Burgers and Potato Wedgies

So I thought I was trying something new today when I shopped, but I got home and realized it's the same Southwest Style Sunshine Burgers I always buy, the packaging has just changed - quite a bit in fact!

I love these things - all organic, vegan (of course) gluten free - made with ground raw sun-flower seeds, brown rice, bell peppers, jalapenos and a couple other things... a little spicy but SO yummy! (I like 'em with a LOT of ketchup, can you tell?) The buns are wonderful puffy things from a neighborhood bakery - vegan, organic (and yes, obviously white flour, so shoot me!).

The potato wedges are inspired (sorta) by those horrid, dried out, greasy "Jo-Jo" wedges you can get at 7-11 sitting next to the rotisserie hot dogs ( ewww), only, of course, these are quite delicious; NOT dried out, greasy or horrid at all!

"Shake and Bake" Potato Wedgies

4 Russet potatoes, cut into thin lengthwise wedges
1 tsp. salt

1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. onion salt

1/2 tsp. sage

1/2 tsp paprika (mainly for color)

pinch cayenne

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 c. finely ground dry breadcrumbs

1 Tb. oil

Toss potato wedges with oil (use your hands if you want) until thoroughly coated.
Mix all dry ingredients and put in a large plastic bag.

Put potatoes in bag with mixture and shake.

Place wedges in single layer on cookie sheet.

Spray lightly with an oil based cooking spray (like Pam) - I use an all-natural olive-oil spray from Whole Foods).

Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until done and starting to brown. You can cover with foil if you want but they're less crispy that way.

Crispy Tofu and Peanut Sauce

One of my kids' favorite ways to eat tofu, and quite possibly the quickest "tofu" dinner I can make. SOOO easy!

Crispy Tofu and Peanut Sauce

peanut or coconut oil
1 package extra firm tofu, drained between paper towels if you do that sort of thing (I don't bother).
2 Tb. cornstarch
salt and pepper (optional)

1 1/2 cups peanut butter
**1 - 2 Tbsp. coconut milk
3 tablespoons water
2 Tb. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce (or to taste)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
2 cloves garlic, minced (or pressed thru a garlic press)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)


Heat shallow layer of oil in nonstick skillet.
To prepare tofu: slice into 1/2 inch thick slices, set on paper towels to absorb some moisture. Cut slices into squares and then in triangles (or leave in squares - my kids just like them triangle shaped - it all tastes the same though).
Put cornstarch in a shallow bowl. Season with a little salt and pepper IF desired. Dip in cornstarch, shake excess off, put in hot pan.
Fry until golden brown, turn and fry on other side, remove, drain on paper towels.

For sauce: In a bowl, mix the peanut butter, coconut milk, water, lime juice, soy sauce, hot sauce, sugar, ginger, and garlic. Heat over low heat if you want it warmed - I usually serve it cold. Mix in the cilantro just before serving.


Pour sauce over tofu - also YUMMY over veggies, noodles or rice!

And yes - I totally copped out and served this with a generic Asian-blend frozen veggie mix from Trader Joes, tonight - hey, it was still good.

**I freeze leftover coconut milk in ice cube trays and then pop out the cubes into a large ziploc baggie so I can throw a little into sauce and curries when needed, without using an entire can.

Supper Tonight - My Kids' Choice. Scary!

OK, so tonight I didn't have time to plan anything ahead, I hadn't shopped for produce, and I was insanely wiped out from two hours overtime...

So - I went WAY crazy and told my Sprouts they could choose anything in the house - all their favorites, Kids Choice night.

I know they love to cook, (even if it's frozen pizza), but usually I add SOME direction or limits. Not tonight - they could make anything they wanted - to celebrate... um... Mom not having to cook... or... everyone coming home from Ecuador... or something...

Well, they had fun. But I just HAD to post a picture of their supper choices - just to dispel some misconceptions: It's true - I really don't whip up colorful, healthy, wonderful homemade meals every night, and my kids don't always make wonderfully healthy, nutritionally complete three-course dinners, when left to their own choices... (I wish we did, but that's not the way life works and sadly, I am just not SuperMom).

At any rate, it could have been worse, I guess... Here we have: Amy's Soy Cheese Pizza, homemade seasoned potato wedgies (yes, they made those themselves!), onion rings and corn (they included a vegetable). Even so, I'm still scared.

And to close, another picture of our little doggie... still got some health issues, but enjoying life, and happy as ever.

