Journey of a New Vegan

Hello? Is Anyone There?

2008-02-16T23:23:00.004-05:00

I know it's been a while. That is of course if your definition of a while matches fairly well with the words "almost a whole year". I know and it sucks but life happened and thankfully everything is completely different now. I've wanted to reopen the blog for a while but I had to make sure I had the dedication in me to do it right, not half assed with a series of posts full of more apologies.

So this isn't much but I just wanted to bump the Closed for business post down and let people know that I'm coming back. I've made some blog plans, still have updates to make on existing content and have so much new stuff to share with you. Not tonight but in the next day or two you can expect a real post chock full o vegan fun.

closing

2007-05-19T09:35:00.001-04:00

after 106 posts and over a year of struggling to keep this alive i am officially shutting the doors. i have been toying with this idea for a while now and didn't want to accept it but the truth is i just don't have the time to put into creating a stellar blog.

I have recently come upon some clarity about what i want to accomplish and achieve over the next couple years; i believe that all things are possible- but that doesn't make them easy. Reality is i can't do everything and so i am trimming excess and unnecessary things from my life- closing some doors to open others. despite how much i've loved it, this blog falls in the doors closing category.I am still vegan. i am still cooking awesome things, but for now i just can't blog.

Vegetable Creamcheese

2007-04-12T15:48:00.000-04:00

I have been working at The Bagel Shop for a year now. I have made countless bagels with creamcheese in all flavors but haven't eaten any because, obviously they are not vegan. But that doesn't stop them from smelling good. Recently I have had the desire to eat one. A non vegan one, just because they smell so good. I haven't, I've resisted but I needed to create a replacement to fill the craving. So while at the market last week I bought the ingredients I needed to make my own Vegan Veggie Creamcheese. Honestly, while having Better Than Creamcheese is nice, it hardly tastes like what I remember the real thing to taste like.

I enjoyed this immensely and so i'm sharing the recipe with you.

Veggie CreamCheese
1 eight oz container Better Than CreamCheese
3 Radishes; quartered
1 medium/smallish carrot; cut into1 inch pieces
1 small scallion.; cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 tsp salt or to taste

In the food processor mince the carrot and the radishes. Then add the scallion pieces and process until everything is finely minced. Next add the cream cheese and the salt and process until combined.

Voila! I had mine on half a toasted tomato basil bagel and was in absolute heaven.

Edible Karma

2007-04-10T18:21:00.000-04:00

I found these adorable Buddha pudding molds, Il Buddino, on the website for Italian design firm NobodyandCo. Unfortunately you can't order them direct from the designers. I went through the places listed on "where to find" list and the only english speaking location was in Australia, but sadly it lacked a website. The only website that listed a price was in Switzerland and once you convert $49-CHF to dollars you'd pay about $40 USD. Is it crazy that despite a forty dollar price tag I still want to own them?

Voting, Salad and Cupcakes

2007-04-07T09:41:00.000-04:00

Hey all. I've been absent lately because I've hit the point in my semester where i have more homework than sleep. But I have been cooking, and i'm setting myself the goal of cooking at least one new recipe a week so that i can have something to blog.

I need your help. I submitted a photo to JPG magazine to be included in their next issue. Part of whether or not they decide to include your picture is by how many votes it gets. Very American Idol of them, don't ya think? But never the less I really want to make it into this issue. Above, I've posted the picture i submitted for the theme Entropy. I am asking you to stop by JPG magazine by using this link (or by clicking the photo) to vote yes on my image. If you are not a member you will have to register, but it's free and only takes a moment.Please. The deadline to vote is April 10, (maybe the 11th but i'm pretty positive it's the 10th.), I can't do this with out you.

