Monthly Archives: June 2011

Getting to Know…?

Posted on by

19

I enjoyed reading the ways that everyone gets to know the places they visit. A few of my favorite ways is by going on outdoor runs, trying the local food, walking around, taking public transportation if it’s there, talking to people, and going to places like galleries, neighborhoods, and parks. Sometimes if I’m lucky there are festivities going on during my visit!

Every major city seems to have a neighborhood with a high population of people from another country.

Whether it’s a Chinatown, Little Italy, or Little Havana.

I’m always curious about any places Dim Sum.
Later on we headed on over to Yorkville Ave.
A sign for desserts caught my mothers eye, and we walked into the lushest dessert place I’ve been to yet.
You can get ‘Fondue To Go’ if you so desire.

Toronto’s MoRoCo is a place for lovers of chocolate, and those who don’t mind in indulging. This place was very unique and eclectic, being influenced by French sipping chocolate, edgy glamour, and European salons. There’s a boutique where you can get truffles, chocolates bars, gourmet s’mores, other chocolate treats, macarons, and even frozen yogurt!

Or you can sit in the patio or the indoor lounge, and order from the menu.

Perhaps the service was having an off night because it took them quite awhile to get to us, and finally when they did they weren’t very accommodating. We still wanted to enjoy one of their treats though…

So we decided to get a frozen yogurt and Ginger Rocks to go.

We split a ‘twist’ of chocolate and original frozen yogurt topped with caramelized pecans, milk chocolate chai sauce, and strawberries. The Ginger Rocks are these incredible little bites of crystalized ginger covered in 62% dark chocolate and dusted with icing sugar. Sadly they were all out of their macarons, but maybe I’ll find my way back there to see if they have them again.

The next day we ventured out of Toronto to another part of Canada…
Don’t go over the Niagara Falls!
Then a rainbow decided to come out in celebration of New York’s recent decision to allow same-sex marriage.
Woo hoo!
Eventually we headed back and our tummies were knocking on our doors telling us it was dinner time.
My mom said this was a Thai restaurant, but when we got there we found out it was a sushi place.

I am not the biggest fan of sushi, but I didn’t want to rain on my mom’s seafood parade.

I did find something on the menu, and I do like seaweed salads!

After our little bite to eat we went to another grocery store called Fortino’s. I continue to be amazed by Canada’s grocery stores. Perhaps that is a strange thing to be amazed by, but as a lover of food and cooking… well it’s not so strange afterall. I found some of your recommendations like the Liberté yogurt, President’s Choice, Taste of Nature bars, and some other finds.

How I know I’m in Canada… Vega everywhere I go!
I got the Liberté plain organic yogurt…

And oh my goodness! It was so creamy and full of flavor. It tasted similar to one of my favorite yogurts: the honey flavored Greek Gods. But this was plain, less sweet, and not Greek. I’m pretty sure they sell this brand of yogurt in the states, so I will definitely be making this my staple yogurt. We just got this container yesterday and we’re almost done with it. It’s that good!

I’ve enjoyed this straight out of the container and here with raw multi-grain hot cereal, mango, dried figs, almond butter, and cinnamon.

By the way, the grocery store I went to in my last post was Highland Farms. They have a great selection of cheeses, breads, vegetarian items, and produce from around the world. This is one of those places that just has so many things that it will take you awhile to peruse through everything.

I had mentioned that one of the ways that I like to get to know a place is by trying out the local food. Recently, I was contacted by a rep over at Restaurant.com. I’m sure that many of you have heard of this site, and may have even taken advantage of their great offers.

I was given the opportunity to host a giveaway for four Restaurant.com $25 gift certificates for the Washington D.C. area. You can click over here to see what restaurants are on their list.

Now I know that not all of my readers are from the D.C. area, but if you are or if you plan on going there then this giveaway is right up your alley! Here’s what you have to do to enter:

1. Browse through the Washington D.C. restaurant guide, and let me know which restaurant you’d like to go to.

2. If you have a blog you can mention this giveaway in a post.

3.  Share this give away on Twitter: “Win a Restaurant.com $25 Gift Certificate for the D.C. area from @mixoparthenos over at  http://wp.me/puETn-1yH!”

Each of these counts as an entry so please make sure to notify if me if you share this on Twitter. Thanks and best of luck! The giveaway ends next friday 8 July, 2011 at midnight. Remember I have FOUR of these to give away!

And if this giveaway may not be for a part of the states that’s on your radar, keep in mind that they offer discounts on over 15,000 restaurants across the states. So you can check out what they have available near you.

Welcome to Canada!

Posted on by

23

Good day to everyone and greetings from Canada! I arrived in Toronto on Wednesday night, and I’ll be staying here till Canada Day. Then my next stop is New York.

First, I needed to motivate myself to pack for an 18-day trip.

