Today I didn’t leave the house at all, except for a long dog walk, and it was wonderful. Yesterday was a busy day with my grandma. Last week she turned 93, so I spent most of the day with her to celebrate taking her to lunch then shopping. She gave up driving years ago, so she loves getting out when she can and for some reason she really wanted to go to Applebee’s for lunch. Even after I tried suggesting many other options, it’s one of her favorite places. Not my choice since going vegan means modifying a salad to an unsatisfying pile of lettuce, a few veggies and nuts – good thing I bulked my breakfast smoothie with protein powder.
After I took her to Wal-Mart – again, not my choice! But she wanted to load up on canned foods, a new phone, and some frozen veggies. It’s been years since I’ve been in a Wal-Mart and, well, I was reminded why! I did get a workout lugging the loot to her 10th floor apartment and that’s all good. It was actually a great day, I enjoy spending time with her and hope I can be as active and driven as her at 93. She’s even still writing books and as a retired well-traveled debate instructor, I never get tired of listening to her stories or getting toasted by her at dominoes.
All that fun yesterday left little time to catch up on house work today, so hubby and I hung around the house tackling yard work, laundry and kitchen projects while Shadow soaked up the sunshine.
Today’s weather felt like spring for a refreshing change, and I spent some time admiring the gorgeous blooms on our apple tree.
And the bees working on them.
I salvaged all the dinosaur kale from the last of our winter crops to freeze for smoothies since we’re getting ready to re-do all the garden beds.
And I finally created another jar of cultured veggies after learning how to nearly 3 months ago from Stacey.
Took me long enough, right? :-P But that last jar lasted over a month in my fridge, through many salads. So this is something I want to do more of because that monster jar is much cheaper than paying $5 for a small container of sauerkraut from Whole Foods. This time I used red cabbage and sprouted lentils to see how they do and used dill to season the liquid. I also used a sliced broccoli stalk to brace the veggies under the liquid since I didn’t have celery.
If you’re interested in doing your own cultured/fermented veggies, see this post.
I remixed last night’s Hemp Seed Alfredo leftovers for a quick lunch adding spinach and sprouted lentils to them for an Alfredo salad, it was wonderful!
It went perfectly with a big bowl of coconut oil popcorn. :-)
Dinner was also laid back, I roasted acorn squash in the oven with a little coconut oil, pumpkin pie seasoning and stevia and served with one of my favorite raw soups, Gena’s Red Pepper and Hemp Soup.
Not sure why, but I adore that soup paired with roasted squash, carrot fries or sweet potato fries. I think the slight sweetness complements the savory spice in the soup perfectly.
Have you ever tried sauerkraut or cultured veggies?
Don’t you love a day in? I had a very similar day and work up so refreshed this morning. Ahhhh.
I want to try the sauerkraut or cultured veggies. I wasn’t sure about which probiotic to use but you provided a link to your original post so now I know!
Yeah, but I feel like I could use more days at home just tackling home projects. :-)
That’s a good probiotic to use, I found it in the chilled vitamin section at Whole Foods. Kind of wild putting pills into the Vita-Mix, but it seemed to work very well for the last batch.
So ironic you posted this today…I was JUST thinking about that post and wondering about fermenting and then bam, you post this. I love the veggies you chose in this batch. I need to get some probiotic powder and try it.
That, and sprouting my lentils…I have just been soo…..busy!
The pic of your apple tree and blossoms is just gorg!
Too funny, it’s a sign that you need to ferment. :-) That probiotic is actually in a pill form and you just drop one pill in water with some salt and seasonings and blend it in the Vita-Mix before pouring over the veggies. The last batch came out really well.
I hear ya on busy, things have been crazy at work and I’m just craving some down time to catch my breath. Lucky you’re going on vacation soon – so jealous! :-)
I had a couple of days purely at home too this weekend– and they were really nice!!! Sometimes, it’s nice to just stick around the homestead!
So true, but I think I still need more days at home. :-)
How long did you roast your squash for? I love that it’s just half a squash in its skin, so much easier than peeling and dicing!
I roasted it cut-side down in a little water to steam it for 40 minutes, then I flipped it to crisp the edges and roasted for another 20 for a total of an hour. You can microwave it much quicker, but I love the texture the oven roasting gives it.
thanks :)