soup is my life
After a brief visit to the midwest last week, and basically living off of fruit and Nature Valley bars, I am starved for home cooked meals and tasty baked good. Not that the food was horrible in Missourri-I was just pressed for time and on the go. Luckily, thanks to my iphone and urbanspoon, I stumbled across an organic market/restaurant in St. Louis called Winslow's Home (http://www.winslowshome.com/Home.aspx). It was pretty much a midwestern version of La Grande Orange here in Phoenix. I knew I liked it even before I went inside, when I saw a huge patio with lunch-goers enjoying the weather and sipping lattes out of oversized mugs. The market had everything from local produce to baby toys and unthinkable kitchen gadgets. There were not too many vegan options but the atmosphere made up for that. I ended up ordering a basil hummus, cucumber, and tomato wrap with field greens on the side. Amazing. I went back the following day and wandered around the market for about an hour exploring the handmade notecards and shelves of cookbooks. As much as finding hidden gems is exciting I was very excited to cook on Sunday. First thing in the morning a made a trip to Whole Foods to stock up for the week. The first thing I was craving was cookies! I've been meaning to try the recipe that my roomie sent me (thanks Breanne!). The recipe is from 101 Cookbooks called Nikki's Healthy Cookies (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/nikkis-healthy-cookies-recipe.html) They are basically oatmeal-coconut-banana-chocolate chip cookies. Everything I love rolled into a beautiful little bite sized snack. They are also guilt free because the recipe is flour-less, eggless, butter-less, and sugar free. YUM!
Another cookie recipe that I have been obsessed with recently is a brown sugar cookie recipe from Glue and Glitter blog (http://www.glueandglitter.com/main/2009/10/02/brown-sugar-cookies/). I found the recipe originally because I wanted to make my chiropractor a treat but I ran out of vegan sugar. So I needed a brown sugar recipe. My only complaint is that it only makes about a dozen cookies (which is not enough to last more than a day in my household), so I would double the recipe. To make the cookies a little more exciting I added a cinnamon nutmeg frosting. I usually wing frosting recipes so this is an estimation of what I did (it was bomb frosting so try it!!):
2 tablespoon of Earth Balance softened
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 tbsp vanilla almond milk
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
I combined all the ingredients and then added extra powdered sugar and milk until I got the perfect texture. You can also add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. These cookies are sooo delicious and very easy to make.
And now onto some savory recipes. After a week off from ballet class, Monday seemed extra long. But I got through the day knowing I was going to make this Zucchini Basil Soup that my wonderful sister suggested to me (thanks Whit!). (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Zucchini-Basil-Soup-242831). I looked at some of the reviews before I made it and one person suggested doubling the recipe because it really only served two. So, I doubled the recipe and now I have enough green soup to last a month. This yummy green super soup is definitely worth trying and comforting during all the stormy weather in Phoenix this week!
cake is my life
All weekend I'd been craving french toast, pancakes, crepes...any sweet breakfast treat that I could lather in maple syrup. So when Sunday morning rolled around, I thought it was finally time to give in to my desires and make a delicious carb feast. I decided on pancakes since I had all the ingredients handy and could finally use the buckwheat flour that's been sitting in my pantry unopened. A few months ago I went on a yoga/hike/vegan picnic organized by Dan Ward yoga extraordinaire. His wife brought a portable griddle and made the most amazing buckwheat pancakes atop a mountain a Malibu. They have since then been on my mind, hence the buckwheat flour I have been waiting to use. I found a recipe on a blog that's new to me called Clean Eating Mama. (http://www.thecleaneatingmama.com/2010/03/vegan-buckwheat-pancakes.html) The pictures looked amazing and very similar to the pancakes I fell in love with. I can't say that mine were as pretty but they sure tasted good. Even the one that looked like an ameba. I added some cinnamon and flooded my plate with maple syrup (I have a bit of a sweet tooth). With coffee on the side, The Morning Benders playing in the background and the pleasant company of my roomies and the dogs, Sunday morning was perfect. The whole week in fact has been very heavily revolved around sweets and baking. I experimented with two recipes from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. The first was a Coconut Chai Cake (http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/03/coconut-chai-breakfast-cake.html) I substituted the unbleached white flour with spelt flour and I think I made the cake a bit chewy but I didn't mind. It was delicious especially if you like spicy chai lattes!
