It was so bright tasting and fresh…and the hazelnuts… it pretty much made me feel like this:

(replace the ‘seven’ with strawberries and you can pretty much taste this salad)

Here’s what was in it:

• Fresh organic strawberries (the ‘seven’ of the salad)
• Red Quinoa
• Arugula
• Hazelnuts
• Chickpeas

For the dressing I had some leftover balsamic reduction (about 1.5 tbsp) with a clove of garlic and mixed it in before leaving for dinner.

Also HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!! We took my mom to Nuba tonight for some amazing Lebanese food. If you’re in Vancouver, it’s worth checking out one of their locations for their very vegan-friendly menu.

I would have taken some photos of the food (get the cauliflower people!) but my co-workers can attest that the last time we were there I literally almost caused some eye injuries reaching for the hummus the moment it was put on the table. (ya, sorry about that again guys…)

Lindsay is Vegan’s mom & sister

Rich and I put on our happy faces

In all seriousness this was very exciting for me, Veg Coast is a blog by a well known writer here in Vancouver so after I got over the initial shock I started to panic… How was I going to follow up after all of this exposure?

Well I’m to level with you…I’ve been distracted lately because this week I’m heading to NEW YORK CIT-AAAAAY!!

The first thing I plan on doing is getting on a boat so I can do this:

(I will have a vegan hat on though)

I’m going with 10 girls on a staggette for one of my best friends Lauren. Anyways…wait what? You’d like to see a photo of Lauren’s face on some American money? HERE YOU GO:

We have lots of  group activities but I have reserved some time to take care of my NY vegan bucket list:

1. Eat at Candle Cafe! Everything looks good on the menu but I’m thinking I might have to go with the Chipotle Grilled Tempeh.

2. ….and Candle 79. I know it looks like the same owners but I have to check this out too. I will likely walk from one restaurant to another.

3. I know this is totally nerdy but I am also pretty excited to check out at least one of the Whole Foods Market’s there too, I’ve heard they’re HUGE.

4. Get some new kicks at Moo Shoes, which I think will be worth visiting just to see this handsome man:

Are there any vegan places or things to do that I am missing? I need to know people!

As you can see by my instagram, I was pretty excited to buy this cook book week 5 WEEKS AGO:

After flipping through it I decided to make one of the easier cheeses first which still looked pretty complicated. Here is a list of the ingredients that I was confused by for the vegan Mozzarella:

• Rejuvelac 
• Xanthan Gum
• Agar Flakes

I found Xanthan Gum and Agar Flakes at Whole Foods Market but they weren’t cheap ingredients:

This is what Xanthan Gum looks like next to my cat.

Rejuvelac turned out to be a bit harder.There is a recipe in the cookbook on how to make it from scratch but it seemed pretty tedious so I literally LITERALLY looked everywhere. I don’t even think it’s sold in Canada.

So I went back to the book and decided I had to make it from scratch. I’m going to blame the cookbook for my first failed attempt for assuming I wasn’t stupid. I used a plastic bowl instead of a glass one. (Could the recipe not explain WHY I needed a glass one…I mean I get it now so just trust me on this)

You can find a thorough recipe for rejuvelac here but I’m going to give it to you very simply here:

• Put rice in glass container with water by a window
• Cover with cheese cloth
• Change water 8-12 hours until rice starts to ‘grow tails’
• Then rinse the rice and split into two containers with water by window with rice cloth
• When it is stinky & cloudy (after 2-3 days) it’s ready

As you can see my Instagram is pretty exciting.

I FINALLY HAD ALL OF MY INGREDIENTS. I WAS READY TO EAT CHEESE. Yeah… at this point you’re still a full day away from eating it.

While the rejuvelac is growing or whatever, soak 2 cups of cashews in water for about 12 hours. (Again the full recipe from the book can be found here)

When you are ready for REAL this time here’s what you put in the blender:

• 2 cups of cashews soaked overnight
• 1/2 cup Rejuvelac
• pinch of salt

Then you add:

• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum and blend until thickened

At this point you transfer it to a glass bowl and let it sit for 12-24 hours. I know. This is the never-ending recipe.

After 8-12 hours (depending on how sharp you want the flavor…or something like that) you’re supposed to put it back in the blender. I found it easier to stir from this point on.

