Vegan Exchange Numero Dos

I'm jealous of my past self-- the one who noshed on these cookies and this candy bar.

You may recall that my kid and I are enjoying the vegan exchange run by Cat at The Verdant Life. We had a glitch in that we didn't receive a package in May, but June's package was from Janna over yonder at Nom Vegan Nom. Yeah, ok, Janna's package was SUPERB!

Those multi-seed crackers? Delicious. My son still asks if we have any.
Those chocolate chip cookies? Gone rather quickly.
Those gummi bears? What the what? They were so good.
That chocolate bar? Son never saw it.
Ramen and rice and beans? I had a bachelorette weekend and they were just right for my cooking-for-one lifestyle!

Thank you so much Janna, we loved our goodies but most of all, we loved your card. We are crazy for kitties!

Potluck Picnic in the Park

Even though we haven't been mealgrouping it in the way in which we began, we've all been sharing meals together semi-regularly. I will be posting more on pulling together potlucks later, but I wanted to share our most recent potluck, which was a picnic in a local park. It was summer weather, there were adorable children playing, delightful adults chatting and fireflies as the sun went down! And all of the food was so, so good.

Summer picnic! (photo by Dianne Wenz of Veggiegirl)

The menu included...

• Pasta salad with black beans and cilantro
• Quinoa mushroom risotto
• Bean salad
• Carrot salad with a light lemon dressing
• Corn salad
• Watermelon salad
• Bread with pesto spread
• Slow cooker focaccia 
• Lima/edamame hummus
• Cookie dough balls
• No-bake double chocolate torte (click for the recipe, do not be daunted by the avocado)

...and an adorable baby!