12 weeks.

Hello again! Time again for me to post everything I ate today, in excruciating detail. First up, breakfast! Grape Nuts, banana and soy milk. Sounds blah, but it’s actually one of my favorites. Don’t judge.

Grape Nuts, banana and soy milk. Better than it sounds.

I ate breakfast on the patio, but just as I was finishing it started sprinkling. Not five minutes after I went back inside, the sky opened up and started pissing it down, and it hasn’t stopped all day. Cold and rainy always makes me want soup, so thank goodness I had some in the freezer for just such an occasion. Last week I made another Isa tester, Lotsa Veggie Lentil Soup. It made quite a lot, so I kept a few servings out for lunches last week, and froze the rest in individual portions for another time. Such as today. Thankfully, I had some cornbread muffins in the freezer as well. Instant comfort meal.

Lotsa Veggie Lentil Soup and cornbread muffins. Comforty.

Snack time! I couldn’t resist another Honeycrisp apple. Check out the size of it!

Hello, gigantic Honeycrisp. I love you.

I ate it with a slice of Ezekiel 4:9 Low Sodium Sprouted Grain Bread spread with a tablespoon of Mighty Maple Peanut Butter.

Seriously, how adorable is my place mat?

Dinner was pizza. I made a nice, thin whole wheat crust, which cooked up so perfectly crispy on my pizza stone, I can’t accurately communicate the level of perfection reached without resorting to guttural noises. I topped it with pizza sauce, onion, green bell pepper, roasted red pepper, tofu ricotta and spinach.

You can't see my perfectly crisp crust, but it's there.

At the end of the day, I wanted something sweet. I don’t usually indulge in dessert, but today I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. I decided on some Purely Decadent Cherry Nirvana with banana, walnuts and chocolate syrup.

Cover anything with bananas and chocolate syrup, and I'll eat it.

And of course, the nutritional stats. I did end up having to take a calcium supplement, since I opted for dessert and not something a little more nutritionally sound, but it was so worth it.

The percentages listed with fat, carbs and protein indicate what percent of total calories came from each. The percentages listed with everything else indicate what percentage of the Recommended Daily Allowance they equal. Saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium should be below 100%. The vitamins, minerals and fiber should meet or exceed 100%.

Daily total:

• Calories: 1663

—

• Carbs: 283g (63%)
• Fat: 46.7g (23%)
• Protein: 62g (14%)

—

• Saturated Fat: 7.9g (43%)
• Cholesterol: 0mg (0%)
• Sodium: 1654mg (72%)

—

• Fiber: 50g (261%)
• Vitamin A: 1090µg (156%)
• Vitamin C: 124mg (165%)
• Calcium: 1124mg (112%)
• Iron: 21.6mg (120%)

Before I grovel at your collective feet for forgiveness, please accept this picture of a cupcake I made last week as a peace offering. A token of good will, if you will. Or even if you won’t.

Lemon Glazed Cupper - tangy.

I ate exactly one of those cupcakes. The rest were kindly disposed of (devoured) by The Brit.

Okay, so, I basically sucked at the whole posting every day thing last week. That’s mostly because I don’t think any of the food I’ve been making lately has been particularly interesting (except for the tester recipes, obvs). You see, recently I started logging everything I eat into a food journal. I’m on a quest to become healthier, and hopefully lose a little (lot) of my excess weight in the process. So, while I spend a lot of my day thinking about food, and planning food, and even eating food, I’m afraid it will bore the ever-loving shit out of people if I blog about it, too. Most of it is not what you might call culinarily adventurous.

This week though, I have a plan. I plan to not give a flying toss whether anyone deems my food interesting, and just blog it anyway. Every. Boring. Detail. Get ready people! This might be moderately tolerable!

Breakfast this morning was a smoothie. I love smoothies, but it’s starting to get too cool for them. Soon they’ll have to relinquish their spot among favorite breakfast items to something more befitting cold weather, like oatmeal. Until then though, I’m still enjoying the occasional smoothie when the mood strikes. My favorite combo of late has been strawberries, banana, soy milk (Silk Light) and a tablespoon of Dark Chocolate Dreams.

