What I've Been Up To (In Pictures)

Well, first of all Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope whatever December holiday you celebrate treated you well, and that you had a great New Year's celebration! Ivan would personally like to wish you a belated Merry Christmas though.

I know I haven't been around much. Frankly, I don't have much time for cooking, let alone blogging, and I've been debating whether or not to even keep doing it. In fact, I told Nick yesterday that I was going to stop....but I don't think I can. Just expect me to be posting less frequently (although, I'm sure most of you have figured that one out by now). Anyway, this is just some pictures of what I've been up to.

Pignoli Almond Cookies from 'Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar'. Also my first experience with almond paste!

Isa shared the recipe for these!

This Purely Chocolate drink from Bolthouse Farms is really good. I reviewed the Vanilla Chai almost a year ago, but this might be even better: super creamy, fruit sweetened, high in protein.

Vegan Breakfast Sandwiches from Vegan Yum Yum. These took a good long time to make, since it was my first homemade biscuit experience, but they were really good. Definitely one of Nick's favorites.

Spelt Biscuits

'Egg'

Maple Tofu

After a long day out Christmas shopping, we didn't want to spend a lot of money on eating out, or spend a lot of time making dinner, but I really wanted some 'Italian food'. I've been wanting to try these for awhile, and at the time, it hit the spot.

Perhaps not authentic Italian, but I had the lasagna, and it was pretty yummy, made with a soy ricotta filling.

My pride and joy of the holidays was definitely the Peppermint Patties I had intentions of making for many friends and family. However, after a day FULL of candy making (there were chocolate caramels too), I really didn't want to see chocolate again for awhile. So, this tin went to my best friend, and once I got over my chocolate overload, my husband and I finished the rest because they were incredibly delicious. They are NOT healthy, but really awesome, and you can find the recipe here. I used brown rice syrup and doubled the mint extract.

Not pictured, I also made some peanut brittle and pecan clusters for my grandparents. I was in Christmas overload at that point, and forgot to snap a quick picture before they were gifted.

I end with the candy for a very specific reason. One of the reasons I was considering quitting the blogging was because since I started, I have gained a significant amount of weight. I don't look incredibly different, but despite working out consistently, my clothes don't fit. I feel like I have to focus more on my health than on trying to make 'blog-worthy' food. So, in the New Year, expect things to be a little healthier.

Also, expect things to be spiralized.

One of the gifts I was lucky to get this year was a spiralizer. Ivan likes the box, and I'm already loving the thing.

So, that is where I have been, and I hope to not completely drop off the radar for so long anytime soon. Enjoy the new year, eat some black eyed peas!!

Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms

I am not a Rachel Ray "fan" per se, but when we were living in Hawaii, we didn't have cable, and only got a few very fuzzy local channels. This was right after we got married, when I was just discovering my love of cooking, and her new talk show was the only "food show" I had. So, I pretty much watched it every day.

One day I was struck by, what is the only recipe I have ever made of hers, Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms. At the time, I was vegetarian, and was more concerned with making it healthier (using fat free ricotta, and less cheese).

Well, we went out to dinner at a decidedly non-vegan establishment this weekend and there it was on the menu. Spinach and artichoke dip. Yum. Definitely a favorite of the appetizer world. Into my head popped that mushroom recipe and a new version, a Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Mushroom, was born.

You will need:

1 medium Onion, diced

12 oz Frozen Spinach, thawed and drained

8 oz Artichoke Hearts, canned in water

1 tsp Italian Seasoning

1 tsp (or to taste) Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

1 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 package Mori-Nu Lite Silken Tofu

1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast

3 Garlic Cloves

3 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp dried Basil

1 tsp dried Parsley

1/4 tsp (or to taste) Cayenne

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

6 Portobello Mushroom Caps

What you need to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the oil, sautee the onion, artichoke hearts, spinach, italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper.

In a food processor or blender, blend together the tofu, nutritional yeast, garlic, vinegar, basil, parsley, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Clean the mushroom, removing stems and gills, and lightly score an X into the bottom of the caps.

Spray the bottom of the caps with cooking spray, and place gill side up in a baking dish.

Fill each cap generously with dip. There should be enough for 6 good sized mushrooms. If you have extra (I only had 3 mushrooms, so we had a lot of extra), you can make a few ramekins of it.

