Food, squirrelly food,a squirrel and Whatcha Eatin' #4!

Yay for productivity! Today I got our front entry way painted, ran some errands, sewed and started up a shop at Etsy to sell my tofu pouches and some other stuff that I'm working on. If you're not familiar with Etsy, it's a really great outlet if you make stuff and it's a wonderful place to find one-of-a-kind gifts and support independant crafters.

Last night for dinner we had black bean burritos.

Simple tortillas with some black beans, lettuce, salsa, Tofutti sour cream, guac and on Jim's some shredded cashew cheese that I made last week. Simple and yummy.

For a Halloween dessert I made Dreena's carmel sauce from Vive and served it with a sliced Jonagold.

It was very good, but I used rice milk and it left a bit of an aftertaste, so next time I will use soy.

Today I wanted something slightly sweet, but not too sweet and nothing that required leaving the house for ingredients. I tend to get stuck on a cookbook and continue making things from it, so once again I turned to Vive. When I saw the title for the Squirrely Scones, how could I say no to that?

Very good. Spread a little more than they rose, but that was my fault, because I only had half of the amount of baking powder and I added some more baking soda to compensate, but I didn't have any cream of tartar to mix in, which leads me to...

Whatcha Eatin' #4: Cream of Tartar
Growing up I always thought that cream of tartar was related to tartar sauce, which repulsed me, so I would omit it from recipes. Cream of tartar is actually acidic residue that is a biproduct of wine. CoT is acid from grapes that is neutralized with potassium. CoT is the activator in many kinds of baking powder, which is why when you're in a pinch you can replace baking powder by mixing equal parts baking soda and cream of tartar.

I was able to catch Mr. Squirrel moments before crawling down, snatching a peanut and making a getaway... and then coming back in 2 minutes to steal another one.


Product review!

My brother-in-law sent us this popcorn from Seattle, but it's actually from Hawaii, but was purchased at an Asian grocery. Confused yet? It's called Hawaiian Hurricane Popcorn: Mochi Crunch and Nori. I was really pleased to see that some label reading was done to ensure that it was vegan (although it was sent to us wrapped with a bow made out of feathers on top, but hey, he's trying). First you pop the popcorn and dump it into a provided bag and then add the mochi crunch and nori bits. Then you open the "buttery sauce" which isn't very healthy (partially hydrogentated oils), but I figure for as seldom as we consume hydrogenated oils, we'll live. Jim was a little Noried out after a little bit, but I really enjoyed it. It was lightly sweet and lightly salty and a little greasy and oceany tasting. I guess oceany isn't usually a positive way to describe something, but it's seaweed, so what do you expect? I think we'll enjoy the rest of it on movie nights, with some cold cans of Blue Sky.

Daylight losing, storing food and a nocturnal friend

First up, Moussa is still with us. She's going slow, but she's still doing her thing and even wanted out to roll in her ball the other night. Thanks for your well wishes and thoughts. While to some she may be just a hamster, she's part of our family, we love her very much and it's going to be hard on us when the time comes.

I haven't had to participate in daylight savings in a few years... and let me just say, it sucks! No more light after 5pm. I know that this is only fair because it stays light out until 10pm in the summer and I love it... but this is a serious change from AZ. It's a good thing I'm so busy for the next few weeks, I don't get too lazy. I have been making some time for casual reading, though, and it's been very nice. I love snuggling up in bed, with flannel sheets and good book.

Now, onto the food. I have been wanting to power cook and make a bunch of meals that we could have in freezer to use for lunches or on nights that I don't feel like cooking or get home late. So I spent Saturday holed up in the kitchen, cooking and baking up a storm.


Zucchini muffins, currently living in the freezer. Lightly sweetened with maple syrup, with some raisins and walnuts in the mix as well.


Banana walnut muffins, my favorites! I couldn't freeze all of these, so I let myself eat one that night as a treat.



Another big batch of Leslie's stew/soup. I accidentally opened a can of pinto beans instead of chick peas, but it still tastes great.


