The Crunchy Vegan

yummy simple spaghetti dish

2012-01-17T11:14:00.001-08:00

This one was super easy and super tasty; hit the spot with some bread.

Ingredients:
1 package spaghetti
3 cups water
2 buillon cubtes (vegetable)
2 TBsp garlic
2 TBsp italian seasoning
1 TBsp onion powder
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 package fake ground beef

Directions:
Boil the water with the buillon cubes. Then add the garlic, seasoning, onion powder, and tomato paste. Once boiling again add the spaghetti a little at a time until all added.
Then add the fake ground beef. Once boiling again add the tomatoes. Cook on high until the pasta is soft and cooked.
I served it with a little bit of daiya fake mozzarella cheese.

fake chicken lo mein

2011-12-28T12:38:00.000-08:00

The brand Gardein has recently made a ton of new vegan fake meat products...a lot are carried at Target. Some are not that good, some are great.
There website is great:
http://www.gardein.com/products.php?t=fresh
Out of their fresh stuff I like the Sante Fe Good Stuff a lot. The BBQ pulled shreds are good too, but there are a lot of different vegan fake pulled pork options. The chiken strips are no different then all the other fake meat chiken strips. The herb dijon breasts are DISGUSTING, but the rest of the fresh options are ok, especially if served on the side with something like veggies and mashed potatoes, or pasta.

Now their frozen selection is even better- the buffalo wings and the BBQ wings are not that amazing, but ok. I have not tried the burger. But the other options are all great. In particular, I LOVE the chipolte lime chicken fingers, and the mandarin orange crispy chicken is PHENOMENAL. I also love that their food packaging comes with great recipe ideas, and their website has a ton of recipes as well.
My new favorite quick and easy dinner is making some udon noodles and mixing in the mandarin orange crispy chicken. Once the noodles are cooked I put both the chicken (with the sauce that comes in the package) and the noodles in a wok and cook for a bit longer, frying a bit. Delicious.

vegan cmofort food...Tempeh, avocado and tomato sandwich

2011-12-28T12:33:00.000-08:00

This is my version of a BLT, modified from Otherside Cafe's TLT...
I did one layer of lightly fried lightlife tempeh bacon strips, one layer of sliced avocado, one layer of tomatoes, and nayonaise on the toasted bread, served with chips on the side, goes best with a good light beer!

Lentil stew

2011-12-28T12:19:00.000-08:00

This was meant to be a lentil soup but the lentils sucked up the water- so it was more like a stew, but I think I liked it better that way...

Ingredients:
6-8 peeled and chopped carrots
1 red bell pepper chopped
4 white potatoes peeled and chopped
2TBsp olive oil
1tsp sage
1tsp marjoram
1tsp oregano
1tsp thyme
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp rosemary
1TBsp vegan worcestershire sauce
2TBsp garlic
2 TBsp nutritional yeast
1 can chopped tomotaoes
1 cup white rice
1 package lentils
1/2 cup coy sauce

Directions:
In a large soup pan saute the spices and garlic in the olive oil. Then add the carrots and potatoes and cover with the spice mixture. Then add the lentils, rice, tomatoes, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and yeast.
Add 8-10 cups of water (so it covers most of the additives) and bring to a boil. Then turn to low and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Even though it wasn't a soup it was a spicey deliciousness!

a vegan thanksgiving

2011-11-27T11:16:00.001-08:00

This weekend has been BUSY!
Went to a co-workers place for a thanksgiving dinner after work on Thursday- I brought along black bean and sweet potato enchiladas as well as some vegan stuffed mushrooms. Randomly one of the pies she had was vegan so had some of that too. Drank a little too much, as always.
The next day was Friday and after work my mom came up to visit- we went to Elephant Walk for a tasty dinner, always a favorite.
She stayed in a close by hotel. Then on Saturday we went to the BPL to admire its art, then to Veggie Galaxy for brunch, then the the MFA for the Degas show (not very good I have to say, I liked the pieces of other artists better then Degas' there). She left after that and I got ready for a vegan thanksgiving party.
About a dozen people came. The menu was all vegan, and this is what we had:
-tofurkey
-Mashed potatoes and gravy
-a 3 bean casserole
-tofu, lettuce, kale, and tomato salad
-vegan stuffing
-a mushroom side dish
-apple and cranberry sauce
-berry crumble pie
-vegan chocolate chip cookies
-LOTS and LOTS of wine
Plan to host it again next year, and don't knock tofurkey until you try it! The attached picture is our fridge after the party- leftovers to last the next week for me and Mark.

vegan BBQ chicken pizza

2011-11-27T11:10:00.001-08:00

Tried something new- I love the smell of ANYTHING BBQ, and while I don't miss chicken (there are meats I miss even though I know I will never eat them again for ethical reasons, poultry is not one that I miss), I thought the regular buffalo chicken pizza Mark got the other week smelled good, so I thought I would take a recipe for BBQ chicken pizza and make it vegan.
It turned out ok- I was a little unimpressed but it was edible the night I made it. I will say when I ate it for leftovers the next morning it tasted a lot better the second time around.
Ingredients:
1 package of daiya mozzarella cheese
1 premade pizza dough package
1 package of smart brand fake chicken strips
BBQ sauce

Directions: roll out the pizza dough.
Line with a layer of BBQ sauce.
Place the fake chicken over this layer.
Cover with mozzarella.
Cook at 375 for 12 minutes.

creamy tomato pasta

2011-11-21T08:29:00.001-08:00

Ingredients:
Pasta
1 can diced tomatoes
1 TBsp mixed spices (I used 21 spice from trader joe's)
1 TBsp olive oil
2 TBsp garlic
1 container tofutti cream cheese

Directions:
Cook the pasta according to the direction.
In a sauce pan heat the garlic in the olive oil on high. Then add the tomatoes and spices, turning the heat to low for 10 minutes. Then add the tofutti cream cheese and heat through.
Once the pasta is done coat with the sauce. I also added brocolli and cauliflower as well which added a little to it.

veggie hot pot

2011-11-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

This dish tastes SO much better then it looks. This is leftovers a couple days later, which were just as good as the first time. An excellent fall warm dish, one of my favorite dishes in the last couple weeks. I took a vegetarian dish and made it vegan again here.
Ingredients:
For the veggie center:
2 TBsp canola oil
2 TBsp garlic
1 chopped white onion
1/2 cup chopped chives
1 YBsp chili powder
6-7 peeled and chopped white potatoes
2 cups peeled and chopped carrots
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup flour
1 can chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp thyme
1 can red kidney beans
1 can tomato paste
2.5 cups vegie stock

Directions:
Heat the oil in a sauce pan and saute the garlic and onion in this for 5 minutes. Then add the chili powder for one minute. Then add the potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, chives and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Stir in the flour for 1 minute.
Add the stock, tomato paste, choppe tomatoes, kidney beans, and thyme and then bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and place in a casserole dish. Bake for 30 minnutes.

While baking, make this topping- For the cheese triangles:
1 stick margarine
2 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup daiya cheddar cheese
5 TBsp soy milk

Hand stir the margarine, flour, and fake cheese together, and add soy milk as needed to make a smooth dough. Roll the dough out to 1 inch thick and then cut in to small triangular shaped pieces.

After the casserole has been cooking for 30 minutes remove and place the triangles on top. Sprinkile with a little extra fake cheese. Bake or another 30 minutes.
So delicious.

corn and green tomato salad

2011-11-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

I saw green tomatoes at Trader Joe's this week and had to buy them. But then I realized I have been eating salad for lunch for a couple weeks now and I didn't really want to eat the usual salad with these tomatoes (typicaly Lidnsey salad is spinach, cukes, tomatoes, maybe chickpeas, and/or peppers). So I found this unique salad online, and it is way too simple, just too ingredients, but tasty.
Ingredients:
1 bag frozen corn (I used the microwaveable kind)
2 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 TBsp italian seasoning

For the dressing
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground allspice
dash of Salt and pepper
3 TBsp olive oil

Just mix up the corn and tomatoes with the italian seasoning first, then whisk together the dressing and serve over the salad.

sweet and sour stir fry

2011-11-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

This recipe was ok- actually tasted just like the restaurant sweet and sour dishes I have gotten- the problem, I keep thinking I like sweet and sour dishes and then when I get them I am always dissappointed. I am just not a fan of warm pinapple I guess. But this was fun to make, and I did not hate it, as well as Mark liked it.
Ingredients:
rice
2 TBsp peanut oil
1 bag frozen diced green peppers
1 bag gardein fake beef chunks
1 cup carrot chips
1 cup cashews
1 cup mushrooms
2 TBsp V8
2 TBsp rice flour
2 TBsp white vinegar
4 TBsp soy cause
1 can pinapple chunks
1 cup cherry tomatos (I really only used them since they were leftover and I did not want them to go bad)

Directions:
heat the oil in a wok. Then add the bell pepper and gardein beef chunks and fry for couple minutes. Then add the mushrooms and carrot chips and tomatos and fry for a couple more minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the V8, rice flour, vinegar, soy sauce, and 6 TBsp of pinapple juice from the pinapple can. Add to the wok and let boil. Then add the pinapple chunks and cashews. Serve over rice.

mushroom and walnut stroganoff

2011-11-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

I have done a lot of cooking in the last 2 weeks- time to update the blog with new recipes. I will start with my least favorite of the recent dishes: mushroom and walnut stroganoff- I took a vegetarian recipe and made it vegan. The picture makes it look like poop, and while it was not that bad, I will not be making it again. That being said, it did taste better as leftovers then the first time around.
Ingredients:
olive oil
1 chopped white onion
2 TBsp garlic
1 tsp. cumin
2 cup mushrooms
2 TBsp flour
2 cups veggie stock
1 container of tofutti sour cream
1 cup walnut pieces
pasta of choice (I used linguine)

Directions:
Cook your pasta according to the box.
While that is cooking work on the sauce: fry the onions and garlic for a couple minutes in a sauce pan. Then add the cumin and mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes.
Then add the flour and mix for one minute before adding the stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the walnuts and sour cream after 15 minutes and cook for another 5 minutes.
Then serve over the pasta.

baked pasta dish

2011-10-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

This one was ok...the Daiya Fake cheese was probably the best part.

Ingredients:
1 box farafelle
1 bag frozen carrots
1 bag frozen peas
1 can diced tomatos
3 TBsp garlic
olive oil
Daiya mozzarella and cheddar cheese

Directions:
Fry the garlic in some olive oil. Then add the tomatos and cook on medium for 5 minutes.
Cook the farafelle as usual.
Boil the carrots and peas until cooked.
Once everything is cooked mix the pasta, tomato mixture, carrots, and peas together.
Put in a baking dish. Cover with Daiya fake mozzarella and cheddar cheese.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Fake BBQ chicken calzones

2011-10-26T13:40:00.001-07:00

This one was super easy and delicious.
Ingredients:
1 package of premade pizza dough (I used trader joes this time)
2 packages of gardein fake BBQ chicken strips
1 package of Smart Bacon
Daiya mozzarella cheese
extra BBQ sauce olive oil

Directions: fry the smart bacon as directed on the package in the oil.
Remove the bacon and in the same pan heat the packages of fake BBQ chicken strips. Crumble the bacon in to small pieces and add back to the pan. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
Roll out your pizza dough in to a circle. On half the circle pile the fake chicken mixture. Top with some extra BBQ sauce and sprikle with Daiya fake mozzarella cheese. Roll the top part of the circle over on top of the calzone and mold the dough together around the edges. Slice several 1 inch holes in the top of the calzone.
Bake at 400 for 25 minutes.
Makes two VERY large and filling calzones.

banana chocolate chip muffins

2011-10-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

Made some tasty banana chocolate chip muffins today. Used an old recipe from my blog: http://crunchyvegan.blogspot.com/2010/12/vegan-banana-bread.html
Basically just used mini chocolate chips and baked as muffins instead of a cake- only took 15 minutes to cook instead of 20.

Tater tot casserole

2011-10-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that Lauren showed me the blog Meettheshannons since I have been following them and trying a lot of their dishes. Of course, I can only really try the dishes when I am off as a lot of them take a lot more time then I usually do to cook, but on my days off it is worth it.
And, many of them, like this one, lease you with 4-5 days of leftovers for lunch!
This was one of my favorite meals yet- It had so many perfect flavors, and the little bit of fake melted cheese in it was great. Here is the link:
http://www.meettheshannons.net/2011/09/betty-crocker-project-texas-tater-tot.html

fun with fake fried fish

2011-10-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

This was a new experiment for me...made a whole meal of fake fish like stuff, kinda...
First I made fried shitake mushrooms, modified from a recipe online:
For the batter I mixed 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, and a splash of pepper mixed with 2 TBsp of water. I used this to coat the mushrooms and fried in 3 cups of olive oil. This was probably the tastiest part of the meal.

For the "fake fish" I literally used the beer batter fake fish recipes from meet the shannons' blog found here:
http://www.meettheshannons.net/2010/08/betty-crocker-project-beer-batter-fried.html
The batter was amazing.
I also made their vegan tartar sauce but that was a little bit wasteful on my part...both Mark and I don't like tartar sauce (which I didn't know Mark didn't like it) so that was a bit of a waste.

But otherwise the meal was quite tasty. Made some corn to go on the side.

vegan potato tacos

2011-10-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

So I bought a bunch of potatoes recently for a specific dish, but ended up having a lot of leftovers. I wanted to try to use them up and knew we were having John and Robin over for dinner...I was planning to make my vegan mexican chicken dish with fresh avocados- so I googled "mexican potatoe salad". I ended up finding a couple weird recipes and tried one- it was ok, not great. I forgot to take pictures and decided not to post it as it was relatively boring and I probably won't make it again. but, in my searching I saw a recipe for "potatoe tacos" that looked interesting, so I made some adjustments and tried that this week.

