Wow, Saturday already? The busy week flew by as I adjust to new job responsibilities and mapping out goals as a manager. I’ve been making sure to get Miko out for morning walks before work since it could be too cold and wet for those soon and the weather seems to be moving towards fall earlier than usual with highs in the 70s and 80s and actually rain in the forecast when it’s typically hotter and dry.
Eats have been interesting since I’ve been under a little more stress. I made a crazy vegan comfort meal of Annie’s vegan mac n’ cheese with peas and LightLife vegan hot dogs one night. More easy tofu veggie stir fries.
And a loaded salad with creamy garlic and basil hemp dressing.
Hubby and I also made a trip to Nectar Cafe to enjoy vegan taco salad and nachos on the patio with a bottle of wine.
By Friday, we were both drained from a busy week and went simple going to a local Thai restaurant for vegan tofu dishes.
Today we did something more fun. Hubby is obsessed with hot sauces and spicy foods and I’m warming up to them. We headed to The Pepper Festival, a local celebration of hot sauces and peppers with booze and music. We arrived just in time for a demonstration on making hot sauces by Chef Keith Breedlove, which was very interesting and complex. Then moved on to tasting.
I am not a hardcore hot sauce person and stuck to tasting just the sauces, and not the small batch extreme stuff. But I did try all of the hottest sauces and pretty proud of myself for that.
We learned a lot about varieties of peppers, took in some live music, and decided to head home before dinner since the only vegan food option we could find was kettle corn, which is awesome, just not for dinner.
We brought home some new sauces to try each picking two since we can’t fit more in our fridge! I really like the Paulman Acre Fermented Garlic Hot Sauce and looking forward to trying it in salad dressing and air fryer recipes.
I am tired after such a busy week. It wasn’t a bad week, productive and lots of learning. Just tiring and we’re planning to catch up on house projects tomorrow before heading into another busy week. But first, the list!
I must admit, I’m not crazy about that Mac and cheese, but you made it look like the stuff of comfort food dreams right here! That must be the trick: it needs to be doctored up a bit to reach it’s full potential. I’m thinking caramelized onions and mushrooms next time, perhaps…
Yes, it needs more to make it a complete meal. :-) Oh on the onions, must try that next!
Congrats on the new job title! LOTS of neat vegan eats posted here as always! And I love seeing your adventures, too!
Thanks and me too for your adventures!
Hot sauce is my jam. I love it! Thanks for the great links!
Yes, it’s growing on and and I love the varieties.
My husband would love the pepper spice festival! He loves hot sauce. Me not so much! But as a side note~ we have had kettle corn for dinner plenty of times. Oh well =) Have a wonderful weekend Christine!
Haha, I’m warming up to more hot sauces. Not the super crazy ones yet! :-)