At your request

Since so many of you said you were interested in my lasagna recipe, here it is!

Spinach-Artichoke Lasagna

Ingredients

Sauce:
olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping spoonful tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 cans diced tomatoes, (1 can drained)
salt & pepper (about 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper)
pinch crushed red pepper

Spinach-Artichoke Layer:
10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped
1/4 cup white wine
salt & pepper

Tofu ricotta:
1 lb firm tofu
2-3 tsp lemon juice
salt
pinch black pepper
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

9 cooked lasagna noodles

Instructions
For the sauce:
Heat a little bit of olive oil in a medium saucepot. Add the onion and garlic, cook until the onion is softened. Stir in the tomato paste, basil, oregano, and thyme. Add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Bring to a simmer. Cover the pot and let the sauce simmer for 20 minutes. Taste to adjust seasoning.When the sauce is done simmering, transfer it to a blender and blend until almost smooth.

For the spinach layer:
Place the spinach in a fine meshed strainer and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Set aside.
Heat a little bit of olive oil in a saute pan. Add the garlic and cook until softened. Add the artichoke hearts and cook for 1-2 minutes to heat. Add the wine to the pan and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat and let the wine reduce by half.
Add the spinach to the pan and season with salt & pepper, to taste. Let the the mixture cook until almost all of the liquid is evaporated.

For the tofu ricotta:
Break the tofu into pieces and place in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Pulse until the mixture has the consistency of ricotta cheese.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the nutritional yeast.

To assemble:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spread about 1/2 cup marinara over the bottom of a 9x9 glass baking dish. Lay 3 lasagna noodles over top of sauce. (You will have to cut the noodles to fit the baking dish)
Spread 1/2 of the tofu ricotta over the noodles and cover with 1/2 of the spinach mixture.
Place 3 more lasagna noodles over top the spinach layer. Spread about 1/2 of the remaining sauce over top of the noodles.
Repeat layers with the remaining ingredients. (Remaining layers should be as follows: tofu ricotta, spinach mixture, noodles, and sauce)
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for an additional 20 minutes, or until the lasagna is heated through.
Let rest before cutting.

Spinach-Artichoke Lasagna

So, who saw Harry Potter already? We went to see it last night and it was awesome! I was so psyched last night about seeing the movie. It's been 2 years since the last one came out! (I hope it doesn't take as long for the next one to come out) The movie was altered a bit from the book and a lot of things were left out, but nonetheless, the movie was still really good. I don't want to say too much about the movie in case some of you haven't seen it yet. If anyone wants to talk about it though feel free to e-mail me!

While I am on the topic of Harry Potter, lets talk about something else magic...the lasagna I made this week. It was my second attempt at making a vegan lasagna (the first was for Andrew's birthday a few months ago) and I think I nailed it. This one was a spinach-artichoke lasagna. It was layer upon layer of pasta, tofu ricotta, spinach and artichoke filling, and homemade marinara. The spinach-artichoke layer is what made this recipe so good. Seriously, if someone who wasn't vegan ate this I don't even think they would realize that it wasn't a "regular" lasagna. It tasted good the first day, but even better the second day. Lasagna always tastes better when it's leftover! If anyone would like me to share the recipe I would be happy to do so.

Spinach-Artichoke Lasanga

My Disney Vacation (Warning: long post ahead!)

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I last blogged. It sure went by fast! As I mentioned in my last post, Andrew and I went to Disney World! We did so much that I don't even know where do begin! The weather on our first day there was really bad and I was forced to wear a garbage bag on my head. Luckily, it was hot and sunny the rest of the week!

(Mom and I, rocking the garbage bag look)

We covered all of the Disney theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and the Animal Kingdom. (From a vegan's standpoint, I have mixed feelings on the Animal Kingdom but I'll save that topic for another day) We got up early every morning and stayed in the parks until late at night. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we flew home on Monday. It was worth it though! I had so much fun! I think I had more fun this time than I did when I was a child. I don't think children can really appreciate how great Disney World is until they are older. My favorite park was Epcot, which is funny because I thought it was so "boring" when I was little. I really enjoyed getting to see all of the countries represented in the World Showcase (Morocco and Japan were my favorites). Hollywood Studios was a lot of fun too. Andrew and I actually went back to Hollywood Studios on our last day because we weren't finished seeing everything yet. We went to every show we came across- Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Indiana Jones, a few 3D shows, parades, and fireworks for the 4th of July (just to name a few). We went on all the classic Disney rides that I remember from when I was a kid. Of course, I went on my favorite ride Pirates of the Caribbean several times. I brought home plenty of pirates souveniers too! (I have a slight obsession with pirates, in case I've never mentioned it before) On my birthday I was given special Fast Passes so we could ride a bunch of rides without having ot wait in line. It was pretty cool. There are so many other awesome things about our trip that I could talk about, but I'll try to spare you from having to read an insanely long post.