Serves 6

Nutrition Information: 153.5 Calories; 4.7g Total Fat; 0.7g Saturated Fat; 0.0mg Cholesterol; 17.7g Carbohydrates; 7.2g Fiber; 14.1g Protein

This got big thumbs up from both myself and my husband. This is also the perfect dinner for me because I get home from work fairly late, and I don't like to eat anything heavy and very filling, but I still want real food for dinner. Not to mention, its gluten free, fairly low in fat, and higher in protein and fiber. Yummy and good for you too!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. My husband and I are thinking about getting a new kitten. Keep your fingers crossed that Zoe is okay with this!

New Week, New Job, New Food!

There are a few things I haven't really mentioned on here. First, I quit my job. Second, I got a new one. I know a lot of you were with me for my student teaching earlier this year, and I was really stressed out. I started a job with a very large school district here, and it just wasn't working for me. I think I cried every day except Fridays and Saturdays. So I quit.

Today I am starting a new job at a vet's office. I am really looking forward to it. The best part is that I don't have to do hours of planning at home, so I had plenty of time to get everything ready for this week regarding food. Of course, food is the first thing that pops into my mind when I have any kind of free time.

Sundays now, are spent planning meals, food shopping and cooking. All through the week when I find something I want to make, I put it on the "Dinner Ideas" list, and then add the ingredients to the list. By Sunday, I maybe have one meal to add, and we are ready to go. After hitting Trader Joe's (we are addicted to their granola, aka crack in a box) and Wegmans, I headed back for a nice afternoon of cooking my little heart out.

First up is a batch of seitan, same as I made last week. I had dinner plans, but I really wanted to bake something. I poured through my many cookbooks and ended up on the computer going through Sweet Freedom. I love this cookbook, but I've only made a few things because many of the recipes include things that I should have on hand...but don't. Like agave. I ran out a few months ago and didn't buy it again. There is a lot of agave. Anyway, I settled on a delicious Raisin Tea Bread. Named not because it is to be eaten with tea (which was what I thought), but because there is actually tea as part of the liquid in it. Sweetened lightly with maple syrup and made with whole grain spelt, this baked up beautifully, with a nice crunch to the exterior, but a light and moist interior.

I used Chai Tea, which was intensified by the warm spices added to the bread.

After that, we watched a movie and I have to say that our recent movie rentals have been dismal. One of them we didn't even finish, and the other two...if I had my way, we wouldn't have. Nick said, that's what you get when you get your movies from a vending machine (Redbox), but I really think we just chose poorly.

Dinner was Breakfast. Or the other way around. I wanted to try Bianca's Breakfast Casserole, and I knew I would never actually get around to making it for breakfast. Her recipe calls for the use of any cheesy sauce recipe, and I doubled this recipe, from Fat Free Vegan's Eggplant Parmesan, which was one of the first posts I made on here, actually.

It came out delicious; yummy pieces of soaked bread, chunks of scrambled tofu, and bites of smoky sausage. I used Yves breakfast sausage, and I added garlic and onion to the scramble. Next time I think I will add some greenery to it, maybe mix in some peppers, or spinach.

Of course, it was only natural to follow this up with something else breakfast-y, the Tea Bread! With some vegan cream cheese slathered on, this was the perfect end to my day of food.

How do you go about planning your meals for the week? Do you just play it by ear with what's in the fridge? Go shopping every other day? Plan everything in advance and hope it all works out?

Hope everyone has a fantastic week! I hope to see you back here fairly often since, as my job doesn't start until 11, I will have plenty of blogging time!

Baked Falafel Patty

This past summer my husband spent a month in Washington state. Left to his own newly vegan devices (less than month), he subsisted on the same few meals over and over. One of them being falafel from the food court next door. He was going there on a pretty regular basis until the owner thanked him for his continual business, and then he got embarrassed and cut it down to only a few times a week.

While there are plenty of places to buy falafel around here, it is such a easy (and healthier!) thing to make at home that I have taken to making him a big batch and freezing it. Well, now I just refrigerate it because he goes through it so quickly there's no reason to freeze.

Yesterday we both had falafel for dinner, and there is just something so satisfying about those chickpea patties.

Our recipes involves a few additions and then we pair it with a silken tofu tahini sauce.

Baked Falafel

3 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp dried cilantro

2 Tbsp dried mint

2 cups chickpeas

1/2 cup rolled oats

2 Tbsp wheat gluten flour

3 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

water (optional)

*This recipe doubles...or triples (which I did last night) very well*

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix garlic, cilantro, mint, chickpeas, gluten flour, and oats in a food processor until chopped and blended.

Sprinkle baking powder, cumin, salt, and black pepper over the mixture.

I like my falafel mix to be almost paste-like, so at this point I will add about 2 Tbsp of water.

