Gift Certificates

I've been creating some gift certificates for the ole Etsy shop. Here is one making its way through the sewing machine.

I have pre-made certificates in $20, $40, and $100 amounts. Or, they can be made in any amount you might want. They can even be purchased "e" style, so you can print them yourself, or email them. Attention last minute shoppers (I'm not naming any names or anything) I'm talkin' to you!

Here is one post sewing machine.



A Completely Incomplete Veg Restaurant Guide

I thought I'd talk a little about veggie restaurants. I've had the pleasure to travel quite a bit, and have been to many vegetarian dining establishments. Before I leave on a trip I always visit Happy Cow - A Compassionate Eating Guide, it's a great resource, and it always helps me to figure out where to go in an unfamiliar city. Some places are so rich with choices that I find I barely use the research that I've done on Happy Cow. While other cities make it tough, and I'm very thankful to have my little veg friendly list. For example, Portland Oregon, soooo easy, but in Las Vegas a vegan could starve to death. All those buffets and not a bite to eat, so sad!

Anyway, I thought I would offer up a list of some of my favorite veg friendly establishments across the country. As the post title suggests, it will be far from a complete list, and I welcome all my readers to add their favorites in the comments (especially in Las Vegas, since I'll be there soon, searching for a vegetable that hasn't been smothered in butter or cheese). In no particular order, and with many close to my home, here we go.

• Vegetarian House in Portland Oregon (funky atmosphere, good food)
• Sweetpea Baking Company in Portland Oregon (while there visit Herbivore, next door)
• Wildginger in Seattle Washington (not a vegetarian restaurant, but very vegan friendly)
• Mighty-O Donuts in Seattle Washington (vegan donuts, need I say more?)
• Pizza Lounge in Dallas Texas (serves meat too, but lots of vegan options, yummy)
• Millennium Restaurant In San Fransisco California (talk about spoiled!)
• Cha Ya in Berkeley California (light, healthy and delicious - great shopping all around)
• Cafe Gratitude (several locations in California)
• Babycakes (several locations, I went to the one in New York)
• Go Raw Cafe on the out skirts of Las Vegas Nevada (lots of raw products you can purchase and try)
• The Chicago Diner Chicago Illinois (my absolute favorite place to eat - ever!)
• Living Light Cafe Fort Bragg California (mostly raw, good food, and I'm their resident artist, who could beat that?!)
• Ravens' Restaurant Mendocino California (at the Stanford Inn) 
• The Food Co-op Port Townsend Washington (a really good health food store with lots of prepared foods)
• Queenie's Roadhouse Cafe in Elk California (not a vegetarian restaurant, but she always has a vegan dish that is delicious. It's one of my favorite places to go.)
• Emeril's in New Orleans (not vegetarian, but totally accommodating to a vegan, and oh so delicious)
• Lotus Vegan in North Hollywood California (beautiful food presentation)
• Sunpower Natural Cafe in Studio City California (lots of raw food)

OK, it's your turn, what yummies have you discovered?

Waves On Wednesday

I went for a walk this morning, soaking in the beauty of this area where I live.

Meatless Monday - Pumpkin Chip Cookies

Hi Everybody, I hope you had a great weekend. Thanks again to Jamie for swapping, that was fun! Well, for me it officially feels like Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I've felt a little "off" about it because I won't be home for Thanksgiving. I'm super excited to go to Las Vegas, and see my family, but I'm so used to preparing a big Thanksgiving meal, that without it,  it just didn't feel like Thanksgiving was coming. Well, these cookies fixed that right up. They're all pumpkiny (and I don't really even like pumpkin) with a wee bit of spice, and they fill the house with that wonderful Thanksgivingy smell. Now I have it all - Thanksgiving aroma, chill in the air, and most importantly family (I'll miss you Nalls). I'm all set!

