Birthday, Birthday...2 weeks later

My birthday came and my birthday went. At first, I really wasn't too excited about it. My sister was like 'fact of growing up'. Very true. When we were younger there was the big parties the big excitement and yays and ooohs, but this year turning 20, really isnt monumental here. No new responsibilities and still cant drink legally. So I just planned on having a quiet dinner with my family and family friends and then going to go see Jenny Owen Youngs perform with my friends the next day.

So the day of the my birthday, I sleep in til noon (oh my!). When I left my room I saw a beautiful white wicker hamper filled with gifts and a blue star balloon. When my whole family got home, we opened them. I was completely flabbergasted that I got any gifts, as I had already had an amazing trip to IKEA, parents paying rent on a beautiful apartment, and many other necessaries for my apartment. I had asked for one thing, a concert poster of Sia's performance at the Belly Up. This is such an amazing translation of a beautiful photo of her. I cannot wait to find a spot for it in my new bedroom.

I also got a nice expandable drying rack, kitchen drawer organizer, awesome placemats and napkins, a shower organizer that fits my 9ft ceilings, and an addition to my growing vegan cookbook collection...VEGANOMICON.

I am so proud to finally have my own version. No more borrowed library version. Its mine to spill water and spices and fold pages and write changes to recipes or average times for myself. WOHOO


Pretty much after I finished my presents. I went and got my hair done all lovely. I am quite happy with it. It was too long and overgrown, Ive got my full fringe back and layers. Then it was off to the big dinner with family. There was 12 of us. 12 with many dietary restrictions: 2 on South Beach, 1 in need of Gluten-Free items, and of course me. It took me forever to figure out what to do. I was planning just on having spaghetti squash and marinara. I kept trying to read reviews on how happycow, which lead me to PF Changs. I had gone there last summer with my good friend from out of town and my family. We all enjoyed it then, and finding out all the vegetarian dishes were made with vegan ingredients made me really excited. So off we went. We got two orders of vegetarian lettuce wraps and I myself ordered Ma Po Tofu. I still think it is so amazing that they can crisp up silken tofu to such perfection. It was full of so many flavors that I could identify! I could smell the paprika among other things. I love how my pallet has evolved, it really shows that becoming vegan has made me appreciate cooking more.

After dinner we dropped the oldies off, and the girls went to go see Wall-E. OH MY GOD! Can I say this three or four times. You neeeed to see it. It was amazing. I couldnt stop smiling and giggling and laughing. It was so damn cute. And the message with the images were powerful. If you have no prior knowledge, Wall-E is a robot that is cleaning up Earth after all living creatures have moved onto spaceships. Save the environment, woot.

After the movie, around 1opm. I decided to make a birthday cake. Yes, that late. I was the only one who could eat the cake anyway. So it was more just to make it. I had already made the Chocolate Mousse Frosting/Filling from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. It was whipped and soft and deliciously rich and sweet. I was still contemplating what batter I wanted to make. But I ended up with the plain chocolate cupcake recipe from the same book. I just doubled the recipe to put into cake pans.



It was extremely fun to frost. I didnt really decorate it, but I did shave dark chocolate pieces on top. A triple chocolate cake, oh my lord. Definitely happy happy birthday to me.

So my actual birthday was fabulous, but I had a ton more to look forward. Like my first trip to The Chicago Diner, and the concert.

Review: Veggie Bite

The acclaimed South-side Chicago all Vegan fast food restaurant was my first all vegan food excursion outside the comfort of my own kitchen. After I had told my mom that there was a vegan restaurant only blocks from our house, we realized it was necessary to go...immediately, well the next time they were open.

So the next day we headed off to Veggie Bite.

It actually barely opened when we got there at noon. But we got right in and ordered. My mom got the Live salad with tofu and tons of fresh veggies with their vinaigrette. I didnt take a picture of it, since she was already thinking I was crazy for taking a photo of my food outside of the house. She loved it, she said it was the perfect size and perfectly delicious.

I got the chili cheese dog. I havent had one of these in probably 10 years. So I was really excited. When they brought it out, it was still steaming. The whole wheat toasted bun was crispy and ever so soft. And their chili was delicious. It had the right amount of spice and sweetness with whole kidney beans and meat crumbles. Im really not sure what brand of hot dogs they used, but it was so good. It came with a side of fries and an organic Vanilla Lemonade.

