Weekend Hibernation

This past weekend was CRAZY!  I never left the house.  We received about 2 feet of snow and this morning it was -2 degrees.  My BIL in Erie got about 3 feet of snow and my sister in Bemus Point got about 3 feet as well.

So...I hunkered down...and hibernated, basically.

I made a LARGE vat of soup as you can see above.  I like to call it Creamy Lentil.

1 C Lentils

2 Carrots
4 C Water

Spices: Onion Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder,  Cumin, Parsley, Black Sea Salt...all to taste
2 T Earth Balance Vegan Margarine 

Once all cooked in a large pot I put everything in a high-speed blender.  I added a handful of cashews and more water until I reached the desired consistency.

I've had 3 meals from it so far and the 3rd time I had a bowl I added from Daiya American Cheese and it made a nice Vegan Cheese Soup.  Tonight I might add some veggies and finish it off.

Cricket was less than impressed with the cold.  She will not go outside and she's been doing everything in her power to stick to me like glue and get under the blanket.  This from someone who doesn't usually like burrowing in blankets.  

Check these 'bad boys' out!  I made Tofu Bites!  I basically coated them in All Purposed Flour, Garlic, Smoked Paprika, Onion Powder, Black Sea Salt and Grapeseed Oil.  I baked them at 375 for about 30 or more minutes until somewhat chewy.

But what really MADE these Tofu Bites was the sauce I made for them!  I was overjoyed with the flavor of this sauce and will be making this OFTEN!

1/3 - 1/2 C Just Mayo
3 T Yellow Mustard
3 T Maple Syrup
3 T Sweet BBQ Sauce (I chose one from Wegman's that was clearly marked VEGAN)
1 T Lemon flavored Balsamic (or you can use 1/2 T Lemon Juice & 1/2 T Balsamic)

So needless to say, I was drinking HOT TEA all weekend long and catching up on LOTS of Tea Reviews over at Sororitea Sisters...when it came to my attention that I totally forgot to mention it was Betty White's 97th Birthday last week!  "Rose" from the Golden Girls was the first Funko Pop I bought and I knew I had to post something on IG.  So for those of you who aren't on IG...here is the pic I posted.

I also ALMOST forgot that I still had some Vegan Cookie Batter from EatPastry in my frig so I busted that open and made some Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Nourished & Nor'Easters

Just a quick post today.

This book was another book I recently grabbed lately.  I was thinking it was a vegan cookbook but it really isn't a cookbook, per say.

It IS, however, an amazing resource and wealth of knowledge that I will be referring to often.  The photography is lovely and the info STELLAR!  I hope to dip more into it on Sunday.

Tomorrow I will be volunteering at a Fundraiser for the local Zontas International that I hope to join over the next couple of months.

Last night we were hit with the latest Nor'Easter.  I couldn't help but post this meme.  It made me chuckle for a few reasons.  The Beavis & Butthead reference is something that DH, his brother, and mother often joke about.  As stupid as the show was - the silly comedy got them thru some challenging times.

This was a photo from the front of my house this morning as I tried to shovel my Fiat out of the driveway.  The photo doesn't do it much justice but the snow we received was heavier than usual and I'm sure we will have a lot of trees down because of it.

In some places, there was about a foot of snow dropping in a few hours.  It was 70 degrees just a few days ago and even this coming weekend we are supposed to see 40's and low 50s in temperatures.

I'm really hoping all of this doesn't freeze more than it already has.  Most of it's a heavy slush at the moment.

Yesterday I was doing some social media for work and noticed this...3 Movies Turning 30!  The movies Big, Willow, and Land Before Time - all turn 30 in early 2018!

Which of these 3 1988 movies was your favorite?

Another Question of the Day...did you get hit with the Nor'Easter?  If so - how much snow and/or flooding or winds did you see!?

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?

Thai Tom Yum, Snowstorms, & Veganize It!