I roasted some bell peppers I got at the farmer's market on Saturday and I really wanted to make some chili, but I didn't have any cans of black beans and I hadn't planned ahead and soaked any. A quick search online and 20 minutes later my lovely pressure cooker made me a batch of them. So good... I love this thing, it really does make my life easier.



Dinner last night: stuffed shells. Again, Michelle influenced me by making some tofu ricotta cheese from the Real Food Daily cookbook. We were just muching on it with pretzel sticks, like a dip, and it was really tasty. So I had to make it. But I over did it with the garlic, to the point where it was a bit hot, so I decided to put it in something. Served with some breaded and lightly fried zucchini.


And we had to have dessert! Brownies with Mint Fudge Stripe So Delicious and some chocolate sauce on top. There is nothing better than brownies and ice cream, I don't think.


We have a new wildlife friend! I hadn't gotten a picture and as I was typing this, Bindhi let out a yelp, which meant that he was back, so I rant to the window to take this picture. I had to use my night setting, which blew out his eyes and makes him look a little creepy, but he's not all. Here's the back story: We put out some whole peanuts for the squirrels a few days ago and later that evening I noticed the cats looking through our patio doors intently. It was too late for squirrels to be out, so I flicked on the light and was startled to see the back end of what appeared to be a cat-sized rat! I called up to Jim to get down here to see, and by that time our little friend had turned around and revealed himself as a possum! This is my first run in with a possum and I had no idea they were even around here! Actually, the North American variety is called an opossum. They are marsupials and are "opportunistic omnivores", which basically means they eat meat when it's available or easy to find. I imagine that in an urban environment they are scavengers much like raccoons. I'm very excited to have another little friend to feed. I'm going to do some research on other kinds of food to see if I can leave out some fruit or veggies for him tomorrow.

Variations on other's themes

A note about faux cheese:

Jim and I really enjoyed the cheese that I made the other day and we're still munching through it. But just so my previous comments weren't misleading, it's very good, but it's certainly not cow's cheese. And I don't mean that to sound like cow's cheese would taste better, because Jim is convinced that this is better than any cheese he ever ate before. So if you decide to make it, don't expect that you're going to take a bite and exclaim "Gouda!" Just think of it as a yummy thing to enjoy with crackers and accept it for what it is. Oh, and the flavor really deepens overnight, so if you're going to try it with guests, make it the day before.

Anyway... I wanted to whip up a big batch of something warm the other night that I could just put into containers for us to eat at work. I decided to try Leslie's Lentil Chickpea Soup.


Of course, I can never leave well enough alone and I tweaked it. I only had half of the amount of red lentils that were called for, so I used a mixture of red and green. I also only used 2 carrots and added a cubed potato, because I just love potato in my soups. And I didn't have any veggie stock, so I used just water. It was a very thick and hearty meal and reheating it the next day thickened it even more, much like a stew. It's very, very good and because it uses ingredients that we have around most of the time, I have a feeling this will become a cold weather staple for us. I was able to make it in about 15 minutes with my pressure cooker. Next time I'm going to make some quinoa to serve it over.

I had really been craving something super chocolatey, so I paged through Vive Le Vegan! and came across Dreena's Double Chocolate Almond Explosion Cookies.


Perfect! I subbed macadamia nuts for the almonds, replaced half of the maple syrup measurement with agave (because it's so sweet) and made up the difference with a splash of almond milk. Yum! We both loved them, but I'm normally more of the chocolate hound, so I didn't expect Jim to like them that much, but he loved them. And they made the perfect amount, 1 dozen, rather than the 2 dozen I normally would have baked, that we would have eaten ourselves sick on.

On a sad note, Moussa doesn't appear to be doing well. I've been thinking that she's getting old for a little while now, but I think we're nearing the end. She has been a wonderful little family member and is a very sweet little soul. Please send a good thought her way.

Faux Cheese, Muffins and Tofu That Will Never Go Bad

Yay, it's Monday! Which means a day off for me. I had a bunch of errands to run today, so I didn't get to cook as much as I would have liked, but I got alot of other things done, so it was a constructive day.

