Photo Heavy Weekend

This weekend was incredible. :)

On Saturday, I woke up early to ride with Cristin and Jess to a juice bar and farmers' market in Hollywood, FL.



Sadly, it wasn't open, so we consoled ourselves with a walk along the beach.



Then, we decided to check out the essentially abandoned mall along the boardwalk. Super creepy.



We drove up to Boca for trapeze lessons at Trapeze Experience using a coupon we bought on LivingSocial. The instructor has 30 years experience in the circus! During the warm-ups, he told me that I was athletic and in great shape. Thanks!









After our lesson, we stopped in Delray Beach for lunch at Vic and Angelo's. I ordered a panini with vegetables marinated in agro dolce (vinegar and sugar), but requested to have the gorgonzola cheese excluded.



On Sunday, we went to Carlin Park to celebrate my friend's birthday, as well as honor those who have served in the military. There were several members of the armed service in attendance, so it was a successful party. There was a lot of hype about early morning mimosa pong, but alas, they resorted to afternoon beer pong instead.



On Monday, I went to another BBQ at Carlin Park with some people from work.



Here is how I decided to do vegan BBQ this weekend - chick'n sandwiches (seitan cutlet recipe from American Vegan Kitchen) with BBQ sauce, red potatoes tossed in olive oil and Tony's, a Greek-style salad, black bean and corn summer salad (similar to this recipe), and oatmeal raisin cookies and brownies for dessert (not pictured). The best part of the second BBQ was all the laughter and being told that my vegan desserts made someone reconsider what he thought vegan food was. That made my day. :)




Side note: There is a contest on Vegan Heartland that I would love to win. (Contest here) It's for coupons and free goodies! I didn't win the last time, so maybe this time I will have better luck! :)

Feels Like Summertime!

With the upcoming holiday weekend marking the unofficial beginning of summer, I've been craving some typical summer foods - BBQ and sundaes!

I used the TofuXpress to press my tofu today while I was at work. I sliced it in half to make two sheets and then cut it into triangles. I dipped it into some soymilk and rolled it in some panko breadcrumbs. After baking the tofu (400F for 30 mins), I smothered it in this BBQ sauce from VeganDad. The directions say to strain out the onion, but I nibbled on the little onion bits as taste test bites and they were quite good. If you can incorporate them into your dish or something else, go for it. :) For the macaroni and cheese, I had a bag of Daiya that I had no idea what to do with, so I melted it down with some soymilk and Earth Balance to make a cheese sauce. Not the healthiest way to make macaroni and cheese, but I am trying to use as much food as possible from my pantry before my move next week.





For dessert, I made a little ice cream sundae using Tofutti vanilla ice cream, a banana, some strawberries (since I hate maraschino cherries), and Hershey's syrup (yes, it's vegan!). Yum!





After working the last 5 or 6 weekends in a row, I'm really looking forward to this weekend! I've got a fun activity planned for each day, so I'm going to really enjoy the time off work. :)

Sneaky Pancakes

I like to think these are sneaky pancakes because they have beans in them instead of egg replacer powder or oil. The recipe (here) is from Melomeals: Vegan for $3.33 a Day. The site is pretty interesting because she budgets hardcore and has some food intolerances. I have been reading the blog for a while, but never made any of the recipes. Bianca recently reviewed these pancakes on VeganCrunk (here) and I figured I'd give them a try since I love brinner. I should note that I used finely ground flax instead of psyllium husk and real sugar instead of stevia. I made a tofu scramble to go with the pancakes. My tofu scramble included a red onion, an orange bell pepper, a tomato, a bunch of green onions, and lots of garlic. I used tumeric (for color), cumin, chipotle chili powder, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper for seasoning. Quite tasty, if I may say so myself. :) I took the picture while my pure maple syrup was warming up in the microwave.

Childhood Favorites

This past week, I had a grilled cheese and chick'n tenders. The grilled cheese was made using Earth Balance non-hydrogenated margarine and Galaxy Foods' Vegan soy cheese slices (wanted Rice Vegan slices but couldn't find them). The chick'n tenders were by Gardein. My camera battery was dead, so I didn't get a chance to snap a picture of the meal. I also had mixed vegetables to add something healthy to the meal.

Yesterday, I made "Sloppy Joannas" using the leftover TVP from the meatloaf (here). The recipe is from Yellow Rose Recipes, hence the use of the name Joanna (the author) instead of Joe. A very similar recipe is in Vegan Diner, so I'll make that sometime in the future with the last of the TVP. In the Sloppy Joannas, I did not have mustard (the powdered spice). I did add a yellow bell pepper, because the recipe says a green bell pepper can be added. I served the Sloppy Joannas with spinach (sauteed with garlic and sprinkled with red pepper flakes) and sweet potato fries.

Food Safety

This a topic that can sometimes be overlooked, but it's super important.

WASH EVERYTHING!

I know it's easy to not think about bacteria in your food. We tend to associate bacteria with uncooked meats, like salmonella with chicken for example. However, after the salmonella outbreak in peanut butter and bagged spinach a few years ago, we have to remember to wash everything. I know the bag of pre-cut salad says "triple washed," but it should be washed again at your house. Thanks to my lovely OCD tendencies, I wash everything already, but I am sure plenty of people just accept that the pre-wash was good enough.

If you don't wash your salad, check out what could be lurking in there. On SoupBelly.com, the author found a dead fly in her bag of salad. Gross!

Addicting Sauce

I was eating this sauce out of the pot while the pasta was cooking. Sooo, sooo good. The recipe (here) is another winner from OhSheGlows. The sauce has basil, spinach, and walnuts! I love OhSheGlows - great recipes, splendid photography, and an emphasis on being happy and healthy.

The Raw Kitchen - West Palm Beach, FL

I had purchased a Groupon to The Raw Kitchen months ago, but I finally made it there on Thursday night for dinner. It was incredible - totally worth the high cost for a single meal. I loved it and will definitely return. I was eyeing other people's food and it all looked incredible. You can view the menu here. I couldn't find an actual website for the restaurant.


Sangria


Macademia nut-based cheese (similar to ricotta)


Raw Pad Thai - used zucchini ribbons instead of rice noodles


Chocolate Coconut Parfait