Saturday, April 30, 2016

...Flower Themed Mother's Day Card Tutorial...

...I had an idea for a Mother's Day card for my Mom...who loves her flowers...
...so the first thing I did was search the internet for a free photo of some flowers...if you have your own flowers (or your Mom's) it would be even more special to take your own photo...I found just what I wanted...right clicked and did a save as...
...then when I had my original image...
...I opened it with a free photo editor...but if you have a fancy-schmancy photo editor...feel free to use that...
...the first thing I did was change it to sepia...
...then I added the Happy Mother's Day text...
...then I cropped just the portion of the image that I wanted on the card...
...I periodically save my changes...Picassa has an undo option if you don't like something you've changed you can go back...
...then because I'm using a free and somewhat limited photo editor...I wanted to shade the bottom of the image...but I couldn't find an option to do that...so I rotated the image and shaded the top...
...then I turned the image back right side up...and started playing with the text I wanted at the bottom in the now shaded portion of the card...
...added the text and removed the border...
...just play with it until you have it like you want it...
...I centered it and added a little ascii heart...
...now we're ready to print...I insert the image into Word...and I added a little image that says made 4 you to what will be the back of the card...so it needs to be upside down...
...here's the final print on card stock...
...then just fold it and trim it...
...and then I filled the inside with a pretty pop up bouquet of flowers using the awesome directions over at Martha Stewart...

...this was such a fun and easy little project...I hope you make your Mom a card...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, April 28, 2016

...W.I.A.Y. ...

Breakfast - Orange, Cold Cereal (Life), Almond Milk, Vegan Cocoa
Super easy to make Zucchini Soup - just cook a zucchini with a roughly chopped onion until tender...
Lunch - Zucchini Soup, Vegan Cornbread - recipe here, Tea
Dinner - Vegan Potstickers and Edamame...

...your turn inspire me with your lovely menu...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

...W.I.P. Wednesday...Mending...

...somehow the quilt on our bed got this tear in it...I'm guessing that I either tugged it too hard making it up...or maybe in the wash...and it really wasn't even that visible when it was laying flat on the bed...
...but of course it needed to be mended...a stitch in time...and all...so I just grabbed a needle and thread and stitched it up...right on the bed...
...what have you been mending recently?

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

...Vegan Mississippi Roast...

...well...first of all...I didn't cook with Julia...but...

...I did cook...and we did eat...obviously...

...we had seen this recipe mentioned on several blogs and then on GMA...and then most recently on our local news cooking segment...

...and everyone was just raving about how simple and delicious this 'roast' is...

...so I had to make a vegan version of it...of course...
...and it really is really simple...and the vegan version...probably even more so...

...I gathered my ingredients...TVP Beef strips/chunks...mine came from the SDA store...beef flavored vegan broth...pepperoncini (we used the sliced ones but you can use whole if you prefer)...and the spice mill contains my homemade Vegan Hidden Valley Ranch Mix...
...I just put a cup of TVP in a pot...
...followed by the vegan bouillon...and vegan ranch dressing...
...and a half cup of sliced pepperoncini peppers...
...and enough water to cover the TVP strips...
...gave it a stir...
...and cooked over medium heat until the TVP was tender and most of the liquid was absorbed...
...served on toasted French Bread rolls...with vegan baked beans...vegan potato salad...and red slaw...
...this recipe is definitely a keeper...it was really good...and so very easy...

Vegan Mississippi Pot Roast

Vegan TVP Beef strips...I used these (that I get at the SDA store)...but Gardein's Beefless Strips would be good for this too...
2 Tbls. Vegan Ranch dressing mix - recipe here...
2 tsp. Vegan Beef Flavored Broth...I used Washington's
1/2 cup Sliced Pepperoncini peppers
Water to cover

...Just combine everything in one pot...and cook until TVP is tender...so very easy...

~Have a lovely day!

Saturday, April 23, 2016

...Errand day...

...the Man and I had several little errands to run yesterday...Scout's wheels/tires needed to be changed from Winter to Summer...and since he's in school he hardly has a chance to do that himself...so that had to be dropped off at the garage and then picked up later...and we needed to go to Lowe's...and the post office...and the bank...so when you string all these together...you end up with almost a full day of errands...

