Pesto Part III and IV, Ray's Birthday and More...

Pesto Part III and IV: This is how it started... I was too lazy to actually make dinner the other night and was happy that I had 3 servings for the two of us of VwaV's corn chowder leftover in the freezer. I also had just less than 1/2 a loaf of bread leftover. I decided to just heat the soup up and dunk the bread into it = dinner. All of a sudden, I lost my mind and decided that it was completely out-of-my-element for me to not be running around the kitchen like a mad-lady doing 40-million things at once. I decided I must take on some sort of task. So much for laziness... that's when I remembered the basil was dying. I absolutely love Dreena's sundried tomato pesto with pine nuts and almonds that I have been testing over and over, probably about 20 times by now. I can't wait for the cookbook to come out for my personal selfish reasons, but also for you all to try this amazing sauce. I decided to take Crystal's pesto idea and pre-make pestos to freeze for a later date. What a freaking good idea.

I didn't have any almonds in the freezer so I loaded up on pine nuts to sub for it. I made a whole batch and froze it up. I still had plenty of basil leftover, but not quite enough to make a whole entire batch of Classic Pesto from VwaV. It is basically basil and walnuts and a few other ingredients, so I halved the recipe and added even more walnuts than called for in the full recipe! It came out so wonderful that I decided freezing it was a terrible idea and I had to eat it right away. So, dinner that night was corn chowder, leftover whole wheat something bread with Classic Pesto. It was fabulous. I also highly recommend this pesto mixed with balsamic vinegar. I really couldn't wait to eat the sundried tomato pesto that I premade and froze, so we ended up having that over whole wheat pasta the next night. I really enjoyed just taking it out of the freezer and heating it up. Funny, because the pesto isn't cooked in the original recipe, it is actually quicker to make it all at once in the blender than the time it takes to heat it up from frozen. Oh well, I didn't have a mess...

Someone around here had a birthday on Tuesday...

It was a nice day for Ray. He had class all day through the evening but we took out his favorite pizza (mine, cheeseless) and had vegan chocolate cake, ice cream and other fine treats and presents. It was a nice evening. I always like to decorate the house the night before soon after he falls asleep... I decked out his bass and music stand (which you can't see) too. Jess, do you recognize the poster?!

Next up, date bars. We get semi-locally grown dates from Yuma, AZ. I just say semi-local because even though it is in the same state, Yuma is quite a drive from here and practically bordering Mexico. I love these dates and supporting a family farm (of dates) and instead of about $6 a pound, they are $3. I bought 2 pounds and made 4 types of bars. They all are made with the same base, mejdool dates, agave nectar and rolled oats, all organic of course. First up we have cranberry pecan. Then to the right of that is chocolate chip cinnamon. Then cashew cocoa slash coconut and finally peanut butter chocolate chip. They are all wonderful and were super-quick and easy to make. Great for heavy-duty snacks.

Yay avocados! Miriam, look! This is the last batch of special seasonal hass avocados that we are getting at the co-op. They are $1.39 each and I quickly bought four. You all can see the two in the middle, those are now ripe and I bought them a few days ago. They are seriously 1/2 the size and the same price as the avocados I just bought today. I am sad to see them go... That's why I'm loading up and I am so happy they are huge!

Tomorrow, Sunday October 1, is World Vegetarian Day! Please spread the word to everyone you know and celebrate... wait, we do that daily, right?! Anyway, if you really want to celebrate there are super-cool festivals going on in most awesome cities (aka, not here).

The Non-Edible Vegan Lottery. Have I Won?!

Check out all this wonderful vegan stuff (click all photos to enlarge)! I cannot express in words how happy I am today because my special friend Kris sent me a care pacakge that certainly made my day... a few days combined, really! First I thought it wasn't even a package for me. Then I saw it was for me and from Portland so I assumed it was my regular subscription order to Herbivore Mag that was oh-so-kindly tossed over our fence onto the patio. I knew I was getting a "special something" along with my subscription, but this felt like fabric (a shirt?). I really wasn't ready for what was about to come...

