Vegan Air Fryer Ideas, Raw Food, More Vegan Finds!

I think I'm back to the point of 'regular' blog posts!  Woot!  So I will do away with the 6-pack of photo splashes for now.

I briefly mentioned getting my parents an Air Fryer for Christmas.  Well, we actually bought my sister and brother in law one - as well as - my hubby's grandmother an Air Fryer, too!

So...basically, I'm the only one in my family that doesn't.  I'm thinking in the near future that might change.  DH also is intrigued by InstaPots so I'm betting that will be in our future, too!

Because I have been spending more time at my parent's house since my Dad has been out of the hospital I thought I would see what the Air Fryer could do!

Mom and I did Sweet Potato Fries from raw...and then we did Asparagus from raw, too!  

The Raw Sweet Potatoes took a little longer than frozen - I would imagine.  They turned out great!  As for the Asparagus - the taste was intense - which we all liked - and we like the crisp - but - if you let these little buggers sit too long they get a little rubbery...so serve immediately!

 While we were traveling we visited a different Ollie's...not the one in our own town...that I normally post about.  I found a Raw Food Cookbook at the other store for only $3.99.  Of course, I had to grab it!

This will be a shorter post today because I'm in a hurry and have a lot on my plate for the day!

Yesterday I stopped in at our local ALDI and found Good Foods Plant Based Dips!!!!  Woot!  Check out this Queso Dip that IS VEGAN!  It was pretty darned tasty!  I have to buy more ASAP!

Thayers Unboxing, New Camper, Christmas Recap, LOTS of Veganized Food, Family Update!

I'm ALMOST to the point where I am caught up enough to start posting regular daily posts again!  YAY!  This SHOULD be the last post of 6-pack splash of photos!

In this first photo, you can see the kitchen in our new camper!  I'm sure I will elaborate on that soon!  But...YES...we traded in our 2014 Starflight Travel Trailer and bought a 2017 Cougar 5th Wheel! 

I recently received a WONDERFUL gift box from Thayer's!  I will be doing a full post on this VERY SOON!  Spoiler warning...I LOVE the products Thayers sent me!  There was a soap bar, Lozenges, and 2 Witchhazels!  One was cucumber and a spray and the other was lavender and a large bottle at that!

My father was recently in the hospital.  Right before Christmas, actually.  We were thrilled to have him home in time for the festivities!  He's been a lifelong Asthmatic and had 3 bouts with a terrible cold over the last couple of months.  It turned into Bronchitis.  He was treated by his regular doctor for that but everything they gave him didn't work.  He ended up in the hospital and had Severe Bronchial Spasms.  He was put on at least 3 steroids - among other things!  He would go on hour long coughing jags.  It was very scary!  With all the steroids he was on it messed with his blood sugar.  They tried combating that with other things and that messed with his heart rate.  They combatted that and it messed with his oxygen levels.  Now that he is home he has made a lot of changes to his diet and really keeping tabs on his diabetes.  He's doing much better with the bronchial issues - THANK GOD!  I signed him up over at MyFitnessPal and they are cooking at home a lot more.  Mom and Dad are trying new foods, too!  He's already lost 7 pounds!

The plate of food you see above is one of the meals I ate with them the one night (minus the chicken he added to his plate).  Mom and I made seasoned Sweet Potatoes, Seasoned Cauliflower, and I made some pasta.  Sweet Potatoes are a near freebie for him so we are trying to incorporate more and more into his diet.  I bought them an Air Fryer for Christmas.  This was even before all of the doctors and such.  So far they have tried Sweet Potato Fries and Asparagus in there and enjoyed it.

As you can see in the one photo...my little niece is holding a hella-huge Sweet Potato.  She thought it was a football and started running around the house with it!  GOD...I love her!

Here you can see Trinity in her Christmas Eve Coat.  It's a faux fur type material that her other grandmother made for her.

I've been posting a lot of the Thayers stuff on IG because I love it so much!

A few days before Christmas I was still going over to my parent's house a lot for my Dad's meals and holiday prep!  My mother found crazy leggings at Walmart for $2 each.  She bought a few pairs and we decided to wear them that night and again on Christmas Day...you will see that photo below with my sister and Trinity photo bombing us!

Like I said before, my father is starting to eat more and more Sweet Potatoes!  And to be honest I have been too!  I figured WHY NOT and other than stand alone and fries I haven't done much with them.

I was trying to figure out what to top it with and I'll tell ya...I have a new favorite!  Baked Sweet Potato topped with Salsa and Guacamole!  YUM!

A while back I found Kite Hill Rav's and finally made them the one night for dinner!  I LOVED them and can't wait to get my hands on them again!

