Tag Archives: beagle

Thanksgiving Recap

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. Mine was totally low key because it was just Dan, me, and the dogs. It was super nice out and I finished cooking way early so we got to eat outside. I made Isa’s seitan roast stuffed with shitakies and leeks for the first time. It was tasty and I loved the filling but it wasn’t as good as the roulade or the seitan dumplings we made in years past. The star of the show was, as in years past, the miso glazed brussels. We love these, they were the first thing we ran out of. We made the diner dressing like last year and tried the brown gravy from Vegan Diner. The dressing didn’t turn out as well as last year, I think my bread to liquid ratio was off and I didn’t love the brown gravy. For leftovers I made her sage gravy and I don’t know why I didn’t make it for thanksgiving because it is the best recipe ever.

We went traditional with the potatoes and made enough to last the century. Dan adds green onions into the potatoes and this is totally the way to go. We also roasted a ton of garlic and mashed it first with a bunch of melted earth balance. 

We also picked up cranberry orange almond sauce from Wheatsville because I love it.

Here is the whole plate in all it’s glory.

Poor McPuppenstein was so jealous because he was all dressed up for the occasion with no where to sit. He looked the maître d.

Probably the best part was the pumpkin pie from Capital City Bakery.So that was Thanksgiving. Next year I want to try either Miyoko Schinner’s unturkey or Vegan Appetite’s unturkey. They both look so good and have been getting great reviews.

BTW if you are a food blogger I recommend doing a Thanksgiving wrap up post because it really helps planning for next year. 

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The Succulent Days of Summer

I don’t know when it started but I love succulents.  They are the one thing in the world I see for sale and I just can’t resist. I wish I was better at keeping them alive though! I have such a hard time researching them because I never know the names of the plants. So if you know the names of any of them help me out! The pink almond ones are dying and it makes me so sad so if you have any tips…

This first little cactus is one I got from a really neat store called “Happiness” but it closed down. Isn’t that depressing? Happiness is no longer… The lady at the store told me that she once saw a whole hillside covered in these plants and they were all 3 feet tall. It is called Cephalocereus senilis (Old Man Cactus).

My mom bought this one for me from the Natural Gardner. I think it was called a chocolate soldier and I know it is from Madagascar but I haven’t been able to find it online. Luckily, it seems to be thriving!

This grouping was a house-warming gift from my consigliere and bff Amanda. The big fan one didn’t look like it was going to make it for a while but it is going strong now. The little green ones are from either home depot or lowes and they are just sprouting flowers like crazy. But the cutest ones, the little pink almonds are not doing well at all. I got them on 1st Thursday a couple of months ago and then completely forgot everything they told me about them. Do they need less sun? Less water? They have only had rain to drink but maybe that is too much….

I got this one at 1st Thursday too, it is living inside though and doing a lot better. Maybe I should move the pink ones inside.

This little guy was just so cute that I couldn’t say no when I passed him at home depot the other day. I think lithops were the first succulent I was aware of that wasn’t a cactus or an agave. I wish I had 20 of them all lined up in a row.

I thought I would blog every day this week about something fabulous I have made from Viva Vegan, but yesterday I was just too exhausted to cook anything and forced Mr. Smurf to heat up frozen tots and nuggets. He also made guacamole because the avocados were in a state of immaculate perfection. It seems silly to blog about it BUT that guacamole recipe was really good; different than I usually make it and so flavorful. I loved it.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the long days of summer!

Soba Fett

Did you know Star Wars Day is right around the corner on May 4th? I have been working on my recipe for Soba Fett.

I also want to celebrate by getting this Han Solo in Carbonite soap.

I had such a lovely weekend it was sad to see it end. We got all of our bookshelves and bookcases up so now I can find things again! And my kitchen is really coming together too.

Dinger spent most of the beautiful rainy spring weekend snoozing on the couch. It’s hard out there for a beagle!

Amaryllis

My Amaryllis is getting ready to bloom! It is going to be so beautiful.

A friend and I went to the Lady Bird Wildflower center for a plant sale and I am really excited about the flowers I got, including a “little nipple” cactus! hehe. I took a bunch of pictures while we were out there. Here are some favorites.

There are some more on my flickr page too.

Hope you are entering this week with more motivation than me!

Reason 337 that I have the best boyfriend

He came up with that title after I took a picture of this meal he made for me last night.

I have had a tough week, all of my staff has suffered major tragedies, baker smurf got hit by a truck on his bike on his way to work and broke his clavicle, sleepy smurf had a hit and run, acupuncturist smurf has been really sick for about a month with symptoms of pneumonia but no access to Western Medicine, and chatterbox smurf”s house burned down. I spent the entire rush hour driving and running errands, when I got home I was so stressed out that Mr. Smurf made me dinner while I drank delicious beer and cuddled with puppies.

I have wanted to make this meal since I got the book. It is chipotle spiced black-eyed peas that are cooked with some other aromatics and spices, served on top of maple mashed sweet potatoes, and steamed collard greens. This is one of the greatest super healthy meals I have ever had! It tasted decadent and flavorful and comforting. I love sweet mixed with spicy which is kind of the theme of a lot of recipes in Get It Ripe. Collard greens, black-eyed peas, and sweet potatoes are some of my favorite foods as well and they are all very nutritious. I also liked that everything was a whole food and lots of greens were involved. Another thing that I appreciate about this book is that the serving sizes are very accurate for us. In the Veganomicon and other books usually things that say four servings aren’t true since Mr. Smurf will easily eat 2+ servings. Get it Ripe is accurate for us, though, which is great because that way the recipes yield leftovers for lunch the next day, which I love. So thank you Jae for writing the cookbook and Dan for making the meal! If you have the book you should try it, or better yet, get someone who loves you to make it for you.

Beagle wins Puppy Bowl MVP

Ding_overshoulder, originally uploaded by fikustrees.

That’s right, a beagle became this year’s most valuable puppy this year at the Puppy Bowl V! I submitted this picture in Bissel’s pet photo contest since it seems like this year everyone loves beagles.

I had the perfect day on Sunday of laying on the hammock with the dogs and then watching the puppy bowl and eating vegan queso. Why did it have to end.One of my favorite parts about Austin is that I can go to wheatsville, pickup some fresh salsa (in this case raosted pineapple) and vegan queso and be on my way.

People love dogs

Today I read an article that talked about a study where they tested if people love their dogs the same way they love their human children. The control group had people in a play session with their dogs and the experiment group was the same except they had to gaze into their dogs eyes. Both groups were tested and they found that those who looked into their dogs eyes had elevated levels of oxytocin which is a chemical that make you happy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4241224/Owning-a-dog-is-a-similar-emotional-experience-to-having-children-claim-scientists.html

I wonder if it would work from looking at this picture of my dogs?