Hello.. long time no see.... ahem. Moving on. I have been cooking, don't you worry about it. I went to the Taste of Health in Vancouver and I got to meet Isa Chandra Moskowitz which was needless to say the highlight of my week. Her cupcake book made me realize I could be a vegan if vegan's could eat these delcious cupcakes!! She did a demo for us from her new brunch book, so tasty! And I also saw a demo by Raw Rose on raw food and bought her cookbook. I'm not saying I'm going raw but I really like the concepts and I'm not going to say, I could never do that because I used to say that about being vegan so I can do anything! mwahaha! So what have I been up to well I'm glad you asked... let me show you.
Above you'll see probably the most ridiculously easy concept salad ever. I put down some spinach, some tomatoes, some avocado, black beans and covered it in salsa (this particular kind was corn and black bean) Then I put some tortilla chips for scooping. The only prep work was soaking and cooking the black beans ahead of time. It was so delicious and simple though. Take away the chips and I'm not sure it could be healthier. Awesome.
OK above is a variation on a recipe from VWAV. There is the Sesame Asparagus recipe. So instead I just added more of everything and more vegetables and served it over quinoa or rice. So it's garlic cooked in toasted sesame oil then add rice vinegar and soya sauce and I added a little bit of miso paste too. Then I put it all together with toasted sesame seeds on top. Mmmmmm for days.
Herb-Scalloped potatoes from Veganomicon. It was ok. I used potatoes that were little. I think it needed a little more liquid cuz I found it dry. But then I fried it up the next day for breakfast with hot sauce. Freaking good! I love leftover potatoes in the fridge! Instant breakfast!
So it was my co-workers birthday on September 28th so we celebrated at work this week and she loves bananas. And since I am the cupcake ninja and always make the cupcakes on anyone's birthday I found the banana split cupcakes. I didn't make enough icing to make them look super fantastic like the pictures in my book but they were pretty good. REALLY SWEET! Too sweet for me but I did use strawberry pineapple jam instead of pineapple preserves since I couldn't find any so maybe that contributed to it. It also made them kind of mushy. But not a terrible experience. I'm determined to make every cupcake in the book eventually. My friend Jeff missed out on cupcakes for his birthday since we didn't meet him until a couple months ago so we're celebrating his un-birthday (6 months after your birthday since you literally can't get further away from a birthday) which is coming up in a week or two. He wants the hardest cupcakes in the book... of course. Tiramasu here I come!

I also made the cookies and cream cupcakes just for the hell of it. OMG! My top three for sure. If you're wondering what the other two are they are the Brooklyn Brownie Cupcakes and the Green Tea Cupcakes. But yeah these were a big hit with everyone. My only tip is to keep them in the fridge... if it was possible to make them better... cold did it!
Well that's about it for now. I'm excited for thanksgiving! I'm hoping my mom might make me vegan perogies again. Oh and she also made us vegan spaghetti sauce (she usually uses butter), salsa and applesauce. I am SO spoiled! I also bought a huge bag of potatoes so you may see more potato recipes soon. Hopefully squash too but we haven't bought one yet! Why oh why!?
Happy cooking till then!

Cooking in season!

I've found my new love (no offence to my husband of course): cooking in season!

We got a bunch of blueberries and fresh corn on the weekend and I looked through my recipes and found Corn Chowder and a Scones recipe I've been meaning to try (both from VWAV). I tell you when they say fresh is best they know what the heck they're talking about! Cutting corn directly off the cob into soup and watching plump fresh blueberries sizzle on the pan as the scones bake, it's an unreal feeling that makes you feel so good.
I've also taken to eating tomatoes with just salt and pepper. And greek salads with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. Also fruit salad with fresh peaches, blueberries and strawberries with just a sprinkle of sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup. Here's a picture of our fridge after we picked up blueberries.
So here are some meals I've made lately (lots of greek salad you'll notice). Below is some pesto garlic bread and pesto with a vegan roux mixed.
Below is a California type sandwich. The banana peppers were amazing! Yum yum. For more info see my other blog.
This was towards the beginning of summer when scapes were first out. Below is onions, scapes, beans, and mushrooms. A little pesto pasta (I swear it's not the only thing I eat, only like once every two weeks... not sure how it keeps coming up here)
Well that's a good enough update for now I think. I'll try and make my posts more frequent rather than huge ones all at once. What's in my future? A curry recipe... some cocoa-chocolate chip scones... some more birthday cupcakes perhaps... coconut pancakes with pineapple sauce, scalloped potatoes, pizza from scratch.... Very ambitious I know. The best part about summer is all the selection of fantastic fresh fruit and veggies... but unfortunately it's also a time when people are ridiculously busy and running around and vacationing etc. So you have all these ingredients but no time to do anything with them! Grrrr! The irony of it all! Oh well I'm only leaving for one more weekend this summer so I'll find some time hopefully. Until next time... love lots, laugh often and buy local!!!!

