The Summer Post

This has been a crazy hectic summer for me!

I got a summer job doing 911, gah shift work! We fixed up a car, to share with Sissy #1, her name is Chaaaarllliiieeee! Anyone who's seen All Dog's Go To Heaven will know how to say her name :) The car..... not my sister Sissy #1...

Justin was very compassionate to the night shift zombie Meaghan and we rewarded our hard-working-asses with probably the best camping trip ( food wise) ever!

This Summers trip was 1 week long at Bridge Lake Provincial Park in the Kootenays

* BITCH RANT ALERT *
On the provincial web site it says that there is a pump available that will deliver drinking water when pumped. THAT IS FALSE! A LIE! A SHAM! I was very pissed off by the fact that we were left to perish. Add the fact that the neighbouring campground, COTTONWOOD BASTARDS [Oops, I meant "Bay"] wouldn't share some of their water because "there wasn't enough water for both campgrounds" all led to a not-so-happy-camper. Cottonwood had a grand total of 15/ 50 sites occupied and the Provincial Park was filled with an average of 6 people..... Yes yes I can see the campgrounds are sooo full... ya stingy greasy wentch!
We were just lucky we came prepared with a flat of bottled water, Oh well, its all water under the bridge... or lack there of! Hmph!

*Please resume reading the perfectly coherent blog about food that you checked in for*

For some reason camping for long durations as a vegetarian still seemed like a daunting task.... silly Meaghan!

Here is my list of Staple Camping items/ dry goods:
PEANUT BUTTER!!!!! ( I type that with such enthusiasm because oh how I love it so!)
Seeds + Nuts + Dried chunks of fruit = Trail Mix
Squirlly bread, think polar opposite of White Wonder Bread
Granola bars
Quinoa
Oatmeal
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes

So what did we feast upon to make this trip hit the #1 position?! I'm glad you asked...
Pizza's! Pasta's! Fresh Lake Trout! Curry with Naan! The Best Goddamn Sweat Potato Mush Ever! Marshmallow Madness! Hamburgers & Hot Dogs (of the veggy kind)! Hash browns! Hell of a lot of good eatin'!


Oh! Our BBQ also decided this was the appropriate time to call it quits RIP. Thankfully, BC Provincial Park fire pits come with a cooking grill attached, so most of our food was cooked over an open fire :)

 

 

Pizza

Ingredients:

Pita Bread

Pizza Sauce

Desired toppings (I used broccoli, peppers, onions, shredded cheese blend)

Directions:

Make an Aluminum foil plate to rest to pizza on over the grate.

Chop all toppings

CHOOSE to cheese or not to cheese!

Fire away to your hearts cooked desire

 

 

Veggie Curry w/ Naan

Ingredients:

*Store Bought bottle of Butter Chicken Sauce*

Potatoes

Broccoli

Peppers

Onions

Tomatoes

Directions:

Cook Potatoes in Fire ( Wrap in lots of Tinfoil, stick in middle of fire, cover in embers. takes about 45 min)

Chop Vegetables

Skin ( they will be burnt) and cube potatoes

Heat Sauce, add all Vegetables

Cook till vegetables are tender.

Heat Naan on grill over fire

This would have been a good served over boiled Quinoa but there was so much food we didn't bother cooking it!

*keep the potato cubes a good chunky size otherwise they will cook faster in the sauce and become soft*

Best Goddamn Sweat Potato Mush Ever!

Prep:

I chopped the potatoes small enough to be fries to help them cook faster... pain in the ass!

Tin Foil Boat

Ingredients:

2 Small Sweet Potatoes

Salt

1/2 a stick of Butter [ i didn't know! :'(  ]

Directions:

Through it all into the tinfoil boat and close it up to help cook faster (and protect from flying ash!)

Check periodically, and mix

Monday Night Marshmallow Madness!!

*WARNING* the following may result in a sticky hot mess....That's what she said!

Smores: Roasted Marshmallow with a piece of chocolate between 2 graham crackers

OreoMellows: Roasted Marshmallows between a split open Oreo, cream filling included

MarshPastryMellows: Marshmallow wrapped in pastry dough, then roasted

Breakfasts for me were largely composed of  instant oatmeal, granola with soy milk, fruits, juices and toast. We froze what foods we could but inevitably had to keep buying more ice, it was hot! Fruits were bought so some could be eaten right away and others would ripen throughout the week. Vegetables did well kept in the cooler and any questionable bits got tossed in the fire!

