vegan french toast

I have only been back in Boston since 6pm last night and started off a late morning cooking!
We both slept in this morning since we were exhausted after only getting 4 hours of sleep the night before. Got up around 11am and I tried a new recipe for vegan french toast.

Ingredients:
1 loaf of french bread (I had a loaf from trader joe's left over from the week before, thought it would be good use for stale bread)
4 apples peeled and cut in to slices
2 cups soymilk
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup apple butter (I used trader joe's cranberry apple butter)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Apply a small amt. of canola oil to a frying pan and heat the apples until slightly browned. Then add the sugar and 1tsp cinnamon to the apples and simmer on low for 10 minutes. Just before done add the lemon juice. You will then drizzle this part over the toast.
For the toast batter: whisk the soymilk, 1 tsp cinnamon, apple butter, and vanilla in a bowl.
Slice the bread in to 1 inch thick slices. Coat with the batter and then fry in a different frying pan about 2 minutes per side of slice of bread. Again, serve the apples over the toast once completed.
It was ok- Mark and I both thought it looked better then it tasted. It wasn't bad by any means, but if I make it again I might try some changes...like a different type of apple (we had granny smith in the house which might have been too tart) and regular apple butter with a little margarine instead of the cranberry apple butter.

It feels good to be home...

Well, the Vegas trip is over and I have two days to recoup before heading back to work. It feels good to be home.
But we did find what Mark called "Lindsey's casino". On Wednesday we went to the Wynn for dinner after Mark played poker at the Bellagio. I had heard through the grape vine that the owner, Steve Wynn, was vegan and had a lot of vegan options at the restaurant. The casino and hotel it self was relatively classy, had a nice feel to it. I went up to the hotel lobby and asked about vegan friendly restaurants and she proudly handed me a guide to the hotel and explained there were 30 restaurants in the place and EACH had its own vegan menu. I was impressed. We had a great dinner at the Lakeside Grill, I had a vegan mushroom pizza. Then Allison met up with us and we had more drinks and watched the lake shows, which were really cool. We also finally watched the bellagio water shows, and they were GORGEOUS, saw a ton in one night.
Thursday we went to the Grand Canyon...it was a long day. We rented a car, left at 8am, and didn't get back until 8pm. We saw Hoover Dam on the way too, it was a nice side trip, although too short. Then that night we got to see Cirque du Soleil's "Mystere". Being a resident Allison gets half off on shows, so she got us half price tickets, and we were in the front row!! It was a great show.
Friday was our last day. Mark went to the Rio, I felt really bad for him since we walked a long ways to get there only to find the poker room empty...I guess they are only busy when the world series of poker is there. Then he went to the Wynn for the afternoon, we had another dinner at Encore, it was ok but not quite as good as the one at Lakeside Grill. We met up with Allison for some more drinks and called it a night, which was a little rough since we went to bed at 12am and got up at 4am to catch our flight.
I caught up on sleep on the plane. All better now, and time to get back on to Boston time, glad I missed another snow storm!

Vegas so far...

Well, to sum it up, except for the weather and seeing some awesome friends, I am looking forward to going home on Friday.
I have been to Vegas once before, but only for a day, so I never saw any of the night life and now I have an entire week to experience it.
And I have been bored since Sunday.
The trip so far:
Saturday we arrived around 9pm Vegas time, I was dead tired since I had taken some ibuprofen with benadryl in it for the flight...so after dropping off our stuff I walked Mark to the Venetian where his brother recommended the poker room and then after watching him play for 30 minutes (during which time he did not get a single hand that he actually bet on) I left and went to bed around 11. Mark came home around 2am, he had won $150.
Sunday morning we explored more of the strip: saw Flamingo's habitat, MGM, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, The Luxor, and New York New York in 2 hours. Mark was pretty dead from two hours of walking, so we grabbed some mexican for lunch and then he went to play poker for another 6 hours at MGM (I studied in the hotel room and read my novel). Then that evening Allison (my internmate from last year) and her boyfriend Charlie met up with us and we wandered around Caeser's Palace (did Caeser really live there? lol) drinking beer and grabbed dinner at Margaritaville.
Monday we wandered the strip some more for another two hours- saw Mirage, Caeser's Palace, the Venetian Shops, Treasure Island, and the Bellagio. Then Mark dissappeared again to play poker, so he was gone for another 6-7 hours at Caeser's Palace playing poker while I studied and read my novel. Then he wanted an early night so at 8:30 when he came back we had a bottle of wine and a gross dinner in the hotel (which I didn't eat...as read below).
So far today (Tuesday) we went to Paris for breakfast since I knew Mark would like the bakeries and french shops (all I had was a bagel for breakfast- they didn't have peanut butter or jelly for, only cream cheese and butter- SO NOT VEGAN FRIENDLY, but Mark got a tasty crepe). We went to the Bellagio Fine Art museum- they had several artists I like, including keith harring, lichtenstein, renoir, degas, and barbara kruger, but all the pieces by those artists were very odd and not typical of those artists. And the museum it self was $15 per person yet was only one room so saw it all in 15 minutes (paid a dollar a minute). And by 11am Mark is already in the poker room at the bellagio, so I am in the hotel goofing around online until my 24 hours I paid for online expires, and then will study and read until tonight when he's done, probably 7-8pm like always. The only nice thing is with all the money he has made I don't have to pay for any meals (which I could barely afford anyways since everything in vegas is so over priced).

