LK Sisters' Vegan Food Haven

Gardening!....and News

2010-05-16T21:27:00.010-04:00

Hi all,

Enjoying the lushness of spring-summer? We had our first warm weather that made us really excited for the start of summer. Time for farmers markets, fresh fruits/vegetables, and spending time outside!

So, the good news is that we've moved to our own home, and LOVE taking care of it, gardening, painting, decorating, and just hanging out. Quiet, lovely, and all ours. We've just planted a few flowers in the front, and a vegetable-herb garden out back:

Lavandula stoechas 'Madrid Blue' (Spanish Lavender)
Gardenia jasminoides 'Kleim's Hardy'
Erysimum linifolium 'Bowles Mauve' Wallflower
Philadelphus coronarius 'Variegatus' Mock Orange shrub
Lithodora diffusa 'Grace Ward'
Health Kick Tomato--packed with extra lycopene
Sungold Cherry Tomato
Sweet Banana Pepper
Thai Basil Herb
Fresh Peppermint Herb

We also planted our rosemary and chives that had just been growing on our windowsill. So excited for homegrown fresh veggies and herbs!

Now, the disappointing news....We've decided to put this blog on hold for now.

We feel that we've gotten situated in our daily lives that we don't need to take pictures of every meal. We love staying busy with other activities instead of taking time to record and blog about everything, and are content with just baking/cooking for ourselves. We enjoyed it at one point, but now that we have a house and as time passes, our lives are changing and so are our priorities. We are at the time in our life where we are ready to just enjoy life here in Oregon, instead of reaching out to the internet-blog world. We are looking to volunteer somewhere meaningful, meet friends, garden, home-decorate, learn the guitar, take evening neighborhood walks, travel around the state, read, and many other local activities.

We hope you enjoyed reading our blog and got some inspiration from our cooking adventures! We pray you grow to love cooking and baking vegetarian/vegan food...for your health, for the environment, and for the animals' welfare.

Peace as always,

Raving About New Amy's Products

2010-04-10T09:46:00.009-04:00

Amy's Products always saves us when we are hungry and want something quick, easy, and tasty. Check out their new product line! So excited about the low sodium beans and rice burrito, as this burrito is our favorite and even better with less sodium!

We recently tried the new Gluten-free Roasted Vegetable Pizza - awesome! The rice crust is both crispy and soft, delicious in flavor, and you don't expect it to be gluten-free. And the flavor and vegetables are delicious; are only suggestion of course is more vegetables and tomato sauce, but that is easy to do at home - we just added more tomato sauce and veggies. The cheese is non-dairy and suprisingly we liked it and it didn't remind us too much of milky pizza cheese (which we don't like). We loved it so much, we just split one pizza even though the serving size is 1/4th :) Definitely try this!

Another product we enjoyed - Non Dairy Baked Ziti. Very tasty, like going to a family-owned Italian restaurant. Very filling! Sometimes Amy's meals aren't as filling, but this was big and hearty, lots of pasta and tomato sauce. The peas added a nice touch, and the cheese again tasted good. It would be delicious with added spinach and then you have a complete meal! Try this delicious authentic vegan ziti!

For those vegetarians wanting real cheese, our coworker eats Amy's Indian Mattar Paneer almost every week. She highly recommends this meal, which includes a delicious Indian spiced sauce with carrots, garbanzos, peas, and rice.

It's always nice when you visit family out of town, to always suggest Amy's products for a quick lunch or dinner. Our family knows where to get Amy's and they eat it too, so we all enjoy an Amy's meal that's vegetarian.

So I know we've mentioned Amy's before, but we just HAD to let you know about these finds!
Until next time, wishing you the best,

Coming Soon...

2010-04-05T20:47:00.003-04:00

We will post soon, we promise!

We have been busy with work and are in the process of buying a home!
Right now, we are traveling, visiting our family in Texas for Easter. Beautiful wildflowers, including bluebonnets and Indian Red Paintbrushes!We are excited about owning a home, and hope to share our good eats soon!

Just Some Suggestions

2010-03-07T16:22:00.010-05:00

Just some suggestions for....

... products that we currently use
... products that we are eager to try!

Now when we want to buy new products, we always look at reviews! We especially love reading Amazon.com reviews to make sure the product we are considering is highly recommended. Reviews are important and helpful in one's purchases, and we just wanted to shout out short but sweet reviews for some of the products we love. We also have a list of products that we want to try--has anyone tried these? If so what are your opinions? We would love for anyone to comment about these products or any other product that should be known!

With our morning breakfast, we start out day with some Amazing Grass greens powder. Add two scoops to a homemade fruit smoothie and we don't even taste "greens". Just fruity smoothie deliciousness. Ever since we started adding Amazing Grass to our smoothies, we have felt healthier and more energized. Just do not try their Amazing grass snack bars - dry, tasteless, and nothing special.

Essentials with breakfast - Dr. Fuhrman's DHA. Just 0.5 mL added to a spoonful of your smoothie provides 175 mg DHA. Vegan too! Great product! Food Science of Vermont's Mega Probiotic capsules are also great for your health. We take 1-2 capsules at breakfast: 1 capsule contains 5 billion CFU's of vegan probiotic bacteria and 220 mg of the prebiotic Fructo-oligossacharides. Since taking these, we feel like our digestive tract is healthier with less yeast infection problems.

For lunches and snacks, we love munching on Bergin Nut Co.'s Organic Soy Nuts! Nothing but the natural soy roasted into a great nutritious snack! Great for those you are looking for something crunchy like nuts or chips but are allergic to nuts or who want something healthier. Contain a nice amount of fiber and protein!

A wonderful gluten-free product, Tinkyada Pasta Joy Brown Rice Pastas are actually our preference over regular wheat pastas! We love how this pasta cooks--just right with a perfect bite, and not too mushy.

Try La Tourangelle's Toasted Sesame Oil to make your dinner meals extra flavorful! All natural, high quality sesame oil is great drizzled on rice, quinoa, broccoli, and potatoes. It's also delicious to dip homemade bread in. We actually made a great tasting Sesame Wheat bread and the sesame is just enough to make the bread nutty.

Ok, so now for the list of products that have caught our attention!

- Organic Nectar's Raw Cacao Chocolate Bars - we want to try these because instead of using cane sugar, they actually use organic palm nectar (aka coconut sugar) which is the best low glycemic sugar on the market! We love coconut sugar and have been experimenting with it at work. And we love dark chocolate, so these bars look delicious.

- Yoga Snacks Raw Corn Chips - we love chips, and these look tempting! They contain sprouted corn, and flax seeds, and offer yummy varieties like lime corn chips! Yum.

- truRoots Organic Sprouted Green Lentils - sprouting the beans makes the nutrients more bioavailable and preserves the flavor and freshness.

- Alter Eco Dark Quinoa Chocolate - another chocolate to try, this one has quinoa in it! So intriguing. Their 73% Chocolate with Cacao Nibs is one of our favorites.

Please comment about what you have tried, what you liked, and also some great products not listed that you want to share! Thanks!

PS: Lauren of "Ginger is the New Pink" is hosting a giveaway on chocolate! Here's the link. All the chocolate sounds so delicious, authentic, and exotic!

Have a great week,

Whip Up These!

2010-02-21T16:31:00.007-05:00

In attempt to keep the cooking and baking short and sweet, we continue to go back to these two recipes. So easy and tasty and fun to change them up each time.

Awesome Homemade Veggie-Bean Burgers

Makes 10-12 patties

1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 - 1 1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup each cornmeal and wheat gluten
2 1/2 Tb nutritional yeast
2 Tb flaxseed meal
2 cups pinto or black beans
1 Tb canola oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tb Braggs
1 Tb stone ground mustard
2 - 4 Tb diced bell pepper
2 Tb diced onion

1. In a small bowl, mix onion powder, cumin, cornmeal, wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, and flaxseed meal.
2. In a large bowl, mash pinto beans, then add remaining ingredients. Mix until just combined.
3. Add dry mixture from the small bowl to the bean mixture in the large bowl, and mix until well combined.
4. Form 10 - 12 patties. Place on a baking sheet that has parchment paper or has been sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-25 minutes, or until golden on both sides.Variations: Add 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or cayenne
Add 1/4 - 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce or Balsamic vinegar
Use white beans, lentils, black-eyed peas, or kidney beans
Add 2-3 Tb finely chopped veggies
Add lime juice and jalapeno

Great for breakfast, snacks, or lunches, these extra fluffy soft biscuits are easy to whip up. Serve with avocado, olive oil, nut butter, or jam.

A basic recipe, with lots of variations possible!Fluffy Baking Powder Biscuits

Makes 8- 12 biscuits

2 cups whole wheat, spelt, or kamut flour
1 Tb baking powder
1-2 tsp sugar or agave syrup
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tb oil
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup soy milk or non-dairy milk
1/2 - 3/4 cup water

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add in wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Drop on a baking sheet lined with parchement paper (or use biscuit cutters to cut out biscuits). Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until just golden.

Variations:
add nuts and/or seeds - such as 1-2 tsp sesame seeds or 1 Tb crushed pumpkin seeds
add nut butter - we use 2-4 Tb sunflower seed butter with about 1 Tb less oil
Oat biscuit - add some quick rolled oats and/or oat flour
Corn biscuit - add 1/4 cup cornmeal and about 2-3 Tb less flour
Pumpkin biscuit - add 2-4 Tb pumpkin puree with 2-4 Tb less water
Make it savory! with 1/2 tsp total of dried herbs or curry powder or even caraway seeds

We also wanted to mention a product that we have our eyes on! Mary's "Gone Crackers Crumbs" look like a wholesome whole grain product to use in replace of those bland and refined bread crumbs! We could whip up a tasty dish with these!

Until next time,

Valentine's Day Treats--Dark Chocolate and Pink Grapefruit Icebox Cookies

2010-02-14T17:38:00.016-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

What does Valentine's Day mean to you? To us, it is a day to reflect on all the great loving people in our lives. Although we should express appreciation and love for others every day, this day is extra special! We started off the holiday early by watching "Becoming Jane" last night--such a romantic, sweet, and terribly sad movie!

Real love is expressed beautifully in Corinthians 13:4-13
"LOVE is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.....And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE."

Valentine's day is also a time to eat decadent dark chocolate and make pretty decorated cookies! We checked out Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar cookbook at the library...there are so many great cookie recipes and pictures in this book! We chose something fun and different than the usual cookies we make, utilizing the winter citrus fruits--"Frosted Grapefruit Icebox Cookies". We would love to eventually make almost every cookie in this book!
Here's what we did:

Half a batch of grapefruit-flavored cookies with grapefruit juice and grapefruit zest.
Half a batch of orange cookies with orange juice and orange zest.
In an attempt to be more organic, and reduce packaging and waste, we bought organic cane sugar in the bulk section and mixed in some cornstarch. We processed it in our blender into powdered sugar. It slightly worked, but the sugar crystals were still grittier than store-bought powdered sugar.
Replaced the margarine with room-temperature (slightly soft) coconut oil and used whole wheat pastry flour for nutrition.

We had so much leftover icing, and it was slightly runny and extremely sweet! These cookies gave us "crash-and-burn" sugar syndrome. They did not make us feel very good after eating them. However they were fun to decorate, and smelled heavenly. We plan to scrape of the icing so they are more tolerable.

The shortbread cookie base was good, just a tad sweet and oily. When we make these next time, we will reduce the sugar and coconut oil. We also plan to just put the zest in the cookie base and omit the icing.

Don't forget the chocolate! Equal Exchange's 71% and 80% Dark Chocolate are our favorites, but Endangered Species' Deep Forest Mint Dark Chocolate, and Alter Eco's 85% Dark Chocolate & 73% Dark Chocolate with Cacao Nibs are also delicious. For now, while we are young and single women, we'll consider chocolate as our one-true love! :)

Hope everyone has a lovely, sweet Valentine's day! Remember that we are all loved in the eyes of God, no matter how lonely we feel.
XOXOXO,

Great Lunch Meals and Delicious No Bakes!

2010-01-24T20:32:00.011-05:00

Hi everyone!

It's been awhile ---- we are super busy this time of year at work! Finalizing new Betty Lou's organic vegan bars that taste great and are packed full of nutrition and antioxidants! Get excited for new snack bars that are better than Larabars, Pure Bars, and Cliff Bars! Check out Betty Lou's blog and website for any updates.

January has been milder in weather, but still rainy and damp, so we always enjoy some warm comforting food, especially one-pot meals. One of our New Years Resolutions is to make a dish from one of our vegan cookbooks. So, the past few weeks we've tried Vive le Vegan's Greek Basmati Rice, Veganomicon's Samosa Potatoes, among other great meals and breads.

The Greek Basmati Rice is probably one of the best rice dishes we've tried! Great flavor, not too strong in any particular spice, just an addicting bowl of deliciousness. Full of onion, garlic, olive oil, olives, zuchinni, chickpeas, rice, parsley, and spices we could eat this every day!

Samosa Potatoes was a yummy spiced meal perfect for lunches. Spices like mustard, coriander, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and cumin, this dish was great complimented with olive oil and Food Should Taste Good Olive chips! We didn't stuff the potato with the mixture, we just cooked diced potatoes in the pressure cooker, and added peas, parsley, and carrots.

In one of our bread cookbooks, we've been baking whole grain breads. We discovered a great technique for making great sandwich bread. We mix the dough and knead it, then let sit for 1 hour or so, knead again, then let sit another hour or two. We bake it at 400 degrees F as a round loaf, and we put a pan of water in the oven, so the crust is nice and the bread is airy and soft! Try putting some Bob's Red Mill cereals in your bread (like 10 grain cereal, kamut cereal, or just cornmeal), as it gives a great nutty flavor and great texture.
We love Greek food, and we found on vegweb.com "Real Deal Falafel" recipe. We made modifications, but it was tasty and great with condiments such as olive oil, mustard, tomato sauce, and avocado. When you get home from work it's easy to whip up a delicious dinner.

Of course to polish off a delicious meal you need some sweet treats! Delicious No Bake Oat Bites from Vegetarian Times Oct 2005 issue. We used sunbutter instead of almond butter, reduced the syrup a tad, added chocolate covered cacao nibs, and drizzled heavily with 73% Dagoba chocolate. Messy to roll, fun to make, and awesome to eat! Would be good to try an oatmeal cookie dough version with cinnamon and more raisins.

For some fun time outside of work, we've been busy with scrapbooking. Here's two pages we did, one of the Oregon Coast (we used an old calendar photo for the background), and one of our u-pick excursions this past summer!

Have a great last week of January!

Amazing Food for Life Reflection

2010-01-10T20:20:00.019-05:00

Hi Veg Friends!

So we were sorting through our email and came across this great article. Thought we'd post and share - life is bountiful and full of joy!

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We're such slow learners...

God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!

God's Pharmacy! Amazing!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

Psalm 46:19 'Be Still and Know that I AM GOD'

~Amazing food, amazing life~

Happy New Year 2010!

2010-01-01T22:05:00.007-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

We hope 2010 will be a year full of joy, success, peace, and growth!

How was your Christmas? Ours was quiet, fun, and joyous. Our Christmas meal was delicious, healthy, and full of flavor. We wanted to review 4 of the recipes.

Ricki's Tofu Frittata was outstanding! Full of zucchini, mushrooms (instead of potatoes), tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, and olives! A great flavor, with subtle tarragon, and texture like an egg frittata or an egg salad. We would love to try this recipe again with different spices like Mexican spices, Greek spices, or Curry spices.

Another winner - Veganomicon's Cornmeal Masala Brussel Sprouts! We love brussel sprouts, and the subtle masala spice complimented the nutty cornmeal. Lots of cornmeal crumbs, but great as leftovers with beans or other veggies.

We made cranberry sauce, and served it over Italian cornmeal cake. The cranberry sauce was slightly tart, but very tasty, and with a little bit more plum nectar and agave, it turned out great! This is our recipe adapted from the Yoga Journal:

Naturally Healthy Cranberry Sauce
Makes ~ 4 cups.

3 cups frozen cranberries, thawed (or fresh)
1 cup diced apples (about 1 apple) - or try pears
1 cup plum nectar (or other juice like apple juice, cranberry juice, or pear nectar)
1/4 cup - 1/2 cup agave syrup, to your preference
1/8 tsp salt
2-3 tsp currants
1/4 tsp agar powder

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium to medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occassionaly until apples pierce with a fork, 18-25 minutes. May need to cover the saucepan and let simmer.

The Happy Veganarian's Speculaas cookies were perfect for a not-too-sweet snack. Could use a tad more cinnamon, but otherwise spiced and nice with hot tea! We made about 25 round soft bite-size cookies.

So did any of you Southern guys and gals have your black-eyed peas? We enjoyed a black-eyed pea soup with celery and garlic and broccoli for New Years luck! :)

"Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth."
~Martin Luther

Ready for the Christmas Holiday!

2009-12-20T19:07:00.012-05:00

Merry Christmas!

What is everyone planning for their big Christmas feast? Since we are staying in Oregon this year for Christmas instead of traveling back to Texas to visit family, we are having fun planning our meal.

Here's our menu:

Veganomicon's Cornmeal-masala Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Creamy Tomato Soup
Celine's Pumpkin Yeast Bread Rolls, with added cornmeal
Diet Dessert and Dogs' Tofu Fritata, with lots of good veggies!
Homemade Agave-sweetened Cranberry Sauce
Italian Cornmeal Cake, sweetened with all natural date sugar
The Happy Veganarian's Vegan Speculaas
Cinnamon Roll Biscuits, this time with a cinnamon-maple-fig filling
"Egg" Nog Spiced Smoothie
Dark Chocolate Bars for sweets! :)

Yummy, lots of leftovers expected!! We are so excited this year to stay here in Oregon and savor our all vegan meal, instead of being surrounded by non-vegan food and smelling the unappetizing meats. All vegan feast galore!What are all your plans for Christmas holidays? We recently attended a wonderful "Sound of Music" musical at our local theater, which got us into the joyful spirit of Christmas. We also plan to drive around and view the beautiful Christmas lights, as well as attend a Christmas Choir concert. Of course, we wouldn't want to miss all of those great classic holiday movies, such as "It's a Wonderful Life"! What is your favorite holiday movies? What is the one thing you most look forward to for the Christmas holidays?

