Vegan MoFo Day 22: Brooklyn or Bust!!

Hey everyone! Happy Saturday! It was so beautiful today and I'm so glad I got to enjoy the gorgeous weather! I woke up early and started off my day with an 8am training session. I don't normally train on Saturdays but I added on a bonus session this week because I've been feeling amazing and I thought a bonus session (4th session for the week, 3rd day in a row this time!) would really be a great way to start off my day. It felt amazing, nothing like a great session to get the blood pumping early in the morning.

After the gym I came home and had some coffee along with breakfast.

I had a slice of my Carrot Spice Oat Bread with the Peach Amande yogurt. Truth be told I wasn't a big fan of the peach flavor of this yogurt...didn't even finish the serving. So far, strawberry flavor is in, peach is out. It was still a great breakfast! The Oat bread stayed soft and the flavor is just so amazing. To be honest I may try to make it without white sugar next time. It has plenty of sweetness between the maple syrup, banana, carrots and raisins.

A few hours later I wanted a snack to hold me over so I decided to have a few 5 grain gluten free rosemary and garlic crackers with a half of an avocado. You better believe that avocado ended up on the crackers and it was really good and a super satisfying snack.

Then my friend and I headed over to the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. We just hung out and walked around and had a really nice day together :) We found a small farmer's market but it was closing up so they didn't have much out. Oh well.

Sorry for the horrible pic. I ate about a third of this plate of tofu, broccoli, and eggplant with garlic sauce. I didn't take my own advice and it was just heavy and greasy. I also knew what was coming up so I didn't want to fill up on this.

And why would I waste my appetite on that when I can be eating THIS!!!! We detoured to Stogo in NYC and I am SO glad we did. My mission was pumpkin pie ice cream and I had my pumpkin pie ice cream. It. Was. Amazing. I got a small cup with half pumpkin pie and half chocolate chip cookie ice cream. It was so good and it made every minute of my workout this morning even more worth it. I don't treat myself to decadent desserts often but when I do I make sure it is worth it :)

I hope you all enjoyed your Saturday! I am going to rest up now because I am working a wedding tomorrow. Before I go I just wanted to remind you that if you haven't voted in my holiday baking bracket, please do so before midnight tomorrow! I'll post the results next week and we'll move on the the final vote for the four treats I'll bake this holiday season! 

Good night!

Vegan MoFo Day 21: Gluten Free Carrot Spice Oat Bread!!!!

Happy Friday everyone!!! I am so excited about today's post! Not only do I have a delicious treat to share with you, but I have a recipe to go with it! Yay!

I get out of work early on Mondays and Fridays since I have late days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and because I work so much on the weekends. I left at 1pm today and really had the urge to bake. I think I was inspired by Isobelle's post from yesterday because I decided to try and do some gluten free baking today. I have been craving some carrot cake bread kind of thing lately and decided that a gluten free carrot bread would be PERFECT.  I thought it would also be an amazing wait to experiment with oat flour.

I used this recipe as a jump off point but it really took on a life of it's own based on my gluten free goals and the ingredients I had in my pantry so I'll post the final recipe that I used :) But first, check out the final product!

Cooling in the loaf pan!

Cooling on the rack!

Isn't it purdy? ;)

OK so here is my recipe for Carrot Spice Oat Bread! (GF)

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups oat flour

1/2 cup whole oats

1/4 cup vegan sugar

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 medium banana, mashed

1/2 cup plant milk (I used unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze)

1 tsp vanilla

Add In Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups shredded carrot

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and set aside.

2. Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Mix wet ingredients together in a separate small bowl. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.

3. Add the carrots, raisins and walnuts and mix entire batter together. It will seem like there are more add-in ingredients than batter but just mix together as best you can.

4. Pour batter into the loaf pan. Bake for about 25-27 minutes until there is a little resistance in the loaf.

5. Remove from oven and cool in loaf pan for about 5 minutes. Transfer loaf from pan onto a cooling rack and let rest until completely cool. 

