vegan – Peaceful Reader

Panama City

I just got back from Panama and it was pretty amazing! I like beaches and forest and I didn’t think Panama had either so it wasn’t my ideal travel destination but I needed to use some unused tickets from Copa Airlines and their homebase is, yes, Panama City. My son, Tristan and I traveled last Sunday and made it to our super cool two bedroom apartment in the Casco Viejo (the old section) which is the also the tourist section with lots of restaurants and shops around the two nearby squares.

We built up a holiday routine; sleep late, a little fresh fruit and bread for breakfast at home, and then off to explore and find a place for lunch. As a foodie family we always look forward to finding delicious food and we are always on the lookout for amazing vegetarian and vegan food. We had amazing luck finding delicious vegan food in Mexico and I hoped we’d have luck here as well. We didn’t the first night but the rest of the time, after we’d had a chance to look around, we found a treasure trove of excellent choices.

I love that I can go on vacation outside the U.S. and find menus that have at least 4-5 vegan choices and several full vegan restaurants in the area. Amazing. I can’t find vegan or even good vegetarian choices in most of Iowa. Another side note is all the to-go containers are eco-friendly unlike Styrofoam boxes here.

We did make it to a beach 30 minutes away from PC and spent a lovely day and we took a tour bus to see the Canal and a biodiversity museum. We took two hours to tour and read all the information at the Museo Canal in town. We had a lovely trip and it was fabulous to spend 5 days with my son.

I have so many thoughts and feeling about what’s happening and with that narcissist running our country. It is a major shit show with people getting kidnapped by the ICE gang, secrets being shared with no accountability, libraries and artistic centers taking a hit, USAID which is major help for our 3rd World countries who need our help. We’ve entered into a zone with no empathy. It’s too much to think about and makes me so crazy.

A trip well-traveled

At the beginning of August I took a 10 hour flight to Rome, Italy with my friend Barb but the story actually begins years ago when she and I met in Denver, CO as waitresses. She ended up moving back to Chicago and we stayed connected by cards and letters (before the internet!) In one of those notes I said something about when we’re older and walking around Italy with a glass of wine! She called me this spring after rereading this message and yelled “we need to go to Italy!” and so we did. Sometimes you need a kickstart to really get going; this was mine. We did some preliminary research, making decisions on where exactly we wanted to go but the rest of it was pretty spur of the moment. And really until I drove into Chicago with my family, went to a Cubs/Cardinals game on my birthday and then dropped off at Barb’s I still had feelings of uncertainty. And the next afternoon we headed to O’Hare and got on an Italia airplane! I remembered my passport and all other relevant things including a suitcase full of clothes and the trip began!

I’ve never been on a plane that long and it made me a little antsy – doesn’t the pilot get sleepy?- but we settled in with a glass of wine and a plastic container of decent lasagna. Neither of us had working screens so we watched Madame Secretary with Tea Leoni on Barb’s phone because that’s what she had in her downloads. We tried to sleep to no avail-personally I was too excited and nervous.

We landed in Rome, easily made it through customs because they had these great scanners and we only had to stop to get our passports stamped. At baggage claim we hooked up with Barb’s hairdresser who was also traveling to Italy. And we headed out into the Rome sunshine pulling our suitcases behind us. We paid an Uber driver to tour us around the high points in Rome and with just one day there it was the easiest way to see everything. The Coliseum, St Peter’s Square and the Basilica, the Fountain of Trevi, and the Spanish Steps were all amazing to see. Being near such old buildings, statues and monuments was awe-inspiring and it never got old. In Florence I walked through a perfumery that has existed since 1221. We had.an amazing meal that evening at Trattoria Pommidoro dal 1890 tucked away in a little neighborhood and we sat on the patio and lazily enjoyed our meal and wine. I was still pinching myself that I was eating dinner in Rome. We discovered a fountain near our hotel that had two cafes for croissants and cappuccinos.

The next day we headed north by train to the beautiful Cinque Terre region to stay for three days in Monterosso, one of the 5 hill towns on the coast. We had a little AirB&B on the hill and we could walk down to the town but we always caught a ride back up. Because we were on the coast and the seafood was fresh a lot of our meals here were straight from the sea. The second day we took a boat ride around the 5 hill towns to see them from the water. We were there during a heat wave and hiking around the hills (the preferred method to sightseeing here) was just not going to happen. The boat ride was lovely and we loved Lorenzo, our handsome boat guide and that we were able to get in the water and swim in the sparkling water. We had several amazing meals in Monterosso and a delicious meal right off the boat at Ristorante Gambero Rosso in Vernazza.

