Vacation Blues

We went out of town last week. Vacation! It was fun, we saw some of the California Redwoods-did this trail called the Boy Scout Trail that had a giant tree at the end of it (almost the end and it was actually two trees that grew together to make one giant tree.) We also spent a lot of time on some beautiful beaches in Southern Oregon. I highly recommend Harris Beach.

I had carefully planned what to eat, packed a bunch of healthy snack for the road and spent most of that road trip eating grapes, apple slices and carrots along with a Lara Bar and fruit leather here and there. We weren't gong to eat out much because it's always a pain with a gluten free teenager along for the ride and our new plant strong diet. So I even brought some canned goods and stuff for some yummy veggie bagel sandwiches with hummus. And we did eat some of that stuff but we also ordered pizza from Domino's on night one (they offer gluten free so Isabella talked us into it.) It was just olives and pineapple but there was cheese, I'm not going to lie. Brent did quite well but me...not so much. There was also ice cream at one point. Again, not going to lie. Oh well, you don't have to be perfect all the time. But now I'm having a little trouble getting back on track. I'm not eating horribly but it could be better. I'm definitely not on the plan. Maybe if I post this picture of the last recipe I made before the trip:

 

This, to be honest, doesn't look that good. But it was pretty good. I found a vegan shepherd pie recipe (something I've never even made in its original, hamburgery form) and adapted it to what I had. So I made mashed potatoes with the peels. I did add a little Earth Balance spread to it along with soy milk, salt and garlic powder. They were really good. The rest of it is frozen veggies (corn, carrots, peas and green beans), a can of rinsed kidney beans, about 8 ounces of chopped up mushrooms, herbs and spices (like thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper) and a gravy made with water from the boiled potatoes, Rapunzel dry vegetable broth and a couple tbs. of corn starch. I would make it again. It would be really good in the winter. 

 I actually made it for two nights but the second one didn't turn out as good. I think you have to use potato water instead of plain water to make the gravy good and the mushrooms aren't so good after they sit overnight in the pie. So make it fresh, use potato water in the gravy and eat it all the same night.

 This is why I risked cheating. Worth it.

Happy Fourth!

I wanted to make something festive for Independence Day so I mad this Red, White and Blue Salad. All right, I guess it isn't really red, white and blue unless you count the cucumbers as white. Okay, I guess we can do that. So, it's just a big salad with romaine lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes (red), dried cranberries (more red), blueberries (blue!) garbanzo beans, and pecans. Topped with a vinaigrette.

Crazy Casserole!

Brent's family made this meal called crazy casserole when we were dating. It's basically a taco salad with doritos. Don't ask me where the name Crazy Casserole came from. I have no idea. I adopted it to my own dinner menus because who doesn't like taco salad? I changed the ground beef to chicken though, because that's how I roll. Now I've adapted it to the plant based lifestyle. It starts with a layer of tortilla chips (healthier than doritos, of course), then refried beans. Then, instead of chicken, I got a frozen veggie mix that has corn, peppers, onions and black beans. Mixed in a little garlic powder, chili powder and cumin and heated it up. On top of that goes lettuce, tomatoes, olives, salsa and guacamole. We didn't miss the chicken, doritos or cheddar cheese.

Muffins

I made up this recipe. It's a keeper. I'll write it down now so I don't forget. They taste kind of like bran muffins, which I like.


3/4 c natural peanut butter, like Adams
1 c applesauce
1 large ripe banana
1 slightly heaping tsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups quick oats
a handful of raisins

Cook for about 20-23 minutes at 350 degrees in a lightly sprayed muffin pan. Enjoy!