…Even though it’s two days after Thanksgiving now.  Happy four day weekend!  I’ve been taking the opportunity to sleep in and take care of business.

This year, for the first time, Dave and I decided to stay home for Thanksgiving.  We invited our friends Tom and Hope over and had a nice, intimate, huge feast.  I even decorated the table like a real adult.

And made a centerpiece, Martha Stewart-style.

We started with appetizers.  This is the Walnut Mushroom Pate from Veganomicon with some crackers, carrot sticks and peppadews (mild pickled peppers).  Tom and Hope’s dog Lucy also came over and I had forgot that she really loves to eat carrots, so that was a nice treat for her.

Since we were sitting down to a real dinner, I included soup and salad on the menu.  For the soup I wanted to keep the flavors simple and express my new found love for cardamom.

Roasted Butternut Squash & Orange Soup with Pistachio Dust

1 large butternut squash (3-4 lbs), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large shallots, quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 Tbs virgin coconut oil, melted
3 cups vegetable broth
1 large orange, zested and supremed
2 Tbs orange liqueur (optional)
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp cumin
1-2 pinches cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
5-6 grinds freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup shelled pistachios, lightly toasted
2 fresh sage leaves, minced

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or foil.  Divide the squash, shallots and garlic among the pans, add 1 Tbs of melted coconut oil to each pan and stir to coat the vegetables.  Roast for 45 minutes, stirring once halfway through.  Allow to cool slightly.
2. Place half of the vegetables in a blender, add half of the broth and blend until smooth.  Pour into a large pot.  Place the remaining vegetables and broth in the blender and add the orange segments, orange liqueur, cardamom, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper.  Blend until smooth and add to the pot.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
3. Heat the soup gently over medium heat, stirring often and turning down the heat if it starts bubbling.
4. Meanwhile, place the pistachios in a food processor and process into the size of fine breadcrumbs.  Add the sage and 1 tsp orange zest and pulse to combine.
5. To serve, ladle the warm soup into bowls and top with the pistachio dust.

Servings: 6

Amount Per Serving
Calories 365.04
Calories From Fat (23%) 82.37
% Daily Value
Total Fat 9.73g 15%
Saturated Fat 4.65g 23%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 185.43mg 8%
Potassium 1661.7mg 47%
Total Carbohydrates 66.3g 22%
Fiber 7.74g 31%
Sugar 9.44g
Protein 8.82g 18%

Our salad was the Roasted Fennel and Hazelnut Salad with Shallot Dressing from Veganomicon.  I first made this a few weeks ago and couldn’t find the chicory it called for, so I had it with mixed greens and butter lettuce, and after trying it with chicory I have to say that the bitter greens make all the difference in balancing the sweet elements of the salad.  I also learned that I like whole hazelnuts.  Delicious!

I didn’t want to hold my fellow diners up, so I didn’t get pictures of all the individual dishes.  Here is my plate.

For my “main” I had a chickpea cutlet from the freezer with some cranberry sauce that Hope brought.  The roasted brussels sprouts are this recipe, chosen because I found out that neither Tom nor Hope likes brussels, and I was determined to show them that they’re good.  They both tried them and said they’re okay, but they’re still not brussels fans.  I can try, no?

These rolls are the Homestyle Potato Rolls fromVeganomicon.  Yes, I relied heavily on Veganomicon for our meal.  It’s a great cookbook filled with a lot of fall-appropriate recipes.  Anywho, the bread dough was really nice and easy to work with, and it expanded even while in the fridge overnight.  I served the bread with some herbed butter.  I mean, herbed Earth Balance.

Dave requested chunky mashed potatoes with the skins, and lots of them so he could have leftovers.  I added a bunch of Earth balance, almond milk, truffle salt and black pepper to get ‘em tasting good.  Everyone else enjoyed turkey gravy, but I came up with this red wine gravy as my contribution.  It’s not the best looking color of gravy, but it tastes quite nice.

Red Wine Gravy

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup vegetable broth, at room temperature
1/2 cup almond milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 Tbs tamari
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs nutritional yeast

1. Heat a medium pot over medium heat and add the olive oil.  Sprinkle the flour into the pot and whisk immediately to make a smooth paste.  Cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.  Add the broth, milk, wine and tamari and turn up the heat to medium-high.  Bring to a boil and cook, stirring frequently, until thickened.  Turn the heat down if the gravy is bubbling too much.  Add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the nutritional yeast.  Serve hot.

Servings: 8

Amount Per Serving
Calories 102.56
Calories From Fat (61%) 63.06
% Daily Value
Total Fat 7.15g 11%
Saturated Fat 0.94g 5%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 262.38mg 11%
Potassium 44.39mg 1%
Total Carbohydrates 5.03g 2%
Fiber 0.87g 3%
Sugar 0.18g
Protein 2.28g 5%

And of course, I had to make green bean casserole.  It’s my quintessential Thanksgiving dish.  Dave said that the ones I had made in the past were good but could have more flavor, so I set out to create my own version, and I have to say that it was probably the best green bean casserole I’ve ever had.  I wanted to make everything from scratch instead of using store bought fried onions, and I tried to inject as much flavor as possible at every step.

Green Bean Casserole

1 1/2 lbs green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 lb mixed wild mushrooms, diced (I used chanterelle, oyster and shiitake)
6 Tbs high heat sunflower oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp fresh thyme, minced
1 large shallot, minced
5 Tbs all purpose flour, divided
1 cup vegetable broth, at room temperature
1 cup almond milk, at room temperature
2 Tbs sherry
1 small onion, thinly sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place the green beans in a steamer over simmering water and steam for 20 minutes, until beans are tender.  Set aside.
3. Meanwhile, heat a large pan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and thyme and saute for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Add the mushrooms and continue to cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Set aside.
4. Place a small pot over medium heat and add 3 Tbs of the oil.  Add the shallots and cook for 5 minutes, until they are starting to turn translucent.  Add 3 Tbs of the flour and whisk to form a smooth paste.  Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Add the vegetable broth and whisk to combine.  Turn the heat up to medium-high and bring to a boil, whisking frequently.  Once the sauce has thickened slightly, add the milk and sherry and continue to cook, whisking frequently, until thickened.  Combine the green beans, mushroom mixture and sauce in a baking dish.
5. Combine the sliced onion and 2 Tbs flour in a bowl and toss with your hands to coat.  Heat a medium pan over medium-high heat and add the remaining 2 Tbs of oil.  Add the onions and any remaining flour to the pan, stir to combine and cook until most of the onions have browned, stirring frequently.  Pour the onions on top of the green bean mixture and spread evenly.
6. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes and serve hot.

Servings: 8

Amount Per Serving
Calories 192
Calories From Fat (50%) 96.94
% Daily Value
Total Fat 10.97g 17%
Saturated Fat 1.12g 6%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 30.35mg 1%
Potassium 497.72mg 14%
Total Carbohydrates 20.21g 7%
Fiber 2.73g 11%
Sugar 2.26g
Protein 4.85g 10%

For dessert, I attempted to veganize the Cranberry Upside Down Cake from the latest issue of Eating Well magazine.

It tasted alright, but it refused to upside-down itself from my cast iron pan, so we had it rightside-up.  That’s what I get for making the recipe the first time that day.

