I'm nursing a new baby obsession.
An upcoming camping trip has thrown a new Vegan challenge down.
Are we up for it? Do we say "Fie on the Vegan way!" and hit every McD's and convenience store along the way and eat all the things we've been avoiding? Vacations can bring that mindset out in me.
How can we stick with the program, and possibly save ourselves some tummy trouble, too?
I feel more than slightly confident that we indeed can with a lot of planning and organizing I really, really think we can.
So, my friend Google has directed me to some recipes that, of course, I need to tweak and make my own. I have menus picked out, some of the ingredients frozen and ready to thaw for their proper meal while keeping other things cold in the meantime. Tofu may make an appearance, Seitan will, Tempeh is going along for the ride in two different meals. Quinoa is invited to the party and black beans will be joining him. Dahl and Vegan homemade naan are on the list. And. We bought meat and will serve it with a smile because meat eaters are traveling with us. But the meat is organic, so even though one of God's furry creatures died, we feel better about serving the product of the deceased.
While tweaking and planning I had a truly serendipitous moment. One of the sad facts about Vegan is the egg thing. As in eggs are dairy, have a mother and when hatched, a face, or at Easter time, too, but I digress.
You can make French toast without eggs. REALLY and TRULY. Oh happy day. Sometimes a girl just needs French Toast. This one anyway.
Crazy easy. Crazy good. Seriously. (I made a batch and froze them for quick reheating over the campfire.
French Toast
Ingredients.
2 Ripe Bananas (we used the overripe ones we've stashed in the freezer)
3/4 Almond Milk (TJ's organic vanilla)
1 and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. (Or a mix of cinnamon and other spices -- ginger, nutmeg)
1 teaspoon of almond extract or vanilla or 1/2 of each.
10 or so slices of bread (whole grain is good)
Prep a griddle with melted Earth Balance or Vegan fat. Toss bananas, almond milk and seasonings in blender or processor or just mix by hand really well, until smooth. Pour some of the "batter" on a flat plate or in a pie pan. Quickly dip and coat both sides of the bread and lay on the griddle. Continue. Cook like regular French Toast.
Not too bananay and I was afraid it would be...like the brownies made with banana (fail). Really, really tasty. And I'm wondering if we couldn't use pumpkin in the place of the bananas for a yummy fall treat. And use traditional pumpkin dessert spices. I'll let you know when I try that one out.
No doubt I will have stories about Vegans in tents, after a proper recovery time. : ) for all of us.
Couldn't have been a nicer day on the farm. Mid to high 70's with a sight breeze blowing. The ground was steamy and wet and odoriferous with green, growing life. At times, when I crouched low to snap a buried Swiss Chard stem, the heat from the ground was almost sauna hot. Picking was silent some of the time, just the pop of snipped greens, and the rustle of leaves. Other times easy conversation punctured the steamy silence.
My fingernails are stained olive drab and my fridge is full of produce.
Satisfying, satisfying, satisfying. Sigh.
The packing went quick and the boxes were pregnant with delicious offerings. Pictured are some of the gorgeous offerings... a handful of purple beans, garlic, broccoli and cabba
ge.
BROCCOLI "BEEF"
We made a stir fry out of just picked broccoli and snap peas. It maybe was the best stir fry I've ever had. I was starving...that always helps, but, yum.
We had Trader Joe's "beef" seitan in the freezer so we tossed that in. (Highly recommended!)
with the broccoli,
snap peas,
some frozen peppers,
onions and
brown rice that we had cooked previously and frozen.
Quick and delicious.
I made a sauce out of : 1/4 cup sesame oil,
1/4 cup plus
1 TBSP soy sauce,
1 minced garlic clove,
1 tsp sesame seeds,
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes, and
3 TBSP slivered almonds.
Poured it over and stirred it up.
Yum!
Last day of this introspective, change your life posts. Ten is a decent round figure.
Finally, add the whole FlyLady concept to your life. Her theory is that you make use of the time you have rather than put things off until they feel out of control. One month I took a modified suggestion from her and forced myself to get rid of ten things every day for a month. (Okay, I could do this with papers, but I took it to a more challenging level some days.) A giveaway box in the corner of a closet collected a lot of stuff we just weren't using. I loved it. And probably should make it a habit to do at least three times a month.
Though I don't get her emails for follow her plan I love her attitude and proactivity.
If you want to look into her here's the link. Beginning Baby Steps eases you in. But there's a lot of extra coaching. I found Hot Spots under day 6
interesting and something I need to focus on. I have two table hot spots...and uhhhh... well. She coaches that tiny bits of time every day or so saves us from the big horrendous things like spring cleaning. And a little organization makes life a little more like living.
I dare say we could take her concept to other areas of life. Just like when I did the 21 Day Project and made copious amounts of progress on the book. Since then, I've barely touched it, and guess what? It's not like I have a ton more time on my hands. Everything was fresh and right in front of me and in my mind for 21 days. If we could take the important things in our lives and put them on a must do list every day I wonder what difference we'd see in our lives.
If every day I made it a habit to contact each of my kids and tell them that I love them. Or hugged and kissed my husband just because. Or made a promise to myself that I would make five positive statements for every negative statement that comes out of my mouth. Or I spent two minutes really praying and ten really reading the Bible. Or twenty minutes taking a walk or ten minutes just talking with my husband. All of that time wouldn't add up to much. Might cut into commercial watching or mindless surfing. But would I really miss those? I wonder if those changes wouldn't multiply blessings in my life.
Worth thinking about.
