Potatoes, Vegan Blue cheese, and Kitties!!!

                                           
My favorite vegan YouTube couple did it again! These buffalo potato wedges are so tasty! I made them last night, and I served them wrapped in lettuce leaves, and I dipped them in FYH vegan blue cheese dressing.

I need to take several moments to sing the praises of this dressing. When I tried their vegan ranch, I thought that really they had reached the top of the "nailed it" charts. I thought there could be no more nailing. Until I tried their vegan blue cheese. What really makes it is both the ranch and the blue cheese smell like the original as soon as you open the bottle. If FYH weren't a known vegan company, you would be tempted to re-read the ingredients! This dressing went PERFECTLY with the spicy potatoes! Somehow they have managed to capture that really strong, blue cheese-y flavor! I really don't know how they did it, but I am in love. Blue Cheese dressing was a favorite of mine for two reasons, one being the taste, and the other being it makes me feel close to my grandparents. They were the ones that taught me to love the creamy, tangy taste. I've tried to make several vegan versions, and they were okay, it's easy to mimic the texture, but they didn't have that pronounced tang. Both this and the ranch are definitely on the pricier side of dressings, so I can't have these all the time, but they are worth every penny, and these will be on regular "splurge" rotation for sure!
I took a picture of my meal, but for the love of it all I can't put it on my blog. The potato wedges were not very photogenic the way I plated them in my favorite bowl. While plating, I was very hungry, and I was thinking more of eating than pretty pictures. I feel my picture would do the wedges a disservice. These are perfect for people who might not be crazy about cauliflower, and feel left out of the cauliflower wing movement.
I did however get some adorable kitty pictures, so I will leave you with those. They are much more appealing!

We both really do fit!

I swear Joan(named after the late great Joan Rivers) loves the camera. I fear she would be a reality starlet if she were human!

Chunk is a bit less camera friendly, but still very aware of his charms.

And Afro has decided that the double wide cat scratcher makes the best bed in the place! The funniest thing about this is she is one of my cats that hates catnip. She hides when I hand it out, and if she gets too close she gets extreme peppermint face. But this double wide is one of the places that I dispense catnip, so it's pretty nippy.  Silly girl!

Must Haves

Look at that color!

I've been reflecting alot lately on my life, and my journey to health and happiness. I've tried a lot of different things, diets, and suggestions. I've tried Raw till4, raw all the time, and various juice/smoothie cleanses just to name a few. None of those things hurt or helped me. I always notice a certain vitality that comes from lots of raw fruit and vegetables, but the down side is I don't ever feel fully satisfied. When I first embarked on this journey, I discovered several well known vegan health "gurus" on YouTube that I looked to for some tips. For awhile I was way into these channels, and I really gave them my full support. But, slowly I started realizing that for one thing I didn't have the access to the abundance of fruit and veg living in PA. in the winter. I also need variety in my life, and while I know bananas are inexpensive, I cannot live on ten banana smoothies. I also do love fruit, especially in the summer, but in the cooler months I lose most interest in fruit, and want savory breakfasts. It was getting frustrating because a lot of these YouTubers tell you your doing it wrong if you don't have the same amazing results as them.
I've gotten rid of the gurus, and have been slowly finding what works for me, and my body. And finding that balance for myself. We are all individuals, and while I live for ideas and suggestions, it's very important to honor and respect your body. For me, I come from a very disordered eating past. Very restrictive. Even before I became disordered, my food background was very restrictive as a kid. My mom was a health fanatic, and as an adult I can now appreciate where she was coming from, but as a kid I sometimes wished pizza could be a regular white crust, not super whole wheat, and I wished maybe for one sandwich without sprouts. So, for me having the pressure of eating only raw, or only organic, or whatever else is not the life I want. I spent years as a bulimic wishing I could just have a normal meal with friends without having all the stress, purging, and guilt. I always wanted eating to just be a normal affair like it seemed to be for everyone else. So, having to make a production of finding a fruit or raw only restaurant is not something I desire even a little bit. The only restriction I have, and will always have is the food needs to be vegan. That to me doesn't even feel like a restriction, because I don't desire non vegan food at all.
So far I have found that following more of a starch solution diet is what makes me feel the best, and most satisfied. But I don't even follow that to a T. I like to have vegan junk food every now an again, and some days I eat a lot of raw vegetables, other days I eat a lot more cooked. But there are two helpful hints I've picked up along the way that I can't live without. One is green juice. I love the way it makes me feel, and I notice a drastic change in how I feel if I go too long without it. I'm talking about homemade green juice. When I was traveling to Seattle and couldn't make my own, I stopped a few times and got various bottled green juice. It just isn't the same. A lot of the nutrients go wherever nutrients go to die while the juice is sitting there in those clear plastic bottles. My favorite green juice has kale, cucumber, celery, cilantro or parsley, ginger, and pears. Apples are good to, but pears add an extra sweetness that I love. The second healthy habit is lemon water. Every morning I squeeze one lemon into 15oz. of water, and sip on it all morning along with my tea. I've been doing this for well over a year, and I cannot recommend it enough. An old co-worker of mine told me that her 90 plus grandma has been doing the same thing for as long as she remembers, and also mentioned that she just doesn't feel the same without her daily lemon water.
What is a healthy habit that you can't live without?

