Edible Flowers

This pretty salad has already been featured on A Midlife Vegan+, but it's worthy of another look.  In our neck of the woods, Spring seems to be coming early, putting me in the mood for fresher fare.  Edible flowers, such as pansies, roses and nasturtiums, are beautiful and delicious in salads, imparting a peppery tang.  It's imperative that the flowers are organically grown, since we don't want bug spray in our salads.  I grew these beauties myself from seed.  They were lovely on a pile of watercress and avocado.

Raw Tabouli

This isn't my recipe. Since I love this minted parsnip tabouli so much, I figured I'm better off not reinventing the wheel. This recipe is from Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Kitchen. She and chef Chuck Sarno created this innovative salad with raw parsnips in the place of couscous. The parsnips are simply pulsed, dry, in a food processor along with garlic and then the other hand-chopped ingredients are stirred in. This no-carb tabouli is bright and delicious in flavor and, in Kris' words, "light as a feather". Since I am a never-enough-kale kind of gal, I served the tabouli atop a pile of it. Delicious!

Gluten Free Parsnip Tabouli

When reading Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Kitchen, her tabouli recipe blew my mind. Who'd have thought raw parsnips could sub for couscous? I didn't follow her recipe here -- I couldn't find it -- long story. I just tried to remember what I'd read and mixed that with my Dad's old recipe from his days working in the  Middle East. From memory, here's last night's Tabouli:

Parsnip Tabouli
1 bunch of Italian parsley, chopped
3 Tbsp. fresh mint, chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
6 raw parsnips, peeled if not organic, cut into large chunks
1 large clove of garlic, peeled
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper
In a food processor, mince the parsnips and the garlic, scraping the sides periodically so the parsnips are all minced evenly. Keep pulsing and scraping until the vegetables are the consistency of cooked couscous. Combine the parsnips with all other ingredients and mix well.

This salad was really delicious, and was a big hit with the meat-eaters too. The parsnips are such a light, lovely consistency and are very subtly sweet, which goes surprisingly well with garlic. This morning I did find Kris' recipe and discovered that she doesn't use parsley at all -- cucumbers instead, and her proportions are different -- lots more garlic. I'm sure hers is delicious, and look forward to trying it soon. I bet this salad would be good, and different, with other herbs as well. Maybe I will try it with fresh dill next time, which always goes so nicely with lemon.

I will be making some changes to my diet, including reducing or eliminating gluten, and this recipe is perfect for that. More news on the diet changes as they evolve.

Another Great Salad

Are you like me? do you go through "seasons" of cravings? For the longest time, salads simply did not appeal to me. I probably had eaten a few too many lackluster restaurant salads which look fabulous on the menu, but by the time the bacon, egg, chicken and cheese are stripped away, are naught but an iceberg blend with mealy, hothouse, out-of-season tomatoes and a few strips of oxidized carrot. No thank you, I'd rather go home and saute some collards. I've made so many delicious variations of my sauteed greens lately, living as a virtual shut-in with uncharacteristically icy roads here in Georgia.

Nesting and hibernating with the family leads to craving comfort foods too, so with all hands on deck for days at a time, I've made many pasta and bread dishes. Feeling sluggish and a little fluffy from lack of yoga and our recent carb-loading, the salad craving season is now back in full swing! We don't make boring, wimpy salads around here though. My recent forays into salad-building cleanse and refresh, but pack a protein punch too. This one is "Farmer's Salad" from Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Kitchen. It was outrageously delicious. It's basically the best potato salad you could ever imagine eating. It calls for fresh arugula, which I thought I had purchased with a coupon at Kroger after carefully checking the "best by" date of 2/21/14, but it turns out Kroger's arugula is sad and stinky. It seems to be going bad early. I put the leaves I thought I could work with in a bath of cold water and took the time to pick through them. I was left with only a small handful I deemed acceptable. Luckily, since I pick up pretty, fresh bouquets of kale wherever I see them, even if I am already well-stocked ["Hello, I am Cheryl, I am a Kale Hoarder"] I was all set with plan B. I supplemented the sad little arugula leaves with a couple of big handfuls of fresh, happy raw kale. This salad was amazing and even better the next day. The kale held up better overnight than the arugula, so I will use only arugula next time.

