Banza!

We are loving the new "Banza" pasta made from garbanzo beans!  The texture and taste are lovely and it fits well into my recent attempt to live a gluten-free life.  Here, I prepared it with olive oil, lots of fresh herbs from my garden, some sea salt and nutritional yeast.  Cannot say enough good things about this stuff.

In the background is a bean of a sweeter variety:  Ellie Belly Jelly Bean the Queen.

"This is Her Broccoli Face"

--That's what my daughter said as she shared this photo she took of Ellie, our veggie-loving dog.  This little old sophisticated lady instantly morphs into an eager pup when she hears the crisper opening.  Then, she's under foot, with that big smile, batting those lashes, until I toss a chunk her way and she leaps to catch it out of thin air.  Broccoli, kale, celery, romaine . . . as long as it's green, she's all in.

Ellie Loves Veggies!

Here's a great action shot of my veggie-loving pup, Ellie.  She's so proud of herself as she catches a piece of celery.  Whenever I'm cooking and she hears me going into the crisper for something green, she comes running.

My Dog Loves Kale!

Seriously -- Ellie Belly Jelly Bean prefers kale over any other type of food! Loves it.

A Lovely Day!

Finally, after at least a week of oppressive heat here in the deep South, we do have a fresh and lovely day! I enjoyed my particularly delicious juice today on the screened porch with my pups. The juice was from garden cukes, half a bulb of fennel, an organic orange, a knob of ginger, a few broccoli stems and a big handful of Italian parsley. It was a very juicy batch, yielding 30 ounces! I'll enjoy a bonus glassful after lunch.

My garden pup, Emma, who always follows me out to the garden and plops down beside it while I pull bugs and caterpillars off my crops, tends to be camera shy, but I caught her!

Normally more ready for her close-ups, I had to look under the hammock to find Ellie today. She's going to hate this photo. I think the girls were just enjoying the weather.

Speckled

I like that word. It connotes a certain type of fun as in these unexpected organic, speckled butter beans or this lovely organic speckled eggplant:

Currently, I am witness to a speckled sky (snow), though my photos don't do it justice, so I'm not including one here. The snowy speckles make me happy because this winter in the deep South has been devoid of the Currier and Ives ambiance of my Virginia childhood. The snowfall lends a bright, hush to the day and reminds me of a magical memory from when I was three years old, making stained glass windows out of melted crayons with my sweet mom. I can feel her smiling now.

Speckles remind me of freckles across my sweet niece's and nephew's faces, and of my own speckled pup, Ellie Belly Jelly Bean:

Look at that grin -- I probably woke her from a dream of her earlier bird-dog days. The songbirds didn't realize until it was too late that she also could fly with her vertical 6 foot leap in days of yore. It's true -- she wasn't a vegan dog, but she does love carrots and raw sweet potatoes! The old girl is not quite as spry anymore, so the birds can relax around here as she munches another tuber.

I'm enjoying this speckled day in the spirit of my "Happy" Board on Pinterest (here's a link if you want to take a peek at random photos et al which bestow giggles: http://www.pinterest.com/cherylasalinas/happy/)

Enough of the spotty-happy-stream-of-consciousness, back to business. Here's what became of my speckled beans:

These were SO GOOD! I'm not kidding. I used a recipe from the epic culinary tome Veganomicon, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Those girls know what they're doing. I've not made a bad dish from the book. This recipe, "Mediterranean Lima Beans", lent itself well to my organic speckled beans. I have never tasted better beans. When I wasn't eating them I was daydreaming about eating them, and now I miss them.

Next, I'll put that speckled eggplant to good use.  I'll keep you posted . . .

Promise

A blossom, caught just before it bears fruit -- common, ordinary, lovely. As I take a moment to really see this miracle once again, I am reminded of the blessing of rebirth. Like all of nature, we have a chance to begin again. Unlike the rest of nature, we sentient beings have a chance for a fresh start every day, every moment, in fact.

When the promise of a fresh start becomes all consuming, we begin to lead an examined life. Without judgement, with an open mind, we notice and acknowledge our proclivities. Those which feed our souls, we maintain and nurture. The others we shed, or temper. These blossoms, ripe with promise, breed hope for those times we will choose to change course.

The flowers above appear to be bean shoots. You can see a tiny bean beginning to emerge in the middle, in fact. At the end of my wonderful day planting a couple of months ago, it looks like I had fun putting a little of everything into this pot. I don't remember planting a bean here, but I obviously  did. I thought those leaves didn't look like cucumbers! Garden surprises -- bonus! Peppery, space-saucer-shaped nasturtiums appear to the right of the bean vine. Mom always planted plenty of these, and we'd eat the whole plant, leaves, stems and bright orange and yellow flowers. They were wonderful in salads. A zucchini is also in bloom in this pot, but it doesn't appear in the photo.

The patio grape tomato begins its process. Ellie observes.

Also around the patio, the nasturtiums pair with petunias

Back in the garden, at a later stage of the fresh start process, are the radishes -- see how they push themselves out of the ground?

I pulled a few, along with one of the larger onions. They became a delicious juice with some romaine, kale, ginger, cucumber and an apple. I shared the juice with my Dad, who's been visiting. We all love it when he comes!

Promise for the future is all around us. I'm grateful I took the time today to notice.

Happiness Is . . .

A watercress salad! You're laughing at me no doubt, but seriously, it's the little things in life . . .  I had a lovely morning today with my Mind-Body Group at Atlanta Functional Medicine and as I made my way out of the office the sun was shining and the air, fresher after last evening's shower. I stopped for a few things at Publix on my way home and I found this beautiful watercress. Watercress is always a treat for me. One comes across it so rarely in our area, and when I do it's usually in a pretty sad state -- tired and abused -- so I normally pass. When I saw this pretty tangle this afternoon, you can bet I snapped it right up.

This salad was just what the doctor ordered for perpetuating my "Mind-Body" happy. The fresh, tender, peppery shoots were perfect with only half an avocado, a few pine nuts, a squirt of fresh lemon and a scant drizzle of my favorite olive oil. The flavor of watercress is a perfect foil for buttery flavors like avocado and pine nuts. Obviously, this salad was so simple it doesn't even warrant a recipe format, but I'll label it that way so I can find it again if I ever follow through with a cookbook someday.

Though the salad was the lunchtime star today, I like to eat a lot, as you know, so I also enjoyed some leftovers -- a crock pot chickpea stew I made a few days ago. I'm sorry, I actually should have written this one down as I was making it, but I was in a hurry at the time and wasn't expecting anything fantastic so I didn't. As it turned out, this stew is really, really good and I'm not tired of it yet after three days. Trying to remember, I think I soaked a pound of dry peas overnight, then cooked them for about 5 hours with a strip of kombu, a handful of dried porcini mushrooms, a couple of squirts of tomato paste (from a tube I keep in the fridge), about 2 Tbsp. of shoyu and a can of organic tomato soup. I sprinkled a tiny bit of cumin, a couple of good shakes of chipotle powder and a couple of shakes of garlic powder as well, and as an afterthought in the last hour I chopped up an onion and threw it in there. I added more water as it cooked down. I will recreate it along with a pencil and paper sometime to confirm I'm telling you the truth here.  Today I warmed it with a big handful of spinach (never enough greens!) and a sprinkling of daiya. Delish!

In other news, yesterday I spent a bit of time working on the other blogs for which I write, among other projects, and as the afternoon wore on, my energy began to flag. I want to share a delicious boost which provided more hours of productivity:

It looks like Ellie could have used a little sip of my magic boost as well! She's such a sweet little ole' lady now. She's got so much gray around her face. A more soulful dog I've never known. I'm pretty sure she thinks she's a human being.

Back to my smoothie: you may say it's not too pretty, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say it's gorgeous. This qualifies as a dessert really, in my book, since I used a cup of Silk Mocha Soy Latte as the liquid. It also contains two big handfuls of spinach, a banana and a couple of tablespoons of cacao --pow! It's been over three years since I've had a chocolate milkshake, but to my memory this was every bit as luscious, and it did the trick!

These are a few of the little things which bring me happiness today.  What are yours?

