Better Choices

Eventho I cannot remember where I bought this box of Better Oats Organic Maple and Brown Sugar Multigrain Cereal with Flax I'm super excited I found another new-to-me product.  I'm also thrilled it's organic!  I have been seeing more and more organic labeled items in my small town.  That gives me hope that there will be more to come!

It's been frigid all morning and that proves that fall is officially here.  It was 25 degrees on my way in.  A hot bowl of this made it better.  The texture is a little different but the flavor is good!

I'm day 3 on my no bread and no pasta run.  Day 2 on the official challenge.  As I mentioned yesterday - my timing is horrible to start this!  Not only is it Vegan MoFo and I have hardly contributed anything to the month-long blogging celebration - yesterday was World Bread Day - and TODAY is National Pasta Day!  Yikes!

But it's all about BETTER choices.  I'm been rocking the salads for DAYS and now I'm back into making my own salad dressings.

As an added challenge, I'm trying NOT to buy anything new at the grocery store this week and work off of what I have in my pantry already which is NOT MUCH, to say the least.

In case you were curious about the contents of this salad dressing here is the Blender Recipe for this Tomato Paprika Vinaigrette that you are seeing above....

2 C Cherry Tomatoes

4 or 5 Sun-Dried Tomatoes

1/4 C Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 C Garlic Grapeseed Oil

2 T Agave Nectar

1 tea Paprika 

Onion Powder to taste

Wildtree Garlic Galore (or Garlic Powder) to taste

Pink or Black Himalayan Sea Salt to taste

My Timing Isn't The Best...

My husband and 2 of his buddies are challenging themselves to shed some weight.  It started today and ends in 30 days.  One of them is doing a detox program that Arbonne has.  The other one and my DH are doing their own thing.  While I'm not involved in the challenge I decided to throw out bread and pasta.

Over the last year and a half or so - I have gained back a lot of my weight that I lost while first dropping dairy.  There are 2 reasons as to why this has happened.  First and foremost I am terrible at eating breakfast.  Many times I skip lunch, too, so when I get to dinner I'm starving and overeat and then I don't have enough time to burn that off before going to bed.  In addition, I have gotten lazy with my cooking attempts.  I tend to fall back on pasta and bread.  I think with these few choices I can make a difference.

My timing isn't the best...

Today is World Bread Day.  Perfect day to NOT eat bread, right?  Wrong!  But so far I'm doing it!  I'm on day 2.  Last night I had a Romaine Salad and made up some Buffalo Chickpeas to throw in and made some vegan salad dressing.

Easy Vegan Buffalo Chickpeas

1 Can of Chickpeas

2 T Earth Balance

3 T Sriracha

Sprinkle to taste...Garlic, Onion, Sea Salt

Splash of Almond Milk to cook down

all on the stovetop!

For the dressing...I was to the end of my Just Mayo but didn't have the heart to throw what little I had left away.  I added a little splash of Almond Milk, Ketchup, a squirt of Sriracha to the bottle and gave it a good shake.  It made a great salad dressing for this Romaine & Buffalo Chickpea Salad.  

This hit the spot and I will surely do it again soon!

Where Did The Week Go?

Thursday, already?  Not sure where the rest of the week went but I knew I needed to get a blog post on before the craziness of the next few days takes place!  You see - my sisters baby shower is Saturday!  Both near-future grandma's are running around like maniacs and then there is the near-future 'Crazy Aunt' (that's ME) that has been overly busy at work and down and out not feeling well for a few days last week!  I haven't been as much help as I wanted the last couple of weeks!  Anyhow...today I will share with you some things I have been taking snapshots of over the past week and then I will blab about the shower next week!

First up is what I had for dinner last night.  It's the first photo you see in this post and it is LITERALLY something I threw together because I didn't want to fuss with anything special.  I found tortilla boats that happen to be vegan and I filled them with this chickpea mixture!

Smoked Russian Chickpeas:

1 Can of Chickpeas

4 T Vegan Mayo (I used Trader Joe's - see below)

2 to 3 T Ketchup

1/2 t Smoked Paprika

1/2 t Wildtree Memphis Dry Rub

3 Drops Organic Liquid Smoke

I cannot express how AWESOME this turned out!  I'm not going to lie - I kinda wanted to drink the 'dressing' which was a more smoked up version of my Vegan Russian Dressing I have done in the past.

This was the Vegan Spread and Dressing I used that I found at Trader Joe's the last time I went.  I'm partial to Just Mayo but this is pretty awesome on it's own.  It's not what I would call a straight-up vegan mayo but more like a dressing like it states - it seemed thicker and did have a different taste but the taste was pretty wonderful!