From time to time, as a frequent veggie buyer, I've returned produce which looked good on the outside but turned out not to be. In this case, since we are in a State of Emergency with little ice pellets still bouncing off my tin roof, I'll just stay off the streets and be grateful for my sad little arugula's role in my fabulous salad, and I probably won't buy it there anymore. I don't think arugula is Kroger's forte -- in hindsight, I don't remember ever getting an impressive batch there. I continue to enjoy their kale, though.

More Organics

My next box of local, organic veggies arrived yesterday. It feels like Christmas on delivery day. I have set the frequency at biweekly and have changed to the "tiny" box size for fear of wasting the gorgeous goodies. The "tiny" size is actually in the same box, with presumably fewer items inside. It's still a lot. After two giant beets (which I ate all by myself) and two big green bell peppers (still in the crisper two weeks later) I marked those off the list of future deliveries, and now I wish I'd marked off the sweet potatoes too. There is still a large bowl of smashed sweet potatoes in the fridge from the last shipment, and nobody is really going for them, least of all me. I'm not a huge fan of sweets. The mashed sweet potatoes are alright -- no added sugar, just "butter" salt and pepper, and a little unsweetened almond milk -- I'm just not craving them the way I do those Mediterranean beans. Here in the new shipment there are three more, albeit of two different varieties. I will need to more closely edit that list. The only other disappointment is a package of organic sprouts, since I grow my own in a hemp bag thus:

What I'd really like more of in these shipments is kale and other greens, and citrus. Last shipment's grapefruits and oranges were resplendent. They were the best I've ever tasted! You may be wondering about citrus fruit and tomatoes being organic and local. Being in Georgia, parts of Florida and South Carolina are considered "local" to us. I think the radius is 350 miles or so. I've no complaints about the quality of this produce. But I do have my favorites.

Here's a salad that was a vehicle for the last orange from the former shipment:

Atop organic lettuces, I placed chunks and juice of the orange, along with some delicious citrus-marinated mixed olives from a beautiful crock I received from my friend, Joan, for Christmas. Besides the citrus-oil and the juice from the orange, I only seasoned the salad with a tiny pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. This was a luscious, satisfying lunch.

Now -- off to make another batch of those amazing Mediterranean beans -- this time with organic limas instead of speckled. I probably need to use those green bell peppers too. Maybe stuffed? I'll keep you posted.

Inspired by Organics!

Have you heard of Groupon? I've been enjoying unbelievable bargains these last few months including yoga, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and now local organic farm delivery through Groupon. The deals are really a "foot-in-the-door" way to introduce products and services to those who'd ordinarily not indulge, in hopes the new customers will become regulars.

I got a large box full of organic goodies delivered to my door for $19.95 instead of $35.00. The large box is actually called "small" and "tiny" is also an option for the future, so I guess that's what I will do from now on. Receiving "mystery" veggies (whatever's seasonal and plentiful) is fun, but does require more planning than my lazy brand of veganism usually affords. I pulled out the cookbooks.  This luscious salad utilized a couple of beets, arugula, romaine and an orange from my local/organic box. I started with Sheryl Crow's recipe from her If It Makes You Healthy cookbook. Besides the aforementioned organic gems, it also contains sauteed shallots and candied almonds. Sheryl's recipe calls for raw purple onion instead, but I had no purple onion, and I prefer sauteed, so I did it my way. Also, ditto on the pecans she used. I veganized the candying process, scratching the egg white, and just using oil, sugar, cinnamon and chipotle pepper powder instead. The dressing couldn't have been simpler: orange juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I also squeezed a lemon over all of it because, well, I love lemon on everything. This salad was amazing.

