Mom

I want to introduce you to my Mom, Sharyn. She means the world to me! 

She is my friend, and my confidant. She is so much fun to be around, so kind and a great listener! I feel I can tell her anything, and she is always there if I need to talk or just hang out. Mom loves my sister and I and her three grand kids more than anything in the world, and we are so blessed to have such a great little family. 

Lately, Mom and I spend a lot of our time just laughing with Jossy, my two-year-old daughter, and watching her antics. She really gets a kick out of her!  And Mom's laugh is so spontaneous and whole-hearted! It is so funny to watch Jossy copy her, throwing her head back in a loud "Ahhh Hahahaha!" 

We go on walks with the dogs, go visit Nana, or get together with the whole family for lively meals full of laughter and love. She's the one I call when I just want to chat or share something from my day.

Mom is an amateur photographer, a wonderful flower gardener, and she has turned her place into the cutest little house you have ever seen. She even put in a huge wrap-around brick patio by herself under her cherry tree. She loves the ocean, and has influenced everyone in the family in that aspect, we go to the beach whenever we can, and it's especially fun when we all go together on a vacation. 

I hope that I can grow into such an amazing woman, so giving and so fun. 

Thanks Mom for being you! I love you Mom! 

Amazing spinach dip

My favorite spinach dip

1 Box frozen spinach, chopped
1 Can water chestnuts, chopped
1 C Tofutti Sour Supreme-Better than Sour Cream
1 C Vegannaise
1 1.8 oz package dried leek soup (or if you can't find vegan leek soup, there are vegan onion dried mixes)

Thaw spinach, combine all ingredients, mix, refrigerate and served in a hollowed-out sour dough bowl with veggies and crackers. It's great like this, or you can add chopped artichokes too.

We don't miss meat at all

I'm not kidding! Tonight we had Garlic Maple Portobello Burgers that were so easy to make and to die for!! Of course, we skipped the cheese...
Here's the recipe, and a note about maple syrup:

When it comes to pure Maple Syrup, Grade B in no way denotes inferiority. The "B" stands for Black Amber, and indicates the syrup was made from sap tapped late in the maple sugaring season. Grade B maple syrup has a deeper color and more robust, complex maple flavor than the lighter grades, which makes it perfect for incorporating into savory recipes.

As a key ingredient in the marinade for these vegetarian portobello burgers, Grade B maple syrup provides a hint of earthy sweetness to balance the sharp garlic and salty tamari. Sweet potato friesmake a great accompaniment.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 4 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed.
• For the marinade:
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons pure Grade B maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon tamari
• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• To assemble:
• 4 ciabatta rolls or whole-wheat burger buns, split
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 ounces aged sharp white cheddar, sliced
• 1 small avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
• 1 medium tomato, sliced

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 425º.

Lightly oil a medium roasting pan or baking dish large enough to hold the mushroom caps without crowding.

Gently clean the mushrooms with a brush or damp paper towel. Place them gill-side up into the baking dish.

Whisk together the oil, syrup, tamari, and vinegar. Stir in the garlic.

Spoon the marinade evenly over the mushroom caps, topping each with some of the garlic. Allow the mushrooms to marinate at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. (This is a good time to prep the sandwich fixings if you haven't already).

Place the baking dish with the mushrooms and marinade into the preheated oven and roast for about 15 minutes, or until the mushrooms are cooked through and appear juicy and sizzling.

While the mushrooms are roasting, spread the ciabatta or burger rolls with Dijon mustard. Divide the cheese evenly among the rolls. (If you prefer toasted rolls and melted cheese, place them on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven during the last few minutes that the mushrooms cook.)

Remove the mushrooms and rolls from the oven. Layer each roll with avocado, tomato slices, and a portobello cap. Enjoy!

Adorable video of baby pig getting a warm-up bath!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAipJYYqDqw&feature=player_embedded

Banana Almond Pancakes - Vegan and Gluten Free

Yay! I made these babies up, from a combination of several recipes, and what I had in the fridge...and they turned out yummy! REALLY yummy! So I am motivated to blog again :)

I've been trying to avoid wheat per my doctor's orders, and am finding that I feel ALOT better, and it's not that hard! I didn't realize just how much wheat I had in my diet everyday, it was a lot. If you eat too much of one thing, you can develop an allergy to it, and if you cut it out for awhile, you may be able to add it back in in moderation later. So for now, I am avoiding it, and we are getting a better variety of whole grains, and more vegetables in our diet after cutting out some of the breads and wheat fillers. There are a lot of delicious alternatives to wheat products out there too. Some of my current faves are:

-Food for Life gluten-free bread, Millet

-Edward and Sons crackers, Brown Rice Snaps in Tamari Sesame

-Bionaturae pasta (pasta! it's really good too!) Organic Gluten Free made with rice, potato and soy

Oh yeah, back to the pancakes!