A pot of mint tea to help me relax.
Thankfully I had someone cute to help me pack… or atleast keep me company.
Whilst I had a super skin-tightening clay mask that always makes my eyes bulge out.
Progress!
Packed a bagel for the trip.
Sprouted Wheat Onion Poppyseed Bagels with cream cheese, marinated portobello mushrooms, avocado, and some cucumber slices.

Alvarado Street Bakery makes great bread along with other things like bagels, rolls, and pizza bread! My old roommate would always get these bagels and they smelled so awesome when she’d toast them.

Fig Almond cake for snacking–check.

When we got to the airport there was a flight delay. It worked in our favor since we weren’t sure if we’d make it in time for check-in since it was an international flight, plus we had Matilda.

Oh, and that bagel sandwich? It was so good!

 We finally made it, and the cutest Canadian ever granted us permission to enter the country. My mom and I should’ve taken him up on his offer as tour-guide… even if he was just kidding!

Checking out her new surroundings.
First morning I decided to go downstairs with my mom to have breakfast.

They get their scrumptious bread from a local bakery, and the fried potatoes reminded me of Bratkartofeln. Alongside with a bowl of cottage cheese topped with fruits, muesli, and nuts.

My mom looked lovely before she headed into work.
Around lunchtime my mom and a few of her co-workers swooped me off to a Vietnamese restaurant.

I ordered the stir-fried vegetables with tofu. It was a simple meal, but I’m not sure what was in the sauce… or what it was but my stomach was swimming for the rest of the day.

Also tried a funky looking lychee drink.
Later on we went on a real food adventure–a Canadian grocery store!

My goodness! The produce section was HUGE! Foods from all over the world. Lots from Asia and South America. My mom even found granadia, also known as passion fruit. I also found a ton of kabochas, but there’s no way of preparing them here… unless the hotel lets me use their kitchen.

I was amazed by all of the cheeses and breads that were at the store–these are some Canadian specialties.

They had a shelf just of German breads, and different kinds of pretzels to choose from. There was also a freezer-full of gluten-free options as well!

And lookie here what I was reunited with!

They stopped carrying these in America because people may choke on the small toys inside -cough-stupid lawsuits-cough-.

Milk chocolate goodness!!!
Beware you could choke on these, bahaha!
I was curious about these… they reminded me of a less saltier version of Bugles–tasty.
Got some of the best hummus ever (you can smell the caramelized onions!), and I wish the US had lentil salads like this on the regular.

I would gladly buy pre-packaged food like this!

Enjoyed over a bed of lettuce and various sprouts.
We also got a loaf of Swiss fruit and muesli bread.
Ze cheeeese
Cheese monster
Such a creamy and oily texture under the rind.
Pantry full–check.
Fridge full–check.
My mom spotted fresh gooseberries at the store as well.
We also got this interesting tea to try–this is what it looks like when a tea bag is holding on for dear life.
I also found some chamomile flowers when I was on a walk with Matilda.

This is just the beginning of my trip so there will be many more recaps! So far I really think it’s neat that everything here is in French and English. I’ve been reading everything in French with my best accent, and just having fun with it. I wanted to go on a run and explore some more. Alas it started raining heavily so that will have to wait.

In other news, Meg has started a new tradition on her blog called “Feature Friday”, and she asked me to be on her blog! Meg is one of those girls that has a good (and incredibly beautiful) head on her shoulders. She’s got a great outlook and such an awesome sense of humor. So check out her blog if you don’t know her already, and you can also check out my post right over here!

I hope you all have a great weekend ahead of you.

How do you guys like to get to know the places you visit?

Anyone have any recommendations for while I’m here?

Treats with Thought

Posted on by

13

Greetings Earthlings. I’ll be announcing the “Must Have Been Something I Ate” giveaway at the end. Now today’s post is one that I’ll get into without further ado!

Awhile ago I was given the opportunity to sample and review Smart Treat’s, well, treats! My mom and her mom’s side of the family have a history of digestive issues and such so alternative foods have peaked my interest since I can remember. I can only empathize with my mom when she can’t have pasta at an Italian restaurant because she knows what will happen to her digestive system afterwards. But I believe that whatever sensitivities you may have, you can still enjoy delicious tasting food! That’s where Smart Treat comes in. I usually keep an eye out for gluten-free foods to share with my mom, and when I stumbled upon Smart Treat’s site while on a search for ‘banana granola recipes’ I was intrigued. Their treats are wheat-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free with some vegan and nut-free options.

Chip of Everything cookies

These cookies have chocolate chips, raisins, and nuts! They also had a nice texture–not too dry, or super chewy. My mom enjoyed these as well! There have been times in my life where I temporarily had to give up something (sadly, recently it is my new allergy to eggplant). However, I’d rather think about what you can have instead of what you can’t. So I imagine for someone like my mother, who has sensitivities to gluten, she wouldn’t have to think about missing out on classic cookies. In this case, classic cookies all rolled into one.

Behold, the Peanut Brittle Chocolate Samich

This was basically a nutty brittle used as the “bread” and semi-sweet chocolate as the filling. What a genius idea!

