Finally, a girls day!

Yes, I am one of those gals who has mainly all male friends. It's not that I chose for it to be that way. I just stay close to who I connect with and I guess I don't connect well with too many women. I have very few female friends and the few that I do have I don't see too often. Don't get me wrong, I love my boys and I wouldn't trade them for anything but sometimes you just need a day with the girls. Yesterday was that day for me and it was great!

I didn't have to work until 6 p.m. and I didn't know what to do with my day. I hadn't seen my friend Magda in a while so I contacted her to see if she wanted to hang out. Luckily she was off yesterday and we had a day of shopping around, lunch & laughter.

LUNCH!!! I am an absolute sucker for Paymon's Mediterranean Cafe Falafel. It is quite possibly my favorite thing to eat. Magda had never been there and I felt it was necessary for her to try it out. We both ordered the falafel, only I made mine a Falamus. (Falamus = Falafel w/ hummus poured all over it. SO AMAZING!) Here are some pictures of lunch.

My Falamus. Look at that lovely hummus:


After the first 3 BIG bites:

Let me also say that you CAN NOT go to Paymon's and NOT get the Athen's Fries. They truly are a thing of beauty. The best fries I have ever had. Period.

Close up of the Heaven in potato form:

The last time I went to Paymon's I purchased a container of Athen's Fries Seasoning. One of the best purchases I've ever made!

What a great day.

Ok, so I kinda have this... Pizza addiction.

I can't stop. I swear it's a problem.

Before the oven: Sauce, mushroom, crumbled tofu w/ crushed
garlic, topped w/ Follow Your Heart Mozzarella soy cheese


I rubbed olive oil on the crust of the pizza and added Athen's
seasoning from Paymon's Mediterranean Cafe. SO GOOD!!


The crust puffed up nice and thick. The seasonings made the crust
absolutely perfect! I won't make a crust without it now!!!


Cut up and being devoured.



AND AS A BONUS!! A tasty Chocolate pb shake.

The heat is already here?!

Summer is my least favorite season. Mainly because I live in Las Vegas and it gets INCREDIBLY HOT. I am SO not read for 100-120 degree weather. Spring is here and the heat is beginning. It was about 95 degrees here today. I was off work and school so I didn't leave the house. With the heat coming I am preparing myself for a long summer of never turning on the oven or stove top. This means NO BAKING! It will be hard. Yes, it will be hard.

Last summer I was a new vegan and was learning to cook all new things so I used my stove plenty and suffered in the heat of my apartment. My air conditioner never could counter the heat coming from the stove. The roommate hated it. This year I am not going to go through all of the fuss. Right now the nights are pretty cool so I will be doing cooking during the hours when it is cool outside and storing most of what I make in the freezer for easy microwaving later on.

In addition to having frozen meals waiting to just be popped into the microwave I will be adapting more of a raw diet for the summer. Not completely raw but a lot of what I eat will be. Most of my summer consumption will consist of:

-Cold teas (3 tea bags in 2 Qt water and let sit for a few hours makes the best cold tea!)

-Smoothies

-Tons of raw fruits & vegetables

-Tofu salads, bean salads, pasta salads, corn salads, fruit salads

-LOTS of veggie sushi (the roommate's rice cooker doesn't generate a whole lot of heat.)

-Granolas and Mueslis

-Salads and homemade salad dressings

-Raw soups

-Homemade trail mixes
-Loads of Hummus
- & More!!!

My roommate/bestie is the King of Smoothies. He can't cook but he sure can make a mean smoothie. He made me one recently! It was so good:

He made me a pineapple/Mango smoothie. I don't think he realized that I am going to be getting him to make me smoothies all summer long.

Lemon-Blueberry Mini Pies

-1 and 1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen)
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 lemon
-2 cups all purpose flour
-3/4 cup vegan margarine
-dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350°

Take your lemon and cut off all of the peel leaving nothing but the insides and remove the seeds. In a food processor, combine 1/2 cup of the blueberries, the sugar and the lemon. Combine until blueberries and lemon have broken down and a sugary sauce has formed. Empty contents into a small sauce pot and add the other 1 cup of whole blueberries. Cook until the sugar is condensed and the sauce slightly thickens. Don't let it thicken too much. 7-10 minutes on medium heat should do it. Turn the fire off and let the sauce sit until you're ready to use it.

While that cooks down prepare your crust. Combine flour, margarine and salt and mix well. I used an electric hand mixture on the lowest setting and mixed until all of the flour and margarine has combined forming tiny dough balls (HAHAHA!!!) I used 3 mini non-stick cake pans. Layer each mini pan with a not too thick layer of crust along the bottom and about halfway up the sides forming a bowl. Pour your sauce in your pan and top it with crumbles of the crust. Sprinkle a little sugar on top of each pie.

Bake for 20-25 minutes and enjoy!

It's so ugly... yet so tasty.

So, I can cook the H-E- double hockey sticks out of a dinner. I am also good at baking cookies and cakes. BUT!!! I cannot decorate a cake to save my poor little vegan life! LOOK AT IT:

It's so ugly! I really tried too! I just have to accept the fact that decorating isn't my thing. On the other hand, it tasted great! Chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream frosting (no actual butter), chocolate coconut ganache, strawberries... MmMmMmMm... If I was menstrual right now I'd be in HEAVEN! Then again, I might have broken down in tears because of the ugliness.

HAHA! My poor kitchen: