High altitude Mountain Momma strikes again.

I guess I get inspired up here in Arrowhead so I cooked up two vegan one pot meals at the same time. My old standby is a salad and throw everything I have in it. I wanted something more substantial to go alongside it and by making two different types of dishes in quality and quantity, I can skate through the rest of the week eating healthy without much thought by just tossing a salad and heating up ready made bowls of vegan goodness. Then, I can focus on my writing, painting and researching.

I basically started with the same veggies “sautéed” in water; yellow and green peppers, sliced, diced onions and some minced garlic. I added a can of diced tomatoes to one and a bottle of spaghetti sauce to the other. I also added pinky tan Northern beans, half a can each for extra protein but not so much gas. Both pans simmered with a combination of miso and veggie broth. Each pot was filled with a mix of organic, store bought items and ingredients from my OC, organic garden I cleverly and easily brought up the mountain in Trader Jo insulated bags (everything pre-washed, bagged and sealed).

Then, I added cumin, corn, cayenne, oregano, nutritional yeast, ketchup and smashed up black beans to my Mexican style hearty stew. I served myself a huge helping with slices of avocado and lime, punctuated by homegrown parsley.

I added Italian herbs, kale, vegan meatballs, zucchini and vegan sausage crumbles to my Italian style sauce and served myself yet another sampling of tastiness in the evening with homemade “parmesan” sprinkled on top.

Today, I intend on making tortilla filled tacos with the Mexican stew and add some vegan Mexican cheese sauce and/or salsa to it.

My Italian meal is going to be stuffed into this gigantic zucchini I picked in the garden just before coming up, baked with vegan mozzarella. I may or may not do this today.

While the squirrels, adorable teeny chipmunks (Simon, Theodore and Alvin) and at least five different colorful and extraordinary varieties of birds (mostly in pairs and romantically enough, they feed each other) feast on our feeders, I will dine in high altitude style too.