caaaaaabbage = one happyfaced belly

sweet deliciosity! i lurve me some cabbage goodnesses & i don't think i've loved a cabbage dish as much as the one i nommed on this evening. my blogging friend Cyn introduced me to Molly's blog, Orangette, a while ago and in searching Molly's blog for ideas i came across her braised green cabbage recipe. since i had a head 'o organic cabbage in the fridge that needed to be used up i decided to tweak the recipe and veganize it - using not-chicken broth & omitting the egg (and i only used 1 tbsp of olive oil). wow, wow, WOW! dan wasn't home to give it a whirl (although he's not the biggest fan of cabbage....and he calls himself irish. ah ha ha!), but this is fo 'sho the best cabbage i've had. ever. thank you, Molly!

in other deliciousnesses......dan and i made some of Isa's absolutely amazing omg baked onion rings a week or two ago and they were sooooooo gloriously good! (subbing in brown rice flour & cornmeal to make 'em gluten-free.)

also yum - a quick 'n easy falafel night last week. yay!

we apologize for the lack of new recipes lately. we're back to being uber busy and kinda taking a break in the kitchen. within the next few weeks we plan to start getting creative with some of our csa goodies and can't wait to share what we'll be cooking up! for now we're just taking it easy when we can and drooling over all the delicious eatz you all are cook'n up. w00t!

we hope everyone is fantastically awesome, enjoying the hell outta spring, and many hugs (& even more happyfaces) to you all!

p.s. - here's a picture of ms. jasmine. she's been a part of my family since i started high school waaaaaay back in the day. this picture just makes me smile. she's the best! my ma & pa went out of town for a while last week and love having her in our home while they're gone. julie gets along so well with her, too - although ms. jasmine kinda scares our kittehs. :) it's all good though, a 16 year old pup can do whatever she likes. :)

farmer's market fun!

i was in nyc when our farmer's market we visit had their opening day, but i was up bright and early these past saturdays for market fun times. i love geting to the market as soon as it opens so i can get the best selection possible; you'd be surprised how quickly asparagus & strawberries sell out. :) last year we joined the Victory Farms' csa after being on the waitlist for over a year - we were so excitedfaced to join & take advantage of the local & organic produce. there isn't much that beats fresh, organic, local awesomeness. all the veggies offered taste absolutely amazing so we bought a full share again this year having been so spoiled by all the deliciousness last season. this week we
wanted to show ya the market so i took some pictures to share. :)

the farmer's market
is just 10-15 minutes away from our home and it's held in a local park's parking lot. this year there are many more vendors - and many of them are offering even more organic yummies. yay! there are crafts you can buy, fruits, veggies, coffees, pies, cakes, plants, flowers, breads, grub to nom on - you name it.....here's the Victory Farm's lot & what they had to offer this past week: baby squash, broccoli, scallions, beets, flowers, carrots, salad mix, arugula, spinach, lettuce heads, broccoli raab, kale (3 types), swiss chard, bok choy, radishes, turnips, chives, mint, cilantro, & parsley. huzzah! this week i brought back broccoli, carrots, spinach, & kale. grabbed from other local vendors: organic asparagus & tons of shitake mushrooms. awesomesauce!



oh yes, and yumminesses enjoyed lately.....


our breakfast from 2 sundays ago.... Dreena's cornmeal pankcakes (sans raspberries & almond extract) and & Jes' tempeh tube sausages. both were ridiculously easy to make and equally ridiculously scrumptrulescent! if you haven't tried Dreena's pannycakes or Jes' tempeh sausages you should super soon! you just don't know all the awesome you're missing out on! :)

last friday i went in to have my hair colored & trimmed and brought along some gluten-free chocolate banana bread mini muffins to share with peeps. these we're some of the yummiest muffins we've tasted and everyone at the salon had happyfaces and happy tummies! not only were they a delicious success, but one helluva gluten-free success. w00t! using Isa's banana bread recipe i simply subbed in 1 cup of gluten-free oat flour, 1 cup of sweet rice flour, and added in ~1 cup of chocolate chunks. baked the mini muffins for just 15 minutes and that was it! easy peasy + awesome = yay!