On Christmas Eve, my mother made some Vegan Cranberry Orange Muffins!  They turned out GREAT!  We had them on Christmas Morning!  Other Christmas Eve foods you can see above are...Vegan Cream Cheese Pinwheels or Roll-ups that I made with Daiya Cream Cheese...my sister made a Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip.  She used Earth Balance Mayo, Tofutti Sour Cream, and Follow Your Heart Parm.  Mom made some Spiral Pasta, and we also made some Cheesy Potatoes!  They made a regular version for them and a vegan version for me!   Actually, it was a tag team effort...my mom made the potatoes and left some out for me after cooking them up plain...she then added Daiya Shreds and baked.  She was busy with other hustle and bustle so I took them out of the oven and added Earth Balance Margarine and more Daiya Shred!  They were YUMMY!

Christmas Eve, Trinity wore a cute plaid dress under that coat (pic above).  The next morning she had a blast opening presents and we had an even bigger blast watching her!  She got a Disney Tent/Tunnel thing from my parents as you can see above.

The last two photos on the bottom here show her opening gifts and one of the things Dale and I bought her...a Farmers Market Produce Cart!  Leave it to the VEGAN AUNT, eh!? 

Christmas Morning we always do a big breakfast!  I usually make grits.  To mine, I add vegan cheese.  This year I had some leftover Smoked Gouda I cubed up from the night before.  I paired that with leftover Vegan Spinach Artichoke dip from the night before and it was darn tasty!  I ALMOST forgot to mention that I finally used the JUST EGG and my first attempt with it was a success.  I did a plain omelet.  I'm looking forward to trying other omelets and getting more creative with the product down the road.  I threw a little salsa and gauc on there, too...and a half bagel!

This is the time of year we usually try and pinch pennies a bit.  First quarter is always tighter than the rest.  I wanted to see what I could buy for very little and will probably be doing more of this in the coming months as I have in Jan-Feb-Mar in years past.  I recently went to our local Tops and bought 6 different frozen veggies, 4 cans of tomato sauce, rice, and quinoa.  I only spent about $8 on this trip!

How was your Holiday Season?

Butternut Squash Soup, Guac Off, & Moosewood

I have a few things to share with you today.  Starting with this blender recipe!  This made a HUGE batch and measurements are approx because I continuously added things as I went.

2 pounds Butternut Squash

2 (or more) C Almond Milk

1/2 t Old Bay Seasoning

1 T Wildtree Garlic Galore (or Minced Garlic)

About 1/2 Onion

Nutmeg & Cinnamon to taste

Black Pepper & Pink Himalayan Sea Salt to taste

2 T Vegan Bouillion

6 Mini Red and/or Orange Bell Peppers

Optional addition for my leftovers: 1 T Wildtree Garden Vegetable Blend Seasoning

Our local Humane Society operates a separate Thrift Boutique where all the proceeds go back to the animals and today was their Holiday Open House.  They have some really neat stuff there and the inventory always changes.  The prices are extremely low, too!  I found this small book for just 49 cents and couldn't resist!  It's not a vegetarian book but it did have a lot of vegan/vegetarian recipes in there and some of them that weren't veg recipes sure did give me some ideas for ones I could easily tweak.

Today I stopped by a fellow league members house and she gave me this Moosewood Book.  She was so sweet!  She's been a League of Women Voters member for over 55 years!!!  That makes her a lifetime member!  I was so thrilled because I remember borrowing this book from libraries more than once in the past but didn't YET have it in my collection.  I have other Moosewood Cookbooks - maybe about 6 - but didn't have this one before today.  I can't wait to re-read it!!

MidWeek Munchies: Dollar Tree Edition

It's MidWeek Munchies Time!  Everyone is invited to link up below thru Tuesday, December 1st, to any vegan post that has to do with grocery store hauls, garden or farmers market finds, munchies that you created in your kitchen, online purchases, or products that you have come across otherwise that happen to also be vegan!

Today I would like to share with you my haul from my local Dollar Tree!  Because I went with my hubby who isn't vegan/vegetarian I will say that together we spent $41 and bought over 41 items with that $41!!!!  Here's a look at some of MY stuff...

Frozen items!  Including frozen spinach!  YAY!  I also found Tater Rounds and Pepper Stir Fry (as you can see the blend also includes onions)!

I looked at these items over and over again and couldn't find any ingredient that wasn't on the safe list of vegan finds!  I think I scored pretty good this past weekend!

There were additional canned items and frozen items that I didn't include in these photos but they were pretty plane-jane items like canned beans, for example...and frozen and canned corn, too!

Eventho these are labeled 100% vegetarian...they seem to also be vegan!  I'm always excited to find 'breaded' items that are made WITHOUT egg!  So I had to scoop them up!

