this past weekend I decided to let her roam overnight.  She is crate trained - for the most part - but I don't think she really has to be - Paco on the other hand we do it more for his protection while we aren't there because of his health/immune issues and I would feel awful if he fell off the sofa while we weren't home.  But Paco is completely fine with his crate I think sometime he actually prefers it.

I still can't believe how small Cricket is.  Usually when we adopt dogs they are smaller dogs because we don't have the room for large dogs like Labs, etc.  But Cricket is by far the smallest dog we've ever had.  She's only 4 pounds!  She's such a sweetie, tho!  Eventho she's a Chihuahua mix she acts very much like a Chi that is for sure!  We think she's mixed with Rat Terrier.

One thing we have found out with her is that she doesn't like it when animals are on TV.  She freaks out!  This is REALLY funny because she LOVES other animals!  She's a very social dog and doesn't understand if other animals don't want to play with her.  Plus she has no concept of size either.

One of the QUICK FOODS I made for lunch recently was a Sun Dried Tomato Cashew Cheesy Rice.

It had 1 c Cashews, 1/4 C Water, 1/4 C Nutritional Yeast, 1/2 T Minced Garlic, 2 T Lemon Juice, 2 T Apple Cider Vinegar, 1 T Mustard, About 10 Sun Dried Tomatoes, and Black Himalayan Sea Salt to taste.

I also added about a tablespoon of Sun Warriors Liquid Vitamin Mineral RUSH.  Of course this is optional.

I have been into raw veggies and making them meals lately!  So that means that dips and spreads are KEY!  Here's the one I made this past week - it was a Sweet Dill Dip!
1 C Cashews
1 C Macadamia Nuts
Juice of 1/2 Meyer Lemon
3/4 C Water (or so)
1/3 C Apple Cider Vinegar
3 T Agave Nectar
1/3 C Grapeseed Oil
1 t EACH Of Minced Garlic, Dill, Basil, Onion Powder

Winner Annouced, More Vegan MoFo's, Happy Mail, Natural Cleaners, Vegan Snacks, & More!

Where - oh where - to begin!  LOTS to cover today!

First...CONGRATS to the WINNER of the Garden of Life Chocolate Cacao RAW PROTEIN....Jordan!  I emailed you - drop me a note with your info when you have the chance.  REMEMBER...if you didn't win this first one there is another chance to win a Garden of Life product over at this post.  I will draw a winner for that tomorrow!  Then...I will have a NEW giveaway stating tomorrow and ending Monday!  Stay Tuned!

This first photo is a picture of the soup I made last night!  It turned out AWESOME!!!  I think I will call it Creamy Chipotle Corn!  

Here's the recipe for the Creamy Chipotle Corn:

1.5 C Corn (in blender) PLUS 1/2 C added at the end - whole

2 C Almond Milk
2 Sun Dried Tomatoes
1 T Dried Basil
Handful Cashews

1 tea Onion Powder

1 Cap Full Sun Warrior Liquid Rush
1 tea Wildtree Garlic & Herb
Pinch (or more) Chili Garlic Sea Salt

This was AMAZING!

Last night I had a bit of a weird dinner.  I ended up throwing together some random foods and it turned out super yummy!  I have some Daiya Cheese I need to use before we leave town.  I used it here to cover some white rice with green peas and black beans.  I just the black beans was an attempt at 'refried beans' but my own way.  I used my Ninja as a food processor and put them on stove top added a little Lime Juice, Wildtree Garlic Galore, and a tablespoon of Daiya Onion & Chive Cream Cheese...and since I was little lighter on my 'greens' yesterday I added about a tablespoon of Garden of Life's Perfect Food Alkalizer & Detoxifier power to the black bean mixture.  I find these to be vegan comfort foods and they were tasty!

