Shopping

"the biggest artichoke I've ever seen. I placed it next to a normal artichoke to show how big it is"



Now I normally don't post my shopping trips because they take so long, but I often get asked by non-vegans "what do you eat!" and if they are vega*n then it's still "what do you eat" so here's our big-payday-shopping-trip, all of the canned/dried/frozen stuff will last for a month, the fresh stuff will last for 1-2 weeks.

*=organic

5 LB bag gala apples
8 orange nectarines (and they are so good)
8 black & red plums
2 red bell peppers
2 yellow bell peppers
2 orange bell peppers
1/3 LB fresh dates*
1 LB baby spring mix*
1 1/2 LB parsnips
6 asain pears
9 kiwis
1 LB portabella mushrooms
2 6oz raspberry O'soy yogurt cups*
2 6oz blueberry O'soy yogurt cups*
4 blocks firm tofu*
1 carton Silk unsweetened*
3 of the biggest artichokes I've ever seen (pictured above)
1 box plum antioxident white tea
1 LB brown rice flour*
2 LB dry white beans
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans small red beans
3 cans small white beans
2 cans chickpeas
1 can black beans
1g saffron*
7oz package garam marsala
1 bottle pomegranate molasses
2 LB moong dal (split yellow lentils)
1 bottle La Choy soy sauce (it is gluten-free)
1 package Lundberg Mochi Sweet Rice Cakes* (these are so good and chrunchy)
3 LB frozen blueberries
12 LB frozen strawberries
6 LB mixed frozen fruit (dole)
4 shelf-stable cartons Westsoy unsweetened*
1 bottle lemon pepper seasoning
6 LB ruby grapefruit
2 limes
1 bottle hot sauce
1 bottle garlic infused red wine vinagar


"inside my fridge"


"crisper drawer"


"the pantry"

24th post

I need to start updating daily, instead of saving all my pictures lol, cause it takes me forever to write these long posts!

Oh and this time I have pictures of some of the food in the garden :)

Salad of Mixed spring greens*, sugar snap peas**, chickpeas, carrots, toasted almonds, and the oh-so-infamous: thousand island dressing. Oh and some Japanese sweet potatoes :)




Here's some fresh onions from the garden. I like to peel, clean, trim and slice them, then put them in the freezer so I always have plenty on hand.


Hehe, I was trying to get fancy. A sliced green apple topped with a (peeled) sliced kiwi.


Fresh sugar snap peas**. This are going to be cleaned, trimmed, blanched, shocked (ice water) and frozen.


Look, I got a steamer! I found it at a garage sale for like $2 and it's only been used once! This is perfect for blanching vegetables to go in the freezer


A steamed artichoke with thousand island dressing. Sounds grossly interesting, but is really good. I'd never had fresh artichokes before because I didn't know how to cook them, but I was watching good eats the other day and he said how to cook artichokes, so I bought a few, and they're great.


I used my new steamer and made some steamed Japanese sweet potatoes**, sugar snap peas**, and carrots topped with
slivered almonds.


I wasn't in the mood for a smoothie so I made a fruit salad instead. Here's the ingredients before:
1 apricot
red grapes
raw almonds
1 medium gala apple
1 kiwi
crystallized ginger
raspberry soy yogurt*


Heres all the fruit chopped up


And finished up with the yogurt and almonds.


Steamed kale** with sesame oil and steamed japanese sweet potatoes**


THV Herb Sunflower Bread. I found a recipe for a quinoa and sunflower bread, but I didn't have all the ingredients, so I just used the measurements and used different flours and added herbs instead, so really I ended up making my own recipe since I can't ever follow directions and keep to a recipe. So this one has brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, basil, rosemary, sunflower seed, oregano, and some other stuff. I made a mini loaf this time because I was scared I wouldn't have enough flour, so I'm gonna double it and add some flaxseed next time, because it got a little crumbly when I toasted it.




Smoothie of strawberries, orange extract, green tea and fresh stevia**

I call it, Kale Mountain, it doesn't look that big, but it's a good ten pounds worth (from the garden). And it took forever to clean, de-stem, chop, blanch and freeze.


