Creamy Vegan Celery Soup & Life Updates

Hello!  Sorry I haven't been blogging in a while but I'm back!  I actually have 3 things to post today but I think I am going to stick with this one soup!  It's a Cream of Celery Soup VEGANIZED but before I get to the recipe I thought I would tell you a few other things that have been going on lately.

First...I am totally sick of winter!  It's 5 degrees one day and 40 the next.  Everyone (but me - knock on wood) is sick.  We got hit with another snow storm today and there is about 6 inches of snow on the roads just from today.  Under than is a good amount of ice.  My car didn't make it all the way up my hill when I drove home so it's off on the side of the road about a block down from my house.

I have been testing some stuff in the kitchen and I hope to tell you more about that in the coming days and weeks!

I've been busy with League of Women Voters stuff and I have been thinking about joining Zontas International and our local chapter.  I have also been really busy with County Fair stuff.  Not only do we have our entertainment committees - I'm now part of the concessions/vendors committee and VIP committee.  I was also put on the advertising committee.

I've also been keeping up with my foreign coins!  It's been pretty FUN!  My last HAPPY MAIL was Monday and I received about 5 new-to-my-collection countries.

My niece, Trinity, is growing TOO FAST - but then again - we all say that about the 'little ones' don't we?  She's 8 months old today.  She is crawling.  She's a pretty happy kid!

Now for the soup!

Creamy Vegan Celery Soup - or Cream of Celery Soup Vegan

1 Head of Celery Stalks, Diced

Put in pot/pan and cook until softer.

4 Smaller Potatoes, Diced

1 Small Onion, Diced

Put these 2 items in a pot/pan and cook until softer.

Then in a Blender...

3 C Almond Milk

2 C Water (more if needed to thin)

1 Bunch of Dill

1 T Minced Garlic

3 T Vegan Earth Balance or Vegan Margarine

Half of the celery above

Cilantro & Sea Salt to taste

Add the 'creamy' soup to the remaining diced celery and put on medium heat.  Serve.

Optional...

Smoked Paprika & Nutritional Yeast 

Random Updates & My Parents Went to St. Lucia(...And All I Got Was Digital Photos)

I might be showing my age here...but does anyone remember when they were growing up and someone went on vacation and you either gave or received a T-Shirt that said 'so and so went to (insert location here) and all I got was this (insert adjective) T-Shirt!!  Well, my parent recently got back from St. Lucia and I'm so glad they had a great time eventho I was back here freezing my arse off!

They did, however, send me photos while they were away and I thought I would share some of them with you, too!  Up top, you can see a gorgeous sight, eh?  And here to the left, you can see my father.  Apparently, my parents went on a Pirate Ship Adventure and my dad was able to shoot a canon.  My mom opted to dance with some of the crew!

Not only did they send me photos they also brought home some coins from the island - as well as - Canada - since they flew out of Toronto.  I was greatly appreciated!  St. Lucia is one of the islands/countries that use the East Caribbean States currency.

Since we used to live right near the Canadian border I still had a few low-value coins from a while back but since travel to/from Canada now requires a passport and I still don't have mine it's been several years since I have been up there.

Since my parents know I'm a reggae and Bob Marley fan they sent me a photo of one of the Bob Marley inspired drinks they had while they were there.

I love the colors!

The first full day they were gone we had another snow storm.  Blah!

Other than that, yesterday and the day before were pleasant...the weather was in the 40s each day.  But today we are back to more snow and temps in the 20s.

Can you tell I was jealous of their beautiful weather and sightseeing?

In related yet additional news...DH was also out of town last week - Wednesday thru Saturday.  So it was pretty strange not having anything to do but, to be honest, all I wanted to do is be under warm blankets when I wasn't at work.

As you can see...Cricket had the same idea.

The last couple of days, DH has been REALLY sick.  He picked up some bug that he and at least 6 other people got, too, while at a convention.  I've been sleeping downstairs so I don't get it.

I think the furkids enjoyed the HOME TIME.  Paco has been burrowing under more than one blanket for weeks on end, now!

With all this cold weather, I tend to go into HERMIT MODE.  Sometimes I don't even feel like thinking about what to eat or make to eat for that matter.

