Ilona's Vegan Pizza

My fellow foodie friend Ilona recently has been making some incredible vegan meals. She is an amazing cook. While many people spend years trying to figure out what it is that I eat, Ilona just jumps in and creates. First she made me an amazing pasta with grilled veggies and portabella mushrooms. Then she made Thai lettuce wraps. And last night - pizza! Tomato sauce base. Grilled vegetables, roasted red peppers, and vegan-rella "cheese". Yum! All this comes at a time I do not feel like cooking (heat related??) so I am incredibly grateful and look forward to having her over to return the favor.   :)

Death of A Butterfly

All day yesterday, this butterfly walked around my deck, trying to take off. It never gave up all the way up until the end. Striving for flight.

Vegan BLT

Michael shared some of tomato bounty with me, immediate craving for BLT. For the "B", I used the recipe for Eggplant Bacon from Appetite for Reduction (pg. 42) which involved roasting eggplant slices, then dipping them in a mixture of soy sauce and liquid smoke - great texture!

Forty-Clove Chickpeas & Broccoli

From Isa Moskowitz's latest book, AFR (pg. 125) - easy, minimal effort.... Also added new potatoes as mentioned in this blog.....
Served with Isa's Everyday Chickpea-Quinoa Salad.

Pizza for Wendy & Rudy

Tomatoes, "Gimmee Lean Sausage", onion, mushrooms sauteed in Bragg's, and jalapeno - very good!

Tofu & Vegetables with Thai Peanut Sauce

From this recipe. Steamed broccoli & green onions and used leftover veggies from kebabs.

Cosmic Cashew Kale and Chickpeas with Confetti Quinoa

My love of kale is soaring to new heights with much gratitude to this recipe.
The cashew sauce was 1) easy and 2) incredible - it thickened beautifully and was amazingly creamy.
If I have the occasion to cook for someone special in the near future, this will be the first pick...

May 21st 2011 - Documentation Photos

Landmark Day!

Mediterranean Bean & Kale Salad

Can't recall where exactly I got this recipe, but it was comprised of kale, shiitake mushrooms, tomato sauce, garlic, white beans, onion, spices and I added some "sausage" and leftover quinoa to it - another winner.

Everyday Chickpea-Quinoa Salad

From Moskowitz's Appetite For Reduction (pg. 16) with her Balsamic Vinaigrette (pg. 17) and Basic Baked Tofu (pg. 144).
Unreal. Especially the dressing.
Makes a ton too, so yay for leftovers!

The Hatching of Praying Mantis

From Margot's garden this morning....

Curried Chickpeas & Greens

Kale, and more kale. At least it's consistent :)
This recipe comes from Isa Chandra Moskowotz's Appetite For Reduction. This cookbook is brilliant and I will be referring back to this one for eons to come.
Kale simmered in spicy indian spiced tomatoes and onions with chickpeas. 

Thoughts From The Mat On My Birthday

First of all, I have to say that this was one of my better birthdays. Can't be sure as to why, but mentally, I am buzzing with contentment. (37 just feels better than 36).

Secondly, this little blog post is dedicated to Jenna. This is just in case she forgot a recent late evening conversation.

First some background, of which Jenna is already familiar. I am an amateur philosopher, always seeking and thinking to discover truths in life. Back in college, I came up with a life strategy I nicknamed the ISR Theory - the Individually Socially Responsible Theory. It was based on my discoveries at the time, which was something like this - you should do what makes you happy, it feels good to help others, it's each person's duty to be civic minded. I thought the key to life was to live a  life based on making yourself happy by doing for other individuals as well as the greater good. I still believe in this, and try to live my life this way, but my amateur outlook has been replaced by/updated with all sorts of experts and authors I've found/read that word all this much better and more eloquently than I can. This theory was very much based on present happiness.

Fast forward to now.

This past year, I learned a little trick that has helped me make better decisions, a mental "tweak" if you will. I started to do things not only to make myself happy, but more with the goal that I wanted to make my Future Self happy. Whether it be the choice not to have that extra glass of wine in the evening (that makes my future self happy even if doesn't make my present self happy) to preparing the coffee maker to go off with the alarm in the morning. This mindset has spilled over into all sorts of areas in my life, monetary decisions, work decisions, dietary and exercise decisions, and so on.

As the year went on, I've adjusted this. Not only do I strive to make my Future Self happy, I want to make my Future Self Proud. Oh yes.... Proud. This attitude has kicked things up a notch in a BIG way. What can I DO today (and in some cases, not do) to make the Valerie of tomorrow Proud?

Pretty powerful.
It rocks.
As does this song...

Mustard Greens, Bok Choy, Mushrooms, Tofu & Shallots

All sauteed in a bit of tamari with garlic, red pepper flakes and ginger - incredible!

Island Life

Stumbled upon this book review for The Watery Part of the World by Michael Parker... the following paragraph really made me think about living on the Outer Banks...

"The dilemmas of Parker’s characters made me think often of a line from a Mary Oliver poem: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
In each character’s excuses, rationales and fears that made up their reasons for staying on the island there’s a hint of a bad relationship we can’t leave. A decision that keeps us stuck someplace. An old history we can’t break out of. A retreat that becomes a prison."

A retreat that becomes a prison??
Hmmmm....