WIAW The Tardy Edition

"It's just one of those days, that a girl goes through."

No nothing bad is happening, but it is just one of those days where my post should have been What I Ate Wednesday (from Tuesday's food).

Let's just say good intentions and a hungry stomach collided and didn't provide me with photographs for you.

So instead of writing about the lame food I didn't photograph I want to give you "What I (wish I) Ate Wednesday" via the delicious foods I have seen posted this week on other blogs.

Breakfast I would love to have eaten some Pumpkin Oat Bran courtesy of Lisa at Healthful Sense.

picture from Lisa's WIAW post here

For lunch I would have enjoyed spaghetti squash and "meat" balls from Laura at Sprint 2 The Table

picture from Laura's post here



To finish off the day veggie paelle from Sharon at Bit of the Good Stuff

picture from Sharon's recipe posted here

No day is complete without a little bit of dessert and for me I would go with chocolate, because it is so very tasty.  Here is a terrific chocolate banana freezer pie from Dani at The Healthy Hippie.

picture from Dani's post here

I hope you enjoyed my day dream and that you go and visit these lovely ladies because they have some fabulous stuff on their blogs, it is joy for me to read their posts daily.

Jenn thank you so much for hosting this party, 45 weeks strong.  Everyone please head over to Jenn's blog Peas and Crayons and see what other lovely bloggers have been eating!!!

Also be sure to enter my giveaway here for Mama Pea's book Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love.

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Thanksgiving Antics

So most bloggers have put up their Thanksgiving recaps and I have not.

Well today I am going to stop procrastinating be fashionably late and show you what fun was had by my family on Thanksgiving.

We celebrate every year in Cashiers, NC where my mother-in-law lives.

Cashiers is in the western part of North Carolina and is very beautiful if you like mountains (read: curvy roads that make you sick).

I will just show you a couple of highlights of our meal (both organic turkey and tofurky were served).

The table was set

Owen and his Uncle Kent

My mother-in-law Anita

My husband Kyle getting things ready

Uncle Kent and Aunt Ashley waiting to eat

The fun didn't stop with our meal.  I hear my husband yell "Hey come here" (he is outside).

I come outside and find this:

Apparently Owen has no fear of heights and just got up there with the men to clean out the gutters.

The trip would not have been complete without getting our traditional Christmas tree (which has to go up after Thanksgiving). 

We hit up the Fowler Tree farm and had a great time enjoying the VERY warm weather.

Not a functioning outhouse...just for looks

"Timmmmmmbbbbbeeerrrrrrrr."

Of course we had some treats

Owen having maybe one too many cookies

Andrew with his "Nana."

We had a wonderful holiday and I hope that all of you did too.  

Do you have any traditions that you do at/after Thanksgiving?

Don't forget about entering my giveaway here for Mama Pea's book.  It is open until tomorrow (Wednesday November 30th).

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Pealightful 100th Post and GIVEAWAY

I have mentioned before that I fell heir to my grandmother's recipes and cookbooks upon her passing.

It has taken a while to go through all of them and see what treasures I have.

One that I perused this weekend was called Look Who's Cooking !

Produced in 1954 by the Junior Women's Club of Norfolk, VA (it only cost $1.50).

The book is made of chipboard and the title was painted on (you won't find that in Barnes and Noble).

The pages of the book were lovingly typed on both sides:

I selected Date and Nut bread to make (recipe provided by Dot Carswell), I veganized it:

1 C dates chopped fine
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C Earth Balance, melted in
3/4 C boiling water
1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax and 3 Tbsp water...this is my substitution)
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C chopped nuts (I used almonds)

Mix dates, sugar, Earth Balance, and water then allow to cool.

Add remaining ingredients and bake for 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees.

You come out with a delicious, not too sweet, moist morning treat to be enjoyed with a cup of coffee or tea.

Or maybe you enjoy it while perusing your copy of this:

Oh sorry my bread got in the way :)

Yes today in celebration of my 100th post, no please don't stand and applaud, I am giving away a brand new copy (purchased by me) of Mama Pea's Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love.

I am so excited to have made it to this first blogger milestone and I really have to thank Mama Pea because she is one of my strongest inspirations for actually writing a blog.

She is so witty, slightly inappropriate clever, and of course full of fantastic recipes.

Did you know her book made it to the New York Times Best Seller List?  Yep sure did.

So I want to share the Pea love with one of you (and there may be some dough balls included with the book).