I'm really not into faux cheese (excluding cream cheese, which I'm addicted to). I was a huge cheese hound in my pre-vegan days and I figured I'd really miss it, but it's just not something I think about. We occaisionally try a new product to see what it's like, but it's more out of curiousity than anything. A few weeks ago, Michelle made a Cashew Cheddar Cheese from The Real Food Daily cookbook and I was actually pretty impressed with it. It had a nice texture and tasted great on a salty cracker, so I decided to give it a try.


If you can get past the fact that it is molded into the shape of a Gladware container (complete with #2 plastic symbol on top of it!), it turned out well. To those who may be interested in making it, it makes a lot. I made 2 blocks, each the size of the 2 cup plastic container, so you will have plenty. I will be halving the recipe when I make it again. This was my first experience working with agar and it was fun. It sets so fast and it was actually really fun to clean up, because I was able to play with the mess. It was a bit like string cheese. Jim and I had some of it on crackers. His quote, and this is coming from the man who thinks eating faux cheese is stupid: "This is so *$%#ing good!" LOL


I made some Carrot-Raisin Muffins from VwaV today. They turned out okay, probably the first recipe that didn't really impress me. They are a little dry and don't have the strongest flavor, but they'll work for breaksfast for the next few days. I still have some leftover cream cheese frosting in the fridge from last weeks' pumpkin bars, so they'll be getting slathered with that, anyway.

And now for something not food related. I've been spending some crafting time with my sewing machine lately, which has been really fun and relaxing. I've started making these little tofu pouches and I brought 2 to the store last Sunday and they both sold within hours. Apparently I'm not the only one that thinks they're cute!

They have a zippered top and are about 6 inches long and 5 1/2 tall. I got the fabric for them at a store by me and it's one of those silky, plush fabrics that is so soft you have to keep touching it. I've been really into making pouches lately, I don't know why. Maybe it's because it's the easiest way to sew in a zipper. Anyway, I'm going to be cranking out more of these little guys because they are just so fun!

Feeling Sick, Squirrels and Whatcha Eatin' #3

Well, I must have jinxed myself by teaching Jim to cook for my own selfish reasons of not wanting to eat Ramen when I'm sick, because... I'm sick! Or I'm well on my way there. So what do I do when I'm sick? Indulge in comfort food...


Mashed potatoes and Punk Chickpea Gravy. OMG, can I truly express how much I love this gravy? I think not. Just as one cannot fully express their love for a child. It is seriously that good.

Squirrel update! This morning Linus, Bindhi and I sat by the back door watching this little guy try to trash the pumpkin.



He settled for hanging out on the squirrel feeder, munching on some pumpkin seeds. When I got home tonight, the top of the pumpkin was pulled out and it was tipped over, with lots of claw marks and bite marks all over it. How cute! The cats are thoroughly enjoying the entertainment.

Whatcha Eatin' #3: Sliced Bread

So, I was researching the phrase "the best thing since sliced bread", which literally refers to the first sliced bread (Wonder bread, ick) and came across an interesting factoid: The Secretary of Agriculture banned the sale of sliced bread during WWII. There were several reasons given for this ban, all of which seem a little strange. One being that the metal from the bread slicers was needed to make guns and other war supplies. While we all have heard stories of war time rationing related to metal, the little metal that was used for bread slicers seems like a strange thing to sacrifice, and many people were skeptical of this reasoning. Another reason that was given was that the demand for sliced bread would cause the cost of bread to increase, which would be bad during times of such financial hardship. The whole thing just sounds a little strange...

But WWII rationing may have seen the beginnings of something near and dear to many of our hearts: the Trumanburger, a veggie burger made from mashed beans. Maybe meat rationing wouldn't be such a bad idea in today's world...

And, I couldn't resist this picture of Bindhi, sneaking a lick of frosting from Jim's pumpin bar. She was so cute, I couldn't help but let her have a little tasty-taste.

More Fun With Pumpkin!

I have today and tomorrow off, so I've been relaxing today by working on my book, cooking and playing with my blog. Can you believe it took me 4 hours to design the banner for this layout! Time always goes fast when you're playing in Photoshop. But I like this color scheme better. I think you need to have warmer colors when you're showcasing food, and the other template was too dull.

