Orange Tofu and Grandbaby ultrasound pictures

My girlfriend at work had left over Orange Chicken and it smelled so good. Well, not the chicken, but all I could smell was the orange sauce. She emailed me the link to her recipe and I was sold. Of course I made Orange Tofu and not chicken. It is so good. I did tweak the recipe a bit and I am sold!

Here is the tofu after it was lightly fried.

I began the making the orange sauce. While it was cooking I thawed some frozen firm tofu, pressed it, and put it in a shallow dish with about a cup of the cooled orange sauce/marinade. I was short on time so I only marinated it for about 20 minutes. I think it could have soaked longer, but time was not on my side. Once the marinating was done I cut the tofu into cubes, patted it with a paper towel and dusted it with a light coating of corn starch. I used a nonstick skillet to lightly fry the tofu. I sprayed my pan with some cooking spray added about a teaspoon of olive oil and began frying the tofu. Once it had a nice golden brown color I removed the tofu to a paper towel. I added the sauce ingredients to the pan and began stirring in the cornstarch and water mixture until it had thickened and turned nearly transparent. Back in the tofu went. Just lightly stirring so not to break up the crispy tofu. Served over brown rice with some delicious broccoli and dinner was served. The tofu has a perfect texture with just enough crisp. This recipe really is delicious! I hope you all give it a try! I tweaked this recipe into a yummy vegan dish. You can find my recipe below. :o)

Sheree's version of Orange Tofu
Sauce/Marinade
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon grated garlic
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

Extra cornstarch to coat your tofu and about 1 tsp of olive oil for frying.


Add to a medium saucepan 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Stir as it comes to a light simmer. Add in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and chopped onion. Bring this mixture to a boil making sure your brown sugar has completely melted. Remove from heat, and let cool. Place your pressed tofu into a shallow dish and pour 1 cup of sauce over the tofu. Lightly stir the tofu making sure all of it is soaking. Reserve remaining sauce. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or longer. Once you are done marinating pat your tofu, cut into cubes, and lightly coat with corn starch.

Spray your skillet, add about 1 teaspoon of olive oil (sesame oil might be nice too) and heat over medium heat. Place the tofu in the skillet, and fry until golden brown. Once it is brown take it out of your skillet and place on a paper towel.

Wipe out the skillet, and add the remaining sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mix together 3 tablespoons of cornstarch along with 2 tablespoons water, and stir this mixture into the sauce. Reduce heat and stir until it begins thicken and turn transparent. Add your tofu, cook for about 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve of brown rice.

Now really good news! If everyone wants to see my grandbaby, just hop over to Brandie's blog. She has new ultrasound pictures!! I can't wait to hold my new grandbaby! He or she is already too cute for words.

Hugs and love to all!

News and good food!

Hi everyone! Thank you again for your kind words and thoughts while we were going through the loss of my brother-in-law. I have good news! First Brandie has started her own blog. All of you who wondered what her wedding dress looked like can pop over and see the little picture she has of her and Micah. The photographer is working on making the photo's right that is why you haven't seen any posted here. I hope you all go and visit. She would love visitors. She has a baby counter too! Second, we have a new addition to the family and no it isn't the grandbaby yet.





Here is our new baby! After the loss of Tilly my chiropractor and friend kept asking me if we wanted another kitty. We kept waiting giving ourselves time to grieve and just be happy with the memories of Tilly. A week ago we were asked again. Our friends, sister-in-law does animal rescue and she had this cut sweetie whom had been rescued from a home of 80, yes I typed the right number, cats. They think she is about 6 months old. Well, who couldn't fall in love with a face like this. She is wonderful. Everyone seems to be getting along. We have named her, Abby. We have already taught "Abby" to play fetch. I know most people can't believe that, but thanks to Brandie's kitty Thalia, we found out it is possible.


Isn't she the cutest little fur baby you have ever seen! She loves playing in paper sacks. Now onto the kitchen!

Bread making success! The dark loaf is called Hearty Brown Bread. This recipe was on the back of the box of my vital wheat gluten. I played with the recipe a bit so my bread machine could do the kneading and my oven the baking. The recipe calls for millet flour, which gave me the fun job of grinding some millet in my MAGIC BULLET!.

DH is so excited about that. Thank you again honey for the wonderful Christmas present. The light one is adapted from Dori's recipe over at the Bakehouse. They both turned out so good. Enjoy!

