Nemo Roasted Veggies with Pesto over Spinach Spaghetti

We live in Southern Maine so of course we've spent the majority of the last two days homebound, shoveling, taking snowy walks to the Speckled Ax for soy lattes and the Works Bakery for a bagel with Tofutti cream cheese, and baking. I named the following recipe in honor of our dear storm, which has yielded a whopping 31.9 inches of snow, "Nemo Roasted Veggies with Pesto over Spinach Spaghetti." It was a real pantry raid since our last trip to Whole Foods did not take into account the impending storm. Nonetheless, we ended up with a cozy, quite satisfying meal!

Nemo Roasted Veggies with Pesto over Spinach Spaghetti

1 rutabaga, cubed
1 turnip, cubed
1 portabello mushroom, sliced into 1 to 2 inch pieces
1 sweet potato, cubed (skin on or off, you choose!)
1 fingerling potato, sliced thinly (could use more, but that's all we had!)
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small yellow onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 package of spinach spaghetti (or a whole one...we tend to make portion sizes for 2 or 4 and you don't need a full package for that)
3 Tbsp Seggiano Raw Basil Pesto (this stuff ROCKS - you can find it at most Whole Foods)
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 410 degrees.

Toss all of the veggies in a baking pan and coat with olive oil. Roast in the oven for 45-65 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before handling.

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain, and return to pot. Coat pasta with olive oil and  pesto.

Serve by placing pasta in a bowl and topping with roasted veggies. Voila! Take that Nemo!

Long Overdue Vermont Vacation Review

For our third anniversary, J and I decided to take a little trip to Vermont for a long weekend. Normally, when I go on a trip I have this antsy anxiety to "just get there." I'll try to leave as early as possible and drive without stopping - "Don't drink anyone so you won't have to pee!" This time, however, we decided to make the drive feel like part of the vacation and now, as we start planning a trip to Pennsylvania for my friend's wedding this spring, I'm ready to do the same thing! Although it adds time to your day, it makes the commute MUCH more fun and you find little treasures you may not have if you'd blown right through. Below is a little recounting of our trip - with of course, a focus on the wonderful vegan food we encountered!

So - the night of our anniversary, we were still in town and J made us an INCREDIBLE dinner - Vegan Shepard's Pie (recipe to come, I promise!).

The next morning, we got up around 8 a.m. and were out the door by 9. We headed on over to OhNo Cafe in Portland, Maine for our favorite breakfast sandwich and Coffee By Design's Ethiopian blend coffee - our favorite, which is almost always on tap at OhNo. It's a baily bagel grilled, then made with hummus, spinach, avocado, tomato, and soy sausage. It's the kind of sandwich that I will randomly crave and immediately need. Like right now....as I write about it...I'm wanting one. Have you ever had a baily bagel? They originated in Poland and have this awesome little garlic, salty mix in the middle on the top. I just love them. Especially grilled. Ok, I need to stop...

We got on the road and headed down toward New Hampshire, landing ourselves in North Conway, New Hampshire. I used to live in Fryeburg, Maine which is about 20 minutes outside of North Conway and it was nice to be back in town. We stopped in at The Met Coffee House, an awesome coffee house/art gallery right outside of the North Conway Train Station. I got a soy coconut latte and J got a soy chai latte. Right by the register they had vegan cookies by the Alternative Baking Company so we got a peanut butter cookie and an espresso chocolate chip cookie. I'd seen Alternative Baking Company's cookies before but hadn't tried them and they're not too bad - a little dry, though. We liked the espresso chip one better than the peanut butter, which didn't have a very strong PB taste.

We sipped our coffees, nibbled the cookies and walked around town doing some window shopping at Penguin Gallery and Zeb's General Store before jumping back on the White Mountain Highway.

The views, of course, were stunning. J had never driven the White Mountain Highway before so it was a real treat for him!

We arrived around 4:00 in Burlington and were pretty hungry. After walking around a little, we found a nice map of the city streets and discovered that Burlington has a Dobra Tea House! Dobra is one of my favorite places in Portland - it's the perfect place to relax and enjoy tea and little treats. The atmosphere is foreign - you ring a bell to call your server and there is floor seating on pillows. When I'm there, I forget about the time flying by outside. So we stopped in to relax and enjoy some rooibus tea and a hummus plate. They have a great selection of vegan snacks and treats and they're all clearly marked on their menu. 

