vampires modernes

I am still posting really old things from a few weeks ago (yikes!) but now that classes are over, I can finally catch myself up. 

I try not to freak out when I plan food for road trips. It's quite obvious (or it should be) that I am obsessed with planning, especially when related to food. Here are things I try to consider when packing food for trips:

-How long is the trip? - You need to consider just how much food you need to have handy. Also make sure to pack plenty of water!
-What needs to be used soon? - Look in your fridge: what food will go bad while you're out of town? Use whatever you would be throwing away a few days later. 
-What's quick and uses less dishes? - No one wants to be stuck doing dishes right before they leave town. If you really want to be ahead, make your meals the day before, so all you're doing the day of is packing them up or assembling them. Also be sure to pick something that doesn't take a lot of time because you will need this time to pack (because I am a late packer!).

This brings me to my #1 choice for roadtrips: wraps. Sandwiches can be a little messy but wraps hold themselves together, especially when foil is involved. I chose these chickpea salad wraps from Heidi's 2nd cookbook because they're filling, flavorful and have vegetables! Make these for your next roadtrip //Dinner du Jour (originally Heidi Swanson)

How to make a really good pina colada:
-Buy this stuff and this rum
-Follow directions on the bottle of coconut cream
-Be amazed and how delicious and easy that was!

I found Pimm's at an ABC Superstore at the beach...so Pimm's o'clock obviously!

The sound view from our beach house

I remember this being one of the first dishes I made a couple of years ago, when I actually started cooking. This meal is easy to pull together, filling, and amazing doused in hot sauce and nutritional yeast (like most things). I always try to encourage myself to try different dishes from the food I love (Mexican, Italian, Vietnamese, etc.) and expand my horizons a bit. Start with this recipe for polenta rancheros with cumin seeds and black beans! //Vegetarian 'Ventures

After being at the beach for almost a week and indulging in snacks and blended cocktails, we needed a detox...a detox with lots of vegetables. I found this delicious, easy salad recipe with yellow squash, swiss chard, and chickpeas with a basil dressing. It sounds boring but trust me, this is just what we both needed. Just a bowl of vegetables with beans. It's really crazy how much better we felt after eating this for a few days. //In Pursuit of More

Remember what I was saying above about expanding horizons? This is another one of those dishes. Stir-fried black rice with ginger fried tofu and kale. I really loved this with sriracha on top, but I can never gauge my relationship with fresh ginger. It's hard for me to find a balance with what is enough or too much ginger. If you're not a huge fan of ginger, I would reduce it just a little bit. But this meal is still really good! It's always nice to branch out and use different grains other than plain rice or quinoa. //Whole Living

One thing that has changed around here lately is the ridiculous amount of smoothies we've been making. Maybe it's the weather or the strep I was dealing with for a few days, but I find myself making them more than a few times a week. This one is one of my favorites and I really hope you will try it! Don't let lime juice with almond milk scare you; it works fine!

-1 C almond/coconut/vegan milk
-juice of 1 lime
-1 heaping cup of frozen strawberries
-1 frozen banana

Blend + serve, adding more milk as needed. Top with coconut flakes! //Noms For the Poor

No matter how sick I am or what it is, I will only eat soup. The thought of eating canned soup all week while I had strep made me feel even worse. So with joint effort, Mike and I pulled this soup together so neither one of us would have to eat processed crap. My mom has made this soup before and I love it because of how comforting it is. It's incredibly easy but it's delicious and filling. It only has a few basic ingredients like stock, carrots, a TON of celery (hence the title of chunky celery soup), potatoes, wild rice, onions and garlic. That's really it. Eat it with toasted, vegan buttered bread if you can chew stuff like that while sick. I ate this for days and never tired of it. //101 Cookbooks

By the looks of this post, I have been cooking my way down memory lane lately! I remember this being one of the first dishes I made in my apartment. Yeah, I get nostalgic about this kind of stuff. I've posted this before, so if you haven't made it by now...do it. I am obsessed with squash and zucchini so this recipe is obviously a favorite. Coriander spiced chickpeas, tomatoes, zucchini, lots of garlic and red onions. I could eat this for days. This pairs perfectly with white jasmine rice. //Martha Stewart

(814) the october country

It has gotten quite cold around here lately. I know that the temperatures will fluctuate, as usual, but for now I can enjoy the slightly cold weather and try to brace myself for the cold! 

using some more green smoothie cups with extra honey, flax, and peanut butter for a healthy breakfast after a night of pizza and beer.

I used the rest of the pumpkin hummus I made last week to make a healthy lunch: sandwich with hummus, tomato, and mesculun greens. I really wish I would've put avocado on here! 

my tidy little autumn kitchen. note the pumpkin dish towel!

Things I do while baking: 1.//Line up all of my tools and ingredients. 2.//Make fresh dish water to clean as I go. This is a great time saver and you can actually relax while your baked goods are in the oven. 3.//Baking and cooking for me is impossible with out good music. This particular morning, I put my apron on right out of bed, so I needed Fleet Foxes to coax me out of my sleepiness.

I love banana bread. This is a known fact. Apparently, almost none of my co-workers care for it (which is fine because I have eaten almost 3/4 of it by myself). I love all different types of banana bread: walnut, lemon olive oil from Heidi, chocolate chip banana bread...but Deb's crackly banana bread with millet takes the cake, or bread in this case. It uses coconut oil, maple syrup, and raw millet for the perfect crunch. This is my favorite so far. I subbed: 1/2 C sorghum flour, 1/2 C tapioca starch, 1/2 C millet flour (trust me), and 1.5 tsp xanthan gum.

Pho dinner with my favorite people.

Leftovers for a cold rainy lunch = win

If you have 10 or so minutes, then I suggest you make this polenta dish. It took no time to put together and I added extra vegan butter and red pepper flakes. I actually ate the leftovers for breakfast and it was lovely! A really nice, warm meal. 

I have been eyeing this steamer for a while now. I decided to use some of my almond milk before it goes out today. The only things I changed was adding cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice!) to the hot milk, and a touch of brown sugar. I also let a pumpkin chai tea bag steep in there for about 7-8 minutes. It was so perfect! Next time I will try to make foam at home. We'll see...

I have neglected and hated tofu for so long now, until I realized it's just one of those things you have to know how to cook properly. Tofu is cheap, cheaper than meat is (at least to me) and has so much protein. I have been trying to eat tofu, tempeh and even mushrooms (which I used to hate) every week now. I made tofu breakfast wraps and am amazed. It uses nutritonal yeast, I used 1/4 C GF all-purpose flour to sub for regular flour, onion and garlic powder, GF soy sauce for Braggs, and tumeric. It was so easy to put together and delicious with salsa on top. I am considering making a huge batch of these and freezing them for later.