While cruising through old photos...

{I found this gem.}

Some of my friends at our wedding last year, off in a corner table, goofing off. It looks like he has a magic wand.

Bippity-boppity...makes me giggle every time I run across it.

Jes

Vegan MoFo, Day 30: To My Best Friend...

Dear readers,

One year ago today, I married the man I love.

It was a long, LONG road to that date. Six years. Six long and winding and patient years. (Well, six-and-a-half, to be exact). We initially wondered if we'd make it past the troublesome two-and-a-half year mark.

He's been there for me in more ways and more times than I can count, and I hope that we enjoy many, many years of being together.

Thank you, Philip, for holding my hair while I puke. You are awesome.

{our costumes for last night's Halloween party. That wine ended me.}

Jes

Vegan MoFo: Green Soup

It's time for Vegan MoFo, y'all!

What I really want right now is some Green Soup, which I made a week before the wedding. It lasted for my lunch/dinner like allll week. I think I might whip up a batch tomorrow using my super new stock pot (thanks to Aunt Sherry & Uncle Pat!!!!!). This time, I have pre-made mushroom stock though, as I've been too busy to make my own.

However, on the night I made this beautiful soup (a WEEKNIGHT, I might add), I made the soup from scratch. That's right. I came home from a long day at work and started my soup by making a veg stock. Then, I used said veg stock to make my Green Soup. It was exhausting, but sooo sooo hot and good.

Basically, I added spinach, edamame, peas, corn, celery, onion, carrots, garlic, and some cut spaghetti noodles.

You start with your onions, carrots, and celery cooking in the pot, add garlic, and then add the stock once you figure your veg has cooked long enough. Then proceed to add whatever else you want. I made this a Green Soup, so I added peas, spinach, and edamame. YUM!

Happy MoFo-ing to you! Here is a picture of Phil and I at our wedding Saturday taken by my friend, Amber, to leave you with a sigh in your heart :)

Jes

Ba Ba Ba Beard, Beard, Beard, the Beard is the Word!

Philip and I are getting married in THREE DAYS!!! Holy houseplant, where did the time go?!? Just yesterday we were oggling each other at a party! We've come so far together.

Xmas, 2004 (first together)

I mean, just look how far we've come:

Halloween 2010 (last weekend)

I ended up with all of Philip's hair, and he lost the weight that I gained! Ha! Just joking.

Like my Zach Galifianakis costume à la Hangover? I couldn't find a babydoll at home in time enough for the Carlos character...so I came up with the next best thing, my dog's "big mean kitty" toy. Enu wasn't very happy that I was stealing her toy for the night.

I even won Best Costume at the party we attended!

The next time I'm able to post anything new will likely be Nov 1st for Vegan MoFo (YAY!).

Have a superb Halloween!

Jes

Snoochy-kins

Last week I found myself wanting something creamy after I stumbled upon Allyson from ManifestVegan's Pumpkin Alfredo recipe, so I tried it out:

I know, you're thinking that it would be weird to mix pumpkin, tofu, and nooch together. At first, I didn't quite know about the "cheesy"-pumpkiny combo, but the more I let it sit, the better the flavor got. AND it was even better the next day at work for lunch. The flavors were spot on!

You like the Patrick Stewart picture? It's a small print of the painting my fiancé did of P-Stew a few months ago. The real painting is gi-normous!

In other news: TEN DAYS UNTIL THE WEDDING!!! *gasp*

Jes

'STACHE ATTACK!!!!

We now break from our regularly scheduled vegan food programming to bring you SHENANIGANS!

Don't F' with the Jes.

Been obsessed with fake facial hair today. I bought a beard so I can be Zach Galifianakis for Halloween (well, the weekend before...). Going to be sweet! I was messing around with the 'staches, trying something out for the wedding.

Something else I've been enjoying to the nth degree lately: driving to work while it's still dark outside with the windows down. It's jusssst the right temperature outside at 6:30am to allow for this. What a pleasant and invigorating feeling. I will miss it when it's balls-cold outside soon.

Jes

Cornbread!

I have figured out what to do for wedding favors (or favor, in the singular, rather). I plan to share it with Philip this evening when he gets home from class. There's nothing better we could do for wedding favors, and I can't wait to share it with our wedding guests. I just hope they get it. It's a secret for now, but I will certainly share it here after our wedding.

The smell of cornbread filled our house about 2 weeks ago, and I've been meaning to share since then. Like I wrote before, I'm getting into an intensely busy time. October will be the absolute death of me for sure.

*sigh, breathe* Sweet Cornbread Cake. (There, all better.)

I have had a craving for cornbread since I went vegan, and possibly before that, so I sought to feed the beast inside me with the sweet, cakey, corny goodness. And I found the recipe here on VegWeb, which has never disappointed.