Pumpkin Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 sticks Earth Balance Margarine
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
3 tsp powdered egg replacer
4 tbsp warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
10 oz. vegan chocolate chips
1 cup toasted pecans

Combine the flour, baking powder, and spice. In a separate bowl mix the margarine, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, and the vanilla, until fluffy. Combine the egg replacer and the water, once combined, add to the moist ingredients and stir.  Mix the dry ingredients, moist ingredients, chips, and the pecans together. Put spoonfuls of the batter onto a greased baking sheet, and bake in a 300 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye on them, they are done when firm and slightly golden brown. Pumkiny deliciousness!

Swapping Saturday

My good friend Jamie (from the lovely Lyrical Journey) and I decided to do a Swapping Saturday. I'm posting over on her blog and she is over here. I hope you enjoy the change of pace, I think you will, she brought tunes with her, hooray! Come visit me over on her blog. Have fun, and here's Jamie.


 

Hi, I'm Jamie from Lyrical Journey, I'm thrilled to be here at Gilding Lilies today!  If you've ever visited my blog (and if you haven't, come on over one of these days) you'll know that I LOVE music and believe every day should have a song or two to accompany it.  When Jennifer and I discussed a swap I knew instantly I'd put together a playlist of great songs for you, in the hope that you would hear something new or an old favorite.

This playlist was inspired by Jennifer's "Time Flies" series of jewelry.  I love the concept of time and using it in a meaningful way and am always working in my life to be more deliberate in the way I choose to spend my time.  I hope as you get busier with the holiday season approaching you'll take some time out to remember what things really matter and equally important, to take care of yourself.

Enjoy the playlist and please let me know if I've missed out on your favorite songs about time - I'm always looking to add great music to my collection.



Happy Listening!
Jamie
Lyrical Journey

Flowers On A Friday - Something Exotic And A Tid-Bit

King Protea



Monkey Tails



Pink Mink Protea


I thought I'd include this little tid-bit to think about, since, after all,  it is Vegan MoFo.  In Sweden, food labels are required to list the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for any food item's production.  Since soy is often imported, from the Amazon (where trees are cut down to make room for soy production),  to feed cattle, that means that a traditional burger can have a mighty big eco footprint. I think that labeling that reflects this information would be so interesting to see.  It would probably alter my purchases at the market, how about yours?

I'm Getting Ambushed - Hooray!

I feel so lucky to be part of the fabulous fPOE ( Female Photographers Of Etsy) team! They are an amazing, talented, generous, and caring group of ladies. I could gush about them endlessly, but I will try to resist the urge. Happily, I am today's ambush "victim". Which means that they are showing me, my shop, and my blog some lovin'. Isn't that wonderful?! I'm really excited about it, and I'm already feelin' the love. So, to all the fPOE members, let me say welcome and thank you so much, you ladies are the greatest!

White On Wednesday

Winter Love

Happy World Vegan Day

An Etsy Treasury featuring some vegan finds, in honor of World Vegan Day. Click on any of the links, if you are interested in purchasing the item. I have my eye on the "Wally becomes a vegetarian..." bowl on the bottom row, it cracks me up!

'Happy World Vegan Day' by gildinglilies

An all Vegan Treasury, enjoy!

Mini Vegan Shortbread Hearts SweetVConfecti... $7.00	Organic Cotton bear beanie i... NYCrochet $20.00
Vegan Oatmeal Scotchies Cook... PandaWithCooki... $10.00	Sandalwood - Cold Process Ve... HoneybeeSoapSh... $4.25
One Inch Tofu Pirate Pin- Ve... pandawithcooki... $1.25	Cookies and Cream Vegan Butt... thecupcakemint $6.00
Small Hessian Bag with a Bla... veganessa $22.00	Cracklin Birch Soap sunbasilgarden $5.00
Baked Bread Soy Candle loveluca $12.00	Poison Apple Scented Sea Sal... ThyLocalOrgani... $7.99
Eco-Chic Handmade Vegan Ball... TheGeneration $58.00	Orange Lollipoppy mihow $10.00
SAMPLE Mochi Bits 2oz Coconu... SunnySweetNove... $2.00	Vegan necklace EmilinaBalleri... $16.00
Chocolate Petals Organic Lip... Naturallogic $7.00	Wally becomes a vegetarian s... wallywarepotte... $28.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Meatless Monday - A Special Guest

