Woo, ok

I think it's high time I got back to blogging!!! Makes it easier now that Evan and I are living together again so I have access to his wonderful photographer equipment!

Though I haven't been actively blogging, I am still attached at the hip to my Google Reader, so I've been caught up on what's up with everyone on my blog roll so far. But, I have so much to catch you guys up on, I'm sure I have enough blogging material for a year!

Since Evan's on summer vacation (almost makes me want to be a regular school teacher so I can have breaks too) he's been the cutest little house "husband". While we're not really at the "honey-do list" point (and I hope to never really be at that), I can totally ask him to do things for the house during the day and come home after work with a few big chores already done.

It's also made me LOVE the weekends, when I actually have time to relax and enjoy our time together as a couple. It makes it so much easier to plan romantic-y things to do in Pasadena too. I adore this city, and am glad we've moved back.

Today started out pretty awesome, mostly because while Evan showered, I had my first SIAB!!!

In the mix:
- chocolate almond milk
- frozen strawberries
- 1 large handful of organic baby spinach (you really can't taste it)
- cacao nibs <- New obsession with these I never thought I could really do smoothies, mostly due to the fact that I HATE bananas and most smoothies contain either frozen or fresh ones. BLEH! However, the frozen strawberries add a nice texture and flavor, without adding just plain ice. I approve of greatly. The afternoon was spent at our karate family potluck pool party. Whew, say that five times fast! Since I just picked up a Marie Callendar's peach pie on our way there, there's not much to blog about. The party was awesome, it was great to reconnect with Sensei Victor since we're officially going back to karate next Saturday! After that we popped down to the slightly sketchy side of south LA to pick me up a bike from a seller on Craigslist. I am now the proud owner of a slightly faded, but very comfortable woman's Schwinn (photos to come). And since I was more mobile now, Evan and I biked over to our local Fresh & Easy to pick up some pizza supplies (love homemade pizza). We started with this: I had every intention of getting the plain whole wheat pizza dough, but since my own rosemary plant kicked the bucket during the move, I caved and got seasoned white flour focaccia dough instead. Ev picked up some local goods at the farmer's market in Montrose today, name some creamy mild goat cheese and chunky sun-dried tomato paste. I grabbed some artichoke hearts (of course) and our basil plant is overloaded so I thought we should prune it a bit and eat the cuttings! The Brita water pitcher supervised the topping procedure.
Yes, I very clearly marked the halfway part of the dough so we knew how much space we had. We actually almost got into a fight putting on the sauce because I just cannot relinquish my power over cooking!!! I HAVE to have everything perfect! Somehow we made it work. Pre-oven (my side of basil, arty hearts, an eensy taste of the goat cheese, and lots of Daiya vs. Evan's side of goat cheese, basil, sun-dried tommytoes, and 4 cheese mexican blend):
Post-oven melty goodness:
Yes, we ate the WHOLE thing (it was pretty small). Since the oven was still hot, I decided to make that coffee cake I had planned on making earlier in the day in order to use up old frozen fruits. About half a large bag of frozen mango and frozen peaches went into this, along with a white cake recipe from VegWeb. I loves me some vegan cakes:
Look at that crumb!
Since I finished baking at 11:30pm, and have already brushed my teeth, I will save the cake for the morning with coffee.

Phew. Ok, time for sleep, tomorrow is another Monday.

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Date-Night In

Somewhere along the way, I got the idea for Evan and I to do a "date-night" in. Plans were hastily made at lunch and I got really excited! I randomly started looking for recipes, I wanted something a little more special than just a regular nightly cooked meal.

Breakfast began late as usual (I have a really hard time waking up, but once I am up I am up), so I opted for cold cereal having no time for stovetop oats. Peanut Butter Puffins with plain soymilk to the rescue, in a car-drink-holder-friendly glass, for breakfast on the run. Needless to say I was starving and ran home to lunch to eat frozen numblies because I was too hungry to cook. (Numblies not pictured)

When I got back to work I began to research an intruiging recipe I found: Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes. I had all of the ingredients on hand, except for the mustard and capers. Evan brought those two items after work and we set to making dinner!
First of all these cakes, or caeks as you know I like to call them, were extremely simple and quite fast to make considering the length of instructions. Evan did most of it by himself while I prepped the remoulade. We fried he caeks in canola oil, and kept them warm in the oven @ low till they were all cooked. Normally I don't fry, but this was a rare occasion. No smoke points were reached luckily, and I believe we made it through without a single burn! (Big deal for us!) Behold their numblie goodness, besides the obligatory restaurant knock-off vegan ceasar salad.