Ingredients:
1 TBsp veggie oil
1 TBsp fajita seasoning
4 peeled, boiled and chopped potatoes
1 container of pre-sliced white mushrooms
Daiya mozzarella and cheddar cheese
1 can vegetarian refried beans
1/2-3/4 cup of salsa
soft taco shells
sliced avocados

Directions:
preheat the oven to 350.
Stir together the oil and fajita seasoning. Then toss the mushrooms and potatoes in them until evenly coated.
Arrange the potatoes and mushrooms on a baking tray. Sprinkle with a layer of mixed vegan cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the potatoes and mushrooms are baking, stir together the refried beans and salsa in a microwave safe bowl. Cover with a paper towel and microwave on high for 3 minutes.
Spon the bean mixture in to the bottom of the taco sheels, then place the potatoe mixture on top of that. Then put whatever taco topping you want on top (I had avocados I needed to use so I tried that).
I thought it was a pretty tasty and unique taco dish- Mark was not a fan, which is ok, not every dish I make is good. Mark thought it was "too much like baby food", so I guess he does not like refried beans.
But I thought it was a good dish, if you want to use up some potatoes in a unique way give it a try!

taco salads

2011-10-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

I think I make too much mexican...but it's so easy to convert vegan!!
I made taco salad for several nights in a row this week- initially made tacos but had enough leftovers that I could just break up the tacos in to chip sizes and layer the bottom of a boil with it. Then I placed mornigstar crumbles that had been cooked with red kidney beans and some fajita seasoning in the bowl, then on top of that fresh chopped tomatoes, then on top of the daiya cheese. Then just microwaved and served with some vegan sour cream- so easy and tasty.

Sweet Bean and Potatoe Casserole

2011-10-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing too special about this dish- but it was great for leftovers.

Ingredients:
1 pound of potatoes
Olive oil
3 TBsp margarine
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 TBsp thyme
1 TBsp marjoram
1 can butter beans
1 can chickpeas
1 can kidney beans
1 busshel of chopped green onions
1 container of chopped up portabella mushrooms
1/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup apple sauce
1 cup V8 or two small cans of V8
1/4 cup red cooking wine
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar

DIRECTIONS:
Peel and slice the potatoes. Boil until soft. Drain and toss with a small amount of olive oil.
In a large saucepan add the margarine and flour, V8, apple sauce, sugar, ketchup, cooking win, and soy cause. Heat and whick until it thickens and comes to a boil.
Turn the heat down once boiling and add in the beans, chickpeas, onions, mushrooms, and spices. Stir well and keep heated for a couple minutes.
Spoon the mixture in to a casserole dish.
Layer the potatoes on top of the mixture overlapping slightly and completely covering the bean mixture.
Cover and bake at 400 for 1 hours. Remove the foil about 20 minutes prior to finishing to brown the poatotoes.

The Kennedy Tour

2011-10-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Mark has been complaining that we don't do enough together when we have the weekends off together- so when I saw tht livingsocial had a 1/2 historical tour I jumped on it. This past Saturday Mark and I went on "The Kennedy Tour". It sounded a little lame- 90 minutes of a walking tour around Boston pointing out sites famous to the Kennedys, but it was actually quite fun- considering we would have otherwise been in the house being lazy watching TV or reading...the guy giving the tour knew his stuff, and we learned a lot of neat new facts about Boston with regards to its history and links with the Kennedys, it was a lot more fun then we both anticipated.

meat and potatoes vegan style

2011-10-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

Thought I would try a traditional meat and poatoes dinner vegan style, it took no time at all to make and was pretty tasty!
I used the new gardein fake chicken...they have a couple flavors but I used this one for this dish- basically just heated it up in the microwave while cooking everything else (I know, lame).

Then I made mashed potatoes from scratch- easy enough- boil some peeled potatoes, then mash and add some soy milk and margarine.
I then took a bag of fresh spinach and steamed it down, then fried it in a little balsalmic vinegar.
I was lazy with the gravy too...just used Han's Vegetarian Brown Gravy (which involves stirring a powder in some boiling water until it thickens, but it is vegan and tasy). And then voila, the vegan version of meat and potatoes was complete- AND TASTY!

fake cheesey lasagna

2011-09-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

This was by far one of the best meals I have made, and the picture does not do it justice.
I took a recipe for a cheesey lasagna and converted it vegan.
Basically it was a layered lasagna that had two main vegan substitues: the sauce and the cheese.
Ingredients:
Vegan bechamel sauce
(silken tofu, soy milk, vegetable bullion, margarine, flour, olive oil, and vegan cream cheese)
lasagna
mushrooms
tomatoes
margarine
vegan parmesan cheese
daiya cheddar cheese

To make the bechamel sauce:
Blenerize 1 package of silken tofu with 1.5 cups soy milk, 3/4 cup water, the vegetable bullion cube, and toffutti cream cheese. Then heat 1 TBsp oil and 5 TBsp margarine in a sauce pan. Add4 TBsp flour and whisk for a minute, then add the blenderized ingredients.
Whisk while on medium heat for about 5 minutes until it thickens.

For inside the lasagna layers:
chop 4 tomatoes and heat with 1 TBsp olive oil for a couple minutes until wilted.
Set aside and then saute 2 cups sliced mushrooms with 2 TBsp garlic in 1 TBsp olive oil. Add 1/4 lemon juice and let simmer until the mushrooms are browned.

Then cook the lasagna noodles as you normally would.

In the lasagna pan place a layer of the sauce, followed by noodles, then a layer of mushrooms, then sauce again, then a layer of daiya cheese. Then on top of that place more noodles, then a layer of tomatoes and sauce, then some daiya cheese and noodles. Repeat with however many more layers of veggies you have. (I did one more layer after that of mushrooms and tomatoes, then sauce, then daiya cheese, then noodles, and then on top of the noodles a thin layer of sauce sprinkled with vegan parmesan cheese).
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

It really was amazingly tasty.

chickpea, pepper, and tomato salad

2011-09-09T11:39:00.001-07:00

Simple and easy salad made with veggies I did not want to go bad...
INGREDIENTS
-cherry tomatoes sliced in half
-1 can rinsed chickpeas
-2 TBsp garlic
-1 orange and 1 yellow bell pepper chopped
-1 TBsp dried basil

DRESSING
-2 TBsp lemon juice
-4 TBsp olive oil
-1 tsp sugar

I mixed up the salad ingredients together and then pre-packaged several days worth of salad for lunch, then I whicked the dressing ingredients and brought along as the dressing for the salad each day.

vegan mashed potato pizza

2011-09-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

Pre:

This was a new experiment...We went to sacco's bowling alley a couple weekends ago with friends, enjoyed good beer and a couple rounds of candle pin. They have excellent vegan pizza there too. Their special that day was mashed potato pizza (not vegan) and Mark Elledge said he had it before and it was delicious.
So I went home and googled some recipes- I guess it is a tradition that started in New haven, CT with the Yale college kids. Basically you take a layer of mashed potatoes as your sauce, and whatever toppings you want. I made a vegan version to experiment and it was REALLY tasty...
Ingredients:
pizza dough (I bought premade from trader joe's, it was vegan obviously)
mashed potatoes (from scratch using whatever recipe you use, probably about 4-6 potatoes worth)
olive oil
topping of your choice (I used brocolli and mushrooms)
Daiya cheese (mozzarella and cheddar).

Directions:
Roll out the dough with some flour and then place on a floured baking sheet. Drizzle a layer of olive oil over the dough.
Once the mashed potatoes are cooked spread a layer about 1/2cm thick over the entire dough.
Then apply you toppings (mushrooms and brocolli for me).
Then apply a layer of cheese so the toppings are covered.
Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes.
Post:

vegan lo mein

2011-09-07T14:23:00.000-07:00

Used my new wok to make this easy and tasty meal:
Basically I mixed up some udon noodles, brocolli, shitake mushrooms, mini corn, waterchesnuts, and fake beef chunks in Trader Joe's General Tsao's sauce.
Super tasty and lots of leftovers!

silly mental images

2011-08-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

Somehow Mark and I were talking about wild dogs, and I mentioned I knew of people who lived in rural Europe who told stories of packs of wild dogs that if they caught you alone on the road they would attack. Mark thought this a little far fetched, and maybe it is, I have never seen it.
But then Mark said "I wonder what a pack of wild dachshunds would look like? Just imagine like 50+ dachshunds in a pack running like the wild animals they are, tearing ass as fast as they could like they were on a mission. And after the pack runs past, the stragglers that had or need back surgery would come through, hobbling in their ataxic way." It juts formed such a strong mental image in my head and I couldn't stop laughing imagining it I thought I would share it.

great vegan meal weekend

2011-08-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

this weekend I made a mexican chicken dish for dinner on Saturday and vegan berry crepes for brunch on Sunday, both fantastic!
The crepes were using the vegan yumyum website recipe, with some drizzled on vegan chocolate syrup from whole foods that I added.

The mexican recipe was modified from one I found online:
ingredients:
1 package fake chicken strips from trader joes
2 red bell peppers, chopped
1 bag frozen corn
1 can black beans
1 cup brown rice cooked as directed
1 jar salsa
2 TBsp chili powder
1 TBsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cumin
2 TBsp liquid aminos Braggs
2 TBsp cilantro
2 TBsp olive oil
fresh avocado

Directions: fry the oil and fake chicken until brown. Then add the chili powder and cook another minute, then remove from heat. Apply a little more oil to the pan and fry the peppers, then add the corn, salsa, black beans, and all the remaining ingredients. After heating about 5 minutes add the fake chicken back in and cook another 2-3 minutes.
Serve over rice with freshly sliced avocado. Delish!

tofu and pistachio stir fry

2011-08-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.cookveg.co.uk/vegetarian-recipes/recipe/tofu-snow-peas-and-pistachio-salad1/

This stir fry I pretty much made directly from the recipes, and I served it over cous cous, which was deilcious! I use trader joe's teriyaki tofu. Not a lot of sauce, but packed with flavor.

asparagus and brocollini with fake beef soy dish

2011-08-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

This was a unique, modifed dish from a yum yum recipe, and I swear, it tastes a lot better then it looks (I forgot to take a picture so this was the 3rd day leftover that I took a picture of).
First I made some cous cous for the rice part of the dish.
Then for the main dish-
Ingredients:
1 package of your choice fake meat (I used fake beef cubes)
2 Tbs Oil
2 Tbs Garlic
1 TBs crushed red pepper flakes
1 package of brocollini chopped
1 package of asparagus, chopped
1 Tbs Brown Sugar
3 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Rice Vinegar
2 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1 TBs Sesame Seeds

Directions:
Fry the fake meat, brocollini, and asparagus with the sesame oil.
Add in the garlic and red pepper flakes once the veggies are tender.
Add the sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar just prior to removing from heat. Toss.
Mix with sesame seeds and 1 more teaspoon sesame oil. Serve over the cous cous.

mexican mexican

2011-08-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

Being a vegan I find random stir frys or something mexican is always a quick and easy stand by.
In the last month I have made fake chicken fajitas and fake crumbled beef tacos, both super tasty. I like tacos, esp since making my unique lime-cashew-tofu tacos, but I find it is hard to fit all you want to in to a taco.

a mini vacation weekend!

2011-07-18T09:03:00.001-07:00

Mark and I had an EXCELLENT weekend, it was my only "vacation" trip this summer- short but sweet.
We left super early on Saturday for NYC- got there around 10:30- I had found a cheap coupon for 24 hour parking at a lot across from our hotel, and when we pulled up to drop our car off this family was waiting for their car. Some attendant drove up with a big grey SUV, and the family stated it was not their car. It was hilarious when the attendant said "Really? This is not your car?!" almost arguing with them as if they did not know their own car. Hilarious! Didn't instill much confidence in us, but our car ended up surviving its 24 hours.
We checked in to our hotel- The New York Inn; it was $130 a night, which is the cheapest hotel I could find on Manhattan (on 9th and 47th in Broadway)- and it turned out to be te SHITTIEST hotel we have ever stayed in, but we had to laugh about it. The room was smaller then a dorm room with a full size bed, we barely fit, but it served it's purpose.

We then walked several blocks to the pick up for our living social deal. There were about 30 people in our group. We were driven 2 hours to Pennsylvania where we got in to the Delaware River. We kayaked with the group down the river for a little less then 2 hours. It was BEAUTIFUL weather. The river was crowded with tubes (which Mark had never heard of tubing, hilarious, he thought it was the laziest activity ever). There were a couple spots with rapids. It was super fun and relaxing.

When we got to the take out they had lunch waiting for us. We ate lunch and then the bus drove our group another 45 minutes to Crossing Vineyard, a winery in Pennsylvania. There the co-owner talked us through a wine tasting of 12 different wines of theirs. None of them really stood out- they weren't bad, but they weren't exceptional, esp. for their price since Mark and I are such winos and we buy all our wine on price these days. The owner was great though- quite a salesman and had lots of fun stories. He taught us a lot about paring wine with food which was nice. Showed us around the winery too and how they make their wine. If I was ever to try a different career I think I would like to go in to the wine business. I would love to live on a vineyard.

We ended up buying 3 bottles and got a good group discount. Then the bus drove us home, we got back to NYC at 10pm. I bought vegan asian food from Zen Palate for dinner.

