Sunday, October 18, 2009

Uninspired.

You may have noticed the lack of updates with pictures of food. There is a reason for that. My food muse is hibernating. I mean, obviously I've been eating but I haven't added anything new to the rotation. This is very sad for me. I was doing so well, then I fell into a hot dog/ stir fry / casserole / pasta slump.

So to you my dear readers, a request. Comment with a recipe/dish suggestion. Please keep in mind, I do not eat meat so even though I know baby back ribs and steaks are delicious, it will not be very helpful to me (although I know husbinator would approve.)

In the meantime, to hold you over, here is a picture of a cake I made for a co workers birthday. Devils food, with chocolate-chocolate chip frosting (choc frosting with tiny chocolate chips in it), drizzled in chocolate. Not vegan, but I heard it was delicious. Not bad for a store bought mix and frosting.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Yay Daiya cheese, Boo Morningstar Farms.

This blog outlines a happy and a sad.

Happy.

It doesn't take much to make me happy. It's the little things sometimes. Coffee? Happy. Mexican candy? Happy. Yesterday's happy came in the form of a yummy grilled cheese sandwich and a mug of tomato soup. Reason # 358 I love Daiya cheese. It reunites me with the true love of my life, grilled cheese sandwiches. Not to mentions it's gotten very popular in the vegan world, so it is now available at the Mother's Market near my house (walking distance actually) AND it's affordable! YAY! I didn't take pictures, but it was a simple meal. I didn't even make the soup it was a can of Campbells.




Sad.

I recently learned that Morningstar Farms, maker of a wide range of veggie and vegan options, has decided to put egg and milk in many of their formerly vegan products. Not I already preferred the Boca brand for my veggie patties, but where this really affects me is their veggie crumbles aka veggie ground beef. It was good for tacos, sloppy joes, cheeseburger casserole, stuffed peppers, etc. I just bought a bag last week before I heard about the change, so when I was told about this, I checked my bag and yup, milk and eggs. So now I have a $5 bag of unusable veggie beef in my freezer (I didn't keep the receipt). They didn't even put "all new recipe!" on their ingredients or anything like that. The rats. Luckily there's other brand I can buy, but I preferred this brand.

So I guess it's a trade off. Hello grilled cheese. Goodbye Morningstar Farms.

Monday, October 5, 2009

The amazing burrito story, or a boring day with me. With lots of pictures.

In this case, amazing = boring. Amazing also means picture heavy.

My lovely friend Jess recently posted a blog about an average day in her life in West Virginia. I find things like this interesting. Perhaps that is why I watch so much TLC. I like to see how others live, even if they are crazy stage moms or little people or whatever. Anyway, I decided last Saturday would be picture blog day. If you have been paying attention to my other blogs, you know what Saturday is: grocery day. My favorite day of the week, believe it or not. I like shopping, even if it is for food. I like knowing the house is stocked. It makes me feel spoiled. Maybe that's why I also like paying bills. I do not like HAVING bills, but I like paying them, knowing that I don't have to worry about it for a whole other month. I'd pay all my bills in one day if I could.

Anyway, for everyone in Southern California, please bear with me. I have friends in WV and Canada and stuff, so I took lots of pictures of things we've seen 1000x for their benefit :) Yes, I love them THAT much.

Saturday starts off like any other Saturday. I wake up around 9 ish. I look at my phone. I try my damndest to stay awake.



It never works. Bonus points if you can name everything on my husbands nightstand. And by nightstand, I mean the crate Sophie sleeps in.

Time to get out of bed. Rupert does not approve.


Sophie is enthusiastic about the day.


I step into my messy living room and already want to dive into bed again.

One of these days, I will have matching couches. And an entertainment center.

I can't jump back into bed though. It's grocery day. I have a list and everything!


That's my menu up there at the top. The TJ's are the stuff I get at Trader Joes.

So off husbinator and I go into the real world. It's a cool Autumn day in Southern California.


And my chariot awaits.

