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Yesterday started off great. I blogged a bit, went and got groceries, did 8 or so hours of reading and prepared two great meals. But somewhere around 6:30-7:00pm, sometime between about ‘Friends’ and the ending of ‘Sleepless in Seattle’, I fell off the rails. Generally speaking, Fialonia and I make dinner and watch tv for an hour and then I go back to work and she goes to Starbucks to study. Last night, for some reason, we decided to polish off a bottle of wine that some silly person left at my house last week and watch ‘You’ve got Mail’. We then proceeded to eat an entire bag of Miss Vickie’s salt and vinager chips and chase this with more wine and a giganto bag of Nibs.

Wha?

So now of course I feel like canned ass. And am four hours behind schedule. Which should mean that I don’t have time to post. But 1) I can’t deprive you of these two recipes and 2) I need to distract myself from the pounding headache.

So the first is a delicious soup – another mushroom one but with a hot and sour flavour. I got the idea from La Dolce Vegan but changed a few things (peas do not belong in soup…or anywhere for that matter).

Vegan Hot and Sour Soup:

2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup water
1 cup kale, torn up
1 1/2 tbsp tamari
1 inch of fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp garlic chili sauce (my sauce is pretty mild…perhaps start with 1 tsp and add afterwards…)
1/2 cup oyster mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tbsp white wine vinager
1/4 lb extra firm tofu, cubed (I did really small cubes…these are best I think)

In a big soup pot, boil the stock and water. Reduce heat to between minimum and medium and add the tamari, garlic, ginger, sugar, garlic chili sauce, and mushrooms. Let simmer for about 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the tofu and kale. Cover and let sit for about 5 minutes. Serves two.

Now. Fialonia and I had plans of eating bread with this but, unbeknownsed to me, the bread was moldy. Boo-urns. Had I known this, I would have added some rice noodles or udon noodles to this soup. A cup of Zen tea (leftover from Fialonia’s starbucks days) had to suffice.

The other recipe made use of that avocado I bought a day or two ago. Technically speaking, it could have done with a bit more ripening, but I was desparate to have Mexican food last night. It didn’t matter in the slightest because this recipe KICKED ASS. Love it. LOVE IT. Make it. Immediately.

Layered Tortilla Awesomeness:

1 avocado
2 cloves garlic
3 green onions
1 tbsp Faux Sour Cream (see recipe below…you could, of course, just buy vegan sour cream. Whatever.)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tin of black beans
1 cup salsa (have extra though for adding at the end)
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
5 8 inch tortillas
1 cup vegan cheese, shredded (we used Monteray Jack…sooo tasty)

Preheat oven at 350F. In a bowl, mash together the avocado, garlic, green onion, sour cream, and lemon juice until smooth. Set aside. In another bowl, mash together the black beans, salsa, chili powder and cumin. Set aside. Take a 8 inch pie plate (I use glass and never oil it but if you use a sticky one, lightly oil) and start layering!! First, lay down one tortilla. Top with half of the bean mixture. Then another tortilla. Then half of the avocado mixture with 1/2 cup cheese. Then another tortilla. Then the rest of the bean mixture. Then another tortilla. Then the rest of the avocado mixture and almost the rest of the cheese (save a little bit for the top). Finally, add the last tortilla and pop it in the oven for about 15 minutes. Take out and add the last of the cheese, then pop back in for another 5 or so minutes (until cheese is slightly melted and the top tortilla is getting a little crispy). Serve with a dollop of faux sour cream, a bit of salsa, and a side of something green (I went with leftover kale). Makes four servings of awesomeness.

Now, the faux sour cream. Easy recipe from La Dolce Vegan which I use all – the – time.

Faux Sour Cream:

1 12 oz package of soft tofu
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp apple cider vinager
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp tamari

Blend it all in a food processor until smooth. Done!

This makes about one cup of sour cream and really, even with generous helpings alongside the above recipe, you’re likely only going to go through about 1/4 cup – 1/2 cup of it. But never fear! I will supply you with a coffee cake recipe in which you can add the leftovers tomorrow morning…

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No new recipe post this morning because I ate leftovers last night. Fialonia went out with NM for dinner but I opted to stay home, eat leftovers, and get some more RA work in. How mature of me. Heaps was accomplished and while I’m still way behind, I can see a light. It’s the size of a font 11 Times New Roman period, but it’s there.

