Spicy jackfruit tacos with crunchy Alabama slaw and fresh corn and black eyed pea salad with tangy mustard vinaigrette

That’s a mouthful!

Ok, I know I promised no more extremely long stints away from the blog, but things have just been a bit of crazy these last few months!  This is a food blog I know, so I wont bore you with ALL the details, but I want to share with my friends and followers whats been going on to keep me from cooking!

So, May 28 2012 I was in my Parkour class, landed a tic tac in a way where I rolled my ankle pretty badly…the landing caused a very severe sprain and some damage to the ligaments.  I was in a boot for 4 weeks, and on crutches for about 3.  I have now been in physical therapy for 8 weeks and I’m still wearing a small brace while I work.  I’m much better, but I’m still not back to normal.  So, that’s the gist of the ankle saga…during my healing, at about 4 weeks after the ankle injury, June 28 2012, I slammed my left index finger in my car door…now, not many of you know this, but my car is a 79 Camaro…meaning that those doors are big, heavy, all steel bastards!  Hubs had to come around and unlock the door to get me out…I wound up with a distal phalanx fracture (broke the bone tip in 2 places) and what they call a nail avulsion.  To finish this quickly and omit some of the drama that followed I will tell you that it wasn’t healing properly, so a week after the initial injury I had to get surgery to repair my nail bed/matrix.  I missed 3 1/2 weeks of work and did not feel like cooking and really wasn’t able to anyhow!  I start physical therapy for the finger this Tuesday.

Now, as I like to do, I’m posting a video/song that either inspires me or puts me in a certain mood or frame of mind.  Lately, this has been my anthem: Eye of the Tiger, by Survivor!

Oh, and within the injury/surgery time, hubs and I had to move!  Too much I tell ya!

We are now finally settled and I’ve been slowly getting back to what I love…creating homemade, inspired, vegan awesomeness!

(please forgive my pictures in this post, I haven’t set up my lighting yet)

So, now onto the yum that was last nights dinner!

Start with my BBQ jackfruit taco recipe and use these tasty additions!

Jackfruit taco

First I’ve got this new slaw.  I’m calling this Alabama slaw because one evening while skipping channels I came across someone making what was called “Alabama sauce” on the food network.  His was 3 ingredients and obviously not vegan, so I used the idea of that sauce, fancied it up and turned it into a slaw! There’s no way that you won’t enjoy this!

Alabama slaw

Next, I decided it was finally time for me to celebrate summer (I know, I’m a bit slow to get started, but remember, this has been a bummer summer up until a few weeks ago ) and because its summer, it means that this is the best time for fresh corn!  So while at the farmers market a few days ago, I thought I’d pick up some beauties and make a fresh, sweet and tangy salad out of it!  I added black eyed peas for protein and to make it more satisfying!

Fresh corn and black eyed pea salad with tangy mustard vinaigrette:

Fresh corn and black eyed pea salad

more corn salad and slaw!