I sat outside under our umbrella, still-somewhat-cool-morning and not a cloud in the sky and opened the package. My eyeballs seriously popped out of my head and I did a little mini-jump out of my chair. There was so much goodness inside I didn't know where to start. Well, I did...
-It was indeed a shirt, and since Kris knows that brown's my favorite color, she chose very well. The shirt says "please don't eat birds". I love it! It is of course American Apparel made in Downtown LA (not by children and or underpaid workers and it actually fits like a shirt is supposed to not for beer bellies) and she knows I'm a size small (although I still have to shrink it up not in).
-Next up we have a special back issue of Herbivore Magazine, issue 10 from winter 05/06. I love that she knew I'd enjoy this issue, it has a lot of cookbook authors' insight, vegan people I am familiar with and their ramblings and other fun stuff that you will just have to read to find out about. It certainly is a great issue. For those of you who enjoy reading about vegan "culture" with a fun and sarcastic edge, subscribe now. And if you didn't know already, there's Herbivore Clothing and a new store (that I can't wait to go to) in Portland Oregon.
-Then I didn't know what I was pulling out. I unfolded it and it is a tote bag that also has the same phrase as the t-shirt. It's nice because Ray and I always just use one bag to bring to the store (why?) but end up filling 2 bags so that means I have to use one from the store which I reuse again and again, But now this going to be my special "produce" bag. I'm picky with everything, even where my groceries go in the bag/basket. Once again, great!
-On top of the bag on the left side is a cute little Herbivore button. To add to my wanna-be-but-not-collection.
-And perfect for this dry desert air (where Kris also used to live by the way), she kindly sent me organic lip balm and organic shea butter creme by Perfect Organics. Wonderful stuff they have at the Herbivore store.
-Then there's an assortment of stickers. One says "veganism is for lovers" and I was impressed that Ray randomly commented on it and liked it and I didn't have to say "what do you think?". It reminded me of a recent incident that Crystal had when she received stickers in the mail. She was surprised her husband wanted it up in the front of the house, so was I (but boyfriend). That's my deal with Ray and our car... he one day made me mad and said he didn't want to "veganize the car" (whatever the %$#& that means!) so we compromise on stickers, although I had many up in the first place... Just another one to add that we both like, thanks! The other stickers are nice (but not car stickers per se), one says "cow hugger" and it's light blue with grazing cows and children hugging them, and the other says "factory farms are mean and nasty". Ha.
-I'm not done yet. Next we have some little bar soaps made by Estrella Soap and they smell vibrantly but naturally. One is peppermint oatmeal and the other is Lemon Poppy Seed Scrub. There are ingredients but not on the package. I have no worries about it's veganness because I know where this came from.
-Finally (whew!) my dear friend Kris sent along a postcard with a note. The postcard has Herbivore's what-do-you-call-it slogan (?) that says "Putting the 'FU' in Tofu Since 2003". I always got a kick out of that.

Kris, I can't say thank you enough... or did you think I did in the email? I am super-grateful for this wonderful surprise filled with vegan goodness (can any of you believe I'm saying that about non-edible stuff?!). I hope one day soon I can go visit Kris and the Herbivore store (and Food Fight and tons of other incredible places, people, events, nature, etc that Portland has to offer). For now, I am enjoying my treats here in AZ. I have the shirt lined up in the laundry pile ready to get shrunk, I have practically read the entire issue of the magazine today, my button is pinned on my bag next to some others, lip balm and shea butter was applied upon opening of the package, and Ray is going to be the first sampler of the soap tomorrow morning. As soon as I wash the car I'll put the sticker on (that may be a while, he he).

What a gift! I am happy.

I am Awesome... Tacos.

The other night I decided it would finally be "taco night". I grew up with a taco night and it was always fun because my mom would set out the prepared ingredients to go into the tacos in small bowls or plates and we would fill our own. Mine usually consisted of just veggies and cheese. Well, in those days mostly cheese, then veggies. I always refused the meat. These days (umpteen years later), I don't eat cheese and I eat a shitload of veggies, so I decided to make some unusual tacos. I remember Dreena making quinoa tacos one time and the idea stuck in my head. She called them ta-quin-os! I still will not eat fake meat although I do plan on having some ground round one day for Ray to enjoy filling his own tacos. We didn't have taco night as I am used to (fill your own) but these filled-by-Leslie tacos were amazing. Ray even gave me the biggest compliment by saying he was glad we didn't go to Green (a vegan restuarant that's amazing) that night. The chili was way thicker than it looks here.

I have had those Garden of Eaten blue corn taco shells in the pantry for a while. I have never had a vegan taco so I decided to just make it filled with what I wanted and didn't care that it was not a traditional taco. What would that mean anyway? I needed a basic guideline for the chili as it's been a while for me. I used Dreena's Last Minute Chili and Taco Filling recipe from Vive le Vegan just as a guide so I wouldn't forget crucial taco flavors. I ended up coming up with my own chili recipe. Wow, can you all believe I'm actually posting a real recipe?!

Leslie's Awesome Organic Chili Recipe
1T olive oil
1 small yellow onion
5 cloves garlic
1t sea salt
black pepper to taste
1t cumin
2t cayenne (could use more!)
1t paprika
1t oregano
1 green bell pepper
1/2 red bell pepper (that's what I had)
32 oz canned fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 habanero pepper
1 jalepeno pepper
2 cans black beans
1 can kidney beans
1c frozen corn
handful of chopped fresh cilantro

First heat the oil and add the onions, garlic and spices. Cook it until the onions are clear and the spices fill up your house with awesomeness. Toss in the rest of the ingredients (except for some of the cilantro), bring them to a boil and then reduce to simmer until it is thick (about 30 minutes). While that is simmering it's a good idea to make the quinoa or other grain. Add the remaining cilantro towards the end of cooking or toss it on top of each individual serving. Taste the chili to make sure it's how you like, then do what you want with it.