I took the rest of it to class and I couldn’t help but think everyone was jealous of the deliciousness I was eating.

This was a recipe that I think Bonnie probably conjured up in her kitchen because I didn’t see this item on their site. The only thing I’d say is that there could be a wee bit more chocolate, but this was still great! I can only dream of having another one of these delicious samiches until… hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

Apricot Raspberry Krispie Bar

These were reminiscent of the Rice Krispies bars my friends would tote around, but with a fruity twist. The raspberry part tasted so interesting to me and seemed to be laced into every rice crisp. I took a look at the ingredient list to see what it was and raspberry fruit spread was on the list! My brain started imagining all of the things I could incorporate fruits spreads into. The apricot bits added a taste of tartness, and kept this from being an overly-sweet treat. Overly-sweet things make me cringe. I like the sweetness to be just so.

Nutty Brittle Bar

FYI, the brittle “bread” in that sandwich earlier? That’s what this is! Sooo good! The texture was awesome, and it reminded me of those clusters that I love in granola. Yes, these could easily crumble, but still into big pieces so you can have a satisfying bite. You could taste the spices and subtle sweetness, along with crunchy sunflower seeds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and almonds.

Apricot Date Granola

This granola was filled with chunks, and some really big ones that you could break apart and still have a solid nugget in your hand. Awesome! I let the granola and banana slices soak in almond milk for awhile to soften them.

This breakfast was so good!
Next up, the Onion and Caraway Seed bread

The savory one of the bunch, and delicious at that! I toasted it up and knew just what I wanted to try this with…

Excellent for buttering up and dipping into a delicious tomato bisque.

I think this is a bread that you would want toasted, and I enjoyed it with simple spreads like butter and cream cheese. But really, the caraway and onion in the bread could stand alone.

Lastly, I tried the Cranberry Walnut dinner rolls
Mmm crusty on the outside, and soft and pillowy dough on the inside
Cream cheese sounded like a good idea for these!

And it was. You get a lot of bites with dried cranberries and walnut bits, which I liked. I know that some people aren’t into nuts in cookies or bread. These led me to discovering that I just don’t like nuts in things that are already dense like brownies.

Verdict? If you have sensitives to any of wheat, dairy, gluten, or follow a vegan diet… or are just plain curious, then I’d give Smart Treat a try. Note: not everything is vegan or nut free but there are a lot of friendly options.

By the way you should check out their ‘About‘ page. Actually, when I read their page when I first came upon this company I was comforted. Intention and thought are very important things to me, so seeing that these are part of their philosophy was a wonderful reminder. A reminder that there are companies that do genuinely care about people, and that we have options beyond the companies that are so far removed from the concept of humanity that they lack integrity. These are principles beyond food. These are principles for life.

And now… I’m so excited to announce the winner of the “Must Have Been Something I Ate” book giveaway!

Florence from Squigglefloey! Congratulations, Florence! Just e-mail me your address, and your book awaits you! Now, if you aren’t Florence you can still check this book out. Ask to see if your local bookstore carries it, and if they don’t you can always request them to! There’s also the option of finding it online as well. By the way, I loved reading all of your answers to the food or things that make you feel good. It seems like many of you feel good when you eat something fresh! I think fresh is on many of our minds with the hot months coming. I’ve talked about my observations of people’s tendencies when it’s winter, spring, summer, or fall on my blog before. Isn’t it interesting to see how our personalities and comforts can change with the seasons?

The Bee's Knees

Posted on by

10

What’s the yellow stuff?

I recently started sprinkling bee pollen over my breakfasts. Luckily, the local bee pollen around here is slightly sweet, and I think it’s because the fruits here are sweeter. I’ve tried bee pollen from Virginia and it just tastes bad. Must be those dogwoods! Anyway, in a previous post I subtly mentioned that I decided to go off the birth control pill. It had been on my mind for awhile, but when reading “Must Have Been Something I Ate” I made my final decision. I’m a simple, no-nonsense kind of person, and the birth control pill started to seem more like nonsense. I also want to see where my body is at and functioning without synthetic hormones being produced.

So I did some reading on how to rebalance hormones, and some advice for stopping the pill. I found out that:

Shen Nung, a Chinese emperor from around 2,735 B.C., assembled an encyclopedia that included some of the benefits of bee products, including information claiming that bee pollen can slow down the aging process (Source).

Bee pollen has been talked about in Egyptian texts and the Bible. Pythagoras, Hippocrates and Pliny the Elder, all credited as the fathers of western medicine, prescribed bee pollen along with other traditional health practitioners due to the property of healing contained within the pollen (Source).

Studies have shown that bee pollen helps restore the health of female reproductive system and relief from the discomfort of PMS. Sounds like something that could help me during this transition! I’ll be sharing some tidbits I come across along the way, and things I’ve been incorporating in my life (and diet) that are related to this topic.

Maple cornmeal muffins and a veggie bean dish.

These muffins were so tasty with a spread of whipped sweet cream butter. The recipe for these muffins? Well, here you go!

