Food stuffs and laziness.

I don't know about you folk, but summertime for me - I'd rather be doing almost ANYTHING but cooking. Its hot but its also beautiful out - I want to be active, I want to be crafty I essentially want to be doing SOMETHING ELSE. So a big staple of my diet lately is 1) Napa Cabbage & ramen salad & 2) Rice with steamed veggies. Also anything I can drag fresh out of the garden.

The salad is really quite simple.
You chop the cabbage up into bite sized pieces, add some chopped green onions (and any other veggies you want - I sometimes add carrots, radishes, or tomatoes) set aside. I know I don't have any measurements for this - sorry you already know I'm not good with this. How much dressing will vary depending on how much salad you need. For approximately two-3 servings of dressing, I used about 1/4 cup apple cider, 3TBSP sesame oil, a good tablespoon or so of agave syrup and I mixed it. Pour on top of salad and top the whole thing off with a heaping handful of "CRUNCHIES!" Yums. You can also replace the napa with regular cabbage - it still tastes good, just not quite the same.

As for the rice & veggies. I make a big pot of rice about 3 times a month (sometimes weekly). So I tend to have either mahogany, basmati or brown rice on hand. I toss that into a bowl, throw on some veggies (often; mushrooms, zucchini, baby bok choy, and green onions) splash with water (or ume vinegar) and nuke it in the microwave. I then smother in sesame oil, ume vinegar & tamari or Bragg's liquid aminos - top with either the "Crunchies" as seen above OR just plain sesame seeds. Yum.

Chicken and stars soup :D

Today I made something I've been wanting to make for YEARS. Chicken soup. When I found Edward & Son's not chick'n bouillon cubes I thought it would make awesome chicken soup and apparently I'm right. I tossed it into a pot with some carrots and celery (should have added onion, forgot - but it was good without it), baby bok choy, West Soy's cubed seitan (I diced it), and tiny pasta stars! Total love. I should also mention - I think this is the first time I've had seitan. I did just recently buy a box of vital wheat gluten but haven't gotten the courage to try it yet... After today though, I might very well do it - I saw a recipe for a seitan roast which sounded really good...

I would have taken a photo of the soup but I ate it all before I thought of it. :P

I have a new love affair with leafy greens... especially kale, however I went to a local chinese grocery and got a bag of baby bok... its incredible if you just steam it a little... *love*

OH! I was SO blessed earlier in the week when a (meat eater) friend of mine gave me a tupperware container of peanut butter balls. She told me she wouldn't try it so essentially I was her guinea pig :P She looked up the recipe online, I don't know where she found it but she wrote it down for me. Its basically peanut butter, carrot, raisins & oats. Fabulous.

Here's the recipe:

Ingred:

1/2 cup granola
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar (I know some of you might not consider this vegan - beggars can't be choosers - replace it with another sweetener!)
1/4 c raisins
1/4 c or 1/2 LG carrot
1 c 100% natural peanut butter (She used smucker's)

Dir: Mix all ingredients together except peanut butter (easiest to mix by hand). Mix in peanut butter 1/2 cup at a time. Roll into balls, refrigerate overnight to firm up. You can also dip them into a vegan chocolate to make a hard coating (uh, reeses pieces - but better - anyone??!).

I really loved these (I think there are only 3 left out of like 15) and so did Michael which just blew my mind.

At least - I thought that blew my mind. (Off topic moment) - Michael told me today he wants to have a kid in "the next few years". I feel like the typical man in this situation - the woman mentions kids and the man starts to consider camping in a remote location where no one can find him. Yikes. I think we need to discuss getting a surrogate mother or adoption.