Overall the meal options for vegans is SLIM. I had an avocado and black bean burrito on Sunday for lunch (which was probably the best meal yet) and then a vegan boca burger for dinner that night (which was boring). Then on Monday I actually didn't really eat much (long story, Mark got a weird brunch and there were no vegan options there, I searched after he left for poker and found nothing so I ate a granola bar from a corner store, and then Mark grabbed us dinner after poker but he stopped at 4 places, all with no vegan options, until he found this Mexican place that made wraps- he tried to improvise by having them make a different burrito off the menu for me, but the combination of spanish rice, romaine lettuce, black beans, guacomole and hummus was actually rather gross, so I only ate two bites).

In general Vegas just seems to embody all the negative sides of humanity (in my opinion)- gambling, smoking, drinking, and loose women. I am ready to go home, but still have 3 more days here. At least the weather is gorgeous and I have run in shorts and a tshirt every morning. And the nice thing was Mark agrees even though he is gone for over half of every day playing poker. The first night out there were several casinos with women wearing bikinis dancing in cages behind the gamblers in full view of the strip- I was looking at them with disgust expecting Mark to say something about "How cool or how much he loved Vegas" but instead he said "Wow, that is horrible. It is so degrading, it's like the women are just sexy backdrops, pieces of meat, not really people. It's quite disgusting." So glad we have the same opinion on that.

Well, tomorrow is the one day of the trip that's mine- we are renting a car and going to the grand canyon!

delicious food and a night of poker

A bunch of friends have been wanting to have a cash game of poker recently...we ended up picking Friday night as the night that would work for most, but sadly last minute a bunch of people bailed...well, it actually turned out perfect. Witt, Ryan, Mark and I played poker while drinking wine and had an amazing time. I started out the game with an AMAZING straight draw, but then slowly lost my money. Eventually Witt and I lost our $10, which I guess was appropriate since we were the non poker players. Ryan won most, and we all had a great time, I will have to host another night like this in the future!

I also made a tasty (green) dinner.
I made an asparagus salad, a pistaschio and aragule pesto with bow tie pasta and brocollini in balsalmic vinegar to top the pesto. I will have to write about the pesto pasta and brocollini at a different time since I didn't take any pictures, but I will make it again, it is always a hit.
The salad though...it was just perfect, not too much, not too little, I will definitely make it again for myself in the future.

Ingredients:
2 packages of asparagus
1 bad of romaine lettuce
1 container of vegan croutons
one red onion sliced
1/2 c olive oil
4 TBsp red wine vinegar
2 TBsp dijon mustard

Cut the asparagus in to 2 inch long pieces and boil until tender.
Mix the lettuce, asparagus, croutons, and red onion in a large bowl.'
Whisk the olive oil, red wine vinegar, and mustard together until mixed then use to coat the salad, tossing until it is well coated.
Chill in the fridge, and enjoy! It was my favorite salad I have made in awhile!

creamy mushrooms and potatoes

So I dappled with some non vegan recipes and made them vegan- the result was mediocre this time.
Creamy mushroom dish:
Ingredients
1 cup cooked rice (I used jasmine)
1/4 cup chopped scallions
3 cups of your favorite mushrooms (I used baby bellas, shitake, and oyster mushrooms)
3 TBsp garlic
olive oil
1 container of tofutti sour cream
1 TBsp thyme

Directions:
Cook the rice separately.
Heat the mushrooms and garlic in a small amount of olive oil until browned. Then add in the scallions and continue to heat until scallions are wilted.
Add the sour cream and continue to mix in and heat for an additional 4-5 minutes. Add the thyme.
Serve over rice.
It was ok...not great, but had a good tanginess to it.

