Lately, Whole Foods is sporting and touting a lot of “local” produce. I’m not sure what the criteria for local is because I’ve seen stuff from Maine labeled local and the Maine border has got to be at least 200 miles from here. Still that’s a lot more local than New Zealand or Peru where stuff frequently comes from during the winter months.
Today I found *local* (from Massachusetts) green patty pan squash and I picked up six of them. I cooked them “the balsamic vinegar way” and then served them alongside some whole wheat linguine with pesto. I bought the *vegan* pesto already prepared from the frozen section from a company called Linnabella. I like their website because it explains exactly what you need to know and gives good answers. Such as… how should you thaw it and how much do you use and what do you do with the rest of it once it’s thawed? You can refreeze it! I was afraid I was going to be forced to refrigerate it and use it within a week or something. As delicious as pesto is, it’s a strong flavor and not something I want to eat more than once in a week. Hey, and I just noticed Linnabella’s a local farm too.
Dinner was yummy, and I was pretty tired after my day of doing laundry, grocery shopping and cooking, but I managed to muster the energy to make a blueberry pie afterward – !!! Pie is pretty major for me because the crust is my nemesis, but I’m a baking snob and I don’t think you’re really making a pie if you don’t make the crust yourself. I managed to do a pretty good job (with minimal cracking) of it by rolling the dough between two sheets of wax paper. And the blueberries were local of course (super local – from Connecticut). The pie is cooling now, but Sweetie and I will be sure to delve into a little later tonight.
Tags:
blueberries,
pasta,
pesto,
pie,
summer squash
So I’ve been struggling with depression lately and felt really shitty earlier this week. Like, I was getting a little scared about how bad I felt, but I persevered and seem to be holding it together pretty well. I did feel like crying once at work today, but then I realized the work stuff I was getting agitated about was really no big deal. As I said, I’m holding it together.
Somehow in spite of the depression I have managed to keep working out. This morning workout regimen I decided to try out a few weeks ago has really caught on. All the good things I’ve heard about working out in the morning – it gives you energy, you get it over with, it kick starts your metabolism – were things I always believed, but the idea of waking up and working out right away just sounded awful to me. In fact, that still sounds awful to me, but waking up and doing my normal morning routine (coffee, blog reading, packing my lunch), and then going to work out is great.
Wednesday is the day I go running with a coworker friend. I was feeling rotten au gratin on Tuesday afternoon, but I IM-d her, and asked are we running tomorrow, and she said yes. Wednesday morning we met and I said I don’t want to do this, and she said, but we’re going to do this. And we did. And by the end of the run I was smiling. Wednesday is running day. Even Anthony Martignetti runs on Wednesday.
Tags:
depression,
friends,
running,
TV,
working out
I remember last year we had some of the worst weather for summer. I remember lying on the couch under a blanket in July – !!! I’m not super crazy about hot humid weather, but I do like for the weather to be seasonal. Like when it gets warm in the winter, I find it disturbing because it’s not supposed to be warm, even if the warm weather is “nice.” Warm weather is nice in spring and fall, not winter. This is New England and we’re supposed to have four seasons. So anyway, now it’s summer and the weather is acting like summer. The cicadas start singing early in the morning, and you just know you’re in for another hot summer day.
On Friday, I had a real scare when I looked at my bank account online. I was just checking to see if a payment I’d made had gone through, and I saw an overdraft charge and a couple days previous a charge for $499.99 that I had not made. What???!!! I googled the name of the company and found a website with very little info. No “about” page, no “contact us” link. There was also an “888″ number (on my bank statement, not the website) that I called once I got to work and the number just rang and rang so I hung up. I tried it again a few minutes later and finally after about a gazilion rings I got someone’s voice mail. I gave my name and told them that there was an unauthorized charge and corresponding overdraft fee on my bank account and that it was “unacceptable” and that they needed to call me back. They never did.
At first, I was afraid that I had made a mistake and inadvertently signed up for something without reading the fine print, but I’m pretty convinced that this was not my mistake. I just googled the company again, and nothing comes up. Fortunately, I called my bank and they refunded the charge and the overdraft fee and are starting a fraud investigation. The charge was made at 6 PM on July 7th and I happen to remember that at that time I was getting a pedicure. I sincerely hope it wasn’t anyone at the spa who fraudulently used my card, but it does make me wonder. At least my toes look nice.
