Here, but not here!

I'm around. I still check in on my favorite blogs and love the ideas I get from reading them. I just haven't had the time/energy to keep up with my posting these days. Maybe one day I'll get back into it again, but for now I'll just keep perusing the vegan blog circuit, and leaving comments here and there.

Herbivore in San Fran

Brunch at Herbivore: pesto tofu scramble and fruity crepes with a maple/tofu "cream" sauce. Yum!

Weird Fish in San Francisco

I just got home from my NorCal trip, and will put several postings of the amazing vegan eats I had along the way. Post number one is a tasty hole in the wall called Weird Fish. It's quite small and easy to miss, but if you're craving vegan "fish" 'n chips, this is your place. I opted for the sampler, which included both a seitan and tofu fillet covered in a gluten-free batter with three different dipping sauces. They also threw in a few fried zucchini sticks on the side, and a large portion of french fries. I'm not used to eating that much fried food these days, but this meal was surprisingly fine on my stomach. I didn't get that heavy, greasy feeling that I normally associate with an entirely fried meal. Extra points.

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Blueberry Pancakes with Walunts

I felt like having pancakes for breakfast, and I have recently been trying to decide which recipe I was going to use from Chocolate Covered Katie's blog to enter in her Spiralizer giveaway. Luckily for me, she lists pancakes as one of the things you can make from her blog to get 6 entries in the contest. I didn't have the chance to make anything for her earlier pancake creation contest, but I'll take this opportunity to come up with something of my own.

I just picked up a bunch of blueberries at the farmer's market yesterday as they are getting close to the end of their season. I love chocolate, and I am quite a fan of Isa's Fudgey chocolate brownies from Vcon that have blueberries in them. I put the two together to give you, Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Blueberry Pancakes with Walnuts!

For the batter:
-1 1/8 cup whole wheat flour
-3 Tbsp cocoa powder
-1 tsp baking powder
-dash of salt
-2 Tbsp maple syrup
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/8 tsp almond extract
-1/3 cup water
-1 cup soymilk

I sifted together the dry ingredients and then mixed in the wet until the batter was well combined. I then folded in the chunky ingredients, but didn't really measure:
-chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup)
-blueberries (maybe 3/4 cup)
-walnuts (about 1/4 cup)

When I was making these, I thought "why don't more people put tons of stuff in their pancakes?" Then as I started mixing, I was a bit worried about how these loaded pancakes would hold together. No matter! They went off without a hitch, and I got quite tasty results!

As always, I drizzled some flax oil on the pancakes for some added Omega 3 benefits. Pancakes absorb stuff like a sponge, so this is such a great way to get Omegas in addition to the walnuts. I lightly drizzled the pancakes with some agave nectar, but didn't need much as they were sweetened from the vegan chocolate chips and blueberries. I'd say my creation was quite a success!

Simple Spaghetti with a Kick

I was craving spaghetti this week, but didn't feel like spending evening in the kitchen. I threw together a quick sauce, boiled some pasta, and added some TVP in for protein.

The sauce was just 2 cans of organic tomato sauce dumped onto 5 cloves of sauteed garlic with the the following added in for flavor:
-oregano
-basil
-thyme
-paprika
-cayenne pepper
-crushed red pepper flakes
-onion powder
-garlic powder
-turmeric
-sugar
-salt and pepper

I don't really measure the spices, but I just keep adding them in until I get what I want. I cooked the TVP with vegetable stock and some of the above spices. This was so easy to make and the result was exactly the taste I was going for.

A Quick Lunch

My current obsession: pesto. I've been making alot of my quick pesto/Daiya mozzarella/Yves pepperoni on bread pizzas lately, and I had some basil that was on it's way out. I got home from the farmer's market and decided to finish off the basil by making more pesto. Basil, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, red chili flakes = seriously delicious! If you haven't tried walnuts in your pesto, I highly recommend it. Not only do you get a good dose of Omega 3 fatty acids, but you get a wonderfully nutty addition to your pesto! I wasn't super hungry, so I just ended up spreading my creation on some tofurky topped flax crackers. Yum!

Margarita Cupcakes!

From Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. These were a refreshing summer treat and a hit with everybody who tried one. My boss brought in a bunch of limes from her lime tree, so I decided to use them to make these yummy cupcakes. That's one of the great things about living in SoCal...everybody has citrus trees in their backyard!

Indian Food

Spicy potatoes with peas and carrots, lentils with green beans, and spinach naan.

Asian Noodles

Rice noodles with bok choy, onion, tomatoes and tofu. Yum!

Brunch for Dinner

This is a breakfast casserole from Isa's new "Vegan Brunch" book. It's a layer of potatoes, followed by a layer of tofu, and then topped with tempeh. I added some Daiya cheese and scallions on top and served it with kale. This was a great meal and I had the leftovers for breakfast during the week.