Form the falafel mixture into patties (you could go for more traditional balls, but it will affect your cooking time), and place on a greased baking sheet.

Cook 10 minutes, remove and flip, and cook another 10 minutes until golden brown.

Now, my husband is also a big fan of hummus, so that invariably goes into his pita, but I prefer the taste of tahini with my falafel, rather than overload the chickpeas with more chickpeas (although I guess some would propose that impossible!).

Silken Tofu Tahini Sauce

1/2 cup silken tofu

3 Tbsp tahini

1 clove garlic

3 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp sugar

water to texture

salt and pepper to taste

Add everything into a small food processor or blender, and blend together. Add water to achieve the consistency you like. Ours was fairly thick, I added about 2 Tbsp of water.

In addition to health-i-fying the falafel by baking rather than frying, I had a falafel salad instead of a pita. As I've said before, I'm not a big sandwich person.

Go enjoy some falafel. Its good for you, its got protein and fiber, and..umm....its delicious!! Any other falafel lovers out there? From what I've seen, no one rivals my husband!

Toasted Corn and Sweet Red Pepper Rice

I ended up staying at my parents for much longer than anticipated this week.  I left on Monday afternoon, planned to come home Wednesday afternoon.  Well, its Thursday, I'm still here, and we're going to the movies tonight.  So, I don't think I'll be getting back until tomorrow.  Don't worry, I brought Zoe with me, and she is quite happy watching the birds and chipmunks again.

It took awhile, but I realized my mom has the same camera as me, so I can just borrow her camera cord.  Hellooo!  

When I was living at home I usually made dinner once a week.  I am not the type to make the same recipe twice.  There's just so much out there, why keep making the same thing?  My mom, does not agree.  If she ever gets asked, she always wants the same thing, which has come to be known as "that rice stuff I like".  

I figured since it is mom's favorite, and she's been asking me to actually write down some kind of recipe for it, I would make it for her, and share!  I gave it fancier name, but you can still call it "that rice stuff Gina's mom likes" if you want.  

Toasted Corn and Sweet Red Pepper Rice

3 cups of COOKED Brown Rice (about 1.5 cups raw)
10oz box frozen corn (about 2 cups)
2/3 cup salsa
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1 large red pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 block extra-firm tofu

Put two pans on to medium heat. Liberally cover both with non-stick cooking spray. 

While the pans heat up, remove the tofu from the water. Slice it as thick or thin as you want (probably into about as many pieces as can fill your pan), and press with a towel on both sides. You don't need to be crazy about removing the water, just dry it a little. Salt and pepper both side and place in one of the pans. Just let it sit in the pan. Don't move it around, don't pick it up. It will form a golden crust on that side. Peek at the corner of one piece until it is somewhat hard and golden brown. Then flip and wait for the other side. When its all done, cut it into cubes. 

The corn goes in the other pan. It'll thaw first, but it needs to be in long enough to toast. You'll want to stir, periodically under it starts get brown flecks and look toasty and caramelized.

You can do the rest before or while everything is cooking. While this stuff is cooking, slice the pepper, chop the scallion and make the dressing. For the dressing, mix the salsa, lime juice, and canola oil. 

When everything is done mix it all together in a big bowl. 

That's it! Its easy, its fast, its healthy and it is soooo good. We usually have it as the main dish with a side of broccoli. It can serve anywhere from 4-6, depends on how hungry you are.

Serves 6

Nutritional Information:  271.5 Calories;  8.2g Total Fat;  0.9g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  40.0g Carbohydrates;  4.8g Fiber;  11.3g Protein 

You could also use garbanzo beans if you are intolerant to soy, or you could just leave the protein out altogether.

We went to the Kutztown Folk Festival yesterday, my mom, brother and I.  Its in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country.  

I always think this view looks like that default Windows background

I guess the food is supposed to be good, but its not really our kind of stuff, so I found a place that would make us all happy to stop for lunch.  If you ever find yourself in Kutztown, Betty's is a cool place.  Cute little place, kind of wants to be funky and earthy when it grows up, and the food was great!  Its casual, and cheap, mostly wraps, salads, soups, and you can easily eat for about $5.  Oh, and it caters to both omnivores and vegetarians/vegans.

We saw some cute baby ducks at the fair.  I love birds, but I especially love ducks, and everyone knows that babies get even more love, so I had to take a picture.  

There were really cute baby bunnies too, but my attention was taken away from picture taking then because we were allowed to pet, hehe.  

We stopped at the Clinton Station Diner for dinner.  Its right on the side of the highway and its got a train car attached to it, so we always notice it.  We actually got to eat in the train.  