On the fourth day we headed back to the train and headed an hour south to Livorno, another coastal town where Barb and I were excited to see a concert that night. We stayed in a cool old hotel right across from the Fort where the Xavier Rudd concert would take place later that night. We cooled off in the hotel and then headed out for dinner and a cold bottle of Prosecco before heading into the concert. We hadn’t finished our bubbly so our server gave us plastic glasses to travel with as we traipsed our way down the cobblestones. The concert was a very relaxed affair and one that I’m so glad we took the time to see. Nobody looked through our bags or cared that we had cups already in our hands. The sky was beautiful and the crowd was easily like family. It was a great place to people watch as we bopped our bodies to Xavier’s music.

The next day our adventure took us to beautiful Florence where we started our days with cappuccinos on the piazza and watched the fountains spurt out water and eventually made our way to the Uffizi Galleries witnessing masterpieces of art. We also visited the Gucci museum and store which took us through the history of the artisitic brand. We had more delicious food including a meal at La Tenda Rossa. During our time here we also took a Walk About Tours cooking class in the Tuscan countryside and a vegan dinner in the San Gimignano region at a 600 years old farmhouse. We shopped at tiny boutiques where Barb and I bought matching silky dresses and I bought a beautiful linen dress. We walked through dozens of leather stores with so many purses. I had a shopkeeper try and sell me very beautiful but expensive earrings, I had to walk away unfortunately. And Barb and I wandered through the Basilica di Santa Croce which is where Galileo and Michelangelo are entombed. We drank quite a few carafes of red wine, Prosecco, Limoncello and Hugo spritzers. We enjoyed it all. I loved the trains and the sleek Uber cars/drivers. I also enjoyed seeing a world that treasured the old, embraced their history, had access to good food (great little mercados), and did their part for the world with recycling and compost bins everywhere plus everyone we ran into was friendly and happy to help us. In Livorno the front desk woman called her son in the U.S. to translate something for us.

And then we took a high speed train back to Rome and headed to the airport hotel to spend one last night before flying home. We spent a funny 20 minutes in a gas station/restaurant and I will never forget the Prosecco and freshly made potato chips served to us as we waited for our Uber driver! It was the trip of a lifetime but I plan to get out there more. I want to go to Spain and Portugal next…

What is your love language?

We are living in a rough environment right now. So much that surrounds are daily life are colliding. Emotions, government, lifestyles, masks/vaccinations, climate developments. I’ve discovered that when I’m struggling emotionally I connect with food. I’ve made a wide variety of recipes the last few weeks. And then I’ll completely stop making food and just eat snacks for dinner; cheese, crackers, and a cluster of grapes. It’s back and forth. For awhile I was really focused on my at home yoga practice with Adriene but I’ve slacked off – like way off. I haven’t done a lick of yoga throughout September except this morning. I was awake too early and decided to spend some of that time blinking my eyes open and reconnecting to my mat. It felt great and I know I can get back on track but I still feel a bit off kilter. I’m going to make the promise to show up though and as she’s says that’s what’s important.

(Buffalo Chickpea Salad)

Here’s a smattering of what I’ve cooked to connect to myself. I made this Quinoa Enchilada Bake after I discovered Jamie and her Dishing out Health on Instagram. I’ve made several of her recipes now and love every one. Many are vegan or can easily be with minimal switches. I made this Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup to split with Tristan and my husband “accidentally” had a bowl after work and loved it. I made this Buffalo Chickpea Salad with Yogurt Ranch Dressing which was so easy and packed a little heat! And to combat allergies and the cooler Fall weather I made this Immunity Boosting Tumeric Chicken Soup because I had leftovers from an farm-raised chicken.

And because I love dessert I made this Easy S’mores Dip to share with friends. It was amazing and days later I was still scraping chocolate and toasted marshmallows crusts from my Lodge skillet. Last night after a meeting I came home and made this easy brownie recipe to share at school for a teacher friend’s birthday. Just for fun I added chopped up marshmallows and broiled the pan for just about 5 minutes. The brownies were dense and delicious all on their own but the browned marshmallows added extra birthday zing! This recipe truly was easy and I’ll make it again when in a pinch for a chocolate treat.