We ate, we chatted, we had some wine and Dogfishhead Chicory Stout, and we watched Elf.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

For my Natural Chef courses at Bauman College, I have to turn in a homework assignment at the end of each section.  These homework assignments involve either creating or adapting recipes, preparing at least one of them (I prepare them all), and writing up some different reports such as health benefits, recipe scaling or cost analysis.  I won’t bore you with those drab details, but I do plan on sharing my homework recipes as school goes on.  I always like to give myself an extra challenge, so I am trying to create all my homework recipes from scratch rather than adapting.

For our first homework assignment, we were to create three recipe for one meal – either breakfast, lunch or dinner.  I chose dinner and used some ingredients that had arrived in my CSA box that week.

Multigrain Sesame-Beet Pilaf

I designed this recipe to make for dinner after work, thus the short soaking time for the grains.  If you have more time you can soak the grains for up to eight hours, although they may need less cooking liquid.  The flavor is earthy and almost bland in a good way.

1/4 cup long grain brown rice, soaked for two hours
1/4 cup millet, soaked for two hours
1/4 cup amaranth, soaked for two hours
1/4 cup quinoa, soaked for two hours
1/4 cup arame
2 cups vegetable broth or water
1 1/2 Tbs minced fresh ginger
4 beets, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
greens from four beets, sliced thinly and rinsed
1 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbs tamari
2 Tbs sesame seeds

1. Drain and rinse the grains separately and set aside.
2. Place the arame in a small pot and add just enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat, turn the heat off, and allow the arame to soak for 15 minutes.  Drain and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, Bring the vegetable broth or water to a boil in a medium pot over medium high heat.  Add the brown rice and ginger, stir, cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium low.  The water should be just barely simmering.  Cook for 10 minutes.
4. Add the millet, amaranth and diced beets.  Stir, cover and continue to cook for 10 more minutes.
5. Add the quinoa and arame.  Stir, cover and cook for 20 more minutes.
6. While the grains are cooking, place the sesame seeds in a small pan over medium heat, and toast just until fragrant and turning darker, shaking the pan often.  Remove from the heat.
7. When there are only a few minutes left in the cooking time, add the beet greens to the grains and mix well.  The greens will wilt quickly.
8. Remove from the heat and stir in the sesame oil and tamari.  Serve topped with toasted sesame seeds.

Servings: 4

Amount Per Serving
Calories 310.06
Calories From Fat (21%) 65.12
% Daily Value
Total Fat 7.54g 12%
Saturated Fat 1.33g 7%
Cholesterol 1.23mg <1%
Sodium 1191.41mg 50%
Potassium 778.37mg 22%
Total Carbohydrates 51.19g 17%
Fiber 9.24g 37%
Sugar 5.81g
Protein 11.1g 22%

Spicy Daikon Slaw

2 medium daikon radishes
2 medium carrots
1 small head of red cabbage
juice of 1 small orange (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 Tbs agave nectar
1/2 tsp ground allspice
pinch ground red pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1. Place the vegetables in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Combine all of the remaining ingredients except olive oil in a small bowl.  Add the olive oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly.
3. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and mix well.  Serve immediately.

Servings: 5

Amount Per Serving
Calories 143.53
Calories From Fat (53%) 76.27
% Daily Value
Total Fat 8.65g 13%
Saturated Fat 1.16g 6%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 252.63mg 11%
Potassium 524mg 15%
Total Carbohydrates 16.6g 6%
Fiber 4.09g 16%
Sugar 8.92g
Protein 2.34g 5%

Asian Pear Crisp with Sweet Sake

300 ml organic sweet sake, or about 1 1/4 cups
1 Tbs agave nectar
4 asian pears, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3 Tbs spelt flour
3 Tbs rolled or old-fashioned oats
2 Tbs virgin coconut oil, softened
2 Tbs Earth Balance, softened
pinch sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place five 5-6 ounce ramekins on a baking sheet.
2. Pour the sake and agave nectar into a small pot and stir.  Heat over medium high heat until boiling then reduce heat to medium.  Boil, stirring often, until liquid is reduced by 1/2.  Take off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
3. Place the diced pears in a medium mixing bowl.  Pour the cooled sake over the pears, and sprinkle the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg over the mixture.  Mix well.
4. In a small mixing bowl, combine the spelt flour, oats, coconut oil and Earth Balance.  Mix well.
5. Divide the pear mixture between the ramekins.  Spoon the oat mixture over each portion, dividing evenly.
6. Bake the crisps for 30 minutes, and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Servings: 5

Amount Per Serving
Calories 273.38
Calories From Fat (35%) 95.05
% Daily Value
Total Fat 10.84g 17%
Saturated Fat 6.34g 32%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 106.22mg 4%
Potassium 195.3mg 6%
Total Carbohydrates 26.96g 9%
Fiber 5.36g 21%
Sugar 10.15g
Protein 2.97g 6%

I had decided not to take any pictures during class so that I could focus, but luckily for me two of my classmates have taken it upon themselves to take pictures and share with the rest of us, so I will be able to share some of the dishes I am enjoying in class.  There wasn’t much from the first section though, as we were focusing on very practical things such as knife skills, sanitation and culinary math.  I will definitely include some school food pictures in future posts.

This is gonna be another long one, so I’ll keep the text concise!  I present to you a collection of all food-centric events I have attended in the last few months.

In early September we celebrated Dave’s birthday.  We invited a bunch of people over and made a bunch of food.

The usual pretty veggie tray.

Tasty guac.

I usually like to go a little crazy with birthday cakes, but Dave requested vanilla with vanilla, so that is what he got.  Not my best decorating effort, but it tasted really good!

The next day I headed out to Dolores Park in San Francisco to meet with some PPKers for a Labor Day potluck picnic.  I had spent most of my time getting ready for the party, so my picnic donation was non-labor intensive – chili cheese dog casserole.  It was literally layers of hot dog bun, sliced veggie dogs, veggie chili and cheesy sauce baked in the oven, and it was actually quite good!  I didn’t get any individual food pictures cause it was kind of awkward since everything was on the ground.

First plate, clockwise from noon:  tofu noodle salad, bread with spinach dip, purslane potato salad, grilled tofu with pesto, chili cheese dog casserole, bbq black eyed peas, empanada, tempeh salad sandwich and corndog nugget with sweet and spicy mustard.

Dessert plate:  on bottom, orzo salad and chicken fried tempeh that weren’t there my first time through.  Cinnamon bun, apple pie, chocolate thumbprint cookie, banana bread, baklava, pear crisp and an oatmeal cookie.

It was a beautiful day with great food and great company.  Dolores Park is a very interesting place, full of interesting people.  We definitely saw one person get arrested!

We went to the Niners season opener, which meant tailgating.  Dave was making carne asada tacos, so I made a roasted corn coleslaw with chili lime dressing to go along.  The frozen roasted corn from Trader Joe’s was really good in it.

I also made marinated portobello tacos with grilled onions and peppers, hot sauce and cilantro.  This was a great tailgating meal.

I felt like doing a thematic dessert, and the best I could come up with was “Gold Rush Blondies”.  I forget which recipe I used now, but these tasty blondies had both chocolate and butterscotch chips.

The next weekend we were invited to a potluck birthday party for Dave’s uncle’s partner.  I wanted to take enough so that I would have a full meal if there wasn’t anything else I could eat.  I made Hannah’s Sesame Noodles, adding edamame.