And now it’s time for our random meal of the day picture. I had some sliced mushrooms, shredded carrots and an onion hanging around, and I decided they would work well stir-fried with greens and served over soba noodles. I just needed something green. There is a lot of local produce becoming available right now, and I found some nice small cabbages that fit the bill. Unfortunately, once they’re cooked, they don’t really look that green, but the meal still tasted good. Sweetie and I seasoned our plates with nutritional yeast, sesame oil, sesame seeds and tamari.
Tags:
carrots,
greens,
meal of the day,
money,
mushrooms,
nutritional yeast,
onions,
pasta,
pedicure,
seasonings,
summer
One of my favorite foods is squash, but I always found summer squash and zucchini a little ho-hum until I learned some different ways to cook them. See, I was steaming them which results in a somewhat bland and mushy product. Tasty with some salt, pepper and Earth Balance, but still a bit lackluster. Then with the help of google, I discovered a recipe for Pan-Seared Balsamic Baby Squashon the blog Vegan Yum Yum. Oh my, summer squash has never been the same since. I’ve made it several times, and I have been so pleased with the discovery. Yum yum indeed.
Here it is served up with some quinoa, a nice summer dinner we had last week.
Cooking sqaush this way has sent me in a whole new direction with it even when I don’t follow that exact recipe. For example, a couple weeks ago, I cut the squash into rounds and seared them that way, without vinegar. I like my food cooked, and sometimes even a little burned so these were A-OK with me. I don’t think I’ll ever become a raw food aficionado, but then I never thought I’d become a vegan either. I served it with some seitan and fried rice Sweetie had bought frozen at Trader Joe’s.
And then there’s zucchini. I found a great way to make zucchini “fries” on this “flashback” post on the blog Peas and Thank You: Groundhog Day. I think I cooked mine a bit longer than she recommended, but they were delish. I seasoned them with nutritional yeast and served them alongside some seitan. I don’t think I want my zucchini cooked any other way.
Unless it’s grilled. I don’t own a grill, but my mom does, and when we visited her on Fourth of July weekend, I suggested we have a grilled dinner. I had brought some Gardein BBQ Skewers with me for this purpose. Sweetie and I had those and my mom and sister had some kind of beef. We also had corn on the cob and some Swiss chard I steamed up. My mom suggested that she would cook the zucchini with some stewed tomatoes and onions as she likes to do, but I said, “You know what I’d really like – if you’d grill it. As long as it’s not too much trouble.” She replied that grilling them would actually be easier. She sliced them lengthwise, scored them and seasoned them (I’m not sure with what – probably oregano was involved). I’m not sure how long she cooked them, but they were pretty much perfect. And they made a delicious addition to this summer holiday meal.
Tags:
BBQ,
corn on the cob,
grains,
greens,
nutritional yeast,
seitan,
summer squash,
vegan meat,
zucchini
As is my tradition I’m in Rockport for the holiday weekend. Plans include a trip to the beach, vegan grilling and watching the rest of the Wimbledon final.
Last night Sweetie and I went for a leisurely walk in Rockport, just enjoy the scenery and the weather. I also bought myself a pair of silver hoop earrings. I love silver hoops, and with the exception of these super huge ones that I haven’t ever worn, all my hoops had gotten lost or broken so I definitely needed some new ones.
Pathway off of Bearskin Neck:
Rockport Art Association:
Front Beach after sunset:
Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!
Tags:
holidays,
Rockport,
shopping,
weekend
Saturday I got up and had my usual coffee with So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer.
Then I had a toasted hemp bagel with Earth Balance, and I took my supplements.
I debated about whether to photograph the AZO, but then I decided that yeast infections are something many women suffer from, and they’re nothing to be ashamed of. If you’re someone who suffers from chronic recurring yeast infections and haven’t found anything that works to prevent them, I suggest you try the AZO Yeast, Natural Symptom Prevention and Relief. I take one tablet a day, and it really seems to be preventing the infections. (And I’m not being paid to say this.) I take two calcium-magnesium with vitamin D supplements in the morning and two in the evening for a total of 1,000 milligrams a day. My doctor was really pushing me to take calcium for the last couple of years, and I couldn’t really argue with her, especially since my mother has osteoporosis. It took me a while to get going on taking them regularly, but earlier this year I made a concerted effort to get in the habit. A few weeks ago I decided to try taking spirulina to increase my energy. (I take three spirulina tablets in the morning and three at night.) I don’t know if spirulina is a waste of money, but I do seem to be feeling pretty good so for now I’ll continue.
