Volunteering, Unboxing, Booch Making, Plant Saving, Vegan Eats!

Well, I had to break down and purchase a few groceries earlier than I wanted to but the plus side is that I bought all of this for $23 and I had a $25 gift card so at least I didn't have to touch my bank account.  I still have a lot of what you see here including the celery, hummus, rice, spaghetti sauce, and apple sauce.  I will be using those items as the week progresses.  

At the end of last week, I had some cubed butternut squash topped with a sweet brown mustard sauce my parents found at Walmart that just happened to be vegan.

Before I get into more of the foodie type photos I thought I would tell you about a few things that happened Friday and on to the weekend.  Most of you here in the states are aware of the government shutdown.  In our county we have approx. 100 federal employees AND their families that were being affected by it.  Friday I jumped in last minute and helped at a local church that was having a dinner for Furloughed Families.  There were about 150-200 people or-so that attended.  

When I saw on the church website they were saying there would be a tea/coffee bar - I knew I could help donate TEA from my boxes and boxes of tea leftover from The Sororitea Sisters.  I brought 3 boxes and gave away a lot of it and served a lot, too!

Saturday Morning I stopped over at a place here in town that does Community Breakfasts and volunteered there, too.  I wasn't sure if they would see an influx of people because of the Furloughed Families or not but I knew I had the time and wanted to help.  When I got there I learned that our local Special Olympics Athletes were going to be volunteering as well.  

It was a nice morning and those who volunteered with The Special Olympics did GREAT!  Over 20 years ago I volunteered with the Special Olympics for about 2 or 3 years and LOVED it!  I helped with Basketball, Track, Softball, and attended a few Swimming and Bowling tournaments.  I really enjoyed my time with the Athletes.  And I enjoyed Saturday morning with some of them serving breakfast, too!

I just received another goodie box from Thayers!  WooHoo!  I'm totally LOVING their products and have so much more to share with you but that will be for another day and another post!

Check this out!  BOOCH!  It's official!  My father and I started brewing!  I figured that my parents' house is the best place to try it!  He already has all of his winemaking stuff set up!  Special thanks to a family friend who gave us 2 SCOBY's to get us started!  YAY!  This was the 'granddaddy' of the booch we are brewing.  We had 2 smaller ones we are trying, too.  And with a creative way to cover them, too!  Up top...that's a sterile mouth mask that my dad had and it fit nicely.  We used a bunji cord on this one, too, just in case!

I do have more foodie pics...I swear...but first...my poor plant!  I'm told this is a Dumb Cane Plant.  I've had it for 5 years and over the last 2 or 3 months it's been wilting away to nothing.  I've been trying to save it any way I can.

But after months of this happening to 90 percent of the leaves I knew I didn't have any other choice but to hack it.  It pained me to do it but I had to!

It even had new growth on the top.  So, I took the better-looking tops off and I'm trying to propagate a few of them.  So far they aren't rooting so I'm not sure if they are going to work or not.

There was also new shoots on the bottom...as you can see here...after I hacked nearly everything off.

Here's another look at what I had to do to try and save what I could of this plant.  I'm not sure if it's going to work but time will tell and I will surely report back!

So...on to the FOOD!  First up...Potato Celery Soup!  Saturday I went over to my parents' house and my mom and I cooked for several hours and actually did some meal planning (which I am horrible at).

This soup contains the following:

1 T Earth Balance (Vegan Margarine)
1 T Coconut Buttery Flavored Oil (Vegan, of course)

1/2 Onion

3/4 Bunch of Celery (I used leaves)

2 Small Potatoes

2 Carrots
About 2 and 1/2 C Water
1/2 C Almond Milk
1/2 C FRESH Parsely
Pinch Onion Sea Salt
Pinch Black Pepper

After cooking everything in a pot until soft I took about 75 percent of the mixture and pulsed in a blender and then added the rest of the mixture in for a heartier soup.  It was YUMMY!  I think we also added just a little bit of Bragg's Liquid Aminos and Old Bay Seasoning to it - to taste.

Next up...we made a HUGE batch of Lentil Veggie Stew.  This is the veggie part!  I could have totally eaten it just like this!  It was tasty!  We then added the Lentils and cooked down and it looked a little like this...