Christmas can be a hectic time, especially if traveling is involved. This year seems to so far be a smoother, easy-going Christmas season. We also finished our gift shopping many weeks ago, mailed them all off in time, and beat the crazy crowds in the stores. Remember to slow down if Christmas gets to stressful! Christmas is more than just gifts and shopping and planning. Christmas is a time to relax, find comfort in family and friends, celebrate Christ's birth, and reflect on all the blessings God has given us.

May Love, Joy, and Peace dwell in your homes and hearts always!
Merry Christmas and God bless,

Southern Cornbread Dressing

2009-12-06T18:01:00.007-05:00

Hi everyone,

Sorry it's been so long since we last blogged. Work keeps us way too busy, the evenings we just want to relax and read, and then the weekends seem to be just as busy with chores and cooking meals for the work week.

The fall/winter CSA veggies have been fresh and delicious - lots of salad greens, kale, root vegetables, and cabbage. We seem to eat a fresh salad every day, while during the summer we didn't seem to eat as much salad greens. Here's a pic of some huge napa cabbage - it was like 1 1/2 feet tall.
How was your Thanksgiving? Our dad visited, and we cooked him a tasty Oregon-Southern feast. Cooked garlicy greens, asparagus, butternut squash with pears, and a fancy cornbread dressing!

Our grandmother makes her annual holiday cornbread dressing, and since our Dad wouldn't be able to eat her's, we made our own vegan version for him to enjoy. The week before we made our Harvest Cornbread recipe, without the banana pepper and red bell pepper, and with 3/4 cup corn. We baked the cornbread in a rectangular pan for 40 min, cooled it completely, then cut it into squares and put in the freezer. On Thanksgiving, we defrosted the cornbread, crumbled it into a large Corningware pan, and used the crumbled cornbread pieces to make a delicious cornbread dressing, recipe below! It was a full meal in itself, filled with black-eyed peas and veggies. For leftovers, we added cooked greens and asparagus, and olive oil or avocado slices.

LK's Southern Cornbread Dressing

2 celery stalks, diced
1/2 - 1 onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 large zucchini, diced
1 vegetable bouillon (such as Rapunzel)
1 1/2 tsp store-bought Mexican seasoning (or a mixture of cumin, paprika, cayenne, whatever floats your boat)
3 cups black-eyed peas
3/4 tsp sage
1/2 - 3/4 tsp thyme
1/8 - 1/4 tsp celery seed
dashes of black pepper
salt to taste
1 batch cornbread
more cayenne or Mexican seasoning if spice is desired

Add veggies except zucchini in a large saucepan. Add some water and the vegetable bouillon, and heat veggies over medium heat until almost tender, then add zucchini and cook another 2-4 minutes until just tender. Combine the vegetable mixture in a large bowl with the black-eyed peas. Sprinkle the herbs and spices over the black-eyed pea veggie mixture, and mix until well combined.

Crumble the cornbread into the black-eyed pea mixture, and mix until thoroughly combined (may need a large bowl). Place the cornbread dressing in 2 medium or large rectangular baking dishs (it makes a lot, great to freeze for another week!). Bake for 40-50 minutes until thoroughly heated and slightly brown on top.

Delicious accompanied with gravy, olive oil, salsa, or a salad dressing. And it's always fun to change up leftovers like adding different spices or vegetables!

Enjoy!

One question for the week - do you prefer veggie flavored dishes and meals, or do you like the meat-flavored foods? Do you like the taste of a vegan faux meat burger or sauce? At work we are experimenting with savory vegan snacks, and it was interesting to get people's opinions about vegan foods.

It was nice to not have any meat-flavored foods for Thanksgiving; our Dad raved about having a delicious meal without the meat and heavy foods!

Happy Holidays!

Food Politics & Meat

2009-11-22T21:47:00.007-05:00

Has anyone read Food Politics by Marion Nestle? An absolutely excellent book describing the relationship with government and the food industry! So many truths revealed about food policy, nutrition, food safety, etc.

A post on Nov 17, 09, "Want Safe Meat? Make USDA Do It's Job!" caught our attention right away.

The New York Times reports that the company selling contaminated ground beef responsible for killing two people and making 500 others sick, “stopped testing its ingredients years ago under pressure from beef suppliers.”

Recall that since 1994, the USDA bans E. coli 0157:H7 in ground meat. It encourages, but does not require, meat companies to test for the pathogen. Why don’t they test? Because they don’t have to.

If they did test, they might find toxic E. coli and have to cook or destroy the meat. As the Times reported in depth last month, Testing puts meat companies in “a regulatory situation.” As one food safety officer put it, slaughterhouses do not want his packing company to test for pathogens: “one, I have to tell the government, and two, the government will trace it back to them. So we don’t do that.”

Instead of requiring safety testing, the USDA uses a “restrained approach.” As Dr. Kenneth Petersen, an assistant administrator with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, told the Times, USDA has the power to require testing but doesn’t use it because it has to take the companies’ needs into consideration: “I have to look at the entire industry, not just what is best for public health.”

The moral? Meat companies will only produce meat safely if forced to. As we saw yesterday, oyster companies will only produce safe oysters if they have to. That’s why we need a food safety system in which all foods have to be produced safely. What will it take to get Congress to act?

It just amazes us that people in the food industry can get away with selling food that is not 100% safe. Shouldn't providing food to customers be about quality and service? Don't food companies want good reviews on their products?

In college, we learned a lot about the food industry and food swafety. Much of our food supply is produced and handled in a way that safety and health are jeopardized. There have been enough food-borne illness outbreaks in the US to arouse people's awareness and concern about contamination. It doesn't even seem like the USDA's seal of approval affirms safety. Our food policy and food safety regulation should be stronger to protect the consumer and society.

There are so many flaws in the meat industry! If one cow is contaminated with bacteria, than the risks of spreading contamination are extremely high, since many cows are processed together to make meat. One meat product sold in stores will probably contain the flesh of more than 100 cows! The high-speed production and the conditions in the packing plant have a direct effect on safety – if not handled properly, contamination can occur. As produce and meat are transported and handled by many, there is greater risk for cross-contamination into the fresh produce. There are regulations in producing meat, but there is still so much needed in order to ensure safety, such as the lack of recall authority that the USDA has over the meat corporation. Also, preparing fast food in restaurants pose many sanitation concern. Multiple workers prepare the meal, and the speed required to make a fast meal may hinder workers from following food safety principles.
Overall, the production and distribution of our food poses safety hazards that add to the health and political expenses of our food. It is great to be vegan, because we are not supporting meat production and the killing of innocent animals. We hope that more people can recognize the need for food safety, and even if they do consume meat, they can be responsible consumers and influence meat production practices. It's always best to purchase from companies with high standards, such as organic, fair trade, and ethical practices.

Marion Nestle (co-author Malden Nesheim) has a new book coming out in May, titled Feed Your Pet Right. Also looks very informative, for those animal lovers!

Mezza, Bread, and the Staples

2009-11-08T17:22:00.006-05:00

Hi Yall!

Sorry for the absence in posting, but we've been busy during the weekends with cooking/baking and being creative doing crafts and scrapbook!

Our lovely Mom is visiting us (she says hi to the bloggers out there!) and so we've been having fun with her here.

We visited the lovely Ya Hala Lebanese Restaurant in Portland, one of the best restaurants in Portland! Fresh out of the oven pita bread, with mezza platters that include hummus, tabouli, falafel, kibbeh (bulgur tomato pate), and swiss chard lentil soup! Great feast for a rainy day!

Our bread baking this week was soft wheat rolls! We are having some for dinner with lentil pumpkin seed veggie burgers and a spinach bean dip with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and parsley.

Tomorrow we plan on getting our food staples! Kamut flour, spelt flour, grain cereals, porridges, and flakes all at Bob's Red Mill! Our mom loves Bob's, so she's excited to go to the visitor center, and we also we will be doing the plant tour!

New to Bob's? Check out our visit back last October.

We are apart of the CSA Community Supportive Agriculture program and we've been enjoying fresh greens. Here we made pasta with greens, garlic, leeks, and olives!

Have a great week!

And thank you Fayinagirl for giving us a blogger award! Check back next week for more awards given to bloggers who we feel are extra special!

Oven 24/7 Oh So Sweet

2009-10-25T20:04:00.007-04:00

Well, it sure seems like the weekends are all about the oven! We've been using the oven 24/7 to baking sweets, crackers, breads, and to cook casseroles and veggies! :O

It seems that as the holidays come around and as the weather gets cooler and wetter, we get the urge for soft homemade breads and sweet treats!

When we were little, every Saturday morning we would have a breakfast treat. Sometimes it was Pilsbury buttery crescent rolls, sometimes fluffy biscuits and jam, or even pancakes. But the sweetest breakfast we looked forward to was cinnamon rolls! We'd just take the refrigerated Pillsbury cinnamon roll dough from the can and quickly bake up sweet delicious cinnamon rolls. Our favorite was the orange flavored rolls. Don't you smell the sweet aroma of cinnamon and orange in the morning coming from the oven?

As we grew up, we ate less of those delicious (yet sinful, sugar-high) treats. Every once-in-a-while, though, we try to make our own. Very tedious! For an easy alternative, we sometimes make Cinnamon Roll Muffins, but this time we finally decided to try Cinnamon Roll Biscuits!
The biscuit recipe was virtually identical to our favorite biscuit recipe, so it was easy to whip up. This recipe calls for less water, to be able to form a dough that can be rolled out. We spread a filling of date sugar with lots of cinnamon, then roll it up, slice it, and bake it in the oven for ~18 minutes. Instead of margarine, we used coconut oil and brazil nut butter. For the glaze, we used only 1/2 cup powdered sugar and brazil nut butter instead of margarine.

Turned out awesome! The biscuit was flakey, with some crusty edges and soft centers and a delectable gooey filling. It could use even more cinnamon though. Other variations you can try include orange, maple, egg nog spiced, or pumpkin spiced! Great for special family breakfasts or dessert (because they are sweet). Another recipe we have our eye on is Celine's Pumpkin Oatmeal Sticky Biscuits.

For dessert, we baked up some Gluten Free treats!

First up Chocolate Chip Bars. We have the cookbook One Smart Cookie by Julie Van Rosendaal, but we haven't used it in years since we went vegetarian. Recently, though, we decided to try the recipes out again, making them vegan, because Julie really does have great recipes.

For the chocolate chip bars, we followed Julie's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and put it in a 9x13 bar pan. We have Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free flour blend, so we used that with 1/4 tsp xanthan gum. The flour blend isn't as tasty as the gluten-free flour blend we use for Betty Lou's at work :) but that's ok, the chocolate hid the subtle beany flavor. To replace the egg we used 1 Tb flaxseed meal. We also used coconut sugar and date sugar, which gave the bars a subtle carmelly warm flavor. And of course, we added lots of Equal Exchange 80% and 71% Dark chocolate, which made the bars extra rich and chocolaty! We love chocolate.

Another gluten-free treat - go try Elana's Pantry Gluten Free Fig Bars! We made modifications to make Gluten Free Prune Squares, a perfect snack that's not too sweet but satisfies your sugar craving. We used oat flour instead of almond meal (for a nut-free bar), added a small amount of flaxmeal (for a binder and nutrition), and used prunes and orange juice for the filling. We also recently tried a cranberry lemon version, with dried cranberries and lemon juice. Other variations we would love to try include apple spice, apricot, pumpkin spice...any fruit imaginable!

We would love to hear about more about gluten-free baking and any ideas you all have. Since we do work in the R&D lab at Betty Lou's Inc (check it out!), we are currently focused on gluten free baking and we would love all of your suggestions and tips! Thanks!

So, one last question--what's the place in your house where you spend the most time, and love to be? Of course, ours is our kitchen. Even if it is tiny, we still manage to stay put in our kitchen most of the weekends. You'd think we'd become claustrophobic, lol..

Have a great week!

Mama Mia, Let's Eat Mediterranean Fare!

2009-10-19T22:26:00.012-04:00

Ciao! Don't you love Mediterranean-Arabic Food? Italian, Greek, Lebanese, etc...

Our favorite Lebanese restaurant is YaHala in Portland. They serve authentic food--the hummus, pita bread, and tabbouleh are to die for. They have such a huge menu that we haven't tried a lot of their food, but they serve delicious 'Foul Mudamas' (a lemony garlicky fava bean dish), Falafels, stews, soups, zaatar, and other meals. We love how they mark which items are vegan.

We were craving Greek/Lebanese food so much that we attempted to make a Lebanese feast. Hummus (good authentic hummus has to have a lot of olive oil and tahini--extra creamy!), tabbouleh, and oaty pita bread.The tabbouleh was so refreshing and flavorful, it was nice to have leftovers for lunch. Fresh parsley and mint with local cucumbers, onion, tomatoes, olives and lemon! Yummy. We used a 6-grain porridge-type grain that cooked up similar to bulgur, and it worked perfectly.

We've figured out that we like a little cumin in our hummus. Our coworker loves hummus without cumin, but we found that the cumin enhanced the hummus' flavor slightly and gave it a richer flavor. What do you all prefer? Extra Virgin olive oil and tahini make this hummus taste exquisite, otherwise it's just another bean dip.

One important thing about Meditterranean food is that you must never forget the olive oil. Good for your health, delicious, and authentic. We love buying different olive oils each time and distinguishing their different tastes, depending on the location the olives came from! Buttery and delectable.

For our Italian fare, we had the opportunity to use a pasta machine and make homemade pasta! It was labor intensive but a lot of fun. We mostly made fettuccine-style noodles as well as ravioli, but we also made a few bow ties. All of them were 100% whole wheat. Next time it would be fun to try a pasta with spinach or tomato paste or herbs for a flavorful pasta.

Here we are putting the dough through the pasta machine -- it has to be repeatedly run through in order to thin down. It was hard to keep the noodles straight as we laid them down to dry, because they were so long!

The fetticcini was the best, we just drizzled extra virgin olive oil and served it with some sauteed garlicky greens. The raviolis we stuffed with a tofu spinach dip mixture and served them with homemade spaghetti sauce with lots of veggies. The raviolis were a bit messy (some disintegrated in the pot while cooking), but they were delicious.
Buon appetito!

Fun at the NW Veg Fest

2009-10-11T17:54:00.008-04:00

It's been a while, but on Sept 19, we had a blast at the Northwest VegFest in Portland, OR.

Lot's of vegetarian/vegan excitement! Delicious food samples and giveaways, product handouts and education material, cooking demos, lectures, and music!

There were many restaurants that served all vegan food:

Blossoming Lotus: Lasagna, Chili/Cornbread, Cashew Hummus/Flax Crackers, Lavender Lemonade, Kauai Chai, Trail Mix Cookies
Curry Leaf: Samosas, Pakodas, Cutlets, Spring rolls
Papa G's: Mac and Cheeze, Curry Bowl, TLT Sandwich, Raw Pizza, Limeade, Keifer, Cookie Bars
Proper Eats: Collard Wraps, Mummy Balls, Hummus, Pesto, Miso, Sunseed Spread, Raw Crackers, Raw Veggies, Raw Fajitas, Date Fudge
Red and Black: Black Dragon Noodles, Kale and Quinoa Bowl
Sweet Lemon: Divine Thai Wrap, Very Curry Wrap, Rainbow Wrap, Supreme Salad Roll, Thai Iced Tea, Cookies
Vege Thai: Pad Thai, Thai Salad Rolls with Peanut Sauce, Salad with Soy Chicken and Peanut Sauce, Thai Iced Tea

So much to enjoy!

Here's a list of all the exibitors. Some of our favorites included Equal Exchange, Pacific Foods, Bob's Red Mill, King Harvest, Turtle Mountain (So Delicious Products), Wildwood Tofu, Theo Chocolate, Genesis Organic Juices, and Artisana.
Our favorite part about this fest was sampling food and seeing new food products. Pacific Foods was the best booth to go to! New Simply Teas and Yerba Mate Teas (flavors include Peach, Lemon Ginger, Traditional, Unsweetened, Berry, etc). Another new Pacific Foods product is their creamy hemp milk, perfect for ice cream or smoothies.

Lots of pamplets and information about vegetarianism, animal rights, and environmentalism.

We didn't have time to go to the classes or lectures, because we volunteered for a few hours in the kids area, but next time we will dedicate time to listen to the speakers.

It was neat to see all the families, kids, and couples all enthusiastic for vegetarianism and health. It is great to be involved in a community event that focuses on vegetarianism. Yay for VegFest!

Have a great Autumn week!

Texas Gals Southern Cookin'

2009-09-27T16:44:00.010-04:00

Even though we live in Oregon, we are Texas gals, and we'll always have a place in our heart for Southern food!

Veggie pot pies, cornbreads, black-eyed peas, biscuits, gravy, and other spicy Southern food.

Cornbread is so easy to make and a delicious buttery (vegan) treat!

How about our Harvest Cornbread or Sweet Potato Jalapeno Cornbread? We've also love just plain cornbread, with a little cornflour for extra softness and melt-in-your mouth deliciousness. Great to make cornbread muffins for easy snacks. (*Update 10/4/09 We baked some jalapeno cornbread, made just a few modifications, and it turned out melt-in-your-mouth awesome).

Instead of the typical Italian calzones, why not a Southern calzone?!
Black-eyed pea calzones with a cornmeal whole grain crust! We just combined onion, garlic, bell pepper, chopped broccoli, black-eyed peas, oregano, and Cajun seasoning and used that for our filling. We served these calzones with homemade mustard vinegrette (with lots of garlic added to this recipe) and an awesome homemade barbeque-cajun sauce (tomato paste, Cajun seasoning, worceshire sauce, bragg's, garlic, oregano, vinegar, oil, and water). A cilantro vinegrette would be good too.

We make biscuits about twice a month! Tahini biscuits and pumpkin cornmeal biscuits, kamut biscuits, baking powder biscuits and cornmeal biscuits, sourdough biscuits, jam biscuits and spice biscuits, and so much more you can do with a biscuit recipe!

We recently tried Tritticale Rosemary biscuits - perfect with olive oil or Southern gravy - and a gluten free biscuit! Gluten-free baking has been an interest to us, especially since we've been experimenting with gluten-free in the R&D lab at work! With a blend of gluten-free flours (sorghum, tapioca, rice, and potato starch), coconut flour, and some xanthan gum, we followed Bob's Red Mill Buttermilk Coconut Pancake recipe (on the back of the coconut flour package) and made Gluten-Free Biscuits. We added 2 Tb flaxmeal and 2 Tb oat bran, and used a blend of hemp and soy milk to make a biscuit baked in the oven. Very good for gluten-free, held together well, and more of a fluffy texture like mashed potatoes in a bread. Good with garlic and gravy.