Afterwards, we walked around gazing in shops, stopped at the Lake Champlain chocolate store for dark chocolate dipped orange rind (the girl behind the counter knew exactly which items were vegan!), and then went to dinner at American Flatbread. We've had American Flatbread before - they sell their frozen pizza at Whole Foods in Portland and it's not too shabby. The interior of the restaurant reminded us A LOT of our own Flatbread in Portland, but the pizza was not quite as good. It wasn't bad, but the crust didn't have much flavor and their tomato sauce, made with oven roasted tomatoes and peppers, had a strange taste to me. The best part of the meal was the beer we tried - Sasquach - made with butternut squash. It was so delicious that we bought a "growler" full of it to take back to our room! 

The following day, we had a lovely brunch at a restaurant called Magnolia Bistro. It was clearly a hot spot for brunch, especially with the local college population, and there was a long line out the door and we must have waited about 30-40 minutes - but it was worth it! I ordered tofu scramble with tofu sauce and J ordered a veggie bean burger. It was super, super yummy. J's burger even came with a vegan potato salad on the side - something I'd never seen before. 

After breakfast we walked down a big hill towards the lake where the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center was. ECHO is fairly small and we were kind of glad we ended up going on a discount day because the price seemed sort of high for what we got. It was fun though, and there was a really lovely little exhibition on the origins of the race. 

We spent some time walking around the lake, which is just beautiful and then walked around town some more and found street performers and vegan cupcakes at My Little Cupcake.

That night we ate at Bueno Y Sano. I had thought it was more like a restaurant when I found it online, but it was more upscale fast food. Nonetheless, they had options we could easily veganize and they had seitan (almost every restaurant in Burlington had seitan - it was awesome!). 

The next day, we got on the road home fairly early and stopped in this little tiny town called Jackson, Vermont to grab some breakfast at the Lovin Cup Cafe. The Cafe is right on the main street and is inside what looks like someone's apartment. I ordered a sesame seed bagel with hummus and lots of yummy veggies and J got a focaccia panini made with seitan, sauerkraut, and maple mustard. Can you tell that I love bagel hummus sandwiches???

We drove home taking less stops because we missed our furbabies and wanted to get home to get ourselves all set for the week to come. Of course we sucked in the view on the way! 

All in all it was a wonderful trip and we'd love to go back and explore Vermont some more. We'd like to do a spring or earlier fall trip so we can get in some hiking and exploration. Someday!

Favorite Detox Breakfast to date!

Yum! So have you ever tried black quinoa? I did not even know such a thing existed until we reached week 4 of the detox diet. Black quinoa is not sold in the bulk aisle at our Whole Foods and since we rarely <never> buy grains that aren't in bulk, we never even noticed it sitting there on the shelf. So what's the difference? Well, it's similar in nutrition to red quinoa, but it's much more fragrant and it doesn't have that crunchiness to it. Which is why it made for a wonderful breakfast!

On Sunday night we cooked up a big batch of the black quinoa and for breakfast we have about 2/3 of a cup with 1/4 almond milk, 1/2 Tbsp of honey (yes, we're vegan and we're okay with honey...it's a debatable topic and we only buy local), 1 Tbsp of slivered almonds, and a couple thin slivers of avocado. It is an awesome way to start the day!

Although black quinoa is more expensive (it was $7.99 for a small bag...but remember - quinoa expands to 4x its size when cooked. A little goes a long way!), I think we'll continue buying it once in a while because we are liking the taste and texture much more than red. Have you tried all of the different types yet? Let me know what you think!

Sweet Potato Dal

This evening I made Happy Herbivore's Sweet Potato Dal which I found on the Forks Over Knives website. It turned out better than the photo looks and tasted oh so good. Awesome part - there's no oil in the recipe, it used up some more of our veggie stock, I used these new beautiful mixed colored lentils I found in the bulk aisle at Whole Foods, and it was nice and spicy! I served it with a simple salad made with red and yellow bell pepper, zucchini, cucumber, and avocado drizzled with lime juice, a teensie bit of olive oil and salt and pepper. 

I just ordered the Forks Over Knives book which has 125 recipes - I'm super excited for it to arrive. Will share some of its wisdom once I get into it. 

Sorry for being MIA again. The holidays took over and I got wrapped up in knitting hats for a new group I started called Head Huggers of Greater Portland, Maine. I hope to have more time to write on here in the coming new year (which marks the 1 year anniversary of J and I converting to veganism!). 

Eat happy!

