Last One in the Chain of Thanksgiving Posts

First of all- thank you all so much for the birthday wishes and nice comments! :-D

Now that I have relished in how kick-ass my birthday was this year, I can move onto my Thanksgiving summary, as promised.

First of all, I hopped on the band wagon! It was time to 'give back' on Thanksgiving. Mike chipped in to help me adopt a pretty turkey from Farm Sanctuary. Her name is Cicada and she is living her life peacefully and happily.

If you haven't already, you should also consider donating money/adopting a farm animal. It helps support the growth of the farm and continuing rescue and care of tortured factory animals.



Cicada says, 'Cruely is buggin'. Go veg.' ;)

Onto the food! I will warn you now- this isn't going to be a gigantic post with an awesome feast.

Simply because...

I am a VERY slow cook.

I was only able to prepare a tofu roast and a pumpkin pie Thanksgiving eve, so you can imagine how little time I had to cook on the actual day of Thanksgiving. Luckily, I didn't have to wake up at 6 in the morning to start.

My mother passed away this past April, so this was our first holiday without her. Normally, most of the family would have Thanksgiving dinner at her house and the rest would come over for dessert, drinks and a pleasant evening of family 'togetherness'. This year, everyone went to my brother's mother-in-law's for Thanksgiving. I was invited, but truth be told, the only way I'd sit in front of a depressing turkey carcass is if my mother made it. No, it doesn't make it all right that a turkey was tortured, murdered, injected with chemicals and fed to the masses. However, my mother loved spending time with her family and so I stuck around and ate the veggie side dishes and the premade tofurky.

This year, of course, was very different. So while most of my family was down in Dorchester, I was making a tiny, little feast for myself, Mike (after returning from lunch/dinner at his parents), my step father and my sister who is, by nature, a grazer and rarely gets full.

Now, I can give you a quick run-through of what I made, but there are no close-ups other than my yummy dessert and the cranberries cookin' because I thought it looked pretty. This is because not only did I burn the tofu roast to a crisp, I was also so stressed out and the weight of my mother's death was stronger than ever. I kinda just didn't want any pictures. I wanted to go to sleep. But I'm not going to make this a sad post and bring you all down. The truth is, most of the food came out really great (as tiny as my dinner was) and once my family arrived for dessert, I was feeling really good.

As a matter of fact, it was the perfect time to give thanks that I still have a wonderful, supportive family, including some extremely adorable nephews. My mother would have wanted us to be happy and to cherish our time together. If there is, in fact, an after life of any sort, I know she is watching us with pride and love.

So! This is what I made with love:

Mashed yam potatoes with kale- This was a savoury dish. I'm so used to the boring mashed potatoes with salt and soy butter, so this was quite a pleasant change. I added lots of spices, garlic and dijon (the secret ingredient to all salad and potato dishes as far as I'm concerned) and it was wonderful.

Next, I made fancy biscuits- I've made these before, so I'll do some picture recycling.



These biscuits are made with green onions and dill. Of course I like the plain white biscuits, but these make my taste buds dance with glee. My sister was a huge fan of these. In fact, most of my family had one, despite their full tummies. They were gone pretty quickly.

As a quick and easy 'oh my god, I have to get this done and there's practically nothing here to eat', I steamed organic carrots, string beans, corns and peas and threw them altogether. They made a very colorful dish.

I also made a miso gravy that topped the potatoes and biscuits beautifully.

I made a homemade cranberry sauce, much better than any globby mess you'll get out of a can! (Though it did drip on the floor, much to my step father's chagrin.) Here it is, simmering in sweet, organic maple syrup:



And, of course, the tofu roast.

I spent lots of time, carefully preparing this damn roast, I'll tell ya. I made an utterly delicious stuffing, packed with spices, garlic, wheat bread, sauces, golden raisins and walnuts, I drained two packs of firm tofu of all possible liquid, spreading it out on a colander, laying on the stuffing and covering it as best I could with the remaining tofu, proceeding to let it sit in the fridge over-night to drain. The following morning I whipped up a delicious marinade, spread some on the roast and tossed it in the oven.