Veggie Pot Pies are always so comforting, but time-consuming to prepare! So we made it easy!

LK's Easy Veggie Pot Pie

1 vegetable bouillon
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 cup water
1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tb nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp each sage and thyme
1/4 tsp each onion powder and ground mustard
1/4 tsp celery seed
2 Tb oil
1/4 cup diced bell pepper
1 cup broccoli, finely chopped
1 med yellow squash, diced
2-3 large chives or 1/4 cup onion
1 cup potatoes, diced and cooked
3 Tb flour
prepared pie crust or just biscuits or toast!

1. Add first 9 ingredients (bouillon through nutritional yeast) in a small stove pot and cook on medium high heat for 2-3 min.
2. Then add sage, thyme, onion powder, mustard, and celery seed, and simmer while you chop the veggies.
3. Place veggies in a microwave-safe dish, and cook until almost done.
4. Add flour to the stove pot and bring to a boil. Stir constantly until thickens.
5. Combine gravy from the stove pot with the vegetables in a large container.
6. Store in refrigerator until the day you want to have this for dinner.
7. When preparing your dinner, take your prepared pie crust and bake in the oven according to baking instructions (about 10 min).
8. Place the container of the vegetable filling in the microwave and heat until hot.
9. When the crust is just golden brown, take out of the oven. Pour the vegetable filling over the crust.
10. Cut and serve. This will be messy, so another delicious option is to break off pieces of the pie crust, place on your dinner plate, then pour the warm vegetable filling over it, and serve. Or just serve the vegetable filling over homemade biscuits or toast!

She's the sweetest little rosebud
that Texas ever knew,
Her eyes are bright as diamonds,
they sparkle like the dew;
You may talk about your Clementine,
and sing of Rosalee,
But the yellow rose of Texas
is the only girl for me.

ENJOY!

Artisana Raw Nut Butters Winner!

2009-09-20T16:07:00.013-04:00

We had a lot of fun with this giveaway--everyone had such great ideas! From breakfast to savory meals to sweet treats, it is wonderful how versatile nut butters can be with a little imagination!

For breakfast, Animal Friendly loves a heartwarming stick-to-your-ribs breakfast, with nut butter melted into oatmeal. Yummy! Ricki says nut butters are great made into a sweet sauce of nut butter, mylk, and spices, poured over baked sweet potatoes--a great alternative to the usual cereal breakfast!

Sweet Karoline is inspired by the coconut butter to make a Thai chickpea pancake, which can be enjoyed for a savory breakfast or as part of a meal later in the day.

Meghan uses nut butters to enhance sauces and pestos. Vegetation and Sara agreed with Meghan, that nut butters could transform soups or curries into "creamy deliciousness".

Most everyone has a sweet tooth, right? Vegetation also listed some easy ways to use nut butters-in smoothies, ice cream, or popsicles. Refreshing! Erica specifically loves raw banana soft serve--a blend of just nut butter, frozen bananas, and cinnamon. Vegan Lisa and Sara both love to top cakes, cupcakes, and caramel apples with luscious raw "buttercream" frosting.

For coconut oil, Deb Schiff recommends Ani's Pineapple Icebox Cake, a big crowd pleaser. She also suggests replacing oil in brownies with tahini--what a nice way to enhance nutrition and flavor in brownies! Rachel H also uses coconut oil for decadent melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cookies!

For those of you who love sweets so much that you'd also enjoy them for lunch or dinner--make dessert hummus and serve with cinnamon pita chips and some fresh fruit. Courtney is inspired by the idea of using different nut butters in hummus and changing up the flavors: Pecan butter with pumpkin and cinnamon, Almond butter with cranberries, Macadamia butter with cocoa powder and a touch of vanilla, or Walnut butter and Cacao bliss. Sounds heavenly!
Personally, we (LKSisters) have been using the nut butters in many ways--with fresh fruit over waffles, added to scones, cookies, and bread, swirled into a creamy smoothie, and spread on top of homemade graham crackers...

What wonderful ideas! Now, we're salvating for some delicious food and nut butters!

Alright, now to the results:

Random.org's Random Integer Generator was used to make this as fair as possible. We generated a winner in a more complex way just for something different and fun--Each person entered was randomly assigned a number between 1 and 200, using the random integer generator. Then, the random integer generator was used again to generate numbers between 1 and 200, and the first number it generated that aligned with a person's assigned number was the winner.

The winner will receive a sample of Artisana Nut Butters (tahini, pecan butter, walnut butter, macadamia butter, almond butter, coconut oil, coconut butter, and cacao bliss), plus a few brochures/coupons from the Portland Veg Fest!

Drumroll please....The winner is-----------Erica from Discovering Raw blog!

CONGRATULATIONS ERICA! Erica, let us know where we can send you the Artisana sample pack! We will also email you through your blog just to be sure you get this message.

And thank you everyone for your entries and inspiring ideas! May you all try some Artisana nut butters and continue to be creative in the kitchen!

A Sweet Reminder

2009-09-18T22:55:00.009-04:00

Hey everyone!

It's been a busy week, but we wanted to remind you of our sweet giveaway ending this weekend!

You have a chance to win samples of Artisana Nut and Coconut Butters (sampler of Coconut butter, Coconut Oil, Pecan Butter, Walnut Butter, Macadamia Butter, Almond Butter, Tahini, and Cacao Bliss).

Thanks for all of those who have commented - great suggestions for using nut butters.

Tomorrow is the last day to be apart of this giveaway! On Sunday, we will choose a winner and post! We'll let you know also what our favorite Artisana product is, and the many ways we enjoyed the nut and coconut butters!

Did you know tomorrow is Saturday Sept 19th, Portland VegFest?! We are so excited, since we've never been to an all-out vegan festival. We are looking forward to all the delicious food, samples, cooking demos, handouts, speakers, and vegetarian trivia! And we get to be apart of the event by volunteering in the family/kids activities. Have any of you been to a Vegfest before?

So, have a great fun weekend!

Hungry for Mex

2009-09-08T23:16:00.014-04:00

Lately we've been hungry for Mexican food.

Burritos.
Vegan Enchiladas.
Spanish Rice.
Pinto Beans and Black Beans.
Chips and Salsa.

!!!

So, last week we had lots of it!

Amy's Kitchen Black Bean Vegetable Burrito and Pinto Bean and Rice Burrito - we are hoping to start up a tradition for burrito night with Amy's once a week! :) We like the black bean burrito better because there's a little bit more veggies and there's a creamy enchilada-style sauce. But the pinto one is good and creamy too. We love the wrap - wheaty and soft and huge; too bad Amy's doesn't just sell the wheat tortillas.

We tried Amy's Black Bean Enchiladas, but they weren't as good as the burritoes. Not as many goodies and needs more flavor, though it would be easy for a quick dinner to add some salsa or tomato-black bean-veggie side dish with it.

For a fun Labor Day outing, we stopped at Lifesource Natural Foods in Salem, OR - a great natural food grocery store and lunch stop! We enjoyed some Spanish rice, black beans, fajita veggies, and vegetable soup, with a delicious vegan creamy macaroni salad.

For snacks, we have had the munchies for chips. Have you ever tried Food Should Taste Good baked chips? Absolutely love! Not too salty and doesn't taste baked! So far we've tried the sweet potato version and the multigrain--we love the multigrain best, but the sweet potato is very good with a subtle sweetness.

We also recently tried the Lundberg Farms Rice Chips, with Sea salt, which are good, but not great. Some of their chips have milk in it, FYI. Good for those that want tortilla chips that are gluten-free.

At home, we cooked up some Awesome Homemade Veggie Bean Burgers! We also like trying new recipes, but once we found this, we have made it twice this month, and we are looking forward to making this again, with variations of course.

Awesome Homemade Veggie Bean Burgers
Makes 10-12 patties

1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup each cornmeal and wheat gluten
2 1/2 Tb nutritional yeast
2 Tb flaxseed meal
2 cups pinto beans
1 Tb canola oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tb Braggs
1 Tb stone ground mustard
2 - 4 Tb diced bell pepper
2 Tb diced onion

1. In a small bowl, mix onion powder, cumin, cornmeal, wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, and flaxseed meal.
2. In a large bowl, mash pinto beans, then add remaining ingredients. Mix until just combined.
3. Add dry mixture from the small bowl to the bean mixture in the large bowl, and mix until well combined.
4. Form 10 - 12 patties. Place on a baking sheet that has parchment paper or has been sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-25 minutes, or until golden on both sides.

Variations: Add 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or cayenne
Add 1/4 - 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce or Balsamic vinegar
Use black beans, white beans, black-eyed peas, or kidney beans
Add 2-3 Tb finely chopped veggies

For your information, we recently stumbled upon a great list-article, "57 Health Benefits of Going Vegan". Great reasons to be vegan, to encourage friends and family to be vegan or vegetarian, or even to just motivate others to be vegan once a week! And thanks mom, if your reading, for your new dedication to a vegetarian lifestyle!

BIG REMINDER: The Artisana nut butter sampler giveaway contest is going on NOW, and it ends in 10 days, Saturday Sept 19!
Keep on posting your ideas: We want creativity-- It's great for you to tell us what your favorite way to enjoy Artisana nut/seed butters is...Also tell us about a dish/meal/snack (with details) you've tried that was out-of-the-ordinary delicious! Thanks for those of you who have already commented and have suggested such inspiring delicious ways to use the nut butters! Some great ideas so far! Get in on the fun here!

Artisana Nut Butter Giveaway-Contest!

2009-09-02T22:35:00.012-04:00

We recently received a large amount of nut/seed butters and coconut products from Premier Organics--thank you Premier Organics! We happened to get more than we ever imagined and have decided to have a fun contest! First, you must check out Premier Organics' great line of products: http://www.premierorganics.org

Contest details are below, but first details about the prize! The prize is a sampler of many Artisana Organic Raw Nut/Seed Butters that include: Coconut butter, Coconut Oil, Pecan Butter, Walnut Butter, Macadamia Butter, Almond Butter, Tahini (sesame seed paste), and Cacao Bliss. (little 2 Tbsp sized glass jars of nut butter, perfect for taste-testing or dipping with your favorite fruit/snacks).The coconut oil is a great butter replacement, with a slightly cooling coconut taste. Very rich and satisfying. The coconut butter is great as a frosting spread or in a meal using coconut milk. All of the nut butters are nutty and delicious in their own way--we found that we liked the pecan butter the best. Although we aren't fond of macadamias, the macadamia was surprisingly delicious and sweet. The tahini was one of the best tahinis we've tried-not bitter like some can be. And the Cacao Bliss was decandent and fudgy!

We also received a jar of Amazon Bliss, which isn't included in the sampler. It was good, but not as "wow" as we'd hoped it to be--slightly dry and tastes like coconut butter with just a hint of fruitiness and nuttiness from the goji, cacao, acai, and other ingredients. But still very nutritious and tropical tasting!

We will definitely purchase Artisana tahini, pecan butter, coconut oil, and cacao bliss when the time comes! Although we personally can't tolerate nuts very well, the nut butters are very high quality, raw, organic, and delicious. We're sure that you will love all of Artisana products once you try them!

Ok, now more about the contest!

If you comment about a great & unique way to enjoy Artisana Raw Nut/Seed Butters (a recipe would be even better), then you will automatically be entered to win.

Here are the details:

Post a comment at the end of this blog post with your ideas --details and/or recipes would be great. You can also post on your own blog about this contest (but it won't count as an extra entry).

We want creativity--branch out and use the nut butters in something unique and delicious! It's great for you to tell us what your favorite way to enjoy Artisana nut/seed butters is, but we also need to know a dish/meal/snack (with details) you've tried that was out-of-the-ordinary delicious in order to be entered!

It can be sweet or savory, hot or cold and everything else in between! Of course, it must be vegan.

Only one entry per blog/person.

Contest starts Friday Sept 4 and ends in two weeks, Saturday Sept 19. Each entry will be assigned a number and a random number will be generated. Whoever matches the number wins the sampler!

We want some inspiration in the kitchen and can't wait to read about what all your ideas are! Pass the word on, too!

Have fun,

Crunchin' Away

2009-08-22T17:33:00.009-04:00

Crunchin' away with crackers!

With sliced avocado, dipped in hummus or salsa, or to crave those munchies, don't you agree that crackers are a tasty crunchy treat?!

Not so much a treat, when a small 8 oz box can be $4.00 at the store (Mary's Gone Crackers, Doctor Kracker, Back to Nature, Annie's Homegrown...).

Instead, get out your flour and spices, and be creative! Make some homemade crackers. And each time you make a batch of crackers, change up the spices and flours and make them unique.

Here's what we've been crunchin' on this month!

LK's Easy Whole Grain Crackers

Makes 35-45 small crackers.

Basic cracker ingredients:

1 1/4 cup whole grain flour**
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp, optional baking soda
1/3 -1/2 cup water
1 Tb oil
1 tsp, optional Dijon mustard

Spices to add:

Cheesy-garlic-flavored
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp paprika powder
1/2 tsp turmeric (for color)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
3/4 tsp Garlic granules/powder

Onion-pepper-flavored
1/2 tsp Onion granules/powder
1/2 tsp Black pepper

Curry-pumpkin-flavored
3/4 tsp - 1 tsp Curry powder
1/4 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Corriander
2 Tb Pumpkin puree - in place of some water

Herb-flavored
1/2 - 3/4 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Dried Basil

1. Preheat oven to 375 - 400 degrees F.
2. Combine dry ingredients (including spices of choice) in a large bowl
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry mix bowl, and mix until combined. The dough will be a tad sticky.
4. Sprinkle parchment paper with some flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
5. Roll it out very thin, trying to make it as even as possible, and then cut it into cracker sizes.
6. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for 18-25 minutes, flipping half-way, and baking until they start to brown just a little bit. Let cool.

**In regard to the choice of flours, try Bob's Red Mill whole grain flours, such as Kamut, Triticale, White Wheat, Barley, Oat, Spelt, or gluten-free flours like Teff, Buckwheat, Sorghum, Amaranth, or Millet. Each grain gives a unique flavor, so we enjoy trying different flours to get different flavors, such as nuttier or butterier or wheatier flavor...

What's your favorite cracker flavor? We welcome any tips or comments on crackers and delicious new unique flavors.

Update 8/24/09: Thanks for all the great comments and ideas. Cornmeal would be a nice addition for flavor and crunch. Adding some oat bran, wheat germ, or flaxmeal would also be a healthy addition. And more flavors we thought of - cinnamon or spiced cracker, spicy Mexican cracker, or chocolate cracker!

Have a great weekend!

Sencha Naturals Green Tea Mints

2009-08-17T22:50:00.005-04:00

Sencha Naturals Green Tea Mints are Vegan, Gluten Free, Sugar-Free, and Organic/Fair Trade.

They are so unique and tasty! A nice treat after a meal and a great way to get more green tea health benefits.

3 mints = 1 cup of green tea!

Flavors include Original, Delicate Pear, Lively Lemongrass, and Morning Leeche.

Original and Pear were our favorite of the four. Original has a mildly sweet tea flavor. The pear mints have a fruity melon-pear taste.

Lively Lemongrass and Morning Leeche are interesting--definetely out of the ordinary flavors. The lemongrass would pair well after a Thai or Indian meal! Strong in lemongrass, with hint of sweet tea. The morning Leeche has a strong floral perfume taste.

The company also sells Green Tea Whole Food Nutrition Bars, using ingredients such as almonds and other nuts/seeds, dates and other fruits, soybeans, brown rice syrup, rice flour, green tea, and spices.

Sencha Naturals is a socially responsible company and uses organic fair trade green tea extract.

Try some Green Tea Mints for antioxidants and good health, or to just freshen your breath!

Cheers to Sencha Naturals and other great companies who are passionate about health and natural ingredients,

U-Pick

2009-08-08T19:32:00.011-04:00

Hi everyone!

We've been so busy with work, then cleaning... sorry about the lack of posts. We do have so much to share with you.

Last weekend we enjoyed a trip to a u-pick farm in Canby, OR. Such a fun opportunity! It was so rewarding to be out in the field like a farmer and pick fresh fruits and vegetables!

6 different varieties of blueberries! We loved snacking while we picked. We could distinguish each variety by the leaves, tree height, and flavor, with some slightly sweet or tart than others.

Green beans, snap peas, snow peas!

Chard and Kale!

They also grow corn, tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, blackberries, raspberries, plums, cucumbers, pears, chives, brocolli, cabbage, cauliflower, but not all of them were ready to pick. So fresh to be able to pick and eat it the same day! And an economical way to purchase produce for about a dollar a pound.

Have a sunny weekend,

Trying To Be Economical

2009-07-27T22:16:00.007-04:00

It's been very difficult lately to reduce our grocery spending, even though we've been buying more bulk foods and dry beans, seeds, and grains. We just like food too much! Plus, organic foods are more expensive, as well as some necessary processed items like soy milk, juice, and cereal.

This is our typical grocery list:

Farmer's market produce - 1-2 green vegetables, green beans or broccoli, 2 cucumbers, a few tomatoes, a few squashes or potatoes, 1 bell pepper, chives or onion, pint of blueberries, raspberries or strawberries, and a few peaches (whatever fruit is in-season and cheaper).

grocery store produce - lots of bananas, 2 large avocados, tomatoes (if none available at the farmer's market), lots of carrots, 1-2 oranges or grapefruit

bulk foods - 3/4-1 lb raisins or dried cranberries, 1/2-1 lb wheat flour, 1/2-1 lb spelt flour, 1 lb dried beans (pinto, garbanzo, or lentils), 1/2-1 lb rolled oats, 1/2 lb quinoa or millet

2 Pearl soymilks and 1 large store brand vanilla soymilk
1 package firm tofu

1 can diced tomatoes or 1 can tomato sauce

1 box cereal, maybe 1 bag chips or crackers

once in a while- tahini/seed butter, flaxmeal, pumpkin seeds, non-dairy yogurt, salsa, dark chocolates

We make our own breads, muffins, and desserts generally (healthier and cheaper), and our protein sources are cheap beans, tofu, tahini, and homemade veggie burgers (instead of buying expensive frozen foods and store-bought veggie burgers).