Sushi Salad: Two nights ago I wanted sushi. badly. Mad craving city but was feeling uber lazy and didn't want to chop and roll and slice everything into sushi shaped perfection. So reheated some brown rice, and tossed in my favorite sushi fillings: broccoli, snow peas, asparagus, avocado, cucumber, and sundried tomatoes. Then I drizzled some Braags Liquid Aminos over the whole thing and good god was is delicious. I never thought i'd love avocado but i really do.
S'mores Cupcake: I cooked up a second batch of cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. S'mores Cupcakes. And I think these might be better than the Chocolate Mint. I didn't have chocolate curls so i used the ganache icing and I tasted it while on the stove and didn't love it, so i just put a little dollop on top this way it could be picked off if i still hated it later. But you know what? The sweetness of the icing definitely balanced out the ganache. And while they tasted good warm they tasted freakin amazing the next day, fully cooled off. Put this cupcake on your to make list!

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes!

2007-03-28T20:28:00.000-04:00

I wanted to update earlier but I spent the better part of last week struck down by the death cold.

I have had my eye on Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for quite a while. Firmly knowing that my waistline did not need that many cupcake recipes, but my curiosity and taste buds won the battle and i gave in.

One of the first recipes I made was the Chocolate Mint Cupcakes. They tasted like Girl Scout cookies in cake format. Absolute heaven. But, i couldn't eat them all by myself so I brought them to school and actually had people come back to me and ask me for the recipe. They are that great.

I really want to make Margarita Cupcakes but don't have all the ingredients yet.

The other bit of news i have is not vegan related. I submitted a photo to JPG Magazine and they use voting to help determine whether or not a photo gets included in an issue. Voting is open until April 11. It would mean a great deal to me if you could swing by and vote yes on my image!

Parsley Asparagus

2007-03-16T10:22:00.000-04:00

Last night I went trolling for recipes through the new cookbook. I came across a Parsley Asparagus Pasta dish. That is not it's official name ( I can't remember it, but I'll edit and stick it in later). The dish sounded great. Pasta, asparagus, a little garlic, orange zest some parsley, all things I like. Plus I knew the color would be great, all that green.

But this was not as awesome as I thought it would be. But first the good part: oven roasted asparagus. Wash, trim, drizzle with a little oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for around 10 minutes and you get a pass into asparagus heaven.

The not so great part: Parsley. Specifically a half cup of chopped fresh parsley. and Yuck. I had never had parsley-ed potatoes or anything else involving lots of the herb so i was unprepared for what it would taste like. Unpleasant is a nice way to put it. I am tempted, from here on out to put parsley on the garnish only list. For the most part. Because it does wonders in a great red sauce and some other dishes. But i will never again use a half cup. ever.

Buffalo Chick'n Wraps

2007-03-12T10:44:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was an incredibly long day, especially considering how short it was because of daylight savings. Between work and homework by the time dinner arrived i was spent and had no time to actually cook something involving more than one pan. So I dug through the refrigerator and found some Light Life Chick'n Strips and decided to give them a go.

Up until this point I had only tried the morning star chick'n strips, and so did not have high hopes of an incredible product. But I was surprised. When I opened the package and poured them into the hot pan I was surprised by their appearance. Surprisingly chickeny. They weren't widely cut spicy fake meat pieces but strips that held together and didn't flop around like the M.Farms kind. They were almost creepy realistic - this is a good thing. They fried up nicely browning on the outside and then I tasted one with out any sauce and the flavor was present but not peppery at all. I think i could pass these off to my omni father and he wouldn't know the difference. Definitely a four star product.

I added some buffalo sauce to the strips and then laid them on some lettuce and tomato in a vegan wrap. I topped them with some home made ranch dressing and it was a really great meal.

Black Creek Ranch Dressing

1 1/4 cups vegan mayo
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp finely chopped parsley (can sub dried for fresh)
3/4 cup soy milk

I put all ingredients in a mini food processor and just blended for a few seconds. Though I suppose a whisk and a bowl would work too.

Update! Updates! Updates!

2007-03-10T16:22:00.000-05:00

As you can see I've updated the template! Yay!

It has taken me many hours to get it this far. There are still things that aren't completely working - a few of the links in the nav bar don't yet lead anywhere. But I think we are far enough along to go live. That and I couldn't stand to look at the green and black look anymore.

so please bear with me for a few days while I work towards 100% done.

And please, tell me what you think.