The second recipe I tried was the Banana Maple Oatmeal Cookies recipe (http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2010/02/banana-maple-oatmeal-cookies.html) These were a huge hit in my household. I left out the raisins and added some maple frosting. To make the frosting: Start with two tablespoons of softened vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance). Add confectioners sugar and non-dairy milk (I used Pacific Almond Milk Light) alternating until you find your desired consistency. Then add some maple syrup to taste. I threw in a pinch of salt as well. It's simple, light and compliments the cookies very well!
These did not last long! And if you don't have the time or energy to bake there is always Sprinkles Cupcakes. I made my first trip in months on Saturday while waiting for Winston to get a haircut (which looks adorable by the way...Oh My Dog in Scottsdale gives the best cuts!!) Sprinkle has locations all over the States and now has vegan red velvet cupcakes. Ama-za-zing!!
And now I can safely say that I'm pretty set on sweets for awhile. Pancakes, tea-cakes, cupcakes...is there such a thing as too much cake?
peanut butter is my life
Today was definitely a Monday. And when it's a typical, slow-moving Monday I need to motivate myself with food. More specifically baked goods. A heavenly treat to start the week off right and distract myself as time seems to move twice as slow and my body hurts double even though I had two days off. The Monday munchies were cured by Chocolate Peanut Butter Pillows courtesy of The Post Punk Vegan Kitchen (http://theppk.com/blog/2009/03/30/peanut-butter-pillows/). One of my favorite vegan blogs and created by the same authors as Vegan with a Vengeance and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. This cookie is literally a vegan version of a Reese's cup turned into a fluffy cookie. As someone who hates peanut butter, it was shocking that I chose to make these in the first place, but I also loved them. Definitely a keeper.
The only challenge was not eating them all before sharing them at work! And now onto some motivation for the rest of the week. Thinking about some of my favorite recipes to cook for the upcoming weekday nights! I think the time has finally come when I can comfortably make hot soup in Arizona. The weather is cooling down and I can actually fathom eating something piping hot. My sister and I got really into miso soup this summer after reading about the macrobiotic diet. It is a really interesting way of life revolved around yin and yang and all about the whole grains. We tried a layman's version of the diet in preparation for a cleanse (a whole other story resulting in one tragic day and the inability to look at green apples or olive oil for quite some time). We both really liked the concepts about food energy and eating according to the seasons and your surroundings. Definitely something I want to learn more about-Alicia Silverstone wrote a book called The Kind Diet that has a lot of good recipes and information on the subject. Anyway, miso soup. It's so easy to make and you can pretty much throw anything in there. The orignal soup has water, miso, wakame, tofu and green onions. But you can add mushrooms, spinach, cabbage, daikon radish, carrots-you name it. I even tried a colorful red miso soup with rainbow chard. You can't go wrong.
Soup is finally in season! And pizza. Well, pizza is always in season. And just because I'm vegan does not mean I can't eat pizza. Cheese is unnecessary. I don't even use fake cheese...mainly because I haven't found a brand that I'm crazy about. I recently made two delicious and very unique pizzas for a friend. Red wine, pizza, and Dexter. I used a gluten free pizza dough mix and substituted flax seed meal for eggs. I prepared the dough the night before, letting it rise and then refrigerating it. The first was topped with a pre-made olive and roasted red pepper tapenade from Trader Joe's and sliced yellow heirloom tomatoes. Yum. For the second pizza I slow roasted tomatoes with olive oil and garlic, on top of kale. The kale absorbed all of the excess tomato juice and tasted phenomenal. I put the kale and tomatoes on top of the crust and drizzled a balsamic glaze over everything. Amazing. Two delicious pizzas...no cheese.