I had to order this Thai Tom Yum online because I haven't been able to find it in ANY of the stores I have been thru the last several months.  It's a vegan version of Thai Tom Yum and the brand is Dr. McDougall's.  I have to say - I am a fan!

It sure helped with the extreme cold we have experienced the last couple of days.  We had a back-to-back snow storm hit us with COLD temps.  Yesterday I don't think it passed the 15-degree mark.  When I was driving home it was 12.  Over the last 2 days, we have had between a foot and a foot and a half of snow so far.  Eventho I live in the snow belt I still don't like it. 

I've been doing a lot of thumbing thru my new vegan cookbooks as well as a lot of online research of recipes from different countries that I can try and veganize.  ANd speaking of Veganizing...look at my other new book!!  It has some really great ideas in there but there is a large fake meat chunk I will probably never do anything with.  I've also been able to collect a lot more flags on my flag counter which is really exciting!  HELLO to my newest visitors from the countries of Georgia, Albania, Cambodia, Armenia, Costa Rica, Libya, Mali, and United Arab Emirates.  I smiled when I saw newbies from Columbia, Djibouti, Timor-Leste, Serbia, Burundi, Greenland, Somalia, Algeria, Seychelles, and Palestinian Territory.  Plus my new friends from Malawi, Botswana, Ethiopia, and various islands including Pitcairn Islands, Virgin Islands, and Christmas Island.

Sunshine Week & Snow Storms

Sorry I didn't post twice yesterday like I originally planned!  TODAY I will be posting at least twice so please check back soon!  

This week is Sunshine Week and as a new member of my local League of Women Voters I asked the local board members if they wanted to hold a Sunshine Week event for the first time this year.  I volunteered to head it up and they said YES!  I'm so VERY grateful for this wonderful group of ladies!  The LWV has truly changed my life for the better!  Women aren't the only members of the league - we have men that are members, too!

Anyways...back to Sunshine Week...

Sunshine Week is a national initiative spearheaded by the American Society of News Editors to educate the public about the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy. It was established in March 2005 with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.  Sunshine Week occurs each year in mid-March, coinciding with James Madison's birthday and National Freedom of Information Day on the 16th.

During Sunshine Week, hundreds of media organizations, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and other participants engage public discussion on the importance of open government through news and feature articles and opinion columns; special Web pages and blogs; infographics; editorial cartoons; public service advertising; public seminars and forums. The purpose of the week is to highlight the fact that "government functions best when it operates in the open." Unfortunately, in many states legislatures exempt themselves from public-records laws, claiming "legislative immunity." Source: Wiki

What we did for our Sunshine Week Event was visit our court house.  Our Judge spoke with us - as did 2 of our Commissioners.  We then went on a tour of our historic Court House.

Even with the horrible snow storms we had going on this week - we had a completely engaged group of 14.  For it being the first time we've held anything like this AND with the weather I was pleased with the attendance.

February in our snow belt was AWESOME it was like SPRING!  I remember it being 70 degrees towards the end of the month.  March is another story!  It was about 6 degrees this morning when I looked.  And we got about a foot to a foot and a half in some areas.  The wind has been wicked.  There is a lot of ice and black ice on the side of the roads still.

So eventho it was Sunshine Week - we had Snow Storms!  OYE!

Winter was Spring & Spring is Winter

This is what I woke up to Saturday Morning.  But this isn't the first snow we have seen in the last few weeks!  Today it's raining but we might see some more snow over the next few days.  Not that much, really, but let's face it...it's SPRING!  Why isn't Spring acting like Spring?  Probably because Winter didn't act like Winter, either.  Oh well.  I've been thinking of doing a cleanse or detox of sorts and have been thinking of how to go about it.  I think FIRST what I might do is omit breads and pastas as I have been using it as a crutch lately and feel those are the two items that have added a few unwanted pounds.  I'm not going to go overboard, here, I really just want to shred 5 pounds...10 at the very most.  I seem to feel better at that weight.