Another Pulp Mishap

So, how long have I been juicing? This is what I get for multitasking during my sacred juicing process. What went wrong here? That's right -- No pulp bin! I just shoved the first kale leaf through the juicer and sprayed the pulp all over the counter and the floor:

When I'm working in the kitchen, Ellie is always listening carefully for some sort of utterance from me that would indicate food might be on the floor. She did indeed hear me say . . .  something, and pitched in right away to do her part:

The girl loves her greens!

Emma seemed at first to want no  part in the process:

But then I realized the dried out kale pulp from the juicer would not have much flavor or scent left and so it would be like the ice cubes I have to point out on the floor to the pups. The dogs' vision is great for noticing a squirrel twitch 100 yards away, but up close not so much. They really rely on their sense of smell more than vision at that range. So if something has little or no scent, I have to point right to it for them to find it. Once I did, Emma did her part in the clean up as well.

I just thought you might enjoy another laugh at my expense!

Learning Curve

Today I will share with you some candid, unstyled photos of the inside of my home after everyone has been here every day for two weeks straight. Today is my husband's first day back at work. We normally take a little trip this time of year but that did not work out since my almost-18-year-old is still finishing up last semester due to all the school he missed with his daily migraines. So, the kid was studying, the other kid was running in and out of here with many different friend combinations, and the hubby was staycationing, My daily vacuuming became unpopular (they don't like the noise, bless them). But the point of this post is not to share the level of filth with which I've recently become accustomed -- that's just a side effect of telling you today's installment of my juicing saga.

As with any new equipment, there is a learning curve with using, cleaning, drying and storing the many parts of my amazing appliance. Today, after filling my glass with a fabulous elixir made from cucumbers, celery, a leaf of kale, half a head of romaine, a fuji apple and some ginger root (YUM!), I absentmindedly poured the second glassful into a cup for later. Unfortunately I poured as if pouring from the coffee pot, the lid of which remains attached. The lid of the juicer pitcher is not attached. So here's what happened:

Ugh -- doesn't just looking at that make you nervous? Ellie came running when she heard the catastrophe. That's her tail there poking up over the edge of the counter, and that's her fur there under the cabinet across the room. Fortunately, I had already taken a sip of this fab elixir before said catastrophe, so the mood-soothing effects of greens were already working their magic. I just felt thankful that nothing was on fire this time, then called Emma over to help her sister get started on the cleanup:

My beasts sure love veggies! After the pups gave me a head start, the rest wasn't that difficult to dispatch. And I was left with this:

Ahhh!

In more good news, I've been fighting a little cold which is going away very quickly from the juice and from this bowl of easy curried chickpeas I ate yesterday:

I added half a chopped yellow onion to a bowl of Amy's Lentil Soup, simmered it until the onion was cooked, then added a can of chickpeas, some curry and turmeric. I served it over leftover quinoa and topped  it off with some green onion. This was such a satisfying New Year's Day stew!

Now -- vacuuming!

I'm a Kale Junkie

Lately, life is whizzing along at breakneck speed, so I've not spent enough time being creative in the kitchen (sorry). Nevertheless, the body's cravings continue to direct my healthy diet, and I continue to comply. There was literally no time for breakfast yesterday before my workout, so I was famished upon my return home. What did I crave? Kale. The smoothie is made from four leaves of kale, two leaves of romaine and an apple, with some coconut water. It was just what my body wanted. Since I didn't blend the smoothie with ice, it quickly separated, so I drank part of it with a little involuntary grimace from a layer of bitterness. Next time I'll add an extra apple and some ice. Bitterness aside, this smoothie was just what I wanted.

In life there seem to be periods of time -- seasons, I like to call them -- where it feels like we are not the stewards of our own schedules. I'm in one of those seasons right now, just trying to keep up with everyone's needs and requests. I realize the reason for the kale craving. Kale calms my nerves and centers my thoughts. The way I crave it lately is akin to an addict's desire for a fix.

Yep, I'm a kale junkie. Oh, the five minutes it took to drink it sitting at my little alfresco table also helped calm the nerves. Doesn't taking a moment to appreciate nature do wonders? I'm a kale and fresh air and sunshine junkie!

