Seaweed

I made the Seaweed Soup from La Dolce Vegan last weekend. It was scrumptious! I had never had seaweed before, and was skeptical of the crunchy, crumbly seaweed I was slicing up for the soup, but it rehydrates so nicely in the soup and adds great flavour. It also had udon noodles, one of my favourites. This is such a simple soup to make, I whipped it up Tuesday night to bring for lunch the next day. Veggie broth, tamari, seaweed, fresh udon noodles, lime juice, green onion and gomashio as a garnish. That's it! I found the seaweed and udon noodles at the grocery store, surprisingly, so I didn't have to make an extra trip to the health store. Sarah Kramer's recipes are a constant reminder that no matter how weird or out of the ordinary a recipe may seem, you have to try it to find out. You WILL be pleasantly surprised!
Now, if only I could get Billy to try it :P














I also made the peach and blueberry cobbler from La Dolce Vegan this weekend. Wow! Such a beautiful and easy dessert! The peach and blueberry go perfectly together and the biscuit topping is supreme! (sorry, I'm trying to use words other than awesome and delicious) Its not a hard crust at all, its like having a soft cookie fresh out of the oven on your cobbler! That's the best way I can think of to describe it. I loved this cobbler, needless to say it didn't last long. And my brother's friend Jovica had some too. He's always game to try my food, and that's why I love him! Oh yes, I used organic blueberries, they were the same price as the non-organic ones!














I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies this weekend too. But I had used up all my dry sugar in the cobbler. However, Sinfully Vegan has a recipe for them that uses a bunch of maple syrup instead. These were okay. Definitely not as good as the ones from Vive le Vegan or La Dolce Vegan or How It all Vegan. They had a maple-y taste, but the cookies were really dry ( I don't know if I overbaked them or if that's the way they were supposed to be). Jovica said they were good though, and I managed to eat the rest. Of course, my mom had a family friend visiting with her daughter and they ate some while I was at work. My sister said they made a face and asked if all my baking was like that. I am so upset I wasn't there to defend myself or to even bake something new to prove how kick ass my baking is! At least my mom and sis stood up for me and said that usually, it turns out great. Sorry, I didn't bother taking a picture of the cookies.

Billy's brother Brian got in town yesterday for a visit. We went to Don Cherry's to eat. They used to have a veggie burger but they redid their menus and got rid of it. So I ordered their bruschetta without cheese. It was so crappy! It was like cut up dried tomatoes on dried melba toast (but larger bread). I ate less than half and didn't even want it to go. I think I'll stick to East Side Mario's, their bruschetta is delicious.

I don't work tonite or tomorrow night, so I'm hoping I can cook up some yummy dinners soon. I also have to pick out a cake recipe, Billy's birthday is next Friday and I want to make him a beatiful cake. I'm going to stick to a more traditional recipe to accomodate his preferences. Unlike my birthday where I thought outside the box and the cake was awesome! Ha ha.

Oreos and other yummy food

So did ya'll know that in the process of reformulating the recipe, I think to get rid of trans fats, Oreos are now vegan? Yes, its true. I've had Newman-Os before, which are great, but I can't afford to order them online regularly, so I'm so excited about this! Just make sure you check the ingredient list, I think they're in a transition phase between old and new.

The other day, I made the asteroid cookies from La Dolce Vegan. However, I needed a chocolate fix, so I stirred in some melted chocolate. They were yummers! I loved the strong cinnamon taste with the peanut butter and chocolate...mmm mmm...I think I'd have to call mine UFO's though, I couldn't get them to stay in ball shape, so they're more flat. I brought some in my lunch during the week, and they were awesome snacks between classes. For some reason lately, I've been making a lot of these types of no bake cookies with raw oats as the base. They're just so darn easy! I took the picture in a rush, so I was too lazy to take them out of the ziploc bags. Love the background! ;)













Dinner tonite was Peacefrog's artichoke pasta also from La Dolce Vegan. I haven't like artichokes in earlier attempts, but this pasta dish was delicious! There's a lot of other ingredients (sundried tomatoes, tomato, basil, parsley, mushrooms, garlic...) so the artichoke isn't overwhelming. I had the sauce with penne. It was so good, I had to go back before seconds. I had to get a new plate for my seconds though, because even my kitty liked this dish and she was all over the first plate once I was finished! You know its good when the cat will eat it and it doesn't involve dairy or meat whatsoever.














Right now, I have a peach blueberry cobbler in the oven, a recipe from LDV too. It looks so yummy. I sometimes forget how much I love desserts with fruit, and the book has a whole section of 'em! Mmm mmm.
I bought some udon noodles and nori seaweed today, both firsts for me. I'm making seaweed soup tomorrow and I'm so excited to see how it turns out!

Side notes: I got 93% on my animal histology midterm (which I was freaking about because I had no time to study) and 79% on my Roman Civilization midterm, which I was also worried about because I haven't been doing the work this semester! :P Woot!!

P.S Due to recent confusion over "woot", a clarification is in order. It is not an age specific term, so woot it up! It is in common use over at the GoVegan Forum.

Argh

I don't know how many times I have to learn about neurotransmitters....all my classes overlap in content! Anyways, just a quick note that I plan on doing groceries today after class, and I will be a cooking machine. Its time I start eating well again and get my butt back in the kitchen...stay tuned!