So, we really try to be economical, but our grocery bill is still pretty high - like $100-130 - (but that also includes some personal non-food items. And, we admit, we do splurg on new products that we are eager to try :)

Any suggestions to be even more economical? We seem to cook and bake so much, because homemade foods are cheaper, but any ideas to be economical and quick in the kitchen?

So, here are some dinners we've enjoyed these past 2 weeks, for which we've tried to be economical:

Homemade Tomato Sauce with lots of garlic and olive oil. We had a pizza with homemade tomato garlic sauce one night, then used the pizza crust to dip into the sauce and had the sauce over broccoli.

Homemade Salsa - easy and tasty! Just blended 1 can diced tomatoes, lots of chives and garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro. Here we used the salsa over black beans, served with fresh green beans and homemade corn muffins.

Homemade Healthy Refried Beans - delicious and nutritious, packed with protein! We love creamy foods, and pintos are so creamy.

(Adapted from World's Healthiest Foods Cajun Bean Chili)

1 clove minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 Tb Mexican seasoning or chili powder
1/4 tsp thyme
3/4 - 1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp salt
3 - 3 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans
2-4 Tb water to make desired thickness/creaminess
pepper and olive oil to taste

Saute onion for 4 min, or until just translucent, then add garlic and cook 1 min. Combine remaining ingredients, reserving 2-3 Tb of pinto beans. Place everything in a blender and blend until creamy. Then add the remaining 2-3 Tb pinto beans and mix until just combined (don't blend). Serve in a burrito, with chips, or in rice bowls.

Have a great week and stay cool (it's 100 degrees for the next 3 days here in Oregon)!

New Seasons New Foods

2009-07-19T16:37:00.011-04:00

Have you ever been to New Seasons Market?

It's such a great store here in Oregon. A store that focuses on local produce, the community, sustainability, recycling, fresh foods, organic, catering, cooking, nutrition - just look at the list of links on the left side of the website! A long list about their community goals!

We think it's better than Whole Foods and Central Market.

When we went last month, we found delicious new foods to try out!

Vicola Cornmeal Pizza Crust - the best store bought pizza crust we've tried! Delicious - slightly sweet and nutty from the cornmeal. They also sell Spelt Cornmeal Pizza Crust, which actually has more fiber and is made with whole grain spelt flour. The only disappointment (besides the fiber) is the fat is somewhat high at 10 g and a tad high in sodium. But great crust when you want to make some pizza quick! We had a delicious pizza with homemade tomato garlic sauce (lots of garlic!), local onion and tomatoes and fresh basil. Other pizza ideas would be to make a black bean corn mexican pizza or a hummus zucchini spinach pizza!

Food Merchants Organic Mushroom and Onion Polenta
We would like to try the other flavors of this polenta, or even make our own, but this flavor just tasted too much like a meat flavor. You know, sometimes mushroom flavors taste meaty, hearty? And it was a tad salty, but the texture was good, and we sliced the polenta and cooked it on a skillet until browned. Good with a tomato sauce.

Raw Makery Rye Sticks - delicious! We loved these dipped in hummus, tahini, mustard sauce, tomato sauce... The textures is just like a regular baked cracker stick. What we liked about these raw crackers was the ingredients -

organic sprouted buckwheat groats, fresh organic golden and/or brown flax seeds, organic oranges, organic yams, organic sunflower seeds, organic onions, organic garlic, organic cold pressed olive oil, organic basil, organic rosemary, organic caraway seeds & celtic sea salt.

Buckwheat, flax, orange, sunflower seeds, and yam! Very good flavor, texture, and nutrition.Raw Makery has a great line of raw products!

King Harvest Toasted Sesame Hummus - The best storebought hummus is King Harvest's! And there local here too.

Apple and Cranberry Suncakes of course are delicious, a not-too-sweet snack bar that satisfies your dessert cravings and that fills you up. We love the Hearthrives because it has added calcium.

Nana's Gluten-Free Ginger Cookie - we didn't care for this one:( Too sweet with a ricey taste and a delicate crumb. We've also tried her No Gluten Nana Banana Cookie Bar and it was not good, with a fake banana flavor and an odd texture of crumbly rice flour with firm crisps.

De Boles Organic Pastas are our favorite pastas. So many flavors and shapes. Flavors such as Spinach, Tomato Basil, and Red Bell Pepper, made with grains such as Whole Wheat, Ancient Grains, Gluten Free Corn, and Gluten Free Whole Grains. Even the gluten free pasta has a good texture and bite.

French Meadow Bakery Organic Hemp Bagels
Another favorite! So chewy and nutty and full of whole grains and nutritious ingredients. Can't wait to try their Kamut Bread, Sprouted Peasant Rolls, Hemp Rolls, Our Daily Bread, and Hemp Tortillas!

La Rosa Flaxseed and Sesame Tortilla Chips are ok in flavor, but good in nutrition with flax and sesame seeds. La Rosa also carries multigrain tortilla chips (which we thought looked just like the best multigrain tortilla chips you can get at Bob's Red Mill Store).

Sunshine Organic Falafel - very good in flavor and texture, but expensive for just 3 patties. Great in a pita with avocado and tahini or mustard! We liked how they use sunflower seed, rice, and chickpeas. Eager to try their Breakfast Patty!

Cajun's Choice Jambalaya Mix is a easy way to whip up some jambalaya! We just mixed this seasoning in brown rice, with tomatoes, tomato sauce, bell pepper, onion, and kale, but it would be awesome with black-eyed peas and okra.

Well, we have more products from New Seasons that we enjoyed, but we'll post that next time!

We are always so excited to see new creative products on the market, so please comment with some foods that you recently found and enjoyed. Or comment about a new product that you didn't like!

Enjoy your day,

More Sucessful Cooking & A Great Shopping Find

2009-07-12T15:01:00.013-04:00

This past month, our Vive le Vegan cookbook has been well-used!

- When you want a dish that's flavorful and well-liked by friends and family, just browse through Vive le Vegan; you'll definetely find something worth talking about.

- When you want to give pizazz to your favorite sandwiches and vegetables, just choose one of the delicious dressings and sauces in Vive le Vegan.

- And, when you want a quick and healthy sandwich or burger, choose Vive le Vegan!

We've had such successful cooking, making Vive le Vegan's Sweet Curry Chickpea Casserole, Lemon Zinger Vinaigrette, Sesame Mustard Tahini Sauce, Cumin Lime Vinaigrette, Ginger Dipping Sauce, Lemon Herb Tofu, and Pumpkin Seed Lentil Patties!

When we visited our mom two weeks ago for our grandparent's anniversary, we made our Mom dinner. She loved the Sweet Curry Chickpea Casserole, which had great flavors and textures. Sweet potatoes, apples, onion, celery, green beans, and chickpeas in a subtle coconut ginger curry sauce. A great filling meal and great leftovers!

Dreena's dressings and sauces are so easy to whip up and add flavor and pizazz to rice bowls, sandwiches, and veggies. The Cumin Lime Vinaigrette had a subtle Mexican flavor; we enjoyed it tossed in a salad with tomatoes, zucchini, and chives. It would also be great over black beans or in wraps. We used the Ginger Dipping sauce in rice bowls, tofu, and stir-fried veggies.

We loved the Sesame Mustard Tahini Sauce - a great creamy rich sauce, yet mellow in flavor. Good warm or chilled. We mixed the sauce with pasta shells, tofu, peas, and broccoli, and for leftovers we had a chilled pasta salad. Other ideas to use the sauce: in a potato salad, as a tofu ricotta sauce, in a casserole, or in grain bowls.

We also loved Dreena's Lemon Zinger Vinaigrette over broccoli, snap peas, and salad. Alongside the broccoli-snap pea salad, we made Lemon Herb tofu, which was absolutely delicious! Great as "steaks" but also good on sandwich bread with lettuce, avocado, and cucumber. Both dressings would be good to use over anything!

Another great meal was the Pumpkin Seed Lentil Patties. We didn't have breadcrumbs, so we used oat bran and cracker crumbs. Delicious subtle curry flavor with a great texture. We ate it with avocado and lettuce in homemade pitas and had potato fries on the side. This would be really good with a balsamic dressing, or to flavor it with a different spice instead of curry, such as a Mexican flavor. An easy and quick dinner when you can take a patty out of the freezer, reheat, and eat!

Today we found a great find! At our downtown, there was a festival, and all the vendors on 3rd St. were having sales. At one of the stores, called Found Objects, we found a cookie/flour jar, and sugar and creamer set for just $8.50 (originally $40!). We are using them as utensil holder and tea jars!

Saturday Summer Breads & Biscuits

2009-07-04T19:03:00.010-04:00

Happy Fourth of July!

We hope you all are staying cool as you celebrate! For us, we are enjoying our 3 day weekend at home - we've been traveling almost every weekend, so this weekend was our time to relax, do some cleaning, hanging out with our cats, and of course cooking and baking.

It's nice during the summer to have cool refreshing meals, which are quicker to make. Salads, dips, sandwiches, fruit smoothies, ice cream, etc. Yesterday we had fun making homemade oatmeal pitas and then had a healthy hummus pita! The recipe was so easy, from our favorite Bread Machine Magic cookbook. We will definetely make these pitas again!

Another delicious Bread Machine Magic recipe was the Shredded-Wheat Bread. This recipe called for crumbled shredded wheat (we used our favorite Arrowhead Mills Shredded Wheat Cereal). The bread had a soft yet slightly dense texture and a great wheaty taste; made perfect slices for sandwiches!

We love to start our Saturdays with breads and biscuits for breakfast. Ricki has an awesome Peanut Butter Biscuit recipe that we had to try! But instead of peanut butter (we try to avoid nuts), we used tahini. These Tahini Biscuits were devoured! Soft and fluffy, with a delicate crumb and a good nutty maple flavor. We served these with pear butter, maple syrup, fresh strawberries and cantelope, and a glass of soy milk.

Another Saturday biscuit that we enjoyed was Pumpkin Cornmeal Biscuits. Moist from the pumpkin puree, nutty and textured from the cornmeal coating on the bottoms, and subtle sweetness from the maple lemon glaze. A good biscuit for breakfast or with a meal. We served these with more maple syrup and coconut oil.

With our pumpkin biscuit we had a refreshing Raspberry Banana Fruit Smoothie with Healthforce Nutritionals Fruit of the Earth Mix. We also recently purchased Healthforce Nutritionals Vitamineral Green mix and both are so good! A blend of healthy energizing rejuvinating vitamins and minerals from natural wholesome raw sources. The Vitamin C and the Maca Vanilla Spice mixes were also very good. Everyday we make smoothies, and these blends have given us more energy! Reviews also say that overall their health improves too, such as healthy hair and skin.

Well, have a great weekend! Happy Independence Day!

We're Melting, We're Melting!

2009-07-01T23:06:00.016-04:00

Texas is sweltering HOT. We had the pleasure of going home to see family and celebrate our grandparents 50th wedding anniversary, and it happened to be when San Antonio/Austin were getting record highs of 100-105! It was really nice when we flew back into Portland and basked in the breezy, sunny, 70-degree weather....

Don't you love photos and making memories with family? Our uncle, who is savvy with computers, made a DVD slideshow of 50 years of pictures of our grandparents and all of the children & grandchildren. It was so touching and memorable!

It's really hard to stay cool in such unbearable weather. Ice cream, fruit smoothies, lots of water, and fresh salads really help to stay hydrated. (Oh and dark chocolate is nice, too, lol..)

Speaking of heat, our mouths were on fire when we ordered take-out from our favorite local Thai restaurant. We enjoyed spicy red curry (with eggplant, tofu, bell pepper, bamboo shoots, onion, basil, and cabbage), spicy Pad Ga Prow stir-fry (with tofu, garlic, chili, bell pepper, onion, carrot, basil leaves, broccoli, and mushrooms), and spicy Tom Ka soup (coconut milk, lemongrass, galanga, kaffir leaves, lime juice, tofu, broccoli, cabbage, onion, tomatoes, and mushrooms). So flavorful! As summer continues, we hope everyone enjoys the outdoors and stays cool! And don't let little things in life (like hot weather) get to your mood - stay positive and cherish memories, no matter how unbearable things can get. :)

"Pop"!

2009-06-23T22:46:00.007-04:00

In honor of Father's ("Pop") Day, here are two popular treats for a poppin' fun party :)

Sweet and Spice Popcorn

1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
1/4 - 3/8 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
dash cayenne, optional
2 cups plain popped popcorn

Mix seasonings and sugar in a med sized bowl. Add popcorn and oil, then mix until popcorn is coated with seasonings. Serves 2.

Lemon Maple Three Seed Mini Muffins

1 Tb poppy seeds
1 Tb hemp seeds
1 Tb pumpkin seeds
1 3/4 cup oats
1 Tb sugar
1 1/2 - 2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
2 1/2 cup flour, such as spelt or kamut
1 Tb baking powder
3 Tb lemon juice
1 1/2 Tb flaxmeal
3/4 cup non-dairy milk
3 Tb maple syrup
1/4 tsp maple extract (or vanilla)
2 Tb canola oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine first 10 ingredients (poppy seeds through flour) in a large bowl. In a small bowl, add lemon juice and milk. Mix slightly, then add flaxmeal, maple syrup, maple extract, and canola oil. Combine wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Drop batter into a prepared mini-muffin pan, and bake for 13-16 minutes for mini-sized muffins, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Makes 12 mini-muffins, perfect size for parties.

And while you are having a party, why not watch Mary Poppins!

(Popcorn photo by Darren Hester)

Birthday Portland Excursion & Other Eats

2009-06-20T23:10:00.030-04:00

It's been a while posting...partly because we've been getting burned out from 9-11 hour days at work. We had an especially bad day on Thursday June 18, which happened to be our 23 rd birthday. :(

Saturday was a wonderful day, though, hiking in Forest Park (the largest urban park in the USA), strolling through Portland's Pearl District (and stopping in at Storables, Powell's City of Books, and Whole Foods Market), and eating at Proper Eats Cafe! We had a wonderful refreshing hike followed by a fresh, healthy lunch. If you are ever in the area, you have to hike at Forest Park, it is so beautiful, scenic, lush, peaceful, and rejuvenating!

At Proper Eats, we shared a tabouli wrap with shredded beets, sauerkraut, spinach, and miso tahini sauce on a whole wheat tortilla, and a sample platter of raw crackers, raw veggies, sunseed avocado dip, hummus, and spicy black bean dip. For dessert, decadent Thai Chili Dark Chocolate Truffle and Peppermint Dark Chocolate Truffle! While the meals were very good, unique, and fresh, we felt like they weren't wow enough to get the next time. We really want to try their other dishes, because it was all so healthy, local, and vegan. The cafe is quaint and even has a small grocery store with local produce, bulk section, and vegan snacks.
Did we mention how much we LOVE our farmer's market? Last week we bought super sweet and fresh strawberries, zucchini, lettuce, bok choy, cucumber, and fresh aromatic basil.

Since we are behind in posting, here are some more delicious yet random eats to share with you!

Starting off the weekend with a fruit n' veggie smoothie, fresh sliced pears, and some Nature's Path Flax Waffles, drizzled with a little pear butter and maple syrup.

And, let's just skip to dessert! Vive le Vegan's Chocolate Chip Cookies!

We adapted them slightly (added in a little oats for texture, among other things), but overall these were the best chocolate chip cookies we've tried. Good texture, soft yet not too doughy or crumbly, whole grain, and very flavorful! This recipe can act as a base to be used to create other great cookies. Yummy :)

Using our huge farmer's market zucchini, we made zucchini hummus. This recipe came from our raw "cook"book (Raw Food Made Easy for 1-2 People), but our tahini was non-raw, so this hummus is semi-raw. The hummus has zucchini, tahini, garlic, a little cumin and paprika, and some salt just blended together. It is slightly thinner in consistency, but very tasty and unique. It is more than just hummus - it can be used as a creamy sauce, as a dip, or as a dressing, and you can change up the spices to create different flavors. We loved it especially over pasta (chilled or warm), fresh basil leaves, and veggies (in this case some sundried tomatoes).
So, celebrate this summer by buying fresh local produce, traveling/exploring new places, eating healthy delicious meals, and indulging in decadent desserts!

Portland is a great place to travel, with beautiful bridges, parks, shopping, and restaurants.

Have a nice week everyone! We will share some more product reviews soon.

Let us know what your favorite places/cities to travel are, because we love to travel!

Basil and Cilantro

2009-06-11T22:15:00.010-04:00

Don't you do just love fresh herbs? Dinner tastes like it was made in the garden!

What are your favorite herbs to use in meals? When we think of herbs, we think of basil, cilantro, oregano, sage, thyme, parsley, and mint. But those are typical herbs - can you think of any other herb that's unique but really good to cook with?

We especially love that different ethnic cuisines use the same herbs but in different ways. Basil in Thai and Italian. Oregano in Italian and Greek. Cilantro in Mexican and Thai. YUM!

Basil grows so well in Texas, and we used to have a garden of herbs, but our favorite was the basil! Although it dies every winter, it thrives in the summer once it's replanted. We love basil in Italian food - on homemade pizza or with simple bow tie pasta and olive oil and tomatoes.

Basil is also great with Thai food - we love Thai Country Restaurant in McMinnville, especially how they add fresh basil to curry dishes, fresh spring rolls, soups, and stir fries. Here we brought home leftovers of Spicy Green Bean and Tofu, Pineapple Red Curry, with some fresh asparagus, quinoa, and sticky rice. Try some Thai Tofu Saute with sweet Thai basil!

Cilantro is so cheap, but often we don't know what to do with all of it before it wilts. We jazz up our Thai Red Curry Tofu Scramble, served with some quinoa, corn tortilla, and white radish. We didn't have enough quinoa, so we thought a corn tortilla might go well with dinner :)

For a Mexican meal, we used the cilantro in Harmony House Foods Black Bean Soup and in a fresh Mexican salad, with avocado, tomatoes, chives, and a local greens mix. Delicious on a summer day! Try some Tortilla soup too!

Please let us know your favorite dishes to use basil and cilantro, and your favorite herbs!

Have a great Friday!

