{Random} Happenings September & October 2017

Welcome to my camera roll post where I share some of my random photos (and favorite things) from the last two months.

 This seltzer=yum!

 Not sure what happened with my lid here.

 This salad was #goals.

 This soup was so pretty, I had to take a pic!

 Another Costco discovery.

 At a fancy gig/benefit with the hubs.

 This inspiring lady was the keynote speaker at the event. Read her story (from homeless to top Philladelphia tax attorney) here.

 Early fall walk in the park.

 Nothing like a ripe, juicy pear!

 I got this awesome assortment of spices for my birthday from my mother in law.

 Birthday pedicure color.  I took this photo to remember the color so I can buy it!

 Making some minestrone soup.

 Halloween costume #2 (wait till you see #3). Hipster Minnie and Mickey.

Fall=sweater and boots (but it was still warm so I was wearing a summer top). What have you been up to?

Linking up:

Wednesday Blog Hop
Cooking and Crafting with J & J

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{Recipe} 40 Garlic Tempeh

This recipe intrigued me when I saw it in a Chloe Coscarelli cookbook but I returned the book to the library before I had a chance to make it.  Luckily I found it online here when I was ready to try the recipe.

If you haven't heard of tempeh (I don't think I've done a tempeh recipe on the blog yet), it's a cooked and fermented soy product that is used as a meat replacement in many vegan and vegetarian dishes.  It's low in fat and high in protein (18 grams per serving!).  It's not like tofu in taste or texture, it's got more of a nutty taste and has a firm consistency that doesn't crumble like tofu.  The recipe calls for 40 cloves of garlic so I highly suggest buying the peeled garlic like they sell at Trader Joe's. I used about 24 cloves of garlic the first time I made it and the recipe was plenty garlicky!

 Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

2 TBS Dijon mustard

1 8 oz package tempeh, thinly sliced

24-40 garlic cloves, peeled and whole (like Trader Joe's peeled garlic) 

1/2 tsp dried thyme (or 2 tsp fresh)

1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

juice of half a lemon

1 tsp parsley (or 2 TBS fresh)

1 TBS vegan butter

 To make:

• Combine broth and mustard in a small bowl by whisking together and set aside. 
• In a large nonstick skillet brown the tempeh and garlic cloves using a little water or oil.  Flip the garlic and tempeh to brown on both sides (5-10 minutes), turn the heat down if they start to get too brown.
• Very slowly add the broth and mustard mixture. Add thyme, salt and ground black pepper.  Reduce heat and let the broth bubble down until thick (about 10 minutes)
• Remove from heat and add lemon juice.  Mix in parsley and vegan butter. 
• Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.

This is a quick and easy skillet dinner for a busy weeknight.  The garlic mellows out and is a nice compliment to the lemony mustard sauced tempeh.  Have you ever tried tempeh? 

Linking up:

Creative Mondays
Cooking and Crafting with J & J

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{Travel} Disney Day 5-Our Last Day:Magic Kingdom, Kona Cafe & Animal Kingdom Lodge

 We planned to go to the Kona Cafe for breakfast on our last morning but stopped in Magic Kingdom on our way.  We had so many snack credits left on our dining plan that we stocked up on some goodies for the trip home and also got some coffee.

 The new-to-us lobby at the Polynesian Resort.

 Breakfast of Tonga Toast (they can make it vegan for you!).

Feeling the tropical vibe at the Poly.

We had late check out at our hotel so we were able to have a very leisurely morning and afternoon.  

 I snapped some pics of the lobby at Jambo House while we were waiting for Magical Express to pick us up.

 This is the view out to the savannah from the lobby. I could sit there all day, but it was time to go!

It really was a great trip and I brought back a little piece of Disney to remember it.

...and that's a wrap!

day 1

night 1

day 2

night 2

day/night 3
day/night 4
Bert & Mary Poppins costumes
Tower of Terror bellhop hat

Linking up:
Little Things Thursday
Welcome To The Weekend

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{Get Crafty} DIY Tower Of Terror Bellhop Hat

You may have seen our birthday girl bellhop in this post about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  

We found the dress that day but we already had the hat. Don't you love those spiderweb stockings (ModCloth)?

I used this tutorial as my starting off point but she used fabric to cover the hat and I used card stock.

 The top of the hat was actually a round from a mini pizza. When I saw it I knew I had my perfect circle.  I cut the band to fit her head and put it together with tape. I used card stock that I had on hand and cut it to cover the band of the hat and the top.

I used hot glue to attach the paper. The bands around the hat are made from one thick piece of yellow ribbon and a thinner piece of black ribbon hot glued to the hat.  I finished off the inside of the hat with another piece of burgundy card stock.

She added the little tassel to the hat and the keys were from Cost Plus World Market.

To catch up on our Disney trip start here.

Her Vintage Glam Halloween at the Hollywood Tower Hotel Sweet 16 Party

Linking up:
Wednesday Blog Hop

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