I also saw these veggie burgers that I never tried before this last trip to the store!  I have tried one already and the flavor is tasty but I have to work on the texture.  I did them with grapeseed oil in a frying pan and they were still a little mushy...I will certainly work on that SOON.  The important thing is that the taste was good, eh!?

Next up and from the same company are Vegetable Empanadas and Vegetable Samosas.  The Empanadas are Black Bean based and take well to my small toaster oven.  The Samosa's are yummers and I have pan fried them.  They have whole seed spices within that pack that lovely punch, too!

I enjoy coming up with different vegan sauces to pair with these and I am sure to do more in the near future.  I ended up getting TWO of each of these as well as the Beans and Burgers you see above, too!

And FINALLY...Jennifer Garden Vegetable Spring Rolls!  Again, no egg!  YAY!  I had these as a part of my hubby's family's Thanksgiving Dinner this past weekend and made a dipping sauce for them which consisted of soy sauce, peanut butter, maple syrup, lemon juice, garlic powder, etc.  It turned out pretty good!  I LOVE these because they are so small and cute!  I also pan fried them.  I think they would be mushy if microwaved.

YOUR TURN!!!!

An InLinkz Link-up

The "Friday Finish"

It's the "Friday Finish"!  I honestly didn't know what to title today's mish mash of a post so there you have it!  Here are some random things I have been doing, catching up on, thinking, feeling, or seeing at any given time.

Earlier this week I mentioned that I was working on Raw Vegan Cheesecake Bites!  Here's the finished product!  You can see the full recipe and write up over at The Raw Food World News RECIPE Section as it's today featured recipe!

Also this past week I finally made it thru all of my leftovers of the Vegan Thai Green Curry base I made.  You can view that post HERE.

As you can see in this last photo before I ate the rest of it - it did thicken up quite a bit.  It was even better the 2nd and 3rd day!  YUM!

It's been extremely windy and rainy all this week!  We've had some flooding nothing major, thankfully, but it is out of the ordinary.  We even had a thunderstorm the other night.  Most of the leaves are off the trees and that proves that Fall is turning to Winter, soon.

It's been 'slim picken's' in the kitchen as I have run low on several personal staples.  I hope to fix that this week.  I won't be going crazy, I want to remain fairly thrifty this weekend but I still need to re-stock a few things.

Here's a quick photo of a thrown together dish.
My husband thought it was Vegan Mac & Cheese but it really isn't.  Here IS what I did do - however...I had some leftover marinara and added some Mac Nuts to it in my Vitamix and made it into a sauce of its own.  It's a red sauce meets white sauce I guess.  I topped it with Basil.
It was tasty!

Riley has been doing pretty good lately.  We can really start to see the 'grey' pop out in his coat, tho!  He's probably around 11 years old or so.  Several times a year his ears pose a problem and he ends up with ear infections.  We deal with the problem as it occurs of course but sometimes he rubs his ears or face on the carpet or sofa and he gets bald spots on his ears.  This time around I noticed he gave himself a scab on the top of one of his ears.  This is something new for him.  I have some ointment to put on it and drops for his ears.  Other than that he's been doing fine.

Cricket LOVES to torment him and he's been really patient with her.  I think he secretly likes it!

The other night I couldn't get back to sleep.  I was up at 1am and never did get back to sleep. At least Cricket was able to get some.

That was the same day we had a live broadcast at work and then I attended a Luncheon for the School Partnership.

It was another crazy week - it's true.  Hubby was able to take in some 'brother time' and attended a hockey game with his brother so that was nice.

I'm looking forward to not only attending a football game in November but a Meatloaf concert, too!  Woot!

My eye detox continues.  The throbbing (from wearing the wrong prescription) has finally subsided.  Sometime in the next month I hope to get in for an appointment and most likely a new pair of glasses.  I blogged before about how my days of wearing contacts have probably come to an end.

This is a selfie of me at work.  Note the Ponytail Palm and Sea Salt Lamp in the background.  I'm trying to Feng Shui up my office a bit more.  I just ordered 2 Quantum Balancing Crystals in the CONE versions.  I ordered one of the YELLOW and one of the ORANGE.  I hope to do a near future post on that soon!  I have been trying to get into the crystals more!

I LOVE my Sea Salt Lamp so much that I ended up ordering TWO MORE!  I did get them already but am trying to figure out where to put them.  Originally I got them for home.  Then I thought about putting them in my office along with this one you see here.  But now I am really thinking that I need to work on the atmosphere at home, too!

I ended up getting 2 of them for my friend at work and I got one for my parents and one for my sister, too!  They really like them, too!

I'm trying to think of fun items to get my family members for Christmas.  I have a few ideas but don't want to post them here because I think a few of them might read it.

