More Vegan Eats & Women Are Wonderful Event

Have YOU seen these YET?  Clif came out with new (loose) Granola!  I was able to find this Cinnamon Almond flavor and I must say it was GREAT!  Actually, it was a gift from my parents!  They are VERY thoughtful!  When I eat Granola I eat it loose and dry and usually as a snack!  Because I ate many handfuls of this it was more like a meal!

Eventho this photo isn't the best I wanted to post it because it was a meal I had recently.  It was one of the Tasty Bites Microwavable Pouches...the Spinach Dal...actually, and a side of Garlic Parsley Riced Cauliflower.  I ended up mixing it together.  It was YUMMY!

My 40th birthday is in about a month.  I wanted to do 40 Good Deeds leading up to my Birthdate but I haven't been consistent with doing one each day.  One of the things I'm doing is donating tea to our local Cancer Center for those waiting for treatment (and their families).

Another thing I have done recently is volunteer at our local Women Are Wonderful Event that took place this past weekend.  It was a FUN day.  There were about 100-110 participants about roughly 30-50 volunteers.

Participants could take up to 5 classes/sessions of various topics and there was a breakfast bar and lunch served.  This photo is one of the last classes of the day and it was a card making class.  As a part of the Zonta Club efforts, we had many volunteers there.  We also chose the winners of our Basket Raffle Fund Raiser which the money raised goes to our Service Projects.  That day we also took a collection for our "Free The Girls" Project.  The participants donated 66 bras and $56 to help with shipping our next batch of bras to "Free The Girls".

The other night I was roaming around the house - doing a few things - and I caught Cricket on the recliner like this.  Apparently, she didn't want to sit ON the recliner's seat but wanted to wedge herself in the elbow part of the armrest.

I almost forgot to post this photo.  Still not a great photo but it was a good meal.  I made some more Baked Tofu Nuggets.  This time I threw a bunch of spices in with Bob's Red Mill's All Purpose Flour and some Arrowroot.  I probably left them in a bit longer than needed but the texture was nice.  Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside!

Stresemann's Bristlefront & Lazy Vegan Meals!

For the new year I am going to include more animals on my blog.  More specifically ones that need attention.  Whether that be educating myself and others about an Endangered Species or posting about another animal in need.  I thought I would start this off by sharing info about a bird that goes by Stresemann's Bristlefront.  I have been reading on this bird because of the information I received in my inbox from The American Bird Conservatory.

It's a unique bird that nests in underground tunnels.  They went unrecorded for over 50 years.  Back in 1995, there were about 15 birds that were located.  As of today, there is only 1 individual female bird of its kind that has been accounted for.  Professionals are saying that it's due to logging and other issues as to why the Stresemann's Bristlefront Bird could be the world's rarest bird.  It was recently found in Northern Brazil.

The group is trying to raise money to locate and start bringing the species back from the brink.  You can learn more about that HERE and even hear what she sounds like. 

I've been in RESEARCH MODE over the last several months.  Whether it's for the Votes For Women National Trail to celebrate 100 years of Women's Right To Vote and how I can submit historical places in my area to show up on the national trail map - or if it's Geography based to learn more about different countries and cultures.

While researching different countries and islands and such I have been keeping an eye on my Flag Counter.  It's the widget on my sidebar if you scroll to the bottom.  Yesterday I had people from 40 different countries visit my blog!  Overall, I've had 223 countries visit.  As of today, I'm only missing 20 country flags!  I will be researching these 20 countries and see how I can not only learn more about their culture but their foods and see if I can veganize them!

Speaking of food, I'll move on to my LAZY MEALS as of late!  The photo you see above is a little diddy I threw together.  It's made of frozen, riced Cauliflower & Sweet Potato.  I added Tofu that I pan fried and added garlic while pan frying.  I added a little brown sugar and dijon mustard and mixed well.  I know it sounds like a strange flavor combo but I'm kind of hooked on it now.

This past Sunday we went to a potluck and my mom and I made a HUGE tossed/veggie salad and some Vegan Macaroni Salad.  Here is a photo of the Mac.  We made the elbow mac like we usually do and then I added Just Mayo, Frozen Peas, Relish, Garlic Pepper, and Old Bay Seasoning!  We brought back an empty container.  I know most people didn't know it was vegan!

Another lazy meal I made not too long ago was this dish.  I made it in the microwave.  It has Rice, Black Beans, Sweet Corn, and Tomato Sauce.  It only cost about $2 to make and I had enough for 2 to 3 meals!

Vegan Aldi Finds! Plant Based Dips & Tofu!

