Cat Days of Summer

People like to call them the, "dog days" of summer, but if you've ever seen a hot cat, you know the cliche line can be easily changed! Here is my "little" Hobbes, flaked out on our "old but new to us" recliner (gotta' love FreeCycle!). We've had the windows open and air conditioning off as we stain our new windows, and poor Hobbes, with all his fat and long fur can't take the heat - literally! He usually races around, tearing across the floors, jumping at the walls and generally pissing off our other cat, Bear. But with the summer heat invading his usually cool house, it's all he can do to walk to his food dish! I promise, it's really not that hot, especially with the fans going in all the rooms - it's just that he's not used to it! We provide lots of cool water and run the air conditioning when we're done working.
Meanwhile, it's never too hot for me to bake! I celebrated my last day at my elementary school practicum (for those of you unaware, I am finishing up my Masters in Library Science), by baking these Chocolate Mint cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I had baked them before for my hubby's birthday, but when I overheard the librarian I was working with rave about the combination of mint and chocolate, I just couldn't resist making them again! This time, I didn't "dollop" or "plop" the chocolate ganache on top as recommended in the cookbook, but drizzled it. I also used a mint leaf from my herb garden instead of an M&M. I think that the result is more professional and prettier than the first round! What do you think? If you do make these, be sure to halve the mint extract it calls for, or else it tastes more like toothpaste than a mint patty!
And last, I have here a great summer salad, from (you guessed it) The Candle Cafe Cookbook. It was the Spicy Soba Salad with Creamy Wasabi Dressing. As usual, I really wanted to rave about the recipe, but have some misgivings. First of all, the tofu needed to be cut into 8 pieces, not four, for the marinade to fully absorb. Second, the baking time for the tofu was half as much (or even a quarter) as was really needed to crisp up the tofu pieces. Finally, the dressing was not just, "creamy," but downright thick. I had to add more soy sauce and rice vinegar to make it even spreadable. It also wasn't spicy enough for me. Yet overall the flavors were decent, the mix of textures (especially the arame seaweed!) fun, and the cool salad a nice change from hot evening meals. And it made enough leftovers that I don't have to cook again for several days. Rating: ** stars (out of four). So, off I go to stain some more windows and care for my beautiful, almost healed tattoo :) Question of the week: What is your favorite summer salad?

Summer Celebration

Yeah, I know this has nothing to do with protein, but it has a lot to do with my summer celebration! Turning another decade older, finishing comps exams and perhaps starting a family are all excuse enough to celebrate with body art. This is my second tattoo, and it does actually have a lot to do with veganism. I see being vegan as being an integral part of the earth. The earth's inhabitants (floral or fauna) share the planet in a balance (thus the green/blue ying-yang). As vegans, we participate by trying not to harm that balance and by respecting all life. In addition, I am a born-environmentalist (before it was trendy!) and am a member of just about every group out there, from WWF to the Sierra Club (and active, not just card-carrying!). All of this is reflected in my newest body art (on my thigh). I've been wanting this design for quite a while, although my first tattoo was a cat (something else I was born loving!).

