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Archive for June, 2011


In My Kitchen

In Cool Kitchen Stuff on June 30, 2011 at 4:26 pm

I don't so much use these...

So… a question I get often is: What do you eat?

This turns into “What should I eat?” It may not sound like rocket science, but the trick to being healthy without thinking about it doesn’t have so much to do with what you eat but with what you buy. If you stock your house with processed garbage, snack food galore and assorted other nonsense you don’t need, then those are the things you will eat. I don’t know why people ask me things like, “How do you not eat DORITOS??” Because I don’t buy Doritos. Also because Doritos suck.

The point I’m trying to make is that if you build and maintain and well-stocked healthy kitchen, you yourself will become a healthy person.

What you’ll notice in my kitchen:

  • Most of what I buy is organic
  • Very little of what I buy is processed or comes in a box

These two things are, in my opinion, far more important than the nutrition label. Almost everything I eat has to be prepared by me in some way. I find that this gives me more control over what goes in my body and also gives me a chance to play in the kitchen, which is what I love to do. I also go through a lot of dishes, which I do not love to do.

Without further ado… I’m experiencing what we in retail would call “low inventory” over here but… here’s what I’m working with:

The pantry.

The foundation.

On this shelf (labeled, duh):

  • Nut/seed butters: sunflower, peanut, coconut
  • Grains: oats, barley, brown rice, millet, quinoa (pseudograin anyway)
  • Nuts: almonds, cashews, trail mix
  • Dried fruits: figs, raisins

The extras.

On this shelf (alphabetized, duh):

  • Spices galore

The flair.

On this shelf:

  • Sauces: balsamic vinegar, hot sauce, liquid aminos (like soy sauce), ume plum vinegar
  • Syrups: honey, agave, molasses, maple syrup

The BEANS (and snacks).

On this shelf:

  • Canned beans: chickpeas (x4), kidney beans, refried beans, BEANS
  • Snacks: olive oil popcorn, dark chocolate mints, crackers, granola

The... wine.

Barren.

In the fridge:

  • For baking: applesauce as a fat replacer and Earth Balance as… fat
  • Sauces: tomato sauce, salsa, mustard, apple cider vinegar
  • Beverages: iced coffee, rice milk, WINE, water filter, sparkling water
  • Vegetable stock (you always need it)
  • PICKLES, SON
  • Leftovers: pizza, roasted broccoli and quinoa, muffins, etc.
  • Watermelon (all summer long, baby)

"Meat" drawer

Veggie drawer

Fruit drawer

  • “Meat” drawer: vegan cheese, cheese cheese, tofu, tempeh
  • Veggie drawer: romaine, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, etc.
  • Fruit drawer: limes, oranges and apples right now

The BEST.

On the baking shelf:

  • Flours: whole wheat, all purpose, teff, chickpea, almond meal
  • Powders: cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.

The oil.

I use grapeseed oil for cooking because of its mild flavor and high smoke point. I also use a Misto filled with the same for spraying pans.

Oh! And in the freezer:

  • Frozen bananas (for smoothies)
  • Frozen spinach (also for smoothies)
  • Frozen green beans (for those times I get caught without any vegetables)
  • Trader Joe’s veggie masala burgers
  • Ice… trays… because I don’t have an ice maker
  • That’s it.

It might look a little empty but I promise you that the meals you see here come from this supply. It’s amazing what you can throw together with a little creativity and a lot of NO MONEY.

If you’re trying to stock a healthy kitchen, my best advice is to be patient and do it a little bit at a time. Get a cookbook you like and trust and start making things from it. As you try new things, you’ll be forced to buy new things. At first, you’ll cringe at the cost of certain spices and oils but soon you’ll find that you don’t use the entire container in one recipe and that, my friends, is how you stock your kitchen slowly but surely over time.


Sunflower Butter Sauce

In Breakfast on June 30, 2011 at 9:03 am

Sunflower butter sauce

Here’s a sneaky little trick for a super simple sauce (alliteration!) that comes together in seconds.

You can use any nut or seed butter you’d like, but in our house sunflower butter reigns supreme so that’s what I used.

You’ll need one banana and about a tablespoon of the good stuff. Combine in a food processor until smooth.

Tah dah

I had it this morning over toasted muffins–one zucchini and one banana millet.

Ain’t nothing wrong with a glob of nut butter on its own. But if you eat half of this sauce you’re adding a serving of fruit and a good bit of fiber while thinning out the fat and calories in your buttah.

As a banana-based sauce, this won’t hold up long against oxidative browning. I still store it in the fridge for about a day and just ignore the fact that it starts to change colors. Tastes the same! Don’t judge me.


Feels Like Home

In Rant on June 29, 2011 at 9:29 pm

Orange serbert. Yes, sir.

Today I feel like Charlotte is my home. It wasn’t anything specific or special, just a series of everyday ordinary events that felt… right?

I went to a team meeting at the store. Went to class. Learned I get to use a notecard for formulas on tomorrow’s test. Glory glory hallelujah. A+ on your performance evaluation, professor man. Way to make.my.life. Made a stop at the garden to see how things are trucking along. Walked away with a bigass zucchini and a yellow squash, too. I love vegetables. Back home for lunch. Quick run. Lovely view.

Hey Charlotte.

Aerial fitness with lululemon ladies.

Skillz

TCBY with Charlotte Food Bloggers.

This is cool now apparently?

Orange sorbet, cake batter and fruit

Remember when TCBY was totally washed up and irrelevant? Well I’m here to tell you THEY’RE BACK, BITCHES. They’ve got a snazzy new logo, self-serve yogurt machines, toppings galore and are giving all those trendy new yogurt shops a run for their money with that orange sorbet.

Tastes just like the Flintstones orange push pops of my youth.

You know what I'm saying.

So anyway, I feel good. I feel like I’m home. I have responsibilities. And I have people. Getting settled, not settling. Remember?

And with that… I’m getting booted out of Starbucks. Off to somewhere less lame to study the night away.


Breakfast.

In Breakfast on June 29, 2011 at 7:13 am

Banana millet muffin and grapes

Do you follow Simply Breakfast? You simply… should.

Sommmmebody only got 5 hours of sleep last night. I was too giddy with excitement about having the next three days OFF. Well, next three days minus this meeting I woke up ass early for. Three days minus the class I have today. And the test I have tomorrow.

You may be wondering: Didn’t you just go to New York? To which I would respond: Whatever, Trevor!

I need these days off to find another job. You follow?

SO… yesterday I decided to write down some things that were good in my life in that moment. I’m sick of complaining (and hearing other people complain too, heeeey). It went something like this:

Things that are awesome 6/28/11

  1. free access to a nice gym
  2. enough free time to go to said gym
  3. a free water handed to me just as I was thinking: I need water
  4. a car that gets me where I need to go
  5. that Pitbull song… which one? ALL OF THEM
  6. 30 minutes to myself in the sun
  7. accessible healthcare
  8. clean laundry
  9. Maggie so much as expressing interest in moving to CLT!
  10. Watching a storm roll in (and knowing my car is safely parked underground)

What’s good in your life these days? More importantly… what’s for breakfast?


This Happened

In Video on June 29, 2011 at 12:44 am

Ehhhhh

I’m doing videos now. No script like the failed Sweet Tater Talks. Just rambling. Mostly I’m bored and lonely and feel like I need to speak to someone other than Ralph and Weaz, but I also have decided that if I have dreams of ever doing TV-related things, I need to be in front of a camera. Even if it’s a web cam.

I’d much rather write my every last communication than speak my jumbled thoughts, and I’ve always been that way. I hate talking on the phone, talking in person… talking on camera. Writing is so much stronger… and easier… and safer. When I was little I’d write 5-paragraph essays to my parents explaining how I’d make a perfectly responsible and adept cat owner. It’s true.

So yeah. Let’s do this.

If you’d like to submit a question to be addressed via video post, email sweettaterblog@gmail.com, comment, tweet, orrrrr call me? Just kidding. Never call me.


Zada Jane’s Best Bloody Mary

In Restaurants on June 28, 2011 at 8:56 am

Hummus Frummus Salad

Perhaps it’s just that I’ve ceased eating out (and have been rationing my groceries at that) now that I’m broke and living alone, but when Stew visited over the weekend and wined and dined me I declared that everything I ate was the “best thing I ever ate.”

We ate at Cantina one night which is always the best thing I’ve ever eaten until I eat so much I want to die. Then we had the best pizza in Charlotte. And now I’ll tell you about the best bloody Mary in Charlotte, too…

Zada Jane's bloody Mary

It occurs to me only now in writing this that bloody Marys are almost never vegetarian because they almost always call for worchestire sauce, which almost always contains anchovies. Whew. Too late now.

Eeep

Zada Jane’s does offer a lot of vegetarian and vegan options so maybe, just maybe their worchestire sauce is vegan, too. Who knows? Who cares? It was so.damn.good.

Yep yep yep

I actually don’t drink bloody Marys. I’ve never ordered one. I just sip Stew’s and say: “That’s good but I’d never drink an entire one by myself.”

Not only would I drink an entire Zada Jane’s bloody Mary by myself… I’d drink two JUST to get my hands on the pickled okra that comes in it. Then I’d drink two more for good measure. And vodka.

I might also eat. And if I did, I’d eat this salad again:

Tofu, hummus, tabbouleh


Incongruous

In Restaurants on June 27, 2011 at 2:57 pm

Cheesy

When I was in college I was (are you ready?) Vice President of Programming for the Student Activities Board. (Nerd alert!) I pretty much made all my friends in that organization, ate and slept in our office and spent the better part of my college career planning fun things for other people to do. It’s what I do. We followed Robert’s Rules of Order, which was pretty maddening, and once during a particularly heated debate about something probably so inconsequential as whether or not to go with light blue or dark blue t-shirts, I burst out into some tirade about starving children in Africa. Again, it’s what I do.

Anyway, at one time we were planning to do a showing of Supersize Me. Our movies were always free for students and included popcorn and soda. At this particular movie, however, the committee decided they wanted to serve hamburgers. Frigging hamburgers. From McDonald’s. At a documentary about how McDonald’s is killing America. I don’t even think I was in the country at the time (I was too busy getting dysentery in South America… another story for another time) but I made it to a computer lab to type up a RANT of an email about what a stupid idea it was to serve fast food at a documentary crucifying the fast food industry.