Red Lentil Pasta

2007-03-09T09:13:00.001-05:00

I got a new cookbook in the mail. I am super excited about it because almost all the recipes in it look incredibly awesome - which is good- but more importantly for my busy school schedule they are quick. 30 minutes from pot to plate. I don't have the book in front of me but he emphasizes "good food fast" instead of just fast food which is, you know, crap.

The other reason I'm excited by the book is it was written by Robin Robertson, who wrote Vegan Planet - which is one of my favorite cookbooks. I am inclined to say that I like this book better because it does not rely heavily on tofu - which is my only gripe about Vegan Planet - and most recipes have rather short lists of ingredients. Another plus is the absence of hard to find ingredients available where the author lives but not widely across the US. Oooh, the biggest plus of all the recipes are vegan. Except i think two or three which include cheese.

The one recipe i did have the ingredients to try was Red Lentil Pasta. A home made spaghetti sauce involving red lentils, onions, garlic, basil, oregano and chopped tomatoes. I was apprehensive because usually i don't like lentils. They never rank high on the favorite bean list. I have tried to make several failed lentil loaves and so they always get short billing.

But this recipe was fantastic! Even in the short cooking time they were not under cooked and hard. The sauce was delish and when spooned over spaghetti very filling. I usually cook only for myself and there was plenty of left over sauce for at least two or three more meals - which I've put in my freezer. Having a freezer full of reheatable healthy foods is one of my goals this year.

Pasta FreeEggplant Lasagna

2007-03-06T16:34:00.000-05:00

Last night i made No Pasta Eggplant Lasagna from fat free vegan.com. By far my favorite part was the filling. the spinach and tofu - when both pressed to expel all water and then food processed actually makes a wonderful ricotta-ish texture. I did add an extra 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast and seriously, I could have sauteed the filling and eaten it with a spoon. it was that good.

The eggplant as noodles however were less thrilling. I did cut them quite thin, and left them to sit in the salt as the recipe instructs. Salting them is supposed to cut down on the acid bite. Well it sort of worked. The slices that came out slightly wider than the recommended 1/4" did not cook through enough during the 30 minute baking time. So after taking my slice i popped it back in the oven for a few more minutes, to see if i could save my thicker pieces.

Do not pop anything into the oven and then walk away with out setting a timer. about 2 hours later my mom calls up the stairs, "are you cooking something in the oven?" Shit. By then it had been burnt beyond recognition.

But all is not lost. I can say that the recipe held together well. There was no sloppy typical lasagna. Also, next time I would add a third layer of sauce.

::Project Redesign::

So, in an attempt to get some of the new widgety features i upgraded to the new blogger format. Awesome right? Well, maybe.

I have been spending time customizing the code, trying to get some essence of me inserted into the standard templates with little luck. The problem is I don't yet understand the widget code or how to insert it into a template of my own design. Because of this I was trying to use a standard template but I really I like the unique face that a customized design gives me. Until i have time to study the new widget code And figure out how to make it work for me I've returned to the original blogger and an old design. But I am working on a hopefully fantabulous design that will be easier to read and more awesome than any of my other looks thus far.

Coconut Chai Breakfast Cake

2007-03-06T16:33:00.000-05:00

I made coconut chai breakfast cake in hopes of finding a healthy-ish breakfast item that i could freeze and bring out one at a time for mornings when I'm on the go. But the first time through a recipe never works out that way for me, this one especially because the cake smelled so good. I heart chai, infact most mornings i have a mug of chai tea -not the prepackaged latte mix but real tea- with some milk and sugar.

So when this popped out of the oven all hot and smelling of chai spice goodness i was in heaven, along with everyone else in my house. The coconut in the recipe i felt was more decoration than actual flavor, you couldn't really taste it so I'm guessing that you could leave it out with out much harm to the flavor. 45 minutes after it was done half the small cake was gone. Which i guess is a ringing endorsement for the recipe, but not good for my save some for later idea.

The cake came out moist which is great. I think I'll attempt this again but actually put it in a cupcake pan next time. The only thing that occurs to me is that I'm not sure there will be enough batter in one recipe for 12 cupcakes. I'll just be ready to quick whip up a second batch of batter.

