So I was away for two weeks in Oregon helping my Mom recover from surgery (double mastectomy, in case you were wondering).

I was as vegan as possible, which wasn't very much. Partly out of laziness, partly out of trying not to stress my parents out even more during a difficult time.

I feel good being home and back to the vegan-ness though. I was feeling pretty yicked out by the end of the trip.

ANYWAY.

I've been cooking up a storm lately. Here's what we've been eating:

Sunday:
Breakfast: brunch fiasco, can never speak of this again. Just know that eating out Sunday morning in Michigan is not for the faint of heart.

Lunch: Chili Con Bulger and Baking Powder Biscuits, both from La Dolce Vegan.
YUM! We improvised a little since we had little in the way of fresh vegetables, but it came out reallllly good. We added an extra can of beans, and about 1/8 tsp of chipotle powder and it was fabulous.

Dinner: Nachos using blue corn chips and our chili from lunch, some tofutti sour cream (a little sketchy - probably better in recipes than straight) and some smoked tillamook cheddar we are trying to use up.

Monday - Chad took the day off work to make sure he wasn't getting sick and to hang out with us, so it was like Sunday all over!

Breakfast: Freedom French Toast from La Dolce Vegan. Trader Joe's Breakfast Patties (vegan, yay!)
OMG, yum!!! Best french toast I've had in a long time. I'm not such a french toast fan in general, but Chad loves the stuff, and it got 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up from him. The key here for us was to a) not cover it like the directions said b)only use low heat (around 2.4 on our stove) and c)use a little "butter" to grease the pan each time. The first piece was a disaster from too high heat, but the rest just kept getting better and better!

Lunch: Leftover Chili and biscuits

Dinner: Tofurkey Avocado Reubens.
OMG so freaking good, we thought we would both die. We adapted the PETA Avocado Reuben recipe by adding Hickory Smoked Tofurkey to the mix and leaving the avocado sliced instead of mashed. Chad and I both agreed that we seriously did not miss the cheese at all and that these were some of the best darn Reubens we had ever had. In fact, we liked them so much we had them again for lunch today!

Dessert: Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemony Frosting
Ok, these are pretty good, but not the best ever. The cupcakes themselves are good, it's the frosting that skeeves me out a little. The fact that it has shortening in it and little flavoring per se just leaves me feeling slightly greasy when I'm done eating them. Next time I think I would try another frosting recipe, like maybe straight vanilla.

Ok Silas is hungry now and I hate typing with one hand!