It wasn't blurry in real life.

A day just isn’t complete without a nice cuppa tea. Of course, if that’s true, I’ve had a lot of incomplete days lately. I’m pretty low on tea right now, but I’m making do with what I have. I actually had two cups today, but they both looked exactly the same so use your imagination, kay?

Lady Grey, if you must know.

Lunch was sandwiches (that’s right, plural! Two sandwiches!). They consisted of some leftover whole wheat buns that need using up, Yves Meatless Salami, Vegenaise and yellow mustard. On the side I had my first ever Honeycrisp apple. It was gigantic and amazing and perfect and I wanted to marry it but I ate it instead (there’s a dirty joke in there somewhere, but I’ll leave that up to you).

With, of course, the ubiquitous big glass of water.

Snack time! Homemade hummus with celery. I’m not usually a big celery eater but I had some leftover and figured I might as well eat it. Don’t you hate that you have to buy a whole mess o’celery when you only need a couple of stalks? Yeah, me too.

Hummus loves anything crunchy. Even celery.

Finally, for dinner, I made a modified version of my Tamarind Orange Tofu. I served it up with some long grain brown rice, steamed carrots and peas. Deeelish!

I got lazy cutting the tofu into little pieces. What?

And since I’m obsessed with nutritional stats, I’ll inflict them on you! You’re welcome! Hey, just count yourself lucky that I decided not to post nutrition for every meal like I was temped to do.

The percentages listed with fat, carbs and protein indicate what percent of total calories came from each. The percentages listed with everything else indicate what percentage of the Recommended Daily Allowance they equal. Saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium should be below 100%. The vitamins, minerals and fiber should meet or exceed 100%.

Daily total:

• Calories: 1455

—

• Carbs: 234g (60%)
• Fat: 37.9g (22%)
• Protein: 70g (18%)

—

• Saturated Fat: 4.4g (27%)
• Cholesterol: 0mg (0%)
• Sodium: 1759mg (76%)

—

• Fiber: 42g (251%)
• Vitamin A: 2286µg (327%)
• Vitamin C: 134mg (178%)
• Calcium: 1159mg (116%)
• Iron: 20.4mg (113%)

Yeah, I missed a couple of days. I promise to make up for it soon, and starting tomorrow hopefully my posts will be more interesting. Not that MORE ISA TESTERS isn’t interesting…

Linguine with Edamame Pesto

What a fantastic idea. Delicious, green, fresh tasting pesto, without all the fat. I love love love this recipe. Paired here with linguine, mushrooms and onions, this was a very satisfying meal.

I had pesto leftover, but I wanted something a bit lighter at lunchtime - what’s a girl to do? Spaghetti squash was the perfect solution. If you’ve never cooked up one of these gems, I highly suggest you do. I just cut mine in half (it was fairly small), put it cut-side down on a baking sheet and put it in a 375ºF oven for about 30 minutes, until it was nice and tender. Larger squash will take a bit longer - you’ll know it’s done when you can easily  pierce the flesh with a knife.

Now the fun part! Just take a fork and run it along from stem to stern, the flesh will separate itself into lovely spaghetti-like strands all on its own.

Spaghetti Squash!

Edamame Pesto with Spaghetti Squash

Then just use it like you would spaghetti! It was really fantastic topped with Edamame Pesto and crushed red pepper flakes, eaten out on the back patio on a cool day.

Last, I’ll leave you with a picture of Fauxstess Cuppies (from VWaV). I made these ages ago but never got around to posting the photo. And with all this healthy food I’ve been posting lately, I feel the need to balance it out with a hefty dose of sugar.

Fauxstess with the Mostest

Time for another MoFo post, also know as the next installment of: “Look! I made testers for Isa’s weight loss cookbook! And they were awesome!”

