Baby, it's cold outside!

Happy Friday, everyone!

I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I've been snowed in or iced in all week. However, the upside of this means plenty of time to create and plan for different vegan/ vegetarian recipes... All which hit the comfort spot without hitting the waistline, if you catch my drift. I don't have much time to update today, but I'll leave you with a sample of a quick and easy meal that I made at the last minute this week:

Vegan soy-sauge and peppers:

This plate filled both my husband and I up, and we didn't even finish it!

Not the best picture, I'll grant you, but it was absolutely delicious! Not to mention... Dairy-free, egg-free, and even gluten-free!

Ingredients (all available at Trader Joe's):

• Olive oil (oil or spray)
• 3 bell peppers (I bought the trifecta of red, orange, and yellow for variety), sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 box of brown rice pasta
• 1 package of Trader Joe's Italian soy-sauge, sliced
• Marinara sauce (I have a coveted home-made recipe, but you can use whatever you're comfortable with... Just keep an eye on the added sugar and sodium!)
• Salt and pepper to taste... You shouldn't need much!

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Coat dutch oven (or other casserole dish) lightly in olive oil (don't add too much since you'll get a lot of moisture from the pepper and onions) - enough to keep everything from burning/ sticking to the dish.
• Combine sliced peppers, onions, soy-sauce. Add salt and pepper lightly to taste (you shouldn't need much since the soysauge is pretty well-flavored).
• Cover and place in oven for 30-40 minutes (depending on the oven, cooking times may vary).
• Start boiling your salted water and add the pasta. Cook until al dente.
• When the peppers and onions are cooked to your liking, you may add marinara sauce directly to the mixture. Not only does the heat from the mix warm the sauce without you needing to, it also saves you another dish to clean!
• Drain pasta, add a serving to your plate, and top with the pepper-onion-soysauge mixture.
• Enjoy!

When you're not in much of a cooking mood, this dish was almost too easy. It really doesn't require much on your part as far as the elbow grease is concerned, and it's so comforting on top of being a quick cleanup! Plus, the leftovers last for a while.

Coming up soon... Vegan, spicy chili, minestrone soup, oatmeal pancakes, and a very easy (and inexpensive) Greek salad!

2.5 Months?!

Yes, that's how long it has been since I last posted. Sorry, folks! In my defense, I have had a TON going on...

1. I got married! Yepperdoodle. November 24, 2010, my sweet husband and I tied the knot.
2. Thanksgiving
3. Husband's birthday (the day after Thanksgiving)
4. Husband's parents in town
5. Searching for the best Christmas presents ever to avoid the last-minute gift-hunt
6. Work, work, and more work! Everyone trying to get things done by the end of the year, realizing they should have finished them sooner, so having me do them instead. :)
7. Holiday parties, birthday parties, and parties to celebratehaving parties.
8. CHRISTMAS! My first Christmas as a married woman with his family.

And, well, now I'm simply exhausted. I promise to keep up with this thing more come the new year... Sorry to be such a slacker!

How was everyone's holiday season? Any resolutions??? I miss you all!

Please help!

Hi everyone!

I'm not usually one for soliciting all of you guys, but I was hoping for some help on something. I'm helping to fundraise for Prop B in Missouri to put a ban on puppymills. They have over 3,000 puppymills in Missouri, and it has to stop!

My goal is to raise $500 by the end of the month since it's being voted on in November; but if we can do more, that'd be fantastic, too!

Please visit my fundraising page (with a link to more information regarding puppymills) to donate. Your credit card information is secure, and I would greatly appreciate if you all would send this to folks who also might contribute.

Thanks so much for your help, veggies, and I have a few reveiws to post soon! :)

You may also view the URL address here:
https://hsus.salsalabs.com/o/17003/p/salsa/donation/public/?supporter_my_donate_page_KEY=1160

And for those of you who are wondering who Emmy is (my dog who I refer to on my page), here's a picture of her a month after she was rescued from a puppymill:

And here she is now:

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

Motivation

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

For some reason, I've just felt a huge surge of excitement and motivation, and it's an incredible feeling. Perhaps it's the fact that I found some great things to register for, or that I came up with a handful of new recipe ideas to try, or even the fact that I'm going to New York in about a week and a half!

One of my closest friends lives in New York, and she is as big of a foodie as I am. When we get together, it's like a show off the Food Network, only without the cameras. So, we decided in celebration of this blog, we are going to make my trip an excuse to try as many vegan restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops as possible while I'm in New York for a few days. I think for main courses, we are going to either make it a point to order vastly different entrees or even split dishes in order to fit more places (and food tastings) into our day. I can't begin to tell you all how excited I am to post all the reviews and pictures of my trip. Hopefully the fact that New Yorkers, on average, walk about 5 miles per day will help with my metabolism. Funny enough, every time I'm in New York, I don't pig out as much as I prepare myself to. My theory is that all the sights and walking help distract you from focusing on food too much. Or perhaps I really did pig out, and all the walking evened things out.

Anyway, this weekend I'm planning on going to the farmer's market and Whole Foods in search of ingredients for my recipe ideas. I won't give too much away just yet, but it's going to be a Fall Frenzy of delicious dishes (try to say that three times fast!). My goal is to create a whole repertoire of cozy, comforting autumn meals while keeping everything healthy and nutritious.

And by the way, isn't it so ironic that everything I'm excited about putting on my wedding registry is related to cooking? ;)

Have a fantastic day, everyone! As for me, I'm hoping this burst of energy and excitement lasts long enough for me to get home and get a good run/jog in for the day.

Soup!

