 As we continue to celebrate 2022, I'm cooking up a storm! I had non-vegan friends from out of state come for a visit last week. I wanted to cook dishes that would be both hearty and comforting for them and wanted to share some of my findings with you. I bought Garden beefles tips and went to their website for ideas on how to make these work. What is pictured about is my version of a recipe found on their website. I used what I had on hand and jump it. IT WAS A HUGE HIT! I only have the quick photo because it was eaten almost before I could say "Vegan!" lol INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
This is based on a recipe I found on the Gardien website. I made minor changes, using what I had on hand. It was a big hit with my family and also the non-vegan company. I highly recommend this simple recipe.  Making Salsa is an ART in the Southwest. This healthy and delicious salsa recipe comes together in just 20 minutes. It will keep in the refrigerator for several days, so you can double recipe to enjoy with your favorite Mexican or Tex-Mex dishes or as a snack with your favorite tortilla chips. See notes at bottom of recipe.  (My jalapeños need to be used.) Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients: 1 T. extra virgin olive oil ½ medium yellow onion, diced small 1 medium green bell pepper, diced small 1 medium jalapeno, *seeded and finely chopped Sea salt and black pepper, to taste 2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped ½ t. dried Mexican oregano ¼ t. smoked paprika ¼ - ½ t. crushed red pepper flakes ¼ c. water 2½ T. fresh lime juice *Optional: 2-3 T. fresh cilantro, finely chopped Directions:
Notes: *Leave the seeds if you want a very spicy salsa, otherwise remove *Southwestern dished use cilantro while most Tex-Mex dishes do not.  Enjoy!
 The secret ingredient in this soup is APPLES. Back in September, we went apple picking. It was so much fun! I made a short video here:   ​ As soon as it turned off cold, I made this soup but forgot to post.... Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes Serves: 4-6 Ingredients: 3 c. butternut squash, cubed 3 large firm apples, cubed 1 medium red onion, chopped 1 T. fresh ginger, minced 1½ t. ground cinnamon ½ t. ground nutmeg ½ t. ground cloves ½ t. allspice 2 T. coconut oil, melted Sea salt and black pepper, to taste 4-5 c. vegetable broth, preferably organic, divided Directions:
 Enjoy!
 I've been in the mood for soup lately. The weather has been cold, and I've been working so much I was craving comfort food. This easy, vegan recipe will warm you up and leave you feeling satisfied.  We love sweet potatoes, and you can see by my recipes, we eat them all the time. Below you will find the recipe for this tasty soup. Healthy Vegan Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 25-30 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients: 2 T. extra virgin olive oil 1 small red onion, diced 1 medium green bell pepper, diced 1 medium red bell pepper, diced Sea salt and black pepper, to taste ½ t. crushed red pepper flakes 1 T. ground cumin 2 t. chili powder ½ t. dried oregano 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 3 T. tomato paste 2 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained 3 c. vegetable broth 1 c. frozen corn ¼ c. fresh cilantro, chopped 2 T. fresh lemon juice Directions:
 Dig in!
 I love Buddha Bowls! These vegan staples are hearty, filling, and simple to create meals that come together quickly.  The stars of this recipe are sweet potatoes and hummus, two ingredients that your family will love! Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients: 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 2 T. extra virgin olive oil 1 t. ground cumin 1 t. smoked paprika Sea salt and black, pepper to taste 6 c. baby spinach 2 red bell peppers, sliced thin 2 yellow bell peppers, sliced thin 2 small cucumbers, thinly sliced 1 c. fresh cilantro, chopped 1 c. plain hummus 2-3 T. sriracha sauce 2 large avocados, sliced Directions:
 Enjoy!  That moment you realize your nail polish matches the jalapeños in your recipe! Matching aside, this was an experiment in baking hashbrowns without cooking oil. I found this recipe on a random vegan cooking blog, and it intrigued me. It was also sans flour or any binding ingredients in the mix. Could that work?? In my opinion no, but plant based Vegan cooking teaches us we don't need 1/2 the ingredients we dump in most recipes, so I thought I would give it a go... I added the jalapeños along with onions to chopped and seasoned potatoes. I followed the recipes...  But it was not a winner. Sadly, that happens sometimes. It could be I missed a step (I didn't. I double-checked, and I even drained the cut potatoes in cheesecloth before baking.) Or it could be the altitude, I do live in the mountains, or it could be any number of things. Does this ever happen to you? You try a new recipe, and it's not a winner? We ate them, but... I won't use this recipe again. Okay. I'm off to match my nail polish to the next recipes! Just kidding... And because someone will ask...  This is the nail polish, it is in the OPI shade: My Gecko Does Tricks #4364011 I've had it several years and don't wear it much and never realized it was so close to the shade of jalapeños!