Hearty Brown Bread from my Arrowhead Mills Vital Wheat Gluten box

2 1/2 cups warm water

1 T. yeast

1/2 cup molasses

1 cup vital wheat gluten

2 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 T. whole wheat flour

1 cup rye flour

1/4 cup millet flour

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1 t. sea salt

Place in your breadmaker machine according to your instruction manual. Use dough cycle for 2 lb loaf. When cycle is complete take out the dough, roll or form it into the loaf or loaves and place in oiled pans. Cover with towel and let rise until double. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 min. I made mine in one large pan and it took the full 45 min.

9 Grain Bread

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup of water 2 t. sea salt
2 T. Olive oil 3 T. Natural sugar (use Succant)
2 cups white whole wheat flour 1 ½ t. flax seed
1 cup whole wheat bread flour 1 ½ t. sunflower seed
1/3 cup uncooked 9 grain cereal

1/2 cup vital wheat gluten

1 ½ t. millet
1 T. yeast

When cycle is complete take out the dough, roll or form it into the loaf or loaves and place in oiled pans. Cover with towel and let rise until double. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 min. I made mine in one large pan and it took the full 45 min.

My omniman wanted salmon the other night so I made myself tofu fish sticks. Since DH's was in the oven cooking I lightly fried mine in some olive oil. I took some frozen tofu defrosted it, pressed it, then marinated it in a mixture of tamari, water, garlic, and organic dulse granules for about 15 min or so. Once the marinating is done coat in cornmeal and either bake or lightly fry in some olive oil. I have to tell you, these were so good. DH even tried them and said, "Hey this crunchy crust is so good!" Duh! They were fried and not baked. :o) Along with this meal I made up some homemade tarter sauce with my new Magic Bullet, cooked up some brown rice and frozen baby peas! Delish!

Obsessed! I am obsessed with this salad. Simple as it may be, my taste buds have been craving it daily. Chocked full of good fats, vitamin rich greens, crisp cucumber, and plump grape tomatoes how could anyone not enjoy this! I just mix what ever greens I have on hand, toss in some cucumber, halved grape tomatoes, handful of walnuts and ripe avocado. The dressing is Asian Sesame dressing. Now that you have seen my wonderful salad I need to confess that I love this dressing, but it has corn syrup in it, which I hate. I have tried to create the dressing on my own by reading the ingredients, but have failed miserably. I might have to have a contest and see what all of you can come up with. Does that sound like fun?

Last year, my that sounds so long ago, DH and I had pizza from our local pizza house. DH, my omni man, was struck with horrible food poisoning and he vowed never to eat pizza again homemade or not. Well, the next best thing is a calzone, which in my book is just a pizza folded in half. (shh don't let DH in on that secret) lol... So I made calzones. These tasty ones are stuffed with Julie's sausage recipe, Susan's lasagna filling, and my sauce. These were a joint effort of perfection. DH was totally happy with his and I still have one left over for my lunch. I also cooked up some spaghetti for the leftover sauce. The only thing missing from this meal was the checkered table cloth, candles, and violin music. :o)

Spicy Vegan Italian Sausage and Whole Wheat Bread

First let me tell everyone thank you for your kind thoughts during our past couple of weeks with the loss of Eddie. I was told that the best place to be during sadness is in the kitchen so here you have what I have been cooking.

Spicey Vegan Italian Sausage! Yes, folks you heard it right. Julie did it. She made a wonderful Vegan Italian Sausage and shared the recipe with all of us. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of a "chicken seasoning". Julie uses Bills Best Chik'Nish seasoning and advises that if you use another one be careful about the amount of salt you add. I used Bryanna's homemade "Chicken seasoning" and wasn't sure so I cut the salt way back in my recipe. Next time I will keep the amount of salt in the recipe the same. I guess Bryanna's is not too salty. Anyway the amount of spice is fantastic. I did use the optional fennel seed and red pepper flakes. AWESOME taste and texture. My uncle has a Summer Sausage recipe that is out of this world. I am hoping to use his seasonings with this recipe and make a vegan version. I think this recipe has limitless possibilities. I hope everyone out there give it a try. No kneading, boiling, or baking. These are steamed!

Here you see them after cooking and cooling.

