New kitchen!

I have unpacked all of the boxes I have found labeled "kitchen," and I think I may be done with this room. (Note the vitamix--green smoothie central!) Only, about 6-8 other rooms left to unpack and organize.

We had a BBQ!

In honor of my (vegan) friend's birthday!

She made hummus and black bean dip (and all the lovely veggies you'll see below on the grill).

I made Roasted corn salad: Roast corn and onions (I roasted without oil and next time, I'll use just a teeny bit).  I used two 16 ounce bags  frozen corn, but you could use fresh. Cut up fresh tomatoes--I used 4 small - medium ones.  Put the roasted corn and onions, and fresh tomatoes in a bowl and add a little rice vinegar--about 1/2 cup, plus salt, pepper and a few red pepper flakes (~1/4 teaspoon).  Mix well, let marinate for at least a few hours in the fridge and then enjoy!

My friend Mark made this super yummy mango guacamole.  He used 2 smallish avocados, 1 yellow mango, 2 medium tomatoes, lime juice, and 1/2 a red onion.  It was divine!  I never would have been brave enough to put mango in my guacamole, but he's a fearless cook.  

Pretty flowers for the birthday girl.  We did not eat them.

Veggies and vegan sausage on the grill.

Then we gathered fruit from the backyard...

fresh blackberries, grapes and a pear.

I didn't get a picture of dessert, but I made a vegan ice cream cake.  I baked a brownie--I almost have a decent recipe to share with you. After the brownie cooled, I spread melt-y almond dream vegan ice cream on it. I stuck it in the freezer for a few hours, but it needed a few more hours to really firm up. I think the poor freezer was over burdened with food, or the brownie wasn't as cool as I thought it was 'cause the ice cream cake was still very melty.  

With the help of my girls, we decorated it with soy whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate sauce. It wasn't super pretty, but it was very tasty. 

As soon as we move, and things settle down, I want to make the cake again with homemade almond vegan ice cream.  A non-vegan friend said the dessert was very good.  (You can't really go wrong with an ice cream cake--even a vegan one!)

Previous bbq picts here.

from the trees...

getting ready to go into the oven

The topping

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup flax
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup maple syrup
1-2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons canola oil (optional)*
1/4-1/2 cup water

Mix it up and spread over the fruit. (Make sure you have small-ish pieces--NOT thick ones!) (I know this is a sweet treat... we don't make it very often because of the sugar.)

You may want to put about 3-6 tablespoons of maple syrup on the fruit and mix well.  You may also want a tablespoon of oil on the fruit. The version I made with plums didn't include any extra sugar or oil and it needed a little sugar. We had a very tart crisp!  I may try making a crisp with erythritol some day. 

Bake at 350 until the juice is all bubbly. About 25 minutes or so. Start watching it at 20 minutes, but it will probably take closer to 30.

This crisp is super easy! You can use fresh berries / fruit or you can use frozen!

I've made it with frozen strawberries, blueberries, peaches and all of them mixed together. With frozen peaches, I've use about 24 ounces with a pan about 8 x 12 inches.

With frozen, let the fruit thaw--you can microwave them a couple of minutes to speed things up or just let them sit on the counter.

*I leave it out now. I'm trying not to add oil to anything. I'll add nuts for fats, but I'd like to keep the food whole. Not using oil is a new challenge for me.

A revision of my favorite...

Remember Creamy Cauliflower Curry Soup?

I love it. I love it with PB. Natalie (my vegan who loves veggies) doesn't. She loves soups and she loves veggies, but she doesn't like PB. I decided to make the soup so she'd like it.

What'd I do? (Look, here I am modifying my own recipes.)  I'm short on time, so I'm not going to re-write the recipe. I'm guessing, if you're interested, you can read the other recipe and make the modification. Maybe someday, I'll re-write the recipe (it's linked here and at the top of the post). Not this week. We're moving very, very, very soon.

I took out the PB and substituted 1 cup of cashews blended with water to make cashew cream.  I may have added a little extra tumeric--it looks like it from the picture! Whatever, it was yummy.

 

Nat loved it and so did Tia, my house guest, Nick, and me.  I really love it when people (who aren't vegans) come to visit and like the vegan food I make. 

PSA: Iodine and Vegans (+ B12)

I'm not a nutrionist, so go read this blog post by a Vegan Registered Dietician.

& more on Iodine

Now, if you don't have any, go get some iodine!  We take 225 mcg in this every few days 'cause I am worried about arsenic in kelp.

Also, if you don't think you need B12, you do.

We all take a 1,000 mcg sublingual every few days. I'd like to find a 250 mcg one that the girls like, but so far, they prefer the flavor of the 1,000 mcg one I found. (I am cutting the little pill in half. It's so little I can't really do 1/4.) The girls weren't that into the idea of taking it, so I bought several different brands and let them choose the one they liked.

Really busy: what's for dinner tonight?

A green smoothie (scroll down in the post; it's always our appetizer)

&

Burritos

• Almost homemade black beans (these can cook without any real thought at all!)*
• Tortillas
• Guacamole
• Salsa
• Lettuce (for those who want it either as a salad or on their burrito)
• Daiya cheese (for those who want it)

It's an easy dinner.  We'll have left over beans and they'll go well with rice, veggies, or tortillas tomorrow for lunch.

*You can also make almost homemade pinto beans (not black beans) with garlic, cumin, and salt (if the canned beans are unsalted) in 20 minutes.  My girls love pinto beans, too, but I didn't have enough for dinner tonight.

July...

It's July.  June went whooshing by and now it's July.  I traveled for work in June.  If you find yourself on the east coast, I highly recommend this place, Sweet Green. It's not vegan, but it has vegan options and good, organic, locally grown, sustainable food.

In other news, we're getting ready to move to our new house. I am most excited about the pantry in our new house. It's about a lot bigger than my current pantry.  The current one is about 3 feet wide by 8 foot tall and the new one is a walk-in pantry! Here's a picture of the current one. It needs a good organizing, but since I'm getting ready to start packing and sorting everything I probably won't organize it. I've loved our current kitchen, but I'm excited for the new one, too.  We'll see how much blogging will get done in the next month.

On deck for tomatoes!

There are a few little tomatoes growing and turning green! 

Thanks, Audrey for starting the little seeds and giving us such a wonderful gift!

The plant in the front is a pepper plant. Also from seed from Audrey!

Nearly 5-foot tall girl included for scale.