Vegan Ideas for Lent

The forty days of Lent are upon us! The last day of Lent is the day before Easter (which falls on the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox). Today is the start of Lent, also known as Ash Wednesday. Wikipedia provides the following information on Ash Wednesday:

Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance. The ashes used are gathered after the Palm Crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned. In the liturgical practice of some churches, the ashes are mixed with the Oil of the Catechumens (one of the sacred oils used to anoint those about to be baptized), though some churches use ordinary oil. This paste is used by the priest who presides at the service to make the sign of the cross , first upon his own forehead and then on each of those present who kneel before him at the altar rail. As he does so, he recites the words: "Remember (O man) that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

There are so many interesting rituals around Lent. Traditionally, people give up something for Lent. I know a few who abstain from eating any animal products at all, essentially becoming vegan for forty days. In honor of those who observe Lent in this way, here are some vegan friendly meal ideas.

Vegan Burgers, Vegan Dogs, Vegan Corn Dogs, Sweet Potato Fries, Potato Salad (Lemon Juice & Olive Oil Dressing), Pasta (Marinara), Pasta (Olive Oil, Garlic, Parsley), Mixed Salad with Chicken-Less, Curried Peas & Rice, Veggie Gyoza, Fruit Salad, Cole Slaw, Vegan Chorizo Tacos, Vegan Chorizo Tofu Scramble, and on and on...

I'll try to post some pictures soon!

Ouch, That Hurts!

Last night as Andrew and I were preparing dinner, I went to step over his foot and didn't quite make it. My little toe ran right into the side of his big shod foot. I heard a snap but thought it must have been something else. When Andrew said he heard it too, I wondered if my toe could be broken. It didn't hurt as much as I thought a broken toe should, though.

This morning, I was in a hurry to get ready for the gym and didn't remember the injury until I put on my shoes. I could feel pressure on my little toe in the shoe, but it didn't seem that bad. I didn't notice the bruise until I got back from the gym and took off my shoe.


It looks worse than it is. I'm sure it's not broken or anything and only hurts when direct pressure is applied. At least, the bruise looks good with my purple nail polish.

Crepes, Crepes, and More...

All our guests have come and gone. The house is almost back to normal. I love entertaining. Well, mainly, I love feeding people. Even though there wasn't enough time to prepare everything on the menu and I forgot to put out the hummus, I think everyone had enough to eat.


The crepes were the main attraction, and boy, did they taste delicious. Normally, I'd feel a little like one of those cooking show hosts tooting my own horn like that (you know who I'm talking about), but these crepes are so easy to make that I can't really take any credit for how good they are.

It's important to acknowledge two people who helped make this day a success. Audrey came early and acted as my sous chef. Anyone who has been around me before a party knows this is not as easy as it sounds. Andrew contributed his delicious pesto (with pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts) and Famous (well, to me at least, since I named it) Andrew Salad with feta cheese, green apples, raisins, and pecans in a sesame, rice vinegar, and peanut butter dressing. I'll be sure to post the recipe soon.

I always like to provide a meat item for my carnivorous friends, so today we had Buffalo wings. I hear they were good (especially considering they come frozen from Trader Joe's) and spicy. Since we were serving Buffalo wings, we had to have Blue Cheese dressing (ranch dressing fans can look for my "Ranch Dressing Really Sucks" post soon to follow). Since I can't bring myself serve store bought dressing, I made it myself completely from scratch. The dressing turned out well. First I made homemade mayonnaise and then added buttermilk, sour cream, parsley, garlic, and Blue Cheese crumbles. Normally, I avoid mayo based sauces like the plague, but blue cheese dressing doesn't have distinct mayo flavor that I despise. In fact, it was so good that I served crudités so I could enjoy some of the dressing, too.

There was homemade chili con queso (btw, I found a trick that ensures the dip is never stringy), guacamole, and chips. I also baked a loaf of bread this morning to serve with a selections of cheeses. I also made a potato salad (no mayo, of course), and Audrey helped to put together a whole wheat cous cous salad. We finally got to use the beverage dispenser Neil and Christine gave us for our lemonade concoction with Myer lemon slices and fresh mint leaves. As usual, orange juice, mimosas, beer, and mixed drinks were available as well.

Zuzu and Fatboy, being social animals, seemed to have a great time interacting with all the guests. Imogen, however, was nowhere to be found most of the day, and the only news I got on her was that she bit Wonnie (not hard, probably a love bite). At least this time, none of the animals knocked a whole glass of mimosa into Nora's purse.

All in all, it was a fun time had by all, as the pictures show...

Kris has heard this one before...

What's in the cup, Lesly?

Eldon and Jennifer talking about eyebrow shaping or something...

Kimmie is just thinking about her upcoming trip to Palm Springs...

I wish I was in on this conversation...

Wow! Nice! Yum!

Paul is contemplating another crepe...

There's so much going on!

Dinner, Movie, and an Offer

Sorry, I still haven't gotten used to posting on a regular basis. I'm sure it will become a habit one day. It's also been pretty hectic, so there hasn't been much time.

Andrew went back to work a couple weeks ago. He still has weekends off, but doesn't get home until fairly late. He's off around 6:00 PM, and stays at work for an hour or so (playing WoW, of course) until traffic eases up a little. This means dinner is even later than usual, which is difficult for me since my body really wants its biggest meal around 2:00 PM and isn't all that happy about waiting as long as it already does to eat something substantial.

Right before the run started, Andrew and I went to Irori, a Japanese restaurant in Marina Del Rey, with a few of his co-workers after seeing Coraline (which was amazing). They all talked me into having people over for crepes before crunch starts, so I've been menu planning and shopping for that all week long. I can't buy too much at one time when Andrew isn't with me, since it's just too hard to get all those groceries up to our second floor condo. I'll be finishing up the shopping tomorrow. We are expecting around 20 people in our little condo. It should be fun!

Oh yeah, I wrote an offer a couple days ago. We tried to make it as strong as possible while still staying within budget. So far, it's going well. We won't know for sure until they accept or counter our offer. It was a foreclosure and banks are really trying to sell their properties, so they price them well and buyers end up in bidding wars. Believe it or not, we are seeing multiple offers (sometimes over 20 of them) for properties that are well priced. I try to avoid bidding wars (which usually drive up the price) and focus on finding properties that have room for negotiation. The seller might take less (sometimes even less than if it were priced aggressively) because nobody else is offering anything.

Valentine's Day at the Rhoades House

Last weekend was Valentine's Day, which at our house is pretty uneventful. I don't like dealing with all the crowds (and neither does my introvert husband), so we usually stay home and relax. Andrew has been warned to never by me flowers on Valentine's Day or else I'll have to divorce him for being fiscally irresponsibility. I don't have anything against getting flowers, and Andrew is more than welcome to buy me flowers any other day of the year. I just don't get paying more for something for no other reason than it was purchased on a specific day.

I made Andrew bacon and eggs for breakfast, and then we got a special surprise. Our friend Jennifer got her dates mixed up and showed up a week early to our crepetastic get-together. She had flowers with her, but I'm sure they were from Trader Joe's or someplace responsible like that. It was a great Valentine's Day topped off with Indian food at my mom's place for dinner. She did have two screaming grandchildren with her, but the cuteness overrides the screaming, for me at least. I don't think Andrew would agree.