Then I also made a side dish of "Puffed potatoes" which was tasty, but actually even better as a reheated leftover the next day.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 "Energy egg replacer mixed"
1/2 soy milk
safflower oil
1 tsp tarragon
2 cups of baby yellow potatoes with skins left on
1/8 stick of vegan margarine

Clean the potatoes and boil in water until soft. Then mash with a small amount of vegan margarine and soymilk.
Take small ceramic dishes (the smaller the better, the ones in the picture are the smallest dishes I had).
Heat the oven to 400.
Place a small amount of safflower oil, enough to coat the bottom, in to each dish and heat in the oven for 5 minutes until bubbly.
Mix the fluor, fake egg replacer, 1/2 c soymilk.
Remove the dishes from the oven and line with a layer of the batter, then fill with mashed potatoes, and then coat the batter over the top of the potatoes.
Cook for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
Again, this one was tastier as a leftover the next day.

mushroom and pepper fried rice

This was a little plain the first time, but as a reheated lunch was perfect.
Ingredients:
2 cups of your favorite mushrooms (I used shitake and baby bellas)
1 cup cooked rice (I used basmati)
2 diced green bell peppers
olive oil
2 TBsp margaine
1 diced yellow onion
1 Tbsp cilantro
2 TBsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sherry cooking wine
2 TBsp garlic

Directions:
heat the oilve oil in a stir fry pan on high while cooking the rice in a pot as directed.
Heat the onions and garlic in the oil until browned, then add the peppers and mushroooms. Cook another 3-4 minutes then add the margarine. Cook another 3-4 minutes then add the sherry wine and cooked rice. Turn the heat to medium.
Cook until all the sherry and liquid is absorbed.
Add the cilantro and soy cause and stir for one minute.
All done!

The picture is a little blurry because there was so much steam coming off of it. Also, it was supposed to have eggs in it (hence the fried rice) but I just eliminated that. It ended up more like a risotto dish, but like I said, it was perfect reheated for lunch the next two days.

Quite a productive two days!!!

I actually had the last two days off to myself, which is a first in awhile since on the last 3 weeks ALL of my two days of have been filled with visiting people for the holidays, hosting people, going to foxwoods on one day since Mark spent the day entire day before in Albany, and stupid once a year errands like christmas shopping.

Well, these last two days off have been glorious!
Let's see, yesterday I went running, did dishes, did laundry, went grocery shopping, bought and put together a new DVD rack since I ran out of room after christmas gifts on the old ones, took out the trash, brushed lily, cleaned the apartment (vacuumed and swept), changed and cleaned the kitty litter box completely, went running a second time, and cooked dinner for Mark and me which we ate over a movie.

Today I went running this morning (wanted to go again tonight but my legs are kind of sore so I am going to hold off), did dishes, baked cupcakes and did dishes again, read 6 journal articles, 3 chapters in dibart, and 2 chapters in guyton...TALK ABOUT PRODUCTIVE! Now I am going to crack a bottle of wine, watch a movie, and enjoy a cupcake I made as dessert!

vegan tostadas!

When Mark and I were at foxwoods last week (no people, I did not go for me, spent the day studying while Mark played poker) he got a chicken tostada for dinner...I was looking at the meal and thought it would be incredibly easy to convert vegan, so I tried and was right!

Last night I made the vegan version, which Mark and I were both quite impressed by, and it took 5 minutes to make!

Ingredients:
tostada bowl (the most expensive part)
shredded lettuce
1 diced tomatoe
1 can kidney beans
1 package of easy to make rice (I unsed Uncle Bean's Spanish rice which takes 90 seconds in the microwave and is vegan, obviously)
1 packege of Trader Joes Vegan chikn strips
daiya mozzarella and chedder cheese strips if you want
toffuti sour cream and guacamole on the side if you want

So all I had to do was heat the rice in the microwave, heat the beans on the stove over 5 minutes, and heat the chickn strips in some canola oil over 5 minutes.
Then I put a layer of rice, then a layer of beans, then the lettuce and tomatoes, and then the chickn on top!
I had the shreeded cheese on top of mine, wtih sour cream and guacamole on the side. Mark decided to stay away from the vegan cheese...I think he only likes it when it is melted in the middle of something.
But it was a super tasty meal! Porbably not that healthy, but it was very quick to make too, I will just have to make sure I have tostada bowls stocked in the cabinet from now on as I usually have all the other ingredients around.

running deprivation= grumpy Lindsey

The last two weekends have been insane at work. That's what you get working in an ER, we're one of the only hospitals open on the weekends and random holidays. The past two weekends kicked my butt. Hopefully it will be a little less busy these next few weeks.

I have been so exhuasted and feel sick at the end of every day, but I think a lot of it is because I have not been able to run since Christmas.
On Sunday and Monday night it was a snow storm.
On Tuesday night I got home after 7:30 and the snow was still crazy deep.
On Wednesday I was in Albany all day and on thursday we were at Foxwoods all day.
On Friday I had a stressful night and did not get home until 7:30 and was super stressed about work.
On Saturday I didn't get home until 9pm.
On Sunday (tonight) I didn't get home until 7:30 and am beat, and it's raining.

Damn, I hope I can change this this week and start running at least 4-5 days a week again.