As you can tell, I got to the cornbread before the camera did :)

Philip, to my delighted surprise, ended up eating HALF of this wonderful cake, though he has professed in the past to not like cornbread. I had all of the ingredients on hand after buying the cornmeal on impulse.

Told you I'd make something with the $1.89 in cornmeal I bought on super-sale. Ha!

Jes

A Joyful Friday To You!

I'm so glad the weekend is nearly here, aren't you? This was a long 4-day work week.

We like to play around here on Fridays, evidenced by me cheesing it up with my boss:


(We're selling tickets internally for some goodie baskets we made to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation, thus the poster...).




I was thinking about some things this morning:


1) HOPEFULLY attending the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, KS, which opened today. I LOVE the State Fair, look forward to attending it every year. Phil's not totally sold on the idea: the last time we went, 2 years ago, we had to wade through mud in nice shoes after the tractor carrying us through the parking lot blew a tire before it got to the gate. I also got horribly sick off fair food about an hour after getting there.


2) Planning to post something on the luscious cornbread cake I made on Tuesday. Phil totally ate half of it (and he ate my roasted red pepper pasta that I made again last night, very surprising for him!).


3) Enjoying my whole lunch hour today.


4) Getting a leaf-shaped paper punch from Michael's for wedding confetti. I bought a heart-shaped punch for this purpose yesterday (thank you, Martha Stewart) and punched my way through an entire old book.


5) How much I super-adore etsy.com.


6) Digging through the ribbon/lace Mom gave me last Friday for the wedding. I saw some really pretty colors in there!


7) Picking up where I left off designing menu cards and centerpieces at home last night.


8) Enjoying the weather, once again, though it will probably be a hotter and more humid day than yesterday. Still nice, nonetheless.


9) Listening to these great bands lately: The Smiths, Pixies, & The Dandy Warhols.




I hope you are having a fantastic Friday. This weekend looks promising, does it not? :)

Jes

Love Me Some Quesadillas

Yeah, and if you were me (you're not), you would have totally heard the word "quesadilla" in the Napoleon Dynamite voice in your head. I do still say "quesadilla" like that...6 years after the movie came out (?) Quirky.

Since it's one of Phil's 2 weeknights in class, it's just my big, ferocious dog and I (that's for you pervs who read this and think about breaking in, she'll bite your will to live). Maybe I'll make this into a new tradition this semester, like with our Peasant Supper Sundays, only lonelier and more boring...because I am WAY bored.

So, I whipped up some black bean refried beans, spread them on some tortillas, and ate them.

Now I'm stuffed and bored.

The black "refried" beans are nothing more than smooshed beans mixed with some seasonings, like S & P, cumin, garlic powder & onion powder (and a swish of water).

Throw in some raw onion and Daiya "cheese," and you're on your way to Yummy-town on the bean train.

In other news...

Our wedding has been moved from the former (and paid-for) location to the country! There's a scandal going on with the place, we found out our date had been double-booked (with one of Phil's acquaintances from childhood, weird!), and it was on the news (http://www.kwch.com/news/factfinder12/kwch-news-bh-gallery-one-nine,0,6165347.story).

So, instead, we're having the ceremony and reception at my maid of honor's parents' house in the country just south of where we live. They have a new utility building (with electricity!) that they are veeeeerrryyy generously letting us use. We're still working on a refund from the former location... Strangely, though, I haven't been very upset about it. I have not cried or broken down or felt any desperation. It's bizarre and totally like something I saw on Dateline, but it happened to us!

Jes

Yowza!!

Since I had the night (well, most of it) to myself, I figured I'd crank The Smiths and whip up a recipe from the new issue of Vegetarian Times. I chose the pasta with roasted red pepper sauce. I didn't have really high hopes for this, but DAAANNNGGG! It's FANTASTIC. BEYOND fantastic.

It was just garlic, onion, carrot, and roasted red pepper all chopped and sautéed. Throw it in a blender and then toss in pasta, and WHAM!

It had this wonderfully-rich orange color. And it was the perfect recipe for a night at home with just Enu and I.

In other news...WEDDING DRAMA, AHHHHHHHH! *sick*

Jes

Peasant Supper Sundays

I think we may have a new tradition here.

Peasant Supper Sundays began a few weeks ago for Philip and I when we realized that we make good, simple food for our Sunday dinner. Not exactly a "Eureka!"-type moment, but inspiring nonetheless.

We tend to eat different meals when together, since I'm vegan, and he is a flexitarian (eating meat more and more now but not so much at home as out with friends).

Several dishes we've had lately are baked potatoes, "meat" pie (Philip's creation), couscous with roasted chickpeas, vegetable soup.

On the wedding front, 99 days left!!!! Things are coming together but will MUCH more so in August (I hope...).

Tomorrow morning will consist of a venture to the farmer's market (or maybe 2 of them). And then later in the day we're registering at Target :)

Jes