Top 10 Money Saving Tips for Going Vegan

At the request of my friend Liz and because I hear it so damn often, this will be a post about how to be vegan and save money. So often I hear people telling me, "Oh, I'd go vegan/vegetarian if it didn't cost so much, but it's so expensive I just can't do it." I want to laugh when I hear this. Are you kidding me? Switching to veganism is WAY cheaper than consuming meat, but only if you are a smart and conscious shopper. Sure, you can go to Whole Foods and purchase pre-made seitan, wheat balls, veggie burgers, polenta, etc. And yes, your shopping bill will be high. No doubt about it. But if you follow these few tips, you'll find you'll be saving money in no time!

Christi's Top 10 Tips for Saving $$ on a Vegan Diet:

1. Avoid fancy specialty items. They're packaging is enticing and their easy to use but they will jack your bill up, so be prepared. We do purchase Tofurkey deli slices on a regular basis and we'll often buy Field Roast. But we know they're more expensive and we can afford it right now. These aren't vital items to be a good vegan cook and you can totally make amazingly delicious food WITHOUT them. I promise :) You can also find recipes that tell you how to make them. Homemade seitan is far more cost-effective than pre-made store bought seitan. Homemade veggie burgers are way cheaper and you don't have to worry about egg whites being included.

2. Plan your meals in advance. Every Saturday I sit down with our cookbooks and pick out 4-5 meals for the week. I write out my shopping list based on these meals and I write down the meals, cookbooks, and page numbers and stick it to the fridge for the week. You're thinking, "I see how this would save time, but money?" But it does! By creating a shopping list around the things you plan to eat for the week, you won't be tempted or even need to purchase things that are not on your list (ALWAYS food shop with a list). You'll also find that you're buying the appropriate quantity of food for you and your family and you aren't wasting food by letting it go bad. If you find that food is still going bad, make smaller shopping trips.

3. The bulk aisle is your best friend (most of the time). For the most part, items in the bulk section will cost less than buying that fancy Bob's Red Mill's bag of polenta (we don't buy his products anymore and you shouldn't either!). Your bulk aisle will likely include polenta, flour, sugar, beans, spices, nuts, and many grains. But make sure that the cost is less. Last week, I wanted to buy a good amount of cranberries to use in my baking. I checked out the price per pound in the Whole Foods bulk section. In the same aisle they sell packaged bulk items, and the packaged cranberries cost less per pound. So goo thing I checked!

4. Beans, Beans, Beans. I know it's a pain in the ass to buy dry beans, but MAN do they cost less than canned. Seriously! So here's what you do...you buy your beans on the weekend and on Sunday afternoon, soak a big batch, boil them, drain them, and put them in tupperware and stick them in the freezer. You're set for a while if you do a good amount and a variety. Beans are an awesome source of protein and numerous vitamins - so eat 'em up!

5. Shop Local. Farmers Markets, road stands, local orchards are a fantastic way to save money. Check out some of my earlier posts with shots of all the food I've gotten for $10. It's incredible and it's fresh and local and so much better for you. Think about how far some of our food travels to get to us, how it's banged around, gets dirty....local food at the Farmers Market traveled up to an hour on the back of a truck and the person who grew that tomato is handing it to you. Fantastic! I don't know why you wouldn't shop there :)

6. Use substitutions in fancy recipes. So your mushroom risotto recipe uses morels which are like $5.99 for a small bag. Substitute! You don't have to use morels. The amazing thing about veggies is how versatile they are. You should use recipes as a guide and not feel tied to them. If your recipe calls for expensive mushrooms, substitute with criminis or white mushrooms and you'll save $3. You have a recipe that tells you to deglaze the pan with red wine but you don't have red wine or can't afford it, use veggie stock or water instead.

7. Choose your proteins wisely. Many people, when they first become vegetarian or vegan, feel that they need to buy meat substitutes to replace the protein they were getting from animal foods. Not true! There are many, many, MANY other sources of protein that, at times, have more protein than the meat subs. Here are some examples of protein content from plant food from Vegan for Life:

• 3 ounces of seitan = 22.5 grams 
• 1/3 cup of soy protein powder = 23 grams
• 1/2 cup of soy beans (edamame, if you will) = 14.3 grams
• 1/4 cup of peanuts = 8.6 grams
• 1/2 cup of firm tofu = 20 grams (firm has a higher protein content than soft)
• 1 cup of soy milk = 10 grams
• 1/2 cup of quinoa = 4 grams
• 1/2 cup of frozen spinach = 3.8 grams
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter = 8 grams

You don't need soy meat alternatives if you learn about nutrition and make smart choices throughout your day. If you understand the nutrition behind it, you'll save a great deal of money! I can't stress that enough - you really need to learn nutrition and make sure you're doing vegan right - you'll save money and ensure your health. Don't be a junk food vegan (french fries and Oreos). 

