Vegan Easter Feast

Some of Greg's friends from work were asking questions about Christianity and about Easter,

so he invited them to join us for Easter Sunday (RESURRECTION Sunday!) at church

and a lovely vegan feast afterward.

Of course, this was a tricky proposition because I as the chef and hostess ran 1:1 (special needs) programs in two out of the three services on Sunday morning, and lunch was right after the third (which I attended), so I wasn't able to prepare the food during that time.

Happily, I was fairly energetic during the week and into the weekend, so I made the food on Saturday

and hoped that it would taste okay reheated in the oven on Sunday.

Here's what I made . . . 

Sweet potato patties (to be eaten in buns like burgers):

Seasoned roasted potato rounds:

Cashew butter crinkle cookies:

and cinnamon cupcakes (with crosses to celebrate the Resurrection!)

I also set up the table centerpiece.

I put all sorts of things there that symbolize NEW LIFE

(trees, succulents, eggs).

Greg was pleased to give his friends a tour around our church facility.

Most of them are engineers, so they enjoyed his explanation of how he volunteers (as a sound tech)

and they were interested in all the sound equipment.

While they were touring, I had time to come home, have a quick snack, and then think through the best way to heat everything up.  Beans in a pot on the stove, potatoes and sweet potato patties in the oven.

The potatoes got a little browner and crispier with the second baking,

but they sure tasted good.

I piled up the patties in a pan and popped them in the oven along with the potatoes.

They were definitely no worse for the wear.

I'm surprised my eyes were open and I was smiling by this point!

After lunch,

foosball attracted everyone quickly!

We hung out for a bit longer, and then everyone needed a nap!

I'd been up since 5:30 am, but it was already late afternoon, so I kept myself awake to be able to sleep in the nighttime.  Greg and I did some online browsing, some reading, some cat snuggling . . . 

pretty much brain dead.

Two cats on the coffee table - dangerous!

by the way, I'm very much enjoying this book series . . . very interesting!

Stephen, drooping, as usual.

Special Daddy snuggles:

I hope you had a joyful Resurrection Sunday!

HE IS RISEN!

(Read the story here)

Goings-On

I have a very helpful cell phone holder!!!


Best looking one I've ever seen!

Yes, it's been another less energetic week and I haven't been able to figure out why.
I had a follow up with my doctor last Friday, and my blood work wasn't looking that much better.
Slightly better, but I still have more than three times the antibodies I should have, and they've only gone down slightly since we started treatment with T3.  Sigh.

Affirmations:
I believe I will get better.
I AM getting better already!
I am much better than I was two months ago or six months ago or a year ago.
There will probably be more improvements like the ones I've already seen.
There's more healing yet to come!

It's lovely to have tastes of health along the way. 

Here are some jeans that are in my Macy's basket, waiting for a good enough sale.
I adore the crochet along the ankles.
I don't absolutely love the fading on the thighs, so if they do go on sale, I may not end up purchasing them.  I keep looking at the photos, though, and thinking how cute and springy they are!
Great for the not-frigid Arizona desert winters.

 I found a couple of hidden outfit shots in my phone that I thought I'd share . . .

dress: Haani
bag: Kenneth Cole Reaction
Shoes: Target

dress: Tacera
bag: Kenneth Cole Reaction
shoes: Target

I've felt really good about what I've been cooking lately.

I'm planning to film some "what I eat in a day" videos, but I keep forgetting until lunch time, when breakfast is already finished!

The meal pictured below was for both Greg and me (for more than one night for sure!)

I made Greg a spaghetti sauce with faux-beef crumbles in it.  The crumbles had a weird texture and weren't the best; I will try a different brand if he wants to try faux meat again.

The big pile of veggies is for me, as well as the brown rice pasta in the pot behind them.

I browned sweet potato, zucchini, onion, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper in vegetable broth and then threw in some frozen spinach at the very end.  I ate it on top of the brown rice pasta with some Himalayan pink sea salt sprinkled on top.  Delicious!  I love how browned vegetables are sweet.

Greg's friend Mahesh from work had a birthday and it was celebrated at an interesting restaurant in Arcadia.  The neighborhood was adorable, with cool shops and interesting nooks and crannies everywhere.  The restaurant was called North Italia.  They had gluten-free options, including a gluten-free pizza crust.  The normal toppings were meaty and very cheesy (it IS supposedly an Italian restaurant, after all, which these days is known for meat and cheese . . . but I think traditional Italian food would be more vegetables and less meat and cheese).  I asked them to put on whatever vegetables they had in the kitchen, and I got a very interesting mix.