Since this is a food blog I probably shouldn't forget to mention the food! I was a little concerned about what the food situation would be like, even after doing a little research online beforehand. I know now that there was absolutely no reason to worry! It is so easy to find vegan food in Disney, all you have to do is ask for it! Our hotel had cafeteria-style food service, which included breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Breakfast was easy- the hotel had plenty of fruit, cereal, oatmeal, and even soy milk. We were usually in the park during lunch and dinner time. Lunch was usually a veggie burger (several fast food places in the park had them) or a salad. We made dinner reservations weeks in advance, so we got to eat dinner in sit-down restaurants instead of fast food places. We had so much luck when it came to dinner. I never imagined how many choices we would have and how delicious it would all be! What impressed me the most was that everyone actually knew what the word "vegan" meant and how to cook for us. Even the servers were very knowledgable of what was in the dishes and what we could/couldn't eat.

The first night of our trip we went to a restaurant in the Magic Kingdom called Tony's, which served Italian food. Andrew and I mentioned to our server that we were vegan so we could find out what we could eat on the menu. To our surprise, our server went back to the kitchen and sent the chef out to our table to talk to us. The chef let us know what was vegan on the menu and even offered us another dish that was on the lunch menu. We both ended up ordering the same thing- a whole wheat pasta dish with roasted veggies (bell peppers, artichokes, portobella mushrooms, and broccoli). It was topped off with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was delicious! Definitely one of my favorite meals during the trip. There was even a dessert on the menu that was vegan- sour apple sorbet. We had lunch one afternoon at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. It's a cute little restaurant that looks like a 50's style diner. It's one of my niece's favorite restaurants at Disney, so we had to go there. Andrew and I had another delicious meal there- a roasted pepper stuffed with bulgur and ratatouille. I was surprised at how good this was, I really wasn't expecting much from the restaurant due to the kind of food on the menu. I guess I was wrong!

Pasta with Roasted Vegetables (sorry for the blurry picture)

On my birthday we went to the Grand Floridian and had breakfast with the Disney characters. Not only did the chef come talk to us about the food, but he actually gave us a little tour of the buffet to point out everything that was vegan. There was way more than I expected- fruit, potatoes, oatmeal, grits, breads, bagels, and even vegan pancakes. My mom mentioned that it was my birthday when she made the reservation, so our server and Winnie the Pooh sang Happy Birthday to me. Yes, I was embarassed. For dinner that night we ate at the Kona Cafe in the Polynesian Resort. As you can probably guess, the theme of the restaurant was Hawaiian. The chef made me Asian noodles with stir-fried veggies, tofu, peanuts, and peanut sauce. It was really good! I wish I had the recipe for the peanut sauce, because it was so good I could have licked my plate clean. Even though I don't drink alcohol much, I ordered a drink with my dinner that night since I turned 21. (They didn't even card me though!) Andrew and I found an ice cream parlor in the Magic Kingdom that night that had Tofutti and Rice Dream. I ordered chocolate Tofutti ice cream for my birthday treat.

Asian Noodles with Peanut Sauce

On the 4th of July Andrew and I had a lovely date at a restaurant called Sanaa. Sanaa is an African/Indian restaurant in one of the Animal Kingdom hotels. Our meal at Sanaa was outstanding! It was hands down my favorite meal of the whole trip. The restaurant has an entire vegan menu, separate from the regular menu. The menu had vegan appetizers, bread, entrees, sides, and even desserts! It may seem silly, but I was so excited about this. This was the first time since going vegan that I have ever had a whole menu to choose my meal from. Usually restaurants only have one thing we can order. On the menu was a list of Indian breads that you could order as an appetizer, along with 3 accompaniments. We ordered parathas (an Indian flat bread) with mango chutney, red pepper hummus, and spicy garlic-ginger chutney (my favorite). For your entree you got the choice of 2 main items (most of them were some sort of curry) and a side item. I had chickpeas and vegetables in coconut curry, curried spinach and tomatoes, and a side of 5 grain pilaf. It was fabulous! I definitely ate a little too much that night, but the food was so good that I just couldn't help myself. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of my meal at Sanaa. Actually, I don't have many pictures of our meals from Disney period. The pictures we took in the restaurants didn't come out very well. We borrowed Andrew's mother's camera, which didn't seem to work well in darker settings. I apologize for the lack of food pictures from my trip. You will just have to use your imaginations to visualize the amazing meals I had on vacation.

