Artichoke Cannellini Bean Dip Turned Soup

Sometime last week I decided to experiment making a bean dip. I used one can of cannellini beans, one can of artichoke hearts, a few teaspoons of lemon juice, and some salt & pepper. Blending all these items up, I created a "bean dip". However I did not rinse and strain the beans completely before using them and when i dumped them from the can to the blender there ended up being more bean juice than I had anticipated. Thus I was left with a somewhat watery bean dip. Fast forward to this evening, and me sitting in Barnes and Noble, reading Vegan With a Vengeance (because I am too poor/cheap to actually buy it)... and an idea came upon me! Why not heat up this stuff and call it soup?! Yes, the second day of rain this fall definitely calls for soup! It was mighty tasty warmed up, but I wish I had some sourdough bread to go along with it... Oh well, such is life.


Picture to follow hopefully soon.
<3

Fried Tofu and Green Beans

Tonight's dinner kind of felt like fast food, but not. It was the fact that I used olive oil in my dinner- it made it feel like a hamburger-and-french-fries kind of meal. I tried to stirfry this tofu that I had marinated in teriyaki sauce, but I'm not sure if it's considered stirfried or just fried. Either way it was really tasty. I've decided I like tofu if it is crunchy and chewy on the outside. I also "stirfried" some green beans- and i microwaved them for a few seconds too but they still tasted a little raw... I guess next time I should figure out how you're really supposed to cook fresh green beans.
















p.s. Yesterday I went to pick up my tips from another Starbucks that I worked at two weekends ago (I just covered a shift for someone there), and I saw that they still had these turquoise thermoses (thermosi?) for sale. They went on sale like two weeks ago and they sold out at my store the day they went on sale and I was sad that I didn't get to buy one. Anyway, I bought this thermos and mug and I'm so happy I did... I love anything turquoise/aqua colored. (Regular sale prices plus employee discount = $11.99 for BOTH!)

Apple Scrumptiousness

Whole wheat tortilla, almond butter, apple slices, agave nectar and cinnamon sprinkled on top:















Microwaved for one minute:















And all wrapped up, ready for consumption:














Mmmm, it was delish.

An Updated Pantry

Today I got my tips from work- 36 dollars to do what I please with. It just so happens that grocery shopping is most pleasing to me this week :) So I stocked up my pantry with chickpeas, cannellini beans, kidney beans, tomato sauces/pastes, and lentils. I also needed some fresh stuffus so I'll be enjoying grapes, apples, and carrots* this week. Oh I also got some chili powder as with all those beans I'm planning on making some vegetarian chili this week(end probably). I shall post a picture of my chili when I do make it. Another thing I'm planning on trying this week is artichoke cannellini bean dip. I've got a jar of artichoke hearts already in my pantry, but I haven't got a food processor. Hopefully a regular blender will work instead? Ahh, the joys of experimenting with food... :D


*Note: When I was little, and a very picky eater, sometimes I didn't want to eat what my mom prepared for dinner. In that case I was told "Then go get a carrot". At which point I'd get up from the dinner table, and fetch a raw carrot out of the vegetable drawer in the fridge. I'd then sit back down at the table with the rest of my family and knaw on my carrot while the rest of my family finished their dinner. It's kind of funny looking back now, to think that this is what I did when I didn't want to eat dinner. But now I keep a bag of carrots in my fridge. Not because I don't want to eat the meals I prepare for myself, but more for the comfort that I know I can always "go get a carrot".

First Food Post! Taco Salad

So I've finally decided to create my own food blog after a few weeks of perusing all the awesome vegan food blogs on here. I'm just a vegetarian as of right now, and I've been cooking for myself for a short period of time. Thus this blog is aimed at getting me to try new stuff and posting said stuff for you to hopefully get inspired too.



Anyway, this is what I had for lunch today:



It's a taco salad with blue corn chips, romaine lettuce, corn, black beans and salsa. I've made this about three or four times in the past few weeks, it is just so tasty!

first post!

hooray