Stay tuned for more of my organic experiments. 

Voluptuous Food

Here's a big, giant, luscious salad I made the day after Christmas. This is a dinner plate -- not a salad plate. This salad was mine . . . all mine!! I'd have made a bigger one if there had been any other takers, but we were all running around packing for our trip to Boston, and I seemed to be the only one concerned with not wasting the Christmas dinner leftovers. This salad was so good, decadent, filling and soothing. It was easy to make too. It was simply a big pile of baby spinach, leftover roasted potatoes and onions, leftover roasted Brussels sprouts, a whole avocado (!that's right!) white truffle oil and a generous squeeze of lemon.

In the colder weather, I'm craving fattier fare. All the healthy fats here were perfect for stoking and supporting a winter system. Calorie count? Don't know, don't care!

Being a creative veggie-eater doesn't have to be complicated. We can make magic when we think outside the box. Nuts, seeds, olives, capers, raisins, dates, noodles, rice, bread, all veggies --raw, marinated, pickled, roasted, steamed, chutneys, relishes, whatever your favorites are -- throw 'em on a pile of greens and chow down guilt-free!

Watercress is Lovely with Avocado

It really is. When creating something fabulous to eat, it is good to remember juxtapositions -- foils. The peppery, spicy nature of watercress is rounded and tempered so nicely by the buttery avocado. The Black Truffle Oil I drizzled on top was a similarly decadent, soft and rich complement to the greens. Black Truffle oil is a very worthy indulgence, by the way. My pricey little tin ($18!) has lasted almost two years now in the fridge. Because of the intense flavors here, I didn't even add vinegar or lemon. This is simple, whole food at its finest. An indulgence!

Happiness Is . . .

A watercress salad! You're laughing at me no doubt, but seriously, it's the little things in life . . .  I had a lovely morning today with my Mind-Body Group at Atlanta Functional Medicine and as I made my way out of the office the sun was shining and the air, fresher after last evening's shower. I stopped for a few things at Publix on my way home and I found this beautiful watercress. Watercress is always a treat for me. One comes across it so rarely in our area, and when I do it's usually in a pretty sad state -- tired and abused -- so I normally pass. When I saw this pretty tangle this afternoon, you can bet I snapped it right up.

This salad was just what the doctor ordered for perpetuating my "Mind-Body" happy. The fresh, tender, peppery shoots were perfect with only half an avocado, a few pine nuts, a squirt of fresh lemon and a scant drizzle of my favorite olive oil. The flavor of watercress is a perfect foil for buttery flavors like avocado and pine nuts. Obviously, this salad was so simple it doesn't even warrant a recipe format, but I'll label it that way so I can find it again if I ever follow through with a cookbook someday.

Though the salad was the lunchtime star today, I like to eat a lot, as you know, so I also enjoyed some leftovers -- a crock pot chickpea stew I made a few days ago. I'm sorry, I actually should have written this one down as I was making it, but I was in a hurry at the time and wasn't expecting anything fantastic so I didn't. As it turned out, this stew is really, really good and I'm not tired of it yet after three days. Trying to remember, I think I soaked a pound of dry peas overnight, then cooked them for about 5 hours with a strip of kombu, a handful of dried porcini mushrooms, a couple of squirts of tomato paste (from a tube I keep in the fridge), about 2 Tbsp. of shoyu and a can of organic tomato soup. I sprinkled a tiny bit of cumin, a couple of good shakes of chipotle powder and a couple of shakes of garlic powder as well, and as an afterthought in the last hour I chopped up an onion and threw it in there. I added more water as it cooked down. I will recreate it along with a pencil and paper sometime to confirm I'm telling you the truth here.  Today I warmed it with a big handful of spinach (never enough greens!) and a sprinkling of daiya. Delish!

In other news, yesterday I spent a bit of time working on the other blogs for which I write, among other projects, and as the afternoon wore on, my energy began to flag. I want to share a delicious boost which provided more hours of productivity:

It looks like Ellie could have used a little sip of my magic boost as well! She's such a sweet little ole' lady now. She's got so much gray around her face. A more soulful dog I've never known. I'm pretty sure she thinks she's a human being.

