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Mendocino and Babycakes

15 Feb

I have been obsessed with Mendocino Farms lately, and I must blame Lynn for it. And thank her heartily.

Here’s the menu. So far, I have tried the: Tempeh Bacon Melt (excellent), Vegan Spicy Soyrizo & Black Bean Wrap (very good), Traditional Vegan Club (my fave, below)

Vegan Picnic Sandwich (my second fave), and the Caprese (with veggies added, below).

There are only two meat-free options left that I haven’t tried, and the only one that doesn’t appeal to me is the Drunk’n Goat on Highway 128. I’m not really into chutneys on a sandwich, but I’m sure my perfectionist nature will win out eventually. I recommend anything from Mendocino that involves their tempeh bacon. I’m borderline obsessed with it. It is smoky and delicious without trying to hard to taste like dead pig.

I really need to do a full Mendocino review, but I will have to wait until I manage to photograph their delicious side dishes. Somehow they almost always disappear before I remember to whip out my picture-taking device . . .

Also on the menu this weekend were some vegan treats from Babycakes.

That’s a maple doughnut and a Wonder Bun (gluten-free and like a denser cinnamon roll). Both were incredible! We polished them off for breakfast Saturday morning.

All hail the “Eat Me” plate.

What is your favorite breakfast pastry? I’m a cinnamon fiend, so a big, doughy roll is my fave.

Lunches (and more) of late

14 Feb

Hello again! I am blogging today from my new iPhone because I can. Yahoo! So let’s talk random eats of late, shall we?

Last week, I attended a training in Pasadena where they served us lunch and snacks. That’s my kind of place. Breakfast:

Multiply the black coffee by two. This bar was borderline wretched, I hate to say. I mean, I ate it, but I only barely choked it down.

Lunch, luckily, was a lot better:

Salad with some kind of feta-based dressing and apples, dried cranberries, avocado, and other surprises; a veggie sandwich with sun-dried tomato spread and the usual suspects; and fresh fruit. I was very impressed by the options. I could have skipped the salad and had a vegan feast.

Later (as in 10 minutes), I enjoyed this slice of banana (?) bread with more coffee:

Pretty tasty, though I’m not 100% that it was banana. The spices dominated any fruit flavors.

Last week, I also had the world’s most random lunch:

Chips, salsa, and leftover curried orzo salad from Mendocino Farms (more on that tomorrow). Tt was surprisingly good but, yeah, weird.

Another lunch from last week, thanks to my favorite natural foods store:

Oh Rainbow, how right you usually are and how very, very wrong you were that day. The accoutrements flanking the burrito were delicious. I’m a little obsessed with both this Pop Chips flavor and the Hansen’s root beer. The burrito, however . . .

Was putrid. The tortilla was weirdly sticky, and everything inside tasted off…or just plain awful, really. Blech. How do you screw up black beans, Cheddar, cabbage, and carrot? I have no idea, but this thing was inedible. A coworker asked me if I was eating apple pie because it smelled so strange. I wish that I had been.

Have you eaten anything recently that didn’t taste as good as you hoped?

Super Bowl Snacks

1 Feb

2012 will be my second year watching the Super Bowl ever. My first was last year. Mr. X and I were fresh into our relationship, and the idea of being away from him for 10 minutes at a time was heartbreaking, so I did my best to get interested. Over the past year — after asking a lot of pretty stupid questions — I have come to understand the game play a whole lot better than I ever did as a high-school cheerleader. Sometimes I make astute observations, and I’m always instrumental in changing the sexist/homophobic slurs used against the teams and players into something sillier and more appropriate.

We haven’t yet decided what to do for the game — shall we stay home and watch a pirated stream, go to a sports bar, invade a friend’s house . . . ? Unless we’re at a sports bar, I plan to whip up some goodies. Here’s a few ideas from the blogosphere that whet my appetite (and anything I don’t use might be recycled for my locals-only wedding reception/open house):

Peas and Thank You’s Black Bean and Roasted Corn Nacho Bites with Avocado Crema. These look incredible! All I need is a mini muffin tin.

