Where the Magic Happens

Welcome! Here you'll see our kitchen cerca 1964. Yes, these are original yellow countertops with matching cabinet handles. You will also notice a wide open space (photo taken from "computer room" which is really supposed to be the master bedroom). This space is longing almost as much as I am to have a table smack dab in the middle of it. But nope. Instead there's a crappy folding table which I use to bring to festivals to sell jewelry on and on that table is currently a lot of crap pushed back against the wall. No use. No chairs anyway except the two you see here. Ray (and Killian too) sits in these while I cook a lot (I like that) and they are also original-1960s-with-the-house-stools. I like them because they're softies and brown, oh, and they spin. If you look up you'll see the basketball net. Yeah, that wide open space is a great place to watch Killian slide around, play with him, and play basketball. Ray and I will shoot hoops once in a while... Ray shoots hoops a lot. And what almost made me not share but since it's not my fault I don't give a #%$, the (probably original) vinyl flooring, aka, fake tile sheets that are impossible to clean. The landlords (super-awesome people) are going to change the flooring but after we move out. That makes the rent go up anyway, so we don't care, for now at least... And like always, you'll see the sunshine shining in the window. This photo was taken in February, so the sun's angle is a bit different now. I love springtime.

Getting to business... The important part of the kitchen, the actual kitchen. My old kitchen was just "this". It's not even small. My house before that was even older than this (believe it or not). Bottom left is Killian's scratchy (scratch post) which is necessary for all cats especially ones who aren't streetsmart and fat and like to lay in bed under the covers all day who doesn't scratch a tree. Moving on... I use a bathroom towel holder in the kitchen and nail it into the shelf above the sink so I can hang-dry my towels, cloths and that handle-scrubber-thing. Great idea made up by me. And morning coffee stuff, cruelty-free-safe spray cleaner, and some tid-bits on the cabinets charting ratios of grains/legumes to water, nutritional info of random stuff, as well as a "vegan food pyramid", well, rather a long-horizontal chart, but it's hard to see from these photos. It's very colorful and detailed and I like when guests refer to it. I like it just for fun hanging next to my Turquoise Mines and types of turquoise map of the Western US.

And what I always have hanging in the kitchen, wherever I may live, is my Allman Brother's, "Eat a Peach" album, the best album art to me, and the tunes are great too. I love looking at it, as it makes me remember "make believe". And, below you will see probably the third cat calendar in the house. No comment.

And a bunch of stuff hanging on the fridge ranging from embarassing photos of me, random notes, receipts, to me being ServSafe certified, to torn-out media pages rippin' on George W. (dubya). And the stuff on top of the fridge, well, I sort of just put it there when I moved in and can't really reach it. What you can't see from these angles is directly across from that one spice rack is another wonderful vintage wooden spice rack that I love and fill all the spices myself in baby food jars. That's how I like to keep them and always have, but the fancy stuff was a gift. I tend to use my own "bulk" spices 99% of the time, rather than pre-packaged, store-bought.

I must mention that step-stool. First off, yes, I'm short. We established this see above. I've had that step stool since I was a young child, maybe 4 years old. It has painted on balloons and my name on two sides!

Another view... you can sort of see the water cooler (mini table top) since we have hard water here and cannot drink from the faucet. Even Killian, as he got sick a year ago from the minerals in the water. We have 7 3-gallon water jugs that we fill weekly. And just one of my bookshelves, as I have so many books. Many of them are reference books and vegetarian / vegan/ cooking/ spiritual books. I plan on posting about books soon, because even though this is a food page, I have mostly books on food and nutrition.

Fire extinguisher: in case of any fire. It's multi-type-of-fire and I have one in every room. Scared of fire, yes. You've all heard me about The Oven Thing.
Baking soda: in times when I used to use the oven to put out fires/smoke/flame, etc. Never use a fire extinguisher to put out an oven fire. It's dangerous.

By the sink... aloe. There's plants all over this area of Arizona. No need to buy any aloe at the store. Just plant some. You'll see my non-earth-friendly-soap. Sorry, no excuse on this one. It had to be used up (better than wasting, some people don't have soap). I do use Seventh Generation the lavender kind for dishes and my hands. Moving on... and there's potholders, timers, a photo of Ray and I in Sedona, my microwave that is a re-born-virgin (I don't use it)with some animal-friendly stickers and the history of the Lazyboy chair since the 1940s I think.

