The bag of avocados

So the other day I went to CostCo with my mum, and one of the things she bought me was a big of like 5 avocados. I'm trying to use them all before they go too soft.
If you've never eaten an avocado, I pity you. But they way to tell if they are ready is they should be a bit soft, so that when you push your thumb into the outside it gives way. But it should be mushy! If it mushes all up as soon as you touch it, then it's gone bad. When you cut it open, if the avocado is ripe the skin will peal off easily. If it isn't ripe, the skin will stick and it will be hard to peal. If the inside is brown or black, it's going bad.

Okay, so yesterday I made an Avocado Salad. It was a butter lettuce mix (I dunno what that means either, just light coloured lettuce), a bunch of chopped avocado, pine nuts and grated carrot. I kind of invented a salad dressing to go with it. Toasted sesame seed oil, rosemary vinegar, salt and pepper. I'll firm this recipe up and post it in full later.

Today I had an Avocado and Hummus Sandwich. Toasted flax bread, margarine, roasted garlic hummus and half a sliced avocado. Delicious. Could have used some salt and pepper.

Well I've got a big job interview on Tuesday that I'm stressing out about, so I'm gonna go work on being ready for that.

Cupcakes and Cereal

Yesterday Aaron and I made cupcakes to celebrate our three year anniversary. They were Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes from 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.'
Two words: Holy Balls. These were amazing. Possibly the best cupcakes that the universe has ever known. The only change we had to make was I didn't have almond meal or corn flour, so we added some spelt flour instead, which has a nutty taste. The recipe contains coconut milk, ground flax, cinnamon and even more good stuff. Freaking amazing

I just had a pretty epic bowl of cereal. Morning Crisp Simply Strawberry Granola clusters, Original All-Bran, Oatmeal Crisp Maple Nut Flavour, and Nutra-Cran Sprouted ground flax with cranberries, in Vanilla Natura soymilk. I'm pretty sure I'm full of enough nutrients to jump over a few buildings. I'll go try that.

I'm about to leave for a volunteer orientation meeting. I'm going to be a Community Stewardship Volunteer. Hurray for me. That means I get to play in the dirt and help keep urban green space clean and awesome.

Cherry Blossoms and the Buddha Bowl

Today Aaron and I rode our tandem bike to High Park to see the cherry blossoms. We got some falafel and samosas and ate them in the park.

The other day I made a pretty complicated dish out of 'Fresh at Home - Everyday Vegetarian Cooking' by Ruth Tal Brown and Jennifer Houston. It's the cookbook from Fresh, a vegetarian chain restaurant. The dish was called the New Buddha Bowl (pictured above) and had a few layers to it.
The first layer is brown rice, then tofu cubes (they were supposed to be marinated but I just used regular ones), the topped with the dish's sauce. On top of that you put bean sprouts, tomatoes and cucumbers, a spice mix, then coriander and lemon slices. Like I said, fancy. Really awesome, though.

I've been pretty lazy about posting lately. Chalk it up to looking for a job.

Above is a picture of Baked Beans and Tofurky Beer Sausages.
Took about 5 minutes to make and those sausages are damn tasty. Definitely top quality fake meat. They taste good with the bean juice, too.

Two days ago I made Stir-fry again. This time it consisted of celery, ginger, a green pepper, cauliflower, onion, garlic and Yves' faux chicken. Cooked with some sesame oil and tamari sauce, plus some basil and thyme.
Served over white rice.
Here's one way to make white rice incredibly delicious: add a little olive oil and garlic salt to the water while it cooks.

Back to learning how to do an interview.

Indian Food

The search for a job intensifies. My mom has been helping me a lot with my resume and cover letters.
In other news, I started drawing my first biomechanical picture today. Inspired by this guy:
http://anderstattoo.deviantart.com/

Yesterday our friend Megan came over and I made a crazy amount of Indian food; tomato rice and curried vegetables.