THV stuffed italian acorn squash. It's got acorn squash (duh) , broccoli, tomatoes, italian seasoning, rosemary and lentils. It's really good and sorta tastes like pizza (to me at least). It's better in the winter though because the squash has more flavor.


Smoothie of mixed dole frozen fruit (pineapple, honeydew, strawberries, grapes, peaches), stevia*, green tea powder (matcha) and soymilk*.


I used my Herb Sunflower bread and made a sandwich of asparagus, lettuce*, mustard*, and yellow bell peppers.

Remember my guinea pig Lola that was pregnant, well Mango is doing good (I couldn't get her to sit still for a picture though), but Lola isn't. You see she has really long hair, and it's normally in the 90's here, so I decided to shave her, and she looks awful! Thank god she doesn't have a mirror, but I do think the other guinea pigs were laughing at her.

:: 23rd post ::

"greenleaf lettuce, oakleaf lettuce**, raw red bell pepper**, carrot, tofu (with soy sauce), mung beans*, radishes, sunflower seeds, lentils, millet*, 1000 island dressing*"


THV Salty Roasted Asparagus over Sesame Mung Beans. The asparagus** is roasted with soy sauce and served over mung beans* that have been tossed with sesame oil, red bell pepper** and fresh basil** and garnished with sunflower seeds. Oh hey almost everything in this meal is organic, did you notice? Just the sesame oil and sunflower seeds weren't.


close up

I had some beautiful veggies so I decided to make a stir-fry:



Here are some of the ingredients. Red bell pepper**, yellow bell pepper, tofu, portabella mushrooms, asparagus**, scallions** (in the little bowl), garlic, tangelo zest (I just put the whole tangelo down in the picture).


Here is some broccoli**, kale**, and spinach**. Not pictured was also some gf soy sauce, peas, brown rice and garlic hot sauce.





Miso soup, made of kale, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, chickpeas, carrots, onion, red miso, and sesame seeds. Not very traditional, but very good.


I wanted another little veggie platter. This time we have brown rice tortilla chips, roasted asparagus, and raw red bell pepper, and roasted garlic hummus. I wanted some carrots too but I was out :(


Wild mushroom soup. It's very good, but needs work, it's got enoki*, portabella and oyster mushrooms, oregano, lemon and basil**. I garnished it with extra basil** and enoki mushrooms*



red leaf lettuce, yellow bell peppers, tofu*, chickpeas, radishes, asparagus. I tried to make a different salad dressing by mixing grainy mustard with seasoned rice vinegar, I really liked it at first, but I could only eat half of the dressing because it was way to strong.



Smoothie if purple grapes, blueberries, strawberries**, blackberries, papaya, stevia*, and soymilk*

Fruit salad of green grapes, gala apple, Asian pear, kiwi, and strawberries**. I'd never had an Asian pear before, and they're really good, they taste like (tome at least) like a peach, but have the texture of an apple crossed with a pear.

Salad of lentils, romaine, carrots, red bell pepper, asparagus and 1000 island dressing. With a side of brown rice tortilla chips (love these!), I sprinkled these with dried oregano before I baked them, and then topped them with fresh basil after they were done. Yummy, though I sorta burned them :(



Smoothie of strawberries**, soymilk*, stevia*. I decided to do a little twist and add some Chinese 5 spice powder (which is star anise, cloves, cinnamon, anise, and ginger), it was really good, I only added a little, so it was just like a hint of it, and it smelled awesome.




THV 4 bean chili. Salad of red leaf lettuce, carrots, red bell pepper, lentils, 1000 island dressing. The chili I made a while ago and froze, it's so good, though I did it a little differently than normal, I roasted the garlic, onions and pepper, then blended it with the tomatoes, so it was kinda sweet. Next time I'm gonna try and add more veggies.

