Sundried Tomatoes, Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad

TGIF and we're just one day away from potentially the biggest sugar fest of the year, Halloween!  What's everyone doing?  Parties?  Getting dressed up?  Staying in and passing out candy?  Clue me in on your plans, por favor!  We're probably taking Skylar on some light T & T'ing and I usually just put out a huge vat of candy and let kids help themselves.  I work on the Candy Honor System, call me a crazy yogi.

Thanks for the great compliments on the Halloween pics of my Fairy Princess from the last post.

 

Also, I'm glad the roasted acorn squash fries and dehydrated seeds caught your eye.  It finally got cool here in AZ and the roasted squash was just what hit the spot!

Moving along...
Remember this post where I tried one tomato for starters to see what kinda result I would yield dehydrating tomatoes myself?

Well that one tomato and it's 5 precious slices were so dang good, sweet, tender and awesome that I decided to dehydrate 5 tomatoes.

 

I recently saw vine ripe tomatoes on sale for $1.99/pound.  This screamed, make your own sun-dried tomatoes, to me.  And as long as I was already running the Magic Box for the dried squash seeds I made yesterday, the tomatoes were the perfect addition.
Nothing special, just slice-n-place on trays...

....Wait 6 long hours with one flip over halfway through.

And I was rewarded with these.

Perfect, lovely, tender, chewy sun-dried, or Magic Box dried, tomatoes.

As an added bonus to dehydrating at home (or you could try this in a low oven at 180-200F for 4 hours to start with but watch things closely and don't go off and fall asleep in a bubble bath or anything), but if you do this at home, you don't have your sundried tomatoes floating in a vat of oil, garlic, or sodium.  None of which are really my friends.


Enough tomato talk, here's a few other veggie creations.
First, lightly steamed B.S. & asparagus, with orange peppers, dressed with the juice of half an orange, drizzle of agave, and coupla twists of black pepper.

Next, remember the Brocoli Salad and Vegan Homemade Slaw Dressing I made?  Well, I duplicated the dressing and added Cauli to the Mix this time.  Yum.  I just love my cruciferous veggies with a passion!  Check the dressing recipe out here.  Sweet-n-tangy and makes my mouth happy!

For Dessert, I've been yumming it up with the Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls.   And a few pieces of non-raw Halloween candy.

 

I was also blessed by a couple friends.  First, the sweet lovely lady, Miss Gliding Calm, sent me the sweetest Halloween card.  It had black glitter on the outside and the most touching words on the inside.  I think I cry over all Hallmark cards, even Halloween ones, especially when friends think of me and shower me with their random acts of kindness.  Thanks, GC!!!!!!!!

But the schmaltz-fest continues because another amazing friend, Chocolate-Covered Katie, not only sent another Hallmark card that I was crying over because her words just touched my heart...

....but she also sent me Fudge Babies which helped dry up all those tears!

And she sent some adorable fudge hearts with natural PB on the inside.  A homemade version of a peanut-butter sandwich cookie and let me tell you all that Katie's chocolate treats are decadent!!!!

I had to start taking pictures before I even bit into one because like Pringles, once you pop, you can't stop!

Today showed me that I do have friends, they just don't live across the street or even across town, but they are out there and thinking of me.  I'm not going to lie, moving to Arizona 8 weeks ago has been wonderful because I love my new house, but am still coming up short on the real-life friends action, so today's surprises were even more meaningful.  Thanks GC & Katie, you are both beautiful souls!!!!!  I love you girls!!!!  xoxox

VeganMofo in the house today.


Yoga Today is Padangusthasana (Big Toe Pose)
We all need to stretch our hamstrings.  We all sit too much, or run too much, and we get tight.  And our lower backs need the release, too.  When you're in this pose, although I am cheezing it up for the camera, make sure to drop & relax your neck.  It will make all the ahhhhh kind of difference.

Now for a couple Flashback Friday pics in Janetha's Honor
And I apologize that I am not actually in the pics...most of my really Flashback-ish Pictures are 4x6's prints and not on my hard drive or memory sticks.  Another project for another lifetime to convert those.  One flashback is when I bought this Pink Chanel Bag and Wallet about 5-6 years ago.  I had wanted a quilted interlocking C bag since I was about 6.  When I was about 26, I was old enough to finally buy one.  I still carry it.  Quality does last if you take care of it.

When I bought this house in California I had purchased a hot tub but wasn't able to get it to fit into it's proper resting place in the backyard by conventional methods.  So what is any smart girl to do?  Hire a crane company and have your hot-tub hoisted in.  The priorities of a childless woman, I tell ya.

Whoa Nelly, don't hit the neighbor's house.  That may be more than my own homeowner's insurance policy will cover me for.

It all worked out and I enjoyed many a glass of bubbly while in my bubbling hot tub.  Ahhh....memories.

Tip of the Day: Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK).  Another friend Justine was just talking about this on her blog.  And I can't reiterate the importance of how awesome it feels to be the receiving end of such nice acts.  But also as the do-er or the giver of the random act, it can feel pretty amazing as well, knowing you're making someone's day a little brighter.  So two questions: what RAOK have you done lately and what RAOK have you received (the second part for me is self-evident by this post)?
For me, what I've done lately is reached out to a few people in the hopes of helping them get through some bumpy times in their life and just been a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on, not expecting anything back.  How about you, tell me about your RAOK's!!!


Stay Tuned For Some Random Facts...

P.S. Don't forget  My Dozen ProBars Give Away!  I highly recommend entering yourself to win 12 of these delish bars!  Contest ends Sunday so get in on the action!