My Trip to Washington!

In early May I hopped a plane and headed to Blaine, WA to visit my good friends Langley and Yahtil. First, let me just send out another giant THANK YOU to them for allowing me to come stay with them for 8 glorious days. I cannot wait until I take another trip up. You guys are AWESOME!!!

Now, on to the food and the reason I gained weight while away. (So worth it!)

Potato and Leek soup in a sourdough bread bowl... YIKES! ::drool::

Yahtil made this from scratch and it was absolutely amazing. I had this the second night I was in town. My first time ever having leek. Must have more often.

Potato/onion soup:

Yet another wonderful creation by Yahtil. I think I'm now addicted to bread bowls. I always appreciate my meat eater friends that go out of their way to make something that I can eat. That's some serious love right there! Some seriously tasty foodage as well. I wish I could re-live these 2 soups.

Need I say more?:

A nice, hot soy latte from Woods Coffee. Nice place! Apparently it's a Pacific Northwest chain. Wish we had it here.

Soy Latte:

And look how cute it is from the outside. This location that we went to was right on the ocean. We sat and drank coffee on the water and it was magic!

Woods Coffee:

I love you, Clif Bars!:

I hate to say that I live on Clif Bars, but some days I am so wrapped up in the crazy that I have to have these just so I have something to hold me over until I get a good meal in. Well, while I was in WA I was able to find these 4 flavors that I didn't even know existed! I bought like 3 of each and brought them home with me.

Black Bean Burgers:

These weren't too bad. I've had some nasty vegan burgers before and these weren't a total disappointment. I still prefer my homemade black bean burgers over these any day though.

Vegetable Soup:

This was yet ANOTHER Yahtil vegan creation. No bread bowl, but I ate it so fast I barely noticed.

BLOOM!!!:

This I was insanely excited for! This was my first trip to an all vegan establishment. Langley had told me that there was a vegan restaurant in Bellingham and I was so grateful that I finally got the chance to go!

Hummus w/ Veggies and Flax Crackers:

This was some good hummus. I don't usually have hummus as thick as this, but that mattered not. The veggies were clean and fresh and delicious. The flax crackers were also a great addition to this spread. I want to re-eat this!

Aaaaaaaand... the one food I had that thoroughly surprised me...

BBQ Tempeh Sandwich:


Closer shot:

Why did it surprise me? Not because it was one of the best ever tempeh sandwiches I've had so far, but because it had beets on it. BEETS! I HATE BEETS! At least... I thought I hated beets. I remember hating beets my whole life. Turns out if they are made just right I really do enjoy them! They accompanied the tempeh quite well in this case. Look at that! One more food I am allowing back into my diet.

My new addiction... HARD CIDER!:

I was introduced to hard cider during my trip to WA. I must admit, I wasn't sure I would like it because it looked like beer and sort of smelled like beer. MUCH better than beer. Beer I don't really have a taste for. Cider has a new place in my heart. Woodchuck brand and Wyder's brand are both vegan friendly. I've tried Raspberry, pear and apple flavored and Pear is most definitely my favorite. Thanks guys!

La Fiamma Pizza:

Pre-pizza Salad:

We all know I'm a sucker for a good vegan pizza. And this contained yet another food I have hated my whole life... OLIVES! I barely noticed the olives on this one. there were plenty of flavores to even out the taste so I was extremely happy.

Well, that's the majority of my pictures of the food I ate. There were many other meals that I just didn't get the chance to photograph mainly I inhaled my food before I remembered to take the pictures. I'm dying for another visit to WA.

-Lee

Veggie Pizza at California Pizza Kitchen.

I don't live in the most vegan friendly city. We all know that. Luckily I have a little help finding safe places to have food thanks to VeganXpress iPhone app. The roommates and I wanted a day out and about and we ended up in a big shopping area here in Vegas. Someone suggested California Pizza Kitchen. I hadn't been there in about 3 years or so for obvious reasons. Luckily I used VeganXpress to find out if there were any options for me. I was happy to find that the Neapolitan crust (thin crust) is vegan, so I ordered the vegetarian without cheese. On this pizza we have:

-Baby broccoli

-Grilled Japanese eggplant

-Roasted corn

-Sliced red onions

-Mushrooms

-Sun-dried tomatoes

-Tomato sauce.

It was light and pretty good tasting. It was the exact opposite of the kind of pizza I use to eat. I think had I tried I might have been able to put the entire pizza away all by myself! But it was too good not to share. Maybe next time I'll give it a shot. :o)

-Lee

The slacking is over. Back to blogging!

It's been a long time. The last blog I posted was back in July. Wow, that was quite some time ago. I've come back to blogging because I miss it. Yes, my life will be insanely hectic for the next 9 months as I prepare myself for graduation, but that doesn't mean I have to give up on what makes me happy. Blogging made me happy for the 1 year that I dedicated myself to it. It was so much fun and it helped me learn a lot more about what it is to be vegan and how to be a healthy one at that.

Ok, enough chatter. Here are a few things that I've eaten lately:

Grits and Kale/tomato/garlic tofu scramble:



Close Up Shot:

This is definitely one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. Grits are amazing AND filling. I didn't feel hungry again for many, many hours. Plus, you can't go wrong with kale, tomatoes and garlic.