Maple Oat and Cornmeal Muffins

makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 Ener-G egg replacer “eggs”

1 cup milk

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 cups cornmeal

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup oat flour

1/4 cup maple syrup

1. Heat oven to 450 F. Grease muffin cups.

2. In large bowl, combine all the ingredients; mix well. Pour batter into greased muffin tin.

3. Bake at 450 F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

And some for crumbling on top.
Also enjoyed with a bit of sweetness
Honey Greek yogurt, raspberries, and sliced almonds
This is what I’m talking about.
So good!
More muffins!

I had been wanting to make Kelsey’s Banana Chocolate Chunk muffins for quite some time now and I finally got around to making them. Instead of using milk I spiked them with eggnog. I thought of Natalie and her post about how she isn’t afraid to let herself get creative and really takes her personal likes into account. Hence I added more cinnamon, and ground up a bar of 70% dark chocolate!

I saved myself the one with the gooiest bit of chocolate.
First bite!
And it was scrumptious.
I recently gave sprouting my first go.

Sprouting these sunflower seeds was a success! It was like a science experiment, and when I saw that they were indeed sprouting I felt accomplished.

Everything Sprouts Salad

I made another one of Peggy K’s recipes from her book “Must Have Been Something I Ate.” This was one of those salads that you could bring to a get together and it would hold its own. Definitely not a “side salad” because this became the center of my meal it was so good!

This salad was full of living things!

It had sunflower seed sprouts, mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, avocado, cucumber, red bell pepper, arame, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, hemp seeds, and kelp granules. It’s a lot of stuff for a salad but it’s not hard to throw together. The salad also has to two choices for dressings and I chose the one with olive oil, balsamic, lemon juice, dried oregano, sea salt and black pepper, and dijon mustard. You can also add hummus to make it a creamier dressing. I did that the next day with the leftovers and it was so good!

A wonderful palette.

If you guys have any advice on coming off the pill, or have some insight I would greatly appreciate it!

And in other news, the “Must Have Been Something I Ate” Giveaway is still going on so don’t forget to enter if you haven’t yet! This book is definitely worth a read, and Peggy K’s knowledge can be passed on to someone else.

p.s. I’ll be flying to Toronto next week, and New York from there for another week! I’ll finally be able meet up with one of my favorite bloggers, Gillian.

Some Last Moments

Posted on by

8

Hello everyone! It seems you all are excited about the giveaway. I am too! The giveaway ends June 19th so if you haven’t entered remember to check it out right over here: “Must Have Been Something I Ate” by Peggy K Giveaway! Oh, and remember that recap I mentioned earlier? Well, it’s about time I share it before it becomes archival.

I invited some of my closest friends to one of my favorite restaurants in Richmond.

It was one of my friend’s first time eating Indian food so I knew I had to take her to  my favorite Indian restaurant ever. They have this incredible buffet that is constantly changing daily. If you’re trying Indian food I’d say going to a buffet is the way to go because there are so many different flavors that it’s hard to simplify and describe when someone asks “what does it taste like?”

We went on a Monday night so we could enjoy their dinner buffet + UNLIMITED MANGO LASSI!

They were my favorite before the unlimited mango lassi, but now that they have this deal… they are definitely at the top of my list! My friends and I got refills, and sometimes it’d take awhile because they were making another batch in the kitchen. Fresh mango lassi of course.

M’mm I love Indian food.

Sadly, they didn’t have my absolute favorite dish out on the buffet spread, but the owner told me that if I call beforehand and tell them what I want they can make it and add it to the buffet. My favorite dish is their paneer pasanda which is “fresh homemade cheese cubes cooked in a creamy mango sauce with almonds and raisins.” Not what you usually find on an Indian restaurant’s menu, and that’s one of the things I love about this place. Great food, great service, and so many unique dishes. We all left with happy bellies, and surprisingly we didn’t feel like giant beach balls that could just roll away.

Things at my place were more simple–almond butter and apricot jam on sourdough.

 I had found this interesting recipe on CHOW’s website. That’s where I usually find interesting ideas for things like grilled cheese sandwiches.

Dinner to go!

I roasted a Japanese sweet potato, and sautéed it with beets, spinach, and a splash of balsamic. Then I topped it with a cannellini bean puree and goat’s cheese.

We made sure to see each other before I left Richmond, but we’ll be seeing each other again. I know it!

Who knows where!

My other dear friend wanted to take me out to lunch to “a place I’ll miss”

Hmm.. I had already gone to India K’raja and Cafe Gutenberg, but then I remembered one of my other favorite places! I usually come to Balliceaux to hang out or for dinner. It was interesting to go there for lunch, but I knew they’d still have their great and seasonally-changing menu.

Contemplating what to order.
First, we got the mezze platter as an appetizer.
It came with edamame hummus, tabbouleh, marinated market vegetables, chickpea salad, and grilled pita.