Cannellini Walnut Croquettes

I’ve actually made these twice, they were so damn good. Oh, and they freeze really well, too.

Garlicky Mushrooms and Kale

Garlic! Mushrooms! Kale! What is there not to love?

Marinara Olivada

I also learned that olives and marinara belong together, forever and ever, in holy matrimony, amen.

First off, I just have to mention that I cycled 22.58 miles today! The Brit and I went to my sister’s house and back again, which was fun but highly exhausting. Also, my ass is super sore now (because you needed to know).

I don’t have much else to say, but it’s okay because I know you really only come for the pictures of food anyway. More Isa weight loss testers!

Baked Falafel and Fresh Dill Hummus

So amazingly perfect for a light summer meal.

Black Bean Olive Tacos with Garlic Lemon Yogurt

Another great summer meal, and a combination that is pure genius. I made the tortillas all by myself, too.

That’s it for today kiddos! Happy MoFoing.

It’s the first day of Vegan MoFo, and I’m making it in just under the wire. I promise I won’t procrastinate like this the rest of the month, if you promise not to actually hold me to that.

My post today is brief, mostly because I’m tired (I just got home). Nonetheless, this is Vegan Month of FOOD, so let’s get to the goods, shall we?

Last night I made another tester for Isa’s upcoming weight loss cookbook (expect a lot more posts about testers for this book in the coming month). Probably one of my favorite meals to date - once the book comes out and you make it, you’ll see why. Easy and full of flavor, it was worth the time I spent tracking down the delicata squashes, which seemed to be impossible to find for a while. I was actually about to settle for butternut yesterday, stopped to buy one at a store I don’t usually shop at on the way home from the gym, and what do I find? Delicatas! How fortuitous.

Lettuce Wraps with Hoisin Mustard Tofu

If just reading “Lettuce Wraps with Hoisin Mustard Tofu” doesn’t make you drool, then you’re either a robot, or dead.

Unfried Fried Rice

You read that right. Fried rice, that isn’t fried. Impossibly good.

5 Spice Delicata Squash

Oh yes, the elusive delicata. Roasted to perfection with Chinese 5 spice and maple syrup.

Are you drooling yet, robot zombies?

That’s right, kiddos - it’s that time of year again! Time for vegan bloggers to dust off their keyboards, charge up their cameras and get their asses back in the kitchen. It’s time again for the Vegan Month of Food. Every week day in October, vegan food bloggers pledge to post something - anything - about the awesomeness that is vegan food. And this year, I’ve decided to jump in and play.

If you’re interested in getting involved, head on over to Kittee’s pad for more information. She’s hosting it this year because she’s all organized and shit.

Hopefully this is just the kick in the pants I need to get back into the blogging groove.

First up, a spicy and amazing dish:

Curry Laksa

So, so good. I would be tempted to go make another batch of it, if I didn’t have a few more servings of this deliciousness to fill the void:

Cauliflower Pesto Soup

So simple, but packs a ton of flavor. You won’t believe the nutritional stats on that rich and creamy bowl of yum, either.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I promise not to stay away too long.

Well, you can add another book to that list. I’m now a tester for Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s latest project - a vegan weight loss cookbook! I can’t tell you how excited I am about this (and how much I NEED it). Here’s a sampling of the many (many!) recipes I’ve made so far:

Red Lentil and Root Veggie Dal

Caribbean Curry Black Eyed Peas With Plantains

Jerk Asparagus

Mushroom and Cannellini Paprikas with Scarlet Barley

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Toasted Cumin Seeds

Summer Lovin' Curried Corn & Veggie Chowder

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Grilled Tofu & Peanut Mint Gremolata

I only wish I’d taken pictures of everything I’ve made, but trust me, there will be plenty more soon enough!

I know it’s been a while. I guess you could say I took the summer off, because I was busy. You could say that, but it wouldn’t be true. If you weren’t such a dirty liar, you would say that I haven’t posted in a while because I am a lazy, lazy bitch.

