Here’s what I made:

First, I used Gina’s recipe for calabacitas and used that to stuff the corn tortillas.  I also added beans.  I foolishly did not buy enough corn tortillas to roll each individual enchilada, but I think it worked out better to do the tortillas flat.  That way, there were more veggies/beans per serving.

I ended up making extra servings of this dish.  The second time, I roasted the veggies on a cookie sheet with a lip.  I recommend that method rather than using a deep Pyrex-type dish because the water evaporates better.  Water enchiladas = no bueno.

For a dress rehearsal, I made the enchiladas for dinner to make sure they’d be good.  I sometimes take a chance and try out new recipes on guests, but I’ve been burned a few times.  Above are cheeseless enchiladas.

Cheesey enchiladas for the church peeps.  I had plenty of corn tortillas the night before, so my dish looked like this:

I amped up the amount of veggies and added some homemade guacamole to the mix.  I used Gina’s guacamole recipe.  Good thing I have you bloggers or I couldn’t cook!  I got a lot of compliments on this.

I also made my own enchilada sauce using this recipe:

It was disappointing at first.  It tasted exactly like slightly spicy Campbell’s Tomato Soup.  Ew.  I simmered some dry chilis in the sauce, caramelized some onions and garlic to add… I even added some dashes of spicy pepper sauce (like Tabasco, but TJ’s version).  It was all very meh until the next morning.  I was trying to decide if I should throw it out and just go by some sauce filled with hydrolized corn protein or whatever else they dump in there.  By the morning, it tasted like enchilada sauce!  So if you use that recipe to make homemade sauce, you really need to make it the night before.  Unless you like tomato soup enchiladas, in which case… I really can’t help you.

Then I made ANOTHER blogger recipe… Jena’s Vegan Carrot Cake.  I thought I took a pic of the finished product, but I don’t see it on my camera.  Maybe my camera got hungry and ate it?  All I have is a pic of one (of many) piece of cake:

I pretty much ate nothing but carrot cake all day yesterday.  It was SO good.  The frosting was a little runny because I’m using a new brand of coconut milk that just isn’t as thick as other brands I’ve used that have been almost like butter.  Somewhere else on my site I mention makeing Polly’s Oaty Cakes with thickened coconut milk (I’m too lazy to search for it).  I think you have to make sure you have very fatty, thick and creamy coconut milk if you’re using it in frosting-y or yogurt-y type ways.  Just be warned, it’s one of the consternations of cooking with coconut.

I got a lot of compliments on the carrot cake as well, but there were so many desserts that I had a lot left over (there were a lot of the other desserts left over too, so it wasn’t a slight on the carrot cake).  This is a problem as it is seriously addicting.  I will only be making it if people promise to eat lots of it or take the leftovers home.

Now for some random dinners I never got around to posting:

That’s raw pasta (spiralized beets, squash and zucchini) with marinara, nutritional yeast and grilled portobella mushrooms.

Breakfast tostada:  Black beans, salsa, tofu and nutritional yeast on a ‘zeke tortilla.  Unfortunately, adding nutritional yeast tends to make all my meals look the same.

Tonight’s din will be baked tofu marinated in this delicious sauce with salad:

Shalom,

E.

Nalgene of green monster, Cranberry Lime Polar Seltzer water, Split Pea soup from TJ's, and a slice of zeke bread with PB Loco Sumatra Cinnamon and Raisin Peanut Butter

Notice anything missing?  Like… a canopener?  I was so proud of myself for planning ahead and saving myself spending NINE DOLLARS on, like, a cup of vegetables over in Burlington.  I assumed there would be a can opener in the office kitchen, but it is evidently true what they say about assuming things.  Except I didn’t make an ass out of you or me, I just was hungry and couldn’t eat all my lunch.  So I googled around for about 45 minutes (yeah, I know, I’m productive) trying to find a vegetarian joint nearby.  I gave up, waded through traffic to Whole Foods (seriously, can we put some left turn lights on Cambridge Street through Burlington into Woburn?  That area is a mess) and bought THEIR vegan split pea soup from their hot bar.  When I wants the peas, I wants the peas.  It was a little over $5, which would have bought my 2.5 cans of my stuff from Trader’s.  Oh well.