Both my mom and I left happy and full. Too full to try the Chicago Soy Dairy's frozen deserts or shakes, meaning Id have to go back. Well like that wont be horrible for me, as I loved it. Obviously not the healthiest of foods for everyday, but it was so nice knowing we have the option for some delicious, fast-food only a few miles away.


Sorry for the long break. Summer months does make it difficult to have a regular schedule. But I have many photos yet to post about. Including my birthday cake, The Chicago Diner, and more...

SEITAN!

My birthday weekend of amazing amazing delights is over, I swear that post is next! But I am definitely sad to see the few days off gone. I had the most amazing weekend, I still am high from excitement from last night's events.

A few weeks ago I decided to pick up some vital wheat gluten from the health food store. I found it a bit expensive for just a few cups in the package. But Ill probably start buying it in bulk. Anyways, I looked at Vegan Dad's seitan recipes. I knew his were quick and easy and delicious. I finally landed on Vegan Boneless Chickenless Hot Wings. It was promising and just looked so tasty from the recipe. I decided not to use the skewers, just because I would rather eat 'meat' with a fork. I went to the more ethnic grocery store in search for panko breadcrumbs. The pathetic thing is it was apparently a hot item that week, everybody was asking for them...and the spot lay empty. So I just used regular bread crumbs in the recipe. The breading was such a great fix that kept the breading snug on the seitan pieces. He used flax seed with soy milk, a little oil, and lemon juice. I really never thought of doing that, but it really kept the breading on because of how well it thickened. Im tempted to do something similiar for a french toast. I also did not make the sauce the same. He called for a 1/2 cup of hot sauce. The hot sauce we had was HOT HOT sauce that comes in a bottle that doesnt even hold a 1/2 cup. So I just picked up a hot vegan bbq sauce and heated it til it was liquid. When the seitan came out, I poured it just the same. I served it with roasted potatoes, leek, asparagus, and red peppers. Just so delicious. I was so excited to have finally ventured into the world of seitan. Just delicious.

I made the full recipe of chickenless hot wings that night, so I decided to use a piece atop a salad. We had cucumbers, celery, black beans, and radish. So I chopped up some romaine lettuce and mixed it all up. It tasted great cold and worked just wonderfully on top of the salad. Left me quite full til dinner.

Well that is it for today. I work tomorrow morning, and I really should get

Next post, my review of Veggie Bites and the start of my birthday! Shortly I will be all caught up and will feel much better, whew!

Brownie, 'Mexican' Pita

Yesterday was my birthday, so loads of excitements came along with the day. I have one more post to catch up with, and then I can fully tell you about my birthday celebration. Though I can say it was family oriented, and I got to spend some quality time with my sister and mom. I vote it a great day.

So since Ive been working so much, I get stressed out so easily. Customers are evil at times and yell at you for things you just cannot control. Most of the people that witness these attacks come up to me and apologize for the person they have never met, but it still effects my day. So by the end of the day I am looking for something to savor and hold every bites worth. Normally I end up choosing to have my favorite snack of all time...popcorn. I have a microwave air popper, which pops perfect corn when you heat up the popper for 5 mins and then pop for 5. Though, my microwave is now 15 years old, I think she is a bit slow. One day I was craving chocolate, flipping through my google reader, and viola! Paulina of Veggie Delight had exactly what I was looking for. A quick gooey fudge brownie that can be made successfully in the microwave. I took my computer downstairs instantly and started to make it. It was the first time I was working with making a flax egg. I put the water in the microwave for a few seconds just to warm it out nicely, and let it sit for 15 minutes. I was amazed of how the flax soaked all the water up. It truly had an egg-like consistency. Then I made the batter, I just used the same bowl since I get complaints for making too big of a mess and using too many pots and pans and utensils. So it looks a little messy in the picture, but boy oh boy was this good. It was warm and gooey from the chips and had that nutty granola-y taste from the flax. It was so delicious! Exactly what I was looking for. I told my friend about it and when she came over to watch 'The Other Boleyn Girl' we made a batch, and she adored them! I just love when omni friends like my cooking/baking.