8. Waste not - make stock. We're getting back into soup season and I cannot stress enough how silly it is to buy veggie stock. Seriously - don't make me come over there to give you a swift kick in the pants. Here's the trick - as you're cooking throughout the week, keep a large tupperware container in your fridge and add any veggie odds and ends - carrot peels, onion ends, avocado skins, kale stems  - you name it, if it's veg, throw it in! Then, at the end of the week, throw all the ends into a big pot with a little olive oil and saute them. Once the veggies are warmed and smelling good, add water, a bay leaf, some fresh ground pepper and 1-2 tsp of soy sauce or Braggs. Cover the pot; bring it up to a boil and then simmer for a few hours. After you turn it off, allow it to cool so you can work with it and strain the liquid into a pitcher or large container you can store in the fridge. Squeeze the veggies to get excess liquid out (it's crazy how much liquid they hold). And now you've got stock for the week to make soups, cook rice and other grains, use in sautés, etc. If you have a composter, throw the veg in. Sadly, we don't have one, but at least we're getting as much food as we can out of the veggies we buy. 

9. Make your own snacks. Snack foods are so tempting to buy. If you're dieting right, you know you need a snack or two throughout your day, but snack foods like granola bars, veg chips, trail mix, etc. can get really pricey. So make your own! Make a nice big batch of granola bars - there are tons of great recipes on VegWeb and there's a great one on The Vegan Stoner. Make your own trail mix by purchasing a some nuts, seeds and raisins or cranberries in the bulk section and then just mix them together. Ta-da! Trail mix. Make your own veg chips - you've got an oven! If you buy kale chips, I will smack you. They are SO much cheaper to make at home and you can do fun things like add a good amount of cayenne pepper and sea salt or coconut...Google kale chip recipes and you'll find tons of combinations. 

10. Set a take-out/dine-out limit. This rule applies to all diets but it's easier when you're vegan because there are less dining options to begin with! Set a rule for your household limiting the number of times you eat out or order take out. Our rule is 2 times per month and we seriously save a good chunk of change. It's hard to stick to this rule when you've got a lot of friends pulling you in all different directions, wanting to dine with you. Don't fret - just suggest small dinner parties at your houses. The setting is more intimate, you can actually hear what people are saying, and there is something so satisfying about cooking for the people you love. In other cities, there are a lot more dining-out options for vegans than in Portland, Maine, but you should still limit your meals out. Think about it, often times the bill for a dinner for 2 is equal to your week's food shopping trip. And you only get one meal out of it. If you don't believe that it will help you save money, start tracking how much you spend, not only on eating out, but record every time you purchase a latte and how much it cost you. It's so easy to drop a few bucks here and there, but then when you track it and look back at your months expenses, you'll be shocked to discover that you've spent maybe $50 on coffee. $50?! That's a food shopping trip providing food for a week! 

So all of these tips are awesome, but maybe they don't answer the question at large - is veganism cheaper than being an omnivore? Well, let's look at the cost of ground beef, pork chops, and chicken.

Average cost of ground beef, per pound, in August 2011 = $3.21
Pork chops, bone in per pound, in August 2011 = $3.65
Chicken, boneless per pound, in August 2011 = $3.25
Tofu, with a price that rarely fluctuates, 14 ounces = $1.69 (365 extra firm tofu)

Ok so, a pound is 16 ounces, so the beef is 20 cents an ounce, the pork is 23 cents, and chicken is 20 cents.  Tofu is 12 cents an ounce. Maybe you don't think that's very much, but it all adds up! And these prices on meat are averages, the region you live in and store you're shopping at can cause major fluctuations. As I noted above, the price of tofu very rarely fluctuates and so we always know how much we're going to spend.

Here's some additional reading if you want more info:

MSN: Go vegetarian to save money
20 Something Finance: Frugality through Vegetarianism - How to Save $2-$3K per Year & the Planet by Moving Away from a Meat - Based Diet
Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson

Vegan Laptop Lunchtime!

Left over tofu scramble from Sunday morning's brunch (lovingly prepared by Justin), Randall's Orchard apple with soynut butter, and some kalamata olives

My latest work snack: Dry roasted & salted edamame. It's really yummy, lower in fat than the pistachios I was eating and look at all that protein! It's the perfect afternoon pick-me-up :)

You put what in my wine???