Cauliflower
Broccoli
Asparagus
Beets
and maybe some other stuff I can't identify from this photo.
Not the best pizza I ever had, but it was definitely edible!

Greg had some pasta.

It was a large group!

The birthday man is the one with the mustache near the balloon.

Greg is the photographer (photo-documentarian!) of the group most of the time.

And he does a great job!

Sometimes he even manages to smirk at the same time!

Our desert plants continue to enjoy the beautiful warm weather (it hit 91 today for the first time).

One of our teensy little cacti shot up TWO huge flowers as big as it this week.

Look how tiny he is!!!
It must take a lot of energy for him to produce those gorgeous blooms.

Here's another sneak-peek of our newly redesigned patio . . .
there are still a couple of things I want to adjust before I film the reveal, but it has certainly been lovely to spend more time out there in comfort and beauty!

Slightly gory bonus:

On the way to get the mail a couple of days ago, we saw this perfectly intact little finch head . . .
with no body!

I am amazed that a predator could rip of a bird's head that neatly.

A few steps further, we found a wing.

No blood, no gore.  Just a wing.

Poor little birdie.

I hope your week has been interesting and enjoyable!

Spring Flowers!

The weather has been wonderful!

This time of year it's usually already unpleasantly hot, but so far this spring,

we are enjoying cool (chilly!) mornings and evenings with a few hours of warmth in the afternoon.

The plants are happy and they are flowering all over the place.

Above, you see one of our agave, which send up a trident of trumpet-like flowers.

Hummingbirds love these flowers!

Below are the oleanders that live between our house and our neighbor's house to the north.

On the south side of the house, brilliant bright pink and clean crisp white bougainvilleas are blooming.  Stephen likes to sit in the window and admire the view (and sniff the air!)

I love his little curly tail! 

I mentioned a few weeks back that I had been pondering patio revamp ideas . . . 

and we've revamped!

I will do a full walk-through reveal of our exciting new entertaining area, but until then, here are some little hints about what we've done.

We bought a bunch of new stuff and cleaned off the worn out (and broken!) stuff, and it's looking wonderful.  Here's a close-up of one of the rugs and the directions to assemble our new table.

Surprisingly, it was really chilly that evening and I was a bit tired out, so I was extra cold (thus the sweater!)  Greg is REALLY good with those wordless Ikea instructions, and he created this table!

Here's a close-up of one of the seating areas . . . 

Table top:

Some more (faux!) plants in adorable pots:

On my parents' last evening in Arizona for this winter, 

we had a nice dinner (we ate outside on the patio!)

Our neighbor is a hunter and had hunted a javelina ("have-uh-LEAN-uh").

Here's a javelina:

Our neighbor told us that javelina meat needs a lot of seasoning . . . 

so I decided to make it into chalupas.

In the original recipe (a family traditional meal for my family of origin), pork is used.

A number of years ago, I stopped eating pork (even before I became vegan), and I won't even buy it anymore.  It's dangerous (find out more here and here and here) and pigs are too sensitive and smart to eat.  I wouldn't eat javelina, either, but I cooked it for Greg and my parents.

It smelled DISGUSTING.  Like rotting meat.  Greg and my parents thought it smelled like skunk.

Apparently it didn't TASTE like that, though; it was pretty tasty after being cooked.

The texture was flaky and tender after a lot of cooking (simmering on the stove for five + hours), but initially it was stiff and poked up out of the sauce.  Ew.  Meat is dead and icky.

We usually put chalupas on top of Fritos and then pile on the veggies.

Some people choose to put on cheeses, too (not me, though).

I put out red cabbage, tomatoes, yellow peppers, red peppers, orange peppers, shredded carrots, lettuce, spinach, black olives, green olives, guacamole, and salsas.

I usually have cheeses available just in case people want them.

Here's how it looks when assembled!

It was a lovely evening!

I will miss my parents a LOT, but we really had a wonderful winter.

Throughout the winter, I kept gaining energy and stamina and my mood and personality kept getting more stable.  I wish I had felt well the entire time, but I'm thrilled that I am feeling as well as I am and that we got to make fun new memories!

At TJMaxx

At TurnStyle consignment store

Have a happy day!