The next morning I was looking for another quick meal idea. I realized we had some leftover rice in the fridge that really needed to be eaten soon. And some pita, that looked quite tasty. I felt like something spicy, so I was like TOSTADA! But then I realized it was 95 degrees and there was no way in hell Id turn on the oven to bake a pita, to act as a tostada. So instead I cut it in half and toasted it in the microwave. I toasted it twice and flipped, since it didnt fit well in the toaster. I wanted mexican-style rice, but I also realized I didnt have the motivation to make it (veggie stock,tomato paste, veggies, and the spices) So the rice was mixed with black beans, creamed corn, salsa, and a mix of onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, and jalapeno powder. Heated that for a few minutes, and it was ready. I had some Tofutti sour cream in the fridge, and put it on top of the perfectly toasted pita. This was soooo good. I was so pleased with how it turned out. It filled me up and got me going and ready for another day of work.

I work even more next week, but I have a feeling Ill be making a ton of new recipes from my new cookbook. Anybody want to take a guess at which new cookbook has joined my collection?

Either way, you will be finding out quite soon :)
And Ive decided to change my font, I like this more, and I think your eyes will too.

Scrambled Tofu, Pizza Bagel

Well Happy Birthday America. Another year has passed and my holiday and break from blogging is officially over. I have a ton of things to update on, so it wont be all in one post like normal. It'll take me a few days to get em all out. The past few weeks have been a load of fun. I have been working, but also getting some of the summer fun in. Last week, I finally got myself over to the forest preserves to run the 150 stairs that are at the toboggan sleds. I am unable to do the 15 sets that I used to be able to do last summer, but my goal is to get back up there before August. And I think I can do it. Im going tomorrow and then as well on Friday. I also went to the farmer's market, we got fresh raspberries, blueberries, snap peas, zucchini, home-made pita, hummus, baba ghanoush, and my mom got some cheese. It was nice and small, but it was a good market and we have already eaten all the fresh produce and fruit. Then for the Fourth, my friends and I headed up to Milwaukee to Summerfest. It is a large summer music festival that lasts for 10 days. Well we went up to see Ingrid Michaelson perform. She was amazing and amazing. She sounded just like she does on the cd, almost better, because you could hear every single pitch and shake and change in her voice. And it was great she rapped The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Ice Ice Baby. It was so fun. She ended on her Ukulele singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. What was also really great about the show, was that Bess Rogers, another amazing singer/guitar player was backing her up. Then after that show, was fireworks! We decided to then walk around and see what the festival had, and thank god, because we found out that Thievery Corporation had just started their set. We started out way in the back belly dancing and enjoying the sitar and the professional belly dancer. But we somehow ended up way up close and within the dancing, crazy crowd. It was an amazing show, sounds from every part of the world. I think the best bit was all the songs from the reggae side. The crowds went wild and for the final song before the encore, Warning Shots, we were allll going mad. Here is a clip from another show they did a few weeks ago of the song, Ill have to say our show was madder. The fans were just crazy! Im so glad I got a chance to go.


Okay, now onto the food. I had been wanting to make scrambled tofu for awhile, so when I had extra tofu lying round the kitchen after my stir-fry. I wasnt putting my hopes up too high since I still can remember the buttery, fluffy taste of perfect scrambled eggs. I have to say eggs were a weakness of mine. I put shallots, broccoli, zucchini, and garlic in my scramble. Spices were paprika, tumeric, and fresh ground salt and pepper. It looooked so delicious. I ate it, and I was not too thrilled. It had a great texture, but the taste had something weird to it. I think it had to do with the tumeric. It smelled good, but in that proportion I could not handle it. So next time, yes, I will try again! Im going to make it without the tumeric. As I really dont care about color, just needs to satisfy my mouth.