Amazingly Secret Alfredo

2007-03-01T22:34:00.000-05:00

Today Vegancore came down and we cooked the most amazing secret alfredo ever. Oh my goodness, this may be as good as, or better than "actual, real" non vegan alfredo. Except I can't share the recipe with you because she was testing it out for someone who is writing a cookbook. and what a mighty good book it will be if all the recipes are this great. We added sauted tomatoes and zucchini and served it with a slice of garlic bread.

While not pictured i can whole heartedly recommend pretzels and semisweet chocolate chips as a not to high calorie snack. I'm starting my journey down the weight watchers path so this snack/desert is a piece of salty sweet heaven that comes in at 5 points. Which is totally worth it to curb those cravings.

what you don't see very well in this picture are the new oriental lotus plates we bought today on clearance at target - though you can see the bowls pretty well in the background. I heart clearance dishware.

Nofredo Sauce

2007-02-28T18:47:00.000-05:00

Today I made the Nofredo Sauce from Fat Free Vegan. I'd give it 4 stars out of five. The sauce came out thick and stuck to the noodles well and tasted really good on the broccoli because it let the natural flavor of the veggies come through - it wasn't a smother sauce.

I only changed a few things. I didn't add nutmeg, or pepper, because i don't much like either. And after blending the cauliflower I tasted it and it the oregano the cauli was cooked with became near overpowering. Still edible but more than i care to taste on anything that isn't a red spaghetti sauce. Next time I will reduce or leave out the oregano. As a fix, to try and cover the oregano i added copious amounts of nutritional yeast - probably a heaping half cup or so, but it felt copious. Which worked surprisingly well.

I had lots left over and so have put some in the freezer, hopefully it freezes well, i even have left overs from what you see in the picture saved for tomorrow at lunch.

Matt&Natt: Vegan Leather Bags

2007-02-18T15:29:00.000-05:00

Last time I posted shoes that weren't vegan I got a pretty strong reaction indicating that I should search harder and find awesomely beautiful vegan things. So that is what I have been up to lately. Today I found Matt and Natt, Canadian Designers that make awesomely beautiful synthetic leather bags. They also do wallets, and according to their website have recently launched a line of shoes though I did not see any shoe photographs in their online catalog. While priced slightly above my college student budget, for a designer bag they are absolutely reasonable. Check them out at MattandNat.com

Steamed Broccoli Bento

2007-01-22T20:04:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day I took my bento to school and I'm pretty pleased with it. In case any of you were wondering I purchased it from Kawaii Corner on Ebay. While it is definitely on the small side it packed enough food to appease my hunger and keep me going from 11 when I ate it until 5:00 - 5:30 when I finally got home and ate dinner.

Tomorrow's lunch consists of as much steamed broccoli as i could pack into the top layer with a container of teryiaki ginger sauce for dipping and a generous half cup of brown rice in the bottom with some steamed baby corn, a few snow peas and some thin steamed carrot slices cut into the shape of mini flowers.

I'm still waiting for my other bento supplies to arrive which would include a super cute sauce container with a bunny on it, but for now this plastic disposable container will have to do. I'll bring my huge container of water and a fork since I have rice to eat. I'm considering bringing a soy yogurt or throwing a few grapes on the bottom layer so i can have a little sweet desert.

Very Munchy Mushroom

2007-01-21T22:01:00.000-05:00

Finally! One of my bento's arrived in the mail! This is the Very Munchy Mushroom Bento which was an impulse buy because it reminds me of the Super Mario Brothers mushrooms and so naturally I had to have it. The cover actually says Very Much Mushroom, but Munchy is waaay cuter. Purchased last but first to arrive. I'm so excited. Honestly this particular bento is a bit (read very much) on the small side. More along the lines of a snack sized bento rather than an "I'm hungry give me a lunch" sized bento. I'm hoping the next two that arrive will be of a more appropriate size.

