My Life Is Amazing!

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Since this is my hobbies blog... On my trip to Minnesota, I read several books: Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope, and Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. I started reading Thrive, but I haven't touched it since. Oh well. Steven and I have been cooking up a storm! I am really starting to come into my own and be confident in my cooking skills.


Sweet and Sour Malaysian Tofu from Vegan Dad:


Quick and Easy Fried Noodles from Vegan Dad:


Red Bean and Coconut Quinoa from Swell Vegan:


Sloppy Joes-style Lentils from food.com, formerly RecipeZaar:


Red Beans and Rice (a basic Google Search will turn up a decent recipe):


Purchased Italian Herb Tofu, served with potatoes cut using my Jacard mandolin:


Vegan Waffles and Hash Browns:


Asian dishes we made up during our date night:


Grilling Night:
Me:

VeganDad's recipe

I absolutely adore my new boyfriend, Steven! He loves to cook with me, even if he's not vegan. He's very accomodating. We cook one to two nights a week together. We made the Sesame Crusted Tofu with Udon Noodles from VeganDad. He had chicken because he's not a huge tofu fan. But he did admit that the super extra firm tofu I got is better than the other (less dense) forms. It is, I really like dense tofu. The squishy kind is icky.





We went to the Keys and found two vegetarian restaurants. I got BBQ tofu and fried tofu at the Cafe. I got a BBQ tofu sandwich at Sugar Apple, but I was so hungry I didn't even snap a photo of it like a dum-dum.

I am planning to make the Malaysian sweet and sour tofu and Thai-style sweet and tangy noodle dishes from VeganDad soon. His food looks amazing. Eventually, I will make his one of his mac and "cheese" dishes. I found a Leahey and a Road's End mac and "cheese" at the store.

Springtime

Been craving seitan. Health food store by my house was closed today, so hopefully they will have wheat gluten when I stop by tomorrow. Also, saw a sale on organic canned beans that I am going to hit up tomorrow. Sometimes I'm too lazy to soak and cook beans. (Dumb, I know.) I've been eating a lot of pre-made foods at home, veggie burgers mostly, and sandwiches so I need to quit being a bum and cook more often. I should plan my meals in advance more often.

Also, my work finally admitted they've been paying me too little. When they cut me a check for the difference, I'm hoping to do some shopping and take the kitties to the vet. After that, I'll either save it or do some work on my car maybe... With the increase on each check, I plan to be able to buy more organic foods and be more adventurous in my cooking. I'm no longer in debt to Visa from the move!! So woo-hoo!!

I'm still alive...

I haven't updated in forever.

Recently, I made some red beans and rice. Soooooooo effin' delicious. No photo because I scarfed it down in two sittings. An entire pound of red beans and one batch of rice. Yum yum. I soaked the beans overnight and cooked them the next day in the crock pot. When I came home from work, I cut up some onion, green bell pepper, celery, and garlic. I sauteed those in some olive oil. I transferred the beans to a big pot on the stove with the heat up high, because I wanted to reduce the amount of liquid. Once some of the liquid evaporated, I added the sauteed veggies and a ton of cajun seasoning. I was super happy to find Tony Cachere's at the store. {I like to add it on my fries, yum yum.}

Yesterday, I made tofu burritos. I pressed the tofu and marinaded it in a store-bought garlic and herb marinade. It was a little too strong for my taste, so I am glad I had rice and black beans to balance out the flavors. I will probably cook up the rest of the tofu tomorrow or the next day.

Tonight, I'm making some seitan. I split the recipe in half. I mixed taco seasonings into one half. Ashley used her homemade seitan crumbles to make crumbles for tacos. I decided to season the seitan itself so it would be easier to make tacos. Just heat and go. Lol. I know, I'm a bum sometimes. Hope it's tasty.

Other than that... The cats are doing great, my research is finally focused on my own project (not a group project), and my classes are boring. Anyways, I'm going to go clean the house and write in my personal blog.

It's Been A Minute . . . .

I've been pretty busy. Between work and socializing, I've been cooking easy foods. Chili, soup, salads, tacos, etc.

I made some bread in my bread machine. I turned it on and left it, instead of waiting for the machine to mix it and then let it rise so I can bake it on my own. I made it because I was craving a grilled tofutti "cheese" sandwich and I didn't have any white bread. I ended up cutting the slices too thick for the tofutti grilled cheese. It was good to nibble on for a few days.





