Egg Trick Bagel & Tater Tot Casserole

Yesterday I was able to take a little time in the kitchen with food prep and such.  I've done Strong Hearts Cafe & The Vegan Zombie's Egg Trick Muffin before and have done my own variations.  This time around I used a bagel flat (basically a flat bagel round) instead of an English Muffin.  You may remember that I LOVE using a few tablespoons of salsa on my Egg Trick Muffins so I did that here as you can see it oozing out of the bagel hole.  Inside I just did the seasoned tofu round patty and Daiya Cheese.  It was tasty!  I have 2 more disks of tofu ready to go in my freezer so I'm sure I will be doing this again soon!  I will most likely be doing a side of Tofu Scramble with the edges of the tofu I didn't use.

For a closer look at the tofu egg part - I thought I would take another snap.  Since hubby has been really suffering with his ongoing sinus infections and pneumonia yesterday we had a quiet day at home.  We were able to watch Fantastic Beasts.  It was good!  On Saturday there was a vendor show at our local YMCA.  It ended up being a pretty good turn out.  We were there with our Wildtree stuff!

Now...on to my newest attempt a Tater Tot Casserole!  I told you I was going to do it!!!  And here is what I did!  This first photo is the casserole BEFORE it went into the oven!  Recipe...

Bottom Layer:
Chopped Broccoli & Cauliflower
Chickpeas
In the Middle:
Then I poured 1/2 box of Cashew Ginger Soup over it
Then I added a layer of Daiya Cheese
Top Layer:
Tater Tots - touching - edge to edge
Then the rest of the Cashew Ginger Soup
Then more Daiya Cheese

Sprinkled on top:
Hemp Seeds, Dried Onion, Fresh Minced Garlic, Turmeric, Smoked Paprika, Nutmeg

This next photo is the first piece I took out after baking it at about 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.  I think it turned out great!  As you can see the top vegan cheese layer didn't melt well and I'm sure it was because there wasn't any liquid on top to assist with the melting.

In this photo you can see that the middle layer vegan cheese melted nicely.  I think next time I will put more of the cheese in the middle and less on top OR make a vegan cheese sauce for the top instead of using the shreds and sprinkling them.  I have to say I was pretty tickled with myself on this one.  The only creamy vegan soup I could find at Tops yesterday was the Cashew Ginger one.  It worked pretty well.  I'm sure with a different creamy vegan soup it would change up the overall flavor and I'm looking forward to getting creative with it.  I know I will be able to get multiple meals out of this!  I'm considering making at least one sandwich out of it, too!  I will keep you posted on that if I attempt it!

Tater Tot Casseroles are so versatile and the possibilities are endless!  If I had more time to bake 1 each week I'm sure I could come up with many more ingredient and flavor combinations!

As for the rest of my weekend I had a bit of a hard time with my aches and pains - especially after standing for 7 hours at the vendor show.  My Sciatica kicked in - or what I was thinking was my Sciatica - now I'm wondering if it was Fibromyalgia all along.  Perhaps it's both!  Heck, I don't know!  But another thing I did find out in my research was Apple Cider Vinegar for the Symptoms of Fibromyalgia.  I'm pasting that info below.  It's pretty interesting stuff!  Makes a lot of sense, too!  One of my mini goals for the first part of this week is to create some of those ACV Drinks at home.  Not only will DH drink them - so will I!

While apple cider vinegar does not treat fibromyalgia per se, it has been reported to alleviate many of the symptoms experienced by those living with fibromyalgia.
These include:

Fatigue – Stress (both emotional and physical) causes lactic acid to build up in the body resulting in fatigue. The potassium in apple cider vinegar combats this.

Joint Pain and Headache – Apple cider vinegar keeps the body’s pH level slightly alkaline which helps eliminate joint pain as well as headaches.

Swelling and Inflammation – Apple cider vinegar may be rubbed onto visibly swollen areas. Consuming apple cider vinegar helps relieve inflammation in the body.

Gastrointestinal Issues – Apple cider vinegar contains pectin which helps sooth the colon lining. It assists with loose bowels by forming more “bulk” in the G.I. tract.