Here's what this recipe contained:

1 and a 1/2 C Green/Brown Lentils
Coconut Oil - Vegan Butter Flavored as needed
1 Sweet Onion
1 Carrot
2 Celery Stalks
1 Potato
4 Cloves Garlic
1 Small Zucchini

1 tea Ground Coriander
1 tea Ground Cumin
1 tea Turmeric
1/2 tea Cinnamon

2 and a 1/2 C Water
3 C Canned, Diced Tomatoes with Juice
1 C FRESH Parsely
2 T Lemon Juice
1/2 tea Old Bay Seasoning
Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Braggs Liquid Aminos, Agave Nectar - to taste

This was pretty wonderful and we divvied it up into many meals for my parents and myself for the week.

And...finally...Quinoa Black Bean Spinach Stuffed Peppers!  These had the following in them:

About 3 C Cooked Quinoa
3 C Spinach (cooked down)
1 C Black Beans
Oil as needed
1 Small Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
2 tea Cumin
2 tea Smoked Paprika

1 Can Diced Tomatoes with Juice
1/4 C FRESH Cilantro
Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Lemon Juice, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, Chili Powder - to taste

We put the mixture into 4 Bell Peppers that we cut lengthwise.  They looked a little dry and we all like sauce so we poured some sweet spaghetti sauce over top of them.

It worked really well!  And we are still eating leftovers!  My mom has been doing a lot of cooking for the two of them since my father has been out of the hospital and watching his food intake more.  He's been doing really well.  They aren't vegan or even vegetarian but they are eating more plant-based foods than before.  My father has lost about 15 pounds already.  And has enjoyed nearly everything we have been fixing!  PLUS...it's great because I can grab some leftovers! 

Weekend Hibernation

This past weekend was CRAZY!  I never left the house.  We received about 2 feet of snow and this morning it was -2 degrees.  My BIL in Erie got about 3 feet of snow and my sister in Bemus Point got about 3 feet as well.

So...I hunkered down...and hibernated, basically.

I made a LARGE vat of soup as you can see above.  I like to call it Creamy Lentil.

1 C Lentils

2 Carrots
4 C Water

Spices: Onion Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder,  Cumin, Parsley, Black Sea Salt...all to taste
2 T Earth Balance Vegan Margarine 

Once all cooked in a large pot I put everything in a high-speed blender.  I added a handful of cashews and more water until I reached the desired consistency.

I've had 3 meals from it so far and the 3rd time I had a bowl I added from Daiya American Cheese and it made a nice Vegan Cheese Soup.  Tonight I might add some veggies and finish it off.

Cricket was less than impressed with the cold.  She will not go outside and she's been doing everything in her power to stick to me like glue and get under the blanket.  This from someone who doesn't usually like burrowing in blankets.  

Check these 'bad boys' out!  I made Tofu Bites!  I basically coated them in All Purposed Flour, Garlic, Smoked Paprika, Onion Powder, Black Sea Salt and Grapeseed Oil.  I baked them at 375 for about 30 or more minutes until somewhat chewy.

But what really MADE these Tofu Bites was the sauce I made for them!  I was overjoyed with the flavor of this sauce and will be making this OFTEN!

1/3 - 1/2 C Just Mayo
3 T Yellow Mustard
3 T Maple Syrup
3 T Sweet BBQ Sauce (I chose one from Wegman's that was clearly marked VEGAN)
1 T Lemon flavored Balsamic (or you can use 1/2 T Lemon Juice & 1/2 T Balsamic)

So needless to say, I was drinking HOT TEA all weekend long and catching up on LOTS of Tea Reviews over at Sororitea Sisters...when it came to my attention that I totally forgot to mention it was Betty White's 97th Birthday last week!  "Rose" from the Golden Girls was the first Funko Pop I bought and I knew I had to post something on IG.  So for those of you who aren't on IG...here is the pic I posted.

I also ALMOST forgot that I still had some Vegan Cookie Batter from EatPastry in my frig so I busted that open and made some Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Mixing Leftovers & A New Mug!

Here's one of 3 new mugs I bought over the weekend!  It's from a local vendor that I couldn't find online anywhere but HAD to post this bit of pottery!  LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  I will save the other 2 mugs for a later date.

