Salt & Humor

To be honest, this is what breakfast usually looks like.  What can I say, I am hooked.  Usually it is regular quinoa though.  The red is fun too, but I think I like the plain better.  Then I mix it with steamed greens or broccoli, nutritional yeast and a tiny bit of tamari.

Hey don’t knock it, till you try it.

Anyone else make “out of the ordinary” breakfasts?

It’s just more fun saying it like that than fajitas.  I’m just sayen After I sampled Soy Curls at Los Gorditos I was confident I wanted to make some at home.  I picked some up at Food Fight.

This dinner was fantastic!! I can’t wait to make it for friends and family that are curious about vegan eats.  I served it with black beans and red quinoa, lettuce, avocado, Tofutti sour cream and Cholula sauce. To make the fahjeetus I soaked the Soy Curls in warm water for 10 minutes while I slice red and green bell pepper and onion.  Then I put the Soy Curls, veggies and taco seasonings in a bowl and mixed with safflower oil and lime juice.  I let that sit for 10 minutes and then cooked over medium high heat. It was simple and great.

It is cloudy and rainy  so I think I am going to make some tea and do a little drawing.  In fact, I think I might draw garbage. Should you feel in the mood to draw, you should check this out.

Ha! That sounds awesome!! What is MOFO, you ask.?  Well, it is Vegan Month Of Food of course.  While I may not post as regular as I would like, I will be trying my best to post as frequent as possible during this month of November.

To start the month off right, I leaned towards a meal to suite the both of us; buffalo wraps.

We sampled some Gardein products at the VegFest in September.  Much to my surprise, Jason liked what he tried.  YAY!!  So I put a twist on one of his favorites dinners.

I slathered buffalo sauce on the tenders and prepared the wrap with tahini sauce, avocado, lentil sprouts and lettuce.  
Sweet poato fries and mustard made the meal complete.  The wrap was great and a very special Mr. enjoyed them as well

Tonight I made quinoa chickpea confetti casserole from EDBV.  I subbed zucchini for the fennel bulb, left out fennel seeds and allspice because I do not have those ingredients.  I also have a nice amount of zucchini to work with.  To be honest, I have never tried fennel bulb.  I am not sure what it might taste like.  I was also short on quinoa and ended up using millet to make up the difference.  I really enjoyed the casserole but found the spices to be a little strong.  Next time, I will just reduce the amounts.

If you haven’t entered the giveaway, you can do so here.

It is no lie that I love bread.  I really enjoy making my own bread, either by hand or in the bread machine.  I will usually make a loaf of bread last two weeks or more, by placing the sliced loaf in the freezer and only having a piece in the morning.  It seems I rarely need to turn to a recipe book because I find most ideas from other blogs. A while ago I made quinoa bread from this site.

It may be safe to say that this my favorite bread (for now)!  I used regular quinoa, as I did not have red.

My last visit to Reno, I came back with my mom’s sourdough book. I have only tried a few recipes so far.  This one is Jason’s favorite; banana sourdough.

Just recently I tried making brick bread from this site.

This bread is definitely one that you should plan out.  It takes a few days and is made in steps.  All in all, it was worth it.  You have to be in the mood for this bread.  It is really heavy and dense.  To make the brick bread I needed to sprout adzuki beans.  I wanted to share my method for sprouting.  I used to rinse the beans in a strainer every time and it was nowhere near as efficient.

1.) Soak the beans for 12 hours

2.) Rinse and let sit for another 8-12 hours.  They should be out of the way direct sunlight.  The temperature should be room temperature. 

This is what the beans look like after 12 hours of soaking.  I then cover the top of the jar with two layers of cheese cloth and screw metal ring down.  This is what makes rinsing so easy.

I just put the jar upside down in my dish drainer or lay the jar on it’s side on the counter.

3.) Rinse with cold water every 8-12 hours for about 2-3 days.

This is what mine looked like at day four.  That morning, they looked good so I rinsed one more time and placed them in the refrigerator.