So if you're a newer vegan (or even a seasoned one) you may be surprised to learn that many liquors, beers and wines are NOT vegan. Say what?! That's right friends, at some point someone thought it would be a great idea to filter alcohol through fish bladders, by using gelatin, egg whites, and sea shells. Um, ew. Not cool. Don't even bother checking out the label of the drink you're looking to buy - they aren't required to tell you if animals were used in the filtering process. The only way to know is to ask, as our friends at Barnivore advise.

Barnivore is one of my favorite websites. We like to have a bottle of wine around the house - red and white - to cook with and have the occasional glass. So Justin and I were at Whole Foods the other night looking for wine and I whipped out my iPhone, pulled up Barnivore, and started searching on every label we saw in our price range. We searched....and searched....and searched. After maybe 12 bottles turning up decidedly not vegan friendly, the woman we've dubbed Whole Foods Wine-Lady noticed us and came over to help. She was aware of Barnivore and warned us to check it frequently because apparently some companies will use animal-based filters one year and not the next year...insanity! Thanks for warning us Whole Foods Wine-Lady! We continued searching until finally, as we were about to walk away, defeated by the animal-killing wine selections, the Whole Foods Wine-Lady told us to check out a cab-sav by McManis Family Vineyards. SCORE! We have yet to try it, but at least it's vegan. Score two points for the Whole Foods Wine-Lady!

Next time we plan to buy alcohol, we're going to visit Barnivore FIRST, make a list of a few we want to try and then see if the store has any of them. Then maybe we won't feel so defeated next time! Take a spin around Barnivore sometime - it's a fun website and a fantastic resource for those who want some cruelty-free booze.

Sunday Omelets, Scrambles, and Benedicts

On a recent shopping excursion Justin and I picked up Vegan Brunch by our favorite vegan Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Isa is seriously our favorite - I mean, really, I have a girl crush on her. Her ability to render recipes for old-time favorites is uncanny.

For my brother's graduation, we invited them over for a Sunday brunch and took the cookbook for test drive. Although my brother, step-father and step-father's girlfriend are fairly open to many different types of food, they tend to be a bit leery of things labeled "vegan" so I knew we'd need to be creative. The menu: Pesto Scrambled Tofu with Grape Tomatoes, Diner Home Fries, and Pain au Chocolat. Everything turned out beautifully and tasted great - my brother and step-father each ate more than one helping. The most comical part - none of them realized that the scramble was tofu and not eggs.

Several weeks later, we tried out the Tofu Benny (we literally bought the book because Justin opened it up to this recipe, took one look at the picture, and said, "I can haz?"). Oh man. This recipe is amazing. Seriously, guys. I learned a valuable lesson as we made this recipe. Actually, it's a lesson I keep trying to learn over and over: READ the recipe ahead of time. Isa instructs you to marinate the tofu for at least an hour or overnight. It was Sunday, late morning, there was no way we were waiting. So we put the tofu in the marinade and then made everything else while it soaked. The sauce for these was incredible and could be used in a myriad of other recipes. Justin took a photo - I'll have to get it from him to upload for you later. They were beautiful and we were super proud :)

This past Sunday we made Tofu Omelets. It was the first time I was actually happy with using Silken. I could not believe how much the tofu resembled an egg omelet. They were some-what tricky to make; the flip timing needed to be just right. We filled them with caramelized onions, crimini mushrooms, and spinach and topped them with Isa's Cheezee Sauce. Below are some crappy cell shots.

In addition to providing great recipes, Isa has some awesome suggestions for serving brunch to company including creating a coffee station, seating ideas, and plating suggestions. The book is filled with her charm and wit (I laughed, making Tofu Omelets, when I read, "Don't use an 8-inch omelet pan or anything like that. Here you'll need at least 12 inches (tee hee).") and the photos are beautiful and accurate - the food you make looks just like the food in her photos. In short, the book is worth the $19.95.

I treasure my Sunday mornings with Justin. Sunday's are the one day we have off work together and we spend almost every morning cooking something special together. It's a wonderful way to enjoy each other's company, to be creative together, and to truly gain appreciation for the food we eat. Get a cooking buddy - it makes your cooking more fun and the food taste better!

Cold Dinners For Hot Nights

Lately we haven't been making many heated dishes. We live in an un-air conditioned apartment and when we're feeling over-heated and tired from work, the last thing we want is a warm plate full of heavy foods. So on Saturday, I peered into the fridge and realized we still had two large containers of veggie stock and a bunch of containers collecting more veggie remnants to make yet more stock - what to do when you're over stocked! It's hot out; Yoga Soup is out of the question.