One of my default foods is vegan nachos.  Sometimes I go simple with homemade vegan cheese and salsa.  Altho, not pictured here, recently I added some homemade vegan sour cream, too!  Sometimes I add veggies, other sauces, spices, etc.

About a week ago I did do a vegan grocery haul after watching The Vegan Zombie's take on it.  2 items that were not in his video that were also new-to-me items were these two soups you can see here.

As you know, I enjoy making my own soups, and you will see that I have done just that later in this post.  But, I also came across these two at my local Dollar Tree and thought I would give them a whirl.  For a buck - they come in handy at work - when I don't have time to make something else or get something downtown.

Both of these soups were clearly marked VEGAN, not once, but twice!  I tried them both and they were pretty good.  Heck, I would buy them again for a dollar!  Why not!

Here's the other one I found.  In addition to this thrifty vegan grocery shopping, I must tell you about another SCORE at the STORES, lately.  I had won a gift card a while back and wanted to see how many articles of clothing I could buy with it.

I went to our local Label Shopper and to my surprise, they were having their $3, $4, $5, and UP Sale.  I walked away with 16 shirts for a total of $57.  I bought one shirt for $6 but the rest of them were between $2 and $5 each.

This was great because a lot of what I was able to find I could layer for the extremely cold weather we have been having lately.  Which was something I was lacking in work clothes.

And finally, here is that soup I was telling you about!  It's a vegan Black Bean blended soup.  The swirl you see is homemade cashew cream or 'sour cream'.

Ingredients include 1 C Black Beans, 1 C Salsa, 1 Small Onion, 2 Cloves Garlic, 2 Cooked Carrots, 4 C Water, Pinch each of sea salt - cumin - cayenne - celery salt - cilantro.

And then I added some of the cashew cream and a squirt of Sriracha.

Masoor Seddho (Red Lentil Soup), Cashew Carrot Ginger Soup, Navratan Korma Inspired Soup, Crafts, Stress Relief, and Life Updates

It's been another roller coaster of a few weeks and that is my reason for not posting.  I really had hoped to post some more interesting and uplifting news but things didn't work out like I had hoped.  I need to be better at letting go and moving on, I suppose.

I guess now is as good as time as any to share with you some of the things I have been eating and creating.

As you can see in the first photo I recently gnawed on some Avocado and Tomato Toast.  It's topped with a Maple Mustard.  I also grabbed this smoothie you see in the 2nd photo which is Mango Squash & Veggies.  It was very tasty.  I got it from Total Evolution.  Maybe this week I will check out one of their soups or finally get their Oatmeal Bar.

I've been busy with work, League of Women Voters, and County Fair stuff.  I've also been a busybody at home.  Plus, I have been enjoying my new found joy of coin collecting more and more.  I have slowly gotten back into paper crafting which you will see more of in this post.  I'm really trying to stay busy so I don't start over-analyzing myself or move into a deeper depression. 

I'm still trying to get back into Yoga again but just when I think I will I have been battling with pain more.  Just when I think I have kicked my pain in a couple of days it comes back.

I've been tinkering with Mandalas again and it's been a nice short form of meditation of sorts.  As you can tell I'm not done with this.  Sometimes I do a bit at a time and will come back to it days later and add more.  DH and I just re-watched all of the Harry Potters which was a nice way to relax, too.  And of course there is my ongoing love of tea but I'm trying to adjust my intake on the highly caffeinated ones due to the aches and pains I have been struggling with.

I was averaging a card a day for a while there.  The cards I do only take a few minutes so it's a nice brain break.  It's a shame I let a group of people ruin my love of paper crafting for as long as I did.  I'm really trying to get back into it again.  So far - so good - in small increments.

I haven't bought any new supplies.  Everything I have been using to make the cards have been from scraps.  I intend to continue with this method.  I want to see how long I can go using old stashes and supplies.

Last weekend we gathered at a friends house for an annual party-after-new-years.  I usually bring baked beans but this time I thought I would bring something different.  DH suggested Buffalo Cauliflower Wings so I did just that.  I have two photos to share with you here.  I know I have posted my own recipe before but this time around I stuck pretty close to Jason Wrobel's recipe that he had in his Eaternity book I bought MONTHS ago!

