Vacation food, continued

Fudgy brownies from Vive le Vegan:












I also made the chocolate chip muffins from Vive, but I don't have a picture, the lighting wasn't right.

Wolffie's Fiesta salad from La Dolce Vegan:














I also made "chicken" seitan from LDV to make Jay-lo's fried chicken, hopefully I'll remember to take a picture when I make it.
Its been a week of leftovers, trying to eat any perishables before we leave. So yesterday I had whole wheat penne with walnut basil pesto from Vive:












And to use up the brown rice I made the brown rice pudding for breakfast from LDV this morning...yummers:













Have yourselves a great weekend. I know I will! I'll take as many pics as possible of all meals I assemble while away from home :P

Will you miss me???

My exam went smoothly yesterday and now I'm off tomorrow to visit family for the weekend and go to the Mattawa Voyageur Days' concert. This year, the country group the Wilkinsons are playing for country night...I love them! Woot! Here's Vive's Chocolate chip cookies, for the trip:














I made Wolffie's peanut butter cookies from La Dolce Vegan as well. I didn't try either cookie, I got Billy to test them out...and he thoroughly approves of them both! I'm saving my cookie indulgence for the weekend. These cookies have the perfect chewiness of any decent pb cookie, with the goodness of whole wheat and flax.















To be continued...stupid blogger won't let me post anymore pictures.

Go vegan and you'll see naked women

Thanks for everyones' comments from the previous post. My kitchen really is growing on me and I'm learning how to organize everything better. I had a great time at the reunion. It was actually a party for my grandparents' 50th anniversary. They were so cute, when they cut the cake, my gramma made a little speech and thanked us all and got choked up (So did I). My grampa tried to act like a tough guy, but he's just a big teddy bear. I got to see my cousins and aunts, uncles, etc, that I haven't seen in a while. And I get to see most of them next weekend too :D

Of course, I was teased, but it wasn't too bad, and my mom spoke up when she saw I was getting a bit annoyed while trying to eat. She said "You never have anything bad to say about what we eat, but no one leaves you alone, huh hun?" It was awesome. I even got some compliments on my gnocchi with pesto.

I also brought some leftover quinoa salad, but the vinaigrette had gone sour, and it wasn't as great anymore. Of course, that's when my cousin asked for a taste (go figure). He teased me later and it was actually really funny. He had never heard of quinoa...Anyways, my sis and I fell asleep relatively early (midnite) and my cousins came to sleep on the couch near us around 4 am. We woke up and we were all talking for a bit. For some reason, my cousin said that whenever he closed his eyes he saw a jungle scene with naked jungle women (he had been drinking :P)...two minutes later he yells: "It was that vegan salad!!" to which I replied: "See, go vegan, and you'll see naked women all the time!" haha.

Anyways, I gotta work soon, I'll have pictures in a bit.

Soup and Pancakes

I'm kickin' myself right now. I made swirl berry brownies yesterday, from Sinfully Vegan. But I didn't take a picture! I was in a bit of a hurry. I made them because I felt like baking, but not eating them, so I brought them to work. People love when there's junk food for them :) I tried a little tiny piece to see if it was done, and it was yummy. Its a basic brownie recipe with raspberry jam swirled on top. And its low fat too. They didn't last long at work, and no one knew they were vegan, bwahahahahaha. Of course, Billy ended up hogging half of them for himself and some other kitchen guys :P I think I'll do that again, whenever I have a craving for a cookie, but need to get rid of the rest in a hurry.

The roasted carrot coconut soup from LDV turned out alright. I didn't blend it enough, so there's too many little chunks. I'm not a huge fan of coconut milk in soups or entrees, but it was pretty good in this soup. I think next time I'll sub in soy milk, because I really enjoy the roasted carrot in the soup. Plus, then I'll be able to eat more at a time without fear of all that saturated fat.













I made Vive le Vegan's Banana Bliss pancakes on Thursday morning for Billy and me. You can't go wrong with banana pancakes. I halved the recipe so I wouldn't be tempted by leftovers and it made two medium pancakes. One for each of us. I topped mine with just a touch of maple syrup because the pancakes are naturally sweet from the banana. Yummers.













That's all I have for food pictures right now, so here's a random picture of our kitchen, just to show you what I have to work with.
I don't usually keep appliances on the counter, that skillet or whatever it is was used for the pancakes. There's not much counter space, but somehow I make it work. The key is continuously doing dishes ;)












I'm going to Deep River tomorrow for a family reunion/anniversary party so I don't know if I'll get any pictures. I'm bringing the last of the quinoa salad for lunch and I'm going to make the walnut basil pesto from Vive and toss it with gnocchi and brown rice for dinner.