All of these steps! Each one taken with love and care!

Wait... what did Suzie forget to do... for an hour and a half? She forgot to cover the dish with tin foil. That's right!

Cripsy tofu. Mmmm.

No.

You can imagine my upset. Luckily I wasn't preparing a huge meal for a ton of people, else I would have been freaking out.

Not to go roast-less, I decided to spread some cranberries around the pathetic-looking tofu and put it out on the table. Some people tried it, despite my repeated disclaimer, then politely put it aside, saying, 'It's not THAT bad.'

::sigh:: Ah, well. In any event, the rest of the dishes were received favourably.

Now, for my 'gigantic' lay-out in all it's glory!



(You can imagine how silly I feel after having read all your posts and looked at all your amazing feast pictures!)

I have to ask, how did you all do it? Perhaps I'm a slow cook. Perhaps it's because I had no help whatsoever. Or maybe, just maybe, it's because I had no food processor and spent a good deal of time scraping down the sides of a rickety old blender, causing the spoon to hit the spinning blade, which in turn caused a gigantic blob of un-blended tofu to fly high up in the air, barely grazing the ceiling, falling flat onto my gorgeous pumpkin pie, cooling off on top of the stove.

In any event, I have a nice, new, amazing food processor, so perhaps next year will be different.

Being a new cook, I will be slow, I will be foolish and I accept that. It makes for a good story. Besides, the pie was salvagable!

Behold, the pumpkin cheesecake pie from Sinfully Vegan!



I can give myself a big round of applause, too, because this is the very first crust of mine that came out beautifully. :)

Ah, you win some, you lose some.

I'm not a huge fan of over-consumption and I'm obviously not big on the whole sickening dead turkey thing. I think the history behind Thanksgiving is bloody and awful too. But like most of you, I take this opportunity (and day off from work) to break bread with my family, make food with love (even if I burn things sometimes) and be thankful for all that I have.

Now I will show you a dish I was planning to make until I realized that the brussel sprouts were never purchased.

Dijon Brussel Sprouts:



I went to the supermarket that weekend and picked some up. I had planned on making them, the shallots were already chopped, so I figured, 'Might as well make some as a side dish to go with the left over lasagna from my party!'

Believe it or not, this was my first time eating a brussel sprout, at least that I can remember. The dijon, red wine vinegar, garlic and mustard seed mix really give it a kick (I think they are too bitter without some kind of sauce), but next time I think I'll double the sauce recipe. Brussel sprouts, to me, taste like little cabbages, but a little more 'earthy'. But not to worry! I have many recipe plans for these little suckers. ;)

And finally, I give you some simple party snack ideas that you probably already thought of before I even knew what 'nooch' was.

Nothing says 'party' like a bowl of popcorn or chips. The following are, thus far, some of my favourite snackables:

Stove popped popcorn and salt-free tortilla chips, covered in melted Earth Balance butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder, celery seed and tobasco sauce:



It really wasn't too spicey, though you could add more hot sauce if it suits you fine.

Next, a yummy tortilla cheese dip. This recipe I found in 'La Dolce Vegan' and it's one of the few fake cheeses I really enjoy. You melt a block of fake cheese (I use Vegan Gourmet's cheddar) with butter, flour (for thickness), Braggs (or soy) sauce, nooch, dijon mustard, salt and pepper.





It also goes great on macaroni. =)

Lastly, for now, I give you the popcorn and organic pretzel stick combo, topped with soy butter, pepper and barbeque sauce mixture.



For some reason, these make me think of football games, or Friday night poker. I never really engage in either activity, but I'd love to throw a party just so I could serve these goodies.

A Turkey's Birthday

My birthday falls on Thanksgiving every 11 years. This year, thankfully, was not one of them. I turned a whopping 23 yesterday, November 26th! My friend, who is only half a year younger than me, teases me that I have one foot in the grave.

Well, being that Thanksgiving and my birthday fall so close together, I decided to update on my birthday first because it was so much fun. Then in a few days, I'll do a short update on my Thanksgiving dishes and thoughts.