Yeah buddy!!

Enjoy!

Vegan MoFo Day 20: The Holidays Are Coming!

Hi kids! The holidays are coming up in a few months and I always going into a baking frenzy! I love the holidays :) I always have a hard time deciding what to bake because there are so many yummy treats out there.  After reading this post by Sage I decided that I wanted YOU, my dear bloggie friends, to help me choose some of the treats I'll bake this holiday season! I'm planning on making two different kinds of truffles and then I thought you can help me narrow this list down from 16 ideas to 4 :)  So I printed out her bracket and made my own list. I know my handwriting isn't as nice as hers but oh well :D

This is where YOU come in. Please leave a comment on this post choosing one treat from each pair (so you'll have 8 choices in one comment). The choice from each bracket that has the most votes will move on to the next vote. We'll go through two votes to narrow down to four tasty treats. You have until midnight on Sunday, October 23 to vote. Please note that you are voting between the two items that have been paired up (which were done in no particular order, only how they popped into my head). I know some pairings are difficult but oh well :) Oh and ps, there is one on here that I definitely plan on making whether you choose it or not but I'm curious to see if you choose it. Thanks for your help in advance! 

Since this is MoFo and a food blog I have to post SOME food pics, no? So for some voting inspiration I'll post the gorgeous treats I baked last holiday season!

Candy Cane Cookies n Cream Chocolate Bark! 

S'mores Bark!

Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

Carrot Chewies. YUM!

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Biscotti. These are phenomenal.

Thanks again for the help and I hope you have fun with it! I'll post the narrowed down choices next week! Yay for Friday tomorrow!

Vegan MoFo Day 19: WTF Wednesday and an Award!

First I would like to start off by thanking Michelle of lovinlivinvegan and Brittany of Brittany's Veg Kitchen for nominating me for the Liebster Blog Award. The award is meant to help boost support for blogs with under 200 followers and I really appreciate the support ladies!  Like most others I didn't know what Liebster meant but have come to found out that it is German for "beloved" or "dearest" but can also mean favorite. Thank you so much ladies!

1. Show you thanks by linking to the person who nominated you.
2. Link to 5 of your top picks and leave a comment on their blog to let them know.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Enjoy the love and support of some wonderful people on the interweb!

My Nominees :)

(I have so many favs so I'm just choosing 6 [I'm a renegade I know], please don't be offended if I don't choose yours, I love all the blogs!)

The Shenandoah Vegan

Sweet And Sage

Food Feud

Vegan and So Forth

VGANJAR

Ingrid Improves

OK, so now let's check out some meals for today. It is so gross and rainy outside I wish I could just stay home and drink coffee and watch stupid movies. Instead I'll work until 9 so I was up early and prepping meals to bring with me. I'm listening to the rain pelt down as I type. Yuck.

For my first meal I wanted to finish up the other half of the avocado I started yesterday before it got brown and gross so I split it up between 2 slices of gf toast. Noms.

My second "meal" is going to be some coffee and a banana that I pick up by work.

For my third meal I decided to make some pasta. 1/3 cup (dry) brown rice pasta with steamed broccoli and zucchini and sauce topped with a little sprinkle of nooch.

Dinner is a simple meal of roasted chickpeas, roasted brussels sprouts and a big ol' carrot. Mmm.

Hope you have a great Wednesday!! P.S. that awesomely affordable and delicious deli by my job...sells 2 oz packets of chia seeds! Why didn't I see this before spending $12 on a bag of chia seeds I'll probably never get through! Eek!

Vegan MoFo Day 18: Look, Food!

Good afternoon everyone :) I FINALLY have some food to show you again. I took a trip to Whole Foods this morning and got some stuff to be able to make some yummy meals to show off! 