I remembered when I was growing up my mom used to make us vichyssoise (vee-she-swa) in the summer. Many of you are saying, "Vee-she-what-now?!" It's okay - I'll walk you through this one. Vichyssoise, as defined by Wikepedia is "a thick soup made of pureed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock" and is usually served cold. Apparently there's a debate over its origins - French or American - but Julia Childs calls it an "American invention" and at the very least, this vegan version is! 

I followed the VegWeb Hot Pepper Vichyssoise recipe posted by queen-o-hearts. After roasting the potatoes, leeks, pablano, jalapeno, garlic, and spices, I could have just eaten a bowl of the veggies. They were deliciously spiced and honestly, who doesn't love roasted veggies?! They'd taste great chilled and served over greens.

Roasted veggies

The soup was easy to make and tasted delicious warm and cold. Despite the heaviness of some of the ingredients - potatoes...soy milk - it was actually light and refreshing and had a slight after-kick. As I was making the soup, our furbaby Bob was trying very hard to distract me....

A cat's life is rough, man.

To accompany the soup, I made Spicy Tempeh with Asparagus, Ginger, and Chile from a new blog discovery, A Profound Hatred of Meat. I'm so glad I stumbled across this blog because blogger Carly Sitner has got some fabulous recipes - check it out! I modified the recipe a little using Lalibela Farm's Black Bean Tempeh, ground ginger (sad face, we were out of fresh), and chili flakes because we didn't have any fresh chiles. It came out pretty good, but Justin thinks we should use less rice wine vinegar when marinating the tempeh because it seemed to really take on the vinegary taste. I'll either cut that in half or eliminate it next time I try the recipe. 

Hot Pepper Vichyssoise, Tempeh & Asparagus, and Quinoa/Flax Seed Bread from Whole Foods

All in all it was a great dinner that was not too hot and heavy - perfect for a mid-summer's night! These two recipes are keepers, folks.

Vegan Lunchbox!

Tofu Scramble made by Justin, Grape Leaves and Golden Beet Salad from Whole Foods, and cantaloupe. Yum!

I love all of the earthy/sunny colors in this lunch - greens, oranges, and yellows - summer is here!

Granola bars, Quinoa Salad, and Edamame Pesto!

It's only Tuesday and already we've tried out four different AWESOME recipes. Here we go:

1. On Sunday I made up Vegan Stoner's Granola Bars. First off, these babies are SO easy to whip up (as are all of VS' recipes). They're sweet and crunchy and nutty - mmmm! We used trail mix from Whole Foods bulk aisle so that we only had to pay for a cup of it and we could pick from a bunch of different types. We went with a locally made trail mix that boasted a high level of antioxidants and didn't include candy pieces like many of the other options. I will make these again, but my one critique is that they are very crumbly. Next time I think I'll add a little more peanut butter or agave to help them stick together more and I'll bake them a bit longer. I still recommend trying them out though! So far this week, they've helped quench my afternoon cravings and I have not made any mid-afternoon CBD trips! Victory!

2. Monday night my fiance made veggie chili burgers using left over chili and some frozen veggie burgers and I made up Vegan Stoner's Mango Quinoa Salad. This salad is AWESOME! The next time we go on a picnic, I am totally bringing this salad. It's crisp and refreshing with sweet mangoes paired with tart strawberries and crunchy celery and red onion. Make it!

3. On Tuesday I decided to try out Post Punk Kitchen's Spinach Linguine with Edamame Pesto. We didn't have any spinach linguine (sadly), so I made it with regular. The only complaint I had with it, and it had NOTHING to do with the recipe itself, was the fact that we had to make the pesto in a blender instead of a food processor. The next kitchen upgrade on my list is a food processor - no more lumpy pestos! The recipe was awesome though and it's included in her list of low-fat recipes, so yay to sticking to the diet!

4. For dessert on Tuesday, I decided to try my hand at Vegan Stoner's Strawberry Soup. This was my first time using vegan sour cream (I used Tofutti's) and I actually enjoyed the taste of it and foresee using it in some of my baking endeavors and Mexican dishes. The soup was...different. My fiance liked it better than I, and finished his whole bowl. But we both agreed that there was a strange aftertaste - possibly attributed to the strawberry seeds. We saved my portion and incorporated it into our breakfast shake and I thought it tasted wonderful. I'm not sure that we'll be trying that one out again any time soon though.