Meanwhile, I spent the week in a total haze, still not quite sure that I was finished studying and finding it difficult to relax! Luckily, this weekend's gorgeous weather made it a little bit easier for me. Unlike Dreena's rainy, cool summer, we have been in a sort of a drought. My husband hasn't cut the grass in about a month and we can barely keep my herbs and tomato plants alive. However, this weekend the temperature has dropped and we are loving every minute of it, despite the fact that there's still no rain. It gave me ample opportunity to make my weekly trip to the Farmer's Market in Fredericksburg, where I picked up a huge sack load of fresh fruits and veggies for our week's meals!
This is just one of the beautiful things I got that day. Organic, multi-variety okra. Aren't the colors amazing? And look at the different shapes and sizes! I know, most people are already saying, "eww," at the thought of this mucus producing veggie, but the only way to enjoy okra is to grill it! Simply combine some salt, pepper, ground red pepper, a tad bit of sugar, and some olive oil. Brush this on the skewered okra, along with some cherry tomatoes and onion wedges, and grill for a few minutes on each side! Divine! I promise you, this is nothing like okra in a stew or anything. They are crispy and flavor-full - I ate about half of what you see here!
Here is the cooked okra, alongside our main meal of grilled veggies. The farmer's market supplied us with cherry tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, and an enormous and very sweet red onion. These were just grilled with olive oil, salt and pepper. But we used a red wine and balsamic vinegar reduction sauce to marinate them in (after chopping into bite sized pieces), along with some basil from our back porch pot. The white stuff is Vegan Gourmet mozzarella (sorry, but nothing like the real thing!). My hubby had the veggies in a sandwich with real mozzarella and liked it well enough. The flavors are supposed to get better after a day or so. I'd say, a two and half star rating here, for the veggies (out of four). Maybe three? I always feel bad giving food a low rating :)

This last photo is a shot of Quinoa Curry from a Vegetarian Times magazine (Feb 07 issue). I didn't realize that I had made it before, and was just looking for a way to use up some leftover mango chutney (mmmm!!). This is a great dish to use quinoa - an excellent source of protein (and a complete protein at that!). Quinoa also provides as much calcium as a cup of milk! Recipe rating about three stars (despite running out of curry and thus it not being spicy enough). Well, off to do a little bit more coursework and house cleaning. I am trying very hard not to sit down and finish my new Harry Potter book in one sitting!

I made it!!

To celebrate my return to the blogging world (well, I wasn't gone that long!), I made the much anticipated vegan krispie treats from Dreena Burton's upcoming cookbook, "Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan!" I have already pre-ordered it, but if I hadn't, I'd be rushing online to Amazon to do so, just based on this recipe!!

I mentioned to Dreena a while back that I saw a recipe in a Cooking Light magazine with cranberries and pumpkin seeds, and wondered how to veganize rice krispie treats. I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the recipe and WOW~ I haven't had them in years, but these kick all the treats I have ever had, right in the ass (sorry for the language, but they do!). They are so grown-up tasting and yet so chewy and fun! The taste is incredible (I opted for some of her special add-ins). They are not burned, by the way - my chocolate chips melted - but it didn't spoil the taste or look one bit! I think they actually look quite elegant. I usually give most of my baked goods away, but this time I hoarded most of them in my fridge. The photo doesn't really do them justice. Just believe me and buy the book!!

I was gone from this blog to study for my comps exam, for my Masters in Library Science (my life long dream is to be a librarian - yay - I'm almost there!). I won't find out the results until August 27th, though - boo. It still feels like I'm in a dream, and I will wake up and have to continue studying. In fact, last night as I lay trying to go to sleep (I was a little buzzed from the wine!), I started thinking, "privacy... The Patriot Act....Lester Asheim....RSS feeds....Dewey Decimal..." I just couldn't stop! Two days of essays, nine hours of driving (DC traffic is the WORST!), and even two lost pounds due to stress (plus some MAJOR heartburn - oh wow), plus months of studying.... all worth the incredible feeling that I can now read for pleasure, spend hours at the gym or running, do not have to ignore my cats' meows to play, can eat dinner with my husband, and even do some house keeping (rats!). Best of all, I don't have to feel guilty about taking time to cook or bake!

We celebrated last night by going out to eat at probably the only vegetarian and vegan restaurant (but they also have hamburgers - yuck!) within a 50 mile radius. Sammy T's in Fredericksburg, Virginia is definitely worth the trip, if you're in the neighborhood. The prices are great, the wine and beer selection awesome (even vegan Yellow Tail!), including some locally made ones, and the vegan food - awesome! I almost always get the Spinach Fold-over, which consists of their delicious hummus, tomatoes, red onions and spinach, all cooked to melty perfection in a tortilla (folded in half, of course!). My hubby usually tries something new - this time he opted for the tempeh sandwich that he's gotten before. I don't know why he did, because he always complains that it's way too salty (and it is)! But this time, it inspired him to buy some tempeh at the store today and he's going to make his own marinade for it this week (which is a HUGE step for him - he never makes up recipes!). So, thanks to Sammy T's, I ended three years of study with smiles and a full (if still heart-burny!) tummy.

