Vegan MoFo ~ Vegan Foods in the Cabin

While on vacation at the Cabin we decided to eat-in.  This was my dinner earlier.  Roasted Red Bell Pepper stuffed with White Rice seasoned with Wildtree's Garlic & Herb.  On top just a little bit of Daiya Cheese.  We also roasted up some zucchini and added Wildtree's Opa! Greek Seasoning.  It was wonderful!

Thanks to the local Kroger here I was able to find more vegan options than I thought I would.  The Daiya Cheese was at a super low price, too!  Only $1.50...I couldn't believe it!  Since I didn't want to overbuy I will be using these 4 ingredients quite a bit so I will be seeing what I can do with what I have.  I've posted a few things over at the Travel Blog if you want to check it out...it's heavy on the photos...and mostly about WonderWorks so far!  It was FUN! 

Vegan Food Trucks & Food at WNY VegFest

This post rounds up the rest of my WNY VegFest chatter and photos.  As you can tell I had a great time.  Today I want to share with you the photos from the food stations, tables, and trucks!

Starting off with this one...The Whole Hog!  Eventho The Whole Hog is a food truck that serves the Buffalo and Western New York area with foods using meat raised locally and supporting local farms - they can also go vegan when the opportunity arises!   For the VegFest this truck went Vegan on Sunday!  I was VERY tempted by almost everything on this list and REALLY wanted to try it but by the time my sister and I got back over and ordered the race was done and this truck was PACKED with potential customers.

Of course my sister LOVED this truck since it was PINK.  She's a PINK Freak...I for one...can't stand the color pink...but I WAS very interested in what they were serving!

After Googling the company they have a domain but I wasn't able to view it so I decided NOT to link it.  Maybe down the road, tho!

We took a few steps to the right and went to this truck instead.

They were more of a vendor type truck but they did have options!  The line was shorter so we opted for PIZZA. 

They used Tofurky Products for the most part.

My sister had a Veggie Pizza - it didn't have cheese but it did have TONS of Broccoli, Onions, and Black Olives on it.  She said she REALLY liked it.

I ended up ordering a slice of the Taco Pizza.  Mostly because I don't remember having Taco Pizza as a vegan or even as a lacto/lacto-ovo veg prior.

They used Daiya Cheese, Tofurky for the Taco 'meat', and a nice sauce with some black olives.  Eventho I was really hungry when I first started eating this slice I was completely full when I finished it.  It was VERY filling!

Because my sister isn't vegetarian I thought pizza was a good option.  She's fairly open to other foods, tho, and does eat vegetarian meals more than most people I know who are not vegetarian.  She tried a bite of mine and said she liked it, too!

The Food Table & Tent was PACKED, too!  Which is a GREAT thing for the festival but not-so-great if you had a 2 hour trip back like we did so that's another reason why we went with the Pizza.  Next year I really want to try one of the food companies featured in this tent, tho!  I spoke with a few of the people when they were setting up and one of the store owners told me about her place, asked if I was a blogger, and invited me to stop by their location in Orchard Park.  I think at some point I just might try and do that!

One of the many places I wanted to try - but wasn't able to - was this Indian Food Table.  I didn't see a sign with the company's name but they had some decent prices.  I regret not getting in line specifically for their Samosa's.  My sister doesn't do fried foods because of her stomach issues so one of these days her and I will have to try and make some and bake them instead.  I think she would really like Samosa's.

GoVeggies was another section and they featured about a half dozen of their from-scratch veggie burgers that were all vegan.  They also had some spring rolls incase you weren't into veggie burgers. 

Last  time I was in town I saw that they were moving and wasn't able to catch them while they were open. 

After checking out their website I noticed they are now located in Tonawanda.  I want to do a day trip and visit soon!

I'm totally digging their 100% Vegan Menu!

Again, I'm so grateful that I was FINALLY able to attend a VegFest that was within driving distance.  I'm also thankful for my sister for making the trip with me eventho she's not vegetarian!  I hope to go to more in the future and I REALLY hope that Western New York has them each year now.  For the rest of this week I will be catching up on Fair Week posts and I'm starting to 'bank roll' some food posts for next week, too!  Another thing I want to start doing are "Happy Emails".  I want to start sending 3 short Thank You Emails or Happy Emails each week to not only try and brighten someone's day but to give credit where credit is due!  I think I will start off next week with notes to WNY VegFest as well as the Vegan Zombie Crew!

Vendors of WNY VegFest

Most of this week I will be posting about the WNY (Western New York) VegFest that took place this past Sunday.  If you have been reading the other posts thus far you will see that I really had a great time!

Here's a silly photo of me in one of those character cut outs.  I think someone named this green guy in a purple suit "Cilantro Frank".

