In all of our prideful, veg glory

With all the odds against us- constant rain, flakey people, no truck, a busted up trailer, blah, blah, blah- we some how managed to get our float in the Pride Parade, and had a hell of a good time doing it. Somehow, we managed to pull it all together about an hour before the parade started. Someone/thing must have really, really wanted us to be in that parade.

Assembly required. Putting the finishing touches on our float.

One of the marvelous posters. The parade was Lone Star themed, thus the cowboys/girls, stacks of hay, and..

Best lil Veggie House in Texas theme

Basking in our hard work, and drunkeness

My memories of the evening pretty much end there. After so much Jack, you can really only remember so much. There was a very unpleasant hour toward the end of the night where I vividly remember expelling practically everything from my body. Other than that, I think I had a really amazing time. Can't wait til next year!

Put the lime in the coconut

There's nothing that is more summery than a bunch of fresh vegetables tossed together into some wonderful salad-like concoction. When I came home and found a big bowl of fresh picked cherry and plum tomatoes on the counter, I was immediately inspired.

I sliced them in half and put them in a bowl

I added sauteed red onion...

quinoa, chopped artichoke hearts, chopped fresh basil, and...

freshly picked figs from down the street. Mmmm..

I tossed it all together with a dressing of- dijon mustard, basil jelly, red wine vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. This wonderful combination made my taste buds have a veganasm.

I love summer and all of it's glorious vegetable goodness. I also quite like the fact that sno cones are vegan and the perfect summer treat. Coconut lime is my new special flavor.

Changing days

I have to confess that I haven't been in much of a cooking mood lately. I have basically been putting various things together in a somewhat satisfying fashion, in an attempt to clean out my fridge before I move. I did get a few good outcomes, helped out mostly by my last weekly farmers market trip, which was bursting with summer goodies.

I picked up some local tomatoes (it is tomato season afterall), a funny shaped eggplant, a sweet yellow pepper, a mystery squash, and the juciest blackberries I have ever eaten.

A couple of weeks ago, I made the pistachio-arugula pesto I found at Vegan Yum Yum. I wanted to make some kind of napoleon with the eggplant and squash and a tomato based sauce. When I cut open the squash, it seemed more like an acorn squash than the summer squash I was expecting, but not as hard. I decided to roughly follow the recipe in VwaV, subbing the artichoke for squash. I had it with some roasted long beans, which I picked up at the market (but forgot to include in the picture-whoops!) It was tasty, a bit messy, and a great compliment for the pesto, which should always be the showcase of any meal it is included in.


I put together this yummy fruit salad for breakfast one morning. It is a prime summer meal, cool, light, and refreshing. It has those scrumptious blackberries, organic kiwi, and orange, and a fresh picked peach from the tree growing right on the sidewalk at T'afia.

This is a dish inspired by a recipe I found somewhere for potato, broccoli, and chickpeas tossed with a vinagrette. I don't remember where it comes from, but this is my spin on it. Steamed red potatoes, edamame, and chickpeas, tossed with T'afia's Sherry Vinagrette and thyme. The thyme was a last minute thing I had lurking in my fridge, and was a really nice addition. Simple summer salad, would have been good on some crisp lettuce, but none was to be found. I put it on half of a hemp tortilla.

I'm not a big fan of fake meats, but they do come in handy. I was pleasantly suprised with this dish. I followed the recipe on the Garden burger box for these lettuce rolls, putting my own spin on it, using what I had. Garden burger strips, green onion, red cabbage, a soy sauce/ginger/red pepper mix, dotted with sesame oil, topped with peanuts. I didn't have whole lettuce leaves, but some chopped romaine. Pretty tasty, but didn't much remind me of the lettuce wraps I loved pre-vegan. Maybe one day I will find a good substitute.

My posts will be more sparse than usual for a while. So sorry to all of my (3 or so) readers. I will update every now and then to track my journeys. I will be leaving next weekend to spend a week or so at my friend's house in Austin. I'm sure I will have plenty of fun experiences to share, and free internet access. The pride parade is also coming up this weekend. We will have a Go Veg float (the Best lil Veggie House in Texas) in it, which I will be on, loud and proud. Many fun pictures are sure to come out of that. See you around!

Oh, what a weekend

Since everyone was off on Monday for the holiday weekend, we had a party at a friend's house on Sunday. James came in from Austin, and brought some vegan tamales from Mr. Natural- tofu sunflower, and pinto bean. Similar to the tofu tamales from the local company Banyan foods, and a welcome change from the mild or spicy tofu selection. We also had refried black beans, spanish rice, and chips and salsa.