I did a kick butt cardio kickboxing workout today...ouch!! But I feel amazing.

Aloo mattar

The last post wouldn't post this picture, so here it is:

Using up cilantro

I hate how whenver you need 1 tablespoon or 1/4 cup of a fresh herb for a recipe, and the store gives you a huge bundle. Sure, its cheap, but its so hard to use it up in time. I had bought cilantro for the tortilla chip soup I made, and ever since then have been planning my meals by finding recipes that call for it. The hummus pizza had it and now I've made a few more things this week to use it up. The rest, I froze.
Yesterday, I made the Quinoa Spring Salad from Vive le Vegan. I don't usually like salads that are eaten chilled or at room temperature, I usually don't like the flavours. But this is yummy! Organic quinoa, red pepper, cucumber, green onion, green peans, hemp seed nuts, pistachios, and simple cider vinaigrette. There's just a hint of the dressing in this salad and its a perfect balance. And of course, cilantro. It has beautiful colours too.












For dinner today, I made La Dolce Vegan's Aloo Mattar with chappati. I prefer this way more than the aloo gobi I made last week...this one wasn't too hot or spicy, it got its flavour from paprika and garam masala. Aloo mattar is a peas and potato curry. I really liked it...and I loved scooping it up with the flatbread, which was brushed with some olive oil and salt. Its a simple recipe with onion, ginger, garlic, organic tomato, potato, peas and veg stock...and it cooks quick too. Oh yes, and our friend, cilantro.
I also made LDV's roasted carrot coconut soup tonite, to eat tomorrow. Roasted carrots, onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass with coriander and garam masala are simmered with veg stock and then coconut milk is added and the whole thing is blended. Lime juice, salt and pepper, and cilantro adds the finishing touch. The roasted carrot gave the soup a beautiful burnt orange colour, which is exactly why I love carrot soups. I 'll show a picture tomorrow after I eat some for lunch :P
So now I can breathe easy knowing there isn't a big bag of cilantro rotting in my fridge ;)

I did a step class today on demandfitness...I have never been so UNcoordinated in my life...hopefully next time I'll improve ;)

In a rut?

If you need something to get you off your butt and moving without going to the gym or out in public (which I don't like)...check out demandfitness.com which I discovered from Shape magazine. They've got over 90 videos of all kinds of workouts (cardio, strength, flexibility, yoga, pilates, treadmill, etc). For a year subscription its 100$ but there are smaller ones available...I payed one dollar to try it out for the day!! And you can get week, month, three month passes, etc. I did a ten minute warmup, a twenty minute low impact aerobics workout and ten minutes of cooldown...and I was sweating!

I've been eating really well for a while now and was looking for the inspiration to start exercising again, and this did it...I think I'm going to renew my subscription.

No new food to show you, I'm sick so I just whipped up some whole wheat penne and threw some of my frozen tofu balls into a tomato sauce with onion and garlic. Yum!

Snack foods 2

I could only post two pictures in the last post...so go read that one first and then come back!

We're leaving bright and early tomorrow because the boys want to be the first of 10 000 people to get to the game to get free hats (sigh), so for a quick breakfast, I got Glutino's Gluten Free Blueberry Breakfast Bars. I don't have anything against gluten, but these are yummy! I've had the apple ones before, I believe. They only have 1 gram of fat per bar too. I'll have to try and pick up some fruit today before work to go along with it.

















And lastly, I bought some Orgran fruit filled bars. One is the fruit filled blueberry bar, which I probably won't eat tomorrow, and the fruit filled choc-cherry bar...which I just might eat...although I really don't want to eat some form of a bar for each meal. Hopefully the Roger's Centre sells fresh fruit and such...I'm not getting fried food no matter what. These bars are only 150-160 calories with only one gram of fat...sounds like a good snack to me :)

















So that's my food for tomorrow...wish me luck and pray that I come back not in a boredom coma...at least there'll be another girl with me there ;)

Snack Foods

I spent today at my parents' house to do my assignment, and I forgot my camera, so I can't show you the aloo gobi with cauliflower and peas from La Dolce Vegan. I served it with quick vegetable rice from the same book. The aloo gobi is frikkin' hot and spicy...I don't usually go for super spicy foods, but I can tolerate this one...I really like incorporating cauliflower into meals. If I make it again, I'll use way less cayenne and way less than half a cubanelle pepper. The veggie rice is yummers though...basmati rice is so fragrant.