My sister threw a party at her new apartment on Saturday. It wasn't anything huge and crazy, but it wasn't small and sad, either. My bandmates were there, my family was there, my close friends were there. It was perfect. We popped in some Billy Idol, played with the kids, shot the shat and most importantly- chowed down!

First off, my poor sister was making a pasta salad meal when she broke a dish and the glass shards mixed in with the food. I felt pretty bad, but she seemed cool about having to throw the whole thing away. And speaking of breaking things, I baked some cookies (they came out huge and flat) but no pictures were taken because Mike tripped on the sidewalk on the way in. What does one have to do with another, you might ask? Well, my sister made the party Star Wars-themed because I love the saga. I decided to add to the decor with my Vader cookie jar. You can imagine the rest, but I'll type it anyway because I love teasing him about it. As we're walking up the stairs, I hear a smash behind me. Sure enough, Mike tripped and broke the jar on concrete. So much for the cookies. And I can laugh (I still am) because he didn't actually fall or hurt himself. He just owes me another Vader cookie jar.

I got a lot of good prezzies, mostly cooking prezzies. People love when you get a new hobby. It's so easy to pick things out. I got a wonderous food processor (FINALLY), a heavy-duty mixer, new cutting boards with rubber bottoms, a sharp knife that actually cuts food (don't get me started on my old ones), a new sifter, more measuring spoons and cups (I can NEVER get enough of those), pastry items, a zester, a soup strainer, etc... etc... I was like a kid in a candy store!

Anyway, time for foodie pics. My cousin, Bokoluna and her partner and my friend, Elly Blue, made a terrific lay-out.

Rice balls, capped with mushrooms:



Sushi... ::drool::





Dips and spreads for our pleasure:





And a beautious lay out it was:



But wait! There's more!

Quesadillas with yuca:



Yummy, buttery bread with a most delicious pesto sauce:





...and a garden salad topped with Annies tahini and tomato dressing.



All of these foods were especially delicious because they were cooked with love. :)

Not to be out-done (but I was anyway), I helped Mike make my favourite lasagna dish. This consists of whole wheat noodles (so you don't feel so guilty about it), organic tomato sauce, sauteed garlic, parsely, steamed carrots, toffuti (I like to cheat sometimes), herbed firm tofu, nutritional yeast and spinach leaves, all topped with garlic and garden pasta sauce.



Later, Michael and I sprinkled some Vegan Gourmet mozzarella 'cheese' on top of the left overs. In my opinion, that is the BEST fake cheese they have on the market thus far.

Okay, here is the part you've all been waiting for.

The cake!

You know how I've been going on and on about there not being enough white chocolate in my life? Mike fixed that right up! I sent him a recipe for white chocolate cake that I need to veganize. I don't have a printer at work, so he does the printing for me. Little did I know, he stole the recipe and decided to make it for my birthday. ;)

The cake had a chocolate candy-coated layer with an utterly delicious white chocolate inside, filled with strawberry jam. Now here's the BEST part. All week, he kept going on about his great decorating idea and how excited he was to do it. I couldn't imagine what it was. At our Thanksgiving dinner, I had to go in the other room while he transferred the cake into the fridge and all I could hear were 'Ooohs' and 'Aahhs' from the kitchen. You can imagine my impatience.

Finally, the day of my party came. My brother helped to fool me even more by asking his son if he saw the 'Darth Vader' cake when I was in the other room. He even played the imperial battle march while they were bringing the cake out. Right up until the last minute, I thought it was Vader. I was so, so, so wrong.

It was ME!





This came from a Photoshopped (by Mike, of course) headshot of me at one of our Acrasjia shows. Here is the original:



Mike never ceases to amaze me! He is a wonderous artist by nature. With my cooking skills and his artistic talent, we could open up our own cake shop! I'd just have to learn how the heck to work with fondant for those picky brides.

