Cafe Gratitude
Today we went kayaking in Santa Cruz. It was my first time ever kayaking in the ocean! So scary! I was so scared of sharks in the water and tipping but none of these things happened. What I ended up being more scared of was disturbing the peacefully sleeping otters. They were so cute! We went to take a picture and our battery was dead! This tends to happen to us often. Oh well. We had a Groupon deal to go kayaking and also one to go to a restaurant we love called Cafe Gratitude. It is vegan, organic, and raw. They do have some cooked food. I got the tacos and nick got the polenta puttanesca. So delicious!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
July 12, 2012- Summer Arugula Salad- Vegan
Summer Arugula Salad- Vegan
Salad #6! I was surprised to find another arugula salad on the menu. Maybe Nick is finding a liking for arugula after all? This salad is very simple and has only a few ingredients: arugula, fresh corn (off the cob), diced avocados, diced tomato, lemon juice, and olive oil. Well we had a situation and our avocados were too ripe. So we decided to add a small apple and some celery. I like that it is a light dressing. Since Nick isn't completely sold on the arugula and it actually really is quite strong, we also add spinach to the mix (also for the extra iron).
Salad #6! I was surprised to find another arugula salad on the menu. Maybe Nick is finding a liking for arugula after all? This salad is very simple and has only a few ingredients: arugula, fresh corn (off the cob), diced avocados, diced tomato, lemon juice, and olive oil. Well we had a situation and our avocados were too ripe. So we decided to add a small apple and some celery. I like that it is a light dressing. Since Nick isn't completely sold on the arugula and it actually really is quite strong, we also add spinach to the mix (also for the extra iron).
July 11, 2012- Crunchy Cauliflower and Macaroni
Crunchy Cauliflower and Macaroni
This is another recipe from MFM. The recipe has elbow macaroni, cauliflower, and mushrooms so it is a hearty mac and cheese. It is not a very cheesey mac and cheese and only really calls for cheese on the top, but of course Nick and I being the cheese lovers we are put some cheese in the sauce as well. It was quite flavorful due to the cauliflower and the mushrooms and I could taste both distinctly so that was nice. I think we will probably have this mac and cheese again but it is nice to have a regular homemade mac and cheese every now and again.
This is another recipe from MFM. The recipe has elbow macaroni, cauliflower, and mushrooms so it is a hearty mac and cheese. It is not a very cheesey mac and cheese and only really calls for cheese on the top, but of course Nick and I being the cheese lovers we are put some cheese in the sauce as well. It was quite flavorful due to the cauliflower and the mushrooms and I could taste both distinctly so that was nice. I think we will probably have this mac and cheese again but it is nice to have a regular homemade mac and cheese every now and again.
July 10, 2012- Asian Slaw with Lime Dressing- Vegan
Asian Slaw with Lime Dressing- Vegan
Salad #5! Yay for salads. This salad is a little bit different because it has a cooked element: onions. I actually really really liked this salad. I was surprised Nick suggested this salad because it has cilantro which he doesn't like and cabbage which he isn't a huge fan of, but we tried it anyway. The salad had cabbage, a granny smith apple, and carrots, as well as a carmelized onion. The dressing was lime, brown sugar, and soy sauce. It was really simple to make. The dressing cooks with the onion and you pour it over the cabbage and it wilts the cabbage down. I really liked the addition of the apple which adds a crisp tartness to the sour, tangy soy sauce. This was definitely a repeater for me. I also enjoyed having cilantro :)
Also, because we still had so many peaches, I decided to experiment and make a homemade peach cobbler for the first time. I usually make peach pies, but I thought a cobber would be something different. It was a southern style peach cobbler (not sure what differentiates southern from other styles) but it was delicious!
Salad #5! Yay for salads. This salad is a little bit different because it has a cooked element: onions. I actually really really liked this salad. I was surprised Nick suggested this salad because it has cilantro which he doesn't like and cabbage which he isn't a huge fan of, but we tried it anyway. The salad had cabbage, a granny smith apple, and carrots, as well as a carmelized onion. The dressing was lime, brown sugar, and soy sauce. It was really simple to make. The dressing cooks with the onion and you pour it over the cabbage and it wilts the cabbage down. I really liked the addition of the apple which adds a crisp tartness to the sour, tangy soy sauce. This was definitely a repeater for me. I also enjoyed having cilantro :)
Also, because we still had so many peaches, I decided to experiment and make a homemade peach cobbler for the first time. I usually make peach pies, but I thought a cobber would be something different. It was a southern style peach cobbler (not sure what differentiates southern from other styles) but it was delicious!
July 9, 2012- Mushroom and Celery Risotto
Mushroom and Celery Risotto
This is a recipe from the MFM cookbook and Nick seems to like to pick risotto recipes without remembering how much work they take (i.e. the stirring). We made a mushroom risotto a while back and that was pretty good so we thought the addition of celery would be nice. We used cremini mushrooms instead of the called for porcini mushrooms. I have yet to experiment with using dried mushrooms in any recipe. I don't know what my trepidation is with using them. Anyway, after lots of vegetable stock and much stirring, we finally got creamy risotto. Lucky for me, Nick planned risotto for next week too! Yay!
This is a recipe from the MFM cookbook and Nick seems to like to pick risotto recipes without remembering how much work they take (i.e. the stirring). We made a mushroom risotto a while back and that was pretty good so we thought the addition of celery would be nice. We used cremini mushrooms instead of the called for porcini mushrooms. I have yet to experiment with using dried mushrooms in any recipe. I don't know what my trepidation is with using them. Anyway, after lots of vegetable stock and much stirring, we finally got creamy risotto. Lucky for me, Nick planned risotto for next week too! Yay!
July 8, 2012- Nachos
Nachos
So when Nick and I went to Santa Barbara for our mini vacation we stopped off at the Apple Farm (delicious apple desserts!). We didn't want to eat anything too filling so we split an appetizer of nachos. These nachos had the usual chips, cheese, beans, guac, and sour cream. BUT they also had some enchilada sauce on them which just made them taste spectacular. So Nick and I decided to try to replicate or at least attempt such nachos. Of course ours were on a grander scale as ours were for dinner. For some reason whenever I make nachos my chips get a little soggy. I used the homemade enchilada sauce I made for the sweet potato and black bean enchiladas from June 27 (bomb recipe) and these nachos were ooey gooey deliciousness. I think we will be making nachos again for sure!
We had also bought a lot of peaches (15 to be exact) a few days ago and they were ripening quickly so we made one of our favorite summer desserts: roasted peaches with sweetened mascarpone cheese. Delicious!
So when Nick and I went to Santa Barbara for our mini vacation we stopped off at the Apple Farm (delicious apple desserts!). We didn't want to eat anything too filling so we split an appetizer of nachos. These nachos had the usual chips, cheese, beans, guac, and sour cream. BUT they also had some enchilada sauce on them which just made them taste spectacular. So Nick and I decided to try to replicate or at least attempt such nachos. Of course ours were on a grander scale as ours were for dinner. For some reason whenever I make nachos my chips get a little soggy. I used the homemade enchilada sauce I made for the sweet potato and black bean enchiladas from June 27 (bomb recipe) and these nachos were ooey gooey deliciousness. I think we will be making nachos again for sure!
We had also bought a lot of peaches (15 to be exact) a few days ago and they were ripening quickly so we made one of our favorite summer desserts: roasted peaches with sweetened mascarpone cheese. Delicious!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
July 7, 2012- Salad of Warm Vegetables with Lemon Vinaigrette- Vegan
Salad of Warm Vegetables with Lemon Vinaigrette- Vegan
Salad #4!! Another Vegetarian Times recipe! Woot woot! This is another recipe that Nick picked out, we can call him the salad man. This was a different salad but was fun to make. It consisted of poaching vegetable which is not something that I really ever do. The vegetables in this salad included fennel, carrots, asparagus, green beans, and snap peas. We also cooked some brown rice and it all lay on a bed of romaine lettuce. The lemon vinaigrette had lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, a little bit of dijon mustard, and some honey. I was interested to see how Nick was going to like this because he does not like mustard at all but he really liked it (I think because I put more honey and lemon than it called for). Also I ate fennel for the first time. Note to self: I do not like fennel. No matter how hard I try to like some things, aka: eggplant, I just don't. We will add fennel to this list of things. Well anyway, it was a fun salad to make and another repeat. Yay for finding new things to make and eat!
Salad #4!! Another Vegetarian Times recipe! Woot woot! This is another recipe that Nick picked out, we can call him the salad man. This was a different salad but was fun to make. It consisted of poaching vegetable which is not something that I really ever do. The vegetables in this salad included fennel, carrots, asparagus, green beans, and snap peas. We also cooked some brown rice and it all lay on a bed of romaine lettuce. The lemon vinaigrette had lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, a little bit of dijon mustard, and some honey. I was interested to see how Nick was going to like this because he does not like mustard at all but he really liked it (I think because I put more honey and lemon than it called for). Also I ate fennel for the first time. Note to self: I do not like fennel. No matter how hard I try to like some things, aka: eggplant, I just don't. We will add fennel to this list of things. Well anyway, it was a fun salad to make and another repeat. Yay for finding new things to make and eat!
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