Me and my brother

Also, my brother recently became a vegetarian, which I believe I have yet to mention on here, so that's pretty awesome!  There was plenty of stuff I could have eaten at this diner, but I thought we were getting fast food for dinner so I had brought my own, and already had eaten it, so I just had some fruit salad.   

Because I am at my parents', I have already seen a bunch of movies.  I don't know why, Nick and I haven't really been at all.  I saw My Sister's Keeper with my mom, and saw Public Enemy with my brother and his friend last night.  My Sister's Keeper was so sad, but really good.  No, I didn't read the book, but apparently some important things (I won't say what, but if you want to know, email me) were very different.  I kind of like it that way because I feel like I can go read the book now if I want.  Public Enemy was good.  The acting was good, it was engaging, but I'm not running around raving about it, its just not my kind of movie.  Tonight we are going to see Away We Go, which I am really excited for!  

As much as I like being home, I definitely woke up this morning wanting my own bed (which is weird because this bed was "my bed" for two years).  I think its my pillow that I miss.  Anyway, we should be back home on Friday!  

Another Momentous Day

It was going to be so hard to top a 100th post, that I figured I would wait for another momentous day.  Luckily, one came quickly!  

Today is our third anniversary!  (Wedding anniversary, if that wasn't clear).  Its hard to believe, really, maybe because we've been apart for more than half of it.

For our first anniversary, we went to our favorite place at the time, Roy's.  This was just around my switch to vegetarianism, and I remember being really conflicted about the fish.  For some reason people seem to view fish as lesser beings, hence the increase in pescatarians, but fishies have always been some of my favorite animals, so I didn't quite get that.  I had goldfish wen I was younger and when I was in college, my husband (then boyfriend, obviously) got me two goldfish.  Once we have our own house and little more room, we hope to get a really big tank (we'll see how Zoe feels about that).  (By the way, some Roy's locations have really fantastic separate vegetarian menus.  For example, the one in Maui is fantastic.  The one in Baltimore, sucks).    

Anyway, our last anniversary he was in Iraq, so we didn't really do anything.  This year we're finally together again, there is no fishy conflict, and my husband offered to make dinner.  That's right ladies and gentlemen.  Not only has he decided to try out eating a vegan diet, but he's trying to learn to cook too.  If you knew my husband, you would probably want to call him up to confirm this because it even sounds to ME like I'm making it up.  I'm happy for him though.  

He made the Three-Bean Chili from The Vegan Table, substituting the three cans of beans we had on hand. It took every ounce of self control for me to not go over and check on him constantly, but I tried my best to relax and watch the train wreck that is Daisy of Love (did I just admit that??).  

Three Bean Chili with Roman Beans, Kidney Beans, and Small White Beans

I was in charge of dessert.  This was a toughie.  If I made a cake, I'd spend the next few days stuffing my face with it.  He requested chocolate, and the same fate was true with brownies.  Yes, I want to relax and enjoy my anniversary, but I don't want it carrying over to the rest of my week and causing me grief.  I scoured the cookbooks...Vegan with a Vengeance?  Ani's Raw Food Desserts?  Veganomicon?  Vegan Express?  

I finally settled on the Chocolate Orange Pudding from Vegan Soul Kitchen.  Who doesn't like a rich chocolately pudding, right?  From there I took the easy way out and made mini chocolate pudding pies using store-bought pie crusts.  

I made the topping, and if anyone wants the "recipe" feel free to email me.  It was really easy and it went perfectly.  The only problem?  They were super good and even though I only made half a recipe of the pudding it filled five mini pie crusts.  So we both had two...but that's what anniversaries are for :)   

On Monday I mentioned an announcement, and I still have it, although it has changed a little.  Nick just found out that he has some temporary duty at Ft Lewis starting at the end of this month.  If you are unaware, Ft Lewis is in Washington state.  We are in New Jersey now.  And we are driving!  The drive out there, I think is going to be a straight shot.  One the way back though, I'm hoping to take a little bit more time and see California a little, and go through the middle of the country.  I've gone cross-country before with my family, but never to Washington, and never as a vegan.  So...if anyone has some must-see, or must-eat-at places, a suggestion for a route to take on the way back, advice, etc, let me know!!  And I mean, anywhere in the country really.  Comment or email, I want to know the best places to stop at, from random to obvious.  And, if anyone lives near Seattle, let me know, I will most likely be pretty bored!   

Challenge Weekend One

We're closing in on week one of my husband's 30 day vegan challenge.  In my last post I mentioned that I thought this would be his most difficult weekend, and...well if I was right, then the rest of this challenge should be a breeze.  