I also made Fat Free Vegan’s Mini Crustless Tofu Quiches, but now I forget which veggies I used.  Some people said they couldn’t tell that it wasn’t “real” quiche.

The hosts have working on their house for years, and they have really great style and throw fun parties.  I joke with them that every time I go over there they’ve rearranged their furniture or bought something new.  Here we are hanging out in “the lounge”, which used to be a second bedroom that they’ve turned into a 70’s style hangout.  You can’t really tell from this picture, but this is a really cool room.

That’s me and Dave in the back and our friends Tom and Hope in the front.  They had some mighty powerful mai tais!

Last weekend I went down to Santa Cruz for a harvest-themed potluck at Amey’s house, again with the PPK crew.  The food was phenomenal, and I took lots of pictures!

Pretty salad

Pumpkin ziti

Stuffing

Persimmon spice pretzels

Potato coleslaw with cumin seeds

Buttercup gnocchi with mushrooms and butternut squash

Cranberry braised tempeh, and my terrible handwriting (recipe below)

First plate

Dessert!  Harvest pie with mooses

Amey’s beautiful caramels

Chocolate chip peanut butter banana bread

Puppy chow

Apple cake

Dessert plate, also featuring “Emporer’s Pie”, this amazing pie with vanilla-scented rum custard and satsuma curd.

Cranberry Braised Tempeh

The tempeh turns an interesting mauve color after marinating, but it is very moist and flavorful.  I adapted the recipe from the Bauman College Cookbook that we use at school, where it was adapted from the Delicious Living website.

16 oz tempeh
1 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 cups apple juice
2 shallots, chopped
1 orange, zested and juiced
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cinnamon stick
2 Tbs maple syrup
2 Tbs tamari
1 Tbs fresh ginger, grated, or 1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 pinch cayenne pepper

1. Cut each block of tempeh in half horizontally, creating two thinner rectangles of equal size.  Cut each rectangle into quarters, and each quarter into two triangles.  Place the tempeh in a pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.  Drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, place the cranberries in a small pan and add apple juice, shallots, orange zest and juice, sea salt and cinnamon stick.  Bring to a boil and cook 15 minutes or until cranberries are soft.  Remove cinnamon stick.  Carefully pour the cranberry mixture into a blender and add the remaining ingredients (maple syrup through cayenne).  Blend until smooth.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
3. Place tempeh in a baking dish and pour cranberry sauce over the tempeh.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Bake the tempeh, covered, for 20 minutes.  Remove the cover and continue to bake for another 20 minutes.
5. Using tongs, transfer the tempeh to a serving platter.  Carefully pour the cranberry sauce into a saucepan.  If you wish, you can pour it through a strainer.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook until reduced to a saucy consistency, about 30 minutes.  Pour the cranberry sauce over the tempeh and serve.

Servings: 6

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/6 of a recipe (11.6 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 317.7
Calories From Fat (23%) 71.63
% Daily Value
Total Fat 8.57g 13%
Saturated Fat 1.76g 9%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 440.3mg 18%
Potassium 910.97mg 26%
Total Carbohydrates 48.3g 16%
Fiber 2.72g 11%
Sugar 13.18g
Protein 18.31g 37%

Just a quick post about my dinner tonight.  I’ve been making a lot of more complicated meals for school, so for tonight I wanted something really easy to put together.

Pizza!  Crust and sauce from Trader Joe’s, mushrooms, onions, peppers, seitan pepperoni and mozzarella Teese.  So good.  I intended to eat one fourth of the pizza for dinner and may or may not have ended up eating over half of it because it was so good.  Nom nom nom nom…

When I received lavender in my CSA a while back, I had absolutely no idea what to do with it.  I had heard that if you use too much culinary lavender food can taste soapy, so I set about finding a few ways to use it well.

First, I adapted the White Bean Hummus with Fresh Thyme and Basil from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.  All I really changed were the herbs – I used fresh thyme, rosemary and lavender.  It was a bit on the soapy side, so I probably used just a bit too much.

Next, I adapted this recipe for Peppered Lavender Beef.  Really, I just stole the seasoning mix idea.  I ground up black and white peppercorns, fennel seeds, thyme and lavender, rubbed it on some extra firm tofu, and baked it.  I really like the method of dry rubbing and baking tofu, it gives the tofu a great texture.  I served the tofu with dijon sauce, scalloped zucchini and slow roasted tomatoes.  You can tell this is from over a month ago, when zucchini and tomatoes were still in season!

Lastly, and possibly most successfully, I adapted this recipe for Apple Lavender Muffins, making it vegan, whole grain and lower-fat.  These muffins are moist with a large crumb, and lightly sweet and flavorful.  The original recipe yielded 12 muffins, but somehow my batter was only enough for 9.

Apple Lavender Muffins

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup almond milk
1 Tbs lavender flowers
2 Tbs unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbs walnut oil or other mild-flavored oil
1 medium apple, peeled and diced (about 1 cup), divided

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Spray nine muffin tins with oil or line with muffin cups.

3. In large bowl, sift together flours, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in center.

4. In separate bowl, whisk together almond milk, lavender, applesauce and oil. Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir gently just until batter is evenly moistened. Fold in 1/2 cup of the apples.

5. Fill prepared muffin tins about three-quarters full. Gently tap filled tins to release any air bubbles.

6. Sprinkle remaining diced apple over muffins. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes our clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool muffins in pan about 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.

Yield: 9 muffins

Amount Per Serving
Calories 147.8
Calories From Fat (24%) 34.82
% Daily Value
Total Fat 3.95g 6%
Saturated Fat 0.39g 2%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 246.44mg 10%
Potassium 55.61mg 2%
Total Carbohydrates 26.99g 9%
Fiber 2.41g 10%
Sugar 12.72g
Protein 2.3g 5%

Get thee some lavender and make these muffins!

Geez, it’s been a long time since I posted my foods!  I’ll try to keep my rambling and descriptions short, since I’ve got a lot of pictures!

8-27 CSA:  corn, rosemary, pears, zucchini, cucumber & lavender

onions, figs, tomatoes, beets, squash & honeydew melon

When I got this CSA box, I was actually growing tired of snacking on fresh figs.  Gasp!  I’m spoiled, I know.  I decided to make a poached fig salad, based on a recipe I found online that I can’t find again now!  Which is a shame, cause it was really good.  The fresh figs were poached in a whole bottle of port, then the wine was reduced down to a syrup.  There was also a simple vinaigrette, pisatchios, shallots and faux feta cheese.  The poached figs were STRONG, but good.  I also had some herbed pumpkin seed crackers.

I had taken note of the Teriyaki Quinoa recipe in Eat, Drink & Be Vegan during my August cleanse but didn’t get a chance to try it then.  I’m glad I tried it afterwards, because I love it!  It’s so simple – just cook the quinoa and mix it with the sauce.  I served the quinoa with stir-fried veggies (seasoned only with tamari and ume plum vinegar), and instead of sprinkling with sesame seeds as the recipe called for, I used some sesame gomasio that I had bought for no specific reason.

Quinoa close-up!  Looks like…quinoa…

I had a huge heirloom tomato sitting around doing absolutely no good, and I decided I wanted to slice it up for a grilled cheese sandwich.  There’s a big hole in the middle cause the tomato had a big, tough core that had to be cut out.