"So, how do you get enough protein?"

"How do you get your protein?"

"What do you eat for protein?"

"You can't get enough protein on a vegan diet."

Do you get these question asked of you by well-meaning (or just plain nosey) omnis? I know I do - repeatedly. Hello? It's not that difficult! Makes me want to wave peanut-butter in their pseudo-worried faces... Today, for no particular reason, the whole "vegans don't get enough protein" myth really bugged me, so excuse me if I vent...

Supper tonight (I just went to Trader Joe's) was a great example of more-than-adequate protein, PLUS, not an animal product in site, and an easy, tasty, meal too! Maybe I'll just take this picture and hand it to those unsuspecting omnis when they ask this question again.

Roughly, (from nutritiondata.com) I estimated about 23 grams of protein, or: 9 gr. in the chickpea curry, 6 in the Trader Joe's "Green With Envy" vegetable blend with edamame (SO yum!), 6 in the pumpkin seeds and oddly enough, 2 grams in the Trader Joe's Micro-Greens salad.

Most of us get more than we need anyway, but try telling a steak-eater THAT! And I, for one, definitely do NOT look like the imagined stereotype; starving, weak, pale, sickly or wasting away...

Before I vent further, here's the Eggplant-Chickpea Curry recipe.

Eggplant-Chickpea (Garbanzo) Curry

(Channa Masala with Eggplant)

1 med eggplant
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 teaspoons curry powder of your choice, to taste
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3 cups water
3 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas drained (garbanzo beans)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Poke a few holes in the eggplant and cook in 450 degree oven until soft, about 30 - 40 min. When cooled enough to handle, cut in half, drain on paper towels for a while and then scoop out chunks. Discard peelings.
Heat oil over med. heat. in nonstick pan.
Add onions and saute approx. 2 mins, until golden brown.
Remove from heat and stir in eggplant, garlic, ginger, jalapenos, curry powder and garam masala. Stir over med. heat for several minutes until spices are fragrant.
Remove from heat.
Add tomato paste, stir well. Add water, return to heat. Simmer for a while until vegetables are well cooked. (I'm not sure exactly how long here - 15 min. maybe?)
When everything is thoroughly heated and cooked together, stir in chickpeas and lemon juice.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Taste for seasoning, adding salt if necessary.
You can serve this immediately, but the flavors are much more enhanced if you allow it to sit for a few hours before you reheat it to just below a simmer.

This is also good served over rice, and garnished with fresh cilantro! Yum!

Home again, Home Again... Part 2

Look who's back from their trip to Ecuador! Finally I can sleep at night - I have my Sprout Family back together!

Yes, indeed. My traveling Middle Sprout returned from her journey to the jungle - with bug bites, dirty laundry, souvenirs, pictures and stories to rival her sister's!


She helped her Grandpa (and others in the group) set up a Medical Clinic for a small village outside of Quito.

I'm so proud, and so thrilled for her; the adventures, the wonderful opportunities, the learning experiences and most of all the memories... but (selfishly, I admit) I'm just so glad she's back home. Very cool!

Veggie-Roasted Pepper Quinoa Soup

This was my lunch at work today. Leftover soup from last night: Roasted Pepper and Quinoa Soup that I sort of "invented" with a bunch of odds and ends a while back... It's so simple and colorful (not so much in the picture). Every time I make it, it's a little different, but basically this is what I do:

Veggie, Quinoa and Roasted-Pepper Soup
1 large red bell pepper
1 large orange bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
8 cloves garlic
1/2 lemon
3 cups vegetable (or vegetarian "chicken") broth
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon fennel seed
2 cups misc. frozen veggies (I used corn, edamame and peas)
1 cup already cooked quinoa

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Halve all peppers (remove seeds) and peel garlic.
Place halved peppers, cut side up in shallow baking dish. Place one garlic clove in each half and squeeze lemon juice generously over peppers. Roast for 1 hour.
Meanwhile pour vegetable (or veggie-chicken broth) broth into a 2 quart sauce pan and add fennel seeds. Bring to boil, cover and simmer.
When peppers are done, remove from oven and set aside to cool. When cool enough to touch peel skin from peppers.
Strain fennel seeds from broth and return to a boil. Add cooked quinoa and frozen mixed veggies. Simmer 15 minutes, reducing amount of broth and cooking veggies.
In a blender, place peppers, garlic and a 1/2 cup broth. Blend just long enough to shred the peppers, but not puree them. You want to see the different colors. Pour the blended peppers into the broth and stir well. Add garlic salt and black pepper to taste. The bright colors will fade if not served right away.

Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce

Dinner tonight was pasta and sauce again. Mushrooms, summer squash, roasted peppers and caramelized onions on the side. :drool:
I don't eat pasta as often as I blog about it, but I'm beginning to think maybe it's the only time I remember to take a picture, as it's always so pretty and colorful and yummy looking. Or, I confess, I just like pasta, what can I say? Tonight I used Eden Organic Saffron Ribbons, they were wonderful!

We also had an awesome green salad with all sorts of veggies, SO pretty, and THAT I did forget to get a picture of. I'm slipping, I tell ya!

Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce:

2 cups fresh basil leaves
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 ounces pine nuts
2 oz. silken tofu (or a couple heaping Tablespoons)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup vegan (Tofutti) sour "cream"
1 cup soymilk
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
In a food processor, combine basil and garlic. Begin processing, and pour in olive oil in a thin stream. Process for about 40 seconds, or until mixture begins to emulsify. Add pine nuts and silken tofu, then blend for 1 minute.
Heat sour "cream" and soymilk in a saucepan over low heat until simmering.
Pour 1/2 of the hot "cream" into the processor with basil pesto, and pulse for 20 seconds to incorporate. Pour mixture back into "cream", and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, serve over hot pasta or use in lasagna.
You can thicken with cornstarch while heating the "cream" part, if you want a thicker sauce, or just use more pine nuts (which is what I did).

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I'll leave you with a picture of the cat in his favorite new resting spot. Not MY favorite place for him to be, but it IS rather funny.

Saturday Night at The Vets'.

This isn't a foodie post or even an upbeat and humorous post I'll warn everyone up front. It's long and rambling, and it does end well, but somewhere in between, I had a hellish weekend with our poor little dog and I just needed to write about it somewhere...

As the title suggests, I spent Saturday Night at the 24-Hour Emergency Vet hospital with my (well, my daughter's!) little Boston Terrier - "Chelsie".

So this is the story: my two older daughters, "J." and "O." (the dogs "owner" and "mommy") are out of town this weekend, and I was home with my 7-yr. old. About 10pm we were done watching Spiderman (SUCH an exciting Saturday Night, I know!) and headed for bed.
Now, I let my youngest Sprout sleep with me when big sisters are gone (I know, like I said, my life is SO exciting!) so we headed into bed, and as usual, our little Boston ran ahead of us, but then she suddenly started wobbling and staggering drunkenly and then keeled over right in front of us, all stiff with her eyes glazed over.... I wasn't sure if she was having a seizure or heart attack or even breathing or what, and of course I was FREAKED out by this, (though trying to stay calm!) and doubly freaked that my 7-year-old had to see it all.

Well, she (the dog) was breathing, but stayed there all stiff and lost control of her bladder and bowels and so I just sat and patted her for a good five (eternally long) minutes... then she wobbled to her feet and went and laid down in the corner.
So I called the 24-hour Emergency Vet and they of course said BRING HER IN immediately (but the wait was 2 - 3 hours as they were very backed up. :frown: ) !

So I got her leash, and told my very tired little daughter to put clothes on over her jammies... when Chelsie heard her leash jingle (she LOVES walks!) she jumped up and went tearing around the room like a wild thing. (She's normally VERY VERY hyper!) Miraculous recovery or what?

So now I'm wondering WHAT is going on. We head to the vet though, which is way the heck 30 miles away in downtown big city scary land - I'm praying the whole way that I can find the place, that the dog will be OK, that I can even AFFORD treatment... and I'm still so shook up I have to have my 7-year-old read street signs...
So we get there, an aide took her vital signs when we arrived - everything was OK at the moment, but they needed to evaluate her further of course, and wanted us to wait for an open exam room...

Fast forward two-and-a-half hours (because you don't want to hear a detailed account of us sitting in the waiting room with an extremely large bald man who kept um...passing gas... and an elderly lady who must have been very hard of hearing because she SHOUTED everything. She had a cat in a carrier that was screeeeeeching like it was dying...- and maybe it was, I don't know - ugh).
So, the whole two hours Chelsie is her normal, hyper, bouncy self; pulling on the leash and jumping around and barking and trying to go make friends with the screaming cat and the fat bald guy and the Zombie-bride receptionist and the buzzing Coke machine and.... to say my nerves are SHOT is an understatement at this point...