Here is my wonderful plate of blue corn taco shells, homemade chili, homemade guac (oh my goodness it was the best guac ever... Miriam, I may have crossed over to the dark side!), quinoa, Muir Glen organic salsa and a lime. Yum. The hardest part about this whole meal was stuffing the taco shells and the best part about this meal was everything (ok, maybe the guac really topped it off). There were three on each of our plates but I could only take down two.

I froze the leftover chili for a few days and tonight we are going to have that with new fresh quinoa and guac again, but in a taco salad form... blue corn chips with the same toppings. I highly suggest making these.

New Pancakes, Lebanon and Rambutan Fruit

I made two different types of pancakes for dinner the other night. I had been promising Ray's cousin Jordan the "Coconut Pancakes with Pineapple Sauce" from VwaV for about two weeks now. He has been dining with us often lately and was super-enthused about this particular recipe. The co-op recently had cans of organic pineapple chunks, pieces and some other fruits on sale, so I picked up crushed and rings and used the crushed for this recipe. The second batch of pancakes is my standard chocolate chip banana pancakes. You see, I used to make pancakes a certain way a while back. They were good, in fact, I used to really love them. That's until I got my hands on Vive le Vegan and I now exclusively follow Dreena's Banana Bliss Pancakes, modified to my standard personal recipe, and now we have the most amazing pancakes ever. Basically, I follow the whole recipe but I use 2 bananas instead of 1 and I add a handfull of chocolate chips (Sunspire). Topped with these bad boys is the going-on-one-year-old-standard Blueberry Maple Syrup from Vive.

Of course I liked the chocolate chip banana ones with blueberry. That's the best kind. My first few bites of the Coconut Pineapple pancakes were interesting, crunchy from the coconut but very pina colada-y with the sauce. I liked them, but not enough to finish them. Maybe it was a bit overwhelming for me, so much coconut and so much crunchiness in the cakes. I could modify this, but I do prefer saucy-syrup not just sauce on my pancakes. I did finish the other kind. Thank goodness we have a human garbage can over here sometimes (Jordan) and I just plopped my coconut leftovers onto his plate and they were gone in no time.

The night before the pancakes we had "dinner" at a weird time. It was more like an 11:30pm snack. We had meals at weird times all day and were randomly super-hungry around 10 or 10:30pm. We all decided that since the Punk Rock Chickpea gravy with mashed potatoes is so awesome, it would be the best thing to have. I said, "I can make them in no time. Someone just help me peel [the potatoes]." Of course this was not the case and it took about an hour for the water to heat up, boil and cook the yukon gold's until soft. Why is it taking me so long to boil potatoes? Anway, we finally ate before midnight and I couldn't believe that after my serving (probably about a pound's worth... that was all we ate), the guys ate the rest of the 4.5 pounds of potatoes. I seriously thought I'd have enough leftovers for the next day. I was wrong. They were pleasantly stuffed, but ended up like this (see below) 5 minutes after eating. Jordan never got up off of the guest-air-mattress until the morning (hee hee) and Ray slowly crawled into bed with me a few hours later... (Ray's the one on his back)

I like to go to Haji Baba, a middle eastern restaurant with an awesome market because it is authentic. I don't dine at the restaurant much but I go to the market for various items that I can't get at the co-op or Whole Foods. The only thing that bothers me is since I buy in the high 90's percent organic foods, they don't have any there. I stick with random stuff such as tamarind paste, cheap pomegranite juice, baklava for Ray it has butter, but they have super-cheap and good pita and they even have household items and great rugs (and more!). Turns out they also have great vases. Ray spotted this out, I exclaimed how much I liked it and the fact that it's made in Lebanon and he bought it for me. It was $6 I think. I love how it is handpainted and how I can feel that it is. I thought it was an interesting looking vase for how it was built. Sort of like a cross between a vase, a lemonade pitcher and a bong. I plan on using it for none of the above, just decoration.

It made me feel extra special that this was made in Lebanon. I wish for and strive for peace everywhere and would someday like to be able to visit this beautiful place and mingle around and talk and see and learn of the culture and beauty first hand, safely. Even though I've never been there, it sort of reminds me of aspects of Arizona, landscape-wise.