All this to say… yesterday I went to see Forks Over Knives, the documentary about Dr. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s research in strong support of a vegan diet as the life-saving solution to most of the world’s most deadly preventable diseases, and then I ate cheese pizza.

Why is this theater so old?

Forks Over Knives

I am a big fan of Colin Campbell (and his book The China Study) and of Esselstyn’s work as well. Perhaps I’ll dive into my position on that matter some other time when I have more than 30 minutes before I have to leave for work.

For now, let’s just talk about the best pizza I’ve had in Charlotte to date…

What that says...

It feels a little wrong to identify a franchise (a new-to-Charlotte franchise at that) as the best pizza I’ve had so far in Charlotte. But my mouth will not tell a lie. Not about pizza anyway.

Originally from New Orleans and now settling in to the Queen City, The Italian Pie left me feeling pleasantly surprised. The menu is enormous, vegetarian options plentiful and patio dining perfect for a late post-movie southern summer evening.

We started with the hummus and sun-dried tomato spread…

Oh flash...

Roasted eggplant pizza. And Stew.

And I had a salad. And we got two pizzas: roasted eggplant and spinach & artichoke. (Lay off. We were trying to fill up a $30 minimum on a Groupon…)

It was fantastic. Plus, they botched the order and made us a large instead of a small. Hello, leftovers for the broke girl. I’ll take it.

I don’t know if they ever did hand out those damn hamburgers at the movie in college. I’m sure my friends will fill us in. That organization is all we ever talk about.


Baked Honey Mustard Tempeh

In Dinner on June 27, 2011 at 5:10 am

Baked honey mustard tempeh sticks

I have never ever in my life been a fan of honey mustard. Nothing about pouring a thick, sweet, yellow sauce on a salad appeals to me. That is, of course, until one fateful homemade salad dressing mishap yielded the opposite of what I wanted to create yet ended up as a Caturday Headquarters favorite. Now the only dressing we eat in our house is homemade honey mustard. You know what’s in it? Honey… and mustard… and some oil.

Stew and I used to whip it up daily for salads and earlier this week I had the brilliant idea of using it as a marinade for baked tempeh sticks.

Perfect meal

I would like to take a bow, pat myself on the back and victoriously thrust a celebratory kitten into the air, for this was an excellent idea.

I smothered my tempeh in honey mustard and baked it for about 10-12 minutes on 375 degrees until golden brown. Then I served it with red quinoa, roasted broccoli, sweet potato and hummus for a perfect meal.


They’re Baaa-aaack

In Breakfast on June 26, 2011 at 10:39 am

Smoothie in a bowl, why did I forget you?

Several old favorites have re-entered my life this weekend:

  • Smoothies in a bowl…
  • A sweet tater smoothie at that…
  • Yoga…
  • Pilates…
  • Extreme pain from both exercises due to general neglect of my body the last month
  • And Stew.

Heeeey

Doesn’t he look comical in that tiny kitchen? I think so. But someone washing your dishes for you when you are without a dishwasher is no laughing matter. It’s an oh-my-god-THANK-YOU matter.

Yesterday was lululemon Charlotte’s big grand opening event and we offered 8 straight hours of complimentary fitness classes at the mall. I was on the planning team so I got to get in on all the action.

luuuuluuuuleeeemonnnn

And by “get in on all the action” I mean “take two yoga classes and a pilates class.” It’s a tough job I have. I’m so sore today it’s a little bit pitiful. And I’m not quiet about it either. This is what I get for doing nothing physical the last month.

Anywho, my first Charlotte visitor and I are off to drag my aching body around the neighborhood for a little walk. But not before he washes my dishes, offers to do my laundry and sets up my new TV antennae (because I refuse to buy cable… or Internet). Swoon.

Sweet Tater Green Smoothie
Print
Recipe type: Smoothie
Author: Katie Levans
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cooked sweet potato
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 2 c nondairy milk
  • 1/2 frozen spinach
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
  1. Blend all ingredients together until smooth
  2. Optional: Top with granola and nut butter

 


Caturday 6/25/11

In Cats on June 25, 2011 at 12:32 am

Me, Weaz

Perhaps on this lovely Caturday morning you are thinking to yourself, “WHAT has Weaz been up to since Ralphie got the lion cut? I mean, that lion cut was delightful the first 50 times I saw it but now… WHERE IS WEAZ?”

I’ll tell you. Mostly she’s been sitting on this white couch.

Here I am again.

When she’s tired of sitting on the white couch (which is not even supposed to be white but I ran out of the money necessary to purchase a slipcover, you see) she spends most of her time opening every single cabinet in my entire apartment. This is not a newly acquired skill since the move; she used to open the cabinet under the sink to get her treats. But opening every cabinet every day is definitely new. And annoying.

And then, when she finds time, she also meows. Like howling meows. I think she’s looking for Stew. Sometimes I feel bad for her… but mostly it’s just irritating. She also likes to stare at things I can’t see, which sends me into a panicked oh-my-GOD-is-it-a-bug-or-a-ghost frenzy. I assume it is neither.

It’s true that Weaz has been the star of the Caturday show for the last two years and you are probably missing her but now that Ralphie looks like THIS:

Stop, Ralphie time.

It’s hard not to share a million pictures of her. [Joke's on me! That's my phone hovering entirely too close to her butt in that picture. I don't even know how she got it.]

Fierce

I think she’s been looking for Stew, too. Or Waldo. If I talk in Waldo’s voice (yes, each animal has a different voice; it’s complicated) she looks around for him. She spends most of her life these days in my bed and won’t move for anything but food. And I get a sneaking suspicion she expects me to bring that to her… in my bed.

Puh-lease shut the hell up.

But wait, can you feed me first?

Time for bed. Big wild fun plans for Saturday.

Bitch please, you're working today.


5 Reasons to do Yoga

In Yoga on June 24, 2011 at 10:47 am

Crescent lunge

I did not always love yoga. I’ve been pretty open about the fact that back in my work-out-until-you-vomit-and-break-your-body days, I thought yoga was a real joke of an “exercise.” But, my, how my opinion has changed over the past three years (three years??). If you, too, feel like yoga is a joke, I would like to try and persuade to reconsider it and perhaps even give it a try. And this is why:

  1. You’ll learn to do things you never thought you could - I looked awkward as hell when I first started doing yoga. There’s no way around it. I was tight and weak and rigid and a whole host of other adjectives that do not equate to balance, beauty and grace. There were many, many poses that I looked at and thought, “My body will never move like that.” In trying to get into certain poses, I honestly felt like my joints were cemented shut, never to open into proper form. The amazing thing about yoga, though, is that if you give it your time and your patience, it will give you a new body that does move like that. You’ll be able to do poses you never ever thought you could (like this one and this one). And before you know it, you’ll start to realize there are other things you never thought you could do that are suddenly within reach (like quit your job, go back to school, live in a hammock or move away from someone you love).
  2. You’ll push your physical and mental limits (and reap the benefits of both) – I think one of the reasons I never took yoga seriously is that I never understood that the asanas (physical poses) are only the tip of the iceberg. The real challenge is controlling your breath, calming your mind and twisting yourself into a pretzel all at the same time. Yoga is very much a mental challenge and if you can learn to master your own mind in the face of great physical stress, you’ll find that you can replicate this feeling in stressful situations off the mat, too. Suddenly traffic jams, empty bank accounts, snarky coworkers and the like don’t carry as much weight as they once did. When you can control how you react to challenges in life, you hold the entire world in the palm of your hand. It’s a powerful thing. I’m still working on this.
  3. You will have something to depend on – If you want it to be, yoga can be just a workout. You can come and sweat and stress your muscles and leave thinking, “Damn, that was a good workout.” But you can also make it more if that’s what you’re looking for. As someone with a rather hectic schedule, I found that yoga very quickly became a reliable retreat where I knew I could come day after day for peace, quiet, calm and balance. Similarly, as someone with a weak-to-nonexistent foundation of faith, I found that yoga gave me something to believe in even if, at first anyway, that something was just me. Yoga does not have to be a religious experience, but one of the yoga sutras, ishvarapranidhana, does call for surrender to a higher power for a complete practice. I have found that my desire to get the most I can out of my yoga practice has led me to seek out what I really believe and, in doing so, I have plucked myself out of the center of my universe and filled that spot with faith in so much more.
  4. You will meet amazing people - The law of attraction states that like will attract like. I’ve found that a yoga studio is an excellent place to find like-minded people who care–about themselves, about you, about the planet and about how we treat all of those things. There is great diversity among the people you’ll meet, but you’ll see some common threads connecting you all and that’s a very nice feeling to have, especially when you’re alone in a new place. Your yoga studio will start to feel like home.
  5. And ok fine… you will get a sick body – Here’s the thing… I saved this one for last because, truly, if it’s you’re only motivation in practicing yoga, you are doing yourself a serious disservice. I try to downplay the physical side of yoga to get people to focus on its countless other benefits first. But since this is what seems to be on everyone’s minds, I can assure you that, YES, yoga will transform your body. I used to scoff at celebrity interviews (I’m looking at YOU, Jennifer Anniston) in which movie stars claim that yoga is all they do. I call bullshit! That is, I did until that’s what I started doing myself. Practicing yoga has changed the look, feel and strength of every inch of my body. Not to mention, in the last three years I’ve been asked several times (sometimes even by yoga teachers) if I am a dancer. This is of particular interest because throughout my 6 years as an actual dancer in middle and high school, I was never once asked if I was a dancer. I also now have abs that you can see, biceps (biceps??) and thighs that could crush a Mack truck. So there’s that.

Now… who’s coming to yoga with me?


Super Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

In Baked Goods on June 24, 2011 at 12:07 am

Vegan oatmeal raisin cookies w/teff flour

As a dietetics student, self-proclaimed “healthy person,” food blogger and vegetarian with vegan tendencies, every single time I present a baked good to someone, I’m met with the same response:

“So this is vegan? It must be healthy if you made it, right? OK good, I’ll have 1,000…” [insert this here]

My response to this is generally: A cookie is a cookie is a cookie. Vegan or not, it’s a treat and should be, uh, treated as such. It’s a common misconception that vegan (or organic or gluten-free or “natural” or…) foods are “healthier” than other foods. But that’s not necessarily the case.