About PB Loco’s Raisin and Cinnamon PB:

Hello Peanut Butter Addiction!

When I opened this jar, I grabbed myself a spoon and sampled a nice big gob.  Immediately, I was disappointed because there was a weird, chemical-y aftertaste.  Almost like a pesticide.  I couldn’t quite place the aftertaste, but Husband tried it and agreed that he could taste something.  He wondered if it was the alcohol-free vanilla they use.  Maybe.  I was super bummed because I had high hopes for this PB — cinnamon and raisins are things I add in anyway, so all in one jar saved me a lot of steps!

I thought this would just languish in my fridge, but I find myself drawn to it more and more and the pesticide taste is less and less noticeable to me.  Maybe I’m used to it?  Maybe I needed to stir it better?  It did arrive on a hot day and was liquid, so maybe one of the flavors was just very concentrated at the top?

Anyway, I still can’t say I LOVE this PB and will buy it always.  The highest review I can give it is “It grows on you,” and honestly?  For $7 PB (not including shipping)?  It darn well better rock my socks off.

Peace (and peanut butter!)

-E.

Speaking of eats, I mentioned before I bought about a dozen of those bars from Whole Foods to bring with me for my trip to Colorado last weekend — I brought some for me and some to share with my mother-in-law, who is the OG greens eater in the family.  She’s been keepin’ it green since the 70′s.  I originally considered bringing a shaker with some Amazing Grass Superfood, but I wasn’t too sure how I’d like the taste, and filling up a shaker from a bathroom tap just isn’t that appetizing to me.

The bars worked out really well, and it brings me to another tip in healthy eating (remember, tip 1 was pre-chop and cook your veggies and tip 2 was to call ahead to restaurant to scout out your food options).  Tip #3:  Take control of your own destiny.  If you are like me, and your family considers fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn to be a balanced meal… well, if you go home to visit, you are going to need to do some preparation.  Gena has some fabulous tips for traveling at her blog when you’re a guest in someone’s home and you have healthy habits you are trying to stick to.

This past weekend, Husband and I weren’t staying with family or friends, we were in a hotel with no mini-fridge or sink to prep foods.  Before we arrived at our destination, I googled around to find vegetarian or vegan restaurants and ended up discovering the Egg & I looked like our best bet for breakfast since it served lots of egg dishes for Husband and oatmeal for me.  Unfortunately, most of the restaurants in the area looked like they weren’t our kinds of places, so I scoped out the nearest grocery store for emergency trips to the salad bar.  Husband is very patient and supportive of my efforts, so it all ended up working out.  Those bars were total life-savers though because when I get hungry, I get HUNGRY.  That means I want to eat NOW, not 45 minutes from now while we search for a restaurant and order and wait for them to bring us our food.

I really recommend both the Amazing Grass Green Bars and the Greens Plus Chia bars as they were tasty and filling.  Sorry I don’t have any pictures again!  I eat my food way too quickly.  The Greens Plus bars were particularly interesting.  I got the chocolate covered kind, and the insides were very fluffy, almost like a 3 Musketeers bar.  I found that intriguing.  The chia seeds gave it a fun little crunch.  I also brought along raw pepitas and sunflower seeds to snack on.

Okay, more food stuff coming later.  The house is a disaster, time to fix it.

Peace!

-E.

I’ve had good luck with soaked oatmeal (although I haven’t had it in awhile because I was going a bit crazy with it).  And Polly’s Oaty Cakes were heaven, obv.