Later on, I tried my hand at making Chickpea fries, which I got the recipe for from T'afia. I baked them instead of frying them, and although they didn't look pretty, or really taste anything like T'afia's, they must have been good because they were gone before they got a chance to cool off.


Since the party was alcohol themed, I made a batch of Rum Raisin cupcakes from VCTOTW. These were super moist, super rummy, and super delicious. Instead of using dark rum, I used coconut rum, which gave them even more of a kick. You could make these, and enjoy all of the sweet, raisiny, rummy goodness. Or, alternately, you could pour some rum into cupcake liners and drink it with a straw. Either way, you are sure to have a good time.

We also had our wonderfully fabulous mixologist who experimented with various flavors of martinis.

This is the version called "Red Panties". It consisted of something red, like cranberry juice, and various alcoholic things, such as vodka, and raspberry liqour. It was topped off with some raspberry flavoring, soyatoo whip, and a maraschino cherry. My favorite was the Purple Haze (not pictured)- cranberry juice, cranberry vodka, and curacoa. (Warning: some of the ingredients may not be accurate, as my memory of these drinks is a bit blurred).

After a wild night of fun, James and I came back to Houston in all it's rainy dreariness. We decided to expand tastebuds and tried Ethiopian food at Blue Nile. We shared the Vegetarian Platter, and also ordered another small dish. It all came on one huge platter, atop injera- an ethiopian bread made of 100% Teff. There were various different things, like barbequed lentils, split yellow and green peas, a salad, curried cabbage, potatoes, and carrots, and some collard greens. The other dish we ordered, which is in the middle, is a mixture of tomatoes, bell peppers, and spices mixed with bits of injera, served cold. It was all so delicious, and the atmosphere was nice. The decor and all of the artwork was from Ethiopia. It was also a fun experience, since I got to eat with my fingers and not get looked at like a weirdo. But I'm pretty used to that by now.


I recommend trying Ethiopian food if you have a place in your area. I plan to give it a try in my own kitchen one day. I would love to know how to make injera. I took some extra home with me and had it for breakfast with peanut butter, raisins and banana slices with agave. It was sweet and sour, and a little different, but I am always up for adventure.

Food and farms

Alot has been going on in this crazy life of mine. In the last 4 months, I have moved twice (once out on my own for the first time), and changed jobs twice. I now work at an incredible place -T'afia, one of the best restaurants in Houston. The chef/owner Monica Pope has been one of my long time idols, and I have dreamed of working with her. I also live in my own apartment, which I have been dreaming of for a long time. It's located in a decent part of town, within walking distance of the gym, library, and Whole Foods, and is super affordable so I am still able to save money for school. Still, I am not satisfied. I am not feeling so great about my job. I suppose it could be due to the fact that I am only a hostess, and am thus located on the opposite side of the restaurant from where I dream to be (the kitchen). Still, I could enjoy just being in such a wonderful place, surrounded by great people. I feel like my dissatisfaction comes from my urge to do more with my life. I have been feeling pretty down since I stopped going to school. I miss the hard work, and the great feeling of accomplishment from finishing a big paper, or scoring a good grade on a test. I don't think I am ready to go back to school yet, though.
What I would really like to do is travel. I found WWOOF, which sounds ideal. It is basically a volunteer program. To quote the USA site, WWOOF "is part of a world-wide effort to link volunteers with organic farmers, promote an educational exchange, and build a global community conscious of ecological farming practices." There are tons of farms from all around the world (500 in the US) that host willing volunteers. You put in about 30 hours of labor a week, and recieve room and board and food in return. It is a great opportunity to travel, meet people, and learn alot about farming- for free! I joined the USA branch, and am waiting on my packet. I'm hoping to find a great farm that is vegan friendly, and spending the rest of my summer getting closer to the land.

All of that aside, I still love to talk about food. Homemade meals have been pretty few and far between lately since I get free dinner (and lunch on Fridays) at work, but here are some of the yummy meals I have been enjoying.


