Weekly Ramblings and Pineapple Mango Salsa...

It's been a busy week thus far, which makes me even happier that I have a three day weekend to look forward to. This past Saturday's Bountiful Basket brought with it lots of amazing fresh fruit. We got bananas, a pineapple, and a watermelon from small farms in Mexico, and plums and apricots from California. We also received a five pound bag of potatoes from a small farm in Idaho as well as many other goodies. Though I know it would be better for the environment for us to buy local produce, there still hasn't been much at the farmer's market. I plan to go down this weekend and see if we've moved past the jams, meat, and crafts portion of the year and on into the veggies and fruit portion. It would be nice to buy local every other week and from BB on the off weeks, so we could support both while still getting good variety.

I started my travel blog that will document my journey to John C. Campbell Folk School. You can find it at My Journey Back To Me. I plan to try and keep up with both blogs while I'm working as the Student Host at JCCFS. I'm fairly certain that I'll be mostly posting on my travel blog though.

Since its summer time I thought I'd include one of my favorite salsa recipes. This Pineapple Mango Salsa is quick, easy, and perfect on a hot summer day.

Pineapple Mango Salsa

1 cup Fresh Pineapple

1 cup Fresh Mango

4 cloves Garlic

2 Jalapenos, seeded

1/2 cup Cilantro leaves

1/2 cup Green Onions, chopped

2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until desired texture is met. Let set 1 hour and enjoy.

Beautiful day and what's to come....

It's a beautiful late Spring day here in Rapid City, SD. I'm getting ready to start my day with a hearty bowl of oats with crushed pineapple and a cup of coffee. What do you usually start your day with?

I'm getting close to finishing the Season of The Vegan cook book. All the recipes are loaded into the publishing software, the recipes that will be photographed have been chosen, and a great friend has volunteered to copy edit. Now I need to cook and photograph food and write the index and forward. Then its off into the world! I can't wait. I think the hardest part about the whole experience so far has been trying to do it in my spare time. But I suppose that's what makes it a labor of love.

I'm also getting very close to the end of this leg of my journey in life. In early September I'll be driving across the country to Brasstown, NC to work as the Student Host at John C. Campbell Folk School. At that time I'll continue this blog (with a bit less frequency) and begin a blog about my time there. As the SH there, I get three Silver Bullet classes (ones I can't get bumped out of or pulled away from for work). I've signed up for White-Line Printmaking, Kente Cloth Weaving, and Beginning Mountain Dulcimer. Given I'm not really stepping too far out of my comfort zone with any of these, but they are classes that will allow me to further my skills. I'm also hoping to try my hand at Blacksmithing, Book Making, Forging for Mushrooms, and Danish Folk Dancing while I'm there. I'm still uncertain where I'll end up at the end of next January, but then again I'm never very sure where I'll be from year to year. I do know, that if I'm to put down roots it would have to be for a career and not just another job. I need to be working for causes that I care about. Either in the arts or for a company promoting veganism. If you know of any good leads in those fields, let me know.

Yum....

So a while back I posted my recipe for Vanilla Rum Banana Bread. I finally got around to taking some food photos the other day.

 

For this batch I added some semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips. So yummy!

Belated May Food Swap Reveal

So, I'm a little behind on posting this. It's been a very busy week both at work and at home. What with friends birthday parties and organizing a bake sale to benefit the local humane society and volunteering at the art's center and loading all the recipes for my cookbook into Lulu, I just haven't had time to blog.

My May Food Swap Box came from the lovely Miss Sarah of goodstorysarah.wordpress.com and heyimoverhere.com. I seriously feel like Sarah is a kindred spirit! So many wonderful things packed into this little box!

Cute Recipe Cards: one for Lemon Verbena Mint Tea, which I made and loved! And one  for Easy Peasy Peanut Butter Fudge, which I haven't had a chance to try yet, but will soon.

Earrings and Buttons: So cute! The earrings are admittedly one of my favorite parts of the swap box. She also sent me a Vegan Button, that I've placed on my bag for all to see. I love that Sarah thought to send some non-food goodies.

Mix CD: Her boyfriend had her include an awesome mix cd that he made. It's already made the cut for summer traveling music as I road trip this year.

Hurraw! Lip Balm: I have a hard time finding vegan lip balm in SD, so this was a great thing to see in the bottom of the box. Sarah sent me the coconut, which is one of my favorite flavors, it certainly does the trick for keeping my lips kissable. I give it 4 out of 5 Vs

Mighty-O Coffee:  We're big coffee drinkers here. Plus, I manage a coffee bar for a living. So, I was very excited to see a bag of coffee included. Mighty-O's Cave Dweller was a great cup of coffee. It made for a perfect start of the day. I give it 4 out of 5 Vs

Origins Tea from Teahouse Kuan Yin: Along with the recipe card, Sarah sent me Lemon Verbena and Peppermint teas from her favorite teahouse. Both are wonderful and will be quickly used up for summery iced tea. I give them 4 out of 5 Vs

Biscoff Spread: I was so over joyed to see this in my swap box! I love biscoff cookies, but can only get them when I fly (Delta has them as a snack option). I don't have a source for the spread here in SD and have really been wanting to try it. Let me tell you people, it is fantastic! It's like spreading your toast with a spice cookie. I think I've found a new food addiction. I give it 5 out of 5 Vs

Soy-go Coffee Creamer: This is another item I've been wanting to try for a while. I can see how it would come in handy on the go, but all in all I wasn't a huge fan. I do like a little splash of non-dairy milk in my coffee. This did a sort of weird clumpy thing instead of turning my coffee creamy. It did however taste fairly good. So I'm a bit torn on this product. I give it 2 out of 5 Vs


A big thanks to Sarah for all the wonderful bits and a big thanks to Cat for putting this swap together. If you're interested in participating visit: The Verdant Life or if you'd like to see what others received in their May swap boxes visit Cat's page that we all link to.