 

Another thing I haven't been able to blog about yet is my latest shipment from the Raw Food World!  Here is MOST of what I got...I took out a few things I bought for my Mother-In-Law, my Father, and a Friend...those items I have already featured in previous posts.  As for this shipment I was REALLY excited about a few things!  First...they have a new Kale Chip that I got, and I tried some of their Nori Nachos.  In the front you can see Pesto Walnuts.  OMG...try these!  I hate to say it but I'm already addicted to them.  I will be buying these often!  I thought I liked Living Nutz Vegan Cheesy flavored Almonds and I do but these are CRAZY GOOD!  I wanted to get some Probiotics to have on hand and I will be blogging about my Probiotic Adventures down the road.  I am now completely set on Nutritional Yeast and other cheesy alternative seasonings with the Rawmesan and other things I have been ordering the last few months.  Flavored Dulse and Kelps are checked off my 'to-get' pantry list, too!  YAY!  Another product I have been thinking about for MONTHS is Sun Warrior's Liquid Mineral RUSH.  I mentioned this in my blog post yesterday and it's all because of Jason Wrobel.  I used a cap full of it in the soup I mentioned above.  I'm interested in this because it has a neutral taste but because it is full of trace minerals, too!  As you can see I DID end up ordering some of the Turmeric Extract so when I am back home I will be tinkering with that, too!  One thing you might not be able to see real well in this shipment photo is a new sea salt I bought.  I know - I know...I don't usually use sea salt BUT this is Chili Garlic flavored and I couldn't resist.  It will probably last me YEARS...but...it's packs a powerful punch!  I used a pinch of it in the soup I made - recipe and link above.  

Finally...you will see that I bought two items from a company called Earth Scents. Check this next photo out...I had bought the Multi-Purpose Cleaner before and fell in LOVE with it INSTANTLY!  So I bought another bottle even before I ran out of it.  My husband who is usually hesitant to try natural cleaning products even LOVED it!  I will be doing a full review down the road for the Raw Food World's website/blog.  I cannot say enough about this product!  It's great for windows because it won't streak and it's glorious on my counter tops...just LOOK!  So...YEAH...I'm stoked about Earth Scents now!  With this last order I decided to grab some of their Tub Scrub, too!  I haven't used it yet but even if it performs HALF of what their Multi-Purpose Cleaner did I will LOVE it!

And...YES...after a while of being on back-order I was FINALLY able or order the 80/10/10 Book.  I had borrowed it a while back and found myself wanting to buy it and have it on hand to use as a reference so I bit the bullet and ordered it when it was available again!  

I don't really like the term 'diet' - especially if people haven't ever heard of this book before.  It really is a lifestyle.  I'm certainly NOT going to follow this book to a "T" but I do like the info and will apply some of it to my life.

I know some of you already have this book - what did you find most helpful and what did you read in the book that you have NOT applied to your life?

And...last but certainly NOT least...with all of this HAPPY MAIL I received this week I also receive these little GEMS...Coconut Organics sent me some of their snacks.  I will keep some in my office and will be taking some along with me for our road trip.  I will be doing a FULL REVIEW on them soon but so far so good!  A real treat!

They have a Dark Chocolate - vegan - that is a TRUE Dark Chocolate flavor that is for sure!  Good for me - I'm a dark chocolate fan!  They also have their straight-up Coconut Chips that are toasted and wonderful.  Then they are known for their CocoBacon® Organic Coconut Bacon...yes...also vegan!  Have you tried these yet?  Are you a fan?

A Few Fave YouTubers & Blissful Crafting Journey ~ Vision Boards

One of my favorite Raw Food YouTubers is Megan Elizabeth but today in this blog post and in the video above you will see one of her crafting projects.  She's inspired me to pursue this.  I have been thinking about it for a few months now and I keep being drawn back to this idea of VISION BOARDS.  I think on a large scale I will be doing Vision Boards but on a smaller scale I will start doing Vision Books, too!  I can see myself doing a LOT of these once I get going and am wondering how I am going to 'store' all of them if they are so big so that's another reason I think I might do more books or pages than full boards.  I found this AWESOME Pinterest Page full of them!

Yes...I have been YouTubing a LOT the last several months and thought I would share another one of my faves with you!  Jason Wrobel!  I just LOVE his crazy sense of humor and creative recipes and the way he presents them.  His made-up catch phrases certainly don't hurt either.  In this video's he's making Vegan Tortilla Soup.  His videos are a work of art and so are his recipes!  And I'm NOT going to lie...I purchased Sun Warrior's Liquid Rush JUST BECAUSE of him and everything he has been using it in the past year or so!  I just got it in yesterday and can't wait to use it!!!!