The next day, I was hungry for something warm and somewhat bad for me. So I ended up making a pizza bagel. I put leftover pizza sauce and toffuti slice with zucchini pieces, oreagano, basil, and minced onion pieces. While it was baking, I knew I should probably add something good for me, so I made a mixed berry smoothie, but Ive never been a fan of yogurty or milky smoothies, so I normally just use frozen fruit and orange juice and any other juice Id like. They are always delicious and I do like to add some ground flax seeds. I also had some fresh veggies cut with the meal. Well that was the first of the posts to catch up with my lack of posting the past few weeks. Tomorrow my mom and I are going to the farmer's market to get some more of the delicious pita bread we got last week and then we are heading to Veggie Bite, a fast food vegan restaurant. I will be overwhelmed with being able to pick everything from the menu. The Chili Cheese Dog or Italian Beef Melt or Nuggets or oh dear, see I cant handle it! There will be a full report back with the meals.

btw, It took me an hour to get my photos to upload, kept saying internal error, then I got one through til I gave up. Anyone had this issue?

Stirfry and Marinated Tofu

Well work is really kicking me in the boots. Luckily this week I have taken the 3rd and 4th off, to celebrate the national holiday with my friends. We will going up to my apartment to go to the large summer festival to see some of our favorite singers/bands and maybe lay at the beach and get some food before fireworks. Then the next day we are having a BBQ back at home with all of our friends and watching fireworks. Ill probably be making a few pasta/potato salads for the party and bring my own hot dogs.
And btw, does anybody know an American brand of hot dog buns that are vegan? I cannot find any! Im also curious about the PETA list of 'Accidentally Vegan,' the email on the page does not work, so I couldnt FWD my question to them. A lot of the food on there has mono,di-glyercides and I just wonder What does PETA consider vegan enough? I will not consume any foods that have glyercides, unless I know for fact they come from a plant source. And the small issue we all have is that everyone views their own veganism to different extremes. Even at a potluck, how do we know that one vegan is at the same level as us, or if we are serving a dish that is below their standard food. Its all so curious. With veganism there really is no straight cut line, like with being a vegetarian. Most people realize that veganism is no dairy and eggs and no meat. But do they even know about the hundreds of other ingredients? Probably not, because I didnt even really realize it til a few months ago. Now I love checking the boxes of any foods, even if I am not going to buy or eat it. Just so curious to see all the 'crap' companies put in their food.

Now onto the food. Last week, my dad and I were on our own. Both of us were not feeling up to going out to get food. We both were pooped from moving and building all that stuff. So he decided to have leftover chicken, and I had a craving for something with tofu and veggies. I opted for a stir fry. I just found all the veggies we had and chopped them all up (red pepper, onion, broccoli, zucchini, and celery) put them in my wok and then made a variant of the Vegan Dad's sauce for tofu and cashew stir fry. My oh my did it turn out delicious. By the time it was all ready to go, I realized I never made my rice! So I turned to the trick of cooking cous cous in the microwave that I learned by Catherine of Food Snob. It was great cause the cous cous stuck to every bit of the sauce, very delicious.

The next night, my mom said she was going to be cooking brown rice with veggies and stock. They were going to be grilling meat, so I was like Ill do the same. I made a marinade with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic, red pepper flakes, onion powder, salt and pepper, and then water to thin it out. I let the tofu marinate for 40 mins, and then put them on the grill. They turned out very very good. Had a lot of flavor and a bit of heat from the pepper flakes. Id definitely make it again.

That was really all the cooking I did last week, other than left-overs and quick meals I could make for work, since most of my large meals were had at work. Im off to work in a few hours, so Im making some whole wheat pasta to bring along. I still cannot believe June is going to be over in a few hours. Where has the time gone.

My Apartment!

Well on Sunday, we head up North to school in a large rented van with all my crap. We arrived 20 mins earlier. And went scrambling trying to get ahold of my landlord or the manager. Apparently my landlord forgot to tell the manager Id be coming that day. But after ringing his door and the office so many times, we got his attention. It didn't take too long to get all the crap in doors, but we were there from 10 to 5 working on building all the stuff from IKEA and unpacking. All of it is done, and this is what my place currently looks like. The images are a bit pixelated, but just click on it, and you'll get the full image. I realize, most people dont want to look at 10 photos of an unfinished place, but im too excited. The apartment is 105 years old, all cabinets are original and there is a beautiful fireplace and claw-foot tub.

The entryway.
My bedroom!

The beautiful and large closet in my room.

My new super large desk, so excited to have space for once! Only problem is I need to figure out storage until I can afford a filing cabinet. Who knew they were so expensive.

