Saturday Night Live

I have some rare 'Me' time tonight and thought I'd celebrate with a little somethin' yummy. A cupcake from an extra batch I keep in the freezer + 2 frozen strawberries + one last square of chocolate I found in my purse

EQUALS.....

Now I am taking this, my glass of wine, cuddling up on the couch and scaring myself rediculous with my favorite new show, American Horror Story. Happy Saturday Night, y'all!

Sick Day

To put it simply, I am not feeling well. The type of ‘not feeling well’ that normally would call for only one thing: Chicken Noodle Soup. Which clearly isn't an option. Obviously I knew there had to be a substitute for what I was craving, but off the top of my head I wasn’t sure what that was. The craving began last night right before I was to head off for (a very early) bed. My sweet, loving husband offered to go to the store and pick up some soup for me. Knowing that there are a lot of hidden ingredients that make things not vegan, I told him to simply look for a telling label on a soup item and get whatever he could find.

What he found was Black Bean Soup.

Now, I like Black Bean Soup. But when it’s 8:00 at night and you feel sick, that’s not typically a go-to. I believe it was all he could find (either the New Year’s resolution people or couponers seemed to have cleared the shelves), but I just couldn’t bring myself to eat it.

Today, feeling worse, I knew that I had to come up with something. And fast. A 25 month old and 4 month old don’t allow for much cooking time during the day. But thankfully what I was able to create was just what I needed.

I didn’t want anything other that a clear broth soup and I also wanted to make sure it was really full of flavor. I started with the bible ingredients of veggie stock: carrots, onion, celery and mushrooms (even if you don’t like mushrooms, I HIGHLY recommend using them in the base of a veggie stock).

 

 

After they sautéed for a bit, I threw in some water and added some kale. Now, here’s where I stopped thinking and just ‘did’. I felt like along with taste, I just needed any type of nutrient my body could get.  I have no idea what made me think of it, but I had this box of frozen veggies in the fridge that seemed to be a perfect match. A lot of Green Giant medleys have butter in them (booooooo) but even after a Google search, nothing seemed to point to anything dairy related in the mix.

 

 

Last, I threw in some endamame, chopped tomatoes, salt, more water, and barley.

 

 

 

The whole thing *maybe* took me 15 minutes. Simmer for another 20, and I was on my way to better health and deliciousness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holiday Survival

I went to bed an hour ago and yet…here I am. I am always behind on things as it is but for whatever reason tonight every detail on my ‘to do’ list is swimming frantically in my head. Clearly, a new post is long overdue, so at least I’m being productive.

I have to admit it, and I’m sure I sound crazy but – I am SO GLAD the holidays are over! At least when it comes to food. Lack of farmer’s markets and baked sweets have gotten to me. If you didn’t know, let me tell you now, eating vegan does NOT always equal healthy! I have had waaaaayyy to many processed flour, sugar treats and fried things lately. I am beyond eager to get back on track and very happy to be a self proclaimed ‘plant based Vegan’.

Speaking of the holidays, I will admit – I derailed Christmas night. We were invited to a family members house that we are becoming increasingly close with, but are still getting to know each other and we didn’t know anyone else that had been invited. Simply put, I wasn’t comfortable coming out as a Vegan and didn’t want that to become a main topic of conversation. Do I think it was worth it? Yes.

I had a game plan: certainly I made sure to eat well at home prior to leaving. As my dish to pass I made a generous serving of the green bean casserole from Thanksgiving and also brought mixed nuts, hummus, pretzels, mixed berry pie, and chocolate coconut cupcakes. Because, let’s be honest – should a meat eater look down on your vegan ways, you can usually stop them in the tracks with a good chocolate cupcake. Or at least confuse them.

This was a formal dinner affair, though, complete with a long table beautifully decorated and everyone shoulder to shoulder. I didn’t want to offend anyone by not eating their cooking (because I know *I* am sensitive when people won’t eat what I’ve cooked) so I dished up what veggies I could find, trying to take larger servings of the ones that appeared to have the least amount of butter pooled in them. Bottom line, everyone had a great time, I didn’t go hungry, and everyone loved the pie and chocolate cupcakes – never knowing they were vegan. As far as I’m concerned, it was a successful night!

To start the New Year, I made a late day breakfast dish. Maybe it was because I was so hungry, but it was goooooooodddd. How anyone could eat this and categorize Vegans as ‘boring’ is beyond me!

Cranberry, Kale & Wheatberry Salad, Oven Pancakes, Hashbrowns with Kale & Tempah, Biscuits & Gravy