i brought hummus...

Anyone still around?

I have neglected this blog; it's not that I have stopped eating, it's just that I have little time. Though for anyone who actually cares, after June 13th I will be free as a bird, and ready to share all my vegan/gf happenings! In the meantime here's a little something that I found amusing.

currently eating...

I know it's totally 80's, and I am a little slow to catch on, but I am really digging rice cakes these days!

Currently I'm into:

Rice Cakes with Peanut butter and Honey, or

Peanut Butter, Honey, and Banana if you want to get fancy or

Rick Cakes with Hummus, Avocado, tomato, cucumber, and salt and pepper.  

And even just plain.  

Note: rice cakes are typically high glycemic, so opt for the Brown Rice Cakes, and try to pair it some healthy fats.  

I love winning contests.

My husband and I won a Halloween costume contest for our Racoons in Garbage Can getup. Our prize? Free cupcakes from Divine Cupcake.  If you are in Eugene and have not been to Divine Cupcake yet, shame on you.  Every cupcake is vegan and they have a wide offering of gluten free options.  The cupcakes you see below are all vegan and GF, though you would never know it. They taste just as moist and sugary and delicious as a laycupcake.

Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, I sure enjoyed mine. I spent it with some friends, so I didn't prepare a full Thanksgiving meal.  I should also note that I was reluctant to experiment because there's a lot of pressure to make delicious dishes on Thanksgiving.  I therefore found recipes and only modified them slightly.  Below are the dishes I prepared, links to the recipe, and modifications.  

Roasted Green Beans with Onions and Walnuts

via here

Indian Dahl and Rice

via here

 

modifications: substitute oil or earth balance for butter.

Mushroom Gravy

 

 

 

via here

modifications: I used less oil, used vegetable stock in place of water, added more nutritional yeast, less soy-sauce (I used tamari). Replace flour with gluten-free flour all purpose flour.  I also rehydrated some dried mushrooms, chopped them and added them to the gravy, I then used the leftover mushroom-water in place of regular water.

Ginger Pumpkin Pie

via here

This turned out better then my last pumpkin pie, my last PP didn't have enough sugar. This was plenty sweet and had a great kick to it.

modifications: use EnerG egg replacer in place of eggs, replace half and half with a non-dairy creamer (if using soy, try to use organic), used a regular crust and added a hint of sugar and cinnamon to the dough. 

And here's my plate filled with all sorts of vegan and GF offerings.

Vegan and GF Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie from scratch-scratch: no cans, pumpkin filling from a real pumpkin.


Crust:
1 1/2 c. Gluten Free Flour (Bob' Red Mill)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. earth balance
4 tsp. vegetable shortening
5 tbs. ice water


Filling
1 Pumpkin pie pumpkin
1 1/3c. soy creamer
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg equivalent
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. hot water

Process
Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and strings, and placed pumpkin halves face down on baking sheet.  Cover with tin foil, and bake at 350 for 1.5 hours

Remove from oven, and cool.  Scoop out insides.  Mix 1 1/3 c. of pumpkin insides and the rest of the ingredients.  Pour into pie crust, and bake at 375 for 55-65 minutes.

For the crust:
Mix salt and flour in a bowl, add in butter/ shortening in slices.  Continue to mix until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Lightly stir in the water, 1 tbs. at a time, until the dough mixes into a ball.  Roll out the dough into a circle 1/8" thick.  Add to pie dish. 

question of the day

One thought about a raw diet: Many people think it is an "extreme" way of eating. But answer me this, how is a diet consisting of nature's bounty in its purest most nutritious form; a diet that is arguably the best diet for the planet, more extreme than a diet that is based on slaughtering animals, ingesting hormones, and food created in a factory?

Raw day 7

I officially made it through Raw Week 2010. I feel really good, my waist is trimmer (4 pounds trimmer), I don't get 3pm sleepy's, and my face is looking clearer . I think I will try and keep it up, maybe for a month, but to be honest, Thai food is sounding really delicious.

breakfast: nada
lunch: Avocado, mustard, and sauerkraut sandwich on my freshly dehydrated bread
dinner: large salad with garlic tahini dressing
dessert: chocolate brownie bites (raw blondie recipe with cocoa powder)
snacked: raw blondies