The dresser from IKEA. Its huge and wide, can't wait to fill it.

The living room. The dining area, because of the window seats we have room to seat 6-7. We'll be covering both of the seats with new fabric, since they are old. The fireplace though is gorgeous!

The living room bit, we still are trying to work the details of how the layout will be. As the tv in any area is awkward.

My adorable bathroom. It will look much better once it is decorated. But for now it is quite bare. My roommate wants bright colors, so I obliged.The small small kitchen. This will be my new place of cooking soon. At least I will have cute pots and pans and serving wear. There is a ton of storage in the closet that will make due for my pantry. And the view is amazing, so compromises.

The start of my shelf for cookbooks! All the rest are at home, but so glad they have a home now.

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I luckily had Monday off, cause I was EXHAUSTED. So I slept and slept and really only ate leftovers, prepared soups, and rice and lentils. But I got some momentum going later on in the week.

30 Days, Sandwich, and Red Pepper Curry

Days off. How we love them. But apparently I get so excited that I don't sleep the night before...5 am came and I was still online, but for good reasons. Helping a friend with a paper and philosophically debating with another friend on animal welfare, consumerism, capitalism, and other related ideas. He is a heavy meat-eater, but respects my beliefs.

After I got some sort of sleep, I decided to make what I was calling a HOT! A Hummus, Onion, Cucumber sandwich...then why hot? Because I apparently do not know what a cucumber is called. My dad finally questioned my logic with my name. So I decided to just stick with BLT, making even more sense. Just hummus on toasted whole-grain bread with cucumber, dill, season salt, and fried onion bits. Cucumber and dill is probably one of my favorite lunches.

And somehow the debate from the night before lead into my watching of the show 30 days. If you haven't heard, Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) has a reality series where one extreme will go to the opposite end for 30 days. He has done living on minimum wage, living with handicaps, and more. But this episode I was told about by the Vegblog. A deer hunter from the Carolinas would be heading to LA to live with a demonstration planner for PETA and her vegan, animal rights activist family. I was extremely worried about the show, I just hoped that it wouldn't put our cause into a bad light or make it out to be some kind of joke. It turned out to be an amazing 45 minutes of television. The hunter went with a closed mind, but he was able to open up while he experienced demonstrations for KFC, UCLA animal experimentation, and Burberry fur industry. He also ate fully vegan and worked at Animal Acres. My major issue with the episode is that for a few points I was agreeing with the hunter, he was extremely frustrated with people just continually being a broken record and not give him the hard facts. He said he would just have uped and left if he had to live with the founder of Animal Acres. I know it probably was frustrating having to work with someone you knew was going against your cause, but she continually tried to reason with him by bringing up Nazi Germany and slavery in our nation. I had a hard time seeing through this argument, as Im all about the facts, the science, the psychology, and economic sides. I know nobody will listen to me if I just go on about emotion. But if I can prove with my schooling that a vegan lifestyle is healthy or that all animals have developed sensory system, or even refute that a fucking plant has feelings...well then I think I will effect more people and get through further. The show was extremely emotional, I cried not once, not twice, nope not even just three, four times. I HIGHLY recommend watching the program. You can watch it on hulu, for free, and legal, beginning June 25th. There are little tidbits of the program already up.

I really want my mom to watch it with me, I think that if she sees first hand the events that took place just in 30 days, not too many months ago, she might take some interest in what I believe in and stop wanting to be ignorant. It hurts that after almost a decade of trying to talk about what is important to me I stil cannot get through to her. She doesnt want to hear about it and becomes disinterested and just shows to me that she doesnt want any part. Tonight I tried to talk about the episode and how great it was, but it was all just 'oh? hmmm' 's. My sister's friend is vegan and has been talking to my sister about some of the major issues with factory farms, my sister relayed that to my mom, and she listened! My dad is even worse. Anything I make, anything I bake he just turns away from it. I have a feeling if nobody told him they were vegan, he would eat 30. But with my vegan brownies, my mom loved them, tried to get him to try one, no do. I just don't get it. On the program the PETA employee was able to turn her whole family into vegans. I know that probably will never happen with my family, but I wish they could see the health benefits, want to see the horrors that I am aware, or even just take some interest in what I believe and care about. I try telling my mom that I want to make a difference in farm animals lives, she makes it obvious that she doesnt agree with my desires. She just told me I keep changing my mind. But I am only changing my mind because I know my calling, my passion, my life is within the animal rights realm.