I started off my day with a soy latte. It is quite convenient that there is a Starbucks in the same shopping center as Whole Foods. Then I perused the store very leisurely and found lots of awesome stuff so I decided to take pics of my haul.

I only got a few things from the produce section. I got some massive carrots (mmm!!), avocados (on sale 2/$3) and some beautiful brussels sprouts!

Then I also got some raw pumpkin seeds (I'm planning on making sugar and spice roasted pumpkin seeds), Rosemary and garlic crackers, gf oats, 3 bars (Green Superfoods then two new bars to try), raw almonds and dried figs (to make Isobelle's Raw Fig Newtons!).

From the fridge and freezer I grabbed some new finds and some staples. I found the Amande yogurt everyone has been talking about and grabbed 4 (on sale 4/$3!) to try...2 strawberry, 1 peach, 1 cherry. I grabbed a new gluten free bread to try and decided to try coconut creamer instead of soy. I filled in on stuffed grape leaves and Earth Balance. The brown box is some garlicky kale that I decided to try from the prepared section. I've only ever tried raw kale and never really got used to it so I figured I'd try it cooked.

My first solid meal of the day was a strawberry Amande yogurt with some granola sprinkled on top of it. I clearly couldn't wait to try it! It has the best texture of any vegan yogurt I have tried and I love that it has fruit bits in it. By far my favorite so far.

My second meal is a slice of gf toast with 1/2 mashed avocado and a sliced apple. I LOVE this new gf bread I tried. The taste is amazing and it toasts up really nice. It has way better texture than the english muffins. I'm totally converted :) And look how beautiful the avocado is! Noms.

For my third meal I decided to make a bowl to bring to work. This one has brown rice, steamed broccoli and zucchini, the garlicky kale and some Chickpea Gravy from Appetite for Reduction. This is gonna be GOOD!

I suspect that the bowl is going to be filling so I decided to just bring veggies and hummus as my last meal of the day. As you can see I couldn't wait to roast up those brussels sprouts!

As you can see I've had a busy morning with shopping and cooking (roasted the sprouts and I made the gravy today) so I'm gonna rest until I have to leave for work. Have a great day everyone! 

Vegan MoFo Day 17: Thing(s) People Say to Vegans

So I am going to apologize for the less than inspired post today but I figured I'd take my lack of interesting food as a break to tell a story from work yesterday.

The day was great until I encountered an obnoxious comment at the hall. I had my amazing baked oatmeal for breakfast but like an idiot forgot to pack any food to bring with me. This is the first time that happened and it was the worst time for it to happen. During the day I felt like I was getting sick again and run down and really needed food to give me energy to get through my long day. We had to shoot through cocktail hour but I managed to grab some pineapple and a small bunch of grapes.

They took our dinner orders which was actually nice because a lot of places don't give you an option and serve you chicken. Luckily I know which places do this and bring dinner with me and tell them not to bother. I asked what the vegetarian meal was and they told me it was eggplant rollatini. I told them I can't eat eggs or dairy either and if it was possible to get a plate of grilled vegetables. He said they have grilled veggies in the cocktail hour and I should grab some now and I held up my camera and was like I can't I'm working...so it remained unresolved (I don't know why they couldn't throw grilled veggies on a plate but I didn't want to cause problems so I let it go). Now the thing that annoyed me wasn't that they couldn't accommodate a vegan, it was a comment that followed.

One of the other photographers was giving his order to someone else and mentioned something about my being vegan. The person he was ordering from apparently said something along the lines of "I'll go outside and rip up a plant for her." I am sure they found it funny but I didn't find it funny. And to be honest, these people really should think about what they say because I'm a single women with a lot of single friends...aka potential clients for them. You can be sure I wouldn't send them there as my first choice. It left a bad taste in my mouth...or no taste really...I ended up with no meal (even though the clients paid for it) but it just sucked because my energy was just zapped by the end of the night.

