Say Hello to Tubby!

I just had to put this video on here because I was so happy I caught him in action. This is my squirrel Tubby, or Bally's Parking Lot Tubby. Either one works. He didn't even get too nervous when I whipped out my phone and started filming his cute, little (and by little, I mean enormous) squirrel butt. I was just a tad bit mad because he was finishing off a Red Delicious apple when I first saw him, but he dropped it before I could start filming. haha And yes, I realize he doesn't have the best taste in apples, but who could blame him? It was free and lying on the ground. I feel like a wildlife documentary host. Maybe that should be my profession... instead of one hot mama that is!! haha

Alrighty, so I promise I won't talk too much about Tubby anymore. It's just that I see him everyday and I get so excited about it. I mean, you have to admit that he is just a darling squirrel. He would never hurt a fly, maybe a pizza... but

Okay, I'll be serious. haha Just kidding- that's way too hard for me, but I will give you a recipe. It's for Dreena Burton's Lemon Garlic Pasta from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. If you haven't heard of Dreena or her cookbooks, buy them now!!!!! You could say I'm a little obsessed with her, and I'd completely agree with you. haha She is the woman who inspired me to become a vegan. Her recipes are always delicious and this pasta is no exception. It's kind of insane how quickly I ate this. The recipe calls for 3/4 lb of pasta which is 3 cups of uncooked pasta (at least I think it is because that's what I put in). I made it after school around 2:30pm on Tuesday and it was gone by the Wednesday morning. Don't ask how I did it- just be jealous. haha

Here's the recipe

Lemon Garlic Pasta
3/4 lb pasta (I used brown rice shells because they are adorable)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 tsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
3 1/2-4 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Directions: Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, agave nectar, mustard, and oil (start with 3 1/2 tbsp). Set aside. When pasta is almost done, remove one cup of pasta water and reserve. Drain pasta (don't rinse), return to pot and toss with lemon dressing, toasted pine nuts, and basil. If pasta seems too dry, add some pasta water, 1 tbsp at a time.

Vegan Mac and Cheese # 3

Well, I have no school today. THANK GOD!!! I do have to work, but just the fact that there's no class makes up for my crappy time spent at Sears. After work, I'm hangin' out with my friend, Mitchel. We'll probably dance in the Sears parking lot for a while cuz that's just what we do. He leaves for school tomorrow morning, and tonight is the last night I'll see him for a while. It's so damn depressing. I still have my friends here, though. Speaking of friends, I saw my good friend Ted at the gym last night. He's 70 yrs old and is a hardcore cyclist. I love that man. We usually have push up competitions but I had already done my set. And since we're on the topic of the gym. I just want to thank all the hotties that were there last night. You guys made my workout effortless. haha

Alrighty, recipe time!!!! This is my third vegan mac and cheese recipe. I'm on my second bowl for breakfast right now, and I'm enjoying it. There was a good amount of nutritional yeast, but it isn't a fake cheesy taste at all. I baked mine after I made the sauce, and I wouldn't recommend doing that. It dried out the sauce too much. It's still delicious even baked- I just added some tamari to moisten it a little. Tamari tastes good on EVERYTHING!! I found the recipe on some other vegan blog (can't remember what it was), but I changed the original recipe quite a bit.

Here's the recipe:
Cheese Wiz Mac n Cheese

2 cups whole wheat macaroni
1 15.5 oz can Cannellini Beans
6 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
3-4 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
1/2 onion granules
1 tsp prepared yellow mustard
1/2 tsp salt
dash of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4-1/2 cup vegetable stock

Directions:
In a large pot of salted,boiling water, add 2 cups of macaroni and cook for 7 minutes. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a food processor starting with 1/4 cup vegetable stock. Blend until smooth (if it's a little thick, add the other 1/4 cup of vegetable stock). When macaroni is finished cooking, drain the pasta, and place in a large dish. Add the "cheese" sauce and stir together until well-incorporated. You're ready to eat!

Some damn good pasta

I love using the food processor!!!!! That is, except for cleaning that damn thing. But I'll clean it if I can get really good food out of it. And that's exactly what I'm eating for breakfast right now... really good food. I have a big meeting today for school to talk about events for the honors program. We have A LOT of things to discuss for this school year, so I knew I wanted to relax this morning. I'm watching the Olympics Table Tennis, and it's pretty darn tense right now. I've never been good at the game, but I've never met anyone really good at it either... so I'm not that disappointed. haha.

But here's the divine recipe for today! I found it on the Vegan Yum Yum blog, and it tastes so fresh. It's not creamy like it is on the blog, and I'm thinking that it might be because I used angel hair pasta? I'm not sure, but it still tastes good. I added some other ingredients to give it some flavor (I changed the title), and I just love it. I had it for dinner last night and the rest is gone as we speak. It's so much lighter than the pastas I've had in the past, so you have to try it!