Each of the following items will score you an entry:

1) Comment on this post (anything will do I love to hear from y'all)
2) Follow my blog and comment to me that you did (or if you are already following let me know that)
3) Put me on your blog roll and then comment that you did (or if you already have let me know)

The giveaway will be open till 11:59 EST Wednesday November 30th.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to your family from mine.

Here are a few Thanksgiving cartoons that I, as a vegetarian, thought were funny.

Have a great Thanksgiving and safe travels!

The cartoons provided were merely for a little holiday fun and not to offend so I hope you take them in the humor they were meant.

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WIAW Just Before Thanksgiving

Hello to one and all, Happy Wednesday!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I know we are all eagerly awaiting that delicious meal and a joyous time with our families.

A quick shout out to our host Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for having us all over to her place (if only she would make us a make and serve up some kombucha...we can all dream).  Hope you and Paul have a great holiday.

Now on to my eats.

This week I am excited to feature my first green smoothie for breakfast.

That puppy is chock full of kale...YUM!

For lunch I had my favorite Field Roast hot dog along with some broccoli and sweet potatoes
.

For dinner I wasn't too terribly hungry so I had some chips and homemade red pepper hummus (so much better then store bought)

I did have room just a little later for the last slice of my pumpkin spice cake that I made here, it was good to the last bite.

My day was completely delicious and full of foods that I love.

What did you eat this week that was delectable?

Again have a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe trip to those who are traveling.

Also a quick preview of what is to come.  Monday I will be posting my 100th post (yeah me) and I have a very Pealightful gift to give one of my readers...so stay tuned.

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Nana's Sour Cream Pound Cake with Cinnamon Crunch

Today I am featuring another recipe by my Nana, hopefully you won't get tired of her recipes.

I fell heir to her recipes boxes and books and have just had a wonderful time going through them and pickig out the ones I wanted to try.

For some reason, I don't know why, but the desserts are always the first ones I want to do.

So today I give you Sour Cream Pound Cake with Cinnamon Crunch

4 eggs
3 C all purpose unbleached flour
1/2 lb butter
2 C sugar
1 pint of sour cream
2 tsp baking soda

Crunch Mix:
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C chopped nuts (I used my almonds again from my milk experiment)
1-2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar together and then add your eggs.

Add in your sour cream and incorporate.

Add flour and baking soda and mix completely.

Put 1/2 of your batter into a greased 9x13 pan.

*Here I used two loaf pans instead of a 9x13

On the batter sprinkle half of your crunch mixture.

Pour your remaining batter on top and then put the rest of the crunch mix on top of that.

You will have nice layers of batter and crunch, but to mix it through out your cake use a knife and swirl it through the batter a few times.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour if you are using loaf pans.

When the time is us this is what you'll be rewarded with:

Just remember to let it cool off because it is REALLY hot when you cut that first slice (I may have a small burn in my mouth to attest to this safety issue).

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday.

Just to let you know I will be hosting a Pealightful giveaway on Monday in celebration of my 100th post.

Have a great day!!!

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Nana's Pumpkin Spice Cake (vegan style)

This weekend was unseasonably warm here in North Carolina.

Just when I thought the cold weather was here to stay we had a bright and sunny Sunday which involved lots of playing outside.

Before we played we had to make a stop at Costco after church.

Somehow I don't know how...this ended up in our cart:

Yes I now have the mother of all blenders and I am more excited than Andrew in this picture.

The first thing we made you ask?  A green lemonade...which was delicious and refreshing for a warm Sunday.

I also made this which is perfect for Thanksgiving or any of the other 364 days of the year.

Nana's Pumpkin Spice Cake

1 2/3 C sifted all purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 C light brown suger (firmly packed)
1/3 C shortening (softened)
1 C canned pumpkin
1/2 chopped nuts (I used leftover almonds from my almond milk that I made here)
1 egg (regular or flax)

Put all of your ingredients into one bowl and mix until incorporated (you just can't get any easier then this).

At first it will look like this:

Put the batter into a greased 9x9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

It will come out looking like this:

Now I did add a quick icing (powdered sugar, Earth Balance, vanilla, and a splash of almond milk).

This cake is so moist and full of spice.

It would have been delicious on it's own (making it more a quick bread), but with the icing you take it to a whole new level of love.

Show someone you love them and whip this up.

Do you have a dessert from a relative that you love and is easy?

I hope you all are having a wonderful Monday only 3 more days till Thanksgiving....YEAH!

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