Sliced browned up in a non-stick skillet and ready for eating. My dear omni hubby loves them. He ate them right out of the foil. Brandie came over and decided baby kidlet (she's pregnant) needed them too. lolDH has asked to have them in spaghetti and a dish I used to make with

Kielbasa and sauerkraut. I told him add them to the weekly menu. :o)

Vivacious Vegan makes a very light and completely whole wheat bread. Very simple recipe that she adapted from another blogger. You use whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten, salt, olive oil, molasses, water, and yeast. Try going to a store and seeing those few ingredients in a loaf of bread. After my 2lb loaf was done cooking DH couldn't believe it when he picked it up. Light as a feather. We were both amazed. I usually make a hearty, heavier bread, but thought

I would give this a try. Fantastic!

Look how light and fluffy this bread is. Yum!

Enjoy everyone! See you in the kitchen. :o)

A sad couple of weeks for our family and more.

Hi everyone,

The past couple of weeks have been rough on our family. We lost 2 dear friends. Our dear friend, Lila, from church pasted away and my brother in law, Eddie. I have been helping my sister out this week so very little cooking has been going on. Lila's service was last Saturday and dear Eddie's is tomorrow. We are very sad for everyone's loss and will be happier when all of this is over. From there we move on. Like I told my sister when she asked, "What am I going to do?" You are going to get up every morning and be a mother to your children and a grammie to your grandchildren. We all have to move on because that is what dear Eddie would want. Here is what Brandie is greatful for: Her last dance with her Uncle Eddie at her wedding. We we always love and miss our dear Eddie.

So as not to leave everyone with sadness, Cowboys Wife is having a contest: Join in the fun.

A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!

The Prize:
The winner will receive a brand new Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow!!

About the mixer:
From Hamilton Beach’s “Eclectrics” line, this all-metal stand mixer comes with a host of accessories - a Flat Beater for cakes and cookies, a Dough Hook for bread and a Wire Whisk for whipped cream or pudding. The 4.5-qt. stainless steel bowl comes with a Pouring Shield that helps prevent splattering while in operation. The pouring shield has a built-in chute for adding ingredients. Powered by 400 watts, the stand mixer has a two-way mixing action to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mix. The quick-release, tilt-up head assists when removing the bowl. 9 x 14 x 14-in. When you’re ready for a kitchen re-do, don’t call in the carpenters! Instead, “counterscape” your kitchen with Hamilton Beach’s retro-designed, affordably priced electrics in happy, sun-saturated colors. Their “Eclectrics” line includes updates to those classic appliances from the 1950s. All of their “Eclectrics” are available in six colors: Apple Green, Moroccan Red, Pineapple Yellow, Intrigue Blue, Sugar White and Licorice Black.

Happy New Year!

I am sure I am like everyone when I ask myself, Where did 2007 go? It has been quite the ride and I am looking forward to where the highway takes me next. Santa did not bring me a copy of Veganomicon, but luckily you can get a few freebie recipes from the PPK. I am in love with lentils and one of her recipes is "Snobby Joes". They are fantastic! Some who have tried them have cut the amount of chili powder in half, not here. The spices are perfect. It is a twist between your traditional sloppy Joe and BBQ sauce. I will keep these on the family menu forever. Here we have them over a baked potato with broccoli and spinach.

Diann's Pumpkin, Millet, and Chocolate Chip (Rockin’) Muffins are the best. I have posted about them before, but this time I used my new Christmas present, "The Magic Bullet" (thanks DH) and ground my carob chips into tiny flakes. Now instead of a few bites with a carob chip you get little flakes of goodness with every bite. If you haven't made her muffins you should. Hint: you have to toast the millet to get the fun little crunch bites.

Yes, tradition! I don't know where or how the black eyed peas tradition began, but it has stuck with me my whole life. My version is very simple. Saute some onion and garlic add a cup of dry peas, cover with water, sprinkle with your desired herbs, and cook until done. We served ours up with another great recipe from Susan's, "Corn Cakes". I added some frozen corn to the batter too. One hint of advice, don't double the red pepper flakes like I did, we like spice. You will burn your mouth off. Oh so good! :o)

I leave you with this wish to all, may everyone have a healthy, happy, and safe New Year!

Enjoy your highway too!

Happy One Year Anniversary to Boo's Blog!

Happy Blog Anniversary to me!!!