Because I worked all day and didn't have energy or time to cook a proper lunch I whipped up some hummus and chopped up some tomatoes, orange pepper, cucumbers and pita pockets (these last two i cut into mini flower shapes). For a sweet ending i threw in a few grapes, and will pair the whole thing with a whopping bottle of water. I'm hoping the protein in the Hummus will help keep me full until I get home from school. We'll see.

Bento Crazy

2007-01-13T09:30:00.000-05:00

I have gone Bento Crazy. I've been scoping out some bento blogs and places to purchase bento items and I finally bought some for me.

While I found many many many bento boxes that I wanted to own I started with these two. The top red Hello Kitty Bento is from Jbox.com and is being shipped from Japan so I will have to wait 2-4 weeks because i couldn't afford expedited shipping. The yellow one I found at the Bento Obento Shop and bought because it is shipped continentally and won't take a month to get here. I also picked up some rice molds, cute sauce containers with bunnies on them and some yellow panda bear chopsticks (to match the bento of course).

You all know i've been struggling with what to do with this blog and I can't wait until my shipments arrive because this is totally it. Cooking dinners every day just gets in the way of school time and homework time. But my new schedule is such that I have to bring a lunch every day otherwise I'll be eating bagels or vending machine fare because I am scheduled at lunch time in school Monday straight through Friday.

Seriously, I haven't been this excited about blogging since I began this blog last april. A Vegan bento experience. Awesome. I can't wait.

I Don't Dream in Vegan

2007-01-08T08:38:00.000-05:00

I can always think of at least ten things that i'd rather do than workout. Watch it's easy.

Blogging- can we say updates?
Read one of the many books I haven't gotten to yet
Work on my portfolio website redesign
Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer on dvd
Paint
Carve out next stage of a print
Straighten up my Room
Talk to my Mother
Catch up on blogs i haven't read in a while
Cook.

All of those things are valid items I need to or want to do. My standard procrastination activities. I feel like by adding in workouts to my day i'm procrastinating my procrastinating. I'm hoping this awkward forcing myself to workout feeling will go away soon.

Somedays I say I'm working out to live healthy and be a good role model for my daughter. I have a few other lofty for other people reasons that i go through this, but really it is for the clothes.

And shoes.

I love shoes. Kind of the way I love breathing. You wouldn't know it from looking at the 3 pairs of functional (read ugly) clodhoppers i trudge around in now but a great pair of shoes makes my heart go pitter patter.

This pair is by Carlos Santana and most assuredly made with leather. Which leaves me in a questionable moral state, because I wouldn't wear them. But I don't dream in vegan. I dream of having the body that would make these shoes look hot.

What is it that you dream of wearing?

Counting

2006-12-18T21:43:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for your support. This will be the year. I am now certain of it. And while i can't predict exactaly how, this blog will shift to reflect my new focus.

Despite the fact that I'm pms-y and bloatey i stepped on the scale and it wasn't a huge surpise. I have 91 lbs to loose to reach my goal weight.

One thing that i have completely accepted is that i will have to count/track my food in some format. There is no way I can just go with just feeling full - because if that worked then i wouldn't be 91 lbs overweight. I considered counting calories but i've tried that and it isn't very fun. I am absolutely not against going back to calorie counting but I want to try something a bit different, so I'm going to start the year with counting points via the weight watchers system. I have gotten a duplicate copy of a points counter and with a little research i have figured out the basics of their program.
Plus, Vegancore is counting points too and doing things with friends always makes it better.

Go Go Gadgets.

I guess i am a gadget girl. Because i have just discovered the nikeplus that works with the ipod nano, and let me tell you how much i can't wait to get one. I need new running shoes anyway and so i'm totally going to connect. This will be a motivational tool that will allow me to log miles, since i listen to music while i run anyway and let me challenge friends and strangers to see who runs more. seriously cool.

Want Change with That?

2006-12-13T13:41:00.000-05:00

Phew. What a semester this has been. I have my last finals on Friday and boy I can't wait until this is over.

A Mini Retrospective:
I have done a lot of art and cooking this year - not all of it great. A point goes in the success column because I can now exist as a vegan an not really give it any thought. In fact I have had several people ask me if I am lactose intolerant because of my avoidance of milk and ability to forget to tell people I'm vegan. Though i am still amazed at how many people "couldn't live that way" I've come to think of being vegan as putting a value on life wondering how much a year of life is worth - a latte? 10 steaks? 30 hamburgers? Me, I'm choosing the years not the food.

