no show mofo

I am truly hoping I am not the worst mofo ever this year but I fear I might be in the top 10. I was really hoping to catch up and make up for the first week of non-blogging, but I am not doing such a great job of that. If I were a person who made excuses I would blame it on being sick, or actually having weekend plans, or being extremely stressed/busy at work- but I am sure those are situations nearly everyone is in at this time of year and I'm fairly certain it has not put their blogs on hold. I am a no-show mofo and I am not proud.

Quick/boring update with silly pictures-

Friday night- We had veg panini's and bruschetta (take out!) for dinner and our movie was "Watcher in the Woods" which my niece liked a lot more than I thought she would. I fell asleep right in the middle and missed the end, boo!

Saturday- We went to my niece's soccer game which was a rematch against a larger, more physical team. It's not supposed to be competitive at their age but they did "lose". Afterward we went to the pumpkin festival @ Cal Poly with some friends and saw more pumpkins than I have ever seen in my life. We also went to the petting zoo since I had not gone to one since kindergarten when I was startled by an overly eager goat.They haven't changed much only now it makes me more scared for the animals than for the kids. We gotta make it to farm sanctuary, so I can hug some animals who are possibly petting zoo survivors, but the current bunch needs love too.



Sunday-

The big day, our third time going to the AIDS Walk. We actually left on time and got there about an hour and half before the walk started-trust me this is a huge deal. We did our usual Jamba Juice/bathroom stop and made the trek to the starting line-not sure how much that adds to the 10K, need to find out. I did not raise funds but sponsored myself so I could get the shirt, which fit, thank goodness. I have put a few inches/lbs. back on the last few weeks so I was afraid the uni-small might not work out. We had great weather and it seemed to go by faster than years past. They had some of the same vegan friendly snacks-mini lara bars, mrs. may's, oranges and naked juice. I didn't hit all the snack stops because people get crazy over free food and I wanted to keep my good pace.



Afterward we went to California Vegan and I had my fave Spinach w/ Garlic Sauce and Tofu. It's a lot of spinach but as far as I am concerned it is never too much spinach, or garlic. I would have rather gone to RFD but funds are tight. We all took naps when we got home and had mexican macaroni and cheese for a quick late dinner. Maybe other people make it this way too, but it is basically same as you would cook fideos but you add sliced cheese and stir in until it gets melty, tons of garlic salt too. It's quick comfort food you can shovel down on a cold day.

Monday-Wednesday was the basic weekday hustle and bustle. We have ate dinner out every night so far since we did not do a proper grocery run. I need to get a few things tomorrow so I can cook over the weekend and next week. I got the advanced copy of VegNews, plus two back issues and the "You Are What You Read" shirt I have been eyeing for months. I saw a soup in one of the issues that looked really good to me and I'm sure there are other great recipes. I still have to take a good look at Nava Atlas' book since I only did a quick flip when I brought it home last week. It looks promising, but I have a really bad habit of reading cookbooks before bed that I am trying to break because I get excited as well as hungry and have a tough time calming down to go to sleep. I will have to make it an after-dinner read.

Sorry I've bean busy

Oh my goodness. I totally had a "mofo italiano" post in my head for Friday night, but I fell asleep around 9:30 before we even finished watching "Ghostbusters". We had eggplant parm, which is always a favorite of mine. I don't know where my mind was since we used our go-to spaghetti sauce instead of marinara. It wasn't bad but it wasn't as good either. We did have tons of bread sticks to make up for it. As for the rest of the weekend, I have no excuse. I didn't cook a thing and did not even do a proper grocery run since we decided at the last minute to go watch "Paranormal Activity" instead (where is my mind, pt. 2).




My niece has minimum day all this week so today I left work at noon and am babysitting until 5:30-ish. Since it is longer than our normal after-school hang out time I told her we could probably bake and watch a movie. She chose "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" and wanted to make Mexican Wedding Cakes. I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies or finally try Isa's pumpkin pie brownies, but I can make those another day. Sometimes I have to be the adult and let the six year old make the call. Since we normally make mwc's at Christmas time I thought it would be more halloween-y to make them orange. I haven't worked with food coloring since I was her age so it was definitely an experiment. Unfortunately I was so focused on getting the color right I forgot to add vanilla and didn't realize until after I put the cookies in the oven. I'm hoping they'll be gobbled up before anyone notices. I know my niece and I can make light work of them, but they're also a favorite of my dad's.

On a pantry/organization note, I finally went though my shelves and tossed out some unused/expired items-bad lady! In the process I also discovered I have cannellini beans coming out of my ears. I think there was a "Get It Ripe" recipe I wanted to try for spinach and cannelini bean soup, gotta find it. They're super salad friendly too so I know I won't run out of ways to use them. I love my bean shelf and I hate when I let it get unorganized. It should be easier to keep things neat in a limited space, but like everything else, I make it complicated by always trying to shove more in. Unfortunately my awesome tetris arrangements don't last for too long since everyone else doesn't have my stacking skills.