*NOTE that the beans or seeds will usually yield two times or more than what you start with.  So, even though it doesn’t look like much when you start, know that you will have plenty.

I had more than the 1/3 cup that the recipe called for, so I have been slowly munching on them.  Last night, I tossed some in my stir fry and tonight I just had a few plain.  You could also have them is salads, soup or even in your oatmeal. Sprouting is fun and a great way to add dense nutrition to your diet.  The run down on adzuki is pretty good, if you ask me.

Have your tried sprouting?

I think I am hooked on hemp seeds.  The little sample bag I picked up the other day is almost gone I have been trying to ration it, hmmm, I think I will just have to pick some up! After my walk at the golf course and yoga yesterday, I made a pretty tasty salad.

red leaf lettuce, red cabbage, sprouts, red pepper, edamame, marsala veggie burger, jalapenos and Greek feta dressing

I get the Greek feta dressing at Trader Joe’s and I will just say it is my current favorite.  I say current because no, single dressing stays my favorite for very long.  It always seems to change.  I used to LOVE Best Foods- creamy ceasar when I was younger.  I don’t think they make it anymore.

I went to the store to pick up some things for Jason. (he is sick ) and look at what I found!!

I was so excited because the place where I get these seemed to not carry them anymore.  I was bummed.  I kept checking the spot where they used to be for at least the last month, no luck.  So, when someone asked my if I needed any help, I asked if they carried the Synergy drinks anymore.  Oh yes! They were moved to their own end cap with twice the flavors to choose from! So, 2 new flavors for me to try.  Didn’t hurt that they were on sale either.

For dinner, I did a little girly BBQ-ing.  I say that because I could never picture Jason putting zucchini and red onion on his grill.  Takes a girl I suppose.

Remember when I Had that gift card for Safeway? Well, I still had those eggplant meatballs to use.

I simply cooked some quinoa and warmed some marinara:

I must admit, I am really hooked on Mezzetta’s red sauces.

Twas delightful!

In case any of you were curious, for the poppers we made the other night… It was super easy.  I just sliced the peppers open on one side and scooped the seeds and white part out, filled with cream cheese and them wrapped each one with a strip of bacon.  I put a toothpick through it to keep it all together.  We bbq’d them on low heat for maybe 15-20 minutes. They are crazy good, be careful.

Have a wonderful night!

Those cupcakes, Yoshi and myself are troublemakers! Today, 3 cupcakes disappeared into my belly! My kitten causes a raucous with the dresser drawers and I did not workout tonight.

This cat opens drawers and cupboards daily! I hear noises coming from my dresser but see no sign of the cause.  Then slowly the drawer starts moving and out pops this little guy!

Yoshi is cute but don’t be fooled.  He is a troublemaker! If you look close you can see the pleasant claw marks that are on the edge of the drawer. Nice!

Those cupcakes got the best of me.  Last straw was tonight though.  The remaining 3 are wrapped  and hiding in the back of the freezer.  I know they will come in handy when that sweet tooth craving hits

I started the day jazzed thinking about my workout tonight.  Later in the afternoon I started getting my friendly headache.  Friendly as in we know each other very well. The part I am trying to figure out is the cause.  Who knows, my low back is crazy sore to..? The even more strange part is the shortness of breath I have been experiencing for the last week and a half.  I am going to a Dr.’s appointment this Friday.  Maybe I’ll get some answers, maybe not.  Or my luck, this will all just soon pass. Needless to say, I copped out on my workout tonight because of my loser headache

More exciting, was the dinner I made last night, which also doubled as today’s lunch with salad. Simple quinoa with zuchini, shrimp, garlic and lemon juice and zest.

Quinoa is pretty rad if you ask me!  You can do anything with it.  No recipe needed. Now, that is my kind of meal.  Make what you want with what you have and what you like… Versatile

Early night for me.  Heat pad for my back and another chapter in Body for Life sound like a good idea to me.

Have a good night!