Monthly Archives: May 2013

May 30 2013
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Thoughts

Lemon Sorrel!

Whenever fiddleheads and ramps come into season, I can’t help myself. They’re so tasty! We’re revisiting a favorite, fiddlehead and ramp salad but this time we’re doing wraps instead of on top of toasted bread and including a new twist – lemon sorrel.
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This particular vegetable has a light herbal fragrance and a mellow lemony flavor that compliment the savory earthy salad well. We prepared the salad as before and then combined it with the lemon sorrel in a wrap. It was DIVINE! This particular leafy green was grown here in Florida. If you find it in your local market, TRY IT!

 

This is Christie, signing off!

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May 28 2013
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Lazy Vegan, Recipes

Buffalo Cauliflower!

It was a holiday weekend and something decadent and reminiscent of junk food was an order. Most people are BBQ and Buffalo wings. We had Buffalo cauliflower. You’ll need the following:
1 head of cauliflower, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 cup of flour (we used garbanzo bean flour)
4 tbsp onion powder
1 pinch paprika
1 pinch garlic salt
1 cup of almond milk (you can use soy if you’ve got a nut allergy)
1 1/2 cups of your favorite vegan Buffalo sauce
corn oil spray
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For the batter, combine the flour, milk, garlic salt, paprika and onion powder and mix well. Coat all the cauliflower with batter and place it into a lightly oiled glass baking dish. Cover it with a baking sheet so the cauliflower won’t touch the cover.

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Bake at 450F/230C for 20 minutes. Remove the lid, toss the cauliflower, spraying lightly with corn oil and bake for 5 more minutes. Now toss to coat it with Buffalo sauce and bake for 10 more minutes. Watch it closely in case it starts to blacken around the edges.

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This is a much lower calorie alternative to Buffalo wings and it’s great with vegan sour cream (or the creamy cilantro lime sauce we make) and celery. If you get to try it, let me know what you think!

This is Christie, signing off!

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May 23 2013
3 Comments
Desserts

Apple Bake!

This was something that happened because I wanted to lighter breakfast and didn’t want to fuss with it too much. Did you know apples have almost the exact same nutritional value cooked as raw? I guess that makes sense.

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I cut up 2 pounds of apples and tossed them with 2 cups of Cascadian Farms Berry Cobbler granola. I baked it for 30 minutes at 350F and then set it out to cool a little before we ate it. This is just as good for breakfast as it is for dessert!

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If you’re wondering why the apples look so pink, it’s because they’re mountain rose apples. I love them because they’re visually stunning and taste like honey crisp apples. Yay!

 

This is Christie, signing off!

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May 21 2013
6 Comments
Thoughts

Very Inspiring Blogger Award!

Poppy of Poppy’s Pastisserie and Bunny Kitchen graciously bestowed upon us the Very Inspiring Blogger award. Poppy is a compassionate lady and an ace baker. She’s got lots of furry and feathery friends in her house and still manages time to blog delicious goodies. I wish I could do what she does…

So, here are the rules for this award;

1. Display the award badge on your blog

2. Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented you with the award

3. Post 7 interesting things about yourself

4. Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers

5. Drop them a comment to tip them off after you have linked them in the post

7 ‘Interesting’ things about Myself:

1.  My cholesterol hovers between 120 and 130 but has been as low as 95 since I became vegan.
2. My haemoglobin has remained in the high end of the normal range since I stopped eating animal products.

3. I love pomegranates.

4. I don’t like doing chores because it means there’s less time to spend with my beloved and the bunnies.

5. Reading a book in bed while it rains is one of my favorite activities.

6. I enjoy knitting things for my friends, but I hate the actual process of knitting.

7. I hem my own jeans.

Blogs I award:

1. Live Blissful is written by a student who transitioned to vegan through blogging. I wish I’d been younger when I became vegan, so I live vicariously through her.

2. Sophie’s Foodie Files is one of my favorite international perspectives on healthy living. She makes me feel comfortable about traveling while vegan.

3. An Unrefined Vegan is one of my favorite source for food pornography. She’s always got something delicious going on over there.

4. Cameraphone Vegan is a blog that I love because they’re always cluing me into local vegan fare. Otherwise I’d just stay at home.

5. Bentoriffic</a> is exactly what it sounds like… charming thoughtful bento boxes of compassionate delicious!

6. The Beach House Kitchen always makes me pine for a picnic on the beach with one of their delicious raw meals or delicately spiced hot dishes.

7. Veg HotPot is a vegetarian blog that often posts enticing vegan dishes (recently a pizza recipe that made my eyeballs roll back in my head with anticipation and delight.)

8. The Vegan’s Husband is a blog about a guy who loves his lady enough to adopt her eating habits and then realized it’s kind of awesome. He does occasional AWESOME beer reviews which inspired Turning Veganese to review gluten-free beers and hard cider.

9. Bessie’s Veggie Food always picks up on seasonal favorites and takes them to a while other level.

10. Whatcha Reading makes me want a hot bowl of soup and my most recent novel for a rainy day reading adventure with some comfort food.

11. Luminous Vegans has long been a favorite of mine and I don’t see than changing anytime soon.

12. My Good Clean Food is a blog that’s as beautiful as it is informative.

13. I want to eat everything on The Misfit Baker’s blog.

14. Sometimes I wish Somer’s Veged Out was my home. I want to live there.

15. Canned Time is always inventive including vegan and gluten-free recipes. I like that.

Thanks again to Poppy! This is Christie, signing off!

