How I'm eating now.

I gotta say, these 6 weeks of no job have made me revert back to a lot of old food saving habits. I'm baking a lot more, even experimenting which I will say, is not one of those reversions.

One thing I find myself making time and money for is my CSA. I still juice a lot of my greens so I'm not giving that up, and at $40 bi-weekly, I don't think I'll have to. $20 a week for organic fresh veggies is a great deal, so it will stay.

The odd thing about this is that right before I lost my job, I was in a mindset of conservation. I was thinking, 'Okay, now it's time for me to save. I'm not in the mood to buy anything, so all my excess monies will go to saving.' Then boom, fired/laid off, whatever you want to call it.

I'm in a much better place than I was last time I had no job. That's not to say it's not a struggle, but I'm trying to be careful, and ponder what it is I did to get into this situation when when I work as hard as I work. It's exhausting trying and trying and getting nowhere while others who have not had to work nearly as hard as you are flowering. Even playing field my ass.

But I digress...

Behold, the best loaves of bread I've ever made. The trick for these was to leave the dough a bit more tack than I'm comfortable and not to let them rise so much. The bread was light but rich and moist. And perfect for toasting.

I'm using it for a lot of meal leftovers. 

From my CSA I took cherry tomatoes and cooked them with olive oil, 

some onion and chopped up garlic.

I had this as a main dish over rice.

Then with the leftover I toasted some bread and over some 'cheese spread', heated the tomatoes and presto, a lovely lunch.

Cheesy spread you say?

Here it is.

I took 1 1/2 cup of raw cashews and soaked them in warm water for at least an hour.

In a food processor, I took 4 cloves of raw garlic, olive oil, salt/pepper to taste, and one half cup of nutritional yeast flakes. Processed the shit out of it and presto, cheesy spread. 

Add some soy milk if you want to cut the thickness. You might want to add some tofu to knock back the garlic or to make the spread a little less rich. I planned on doing that but my tofu went bad.

It's really good and should last for a good week, if not more refrigerated.

I made this originally to eat over roasted broccoli. 

Squash: Now I know what the fuss is about.

It's funny, a year ago I was in this boat. No real money, thinking about every penny, measuring my money more so than my time as an asset that was more valuable to me. I hated it. I really did, still do, but it was amazing how quickly those mind triggers came back to me when I lost my job.

Right now I'm okay as I look for other work, but I watch every penny. Recently had a no spend episode for 48 hours, then bought some soy milk and a couple other things. That brings me to this:

Super low sugar.

Don't buy Silk soy milk. Yeah, they got bought by Kellogg some time ago, and made the slimy move of taking all their brands off organic soy and making it one 'premium' line (douche move, Silk), which I bought because it had no added sugar and none of their non organic lines came unsweetened. I paid the extra money because I didn't want the extra sugar in my coffee (the main reason I get soy milk besides baking).

Well, they 'changed their formula' and it sucks. Obscenely grainy, leaves sediment at the bottom of my coffee cup, and it's 'thicker' if that makes since, meaning it's trying to mimic real milk more so in texture so real milk drinkers will like it? Fail.

Look, I know that we vegans are not going the be the main market of this type of stuff, especially now that so many meat eaters are looking for ways to cut their cholesterol and high blood pressures, but making something that isn't something taste like something else when it tasted alight to begin with? Such a bad move, and my last time purchasing their overpriced soy milk.

Okay, rant over. Let's get to squash.

To tell you all the truth, I never gave squash much thought. I just saw them as this decorative gourd that sat on tables at Thanksgiving. Then a co-worker at my last job came in with a container of pasta sauce and spaghetti squash for lunch. It looked good enough, though I didn't have any. That image never left my mind. It wasn't yuckie or anything, just unfamiliar.

So I decided to collect all the squash that my CSA had given me over the past few weeks and do something with it.

First off, I didn't know squash was so...dense. Geeze It took me nearly 45 minutes to cut up al the squash. I know some people (from looking online because I didn't know a thing about squash) prefer to roast it in it's skin, but I was mixing a lot of squash together, and wanted them cut in cubes.

Beeeeeeeeeeet!

After I did that, I decided to use up some of those beets that I get in abundance in my CSA as well. I do like beets, a lot, but other than juicing I rarely take the time to cook them. I chopped them up, along with an onion, tossed it all in olive oil salt and pepper and cooked them on 360 for over an hour.

Oh. My. Goodness! Now I get it! Now I understand! I added a bit of 'butter' and it was the most rich extravagant food I'd had in quite some time! Delicious! That settles it. I'm going to get squad from now on. I do like the texture of spaghetti squash a bit more than the green skinned squad (not a squash expert), so I might just indulge in that for a while. Still, it's made me realize I need to branch out more, be adventurous (budget allowing) and see what I can get on the cheap. You should try it too.