(Photos of fresh herbs taken by ethangeorgi)

Wishing good health and fun for June!

2009-06-07T11:04:00.020-04:00

Sweet red strawberries are in season here!! We are excited that our local farmer's market has started up. Soon more berries will be plentiful, along with other great summer produce. Summer fruits and vegetables and sunny warm days means refreshing, light, nutritious, easy meals!

The local strawberries were delicious as is, but we also enjoyed them in a raw buckwheat porridge, sprinkled with a little raw wheat germ and hemp seeds.

We also enjoyed a light, healthy, refreshing, and creamy GREENS smoothie! Most of the green smoothies we have enjoyed (and need to make more often) include some or all of the following: bananas, greens, cucumbers, blueberries, non-dairy milks, hemp protein powder, spices, and other fruits and juices.

Any suggestions on how to make these smoothies WOW and change them up frequently would be greatly appreciated! We need some greens inspiration. Also, if you purchase or know of any high quality nutritious greens/fruit powder mixes, please let us know. We have been enjoying hemp protein powder, but once it is gone, we want to try an even healthier blend with greens and fruit in it, such as Amazing Grass brand. Has anyone ever tried this blend? Which greens brands do you recommend that have fresh, high-quality, low-sugar, natural and organic ingredients??

Another healthy alternative to fresh food is freeze-dried food! We love freeze dried peas to snack on - a healthy snack with a nice crunch. The freeze-dried mangos are delicious in cereal in the morning, and the freeze-dried edamames are a handy addition with dinner. We usually get freeze-dried peas, corn, fruit, and tomatoes from Just Tomatoes at our local grocery store, but we decided to buy from Harmony House Foods for different freeze-dried products. Unique freeze-dried or dehydrated products, like sweet potatoes, pears, green beans, etc.... The only thing we weren't crazy about was the kiwi - was really tart. They even have really good vegan vegetable soup mixes.We are overall thrilled at Oregon summers, so much more fun and refreshing than Texas' summers! It's wonderful to enjoy farmer's markets, Oregon landscape (coast, hills, forest, waterfalls, etc..) and to savor fresh nutritious foods!

As Hippocrates says, "A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessing." "He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything."-Unknown

P.S. We found this great website to be creative - wordle. Express yourself, your thoughts, your desires, your joys!

Happy June!

Tomato-ey Meals

2009-06-02T22:35:00.014-04:00

Tomatoes are becoming less expensive and are so juicy ripe! A great reason to buy lots for tomato-ey meals.

We tried Veganomicon's Potato Kale Enchiladas, but instead of rolling up the tortillas to make enchiladas, we layered them to make a Mexican lasagna. Easier to make it layered! A healthy homemade enchilada pie.
We liked the textures and flavors - juicy tomatoes, creamy potatoes, and crunchy pumpkin seeds for textures, and tomatoes, potatoes, and jalapeno/Mexican spices for flavors. It was tasty, but needed something else, like a drizzle of olive oil or fresh oregano. Also, it took so long to make - and we even split the tasks, prepared the potatoes and sauce ahead, and the next day assembled everything.

When our Dad visited last week, we immediately thought of a tomato dish to make for him - everyone likes tomatoes right? Whenever we cook for him, we try to make healthy but flavorful meals that he will like, because usually he doesn't eat the healthiest and he doesn't get much homemade food either. So, we decided to try Fat Free Vegan Kitchen's Italian Layered Vegetable Casserole. Another layered tomato-ey dish, but Italian style! This was really really good. We prepared the eggplant, bean filling, and sauce ahead of time, and then the next day assembled everything. An easy homemade tomato sauce - though next time we will increase the amount, because the dish could have used more. An easy bean filling too. Had a dollop of olive oil. Next time we might use fresh basil for more intense flavor. Our Dad was very happy :)

We served this with olive oil and homemade Garlic Spelt Rolls, a recipe from a favorite cookbook, the Bread Machine Magic by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway.

For an Easy 5 minute Tomato Soup, with a fresh tomato-ey flavor, try this easy recipe!

Easy 5 minute Tomato Soup

6 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 -2 Tbsp pesto (try Alive Organic Pistachio Pesto)
2 Tbsp olive oil
lots of dried basil (or fresh)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or Vitamix, then blend to your liking (smooth or somewhat chunky). Eat or heat, then eat. So delicious, easy, and fresh! You can also blend in some avocado to make it creamier.

Another delicious tomato soup, but more preparation, is the Fresh Tomato Basil Soup with carrots, red bell pepper, and celery.

Tomatoes don't have to be in just Mexican or Italian meals. At our local Thai Restaurant, we had Thai Sweet and Sour Pineapple Tofu dish with tomatoes in it, and it was delicious! What meals do you like to have tomatoes in?

No Longer a Silky Drink

2009-05-30T21:44:00.007-04:00

Has anyone noticed the changes from Silk Soy milk?

This article outlines the "secret" changes that Dean Foods has made to Silk Soy milk. Apparently, most of their products are just "natural" and the soybeans may be coming from China. Very shocking to hear that Dean Foods has changed the Silk brand so much.

So what are you drinking instead?

We love to drink Rice Dream Enriched Rice Milk, Pearl Soy Milk, So Nice Soy Milk, Quality Chek'd Soy Milk (store Brand), Eden Foods Soy Milks, Pacific Foods Oat Milk, and Living Harvest Vanilla Hemp Milk.

And, has anyone tried So Delicious Coconut Milks? Are they really coconuty, or are they a good substitute to soy that's mild enough for baking or breakfast cereals? Just wondering!

Any really good non-dairy milks that you all like?

Have a great rest of the weekend,

Hiking Fuel

2009-05-24T22:19:00.010-04:00

Perfect for Memorial Day Weekend, we enjoyed a vigorous 1.5 hour hike at Silver Falls State Park, with our Dad. The park was packed - so many people enjoying the sunny weather and the gorgeous forested park!

We had a nice picnic in the sun - brought carrot sticks, oranges, pistachios, crackers, banana, and potato chips. Just various foods that are easy to transport and don't necessarily require refrigeration.

For fuel after or during the hike, we enjoyed homemade oatmeal banana bars and kamut muffins. We adapted this recipe for oatmeal snack bars and used dried bananas! For the kamut muffins, we followed the Triticale Breakfast Muffin recipe on the back of Bob's Red Mill's Triticale Cereal/Meal. Used all kamut flour and kamut cereal/meal, and it turned out excellent! A new favorite muffin that's not too sweet, to be eaten for breakfast or for snacks! Kamut gives a buttery-corny flavor, and in a biscuit kamut flour makes it taste buttery, and in this muffin recipe with the kamut meal, it tasted a little like cornbread muffins!

Kamut Muffins

1 cup Kamut cereal/meal
1 cup kamut flour
2 Tb sugar
1/2 tsp salt
>1 Tb baking powder
1 Tb flaxmeal
1 cup non-dairy milk (we used 1/2 rice, 1/2 soy)

Mix dry ingredients, then add liquid and mix until combined. Pour into prepared muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes for mini-muffins, or 15-20 for larger ones. We made 12 mini muffins.

Other hiking foods we like to have include:

cereal
biscuits
rice cakes
chips
dried fruit
soynuts
Just Tomatoes freeze-dried peas
Heart Thrives
bananas, apples

What are your favorite picnic foods and hiking snacks that are easy to transport and eat, and provide great fuel? There are alot of energy bars out there, but so many of them are full of junky ingredients, and we personally prefer homemade wholesome snacks.

Have a great Memorial Day!

Where would we be without chocolate?

2009-05-17T16:38:00.023-04:00

Without chocolate, all pleasure is drained! :)

..............."A little too much chocolate is just about right."
..............."Too much of a good thing is simply wonderful!" - Deborah Fox-Rothschild
..............."All you need is love. But a little bit of chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt."
..............."Chocolate is the Answer, who cares what the Question is?"
..............."Woman have many moods, CHOCOLATE satisfies them all"

Chocolate is nutritious!

..............."Chocolate is a Vegetable: chocolate is derived from cocoa beans. Bean = vegetable. Sugar is derived from either sugar cane or sugar beets. Both are plants, which places them in the vegetable category. Thus, chocolate is a vegetable." (Actually cocoa beans are fruit from the cacao tree)
..............."I do recommend a piece of good-quality dark chocolate as a healthy snack . . . It is a source of polyphenols, the same type of antioxidants found in red wine, and the fat it contains is stearic acid, which doesn't affect cholesterol levels. The latest good news for chocolate lovers comes from a study indicating that flavonoids in chocolate are good for your heart. These compounds reduce the stickiness of platelets, cells that play an important role in blood clotting." - Andrew Weil, M.D.
..............."According to an Italian study, a small square (20 g) of dark (bittersweet) chocolate every three days is the ideal dose for cardiovascular benefits. Eating more does not provide additional benefits." - cacaoweb.net

What are your favorite dark chocolates?

We love to try different chocolates (different companies and different flavors) and taste-test. Our favorites are the darker chocolates (~70-75% chocolate). In order to get a better sense of the flavors in each chocolate bar, we like to take little bites of one chocolate brand/flavor and make note of its taste, then take a little bite of a different chocolate brand/flavor. This is a great way to see that although they may all be "dark" they hold different flavor profiles. Some may have a heavier, richer, roasted flavor, while others may have a nutty, brighter flavor with hints of fruit, etc.

Here is our list (not in any particular order) of delicious melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolates!

Endangered Species Dark chocolate - Supreme Dark 72% and Deep Forest Mint are both delicious. The mint one is nice, because it isn't too strong in mint. The Dark chocolate with Cacao Nibs we have yet to try, and their new organic line, with unique flavors such as dark chocolate with goji berries.

Green & Black Dark Chocolate - Dark 70% is one of our favorites. An all around good dark chocolate, with a nice decadent flavor.

Equal Exchange Chocolate - 67% Mint Chocolate Crunch, 68% Dark Chocolate with Pure Cocoa Nibs, and 71% Very Dark Chocolate are all melt-in-your-mouth good!

Divine Fair Trade Chocolate - The mint dark chocolate and 70% dark chocolate are divine!Theo Fair Trade Chocolate - Their "origin" bars are awesome to taste-test and pick out different flavors, such as hints of banana and flowers. The mint Theo bar is unique, in that it has a refreshing, summery spearmint taste. Would love to try the vegan dark chocolate truffles that they list online!

Alter Eco Fair Trade Chocolate - another fair trade company with dark chocolate cacao nibs and mint.

Beware, some chocolates that seem to be dairy-free do in fact have milk in them, such as Mint Dark Chocolate Green & Black and New Moon Dagoba chocolate (the website doesn't list milk, but the ingredient list on the bar itself shows milk!). We used to love Dagoba, but hadn't had any in a while. The one bar we get at the store happened to suprisingly have milk in it, so we aren't sure if the rest of Dagoba's "dark" chocolates have milk in them too.

**Update: We can in fact enjoy the New Moon dark chocolate bar! Dagoba's dark chocolate line does not have added milk, they just put milk in their ingredient list ("milk (less than 0.1%)" ) to be safe for those with severe milk allergies. We personally think this is a wrong end on their part, because it might confuse people and prevent vegans or people who avoid dairy to try their dark chocolates. Most companies just state a disclaimer below the nutrition/ingredient label that they manufacture on the same equipment that processes milk, instead of actually putting milk in the ingredient list. Here is an explanation of which bars are vegan: "All of our dark bars, Chocodrops, hot chocolates, cocoa powder, syrup are not made with milk or milk by-products, though our facility does handle products made with milk...While we thoroughly clean between runs, there is the possibility that traces of milk protein may be present in the dark bars."**

These are just a few of the delicious organic and/or fair-trade chocolates we have enjoyed. Please let us know other chocolate brands that you all have discovered; we are always on the lookout for new chocolates to try.

Remember, life is short, so we must sweeten life with some divine-tasting vegan dark chocolate!

Vive! - Chomp on These!

2009-05-08T12:34:00.008-04:00

Chomp on Vive Lle Vegan's Cookies and Bars! Vive le Vegan cookbook by Dreena Burton is now apart of our ever-growing cookbook stash, and we love baking and cooking up her recipes. Of course we started with baking dessert.

Peanut "Better" Cookies are definetely "better" - great flavor and more healthy than any original peanut butter cookie (all the more reason to chomp on just one more:)

We used Bob's Red Mill 10 grain flour and used apricot kernel butter (from Better Than Roasted). Turned out great, and we are eager to make these again with Better Than Roasted Pistachio Butter or Pecan Butter!

Double Chocolate Cookies are a chocolate lover's treat! Would be equally good to make into bars instead of cookies.

We used Green and Black's 72% baking chocolate, chopped into chunks - yum! Used some oat flour and raw cane sugar, which we think we will omit next time because the flour made it more crumbly and the sugar didn't dissolve, so it was still coarse/gritty. And we will underbake for more fudginess. But overall a great cookie. Good with homemade ice cream!

Our favorite recipe in Vive le Vegan thus far is the Pineapple Lemon Bars.

When we were young we would always make lemon bars, but those had egg, LOTS of powdered sugar, and no fiber. This recipe is top noch! No powdered sugar - just 2 1/2 tsp agave; fiber from the oats and whole grain flour (we used oat flakes and triticale flakes and oat flour); and fruit as the main filling instead of the powdered sugar and egg. Pineapple pairs well with lemon!

Overall it was very easy and quick. The crust held well together (which was nice, because sometimes when we make bars, the crusts crumble). We will definetely try this recipe again, but make modifications. How about a strawberry pineapple lemon bar? Or blueberry lemon bar? ...

What recipes in Vive le Vegan have you guys tried that you highly recommend??!

Have a great weekend!

Fresh Meals for an Active Day

2009-05-02T17:20:00.018-04:00

It's already May, and we love that it's warmer outside with beautiful colorful flowers. Spring and especially summer always makes us feel so refreshed and eager to be active outside and also to eat healthy. We love fresh light healthy meals on a warmer sunny day. Here's some recent nutritious fresh meals that we have enjoyed!

Super-powered berry breakfast:
Soaked barley flakes with soy milk, raw flaxmeal, and antioxidant-rich sundried white mullberries and freeze-dried pomegranates. And, a creamy berry smoothie with frozen blueberries, bananas, and more soy milk.

Tart, fruity, and nutritious to rejuvenate us for the day!
Mullberries are very nutritious, full of antioxidants, iron and vitamin C. They taste like flowery dates, with hints of coconut and raisins.

Pomegranates are also nature's superfood, with high levels of vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants.

What unique berry have you tried, and how do you incorporate more antioxidant-rich fruit in your diet?

Salsa Tofu Scramble:
With black beans, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, and spices. When served with tortilla chips, steamed broccoli, and fresh tomato wedges, and eaten on the patio in the warm Oregon spring weather, this meal makes for a nice fiesta dinner!

Tofu is a great meat-alternative, filled with healthy soy protein, isoflavones, calcium, and iron.

Broccoli is one of the most nutritious vegetables, high in vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A, fiber, folate, and other nutrients. Like other cruciferous vegetables, it is powerful in flavonoids, especially anti-cancer phytonutrient sulforaphane and phytonutrient lutein.

What's your favorite dish to eat broccoli and tofu? What's a unique recipe you use that has soy/tofu?

Whole Grain Millet Bowl:
This tasty and nutritious meal was easy to make - cooked millet mixed with olives, tomatoes, chives, and extra virgin olive oil.

As a gluten-free whole grain, millet has a great nutty, buttery flavor with a texture between rice and couscous. It is a great way to incorporate more fiber and heart-healthy whole grains in one's diet, and is a good source of magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, and other nutrients.

Olives (and olive oil) is a great way to consume more healthy mono-unsaturated fats and polyphenols.

Which gluten-free grains do you enjoy, and how do you prepare them? What's your favorite brand of olive oil with the best flavor? We love trying different extra virgin olive oils to detect the various aromatic flavors.

Yay for May flowers and fresh eats!
P.S. For delectable eats, Ricki Heller has written Sweet Freedom, a cookbook of delicious vegan desserts. Check out her giveaway post for more information - you can have a chance to win a free copy of her new cookbook!

Satisfying Nutritious Snacks

2009-04-28T21:45:00.013-04:00

During a long work day, we need lots of energy to sustain us throughout the day. Although we love sweets, sometimes snack bars can be somewhat heavy and sweet. For a filling healthy snack, we love homemade muffins and biscuits. (Muffins and biscuits aren't just for breakfast!) Especially with hearty whole grains like oats, cornmeal, kamut, spelt, or triticale, these snacks re-fuel us for the last stretch of the day.

Thanks Bob's Red Mill for these recipes!

Triticale Breakfast Muffins

1 cup triticale meal
1 cup triticale flour
3 Tbsp raw cane sugar
<1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp flaxmeal mixed with 2 Tbsp water
1 cup soy milk or other non-dairy milk

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add flaxmeal and milk and mix until just combined (check moistness - may need to add more milk). Put in a 12-mini-muffin pan and bake at 375 degrees F for about 10-13 minutes or until just golden (don't overbake). We love mini muffins because they make the perfect size snack.

Blue Cornbread Muffins

1 cup blue cornmeal (can use yellow cornmeal)
1/4 cup oat flour or other whole grain flour
1/4 cup spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbsp flaxmeal
<1 Tb agave
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 cup soy milk or other non-dairy milk

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add agave, oil, and milk and mix until just combined. Put in a 12-mini-muffin pan and bake at 400 degrees F for about 11 minutes or until just golden (don't overbake). We enjoy the subtle corn flavor and crumb from the blue cornmeal.

Kamut Biscuits

1 cup kamut flour
1 cup whole wheat flour or spelt flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cup soymilk or other non-dairy milk

Sift dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add oil and milk and mix until just combined. You can make drop biscuits or you can roll out gently and cut using a round biscuit cutter. Place on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes or until just golden. Makes 8 biscuits. We loved the buttery soft flavor.

What are your favorite snacks to give you sustained energy? What are your favorite grains and flours to use in baking? We love to experiment with different grains and flours.