Time flies

Wow, I can't believe it is Sunday already! I miss posting on my blog, but its getting late in the semester so I have so much to do. I finally have a few minutes. I didn't do much cooking this weekend, other than bruschetta. But I made some food during the week.
Starting with Oatmeal spicy cookies from How It All Vegan. These were...different. I've never made cookies that involved cumin and cayenne before! They were good, but lets just say I wasn't as drawn to them as I would be to chocolate chip cookies.














I also made Earthy Lentil Soup from Vive le Vegan. Its a good soup, and it makes lots, which is perfect because I have a cold/sore throat again, so soup will do me good! Its absolutely necessary that you serve the bowl of soup with some fresh lemon wedges, the lemon juice takes it from good to great! Its a great way to get some legumes in you!














Billy and I both had Thursday night off and I didn't feel like cooking, so he was in charge. He's not known for cooking healthy foods, but damn its tasty and simple! He used a taco kit and we had soft tacos with ground round. The mock beef, topped with salsa, lettuce, faux sour cream and cheeze was delicious! Needless to say, there were no leftovers! Dessert was Tofutti Cuties...mmm if you haven't tried these ice cream bars before, what are you waiting for? They're pricey but great as an occasional treat. Billy ate an entirely vegan meal with me...that's so sexy ;)
While we ate our tacos, we watched The Man (any of my choices at Blockbuster were overrulled due to the "coolness" of Samuel L. Jackson, according to Billy, teehee).









I had the night off yesterday and Billy had to work, so I indulged and had bruschetta with a rootbeer float (and lentil soup) for dinner! I watched the documentary The Aristocrats, which I thought was pretty un-funny for the most part, and the movie Flight Plan, which I thought was awesome! One out of two ain't bad. I also finally finished my book Geisha, a Life. Everyone told me it was so much better than Memoirs of a Geisha, but I don't know about that. Regardless, it was still a good book.

I came home today to a house full of empties. Looks like my sister had a house party while my parents are out of town :P. Aww to be young again, lol.

That's about it. I have a midterm tomorrow, but after that I hope to be able to cook a lot more and start eating healthy meals again.

Calling all Teachers!

I posted about this on the GoVegan forum, but it can't hurt to post here too. I'm looking for a gift idea for my host teacher. She took me into her class to let me observe the students and the teaching, and has been very helpful as a mentor. I wanted to get her something that would be useful in her grade 7 classroom or make her job easier...or just something fun. If I can't figure something out, I might get her a gift certificate to Staples or a teaching store, unless someone out there has an idea!
Now down to business. This weekend I got out my trusty La Dolce Vegan cookbook, and made me some yummy food! I made the black bean and sweet potato burritos. These are good! I've never used sweet potatoes in Mexican inspired food, but it went so well with the salty/spicy black bean mixture. I froze two of them for later use (one of which was eaten today) and it turns out they freeze well too.













From the dessert section, I made Wolffie's coconut chocolate chip cookies. I ate these while watching Walk the Line this weekend. I think I missed a significant portion of the movie getting up all the time to get more cookies! These cookies are heavenly. They're like a classic chocolate chip cookie with the tastiness of coconut thrown in. I didn't have any Earth Balance, so I had to use shortening. But they turned out just fine.













For breakfast on Saturday, I had creamy raspberry oatmeal from Vive le Vegan! I didn't read the recipe all the way through before making the oatmeal, so I ended up putting in the raspberries right away with all the other ingredients, instead of putting them in at the end. The result? Pink oatmeal! It was so pretty, tee hee. And it still tasted good, so no worries. I've been eating oatmeal a lot lately, its just so good and filling!














Well, I have a histology lab to go to soon, so I'm off!

Could it be any easier?

As promised, the roasted cherry tomato pasta from La Dolce Vegan. I sent Billy out with my grocery list today, as I had to work on my Roman Civilization midterm. This is the easiest recipe ever! Toss some tomatoes with a bread crumb mixture, stick in oven, make some pasta, and stir it all together with some basil. And it is heavenly!! This is one of my favourite recipes from LDV to date! I had to use grape tomatoes, Billy couldn't find cherry tomatoes, but it doesn't matter. Oh and opal basil because they didn't have the regular kind. I'm thinking I'll be eating the leftovers later tonite, its just so beautifully yummy! It was great to be able to throw this together so quickly. I'm only about halfway through my midterm, so I'll be up pretty late tonite after work.

The Week from Hell

I know I haven't posted in a while...I haven't been cooking all that much. This week sucks! I had a midterm yesterday and I had to skip school today to work on a bunch of things that are due tomorrow. So while I'm waiting for the printer to finish....
I made the Joint's cheeseburger pizza from La Dolce Vegan this weekend. I love this pizza, I've made it three times now. The crust was from LDV too, and it rocks! I think next time I make it I'll make two smaller pizzas because the crust really fattened up! I know the pizza sounds weird, but everyone has said that and everyone who has eaten has loved it!













Yes, that is mustard and cheese on top :P

I made brownies from Sinfully Vegan. I barely got to take a picture. Billy came upstairs, and next thing I know over half the brownies are gone...that boy, his eyes are bigger than his stomach! These are pretty good...I would bake them a little less than the minimum time next time, just so they're not as crusty on the outside. But very good brownies. I was too lazy to make any icing and am seriously lacking in the groceries department, but these can stand on their own.














I was planning on making a cherry tomato pasta dish tonite, I don't know if I'll have time before work. But if I do, I will post it soon!

P.S I got 89% on my Infectious Diseases midterm! Woot!