First things first! A few lovely ladies bestowed me with the Stylish Blogger Award. From one stylish lady to another, thank you so much LB, Fi, and Kate for passing this honor on to me.

In order to accept this award, I must perform these four duties:

1. Make a post and link back to the person who awarded this to me.
2. Share 7 things about myself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers to tell them they’ve won!

1. Lately I have been running while listening to the Amélie soundtrack (my favorite movie of all time). It makes for a very pleasant run actually.

2. I’ll be graduating with my BFA this spring!

3. There was a brief period in my life where I didn’t talk much because I was afraid of socializing. The thought of me interacting with other people made me really anxious, so I’d just avoid it all together.

4. I talk to strangers… unless they give off a creepy vibe. I’ve met some of the most interesting people that way, and it’s just nice to know I’ve got friends wherever I go.

5. When I was 15 my parents drove me to New York so I could take pictures at Warped Tour for ELLEgirl magazine.

6. I use to dream that I was Nala from “The Lion King”, meaning that Simba was my boyfriend. I also use to have a crush on Macaulay Culkin, and I’d imagine that he was in my ballet class.

7. We moved up to Virginia when I was in 9th grade for two reasons: my step-dad’s job, and our house in Florida was haunted. We ended up moving back to that same house a year later, then back up to Virginia for my senior year. As soon as I graduated and went back to Germany, my parents moved back down to Florida. No wonder people ask me where I am!

There are really so many great people that I’d like to pass this award on to, so here are some off the top of my head! I look up to these people for their cool attitude, impeccable food tastes, wonderful charm, and of course because they’ve got it goin’ on!

Liz, Neela, Jess, Gill, Angharad, Katie, Maggie, Mel, Lauren, Kelsey, Megan, Lynn, Maya, Laury, and Megan D!

Vegan Yellow Split Pea Soup

1 Tbl ghee or extra virgin olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp fine-grain sea salt

2 med. carrots, chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

2 cups dried split yellow peas, picked over and rinsed

1 tsp vegetable bouillon

5-7 cups water

2 bay leaves

juice of 1/2 lemon

smoked paprika

1. Add the ghee or oil to a big pot over med-high heat. Stir in onions, garlic, and salt. Cook until the onions soften, about a minute or two. Then throw in the carrots and sauté for a few minutes. The salt keeps things from sticking to the pot.

2. Add the split peas, bay leaves, thyme, bouillon, and water. Bring to a boil, and bring down the heat. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the peas are cooked through. The soup should have a thick texture; half pureed and half chunky.

3. Stir in the lemon juice and taste.

4. Serve the soup in bowls. Drizzle the soup with oil (I used coconut) and top with a good pinch of smoked paprika. You can also garnish with fresh herbs, cheese,  what have you.

The mastermind behind this dish? My dear friend, Erica, of course! She takes beautiful pictures of food that I can imagine tastes just as wonderful.

Butternut Squash “Mac and Cheese”

Serves one hungry lady!

8-9 oz raw butternut squash, peeled, cubed, and steamed until very soft

2 T (or more to taste) of nutritional yeast

1 T tomato paste

1 tsp dijon mustard

lots of spices to taste (cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, italian herb seasoning, cayenne, chili powder)

1/3 cup unsweetened milk (almond or so delicious coconut)

1 T soy-free earth balance (or olive oil might work, too)

fresh parsley, rosemary, sage to taste

sea salt and pepper to taste

2.5 oz gluten free pasta of choice (quinoa pasta or brown rice)

6 oz raw broccoli, steamed

1. Steam the peeled butternut squash until extremely tender. Once finished, toss in a bowl and mash with a fork. Add the nutritional yeast, tomato paste, dijon, and spices to the mashed squash. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, cook your pasta of choice according to package directions. Once cooked, run under cold water and set aside. Also, steam your broccoli and set aside once cooked.

3. While your pasta is cooking, place the squash mixture in a small saucepan on medium-low heat, and stir frequently. Add the milk and incorporate it with the squash. Taste the sauce, add some more spices, including the sea salt and pepper, to taste. Now, add the earth balance and stir it in until incorporated.

4. In a vitamix, carefully process the sauce so it’s nice and silky smooth. Add it back to the saucepan, and toss in the pasta and broccoli. Stir it all up, and then add your fresh herbs into the mix.

5. Warm it up gently until heated, plate it up, and enjoy!

I suggest you walk to your kitchen to see if you have all of the ingredients to make this because you’ve got to try it.

Since I’ve been buying split mung beans I’ve only made one recipe with them… over and over and over again. I love my split mung bean soup, but I wanted to try something different! That’s when these Spicy Thai Mung Bean Burgers called my name. Oddly enough, I’ve been wanting fresher things to eat. Perhaps spring is just around the corner? I wish.

I love how wonderful and compact these are. No messy loose grains! Instead the quinoa is mixed in with the burgers. This tasted so fresh, and the texture was great as well; crispy on the outside and dense on the inside. Silly me forgot the onions and cilantro, so I just topped the burgers with the “missing” ingredients. I also topped the burgers with avocado slices, a curried coconut cream sauce or tamarind date sauce (this was my favorite of the two sauces).

I stumbled upon this warm spinach salad with smoky pecans and sweet potato on CHOW. This had just enough heat and smokiness over a bed of fresh spinach. Next time I make this I want to add dried cranberries and goat cheese. That’ll take all of the flavors to new heights, I’m sure!

Now here's a bit of breakfast pleasure with a walnut on top!

Melted deliciousness.

And I stacked them this time.

I'm pretty sure I've got your attention now... I can see you drooling!

One fine morning I woke up and I knew I wanted something very special for breakfast that day. I looked through my recipes and spotted one I had bookmarked not too long ago. Behold, carrot cake pancakes with cinnamon honey butter! Yes, you read that correctly. Check out Picky Cook’s blog for more mouth-watering recipes.

Remember I told you about my dear friend that is also going to be in Richmond’s Fashion Week? Well this is him!

So we headed to LuLu’s right down the street!

I always have the best conversations with him! He’s very insightful, and so full of passion for life. We talked about so many things. One of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot is how people are complex by nature. Things can complicated, that’s for sure. But one thing that I really want to strive for is to not be a… conscious hypocrite. I want to mean what I say. When I say that I’m going to do something, I will do it. I will live life with grace and sincerity. After a couple of hours of being around him, I felt recharged. Do any of you have people like that in your lives? They’re really something special!

It’s Friday over here, so I hope everyone enjoys their weekends!!! Much love to you all.