Well I went out for breakfast a couple times in the past month or so and my favorite thus far was The Pantry's Smothered skillet (without cheese and eggs) but I did cheat and have the hollandaise sauce (I know I know , it's made with eggs but it's yummy). And I would have had it without the sauce but then it would just be vegetables which are good and all but pretty dry. So I thought about it at home and made some little cubed hashbrowns with mushrooms, onions, peppers and hot sauce (I don't have banana peppers at home sadly) and then made cheezy sauce from Veganomicon and then topped it with tomatoes and green onions. Over all amazing but I added too much hot sauce but that's easily enough to fix next time. Oh and look how pretty it looks!!LOL! I just love this picture. I made my Dad Boston vs. Brooklyn Cupcakes for his birthday (lots of work but yummy) with chocolate buttercream icing and this is what happens when you don't pay a lot of attention. I actually did it 3 times.I also made a couple dozen cupcakes for my friends shower (VCTOTW the Vanilla made with whole wheat flour with chocolate buttercream icing).

Then below is Maple Mustard Glazed Potatoes and String Beans recipe but with Asparagus rather than beans, we decided it tastes better this way. My hunny made this! It's awesome!

Finally, I love love love love the following recipe. Whole Wheat Naan bread with spaghetti sauce as pizza sauce then onions and peppers then covered in beautiful pesto sauce (VWAV). I added pineapple as a topping and it just made it perfect with the salty pesto and sweet pineapple. This is one of my favorite things ever I think.

So that has been what I've been up to lately. Sorry all the pictures come at once, kind of overwhelming. The past week I've been doing the master cleanse and I ended up stopping after 5.5 days cuz of being sick. I just couldn't handle both and my heart really wasn't in the cleanse anyway. So I am weaning back onto food and loving every bite. Trying to start off on the right foot with lots of fruit and vegetables. The breakfast I am loving right now is chocolate almond milk with Vanilla Almond Cereal and a banana. I'm used to my hunny making me breakfast, he always makes us smoothies from the Thrive Diet book so I was kind of lost but I'm liking non-liquid breakfasts, haha. So I am excited about food again, feeling pretty creative! Hopefully lots more great recipes to come!

Update on my undercover status

Well I have been an undercover vegan for awhile now (4 months) I have not been the best vegan always, many slip ups but luckily I did it for health reasons rather than other reasons that may have made me feel worse for cheating. I have learned more about how my body reacts to foods in the last 4 months than in my whole life. I have definitely found a correlation with eating dairy and then feeling more pain the next day. Another thing that makes me feel worse are potato chips and deep fried foods. Chickpeas also make my stomach hurt. I have also noticed that eating lots of pasta or bread makes me feel sluggish. So these are all things I can work on now! So far very interesting undercover work. People are excepting everything much better now than at the beginning. My parents have become 10 times as excepting. People who we don't really discuss our life and meal choices with who we meet at potlucks always ask for recipes of what I make. My husband is starting to become a great cook btw. I'll point out a recipe and ask him to make it and it's always fabulous.

As for my family, at first my mom was like, I'll never be able to make you anything again!! Then I was letting her know what I was making and how good it was tasting. Then we went home to visit and my mom had bought us soy milk, made us brown rice and beans to have in the fridge, and she made vegan wheat germ, walnut, banana bread (with carob chips!) She must have done a lot of research, i was surprised she even knew what carob chips were. Then they have noticed how much better I feel and how much more energy and less pain I'm in. So obviously they are very happy I've made this change for myself. When I was home this past weekend I made a huge salad for lunch hoping to share and everyone had some and enjoyed it and then I made dinner and made portabello mushroom fajitas from scratch for dinner. True my mom made some chicken with taco sauce on the side but I think my sauce was damn good! And everyone enjoyed dinner. So my fajita mix is what I thought I would share with everyone!

