Eclectic Lotus

 The viral triad for 2022- RSV, influenza, and COVID. That is what I am calling this. This year, the flu came early. This year, even though we acted like COVID was gone, it has been here the whole time, snatching up people and landing some people I know in the hospital. RSV has silently been on the warpath. Together, the media is having a field day discussing this. While I have not seen any children personally in the hospital, I have not discounted it. My home had our bout of COVID last year christmas but my husband and myself tested positive. We did not test our children. At the end of August, our kids started school- my oldest began 3rd grade and the baby started kindergarten. The next week, our son tested positive for COVID while the youngest tested negative. She had symptoms so instead of testing again, we treated them both with rest and good foods- which being in a home with a vegan health doctor and a SAD diet HVAC guy was not an easy task.  After three months, the kids ...

 Currently, I have been pretty busy. Coming soon for more information, recipes, and other tidbits.

 Hello Chicagoland! I am not sure what is going on this weekend as I am on a break from my webinar but I have posted up a restaurant that many have yet to try out. I will try my best to review this and other restaurants that I have tried out over the past week or so. *Disclaimer- if you have a health condition I do not recommend trying out some of the foods. I am going by taste and taste alone.  Mother's Day Weekend That Friday, I finally let go and tried out the latest vegan restaurant on the west side of Chicago. I had a combo platter that included greens, mac and cheese, and fried "Shrimp"- vegan. I was a little worried because I am a label reader which is probably why I haven't gotten a chance to get into some restaurants. I didn't stay in the restaurant so I bared the traffic with some nibbles here and there. I can say out of the platter, the greens were the best. I did not taste the cheezy flavor of the cheeze from the mac and cheeze. The seafood sauce reall...

 Hello! I am currently on sabbatical from social media. I should have posted this earlier this month. I chose to get off around Easter as I needed a little "me" time- so to speak. When you put a great blog post in the wrong blog, ( I have one for running and I am not sure how that happened but hopefully, I can switch it and predate it) You have to see there is a bit of a problem. I am up studying so I am heading to bed and to let anyone that does follow me on fb or ig that I am not dead- well, there is evidence of my non-death in FB but silence on IG. I will see you all in May when I have completed my certification. Our tulips are blooming!

There is quiet and peace while eating. I don't think I have heard this before. In the picture above I would have tried to make the picture pretty but I was very hungry. I cut up some fresh basil and red pepper flakes which adds some depth to the dish. There was one thing I forgot to do and that was to peel the roasted red pepper which if I did that, it would. Anyway, in my fashion I am going to get straight to the chase: Roasted Red Pepper Pasta 4 red peppers 1 onion, quartered 4 garlic cloves 1.7oz cashews 11.3oz spaghetti noodles 1 cup unsweetened plant-based milk 1tbsp dried mixed herbs 1.7oz sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained ( I used fire-roasted tomatoes in water, drained) 1 tsp balsamic vinegar 3 tbsp nutritional yeast salt and pepper Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F Transfer the cashews to a bowl and cover in hot water straight from a kettle. Put aside so it can soak. Add the red poppers to a roasting tray (if you do not have one, I did parchment paper over a cookie pan) a...

These are NOT vegan, but I did make them. Read on to see more!  . . . because life is pancakes! If you know me, you know I love tacos, ice cream, shoes, learning new stuff, and PANCAKES! Ten years ago, I began running so I can justify my love of pancakes. If you have seen my blog posts from prior years, I can slay some cakes! Now, that we live apart from my mother-in-law, I will still send her pancakes. This is probably the worse thing to admit because I am supposed to be healthy but pancakes are my weakness. With age and turning vegan, there have been many things I have given up- french fries, eggs (I have to imagine this in a "you are torturing animals" kind of way.), pizza, and pancakes.  My home is NOT vegan. With me being the lone wolf, it gets to be difficult. Much more cleaning, cooking, and work. 2022 is not much different than 2021 with my schedule as I am attending seminars online, studying, keeping a clean house, a second job, not to mention sneaking in working out...