Catch Up

Whew, it's been a couple of days! So, first and foremost, the kitten is still with us (oddly, we've started calling him Seuss. I don't know why). The neighbors, obviously, care less. I'm still not sure what our game plan is with him. We shall see.

I am officially participating in the veganbodybuilding.com summer shape-up challenge, which started on the 1st. It runs for 12 weeks and is a body tranformation challenge. I'm not really in a position to be bulking up, I'm using this as a motivator to get my spare cookbook pounds off. Wish me luck! I'll keep you all posted! Now I have to satiate my sweet tooth in more productive ways.


On Saturday we went to the downtown farmer's market. In Portland you can catch a farmer's market on almost any day, but the downtown one is the real deal. We were able to satisfy my fruit tooth with some black raspberries (my favorites!), red raspberries and Rainier cherries. Not pictured are some artichokes and tomatoes.


For breakfast the next morning we had parfaits, layered with both kinds of raspberries, vanilla soy yogurt and granola. Being that we are cooincidentally virtually straightedge vegans, this is the most use our pilsner glasses will get.


We had an otter come visit us! Sorry the picture is so bad, I had to rely on my digital zoom to get a close up picture of him/her. What a cutie!


This weekend I made pierogi, for the first time in months. I will post the recipe soon (as well as the mocha-damia bar one ;) ) and Jim was delighted. I fill them with garlic mashed potatoes (the same one from the shephard's pie recipe) and to up the health factor I use mostly whole wheat pastry flour and some ground flax seed in them. Actually, who am I kidding? I put flax seed in almost everything, it's like my version of Leslie's hemp seeds. I made my pierogi perfectly uniform and in good time with my new cool tool I bought called a pierogi peepa. It basically is a mold that you put the dough onto, fill them, put the top layer of dough over the filled one and roll them out with a rolling pin, which seals the layers of dough together. I love getting new kitchen gadgets.


For the 4th we barbequed! I skewered some of the chick'n nuggets from Food Fight and marinated them in barbeque sauce. They were delicious alongside some grilled corn and steamed artichokes that I steamed in my new pressure cooker (there will be some pressure cooker adventures in the near future, I promise!). It was a delicious meal, enjoyed with a glass of iced Newman's Own limeade and ended with some crisp watermelon. After dinner we went to a local theater that was doing an anniversary showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark. This event reaffirmed 2 beliefs I hold dear:

1. Archeology is cool
and
2. Harrison Ford is one of the sexiest men to ever grace the silver screen.

After the movie we went and enjoyed some fireworks and came home to call it a night.


Tonight I tossed some sweet potato fries into the oven to go with slices of Savory Mushroom Field Roast loaf and steamed broccoli. Super yummy. I am officially in love with Field Roast. It's the best store bought seitan ever. Well, even my homemade isn't that flavorful. Very few ingredients, all from whole foods, and very healthy, it makes me cringe to think of Tofurky.