My brother-in-law and his wife are going to be coming down from Seattle to have Thanksgiving with us in a few weeks and I'm SO excited. I love hosting big dinners and what dinner is better than Thanksgiving? My family was never really into doing anything for the holidays. My mom, who does not cook at all, would resort to making weird, processed turkey loaves and we'd eat and watch TV, so having real, family-based holidays has been a big deal for me since we've been married.

I want to make pumpkin pie, but I never have before, so I thought it would be good to do a trial run before the big day. I made this pie based off of Bryanna Clark Grogan's pumpkin pie recipe, with a few minor tweaks.


I had a little crust dough leftover, so I used a small turkey cookie cutter to decorate the edges with. You are supposed to let the pie set in the fridge overnight, so we haven't tried it yet, but I'll give a report tomorrow. It smells heavenly.

So then I had a bunch of leftover pumpkin. What to do? I did an internet search and ended up making these delicious bars from a patchwork recipe I derived out of a couple that I liked. I posted the recipe on my recipes page

They are really light and cake like, so they're almost like a sheet cake, but I think I'm still going to call them bars, because I'm stubborn like that.

But before we could have dessert, we had to eat something substantial!

Brown rice and orzo pilaf with mixed green veggies (asparagus, broccoli, spinach, green beans and edamame) on top, a drizzle of a roasted garlic sauce that I threw together with some corn starch, soy milk, minced roasted garlic and salt and some more french bread with roasted garlic butter on it.

Squirrel's Vegan Pumpkin

We used to leave out birdseed when we lived in Phoenix so the cats would have something interesting to watch while we were at work all day. Since moving to Portland, we don't really want birds hanging around just in case this whole bird flu thing blows up like they think it could. But we have all of these squirrels that live in the trees behind us and I wanted a way to feed them, while not attracting any birds.

I rememeber back a few years to when we lived in Minneapolis (yes, I like to move :) ). We had a carved pumpkin in front of our house that the squirrels just destroyed by tearing it apart and munching on it.


Exhibit A: Organic white pumpkin from Trader Joe's. $2.99. Quite the deal, eh?


Exhibit B: Squirrel's vegan pumpkin, carved in Squirrel's Vegan Kitchen, for the squirrels. Say that 5 times fast!

I also carved out random chunks and shapes for them around the pumkin, so they have an easier time getting at it. The previous owners of our house acutally had a squirrel feeder on the deck, so we put some chunks of pumpkin and seeds in there, too. I hope to get some picture of them tearing it apart, so I'll post them if I get 'em!


Tonight was "Teach Jim How to Make Chili" night. When I get sick this winter I want more than bowls of cereal and Ramen, dammit! I set out everything and then walked him through it. It was a simple chili, a can of diced tomatoes, some kidney beans, pinto beans and some frozen bell pepper slices. We had it with a hunk of mini wheat baguette with garlic buttah. For dessert, we tried some of the new (I think, I just saw them recently) Soy Delicious ice cream and sorbet bars. SO good. And they're low fat. We got the raspberry ones, vanilla ice cream with a raspberry sorbet swirl in them. Yum!

Vegan Butterfingers and Whatcha Eatin'? #2

Long time, no post! I've been very busy at work and when not at work, I've been working feverishly on the book. It's coming along quite nicely and I'm actually almost done, so I thought I'd treat myself with a post!


Teriyaki stirfry with brown basmati rice. For the stirfry I used broccoli, carrots and red and yellow bell peppers. I baked some extra firm tofu in the teriyaki sauce until it carmelized.


Last night was split pea soup (with potatoes and carrots) and some fresh wheat rolls. I really need to get an immersion blender, this whole "blending the soup in batches" thing is the pits. I could have sped this soup along with my pressure cooker, but I was home and had the time, so I opted to make it on the stove top normally. Basic hodgepodge, 1 1/2 cups split peas, 2 large potatoes cubes, 3 carrots, 1 cup vegetable broth, a medium chopped onion, 2 cloves of garlic, some sage and thyme and a lot of water.