This time of year, when the leaves are beginning to change to their shades of gold and red, and I'm actually able to bring my sweaters out of hiding, I'm always in search of comfort food. The problem with comfort food? Well, because "comfort food", for me, usually means "fatty food". As I've mentioned on my other blog, I'd love to lose 15 pounds by Christmas; but, at this point, I'm highly doubting that the scale has moved in the direction I'm hoping it will. So, last night, I (desperately) searched through my kitchen cabinets for something that will help with my craving for warm, comforting food without causing me to wake up with a food hangover the next morning (you know the feeling, admit it! ;P).

The solution? Soup, of course! I'm somewhat burned out on lentils, so I decided to skip the lentil soup route... I wanted something to encourage me to lose weight, but cabbage soup just doesn't have the comfort and nutrients I've been craving. Then I remembered: minestrone soup! Except I didn't have noodles or potatoes.

So, I give you my Cabbage Kale-Minestrone Soup Hybrid

Pretty, nutritious, and filling!

Ingredients:

• 5 cups - low sodium vegetable stock
• 3 cups - water
• 1 28 oz. can - whole, peeled tomatoes, low sodium
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bell peppers, cubed
• 3 large stalks celery, sliced
• 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 3 cups - kidney beans (I soaked my own beforehand)
• 6-8 Tbsp. (or to taste) Italian seasoning or Herbs de Province (roughly 1 Tablespoon per cup of liquid used) - I used dried since I didn't have any fresh on hand.
• 4 ripe Roma tomatoes
• 2 heads kale

*Note: If I had onions, I would have used one large white or yellow onion, chopped, for this soup.
* You can also vary the ratio of stock to water, I just happen to enjoy the flavor this way.

Instructions:

• Spray stockpot with cooking spray (I use olive oil spray), and bring pot to medium heat.
• Slice/ chop carrots, celery, peppers, and onion (optional) to all be roughly the same size. At this point, I usually put the carrots in a few minutes before the rest of the vegetables since they tend to need a little longer to cook (maybe 2-3 minutes before). Add the rest of the vegetables and minced garlic.
• Season with 2-3 Tbsp. of Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
• You'll want to keep an eye on the veggies and seasoning to keep them from burning to the bottom of the stock pot. If I notice they seem a little dry, I'll usually add an extra spray or two of cooking spray (I don't typically add actual oil in order to keep the calories and fat down).
• After the vegetables have softened a little (not entirely because you don't want them to be soggy-tasting!), add the entire can of whole, peeled tomatoes (liquid and all). You can mash up the tomatoes into rustic, smaller pieces when stirring.
• Season with additional 2-3 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning and let simmer for a few minutes.
• Add vegetable stock, water, kidney beans, and the rest of the seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste. After all the flavors have "married" and the vegetables are perfectly soft, chop up 2 heads of kale and cube the fresh Roma tomatoes and add to the soup. Let the tomatoes and kale soften into the soup (at this point, I usually turn off the heat and just pop the lid on), and you're all finished!

Obviously for a heartier soup, you can add corn, potatoes, pasta, or really any variation of veggies you may have. I just chose to do this combination since it is as lean as Cabbage Soup, but a little more nutrient-filled and comforting because of the kidney beans and chunks of veggies. This recipe left me with enough soup for easily 2 bowls each day during the work week, and it's low in fat and sodium.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the recipe and feel inspired to make different variations of it! I know I'm sure hoping it will help with my waistline this week. ;)

Save a life this Thanksgiving

Good news, fellow veggies!

This Thanksgiving, you have the opportunity to make a huge difference and save a life (or more). Instead of putting a turkey on your table this holiday, you can adopt one! No, you won't have to worry about a large turkey running around your home; instead, through Adopt-A-Turkey Project, you can sponsor a turkey of your choice who's currently at Farm Sanctuary.

Farm Sanctuary has helped rescue turkeys since 1986 and currently works toward saving as many lives as possible, as well as educating the public and serving as an advocate all farm animals. When you have a moment, please visit their website and educate yourself (and spread the word to others) about the cruelty these poor animals are forced to suffer. After reading about the project, feel free to donate! A mere $30 helps sponsor one turkey, and Farm Sanctuary provides you with the option to sponsor more if you are able. The website even offers vegan recipes for gravy, sides, and main dishes for a turkey-friendly Thanksgiving.

Let's all have a cruelty-free Thanksgiving this year!

http://www.adoptaturkey.org/

Kitchen Staples

When thinking of ideas for my blog, I couldn't help but wonder: what better way to start than from the ground up? So, I started reviewing my kitchen "essentials" and what I would consider to be staples in my vegan kitchen.

Quinoa
Brown rice
Whole, rolled oats
Lentils (I like to keep a container of green and red lentils mixed together)
Dried beans: garbanzo, kidney, navy, black, etc.
Black olives
Canned whole, peeled tomatoes
Tomato paste
Frozen berries (usually blueberry)
Onions
Garlic
Every spice or seasoning you can imagine
Vegetable stock
Milk - soy, rice, coconut (all low-fat, unsweetened)
Lemon juice
Vinegar - balsamic and red wine
Olive oil
Cooking spray

I always like keep things for impromptu dinner ideas; and as you can see, it's pretty easy to whip up a variety of things with the right spices with just those kitchen staples. I usually try to make it out to the farmer's market twice a month to stock up on fresh fruits, veggies, and replenish anything I might be low on (such as beans, oats, or grains).

What are your kitchen staples???

P.S. My blog spellchecked "quinoa" and suggested "guinea" in its place. No thanks, Blogspot, I would not like guinea to be one of my kitchen staples. ;)