Back to my smoothie: you may say it's not too pretty, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say it's gorgeous. This qualifies as a dessert really, in my book, since I used a cup of Silk Mocha Soy Latte as the liquid. It also contains two big handfuls of spinach, a banana and a couple of tablespoons of cacao --pow! It's been over three years since I've had a chocolate milkshake, but to my memory this was every bit as luscious, and it did the trick!

These are a few of the little things which bring me happiness today.  What are yours?

Lots of Leafies

You know I love my greens, but when it comes to leafy veggies, like with anything else, a bit of diversification is a good thing. Above are some juice veggies that were inspired by something I saw recently from Kris Carr-- I believe hers was called "Cabbage Rose". I'm pretty sure it was not exactly this collection, but the purple cabbage instead of greens was the start of the inspiration, and I went from there. In this batch was: 1/4 purple cabbage, a whole fennel bulb with stalks and fronds, two gala apples, a big cuke, and lots of raw ginger. This batch really packed a powerful flavor punch, which I liked, but others may want to reduce the fennel and/or ginger quantities. That was before. Here's after:

 Look at that color! Isn't it "mauvelous"? This was very yum.

From the rest of the cabbage, I made some cole slaw for fish tacos I served the family the other night. The slaw was easy -- sliced thinly, the cabbage was mixed with the juice of half a lime, 2 tablespoons of veganaise, a pinch of salt and green onion. A meal like tacos is perfect for my mixed family of carnivores, a vegetarian and a vegan. Other toppings I featured besides the slaw and the fish were sour cream - dairy and not, dairy cheese, garlicky collards and chick peas, black beans and salsa. Wynne had bean tacos with cheese and salsa, and I had bean, collards-n-chick peas, slaw and salsa tacos. The guys had whatever it was they wanted. I didn't pay attention, but nothing got wasted.

The next day, the slaw tasted even better. It was a great snack on some delicious multigrain sourdough bread spread with earth balance -- mmmm.

Before I close this "diverse leafy veg" post, I want to share my favorite prepackaged salad:

Normally I prefer to get whole veggies and wash and prepare them myself, but this is great for those busy moments where not having it on hand would make our food choices less wholesome. Organic Girl Super Greens is so much better than any other mixed prepackaged salad, in my opinion. They had me at "our most nutritious salad". Seriously -- this combination, of red and green swiss chard, tat soi, arugula and spinach, is so flavorful I eat it with no dressing. Give it a try if you haven't yet. I'd show you the greens, themselves, but, ummm, I already ate them. Here's my little trick for keeping these boxed salads fresh -- after the box is opened, lay a paper towel across the top of the greens before replacing the lid and putting it back in the fridge. The towel soaks up and holds excess moisture so the greens remain perfectly dry but the air within the box is moist enough to keep the veggies fresher longer. You may have already figured this out as well.

Leafy veggies of any color rock!

Leftovers on a Lovely Day

Finally some food! I know I've mostly been featuring juice lately, but I do also eat. I love leftovers. Yesterday was such a beautiful day that I decided to have an alfresco lunch. I sat on my screen porch -- gotta love that natural light! This taco salad utilized leftovers from our dinner the night before. Dinner was chicken tacos from the leftovers from the night before that (rotisserie chicken) The taco bar is an example of how I can best feed a family with different diets. I am feeding a quasi-health-conscious-omnivore (husband), a non-health-conscious-carnivore-with-food-allergies (son), an almost-vegetarian (daughter) and a vegan (myself). Lucky for me, the food that was mostly left over was my kind of food! You can see what it all is. That's non-dairy sour cream on top. Delish!

