Nomz

Mix peanut butter with maple syrup and pour it over oatmeal with bananas.

that is all I have to say.

Post soon, gotta recipe/camera

:)

Oatmeal :)

Hello everyone...I have a serious baking bug today. Thats not good.

Lately I've been having a lot of oatmeal. (Yeah, I used chopsticks...uhh) Usually plain-but last night i drizzled some homemade peanut butter and apple chunks on it. Yumm.

Not a whole lot to talk about. If I give in to my baking bug then I will.

Plans for today? Get school supplies for 2nd semester, maybe get a fuzzy sweatshirt. Lazyy sunday. :)

Snowed in

If only today was a school day...urrghh....

Hello everyone! I haven't been here in a while...sorry bout that. I've been busy baking for the holidays, I tried some sparkled ginger cookies and they were, uh, interesting. Yummy, but very ugly.

I'll keep trying.

But I did make vegan caramels!! They are so cute! I didn't have any cream, so I made a fake 'cream' from soymilk, cornstarch, and a little powdered sugar to thicken and sweeten it. It worked, but something was weird about them. They tasted a tiny bit too healthy, almost like there was brown rice syrup. But there wasn't!!

We've been busy putting up the tree as well...while I was opening the ornament box to unload them, a certain someone found a nice place to nap.

Ah, Bourbon. The holidays have begun for all of us.

I just sat down to a big bowl of celery and carrots with homemade spicy hummus...when your body craves something like that for breakfast, don't deny it. :) I went through many phases of breakfasts, as you guys can probably see...

The oatmeal phase

The cereal and fruit phase

The granola phase

The waffle phase

The honeycrisp apple phase

The breakfast bread phase

The smoothie in a bowl phase (Thanks, Kath!!)

The muffin phase

Oh wow. Now that that's all typed up, I feel really self consious and indesicive. uhhhh....

Well today I got up at 8, listened to John Mayer, made really good hummus, ate, and blogged. I'm doing homework later, unless we get more snow therefore a snow day. If only....

Remember when...

I have a big post coming with tons of pictures and recipes, but I don't have time to upload them all tonight :(

But instead, I spent time today foraging through my computer, and I found some food pics that I have never uploaded before onto my blog. In fact, these were pictures before my blogging days! (shocking!) Enjoy!

(This was the failed matzoh ball soup...you can see why I didn't post it...)

Soon will be recent pictures :D Hope you liked the oldies.

Away to camp...again!!

Yes, I'm leaving tomorrow to go to a choir camp for 1 week up north. Our schedule is waking up at 6, doing calesthetics, breakfast, 4 hour rehearsal, lunch, then break. Oh then more rehersals :D

What have I gotten myself into.

Anyways, why not I talk about food to ease the pain of that regimine?

Some snacks I'm bringing to camp-homemade instant oatmeal, peanut butter cookie lara bar, crispy rice treats, (this version with almond butter and raisins! Yum!)

New obsession: tamari roasted sunflower seeds. Courtsey of The Kind Diet.

For lunch today, I enjoyed a mini ezekiel tortilla with smashed black beans, 1 clove garlic, gomashio, soy sauce, and a little sprinkle of sunflower seeds. Plus arugula and 1 leaf of basil.
A little salad with arugula, carrots, cherry tomato, lime juice, and a tiny dollop of tahini dressing.

mmm....

I *think* I can bring my phone to camp, (not sure if I will...) but I'll be off blogging for a week. See you guys after then...thanks for reading :D

I'm back!

Sorry about the blogging absense for...3 days? Oops. I was in Virginia for a wedding, which was really cool. Everything is so pretty driving through Pennsylvania and Maryland; lots of open sky, huge hills, and a bunch of trees. It was sooo nice out too! On the way there, we stopped in Maryland at a crabcake restraunt. Didn't think I'd find much there, but turns out they had a VEGAN split pea soup! Surprisingly good. I added the parsley, yeah. I went there. I also had a mixed green salad with balsamic vinegar and oil, with some currants on the salad.

Plus a perrier.

We went to our hotel after that, and I had a quick workout (20 min?) on the eliptical in the hotel gym. Plus some sit ups and 10 very painful pushups. Yes, I'm a wimp.

The wedding was fun that night, we did tons of dancing! There was also a giant dancing dragonhead and drums, the bride was chinese. The whole reception was really cool and multicultural.

My cousin and I on the way to the wedding.