I asked Mike to explain how he decorated in 3d (in case any of you would like to give it a go) and here is his summary:

-First I melted some white chocolate chips in a double
boiler
-Then I lined a flat, round pan with wax paper and
poured the white chocolate into the pan
-I then let it cool overnight (though it doesn't take
that long)
-Next I mixed the ingredients and baked the two halves
of the cake.
-Then I let them cool and spread Polaner All-Fruit
strawberry jelly on top of the bottom layer.
-Next I laid wax paper over the image of Suzie and
traced over it with the point of a fork. Not enough to
cut the paper, but enough to leave an impression of
the image.
-I then laid the wax paper over the hardened white
chocolate sheet and cut out the design with a fresh,
clean, exacto blade
-I melted some dark chocolate chips in a double boiler
and then poured it over the two layers of the cake
after I had stacked them
-I let the chocolate cool a little then I took the
pieces of the face in white chocolate and placed them
in the still soft dark chocolate
-For the hair I cut thin slivers out of the leftover
white chocolate and placed them in the dark surface

If I were to do it over again I wouldn't have made the
chocolate layers so thick. it was hard to cut through
when carving the cake. I also didn't let it warm up
long enough when taking it out of the fridge. Part of
that was worrying about an impatient and snooping
birthday girl. -;>D

Well, after the party, my friends and I hopped over to a bar in Quincy and had the dance floor all to ourselves. Who could ask for anything more?

All-in-all, I had a kick-ass birthday. I got lots of nice cards and gifts and more importantly, my friends and family were there to make me feel loved. Oh, and great food was had by all! =)

Baby Cakes

Autumn is a season of birthdays in my family, including my very own next weekend! Two weeks ago, my nephew, Dylan, had his first birthday. My sister, not wanting to introduce him to processed sweets and junk, asked me to make a cake for him. She wanted, specifically, a cake that looked like Elmo (that was the theme, you see). That's easy enough. But here's the rub- Dylan is allergic to soy. Whenever his mum would eat it and then proceed to breast feed him, his face would break out in red rashes. So I was asked to make a birthday cake without soy product. Eeek! How can you ask a vegan to do such things? Every time I thought of ingredients I could use, I kept coming back to 'Oh, but that has soy in it TOO!'

Not to fear! I then remembered an 'allergy bible' a friend from a previous job passed along to me. This is a collection of typed up recipes that are wheat free, gluten free, egg free, dairy free and yes, soy free. She had used it when her kids were little because they were pretty much allergic to everything.

I fingered through it and found a simple recipe for chocolate cake. Sugar, flour, cocoa, veggie shortening, vanilla extract, white vinegar, salt and baking powder. Let me tell you, it was an extemely yummy chocolate cake and incredibly quick and easy to make.

Now, the frosting! I couldn't use a glaze because my sister wanted it to look like Elmo. That meant thick, colored frosting. After searching online for a non-soy butter based icing, I came up with one idea. Veggie shortening- 100% palm oil. I wasn't sure how it would taste in place of butter. I was a little wary.

So I tried it and guess what? It tastes almost exactly the same! I will admit, it's not as creamy as butter, but it has a very thick and smooth texture that worked just fine.

Now, for the dye. I am against using any chemicals in my food. Luckily, Wholefoods has a brand of food dye in stock that uses plant-based ingredients for color called India Tree. It's a whopping $20! Perhaps that's my most extravagant spend, not the coconut cups. I bought it because I really wanted to make my nephew's first birthday special.

Working with the dye is frustrating. Because the colors come from plants, it's difficult to get the exact shade you want. I used the entire red bottle because the frosting kept looking pink and then almost purple. Eventually I got a maroon-ish color. It took a while to get the yellow and red to come out orange too. The yellow tastes like cumin if you use too much. Not a flavour I want on my cake. The red (derived from beet juice) actually offers a hint of a juicy flavour. The blue, however, has no flavour.

I had Mike, quite the artist, help me design the face. Using a steak knife, he made outlines of the eyes, nose and mouth. We then proceeded to carefully frost and before we knew it, Elmo was staring back at us!

To add a little more to the fun, I baked strawberry cupcakes (using fresh strawberries) and painted them with the yellow and red frostings. Wallah!





Needless to say, Dylan love it! It was his first bite of cake- or anything sweet for that matter, save fruit! He stopped crying and seemed mesmorized by each bite!