My good friend Laloofah, from the wonderful blog Mehitable Days, is being kind enough to share with us some of her vegan cooking expertise. I'm so glad she is here today, and even more glad that she has agreed to do two guest posts. So, be on the lookout because she will be visiting again soon, with another yummy creation.
I'm going to be doing a little extra veg stuff this month in honor of Vegan MoFo (Vegan Month Of Food). I'm very happy to take part, and I'm hoping to welcome some vegetarians to the old blog. So, if you are new, welcome, I'm so happy you stopped by. And, to my dear regulars, please enjoy this recipe that Laloofah is sharing with us today. Take it away Laloofah.

A few years after my husband and I became vegan, I got a wicked hankering for New England clam chowder. It wasn't a soup I ate a lot growing up despite having lived in various New England states (mostly Maine), but occasionally I would crave it and that craving had come upon me once again. So I found a couple of recipes for vegan versions, used ideas from both and added some of my own, and over the years I made changes every time I made the soup till I arrived at what, to me, is a perfect vegan version of New England clam chowder and now one of my husband's very favorite soups! It's a good way to eat nutritious sea veggies, too, which are available online or in Asian or natural food stores.

Happy-As-A-Clam Clamfree Chowder
A yummy and nutritious soup, especially on a nor'easter sort of day! Ayuh! :-)

Ingredients
Marinade:
1/4 cup tamari
1 tsp dulse flakes
1/4 tsp nori flakes
1/8 tsp kelp flakes

1 14-oz (more or less) organic extra firm tofu, marinated, baked and cubed (see directions below)

Soup:
About 3-4 TBSP water (for sautéing)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 cups water
2 cups organic unsweetened soy milk
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 TBSP dulse flakes or a combination of dulse and nori flakes
1/2 tsp celery seed
3 large potatoes, cubed (I use organic Yukon Golds)
3 celery stalks, chopped

Directions:
Mix the dulse, nori and kelp flakes with the tamari. Set aside.
Drain the tofu well (press as much water out as possible) and slice it into strips about 1/4" thick and 1/2" wide, and marinate them in the tamari mix for 3-4 hours, turning the tofu strips now and then so it's well coated in the marinade. (I marinate them using one of those leak-proof containers with the locking latched lids, so I just turn the entire container over every hour or so).
After marinating, bake the "tofu sticks" on a dark, nonstick cookie sheet at 425ºF for 10-15 minutes on each side, until nicely browned but not crispy. Let cool. Cut into cubes for the chowder and set aside. (I like to use all but a handful - about 4 or 5 of the strips - in the soup, using the rest on tossed salads or just to nibble on.)
Heat 3-4 TBSP of water in a large non-stick soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots and sauté, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes or until onion is soft. (If necessary, add a little more water to prevent sticking).
Add the 2 cups of water and the soy milk and stir.
Add the salt, pepper and celery seed and bring to a low boil. Add the potatoes and celery, immediately reduce heat to low-medium, and let the chowder simmer until the potatoes are soft (about 30-45 minutes), stirring occasionally. (I tend to simmer mine covered, and at my high altitude it takes about 45 minutes for the potatoes to be done. The longer you simmer the soup, the thicker it will be).
Add the tofu cubes during the last 3-5 minutes of cooking. (Adding them sooner makes them too soft).
Salt to taste, if desired -- but remember that the dulse flakes and the marinated tofu both taste salty!

Makes 6-8 servings

To learn more about nutritious, delicious sea vegetables and more ways to incorporate them into your diet, visit Maine Coast Sea Vegetables or Cooks Thesaurus: Sea Vegetables.

If human civilization is going to invade the waters of the earth,


then let it be, first of all, to carry a message of respect ~ respect for all life.


~ Jacques Cousteau

Thanks Laloofah for sharing with all of us.