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.

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!

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...

A Little Of Everything #1

I find it's a lot easier for me to post 1 week of pictures all at once, instead of a post everyday. Here's all my pictures for 3/8-3/14. Oh and THV means it's a recipe for The Healthful Vegan :)




A nice balanced dinner. Roasted sweet potato "fries" tossed with a little sea salt and stevia (the starch), cooked moong dal, or yellow lentils (the protein) and some frozen vegetable stir-fry mix cooked with some soy sauce and grapefruit zest (the veg). Very simple and good.



Breakfast Ice Cream. Frozen bananas and pineapple blended with a little stevia and just enough water to make it blend. So good, looks just like vanilla soft serve doesn't it. I really wanted it to look like vanilla bean ice cream, but I had no vanilla beans (too expensive), so instead, right before I ate it (after I took the picture), I stirred in a little ground cloves and it gave it the perfect finishing touch.


THV? Congeili (little shells) with mushrooms and peppers. I sauteed some portabellas and roasted red peppers with Italian seasoning, onions, and garlic, then added some cornstarch and soy milk. It was very good, but not enough flavor, and the onions weren't cooked long enough, so I had to pick those out :(


Gorgeous Rome apple I had for a snack. Can you see all the pink in the white? It was very flavorful, but a little mealy.



Normally I don't go all out for dinner, but the other day I wanted to so I made some short brown rice, Orange Pom Tofu (THV), a stir-fry (frozen stir-fry mix and some soy sauce) and some asian style greens (steamed mustard greens with sesame oil and sea salt). Everything was great except for the mustard greens. I'd never had them, so I bought a small bunch to try. I cooked them the same way I always cook my kale, but I hated them! They were so bitter it was awful, like dirt (yes I've tasted dirt)


I hate having to use those plastic bags for my groceries. So I made some of my own bags. We were given a big box of unused hospital scrubs, so I took some of the shirts and turned them into bags like the one above. The downsize is their huge, because the shirts were mainly extra larges, but oh well. I only made 2 so far, because I have to hand sew the top sides and bottom and handles, so it takes a good while. I'm gonna make more in the next couple days so we'll have enough for our re-stock shopping on the 15th.


THV 4 bean chili, yum. It's got lots of spices, tomato sauce, peppers, onions, chickpeas, kidney beans, pinto beans and black beans. I didn't have any pinto or chickpeas, so I substituted small red beans, some wild rice and black eyed peas instead. So great, though I missed my chickpeas :(


A really great breakfast. Half a papaya (I ate the other half at breakfast the other day), a Stonyfield Starwberry Soy Yogurt (4oz), to which I added some flaxseed, ground cinnamon and cloves, it really ups the flavor. And a slice of Ener-g Tapocia Bread with blueberry all-fruit spread. A perfect way to start the day.


Heres a pic of one of my (many) kitties. His name is coconut and he is blind and deaf (aren't his eyes cool? one blue and one green), you can read more about him Here. I was laying down and he decided to try and eat my hand, so I grabbed the camera and took a picture. Isn't he cute?