I am still juicing daily, and today I will share this pretty photo of a pre-juice pile:

This was yesterday's juice: romaine, kale, carrot, two apples, two cucumbers, ginger and lemon! I just want to say that ginger and lemon are the rock stars of this flavor combo -- soooo good! I used a whole lemon (peeled -- the white pith is too bitter) and the lemon flavor was a bit forward toward the end of the glass, so you may want to try a quarter or half of a lemon first and see what you think. But seriously do consider adding fresh lemon to your juice. It is very bright and energizing.

For today's juice (no photo, I think you've seen enough) I tried pears  instead of apples. Because of the delicate flavor of pears, I didn't use the lemon or ginger. I wanted to taste the pear. I was disappointed. The pear flavor got swallowed up by the kale. The juice was fine, but not great like my ginger-lemon rock star juice. Fresh juice is such a treat, I'm sticking with my favorites from now on!

P.S. - Happy 18th Birthday to my wonderful son, Hans! We are so proud of you!

Heavenly Dressing

Have you tried "Caesar Chavez Dressing" from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (www.amazon.com/books)? Do it -- trust me. This stuff is so amazing I could eat it out of the bowl, like pudding. In fact, after I was done emptying out the blender I had to put my whole arm into it to scrape out what was left around the blades with my fingers. I was very careful not to cut my fingertips on the blades -- what a dumb injury that would have been! Finally, I finished the feeding frenzy by licking my forearms where they had brushed against the inside of the blender. What a sight I must have been! I can make a fool of myself that way now that I have a bit of alone time with the kids back at school. Emma and Ellie watched this whole spectacle. Bless them! They love me no matter what kind of fool I am.

I added more cashews than the recipe called for, just because I couldn't help myself. The dressing was a bit thick because of this alteration. I should have added more water to compensate. I'll have to open my mind and get over this aversion I have to water as an ingredient. Sometimes the other ingredients are flavorful enough and water is the best thing for correcting a consistency. The recipe calls for 1/3 cup water, which I did include.

As you can see, I savored this fabulous dressing atop a simple salad of arugula, homegrown tomato and avocado. After I finished this plateful, I craved more almost right away. This dressing has my highest endorsement.

My Tomato Knife

My mother-in-law sent me a wonderful present for my birthday It is a Yoshi Ceramic knife. I thought this was a very thoughtful, sweet gift, since she knows how important cooking for our health is to me. Thanks, Mutti C.!

When I called to thank her, she told me to be very careful because the blade is sharp. She also said it shouldn't be used on hard foods like bones (no problem there!) and it is important to treat it like any other ceramic thing, i.e. don't put too much pressure on it. The knife was packaged along with a ceramic veggie peeler, which my mother-in-law said was a waste of time. I thought I would be the judge of that, but she is right. It doesn't peel anything fibrous. I think it might be good at making ribbons of something soft, like zucchini, but it is too delicate for a carrot.

Back to the knife -- it doesn't work on onions. It works like a charm on tomatoes, so henceforth it shall be dubbed "my tomato knife" The china blade gracefully slides through the skin and flesh of a very ripe tomato,without smashing it in the slightest. The tip of the blade dispatches the stem with equal aplomb.

I made salsa with this tomato. I tried to chop a few of the other veggies with "my tomato knife" but I was worried I would shatter it, as I was using a bit of pressure, so I had to pull out other knives. This is not the knife with which to smash a clove of garlic!

Here's my delicious salsa. Since I am still working on solving my B12 deficiency mystery, I am walking around without much oomph, so I find myself putting protein in everything in order to compensate. So I had to put chick peas in my salsa. Hey -- don't knock it 'til you try it! It was a big hit with the omnivores too. Here's an approximation of this version of my summer salsa:

Cheryl's Summer Salsa
Ingredients:
One large ripe tomato, diced (I used heirloom)
A big handful of grape tomatoes, halved
one jalapeno, minced
1/4 c. minced purple onion
one can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
a large handful of cilantro, chopped
juice of two limes
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Just throw it all into a bowl and stir it up, season with salt and pepper and stir again.