Everything was deliciously fresh and flavorful! The marinated market vegetables were jicama, green beans, and something else I can’t remember. The tabbouleh was the best I ever had and very unique. The edamame was alive with flavor, and the chickpea salad… gosh I just want to remake it all! All together with warm grilled pita bread–yum!

I ordered the heirloom veggie burger made with beans, seeds, and grains, served with tomato and garlic mayo.

I also got a side of greens aka super spicy vegan southern style collard greens. There was something in those spicy greens that just made me want more despite the runny nose.

My friend got the falafel flat bread wrap: roasted eggplant, lettuce, tomato, garlicky tahini, pickled onion and carrot.

He was so thoughtful to get the roasted eggplant on the side since I’m allergic. We ended up splitting our meals in half so we could each try the deliciousness!

At the end of our meal I was sad to say bye bye to Balliceaux.
Later that day I went to a potluck, which was Indian themed and someone brought mango lassi!
My last week in Richmond also involved packing of course.
Which resulted in a stuffed minivan rental!
Passing through Georgia we stopped to pick up some peaches.

These peaches are so juicy that you can eat them over the glass and have peach juice leftover~

We also stopped at a gas station and it happened to have this place called Fresh.

They gave us a sample of their avocado dream smoothie: avocado, banana, coconut cream soymilk, and yogurt. I was honestly surprised that there was a menu like this at a gas station. Usually stopping at a gas station means it’s potty break time and nothing else. But this time it also meant “get some dinner time”.

And it was tasty!
I got their Apple Harvest Chick’n Salad, which used Gardein.

The salad was very ‘meh’, but better than dipping cold toast into a tub of hummus. I also realized that albeit this is a salad, the volume kept me fuller longer. I don’t know why but my stomach is hard to satisfy on road trips. It’s definitely not out of boredom either because my stomach starts growling. Anyone else get super hungry on car trips?

When I got back from my long road trip I went to the kitchen and discovered a new flavor combination.

In fact, I had it for breakfast the very next day! The delicious and satisfying combination is mission figs, fresh blueberries, and peanut butter.  You’ve got the density and sweetness from the fig, tart blueberries, and slightly salt and very nutty peanut butter.

Ah it feels good to be back in Florida. I miss my friends up in Richmond, and after years of living there… well my life was up there. But I’ve been the kind of person who’s been to a lot of different places and I don’t feel like I’m tied down by “what I’m use to”. Because I can get use to anything! Except for things like violence, rudeness, constant stress, and negative things like that. And the true friends that I make will always be a part of my life in some way or another. I believe that me and my friends are connected by our souls and not by our location. There are many things on my plate right now, and that part is making my head spin a little. I just need to talk about my plans outside of my head more so that I can get some insight and clarity on what I want.

And once again don’t forget to enter my “Must Have Been Something I Ate” by Peggy K Giveaway!

"Must Have Been Something I Ate" Vega Book Giveaway!

Posted on by

80

I thought I’d surprise you all today with a special post. It won’t be about my last days in Richmond. That’ll come soon though! However, for today’s post I’ve got something wonderful in store for you. You’ll see…

First off, my blog is now available to download as an app for the Android, which you can check out over here.

Recently, I was contacted by Sequel Naturals on behalf of Vega to be apart of the launch of Peggy Kotsopoulos’s book “Must Have Been Something I Ate”. At first I was reminded of my mini-crush on Brendan Brazier–creator of Vega. After I snapped back to reality I read that the book is about the mind, body, and food connection. My interest was peaked! As some of you may know I am very much interested in Ayurveda, and the whole philosophy of seeing the “whole” as something made up lots of connections. I started perusing through the book when it came in the mail, and I read it more in depth afterwards. While reading this book I came to an important decision. A few days ago I decided to go off birth control. I had been thinking about it for awhile, but reading this book just made something click. I am the kind of person who finds acceptance in things and has faith in positivity. I feel like this is a step I’m taking towards feeling whole and true to myself. A way of me showing myself that I trust my body.

They sent me a copy of the book along with some Vega products that are called for in some recipes.

This book has so much useful information, and you don’t feel like you’re being preached at or bombarded with “you should do this, you should do that” lines. She has such an easy going style of writing, and just tells you straight up about the wonders of how the body works in relation to food and lifestyle. Peggy also throws in some humorous relatable examples to help better explain the concepts. There’s one line that she repeats a few times in the book that I love, “your body craves nutrients, not calories.” Of course our bodies do need “calories”, but that’s not a fun way to think of food. It’s just so amazing when you think of  foods as nourishing your body.

For instance, it’s neat that I can get my daily dose of selenium by eating 1-2 brazil nuts, rather than a pill.

Peggy discusses the connections between food with mood, weight, beauty, and overall health. Then at the end you can put your knowledge to use and choose which of her recipes you want to make! Or you can skip ahead and be enticed by the tasty looking pictures.

I’ve already made a couple of her recipes already, but I’ve got many more that I want to make–recipes I will definitely be posting about.