They had an AWESOME cake!(s) The cupcake tower was my favorite, but the steelers carrot cake rocked. (to look at-unfortunatley neither was vegan.)

The next morning, there was a lovely continental breakfast. I helped myself to tons of melon and pineapple, a lil' bit of oatmeal with banana chips and granola, and a few raisins. Glad they had it there.

We got back in town around 10:15, and I went to bed shortly after. I had to unpack though-very fussy about that!! But I'm glad I'm done unpacking.

Breakfast on Monday was some cereal (duh) half kamut puffs, half Kashi go lean. I could live on cereal, no joke. I topped it with cinnamon, a bunch of strawberries, and rice milk. Yumzo.

We stopped at trader Joes and got crackers, tempeh, a mango, dried pineapple(crack), walnuts, and a couple other things. I love that place so much. Oh, and a chocolate bar:)

For dinner, I tried the TEMPEH! First (MY DAD DOESN'T BELIEVE ME) time having it! It was fine, but I still prefer tofu. My little reliable pal, tofu. We grilled it and I made a deconstructed fajita, topped with caramelized onions, peppers, avocado, tomato, and salsa. I also had some trader Joes savory thin crackers with it. Great dinner on the whole, but still trying to find a killer tempeh recipe.

Finished din din off with 2 squares of this amazingness.

Well sorry for the-abrupt blog. But I'll be blogging again tonight to catch up with today's events!!

On the go

I'm not exactly sure if I sat down just to relax today...when I was sitting down I was either in a class or doing homework! I think now is my relax time when I can just ramble to who-knows-who on my blog, which could be discovered or undiscovered.(?)

I started today off with some oats. Not pumpkin oats *shocking* but still delish.

1/3 cup rolled oats

1 tbsp ezekiel original cereal

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

small handful dates rolled in flour (I LOVE THESE)

a few raisins

It was yummy, not too sweet, and just what I needed.

Yesterday my dad bought DELICIOUS green grapes...I went through a "phase" last summer where ALL I wanted was grapes. Mostly red. But I went through a bag like every 2-3 days. Yeah. They are quite addicting and yummy. Anyways I threw some in with my lunch and it made my afternoon a little better:)

I had a lovely, warm walk home with my friend. I started on my homework load when I got home, and then later on went to soccer practice. It was HOOOOOTTTT!

My dad and I went shopping for a few things, veggies, fruit, (jumbo strawberries!) nuts, a can of beans. Maybe a few other things, but since wer'e going away this weekend we can't get so many things.

Dinner was leftovers, but yummy ones. The last of the sweet tater lentil stew :(sniff sniff) some baked asparagus, mushrooms, tomaters, and carrots with salsa. I thought it was good!

I made a double batch of chocolate peanut butter cups tonight! It's for my relatives over the weekend to share. I made them for them last weekend and now its my "official job" to make these babies at every family gathering. I'd better keep the ingredients in the house at all times from now on!! Hope they are as good as the last batch- my freezer has no square inch of room!

Well it is gettin late, so I'll sign off and blog again tomorrow. No more sweet tater lentil stew to show!! See yaaa!

Last day of April...really?

Does anyone else think this month has gone by unbelievably fast? Maybe it's because I had a week off...who knows. But it just seemed to be over quickly.
Sorry about the lack of pictures! I ate on the go/out today and didn't have a chance to take any pics! But tomorrow-if I do anything exciting (may be trying granola bars again) for my relatives in Pennsylvania. Is that a good idea, or should I make vegan rice krispie treats? Hmm...so many desicions.
I woke up late today (teeehee) and packed cinnamon vanilla pumpkin oatmeal. Its my new obsession. (That and my thermos!) I took it to school and ate it in class-it smelled yummy!! And it made me really warm!
For dinner, my friends and I went to a vegetarian resteraunt downtown, called Seva. There were so many options! I didn't know what I wanted-I ended up getting the Veggie Nirvana which was a boatload of raw veggies with a lil' saucer of super magical hummus. Whats with me and hummus?! We all shared the (addicting) yam fries, I had mine with hot sauce and ketchup. I almost got a veggie-hummus wrap in a pita, but decided that I would be having yam fries, which were soo worth it.
Sorry about the stale post!! I'm going to do pics tomorrow. I know it. Wow I fail at blogging.

Lazy Saturday

Today started early...7:00! I haven't been able to sleep in since like, summer! It frustrates me. I figured since my dad needed to leave and he was making breakfast for himself, I would start mine as well.

