How do you start your day & how do you end it?

Planning a wedding is very stressful. I have been cooking, eating, and even taking pictures, but have not had the time or should I say energy to post. I am also back to work 3 days a week, 4 hours a day. I know it may not seem like much, but when you don't move very well and you have to leave for work an hour and a half before you need to be there, just to find a parking place, the day is long and tiring. So for your enjoyment :o)

"Breakfast of Champions"

Here we have Susan's fantastic "Mini Crustless Tofu Quiche", fresh mango's, blueberries, and hash browns. Our family loves these quiche. If you have not tried them, what are you waiting for? Go for it and you will never turn back. I added cooked broccoli to them this time and they were gone in a matter of minutes. I can't even explain how good they are and this is coming from someone who has always had a great dislike for eggs. Give them a shot. No eggs equals incredible yumminess! Here are 2 of the best salads I have had all summer.

"Quinoa Spring Salad"

The first one is Quinoa Spring Salad from Dreena in her book Viva la Vegan on page 71. She had suggestions of amounts and ingredients. I used 3/4 cup roasted red bell peppers, toasted pine nuts, and left out the parsley, cilantro, or basil because I did not have any. It calls for 3-4 Tablespoons of a simple vinaigrette. I once again looked to Dreena and used her simple dressing on pg 57. What a fantastic dish! I can't say enough about it. I took it to a dinner with the ladies from my church and it disappeared almost instantly. Poor Brandie, she was so sad when I showed her the crumbs that were left.

"Cowboy Coleslaw"

Salad #2 is Cowboy Coleslaw from Alanna. I of course had to fool around with the recipe and it was a hit. Thank you Alanna for sharing it with us. Here is my adapted version:

COWBOY COLESLAW
2 cups grated carrot
2 cup thin-sliced red cabbage
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1 apple, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds

DRESSING
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, white or red
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon agave nectar
salt and pepper to taste
Gently combine the cabbage, carrots, and apple. Whisk together the dressing and add to your salad mix. Add the toasted sunflower seeds just before serving.

"Dreena's Tofu-Lovin Sandwich"

Have any of you seen the August issue of VegNews? Dreena has a couple wonderful recipes in there. Potato-Spinach Salad with Pine Nut Dressing, which I have not yet made and Tofu-Lovin Sandwiches, which are wonderful. The tofu is lightly fried with balsamic vinegar and tamari and mixed with garden goodies. Here I had it on sprouted grain bread, corn on the cob, and broccoli. DH loved it and mixed it with his green salad the next day for lunch. This recipe is very light and refreshing on these hot summer days. Thank you, Dreena for another wonderful recipe.

"Veggie Pizza"

A good old stand by! "Veggie Pizza" cheeseless of course. I love the mixture of roasted veggies, pineapple, and olives. So, so, good! This is a wonderful way to eat your gifts from your garden! If you have never had a cheeseless pizza you don't know what you are missing.

"Bumbleberry Crumb Pie"

What a better way to end a post than with dessert. Julie has graciously asked me to test, yet another one of her soon to be famous pies for her upcoming book. Friends you won't be disappointed. The lovely pie is a mixture of different berries ( I added extra fresh blueberries), with a whole wheat and oat crumb mixture. The smell, the taste, the drooling, and the final product with a side of Soy Delicious Vanilla. Thank you, Julie!

Nectarine Upside-Down Cake

Susan at Fat free vegan is such an awesome cook and photographer. She made the most amazing Peach Upside Down Cake. I had an overload of nectarines that needed to be used so made her recipe substituting the peaches with nectarines. I learned the following. You must use a 9 inch skillet. You must seal all fruit with the cake mix and you must laugh at your not so eye pleasing results and just enjoy the awesome flavor.

I only had an 8 inch iron skillet, but was afraid it would not be deep enough so I switched to my 8 inch iron skillet dutch oven. Wrong! My dutch oven is tapered so the bottom is not 8 inches. It is a bit smaller. Therefore my filling was too deep for the amount of cake mix. The cake came nicely out of the pan, but the amount of juice went pouring over the sides of the plate and the cake seemed more like a dumpling than "cake".

Even with all my minor problems this cake is wonderful. I followed the recipe exactly except for the sub of nectarines for peaches. The flavors and sweetness were perfect. Next time I will make sure to use a 9 inch skillet ( I think I just thought of a wonderful birthday present, which is only a week away), and try and be a little more fancy like Vegan Yum Yum . I know the taste is the same, but oh so cool looking.