I'm going to Toronto tomorrow with Billy, my brother Kevin and two of our friends to see a Blue Jays game. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I have been to a game in the states before, and its better than being forced to watch it on TV ;). Plus, aside from the airport and nearby hotel, I've never been to the T dot. I was swamped with work and assignments this week, so I didn't get to do what I wanted to the most....bake and cook stuff for the road trip. I know that if I don't prepare for tomorrow, I'll end up eating crap and feel like I let my new eating habits down. I love eating well :) So yesterday I bought some rice cakes and dried fruit, and I just got back from the health store with some goodies...

First, Eden Organic Apple Cherry Sauce. I bought the individual serving size pack, which has 6 containers in it. I tried one today as a snack. Its similar to baby fruit puree food...but it grew on me. Plus it only has organic apples and organic cherries in it! No added sugar or anything. There's only 65 calories per container and 2 grams of fiber.

















Next, I bought Organic Kiju Genuine Grape n' Apple juice. Again, there is no sugar added to this, and it provides 100% of your vitamin C for the day. Then again, what doesn't these days? I'm going to hope these are good, because I'm not wasting today's calories on a juice box...I'll have one tomorrow, since I won't be drinking any soymilk. A pack of three juiceboxes was 2.49...not bad, I'm willing to pay that for organic juice occasionally ;)

tortilla chip soup

For lunch today, I made La Dolce Vegan's Black bean tortilla chip soup with avocado tomato salsa...whew, that's a mouthful...and so is the soup...a mouthful of flavour!! It was great. I don't usually like avocado, but in the salsa, it goes really well with the soup. Black beans were made for soup, in my opinion. Its a great way to get some healthy food into you. The soup was made with veg. stock, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, beans and chili powder. It was garnished with the salsa (tomato, avocado, cilantro, lime juice, green onion) and whole wheat tortilla chips. Now unless you have a small serving, this soup is pretty filling and you may have to watch what you eat for the rest of the day. Based on fitday.com there's about 600 calories in one serving (half the pot) and 30 grams of fat, probably from the beans and avocado. However, there is almost 20 grams of fiber, 17 grams of protein, and its high in iron, vitamins C, B-6, E, A and K, as well as folate.

Hummus Tortilla Pizza

I made this super easy recipe from Vive le Vegan tonite for dinner. A crispy whole wheat tortilla topped with Vive's Creamy Hummus, roasted zucchini and red peppers, green onions, and fresh dill. Yum yum yum yum...even Billy liked his one bite that I forced on him, even though there's zucchini in it ;). As the book says, if you have hummus and tortillas on hand, you can make this in a flash, and use whatever veggies you want! I've never had hummus as a base on pizza but I think I will make this one alot, its a great way to use up hummus sitting in your fridge.

Yves Bavarian Sausages

If you haven't tried these sausages (Or the spicy Italian ones)...you should. Try them next time you're barbequing or camping. I know that many people, including myself, don't like the tofu dogs that much, but these are so much different. They're nice and plump and have lots of flavour. They're quick to prepare too!

They only have 5 grams of fat, with less than one gram of saturated fat. Plus, you'll get a whopping 19 grams of protein per sausage. And, of course, they're fortified too. While I don't buy prepared, packaged veggie food very often...its a great occasional treat, and you know you'll be getting all the nutrients but not the fat.

Camping!

I had a great weekend. My family and I went camping for a family reunion. The weather was beautiful, I got to swim in the lake everyday and meet some new people. Oh, and I'm covered in bug bites! I don't have any food pictures, I stuck to fruit, orange poppyseed muffins, Yves Bavarian Sausages and Tofurky sandwiches. The grocery store in Orillia is awesome! This town is three times smaller than Sudbury, but their store is three times better! They have a whole health food section, with Earth Island vegan cheese, a bunch of different types of soy ice cream, soy milk, organic stuff...and a bulk section. I was in heaven!!

All in all, I had a fun time away from work and with my family...

My sister enjoys posing with my camera (Me on the left a little):













Our lovely campfire on which I cooked my yummy Bavarian sausages...those things are so much better than soy dogs:














And finally, my bro and me posing ;)















I'm doing my groceries tomorrow, so I'll be cooking lots this week. Ooo I did make the creamy hummus from Vive le Vegan...its quite good on sandwiches and with veggies.