First off, define healthy. No seriously. Define it. Because it means something different to everyone you talk to. To me it means clean, organic, whole, plant-based foods that taste good and make me feel good. Using my definition then… yes, everything I make is healthy. Even these and these and these and this and these and these. Because to me, part of being healthy is having a healthy mental relationship with food, too. And since guilt, deprivation and fear do not go hand in hand with a healthy relationship with food, nothing is off limits for my healthy diet as defined by me. You follow?

So anyway, most other people I talk to would define healthy as: low-fat, sugar-free, low-carb, etc. In that case, no, nothing I make is healthy.

I do have something, though, that I think can meet both definitions of healthy… or at least run middle of road and meet us both halfway. (Except low-carb. I laugh in the face of low-carb. I hate low-carb. Low.carb.is.stu.pid.)

Presenting:

Super healthy oatmeal raisin cookies

This is a fruity/spicy play on Katie’s healthy chocolate chip cookies and I love them.

Super Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
4.0 from 1 reviews
Print
Recipe type: Baked Goods
Author: Katie Levans (based on CCK’s Healthiest Chocolate Chip Cookies)
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 8 mins
Total time: 13 mins
Serves: 6
This is a mini half-batch (6 cookies) so double the recipe of you’re sharing… or if you’re not.
Ingredients
  • 1/3 c teff flour
  • 1/4 c all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/4 c oats
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp + 2 tsp white sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbsp oil (I used grapeseed)
  • 1/4 c nondairy milk
  • 2-3 Tbsp raisins
Instructions
  1. Combine dry ingredients (flour through oats)
  2. Combine sugars, vanilla, oil and milk
  3. Add wet to dry and fold in raisins
  4. Bake on 350 for 6-8 minutes

Do you have your own definition of healthy? Let’s hear it…


Hipster Pizza

In Restaurants on June 22, 2011 at 2:01 pm

Roberta's - hipsters only

I should’ve known that Brooklyn would be the hipsterest place on Earth, but nothing can quite prepare you for the throngs of moustache-sporting, skinny-jean-wearing, I’ll-wear-these-glasses-even-though-I-have-20/20-vision-and-do-not-require-glasses FOOLS that fill the streets there. I can’t even handle it. It was incredible.

Don’t get me wrong, I like to gawk at hipsters as much as the next person, but when faced with so many of them in real life, I just want to smack them in the head and shout, “YOU LOOK STUPID.”

I digress…

Roberta's, Brooklyn

We ventured into Brooklyn (on foot via the Brooklyn Bridge) in search of a hole-in-the-wall pizza joint that (Roberta’s), we were told, would rock our socks off.

Brooklyn Bridge

Apparently we weren’t the only ones who got the memo that particular Saturday night because we didn’t get a table until like 10:30pm. WORTH IT.

We held ourselves over at the bar with drinks (sangria for me), breadsticks with pesto marinara and hipster watching. Joy to the world.

Sangria

Breadsticks save the day

Yeah, do that.

When it was finally time to eat, we decided to share three pizzas:

  • Cheesus Christ – mozzarella, taleggio, parmigiano, black pepper and honey
  • Portobello - which I can no longer find on the menu but you get the idea
  • White & Green special – a nightly special with mozzarella, parmigiano, black pepper, lemon and grilled rainbow chard

Portobello

Cheesus Christ

For the record, all pizzas should come with a drizzle of honey. Truth.

I laid low the rest of the night since I had to be up early for my flight home the next morning but my unstoppable friends got home around 4am.

I had the most amazing time in New York and am so glad I went. If you’d like more of my NYC updates, all you have to do is pay to fly me there and then pay for everything else I do while there. Send inquiries to Weaz. She’ll handle the logistics.

Goodbye, New York

Statue of Liberty from the Brooklyn Bridge


Quick & Easy Cornbread

In Baked Goods on June 22, 2011 at 1:31 pm

Post Punk Kitchen cornbread

So I’m standing in Trader Joe’s. I just got back from a raucous weekend in New York City. I’m in the bread aisle, so we’re clear. I have approximately $18 in my checking account and I need food for the week. My favorite bread in all the land–Food for Life brown rice–costs exactly one arm and one leg, which, in case you’re wondering is approximately $3.99.

Trader Joe’s brand pita bread, however, is a mere $.149. For EIGHT pitas. I stare at the brown rice bread. Then at the pitas. Brown rice bread… pitas… checking account. Brown rice bread… pitas… OK FINE. PITAS.

So I buy the pita bread and I’m pretty pleased with myself. I eat one–one damn pita–and the next day all of them are moldy. THE NEXT DAY. This is what I get for being frugal. I throw them away and march (quite literally) over to Trader Joe’s to buy, you guessed it, brown rice bread. But before I did that I was, for a brief and terrifying moment, without any bread options at all for last night’s dinner. So I whipped up this vegan cornbread recipe to cover my carb cravings in a pinch.

It's a winner

I used masa harina instead of cornmeal but it did the trick. It’s pretty much the exact same thing just ground differently, am I wrong? Anyway, I like the end product. It pales in comparison to my grandmother’s cornbread, which, in case you’re wondering about that, is the best cornbread in the world and that’s a fact.

Not grandmother's

So the next time you need bread because you went to New York and have no more money left and buy cheap pita instead of the brown rice bread you really want and have to make something yourself but are scared of yeast breads (I’m sure we’ve all been there, right?), give this a try.


Saturday in New York

In Travel on June 21, 2011 at 10:55 pm

Farmers market

Man oh man. Friday into Saturday was a big ol’ blur of Mexican food, cave dancing and gay bars that ended somewhere around 4am.

We ate (and drank) at Dos Caminos, danced the night away at La Caverna and capped the night off at a delightful gay bar called The Tool Box. What.a.night. Let me just say that Tool Box was one of the highlights of the trip because the second we walked in we were surrounded by men. Gay men, sure. But whatever. They bought us shots. I didn’t see any straight men stepping up the rest of the weekend. Just sayin…

We dragged ourselves out of bed around 11am on Saturday and I instantly refueled with a green smoothie and iced coffee.

Nourish me, oh cold things.

And then it was on to brunch at The Mansion.

Aw yay

Miranda, Charlotte and Carrie

The Mansion is a real deal, no frills NYC diner. I felt just like Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha meeting up to discuss our sex lives over brunch. Except we were discussing how many gay men hit on us the night before. I think I won with a marriage proposal.

Afterwards we were out and about all over the city:

Subway pros

THIS GUY

BEANS!

Pretty

Rice to Riches

Ya heard?

Our plan for the day was to walk to Brooklyn, which we accomplished hours later. It was great just walking around the city and really taking it all in.

One particularly heavy stop along the way was Ground Zero.

Freedom Tower construction

This may make me sound like a terrible person, but I honestly didn’t expect to be moved by the site. After all, it’s been a decade since the tragedy and I had no immediate connections to anyone involved. But standing there in that construction zone where the two towers once stood, I was overcome by emotion I didn’t know I had in me. My heart beat faster, my eyes filled with tears and my jaw fell open as I gazed up at what should have been the World Trade Center. I never saw the towers, of course, and while I’m sure they were a sight to behold, the immensity of their absence is an equally profound–albeit more horrifying–image to take in. It’s an interesting place to be, Ground Zero. You can see New York has moved forward–Freedom Tower is inching skyward, there are hotdog vendors on the street corners, people fill the sidewalks. But you can also still see flames and bodies falling from the sky and that horrible gray ash. I don’t think that image will ever go away. It was silly to think that site wouldn’t mean anything to me. It would mean the same thing to any American who stood there.

Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge


Cure What Ails Me

In Breakfast on June 21, 2011 at 9:39 am

Tea and soft serve

I don’t get sick very often (I believe the last time was a mild cold over the holidays when I was home for Christmas), but when I do, oh is it ever an event.

I’m a terrible, terrible patient, which is something I’m sure my mom will confirm after years of the flu and chicken pox and whatever else little kids are always spreading around to each other on blocks and dolls and other things that do not belong in the mouth.

Anyway, I’m difficult. I refuse to take medicine. I just whine and whine until someone offers to do something for me at which point I say, No thanks, and carry on with my whining. I guess I just want people to know I’m miserable. I also cry. I think I just feel bad for myself. Aahaha, it’s pitiful, really.

Get well soon

So now I’m alone and have no one to complain to. Not even Ralph and Weaz would stay up late enough to hear me suffer. I slept a good 12 hours and still feel like hell so I’m dragging myself to class and then going from there for the rest of the day. Maybe the echinacea tea and strawberry cold oats I had this morning will work their magical food superpowers and make me better.

I just hope I didn’t get Ralphie sick. We slept 12 hours and I’ve been up another 45 minutes and someone won’t get out of bed…

Bring me some tea.


Secure. Beautiful. Adequate.

In Rant on June 20, 2011 at 8:18 pm

Chickpea soup and veggie hummus pita

We interrupt these NYC updates for… a ranty rant.

When we were waiting in line for the McQueen exhibit, I noticed this line scrawled across one of the walls:

“And so I built it. And I built it secure and beautiful and adequate, just as I was intending to.”

It comes from Darius the Great (522-486BC) in reference to Persepolis, a palace located in modern-day Iran that, upon its destruction in 331BC, marked the end of the Archaemenid Empire. But I like to think I can apply its sentiment, ever so loosely, to my own life.

Freedom Park, Charlotte NC

Today I threatened (who? myself?) to quit school and go back to being a “real” adult. To get a job and a salary and a savings account. To follow the rules and get back in line.

These outbursts are, not surprisingly, always fueled by money (or lack thereof) and leave me feeling like… a failure. You may be wondering: “Why, then, did you take a trip to NYC at such a time?” And the answer would not be a very good one.

I booked the trip a long time ago. I never get to see my friends. I wanted to go.

So I went, and I’m glad I did. Thanks to my friends carrying more than their fair share of the cab fare weight and Stew bailing me out when things got really ugly, I made it through without trying to pay anyone in quarters.

Coming home, though, alone for the first time since the big move, tired and sick and broke, and wishing very badly that I could get a handle on my life, I started tearing myself apart again. Let me just tell you that being forced to choose between paying to wash clothes at the laundromat or paying for tampons is not a decision I’d wish on anyone and can lead to some serious self evaluation. (PS – I bought the tampons.)

So I’m ranting on and on inside my head… Why is this so hard? Why can’t I get my head above water? Why doesn’t anyone teach you this shit? Why am I wasting my time chasing dreams when all I really need is an income?

