`As of today the wedding is officially a week away so you can imagine how crazy things have been.  At one point I was afraid we were going to have to find another venue!  However everything is worked out now, and things are moving along smoothly. 

Today I went to our local Saturday Organic Farmers Market and picked up some eggplant, okra, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, basil, muscadines, some black bean hummus, fresh milk, and some homemade cornbread.

I know I totally caved on the milk….it is definitely a luxury…BUT I didn’t get any of the fresh raw artesian cheeses..having said that..we have eaten some cheese this week.  However cutting back from cheese twice a day to  twice a week is a big step!

Josh and I have compromised on the pizza with the Basil Ricotta recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance!  I made a batch at the beginning of the week and we have incorporated it into several dishes this week.  It was really great because sometimes I’m lazy and I don’t feel like making tofu more than once a week (the pressing!!) so I can just throw in the “ricotta” and viola!  (the ricotta is made with tofu, nutritional, yeast, fresh basil and a few other things) 

I’ve encountered myself using a lot of vegetable stock recently.   So today I decided to use all of my “juicing” veggies and make a homemade stock.  I used carrots, tomatoes, onions, celery, garlic, zucchini,  kale, salt, pepper, and cumin.  It turned out great.  I saved about 3 cups of it to use this week and I froze the rest in ice cube trays.  Very economical and I’m sure much tastier.    

So see if you can spot a difference in these two pics...

Our first child Maisy wanted to check out the Farmer's Market digs...you dig?

We also cooked dinner a few times...

This being a delicious butternut squash quinoa, fried tofu, and a raw zucchini salad.  

Friday Check In

I'm super tired and will write a full post tomorrow with some goodies...but here is the loot from a mini trip to the farmer's market and our no cook oatmeal for in the morning!

Depart from Drama

Oh come on!  Who really likes cheese that much?  Wah, Wah, Wahhhhhh.  Cry me a river of caesin!  So it has become quite apparent that Josh (formerly Mr. Granola)  will not give up the Cheddar.  Well as it may be I made a quick and delicious veggie pizza that was very economical and could stand on its own without cheese!  I was in a hurry so I just grabbed some pizza dough from Trader Joe's.  The total bill for making the pizza was $8.75- however I do have enough mushrooms and pesto for another pizza.  That would make the cost around $6.35. That's a steal considering a similar pizza at our local pizza cafe is about $17!  It was great to just be able to pick of the dough- however I am still kinda iffy about the ingredients.  It said it was vegan and Trader Joe's is usually pretty good, I would still like to learn to make my own bread and pizza dough though.  Does anyone know of any good recipes for the layman baker?

In other culinary adventures I also made my first pureed soup today!  By request I made a roasted butternut squash soup from Vegan with a Vengeance.  This was also my first time working with butternut squash- and I think I'm in love!  Defintely more soups to come as the weather gets cooler.

And lastly I must address our last FAIL.  Earlier this week I made what I thought was a normal batch of beans (16 oz dried).  However, no matter how many leftovers we ate they WOULDN'T die!!!  Let's just say it hasn't been pretty.  Josh's exact words were "Ohhhh man!  I am blogging this!  Being a vegetarian isn't all glamour and high fives!"  In the future I will NEVER make that many beans at once- unless we are hosting a bean party.  

P.S.  After further review I won't be posting the before and after of the beans...its not a pretty site...

The Horror, The Horror , , ,

“Horror... Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared.”

-Kurt, Apocalypse Now

         

Sometimes after a traumatic experience, we just have to get our feelings down on paper.

I write this during a break from a furious bought of dishwashing.  What caused my resort to such an outlet of pain, shock, and confusion you ask?

Enter this past Sunday.  Mandolin and I visited my Grandmother’s house.  My grandfather and Dad were both there, too, and we happened upon a conversation on diet. (Amanda had brought some hummus and a banana to eat.)  My Grandma explained how they stayed away from beef and that she enjoyed healthy snacks like grapes and their tiny tomato cousins; but, there is one food addiction my family would never shake, she said—my family loves cheese.