Here's the recipe:
Tomato Basil Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes

1 large ripe tomato, 2 cups chopped
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup water

2 tbsp vegetable stock
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz whole wheat angel hair
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 handful basil, chopped
2-3 handfuls fresh spinach
Directions:

Boil a large pot of salted water. Core tomato and chop it. Add all of the tomato, cashews, tomato paste, and water to the food processor. Blend it until it's very smooth. In a large saute pan, heat the vegetable stock on medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic and cook until golden. When water is boiling, add pasta to water and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until al dente. Pour the sauce from the food processor into the saute pan with the garlic. Add the salt, pepper, and onion powder. stir and simmer for 4-5 minutes. When pasta is done cooking, drain, and add to the saute pan with the sauce. Add the basil leaves and spinach and stir until well-coated. And that's all folks!

Vegan Mac and Cheese # 2

Well, let me just say that this vegan mac and cheese recipe has nutritional yeast in it!!!!!!!!!!!!
Woohoo. That should tell you that it's good already. I searched grocery stores for weeks trying to find that damn stuff. I had no clue what it looked like, and when I ventured into Whole Foods, I found it in the bulk bins.

Ok. I just needed to get that off my chest. There's something else I just need to say, too. My dream last night was freaky. I met this group of kids in the military and we played on the playground together. I ended up doing boot camp workouts with them on the playground and my pajama pants fell off when I was climbing up this wall! It was terrible, but then I woke up, went back to sleep, and had a new dream. This one involved Chris from the "Date My Ex: Jo and Slade" show. I can't remember exactly what happened, but Chris is the most beautiful man alive. That's all I'm gonna say ; )

Alrighty. Here's my opinion on this second mac and cheese. I definitely liked Dreena's recipe of "Mac Oh Geez" better because it had more flavor. I added some dashes of tamari to this recipe because it needed some pizazz. This recipe comes from the Fat Free Vegan site, so I guess it's not supposed to be down right comfort food in the first place. It was very cheesy from the nutritional yeast, and the tamari definitely made me like it more. I added spinach to mine because spinach is delicious. I halved the recipe so it made 2 servings, but here's the adaptations I made to the recipe.

Here's the recipe:

Vegan Mac and Cheese

1 pound pasta (regular or gluten-free)

Blend together:
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup plain, almond milk or soy milk
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon brown rice miso
black pepper to taste
4-5 dashes of tamari

Directions: Put the pasta on to boil, according to package directions. While it's cooking, blend all remaining ingredients together in a blender. When the pasta is al dente, drain it, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water, and return the pasta to pan. Add the sauce mixture and cook, stirring, until mixture boils and thickens. Add a little of the pasta water if more moistness is needed.

Yummy Amazingness

I love this picture. I wish I was back in West Virginia looking at this view again. We go to this golf resort every year in WV even though no one in my family EVER golfs. haha And I don't think any of us plan on learning either. But onto better things, I've been seriously considering this culinary school in New York. It's called the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. It's a specialized 5 month program that a lot of vegetarians and vegans have recommended. Traditional culinary schools have never been for me because I have no interest in learning how to cook a duck, devein shrimp, or slice open a whole pig. So hopefully, after this year at CCAC, I can go to my dream school in New York. Actually, I am not even going to say "hopefully." I am DEFINITELY going there.

Well, there needs to be some mention of food on here besides dead pigs and ducks. Today's recipe is Dreena Burton's Vegan Mac Oh Geez. So far, it is the BEST vegan mac and cheese I have tried...and yeah, it's the only one I've tried, but I plan on trying a few more recipes. The brazil nuts and cashews combined with the almond milk is amazing. It's better than any real mac and cheese I've had, so you NEED to make this. I ate mine with some spinach, but I feel like I eat everything with spinach, so do whatever you want. haha

Here's the recipe:
Vegan Mac Oh Geez

Pasta:
2 3/4 - 3 cups (~10 oz) dry cut pasta (I used whole wheat macaroni)

Sauce:
1/2 + 1/3 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup raw brazil nuts
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice ( I used about 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar because I was out of lemon juice)
1 large clove garlic
2 tsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp (rounded) dry mustard
1 cup water
1 1/3 – 1 1/2 cups plain non-dairy milk (I used unsweetended almond milk) *(use the full 1 1/2 cups of milk if using full 3 cups of dry pasta)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Breadcrumb Topping:
1 - 1 1/2 cups dry whole-grain breadcrumbs (use full 1 1/2 cups if you like crunchy topping, only 1 cup if you prefer more mac and sauce)
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp olive oil (use full 2 tbsp for full 1 1/2 cups of breadcrumbs)
1/8 tsp (rounded) sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Get all ingredients ready to blend for sauce, then start cooking pasta. While pasta is cooking, blend all sauce ingredients in a blender or in a deep bowl with an immersion blender (beging blending the nuts and other ingredients with about 1/2 of the liquid to smooth it out, then when smooth, add remaining liquid and blend again until entire mixture is very smooth). Once pasta is almost tender, fully drain (don’t rinse). Mix noodles with sauce, and immediately pour into a lightly oiled 8 x 12” baking dish. (it will look like there is a lot of runny sauce – it will thicken up, trust the pasta!) Mix breadcrumb toppings in a small bowl, then sprinkle over top of casserole. Cover with foil and bake for 16-18 minutes. Then, remove foil cover and bake another 5-7 minutes or until topping is golden brown and crisped. Don’t overbake or sauce will get too thick. Remove from oven and place casserole on a hot plate (rather than on top of oven, since residual heat from oven will continue to thicken the sauce). You are ready to eat!