Using up my leftovers

I had some things sitting in my fridge that I didn't want to have to throw out...we're broke students ;). I had some artichokes left over from the lasagna I made, and some chickpeas. So for dinner yesterday, and lunch today I made Gerry's artichoke heart and basil pasta from La Dolce Vegan. It seems I'm finding more and more recipes with artichoke that I like...or I'm starting to like artichoke. This pasta was delicious, and a perfect summer recipe. While the pasta was cooking I made the sauce which includes pine nuts, garlic, organic tomato, artichoke hearts, basil and some seasoning. I had it with the roasted sesame asparagus from LDV. The asparagus from the farmer's market was awesome!













I'm really trying to plan my meals so that I keep eating healthy, so I made today's dinner last night when I had some time while Billy was doing laundry. I just wanted a quick recipe to use up my chickpeas, so I used vegweb.com to find one. "Mmmm chickpeas" has tahini, onion, potato, garam masala spice, fresh lemon juice and salt. I'm serving it with brown rice. I haven't tasted it yet, but I think it will be good.













I also had some tofutti cream cheese in the fridge, so I mixed it with some raspberry jam and spread it on an orange poppy seed muffin, from Vive le Vegan. The spread was yummy and so was the muffin...I love the crunchiness from the poppy seeds. I'll be taking these with me on my trip this weekend.













I spent two hundred dollars on clothes today...:S I haven't had a chance to go shopping since school ended in April and I had no summer clothes, so now I've got lots, haha.

And now, I'd like to talk a little about a favourite store of mine...Bulk Barn! Here, you can buy lots of things, in whatever amounts you want. This place can easily save you a trip to a health store. They've got grains (rice, amaranth, millet, pasta, etc), lots of different flours (barley, oat, whole wheat, spelt, etc), beans, peas and so much more! I buy my flour there in huge bags, and its still only a few dollars. Plus on Wednesdays, I get a ten percent student discount. If you have a store near you, you should really check it out...they've even got junk food!

Spaghetti and Tofu Balls

I have another winner from La Dolce Vegan. Spaghetti and tofu balls. I haven't had meat balls or "meat" balls in a long time. They were never a favourite of mine or anything, but this sure will be. This is one of the recipes in LDV that takes a bit more time, but its really not that hard. I even made most of it the day before so I could have a quick healthy lunch at work the next day. And I made a triple batch of the tofu balls to use up all the tofu in my fridge. These things freeze really really well! I just had to throw them into the sauce that was simmering on the stove. The sauce is really good too, I got to use up my parsley in it, and there's some onion and carrots too. I can't stress how easy the tofu balls were to make. With tofu, flour, tahini, tamari, parsley, onion, mustard and pepper, these things are yummy. I might cook them a bit longer next time, as they were a bit squishy, but there was still a nice crisp coating around them. This recipe can be really convenient on a hectic night if you've got some balls frozen and some spaghetti in the fridge...just use a jar of sauce.

I'm not sure if I'll be cooking anything new in the next few days. I'm going away this weekend so I don't want to go out and buy more food, I have to use up what's in the fridge. I'll probably make a few more of Catherine's recipes again...they're just so darn easy!

I made a trip to the farmer's market this weekend....oh..my...gawd...the strawberries are a gift from above...the asparagus on the other hand: I understand its fresh from the farm, but I don't like my produce smelling like manure :S

Gotta love new stuff.

Especially appliances! Billy cleaned out our "icebox" freezer yesterday because the ice was threatening to take over....but he ended up puncturing it, and the fridge was kaput. We were worried the landlord would be mad, but he actually thanked Billy for breaking it. Turns out there were only three old ones like it left in the building and they wanted to replace them, so he had a bigger and better fridge waiting! It has its own freezer door, instead of being a little compartment in the fridge. Now I have to buy more food to fill it up :P Its a relief though, because now we can fit way more food in the freezer and I can freeze leftovers if I have to.

I had the lasagna florentine I made for lunch yesterday. I would've eaten it for dinner too, but wanted a little variety, so I made the vegetable biryani from La Dolce Vegan with some fresh corn. It was so good and satisfying. I wondered how well cinnamon and ginger would fit into the equation, but they add such great taste without being completely obvious. This delectable dish has brown basmati rice, red lentils, organic chickpeas, organic tomato, carrot, peas, onion, garlic, fresh mint and spices. I can't wait to eat the leftovers today for lunch. I love that it has rice, lentils and chickpeas....healthy!