I don't have any pictures so I won't bore you with too many words, but Saturday we had a cookout at my aunt's house with some of our relative who are visiting from Italy.  We brought veggie burgers, so we had them on whole wheat buns with some rice salad that my aunt made.  Plus there was the raw veggies out.  Oh, and then fruit salad...watermelon...yumm.  It was really a lot of fun to meet them, and was all around a good day!  

Sunday we went down to my husband's family to see his sister off (she is going to Greece).  We now live exactly halfway between both of our families, so its kind of convenient.  Anyway, they were cooking out too, so we brought veggie burgers, but I didn't even end up eating them because my mother in law had gotten a tofu recipe from a friend of hers that was really good (thankfully...I don't think they had really tried tofu before). That with brown rice, corn on the cob, some polenta and vegetable pie she made, baked potato wedges, etc, was plenty for me.  My husband still ate two veggie burgers (Southwest flavor Sunshine burgers.  I've never had them, but he said they were good), along with everything else though.  Oh and there was dessert too!  My sister in law is gluten-free, so we had two options for vegan and gluten-free dessert.  Impressive.  

My in laws have a really awesome natural food store near their house, and as much as I love Wegmans, I do miss the local places.  So we went on our way home.  I didn't really get too much, but I did get these olive oil...things.  

I can't explain them, and I ate them all already (they were REALLY good).  I guess they are kind of like a mix between a pastry/cookie and a cracker.  Like, a sweet cracker.  But round, and sprinkled with sugar.  What put them completely over the top awesome though was the ground anise and anise extract.  Soooo good.  I have never seen them there before, and they were this special "imported" item, so I don't know if they'll be there next time, but if they are...you KNOW I'll be buying some more.  

Today we got up EARLY and went to spinning at 5:45.  We got there at 5:40 only to find out we were actually 10 minutes late because they moved the class up to 5:30.  I totally LOVED it!  It was so much fun.  On top of that we're going to be lifting tonight.  It sounds like a lot, but because of his job, my husband almost always works out twice a day.  Since I have the time now, why not?  On days we don't lift I am going to do yoga.  I've found a place around here called Yogawood that does an Ashtanga style flow, which is what I am used to, and what I love, but I think I may try a Bikram place tomorrow.  By the way, I want to clear up something I said on Friday, that the yoga didn't keep my legs very strong, and I think I should mention that "strong" is a pretty relative term.  Yoga keeps your muscles fit and relatively strong...but not strong enough to squat 100 pounds.  I hope that makes more sense.  To ME, that is STRONG.  Warrior poses don't really do much of anything to my leg muscles (my hips, that's another story).  I lost much more strength in my big legs lifts than I did in my upper body lifts.  But, every kind of exercise, every practice, whether its yoga, running, lifting, etc they all have their own benefits, and they all make you strong in some way.  Which explains why I'm always trying to do a little bit of everything!      

After spinning we have breakfast, which has been "interesting".  Since all I have is a Magic Bullet (no blender), I have a very limited volume capacity.  My smoothies always consist of six ingredients:

1.  Banana

2.  Spinach

3.  Protein powder

4.  Non-dairy milk

5.  Frozen fruit

6.  Water    

Well, as you may imagine, this does not fit in the Magic Bullet very well.  So I've been making them in pieces, and we end up with a green component (spinach, banana, water), and a fruit colored component (today was purple---blueberries!!).  When you pour them together it looks all swirly.  

I just think it looks cool, but my husband likes it like this because he says he can taste the separate components.  Okay. 

In case you were wondering, we're not using the same protein powder.  I'm using the same stuff I've talked about a bunch of times.  My rice and pea blend, sweetened with stevia, from trueprotein.com.  He is using a GNC soy protein isolate.  I can taste such a difference.  His is sweetened with sucralose, I believe, and it is so much sweeter.  I don't like it because it reminds me too much of whey.  So if you are trying to move away from whey, this stuff may be the way to go.  

One last update.  I stopped at my parents this weekend before going to my aunt's house.  I talked about the baby birds living on their porch a few days ago.  

Well this was my mom's most recent picture of them, just a week after that first picture. 

 And this was my picture of them this weekend.  

They're gone!  The babies have officially grown up and left the nest (and my family can use the front door again).  