I fried some garlic (3 cloves) in olive oil and added some sliced onions. Then I added some green and red peppers for about a minute. Then I added my sauce (a teaspoon or so of the following: chili powder, cumin, cornstarch and 1/2 tsp of onion powder, 1/4 tsp oregano, a little salt, juice from a lime and enough water to make it a sauce (1/2 - 3/4 cup) and I added the portabello mushrooms. I served it in whole wheat wraps with cut up lettuce, tomato, salsa and fresh guacamole. Yum Yum! I've discovered an amazing affection for portabello mushrooms since I found the portabello mushroom salad in Veganomicon. Justin also made us the maple mustard glazed potatoes which have made it into our regular rotation. Another recipe I try to use all the time is the tahini dressing from VWAV. I made it into a dip for a potluck which went over amazing. Oh and lastly I modified my pancake recipe again with chocolate almond milk, adding cocoa and mint extract with chocolate chips. Pretty yummy, more of a dessert pancake rather than breakfast though, lol

Well that was my update and I even managed to throw a recipe in there! The last four months have been an amazing learning experience and I will continue my adventures in vegan cooking!

Hello! Yah yah I'm over a week late. Ok first of all here are the Vanilla/Chocolate Marble Cupcakes I made for my Mom's Birthday/Easter. I gave her Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and told her to pick one. I did the same with my Dad and of course instead of picking a nice easy one he choose Brooklyn vs. Boston Cream Cupcakes. But that's ok I like a challenge I just have to use some new ingredients. But my mom gave us Bunny Grahams for Easter and I put them on the cupcakes, don't they look adorable?
So we went home for Easter and I put myself in charge of dinner to relieve it from my Mom, partially because it was supposed to be my Mom's birthday dinner a few days earlier. I decided to go with a green theme (ok ok I lied it just happened) and I made Pesto Pasta from VWAV and Sesame Asparagus from VWAV and a green salad (with the green icing cupcakes for dessert).
Ooo pretty. So here is what the Sesame Asparagus looks like. It was so delicious. I have made it and the pesto so many times!! They are both absolutely amazing.


So this ended up turning weird. I made a quinoa pilaf and the asparagus and decided the pilaf had no flavor and mixed them together. It was weird... but ok.Finally my strange little corn tortilla burritos. I walked into the supermarket and fell in love with these little corn tortillas so I had leftover beans and rice and fryed them up with some pico de gallo and topped with some avocado mixed with more pico de gallo, They were tasty although the corn tortillas split easily. Definitely eat em all at once. After they are opened the dry out and crack and don't stay together.

Well that's what I've been up to. As I said I've been working full time so my hubby's been stepping up to the plate! It's been great! Anywho good eats to you all!

Update and stay tuned!

Hello

Unfortunately, I've been MIA lately. I've begun working full time and the energy isn't always there, not to mention the time. I have made some things though. I will get them together and post very soon. Most likely later today or tomorrow. Hugs to all!

Crepes!

Don't let the exclamation mark scare you... these are not scary they are delicious. And so pretty! Below are my strawberry chocolate ones and at the bottom there are my peanut butter banana ones (with a little chocolate drizzled).

So basically how I made these was using my pancake recipe. I veganized a pancake recipe that my dad passed down to me. I will tell you the veganized version:

Pancakes:
1 cup of flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup soy milk (I use chocolate usually)
1 mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder

You mix the first three ingredients together then the next three and add a little more soy milk if you want a thinner batter (it will go a little further). If I do this I add maybe a tsp-tbsp extra. Then you fold in the baking powder and let it sit for a few minutes.

So to Crepe this recipe I used about 1 & 1/4 cup soy milk (chocolate) to make it a little thinner yet.

Then you just put some batter on a pan and shake the pan at every angle to get it nice and covered in a very thin layer. This is what it looks like after a flip:

Below are the ingredients I used. There were amazingly tasty smelling strawberries which prompted me to have a crepe morning in the first place. Then I melted chocolate chips with some soy milk to have chocolate sauce.

So that was my crepe adventure, delish! There were leftovers but you can't have any nah nah! I did miss whipped cream a bit but not too much . Here's one more picture for the road of the banana, peanut butter chocolate one....

Soup, Sandwich & Salad

Latley I have been obsessed with pumpkin seeds. They are so delicious on salad. So that is why I posted this. My salad is pumpkin seeds, spinach, salad greens, cukes, onion, red pepper and Little Island Salad dressing.