Chai Tea Latte
A delicious way to calm the nerves.

I thought of Natalie as I was sipping this since she loves almond butter and cups of cafe au lait.

I also made the Creamy Broccoli Soup.

This soup is packed with so much flavor! It’s because most of the ingredients are raw except for broccoli, which is lightly steamed so its nutritional benefits are fully reaped. I didn’t know that broccoli had the ability to alter the metabolism of estrogen. In turn aiding in the detoxification of the excesses of this hormone–what I am paying attention to now that I decided to go off the pill. Anyway, back to the recipe! It’s amazing how creamy it is as well, but with no cream? Here’s the reason why this soup is so flavorful and tasty: broccoli, celery, yellow onion, garlic, fresh ginger, lemon juice, dried oregano, black pepper, sea salt, veggie stock, olive oil, and avocado. I went ahead and topped it with Peggy’s recommendations: pumpkin seeds, cubed avocado, arame, dulse, and cayenne.

I love that her recipes aren’t intimidating, and come with a little tidbit to how your body will thank you for this food.

Vega Book Giveaway: Must Have Been Something I Ate, by Peggy Kotsopoulos.

Now one lucky reader will win a new copy of this incredible book! And even if you may not win, you should still check it out.

Okay, okay so here’s how to enter:

1. Leave a comment below and tell me something you eat that makes you feel good!

2. Become a fan of Vega on Facebook, and comment back here letting me know.

3. Share this give away on Twitter: “Win a copy of “Must Have Been Something I Ate” Book from @mixoparthenos over at  http://t.co/DbC!” or something along those lines.

4. You can also post about this giveaway on your blog, and like the above just comment on here letting me know.

Since each way to enter is a separate entry, make sure to comment for each entry. The contest goes till 11 pm EST on June 19th, 2011, and it is only open to U.S. residents. Best of luck!

A Dinner Guest

Posted on by

7

Hey there good lookin’ (you get into the gallery through the passenger door).

Richmond’s First Friday Artwalk was last Friday, and I stopped by my professor’s opening–”Passenger Position”

The exhibition really made me think about his own experiences of things around him.
A new grain for breakfast.

I was trying to look up breakfast recipes using buckwheat groats, so I just put my own twist on this one found on the Pure2Raw blog. This was my first time actually going on the blog, and all of the recipes looked so tasty and fresh–just what I’ve been in the mood for lately. Not to mention, they seem like such an awesome duo living in harmony with each other and life’s journey.

I love how nutty they tasted.
Leftover coconut rice revamped–inspired by rice pudding.
Finally got around to using the corn kernels that have been sitting around for who knows how long.
Cooked in coconut oil, and seasoned with cinnamon and nutritional yeast.

This is such an economical and simple snack. If you’re use to buying popcorn that you heat up in a bag, I suggest just buying some corn kernels and they will last you longer + it’s not hard at all. Not to mention, you aren’t exposed to the harmful chemicals found in paper-wrapped convenience foods.

This past week, I had someone special over for a three-course dinner.
I spotted a beetroot and goat’s cheese salad in a cookbook I was browsing through at the bookstore.

We also tried the first cucumber from his garden!

I also made baked polenta with wild mushroom ragout...

And a secret ingredient–Idiazabal cheese–baked into the polenta.

The original recipe calls for pan-grilling, but since I was making the polenta in a cast-iron skillet I had the option of baking it as well. I love things roasted, baked, what have you.

Yum!

After dinner we went to take Matilda out for a nice walk. Then when we got back it was time for the last course…

A raw vegan apple crisp for dessert.

 My favorite kind of desserts are the raw vegan kind because you can just really taste the flavors. The sweetness comes from a fruit usually, and I just love how simple the ingredients are–just using things that have been around for thousands of years. You can find the recipe for the raw vegan apple crisp here.

And he brought over the creamiest ice cream made by a local creamery.
Creamy chocolate goodness–had to stop myself from eating too much since I know my tummy would have its woes otherwise.

 It was a delicious dinner, if I may say so myself, and I got to share it with someone! I’ve been so use to making single-serving dishes, or ones with leftovers, but intentionally making a meal for more than just myself is such a nice feeling. I’ve been making meals for more than just myself a lot lately though. The weeks leading up to my move from Richmond, I just wanted to spend as much time with my close friends as possible, which included lots of meal sharing.

Speaking of my move. I’m down in Florida now, but I’ll be recapping my last few days up in Richmond. Hope everyone is doing well, and staying hydrated!

Keep Cool My Babies

Posted on by

15

Boy oh boy. These past couple of weeks have been feeling very hot! I thought I’d share some things I’ve been doing to spruce up a plain old salad, since salads and cold things are what I’m gravitating towards nowadays. It’s really neat how the foods that are in season now have this amazing ability to refresh and quench our bodies’ thirst. Juicy peaches and watermelons, cooling cucumbers, and ruby red strawberries.

Actually, Matilda is the expert on this so I’m going to let her take it away!
First, make sure you’ve got a sassy fan and sunhat!

