Sometimes I just don’t get a chance to eat lunch and I have a lunch/dinner and dessert for “dinner”.

For breakfast, I ate an organic peanut butter (crunchy) and jelly (no sugar, just raspberries) sandwich made with Ezequiel’s bread which had a lot of staying power for my workout and activities throughout the day.

For lunch/dinner, I made a vegan Caeser salad. I had prepared the dressing and the topping the day before. Deliciousness without the anchovies or Parmesan cheese. I added a few fried onions (a guilty pleasure) from a store bought bag.

Meanwhile, I had prepped my vegan gluten free (cornmeal crust) pizza with a generous whollop of organic jarred pizza tomato sauce, vegan mozzarella shreds, cut up organic Kalamata olives and rustic, grilled artichoke hearts from a jar filled with salted water, not oil.

For dinner, I have to admit I enjoyed some bruschetta without cheese with my husband and some gnocchi in fresh marinara.

Dessert was unsweetened coconut yogurt with crushed up vegan cinnamon cookies, stevia, cinnamon extract and chopped, organic red walnuts.

I know. I can eat.

Using a few fresh and a few canned ingredients, you can assemble a delicious and nutritious chili that will keep for a week.

“Saute” onions, peppers and carrots in water or broth.

Combine your spices.

Add beans, corn and tomatoes.

Serve with homemade or store bought guacamole and chips.

 It matters to me if something is non-gmo and I appreciate the fact that the companies it matters to also still care enough to let me know – even if the political machine run by lobbies, greed and special interests don’t think it is wise for me to know.

I found this rustic GF, personal, 8″ pizza crusts at Mother’s Market (2 in one package for $3.59).

I added organic Kalamata olives, organic sun dried tomatoes and vegan shredded mozzarella cheese (the Follow your Heart brand melts beautifully – I have yet to try the Daiya).

Tasty, get your chocolate ya-ya’s out pudding that is gluten free, sugar free and no animals were harmed. I just threw together chia seeds, cacao powder, cinnamon, almond milk, sea salt, stevia and walnuts into a jar and shook it up. Then I let it sit in the fridge overnight. Yummy.

For recipe details, demo or tasting, contact me at ceciliabsteger@gmail.com.

Mountain Momma made a vegan Sheperd’s pie in a jiffy. No fat was added plus I used Bob’s Red Mill pure potato flakes, frozen organic mixed veggies for convenience and an organic can of lentils because if you are stuck in a hilltop snowstorm or sudden, high altitude summer deluge, you need to have these sort of pantry items on hand, just in case, anyway.

Filling or base foundation of veggies, including chopped organic red onion, black lentils and organic dried tarragon from our yard.

Easy mashed potatoes using unadulterated – just dehydrated flakes, pink Himalayan salt, organic cloves and nutmeg for a kick of personality.

Layer the smashed tubers over the veggies.

Top with vegan shredded cheddar and bake at 450 till melted and hot.

If you want complete recipe details or a demo/tasting, reply to this post or e-mail, call or text me.

While walking today, I had, as usual, a long and enlightening, empowering talk with my BFF. Thanks to cell phones and summer vacay, we could chat while I walked Cindi. We discussed our re-commitments, we encouraged each other and we planned our food, exercise and attitude for the day.

Every meal is a choice to love ourselves.

Let’s take that a step further and love the planet and the animals too.