Photo Dump! Part the Second.

I found a bunch of food photos on my computer that I've never uploaded. Now's as good a time as any.

Allons-y!

Flatbread with zucchini, leeks, potatoes, Daiya and olive oil

Tropical Veggie Burger

-burger-Amy's California burger, pineapple, tomato, spinach, peanut sauce (amaaaaazing)

-sauteed collards with leeks

-sweet potato fries & BBQ sauce

I got the idea from some blog, but I have *no* idea where. Whoops.

Burger closeup

All we ever make are flatbreads, and it's been so long, I forgot what these are.

-Left: zucchini, potatoes, onions, Daiya (I think)

-Right: Red pepper, zucchini, Gardein chicken, Daiya (I think)

Happy Birthday, Mike! These were for the guitarist in Fred's band Samantha. VCTOTW chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream.

We had extra buttercream from Mike's cupcakes, so Fred and I made another batch. I titled this photo "yours look like houses, mine look like hairdos". Oh, the things you think of under the influence.

Happy Birthday, Matt! These were for the cheese buyer at work, and his favorite flavor is strawberry. I used the VCTOTW raspberry recipes and switched everything to strawberries. Matt and his girlfriend continue to rave about these to this day.

Urban Vegan Rock Cakes are one of my favorite morning recipes. So easy. So simple. So delicious.

Vegan Brunch Mixed Berry muffins. Classic. Awesome. Classically awesome.

I told Fred I'd make him cupcakes in return for doing me a favor. I don't remember the favor, but the cupcakes were damn delicious. VCTOTW pumpkin with cinnamon spice icing. I used pecans instead of chocolate chips. I'm not really a chocolate kind of girl.

Grilled Daiya and tempeh bacon. Yuuuuuuum. Though, I used waaaaaaay too much Daiya. With some Amy's butternut squash soup and some apple cider, it was a tasty lunch.

The measuring tape in the back has been donated to my roommate's cat. She loves that thing. It's one of her favorite toys. Weirdo.

AFR Classic Black Bean and Veggie Chili. Classic is right. I'd been craving an uberveggie chili for a while, kind of like the veggie bean chili from Whole Foods. I'd like to add some more beans, maybe chickpeas next time. Yums.

This blurry little camel found his way into my beer one night at Danny's. I think he just wanted some of my Lagunitas IPA, one of my favorite brews.

This concludes the old photos on my compy. I have some more on my camera.

MoFo Day 14! Oatmeal with Caramelized Bananas

In the morning, I want to eat things that don’t take much effort. Like, I like things that basically take zero effort. Toast and oatmeal are about as close to zero effort as I get. Last night, Fred & I went to the grocery store, and I got some bananas. I love bananas. They’re one of my favorite foods and an integral ingredient of my hangover cure.

I wasn’t hungover this morning, but when I stumbled to the kitchen and saw the bananas, I knew I wanted bananas and oatmeal. I zoomed back to my bedroom and looked up if frying bananas was possible. It is. It is also delicious.

I chopped up a banana and threw it with some Earth Balance and pan-fried it for a few minutes, until it started to brown a bit. Sauteeing the banana made it nice and soft, but also subtly sweeter. The saltiness of the EB helped to balance the extra sweetness. With a little raw sugar, maple syrup and pecans, this was some excellent oatmeal.

MoFo Day 10! Tomato Rosemary Scones

Lately, I just haven’t been craving sweet things for breakfast. Yesterday morning, I ate chips and hummus out of sheer laziness. So, knowing I had to get up kinda early today, I decided to make some savory scones last night. I’ve never really had savory scones, but the Vegan Brunch Tomato Rosemary Scones had some pretty awesome reviews on the PPK boards.

The mixing process gave me some trouble. I’m not really sure what I did, but the dough became really gummy and sticky. I ended up having to add a bunch of flour just to get it to not completely stick to the counter. I’m guessing I overmixed. Or maybe there was too much baking powder. Or liquid. I don’t know. I ate one last night to make sure they were edible. They totally are. The flavor is awesome, but the texture was more like a puffy biscuit. Not bad, just not the scone-y goodness I was craving.

MoFo Day 6 (late)! Hangover breakfast!

Okay. So internet should be back at my apartment as of last night. I was pretty busy yesterday, and I stayed at Fred's last night, so I haven't been home to check yet. But that's the rumor. I'm damn determined to post 30 times this month. Comcast be damned!

Today's breakfast came about pretty easily. I could have made oatmeal in about 5 minutes, but I wanted something savory. I really wanted tofu scramble (in fact, it's rare that I don't want tofu scramble in the morning), but I didn't have any veggies to spare. Stupid strict budget. But! I did have an extra potato of questionable age chillin' in the crisper, as well as some tempeh bacon that needed to be used. Pesto-rosemary potatoes, it is!

I just winged it on the potatoes, but I did pay attention to what I was doing. That's a first.

1 T oil

1 yukon gold potato, diced

1 T onion, minced

1 tsp pesto paste

1/2 tsp rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

-Heat oil in skillet on medium, sautee onion for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant

-Add potatoes and sautee for 5 minutes

-Add pesto, rosemary, salt and pepper

-Cover and reduce heat to medium-low until potatoes are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, about 10 minutes

While the potatoes were covered, I threw in the tempeh bacon and fried until it was browned and crispy, turning once. I like my potatoes a little on the charred side (thanks, Dad!), hence the brownish-blackish awesome below.

With a slice of wheat bread and some Bonne Maman Four Fruits Preserves, this isn't exactly the heathiest, most balanced breakfast, but it was exactly what I needed to sop up some of the beer still sloshing around my tummy.

My roommate had an extra ticket to see Ben Folds the night before, took pity on me and bought all my beer last night. I love her! I also loved the nostalgia quotient of last night's show. It brought me back to high school and early college, but in the best way possible. Thanks, C!

MoFo Day 3 (late)! Simple Fall Oatmeal

I missed a day already. Dammit Comcast! Why do you suck so much? We’re having difficulties with them. Our service was interrupted. We paid to turn it back on (or so we thought), had internet again for 24 hours, and then they turned it off again. I called today and they said the payment my roommate made went to some deposit. But we paid the deposit months ago. Gaaaah! It’s so frustrating. We’re planning on going to the office to sit down with someone to figure this all out. Until then, I’m intermittently going to Fred’s to snag his internet.

Anyway. Food!

Oatmeal is a pretty standard breakfast for me. The one in today’s pic is a little different, if only for the fact that I accidentally made twice as much as I normally do. Whoops. I sadly couldn’t eat it all. I hate throwing away food. The combo, though is pretty standard.

I usually simmer the oats in whatever non-dairy milk I have open in the fridge instead of any water. Usually, I have unsweetened almond milk. It’s a 1:2 oats to milk ratio. I typically make half a cup of oats to one cup milk.

I usually like to switch it up on toppings. I almost always have berries in the freezer, which I’ll thaw in the microwave, and I’ll usually add some sort of spice (cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger are pretty standard roatation). Today, I wasn’t feeling particularly berry-y or especially spicy. I wanted something a little simpler. I threw in some dried cranberries, pecans, a smattering of raw sugar and some maple syrup. Very fall. Very yum. I just wish I could’ve finished it.