Spabettie’s Quick Buffalo Dip looks perfect for a sports-themed party.

I am terribly intrigued by this Spicy Nori Popcorn Seasoning from Herbivoracious. We’re some popcorn-eating fiends over here.

And of course, something patriotic:

Lemon Berry Cake from Fragrant Vanilla Cake. So pretty, so fresh, so vegan, and so appropriate since it’s the red-white-and-blue Patriots taking on the red-white-and-blue Giants. As for my house, we worship the Giants. Amen.

What’s on your menu?

Pea-ing

31 Jan Close-up

Sorry, I couldn’t resist a pun (on a pun, actually).

It took months before it was my turn in the library queue, but I finally got my hands on a copy of Mama Pea‘s Peas and Thank You! I decided to tackle two of the recipes this week as a test drive. Behold breakfast:

Tea and a muffin. Before I get into the Pea biz, let’s talk about the tea. I made a quick Whole Foods run Sunday — my first since I moved to LA, believe it or not — and discovered that they had this delicious delight:

Celestial Seasonings‘ Nutcracker Sweet: “an irresistibly simple blend of fine black teas made more festive with creamy, nutty vanilla and just a pinch of cinnamon.” I was so excited to find this stuff!

Anyway, back to the food:

This little guy is a Blueberry Muffin with Streusel Topping from the aforementioned cookbook. It’s so cute and delicious!

As you can see, I didn’t go quite heavy enough on the streusel in an attempt to reduce the sugar and fat. If you do the same thing, I definitely recommend adding cinnamon to the batter. You can view the original recipe here, and below are the tweaks I made:

  • I used white whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry. I don’t really know what the difference is, to be honest.
  • I subbed frozen bloobs for the fresh, and as a result followed the book’s instruction to add them to the muffin tin itself.
  • As I mentioned, I made about 1/3 less of the streusel topping than the recipe called for. Don’t do that. I also used turbinado for all the sugar in the recipe and canola oil instead of Earth Balance. These choices were totally fine.

I absolutely love these muffins! They are filling, considering how small they are, and have the perfect level of sweetness. I’m excited to work my way through the batch this week.

My second reci-pea is the Spicy African Peanut Stew:

The original recipe is here, and my changes are below:

  • I used freshly cooked chickpeas instead of canned. I swear I’ll never go back.
  • I used 1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger instead of 1 tablespoon of fresh.
  • I minced two massive garlic cloves and did not measure them.
  • I omitted the sweetener because I forgot about it.
  • Instead of 1 can light coconut milk (the store was out), I used half a can of full-fat and made up the difference with almond milk.

This stew is incredibly rich and delicious and full of fiber and protein. Plus, it was a great excuse to use my slow-cooker, which I love. I even used the general spice mix to make curry for Mr. X. Hopefully I can coerce him into sharing a picture this week.

Have you tried anything from this awesome cookbook? If so, what’s your favorite recipe? If not, what’s your go-to cookbook?

Lunching out

30 Jan

I apologize for my brief hiatus, but basking in the glow of my new engagement was something I couldn’t pass up. We’re actually getting married in 26 days, so this period will be very short-lived. I’ll be a married lady before I know it!

Anyway, I do have some foodie pics to share.

I was naughty last week and didn’t cook a single lunch for myself. So much for saving money!

On Monday, it was Rainbow for a juice (apple-cucumber-ginger), lentil vegetable soup, and a small salad (lettuce, mushrooms, carrots, beats, red bell pepper, sunflower seeds, and Follow Your Heart Vegan Lemon Herb dressing.

Wednesday brought me a delicious Yo Amigo Taco Salad from Native Foods Cafe: “A blend of romaine, cabbage, Native Taco Meat, and salsa fresca. Topped with corn, green onion, cilantro, and tortilla chip croutons. Served with our original creamy chipotle dressing on the side.” I added avocado for a buck. This salad was huge and heavenly and took me almost an hour to eat. Normally I consume my meals with the abandon of a ravenous wolf, but this salad was so dense and filling that I had to slow down. I couldn’t even eat all of it!