Aside from work, this weekend was also the start of the great spring clean. Every few months, I go through all of my stuff and purge but spring is generally my most ruthless time. I purge everything from cell phone numbers, to clothes, to glassware. It generally takes about a week for me to move around my house, tossing crap left, right and center. So Saturday was spent purging my phone (I have a terrible habit of punching in numbers without adding the name, saying to myself ‘oh, you’ll remember’. I do not. I apologize in advance for any friend’s number I may have just deleted), and filing cabinet (why oh why do I still have articles concerning transatlantic security?). And Sunday, I started on my computer…well my internet accounts. And here is where things get tricky. I got to my Facebook page and was all prepared to be ruthless and cut the list but I couldn’t do it. And I don’t know why. At least one quarter of my ‘friends’ list is made up of people I went to elementary/juniorhigh/highschool with and I never spoke to them THEN let alone now. Another chunk is people I know through other people who I can only assume added me because they wanted to beef up their own list. Of 298 people, about 90 of them could probably be removed. But I – can’t – do – it. I don’t what I’m worried about. That they’ll notice the loss of one facebook friend? I lose friends all the time and never know who it is. That they’ll get a message that says “Ezmy is officially no longer your friend”? I don’t think that happens. No, I’m not sure why I’m hesitating but I just can’t do it. Ridiculous.

Right, off to start another spring cleaning chore: cleaning out the magazine collection. Anything older than this year has to go. Unless it’s Vogue. All Vogues stay.

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It’s Easter today. Which means nothing to me given that I’ve followed a strict diet of atheism for much of my adolescent and adult life. But Fialonia celebrates Easter so I made apple pancakes this morning to celebrate. They were more like fried apple muffins in the end, but we both still enjoyed them with heaps of maple syrup and (in my case) a big mug of hot coffee.

Fried Pagan Bunny Apple Cakes:

1 cup flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 large granny smith, peeled and diced (or shredded)
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup soymilk (I used the leftover unsweetened kind but vanilla would have been awesome)

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add the apples and soymilk and stir together until ‘just mixed’. Pop some oil in a frying pan and put on medium heat. Fry up your apple cakes. Makes 4 small(ish) or 2 giganto pancakes. Serve with maple syrup and black coffee. Yummy!

And last night I made the new stew I was yammering about in a previous post. I liked it but Fialonia found it a bit too spicy. It does have a bit of kick but if you like medium spicy food, it’s a great stew. Bulgur, in my humble opinion, is an under-used grain. I like it better than couscous and it cooks almost as quickly. Bulgurific!

Kickin’ Bulgur Chilistew:

1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 oz tin of diced tomatoes
1 tin black beans
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tamari
2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
3/4 cup bulgur

+red kale
+whole wheat bread

=hearty dinner

Chop up your onion, celery, and garlic and toss in a big pot with the olive oil. Saute until onions are translucent. Add your spices and tamari, then add the black beans and the tomatoes and mix it up. Add the vegetable stock and bulgur, mix and bring to boil. Turn down the heat to let simmer for 30 minutes. Done! This makes about four servings I’d say…five if you are having bread and vegetables (which you should be!) with it. I may or may not have enjoyed this stew with one of JW’s bottles of beer that was left in my fridge from A.’s going away party…

Off to work now!

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So after two weeks of vacation eating, it was time for a reality check. One cannot survive on spaghetti alla olio, spinach, and red wine forever. One’s intestines will start to rebel. A. left yesterday afternoon but there was no point in cooking last night. No, last night was reserved for wallowing and watching ‘Father of the Bride’ while finishing off the last of the Italian wine.

Back on track today though. I dragged Fialonia out of bed at 8am and we made the trek to Herb & Spice. I’ve been craving Mexican for awhile but as avocados take time, I purchased one today and will have to wait until Monday for my Mexican recipe (a tortilla pie…I’m intrigued). For lunch today, I wanted something easy (unsurprisingly, I have an unbelievable amount of work to catch up on and just found out that I’ve been invited to present my thesis work at a conference in two weeks…hahaha. This should be more than a little interesting). Soup is the easiest thing in the world so I went with a recipe from La Dolce Vegan called ‘On Golden Pond Mushroom Soup’. With some adjustments, this recipe was delightful.

