Weekend Roundup: Local Fundraising, New Copper Skillet, Tandoori Spice Vegan Burgers

Saturday was a BUSY day!  I volunteered to help the local Zontas with their Lucky Numbers Fundraiser.  It's the first time I attended the event but I hope to be a member and wanted to get one under my belt before I was a member next year (that is if I am accepted as a member).  It was a pretty crazy yet fun event!  The ladies who organized it did an AMAZING job!  I didn't win anything (as far as the large prizes go) but it wasn't about that for me...I just wanted to help if I could.  I did, however, win this lovely mug and gift certificate to a local coffee & tea shop!

Well over 200 people attended and it was a HOOT to see everyone go bonkers over the winnings!  Here are a few photos of some of the high-end prizes at stake.

With my ticket, I received 5 chances.  With those - I went for the kitchen items.  The 8-Quart Instant Pot on the far right was one of the ones I had my eye on.

There was a heavy-duty Spiralizer, too, that looked pretty cool.  I already have 2 spiralizers but nothing like the one that was on the table.

Here was one of the sections of the room that was filled with participants!

Lunch was served (I had a salad) and there were other drawings and such that you could participate in.  Some people dressed up and some people had noisemakers for when someone at their table won!

After the Lucky Numbers Event, DH and I went over to a friends house for dinner.  I didn't have a lot of time to make anything special but I brought the makings for a large salad and grabbed some storebought hummus and pretzels.

Yesterday, we wanted to find a Waffle Maker but couldn't find one locally.  Instead, I found this Copper Electric Skillet and make pancakes.  I would show the pancakes but I would rather wait to post one that was tastier than the first attempt.  I will show this Vegan Burger for now.

This is the Veggie Burger on the skillet above.  I found them at Mustard Seed Market and have had them in my freezer since we got back.  Last night I thought I would finally try them.  They were pretty good.  I didn't put it on a bun but I did make some dipping sauce for it.  You can see that in the next photo.

The Tandoori Spice in these was potent - but you know me - I'm a fan of spice!

For the dipping sauce it's basically a Vegan Aioli I threw together.  I think next time I will make it thicker.  The flavor was good, tho!

It was just Vegan Mayo, Garlic, Sriracha, Smoked Paprika, Lemon Juice, and a pinch of Black Sea Salt.

It was pretty good on corn chips, too!

I probably could have added some nooch to it, too!

Question of the Day...what was the last brand of veggie burgers that you tried that was 'new to you'?  What did you think of them!?

Weekend Round-Up & Raw Vegan Giveaway!

This past weekend it was my intention to start my weekend giveaways here but something went wrong so I will start them today instead.

But before we get to the prize at stake I thought I would tell you a little bit about this past weekend!  First up...one of the smoothies I forgot to post last week!  It was delicious!  It had Blackberries, Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Coconut Water, and Garden of Life Vanilla Organic Plant Protein.  I just LOVE the color of this...don't you?

No...this isn't a vegan ice cream...it's Balsamic Beet Hummus!  I made some over the weekend because I enjoyed the Beet Hummus I bought the weekend before from Trader Joe's!  In this there is...1 C Small Beets, 1 C Chickpeas, 1/3 T Tahini, 2 T Lemon Juice, 1 T Garlic Grapeseed Oil, 1 to 2 T Balsamic Vinegar.

Sunday I cleaned some of the kitchen and frig.  I concentrated on the stove and used one of the new products I got from Norwex and it worked really well.  I did 2 loads of dishes and dried some laundry.  I cleaned the dogs pens out and did some of their blankets.

I finally had time to roast some squash I had.  There were types the Kabocha Squash AND Spaghetti Squash.  I roasted them with Garlic Grapeseed Oil and 2 different kinds of pine nuts (standard and long).

I then took the Spaghetti Squash and used it in the base for the dish you will see in just a little bit and I cubed up the Kabocha Squash and used it as well.  I sampled a bit of each and they were tasty!  Below is the finished product.  It's a Thai Curry Squash with peas and pine nuts.

I ate a bowl as a soup and it was totally YUMMY.  Since I made a HUGE batch I decided to cook up some lentils and rice so I could pair it for meals this week.  For the base recipe I used...1 small spaghetti squash, 1 small kabocha squash, 1 T grapeseed oil and about 1/4 C Pine nuts - I roasted those ingredients at 380 degrees for about a half hour.  I then took 1 sweet onion and cooked it down then added half the pine nuts that were roasted and about 6 basil leaves that were dried and crumbled.  Added 1 can of coconut milk,  I added the spaghetti squash to it and simmered for a few then put in my blender to make a base.  I then added 4 T Wildtree Green Curry Paste/Sauce, the other half of the roasted pine nuts, 1 C Peas, and Black Sea Salt to taste.  It turned out great!

Saturday we sold our Wildtree products at a regional winery.  I'm thrilled because this winery doesn't use purifiers, clarifiers, or preservatives in their wine that tend to be fish or gelatin based!  Next to the door they had this crazy looking guy and they were all decked out for Halloween.  It made all sorts of weird noises and moved.  They had him on an operating table and it was fun to watch the people come in and freak out when the sensor went off!  It was a very windy day and driving home was a bit challenging at times because of the wicked wind!

Saturday night the dogs enjoyed snuggle time on the sofa.  Paco liked that I let him use my pillow, too.  He's doing well but his legs still have good days and bad days.  He's a trooper, tho, because he still trucks around the house in his own special way.  And of course he's still as cute as ever.  Sunday night the dogs seemed to enjoy family time, too!  We caught up on Grey's Anatomy and Reign which are two of the shows we enjoy during the week on Hulu.