In this post I will be sharing some of the vendor tables we visited.  Everyone was really nice and fun to be around!  I made a few donations at a couple of the tables one being Ester The Wonder Pig.  Late last night I found that The Vegan Zombie posted a video about the WNY VegFest AND Ester The Wonder Pig so check out their embedded video at the end of this post.

Eventho I don't consume a lot of meat alternatives I was happy to see Tofurky be a large part of the event.  They are a HUGE Vegan company that is for sure!  I have tried some items I do like from them.  They had another guy that was wearing a HUGE Tofurky Box for the race which was pretty funny.  I guess it was the first 5k Tofurky Trot above the Mississippi from what I hear.

Of course anything chocolate will grab the attention of most.  This dessert company sold all vegan desserts at the event.  The corner of the building they were on was a little congested so we didn't stay long but I heard a lot of interest from vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.  I did hear someone ask if they were Gluten Free and these weren't bit some of the other items were Gluten Free.  I was just glad that you didn't have to ask if there were vegan options since everything there HAD to be in order to be displayed.  It's like you didn't really even have to think!  It was AWESOME!

Another great thing about the festival were all of the speakers.  Since my sister and I only stayed for a few hours because of our other obligations that day - we didn't stay for the speakers.  But here is a list of about half of the ones they featured that day.

Many of them sounded interesting!  MAYBE next year we can attend some of the talks, presentations, and seminars!

I really see this event getting bigger and bigger every year!  I still think they had WAY more people attend than they originally expected or even hoped for!  That's ALWAYS a plus, eh!?

Another thing that I liked doing during my time at the festival was donating food!  I grabbed a few items from my stash including some brown rice pasta, some individual protein powders, some tabbouleh, and some natural sweetener and donated it when we got there.

Food donations went to Food Not Bombs.  They gave out informational and free sample bags for those who donated something.  There were a few snacks in there including some veggie chips and a sample of a Raw Revolution bar.

Tomorrow I hope to have a post about some of the food vendors, too!  

WNY VegFest 2014

I'm so excited!  I FINALLY went to a Veg Fest!  YESTERDAY!  YAY!  I wasn't sure until the last minute if I was going to go or not and my sister ended up going with me!  I cannot thank her enough!  I had some much fun!  We were only there for a few hours and we drove about 2 hours to get there and 2 hours back but we MADE it!  We had other obligations or we probably would have stayed longer!  Since I took so many pictures I decided to blog about it throughout this week.  In addition I have a VERY busy week ahead of me for work, too, so I will blogging about that later in the week, too!  The WNY VegFest took place at Delaware Park near Hoyt Lake off of Lincoln Parkway in Buffalo.  The venue was a good one!

The weather wasn't wonderful - we've had a lot of rain this summer - but it held off for the most part.  It could have been a LOT worse!  heck...it could have poured the whole time - but thankfully it didn't! 

My sister and I were REALLY early which worked out REALLY well because we found a kick-ass parking spot!  When we left there weren't ANY to be found for a dozen blocks or more!  I was reading they were hoping for between 2,000 and 2,500 people but I bet that's how many vehicles I saw at one point!!!  So I think it has a HUGE success!  One of the many surroundings at the VegFest Location was the Delaware Park Rose Garden.  I took a few photos of that.

I think I got my photo taken more in the last 24 hours than I have in the past year!  I'm usually the one behind the camera not the one in front of it so it was a strange experience.  You know I will post the pics, here, tho...the good, the bad, even the ugly! haha.

Here's one of me near the fountain in the rose garden.  Even tho it was gloomy...the temperature was 'just right' it seemed.  Not too hot and not too cold.

This is the building that was in the middle of it all.  A very cool place!  It's Marcy Casino at Delaware Park.  Over the next several days you will be seeing a lot of photos of this building.  It's one of their historic places.  This is the front of it.  The back is something special, too!  Right along the water. 

There were vendors all around the building...in the nooks and crannies, inside and outside, along the water...everywhere!

This is behind the rose garden.  Bands played here.  We didn't stay to see them play but the first one was setting up while we were there.  They also had a 5K Tofurky Trot Race taking place all around the grounds.  Since I'm not a runner I didn't participate but they did have a LOT of runners.  There were some real characters, too! LOL - I know at least 2 hockey players participated...Andrew Peters...former Buffalo Sabre and George Laraque.  George was also a speaker.  He was on the Penguins, Canadiens, and other teams, too!

 This is one of the sides of the building.  You can see some of the vendors wrapped around on the middle level.  The set up was really neat!  We made our rounds thru the vendors about 6 times.  Because we were so early the vendors kept setting up as we were walking around and around.  You can't really see much of the stone work on the building until you get around back but it was pretty cool.  Almost castle meets late 1800's type look and feel.

