From Summer to Fall

Hello dear readers, and welcome back to my blog.

My summer passed by so quickly, and now it's hard to believe it's suddenly Fall.

A summer day in Alaska.

I had a beautiful but busy summer traveling between Nevada, Alaska, and Minnesota visiting my family.

In July, my youngest son and daughter-in-law were married in a lovely outdoor wedding in Minnesota. My three little granddaughters were such cute flower girls!

The wedding brought family from far and wide who I hadn't seen since the passing of my dear husband in 2022. It was all so touching, and beautiful.

~~~

Autumn is my favorite season, and this year, I'm spending it at my desert home where it is hot and dry.

When I first started my blog, way back in 2014 (has it really been 10 years!), I devoted the entire month of October to my favorite pumpkin recipes. One of those recipes, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, is still one I look forward to making every Autumn. It's simple to make, delicious, vegan, and easily adaptable if I've run out of an ingredient, or two.

Yum!

This loaf was made with all-purpose flour, oat fiber, coconut brown sugar, Miyoko's Plant-Based Butter, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

~~~

Until next time, have a beautiful and peaceful Autumn,

Kim

Vegan Pesto

Hello dear readers, and welcome back to my blog.

It's been a busy Spring here at my desert home in Nevada with family visiting, planning for my youngest son's upcoming wedding, and also making plans for my return home to Alaska. But I wanted to pop into my blog and share my recipe for Vegan Pesto before Summertime begins.

I love the flavor of traditional pesto on pasta or as a pizza sauce, but after adopting a vegan diet in 2019, I began purchasing a store-bought vegan pesto. The store-bought vegan pesto was tasty and convenient, but I really wanted to come up with my own homemade recipe. So after a little trial and error, I discovered the Follow Your Heart brand of vegan parmesan. I simply replaced the dairy parmesan with the Follow Your Heart Parmesan in a basic pesto recipe, and I think the results turned out pretty good.

Let me know what you think in the comments, and have a very happy Summer.

Vegan Pesto

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup packed fresh basil, destemmed

1/2 cup pine nuts

2 Tbsp. Follow Your Heart Vegan Parmesan

3 cloves garlic

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. olive oil

Instructions:

1. Destem basil and place in food processor along with pine nuts, vegan parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, and salt.
2. With motor running, slowly add olive oil until mixed. Stop to scrape down sides of blender, if necessary. 
3. Serve immediately on pasta or pizza, or store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

A healthy basil plant from the grocery store.

Cookies and Granddaughters

Hello dear readers, and welcome back to my blog.

Remember way back in 2020 when I shared my easy 4-ingredient vegan peanut butter cookie recipe, and wrote that this would be the first recipe I would make with my granddaughter? Well, I finally had the opportunity to make these cookies with not only my oldest little granddaughter,  but her baby sister too!

I doubled the ingredients so we could make bigger cookies, and more of them!

Here's the recipe for a double batch of

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies - 15 cookies

Ingredients:

2 flax eggs (2Tbsp flaxseed meal plus 6 Tbsp water)

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together flax eggs, let sit for 5 minutes.
2. In another larger bowl, mix together flour and brown sugar.
3. Add peanut butter, and combine until mixture is crumbly.
4. Add thickened flax egg, and combine.
5. Roll dough with hands into balls, then flatten with fork.
6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Keep an eye on them, they can burn very quickly!

Crispy Tofu

I can never have enough tasty tofu recipes, and this crispy pan-fried tofu is one of them. It's delicious with a favorite salad, or added to a stir-fry.

 Tonight, I mixed it into a stir-fry of rice, red onion, red bell pepper, and baby spinach.

Yum!

Crispy Tofu

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

1 block tofu, extra-firm or firm

1 Tbsp soy sauce, or tamari

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp corn starch

1 tsp garlic powder

3-4 Tbsp oil for frying (I prefer avocado oil)

Salt, optional

Instructions:

1. Press tofu. If you're not sure how to do this, near the end of this post, I share how I press tofu.
2. Cut the pressed tofu into 1/2" to 1" cubes.
3. Toss cubed tofu with soy sauce, then the flour, corn starch, and garlic powder until evenly coated.
4. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. It's best to use a good non-stick pan for this recipe, otherwise, the tofu might stick.
5. Add tofu to hot pan in a single layer. The tofu should sizzle as you add it.
6. Cook several minutes until browned, then flip tofu until browned on other side.
7. Sprinkle with salt if desired.

In the Wild of Changing Things

 Let July be July,

and let August be August.

And let yourself

just be

even in

the uncertainty.

You don't have to fix everything.

You don't have to solve everything.

And you can still find peace

and grow

in the wild of changing things.

~ Morgan Harper Nichols

Going Home

His house was perfect,

whether you liked food, or sleep, or work,

or story-telling, or singing,

or just sitting and thinking, best,

or a pleasant mixture of them all.

- J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit

Smiling Again

Hello Dear Readers,

After my husband passed away suddenly last June, there was a time when I thought I could never smile or laugh again. But God had other plans for me. He blessed me with these two beautiful baby granddaughters later that year. They have brought the smiles and laughter, and pure joy back into my life. They are such a precious blessing.

I also wondered if I would continue posting on my blog, or even keep it.  I thought, what was the point? I'm no longer living full-time in Alaska, or cooking much anymore. But after looking back at all my posts of not only recipes, but the beautiful memories and stories of the last nine years, I decided I just couldn't give it up.

So dear readers, the stories and recipes on my blog may look a little different moving forward, but the beauty and love of family-life will remain the same. I'll be back again soon.

Love,

Kim

~~~

He will give you beauty for ashes,

the oil of joy for mourning,

the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

~ Isaiah 61:3