They went pretty well.  I did 2 versions.  One was quite spicy and the other was not-so-spicy.

I ended up bringing Rootie's Blue Cheese for DH (for those of you who don't know he's not veg) and for who ever else wanted it.  I brought Daiya's Blue Cheese for me and who ever else wanted it.  It was funny but when we were cleaning up the dairy version of the blue cheese was barely touched and my vegan blue cheese bottle was nearly gone.

I'm not complaining at all - that is what it was there for - but I'm thinking that no one really looked at the bottles and just ate it regardless.  I find this interesting and am pretty thrilled!

It's been nasty weather-wise still.  This morning it was -7 degrees at 9am.  Friday Night we got a few inches of ice and then about a foot or more of snow.

So as you can imagine I have been eating a LOT of soups!  About a week ago I made a Cashew Carrot Ginger Soup.  Ingredients include...

1 C Cashews
1 Small Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Knob Ginger
6 Carrots
Water & Sea Salt as needed
Garnish: Nutmeg, Smoked Paprika, Parsley

For lunch today I had this amazing Red Lentil Soup!

It's my new favorite!  I would have made more right away but I only had enough Red Lentils for 1 batch!

It was inspired by Vegan Richa's Begali Red Lentil Soup (Masoor Seddho) but instead of the Tomato I used Tomato Sauce.  It was all I had on hand.  I also used Earth Balance instead of the Mustard Oil.

This was WONDERFUL and I will be making it again as soon as I get more red lentils!  YUM!  I'm not going to lie - I ended up garnishing it with more Earth Balance!  It was so savory!

This next one might not look like much but it was pretty tasty, too!  It was inspired by Vegan Richa's Navratan Korma Recipe but I turned it into a blended soup instead.  It called for 5 cups of veggies I used a bunch of stuff that was hanging out in my freezer and frig to use it up.  Many veggies like Eggplant, Sweet Peppers, Green Beans, Carrots, Water Chestnuts, Potatoes, Peas, Zucchini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, etc.  Instead of the 4 tomatoes it called for I used some leftover Spaghetti Sauce.  There are various spices along with Cashews and Pistachios, too!

Laos Style (Cheater) Pumpkin Coconut Soup, Veggie Based Vegan Cheese Sauce, Cashew Sun Dried Tomato Topped Veggie Ravioli, & Tribute to Buffalo Broadcasting Legend!

It was 3 below zero when I left the house this morning on my last 'day off' of the year.  It's beyond cold - it's damn frigid!   I've said it before and I will say it again and again - I hate winter!  The only thing it's good for is SOUP!

This was inspired by Vegan Street Food by Jackie Kearney that I obtained a while back.  It's loosely based on her Laos-Style Roasted Pumpkin, Coconut, and Chili Soup.  But I changed it so much that I thought it would be ok to share my recipe and take on it with you!  I have 2 photos here - one in a bowl and one in a mug!  The one you see here has an added nutmeg sprinkle on top!

My take on the ingredients:

1 Can Pumpkin Puree
1 Can Lite Coconut Milk
1 T Vegan Broth/Powder
1/2 t Minced Garlic
1/2 t Minced Onion
1 T Grapeseed Oil
Sea Salt to taste*
Pinch Cayenne

As many of you know I don't add much sea salt to my foods and when I do it's not even a pinch.  But here I used about 1/2 t or so and it was tasty!

Yet another Vegan Cheese Sauce on this spiral!  Here's what I threw in my blender for this...
2 C Potatoes
1/2 C Water
1/4 C Grapeseed Oil
1 T Lemon Juice
2 Carrots
1 C Corn
1/4 C Nutritional Yeast
Handful of Cashews
1/4 t each of: Onion, Garlic, Turmeric, Paprika, Vegan Stock/Powder, Yellow Mustard, Apple Cider Vinegar, Sea Salt (or to taste)

Check out this super creamy Cashew & Sun Dried Tomato Sauce I made to top the Engine 2 Diet Roasted Veggie Ravioli I found at the Buffalo Whole Foods the last time I went!  I did a basic Cashew Sauce with Cashews, Water, and Lemon Juice.  I added in about 5 Sun Dried Tomatoes and blended.  On top of that you will see that I sprinkled Smoked Paprika and Parsley on it, too!  YUM!  A closer look - see below!