As far as the vegan challenge, so far it is going very very well.  He says he's feeling really good, and...well that's about it, what else do you want?  Yesterday on the way to my in-laws, I had him listen to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's podcast, Vegetarian Food for Thought.  Now, I know I have  mentioned her in passing before, but I seriously love this podcast.  The one I really wanted him to listen to was one of her most recent episodes, and its one that I suggest everyone listens to.  I know I have people who read this who aren't necessarily vegetarian or vegan, I'm talking to you, too.  It may not be something that you want to hear, but I think its worth the 40 minutes to just listen.  Not because I want you to be vegan.  But because I want you to be sure you are YOUR definition of healthy.  You can take from it whatever you want, but I think it should be required listening.  And I will never beg you to listen to another one of her podcasts again, I swear.  You can even do it through iTunes, just search.  So, go download:  Vegetarian Food for Thought, Diseases of Civilization.  Now.      

My husband was really unhappy I was making him do this, but once he started listening to her, I think he is hooked.  He takes a lot of pride in being well educated, and her podcast present information that he has never really looked into before.  It is very well research, and it isn't presented in an angry way, so its hard not to listen.  We listened to it the whole way there, and then he told me I could put it on "if I wanted to" on the way home.

One last thing (I swear).  I get really tired of say "my husband this", "my husband that", etc.  I know that other bloggers have other names for their significant others or family members (BoyfriendLovlie from VeganLovie, CD from Heather Eats Almond Butter, and Mama and Papa Crunk from Vegan Crunk come to mind), but I got nothing .   Any ideas?  

Allright, NOW I'm done.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday!!

Catching Up

This is an old meal, but I really wanted to share it.  Not to mention the fact that I haven't really been taking any pictures, so I have nothing else to share.  

When I finished my cleanse a few weeks ago, I asked for suggestions:  tofu, tofu salad, BBQ tofu.  Miss Shelby suggested BBQ tofu salad.  When I think of that, I usually think of BBQ tofu in a salad (like, with lettuce), but I'm not a big lettuce salad person.  What I do love, however, is a mock "chicken" salad, so BBQ tofu salad it was.  

It started with the BBQ tofu, and while it would have been nice to cook it on the BBQ, it was just marinated for about 2 hours and baked at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes. 

 The BBQ sauce was "homemade", kind of.  I mean, it didn't come from a bottle, but it was super crazy easy because I am almost always in a rush now.  It was 1/3 ketchup, 1/3 soy sauce, 1/3 agave nectar.  Ta-freaking-da.  Seriously, its really easy, and its not the *best* BBQ sauce in the world, but for the amount of time it takes, its awesome.  

I let it cool in the fridge, overnight, before using it in the salad.  

Its pretty easy.  You can probably come up with it yourself, but this is my version.  

About 5.5oz tofu (two of the blocks I made above)

Vegenaise

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped celery

1 minced clove garlic

1/4 cup cabbage strips

salt & pepper to taste, if you want

That's it.  Easy easy, and SO good.  Actually, I kind of wish I had some right now.    

This would be equally as good in a sandwich, I'm just not really a big bread person.  It just doesn't do anything for me.  So if possible, I don't eat it.  I've been on the run a lot lately, so I've been having wraps and sandwiches more, and I don't like it.

In other news, I received some pomegranate juice from the wonderful people at POM wonderful a few weeks ago.  

I only drank one straight, and its such good stuff.  Really tart, but sweet.  Careful though, it stains (my brother stained a shirt, but then, you aren't going to spill yours everywhere, are you?)

I had intentions to do all kinds of fun stuff with this.  Then after a few days, I had intentions to do at least one fun thing with it.  Then...it was gone.  It actually all went into some variation of this:

Yes, I've finally jumped on the smoothie bandwagon, and its all thanks to POM.  I believe this particular one was made with a banana, a mango, and pomegranate juice (topped with some pomegranate seeds, of course).  

Since then, I've actually jumped on the green smoothie bandwagon, which is sometimes cool, when its actually green, but today, when it is kind of brown (cherries, bananas, coconut milk, spinach), its not as fun.  But I have been having a smoothie every day for breakfast, and I love it.  I've also been in love with scones, but that is a story for another day.  Actually, if anyone knows of some awesome scone recipes, pass them on!  

So, that's all the food for today.  Sad, right?  I'm gone for three weeks and that's all I've got.  There has been so much going on.  My husband did, indeed, come home about 3 weeks ago now.  Its been kind of hard, because I'm at student teaching all day, then I have class at night, and I have to plan lessons and write my thesis.  Plus, interviews here and there, job fairs, which are in Maryland, so a lot of driving (I have spent over 50 hours in the car since he came home).  I know that you all don't need an explanation, I'm just like....Ack.   