Good-bye For Now!

I say, "goodbye for now," because I have my comps exam for my Masters, coming up very shortly, and I need to devote all waking hours (ok, not including eating and working out!) to studying. So, I bid adieu until July 15th! It will be really hard not to get on here, because I do plan on cooking some simple but yummy new recipes even this weekend! Wish me luck! Here are my latest food pics - and more from the farmer's market!

This photo is of Grilled Veggie Pizza, from The Vegetarian Grill. My hubby made it for us one night and it was really good! I am still teaching him how to 'lightly' toss the veggies in olive oil - actually bought an oil mister just for that! It's pretty simple to make - just grill the veggies, add sauce and grill the pizza. He said that he grilled the pizza top first, then flipped it over and added the toppings and grilled it again. This makes for a delicious crust! The crust is the Rustic Crust, recommended by someone... much better on the grill than on a sheet in the oven.

There were tons of leftover veggies, so I warmed them in the toaster over the next night and put them over a light salad with some balsamic vinaigrette (there was plenty of oil already on them, remember?) ;)







Next up, from the Candle Cafe Cookbook, is the Mixed Crunchy Sprout Salad with Vanilla-Tahini Dressing. It was super easy to make, but the dressing was sub-par. I halved it, as usual, and still had enough for weeks! I added some maple syrup because I didn't like the taste much, but it still didn't do much for me. Kind of bland and too strong on the tahini! Sesame seeds and raisins were a nice addition, too.



Here is my newest toy, which helped me make that sub-par dressing (and also lots of other great dressings and marinades!) It is my new hand/immersion blender! I got the "top of the line," because I knew I would use it a lot - and I was right! It's also my favorite color :) Sometimes, a girl just has to treat herself, right?












When life gives you bananas.....
Make banana smoothies! This one, though the photo is blah, was really quite delicious! I don't usually use a recipe, but this time I did and was pleased. From The New Vegetarian Basics cookbook. It had a little oatmeal and nutritional yeast in it- neat, but not overpowering flavors!













Of course, you can only drink so many smoothies (and the new hand blender can't do ice!). So, on to make banana nut muffins from the same cookbook. These were a bit dense and dark, from the molasses, but differently good! Wished I had had the dates they called for, though. I love dried fruit! I sprinkled some cinnamon-sugar on top.

Well, the last photos are from the farmer's market and actually, most of the veggies in the above recipes were from above there, too! What will I do in the winter?? I thought the figs would be awesome - never seen fresh figs there before, but they were sadly over-ripe! I thought that this would do for my Fourth of July post - very blue! The red will be from my face as I run the 5 -miler that morning! Again, I will bid adieu until the 15th, so happy eating!

Tempting Tempeh!

I am so excited to use this image! Our local market is pretty good on Saturdays, and it's the highlight of my week to go there after my morning run (wish me luck on the July 4th race!). This week, I didn't get as much as I wanted, because I didn't have much moola! I did get some fresh fruit (blueberries for breakfast cereal, plus a cantaloupe and some blackberries). The green beans and red leaf lettuce in the final picture, and the red pepper in the next one, were all from the market. So was the huge mound of kale! I just love kale....thanks, Dreena, for introducing it to me! Well, I think I may have first tried it with another cookbook's recipe (sauteing it with some pine nuts and raisins), but she certainly pushes the greens! Yum!
Anyhoo, on to my food pics... I hated to move the beautiful stuffed squash pictures down, but . . . Here is the Kale and Red Pepper Slaw from (you guessed it) my cookbook of the summer, The Candle Cafe Cookbook. This turned out pretty yummy and juicy. It satisfied me for several meals -their recipes usually make a lot!