Okay, so my title is a bit misleading, because there aren't any vegan butterfingers, but these tasted pretty darn great. Chick-o-stiks are vegan! I had never even tried one prior to about 3 years ago because for some strange reason, I thought they were cheese flavored. I think it's the color. Anyway, I just melted some chocolate chips with some Earth Balance and dipped each chunk of Chick-o-stik in it, then placed them on waxed paper and let them set in the fridge. It was a very easy and cheap (10 cents for each stick!) treat that I will definitely be making again.

Whatcha Eatin'? #2: Water Chestnuts



Jim always makes fun of me because I compare things to the texture of water chestnuts. He once even said "Water chestnuts are the vegan chicken, you think everything tastes like them!"

Well, maybe, maybe not. The point is, I realized that they aren't chestnuts and I needed to find out what they really were.

Turns out they are actually tubers that grow in the water! They can grow large shoots, but mostly grow in conditions that resemble bogs.

Once they are loosened and dug up, they rememble Western chesnuts. Harvesting them is very labor intensive, which is why they are hard to find fresh in the US and are costly by the can.

Water chestnuts are low fat and high in vitamin B, iron and calcium.

Let the food begin!

Okay, folks, here it is. We had our official grand opening this weekend so of course there was food! I shared baking duty with Lisa from Sweet Pea Baking, so there were plenty of sweets to go around!


Lisa made the best baklava I've ever had, vegan or otherwise, and an assortment of different rugalachs. The cherry one was killer. Lisa also makes the world's best cheesecake. If you ever come to Portland, or if you live here, seek out whatever place is serving her cheesecake because it is phenomenal. Turtle cheesecake? Yes please!


This is the lemon almond torte that I made in mini form for a SHAC7 benefit awhile back. This time it was jazzed up with more raspberries and some almond slivers.


There cupcakes were fun to make with these cool star-shaped cupcake tins I found recently. I made the chocolate cake recipe from my Black Forest Cake and the same chocolate frosting as well.

I also make the Banana Peanut Butter Frosting Cake that I made for Jim's b-day recently. I didn't get a good pic of it, but it wasn't too long ago, so you all remember!


These were made for my co-worker, Jessie's, husband. He has severe food allergies and can only eat limited things. It was too sad for me to think of there being a vegan amongst vegans who couldn't eat anything there, so I made him some cookies with ingredients he could eat. They are based on raw cookies, with the outer shell being made out of dates. I mashed the dates and mixed in a 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder to make them taste fudgey. I then made a nut butter center with some cashew butter, agave nectar and ground almonds to make it set up a little more. I flattened out a round of dates, added a scoop of the cashew mixture, sealed all the balls up and rolled them in cocoa powder to keep them them from sticking together. Adam seemed pretty excited and I thought they turned out rather well. I might make them again soon for us to have around the house, since you can just keep them in the fridge.


This was a sundried tomato garbanzo bean dip from a newer vegan cookbook called ExtraVeganZa! It was really delcious, I will definitly be making it again.


And of course, would a party be a party without one of Dreena's dips? Here is the Cannellini Bean Yam Hummus. Mmmm, it was so good, people were just raving over it. It was a nice smokey and creamy counterpart to the slight more sweet and gritty garbanzo dip.


And, on a more substantial note, dinner last night. Butternut squash filled with a basmati and wild rice pilaf I got from Trader Joe's and some mashed potatoes with Earth Balance on the side. Very tasty. I think squash is growing on me, while Jim eats it "because it's good" for him. I have a spaghetti squash sitting here, any ideas? It's a bit intimidating.

Also, for those who are wondering, I got a lot of work done on the book yesterday, so I'm hoping to have the first draft done within a week! Yay!

Protein Primavera and Whatcha Eatin'? #1

Recently I saw some great pasta on Megan's
blog. I've been waiting to make this all week, but I had to keep putting it off because I had one ingredient or another that I needed to cook with because it was going to go bad if I didn't... so tonight was the night! I made bowtie pasta with a roasted garlic and cannellini bean sauce and some steamed broccoli.



