amy eats vegetables

Vegan apple pie milkshakes. Sounds amazing right? Sadly, I was disappointed- these were way too sweet! This was the first recipe I tried out of the new Spork-Fed Cookbook by the sisters of SporkFoods, and although the final product wasn’t my thing, this was not a total loss! I learned a great shortcut to apple pie- mix up your apple filling and bake on in puff pastry for 15 minutes- so easy and the pie part was delicious!

vegan pizza- mushrooms, spinach, and tofu cream.

(please excuse the blurry picture, i was ready to eat and had little patience to stop and take pictures, but i sensed it was going to be epic and needed documentation)

this week, i’ve been trying to incorporate more of alicia silverstone’s “superhero” principles from her book, “the kind diet.” i took inspiration from a couple of her recipes to make this delish concoction. while using a pre-made pizza crust isn’t exactly “superhero,” at least it was whole wheat!

ingredients

- 1 pre-made whole wheat  pizza crust from whole foods
or make your own or use a couple sprouted wheat tortillas. 

- 10-15 crimini mushrooms, washed and sliced
i used 4 mushrooms for 1/2 a pizza but wanted a bit more so you can

- 1-2 minced cloves of garlic (depending on your taste)

- 2-3 cups of washed and dried baby spinach

- olive oil

- tofu cream to taste (full recipe in the kind diet)

- galaxy vegan parmesan (optional)

directions

- preheat oven to 400

- put the crust on a pan and lightly brush with olive oil

- heat a saute pan on the stove and add a small amount of olive oil

- add garlic to pan and saute until golden brown

- add mushrooms to pan and saute until they start to get soft

- add spinach to pan and saute until lightly wilted (on the previous 2 steps, make sure to cook just lightly as this will be baked again)

- spread your saute mixture onto the pizza crust (i like to sprinkle the vegan parmesan on first)

- bake for 10 minutes

- sprinkle the finished pizza with parmesan and spread tofu cream to taste on top. (i like slicing first and then spreading onto individual slices rather than on the whole pizza- especially if you plan to eat leftovers as this way will keep better)

enjoy!

well, it’s official: i’ve made it past my 30 days of being vegan without even noticing! i guess that means i’m sticking with it…

i wish i had some cool reflective thoughts for this past month, but it went by so fast and seemed super easy!

this past week i read alicia silverstone’s the kind diet, which really help to affirm me in the choices i was already making, and gave me some great tips on making healthier choices as i continue with my vegan lifestyle.

it’s really exciting to get other people to enjoy vegan food as well. i hosted a potluck baby shower this weekend and i brought peanut butter brown rice crispy treats (recipe from the kind diet), spicy orange soba noodles (recipe from susan feniger), and herbed cream cheese and cucumber tea sandwiches (recipe from c’est la vegan) and they were all a huge hit! the sandwiches were the only dish that was totally gone by the end of the party, and despite trays of cupcakes and cookies, my boyfriend just kept eating my crispy treats!

it was a long and fun day, but my boyfriend treated me to a relaxing dinner at m cafe de chaya, a great macrobiotic restuarant where i can enjoy vegan goodness and he can get sushi! a picture post with my meal is coming up, but we failed to take a pic of the yummy pumpkin pie we got for dessert. my boyfriend said afterward that it was “really good” and that was coming from a “pumpkin pie connoisseur.” he also had a realization that he might even like vegan desserts better than regular dessert!

I stayed on track pretty well friday and saturday, but the main events were two big cooking adventures.

1) VEGAN CUPCAKES

My boyfriend held a poker night on Friday, so I decided to wow his buddies with some amazing vegan cupcakes from Chef Chloe Coscarelli. She recently won a Cupcake Wars challenge on the Food Network, and I believe is possibly the first vegan to win on any food network show. I made her Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes.

I was worried the cupcakes were going to be a disaster, because the frosting was… If you saw the picture of a clumpy hot mess I posted on Friday, that was the frosting. It was so hot out (even with the A/C on) that my coconut oil melted too much and I couldn’t get the frosting to the right consistency. Luckily the cupcakes were nice and moist on their own and the strawberries and powdered sugar were just enough extra. And, yes, they were a big hit!

2) CORN FRITTERS

For Saturday night’s dinner, I tackled a recipe from Spork Foods: corn fritters with chipotle “cream” sauce over arugula.  They were so delicious and flavorful (I loved using lots of spices) and weren’t too hard to make either. The actual frying of the fritters was a little challenging at first, but I got the hang of it.

My boyfriend loved it too and I was so proud of him for eating a whole vegan meal!