I wanted to make bread machine bread for my sandwich and…FAIL.  I modified a multigrain bread machine recipe that I found online and it really didn’t rise at all.  It was edible but incredibly dense.  I don’t know if the recipe was bad or if it was the fact that I used the time delay feature and the ingredients sat there for hours before the machine started mixing.

The cheese in the sandwich is the Gooey Grilled Cheese from The Uncheese Cookbook, which I love.  I also love pickles on grilled cheese.  On the side was broccoli and cucumber with goddess dressing, and oven-baked beet chips.

I had corn and squashes left over from the CSA box, and thought they would make nice side dishes for black-eyed-pea gravy and biscuits.  I have no idea where I got the gravy idea from, but it worked out.

For the biscuits, I used Happy Herbivore’s Whole Wheat Low Fat Biscuit recipe, and they turned out quite well!  I rolled mine out and cut them into circles with a glass though, rather than just dropping them like the recipe calls for.  That way you get the flaky sides, and they’re easy to cut in half.

Gravy close-up!  The gravy turned out okay, but it was a little too acidic and the onions weren’t cooked enough, so I need to work on it a bit before I have an official recipe.  For the creamed corn, I just cooked some corn kernels till tender, blended up some of them in the food processor, added it back to the pan with some soy milk and cooked a bit just to thicken.  The squash and zucchini were sauteed with probably a pinch too much red pepper flakes.

9-10 CSA:  lettuce, thyme, zucchini, swiss chard & grapes

tomatoes, plums, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, garlic & oranges

There’s nothing particularly special about this salad, except that it was topped with Annie’s French Dressing, which I had never seen before and like a lot.

With the abundance of tomatoes in this CSA box, I thought I ought to try my hand at making gazpacho.  I’d had gazpacho before a number of times but never made it.  Turns out it’s ridiculously easy to make!  The blender does most of the work.  I followed the recipe from Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons and it was perfect.

On the side is a slice of Bianca’s awesome Whole Wheat Beer Bread.  I grew up eating beer bread, and this totally hit the spot.  I added FYH cheddar and some rosemary just cause I could.  I also totally screwed up and mis-read the recipe.  I thought the bread only baked for 30 minutes, so I pulled it out then, let it cool, and was totally surprised that my first slice was completely raw in the middle!  Then I re-read the recipe – doh!  It bakes for 55 minutes.  The slice on my plate up there went in the toaster oven just to finish, which is why it looks funny, and the rest of the loaf went back in the oven.  Read your recipes all the way through, people!

9-24 CSA:  swiss chard, lettuce, cucumber & more lettuce

beets, tomatoes, red onions, grapes & peppers.  I also got a galia melon but it didn’t find its way into the picture.

Another sandwich, this time on store-bought sprouted bread.  I had an avocado ready to use, and thought it would go perfectly with the CSA tomato and lettuce in a great sandwich.  I was thinking along the lines of a BLT, so I sauteed tempeh then glazed it with soy sauce, maple syrup and liquid smoke.  Delicious!  The sandwich also had red onion jam, spicy mustard and a slice of vegan cheese.  Those nuclear chips in the front there are Buffalo Chips from Food Should Taste Good.  They didn’t really taste buffalo-y, but they were tangy and spicy and good.  If you haven’t tried Food Should Taste Good chips yet, do so!  They feel so much lighter than other chips, and their flavors are fun and imaginative.

10-8 CSA:  arugula, lettuce, acorn squash, more lettuce & baby bok choy

plums, potatoes, apples, oranges, tomatoes, onions, peppers & beets

I haven’t done anything with last week’s CSA box yet, but…there it is.

Laptop lunches!  I don’t have the time these days to neatly pack everything every night, but I do when I can.

9-8 pasta salad, steamed carrots, beanie weenies, cauliflower

9-10 biscuit & black-eyed pea gravy, creamed corn, spicy sauteed squash

9-15 cheddar-rosemary beer bread, gazpacho, baked beans, grapes

9-17 sesame noodles, sauteed cabbage, grapes

9-28 peppers lavender tofu, scalloped zucchini,
slow roasted tomatoes, grapes

10-1 multigrain sesame-beet pilaf, spicy daikon slaw, gf corn muffin, grapes

Bonus Jake.

And armless Jake.

It seems like I’ve got a lot of new stuff going on lately.  I’ve also received some new stuff and bought some new stuff.  Stuff!

Firstly, I started the Natural Chef program at Bauman College last week.  Although I haven’t actually cooked anything yet, I’ve been enjoying it a lot.  Our sanitation and knife skills classes are this week, and after that we can get into the kitchen.

Yesterday after class I headed into San Francisco to check out Economy Restaurant Fixtures for some supplies.  They have just about everything you could need to start or run a restaurant, right down to salt and pepper shakers or menu covers.  It was kind of funny to see it all lined up on shelves.

Apron, chef’s pants, knife roll, paring knife and knife covers.  I’ll look so official!  I also picked up some small stuff for home cooking – ramekins, a fine wire mesh strainer and large piping tips.

It was recommended to purchase a recipe management program, and I went with Living Cookbook after reading lots of reviews on Amazon.  So far I’m very happy with the software, and am working on importing all of my collected loose recipes.  One of the great features is having nutrition information for each recipe, like you can see at the end of this post.

I found myself with just a bit of extra money last month, so I bought some e-books that were on my wish list for a long time.

Sneak Peak and Pudge-Free Holidays by Lindsay of Happy Herbivore, and Impossible Pies and Lunchbox Bites by Hannah of Bittersweet.  I haven’t made anything from any of them yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

I also ordered Swell zine from A-K of Swell Vegan, and bought The Joy of Vegan Baking as a total splurge at Rainbow Grocery yesterday.  Haven’t even looked through either yet!

I don’t get over to Rainbow very often, but I happened to be in SF yesterday so I made sure to swing by to stock up on Teese and other such specialties.  I wasn’t looking for creamer, but I saw this coconut milk creamer by So Delicious and figured I’d give it a try.  I normally use Silk or Trader Joe’s brand soy creamer, but I’m not in love with either.  I tried the coconut creamer this morning and the verdict isn’t quite in yet, but I think I’m going to like it.  The flavor is pretty natural, with a little hint of coconut, and I only had to use about a Tablespoon, as opposed to the soy creamers which it seems I need to use more than one serving to achieve my preferred creaminess.  I haven’t seen this coconut creamer on my side of the bay yet, so I’m hoping that Berkeley Bowl or Whole Foods will pick it up soon.

A while back, my mom asked if I wanted anything from Pampered Chef because she was going to a Pampered Chef party.  I said there was nothing I needed, but made a few small suggestions.  A few weeks later she sent me a big box full of stuff!  It included a garlic peeler, garlic slicer, bamboo cooking tools, a stoneware baking sheet, chow chow relish, rice chips, glazed pecans and Southern Living magazine.  It also included a cookbook published by my parent’s church, chock-full of good old southern recipes.  My mom is the best!