Sauteed Seitan Over Rice

When I first started cooking seitan I thought it was horrible. I followed someone's recipe and found it to be completely YUCK! That's right! Com-plete-ly YUCK! I gave up on it. Few months later, being the open person that I am, I decided to give it another go. I used Isa Moskowitz's Simple Seitan recipe from VEGANOMICON and I have never had a problem with it since. Thanks, Isa.

Israeli couscous w/ Spinach and Tempeh:

This was very good. It was one of those "I just got home from working all day/throw something together really quick because I'M STARVING" dinners. Not a complete dinner but it was midnight and I just needed food.

The PIZZA:

Now that my good friend Heather lives in town again it gives me the opportunity to cook with someone. She's not vegan but is very interested in learning about the lifestyle and is open to trying just about any food I throw at her. This pizza was simple. Red pepper tomato sauce, sliced sun dried tomato Tofurkey Italian Sausages, thick slices of mushroom and topped off with Daiya Vegan Cheese. The melting was pretty good, but what got me was the taste of Daiya. Absolutely delicious. Won't mind using this every time I make pizza. Ialso sprinkled some Athens Seasoning on the crust for a little extra somethin'.

MmMmMm... So good:


The Holidays:

Thanksgiving was a bust. I didn't cook anything! I just went to my sisters house and filled up on my brother's magical alcoholic concoctions. My family was pretty upset that I didn't bring anything that I could eat. I really should have. I have no excuses. However, Christmas was much different. I made myself Christmas dinner for the first time. I was very happy with it! Even my family was eating my food.

Mashed Garlic Red Potatoes w/ Kale, Green Onion:

Garlic Infused Seitan Roast w/ carrots, broccoli, mushroom:


My plate assembled:



No Recipes this post, but I am having a much anticipated Vegan dinner party at my good friend Rob's house on the 31st. There will be plenty of pictures and I'll definitely throw some recipes at you. I may even have video footage for you all!

-Lee

Smoothie?! Shake?! Confused!! More Pizza Too?!?!

"Smoothies are generally made of fruit or vegetables; shakes are usually made of ice cream."

This is just one of the answers that I've gotten trying to find the difference between the 2. It is also the one that was straight to the point without babbling on and on. HOWEVER... What do you call soy ice cream + fruit + soymilk? It is ice cream based so it's a shake, right? BUT WAIT! It contains mostly berries! So, it's a smoothie, right? A smake? A shoothie? Yea... I could go around and around. All I know is, Landry likes to make them and I like to eat them. Like I said, he WILL be making these all summer. First up:

Soy ice cream, strawberries, soymilk and Strawberry Milkshake Oreos. I'm pretty sure this one counts as a shake. So, shake it is!

It was tasty. Can't have too many of these though. I'd like to get rid of a few more lbs before summer and these are not the way to achieve that! However, they are very tasty.

Next up:

Apple, blueberry, strawberry, soy ice cream and soymilk. This one tasted more fruity, so I say smoothie.

What can I say? Even he can't get enough of his own creations. Haha, he's even got a little on his shirt!

Now, on to my pizza. And YES, I know that I have been posting it a lot lately but darnit, I like it. This time I didn't make it. I found somewhere to make a vegan pizza for me! I went to hole Foods with Joelle and they have a pizzeria right inside. I asked them what their sauce and dough contained and it was all vegan. They also pulled a pack of Follow Your Heart Vegan Mozzarella of the shelf for it.

Mushroomhalves, spinach, thick sliced tomatoes, roasted garlic and vegan mozzarella... It was very tasty.

Up close and personal: (shook a little extra seasoning on it.)

Seeing as I will not be using my oven or stovetop this summer, I will probably pick up a pizza once a month so I can treat myself.

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.

Slap Yo Mama Goodness.

When I was grocery shopping the other night I had a crazy craving for pizza. I don't eat pizza too often. Lately I have been wanting it like crazy (That's what she said... Damnit Andrew) I didn't make the crust myself, I bought a vegan safe one.

From the Bottom up:
-Pizza sauce
-Mushroom sauce (1 mushroom bullion cube + 1 cup soymilk cooked/whisked until condensed.)
-Tofu Crumbles (tofu crumbled n cooked until all water evaporated, add 1tbsp margarine, 1 tbsp ground flax seeds and 1 tbsp nutritional yeast dash garlic powder.)
-Mushrooms tossed in Olive Oil
-Green Onions

Pre-cooked Pizza


Pre-cooked up close






Out of the oven


Out of the oven up close


SLICES!!!

It tasted too good. I will probably make another one really soon. I had this for dinner last night, lunch today and then some more! But tonight's dinner made me even happier:

BBQ Seitan on a Bagel

Yea, all I had was bagels or English muffins. I told myself I will not buy any more breads until I finish the ones that I have. I also wasn't very big on Seitan. I am now happy with it. I made the Simple Seitan from Veganomicon and let the seitan refrigerate in the broth for 2 days before I used it. It is sooooooo tasty! I sliced it up into small pieces and dry cooked them in a pan to get all the liquid out of them. Then I tossed in 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 cup chopped onion and let the seitan get crispy and the onions cook. When they were nicely browned and crispy I threw in 1 tbsp tomato paste (for kick), 1 tbsp water (to loosen up the tomato paste) and 1 tbsp of my favorite bbq sauce. Stirred and added 1/2 tsp garlic powder.

My meat eater roommate tried it and said it was very good. I agree!!! Next time I'll have it on something easier to chew than a bagel, lol. Tasted good on it though!