This was delish -- we noshed it with brown rice chips all weekend, then I ate it on a baked potato and also on a salad of mixed greens and avocado:

I love my tomato knife for chopping tomatoes, and I look forward to using it on other kind, gentle veggies like mushrooms or summer squash. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

I Reap What I Sow

Here's my first early harvest. These "French Breakfast (!) Radishes" grew so quickly and were positively popping out of the ground when I checked the garden this morning, so I pulled them and they became a simple lunch with some kosher salt and crusty wholegrain bread with Earth Balance. These radishes were from last year's packet of seeds which had lost none of their vigor. Every seed I planted sprouted. I like this early harvest better than last year's later harvest. These were more mild than the ones grown in the hotter part of the summer. I ate the whole radish, root first, dipped in the salt, then lay the spiny, peppery leaves on the buttered bread. It was all delicious and fresh, and still warm from the earth.

In a less literal sense, I reaped something else I had sown, not deliberately but rather by example. Today, my 13 year old daughter asked me if I could make her a kale salad rubbed with lemon and olive oil!

"Oh, and can you put those chick peas in there too?" she added.

I dropped whatever it was I was doing and got right on the task, thrilled! This might not seem like a big deal to you folks whose kids were raised from day one in this healthy lifestyle, but you know the expression: you can't teach an old dog a new trick. So I was delighted to realize some of what Wynne had been seeing was rubbing off on her. How nice not to have to cajole one of my kids into a healthier choice!

An Alfresco Lunch

I know, if you've seen one salad you've seen 'em all, but I know that, as a frequent salad eater, I've often enjoyed a fresh idea from a fellow blogger's page. So, in that spirit, here's what I ate for lunch today on my lovely patio. On a bed of romaine, I piled about a quarter of a cabbage, thinly sliced, a carrot, slivered, half a cucumber, half an avocado, a big handful of slivered almonds, a few ume radish pickles and some really very delicious dressing that evolved by accident. I will try to remember what's in it.

Let's see -- the dressing all started in the midst of my son's gluten- dairy- sugar-free cleanse diet. I wanted him to eat a little salad with his can of tuna fish (basically tuna and gluten free breakfast bars were all he was eating). He used to sometimes enjoy salad plain, with just ranch dressing. I attempted a dairy-free replacement for the ranch -- Organicville Herb Vinaigrette and a couple of tablespoons of Vegenaise. To my tastebuds it tasted exactly like ranch, but what do I know? Hans wouldn't have it. So I had a jar of rejected faux-ranch. That's where today's dressing started. I was craving lots of healthy fats today, hence the avocado and almonds on the salad. So I also added a heapin' helping of hummus to my faux ranch, and then a honkin' tablespoonful of tahini as well, and then shook it all up. YUM. YUM. What a delicious salad!  I feel like pouring that dressing into a bowl and eating it as a cold soup. JUST KIDDING! But seriously, the thought did cross my mind . . .

Here were my dining companions for my alfresco lunch today:

Here's Emma -- Isn't she pretty? She's just regal, patient, kind, pure love.

And here's the jelly-bean, Ellie. Smart as a whip, her intelligence and her self-control are at odds. She frequently spends long moments staring through our eye sockets into our souls, especially those of us who need it. Lately Hans has been the target of Ellie's psychic healing sessions. I actually think it helps, as a matter of fact.

I love these two girls! What great lunchtime company on this lovely day!

Odds -n- Ends, Settling In

Here is a photo I had meant to include with my garden installation post. This is the path from the front yard to the side of the house where my little garden is. I like the photo because the pebbled path is enticing to me -- I want to follow it through the gate to see how my garden has changed each day.

Here we are, two weeks home from the beach and I am just beginning to feel settled. Why does it take so long? Well, life doesn't stop to let me get caught up on laundry, bills, cleaning and unpacking. Groceries still have to be bought, meals prepared, doctor's appointments still have to be attended, guitar club, lacrosse, migraines, workouts, sleepovers, etc.

