Awesome summer foods!

I wanted to tell you about some of the great things I've been eating since I got back from the big Europe trip (you can read about my trip here and here).  Let me go back and start with 4th of July:

I made some gazpacho and it was perfect for a hot day:

We had black bean burgers (on a sprouted english muffin, since that's all we had) and my potato salad:

And for dessert we had Kathy's awesome Silk Chocolate Mousse:

Moving on, I made Gena's Hemp Hummus, which is really delicious:

Then I put some in a sandwich with my kale salad:

I don't have a picture of it, but I'm totally addicted to Angela's  Tahini Lemon Dressing!! It is the best thing ever and so perfect for this hot summer weather!! I make large batches at a time now and it's great for dipping too, because it thickens up in the fridge :) Go make it...now!

I recently bought a Gardein product, because I had a coupon for it. We don't often buy this kind of thing, but once in a while is fine. I've heard good things about them, so we picked this up:

I heated them up in the microwave, like the package directions said. S liked them. He called them "smoky". They weren't my thing at all. The flavor of it was just weird. I didn't mind the texture, but...I don't know. I found the sauce to be a bit thick and gluey.  Have you had these before? I guess I'd be willing to try another "flavor" if I had coupons or something for it. But I wouldn't go out of my way for them.

I made them with my pesto:

Lemony Spinach Avocado Pesto:

1 avocado (Hass)
2 cups packed raw spinach, washed
4 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
1 small tomato, chopped (if adding to pasta)
raw almonds, chopped small (if adding to pasta)
salt to taste

Scoop out the avocado, minus the pit, and put it into a food processor. Add the spinach, lemon juice, and garlic. If you have a small food processor, like I do, you may want to add the spinach a handful at a time. You can scrape it down and add the next batch of spinach, etc.  Process until nice and creamy. Add the salt and process again. Add it to your pasta in a pot (if eating it with pasta) and add in the tomatoes and almonds. Let the tomatoes heat up and then it's ready! I liked it cold too. You can use it as a dip, with or without the tomatoes, and without the almonds.

And here a couple of finds from the store:

Coconut Bliss Ice Cream (If you want to win a coupon for this, and other items, enter today!!)

This stuff is GOOD!!!

And the latest from Galaxy Foods-vegan cream cheese (yum):

So, don't forget to enter to win some cool vegan food coupons....contest ends tonight!

What cool summer foods have YOU eaten lately?

Eat smart,
T.

Tomato Hummus, Sweet Rice patties, and upcoming giveaways

Sitting here with some coffee and freshly baked whole wheat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, I'm ready to write a post.  And on top of that, it's 78 degrees outside!

Just got back from a friend's birthday lunch (Happy Birthday, Dave!!) at Emeril's.  Will be posting about that in the next day or two.  Back to work tomorrow, for a few days before we are officially off for the holidays.  My goal for this break is to get back to sprouting.  I know, it's a small goal....baby steps......

I had a coupon for an Eden product, and so I bought a can of garbanzo beans in the store the other day (I tend not to buy cans anymore, but these are BPA free).  So I thought I'd make some hummus, and as I was making it, I realized I wanted to make it more interesting than plain ol' hummus.  Here's a recipe I came up with (for some reason, it DOES taste like there are olives in it, but I still like it-I hate olives-S also thought there were olives in it!) Weird.

Tomato Hummus:


1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1/2 tomato
2 tbsp tahini
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1 tsp of minced garlic

1 tsp Creole Seasoning (or cayenne pepper, black pepper, plus salt)
2 tbsp sundried tomatoes (soaked for about 10 minutes)
1 tsp olive oil (optional)
1/2 cup chopped/sliced zucchini (optional, but I like it!)
1/4+ cup water for creamier texture


Put everything but the water in a food processor and blend well. You still may have little bits of sundried tomato in there, but that's ok.  Add the water as necessary for creaminess and blend.