On Sunday we slept in and then drove to Central Park. Visited the Central Park Zoo (which is one of my favorites since it is so small and quaint) and then headed home.
Got home about 5pm. It was a great, but short, trip.

wow it's been a busy week...

2011-07-07T12:26:00.001-07:00

This last week really feels like summer with all that has been happening.
Last week I was on "PD" which stands for personal development. Basically I spend the week working on reading literature and working on any presentations I have coming up. However, on Wednesday it was "The Roast" which is the big party they throw for all the graduating interns and residents. One of the second year residents would have been working so I switched with him and worked 1p-1a on Wednesday. I came in to work the next day at 9:30 so that I could attend the official graduation for all the leaving interns and residents. Then I put in a full day's work and at 6pm went to a local bar with Quinny to discuss potential research projects. We came up with a decent amount of ideas.
Got home at 8pm. On Friday I put in a half day and Friday night was wine night. It went well, except for the first time ever I ran out of food and felt horrible about it. Everyone left at 10pm except Ryan and Julie too, which was weird.
On Saturday we drove to Maine to see Mark's family, we left at 10:30am and got there at 1:30, then stayed until 6pm.
We came home and at 9pm went out with some more of Mark's friends for drinking and dancing. It was a little tiring, stayed out until midnight.
Then on Sunday we relaxed a bit. We saw Super 8. We got asked to go out again but called it a night at 10pm.
On Monday I didn't get home from work until 7:45, but then we packed up some stuff and went to the Esplanade. We watched the fireworks on a blanket surrounded by thousands of people with Josh and Caitlin. Despite being SO tired, it was worth it, although not sure if I will go next year. They estimated somewhere between 400-800,000 people there, and walking home was a bitch- didn't get home until 12:30am.
Tuesday I worked another full day, getting home at 7:30.
Then on Wednesday we went to visit Mark's dad in the hospital after his surgery and grabbed some drinks with Gersh in the evening.
Today (Thursday) has been the first low key day this week. Didn't get nearly as much work done as I wanted with regards to stuff from work, but I hopefully will have more time next week on elective.

For food at the wine night I made two dishes from Vegan Yum Yum.
The first was an asparagus tart: http://veganyumyum.com/2008/09/asparagus-and-white-bean-pesto-tart/
I personally didn't think it was that great, and the puff pastry burnt a little.
But then I made the classic pistashio pesto pasta, and it was a hit, good as always:
http://veganyumyum.com/2007/05/pistachio-arugula-pesto-with-penne-and-sauteed-broccolini/

experimenting with non-traditional salads

2011-07-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to eat more salads, but am very bored by the classic salads everyone eats. So I have turned to vegan yum yum and tried two of their salads in the last week.

Last week I made this avocado salad: http://veganyumyum.com/2010/01/avocado-wasabi-salad/
The dressing ended up looking more like hummus but once you mixed it up with the salad it had a cheesy element to it, and the taste had a little kick too.

Then this weekend Danielle and Courtney gave me a ton of kale (their friend own's part of a community garden and has more kale then what she knows to do with.
So I tried this recipe:
http://veganyumyum.com/2009/07/blt-salad/
I made some modifications: I used Trader Joe's Teriyaki flavored tofu- I cut it in to small pieces and fried it in a little olive oil. I also added some broccolini- I cut that up in to small pieces and mixed it in with the salad.

Both turned out super tasty, but something tells me they are not the most healthy salads.

lime cashew tofu tacos

2011-07-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

This recipe is a new one and I have to say I am quite proud of it. When I was in Hawaii I had lime cilantro tofu tacos that were delicious, so I decided to look for a similar recipe here on the mainland. My googling did not find one, but I found a couple other recipes, and I modified several elements of a couple recipes and ended up with this new creation of mine.

Ingredients:
soft tacos (I had 8 and this dish makes enough for 8 tacos, but Mark and I at two each for 2 nights)
For the tofu:
1 block extra-firm tofu
olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 TBsp garlic
2 TBsp cilantro spice
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Whisk together all the liquid ingredients.
Place the tofu on a stack of papertowels above and below it for 45 minutes (this sucks a lot of the juices out making it firmer).
Cut the tofu into 1 inch cubes and place in a container with the marinade overnight.

The next day, for the cashew slaw, ingredients:
1/8 cup lime juice
1/8 cup vinegar
2 TBsp soy sauce
2 tsp agave nectar
1 TBsp garlic
2 TBsp mirin (found in most whole foods stores)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup cashews
1 TBsp cilantro spice
1 package pre-shredded coleslaw

In a food processor blenderize all the ingredients except the slaw. Then use the liquid to coat the slaw.
Take the marinaded tofu from the day before and fry in a small amount of olive oil.
On the taco shells place several pieces of tofu and then top with the slaw mixture. Roll up and enjoy this delicious tofu taco dish! (I think this is one of the first times I cooked the tofu and liked how it turned out).

raw tahini noodles

2011-07-03T09:41:00.001-07:00

I recently made this dish from vegan yum yun:
http://veganyumyum.com/2008/07/nearly-raw-tahini-noodles/
The nice thing about it is it makes TONS of leftovers, and the recipe is right, it really is a cool, refreshing meal on hot summer days!

dinner night

2011-06-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

I made a tasty gnocchi and salad dish for some friends the other night.
Festive brocolli salad is always a hit.
Ingredients:
1 bag of dried cherries
1 chopped medium red onion
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
3 cups chopped broccoli florets
4 TBsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup vegan nayonaise (mayonaise substitues)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk together the nayonaise, red wine vinegar, and sugar- use this as dressing and mix over the salad.

For the gnocchi dish:
1 bag gnocchi
1 can pigeon peas
1 red bell and 1 yellow bell pepper chopped
1 chopped red onion
1 package sun dried tomatoes in oil
Italian spices

Directions:
Boil the gnocchi
In a frying pan place a small amount of olive oil and saute the peppers and onions. Then add the sun dried tomatoes. Then add the pigeon peas.
Once all is cooked mix all together in large serving bowl with some italian spices.
This was a really good meal!

spicy tahini pasta with fake chicken

2011-05-31T09:45:00.000-07:00

I got to try a new recipe for Witt and Ryan the other night when they came over for dinner, it turned into a tasty and spicy pasta with a nice balance of fake meat on the side.
The pasta ingredients:
1 box of whole wheat rotini
1 bag frozen broccoli
1 bag frozen cauliflower
1 can pigeon peas
2 TBsp garlic
1/4 cup tahini
1 TBsp lemon juice
2 TBsp soy sauce1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
1 cup veggie stock
2 TBsp sesame seeds

directions:
cook the rotini as per directed.
In a blender, combine the garlic, pigeon peas, tahini, lemon juice, soy sauce, and cayenne until smooth.
Combine this withe the veggie stock in a pot and heat on low, stirring.
Just before the rotini is done boiling, add the broccoli and cauliflower and boil another 5 minutes.
Drain the pasta and veggies. Mix the tahini sauce in, covering well. Then stir in the sesame seeds.
It was a little spicy, but very filling.

Then on the side I baked gardein's chicken strips as per the directions on the package, Just before they were done baking, I poured tomato sauce and fake cheeze over them and baked another 2 minutes.

This picture is the leftover I had for lung the next day- it doesn't do it as much justice as it deserves, this was a really good meal!

vegan fettuccine alfredo

2011-05-25T14:04:00.001-07:00

This was a new one for me- and another one that tasted better as a leftover since the alfredo like sauce got harder.
Ingredients:
fettuccine
mushrooms
asparagus
3 TBsp garlic
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup vegan margarine

I cooked the fettuccine like any pasta while making the sauce. And the asparagus and mushrooms- I just had some in the fridge so decided to use them in the dish- I boiled them separately while working on the sauce.
For the sauce:
Saute the garlic and margarine until garlic is browned.
Add the yeast and whisk until blended in, cooking at medium-high.
After a couple minutes add the soymilk and whisk in. Turn down to simmer and continue to whisk until becomes thick...(This was the tough part for me, it didn't really thicken like most of the creamy recipes I make).
Then toss with the fettuccine and asparagus and mushrooms. It was tasty, but here you can tell it was a little soupy with regards to the sauce. However, I put a lot in containers as leftovers, and those congealed so that when it was reheated in the microwave it was the perfect, expected alfredo sauce consistency!

vegan "gyros"

2011-05-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

I stole this recipe from the TVP website. (textured vegetable protein in case you were wondering). I recently bought some TVP, my mom used to cook with it a lot when I first went vegan but I have little experience...then I realized I had no recipes for it!
I went to the "Bob's Red Mill" website and tried their vegan gyro recipe, which turned out to be great!
The website is here: http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes_detail.php?rid=637
I did not put in any mint or lettuce, and it was still super tasty!

super easy peanut stir fry

2011-05-20T08:44:00.001-07:00

I think stir frys are so amazing and so EASY! This one was just some gardein veggie protein, carrots, cauliflor, brocolli, peanuts, and peas in a store bought pre-made vegan peanut satay sauce over jasmine rice.

A busy weekend...

2011-05-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a busy one, and lots of fun too!
Friday night I actually got to go out dancing with Mark and company...I was pretty tired though, I am an old lady afterall and meeting at a bar at 10:30 is super late for me.
Saturday night was Mark's dad's 65th suprise bday. It was fun, I got to help set up with Jacqui and Matt. And I finally after 3 years met Mark's extended family. Of course everyone was wondering who I was and almost couldn't believe I existed.
I made an apple coffee cake as well as a pesto potatoe salad for the party which were both big hits :).

The recipe is super simple.
Then Sunday was just as big of a day. We got up at 8am and headed to Albany...stopped by my mom's house and picked up Mark's commissioned paintings of the Philly City Hall building which he loved. Then went to Heather and Denis' house for Heather's bday party, which ended up being more of a kid party, but it was fun. It was neat meeting some of your students (adults learning english better), they were very interesting people.
Then we went to my grandma's house for dinner. It was nice, but my brother and my cousing couldn't make it which sucked. We did make a pit stop at my brother's liquor store where he was working and bought 3 cases of wine for $210...A long and tiring but fun day overall.

my first vegan stew

2011-05-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

I have never really made "stew" before...always made soup or chili...but I recently bought a weird brand of vegan soy sausage at the store since I was intrigued, and then had no idea what to do to cook with it, so I looked up a recipe to make a vegan stew with it...

Ingredients:
soyrizo (above)
1 chopped yellow onion
1 chopped green bell pepper
5-6 red potatoes peeled and diced
1 cabbage cut in to small shreds
4 parsnips peeled and chopped
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 TBsp soy sauce
3 cups veggies stock
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 cans chickpeas
2 tsp oregano

Directions:
In a large soup/sauce pan heat the onions in some olive oil until soft.
Then add the pepper until soft.
Then add the potatoes, cabbage, parsnip, tomatoes, soy sauce, and veggie stock. Cover and simmer on medium low until the veggies are tender (50 minutes or so).
Then add the oregano, red pepper, and chickpeas and cook for another 10 minutes.
Lastly add the veggies sausage (the soyrizo package had me fry it in a little olive oil for 5 minutes until browned and it was all crumbly when I added it to the stew).
Cook for another couple minutes and enjoy! I had 4 days of leftovers with this meal. And Mark really liked it too, said it was one of the best stews he had ever had with the potatoes perfectly cooked.

vegan black bean flautas

2011-05-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

I made these a couple weeks ago for one of Mark's family's get togethers for Easter, and sadly it tasted good but did not work out as well as I would like...still, a good recipe for appetizers at a party.
Ingredients:
1 chopped yellow onion
2 TBsp chopped garlic
2 cans of black bean
2 tsp chili powder
1 jar pre-made salsa
1 cup frozen corn
corn tortillas

Directions:
heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan and then add the onions and garlic. Cook until browned. Then add the beans, chili powder, and 1/2 cup water.
Simmer on medium until the water is evaporated.
Then remove from heat and mash the beans until at least half the beans are mashed, 1/2 in tact.
Then stir in the salsa and corn, and hat for another couple minutes.
Scoop the mixture to fill the middle of the corn tortilla, wrap, and place on a baking sheet. Cook as many as you want at 425 for 6-10 minutes.
I have made them before and they are a hit at parties as appetizers...the problem was I amde them at home and took them to the Herlings which was an hour away, and then they had cooked a lot of food for Easter so it was a big debate on when and how to cook them...so by the time they were cooked the corn tortillas had all broken and fallen apart... :(
But here is a picture of the filling...the filling alone is great so I might use that in the future to fill tacos or something.