The party was cute and fun.

The layout and my cutie nephew, Kenny:



I think I was the most excited about these hats (red eyes kept due to the devilish horn hats):



Oh, by the way, Mike keeps nagging me to point out just who, exactly, he is. Mike is my closest friend and guitarist of Acrasjia and artist man and wonderful person who hangs out at my house all the time and helps me do stuff. I just love him!

Mike:

For my other newphew's first birthday, just yesterday, it was requested of me to make a Cookie Monster cake. I used the same recipe but this time made the buttercream frosting with soy butter. Again, Mike 'carved' the face and we frosted him together. The blue dye looked a little silver until the oxygen hit it for a while. Then it became a dark blue.

Mike also had the idea of hanging a cookie out of the mouth. So using the delicious recipe from 'The Joy of Vegan Baking', I made up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. A slot was cut into Cookie Monster's mouth where the cookie fit nice and snug. The rest of the batch decorated the frame of his head.

Luckily, I was able to redeem myself from the last cookie disaster. Everyone, kids and adults alike, snatched the cookies and they were gone in the first hour. My oldest nephew, Kenny (who is 3), was the first to grab one. He loves his cookies!



Joey ate the cake up with absolute delite. :)



Here is the close-up of this moist cocoa cake (this one's for you, Kevin):



After having a left over batch of frosting and a couple of cookies that weren't as pretty as the rest, there was only one thing to do with them:



This is a kid's meal by far. Sugar on top of sugar. That was the best breakfast I've had in a long time!

My family, though supportive of my ethics and lifestyle, never really know what to offer me at parties, so they've given up trying to make dishes. That's okay. It gives me another excuse to cook!

I made an apple kugel- green apples, yams (though sweet potatoes would have been better), walnuts, cinnamon, matzo meal and apple juice baked in a casserole dish.



It's very reminiscent of apple pie, but a little on the dry side. I think next time I'll put apple sauce in the mix. Or maybe ice cream. ;)

Palladium Paradise and A Little Meme

*Update* I should mention that Karin Dailey took these professional photos and an awesome job was done!

So all that talk about rocking out at the Worcester Palladium and not a darn picture to show for it? No more! Here are some pro shots we paid a pretty penny for so now we can look like a legite band. ;)

So far we are a 4-piece, looking to expand two more members. Being that we're tuned low and play metal, we've been able to get away with no 'lower end' for a while. However! We just might be getting a bassist (after months of auditioning) very soon. His name is Steve and he's grrrreat! Okay, enough with the cheese. For now, here is the band as it has been for over a year.

From top left to bottom right: Mike- guitarist, Suzie (THAT'S ME!)- vocalist/crazy lady, Kevin- drummer and Matt- guitarist.



Because I didn't want to make this blog ridiculously picture heavy, I asked Mike to make a mosaic. See, he's a photoshop genius, so he does a lot of favours. Tee hee Anyway, because Flickr is totally awesome, you can click on it for a larger view. However, Mikey made some of the cool crowd shots too small! So, I decided to repost them underneath in all their glory.







Oh, and don't try this at home:



Now, for a meme I found off of Just the Food. You should do it too, even if you don't get all the way through mine. ;) I love reading other people's surveys and such!

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
Okay, it's Silk, sugar-free. I hated it at first, but now it's perfect in everything that calls for milk. Now that I'm used to it, regular Silk tastes too disgustingly sweet. It's odd how your mind can get un-used to things. For a dessert-flavoured drink, however, I will go with Mocha Silk Milk.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Pumpkin ziti, roasted tofu with stuffing and white chocolate cake with white chocolate buttercream frosting.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Earth balance, garlic powder, salt, pepper and tobasco sauce.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
That would have to be strawberry shortcake. I was a brand new cook at the time. I accidentally put a cup of baking soda in it. You can imagine the rest. My mother was a sweetheart and helped me make a new one. I always have that problem where if a recipe fails, I WILL re-make it immediately, the RIGHT way.