Little Sugar Creek Greenway, Charlotte NC

And then it hit me. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Actually, it was more like two little email pop-ups, ever so slight and polite reminding me exactly what I’m doing and that it’s exactly what I should be doing.

The first, from a college friend who thought (out of the blue, I suppose?) that I might like to see an insider tip off she received on “How to Pitch to Charlotte Magazine.” The other, from another college friend who has questions about diabetes management during half-marathon training.

One of my goals for the year is to (successfully) pitch to Charlotte Magazine and end up in print. Another is to finish my Masters and my DPD requirements to become a Registered Dietitian. Sometimes I forget that these are my goals because I can’t see past my bills and dwindling bank accounts. Those emails served as friendly reminders.

So rather than continue beating myself up, I packed up a lunch and headed out on my bike to explore my new town. (Illness be damned!)

I rode through Freedom Park and down Little Sugar Creek Greenway. I thought about Darius and his palace and I thought about me and my life. And I realized this:

There are two great lies the world tells us:

  1. That there is only one path to our perfect destination in life
  2. And that there is a destination at all, let alone a perfect one

As they say, not all who wander are lost. I am not lost. I am not hopeless. I’m just broke. Worse things have happened to better people, I can assure you. This little life I’ve built for myself is not an accident. It’s secure and it’s beautiful and, most importantly, it’s adequate. Just as I intended it to be. I just have to change my attitude about it.

Secure. Beautiful. Adequate.

I’m actually really happy right now. And doing just fine. I just grapple with a lot of the same things I assume most people my age grapple with. And I like to think that sharing it makes me (and hopefully some of you) feel a little less alone.

“This was her life. Not the life she had once dreamed of, not a life her younger self would ever have imagined or desired, but the life she was living, with all its complexities. This was her life, built with care and attention, and it was good.” – Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter


Alice’s Tea Cup

In Restaurants on June 20, 2011 at 7:27 pm

Alice's Teacup

Day two in NYC started out slow and steady with a stroll to the Met to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit.

I will not lie to you and pretend like I knew or cared about this exhibit before I got there. I did that to my friends to keep the planning simple and streamlined and then revealed as we were walking in that I had no idea what we were doing or why.

I was harshly judged and then informed that McQueen designed Princess Kate’s dress (among many, many other things). And then I was up to speed and on board.

McQueen exhibit at the Met

I’m sorry, y’all. I can only obsess over so many things at one time and right now cats and food take up most of my free time. Fashion just isn’t on my radar, which explains why I was completely in the dark. However, I will say that I was completely blown away by the collection. It was stunning to say the least. Sadly, photography is not allowed so I suggest you run your little butt up to NYC and check it out (even if you just now know what it is).

Egypt room

The Met is beautiful and CHEAPTOWN. The “suggested” donation is $20 (what do you think I’m made of money??) so I gave… significantly less. If you “suggest” anything to me that involves money at this point in my life, you are going to get less than you asked for. I promise you this.

We took in the view from the rooftop cafe and then hauled it to lunch.

This is my other boyfriend Isaac

Cutey

We ate at one of Sandwich’s most beloved little cafes: Alice’s Tea Cup.

We had to wait like an hour in the rain so the hostess took pity on our sad little souls and delivered some scones to the pavement where we were parked looking all homeless.

Can't take them anywhere.

I had the warm lentil salad with ginger vinaigrette and then curried vegetable soup.

Warm lentil salad

Curried vegetable soup

I was scheming up ways to recreate this meal only to find out later that they give away ALL their secrets in their cookbook. I’m talkin’ everything. Oh glorious day. I need this. Please. Need, not want. It’s on mah wish list (SHAMELESS REQUEST FOR PRESENTS).

I love youuu

We came home from lunch to find Sandwich’s toilet in quite a state:

Hrmmm

This is apparently not uncommon in New York apartments and is caused by someone’s washing machine liquid backing up into another person’s toilet creating great entertainment and delight for visitors from North Carolina.


Candle 79

In Restaurants on June 20, 2011 at 6:40 pm

Tempeh special

It’s been approximately 92 hours since I ate at Candle 79 (but who’s counting, right??) and I’ve had sharp, nagging pangs of desire for that meal approximately every 30 minutes. I suppose I feel similarly to how I did after eating at the McNinch House for our second anniversary: equal parts “I want to eat this every second of my life” and “why, oh whyyy did I expose myself to this because now I want to eat it every second of my life?” Yeah, that sounds about right.

Before dinner, we strolled down The High Line, an old elevated railroad track that was refurbished as a garden walk. It’s incredible.

Lovely

Why yes, I'd love to live here thanks.

Heeeey

The walk dead ends (ever so conveniently) at Tom Colicchio’s latest “restaurant” concept, which is actually a collection of high line food trucks in a lot under the tracks called The Lot on Tap. Incredible. We thought we’d slip in for a quick drink or appetizer before dinner, but the throngs of people waiting in what appeared to be at least a 2-hour wait line made us think otherwise. I’ll be back for you, Tom. You and your little bald head make my heart go pitter-pat.

The girls

The happiest place on earth?

Next to Colicchio’s lot, AOL had some kind of gimmick going no they were calling “The Happiest Place on Earth.” We sneered at it and then went in anyway. It turns out… they were pretty close to being accurate. We found this there:

Cool Haus Ice Cream Sandwich truck

Cool!

We shared a mocha chip ice cream sandwich from the Cool Haus truck, which is a trick we pulled many a time when we wanted to eat but had to business doing so, which is also probably why I’m sick right now.

And then… finally, finally it was dinner time. I’m glad we had to wait it out until almost 10pm for a reservation. It made me feel like I deserved this expensive little treat.

Candle 79 NYC

In case you don’t know (but how could you not?), Candle 79 is a high end vegan wonderland of a restaurant. It’s where the vegan celebrities come to play. The vegan celebrities and ME, sucka. Excuse me while I pat myself on the back… or, uh, Sandwich’s back… because she’s the one that got the reservation.

The chef sent out a plate of nori rolls for the table made of pickled ginger, avocado wasabi, chipotle aioli and tamari ginger sauce.

Vegetable nori rolls

And we ordered Angel’s nachos for the table–corn chips, vegan mozzarella, tomatoes, refried pinto beans, chili-grilled seitan, guacamole, salsa, tofu sour cream and romaine.

Angel's nachos

I fear I ate more than my rightful share of that communal plate. Sorry, guys. I’ll argue that the raspberry margarita I got lowered my inhibitions…

Yeah, boy

Pure Verde tequila, Thatcher’s elderflower, framboise lambic, lime, agave, rocks. So good.

And for dinner… ohhhh for dinner…

I went with the tempeh special: grilled tempeh with pickled seasonal vegetables over yellow tomato gazpacho. In short: incredible.

Do you think they deliver to North Carolina?


Peacefood Cafe

In Travel on June 19, 2011 at 7:26 pm

Tempeh sandwich and chickpea fries at Peacefood

Assuming it began around age 11 when I first saw Dunston Checks In, my obsession with New York City has raged on for a solid 15 years. I don’t know how I made it to (almost) 26 without ever visiting, but I also don’t know how I ended up doing a lot of things so I figure it’s best to not overanalyze the situation.

Before we go diving into a week’s worth of ranty recaps, a few brief introductions are in order…

The Cast of Characters

Amber

One morning I walked into my sociology of gender class and nonchalantly mentioned that some campus organization was handing out free donuts in the lobby. Amber jumped up from her desk faster than I’ve ever seen her move in her life and bolted for the door. In a twist of sweet, glorious fate, her foot was stuck in her backpack and she fell on her face. In front of the class. Running to get a free donut. It was perfect.

Glanz

Glanz and I spent the better part of our first year out of college unemployed (and subsequently drunk) at the same time. One afternoon we decided to forgo our bar crawl and go to a baseball game. Why? No one knows. We got really into it and made t-shirts and everything. We made it only as far as the stadium parking lot where we proceeded to drink whiskey with nary a sports game in sight. We also adopted a wicker monkey named Pedro from a church rummage sale. He’s a lawyer now and is going to try and sue me for this slander, no doubt.

Sandwich

In four years of college, Sandwich slept a total of approximately 15 minutes. It was impossible to catch the girl off guard since she was always, you know, awake. Unless, of course, you bury yourself under a pile of laundry on top of her bunk bed and burst out screaming Britney Spears lyrics when she enters the room. I’ve never seen anyone hit the ground so fast or so hard. Except that time Amber fell trying to get a donut. She’s on her way to India for a year where I should hope there are no laundry monsters to be found. If there are, she’ll be ready for them.

Lindsay

If you ever get to meet Lindsay (and everyone should certainly hope that they do), you should know that she will chug juuuust about anything if you tell her you’ll buy her next one. This little Achilles’ heel of hers has led us into many a wild and raucous evening. If the night’s not picking up steam like it should, get Lindsay chugging cosmos and you’re well on your way to some pretty solid entertainment. She’ll be Dr. Lindsay in four short years, but I bet our twisted little game will still work then.

Isaac

Isaac claims he doesn’t fart. Everyone knows this to be a physical impossibility, but not Isaac. He holds strong to his claim even though I once called him out in front of a room full of 40+ people for not so silently letting one rip. You can’t pull the wool over these eyes, sir. Isaac changes his life plan every 15 minutes so it’s hard for me to catch up but last I heard he’s bribing everyone to move to NYC when he does…

Perhaps I begin to make more sense...

And then there’s me. I’m sure my friends have a couple stories but this is my blog sooo… I’m perfect.

So there you have it. These are, with a few exceptions for those who couldn’t join us, my favorite people. We reunite at least once a year and it always proves to be an unforgettable time.

Day 1

My first morning in NYC started way to early with a 6am flight from Charlotte. I got to Sandwich’s apartment and we made a beeline for coffee and smoothies at the Green Bean.

Made it!

Green!

Greeeeen

Which was followed by a long, lovely stroll through Central Park and an insane aerial yoga class that was all kinds of awesome.

What to do with these?

Oh yes we did

I kind of hated anti-gravity yoga but once I got the hang of it I found it to be relaxing and challenging all at once. Afterwards I felt like jello and can see how it’s a great workout.