The movie's almost over and I've still got a bit of clean up to do, arrivederci baby!

15 Minute Meal-take that Ray Ray!

The breakroom at my sister's job has tons of "family" magazines and for the past few months she has been bringing home tear sheets of things we should try. I am working on a binder of printed/copied/torn out recipes but they don't always make it to the binder right away, sometimes they are shoved in cookbooks or who knows where else. She has been wanting me to make this gross-good recipe for a long time but I misplaced the recipe until a few weeks ago. It was hiding in the front of Veganomicon with some other homeless recipes.

It is a Campbell's "make in minutes" recipe which is listed as 20 minutes, but you can probably do it in 10 if you use veg crumbles instead of ground beef, which you should :). I took longer since I just started throwing things in the skillet and thought I could cut through all six tortillas with the pizza cutter, maybe next time. It's 1 lb. "beef", 1 can tomato soup (+water if you use condensed), 1/2 cup salsa, 6 flour tortillas (6") cut into 1" pieces and 1/2 cup shredded cheese.I used Yves Meatless Ground, Pace Picante "Medium", and a store-brand tomato soup instead of the Campbell's condensed. I was surprised to find a milk-free version at the mainstream market since nearly all of the ones at health food store contained milk. There was one from Imagine that did not but I only needed a single can and not a quart. I was not going to add any soy cheese but at the last minute I tore up two tofutti singles and tossed them into the pan. I seasoned it up a bit and of course, added some nooch.

It was a lot tastier than I thought it would be and was just enough for we three to have for dinner. I think I will double it next time so we have leftovers for lunch, or in case we have another setting at the table. There is also an option to add sour cream so I might do that next time as it was unexpectedly spicy. My niece's usual "get of out eating" card is that something is spicy, but she kept on saying how un-spicy it was so my sister and kept our mouths shut. She is rarely the first one to back a new recipe so it always makes me happy when she likes something I make, even more so if it is a quickie. I love to take forever in the kitchen but during the week when we're all working, it's not as likely to happen. I need to get more one-pot recipes in rotation, will have to make Isa's Tempeh helper soon.

p.s. I ate last night's soup for breakfast this morning and it got a "hell yeah" on the first bite. I am in love with the celery pesto, who knew?!

Two (New) For Tuesday

I had apples and peanut butter together for the first time today. I know you're thinking, how long have I been living so wrong? I am already over the moon since honeycrisp are in season. I am eating one a day-minimum. Adding crunchy peanut butter into the mix nearly sent me over the edge. I don't normally slice my apples so I am not good at it yet, but it was all going the same place so it did not need to be perfect. I really wanted to take a picture but I was at work and only had my cell phone. I had to hurry in case anyone saw a flash and asked what I was doing. I barely have them understanding what I eat and why, I am pretty sure MoFo would blow their minds. If confronted, I could have played dumb and asked "Doesn't everyone take pictures of their food to post on their blogs?".

Tonight I made "Chunky Celery Soup" from 101 Cookbooks, definitely in my top 5 food blogs. I've never tried a recipe of hers that I did not like. I nearly ran out of steam with the prep, but my mom offered her assistance. Everything did not come out as uniform as I would have liked but without her help I would probably still be peeling and chopping so we'll let that slide for tonight. My soup looked and smelled so delicious while cooking that I hoped not to mess it up. It's a really simple recipe which seems impossible to ruin, but I've done it before by misreading measurements or rushing. I cheated with the brown rice by using instant and I added two bay leaves for the final simmer for some extra flavor. If there are not too many spices listed I worry I will have a watery pot of veggies, but again, I know Heidi would never steer me wrong. If you aren't going to make the pesto I would suggest adding a bit more seasoning. However, I fully recommend you go for the pesto. It was my first time making one as well as the first time actually using the celery leaves. I had to go through about a dozen bunches of organic celery to find a winner, but I did end up with just over a cup of leafy goodness. I had chopped enough garlic for the pesto and the soup then realized the garlic for the pesto was probably meant to be whole since it's a puree. I put the chopped garlic plus a few more cloves into the processor along with the other ingredients and yumminess ensued. As far as I am concerned, you can never have too much garlic. I usually put 2-3 extra cloves per recipe, sometimes five.



My sister did a quick taste when she came home from work and immediately packed her lunch portion, as did I. I have two jars full of soup in the fridge but I don't think they will survive very long. I passed the recipe to my co-workers this morning so we'll see who else made it and how theirs turned out. I think it might be fun to do little cook off's or even take turns bringing soup, salad, bread. My other friend wants to start a little baking business but so far I am only a recipe follower and not an inventor. I feel like I would have to put a huge "these are not my recipes but I did make them with love" disclaimer on whatever we might put out there. Not that I am in any hurry, I just started cooking dinner again.