We also enjoyed some Ciabata bread with bruschetta and garlic buttah. For the sauce, I roasted a whole head of garlic, then reserved about 1 tablespoon for the garlic bread. I pureed the rest with a can of cannellini beans, a splash of soy milk, some oregano, a splash of lemon and some olive oil. Then I heated it on the stove top while everything else was cooking, adding soy milk as needed to thin it out. It was SO good and much more substantially filling than just plain starchy pasta with a flour based cream sauce.

Do you ever have those moments when you look at something you're eating or cooking with and think "Wow, I have no actual idea where this comes from..."? Well, I do and to help myself learn and become more aware of my food and to add a new (and hopefully engaging) feature to my blog, I'm going to start a weekly column called "Whatcha Eatin'?" where we can explore some of the things that we consume.

Up this week: cinnamon.


I was cooking with cinnamon the other night and I thought "Where does cinnamon come from"? My first thought to that was "Well, from cinnamon sticks". But where do those come from?

Cinnamon may seem like an unassuming spice on your rack, but it has a dirty little secret. It turns out that it has a related species called "cassia" and that is actually what many of us have in our spice bottles in the US. Nope, no true cinnamon for you, what you have is cinnamon's sidekick, masquerading under its name. Is that so bad though? I guess it depends. There are many kinds of cinnamon and one can only imagine what they all taste like, but cassia has a stronger flavor, so maybe it's not so bad after all. Cinnamon is lighter colored and finer when ground and has a sweeter flavor than cassia.

But where does it come from? Cinnamon, cassia, the stuff in your pumpkin pie, comes from a tree. The trees are cut to a stump, from which little shoots grow out. These shoots are stripped of their bark and dried, making cinnamon sticks.

Cinnamon was once considered more precious than gold and was used as a currency in ancient civilizations. It was used for embalming and in medicines in ancient Egypt. While it grew in Europe, spice trade opened up a world of exotic cinnamon to try. Studies done in the past few years in the US have shown that cinnamon (cassia as well, presumably) is very high in antioxidents and may be beneficial for diabetics and in lowering high blood pressure.

Pretty interesting, huh? This kind of stuff really fascinates me, so if it bores you, just let me geek out for the moment and it will pass... :)

Foody McFood Food

*I mentioned Pacific soups in one of my last posts, but I actually meant Imagine soups. The Pacific soups aren't all vegan, but I believe most of the Imagine ones all are.*

I hate having to make titles when I have a random post to make. I can never think of anything witty!

Oh, I posted the recipe for the lime raspberry muffins on my recipes blog, look under my links!

For as much as I like working for Herbivore, I love being home. Now that the store is open I work most weekends so this week I had Monday and Tuesday off. That means lots of cooking.

I really like how some of you post your groceries online. I really like being able to see what everyone buys to fill their homes with yummy food all week. So, here were my groceries yesterday from a trip to Trader Joe's.


It included:
~Almond Breeze Chocolate milk. OMG, get this if you've never had it! Hands down the best!
~Unsweetened Organic soy milk (for cooking/baking)
~Unsweetened Almond milk (for cereal)
~Organic powdered and granulated sugar. I'm baking for the store's grand opening this weekend.
~Organic flax cereal
~Apple raspberry sauce
~Organic extra firm tofu twin pack. I love these packs, so convenient for cooking for two!
~Half of a par baked loaf of organic Ciabatta.
~Assorted cans of organic beans and tomatoes- restocking the pantry.
~Organic oregano
~Earth Balance
~Organic rice pasta
~Farfalle noodles
~One of my all-time favorite drinks, green tea with bergamot.
~Orange juice
~Organic mini peanut butter sandwich cookies. I just noticed these and they are vegan (obviously)!
~Garlic
~Tahitian vanilla extract
~Rice flour. I haven't used this before, but it intrigues me.
~Bruschetta. I LOVE this TJ's bruschetta. It's super cheap and incredible!