Golden Mushroom Soup:

1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
10 large white mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp tamari sauce (or 1 tbsp soy sauce…I find tamari much milder)
3 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried dill
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp flour
1 cup vegetable stock
1 1/2 cup soy milk (use the unsweetened kind)

Chop up your celery, mushrooms, onions and garlic and throw in a soup pot with the oil. Saute on medium heat until onions are translucent. Add the spices and tamari sauce and stir constantly for about 3 minutes to avoid sticking. Add the flour and mix until a mushroom-y paste is created. Slowly add vegetable stock (my version of ‘slowly’ is to add it all…that was stupid as things did not blend the way that they were supposed to. Patience, Grasshopper). Bring to boil and then turn down heat to simmer. Add the soymilk and let simmer for about 8 minutes. Serve.

I had some lovely, bakery-fresh whole wheat bread with this soup and munched on a cup of celery while I was making it to get some greens in there. I can imagine, though, that this soup would have tasted fantastic with a side of steamed kale or collard greens. Just a thought.

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So I’ll be stepping away from the posting for a couple of days because…A. is in town! Only until Friday. I won’t be cooking much and will be spending heaps of time listening to A. smarm. Jealous? You should be :P

back on Friday though. I’m thinking a new stew is in order…

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So I’m back! Italy totally rocks my socks. Staying vegan was next to impossible but I managed to pull off vegetarian at almost all of my meals (bacon managed to sneak its way in to my pasta at various points). The place we stayed in was just gorgeous – 17th century cottage about a half hour outside of Florence. The driving was beyond stupid. To paraphrase A.: ‘what kind of sociopath drives like that and then goes home and eats and sleeps like a regular human being?’ The leaning tower is still leaning with the help of constant attention by engineers and architects (this is one of the silliest things to me…someone builds a crap tower and the Italian people pay to keep it leaning…sigh). The wine was just – awesome. And cheap. And everywhere. Time for a detox, me thinks.

But the big news is that A. proposed. For reals. It was lovely. The proposal was romantic but not cheesy and the ring is, well, the awesomest thing ever. I am still not used to the idea but not in a bad way, just in a whoa-totally-didn’t-see-that-life-event-coming kinda way. I’m thrilled. So the next year will be spent planning a wedding (egad, planning!) and working on a phd…should be interesting.

*beams*

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Right, so I won’t be posting for a week because I’m off to Italy to see A.!! Yayaya! Above is my new I’m-going-to-Italy haircut (stay tuned for posts on the horrors of bangs…I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself). And above that picture is a picture of my new I’m-going-to-Italy shoes. Not vegan but I really needed sandles and these are, well, pretty!! :P

stay tuned for tales of Florence, Venice, and Rome. :D

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Last night’s dinner was the perfect example of leftover night. What did I have in my cupboard/fridge? Leftover noodles, leftover swiss chard, a slightly tired looking zucchini, two equally tired looking tomatoes, a lemon, and 1/4 cup of random nuts. What did I make? Nutty awesomeness (thank you ‘The Garden of Vegan‘ for helping me out!!):

Nutty Leftovers Pasta:

*enough pasta for two people
*1 small tired zucchini and 2 tired looking tomatoes (or you could use wide awake veggies. Probably a better idea actually)
*2-3 cloves garlic (always, ALWAYS, have garlic hanging about some where)
*1/2 lemon
*1 cup vegetable stock (I bet white wine would taste better. *sighs longingly*)
*1/4 nuts (I had almonds and peanuts but I think that cashews, walnuts or pine nuts would have been just as tasty)
*1/4 tsp salt
*1/4 tsp black pepper
*1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

+leftover leafy greens (I used rainbow swiss chard)

Boil up the pasta. While it is cooking, take out your food processor (Betsy!) and blend together the nuts and garlic. Add stock/wine, salt, pepper, cayenne, and the juice from half a lemon and blend until well combined. Then, in a large saucepan on medium to high heat, cook zucchini, tomatoes, and nut sauce until zucchini is tender (but not mushy…a delicate artform that I have yet to master). You can add in your greens here too although I steamed mine in a different pan (because apparently I really like to do dishes…sigh). Once everything is ready, toss together in a bowl and serve. Quick and tasty.