When you go around back and look to the left you see this...a stairway up to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery which I want to go back and visit some day in the near future!  If you look straight out - or in this case - turn to your right - you will see the water as well as more of the park and the bridge.  There is a lot to see and do and neat places to walk.  It's been YEARS since I had been in this section of Buffalo, to be honest.


This is a shot of the water, bridge, and walkway.  This was taken before most of the vendor started setting up near the water!  It filled up pretty fast. 

Eventho it was pretty gloomy - I LOVE that the GREEN really POPPED!  I don't think I got a photo of it - but there were some random canoes in the middle of this waterway, too.

There were a lot of little historical markers like this one to tell you more about your surroundings.  This one told you about Hoyt Lake.

Delaware Park was designed as part of a coordinated system of parks, parkways, and traffic circles in the city by Frederick Law Olmsted. Constructed in 1871 and covering 350 acres, Delaware Park is the centerpiece of the Buffalo, New York parks system.

It is currently on the National Register of Historic Places and is maintained by the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy.

Outside the front doors of the Parkside Lodge was one of Delaware Park's most magnificent features, a Quarry Garden. The city of Buffalo quarried large amounts of stone from this location in Delaware Park for most of the structures in the parks as well as others around the city. In laying out Delaware Park Olmsted transformed this working quarry into a beautiful quarry garden landscape complete with reflective pools, stone arch bridges and a number of trees and shrubs to accent the natural stone walls. Unfortunately, when the Scajaquada Expressway was built, some of the landfill was dumped here and the garden was lost. The Conservancy is committed to uncovering this secret garden.  There is a great deal of info on these parks HERE.  The more I read the more I really want to revisit them.

On our way out we saw this 'young' Abe Lincoln Statue and thought it was pretty neat.  I did take a few photos of more of the surroundings 'out back' behind the Rose Garden Stage.  They have Shakespeare in the Park many nights throughout the summer but for some reason blogger won't let me insert them into this post.

So before I 'blow up' my blog I think I will stop there but I will be trying to catch up on more photo heavy posts because there will be a lot this week!  I still have to blog about the FOOD at VegFest and my other personal FAVORITE...meeting the Vegan Zombie Crew!  So be sure to check back soon!!!!!

Short On Time But Not On Meals!

The last few weeks I have literally been throwing together whatever I could to make most of my dinners. 

The post today will give you some ideas but not full recipes, per say.

This first one is basically what you see!  Corn and Broccoli - steamed - with a little bit of Wildtree Dill Dip Blend for added flavor.

It's simple but tasty.  I enjoyed this side dish a while back.

Then one night I threw together this hardy meal.  Tofurky Italian Sausage, Baby Bella Mushrooms, Corn, sauteed in a pan and mixed with melted Daiya Cheese. 

It's more of a convenience meal with both the Tofurky and the Daiya but it did the trick.

PLUS...I was able to use-up leftovers with this.

Tofurky's Italian Sausage and Kielbasa I don't mind - once in a blue moon - when it comes to meat substitutes.  The vegan meats that I do enjoy are few and far between.  I don't really eat a lot of them to be honest.

Every once and while I make my own vegan garlic bread, too.  Sometimes I will use Earth Balance and other times I might use a very little bit of Grapeseed Oil.  I will use either Wildtree Scampi Blend as a sprinkle or the Garlic Galore or Garlic and Herb.  All 3 of them are vegan.

For this thrown together meal a while back I did some macaroni up  with a vegan cheese sauce that I made with almond milk, nutritional yeast, and a few other ingredients - and added corn, carrots, and peas along with some left over Tofurky Italian Sausage like you see above.

It's rare if I go to a 'fast food joint' but since my husband is NOT vegetarian he chooses to eat the food.  Most of the time I won't get anything and come home and make my own meal instead. 

For the first time in a long time I grab a salad from a chain...mostly because the salad fixin's at my local store looked pretty picked over that day. 

I noticed they had a salad that I could easily make vegan.  It wasn't much but it was a good base.  It was mixed greens, avocado, and strawberries.  I then took it home and added some leftovers to the top including Tempeh and Corn.

After I dressed the salad up a bit - it wasn't too bad - and I didn't even add dressing because the amount of Avocado made it creamy enough.

So eventho I have been short on time - I haven't been short on meals! 
AND...it is a good way to use left overs, too!
 

Manic Monday & Weekend Food

I'm optimistic this week will be better than last week.  That's all we can really, do, right?  Talk ourselves into a better week!?  Anyhow...I have LOTS to share with you today!  Lots of RANDOM Stuff but still - it's STUFF - at that!