I made some crockpot BBQ Tempeh. It was yummy, and simple- throw everything in a crockpot and go. It was too sweet for my taste, so I will add less sugar next time. Also, I enjoy my BBQ a little smokier, so I might add some liquid smoke. I will definately try it again, though. With it, I had some Mac 'n Chreese from Roads End Organics. I got the alfredo style by mistake, which didn't go quite so well with my BBQ. It is good for a quick, out of the box side dish. The ingredients are also unbeatable, as far as packaged items go. Some soy-flax tortilla chips from Central Market rounded out the meal. It was better the next day with steamed broccoli.


It has been too long since I enjoyed scrambled tofu, with waffles, maple syrup and fruit. I enjoyed this for a wonderful Sunday brunch, after recovering from a super wild night. It was just what I needed to cure the dancing blues.


With some overripe peaches, leftover mango chuncks, and a bunch of other stuff hanging out in my fridge, I decided to make an experimental dessert. I chopped up the peaches and tossed them with the mango, chopped ginger, some arrowroot, a leftover white wine and vanilla mixture from poaching pears, and some sugar. Then, I mixed together some rolled oats, quinoa almond creme, agave nectar, cinnamon, and a little more sugar. I put the fruit in my new cornningware dish, and topped it with the crumble mixture, and baked it all until it looked golden brown and delicious. It turned out really good, and had quite a kick from all the ginger I put in.


I made the Spicy African Stew with Cucumber relish, and quick steamed greens on the side from this month's Vegetarian Times. It wasn't quite as spicy as I thought it would be, but I also added the green chilies seperately, and didn't add the entire can. It was delicious, though, and gave me something else to do with peanut butter besides eating it straight from the jar. Although, that still remains a great option. The relish was quick and yummy. I will make it again just for garnishing purposes. It would be great with a burrito, or on salad. I also made the ginger thins that were included with the other recipes, but they didn't turn out so well. I think I made them too thin, and they stuck terribly to the pan. Still delicious crumbled up and mixed with soy yogurt and some fresh berries!


And finally, my favorite afternoon treat on Fridays- Green tea fruit salad from Te House of Tea. Full of lychee, passion fruit, green tea gel (made from agar), with coconut milk poured on top. I enjoy this with a cup of hot tea. If you are ever in Houston, I reccomend going to Te House. They have some good vegan options, tons of tea selections from all over, and a very chill atmosphere.

Let's have a picnic

That's what I told James before his final departure to his new home in Austin. We considered going to dinner at Blue Nile, and Ethiopian restaurant we have both been wanting to try. But, after I found out that the bread was not vegan friendly, and practically all of ethiopian food is consumed with assistance from the bread, we opted out of that plan. After some consideration, I decided that I wanted to make a special meal for the two of us. It was looking to be a beautiful weekend, so we decided a picnic was in order. I planned a wonderful 4-course meal, inspired by the abundance of spring offerings.

First, the "appeteaser" as we found ourselves calling it. An assorted mix of yummy things, consisting of (from top, going right) wedges of lavender pizzette from Tafia, mixed salted nuts and beans, Quinoa Almond Creme that I bought in Paris and have been waiting to try, dates, and shaved 90% chocolate. Everything paired really well together. The Quinoa Almond Creme was more bitter than I expected, but went nicely with the pizzette.
First course was a vanilla poached pear salad. Fresh mixed greens from the farmers market, bartlett pears poached in vanilla infused white wine, thinly siced red onions, golden raisins, and a light dressing of cider vinegar, olive oil, and a bit of soy yogurt. This went paired excellently with our bottled of Freys table white wine.
Second course was a pasta dish with my favorite spring vegetables. Brown rice noodles, tossed with sauteed baby artichokes, asparagus, olive oil, lemon, thyme, parley, and a bit of nutritional yeast. Very fresh, and light. I accidently burned some of the artichokes, so they were a little bitter, but they balanced well with the sweet asparagus. If you are jonesing for a taste of spring, try this dish.
Last, but not least, dessert. Soy based gelato with almonds and two lemon cookies. The gelato is made by Trentino Gelato, a local gelato and sorbet maker in Houston. They serve it at Tafia, so I was able to get some after work one night. It is so smooth, you can hardly tell it is soy based. The cookies are also lovely. Soft and sweet, with a tangy lemon flavor.
And there you have it. A beautiful spring meal, enjoyed sitting in the shade, watching bikers, joggers, walkers, and strollers get their daily dose of activity while we ate with abandon and shared a bottle of wine. Who could ask for more?

21 and counting

Hey, it's my 21st post! Not that it is very significant, but I'm just suprised.

