Kitsch-tastic!

Yeah!!! Summer term is over. Grades aren't out yet, but I think I did awesomely in all three classes. Oh, and get this . . . I really like chemistry now. It was pretty cool to start at something so abstract and have it built up into something amazingly complex and meaningful. Yeah, I know I'm a nerd.
To celebrate my summer courses ending, I made a trip over to Last Chance Thrift Store (Decatur location) to hunt for some treasures.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE 1970's kitschy designs and color schemes of yellow, avocado greens, browns and oranges. These magical color combos were a definite in the house I grew up in (*although I'm quite sure my folks would call them "tacky" or "hideous" instead of magical). I recall our kitchen being modest and a bit darker than other parts of the house due to the brown cabinets that overpowered the muted/pale yellow counter tops and linoleum floors (I think they were yellow . . . I'm getting old and my memory is fading). We had this amazing shaggy green carpet throughout the house and of course wood paneling on the walls in several rooms. I loved it!
One thing is for sure, I didn't grow up around fancy matching Pyrex glassware and I don't recall my mom hosting a Tupperware party at our house, but for some reason I am especially drawn to Pyrex casserole dishes and nifty Tupperware from that era. There is something about these things that are so comforting and really, really hard to pass up when I see them at a thrift store. Needless to say, I was super happy when I came upon 3 awesome items that only cost a total of $5.
The first thing I found were these matching Tupperware containers that didn't look quite deep enough to store salad dressing but clearly looked like some sort of container for a liquid condiment. After some research, I found out that these gems are oil and vinegar cruets. They are in very good shape and only cost $2 for the pair!!!


Next I found this crazy spaceship looking item that turned out to be a kitchen timer, made by Presto (Eames Era Space Age UFO design). I had a hard time finding out a lot about this particular gadget so, I'm not a 100% on the Eames Era tip, however, it was only a dollar, I needed a kitchen timer, it looks freakin cool and it works!


The last beauty I found was a Pyrex Woodland Brown Flower 1 quart casserole dish. It doesn't have a lid, but honestly, even when I have casserole dishes with glass lids, I hardly ever use them. This was $2, which is a little more than what I would spend on an incomplete piece, but it HAD to come home with me! It was practically begging me.


Now, I gotta start prepping for the Indian meal I am making for Jared tonight. It seems like I haven't made a decent meal in forever. I hope I didn't lose my touch in the kitchen and it turns out well enough to brag about.
I'll be visiting everyone's blog super soon!

Ikea finds, 100 calorie snack, Udon Noodle Splurge

This first picture isn't anything spectacular, just my breakfast of coffee with light soymilk and a piece of whole wheat toast with a little natural peanut butter. What I am excited about is the dishes and coffee press in the picture. We went to Ikea to find a lamp for our living room and I found this cute cup and saucer set, where the saucer is large enough on one side to have a piece of toast or other breakfast goodie on it. The cup and saucer were $6. I also have been wanting a coffee press and found this one for $12.
I <3 Ikea!

I'm sure everyone has seen those pre-packaged 100 calorie snacks on the market now. I have seen a few of my fellow bloggers making their own, and thought that was a good idea. Since I am trying to cut my fats and sugary carbs, I decided to make a 100calorie snack plate with veggies and sea salt. This plate had carrot sticks, cucumber spears, daikon radish sticks and cauliflower florets. It's amazing how tasty and filling 100 calories really can be.

Since I had extra calories left from the day I splurged on dinner tonight. I made a noodle bowl with whole wheat Udon noodles, lite tofu, cabbage and onions with a soy/teriyaki/sriracha sauce with sesame seeds and cucumbers. This meal was hefty, coming in at 500 calories, 14 grams of fat (it also had 11 grams of fiber and 21 grams of protein) but it sure was good . . . and I still have enough calories for an apple for dessert/snack later!

I <3 the Farmers Market

I think I am seriously in love with the The DeKalb Farmers Market. It is a warehouse sized building packed to the brim with loads of wonderful things. They do carry meats, fish and dairy BUT they also carry a huge selection of soy milks/yogurts/margarines, faux meats, organic produce, loads of international foods and the name brand grocery items you'd find at Whole Foods for way cheaper. Basically, it’s my version of heaven (you know, when you take away the non-vegan stuff). They also have several kinds of nut butter machines (such as cashew, almond and peanut), a very lovely cut flower section, fresh coffee, a deli with olives and various pickled items, a bakery with lots of vegan breads/muffins/bagels and a wine/beer section with quite a few organic choices. One thing I really, really love about this Farmers Market is the bulk items they have. Think of just about any dried fruit, nut, seed, spice, grain, bean or snack you'd like and they have it already bagged and reasonably priced (and most of the time organic). Another cool thing is that they have a HUGE recycle center in the parking lot so I always bring my recyclables and drop them off before shopping! So, if you are ever in Atlanta, this is a must go to place. The best time to go is in the mornings or the afternoons during the week (the weekends are PACKED). Oh yeah, and they have a fantastic cold salad bar and hot bar with lots of vegan items for lunch and dinner (open 11 a.m til 8 p.m.) but a lot of people go there during lunch. I had lunch there at about 1 p.m. today and it was still full of people on their lunch breaks. I got a plate full of salad and some tofu from the hot bar and it was under $3! Now on to the groceries!
The veggie items I got included white creamer potatoes (20% off), fresh herb packet with rosemary, thyme and sage, cauliflower, zucchini, green onions, an English cucumber, garlic, shallots, a red onion, daikon radishes, Roma tomatoes, asparagus (really cheap!) and carrots. All of the veggies were about $15 and mostly organic!