This morning I went back to my eggs and toast roots, vegan style:

Tofu Scramble, 2 sprouted grain toasts with coconut oil

I made my own Tofu Scramble seasoning, although Husband tells me he grew up eating Tofu Scramble made with an official, store-bought packed of seasoning.  I googled for their recipe and just spiced mine with some cumin, paprika, turmeric and a seasoning blend that kind of has a rich, umami taste to it.  Husband smelled it when he got out of the shower and thought I actually went to the store and bought the packet of seasonings, so I guess it was pretty close to the real thing.  It tasted good.  Real good.

I’ve also had luck with these:

Trader Joe's High Fiber O's with Hemp Milk and a droplet of Vanilla Stevia

This is one of the most satisfying cereals I’ve ever tried.  Cereal burns right up when I eat it, I’m starving like an hour later.  Husband has the same prob.  This stuff sticks with you longer though.  It’s nice to be able to have a quick, roll-out of bed breakfast that doesn’t involve dirtying pans or soaking the night before.

This box is your friend.

Can you read this? It might be too small. It's respectable though, take my word for it.

Always a perfect addition to any breakfast - hemp milk, bananas, kale, spinach, watercress, strawberries, Amazing Grass Superfood powder and a wee bit of Vanilla Stevia. My capitalization of proper nouns is getting out of control.

I’ve decided to switch from using hemp milk to unsweetened vanilla almond milk as my regular dairy replacer.  It’s like a $2 difference and if I’m going to be buying enough peanut butter to fill my bathtub, I should save money where I can.  I’ll try and use the hemp milk sparingly because the nutrition is so rockin’, but for things like cereal I will be using the Blue Diamond Almond Breeze because it turns out money really does not grow on trees.   Who knew?

Peace!

Elizabeth

Anyway!  when I simultaneously heard about customizable cereals from [me] and gogi and MixMyGranola, I was super stoked!  I can get exactly what I want (me! me! me!  it’s all about MEEEeee!) with no junk!  And it’s expensive and trendy, so that satisfies my need to waste money!  Just kidding.

I ended up doing business with both companies.  Here’s how it went down:

First, I checked out [me] and gogi.  I LOVE that they are fellow New Hampshire residents!  Probably doing business here because of our business-friendly tax laws and the fairly manageable size of our code.  Seriously, check out the business and professions codes for places like Cali or Illinois and ask yourself if these states are really into attracting businesses because they seem to not care.  And then ask yourself if you should be sad that they are practically going bankrupt because they are sucking businesses dry with their oppressive tax rates.  Sorry, back to [me] and gogi.

Adam, Carl and Alexander have done a great job making their company feel like one of those cool startups where its not all corporate awfulness with dress codes and email policies.  I am very anti-corporate awfulness, so of course [me] and gogi appealed to me right off the bat. Their site is very easily manuverable and kinda fun to play around on.  The only negative was the gogi guys do not offer hemp seeds when I was in the mood to customize some cereal, but MixMyGranola did offer them.  Since I had a bee in my bonnet to try hemp seeds thanks to Brendan Brazier I ended up ordering a gift certificate for a friend to use [me] and gogi and I ordered my cereal from MixMyGranola.

I used the link on the [me] and gogi site to suggest they add hemp seeds as an ingredient and got the sweetest email back from Carl, one of the founders.  Not only was he enthused about the prospect of hemp seeds (“Hemp seeds are a great suggestion as they are not only tasty but also packed with lots of amino acids!”) but he also signed the email “sincerealy  yours.”  Points were awarded for the pun and the excellent response he wrote affirming my suggestion.  The company tries to use local ingredients and support local businesses whenever possible, so bonus points, gold stars, and rainbow kittens for that as well.

I also interacted with Adam, another founder, when I ordered a gift certificate and couldn’t find it in my email box.  I swear I checked my spam box like 30 times but, of course, it was only AFTER I emailed [me] and gogi customer service that I found it there.  Again, great customer service here.  I was very impressed that it was friendly but very polished.

