Back in August, I shared with you my Garden Journal and my plan to try to have something growing all year round in my garden.  I used my Garden Journal to plan everything out and kept notes about everything that happened in my garden.  As you can see, I've been having tremendous results! I'm harvesting peas, spinach and beets, along with the beet greens.  My Broccoli is beginning to flower and a few carrots are sprouting.  Hopefully, my Fall Garden Harvest will get done this month and I can start putting in my Spring Garden after that! I've already starting sprouting transplants.   I feel like I'm kicking off the New Year right!  

     If you have been following, you will know that I have probably gained 5 pounds playing with my new Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Maker Attachment.  Making ice cream has never been so easy and delicious! 

      We are having a party here tonight, so I have been working on making enough ice cream to go around, and because Maddy is lactose intolerant, and I know many other people are as well, I decided to experiment with a non-dairy variety of ice cream.  You won't believe how easy and delicious this ice cream was to make! Also, it is much less expensive than ice cream made with heavy cream, so bonus!

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      You may have noticed that our last post was about our favorite pumpkin recipes, celebrating Lindsey's birthday.  Well, the day after Lindsey's birthday is Madalynn's birthday!  As a matter of fact, all of my daughter's birthdays are in the same month!  If I had thought of this idea sooner, I would have done a pizza post for Alicia, since she loves pizza.  (Sorry Alicia, maybe next year!)  But, just in time for Maddy's birthday, I decided to share our favorite vegan recipes.  
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        Most of these recipes are ones that we have posted in our efforts to make sure that Madalynn gets to eat at our family events.  But, there are also some recipes included from other bloggers who Maddy follows.
​       As I began finding ways to add vegan options to my repertoire,  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to convert regular recipes to make them vegan and also, at how many of our recipes are vegan already! So, here goes! The first few are savory and then we tend to have a bunch of desserts ;)
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    Alicia's recipe for Easy Fresh Salsa is as vegan as it gets! She roasts her veggies before making the salsa, which adds a deeper flavor with a bit of char.  This salsa is always a hit a parties! 
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     Lindsey shared this Vegan Taco Salad recipe and trust me, you don't miss the meat! Some of the meat substitutes out there are very tasty!
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      It looks like we have a Mexican Food theme here!  These Vegan Refried Beans would go great with the salsa and the salad! 
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      These Vegan Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of the first vegan recipes Maddy posted and they were well received and for good reason!  They are delicious!  
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       The sweet thing about these cookies, besides the cookies themselves,  is that Lindsey doesn't even like cashews!  But she made them for her aunt and her sister.  These Magic Vegan Cashew Cookies Bars are something you've got to try! 
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       Madalynn came up with the recipe for these Cookie Dough Brownies because of a need she saw in the world!  She is a giver!  You're welcome.
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      Since this list is in honor of Maddy's birthday, of course I had to include this Vegan Chocolate Cake that is perfect for the vegan in your life's birthday, too!  No one will be able to tell it is vegan. 
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      Last Christmas Season, we did recipes for The 12 Days of Christmas.  Maddy made these Vegan Churro Bites With Peppermint Chocolate Sauce for the eleventh day.  They are amazing little nuggets of holiday flavor!  (There are links to the rest of the days of Christmas, too, if you want to check those out. )
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      Maddy makes a delicious Cranberry Sauce that is a favorite of everyone's, not just those who eat vegan. The recipe for this Cranberry Sauce and other perfect Thanksgiving dishes are available for you at this post.   There are recipes for soup, corn, mashed potatoes and apple pie, all vegan.  You can be vegan and celebrate Thanksgiving, too!  
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     A couple of months ago, I ordered peaches and pears to can.  That was before our household was hit with Covid.  I totally forgot about that order and I was taken aback when it arrived because now I needed to get some canning done at the same time as taking care of my husband who is still in the hospital recovering.  It has worked out alright because Maricopa County has very strict rules about how often and how long my visits can be.  So, coming home and doing an activity that I normally love doing gives me something else to think about rather than brooding over my dear husband's slow recovery.  
     If that wasn't enough for me, the produce wholesale place where I sometimes find really great deals had one of those really great deals this last week.  Crazy woman that I am, on my way to see my husband, I swung by the drive through cash and carry sale and asked for mangos and apples.  At the same time as they were loading my order, my SIL called, so I was a bit distracted, so I may have heard the attendant wrong as he read me my order.  Imagine my surprise when, after being with my husband and then returning home to unload my produce, I found that they gave me a large box of avocados instead of apples!  It was too late to go swap them out, the place was closed!  Don't get me wrong, I really like avocados, but I was looking forward to some Cinnamon Red Hot Apple Rings! 
     I found out that avocado pulp can be frozen for later use, but so far I have been handing out avocados to family and friends pretty quickly.
      I would be remiss if I didn't mention the beautiful, super large mangos that I also purchased!  They are so sweet and amazing!  And, now that I have some great mangos and wonderful fresh peaches at my house at the same time, I decided that today, I would use some of those avocados myself and make this amazingly delicious Peach Mango Salsa w/Avocados!  Not all Peach Mango Salsa recipes also have avocados in them.  But, the perfectly ripe avocado is so creamy and delicious when eaten in this salsa.  When you get a little of each ingredient on a chip, it is the perfect bite! 

    Not only is this salsa good with tortilla chips, one of my favorite ways to eat it is as a topping to grilled chicken.  I made that for dinner for my son and I tonight.  We ate it up really fast and I forgot to take a picture.  Trust me, it looked and tasted delicious!  Here is the recipe for this fabulous salsa! 

This recipe is really quick to put together and gives such a great result.  I hope you give it a try! 
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Other Salsa Recipes You Might Love:
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The Best, Easy, Fresh Salsa
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Get Your Salsa On! (Mom's Favorite)
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Shrimp Salsa