Happy Hump Day, fellow vegans and food lovers! How are ya?
I’m really good, but also feeling very busy right now. You know that feeling where you keep saying, “things will calm down soon,” only soon has come and gone and not one damn thing as calmed down?
Yeah, that’s me right now.
So instead of doing a full on recipe today, I’m going to share some photos and a few vegan food items from our day at Trei Brazi.
Spending time outside is so refreshing for me and some days I’m still amazed at how much of an outdoorsy girl I’ve become, which is great since I spend most of my life indoors! We needed to get away from the walls and the screens (and the people) but we hadn’t planned anything and here the day was, upon us.
So what did we do? Packed up a picnic and get outside!
The area, Trei Brazi is gorgeous. We’d driven through it a few times and if you follow me on social media, you’ve probably seen them. But this is the first time I’ve been in the summer months and it looks a lot different. There are a few cabanas for lodging, a couple of restaurants and other little eateries but mostly it is just the super, duper, wonderful great outdoors.
Blue skies. Mountains jutting up into the clouds. Trees. Bugs. And very, very few people.
It was amazing.
The perfect spot for a picnic.
What’s In The Basket?!?!
Okay, so it wasn’t a literal picnic basket, it was something even better. At the start of summer we bought a really great modern picnic basket that was insulated with slots for drinks, an area to carry flatware and napkins. And a little snap area for the picnic blanket!
The goodies were, well good. Gotta start with blueberries because they have been amazing this season and they’re sweet, tart and super good for you.
Then the “mains” which included air fried vegan sausage and veggie balls, with a side of heirloom tomatoes, olives and basil-mint pesto salad. We stopped at a local bakery to get a few carbs to eat with the roasted red pepper vegan feta dip. Yeah, that’s right it was amazing.
How I made it: Add roasted red pepper, lemon zest & juice, vegan feta cheese into a food processor and run until smooth. Add water or lemon juice as needed to thin it out.
And we finished it off with a few vegan peanut butter cookies that I made because I found this pumpkin spice peanut butter and figured I would try it. I’m not a huge pumpkin spice fan in anything other than cookies, cakes, cupcakes etc…, so basically baked goods and it was delicious with just a hint of cinnamon-y flavor, not overwhelming at all. 4/5 would recommend.
I had a beer that wasn’t nearly as refreshing as I hoped it would be…
I think we might’ve been a little bit sun-drunk b/c we couldn’t stop smiling. It was so quiet even with other picnickers nearby that the bugs just sounded louder. Cos napped for a little while and I watched the clouds lazily roll by while I thought of story ideas and marketing plans because apparently I’m always working!
It was nice to relax without distraction though because even my racing mind was able to make something of the thoughts. I only stopped to jot down a few notes here and there, and even that didn’t break the spell woven by being in nature.
The Spicy Spatula 
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