I tried talking to my friend Froggy some on my cell but couldn't hear much with the animal noises... HE was worried too, he adores Chelsie and they always have SO much fun when he's here... he did help me feel better - A LOT, which I really needed at that point...
Well, after reading a two-year-old copy of Newsweek to my little Sprout and hours of noise, we finally got to an exam room and (after much MORE waiting) a vet examined her, did some chest x-rays and so forth... (and after much, much, M-U-C-H MORE waiting) he determined my poor little Chelsie-dog has heart failure - a hart murmur and fluid in her lungs... OK, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised? I know she IS an old dog, (well, 11 - and the life span for Boston's is 11 - 13 years...) and actually healthy otherwise, the vet said this breed tends to get heart problems easily... but she runs around like a puppy all the time, I wouldn't have had a clue...

Well, they wanted to monitor her heart over night and do more blood tests, an EKG and a bunch of stuff - for 1175$. I really had to work hard at not becoming completely hysterical at that point, cause even though I wanted to do anything to help her, I don't even come close to having that kind of money...

Anyway, so the vet broke it down for me and showed how with the tests, they would be able to tell me how much longer she'd live and if she would have further fainting episodes. they could determine an exact dosage of medication that might help control the fainting, reduce the fluid in her lungs, and a lot of other things.

On the other hand, he assured me she wasn't in any pain or anything, just short of breath (I thought, "she's been jumping all over the waiting room for two hours, of COURSE she's out of breath"...) anyway... so I opted to take her home then and there. We got a prescription (Lasix, like they give human heart patients) that will last to the end of the week and we have to go to our regular vet to get a refill...
So................................ around 4 AM we finally arrived home, all of us exhausted and shaky and insanely tired... I have to say my littlest Sprout was a real trouper and never complained or whined once.

Well, two days later - Chelsie's feeling better I do think. She takes her medicine just fine and is as chipper as ever; the vet said to keep her calm and not let her get excited (HELLO? She's a terrier!) while she adjusts to it. He said he really couldn't give an exact estimate on how long she'd live without more tests, but with medication, probably another year or more, as long as she doesn't do something to cause herself to have cardiac arrest (oh great!). Her heart condition will continue to get worse though - no medicine can stop that unfortunately, but it doesn't cause her any pain, just slows her down.

I'm just crossing my fingers (praying mostly, cause I do that sort of thing) she'll be OK until "O." (her, "mommy") gets back from her trip (She's with Grandparents in Ecuador - long story for another time) fortunately she comes home in just a few hours! I am excited and relieved.
"O", my Middle Sprout, is my over-the-top-full-of-energy-emotional-basket-case-drama-queen child (hmm, like me much? ah, never mind)... If something had happened to her precious dog while she was gone, I do not KNOW if she would have ever left the house again - I seriously don't.

We head to our regular vet on Wednesday. I'll post an update if there's anything new. Sorry for the downer post, I just needed to straighten out all my rambling thoughts - I'll be back with better stuff I promise!

Curried "Chicken" Pitas

I'm probably more of a "fake meat" fan than many veg. type people, but I swear I don't use it ALL the time.
It seems that recipes I post often do have it for one reason or another. Maybe because these seem to be the recipes that people request and are the most popular with my friends and family? Who knows.
You could probably use tofu, tempeh crumbles or any "chicken-y" seitan product here, I just happen to like the taste and texture with the Morningstar product.
At any rate, here's our lunch.

Curried "Chicken" Sandwiches

1 Package Morning Star Farms Chicken-Style Meal Starter Strips,
thawed but NOT cooked
(or other vegan "chicken"-strip style product).
2 stalks celery
1/2 small, mild onion
3 Tb. Vegenaise or to taste (depends on how much dressing you like)
1 Tb. sweet pickle relish or to taste
2 tsp. Madras curry powder, or to taste (I use lots more)
pinch salt
pinch sugar
pinch sage
couple grinds black pepper
1/4 cup golden raisins or dried cranberries
2 Tb. chopped, roasted cashews (or peanuts or almonds)

Leaf Lettuce
Pita Bread
Mango Chutney (optional but it's good if you just happen to have a jar of it randomly sitting in your fridge).