my birthday was last week and we were craving bbq so we made it happen! mmmmmmmmmm! here's our homemade bbq sauced soy curlz dinner - my sammie was on gluten-free bread with slaw, and we served it all up with baked potatoes 'n green beans. oooooooh-sooooo yummers!

happy sunday to you all and may your week be super stellar!

peanut sauced ‘fu, red beans ‘n rice, and a sorta-kinda enchilada casserole.

after get'n back from nyc i wanted to create some enchilada awesomenesses for dan & i to grub on. portobello-kale-‘n-potato enchiladas were being created (we made veganomicon’s potato kale enchiladas forever ago and i was thinking something similar but with salsa verde this time around & a few tweaks), but the darn corn tortillas just wouldn’t cooperate. sadface. also sadface, the grocery store didn’t have any tomatillos so we used a jarred verde sauce, which was actually pretty scrummy, i just love making my own when i can. anywhooooo….so the tortillas were misbehaving and it was decided to hack them up into bits and make a portobello-kale-‘n-potato casserole of sorts. onions were sauteed with loads of minced garlic and then mushrooms were added to the mix. a little cumin, a smidge of chili powder, some chipotle & smoked paprika, and a little white pepper ‘n sea salt were added. toss in some cooked & diced taters with the well kale and that was the mix. we tossed it all in a big baking pan, stirred up the hacked corn tortillas with the potatoey goodness mix, dumped on the verde and baked until browned. easy peasy and no more sadfaces. :) we enjoyed our enchilada awesomeness with cheezy homemade refried pinto beans, spanish-style brown rice, and homemade salsa. it wasn't the prettiest looking meal, but it got w00ts all around!

i can’t actually remember when we made the red beans ‘n rice dish, but it was most excellent. i added in lots of fresh parsley and toasted the spices - next time i’ll write down what we do to make ‘em and report back. :)

and now onto dan’s favorite... the peanut sauced ‘fu. we cooked the ‘fu up “cornstarch style”, stir-fried our favorite veggies (bell peppers, broccoli florets & stems, mushies, carrots, & onions – and added in some slivered cucumbers & scallions) and coated it all in a gloriously good peanut sauce. i loved this peanut sauce so much and dan extra loved it. ah ha ha! had we some coconut milk in our pantry i would have used a smidge in this recipe, but it stands awesome as is.

ingredients:
1/2 yellow onion, very finely diced
1 large clove ‘o garlic, very finely minced
1 tsp peanut oil
½ cup unsweetened plain almond milk
¼ cup smooth or chunky natural peanut butter (ours was creamy with no salt or sugar added)
1 tbsp rice vinegar (you can add more if you like – adjust to taste!)
2 tsp sucanat (brown sugar works just as well)
½ tsp liquid braggs (tamari, shoyu, or soy sauce works equally well)
½ tsp red pepper flakes
a pinch of sea salt
½ tsp sriracha (optional if you’d like a little more heat)

what you’ll need:
- small skillet

what’cha gotta do:
heat the peanut oil to medium then add in your onions. stirring often, saute until they begin to brown then decrease the heat to low and toss in your red pepper flakes and garlic. when the garlic starts to become fragrant (about 30 seconds to 1 minute) add in the peanut butter and once it starts getting a little melty add the almond milk and stir to combine. stir in remaining ingredients, adjust seasonings to taste and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes (you can add in more peanut butter to make it thicker or more almond milk to thin it out to get your sauce to your favorite consistency.). smother anything you love the most with the peanut sauce goodness & enjoy. yay!

mucho fun & scrumptiousnesses in nyc

superhappyface! this past weekend i was in NYC visiting brother ryan for a few days of eating deliciousnesses, catching up, having an awesome time all around the city, and just general gloriousness. my visit rocked and it was ever-so awesome to see my brother and relax with him for a few days. made me most happyfaced!

riding the train was my greenest option and ryan met me at Penn Station thursday afternoon. after mucho hugs and excitement we walked hopped on the subway and took a quick ride
over to curly’s lunch to get some yummies in our bellies. i enjoyed the hell outta my bbq tofu atop a rock’n house salad and ryan grubbed on a most excellent breakfast burrito & salad with a poppy seed-mango dressing.

a little subway ride over to queens to drop off my bags and veg out for a bit at ryan’s place. ryan's an artist and he showed me a bunch of his recent works (and older ones i hadn't seen yet) as we caught up some more.