Next up, rambutan fruit. I have never heard of this and saw it randomly at Whole Foods. The man helping me out said that it is native to Vietnam and many other tropic places and he let me try one then and there. The ones in the store were conventionally grown in California. I thought that was weird, but he gave me the whole story on it. I tried it and thought it was wonderful. It reminded me of a peeled grape and you don't want to eat the seed/nut. I bought some more to take home. They ended up being about 20 cents each and the guy told me that in Vietnam you can buy a huge-ass bushel of them for fifty cents. Oh well, I'll just have to go one day for myself. Here's a link for better photos and more info on the rambutan fruit.

Killian had a blast playing hockey with it across the kitchen floor. I even knew at the store that he would love the "hairs" on it. Here he is being freaky and tossing the rambutan around.

Caution: Danger Ahead!

What I've been stirring up: Yep, I finally used agar. In the kitchen, not in microbiology lab, that is. I have had plenty of experience with that during my college curriculum, and it was very unappetizing. On a lighter and non-bacterial note, few days ago I saw a wonderful use for my first agar experience in the kitchen on Susan's blog... fruit gels! She calls them Fruit Gel Babies, and she's right, you can gobble these babies right up. I enjoyed my time making these, substituting agar flakes for agar powder (I had to google a conversion), and I used mango nectar instead of apple juice. It took hardly any "working/prep" time at all, just lots of stirring and firmed up in less than an hour. I used all the same measurements and used fresh ripe mango and red plums for the fruit chunks. I had no other fruit cups to compare these to, but I haven't had a gel-like product in over 7 years, so this reminded me of what I think a non-crappy jello would be. Awesome!
This is just four of them. I forgot how many I made, I actually had to limit myself based on my availability of small containers. These are nice jiggly breakfasts or snacks, with no horse-hooves or bone char, may I add.

I really wanted to show you all a better photo of sopapillas from when I made them before. I made these one night to complete a Mexican-flare-type-meal. We had black bean chipotle stew with fresh cilantro and corn fritters with salsa and something I can't remember, and I thought sopapillas were a good end of the night, hefty treat. I love cinnamon and sugar. I made these the same as I did last time. They look better now, although I ended up being sick of eating the tortilla after a few bites and just stirred it up and ate everything else out of it instead. If you haven't made these yet, do it soon and thank me later!

A closer look at the amazing-ness. I had to hold it down this time with a pick. I loaded it up too much to make it burrito-like.

On to a completely different subject now: I was mozying around at the co-op when I stumbled upon these purple bell peppers (our co-op only has organic produce). I was super excited and happy to see something so unique to me and pretty deep purple. Especially organic, so I knew it wasn't some weird genetically altered or cross-bred in a weird type way, pepper. I was informed it was more like a green pepper and I couldn't wait to use it up, although I do prefer red bells. I finally decided to go for a stir-fry so I could still have it's crunchiness yet I really wanted the purple effect in the mixture, just to make it contrast a bit. I opened it up and was slightly dissapointed, maybe by my own expectations. I seriously thought this was going to be purple inside and out and it was more like a green bell than anything. I still really enjoy the deep purple hue but the inside was almost white. And very juicy. Weird. (even though my head-shadow is in the way of the photo, the flash makes the white part of the pepper brighter. Having my head in the way really shows what it truly looks like inside)

Then I threw the pepper in the stir-fry and to make my slight dissapointment a bit larger, the purple color quickly faded (after all, a good stir-fry is done in a matter of minutes), and these looked more like red onions. Good thing I didn't use red onion in the dish because I would have been picking at my meal trying to make sure I was getting a pepper, not an onion the whole time. Overall, these were still nice. Most of my excitement wasn't by the end result of eating it, yet the whole, pure and un-cut form when I first got it and watched it hang out in the fridge for a day or two before I ate it.

Excuse the steam in the below photo. In the stir-fry was tofu marinated in a bunch of stuff like tamari, rice vinegar, agave nectar, chili sauce, spoonful of peanut butter, etc... Cooked in a mix of toasted sesame oil and olive oil. Along with that was the purple bell pepper, a green bell, broccoli, onion, cashews, ginger, garlic, carrots, gamashio (which I am never using again because after years I just realized it says "may contain peices of crustacean in the dulse". Yuck!!!) I don't know what else is in here, it was almost a week ago by now.

Then I made these bad-boys spur of the moment. I had some of these pre-baked phylo pastries (15 kcal each) in the freezer and pulled out about 5 for a snack for three of us (not Killian, Ray's cousin was here). I had some chocolate pudding (I can post the recipe later. I have it posted somewhere back in Feb. I think) and I decided instead of straight-up, I'd make cups again. Get this... it's the best part! I had some of Dreena's Maple Butter Cream leftover from crepes for her upcoming cookbook and I love that stuff. I decided to stir it up, see if it was still good, and it was so I put a bit of the maple cream inside the cup, fill it with pudding, and top it with hemp seeds. Yum indeed (and no baking).