Got Yr MoFo Workin'?

Is it too early to lose one's MoFo mojo? I certainly hope not. Normally I am most inspired and excited for Fall and Winter cooking, but this year it seems like I can't get it up. Can I blame the uncooperative weather currently known as hot-umn? Is my desperate need of haircut weighing my brain down? Am I putting too much focus on work and forgetting what is really important (cupcakes!)? It's the 5th day of MoFo and I have not cooked once. My sister has been ruling the range or we have been dining out. I have only scheduled myself to cook one week day dinner but I am niece-free Tuesday and Thursday so I should have the time/energy to whip something up- not sure if it will be an experiment or an old stand by, but I am leaning toward something new, who wants to read last year's blog again, right?

It is soon to be souper times, so I did put Nava Atlas' Vegan Soups and Stews For All Seasons on hold at the library for some inspiration. I used my soup mug at least twice last week (Hearty Black and White Bean-yum!) and it is sure to see much more action as the temperature finally starts to drop. I love to make soup and I won't lie that it good for when you are trying to lose weight. If I drop a few pounds between now and the holidays then I will be breaking even in 2010. Since Halloween is almost here and Christmas has already hit stores I have started to think of a wish list and this is at the top right now:



p.s. I wasn't kidding when I made that "last year's blog" comment. I made the same soup pre-mofo last year too. Maybe it is going to be a tradition?

I am a lazy mofo

Work has been really stressful lately with so many of our customers trying to close homes by the end of the year. It is great to be so busy, but the past few weeks are definitely starting to wear me down. We have a tradition of watching a horror movie and eating pizza or some other "fun" dinner on Friday nights in October. Tonight we are watching "Beetlejuice" since my niece is not yet the diehard horror fanatic we had hoped she would be. We had hot dogs and Road's End mac and chreese. The laziness continues with cookies from EatPastry. We had the "Chocoholic Chunk" a few weeks ago so tonight we are trying "Chocolate Chunk". The first time we made them we used the toaster oven since it was still too warm out to turn on the oven-oven. Since we already had the oven on tonight, we are going big. I haven't tasted them yet, but it is tough to hold out when the whole house smells like cookies, even if they are refrigerated and not entirely homemade.

I am all for getting down and making food from scratch but since I don't always have the time, it is good to know that there is an expanding array of convenience food offerings for we vegans. Even though I may have some fridge cookies now and then I know I will make up my kitchen time at some point with some homemade food love, especially when Isa and Terry's cookie book comes out (must pre-order!).

there's nothing wrong with (food) love

I can look around at any family function and if I try hard enough I might find someone who is not sporting a spare tire or some love handles. Even when I do find such a person, odds are he or she is not a relative. We use food to show our love for one another, the more we give the better. You have to eat or you are insulting your abuela, your tia, and so on. We even secretly compete amongst each other to see whose food is better. I know this goes across many cultures and is not limited to my own, but these huge helpings of "love" can also hurt us since they are often the most buttery, sugary, greasy, salty dishes. We can still spread the love without spreading our waistlines. I always bring a vegan option to family/friendly function to prove that you do not lose your taste buds when you abandon animal products. I am forever sharing my new favorite recipes with co-workers in an effort to turn them out. I think I have a few converts in the making.

Even though I eat a lot healthier now, I am still carrying some extra pounds from the pre-vegan years. As someone who is overweight I sometimes get the feeling that people assume I am fat because I am having a sordid love affair with food or something like that. Maybe I did overdo it on the oreos and couch time during the teen years, but I think it is okay to love food as long as you love yourself enough to know what foods are best for you and which ones are not so great for you. Truth be told, I am actually having a love affair with food. There are so many things I would never have tried had I not crossed over to the v-side. Take cilantro for instance, when I was a kid I thought it was gross and smelled weird and did not want it anywhere near my plate. Now I have cilantro-gasms (if there is not a cilantro-inspired cologne, I am giving you the idea- go!).

(e)xpress yourself

I just gave up a little over forty dollars to get myself a Tofu Xpress in time for Vegan MoFo III. Is it too early to MoFo? I don't think so. At first the price seemed a bit high, but I think it will eventually save me a lot of time and maybe a bit of money too. I will be glad to not waste as many napkins and stop worrying that I have not lined up the plates and tomato cans correctly to most effectively press the tofu. I was thinking to buy two, but let's see how the first one works out. I secretly admit I am most excited to use it to get the excess water out of defrosted frozen spinach...nerd. I have to finish making late breakfast, peace!