$1 Vegan Cookbook Surprise Finds! Yay!

A few weeks ago I stopped by our local Dollar Tree and found the following 2 books for only $1 each.  I was so excited!  Not only are they vegan cookbooks/vegan books - they were ones I didn't have my collection!

I had read the 2nd one already but not the 1st one, here...Simple Pleasures: Healthy Seasonal Cooking & Easy Entertaining by Cornelia Guest. 

Not only did I like this book for the recipes but for the information and photography, too!  The little 'gems' throughout the book were delightful.

Cornelia broke recipes down my season and occasion throughout the book not necessarily by dish like most cookbooks do.  I thought it was a nice touch.  It was a very neat book!

The Veganist by Kathy Freston I had read before and enjoyed, too! 

When I read it - I had borrowed it from my local library - but - when I saw that Dollar Tree had it for sale for only $1 I just HAD to purchase it!

Kathy's book is certainly more info than recipes but both were appreciated.

Now that I have found these two books at my local Dollar Tree I will be keeping my eyes peeled for more!

Brand new vegan cookbooks for just $1?

Yes PLEASE!

Peer Pressure Exists For Adults, too! Bento Box...Here I Come!

Yes...Peer Pressure exists for Adults, too!  A while back Opal blogged about Bento Boxes and I was intrigued!  I think for days (or even weeks) after reading her post I thought Bento Boxes were a 'special box'...but after doing some online research I found out it can be any box, really, because Bento Box literally means "Meal in a Box" or "Boxed Meal".  (I don't know WHY I assumed that - Opal didn't mention that it was a 'special box' in her post!  Eeeek!  Silly Me!)  To further the Peer Pressure I randomly stumbled upon a few bloggers who focus on Bento Box Blogging!  How Trendy!  I was hooked and I didn't even have one...YET!  The only thing is since I don't have kids I don't think I would do the super creative CUTE and FUN looking ones that I have seen online thus far.  Instead my REAL reason for caving is because I tend to bring leftovers or a dish I made the night before for my lunch the next day but I want to focus on incorporating more foods for a compete meal...and not just eating a whole bowl of one thing, I guess.  Call it a mini goal if you will! 

Well, this past weekend I was able to locate a great deal on a Bento Box of sorts that would fit my needs.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money on one until I knew more about them and wanted to see if I would use it as much as I hope.  I ended up finding TWO of the kits along with an insulated bag/carrier for about $30.  Most of the ones I saw online were $30 for 1 of them and with less compartments.  I figured IF I really got into it - I could always buy another one...a more involved one, you know!?  So here is what the first one looks like!  Along with my very first assembled Bento Box attempt!  Woot!  Starting at the top you will see 1/2 of a Tomato - diced, with Hemp Hearts/Hemp Seeds sprinkled on top.  They are marinating in Balsamic Vinegar as well.  To the right...simple Mandarin Oranges...the large container - at the top as a section of sandwich spread LEFTOVERS I made (more on that later today or tomorrow), below that is small triangles of Whole Grain Pita Bread, then in the center is leftover Pinjur that I finally finished, more triangles, and leftover rice towards the bottom.  You may also see 4 small Apple Cinnamon "chips" in each corner leftover from my dehydrating attempts.  Then on the other side is Corn that I added just a little bit of Basil Pesto Grapeseed Oil to with Cashews outlining the top.  It was interesting because the moisture from the corn was soaked up by the cashews and they tasted wonderful!

I think this may have been RubberMaid Brand and if it wasn't it was a close knock-off of the brand.  I also bought a salad kit one that I will most likely be blogging about tomorrow or the next day!  Also as a mini goal I hope to blog about my adventures with Bento Boxes and Meal Portions often so you will probably see a lot more of these types of posts.  Another thing I like about this set I bought is that the little compartments snap into place.  It also fits nicely into this insulated bag carrier I found in the same row at the store.  NOT Pictured here but included in each set is a freezer pack that snaps to the bottom (or top).  As you can see in this photo there is plenty of room left over for additional items in the bag!  This made me happy because I have been struggling with remembering to eat breakfast and I think I can account for that, too!  So far I am very happy with this purchase as well as my first attempt!

Here you can see my Oatmeal packets (I just add water) and fruit cups.  I know store bought isn't the best - fresh is - but I had them and am trying to use them and not waste them plus they are good in a pinch!

Apparently I had an insanely productive weekend because I have about 5 other things to post but I think I will wait until tomorrow!

Be sure to keep scrolling because I have a few other posts that might be of interest, today!  Question of the Day...what are some of your favorite Adult "Brown Bag" or "Bento Lunches" for the office and/or workplace?