Ultimate Vegan Nog. It's from The Artful Vegan, a fancy-shmancy cookbook that takes about 10 hours to make everything, but some of it is well worth while, or at least worth the while to read and dream about. This drink is pretty much the ultimate, like it says. Nothing like the pre-bought Silk Nog (which I love and not eggy eggnog), but this is homemade goodness and somewhat nog-like, somewhat banana-smoothie like. Very good, but a bit on the tofu-y side. I plan to make it again and modify a bit. I like to try original recipes first then modify to my liking. If you have this cookbook, it's a good quick recipe to try where you just throw the ingredients in a blender and stir. I prefer these kind of recipes, as well as lazy-one-pot-meals.

Last up, I made Easy Caramel Sauce from Vive. Talk about easy! This took less than 10 minutes to heat up and stir on the stove, including clean up time. I let it cool like the recipe said, warmed it back up again and served it with wonderful cookies n cream ice cream and Ahlaska chocolate syrup. Yum. (that's one of my special ice cream bowls, I am very particular about "special" utensils, eating-ware, my-side-of-the-bed/couch, and many other detailed things)I was in such ice cream la-la-land, that I ate it all up and hung out for a while and then went to bed with it still cooling on the counter. I slept in that morning, even made coffee with it right in front of me, and still never realized until almost 12 hours later that it was left out. Most importantly, I can't believe Killian didn't get to it. He loves creeping up on the counter and "being bad". Not this time.

Due to my extensive food safety and microbial knowledge, I decided to toss it. It's a shame because this easy caramel sauce was awesome, so like how I remember caramel from 7+ years ago, so easy to make, and so light and creamy from the raw sugar. I plan on making this again, but remembering to put it away properly, or just eat it all up right away. I'll go for the first and even try out different recipes with it. I have a few ideas...

Fin.

For Isil... 5 Foods

This is a list of 5 foods that I have eaten and absolutely love, and that I wish for as many people to try at least once. Except for #1, this is in no particular order.

1. organic soy ice cream (cookies n creme, preferably)
2. organic kiwi (cut horizontally down the middle and scooped until hollow with a spoon, that's the best way to eat it)
3. falafel sandwich with lettuce and tahini (hopefully organic, but authenicity rules here)
4. organic ground cumin
5. organic hemp seeds (sprinked on anything, with high nutritional contents)
If I could pick a 6th (I am so bad!) it would for sure be organic wild blueberries. I was torn, but kiwi won.

Now I'm supposed to "tag" people, right? The following people are now due for their list of "5 foods". If you have been tagged already, I apologize in advance.

Miriam
Julie
Jess
Savanna
Crystal

Stay tuned... I have interesting "things" stirring up around here!

*Some AZ Flare* ...Minus Mountains, Cacti, Scorpions and Sunsets

I know I told you all one time to not fall out of your chair upon viewing a Tofurky sandwich on my blog, as it was not intended for me to eat. What you see above here *is* and *was* for me to eat and I am sure happy that I was open-minded one day (to a particular food, that is). So, if you instinctively fell out, get up now because yes I did eat this. If you didn't fall out of your chair and think I'm a huge nerd... that's ok, too. For those of you who do not already know, I am not a faux meat/cheese person and I cringe even at vegan steak sandwiches. I have tried a Boca burger or two, I do not mind black bean patties as long as they are piled with greens and ketchup, but mostly I stay far away from anything between a bun or that is faux meat. I won't even try anything "fake" from an all-organic, all-vegan restaurant here in town. Ray thinks that's crazy.