The fruits included organic bananas, Granny Smith apples, Empire apples, Gala apples, Fortune apples, a lime and a few lemons. All of these fruits added up to about $7 (all the apples were discounted by 20%).

Finally, the bulk/grocery items included organic pearled barley, organic dried kidney beans, organic almonds, nutritional yeast, Herbes de Provence (for 68 cents!), garlic salt, red Thai curry paste, organic canned whole peeled tomatoes, organic canned tomato sauce, organic canned diced tomatoes, dried cranberries and organic dried garbanzo beans. This stuff was the priciest coming in at around $25 but most of these items will last a very long time.

As you can tell, today's trip to the Farmers Market was basically to restock my pantry, counter tops and fridge. I think I did pretty good coming in at around $50 and I got to have a delicious meal before I shopped.

culinary loves and dislikes

I have seen some of my favorite vegan bloggers in the past post about things they love love love and things they rarely cook with or eat. I haven't been making anything too interesting lately (except bread with my new bread machine) so I decided to list things that I couldn't live without and things I could always do with out.

Starting with the loves:
1. Avocado- when I was a kid, I thought I hated avocado or more specifically, guacamole . . . this hatred ran deep even though I never tried it. Finally when I was about 23 my friend Katie (also a vegan!) made her famous guacamole and I decided to try it. She single-handedly changed my mind about avocados and I fell in love with them instantly. Its full of fat, flavor and believe it or not, fiber!
2. Potatoes- I have never ate a potato I didn't like. I like them roasted, baked, fried or in a soup or stew. Before I was vegan, I was trying not to eat dairy for an elimination diet and decided that I actually love a plain ol' baked potato with sea salt. Its kinda cool to taste something like that so simply. My favorite way to eat a potato though is hash brown style fried in canola oil with garlic salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, sweet onions, soy sausage and maple syrup. That's right, maple syrup.
3. Tomatoes- Growing up, I spent a LOT of time with my Grammie and Poppie. They always had a garden and in the summer time always had tons of tomatoes. Being from the south (they spent half the time in Tennessee/Appalachian Mountain area, and the other half in Florida which is technically in the south) we had tomatoes at every meal. My favorite was having biscuits, gravy and slices of tomato with just salt and pepper on them for breakfast. I still to this day eat sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper . . . they just don't taste as nice as my Grammie and Poppies.
4. Watermelon- If I wasn't allowed to eat any other fruit for the rest of my life except watermelon I would be okay with that. I love the sweetness, juiciness (so juicy it quenches a thirst!) and I like that it is it's own bowl. In fact one of my fondest memories as a kid was my dad getting a watermelon from a guy's pickup truck on the side of the road, coming home and having him cut it in half. He'd stick a spoon in each half and we'd eat it as if it was in a bowl. He'd always have to finish mine off though, so he'd get 3/4ths of a huge watermelon . . . luckily he loves watermelon as much as me. I bet I could finish a whole watermelon off now all by myself.
5. Coconut Milk- As a vegan, I appreciate coconut milk now more than ever. Thai has always been one of my favorite cuisines and we all know that coconut milk is a predominant base for all of their lovely sauces. My favorite coconut based Thai dish is red curry peanut sauce. Oh man. I also love coconut milk in smoothies and rice puddings. Yum!
6. Onions/Garlic/Shallots/Chives- Sweet onions, such as the Vidalia, are my favorites, but I also love red onion and green onions. I am not sure what food would be like if I never knew of onions. Imagine a world without ONION RINGS!!! Leeks are pretty rad too, especially in soups. There are few dishes I make without garlic and few vinaigrettes I don't have shallot in. I also couldn't see a dip or baked/roasted potatoes with out some chives snipped in. Ironically, I use to hate onions as a kid.