Laughter is the Cure??

                                          
This is another YouTube channel that I really enjoy. This parody really cracked me up. If you've ever watched Unnatural Vegan,or Happy Healthy Vegans videos, you will totally crack up. The grey rainy season is HERE in Seattle, and I really appreciate anything that can make me laugh
I tried a new to me Kombucha flavor yesterday, and it was amazing! I need to try to replicate this flavor with my own home brew. Which my first Seattle batch should be ready in about one more week!! Woot Woot! I'm excited to experiment with different flavorings, and I'm SUPER excited to be able to drink as much as I want!

This tasted like strawberry gum, in the best possible way. I didn't really taste much hibiscus, but that's fine because the strawberry flavor was so delicious. This is a drier kombucha, and drier isn't my favorite, but with this flavor it was okay. The strawberry was sweet enough to balance the dryness. I would definitely buy this flavor again. I know it sounds funny, and not very fancy but even with the million and one kombucha options in Seattle, Kevita remains one of my favorites. Their ginger kombucha is hands down my favorite.
I also finally baked up some cinnamon rolls that I got at good old grocery Outlet. They needed to be used, and to be honest it was just one of those days where an ooey gooey cinnamon roll felt very necessary.

I wasn't as pretty with the icing as I would have liked. It came out much faster than expected. These hit the spot. Here is some more info, including ingredients. These are by no means health food, but at least they aren't full of bleached flour and shortening. This was a great outlet find. I have to admit I haven't eaten a lot of cinnamon rolls in my day, and I really missed out!
I'm kind of in another cooking rut. I struggle with my kitchen. When i do make a recipe that is a little bit detailed, the lack of space gets on my nerves so much that it just hardly seems worth the stress and frustration. I enjoy cooking, and I enjoy making my own recipes, so I feel frustrated by the whole thing. I plan on going through my library cookbook today and make a list of ingredients for my Trader Joe's trip tomorrow. I'm hoping to catch some inspiration, and I'm hoping to catch some real fighting spirit. I just need to be perkier about the whole thing. UUGGHH. Hopefully I will have some beautiful food to talk about this week!
Happy Sunday!

I Love the WOOHOO!

I tried a few new to me things yesterday that I thought I would talk about and share the love. I was out doing some thangs, and needed to get kitty litter and food on my way home. As a side note, when you are just shy of being a crazy cat lady, it seems litter is always on the "Things I need" list. Anyway, I stopped at a store that is not one I usually go to, and as always I found a couple of new to me items that I could not resist.