Ever since hearing about the wonder of Kala Namak (black salt) on the internets and reading about it in Vegan Brunch, I’ve been looking everywhere for it.  For anyone who doesn’t know about black salt, it has a sulfuric aroma and flavor, which helps to simulate egginess.  I finally decided to just order it on the internet, and did so at Salt Works.  This 9.5 oz jar was only $7.95, and they offered free shipping in September, so I think I scored a pretty good deal.  This jar will last me a long time…

…making dishes like this!  This is the tofu omelet from Vegan Brunch.  I made the mushroom filling with white and shiitake mushrooms because the store was out of cremini, and substituted chard for the spinach because it’s what I had.  I also added some shredded cheddar Teese inside and on top, and broiled the omelet for a few minutes at the end to melt the Teese.  In the back is a roasted sweet potato hash with ketchup.  I had high hopes for these omelets after reading rave reviews, and they lived up to them.  It’s not exactly like a real omelet, but I think it’s the best simulation you could make without actual eggs.

This isn’t new, per say, but it’s new for this year.  I caught a glimpse of Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale and had to have it!  It’s my favorite pumpkin beer, although Shipyard Pumpkinhead is really good too.  Gotta get it while it’s available.

And finally, a first for me:  I won a blog contest!  Alisa over at One Frugal Foodie hosted a contest to get rid of some cookbooks she didn’t need, and I won a copy of Nonna’s Italian Kitchen by Bryanna Clark Grogan.  Score!

That’s it for today.  Between going to school and working full time, I’m unfortunately not going to be able to post as often as usual, which wasn’t that often anyway.  I’ll probably have some interesting things to share from school – I have to make some recipes at home and write up reports for homework.  Either way, I’ll try to keep posting at least a few times a month.

Speaking of the upcoming month, it’s time for VeganMoFo!  I won’t be able to participate this year, but for a full list of participants check out Kittee’s post.  I will certainly be perusing the list and hopefully discovering some new blogs.

Bonus Jake pictures!

Way back in July, Dave and I headed down to Gilroy for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival.  I’d seen the festival featured on Food Network a few times – imagine Marc Summers saying “They even have garlic ice cream!”.  Ever since I learned that we live within an hour’s drive of Gilroy, I have been determined to go.  I actually submitted a recipe to their recipe contest (and obviously did not make it to the finals) and had planned to go on Saturday to watch the recipe contest cook-off, but when I found out that Fabio Viviani from season five of Top Chef was hosting the celebrity chef cook-off on Sunday, my mind was made up.  I wanted to see Fabio in person!

Arriving at the festival, it was a little overwhelming.  The festival was big, and it was HOT out that day.  It wasn’t moist-Florida-hot or dry-California-hot, but a disgusting mixture of the two that had us very uncomfortable the whole day.  Dave was hungry, so we headed straight for the food.

Most of the food signs looked a lot like this.  Garlic this, garlic that…you can imagine.  Dave opted for the crab garlic fries and said they were just okay.  I wasn’t very hungry, and did I mention it was HOT?  I waited on buying food.

The famous garlic ice cream!  Who knew they had different flavors?  Dave wanted to try this, but the line for free samples was hugely long and he wasn’t about to pay for something with that kind of grossness potential.

There wasn’t a whole lot of space in the bleachers around the cook-off stage, so we stopped by a few times just to see what was going on.  Fabio is just as hilarious off camera as he was on Top Chef.  He had a beer or two during the cooking time, and interacted a lot with the crowd, who was sitting close enough to talk to him without a microphone.

When there wasn’t a whole lot of action going on for him to talk about, he started giving out stage props to the audience, like watermelons and potted plants.  Hilarious, I tell you!

Jamie Lauren, also from season five of Top Chef, was competing as a celebrity chef.  She was very cool and collected.  As cool as you could’ve been that day, I suppose.  The stage and most of the bleachers were under a sun-blocking tarp, but it was still HOT under there.

Fabio hugging Jamie while the judges tasted her food.  Super cute.

While we were leaving the stage area, I saw Ryan Scott from season four of Top Chef.  It was like meet-the-Top-Chef-contestants-day!  I wasn’t sure at the time what he was doing there – turns out he was competing, and actually won!  He must’ve been on the other side of the stage with his back to us, because I totally didn’t see him cooking.  He was really nice and took a picture with me, even though I was probably extremely sweaty by this point.

Just in case you wanted to see more sweaty me, here I am with Dave and one of the Christopher Ranch garlic guys that were all over the festival.

When I finally did get a bit hungry, this was the first vegan-friendly thing I could find, a spinach wrap with rice, grilled veggies, salsa and balsamic vinaigrette, ordered minus the cheese it came with.  It was decent and certainly filling, but not the garlic-fest I was hoping I would taste.  Walking around, the only other possible vegan option I could see was a falafel sandwich and maybe garlic fries.  It was fine, really, because the food there was quite expensive and I didn’t want more than one thing anyway.  We were hoping that there would be smaller portions available at lower prices, for sampling, but in true festival style, everything was overpriced.

One of the more well-known parts of the festival is probably “Gourmet Alley”, where they cook up big pans of different garlic dishes to serve two long rows of concession stands.  Every once in a while the guy on the left would pour in some wine and light a huge flame.  I felt bad for these guys, they probably lost half their weight in sweat that day!

On the way out I grabbed some garlic kettle corn.  It wasn’t as bad as it sounds!  It’s essentially kettle corn with garlic powder sprinkled on.  Lots of garlic powder.  The popcorn was good, but not something you want to eat a lot of, and not something you want to eat if you’re going to be within a five foot radius of another person for the next day.

All in all I had a nice time, but was very happy to get in the car and crank up the AC.  I would like to go back next year now that I know what to expect, unless it’s that hot again, in which case I will just relive my experience by re-reading this post.

Here is the recipe I submitted for the contest, if you are curious or feel like making a tasty-but-complicated garlicky recipe.  I wanted to go the southern root and do something they might not see from another contestant and the dish is actually very good, but I definitely went too complicated and if I submit a recipe next year I’ll tone it down.  The winner this year was a Garlic Butter Cookie, which sounds disgusting in a strangely intriguing sort of way.

Garlic-Crusted Grit Cakes with Succotash Hash, Mango-Habanero Sauce & Quick Pickles

This recipe is lengthy, but steps 1-5 can be done ahead of time or the night before.

Pickles:
2 cucumbers, peeled, halved and seeded
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp kosher salt

Grit Cakes:
2 Tbs margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups water
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup quick grits

Mango-Habanero Sauce:
1 mango, diced
1 habanero pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Succotash Hash:
1 1/2 lb white new potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 Tbs canola oil
medium white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
10 oz baby lima beans, fresh or frozen and thawed
1/2 lb okra, sliced, fresh or frozen and thawed
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
3 ears corn, kernels cut off (about 2 cups of kernels)
1 tsp liquid smoke
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 heaping Tbs fresh basil, chopped
1 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Garlic Crust:
20 cloves garlic
1/2 + 1/8 tsp kosher salt, divided
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
6-8 Tbs + 3/4 c plain soymilk, divided
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbs paprika

Garnish:
extra fresh parsley, chopped

1. To make the quick pickles: Cut each cucumber half into three pieces lengthwise then slice these pieces thinly. Whisk the remaining pickle ingredients (rice vinegar through salt) in a medium bowl; add the cucumbers. Stir to combine, cover, and refrigerate. It is okay if some cucumbers are not completely covered by liquid.