While rigorous scientific research cannot support any claims that apple cider vinegar fights or cures fibromyalgia, many anecdotal reports suggest relief and reduction from debilitating fibromyalgia symptoms. Source: https://www.wholesomeone.com/news-articles/apple-cider-vinegar-fibromyalgia

Daiya Fire Roasted Vegetable Pizza

As you know - Today is Wednesday - and that means it's time for MidWeek Munchies! I hope you will participate! This is actually my 2nd post of the day and 2nd post of this weeks' MWM.  CLICK HERE to check out the first post AND to LINK UP to this weeks MWM!  If you have anything VEGAN you would like to share and link up with we welcome you and your posts! It can be a grocery store haul, garden or farmers market trip, online purchase, or anything you made and munched on that happens to be vegan!

Eventho I didn't do much grocery shopping this past week I did run into Wegman's in Lakewood, NY, and picked up this vegan pizza!  I'm sure many of you have already tried this offering from Daiya but it's a first for me.  I have tried a few of their other vegan pizzas but it seems this one really spoke to me.

I think it had something to do with me wondering why veggie vegan frozen pizzas tend to skimp on the veggies!  This one didn't.  It didn't disappoint!  It had a good amount of veggies on top of the vegan cheese and it what exactly what I was looking for!  In addition - the sauce was 'kick ass', too!

I hope Daiya continues to come out with additional products quickly!  I would love to try them!

MidWeek Munchies ~ FINALLY Found Daiya Cheesecake!

It's the middle of the week - that means it's time for a NEW MidWeek Munchies Link Up!  Keep reading to participate!  If you noticed MidWeek Munchies on some of your fellow veggie heads blogs last week and wonder how to jump in and have some fun with us NOW is the time!  All you have to do is blog about your Vegan Hauls, Vegan Finds, Vegan Farmers Market Trips, Vegan Online Purchases...you name it, you blog about it, you link up!  It's that easy!  My week this week isn't overly exciting as a whole BUT I am super excited about one of the finds I located after MONTHS of searching!

YUP!  Daiya New York Cheesecake!  I FINALLY found it!  But I haven't tried it yet!  I always LOVED cheese cake if just didn't like me!  So when I hear about vegan cheese cakes I MUST look into them!

For produce this week it's been slim pickin's.  I did grab: sweet onion, lettuce (both bagged and head lettuce), canned pineapple, and San Marzano Tomatoes FRESH!

I still have some produce left over from last week but not much.

As far as convenience items are concerned I did stock up a bit on McDougall's Soups!  It's been a LONG time since I have done that.

I have tried all of the ones I can find locally before but I try and grab them when they are on sale.  While they were NOT on sale this time I wanted to get some lunch items for the next few weeks and they seemed to fit the bill.  Even if they were around $1.79 each that's a heck of a lot better than the 8 to 10 bucks of buying something around town.


Hubby wanted tacos on Sunday so that's something that we can eat together but have out own versions of if you know what I mean.  Therefore...I also purchased Tofutti Sour Cream (I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I bought this so it was a treat), Daiya Cheddar Shreds, Corn Shells, Lemon Juice (I was completely out!  And the fresh lemons didn't look great!  Oh No!), Taco Sauce, and White Rice.  Now it's YOUR TURN!  What's on your Vegan MidWeek Munchies List?

An InLinkz Link-up

4 MISC Foods - Last Few Weeks

Because I have been so busy with several projects and I'm now behind with blog posts here I thought I would do some catching up over the next few days!  This post is focusing on a few of the foods I have been eating over the last few weeks that I haven't posted about YET.  Here you will see I have - basically - Taco Salad - in a soft shell bowl of sorts.  I don't remember what brand they were but I found them at a discount store and they didn't have any animal products in them so I thought I would give them a try and they were quite good!  I used 'greens', Red Bell Peppers, and a little Daiya Cheese sprinkled on top along with some Catalina-esque Dressing for a quick meal.

Sticking with the quick meals and snacks and comfort foods...I had some nachos a while back.  Two different types of Daiya Cheese...one was shreds and the other was slices that I broke up.  Then some hardy salsa on top corn chips!  YUM!  I don't like to rely on fake cheeses and try not to always have them on hand because of all the oils they have in them.  However, I don't want to waste what I do have when I do have it.  These photos were taken within about a 3 week span of time...and not all at once over a day or two if that makes sense!