Summertime brings great pies and BBQ ribz

Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer. I am excited with the fresh peaches and nectarines that are now in season. I was doubly excited to find out that Julie Hasson was looking for volunteers to test her recipes for her new cookbook. I jumped on that bandwagon real fast. My family is really excited, because it is a cookbook of yummy desserts. My DH has a sweet tooth that never stops craving her delicious desserts. Here we have her "Cinnamon Sugar Peach Pie" getting ready to be topped and put in the oven. I cheated and used a whole wheat vegan frozen pie crust.

Topped and ready to go in the oven.

Out of the oven, but now we must wait for it to cool. This is the hardest part for my family.

Ok, it's finally time! The first slice came out nicely. Boy, does it look good.

So the second piece didn't come out quite as nicely, but who doesn't like pie and soy delicious?

Summertime is grill time. Susan's ribz are fantastic.

This time I cut them apart once they were done baking and soaked them in BBQ sauce.

Because my sweet husband is my omniman we don't have a vegan grill. I use my Wolfgang Puck indoor grill for these yummy ribz. Here they are grilling and within minutes they are ready to eat.

These ribz are so good. I even took them to work for breakfast. They are just as fantastic cold. What a flavourful, high protein snack! I forgot to let you know that when I make them I don't use the liquid smoke ( I really don't care for that product), also I have not been able to find Spanish paprika so I use regular paprik along with 1/2 tsp. of cumin and the smokey flavor comes out perfectly. Susan also makes them with a sweet and sour sauce which I plan on trying very soon.

One Disaster After Another!

Hi everyone,

I know it has been almost 2 weeks since I have posted anything new, but I have an excuse. (Don't you just hate excuses?) Well many of you know I have been out of work for about 15 months with a back injury. It became quite clear that money does not grow on trees, and the health insurance fairy does not exist. This meant I needed to go back to work to survive. My doctor released me to work 3 days a week, 4 hours a day. I can tell you after 1 week that is truly all I could handle. I work from 8-12, but by 11 I am ready to hit the road. So enough about my wonderful work schedule and financial ruin. lol

I came home from work starving and hurting. I needed to cook. but hurt. I had nothing prepared, no leftovers, no bread, nothing, which led me to a pouting party. DH decided to take a nap (I think he was trying to leave the party gracefully), which left me alone to pout. Have you ever noticed it is no fun to pout by yourself. Shoot, there isn't anyone to feel sorry for you. lol As DH slept I figured I would empty the fridge and see what I could make. Of course, all vegans know you make, a stir fry! I cut up some broccoli stems, cut fresh corn off the cob, some potatoes, and frozen peas. I wasn't lying, there really was little to use. I also added spices, tamari, and some broth. Oh my, did it taste good! I grabbed a small bowl of applesauce and off I went to sit down and eat. Somehow as I sat my plate down it tipped and my entire lunch went on the floor including the applesauce. Needless to say I went without, but my dogs had the lunch of a lifetime. This is the before shot. Trust me you didn't want to see the aftermath!

Disaster number 2- I once again tried another seitan roast recipe. I can tell you that this one may look interesting

and even the slices

seem to be the real thing, but the texture! That is a whole, different story. When you were a kid, did you ever chew on silly putty or rubber bands? If so, do you remember that funky rubbery texture? You know the one where you bite into the silly putty and it gave a cracking kinda noise. That is the texture of this roast. It was so bad that I put it in my food processor to make ground seitan. The funny thing isn that I had just finished emailing Kleo telling her that you never have to throw seitan away because you can grind it up and it makes perfect ground "meet". All seitans are salvageable with this technique. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! This seitan would not even chop up. It looked, tasted, and felt like little cut up pieces of rubber bands. GROSS! In to the trash it went. Moral of the story, not all seitan is created equal and not all is salvageable.


Last and final disaster, Coconut Cream Pie. DH loves this pie. It is one of his favorites. I looked through another vegetarian cookbook, which I will leave anonymous, and found a vegan Coconut cream pie recipe with an oatmeal crust. I was so excited. I made the crust and began to get my ingredients together for the filling. Oh my gosh! The recipe calls for 2 containers of silk tofu. I couldn't believe it. I only had one. So when all else fails hit the Internet. I found Dreena's site and fell in love with her pie. I got out her cookbook, The Everyday Vegan and saw that I had everything needed. I was thrilled! My only regret is that I would have opened her book sooner because the crust I made sucked!! It was hard, dry, and tasteless. Here is my pie. The filling is wonderful and it will be a regular with our family, but the crust is out the window. Next time, I will be using Dreena's suggested crust recipe. Trust what you know is good! Thank you, Dreena!

Just a shot of a slice of this yummy pie. Well, yummy filling. The crust went in the round file. We ate coconut pudding. :o)

That pretty much ends my disasters for now. I have wheat soaking to make sprouts so we will see what my next adventure will be. Thanks for stopping by and listening to me rant!