On Friday, I went back to my friend Rainbow for some hot-bar action. More than half a pound of roasted Brussels sprouts, tofu chili, and a Hansen’s root beer. I brought some fine aromatics into the office, fo’ sho’.

Um, yeah, Fatburger fat fries may have been dinner one migrained night.

There has been plenty of tea, too, with happy messages. So timely. :)

I was back to the kitchen this weekend, however, so I’ll have some homemade yummies and a recipe to share starting tomorrow.

Duchess of Sandwich

19 Jan

I’ve been having food cravings lately. Namely, I want sandwiches pretty much constantly. I honestly find this a little sad. Sandwiches are awesome and all, but there’s a whole world of other kinds of food out there that just don’t particularly appeal to me at the moment. It’s a phase that’ll pass, but in the meantime, I’ve been giving in a lot recently.

Last week, I made a really awesome wrap:

And clearly, I almost ate it entirely before I remembered to snap a pic.

It was a tofu-cilantro spread with broiled zucchini. So good! The tofu recipe was from Student’s Go Vegan Cookbook, but I don’t have a blender yet (tear), so it was modified from a dip to a chunky filling. Essentially you just mash 1/3 of a block of silken tofu with a bunch of cilantro, garlic, lime juice, optional olive oil, salt and pepper. I bet it’s yummy pureed, but I thought it was great this way, too, and I’m not normally a silken tofu enthusiast. The zucchini was very simple: cut into thin spears, toss with a little olive oil and salt and pepper, and broil on a cookie sheet until it browns. I flipped halfway through, and it took about 10 minutes. Delicious!

Yesterday, I bought a sammie from The Curious Palate. I’d show it to you, but my memory card is suddenly not working and I’m too angry to troubleshoot. Here’s someone else’s photo, though:

(from Kristie Manning.)

It was the Florentine minus olives: “goat cheese, baby artichokes, roasted tomatoes, spinach, avocado & Moroccan olives on 5-grain w/ balsamic vinaigrette.” It’s a truly delicious sandwich.

It comes with a quinoa salad that I never eat because it contains either olives or raisins and a housemade pickle. I ate half of it, despite my general pickle dislike, but it was too salty. I also enjoyed OJ that was freshly squeezed and delicious. I haven’t been getting enough fruit in my diet lately.

Today’s lunch is a little sad: Peanut butter on bread. Yep. It’s tasty but not exactly mind-blowing. However, two lunches out during the week is definitely a spending limit for me, so expect something similar tomorrow. On the side I had a “salad” of organic romaine (that I washed in the bathroom sink) and miso dressing (that I stole from a co-worker — sorry!). No pic because my phone’s acting cray cray. Also, it was the lamest lunch ever. I ate each piece of bread separately to slow down my normal eating speed.

Tonight, though, I’m making homemade pizza! Vegan for me; vegetarian for him. I can’t wait!

Are you in a food rut? What’s your poison?

Love that juice

17 Jan

I was so happy to have yesterday off in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling very well, so I spent most of the day languishing in bed watching Felicity for the first time. Blame lady troubles and a random fever. I did manage to wash the dishes — to which Mr. X exclaimed, “But babe, that’s the one chore you should never do!” Apparently I’m the worst dish washer ever — and walk to Trader Joe’s for some sustenance. However, dinner last night was chips and salsa and a root beer float, so it’s not really worth documenting.

Today I feel so much better, and it’s a good thing because I’m back at the office. Work work work. I didn’t get lunches for the week made last night because of how craptastic I felt, so I allowed myself a trip to Rainbow:

An apple-cucumber-ginger juice and a salad bar run. My concoction included spring mix, artichoke hearts, red pepper strips, shredded carrots and beets, a little eggless salad (vegan, made with tofu), avocado, mushrooms, Follow Your Heart Vegan Lemon Herb dressing, and raw sunflower seeds. I’m officially in love with the juice combo and am now in “need” of a juicer. I also adored the salad, as always. I love shredded raw beets but am way too lazy to do them myself.