Raw Dinner

I made this Wakame Hemp Power Salad from Ani's book. I was hesitant to try kale raw, but it worked and the dressing was quite good.


With dinner, I had a young Thai coconut to drink. I've recently been turned on to these and I love them! A very refreshing beverage...and totally worth the effort it takes to crack them open.


For dessert I made the frozen banana soft serve that everybody has been blogging about. I topped it with a bit of chocolate sauce (the only non-raw item for the night!), and some chopped up peanuts. The texture is great...but it tastes pretty much like banana soft serve. Of course I feel much better eating something like this as opposed to a more typical kind of ice cream.

Spinach and "chicken" Enchiladas

I wanted to try something else out with my lovely container of Daiya vegan cheese. This time it was enchiladas. I've been missing cheesy enchiladas ever since going vegan. These were amazing. Corn tortillas filled with spinach, Daiya, fake chicken, and enchilada sauce. This tasted just how I remembered them, and the "cheese" melted perfectly!

Quesadilla

Made these quesidillas with mountain bread instead of a tortilla. The filling consists of Amy's refried beans and Daiya vegan cheese (the new product that many vegan bloggers have been raving about). I'm so glad that my local Whole Foods has started carrying this stuff.

Wrap

Had these wraps for lunch: tofurky, dijon mustard, veganaise, soybeans, and lettuce on mounatain bread.

Italian

I made my vegan version of Chicken Parmigiana again.

Yummy Asian Salad and Berry Dessert

The inspiration for this salad came from "The Soy Zone" by Barry Sears. I bought this book used a long time ago when I was transitioning into becoming a vegetarian. I haven't looked at it in awhile, but this weekend I saw that there are some great salad ideas in this book...perfect meals for summer.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly (I never do), but the book gave a good guide. To make the dressing, I combined veganaise, tamari, dijon mustard, flax oil, dulse flakes, and minced ginger.

Here's the massive ingredient list for the salad...you can't even see some of this stuff because the salad's so huge: mixed salad greens, cucumber, radishes, blanched broccoli and cauliflower, edemame, garbanzo beans, scallions, baby tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, and home-sprouted mung beans. What a salad! Loved it!

For dessert I wanted to make this "cream" that I came across on the Choosing Raw blog last week. My result wasn't as creamy as I would have liked because I don't have a Vitamix (yet!), but the flavor was amazing. I love that this was so simple to make, and it definitely satisfied my sweet tooth!

Microwave Brownie - Take 2

1/4 cup flour
scant 1/4 cup sugar (I used less)
pinch finely ground salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa (to taste)
2 tablespoons soy milk
1 tablespoon melted vegan margarine
1 tablespoon chopped toasted walnuts
2 tablespoon vegan chocolate chips/chunks (optional)

This one was much better than the first, but I still have some tweaking to do.

Tofu Pups and Mustard Greens

Just what the title says...quick and good.

Quick Pizza

I was in the mood for pizza, but I was also super hungry. My solution: this awesomeness. I put some of my spicy hemp seed pesto on some bread, topped it with vegan mozzarella, vegan pepperoni, and baby tomatoes and broiled it in my toaster oven. The result was so good I made it again the next day!

"Chicken" Parmigiana

I used to love Chicken Parmigiana, and I wanted to try to recreate this dish so that I can eat it as a vegan. This was really easy to throw together. I just made a marinara sauce, put it on top of a cooked pre-made breaded "chicken" patty, and topped that with some vegan mozzarella cheese. I broiled it to make the cheese get melty and toasty. It was good, but someday I'd like to try making the patty myself. For now, this will definitely do!

Camping in the Sierras

I headed up to the Sierras for the 4th of July weekend. It was incredibly beautiful and I can't wait to go back. Seriously...take a look at this amazing shot...you can basically just point the camera anywhere and take a great picture.

It was about a 5 1/2 hour drive, and here's the lunch we had at a picnic table when we got there. A tofurky and hummus sandwich with some of my homegrown sprouts, Terra Chips, carrots, celery, and a nectarine really hit the spot. I'm not sure if it was the location, but this was such a tasty lunch. It was also my first time trying Kombucha. I really wished that I liked it more, but it tastes way too vinegary for me. I'm still drinking it some to try and get myself used to the taste since it's so good for you.

For the first dinner, we grilled some veggie dogs over the fire along with corn and a can of Amy's baked beans (yea...I know I made this at my last camping trip...it's good!)

Here's the first breakfast in the mountains. Italian Veggie Sausage (very good), orange, and some pull apart bread from a bakery at the last real town before we left civilization.

Look...it's totally vegan and oh so delicious!