This is what I was lucky enough to have my hubby make for me for dinner tonight. It was supposed to be a dinosaur kale quinoa wrap but after seeing Justin try to eat it that way, I tore my kale up and had a dinosaur kale, quinoa salad. It was delicious with the obvious ingredients in the name plus: tomatoes, avocado, grated carrot, & cucumbers. Add salad dressing and voila! It was super tasty (from the Thrive Diet).
So on Friday I made pesto, my first attempt. It was from Vegan with a Vengeance and it was really yummy but unfortunately i failed to read that it was a teaspoon and a half of coarse salt rather than what I used which was finely ground sea salt. Needless to say it was REALLY salty. But I still ate it up and again the next day and then for lunch yesterday. So overall a success. p.s. I LOVE WALNUTS (no gross pinenuts, ick)
I made miso soup last week sometime as well. It was half from the thrive diet (ground up sesame seeds, miso paste, green onions) but I added a little soya sauce and tofu (way too much tofu). It was good minus the copious amounts of tofu, oh well the first time you make something never goes perfect. I had it with a hummus, avocado, spinach and red pepper sandwich, toasted. It was a pretty quick, yummy little dinner.
That's all for this week, I made stir fry again but decided not to bore you with the same old same old. My hubby is making me a pizza from the Thrive book on Thursday if it's fabulous I will post it. Until then happy cooking!

Falafel night!

Mmmm.... falafel. So I attempted falafel tonight. It went quite well actually. Would never have gone near as smooth without a food processor (I love you food processor). So this is from Vegan with a Vengeance I can't remember everything in the recipe off the top of my head but I think it's chick peas, bread crumbs, flour, cumin, cayenne, coriander, onions, garlic, & salt. You also have to let it rest in the fridge for a bit first as well as the dressing you put on it.
So this is from Vegan with a Vengeance I can't remember everything in the recipe off the top of my head but I think it's chick peas, bread crumbs, flour, cumin, cayenne, coriander, onions, garlic, & salt. You also have to let it rest in the fridge for a bit first as well as the dressing you put on it (Tahini Dressing where you fry garlic in oil and add tahini, paprika, salt, pepper, & balsamic vinegar, water and blend it all). Then after a 1/2 hour in the fridge you fry em in a lot of oil (didn't say they were super healthy). This is what they look like, draining after the pan frying.
So then you put em in a pita with lettuce, cukes, tomatoes and red onion and drizzle on the dressing. Fantastic. My husband just loved them too, I will definitely make them again!! It may become a Sunday tradition in fact!

Valentine's Day Treats

There! Got your attention! Banana Split Pudding Brownies from Vegan with a Vengeance. I made them for my hubby for Valentine's Day... although we may have partaken in 3 a day early.....

Ok now that I've shown you the prettiest picture I'll show you what we've been up to lately.

My husband made some crackers which I did not enjoy, but he loved! Lemon sesame crackers. They were very pretty I must say. They are from the Thrive Diet.


Ok, next I also made some lemon cupcakes. I took them from the sexy low fat cupcakes (VCTOTW) and added lemon juice and I put lemon juice in the buttercream icing. Well I used whole wheat flour and the cupcakes were uh, ahem, very healthy tasting. And my icing was so running. So all in all not my best work but I thought I would post anyway just to have something more to show for my past few weeks.

WARNING: MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF STIR FRY AHEAD!!!

Last but not least I show you what happens when I get let loose in the produce section. I found baby bok choy and zucchini and sugar snap peas.....and then I grabbed tofu thinking yum yum. Then I added my usual stir fry appearances (red peppers, garlic, onion, & lots of mushrooms) and did a make shift sauce of peanut sauce, soya sauce, veggie broth, basil, and some mixed thai seasoning (ingredients: basil, paprika, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne). And by the time it was all together well... look
Yup that's right I needed two gigantic frying pans to contain the spread of the stir fry. Here's a close up of the extreme yumminess served over brown rice (it's under there somewhere).
It was awesome, possibly a bit much... But very delish! I quite enjoyed it.. and I got to enjoy it in my lunch today and tomorrow and the next day and the next...

Yay! Cookbooks!

Ok small correction for the last post. The refried beans I usually use are Amy's not Annie's or Eden Organics not Simply Organic, yah I know that one was way off. Sorry about that!