That's the kitchen... And now for some food.

Midweek Munchies has become End-Of-The-Week Munchies for me. I finally made it to the store (on my heavy bike, long-ride, short-distance, long story). I got some good stuff, but couldn't get milk or a few other heavy items. My bike weighs 1/2 of me without anything in it.

The List: Whole Foods only this time.
Arrowhead Mills already baked pie crust (finally...)
soy nuts
2 LaraBars (I have a side link to this one), apple pie flavor
fruit leather, organic, flavor assortment
Seduction Bread
Hazelnut Herb Cutlets (like Celebration roast, the best patties ever, go get them!!!)
rice puffs, organic
blueberry Silk yogurt and Raspberry Silk yogurt
organic kale
organic zuchini, one small guy
chocolate chips (to always have in the house!)
cashews, raw
walnuts, raw
phyllo dough- I have to check out this one. It was frozen, has no instructions, and I think I don't need to bake it. Can someone let me know, as I have so many ideas as for uses with this.
organic peanut butter stock, raw
same to almond butter
organic parsley
organic garlic
organic ginger
red lentils
baked tofu (thanks Julie!)
organic brown rice syrup
organic cameo apples, small ones
organic carrots
or. baby bok choy
or. kiwi
or. onion (can't you see I'm sick of saying organic, yet most things are and I do love it)
2 bag refunds... sweet.

Based on all this I plan on making some super-awesome stuff this week. Stay tuned.

Feline Food Variety

I once knew of a vegetarian dog named Robinhood, and the last time I saw him (3 years ago), he was 14 years old, healthy and happy. You see, Robinhood's mama fed him all whole-foods, all vegetarian foods, and she always cooked him what she cooked for herself. He never ate processed foods. I don't know where he is now, but I will never forget him, his cuteness, or his wonderful lifestyle.

I have always wanted a vegetarian/vegan animal. I have had Killian, my cat for 3.5 years (that's how old he is plus a few weeks) and I know that it is possible, yet difficult and risky for a vegan cat. But, it's safe and healthy for a vegetarian dog, and even a vegetarian cat, if given the right supplements. I don't plan on taking Killian off his meat-filled diet. I have studied up enough to stick with my decision, although I have been slowly incorporating more plant foods in his diet, giving him greens (although my online vet, Dr. Google told me that they don't digest greens, yet I'm skeptic of this).

Killian has had a UTI and was very sick over a year ago. He was in the "hospital" all weekend. From then on he is on "prescription" diet C/D formula and he only drinks the water we drink, from the cooler. I must be speaking for him too, but I sure am sick of feeding him brown, crunchy pellets filled with dead animals. I will keep him on his food, but he does need some color and flavor variety. I'm just too wary to just give him anything (although all-vegan).

I would like some advice or more questions to ponder. I do not plan on "converting" my Killian to a vegetarian diet (although ideally I'd love to, as with the whole world) but I do want to add more healthy foods.

When he was just a tiny-guy he climbed up my body and took a huge dive from my shoulder into my bowl of spaghetti and marinara sauce. He loved the sauce all over him! It was super-cute. I knew he liked that.
Everytime I open the freezer, he comes running. He likes to play with ice cubes (soccer) but I think he really wants ice cream. And let me tell you'all about that... Ray has dairy. I have soy. Killian looovvveeesss soy ice cream and doesn't even care one bit for cow's milk. That makes me happy, but his vet said soy is ok, just in moderation. I don't give him more than once a month or so, and it's just a few licks. He loves Silk Yogurt too. I think it's the cultured bacterias he likes.

Killian likes:
spinach
chickpeas (and turned into hummus and falafel)
marinara sauce
soy foods, ice cream, yogurt, milk, cereal, etc...
alfalfa grass
kiwi (if it's not too ripe)

I would like some ideas on good, whole, natural foods to feed Killian. And I would like to make stuff to put into his bowl, even if it is just for him (that's just part of how MUCH I love him).

More importantly, I would like a list of foods/spices that are harmful, poisonous, or not recommended for kitties. What about nuts and seeds? Certain fruits? Anything would be helpful, as I even worry about houseplants and flowers (poinsettas, yeah, I know...).

This is my non-human food post. Well, human-food-goes-feline, rather. I must go tend to the meow now...