I know I'm jamming a lot in to one post here but I have a lot of catching up to do!  Sorry about that!

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Engine 2's Roasted Veggie Ravioli.  There was a slight kick to the veggie mixture inside the Rav's which was neat!  This creamy, smoky, tangy sauce accompanied it well, too!

I wasn't able to find a good pic of the packaging but here's a visual for you...

This is the first product I have been able to find other than a package of the wraps which I wasn't thrilled with.  This Roasted Vegetable Whole Wheat Ravioli - on the other hand - was pretty tasty!  Yes...it did have the stereotypical whole wheat ravioli pasta texture but the veggie mixture inside greatly made up for it.  And the sauce was a nice finishing touch - if I do say so myself!

Before I end this post I wanted to insert a video from the other day.  It's about 9 minutes but worth it especially if you are in radio, TV, or from the Buffalo area.  It's a tribute to Irv Weinstein - a Buffalo Broadcasting LEGEND would passed away the day after Christmas from complications of ALS (AKA Lou Gehrig's Disease).  I grew up with this guy!  He was a staple in the Western New York Community and a life-long radio and TV guy!  He had a heart of gold and touched the lives of many.  When he retired back in '98 he was hardly able to make it thru his final broadcast before retiring.  Have 9 minutes?  I would love you to check it out!

Potato Barley Soup & Things

Because of the cold and snowy weather I can't stop thinking about soup!  So yesterday I made some Potato Barley.  I had both potatoes and barley on hand and wanted to use only the items I had on hand.  Oddly, I have had this barley in my pantry for quite some time and have been trying to think of what to use it in.  This soup seemed to be the perfect fit.  As you can see I topped with Nutritional Yeast and Smoked Paprika but it was only a sprinkle of each.  With the leftovers I didn't add anything to the top.  Below is the recipe.

About 4 or 5 Potatoes
1/4 C Barley
4-6 C Water *
4 T Vegan "No Chicken" Powder **
1/4 Onion, Minced
1/4 C Parsley
2 T Vegan Butter

* I started with 4 C but ended up with 6 C Water because it was so thick.

** I used a vegan "no chicken' powder.  All it contained was onion, garlic, corn starch, turmeric, sunflower oil, salt, yeast, celery seed.

For this specific vegan powder I used enough to work with 4 C water because that is what I started with.  The brand was Frontier Co-Op and a friend of mine a while back gave me a pound of it and I never opened it until this weekend.  The date was still good on it so I figured why not.  It was alright.  A little salty for my usual tastes.  The soup was still tasty but next time I will probably go lighter on the ingredient - that is - if I use it again at all.  I usually just use water - which you could totally do here instead of using the vegan stock, broth, powder, etc.  In that case I would probably just add some Bragg's Liquid Aminos, onion, garlic, etc.

 Either way - this was a very hearty soup - almost like a chowder.  I boiled everything for about 15-20 minutes, let cool, and then put everything in a blender.

Another thing I wanted to share with you today was these crunchy cookies from Simple Mills.  I found them at the Buffalo Whole Foods the last time I went.  They were pretty good while they lasted but I don't think I would buy them again unless they were on sale.  I think they were $4.99.  They did last me a while, however.  They looked different from what the package looks like here.  They were pretty small but a nice crunchy snack regardless.

I'm already sick of winter and it's only really bee a week.  This past week we have had 3 back-to-back-to-back snow storms.  BLAH!  I'm sure I will be doing more cooking today so I will have more vegan foods to share with you tomorrow.  In the meantime, I will be catching up on blogging buddies posts and such.  What did you do this weekend?

Creamy Creamed Mushroom Soup - Vegan!

Ingredients for this CREAMY Creamed Mushroom Soup are:

1 C Nut-Based Milk (I chose Almond)

1/4 C Vegan Margarine

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced

About 1 Pound of Mixed Mushrooms, sliced (Fresh of Frozen)

1/4 C Vegan Sour Cream (store bought or home made)

1 T Soy Flour

Simple Directions Include:

On Medium Heat in a large pot add everything except for the mushrooms and stir until combined and thickened.  Add Mushrooms and reduce heat to simmer for about 10 to 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

Simple Sunday Post!?  What do you think!?