One year ago today I stepped into the unknown world of blogging. I am thankful to all my blog buddies for their inspiring blogs to help me on my way. I missed my One year Vegan Anniversary, October 1, 2007, that was a rough time with our Tilly and sickness. I have been watching the calendar and was not going to miss this Anniversary! This has been one of the greatest adventures to me. January 1st will be 15 months for me as a vegan a lifestyle I would not give up for anything. It is because of all you in blog land that made my transition so easy. So a great big THANK YOU along with a MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR to all who have given me inspiration, shared recipes, and friendship!

Christmas morning brunch.

I don't care much for orange juice. I like the real thing, the whole fruit.

My parents are habitual coffee drinkers. They always have a pot on and a cup full. We don't drink coffee nor even have a coffee pot, but I sure can make a mean cup of soy milk hot cocoa, which everyone enjoyed.

Susan's Skinny Fig Bars. Not only are these delicious they are really fun to make. I pressed the fig filling out on wax paper until I had the shape of the pan I was using. Then I put it on top of the crust and slowly peeled the paper away. It worked like a dream. These were a big hit. My mom called me yesterday to tell me she had eaten a some more of them. Thank you Susan!

Bryanna's Waffle Iron Hashbrowns. I also got this recipe from Susan's site. Another fun dish to make and also very delicious. DH who hates cooked carrots loved these. Brandie who also hates cooked carrots did not like them. Now I don't know if it is because she is pregnant and her taste buds have a mind of their own or if she really could taste the carrot. DH could not taste the carrot and therefore loved them. I guess everyone out there should give them a try and decide for yourselves. I think you could make them without the carrots, but I want to try substituting the zucchini for the carrots or sweet potatoes!

Of course what is a brunch without quiches. Susan's Mini Crustless Tofu Quiches are the only way to go. I didn't have any mushrooms so these are filled with red bell pepper, green onions, and garlic. My dad didn't even know they were made from tofu and loved them. Susan's right about making more. I only had enough tofu to make one batch, which meant we were limited to only 1 or 2 each. Sorry for the blurry picture.

Here are the show stoppers. I have been making my "Cinnabons" for years. They are vegetarian, but this year they needed to be Vegan. It worked! You could not tell the difference between the veggie and vegan ones. I am in Heaven! Granted these are only made once a year unless there is a really good reason. They are moist, delicious, sweet, and totally void of all nutritional properties. :o) Well, there is tofu in the frosting so that may give them a tiny boost of nutrition. They are 100% white flour, sugar, earth balance, and more sugar, but they are a family tradition and therefore we figure once a year we are allowed. I have a yearning to try them with whole wheat pastry flour and agave and see what happens. I will keep you posted on the outcome. Hmmm maybe stevia?

I leave you now with my plate of Christmas yummies and another thank you for helping to make this year one of my best years yet!

Split pea soup, Marinara sauce, and cookies!

Is my hubby the only one out there that turns into a small child when he is sick? What would they do without us? My DH has been sick since last Friday, actually it started last Thursday night. Sore throat, stuffy nose, little cough, but by Saturday we were in the midst of full blown nastiness. Poor guy! He had sinus surgery on Wednesday and then got sick. Now he is a stuffed up, hacking mess. He was miserable and misery loves company. I finally got him in a better mood with Split Pea Soup. It is hard to believe that after 10 or more years of marriage he decided to try it. (He was sure it would be gross, look at the color?) And now it brings a smile to his face even when he is sick.

Sheree's version of Split Pea Goodness

1/2 onion, chopped

1 celery stick, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 potato, chopped

1 cup dried split peas ( I use a mixture of yellow and green)

2 T. barley

4 cups "no chicken broth"

1 tsp dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion, carrot, and celery for about 5 min. Then add your minced

garlic and cook for about 3 more min. Next add the broth, peas, and basil.

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. Keep an eye on it and stir often. Split pea soup gets thick and can burn on the bottom. I have had it take as long as 3 hours for the peas to get tender. Once done I use my immersion blender and puree it a bit.

Enjoy!

I have posted about this before, but it is such an amazing marinara sauce. If any of you out there are testing for Melody and haven't tired this you are really missing out. It is a very simple sauce, but has a kick from the red pepper flakes. I would love to share it with you, but it is a tester. I add some ground seitan to it and you have an amazing meat sauce. We ate one batch in two days. It was so good I made another batch to freeze and keep on hand. We had some wonderful garlic bread with it. Definitely no fat free, but oh so good. I minced about 3 cloves of garlic, mixed it with some Earth Balance, and olive oil. Spread it on your favorite sourdough bread and broil until little garlic crispies appear. Another smile from DH sad sick state.

