day 2

it is clearly the second day of school. i am caught up with studying, and by 7:30am i had made dinner. trust me, this won't last long.

sleepless in phoenix

i made the mistake of having my first cup of coffee in nearly 2 weeks, so here are some pictures of food.

tacos on the porch in may

sushi in the living room, probably also from may

high fire danger in the prescott national forest means dinner is cooked over our camping "stove" (july, i think)

soy dogs in the blanket at the ten-x campground, near the grand canyon (june)

cabbage, tofu, walnuts, and other stuff (july)

that's about all the pictures i can find, food-wise. the rest of the collection mostly involves pictures of me doing silly things. joe loves to pull out the camera at opportune times...such as when i'm sleeping with a giant orange helmet on, wearing a Trader Joe's bag over my head, or studying with my hood tied so tightly only my eyes are showing. you know, the kind of pictures no one is interested in seeing.

tempeh scramble

tempeh, kale, onions, peppers!

pizza (for breakfast)

in a break from our usual saturday morning fare of scrambles and pancakes, we made a pizza for breakfast a few weeks ago. we started by oiling a crust and sprinkling garlic power around the edge. then we loaded it up with marinara, onions, mushrooms, olives, yellow and red roasted peppers, and crumbled seasoned tempeh. before eating it, we drizzled a bit of vegan ranch on top. dig in, fork required.

seitan portobello stroganoff

this dish is fairly time consuming, so we made it on a saturday evening. it was well worth the time spent, and the leftovers for our lunches were incredible. the recipe comes from vegan with a vengeance.

chili lime tofu

we've made this before, and i thought i had posted it. apparently not. this chili lime tofu is from vegan yum yum. dry-fried tofu with a spicy sweet glaze. here we served it on millet. the dry-frying changes the texture of the tofu into a firmer, chewier taste. then the glaze flavors it perfectly on its crispier outside. this recipe is really fast and easy once you have your tofu dry-fried, which is joe's job, anyway.

afternoon baking

these babies are fresh out of the oven. mexican chocolate snicker doodles from the new-ish cookie book by isa.

chocolatey. chewy. spicy. sugary. yummy.

kale chips

these chips are really tasty and very quick to make. just wash and tear up some kale and toss it with olive oil and sea salt. bake the kale for 10-15 minutes at 350° until crispy. yum!

cashew cheese ball with socca

this was our first foray into the world of homemade nut cheeses. it worked really well and was really easy, too (especially since it was made while i was at work). the socca recipe is from david lebovitz's blog; it's a gluten-free chickpea pancake that is broiled to be kind of crispy.

on another note, i also loved his post about truffle hunting.

cocoa & beet cake with coconut milk cream

caesar salad

barley risotto

nyc black & whites

costa rica

arenal volcano

our very own porch/diorama

family eating breakfast.
beans & rice, fried plantains, potatoes, fresh fruit

enjoying some cacique sours in the hot pool


manuel antonio

dinner at la hacienda

coconut milk curry

pasta with basil, pine nuts, and sundried tomatoes

salsipuedes

peter, owen, mom, dad, anne, grandma, meenum, joe, and dirk waiting for lunch
they have no idea it's going to be their best lunch ever

what a chalupa!

evening view from the salsipuedes deck

imperial on the beach - pura vida!

minestrone

pesto

when the basil was bountiful at the market, we picked up a bunch to make vegan pesto. we had plenty of basil for two batches and froze most of it. mom recommended that we use an ice cube tray, which has worked out perfectly. the only trouble is, we're using it up way too fast. our stock will never last us until next summer.

vegan pesto
· 1 1/2 cups fresh basil
· 1/3 cup olive oil
· 1/2 cup each pine nuts & walnuts
· 5 cloves garlic
· 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
· 3/4 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

preparation
combine all ingredients in a food processor until nuts are ground. pesto should still have texture and not be completely smooth. too easy!

this dinner was two veganomicon recipes on one plate. chickpea quinoa pilaf with broiled tofu. the tofu was quite simple, but very good.


the next day, the left over tofu showed up as cold sandwiches for lunch.

i have nothing witty to say about this right now. i'm being pressed to post, so there is no humor to be had. maybe i can find a funnier food in my photo library.

banana muffins

i had some bananas that over ripened very quickly, so i took the opportunity to try out the lower fat banana bread recipe in veganomicon. to save time, i made muffins instead. needless to say, they were perfectly delicious.

onions and radishes

i post this just to show that i am being a good photo student and doing my homework, even at the farmer's market.  i had to quick snap this one because it's crowded in small tunnel that is the fulton market.

tots and veggies

if there can be any advantages to a cool summer, one might be that you can cook non-summer foods if you feel like it.  who would normally want their oven on for 60 minutes in a no a/c apartment in july?  maybe people in the southern hemisphere.

one of the most exciting parts of this tater tot casserole was the cream of mushroom soup that is made in the process.  it got us thinking of ideas for holiday cooking to easily veganize some classics.