I won’t try to recap the last two-ish months, because honestly, you probably don’t care. I may bust out a post or two with photos and stories, because really, I did some cool stuff (like camp in Asheville with a bunch of other vegans!), but for the most part I’ll just keep it current.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I know, no foodz, no pics, no coolness. Sorry, but I really didn’t prepare anything and I’ve been out of the habit for so long, it’s hard for me to think of anything to say! I figured I’d better just get back in here and post SOMETHING, so I did. You’re welcome.

They may look blurry, but they tasted awesome

DEOTS Tempeh Wingz served up with roasted baby red potatoes and roasted broccoli, both from the Farmers’ Market. The Brit wouldn’t touch the broccoli, so I may have eaten the entire head myself.

In other news, I kicked the ass of my May cycling goal, finally coming in at 133.16 miles for the month, with my longest ride being 13.22 miles. My new goal for June is 150 miles, with the additional goal of cycling 15 miles in one ride. I’ve already gone 11.2 miles today, so I’m off to a good start!

To help me keep up with my goal, I’ve put together a Cycle Progress Chart (some of you might have already seen it - it’s over there —>). If you notice it hasn’t budged in a few days, please feel free to give me a proverbial kick in the arse to get going again!

In other news, this last weekend Bianca of Vegan Crunk and I put together an awesome party. We called it the Prodigious Vegan Sushi-Palooza Madness Extravaganza. It totally lived up to its name. I haven’t uploaded any of my photos yet (not sure if I even have any worth posting), but go check out Bianca’s post about it - trust me, you won’t regret it.

I promise not to leave you without pictures of food! First, check out the pizza I made last week from some extra dough I had frozen:

Check out those crust bubbles.

The whole thing was covered in roasted red pepper sauce and onions, which is all The Brit wanted on his half (crazy man). I then added some tofu ricotta, black olives and arugula to my half, making it far superior.

Then I made a couple of testers for Kelly and Garrick’s Vegan Cookie Book (it’s in its final stages of testing! woo!). I made Rice Crispy Treats and Flapjacks.

No special vegan marshmallows or marshmallow creme required.

No, not pancakes... proper oat flapjack like they eat in the UK.

Both of these recipe were awesome, just like all the other recipes in their book!

Lastly, I’ve been helping a friend plan and purchase items for a joint birthday party for her daughter and nephew this weekend. We’re making a ‘Pink Princess Doll’ cake and a ‘Lightning McQueen’ cake (from the movie Cars). Did I mention there are 130 people invited to this party? Yeah. On the plus side, she wants to make all of the cake vegan even though no one in attendance (including her) is vegan! Awesome, yes?

My Chocolate Sour Cream Cake was the first cake recipe I turned from the dark side over to cruelty-free. I think it tastes even better now, but then I am a little partial. There are a few steps, making it a little more involved than some simple chocolate cake recipes out there, but the rich, super-moist result is well worth the effort… if I do say so myself.

It's awesome topped with espresso-flavored icing.

Chocolate ‘Sour Cream’ Cake

• 4oz unsweetened chocolate 
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) Earth Balance or other vegan margarine
• 1 cup hot water 
• 2 cups cake flour (or 1¾ cups all purpose flour plus ¼ cup cornstarch)
• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ tsp salt 
• 8oz tub Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream or other vegan sour cream substitute
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 6oz container plain or vanilla soy yogurt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease two 8” round cake pans, or line two cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. Melt chocolate in the microwave or double boiler until smooth and set aside. Combine margarine and hot water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and whisk in melted chocolate. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar and salt. Pour chocolate mixture into flour mixture all at once, blend well. Mix in vegan sour cream, vanilla and baking soda, stirring well. Add yogurt and mix just until combined. 
4. Pour into pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center of one of the cakes comes out clean. Two 8” cakes will take about 25-30 minutes, cupcakes will take about 20-25 minutes.
5. Let cool for a few minutes in pans, then turn out onto racks and cool completely.

Makes two 8” layers or about 24 standard cupcakes.