I think I will try and NOT consume pasta or bread (unless it's sprouted bread like Ezekiel because I have a half loaf left).  I've also been thinking about doing soups, salads, for dinners and nearly Raw Til 4 up until then.  That may be a real challenge for me some days, however. More on that in the coming days.

In the meantime - here's something I made last night - it's a twist on Da(h)l.  Actually it started off as a Da(h)l and then I added Chickpeas and a handful of Cashews, too!  Mostly because I under estimated the amount of red lentils I had on hand prior to cooking.  So I guess this would qualify as an EATING FROM YOUR PANTRY Meal.  I sampled some last night when it was finished and it turned out good!  It will be my dinner this evening, too!

Recipe for Cashew Chickpea Da(h)l:

1 C uncooked Red Lentils
1 C Chickpeas
1 Handful Cashews
2 T Garlic Grapeseed Oil (Wildtree Brand)
1 Small Sweet Onion
1 t Ginger Powder
3 Cloves Garlic, Minced
2 t Curry Powder
1 t Turmeric
1 Can Coconut Milk
Dried Cilantro (or Basil) to Taste
Black Himalayan Sea Salt to Taste
Nutmeg to Taste

Vegan MoFo ~ I'm Snowed In!

"It’s cold and rainy and there’s a snow drift outside your door! What are you going to make using the ingredients you have?"  That's the prompt for today's Vegan MoFo!  No, I'm not REALLY snowed in...YET...but that is certainly what's around the corner for me as I live in the snow belt!  BLAH!

Most of the Vegan MoFo posts you have seen from me this year are based off the ingredients I had on hand so this won't be that much of a departure!

Having said that...

You can see in the first photo above that I could pretty much do a smoothie or smoothie bowl with the items I have on hand.  If not fresh - frozen.  It's rare if I don't have at least frozen whole foods in my possession!

Dips, Spreads, Sauces, Dressings, and Salsas!  Not to mention anything I can make into a vegan cheese and/or sour cream!  Here you will see what I mean!  Maybe I won't have store-bought vegan cheese or sour cream (or fresh avocados for that matter) on hand for something like the nachos but you get the idea!

Beans, Rices (and other grains), and Pastas (and other noodles) have to be on that list, too!  It's rare if I don't have a rice/grain/noodle/pasta on hand to use in case of emergencies!  Here you will see past dishes I have blogged about as examples such as the Buffalo Chickpea Pasta, Valencia Rice & Beans, Kelp Noodles with Spicy Thai Sauce, and Sprouts with Rice & Spice!

9am Nachos & Sweet Sleepin' Suzie

I decided to call these Nacho's...9am Nachos...WHY?  Because I had them for a Brunch the other day!  I know that sounds weird but it's true!  And they were FAB!  I did a layer of corn chips topped with lettuce, brown rice, black beans, salsa, and a Vegan Sour Cream that I made from scratch!  The Vegan Sour Cream was AMAZING!!  Recipe as follows...
1 C Cashews
3/4 C Almond Milk
2 T Lemon Juice
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar
4 T Hemp Seeds
1/2 t Red Jalapeno Powder
Pinch Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

YUMMO!

We've been keeping Suzie as comfortable as possible.  We still don't have much to report to her vet of what's been going on...she's just sleeping more than usual and showing her age, I guess.  I did make the switch to wet food at the end of last week and she absolutely LOVES it.  She did have a sudden burst of energy over the weekend - in the evening - and ran from one room to the other a few times - something that she hasn't done much (or any of) in the last few weeks.

I have a few projects in the works and will report on those soon, here.  Work is going to get a little crazier the next several weeks - if not MONTHS - but there may be somethings changing and I am trying to keep my CHIN UP about.  The weather situation is looking HAIRY for this week...we've already gotten 3 inches of slush before 8am and we can get 6 inches of snow today.  Over the next several days we could see in the FEET range.  I'm hoping it will be ok by Thursday afternoon so Megan and I can go see Dave Coulier in Erie as we planned.

Virtual Vegan Potluck Linky Participating Post