Saturday Photos

I had a busy day yesterday and I decided to just save my "Friday Night Photos" post for today instead. It's only noon right now, and it feels so much later. Noah wanted me to go with him and his girlfriend to Eastern Market (a large farmers' market in Detroit). Jerry is off work today and he hadn't gone to the market since 2012(!) so he wanted to go too. We left at 6:30 this morning to get there early (it gets super busy in the late morning).

I was happy Noah asked me to go! 

Jerry and I both groaned about getting up early, but it was worth it. We didn't plan on buying so much, but it's hard not to when you see how good everything looks!

When we got home, I actually took the time to cut up the cauliflower, green beans, and collard greens. Usually, I tell myself I'll do it later; then, I tend to procrastinate and may or may not do it at all. Now, I have no excuse not to use them.

Those little tubs with the blue flower on them in the middle of the photo came from my favorite vendor at the market. He makes vegan butter in different flavors, and it is SO SO good! I've gotten his herb butter and garlic butter; today, I bought the lemon pepper flavor. I've only ever used it on toast, but he told me it's really good for cooking--the garlic butter with sautéed mushrooms, the herb butter with corn on the cob, etc. I'm definitely going to use it to cook with!

This is the vegan herb butter on sourdough toast:

Speaking of meal prep, I got very ambitious one morning and made a bunch of spice mixes and sauces. I like to have sauces on hand in the freezer because it's super fast to throw dinner together. The jars in the top picture are for tikka masala, so I add either tofu or soy curls; the white-ish jars in the middle picture are truffle mac sauce, so I just have to cook pasta and add that. On the bottom is a spicy orange sauce, which I add to tofu, seitan, or soy curls. The spices I mixed were for Indian-spiced potatoes (I make them frequently) and tikka masala spices. Jerry and I love Indian food if you can't tell, haha.

Jerry really wanted a southwest salad recently, and it actually sounded good to me. I'm not a salad person, but when I do eat one, I like it to be like THIS. It was absolutely delicious! (Black beans, corn, tofu, homemade vegan ranch, salsa, guacamole, and tortilla chips.)

While I'm on the subject of food... Luke and Riley asked Brian if they could have a food fight! Brian thought it sounded like fun, so they went to the store and bought the stuff for a spaghetti dinner. Then they sat on the picnic table outside, and a minute later, the fight began. He took a video of the whole thing and it looked so fun! I wish I'd have thought to do that with my kids when they were little.

I saw some bowl (cozies? holders?) on Pinterest and I thought they were really cute, so I decided to make some. When I tried to look at the site for the pattern, there were SO many ads that I couldn't even see the actual page (literally). So I improvised and made these--I love how they turned out! I'm used to putting a paper towel under my bowl in order to hold it while it's hot (it gets heavy when holding it by the handle). 

While I was sewing them, Duck noticed that they were slightly bowl-shaped, and naturally, he thought it was perfect for him to sit in. 

They are perfect for eating chili while watching football on Sundays in the fall. Football? Yes. Remember how I said Jeanie taught me the rules of football when I was up at her cabin in July? I told her I'd try to watch it this fall. Well, on Thursday, she called me and told me that I really should watch the Detroit Lions game that night. It was the first NFL game of the season and it was in Kansas City, who are the "defending Superbowl champions" (Jerry told me what to write there, hahaha!). Jeanie told me to put on a Lions hoodie and send her a selfie before the game.

I don't have a Lions hoodie, but I *do* have a Lions onesie! I was actually saving it to give to her.

I really wanted to try to understand the game, so I watched it--and I followed it surprisingly well. I found myself getting excited and nervous at all the appropriate times; it was fun, even though I was watching by myself. And the Lions won! It was a HUGE deal, so I'm told. ;)  I think I'll watch some more football this season; I was excited that I was able to understand the general concept. Jerry's actually watching right now while I write this.

Eli started his senior year of high school on Tuesday. It's bittersweet for sure! Of course, I had to get a picture of him on the first day, and he humored me.

I'll finish with this picture of the kittens. (We'll probably always call them that, even though they're three years old now.) A wasp had gotten in the house and was flying around the skylight in the kitchen; they were fascinated, so they went on top of the fridge to get a better look.

And that's all I've got. Have a great weekend! xo