Of course, just because you’re avoiding the world, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the flavors of it. Tami’s recipe for Mediterranean Scramble is perfect for waking your taste buds up on those sleepy days. If you hadn’t guessed it yet, this is another tester for her cookbook.

Bright, bold and flavorful.

One can’t live on tofu scramble alone, though. I’ve gotta have something starchy with mine, and Tami’s Homefries #1 fit the bill nicely. These decadent fries are the perfect compliment to the light, clean flavors of the scramble.

Rich and delicious.

All in all, the perfect meal to fuel a day of doing as little as possible.

I still love the convenience of pulling something out of the freezer, though. That’s where the allure lies, in the comfort of knowing that in the fridge is a meal, or at least a good head-start, for those days when spending hours in the kitchen doesn’t sound quite as relaxing as sitting down with a beer. Of course, there’s always tofu and tempeh to make for a quick fix, but I don’t think The Brit would last very long on tofu and tempeh every day. That’s why I make double, triple and even quadruple batches of staples, and put the extras in the freezer. I don’t really know why it took me so long to figure that one out, actually.

It means that some days I can throw together a meal of burgers from the freezer, homemade buns (that I made at the same time as our sandwich bread), oven chips (fries) and a quick homemade coleslaw in about 20 minutes, and still feel good about it.

That lettuce from the farmers market was the best lettuce ever.

We could probably get about two weeks worth of dinners out of our freezer at the moment - I have pizza dough, chickpea cutlets, chicken-style seitan, chopped bbq seitan, apple-sage sausages, veggie ‘meatloaf’ and homemade burgers, all of which I made. It’s a better feeling to me than just having some Boca burgers and a frozen pizza to come to the rescue on those desperate days, and makes meal planning and cooking throughout the week much easier.

That’s why I love my freezer. I hope you’re getting the most out of your freezer, too.

We picked eight pounds of strawberries between us - three pounds for me and five for her. The whole experience of picking them was really fun, but nothing could be more fun than getting to eat them. And what better way to enjoy them than with some Chocolate Chip Quickcake?

Check out those beautiful berries.

I’m lucky enough to be testing recipes for Tami’s upcoming cookbook, and this recipe caught my eye right away. I already had all of the ingredients, most importantly the strawberries. Of course it helps that I’m always in the mood for something sweet. It was a breeze to put together, and the combination of not-too-sweet cake studded with chocolate chips paired perfectly with the juicy ripe strawberries.

This was my first tester for her book, but based on what I’ve seen, this is going to be another one you’re going to want!

I made up this recipe based on what I had on hand, but I have to warn you: while it is ridiculously delicious and easy, it is also full of processed ingredients and quite unhealthy. For a once-in-a-while snack though, I think it’ll be okay. It would probably be even more delicious with a sprinkling of vegan mozzarella melted on top, but again, I was working with what I had on hand.

A taste even an omni would love.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

• 8oz frozen chopped spinach (I used the kind that’s loose in the bag, not the solid block)
• 6oz jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained
• ½ small (or ¼ large) onion, diced (I used red)
• 4oz (½ tub) Tofutti Cream Cheese
• ¼ cup Tofutti Sour Cream
• ¼ cup Vegenaise
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Put spinach in a small ceramic or pyrex casserole dish and microwave uncovered for three minutes, or until thawed.
3. Add remaining ingredients to spinach and mix well, mashing the artichoke hearts slightly to separate. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes, or until the dip is bubbly around the edges.
4. Serve with crostini, crackers or tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Behold! The deliciousness that is Dijon-Pecan Seitan with Maple Butter Glaze.

Yes, it's every bit as good as it sounds, plus a little.

And what better to go along with that yummy spicy-sweet seitan, than some yummy spicy-sweet Mashed Sweet ‘Taters?

Did I mention creamy? Mmmmm, creamy.

Trust me people, you will want this book. Seriously.

