and the yumminesses keep on come'n...

hiya, hiya!

we wanted to pop in, say hello (and hiya!), and share what deliciousnesses we’re been enjoying for the past week or so. last week was a bit busy: saturday i had my half marathon (my friend emily & i ran it together - not only did we rock our run, but we had an amazing time, too!), dan's busy kicking ass 'n taking names on his way to become a volunteer firefighter, and this week’s a bit busy, too (although i did have some time for a scary movie with some friends last night. w00t!). it's already friday?! huzzah!

last friday night we whipped up a comforting shepherd’s pie to enjoy on one chilly & rainy evening. JoLynn, of the ever-so awesome Dreamin' It Vegan, created the most scrumptious looking cruelty free shepherd’s pie a few weeks ago and since then, a serious craving had been sneaking up on me. mmmmmmm! we used JoLynn’s pie for inspiration; here’s what we did…

ingredients:
1 cup cooked white beans
1 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
2 tbsp brown rice flour
½ tsp miso
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp poultry seasoning
½ tsp sea salt, divided
½ small bunch of broccoli, chopped small
2 small carrots
1 large yellow onion, finely diced & divided
a handful of green beans, chopped into bite sized pieces
¼ cup nutritional yeast
4 small potatoes, diced (we used yukon golds from our csa & left the skins on)
a few splashed of unsweetened plain almond milk
1 tbsp margarine (we used earth balance)
2 tbsp dried parsley

what you’ll need:
- 2 large saucepans + 1 lid
- loaf/bread pan
- olive oil cooking spray
- large mixing bowl

what’cha gotta do:
place diced potatoes in one of the large saucepans & cover them with water. boil the potatoes until they’re tender (about 10-14 minutes), drain, and set aside. while the potatoes are cooking you can start on the veggies: spray the other saucepan with a little olive oil cooking spray, saute the carrots & onions on medium heat for 8 minutes. toss in the broccoli, green beans, and ¼ tsp sea salt. cover with lid & cook for 3 minutes. remove lid & toss in the brown rice flour. saute for another minute then add in 1 cup of almond milk. stir until it begins to thicken up a good bit, then add the miso, white beans, black pepper, and poultry seasoning to the saucepan. adjust seasonings to taste & set aside. get back to your taters: place the cooked potatoes in the large mixing bowl and smash ‘em up well, adding a few splashes of almond milk, ¼ tsp sea salt (more if you like), and the margarine. keep on smashing until they’re to the consistency you love the most. all together now: spray the bread pan with a little olive oil cooking spray, place the gravy-veggie mixture along the bottom of the pan, then top the gravy-veggie goodness with the nutritional yeast & parsley (just sprinkle it on there). top everything with the smashed potatoes & bake it all in the oven on 350 degrees (no need to preheat) for about 30 minutes. allow to cool for 5-10 minutes & enjoy!


last week our copy of The Kind Diet arrived & we got to cooking! sunday night we had the nabeyaki udon for dinner – it was soooo super delicious! downright outstanding, fo 'sho! dan had udon noodles in his bowl & i had buckwheat to keep it gluten-free. wow – it was gloriously good!

leftover nabeyaki udon veggies for a quick stir-fry - spiced up with a little sriracha –

and a tasty little lunch i made myself the other day of delicata squash, adzuki beans, brown rice, roasted zucchini & carrots. yum!

earlier this week we made the moroccan couscous with saffron, but substituted millet for the couscous to keep it gluten-free. awesomesauce!

some of the leftover roasted veggies from the saffron dish made for one rock’n stir-fry (we tossed in some red lentils, spinach, & mushrooms to round it out a bit). hooooooooray!

oh yes – and we sponsored bubbles this year. yay! if you haven't thought about adopting a turkey - you totally should! it's such a wonderful tradition, and one that will make both you & the turkeys most happyfaced!

the happiest of fridays to you all, and may your weekends rock some serious socks!

i almost forgot - homemade radish umeboshi pickles from The Kind Diet. tangy. salty. awesome. w00t!

csa: potatoes, spinach, onions, swiss chard, broccoli

some deeeelicious tester recipes, csa loot, and mas yummies.

so far this week we've chowing down on some darn deeeeeeeeeeelicious eatz.

we're super lucky recipe testers for Bianca of Vegan Crunk - she's creating a southern-style cookbook that's sure to rock some serious socks! (every recipe we've tested so far is absolutely stellar!) the other evening we enjoyed her bbq tempeh & carrot sandwich (made with her tangy 'n ever-so amazing memphis-style barbecue sauce & topped with her awesome poppy seed coleslaw). we were in heaven! one of my favorites as an omni was this pulled pork sammie from a local richmond bbq spot (i know, i know!), & Bianca's bbq tempeh & carrot sammie was better than any pulled pork i remember! dan & i fought over the left-overs today, too. ah ha ha!