What you’re going to add next is:

• 2/3 cup of water boiled with 3 tablespoons of Agar Flakes (let it cool before adding)

THEN you can add another 1/2 tsp of Xanthan Gum if you want it stretchier.

At this point you prepare a bowl of ice water with a little bit of salt (this is called the brine) and scoop balls of your mixture into the ice. It should firm up immediately.

Then put it in the fridge and serve when ready.

I know.

Are you exhausted from just reading this? I think it will get easier with more practice and actually knowing what the ingredients are.

After all this- how did it taste!?!

The answer is…meh. It was pretty good on pizza but didn’t melt, although I don’t think that’s fair since pizza can make anything taste good. I put it on some toast this morning with avocado and I couldn’t even really taste it.

I adds nice texture and gives the dish some good filling but it wasn’t like real cheese where you want to scrap every last bit with your hands off the plate.

I think if I played with it some more I could figure out to give it more flavor.

I’m eager to play with some of the other recipes, so if I start on some vegan Brie next week then expect a post about 5 weeks later.

To accept the award you have to do the following:

Since I’ve included some fun facts about myself in the past, I’m going to go rouge here and mix it up. Here are 10 things that I am currently obsessed with.

1. This song:

2. What I call ‘Aladdin’ pants. I recently bought this pair from lululemon and Rich said ‘You managed to find the only pair in the store that doesn’t make your ass look good.’

3. Celine Dion. My father works at a soft rock radio station and so her cds were all over the place. Only recently have I discovered what a national treasure she is.

4. This:

5. Making my own memes with the free app Mematic:

6. Swimming. Rich and I are training for a mini-triathlon so I’m loving hitting the pool with all the old ladies (who head for the fast lane while I stay in the slow one). I’ve even got my hot pink cap and goggles.

7. Brain on Fire. I recently read this book after it was recommended by a friend and it blew my mind (pun intended). You’ll blow through it and you’ll be glad you did.

8. Ghost Adventures! I know I’ve mentioned this recently but it’s worth mentioning again. Trust me, this is worth your time just to see Aaron freak out when he is inevitably left in the basement or attic by himself.

9. Hippie Coconut Chips. I’m into anything coconut these days but these are pretty amazing. You can eat them straight out of the bag but they’re insanely tasty on cupcakes, ice cream, or even if you pick them off your shirt.

10. This woman living the dream:

I know I’m supposed to nominate another 11 bloggers but I’m going to break that rule too. (Erica are you regretting nominating me yet?) I’ve linked to my favorite bloggers a few times in the past so I’m going to ask you- who should I be checking out?

I have had a recipe for Nepalese Veg Momos from a Veg Magazine for more than 2 years now and decided that its time had come. I couldn’t find it online anywhere so I am going to post it and hope I don’t get sued.

I started by making the filling which would have been a delicious side all on its own which includes:

• 1 small yellow onion minced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 2 tsp fresh ginger
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3 cups shredded cabbage
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot (I actually left this out)
• 1/2 cup minced scallions
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

You start by heating up some olive oil on a pan and adding the onions. Stir for 5 mins and then add everything but the scallions & cilantro. Heat all of that for 30 seconds (as per the recipe but I did a little longer to get the texture I wanted) before adding the last two ingredients.

Set aside and cool.

While that cools I made the dough which includes:

• 2 cups organic white flour
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 hot water

Just put all the ingredients in a bowl, knead until it starts to get tough and put aside. At this point I stopped to have a glass or three of wine.

Now is the time to start to put the dumplings together and this is where for me, things started to get ugly.

You’re supposed to take about a golf ball sized amount from the dough, roll it out, put some of the filling inside and then beautifully fold it in half like a pierogi. Ya. Not so much.

I found the dough very crumbly and ok I will admit that maybe the wine was effecting my motor skills, it wasn’t very easy to make them pretty.

I then got to the part of the recipe where I’m supposed to put it in a dumpling steamer….since I don’t have one and didn’t know what that is, I used the strainer I used for steaming veggies:

It didn’t take long to over cook these babies (which I did) but they were still pretty good! I was too hungry and frustrated to bother making the sauce so I just used some Thai chili sauce with them which was pretty great anyways.