Good dinners for dates, friends, or yourself. Don't forget the wine.
food is my life
Labor day weekend resulted in way too much food. Thank goodness it was all fresh, vegan, and delicious. I had a three day weekend, so I went to California to spend time with family and friends. Most of my activities included cooking, eating, or talking about eating. Food really is a bonding experience. I'll start at the end of my trip...this beautiful, mind blowing cupcake pictured above. I am going to go as far as to say that this was the best vegan cupcake I have ever tasted. Actually the best cupcake (vegan or non-vegan) ever. It was from the Golden Mean Vegan Cafe in Santa Monica (http://www.goldenmeancafe.com), which my sister took me to yesterday. It exceeded my expectations. We tried the pizza of the day and the temales. Both were amazing and light meals. The portions were perfectly sized to feel satisfied but allowed room for dessert. The strawberry, vanilla, almond cake came first and was gone in probably one minute. I had ordered the blackberry cupcake to take home but we couldn't resist eating it on the spot. I ordered another one-my lunch today! If you live in LA, you need to try this restaurant. The previous evening was also an adventure in food bonding. My friend, Kate invited me and a couple of friends over to cook and catch up at her parents house, which is fully equipped with a gorgeous kitchen and an extensive garden. Armed with flashlights and pruning shears, we explored the garden which has about a million avocado trees, onions, beets, tomatoes, squash, melon, corn, apples, blueberries, peppers, herbs, grapefruits, lemons, oranges- to name a few. In the darkness we gathered the goods to make a mystery vegetable concoction. Next-the wine. Tali brought two Yellowtail red blends that I had never tried before. I preferred the Cabernet-Shiraz to the Shiraz-Merlot, but both are vegan-friendly, tasty, and did the trick. To be honest, I pretty much stuck to the wine and watched as my sister caramelized onions, Tali cut a gigantic beet, and Kate sliced some heirloom tomatoes. I contributed to the conversation though!
The meal was finally finished around 10:30 pm after two bottles of wine and a frazzled Smyth running around the kitchen trying to make the plates look fancy. I'm not sure what you would call the dish but it was definitely worth the wait. My plate was stacked with caramelized onions, sauteed beet greens, thinly sliced roasted red beets, roasted tomatoes, marinated tempeh, fresh basil and various other spices. I scarfed it down and waited for dessert as my more patient friends ate at a normal pace. Dessert was a chocolate lava cake prepared in a rice cooker (secret recipe that my sister will not divulge). I might have to kill her for it though because it was out of this world. I went back for seconds even though I was a bit too full. I think I worked off the extra cake during our late night dance party to the good ole 90's hits. A great night followed by round two of garden exploration the next morning. We loaded our baskets with fresh fruit and veggies and headed to out to experiment with Smyth's new juicer. Breakfast-beet, carrot, organge juice on the rocks.
A refreshing drink before yoga and a 6 hour drive back to Phoenix. And many good meals to come this week compliments of the Pritchett garden! A festive weekend of family, friends, and food!
breakfast is my life
A very good day, after a hectic couple of days with a broken AC (very uncomfortable in Arizona in August), today was very typical and very pleasant. Lots of food, dancing, socializing, and finally quiet. Glad to be home having a night cap with the roomie. This beautiful baby pictured to the left is Aria. A gorgeous gem that that I visited this evening. It made me miss my little niece Aven back home!
Today was definitely highly revolved around food. The first week back at Ballet Arizona has made me very hungry and I find myself eating a lot...and very often. I guess if my body is telling me to eat I should listen. Last night I whipped up some Banana-Date-Walnut muffins to bring to one of the girls for her birthday. Happy Birthday Ginger :) The recipe is from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen (http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/01/banana-date-walnut-muffins.html) one of my favorite blogs. It never fails me, especially with the desserts. This is dancer-friendly, healthy treat! I left out the walnuts, mainly because they are not my favorite, but also to lower the fat. Halfway through the baking I also added some organic brown sugar and a quarter of a honey date to the top of each muffin. A cute touch to make them even more alluring. I refrained from eating an excessive amount of batter, as I have been known to do, and constantly chastised for by my sister. Smyth-you would have been proud. But, I had to taste the muffins of course. I couldn't give them away without making sure they were delicious! A perfect breakfast accompanied by fruit and coffee. 