Ahem, and now back to the actual salad tips…

Adding roasted kabocha and Japanese sweet potatoes can make any salad that much more delicious.

Recently, my two favorite ways of roasting them are using these two variations of the sweetly glazed daigakumo recipe:

Version One

Version Two

Beets are also a wonderful addition to salads–not to mention they are beautiful!
You can use beetroots as well

 Separating the greens from the stems makes it easier for cooking. Here are some ideas on how to prepare them.

Roasting the root vegetables
Now do you want to try those recipes?

This reminded me of the glorious mountains of root vegetables that Kelsey usually bakes.

More fixing for salads: cannellini bean spread and beets
Admiring the beets as usual
Marinated grape tomatoes
Homemade dressings using up the last of the beer mustard and the container
Exhibit A: Tasty Salad
Yellow Split Pea Puree, fried Daigakumo, avocado, bell peppers, cucumbers all on a bed of romaine and sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Exhibit B: threw in some beets, diced golden delicious apple and red bartlett pear
A sweet, savory, and truly delicious salad
Or you can just go to one of your favorite local eats
My favorite thing on the menu.

Cafe Gutenberg’s Vegan Caesar Salad… I just had to have it before I leave Richmond. I asked for their recipe, alas it’s top secret and they don’t give it out. I understand. Atleast they had someone from the kitchen tell me some tips about how they prepare the tofu (it’s the best tofu I’ve ever had).

A delicious salad and lovely company to boot!
An attempt at recreating the caesar salad and de-veganizing it with grated idiazabal cheese.
“Secret’s in the sauce”, but I haven’t figured it out yet.
I’ve shared this recipe before, and I’ve made about seven batches of it since I posted about it.

This Indian Inspired Red Lentil Rice Salad is seriously tasty. Especially if you’re in the mood for a fruitier salad with a little bit of tang from the curry yogurt dressing.

Here’s one more person vouching for it!
Watermelon to “keep cool”

It’s definitely hot when the potluck’s theme is “Keeping Cool”. So we wore clothes that kept us cool, or we thought was cool.. and of course brought cooling foods.

You can spy the flat rosemary focaccia I made, while some fruits were being muddled.
A beautiful and refreshing summer drink: lemon, strawberries, honey, and chilled prosecco.
Fresh greens from the host’s garden, and a taste of everyone’s dishes.

Happy and cool.

So when the sun goes down and the air is cooler, just open your windows and play some relaxing tunes into the night.

At the end of a hot day my feet are tired, and I’ve got a layer of grime and dried sweat on me. It may sound unpleasant, but I like feeling the length of the day  in my body. After a long day being out and about in the heat, feeling exhausted is just another cue telling me, “it’s time to relax.”

What do you do to keep cool on hot days?

Coming Together

Posted on by

15

First order of business

I got another armload of chocolates! I spotted the Vosges Marzipan bar in the sale bin so that was an instant grab. I was interested to know what the world renowned Leonidas Feuilletine chocolate was like. It was a milk chocolate with tiny crushed up biscuit pieces for a little crunch–done very well! I loved the Coco Chocopod so much I had to get another one, plus the panko flavor. The panko flavor is dark chocolate with panko breadcrumbs and sea salt. I’ve been wanting to get back to dark chocolate and sea salt. I think that’s my tried and true variation. That’s where the 72% dark chocolate with sea salt and caramel comes in. I haven’t tried it yet, but the trusted guy at the store told me he loves it. We’ll see!

This week I met up with my lovely friend for a baking date!
She had lots of carrots, so we wanted to make something using them.

Any guesses? We were going to make carrot cupcakes, but then I saw a picture of cinnamon rolls. So I exclaimed, “why don’t we make carrot cake cinnamon rolls?!” Carrot cake cinnamon rolls it was.

We loosely followed that recipe since it was in metrics and conversions can be quite tricky when it comes to baking. Baking can be tricky in itself.

Making dough with our hands.
And now the funnest part!

Kneading dough is one of my favorite things to do.

Matilda trying to be sneaky.
She made smoothies while we waited for the dough to rise.
So delicious! This is what the gods drink when the weather gets hot.
The dough was done rising, and then it was time to get rolling.
So cool! I’d never done anything like this before.

I loved this part of the recipe “use a serrated bread knife to cut the dough into 12-18 sections – depending on how long your roll is or how fat you like your buns.” We didn’t want them to be too squished, since we wanted them to have room to get nice and fat! That is indeed how we like our buns.

They had to proof for 15 more minutes, and then into the oven they went.
And 15 minutes later, out of the oven they came!
Spread on some homemade cream cheese frosting…
Hats off to carrot cake cinnamon rolls aka the best cinnamon rolls ever.
Then later that day I had plans to cook dinner for some friends of the family.

I was whisked away to their house, and got to prepping, cooking, spilling water and wine, and dancing! A lot can happen in a kitchen.

