Tuesday, March 13, 2007

MEGA-Post!

Hi Friends!

Boy... It's been quite a few days since I blogged - but I have been eating!

Back at Christmas, a group of my yoga students gave me a big huge gift certificate to one of Santa Cruz's fancier veg restaurants: Cafe La Vie. I've been there a couple times before and found it to be really expensive, insufferably slow, and a bit too raw for my digestive track. But I had this gift certificate ... so my aunt L (also vegan!) and I set out to see how much we could spend! Well, we were very pleasantly surprised!! The menu was a lot bigger than last time, the servings were bigger, and the service was quite speedy. Right on.

It is pricey there, but it's also almost all organic, and the entrees come with a big yummy side salad. We ordered 2 entrees & shared them. This is our Hummus Lasagna - good!

This was our raw meditteranean pizza. It was also very good. Raw food is not very easy for me to digest, but I was reasonably comfortable after eating half of this.

We also ordered drinks - L had a glass of organic vegan wine, and I had a fruit smoothie.

These raw dehydrated onion rings were only so-so... but how could we resist trying them?

We also had dinner with our friends Victor and Jocelyn and their little daughter Dalia this week. It was so fun. Victor and Jocelyn are both vegans, so that's extra fun. Jocelyn is a nutritionist & she and I have taught quite a few "intro to vegetarianism" and "intro to veganism" classes together. They're both really super people - and great parents too! I made dessert & bread, and they made dinner.

Here's the bread I made (the no-knead again!)

For appetizers, we had some of the bread, olive tapenade, pesto, pepperoncini, & sun-dried tomato paste. It was yummy.
Victor made some delicious sage-y white beans.

Jocelyn made a huge dish of roasted veggies, all sorts of good stuff in there!! The peppers and eggplant were my favorite. She also made some really tasty pineapple seitan, which I really loved, but forgot to take a picture of it !

Here's the salad!

For dessert I made the "Freeform Applesauce Galette" from Fran Costigan's book. This is my first time finally getting around to making something from this book, and I wasn't disappointed. It was quite simple, very low in sugar, and very very good! It was especially tasty because I used some of my own homemade applesauce, which is extra chunky & delicious! If you've got this book, I really recommend this recipe.

Yesterday afternoon I hung out with my nephew. It's been HOT here lately (82 degrees!!!, sorry cold ones out there!) - so I was a little surprised that he wanted to bake. We got popsicles first, played tag, and then made some cupcakes. We made the Fluffy White Cupcakes from Vegan Lunch Box. I really love this recipe! I used half white whole wheat flour, and half applesauce for the oil. They turned out amazing! He was in charge of the food coloring, so the frosting turned out seriously ORANGE. Isn't my little nephew a cutie? I'm also teaching yoga in his 1st grade class... which is so fun. What a bunch of spazzes!

Finally, tonight I made a tofu scramble. I ended up making SO MUCH FOOD! ha ha. I guess we'll be eating this for breakfast tomorrow too. But that's no problem, because it was really good. It's got tofu, beans, potatoes, chard, tomatoes, red onion, green pepper, parseley, garlic, brocolli, cumin, basil, turmeric, and salt and pepper. Oh yum. We had it with salsa, which was extra good. I almost never make tofu scramble... why?! It's so easy and filling and yummy!

14 comments:

  1. Wow--tons of food! That applesauce galette sounds (& looks) like my kind of recipe--and homemade applesauce is such a perfect touch! I enjoyed all your pics here... and I think it's wonderful that you hung out with your nephew! I can't wait till my neices get old enough to cook with me (the oldest is 3 right now). And I feel you about 82 degree weather--that was actually yesterday's high, and it was almost the record high for the day. Sigh, global warming creeps in....

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  2. What a nice gift from your yoga students! Your smoothie looks so delicious, and I like the bamboo-shaped glass they put it in. I wonder how many times you will have to make that no-knead bread before I actually try it - one of these days I will get around to it! That applesauce galette is so pretty, too - I will have to look up that book. It's so neat that you got to cook with your nephew. Sounds like lots of fun - and it definitely looks like he enjoyed it!

