Tasty Tidbits

 

Last weekend, we made homemade ravioli! It was fun, but a lot of work for the amount that we got. We didn't use any cheese - instead, half were stuffed with a mushroom cashew filling & the other half had a sweet potato filling. Both were really good & went well with the tomato mushroom sauce we served them with. Plus we had plenty to freeze for future meals!

 

 

We've been watching Pixi, my parents' cat, this week. They had a wall of wine crates set up to block her from getting into the living room where Mom's quilt is set up, but she was in there when I got there. Sneaky cat! 

 

These are a few of my new favorite things! Right before we left for Florida, I got The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Over 100 Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out in the mail. I had pre-ordered it through Amazon & couldn't wait to check it out. I love her vegan recipes & have been reading & cooking from her blog for years. This cookbook hasn't disappointed yet! I made a few things from it this week (see below!) & have lots more bookmarked to try soon.

 

The other favorite from the picture is almond milk lattes! We have an Aerolatte Frother, which works great. Plus W has been practicing & he's can get the froth to be 2 inches thick. Yum! Then he tops it with either cinnamon-sugar or cocoa-coffee from these grinders we bought at Trader Joe's. It's sooooo good! I wish coffee shops would offer almond milk instead of always having just soy milk.

 

Happy weekending! Hope you have fun plans & it's not too rainy. It's supposed to rain here, but I have lots of house stuff to do so I'll be cozy inside.

 

Here's what we've been eating in the last week:

Breakfasts

• Hungry Girl Por Vida's Blueberry Lemon Dutch Baby - This was basically a baked pancake. The thing that made it special was the blueberry sauce - yum!
• Tropical Green Monster Smoothies from The Oh She Glows Cookbook - I usually use bananas in our smoothies, so this was a fun change of pace. Plus the flavors were spot on fantastic! 
• Angela's Raw Chocolate Hazelnut Breakfast Parfait - We liked the flavor a lot, but aren't huge into the texture, so I turned half of this into pancakes, which were delicious!
• Happy Healthy Mama's Lightened Up Homemade Granola
• Bananas & grapefruit

Lunches

• Spaghetti squash with onions, zucchini, & bell peppers
• Grilled cheese on Everything Onion Bread from Sandi's Breads
• Roasted Butternut Squash with Kale & Pecan Parmesan from The Oh She Glows Cookbook - Loved this!!!!!
• Leftovers
• Sandwiches
• Oranges, grapefruit, & apples

Dinners

Saturday:

• Brittany's Peanut Butter Vegetarian Chili - The combination of using tomato sauce & peanut butter made this a nice thick chili. We'll definitely make this again!
• Sea Salt & Black Pepper Crostini from Sandi's Breads

Sunday:

• Homemade whole wheat ravioli, stuffed with vegan mushroom filling & sweet potato turnip filling
• Green salad

Monday

• Kale salad with baked sweet potato, carmelized onions, pecans, & a cinnamon apple dressing

Tuesday:

• Portobello "Steak" Fajitas from The Oh She Glows Cookbook - I wasn't sure the time for marinating the mushroom was enough, but it was perfect. This is my new favorite way to prepare portobello caps.

Wednesday:

• Red quinoa with grilled zucchini & asparagus
• Green salad

Thursday:

• Roasted Brussels sprouts with red quinoa

Friday:
Dinner at Hershey Road Family Restaurant for my mother-in-law's birthday

• Veggie burgers with side salad

Treats

• Angela's Chocolate Peanut Butter Chews
• Snowflake cookies
• Trader Joe's Sipping Chocolate
• Summer's Gluten & Dairy Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - I added dried cranberries & walnuts to these, too. They were soooo good!

Tasty Tidbits

 

We had a great trip to Florida & now we're back into the work groove. Amazing how fast the vacation feel goes away!

 

Happy spring!