Dance, dance, dance, until dinner time. Hungry! Had another muffin (yes I saved a few for myself) and started making some grub. I'm not a huge tofu lover, but one way I like cooking it is in a veggie scramble. It already has an eggy texture so it seems perfect in egg dishes. So for my second breakfast of the day I made a tofu-veggie scramble with a side of tempeh bacon strips. I sauteed green onions, kale, carrots, and broccoli in a bit of olive oil and liquid aminos. I then added organic silken tofu (firm) and cooked it with the vegetables and sprinkled Spike on top. Spike is good on anything-best seasoning ever. I pan fried the tempeh, also known as "fakin' bacon" until it was brown and crispy. I bought the brand Lightlife Organic Smoky Tempeh Strips.
A dinner for champions. A great day of breakfasts, ballet, and babies.
arizona is my life
Back to the Grand Canyon State. Funny enough I have never been to the Grand Canyon after 4 years of living in Phoenix. It's on my list. I made the drive yesterday and couldn't help snapping some pictures of the desert scenery out my car window. Not the smartest move while driving on the highway. Arizona can be such a stunning state. Then the heat hit me. Not the most pleasant welcome home. But I got to my beautiful new apartment, where my new roommate was waiting, cracked a bottle of wine and avoided unloading the pounds of clothes in my car. Also had the pleasure of meeting the roomie's dog. A new best friend for Winston! Alfred and Winston.
Started back at work today and really had to get my spirit and energy up. Always a bit nerve racking on the first day back. I whipped up some "energy balls" for the week. They taste a lot like Lara Bars. They are the perfect snack and simple simple simple to make. In a small food processor, combine dates (I used organic honey dates from the farmers' market) and raw cashews (or any other raw nut that tickles your fancy). In this batch I added dashes of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla extract, and cheyenne pepper (for a little kick). I just play around with flavors and texture until I like what I have. Another good option is adding cocoa powder, raisins, lemon juice-any flavor you are in the mood for! A particularly stellar batch my sister made used walnuts and chocolate...tasted like a brownie! Then roll the mixture into ball shapes and refrigerate.
I topped off the evening at Postino for some wine and bruschetta. By far one of the best spots in Phoenix. Although I cannot eat most of the flavors of bruschetta (lots o' cheese) I can still enjoy some sparkling wine and socialize with friends, both old and new. It's gonna be a good year.
biscotti is my life
The summer is coming to an end for me. Three more days in southern California before returning to Phoenix. My days for the last month have consisted of yoga, walking my dog, cooking vegan masterpieces with my sister, going to the beach, and drinking wine. No complaints except that it flew by too fast. Got to get back into work/dance mode. But not quite yet. Went to the Santa Monica farmers market yesterday and picked up some of the last crop of nectaplums (a white nectarine crossed with a plum). A serious summer obsession of mine. Sad to see them leave!
A beautiful way to start the day. Accompanied by my sister's vegan biscotti. She recently started selling her baked goods (which are out of this world)! The cinnamon toffee biscotti are her specialty. It is hard to find amazing vegan treats but she surely has the magic touch. All her creations are 100% whole wheat, organic, and delicious. I've been trying to cut back on the coffee but it has proved to be a much harder task than I thought. Especially when the biscotti clearly wants to be dipped in a steaming cup of joe. The Balthazar beans from the Funnel Mill are my favorite right now.
I would share the recipe but it's her secret! I'm not even allowed to stir the dough! Apparently I over-mix. And I also end up eating too much of it :) There are no eggs so I don't see what the big deal is! Until next time...biscotti is my life.