I made the cheesy crackers a few times because I was testing different gluten-free flour blends to see which one I liked best. Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 was the best one I have tried so far. I was also testing different fats to see which one worked better in the dough. Ultimately, vegan butter had the best taste as well. The olive oil version was really bad! But it could be the olive oil that I have is a little over powering for a delicate cracker. 

Here is how I made today's version....

​Twelve days into Vegan MoFo 2019 already!

​It has been fun thinking up ideas for picnics and posting about them every day. I started the month off with Picnic Mains for the first week and then moved into side dishes and snacks.  

A few of my highlights, including this delectable Cranberry Bliss Bar, have been - gluten-free cuban sandwich, snack mix with homemade cheesy crackers, BBQ chickpea salad, and pesto pasta salad. 

I am going to start the month of Vegan MoFo with main dishes, and then work my way through the main meals, sides & snacks, and then desserts.

I will also talk about a few drink ideas, as well as picnic success equipment (hint - nothing special is needed!).

​For the first picnic main, and day 2 of Vegan MoFo, here is a BBQ Chickpea Kale Salad! BBQ and picnics go hand-in-hand, and I love the extra punch of flavor the chickpeas give to this salad. 

This is my third-year Mofo’ing, and I couldn’t be more excited that it is back already for 2019! This year I will be posting under Vegan Picnics on Instagram because I will be posting about all things picnicking! I've had a love of picnics my entire life, and have been amping up my picnic game in the past few years.

​I even posted about Vegan Picnicking a few months ago, after coming back from a trip to Victoria, British Columbia, where my husband and I had picnics the entire week. We even had one to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. 

I recently started reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and taking myself on artist’s dates. The dates are a way to fill your creative tank and find inspiration for ideas, projects, or to help with a creative block. I’ve only been on a few dates with myself, but I find that I am thinking more about creative projects, culinary experiments, and writing ideas.

​I have also been turning to my fellow solutionaries, humane educators, activists for inspiration, and how they bring art into their life. I find that so many of us have creative outlets and find ways to bring creativity into our work. I’ve met songwriters, painters, writers, guitar players, photographers, chefs, and more! I love that we each have our way of expressing creativity and at the same time, bettering the world. 

​The Fourth of July and all of the celebrations are only a few days away! Family gatherings, outings with friends, BBQs (vegan, of course), and splashing in the pool are great ways to celebrate.
​I have spent many Fourth of Julys poolside, next to a BBQ grill, or spending the day at a park.  I found over the years how to incorporate many friendlier options into my celebrations. 

​The simple placement of a word or punctuation mark can completely change the meaning of a sentence, which can change the purpose of a paragraph, an essay, a book, or even the essence of how we live and what we believe. 

I am working towards adding more positivity to my life through my language, both verbal and written, as well as my thinking. I am trying to be more mindful, first, how I think about a topic, a conversation, what I hear, and what I read, and then being more mindful about how I respond to my thoughts and all the information that I am ingesting. Note that I said respond, not react. Even by saying that I am responding versus reacting is a positive outlook, and can provide a more positive outcome. Reactions are beneficial in certain situations, especially in an emergency. However, responding means to ingest and process the information, and then formulate a response more mindfully. 

Hi! Sorry for the silence the past few weeks. I have been planning, preparing, and then enjoying my 10th wedding anniversary trip! We celebrated ten years of wedded bliss in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. I am still floating on a cloud thinking about each fabulous day. We spent time exploring the cities on foot, bus, and water taxi. We hit up the Vancouver Veg Expo on May 5th, and sampled so many new foods that I haven’t seen in the states - like Un-Brie-Lievable cheese by Nuts for Cheese, NoochPop, and Laiki Black Rice With Cheddar Crackers (which will pair phenomenally with the Un-Brie-Lievable if there are any left once we open the cheese). We found every vegan nook and cranny in Victoria, and the biggest jewel we found was Pure Lovin’ Chocolate located on historical Fan Tan Alley. They make vegan, gluten, soy, and preservative free deliciousness using Fair Trade sourced chocolate. What an incredible find!