So I got my two new cookbooks and what recipe do I make first? One off someone's blog. Credit due to Domestic Affair and her red lentil hummus.

http://domesticaffair.ca/

I decided to make this since chick pea hummus tends to give me some digestive issues. My lentil hummus was very thin though, not sure what I did wrong. Once the lentil mixture was done I tried it and decided I would eat simply that with no other additives... mmm. But it was still good, unfortunately still gave me some digestive problems...maybe hummus and I were not made for each other like I thought we were :(

Ok I did spend a lengthy amount of time going through my books this weekend though. Funny story actually. On friday when I knew my books would arrive, I got a call on my cell at work. Our building buzzer phones our cell when someone rings it so it was the lady with my books. I told her to wait and I'd phone my husband to go down and meet her. I phone him and he doesn't answer. So I wait like 15 grueling, feeling awful minutes for her to phone back saying... helllloooo? And I tell her to just leave a slip. So I get the slip and we go to the post office that night (despite the fact that it says pick up tomorrow after 1:00). So I wait in line like 15 minutes and by the time I get to the front I decide to play dumb about the 1:00 thing, at first I thought about leaving and coming back but after investing all that time.. you know. So the lady rifles through all the boxes after giving me a hard time that it's supposed to be tomorrow and I make everyone in the line wait just to get my precious vegan cookbooks. Then she's like and ACTUALLY because it's friday it should be after 1:00 on MONDAY. Then I was like man I'm glad I lied, lol. So I have my babies finally. Here are some I want to make, something for you to look forward to. (BTW if any of you (assuming anyone actually reads my blog) have made any of these, please give me the review!)

Vegan with a Vengeance:
Banana Split Pudding Brownies
Tofu Scramble
Chocolate Chip Scones
Carrot-Raisin Muffins
Spanakopita
Falafel!!!
Green Thai Curry
Spanish Omelet with Saffron, Roasted Red Pepper, & Almond Sauce
Lemon Gem Cupcakes

Veganomicon:
Spicy Tempeh Nori Rolls
Tofu Florentine
Chickpeas Romesco
Marinated Asian Tofu
Acorn Squash, Pear and Adzuki Soup with Sauteed Shiitakes
Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce
Mac Daddy
Curried Udon Noodle Stirfry
Fresh Rosemary Focaccia
Fudgy Wudgy Blueberry Brownies

Ok if your mouth is not watering you are a robot. Ok, I'm done now, any thoughts, feelings, emotions on what to make first? I'm thinking the banana/fudge brownies for sure, maybe a curry... Falafel... and I was so excited to see a Romesco with chickpeas, I love the type of sauce and my mom used to make it on chicken and it was one of the few times I enjoyed meat a lot so I figured damn it'll be good with chickpeas. Alright that is enough! I need to go finish eating some dinner! There is salivating happening. *MWAH*

Mexi-Pizzas

Ok so this is a recipe I've tried twice and looooved. Now I've never seen anything like it so I guess I'm going to take credit for it, my first original recipe on here so to speak. I call them Mexi-Pizzas.

You'll need:

2 whole wheat tortilla shells (10 inch)
1 can refried beans (I prefer black beans my self... either Annies or I believe Simply Organic)
about 4 tbsp of salsa
1 pepper (color of your choice or do 1/2 and 1/2) in thin strips
1 small!!! red onion or 1/4 of a large one (depends on how much you like onion)
1 Avocado

The way I put these babies together is, preheat oven to about 350-400 and on a pan put the tortilla shells, spread beans on first then a couple tbsp of salsa over them. Then cook the peppers slightly ( I usually do this with a little bit of vegetable broth in a pan) and put the peppers on and I like to put the onion on raw on top in thin strips... you can cook if you prefer but when they are very thin all they need is oven time. Then I bake them for about 10 mins, and while this is happening I make some guacamole with an avocado and a little bit of salsa and sometime garlic if I'm feeling it. Then I top the guac on the pizzas. Surprisingly simple and so goooood.

There! I'm officially an internet published recipe author... I didn't realize it'd be over so quickly...

Superbowl!

Well despite the terribly sad ending to superbowl 2008, my party went incredibly well. I made my miso guacamole again to have on tortilla chips and some quesadillas (refried beans, peppers, onions, mushrooms, & salsa) and people didn't even miss the cheese! There was also veggies and red pepper hummus and some pineapple and strawberries, and of course my green tea cupcakes. I was very impressed. I think I threw a pretty good party. I'm hoping to do it again soon. Maybe a theme party! I'd like to attempt sushi for sure... so maybe japanese.