In our home the word cookie is not allowed. You see our fur babies know exactly what that word means. Therefore when we want cookies we will ask where are the round things. lol I have posted about this recipe before, but they are so good. I had hid the recipe because we were getting out of hand making them. Apparently DH is on the mend and wanted some "Round things". He was hunting everywhere for the recipe. He wanted to make them while I was at work and surprise me. He didn't find the recipe, but when I got home we pitched in together and got the job done. This recipe is from Have cake will travel and it is the simplest recipe you will every make. I know it by heart. (That tells you how often we make it) Anyway DH made 6 delicious cookies. He was very proud of himself being this was his first attempt. By the way, the recipe calls for 1/6 of a cup of soy milk and nut butter, which equals 2T and 2tsp. Check out the recipe and indulge for the holidays! Oh, we make ours with vegan carob chips. Oh SO GOOD!

I hope you all are staying well, but if the bug gets you feel free to try my soup and see if it works. If it does you will no you are on the mend when the cookies come out of the oven. :o)

Pecan crusted french toast, ribz, potatoes, and more!

Where to begin? I went to download my photos from my camera and realized I had quite a few to post about. So we will begin with my new found breakfast recipe. As many of you know I don't eat traditional breakfast food at breakfast time so here is what DH and I had for lunch today. Pecan Crusted French Toast from a new cookbook called Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. Lindsay over at Happyherbivore posted about it and couldn't wait to try it. I have been on a waiting list at the library for a few months waiting for this book and I was notified the next day that it was in. Thank you Lindsay! Yeepee! So here we have it. This is incredible French toast and it is healthy too. I did make mine with bread I had on hand, but it could have been even healthier if I would have used whole wheat bread. Oh, by the way the book Skinny Bitch is about a couple girls who changed their lives by going vegan and they mince no words throughout the book on the why's, where's, who's, and what's to going vegan. The book uses language that I personally don't ever use, but I learned real quick that the information, the ease of reading, and the style of the writing was fantastic especially to those who are not vegan and those of us who sometimes just need a reminder of why a healthy vegan is better than a junk food vegan. I cried and was sick to my stomach while reading one of the chapters where people who work at slaughter houses gave quotes of what really goes on in these horrible places. Needless to say I would recommend the book, but it is not for children due to language. They also have the cookbook mentioned above.




We had leftover meetloaf, baked potato and our new found cornbread recipe from the PPK kitchen. Hubby loves unbleached flour in his cornbread, but I am going to try it with whole wheat pastry flour next time. (I really don't like using the "white flour"...) It is really good cornbread. Diann made the same bread this past week and had it with her yummy chili. Go check it out!




I know was all have baked potatoes, but this picture was so pretty I wanted to post it. Just a baked potato, chili, corn, and some green onions. Delish!

This was what I had for breakfast 2 days in a row this past week. Left over chili with some added corn, pasta, and nutritional yeast. Tasted just like a goulash dish I grew up with. Yum!

Brandie had a craving for Susan's ribz. I can't blame her they are a regular meal for us and besides they agree with baby kidlet. Anything that will stay down with morning sickness is the way to go. I know it is winter, but when you have your handy dandy indoor grill all things are possible.

Look at those lovely grill marks. My DH got me this grill last

Christmas and I can't thank him enough!

That it for now. I am headed back to my favorite room in the house, my kitchen!

Cheesecake, lentil soup, muffins, and more

Well, I am back. Thanksgiving as you know was not the best kind of celebration, but I am indeed thankful for all your wonderful words of comfort, thoughts, and prayers as I was going through this rough time. I won't try and tell you I am over my grieving since I cried again this morning while looking at my last post, but I will be OK. On to food. I did cook a Thanksgiving dinner, which Brandie and Micah enjoyed. They enjoyed it so much I forgot to take pictures except for dessert. I must say these two recipes are fantastic and you all should try them. The one on the left was Susan's Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake with a homemade vegan graham cracker crust and Bryanna's tofuless pumpkin pie with a whole wheat crust I purchased.

Susan's Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake has two layers. I love both of them and have already stocked up on come tofutie cream cheese for Christmas dessert. I certainly hope I can wait that long. It is so, so good. Thank you Susan for sharing this AWESOME recipe.