Mughlee & E's Treats

Happy Birthday Baby Emaline. Yesterday, Friday March 31 at 7:30am Emaline (E) was born at home, naturally, without a conventional doctor or drugs/invasion. She is absolutely full of life and beautiful! Miriam is no longer KnockedUpVegan. Congratulations to the Miriam and Todd and this is a mughlee tribute to you.

Let me tell you (well, this is a quote from Miriam's page) All About Mughlee. "When a baby is born in Lebanon, the tradition is that all one million relatives go to visit the family - and when they are there, they are served a sweet spiced rice pudding called “mughlee”. This used to be my absolute favorite dessert. If you have a baby and don’t offer your guests mughlee, well then, you’re obviously an INCOMPETENT HOUSEWIFE.
Mughlee is cooked on the stovetop, and then poured into small glass bowls, and put in the fridge to set. Just before serving it to the guests, you take it out and top it with shredded coconut, pine nuts, pistachios, and blanched almonds. Yum."

I decided to sort-of follow Miriam's veganized version of traditional mughlee. The ingredients, but no exact recipe follows:
Brown rice flour, rice milk (I used soy), agave nectar, cornstarch, caraway, cinnamon, alspice, nutmeg, coconut, raw pine nuts, raw pistashios, raw walnuts and raw almonds.


These are my birthday cup-cakes for baby Emaline. Although I'm the only one feasting on them.

Ingredients:
tofu, silken
cocoa
vanilla
water
phyllo pastry cups (10 calories each)
blueberries
blackberries
strawberries
kiwi
mango
Yum.
It took a long time to cut all the fruit (All frozen except the kiwi) but well worth it. Yum again.
Take a closer look and drool.

PowerHouse Treats, Vibrance & Fatness

First off, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to my birthday being a wonderful day! I really appreciate all of the comments from *you know who you are* this site, as well as thank everyone around here for making March 28 a great day.

Let's get back to the birthday stuff and on to the weekly treats...

I made these last night trying to put as much nutrition into these as possible. These are more like breakfast (which I don't normally eat, ugh), a good morning snack, a light lunch maybe with some (soy) milk. I was going to use a hint of blackstrap molasses (rich in iron) but I forgot. I certainly didn't forget the rest of the 19 ingredients! It's funny, because I'll look at a package in the store and see a ton of ingredients, and quickly pass it up (or comment on how full of crap it is and make a smart-ass remark). But what you see here is 19 awesome ingredients, all whole, mostly organic and mostly raw (I melted down a few items). Everything in these treats is not only super-tasty, but has is own unique nutritional contributions.


"Leslie's PowerHouse Treats"
Ingredients:
organic brown rice cereal puffs (like rice crispies)
rolled oats (not instant kind)
cocoa
raw organic almond butter (I squeezed it but melted it down, not raw anymore)
raw organic peanut butter (same as above)
organic brown rice syrup
organic agave nectar
raw almonds (ok, I'm not going to say *organic* anymore, most items are)
raw walnuts
raw pecans
raw sunflower seeds
organic raisins
coconut, shredded
hemp seeds
flax seeds, whole
sea salt
barley sweetened chocolate chips
cinnamon
vanilla, have to say it... organic.

Everything is mixed together. I melted down (on super-low heat) the almond butter, peanut butter, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa. Then I mixed up the rest of the dry ingredients and poured the hot mix over the dry. Then I stood on a step-stool (for better views, reach and method) and I mixed with all my might. And yes, with my clean bare hands.

What you see down here is one of 4 mini-treats that I've been making lately. I made these in mini glass bowls and I simply placed a pinch-full of hemp seeds at the bottom of the bowl. Then I added the "treats" mix, and pressed down. I cooled them overnight in the fridge, and when I took 'em out, unwrapped them, and turned them over, they looked like this...

Ok, ok, back to my birthday stuff. I had such a great day that it went by so fast and I was sad it was over. I haven't had a super-great day like that in a while (unfortunately). Maybe I'll celebrate my half-birthday this year. I could go on and on thanking each and every person who made my day great, but instead THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR WISHES, THOUGHTS AND GIFTS. Even customers (some of my favorites) at work were super-tippers, although they tip well anyway and are the nicest anyway, and my boss made me a vegan (yes, she's in tune) mixed-berry pie, from strach, that I just tried to eat as much as I could of. It was wonderful.