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  3. Everything looks so delicious! Amey, you should seriously look into opening a cafe or catering business or something... (as if you're not busy enough!) I'm especially attracted to the smoothie, the salad, and the galette- can you tell I'm craving fresh fruits and veggies lately??

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  4. Your raw meal looks tasty as does all the other food on your posts. And I love a tofu scramble- I may love it a little too much because it's all I seem to make.

    Your nephew is adorable and so proud of those orange cupcakes, it must have so much fun to bake with him. I love the idea of first graders doing warrior one- how cute!

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  5. The applesauce galette looks beautiful… I love the orange cupcakes…what a cool colour! Your nephew is a little sweetie!

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  6. that gallette is to die for!

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  7. Man I need to make that bread!! Yours is the prettiest one I've seen so far.

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  8. Your bread is amazing. I made it once and it had a rubbery texture inside with no taste. You did a great job! I love tofu scramble too! Pretty much a staple on weekends. Great post!

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  9. Hi Laura!
    Yeah, I feel a bit immoral enjoying the warm weather, knowing that it is coming from global warming. ugh. All the same, it's nice to sit out in the sun. :) Also, you will have so much fun cooking with your neices. The most important thing is that they love to help. So even if things are a bit lumpy or unattractive, they will love helping out!

    Hi Kati!
    You would really like the Fran Costigan book - there's no refined sugar in any of the desserts!! And, they all look really, really good.

    Hi Bazu!
    Thanks! I don't actually feel like I'm such a clever cook, because I never make up recipes of my own. I'm basically adept at following recipes! :) And I know what you mean about fruits and veggies... I've been having a smoothie every morning for breakfast - I love it!

    Hi VKO,
    Yeah, the first graders doing yoga is VERY cute. They are complete spazzes, so it needs to be a constant level of activity for the first 20 minutes or so. I still haven't managed to exhaust them enough that they can relax for savasana. Maybe next week! :)

    Hi ScottishVegan!
    Thanks! I certainly think my nephew is a little sweetie. It was so fun baking with him. It was even his idea!

    Hi Linda!
    :) don't die! Just make yourself a galette! It was very, very easy!

    Hi Jess!
    Yes, so far I've had good luck with the no-knead. It always turns out SO beautifully. (and tasty!)

    Hi Veg-a-nut!
    I saw on your blog that you made some and didn't like it. Too bad. Try adding a bit more salt (up to 2 teaspoons), and also using 1/3-1/2 whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat). That gives it a bit more flavor. Also you can add in nuts or raisins or anything else that suits your fancy. Finally, I only bake it for about 10 minutes once you remove the lid (not 30 minutes!). I say give it another try - it's been the most crazy-successful bread recipe I've ever tried!

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  10. Wow... I'm tired after this post :) Everything looks great - and your nephew is a cutie patootie!

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  11. That galette looks gallopingly gorgeous.

    I would not be able to resist trying those raw rings either.

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  12. Anonymous7:46 PM

    I love mega posts! You've got so much good stuff on here I don't even know where to start. The raw food looks great but I'm with you on the whole digestion thing.

    I tried the no knead bread after seeing it on your blog and it didn't turn out at all. I tried using white whole wheat flour for all the flour (when really I should have only used it for 1/3 of the flour). After the 18 hour period, is it supposed to be really wet? I had to spoon it out of the bowl it was so unmanageable. Good tip about the 10 min cooking time after lifting the lid. I think after all of your great reviews of it I'm going to give it another go.

    I made the pb french toast from your book and it was excellent. More dessert than breakfast for us but I'll definitely make again.

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  13. Hi VivV!
    Sorry to hear that your NoKnead bread didn't turn out. Yes, the dough should be very wet after 18 hours... but it should hold together in a loose sticky dough (not be spoonable!). I think at least half white flour is important for this recipe.

    I'm so glad you liked the french toast. It's very dessert-y!

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  14. Anonymous6:32 AM

    Looks amazing all the food, cute photo!

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