The cookware gods (ie: Renae) smiled upon me, and last week I received in the mail not one, not two, but THREE practically-new Calphalon Hard-Anodized pans, free of charge.

I <3 these pans so hard.

I immediately tossed my crappy old pan, and put these new pans to work. They are so amazing - I really can not thank Renae enough for gifting me these. My cooking experience has increased so much more than I thought it would! Does anyone else remember the first time you got a really sharp knife, and you realized how much better it was? How much easier and more fun cooking could be? That’s how I feel with these pans.

The obligatory artsy shot.

Not only is Renae a super-kind giver of wonderful kitchen tools, but she’s also a talented cook, photographer and writer. I love her recipes, which are always original and never over-complicated. Her tutorials are invaluable, and her commentary and pictures to go along with it all makes her blog a joy to read. If you’ve never checked it out, do yourself a favor and head over there right now.

I’ll start with the Chocolate Gravy. I know what you’re thinking: Chocolate? Gravy? An excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast? Who thought of such a thing?! I don’t know, but I want to give that person a hug.

So perfect paired with Bianca's fluffy biscuits.

Next up, nothing short of a miracle. The Brit (in)famously hates squash. HATES. I cannot stress this enough. I (being the bitch that I am) insisted on serving him some of Bianca’s Creamy Squash Casserole anyway. He (being the ever-patient husband that he is) agreed to try it. When he took his first bite, I was very much encouraged when he didn’t immediately spit it out. When I asked what he thought, his exact words were: “it’s surprisingly un-revolting”… Then he ate the whole serving. Did you get that, people? HE. ATE. IT. *cue Hallelujah Chorus*

Creamy Squash Casserole, or gift from the gods? You decide.

Moral of this story? Keep the faith, children. Always keep the faith.

Jessy suggests marinating the tempeh in some veggie broth after steaming, but I was making tempeh bacon anyway so I threw all the tempeh in the marinade together. I’m sure the recipe is fantastic as is, but let me tell you - the salty/smoky flavor of the bacon marinade paired with the sweet bourbon glaze sent this meal over the top! All I can say is: YUM. Plus, it was super-easy.

Sorry for the steamy picture, but look! Bourbony!

Thank you for another amazing recipe, Jessy - this one’s going into the rotation, for sure.

A couple of weeks ago, the amazing bazu heard my desperate pleas for help and graciously sent me some of her sourdough starter. It arrived in dry form, and I somehow managed to bring it back to life without killing it (or anything else) in the process. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to bazu (and also my soul, but that’s another story).

Having never worked with sourdough before, I’m having a good time learning about it and trying different recipes. The first bread I made turned out a bit dense and pale, mostly because I forgot about it and let it over-proof (oops!).

I know the slash pattern on the left one looks kinda like a pot leaf, but it was totally unintentional.

It was still amazingly delicious though, and most of it was consumed by dipping it in olive oil and black pepper, straight up. I’m planning a second batch soon, which I hope will be even more glorious than the first.

Alright, now that you’re settled, let’s get down to breakin’ this sucker in with a recipe, shall we? I took another shot at Tamarind Orange Glazed Tofu last week, and I was so darn happy with the results I thought I’d share the recipe here.

Doesn't that just make your mouth water?

Tamarind Orange Glazed Tofu

Ingredients:

• 1 block of extra firm tofu, pressed and sliced however you want (I like triangles)
• oil for frying

For the glaze:

• ¾ cup orange juice
• ¼ cup agave or maple syrup
• 1½ tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
• 2 teaspoons sriracha (use less if you don’t want it spicy)
• 1 teaspoon jarred minced garlic (or 2 cloves)

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and pan-fry sliced tofu in a single layer, until browned and crisp on both sides, 10-15 minutes.
2. While tofu is frying, whisk together all ingredients for the glaze, and set aside. 
3. Once the tofu is sufficiently browned on both sides, give your glaze mixture a stir and pour it over the top of the tofu. Allow the liquid to reduce down and thicken to form a glaze, about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Makes 4 servings.