Tuesday, December 6, 2011
My Kitchen Lately
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Oh, Autumn
Yeah, I'm over that.
I am dreaming of apple cider and pumpkin patches. I caught myself baking vegan apple pecan muffins a few days ago. I am dying to photograph the changing leaves and layer up in scarves. I am already craving pumpkin pies and winter squash. And do you know what else is lovely in the fall? Roasted veggies.
The October issue of Whole Living printed a recipe for Roasted Fall Vegetables with Lentils. I took inspiration from it and this is what followed....
Roasted Vegetables with Black Rice
Ingredients:
1 cup of organic black rice (I tend to buy from the bulk section in my local health food store)
2 1/2 cups of water
1 large organic red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 large organic carrot, chopped into two inch pieces resembling homemade matchstick carrots
1/2 medium to large organic red onion, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
1 14 oz can of artichoke hearts, drained
5 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tsp Dijon mustard
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1) Place black rice and water into a medium size pot. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer over low heat for 55-60 min.
2) Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange veggies over two baking sheets and drizzle a tablespoon of the olive oil over each baking sheet and season with salt and pepper (I also think chopped garlic would be good on here too. Feel free to add some). Bake for 20-30 min, rotating once. Keep an eye on the veggies as to not burn the bottoms.
3) In a small bowl whisk together remaining three tablespoons of olive oil, Dijon mustard, and apple cider vinegar.
4) Toss cooked rice, roasted veggies, and dressing together. Enjoy!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Funks and Avocados
Bet you thought I was gone forever.
Psych!
I have been in a funk lately. The kind of funk where nothing is inspiring to you. I haven't felt like cooking, or writing, or photographing at all for the past few weeks. It's been a very, very bad funk.
My days have consisted of toast...which I honestly ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner one day. Though in my defense I didn't just put Earth Balance on each slice- I did a little mashed avocado and sliced tomatoes as well. Peanut butter and banana slices are pretty great too. And work. And being upset that my car window broke. And watching a lot of pointless TV. And I think I've done ten loads of laundry in the past two days.
It's time to pull out of this funk.
I forced myself to look at cooking blogs this morning, because if I'm not constantly surrounding myself with food and people who pull out my passion for it, I do stupid things. Like make a lot of toast.
Oh boy. Let me tell you how happy I was to discover this recipe for Cold Avocado Soup via Joy the Baker.
Have we discussed my love for avocados? I think we should, because it is rich. Intense. Powerful. LOVE. Basically, if it were healthy to eat a whole avocado at every meal, I totally would. I find ways to use them in everything. Tofu scrambles, smoothies, stir fry, vegan sorbets. Yes, you read that right. Sorbets.
So what I'm saying is, I think this Cold Avocado Soup might be the thing to pull me out of my funk. And if that doesn't do the trick, this Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake might.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Snapshots From My Kitchen
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Homesick
I miss your yellow taxis. Horns honking.
I miss your subway tracks. The sways, the rumbles, the variety of people coming and going.
I miss the park. Its fall leaves, its paths. The running track by the pond. The bridges.
I miss the businessmen scurrying around the Financial District, strapped to their cell phones and brief cases.
I miss the lights, the feel, the energy.
I miss the sky scrapers and how it feels to be up high. To look out over the city and think, this is home.
I miss 5th Avenue. Feeling like Miss Golightly as I stroll past Tiffany's. Breathing in the fashion. Burgdorf's. H&M. Saks.
I miss the Village. The way the sun looks when it sets behind those buildings. The little shops. The cappuccino and pancakes in the cafe who's name is lost on me.
I miss places I've never even been and things I have yet to see. SoHo. Babycakes NYC. Even though it's now closed, CBGB's. The vegan joints I read about in my dining guides. Tribecca.
I miss the Met and corner cafe I ate at with my best friend the day we went. That feeling for two seconds where I almost belonged on the Upper East Side.
I miss the Brooklyn Bridge. It is beautiful. It needs no more embellishment beyond that.
I miss the sensation of coming up from the subway tunnels. Finding yourself someplace else- some other magical part of the city.
I miss the smell. Honestly, you have to be in love to miss the smell.
I miss the sense of invincibility the city gives you. Any dream can come true in New York.
I miss being there. I miss feeling as though my heart were full. That is the city's gift to me. Love. A pure, full, passionate love. A love that has yet to be matched.
New York, I love you
Monday, May 23, 2011
Adventures in Cupcake Making
This afternoon, I hauled the ingredients over to his apartment, slapped on an apron, and began showing him what I had done. He had the genius idea of putting a pan of water in the oven while it preheated so it would hold moisture. When we got to the "disaster zone" part of the recipe where we mixed the dry and wet ingredients into the Earth Balance and suger mixture, he instantly saw the very obvious problem that there was simple not enough wet ingredients to make a real batter. We added two more cups of almond milk and that seemed to do the trick. The dough turned into a beautiful cake batter and eventually into beautiful little cupcakes :)
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Sauce
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Basic Smoothie-On-the-Go
Friday, April 22, 2011
Wake- Up Smoothie
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Banana and Cinnamon Muffins
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Blame Ice Cream Makers and Food Processors
Friday, March 4, 2011
Finally...