In any case, I'm grateful to be getting back into a more normal routine and nothing says settling in like tending a crock pot -- just enjoying being home, stirring, tasting, adding a little of this or that as the flavors meld.

True confession: this is the first time I have ever cooked dried beans! Weird for a vegan, huh? I've just always taken the lazy way out and opened a can -- pretty pitiful. I'm not knocking canned beans, I'll be using them again, but I will say these were pretty good, less gassy (ahem, sorry!) and I enjoyed the process of cooking for the sake of cooking, with no assigned consumption appointment. I just ate them when they were ready. I created this yummy concoction inspired loosely by Veganomicon's Rustic White Beans with Leeks and Mushrooms. I say loosely because I didn't do much measuring, just using quantities I already had on hand, and also because I threw a few drops of liquid smoke in there (I know-- MSG, but I like it and I hardly ever use it!) These beans are very delicious and sustaining. I still have some in the fridge, which makes me happy and is very settling indeed.

With the beans last night I prepared my take on Bistro V.G.'s Simple Arugula Salad -- just Arugula, sauteed shallots, fresh lemon and olive oil, salt and pepper. Never gets old . . .

Recent Salads

I've really been craving fresh salads lately. These two were really pretty similar, but featured some strong flavors which set them apart. I loved both of them!

The salad above includes arugula, half an avocado, a couple of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, some of my ume radish pickles, a tangle of broccoli sprouts and Annie's Goddess Dressing. The combination of the smooth, creamy avocado, the acidic tomato and piquant, salty pickles was satisfying.

This bowlful began again with arugula, avocado and ume pickles, but the overall effect was more mild without the sundried tomatoes, and with the addition of pine nuts and a jazzed-up version of the dressing which was actually mellower than the goddess straight out of the bottle. For the dressing, I mixed a tablespoon of Goddess, a tablespoon of vegenaise and a couple of squirts of Bragg's Liquid Aminos.

I know a couple of photos of salads are not very original or exciting, but, while I'm still settling in, recovering from vacation, that's all I've got. Look forward to some more creative offerings soon!

Odds -n- Ends, Post-Beach Transition

See the semi-circle in the line of umbrellas and beach chairs? We sweet-talked the attendant into arranging them for us this way so we could all engage socially as a group. These are just the adults' chairs. We brought our own from home for the kids.

You know the old saying, "I need a vacation to recover from my vacation,"? Yeah, that's where I'm living right about now.

Vacations are always worth it, but, depending on your family dynamic, they can tend to be a lot of work for one member of the household. As the "default parent", i.e. the one at home to  run to the store for a protractor at bedtime, etc., I am the accountant, shopper (groceries and bathing suits), cook, organizer, maid, animal-husbandress, laundress and medical consultant. These titles are all self-bestowed but pretty much touch on what I'm doing all day. This is all plenty to fill all the hours of my day (except blogging, which serves as therapy!) during everyday circumstances. Adding the additional planning for- and cleaning up after- a vacation is enough to overwhelm, to say the least.

So, still plowing through piles of mail, bills, laundry and dust, I'll take a moment to share a couple more photos which fell through the cracks.

Here is a glimpse, finally, of my short haircut. It's not usually so windblown as in this beachy pic, but that is what I like about it -- windblown or not, it doesn't matter! I LOVE effortless! I was trying to change my profile photo for this more current one, but I haven't yet figured it out and don't have the time right now.

Back home again, I made another kale salad from the beautiful savoy kale appearing at the top of the blog. It was another rubbed salad with lemon, olive oil, avocado and artichoke hearts. I had the salad with a sweet potato and my beach salsa (yes, it made it all the way home without spilling!)

That's about it for this installment of "Odds -n- Ends" Back to the laundry/bill-paying/unpacking.