Took a hike up into the mountains, and stopped by this lake for lunch. Just beautiful.

Another simple lunch...and the view was spectacular.

This little chipmunk circled around the whole time trying to catch a stray piece of food. After this trip, I now call chipmunks the "squirrels of the Sierras."

Dinner #2: foil packets of more Italian Sausage with zucchini, onions, squash, bell peppers, potatoes, carrots and seasonings.

Dinner #3: Amy's chili and Garden of Eaten corn chips topped with vegan cream cheese. Kale on the side. My favorite dinner of the three.

We had one of those little sandwich/pie maker things and came up with this concotion: bread, cherry pie filling, walnuts, vegan cream cheese...

...cooked in the fire = pie heaven!


It was a terrific trip and I'm already itching to get back there. Next time I'd like to try a long backpacking trip in the mountains. It's a bit more difficult since you have to carry everything on your back, including food! This typically includes freeze dried dinners, beef jerky and the like. I'm already brainstorming on ways to bring balanced, vegan, and easy to carry meals on the trip!

Wheel of Life

I picked up some food from one of my favorite Vegan restaurants. Wheel of Life is an Asian/Thai place that I go to pretty much once a week. Pictured below are the glass noodles that I always try to make, a "drumstick," sesame chicken, and some spinach that I cooked myself and topped with a bit of sesame seeds and vegetarian oyster sauce.

Raw Scramble

I made this Spanish Scramble from Ani's book. I think that my system needs to get used to eating such large quantities of raw nuts as it still feels kind of heavy when I eat things like this. I remember reading somewhere that soaking nuts helps with their digestibility, so I may look into trying that with my next raw dinner. I really love the simplicity of these dishes though. Ready to eat in no time!

Quick Brownie

I've seen those microwaveable single-serving deserts in the store, but they definitely aren't vegan. I wanted to take a stab at making my own, so I threw together some brownie ingredients and came up with this.


It looks better than it tasted. I used an egg replacer, but I don't like the way it came out. I put some vanilla ice cream on top, but it didn't help the taste too much. Oh well...back to the drawing board!

Tempeh with Gravy

I was in the mood for tempeh, so I whipped up this simple dish from my Native Foods cookbook. The tempeh is cooked and then topped with a yummy shallot and mushroom gravy. I served it up with two kinds of kale and some roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

Moroccan Tagine with Spring Vegetables

I don't know what Tagine is, but I thought I'd give this recipe from VWAV a try (Isa has yet to let me down!). This stew has lentils and pretty much one of every vegetable in it. I put it over couscous and loved the texture it gave the dish. I felt so healthy eating this.


For dessert, I added some chocolate sauce to the cheesecake...which made it no longer raw...but I love chocolate so I'm over it!

Banana Walnut Pancakes

I had a couple of bananas that were getting a bit ripe. They were perfect in these pancakes from VWAV.

Nachos!

I made my own taco "meat" with TVP, spices, veggie broth and a splash of soy sauce. Other toppings include Amy's refried black beans, vegan nacho cheese, avocado, and a FM tomato. This really hit the spot!

Raw Cheesecake

From Ani's book. It's made from cashews! Pretty tasty topped with fresh fruit.

Snobby Joes and Potato Salad

According to Isa, Snobby Joes think they're better than other Joes because they're not made with meat. These lentil filled sandwiches are just as good as the ones I remember eating as a kid (if not better). The potato salad was quite tasty too.

Raw Tacos

This was the first recipe that I tried from my new raw food cookbook. I've seen this dish about a billion times on other blogs, so I figured it was a good place to start! It was so simple to make, but I deviated from the recipe a bit. It's basically nuts, spices, oil (I used flax instead of the olive it called for, but didn't put in nearly as much as said to...I only added enough to help the mixture combine) and Braggs liquid aminos (I used less of this too since I don't like my food very salty). I also added a handful of minced cremini mushrooms for a B-vitamin filler. All of those nuts can be a bit dense, and the mushrooms were a nice way to lighten it up.

I topped the wraps with Ani's Baja "cheese" sauce, avocado, and tomato from the FM. It was a very satisfying meal. It was just enough food to fill me up and was very refreshing. I think next time I'll increase the mushroom to nut ratio and perhaps add some grated carrot or something. Great flavor though...I will definitely make this again!

Side Salad

I thought this salad looked so good with the cute baby FM tomatoes (look at all of the different sizes and colors!), that I just had to blog about it. I dressed this simple salad with a simple mix of olive oil, lemon juice and S&P.

Going Crazy at the Farmer's Market

I just bought my first raw cookbook last week, and was inspired to plan next week's menu around several of the recipes. As a result, I went a little overboard at the Farmer's Market:


Stay tuned to see the things that I actually make with all of these beautiful ingredients!