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Coming Shortly...
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Coconut Banana French Toast
Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day. So naturally, the first recipe I tried was from the breakfast section of the book- Coconut Banana French Toast! Let me tell you, it was good. The batter was very simple to make with a very light texture to it. I am also happy to report that even though the recipe says it serves six, there was enough batter left over to refrigerate and make again!
It was a slight struggle to keep the bread from sticking to the bottom of the pan, however. I found I had to use far more Earth Balance in the pan than the recipe called for (approx. 2-4 Tbsp more!). Unfortunately, I think all the extra Earth Balance added an unintended buttery flavor to the toast. It could have simply been that the cast iron skillet wasn't the best choice for the recipe and that's what caused to sticking. I think I'll try using a griddle next time I make this.
Kim definately did good with this recipe though! I had three delicious pieces covered in banana slices and maple flavored agave nectar :)
Monday, January 24, 2011
The Julie & Julia Project, Vegan Style

But Kim's book is different. It's my mother's cooking veganized. It's literally the everyday cookbook. And starting February 1st, I'm going to cook and blog my way through it. It's not as ambitious as blogging through Mastering the Art of French Cooking (there aren't even 200 recipes in Skinny Bitch), but I'm giving myself until the end of the year to finish the project.
I hope you'll join me for this crazy ride!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Day Seventeen
Green Smoothie
Apple with peanut butter
Vegan "chicken" patty sandwich with one slice tomato, sprouts, hummus, and 1/4 avocado on whole-grain bread
Ginger Smoothie (make it vegan by using agave nectar)
Small salad (greens, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, sunflower seeds, oil & vinegar) with soy yogurt
Detox Your Bod: Lower Body, Cardio, Walk for 5 Min., Run for 10 Min.
Um ok, so I didn't exactly work out today. Why? I was lazy. Plain and simple. I just didn't want to. I will not accept this as a setback though. Tomorrow, I will work out.
Detox Your Mind: Visualize Passionate Productivity
This one was fun. I'm a photographer...who's had her degree since August and I'm still waiting tables. Honestly, I'm terrified of applying for a photography position for fear of rejection. I need to be visualizing myself in photography. I need to gain the courage to go out there and apply for a job in the field I love.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Day Sixteen
Detox Your Bod: Mix Upper Body and Lower Body Moves, Walk for 3 Min., Run for 7 Min.
Day Fifteen
One slice of whole grain toast with "cream cheese" and two kiwi
Tofu Scramble with two slices of whole grain toast and Earth Balance
Eggplant Tempeh Potpie (recipe from this lovely cookbook)
Detox Your Bod: Upper Body Moves, Cardio Moves, Walk 5 Min. Run 5 Min.
Due to the fact that I'm using an elliptical instead of running outside, I'm going to continue upping my time by five minutes every other day until I hit an hour. The upper body moves are a great extension of last week's arm toning routine.
Detox Your Mind: Get Connected
My social life has been changing slightly since starting the challenge. I'm learning how to say "no" to activities that will keep me out late and deprive me of sleep. Deprivation of sleep always leads to sleeping in later, which takes up more of my days than I'm willing to give up. However, I am clearly not willing to give up my social life either. It's more a matter of restructuring it- doing more things during the day with friends. Good thing I'm the queen of mid-afternoon coffee dates. And oh yeah, we got introduce my favorite thing ever back in yesterday! That oh-so-delicious thing called coffee :) So, I had a little coffee date with a friend. I also managed to keep it to one cup of drip coffee before switching to water.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Day Fourteen
What I Ate?
Blueberry-Flax Smoothie (2 servings worth over the course of the day)*
Tofu Scramble with two slices of toast and Earth Balance
Eggplant Tempeh Potpie (recipe from this wonderful cookbook)
Detox Your Bod: Core Series, Arm Toners, Walk for 5 Min., Jog for 20 min.
Unfortunately, I was feeling under the weather today and didn't have much energy to do anything, but watch football and The Golden Globes. Back on track tomorrow :)
Detox Your Mind: Do Some Zen CleaningTapped into my newly discovered zen-like enjoyment of dish washing. And believe me, I had a lot of dishes to wash after baking the Eggplant Tempah Potpie!
Day Thirteen
What I Ate?
Tofu scramble! with two slices of whole grain toast and Earth Balance
Soy burger with tomato, 1/4 avocado, spinach, single slice of "cheese"
Strawberry Soy Smoothie (I actually made this with hemp milk as opposed to soy)*
Small garden salad (greens, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, sunflower seeds, oil and vinegar dressing)
Detox Your Bod: Core Series, Arm Toners, Walk for 5 Min., Jog for 15 Min.
Guess who held Crow for longer than two seconds today! Small, steady prgress...
Detox Your Mind: Repair a Relationship
*Make it vegan by using agave nectar instead of honey