Speaking of satisfying, if you like pineapple, here are two recipes for you! The sandwich is the Barbecued Tempeh-Chipotle Burger with Grilled Pineapple and Mango-Ketchup (from Candle Cafe), and the beans are Honolulu Skillet Beans (from a Moosewood cookbook, - can't remember which one!). The sandwich was a little sweet with the incredibly luscious grilled pineapple, so if you don't like things too sweet, you can leave that off your sandwich(but try it first!).

The Mango-Ketchup was not too sweet but had a nice hint of cilantro, and was the perfect accompaniment to the tempeh! As you might be able to tell, the beans have a little of the fresh pineapple mixed in, with some orange rind. I used some red beans along with the pinto, because red beans have the most iron! The green beans were just slightly boiled in water and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Overall rating - four stars for the sandwich!! It was sweet and tangy and drooly good. Only suggestion - we didn't have time to marinate the tempeh overnight, and that might have made it a little better. I also left out some of the heat, so it could have been spicier. Oh yeah - warning with this book - their recipes make a TON of sauce! I halved the marinade, trying to save some of my expensive agave nectar, and we still had loads of marinade left over.

As for the beans, they were a tad dry, but different and good. Maybe 2 1/2 to three stars. Oh! I forgot - the bread was from the market, too! No preservatives, vegan, and no high-fructose corn syrup!!! I laughed when we compared the ingredients of this bread (four or five) to the at least twenty of the store-bought crap. Wow. I love summer and the farmer's market. My goal for this coming weekend: Fat Free Vegan's Japanese eggplant!

Summer Lovin'!

You just gotta' love summer! I visited the local farmer's market again this weekend, and came home with a whole slew of stuff, including three handmade necklaces from a local craftsman! The park where the market is, is also occasionally host to events like they had this time, with different craftspeople selling their original, local wares.

Anyway, I happened upon some squash blossoms, and remembering how I had passed them up last summer, snatched them up this time! I found lots of recipes to fry them, but didn't want to go to the bother, or the calories. Instead, I modified a Vegetarian Times recipe from online, which called for goat cheese and dried herbs for the stuffing, and then to bake them in the oven. I used Tofutti cream cheese (recommended in another recipe) and fresh herbs from my potted garden. They were killer! My hubby said they'd be better fried, but hey - who's the chef tonight? Me, that's who! They kicked ass, mostly due to the flavor of the fresh herbs. These are male blossoms. I don't think there's a whole lot of protein in the cream cheese...

Here are the blossoms just going into the oven. This picture reminds me that my oven needs cleaning :P












This was the other meal of the night: Aztec Salad from The Candle Cafe Cookbook. I just love this new cookbook. I got it in January or so, and I can't stop using it! The recipes are so fresh and inspiring! This called for marinating tempeh, then basting it with BBQ sauce (sorry, we did use bottled stuff- ran out of time!), and grilling it. It's served over a salad of red leaf lettuce, quinoa, black beans, fresh corn, red pepper, red onion, and cilantro. Most of these were also from the farmer's market. Yay, local produce! The dressing was Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette, with toasted pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top. It got the thumbs up from my hubby, a man who's not easy to please when it comes to salads.


Here's the salad before the dressing and seeds, so you can see the nice grill marks. I did let hubby do the grilling while I did everything else ;)











I found some photos from a while ago, which I never got around to posting, so here is a backlog of yummy recipes! It should hold you for a while, since I will be busy studying for my comprehensive exam for my masters in the coming weeks, as well as doing a practicum! I guess school is not out for me!