Anyway, so my camera died so I unfortunately have no pictures to show you. *sigh. I could not find the extra batteries. Justin did make some extremely yummy energy bars... spicy chocolate I believe. They really kick my chocolate craving (banana, jalapeno, dates, sunflower seeds, carob powder, flax seed, macadamia nuts, hemp seeds, & sea salt). So yummy! On par with the banana chocolate energy pudding (bananas, dates, ground flax seed, carob powder, coconut oil, lemon juice, & sea salt) also super yummy! Ok enough for tonight!

p.s. my books were shipped yesterday! 3-5 business days!!!

New Recipes Coming!

I'm very excited! I just ordered two new cookbooks today online: Veganomicon & Vegan with Vengeance. I've read such good reviews about both of them I just had to get them for myself. I will soon be cooking up a storm of new recipes.. but that will have to wait 3-9 business days. I'm far too cheap to pay the $6 for it to be 2-4.

So I was lazy today and had salad for dinner. Not much new goodness to report here. We did make crackers last night and lemon cupcakes but those pictures will be posted in my superbowl spread post. Be patient loyal blog followers (aka Mom).

Pasta replacer: Zucchini!

Tried a couple more Thrive Diet recipes: Zucchini Pasta & Sweet Pepper Hemp Pesto. Very, very yummy. I'm not sure if I'm completely convinced it will cure my cravings when the pasta is calling to me but it was very good. Zucchini Pasta was peeled zucchini, which might I add, not an easy thing to do!, sesame seeds, garlic, and fry it in coconut oil. Oh and of course I added something... I thought mushrooms would be a good addition. Took me forever to peel the stupid zucchinis. I tried whole the first time and ended up with nub to cut at the end, the second one I cut into four, big mistake! Took twice as long and I had four nubs to deal with! So no idea how to do this properly. The pesto is sweet peppers, hemp seed, sesame seed, brewer's yeast, hemp oil, fresh basil, and sea salt. It says it's good on crackers and as a dip as well. Tasty, I enjoyed it on the hot zucchini so I may warm it slightly for next use. I've heard sesame seeds and red peppers are supposed to be very healthy together for the body, not really sure why. Definitely worth trying!!!

A love of all things green <3

So my hubby and I have been transitioning onto the Thrive Diet which is a vegan, all whole foods diet for energy. We made his pecan sunflower burgers (pecans, sunflower seeds, apple cider vinegar, cayenne, chili flakes, coconut oil, sea salt - food processed together) then I fried them in a little coconut oil. I topped them with his miso guacamole (avocadoes, tomato, garlic, onion, tahini, miso paste, lemon and mashed together). It was supposed to have kelp but I didn't have any. Then I made garlic oregano sweet potato fries (garlic, oregano, sweet potato, basil, coconut oil, pumpkin seeds chopped). This one was supposed to be yam but I don't listen to recipes well. The combination was phenomenal!! It was delish! I especially loved the guacamole... so gonna have on chips and make it for my superbowl party this weekend! I love it!


Speaking of a lot of green.... I finally made the cupcakes I've been wanting to make forever. They are not pretty because I couldn't wait for them to cool before I put on the glaze. Here are the fabulous, beautiful on the inside green tea cupcakes. Mmmmm...
So that's all the yummies I have for now.. hopefully I will have some pics of my Superbowl spread of food this Sunday. I'm gonna make my non-vegan friends LOVE vegan food... just you wait!!

Small setback

Well... I fell off the wagon this weekend. During moving and cleaning and such I got a little lazy. I also wanted to go to a favorite local restaurant called Pasta Polo one last time... they have fresh pasta (no doubt made with eggs), greek salad with feta cheese, and fudge brownie cake with whipped cream and a little ice cream. Yes, I'm a little ashamed that I fell off the wagon only a week into my attempt but a small setback is not going to ruin me. I will just jump back on and keep rolling with it.

I did make the best vegan cupcakes to date from VCTOTW... the green tea ones with the glaze. They are amazing!! I will post a picture when i find my camera amongst the rubble of my unpacking. I was a bit impatient and didn't let them cool before I used the glaze *sigh.