This is the love I share with my family and friends. I feed them. It’s an old tradition that stems from my grandmother who loved to offer visitors a meal or at least a sandwich! I just finished the very quirky Anxious People by Fredrik Backman which I loved even after a rocky start. And I’m trying to spend as much time outside as I possible can to soak up the wonderful weather before it gets too cold. Recently I was lucky enough to connect with my dearest friend, Verda, and we walked her dogs, shopped at crafty local stores, ate good food, and talked about the world. I guess maybe my recent blue period is because I want that to be my every day. I love teaching and connecting with students but I’m constantly worried about getting sick. Even though I know I’m in a much safer category after having Covid and getting vaccinated but it is still a major worry.

“Find what feels good” ~Adriene and try and remain calm – this is my new mantra. Say it with me…

Memorable Memorial Weekend

{Minimalist Baker}

I love a good three day weekend! I’ve accomplished quite a few things over the last three days but the best parts were several social occasions seeing friends and hugging people in my circle. We had an engagement party last night and a graduation party today. We also had lunch with friends on their patio. I made these strawberry rhubarb margaritas for the occasion. The recipe is from Minimalist Baker and they were delicious, so refreshing and tart.

Last week I tried a new recipe because I just couldn’t figure out what to make for dinner. We recently have had a lot of pasta and I’d made tacos and salmon other days so I just was looking for something different to try. A friend from school mentioned that she’d made lentil sloppy joes and so I searched and found a vegan recipe to try. I made them on Friday night and I loved them. Because of Groovy Girl’s tomato allergy I switched out the cans of tomato and used one 28-oz can of pumpkin. I feel like I could add in sweet potato to replace tomatoes as well. I had lovely brioche buns that I broiled in the oven first because I like them a little crispy/crunchy. Both my husband and I loved them and GG, well, she was not quite as in love because it had onions (next time I would make sure to really dice up the onions) but she ate it. I liked that it was a super easy slow cooker recipe that I put together and it was done in about 3 hours. Here is the recipe I used from Yummy Mummy Kitchen and here is another one I plan to try next time from again the amazing Minimalist Baker.

I did do some gardening this weekend as well, channeling my lovely Grandma Bruch. I think of her so much as I cook and plant as those are two areas she excelled at in life. She loved geraniums and irises and planted lots of vegetables. My love of rhubarb comes from her as she had a several large plants and did a lot of baking and jam making with the stalks. She was an amazing and wonderful grandma and I miss her very much. I’m glad my son was able to spend so much time with her and I’m sad that she never met my daughter. I can still hear her voice calling my name. I wish she and I could play one more game of spite and malice, our family card game. I can still hear my dad’s voice as well and I wish I could play one more game of backgammon with him.

How did you spend your weekend?

Gratitude for us

I’ve been feeling all kinds of thankfulness and not just because tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I celebrate the coming together of family to dine together over a special meal that I’ve taken weeks if not months to plan and make. You hope it is one free of argument and that all the kids will like what you’ve created. This year I’m making cauliflower tacos, potato vindaloo, a lentil dish, mashed potatoes with Jaime’s vegan gravy, cranberries with oranges, naan bread, and Vegan for Everybody vegan pumpkin cheesecake. This is a mish-mash of Indian flavors and some old standby favorites and it probably will look nothing like most Americans more traditional turkey and stuffing. You do you. This is more us. We all have our own identities and the food we eat is part of that; a mish mash of flavors, personalities, likes, and dislikes, allergies, and food politics.

I’m glad my son is vegan because he’s in it for all the right reasons; he cares about animals and their rights. He’s empathetic and is doing his part for the environment. My husband is a meat eater but he takes care of that himself. I am a vegetarian and my daughter is allergic to tomatoes which is a fairly new discovery after her elimination diet this summer. That adds a kink into lentil dishes and soups but after some research I discovered this person’s blog, Delishably, and she has the same allergy and shared ideas about substitutes that will work for my lentil dish. Bravo!

I’m grateful my family pushing me in new directions for I love to cook and cooking the same way or things all the time is not me. I live by the motto “Try new things…whatever they may be”

I’m grateful for a husband who works hard to make our house up-to-date with fresh paint and new looks.

I’m grateful, especially right now, for our continued good health. It’s hard to say this with so many falling ill with Covid, like cancer, it comes in so many different forms.

I’m grateful for all my people that have kept me sane during this difficult time of lockdowns and crazy politics. I appreciate the friendship everyday.

I’m grateful for a job I love that is more passion than drudge work. I love sharing the love of books with my students even though some of them do not care for my love of books and enthusiasm. It’s okay. I love them anyway.

I finished an extraordinary book this morning, This is how it always is by Laurie Frankel, and I just marveled in her storytelling! She’s a person worth exploring more about and I plan to recommend this book to my book club. I was thankful that I had the morning to “laze” away reading so I could finish. I look forward to celebrating tomorrow’s Native American Heritage Day because for me it is far better to spend the rest of November celebrating in prayerful meditation the ancestors of our land that came before us.