 

 

Here's what we've been eating in the last week:

Breakfasts

• Banana nut toast
• Kashi Crunch with coconut milk & strawberries
• Baked oatmeal
• Leftover whole grain waffles topped with almond butter
• Bananas & oranges

Lunches

• Bennett's Salad Bowl (me) & Panini Caprese (W) at Bennett's Fresh Roast
• Bean burgers
• Bean salad
• Sandwiches

Dinners

Saturday:
Dinner at Doc Ford's

• Tropical Salad (me)
• Veggie Burger with fries & side salad (W)

Sunday:
Dinner in while in Florida

• Baked sweet potatoes
• Roasted broccoli
• Bean salad

Monday
Dinner at Fresh Taqueria

• Guacamole with housemade tortilla chips
• Tacos with rice & beans

Tuesday:
Dinner in the airport (we packed)

• Almond butter sandwich
• Pistachios
• Clementine
• Trail mix

Wednesday:

• Tortilla pizzas topped with bbq sauce, onions, mushrooms, & zucchini
• Green salad

Thursday:
Dinner at Mom & Pops' before choirs

• Whole wheat spaghetti with tomato sauce
• Roasted butternut squash
• Green salad

Friday:

• Gnocchi with Roasted Broccoli & Garlic Vinaigrette

Treats

• Yeasted donuts from Bennett's Fresh Roast
• Gelato at PocoLoco Sanibel
• Frozen yogurt at Zebra
• Chocolate pecan bars
• Ben & Jerry's Core Ice Cream (PB Fudge for me, Hazed & Confused for W)

Can you tell from all the ice cream variations that this was a vacation week? And we loved every bite! :-)

Tasty Tidbits

The view of palm trees!

And blooming flowers!

And lots of time spent in the sun while biking, reading, eating, swimming, & generally relaxing.  Welcome to Florida! :-)

Hope your weekend feels like a bit of summer, too!

Here's what we've been eating in the last week:

Breakfasts 

• Triple berry & spinach smoothies
• Sunflower seed coconut granola
• Top With Cinnamon's Two Ingredient Pancakes topped with blueberries
• Keepin' It Kind's Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes - These gluten free pancakes are light & fluffy & delicious!
• Overnight oats with chia seeds, cinnamon, unsweetened almond milk, & cashew butter
• Bananas

Lunches

• Mashed avocado & salsa on rice cakes
• Homemade pizzas
• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Grapefruit, oranges, & apples

Dinners

Saturday:
Dinner at church friends' house

• Smoked portobello mushrooms, smokey baked beans, veggie "meat"-balls
• Veggies with A Cozy Kitchen's Sweet Potato Hummus

Sunday:

• Slow Cooker African Peanut Stew from Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love

Monday

• Baked pasta with kale, zucchini, mushrooms, & onions
• Green salad

Tuesday:

• Coconut & Brussels sprouts stir-fry
• Green salad

Wednesday:

• Brussels sprouts tortilla pizzas

Thursday:

• Out

Friday:
Dinner in while in Florida

• Veggie soup with wheat bread

Treats

• Hummusapien's Peanut Butter Banana Chickpea Cookies - These were really good! You can't taste the chickpeas at all & you get all the health benefits from them in a fun treat!
• Endangered Species Natural Dark Chocolate with 88% Cocoa - We love the snap of a good quality dark chocolate. Yum!
• Trader Joe's Sipping Chocolate

Tasty Tidbits

Who's ready for spring?  Tonight we get to lose an hour of sleep, but it's totally worth it for the extra daylight to bring us out of the winter blahs. I don't mind winter, but I definitely am ready when spring gets here.

We started some seeds this week - bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, basil, parsley, & eggplant. Last year by this time we had lettuce & spinach planted outside already. It's hard to believe. I can't wait for things to start growing!

Lots of yummy eats this week, although mostly they were re-heated from leftovers. I'm slowly emptying out my freezer to make room for the coming summer produce. It's amazing how much it can hold!

Happy weekend!