before meeting our cousin & aunt for mexican eats we popped on over to babycakes to get our sugar rush on. i haven’t had a donut since becoming vegan well over 2 years ago, and when you add in the being gluten-free – one tends to strike out a lot. but not in NYC ‘cause babycakes had the most delicious gluten-free donuts. the chocolate glazed donut i savored was unbelievably delicious - beyond stellar. i’d go so far to say it’s the best damn donut i’ve ever had. hands. down. ryan got himself a cookie sammie (equally awesome!) and we got some as-is cookies and an agave brownie bite for nibbles later.

dinner with ryan, my cousin amy, and aunt susie was at Mary Ann’s where mucho tequila was had and vegan mexi-eats were enjoyed. i had some ever-so tasty veggie enchiladas with pinto beans ‘n rice. and of course ryan and i scooted over to Lula’s for some post-dinner scoops – coffee ‘n vanilla. yay!

friday morning ryan made the scrummiest green smoothie and we had some raw ‘n soaked oat groats before heading out into manhattan to check out the high line and a few galleries. the high line is a park in the city that runs up over the city from gansevoort street in the meatpacking district to 34th street, between 10th & 11th avenues. it’s absolutely amazing up there and lots of fun & photos ensued. grabbing a quick lunch at a diner and then splitting a gluten-free brown a la mode at lula’s we walked around the city for a bit chatting and wandering around until we were hungry for our dinner at pala pizza before seeing a movie (the girl with the dragon tattoo) later Friday night. i’ve gotta say, pala pizza rocks some serious socks. not only do they have a gigantical separate vegan menu, but almost anything on that menu can be made gluten-free (and in a dedicated oven!). supersquee! we shared a bottle of red wine and split the zucca antipasto (fantastical!), crostini (it was pretty good, but the gluten-free bread was a little too sweet and clashed a bit with the savory toppings), and the romana pizza (it was just perfect!). the gluten-free pizza crust was chewy and kinda crispy and delicious, the daiya cheeze was great, and their sauce (although light) was excellent as well. such a delicious meal before a good film and another night of staying up late drinking wine & chatting like crazy people. ah ha ha!

saturday was my last day with ryan as my train headed back to rva at 3am sunday morning so we went all out that day. saturday morning we joined our cousin amy and started our day off with the scrummiest brunch at boneshakers. boneshakers kicks ass, fo ‘sho. ryan rocked out a bagel with vegan sausage, scrambled ‘fu, ‘n daiya cheddar, amy enjoyed a pear-walnut salad with a maple dressing, and i had a avocado-tempeh strips-‘n-sprouts salad (their tempeh strips were super stellar) with a side of this ridiculously glorious potato salad. i’m gonna have to recreate it – from what i could tell it was carrots, red onion, taters (duh), vegenaise, spicy mustard, & maybe a smidge of chipotle & paprika. ooooooh, yay!
post brunch we subwayed ‘n walked our way to the brooklyn botanic garden were ryan & i vegged out in the gardens for a bit surrounded by all the wonderful plant life, and rested up a little. we headed back to babycakes for the last time where i snagged some brownie bites to bring home for dan, enjoyed another chocolate donut and a red velvet cuppy, and ryan grabbed 2 donuts – a vanilla with sprinkles and a cinnamon ‘n sugar. ryan also professed donut love and samesies on the “best donut ever” claim. we’re just say’n… babycakes’ gluten-free vegan donuts are where it’s at. :) i need to try and make my own some day! we walked around a good bit more, hit up Lula’s for some take-home treats for dan, and then ryan and i celebrated my upcoming birthday with dinner at my absolute favorite restaurant, caravan of dreams. our reservation was at 9 and we ate outside, so the photos didn’t happen – but we had some of the best eats and then wandered around the city talking and goofing around being sillyfaced siblings for a while before my train ride home. dan loved his brownie bites and i snagged him some sweet ‘n sarah goodies (a smore & a brown rice krispy treat) for nomming. ryan and i had stopped at Integral Yoga Natural Foods so i brought back three types of dr. cow nut cheezes for dan & i to enjoy. :) another gloriously fun visit to see ryan in NYC! i miss him so much already!