Recently, I discovered Sunshine Burgers. These are fabulous, all organic, do not resemble nor taste like anything that is supposed to be from a dead animal, full of nutrition and good stuff grown from the Earth, and about a dollar a piece for a pack of three. Overall, these patties (I don't like to call them burgers) are wonderful and we grill them on the vegan-George F-grill and it only takes about 1 or 2 minutes. How easy is that!? I've seen another type of Sunshine Burger and they already come with a bun. That reminds me too much of gas-station-sandwiches and I am never in too big of a hurry, nor have a craving for a bun where I must buy a "burger" pre-built. I'll pass on those, even if they are all vegan and all organic. The Sunshine Burgers (patties to me) have been eating up around here on sprouted Ezekiel buns but I only use the bottom bun. No, I don't support the A-word diet, I just really can't stomach a whole entire bun, patty and what ever else I may have on the plate. Plus, too much bun takes away from the rest. The photo above is shown with the full bun for your viewing pleasure.
Above photo: Taken in the *real* Southwest on my patio. No, I can't see over the brick wall (something that the majority of AZ homes have- weird), no we don't have catci in the neighborhood, and no the palm trees are not native to AZ. Now check out the lovely list of all organic ingredients. These patties are wonderful, I love how it is free of soy, wheat and bullshit. Not that I mind anything soy or wheat, but for vegans who eat a lot of soy or wheat, this is a nice change of pace.
Now here's my plate with the top of the bun ready to be tossed outside to the birds. I even throw bread "like a girl" I was told the other day... What you see here is a huge bowl of organic yukon gold mashed potatoes made with soymilk and Earth Balance. Sea salt and fresh ground pepper were added as well as some minced garlic. Yum. I served this with a side of sweet summer organic corn and you can see the ketchup glob under the lettuce. I don't care that I'm 25, I still need ketchup on some things. It's 100% organic ketchup, by the way. Ray eats this with Veganaise on one side of the bun and a ton of Bone Suckin' Sauce on the other bun. The website shows one jar priced at almost $2 more than we buy it for at Whole Foods. You can also get it at places like Cost Plus World Market. I don't care for either of the above condiments.
This photo below is freaky. Doesn't it look like cow-burgers? I didn't realize how freakish looking these were until I posted the photo on the computer. In "real life" these don't look as burgery. I made grill marks on the Foreman by turning the patties 90 degrees by lifting with a knife.
EDIT TO ADD AND A HUGE ***WARNING***: I just realized a huge factor... I have raved above about the South West Sunshine Burgers. Keep in mind (as I didn't) that the bright yellow and red packaging is the same on the Original Sunshine burgers as well as the SouthWest. I accidentally bought a box of the "regular" kind, attempted to eat it for lunch, had 1/2 of it, and decided to dig into a pint of ice cream. Here's the thing: the SouthWest Sunshine burgers are everything I was talking about above and these are awesome. Unless you like the taste of a broccoli burger, I highly suggest not trying the regular kind. I don't even think there was broccoli in it. The ingredients are almost the same, minus black beans and a few other things, but the Original ones are freakishly green and I did my best to take down 1/2 of it, I even slathered ketchup on both sides of the patty. No luck. So, beware... if you do go for the Original ones (which I hear are easier to come by than SouthWest), don't say I didn't warn you, but if you do like them, more power to you. I simply returned them at WFM in exchange for some Gardenburger Chipotle Black Bean patties. Sorry this warning is so late, this all happened today after my big rant! (End of Warning)

On to the next business: Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy from VwaV. Let me tell you "yum". I have never been a gravy person. I didn't grow up with it, I never wanted to try it, and I always knew it was made with blood. This is a totally different scenario here. I think it was my de-virginizing to gravy. First off, this is packed with nutrition, from the nutritional yeast, chickpeas, onions and garlic, to the herbs, spices and no blood! This stuff is amazing and I apologize for this photo doing no justice at all. I have made this gravy twice now and it was even better the second time around. I am now a gravy fan, but only if it's Punk Rock.
Here's a blurry photo of the gravy. This was from the first batch and my first bite, so I was hesitant to pour it (like Ray did) all over the top of the mashed potatoes. The second time, I loaded it up!
Moving on: Just like the Sunshine patties, mashed potatoes and gravy, I have made Chipotle, Corn, and Black Bean Stew from VwaV twice now. I have made corn fritters several times now and plan on using fresh cilantro next time. I still have a ton left from the stew. You can now see that I am breaking in my VwaV book based on the recipes. If you saw my book, you'd think I have had it for a whole year. Or maybe you'd think it got sucked in by a natural disaster. I can be a messy cook... Anyway, this stew was great, a bit on the tomato-y side, but really hardy and "southwestern". This photo was taken from the first batch. I cut the potatoes way too large and they were a bit of a hinderance while eating. I also used dried cilantro instead of fresh like the recipe wanted me to. For the second time around, I used one less potato than the recipe called for and cut them up way smaller. I also got some local organic fresh cilantro and tossed that in. To my dissapointment this stew wasn't black-beany enough so I added a second can to the second batch that I made a few days later. The stew was served with blue corn tortilla chips the second time around and probably Seduction Bread the first. I also used the juice of 1.5 limes instead of just 1 the second time around.
Again, the first batch of black bean stew. I must say, fresh cilantro makes a big difference and I enjoyed the extra juice of the lime more this time around. I still have 4 servings worth of leftovers.
Not only have I made the above repeats at least twice each, I've also been making fruit-filled crepes with Maple Butter Cream (from a tested recipe for Dreena's newest cookbook), chocolate chip banana pancakes with blueberry syrup and kiwi (part of Banana Bliss pancakes from Vive le Vegan, part of my own magical creations, and Blueberry Maple Syrup from Vive le Vegan), Sloppy Lenties of course, cereal with vanilla hemp granola, many salads, and what would life be like for me without... ice cream. I just had to throw "ice cream" in there, even though that is a daily given, I didn't have a sweet photo to post. So that's that. I plan on branching out a bit, I guess I'm hooked on a few VwaV recipes... and flavors of my residence, the Southwest.