Big surprise! I made oatmeal. Plus 2 figs. The rolled oats, because my dad was about to sit down and I needed something quick. THE MIX:

Scant 1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup almond milk

1/4 cup water

pinch salt

1 tbsp plus a lil' more pumpkin butter

pinch cinnamon

tsp ground flaxseed

topped with raisins. Sorry the picture is dark! I really need to get better at my food photography...any tips?

Later in the day, I went to the gym for a fast workout. 15ish minutes on the treadmill, some jumprope, situps, and random lift weights. Then my mom and I wandered around at the farmers market and got apples, and a big bag of fresh spinach. I then had a guitar lesson with my new teacher! It was a lot of fun.

My mom and I went out to lunch at Jerusalem Garden. (No pics:( )If I lived there, I think I would be the happiest person on the planet. All middle eastern-all the time. Just picture the excellence. I got the hummus (duh) with cucumbers, pita, and tomato. Then my vegetarian grape leaves came which were very very yummy! I just recently started liking grape leaves.

I cleaned a little at home, did some homework, explored blogs. Then around 4:30 I walked up to trader Joes because we desperately needed to go shopping. Its about 1.5 miles from my house. Here's the list: (I actually got a grocery cart this time!)

cubed butternut squash

yellow onions

carrots

sweet taters

whole grain Dijon mustard

2 zbars (1 for my niece, 1 for my nephew:)

Dried pineapple rings

Pita pillow puffs chips

(Dry) Brown rice

Quinoa

Steamed vacuum packed lentils

2 mangoes

2 bell peppers

1 very un-ripe avocado

I was very happy with my purchases! (And the prices!) The only thing I didn't find was sesame seeds. When I got home, I wanted to make Squash 'n' onions from The Kind Diet.

Serves 4

1 medium butternut squash (I used a bunch of chunks)

2 medium onions

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tsp dry oregano

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

Wash and scrub the squash, (leave peel on) and cut it into 2" pieces. Peel the onions, halve lengthwise, and slice crosswise in 1/2" slices.

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onions, saute until transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the oregano and squash. Saute for another 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water to the skillet and add the salt. Cover the pan, reduce to low, and simmer for 25-30 minutes. (Took longer for me.)

This was so good! I had it with my dinner along with salad, which had a yummy Dijon-balsamic-lemon dressing, along with and hummus and veggies. Very strange cursed hummus that I made and is just kind of weird. Its not going bad, it just doesn't smell like hummus. I used all normal ingredients!! Help?!

2 hours after dinner, I finished off with some amazing Indian tea from Teahaus, 1 or 2 dry pineapple slices and 2 squares of trader joe dark chocolate. Great day!

Finally Friday!

It was soo relieving to know it was Friday! Just knowing the weekend is in your grasp motivates you to get through school/work. Yay!

Since Trader Joes is on the way home on my walk, I stop there a lot to get treats for my nephew, quick things I need for dinner, or just samples! I wanted to try making granola bars so I got a few ingredients after school.

Organic oats, unsalted sunflower seeds, dried apricots, and a new item. Pumpkin butter. (like a jam, its not dairy. Calm down.)

I got home, blogged a little, and then got crackin' on my bars. I kinda made up the recipe as I went along (?) at least I learned what to do next. (And at least I made a small batch!) These bars were sooooooooooo delicious. You could taste every flavor, and the pumpkin I could have eaten so many of them! But they weren't exactly sticking together like proper granola bars should. They were crumbly-perfect for having on top of a smoothie, soy/nut milk, or oatmeal. But not exactly a munching bar. Unless you wanted it to be super messy!

1 cup rolled oats

About 1 more cup cereal of your choice (I used kamut puffs and ezekiel wheat free cereal)

Scant 1 cup nuts (I used sunflower seeds and walnuts)

1 cup dried fruit (Apricots and raisins for me)

2/3 cup maple syrup (I didn't use enough-so feel free to play around with this until it's the consistency good for "packing.")

2 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp wheat germ

1 tbsp flaxseed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp pumpkin butter

Mix the oatmeal, cereal, flaxseed, and wheatgerm in a bowl. Toast the nuts in a 300'f oven for about 4-5 minutes, until golden brown. Add the nuts to the cereal mix, add the dried fruit. Then add the maple syrup, pumpkin butter, vanilla, salt, and oil. Mix, and change if you think the texture/taste needs a lil' somethin somethin. Bake for 20-25 minutes, and LET COOL COMPLETELY before digging in/cutting.

