(914) le frêne

The first week of school is almost done! This is definitely a good thing, but the weather this week has been awful! And of course we're expecting snow tomorrow...I hope if it DOES snow, we can at least stay in. That would be lovely! My semester looks like it's going to be full of reading: in French, in English lit and in French lit. Excited but already ready for it to get moving haha. My second film, and my first one, both sold out! Things have been busy but I've been making some really delicious things too, so here we go!

Remember the soy chorizo I bought a while ago? Well I finally used it in these sweet potato black bean chorizo enchiladas (made in the slow cooker!). The recipe has 5 ingredients and spends anywhere between 4-8 hours in the slow-cooker depending on the heat. I suggest you make them when you won't be home because I was so anxious to eat them that I didn't cook them as much as I could've haha. They were perfect! Just spicy enough, flavorful, delicious. I don't have the recipe link because it's from an amazing book so I suggest you all just buy it because it's great and perfect for vegans! (or if you really need it, just post a comment with your email haha) //the vegan slow-cooker book

This was my second vegan bowl that I've made: a red curry miso roasted vegetable bowl with tofu and quinoa. The vegetables are tossed in a tangy sauce and roasted in the oven, along with tofu, then tossed with oven wilted swiss chard, quinoa + soft tofu. It wasn't my absolute favorite but still nutritious and filling! //love + lemons

My film series was featured in the Go Triad! insert in the paper!

Wilted swiss chard, extra garlic with a half-ass alfredo sauce (this begged for mushrooms but had none). I just cooked pasta after steaming the swiss chard. In a skillet, I cooked some garlic in vegan butter, then added nutritional yeast and vegan milk, brought it to a slight boil, then added it to the pasta and swiss chard. This stuff was spicy! Still amazing though. i'm starting to think I might need to keep mushrooms on hand at all times...

Leftover extra firm tofu = tofu scramble with shredded carrots + avocado toast! I've found the best tofu scramble spices: nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, dried thyme, curry powder, paprika, tumeric, and garlic powder. I still need to play around with the flavors though! Next time I'm going to try adding a bit of GF soy sauce. 

Perfection combo: French Connection cocktail, vegan sushi with GF soy sauce, and fries with ketchup [from Cowfish in Charlotte].

Lavendar lemonade and macarons for me. Brought home meringue tarts for my mom.

My dad's birthday was last Saturday. I never know what to get him so I usually try to bake him something. Last year I made some amazing vanilla bean cupcakes with chocolate frosting, but this year, I wanted to try something different. I made the Tortuga Rum Cake from the Happy Herbivore Everyday cookbook. It was lovely! Just enough rum, with a hint of orange in the glaze, and it gets better as it sits. I highly recommend this book (everything is vegan!) for anyone. For my substitutions: 1 C GF oat flour, 1/2 C sorghum flour, 1/2 C tapioca starch + 2 tsp xanthan gum. //happy herbivore everyday cookbook

I love pasta bakes but most of them involve me subbing out the cheese for Daiya, which I am avoiding as much as possible. Luckily, this sweet potato surprise is a great substitute for any pasta bake! This one is made with a garlic coconut milk sweet potato sauce, green onions, and GF panko breadcrumbs on top. It's great for the weather being so gross and is even better the next day. //love + lemons

I have been dying to make acorn squash apple soup...so I did, in the slow-cooker! I adapted a delicata squash pear soup from the vegan slow-cooker book above and it was fabulous! It was great to come home to after walking in the rain all day. The addition of thyme and rosemary pairs perfectly with the vegetables/apples as well. On another no-Daiya note, I have been craving grilled cheese. We all know that I love grilled cheese. Not eating Daiya isn't that hard, but it's without a doubt the best cheese substitute out there. Well, I found a grilled cheese made with out it, and with pantry staples! (What?!!!) It uses things like nooch, almond milk, GF flour etc to make a spreadable cheezy sauce. The recipe is from the same Happy Herbivore book above (you should really check it out!). //

Do you ever have plenty of food to eat, but just feel like making something else for a quick meal? This happens to me every once in a while. The way I plan my meals is so that I only end up cooking 3 days out of the week (that's the beauty of living alone!). I usually eat off of one recipe for at least 2 days and I try to stretch it as far as I can, sometimes by freezing leftover soup or turning leftover components into something different or sharing with my parents. I know I'll be eating the soup above for at least two more days, and I've been eyeing this roasted garlic sweet potato recipe. I also made garlic red pepper wilted spinach and green onion scrambled eggs. So amazing! Good thing garlic is great for your health, and keeps away vampires, because I eat so much of it! //naturally ella