If You Can't Take the Heat...

I apologize for my infrequent posts. There's a big project on my plate that's taking up a lot of my time. You'll find out about it soon enough, but until then, I'll try to be better!

Do you recall that I recently baked Chocolate Chip Cookies and made
Italian Wedding Soup despite the summer heat? Well, I also baked Happy Herbivore's delicious tester brownies! I didn't photograph them, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Just so you don't think I'm playing favorites and only heating up my kitchen for the fabulously talented Happy Herbivore, here are some other reasons I've been using the stove and oven recently.

I had broccoli and green beans in the fridge that I needed to use before they expired, so I tossed them with a bit of toasted sesame oil, sprinkled them with sesame seeds, and roasted them at 425 degrees. Yes, you read that correctly; I heated the oven to 425 degrees on a 100 degree day. If it makes you feel like I'm slightly less crazy, I ate the leftovers cold later in the week for lunch.

On another day, I was in the mood for spicy Mexican food and I wanted to use a brown rice pizza crust that I'd defrosted. These desires led me to create a Mexican pizza of sorts with Trader Joe's refried black beans (despite the claim that there are jalapenos in these black beans, they're seemingly devoid of heat) and Follow Your Heart cheddar cheese. This was fantastic, especially with a bit of chipotle hot sauce on it.

I made stew over the weekend, but I think I'll save that for another post because there's a bit of a story behind it.

Happy Herbivore Chocolate Chip Cookies

Remember when my camera grew legs and chucked the deuce? Well, my fabulous mom bought me another one exactly like the first (I promise I'll try to figure out how to turn off the flash). Murphy's Law dictates that I should now find the original camera, but I have my doubts. While we're waiting to see if that happens, here's a photo of Happy Herbivore's chocolate chip cookies (at the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is a test recipe and I'm not at liberty to share).

Music, Magic, & Make Peace

Today's episode of Rachael Ray's daytime talk show featured a segment on Jason Mraz's and Justin Kredible's Music, Magic, & Make Peace Tour. Click on the episode link above to see the clip where Justin discusses their biodiesel bus and treating their bodies well with a raw food diet (complete with a raw food chef who accompanies them on the tour). You'll even see the guys swilling green smoothies that leave green mustaches on their adorable faces.

Italian Wedding Soup

I'm sorry; did you think I was currently enduring 100 degree weather here in my area of Los Angeles? Well, you were right, but that didn't stop me from making this soup for dinner tonight (followed by a big bowl of fresh blueberries). It's yet another Happy Herbivore test recipe. Go check out her blog and vote on the format in which she should, in your opinion, publish her upcoming cookbook!

Green Bags?

I saw a commercial for these green bags. Have any of you used them? If so, what is your opinion?

*I borrowed the above photo from Amazon.

Happy Herbivore Test Recipe

All I'm allowed to tell you about this delicious Happy Herbivore test recipe is that I really enjoyed it!

Liz Lovely Lives Up to Its Name

This week, the generous Andy of Liz Lovely sent me samples of two of their cookies (the photo above is from their site). My intention was to wait to sample them until my allergies had passed, since I read a few months ago that the consumption of wheat and sugar exacerbates the severity of the allergies while they're active. However, this has been an exhausting week and I thought it would be nice to eat a cookie. Hey, at least I'm honest.

The cookie I ate was a Ginger Snapdragon. It's the first Liz Lovely cookie I've ever tried. Here's the ingredients list (from their site): "Unbleached Wheat Flour*, Evaporated Cane Juice*, Palm Fruit Oil*, Unsulphered Molasses*†, Vermont Well Water, Ginger*, Raw Sugar*, Baking Soda, Spices*, Vanilla Extract*, Sea Salt. * Certified Organic †Fair Trade Certified."

Have I mentioned that I absolutely love crystallized/uncrystallized/candied ginger? Ginger as a sweet is basically my favorite "candy." I know, I know, I'm weird because I'd rather have (un)crystallized ginger than chocolate. Believe me, I've been accused of worse. I promise you that this little piece of information about me is relevant to the cookie.

The description of the Ginger Snapdragon from Liz Lovely's site says: "Intense organic spices, sweet and sharp organic candied ginger, and a deep undertone of blackstrap molasses all working together." In other words, this cookie was simply made for me! The ginger is the star here. I found myself licking gingery sugar off my fingers and hunting for any crumbs that fell while I was eating. What's even better is that this spicy, flavorful Liz Lovely cookie was hands-down the softest non-homemade cookie I've ever had. Not only was the Ginger Snapdragon soft, but it also lacked that incredibly dense quality that a lot of store-bought vegan cookies have (I won't name names, but I'm sure you know which brand(s) I mean). This is a cookie that anyone, omni or vegan, would love. See? I told you Liz Lovely lives up to its name!