Quilts, food and beach sessions

Hey everybody! Hope everyone had a nice weekend. 

When I picked up my mail this morning, I was happy to find that the package that I have been waiting for had arrived! I ordered two adorable quilts on Etsy from Crooked Barn Vintage's store. One for Leeluu (pink) and one for the new baby (blue). They are made wonderfully and look absolutely beautiful in their room! 

I feel totally different with this pregnancy; I'm uncomfortable most of the time and I'm not as big as I have been in the past. Maybe it is the vegan diet, or maybe it has something to do with the gender of the baby! I read a bunch of old wive's tales about gender prediction hoping I may might find some clarification as to why I feel differently then when I was pregnant with my two girls... Although wive's tales aren't very credible, I do like trying to pretend I know what I am going to have!

Last week I made mostly simple dinners; breakfast burritos, roasted vegetable focaccia pizza, carrot soup with quinoa salad, seitan casserole and Mexican-style rice and beans. 

Do you plan our your meals for the week, or just make whatever you can find in the fridge?

Mexican style rice and beans

This is my belly shot at thirty one weeks. I have been going to the beach almost everyday! When Leeluu wakes up in the morning, she peeks out the window and gives me the weather report and then asks " can we go to the beach?" I think I have a little beach bum on my hands!

workin' on the castle

Split pea soup (slow cooker styles!)

This morning I rinsed some split peas and through them into the slow cooker with chopped potato,carrot, onion and couple of bay leafs. By the time it starts bubbling it fills the house with the most amazing "cottage diner" smell. I don't know how else to describe it? You know the kind of restaurant that is off the beaten track, with the home cooked menu mom and pop run. Yep that's the smell (without the grease!) haha

I love my slow cooker. I just throw whatever I want in it and turn it on high. Leave it for 5-6 hours, and a meal is usually made without too much fuss. If you are using dried beans...a little forethought is needed, they need to be soaked overnight. What is great about using dried lentils and peas is that they don't need to be soaked, just rinsed 3 or 4 times and there good to go.

Split pea soup (slow cooker styles!)

2 cups dried split peas
2 potato- peeled and chopped
2-3 carrots-peeled and chopped
1 medium onion- small diced
2 bay leafs
6 cups water
apple cider vinegar
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
fresh mint for garnish (optional)
vegan sour cream (optional)

Put everything into the slow cooker turn it on high ( except the vinegar, salt and pepper, save that for fine tuning). Let cook for 5 hours, stir it up. Season to taste.

leaf inspection

Over the last few days we have found some really beautiful leaves. We have made a collage with some (construction paper and glue), and I am thinking a stain glass leaf window with the other?  We ventured outside this afternoon for some leaf hunting and the little one said she wanted to go back in for a hot cocoa and some snuggles..its getting chilly!

showing off her collection

Chilly night and a yummy meal

Its been raining for days, and the wind is chilly. Last night we got our wood stove up and running. It was really nice to sit on the couch and feel the house warm up. Leeluu loves getting the fire going with her dad, its pretty cute. They go outside and chop wood and then bring it in and declare themselves "fire buddies", while they get it going.

I make a rice bowl meal once a week. I really like brown rice and the veggies are basically all raw (except I steam up some broccoli). There are a bunch of good restaurants that make rice bowls but we live SO far away that I recreated my own.

The key to a good rice bowl is a good sauce! Sometimes I make a peanut sauce, and other times I make a tahini sauce ( I add a garlic clove and some miso) I really like the  reFresh cookbook  tahini sauce too!

Basically for a rice bowl you need to cook up a pot of rice, shred up your favorite veggies. Make a sauce and sprinkle seeds and nuts on, add tofu or tempeh if you like.  Really easy and super yummy!

Veggie pot pie

Pot pie is one of Ocean's favorite meals, since she was 4 ( she will be 15 next month!). I made this last night using Pillsbury biscuits for the crust. I only used 4 biscuits for the tops of the pies, I baked up the rest and we used those to dip! I originally wanted to find some puff pastry, but I couldn't find any that was vegan. 

Although not all Pillsbury products are vegan, I was happy to find something that was. You have to read the ingredients cause it tends to change in different countries. 

