What we’re eating. . .

I’m back. Last week was sad and hard; my grandpa passed away. So this is my quick attempt at blogging catch-up.

I bring you. . .What we’re eating/What we ate:

-We had a vegan potluck two weekends ago. I made this vegetarian paella from whole foods. It takes more than 10 minutes to cook the rice btw. It simmered for about 30 minutes, but was mighty tasty.

-Last Monday I went back to an old favorite: Pinto Burgers from Everyday Happy Herbivore Cookbook.

-The thing about funerals is, you end up eating a lot. However, a lot of the food brought to us wasn’t of the vegan variety, so mom and I made Tuno Salad from That Was Vegan?, Eggless-celent Salad from Luminous Vegans, and Mock Chopped Liver from Vegetarians in Paradise (scroll all the way down). I’m still eating the mock chopped liver, it’s great on crackers, chips and sandwiches. Even my omnivore sister likes it.

-Needing some comfort food, I cooked up The Grit’s Golden Bowl (Amybites’ version).

-This week’s menu includes:

• Mexican Chowder  (pg. 112, Everyday Happy Herbivore)
• Fettucini Alfredo by Chef Chloe
• BBQ Beans and Rice (another old favorite) from The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook

-We also ate out a couple times. Napoleon’s  (we went there twice this week) in Oak Grove has a couple vegan options. Their tofu tacos are great, but avoid them if you don’t like spicy food. The Napoleon’s Bowl can be customized to be vegan. They are happy to take out and substitute ingredients as needed. However, be warned, their veggie burger has egg (Why? I don’t know. We are trying to get them to change it).

Also in Oak Grove, Taqueria El Vecino has a few different items that can be made vegan. Also, they have skinny margaritas which I love, because I can pretend like they are healthy and drink two of them.

 

30th Birthday Weekend Extravaganza Part 1

Thanks again to all who stopped by during the Virtual Vegan Potluck! I’m having fun reading my way through all of the posts. I can’t wait for the next one!

Tomorrow, I turn 30. My wonderful and amazing husband has planned a weekend of fun to send me off into the next decade.

It all started on Friday. I took the day off of work for a day of pampering – I started off getting a mani/pedi at my local nail salon and then headed over to Raw Bronzing Studio for the best spray tan in town.

If you haven’t been to Raw, you best get over there! They have a scoutmob deal right now for half off their pre-tan prep and bronzing package. The owner, Tiffany, survived melanoma at 27. She didn’t like the spray tan products that were on the market, nor did she like all of the chemicals that made up those products, so she created her own 100% organic spray tan.

I first went to Raw for my bachelorette weekend and then wedding. Since I usually just burn when I go out in the sun, I gave up my sun goddess days. This tan looks so natural and doesn’t smell bad at all! Not only is it 100% better for you than the tanning bed, it’s also QUICK! You’ll be in and out in about 15 minutes and look like you are fresh off the beach.

See, I’m not orange. (That’s my mommy, Happy Mother’s Day!)

After the tan, I went to my favorite quick lunch spot – the hot bar at the Ponce Whole Foods. They have a whole bar dedicated to “Health Starts Here,” which is pretty much filled with all vegan, healthy options. I indulged in the vegan mac & Cheeze (ok, probably not HEALTHY, but it’s my birthday weekend). I also loaded up on Kale, black-eyed peas, and this curry corn side. mmmmmm.

That evening, my sister picked me up for dinner and Karaoke! We ate at The Porter Beer Bar, this great restaurant in Little Five Points that’s owned by a former classmate of mine. D & I used to eat there a TON in our pre-vegan days. I had the veggie burger and my sister enjoyed their mac & cheese and goat cheese fritters (I will figure out how to make a vegan version of these darn it).

These fries are to die for.

We headed over to Karaoke at Little Five Points Corner Tavern. About 12 of us gathered for a night of singing and tons of dancing. But, what happens at karaoke, stays at karaoke. I’ll just say it was a super fun time!

I’m also the proud owner of two new vegan cookbooks – Chloe’s Kitchen and Vegan Cooking for Carnivores!! (Thanks hubs and Tracy!)

I see yummy cooking in my future!

I can’t wait to get cooking!

Next up – Part 2: A Riddle – Your dreamy home away from home by the sea.