Salad Days

I will warn you now, if you do not like salads, close this page! I've gone salad crazy, eating at least 1 a day, sometimes 2, sometimes even having fruit salad for breakfast! Though going salad crazy isn't nessisarly a bad thing, I'm finding that I really like different things in my salads, though I don't like a lot of raw things, like I prefer roasted cauliflower to raw, etc. And to make sure I get enough protein/calories I've started adding beans, grains and tofu, which is really good. Though I am trying to make my salads a little different every time, I always use the same lettuces (red leaf, green leaf and romaine) I always add carrots, and I always use the same dressing HERE

As always:

THV = A recipe for The Healthful Vegan
* = oraganic
** = organic and local, most likely from our farm



"green leaf lettuce, roasted red potatoes, roasted asparagus, roasted red peppers (water packed), grated carrots, tofu* (frozen, thawed, pressed, sauted in soy sauce), ground flax seed*, olives, 1000 island dressing*"


close up


"green leaf lettuce, roasted parsnips, tofu* (sauteed in sesame oil), portabellas, wild rice*, grated carrot, roasted red peppers, 1000 island dressing*"


close up

"romaine, grated carrot, tofu* (THV Sesame Dijon Tofu), roasted cauliflower (tossed with curry powder), roasted red peppers, roasted asparagus, fresh basil**, 1000 island dressing*"


THV, Curried Sweet Potato Soup. I totally rewrote this recipe. It used to be my Curried Wild Rice and Lentil Soup, with sweet potatoes and curry, but now it's Curried Sweet Potato Soup with parsnips and curry. It's so good and really simple, especially with some fresh basil** on top (from the garden!)

"green leaf and red leaf lettuce, petite peas (frozen, thawed), wild rice*, lentils, grated parsnips, grated carrot, roasted red peppers, tofu* (sauteed with soy sauce), mushrooms (sauteed with the tofu), 1000 island dressing. I think there was some sesame seeds in there too. Isn't my new bowl pretty? It's nice and big and perfect for taking pictures."

Fried banana sandwich. Well it's not really fried. I took 2 slices of my Ener-g bread, lightly toasted it, then mashed up a small banana with some cloves and cinnamon, spread it onto the bread, and cooked it in a skillet with non-stick cooking spray until nice and browned. Very good, with a side of grapefruit and papaya.


Another Power Smoothie for Rock Climbing class, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, tofu*, wild rice*, maple extract (this stuff is awesome), stevia*.


"romaine, tofu* (THV orange pom tofu), grated carrot, roasted red peppers, ground flax seed*, sliced radishes, split peas, sesame seeds, roasted asparagus**, walnuts, 1000 island dressing*"



Here's one of my favorite snacks. I love Stonyfield Farms Soy Yogurts*, they're really good, think and flavorful, but I like to jaz mine up. This one here is strawberry, so I added a bunch of fresh sliced strawberries**, and I mean a lot of strawberries, a spoonful of ground flax seed* and sometimes a little bit of walnuts (which I did here), so good! And keeps me nice and full, without being too full for yoga.


Roasted sweet potato fries, sauteed Chinese broccoli and basmati rice with ginger, garlic, scallions and Chile. The sweet potatoes were just sprayed with olive oil cooking spray and roasted until tender, then tossed with a tiny bit of sea salt and stevia*, the Chinese broccoli (found at the Asian supermarket) was just thrown into a pot with a little bit of water, soy sauce and chili powder and cooking until tender. For the rice I found the recipe HERE, I did make a few substitutions though: I didn't use the cilantro, or oil, I added some basil**, and I did mine a little easier by using a rice cooker for the rice (I can't make rice to save my life!) then when the rice was almost done cooking, I added the scallions*, garlic, and ginger, that way the flavors would mellow out a little, and I don't have to dirty another pan, then added everything else. It was really good I loved it, even my mom liked it (and she's "allergic" to healthy food), she even asked for a bowl (though when I first talked her into trying it she looked really scared). Oh and for those of you who know me and are thinking "She ate white rice!!!", yes I did!. I read THIS article here about basmati rice, and I've been trying to feed my dosha correctly, and basmati rice supposedly balances out all 3 doshas, so I don't mind eating white rice (plus I get plenty of fiber)


Smoothie of soy milk*, ground flax seed*, wild blueberries, pineapple, a tiny bit of strawberries** (like 2), and maple extract, yum!


"greenleaf lettuce, carrots, radishes, split peas, small red beans, tofu*, leftover basmati rice (from the recipe above), walnuts, tofu dressing*."