Right now, he is working somewhere in NJ.  What's kind of...um...strange, is that I am not at all looking for a job in that area.  I have interviews mainly up here, in NY, and in Baltimore County.  So, that's interesting.  He's staying down there for the time being, and I'm going to be going down there today, and when school is over, I'll stay with him until I find something.  Then we have decisions to make.  

Speaking of student teaching, I only have a week left!  Its crazy, really.  My new cooperating teaching isn't the same as the guy I was with at the High School, but I still LOVE the kids here.  I can't believe its almost over.  I'm going to spend a few days with my old mentor teacher and the High School kids when I'm done at the Middle School, until grad school is over.  He would just sign off on them all, but what else am I going to do for those three days??  

So, things have been kind of crazy, but I have been planning out all my food pretty well, which is excellent.  For the time being, don't expect any nutrition information, it takes awhile to do it.  If I get the chance to come back and add it in, I will.  

I'm still not sure how regularly I'll be posting, although I'll be bored as anything after May 15th, so you can probably expect to be hearing too much from me around then!

Making New Friends

So far, its been a relaxing week.  Spring Break for me, remember?  In all honesty, it should not be this relaxing, I have a ton of stuff to do that I'm just ignoring.  I am procrastinating for a few reasons.  First, I do everything better under pressure.  Second, I finally got my hands on Breaking Dawn.  My next door neighbor let me borrow it since I'm too cheap to buy, and that library thing just wasn't working out.  I'm about a third of the way through.  

Normally on a week off I'd be taking advantage of extra gym time, but I've been doing a detox/cleanse/whatever you want to call it, and it was suggested that you kind of take it easy.  I've been walking with my mom and her friend in the morning, and going to yoga.  I went to a new teacher today and was thrilled to find that my normal teacher was subbing for her!  I love him so.  It was a short class though, only 60 minutes, when I'm used to 90 minutes.  There's just not enough time to get into things with only 60 minutes in my opinion.  

So clearly food this week has been different.  Well, not so different than normal but super different from the crap I've been eating lately.  I've been resorting to a lot more processed food than normal, and I really wanted to break away from that.  The diet that this "cleanse" suggests is mainly fruits and vegetables.  Almonds and sunflower seeds are okay in moderation, as are millet and quinoa.  I've mainly been sticking to the fruits and veggies though, and keeping a large portion of it raw.  There is also no caffeine, which is fine with me when I'm not working, no processed foods, no soy, and no salt.  

I do miss salt.  

Other than that its going really well.  Much better than I expected actually.  The hardest part was getting used to eating at the suggested "meal times", because I'm not used to eating such low calories foods all day, so I get really hungry, and I'm not about to tell myself I can't eat.    

So, I've been eating tons of fruit, thinking about Paulina's experiences (who recently started to basically follow an 80/10/10 diet), and having some fun with food again.  Its been far too long.  I really don't have any complaints so far, and while they suggest not doing any intense exercise, I feel like I have a ton of energy (says the girl who has been sitting on the couch reading and watching TiVo all day).  

My favorite meal on this diet (not that it isn't usually) has been breakfast.  There is just something so cheerful and vibrant about a big bowl of fresh fruit in the morning. 

 

I had this yesterday:  Bananas, pomegranate seeds (that I froze months ago), coconut, and the most beautiful papaya ever.  

I love you, papaya

This totally made my morning.  One of the downsides to this is that all the fruit and vegetables are supposed to be organic.  Yikes.  I don't know about you, but to me, that reads expensive.  $6 for a papaya?  I about fainted when I saw that pop up on the screen, and I told myself it had better be the best papaya of my life...I don't think it disappointed.  I'm not usually a papaya fan, but I believe it was Vegetarian Times who has an article this month about its health benefits and how it aids in digestion.  Maybe I'm wrong though, I get all those little free magazines at my health food stores, so everything gets mixed up in my head.  Regardless, I did read an article, and I figured now was a good time to try fruits I was wary about.  Wary no longer!

I made another new friend this week:  Beets.  I know I've had golden beets featured on here before, but I have also expressed my fear of its more mainstream sibling, purple beet.  I decided it was time to conquer my fear.  

Beets are the dark purple, apples are the pink, and carrots are the orange (obviously)

Now, this cleanse doesn't suggest that you eat only raw food, but I figured I would conquer my beet fear head on, and had this really delicious raw Spiced Shredded Beet & Carrot Salad from GoneRaw.  It was really good!  Beets are really good!  The only change I made came from the comment of the person who posted it, which was to add apples.  She also made the suggestion of adding pine nuts, but I think walnuts would be better...however, since I'm not eating nuts right now, they didn't get added.  