Evan's first remark was "Well, they taste nothing like crab caeks. But they're quite delicious anyway!" and I realized I hadn't even had a real crabcake EVAR in my life so I didn't really have anything to compare it too! I definitely count that as a good thing, but taste-alikes alone, these were AMAZING!!! Go make them, now, NOW I BEG OF YOU! Trust me, these caeks are NOT a lie. :)

Crispy, warm, exquisitely seasoned, complimented perfectly by the spicy smooth remoulade. This is going in "My Favorites" for ever and ever. I see these as the perfect elegant brunch or light dinner to be served at parties (yes, I dream of dinner parties, I do), especially to omnis. It's hard not to love these when they're nutritious, tasty, and filling. <3 ISA FOREVER!!! After dinner, Evan made me a souffle. Not just any souffle (and unfortunately not vegan either), but THE souffle. THE souffle he's been promising me and bragging about ever since we first started dating. THE one he has claimed for 4.5 years that he'll make for me. FINALLY he made it! (Love you Evan!)I'm not sure exactly how he did it. All I know is that when it came time to beat the egg whites he asked where was my electric mixer, one of which I do not, nor ever have, owned. It involved me in as much as I drove to 2 stores in a flurry, buying a single hand mixer at 9:30pm. The proud chef produced a small souffle in an actual souffle dish, and one in a mug of mine. Note the whipped cream bottle on sofa chair.I got the one in the actual souffle dish and pretty much ate it like this:
But then Evan did this:
And he forced me at gunpoint to join in. Gunpoint I said!
After all was said and done, I realized I don't much care for the texture of souffles. The flavor was wonderful caramel-y chocolate, but the texture threw me off, it was like eating a dish sponge. I think I've definitely lost my taste for eggs, yay for veganism and saying no-no to battery cages. Anyway, the wonderful thought and love behind it was sweet enough for me. (And corny too!)

Overall it was a successful way to end 2009 I think! I hope you get everything done before 2010 that you need to. Stay safe and warm!

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Fantastical Dinner! (and dessert)

Ok so, I love Real Food Daily with all my heart! It was my fondest wish for my friends to join me there for my birthday dinner.

The first time I went to RFD was on a drive-by whim with Evan. The table over, I saw a girl eating a wrap and instead of a tortilla or flatbread, there was a collard green leaf keeping all of her numblies in. The seed of collard wraps was planted in my brain.

I was perusing YouTube when I got the craving... that's right, for raw vegan flourless chocolate caek. But, I knew I didn't have very many walnuts and I realized that I only had TWO mejool dates left. So I had to improvise and make a smaller caek. Here's what I ended up with:



Dusted with powdered sugar, it was just enough to satisfy the craving. After eating my dessert first, I then went on to dinner and whipped up some mexican rice. But wait, WOAH, hold on. What if, WHAT IF, I take that rice and wrap it in a collard leaf? Maybe I de-veined the leaf first with a paring knife? And maybe, just maybe, what would happen if I added some leftover herbed cream cheese and sliced green onions???



Then what would happen if I rolled it???



Then WTF would happen if I took a bite!? Just one amazing bite....



The rest was history. Crunchy, warm, spiced, slightly bitter, creamy, delicious.... From now on I WILL wrap everything and anything in a collard green leaf.

Oh yeah here's the recipe for the Raw Vegan Flourless Chocolate Caek:

2 mejool dates, pitted
small handful of walnuts
extra small pinch of sea salt
smallest splash of vanilla extract
1 tbsp cocoa powder

1) Pulse the crap outta everything in a small food processor, or *ahem* Magic Bullet, till smooth and dreamy. Push together in somewhat of a caek-y shape. CONSUME!!!

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