Pumpkin Mousse

As the weather cools down, a little voice in the air seems to tell me to eat pumkin...at every meal of every day. I have had pumpkin oatmeal each morning, and I can never seem to get enough! As an afternoon treat, I whipped up some pumkin mousse today. I varied a recipe I found on the Healthy, Happy Life blog.

I used:

Most of a can of pumkin

1/4 package of tofu

about 1/4 cup cashews

splash of vanilla soymilk

about a tblsp agave nectar

pumkpin pie spices

I whipped it all up in a blender, froze it for 15 min., and put it in the fridge for a couple hours. This is definitely something I'd love to play around with, as it has an infinite number of delicious variations (topped with cashew cream, pecans, crumbled graham crackers, etc.)

Blondies and The Fort

Greetings! I'm just gonna skip the whole "sorry I haven't posted in so long" monologue and jump right in. My cousin/ roommate Sara and I just baked some Snickerdoodle Blondies. We mostly followed the recipe, but we substituted coconut butter (shredded unsweetened coconut blended to a buttery consistency) for the nut butter. They're cooling right this second, but from what we can tell they're pretty tasty. Except Sara thinks they're not very sweet, which reminds me: we also substituted 3 and a half packets of Truvia for the sugar. The half packet is not because we're weird and rigid. We would have added 4, but I used half a packet earlier in my coffee.

Before they entered Ovenland

Aaand upon their return from Ovenland (Sara snuck a nibble).

Overall I would say these are a win. They have the dense and hearty texture of a good homemade baked good, but they don't provide the sugar high and overall feeling of lethargy that usually follows.

Now a little non-food update. Probably the coolest thing to "write home about" is The Fort. We built The Fort shortly after living in our apartment (named Neverland...just so every time we head home we get to yell "Off to Neverland!") Anyways, it's made of hand-me-down fabric, the skeletons of a couple cots, the cardboard box my bike came in (Thanks Mom!) and looots o' love! 

The Entrance tunnel

The Entrance again (from within The Fort)

The Ceiling

Sara's artwork to fill up an unwanted gap

Me (left) and Sara (right, obvi!) riding down Electric Feel in our canoe.

Our ex-pet Josh Mouser...hope you're happy wherever you are, little guy!

The Fort. Notice the family portrait by Sara on the mantle. We are riding Falcor from The Neverending Story. Oh! and to the right of that portrait is the picture of all of us from my Farewell Dinner party. :)

Welp, that's it for me! 

Happiness and peaceful thoughts,

Bailey

P.S. I miss you Dan! And love you to Neverland and back!

Sunday Brunch at All Saints Cafe

My favorite meal of the day is easily breakfast. This summer, I have gotten into the routine of having steel cut oats with fruit almost every day. (If I'm feelin really fancy, I'll make a smoothie.) Sometimes life gets in the way of routine, and my 3 summer classes and move have successfully sabotaged my breakfast ritual. I've been craving vegan comfort food, (probably because I'm so stressed), so I was SO excited to find this! At one of my favorite coffee shops here in Tallahassee, All Saints Cafe, they offer a delicious and soul-warming comfort-food Sunday breakfast! All their food is always vegan, which is a huge plus, and I am never disappointed with the taste. The breakfast is no exception! They offered two choices: the biscuits and gravy plate, and the zucchini waffles. I chose biscuits and gravy (pictured below). The hot and fluffy biscuits are smothered in creamy gravy, served with tater tots, grits, and a delicious scrambled tofu. The portions are huge, so when I get this, it's usually my only meal of the day. I'm so thankful to live somewhere where this kind of food is offered and loved by many!

http://www.allsaintscafe.com/

Magic with a Metal Ring: The Alamo

A highlight meal from the Syracuse trip was this creation I made for Jessica and her friend and me. Jessica named it the Alamo due to the Southwestern flavors. I wanted to create something fancy and impressive-looking, and equally impressive-tasting! We all agreed this met our expectations! (And exceeded them in Jessica's case, who admitted she wasn't too pumped for an all-vegan meal).

This creation would have tasted just as good without the presentation, but we eat with our eyes first, right? I had no idea it would be so easy to use this metal ring to make the meal look so fancy. I just put the ring on the plate, piled in the mashed sweet potatoes first, and layered the rest of the components on top, removed the ring, and voila!

The actual components to the meal were simple, so I"ll just list them here.

• 2 mashed sweet potatoes with Southwest seasoning
• 1 can black beans, 1 can corn, mixed, with S.W. seasoning
• Roasted tomatoes and portobello mushrooms
• sliced avocado
• sauteed spinach with garlic and lemon
• a dab of mashed sweet potato on the top with blue corn chips on top to garnish
• the decorative sauce on the plate was a pre-made Mexican flavor blend I got in a tube

This whole meal took about 15-20 minutes to put together! 

Voyaging in Syracuse

I spent the last week or so in Syracuse, NY for Jessica's graduation! It was the perfect vacation, filled with friends, wine tasting, and plenty of delicious food! The following pictures chronicle a small portion of my vegtastic tasting journey. There were also some fantastic Italian restaurants where I enjoyed some freshly-made whole wheat pasta primavera and plenty of vino! I also made dinner with Jessica and her friend two nights, and those meals came out splendidly as well! I was so glad they enjoyed the vegan meals and we had a lot of fun in the process!

We started out at Strong Hearts, one of my faves. Jess had the "egg-trick sandwich," which is their vegan breakfast sandwich ("egg" and "sausage") on an English muffin. We both had the curry pumpkin soup with asparagus as well. (MMMMMmmmmmm!)

 I enjoyed this roasted veggie panini with chipotle potato salad!

For one meal, I ate at Mimi's Cafe, where I ate this delicious hummus/veggie sandwich on a brioche bun and a cup of veggie chili.

 

    

On campus, there is an eatery that specializes in juices, smoothies, and healthy fare, so I stopped in for some lunch. I had the "70's Veggie Wrap," which had plenty of fresh veggies, sprouts, and avocado. It came with their homemade chips and salsa. I also had their strawberry-orange-banana smoothie with flax seed. So yum!                      

This trip was truly a vegtastic voyage! Bails, I can't wait to see you and make some delicious and unforgettable memories!!!