I'm feeling so restless...

I start work on Monday and I feel like the clock is counting down. It's kind of like that feeling of dread at the end of summer when you're about to start classes. Even the interviewer told me to "enjoy my last weekend of freedom." I don't know what to do... do I try to enjoy myself or try to get all my things together/figure out my lunches/outfits for the next few days? I can't even hang with J because he needs to study for his exam.

The early hours are going to be so hard to get used to, but I need an early shift to beat the LA traffic. Sitting in an hour+ of traffic would be worse, but I hate getting up hours before the sun rises. Ugh, I'm dreading winter. I hate winter mornings...it's so hard to leave the comforts of a warm bed, it's nighttime dark outside in the mornings, my car windows are covered in dew or frost and my defroster takes ages to work, plus there's fog in the morning (this is what freaks me out the most, a craptacular driver on the 405 freeway in fog?!), add rain to that and I'll be one very grumpy commuter. I suppose I'll get used to it eventually.
.
.
.
A few pictures of food I've made in the past few months...

Lemon cake.


Pasta and salad. Lunch one day.


Homemade Granola. Made this the night before a picnic, it went great on top of fruit and yogurt.


Red Potato and Green Bean Salad. More picnic food, these were yummy.

Tofu Wings!


They were pretty yummy. :)

Recipe taken from Yeah, That "Vegan" Shit taken from "Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk!"

I MADE RIBZ!

And they were yummy! For some reason I was never a big rib eater when I was a non-veg, but that being said, these things were absolutely amazing and I want to make more soon! I even made my mom try them and she says they do taste like barbecued ribs.

The recipe is from Everyday Dish. I like watching their cooking videos because afterwards I want to go on a cooking spree.

Here's what you need for "Susan's Barbecued Seitan Ribz":

1 cup vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons peanut butter, tahini or other nut butter
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1 tablespoon soy sauce
about 1 cup barbecue sauce

Pretty simple. Go to the site, watch the video/read the recipe and then go coook!


That's a picture of the ribz on day two (yummy leftovers). There's rice, beans and then the ribs of course. Those are the ugly ribs, the cute ones were eaten first. :) Some yummy asparagus are one the plate as well, gotta have something green. The red sauce is a tomato sauce that my dad makes for barbacoa. I think I may try modifying this recipe by omitting the barbecue sauce and then tossing in some barbacoa seasonings next time. Mmmm, seitan rules.

And another picture just because:

Spinach Gnocchi!


I've never made Gnocchi before, but it's surprisingly easy to make. I did make it in a pretty lazy way though... I microwaved 2 red potatoes (1 small and 1 large) and 2 white potatoes (1 small and 1 large). I just used those potatoes because they were the only ones I had. Then I grated them with a fork, added about 2 cups of flour, and about 3/4ths cup of frozen/thawed spinach. Mix it up, roll it out into a long tube thing on top of a floured surface and chop off segments of about 1" long. Maybe a little bit longer.

Then use your thumb to roll the little segments off of a fork to make cute little stripy groves on them. Toss the gnocchi into a large pot of salted boiling water (don't throw all the gnocchi in at once, do several batches). As soon as these little suckers float to the top scoop them out! Don't leave them in any longer or you will end up with mush like I did with my first batch!

Then open up a jar of spaghetti sauce heat and toss it over the gnocchi. Simple.

And a picture of an apple crisp I made as well:

It was originally supposed to be an apple pie, but I made the gnocchi and a bunch of sausages beforehand, so I got too lazy to make a pie crust.

So...

I have far too much time on my hands lately... and I thought it would be interesting (to me, anyway) to take pictures of everything I ate for one whole day. But I forgot/got too lazy to get the camera after breakfast. So here is a picture of Friday's breakfast:



Tofu scramble (loosely based off of this recipe), peruano beans, romaine lettuce, avocado slices, a strip of Morningstar's bacon, ketchup, a slice of toasted whole wheat bread, and orange juice. It was yummy.

"Simple Apple Yogurt Cake"

I was craving a cheese danish a few nights ago so I hopped on the internet and searched for yummy vegan danish recipes. Then I found out that they took forever to make and I wanted sweetness now, but luckily I found a different recipe to satisfy my bread craving. I made what Susan, from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen, calls a "Simple Apple Yogurt Cake." But of course I was missing half of the ingredients so I made a bunch of substitutions, but it came out okay. I wasn't too crazy about how I could taste the brandy (the recipe actually called for rum, but I had none so I figured brandy was kinda the same thing...). I also ended up replacing the apple sauce with mashed bananas, the apple juice with soy milk, the plain soy yogurt with regular strawberry yogurt, and I skipped the raisins altogether because yuck.

Here's a picture:

Not much to look at, I know. The white patches, in case you are confused, are apple slices. I probably wouldn't make it again, but my Mom liked it and said I should. Hmm.

EDIT: I MADE THIS FOR EASTER, WITH THE SAME MODIFICATIONS AS BEFORE EXCEPT I ACTUALLY USED PLAIN YOGURT THIS TIME. I ALSO USED SOME WATER+SOY MILK IN PLACE OF THE APPLE JUICE. IT WAS MUCH BETTER. :)

Pizza!

I made 2 whole wheat pizzas and they were yummy. I'm really happy with the pizza dough recipe I've been using lately: Amazing Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
It's easy and it tastes good.

My sister is in love with Papa John's pizza, but I think it sucks because they put like 3 little pieces of bell pepper on it! Lame! I put a ton of veggies on mine. Yellow and green bell peppers, mushrooms, olives, tomato slices, onions, and small pieces of "pepperoni" seitan.



Pepperoni recipe story:
A few weeks ago I went crazy and decided to make two different kinds of pot stickers, veggie stuffed and "meat" stuffed. Well, I've been into making a ton of food so that I can freeze it and have insta-meals the next time I'm feeling lazy. :) So I made double the seitan that the pot sticker recipe called for and tossed it in the freezer. For the "pepperoni" I thawed and chopped the seitan and poured a little bit of soy sauce on them...and voilà instant pepperoni!

mmmm, I made Banana Bread!

I used the PPK's Banana Bread recipe and made a few minor [changes]:
-I skipped the apple cider vinegar because all I had was red wine vinegar and that didn't seem very banana-bread-like.
-I sprinkled raw sunflower seeds and flax seeds on top of the loaf before baking and it made the top part supper yummy.
-The suggested baking time of 60 to 70 minutes was a little bit too long (for my oven at least); I cooked it for ~57 minutes and it was a tad bit overdone on the bottom.

Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup margarine, at room temp
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
2 cups flour [I used whole wheat]
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar [I totally skipped the vinegar but added a bit more soy milk]
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice [I used pumpkin spice instead, 'cause I obviously don't have a well stocked spice rack]
1/2 teaspoon salt
[raw sunflower seeds]
[flax seeds]

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 8x4 bread pan with non stick cooking spray, or lightly coat with margarine.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

Cream together the margarine and sugars. Add bananas, soy milk and vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well. Pour batter into pan. [Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and flax seeds]. Bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes. [55 minutes for my oven].

Overall I give it a 4.5 out of 5 and will definitely make it again next time I have a bunch of rotting bananas. :)

MMM! Apple-Orange-Cranberry Salad


So Delish:

Green leaf lettuce
Peeled and chopped orange
Chopped granny smith apple (coat with lemon juice before adding to salad)
Chopped dried turkish apricots
Dried Cranberries
Raw sunflower seeds

If you're one of those people that insist on hiding the yummy natural flavors of your salads, use a basalmic vinaigrette.