I received so many flowers and they are beautiful and colorful (and Killian keeps messing with them). I thought I'd share some of the vibrance with you all...

And this is the whole display... From my parents, step-parents and more...
A few more close-ups, this one is weird and interesting. I like both weird and interesting things.
This type is my favorite. I need to look up what types of flowers these are, as I am curious.
Lydia also gave me this plant pot, besides the wonderful homemade pie. Check out the kitty.
Daisies.
Birthday Dinner Verdict:
Thanks to some of my favorite people from work, the suggestion of going to "Green" for my birthday was great. I took the risk of trying a new restaurant on my birthday, but it wasn't really a risk. Here's the thing: Green is an all organic, all vegan restaurant that just so happens to be owned by the same person who owns "That's a Wrap" (see Faux Spring Break post) and I had no doubts about this place. Upon entering the restaurant, I happily thought to myself "thank goodness they took the dollar-store-sporting-goods-crap off the walls, painted from pink to green/orange/brown, and added seating". This was already going to be better. Then we skimmed the menu and I introduced myself and happily explained that it was my birthday and I was super-happy to go out to a restaurant and be able to choose from anything on the menu and not worry about cross-contamination of nasty animal foods (or other nasty crap).

I wanted to eat everything on the menu (minus mushroom stuff and fake cheeseburgers). I decided that we should order a bunch of apps and snacks instead of each a main meal. This was wonderful and we ate the most fried food, although fried-veggies, that I've eaten in a long time. It didn't bother me at all. I got a free cookie for my b-day and (better sit down for this one...) didn't have any ice cream on my birthday!!! I'm in shock too... I was way too full, although I managed to eat the cookie in the car on the way home from dinner. This meal was a 9/10 for both of us, my complaint is that they should drain the eggless egg-rolls before placing them on the plate. Or at least have a basket to shake the oil or a cheesecloth. Something. Everything was fabulous (even the occasional grease) and I plan on attending this restaurant as much as I can.

Yum to that. Here's the link and I figured out how to make the menu bigger. You have to right-click it and save it (to wherever you want to save it to) and then just open it as a photo and you can always make it larger. http://www.greenvegetarian.com If you live around Tempe/Phoenix area, please check this place out. I certainly would like to have them open for a long time. Also, nothing on the menu is over $6 (I don't think) and we had about 5-6 different items to our feast and it was under $20. We were happily-shocked and super-full.

******Killian Time*******

And it's been a while since my fatness, Killian has hunted out the "front" window. We use our back door as the front door so there's no need for him to hunt through this small window when we have big ones... But, he's fat and cute and lazy and this is the stance I call "Mr. Super-Paws". I think it's super-cute when he sticks his paws out like that. I don't even know what he's hunting, there's nothing out there but the occasional pigeon or walked-dog. He freaks out to anything, even the rare occasion that wind blows a leaf down the street...
So much for "perching".
Fin.

March 28, 1981

Today makes me officially 25 years old. I don't know how I feel about that. It's also 6:30am.

Filling out forms will be different from the past 7 years, as I am no longer checking the box for the 18-24 age bracket. Hmph, does that put me in the 25-29 or 25-34 box? I don't know why I even care, but I am officially in my mid 20s and I think I will have to post later and tell you all how I really feel about this...

In the meantime, I started the birthday celebration a bit early last night. My wonderful, super-awesome grandparents (I call them G & G) took me out to dinner last night. I wanted to try this new organic vegan restaurant called the Mandala Tea Room, (very pricey and of course, in Scottsdale) but they are closed on Mondays. I wanted to go out last night because I think for my "birthday night" I want to sit in my jammies (with Ray, woo hoo, he took some time off for me today) and hang out and eat ice cream and maybe my own personal vegan cake for dinner, who knows. I do know that on my birthday (or pre-birthday dinner), there is no dressing up involved, nor is there meat on the table. We ended up going to the Pita Jungle http://www.pitajungle.com (click on Tempe, although they are all nearby). My Gramps loves this place and Ray and I take out from there every once in a while. We have friends who work there too. I had a falafel sandwich (what else would I have for my special dinner?!). The dinner was great and we were super-chatty for two hours! Thanks G and G, I love you!!!

Oh, let me give you all this wonderful link to check out... http://www.mandalatearoom.com
I will check it out one day and post about it. If anyone has been to this place, let me know what you think, although they are just getting started...