...so we decided to make a fun day of it...
...we dropped the car off early and headed to Waffle House for breakfast...you're probably thinking that there aren't a lot of vegan options at a Waffle House...but I ordered coffee ( I brought my own Silk creamer in my purse)...dry wheat toast...grits with no butter...and my favorite hash brown combo...I also specified without any butter...(but I'm not sure that they use butter anyway)...with some vegan add-ons...smothered (with grilled onions)...diced (with diced tomatoes)...and capped (with mushrooms)...which I thought were cute names...at other restaurants I often also add green peppers and spinach...but those weren't options here...and the hashbrowns were delicious...
...then after a few errands but before we picked up Scout's car...we headed to a new Indian restaurant...which was a special treat for me as the Man doesn't really care for Indian food...

...on my plate...clockwise from the fruit cup...a vegetable biryani that was way too hot for me...a lentil dal that was my favorite thing...a fresh tasting chickpea salad that seemed to have only tomatoes and onions in it...and another favorite was this mung bean and vegetable curry...I also had a bowl of Rasam soup...not pictured but it was a spicy sour tomato and tamarind soup...it was good...

...most of the things on the buffet were vegetarian but not vegan...so that's all I tried...

...if I'd taken a photo of supper...I could have done another W.I.A.Y. post...ha!...

...so all in all...we accomplished a lot and had a fun and tasty day!

~Have a lovely weekend!

Friday, April 22, 2016

...Spring Cleaning Cont. ...

...shhh...I took a surreptitious photo of the Man...he vacuumed all of the floors...baseboards and vents...and took the covers off and vacuumed as far into the ductwork as he could reach...
...and I scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom floors...you know...hands and knees kind of scrubbing...which I'm sad to say really only happens once a year around here...I do have a Swiffer mop thingy that I run over the floors every Saturday...

...how's your spring cleaning going...and how often do you 'scrub' your kitchen floors?...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, April 21, 2016

W.I.A.Y.

...now that the weather is warming up...I had one of my favorite summer-time breakfasts...
Breakfast - Cereal, Banana, soymilk, grapefruit
...and a sammie for lunch...
Lunch - Vegan Pimiento Cheese Pita
...and then because the weather was absolutely gorgeous...we grilled out...
Dinner - Grilled Tofu Kebabs with peppers and onions, vegan potato salad, and regular salad...

...How has your spring weather been so far...warm enough to grill out?...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...well the dilemma of the Graduate Afghan is resolved...
...this striped camo yarn wants to be knit in plain stockinette stitch...because that's what shows off the pattern best...crochet and plain garter stitch don't work with this yarn...and as Maureen said last week...it does give a sort of fair isle effect...which is nice...still just not quite sure it's what a teenage boy would think of when he thinks of camo...
...on the reading front...I just finished Someone by Alice McDermott...I liked it a lot...just a rather sweet story of an unremarkable life...

...then next on my list was The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen...and I was surprised that I was unable to find a Kindle version anywhere...but happy when I found a regular paper version at the library...it's good so far...and I already read the ending...ha...

...what are you reading and working on this week?

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made some delicious VEGAN CHAMPIGNONS GRILLÉS...

...do you like mushrooms?...what's your favorite way to serve them?...our Scout does not like mushrooms in any fashion...even on pizza...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, April 18, 2016

...Graduation approaches...

...the invitations have arrived...and will soon be sent out...
...and the cap and gown are pressed and ready...

...the actual event is still almost two months away...but the Cap and Gown photos are today...

...so many plans for this milestone event...and beyond...

~Have a lovely day!

Saturday, April 16, 2016

...Avocado-Almond Dip...

...y'all know how I'm always trying not to waste the leftover almond meal/paste from my almond milk making...

...some of the ways I've used it:
Almond Meal Cream Cheese
Christmas Dip
Beet Chickpea and Almond Dip

...but often I also add it to cookies...just subbing it for part of the flour...
...but I really am more of a 'salty' snacker...
...so I decided to use up the last batch of leftover almond meal in some guacamole...not subbing it for anything really...just adding it in...
...this was really creamy and good...and I kinda liked it better on the Melba Toast (like a cheese spread) than on the chips...

Avocado-Almond Dip

One ripe avocado
Leftover almond meal from almond milk - about 1/3 cup
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
Dash of salt and fresh ground pepper...or to taste - we like ours kinda salty
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1 cube Knorr cilantro...

Peel and mash avocado...add almond meal...add lime juice and spices...combine well and serve with chips or veggies for dipping...

~Have a lovely weekend!