Butternut squash and shopping at the health food store

The other day I was out and about and I went into a health food store I have never been. I am always like a kid in a candy store when I come across a health food store. Especially one of those small ones that have jam packed items going multiple shelves up. You never know what you will find. One of the items I purchased was a soy milk powder. I usually order a non dairy creamer from a vegan website but I wanted to see if I could find it in the store. So far I have not found it but on the back of the powder it said you just mix it with water. So, I figured I would try it as a creamer for coffee or tea when I am in need. I carry around with me the creamer so when I am somewhere that has no soy milk, I just pull out my powder. I will let you know how the soy milk powder works out. Other items I bought that day were bean sprouts (a mixture of them), carrots, tofurkey deli slices, my favorite tofurkey Italian sausages, mozzarella by follow your heart and vegan parmesan cheese. I like to stock up with the vegan parmesan cheese. Oh, and I did buy a vegan veggie roll for lunch which I ate with the carrots. (like a veggie roll in a Chinese restaurant) I only needed a few things that day and usually those are items I need to get in a specific store. I do find that the regular supermarkets are starting to sell some more vegan items. But I still have to go to a health food store for certain items.
I had wanted to share with you a Butternut squash risotto recipe that I tried from the Woman's day magazine but I could not find it online. Maybe because it was in the October issue it is not there yet. But this was my first time cooking a fresh butternut squash. I have had it before and always enjoyed it but I usually bought it frozen and pre-cut. It was not hard to peel or cook. I veganized the recipe by simply using vegan butter and cheese that it called for. The next squash I am going to cook for the first time also will be acorn squash. I think it is wonderful to try new vegetables and you may find a new favorite.

Thank you for coming to my blog and I hope to see you again soon.

Gnewvegan

Saving Lions and Tigers

I watched a show today on an actress that devotes her life to saving and caring for lions and tigers. It is a very good cause and I thought I would share the link.

http://www.shambala.org/

Thank you for coming to my blog. Please come back again soon.


Gnewvegan

Adopt - A- Turkey Sponsorships

The Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY is a compassionate place which rescues, cares for, educates, and offers new beginnings and hope to animals that without them, had no hope. Animals that were seen as a means to justify an end instead of as loving and innocent. I had the pleasure a while back of going there and when it was over I adopted a pig named Joan Jett whom I sponsor. For the Thanksgiving holiday the sanctuary has what they call adopt a turkey where for 25 dollars you sponsor a turkey for yourself or as a gift. This donation helps the farm continue its valued work while educating people about other ways to enjoy Thanksgiving without a Turkey having to be the main course. I thought I would share this link with my readers.





http://www.adoptaturkey.org/



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Gnewvegan

New Frozen Dinners

As much as I enjoy cooking there are times when I am just not up for it. There are not many vegan frozen dinners that I have found. Usually I would buy a dinner by "Amy's". I like the veggie meat loaf the best that she makes. Lightlife sells products that I use for my cooking such as the bacon and veggie crumbles. When I was looking through a store circular I saw that they now have come out with frozen dinners, six variations. The store that I went to only had three of them. I was excited thinking they would be vegan being I use their products already. Well, of the three the store had (a pasta one, Mexican one and Asian Teriyaki) I was only able to have one which was the Asian Teriyaki. It was good but I had hoped I could try the other ones. I looked online at their site and wrote to the company to request they consider making more of their dinners vegan friendly. They wrote back right away and did say they would send the request to the designated department. Hopefully, I will come across the other variations to see if they are vegan. Here is the website.


http://www.lightlife.com/product_category.jsp?c=entrees

Thank you for coming to my blog. Please come back again soon.

Gnewvegan

Hello Again....

Hello again to all,

The last time I wrote was back in June. I was hoping at that time to be able to write like I had been. But, Life continued to take me on a journey that did not permit much writing time. I enjoy doing the blog sharing my recipes and experiences with my readers. Now that I finally have a computer again that will indeed help. Today is a rainy day and the pretty colored leaves are falling to the ground as the wind and rain surround them. It is a warm feeling driving being surrounded by the multitude of colors so enriching with flavor. I can not believe how quick the year has gone by and soon the Thanksgiving feast will be upon us , snowflakes and santa and his reindeer. Even though I have not been able to write I have continued to cook and see what recipes I can "cook" up. :) Today I will share a quick microwave dish I did the other day. I did not measure this one, just threw it together in a pinch. It was tasty.
I found organic brown rice that you put in the microwave and in less then two minutes it is done. I had not seen that before and found it really good when you do not have a lot of time to cook. First I took my microwave steamer and steamed some frozen broccoli. After that I cooked the rice. Then I cooked a vegan "chickn" patty by Boca. In a dish I mixed the rice with the broccoli and broke up the broccoli throughout the rice. Then I broke up the chick patty into bite size pieces and added that to the rice and broccoli mixture. I mixed some marinara sauce in there with some vegan parmesan cheese. Yum... Quick and easy.. This is my tip for a quick meal.

Thank you for coming to my blog and I hope to see you again soon.

GNewvegan

Israel Couscous and Lentil Salad

It has been some time since I posted anything. Life has just been busy. So I like to make recipes that are quick and easy. I made this salad recently with ingredients on hand and I was pleased. You can use whatever salad dressing that you like. Or you can make your own. I used rasberry vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and various seasonings like basil, parsley, onion powder, etc . These are all dry spices and typical spices you would find in Italian dressing. I think I may have added adobo all purpose seasoning. You just use what you like.

Israel Couscous and Lentil Salad

Serves two

1/2 cup lentils, sorted and rinsed

1/2 cup Israel Couscous

3 cups water

1/2 of a 3 oz small onion, sliced (I like to leave in small rings)

2 medium tomatoes, sliced and halved if pieces are too big

salad dressing of choice or make your own

-Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a 2 quart pot.

- Add the lentils and simmer, stirring occasional for ten minutes.

- Then add the couscous and the other 1 cup water. Cover leaving a slight opening for steam to escape. Bring to a boil, uncover and simmer for another ten minutes stirring occasional.

- Taste the mixture and see if it is soft and tender.

- Drain into a collander and run cold water over it until it is cooled down.

- Put in a bowl and mix the rest of the ingredients. Enjoy.

Thank you for coming to my blog. Please come back again soon.

Gnewvegan

Sharing more recipes

Besides creating my own recipes I enjoy trying various recipes. As from the previous post where I shared a chickpea recipe that I enjoyed, I am posting two more links for recipes I have enjoyed. The first one is a recipe by Goya which I veganized. This was easy to do by simply using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and vegan sausage instead of chorizo. I used the Italian style sausage by Tofurky. Because these sausage really only need heating up this dish took less time to cook. I just cooked it until my desired consistency of the sauce. I made it not to be a soup letting the sauce thicken and adhere to the ingredients.

http://www.goya.com/english/recipes/recipe.html?recipeID=&isSearch=1&searchFor=chickpeas+garbanzos&whichpage=1

The next recipe I had tonight and it is by Woman's day. It was a nice spring orzo salad. I did not have to change anything. I just realized I did not add the sugar to the orzo recipe, I forgot. But I enjoyed it. Both recipes were simple and quick to prepare. These are nice dishes to do especially when you are tired and want to spend limited time in the kitchen.


http://www.recipezaar.com/spring-orzo-salad-362121


Thank you for coming to my blog. Please come back again soon.

Gnewvegan