They would be even better if I had cooked them for a little less time and if the dough was thinner but they still had tons of flavor. They held up really well for lunch the next day too.

Yeah, that’s how I looked while making this. Rich was watching TV while I was literally spooning mouthfuls into my mouth while waiting for the bread to bake, hoping he wouldn’t see me that way.

It didn’t really matter because once he tasted it, it wasn’t much prettier.

It was that good.

First I brought to a boil:

• 1/4 cup balsamic reduction
• 2 tablespoons coconut sugar (I didn’t have brown)
• 1 tsp of salt

Then once it had cooled, I added this balsamic reduction to:

• 1/2 an avocado chopped
• 1/4 white onion chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 cup pecans chopped
• 2 tomatoes chopped

What as left of it after my feeding frenzy I served on fresh bread out of the oven (I used my Zombie Apocalypse recipe).

I also added chopped parsley to the butter on our corn on the cob which was pretty amazing too.

But have you ever found a recipe that only has a few ingredients and seems simple enough but then you’re two glasses deep on some delicious Merlot and while reading the directions you get to the part that says:  ’…then simply heat the ingredients to 89 degrees exactly however be careful not to allow it to get any hotter as the dish will become toxic.’  And you think: ‘Hmmm…..maybe this won’t be so easy after all….’

Ya. This recipe is a little like that. The ingredients were pretty simple and the recipe seems uncomplicated enough but you get to the part where you have to flip the galette and all of a sudden you’re dealing with a piping hot pan, an awkwardly large dish and a potato pancake that wants to fall apart. (I guess putting down the wine glass would have made things easier…)

However, Martha did not disappoint with the taste. It was pretty great although I think it would much more impressive for a breakfast dish.

And finally I added avocado on top because ‘I really loved that meal but could have done without the avocado.’ -said Noone. Ever.

Rich is at the cabin this weekend so I couldn’t take a video but I was able to take some awkward photos with one hand while demonstrating this life-changing trick with the other!

Anyways…wait…what? You haven’t seen Ghost Adventures? Well let me say in advance, you’re welcome:

So now you understand why I was so excited to head home but once I took a look at the recipe more closely I decided I didn’t want to do all the steps so I made up own version.

Not to toot my own horn but it was worth of a Ghost Adventures show. I’ll be making it again this weekend because it was so easy and tasty!

This made enough to serve one very hungry person.

Here’s what I used:

• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp mustard powder
• Enough spaghetti for one person
• 1 cup arugula
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 can of unseasoned artichoke hearts
• Olive oil & Pepper

In a pan I heated up some olive oil with the onion diced, garlic, and  mustard powder. After the onions were nice and soft I added the artichoke hearts (chopped) and the juice from the lemon. Once the pasta was ready  I added it to the artichoke mixture in the pan and gently folded in the arugula. I added some pepper and started my weekend!

First of all I know about all the sales, deals, and promotions coming up. Which meant that on Friday I got two cases of mangoes for about $12.  That is INSANE.

Secondly, I was able to achieve my year-long dream of being immortalized in a sandwich:

Anyways, getting back to the mangoes. I literally could not freeze, eat, or cook them fast enough before they started to lose their perfect taste. Even though I was using my new nifty trick: cut the sides of a mango so you have two ‘cheeks’ and then scoop it out with a glass cup. UM WHAT? How did I not know this?

Anyways, I had a lot of mangoes to play with and decided to make one of my favorites: fruity pizza.

I made some dough from scratch and then added:

• A guacamole base
• Fava Bean Tops
• Sliced onion
• Tomatoes
• Mangoes (perfectly ripe ones)
• Slivered almonds- pizza’s are always better with different textures!
• Dried Oregano
• Fresh Cilantro

Finally I drizzled it with balsamic reduction which I made by boiling:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 clove garlic

Once it came to a boil I let it cool and drizzled it over the pizza and cooked at 420 for about 15 minutes.

It was…amazing. Definitely top 5 pizzas I’ve ever made. Rich is going back for thirds as I write this.

Also if you’re surfing the internet right now, check out this article I wrote for Vegan Mainstream recently on my very un-vegan dad!

Or soothe my very delicate ego by voting for my wedding dress on People.com!