let's talk chicken!

the other night evan made a meal that knocked my socks off! vegan fried chicken. it's been days since we had it for dinner and still i dream about it.

while visiting some friends in NYC recently, we stocked up on may wah faux chicken products. if you are vegan and have not experienced these you're missing out! most vegetarian restaurants use these goodies in their dishes. evan fried these up, after coating them in a batter that consists of a good deal of mustard and a dry mix with a good deal of nutritional yeast, and they were like little pillows of heaven. greasy pillows, but pillows none the less! we had it with sides of broccoli and mashed potatoes and ate until we wanted to barf.

check out the recipe and cook some up tonight. it does not disappoint!

a memorial and a reunion...

this past weekend evan and i drove up to the mountains of PA for a little pierce family gathering. evan's dad passed away about 8 months ago and the whole family was gathering at uncle bob's creek house for a memorial to lay jim's ashes to rest. this might sound like it would be a very somber weekend, and certainly at points it was, but those pierces know how to find uplifting moments even during the saddest of times. evan is the youngest of 8 children, most of whom now have children of their own. needless to say, with all these folks staying in one house (with only one shower might i add) we were definitely not at a loss for entertainment. each and every member of the pierce family has got personality to spare! the house itself was incredible, with a creek running through the backyard and all nestled in at the base of a mountain, my morning coffee outside never looked so good. we had many, many laughs and a few tears too, but i couldn't be happier about the family that i've married into. jim pierce is missed everyday by a whole slew of really wonderful people.

taco salad night!

i would just like to take a moment and share with ya'll the amazingness of last nights dinner. it all started off with me trying to figure out how to get rid of some of our perishables in the fridge before we head out of town for the weekend. what came of this fantastic task not even i could have predicted! taco salad night!

we had some left over corn tortilla shells that i cut up into triangles and baked for a few minutes. what yummy little chips theses made. we had half a head of left over lettuce, half a block of vegan cheese, 6 cherry tomatoes, a few scoops of vegan sour cream, a can of cuban style black beans, and a splash of salsa. i threw all of those goodies in two bowls and voila! taco salad night was born...

i'm often a big fan of making "concoctions". throwing a bunch of random ingredients into a bowl and hoping for the best. this one, i must say, was one of my more successful endeavors!