A Twist on Tortilla Soup

Forgive me for this terrible photo!  The lighting is awful and I didn't even have a different color bowl to show it's true colors!  Anyhow...the soup was DARN TASTY and I can't wait to make more!

Here's what I put in my twist on Tortilla Soup!

5 to 7 Red Bell Peppers

3 Tomatoes

2 T Minced Onion

2 T Minced Garlic (or Wildtree Garlic Galore)

2 T Grapeseed Oil

2 C Water

1 C Almond Milk

2 T Bob's All-Purpose Flour

2 to 3 T Balsamic Vinegar

1 T Smoked Paprika

1/2 t Cumin

1/4 C Dried Basil

1/4 C Vegan Cheddar Shreds

1/4 C (or more) Corn

1/4 C (or more) Tortilla Strips

Pink Himalayan Sea Salt to taste

So I basically put all ingredients into a blender except for the Vegan Cheese, Tortilla Strips, and Corn.  I added those in later while heating on the stove top.  This is probably one of my favorite soup attempts in a while!  YUM!

Green Chickpea Discovery & Soups I Forgot About

Did you know...a 1/2-cup serving of green chickpeas has 364 calories, provides 19.3 grams of protein, and has 17.4 grams of dietary fiber. Although it contains 6 grams of fat, only about 1/2 gram of that is saturated fat. It contains 10 grams of natural sugar.


I recently read up on Green Chickpeas while having this lovely vegan option for lunch. Although, I cannot remember where I found it because I bought it about 2 months ago I knew it was something I wanted for a work lunch!


This was SO creamy! SO sweet! SO YUMMY! I would absolutely get this again if I were to come across it! The flavors were so involved - YUM!

I can't believe I forgot to share this hearty soup with you when I originally ate it. It was from Total Evolution and one of their limited time offerings. It had Quinoa, Pumpkin, Black Beans, Kidney Beans, and spices. It was vegan and awesome!


The walks into work have been chilly again but 'tis the season. It's to be expected here but I can't complain too much. It could be a LOT worse! We could already have FEET of snow on the ground and we don't...YET. So, I'm thankful.


A quick furkid update...Paco has been doing ok. We are trying to time it right to take him back to the vet. We are going to opt for the exploratory surgery but I still have doubts about it. As for Charlie, he's still plugging along. He's still his feral self but slowing down (a little), tail-less, deaf, and 17 years old.

When I was telling you all about the Potato Peeling Contest I forgot to tell you about the soup I made.


3 Potatoes, pan-fried
Small Onion
1 C Water
1/2 tea Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
2 T Cashews
2 T Nutritional Yeast
1 C Almond Milk
Dill & Basil to taste

I topped with Smoked Paprika. It was tasty but a bit pasty...glue-like. Probably needed a bit more Almond Milk, but, still good.

Husk Tomatoes, Decorated Rocks, Niece Update, Local Vegan Soups

A friend/co-worker of mine brought in some Husk Tomatoes not too long ago and shared them with us.  They were pretty yummy!  Her father grew some of them this year!  Here's a stock photo of them.  They were almost like a berry (some people say they are like a Gooseberry) but they also had a hint of cantaloupe/cucumber likeness to them, too, on top of the sweet tomato, that is.

I've been having fun with the decorated rocks I have been telling you about lately.  I have been finding a lot of them as well as making some of my own.  Here are 5 that I decorated last week.  I've had some luck with Sharpies.  I took a few of them to a State Park over the weekend.  I forgot to take photos but will be blogging about it at some point.  It was a very nice fall weekend at a historic place that is for sure.  My parents and I took our Wildtree stuff and sold quiet a bit of it.  We were supposed to do the Busti Apple Festival this Sunday but I'm not sure if we have enough stock.  At the end of this year we will be ending our Wildtree run.  It's been a great 9 years but the company is making a lot of changes that aren't really what our area focuses on, unfortunately.

About a month ago my niece had her Christening.  My sisters' husband/family is Catholic.  My sister and I were raised in a Pentecostal Church (altho my parents were not Pentecostal - but that's a story for another day).  After we moved to PA my sister stopped going to church.  I continued and was even in IVCF while in college.  IV or IVCF is Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship.  It was open to everyone.