And for the main reason I posted, my fabulous Grams (G) found me this non vegan flower cupcake. She bought it at the conventional grocery store (I was shocked they had something that looked this nice), but we both know it was for looks only. She knows I appreciate these creative things, yet I had to remind myself not to lick the rubbed frosting off my finger! It is worth saving for a while, taking these photos, and having Ray indulge instead.

Pretty, huh?

I'm off to start the day, being 25...

Midweek Munchies (3-22-06)

MIDWEEK MUNCHIES: What LESLIE is contributing for the week.

I just wrote this whole thing out and it disappeared! This is my third MM and the third time I have typed everything out and it went away! I am frustrated and I wish there was an undo on the internet. Now I am just going to make this quick. As you all know, I didn't post a Midweed Munchies last week because I ate out a lot and was out of town, but I also had advanced planning and the week before bought enough food for 2 weeks.

I'm back in the Midweek Munchies ring and I am pleased to present to you all my very fine shopping list. Actually, 2 lists, as I shopped for the cheapest stuff first (but less quality, so I didn't get everything) at the Sunflower Market, and then I went to Whole Foods Market (WFM) for the rest of the stuff.

I have been tired of going to the Sunflower Market just for coffee, although this week wasn't the case. I decided that instead of buying our regular 2 bags of coffee (over a pound in each, ground), I would buy three and that could save me some "we're almost out of coffee" every so often. So, three big-ass bags it was. And is, from now on.

I used to just buy all of my produce at the Sunflower Market, but the quality isn't as good as WFM, and you certainly get what you pay for. In that case, I bought a few things first, and then saved for the WFM adventure. I would rather have good organic carrots than ugly conventional cheap ones anyway, for example.

On to the lists...

First up, the Sunflower Market:
red wine vinegar
Silk Chocolate Milk, individual size for me to drink right out of the store
5 kiwis for a dollar!
2 garlic bulbs, 25 cents each
2 bigass red bell peppers for ONE DOLLAR (for both, not each. At WFM they're $1.99 each)
a shitload of coffee
4 lemons for $1
3 stupid tiny limes for $1 (kinda crappy)
raw walnut halves, $4.99/lb, I got 1/2

Then I went to WFM and actually spent less! That's because I didn't buy almost $18 worth of coffee there, though!

Whole Foods Market:
2 kinds of organic apples, red and green
yukon gold potatoes
organic pasta sauce, 2 jars
barley sweetened chocolate chips
tahini, blah, should have bought it at Haji
raw sugar
coconut, shredded
organic peanut butter, ground myself
sourdough and rustic breads
carrots
kale
parsley
onion
bag refund, a whopping 10 cents off!

Click here for the Midweek Munchies code
Click here for Harmonia’s blog


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Midnight Milkshake

This could possibly be the best midnight snack ever. Yes, I ate this at midnight!

We had a pretty boring dinner last night around 9:30 or 10pm. I wanted ice cream, but I was too full for a while. I thought about going to bed... then I thought about ice cream. Then I thought about putting a bunch of good stuff (including broken organic cones) into the ice cream.

A milkshake at midnight it was...

Above: What you see here is magic about to happen in the VitaMix. Well, it already started when I took this photo, but you get the idea, right?

Ingredients for my special milkshake. I just started throwing (what I do best) stuff in that I thought would be good. Funny thing is, what I thought about most was cones, and I ended up forgetting to put a broken cone in. At least I saved 45-50 calories! Whatever to that.

Ingredients (for real this time):
*Soy Delicious Organic Cookies n Cream ice cream (my favorite, from a quart, the 4.5g fat/serving kind, not 12g/serving)
*Silk Soymilk, vanilla flavor, organic
*Organic, barley sweetened chocolate chips
*frozen blueberries, organic
*hemp seeds, shelled(?)

I whizzed it all together in the V-mix and it turned out fabulous. It started melting by the time I got to the photo because it was either take a photo right away and risk the blender being stuck with all the blueberry bits for days, or have a somewhat melty photo and have a nice and clean blender. Blender it was.

Note: Ray and I shared this (I suprised him while he was working on the computer) and not shown, but we had two gigantic red straws to suck up all this goodness.

Verdict: Awesome midnight milkshake, and for the most part, healthy too (kinda).