Most importantly, I Netflix-ed The Future of Food and I will go into it more some other time. For now, it is a good film to see. Sorry Vicki (and everyone else) I still haven't seen An Inconvienent Truth, but I plan on getting it on video. Back to The Future of Food... I don't know where I've been for 2 years, but it came out in 2004 and is about GMOs, farmers, corporations, politics of course, and all sorts of aspects of biotechnology. There is a microbial ecologist in the documentary and I am thinking of maybe pursing a Master's in this area (not due to this movie only, of course). Anyway, I watched this 3 times this weekend (to add to my redundancy of everything lately) and I attempted to take notes but then realized I was practically writing down the whole script of the movie. I have so much to say about it, but mostly it makes my stomach cringe, I get pissed off at my government and huge corporations that suck, and I will keep eating as many organics as possible. I even wear organic cotton when I can. This film told me a lot of what I knew already but I like the perspective it comes from. Go rent this film please.

Yay to Cooking!

I have done some light cooking lately after going to the store and finally stocking the fridge, freezer and pantry back up. It feels good to have foods in the house again (other than simple fruits as snacks and boring stuff like soy yogurt, couscous and such) yet I am still dizzy and have no idea what the #%^@ is wrong with me. I don't think it is life threatening since I've had certain tests to show, but this still isn't anywhere near normal. I plan on doing more about this. I was getting stir-crazy from being cooped up, not cooking (much), going out to eat, running out of money to go out to eat, as well as not being productive nor having fun in the kitchen. It was time to change that so Ray and I went to the store and thought of some stuff to buy that would turn into semi-quick, semi-easy meals. See, I don't say quick and easy because for me, nothing ends up that way. Some recipe that is supposed to take 30 minutes somehow takes me 2 hours. But I thought of some good feel-good comfort foods to cook up for the week other than yukon gold smashed potatoes and a side of corn. I have had Sloppy Lenties about 5 times this month, but I thought I'd spare you all another photo of them. I did have a Sloppy Variation though... fill up 1/2 a pita with the Sloppy Lenties. Fabulous.