Just another quick post today!  I just HAD to share what I found at my local ALDI this week!  3 Plant Based Dips from Good Foods!  I doubled checked to make sure they are also vegan because I have seen some items that will say Plant Based but still have dairy or even meat in them!  YIKES!

First up is this Queso Dip!  It's WONDERFUL!  I already finished the whole container!  Oops!  Guess I will just have to get more!  The base is a cauliflower and almond combo alongside some other wholesome ingredients - including Chia Protein!  I was checking out their website and I see they have a BUFFALO flavor, too!  I MUST get my hands on that!

Before I get to the other 2 dips I found and bought the other day I thought I would insert the TOFU here!  I finally found the ALDI Tofu!  I haven't tried it YET but here is what it looks like!  It's already baked and Teriyaki flavor!  I can't wait to try it!  

I have noticed a lot of the vegan items I have found locally I can't find again.  The Vegan Cream Cheese and Shreds and a few of the vegan burgers have been pretty consistent but I can't find the ice cream anymore or a lot of the other burgers or vegan chick'n alternatives.

Here is the Creamy Cilantro!  I haven't opened it yet but it sounds and looks wonderful!  This one has both cashews and almonds in the base with the cauliflower and chia protein!

As I continue to look at that website I noticed they have a Tzatziki too!  OMG!  A Vegan Tzatziki!  Yes, please!  I have to find that one, too!

And here is the 3rd one I grabbed!  This one was pretty good.  It threw me for a loop a bit because there was 'bits' of something in there...it wasn't as smooth as the queso!  I think it was the minced garlic and/or the almond bits.  The taste was good, tho!  I might put it thru my blender again! LOL

Aldi is REALLY stepping up their game!!!  YAY!

More Wraps, More Dips!

This is a classic Left Over Wrap!

This contains the last little bit of tofu I had in the freezer.  I seasoned it with Wildtree Memphis Seasoning.  I also used left over corn and black beans.

I melted some Daiya 'Jack' Shreds on the wrap and added the rest of the ingredients and that was my wrap!

1/3 Block of Tofu, Frozen, then Thawed
1/2 C Black Beans
1/2 C Corn
Handful of Daiya Shreds
Pinch of Wildtree Memphis Dry Rub (to season tofu)
1/2 Avocado, smashed (with lemon juice)
2 T Salsa

All in a skillet (except Daiya, Avocado, Salsa) with Earth Balance, until done.

For a separate meal/snack I did the remaining multi-colored mini potatoes in a skillet with pumpkin oil until crunchy.  I also made a Lemon Dill Cashew Dip for them.

2 C Cashews
1 C Water
1/4 C Oil (I used Pumpkin)
4 tea Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tea Nutritional Yeast
6 T Lemon Juice
1-2 tea Wildtree Dill
Pinch of Pink Himalayan Seas Salt

This Lemon Dill Dip was AMAZING!!!!  It could simply be watered down more for a dressing.  I tried to do this and I found equal parts Water, ACV, and Lemon Juice worked nicely!

Random Leftovers & Sauces & Wraps

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!  The weather here certainly was more pleasant than the earlier part of the week was.  I'm hoping the snow is done and over with for this winter and we can continue on with your adventure of SPRING!

My post today will be a little all over the place.  I've been eating some strange food combos but everything has turned out pretty YUMMY!  I want to be sure I am not wasting food and using what I have before buying much more.  So far this has been going well.  I'm on a bit of a wrap kick but more on that shortly.

First I need to share with you one of the new dips I created last night.  It's a vegan version of a pink sauce that I saw on Giada.  It was on at DH's Grandmothers yesterday and I knew I could do a vegan version of it fairly easily!

Here is what I did for the vegan version I made...

1 C Vegan Mayo
4 or 5 Mini Sweet Red Peppers (or 2 Medium)
1 T Minced Garlic
2 T Lemon Juice
Sprinkle of Smoked Paprika

It was pretty YUMMY but next time I will be adding more sweet red bell peppers and more garlic!  Because that's the way I roll!

The veggies pictured in the first photo were left over from DH's Grandmothers House...we had a belated birthday for both him and I as our birthdays are only 6 days apart.  I treated myself to a Daiya Pizza and So Delicious Mint Chocolate Ice Cream (both vegan, of course)

The other night I had Vegan Mac & Cheese.  You have probably seen a LOT of Vegan Cheese Sauces I have done here on my blog so I figured I would share yet another one with you!