Anyways, watch 30 days! You will love it. And if you are unable to watch it at Hulu and want a copy, I can try and figure out my DVD recorder and send it to you. It was that awesome.

I did promise that I would be cooking today since I had the day off. Though, my mom comes home and says she is making dinner for us all. She has this recipe she wants to try and it can easily be veganized. It came from the Chicago Tribune a few days ago, it is called Saucy curried chicken, but mine was obviously with good 'ol tofu. The recipe calls for honey, but we used sugar water and calls for yogurt, but I didn't have any soy yogurt so cream cheese whipped into a bit of soy milk did the trick. Laid out on a bed of orzo and topped with fresh mint and a plate of salad; this meal was delicious. It looked easy to make and could easily be tampered for a spicy or mild mood. Very delicious. So thank you mom for making dinner!

Tomorrow back to work, so no cooking. But I will be doing the last bits of packing and getting ready for my big move.

Chickpea Shepherd's Pie and Brownies

I work even more hours this week. I even worked Monday 8pm to 5am. So I am extremely exhausted already from all the work, and still have 3 more days left. Though, I am moving this weekend, so that is adding to my work level. Tons of stuff I got to have ready for the truck. But Im not moving everything this weekend, just the big stuff. I just feel so bad since my mom is doing a lot of the packing and did all the painting I was supposed to do today. I kept telling her no, but she insisted.

Now onto the good stuff...FOOD, of course.

Monday before I left for work, I made another one of Vegan Dad's recipes. Like I said I adore his dishes because they are quick, easy, and yummy. This one was Cheesy Chickpea Shepherd's Pie. It doesn't look too pretty in the picture, but it was delicious. The longest bit was cooking the potatoes. I used Yukon Gold and cleaned the skins well so I could keep them on. The mashed potatoes made up the top and bottom, but in between was peas, corn, and an eggplant-chickpea cheesy mixture. Using milk and nutritional yeast. That bit was so good it could have been just eaten on its own or as a side. I'll definitely be making this one again. Im eating the leftovers at work. It looks to me that the recipe makes about 5 servings for one person. Since it was so quick, itd be great to cook once school starts and have a ton of already prepared meals. Delish.

Then yeseterday was my grandmother's birthday. But she wasnt feeling well, the poor dear. She is hitting the high 80's, so most days are slower. But she is still kicking and for the most part good an healthy. Even though she said she didn't want to go out, we still came over to check-up on her (she is the most stubborn lady in the world, even a blood infection didn't make her call the doctor). She turned out to just have a cold and so did my grandad, so we just opened presents at their house. We got her a digital photo-frame, my mom will be putting on photos of all the grandkids and then the one great grandbaby. After the photos are on, I think she will really like it. They were planning on getting hot dogs, I was thinking Id go home and get mine, when I remembered I cannot find any buns of any kind that are vegan. NONE! A whole aisle at two different markets, none. Im going to have to head out to Whole Foods, urgh. So instead got my chickpea shepherd's pie. I was extremely crabby yesterday. The overnight at work the night before was hell. We outsourced people to do our inventory, so I was just there to double count and help them out if they couldnt find a SKU number. We had to double count 25% of the store, but everybody kept telling us different ways to determine the 25%, so I got yelled at because the guy running it told me to do it different than one of my managers. Then they never gave us our paid breaks or a full lunch, we got half a lunch. So 9 hours in the middle of the night practically...so nobody really got on my case the past couple for being lazy and cranky, since I have reason. But I did cheer up once I got the chance to take a ride in my uncle's Cobra. Its apparently a really expensive car (150,000 and up) but his he made himself, like a kit. It's crazy to think he made it. It apparently can go up to 200mph, but he doesnt know how fast he has gotten his. It makes a load of noise and gets loads of attention. The seatbelt is a harness! It was just crazy, but a fun time. I couldnt imagine driving it often, but he loves it. My mom sat outside waiting for us to get back, she told me later. "I bet your blog friends dont have a Cobra," I just laughed cause she knew already that those photos would go up on my blog, oh dear.