As for my Food Challenge for this week - I didn't spend any additional money yesterday on food and used leftovers and added it to something I had a little bit left of in my pantry...pasta!  It turned out tasty!  It was a bunch of stuff thrown together that is for sure!  I ate it for dinner last night and the rest today for lunch!

I used the leftover black beans, and leftover cauliflower rice, carrots, and peas from the night before and added it to elbow mac.  I used - all to taste - Vegan Mayo, Dijon Mustard, and Garlic...YUM!

This is a different take on a Vegan Macaroni Salad.

Also a good way to get in more veggies for the day!

I was pleasantly surprised!

Hurry Up & Use It!

Last week was CRAZY!  Sorry for the lack of posting!  But I did take some photos and I thought I would do a bit of a backlog today!  And maybe tomorrow, too!  Starting off with a VERY EASY Smoothie I made!  Cantaloupe & Raspberries!  That's IT!!!  The only two ingredients!  It was because of a "Hurry up and USE IT" scenario but I really wanted to point out what kind of cantaloupe I used because it was a first for me!  It was a Juan Canary Melon.

It was a cross between a Honeydew and and Cantaloupe but was extremely juicy and even a bit more tangy, too!  It was tasty!  It was AWESOME for smoothies, too!  It was OVERLY RIPE so I had to use it and FAST.  I used almost the whole thing minus a few pieces I ate while cutting it and a few handfuls of raspberries!  It was delightful!

This isn't going to be an overly exciting blog post, today, but I still thought I would share a few things!  I have been drinking more teas and tisanes and you can follow the tea adventures over at Sororitea Sisters where we have at least 4 posts everyday!  We have added a few new guest sisters, too!  If you are interested in reviewing teas and tisanes on the Sororitea Sisters site please let me know in comments!

This was one of the chunkier teas I had been sipping on - I think it was from David's Tea and was one of their Nutty Teas!  As you can see I used my Grosche Infuser which I LOVE!

I had more than a few simple salads last week.  I threw what ever I could find in a bowl and made my own dressings out of Just Mayo, Ketchup, and a splash of Sriracha.  It's my own version of Russian Dressing.  If you add pickle it could pass for a Creamy Thousand Island Dressing!

I also found a Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup that Heinz had out and I have to say I'm in LOVE with it!  Of course I'm a HUGE fan of Balsamic anyway!

Getting Into a Daily Routine

Well NOT really a DAILY Routine...but a beginning of the day routine.  I have been able to stick with my B-Complex and/or B-12 intake since Saturday so far.  Since it's winter in the snow belt I have been including a squirt of Vitamin D Spray.  All of which are part of the MyKind Organics Line...all whole food, plant based, vegan vitamins!  

My goal is to go a solid month and hopefully longer this time around.  A Morning Routine will help me with this.  I figure if I am overly pushy about giving my dog his meds - why can't I do the same for me? LOL

I have been trying to sleep differently the last several nights.  I'm usually a side sleeper and I think this is catching up with me.  I'm trying my hardest to lay on my back now.  So far - so good.

I'm still not real good about daily breakfasts.  That's something I still need to incorporate, work on, and stick with.  The last couple of months I have not been real good at eating breakfast or lunch.  I know that is really bad.  Then I pig out at dinner to make up for the rest of the day.  I will snack during the day sometimes if I have something to snack on but it's not the best in terms of healthy snack sometimes.  Because of all of this I have gained weight back.  This may or may not have anything to do with my aches and pains but it's probably best if I try and do better about it.

I've also started incorporating Chlorella back into my daily grind.  Mostly Mondays thru Fridays - because I have them on my work desk.  I will probably explain this more down the road.  In the meantime I am taking those again, too!

Herb intake!  I've upped it!  I thought about blogging about it as I drank them if I was in front of the computer which I may still do but for now - yesterday and today - I have been enjoying Brain Booster from Urbal Tea and Ginger & Lemon Myrtle from Lupicia.  

The Brain Booster from Urbal Tea includes: Gotu Kola, Peppermint, Ginko, Rosemary, Sage, Eleuthero, Parsley, Lemon Balm, Elderberry, Hibiscus, Apple, Blueberries, Currants, Cornflower, Raisins.

By doing this I am also cutting back on my caffeine.  Instead of 8 or more cups of highly caffed tea everyday I would like to stay to ONE or NONE to see what happens.