These days - I know what I believe and have strong beliefs but do not attend church regularly.  I will attend different churches for different reasons such as volunteering or to see a speaker or attend a celebration, occasion, etc.  I respect all other religions and feel my personal beliefs don't really match to any said place of worship.  I also think that it's a very personal choice - and eventho I appreciate hearing what other people believe - I don't want someone telling me what TO believe or telling me what I believe is wrong.


Plus with the way politics have been the last several years that has been a real tough one for me too.  It seems politics have entered the church and many churches are more political than about the fellowship and togetherness and equality.  I rather hang on to the values I grew up on in the church that I remember and take them on my journey from here on out.  To treat everyone equal, to be compassionate, help others when I can, and try and make the world a better place.

I'm sorry if that sounds like I'm against church - that couldn't be further from the truth - it's some of the people that confuse me - not the ideas and beliefs.  My thoughts and feelings on the subject are very complex and many don't understand them but I'm ok with that.  I feel it's what's on the INSIDE that counts.  My purpose is not to judge people - nor is it anyone's job to judge people - and I think that many have forgotten or disregarded that simple way of thinking.

Sorry for the rant here - my real purpose - was to post a photo of my sweet niece - but wanted to explain why she was in a dress 6 times the size of her.  Regardless - she is adorable and wonderful!

A while back I was telling you about a new place in town that was VERY vegan friendly.  It's called Total Evolution.  This week they started featuring soups.  3 of them - that they made themselves.  2 are vegan and the other one is meat and dairy free but contains honey.

I enjoyed both of them.  This first one is Butternut Squash and Rice and the other one below is Purple Potato and Leek.

This morning I had one of their Wild Cherry Cranberry Smoothies.  It was lovely.

They have a new and seasonal smoothie for the Halloween Season called the Frankie that I am going to have to try before too long.

I really need to get to a few local produce stands before the winter gets here.  I dread the winter months not only because of the snow and cold but because the produce is narrowed down to store bought which is usually drab and dreary.

And speaking of weather - I hope everyone is ok with all of the hurricanes and earthquakes that have been striking!  YIKES!  Please let me know in comments!  I want to hear from you!

I already have one more post on deck - hopefully I will be posting it tomorrow - it's something new-to-me that I have been eating that I am totally addicted to now.

I also have a few other grocery store finds I need to share with you so stay tuned!

I Acquired 25 Pounds of Mushrooms Over The Weekend...FREE...And Other Weekend Happenings

Over the weekend our region had one of the largest seasonal folk art craft fairs in our area and one of the vendors asked if any of the volunteers wanted free mushrooms so a friend of ours said that he knew someone who would want them.  They were already washed, sliced, etc and ready to go.  When he brought the box of mushrooms over I was SHOCKED!  There had to have been a good 25 pounds of mushrooms in there!  Here are some of them!

 After sharing with 4 other people who only grabbed about 5 pounds each I still had LOTS left.  So last night I made soup!  LOTS and LOTS of soup!  More on those soups in future posts but today I thought I would post some other random photos from the weekend.  After 4 large batches of soup - my mother and I did a few other things with them including a favorite from my childhood that we veganized.  POM (Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms).  We cooked them in Earth Balance Vegan Spread instead of the butter/margarine we used to when I was a kid!

At this same folk art fair was this lil guy...a Prairie Dog!  My father and I adore them!  There is a man who brings his fur friends each year - and we have seen him at other events - I believe he rescues a lot of the animals - you can tell he really LOVES them!  Each animal has a name and he remembers ALL of them!  He also currently has about 300 goats and mini goats, too!  He was telling a lady that he will NOT bring a goat who doesn't want to come that day.  They all want to go (he doesn't force them).  He says "ok - who wants to go" and a bunch of them will run over to the truck(s)!  He had some turtles, large rabbits, and a mini horse, too!

Oh yes!  And the goats!  They were adorable!  All so friendly and well behaved!  I really connected with a few of them!  I have wanted 2 goats for a while now but don't know the first thing about caring for them.  Regardless they are so cute!

I can't believe it's fall already!  Oye!  It bums me out because I know that snow is right around the corner!