This is a long time ago recipe, also from The Candle Cafe Cookbook. It is called the Portobello Mushroom Panini, but we couldn't figure out why, since it's not grilled like a real panini! However, it still kicked ass. It consists of roasted portobello shrooms and red pepper on ciabatta bread, with an excellent Herbed Tofu Spread. We just couldn't stop raving over it! The kale was drizzled with our new favorite Sesame Tahini dressing from Vive la Vegan! The only downside: the bread was a little "holey," and the spread was leaking through everywhere. Just an excuse to lick our fingers!


This here is Chana Masala, or Indian Chickpea Stew from, you guessed it, The Candle Cafe Cookbook. Great flavor, quick and easy for a weeknight meal. My only complaint was that it was not quite a stew. I added more tomatoes than it called for and cooked it for less time, but it still turned out a little dry.







Last, and probably least, was the Soba and Snow Pea Salad from the most recent Vegetarian Times magazine issue. It was pretty good. I used the peanut dressing for another recipe. But as usual, there were too many noodles and not enough veggies! I eat low-carb on a general basis, so I rarely make sandwiches or pasta anyhow. Sorry to leave this post on such an uninspiring note! If I were you, I would scroll back to the top for a happy ending :)

Busy, busy time of year!

It's a busy time of year for us teachers, so I'll keep this short and sweet (and yummy!). My hubby was away for a bit recently, so I was able to explore some recipes that I know he'd have no interest in. For example, he doesn't like coconut or ginger flavored foods, at least at dinner time. I try to explain to him that the coconut is not at all sweet, and you really can barely tell the flavor sometimes, but he doesn't care.

So, pictured here is the Tofu Satay with Coconut Peanut Sauce, from The Candle Cafe Cookbook. I actually didn't use their coconut peanut sauce, because I still had lots left over from the Snow Pea and Soba Noodle Salad (Vegetarian Times) recipe I had made the night before (another recipe he wouldn't have cared for, I think). So, using the other sauce and some vine ripe tomatoes (not pear or grape ones), I had an excellent, hot weather dish! I prepared the marinade in the morning, and by evening it was ready to be baked! The tofu came out awesome - spicy and herby, and so perfect with the sauce!

For those interested in protein, tofu is an excellent source, with 9.2 grams per serving (4 oz.- that's almost 20% of your daily needs) with almost no saturated fat and only 86 calories! That is zero cholesterol, by the way, compared with 25mg per serving of meat. It is also a wonderful source of calcium, omega- 3's (14.4%), iron, selenium, and copper! I always mention tofu when some asks me, "but do you get enough calcium?" I was annoyed the other day at a friend asking me, "I'm concerned that you are not eating healthy enough. Are you getting all your nutrients?" If I ate any more healthier, organic, natural foods, I'd throw up.

I used the leftover coconut milk from the sauce to help cook down and flavor the red kale, which I secured at the local farmer's market. I was excited to get the kale, because it was from an "all natural" vendor, who stated she didn't use any chemicals or pesticides, but wouldn't apply for the organic label because it still allows farmers to use 5% non-organic materials! Way to go!

That weekend was also the last meeting (until the fall) for my local vegetarian group. I made these Cookies and Cream cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, for the potluck meeting. I could have eaten the icing (buttercream with crushed cookies mixed in) straight out of the bowl. Wait a minute - I did. Anyway, the cookies are Newman's Organics, not Oreos, which actually are still vegan but probably definitely not as healthy and definitely not organic. Unfortunately, the pictures came out kinda' crappy. Still, there wasn't a single cupcake left at the end!
















Last, we have the cookies I baked in record time last night, due to thunder in the distance, and then crashing all around me. I was yelling at the storm, "Stay away until I'm done baking!" It pretty much did. Thanks to Isa again, for her wonderful Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (I think they are also entitled, Gigantoid, but I made them the regular size). These got eaten up by my Sierra Club friends. If you haven't made these yet, you must!!
Well, that's it for now - I've got some studying to do and report cards to write and parent volunteer gifts to make. Oh, and a few dishes to wash...