My Own Personal Spring Break

I decided to take my own personal spring break... from pretty much everything, including my non-challenging job (which is my choice for now, but there are good/resourceful things about it), the internet, which includes blogging and checking everyone else in the world's blogs. I have also taken a break from cooking (except see below, and I plan on Sloppy Lenties tonight, yes people, again).

Even though I technically am not entitled to a spring break by any means, I have decided that it is good for myself (and everyone) to take a break from whatever-it-may-be and do what you feel like, do nothing, or get a lot of stuff done. I did a bit of each, as well as spending some quality time with Ray, who is usually super-busy. I took a few days off from work. We spring-cleaned the house and it has never looked so good. I am so relieved to have it done, especially putting things in places where they should go instead of crap just everywhere. Anyway, that really made the week nice too. We planned to go to Tucson for the day since it's only just over an hour away driving. It was a few days after the rain/snow so the drive was clear and the snow on the mountaintops was beautiful. Tucson is a good get-away and more real-life, less blonde hair, tube-top, fake boobs - type of town compared to here in Tempe. I enjoyed the day, as did Ray and we walked around U of A's campus. It's so much more of a real campus compared to ASU (which is like modernized office buildings turned sorority style, whatever that means). Anyway, Tucson was nice and thanks to some special readers, I was helped out and shown the way towards some awesome treats and food I didn't yet know about. I do know that there's a good amount of veg restaurants in Tucson, but I've really only been to the Casbah Tea house, which I'm sort of upset I didn't go this week. The chai is special there. I think it's the hippiness and tapestries and congas all around that make it special. Oh, and all the veganness. The above is a photo I took of Tucson while walking down the street. You can see how much I wanted to go to the Casbah, but we already spent a good amount of time down there.

The above is Ray's snacks. We were going to have lunch so we parked on 4th (was it St. or Ave, shit!?). I was led to Epic Cafe which I saw as soon as we parked so I insisted on going there first so we had snacks for sure. I was pleasantly suprised by the menu and the array of vegan treats in their own special part of the deli case. We could have had lunch there but we were both happy with some of these fruity treats. Ray had a strawberry almond treat with a sasparilla rootbeer float. He loves that stuff. I asked if they had Soy Ice cream but then I remembered that I don't even like rootbeer anyway, the ice cream was just good looking to me. The strawberry treat was fabulous, and everything was so moist (I thought I must throw that important factor in). Moving on to my good stuff...

What you see here is my bigass bite taken out of a wonderful vegan seed cookie made by Epic. I have posted info about it below. This cookie is so good but they do need to work on the website. They don't even have ingredient/nutrition information, they just say vegan, in which I personally trust since they have a whole company and such centered around veganism. This cookie was wonderful and not too sweet. Yum.

Yum again. I have been missing baked products.

This is all the info I have to guide you all to these wonderful treats. The prices for the brownies and bars were the same online as the store, but for some reason the cookie was $1.65 at the store (I ate it in increments of 3, it was huge) and on the website they are over two dollars, hmph.
I just wish the shipping was cheaper on the website. It's almost more worth it (to me) to drive to Tucson for 1/2 a day.

I also indulged in a brownie. Super-awesome stuff, I say. It was gone before I could take a photo.

This is what the bars looked like (on the pamphlet).

And for you all to try these. If you don't you are seriously missing out. Plus, I want to contribute to this good company and keep them going.

I mentioned that I took a spring-break from cooking. Ray took me out almost or if not everyday this past week and it has been nice but in a weird way. I am not used to so much going out (all in a row, at least) but I am also happy about it because sometimes I just want someone else to make my food, serve it to me, and clean up after me. It doesn't happen around here, so I must pay someone (besides Ray) for that. I cannot post for everywhere we went, but we do have the usual, which includes Pita Jungle http://www.pitajungle.com (Tempe location, although all three of them are nearby each other). I always get a falafel with tahini and veggies and jalepeno/cilantro hummus. We have friends that work there and hook it up.

Then there's the best falafel in the world from an Israeli place called Sabuddy. I think I can deem this my favorite restaurant around here. I love the baba (ganouche) and falafel there and all the staff is great and knows us and we never need menus. We just share a combo plate.

Then there's of course, Taco del Mar, the good ol' standby in the same courtyard as where I work (I get a discount) and I get "The Vegan" burrito there. I can see everything that goes into my food, make sure the food service workers are doing what they are supposed to (I have a degree in this + nutrtion) and I like seeing my food being made, and fast. Here's a link: http://www.tacodelmar.com . There are locations all over the west.