Dislikes. I wouldn't say I hate anything (besides the obvious non-vegan items) but I do have strong dislike for a few items, even though at times I will suffer through a meal if they have these items.
1. Mushrooms- I've tried really hard to like mushrooms. I've had grilled portabella caps, stuffed mushroom caps, on top of pizza, in pasta dishes and in salads but I just can't like them. Funny thing is, I like the flavor, I just can't stand the texture. My brain thinks of them slimy and rubbery. The only mushrooms we usually have in the house is if Jared does the shopping (he loves them) OR we do have some dried shitaki mushrooms for when I am making an Asian veggie broth, which of course they would be strained from. Sorry, I just can't like mushrooms.
2. Olives- Like mushrooms, I have tried over and over to like them. I LOVE olive oil, I like the flavor of a briny olive juice but I just cannot like the texture of olives. I will eat olives if they are in something, but not a whole lot of them. Canned black olives are an absolute NO though . . . the kind they put on nachos and pizza. Those just gross me out.
3. Artichokes/Artichoke Hearts- I'm not sure why I don't like artichokes. There is something texturally I don't like. They seem chewy and that is not something I like in a veggie. Pre-vegan days, I was known to partake on the famous spinach artichoke dip at parties (you know, the dip in the big bread bowl) but I went out of my way to avoid the chunks of artichokes. My dad made artichoke dip that he blended very, very well and it wasn't bad. I will not eat them in a salad, pasta dish or on a pizza. I might try a fresh artichoke boiled and then the leaves dipped in melted Earth Balance, but that is a big maybe.
4. Brown Rice/Whole Wheat Pastas- The difference with this dislike is that I will eat these things if that is what people make for dinner but you'll never see my buying or serving such things. Jared loves these things but I just never got into them. Growing up, we just never had brown rice or whole wheat pastas and my palate is just really use to the sweet, starchiness of the white varieties.
5. Raisins- One of the very few dried fruits I can't stand. I just can't get past the thought that they were once grapes. I know and love the taste of grapes and it just seems wrong to make them all wilty and make them not taste like a grape. Again, I would eat raisins in very small amounts but you won't see my oatmeal cookies with them or my celery peanut butter snacks with raisin "ants."

What are some of your Loves and Dislikes?

kitchen appliance wish list

If I had a huge kitchen and a lot of money, these are some things I'd want. The first two I will get eventually, but the last three are things I don't necessarily need. That's why these lists are fun!

1. Ice Cream Maker. I borrowed my dad and step mom's once but I wasn't too excited about it at the time. Now that we buy a pint of vegan ice cream just about every week, its getting pricey! Plus, there are some flavor ideas that just aren't in the stores like blueberry pie or peach cobbler that I'd like to master.
I'd like the smaller Cuisinart® Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker that makes 1.5 quarts of frozen delights.

2. Bread Machine. My dad emailed me that they got a bread maker and I have been jealous ever since. I use to not be a huge fan of bread however fresh baked bread from the farmers market has changed my tune. Fresh bread goes stale quick so we only get it when we go to the farmers market which is at best twice a week and have to pretty much eat it within a day or two. I would like fresh bread several times a week. Bonus is that we know exactly what is in our bread.
I don't have an opinion really on what brand I want. Just one that works really well.

3. Rice Cooker. We have a veggie steamer that has a bowl to make rice in, which we use at least once a week. A dilemma I have is on the nights I make steamed veggies and rice is it is hard to coordinate. If I do the veggies 1st, they get cold (and we do not have and do not really want a microwave) but if I do rice 1st it gets too sticky. It would just be easier to have one for veggies and one for rice, for me anyway.
Cheap is the way I'd go here. I would like one that keeps the rice warm though.

4. Deep Fryer. This would be a total glutenous purchase but would come in handy. I could make all sorts of awesome fried treats like onion rings, tempura veggies and corn dogs among may other things. I am not sure that I would actually ever buy a fryer but that is why its on a wish list and not in my kitchen.
Don't they make a Baby Fry Daddy or something?

5. Dehydrator. So, yeah, this is on the opposite end from a fryer. Jared loves dried fruits and I think it would be fun to make our own. Plus I always see some pretty amazing raw recipes I'd like to try that call for a dehydrator. I know I could probably mess around my convection oven on low temperatures but since this is a wish list, a dehydrator is going on here.
If I ever got a dehydrator, it would be one I found at a garage sale or something.

first off

My husband Jared has been a vegan since September 2006, and I only recently became vegan, about 2 and 1/2 months now. We have quickly become incredibly passionate about living as vegans. My favorite way to spend time is to recreate our non-vegan favorites, and I have to say it has been very satisfying. I love to cook and being able to cook has made being vegan easy and has saved Jared and I tons of money since we rarely eat out now. We live in Decatur, GA, which is about 15 minutes away from Atlanta, and we do have a variety of places we can eat, at least compared to Tampa, FLA, where we recently moved from. Even though we do have places we can eat, they are very rarely strictly vegan places, which means we still have to ask lots of questions and aren't completely trusting when we get our food.
This blog will be a forum for me to showcase my delicious homemade vegan meals, share recipe ideas, discuss local restaurants when we do eat out and some of our favorite places to shop.