So colorful!
And we finally had dinner close to 10 pm–not too tired to eat yet.

I made Coconut Rice with Black Beans and Fried Plantains. I didn’t use the bacon though, a common ingredient in latin recipes for flavoring. Anyway, they loved this dish and even asked for the recipe! The recipe says that it serves 8, but the only thing there were barely leftovers of was the rice. I think that speaks for itself.

In good company

This goes back to the question in my last post: if you consider yourself a baker or a cook… or both! This time around it was nice to cook for my family’s friends, and it was a way for me to show I care. I picked out a recipe that would share a side of my heritage, something everyone could enjoy, and not too fussy. Afterall, I wasn’t trying to impress anyone, just have a nice time hanging out with my friends.

When was the last time food brought you together with people you love? Or perhaps it’s a quirky eating habit you and someone you know share.

Cooking, Baking, Both

Posted on by

15

Here I am, enjoying my last week in Richmond. I’ve been busy making plans so I can see all my dear friends before I leave, and crossing off my bucket-list of things to experience in Richmond. I’m also looking forward to being reunited with my mother (hasn’t been that long since I last saw her, but still…), my best friend, and the beach. I’m just imagining myself basking in the sun, eating papaya from the backyard, while ohhh yes figuring out the beginning of this new part of my life–after college.

Weary of the frozen pizza… even if it’s Amy’s!
After having this in my freezer for probably a year, and as part of my effort to clearing my pantry/kitchen out…

I finally opened up my box of Amy’s Roasted Vegetable, no-cheese pizza. After hearing so many great things about it, I bought it so I could have it when I didn’t have time to cook. Well, since I cooked a lot in batches this past school year that time never came around. So I just had it when one day I was in the mood for pizza. So what’d I think? It was surprisingly and fortunately yummy!

Remember when I was trying one new cheese a week?

If you don’t remember I don’t blame you. That venture stopped almost a year ago since I didn’t have a car anymore. Good cheese can be expensive, but luckily Trader Joe’s made it affordable. So no car meant no more trips to Trader Joe’s. No Trader Joe’s meant less thoughts about trying new cheeses. Since my step-dad has been in town though, on the weekends we’ve been going there and I picked up a block of Idiazabal cheese. It’s made from sheep’s milk, and has that savory nutty flavor that I taste in most Spanish cheeses. I baked it over Amy’s cheese-less pizza… making it no longer cheese-less, but even tastier.

A spreadable version of my vegan split pea soup on toast spread with Vegenaise.

I thought I’d sneak in a picture of something random I ate.

Incredibly tasty vegetable dish

I had brussels sprouts and mushrooms on hand so when I stumbled upon this recipe for ‘Brussels Sprouts with Shallots and Wild Mushrooms‘ I made it right away! This is great for a side dish.

I recently visited the Virginia Center for Architecture.

The exterior and interior of this place are really something to marvel at.

The Vertical Garden Exhibition
16th century linenfold wood panels
Instead of bricks!

Let’s rewind to while my mom was visiting. I had bought some turnips when I was out grocery shopping for her stay. I don’t think I’ve actually cooked turnips before so I looked up some recipes I thought may taste good.

I wish I could remember the recipe but these were roasted with onions in a maple-mustard sauce.

Turnips taste like a slightly bitter potato, so I also made a turnip mash.

I just prepared this similarly to how I would make mashed potatoes.

Did you know that turnip lanterns are an old tradition? “Since inaugural Halloween festivals in Ireland and Scotland, turnips (rutabaga) have been carved out and used as candle lanterns. At Samhain, candle lanterns carved from turnips — samhnag — were part of the traditional Celtic festival. Large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows, used to ward off harmful spirits. At Halloween in Scotland in 1895, masqueraders in disguise carried lanterns made out of scooped out turnips.”

Source.

Lately I’ve been in the mood for crisp and refreshing foods.

I pretty much followed this recipe for Raw Vegan Waldorf Salad with Apple Chia Dressing, except I didn’t have dried cranberries on hand so I used raisins instead. This satisfied my need for something cooling in such a delicious way.

Remember when I made that pancake omelet?

Well, I got to making pancakes with chocolate chips this time to go with local fresh strawberries, although this time I didn’t make the batter into one big omelet.

With a few drizzles of agave syrup
Mmm chocolate chip pancake sandwiched in between a strawberry and some chocolate hazelnut butter.
This breakfast was full of delicious bites.
This time around for a potluck I made snickerdoodle blondies

These were a hit, and were served with a yummy blueberry pomegranate ice cream from a local creamery.

I also brought coconut cream cookies!

I had leftover coconut cream so I thought these cookies would be a great way to use up the cream. I don’t bake oftehn since I’m a small crowd, but when there’s a larger crowd I pull out the recipes I’ve been wanting to try. Baking is something that brings a lot of happiness to my heart because of how easy it is to share. And when you’re sharing something yummy then the love you give gets sent right back to you!

Would you consider yourself more of a baker or a cook? And what do you love about them?