Have a great evening,

Cooking for a Vegan Planet

2009-04-25T23:00:00.009-04:00

Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson , is a great resource of delicious vegan recipes. We were able to check it out from the library, although we only made a few meals out of this large cookbook. We did scan some of the recipes, so we are looking forward to trying more!The Ultimate Veggie Burgers is a hit - one of our favorite homemade veggie burgers now! We changed it up just slightly with some herbs, and it was a savory delectable pattie. Great on homemade bread with creamy avocado. We liked how the burger held together with the wheat gluten to bind everything. The second time we made it we made it German - with yellow split peas instead of lentils, and some mustard powder and caraway seeds for flavor.

We also made Potato Bread with Chives, which was pretty good, but just a tad dry for us. Good flavor though.

The Pesto Stuffed Tofu Steaks with Tomato Sauce made an elegant dinner. Easy too! We had some Living Tree Community Pistachio Pesto and just stuffed tofu cutlets with some pesto, then cooked on the skillet until golden on both sides. Made homemade tomato sauce (tomato paste, garlic, basil, pepper, tad salt, and olive oil) and turned out great with the tofu pesto cutlets.

Sorry for the lack of pictures - must have cleaned our plates before we could take out the camera!

Speaking of a vegan planet, this past week was Earth Day, which was a great day to celebrate our Earth and to encourage everyone to be responsible. Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, and eat Vegan!

Have a great rest of the weekend,

Tempeh

2009-04-22T20:11:00.007-04:00

Only this past month or so have we been eating more tempeh. We have found that it is a good ingredient for veggie burgers, "meat" patties, pastas, and sandwiches. It's also better in nutrition than tofu, because it is made of fermented soybeans and is not as processed as tofu. (Although tofu is still nutritious and we love it!) Tempeh is a good source of protein, riboflavin, magnesium, and other nutrients.

We made tempeh meatlessballs from happyveganface, and they turned out delicious. Kind of like Veganomicon's bean balls. We think this would be a great recipe to make many times and change up the herbs and spices. These balls were delicious with spaghetti - organic tomato sauce, onion, bell pepper, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, herbs, and olive oil. Another tasty way to eat the meatlessballs - in a wrap!

At the health food store/cafe in Salem, we enjoyed a tempeh-salad sandwich. This would be nice to recreate at home - a little herbs, mustard sauce, bell pepper, shredded carrots, and celery served on rye bread with lettuce and tomatoes!

More tempeh delicacies - tempeh "sausage" patties for breakfast! We adapted the recipe from Vegan Chef, and while it was a great idea and tasty, it was EXTREMELY salty (and we even cut down the Bragg's/salt). Next time we will make this with less salt and enjoy it with hashbrowns and biscuits for a real "Southern" breakfast.

For future cooking, we have eye-balled these tempeh recipes:
Tempeh Sloppy Joes
White Bean Tempeh Sausage Gravy
Tempeh Miso Breakfast Patties

What are all your favorite ways to enjoy tempeh?
Enjoy your evening!

The Oregon Outdoors

2009-04-19T20:26:00.024-04:00

Easter weekend and this weekend were filled with rejuvenating fun activities, and good outdoorsy-eats! With our mom and stepdad visiting for Easter, we toured the McMinnville/Willamette Valley and enjoyed Oregon's beautiful landscape. And this weekend we toured Portland and basked in the sun at our local park.
On Good Friday, we drove east of Salem, Oregon to Silver Falls State Park. A huge park, filled with lush plant life and tall ancient trees, steep hilly terrain and windy trails, peaceful rivers and flowing waterfalls, this state park was paradise in Oregon. It seemed like we were in a northern rainforest. We hiked over 3.5 miles (1.5 hours!) up and down canyons around the river - even underneath the waterfall! The rock lining the waterfall included 3 periods of lava rock. Definitely a place to get lost in; a time to re-energize, exercise, reflect, and bask in God's beauty.

Then, Saturday we strolled around McMinnville's downtown in quaint shops, and enjoyed a lunch out at the local Thai restaurant. A popular place, this Thai restaurant was impressive (despite being located right near a tatoo place..lol...). Everything was fresh and full of spices/flavors. What was nice about this restaurant is that they offered tofu and listed some vegetarian dishes. We even asked them if they "hide" fish sauce in their food, and they do not use fish sauce in anything.

Our mom enjoyed a spicy vegetable soup and fresh tofu spring rolls. We shared fresh tofu spring rolls as well, which contained cilantro and mint leaves, and a pineapple red curry dish. The red curry dish was delicious - filled with FRESH pineapple chunks, FRESH steamed green beans (not frozen), and other vegetables, and covered in a spicy yet creamy smooth curry-coconut sauce. The rice was exceptionally sticky :) We love trying ethnic authentic foods that we can't otherwise make easily at home.

After such a filling lunch, we took a road trip around the valley to two organic wineries. Our grandfather makes wine as a hobby, so our family is pretty big into wine (although we don't really drink, and haven't experienced a winery before). Our parents did some wine tasting, and we sampled them in tiny sips - at first it is hard to get used to the taste, especially white wines. It was interesting to learn about the different flavors (hints of raspberry or mango, etc...) and the different grapes. We will start experimenting with red wine in cooking!

Overall, we loved having our parents visit, and being able to cook/bake vegan for them. Easter meal was a zesty orange veggie pasta salad, fresh canteloupe slices, raw pepita and sunflower seed pate, crackers, and crudites, with raisin spice cinnamon roll muffins for breakfast!

This weekend we planned a day trip to Portland - the drive is always scenic, with rolling hills and blossoming Cherry trees, tulips, dogwoods, ferns, and daffodils. Our trip included a visit to a local bookstore, eating out at an authentic Lebanese restaurant, strolling down the "vegan mini mall" and enjoying dessert at the vegan bakery, and stocking up on grains/flours at Bob's Red Mill store.

First (after finding parking in hectic downtown), we perused for an hour or so in the BEST bookstore in the world - Powell's City of Books. It is a huge, yet quaint bookstore, with many compartmentalized rooms, almost like a maze where you turn at every corner and enter a new world full of books. What was also great about this bookstore was that they intermingled used and new books, and so the prices are cheaper. We love used books, not only because it's re-using, but also because they hold a history and are more enticing with slightly worn pages ready to be open to a new reader! We purchased a bread machine cookbook, with many whole grain recipes, and Vive le Vegan cookbook. We also bought North and South novel by Elizabeth Gaskell (after seeing the great movie by BBC productions).

The other items in the photo besides the books are from our stroll down vegan mini-mall. The mall is basically just a strip of 3 vegan stores - Food Fight Vegan grocery store, Herbivore clothing store, and Sweet Pea Bakery. It is nice that Portland is so vegan friendly and popular! We found two cute vegan wallets - handy and fashionable, with many compartments to store all the cards, cash, and other info. (The shirt is just a cute shirt from Target)

Lunch was at a delicious, family-owned, SMALL yet POPULAR Lebanese Restaurant, Nicholas. We love trying new ethnic foods, and the food here was so tasty!

They had a great stone oven, authentic - shipped all the way from Lebanon, where they make large pita breads and flatbread pizzas. We were stuffed after lunch - the platters were huge. We ate crispy (yet soft and not greasy) falafels, creamy hummus, cooling tabouli salad, a side of garbonzos, comforting lentil and rice dish ("Mjadra"), vegan stuffed grapeleaves, and "Manakish (zahtar)" a flatbread pizza coated with sesame seeds, thyme, oregano, sumac, and olive oil. Everything was so flavorful and interesting, and they indicate which dishes are vegan; will have to go again! We were debating between Nicholas Lebanese or Vita Cafe, and so next time we will try Vita Cafe.

Dessert at Sweet Pea Bakery included two huge chocolate graham cookies sandwiched with a creamy filling and coated with THICK chocolate, as well as an oatmeal breakfast cake. Next time we plan to try Piece of Cake for other vegan delicacies! (Sorry no food pics)

Today was another outdoors day in the warm sun (around 76 degrees!), with the windows open wide, and the sunglasses on! :) We went to the local park and watched kids play, dogs chase frisbies, and athletes throw baseballs on the field. We brought lunch to have a nice picnic, relaxed, and read books in the sun, then we drove to a nearby nature park and went walking along the trails. On our way home we toured around neighborhoods and day-dreamed about our own home someday!

What a refreshing, adventurous past two weekends....we love Oregon and all it has to offer, and are excited about summer at the farmer's markets again! What are your favorite outdoor activities, and what is a favorite outing you all take for fun? What is your favorite ethnic restaurant?

Soaking up the sun and spring,

Soft Chewy Ginger Cookies

2009-04-15T22:16:00.004-04:00

Hey! Hope you all had a great Easter - we had company and took lots of pictures and had some great fun! Some great eats too! But until we get all the pictures uploaded, here's something tasty!

The past two weeks we've loved our evening dessert - Soft Chewy Ginger Cookies! Just like it is - soft yet chewy. Ginger gives a nice bite. We adapted this recipe (did 3/4ths the recipe) and are very pleased with the results, especially the texture. If you like a more molasses flavor, these cookies are great! For more zing, we will add a tad more ginger and cinnamon and a little less molasses.

Soft Chewy Ginger Cookies

Makes 13-15 cookies

1 2/3 cup spelt or whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp or more cinnamon
3/8 tsp ground cloves
pinch of salt
1/2 cup + 1 Tb softened coconut oil
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tb applesauce
3/4 Tb water
3 Tb molasses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift the first 6 dry ingredients (flour through salt). Set aside.

In large bowl or mixer, cream together the coconut oil and sugar until well blended. Beat in the applesauce, then the water and molasses. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture.

Shape dough into round cookie shapes, and place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungrease cookie sheet. Depending on the size of the cookies, bake 8-13 minutes, or until slightly golden yet still soft. They will firm up slightly when cooled.

Yum! LK

Whirlwind of Seasonal Eats Part 2

2009-04-11T23:49:00.006-04:00

Since the warm weather didn't last, we also enjoyed hearty comfort foods:

Calazones stuffed with mushrooms, kale, onions, bell peppers, garlic, and balsamic sauce. - We got this idea from Dreena's Moraccan Vegetable Phyllo Rolls. We made calazone dough, sauted veggies, then stuffed the dough with the veggie mixture and baked in the oven. Then we served the calazones with balsamic sauce, which was SO good. The leftover sauce we ended up using later in the week over sauted greens and tempeh.

Tempeh Sausage and Hashbrowns - We got this recipe from iamglutenfree.blogspot.com (adapted from the Vegan Chef blog). A great idea but WAY too salty. Should cut down Braggs to like 1/4 cup or less instead of 1/2 cup. It would be good to make different variations - serve with mushroom gravy, tomato sauce, or mustard sauce; add balsamic; add different spices like curry powder or italian seasoning.

Tandoori Tofu with rice and broccoli - We got a tandoori spice packet from the store (these spice packets are great!), and added it to plain yogurt. Served the sauce over rice, tofu, and broccoli and it was a spicy authentic Indian meal!

Miso Soup with tofu and cabbage - We used Vegan Planet's miso soup, and it made tons - leftovers for the week! Great easy soup, nice on a cool day to sip on healthy miso broth.

and Baba Ganoush Pizza - For the pizza, we used Vegan Planet's baba ganoush recipe minus the fresh mint leaves, spread on homemade pizza crust and topped it with bell pepper, tomatoes, and onion. DELICIOUS! Another easy pizza would to use hummus instead - both make the pizza creamy, and are great substitutes for cheese.

Looking foward to more spring! And Happy Easter! We wish you a great blessed day. - LK

Whirlwind of Seasonal Eats Part 1

2009-04-07T22:46:00.017-04:00

Spring is finally here, with a hint of summer this week (high 70's and sunshine)!! But sadly, it is only temporary. In terms of meals from the end of March to the beginning of April, we have cooked meals that have wavered like the wind- from winter, spring, and summer meals.

To celebrate the sunshine, we enjoyed many meals outdoors and ate crisp, refreshing, summer/spring-type foods:

Raw Buckwheat Pepita Pate with carrots, cucumbers, and collard greens. Very palatable, much like fancy tuna/chicken/chickpea salads. Good with lots of celery seed.

Raw Creamy Tomato Soup, with fresh red bell pepper, onion, herbs, and garlic for enhanced flavor, and with avocado for richness.

Fresh corn on the cob. We're ready for more sweet corn to make some corn soup. But for now we enjoyed the corn with some buttery olive oil on it.

Tempeh BLT's (no bacon of course), based off of this recipe. Awesome. We just started experimenting with tempeh, and it is so versatile, nutritious, and tasty. We love hearty healthy sandwiches, and the marinated tempeh with avocado and red onion was delicious!

Cheezy Quesadillas with pinto beans, based off of this recipe. This was almost too rich, slightly sweet. We love the idea though and feel this is a great idea to branch from. We are making cheezy hummus quesadillas when our parents come up to visit this weekend.

and Tofu Scramble Fiesta Wraps, with potatoes, black beans, salsa, avocado, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno.

For breakfast, we made a refreshing Raw Buckwheat Porridge with fresh blueberries and sliced oranges on the side. Zesty, fresh, and flavorful! For a nice snack, we chomped on Kettle's Baked Potato Chips (the best potato chips, and baked, too). And, we savored some Homemade Root Beer Banana Ice Cream.

Stay in tune for Part 2 of "Whirlwind of seasonal eats" post - about the winter eats. :)
-LK

Summer Dreamin'

2009-03-29T19:46:00.008-04:00

Winter here has seemed forever, and we are so happy that the flowers are blooming and that there are finally signs of spring. Even so, we are missing Texas weather at this time of year, when it's 70 degrees and sunny, versus still a mid-40 degree cloudy weather in Oregon. Furthermore, we keep on dreamin' of sunny warm t-shirt days during the summers ...

...with fresh produce to bring home from the markets, such as:

...ripe sweet red tomatoes
...crisp yellow sweet corn
...juicy sweet strawberries and blueberries
...and juicy ripe mango

...all to make wonderful delectable fresh meals, such as:

...Fresh Tomato Basil Soup

...Homemade Spicy Salsa

...Fresh Corn Soup or Corn Chowder (we love Passionate Vegetarian's Corn Soup!)

...Corn Chive Pancakes (again, from Passionate Vegetarian)

...Creamed Corn

...Spicy Tortilla Soup (with fresh tomatoes and corn)

...Black Bean and Mango Rice

...Strawberry (or Blueberry) Muffins

...Mango Crisp with Raspberries

Oh, we could go on and on, dreamin' about sunny picnics with fresh salads and sandwiches and fruits and vegetables...

All the leaves are bloomin'
Yet the sky is grey
I went for a walk
On a cool damp day
I'd be safe and warm
If it was sunny May
Summer dreamin'
On such a cool damp day.
- (Our Version of The Beach Boys' California Dreamin')

Smiles! LK

Recipe Review - Vegalicious' Eggplant

2009-03-24T20:36:00.004-04:00

We've made alot of tasty meals this past week, including Vegalicious' Baked Eggplant with Corn Flake Crust. Eggplant was on sale and we happened to have some Nature's Path Mesa Sunrise Corn Flakes on hand, so we thought this recipe would be great to make. And it was!
We only used one eggplant and one onion, used a can of diced unsalted tomatoes, and 2 cups of corn flakes. Very delicious and simple and quick to make! We just sauted onion and eggplant in the skillet like suggested, then mixed 1/3 cup of corn flakes into the eggplant mixture. Coated the bottom and top with remaining corn flakes, then baked for just 15 minutes!

Leftovers are always great to change it up a bit - we put it in a large whole wheat tortilla and had a delicious wrap! This dish would be good with added bell pepper or mushrooms.

We don't often bake eggplant, but this recipe prooves that using eggplant in meals can be easy and quick, and we will definetely be cooking eggplant more often. It's such a unique vegetable in texture and shape, and of course is nutritious!

Yes for Breakfast - Biscuits and Granola

2009-03-19T22:33:00.012-04:00

A rainbow!

We've been wishing for a fluffy tender breakfast biscuit these days, and without margarine, it's been somewhat difficult baking up the perfect biscuit. With coconut oil, however, the results are pretty close! We found an easy baking powder biscuit online and made a few adjustments:

Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups spelt flour
1 1/2 Tb baking powder
3/4 Tb sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut oil, firm (cold or at room temp)
1 cup non-dairy milk

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In the dry mixture cut in coconut oil as you would margarine. Add milk to the large bowl, and combine until just blended. Flatten the batter out a little or roll out on parchment, then form or cut out 7-10 round biscuits. Bake at 425 degrees F for 10- 12 minutes or until just golden.

Of course we like having different kinds of biscuits too, with different textures and flavors. So, out of the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Cookbook, we made the Cornmeal Maple Biscuits. We adapted the recipe of course to add in some crushed cornflakes instead of just all cornmeal, which gave the biscuits a nice texture. We did half of the recipe a maple flavor like the recipe states, and then the other half we did an herb version and added dried basil, celery seed, and dried dill. Both were delicious and turned out great! A cross between cornbread and biscuits.

Cornmeal Maple Biscuits

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 Tb baking powder
>1/8 tsp salt
2 Tb coconut oil, firm
1/4 cup + 2 Tb non-dairy milk
1 Tb maple syrup
5 Tb corn flakes, crushed (1/2 cup flakes before crushed)

for an herb variation you can add a mixture of herbs (about 1 - 1 1/2 tsp total) and instead of 5 Tb maple, sub in 1 Tb agave.

Combine dry ingredients (except corn flakes) in a large bowl. Mix maple syrup and milk in a small bowl. In the dry mixture cut in coconut oil as you would margarine, then add cornflakes. Add wets to the large bowl, and combine until just blended. Flatten the batter out a little or roll out on parchment, then form or cut out 4 round biscuits. Bake at 400 degrees F for 12 - 15 minutes or until just golden.

Another favorite breakfast treat is homemade granola! Sooo much cheaper to make your own, and it makes a ton! We love having this with dried fruit or fresh fruit and non-dairy milk, or adding other cereal like flakes or cheerios, or putting it in yogurt or ice cream. A simple base that can be easily adjusted to add different spices and sweeteners.

Easy Whole Grain Granola

2/3 cup each of spelt flakes, barley flakes, and rye flakes (or try other grain flakes or even just oats!)
2/3 cup oat bran or wheat germ
1/4 cup agave syrup or maple syrup
1/2 - 3/4 tsp vanilla extract (or try maple or almond extract)
2 Tb oil
2 Tb water

Place a parchment paper on a large baking sheet. Combine all ingredients, then spread out on the baking sheet. Bake at 300 degrees F for 15 minutes, then stir, then bake another 15 minutes. Makes 2-3 cups.