Odds-n-Ends, Back to School Edition

Long time, no post, I know. Transitions have always been a challenge for me, creature of habit as I tend to be. With the kids at school, I am now thriving in a new routine, but it has taken me almost a week to settle into it. I'll share a bit of life in general around here during the transition.

The photo above is an example of a lazy way to make the mundane fabulous. This is just whole wheat linguine with jarred marinara, daiya "cheese"and kalamata olives, along with grape tomatoes and fresh oregano from my garden. The others ate theirs without all my chosen goodies.

Here is something tried and true: greens, grains and beans. The addition of french bread makes it vegan junk food, though.

Oops -- I forgot that nobody else at home doesn't really mean nobody else at home. I'll have to shut the door all the way if I want privacy. Otherwise Ellie's gonna get into my business.

On a night out with the man, at Sage, a restaurant/bar where we frequently order tapas with our drinks, I ordered what I usually do -- Mediterranean Crostini without the feta. It is the only thing on the menu veganizable except for a boring salad. Normally the veganized crostini is perfect bar food, but the other night someone in the kitchen must have decided to "improve" the crostini by broiling the toasts covered in feta. Grrrrr -- they thought I had only meant no additional cheese on top! How many times have I ordered the exact same thing? The photo is of the second batch of crostini after I sent the first one back. The cheese had been buried under all the yummy Mediterranean veggies, and we each had a bite or two before my husband noticed the flavor of cheese. I knew it tasted different, but I had forgotten what cheese used to taste like, I guess. Within five minutes of the accidental cheese eating, my head filled with stuffiness and confusion and I really was quite a boring girl for about an hour. Cheese steals my joie de vivre, my witty banter, my sense of humor. I just sit on the bar stool like a lump -- of cheese.

Back at home, after I had finally regained my personality, we decided to watch a concert DVD in our basement theater, and my husband did push-ups on the coffee table. Okay.

Taking a good look at my bread and pasta filled transitional days, I understand why I am feeling a bit, um, fluffy around the edges. Noticing and analyzing trends in cravings is a good way to get a read on what is going on with our bodies. I was craving carbs because of my lack of energy from the B12 deficiency. There is great news on that front, personally, though. I saw my Integrative Medicine M.D. the other day and she trained me to give my own B12 injections! I am no stranger to needles, since my mainstream MS medication is a daily subcutaneous injection, self-administered, but it had been ten years since I had done the intramuscular injections. The longer needle is a bit more of a challenge psychologically, but if one doesn't overthink it, the IM shot is a breeze. Now I can give myself B12 every two weeks! I bought a vial of B12 (30 doses) and a bunch of syringes for $94, and my labor is free. I am going to save a bundle on what it would have cost me to go in every two weeks to have my M.D. administer the shots. I love my doctor. She's always looking for a way to get what I need for less. Isn't she cool?

And Then There Were None

There's what's left now of my lone Chinese long bean vine. Yes, Buster got that one too.

Buster is apparently completely unfazed by my attempt to gently encourage him to dine elsewhere. There's the little solar sonic wave machine in the very sunniest part of my garden. The thing only seems to vibrate when I am holding it.

On the bright side, at least I won't have to spend any time unravelling the dead vines from the live one now. They are all dead, so I can just rip out the whole mess of 'em. Buster also continues to eat every little fresh leaf on the denuded pepper plants. I guess This is the year of the nightshades -- eggplants and tomatoes. Buster doesn't care for either of those, unless a tomato turns red, that is, so I've probably got to pick them a little early and I will be in good shape.

Does anyone have a Buster-busting suggestion for me? I won't hurt him. I sort of feel this odd affection for him akin to the way I feel about my dog Ellie when she has been very, very naughty.

I'm tired of writing sad garden stories, so I will only feature happy veggie tales for a while. But I still want your suggestions!

An Alfresco Lunch

I know, if you've seen one salad you've seen 'em all, but I know that, as a frequent salad eater, I've often enjoyed a fresh idea from a fellow blogger's page. So, in that spirit, here's what I ate for lunch today on my lovely patio. On a bed of romaine, I piled about a quarter of a cabbage, thinly sliced, a carrot, slivered, half a cucumber, half an avocado, a big handful of slivered almonds, a few ume radish pickles and some really very delicious dressing that evolved by accident. I will try to remember what's in it.