Put "Chicken" in bowl of food processor and pulse several times until chopped medium-fine (or as chunky as you like it - my kids like it finely textured, I like it very chunky).
Dump in a small mixing bowl.
Put celery and onion in food processor and chop coarsely.
Add to chicken.
Put Vegenaise, relish and seasonings in small bowl and whisk with a fork. If too thick add a bit of soymilk.
Mix dressing into chicken mixture.
Adjust seasonings to your taste.
Stir in raisins and nuts.
Serve in pita bread, with lettuce and chutney.
Insanely yummy-liciousness.
Makes about 3 or 4 pita

----Thanks to fellow VBer "sallyomally" for the wonderful suggestion of adding chutney and almonds (sorry, all I had was cashews and they tasted pretty good so I went with those). I think chopped apples or grapes would be good in this too!

Bumper Stickers and BBQ Tofu for Supper

First news of the day: I added a new bumper sticker to my Mom-van and just have to show it off. (The Vegetarian one..).
This event is impressive in itself because I'm actually not a 'bumper sticker' fan... but someone gave me "Who Are These Kids..." a year or two back and EVERYONE said it was so "me" that I just had to put on the van's pristine, unadorned backside. It gets great comments absolutely all the time (which I find weird since I never notice, much less comment on, other people's adesivo com frases humorísticas... but I digress).
Anyway, my kids found and LOVED the new "Vegetarian" bumper sticker especially for it's 'sprouting' reference, ('cause I always refer to them as my "Sprouts" of course). I figure a little PR for a vegetarian lifestyle is a good thing, but that's the last one - no more humorous adhesive on my hiney!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Next, a simple but most excellent supper made by myself, and my friend Froggy-boy. We both thought it was worthy of a passing mention here just for it's simplicity and delicious-ness alone.

• Kale with roasted red peppers and sesame seeds. (No recipe, that's all there was to it.)
• Baked Tofu with BBQ sauce. (Again, no recipe, just slabs of tofu, baked with sauce - sooo yummy!)
• Garlic and Herb Oven-Roasted Potatoes (Recipe below)

Garlic and Herb Roasted Potatoes

6 Yukon Gold Potatoes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp. finely grated lemon peel
2 garlic cloves (You KNOW I used more than this!)
large handful fresh basil leaves
2 - 3 sprigs fresh thyme and sage
1 tsp. onion salt
Seasoning Salt (I use Johnny's 'cause it's made nearby in Tacoma, no MSG and way cheap) and pepper to taste

Cube potatoes. Place in roasting pan or shallow rectangular baking dish.
Put all other ingredients in food processor and blend until liquefied. It will be thick and green and garlick-y.
Pour about 3/4 of the mixture over the potatoes and mix well. (I use my hands).
Bake at 450 degrees for 45 min. or until starting to brown and crisp. Stir several times.
Pour remaining seasoning mixture over potatoes, toss well and serve. Yummmmmm.

There were no leftovers.

Indian Treats; BESAN LADUS

I know I've had Besan Ladus (sometimes spelled ladoo, laddoo or laddu) before, and I don't remember why they didn't impress me all that much but my friend Froggy just made me some VEGAN ones and they were just INSANELY, addictively good!

Oh my GOSH!

I seriously had to restrain myself or I would have eaten W-A-Y too many. I'm not one to worry about calories over much (yes, maybe I should - don't go there) but these things are VERY rich, calorie dense and wicked-good.

Besan Ladus are an Indian treat made from besan flour (garbanzo/chick pea flour) sometimes sesame seeds and traditionally, ghee (butter), but Froggy modified the "traditional" recipe somewhat using coconut oil instead. The results? DEEEEEEEEEEEE-lish!

Besan Ladus:

1 cup besan flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil or as much as it needs

1/4 tsp. cardamom powder

tiniest pinch of salt

2 Tbsp. coconut milk

2 Tbsp. sesame seeds (optional, but add a toasty crunch)

1. Heat about 1/4 cup coconut oil, add sesame seeds and besan flour. Stir over med heat for a few minutes to toast (or roast) slightly, until you get a good toasty aroma started. Watch it CAREFULLY and do not brown or burn, it should be golden.

2. Keep stirring and add sugar and salt; taste it, add more sugar if you like.

3. When sugar is thoroughly mixed in, add cardamom, stir again and add as much coconut milk, by tbsps, to form a stiff, but stirrable, dough.