Today I picked up fiddleheads at the Portland Maine Farmers Market an I'm wicked excited to figure out how to prepare them. I can't wait for the Farmers Market to expand as more and more produce becomes available. It's a bit sparse right now, but I was able to find the fiddleheads and pick up a bunch of scallions. I also found, maybe, the largest carrot I have every seen in person!

Boston, here I come!

I'm spending the next two days in Boston at a conference for work and naturally I'm a bit worried about the food choices that will be available to me at the hotel. I did mark "vegan" under "Dietary Needs" on the registration sheet, but still....I'm not so confident that the Radisson will be prepared; so I am going prepared!

Yesterday I went to Whole Foods and picked up a few Primal Strips, a kaia fruit leather, 2 Larabars and some trail mix.

My stash

I was reading My Vegan Corporate Life  and blogger Danielle was talking about facing the same fear on her business trip to Disney World. She delightfully found a warm and accepting food staff who completely catered to her needs. The Radisson is a far cry from Disney - but who knows, I might be completely surprised! Reports to follow - stay tuned! 

Failed Italian Genes

I was excited all day long to make Vegan Stoner's Kale Stuffed Shells tonight. The biggest change we made to the recipe was using manicotti instead of shells. This was NOT a preference, believe me; for some reason we couldn't find the large shells anywhere at Whole Foods. We got water boiling, threw in the manicotti, and got to work on the stuffing. The stuffing we created, I must say, was incredibly delicious. We made several modifications including adding fresh cut tomato and using Italian Seasoning instead of All Purpose Spice. After the noodles were done, we laid them out on paper towels to dry.

Stuffing time. Disastrous. I had hoped my Italian genes would kick in and stuffing manicotti would be second nature to me. Wrong-o. It took both of us, me holding the noodle opened and pinching one end shut, my fiance spooning filling into the little opening, me cursing every time I put them in a pan because some (or most) of the filling would spurt out. Frustration, indeed! Filling was splattered on the top of the stove, and bits were falling to the floor, much to the chagrin of our cats. Stuffing shells would have been SO much easier!

After stuffing the manicotti noodles, we added a step to the recipe. We covered them with a nice jar of tomato sauce and stuck them in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. As they baked, I made a nice fresh salad from kale, dandelion greens, yellow pepper, mushrooms, cucumber and carrot, while my fiance made a nice vinaigrette to pour over it. 

Although stuffing the manicotti noodles was a fiasco, this dish was pretty good. We liked the flavor of the kale paired with nutritional yeast and the ricotta-like textured tofu. The tomatoes added another layer of sweet flavor against the bitterness of the greens in our salads. We will try making this again - but next time, with SHELLS! 

Spicy Noodles With Shitake Mushrooms And Mustard Greens

I knew tonight was going to be a hectic one, so as I was leaving work I jumped onto VegWeb to find a quick and easy recipe for dinner. Ta Da - Spicy Noodles with Shiitake Mushrooms and Mustard Greens. We made a bunch of modifications, listen closely:

-Much less rice noodles because 10.5 ounces is A LOT!

-Sans green onions just because we didn't have any

-Dandelion Greens instead of Mustard Greens because Whole Foods didn't have mustard ones

-Serrano chilies because WF didn't have the Thai chilies

-Braggs instead of soy sauce

-Vegan Mushroom Sauce 

-Asian Garlic Chili Paste instead of Sweet Chili Sauce

-No mint leaves

-Added veggies: edamame and broccoli

-Added seitan 

We made it with more liquid so that it was more like a soup and it came out really well - nice and spicy. My fiance didn't like the greens, I of course loved them. I love the slightly bitter taste of them paired with the spice and the sweetness of the carrots. 

I was perusing on of my newest favorite blogs, Vegansaurus, which led me to the blog The Vegan Stoner. This blog is fantastic - all simple, yummy looking recipes with beautiful photos and adorable doodles. The creators are currently working on a cookbook and I'm super excited to see it. We will certainly be trying some of their recipes in the next few weeks! 

Hurrrry! Make some curry!

Lately we've been eating a lot of curry dishes...um, yum. I was surfing Facebook and VegWeb highlighted a recipe for Curry Salad that sounded intriguing so I prepared it two nights ago. I gotta tell you friends, this recipe is a ten star winner! It takes a bit of time to prepare, so don't be in a hurry and keep in mind it'll take you more than one day.