The Cape Relay 2011

2011-05-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

I just ran the Cape Relay with a team from work this weekend and it was lots of fun, with some new experiences for me. I definitely hope to run another one as long as I get asked to in the future!
what happened?
We arrived at Angell and packed our van, 6 people per van for our 12 person team plus Courtney (DT's girlfriend) was our designated van driver. Then we were off to the Borderland State Park for the start. Our team left at 10:45- our van, van 1, did the first round of legs. Charity started, and it got hot fast. All 6 of us ran our legs, with our first experience of the "Dynamic Warm Up Dude" at Leg 5- he made an appearance at every other round of legs, where he ran up and down the parking lot doing lunges, sidewinders, and sprinting.
My leg was leg 6, which was the one that handed off to our Van 2 at the end. I expected to run about a 10minute mile...we were supposed to have a "you're a mile from the finish" sign when I was, and I anticipated seeing that sign around 3:17p meaning I would hopefully finish my 6.9 miles by 3:27p. Well by 3:20 I was worried I had not seen the sign since I was behind schedule- then I cam e around a corner and a cop directing traffic told me I was almost there, and when I asked how far he said less then a quarter mile! I ended up finishing at 3:22p, 4-5 minutes ahead of schedule. By that point our team was 20 minutes ahead of our anticipated time.
Our team continued to knock off time. While Van 2 ran their 6 legs we went to Plymouth near the next major exchange. We showered and relaxed at Hennesey's house and wandered down to down town plymouth. Of course, Van 2 was supposed to be done by 10ish but instead cam in at an hour early, so we didn't rest at all.
Then started the night legs. It was a new experience for me. I started my leg at 12:30am, and running with a headlamp and a flashlight up hill for 6 miles in the dark and alone was difficult, but an experience.
After that Van 2 took over again. We went to the next major exchange and slept, stinky and sweaty in the van for 3 hours. At 5am we were up and ran our last legs at 6am.
Eventually we waited for van 2 at Meadow Beach in Truro on the Cape, and our team came in at 12:30p, which was an hour and a half ahead of scheduled. It was a great experience and I hope to run a relay again...plus there was a beer garden at the finish which kept our eyes on the prize. ; )

another great wine night: recipe index

2011-04-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Mark and I hosted another great wine night last night. There were lots of requests for recipes, and all the food I made I have actually posted recipes about before. In December there is a blog about Christmas dinner with the Herlings where I wrote the corn salad recipe. Then in March there was a blog titled" To all my vegan friends where I posted the chili casserole recipe. The only modification I did last night was added a cup of apple juice and used morningstar veggie crumbles instead of tempeh when making the chili. This was the first wine night with no leftovers, weird!

The only downside last night was that I had all the cooking done before, whereas I normally spend the first hour cooking- which keeps me from drinking too much. I started drinking with everyone else last night, and got way too tipsy...

back from Hawaii....

2011-04-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have been in Hawaii for the last week for those of you who did not know...and here is my blog about the trip!

I went to Hawaii for IVECCS Spring Break, a conference for ECC people in vet med. Mark was supposed to be my guest, but bailed, which sucked, but it all worked out since my good friend Katie from vet school lives and works in Hawaii, and she attended the conference too!

I arrived Wednesday afternoon in Hawaii, Kauai to be exact, and relaxed in the hotel myself that night. It was an easy day. I went for a "run", which ended up sadly just being a 2 miler since it was 85 degrees and very humid.... I had not acclimated yet.

Thursday was an all day event for the conference. A lot of the speakers were my old professors from Tufts, which was great. Most of the topics were interesting. The conference was geared towards ER vets, not specialists, so it was a little basic for me, but that was comforting, knowing that I know more then I think I do. Thrusday night they hosted a lua for us, which was fun, and they had lots of great food. I was worried it would be all about the roasted pig, but there were actually about 5 different vegan options, plus some of the best pina coladas I have eever had (made with coconut milk).

Friday we had off, so we planned a day trip. Katie, her friends Julie and Isabelle from her internship, and Eric (Julie's husband) and I all went for a day long snorkel adventure. We arrived at the tour place at 6am, then took a boat out along the Napali Coast for 4 hours. The Napali coast is VERY isolated and beautiful, and one of the only ways to see it is via boat. I kept thinking that I watch too many movies since a lot of the views reminded me of movies, but then I found out I was right, and a lot of famous movies were filmed there: Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, etc. There was marine wildlife galore: sea turtles, humpback whales, spinner dolphins, and manta rays, and all but the whales were super close along the side of the boat. The down side...I turned out to be quite sea sick, I spent the majority of the time that the boat was in motion at the back puking my guts out...puked 4 times, mostly dry heaving and water at the end, ughh...it took a lot out of me.

The boat then took us to a different island with a bird sanctuary, and we spent an hour in the water snorkeling there, BEAUTIFUL fish, and that is where we saw the manta rays. By 3pm the trip was over, and while it was beautiful and I saw some of the most amazing wildlife, I was glad to have land under me again.

That night we had sushi for dinner (yummy sweet potatoe sushi for me). Needless to say, my vomiting was from sea sickness and not a hangover, but after spending 4 hours of straight heaving I avoided alcohol for 2 days.

Saturday morning I was waiting for the elevator when a chicken appeared on our floor, alone in the elevator, pretty darn funny. The conference went on for the morning, and then Saturday afternoon we went out to the canyon to try to hike. We stopped at Island Taco on the way and I had an amazing meal: tofu taco with cilantro and lime sauce, delicious! I am going to try to make it again sometime myself. The Canyon was a little rainy, mainly because the elevation was so high, but we got a brief 1 mile hike in. Then on the way out stopped at the Kauai brewery- everyone got the platter of seven different Hawaiian mini beers...I normally would have too to sample all of it, but after the day before I sipped and barely finished one beer.Then we watched the sunset on the beach on the south coast before heading back home.

Sunday morning was the conference again. Got to speak with some of the people from Tufts which was nice. Then we drove to the north shore to try and relax on a beach- sadly it was raining pretty hard. We were able to visit a light house on a bird sanctuary before it started raining: saw whales in the distance and on the sanctuary saw tropic birds, albatross, red footed bobbies, frigates, and shearwaters. We saw a cool cave, fed a stray dog with a broken leg that had probably had several litters of puppies (she was so sweet, I wanted to take her home and fix her!), and then shopped in a little town near the beach. We went to a thai restaurant for dinner that night, had a tasty peanut stir fry.

Monday was our last day, and we had the day off again. We went for a kayaking trip: we kayaked up the main river in Kauai about 2 miles both ways, and stopped at a trail. We hiked this trail with our group and guide about a mile both ways to a secluded, 100 foot waterfall in a national park. It was quite an adventure, especially since the hike entailed crossing a river AND sloshing through 1 foot deep mud trails. It was quite a work out and very enjoyable. It was a little annoying that the other guests on our tour were not very kayak savy, and they did not follow proper etiquette well which resulting in someone ramming, scraping, and bruising my leg while we were getting out of our kayak and they were landing.

Julie fished an injured bird out of the river (a Japanese white eye we think) and we called around until we found a rehabber to take it. Then we relaxed at the pool for 3 hours until we headed to the airport and home.

Now that I am home I really miss the weather since it is rainy, cold, and windy here. Hopefully it will get warmer soon!

"mexican lasagna"

2011-04-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

I have recently been told about the fat free vegan blog, which is pretty decent, and tried one of her recipes last night (but made it non-fat free and some other changes).
It turned out pretty good and will be a good source of leftovers for Mark for the week while I am in Hawaii.
Ingredients:
1 can black beans
1 can sliced olives
1 can kidney beans
1 chopped yellow onion
1 green pepper and 1 red pepper, chopped
2 TBsp garlic
cumin
chili powder
2 cans vegetarian refried beans
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 jar vegetarian enchilada sauce
vegan daiya cheese (mozzarella and cheddar)
18 small corn tortillas

Directions:
In a small frying pain heat the onion, peppers, and garlic with a small amount of water, until soft.
In a large casserole dish that is sprayed with nonstick spray, layer 6 tortillas. On top of this coat one can of stirred refried beans. On top of this layer 1/2 the pepper mixture. On top of this spread the can of tomatoes. On top of this spread one can of black beans. Sprinkle with cumin and chili powder. Then place a layer of daiya cheese.
On top of this place another 6 tortillas, then another layer of the refried beans. Place the remaining 1/2 of the peppers on this, then the other can of tomatoes, then the can of kidney beans. Again sprinkle with cumin and chili powder, and apply another layer of daiya cheese.
Place one more layer of 6 tortillas. Coat with the enchilada sauce and the olives on top of this.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
It made a delicious meal, especially with tofutti sour cream on the side, and 8 leftover containers.

On another note I also made vegan AND gluten free raspberry cupcakes with delicious homemade frosting for rounds today...

pet peeves from a runner...

2011-04-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

Being a runner in the city can be tough sometimes...luckily I live less then a mile from the Charles and just head straight to the river on my runs as it is a runner's oasis there. But that still means I am on the roads for about 1.2 miles total to and from the apartment...and that can be dicey.
I am sure drivers are just as peeved by me sometimes, I try my hardest to obey crossing laws and to watch out for other pedestrians. I have found bikers can be more dangerous then cars, and while I respect them and like that they are travelling in such an environmentally conscious way, they scare me too, and take risks that are dangerous for everyone sometimes.
But lately I have this one pet peeve that I just want to blog about...
When I am on a busy street on my way to or from the Charles (aka Mass Ave) there are a lot of pedestrians, especially between Newbury St. to past Berklee. Sometimes I find it a little rude that they always walk in a fashion to take up the whole sidewalk chatting with friends, etc., but I get by. In particular, at this point I know what spots are save to briefly run along the road and avoid cars and people. What drives me nuts though is when I am obviously trying to get by slow walking people, and after I do I hit a DO NOT WALK sign. While waiting to cross I always jog in place, and often times I will jog in place at the very end of the curb, waiting for my "little white man" to tell me I can cross (inside joke with Denis). My pet peeve- when I am jogging in place and the pedestrians I just passed with some difficulty arrive at the same intersection, and proceed to walk around me and stand off the curb in front of me waiting for the walk sign. Really? I am just going to have to jog around you and pass you again. I mean, I am jogging in place after all, I am going to hit the ground running as soon as that walk sign flashes, and you are going to be in my way. Instead, you could have just waited behind me since that extra 3 feet in front of me is not going to get you across the street any faster.
Ughh, complaints from a runner...

sweet potatoe curry

2011-04-09T14:11:00.001-07:00

this is a good one to make LOTS of leftovers, and it packs a little punch!
Ingredients:
1 TBsp canola oil
1 chopped yellow onion
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans of dark red kidney beans
4 sweet potatoes- peeled and diced
2cups veggie stock
3 TBsp garlic
2 TBsp curry
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 TBsp ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne
rice

Directions:
Cook rice as directed.
In a saucepan place the oil and heat, then add onion until softened. Then add in all the spices as well as the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Then add the veggie stock and tomatoes and increase heat until at a boil. Then turn back to low heat and add the kidney beans and sweet potatoes. Stir and cook at low for 30 minutes.
Serve over rice.

thai tofu wraps

2011-04-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

this recipe did not turn out at all like what I expected, but I modified and made it work...
Ingredients:
1 chopped white onion
1 cup chopped carrots
3 TBsp garlic
2 tsp ginger
1/2 cup peanuts
1 container tofu, drained and mashed
1 bag romaine lettuce
2 Tbsp cilantro
2 TBsp tamari soy sauce
1 tsp asian chili paste
1/2 cup bread crumbs
tortillas
3 TBsp peanut butter
Peanut sauce (you can use a premade one, or I made a homemade one)- 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1 TBsp garlic, 1/4 cup tamari, 1 TBsp rice wine, 1 tsp asian chili paste, 1 tsp sugar, and 2 TBsp cilantro needed.

Directions:
In a food processor purree the onion, garlic, giner, carrots, and peanuts. Then add the tofu, peanut butter, cilantro, chili paste, and tamari and purree to a chunky mixture.
In a glass dish that is lightly oiled layer a small layer of read crumbs, then pour the above mixture on top, then another layer of bread crumbs. Back at 350 for 30 minutes.
For the peanut sauce you need to whisk together all the above ingredients listed under the sauce until creamy and thin, you can add water as needed if it is too thick.

In the torilla place romaine lettuce, as much of the tofu crumble from the oven as you want per wrap (it is crumbly and is like falafel but a little more crumbly). Drizzle on the peanut sauce and roll up.
Sorry the picture is so blurry, but Mark is posing eating the delicious result!

Also, I had leftovers of the tofu crumble from the oven. What I ended up doing was using the leftover lettuce and crumble and peanut sauce as a salad for 2 days, I added some cucumbers to it and it was a tasty (although probably high calorie) salad.

Symphony

2011-04-09T13:07:00.001-07:00

I need to play blog catch up!!!
I don't think I ever got a chance to post about the symphony.
Mark and I went to the symphony last month. It was something I wanted to do for a while. They have discount where people under forty can get tickets for $20, so Mark got this for the two of us for Valentine's Day.
Of course, the timing was a little bad...I had told Mark in January that I had weekends off for a month, so he bought tickets for a Friday night, which happened to be the second week of March. When I explained I was working and I might not be able to go because I was also on call, he said I had told him I had weekends off for a month. I had, but I had said that in January, and it was 3 weeks later...not to mention there was a calendar on the fridge with my schedule. But we decided to try to make it happen.
Of course, I had been on call for 12 days by the time that day rolled around, and what do you know, Thursday night is the first night I get a call and get asked to come in. They had just put a dog on the ventilator so one of our jobs as the ECC residents is to sit with the cases and micro manage the minute to minute changes round the clock, so at 2am on Friday morning I woke up, showered, and headed over to Angell. I was there from 3am on with just 4.5 hours of sleep. And it was a hellish day so I ended up being there until 6:30. I got home at 7pm, changed, and we had to rush to the symphony since doors let us in at 730pm. Of course, by this time I was grumpy, tired and HUNGRY but we didn't have time to get dinner. (there was free food there for Mark, but nothing for us outcast vegans).
Mark happened to randomly run in to his best friend's mother from growing up, which was nice, but a little rough too since I did not know he had run in to her when I was waiting for him in the hall to get our seats, and after 10 minutes of searching for him I found him chatting with her and her husband.
The symphony itself was beautiful, and they opened with Haydn, I loved the opening act. I was trying hard not to fall asleep though after being awake since 2am. Then at the intermission Mark moved our seats next to his friend's mom, which was ok, but again I was even more tired then since Mark was catching up with them while I tried not to fall asleep.
The second act with the piano was not as good, I forget the artist, but they closed with Beethoven's 5th, which was nice since so many people recognized it (it was Mark's favorite since he knew it) but by the end of it all at 1030pm I just wanted it to be over so I could go home and try to sleep before getting up at 530am for work the next morning (thank goodness I didn't get called in again. I have to admit, I was terrified for a second that Mark's friends were going to want to grab drinks, but they didn't, hopefully if I ever go again it will be a little better planned for timing and I will be less sleep deprived so I can watch and enjoy the music more.

interesting movies

2011-03-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've watched a couple new movies (for me) this week, and they've been interested.
When the DaVinci Code movie came out i was very disappointed and did not find it an adequate representation of the movie at all. However, I just watched Angels and Demons this week, and while they left a lot out, I did not think they left critical parts out like they did in DaVinci Code. It was overall a great movie, and since some of the book was so over the top it was probably a good thing they changed it.