I decided to do a veggie platter, because I was really in the mood for hummus. There's carrots, roasted broccoli, cucumbers and brown rice tortilla chips (I took a Food For Life brown rice tortilla, cut it up and cooked until crunchy). For the hummus I threw some chickpeas (2 1/2 cups), 2 cloves of roasted garlic (I roasted it along side the broccoli), salt, pepper, 1/2 TBS raw tahini*, then turned on the processor and drizzled in about 1 cup soy milk until it came to my desired consistency. This was very good, though I found I don't like cucumber and hummus much, the tortilla "chips" were the best, they have so much flavor on their own, really nutty and just great, BUY THEM! (And no they didn't pay me to advertise them :)


"red leaf lettuce, edamame*, tofu* (cooked in sesame oil), sunflower seeds, carrot, cucumber, radishes, roasted red peppers, lentils, tofu dressing*."

For anyone wondering, I only got a participant ribbon at my rock climbing competition. There's a gym in Richmond Virginia called Inner Peaks, and the kids there are so good! They climb like everyday for 4-5 hours from what I heard, and it shows, they game and totally beat me so I wasn't too upset (at east my ribbon was purple), if they weren't there, I think I would've have done much better. Oh well, I had fun, and most of the people who belayed me said I had really good form on the walls, so... :) yay me!

Little Brake

Hey everyone, I know I haven't updated in about 3 weeks (oh no!) but I'm having serious computer/camera problems, though I should be back soon, with lots of smoothie, salad, strawberry and other pictures.

Oh and I got the shoes I won at my rock climbing competition. They're blue and silver with a flower on the tip, very nice. And I'm competing in another competition (top roping this time) on the 28th!

A Little Bit Of Everything #3

THV my Sesame Kale and Snow Peas again. I added chickpeas to make it a real meal.


[day before fating] I was reading The Urban Vegan's blog the other day, where she talked about doing a juice fast, and how it helps her digestion and all that stuff, and I have a horrible digestive system, I get sick after every meal (no matter what I eat), chronic constipation (though I get plenty of fiber and water) and I'm bloated all the time. So I figured I'd give it a shot. I bought 2 bottles (2 quarts) of juice. A bottle of Bolthouse Farms C-Boost and a bottle of Bolthouse Farms Blue Goodness. My plan is to drink both bottles of juice and lots of water (I was going to do a water fast but I didn't want to lose weight). Wish me luck.
[Day of fast] Well this was a complete failure, I had a massive stomach ache all day (worse than normal) an I ended up drinking all my juice by 5p.m. because I was so hungry, I ate an apple and, amazing, the stomach ache went away! I definitely will not be trying that again.


Fruit salad of apple, kiwi, pineapple and lime juice. I was going to go help out at my climbing gym (Redpoint) where they're having a bouldering competition, so I was going to help with registering people and stuff, so I did that then went to go watch my friends. To get points for finishing a climb you had to have 2 people watch you and then sign your sheet, so I helped my friends Haley and Lexi on that, but it looked like so much fun I signed up too. I'd never been in a competition before (of any kind) so I was super nervous, but I had a lot of fun and got 3rd place in beginner level (v0-v2 for those informative in climbing), for my prizes I got a free pair of climbing shoes (retail $90), a Redpoint coffee mug, a shirt that says "run like a girl" and a competition shirt. I think I'm going to do more competitions as this was so great.


Stir-fry of Chinese greens (it looked like broccoli raab but I'm not sure what it really is), mushrooms, garlic, red pepper flakes, peas, soy sauce, orange zest (Orange zest and soy sauce are so awesome together) and tofu. For the tofu I coated each side in lots of fresh pepper and a tiny bit of salt, then browned it in non-stick cooking spray then added it back to the stir-fry in the end. And of course a yam baked on the side, seriously awesome.

THV More 4 Bean Chili

Italian Roasted Red Peppers. All I do is take jarred roasted red peppers, and add peppercorns, rosemary, sometimes thyme, and garlic and it transforms them to Italian Roasted Red Peppers! Perfect for sandwiches or snacking.



Green leaf lettuce, carrot (grated), roasted red potatoes, olives, roasted chickpeas, and this recipe for 1000 island dressing I found HERE, it was good, tasted like thousand island, but a little bland.


My power smoothie, every Wednesday I have rock climbing, so I have to eat extra [calories] to keep up my strength, and normally a smoothie for me is only 200 calories or so, and this one was 370. It has strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, soft tofu, cooked millet, almond extract and stevia, it was so creamy and thick it was
perfect.