The following bunch of menu-photos is a restaurant in Phoenix (just a 7 minute drive or so) that I like a lot. One of the owners is vegan and the menu has all the meats on it but anything can be substituted with tofu for no charge. This is wonderful, fresh food, you get a lot and you get a side. I always get fruit salad, even when they do offer vegan soups. I didn't post a beverage/smoothie photo, but they have both (I haven't had a smoothie there) but they have China Mist tea (unsweetened) and wonderful strawberry lemonade and we make Arnold Palmer's with both. It's fabulous considering all the other AP's we drink are just regular tea and regular lemonade, although the other day I did have one made with Yerba Mate, mmm.

So, check out That's a Wrap. I think they have a website, just Google-it or try this: http://www.thatsawrap.com

I get the Prince of Thai's (with tofu, duh) but I get it with red bell peppers instead of onions (ick, onions) and I like to get it without the ginger slaw, even though they no longer make it with mayo. I like the cucumber and spinach mix in it and it has peanut sauce and jasmine rice and veggies and a spinach tortilla. Yum. Plus, we sit outside, and it's a little-house-type-place.

Ray likes the Senorita-No-Meata with "full-fat" cheese.

And I did have an exception when I said I didn't cook. This was the last meal I cooked. Sorry for the nasty photo, but I sat down after Ray said, "Aren't you gonna take a photo?" I told him I already had postings for pancakes and I don't post what I always make, especially things I make a lot, even with exceptions. Well, these pancakes were too good to pass up and I put bananas, strawberries, blueberries and chocolate chips in them. I ran to the camera in the middle of starting to eat, and took this photo. Ray said it [the photo] looks like hamburgers... hmmm... weird... and gross.

And by the way... what you see in that glob in the corner is the rest of my almond butter before it was going to be bad. This is my new thing, newer than the fabulous (vive le vegan) blueberry maple syrup that I will always use. Almond butter plus pancakes (plus Dreena's syrup) equals the best thing ever and I don't know how I will live without it again. Yum to that.

I have been meaning to post about these for a long time now. I buy them every few months or so and they sell them around town (WFM has them cheapest, for just under $4). These are the best cookies (that aren't made at home) ever and I highly recommend them. I like the trail mix kind best, see below, but there's an array of flavors, from the good ol chocolate chip, to oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, and molasses kinds.

It's a family that makes these...

Yum to this.

And this is my next new try. I have heard from some people about this. I also looked it up on the internet and even though the menu is small-print and hard to read, it looks wonderful from what I can make out. I am going to try it and the prices seem reasonable. It's also nearby.
http://greenvegetarian.com


I am now officially back in internet/cooking-action and I have missed all you people commenting, I have missed other people's business, aka- their blogs, and my own cooked food (not cleaning up). Sorry Harmonia (and everyone else who cares) that I missed MW Munchies this week, I did buy enough food for 2 weeks the week before. I had a shopping trip tonight, as my house was pretty much empty, and made up for it all. See you Wednesday with that. In the meantime, I am off to make some Sloppy Lenties that I've been waiting to eat, since hey, it's only been a week since I had them last.

Smashed Potatoes and Crap

I woke up to some sunshine and some Bob Dylan on NPR this morning. And the ground is still wet which is amazing that it's not warm enough to evaporate. In the middle of our 18-hour + rain, I decided that if I was not going to run to the store and grab an unsweetened milk, that I would let about 1.5 pounds of Yukon Gold's go to waste. The weird sprouts were starting and they frighten me. I have been dreaming about smashed potatoes for a long time, and I bought some Yukon's last week (see midweek munchies post for complete list). Earth Balance is stock around here, so I didn't have to worry about that, but I do keep vanilla Silk as my staple milk, so I was running into problems here. Plus, after seeing Jess' post about her smashed potatoes, I decided it really was a sign (and time to make them).

I decided to go to the store and I ended up buying a small milk, a bag of red lentils and 4 carrots, although I think I left one on the line (no bag). It was so nice walking in the rain, actually being wet, not seeing blue skies, and people were all happy and chill. I was cold though (I'm a wuss when it's under 75 degrees). What a day... and to make it even better, I was about to have some smashed potatoes!