By the time we were done, the rest of the crew was beginning to assemble and we headed over to peacefood cafe for an amazing vegan lunch. CHICKPEA FRIES CHICKPEA FRIES CHICKPEA FRIES.

peacefood nyc

Glanz will eat vegan food AND LIKE IT

Joy to the world

I got chickpea fries and a tempeh avocado sandwich. I.was.so.happy.

So happy.

And for dessert? None other than the infamous chocolate chip walnut cookie from Levain.

Oh little bakery of butter and wonder

Levain chocolate chip walnut cookie

This is the best cookie I have ever eaten in all my life. It’s like a 1/2-pound glob of warm cookie dough. So right. Maggie makes a mean replication of Levain’s cookies, which means I’ll be making a mean replication of Maggie’s replication soon.

Before a very special dinner and one very special restaurant that, according to Sandwich’s not so cryptic clue rhymes with “handle levan tee fine,” we strolled through Chelsea Market where I pretended to be the Next Food Network Star.

Chelsea Market

One day...

To be continued over dinner…


Caturday 6/18/11

In Cats on June 18, 2011 at 6:11 am

I still look like this.

It’s 1:30am on Thursday 6/16. I leave for the airport in three hours and rather than sleep at a least a little bit since I won’t be doing any of that for the next three days, I am up writing Caturday. You are very welcome.

I probably wouldn’t have slept much anyway considering these little devil beasts have decided to run sprints around my bed all night and then throw themselves against the window beginning promptly at 4am.

Yeah what of it?

Ralphie still looks glorious as a black lion and I spend most of my time just gazing at her. Remember when she looked like this?

HAHAHA

She’s funny-looking no matter what. But since I got the carpet in the old place shampooed today and the cleaner’s response was: “How often do you vacuum? Triple that.” I’ve decided the lion cut is here to stay.

Aw shucks

La Weaz has been OUT of damn control in the new place. I think she’s looking for Waldo. Seriously. Don’t worry, Weaz. He doesn’t even know we moved. Poor senile old man.

Awwwwaldo

I’ll be back in blogging action tomorrow with more NYC updates than you can stand.


Blog Love

In Best on June 17, 2011 at 6:48 am

Totally not my photo

While I’m gallivanting about the world’s greatest food city (it is, right? no? fight it out in the comments…) and not blogging one wee tiny bit, I thought it only fair to keep y’all busy with some of my most favorite blogs. Some are oldies but goodies, some are new-to-me’s and some are about cats.

Please share some of your favorites, too. I’m always looking for other blogs to read ways to ignore my responsibilities. Oh, and don’t forget I’ve got more where this came from on my blogroll, which, I confess, is dreadfully out of date. I go through phases of blog obsession. These are my latest and greatest:

Flour Child Blog – one of the nicest women I have never met, baker extraordinaire, gave Emeril some attitude on his own show

Espresso and Cream – cute-as-can-be, wife-to-be, fellow Midwesterner, food editor

No Face Plate – feisty personal vegan chef

The Pastry Affair – just jaw-droppingly amazing food

Oh She Glows – obviously

Peas and Thank You – I want to be Katie Pea

Taylor Takes a Taste – excellent food photographer (check out his tips/tutorials)

Eat Live Run – I just love Jenna

Kitty Stampede – I laugh until I think I will vomit and then I keep laughing

You know how we do.

This does not even begin to scratch the surface. I have a problem.


The Ugly Pizza-ling?

In Dinner on June 16, 2011 at 9:37 am

The ugly pizza-ling

Did you ever hear the story of the ugly pizza-ling? It was a sad, unfortunate sight, that pizza. All lumpy and crusty and brownish-greenish-black in all the wrong places. All the other pizza-lings were mean to it and the cruel, heartless food blogger wouldn’t even feature it because it was so unattractive.

But then, like magic, all of the sudden several weeks later when the cruel, heartless food blogger was on her way to New York City, decided not to take her computer so she could enjoy every.single.second, and desperately needed some fodder to fuel the blog flame while she was away, the ugly pizza-ling started to morph into a rustic, home-cooked, browned-in-all-the-right-places pizza masterpiece.

Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Stew and I made this pizza a couple weeks ago for Pizza Sunday, a tradition I hope to uphold here on my own. It had roasted broccoli and purple asparagus (that turned green while roasting) and zucchini, too. It was awesome, just ugly.

Sorry, pizza


Vegan Probiotics

In Products on June 16, 2011 at 12:36 am

Kevita probiotic drink

Probiotics are so mainstream these days that my granddaddy wrote me a letter a few months ago asking which strain to take, how much to take and where to find it in his diet. Yes, wrote a letter. Don’t you wish everyone still did that? I ripped pages straight out of the pre/probiotic section of my textbook and sent them back to him. They don’t have a computer, you see, but they know about probiotics. What a world.

For a quick and dirty run down of what probiotics are and how they may or may not function in digestive health, see what the American Dietetic Association has to say. The bottom line–right now–is that we don’t have enough conclusive research to make probiotics a part of an evidence-based dietetic practice. Still, consumers are all over them–including vegan consumers–and research is promising.

You’ll find probiotics in the usual suspects: yogurt, kefir and fermented foods. Good Belly is a dairy-free probiotic juice drink that I’ve heard a lot of people talk about in the blog world. Most recently I’ve started picking up Kevita, a coconut-based probiotic drink. I was after it as more of a kombucha alternative since I don’t think G.T.’s is as good since they reformulated and took the alcohol out (of course), but I’ll take the potential added benefit of probiotics on top of that. I’d also take a nice buzz but that’s not happening anymore now is it? I always told people kombucha made me feel drunk. I was pretty much right.

Keh-veeeen

I love Kevita. Enough to have purchased it several times in the last couple weeks. I do not spend food dollars beyond normal grocery trips and dinners out so that’s saying something. The strawberry acai is hands down my favorite flavor. Kevita is lighter and less aggressive than kombucha. No vinegar-y taste AND it doesn’t explode when I open it. Now I love me some kombucha but I’m just sayin…

Best part? In the language I have created for the cats, which, God willing for your sake you will get to hear one day, they pronounce Kevin: keh-veeeen. They have a friend named keh-veeeen and they like keh-veeeen on The Office. And I am reminded of this every time I say Ke.vee.tah.

Win win win.


I Love NY Food

In Travel on June 15, 2011 at 8:39 am

Oh yes.

I have always wanted to live in New York. I wanted to go to NYU. But then I went to school in South Carolina. I wanted to try again and go to culinary school there after graduating. But then I got a job in South Carolina. Then I obsessed about it for a while and finally settled on watching Sex and the City reruns on TBS. It’s sad, really. I’ve never even been.

YET, that is. I’m leaving tomorrow morning to rendezvous with my college friends. With everything I’ve had going on the last couple of months, I have done little more than book my flight. Zero research has been completed on my part. SO… I need some help.

Yes.

I know about New York pizza and New York bagels (salt bagels, I hear??) and New York cheesecake, which, let’s be honest, is so 2000 and late. I know there are endless vegetarian and vegan restaurants and cupcake shops and street carts I have to visit. But… I don’t know which ones.

I’m in New York City for no more than 72 hours. So much food, so little time. What (vegetarian foods) must I eat before I return to my life south of the Mason Dixon?

I bet you I won’t even come back.


Veggie Time

In Breakfast on June 15, 2011 at 8:21 am

Vegfast

I’m still adjusting to living alone. There’s the emotional burden, yes, but mostly there are a lot of logistical things that are throwing me off. Who will take me to the airport ass-early in the morning tomorrow? Who will feed the cats while I’m gone (Caitlin and Nicole, that’s who!)? Who’s going to lick this bowl full of cookie dough clean (fine I guess I’ll do it)? How am I going to hang this 50-lb mirror on the wall? Who’s going to kill this spider??

Most importantly: Who’s going to eat this produce surplus before I leave for New York?

Eat me?

The answer, of course, is me.

Yes, it would appear that something else I’m adjusting to is shopping/cooking for one. I have so much produce to eat in the next 20 hours I don’t even know what to do with myself. Since I refuse to waste food I am going to have to eat the following by tomorrow morning:

  • 3 heads of romaine
  • 2 zucchini
  • 1 yellow squash
  • 2 broccoli heads
  • and a sack o’ carrots

Phase 1: Breakfast

You better believe I can/will do it. To get a jumpstart on this lofty goal, I ate vegetables for breakfast. I’m not sure who decided that breakfast should be sugary breads (hello French toast, waffles, muffins, scones and the like), but I think vegetables are what’s up first thing in the morning. I sauteed one of the broccoli heads, one of the zucchini, several carrots and a 1/4 block of tempeh and served it with a piece of cheesy toast.

Then I rushed down to our sad, old, empty place to meet the carpet cleaners. (Do you know what havoc two cats and a dog can wreak on beige carpet? We do.)

Goodbye

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some produce to eat.

Stop… veggie time.


Oh Happy Day

In Rant on June 14, 2011 at 9:26 am

Lovely

I started my morning slow and steady with boring computer to-do’s in bed. Do you have any idea how many places you have to change your address when you move? I do. A million.

I’ve been staying up entirely too late every night trying to finish the apartment, get ready for NYC, etc. So I opted out of yoga this morning in exchange for a little 2.5-mile run through my new neighborhood. In a word (or two), I am in love. When I picked this place I really didn’t know much of anything about Charlotte or how close I’d be to so many cool things. I’m starting to understand how all the neighborhoods flow together and I’ve got to say, I picked a winner.

I’m already plotting out bike routes, lazy Saturday morning bagel expeditions, restaurant stops galore and, uh, bus routes. Because I happen to love public transportation.

ALSO (this is so cool), I harvested three apples from the tree in my backyard this morning. COOLEST.

Yes.

I actually refuse to eat them until my landlord gets back to me on my “Hey can I eat these apples?” email because I’ve seen Into the Wild and I’m not about to die because I ate a poisonous fruit that just happens to look like an apple.

[I did Google "poisonous fruit looks like apple" and came up empty-handed so I think I'm good.]

In other news, I have settled in for the most part. Here’s what I was up to last night:

Living room

Neutrals for the win

Hey Weaz

Teeny hallway to kitchen

Where the magic happens

Cute, right?

Ralphie's room

I am very comfortable and at peace here already. I keep thinking: WHY DIDN’T WE JUST LIVE UP HERE LAST YEAR? As if that would have fixed everything. And maybe it would have. But I know why we didn’t. Because bad things make the good things feel great. Living in Rock Hill was, for lack of a better descriptor, a bad thing for me. I think Charlotte will be good. Having last year to compare to my current situation makes it feel all the more amazing.