I had to photograph it in the car because I knew the juice wouldn’t last the drive back to work! Also, proof that I should never be allowed to wear nail polish.

I had a snack at 2 p.m. of tea and chocolate:

My favorite bar ON SALE! Except I only had a little:

For the record, I only put the chocolate on my cup like that for the photo. However, the warm tea slightly melted the chocolate, which was awesome. I’m sure other people like to hold wrapped chocolate in their hot hands before eating them, right?

Dinner will be another salad with avocado and mushrooms, but I promise it will be a creation unto its own.

Goals

I’ve really been working hard to attack all the goals I lined up for myself and, almost more importantly, the things I admitted to putting off. Aside from the ones I’ve already mentioned, here’s some more points of progress:

  • Something involving my car that I’m afraid to post until it’s actually done for fear the man might come bitchslap me. I made an appointment with the DMV for Friday so I can cross this one off my list — and stop driving in fear.
  • Be a better friend/Call a friend just to chat. I chatted on the phone with my dear friend who is recovering from a major health scare. She called me, but it to return a call I’d originally placed to her. I’m so glad to hear that she’s doing well. She’s seriously the strongest, smartest woman I’ve ever met.
  • Clear my name at the library. I paid them off, dammit, and just in time to pick up my copy of Mama Pea‘s cookbook! I’m so excited!

How’s your week starting off? Did you have Monday off?

Anniversary brunch

17 Jan

Our schedule was a little complicated this weekend, and as a result, we didn’t really have the opportunity to celebrate our anniversary as we intended. Instead, we injected a little bit of celebration into everything we did. It pretty much started with brunch on Saturday morning.

We decided to try a place we’ve been talking about checking out for a while now but never have: Cat & Fiddle. It’s super-cute:

As was the company.

It was the 14th of January in Hollywood, so naturally the weather was perfect for eating in the courtyard. Their brunch menu is fun and varied, featuring foods from “around the world,” namely Europe and Mexico. The thing that really drew me to the place, though, was the full English breakfast with a vegetarian option. I couldn’t resist:

Sourdough toast, Heinz beans, sauteed mushrooms, grilled tomato, two poached eggs, and “chips.” I handed the tomato off to Mr. X, drizzled some hot sauce into the beans, and doused the chips in malt vinegar. I also had a mimosa on the side, which I didn’t think to photograph. In all, it was prepared well and was a ton of fun, but it was only ok . . . as a full English breakfast always is to my taste buds. The poached eggs were lovely, the toast was tasty, and I loved the vinegar-y chips. The beans just are never much to write home about, honestly, and I don’t at all fault Cat & Fiddle for that. The service was spectacular — seriously, maybe the best I’ve had in LA — and the view was just perfect. We decided to split a dessert, it being an occasion and all:

Apple crumble with pumpkin pie ice cream. The crumble was good — though I had to dodge raisins, ack! — but the ice cream was divine. Pumpkin remains one of my top five favorite ice cream flavors.

It was a perfect start to a day that later included watching football at a sports bar, eating an unphotographed dinner at Off Vine (so good!), and catching the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (preferred the original, though this one was good, too). I’m such a lucky lady to have found such a great guy, and though we didn’t have a normal dinner-and-gift-exchange celebration, I wouldn’t trade Saturday for the world.

Sunday Sunday

16 Jan

I’m more than a little in love with Sundays. I have quickly fallen in love with the Hollywood Farmers Market, so that fine day, I started over there around 9 a.m., when it opens. On the way, I made a stop to check out the YMCA. A nice employee named Bernard gave me a tour, and oh my goodness, it’s gorgeous! And huge! They have so many cool classes — tons of cycling, ballet, yoga, jazz/modern, capoeira, and even adult MMA. Plus, it’s about three blocks from home, so we can hit up early morning, evening, and weekend classes easily. I am excited to get signed up!

I then made my way to the market. The sky was overcast, so I’ll save a photo tour for a sunnier day. I did, however, see this dude:

Monster violinist, natch.