PBnJ, so Gourmet

To all my vegers out there (ha, vegers, I made up a word) how you you all like the classic peanut butter and jelly combos? I myself love a good peanut butter, but I like to with it up sometimes.

Being adventurous in your PBnJ is so much fun. Whether it's fresh made bread, or some artisan loaf, with a cashew butter and an apricot preserve, the yummy rich protein with the sweet sugars fruit is such a treat. That's why I call it the poor vegan's steak and eggs :)

Right now I'm enjoying some peanut butter and ginger preserves on multi grain organic bread. It's a great combination. The chewy bread that's tough and mildly sweet with the rich peanut butter and the spicy ginger. Yummers.

Once the ginger preserves (which I had in my fridge for ever) were gone, I went back to my old tried and true, low sugar blueberry preserves. This peanut butter is unblanched, so the skin was ground in with the peanuts giving a much richer, darker butter and taste. Get unblanched nut butters whenever you can.

This bread is really good. It's vegan, organic and is about $5 a loaf.
That's average to most over whole grain breads.

Sometimes after you have something mild, you want something spicy. I get frustrated in restraints for paying $5 for french fries. They are just sliced cooked pieces of potatoes, and frankly I can make those at home.

I got some yellow potatoes, and sliced them about 1/2" thick. I tossed them in some salt, pepper, olive oil, and this buffalo tobacco cause that I thought was going to be spicier than it was. 

I heated the oven at 400 and let these cook for 15-20 min. 

Right out of the oven.

With some seasoned vegan sour cream (buffalo cause, salt onion powder, pepper) and some ketchup, 

I devoured these in no time. A great snack.

I think now that I don't have a job to go to (I'm focusing on freelancing), I'm going to be cooking a lot more.

I'm also going to be updating this blog a lot more with yummy cheap snacks and vegan food reviews. So for all of us who are looking for vegan in the cheap, FSV is gonna be the place to go and know.

Lost my job today.

Well crap.

My first crack at apple cake.

Happy new year lovely vegan eaters! 

I know that I have been lax on this blog, but it's because I find it easier and lazier to eat in ruts. As long as I have avocado, rice, and salt and pepper, I'm good. I know, it's sad.

This week's CSA. Yes I'm still juicing.

Tonight I decided to warm up this cold LA night by baking. I love baking in the winter, it makes the house smell good and it warms the place too.

Apple cake. Why did I decide apple cake? How did I think I would know how to make apple cake? I didn't. I didn't have an apple cake recipe, just this one that I severely modified. I try to find a base recipe just so I can get some of the mixtures right and not have it be too watery or too dry.

Here is my recipe.

Apple Cake

1 small apple chopped

1 small apple sliced

1/4 lemon for juice

2 tbls vanilla extract

2 tbls sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsl baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup soy milk

1 tbl apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup vegan butter

1/4 cup cocoanut oil 

First oil and flour a 9x9" pan

Heat oven to 350.

Next chop up your apples and use the lemon to retard the browning.

Take the sliced apples and line the bottom of the floured pan.

Add vanilla and sugar to the chopped apples and mix. Set aside.

Sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Stir in the cup of sugar.

Add vinegar to the soy milk and stir. 

Melt the two oils together and blend. 

Fold oils into the dry ingredients. 

Add water and soy milk and stir. 

Mix in chopped apples. 

Pour into pan and level evenly. Bake for 45 min to one hour, checking on cake after the first 30 in 15 min intervals until done. 

Release cake from pan immediately onto a cooling rack. Allow to completely cool.

I finished the cake off with a maple syrup drizzle. I'm not a big icing fan, so this cake was sweet enough and flavorful. If you are adventurous, you might want to add some almond extract or even cranberries.

The texture of the cake is moist and dense. This is a great coffee cake, or even a nice birthday cake for the healthier among us.

Total of dirty dishes.

If anyone tries out this recipe, I'd love to know how it works for you. This was my first time making this up and I might tweak the ratios a bit next time. Okay, have a great week!

Snack Attack Food Review: Seneca Apple Chips Ganny Smith

Hi everyone.

I consider myself a sudo-conscious consumer. When I shop I read labels, mostly. I would have to say, I don't generally buy box or bagged foods unless they are cereal or tofu, but occasionally I get the craving for a not so heathy snack food and I find it hard to find one that's tasty, not sickeningly gross, and vegan.

I wanted to start a series of posts based on snacks. These are snacks I'm curious about from seeing them in the store. I'm going to give my prespective on how they taste to a vegan palette. I'm sure most of these snacks are not meant for the non animal eater, but still, we are a part of the market. None of the snacks I review will be over $5.