Wheat berries are the second ingredient on the list. Wheat berries? I'd had them in various prepared salads from Whole Foods and other eateries in the past, but I had never prepared them, nor did I even know what they are! So wheat berries are the entire wheat kernel (except for the hull), comprised of the bran, germ, and endosperm. To prepare them, it's best to let them soak in water over night, just as you would dried beans. For this recipe, all we did was soak them over night and use them raw like that instead of cooking them. They have a crunchy, hard texture, almost like a seed, but add wonderful texture to salad, and are packed with fiber, protein, and numerous vitamins.

I was a bit skeptical when the salad called for vegan mayo and yogurt. I HATE normal mayo and am still trying to train myself into realizing that Veganaise is NOT mayonnaise. My eyes see the white, gooey, mixture and immediately think it's mayo (which I sarcastically name "the Satan's semen"). And soy yogurt? I've just never been a fan. BUT - when both of these ingredients combine with Dijon mustard, sugar, curry and chili powder, turmeric, paprika, ginger, salt and pepper....whoa nellie! It's a winner!

We didn't add in the raisins because I'm not the biggest fan and we added two carrots for texture, flavor and well because we recently bought a 5 lbs bag and need to use carrots in everything we cook!

In summary - try this recipe! It's awesome and healthy!

Say Cheeeeeeeze, Dr. Kracker!

On Sunday my boyfriend and I went to Whole Foods for their "Vegan Fest." Good job, Whole Foods :) Not only did we learn about a few new products (read further down), but we also heard the representatives at each station giving out some really great info to vegan questioners.

So first, we tried a flavor of Field Roast we had yet to try - Mexican Chipotle. Aside from the fact that my boyfriend nearly choked on it because it is wicked spicy and went down the wrong pipe (a very bad combo), we really liked it and thought it would taste great chopped up and added to our Spicy Rotini recipe.

Although they didn't have samples, as we walked down the frozen foods aisle, my eye happened upon Tofurky's latest creation: vegan pizza. Brilliance. We grabbed the "pepperoni" pizza to give it a whirl on a night we're too busy/tired to cook.

As we made our way to the register we happened upon these last gems: Dr. Kracker and Wayfare's Cheeze. Whoa. My mind was blown. I have tried a lot of soy/fake cheeses and I must say I haven't enjoyed a single one. The texture is always a little grainy and because I love cheese oh so much, it just doesn't cut it. This stuff though, whoa. We bought a little container of the Hickory Smoked Cheddar spread which tastes very much like gouda. It's smooth and creamy and has a light smokey flavor. The crackers they were serving the spread on were equally as incredible. Made with a multitude of seeds, these little squares were a little crunchier than your typical cracker, but I liked it better. Check out the websites for Wayfare and Dr. Kracker; both have other products that certainly look worth a try, like Wayfare's nondairy sour cream.

As if it wasn't enough to discover these two new foods, this station also had info and folks from a local vegan Meet-Up and you can be assured that we signed up. This group goes out to eat once a month at a local restaurant and invites about 20-30 vegans in the hopes that restaurants will start to recognize that vegans are in our city and they should provide options. Right up my alley...I'm sure you'll find me at the next event they hold!

All in all, it was an awesome Sunday afternoon!

HOW much did that cost???

Yesterday I took a lovely trip over to Whole Foods to do our weekly shopping. I had planned my week's menus ahead of time and written my list out in order of the aisles to make my shopping journey easier and more efficient (aka, no grabbing random items that I may not need or have a real use for). I was prepared damnit.

Why then, did the nice young hipster cashier tell me my total was $113.56? Gulp. I know what you're thinking: 1. You're shopping at Whole Foods, aka Whole Paycheck; 2. that Vegan on the Cheap book is a farce and you should stop following it!

Well, I'll take both criticisms in stride. First off, I shop at Whole Foods because I enjoy my experience more. When I go to Hannaford, I'm greeted by angry looking employees, sub-par produce, and angsty customers looking to push me out of the way. When I shop at Whole Foods, I find the obscure products I need (like nutritional yeast or vegetable protein), all of the employees greet me with a smile (one even stopped to help when I looked confused), and actually, as long as you avoid prepared foods, the cost is not that different. As for Vegan on the Cheap, well, I do think it will make a difference in our wallets eventually. The problem is, we haven't been eating vegan for a long time so our pantry doesn't have Asian chili paste, brown rice vinegar, or tempeh. If you subtract out all of the kitchen-long-term stock items (plus the much needed Emergen-C and vitamins- $35 out of the total), the bill is actually quite manageable/reasonable.

So I take a deep breath. I swipe my card and I know that the meals I cook this week will be glorious and we won't keep making little runs to the convenience store for frozen pizza or calls for take out Thai. I believe it was worth it and I know next week's bill will be greatly reduced.