Another quick snack or small meal I had recently were these crunchy beans that I found at a discount store.  They were pretty tasty!  And no animal products!  Usually the breaded items have milk and/or eggs in them but these didn't.  I decided to make a dressing and dipping sauce for them and it turned out really well!  Recipe...
1/4 C Wildtree Garlic Dipping Grapeseed Oil
2 T Dijon Mustard
1 T Balsamic Vinegar
1 T Agave

And I have no idea why I haven't posted this dish sooner...this was from a month ago!  Oh My!  An Eggplant Lima Bean Curry of Sorts...

1 Small Eggplant
1 Small Onion
1/2 Red Bell Pepper
1 T Wildtree Garam Marsala
1 C Crushed Tomatoes
1/2 tea Ginger Powder
1/2 tea Cayenne
1 C Lima Beans
Water

Don't forget to enter my contest for the variety box of Coconut Organics snacks!  I will be choosing a winner on Monday!  Click here for full details!

Mellow Mushroom ~ Pigeon Forge, TN

***There is still time to enter to win Organic Chia Seeds from Garden of Life***  CLICK HERE I will choose a winner BEFORE 5pm est today!

This first photo isn't mine...it's from the Mellow Mushroom Website.  But the other photos I took while on vacation.  This is the Mellow Mushroom location in Pigeon Forge, TN, and we stopped by while on vacation last week.  I think they had 3 locations in the area...this one, one in Gatlinburg next to Ole Smoky Moonshine, and one at The Island in Pigeon Forge, too!

First...I have to talk about the decor in this place.  It's so cool!  There are lights, mushrooms, tye dye stuff, hippie stuff - pretty much everywhere. 

These are some of the lighted tree decorations they had in the middle of our section.  I took some pics of the walls but they didn't turn out that great.  There was a HUGE painted wall that went from one end of the booth seating area to the other that was hippie and groovy but still a tribute to Pigeon Forge and the Smoky Mountains. 

They had this crazy stone fireplace that had some sort of mystical cartoon character mounted on it (thank GOD it wasn't a real deer - blah!) and candles and trinkets on the shelf below and then...look at the fireplace!!!  Instead of 'fire' it's a slew of Lava Lamps!  How groovy is that!?

There was plenty of parking outside, a lot of seating inside, a bunch of eye candy to look at inside and out and we haven't even talked about the food yet!

We will get to that in a moment...but first...I just had to show you another shot of this 'fireplace' of Lava Lamps...

I'm pretty sure that The Mellow Mushroom has 3 locations in the area of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.  At least that is how many I saw while we were out and about.  This one was in Pigeon Forge - stand alone.  There is another one in Pigeon Forge within The Island that I wrote about on my Travel Blog...then there is another one over by Ole Smoky Moonshine in Gatlinburg.

 Here's a photo of some of the mushrooms that were throughout the restaurant, too!  Of course when I added this to my InstaGram I had a few funny yet crude comments about what they looked like!

But...Mellow Mushroom's InstaGram 'liked' them so that's cool.  It was actually really neat because a lot of the pics I took and put on InstaGram I had the official place 'like' my photos!

Anyways...on to the food, right?  Dale ended up getting wings that were twice baked (not fried).  For those of you who are new to my blog - my husband is NOT vegan/vegetarian.

I, however, found out that they do vegan pizzas!  YAY!  They use Daiya Cheese!  They make their own vegan and gluten free crust from ancient grains.  I'm not Gluten Free but I enjoy eating Gluten Free foods from time to time.  There were other vegan options on the menu but I didn't really want to think about it and wanted to take some of the pizza back to the Cabin for later so this is what I went with.

It was the Veggie Pizza with the Vegan AND Gluten Free Crust.  Yes..Vegan Daiya Cheese.  The sauce was pretty good...but my favorite part of the pizza was the tomatoes!  They were AWESOME! 

The pizza - overall - was quite good.  I'm glad I was able to get it.  Very happy they offer it!  I do like the Vegan Pizza at Pizza Plant in Williamsville (Buffalo, NY, area) better, tho.  If you are veg - where is your favorite vegan pizza located?  Which eating establishment outside of the home, that is!?

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!

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!