5. Favorite pickled item?
Don't think I'm a fan of pickled items.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
There are tons of them floating around, but I plan on getting a three-ring binder and putting them in sections by snacks, drinks, desserts, entrees, etc... in alphabetical order.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
Well, I want to start a compost but my friend tells me that it will smell bad. For now, I use the trash, saving what I can, but boy do I wish I had a garbage disposal! Someday...

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
Pasta, roasted garlic potatoes and chocolate cake.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
Circus cookies! Everyday when I came home from kindergarten, my mother would make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich with circus cookies while I watched my favourite shows.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
Wheelers Black Label Vegan ice cream. I've only tried it once. But it's THAT good. Buuuut... my favourite flavour ice cream always has been and always will be cookies and cream.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
For now it's my big soup pot, but I would love, love, love a state of the art food processor. I'm old fashioned. I don't have a lot of gadgets... which is probably why it takes me waaay too long to cook.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Garlic

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
Vegetarian Times

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Grape

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
My lasagna. I'm telling you, that Tofutti tricks EVERYONE!

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Tofu. You can use it for anything. It's like the duct tape of the food world.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Dinner/Evening

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
A radio, a flashlight, a can of pencils and pens and batteries. Bad feng shui.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Banana, bread, corn niblets.

20. What's on your grocery list?
Mini pretzels, garlic powder, raisins, apple juice, diced toms, white kidney beans, curry paste, 2 cans of coconut milk, pasta, pasta sauce, milk and bread

21. Favorite grocery store?
Whole Foods- but it really drains the pockets. :-/

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
White Chocolate everything

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
I read them all everyday. Just look to the right of my posts for names.

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Tropical Source raspberry chocolate bars. My most favourite is white chocolate, but I have yet to try a vegan version. 6 years! God help me.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
Whole coconuts. It wasn't for cooking, it was to make cups.

26. What was your favorite food BEFORE becoming veg*n?
Before being vegan, of course it was white chocolate and anything with cheese. Before being vegetarian, I loved kielbasa, chicken cutlets and Italian subs.

More Soups, More Smoothies, More Beans!

More soups, as promised. Eventually I'll get to making some 'meatier' meals, such as pasta dishes, seitan, tofu, tempheh, etc... For now I'm having fun with beans and veggies.

A week ago, I made this lovely tortilla chip soup.



The recipe called for chili powder, so I was afraid it was going to burn my tongue off. My fears were allayed upon trying my first bite. Mixing cayenne and chili doesn't have to be as frightening as it sounds. The right amount of ingredients definitely added spice to the dish, but just enough to give it a little kick as opposed to ruining the entire meal (lord knows I've done that before).

I just threw together some home made veggie broth, diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, garlic, onions, tomato paste, cumin, jalepeno peppers (seeded) and chili powder. Once the soup was done simmering, I crumpled up a bunch of un-salted, organic tortilla chips (the fun part) and garnished with a slice of avocado. The avocado, in my opinion, should serve to be more than a garnish; it was so delicious, my step father was going back for more to toss in his soup!

Last night I made veggie borscht. For those of you who are new to the cooking world or just don't cook at all but enjoy my blog- you know who you are- here is a definition of borscht from wikipedia: Borscht is a vegetable soup from Eastern Europe, which is traditionally cooked including beetroot as a main ingredient which gives it a strong red color. Other, non-beet varieties also exist, such as the tomato paste-based orange borscht and the green borscht (sorrel soup).

My usual taste testers were afraid to try it for different reasons, but thankfully they were both pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I must admit, I was a little skeptical as well. Raw beets smell and taste like... dirt. So I didn't know how this would be. Not to fear! Sauteeing the vegetable in olive oil and simmering with the perfect blend of spices made the soup flavourful and nummy.



Isn't it so colorful? I grabbed the green-rimmed bowl, not realizing how Christmas-y it looked.

Again, I used home made broth- it really make the difference, I'm tellin' ya! Throw together a small red onion, lots of garlic, 2 large carrots, 4 beets, 1 cup cabbage, 1 cup spinach, 1 can of diced tomatoes, pepper and horseradish mustard to taste. Mmm mmm mmm... It was suggested that the soup was served with a side dish of biscuits and tofu sour cream, but I was too tired by the time I got this soup on the stove. I'll have to try that with the next soup (chive butternut).