This one is a Nut-Free Version

2 Mini Red Bell Peppers
1/4 C Lemon Juice
3/4 C Nutritional Yeast
3/4 C Tahini
2 T Minced Garlic
1/2 C Water
1 Squirt of Yellow Mustard
Black Himalayan Sea Salt to taste

Now on to the leftovers, eh!?

I had a very little bit of my Tater Tot Casserole that I froze.  I threw that on top of the stove along with some corn and some leftover tofu cubes.  I took a wrap and warmed it up with a slice of Daiya on it - enough to melt it.  Then I threw the rest of the warm ingredients on top of that and made a wrap!  But not before adding about a tablespoon of salsa on top!

This was super YUMMY and certainly a comfort food for the WIN!

 Like I said I have been on a wrap kick lately so here is another I did.  This is a Vegan Breakfast Wrap.  My main goal here was to use multi-colored baby potatoes I bought at Aldi's not too long ago but needed to start using SOON as well as finish up the Daiya Shreds I had on hand.  Mission Accomplished!  Let me tell you what is in this one, shall I?

Leftover Cubed Tofu
Leftover Corn
White & Purple Mini Potatoes
Daiya Shreds

I also threw in some Egg Trick Seasoning that I had leftover from when I did my Egg Trick Bagel last week!  This worked out VERY WELL!  It was tasty!

Recipes & Info for a Soup, Smoothie, and Jerky!

In case you are getting sick of seeing all of my vacation photos I thought I would get back to posting some food!  It's been extremely busy since we've been back home - I can't believe it's already been a month that we've been back!  WOW!  

Anyhow...to the food, eh!?

Above you will see some of the posts I have been doing for The Raw Food World NEWS Site lately.  I will try and be better about cross posting them here on my blog, too!  First up is the recipe I did for the Raw Vegan Creamy Tomato Soup.  I paired that with some info on how it can help strengthen bones.  Below that you will see a photo and excerpt from the Blackberry Orange Smoothie Recipe I did and I wrote about how it may help with healthier skin.  And in the last of those 3 posts you will see a recipe I did for Tofu Jerky that may help with Type-2 Diabetes.  As I post this I see that I have a typo in the first line - OH MY!  I will be changing that very soon!  It's supposed to read I am NOT a 'pro' when it comes to tofu!  Eeek!

Vegan Mofo ~ Leftovers & Multiple Dishes

Since I didn't blog yesterday - today is my first Vegan MoFo Post of 2014!  Happy Vegan MoFo!

I have a lot of things to blog about but want to hold off on the updates on Paco since we have another appointment later today.  I do want to THANK everyone who has sent well wishes, vibes, prayers, thoughts, and such!  I appreciate it so much, thank you! 

Jumping in with this first post for Vegan MoFo - I want to talk about using left overs as well as using a food that I have used in a multiple dishes this past weekend.

It officially started with a Chickpea Salad that I had made using Chickpeas, Chipotle Vegan Mayo, and Pickle Relish.  Even tho I don't have a photo of that - it was simple and it made a large batch.  I had a couple of sandwiches out of it as well as a side dish.  I then decided to take it one step further and made this mash out of it...I added the leftover Chickpea Salad to cooked zucchini and tomatoes that I did on stove top with a little Garlic Grapeseed Oil and a little Dill.  I combined the leftovers with the newly made dish here.  That was another meal.  From there I made some baked tofu as you can see in the first photo.  I used Hemp Oil and some Wildtree California Garlic Pepper as the seasoning.  It turned out pretty awesome. 

I snacked on the baked tofu.  But then I added it to the leftover mash combo for another meal idea. 

But I didn't stop there!  I then cooked up about 1/4 C of Red Quinoa and added the final leftovers to yet another meal.  You can see this photo below.  I have to say I was very impressed with myself.  Getting multiple meals out of leftovers but also creating new meals as well as new leftovers and then new meals from those leftovers!

I am not the best at re-thinking meals using leftovers.  I usually just use them as-is and eat them as straight-up leftovers.  But I want to take that to the next level.  I know we shouldn't eat the same thing over and over - we need to get a diverse diet with different foods and different food combos.  But at the same time I don't want to waste food.  That's another reason why I want to push myself in the leftover department.  This may be a sub-category to my 2014 Vegan MoFo Adventure.  But I want to stick with my annual theme and blog about new-to-me foods and recipes, too, so you will be seeing a lot of that here on my blog this month!