The tomato rice is a recipe that I got off the internet and have been playing with for a while. Here it is:

• You need 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of margarine, 1/2 a large yellow onion (chopped), 2 cloves of garlic (chopped), 3 stalks of celery (chopped), 2 large tomatoes (chopped) OR one can of chopped tomatoes, 2 cups of vegetable broth, 1 cup of long-grained rice, 1 tbsp oregano, 1 tbsp basil, 1 tsp parsley, 1 tsp marjoram, salt and pepper to taste.
• Heat the margarine and oil in a large saucepan, then add the onion, garlic and celery. Saute for 5-10 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and spices and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Add broth and bring to a boil.
• Add rice, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

The spices for this can be played with however you want.
Make this dish extra awesome by adding 1/2 cup of toasted pumpkin seeds.

To go with the rice I made Creamy Curried Vegetables from 'How it all Vegan' by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. They were amazing. The more I cook with coconut oil the more I love it.

Summary

This is my 100's post so I thought I'd do a quick list of some of the food's I've already posted. Anyone who doesn't think there is a lot to eat when you are a vegan should read this. It should be kept in mind that a lot of these things can be cooked in many different ways and combined to make new meals. This applies especially to tofu, but a lot of vegetables and grains as well. Spices are very important in vegan cooking. Similar dishes can taste very different, and plain dishes can be made very interesting depending on what herbs and spices are used.
Okay, here we go:

• Fruit - i.e. Mangos, bananas, pomegranate, star fruit, melons, pears, kiwis etc.
• Berries - i.e. blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries etc.
  
• Potatoes - i.e. Mashed, roasted, baked, french fries.
• Tofu - i.e. scrambled tofu, marinated and baked, fried, etc.
• Breads - i.e. ancient grains, flax bread, multigrain, whole wheat, sour dough, bagels etc.
  
• Sandwiches and wraps- fillings include tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, cucumbers, onions, spreads, PB&J etc.
  
• Spreads/dips - i.e. hummun, guacamole, hemp spread, tofu based creamy dips, nut butters, preserves etc.
• Soups - Tomato, vegetable and rice, miso, carrot, mulligatawny, split pea, mushroom barley, carrot, corn chowder, butternut squash etc.
  
• Tea, Coffee, Pop, Water, Juice, etc.
  
• Cooked vegetables - i.e. artichokes, peas, asparagus, mushrooms, corn, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach etc. There are probably a lot out there that you've never tried.
  
• Rice - i.e. Brown rice, jasmine rice, tomato rice, pilaf, etc.
  
• Faux meat - There are dozens of packaged varieties from a number of different brands. Some are better than others.
  
• Baked goods - i.e. Banana bread, cakes, muffins, cookies etc.
  
• Pancakes - i.e. Banana, raspberry, chocolate chip, etc.
  
• Cereal with soy milk - not all cereals are vegan but many are. i.e. Frosted flakes, All bran, Cheerios, etc.
  
• Pasta - With tomato sauce, olive oil, vegetables, pesto, etc.
  
• Lentils
• Couscous
• Salads
• Kugel - Kugel recipes often contain egg, but this can be substituted with egg replacer, soft tofu and other options.
  
• Veggie burgers and Veggie dogs - available in many restaruants.
  
• Dark chocolate - Many brands of dark chocolate bar are vegan, though many are not. Read the ingredients list.
  
• Vegetable sushi
• Falafel
  
• Borritos
• Nuts and seeds - i.e. sunflower seeds, cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, etc.
  
• Crackers
• Stirfry
  
• Beans - i.e. Kidney beans, blackbeans, edamame, chickpeas, etc.
  

For dinner a few nights ago I made Asparagus with mushrooms and brown rice.
I didn't have a recipe, was mostly just playing around. I chopped up a bunch of asparagus (cut off and dispose of the ends first) and cooked them in olive oil with chopped mushrooms, 4 cloves of garlic, chopped green onions salt, margerame and thyme in a covered sauce pan. Put the mushrooms in first and let them cook covered for a while until they let out some of their juice.
To the rice I added steak seasoning, margarine, onion powder, salt, and flax seeds.

I also had some Blackberries. I freaking love blackberries. Seriously, I can't think of a better snack than a bunch of blackberries.