Recipes, projects & products that don’t suck.

Over the weekend, I was talking to a friend who I hadn’t seen in a while. She was asking how the “vegan thing” was going and I was commenting on how much more energy I have now. Looking back on the past week, it’s crazy how much I’ve managed to get done. So much more than I ever used to. I wish I was disciplined enough to keep a journal. It would be interesting to take a look back at a few years ago. To compare notes on how I felt then compared to now. It’s easy to forget. People ask me all the time if I plan on sticking with this. It’s been over a year and right now, and I see no reason…

A few weeks ago, I had the grand idea of inventing a key lime coconut popsicle recipe for Cinco de Mayo. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out so well. I must have used too much key lime juice because they were quite tart. Not horrible, just not what I hoped for. BUT, in the process, I learned an awesome trick for juicing key limes–use a garlic press! GENIUS! Worked like a charm. I decided to revisit that flavor combination another time, and moved on to Orange Creamsicle instead. I was shooting for a popsicle recipe, but as it turns out, I prefer this vegan, gluten-free recipe in its original form–as a creamy beverage. Instead of using navel oranges, I used my new favorite fruit discovery–minneola oranges….

Welcome potluck guests! Have you had to change your shirt from all the drool yet? Today I am participating in the Virtual Vegan Potluck, which is basically a string of 100+ blogs all linked together with “forward” and “back” buttons/links to guide you through an online plant-based progressive dinner, if you will. You’ll be taken through eight courses, with several bloggers participating in each course. You are currently in the first course, Appetizers, which will be followed by Beverages, Bread, Salad, Sides, Soups, Main Dishes and Dessert. You’ll find links to the previous dish/blog and the next dish/blog at the bottom of this post. Most often on 86 Lemons, I test other people’s vegan recipes and report to my readers, letting them know if it’s…

Sometimes I get in a rut with salads and then I get sick of them. I need to change up the ingredients more often. Throw in a more fruity version like this one once in a while. Unless you’re like my dad who doesn’t like fruit in his garden salad. Then you’re just missing out, I guess. This post isn’t a recipe for a salad (it’s pretty easy to figure out the ingredients: spring salad mix, sliced strawberries, blueberries, cooked asparagus, pecans). Rather, I’m sharing the recipe for the magic ingredient–the DRESSING! This is a sweet, tangy, creamy dressing that is so easy to make. Just throw the ingredients into the blender and you’re done. Boring salad crisis averted. I found a similar recipe from…

This week on Facebook, my mom posted a photo of her mother and wrote, “My mom may be a little crazy, but that’s what makes her the BEST MOM!!!” The same is true of my mother. She’s a little crazy (let’s be honest, sometimes she’s a LOT crazy), but she sure can be a lot of fun. Her name is Sherry, but her alias is “Sharia Shriver” (Maria’s Shriver’s long-lost cousin). It doesn’t matter what it is, Sharia can turn just about anything (and I mean ANYTHING) into a full-blown news story. Just give her a microphone (a water bottle, hairbrush, fork, spoon, tiki torch, etc. will do) and a camera man–and prepare for drama and laughs. To say she’s entertaining is an understatement. She’s…