we also tested out Bianca's gloriously good sweet 'n' sour bean balls. the sauce was the perfect balance of sweet 'n sour, the bean balls were so very tasty & held together well - they were just so awesome! we paired the bean balls with peas, roasted brussels, and some wee little csa potatoes. i see a lot of peas over at Sal's fantastical blog, Alien On Toast, and thought they'd go well with the bean balls - and they did!

we grabbed some veggie awesomeness from our csa this past saturday (we ran out of money in our csa account a few weeks ago, but our csa is giving us 20% off until the end of the season on all they have to offer. squeeeeeeeeeeeee!): butternut squash, another tasty kabocha squash, japanese eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, golden apples, red 'n green cabbage, broccoli, rainbow chard, and salad mix. superw00t!

saturday after the market i was feeling mighty inspired by Cyn's beans & chards - so i whipped up something similar - a pinto bean & rainbow chard bowl with a little roasted pumpkin, brussels, nooch, and millet. this was absolutely yum! thanks, Cyn!


p.s. if you haven't tried Hannah's easy as pumpkin pie shake yet, you should. it's the best & perfectly sweet 'n pumpkiny! (we made ours with a little pumpkin we picked up at our csa a few weeks ago.)

csa: onions, carrots, swiss chard, potatoes, pumpkin,
local: tempeh, garlic

post-mofo eatz.

after a nice little break from all the mofo fun & madness we're back with some yummies to share!

this past saturday i scored a few most awesome veggies 'n goodies from our csa & the farmer's market: some of the season's last tomatoes, broccoli, eggplants, yukon gold potatoes, kabocha squash (japanese pumpkin), bell pepper, tasty virginia apples (i think they were ginger golds, but don't quote me on it), the most fantastical thing ever - peach rosemary jam, green beans, spinach, & salad mix.

so far this week we've been doing a tasty job of using up the csa loot. sunday night was lentil soup & buckwheat-teff rolls for our soup 'n bread night (i'm still working on the roll recipe, but i'll fo 'sho post it when i've got it where i want it) - it was mucho yum! monday night we used up some green beans, broccoli, store-bought asparagus and local tofu and made mel's sweet 'n sour tofu (our favorite sweet 'n sour sauce recipe. hands down.). tuesday night i forgot to take a picture of our mac 'n cheeze with broccoli and peas (it didn't look the prettiest, but it did taste mighty mmmmmmmmm), and this evening was roasted kabocha squash over millet with pepitas & garlicky roasted asparagus - of course it was all sprinkled with a little nooch for extra deliciousness (and b12)!

there are at least a million rock'n recipes for lentil soup - but we thought we'd share with you how ours went down sunday night. :)


ingredients:
1 1/2 cups dried green lentils, rinsed until the water runs clear
1 small bunch 'o kale, well chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 decent sized carrots, peeled & chopped
4 small potatoes, diced (we leave the skin on & used yukon golds from the csa)
3 big 'ol cloves of garlic, minced
7 cups veggie stock**
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp sea salt (less if you like)
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp marmite/vegemite/promite (optional, but awesome)
1 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp olive oil (or use a little olive oil cooking spray)

**we've been saving all our veggies scraps and putting them into a container in the freezer to make veggie stock with when we've gathered enough scraps. (homemade veggie stock = super cheap & super awesome!)

what you'll need:
- large pot + lid
- blender (optional)

what'cha gotta do:
heat 1 tsp olive oil in the large pot on medium heat. saute onions & carrots until the onion begins to soften. add minced garlic, marmite, & all the spices. saute for another 2 minutes. add the lentils & veggie stock. bring the soup to a boil, cover with lid, and simmer for about 15 minutes. uncover the pot, toss in the potatoes & kale - simmer it all until the potatoes & lentils are both tender. transfer half the soup in your blender (if you like) & give it a whirl - return the blended soup to the pot. give it a stir, top with a little nooch, & enjoy! easy peasy!

csa: kale, carrots, onions, potatoes, green beans, squash, broccoli
local: tofu, garlic

happy almost-friday! squeeeeeeeeeee!

helping out creates happyfaces!

hiya, hiya!

we wanted to give everyone a heads up on ways you can help out some fellow bloggers - both Kris & Katie are looking for some support so we're spreading the word. :)

Kris of NOM! NOM! NOM! is looking for recipes for a cause. a good friend of hers is collecting recipes for a cookbook that a close friend of her family is putting together - they’ll be adding the recipes to a cookbook that will be sold & all the proceeds will help their friend Becky in her battle with stage 4 breast cancer. we know you guys rock some fantastically awesome eatz & if you want to donate a recipe click here for mucho mas details.