Bryanna's pie is a home run for those who don't like the tofu taste in your pumpkin pie. She give optional ingredients. This time I used the option of adding some molasses, which gives it a darker, richer taste and look. I enjoyed it, but Brandie said she likes the normal version. It is so dark and rich looking that many might think this is a chocolate pie.

Brandie revised this cookie recipe from Susan's site. She was so proud of her yummy creations. They are oatmeal, carob chip cookies. Good job BJ, they are delicious! She left out the cocoa, added carob chips, lessened the sugar to 1/4 cup, and used maple syrup in place of the corn syrup



Most nights have been simple leftovers or quick meals. Nature's burger as I have mentioned in the past is a great meal when time or energy are lacking. I quickly cut up some potatoes into fries, steamed them, and popped them in the broiler with a mist of olive oil and sea salt. I had made some really good Spelt Hamburger buns weeks ago and took them from the freezer. With the Nature's burger mix soaking in boiling water, potatoes cooking, and corn heating, I threw together a green salad. In no time at all we had a very filling and delicious dinner.

Diann over at Eat'nVeg'n made some wonderful Pumpkin, Millet, and Chocolate Chip muffins. You must try them. You toast the millet before mixing it in the batter. When these delicious muffins are done they have a wonderful aroma and ever bite you get a tasty little crunch. Brandie and I went nuts over these. With her morning sickness these are one of the many foods that seem to stay down. Thank you, Diann!!

Finally a comfort food that is perfect for this time of year. Warm lentil stew or soup. I have lived on this for the past week and it is the best breakfast. I know many may think this weird, but I really don't care for traditional breakfast, except for my scrambled tofu! I love to have a high protein breakfast. Many cereals are tasty and nutritious, but I am starving an hour later. Now don't laugh, just give it a try. Ok, I don't just eat soup. I have a routine. I have to get to work so early just for parking that I arrive an hour before I really get paid so I always bring my breakfast and enjoy it while reading your blogs. On work days I always have 2 grapefruit, then my weird breakfast item with an orange. Since I at work before 7 am this breakfast keeps me going until 11 or so and then I eat another orange and an apple. Well, they say to get 9 servings of fruit and veggies a day. I don't think any of us have a problem with that. I will end my LONG post with my lentil soup/stew recipe and head for the kitchen. It is cold and rainy outside and I hear my kitchen calling me. Have a great day!

Lentil Soup/Stew

4 cups "no Chicken" broth or veggie broth

1 cup brown or green lentils, rinsed

1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes

2 medium carrots

1 small onion, chopped

1 large stalk of celery, chopped

7 cloves of garlic, minced (we always use a ton of garlic)

1/2 cup of tomato paste

1 1/2 teaspoons of dried basil

1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the carrots, celery, and chopped onions until the onions are almost transparent. I use broth or water, but you could use some olive oil too. Add the garlic and stir for about 2 minutes. You don't want to burn the garlic or it becomes bitter. Add the remaining ingredient, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 45 to 50 minutes until the carrots and lentils are tender. The flavors in this stew only get better day after day. Enjoy!

Goodbye Tilly

This is a great big thank you to all of my friends and family for the support, love, prayers, and thoughts sent our way during this time with Tilly. Wednesday morning I had held Tilly before work and asked her to please let me know when she was ready to go. I don't know why I asked except that I felt she would and I was right she did. Today we let her go. The vets office staff were so good to us. They gave us a quiet room to enjoy our last few minutes with her. I sensed she knew what was going to happen and was ok with our decision. She went peacefully and I sensed happiness in her eyes. We believe we will see her again. We put her to rest at my parents house. They have a large lot and she is with the rest of the family fur babies that have gone on before her. We will always love and miss her. She was a really good kitty. She gave us 13 wonderful years of companionship. We love you Tilly!

Tilly resting on Thanksgiving day.

Shiloh knew something was wrong and when I told her Tilly was sick, she licked Tilly's jaw, mouth, and ear as if to try and help her or make her feel better. I believe it was Shiloh's way of saying good-bye. She really loved Tilly.

I will miss my baby so much.

Brandie you were a so loving to Tilly. Thank you for your love and support

during this really rough time.

Kellie knew her friend would be gone soon. They said their
good-byes early Friday morning.

Again, Thank you all for your support and love. I am so thankful to have you all in my life.

Leftovers, emergency food, and life changing news!