As I had my coffee and my bagel and my supplements, I thought about running, feeling as if I needed to do it, since I hadn’t run since Wednesday. One reason I’m afraid of running is because I’m afraid I’ll be uncomfortable. I usually am uncomfortable when I run. There’s no such thing as an easy run for me at this time. Of course the only way to get comfortable is to do it more. So I went and ran at the park yesterday on my own, without the aid of a running partner or the treadmill, and I was uncomfortable, and I was slow, but I managed two and a half miles. Not bad, huh?
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And now it’s time for my new blog feature: The Random Meal of the Day
Let’s go back in time and look at a dinner I made in January (!): pan-fried seitan, baked sweet potato and curried cauliflower with peas. I bake the sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes, and cook the seitan thusly: heat safflower oil in non-stick pan, slice the seitan and place it in the pan, and cook until browned, about 5 or so minutes on each side. For the cauliflower, heat oil in a large skillet with a cover, add curry powder, and then the cauliflower pieces. Once the cauliflower is somewhat coated, I add water to the skillet, dump in some frozen peas and cover and steam the mixture until it’s done. You’ll have to excuse the lack of instructions as far as exact measurements and times. For a number of years, I cooked using recipes in cookbooks, and I believe this practice got me comfortable in the kitchen so that now I just cook intuitively, usually knowing what “enough” of an ingredient is and how long to cook something till it’s “done.”
Happy eating and running!
Tags:
bagels,
cauliflower,
coconut milk,
coffee,
dinner,
meal of the day,
peas,
recipes,
running,
seasonings,
seitan,
supplements,
sweet potatoes
This week was a killer as far as work was concerned so I was fully ready to do nothing since I had today off. However, after waking up from a nap, I realized I wanted feel as if I had accomplished something so I decided to tackle a project I’d been wanting to do for a while: cleaning and organizing the pantry closet in the kitchen. The project was surprisingly easy. I discovered a few things I hadn’t known were there, I threw out a few things, I wiped down the shelves and then I had fun putting everything back in an orderly fashion. It looks great.
Here are the before shots:
And here are the afters:
Afterward I relaxed with a Meyer Lemon Grown Up Soda. Have you tried this stuff? It’s delicious: not too sweet and very refreshing.
Tags:
cold drinks,
getting organized
The Summer Solstice is tomorrow, and boy it certainly feels like it. The temperatures have only been up into the 80s, but the humidity is really high so we’re sweltering. Thank god Sweetie bought that air conditioner for our bedroom a couple weeks ago when we had the first little heat wave of the season. I’ve been really busy this weekend, doing all kinds of chores and errands, and I’m trying to mellow out now, but I’ve got the Sunday Night Anxiety Blues so I’m not really feeling so great.
ANYWAY, the good news is that I got a new MacBook Pro – the 15-inch one. I still have some file transferring to do from my other two computers (an eMac and a MacBook), but I’ve got some of it done and I’m just really happy with my new machine. It’s fast; it’s efficient; it’s light. It’s just great all around. It cost a pretty penny, more than the tax refund money I set aside for the purchase, but it was a good investment. I don’t feel any buyer’s remorse about it.
The weather has not put me in the mood for cooking at all so we ate out every night this weekend, instead of just the usual Friday. I had never been to Chipotle, but I heard great things about it, and one came to our town recently so on Saturday Sweetie and I checked it out. Can I just say yum!!! Wow, I see why people seem so excited about this place. The menu is small, but the vegan options are delicious. Sweetie had the Vegetarian Burrito and I had the Vegetarian tacos. I ate all three of them even though I probably should have stopped at two. But they were just so darn tasty. We’ll definitely be ordering from there again.
I do most of the cooking for dinner in our house, but Sweetie is big on breakfast. Every weekend he makes pancakes or scrambled tofu. and then he continues eating the leftovers on the weekdays, reheating the tofu or frying up up pancakes before going to work (!) – how ambitious, cooking on work day mornings – ! I’m not much for big breakfasts, but today I joined him for some scrambled tofu and vegan sausage patties, and they made for a delicious breakfast.
It’s still pretty hot and humid, but I’m going to take a nice cool shower and hope the Sunday Night Anxiety Blues wash down the drain.
Tags:
breakfast,
Chipotle,
dining out,
MacBook Pro,
summer,
Sweetie,
tofu,
vegan meat
Days off mean hash browns, sprinkled with nutritional yeast, for breakfast .