THV Chili Orange Roasted Chickpeas. There's a few ways I like to roast my chickpeas, Chili Orange, just soy sauce, Salt & Vinegar Chicks (THV), and just curry powder. I just made the Chili Orange and Soy Sauce this time, I would've liked to make SALT & Vinegar Chicks, but I didn't have any vinegar (weird!)


Kale and potatoes with roasted garlic. I steamed the chopped kale until tender, then added 1 small roasted potato (chopped), and used a fork to mash the potato, then added 3 or 4 cloves of roasted garlic, and mashed it in, then added salt and pepper. I loved the texture, it was just perfect, I think some mushrooms or peas would've made it even better

A bit of everything #2

As always THV means it's a recipe for The Healthful Vegan. We went shopping Wednesday (14th) so I have a good amount of stuff to work with.



THV More Sunny Tomato Soup, really I just wanted to show off my new mug, isn't it pretty? It's a lot bigger than most, so it's perfect for soup.


Roasted parsnips and asparagus. The asparagus with roasted with a little gf soy sauce and topped with sliced garlic. The parsnips were just roasted plain.



A Breast Of Orange Pom Tofu atop a bed of Tarragon Millet and Sesame Kale and Snow Peas (wow that sounded fancy didn't it?) I've told you about the tofu before, basically it's tofu marinated in orange juice, pomegranate molasses and some other stuff. Normally I cut it into cubes, but I cut the block into filet's this time so it'd look fancier. They finally had millet (only 1 bag left) at the health food store, so I made that. It's so good, kinda like quinoa, but fluffier and without the little tails (which is the one reason why I don't eat it as often as I should). I added some dried tarragon to it and it added a nice licorice-like flavor. Then the bottom layer is my Sesame Kale and Snow Peas, which is steamed snow peas and kale, with sesame seasonings. (the tofu and sesame kale are both THV recipes). You would think that orange pomegranate, tarragon and sesame oil all together in one meal would taste weird, but it actually was very nice.


Toast with 2 jams. The slice on the right has my all-fruit blueberry jam (polaner) and the slice on the left has all-fruit black cherry (also polaner). I think I prefer the blueberry because it has more flavor. On the side is some fresh pineapple (it's been months since I've had any) and I'm not sure if you can tell, but there is a blue cup next to the plate (top right corner), in there is some "Detox Lemonade". I heard of a recipe (can't remember where, I think it was on a raw newsletter), all you do is mix filtered water, fresh lemon juice and maple syrup or honey (or other sweetener) and drink. The lemon is supposed to help your digestive system, and the sweetener makes it less tart. I didn't have any maple syrup, so I used stevia. I don't think it helped because I still got a stomach-ache


Here's a simple sandwich of Ener-g Tapioca Bread, baby spinach*, mustard*, and portabella mushroom. And some asparagus on the side, normally I just roast my asparagus with a little soy sauce, but this time I wanted to try something fancier. So I roasted 3 cloves of garlic until soft, threw it in my mini food processor (my mom bought me an Oster Immersion Blender on sale for $12 last Friday, and it has this awesome little chopper attachment that works perfect for things like this.), along with the garlic I added 1/4 cup soy milk* and 1/2 TBS cornstarch and a pinch of salt and blended it until smooth,. It was pretty good, nice garlic flavor, but also somewhat bland, I added a little mustard* and that perked it right up, then I poured it over the asparagus. I think I may just stick with my soy roasted asparagus because it took a bit of work, though it was a nice change of pace.


THV Morning Millet, I wanted to try and make something different for breakfast, so this is cooked millet, seasoned with cloves and cinnamon (and another secret I can't tell you about :), and some fresh ripe mango.
I definitely need to cut the mango smaller next time, but that's the only complaint. Oh and I added cashews which were like the icing on the cake, made it perfect.


Simple stir-fry of frozen asparagus mix, some fresh mushrooms, garlic, gf soy sauce and baby spinach*, served with jasmine rice. I was quite disappointed with the rice, because I'd heard that it was much better than most rice, very flavorful and fragrant, but it just tasted like rice. Oh well...