Mmm Breakfast. So satisfying. Miss Emma is sure happy :)

May your day start right with breakfast! - LK Sisters

Yes for Breakfast - Porridge & Cookies!

2009-03-14T19:08:00.010-04:00

Raisin Buckwheat Porridge

So in the past month we've jumped on the wagon and just agreed to make new traditions. We've been having Rawesome Sunday lunches with buckwheat porridge, biscuits or pancakes for Saturday or Sunday breakfasts, and a weekly/frequent Breakfast Cookie Snack. Also Rice Bowl Wednesdays, but that's not breakfast :)

For our raw Sunday lunch, we often have Buckwheat porridge, and then something else raw to go with it (such as raw vegetable soups, salads, and raw 'tuna' salad collard wraps).

Blueberry Porridge with Raw Creamy Tomato Soup

'Oatmeal' Raisin Buckwheat Porridge (using raw wheat germ as 'oats')
served with a Carrot Radish Salad
(shredded carrots, diced radish, fresh anise herb, sesame seeds, and avocado dressing!)

We also had an apricot buckwheat porridge (with dried apricots). SOO many variations that you can do (banana pudding, mango, apple spice, strawberry, fig...)! Definitely try the buckwheat porridge - it's so creamy, sweet, flavorful, filling, raw, and healthy!

LK's Buckwheat Porridge (Adapted from Gone Raw)

2/3 - 3/4 cup raw buckwheat groats, soaked in water overnight (or for a few hours), then rinsed and drained
2 Tb raw buckwheat groats unsoaked (for crunch)
1-2 fresh bananas
2-4 dried dates (or other dried fruit)
pinch of cinnamon or other spices
serve with - fresh berries, apples, raisins/currants, 1/4 cup shredded carrots, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, nuts, flaxmeal, and/or raw wheat germ.

Prep your buckwheat (once soaked, rinse and drain).
Cut up dried fruit into sizes more manageable for blending.
Blend the soaked buckwheat groats, bananas, dried fruit, and spices (in Vitamix or other blender/food processor) to a creamy consistency - you may need to add water if necessary.
Then add your toppings and the unsoaked buckwheat groats, and devour!

Of course for an unraw version, use your choice of grains instead of buckwheat (ex - triticale meal, steel cut oats, quinoa, rice), add 1 cup non-dairy milk, and cook the grains or soak overnight. Then blend, along with the spices, banana, dried fruit, and more milk if necessary. You can serve with any toppings (including maple syrup, oat bran, nut butters, sweet potato or pumpkin puree).

Along with many other breakfast enthusiasts, we are hooked on the Breakfast Cookie. So easy to whip up. Again sooo many possibilities for flavors. When we do use a 'nut butter', we use tahini, otherwise we sometimes leave it out and add a mashed date or dried fruit. We just prep it overnight and have it sit in the fridge, then breakfast is ready in the morning!

Tahini Breakfast Cookie - Makes 2 Servings
2/3 cup spelt flakes, rye flakes, barley flakes, or other 'oat' type flakes
3 Tb tahini
1 Tb hemp powder
3/8 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
banana to serve
optional - 2 Tb wheat germ or flaxmeal

Cranberry Orange Breakfast Cookie - Makes 2 servings
1/2 cup grain cereal (such as Bob's Spice n' Nice Cereal or triticalle meal, kamut cereal...)
1/2 cup spelt flakes
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/4 cup or more cranberry juice
1 fresh date, mashed
1-2 tsp orange zest
2 tsp dried cranberries, chopped
berries or more dried cranberries to serve

Banana Cocoa Breakfast Cookie - Makes 2 servings
2/3 cup spelt flakes, rye flakes, barley flakes, or other 'oat' type flakes
3 Tb mashed banana
1 Tb cocoa powder
3/8 cup non-dairy milk - try chocolate!
1/2 tsp vanilla
banana slices to serve
optional - 2 Tb wheat germ or flaxmeal

We are 100% in love with breakfast! For breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in between!

Veg Links and Lemon Herb Pasta

2009-03-08T18:24:00.003-04:00

It's already March - time for flowers and St. Patrick 4 leaf clovers. Pray for spring to come soon, we're sick of the winter and cold!
Just wanted to let everyone know that we've placed a section on our blog's front page for information about vegetarianism/veganism, Christianity, and animal welfare.
Back in college, we took a great class that discussed the world food supply, the degradation meat has on our land/environment, and other issues. The class actually helped lead us to vegetarianism. We've posted some links to websites providing statistics about meat-eating, and the importance of vegetarianism. Feel free to explore! Even if you already know this information, these websites are great resources for telling your family/friends when they ask you veg questions.

P.S. Here's a great and simple meal we enjoyed a few weeks ago - lemon herb pasta and steamed brussel sprouts with shallots. The pasta dish just had olive oil and a lemon sauce over some whole wheat rotini. Yummy!

Happy reading and learning, (and eating veg!)
LK Sisters

Have Cake, Will Travel Reviews

2009-03-01T19:38:00.011-05:00

We are bread lovers.

We love baking and eating breads, even drooling at breads that we see at the store or online. Every week we look forward to trying a new bread recipe or modifying a favorite bread recipe.

Our main bread sources include:

King Arthur Whole Grain Cookbook...

Bob's Red Mill Recipes...

online blogs...

and Have Cake, Will Travel.

Celine's breads are always the BEST! We try to make bread every week, and quite often the recipes come from Celine.

So far, here are her recipes that we've enjoyed making (and eating):

Rye Whole Wheat Bread - see our comments about this delicious bread here.

Pumpkin Wheat Bread - Made a Sweet Potato version , described here.

Hummus Bread - comments shown here.

Tahini Rolls that we made last weekend! And Tomato (Salsa) Bread that we made yesterday!

We loved the tahini bread- soo soft and nutty. Great with a veggie burger, hummus, or dipped with olive oil or with avocado slices! We made 7 huge buns; these rose so nicely and have a soft smooth texture. We are thinking of making them again but adding some garlic and/or wheat germ.

We also enjoyed the tomato bread - such a beautiful color. Instead of salsa, we used 3/4 cup chopped tomatoes (1 large roma), 1/4 cup diced sundried tomatoes, and 5 Tb tomato paste. Also used different flours and added 1 tsp basil. A good garden bread (although we made ours a little too moist this time), that would be wonderful in pizza form - to add extra basil and some garlic, and then have a simple elegant pizza topped with olive oil, spinach, and mushrooms! Or to use salsa, make salsa buns, and have them with black bean burgers and avocado!

THANKS for the wonderful recipes Celine, we always look forward to using your bread recipes and getting creative bread ideas from you. - LK

A Little Bit of This & That Seasoned Tofu Cutlets

2009-02-27T22:44:00.003-05:00

These tofu cutlets are easy to cook up! (We don't really measure spices or amount of time to cook up...)

A Little Bit of This & That Seasoned Tofu Cutlets

1 block of Tofu, cut into 8-12 cutlets

A little spice of Cayenne pepper
Lots of squirts of Bragg’s
Lots of sprinkles of Garlic powder
Lots of shakes of Dried Basil
Lots of showers of Nutritional yeast
Lots of love of Creamy avocado

1. Add a little spice, squirt, and sprinkle to each tofu cutlet, then brown tofu on either side in a skillet.

2. Tofu is done - now to serve, add lots of love, then on top add more squirts and sprinkles, and lots of shakes and showers! Enjoy with sandwich bread, on crackers, or in a rice bowl.

YUM! Our favorite way to have tofu! - LK

Re-energize!

2009-02-22T17:22:00.015-05:00

Everyone experiences days when they feel lazy or weary, when their lives are too hectic and stressful, and/or when they can't seem to be happy and think optimistically. How do you overcome this? We personally feel that the following have brought us better joy:

A wholesome vegan diet and
Faith in God

Despite weariness and stress, we are more assured and energized each day. God gives us eternal strength and hope. And, being vegan gives us inner peace, knowing that we are doing the right thing and eating fresh, nutritious plant foods that are good for our bodies, good for the animals, and good for the earth. Nourishing our bodies and souls the right way is so energizing and uplifting!

Some vegan food we've recently made has put smiles on our faces :) We've enjoyed using our Vitamix to blend smoothies and soups!

We are officially on the "green smoothie" bandwagon. We enjoyed our first Kale Berry Banana smoothie this weekend, and it was a great way to start the day. Our smoothie we based off of the Green Smoothie Blog's recipe. We blended together some red kale leaves, bananas, hemp protein powder, and frozen marionberries for a delicious, creamy breakfast smoothie! As if we hadn't had enough Kale, we've also been enjoying raw kale salads, with some garlic, olive oil, and lemon dressing or sundried tomatoes.

With our handy pressure cooker, we easily cooked up some red potatoes and whipped up Creamy Potato Broccoli Soup, adapted slightly from Veganomicon!

We also tried a refreshing citrus fruit - the pummelo! This fruit is a big citrus fruit, with a greenish-yellow skin and a pink flesh. Similar to a grapefruit with a hint of lemon, yet mild and sweet in flavor.

A few weeks ago we enjoyed a trip to New Season's Market in Lake Oswego, OR. These markets are like Whole Foods. The employees are the nicest people - they really care about customer service. Shopping at New Seasons is so much fun!

Trying new products always boosts our mood, and at New Seasons we got to purchase a lot of great eats.
(Note, some of the products in the photo above we've already reviewed)
Dr. McDougal's Lentil Couscous Soup Mixes, low in sodium, yet very flavorful and filling!
Terra Sweet Potato and Carrot Chips, although fried, are a nice variation to the usual chip.
Suzie's Puffed Kamut Cake - so good, with a nice "popcorn" bite and flavor, all whole grain.
Dagoba 'Single Origin' Milagros Dark Chocolate bar - with notes of banana and fruit.
Panda Licorice - the best licorice bar with a great molasses-licorice flavor, soft and chewy!
Laura's Wholesome Junk Food Gingerbread Bites - good because healthier ingredients (such as dates); but too much sugar/sweetness, and expensive.
Woodstock Farms Mango Applesauce - natural and flavorful!

What are some ways you all find energy and happiness each day? The coming of Spring is another thing to find happiness about!
-LK

Nutritious Punch with A Bunch of Kale

2009-02-15T18:22:00.011-05:00

Kale is special to us. We love kale. And this winter season we've eaten so much kale.

Why do we like kale so much?

1. It's not as bitter as other greens.

2. It's not as soft as other greens like mustard greens or spinach.

3. But then it's not as tough as collard greens or chinese cabbage.

4. You can eat it raw or cooked - so you can have fresh raw salads, or when it starts to wilt you can cook it up. Much easier than buying a huge lettuce and not being able to cook it up once it starts to wilt :)

5. Makes easy meals, because even though it's great with vinegrettes, etc, we love it as is or with some olive oil and garlic. So easy!

6. Last but not least, it packs a punch of nutrients!

According to the World's Healthiest Foods, Kale is a low-calorie food, but with a high profile of nutrients.

"Kale has more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost any other food around. One cup of cooked kale contains just 36.4 calories, but provides 192.4% of the daily value for vitamin A and 88.8% of the daily value for vitamin C." Kale also packs in lots of manganese, fiber, copper, calcium, vitamin B6, and potassium."

And nutritiondata.com shows that raw kale provides over 200% vitamin A and over 130% vitamin C, with 9% calcium and 6% iron!

So, some easy ways to use Kale:

1. Add to Asian rice bowls with garlic, spices, soy sauce/Braggs, tofu or beans, bell pepper, and onion.
2. Add to vegetable soups or pasta.
3. Makes salads!
4. Use on sandwiches or in wraps or pitas.
5. Add it to tofu scrambles or stir fries.
6. Use as you would spinach or cabbage.

Meals we've had with kale:

A raw meal - raw kale with garlic, sundried tomatoes, and olive oil; served with raw mushroom soup!

Raw kale salad, with carrots, creamy avocado, sesame seeds, nutritional yeast, and spicy salsa!

And more ways to eat - see previous post here!

Go eat some nutritious food! LK

Whole Grain Carb Delights

2009-02-08T19:35:00.016-05:00

Here is a taste of some of the carb-rich foods we have eaten and baked throughout the week. Of course, they all are whole grain, healthy, and delicious!

Most of the time for breakfast we enjoy a hearty bowl of cereal and mix in a bunch of nutritious goodies, including dried or fresh fruit, hemp or flaxmeal, and wheat germ or oat bran. When we're not eating cold cereal, we like to soak some rolled flakes (oats, barley flakes, spelt flakes, triticale flakes, etc.) in mylk and enjoy cold, or have a bowl of warm porridge (with flakes or grits/meals such as pumpernickle meal, kamut grits, etc.). We love texture, chewiness, nuttiness, and all things nutritious/whole grain!

Our favorite cold cereals include: Nature's Path Cereals (Millet Rice, Mesa Sunrise, or Gluten Free Whole-O's), and Arrowhead Mills Shredded Wheat. We periodically like Barbara's Bakery Shredded Oats and Puffins. A new cereal we also really liked is Enjoy Life's Cinnamon Crunch Granola (p.s. this is so crunchy, it needs to be soaked in mylk before eating).

This week we decided to do something different for breakfast. We warmed up cereal (in this case it was Peace's Cinnamon Spice Crunch) in the microwave and enjoyed it warm, like la belle vegan does periodically. It was very good - the spiced flavors came out into the milk and the texture was a nice softer bite.

Every week we make homemade bread/rolls and muffins. This week we savored homemade garlic breadsticks dipped in high quality Italian olive oil. Buttery rich, garlicy goodness! We enjoyed them with some steamed kale (with garlic, too), and a bowl of soup with lentils.

Now, for dessert, we love experimenting. We had anise powder hidden in our pantry for quite some time and finally put it to use - with fig anise oatmeal cookies. The idea was cool, and we love licorice flavor, which is similar to anise, but the flavor wasn't right. The anise didn't taste licoricy, and in a cookie, it was odd. The texture of the cookies turned out nice, we just need to tweak the cookie flavor and make authentic oatmeal spice cookies, or other flavors such as maple date oatmeal.

Another flavor we made in the kitchen along with the fig anise was fig orange. Sadly, the orange flavor wasn't strong enough, because we just used o.j. instead of orange peel. We spread on some coconut frosting, which made it a rich cookie!

We are baker fanatics, so had to make another special sweet - this time it came out perfect. Lemon Poppyseed Whole Grain cake from Bob's Red Mill, with added banana, flax, and fresh pineapple. Tropical, sweet, and so deliciously moist!What is funny is that as I am writing this post about baked goods/carbs, I have been eating all raw today, so these foods look very tempting! We are planning to make Sundays >90% raw days - with dried fruits, fresh fruits, smoothies, veggies, seeds, and raw meals. (That means no carbs except raw soaked grains and wheat germ.)

Cravings for carbs galore!
-LK

Raw Food Made Easy for 1-2

2009-02-01T18:40:00.011-05:00

Interested in raw food but don't know where to start?

We recommend getting the book, Raw Food Made Easy (for 1 or 2 People), by Jennifer Cornbleet!
This "cookbook" includes simple delicious recipes with easy ingredients and quick preparation. Jennifer writes a good introduction on your 'kitchen setup' - equipment and raw food staples, and 'raw basic' info to help you get started.

Some recipes that look especially delicious that we want to make in the future:

Raw Fig/Date Granola and Muesli
Whole Oatmeal using soaked oat groats
Zucchini Hummus
Cream of Tomato Soup
Spinach Apple Soup
Shaved Beet Salad with Lemon Herb Dressing
Tahini Lemon Dressing
Mock Rice Pilaf
Mediterranean Kale
Apple Crumb Cake

The two recipes we've enjoyed so far was the Sunflower Herb Pate and Key Lime Mousse.

The Sunflower Herb Pate calls for soaked sunflower seeds, lemon juice, garlic, dash cayenne, onion, and fresh herbs (like dill or basil). We also added celery seed, and some kelp granules. We used the pate to make collard green wraps and stuffed mushrooms - both very good! It was a very filling wrap and was good complimented with juicy tomatoes, cucumber, and avocado. The mushrooms were so elegant yet easy and filling too!

The Key Lime Mousse (pudding) was so easy to whip up - all you need is avocado, agave, and lime juice. Awesome served with fresh berries (we used Marionberries)! Good recipe to make other variations like lemon pudding or banana pudding.

Now we don't eat raw every day, but we are trying to have more raw foods even if it's just part of our meal. So if you want to start eating more raw foods check out this book!

Have a sunny week, LK

We're Heroes....

2009-01-29T17:00:00.010-05:00

Heroes of Bob's Red Mill that is! Although it would be an honor to be a real hero to someone special.

We have the privilege of being on a special list to receive new or exciting products from Bob's Red Mill. We are faithful followers and devoted to all of Bob's products, especially all things whole grain.

Our first batch of goodies arrived at the end of 2008, and they included (starting from top left):

Misc: Ceramic mugs, bag clips, Bob's aprons and caps!
Grande Whole Grains - very hearty, chewy, and wholesome, with lots of various grains.
10 Grain Flour
Whole Grain Gingerbread Cake Mix - delicious, spiced, soft, moist, and yummy!! Added some pumpkin for moistness, flavor, and nutrition.
10 Grain Hot Cereal - with stone ground high protein hard red wheat, rye, triticale, oat bran, oats, corn, barley, soy beans, brown rice, millet, and flaxseed, this blend is full of fiber and protein! Delicious!
7 Grain Pancake/Waffle Mix - a great blend of soft, yet fiber-rich, flours to make easy and tasty pancakes!
Creamy Rye Flakes - to make a delicious bowl of "rye-meal". Chewy and nutty!
Steel Cut Oats - for a wonderful texture for breakfast, or cooked and added to breads.
Long Grain Brown Rice - nice for every cuisine - Thai, Mexican, etc...

So go be a "hero" and set a good example to others around you! Eat nutritious and vegan, pray and act morally, and just simply love. No matter how small, the little things in life can be seen as heroic to someone special.

P.S. While striving to be a hero, go enjoy some Bob's Red Mill grains!

Peace, LK

Smoothies and Greens

2009-01-23T21:54:00.009-05:00

Our two favorite foods to whip up lately include smoothies (using our Vitamix) and greens - although we have yet to try greens in our smoothies :(

What are your favorite smoothie flavors/blends?