I also saw the movie My Sister's Keeper, which was a very powerful book that made me cry a lot when I saw it. The movie was great too, and they actually changed the ending which I thought was also a good thing since the ending in the book seemed too outlandish, and made me mad. The ending in the movie was more how I thought things should be.

Last, I saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It was a silly teenage movie, but I loved it. I loved the interesting mix of characters, and the acting by the silly drunk best friend was perfect.

Well, I can;t afford to buy anymore movies for a bit, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1 is coming out in 2 weeks, so I will have to splurge and buy that movie to watch.

a unique vegan mac and cheese dish

2011-03-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

I took this unique mac and cheese recipe from Runner's World and adjusted it to a vegan recipe, it was pretty good! And I got to use my new large, heavy duty food processor, it worked great!
Ingredients:
1 box mini rigatoni
2.5 cups veggie stock
1 head of cauliflower
1/2 cup daiya vegan chese (I used 1/4 cup each of mozarella and cheddar)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 TBsp dijon
1/8 nutmeg
1/4 cup vegan parmesan
1/2 cup vegan bread crumbs

Directions:
Cook the pasta as directed.
Heat over to 400.
Chop the cauliflower and boil until soft (about 20 minutes)
Once cooked, put the cauliflower, cheese, oil, mustard, and nutmeg in the food processor. Blend until made in to a sauce.
Place the pasta in to a large baking dish.
Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss to mix the sauce in.
Top with the parmesan and bread crumbs.
Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

simple aspragus appetizers

2011-03-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of aspragus, so had to try this INCREDIBLY simple and quick dish.
It turned out alright, not amazing, but something I might make for a wine night sometime.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus
4 large beef tomatoes
1 loaf of italian bread
1 package of daiya cheddar flavored cheese
margarine

Directions:
cook the asparagus by boiling in water
Slice the bread and apply a small layer of margarine to the bread.
Line up on a baking dish taht is lightly oiled.
Layer the sliced tomatoes on the bread first, then the asparagus, then top with the daiya vegan cheese. Cook at 325 for 5 minutes.

precooked:

cooked:

vegan curry

2011-03-18T07:07:00.001-07:00

Made a quick and easy tasty curry last night.
Ingredients:
1 bag frozen peas
1 bag chopped carrots
2 cups cut red skinned potatoes
1 chopped cauliflower head
1 chopped onion
canola oil
3 TBsp curry powder
1 6oz can tomatoe paste
1 can coconut milk
1 cup veggie stock
rice

Directions:
heat 2 TBsp canola and the chopped onion until brown in a large sauce pan.
Add the coconut milk, curry, veggie stock and tomatoe paste. Break down the tomatoe paste in to the sauce and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium and add the cauliflower, peas, potatoes, and carrots. Cook for 15 minutes or until potatoes slightly soft.
Serve over rice.
This is one that tastes even better as a leftover, especially with pita bread!

To all my vegan friends out there: this is a recipe you should try and serve to all your meat eating friends!

2011-03-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

This was one of my best recipes EVER, modified from some cook book recipes.
It has two parts: a sweet and sour chili as well as a couscous caserole.

Ingredients for the chili:
1 chopped yellow onion
3 TBsp chopped garlic
olive oil
1 package of tempeh- cut in to tiny crumbles (1/2cm x 1cm rectangles is what I did)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup cashews
2 cans red kidney beans
1 can green chilis
1 can tomatoe paste
2 TBsp brown sugar
1 TBsp chili powder
1 TBsp cinamon
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin

Directions: In a large pot heat 2 TBsp olive oil with the onions and garlic for 3 minutes on high.
Add the various spices (brown sugar, chili powder, cinamon, cayenne, and cumin) and stir in, keeping at high heat for 2 minutes.
Then add all the remaining ingredients and reduce heat to medium. Stir frequently and let simmer for 30 minutes.

The chili itself was delicious, and could be served as a meal itself, but making the caserole below was really the winner...

For the caserole:
ingredients:
the above chili
1 box of cooked couscous
daiya vegan cheese, both mozarella and cheddar
1 can green chilis

Directions:
In a caserole dish layer the cooked couscous about 1 inch high along the bottom of the dish.
Then layer some mixed daiya vegan cheese (mozarella and cheddar)
Then place a layer of chili almost up to the top of the dish
Spread the can of green chiles over the top of the chili
Apply one more layer of vegan cheese sprinkled over the top.
Cook at 350 for 30 minutes.
ENJOY! Mark and I ate it with tortilla chips, it was honestly one of my best meals in awhile.

I am definitely going to make it for a wine night at some point this year.

veggie burgers are tasty too!

2011-03-03T16:26:00.001-08:00

I know a veggie burger probably doesn't sound great to most, but it can be tasty too!
These veggie burgers (BOCA vegan burgers) were on whole wheat buns with tomatoes, lettuce, tahini sauce, and ketchup.
Delicious!

a productive day off

2011-03-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

Day one of two off- I did well! The only upside to having a lot of days off in the middle of the week is that most people don't have these days off, most people are like normal people with the weekends off. So the downside, I can't participate in normal events on the weekend like everyone else, that part does suck. The upside is I get so much done on my days off since no one else is off at the same time to do things.

today I went running twice (once for 7 miles, once for 3). I cleaned the apartment, took the trash and recycling out, did the dishes, cleaned the stove and mopped the kitchen floor. Then I also read 6 papers for my revision on my manuscript. And to top it all off I watched three movies, some while working on actually typing the changes I already made to manuscript on a hard copy.

And the movies were...Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Bridget Jones 2, and Harry Potter 6. I am such a joke. Both the Star Wars and Bridget Jones movie never fail to make me smile. And Harry Potter as well as Bridget Jones had London in it...made me miss London. I wonder if I can look for jobs in London when I get done with the residency. It would be interesting, to work there. i would love to live there. Not sure how hard it would be as an immigrant. But maybe something I will have to look in to.

another easy meal

2011-03-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

I think this picture just about sums up a perfect relaxing evening with an easy to make dinner.
The bread was from trader joe's, which was delicious with their spanish olive oil and basalmic vinegar, as well as a glass of wine.
The veggies were a frozen package of roasted veggies which I heated up with a small amount of olive oil and garlic- they were a little mushy but ok once mixed in the the pasta.
Then whole wheat spaghetti and sauce with trader joe's fake meatballs!

falafel!

2011-03-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

Falafel is one of those dishes that just always hits the spot in my book.
And it is so simple to make too!
All you have to do is buy:
pita bread
red leaf lettuce
tomatoes
tahini
a box of falafel mix

Follow the box instructions, which typically involves adding a certain amount of water to the mix and rolling in to small meat ball shaped falafel balls.
Fry in some olive oil.
Then I typically cut the pita in half and make each in to a pocket with some sliced tomatoes, falafel, lettuce and then the tahini drizzled over the top.

end of life care

2011-03-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/05/60minutes/main6747002.shtml

I never used to watch 60 Minutes, but since Mark is a big fan of the show I have started watching it as we share the couch in the evening, and sometimes I do enjoy the shows a lot. I thought this show was EXCELLENT. It brought up a lot of important issues.

I completely agree with the main doctor interviewed. As Kafka said "the meaning of life is that is stops". I don't know why so many people are so terrified of death and will have their families and healthcare providers do EVERYTHING to keep them alive. I am all about saving people, and animals for that matter. After all, I am going in to a field where my job is going to be to save some of the sickest of our patients, to fix patients with cancer (notice I did not say cure), put dying animals on a ventilator, give dialysis to those in anuric renal failure, to crack chests and perform CPR to bring an animal back to life. I am supposed to do all those things in my career, and I love doing them, but for me it is all about quality of life. I have discussions with owners everyday about "I could do this, or that, or this to keep your pet alive, but what for? He or she has terminal cancer, and what type of life are we looking at if I am successful in saving your pet?" It's tough conversation, but a part of my job I love, connecting to people and explaining to them in the best way what is going on with their pet so they can make informed decisions.

So why can't we do that with people? There are many times in my job where I tell people "This is what I need to do to keep your pet alive, it might not work but it's the only chance, but why are we doing it? And is it the right choice?" Everyone will have to die eventually, and it can be hard to make those decisions for someone else, but it is also the right thing in so many situations.

I think it is terrible that so much of people's healthcare is spent on the last couple months of their lives, why not spend it earlier on preventative medicine, etc? And why are so many people so scared of dying that they will tell their healthcare provider to do ANYTHING to just "keep them alive as long as possible" at the end? Is live worth living when you have hepatic encephalopathy and are not coherent? or when you are on a ventilator? or when you are unable to walk, urinate, and defecate on your own? I guess everyone has to make that decision for themselves, but I know what my decision will be when I am old and debilitated or sick. I just hope laws can change more so that euthanasia is an option for people.

artichoke pasta

2011-02-24T06:38:00.000-08:00

Made another easy and tasty pasta dish this week....
I used multi colored linguine (tomatoe and spinach flavored) and cooked that like normal.
Then I fried up a can of artichoke hearts, a bag of spinach, and a jar of sun dried tomoatoes with some garlic.
Once the pasta and veggies were cooked I stirred them up together- it was a tasty meal for me and Mark, and good leftover lunches for the week!

maybe I am a LEO.....

2011-02-23T16:08:00.000-08:00

We've had an interesting (and silly) conversation at work a couple times now, with different people. Turns out several people at work like astrology (don't really believe in it, but know a lot about it and find it amusing to follow). I have had three different people at work ask what my sign is, and all three responded "That makes so much sense, you are such a Leo" when I tell that I am one.

I used to completely disagree. I always remember as a kid reading things about Leos wanting to be the center of attention, conceded, bossy people....but then we were all reading about our signs at work and I read this site:

http://www.astrology-insight.com/leo.htm

I would have to say, maybe I agree, maybe I am a Leo.

an interesting vegan "dinner" from Mark

2011-02-23T15:58:00.001-08:00

I had been picking on Mark for not doing anything for valentine's day/our anniversary, and he kept saying he was going to cook me dinner, and he finally did a week later!
It was actually quite good, I thought I would share his creation since he randomly thought it up on the spot.
Ingredients:
tortilla wrap
firm tofu
daiya mozzarella vegan cheese
spinach
chili powder
1 yellow onion

DIRECTIONS:
Cut the tofu in to thin 1/4 inch strips a lay flat on the tortilla. Add a layer of fake cheese and then the spinach. Slice the onion and carmalize in olive oil, then layer on top of the spinach. Sprinkle with chili powder. Roll up and secure with toothpicks.
Slice the roll in to 1-2 inch thick rolls.

Fry in olive oil (not sure where he thought of this, but it worked).

When all was said and done it was delicious, but it was tedious, so Mark only made one wrap's worth, which amounted to two pieces each...not sure if I should let this count as dinner ; )
We both agreed it would be a great appetizer though.

I also thought it reminded me of what a breakfast burrito should be like, so the next day I took the leftovers along with a can of mushrooms and made breakfast burritos.
The directions for this:
Crumble tofu.
Fry Tofu, sliced onions, mushrooms, and spinach in olive oil.
Layer a tortilla wrap with daiya vegan cheddar cheese. Layer some of the fried burrito mix on top of the cheese (making it melt) and roll up to enjoy!

artificial intelligence...

2011-02-15T17:15:00.000-08:00

Mark wanted to watch Watson on Jeopardy tonight, so I joined him, and Watson the computer kicked the contestants assess!!It freaked me out a little, I told Mark it seemed like some flashback from a sci fi movie in the future- some made up movie I would watch, where A.I. takes over and the flashback is to Watson winning Jeopardy, and being one of the first computers that could control us and exceed quicker then us. Mark said I was silly for those conspiracy theories ( am not really scared of it, but it was a neat idea).

Well, at the end the final jeopardy question was a US city question, it asked which US city had its first airport named after a world war 2 hero, and its second airport after a worl war 2 battle. I guessed NYC. The two human contestants knew the answer was Chicago, but Watson had no idea so he guessed Toronto and only wagered a small amount so he was still in the lead by over $25,000. Interestingly Mark was very bothered by Watson leading, and at the end when I commented that Toronto was not even a US City Mark exclaimed "Ughh, Watson totally did that on purpose so his lead wasn't too far and people aren't too mad at him!". I doubt that, but what if Mark is right? To me that would be even scarier...it would really imply that Watson had A.I., and that he understood human emotions. It's kind of a scary thought that a computer could understand that and make a choice based on what type of impression he might make...I think Mark is wrong, but it is an interesting thought.

set to high standards

2011-02-15T07:01:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I am really amazed at the high standards veterinarians are held to. I have a lot of respect for M.D.s and sometimes I am jealous of how they can do so much for their patients that we can't yet. But there are also a lot of times when I realize as veterinarians we do so much more in other ways. And we really hold the bar high too.