Ingredients:
Yukon Gold potatoes, about 1.5 lbs
garlic, minced, about 2-3 cloves
Earth Balance, about 1/3 cup (I didn't measure, but I eye'd it)
Unsweetened Silk Soymilk, about 2/3-1/2 cup, I'm not sure, as I just poured it in and added too
Five kinds of fresh ground pepper (black, white, red, etc..., it's a pre-mixed churner)
sea salt (to taste, I add after finished mixing)
That's it!

And I decided since this was a rare occasion that it rained, I would also indulge myself in something else that's rare... partially hydrogenated oils, UGH, I KNOW!!! Yep, sometimes I like to treat myself to crap, and this here is pretty much going for it. I love these Mary Janes, and I thought I'd have to drive back up to Camp Verde (about 1.5 hour drive) just to get some. I looked everywhere, even online. These are great, but do have some crap in them, and don't give me any more crap, because I am 100% sure these are vegan. They're peanut butter kinda chewy like taffy like sweetness, with added crap.

You know, as a vegan, as a nutritionist, and as someone that doesn't like crappy ingredients, I sure do like these. Except I think I had about 10 yesterday (while playing badminton with Ray and Killian in the house, Killian freaks out over the birdie). And then the sugar (and other crap) started to get to me and I was dizzy and light headed and I think I just ate too many. I also didn't have much in my belly to start with. I was going overboard because they taste so damn good and I think it's fun eating something so weird and chewy once in a while. And I think that having them once in a while, when it makes me happy is completely ok to do, and I am just living life how I feel is best for me (and that includes happy crappy things every once in a while) and that's why I'm sharing this all with you. Plus, I think it's funny how the wrapper is practically the same exact color as our kitchen counters!

So there you have it. I ate smashed potatoes, some almond oat balls, Mary Jane's and some ice cream yesterday! The rain sure did get to me! Oh, and let me just say that I've had Sloppy Lentie's (I changed the name) twice in the last week, that's how freakin good they are. I will post my recipe on my version of these and I may just have some again tonight. It's fast, so easy, a one-pot meal, and virtually no clean up, especially since you will probably eat it all that it's so good.

Leslie's Version of Sloppy Lenties...
Ingredients:
1 c. rinsed and drained red lentils
2c. water
1c. tomato sauce
1 T. tamari (soy sauce)
2 carrots, chopped
a big handful of kale, chopped
about 1/4 onion (unless you actually like onion, use more), chopped
pinch of chili flakes
pinch of dried basil
2 cloves garlic, minced

Method: Combine dried lentils, water, tomato sauce, tamari and bring to a boil. While waiting, chop (food processor is best to get real small) carrots, garlic, kale and onion together. Add to pot of lentils. Add chili flakes and basil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir every once in a while. Enjoy with a spoon or some bread (or anything else good you can think of).

Rain in the Desert

I woke up to the sound of rain hitting the windows and the sandy ground/concrete outside. I live in the desert (don't mis-read and think I'm talking food, aka, dessert). It's raining. This is amazing. It hasn't rained here since October 16, 2005. This made it over 4 months of no rain, about 144 days! It has been in the mid 70s to the 80s all winter, and exceptionally warm.

On a selfish everyday basis, the warm, even hot winter has been nice and the sunshine, tank tops and flip flops year round really do make me happy... On a more realistic and long-term basis, this is frightening, causes even more wildfires (we already had one here in February), and this Earth is just getting so warm, polluted, and I can go on and on, but I wont... here at least. Bad news.

But, today it's beautiful and about the 5th day I haven't seen sunshine all winter. I love the sun, but this is spectacular, smells great, and I love the sound of the rain falling. It's this weird feeling in the air, in the house, and it's unusually dark inside. I have the curtains open (as always) and I still need to turn on the lights. The dry ground is now wet (for now) and we have poor drainage systems here and I am sure many roads are flooded. Flash floods are basically the only weather-related worry we have. Anyway, it looks wonderful outside and it's certainly a different kind of day here in the Valley. We have been waiting for this for months now and it's a strange, yet wonderful day. I am in shock here people!

This has nothing to do with food, I know, but I wanted to share my excitement and relief with everyone. Oh, and Ray's off to play a wedding today that was supposed to be in an outside Garden. Poor couple, it's been sunny and 80s for almost a year now and on their outdoor wedding day, it rains! I hope they take it lightly and make it mean something.