I can't believe this year is almost over. There has been so much going on that it seems like the days are slipping through my fingers and I have not had a chance to enjoy many of them. With all the adjustments I am having to make in my life I have felt a bit lost, like walking through a maze in search for the correct turn to bring me back to my life. I am working part time again since my back injury, which is a good thing, but balancing my time with work, home, and blog have been difficult. Hence fewer posts, which I plan to change. I just miss blogging and having visits from all my friends in blogland. Brandie getting married was an awesome time, but I miss her dearly and it is hard to cook for just one vegan in the house. Don't blame DH he is so supportive and tries everything I cook, but he is still an omni and at times wants his kind of food, which leaves me with a never ending amount of leftovers. And then my dear Tilly being sick has put me in a slump for sure. I watch her everyday get a bit slower. She is sleeping quite a bit, but does not seem to be in any pain. She gets wet food now because dry is hard to eat. The tumor on her jaw is impeding the ability to chew hard food too. Our prayer now is that she goes peacefully at home with us. *tears* ....... I am trying hard to prepare myself, but it is difficult as many of you know. Thank you for lending me your shoulders and now for the star attraction, FOOD! Like I said leftovers have played a big part in my meals and with Thanksgiving approaching I did not want to cook any other large meals. Brandie and I love Susan's Baked Macaroni and Cheese. When Brandie was home it was ok, because the two of us would enjoy this for lunches all week, now that she is gone I have been enjoying it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I try to jazz up the leftovers into something else. Here we have the macaroni and cheese turned into a type of "hamburger helper". I took ground seitan, added chopped broccoli, tamari, more nutritional yeast, along with the mac and cheese and there you have it. I know it does not look like much, but it is really good. Of course fried potatoes, fresh zucchini and corn along with more broccoli topped off my meal with a lovely variety of flavors and textures. The mac and cheese is gone now so I told my DH I won't be making anymore until next year. :o)

Bigmouth Vegan made a sausage flavored Seitan O'Greatness, which I tried. It has good flavor, but when I ground it up is is a bit dry. I think it will work great on a pizza with sauce or in your favorite pasta sauce. I wanted to surprise DH with one of his favorite meals, a potato bar. I cooked up the "ground sausage" in a tiny bit of oil and it burned almost immediately. Lets try again. This batch I cooked it in a non-stick skillet, which worked perfect for a tiny bit of crunch warming it up nicely. We had our baked potatoes topped with seitan"sausage", corn, and green onions. Along with it was my favorite vegetable in the whole world, broccoli, fresh zucchini and spinach. Another favorite of mine is cranberry sauce. I couldn't wait until Thanksgiving. :o)

DH wanted burgers for dinner. I keep some easy to prepare foods in the house for emergencies and when the cupboards and fridge are a bit bare. I did not want to shop until time to get the Thanksgiving fixings, so I pulled out my "Nature's Burger Mix". It is easy, quick, and tasty. It is even good as leftovers. This product is a mixture of Brown rice, dehydrated yellow peas, green peas, onion, potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, celery, carrots, and red bell peppers. It also contains barley, organic Bulgar wheat, whole oats, sesame seeds, soy flour, wheat gluten, wheat flakes, soy sauce powder, yeast, sea salt and other spices. I use mix 3/4 cup of the dry mix with 3/4 cup of boiling water and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. Then shape the mixture into 3 patties and fry them in a non-stick skillet. Here you have quick burger served on a sprouted wheat bun, with tomato, lettuce, red onion, mustard, and organic ketchup. OH, and some maple flavored baked white beans. How I love baked beans. You can tell the cupboards are bare when I cook up fried potatoes twice in one week. DH loves them and is lucky if he gets them more than once a month. Needless to say dinner was a success thanks to my emergency food storage.

Last Saturday Brandie and Micah invited both sets of parents to the Olive Garden as a thank you for helping them with the wedding. We each got a thank you card and flowers. Inside the card was an envelope, which we both thought was a gift card. NOPE! It was a sonogram picture of our first grandbaby. Yes, they are pregnant. They are saying it was a successful honeymoon. I can't believe it happened so fast. They got married on September 15th and conceived on the 25th. I am sure it must be a record. Needless to say we are very excited. Both of the kids are excited too, but right now Brandie is so sick she can't enjoy much. I made her some "chicken seitan" from Bryanna's recipe, which you can find on the Everyday Dish DVD and gave her some Brussels sprouts, which agreed with "baby bean". This is the baby's nickname since he looks like a little kidney bean in the sonogram picture. So I leave you with a very happy couple and grandparents. :o)