Do not add too much milk as laddus will be be sticky when making round balls. Use your judgement.

4. Remove from heat, cool slightly in fridge. When cooled but still pliable, take a Tablespoon-size lump, (or smaller) squish it to form a basic ball shape and then roll in your palms to make a ball like you did with playdough when you were a kid.

Place on a plate, store in fridge if you can stand it...

That's all there is to it! EASY!

Ecuador! Home Again, Home Again...

Several of you have asked if my oldest Sprout returned safely from her trip to Ecuador.

Thank you.

I'm happy to report that J-Sprout's home safe and sound with hours of DVDs she'd recorded, hundreds of photos and all kinds of crazy stories about five-inch tarantulas and swimming in waterfalls.... Sounds like they had a blast.
(That's her on the right, standing exactly on the equator with two of her friends.)

The trip was sponsored thru Maranatha International and involved a bunch of students and staff from her school. While in Ecuador, the kids (well supervised, I was assured!) built a classroom for a school and a medical clinic I think. (As well as having days off for shopping, sightseeing, and whatever else teenagers do in foreign countries).

The crazy thing is that my middle Sprout (J's younger sister) just headed out with Grandparents for a similar trip. ALSO to Ecuador ironically. Grandpa is a retired Physician and goes on various medical missions all over South America - often taking older grandchildren along - this will be middle Sprout's first trip;

For your entertainment, amusement or viewing pleasure, here are two more pictures from my J-Sprout's trip - an open-air market as seen through the eyes (or camera lens) of a 15-year-old... this is her third (or maybe fourth?) trip like this, so she's an old hand at taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the local area...
Wish I knew what half those beautiful fruits were called!

(Caution, she was going for "Shock-Mom" value here with the pix of the meat market stall..).


Can we all just say "EEEwwwwwwww!!!"

"Frog on a Log in a Bog" Blog

Friday, the day dawned amazingly blue-skyed and beautiful - especially for April (and it was nearing the end of my Spring Break!!), so I grabbed my friend, and fellow vegan, 'Froggy', and we took off for a walk at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. (Froggy the person, not the little guy to the left - though we saw him on our hike - hence the name of this post...).

Being that the entire Puget Sound area had just emerged from a long, cold, damp winter, I didn't have high hopes of seeing much in the way of wildlife, but we were pleasantly surprised! (That's a picture of us, NOT the wildlife, by the way!).

There were birdwatchers, hikers and photographers all over the park, enjoying the unexpected weather just as we were. That didn't seem to scare
the birds and other critters away though.

Nisqually Wildlife Refuge has miles of great hiking trails (any trail that's flat is a favorite in my book!) many of them are raised boardwalk that pass through wetlands and marshy areas which are home to tons of different types of birds.

In the fields out out past the marshy area, we saw huge flocks of migrating Canada Geese (another person on the trail estimated there were several thousand geese in some of the flocks...wow!).
We also saw a fledgling baby Great Horned Owl-let. Pretty far away but SO fuzzy and cute! I was so excited to see him, and amazed at how big he was!

We spent quite a while watching this little guy swim around. I wasn't even sure what he was until a helpful fellow hiker identified him as a muskrat. (Silly me, I thought he was a baby beaver with a skinny tail - HA!) He was nibbling swamp grasses and towing mouthfuls of weeds away through the water to his home (? den? cave? I don't know where muskrats live).

Then there were wood ducks (which are shy and not usually seen too easily), hooded merganzer ducks, mallard ducks, snow geese, red tailed hawks, marsh hawks and many, many other birds I don't know the names of. In fact the only reason I can pretend to sound knowledgeable about a few species is due to the many hikes my avid bird-watching parents used to drag us kids on...

A wildlife photographer I am NOT, so excuse the blurry, small, far-away pictures, but I was so excited about all the critters and the breathtaking day, I just had to share them with everyone... (one final picture of some Hooded Merganzer Ducks).

My funny, furry friends!

Besides three wonderful human children, my house is also inhabited by several furry 'children' and for lack of something better, I thought I'd introduce you to two of them.

Today, when I had a bazillion errands to run, of course, my four-legged companions somehow sensed my hurry and were ever-so extra "helpful"...