In gratitude to my readers! Thank you.

Time Travel

I feel like I’m time traveling through the month at light speed, forward motion on zoom. We’ve been lucky to have Groovy Girl home the last two weekends. We’ve hiked in the Fall leaves, we’ve eaten amazing food and cuddled. Her coming home from college at first was like “hmmm, should we fist bump and call it good?” but now we throw caution to the wind, trusting that we’ve all been safe during the week, so that we may cuddle on the sofa together to hang out. She and I are “cuddlers”, we love to share a blanket, the sofa, anywhere where we can snuggle close and breathe each other in. She is really good about wearing a mask in her daily life and only goes to one class – ballet – in person (and they wear masks while dancing) with the rest of her classes meeting virtually so from the comfort of her dorm room.

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Last weekend when she was here I dreamed that I wanted cauliflower tacos and when I googled the recipe I found lots of choices. I had to weed through the recipes because she is allergic to tomatoes. I found a recipe on Bon Appetit that is so FANTASTIC! I made them again this Friday night. We loved that it was vegan, that it needed no other toppings to make it delicious. We tried to add a little goat cheese and did not like the combined flavors as the taco flavor is so bold that it needs no other accompaniments. We did have some of our garden kale cut in to strips to add on and a little fresh baby greens and those two seemed to be fine additions to offer a little extra fresh crunch but otherwise these tacos are spot on perfect and have found a place in our permanent collection. The two sauces are easy to put together and I had everything already in my cupboards. If you are looking for a meat-free dish that comes together quickly this one will not disappoint. Groovy Girl ate 4 the first night we had them.

I finished The Guest List and Wrong guy, Right room; both very good. I lost interest in the Guest List halfway through-felt like we really dipped down with sorrowful tales and back and forth memories but the last few chapters really redeemed the tale. Wrong guy, Right room was delightful. I’m now reading Greetings from Witness Protection! by Jake Burt for school; it is on our list for Iowa Children’s Choice Awards this year and it’s good. I’m still working on Untamed by Glennon and I need to review This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, one of my favorite authors, for book club this month. After watching the Smithsonian’s National Book Festival authors this year all online I am trying to read Marlon James’ book Black Leopard, Red Wolf. It’s unique and I’m not sure I’ll make it through it but he was interesting to listen to him talk.

Did you watch the vice presidential debate? I’m super ready for this campaign to be over and a new administration to take office. Please have a peaceful week!

Guests

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We’ve had a major weekend here at the Peaceful Reader house. My in-laws arrived on Friday night for Groovy Girl’s dance recital on Saturday. Her recital is pretty much an all-day event and you have to really be prepared. We had a delicious breakfast to start our day and by 11 am were waiting at the event venue so we could get good seats. In between the 1:00 pm show and the 6 pm show we met at one of our favorite healthy joints in the Cedar Valley, Greenhouse Kitchen, so we could make it through the second show. Unfortunately she hurt her leg during one of the dances, danced two more dances and then gracefully exited the stage after it became unbearable. She’s wearing a brace and hobbling around with a borrowed pair of crutches. Hopefully it heals fast for her.

Beyond the injury I love having guests to cook for and my in-laws enjoy good food. Here’s a smattering of recipes I’m using this week. Tristan and his girlfriend joined us overnight so I needed a few vegan options as well.

Basil Chicken Coconut Curry: delicious and I made a second version with scrambled tofu for our vegan/vegetarians. The flavor was amazing and I would make this recipe again.

Curried Chickpeas with mint and cilantro chutney: I made this early in the week for everyone to have for dinner during the busy week. I already had a jar of chutney from an Indian grocery store so I didn’t make that part of the recipe. This was so yummy Groovy Girl happily ate it and she is not a fan of chickpeas! I used two cans of organic coconut instead of the one the recipe called for-it just looked like it needed more.

Cheesy Grits Casserole: I made this easy yet delicious (you can never go wrong with cheesiness) breakfast recipe on Saturday morning. We also had Icon donuts and Milkbox bagels for everyone. You need to calorie load even when you are just going to watch the day of dance.

Tomorrow night we host book club at our house for Their Eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I’m going to make this Best Black Bean Soup from the New York Times for our gathering.

Bombay Frittata: I have yet to make this but I plan to one day this week for breakfast.

I hope you are cooking some amazing food at your house as well.