 Shout-Out to Momma J-Man for a delicious bean salad, which was a meal in itself!!! Overall this trip was a step up in the healthy eating department and another Vegetarian success story :) Delicious food was made, drinks were flowing, love was in the air and all around good times :)

Stuffed!

Journey update: I've had 2 cave in's with red meat :( The first time was with a Philly cheese steak sandwich, and I got through half of it before I was overwhelmed but what I knew was a cow.... my stomach was also a little unsettled  by the onslaught of cheese and meat.

And then there was last night :( the food was delicious (please see below for recipes!), but I had been red meat free for over a month! Then J-man brought out a cheese burger and I.... ate.... half.... of.... it..... I went to bed very disappointed with my self.


Other then that I'm still having fish every now and then and I'm sure there have been animal products in a few dishes. Overall I think I'm doing alright. I've lost a few pounds and my skin stays clearer longer. Ya plant power!

Harvest Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients:

2 Large Tomatoes

1/2 Cup Onion

1/2 Cup Zucchini

2 Mushrooms

1/2 Cup canned Corn

1/2 Package stuffing mix

2 t Olive oil

Directions:

Cut off the tops of the Tomatoes, scoop out the insides and save the juices.

Place upside down on a plate and let drain.

Dice Onions, zucchini and mushrooms then saute in olive oil with corn, cover till tender.

Mix in stuffing with seasoning and add some tomato juice .

Spoon mix into tomatoes and bake at 425 for about 8 minutes.

There was also rice with some peppers sauteed in salt and pepper and baked potatoes with a side of....

Cod

 Ingredients:

Cod

3 cloves of garlic

Oil

salt and pepper

lemon pepper

Directions:

Press cod between a paper towel.

Marinade with minced garlic, oil, salt and pepper.

 Make extra marinade to baste with every 5 minutes.

Sprinkle top with lemon pepper.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

And I am proud to announce the tomatoes got a 10/10 and the Cod got an 8/10 !!!!!
I'm going to point out the veggies got the higher score :)

Simple Blue Martini

Equal parts,
Blue Hypnotiq:Coconut Rum

Shaken over Ice by the most handsome bartender ;)

Dinner time!

The boyfriend now has a new name so appointed by my little sisters, he's the "Monkey Pizza Boy"! When I asked how they came up with such a colorful name the explanation was " because he's strong like a monkey and Italians eat pizza!"

What is the catholic school system teaching these girls?! He laughed but I don't know if its juuuust right.

Anyways, last night he/pizza/boyfriend came over and I made him dinner! His first course revolved around a chunk of flesh and for soooommme reason he wasn't full! I wonder why...

*Biology Lesson: You have stretch receptors all around your stomach that once stimulated send a message to your brain that you are full and should stop eating. You can count calories all you want but it means nothing if you're not filling up on the right kind of calories.... class dismissed! *

So for dinner we had

Yam Fries

Ingredients:

1 Large Yam

Oil and salt to coat

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450

Wash and Cut fries

Mix in a bowl or bag (think shake n' bake) with a little oil and salt

spread evenly over baking pan 

bake for 15 minutes on each side or until desired crispiness

Vegetable Samosas, Grandma's recipe I shall acquire. 

Brown rice boiled in half water half vegetable stock.

Chapati.

The brown blob on the left side of the blue plate was pickled chillies...Justin's tongue died last night ;)

Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes w/ Vanilla Frosting, Take 1

I have a mouthful of sweat teeth, luckily most of Mother Nature's fruits are super yummy just as is or over some soy ice cream! However there is nothing to be done about my sweat, ooh-eey gooey cravings and I've been searching up a few cupcake recipes.

One website I've always liked is http://www.allrecipies.com/. They have a huge variety including a wide selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes. I also appreciate the nutritional info that comes with each recipe. So here is my very first vegan cupcake experience...

Vanilla Vegan Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 T Apple cider vinegar

11/2 Cups soy milk

2 Cups All purpose flour

1 Cup white sugar

2 t Baking powder

1/2 t Baking soda

1/2 t Salt

1/2 Cup Coconut oil

11/4 t Vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare (grease or line with cups) 12 cup muffin pan.