Beans and greens seem to be a trend in my kitchen lately. Here is something I call Health on Toast.
I sauteed some garlic in olive oil, added leftover baby limas, simmered them a little, then threw in a handful of chopped parsley. Then, I sauteed some thinly sliced swiss chard. I smeared a piece of cranberry-walnut bread with mustard, then piled the beans and greens on top. Viola. Simple, delicious, and healthy. Your welcome.

For the upcoming Canadian Seal Hunt Protests here in Houston, a couple of us crazy activists got together to make some signs. Here is a finished poster with one of our catchy phrases.

I wanted to make dinner for everyone, so I pulled out my Teany Book and made the classic Indian dish. Green tea-Jasmine rice in the top corner, curried potatoes and peas to the right, and coconut creamed spinach in the bottom left. They were all so delicious, and complimented each other nicely. We were full and happy vegans.

Last but not least, I want to talk about the new love of my life. She is a beautiful, vivacious, loving rescue puppy. A friend found her in a Walmart parking lot in the middle of the night. He took her home, cleaned her up, fed her, and named her Cocoa Sorbet. They came over for a visit and I fell in love. She is hard to capture in a picture, since she is so active (and a little afraid of cameras). She is black, with brown tints and a white patch on her chest. The vet thinks she is a shepherd, and says she is very healthy. Since I am not allowed to have dogs in my apartment, I offered to babysit at any time.
That's it for now. Happy Easter everyone, and I'll see you next time I'm in a free wi-fi area.

Gratins, greens, beets and beans

Sadly, I don’t have the internet at home anymore, so my web surfing time is limited, as well as my blog posting opportunities. If my bills end up being fairly reasonable this month, I will be getting the internet. Until then, I have to work around the library's hours. So here are some things I have created over that past month or so.

After picking up some organic sweet potatoes, and locally grown tomatoes at the co-op, I decided to make the Sweet Potato-Artichoke Gratin from an old issue of Vegetarian Times.

With layers of a tomato, artichoke, white bean spread, and sweet potato, topped with walnuts, I never missed the ooey gooeyness cheesyness of the gratins I have always known. It turned out really good.

On my next trip to the co-op, I picked up some beets that were on sale. For $0.75 a pound, I couldn’t say no. I shreded them and combine them with shredded red potato, zucchini, some herbs and spices, and a little ener-g egg replacer and made potato pancakes. I topped them with a little soy yogurt mixed with green onions.

White beans sauteed with onions, garlic and celery, served over local collard greens. Simple enough, and a super delicious and filling quick meal.

I tried the Esme’s Sauce recipe again. Ever since I made it the first time, I have been wanting to try again with different veggies and a thinner sauce to see if I could get better results. This time it was with some spinach and leftover edamame. I added the lemon juice I forgot last time, and a little extra water. It turned out a little better, but this time is was a little too tangy for me. Next time maybe I will leave out the lemon juice. I definitely recommend it with spinach. At least the picture is good.

I will leave you with some pictures of a cute screech owl. We got to meet the little guy at a Vegetarian Meetup at Baba Yega. We missed the introduction speech, in which they also featured a hawk and another bird. But, the meal was good- we split a vegetarian loaf, and black bean burger. This little guy has such big, beautiful eyes.

Ooey gooey

I have been craving some saucy, gooey pasta dish for a while. I have considered trying to recreate a mac and cheese, but I knew it wasn't quite what I was looking for. When I ran across a recipe from Vegan YumYum for Esme's Sauce, I knew it would be the ticket to satisfaction. I also had all of the ingredients, many of which I have been trying to incorporate in to more of my cooking, such as miso, nutritional yeast, and tahini. I used some brown rice spiral noodles that I have been wanting to try, and used spinach and Brussels sprouts for the greens.

It definitely turned out gooey. I think it was a little more pasty than I would have liked, so I will add some water next time. The Brussels sprouts were an odd accompaniment to the miso and braggs, but they added a nice texture. I topped it with toasted pine nuts and served it millet-flax seed bread, my favorite.

The quality of my pictures hasn't been that great due to the poor lighting in my room. Hopefully that problem will be solved once I get moved in to my new teany tiny efficiency!

What a trip

I have great foodie pics to share from my trip to Austin this weekend. I love going to Austin, and I hope to live there one day. They have so much to offer to vegans, vegetarians, and just all around health and environement concious people. It's Texas' little vegan mecca, and it never fails to surprise me.
Our first stop was the Chocolate Festival. We were suprised to find that the event was being held at the Wizard Academy. We almost weren't able to find the place, since it was hidden by tall trees and winding roads. We knew that what was waiting ahead was sure to be magical..