For instance, when I think about follow up, I know the amount of time we as veterinarians spend talking with owners on the phone is INCREDIBLE. I have never actually received a phone call from one of my M.D.s to discuss lab results. In fact, I used to get a phone call from a secretary, but now I don't even get that, I get a letter in the mail saying that the labwork was ok. If I ever called the doctor to discuss a question I had as follow up I have never been allowed to speak with them, instead I leave my message and then the doctor's assistant calls me with an answer later, however if I have a follow up question after that i have to go through the same delayed process. Yet when it comes to being a vet, we call all owners personally to discuss labwork results. Owners will call us months to years after I saw the patient with follow up questions, and half the time it is a separate problem that we have to tell them to come in for to get evaluated for, but we still discuss the implications of what could be wrong with them over the phone.

And then when it comes to discharges, we take it to another level as a veterinarian. For instance, when I send a patient home I have a handwritten discharge anywhere from 2-3 pages long explaining what happened in the hospital and discussing step by step instructions for at hom care. And these instructions are expected to be idiot proof. Sometimes I write these handouts with step by step instructions even when I treated the patient as an outpatient. For instance, a newly diagnosed diabetic about to start insulin gets a 2 page handout on insulin care, administration, urine monitoring, etc. I have never received discharge instructions from an M.D. and asking around I don't know anyone else who has either.

And then there is the whole financial thing. I am jealous of M.D.s then, they often can run whatever test they want without worrying about finances. Yet we are forced to make estimates, revise them, and often time pick and choose diagnostics or treatments based on financial capability, hoping that we choose right. Our hands are often tied even when we have the capability of giving a patient everything a human with the same disease might need, because the owner is not willing or able to pay the $5000-10000 it might take. I know, that is a lot of money, but most of the time we charge 1/10th or less of the price for the same thing that a human patient gets cahrged for that.

We definitely take it to another level. Sometimes I wish M.D.s would take some advice from us!

another great wine night!!

2011-02-12T13:59:00.000-08:00

It was a little crowded, but it all worked out and we had an amazing wine night.
I was particularly fond of some of my food too!
Let's see, first was the asparagus rolls, which were the best food of the night if you ask me.
Basically I took some cooked asparagus stalks. Then I trimmed the crust off of some white bread.
I whisked together 8 TBsp melted margarine with 1 TBsp mustard and some italian spices.
Spread the mixture on the inside of a slice of bread, and put the asparagus roll in that. Roll up and then drizzle some melted margarine on the outside. Bake at 300 for 10 minutes.

Then I made some artichoke and sun dried tomatoe focacia...I didn't think it was that good, so I will not post the recipe. Interestingly, the recipe is quite complex normally but I was lazy and tried to shorten it...which is probably why it wasn't that good.
There were vegan and gluten free cupcakes for dessert.

And the pasta as the main dish was tasty (and easy to make).
I cooked three pounds of penne before the party and cooked 3 cans of plum tomatoes in a pan with some basil until the tomatoes were mushy and broken down some. I then added I package of Daiya Mozzarrella to the sauce. I filled some lasagna dishes with the penne once cooked, then topped with the sauce. I kept them in the fridge until the party, and then cooked them for 10 minutes at 350. Tasty!

I think our next theme will be Sonoma Valley wines.

rainbow soup

2011-02-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

Well this is a simple recipe, modified from one of my mom's. I literally just take all the leftover vegetables and cook them in a soup that is tomatoe based. It makes tons and then you can have leftovers for weeks!

This time I used a chopped up purple cabbage, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 1 bag frozen peas, 1 bag frozen corn, 1 bag frozen brocolli and cauliflower, and 1 bag of frozen spinach.
I put all of them in to the pot and then filled it up to the top with water, then cooked it on medium for 2 hours.

I also made this delicious vegan chocolate cheesecake, but I don't think I can post the directions since the recipe is directly from my new vegan baked cook book.

vegan french toast

2011-01-29T10:41:00.001-08:00

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...

2011-01-28T17:45:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-01-25T12:21:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-22T08:25:00.001-08:00

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

2011-01-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2011-01-06T13:41:00.001-08:00

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!

2011-01-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-02T16:55:00.000-08:00

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.

Hypovitaminosis D

2010-12-25T04:41:00.001-08:00

Aside from my 2 days off a week I have realized I don't see sunlight. Now that I am back on days I get up at 5:40 and get to work around 6:15am, well before the sun rises. And then I leave anytime between 5:30-9:30pm, missing sunset. I guess last year multiple residents had low Vitamin D levels.

Aside from the mental effects this can have looks like I might be at risk for some other medical problems!!

Bloody Christmas in the Hospital

2010-12-25T04:26:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, working Christmas year after year is starting to get to me...this is my 4th Christmas working in a row.
In fact, I have worked the last 3 Thanksgivings, the last 4 Christmases, and after next week the last 4 New year's eves and days. I don't really remember what it is like to have a holiday off, but I know what it is like to be jealous of everyone that like most normal people has both the holiday and the days around it off! I don't actually want a ton of time to see family, it would get overwhelming, but just one day would be nice.
I was thinking that since I have worked so many holidays in the last 3-4 years that I should request Christmas off next year (I don't want to request Thanksgiving off since I am not a fan of a holiday that centers a dead bird in the middle of the table, but I am happy to host my vegan version of Thanksgiving the weekend after).
Sadly though, my schedule in the residency changes every week, and the work week is Monday-Sunday. Since Xmas falls on a Sunday next year, that means if I request a vacation week the week of Xmas I will either have the week before it off, or the week after, which is a little awkward and might mean I feel jipped that I didn't get to relax with a couple days around the holiday. I could always just request that weekend off, but no guarantees I will get it off either. I guess I will have to think about it, will probably make the schedule in May or June for the next year anyways.
There are a decent amount of us stuck at work today. I wanted to bring a chocolate cake to share for food but sadly I forgot about it in the oven so it overcooked and got burnt. Instead I brought in salsa and chips from 711. For now, back to work! It was a busy night for the overnighter...this morning has been slow so far but it will be interesting to see how crazy of a day it turns out to be!

Mexican themed holiday dinner

2010-12-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

Last night Mark and I had his family over for a holiday dinner at our place. I am working Xmas, Xmas eve, and I was working on their family holiday party last week, so I felt rather guilty about not being around on the holidays...my solution was to invite everyone over to our house for a Mexican themed vegan meal.
It was a great night. There was a little bit of a late start due to some drama involving a car accident, but everyone was fine, no one was hurt, and it provided some amusing entertainment for the night.
The meal was pretty tasty, and even the non-vegans got seconds, so I thought I would share my recipes.

Mark made red and white sangria for everyone.
I asked everyone to bring chips and salsa for apps, Robin brought some homemade guacamole which was great.
I made a couple things...

1. corn salad
ingredients:
olive oil
1 chopped red onion
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp corriander
3 cups corn
1 chopped orange pepper
1 chopped green bell pepper
2 chopped tomatoes
2 Tbsp cliantro
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Directions:
cook the onion in 2 Tbsp olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Then add the chili powder and corriander and cook for one more minute.
Add the peppers, corn, and tomatoes to this.
Remove from heat and place in a bowl. Mix in the cilantro.
Whisk the red wine vinegar with 4Tbsp olive oil. Toss in salad.
Serve cold or at room temp (I served cold but will probably serve at room temp next time). This is a picture of leftovers for lunch the next day, and this was probably my favorite dish of the night.

2. Caribbean rice and beans
Next was a side dish of rice and beans...simple and easy to make, not too fancy but satisfying.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 chopped red onion
1 chopped red bell pepper
2 Tbsp garlic
1 tsp ginger
2 cups basmati rice
2 Tbsp brown sugar
dash of allspice
dash of thyme
dash of nutmeg
3 cups water
2 cans red kidney beans

(I was too lazy to measure out 1/4 tsp so that's why I wrote a "dash")

Directions:
In a sauce pan mix heat the olive oil and stir in the pepper, onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook until the onion is soft.
Stir in the uncooked rice and coat with oil.
Add the brown sugar (feel free to add more, I think I did), nutmeg, allspice, and thyme. Stir in the water and reduce heat to low, cook for about 25 minutes.
Once the rice is cooked stir in the beans for 5 more minutes to heat them.
Serve!

3. My favorite Sweet potatoe and black bean enchiladas
Ingredients:
6 sweet potatoes
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp garlic
3 cans black bean
1 can diced tomatoes
3 Tbsp chili powder
2 jars generic salsa
14-16 tortillas

Directions:
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes
Place in a greased pan and back at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
In a skillet heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Stir in the beans, tomatoes, and chili powder and cook for 2 minutes.
Stir in the sweet potatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
In a lasagna/casserole dish spread a layer of salsa.
Spoon the mixture in to tortillas, roll and place in a row face down.
Once completed, layer salsa and remaining mixture on top of the tortillas.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

This recipe was for 9 people. so feel free to pare it down.
I also typically serve it with tofutti sour cream.

And last but not least, vegan and gluten free cupcakes!! This whole tray was full before people had dessert, very tasty and sweet! (just a box mix, but I still think it does the trick).

gingerbread house professionals

2010-12-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

It's christmas party season! It all started last weekend when Mark and I went to Ryan and Witt's Gingerbread House party! Basically the two of them slaved over making TONS of gingerbread houses, and then had a party where everyone came over with a dish to share and then made a house of their own for the competition. There were some phenomenal houses. We all voted on the best and the one I liked most won (the "beach front house").

I think if I go to the party next year we will have to study ahead of time! Ours was a little behind the times compared to the professional decorators there, but we did build a broken down car in the front lawn claiming it was a white trash gingerbread house!
And Ryan and Witt's dogs Casper and Zoey are amazing. Even though Mark was red and watery eyed with an itchy face from allergies after playing with them, the claritin seemed to clear him up and he kept saying how much he wanted a dog after we left.
I brought apple cake and my classic black bean chili to share, which were both a hit despite being vegan!

Lindsey's Classic Black Bean and Cashew Chili
Ingredients:
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
3 cans black beans
1 container cashews
1 yellow onion chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 can diced tomatoes
chili powder
1 red bell pepper
3 Tbsp garlic

Direction:
Fry the pepper, garlic, and onion in the olive oil until the onions and garlic are browned. Transfer to a slow cooker.
Add all the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and stir.
As for the chili powder, I do not have a specific amount I measure out, I ball park it, but I like it spicey so it's probably close to 3-4 Tbsp of it.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, Serve warm!
The cashews develops this great soft texture you wouldn't expect!

Apple Cake:
Ingredients:
4 apples chopped
4Tbsp margarine
3/4 c sugar
1 egg's worth of Ener-G egg replacer
3 Tbsp soy milk
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix the margarine, sugar, soy milk, and egg replacer together. Then add all the remaining ingredients, eggs last. Place in a bundt cake as I did, or probably a better idea would be in a glass baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes
Once cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting (the bundt cake top layer stuck to the pan so I would not use this in the future if I make this dish again).

Cream cheese frosting vegan style:
whisk together two cups powdered sugar, 1 8oz tub of tofutti cream cheese, 1/2 a stick of margarine, and 2tsp vanilla.

Here is a picture of the leftovers I had for breakfast the morning after the party:

Being that it was a bundt cake everyone said it looked like one giant glazed donut! Everyone liked it though, it's always great to show people vegan food is good!

I still have one groupon to Kings for $20 worth of bowling too, I have to use it before Jan 15th so anyone in the boston area that wants to go, let me know!

vegan banana bread

2010-12-16T07:41:00.000-08:00

So lately Mark has been asking me to buy bananas and apples for him when I go grocery shopping, but then he is not the best at eating them all before they go bad...which has actually turned out to be a good thing for me since I have been experimenting with more vegan baking recipes!

This week I tried vegan banana chocolate chip bread, and it was superb...I feel guilty admitting it but I didn't bring it to share at work and it only took 5 days for us to finish it...probably more me then Mark as I have the sweet tooth.

Ingredients:
4 brown bananas
1/3 melted margarine
1 cup sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Mash bananas. Add in the margarine, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt and mix.
Mix in walnuts and chocolate chips.
Pour into a glass baking pan.
Bake at 360 F until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Served best with soy milk!!

Ruth's husband just made the most delicious vegan choolate chip cookies this week so I will have to experiment with this recipe, and then I also have some apples Mark has not eaten yet so I am making a vegan apple cake with cream cheese frosting this weekend!

thai peanut burrito bowls

2010-12-06T19:57:00.000-08:00

One word: delicious!!!
I just made these today and am so glad I have enough for leftovers for 4 days! I wanted to try to create some sort of "Thai Peanut Burrito" since there are several restaurants I go to that make a vegan version of this that I love. The problem is everything I make burritos they end up being more like fajitas, they are terribly messy, and the don't stay rolled up right. So I converted this in to a bowl.
INGREDIENTS:
Tortilla wraps (I used whole wheat)
Brown rice
Premade vegan thai peanut sauce (found in the ethnic section of almost any grocery store)
Trader Joe's broccoli slaw (like precut coleslaw but with broccoli and carrots)
Smart life's vegan chickn strips

DIRECTIONS:
Stir fry the broccoli slaw and chickn strips in a small amt. of canola oil. Once the fake chickn in browned add the thai peanut sauce. Cook for another 5 minutes.
Cook the rice as directed from the package.
Once everything is cooked, place a tortilla in the bottom of a bowl (I used a tupperware bowl since I made enough for leftovers for the week).
Line the tortilla wrap with some rice.
Fill the "bowl" with the stir fry. ENJOY!