Another wrap I did within the last week was this one.  It doesn't look like much but it was a great comfort food!  I used a couple of potato patties, tomato slices, and vegan cheese sauce.  The vegan cheese sauce was the leftover vegan cheese powder I made not too long ago!  It worked well!

I had a huge salad this week, too, and I made this dressing.  It was supposed to resemble a vegan Ranch Dressing using Sunflower Seeds as the base but it totally missed the mark as a Vegan Ranch Dressing taste-alike.  The taste wasn't bad it just wasn't what I was going for.  

I'm grateful on a daily basis that Paco has been doing well the last several months!  A few months ago he wasn't able to do this!  He would barely move let alone look engaged in things!  

I still have to help him up on the sofa and recliner but the WANT and INTEREST is there!  I put him up on the recliner but he managed to get on the armrest all by himself and pose like this!  I couldn't tell you the last time he did that!  For about a year I freaked out when he did try to because his legs were so unstable!  How can these photos NOT put a smile on your face?

Another Day - Another Dip!

This past weekend was weird.  I was OFF.  I couldn't really tell you WHY I was OFF I was just...OFF!  One of the things that happened hasn't happened to me in 20 years.  Apparently I had an asthma attack.  Scared the crap out of me.  Just when I think I have won a personal battle something else seems to pop up!  My sleep is getting better.  I was able to FINALLY sleep in bed - haven't done that in YEARS so that is pretty awesome!  I was able to get many of my aches and pains under control - so I'm thrilled about that!  Next up I am going to try and lose a couple of pounds - I think!  Between getting a bit lazy and going with convenience items and winter weather and not moving around much I have gained more than I am comfortable with.  So that's my next mini goal.  I will be doing more salads, soups, RAW Foods, etc.  I think I gained weight because I wasn't preparing almost 100% of my own foods and dropped back into vegan convenience items - as well as NOT doing as many RAW FOODS like I was prior to last year.

Anyhow...today the only photo I have to share with you is the one you see above!  Not overly exciting but it's a Cashew Cilantro Dip that I made for the Broccoli Potato Fries I found a while back.  They were pretty YUMMY and they almost tasted CHEESY but they were clearly marked VEGAN and GLUTEN FREE!

Cashew Cilantro Dip & Salad Dressing

1 C Cashews

1/2 C Water

2 T Lemon Juice

1/4 C Cilantro

1 T Apple Cider Vinegar

1 t Wildtree Garlic Galore (or Minced Garlic)

1 Powerful Squirt of Dijon Mustard

Pinch Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

Optional Sprinkle on top Smoked Paprika 

Everything in the high speed blender.  It was a little thin but after refrigerating for a while it thickens naturally.  This is also a great Salad Dressing, too!

I had a few kitchen fails over the weekend, too, or else I would have posted more.  I am not giving up on the cracker appetizer!  I am going to experiment with them more and if I can get them to where I want them I will post about them at a later date!

Creamy Red Pepper Vinaigrette - Vegan!

Just a quick post today with a new recipe for Creamy Red Pepper Vinaigrette that is VEGAN!  This can actually be a dip or a dressing!  It's super yummy!  I was going to make something completely different and already put a large amount of Apple Cider Vinegar into my blender and realized I didn't have 2 main ingredients I needed for the recipe I was looking at so instead of wasting what was already in there I shifted gears and came up with a Creamy Red Pepper Vinegar Diddy!

I had some leftover cauliflower and multi-colored mini peppers for dipping.  This was a snack last night and RAW too!

Below you can check out the recipe!  I had a few other things I was going to try and blog about this week but will hold off until next week instead!  Happy Weekend!


Creamy Red Pepper Vinaigrette Recipe

1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 C Cashews
3 T Hemp Seeds
5 Mini Sweet Red Peppers
1/2 T Minced Garlic
1/2 C (or more to thin) Water
3 T Nutritional Yeast
1 tea Smoked Paprika

For a more savory flavor feel free to add a squirt or two of Bragg's Liquid Amino's!

Citrus Dijon Dressing

This past weekend I made some dressing using the following and it came out VERY tasty...with a Dijon KICK...

2 Oranges
2 Dates
3 Drops of Lemon NuNaturals Stevia
1/4 C Dijon Mustard
1/2 C Almond Milk
1/2 Scoop of GoL's Perfect Food^® RAW Alkalizer & Detoxifier

Just thought I would share a quick recipe and idea with you before taking a day or two for Christmas.  Happy Holidays to everyone!  I appreciate you stopping by my site!  

Question of the day...what's the last flavor of Salad Dressing you consumed?