Measure Apple Vinegar into a 2 cup measuring bowl, then fill with "milk" to 11/2 cup line.

Let stand and curdle about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a smaller bowl whisk curdled mixture, oil and vanilla extract together.

Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients while stirring.

Stir until just blended.

Spoon batter into prepared cups till about a 1/2 inch below the top.

Bake 20-25 minutes and let cool before slathering in your desired Vegan Frosting!

yields 12 cupcakes

Calories:152   Total Fat 6.4g

My personal review:

I found them to be very moist, almost to the point where I was kinda worried because noticeable dark wet spots appeared on the top of a few cakes during the cooling process. I did use canola oil instead of coconut oil so maybe that had something to do with it?

Next time I would use a little less canola oil. I also used vanilla flavoured soy milk instead of plain soy milk which added to the overall vanillaness. I attempted at making an icing, without icing sugar which I'm calling a fail. But it did the job of forming a creamy sugary substance that sat atop a cupcake. Due to the moisture I refrigerated them, separate from icing, until they were finished.

Turns out the whole shebang was a huge hit! 

The Family gave the cupcake and icing-that-shall-not-be-named [Bye Harry :( ] a 9/10

I'm starting to think there might be a bias...

I'm giving just the cupcake a 6/10

Enjoy!



Vegan Tofu Patties

I've been away camping with my boyfriend and friends at Cultas Lake. I knew this was going to be an interesting weekend, being my first trip since the change, and tried to be as food/alcohol conscious as possible.
Unfortunately on the first night there was a big batch of pasta made with ground beef in the sauce, the second night was salmon and there was copious amounts of booze consumed, all in all a successful camping trip!

 For Lunch's I did get in my Veggie Dogs and Veggie Burgers

This was a vodka watermelon to be apart of a watermelon eating contest, so every one's hangover came with a full serving of fruit! BONUS!

Here everyone got a lesson on Yves Veggie Burgers! I was very confused when I first bought the burgers as to why it said 8 per package when there were only 4 individual vacuum sealed patties. Only after my burger caught on fire did we realize there was a piece of paper separating the two patties that we failed to notice! Live and learn :)

Once back I realized I had some tofu in the fridge and had no idea what to do with it. So I went online and found a site called the Savvy Vegetarian. They had a recipe for "Delicious gourmet baked tofu patties" that I loosely followed with what I had available in my kitchen. The following is the recipe I ended up baking with.

Vegan Tofu Patties

Ingredients:

1 package (350g) Extra Firm Tofu

1 Cup of corn

1/2 Cup celery, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Cup cooked brown rice

1/3 Cup flour

2 tsp Masala spice mix

1 small yellow onion, diced

olive oil, to saute

salt & pepper, to taste

bread crumbs, to coat

Directions:

Allow oven to preheat to 350 and cook rice. 

Cube tofu and mash with potato masher.[I need a food processor so if you have it, use it!]

In a small pan add onions and olive oil to coat and allow to turn brown and soft, stir to prevent burning.

In a larger pan add oil to saute garlic, then add celery, corn, and masala spices, again stir to prevent burning.

Add all veggies to mashed tofu, mix in rice and flour.

At this point I used my hands to mix everything[ needs food processor!].

Form fist sized balls and flatten to patty formation

Coat in bread crumbs and arrange on tinfoil lined cookie sheet.

Bake for about 25 minutes until the outside is firm and golden crispy!

**NOTES** these quantities yielded 10 patties. I found them to be a little bland and dry but my little cousins loved them! Granted, one of them slathered them in ketchup and they other, vanilla icing.... but they came back for seconds! Next time I'll try adding some tomatoes for flavour and moisture.

Once refrigerated they loose some crunchiness so I fried them up with a little oil. The original recipe calls for a mixture of different spices that are generally used in Indian Curry. The Masala mix was a perfect premixed substitute.

I'm giving this recipe a 5/10 for healthy tofu punch! The boyfriend(who needs a name...hmmm) said it resembled crab cakes without the taste of crab "and I like crab cakes, so not bad!" and crazy cousins came back for seconds!

Enjoy!

Now, what to do with my soft tofu?!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or woman created for men."

                                                                                     -Alice Walker