Katie of Chocolate-Covered Katie is reaching out and finding more great ways to support her favorite charities. she’ll be donating all the money foodbuzz gives her each time someone views her blog pages to the charities closest to her heart. Katie’s holding a page view charity drive – so get on over to Chocolate-Covered Katie get more details, start clicking, and spread the word!

please help both Kris & Katie if you can!

happy halloween! (& a goodbye to veganmofo 2009.)

happy halloween, everyone! we're superhappyfaced about halloween fun & a bit sadfaced about the end of veganmofo, but next year will be just as gloriously fun - so it's all good! we're pretty darn happyfaced we were able to post every day for mofo again this year - although a little break will be kinda nice, too! ;)

all we've got for ya this evening are a few pictures of a few of our favs. those eatz that we took pictures of but kinda forgot about - including last night's "we're hang'n out at home on the couch" friday night pizzas. w00t!

first off - tots. words cannot express the love dan & i share for tater tots. mmmmmmm!

next up - our 10 year anniverary eatz: katie's tempeh wingz (so freak'n delicious and one of our absolute favorites) & a dr. cow aged cashew cheese 'n cracker plate (glutenous & gluten-free crackers).



moving right along to our friday night yummies....whole wheat pizza for dan & gluten-free for myself. complete with homemade tomato-basil-roasted red pepper-sundried tomato marinara, spinach, red onions, olives, hot peppers, bell peppers, a little sriracha, and portobello mushrooms. awesomesauce!

and roasted pumpkin - because pumpkin rocks socks! :)

csa: pumpkin, spinach, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, green beans, broccoli.

friday fun!

happy friday, everyone! today's been such an awesome day. i had scheduled myself a day off from work, got out early this morning & ran 14 miles (another fantastical training run in preparation for the half marathon in 2 weeks), had the most delicious lunch with a friend, and dan & i are making pizzas for dinner. hoooooooray! i'm a bit sadfaced that veganmofo is wrapping up - i'm gonna miss all the many gloriously tasty & fun mofo posts, but i must admit, posting every day is kicking my booty. ah ha ha!

j. & i enjoyed lunch at aziza's - they have some of the most deeeelicious eatz, fo 'sho! everything i've ever eaten at aziza's has always been absolutely amazing! i asked our waitress what they had in the way of vegan yummies today and she listed at least 10 rock'n items (including both the soups of the day). squeeeeeee! now on with the eatz! i ordered the lentil-rice soup, roasted veggie stew, dolmas, and the most scrumptious potato salad. j. enjoyed thai chili hummus with pita bread, roasted veggie stew, and the tomato basil soup. everything was so super deeeelicious & one yummy way to start the weekend!

we hope you all have the most fantastical weekend & may it be filled with everything you love the most!

easy & awesome autumn salad

we had a few veggies leftover from sunday's soup & some spinach from our csa that needed to be used up before it had to be composted - and since food waste = sadface we decided to simply combine them all to make one fantastically excellent roasted veggie salad. roasted veggies + spinach + a little salty 'n sweet going on = easy peasy & muy delicioso!

ingredients:
1 apple, diced (we used a granny smith apple)
1 medium sized yellow onion, diced
1 parsnip, sliced into thin coins
4 small carrots, sliced into thin coins
1 small butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded, & diced into small cubes
1 tsp dried sage
3 big handfuls of fresh spinach, chopped
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
2 tsp agave nectar (more if you like it a bit sweeter)
2 tsp olive oil
a few pinches of sea salt

what you'll need:
- baking pan
- olive oil cooking spray

what'cha gotta do:
spray the baking pan with a little olive oil cooking spray and add to it the squash, apple, carrots, onion, parsnip, and dried sage. roast the yummies on 400 degrees (no need to preheat), stir once or twice while they cook, and roast 'em until they're cooke through (about 35-40 minutes). remove from oven & toss a little sea salt, the chopped spinach, agave nectar, & olive oil into the pan. gently combine, top with roasted pumpkin seeds, & enjoy!

you can totally roast up & add whatever you love the most to this recipe! be it sweet potatoes, acorn squash, dates, raisins, cranberries, shallots, garlic, leeks, beets, - add 'em all in!

csa: onion, spinach, carrots