Sweet Potato Qesadillas, Watermelon and PETA Veggie Dogs

I love quesadillas....so chewy and good even without cheese! These are a variation on te Yucca ones in VCON. I didn't feel like getting frozen yucca, and honestly, I don't feel like trying yucca. I know I know. We should be open to trying new things, but it just sounds so starchy. Anyway, I had some lovely sweet potatos from the farmer's market, so I mashed them up with black beans, cumin and lime juice. Then I added sauteed garlic, red pepper and jalepeno. I put the mixture on a tortilla and then pan fried it with the other tortilla lined with vegan cream cheese. Yum. I then added a fresh corn salsa on top! Vegan baby loved it!

The next pic is just a pretty pink watermelon from the market. I'm sure vegan baby will be eating this all week long!

Today, on my lunch break, I walked downtown to get a veggie dog from our local PETA. I heard they were settign up a stand with the lettuce girls-those are the bikini clad gals- giving away free veggie dogs to the downtown lunch crowd. Thanks PETA!

Pistachio Rosewater Cookies

I made the Pistachio Rosewater Cookies from VCON. I was wanting to bake something a bit more "exotic" and chose these. Man, pistachios are expensive! I got the shelled ones and spent some time shlling them. The rosewater was realy cheap, but I could not taste it. The main lavor to me was lime, which is fantastic! I love lime and am going to add more to this recipe!

Bars, fritters, farmer's market bounty

So, I made the Nanaimo Bars and they were really yummy. I freaked out a little bit,as I realized I had no coconut!! I remembered going to the isle and grabing coconut, but did it make it to check out?? Ugh...Anyway, I added more cookies, but I think the bottom layer would be better with the coconut. LOVE the custardy middle layer. I added a tbl of vegan instant pudding mix for additional creaminess. I had not had baker's choc in a while, and it is so rich and dark. Yumminess....

As you can see, vegan baby is eating watermelon slices by himself! He is always serious when he eats, and I can't figure out how to rotate the pic now that it is posted. It wasn't rotated when I uploaded it, so wtf??

I then made the corn fritters from VWAV. So easy and good! They would be really good with a sweet chutney or chunky salsa. I had them with some sweet potato fries and some Amy' s vegan chili.

Here is what I got from the farmer's market today for about 8$: big, seedless watermelon ( vegan baby will love!), 4 ears of corn, 1 onion and a pretty red pepper.

Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy

I am so glad that I finally made this recipe from VWAV.I LOVE VWAV, and I use it more than VCON. This was so nutritous--chicpeas, nooch, I added kale, corn and grean beans over mashed potatoes with baked tofu .You could easily make this a yummy casserole too! Vegan baby enjoyed it!

Mini Peanut Butter Bombs!

I love mini cupakes when they decadent. These are peanut butter cupcakes, with beanut butter frosting diped in ganache from VCTOW. After I dolloped the frosting on the cakes, I froze them for a bit. This made it a lot easier to dip them into the ganache, which was easier than drizzling. I am not very good at making ganache look al smooth and perfect. I could definately use some tips!

I love this salsa recipe! I tend to blend it too much, and I would like have it more chunky. Mybe blend and then add in the chopped veggies? I really want to experiment with more salsa recipes including fruit ones. I also made this Farmer's Market Stir Fry form my first veggie cookbook that my mom got me. it is easy and has peanut butter......I tend to put too much sauce, so the veggies get a bit soggy. I really want a wok, so they cook evenly and are crisoy! This pictue was layed out the right way, yet when I post it it get turns upside down..???

100 Mile Potluck

We went to a local 100 Mile potluck: you had to bring a dish that had atleast 1 local ingredient. I made peach/blackberry (that I picked!) cobbler, and my friend made brushcetta with lovely heirloom and cherry tomatoes. Soooo good. We got to the potluck about halfway through. There was a lot of vegan dishes, but they were almos 3/4 gone! We filled our plates, and what we did eat was very fresh and flavorful: wheatberry salad, curried potatoes, cantelope. There were gorgeous flowers from the farm as centerpieces too! Vegan baby ate a lot!

Nanaimo Bars

Sarah Kramer is too cute! I can't wait to make these fo rmy friends!

Sarah Kramer's Nanaimo Bars from Everyday Dish TV on Vimeo.

Mexican stir fry

I like to make a mexican "stir fy" to put over crunch cabbage or romaine lettuce with tortilla chips. I love how the cabbage looks like pretty, purple flowers. Basically, it is usually a hodge podge but always has beans, peppers and lime juice. This time it had a bit more veggies, from my farmer's market and csa loot. Included is: pinto beans, soy chorizo, tomatoes and jalepenos, peppers, onions, garlic, kale, zucch, lime juice, chili powder and crushed red pepper. I put some balsalmic vinegar over the cabbage and then put the stirfry on top with chips. Vegan sour cream is good too! It is based on the Soy Amigo from the Native Foods cookbook.

I also made the green tea cupcakes from VCTOW. Love the green batter!

CSA

A friend of mine is out of town and gave me her CSA share. There was tomatos,(heirloom and grape), garlic, onions, chives, basil, potatos, squash and zucchini. I am thinking of making the Greek Style Zucchini and Tomato Fritters from VCON for a 100 mile potluck this Sun. Has anyone ever made these? I am hoping vegan baby will like the cherry tomatos!

Samosa Stuffed Potatos

I made the VCON Samosa Stuffed Potatos on Sun, and I am still eating them. I am a busy mom of a 1 yr old, and these are perfect as leftovers! I used what I had- kale, green beans, and veggie sausage. I also used baby potatos. I really wanted to spread them with some vegan sour cream, but I only had vegan ceam cheesse...perfect! I like the baby potatos best, and I think they would be great finger food at a party!

Trip to the farm

On Sat, some friends, vegan baby and I went to a local farm and picked peaches, blueberries and blackberries. As you can tell by the picture, we got A LOT of fruit, and vegan baby LOVES blueberries! I wish i would have gotten more blackberries, as they were soo plump, juicy and easy to pick. I've given a lot of the peaches to friends and families. Once they ripen, i want ot make some cobblers to share....mmmmmm.....

muffins

I made the Lemon Poppyseed muffins (first pic) and the Bakery Syle Berry Muffins from Vegan Brunch. I like the Lemon Poppyseed Muffin recipe in Vegan Brunch better than the one in VWAV, because it doesn't call for soy yogurt---which I don't have all the time. I also added blueberries to the Lemon Poppyseed Muffins, and did both styles jumbo sized!

Great Movie and Farmer's Market Loot

The other night my friend and I went to see JULIE & JULIA. It was a funny and delightful movie. Despite a lot of meat and a horrific lobster scene that I had to close my eyes for, it was a great foodie film. It is 2 parallel stories of Julia Child's start in French cooking, and a modern day blogger that challenges herself to cook all of Julia Child's recipes in 1 yr! Julia Child had a joi de vivre and seeing a food blogger was very inspiring, since I am starting my own blog. We got some yummy iced mochas with organic soy milk to take to the show, though I think we sucked them down on the way!

I went to the downtown farmer's market on my lunch break yesterday. I like going at this time, as it is less crowded than the Sat market in my neighborhood. For $4.50 I got a bunch of kale, 2 heads of cabbage, 3 bannana peppers and a tomato for vegan baby. He loves them! Tomorrow we are going to pick blueberries and peaches!

Fresh corn from the Farmer's Market and chocolate chocolate chip cookies

I love these choc choc chip cookies! They are not healthy cookies, as they have a lot of sugar..but they are super easy to make. They come out nice and chewey too!