Let's see -- the dressing all started in the midst of my son's gluten- dairy- sugar-free cleanse diet. I wanted him to eat a little salad with his can of tuna fish (basically tuna and gluten free breakfast bars were all he was eating). He used to sometimes enjoy salad plain, with just ranch dressing. I attempted a dairy-free replacement for the ranch -- Organicville Herb Vinaigrette and a couple of tablespoons of Vegenaise. To my tastebuds it tasted exactly like ranch, but what do I know? Hans wouldn't have it. So I had a jar of rejected faux-ranch. That's where today's dressing started. I was craving lots of healthy fats today, hence the avocado and almonds on the salad. So I also added a heapin' helping of hummus to my faux ranch, and then a honkin' tablespoonful of tahini as well, and then shook it all up. YUM. YUM. What a delicious salad!  I feel like pouring that dressing into a bowl and eating it as a cold soup. JUST KIDDING! But seriously, the thought did cross my mind . . .

Here were my dining companions for my alfresco lunch today:

Here's Emma -- Isn't she pretty? She's just regal, patient, kind, pure love.

And here's the jelly-bean, Ellie. Smart as a whip, her intelligence and her self-control are at odds. She frequently spends long moments staring through our eye sockets into our souls, especially those of us who need it. Lately Hans has been the target of Ellie's psychic healing sessions. I actually think it helps, as a matter of fact.

I love these two girls! What great lunchtime company on this lovely day!

Random Ramblings Which Began as a Quickie

I have fodder for a nice long post whenever time permits, but for now I'll put out a short one. This morning is the first time I have a couple of hours to take my nine-year-old pup, Emma (the sweet honey-colored one) to the vet to get a lump checked and to get a bath and nails done, etc. Emma's my first dog, she's dear to my heart, and I'm a little worried about the lump. Send good vibes our way if you've got any to spare.

For my quickie today, I just want to comment on chocolate.

When I chose a vegan life almost a year ago, a thought that haunted me that I had to wilfully suppress on a number of occasions was that Nutella would be a thing of the past (dairy). So the other day when I came across Justin (that's what I will call him) I fell in love. Justin is essentially vegan nutella, but less sweet. Perfect! Sugar doesn't float my boat so much anymore anyway. I sampled Justin in tiny, pea-sized bits straight from the jar and was very satisfied. So next, I put a big honkin' spoonful on top of my oatmeal. I did not like it. Too much. Also, Justin is not as appealing to me melted. Who'd have thunk it?

Teasing my next post, I hosted bunco last night at my home. It was a perfect chance for me to create some vegan masterpieces that would also appeal to my omnivore friends. I believe all the creations were hits.  Appropriate photos and recipes will be included in the post, as promised ladies. As expected, the star of the show was Alicia's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from The Kind Diet. I made them in a mini size, however, since they are so rich. I did not try them last night, knowing what chocolate does to me post-2:00 p.m. or so (no sleep). So at 6:30 a.m. this morning as I was rousing my kids for school, after staying up until midnight putting the food away, I sampled my wares. Verdict: very good, but I was loving the peanut butter portion. My body is off chocolate! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the taste of it, but there was an aversion or something. I did not feel ill, I was just missing that rock-star feeling I get from whole, pure foods. I'll leave the rest of the chocolate to the others. I don't feel sad about the chocolate chapter of my life (mostly) closing. I'll still treat myself with pea-sized bits of Justin.

I realize my quickie is turning out not to be (I think I am subconsciously sabotaging my trip to the vet) so, while I'm on a roll, let me add one more random thing: As I was typing this post, this album by Mumford and Sons popped up in my Amazon Associates box as a popular item. I just want to say I am surprised to see it, since I thought we were the only ones who knew about these guys. It's a great album, and "Little Lion Man" is the best, though rife with expletives. I don't feel they are gratuitous, though, as the song is very emotionally powerful, in an Irish bent (thought I believe they are British?) The bad words add to the song. Just don't play it around your kids. Maybe everyone already knows about Mumford & Sons, I don't know. I'm only a sheltered 40-something Georgia girl. But it's a good album.