Odds -n- Ends

Lest I lose track of some of the deliciousness that has been happening around here, I thought I'd better document some of it. This is a lovely, easy salad of mixed greens and herbs, topped with my aforementioned Israeli Couscous Salad, avocado and raw skinless almonds in olive oil and sea salt. I just drizzled a little blood orange olive oil over the salad for a dressing. Yum. The couscous salad had lost its lovin' feeling to me on the fourth day, which was the day after this salad ( the raw broccoli's flavor had soured from the moisture) so I gave it to the pups. They LOVED it!

A simple sandwich -- sourdough toast with vegenaise, roasted red pepper, cucumber and arugula, salt and pepper. Crazy delicious and decadent, if you can believe it! I want another one right now!

A recent lunch out highlights two approaches for a vegan-unfriendly menu:  If you will recall, my plan was to come to the lunch toting a baggy of oil-massaged kale and almonds. So here is my house salad before:

And here it is after my alteration:

I plopped this pile of yum upon the restaurant salad when nobody was looking. I got a kick out of the server's quizzical expression each time he walked by thereafter. He knew something was different. This approach did work for me, but the bottom half of the salad was not very fresh, obscured as it was by such a lovely tangle of fresh carrots.

Finally, to continue in my random selection of photos, I was driving home the other day and saw heaven opening up above, so I hopped out of my car in the middle of the road and snapped it:

I was struck by the unfolding sky and acted impetuously. I wouldn't recommend such behavior unless you live on a cul-de-sac like I do and there's no other traffic around. I did put my car in park before hopping out. While this photo captures the most stunning portion of the sky, I wish you could have seen it in full context. The rest of the sky was dark grey with roiling storm clouds. Very humbling and awe-inspiring!  Thanks for indulging my odds and ends today.

Restaurant Meals

Remember Taco Mac? That's where we hold our kids hostage so they have to sit and talk to us instead of texting or facebooking in their own corners of the house. It's not as bad as it sounds. Once we are all together in a booth they do actually enjoy our company. It's fun. Great news for this vegan: Taco Mac has actually added a Black Bean Burger to their menu!  No, not a burger with black beans on top, a burger made out of black beans! It is wrapped up with some tortilla chips, salad ingredients and mustard. It comes with fries, but I subbed broccoli because I was craving it and felt there was plenty of empty carb content with the crunchy chips. I will be ordering this again, soon.

Here's more broccoli. I'm pretty sure this next outing was the same weekend as the Taco Mac trip. I guess my body was loving broccoli then! This giant bowlful was half of my dinner on a date with my husband at a very fancy Steak house. My husband ordered the unmentionable, and I shared part of my broccoli and mushrooms:

with him. The broccoli was perfectly clean and delicious. The mushrooms, as you can see, were swimming in butter, which I drained and blotted a bit. I'd have preferred them with my own earth balance at home, but I don't think they made me feel as bad as cheese or cream would have. I did not finish the mushrooms, but I was a member of the "clean plate club" with the broccoli (that's the carrot my parents alway dangled when I was little to get me to eat my food!) Obviously I had no protein here, which I had planned ahead for, eating quinoa and chick peas at lunch.

I am not going to stop going to restaurants just because I'm vegan. I won't eat only a lame salad now that I know how good a salad I make at home can be. So I do my best with whatever else I can find on a menu. In the case of the above restaurant meals, it is interesting that the casual restaurant was more vegan-friendly than the more upscale one. My hope is that, by spreading around the notion that some of us don't eat cheese and butter, I will somehow effect change. Strangely, folks get the idea of not eating meat a lot more easily than the notion of not eating dairy. Aside from vegans, aren't there lactose intolerant folks out there?  Maybe they are not so vocal, given the more personal nature of their malaise. Something to ponder . . .

I am going today with my girls to a fun restaurant which unfortunately puts cheese on everything. I'm craving more dark green leafies than ever, so I'm planning on walking in toting them. Yes, I'm going to rub some kale with oil, lemon, salt and pepper and put it in a plastic bag. I'll also throw some raw almonds in there. Then I will have something good to put onto the lame cheeseless salad I plan on ordering! We do what we need to do kids!