Also I am having a Superbowl party this weekend and trying to find delicious finger foods that are vegan for some very carnivore attendees. In fact I'm avoiding letting them know I've gone vegan so they will actually eat the food I serve, hehe. So if anyone has any suggestions let me know. I am thinking of some sort of tortilla vegetable roll, maybe salsa and hummus and tortilla chips, some yummy cupcakes... and not sure what else. I'll keep you posted.

Some recent yummies

Well I haven't posted any pictures or recipes yet so I thought I would find some. If there are typos I'm sorry, in addition to losing my 'm' key off my laptop keyboard, my 'd' key has followed in suit. My hubby is giving me his old computer but he hasn't found the time to switch it over yet. *Crosses fingers it's soon! So I made Sarah's Delicious chili from How it All Vegan and it was very easy. I made it twice actually the second time I put too much cayenne and too much curry. The first time was very yummy though, it is pictured with some biscuit lips that are not vegan because this was at a time when I was only vegetarian status. The second picture is the Mint Chocolate Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. So easy and sooooo delicious. I made them for a baby shower for my friend so we put gummy bears and animal crackers around them, not vegan again but I did not partake, guests thought it was adorable though. Enjoy, more to come when we get settled into our new apartment over the weekend.

A packer fan in India

So yesterday was technically my first day as a vegan. It was also the NFC playoffs. For those of you not as big of a fan as me, NFC is a conference in football (NFL to be exact). The winner goes to the Superbowl to face the AFC champ. So my favorite team, the Green Bay Packers were facing the New York Giants yesterday (to save later heartache in the re-telling, they did not win, I cried, but it's over and we move on). I was watching the game and about a minute in my husband finds a food processor on craig's list. A kitchenaid to be exact for a very cheap price. He calls up the guy and wants to go get it this moment. I sigh, pout, complain for a moment and then realize I can listen to the game on the radio.

So we go get it and find ourselves just off Commercial Drive in Vancouver. I remember this is near a restaurant called Sweet Cherubim which I tried at the 2007 Taste of Health which is a fantastic vegetarian event. If you have never been it is amazing!! Last year it was at the end of September, so mark it on your calendars, you won't be sorry. Anyways, back to the topic... so I figure what a great opportunity to visit this restaurant that had such amazing food. We live in the 'burbs so don't make it to the downtown Vancouver area much. So I listen to my packers who are up by 3 points and figure it'll be ok to leave them for a few minutes (*sigh oh sigh). We go into the restaurant and it's packed which I think is probably normal. As we are waiting in line I take off my jacket realizing I am wearing my Brett Favre jersey. I felt uncomfortable all of a sudden. I looked around at the way everyone else was dressed, very hippy, boho, recycled fabrics, organic cotton, thrift store assortment. No offense to those who wear this type, I do not mean this in offense, I truly do think this style looks amazing on some and as for the others their cause is noble in most cases. I just felt a little uncomfortable, like everyone was staring at me and thinking... she doesn't belong here. I thought about it for a second longer and realized I didn't care and it was probably all in my head anyway. That's what I love about vegetarians and vegans and all socially conscious people in general, they are so non-judgmental. You can have many interests, fashion types, etc. but you all have your weaknesses and you accept that. It's because they constantly challenge themselves to find a better way to do things. You tell people you are vegetarian or vegan or that you tried chick pea salad and they go ewww... or what do you eat, or I could never give up meat/cheese/steak etc. That's the problem with most people, attitude, if you say you could never do it you sure won't. Very close minded people in this age. Frustrating really.

So anyway we had a couple vegan samosas, some carrot corn soup, lentil dhal and brown rice, and a carob pecan cookie (Amazing!!!) and I felt right at home, even in my jersey. Horray for people!

The beginning of my journey

Hello, welcome to my humble little blog. The time has come for me to take the large jump between vegetarianism and the land with no dairy. I may not yet even understand the consequences of this leap. Hence the name of my blog the undercover vegan. I named it this for three reasons: 1. let's face it, it sounds sweet, 2. I'm not sure of the response of my friends and family so I may have to be under cover for awhile... and 3. As I said above, I'm not even sure I fully know the adventure I'm embarking on so I may have to do some detective work, online reading and literature, watching vegans in their natural environment... etc.

So that's sort of what this blog is centred on, my vegan experiences, recipes (I really enjoy cooking and baking), I enjoy fashion as well so perhaps vegan fashion may be another writing venture, and any other life experiences I may feel like sharing at any point.

Thanks for checking out my blog!