2. To make the grit cakes: Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute, being careful it doesn’t burn. Add the water, salt and pepper, and whisk together. Turn the heat up to medium-high and bring to a boil. Slowly pour in the grits while whisking; turn the heat down to medium-low. Cook 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Transfer the grits to a lightly oiled, square 8-inch X 8-inch cake pan, smoothing the top. Place pan on a trivet on the middle shelf in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.

3. To make the habanero-mango sauce: Place all sauce ingredients (mango through salt) in a blender and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Transfer to a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.

4. To make the succotash hash: Bring a shallow layer of water to a boil in a large pot with a steamer insert. Add the potatoes and turn the heat down to medium; cover the pot and steam for 10-12 minutes, just until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain the potatoes and set aside.

5. While the potatoes are cooking, stir the pickles. The cucumbers should have released some liquid and should all be submerged.

6. Once the potatoes are done, heat the canola oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté 5 minutes, until it starts to soften. Add the garlic and minced jalapeno; sauté 1 minute. Add the lima beans and okra and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the tomatoes and reserved potatoes and continue to cook for 7 more minutes. Add the remaining succotash ingredients (corn kernels through black pepper); stir well, and cook until the mixture is heated through. Turn heat to low and keep warm, stirring occasionally.

7. Remove the grit cake from the refrigerator and gently turn it onto a clean cutting surface. Cut the cake in half one way, then in thirds the other, to make 6 rectangles. Turn each rectangle onto one side and cut through the middle, making 2 thinner rectangles. Turn this flat again and cut diagonally, to make 4 triangles. Repeat with each rectangle, wiping off the knife as needed. This will yield 24 triangular grit cakes.

8. To make the garlic crust: Mince the garlic cloves; combine with the 1/2 tsp salt on a flat surface. Use the edge of a chef’s knife to scrape the garlic and salt mixture, turning it into a paste. Add the cornmeal and baking powder; mash together well with a fork to combine. Transfer the mixture to a wide, shallow bowl and whisk in the 6 Tbs soymilk. If the mixture is too thick, add more soymilk 1 Tablespoon at a time until it is a good consistency for coating the grit cakes. Pour the remaining 3/4 cup soymilk into a wide, shallow bowl. Mix the flour and paprika together, and place on a plate.

9. Heat a lightly oiled non-stick griddle over medium-high heat. Turn the oven on warm. Dip each grit cake in the soymilk, dredge in the flour and then the garlic mixture, making sure to coat both sides well with the garlic crust. Place on the griddle and cook for about 1 minute, until the crust is golden and fragrant. Flip and cook on the other side for another minute. With a spatula, remove the grit cake to a plate in the warm oven. Repeat until all grit cakes are coated and cooked, adding more oil to the griddle as needed.

10. To serve: Drizzle habanero-mango sauce onto each of 6 plates. Mound the succotash in the middle of the plates, then lean four grit cakes on the succotash with the skinny triangle point facing up. Using a slotted spoon to drain, place a spoonful of the pickles on top of the succotash. Drizzle with more sauce if desired, and sprinkle with fresh parsley.

Serves 6.

Nutrition Facts

Amount Per Serving
Calories 652.45
Calories From Fat (15%) 98.86
% Daily Value
Total Fat 11.77g 18%
Saturated Fat 2.01g 10%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 1934.92mg 81%
Potassium 1705.41mg 49%
Total Carbohydrates 133.69g 45%
Fiber 13.69g 55%
Sugar 33.06g
Protein 17.19g 34%

(I got a new recipe program that calculates nutritional information.  Neat, huh?  I want to figure out a way to post it to the blog in a nifty grid, but for now text will have to do.)

I’ve been putting this post off because I knew it was going to be a monster, and also between preparing for a friend to visit, said friend’s visit, and preparing for Dave’s birthday party this weekend I’ve been a very busy girl.

Day 22

This breakfast smoothie had banana, strawberries, peanut butter, flax, cocoa, agave, coconut milk.  This is probably my favorite smoothie combination, and for that reason I don’t let myself have it very often.  Saturday mornings are a good excuse!  I also took my multi and coQ10 and had coffee with coconut milk.  After breakfast I headed to the farmers market with no particular plan in mind.

kale, spinach in the back, persian cucumbers, celery, corn and okra

blueberries in the bag, peaches, baby eggplants, carrots, shallots, zucchini (they’re yellow and light green!), multicolored potatoes and a canary melon

When I returned home I had napa cabbage salad with spicy peanut sauce and smoked tofu.  I skipped my morning and afternoon snacks to keep it light in preparation for the evening’s activities – a vegan potluck housewarming party hosted by Megan and Kelly, The Sisters Vegan!  I decided in advance that I was going to cheat on the cleanse a little bit (how could I resist trying everything at a vegan potluck???), so I tried to make my contributions as healthy as possible.  I made my Potato & Fava Bean Salad with Miso-Mustard Dressing, except there were no favas at the farmers market so I went with lima beans instead.  A good substitution, but not at all the same as favas.  I didn’t get to snap a picture of the dish because I was running late.

I also wanted to make a wheat- and sugar-free dessert, so I consulted Diet, Dessert and Dogs and found a good looking recipe for Jam-Filled Turnovers.  Of course, I didn’t have any sugar-free jam at home, so I made my own and it probably wasn’t quite thick enough.  I also didn’t have coconut oil and couldn’t get any without driving almost an hour round trip, so I substituted canola oil and hoped for the best.

They didn’t turn out so well.  I could tell when I rolled out the dough that it was much too oily and soft, but I tried to put together some cookies anyway.  They were edible for sure, but not potluck party worthy, so I bagged ‘em up and left ‘em at home.  I don’t think this is the recipe’s fault at all – I think it’s a good recipe and I just made bad substitutions.

Oh, did I forget to mention that while I was baking and cooking I had two vodka tonics?  Yeah?  Well, there it is.  Again, that’s what Saturdays are for!  I had a great time at Megan and Kelly’s place, their house is super-cute!  Here’s my plate o’ food.

Sorry for the crazy redness, I couldn’t get my camera to take it any other way.  From top left going clockwise, this is hummus and some jalapeno sauce with pita chips, a delicious bagel bite with the new Daiya cheese made by Melisser, fruit salad, pesto pasta, my potato-lima bean salad, part of a sundried tomato scone, part of a blueberry muffin, and TWO types of corn dog nuggets with an awesome spicy-sweet mustard.  (Thanks for sharing wheat products with me Melisser!)  This was a really great meal, and far more than I should have eaten.  Now I see why people rave about those sundried tomato scones – so good!  I didn’t take a picture of dessert, but if memory serves me I had a snickerdoodle, a small chocolate thing (truffle?), a brownie, and there may have been another cookie involved.  This is why I shouldn’t wait almost three weeks to write blog posts.  Aaaand I had a few beers at the party too.

Day 23

Sunday morning, I didn’t have anything I wanted to put in a smoothie, so I made fruit salad.

Strawberries, banana and grapes with flax meal.  I also had coffee with coconut milk, a multivitamin and b complex supplement.  Lunch was napa cabbage salad with spicy peanut sauce and smoked tofu, along with spirulina and (four) jam turnover cookies.  Afternoon snack was a grapefruit.  I was planning on leftovers for dinner, but when I went to pick Dave and a friend up from bart and he suggested that he might pay for taqueria if I took them…

…this happened.  Rice, beans, salsa and chips.  It’s technically cleanse friendly, except for the rice not being whole grain.  It was also technically delicious.  Along with dinner, I had a beer or two.