Conquering beet fear?  Check.  Well, I guess I have done one productive thing this week.    

As this has been a largely raw week, of course I turned to the one and only Ani Phyo.  I've mentioned Ani's Raw Food Kitchen on here many times, and this was another recipe that did not fail to disappoint.  

Above is the Garden Pate, one of my nut (almonds) based meals for the week, stuffed in a pepper with some edamame.  Totally yummy, and you can't see but there are raisins in it, which make it really extra yummy in my book.  By the way, if you check her site, you'll see that Ani is coming out with Ani's Raw Food Desserts soon.  I totally can't wait to snatch that up, I love the semblance of dessert being healthy!        

 

I'm so happy to be eating food again.  It has been an expensive week, but that is mainly because I'm bored and keep going to grocery stores for fun.  Funny, I used to do nothing every day and was fine, but now I actually miss going to "work".  

As much as this cleanse is going great, there are some things I already miss, and I am definitely fantasizing about making some tofu when this is over.  Barbeque Tofu?  Tofu Salad?  Any suggestions?

HanGawi

I recently found myself in New York City with no plans for lunch.  Scratch that, we had plans, but the place was closed.  We, by the way, is my dad and brother.  Them being great, and loaded with iPhone goodness (them, not me), they set off on finding a new vegetarian restaurant that we could walk to.  Mind you, we had already walked about 4 miles.  Anyway, my brother won the race, and we ended up being only a few blocks away from HanGawi, a Korean vegetarian restaurant on 32nd street.  It was still a little bit of a walk, but it was most definitely worth it.  

First, when you walk in...they make you take off your shoes.  Fun!  If you're not into that, they have slippers, but the shoes must come off!  (They also have bathroom slippers outside the restrooms, so you're not in there barefoot/socked because that'd be gross).  Then they take you to your seat.  

Now is about when I should apologize for the pictures being crappy, but I didn't want to be obvious, and the lighting was very low.  Anyway, I don't know if you can tell, but there aren't any chairs.  It sort of like a big hole with a table that comes up out of the middle, and then you sit on the ledge, which is kind of a bench with nice cushions on it.  

Then its food time.  It wasn't very crowded when we were there (a very odd time on a Sunday), but there was a couple next to us, and their food looked awesome...and we were starving.  It was time to eat.  

First, we had this sweet potato noodle appetizer.  It came wrapped up in this paper, and they cut it open at the table.  

Really good, nice and simple, noodles with vegetables.  

We all got pretty different things for dinner.  

Me:  Spicy Grilled Todok and Asparagus on a Stick

If you are unfamiliar with todok, as I was, it is a mountain root, of the Codonopsis plant.  They're really big on it there, when I asked, he said it was chewy and it gives you a lot of energy.   I can't find too much information online about it, but if you are interested, you can read a little about it here.  I can tell you that it is definitely chewy.  It tastes pretty good, but I didn't experience anything so magical that I would order it again though.  

Dad:  Mongolian Hot Pot

 

This was really good.  It was a nice broth, spicy from kimchi, and filled with vegetables and tofu.  Tasty.  

Brother:  Tofu Pizza

They used slices of tofu for the pizza base, and topped it with...stuff.  I honestly don't remember what it was, although I know there was strawberry involved, as well as a pine nut cream sauce.  He was nice enough to let me have a piece, and it was really good.

In addition to our meals, we also had brown rice, wild rice, spicy kimchi, and some lemon-ginger kimchi (is it still called kimchi if its not spicy? if not, then lemon-ginger cabbage).  This was actually my first time having kimchi, which is kind of surprising since it was pretty prevalent in Hawaii.

After that, we put our shoes back on and...

No, no, wait.  We're at a vegetarian restaurant.  This does not happen often for me.  We must have had dessert, right?  We definitely did.  I'm sure this is not a Korean specialty, but it was awesome, and also happened to be the only picture that came out well:  Tofu Cheesecake 

 

Yes, I forgot to take the picture until we were halfway through it.  

Not that the food wasn't good here, it was excellent, but what would bring me back the most is the atmosphere.  With so many good vegetarian places in New York, its hard for me to justify coming back to a place that I've already visited.  This place is just so mellow though, quiet, relaxed, and they pride themselves on being a really spiritual restaurant.  So, if you're ever in the area, I recommend.  

By the way...anyone in the New York "area" want to meet up one weekend?  I don't know when, but if you're interested you can email me rather than leaving a comment, I just thought it might be fun to get some bloggers (or readers!) together.