What's Been Cookin'

Banana Oat Pancakes topped with strawberries. I make these quite often but wanted to post this pic because I ended up making the oat flour from scratch. It's very simple ... just use regular rolled oats, place it in the food processor and grind. Voila! Homemade oat flour!


Grilling up some veggies. My MIL brought over some green(!) & purple eggplant ... I'm now obsessed. Yum! Yum! These grilled veggies include eggplant, summer squash, zuchinni, butternut squash & onions.


Garlic Sesame Soba Noodles ... I just used regular mushrooms instead of Oyster Mushrooms ... just as tasty I think.


I made these cupcakes for AAH's birthday. They are a white cake with fudge chocolate frosting. ("My Favorite Cupcakes" from The Kind Diet).


Tofu Stir Fry with Soba Noodles. OMG! Sooooo good! I got this recipe from my friend Sarah, who found it in her P90X recipes. It is one of my favorite dishes I've made so far. The recipe only calls for broccoli & onions but I added eggplant (new favorite!), squash & mushrooms. Delicious!


What is a post without an adorable shot of my boy, Joey? Look at that face!


Can I have some more mom?


The new planter box that AAH made for me ... just filled it today with Basil, Cilantro, Parsley & Mint.


Mint.

The Yard, The Dog, The Food

Our yard is looking quite snazzy lately.







My #1 Son continues to crack me up on a daily basis.


Joker Joey.

And ... I've managed to make a few morsels since returning from vacation and sinking into a Lazy Vegan Cooking Funk. I'm getting back into the swing of things.


OK, I lied ... I did not make this (except the brown rice) ... it's from the Whole Foods deli ... but doesn't it look so good?! A vegan veggie tamale & chinese green beans. Yum!


Whole Wheat Pancakes topped w/ strawberries.


Oatmeal, Walnut & Dried Plum Cookies (The Kind Diet). These are a.m.a.z.i.n.g.


I'm aware this looks like a big pile of s%&# ... but it is really good & really healthy! Lentil Dahl from the Green Cuisine cookbook.


Avocado Pesto Pasta from www.ChefChloe.com (my new favorite site).

I have Moroccan Couscous & Garlic Soba Noodles on the agenda this week ... stay tuned!

Alaska Cruise

Cruising really is a doozy of a vacation. It is seriously taking me so long to get back in the swing of things. I have been sticking to old standbys since we got back ... wraps, tofu scrambles, etc ... I guess after 2 weeks of not needing to worry about food ... I am just super lazy about it right now. Usually on vacations you still have to forage through the towns for food ... but on a cruise ... you just sit there like a ginormous, beached whale and the food is splayed out before you 24/7. I guess I am wondering where my 65 options for breakfast, lunch & dinner are ... ??? I got use to being treated like a queen.

I have to be honest ... being vegan on a cruise is hard. There is not a lack of food ... trust me, you'll never lack for food on a cruise ... but there is a lack of good food. Good, healthy food. Everything is white ... white rice, white pasta, processed white sugar, etc, etc. Oh, and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of salt. Did I mention lots of salt? Like, obscene amounts of sodium. With that being said ... the crew was so helpful and accommodating. They did everything they could to make sure I was fed and happy. I was given a special vegan menu every night at dinner to choose my meal for the next evening ... and in the mornings soy milk would literally appear out of nowhere during breakfast. I have no idea how they keep track of who-needs-what with over 1800 passengers but they are amazing at their jobs. I did happen to be the only vegan on board, but there were a few vegetarians.

Before we left on the cruise I made a list of vegan restaurants & stores in each port-of-call and we were able to visit a few of them. They were definitely the gastronomical highlights of the trip. We stopped at Pan Africa Market near Pike Place Market for lunch in Seattle. In Juneau I stocked up on snacks at Rainbow Foods and in Victoria we had a delicious meal at Green Cuisine. If any of you are planning a vacation I'd definitely recommend doing the same thing. Our next trip is to Italy in September and I have already been scoping out some vegan restaurants online.