And for lunch, perhaps potato salad dressed up with avocado, greens and Annie’s Goddess Dressing.
Potato Salad Recipe
~3 pounds of red potatoes, skins on
1 cucumber
1 bunch of radishes
1 handful of sprouts of your choice
~.5 oz. of chives
~.5 oz. of dill
Vegenaise
red wine vinegar
sunflower seeds
salt & pepper
Leave potatoes whole unless very large. Put in a large pot with enough water to cover. Bring water to boil and then reduce to simmer. Let potatoes simmer for about 20 minutes. They should pierce easily with fork, but not fall apart. Drain potatoes and set aside until they are cool enough to handle.
While the potatoes are cooking, peel, seed & chop the cucumber into small dice. Wash the radishes and cut those into small dice. Finely mince the chives and dill. Add all of these to a large mixing bowl. Add Vegenaise to the vegetables and herbs in the bowl, and mix well. I didn’t measure the Vegenaise; I’m guessing it was about a cup or so – ? Just add what seems to be enough to mix everything together, taking into account all the potatoes you’ll be adding. (And remember you can always add more, but you can’t take any out.) Add 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar to the mixture and mix well. Mix in a handful of sprouts and a handful of sunflower seeds. Add salt and pepper to taste.
When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, chop them into medium dice, leaving the skins on. Add the diced potatoes to the vegetable and Vegenaise mixture and fold together. Eat at room temperature or chilled. The potato salad should keep at least week if stored covered in the refrigerator.
Makes a great main course for lunch. I got a work week’s worth of brown bag lunches, plus Sweetie’s and my lunches yesterday before it was gone.
Tags:
avocadoes,
hash browns,
nutritional yeast,
potato salad,
potatoes,
recipes,
salad greens
I am working 4 10-hour days this week, and then I’ll have Friday off. My department likes to have a couple people to answer phone calls after 5 so that’s what I’m doing. I still want to work out though so I got the crazy idea to work out before work on Monday and see how it went. I’m generally not a morning exerciser, but it just seemed to make more sense to work out then instead of going to work then working out in the afternoon: changing clothes and showering in the middle of the day and then going back to work. In case you’re wondering why I wouldn’t just work out after work, it’s because working this schedule I’m done at 7 so even if I felt inclined to work out at the hour (which I highly doubt), the gym closes at 7. The way I did it I came to work in my work-out clothes, stopped at my desk, put my things away, put my food in the fridge and then went down to the gym with with my work clothes in my gym bag. Then I ran intervals on the treadmill – 3 minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking for 25 minutes. Then I cooled down and stretched, took a quick shower, got dressed and was up at my desk by 9. It went so well I did it again today. And I think I will do it again tomorrow.
You know there are so many opportunities to make yourself feel bad, sometimes without even looking for them. For instance, I read a number of fitness and running blogs and people will say things about having trouble keeping up their 8-minute mile pace or one that said her friends said Runner’s World magazine is not for “real” runners – huh? So there I was on the treadmill struggling through 3 minutes at a time at a 12-minute mile pace with Runner’s World magazine propped up in front of me. Since I was running and walking I couldn’t really read it, but it gave me something to look at other than the machine. And I felt good. I have to remember that this is about me and what I’m doing and that I may be slow and that I may like to look at Runner’s World, and if some people who I don’t even know are critical of those things, then that’s about them, not me.
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In other news, I’ve been taking pictures of my food throughout the past 5 or so months, but not nearly enough of them have made it to this blog, and I think I need to change that. Therefore, I’m thinking of doing a “meal of the day” or “what vegans eat” feature here so I can start posting the pics of the ummy food I eat.
In the meantime, here’s a picture of the latest banana bread that I made. This time I had 4 bananas so I was closer to the right (2 cup) amount of banana pulp the recipe calls for, and the bread came out great, if I do say so myself. The thing is you have to bake it for a long time when you use that high an amount of banana pulp. The original recipe says 50 minutes, but I find you need to bake it for at least an hour so it’s fully baked in the middle.
It was delicious with some Earth Balance on it, but Blue proved it can even be enjoyed plain. While it was cooling on the table and I was out of the room, Blue managed to hop up and bite the corner off of it – ! I told him he was a bad dog, but he just wagged his tail at me. Guess I have to keep a closer eye on delicious smelling foods cooling in the kitchen.
Tags:
banana bread,
blogging,
Blue,
meal of the day,
running
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