More work/road lunchables! Okay, this picture may not look that appealing, but I can assure you that it is quite a delicious dish. The original name is lentil and black bean salad, but I think I'll have to call my version 'Lentil and Black Bean Mash'. I cooked the lentils for a tad too long and you know they get rather mushy if you just look at them for too long.



I normally can't eat too much bean salad or I'll just get sick of it. However, the right dressing combination can make your bean salad taste amazing. For this dressing, I used olive oil, flax oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, cumin, garlic, salt, black pepper and a tiny bit of organic cane sugar.

I think I would like this meal best in a wrap or made into burgers.

Chickpea salad is also a great 'take to work' dish.


It's very simple and light. With home made dressing, you'll feel very healthy and skinny after eating it.

I like to pretend that I'm on a tropical island when it's really 40 degrees outside. It keeps the spirits up! To help get me into that state of mind, I made a citrus smoothie- simply mix together juice from a lime (limes are so little and cute!), 1 cup of orange juice, 1 frozen banana, a tbsp of maple syrup (the real stuff) and 1/2 cup of silken tofu for texture.

Then, to make it REAL fun, you drain and chop up a coconut and use the shell as a cup!



I have to say that I was very surprised to find whole coconuts NOT at Whole Foods, but at Shaws. Shaws! I had given up on the idea of using a coconut as a drinking cup until I happened to walk by a bunch at the supermarket. I couldn't tell you how excited I was to see those fuzzy creatures!

I owe it to Mike for draining, cutting and sanding these fruits. The cups are un-even, due to the fact that it's tough to get a perfect cut without the right tools, but he did a great job.

I think I might start collecting coconut shells and throw a big, tropical party in the summer when I get my new place. With the little umbrellas, people can feel like they are really by the beach, burying their toes in pink sand, shaded by palm trees and feeling the ocean breeze tickling their skin.

Or maybe they'll just feel like they're sitting in an apartment in New England sipping out of a coconut shell.

Some Soup and Lunch-ables

You'd better get used to soup posts because I make at least one pot a week!

Last week was the soothing carrot soup.



Lately I've been making a lot of 'stew-y' kinds of soup, so it was nice for a change, as the only 'meat' in this dish is the carrot. You'll notice in the picture that there are only three on a spoon- that's because there was nothing to hold them up! I usually cook with as very little salt as possible, so the carrots sunk straight to the bottom!

I sauteed some white onions with the carrots, poured on homemade broth and mixed in a pinch of salt, 1 cup of soy milk, a tbsp of Braggs sauce, a dash of pepper and, of course, tons of dried dill (okay, about a tsp).

I love, love, love dill. You'll probably find this seasoning in most of the recipes I use. It's got such a distinct taste that really brings out the flavour in most meals.

On to lunch-ables!

For work, there is absolutely nothing readily available for the munching. Not only do I prefer healthy, animal-friendly meals, but I like to save my money as well. No buying lunches everyday!

I used to find it difficult to pack wholesome lunches that would fill my tummy. I also hate using microwaves (I just don't trust the damn things) so that left out heating foods up. For the longest time I'd munch on plain rice and tofu or those sodium-filled soy cold cuts. While that can be exciting for a time, it's definitely not something your stomach should get used to. At last I began fingering through my recipe books for cold dishes, such as salads and sandwich spreads that can be easily tossed in some tupperware and carried to work. I couldn't believe how many choices there were to choose from! How could I have been snacking on processed junk for so long? Now I am no longer left starving and unhappy after lunch!

I usually make these meals on Sunday night to be as fresh as possible. I'll double or even triple recipes to make sure they last me through Friday.

Here are some of the more recent lunches I've made:

Cinnamon Rice



This dish is very sweet; it required simmering with a cinnamon stick for about 50 minutes. Included with the brown rice are mustard and cumin seeds, garlic, grated ginger (1 tsp), turmeric, cayenne pepper, green onions, carrots, peas and raisins. For the dressing, I used 2 tbsp of dark sesame oil, Braggs sauce and 1/4 of a cup of flax seed oil.

