Last week, Pops & I went up to Tahoe for a quick Fall visit. Pops had purchased one of those special 2 night hotel deals on TravelZoo for a nice little lakeview room on the South shore. The weather was chilly, but the sun was shining and the days were gorgeous. As you look down […] Read more…
My Homestead
cooking, vegan, recipes, family, gardening at Lita’s house
Homestyle Breakfast
Some days, we really keep eating simple around our house…especially breakfast. Having tasty items available from the garden helps a lot, too. One of Pop’s (my hubby) favorite breakfasts are what he calls “Homestyle Breakfasts”. This basically means something hot, fresh, quick and tasty. For this breakfast, I simply added some coconut oil to a […] Read more…
Brain Food Bar
Today, my Conscious Box came!! Do you subscribe to this program? I’m subscribed to the “vegan” version and I’m always so happy when it comes and I can sample new vegan snacks and products to see what’s out there. Most of the items that come each month are items I have NOT tried – which […] Read more…
Lemon Rice
Look at this delicious – and easy to prepare – rice dish I recently found at Costco! It’s made my Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Foods, is vegan, organic and, most importantly, is DELICIOUS!! Most evenings, by the time I get home from work and working out, all I want are easy dishes to prepare for dinner. […] Read more…
Vegan Lasagna (with Tofu)
Happy Meatless Monday! Happy Vegan MoFo 2013! Just happy HAPPY! Today I want to share the vegan lasagna recipe (well, kinda a recipe) that I made last weekend. When I say “kinda” a recipe it’s because most of the time I start with a recipe, but almost always I end up improvising due to a […] Read more…
Vegan Snack ATTACK
Yep, vegans love to snack too!! One of my FAVORITE nut snacks is Mrs. May’s Almond Crunch!! So stinkin’ tasty!!! I love having a couple pieces – especially while sitting at my desk in the afternoons. They’re so satisfying and yummy! Mrs. May’s makes a ton of other tasty, vegan snacks too – check out […] Read more…
Work Day Lunch Share 1
In following with my Vegan MoFo 2013 vegan shares…here’s my first office lunch this month. All the standards here – variants are usually what I add to the dish. Today though, I kept it super simple. Some salad and some cubed tofu a light dressing and…. a little watermelon – YUM! Sometimes I top […] Read more…
Garden Fresh – A Vegan Restaurant
This past weekend (after another fun bike ride), Pops and I tried a “new” (to us) vegan restaurant in Mountain View, CA called Garden Fresh. What a delicious find….a wonderful vegan Chinese cuisine delight!! First, we began our meal with the Basil Moo Shu Rolls. These were served cold and were a perfect treat after […] Read more…
Happy Labor Day
Happy Labor Day everyone! Aaahh how nice to have an extra “weekend” day. Today we’re having the kids over later for dinner and I’m making a vegan lasagna (which I will share photos and details of later). I used to make lasagna a lot, but haven’t in a while and this time instead of hunting […] Read more…
Vegan MoFo 2013
This year I’ve decided to give-it-a-go and participate in Vegan MoFo. What does that mean? …well, for the next month I will post a TON about being vegan…food, recipes, products, etc. AND it’s not just me posting throughout the month…many, many other very cool vegan bloggers will be posting a TON too – and I […] Read more…
Biking Fun in San Francisco
So, lately I’ve been a little bit obsessed with cycling. Well, maybe not a little bit…but rather a big bit! Years ago, Pops and I used to ride a tandem together – ride a whole lot actually – as in over 1,000 miles one year. We also took a bike tour and rode across Italy […] Read more…
HOME
Last week Pops and I took a mini trip down to Malibu and the Central Coast of CA (more on those stops later), so finding out today’s word for Susannah Conway’s August Break 2013 is “HOME” seems so appropriate. Returning home means we’re back with our little sweet potato – BUBBA! love this little stinker! Read more…
PLAY (ball?)
Ready for day 11 of Susannah Conway’s August Break 2013! The prompt today is PLAY!! Something Bubba is always ready for!! I think everyone needs a Frenchie to play ball with! Read more…
RED
Day 10 of Susannah Conway’s August Break 2013! focuses on such a happy color…RED! Summertime red can truly mean watermelon!!! YUM! I also found this “red” photo that I took while visiting a shop in Pescadero a few weeks ago. I really love the color red…maybe that’s why the cabinets in my kitchen are painted that color! […] Read more…
Taste
Day 9 of Susannah Conway’s August Break 2013 – word of the day – TASTE! What could be yummier than the Summer cook-out tastes? My summer favorite…corn and black bean salad – with chopped peppers, tomatoes, red onions, a little olive oil and salt and pepper….yes, please! Raw veggie plates – pretty much a […] Read more…
Diagonals
WOW today’s prompt from Susannah Conway’s August Break 2013 was a bit tough for me….Diagonal! hmmm…browsing through my pictures, this one above is what I came up with – a shot from Thailand, near the border into Myanmar – in the “Golden Triangle”. Kinda works, right? How about this one…notice the angle of the streets centerline: […] Read more…
Close-Up
Ready for Day 5 of Susannah Conway’s August Break? Today, our prompt is “Close-Up” and I just happen to have these photos of a little squirrel eating some snacks out on our back deck. He’s a hungry little guy – in need of a manicure! He’s really enjoying that piece of tortilla…and, suprisingly, he’s not being bothered […] Read more…
Love
Here we are at Day 4 of Susannah Conway’s August Break 2013 and the word for the day is LOVE! AND who doesn’t know how much I LOVE this little French wonder boy?!?! I have so many goofy names for him it would be hard to fit them all in here…but the all-time favorite (and one […] Read more…
Yellow
You’ve probably guessed by now…Susannah Conway’s August Break day 3 prompt is Yellow is also my mother’s favorite color! AND a sure sign of summertime is the availability of fresh summer yellow corn! Happy Summer! Read more…
Circles
Here we are with Day 2 of Susannah Conway’s August Break 2013! Today’s theme “Circles” fits perfectly with these photos I recently took of Pops in his Scout Patch jacket. How cute is he in this jacket his mom made for him when he was a young scout? She sewed all the patches on herself! He […] Read more…
Breakfast – Earnest Eats
Okay, so I just happened to get lucky here…day 1 of The August Break just happens to be “BREAKFAST” AND I just happen to have a review ready for my new absolutely favorite of all times Hot & Fit breakfast cereals EARNEST EATS! First of all, when I was asked if I wanted to try this […] Read more…
August Break
Sooooooo…I’m sure you’ve noticed I’ve been a tad bit of a blog slacker lately. Trust me, this is not due to having nothing to say! It’s truly due to having no time to write!! Since it is Summertime, I guess this can be expected. (excuses, excuses, I know) To try to keep things hopping and […] Read more…
Skagway Alaska
Skagway – “Gateway to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898” – was the second port we visited on our Alaskan Cruise. Definitely known as Gold Rush territory. Many people came here hoping to strike it rich after gold was found on August 17th, 1896. Now, the gold wasn’t discovered in Skagway, but some 600 miles […] Read more…
Juneau Alaska
As many of you know, if you follow me on Facebook, Pops and I went on an Alaskan cruise this past June (over his 65th birthday). Pops had never been on a cruise before and I had been on a short one to the Bahamas with my mom a few years ago. That trip followed […] Read more…
Happy Friday
Here’s to wishing everyone a very Happy Friday and a joyous weekend. I’m sharing this “Friday” photo to join in on Kim Klassen’s Friday Finds. If you aren’t familiar with Kim Klassen and love taking photographs, then visiting her site will be an amazing treat for you!! Her vision is simply beautiful and her ability […] Read more…