Stay tuned for the MixMyGranola experience!

Today I finished my last ThinkFruit bar for my 10:30 snack. I’m trying to cut out snacking but only made it until 10:45 before I was too ravenous to exist without eating.

You will notice that I am posting the picture of the empty wrapper because… that’s all that survived. I tried the Chocolate Pomegranate and the Peanut Goji Glow bars last week, and today I had the Cashew Acai Protect Bar.

Here’s the nutritional info:

Those are some fingernails courtesy of Green Monster calcium!

I like that the bars are created by a lady named Lizanne Falsetto, because my name is Elizabeth Anne and Lizanne would be a cool name for my alter ego.  The alter ego that does not need to lock raw snack bars in the trunk of her car to prevent her from eating them in one go.  She’s a former model and a mom and now a CEO of her own thriving business.  I give all of those things, with the possible exception of modeling, a thumbs up.  I like to support businesses of people I like.

According to the website, ThinkFruit bars boast the following virtues:

1. Antioxidant bar
2. No Sugar added  (Big Plus in my book!)
   
3. Omega-3 fatty acids
4. All Natural  (Another Big Plus)
5. Good source of Fiber – 5g of Fiber per bar  (yes!)
6. Zero g of cholesterol
7. Superfruit bar  (all right!!)
8. Flaxseeds  (good!)
9. Low Sodium (that’s nice as well!)
10. Support healthy cholesterol levels  (I’m not opposed to this, but it’s not one of my pets at the moment)

So the stats all seem good… rockin’ chick starting her own company, moderate calories, natural ingredients without processed/ addicting/ stimulating junk… but what about the TASTE!?

The taste is fine.  To be honest, I think the genre of bars made of ground up nuts and fruits taste… vaguely sweet, vaguely nutty and end up with the consistency of damp chalk.  I sometimes wonder whether I should just buy trail mix and eat these things in the non-ground up form.  Unlike the LaraBars, which also received my tepid praise, the ThinkFruit bars use sort of stronger, more unusual dried fruits like acai, pomegranate and gojis.  This makes the fruit taste in the bars a bit more aggressive, though not unpleasantly so.

I would end up buying these bars again because it did still feel like a treat and those are great nutritional stats.  I see on the website that there are some green superfood bars (ThinkGreen), and if I see them in my local store, I will have to try them.

I left work for the day at 1:00 and stopped by the store to stock up on the discounted bars before heading home for lunch. In the car, I tried to control myself but I was SO HUNGRY.  So… I had another bar a little before 2:00 pm.    I managed to go 3 hours without eating and I evidently couldn’t wait another 10 minutes to get home to my lunch that was waiting for me in the fridge. 

I tried a new brand of bar called Bora Bora Organic Wellness Bar which is more of a granola-y kind of bar than mashed up fruit and nut bar.

Again, you get only the empty wrapper :

Nutrition stats:

I really loved this bar!  It was a bit sticky to the wrapper, which may be from the agave syrup or because they were on clearance and had been on the shelf awhile.    Either way, I really liked them.  As much as I like the taste of a granola bar, I always end up with a sugar crash and worse hunger pangs than when I started.  It was not the case with these bars!  I felt satisfied, both my hunger and my sweet tooth!

Here’s the rest of the bars I bought:

Ginger Snap Lara Bar, Sesame Raisin Bora Bora Bars, Cherry Pie Lara Bar, Cranberry Crunch Bora Bora Bars, Apple Pie Lara Bar, Coconut Acai Prana Bar, Apricot Pumpkin Prana Bar, Apricot Goji! I can't wait to try all these flavors!

Quite a haul!  Although, I will be sharing a few bars with Husband.  There’s a random Kashi Pumpkin Bar in the pic but it had just been wandering around my car for a few weeks. I brought it in to photograph with the other loot because I didn’t want it to feel sad that all the fancy raw-ish bars got to have their picture taken.