Prepping for an amazing (and mostly vegan) Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m ready for the Macy’s Parade and for relaxed cooking tomorrow. I did some pre-cooking tonight and I’m feeling peaceful about what needs to happen tomorrow. Everyone enjoy a happy holiday. It might be about enjoying family or enduring family but either way, find at least one blessing in your day.

Menu

Early appetizers: blue chips and our homemade salsa

Soup/Salad course: Wild Rice Soup and Big Green Salad
I found a local farmer who sells big bags of microgreens for a reasonable price and it was a 5-minute drive from my house. I’m pretty pumped about this revelation. Find them at Rainbow City Farm on insta.

Dinner:
Celebration Vegan Roast
Just Bare Roasted Chicken (I couldn’t find a local one)
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans with pomegranate seeds
Healthy Corn “Casserole”
Mashed Potatoes with vegan mushroom gravy
cranberry – orange raw relish
Jicama/Avocado/Mango salad (from my Friendsgiving recipe book)
Homemade pretzels for our bread (Groovy Girl’s recipe)

Everything but that roasted chicken is vegan. My theme is comfort food with a Native American flare. I’m learning and working to experiment with a variety of recipes. Heather and Tristan are bringing the pies. And I found good almond milk whipped cream for the tops!

Reading and Recipes

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I made yogurt this weekend after one failed attempt. Truth: It takes the whole damn day-you’ve got to be prepared for that and I don’t always have a full day to spend with yogurt so I try to sandwich it between things which is why every once in a while it doesn’t work for me. This time I had one failed attempt-stayed milk-poured it right back into the Hansen’s jug used by my husband for his morning cereal. Second time-score-creamy, happy yogurt ready for my morning breakfast.

I also made a curry dish today and soaked chickpeas for the recipe. I found the cauliflower chickpea recipe on The Wholesome Fork and read about the proper method to soak chickpeas on Inspired Taste. I like it when I can prepare a whole meal without opening a bunch of cans. I used fresh tomatoes and some leftover coconut milk saved in a jar in my fridge. It was good and spicy and there’s enough left for lunch tomorrow. While blog surfing I found this great post about my chickpea love just a few months ago.

I picked up a book, Shadow Mountain; a memoir of wolves, a woman, and the wild by Renee Askins, from one of my TBR piles that I’d purchased a few years back while visiting Yellowstone National Park. Nonfiction is not my thing but I loved Terry Tempest Williams’ book Refuge and she is mentioned twice on the back cover blurbs. I’m sure that’s what inspired me to purchase Renee’s book at the Yellowstone gift shop. I’m more than 1/2 way through and I love her story. It makes me feel a little guilty because while I was goofing around in Denver, Co, causing trouble, going to Dead shows, Askins was living her passion, striving and working hard to reintroduce wolves back into Yellowstone. A life well-lived. My passion came later; a late bloomer as my mother loves to say. If you love being in nature, the call of the wild, I highly recommend both books!

Have a good week. We’ve got some changes happening here at our home/sanctuary and I feel I’m going to feel 1000 % percent better when it happens. Ciao!

Happy Holidays!

Weekend festivities

It snowed last night which means for many children celebrating Christmas that Santa’s journey will be made much easier in his sled. My children are all older yet they appreciate snow a little more at this special time of year. I love the snow when I can stay inside, curled up in front of the fire with a very good book. Luckily I got most of my errands/shopping done yesterday.

I have a lot of cooking and baking to do today and I thought you might like some recipes. Heather and Tristan have been vegan for about a year now and that changes our holiday meal drastically. We are pretty healthy eaters leaning more toward vegetarian so it’s not like a cooking crisis but traditional meals like oyster stew and clam chowder on Christmas just won’t do. Instead will be having a carrot and potato soup with fresh homemade bread, a salad and homemade vegan brownies for dessert. It will be a simple meal sandwiched between two church services.

Tomorrow we are going to have a tofu/potato scramble, vegan cinnamon rolls and mimosas (luckily those are vegan naturally!) for breakfast after a few gifts have been opened. Later in the day we will sit down for a late supper of turkey lasagna (my husband begged for one non-vegan item), a a vegan roast (Heather and Tristan are bringing it), this amazing cauliflower dish from Jaime Oliver, mashed potatoes and vegan gravy, and a vegan berry pie. I’ve got my work cut out for me so I don’t know why I’m still standing around.

Happy holidays everyone for what you may celebrate may be different than I; I wish for you a happy and contented life as we move into a new year. Another year for Trump to mess things up giving us all the more reason to stand up and be heard.

Merry Christmas, Peace on Earth, and

JOY to the World.