i've been one busy bee with all things
xgfx (we're launching the
full site this sunday, april 17th!), but i'm taking a little break today to share some gluten-free vegan (xgfx) love that's been going around. :)
you guysers ready?!?!?! let's go!
earlier last month
K organized a fantastical gluten-free swap over on the
ppk boards. my swap partner was Lisa from
vegan culinary crusade, and let me tell you, she rocks the most socks! check it out:
i received the yummiest cashew cookies of all time, xgfx granola bars (blueberry & ginger. so yum!), raw curry pumpkin nori crackers (amazing with hummus & also on their own.), a nanaimo bar (zomg, i've never had one before and i swear, they might be life changing.), & a salted chocolate pecan caramel bar (it's the best chocolate bar i've had to date. well, it ties with the nanaimo bar. i loved it so much i didn't want to share it with dan, but he twisted my arm.). everything was soooo super awesome and i'd never had any of the goodies before. all new to me and all so awesome. thanks a bahbillion, Lisa - you are amazing and too super sweet!
dan and i have been enjoying old favorites lately because we're pressed for time and haven't had the energy to create many new dishes (he's still in recruit school to become a professional fire fighter, i've been working on xgfx awesomeness, and also started
hooping while keeping up with my yoga practice & volunteering with
Richmond Animal LeagueR.A.L.), but i have mucho delicious foods to share having returned from ny. my sister and i drove up last week, met
ryan in the city for fun times there, and then drove out to sag harbor (long island) where he now lives to spend a few days with him.
babycakes. 
then we drove over to see our aunt susie in Brooklyn. she's a curator at the Brooklyn Museum and her
Tipi exhibit is showing so we checked it out. she gave us the tour herself (because she's the best)
- it was just as glorious as we thought it would be. after museum awesomeness we split up for a bit so i could meet Barbara of
Gone Pie Bakery. i had mentioned i was coming up to nyc and she said she wanted to bake up some xgfx goodies for me to try & take our on our trip to long island. MEGAyay! boy did she hook it up.....
those are her macaroons, sesame-peanut cookies, chocolate chip cookies, frosted triple nut coconut brownies, and a mango crystallized ginger coffee cake - all gluten-free and all rocked our world! i've gotta say, Barbara is one bad ass vegan baker and she really knows her stuff. we chatted about all things xgfx for a while and i was smiling ear to ear - it was wonderful to meet her and talk with her. superw00ts all around!
after chatting with Barabara i met back up with janine and ryan at
Caravan of Dreams - our cousin and her friend joined us - we ate like kings.
ryan's maple smoked tempeh with fingerling potatoes and ramps was pretty darn delicious despite the fact that the smoked flavor was a bit on the heave side and totally overpowered the maple.
janine ordered the wild rice and cremini risotto croquettes and found them to be most excellent - she almost licked her plate clean.
i decided to take advantage of Caravan's live foods and ordered a live pizzetta which consisted of a kefir cashew cheeze, olives, marinara, avocado, mixed lettuces and mushies all atop a pumpkin seed crust. everything wowed us all!
after lots of catching up, sharing stories and laughter we parted ways with my cuz and her friend and had ourselves a short little walk over to
Lula's 
to get our dessert on. i had a scoop of mint chip on a gluten-free cone & it was most excellent, as Lula's always is. huzzah! after ice cream we drove out to long island, drank wine at the farmhouse ryan has been watching for a while, and headed off to bed. it was a long day filled with lots of driving, but a fun & tasty day nonetheless.
friday we headed over to
Provisions to see the organic & natural store ryan works for, grab some lunch, and ingredients for our dinner party. we have some family on long island and invited them over along with a friend of ryan's for dinner at the farmhouse. after meeting and greeting ryan's super friendly coworkers, enjoying lunch, and shopping for more foods we headed out to the
Elizabeth A. Morton Wildlife Refuge to walk on the trails,
feed the birds (that's me with a black capped chickadee), and walk out on the beach. our aunt susie has her summer home in sag harbor and she lives right down the road from this refuge. when we were little we'd always head out to feed the birds (mostly the tufted titmouse and the black capped chickadees would take seed from our hands)
there and hunt for tiny little shells on the beach. it's such a calm and peaceful place for lovely walk and lots of catching up, and that's just what we did.
friday night's dinner party was a success. ryan, janine and i cooked up a ton of marinara and used it in our portobello-roasted eggplant lasagna (we made thin polenta noodles, too).
(the lasagna was topped with white bean-pine nut-cashew cheeze to top it off and everyone including those skeptical dislikers of mushrooms) raved about our dish. a success, indeed!
saturday was a a trip to Montauk, but not before we hit up
Provisions for picnic foods to take along for our lunch of
didi's mac 'n cheeze, a handful of
brad's indian flavored raw chips & organic cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes for hummus dipping. after fueling ourselves with delicious eats we headed down to the beach near the lighthouse out on Montauk. the waves were making the neatest sounds on the rounded stones on the beach - we sat out on the rocks for a while in the sun and warmed ourselves. i even fell asleep listening to the ocean
- i think i was truly relaxed. yay! after cat napping on the rocks we wandered around a bit more, headed back towards sag harbor to catch a movie, and enjoyed vegan sushis at
Sen with ryan's friend. it was such a perfect day.
sunday janine and i packed our bags and drove on back to rva, we were sad to leave, but so happyfaced we had such an excellent time visiting with ryan, enjoying tasty eats, catching up with everyone, and getting to spend lots of time together.
i'm leaving you all with a cute picture of a little chickadee on ryan's hand from our walk at the wildlife refuge.
thanks for reading along, everyone. we'll catch you all later!
guess we'll be sticking with brown rice for our beans 'n rice from now on. so yum!