I'd like to talk a little more about coffee on my blog, because I love the stuff (as I do beer).  While in Atlanta earlier in the year, I went to Trader Joe's and found this:

It's REALLY good!  I love it...not too strong (I'm not so into French Roast). It's a nice breakfast coffee. And I'm almost out. Booooo. Hey TJ, wanna send me some more?

On another note, I won some great stuff from Lindsay over at CookVeganLover blog during her 12 days of giveaways.  Thanks!! Can't wait to try all this stuff from Lucini:

Speaking of giveaways...I will be doing a Tasty Bite giveaway very soon! That will be a whole box of goodies (yes, they sent me two by mistake, so I'm giving one to you!).  AND....I've contacted Bob's Red Mill and asked if they'd like to do a giveaway (this is my first inquiry to a company about this kind of thing) and they agreed! They're a great company and I just made an order there for my oat groats, whole wheat flour, etc...so check them out, because there will be THREE winners for that one :)

Stuff I've been eating:

(Roasted potato wedges with rosemary and Creole Seasoning)

(one of my Indian dishes, you can find them here)

(this morning's all whole wheat oatmeal choc chip cookies)

(Sweet Brown Rice patties with edamame)

Recipe:

Leftover sweet brown rice (seasoned with Seasoned Rice Vinegar) and Vegan Furikake. 

Mix together and form into patties. Brush on soy sauce.  Fry up in a skillet.

Will be crispy on the outside, but still soft and sticky on the inside.

I think that's it.  I need to go enjoy the warm weather and do more walking, although I'm pretty sore from yesterday's lower body workout! Oh, and of course I need to finish my cup of coffee and cookies first :)

Eat smart,

T.

Lima Bean Hummus, "Pizza" Cheese, & Questions about TEXAS!

First, thanks to all that entered my giveaway.  Look for a winner post tomorrow!

I had lots of lima beans from the farmer's market and found a recipe in the September 2010 issue of Vegetarian Times, for Lima Bean Hummus! (check their site for the current issue's recipes) It had a strong lime flavor, which I really liked, although it seemed rather dry without the oil (I left out the oil).  For some reason, chickpeas do better without oil than lima beans.  So next time, maybe I'll add in either some water or a little oil.

Then I made Gena's "Pizza" cheese.  It was a bit strange at first, but I really got into the flavor and texture. It was good on Mary's Crackers.

On to Texas.  If one were to make a trip to the following three places, what and where would you suggest going for good vegan food, good health food stores, and good local brewpubs/breweries??

Houston, TX
San Antonio, TX
Austin, TX

From my online research, I found the following possible places to eat:

Austin:

Casa de Luz
Beets Cafe
Borboleta Gourmet/The Talkhouse (closed?)
Aster's Ethiopian 
Mother's Cafe
Daily Juice Raw Food Cafe

Houston:

Field of Greens
Pat Greer's Kitchen (take out only)
Garden of Life Vegan Deli
Loving Hut (thanks, Noelle, for a great review)
Sunfired Foods (open?? closed??)

San Antonio:

Green Vegetarian Cuisine

If you have suggestions for these places, PLEASE do leave comments.......soon :)

Eat smart,
T.

Market Vegetables, Sprouted Breads & more...

We finally got to the market this week! And we even played some music there this week (they were looking for musicians to play). We played a Cajun duo (video here) by David Rimelis (written for us) and a duo (Nocturne) that Scott (my husband) wrote. You can hear it here (#3).

So here's a list of what we got at this week's market: lemon cucumber, brown rice, golden zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, tomatoes, green pepper, celery, onions, pattypan squash, peaches, shiitakes, cucumbers, green beans, those tiny little eggplants (forgot the name), and yellow cherry tomatoes.

A while ago, I ordered some sprouted grain breads from French Meadow Bakery (they only ship one day a week, so get your order in early).  I got a bread, some bagels, and tortillas.  I LOVE bagels, so it's been rough for me without them (trying not to eat so much processed flour).  The bagel was very good, not the traditional kind I'm used to getting when I visit New Jersey, but still very good.  I think it needed to be toasted longer, because by the time I ate it, it almost was as if I hadn't toasted it at all!  Ate it with my Tofutti Cream Cheese.  Tried the tortilla out yesterday with leftover Sunburgers and Raw Ranch Dressing with raw veggies. The tortilla was very fresh tasting....good stuff.