Day 24

I woke up with a raging headache Monday morning and decided to stay home from work.  I don’t get migraines or anything, but I could tell this was the kind of headache that was going to stick around all day.

Luckily, I had already prepped my smoothie with spinach, banana, raspberries, chocolate hempshake, udo’s oil and coconut milk.  I also took my multi and coQ10 and had blueberry green tea.

For a snack, I cut into the canary melon from my CSA.  I had never had canary melon before, but apart from the bright yellow rind, I’d say it’s really similar to honeydew.

Lunch was the last of the napa cabbage salad with spicy peanut sauce and smoked tofu, as well as a probiotic, two blueberry jam turnovers and wild sweet orange tea.  My afternoon snack was also what I had prepped to take to work – carrot sticks, squash slices, red bell pepper and cucumber with white bean pesto dip.  Dinner was the last of the sesame tofu scramble with greens, yams, mushrooms and dulse over savory oat bran, two blueberry jam turnovers and camomile tea.  I was feeling much better by the end of the night and was able to work on some food for the next day.

Day 25

I was running late for work, so no picture of the smoothie, but it had spinach, banana, strawberries, berry pomegranate hempshake, udo’s and coconut milk, and I took a multi and b complex.   Morning snack was canary melon, a nectarine and black tea.  Also no picture of my lunch salad, which had leaf lettuce, baby romaine, mexi-millet from Veganomicon, black beans, guacamole and salsa.  There’s a picture below under Day 26 of basically the same salad.  I also took a spirulina with lunch, and my afternoon snack was carrot sticks, red bell pepper and cucumber slices with white bean pesto dip.

For dinner, I made a curried stew with many of the veggies I bought at the farmers market, plus some stuff hanging around the fridge.  This stew included onion, garlic, ginger, red jalapeno, curry paste, zucchini, eggplant, okra, corn, swiss chard, coconut milk, tofu and cilantro.  I was really happy with how this turned out and kind of wished I had written down a recipe.  After dinner I had two blueberry jam turnovers and wild sweet orange tea.

Day 26

This very tasty smoothie included spinach, banana, raspberries, vanilla rice protein, almond extract, udo’s, almond milk and agave.  I really liked adding the almond and vanilla flavors, and also took my multi and coQ10.  The morning snack was a peach, canary melon and black tea.

Here is a picture of the salad mentioned above – leaf lettuce, baby romaine, mexi-millet, black beans, guacamole and salsa, with bonus cilantro and green onions.  I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the mexi-millet, but I quite liked it.  It was nice and flavorful and moist.  With lunch I took a probiotic, and had almonds for an afternoon snack.

The curried stew thickened significantly sitting in the fridge overnight, but still tasted great.  After dinner I had the last four blueberry jam turnovers and sugar plum spice tea.

Day 27

Thursday was a great day, if only because I was taking Friday off to hang out with our friend Mike who was visiting from Florida.  This smoothie was made from spinach, banana, strawberries, chocolate hempshake, udo’s and almond milk, and I took my multi and b complex.  At work, I had coffee with almond milk and more canary melon.  Lunch was a similar salad to the day before, with leaf lettuce, baby romaine, mexi-millet, black beans, avocado, salsa and lime juice, and I had almonds for an afternoon snack.

After work I headed downtown to pick up Dave and Mike, who had been afternoon-bar-hopping, and went straight home to have time to prepare for our first fantasy football draft.  I always get really nervous before drafts for some reason, so I cracked open a beer pretty soon after arriving home to sooth my nerves.  After a few beers and what I consider a pretty good draft, I had more of the curried summer veggie stew.

Day 28

Friday morning I slept in, and we were too busy chatting and planning our day’s activities for breakfast.  To introduce Mike to the taqueria experience, we went pretty soon after they opened for what would have to be considered brunch.  I had chips and salsa and a taco salad (lettuce, tomatoes, rice, beans, guacamole, salsa).  I took only a few nibbles of the fried tortilla taco shell.  We stopped by the grocery store to pick up tailgating supplies for the Giants game, and upon returning home I had coffee with almond milk.

We left for San Francisco in the early afternoon to meet Dave’s bandmate Brendan at Anchor Brewery, where he works.  He was finishing up a tour, just in time to give us a few samples and our own private tour!  It was very cool to see the inner workings of Anchor.

My food at the tailgate and game weren’t nearly as interesting as the game itself.  For a snack and dinner I brought a peach, a banana and leftover curried summer veggie stew.  In the game I snacked on some peanut, pistachios and a few garlic fries, and of course I had a few beers.

Photo essay on the wonder that is Tim Lincecum:

I love watching Lincecum pitch, but I’ve gotta say that the kid needs a haircut!

Dave and me after the game.

Day 29

I was seriously running out of fresh fruit by Saturday morning and had no time to shop, so this smoothie included baby romaine, banana, blueberry jam leftover from making the turnovers, mango pomegranate amazing meal, udo’s and  almond milk.  We were leaving for the whole day, so I took all my supplements in the morning too – multi, coQ10 and probiotic, and had coffee with almond milk.

The reason we were leaving was to go to our second fantasy football draft, at Dave’s cousin’s house about an hour away in Manteca.  Manteca also happens to be home to Taqueria Menteca, the sister restaurant to Taqueria Ripon, which is my second favorite place for Mexican food in the world next to Las Margaritas in Gainesville, FL.  I had had enough with taco salads and just went for the burrito.  However, I still tried to be good by cutting it in half and saving part for later that night.  It was nice to have leftover burrito, but that didn’t stop me from grabbing some handfuls of pretzels and tortilla chips.  We had some beers during the draft, and afterwards headed to a luau party also going on in town.  I did the limbo, tried to hula hoop, and had two veggie spring rolls prepared by the hostess for me and the one other vegetarian there.

Day 30

We got home really late Saturday night, and I slept in far past breakfast time on Sunday.  I was really, really out of fruit anyway.  I skipped straight to lunch and had another mexi-millet/avocado/black bean salad, as well as my multi, b complex, spirulina and coffee with almond milk.  Even though our guest was still in town, I needed to go grocery shopping to prepare for the coming week.  He wanted to go shopping for souvenirs, so we headed to Berkeley and he explored Telegraph Ave while I went to Berkeley Bowl.  When I picked him up we were both hungry and feeling too lazy to cook, so we picked up some Japanese food from a place just north of campus.  I had inari sushi and soba noodle soup with tofu and veggies.  It was quite bland, but I was hungry enough to not care much.

Conclusions

I figure I’ll report some conclusions, for anyone who might want to do a cleanse like this, or just for anyone who is curious.  I gained a bit of weight the last week (I suspect it was the lack of exercise and extra beers while our friend was visiting), but overall I was still just over three pounds down which is pretty good for a month.  After going back to “normal” with exercise and eating I dropped back down a bit fairly quickly.

Energy-wise, I didn’t feel any difference.  This was one area I was hoping to see a difference.  I get a good amount of sleep and have decent energy all the time, but I was hoping between the b complex and coQ10 supplements, healthy eating and exercise I would feel energized.  Not so.  I still needed my caffeine every morning and had those evenings here and there where all I wanted to do was sit on the couch.