Yes, that is my toaster. Every reputable nerd has one. It hasn't been washed in about a year.

First stop: Big Lots!



I buy my coffee here because the brand I like is only $5 here. It's like $8 in the grocery store. Screw that, yo. I live cheap stuff. While browsing the shelves, I did see a box of 100 calorie dog treats. I regret not taking a picture. WHY? I did not realize so many dogs were on Jenny Craig. What's next, low carb wet food?

We do have a detour on our trip. Husbinator is brewing beer with my awesome cousin, and today was bottling day. So off we go to Oshea's for some bottles.


Neat little place. Lots of equipment and kits and stuff. Too bad beer brewing takes up so much space.


Mission accomplished.

At this point, we are hungry. Husbinator, being the awesome man he is, obliges my whim for some yummy vegan food. So we head for the Irvine Spectrum.



And head for Veggie Grill for some amazing vegan noms.


I cannot express how much I love their food. Carnivores even like it (well, ok, they tolerate it, but much better than other veggie stuff). I chose a Southwestern Chick'n Sandwich with Sweet Potato fries and a root beer. Heaven on a plate.

That little cup? Vegan chipotle ranch dip. I could drink it by the gallon.

Properly stuffed, we continued on our way to grocery shop. It was a light grocery day, only 2 stores.

First was Albertsons. Albertsons is boring. I forgot to take pictures, it was so boring. You didn't miss much though.


Next was Trader Joes.

Can I point out the stupid BMW that parked crooked? I swear, people with money do not know how to park. It's like when I go to South Coast Plaza and the parking lot is pure chaos. Why bother painting lines?

Anyway, if you don't live near a Trader Joes, I feel sad for you. Where do you get your veggie chicken, your soycutash, your kettle corn, your awesome salsa, your potstickers, your curry, or your beer bread mix? And no tiki themes and cartoon characters? That's just sad.


Note to Adam Culver: I don't know if you can tell, but there's Superman sign in the back corner that says "Not even kryptonite can foil our plans to bring you the tastiest produce." I thought it was silly.

At this point I feel like a weirdo for taking a picture in a Trader Joes. Time to go home.

I get home and remember "oh yeah, my kitchen is a mess too."

Told you I am a disaster in domestication.

So what's a girl to do? I start beans for dinner. Burritos tonight, with avocado cucumber lime salad.

Say hello, beans.

Like my big pot? It was my mom's I wonder if we will all get lead poisoning one day.

And while the beans are cooking, I clean my kitchen.

Yay! Btw, underneath that white towel on the counter, there is half a loaf of beer bread that's supposed to be croutons by now. I think it's too far gone now, so it shall reside in my trash bag soon :( Point is, that's not a random white towel, it was there for a purpose damn it.

Rupert and London celebrate the clean kitchen with a kiss.


Did I mention London has a mohawk?


Clean kitchen. Beans simmering. Dinner is a few hours away. What to do now?

Easy choice.

Make a soy iced latte with the coffee I bought at Big Lots.


Settle down with the kids.


And play a video game.


Time goes by. OK, a couple hours go by. The moment we have all been waiting for is here: dinner time!

My beans are ready! Rejoice. Way better than canned.


Time to make my cucumber lime avocado salad. It's exactly what it sounds like. Lettuce, avocado chunks and cucumber with lime squeezed on it. At this moment, I have a big sad. Out of THREE avocados, only 1 is good :( The others have big black gross stuff in them.

This is my only avocado. Out of THREE stupid avocados.


Not very fabulous at ALL.

So, plan B. Use avocados for burritos. Make salad a boring salad with vegan dressing. Not as amazing, but whatever. Shred some carrots, slice some cukes, and we are back on.

FINALLY! Dinner! Wanna see?



Yay! A lovely beans, rice, (daiya) cheddar, avocado, and sour cream burrito with a side salad.

And that my friends is my amazing aka boring burrito story. Or another boring day in my life. In my opinion, boring is very very good most of the time.