(((hugs to all))))

Julie's Berry pie and summer time treats

Saturday Chuck and I went over to my mom's house to help her out with her computer. We took our fur kids, Shiloh and Josh. They had the time of their lives. Running up and down the stairs to the garden. Lucky for us, mom's peach tree was loaded with pure goodness. We came home with a nice batch white peaches. Then a good friend of ours came over and brought us some fresh raspberries and strawberries, which was perfect timing since I had just finished reading Julie's berry pie post! I know this is a crazy confession, but I have never liked berry pies or fruit pies for that matter. I have also never made a berry pie. If I was at someones home and they served berry or cherry pie for dessert I would smile and eat it, only if it was drowned in vanilla ice cream. Now I don't know if this is just me or if other vegans have had this experience, but when I went became a 100% totally committed vegan my taste buds changed. Changed big time! I love fruits and veggies, that I had never eaten before and I love it!! I think part of it is because even as a vegetarian, heavy sauces and cheeses' played a big part in my diet. Both of these can hide the true beauty and taste of wonderful produce.

So on with my first berry pie. I had a store bought crumb crust in the pantry just waiting to be used. I put a layer of raspberries around the edges, filled in the center with strawberries, and topped it with slices of the peaches from mom's house.

The next layer is made with a frozen berry mixture of raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries.

And finally it is served with non other than Soy delicious purely decadent vanilla ice cream. This ice cream is a treat because it is very rich! The picture does not do the pie justice, but let me tell you Julie's recipe is wonderful. This pie was gone in 2 days. In the future I think it would work better with a pastry crust. By day 2 we had more of a cobbler then a pie because the crust had soaked up all the juice and was too soggy to slice. Out came the spoon! Thank you Julie for another awesome recipe!

Julie also posted some great ideas for summer time icy treats. I wanted to make some, but was short on ingredients for each of her recipes. Well, what does one do? They search the Internet until they find a recipe, which they have all the ingredients for. Foodfit.com has 5 different Popsicle recipes here. I had all the ingredients for Tropsicles. Who can go wrong with banana, mango, pineapple juice, coconut milk, and honey or agave. Now it has been quite awhile since I made Popsicles and was so happy when Julie's post inspired me. The hard part was searching out my rustic Tupperware ice pop molds. They have to be close to 30 years old. So here are my tasty treats. Blend 1 banana, 1 cup chopped, peeled, pitted mango,1/2 cup pineapple juice,1/2 cup light coconut milk,1 tablespoon honey( I am sure you could substitute agave), and 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice. Pour into your molds, freeze, and enjoy! This recipe made 8 Popsicles and they are 1 point on weight watchers

Friends, finds, and food

Karen and I finally got together. We live so close and we were just waiting until my back decided to behave itself. We had a great time. Karen is such a sweetie. She brought me a new book and a coupon for 5 bucks off at our local Henry's Market. I also got to meet Mattie. Her fur baby is so sweet. I fell in love with her immediately and I can't wait until we get together again. It was so weird when we met, we hugged and I felt as though we had been friends forever. I am blessed. Karen made my day! I think, no, I know, I have found a gem of a friend!!!

Mattie and Shiloh meeting for the first time. The two blonde's are too cute together. They finally wore each other out and decided to kick back and enjoy the company!

Check out Karen's blog, you can see more adorable pictures of

Mattie!

Karen shops at a really neat store called GTM right her in Santee where I live, which I have only been to once and that was a very long time ago. They have everything plus, an isle with lots of vegan items. After playing with our kids and visiting we took a drive over there. Now I drive by this store almost everyday since it is a block from my chiropractor and have never go inside. What a blessing Karen is! We had a good time. Look at my cool finds. All recommended by my new friend, Karen. You are the bomb, Karen!

This bag of Seitan Teriyaki Jerky was only $2.39. What a steal! I also bought a box of

Quinoa/Corn blend pasta. for 79

cents. The little bags of Jerquee

were only 48 cents and a couple

of "hot and spicy" meatless jerky strips for 69 cents. I couldn't believe it! I will definitely be making this store one of my regular stops. Thanks again, Karen!

I love all types of beans. Diann made some great BBQ beans on July 4th. Be sure to check out her site. She originally got the recipe from Bazu. Thank you ladies for helping my dinner turn out fantastic. Who can go wrong with corn on the cob, baked potato, steamed squash, broccoli, chard, and these yummy beans. Oh, the recipe for the beans makes a ton of them. So try them and enjoy!

The temperature is rising here in SUNNY San Diego! No one likes to do much cooking in this heat, so here we have a quick, simple, and nutritious lunch. Sprouted corn tortillas, (if you never had them and have the chance get them at your nearest Whole Foods, do so!), black beans, corn, carrot, olives, tomatoes, lettuce, green onions, and some avocado. So light, yummy, and refreshing.