While becoming vegan was definitely a plus not everything is in the success column. A great big fat point goes in the failure column because I am ending the year weighing more than i did when i started it. I don't know what that number is because I'm afraid to step on a scale and see what I've done to myself. It is stress eating. All of it. Every. Single. Pound.

On Resolutions:
Why do New Years Resolutions get such a bad wrap? I've been socialized to believe that resolutions fail but having never actually made one I don't know why. Diets have a bad wrap too. Only one time did i put a lengthy effort into dropping pounds and you know what? It worked. Of course the rest of the time i just torture myself with shoulda, coulda, woulda but i don't really really try. not like i know i can. or should be.

So for 2007 I am changing.

I am tired of being the fat girl. The me in a fat suit. This is not a sentence of tired desperation but being pissed off at myself for letting it get this bad. The honest truth is that I'm going to be 25 on May 3 and I have missed out a load of experiences because I'm "waiting to be thin". The things I don't do and wear far exceed the things I do. I don't date, wear nice clothes, own nice underwear, shoes, or makeup. I don't do my hair in any attractive way. I own more stay at home junk clothes than I do go out in the world clothes. I am terrified to graduate college because I know I have nothing to wear.

Waiting time is now over. I crown January first as day one of my Year Long Journey To Loose Weight (also know as Year of the Hottie). Yes that's right. My New Years Resolution is to finally loose weight. I am going to guesstimate that I have 90 lbs to loose. That sounds cheesey to make it an official resolution - like it is doomed to fail before i've even begun. But I don't believe in curses or luck. I believe in hard work - which has nothing to do with what day of the week/month/year it is. I can't let getting busy be an excuse to not eat healthy, or to eat to much. Working out and eating lowcal foods need to be number one in my life.

On Blogging:
This blog started out as a food blog, and i can respect that it should stay that way. Even though you haven't seen much from me lately, I am in fact more excited than ever to be cooking because i have discovered the glory of bento boxes. Not the laptop lunch kind (though they are great) but the oriental kind, and buying myself a basic bento setup over winter break this year is super important goal number 1. I've also acquired heaps of new cookbooks, including The Vegan Lunchbox Cookbook, which have me super excited.

Yet I have to recognize that I started this blog because I needed to force myself to like to cook. A self improvement project. But that hurdle has been crossed and so i find myself lacking inspiration to go find a new recipe 3x a week to post. Sometimes life just doesn't go that way.

So I am torn. I don't know whether to repurpose this blog to focus more on weight loss - which is where 95% of my attention will be next year or to keep this as a place to put my bento box photos and start a new blog for weightloss.

So If there are readers I haven't alienated with my school related absence, please weigh in with your opinion (no pun intended).

Nava-thon: Pasta & Cauliflower Curry

2006-11-07T10:35:00.000-05:00

I am trying to start bringing lunch to school. Most of my classes run right through lunch time and then by the time i get home I am famished. So this morning I cooked up Pasta and Cauliflower Curry from the 5 Ingredient Gourmet.

Generally I don't love cauliflower, but this week at the market we picked up a glorious yellow head. And i had to give it a try. Plus the yellow cauliflower makes the curry aspect of the dish more fun because I always confuse curry and tumeric and want everything curried to be bright yellow.

I used to follow the recipe as written but lately I have taken to tasting the food as I cook to make sure i get the spices the way I'd like them which doesn't always match the recommended amounts in the recipe - in this dish I doubled the curry powder.

Overall this dish turned out quite good. I am enjoying eating it for lunch. The biggest shocker was my mom, who usually hates curried food, had a bowl hot off the stove. The other benefit was that the recipe made a lot of food but not such an exorbitantly large amount that I can't finish off the leftovers in a day or two.