Now, I’ll bet you were wondering where the blood comes in, eh? Well here it is. I went in to get bloodwork done today – gots to keep up on my iron and B12 levels. I think I’m doing ok, but who knows right? Plus they had to check for rubella because apparently someone dropped the ball for immunization of rubella between 1970-something and 1980-something and a whole bunch of us only got one of two shots. Anyway, the point is that I went in to get this bloodwork done and I didn’t faint!! Most exciting. Of course, I was lying down while it was being removed so perhaps that’s why but whatever. I didn’t pass out. Passing out in public is beyond embarassing, especially if you happen to be exceptionally pale like me because even when you wake up, people are convinced that you are on the brink of death (come to think of it, people are generally convinced I’m on the brink of death due to my ghostly, sun-screen covered complexion). I usually revive pretty quickly and while I’m a bit woozy, I’m ok to just go but they always make me stay for 15 minutes, drink lukewarm tap water, and rest my head on my knees. Even when I say I’m fine, they don’t believe me. Lame. But today, nothing. Next time, I’m going to try watching the needle. Because I love love love watching but something in my subconscious won’t let me.

Back to work now….

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I didn’t really mean to post twice today but I was enjoying this breakfast so much, I had to share. I was feeling extra tired this morning and didn’t feel like seeds and fruit for breakfast so before I went to get the days groceries, I put some red quinoa in a bowl to soak. When I returned an hour or so later, it was all ready to go! So I boiled it up and added some vanilla soymilk, 1 banana, and a tbsp of pumpkin seeds (yaya for sexy zinc!). Add a cup of peppermint tea, and this is the perfect pick me up breakfast.

Ok, so now I’m actually going to go get some work done. On today’s agenda? Marking discussion groups and finishing up some research assistant work. Long day ahead.

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So last night, Fialonia and I had spaghetti and tofu balls again, mostly because we had leftover tofu from the veggie casserole and I’m a big fan of using up leftovers before moving on to new things in the fridge (because of this, our fridge is nearly always empty looking. I shop everyday but I think when people come over they think that I live off of dijon mustard and baking soda). Nothing new to report on the tofu balls – they still kick ass. But the night before last, we had these gorgeous burritos you see above. Oh – my – god so good. Fialonia made them from a recipe in La Dolce Vegan. Make them. Immediately.

‘Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos’

2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 19 oz can of black beans
1 cup vegetable stock
2 garlic cloves, minced (Fialonia actually minces! I must get her to do the garlic more often…)
1 1/2 tbsp chili powder (I think Fialonia halved this actually because spice and Fialonia do not mix well. I would keep it all in there)
2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
4 large tortillas (Check your tortillas for sulphites first! Try and find good for you hippie ones)
1/4 cup salsa (well, better make that 1/2 cup to 1 cup…we dumped it on top of the burritos when they were in the oven…and I used more for dipping…)
1 cup vegan cheese (we had leftover monterey jack…worked nicely. Oddly the recipe says the cheese is optional, but I ask you: what is a burrito without cheese? A boring wrap, that’s what)

In a large pot, boil the sweet potatoes. While the sweet potatoes are cooking, in a medium pot on medium heat, saute the onions in oil until translucent. Add the black beans, stock, garlic, chili powder, mustard, cumin, salt…simmer over medium-high heat for 15 minutes. Once sweet potatoes are cooked up, mash ’em up and set aside. Once the bean mixture is done, mash it up and set it aside. Take the four tortilla shells and lay on counter. Spread out onto each tortilla: 1 tbsp salsa, sweet potato awesomeness, bean awesomeness, and then cheese. Roll up each burrito and place in an 8×8 baking dish. Add a bit more salsa and cheese to the top and pop in oven for a few minutes until a little crispy.

+purple kale = So very yummy!!

Now for the blahs: What the hell is with the weather!? I’ve had just about enough of looking outside, seeing bright sunshine, then stepping outside and freezing my vegan buns off. Lame. The official first day of spring has passed – someone needs to hand the weather gods the memo.