Here’s this week’s haul (minus a head of lettuce that I somehow forgot to photograph):

  • A dozen cruelty-free eggs — $4.50
  • 3.5 lbs (most not pictured) blood oranges — $6
  • A pint of cremini mushrooms — $5
  • One pomegranate — $1
  • Loaf of bread — $4.50
  • Unpictured lettuce — $1.50
  • TOTAL: $22.50

These blood oranges are insane. I think they  changed Mr. X’s life. The mushrooms are destined to become toppings for the pizzas I mentioned planning to make this week.

Here are my goals for the rest of my Monday off:

  • Pick out classes to try out at the Y this week
  • Clean the kitchen
  • Research how to stain our dresser
  • Get started on laundry

What’s your favorite food discovery lately? I was overjoyed to find these juicy, tart/sweet blood oranges right before Christmas. I used to eat them like crazy in Italy but never found any that approximated their deliciousness in Oklahoma. These locally grown beauties have been a welcome find.

Empty pantry scramble

8 Jan

My bank account is so close to empty right now that every In N Out order – and, heck, dollar in the parking meter – stings. So I decided to spend no money yesterday (which addresses my financial goal) and cook using only what we had in the fridge and cabinets (touching on my dairy-free one, since we have very little in the apartment). Here’s what I was working with:

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Food cabinet. This is where I keep my beans, grains, peanut butter, oils, vinegar, and such. Eventually this will go in the pantry . . . once it has shelves.

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Grapefruit and tomato (that ended up being rotten – blech) on the counter.

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Spice cabinet. I also keep tea and a few random things in here. This, incidentally, is my favorite thing about the kitchen.

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Fridge scariness. Normal things, plus really old takeout.

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Freezer. Apparently it only contains, flours, sugar, vodka, and ice.

For breakfast, I decided to go with a classic bowl of oats:

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Ugly but delicious. In the mix: Trader Joe’s hot breakfast mix (oats, barley, rye, and wheat) with peanut butter, homemade pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, a splash of coconut milk, six (yes, six) chocolate chips, and a pinch of raw sugar. ‘Twas delicious. A couple of hours later, I made Mr. X a slightly different oat combo (jam instead of PB) and we split the grapefruit.

For lunch, I was excited to use up two little zucchini (and the tomato and partial onion, but both ended up being deceased). I decided to give farinata a new twist:

It was incredible. I know I said the last one I made was the best, but this one was even better. It contained: garbanzo flour, water, garlic, nooch, oregano, zucchini, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper. I sauteed the zucchini and topped the farinata with it after about a minute on the stove.

I dusted off the slow cooker (literally — the thing was pretty dirty inside) to make dinner:

Weirdly glowing barbecued lentils and rice with steamed Swiss chard. The meal contained: dry brown lentils, dry brown rice, water, garlic, a tad of zucchini, barbecue sauce, chard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. For the entree, I added half a cup of lentils, a cup of brown rice, three cloves of chopped garlic, and three cups of water to the slow cooker and set it on high for about three hours. When everything is cooked, I added a small amount of zucchini (what was left over from lunch) and about a half cup of barbecue sauce. I didn’t measure, just pouring and mixing until it coated everything well. Then I put the lid on and set it to low for another three-ish hours, when we were ready to eat. It made a lot! Probably four servings.

Just before eating, I prepared the chard: set a pan over medium-low, washed the chard, tore it, and tossed it in the pan without drying it. About a minute later, it was lightly wilted. I plated it and squeezed a little lemon juice on top, as well as salt and pepper. Yum!

While dinner simmered in the slow cooker, I decided to throw together some dessert:

PB&J Cookies! These contained: unbleached white flour, whole wheat flour, oats, raw sugar, peanut butter, canola oil, water, salt, vanilla, and jam. I’ll share the whole recipe tomorrow, but I will tell you now that they are awesome!

All in all, I was really excited about the success of my experiment and plan to try the challenge again soon. Not next Saturday, though, since we’ll be celebrating our anniversary. :)

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