Okay -- thanks for bearing with me. It's time to get responsible and get my puppy to the vet. Stay tuned for my Bunco food!

Oh, The Irony! Good Luck Peas and Rice for a Snowy Day

Here it is halfway through January, and I am finally getting around to serving Hoppin' John. I'm right on schedule for this year actually, since I only took my Christmas decor down a couple of days ago.

For you non-southerners, Hoppin' John is a traditional southern dish originating in the Low Country and the Gullah Islands (South Carolina, Georgia) comprised mainly of black-eyed peas and rice. It is usually prepared with a slab of bacon or a hamhock. Some Hoppin' John afficionados cook the peas with the rice and some cook them separately. The dish is purported to bestow good luck for the year to someone who eats it after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. There are many legends surrounding this tradition. It was said the southern slaves had smuggled the black eyed peas from Africa and used them in their magical feasts. The plantation owners jazzed the peas up with the pork products and some even hid a shiny dime in the dish. The person at the table who found the dime would have extra good luck in the coming year. There are many theories as to where the dish got it's name. My favorite is that there was an old man with a crutch called "Hoppin' John" who peddled mugs of the magical dish on the streets of Charleston.

I was raised mostly in rural Virginia, which is not as southern as where I am now, but it was southern enough for us to eat black eyed peas for good luck on New Year's Day.  My mom never used any piggies in her peas, she just served them straight out of the can with a little garlic salt, I think. I loved 'em!

So yesterday, on January 11, I endeavored to bestow good luck for the year upon those I hold dear.  I made up a recipe based on what I had on hand. Inspiration had struck too late for me to soak dried peas, so I pulled a can out of the cupboard. You are probably wondering what's so ironic about this lucky-pea installment of A Midlife Vegan. Well, I'll tell you . . .

Once almost all the ingredients were happily bubbling away in my crock pot, I raised the pepper grinder to add one more generous grind of my favorite multicolored fresh pepper. Then the grinder broke in my hands. About 3/4 cup of unground peppercorns were suddenly in the stew and bouncing mischievously all over my countertops and floor. The dogs went bananas, barking and chasing the naughty little spices. My husband went bananas trying to keep the beasts from wolfing down what would surely later result in piles of vomit. I went bananas just in my own little head, as I stared, wide-eyed at the pile of pepper in my good-luck peas. 

"This has got to mean something!" I moaned, ridiculously.

"I mean -- why does this happen?"

My husband, uncharacteristically cool-headed as he went to get the broom and dustpan (I guess he could sense I was hot-headed enough for the both of us) said, "Things don't always have to happen for a reason,"

I disagree, but I kept that to myself since he was being so helpful. 

I scooped as much as I could off the top of the half-finished stew, then reassessed. "I guess I don't need to add that scoop of salsa I was considering," I said to myself.  

As I stirred and inspected, I realized I was at a decision point. Do I throw it away, or go through the stew pea by pea, grain of rice by grain of rice? I opted for the latter. I wasn't giving in to whatever the universe was dishing out, or rather, I just didn't want to waste it, and it would be too much of a mess to throw away. We are all snowed in, and who knows when the garbage man will make it out here.

In any case, I turned off the crock pot and got a large bowl and a plate. I spread out scoopful after scoopful onto the plate, going over the contents with clean fingers to extract every last peppercorn that I could find. This took an hour. Check it out:

Those are the soggy peppercorns I extracted and that is the broken peppermill -- I don't know if you can see the vertical crack in the collar -- the whole top fell off.

The good news -- the resulting peas were expertly seasoned after the peppercorns had steeped for an hour in the hot broth. But you don't have to do it the hard way. Just an extra grind from an intact peppermill would also do the trick.