Fred Meyer is the store I was at, and It's kind of like a superstore like a Super Target. As another side note, super stores super scare and super overwhelm me. Anyway, they also have a little natural, or organic section like Wegman's. So, I found these gems on sale, and after making sure they were vegan, I had to try them. I find chips made out of things other than potatoes to be interesting, and also very hit or miss. These are a HIT. Like I'm talking Michael Jackson in his heyday hit. I've become pickier about my chips since getting healthier. I am not a fan of chips that are too healthy, but I also don't enjoy super greasy snacks the way I used to. So, these strike that perfect balance. They are light and crispy in texture, with the perfect amount of salt. The main ingredients are chickpea flour, and rice flour. They are gluten free and non GMO certified. Although they are made with rice flour, they have a nice light texture, unlike rice crackers. I remember I was a nanny for a child with a gazzilion food allergies, wheat being one and those rice crackers were a common snack, and I just felt so bad for the kid. Don't even get me started on the rice flour bread. Anyway, here is their website. I am totally in love, these are my new favorite snack.

I love that Lightlife seems to be making a lot more vegan burgers and such. As a vegan, it's so easy to get discouraged, but when I see companies offering more vegan options, that tells me that there must be a higher demand for vegan food, and that is a win. This is the second flavor of vegan burger I've tried, and like the first this one gets all the thumbs up. It is a "meatier" style burger, and while not as "meaty" as say the beast burger, it's delicious in it's own right, and I would for sure serve it to a skeptical non-vegan, and watch their eyes roll back in delight.
I had my burger on a jalapeno hamburger bun! Who knew they even made those? I am a sucker for an onion bun, so I figured how could this be bad? What really helped was that the buns had a huge WooHoo! sticker on them, they were on sale for $.99!!!

They are really good, and they went perfectly with the burger. The jalapeno flavor is really mild, but it's there. I would definitely buy these buns again, even if they weren't on sale.

I would have liked to have spruced the burger up with some pickles, avocado, etc. but I got home later than usual, and I needed to eat STAT. So, here is my burger with a little lettuce, some Just Mayo, and that's it. But you know what? To me, that's the true test of a good burger. One that doesn't need a million extra's to make it tasty. If you see these burgers, give them a try. They have a black bean patty also, which I've had and it is also really delicious and satisfying.
I'm convinced that a huge amount of people really don't want to hurt or kill animals, but meat and cheese and such is INGRAINED in us from birth. At least here in 'Merica. Especially in certain parts of this country. I also think a lot of people are apathetic and want what they want. They don't want animals to be harmed, but they don't want to live a life without meat and cheese. So, all of these companies making some excellent vegan products makes me happy. It's now at the point where you can have a greasy burger, with juices flowing down your wrist, and no one has too die! Look at that burger, it looks like most fast food burgers. People are scared of vegans, and vegan food. Although many of us are not militant, and judgmental, a lot of vegans are. And some of the most militant have big voices, so we have to keep fighting the good fight, and showing non vegans that you can be kind, and have a greasy burger with some stellar mayo at the same time!!

Happy Caturday!

Cats and Eats

Chunk and Kanye, with an Afro photobomb

I wanted to say Happy Friday in the cutest way possible! My three little grey kitties blending in with the Seattle grey! Cutest spoons ever!
With all the grey, I needed a pick me up, so I added lots of ginger to my orange carrot juice.

Ginger always makes me feel energized and refreshed. I like the combination of ginger and parsley in my green juice too.

I had some potatoes that needed to be used, so I chopped them and roasted them with a little bit of coconut oil, salt, pepper, turmeric, and smoked paprika. Coconut oil is definitely my favorite for roasting potatoes. I then topped these morsels with one of my new favorite condiments.

It's like HP sauce got mixed with some cajun spices. It is tangy, garlic-y, a little spicy. It's everything. I randomly saw this somewhere, maybe Target, or the grocery close to my house, not sure but I feel like it is as essential to my pantry as sriracha. It's so good, I try to think of things to make so I can use this sauce.
For dinner I made the Cold Szechuan Noodle Salad on page 176 of Fire and Spice by Robin Robertson. You know how sometimes when you order cold sesame noodles it's a tahini/peanut butter based sauce, and other times a thinner sesame oil/soy sauce based sauce? Well, this is the second one and I love it so much! The recipe called for egg free Chinese noodles, or linguini, but in the spirit of using what you have, I used fettuccine noodles and it was just fine. I served mine with some oven baked tofu and it hit every spot.