For dinner, I was in a rush (no pictures:( ) I went to see Peter Pan, which was really good but very long! I didn't remember how much I loved that movie...

I was in the oat-spirit of things, (and in a rush...) So I made oatmeal (rolled, I'm shocked with myself!) with some thrown in ezekiel cereal, pumpkin butter, sunflower seed butter, cinnamon, and raw apples. I threw this in a thermos as I ate it in the car! I also brought steamed broccoli with a balsamic vinaigrette, and raw carrot sticks.

I do have to say I prefer steel cut oats for straight up eating, but I'm sure I just say that because I'm so used to having them. I have no problem with rolled, I think there's more freedom to do stuff with the consistency, plus they are done soo much faster so I can make them on school mornings without having to wake up early! YAY!

I'll post again tomorrow, not sure whats going on quite yet, so bye for now.

Happy Easter! I smell granola...

Happy easter everyone! I got up (without an alarm...) at 7:58 AM. Why I remember that? I don't know. But I got up and started to prepare for a recipe from The Kind Diet.

I accidentally dove into the recipe thinking I had all the ingredients, but was under 5 cups of the oats. So I split everything in half, and saved the sugar coconut wheat germ mixture for a topping on oatmeal, or for another granola making day. SOOO heres the recipe.

6 cups quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup maple sugar (I used organic evaporated cane juice)

3/4 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup sesame of sunflower seeds

1 cup chopped nuts or raisins (I chopped apricots and dates for one batch, raisins in the other. The raisins look plumped up after being baked and its amusing to push them down to their wrinkly selves again.)

1/2 cup safflower oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Spread the oats on a rimmed baking pan, and bake for 10 minutes. Transfer the oats to a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, wheatgerm, coconut, seeds and nuts or raisins. Spread 1/2 mixture on each of 2 rimmed baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes, stir after 5 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy.

This was super good with soymilk, and I'm still trying to figure out why this granola didn't "clump up" into chunks. But it still makes for a fantabulous cereal.

Oatmeal-banana-raisin waffles

In my attempts to cook my way through Vegan with a vengeance and the Kind diet, I have been trying to squeeze in plenty of meals from these books on the weekend. The last time I had waffles was christmas, so I thought maybe waffles would be a real nice treat, along with some soy sausage...These are super yummy and chewy because of the raisins. I did half white flour and half whole wheat pastry flour to create some sort of healthful-ness, so feel free to play around with that. Maybe a teaspoon of flaxseed would be good to sneak in, but you can screw it all together and just go all out with waffles. I like that idea.

1 cup plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup quick cooking rolled oats

1 very ripe medium banana

1 1/2 cups soymilk

3 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3/4 cup raisins

extra bananas, raisins and maple syrup to top it off

Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions. In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the oatmeal and toss together.

In another bowl, mash the banana very well. Add the soymilk, maple syrup, and oil. Blend with either a handheld blender or a strong fork until there are very few banana clumps left. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined, and then fold in the raisins. Let the batter sit for a minute or two to let the flavors "sink in" to eachother.:)

Prepare the waffles according to the manufacturer's directions. I topped mine with Earth Balance, maple syrup, raisins, and a few walnuts. YUM!

Steel cut oats...mmm

I've never been one to ask for oatmeal. Why? I don't know. But I sure was missing out. This morning my dad and I shared some steel cut oats. Steel cut oats are slightly chewier, and even though they do take a little longer than rolled oats, they sure are worth it. They are the inner portion of the oat, also called the whole grain groats. Thats fun to say...They are kind of nuttier and have more texture than rolled oats. Just boil water (1 cup) and then add 1/2 cup oatmeal, bring to a boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes. (or less.) Almost done...

While all of this yummy oatmeal was cooking, my dad and I got into a debate about what currants were. It all started when I said, "Do you care if you have raisins or currants?" And he goes, "raisins!" I think I then replied with something like saying "They are both forms of dehydrated grapes." From there, he kept telling me they were "currants!" And that led me to look it up on google. Well, I win. Currants are dried, black seedless grapes. Ha ha.

I cut up some dates and dried apricots to sprinkle over mine, and my dad chose banana and walnuts, as well as raisins. (not currants.)We both had some maple syrup, and this breakfast is sure to happen again sometime!