Now, while Trader Joe's is a gold mine for things like pictured above, fresh produce is not their strong suit. I get organic bagged salads from them sometimes and they are really cheap and they have great deals on organic basil, but their other produce is generally not organic and comes in plastic clamshells, which are crappy waste-wise and you can't select your produce yourself. Thankfully, attached to the TJ's I shop at is a place called Limbo. They have an incredible produce selection and their famed "Wall of Herbs". Anything you've ever needed for a recipe is there in a jar and you can just measure out a pinch of it and be on your way, without having to spend $10 on a jar of something that you need only a teaspoon of. They also have a very yummy smoothie bar. I like going there when I haven't had time to hit up a farmer's market. All the produce I buy is organic.


Red potatoes, Honeycrisp apples, avocadoes (.50 each!), broccoli, butternut squash, bananas (I'm making that cake again for the store, we don't eat that many bananas!), zucchini and summer squash, a giant sweet potato and a sweet onion.


Yesterday night we were way too stuffed from our leftover biscuits and gravy to have a formal dinner, but I was seriously craving some warm pudding. I made a vanilla version of the chocolate pudding I have posted under my recipes blog (see links section), with a hint of cinnamon. For the truffle center I used this amazing espresso candy bar I got at Food Fight the last time I was there. This brand is hands down the best vegan candy bar ever. With the temperatures dropping, making shipping chocolates easier, you should consider getting some as a treat. If you liked Caramello's try the carmel one. The raspberry one is heavenly, too.

Anyway, last time I was at Food Fight, I got an espresso bar and some wafer cookies, which went deliciously with the pudding. Placing the chocolate in the pudding while it's still warm gives you a decadent surprise in the middle. Warning- if you put it in the fridge, the chocolate will harden and it's not nearly as good.

I was inspired by Leslie's recent post for her quinoa tacos, so I made up some quinoa burritos tonight. I made a very veggie chili, using her recipe as a guide but using stuff I had laying around: onions, paprika, cumin, oregano, black beans, pinto beans, canned tomatoes, frozen corn and zucchini. It turned out delicious. Even Jim, who normally doesn't like big chunk of veggies in his burritos, loved the zucchini.

I served them on spelt tortillas with homemade guac, Toffuti Sour Supreme, and some organic salsa on top. It made so much that I made containers for us to take to work tomorrow and I froze a big container too!

Now my super busy work week starts, so my cooking fun is coming to an end. :( But I will be baking like a fool on Friday and Saturday, so be prepared for cavities!

My Weekend Alone

Jim went visit his grandparents in Illinois this weekend. They were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary and his family put together a big celebration for them. With the house and other things, I couldn't go with him, so I stayed behind with the kitties. I watched the British version of "The Office", OMG it's so freaking funny! I love it! The kitties kept me in good company, with all three of them sleeping with me both nights he was gone. This is a rarity because usually no one sleeps with us, much less all three!

Odd as it may seem, when I'm by myself I don't really cook very well. I cook to please others more than myself, because I get enjoyment out of providing for them. So this weekend, I kind of ate like crap. :)


This is a new noodle dish they started carrying at Trader Joe's. They come in these little Chinese food cartons, with vaccuum sealed noodles and a sauce packet, all you have to do is heat it up. I added some steamed pea pods to it. The kind I tried was the Kung Po. I bit spicy for my tastes, but it worked great in a pinch. Jim tried the Pad Thai, which he said was "good, for the convenience and price". They are very cheap, $1.99 each, and like a normal Chinese food carton, contain a lot of food, so we'll be buying more of these for work.

BTW, I packed a half a suit case of stuff for Jim to eat. It was going to be too chaotic for him to go to a store and they live really rural, so I gave him one of these and some boxes of ready to eat Indian food from Food Fight, crackers, cookies, Odwalla bars, fruit bars and a few other assorted snacks to fill in his diet. I should have taken a picture.


This is a quick pizza I whipped up several times this weekend. A piece of pita with some pizza sauce, sliced cremini mushrooms and some Follow Your Heart mozzerella. I haven't tried this cheese before, but I'd heard that it melts. Well, if you consider getting really soft melting than it does. I wasn't that big on it, but I guess I'm just not into trying to replace cheese because I don't miss it. We usually just eat loads of veggies and pesto on our pizzas. But, again, it worked in a pinch.