Lemon Avocado Tahini Dressing & Carrot Slaw

Friday I wanted to do more with carrots so I dug out my Spiralizer and made these spirals and circle slivers.   I made a Lemon Avocado Tahini Dressing for them and ate a bit of it.  It was super tasty.  I wondered what it would taste like if I coated the entire Carrot Slaw with it and put it in the frig over night!  It was AWESOME.  This dressing was MADE for something like this.  I just didn't know it until after I did it, I suppose!  I had so much left that I bottled the rest of it for later use.  As a marinate or sauce I would keep it as-is as my recipe below indicates...it's pretty creamy and thick this way...so I ended up adding just a little bit of water to thin it out for salads.  Either way works well, I think!

Here's what I used in this Dressing I made:

1 Avocado
1/4 C Tahini
1/2 C Water (or more if you like it thinner)
4 T Apple Cider Vinegar
4 T Lemon Juice
2 t Parsely
2 t basil
2 Cloves Garlic
1 T Garden Of Life Perfect Food Raw (Regular Flavor)
Splash of Grapeseed Oil if needed/wanted.

Another thing I wanted to share is that I have been saving all of my bottles and reusing them for my Dressings and Sauces.  This one worked really well in an old Wegman's Brand Salad Dressing Bottle.  I have found I rarely (if ever) buy Salad Dressings for myself anymore since I have been making them all!

Art & Vino Venue, Salads, Smoothies, and Creamy Vegan Savory Spinach & Cilantro Dressing

 This past weekend we took our Wildtree stuff to an Art & Vino Event in Youngsville, PA.  This is the 2nd year we have done this event and it was even better than last year!  This is a photo of our table - I'm taking the picture and you can see my sister, mom, and dad here!  My sister Megan is talking to one of our customers.  We were set up beside Allegheny Cellars Winery.  They are some 'friends' of ours that we've known for a few years and done several events with.  There were 3 others wineries there as well!  Burch Farms/Winery, Flickerwood Wine Cellars, and Courtyard Wineries. I've been to 3 out of the 4 wineries and have sampled a little bit of Courtyard's before as well.  It was a lovely event.  Thankfully it was INdoors because we got a bit of snow on Saturday and it was quite cold...like around 30...that after it was 80 degrees on Thursday!  Oye!  Regardless we did GREAT at this event!

Towards the end of last week I did some Smoothies in my Ninja!  Here is the first one!  It contains Mangoes - about a cup, 4 Clementines, and 2 C of a blend of Strawberries, Papaya, Pineapple, as well as about 1 C of Coconut Milk.  It was pretty good!

I mentioned a while ago that I got some new SuperFoods and Powders I would be playing with.  One of them is Boku Organics and I tried their SUPER FOOD last week in a similar Smoothie!  I added a nice level scoop of their greens powder and came up with this...

I loved how GREEN it was!  Next time I would probably omit the Papaya in this, tho, That was the only thing that stuck out and didn't quite jive right with the other flavors.  Perhaps there was just too much Papaya in this attempt, not sure, but the rest was lovely. 


I even had enough to take to work the next day!  I put it in my Blender Bottle.

Remember last week when I was telling you about the Butternut Squash I did with Grapeseed Oil and the Wildtree Savory Spinach?  Well...I had left overs and decided to add it to a last Salad for Friday Night's Dinner!  I ended up finishing the Vegan Lemon & Chive Store Bought Salad Dressing I had on hand, too!  I do like that dressing!  I was tempted to buy more of it at Wegman's yesterday but didn't - I'm making more and more of my own these days!

Which brings me to my next tidbit!  The Dressing I made!  I posted this immediately after making it last night and have had people on Instagram ask me for the recipe so here it is!

Creamy Vegan Savory Spinach & Cilantro Dressing

1 small bunch of Cilantro
8 to 10 ounces of Vegan Sour Cream
1 T Lemon Juice
2 T Wildtree Savory Spinach Blend
pinch of Wildtree Lemon Pepper
1 T Minced Garlic
About 4 ounces of Water
A Squirt of Agave Nectar - I used Wholesome Sweeteners Raw Blue Agave

This was tasty as-is but I wanted to see what else I could do with it in addition to putting it on Leafy Green Salads!  So I decided to make a Mini Cucumber & Grape Tomato Salad.

I used my slicer for the mini chukes!  I believe they are actually called Crunches!  Regardless they are wonderful!  I mixed everything together and added some Foods Alive Nutritional Yeast Flakes to the top of it.  I eventually mixed that in as well!  It was very good!  This is something I would make often!

I will be back in a while with another post as this one is already lengthy and I'm trying to squeeze in posts between MADNESS here!  It's been a doo-zee of a week or two and this week is looking like another!

What kind of foods did you eat this past weekend!?  Did you get out and about in your community?  If so - what did you do!?