I had a bit of a headache afterwards, but I was so giggly and what not that I was a bit happier. I worked again today til 11. I was going to go out with my friends to the open-mic at a coffee house, but I was too tired. I decided to make brownies. I used the recipe I found here. But we did not have any sugar, so I used agave nectar. I cut the agave to a hearty 1/3 cup. They baked extremely well, it was the first time I used applesauce as a replacer. I was a bit skeptical, but they look and taste like brownies. I think they are a bit too chocolately sweet for me though, next time Ill use only 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, and less nectar. But the more it cools down the easier it is to eat, so we shall see. Im very pleased with how they turned out, it took a whole 10 mins to make, so I sat and typed this up while they baked.

Tomorrow I feel like making either mexican or chinese food. Im off, so Ill definitely be cooking. So we shall see what I decide.

Chickpea Burritos

Well I know I promised loads of foods and what not. But work got the best of me. I worked more hours than scheduled, and still have another long day tomorrow. But then I get a day off. Woooohoo, but not really as I am working inventory so Ill be at work from 8pm to 5am, so that will not be fun. Anyways, so that is my reasoning for not doing all the cooking I wanted to do this week.

But I did make one of the recipes I wanted to. I looove Vegan Dad's recipes. He always has quick and easy meals that are simple but delicious. And I tend to have all of the ingredients just on hand. So I decided to make his Chickpea tostados. What I loved about the recipe is it used hot spices, but then cinnamon. I had never thought about using cinnamon in a spicy dish. It was sooo delicious. The spice from the cumin and chili powder would flood your mouth, but then was cooled down by the sweetness. It was really great. For my toppings I used red pepper, lettuce, black bean and corn salsa, refried beans, and a little mozzarella cheese. My mom had already started making dinner for me, when I told her Id be making my own dinner. So she had a potato for me. So I put refried beans and salsa in it. It was good, but I was stuffed from my burrito that I didnt really eat much of it. Due to work I was super busy and tired. But I was able to eat the leftover chickpea and onion mix 3 days in a row. It was that good. I made two days burritos and the other day I had cooked some whole wheat pasta to take with work, but I had extra. So I mixed the chikpeas in with a little refried beans and mixed it up good. Then topped it with a little salsa. It was good and filling. The rest of the week was made up of hummus and veggies, leftover alfredo. And tonight pizza! I had made it because my friend who is spending the summer abroad in Prague leaves tomorrow. So we were going to do something before she left. She invited me over for pizza, so I said sure, I'll just bring maybe some pasta. But then I realize I had the left over dough. I had to defrost it in the microwave, a bit of it dried out, but most of it was still good. Just a plain cheese using Tofutti mozz slices. It turned out really well. The cheese got a bit runny it melted so well. So I just waited 10 minutes to eat and it was PERFECT! IT was so amazing. I was so glad. Her sister is vegetarian and wanted to try it. And she said she loved it. She had had a lot of bad experiences with soy cheeses, but who hasnt. Though she thought the pizza was amazing. I was really glad.

I also got a chance to try this Double Chocolate Decadence Cookie from Alternative Baking Company Inc. It was very very yummy. Very large and very delish. I wish I had heated it up a bit. It was very cakey since it was so thick. But I would definitely by one again. Though I do love baking my own. I will be making my grandad some cookies for Father's Day. Though I am still unsure what to do for my dad. eek, one day left! Ill figure something out. And I also want to try and make Isa's blueberry brownies. I have to return the book tomorrow, so Im going to have to make it tomorrow, or just pay fines for the book being late. Once I get my first paycheck Ill be heading over to the bookstore to get Veganomicon and a few other cookbooks. Anybody have a favorite?

Well other than work this week, I did get to IKEA! It was amazing and fun and so bad to my checkbook. I was able to get all my dishes, glasses, silverware, and a load of kitchen supplies. Plus a new dresser, desk, and chair. I move in a week, so its exciting as can be. So next week will be spent working a ton, packing, shopping, and hopefully getting to make another Vegan Dad recipe of Chickpea Shepherd's Pie (Im on a chickpea kick) and want to try a frittata recipe. So look forward to that.

Off to go eat a slice of cold pizza and watch a movie.