Gettin' Crafty and Snazin' Up the Living Room

Picture this: when I moved in with Pat about seven years ago, he had a crazy-patterned Ikea futon for a couch and an old blue lazyboy loveseat. I added my green plaid loveseat and 70s gold arm chair to the mix, making for quite the eclectic livingroom ensemble.

We eventually got some coordinating furniture covers, which helped a little, but they never quite fit right or stayed on.

So, a few months ago, we finally invested in new furniture! We picked out a beautiful livingroom set in chocolate brown microfiber. We got a couch, a loveseat and two arm chairs - and they all match! It makes me feel like such a grown up to have nice matching furniture!

The only catch was the super-ugly throw pillows that came with them. They almost matched the crazy-patterned futon's throw pillows which we kept because they're so comfy. Add to that the few other funky pillows we'd collected over the years and our livingroom was still kind of a mess.

I'm Thankful for Pie!

Ok, I know Thanksgiving was forever ago. But things were so busy at the time that didn't have time to share all the fun stuff I made.

If you missed it, check out my last blog about the scrumptious vegan green bean casserole I made.

Now for the dessert! What's more Thanksgiving than pumpkin pie? I made two - one for each of our family parties, and everyone loved them.

Vegan Fiesta - Enchiladas, Rice and Beans

I looooove Mexican food! I think I could eat it every day. In fact, I pretty much do. It's usually taco salad, but lately I've been craving enchiladas. I decided to go big and make beans and rice too.

My friend Laura makes awesome beans, so I followed her advice and they turned out awesome! First I soaked them overnight. Then I sauteed up some onions, garlic whatever veggies I could find - a red bell pepper, a tomato and maybe some other stuff.

Back to Bliss-Seeking; My Vegan Thanksgiving Feast

Man it's been a long time since I blogged! Life got a little busy there for a while. And to tell you the truth, I haven't been cooking as much lately. But I have made a few fun things here and there. And I want to get back to it! So, I better share some of my latest creations so I can get caught up.

I'll start with Thanksgiving! It was my first as a vegan and I didn't want to feel like I was missing out on the biggest eating holiday of the year. So, I volunteered to bring several dishes to our family dinner, so that I would have plenty of yummy stuff to fill my plate.

Surprise! Healthy Veggie Muffins

What a crazy few months it has been! I've been training for a half marathon (which is this Sunday!), I turned 35, we celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary, we finally upgraded our living room and bedroom furniture and work has been super duper busy.

All of this hasn't left a ton of time for cooking, but I have managed to have a few kitchen adventures since my last blog post.

One of the fun things I tried to make was veggie muffins. I got the idea from the recipe book that came with the juicer I bought (and since returned.) It was a sucky juicer that shot most of the fruit and veggies straight through. So, they had several recipes for what to do with the pulp.

In Loving Memory of Lady Gwenivere

When I was a little girl we had a huge German Sheppard named Duke. My sister and I would feed him mud pies and he'd bark if the neighborhood kids got too close to our yard. He and our siamese cat Boots And Socks were the only pets we had growing up. We begged my mom over the years, she but never gave in.

Curled up on a couch pillow with her summer puppy cut.

In hindsight I don't blame her, but at the time it seemed so unfair! So I vowed to get a dog as soon as I moved out on my own.

It didn't take long. My first roommate, Nikki, had rescued a lost pekingese and grew very attached by the time she found it's owners. So she was on a mission to find one of her very own. When she found a litter of puppies for sale, I went with her -- just to look! But as soon as I saw those tiny little fluff balls I was in love.

Nikki picked up a little black one, handed her to me and said, "This one's yours."

Kitchen Therapy + Tomatopalooza = Bruchetta and Salsa

It's been a rough few days at Casa de Cagaanan. We have a sick doggie who's getting up there in her years - 15! Over the last week and a half we've made multiple trips to the vet, cleaned up lots of messes and finally invested in one of those pet spot carpet cleaners...

We're crossing our fingers that she will come out of this okay, but in the meantime there's a lot of wait-and-seeing going on.

Last night, after Lady Gwenivere was all taken care of, I decided to finally do something with that giant bowl of tomatoes on my counter, instead of sitting around feeling helpless.

Rice Queen Makes Vegan Orange Chicken

During the college years, Laura and I used to always go to Rice King and order the same thing. I'd order broccoli and beef and she'd get orange chicken and we'd share.

I still love broccoli, but the beef ... not so much.

The orange chicken came with big chunks of bell pepper and carrot. So, when I looked in the fridge tonight and saw those two veggies, I could almost taste our old Rice King favorite.

I decided to try and make it with tempeh instead of chicken. I found a recipe online and changed it up based on what I had on hand and it was pretty scrumptious.

Here's how I did it: