Almost All Vegan Valentines Day Lunch

 

I needed an excuse to use my aunt's china and to try out a few new recipes so I invited a couple of friends over for lunch the week before Valentines Day.

I recently acquired my Aunt Mary's lovely china. She had promised it to me a few years ago when we were there for a visit. She showed me exactly where it was in her cupboard and I was honored to be receiving it one day. That one day came sooner than expected when my aunt was diagnosed with ovarian and colon cancer two years ago and then died suddenly, just two short weeks after her diagnoses. My aunt was one of the most creative people I know. She was always involved in some sort of project, sewing, painting, gardening, or refinishing furniture. She had many beautiful things and this tea set was one of them. I feel so blessed to have it now, and keep it displayed on my shelf as a constant reminder of my aunt and how special she was.

 

 

My New Year's resolution was to switch to a plant-based, whole foods diet. My dad was at the MAYO clinic last December undergoing several cancer tests including testing for Lynch Syndrome, and it really scared me knowing that this might run in our family. Thankfully he tested negative for Lynch Syndrome but it was enough of a scare for me to change my ways. After watching the documentary Forks over Knives, and reading several books relating to cancer and diet, including a very impressive book, The China Study, I decided to give up meat, dairy, and eggs and adopt a whole food, plant based diet. The switch has been easy for me. I never was much of a meat eater, and spent 15 years as vegetarian, and part of that time as a vegan so switching back was easy. It has been a good change for me in many, many ways. 

I've spent the last couple of months checking out  every vegan cookbook from the library that I could get my hands on. I've found many great recipes, quite a few that have become family favorites and that are served a few times every month. I wanted to share some of those recipes with my friends and decided to do so by inviting a couple of them over for my "almost" vegan lunch.

  

For the lunch I served a white bean rosemary soup, polenta heart cakes with spinach, kale, onion, and walnut stuffing with a read sauce, and a Mediterranean quinoa salad stuffed in a tomato. We also had grapefruit and pomegranate sparkling juice drinks. I didn't have a chance to take any photos of the main entrees because I was busy in the kitchen preparing them.

The white bean soup recipe came from Barefoot Contessa. I altered it a little and used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and sauteed the onion without oil. The polenta and quinoa recipes came from the FOK companion book. 

Above are my usual cutout cookies made from my great, great grandmother's recipe. Nothing vegan about them. But the chocolate hearts are Mexican Chocolate Cookies, a recipe from the cookbook, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. They are delicious with a little spicy kick, and my boys love them.

 

 For the vegan cupcakes I used two recipes from the cookbook, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, the same author of the previously mentioned vegan cookie book. The first recipe is a pistachio rose water cupcake that is to die for. My friends loved these. The rosewater makes them very special. The second recipe was a vegan chocolate cupcake with peanut butter icing. To add more variety, some of the chocolate cupcakes have a non vegan chocolate ganache topped with a raspberry. And I hand-dipped peanuts in dark chocolate to top the chocolate peanut butter cupcakes.

Did my friends mind eating a mostly vegan lunch? I don't know but I think the conversation and company was more important than the food that was served, and I was happy I could share all of it with them.

The idea for  this cute centerpiece came Martha Stewart. It was a little hard keeping my kids' fingers out of it though.

Car Wallets

 

I was trying to help my sister think of a "boy" party favor for the two boys that were attending my niece's Rapunzel birthday party and I came across a picture of car wallet online. I searched for a tutorial but I couldn't find one in the style that I liked so I had to wing it. 

I made up my own pattern mostly by trial and error. Once I figured out the size I wanted, everything else was pretty easy. The hard part was figuring out how big to make the pleated panel that the cars fit into. It took a couple of tries but I was able to work it out. Luckily we still have a big box of matchbox cars that I used for measurement.

 It is never easy coming up with fun craft ideas to make for boys and I think this one is a keeper. And from what I was told, it was a big hit with the four-year old little boy who was a birthday guest at my niece's party. I'm sure he liked it much better than a pink and purple Rapunzel crayon roll.

Crayon Rolls

My sister extended my niece's Disney birthday celebration by throwing a Rapunzel birthday party. She asked if I would make these crayon rolls for party favors. I had made both my nieces and nephew a larger version (one that holds 14 crayons) for Christmas, and in my rush to package everything and send it off in time I didn't take any photos. So being able make these for my niece's birthday party gave me an opportunity to take some pictures.

 My sister sent me a picture of the size she wanted, and I was lucky enough to find some Rapunzel fabric -- although you can't tell from these pictures because I forgot to photograph the outside fabric. You can kind of get the idea from picture below. There is a small glimpse of Rapunzel brushing her hair.

These are super easy to sew and make a very practical gift. Easy to throw in  a purse for a outing, or keep in a desk at school.

Christmas Photo Shoot

I decided to have the boys pictures taken for Christmas cards this year. We had an awesome photographer, KatieK who gave us so many great photos to choose from. It was really difficult deciding which to put on the Christmas cards, so much so that this was the first year in about 15 that I didn't make my own cards!! I ended up ordering our cards just so that I could fit more than one picture on them. I was a little disappointed not hand make the cards, but I do have to say that it was liberating to have one less thing to accomplish before Christmas.

These are just a small sampling of the photos we had to choose from. They were all taken on the campus of Indiana University.

 Amazingly enough the dog cooperated for most of the pictures.

 The limestone around campus gave us a great backdrop for a lot of the shots.

 

Teacup Aprons

For Christmas this year I made four sets of matching aprons to give to friends and family for gifts. In my rush to get everything wrapped and mailed, I did not take one picture. Thanks to Steph (one of the recipients) for sharing this picture of her and her lovely sister and niece. I was most excited to give matching aprons to the three of them because I knew I was going to be able to give it to them in person, on a surprise visit with Steph in her hometown.

I used Simplicity pattern 2276 for the aprons. They were a loads of fun to make.  The best part was choosing the fabrics that I felt best suited each of the recipients. I feel so blessed to have so many little girls in my life to sew for.

Valentine Sachets

I hosted a little Valentine's Day lunch for a couple of my friends and wanted to give them a little Valentines Day gift. I knew I wanted to do something with lavender since I still had quite bit leftover from last year's garden. I was lucky enough to find these adorable sachets online from the Sew4Home blog. They were perfect because they were Valentine-themed, and they allowed me to use up my leftover lavender.

I also loved the fact that I was able use up some of my fabric scraps. I have a difficult time getting rid of even the smallest pieces of fabric for fear that I might need them for something. So these sachets gave me the perfect excuse to put my scraps to good use.

Madelyn's Minnie Applique

My adored niece, Madelyn recently turned 4, and for her birthday her parents took her on a five day trip to Disneyland. So I thought what would be a better gift than making her this appliqued t-shirt that she could wear on the trip. The applique included a silhouette of Minnie's head, the number 4, and her name. 

I found this wonderful tutorial on Sew Like My Mom blog that helped me along the way. The letters were a little more challenging to applique, but all in all I was pleased with the outcome. And as a little extra bonus, I made some matching hair bows.

Here's the excited Madelyn on her way to Disney. Notice the matching shoes that Grandma gave her.