Insta-Foods Take Three

   

          

              

I've been way too neglectful of this blog lately because I've just started rehearsals for my next show, but maybe a quick instagram post will sort of make up for it ;)

1. Kettle corn, purchased at the Renaissance Faire I attended with a few friends two weekends ago. Honestly, not sure it was vegan, and it definitely wasn't healthy in the amount consumed (Laurie and I ate nearly the whole bag just on the two hour ride home) but - it was a faire! At least I brought my own lunch and avoided fried noms. No foodie regrets.

2. Brunch at a nearby all-vegan cafe. That's tofu scramble, broccoli, "sausage" patties (from the taste/texture, I think quinoa and black bean possibly), biscuits, and "cheesy" grits. Yum. And one plate made me three meals - so much food!

3. Chocolate Covered Katie's vegan cornbread, topped with PB & Co's white chocolate peanut butter and apricot jam. It was delish, but I think I got the texture wrong. Too much applesauce.

4. Morning oatmeal, my usual fare. This time with cinnamon, banana, & berries as a topping.

5. Chocolate Covered Katie's apple pie pancakes with sugar-free maple syrup. Yeah, I make a lot of Katie's recipes. Because they're amazing.

6. Outback Steakhouse's Hearts of Mahi dish. My roommate's lovely parents took us both out to dinner, and well, I figured a bit of fish couldn't hurt me. It was my first animal product in about a month; it was topped with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and served with veggies. Yum.

Berry Banana Bonanza Oatmeal

I have a confession to make: I love breakfast. 

Breakfast is what encourages me most to get out of bed in the morning and get my day going. I would be such a grumpypants without it. Even so, my breakfasts are not extremely varied due to time constraints (i.e. college and my lazy butt not wanting to get up at 7 am to make pancakes and whatnot) and I usually revert to either cereal or oatmeal.

My favorite cereals are Whole-O's or Barbara's Honey Rice Puffins with sliced banana, almond milk, cinnamon, and a drizzle of honey. This rarely varies. But my oatmeal...I can do anything with my oatmeal.

Including mixing in applesauce, nut butters, banana, honey, maple syrup, raisins...and berries. Sometimes I just throw them in, but lately I've been using my new food processor (the Ninja) to blend it up a bit and really get the flavors mixed it. 

Monday morning I created the "berry banana bonanza"*

It involves...

• 2 handfuls frozen mixed berries (blueberry, blackberry, strawberry)
• One sliced banana
• Cooked stovetop oats
• Cinnamon (to taste, I like a lot)
• Tablespoon of honey

It was very simple. I cooked the oats, threw them in my Ninja with half the banana, the berries, cinnamon, and the honey. Blended it until I liked the creamy texture, put it in a bowl, and threw the rest of the banana on top. Easy peasy and very delicious. Should definitely give your morning a vitamin C kick should you try it ;)

What are some of your favorite breakfast foods/oatmeal mix-ins?

Sonja

*many thanks to my lovely roommate Nicole for the title

New Nuts

Hazelnuts, that is.

The Product: Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter. It's basically an all-natural vegan answer to Nutella - a product that most people with a pulse adore. I've tried Justin's Maple Almond Nut Butter in the past and adored it, so I was pretty excited to try another variety, especially one with chocolate in the title.

Even so, I am a cheapsie college student (and jars run 8-9 dollars, eep!) so I only bought the sample packet. As you can see from the rather attractive picture of me above nomming on it. Do you like my robe? I wear it all the time. Really.

The Verdict: I tried it on toast, but do you see what I ended up doing? Just slurping it straight out of the package. It was delicious. I would say a lot like Nutella except a tad less sweet (a plus in my book, since Nutella always felt like more of a dessert than a spread for sandwiches and such) and the texture was a little less smooth. That's fairly normal with naturally processed nut butters, so nothing I wasn't expecting. It still spread wonderfully on the toast. All in all, a great buy! I'll probably splurge for a jar very soon...

What's In My Pantry?

If this were a vlog or fancy home cooking show, this would be the point at which the catchy jingle plays. You know, like a pretty little ding and then a chorus of voices all "what's in my pantryyyyyy tonight, Sonja?" (and then a kitten enacting cartoon violence).

Five points to Ravenclaw if you got that reference!*

Today I'd like to share with you guys a run-down of the items I typically keep on hand in my pantry/fridge. My typical groceries. I find I'm always very interested in this sort of thing when perusing other blogs/cookbooks - it's good to get an idea of ingredient staples so mealtimes don't become such guesswork, and more of a combining of favorites. And of course so I always have items on hand to make yummy goodies!

             

Pantry #1

Nut Butters, always plural (Please don't fall over from shock)

Organic Publix applesauce, unsweetened

Raisins/Amazins/Dried fruit

Almonds or other nuts

Pasta & pasta sauce (gluten free; good for a quick dinner)

Brown rice/quinoa/sweet potatoes

Vitamins (C and D) & probiotic capsules

Canned beans (garbanzo, black beans)

Organic honey, preferably raw

Canned soup for another quick dinner option (Amy's or Wolfgang Puck's)

Not fully pictured (there's a section above & underneath)

Pantry #2 (shared with my roomies)

My tea collection
Flaxseeds
Bananas
Apples
Cereal (Whole O's, Honey Rice Puffins)
Rolled oats
Oil (Canola/Veggie/Olive)
Spices (Cinnamon's my fave!)
Himalayan Pink Salt
Gluten-free flour
Agave nectar
Baking soda/powder, cocoa powder
Chocolate chips :)

Fridge

Almond milk, unsweetened

Greens, greens, greens (spinach, salad mix, kale, swiss chard)

Carrots

Cucumber

Any fruits or veggies that are on sale/in season/catch my eyes

Hummus (usually Sabra classic, occasionally I make my own)

Earth Balance vegan butter spread

Firm tofu, tofu noodles

Apple Cider Vinegar

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Freezer

Veggie burgers/patties

Frozen veggies

Frozen berries

And that's the basics, folks. Soon I'll put up a post about my typical day-to-day eats so you can get an idea of just what I make out of all these goodies! I tend to repeat meals a lot once I find something I like, but it is neat how many different things I can make out of that (relatively) short list above.