Here's the recipe:

Almond Banana Pancakes – Vegan and Gluten Free

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free All Purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Sucanat, or any granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground flax 
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• about 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups Almond Milk
• 1 tbsp Safflower oil
• 1/2 cup almond butter (i used home-made)
• 1 medium sized banana- thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp Braggs Apple Cider vinegar
• coconut oil or vegan margarine for cooking

Directions:

Mix flours, sugar, ground flax, baking powder and salt together in large mixing bowl. Add 1 cup almond milk, almond butter and safflower oil and stir until well combined. Stir in sliced banana pieces, sort of smashing them into the batter as you stir. I left quite a few chunks in mine. Next add your vinegar and about 1/3 cup more almond milk until a batter consistency is reached. You may need more or less milk depending on how thick your almond butter is… and on your preference for batter thickness. I don't like too-thick pancakes, I like them so thin they form a crispy edge!
I use an electric griddle on about 325 F, and ladle the batter out to make sure each pancake has banana in it. Enjoy!

Note: To make your own delicious almond butter, just put a couple of cups of organic almonds into a food processor and process until smooth. It will take around 12 minutes, but it is so easy and you only have to scrape the sides a few times during the process. Make sure you process until the oil is released, you will know when it gets really creamy and looks like a butter! Store in airtight container in the fridge. Some people soak and re-hydrate the almonds first, and I think I read that it is healthier to do this...but I need to research this some more. In the mean time, it's still fresher and cheaper than store-bought almond butter.

Celebrating First Year as Vegans!

We are celebrating our first year of becoming vegan this month! I say "becoming vegan" because it took us almost a year to completely give up all animal foods and products. We had to learn how to shop and cook new foods, and are still learning where to buy non animal products for clothing, shoes and personal care and cleaning products too. It's definitely a process. I ate eggs up until about Easter last year, and had my last fish on our trip to the coast last October. (honestly the fish did nothing for me anyway, which is weird because I used to love most fish). Im not sure I wouldn't eat some salmon, if I knew who caught it, and knew it was fresh and not from a factory farm...and it died humanely...we'll see. But other than that, we are full on vegans now! We just feel so good knowing we are no longer contributing to the unneeded pain and suffering of any animals (or at least doing our very best to prevent it!) We feel great too--our clothes fit good, no more bowel problems, less headaches and allergies and way less anxiety! I also get way more excited about meals and the food is always delicious and satisfying .

We had a great Thanksgiving this year at our house! Well, the food was amazing anyway...I was very nervous the day before when we were cooking and expecting alot of Jamison's family to stay with us. I just get that way when I have to play hostess! I want everything to be really nice and warm and inviting and yummy! This is what we cooked:

Maple glazed sweet potato scones, spinach dip in a sourdough bread roll, olive and pickle tray, chickpea cutlets, roasted lemony potatoes, wine, holiday salad with spiced pumpkin seeds and pomegranate, creamy pumpkin penne with sage and toasted pecans, pumpkin pie, chocolate pumpkin bread pudding, chocolate peanut butter cups, and...vegan irish coffees. MMMMMM!! My sister also brought garlicky green beans and Tuaca Apple Pie hot drinks, and Mom brought her famous sweet potatoes that she veganized and they were better than ever!

Everything was absolutely delicious and we all had a great time. We're hoping that all the delicious food wowed our families and maybe even changed their thinking about what they want to eat! We are eating vegan everyday, but it seems even more important to be conscious during our family celebrations. Jamison and I have decided on a new tradition for our family: since we want to celebrate love and gratitude during our holidays, we want to have only (cruelty free) vegan goodies to eat in our house for our celebrations, and anyone who wants to celebrate with us is welcome!Personally, I feel so good about how we are being so much more conscious in our purchases. I know that turkeys are among the most abused and tortured animals out there and even sparing one is something (imagine if everyone made this choice!).

Chef Chloe's website

Found a great new website: Vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli's site called http://www.chefchloe.com