Veggie Pot Pie

2 tbsp earth balance butter

1 onion- small diced

3-4 carrots- peeled and small diced

3 stalks celery- small diced

1 tsp summer savory

2 bay leafs

3 cups veggie stock

2 medium potatoes- peeled and small diced

3/4 cup frozen peas

1 cup broccoli florets

2 tbsp tamari

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp sea salt

freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tsp water

1 package Country Pillsbury Biscuits

In a large saute pan, heat butter, add onion and cook until soft.

Add carrot, celery, savory, and bay leafs. Saute for 3-4 minutes

Pour in veggie stock Add the rest of the ingredients except the cornstarch.

Bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are soft. 

Add the cornstarch to thicken. Season to taste.

Scoop into individual ramekins. Roll out the biscuits to fit the top.

Place on a baking sheet and bake at 375 until golden. 12-15 minutes.

Pumpkin Thai Curry

Pumpkin! I made this curry served with vermicelli rice noodles the other night.  I use Thai Kitchen red curry paste for this recipe.I think the overall time to make this meal was about 30 minutes. I didn't use much of the pumpkin for this, so I plan on roasting the rest and using it in muffins and whatnot. More pumpkin posts coming soon....

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion- sliced
2 cloves garlic-minced
2 tbsp Thai Kitchen red curry paste
4 cups pumpkin- peeled and chopped
3 cups water/ veggie stock
1 red pepper- sliced
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
fresh cilantro
vermicelli rice noodles- cooked according to package


In a large pot heat oil, add onions and garlic. Saute on medium heat until soft.
Add paste and stir it around to coat the onions. Add pumpkin and continue to stir.
Pour in water/stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook until pumpkin is soft.
Add peppers and coconut milk. Season with sugar and salt.  Serve over noodles garnished with fresh cilantro.

Harvesting herbs

In the summer I picked up a lemon balm plant at the end of someones driveway. I planted it in the garden and it grew like crazy! I really love the smell of lemon, and when you rub the leaves it releases an amazing aroma of citrus. I Googled it and found out a bunch of cool stuff about this particular plant. It is related to the mint family, a calming herb and you can dry it and use it in tea. So I thought I would try to dry some and see how it does. I also read that you can make pesto with it too! What herbs do you harvest?

Easy-As-Apple & Plum-Pie

Its apple season and I have an apple tree in my yard!

I made this the other day while we had family visiting... we ate it warm with vanilla soy ice cream. 

Easy-As-Apple & Plum- Pie


1 cup shortening
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp cold water

Using a pastry cutter blend up the flour and salt into the shortening until it is crumbly and resembles a sand like mixture. Add water and carefully form a ball using a fork. Don't over mix!
Cut the ball of dough in half and lightly flour your surface for rolling.
Roll out dough until fits pie plate (not too thin- not too thick)

5 apples peeled and sliced
8 plums- cored and sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
2 tbsp flour

Mix up filling in a bowl and scoop into pie plate. Roll out the other dough half and place on top.
Poke 2 or 3 holes in the top and bake at 400 for 40 minutes or until golden.

Roasted tomato soup

As summer comes to an end so do the tomatoes, this is a simple way to enjoy a family favorite.

Roasted Tomato Soup

8 large tomatoes
1 onion- skin on chopped in half
6 cloves garlic- skin on
2 cups water or vegetable stock
fresh basil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

On a greased cookie sheet, place the whole tomatoes, onion and garlic.
With the broiler element at 400 roasted tomatoes until skins break and tomatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.
Let cool for a few minutes..unless you have hands of steel.
With a pairing knife remove skins and core on top.
Place in a blender with onions and garlic- easiest to do in batches.
Add water or stock to desired constancy.
With a fine strainer, push through the soup to get out the seeds.

Garlicky Croutons

Left over bread works best.
Cut into small pieces.
In a bowl toss with olive oil, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, oregano and sea salt.
Spread out on a cookie sheet.
Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes or until golden

Shepherd's pie with miso gravy

This is a great meal to make when you have lots of odds and ends of vegetables. I cleaned out the fridge and used some lentils that I had frozen in the freezer, fancied it up with some fresh chives from the garden! Easy to make for a weeknight meal.