I found a way to do a little in more of the way of exercise in doors at work while in the winter months...STAIRS.  Simple enough.  I think I might tuck away a place for yoga during lunch soon, too!  I'm usually the only one in my office.  Time will tell.

I also picked up a few new bras.  I hate talking about those but I will since it's a change I am making.  I will give it a few days or weeks before reporting my findings.   

So far many of these changes are for the better.  I would like to work on attitude, inner peace, stress, anxiety, and muscle pain more, too!

I've also been feeling a salad kick coming on!  I have been eating more of them than usual but usually when I get in this mode...I will go for a month and eat HUGE salads at least once a day.  

I want to thank Christine and Hilary for their comments, encouragement, and support!  Keep on me!  I need it!

I'm Back!!! Thanks To Vegan MoFo!

I know it's been an AWFUL LONG TIME since my last post and I have LOTS and LOTS of catching up to do which I will certainly be trying to do VERY SOON!

I have to THANK Vegan MoFo for the swift kick in the butt I needed to get back into posting here at My Blissful Journey.  I have participated in Vegan MoFo for YEARS and was very exciting it was returning once again.

Today's prompt is Favorite Food which is pretty impossible for MOST of us to do, I think, because we usually get so excited about foods that are vegan in general!  BUT...having said that...I will attempt to post about one of my favorite foods...CHICK PEAS.

It's funny I remembering not really loving Chickpeas when I was small.  I think it was because of the texture.  Fast forward several years and BAM!  I LOVE THEM!  I love that more and more as the days go by, actually.  So for today's post I will be feature a few of my favorite dishes that contain chickpeas.

First up...Kale, Chickpeas, Onion, Garlic, Red Bell Peppers, Hemp Seeds, Turmeric, Spices, Vegan Sour Cream, Sriracha! There may or may not be carrots in there, too! I can't remember. This was the first one I did of many when I first picked up a HUGE bag of chopped Kale.

If you mix the Sour Cream and Sriracha into everything else it made a nice sauce, too!

On top of this heaping pile of nachos I made a sunflower seed based sour cream. I also used chickpeas, avocado, corn chips, taco sauce, nutritional yeast, and tomatoes. With the chickpeas I put them on stove top first with paprika, onion, cumin, and garlic and chili sea salt. 

The Sunflower Sour Cream had 3/4 C Sunflower Seeds, 3/4 C Water, 2 T Lemon Juice, 1 t Wildtree Garlic Galore, and 1/2 t Wildtree Absolutely Onion which is NOW Vegan AND Organic!

Here's a Mediterranean Chickpea Salad of sorts I have done in the past! 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

Cauliflower Chickpea Casserole is something I need to revisit again soon!  I remember it being YUMMY!

2 C Chickpeas

1 Pound Frozen Cauliflower

5 Carrots

2 Handfuls of Chives

1 C Vegan Bread Crumbs

1 C Water

2+ T Grapeseed Oil

1 T Wildtree Garlic Galore

To Taste Wildtree California Garlic Pepper

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!

Chickpea Vegan Egg Salad

2 C Chickpeas (sprouted, mashed/in Ninja)

1 T Tahini

2 T Vegan Mayo

2 T Dijon Mutard

3 T Onion "Greens" (Onion Sprouts/Shoots)

1 T Lemon Juice

1/2 tea Garlic Powder

1/2 tea Kala Namak (Sea Salt)

1/4 tea Turmeric

Vegan Irish Stew (with Chickpeas)

6 C Water

6 tea veggie bouillon (Wildtree)

1 pound of potatoes

3 carrots

1 stalk celery

1 onion

1 pound Chickpeas

4 tea Bragg's Liquid Amino's

1 tea California Garlic Pepper (Wildtree)

And of course...no vegan post talking about Chickpeas would be complete without some sort of Hummus, right?  And this is just your basic or base hummus!

2 cans of chickpeas

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

7-10 cloves of garlic or 2-3 Tablespoons of Minced Garlic

2 Tablespoons Tahini

garlic flavored oil (or olive or Grapeseed oil) to taste

spices of choice

OH!!!!!!  Also...NEW THIS YEAR!!!!

