Woman in Real Life

I took a look-see at my blog stats to determine what were the most visited vegan recipes in 2013. Some of the top 5 recipes were posted before 2013, but they continued to remain popular over the past year. All of them are simple, healthy and delicious. Okay, chocolate dipped peanut butter balls aren't that healthy, but they beat store-bought treats!

Here, starting with the most popular recipe, are my Top 5 Vegan Recipes of 2013:

Before I get to this week's What I Ate Wednesday, I have two winners to announce. Congratulations to K.S. Barrett, the winner of Lucy's delicious vegan and gluten-free cookies. Congratulations to Brenda W. too! She won the Crofter's organic jam. I have sent you both emails. Enjoy these wonderful products!

This week I have been consuming smoothies almost every morning. I have been experimenting with smoothies that don't contain non-dairy milks for a change. This one, above, is pure fruit and water (I think so anyway. Sometimes I forget what I threw in there.)

After our recent trip to Niagara Falls, my mom and I both developed colds. My son had a bit of a nasty cold first, and we all shared a hotel room. Hard to avoid picking up those icky germs.

Anyway, I think it is the time of year for colds, with the seasonal changes and all. I really can’t complain, because it could be (a lot) worse.

There is one problem though. I really don’t like cooking when I’m feeling under the weather. Thankfully, my husband came through for me last night with this delicious chickpea quinoa soup.

This hot and hearty vegetarian soup is great for those times you need a bit of comfort. It is a meal in a bowl, with healthy chickpeas and quinoa for fibre and protein and veggies for vitamins and all that other good stuff. If you have some quinoa cooked ahead of time, it is super quick to prepare, but the tamari makes it seem as if you cooked it much longer.

Happy spring!