Catch you later- 🌶  Not the prettiest apple pie I've ever made, but it was eaten so fast it didn't matter!
We went to pick apples here and had an excess of sweet, tasty apples that were begging to be cooked. I have tried a few recipes and most are full of unnecessary sugar. This simple recipe will make a delicious pie and doesn't require extra sugar or take all day to make. I also bought a vegan pie crust and to make it even simpler. I used a large 10.5 deep dish pie plate, but you can adjust this simple recipe to fit your needs. Simple Vegan Apple Pie 2 Prepared vegan pie crusts 2 pounds apples 2 cups natural vegan apple sauce (unsweetened) 2 tablespoons cinnamon 1 tablespoon nutmeg Vegan butter Preheat oven to 350' (read the instructions on your pie crust) Place one pie crust in the bottom of your pie pan. Peel and cut your apples into thin slices. Transfer apples into a medium bowl, sprinkle in spices and stir to coat. Place coated apples in pie crust, add apple sauce till almost full and place the top pie crust over the apples. Seal the edges, and cut small steam slices in top crust and gently brush with vegan butter. Bake for for 50-60 minutes or until the apples are tender. Allow to sit for 20+ minutes before cutting. Enjoy! 
Good morning!
It's a lovely sunny day here in New Mexico. After I shared my veggie haul people were asking me how I prepare the produce I bought, so I thought I would share some simple and tasty recipes over the course of the next few days. One SUPER easy and delicious recipe is: Petite Herbed Potatoes (Vegan, Simple, classic side dish)
Wash and then cut potatoes in half. Place in a medium bowl with the herbs and oil, stir to coat.
Petite Herbed Potatoes are soooooo easy to make. They also make your kitchen smell wonderful!
Place potatoes cut side down and bake.
These petite potatoes are amazing as is or you can serve with vegan sour cream. #OMG Let me know if you make these or are going to try the recipe. I'd love to hear how you liked them.
Catch you later~ **This post contains Affiliate links. I am paid a few pennies if you purchase anything via the link. It does not change the price for you at all and helps cover website costs. I also do not promote any product I do not use or love.  When not traveling, you can usually find me experimenting in the kitchen. Living in the Southwest the summers are so freaking warm that standing over a hot stove or baking seems insane! So I try to eat as much raw as possible. Luckily there are many fruits in season right now. I've had company most of the summer and we've been busy mowing through all this fruity goodness.  While I love figs, cantaloupe and berries, nothing says, "SUMMER" like fresh watermelon!   Surprisingly there aren't that many watermelon smoothie recipes. So i've had to make up my own...  If you follow me on line you know my latest obsession is watermelon based smoothies. So I turned my kitchen into a laboratory and began experimenting! One of my best creations was Kiwi/Watermelon topped with Hemp seeds. It was super quick to make (like most smoothies) and the taste was rich and refreshing. Also this is one of those odd smoothies that doesn't contain bananas.  I put a splash of unsweetened nut milk in the processor with a generous amount of watermelon and 2 ripe kiwis (peeled of course). I also removed the black seeds from the watermelon and blended well.  Topped with hemp hearts. I also tried it with strawberries. (Not my fav.) and watermelon with just nut milk. My son's favorite was mango and watermelon. I actually am not a fan of mangoes but I enjoyed it too. If your melon is ripe it will be plenty sweet and frothy no matter what you throw in. Watermelon is of course, mostly water — about 92% — but this refreshing summer fruit is also drenched with nutrients. According to Live Science.com "Each juicy bite has significant levels of vitamins A, B6 and C, lots of lycopene, antioxidants and amino acids. There's even a modest amount of potassium. Plus, this quintessential summer snack is fat-free, and very low in sodium. Also there are only 40 calories per cup." #Win These smoothies are prefect for a lazy, summer morning.  Doesn't that look good? And did you know Hemp Hearts are incredibly nutritious too?  Plus they also taste good! Hemp seeds are a great source of vitamin E and minerals such as phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron and zinc? If you are worried about protein, about 25% of calories in hemp seeds come from protein, which is relatively high. 30 grams of hemp seeds, or 2–3 tablespoons, provide about 11 grams of protein, so sprinkle this super food on everything! I'm wishing I had a smoothie right now. I'm currently sitting on the patio watching another phenomenal sunset. (This mostly makes up for the scorching heat.)  Catch you later-  127 Blog Posts! This is my 8th blog post of 2018. Last year I blogged 127 times, that makes 10.58 blog posts per month, almost 2 blog posts per week. HEY THAT’S NOT BAD. Considering that it is a luxury to actually have time to sleep. I even made the effort to update the look of the website and added video headers, plus some new pages. I have also opted to add a few affiliate links. I’m actually not sure if I want to continue them, we shall see. I also tried to refrain from bitching about work and being constantly exhausted all the time. My 2018 new year resolution is blog at least 3 posts per week. I have never really cared if anybody reads this silly little blog, it has been more about documenting some of the places I’ve been and the insights I’ve had. So I am always surprised that people do follow. I want to say a BIG THANK YOU! 