I will cherish the non-snow weather for as long as I can, tho!

In other news...

The decorated rocks are popping up all over for various groups so we decided to do them for the radio station.  Here are a few that I started already!

I'm not the best drawer but I try and it's FUN - it gets me out walking a bit more and it helps relieve some stress!

Colorful Weekend, Mason Jar Set, Red Pepper Tahini Dressing & Soup Recipes!

This past weekend was a CRAZY BUSY one...but in a good way!  This is my 2nd post for today - so - be sure to scroll down for the other one as to why half of the weekend was NUTS.

This post, however, will include some other things from the weekend.  As well as some items from last week - when I was under the weather.

First off - this selfie I took.  I'm trying to take some more of them because no one takes photos of me and I'm always behind  the photo while taking pics of groups, events, travel, and food.  I'm not very good at selfies but I'm trying!

The main reason for this one is to show off one of my new shirts I got this past weekend.  Yup!  I was able to go on a bit of a shopping spree for clothes, specifically.  I don't often do that but I was PAST Due for some clothes!  I've been pitching a lot of them but I will wear stuff until I literally am not able to any longer.  That and so many more of the clothes I had are 3 sizes too big!


One of the items I scored at Sam's Club a little over a week ago was this 6 piece Mason Jar Set.  I couldn't resist...it was calling to me!  You get all 6 glass mugs with handles, lids, straws, and burlap holder as you see here - but - it also comes with 6 additional straws (photo below).  These are heavy-duty reusable plastic straws.

Online this set is selling for $16.49, I think...but...for some reason I think I only paid $14 and some change for it.  I REALLY Love the way it looks...so bright and fun!  I can't wait to fill them with juices and smoothies!  Here's a pic of the orange one up close!  They are just too cute, aren't they!?

In food related news...

I made some home made raw vegan dressing and it turned out AWESOME!

And it only uses 3 ingredients!  Here's a quick recipe for you!

2 Sweet Red Bell Peppers
1/4 C Lemon Juice
3 T Tahini


I had a large salad last night with the dressing on it.  A few cups of various lettuces, shredded carrots, red cabbage, Green Peppers, Y.E.L.O. Tomatoes, and Hemp Seeds!

While I was eating it all I could think about was how flavorful it was and then I wondered if I could make a soup out of it.  So I did.

After using more than half of it as a dressing I then made a soup by adding the following...

2 T Minced Sun Dried Tomatoes & Garlic
1/4 C Basil

I have to say I was totally impressed with this flavor, too!

The addition of the garlic REALLY pumped it up!  The Sun Dried Tomatoes didn't hurt either.  It makes me want to do more raw(ish) soups VERY soon!

Vegan MoFo (Post #2 Of The Day) ~ Basil Pesto Vegetable Soup

This is the 2nd of my posts for today!  Scroll down for the other.  For this post I wanted to tell you about this MAJOR soup effort I did last night!  It was Lunch #1 and Lunch #2 for me today!  The inspiration came from the weekend my sister and I went to a restaurant and she got the Basil Pesto Pizza.  She brought the leftovers home and the whole car ride home it's all I could smell and it made me CRAVE Basil Pesto.  Since I am doing MOSTLY LIQUIDS all this week I thought it would be neat to try and do a Basil Pesto tasting Pureed Soup.  This first photo you see here is the Basil Pesto part and the next photo is the finished product.  I have to say I was pretty pleased with my efforts here!  This soup had SO MUCH jam-packed into it!  The recipe is below...

Basil Pesto Part....

2 C of Basil Leaves
3 T Grapeseed Oil
1/4 C Pine Nuts
1 Clove Garlic

For the rest...
2 Carrots
2 Celery Stalks
4 Cloves Garlic
1 tea Thyme
1 C Veggie Broth
1 C Water (or more)
2 Plum Tomatoes
1 Summer Squash
1 C Lima Beans
1 tea Wildtree Rancher Stake Rub (basically a combo of Sea Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Herbs)

I don't usually use this many ingredients in one soup but it worked well and it was just enough of the Basil Pesto flavor I was looking for!  I mean...you have fresh herbs, protein sources, calcium sources, various vitamins and nutrients, specks of color, but it's still a puree!  I really enjoyed it!