I also made stuffed shells using the recipe from Vegan with a Vengenance. Sooooo freakin' delicious. Super easy and tasty. The first serving I was able to taste the nutritional yeast and I thought it was a little weird. But when I ate the leftovers, it wasn't as strong. I'd definitely make it again! When I get paid on Friday, I will get some more tofu.


Stuffed:


Cooked:



In other news, I've started reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's written by Khaled Hosseini, best known for writing The Kite Runner. I'm not done with it yet. But it is getting interesting... Also, the Twilight movie comes out in like 2 weeks. I can't freakin' wait to finally see the movie!

Cha-ching!

I made a bomb curry! It was still not as spicy as my old roomie's recipe, but I really enjoyed it. I am learning to improvise with ingredients. I did some more spices for the curries and other dishes, so I hope to branch out in my seasonings.

I also made a King Cake! Holla!! I'm so freakin' proud of my VEGAN king cake! I got the recipe from kitteekake ... I used a tablespoon of cinnamon apple sauce instead of ener-g egg replacer. I remember using that to make brownies my first year of college and they were nasty. That stuff tastes like chalk, so I remember reading on the post-punk kitchen forums about using applesauce. So let me just say, it is delicious. I could add more cinnamon in the future. I couldn't find sprinkles so I colored the frosting. I also used a bean for the baby, because I wasn't comfortable with baking a plastic baby inside of the cake.What I've got right now is awesome, but I could stand a little more sweetness. Without any further delay, here it is:




Also, I found a store that sells Tofutti near my new house. I bought the pizza and it was delicious. I think you should check it out if you're craving cheese pizza and don't want to eat dairy or cook. Lol.




I bought some Tofutti sliced "cheddar" so I can make grilled cheese at some point. I bought the Amy's mac and soy cheese, it was tasty but apparently it has a milk protein in it. Why?!

Ok... Now this week, I'm going to eat that scrumptious king cake, make red beans and rice, and enjoy some seitan (it's been a couple weeks since I last made it)...

Oh yeah, I watched the Oscars last night. I wanted to see Robert Pattinson. I missed his red carpet walk because my friend called me. I missed him presenting because my sister called me. Ugh. Thank God for YouTube, I watched all his red carpet interviews and his presenting today. What a hottie! Plus, he's a great musician. I rock out to his music when I'm stuck working at the lab bench for a long time.

I'm Finally 23!

Woot!

I got an iPhone stereo dock, 2 new iPhone cases, a Twilight pajamas set, a Twilight hoodie, and $200 worth of groceries from my mom. My best friend got me a cookie cake and a framed picture of Barack. We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory on Friday. I paid the price for eating dairy, I had an upset tummy for the day. We also went to the fair, where the new weird food was bacon with chocolate dipping sauce. I almost threw up. Literally. I was so grossed out.

I made that white bean and roasted garlic soup. It was yummy. I froze some because the recipe is huge! I will make some homemade bread to go with it next time. I put cayenne pepper powder and jalapenos in it for some kick, plus added in some rice.


My mom bought me some flour and other baking supplies. I got stuff to make oatmeal raisin cookies, which I can't wait to make. But I think this weekend I am going to try making a small king cake, since I won't be in Louisiana for Mardi Gras.

I also made some home fries. Cleaned and sliced up some fresh potatoes, then fried them in a skillet of canola oil. Yum! Jenn's mom made us some for our little BBQ on Saturday. Jenn and her parents had Korean style ribs and steaks, but I just had a vegan burger. The fries were awesome because her mom seasoned them when they were still hot. I don't eat fried food that often, so it was a nice treat.

Let's see... Other than that, I've been tinkering online designing shoes today. I wanted a pair of awesome 80s-esque DC's but my mom wouldn't buy them for me. She said they were ugly. She is not a fan of neon multicolored shoes apparently. But when I looked them up online, they were made of leather. :( I found another neon pair that just says durable upper, instead of leather upper. So I can check that out in a store. But I went on the Nike ID site and the Converse site to start designing some shoes of my own. That way I can use non-leather materials. Gotta save up some money for that, but when I have extra money that would be sweet!