Nava-thon: Butternut Squash puree

2006-11-06T19:10:00.000-05:00

The last time I ate something with butternut squash was the haiku reviewed soup with way to much garlic. This was not a good first experience. I try to think I like all veggies until proven icky, so while I assumed I liked the squash I hadn't ever tried it and liked it. So in the spirit of Nava in November I roasted some of the squash and cooked up Butternut Squash Puree from the 5-ingredient gourmet. With a whopping 3 ingredients this was a super simple recipe.

I was pleasantly surprised. Extremely delighted. After tasting a spoonful, I served myself a bowl. After the first bowl I had a second. And a third. Eventually I had eaten the whole squash for dinner and had completely forgotten to even photograph it because I was so into eating it. I don't think anyone else in the family even got to taste it.

But I want to be a good blogger, so tomorrow I'll stop at the store and pick up another squash, make more, then I'll add in the picture and consider sharing with the rest of the family.

Nava Atlas in November

2006-11-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

Generally I tend to cook from Vegan With a vengeance, for no particular reason except that I have found a few easy recipes that I like and so I keep returning to them. But there are really so many other delicious recipes out in the world that I am branching out. A quick jaunt with Vegancore yesterday brought Nava Atlas back into my attention, specifically her new book of soup: "Vegetarian Soup for All Seasons". While Amazon has not yet delivered this book to my doorstep, I am not left wanting because Vegancore gave me her old copies of the 5-ingredient Gourmet and the Vegetarian family cookbook. And since Nava and November both begin with the same letter I am officially dedicating this month to cooking from Nava's books.

I didn't choose this on a whim. I actually took some time and read through these books and feel most of the recipes seem to be of the quick and delicious variety. Which is pretty perfect for me because I am super crunched for time and really just want some good food fast.

To start off the Nava-thon I cooked up some Italian Pasta and Bean Soup, which you can find on her website. The soup is good. I had some for lunch and will have more for dinner. While the recipe doesn't say this you should add a little salt at each step, I would recomend it -with the chopped veggies in the beginning, with the zucchini and beans and then to taste when you serve, if you need anymore. I didn't salt at each step and felt like I had to add quite a bit to the final bowl. Next time I will also increase the amount of italian seasonings and tomato paste as well because I like things with stronger.

There are plenty of leftovers to take to work and school this week too - and as we serve this for dinner even the kids are enjoying it with a little parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. This is definately a winner.

A Small Bit of Other News
You may have noticed the new look. I took some time and browsed around the previous version and there were serious and irritating navigational issues. I had trouble finding the content, the rss feed wasn't working properly and I got tired of the horizontal format. So I changed it. I hope everyone likes it, and can find their way around. If you can't see it try hitting refresh and that should fix everything.

Tempeh Reuben

2006-10-05T20:12:00.000-04:00

Vegancore and I have been talking about Falafel and it's many merits, and even it's edible quality when using a boxed version. I've never had falafel, but talking about food always makes me want to cook so tonight I decided to make some time.

I don't like sauerkraut and I'm not a huge fan of Thousand Island style dressings so the fact that I ever enjoyed a Reuben is a complete mystery to me. Tonight I made the Tempeh Reuben from VwaV and oh my god it was so f-ing delicious.

Not only the best thing I've eaten since I started school but quite possibly the best Reuben I've eaten. ever. The dressing recipe included capers. I had a bad caper experience before and so I was hesitant and stopped at 2 tsp instead of the required 3. I did include avocado on the sandwich but will leave it out next time because you can't taste it with all of the kraut and dressing. But mostly it seems like a loss to eat an avocado and not taste it. I also left off the pickles because I'm not the biggest pickle fan, and who eats pickles on their reubens? I used a full recipe for the marinade and dressing but only half the tempeh because I'm the only one in the house who likes it. I have enough for one sandwich left and that is so going to be my dinner tomorrow. And I can't wait.

I've got my eye on the ppk cupcake cookbook but I'll probably leave that until the semester is over so I don't get tempted to bake cupcakes instead of do homework. Even now I should be painting, not blogging, but the paint will still be there later after Grey's Anatomy and I like painting about as much as one can enjoy pulling teeth so blogging definitely wins out here.

I've missed you all. It is great to be back.