🙂 for your continued support. Okay back to reviewing 2017...  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...  No, actually it was a good year. I spent most of it in New Mexico.  Which is a state in the USA, not the country of Mexico. Confusing, right?  We are still in the same house. Which we love very much.. This is somewhat surprising. We are still here, on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. I post mostly landscapes and of course food picture from here or random selfies, lol. Honestly I am so in love with the mountains and the blue sky here and of course the house. We have a nice garden and mostly this feels like heaven. So I try to keep the house tidy and minimal even though it's big 2 story with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and a huge bonus room I use for an office, but I don't actually talk much about the house. The kitchen is nice, much better than what we had in the UK, but not as well thought out as the kitchen in France. But it works for us, as you may have noticed I am sharing more food picts and recipes. More Vegan Food I have posted more and more vegan recipes and cooking stuff in general this past year. Mostly because I have been home more and have the ability to cook more. I still want to remind you I am NOT a food blogger.  #MsOneCooks  (Avocado pudding.)  (Mango & Chili Nice Cream) 2017 hair I think I have taken more selfies in 2017 than all the past years combined. Remember when you wondered what I looked like? Yeah, those days are long gone. But back to my hair, it is still blonde - And yes, I’m bored with it. I considered cutting it off this year, but I think I will wait another year. It grows pretty fast though and if I do not flat iron it you can see it is really thick. Using the flat iron may make the style look better - but I hate how thin and flat it looks. :(  See? It's everywhere.  Vs Flat Ironed and styled. Travel in 2017 Travel this past year was sparse. Well, compared to other years when I'm running back and forth to NOLA, Florida or France. But I did mange a few adventures...  Another day, another hotel room... Janurary here in central New Mexico started out snowing... I am still impressed with snow. It was fun for a few days and then it was over. #Goodtimes  Snow around my yard. Jan - left the odd snow storm and headed to New York City. It was dark, cold and snowing there too. But New York is always amazing no matter what the weather is like. This trip was part busines/part fun.  In February we left the dark and flew to Iceland. This was a destination that's been on my son's bucket list for years, but I was not that excited. But guess what? I LOVED IT!  It is so friggen' awesome! And totally not what I expected. It did snow while we were there, but we still managed a night trip to see the Northern Lights. We stayed 7 days and it was not long enough. I'm sure we will return soon.  There was much more Vegan food than I expected and while the shopping is costly you can still find inexpensive gifts too. March was a short Vegas get away and April was me at home planting a garden and experimenting in the kitchen. May I had company and showed them around the area here. You can read about it here. I also started a mini food diary to share what I eat (people still ask) and what I typically purchase at the market.  This is the Isleta Resort and Casino - which my guest always want to visit.  Where I seem to spend 99% of my time..  August I began "What Are You Reading?" A quick review of my recent reads and such. Work was still very busy, but I made my mind up I was going to make time to read and relax more.  I'm an eclectic reader, so people seem interested in what I've read and my reviews. It has been nice comparing notes with fellow readers.  I'm still doing book reviews here and there. September another review and of course the hurricane hitting my home in Texas. I actually didn't talk much about it. Maybe this year I will be able to share more, it's just completely overwhelming. STILL. October was Halloween and I was supposed to go to NOLA for a right old party, but I came down with a bug and spent it in bed. #FML (But look out this year!) November I blogged about American Myths and more book reviews. We debated on going somewhere exotic for Christmas, but decided against it. After spending the holidays in Europe and other amazing places it was nice to just stay in and chill for a change. We did explore around the area, here some. Check out this short video if you want to see an ancient Native American site we hiked. I also posted more about my not so secret love of flowers and house plants this past year.  The bright side of being home more is I am able to garden. So I posted more about gardens and houseplants than ever before. It's not quite an obsession, but almost.  Rescued succulents from the "dead" tray at Home Depot. So all in all it was a great year. We didn't travel as much as usual, but that's okay too. I'm so thankful we are able to live in a nice place, with lots of natural beauty and good people.
I'm also thankful for you, taking the time to read my silly little blog. I appreciate it and the encouraging emails I get from ya'll. Thank you for your friendship and support! Do you have big plans for this year? I can't wait to see what adventures 2018 will bring! See you at the airport- |
Author Welcome to my (I'm excited to travel again) blog, my healthy Vegan lifestyle blog and my life! It's a lot, but it's my passions and I just love to write about it. Visit the "About Me Page" to learn more. 
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