Y’all come visit, ya hear?


Brown Sugar Blueberry Cookies

In Baked Goods on June 14, 2011 at 12:03 am

Brown sugar blueberry cookies. Yes.

The second Jess posted her recipe for brown sugar blueberry cookies, I knew I’d be making these suckers before the week was up. I’m not ashamed to say I ate about a 1/4 cup of dough either. I did it because I don’t have a garbage disposal anymore and can’t risk clogging the drain. You understand.

Anyway, I think my initial reaction to this cookie recipe went something like this:

And my initial reaction to the cookies themselves went something like this:

Omnomnomnom

I made them when I should have been unpacking and organizing and getting ready for New York and a whole host of other responsibilities I chose to ignore. It’s what I do.

I took them to work and they FLEW off the plate. These are a winner.

Oh! And I made them vegan. If you’d like to tweak Jess’ recipe, simply sub:

  • Earth Balance instead of butter
  • 1 Tbsp chia seeds + 3 Tbsp water + 1/4tsp arrowroot powder instead of an egg
  • Almond milk instead of milk

Tah dah

Do it.


Berry Unnecessary

In What's for Lunch? on June 13, 2011 at 1:32 pm

Tempeh sandwich and berries galore

Sometimes I’m like: Yeah right, grocery store. These berries are way too expensive. I could buy these berries or I could pay my rent. I could buy these berries or purchase health insurance. I could buy these berries or fill my car up with gas. Don’t put me between a rock and a hard place berry, you jerks.

And then other times I’m like: TO HELL WITH HEALTH INSURANCE GIVE ME ALL THE BERRIES YOU HAVE.

ALL OF THEM

I don’t know what possessed me to purchase three huge things of grapes, blueberries and blackberries last night. (That’s not true. I got blueberries to make THESE.) I especially don’t know why I did that this week considering I’m only here for three days. What can you do?

Eat berries, obviously.


When Weasels Attack

In Breakfast on June 13, 2011 at 9:18 am

Good day

This morning was chugging along beautifully. I woke up 9 minutes ’til yoga and freaking MADE IT because I can do that now. The sun was shining through my grapes (that’s a sign of a good morning, right?), the internet I’m stealing this week is coming in strong and the French press was doing what it does.

Sunny grapes

I'm a little French press

I took a shower, pretended not to see the mystery bug on the bath mat and gave So Damn Good some lovin’ because it’s been neglected throughout the move. (Y’all know I play the tumblr game, right? It’s just pictures of food from Sweet Tater. Do it.)

There I was minding my own business and trying to see how long I can wait to leave for class…

And then… then Weaz was like SUCK IT KATIE. And did this with my iced coffee:

WHY WEAZ

The little chunkies (if you can see them) are almond pulp from the homemade almond milk. I actually don’t notice any grit when I’m drinking but apparently when it’s sprawled out on a black table it because evident that there is, in fact, grit in my milk.

It’s ok though. Ralphie’s sitting next to me–butt lump and all–trying to console me. She offered to make more coffee but I told her to keep her fuzzy butt OUT of the kitchen this year.

That goes for you, too, WEAZ.


Creamy Hummus Pasta

In Dinner on June 12, 2011 at 5:41 pm

Tahini + lemon + chickpeas = hummus

I’m all out of food because I ate it before we moved. I don’t want to buy more food because I’m leaving for NYC in 72 hours. (Wait… what?) I’d also rather just buy this (too late I already did that but at Marhsall’s CHEAP STYLE) than spend my precious few dollars on necessities like food.

So I rummaged around the few non-perishables that crossed state lines with me and realized I had everything I need for pasta… but sauce. And everything I need for hummus… but things to dip in said hummus. AND SO… I combined those two concepts into one protein-packed lunch. It was awesome.

Creamy Hummus Pasta
Print
Recipe type: Pasta
Author: Katie Levans
Ingredients
  • 1 package brown rice noodles
  • 1 Tbsp oil (I used coconut)
  • 4 carrots
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 c frozen spinach
  • 1 c vegetable stock
  • 1 can chickpeas
  • juice of one lemon
  • 1/4 c tahini
Instructions
  1. Prepare noodles of choice
  2. Heat oil over medium and add carrots
  3. When carrots have softened, add garlic and let cook 4-5 minutes
  4. Add spinach (I used a combination of fresh and frozen), veggie stock and lemon juice and let cook another couple minutes
  5. Add prepared pasta do your veggie mix and add in tahini
  6. Stir to combine and add salt and pepper to taste

Natural light!

This is what pictures on my stove look like now. Can you believe it? Thank you, giant window in the kitchen.

Fixins. Goods. You know.

Dear Stew, when we moved to different states did it occur to you that you won’t get to eat all my food any more? It occurred to me that time a couple weeks ago when I told you the thing I’ll miss most is your hummus. But you know that’s not true. I’ll miss Waldo. WINK.

I’ll make it again. I’ll make it again.


Be My Neighbor?

In Baked Goods on June 12, 2011 at 11:47 am

Cinnamon muffins with coconut banana cream

Aside from La Weaz waking me up at 4am to remind me that we were, in fact, in a new house, I slept like a rock. I somehow had the wherewithal to think to wash and dry my sheets at the old apartment before arriving at the new place so my bed would be perfectly primped for me to pass out on whenever the time came. Let’s not forget I don’t have a washing machine anymore. Or a dishwasher. Or a garbage disposal. It’s like camping.

I convinced Weaz to let me sleep two more hours and then got right back to organizing around 6am. Since soundproofing was apparently not a priority in our unit (hello, new upstairs neighbor and your 1am sports-TV-watching habit), I decided to spare my neighbors (for now, anyway) and bake muffins instead of busting out the blender at 7am on a Sunday. You’re welcome.

Nice and quiet

This meant I got to break in my awesome antique oven. I judged her at first but have grown fond of her retro appeal. Plus, she works great.

I made Katie’s single lady cupcake times two and topped it with pureed banana and coconut butter. Holler.

Back to work...

And now… the organization rages on! Check ya later when this house is a home.


A Toast

In Dinner on June 12, 2011 at 11:36 am

Hey, baby.

It took 18 hours, 6 trips from old apartment to new, enough boxes to build another apartment, two superhero movers and the whiniest cat you ever did meet (WEAZ), but we did it.

The day before The Move a woman at yoga asked me what I was up to this weekend and I said moving, with a cringe on my face. “Oh! Moving can be so fun if you let it.” She’s right. So I let it.

Granted, I didn’t touch a single item larger or heavier than a box full of books so perhaps things were rougher for Stew and his friend Jason who saved my life by moving the entire thing 30 miles north.

THANK YOU

Nevertheless, I had fun with the day. It started way too early at 6am when I talked myself out of taking 3 hours to go to superflow and instead just hit the ground running. I had packed a cute little traveling oat pack for breakfast, which I enjoyed on trip two… or three? Who knows? It’s a blur.

Oats on the go

We broke to refuel with Big Daddy’s around 2pm. Again, the day was a blur. I would never wait until 2pm to eat lunch. We were on fire!

Best burger salad on the planet.

Around 9pm it was finally time to make one final trip to round up the cats. It also happened to be time for a ruthless storm to blow through. I assure you I was more traumatized than the cats were. Weaz begs to differ.

Somehow a lifetime later at 1 o’clock in the morning we were all there–Ralph, Weaz, me and all my worldly posessions–and things were starting to come together. Pleased with myself and my progress I plopped down to make a toast.

Double entendre!

I had tahini and jam on brown rice bread (because I couldn’t–and still can’t–find my sunflower butter anywhere) and a celebratory glass of some kind of $4 sparkling Spanish wine from Trader Joe’s. Buying it from Trader Joe’s and calling it “sparkling Spanish wine” somehow makes it more ok than drinking Andre.


Caturday 6/11/11

In Cats on June 11, 2011 at 6:46 am

RAR

51 weeks ago we moved into this shiny new townhome. We hated the location but the home itself is pretty amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I declared that the cats would be groomed promptly upon our arrival so their out of control shedding wouldn’t tarnish the bright white interior.

A year later, I finally did it. It’s too late for this house, I’m afraid. Shedding occurred. All day. Every day. Hair floated through the air and blew across the ground like tumbleweeds. I can’t even tell you how many hairs I probably consumed just by breathing. Not so much something you want to hear on a food blog.

Weaz sheds more than long-haired Ralph. Lots more.

I tried brushing, obviously. You try brushing Ralph and see how much of your epidermis you come away with. I bought soft brushes, hard brushes, that damn $40 Furminator and those silly oven mitt brushes. No go.

But now… now I win. I played the groomer card. I didn’t want to. For a year straight I backed out of doing it. The night before I tried to back out. The day of I tried to back out. Stew made me do it. I swear.

I hate this more than Weaz does.

Oh yes.

Seeing the cats in any sort of distress causes me so much anxiety that I avoid putting them in any sort of unpleasant situation. In case you were wondering, going to the groomer is VERY unpleasant.

RAAAAR

We joked about getting Ralphie a lion cut. We call her our little lion after all. I didn’t expect that to actually be the recommended haircut when we arrived. I almost said no. In fact, I cringed. I looked at the groomer like I might cry. I said, “But don’t you think she’ll feel embarrassed?”

She looked at me like I was crazy. Stew looked like he might explode with joy (say yes say yes say yes, I could see him willing me into action). I said yes.

Now Ralph looks like this:

Haaaahahaha.

I laugh every time I see her, which can’t be good for her self esteem. But seriously. Look at this fat roll on her butt:

HAHAHA

Weaz went to the groomer, too. But she came out looking the same:

Here I am.

And hating me more:

I hate you.

Weaz doesn’t recognize Ralph anymore now that she’s a lion. She hisses every time she walks past her. Slowly but surely, she’s getting over that, which is good because it hurts Ralph’s feelings.

It’s so very hilarious, yes, but I didn’t just put her through hell for my own entertainment. Her fur was getting matted as she shed her winter coat. And Weaz won’t stop throwing up hairballs. It was a necessary evil but so very worth it. You want to know how much worth it? I’m not telling you. But I can justify it because I myself only get haircuts like once every two or three years and the rest of my upkeep is pretty Walmart-priced. So I can spend a hefty “personal care” budget sum on my two former street cats. That makes sense, right? Please tell me it makes sense.