May 17 2013
3 Comments
Snacks

Epic Vegan Queso

We decided to take queso to the next level. Fortunately the preparation wasn’t epic; it is incredibly simple to make your own awesome queso at home.

You can start with Nacho Mom’s Vegan Queso or any other pre-made vegan queso or make your own.

Take your vegan queso and combine it with the following:
1 15 ounce tin of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion, diced and microwaved until soft
1 15 ounce tin of diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 package of Tofurkey soy Chorizo
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Then we microwave it until it’s hot, stirring every thirty seconds. This is perfect for a gathering with friends, even omnivores!

This is Christie, signing off!

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May 12 2013
1 Comment
Uncategorized Video

Sunday Bunday!

One of the rabbits we’re fostering from our local House Rabbit Society chapter to keep Vlad company took laziness to a whole new level.

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May 11 2013
30 Comments
Desserts

Mango Margaritas!

This is an incredibly simple drink and mango is in season here in Florida. I figured I’d honor our local bounty and make something really fresh (like from the tree in our backyard) and that’s sure to please. We typically collect our mango as they’re available and peel and then freeze the flesh in 16 ounce containers.

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Place the frozen fruit into your trusty blender with or without tequila (one ounce per person is my rule), 1 cup of orange juice and juice from half a lime. Before you pour your beverage, you’ll want to coat the rim of your beverage receptacle with salt. There are 2 ways to do this. I recommend using fine sea salt but ordinary table salt is fine. You’ll gently dip the lip of your glass into your margarita and then into a bowl of salt OR rub the other half of that lime around the edge of that glass and then do the same with the bowl of salt.

IMG_2544Blend it up to smooth perfection and get ready to enjoy your vitamin A and vitamin C with enough fiber to make a vegan blush.

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Thank-you for visiting the Virtual Vegan Potluck 3.0! Please visit the blogs before and after us in the potluck! They’re also amazing. This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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May 10 2013
1 Comment
Main Dishes

Tunaless Melt!

This could have made an amazing sandwich but it made an awesome wrap. I’ve been missing tuna melts, not for the fishy tinned tuna but for the melty goodness and crunchy celery. To make the filling I combined the following:

1 32oz tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp vegan mayo

1 cup of chopped celery

1/2 chopped onion

a generous pinch each of tarragon and thyme

1 tbsp marmite or vegemite

salt and flake red pepper to taste

I started by adding the celery and onion and microwaving it until the onion was soft.

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I actually used a fork to mush the chickpeas. I liked the texture it provided since it reminded me more of real tuna that way. Once it was all mixed together, I microwaved it until it was hot and then adjusted the seasoning.

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We combined this on a wrap with some Daiya cheddar which we melted by microwaving and then topped with some spinach and tomato. It hit the spot, EXACTLY!

This is Christie, signing off!

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May 06 2013
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Dining Out

Delicious, Indeed!

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I try to keep tabs on the vegan spots around Chicagoland so it was somewhat shocking when a friend told me about Delicious, a vegan cafe that’s a five minute walk from my favorite bowling alley. I had never heard of Delicious and felt pretty dumb about that. What was this place hiding? Anyway, I was really ecstatic to know that there was a great vegan place nearby.

I like going to Delicious after an afternoon of bowling for an iced Americano. They have a full coffee/espresso/tea menu along with pastries, sweet treats, sandwiches, and smoothies. I stopped in with a non-vegan friend one time. She ordered a chai tea latte and declared it the best she had ever tasted. I love that I can add soy or almond milk or coconut milk creamer to my drink! One small but really smart and impactful choice they have made is to provide real teaspoons for customers to mix their drinks instead of disposable stirrers.

The cafe is really cozy, very bright, and colorful. The times I have been there, I’ve seen people chatting, people studying or working, and people just hanging out and enjoying their coffee. It’s a cool place with smart and charming decor; some of their chairs are exactly like the ones that were in my Grandma’s house when I was growing up. It’s very obvious that the owners of the cafe do what they can to avoid waste. They’re planet-friendly along with animal-friendly!

I usually avoid looking at the food and desserts, but I couldn’t resist after seeing a Raspberry Mocha Cheesecake today:

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The cheesecake is vegan, of course, and is a Chicago Diner product. One of the great things about Delicious is that they get products from local vegan bakeries and restaurants, and the selection is always different and fresh. They use Metropolis coffee beans which are roasted right here in Chicago. I wish I could easily stop by before or after work for coffee and food! They also offer gluten-free items.

If you’re ever in Chicago, specifically in the North Center neighborhood, you need to stop by Delicious for a treat — even if all you want is a cup of coffee. Sure, Starbucks is two blocks away, but why go there when you can support this great local business that has vegan treats?

Delicious is located at 3827 N Lincoln Ave and is open everyday from 8am to 6pm. It’s usually easy to find parking on the side streets near the cafe and there is metered parking out front. I’ll see you there. We’ll split a slice of cheesecake. –Melissa

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May 05 2013
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Thoughts

Sunday Bunday

Today, Vlad is here to deliver another important message to fellow vegans. A healthy lifestyle does not stop at diet, but also includes exercise!

Follow your dreams, Vlad. One day you will surely trounce that towel.

From Vlad, Christie and Brent… Peace out, my vegans.

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