Virtual Vegan Potluck – Rainbow Green Monster Juice

I am so excited to be taking part in this Virtual Vegan Potluck organized by An Unrefined Vegan. Thanks to Ann for organizing! I can’t wait to look through all the great recipes from participant.

I am the recent owner of a Breville Juicer, so I was jazzed to sign up for the Beverages category.

Some of my juice experiments have been better than others. Celery and strawberries, for instance, was kind of horrible. But I quickly learned I like anything with Oranges and Apples. So I thought, why not put them together?

D has really wanted to juice Kale, so we decided to make a green juice. We also had a lime and some little tangerines, so we threw those in too! And to add some more orange, we threw in some leftover baby carrots.

Here’s what we juiced:

-Four Oranges

-Three Apples

-Four tangerines

-Half a bag of baby carrots

-Half a LARGE bag of Kale

D peeling oranges

I heart my apple slicer

The assembly line is ready!

Once everything was peeled, sliced, diced and chopped, we turned the juicer on high and watched the magic happen! The kale just seeped into the various shades of orange, creating kind of a rainbow effect.

Taste the rainbow

When I snapped the next photo, the green juice formed into this weird monster mouth shape. So the name Rainbow Monster Juice was born!

Grrr. Argh.

Once you stir up the juice, you’ll have a tasty green drink. It’s perfect for breakfast. . .just make sure to brush your teeth after drinking, otherwise you’ll go to work with a green mouth.

Mean and Green and Tasty

Be sure to check out the other recipes in the Virtual Vegan Potluck!!

“We’re not having hot mush today. . .we’re having cold mush”

D and I have been traveling a lot the past month. Which means I haven’t been very good about planning meals. I went to the grocery store the other day and just bought a bunch of ingredients that I figured I could turn into something. . .

Which has resulted in a lot of meals looking like bowls of mush. Tasty mush, but mush.

It all started with Isa’s Tempeh Helper recipe from Appetite for Reduction. This was made pre-grocery trip with ingredients I had in my cupboard. Her Easy Chreezy Sauce is super easy and delicious. It’s so easy, I made it again tonight and put it over some rotini pasta.

For another quick meal, I made another Appetite for Reduction dish – Unfried Refried beans. Again, super tasty. Also super mushy. I spooned the beans over some quinoa to add a little bulk to the meal. Also, we had some homemade salsa which added a nice kick to the meal. And of course, topped it off with some Daiya cheddar.

And finally, it a great display of utilizing leftovers to make a complete meal, I took some of the leftover Ratatouille from the last vegan potluck and turned it into a sandwich. Add a side of leftover Tempeh Helper, and I had a filling Saturday lunch. Yes, a salad is missing from this plate.

And of course, I couldn’t cook with my little helpers. The gray blur is our cat Shiloh. River is in love with Shiloh, so he’s showing it by sniffing her bottom. She’s not to happy about it, but she loves him too.

So, my goal for the next few weeks is to try to make some non-mushy dinners!

Vegan Potluck: Italian Night!

Hey y’all, I’m back from my mini-blogging break and have lots to blog about!

Last night, our friends A&B hosted the vegan potluck with the theme: Italian Night!

I made Smitten Kitchen’s Ratatouille. . .which I know is technically a French dish, but it has Italian Origins. I braved my mandolin slicer to get the veggies sliced perfectly. I’m happy to say no fingers were harmed in the making of this dish.

Our friends A&B provided homemade pizza (half mushroom, half tomato) with Daiya Mozzarella, thus inspiring me to break out the pizza stone we received as a wedding gift and start making homemade pizzas.

They also made some calzones stuffed with broccoli and Daiya.

M&L brought a delicious roasted veggie dish! They also brought their adorable three month old baby boy. . .I think he was the star of the evening.

We also enjoyed wine from the finest regions of Italy (and the Whole Foods wine section).

Fellow Atlanta Blogger Luminous Vegans made a DELICIOUS vegan Tiramisu. I was never a big Tiramisu fan in my pregan days, but I think this may have made me a convert. Somehow I failed to get a photo, but check out the recipe here!

We’ve decided to alternate vegan potluck with vegan supper club throughout the year so we can also try out some great vegan-friendly restaurants too!

Check out past Vegan Potluck installments:

Mexican Night

Vegan Brunch