Through it all, Waldo has yet to notice that we now have a small lion running around the house. Much the same way he failed to notice someone stealing Stew’s car out of the driveway. He’s a sleeper.

Sleeps like a rock.

Doop.

So that’s the story of how Ralph turned into a little lion. I hope her hair never grows back. She looks delightful and is the softest thing I have ever touched. Also, butt lump:

Yes.

We’re off to pack up our lives. It’s moving day, y’all.

Weaz... check.


All Right. All Ready.

In Restaurants on June 10, 2011 at 1:25 pm

Grilled cheese - multigrain, cheddar, tomato

I’m made for city skylines, for hustle (and for bustle), for cute little organic bakeries, for hardwood floors and for heat.

Today then, I am happy to report, is pretty perfect.

I started the morning with my first car-full delivery to the new place. I think I’ll call her Midge. Wait til you see the oven. You’ll get it. Actually, the oven is more like an Olga. You’ll see…

I took a break before so much as breaking a sweat to head to yoga and, uh, sweat a lot. It was a good class, a hot class. The woman next to me told me my body was made for yoga, that I looked so natural.

“Oh no no,” I told her. “Not when I started it wasn’t.”

At first, I was tight and creaky and felt awkward all the time. No, I’m afraid my body was not made for yoga. Not at first anyway. Yoga was made for my body. With a little time and a whole lot of patience, my body has welcomed yoga in. It wasn’t the other way around. There’s still a long way to go, but that’s the beauty of the practice. Always a student.

Pickle!

Lunch is being enjoyed at Sunflour Bakery, my new favorite. I got a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich with cheddar on multigrain bread. I am made for bread… and cheese… and pickles.

Oh. I went to IKEA. I feel like I need two Valium just to walk in the door. I’ve never had Valium. I assume it would help with the feelings of claustrophobia and PANIC. What’s up with that place? I walked for an hour and left with a $0.99 mat for the cats’ food bowl. Who does that?

Anyway, I feel good. I feel like this is right. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.


Strawberry Breakfast Bake

In Baked Goods on June 9, 2011 at 8:06 am

Strawberry breakfast bake

HAVE I GOT A TREAT FOR YOU.

And no, I’m not talking about this delightful strawberry breakfast bake (based on the breakfast pizzert a la Chocolate Covered Katie). Oh no, no no no. I have something so, so much better this morning. Something so glorious it can’t wait until Caturday.

Hint:

Maaahahahha.

Does anyone even care about the breakfast anymore? NO.

Aw, shucks.

And so… this is what we did yesterday. And by “we” I mean a groomer. For eight hours.

Hehehehehoohhahahaheoooahha

Ralphie got a lion cut yesterday. It’s just as incredible as you’d imagine. I can’t give away all the goods before Caturday. But until then, I’ll at least leave you with this:

Ralph Vader

You see?

Anyway, I ate breakfast this morning. It was good. I made Katie’s breakfast pizzert but cooked it in a loaf pan with strawberries. I topped it with banana coconut cream and gazed at Ralph while I ate it.

Banana Coconut Cream
5.0 from 1 reviews
Print
Author: Katie Levans
Prep time: 2 mins
Total time: 2 mins
This is not really a recipe. But in case people ask…
Ingredients
  • 1 banana
  • 1-2 Tbsp coconut butter
Instructions
  1. Combine in a mini food processor until smooth
  2. Inhale

 


Tamale Pie

In Dinner on June 8, 2011 at 1:41 pm

Mama Pea's tamale pie

I know. I’m out of control. Go ahead and start calling me Katie Pea.

This is my third (third) Peas and Thank You recipe this week. Poor Mama Pea probably fears for her life. At this point, I bet she thinks I’m freakin obsessed with her. That I’m gonna skin her and wear her like last year’s Versace. Right, Dina Manzo? [Real Housewives of New Jersey joke. Zing!]

I am freakin obsessed with Mama Pea. You would be too if you were eating these delicious creations. We’re still workin on the oatmeal cookie cupcakes and most recently have been inhaling tamale pie like it is our J-O-B.

It’s a tempeh/bean/tomato filling topped with corn-filled cornbread. Yes, please.

The woman can do no wrong!


Muffin Tower

In Breakfast on June 8, 2011 at 5:39 am

Muffin tower with banana soft serve

One of my favorite things to do with leftover muffins (especially when they are these muffins) is toast them up in a skillet and top them with banana soft serve. I like to let the muffins get a nice little char around the edges, which pairs perfectly with cool, creamy soft serve.

I also like to make it look pretty for about 15 seconds for a picture and then eat it more like this:

Mmmeh


Oh $#!T We’re Moving Pasta

In What's for Lunch? on June 7, 2011 at 9:36 am

Garbage pasta

[How do you like that censorship, Mom?? Just for you.]

Confession: I think I am a hoarder. Not an animal hoarder (yet). I hoard food like I lived through the Great Depression. Seriously.

Just four days out from moving day, I found myself digging through piles and piles of almost empty food items. What the hell was I planning to do with less than 1/2 a cup of brown rice pasta, two carrot sticks, like eight frozen green beans, maybe a quarter cup of shredded cabbage and a sprinkling of chickpeas?

Make lunch, apparently.

I don’t know why I didn’t just throw these final few bits into whatever meal I was making the last time when they became straggling leftovers. Or why I didn’t just throw them away. What can I say? I’m frugal crazy.

And while these food scraps don’t look like much on their own, their whole is greater than the sum of their parts. They came together to make a perfectly suitable must-clear-out-the-kitchen-this-week meal.

Tah dah

Don’t you just hate love moving?


Snack Bites

In Snack on June 7, 2011 at 5:11 am

Chewy, chocolatey, figgy, healthy

If LARABARS have taught me anything, it’s that you can throw just about anything into a food processor with some dried fruit and come out with a suitable snack item.

The bars’ notoriously short and sweet ingredient lists (think: dates, cashews… that’s it) make them an excellent option as far as packaged snack products go. But they also make them… really easy to replicate at home. Shoulda thought of that one, Lara!

This recipe isn’t a LARABAR imitation by any means but it’s kind of the same idea. I used whatever I had in my cabinet and you could, too.

So if you don’t feel like dropping $2 on a bar, you can drop the following into a food processor and end up with something edible.

Snack Bites
Print
Recipe type: Snack
Author: Katie Levans
Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 5 mins
Ingredients
  • 1/2 c figs
  • 1 tsp chia seeds
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbsp nut butter
  • 2 tsp shredded coconut
  • 3 Tbsp oats
  • 1 Tbsp nondairy milk
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor until it comes together into a thick paste
  2. Scoop out using a melon baller (or shape any way you like)
  3. Enjoy!

Nugget army reporting for duty


Vegan Banana Millet Muffins

In Baked Goods on June 6, 2011 at 8:23 am

Mama Pea's vegan banana millet muffins

I love Mama Pea. There. I said it. I love her cupcakes and her balls and her out-of-control sauce. I even love Pea Kitty (obviously).

I have yet to make something of hers that I do not absolutely adore and I cannot WAIT to buy her book next month.

Yesterday–less than 24 hours after making her oatmeal cookie cupcakes, mind you–I made Mama Pea’s banana millet muffins (sans chocolate chips in my version) for our overnight guests. The muffins came together in the frenzied final 30 minutes before I was out the door to yoga (why do I insist on doing everything at that time of the morning?) and are pretty damn flawless.

The millet adds a nice crunchy texture and makes this a more substantial and satisfying muffin than most. Love.

Banana muffin chilled oat partfait

I ate two yesterday, gave one to Sara on the way to yoga and crumbled one into my chilled oat parfait this morning. The worst part about these muffins is that there aren’t many left.

[By they way, if you haven't made one of these vegan breakfast parfaits yet, there is something wrong with you.]

Anyway, someone asked me for a good banana bread recipe recently and I didn’t have one. Now I do. It’s this one.


Oatmeal Cookie Cupcakes

In Baked Goods on June 5, 2011 at 1:17 pm

Mama Pea's oatmeal cookie cupcakes

I hope you’ve got your baking mitts ready because this one’s a doozy. Are you ready?

Best.cupcake.ever.

This is how I feel about Mama Pea’s oatmeal cookie cupcakes that I whipped up in a rage yesterday. Who knew that from such bitter fury could be borne a baked good so sweet and perfect it can turn even the shittiest of days months into a pretty OK ride on the life roller coaster.

I took these to work yesterday (along with the vegan Tollhouse cookies) and was informed that they are, in fact, the best cupcakes (and cookies) ever.

Sweet perfect swirls.

A couple minor switch ups occurred in my kitchen:

  1. I didn’t have vegan cream cheese so I just made a standard buttercream and added cinnamon to it. That was the best.
  2. Once again, I used my flour labeled “AP Flour” that I know full well is actually chickpea flour. So this is half wheat/half chickpea flour. It worked.
  3. I put raisins in half the batch but left some without since people seem to love or hate raisins in baked goods with no gray area whatsoever. I happen to love them.

Make these now.


Vegan Tollhouse Cookies

In Baked Goods on June 4, 2011 at 1:56 pm

Classic Tollhouse cookie recipe veganized

Today my life was like, “Hey, Katie. I hate you.” And I was like, “That’s cool. I’m gonna bake for 6 hours straight and pretend I don’t exist beyond the confines of this 8×6 galley kitchen.”

And so that’s what I did.

I started by cutting up this watermelon with an excessively large knife and just a touch more force than is really necessary.

Sorry, guy.

But cutting fruit simply would not do. Oh no. Today is not a fruit-cutting day. Today is a fight-with-your-landlord, fling-yourself-into-debt, forget-your-responsibilities, bake-cupcakes-and-cookies kind of day.

You know what I'm saying.

We’ve all been there, right? Right.

So I whipped up Mama Pea’s oatmeal cookie cupcakes and a veganized version of the original Tollhouse cookie recipe.

Stew used to make the non-vegan version on an almost nightly basis at the beginning of our relationship. And we didn’t have a mixer either. Have you ever made these cookies by hand? Not easy. The fact that he made them so frequently and did so by hand (and often late at night) is a testament to his aggressive sweet tooth that, according to his dad, runs in the family.