Sweet & Heat Hoison Marinated Tofu

Last night for dinner I had this plate of vegan food.  It was pretty fantastic if I do say so myself!  On the left you can see I had mixed veggies. Cauliflower, Broccoli, Carrots, topped with a slice of Daiya Cheddar.  I know that it appears I am using a lot of Daiya lately but some of the foods I've been posting have been from the past week and a half or so plus I am trying to use it before it 'turns'.  As for the right side of the plate...that is marinated tofu that I did on my stove top.


Some of the Instagram Followers I have were wondering what I marinated it with.  Well, the recipe is below but first I want to tell you the process I did with the tofu.  I cut a block of it in half, pressed it to get the liquid out, and then set it in a container and froze it.  The next day I took it out of the freezer, added the marinade and put it in the refrigerator for a day to marinate.  The next day I cut it up into cubes and threw it on the stove top until browned.  It turned out WONDERFUL.  Probably my personal BEST attempt at tofu yet!

Sweet & Heat Hoison Marinated Tofu

1 block of Extra Firm Tofu

1/2 C Wildtree Hoison Sauce

1 T Braggs Liquid Aminos

3 T (Coconut Secrets) Coconut Vinegar

1 T Lime Juice

1/2 tea Garlic Powder

Green "Veggs" for Christmas Morning

It's a tradition at my parents house to do a Christmas Brunch. 

While my other family members share a 20-some egg omelet - I opt for other vegan foods. 

This year - one of the things I did was this Vegan Scramble.  Following the festive tone with the "green" of the holidays I used not only Spinach but some of Garden of Life's Perfect Food in this in addition to The Vegg.  It turned out pretty good! 

Next time I think I will add some Salsa to it, tho!  I really like a kick in my Tofu Scrambles. 

So...without further a-do...here is what's in this Scramble...

1/2 block of Extra Firm Tofu
1/4 Green Pepper
1/4 Onion
1 C Spinach
Equiv of 2 to 3 eggs using The Vegg 
1 tea or less of Wildtree's Garlic Dipping Oil (Grapeseed Oil Based)
1 tea GoL's Perfect Food^® RAW Wheat Grass

This turned out pretty good.  It took a bit longer than I anticipated to "cook" the Vegg in with the Tofu to my liking but it was worth the wait!  I don't like "eggs" that are runny I prefer them "done" with a bit of " light brown to them - I guess you could say!  With a little patience - they turned out good - and I hope to do another scramble using The Vegg again in the future! 

Waste NOT! Creamy Carrot Garlic Dressing & EZ BBQ Tofu

There are just some things I can't stand CANNED.  Peas is one of them and Carrots are another one.  YES...FRESH is best and frozen is still good but sometimes I can't get around canned.  PLUS...somehow acquired a 'thing' of CANNED Carrots!  BLAH!  Instead of throwing it away I really wanted to USE the can of carrots in some way!  I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!  Last night I made this Creamy Carrot Garlic Dressing and it turned out pretty good, actually!  I used a half can of carrots, 2 heaping tablespoons of Tahini, the juice of 1 lime, 2 Cloves of Garlic, 2 to 3 T dried Cilantro, and some water.  It has a nice kick to it with a hint of sweet.

Another thing I did last night was an EZ BBQ Tofu Sandwich.  All I did was use what I had left of my Wildtree Cactus Pete's Agave BBQ Sauce and added about 2 T of Tahini to it.  I cheated and sliced some tofu and pan fried it first and then covered it in the sauce and baked it at about 400 for 20 minutes.  I was pleasantly surprised at this out come!  You can use just about any BBQ Sauce, really.  And instead of Tahini you could probably use Peanut Butter or any other kind of 'nut butter'. 

Just a quick post today - but I hope to be back tomorrow with another post!

Cheesy Veggie Rice Casserole

 Above you will see this casserole being assembled - before baking - without the 'sauce'.

In the above you will see:
Broccoli
Yellow & Red Bell Peppers
Celery
Chickpeas
Basmati Rice
Slivered Almonds

(tossed in some Wildtree Onion & Chive and Garlic Galore)

Here you can see it after I combined everything and baked it.

What I did for the 'cheesy sauce' was the following...

1 1/4 C Soy Milk
1/2 C Nutritional Yeast
2-3 teas Cornstarch
Splash of Lemon Juice
1 teas Wildtree Onion & Chive Blend
Squirt of Mustard
Pinch Cayenne Pepper
1 T Tahini
Wildtree Lemon Pepper to Taste

I made this to lunches and will certainly try it this way - be itself - first - but might add some or all of the following for the left overs or future batches:

Tofu
Tempeh Bacon
Crumbles
Corn and/or Peas

I was also thinking about using as a filling for pitas and wraps, possibly.