Here's what we've been eating in the last week:

Breakfasts 

• Veggie & egg sandwiches on rye bread
• Sunflower seed coconut granola
• Angela's Easy Vegan and Gluten-Free Pancakes with blueberries - These were made with buckwheat & they were perfect! Nice & fluffy with lots of plump berries throughout. They also reheated well in the toaster.
• Baked apple cider donuts topped with almond butter
• Overnight oatmeal
• Orange muffins (from the freezer) topped with almond butter
• Bananas + pb

Lunches

• Oh My Veggies' Slow Cooker Corn & Red Pepper Chowder - I used the last of our frozen corn from last summer in this soup & it was totally worth it. Aside from some initial chopping, this came together with very little work, and it was full of flavor!
• Angela's Thai Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers with Spicy Peanut Sauce  - We loved these! The thai flavors really came through and the peanut sauce was the perfect topper.
• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Grapefruit, oranges, & apples

Dinners

Saturday:

• Homemade pizza
• Green salad

Sunday:

• Ashley's 1-Pan Vegan Enchilada Bake with Cauliflower Nacho Sauce - This was a winner enchilada recipe! And the cauliflower nacho sauce was awesome!
• Green salad

Monday

• Leftovers

Tuesday:

• Spaghetti squash with roasted broccoli & peanut sauce
• Green salad

Wednesday:
Out to eat at the Chocolate Ave. Grill

• Hummus trio with pitas
• Spinach salad with portobello mushroom (me)
• Portobello mushroom sandwich (W)

Thursday:

• Leftover bean burgers
• Roasted sweet potato wedges

Friday:

• Tempeh with zucchini slices
• Recipe.com's Basic Roasted Fennel

Treats

• Angela's One Bowl Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies
• Banana soft serve
• Ambitious Kitchen's Fudgy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies

Tasty Tidbits

 

We had our first winter campfire last Sunday night! It was a gorgeous day with the perfect temps for it. And the rain even held off until we were almost done.

 

 

I missed having campfires. It's so relaxing to feel the warmth, watch the sparks, & spend time together.

 

 

And the when we looked around, there was still snow! So fun!

This weekend, we won't be quite so lucky...but that's ok. I'm not quite ready for winter to end, although this frigid cold is a bit much. I'm tired of sweaters. 

 

Happy weekending!

 

Here's what we've been eating in the last week:

Breakfasts 

• Strawberry banana peanut butter smoothies
• Veggie & egg sandwiches on rye bread
• Sunflower seed coconut granola
• Baked oatmeal with vanilla cashew butter
• Ashley's Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins - These were fantastic! It was perfect, because the recipe makes 2, so we didn't have tons of muffins around getting stale before we got to them all (although I do often freeze half the batch). Plus we were eating chocolate for breakfast, which is a win!
• Bananas + pb

 

 

Lunches

• Twice baked potatoes with green salad
• Pickled beets
• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Grapefruit, oranges, apples & clementines

Dinners

Saturday:

• Vegetable stir-fry with brown rice
• Green salad

Sunday:
First campfire cookout of the year!

• Pizza mountain pie sandwiches
• Veggie foil packets (onions, mushrooms, zucchini, & Brussels sprouts)

Monday

• Apron Strings' One Pot Wonder Thai Peanut Pasta - This was super easy to make & it was delicious; super creamy with lots of flavor! I think next time I'd add more carrots & peppers, just cause I like lots of veggies, but the sauce was spot on.

Tuesday:

• Happy Healthy Life's Maple Chili Beans over Sweet Potatoes
• Green salad

Wednesday:

• Grilled cheese sandwiches
• Brussels sprouts
• Green salad

Thursday:
Dinner at Mom & Pops' before choir

• Broccoli & wild rice casserole
• Green salad

Friday:

• Grilled Portobello caps
• Glazed carrots
• Brussels sprouts
• Green salad

Treats

• S'mores over the campfire - We tried a new organic chocolate bar that had chopped hazelnuts in it. It was soooo good!
• Ashley's Chocolate Peanut Butter Creamy Chia Pudding - I've tried chia pudding in the past, but it was never blended. I much prefer it blended! Plus this was a healthy treat that didn't taste healthy at all - bonus!
• Tasty Yummies No-Bake Smore’s Energy Bites - These were the perfect snack! Sweet, but still healthy, with lots of omega-3s from the walnuts.
• Anise & peach schnapps pizzelles
• Trader Joe's Sipping Chocolate