We haven’t made them in years and I had everything on hand to make them vegan. So this happened:

Vegan Tollhouse Cookies
Print
Recipe type: Baked Goods
Author: Katie Levans
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 20 mins
Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 c whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup vegan butter
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp arrowroot powder + 2 Tbsp water + 2 tsp chia seeds
  • 2 cups vegan chocolate
  • 1 cup chopped nuts
Instructions
  1. Combine dry ingredients
  2. In a small bowl, combine the egg replacer (arrowroot, water and chia seeds)
  3. In a separate bowl, beat butter, sugars and vanilla until smooth
  4. Slowly add the egg replacer mix and combine well
  5. Slowly add flour a little at a time until combined
  6. Mix in chocolate and nuts
  7. Drop onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes

Tah dah. Just like old times but without animals.


Caturday 6/4/11

In Cats on June 4, 2011 at 8:48 am

The cat days of summer

It has been hot hot hot here in South Carolina and even though my pampered, indoor, air-conditioned cats don’t know what it’s like to live outside a constant 68-degree comfort zone (except that time we wouldn’t turn the AC on), they still like to dramatically drape themselves over furniture as if the world (or life) is ending.

Happy last Caturday in South Carolina, y’all. Next weekend I’ll be up to my eyeballs in cardboard boxes, sweat and probably some tears as I attempt to move my life (Ralph, Weaz and all) up to Charlotte.

Weaz is ready.

Moving is the worst, isn’t it? It is. I’ve pretty much been an inconsolable, dramatic, sensitive, broken down version of myself the last couple months since “The Move” decision was made. I understand people’s interest in and concern for what’s going on, but I promise you I will tear up if you ask me about it. And then you’ll feel uncomfortable. It’s best to just leave it alone until I get through next week. Then I’ll be all giddy about the new place. I’m just not there yet.

And we're not gonna make this easy either.

I can’t tell who hates moving more, me or the cats. Considering RALPH POOPED IN STEW’S CAR last year when we moved, I’d say she wins for least excited about next weekend. I, on the other hand, have no plans to poop on anything. Promise.

My pile or yours?

In case you’re curious, Waldo goes with Stew. He’s definitely his dog. Plus, this is how Ralph feels about him:

And stay out there!

I’m off to see if I can get anybody up to help move this packing process along. I don’t see it going well…

Something tells me you will pack alone.


Lemon Dill Skillet Cabbage

In Vegetables on June 3, 2011 at 1:11 pm

Lemon dill skillet cabbage

Last week we harvested a cabbage from the garden. Actually, I think I stole it. But I’m not really sure. You see, before school ended I got the go ahead from one of the community garden organizers to help myself to plots that look abandoned. So I’ve been doing that. But sometimes I can’t decide if they’re really abandoned or just cared for by negligent gardeners. Which means I’m quite possibly a vegetable thief. Lock me up and throw away the key.

So anyway, I’ve got this monster cabbage and it’s all like, “Whatcha gonna do with me now, criminal?” And I’m all like, “Shut it, cabbage. I’ma chop you up and eat you.”

But really, I didn’t have a plan for how that would happen. I did chop the cabbage up and did have plans to eat it. I made some vegan creamy peppercorn slaw that went over well. For Stew. Despite making it with my own two hands and knowing full well that no mayonnaise was harmed in the making of that slaw, I just couldn’t stomach it. White creamy things. Shudder.

So today I had a better idea. Cook that smartass Crucifer.

Lemon Dill Skillet Cabbage
Print
Recipe type: Side
Author: Katie Levans
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 8 mins
Total time: 13 mins
Ingredients
  • 4 c thinly sliced cabbage
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp dill
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Warm oil in a skillet over medium heat
  2. Add cabbage and cook until it starts to lightly brown (it’ll also shrink to about half its original size)
  3. Season with herbs, salt and pepper

 

See ya, cabbage

Lunch.

This cabbage was lovely with a tempeh zucchini saute served over quinoa.


I Got Greedy

In What's for Lunch? on June 3, 2011 at 7:41 am

Greedy veggie sandwich

A great veggie sandwich is often hard to come by. It’s usually light on vegetables, heavy on cheese and horrendously overpriced. So when given the option to “build your own,” I strongly suggest you accept that offer.

Last night I popped into Reid’s Fine Foods for dinner before my book club.

Reid's

Their veggie option is portobello based, which we all know is not my thang. I asked if I could just make my own with salad ingredients priced by the pound. “Of course,” said the very sweet little sandwich lady.

Working with a per-pound pricing strategy and my brokeass bank account, I went easy. Artichokes, olives, spinach, cheddar. But then… then she told me I could get whatever I want for a flat rate of $7.50 and that’s when things got interesting.

OH, my little mind starts a-ticking. Oh, in that case let’s add…

  • Hummus
  • Carrots
  • Roasted beets (what? why, Katie?)
  • Roasted red peppers

She looks at me. “This will be an interesting sandwich,” she says.

Interesting indeed, little sandwich lady. It was good, not mind-blowingly so and difficult impossible to eat. I ran into Brittney and her husband Greg and they got to watch me struggle through it.

All because I got a little greedy. But can you really blame me? Anything I want for $7.50?? Dear god, I realize now that this is how buffet-goers’ minds function.


Hot Weather, Cold Oats

In Breakfast on June 2, 2011 at 6:19 am

Cold oats parfait a la Oh She Glows

Confession: I don’t really like oatmeal all that much. Mostly, I think, it’s that I don’t really like to consume hot things in the morning. Especially when our early June temperatures are already soaring near the 100s. I also feel dehydrated on a daily basis and just want fruit, water and cold things when I first wake up. [The bread I'm eating hot out the toaster as we speak--uh, toast?--is poking holes in my airtight cold breakfast logic.]

This doesn’t mean, however, that I can’t still enjoy oats in all their nutritional glory first thing in the morning. I just don’t cook them. It sounds wrong, I know, but it’s so right.

I’d been eating homemade muesli (a simple mix of oats, nuts, fruits and milk) and vegan versions of overnight oats (oats soaked in milk in the fridge overnight until soft and then served with toppings) but it wasn’t until discovering Angela’s vegan overnight oat parfaits that I learned to really make cold oats shine.

Pretty food tastes better.

The secret is the addition of banana soft serve to the mix. And serving it in an inappropriately fancy little glass. Layers of cold creamy soft serve mix with a hearty, chewy oat base and, honestly, it’s kind of like eating dessert for breakfast.

I make mine like this:

Chilled Oat Parfait
5.0 from 1 reviews
Print
Recipe type: Breakfast
Author: Katie inspired by Oh She Glows
Ingredients
  • 1/3 c oats
  • 1 c almond milk
  • 1 Tbsp chia seeds
  • sprinkle of cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • drop of vanilla
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 Tbsp nut butter
  • 2 tsp jam, separated
Instructions
  1. Combine oats, milk, chia seeds, cinnamon, salt and vanilla in a bowl and place in fridge to chill while preparing the banana soft serve. (This does not have to sit overnight. I usually give it about 20 minutes while I’m getting ready in the morning.)
  2. Carefully chop frozen banana with a sharp knife (or consider chopping it before freezing) and process in a small food processor with the nut butter and 1 tsp jam until smooth and creamy like soft serve ice cream.
  3. Layer your oats and soft serve in a tall glass and top with remaining jam.

Cold breakfast for a hot day

There are endless flavor combinations for oat parfaits. I suggest checking out Angela’s recipe page for inspiration.


Pardon Our Crumbs

In Rant on June 1, 2011 at 8:20 am

Just a little maintenance...

You may have noticed something different about Sweet Tater today. I finally took the plunge and partnered with Foodbuzz for advertising. Whether or not to monetize the blog is something I’ve wrestled with for the nearly two years I’ve been writing it, and within just 12 hours of getting started I can tell you I am happy with my decision to work with Foodbuzz. They have been super responsive, patient and understanding as I’ve fumbled through the steps to free up a 728×90 rectangle of my blog baby for their use.

My concerns about advertising were:

  • Cluttering up the design
  • Not know how to handle the tech side of implementation
  • Compromising the integrity of the blog and its mission

And here’s how I feel about it so far: I am happy with how the banner ad looks at the top of the page. As readers, I’ll hope you’ll share your feedback if you agree/disagree. The “tech side,” I have found, is little more than copying and pasting code, which I can handle. As for integrity… the very first ad displayed was for Tyson chicken, which sent me into a frenzy of passive aggressive social media updates. But I reacted before even asking Foodbuzz to take it down. When I did, they told me that they “never want any of our Featured Publishers to be unhappy with the ads that run on their personal space” and that I can opt out of any ad at any time. Very cool.

Please bear with me as I work out any kinks in design/function in the next couple of weeks. My intent is not to change much of anything.

Thanks for continuing to stop by, comment, email and feed my twitter habit. This blog will continue to change and grow as I do. I hope you’ll stick around for the ride.

Katie


Sunflour Bakery

In Restaurants on June 1, 2011 at 7:59 am

Carrot cake and dark chocolate raspberry

Yesterday I popped in Sunflour Bakery to pick up some sorry-your-car-got-stolen baked goods for Stew. Did I not mention that Stew’s car got stolen? Out of our driveway. It’s true. Since I don’t have a whole lot of experience with boyfriends’ cars getting stolen, I wasn’t entirely sure the proper etiquette for trying desperately to make him feel better. I figure cupcakes are a sort of all-encompassing bringer of joy.

Sounflour Bakery, Charlotte NC

Go here.

I wish I could say we made a wish on the cupcakes and the car magically reappeared in the driveway. But it didn’t. And it probably won’t. In case you’ve never had a car stolen (and I hope you don’t), you should know that the situation is not dealt with by the police with any sense of urgency that might at least make you feel like every effort is being made to find it. I suppose those efforts are reserved for finding missing people not cars, and we agree that’s how it should be.

In fact, Stew has been incredibly mellow this entire week. Mostly he just feels like things could have been a lot worse. We’re thankful all they wanted was the car, that they didn’t come inside and that nothing else happened.

Cupcakes make everything better

Now every time I see a white BMW I break my neck trying to see the license plate number. I swear to you I saw it yesterday on 77S. The best part, we’ve decided, is that his headlights were out so if the thief drives at night they’ll undoubtedly be pulled over and the car will come up as stolen. That’s what we’re hoping anyway.

Until then… cupcakes.

Who needs a car?