It was very nummy, but unless you are a huge fan of the spice, I would recommend removing the cinnamon stick about half-way through simmering time. It definitely had an over-powering flavour.

The next lunch-able I made was a bean and rice salad, a vegan staple if you ask me!



This was basically a smorgasbord of veggies and spices- red onion, tomatoes, red pepper, green pepper, corn, black beans, kidney beans, avocado, cilantro sprigs, cayenne pepper, tobasco sauce (just a dash to taste) and the juice of one lemon. I used an actual lemon for juicing, rather than the containers you buy at the store. It has much more intensity! Just mix all that with brown rice and 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar. I ate mine in a whole wheat wrap, using the homemade hummus and guacamole that was left over from that weekend. Mmm mmm good. And muy satisfying!

Lastly, for now, is the sesame noodle!



After boiling some buckwheat noodles, I mixed together cucumber, carrots, radishes, green onions, rice vinegar, Braggs sauce and sesame oil. I then topped it with homemade gomashio (a blend of raw sesame seeds, sea salt and kelp powder). The gomashio really made the dish happenin'. I had so much left over, I was throwing it in soups and on top of pastas for weeks!

Eating right and eating wholesome during the work day can keep you happy and on your toes. So get rid of the microwavable soup and cold cuts that have been sitting on the shelf for eons and make something! =)

Bloody Fingiz and Cookies From Heck

Well, due to a month of being sick and a month of preparation for The Palladium gig, I had no time to plan Halloween themed foods, create my costume, carve a pumpkin or even go apple picking! Halloween was practically non-existant. Now, this makes me very sad because Halloween is my absolute favourite holiday of the year. I don't know why. Maybe because it falls in my favourite season, maybe because I love horror movies and being spooked out, maybe because I love seeing kids be creative and dress up, maybe it's because I love cosplaying and creating unique costumes (often with the help of others), maybe I just love being creative in general. Or maybe, just maybe, I love apples. Whatever the reason, I skipped out this year. Almost.

Not to let this fine holiday completely slip through the cracks, I happened to see a comment on Isa's post from Bazu, about a finger recipe LindyLoo posted a year ago.

They are almond sugar cookies, shaped like fingers! Blanched almond slivers are used for the finger nails and it looks so creepy. I love it! A very simple recipe, tasty too. I have to say that the recipe directions for the dough didn't work out so well for me. The dough was incredibly dry. I had to add a lot of water to get it to a doughy consistency. Perhaps it was my mistake because the pictures of her cookies look absolutely terrific.

Either way, mine came out awesome. I couldn't find vegan/organic red decorating gel anywhere, not even online. :*( So I put a couple of drops of vegan & natural food dye around two finger nail beds. (I didn't want to waste my dye, as it was 6 bucks a bottle!)

The result?



Awesome! It gives me so many ideas for next year. Hopefully my costume will be done, I won't be sick and we can have a real party!

Now, for a blunder:

At my job, they had a bake sale to raise money for charity. When I heard 'bake sale', my ears perked right up!

I have a wonderful recipe for really soft batch chocolate chip cookies that everyone who has ever tasted loves more than anything.



Well, not this time.

My tub of sugar became infested with those little black bugs that live in your cabinets if you don't clean them out frequently. So I had to toss the whole thing! That means that in the middle of preparing my batter I realized, 'Oh. I have no sugar.' So I had to send out for them and all that was left in the supermarket was Florida Crystals demerara sugar. It was too late to go to Whole Foods. I was stuck.

So I tried it, thinking, 'What's the worst that could happen?' Let me tell you, demerara may be a very organic, raw, natural version of sugar, but it does NOT go well in cookies. It made the texture very grainy, like biting into a sand-filled cookie. The taste was a little 'off' as well, being that they add molasses.

Needless to say, no one liked them. NO ONE. Except for Mike. But I don't work with him, so it doesn't count. ;) Next time I go back to my organic cane juice sugar.

In any event, I won't be cooking with demerara in the near future. Not unless you have a recipe it actually works in?