I'm excited to try more recipes from this book. I want to cook the whole Asia chapter!
Happy Friday!

Cookies With The Vegan Zombie!

I had a sweeter day than usual yesterday. I usually prefer savory breakfasts, but I had frozen some bananas and I needed o use them before they became freezer burnt. I had always kind of thought you could freeze bananas for a really long time, but I've noticed they shrivel up and become really brown after too long in the freezer. I wasn't in the mood for a smoothie, so I decided to really go old school and make some banana soft serve, or nice cream, or whatever the kids are calling it. I had some cinnamon raisin peanut butter, and it just seemed like a perfect match.

This is just a splash of coconut milk, three or four frozen bananas, and a glug of this peanut butter. the glug was probably about two tablespoons or so. It was really delicious. I forgot how amazing banana ice cream is.
I also wanted to make cookies, and I decided I wanted to make vegan toll house cookies. I mean, who doesn't have toll house memories? I've experimented with a lot of the healthier recipes, you know swapping applesauce, or mashed banana for the oil/earth balance. I've had varying degrees of success, but the texture is always off. When you use applesauce, they come out mush cakier, and not as flat, and they taste okay, but it's not the true toll house experience. Yesterday I wanted real cookies, no applesauce. To be honest, I loathe applesauce. Anyway, I had some whole flax seeds that I needed to grind, and my Ninja would not grind them! It was so weird, after trying every way to grind them, they are still whole seeds, no damage done. I think the blades need to be at the base of the blender to grind seeds. So, I had no other egg replacer, and I was bummed! But, then I thought, what about peanut butter chocolate chip cookies?  And guess who came to my rescue? The Vegan Zombie! I love those guys so much! I remember when I moved to PA., and had been living there for a few months, and I just felt soooooo alone, and out of place, and sick of getting teased for being vegan, I watched a Vegan Zombie video, and I commented, or Emailed them I can't remember. Anyway, the next day when I woke up they had responded, and I felt so not alone in that moment, and admittedly a little star struck that they would respond to me! Ha . Anyway, I enjoy their videos, and every recipe I've followed from them has been a winner! Here is the recipe I used.

C is for cookies!

I didn't change anything about the recipe, and they turned out amazing! They are the perfect amount of peanut butter-y to chocolate chip, and they're the perfect cookie texture. I like my cookies on the softer side, but I feel another minute or two in the oven would satisfy the crunchy cookie lovers. It's getting to be that entertaining part of the year, so if you need a good cookie recipe, I would try this one. It's been a million years since I've had a non vegan peanut butter cookie, but these taste exactly how I remember peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to taste.
Sometimes it's good to just make some damn cookies. I'm talking about full EB, full sugar cookies. Should we eat these every day? Of course not, or at least eat some greens first! Ha. Sometimes a girl just needs a cookie. I feel like the trend of vegan for health is great, because whatever saves animals works for me, but I also think it's caused a lot of food judgment, and I think it's sad. It seems like any vegan who dares to eat something processed, or somewhat unhealthy has to preface it with a whole "I don't typically eat this way", "Eating kale is best" or whatever disclaimer they choose. I'm going to go climb a hill, have a kale salad, and a cookie.

MidWeek Munchies for the Soul

I had to return some library books and pick up some cat food yesterday, and I also found some treats for this weeks MidWeek Munchies.  Human treats of course!

Someone's packaging got a face lift!

I was feeling a little blue yesterday, and the rain wasn't helping matters, and so I just had to get my first tofurky of the season. Sometimes I dream of these in the summer, so this is one part of fall and winter I do enjoy. These roasts have a horrible reputation, even among vegans and for the life I don't know why. I get that they aren't health food and all of that, but I think they are super tasty, and I have fed this to a few dubious non vegans who were reluctantly surprised and pleased. Tofurky must be sprucing up their image or something, I noticed their artisan sausages had new packaging as well. I was going to take a picture, but there were a lot of people around and I didn't want to feel like a total wank.