Now, while I don't really like cooking for myself, I never mind baking. I made these muffins last night for Jim to come home to, his favorite, raspberry lime. I always make jumbo sized ones, they work great for breakfast or a snack with coffee. I presented one to a very hungry Jim when he got off the plane this evening, having only eaten some Frech fries since breakfast at 5 a.m. this morning. Poor boy. FYI, the St. Louis airport, not vegan friendly.


To help make up for a crappy weekend of bad side salads, I made a big breakfast-for-dinner for us tonight. Baking powder biscuits from VwaV, along with my own random tofu scramble (tofu, red potatoes, zucchini, onions, spices) and the Chickpea Gravy that Leslie keeps making. This way my first time making it and oh my! I left out the nutritional yeast, as Jim is allergic to it, but it was still amazing! Plus there are left overs for lunch tomorrow. Yum!

Quick dinner and extreme cuteness

Tonight I just threw together a quick bite because I got home late, using odds and ends from the fridge and the pantry. A box of Mac and Chreese (Cheddar style with shells) and some mixed veggies on top and a cup of tomato soup with some Ritz-style crackers I picked up at Food Fight. I'm really becoming a big lover of those Imagine brand aseptic sealed soups. So convenient and they taste really good!




Tonight was Moussa house cleaning night, so after a brief romp around the house (in her plastic ball) while I cleaned, I took some footage of her enjoying a corn cob. You'll see Ravi, who makes a cameo appearence in this film. The video is sideways, I was holding the camera the long way and I couldn't figure out how to rotate it, sorry!




I also uploaded a painfully cute picture of her to the Herbivore Blog today. It's so adorable, you can even make out her delicate little whiskers!

International Delight

Last weekend Jim and I went to an amazing Lebanese restaurant that's just down the road from us called Ya Hala. It was hands down the best restaurant we've eaten at here. Of course, I forgot to take pictures. Anyhow, they have everything that's vegetarian on their menu marked with one palm tree and everthing that's vegan marked with two. How nice is that? We had the Veggie Mezza, which is a sampler plater of hummus, baba ganouj, falafel, tabouli, and a cauliflower thing that I can't remember, Veggie Kibbeh, which was a delcious bulgur pate and an olive plate. They kept us loaded with fresh-from-the-oven pita, still warm and puffed in the middle. We left with two pieces of baklava, a full doggie bag and two very full tummies, all for $19! Craziness. Anyhow, attached to Ya Hala is an international grocery that I went back to today to purchase a few specialty items that I eyed on Saturday, including pomegranate molasses, which was my missing ingredient for Isa's Pomergrante BBQ Tofu. I made with her Coconut Lime Rice and some steamed baby carrots and sugar snap peas.



I really enjoyed it, but I think my excitement at making the recipe exceeded my enjoyment of it. I was just so happy to play with that pomegranate molasses and then I couldn't taste it! I think next time I'm going to up the ante a bit. It was a delcious meal, though, and it left us with plenty of leftovers for work tomorrow, which is always a good thing.


For dessert I played some more with another recipe that I'm tweaking for quick, single size pecan pie bites. 5 minutes of work, 10 minutes of baking and 10 minutes of cooling and voila! Pecan pie! I made them in a jumbo muffin tin. I tried phyllo dough this time and Jim really liked it, but I feel like it's more of a puff pastry kind of recipe, which is how I've played with it before. So I think I'm going to stick to the puff pastry. But these were still good enough to scarf down! The only thing missing was vanilla soy ice cream. A la mode...



Bindhi threw herself at my feet while we were having dessert and she looked so cute and pitiful, what was I supposed to do but take her picture? She's our youngest and she's been really rambuncous, but she's really starting to mellow and become more affectionate. It's really nice to get kisses and to have someone waiting outside the bathroom door for you. She's a great little kid. Just don't touch that belly or you'll be sorry!