The Sororitea Sisters will be participating in Vegan MoFo!  Yup!  The Tea Review Blog that I co-founded is participating and contributing at least 1 vegan tea post each day during Vegan MoFo!  Be sure to check it out, link up, comment and let us know that Vegan MoFo sent ya!  

The Sororitea Sisters

What I'm...

Today's post will be a mish mash of tidbits.  Before I get started I must say that the logo above isn't mine but I was drawn to it.  I then went directly to the source which was The Mobility Hub of Africa.   It's a project by Art Moves Africa promoting just about everything Arts and Culture related.

Now...on to what I have been doing and a whole lot more...

 First off I will start by saying I attended an 8th Grade Career Day yesterday and that was interesting.  I was around 8th graders all day and some of them that stopped by our table were able to record and play back so they could hear what they would or could sound like on the air.  (If you are new to my site I should probably tell you that I work in radio full time).  3 of the attendees I was especially happy to see...hubby's cousin's daughter, a friend of ours' son, and a boy who has loved radio since he was 3 and has been in to tour the studios and has dropped by our live broadcast remotes often.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What I'm Watching...

I have been enjoying a lot of memories from my childhood, teen, and college years on Hulu+ and Netflix as of late.  I'm currently watching from the beginning A Different World.  I remember watching each and every episode when I was younger.  It's nice to re-watch them in the evenings when winding down.  We don't have Cable, Dish, Local TV, etc...but we do subscribe to both of these streaming services!  Do you?  If so...what are you currently watching?

What I'm Drinking...

In addition to many 52 Teas I have been sipping I have been getting back into Simpson & Vail's Teas.  I'm almost done with my stash of them, tho.  I really like their MANY Black Tea offerings.  I have also been trying to get into more herbals and you can read about a few of them over at The Sororitea Sisters Website.

Another thing I have been drinking is my morning smoothies!  Last week one of my mini goals was to be more consistent and make one each morning Monday Thru Friday.  I have been doing pretty good with this attempt with the except of yesterday while I attended the Career Day.  Instead I grabbed one of the Bolthouse Farm's Multi-V Goodness bottles I found at a small local grocery store.  I was surprised they had it.  This was the first time I had tried this flavor and it was really tasty.

What I've Been Listening To...

I often listen to a slew of different types of music.  I always find my way back to the 80s and 90s and over the past several months more specifically 90's Dance, New Wave, and Reggae music has been on that list, too.

What I've Been Thinking About For Fun...

Here's a card I did back in 2011!  I can't believe it's been 4 years!!!  But I have been trying to get back into paper crafting and mixed media once again.  As you can see here I did some shading and blending with craft markers.  I know I have better example of this somewhere.

And here's another one using the same digital stamp but with paper piecing.  If you aren't into paper crafting and aren't familiar with the term paper piecing it's basically using the digital stamp on patterned paper and cutting it out and piecing it on top of the same image to make it more colorful and eye catching.  Here are a few Halloween Themed Cards I made and the creator of the Digital Stamp is my ol' buddy Lindsay over at Lindsay's Stamp Stuff.

Be sure to check in TOMORROW I will be giving away a great prize from Garden of Life!
 Happy Weekend!

Halloween YoFo Link-Up! (Natural Dye With Tea)

I’m so excited to share this Vegan YoFo HALLOWEEN EDITION Linkup with you today! 

What is VeganYoFo? A few of us put together a group of VeganMoFo participants who wanted to keep in touch throughout the year. , We've named our community VeganYoFo (Year Of Food). We will be holding regular themed linkups like this one throughout the year!

I will be doing several posts that I can link up with. Today I thought I would dig into my crafting archives and tell you about a VEGAN way to naturally color and dye things for paper crafts.

YUP! That's right! We are using TEA for this project.

Depending on what you are doing you can use loose leaf and use the infused tea water and/or you can use tea bags!

Here's a photo of me using paper in tea water and letting it dry!

I decided to also try this for a tag and/or bookmark! It worked well!

Here's the finished product.

I also used it to shade in certain parts of this image! The sleeve and the candle! If you would like more step-by-step instructions my original post is still active on my old blog and can be found HERE. Yes...this is from 2011 but still is a great way to incorporate tea into your crafts and play around with natural colorings and dyes.

NOW...let's see your VEGAN related Halloween Posts!

An InLinkz Link-up