Anyway, I can't post without showing you ANY meals so today I tried to eat a bit heartier to make up for the very little I consumed yesterday. I had to eat breakfast super fast because I was running late but it was just some oats. For lunch I got myself some Chipotle ;)

Let's be honest, some meals just are not "pretty." This is one of those meals. Rice and beans and pico de gallo, guacamole and lettuce. So instead of trying to make it pretty I mixed it all up into the delicious mess it is supposed to be. And I enjoyed every bite of it with that bamboo fork :)

Hope you all had a good Monday. The weekend went too fast.

*Edited to add - I just remembered this...we did an all vegan wedding at this same hall in August. I'm going to reiterate that my problem is not that they could not accommodate me. I get that their job is to accommodate the clients. My problem was the comment. I know it wasn't mean to be mean spirited but it just gets old to hear that.

Vegan MoFo Day 16: I Won(!), Veganversary, and Cookies for Breakfast!

Good morning everyone! I'm going to warn you, today's post is going to be so full of awesomeness and happy things that confetti and glitter and balloons may shoot out of your screen! I can't be responsible for the mess ;)

I woke up feeling MUCH better than I did yesterday and saw the sun shining and felt the brisk cool autumn air as I went out to grab a cup of coffee.  Then I decided to check out the results of some giveaways that I had entered and to my total surprise I WON!!!! I am so thankful that Celyn at Miso For Breakfast popped in here to comment on a post because that led me over to her amazing blog. What did I win you ask?

A copy of The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen! I am SO EXCITED! I've wanted this book for a long time but never picked it up so I can't wait to read it and maybe class my cooking up a bit ;) Thanks again Celyn!!

Now, let me explain that this win comes at the PERFECT time. Today, my friends, is my 2nd Veganversary! 2 years ago today I made the decision after being a vegetarian for 8 years to take the next step and go vegan. I have not looked back. I'm happier and healthier than I have ever been. I'm more adventurous and creative in my cooking and eating. It was the best decision I've ever made. Next month I'll be 10 years meat free...2 of them being vegan. I'm debating a tattoo commemorating the milestone. I'll let you know if I decide to go for it!

So, breakfast is the only meal that I have today to really celebrate this milestone and my very first giveaway win...so it should be good, and special. What better way to celebrate than with cookies for breakfast!! No silly, not actual cookies, but how about Chocolate Covered Katie's Cookie Dough Oatmeal Cake?! All of the deliciousness of an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie without all of the calories and fat...eaten right out of the oven.  Count me in!!

Here are the dry ingredients all mixed up. I decided to add a few walnuts and a sprinkling of coconut. Yeah, that's just how I roll ;)

Here it is all ready to go in the oven. Katie gives a lot of leeway in the recipe so I decided to use the mashed banana instead of applesauce, 1 packet of stevia as the sweetener, no added fat and you better believe I put in that cinnamon ;)

Here it is right out of the oven with a few chocolate chips and walnuts sprinkled on top. Doesn't hurt right? ;) Look how beautiful it is, AND it makes the house smell like fresh baked cookies. So amazing.

I decided to take a second while I was devouring this warm bowl of yum to take more pics. Yes, that is the bamboo fork that goes with the spoon (I have a knife and chopsticks to round out the set too). This meal was so delicious. I think next time I may try pumpkin instead of banana and I may drop the oats down to 1/3 of a cup to see if it is more gooey. It was drier than I like my oatmeal so we'll see how that works. Oh and one last thing, don't be like me and forget to spray the ramekin! Whoops! Luckily it wasn't too bad and I was able to scrub it clean but I'm sure life would have been easier if I had greased it properly.

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Finally, check out this amazing nail color I have on right now! It is bright pink and a little glittery. Can't wait to get those pink gloves on with these nails :)

OK I should stop rambling and finish getting ready for work. I hope you all get to enjoy this beautiful Sunday! I may be at work but at least I'll be outside to enjoy the weather.  Later kids!