I love cheese.

How can I explain?  It may be the most primal and yet sublime pleasure that I know.

Anyways, fast forward to tonight.  After work, Mandolin is preparing a pizza.  I had a veggie pizza the other night and tonight we are going to have one with Artichokes and mushrooms.  Oh, not the frozen kind, my friend.  She bought the dough and we are cooking this stuff up like trap stars.  Delicious!  “Too bad there’s mozzarella in this pesto,” she says as she reads the label on the jar.  That was an odd comment, I think to myself.

“What’s wrong with that?” I ask.

She then proceeds to shatter my world.  I don’t even recall hearing what she said.  It was a strange moment.  The words land like a bomb and I am shell shocked à la the original Call of Duty—no noise, just the world happening around you.  I read her lips.

“Cheese is directly linked to cancer?  What?!  Where is the Proof?”

“You can’t handle the proof!”

I want to believe her, but I need to see the evidence, read the methodology, reproduce the results if I have to.  If you have any evidence, please post it.  I’m too scared to look.

Flying Spaghetti Monster, Cheese causes cancer . . .  In what best of all possible world does cheese cause cancer?

The Start of Something

The road to health is not an easy one.  The path of the healthy man is beset on all sides by the inedibles of the careless and the tyranny of omnipresent fast food.  It seems like no one cares what we’re eating as long as it tastes good; and no one cares when we’re eating as long as it’s not on the clock.  Guys, when we work—if we’re lucky enough to have work—we work a lot.  To find the time and the money to eat healthy seems about impossible.  But I realized that, at least for Mandolin and myself, eating healthy is not only doable, it just makes sense. 

The French adjective sain means healthy of body but also sane, healthy of mind.  See, eating the right way takes a little more time than it used to, but that’s a good thing.  Eating healthy has opened my eyes to a lot more than just bodily health.  When you eat healthy you start thinking about mental health, the sustainability of your lifestyle, you gain social awareness, political fortitude, etc.  It’s kind of like the ladder of love in Plato’s Symposium.  Good food will naturally lead you to the very tip-top, to the Idea of Health.

At least that’s where I think we’re heading with this.  I don’t really worry about it.  (Heck, I even let Mandolin do most of the worrying about the food.)  But eating well is enough of a start right? So start small.  Take it slow.  Don’t get vertigo.  Start with your food and everything else makes a little more sense; because without food, everything makes little sense at all.

Week 1: In the Bag

Over the past few years Mr. Granola and I have spent too many late nights drinking and eating burritos.  Since our big day is approaching we have been re-evaluating our lifestyle choices.  Besides dabbling in vegetarianism a few times we normally weren't super concerned with were our food was coming from.  I don't mean that we were eating red meat and take out every week- in actuality we have only cooked red meat once in the past 6 months.  However we were still eating chicken, fish and turkey several times a week and not getting enough greens.  So last week I took a stand and told Mr. Granola that I wasn't cooking meat anymore and that we were cutting out dairy almost completely.  It's funny because in our families we were already seen as the odd-balls for simple things like black bean burgers, recycling, composting, and really anything else at all environmentally conscious.  (we are both from small towns in the south)  So here are my new immediate goals for our new food lifestyle:

1) No meat
2) Juicing at least once a day
3) Make more trips to the farmer's market (instead of one weekly trip)
4) Buy organic and local when possible
5) No pre-packaged products only ingredients

A few things I have learned this week:

1) I love kale (and Kale Chips)
2) I don't love cheese as much as I thought
3) One piece of pizza mid week won't kill me (pesto!)
4) Not all beers are vegan (found some new awesome ones that were though- Unearthly IPA)
5) Mr. Granola ate a burger : (
6) It's hard to take pictures while you are cooking

Later this week I will try to fill you in on our menu and any new wedding plans that might arise.