Life’s a Beach & Healthy Vegan Friday

Good morning and happy Friday!

Well, it ended up being one of those kind of weeks for me due to my class getting up and running, coming back home to the Central Coast, working on the business side of my app and all kinds of other miscellaneous tasks. What I’m trying to say is that I wasn’t that creative in the kitchen these past few days and so I don’t have any new recipes to share today. In fact, if I had kids, this would be the time I would insert a cute picture to distract you from the lack of interesting food pics. This is all I can come up with:

I know it’s not nice to harass the cat, but I couldn’t help myself and she kinda liked it. I think.

Before the week got too crazy, I decided to make a picnic for Alan and me on Wednesday while we were out doing errands. I packed up green salads for each of us with all kinds of toppings including baby tomatoes, onion sprouts, sprouted beans, avocado and pinto beans:

This was our view for lunch that day:

It is kind of ironic that most tourists visit coastal California in the summertime when the weather can be cold and foggy, especially north of Santa Barbara. However, it is during the fall and winter months when we get the sun and nobody is around to enjoy it! I had no problem parking at the beach and finding this bench just steps from the sand. Here’s my salad eaten lap-style:

Oh yeah, I also topped it with some of the extra roasted butternut squash from the night before. We shared a big bag of grapes for dessert.

As part of my food shopping this week, I went to another farmers’ market and was so happy to find some local, heirloom beans to stock my pantry. I especially like the ones called “Tiger Stripes” since I am such a cat-lover:

I had three options total to choose from:

I can’t believe I ended up spending $20 on beans, but they should last a few weeks at least. I bonded with the farmer about how beans are so under appreciated and I gave him my blog card for bean recipes. He’s not vegan but I was doing my best to convert inspire him.

Another one of my errands that day was to visit Home Depot for some household items. I finally remembered to look for a stevia plant and was delighted to find a locally-grown, organic version!

I am going to try adding a few leaves into my green smoothies and see if that helps with the sweetness. I’m not using any sweeteners right now other than fruit, but I am fine trying the stevia leaves since they are unprocessed and in their whole form. I will let you know what I think. The plant is pretty even as just decoration. Of course, if I start plucking off the leaves, I’m not sure how long it is going to look nice:

Lastly, today wraps up another round of Healthy Vegan Fridays, a blog link-up party where bloggers share whole food, plant-based recipes. Here were the three most clicked-up recipes from this week:

1. The Milk Project: My Review of 15 Non-Dairy Milks by Ashley @ Ashley’s Green Life
2. Quinoa Flatbread by Rachel @ Almonds and Avocado
3. My Green Thickie Challenge by Katherine @ Green Thickies

How awesome does this Quinoa Flatbread look from Rachel at Almonds & Avocados?

That’s a macadamia nut cheese spread on top, by the way. Yes, please!

Don’t miss your chance to join the fun this week by submitting your favorite vegan recipe by following the link at the end of the thumbnails below.

Until Monday, have a healthy and happy weekend!

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