To start things off I have Sensca farms Crispy Apple Chips: Granny Smith Flavor.

I should give a little back story. I snack. Not too much, but sometimes when I forget nature's candy (my own homemade trail mix or a piece of fruit) I make a jaunt to the local grocery two blocks from my work and grab something.

This store, like most major chain groceries, are filled with $2 giant pastries, junk foods and eatings that are honestly nothing but corn. I don't want bread, that just makes me sleepy, and often the fruit I forgot at home isn't want I'm after either.

I want to try something new, fun and something I wouldn't normally buy. These chips were on sale, 2 bags for $4. Okay. Ill try it.

I skimmed the package and all the seals and labeling of green and 'fresh apples' duped me, I must say. My mind was triggered by the brandings of USDA organic, and other such often meaningless labels and I have to say, I'm sure that this package design was not happenstance. I bet it played on those symbols and it got me. 

Of course the apples are 'fresh'. They are probably underripe. How else can you chop them up ad fry them? Yeah, fry. These chips reek of oil from the first bite. As someone who does not eat a lot of oil, its noticeable. But I do enjoy the occasional potato chip, and I'll just say my saliva felt like it got thicker from the oil eating these.

They are sweet. 9g of sweet considering this 2.5oz package has 2.5 servings. I juice granny smith apples all the time, and they have the least amount of sugar in the apple family. With these, I feel like I was eating a Fiji apple, so I can only imagine how sweet their other apple chips are.

I mean they look nice. It's clear these are 'fresh' apples. They just don't taste light like a real fresh apple would. I guess that was my own expectation.

Another drawback for me is these use an oil blend of safflower, sunflower and canola. Yuck. Canola oil tastes very heavy to me. Also those are sweetened with corn syrup. That should have been a big no no to begin with. It's not HFCS (or corn sugar as it's now called), but it's still corn. Lastly, the acids are most likely derived from corn. So I'm eating an apple fried in corn, and seasoned with corn. Oh joy.

I mean it is junk food, so I'm not expecting a superfood, but my own impulse shopping tendencies got the best of me with this snack purchase. I will not be buying these again.

If I had to pick the chips or the apple again, Ill get the real fresh apple.

Ratings Good 10 to bad 1:

• Criteria: 
• Taste, the flavor of the snack.
• Health, how bad is it for you.
• Price, paying for its value.
• Ingredients, is it made of good or bad stuff.
• Expectation, my overal take on this snack. Was it worth buying it?

• Taste: 4
• Health: 3
• Price: 4
• Ingredients: 3
• Expectation: 4

Make it at home!

A recent juice: apple, carrot and beet.

Lovely CSA

Its been a lovely week of food for me. I'm still eating out for lunch with my lunch buddies, but rumors around the workplace are a circling and we may be downsized. Crap. I've been here a year, and what I do is valid, at least that's what they tell me, but strange silent ninja things are a foot and whatever happens, I goes I've got to get back to cooking.

Watermelon, kale and apple.

I mean, without getting into too much detail, I have never felt secure about my job. I've felt like I've been on a rickety foundation for the longest, and turns out I'm not alone. A lot of people who work where I do feel that. I guess tis the agony of working for a start up.

On another note I made a light dinner this weekend. I had some beans in two of my CSAs and I wanted to use them before they went bad. I cut their ends of, sautéed the beans in a bit of water with a dried rosemary sprig and crushed garlic. I also used a secret weapon of mine. More on that in a later post. 

Finished dinner!

On a light bed of sushi rice these beans tasted delish. A quick meal in 20 minutes. I love that. Gotta stop being so lazy.

I also geared up at the Cost Plus Market on my 'international' stuff. I made sushi for the first time at home! It's pretty easy and relatively cheap.

Cost Plus total: $32

I snack on nori a lot at home and other than it getting stuck between my teeth at times, I thought I should take a crack at using it for what you are supposed to use it for.

I in no way shape or form have even attempted to prefect my sushi rice. The very first time I made sushi earlier last week I just used some rice I had made a few days earlier. What I did do though was pickle my own veggies. That was easy to do.

I boiled two cups of rice vinegar with a bit o sugar and let it reach a simmer, I then poured it over some veggies and put them in the fridge for the night. That next day I was ready to make my sushi!

The hard thing was cutting the roll. I don't have a fancy knife, so I just used a steak knife. Worked fine.

Other than the rolls being a bit bland from the lack of seasoning in the rice, they tasted great and I do plan to make sushi over and over again at home. It cost me no more than $1 a roll! So much for that $4 sushi rolls i keep getting thinking they are a good price. Feh. Ha! I love experimenting with food!

This week's CSA!