Field roast makes this meatloaf that is AMAZING. No real surprise there. It's similar to their celebration roast, but it's a lighter texture. It doesn't have that super chewy, toothsome texture. The package has heating directions, but honestly I've never gotten that far. I eat it cold on sandwiches, or I have a few slices for a snack. With either yellow mustard, or HP sauce. If you haven't tried it, you should keep an eye out for it. I had to buy more Ritter bars with marzipan. I can't get enough! And Seattle chocolates makes these truffle bars that blow me away. It's a certain lighter texture that you don't always get with dark chocolate.

I was feeling sentimental so I picked up the new issue of vegetarian times. They are really adding a lot more vegan recipes to their magazine, so I like to support them when I can. I feel like I've been reading that magazine for a hundred years! And there is something comforting about the articles. I love snark as much as the next person, but their lack of snark and lack of judgement is refreshing in today's world, in my humble opinion. In the back I have cocoa powder and vanilla extract. They look a little fuzzy. I'm still working on getting good angles and such for my pictures. Sorry!

Here are the library books I chose. Any cookbook with fire and spice in the title is coming home with me since I LOVE spicy! And Jonathan Tropper is one of my favorite authors. I have so many favorites, but he and Mike Gayle are two of the best.

This dish would certainly not win any awards for beauty, even if the picture were better. But after trudging around in the rain, my blues hadn't exactly gone away, and I was in need of some comfort food. Like warm, stick to your ribs, give you a hug comfort food. So, I made some mashed potatoes, and for the first, but most certainly not the last time, Silky chickpea gravy from Appetite for Reduction. I found the recipe here. I also topped the potatoes with some fire roasted corn, and roasted Brussels sprouts. This chickpea gravy is going to be made quite often this winter. For some reason, more than anything else I crave mashed potatoes when I need comfort. I don't make them as often as I'd like because I have struggled with finding a vegan gravy that I like. This is tasty, and healthy I'd like to add. I would proudly serve this gravy to any skeptical non vegan.
Today I'm going to once again try to make a vegan chocolate chip cookie. I struggle with perfect vegan cookies. I have a few cake recipes that are really great, but chocolate chip cookies are a struggle. I'm thinking of adding cocoa powder to the mix for chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I also need to go climb my hill. Maybe I should do it twice today since I'm making cookies!
What food do you crave when you need comfort?

Gratitude

I got this picture of Chunk and Kanye looking cuddly and sweet. This was about two seconds before Kanye started tormenting Chunk by licking his fur backwards until he leaves. This is kind of her thang. One of the other kitties, Scrappy does it too. But they sure look sweet for the moment!

Delicious chocolate!

I painted my cabinet, the paint worked, and I now have deep drawers for spices and condiments, and other pantry staples. One of my cupboards has several bottles of something shoved in the back that I just can't reach, even with a make-shift hook. It will be exciting to see what they are!

Chunk had already inspected, so Kanye had to inspect the inspection. As you can see, I have a lot of critics I have to try and please. It can be daunting.

It was a fun project. I've always known that I'm a creative "type" of person, but I never really thought of myself as crafty, or anything like that. I can see that I was either wrong, or just in denial, or not tapped in. Who knows, who cares. I can say it now, I think I enjoy crafting. Or at least I enjoy making things pretty that will make my home look nice and comforting. Anyway, it's cool that I'm learning more about myself. I think all the binging and purging, followed by all the drinking might have stunted my growth in that way.
Other than the chocolate, no food pictures today. I just had leftovers for breakfast, and plain old tofu and rice with some sriracha for dinner. Just kept food simple for the day.
I want to say thank you so much for all of the encouraging words lately. They mean so much. It can be tough to want to continue on the path of making healthy choices when you feel like you have no encouragement, and no one really wants to hear about your accomplishments. I know for me that in the past I've let that negativity become an excuse to go back to my unhealthy habits. So it means the world to me to hear encouraging words.
Happy Tuesday!