I ended up LOVING the Peanut Butter Company's Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter and when I went to Tops on Saturday THEY had Mighty Maple so I got that one!  And BOY oh BOY is it GOOD!  I put it on toast yesterday for Breakfast and it was YUMMY!  I also did Vegan Cheesy Grits with Daiya Cheddar - those were pretty awesome, too!  I found Potato Cakes at Aldi's a while back and they didn't have any animal ingredients in them!  Woot!  I did two of those in a frying pan with some Earth Balance and that was my LARGE Sunday Breakfast.  I'm not usually a Breakfast person but I am REALLY trying to be because I know how important it is!  I made a Potato Cake for my husband and that is why I used Earth Balance instead of Grapeseed Oil.  I am out of my Nautral Flavor and I don't think he would have liked the Garlic or the Basil Pesto with this!  I also have a little bit of the Discontinued Chili left...I'll have to savor it!  I might have to try and make my own.  I know it won't be AS good but it will be an option to my flavored Grapeseed Oils.

Last Week I did a few Ethiopian Dishes and I enjoyed them both.  This week I am going to try a few things from Thailand.  I do like Thai Foods but haven't MADE very many...YET.

Friday Night I was waiting for my Husband's Dinner to be done (in the oven) and while I was waiting I decided to do some "Thai Curry Chickpeas".

They turned out pretty awesome, if I do say so myself!  I would 'chalk this one up' as one I would do over and over again!

Here is what I did for these Chickpeas!

12 to 14 ounces of Chickpeas

1/2 C of Cilantro or Coriander (I used Cilantro)

1/4 C Lemon Juice

1/4 C of Onion & Chive Blend (Wildtree)

1 T Garlic Galore (Wildtree)

1/2 t Cayenne

1/2 t Cumin

1/2 t Ground Coriander

2 T Braggs Liquid Aminos

2 T Garlic Grapeseed Oil

4 T Coconut Milk

Dog Break!  Yes!  I have more food in this post but I have to add some pics from the furkids this weekend, too!  Eventho it was SUNNY it was COLD and WET and all-around questionable weather!  At least we didn't get the FEET of snow they were calling for!  

Here is Riley and Suzie.  If you zoom in you might see that Riley was sticking his tongue out.  Suzie was barking at my husband.  He likes to mess with them sometimes.  He'll talk and she'll bark and half howl back.

I ended up finding some Tofurky items at Tops, too!  I will post more about those on Midweek Munchies.  But I did jump right in with a dish last night for dinner.  It was a Saute of Sorts.  

2 Carrots

2 Celery Stalks

A Random Amount of Green Beans

1/4 - 1/3 C Onion & Chive Blend (Wildtree)

1 Tofurky Italian Sausages (the ones with Sun-Dried Tomatoes) 

2 T Garlic Grapeseed Oil

This is what it ended up looking like when it was done!  I decided to do some Brown Rice to put underneath.  This is WAY different than most of the foods I have been making flavor-wise.  I think next time I would add Potatoes and FOR SURE Some Balsamic.  It's pretty good the way it is here but I liked it even more when I tossed and mixed everything together!  I also added some Vegan Parmesan Cheese on top, too!

I stepped outside my comfort zone on this one and it was a pretty good attempt!

Another Furkids break!  This Furkids Break is being brought to you in part by...PACO!

This was a rare capture!  I just happened to have my iPhone on me and him on my lap FACING me and somewhat vegging-out for the afternoon on Saturday!

I'm so excited I got this pic of him.  He looks so serious...it makes me laugh!  Of course shortly after this photo he was back up and running around!

I warned you I had a lot to post today!  Here is ANOTHER thing I did Last Night!

It's a Mediterranean Walnut Sauce!  Again, VERY different from anything I have ever tried doing before but I was very excited about it!

I used one of my Ninja Blenders for this and it worked awesomely!

For this sauce I used...

1/2 C Walnuts
1 C Parsley
2 T Garlic Grapeseed Oil
1 T Tomato Paste
3 Cloves Garlic
1/4-1/2 C Water to thin

I used half of this sauce to top Bowtie Pasta which you see here and I am going to use the other half to top Veggies, I think.  So...I think that is about it for now but I hope to do my Meal Planning later today and need to do another dish for tomorrow...so stay tuned for additional posts!

This is a participating post in the following:

• Blue Mondays
• Just Another Meatless Monday
• Macro Monday
• Made By You Monday
• Make The Scene Monday
• Mandarin Monday
• Meal Plan Monday
• Meatless Mondays From A - Z
• Menu Time Mondays
• Mix It Up Mondays
• Monday Mellow Yellows
• My Meatless Mondays
• Postcards From Paradise
• Project 52
• Simple As That
• Veggie Mama's Meatless Monday
• Marvelous In My Monday 
• Camera Critters
• Shadow Shot Sunday
• Clever Clicks 
• Getting To Know You Weekend
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