Alaska was amazing. It was gorgeous. Awe inspiring. Humbling. It really is The Last Frontier. We had some friends tell us before we left that they could not describe the beauty of Alaska ... and now I understand. There really are no words. You have to see it. It's just so ... BIG! One of our tour guides told us the population is only 300,000 in the entire state! So you can imagine just how peaceful it is. My favorite spot we visited was Glacier Bay ... by far one of (if not the most) beautiful places I've ever seen. I will tell everyone I know to put that place on their Bucket Lists. It is so quiet when you stand on the shores ... and the air is so clean & crisp ... I wish I could've bottled it. I am going back there again someday, for sure.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip ...


Formal evening.


These were amazing ... Cilantro Zucchini Tofu Cakes at Pan Africa Market in Seattle.


Tofu Massala @ Pan Africa Market.


Canoe on Harriet Hunt Lake near Ketchikan.


Homemade Wildberry Jam served to us on the canoe excursion.


Standing on Mendenhall Glacier with my mom & AAH.


Kissing on a glacier.


My favorite place ... Glacier Bay.


Glacier Bay ... I want to build a house on this exact spot.


My mom on the shores of Glacier Bay.


Canoeing near Davidson Glacier.


An amazing sunset from the our ship.


Whale watching excursion in Icy Strait Point.


A gorgeous forest of trees in Icy Strait Point.


Cute little mushrooms.


Tug boat in Sitka.


I love owls ... this guy was at the Alaska Raptor Rehabilitation Center in Sitka.


Just the two of us ... Victoria, BC.


Green Cuisine in Victoria, BC ... it was delicious!


My plate at Green Cuisine ... cornbread w/ soy butter, quinoa salad, curried potato salad, spicy glass noodles, curried tempeh, samosa, & yams.


AAH's plate @ Green Cuisine ... dolma, falafel, lentil patty, tofu, yams, brown rice, samosa, hummus & mango chutney.

Alrighty ... give me a couple of days (to actually cook something) ... I'll be back soon.

Home Again, Home Again ...

I'm back from the cruise. It was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. I will tell you guys all about it ... but I am still recuperating ... I need a vacation from my vacation ... and I am in need of a serious detox. I was able to stick to my vegan diet but after two weeks of sugar, sugar, sugar & more sugar, plus white rice, white pasta, white bread and enough salt to last 2 lifetimes ... I brought home a lovely, bloated, souvenir belly. That cruise mentality really gets to you after a few days ... Give. Me. More. Food.

Anyway ... here are a few of my favorite pics from my trip to tide you over 'til I get a real posting up.


On the shore of Icy Point Straight.


Looking out at Hubbard Glacier from our ship.


Visitng a petting zoo while we were in Victoria, BC.

Bon Voyage!

I am off to Alaska ... be back in a couple weeks. Wish me luck ... from what I hear a cruise ship is not the easiest place for a vegan to be. Everything is processed (sugar, pasta, rice) ... so I will probably have to detox when I get back. But ... I am so excited to be out on the open seas and breathing fresh air ... seeing glaciers and hopefully running into a bear or two.

Bon Voyage!

Mommas

I am on full alert. My madre is coming into town in two days and I want (must/need) to make sure everything is perfect for her. She's been reading my blog and looking at all the pictures of my food and new found love for cooking ... so I hope I live up to her culinary expectations! My mom has done so much for me over the years ... I hope the least I can do is make her a decent meal or two. XOXO mama ~ wo ai ni!


Sicilian Collard Greens (The Kind Diet). I made the Superhero version with shoyu & pumpkin seeds & served it over brown rice.


Baked Plaintains ... topped with cinnamon & a bit of sea salt. So good!


Fried Udon Noodles (The Kind Diet). I added broccoli & mushrooms to the recipe.


Clean, Mean Burritos (The Kind Diet).


Banana Oat Pancakes topped with Red Raspberries. OMG.

Speaking of mommas ... Mother's Day brunch was vegan and delicious! I made spring rolls, my mother-in-law made fruit salad and my sister-in-law brought vegan red velvet cake! It was lovely and not a single animal was harmed for our celebration. Yay!


Spring Rolls & Fruit Salad.


Vegan Red Velvet Cake from Alcove.


Me, my MIL, my SIL and future nephew.