Thinking is so Fetch

I think this hill walking every day is getting to my head in the best possible way! I feel like I'm thinking of ways to try to fix some things, instead of doing nothing and being frustrated. A perfect example is my kitchen. It is basically a hallway that happens to have a stove, sink and refrigerator. And a dishwasher that is where I store my dishes I've washed by hand. Any time I cook something a little on the more complicated side, I get so irritated I vow never again. As much as I love cooking, sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it.
There is an area in one of the parking garages in my building where people put furniture and electronics they don't want. When I first moved in, I saw a little cabinet, mini dresser type thing, and I grabbed it for the side of my bed, as a little makeshift nightstand, and a place for my now ex to put clothes if he wanted to leave anything here. It's kind of ugly, and I don't really need it in my bedroom anymore. So, I had it sitting by my door to go back to the give up area, when the thought occurred to me to paint it with the leftover eggplant paint I have, and put it in the area next to my kitchen, and use it as storage, and extra counter space. Some of my cupboards are so high that I really can't use them, because stuck gets stuck in the back and I can't reach it. And the counter underneath the cabinet I'm talking about is too small to jump on. It's annoying. So, with these deep drawers, I can fit lots of spices and such.
I am by no means handy around the house. I do not know what many tools are, and my experience with painting things is VERY limited. So, this will be a fun experiment. But, I already have the paint, and the thing, so why not?

As you can see, my assistant Chunk is checking everything out for me. You see, everything is different, and could pose a threat when moved. Chunk takes his job very seriously! I think the eggplant purple surface will also make make a nice background for food photos.

I made lazy women burritos last night. I guess I could also call it Mexican lasagna. It's just flour tortillas with roasted corn, brown rice and refried beans as filling, and a delicious sauce made with raw cashews, half of a red pepper, and some salsa. Healthy comfort food.

I attempted to make the chocolate covered banana slices from Trader Joe's. It seemed easy enough, melt the chocolate chips, dip banana slices in chocolate, and freeze. I've melted chocolate tons of times, but always with something else in it, like making a ganache, or fudge. Something where you have some coconut oil, earth balance, or plant milk. I've never worked with just chocolate, and I know it can get testy if not handled correctly, and I didn't handle it correctly. I got about five sliced dipped before the chocolate started hardening up on me, and I couldn't get it back to the creamy, melted stage. The five slices I did make turned out great! I have half a bag of the chocolate chips left. Still not sure if I will try again. Does anyone have any tips for how to make the chocolate stay melted longer? I'm not sure why the chocolate cooled down, the bananas were not cold, so I just don't know. This is why I love to cook, but sweets are not always my specialty.
The hill is calling my name, so I will leave you with this picture of the world's biggest blanket hog, Dylan. That is a tough title to win, as blanket and bed hogging is a special talent of mine!

Happy Monday, and by the way can you even handle that it's November already???

Daiya is Showing Signs of Improvement!

I've picked The Four Agreements up again. I feel like this should be required reading. But that probably wouldn't work. Books like this need to be read when the person reading is ready to really absorb it. I think that's why I haven't read it for awhile. Since moving to Seattle, I've started to pick it up, and decided against it for one reason or another. Now, I feel ready. The candle seems appropriate to burn while reading!
When I was at the store the other day, I grabbed a bag of daiya since Dylan was out. I noticed they have a new promise on the bag.

Cheezier and stretchier? How about tasting edible cold? I noticed as I grabbed a pinch for Dylan that it had less of that kind of sour daiya smell. It smelled more cheese-like. The shreds also look a little different. They're not as soft and damp. They seem more solid. I am so sorry, I was not brave enough to taste them cold. Dylan did give me permission to use a little on the pizza I made for dinner.

This is a Trader Joe's pizza dough ball topped with pizza sauce, daiya, shredded Brussels sprouts, shredded kale, sliced white onion, and garlic. I also sprinkled on some nutritional yeast and crushed red pepper flakes. I can't say I noticed a huge difference in taste, but to be fair I had a lot of toppings and flavors going on, and I didn't use a whole lot of daiya because for my taste buds a little goes a long way. But, I noticed that the texture was a little thicker and richer. You know how daiya sometimes feels gloopy and sticks to your teeth? Well, last night I noticed less of that. This pizza was so tasty, if you've never tried Brussels on a pizza, you should. I was very pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was. Dylan still approves of daiya, so all in all I say good job to them for working to improve their product. It only helps everyone in the end, most of all the sweet cows!
Happy Sunday!