Digestion.  I thought for sure my digestion would be great on this cleanse.  In reality, my digestive system was…ahem…unhappy the whole time.  Soon after starting the cleanse I noticed my…ah…number two was not in a good state, and this continued through the whole month.  For someone who normally does well in this area, this was a definite negative result.  I also had digestion pains a few times, probably from increasing the amount of raw vegetables I ate.

The other negatives were the amount of time spent prepping food, and the amount I spent.  My grocery bill was a full 30% higher than normal for the month.  I’m sure this was due mostly to buying supplements and a ton of fresh, organic fruit.  I felt like I spent a LOT of time prepping, especially for my daily lunch salads.  I was very happy when I could go back to taking dinner leftovers for lunch.

One positive was that cutting out wheat forced me to try new grains.  I tried buckwheat for the first time ever and liked it, and gave millet another shot after having it only once and not being a fan.  I will keep these grains, as well as spelt flour, regulars in my diet.  I was also shocked to find out how many products I was eating regularly had sugar.  All types of soy yogurt, for instance, are made with sugar.  So is soy creamer, and a few other products that I regularly consumed.  I’m going to stay off yogurt and take a probiotic supplement every once in a while instead, but I’m going back to creamer full force.  Coffee is just no good to me with “regular” milk.  Creamer is a deal breaker.

One rule I will continue to stick with for weight loss purposes is alcohol on weekends only.  It’s a good policy for me that keeps me from having a glass of wine on Tuesday here, a beer on Thursday here…it certainly aids in keeping my calories down.  I’m also continuing to exercise four to five days a week, and have started weight training again in addition to cardio.

Overall, I’m happy I did the cleanse (even though I “cheated” more times then I would’ve liked to), if for no other reason than to prove to myself I could do it!

Day 19

My Wednesday morning smoothie had baby spinach and red chard, banana, strawberries, almond butter, chia seeds and coconut milk, and I took my multi and b complex.  My morning snack was two nectarines, figs and chai tea.  For lunch I had a semi-repeat of the roasted chickpea salad from the days before, except I was out of roasted chickpeas.  This salad contained leaf lettuce, sliced carrot, squash, radish and persian cucumber, chickpeas and an everything-in-the-pantry balsamic vinaigrette, and I took a probiotic supplement.  For an afternoon snack I had carrot sticks, green bell pepper strips and pistachios.  Exciting, I know!

I’d been wanting to make some breakfast for dinner, so I turned to Vegan Brunch and picked out the Sesame Tofu Scramble with Greens and Yams.

Honestly, if you had asked me after my first reading of Vegan Brunch what the first ten recipes I would try would be, this one wouldn’t have even been close.  I thought it fit best in my cleanse though since it has everything in a bowl, and I’m really glad I made this because it’s a spectacular recipe!  It’s less of a tofu scramble, I’d say, and more of a delicious, Asian-inspired, make-your-tummy-super-happy kind of dish.  I served it over savory oat bran which may seem like an odd choice, but the creaminess was actually a perfect texture foil to the scramble, which was soft but chunky.  I should also say that I added baby shiitake mushrooms and dulse, and I’d do it again because they were the perfect complements to round out the meal.  After dinner I had apple cranberry tea.

Day 20

Another fuzzy smoothie picture.  After this was taken, Dave bought and installed a bunch of new lightbulbs in the kitchen and living room, which have bettered my pictures.  I knew we had lightbulbs out and that I was having trouble focusing on some pictures, but hadn’t put two and two together.  Doh!  Anyway, this smoothie was made from baby spinach and red chard, banana, strawberries, berry pomegranate hempshake, udo’s oil and coconut milk, and I took my multi and coQ10.  At work, I had two apricots, a plum and coffee with coconut milk.

Since I had made dinner the night before and didn’t have the energy to prep another whole meal, and I was out of salad fixings, I decided to buy a salad for lunch.  Gasp!  Luckily, there is a restaurant near my office, Smart Alec’s, who claim they are “healthy fast food” and offer a few salad options, as well as a downright decent veggie burger and air-baked fries.

Sorry for the awful photo, I forgot to bring my camera so this is from a cell phone.  I chose their Sesame Tofu Salad, which is kind of funny because I had just had sesame tofu for dinner the night before, and the salad that I was supposed to bring but was too lazy to prep was an Asian-y cabbage salad.  I guess I really wanted sesame and tofu!  This salad had lettuce, a wee bit of red cabbage, baked tofu, crispy rice noodles and sesame dressing.  The tofu was hot when they put it in the container so it wilted the lettuce a little, which I actually like.  My only complaint about this salad is that it could’ve used more veggies, but overeall it was quite good.

The afternoon snack of the day was carrot sticks, cucumber slices and bell pepper strips with White Bean Pesto Dip from Versatile Vegetarian, which sounds uneventful save the fact that while I was slicing the cucumber that morning I sustained my first cooking injury!  I cut my thumb.  Not so bad that it needed stitches, but bad enough that it bled quite a bit and I felt a little woozy.  I was kind of excited to go into cooking school next month never having cut myself (I’m sure it would’ve happened eventually, possibly AT school), but I also kind of feel like I went through some sort of rite of passage into becoming a real chef.  So much so that I felt the need to document my battle scar.  Click here ONLY if you’re a bit morbidly curious and don’t mind the sight of blood.

For dinner I had more sesame tofu scramble over oat bran, and I took another picture because I thought the first one from the night before was too covered in sesame seeds.  For this one I mixed the seeds in first so you can actually see what it looks like.  Before bed, I had camomile tea.

Day 21

I had planned to make Friday morning’s smoothie with some blackberries, but upon taking the berries out of the fridge they had gone moldy.  So I went to plan B and included baby spinach and red chard, banana, frozen mango, mango pomegranate hempshake, udo’s and coconut milk.  This smoothie turned out fantastically, so apart from wasting berries, I was kind of glad I couldn’t use them.  I also took my multi and b complex.  For a morning snack I had a pear, a plum, figs and coffee with coconut milk.

For lunch, I made Napa Cabbage Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce from Cooking Thin with Chef Kathleen and added cubed, smoked tofu.  I feel this salad wasn’t named appropriately, because there’s no peanut sauce anywhere.  It’s really a sesame-soy dressing over cabbage with chopped peanuts sprinkled on top.  The flavors were good, but it was a whole lot of cabbage to eat at once.  The recipe called for the salad to be dressed just before serving, but I feel like it may have benefitted from the cabbage sitting in the dressing, like a slaw.  My afternoon snack was carrot sticks, squash slices and red bell pepper with white bean pesto dip.

On the way home from work I picked up some black cherry and citrus vodkas and diet tonic water to have some flavored vodka tonics.  I had one of each, and more sesame tofu scramble over oat bran for dinner, then we spontaneously decided to go to Oakland to see a friend’s band play.  I had two beers there, and when we got back home I was starving.  I wanted a crunchy snack and didn’t have much in the way of cleanse-friendly snacks that weren’t nuts, so I popped some popcorn and seasoned it using Bianca’s tip (see the comments of this post).  It worked!  I seasoned with nutritional yeast, dried dill, salt and probably too much black pepper.

You may remember that i was disappointed to gain a bit of weight during the second week.  Well, the good news is that I lost 2.5 pounds this week!  Yay!  That makes 4.7 pounds total in 3 weeks.  Not bad, for me at least.