I had no idea if I could eat any of the confections that the festival had to offer, but the thought of being surrounded by chocolate was intriguing. I decided to be brave and go out on a limb. I was surpised and relieved when the first vendor I stopped at had nothing but wonderful, natural, VEGAN chocolates. The company is called Innocent Chocolates. They are made with organic, mostly raw ingredients, and sweetened with pure agave nectar. The products are available in a few Austin stores, and can be shipped, but not in hot weather. I spent most of my sample tickets at this table, and ended up buying a few bars. There were a couple of other vendors that had some dark chocolate barks I could try, but everything else was made with cream.

Innocent Chocolates working their magic

We tried a new restaurant (new to me anyway) called Cosmic Cafe. It is a mix of Indian, Mediterranean, and Mexican inspired foods. A couple of our friends happened to be in town, so we met up with them for lunch.I got the Buddha's Delight, which had a samosa, dahl, pappadam, rice, nan, and curried spinach and chickpeas. James and I split a Grape flavored Kombucha tea. I have never tried this stuff before, and I was pleasantly suprised. This kind was from a local company. I am not sure if all of the others are as good as this was, but I am willing to try them and find out.
Even after all of the delicious food, we were able to split a slice of vegan Root Beer Float Cake. It sounded way too good to pass up, and it was!
One of our all time favorite places to go when in town is Nu Age Cafe. They have a variety of selections, from dumplings and spring rolls, to BBQ dishes with mashed potatoes and gravy. Their tea selection is long and always pleasantly surprising. My old standby is the Sizzling Soy, with chunks of soy covered in a sweet and smoky BBQ sauce, with a side of mashed sweet potatoes and steamed veggies with rice. I decided to try something new, and was sorry I did. The dish came out burned, and unpleasant. When I told them about it, they offered to take it away and bring me something else, no extra charge. I agreed, and got what I really wanted all along. Even the best places can't be great 100% of the time. James got the Spinach Soy Rolls with mashed potatoes and Portobello gravy. These are not vegan, because the filling has milk powder in it. There are only a couple of items that contain this, and most of them can be made vegan.

Our last stop was for my favorite meal of the day: Brunch. What better place to go for Sunday brunch than Mother's Cafe and Garden? They serve fresh hot vegan pancakes, a different flavor each time, and so many other items to choose from, whatever your palate- sweet, savory, salty, spicy. We split 3 Poppyseed pancakes with a hint of orange, a soysage patty, sauteed tofu, and roasted potatoes. And what better way to start brunch than with a basket of chips and hot salsa? Mmm, brunchalicious

Sadly, our visit had to come to and end. But I was not sad for long because we were on our way to see R.E.N.T! Here are me and my wives after the show, basking in our joyful, after show bliss.

Oscar-palooza

I'm never usually very interested in any of the award shows, and could really care less who has how many Grammys or Oscars. I never usually agree with most of the results anyway. But, when I found out that Ellen DeGeneres was hosting the Oscars this year, I couldn't be more excited to watch them. We are always looking for an excuse to have a party, and what better reason than to celebrate than with an Ellen Hosting the Oscars party? Formal attire was required, but it had to be the funkiest, most godawful thing you could drag out. The food was Mexican themed, and this led to me next cupcake adventure: Mucho Margarita Cupcakes! We also had some vegan tamales, which we get from Whole Foods. They are made here in Houston, completely vegan, and are super delicious. Of course we also had all of the side fixin's- chips and salsa, bean dip, and margaritas and wine.

Mucho yummy!

We decided that since we were dressed up and looking gorgeous, and celebrating, we would take a picture and leave a space in the middle for Ellen. We are going to send it to her and ask her to photoshop herself in so that she will be celebrating with us. As you can tell, we were really enjoying the wine and margaritas.

Faabulous!

I have been feeling a little under the weather recently. I don't know if it is lack of sleep, or if the colds that have been traveling around are catching up to me. I take pride in the fact that since going vegan I have not been sick once, which means this is the first winter I have successfully avoided the flu. I have just been taking it easy, and eating comforting foods. The most comforting thing of all has been the Purely Decadent Turtle Trails ice cream. I hope I feel better and have a burst of energy in the morning so I can start jogging again.