A weekend of Harry Potter

2010-12-06T12:18:00.001-08:00

This weekend was hilarious and full of Harry Potter. On Friday my friends Tina and Tony came up to visit, they were my friends from the internship last year. We took them to Top of the Hub for dinner, which was great. We had some silly conversations, especially when Mark said to Tina "I am assuming you're single" not in a rude way at all, but the running joke of the night after that was that Tina had "SINGLE" stamped on her forehead.

Then we went to the Pour House for beers. We strolled downstairs where there was more music, psuedo dancing, and a bigger TV. Tony and Mark went to buy themselves some new beers. I glanced over and saw a guy who looked like an older version of Ron Weasley from Harry Potter, so I mentioned it to Tina and sadly he made eye contact with me at that moment I was pointing him out, and then literally within 20 seconds Tina and I were swarmed by a group of guys. The "leader" of the group was this weird looking guy wearing a HUGE jewish star necklase, so naturally his nickname for the night was "Super Jew". I don't really remember any of their names, but the guy who looked like Ron started chatting me up right away. Of course, I was laughing and blushing, and when I peaked over waiting for Mark and Tony to return they were laughing from afar at the bar, and then went to the opposite side of the room! So I kept talking with the guys and Tina, and then the Ron look alike offers to buy me a drink. At that point I respectfully declined and said my boyfriend was across the bar, but that he had not offered to buy me a drink yet, even though he probably would. Then the guys said he had to buy me one in that case, but I still declined. Of course later I regretted this when I told Mark about it and he got made that I didn't get a free beer from him.

Eventually Mark and Tony came and joined us. I introduced Mark to all the guys and they were still nice, not mad that i had a boyfriend and still talkative. What was hilarious was when Mark introduced himself to the Ron lookalike saying "I'm Mark but a lot of people say I look like Harry Potter." the red head laughs and says "Yeah, well I am told I look like Ron Weasley, but we all know who gets Hermione in the end." Omigod, Tony and I could not stop laughing after that.

Later the super Jew says to Tina "So, I am trying to figure this out, you are here with the blonde and her boyfriend, but who is the short guy? Let me guess, a friend of her boyfriend's that they are trying to set you up with...well, I think the short guy is a little shady if you ask me." This was all in reference to Tony, and again we couldn't stop laughing.

It was quite an amusing night.

And then to top it off I went to see Harry Potter in the theaters with Mark on Saturday night. I loved it. The down side was the theater's sound stopped working right for part of the film, but I made a formal complaint and we got refunded for our tickets. Can't wait til that movie comes out on DVD!

another tasty stir fry

2010-12-06T12:14:00.001-08:00

This one took 15 minutes to make and made for delicious leftovers:
1 box trader joes vegan beefless strips
1 premade box of vegan ginger sauce of some sort
1 bag frozen sugar snap peas
1 bag frozen cauliflower and brocolli mixture
1 cup peanuts

Stir fry together and serve over rice, and this one tastes better as a leftover heated up the next day!

vegan and gluten free thanksgiving

2010-12-06T12:07:00.001-08:00

I have never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving since I went vegetarian since the holiday seems to be based around a dead turkey in the center of the table. But I hosted another vegan thanksgiving this year and had a great time!
I was working on the actual day of Thanksgiving, which I didn't mind. Then on the Friday after my extended family came up to visit. My grandma, two cousins, aunt and uncle made the drive from Albany and arrived around 1pm. We were able to walk around Boston and enjoy the views near our apartment, and then at 3pm we had a big meal. It was all vegan and mostly gluten free or my aunt and cousins.

The meal included the central tofurky with its gravy (the only non-gluten free part), a sweet three bean casserole recipe my mom gave me, mashed sweet potatoes, a rice and mushroom dish my aunt brought, and a vegan as well as gluten free chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. It was funny, before I made the meal I told Mark all the food I was making and he said it sounded like it would be too much, and once I made it he thought it would be too little, but it ended up being just the right amount. Sadly I can't post pictures of the meal since i took them on my camera and my computer just died so I have to wait until I get a new computer before I can upload pictures from my camera...otherwise all pictures will have to be posted from my phone.

It was a huge success and it was so nice having my family there. Sadly my mom and bro were on vacation in the Netherlands, but maybe next year they can make it. I am hoping to host a vegan Thanksgiving dinner the weekend after every Thanksgiving from now on.

Veggie Lasagna

2010-11-22T07:51:00.000-08:00

I officially have enough leftovers in the fridge to last about 2 weeks...unless Mark eats some too, which I hope he will. I have several days worth of the sweet potatoe stew from wine night and last night I made lasagna because i had some ingredients I needed to use...so now I have about 9 days worth of lasagna too.
The lasagna is pretty good though, took a while to make but it was fun.
INGREDIENTS

1 can artichoke hearts
1 can black olives
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 box lasagna
2 pounds tofu
lemon pepper and 21 italian blend spice (both from Trader Joe's)
2 zucchini
1 container baby bella mushrooms
1 block of vegan mozzarella, shredded

DIRECTIONS:
cook the lasagna noodles
Slice the zucchini in to thin slices along a diagonal. Fry the zucchini and the mushrooms until lightly browned.
Place the tofu in a large bowl and mash while mixing in the lemon pepper and italian spices until tofu is in small crumble.
Slice the artichoke hearts in to 1/4 inch slices and mix with the olives.
The order I assembled everything:
-thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a lasagna dish
-Then 1 layer of noodles.
-Then 1/2 of the tofu mixture.
-Then the mushrooms and zucchini
-Then another layer of noodles
-Then another thin layer of sauce
-Then a small amount of the shredded mozzarella
-Then another layer of tofu
-Then the artichokes and olives
-Then another layer of noodles
-Another layer of sauce
-Top with all the remaining soy cheese
And cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees....The finished product:

Early Holiday Wine Night Success

2010-11-21T15:27:00.000-08:00

Mark and I hosted another wine night last night, and it was just as fun as the first time. Interestingly is was almost completely different people this time around. There was the usual big showing from Angell and the veterinary career, but this time there were several friends of Mark's that made it as well, which is always nice. I feel bad though, we vet people tend to get caught up in our vet world and tell too many silly animal related stories, it must get old for the non-vet party attenders.

I made rice with an African Sweet Potatoe and Groundnut Stew. It's one of everyone's favorites.
I forgot to take a picture of it prior, but here is a picture of the leftovers I had for lunch today...

We had a great time, I hope to host another wine night sometime this December.

As for the African Stew, here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
olive oil
2 yellow onions
2 garlic cloves
3tsp. ginger
1 TBsp brown sugar
1.5tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. corriander
1.5 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
3 c water
1/2c creamy peanut butter
2 cans black eyed peas
1c peanuts

DIRECTIONS:
Briefly fry the onions in the olive oil.
In a large pot combine 1Tbsp olive oil with the sweet potatoes and onion. Heat on high, and stir in the garlic, ginger, sugar, cinnamon, and corriander.
Once the potatoes are coated with the spices add 2.5c water and bring to a boil.
Once boiling reduce heat to low.
Mix the last 1/2c water with the peanut butter and then add the peanut butter mixture to the stew.
Cook on low for 30 minutes.
Add the black eyed peas and peanuts.
Cook for another 10 minutes.
Serve over whatever you like! I made brown rice to go with it this time.

vegan chickn burritos

2010-11-21T15:20:00.000-08:00

I made some tasty burritos the other night...
Ingredients:
1 bag frozen morningstar chickn strips
1 jar salsa
tofutti sour cream
guacamole
1 package spanish rice (I was lazy and used Uncle Ben's microwaveable spanish rice, but I made sure it was vegan first).
Large tortilla wraps

Probably the simplest directions ever: fry up the fake chicken strips in some canola oil, then combine in the tortilla wrap however much of salsa, fake chicken, rice, guacamole, and sour cream you want! Wrap it up and enjoy (messy though).

On another off of the cooking topic...I am working on submitting a state of the art review to JVECCS. I wrote a 19 page outline on compartment syndromes and the journal said they were interested in an article on the subject so I just finished the first draft of the paper today (31 pages double spaced). One of my mentors is reviewing it but hopefully i will submit it soon!

The NYC Marathon Experience

2010-11-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

I ran the NYC marathon this past Sunday, and it was fun, but I did very poor with my running time. It was actually my second worst time ever after the first marathon I ran. I haven't run a marathon in the last 2 years so I knew I would be doing worse then where I left off, but my goal was about a 4:30 time...sadly I came in at 4:50ish but it was not all my fault. The race itself was fun, OVERWHELMING crowds. The one down side was that there were 60,000 bibs, not sure how many actually ran it but obviously that is a huge amount of people, and on the bridges and at the water stations there was a lot of bottle necking where the road would go from 4 lanes to less then 2. At several of those points people would stop running and walk, and since we were so congested I was forced to walk at several spots I did not want to as well.

Despite being very disappointed in my personal time, it was a fun race, but not one that I think I will do again.

Some memorable moments and how my weekend went:
Arrived in NYC in the afternoon on Saturday and went straight to the expo. I was a little disappointed in the expo- same inherent problem as with the race: no organization and too many people, so we were only there long enough to get my bib and baggie.
Went to dinner at a vegan restaurant called Caravan of Dreams in the East Village with Christina, Pete, and Paul.

Sunday morning I got up at 5:20 and started getting dressed. I knew it was supposed to be 50 degrees with winds at 10-20mph, so I wore a hat, a running shirt and jacket over that, my spandex pants, 3 pairs of socks, and then disposable sweats over the outfit to keep more warm to the race start.
When I got to the subway to head towards staten island there was a train full of runners- we were all bundled up in crappy sweats over our real running gear. I was worried I would miss my 6:15 ferry if I took the transfer on the subway, but several runners were worried about the same thing so we all decided to grab a cab together. SO I took a random cab with 3 other runners at 6am, the total fare was only $5.50 so when we all tried to chip in with $5 bills the guy in the front paid for it all and said "It's my treat". We told silly stories along the way, like the one woman who told us her 9 year old daughter was making fun of her fashion when she left even though she kept trying to explain to her that everyone throws away their outer layer at the start line.

I caught my ferry and it was a gorgeous boat ride to Staten Island going right by the statue of liberty. Once on Staten Island we were shuttled in buses to the actual start village.
The start village split you up in to orange, blue or green bibs, and then again into Wave 1, 2, and 3 of runners.
The village was hosted by Dunkin Donuts, so we all got free hats and bagels and coffee and water. My breakfast was a bagel. The crappy part then was we all had to wait, in the cold. It was FREEZING! We all sat on these fields with no wind cover for about 3 hours nbefore the race with nothing to do.

Finally at 9:45 we headed towards the start. They had three waves of runners all starting 30 minutes apart. I was in wave 2. And once my wave started it still took me 20 minutes to cross the start line.

The initial mile was actually over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and there are runners on both sides of the bridge as well as the lower level. The neatest view for me was when I was coming off of the bridge you can see the 4 different groups of runners all going in different directions, which creates this amazing scene seeing hears of thousands of runners running in different directions. In about another 2 miles we all converged again.

The race it self was full of more spectators then I have ever seen at a race before, and more runners too! This did make it difficult at a couple points though...in particular there were a lot of various points ni the race where things would bottle neck- on bridges they would often have us running on only one side, so the race would go from 4 lanes to 2, and at water stations they cramped in going from 4 lanes to 1.5-2 lanes. This was particularly difficult since these were places where people wanted to stop and walk, so on several of the bridges that were uphill as well as at almost all the water stations I was forced to stop and walk even if I did not want to because all the runners directly in front of me had stopped to walk, and there was no clear path to breakaway and get back to running.

I won't lie though, by mile 22 I was hurting a bit, and those last 4 miles each seemed longer then a mile.

The funny part was to add insult to injury, at the water stations where the bottle necks occured and people all stopping to drink in front of you forced you to stop, there were other hazards...most people who run marathons know that water stations are sticky and slippery- there is a layer of wet cardboard cups, gatorade, and water adhered to the pavement that you have to run over without falling. Well the funny thing to me was at mile 20 they had a "banana station" incoroprated within the water station- so on top of the slippery paper cups, gatorade, and water there were also banana peels scattering the ground...I hoped this was a one time deal just for the mile 20 station, but no, every mile from then on to the finish also had bananas, and their peels covered the ground.

The last 4 miles were toughest, mostly downhill which is good for a lot of people, but I preer uphill as downhill hurts my knees more. And the lanes went from 4 to 1. Mark was at mile 23, and he commented the race seemed poorly designed because at that mile the lane got so crowded with runner they were constantly tripping and bumping in to each other.

I finally finished at 4:52, not a good time at all, but I plan to run another marathon in the spring that isn't so crowded and hope to do better. Once at the finish it took 45 minutes to be corralled through central park to our bags at the UPS trucks and make it out of the park to Mark. And he got a good parking spot but it was 20 blocks away from the finish so that was a long walk after running a marathon. Then it was a 4 hour drive home so I could get up at 5:45 the next morning and go to work. I was a little sore, but now that it is Wednesday I feel fit again and want to get out for a run tonight!

The Wonders of Running Along the Charles

2010-10-27T14:43:00.001-07:00

I really feel lucky to be living where I live and to run along the Charles. I remember in vet school when I started to fall in love with Boston and on the third or fourth flight back home from abroad I felt like I was coming home as I flew over the Charles in to Logan, and now I live less then a mile form the Charles.

