A lot of stirfry

What do you do when you have a whole lot of asparagus that you're worried will go bad and when you know you're going to be super busy the next two weeks?

Answer: Make a whole lot of stirfry!

I think I'm all set for the next couple weeks. All I have to do after I come back to my apt from a tiring day of summer camp is heat up food and I'm good to go!

Foood!

Thursday night, my friends and I went to the Key Club in Hollywood to listen to our friends' band Pinot Funk open for the band Lettuce. The show was AWESOME. Food? meh.

chips w spinach artichoke dip & garlic parsley fries

veggie sandwich & sweet potato fries

(sandwich was too greasy but the fries were perfection! Nice & crispy! probably fried...)

aaron ate basically all the fries... and his burger!

rocking out

Then yesterday, mom and I went to Little Tokyo for lunch. We both got the sashimi special and ate ALL of it. Yeah, we're such fatties. :)

Today for breakfast and lunch? Just another variation on cereal, soy yogurt, apples, whole grains, tofu & veggies.

P.S. Driving in LA sucks. People don't know how to drive.

My "new" bike

the old bike

the "new" (used) bike!

:) happy me

Golden Lemon Cupcakes

I based these little cuties on Isa's Lemon Gem Cupcake recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. Since I was just trying out the recipe, I halved the original recipe. I used brown sugar (which made my cupcakes golden), lowfat vanill soymilk instead of rice milk, and I only used 1 Tbsp of canola oil, to make it lower fat. Plus I added some lemon extract in addition to the vanilla extract.

here they are cooling on the rack

tofutti based frosting!

high upon a pedestal

waiting for me to eat it

It took so much self-control for me to wait until after dinner to eat this lemony cupcake. :)

om nom nom nom

Scoops

The best place in LA for gelato, vegan ice-cream and sorbet!

Cilantro Pesto Dip

After seeing a couple pesto recipes online while browsing through some blogs, I was compelled to make my own. Rather than the usual basil pesto, I came across a few that used cilantro. I didn't have all the ingredients that the original recipes called for, like nutritional yeast and vegan parmesan so I just improvised, as I often do in the kitchen.

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic
• a bunch of cilantro - about 2 and 1/2 cups, loosely packed
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp pine nuts
• 2 Tbsp dried basil
• 2 Tbsp plain soy yogurt
• 2-3 tsp water, depending on desired consistency
• a pinch of salt

It was incredibly strong when I first tasted it, so I added the 2 Tbsp of plain soy yogurt. Then since I had some chickenless strips from TJ's, I decided to make some chickenless pesto strips. And oh my gosh, it was so good! First I sauteed some minced ginger until it was aromatic, then put in about a Tbsp of the cilantro pesto and then threw in the chickenless strips. After a few minutes, the strips had basically absorbed all the pesto in the pan. And after making sure they were thoroughly heated, I confirmed they were thoroughly yummy! Seriously, so good!

my chickenless pesto strips

...made into a wrap

the dip was kind of spicy so I added some carrots...

the cilantro pesto dip!
...for some reason there it looks watery but it wasn't really...

P.S. be warned of the after-effects of having lots of garlic! :)

Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping today was quite the adventure. First up, I went to Superior, the grocery store across the street from SC and bought about $30 of food including:

• garlic, onions, bananas, green onions, lettuce, bell peppers, cilantro, carrots, spinach, some herbs, tofu
• canned goods: garbanzo beans, kidney beans, black beans, tomato paste

I bought all the beans b/c I've been wanting to make a summery bean salad & a hummus dip. Now if only I had a can opener...

Next up I ventured to JH Bazaar, an Indian grocery store just a few minutes away from SC on Vermont and bought just under $20 of spices, powders and a packet of Pillsbury roti. Yup, Pillsbury has a line of Indian food too! (I'll post a picture of it when I eat it)

After a lunch consisting of tofu dogs wrapped in whole-wheat tortilla, I needed a little spice in my life. What better than some Indian food? (or Indian inspired... I don't know how authentic my cooking really was, haha)

Groceries from JH Bazzar

Rice (semi-pilaf) w/ minced ginger & cinnamon

soup I made using 2 tsp of an Indian soup mix I bought & 1 tsp of a curry powder (onions, cauliflower, carrots)

The soup, though delicious, turned out to be a bit on the spicy side. So I finished off with a nice cool fuji apple!