What are some of your pantry must-haves?

Sonja

*See The Most Awesome Late Night Show Host Ever. Points not exchangeable for Slytherin, Gryffindor, or Hufflepuff credit.

Sushi Me

Sushi is awesome. I've not always liked it, but taste buds change and now it's almost a constant craving. Since I couldn't stomach even the idea of raw fish, I've always stuck to either veggie, tofu, or smoked salmon rolls. This made it an easy food to continue eating after I cut out meat, since veggie rolls are delicious! I've tried a few different sushi places, and sometimes the veggies combos are a little sparse and disappointing (read: only cucumber, carrot, and avocado at one place. Um, what? I paid five dollars for this roll!).

But I recently visited a cafe downtown with my friends, and this was by far the best veggie roll I've ever had.

Beautiful presentation, too. Except for at the end where I already dug in. Oops!

This roll was stuffed with veggies - avocado, carrot, cucumber, AND asparagus plus two veggies I couldn't actually place. One was soft, brownish, and sweet but I don't think it was onion and the other was, I think, some type of pickled Japanese veggie.

I apologize for my inadequate knowledge in these areas. My brain often eats before it inspects...

Two of my friends also sampled different types of sushi and were very pleased, while Laurie (who'd previously been to the restaurant) ordered a stir-fry she already knew she loved.

My friend Jess had the lobster mac and cheese:

Needless to say, she loved it.

I didn't sample it myself of course, but it looked way more delicious than my iPhone camera gives it credit for.

All in all, a very pleasant experience. I hadn't dined out in awhile due to both budgeting and my dietary issues so it was great! I'd been super nervous that I would find an appropriate vegan option but all was well :)

What are some of your favorite foods when going out to eat?

Sonja

The Bakery Dream

I think it's about time we talk about something:

The Bakery.

The Bakery is very special to me. To own and operate The Bakery is my dream. More specifically, it's the dream of my hometown bestie, Liz (you know, staunch supporter of carrot juice) and myself.

The Bakery has a real name, but I'm afraid that's top secret for now. Don't want it squirreled away from us before we can even begin!

Liz and I, after having re-created The Portal Cake in delicious German Chocolate form.

Liz and I have been friends and baking partners for some time now, and we've known each other since eighth grade (we're both college juniors currently). It wasn't until about senior year of high school The Bakery Dream began to be realized, however. 

Our brie-apple tarts avec a sprig of mint.

We love to bake. For ourselves, for family, for fun: nearly every time we get together (and that's a lot, when we're both at home visiting parents) we make something delicious. We enjoy both creating our own recipes based on cravings and tackling more complex ones like tiramisu, biscotti, and souffles.

  

One of our favorite go-to treats is pie, particularly apple or strawberry.

We'll make anything. Cupcakes, candy, cookies, tarts...

Fancy pear, white wine, and caramel...things?

We've even made Grace Helbig's sweet weenies for a fun experiment. 

Spoiler alert: they're awesome.

Whatever you want, we want to have at our bakery. The idea is to own the bakery together later in lives, after each of us has sampled our respective careers. It's sort of...the perfect way to settle down, in our eyes.

Maybe some day we'll even be on cupcake wars! Keep an eye out ;)

Sonja

Carrot Juice

Can I introduce you to one of my very good friends?

Odwalla's organic is my favorite brand, but Boathouse is a good (read: cheaper) alternative.

People of the internet, meet Mr. Carrot Juice. Good Sir Juice has been my very tasty and healthy companion over the last few weeks. My colonics doctor recommended this to me over winter break for the health benefits, and though I'd never had it straight carrot before (as a child I loved Vruit's carrot-apple juice) I immediately stopped by Whole Foods and bought a half-gallon of Odwalla's organic carrot juice.

It helped that my sweetie hometown bestie, Liz, had recently bought a juicer and was already raving about the fresh carrot juice she'd been consuming by the barrel. Liz and I have extraordinarily similar tastes.

So I dove in, confident I would like it.

I love it. Carrot juice is so smooth but not thin, with a refreshing natural sweetness. Give me a cup and it's gone in minutes - I can't help it! It's truly a fabulous drink, with so many benefits, including:

• Improvement of the function/detoxification of the liver & digestive tract
• Rich in vitamins & minerals such as vitamin E, vitamin A, potassium, and beta-carotene
• It is a very calorie-light juice that needs no added sugar
• It is good for the skin and has anti-aging properties
• It's delicious!

It's also a great addition to my favorite banana apple smoothie!

Delicious. A perfect pick-me-up while doing homework, as you can see in the background...

Well, I'd better get back to that, I suppose! Happy healthy drinking!

Sonja