Made some hummus the other day. Since I'd cooked up a bunch of garbanzos.....it was different. Not as moist as my usual hummus.  Made it with just a little tahini, lemon juice, salt, broccoli and roasted red peppers.

Also with the garbanzos......I found a recipe for Simple Chole, from VeggiePlatter's blog. It was really good and pretty simple. Next time I think we'll add some red pepper flakes to spice it up.

And here's a special picture of my grapefruit.....and it's alien:

Giveaway:
-LeslieLovesVeggies is giving away a copy of Ani's Raw Food Desserts, which looks like an awesome book.

Blogger of the Week: Kelly at Vegan Thyme.  Her posts are so witty and she's got some great recipes!

Eat smart,
T.

Broccoli-Barley AND Eggplant!

Ok, wow....so today I did two meals.  BUT.....the first was from (mostly) the McDougall cookbook I have.  Dinner was my own concoction....but was pretty darn good, if I don't say so myself!

Let me start with lunch.  I made the Broccoli-Barley Toss from "The New McDougall Cookbook".  I only changed a few things.  First, I added kale, because I love kale! Second, I used Shiitake mushrooms instead of regular ones (actually, he doesn't specify, to be exact).  I didn't have snow peas or bean sprouts and I left out the green bell peppers.  I think that's it.  And technically, I didn't toss it!  I put the vegetables on top of the barley.  It was very good, but it could've used just a bit more flavoring.  Maybe next time I'll use real ginger and something else.

On to dinner.  I still had some eggplant left...I had already sliced it and put it in a bag, raw.  I'm really not a fan of eggplant....I'm sure I've mentioned that before.  My husband wanted me to make something with it....something with tomato sauce and something spicy.  So I did.  And I actually liked it!  It tasted very much like eggplant parmesan, except there was no cheese in it.....it was vegan!

Tanya's Eggplant Parmesanless:


1/2 big eggplant (or a whole one), sliced 1/4-1/2 inch thick
1 large green bell pepper, sliced in thin strips
1 yellow squash, sliced
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1/2 cup almond milk, unsweetened
32 oz can of crushed tomatoes
italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, creole seasoning

fresh basil


Put the eggplant in a colander and sprinkle a lot of salt on it.  Let it sit for 30 minutes to draw out the water/bitterness.  Rinse, dry, and set aside.  Spray a bit of oil on a cookie sheet.  Mix the breadcrumbs with the seasonings (unless you have pre-seasoned crumbs), to taste.  Put the almond milk in a bowl.  Dip the eggplant in the milk, then cover with breadcrumbs.  Lay them all out on the cookie sheet, single layer.  Broil about 7 minutes on each side.

Spray a little oil in a 9x13 pan.  In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes with the spices (unless you are using jarred sauce, with seasonings).  Spice it up!  It's really good spicy.  Put about 1/3 of the sauce at the bottom of the pan.  Lay half the eggplant down on top of the sauce.  Then add the peppers and squash.  Pour more sauce over it.  Then add the basil all over the top, followed by the rest of the eggplant.  And top with more sauce.  And sprinkle a good amount of seasoned breadcrumbs all over the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. 


I made some extra red wine sauce to go on top, but as it turns out....we didn't need it.  There was plenty of sauce in the baked dish.  You could add zucchini, onions...etc...if you want.  

We invited our friend, Dave, over for dinner.  I think it was maybe a bit too hot for him.  But if you like it spicy, go for it!  I hope I didn't forget anything because I never write this stuff down. 




I forgot, I made some hummus as an appetizer:


Tanya's Hummus:


1 16 oz can chickpeas
juice of 2-3 lemons (I like it lemony!)
1 tbsp tahini
salt, pepper


Blend it all together, add a little paprika and it's done! Served it with some raw veggies.


And I guess that wraps it up!  Still going to make millet soon......maybe tomorrow?

Until then....
Eat smart,
T.