First of all, after a trip to the doggy manicurist (groomer) for a nail trim, my Boston Terrier, Chelsie, decided that she should be rewarded for her troubles with a trip thru the drive-up window at Starbucks! (I have no idea how she learned this, since, of course I would never stop there *cough*soy-mocha*cough*).
Every time we drive by the place, she absolutely goes bananas - climbs in my lap and won't get down until she gets a treat. Must be able to smell it or something!! Fortunately, the kind baristas there know her smooshy little face well! They think she's hilarious barking and trying to "speak" into the drive-up order speakers and always humor her with a small spoonful of whip cream...

Back home again, our youngest kitty - Jack-the-Pirate-Cat, (named by my 7-year-old) decided grocery bags were great play toys, (as all cats seem to) only he took this particular bag hostage on the kitchen floor, plundering and pillaging in fine Pirate style, and pretended to attack anyone who came near. Must be those great Trader Joe's colors, heehee!

He wouldn't let me put it away for several hours and by then it was in shreds all over the kitchen.

Thanks for the help guys!

Hummus!

I've been so insanely busy the last few weeks, I'll try and post the pictures/adventures that I have saved up!!

Today for lunch I went super-simple: hummus and veggie sandwiches.

The hummus is from an idea I got last time I was visiting in New Mexico. Green Chile Hummus. :DROOL! SLURP!:
I promise it's NOT spicy though, the chiles are very mild.

The sprouts are daikon radish sprouts from the Asian market and one of my FAVORITE sprouts! (Except for the sprouts also known as my kids - of course :) Also known as Kaiwarena, they have silky crisp white stems, crisp green leaves, and a peppery bite; they're a good source of Vitamins A, B, C, E, and K and minerals: calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and copper. Who knew?

Here's my hummus recipe, for those who are interested. I never seem to have tahini around so always use peanut butter instead, and no one seems to mind - I also use freshly -cooked garbanzos but I think this turns out fairly well with canned, too.

HUMMUS

4 cloves garlic
2 cups home cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas are the same thing) with some of the cooking liquid OR 1 - 15 ounce can, drain and reserve liquid
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 tsp. ground oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika (if you have it)
2 tablespoons plain soy yogurt or Tofutti Soy sour "cream"

3 Tb. frozen or canned roasted green chiles

Mince garlic in the bowl of a food processor or run thru a garlic press.
Put garlic, along with 2 tbsp. reserved liquid from garbanzos, and remaining ingredients, except green chiles, in the blender - (a food processor works, but will not produce as creamy a finished product).
Process until smooth, adding additional reserved liquid as needed to reach desired consistency.

Chop green chile coarsely in the food processor. Add to hummus.

Mix well, add more lemon, salt or pepper to taste and chill for a couple hours.

Quick Apple Crisp

So, we finally found Soyatoo Soy Whip Topping at our local health food store, a week or two back, and it's been sitting in the fridge just waiting for a dessert to top.

So Saturday Night, My middle Sprout got a craving for dessert with whipped topping, and decided it would go best with an Apple Crisp type of thing (at 9:00 at night, no less!) but she didn't want oatmeal or nuts in the "crisp" topping. "Good Luck!" says I.

Hmmm... so then she considered making a pie, but we were out of several ingredients there too,... after some searching the Internet, and the kitchen cupboards, she came up with this recipe. I was skeptical, but it turned out quite good and she's impressed me yet again.

The original recipe (sorry, not sure where she found it) called for a spice cake mix, which we did not have, (and I had never heard of being used in an apple crisp) but my Sprout found and substituted a yellow cake mix which still sounded weird but had very tasty results! I can't remember what brand she used, but it was some name-brand box mix that I'd discovered was "accidentally" vegan then had never gotten around to using.

Also used way less sugar than the original recipe called for, and the butter (obviously) was changed out for Smart Balance Light because that's what we had. I usually don't recommend Smart Balance Light for baking, but in this case it seemed OK.

Here's what the recipe looked like after all her "tweaking":

Quick Apple Crisp

6 Granny Smith apples - cored and sliced thin. (Sprout didn't peel them - I think because she was in a hurry! but they turned out fine. You could peel if you want, I suppose)
1 tsp. flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup Smart Balance Light, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Toss apple slices with flour, white sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Arrange apples in an even layer in bottom of baking dish. Pour water and lemon juice over apples.
In a medium bowl mix together cake mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Stir in melted butter or margarine until ingredients are thoroughly blended (you might not need it all); mixture will be crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over apples.
Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes.

Warm from the oven with the Soy Whip? Amazing stuff! (Both the apple crisp AND the soy whip!)