Running along the river is quite enjoyable, I hope they keep the paths cleared in winter because if they do I will continue to run along them in my winter running gear. I find myself entranced when I run along the river several days of the week...despite being in the city there is still a decent amount of wildlife to appreciate.
There are small flocks of geese every 2-3 miles that know how to stay just enough out of reach but close enough that I can get a good look at their faces as I pass. There is even a flock of local white domestic geese that lives under the BU bridge in a sort of "Common garden" where the community comes to take care of them.
I often find myself watching a diving cormorant with interest, waiting to see when and where it resurfaces, or if it will have a fish in its mouth when it does.
Today was quite funny, I was jogging along when I spotted an adult red tail on a fence at face level about 6 feet from the road. There were tons of runners going by and NO ONE seemed to notice him but me, I got to watch him closely as I approached and as I passed him he turned and looked right into my eyes, he was just as close as the ones I care for at the wildlife clinic. And what did I do? Stupid me just says as I pass "Aren't you a handsome fella?" even though the bird has no idea what I am saying, and as I say it a young male runner passes me from behind and says "Why thank you" as he passed on the other side of me. I couldn't stop laughing. Luckily he was quite a bit faster then me and passed me quickly so I didn't have to explain myself, but I almost had to stop I was laughing so hard.
I also enjoy watching a regular black lab at one of the docks along the esplanade...she is there with her owner probably 2-3 times a week when I run, he tosses her frisbee off the end and she takes a blind flying leap in to the air to catch it and land in the water 10 feet below.
The tiny sailboats are fun as well, on windy days in particular when there are 20-30 of them in a big conglomeration, I love watching them nearly tip over and just when they look like they are going to capsize the sailor throws his body against the opposite side of the boat, to the point where he might go overboard too, and the boat balances out and rights itself. It is a beautiful site.

Mark's stir fry creation

2010-10-22T16:35:00.001-07:00

Lately my quick and easy dinner in less then 30 minutes meal has been a stir fry of some sort...I keep frozen veggies well stocked in the freezer and always have some sort of fake meat around. Then I use these premade chinese sauce packets (vegan obviously) from the store and top is all over rice.
Last night I started to throw one together for Mark and I when he came over and decided to intervene, which is always a little funny to me since he has literally cooked me one meal in the three years we have been together, but then he acts like an expert when it comes to cooking. Well, I also know to just stand aside and let him take over otherwise I get irritated by all the back seat driver cooking tips.
So I fried up some veggies and tempeh while cooking rice, and then rather then place a packet of the orange mandarin sauce over it, Mark decided to add only half of the packet of that sauce along with lots of crushed red pepper, chili powder, and some cayenne pepper. He also added Cashews, which were a nice addition, but cashews are expensive so I was a little peeved when half the $6 jar of cashews went in to the meal. The result was a little spicy, maybe a little too oily (from the excess safflower oil), but overall tasty...I actually think the orange sauce in the background was the best part of it, but it is fun to experiment and still have a tasty meal with leftovers in less then 30 minutes.

Red Lentil Vegetarian Restaurant

2010-10-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

Mark and I went on a date the other night, first one in awhile...we went to the Red Lentil Restaurant in Watertown, a vegan/vegetarian restaurant that Mark's mom had gotten us a gift certificate to.

It was interesting...sadly they did not sell alcoholic beverages there, but the food was super tasty.
I ordered the seitan crepe with black bean and pineapple salsa.
Mark ordered the mexican pizza.
The other waitress in the place who was not serving us made a point to walk over and tell us that we had studied the menu hard and made excellent decisions....

Then since we still had $6 leftover from the certificate I ordered a vegan chocolate cake slice to go, which I enjoyed as lunch the following day.

After we walked across the street to pick up a bottle of wine. It was a weird experience because the shop keeper was very helpful trying to help us pick out a bottle, and then some random guy came in and he started helping too even though he needed to purchase things for himself. I commented about it to Mark later in the car and he told me is was cause I had dressed up and with my sexy boots on all the guys wanted to help me out...funny.

vegan ziti with broccoli and soy sausage!

2010-10-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

This one was also super tasty...and made leftovers for a week!

Ingredients:
1 box ziti
1 block vegan mozzarella- shredded (I again used my favorite "Follow your heart" brand)
1 bag of microwaveable frozen broccoli
1 tube of Lightlife's Lean Vegan Soy Saugsage
1 jar spaghetti sauce

DIRECTIONS:
Boil the ziti as directed on the package.
While ziti is cooking, heat the broccoli as directed in the microwave.
Meld the soy sausage in to 1 inch balls and fry in olive oil.
Combine the ziti, soy sausage, and broccoli in a lasagna dish once cooked. Mix in the sauce, stir all the ingredients well.
Top with the shredded mozzarella.
Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Interestingly, I know the picture doesn't look like the fake cheese melted, but when I mixed it all up in the tuperware containers with the leftovers, every time I microwave it the cheese actually seems to melt!

quick and easy vegan fake chicken cashew curry

2010-10-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

It is always nice when you decide last minute to put something together and it turns out to be delicious.
Mark and I were on the fence on Wednesday as to whether or not we wanted to go out for dinner or stay in. I wanted to go out, but seeing as I have no money that all depended on Mark's willingness to pay for me. His compromise was that I could make dinner for us and then he would pay for drinks when we went out.
Well, it worked out and I threw together this dish in 20 minutes, and what do you know it was excellent!

INGREDIENTS:
1.5c quinoa (uncooked)
1 can red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 bag frozen broccoli florets or 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1 cup sugar snap peas
1 box of Trader Joe's "Chicken Less Strips"
1 jar of Kitchens of India's "Rich Cashew and Cumin Cooking Sauce" (see attached picture)
1-2 TBsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:
cook the quinoa according to the box/bag
If using frozen vegetables begin frying to thaw in a pan
Add a small amount of olive oil and the TJ's chickenless strips.
Stir fry for another 4-5 minutes
Add the chickpeas, beans, and any other fresh vegetables.
Stir fry for 4-5 minutes
Add the jar of Cashew Cooking Sauce and mix in, frying for an additional 4-5 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Serve the stir fry/curry over the quinoa.

Mark agreed, it was quite tasty. It was also hot, ad the closest I have ever come to cooking something at home that tasted like it was from an Indian restaurant.

Attached is a picture of some leftovers which I had for dinner tonight, and it was still tasty.
The only change I will make next time I throw this together is adding some peanuts or cashews to the stir fry.

vegan stuffed shells

2010-10-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

Well, this vegan creation was mediocre, but I think I know what changes to make to it so that next time it is superb.
I borrowed some online and cookbook parts to make this dish...

Ingredients:
1 box jumbo shells
2 15oz. cans of tomato sauce
1 6oz. can tomato paste
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1 bag of frozen broccoli florets
1 block vegan mozzarella
Vegan "ricotta" (recipe below)

Start boiling the pasta shells.

For the ricotta:
In a blender blend 1 block of tofu, 6oz. tofutti sour cream, 2 tsps. tahini, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. basil leaves, 2 Tbsp. oregano and some salt and pepper.
Once blended mix in the broccoli florets (I used a bag of the steamable broccoli so it only needed 5 minutes in the microwave before I could mix it in to the ricotta).

For Sauce: In a sauce pan saute the garlic in the olive oil, then mix in tomato cause, paste, and spices.
This is one thing I would do different next time...I thought making a sauce more from scratch would be better, but next time I will just use a pre made jar from the store.

Line a casserole dish with a layer of sauce. Then fill each cooked shell with some of the ricotta mix and place open side up in the dish. Once full, cover with a layer of sauce. Then sprinkle with vegan mozzarella (here was my second mistake....rather then use my favorite block of vegan mozzarella which requires shredding the cheese I used vegan rice milk flavored mozzarella strips and shredded them by hand....although the other cheese takes more work to shred it tastes SO much better, I will have to get it next time.

Once assembled cook at 375 for 35-40 minutes.
I took a picture of the shells before I put the sauce on them but sadly can't post it...I just found out my picasa web album is at its limit so I will have to adjust that first and then post it.

RATATAT I will keep coming if you keep playing

2010-10-06T14:41:00.001-07:00

Went to my sixth Ratatat concert last night, and as always LOVED it. It was my 3rd or 4th time to a ratatat show with Mark, and we typically end up in our own little world and dance the night away. This time Jenn and Will came along, and it was super fun hanging out with them. They live nearby in South End so we really need to hang out with them more often.

We got there at 8:30 and the first opening band was finishing up, thank GOODNESS since they sucked. Then there was a second opener, I forget their name but it was 4 dudes from Worcester, they were decent. It was funny though, I was looking at their outfits, and they were all in scrubby jeans and flannel shirts, some open, some tight. It looked like they were either from "That 70's Show" or the early nineties. It got me thinking, and I hypothesized about this with the others...who dresses like that? And if you are trying to hit it big by playing on a big stage all the time, you have to think about what you wear, so did they plan those outfits? It was almost as if they had planned to look like they didn't care about their clothes, or as Will put it were "delibretly casual". Mark didn't think so and thought they probably always dressed like that, but my theory is that they planned the outfits since they weren't famous enough yet to actually not care, they just wanted to look like they didn't care.

Then Ratatat came out...it was the first time I saw them and it was just the two of them, normally they hire someone to star on keyboard and/or drums. But this time they just played the other stuff in the background and rocked it out on their guitars like always. They played for over an hour and I loved every second of it. The third song they played was Mark's all time favorite, so even though we were at the back of the crowd where there was a step so that we could see above everyone's heads, we took to dancing without a care in the world from that point on.
And even though they played for about 90 minutes, there were still a lot of songs I wish they had played that they didn't. I guess that's what happens when you have over 120 minutes of recorded songs on your albums, you have to pick and choose which to play live.

I know Mark and I felt old going to the concert, but afterwards we felt refreshed, and I swear I don't care if I am 45, if Ratatat is still playing shows, I will be there!

asparagus-linguine type dish: Blog #1 of vegan dishes

2010-10-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

I think I am going to start posting recipes of REALLY good food I cook with pictures...but the first one I want to list I forgot to take a picture of, sorry!
But last week I decided to make a meal that was completely non-vegan, and I transformed it in to a vegan masterpiece! I warned Mark with all the fake stuff in it it would either be really good or really bad....luckily it was phenomenal!!

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch of asparagus, cut in to 1 inch chunks
5 Tbsp vegan margarine
1 white onion, chopped
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 cup vegan creamer (I used the Silk brand)
3 Tbsp chives, chopped
1 block vegan mozzarella cheese, shredded (I used follow your heart vegan gourmet cheese)
1 package soy ham, cut in to thin slices (I used Lightlife brand)
1 lb. linguine pasta

Boil pasta as directed until cooked
Boil the asparagus until tender
Drain the asparagus
Melt the margarine in a large skillet and then add the cooked asparagus and chopped onion to this.
Stir/saute until the onion wilts
Stir in the sherry and let saute for 3-5 minutes
Add the creamer and let it come to a simmer.
Add the soy ham, shredded mozzarella, and chives.
Remove from heat and in a separate boil combine this sauce with the cooked pasta.

The original non-vegan recipe also called for soy parmesan on the top at the end, but I didn't have time to go to whole foods to pick that up so I went without it.
It was delicious, I will definitely have to make it again...maybe for some non-vegans to show them how tasty fake can be sometimes!

my crazy cat

2010-10-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

My cat is insane lately...I think the apartment is too small for her. She loves to run full speed from one end to the other. There are two particularly funny parts to this:
1. When she starts her run in the kitchen on the linoleum she can't get her footing right away and it becomes like a cartoon where you hear her feet scrambling but when you look at her she is running in place for the first few steps.
2. I remember learning in school that cat's have very poor vision when they are trying to focus on things right in front of them (a trade off for having good night vision). Well, this is definitely the case when Lily runs full speed through the apartment. The first time Mark and I saw it we were siting on the couch with a movie having a glass of wine when Lily tore out of the kitchen but her run came to an abrupt head bashing crash when she ran head first in to the legs of the coffee table and almost knocked Mark's wine over...too funny. Especially when after these incidents she acts like nothing happened. I guess the other night before i was home she ran in to the back of the couch. I shouldn't be laughing, but it is quite hilarious.

I do NOT miss high school

2010-09-28T15:11:00.001-07:00

On Saturday Mark brought me along to one of the few get togethers his co-workers were having...we ended up in a bar in Malden where several of his co-workers were getting together for drinks. I met a lot of new co-workers whom I had never met before.
It started out a little awkward, and about 30 minutes in to it another engineer showed up, I thought to myself he looked SO familiar, like someone from high school, but thought that couldn't be the case, until his friends cheered out his name "Andy Snow is here!!!!" I knew that name, and asked him if he had gone to Colonie High, and he responded yes and quickly looked away...then I prodded him more saying "I knew you, you were in the class of 2001, right?" Another muffled yes response...still no question about me. I said "I was Lindsey Nielsen, in your class."
"Hmm...sorry....don't remember you"
"Did you know Mrs. Nielsen the art teacher?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Oh, well she was my mom"
"Oh"
And then the most awkward 30 minutes passed by. My hopes that I recognized someone from high school and would instantly have something in common with one of Mark's co-workers was instantly crushed, and I spent a while remembering how unpopular in high school I was, how this guy had been a member of the football team clique, and realizing how much of an outsider I was, and still seemed to be. It was almost as if he was embarassed to be in the same room as me (and Mark agreed on the feeling, it wasn't just me).
Luckily some of Mark's other co-workers whom I had never met were super fun....several of them were greek so we got to reminisce about different greek culture stuff since one of my fondest memories from childhood was growing up next to the Vassilakases and all the crazy greek antics I got to experience with them.
The night worked out in the end, but damn that was weird seeing someone from high school like that...I hope that never happens again!