First thing is to get your mash potatoes done. I like using earth balance butter and almond milk with a sprinkle of garlic powder.

Next in a pan saute your veggies and lentils ( or whatever legume you want to use) with some olive oil. Add herbs of choice...I like using sage and oregano.

Put the veggie mixture in a casserole dish

Spread the mash potatoes over the veggie mix. Scoop some earth balance butter on top. Place in an oven at 400 for 20 minutes. After the twenty minutes of cooking brown the top using the broiler element until golden.

 ( make sure your casserole dish is broiler safe!)

Serve with miso gravy!

Miso Gravy

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1/2 onion- minced

1 bay leaf

2 cups water

2 tbsp tamari

2 tbsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water

4-5 tbsp of miso paste mixed in a bowl with a small amount of water, to loosen the paste

3 tsp sugar

freshly ground pepper

In a small pot heat oil, add onion and bay leaf.

Saute until soft. 3 to 4 minutes

Add water and tamari, bring to a boil.

Add cornstarch mixture. Boil until thickens.

Turn down the heat to a simmer. 

Add miso paste. Whisk until smooth.

Season with sugar and pepper

Berry blast smoothie popsicles

Super healthy and easy to make! Just take your favorite fruit and blend with water or juice, or soy milk. Pour into popsicle molds and WA-LA! A great treat for the kids. Not to mention no waste :)

I blended frozen raspberries with orange juice, and blueberries with soy milk. Just make it thick... it is much easier to pour different flavors together.

Tortilla tofu scramble

Tortilla tofu scramble

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion- small diced

1 clove garlic- minced

1 green pepper- small diced

1 package of soft tofu

1 tsp chili powder

pinch of turmeric

10-15 tortilla chips

1 scoop salsa

handful of cherry tomatoes- cut in half

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

In a pan, heat oil add onion and garlic. Saute until soft

Add green pepper and tofu, gently break up the tofu with spatula

add chili powder, turmeric, chips, salsa, and tomatoes.

Stir up, until heated. Season to taste.

She was pretty happy with herself picking out the bread this morning at the market, she had the first piece! 

Bread and butter pickles

I picked up 2 pounds of baby cucumbers last week at the market. I put them in a bowl of water and into the fridge, with plans to pickle them within the next day or so. Little did I know that water was going to be scares.

Our well pump broke, which means no water into the house. So the pickles had a little longer to wait then expected. Its strange when you don't have access to water, you appreciate it SO much more.

When there are electrical outages or storms coming on well water you plan ahead and fill up jugs and such. Some people even fill up the bathtub to flush the toilet! We are expecting a hurricane Monday, good thing I was able to pickle some pickles!

Bread and butter pickles

2 pounds of cucumbers- sliced
2 small red onions- sliced
1 tsp red chili flakes
1/4 cup pickling salt
3 cups pickling vinegar
2 1/2 cups organic sugar
4 tbsp pickling spice

In a large bowl combine cucumbers, onion, chili, and salt. Mix up.

Bring vinegar, sugar and spices to a boil in a large pot.

Have mason jars sanitized to proper canning procedures.

Add cucumbers to vinegar mixture, don't let boil. but simmer for a few minutes.

Stuff jars with cucumbers and seal. Place jars in a large pot of boiling water for 5 minutes.

Remove and let sit until you hear the seal pop! Refrigerate before serving.

Summer grub

Jonathan and I have been working on the house and yard when the weather allows us. Rain and grey skies have been an on-going problem in Halifax for weeks. Today was the nicest day all week, so we, meaning Jonathan doing all the work and me sitting on the front porch watching, took the opportunity to work on the front yard; weeding, hoeing and rearranging our rock wall. A lot was accomplished today but there is still a lot more to do.

My pregnancy has been good, although I am starting to feel uncomfortable at night. I find myself being outside a lot more, and doing a lot less blogging. I am hoping to get my camera back next week and get everything back on track.

Hope everyone has been able to hit the beach or just get outside and enjoy some sunshine :)

Here is a peak at what I have been making...

"breakfast muffin"

"grilled seitan kabobs"

"millet salad with swiss chard and apricots"

"rock wall phase one"