Ours:

1. Banana 'Egg' Nog - with frozen bananas, So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Yogurt, nutmeg, and a little soy milk or almond milk!

2. Pumpkin Banana - lots of pure pumpkin puree with frozen bananas, soy milk, and pumpkin pie spice!

3. Berry - Any mixture of frozen berries (we have blackberries, blueberries, bosenberries, and marionberries) with frozen bananas, mixed berry or raspberry soy yogurt, and cranberry juice.

4. Blueberry (Although we have not had it in a while b/c of the season) - blueberries with frozen bananas, soy milk or juice, and blueberry soy yogurt.

Note: every smoothie pretty much has bananas (and most often are frozen)

For your information, here's an article on the basic way to make a nutritious fruit smoothie.

We definetely want to have a banana greens smoothie, but we are frugal people and already spend too much on groceries, so we only get enough fresh green veggies for dinners. The greens we've cooked up this month have been so fresh and delicious and healthy!

What's your favorite green leafy vegetables?

Ours:

1. Kale - not too bitter, not too hearty nor wilty. Delicious!!
2. Spinach - goes well in any dish!
3. Swiss Chard
4. Mustard Greens
5. Beet Greens

Here are some ways we use our greens:

Veggie Tofu Rice Bowls - mix up veggies with tofu, rice and garlic, basil, Braggs, and nutritional yeast!

Hummus Sandwich - spinach hummus with tomato and fresh kale on homemade oatmeal bread!

Sauteed Greens with Garlic - then have as a side dish, or mix with tofu scramble, or put in wrap with creamy beans and basil vinaigrette.

Here's an article you might enjoy on the healthy benefits of green leafy veggies.

Have a great weekend, LK

Spicy Start to the New Year!

2009-01-16T21:36:00.026-05:00

A Spicy Start to the New Year!

To start 2009 off, we couldn't have forgotten our "lucky" black-eyed peas. And since we thought of home, i.e. Texas, we made some spicy black-eyed pea casserole with spanish rice:

Spicy Black-eyed Pea Casserole

15 oz can black eyed peas, drained
1 4 oz can green chiles
15 oz can diced tomatoes, canned, unsalted
1 1/4- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4-1/2 tsp Mexican seasoning
1/2 tsp cumin
1 med. garlic, minced
1/2 cup onion, diced
2/3 cup green bell pepper, diced
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup canned corn
1/4 tsp jalapeno powder
cooked spanish rice
olive oil

Chop vegetables (garlic through bell pepper) and saute on stove slightly. While sauteing, combine spices. Once veggies cooked, add rest of ingredients except rice and oil, and heat through. Serve over spanish rice, drizzled with olive oil. Sprinkle more spices to taste.

How about more spicy authentic Spanish food - Tortilla Soup!
This is the best tortilla soup! Spicy, flavorful, healthy, and authentic!

Spicy Tortilla Soup

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 -2 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbsp Bragg's
2 cups water
1/2 cup fresh salsa
1 can no-salt added diced tomatoes (~1 3/4 cup), with juice
1/8 tsp salt (omit if have salted tomatoes)
3/4 - 1 cup black beans (from a can, rinsed)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 fresh chopped cilantro (we like lots, and used about 1/4 cup?)
1/2 Tbsp lime juice
optional: cooked corn, green chilies
When serving: avocado slices and tortilla chips, optional nutritional yeast

We actually had this soup with Just Tomatoes' "Just Veggies (freeze-dried peas, corn, bell peppers...), which was good, but we would like to try corn in the summer and green chiles. Even sundried tomatoes would be a different but good addition.

To cook, we just prepped everything to have the soup later in the week, but you can cook this soup in a slow cooker (add all ingredients except avocado and tortilla chips) or just heat soup over the stove in a big pot, making sure to saute onion and garlic slightly first.

Top your soup with avocado, tortilla chips, and nutritional yeast!

Hope you get enough spice this new year to kick off a new you (hey, maybe that spice will motivate you in keeping your resolutions!). - LK

Adding Pumpkin

2009-01-09T22:41:00.007-05:00

We like the idea of adding pumpkin to all kinds of foods. In quick breads and yeast breads, cookies, smoothies, puddings, ice creams, oatmeal, soups, and main dishes. This winter we've added pumpkin to a variety of foods and not only does pumpkin make the foods delicious but also nutritious!

We tried this pumpkin pie ice cream, but used all soy milk (no soy creamer), a little more pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice, and added some frozen bananas. Made lots of ice cream! Deliciously spiced, and we read that adding arrowroot powder helps prevent ice crystals from forming.

Other creamy pumpkin treats of course include pumpkin banana yogurt smoothies and pumpkin puddings.

From our wonderful friends at Bob's Red Mill, we made Gingerbread using their Gingerbread Cake Mix, but instead of using eggs and oil, we used pumpkin puree, a little oil, and flax with water. So moist, spiced, and delicious! Will definetely make again. You could add some raisins or orange juice for a different variation.

Last weekend we went on a trip to Salem and to Lifesource Natural Foods, where we got some fresh squash pumpkin veggie soup. Warm and creamy for a cold day! Adding pumpkin to even a bowl of split pea soup is another great idea!

Another pumpkin hide-a-way --- in tofu scramble! We love tofu scrambles, and having pumpkin tofu scramble was no exception. Chewy tofu with creamy pumpkin. Yum! Added green bell peppers and onion, but other veggies like kale or broccoli would have been good.

So, we have a can of pumpkin ready to use for the coming week, and we are thinking of creamy curry sauce with cauliflower and veggies, pumpkin maple banana pancakes, and pumpkin vinaigrette broccoli. Get creative with pumpkin! - LK

Muffins, Scones, Pancakes, and Breads

2009-01-01T16:43:00.014-05:00

First of all, Happy 2009! We hope for a blessed year for everyone and for joy, peace, and memorable moments to come.
December has been a baking month! We love to bake breads and every week we try new recipes or make variations off of our favorites.

Muffins:
Today we made some quick pancake muffins - an orange variation and a garlic basil variation. For the orange muffins all we did was mix 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill 7 Grain Pancake mix, 1 Tb flaxmeal with 2 1/2 Tb water, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup water, and 2 Tb wheat germ. The garlic basil muffins had all water and no orange juice, and had 1/2 tsp each of garlic powder and dried basil. We made 12 mini muffins - so easy and delicious!

Last week we made the garlic basil muffins from Veg News that La Belle Vegan recommended. Here's a link to the original recipe. These were excellent! We changed it up slightly:

Garlic Basil Whole Grain Muffins
2 Tb flaxmeal
5 Tb water
1/3 cup olive oil
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup soymilk
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 Tb baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp garlic powder or garlic granules
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 385 degrees F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat flaxseed meal and water with an electric mixer (or a wire whisk) for about a minute. Add olive oil, remaining water, and soymilk. Beat for an additional 30 seconds on medium speed. Stir in wheat germ, whole-wheat flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and spices. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tin. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Makes 12 mini muffins.

Scones:
These scones were different than our usual scone recipe, as they used coconut butter and were not as dry as traditional scones. They were like the texture of banana bread - dense and soft. We made one as maple flavor and the other as apple cider flavor. Both delicious, spiced, and with a great rich texture.

Pancakes:
With a Marionberry-Peach-Banana fruit syrup, these oat-sesame pancakes were nutritious and flavorful! From chooseveg.com, we adapted this recipe. The sesame seeds were ground with the oats and batter to give a nutty flavor. We made a few minor adjustments, such as lowering the sugar and omitting lecithin; however, the big change we would recommend for future baking is to add baking powder. The pancakes didn't rise, but they were good anyways. The pancakes are also tasty plain and simple for lunch.
Cornbread:
With pumpkin puree, this cornbread was savory yet slightly sweet, moist and delicious! We followed our cornbread recipe, but modified it accordingly. We added ground coriander into the batter, which complemented the pumpkin savory-sweet taste. Next time we may add even more pumpkin, slightly less cornmeal, and a little banana for more moistness.

Bob's Red Mill's Gluten-Free Hearty Grain Bread:
This bread mix was like pumpernickel in flavor and texture, with hint of cocoa and caraway. We've never really dealt with gluten free food before, so it was hard to assess whether the batter was too wet or normal for gluten free breads. We will try other Bob's gluten free products to experiment more often with different flours and ingredients.

Happy New Year,
LK

Frohe Weihnachten!

2008-12-23T19:52:00.007-05:00

Christmas is a time of celebration and joy! We will be traveling tomorrow to see family in Houston for the holidays, but we wanted to wish everyone a blessed season.

What are your favorite holiday foods? For dessert, we love homemade oatmeal cookies, spice cookies, or fudgy brownies. We also love warm squash dishes, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, and homemade breads.

What are your favorite Christmas Carols? Our absolute favorite is "O Holy Night". We also love "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day", "The Little Drummer Boy", "The First Noel", and "Carol of the Bells". The "Believe" song from Polor Express is good too!

What is your favorite tradition of Christmas time? Ours is hanging up all the ornaments and reminiscing over when, where, or from whom we received them. Some of our ornaments come from our travels such as from Germany, some come from family members, or some were our own creations when we would make crafts or paint ornaments as children.

What is your favorite moment during the holiday season? Ours of course is Christmas day, going to morning mass and celebration the birth of Christ, and then having the day to relax with family.

This year is quite different for us, because we now live in Oregon away from family. Our mom is making some vegan dishes and cookies for us to enjoy. We will see some of our family, but not everyone unfortunately. But it will be nice to go to morning mass with our mom, stepdad, and grandparents, and then just visiting with the 'whole gang'! We hope your Christmas is filled with peace and love!

P.S. We will still be in the Christmas spirit when we come back, and we definetely want to bake spice cookies, pumpkin pie, and have vegan egg nog!

Weather and Delicious Italian Dinners

2008-12-19T11:09:00.010-05:00

Last Sunday was Oregon's official start of winter, even though it doesn't really start until the 21st. We've been having snow, snow/rain, and just yukky winter weather all week. We are quite sick of it, b/c not only can we not drive in it (our back tires are just skidding and we don't have enough traction) but we are badly in need of groceries and in need of getting our flat tire fixed!

So enough about our frustrations-

How about enjoyable meals to make you all warm and delightful inside?

We made Veganomicon's Meatball Bean Balls, but instead of using kidney beans, we used garbanzo beans. Of course we made some more changes, but they turned out delicious! (We used some wheat germ in place of some bread crumbs, we used less thyme, & we added nutritional yeast)So addicting to pop a ball in your mouth! We served them with spiral pasta and the best spaghetti sauce - Seeds of Change Tomato Basil.

We loved these bean balls so much, we made another batch, but with a curry flavor! We used 1 1/2 tsp curry mustard, 2 Tb wheat germ and 1/4 cup each of cornmeal and oats instead of the bread crumbs, more oregano and no thyme, and some lemon juice. These were delicious with curry mustard dressing and served with homemade biscuits, greens, and cranberry sauce. Other ideas we want to experiment with include black bean Mexican balls, falafels, and balsamic flavored balls.

Have a great weekend! LK

Larabar and Heart Thrive Product Reviews

2008-12-13T17:02:00.011-05:00

We love generous vegan companies!

We had the wonderful opportunity to receive a full box of Larabars, variety pack, all for free! Of course, Larabars are one of the most natural and nutritious snack bars we know of. No extracts, sugar, grains, protein added, etc...just pure fruit and nuts! What are all of your favorite flavors?
Although all of them are great, we especially enjoy key lime, cinnamon roll, pecan pie, and apple pie. I remember the first time we tried ginger we didn't care for it, but this recent time that we had it, it was actually very tasty - spiced with a zing. Their new coconut cream flavor is exactly what it says - richly coconuty. The peanut butter flavor we can't say if it is good, because we try to avoid peanuts, but for a peanut butter snack, this is the way to go. Not a usual PB cookie with processed unhealthy fats and sugar!

Another great company offering nutritious vegan snacks is Healthy Baking Co., which sells Suncakes and Heart Thrives. If you take a photo showing how much you love to eat Heart Thrives, you may have the opportunity to receive 2 dozen free bars if they decide to post your photo online. You can also get 6 free bars just from being a first time customer! Here's the photo we submitted: We love the Heart Thrives - it contains calcium for strong bones, fiber, and soy. Heart Thrives are wonderful because they can be eaten for breakfast, snack, or dessert in many ways. Try them slightly heated, straight from the freezer, with jam, with nut butter or coconut butter, toasted, crumbled in yogurt or ice cream, or sprinkled with some cinnamon! They aren't too sweet and they are incredibly filling.

Which flavors did we enjoy the most? This was a tough decision, but we chose Lemon Poppyseed, Raisin Spice, and Apple as our top three. The other great flavors include chocolate chip, date, apricot, and cranberry.

Hope everyone is safe and warm during this cold winter season! Go grab a Heart Thrive and/or Larabar, drink a cup of tea, open a good book, and just relax....
Best wishes, LK Sisters

Coconut Cinnamon Roll Muffins

2008-12-03T22:01:00.006-05:00

An easy, decadent, melt-in-your-mouth, sweet-n-spiced cinnamon roll muffin with a subtle coconut flare! These muffins are our own creation in order to make a cinnamon roll that would take less time and effort but would be soft and cinnamony!
Coconut Cinnamon Roll Muffins

muffin ingredients:
2 tsp baking powder
1-2 dashes each of allspice and nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup 10 grain flour or whole wheat flour (or other flour)
3/4 cup + 1 Tb kamut flour
1/3 cup succanat sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coconut extract
2 Tb oil
2 Tb coconut, macadamia, or cashew butter
3/4 cup soymilk

date filling:
6-8 fresh dates, chopped and pitted
1/2-3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup coconut butter
extra coconut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix muffin dry ingredients together, then add wet ingredients and mix until just blended. Process date filling in a food processor until very smooth. Spread half of the batter into a mini muffin pan, then spread about half of the filling gently over the batter. Top with the rest of the muffin batter, sprinkle muffins with cinnamon, then bake in the oven for 15 minutes (make sure not to overbake in order to maintain a soft moist muffin). Cool slightly, and when ready to serve, top generously with the rest of the date filling and extra coconut butter. Enjoy for breakfast or as a treat!

Other variations: lemon, orange, pumpkin, fig, egg nog spice, apple...
The kamut flour is a finer grain flour that makes these muffins buttery soft! Triticalle flour would work well too. You don't have to use coconut butter either, but it makes a nice spread and a nice frosting. The best part is these have no margarine/butter, no yeast, no rolling and slicing, and no waiting for the dough to rise!

Dad & First Vegan Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T22:27:00.024-05:00

We've been blessed with a wonderful DAD to come visit us for Thanksgiving, now that we are miles away from our family down in Texas. And his visit couldn't have been more memorable! He always teaches us to smile, have fun, be patient, and to just enjoy life!He is so wonderful; he was even vegan for the full 3 days he was here! Now he won't keep it up (b/c he says it's hard to change habits and he still likes his meat), but he is so easy going and very supportive. He gave us so many compliments about our cooking - "Everything is soo flavorful", "Wow this is delicious", and "I don't want to go back home to bland boring food". He made us smile and light up each time he enjoyed our food. Thanksgiving was wonderful too in that it was our first full vegan Thanksgiving, because we cooked all the food! Anyways, as for the delicious food we've been having this past week...

Our Thanksgiving meal:
Danish Squash & Apple curry puree, Homemade Pecan Whole Wheat Bread, Walnut Pecan Patties with Herb Gravy, and Steamed Asparagus. Excellent!

For desert, German Chocolate Fudge and Apple Pie - both recipes are keepers! For the fudge we mixed coconut butter, cocoa powder, chopped pecans, rolled spelt flakes (or oats), and a tad bit of nut butter and agave. You can refrigerate it for a 'fudge' softer consistency, or freeze it for a firmer fudge. We finally made WHF's Apple tart, but adjusted it and made a walnut-pecan-pumpkin seed-buckwheat-date crust, omitted the raisins, and used apple pie spice. Wow the crust was so good, and we like this recipe b/c there is no margarine or oil!

For leftovers here are some ideas!

Roasted beets, carrots, and turnips with walnut pecan patties and pecan whole wheat bread

Winter Squash Apple Puree Soup with salad

Just simply bread and olive oil, or walnut pecan sandwich with gravy and squash - all the "fixin's"
FYI - if you have lots of leftover gravy, why not add it to rice dishes or ... even tamales!

For the remainder of Dad's visit, he loved the Thai Coconut Dish, the Creamy Lima Bean n' Beet Soup, the whole grain bagel-rolls, the coconut cinnamon roll muffins, and the fruit smoothies!

The Cinnamon Roll Muffins are perhaps the best cinnamon rolls and muffin recipe we've ever made and tried! We were craving cinnamon rolls, but didn't want to be slaving in the kitchen for hours as we would for a usual cinnamon roll recipe. So we came up with these and they were a hit! Our dad loved them! So soft and moist and cinnamony and coconuty too. We'll post the recipe soon!

Hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving full of loving memories and tasty food. We love the holidays because it reminds us of our childhood, of wonderful smells from the kitchen, and especially of family.
And we are grateful for vegans & vegetarians and all of our readers! - LK Sisters

Autumn Blends

2008-11-20T18:57:00.009-05:00

So simple!

(each recipe serve 2)

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

1/2 -2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1- 1 1/4 cup soy milk
~ 1/3 cup frozen bananas
3-4 generous dashes pumpkin pie spice
~ 2 tsp molasses and 1 tsp agave, optional
1 individual carton vanilla soy yogurt, optional

Puree in a blender until smooth. Then enjoy!

Pumpkin Pudding (with tofu)

~2/3 cup pumpkin puree, or to your liking
1 packet of vanilla pudding mix ( we used Mori Nu)
1 pack firm tofu
dashes of pumpkin pie spice

Blend until smooth, then refrigerate to firm up.

Egg Nog Smoothie (no measuring)

1 individual carton vanilla soy yogurt
soy milk (enough for a good consistency to thin it out)
frozen bananas
dashes of nutmeg
dash of cinnamon
dash of allspice
some coconut butter, optional

Blend into smooth. Enjoy!

Banana Pumpkin Applesauce

1 banana
2 large apples
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
dashes of cinnamon

Puree in blender until smooth. Eat cold or warm!