(My niece and I with Tigger)

I had a really good time on vacation, but I am glad to be back now. I missed sleeping in my own bed, cooking my own meals, and of course Nico and Ditty! I missed you guys too! I have lots of catching up to do with your blogs this week.

Disney Bound

Greetings from rainy, not-so-sunny New Jersey. (What a sad postcard that would make) We made it here after a 13 hour drive on Wednesday. The ride was long and exhausting, but I'll spare you the details. It's nice to be back visiting the family again, it's been months since I've seen any of them. I'm not going to lie though, it's a little chaotic at my mom's house right now. My sister and niece have been staying here for the past few months, as well as their dog Demo. Andrew and I brought Nico and Ditty with us, and my mom has 2 dogs and a cat of her own. Sense where I am going with this? There are 4 dogs and 2 cats running around at the moment and things are a little crazy at times. It's a good thing I love animals, huh?

We are going to be quite busy for the next week and a half. Andrew and I are attending his cousin's wedding tomorrow and the rehearsal dinner tonight. Then on Tuesday we leave for Disney! Yay! I'm super excited, I haven't been to Disney World since I was 8. I will also be celebrating my 21st birthday while we are away (July 3rd). Since there's so much going on I won't be blogging much until my vacation is over and I'm back in Charlotte. I'll have a lot of catching up to do when I get back! I'll be taking lots of pictures in Disney, so you can expect to see those.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and upcoming week! Bye for now!

Ice Cream, Risotto, and a Bake Sale

I feel like I spent all weekend in the kitchen! I've been cooking and baking up a storm these past few days. Here's some of the evidence:

Red Wine Risotto

I made a red wine risotto for dinner on Saturday. It looks kind of funky because it's purple, but it tasted pretty good. Andrew loves risotto and he really enjoyed this one. There was peas and mushrooms in it, but for some reason you can't see the mushrooms in the picture.

Banana-Peanut Butter Chip Ice Cream
Peanut Butter Cupcakes and Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

I spent Saturday night baking lots and lots of cupcakes for a bake sale that the Raptor Center was having today. Andrew is a volunteer at the Raptor Center and got an e-mail a few weeks ago requesting baked goods for the bake sale. I was happy to help out! I love any excuse to bake! I made the Cookies & Cream Cupcakes and Peanut Butter Cupcakes from VCTOTW. Both recipes are fabulous, but I like the peanut butter one best. (Not surprising, since I am a peanut butter junkie) I sent 2 dozen cupcakes to the bake sale and kept some extra for us.

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

Those are just a few of the things I made this weekend. Like I said, I feel like I spent all weekend in the kitchen! No complaints though because it was fun! On Wednesday, Andrew and I are going back to New Jersey to visit our families and leave for Disney World a few days later. I sure won't be doing much cooking then, so I guess it's good that I got it out of my system this weekend. Well, I am off to go relax for the rest of the night. I hope everyone has a good upcoming week!

Operation Beautiful

There's a project that many bloggers have been taking part in called Operation Beautiful. It was created by the Caitlin from the Healthy Tipping Point blog. The goal of Operation Beautiful is to leave positive messages (such as "You are beautiful!") in public places to help boost other women's self-esteem. If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you know that I struggled with an eating disorder and body image issues in the past. Promoting a positve body image and dispelling the idea that a woman should look a certain way is something that I hold very close to my heart. I know what it feels like to hate your own body; to nitpick every little imperfection; and to tell yourself you'd be so much happier if you could change your stomach, thighs, breasts, etc. We are constantly surrounded by false perceptions of what a woman should look like and it causes so many of us to have negative self-esteem and to hate our own bodies. It needs to stop! Women need to stop listening to what the media tells us we should be and just accept who we are (imperfections and all). We are all beautiful and perfect just the way we are. No one should be allowed to tell us otherwise! I think Operation Beautiful is a wonderful idea. I find it truly inspiring that there are still so many women out there who do love themselves and want to encourage other women to do the same. Kudos to you Caitlin, and all the other beautiful women taking part in this project!