Above you see our "dining area", in which soon you will be seeing a lack of yellow countertops. I am happy to report that we finally bought kitchen chairs and finally took all the crap off the table we had for so long, moved all the crap to appropriate places (well, more appropriate), and are now eating breakfast, lunch, dinner and some snacks there. So now you will be seeing more "table" rather than yellow countertops, although I am missing the flare a bit from the counters.
Back to business... for some unknown reason I have been craving corn chowder lately. For some weirder reason, I've never had corn chowder (vegan or non) in my whole life. I had no idea why I was craving this (no I am not pregnant) and I decided to make and eat corn chowder for the very first time. What is an even newer first is my use of Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook. I am quite embarrased about this fact. I've had this book for months now, read it cover to cover probably about 20 times, memorized practically 5 recipes, but never made anything. There are a lot of "oven" recipes, but besides that and before I started to feel crappy, I can't believe I have never used this cookbook before. Maybe I just always thought I did since I've taken it outside under the umbrella and on the couch in the living room to read over and over, have seen other people's photos of the creations, and practically know the book inside and out. But this was a first and another first... Corn Chowder from VwaV.
Corn Chowder Verdict: I started smelling the soup towards the finish and exclaimed to Ray that I didn't think I was going to like it. It smelled a bit bland and I don't care for thick soups. I still went with it, after all, I spent all the time and energy to make the meal. I am also weird about not tasting foods while they are cooking. I know I need to change that since I could have made variations while cooking and tasted it to see if it was ok before it was served on the table. I served the corn chowder with Seduction Bread from WFM and overall, the soup was sweet and tasty. I used 2 jalepenos, and I didn't taste any heat at all, just sweetness from the corn and maple syrup. Just like the recipe says, it's even better the next day. I only had a few modifications in this recipe. First, I didn't have a fresh red bell pepper, as I am not willing to pay the crazy prices I've seen them for. Instead, I picked out all the red peppers from the frozen bag of red, yellow and green pepper strips and used those, just chopped more. I also used organic frozen sweet corn instead of shucking my own. Plus, I am really into having frozen corn on-hand lately. The recipe also called for 3c veggie broth and I used 2c broth and 1c water instead. Other than that, everything else was followed exactly, and yes, I measured.
This was tasty and filled me up big-time. While eating with Ray we discussed and I wrote down what we could do next time to make the soup better. This is what will be changed for the next time I make this: less thyme and rosemary because it was a bit overpowering, more salt and pepper, a tad less liquid to make it thicker (I don't like thick soups, yeah right I guess), cut veggies smaller, use one more potato and one more clove of garlic. It sounds like a lot but it's really just adding and subtracting here and there. I'd even add a third jalepeno if Ray can handle it. Oh, and this is my new snack set. I have a green one and Ray's is an earthy blue. These are great because they make huge coffee mugs with a small treat, a great bowl for soup or whatever, and in this case it was nice to have a set with the bread placed right on the side. I do a lot of snacking but it usually requires only a bowl and a spoon (you know where I'm going with this).
Above is Dreena's Sun-dried tomato pesto for her upcoming cookbook. I've tested this recipe about 20 times now. It's awesome and simple to make (even if you don't feel well) and it is warm and filling with great flavors. I love the almonds and pine nuts. I know many people will be quite pleased by the simplicity yet overwhelming yumness of flavors in this recipe. It is also quick to make, as it takes longer to boil water and cook the noodles than to make the sauce. And I make the sauce while the pot is boiling. Served with the pesto above is organic mixed greens, dressings and homemade green tea with cranberry. I have been making this tea by the gallon tri-weekly and sweeten it with about a teaspoon of agave nectar for the whole gallon. On the side are organic croutons (super-cheap at WFM bakery section) and Ray's parmesean grater. It is so nice eating at the table... Below is something I wasn't sure if I was going to post about. You see, this is just plain ol pasta with marinara. I decided to post this because I think simple, easy, hearty meals like this one are quickly forgotten about. Or they are picked over a lot because it seems to blah. One night we were wanting something simple and quick and I decided to boil up some curly spinach noodles. Then I just heated up a jar of 365 organic fat-free marinara, added a few spices from the rack, and dumped it in the pasta. Since I am no longer an oven/toaster user, I "toasted" garlic bread with nutritional yeast and salt and pepper on the next burner on the stove. It worked out pretty well. And fast.
Below is an organic mixed green salad. I am not going to say organic anymore because 99% (that's my percentage guestimate) of all foods we have in the house are organic. At least fruits, veggies and grains are. On that note, we have all organic: greens, carrots, red onions, whole wheat croutons and honey mustard dressing (yes a tad of honey is ok to me). I love the tanginess from the cider vinegar in this one. We have been eating salads at all dinners and sometimes twice a day, with or as lunch. Instead of buying bulk greens since I have an adversion to the tongs and certain bulk items (took too much microbiology in college and too many nasty hands using the tongs), we bought a 1 pound box of pre-washed greens. Just like those bags, but bigger for $3.99/lb. It lasts us both the whole week, plus greens for other recipes.
This next one here is my second recipe attempt from VwaV. I decided to make corn fritters since I was still on a corn kick. I will also mention that Ray made popcorn last night for our friends Jordan and Bob. This sweet summer corn is just sooo good. Before Bob came over to smoke cigars with Ray (eew, not me) I made corn fritters for the first time in my life. Everything was going well, there were minimal ingredients, I had everything, it seemed easy enough for me, and everything was going well until...
What happened here? I added more than a sufficient amount of oil, had it hot before dropping spoonfuls of batter down. I know it's not non-stick, but I thought if it's not non-stick you just add oil to it and it is non-stick. Anyhow, these were taking a while to cook and I attempted to lift one up and realized that they were badly sticking to the bottom. I was really upset at this point and didn't know if I was going to ruin and waste the whole thing and just eat leftover lenties and corn chowder and salad for lunch, or try to do something about it. I chose to do something about it by switching to a smaller, non-stick pan. I managed to save most of the mixture as it was falling apart and sticking to the pan. This worked out well, but you can see the mess I salvaged. This mess sure did taste and smell wonderful.
This recipe is to be cooked in two batches so luckily I still had half a batch to try to actually make patties with instead of corn fritter mush. Ray said it looked like scrambled eggs and I almost puked. Gross. Not even close to eggs. Anyhow, the second round went much better (don't you agree) and we ate the mess and the patties within a tenth of the time it took to make. And these were made quickly. I am going to make them again next time and add more jalepeno (you can tell Isa isn't from the Southwest. I'm not either, I'm just used to certain heat-flare after 7 years or so). I love how these were sweet from the maple syrup and the sweet corn, as it was a nice treat to have with veggies. These corn fritters are going to be made again soon. In a non-stick pan.
And what would this blog be without treats and sweets?! Of course there is ice cream here (SO Delicious Cookies n Cream, my favorite) in between an Original Newman's O's. There are two here, as how could I just chomp on one?
PS. I really appreciate all the comments, emails and pop-ins from everyone who has expressed their concern for my health and well-being. It makes me feel good to know (well, I already knew) that there are so many good and caring people out there. I am thankful for all the kind and warming words.