The 4th of July and Triple Chocolate Pudding

We went out with the kids, Micah and Brandie, to take engagement pictures. I just love this one! It was just a fun shot in front of a huge fountain down in Balboa Park in San Diego. They were both giggling like crazy. Yes, Micah got his hair cut. Brandie told him he was HOT before and didn't think there could be improvement. She admitted she was wrong. Now she says he is REALLY HOT!!

Our church has a 4th of July breakfast with games, music, flag ceremony, and fun every year. It is an OMNI"S delight and a VEGAN'S nightmare. DH went early to help the men cook the bacon, sausage, eggs and cheese, pancakes (with eggs and milk), and a load of other stuff. I came later and brought my own breakfast . Here is my tofu scramble, which by the way, I can't seem to get enough of lately. It is just so refreshing! I also made myself some whole wheat blueberry pancakes. I was so happy to see bowls of juicy, red, ripe watermelon to feast on too! It was a good day. I love it when we all say the Pledge of Allegiance! It brings tears to my eyes. I love my Country!

Our 4th of July BBQ was Gardenburgers and my black bean burgers. We also had fresh pineapple, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Brandie loves her spud puppies. Oh, I found some cheese called "VEGAN" cheese at Whole Foods. Brandie loves it! She misses cheese. I am lucky not to have that problem, but I do love nutritional yeastie sauces.. :o)

Another wonderful way to use Bryanna's Chicken Cutlets from the Everyday Dish DVD. These cutlets are the best ever. Brandie says she can not get enough of them. This stir fry was delish. Clean out the fridge and wala! Stir fry over steamed brown rice. Yum-O!

Julie's Triple Chocolate Pudding from the Everyday Dish DVD is so rich and decadent. I know the picture does not do it justice, but the taste is everything any Vegan or Omni would desire. My DH thanks you Julie!

I will leave you all with my picture of my little friend that stopped by for a visit to our garden. I wish it came out clearer, but he has a marking on the back of his head that makes him look like a cyclops. He only stayed for a short visit and then off he went to bigger and better gardens. :o)

Brandie's Engaged and I Got Mail!!!

I am sorry I have not blogged for a couple weeks. We have had a whirl wind of events in this home of ours. Dh's birthday is on June 13th and Brandie's (our daughter) is June 15th. Daddy and Brandie have been celebrating their birthdays together forever. So this year was no different, except that Micah, Brandie's sweetheart, wanted to propose. We all went to Hard Rock Cafe to celebrate. After all the presents were open, sneeky mom took Brandie to the restroom while Micah hid the ring inside a rose. Brandie was completely caught off guard. She had no idea. Micah pulled the rose from her bouquet, which she did not like, and asked her if she had ever noticed how beautiful a rose was on the inside. She was pouting and complaining that he ruined her bouquet. She finally said no and Micah asked her to look. Oh My Goodness! Her face was in shock. She looked up at her dad and asked,

"How'd that get in there?"

Then Micah pulled her out of the booth, got down on one knee, and proposed. DH got the whole thing on video. Everyone in the restaurant was whistling, clapping, and celebrating with them! It was a night to remember!

Micah popping the question!

Brandie saying, "YES!"

Brandie's chin was quivering from tears of joy and Micah

was just beaming and happy that part was over.

The Happy Couple! We are so blessed that they wanted us to be a part of this wonderful night. Oh, the wedding date is September 15, 2007! Brandie does not want a fall or winter wedding and waiting another year until summer is out of the question.

I think I might loose my mind, but hey it will be worth it.

More pictures to come, but onto food!

I Got Mail!

I got my new DVD in the mail! The Everyday Dish by Dreena Burton, Julie Hasson, and Bryanna Clark Grogan. I stayed up until 1:00 am watching it. I love it! I am going to make everything. Here is my first recipe from the DVD.

Bryanna's Vegan Chicken Cutlets getting ready to be baked in the oven.

Baking seitan is the best! These are so easy to make. Anyone who has been leery of making seitan, FEAR NO MORE!! Order it now you won't be sorry!

Here is our first dinner with these cutlets. We served them with gravy, potatoes (russets and sweet potatoes) , sliced tomatoes, and steamed broccoli.

These cutlets are so easy to make and they are fantastic!!!!!!!

Our next dinner: BBQ Seitan "Chicken" Cutlets served with mashed russet and sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, corn, steamed Swiss chard, yellow squash and apple sauce.

My DH who is an omni man enjoyed this meal.

Now I have to choose which recipe to make next!! Get this DVD, You won't be sorry!!!