Okay!  It's time!  It's time for the giveaway I intended for this past weekend!  All you have to do is be a US Resident and comment on this post with your email addy.  Garden of Life is letting me give away a TUB of their Chocolate Raw Meal!  It's vegan and RAW!  New packaging and everything!  Woot!  I will choose a winner sometime tomorrow and announce the winner on Wednesday!  Each weekend I will have a different giveaway, too, so stay tuned!

Smoothies, Vegan Cheesecake, Furkids, Vegan Cheese Sauce, and More MyKind

Happy Monday!  This is pretty much a Weekend Round-up of sorts but I guess I am starting backwards.  This morning I was successful with trying to stick with my Monday thru Friday Morning Smoothies!  Here's what I did for this morning:

1 1/2 Bananas
2 Dates
1 C of Coconut/Almond/Hemp Milk
1 T Sun Warrior ORMUS Peppermint

It's pretty yummy!  I think I found the trick to doing smoothies with bananas for someone who doesn't like bananas like myself.  ADD DATES!  I wonder what tomorrow will bring for my morning smoothie?  I'm thinking Wheatgrass!

Last week I blogged about FINALLY finding Daiya's Cheezecake in my region.  I had some over the weekend.  Here's a photo of it.  I was looking for a vegan pie filling which I was able to find but I was really happy about the dyes and other not-so-great ingredients in them not to mention the PRICE.  So I found that buying a think of strawberries was actually cheaper than buying the canned stuff which is RARE where I live so I grabbed some and made my own.  All I did was throw some strawberries into my Ninja Blender (yes I still use this as a food processor mostly) and a bit of Organic Raw Cane Sugar.
*ADD 1 t of Garden of Life's Organic Plant Protein VANILLA.  It's optional but awesome!

I'm kind of spoiling a little bit of my upcoming MidWeek Munchies but telling you some of these recipes but OH WELL.  I'll post about some of the ingredients TWICE this week!  Here's yet another Vegan Cheese Sauce I made this past weekend and I topped it with Spanish Paprika that I bought in bulk at my local herb store!

This sauce as the following: 1/2 C Cashews, 1/4 to 1/2 C Pine Nuts, Juice of 1 Lemon, 2 t Apple Cider Vinegar, 1 C Coconut Milk, 1 Squirt of Yellow Mustard, 1 T Garbanzo Bean Flour, 1/2 t Paprika (and more to top), 1/2 t Turmeric, 3 to 4 T Nutritional Yeast.

The sauce was tasty but I think I used a bit more Spanish Paprika then I would suggest to others that are just trying it for the first time.  I also noticed that 'regular' paprika has very little taste whereas this Spanish Paprika is POPPING with flavor!  If you can find it - BUY IT!  The difference is amazing!

The furkids enjoyed the weekend cuddling up to us.  We were around more than we had been but we still took a trip to Buffalo on Saturday.  More on that later in the week.

Here's a pic of Riley lazin' out in between me and the sofa.  What a SLUG!

Friday night while I was writing I had Charlie sitting next to me on the stairs.  Yes...this is our feral cat Charlie.  He's pushing 15 years old and doesn't seem to be slowing down much.  He likes tormenting the dogs that is for sure!

Oh!  Yeah!  We also saw our first snow fall of the season.  As you might now I'm NOT a fan.

This morning it was 28 degrees.  Brrrr!

And in Friday's mail I received a box from Garden of Life!  YAY!  They sent me a bunch of their new products and I have to say I'm pretty stoked!  You may know I am not usually one for pill-taking but many of these are liquids.  I'm especially excited about the Vitamin C sprays!  I've tried them already and the flavors are pretty impressive.  I'm taking these NOW to fight off the germs of my co-workers!  I've also started taking Colloidal Silver.  More on that in a future post, too!  I'm also excited to announce that Garden of Life is allowing me to do weekly giveaways on the weekends starting THIS COMING WEEKEND so stay tuned for that!

Blondee Apples & Kabocha Squash

On Thursday I mentioned I purchased 2 new-to-me types of produce.  One being Orange Kabocha Squash and the other item was a Blondee Apple I actually got as a free sample at my local produce stand.  Of course I hit up Google for more info on both of these foods and here is some of what I found out.  Kabocha Squash is grown in Fall, Winter, and Spring and is a Winter Keeper meaning that it can last 4 to 5 months!  YAY!  They are said to be one of the sweetest types of squash!  I read they pair well with Broccoli, Raab, Radicchio, and Dandelions.  You can roast it for 30 minutes in the oven with little effort.  I like that!  And I really am drawn to this recipe that I found, too!

My last trip to my favorite local produce stand wasn't the first time I noticed them offering free samples of something.  This time I took them up on the offer!  They had small, yellow apples which were called Blondee Apples.  They are a lot like Gala Apples.  They were originally found growing among Galas and some people actually call them the "Yellow Gala".  I read that these apples are resistant to bruising...that's a PLUS!  And can be kept for several months in the refrigerator!  Eventho this is becoming popular in New York State - and I actually live in Pennsylvania - but right ON the state line - it doesn't shock me that I found them here now that I do know more about them.  BUT this apple was introduced in 2000 by a couple from Ohio.  It wasn't available to the market until 2012.  I'm writing this prior to actually TRYING the apple but I am looking forward to it.  I LOVE trying new types of produce!  What's the last thing you tried that was new-to-you?