Here is my recipe:

Good Luck Peas and Rice for a Snowy Day

Ingredients:

3 c. water with bouillon cube or broth

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 c. long grain/wild rice

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large onion, chopped

1-2 organic carrots, chopped

heart of a bunch of organic celery (about 5 small stalks with leaves) chopped

Salt and pepper

can of black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

a sprig of rosemary, intact (remove later)

a couple of sprigs of sage, intact (remove later)

1 Tbsp. sherry

Put all ingredients into the crock pot except peas, herbs and sherry. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for about 2 hours. After the first hour, add peas and herbs. I also noticed it was getting dry but the rice wasn't yet done, so I added another cup of water. When the stew is thick again, after two hours, it is done. Right before serving, stir in the sherry and remove the herbs.

Here is my good luck stew right before the pepper explosion.

And here it is after I got it all cleaned up, I let it cook a little more and added the herbs. I didn't get a shot of the peas right before I ate them. I was over the whole thing at that point and just wanted to eat. It turned out to be really delicious! Give it a try, and better luck to you, now and throughout the year!

Our Wonderful Thanksgiving

There were so many reasons to be thankful on our wonderful holiday yesterday, great and small, and even some which may not have seemed at first to be blessings can be framed as such in a greater perspective.

Of course the best blessing of all is the presence of my wonderful parents -- we just can't get enough of them and are thankful they will continue to be here a few more days. We are also thankful for the rest of our extended family, hither and yon.

We are all thankful to be in relatively good health.

We are thankful our friend, Dan, is home from Afghanistan.

We were thankful my son's migraine was mild yesterday and he was able to sit with us at the table for a little while.

I was thankful for the use of my friend Sherri's two ovens next door. We made a lot of food!

I was thankful for my gourmet chef parents' open minds and hearts. My father even retooled his famous (and my favorite from childhood) Sage Dressing to make it vegan (he used Earth Balance and veggie stock instead of his usual butter and chicken stock).

I was thankful for a chance to use Grandmommy Eula's fine china -- it made me feel close to her. See it under my wonderful vegan Thanksgiving food above?

We were thankful that, after days of grey drizzle, the sun came out just as we were sitting for dinner -- we sat on the patio afterward and basked in it!

I was thankful that our dog Ellie, the naughty, dainty princess who doesn't tolerate doing her business outdoors when the ground is wet, was at least nice enough to choose an out-of-the-way area of our hardwood floor that was easy for me to clean and sanitize. Twice. Thanks for not choosing the rug, El.

Here she is on the right, looking guilty, next to her sister, Emma.

Seriously, we are all so thankful for these amazing canine family members, whether they are naughty or nice. Their hearts are always in the right place and they add so much to our lives. Isn't this photo cute of them posing exactly like the little puppy statues behind them?

Back to the food now . . .

I am thankful for "tried and true" recipes that are not gambles in a mentally taxing cooking extravaganza like the one we undertook yesterday.  I am thankful for our vegan blogging community that has afforded me so many of these. Here is what was featured on our table:

Clockwise from top left are:  my own "Mushroom and Bean Melange" (from A Midlife Vegan), "Scarlet Roasted Root Vegetables" (from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone), "Tender Green Bean with Mushroom and Lemon" (from "The Healthseeker's Kitchen" http://healthseekerskitchen.blogspot.com) and my own mashed potatoes, inspired by Morgan's (http://littlehouseofveggies.blogspot.com) but using what I had on hand: this time vegan cream cheese, Earth Balance, and some veggie stock swirled around to clean out the dregs of my vegannaise jar.

And finally, what says Thansgiving to me:

Dad's Sage Dressing!  Daddy has never written the recipe down, but besides the Earth Balance and stock, it includes lots of mushrooms, lots of celery, an onion, several cloves of garlic, a bouquet of sage and a loaf of white bread. I wish you could have smelled it cooking! This is so good!  Thanks, Dad!

While I have not yet found a reason to be thankful for the overflowed toilet that is now dripping through the kitchen ceiling, (not naming any names) I am thankful that I am now middle-aged enough to know that like everything, this will pass and I can just roll my eyes and grab a towel without flipping out the way I might have done even, say, five years ago! See, something to look forward to, young-uns!

In conclusion, the last couple of days have been wonderful, and I am feeling very blessed indeed. This bustling household is full of love, humor and gobs of fabulous food! I look forward to another day of it!