I have not been vegan in about a year and a half. At that time, I made a conscious decision to add things back into my diet. When I got pregnant, I rediscovered the joy of ice cream. I realized at some point during my pregnancy whilst enjoying many previously taboo foods that for me, a recovering anorectic, being vegan was just some extension of restrictive, punitive eating. At the heart of being vegan of course is always a compassion and love for all sentient beings, but I cannot lie, that ugliness, that body image impaired, wounded little inner me lorded over the process.

I often mused, one little person, how can I even make a dent in the problem? Yet, I spoke to so many people, inspired minor change amongst friends, students and acquaintances. I can still do that, without being self punitive in respect to my diet.

I suppose as I have finally begun reading the China Study, a book I've had on my list for ages, it re-inspired my belief in a mostly plant based diet. I really believe in the healing properties of local, organic produce. I feel a sense of vitality when I'm eating lets say...85ish (or more) percent plant based.

I think the new focus of this blog will be food and compassion and especially finding balance now that I am a mother to a precious gift of a girl.

masala what?

I don't know yet...but as I said previously, I was at Penzey's this weekend. I saw the masala and decided I should do something with it.

So far, I fried up some mushrooms in red wine. Then I added about 1 tablespoon of masala. I tossed a little bit of onion powder in there too. I remembered I had a pack of seitan and am now marinating the seitan. Mmmmm...it was yummy but had no substance so I added a half of a small can of tomato sauce to it and now it's like a redwine-masala gravy. I'm not sure what to do with it from here. Potatoes would be amazing in there but I didn't want all that starch today. It's really hot here.

soup that is orange

Oh how I love colorful food.

1 yellow squash
2 carrots
1 huge sweet potato
3 T coconut milk
2 T "butter"
dash of Franks
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 t tumeric
2 T sugar
1 t vanilla




It was very easy. I boiled a veggie bullion cube in some water. I peeled a squash, a sweet potato and two carrots. I threw them in the water until they were tender. I blended the whole thing. Meanwhile I heated up a little butter with sugar and vanilla. Put it all back into the pan, added a douse of Frank's hot sauce (okay like 3 or 4 generous shakes), around 3 tablespoons of coconut milk (for substance, but it was just fine without) and tumeric. We had gone to Penzey's earlier and I got this amazing cinnamon I wanted to use and it made the soup amazing. Just um...3/4 of a teaspoon did the trick. This soup was even better the next day.

Garnished with the pretty California Paprika and parsley.

veg potstickers

Now I totally know why they are called potstickers! Ha!

I modded the recipe from: http://www.recipezaar.com/32783

I used plain ole mushrooms of the button variety. Some cabbage I shredded myself. Carrots. I loved the sesame oil flavor and didn't want to overpower things with cilantro. I clearly did NOT use onions...why??? oh because they are evil and banned from my kitchen (unless you are Jen). I also used fresh garlic, but didn't have fresh ginger so it was the powdery stuff for me.



It was really fun making these. My kitchen got trashed, but oh! I loved every minute of it. When I finally got it right (with the leftovers the next day) it was soooo worth the wait.



I served them with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and some spicy red sauce and a drizzle of soy. YUM YUM YUM!! I forgot to get a photo of the end result, so here is some polenta for your viewing pleasure.

no soy lasagna

I saw somewhere that someone had used zucchini for noodles in their lasagna. Brilliant!

For me, it's all about the sauce.


A friend had given me some fresh basil and oregano from her garden. When I was in Italy I could not get over how deliciously simple the tomato-based recipes were. I used extra basil - the other spices, just a dash.

- 2 cloves garlic
- olive oil
- fresh basil
- fresh oregano
- dash of cayenne
- salt, pepper
- water
- onion powder

I fried up the garlic and added the tomato sauce and spices. I let it simmer while I started cutting up the veggies.



Next I chopped:
- 1 zucchini lengthwise
- mushrooms
- black olives
- some red & orange peppers I had left over
- parsley
- spinach

I placed the zucchini "noodles" in the pan. Added the mushrooms, black olives, red peppers, and sauce. Layered the rest of the zucchini "noodles" with a dash more black olives, spinach, sauce and topped it with a spritz of parsley to make it pretty.

Cooked at 400 for 20 minutes with foil and 10 without.

Voila! I found this to be quite yummier than expected, though it's not the prettiest dish ever.

oh blueberries

Recently, I went to Michigan with some friends. It was an incredible trip. We took a late night/early morning wine induced romp through the rain and darkness deep into the country. We stopped to eat some blueberries direct.



The last morning before the return trip, we each picked a bunch. I could not believe how delicious. There were rows of sweet and rows of sweet/sour. Oh so delicious.



So now I need to figure out what I want to do with them. I froze them because there were just so many.



I always want to move wherever I travel. Michigan is so beautiful. Quiet country woods, gorgeous beaches and lovely people. We're due to go back for apple picking.

the best ever vegan pizza

I stole this idea from a local restaurant called OR Juice and Smoothie.



What's in it:
- your favorite wrap
- carrot hummus
- a handful each of:
--- lettuce
--- calamata olives
--- cucumber
--- sun dried tomatoes



What I did:
First I made the carrot hummus. I tweaked it to have more citrus and spice. I love what the extra shot of fresh squeezed lemon does for this recipe.






I took a whole wheat wrap and toasted it in the oven until it was crispy enough to sustain the ingredients. Then I spread the hummus on it.




Then I generously sprinkled the toppings. It was delicious--the best one I've made yet. Here's one final close up before this pizza met her delicious demise.