Also, check out Angela's video Goodbye to You. Angela is also taking part in Operation Beautiful and created a video about ending our society's obsession with body image.

Baking Misadventures

I woke up on Monday with only one goal for the day: to bake something. I don't know why, but every so often I wake up with a persistent urge to bake. It felt like a muffin kind of day, so I chose the Quinoa-Almond Muffin recipe from Veganomicon. Everything seemed to go well and the muffins looked great when I took them out of the oven. I let them cool off and came back an hour later to eat one. That's when I realized something was wrong. When I broke one open they were all gummy inside. Not raw and undercooked, but gummy. I used the toothpick test when they came out of the oven and they definitely seemed done, so I don't think the problem was that they were undercooked. I don't know what happened but I was quite disappointed! To top it off, I burned my hand taking the muffins out of the oven. Failed Baking Attempt #1.

Later that night I decided to try again. I wanted baked goods damn it! I chose brownies this time. The recipe called for mashed banana, so I mushed up some banana in a bowl and set it on the counter. I walked away for 10 minutes. All of a sudden Andrew (who was in the kitchen at the time) insisted I choose another recipe. He also told me to stay where I was on the couch. He was acting weird and making no sense! Then I realized what was up...we had a visitor in the kitchen. It was a big cockroach! And it crawled right into my bowl of bananas! (When it gets really hot here in Charlotte we get an occasional cockroach trying to cool off) Andrew knows that I HATE bugs, especially big ones, which is why he kept telling me to stay away from the kitchen. Once the bug situation was handled and the bananas were discarded I was in NO mood to bake anymore. I was too grossed/creeped out about the whole thing. *shudders* Failed Baking Attempt #2.

After 2 failed attempts I was pretty pissed off, so I tried again yesterday. It was the last attempt, if it didn't work I think I would have given up at that point. I went back to my original plan and chose muffins again. I started off with the Apple-Crumb Cake Muffin recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance, but ended up changing several things. They evolved into Apple Walnut Muffins and were a big success! It took 3 attempts, but I finally got my baked goods :)

Apple-Walnut Muffins

3/4 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped, peeled apple (about 1/4-inch pieces)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper or silicone liners.
Sift dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center.
Mix the orange juice, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla together in a smaller bowl. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. (Stir just until combined, be careful not to over mix)
Fold in the apples and walnuts.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes.

Sausage and Potatoes

Good morning! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! We kept ourselves pretty busy this weekend: we went to an arts & crafts fair, the farmers market, nature preserve, the Raptor Center, and clothes shopping; along with some errands in between. We tried to go see a free Shakespeare play uptown on Saturday night too, but that didn't work out so well. We couldn't see or hear anything, so we ended up leaving after 30 minutes. Why would you set up speakers if you're not going to use them? I also finished reading The Kite Runner this weekend. I was so engrossed in it that I could hardly put it down at times. I highly recommend reading it. (Question for you guys: Are any of you on Goodreads.com? I signed up a few weeks ago but don't have any friends yet.)

You know what other book I highly recommend? Vegan Brunch! I have been trying out more recipes from it since the time time I mentioned it. I am sure some of you are probably sick of hearing about this book. People all over the PPK and the blog world have been raving about it since it came out. This book definitely deserves all the attention it's getting. Everything I have made from it so far has been excellent. The only problem I am having with the book is trying to decide which recipe to try next!

Chorizo Sausage

Potato-Spinach Squares

Both the Chorizo Sausages and Potato-Spinach Squares were delicious! The chorizo was my first attempt at making homemade vegan sausage! I was a little hesitant at first because I haven't worked with vital wheat gluten much (with the exception of Chickpea Cutlets). I don't why I was so worried though, it was so easy! I really liked the flavor of the chorizo, although next time I will add the optional cayenne pepper to make it spicier. I didn't want to over do it on the heat factor the first time I made them, but I think they could use the extra heat. I didn't do anything fancy with the sausage, I just sliced it up and sauteed it in some oil. The recipe makes 4 big sausages, 2 of which I stuck in the freezer. I plan on doing something a little fancier with the remaining sausages. (I'm thinking Jambalaya, what do you think?)

The potato-spinach squares were amazing! Andrew and I loved this recipe. It's probably the best recipe I've tried so far in Vegan Brunch. The potatoes had so much flavor, they tasted great before I even baked them into a casserole. They're mashed with spinach, nutritional yeast, oregano, and lemon. Yum! They remind me of the Potato Harra we order from our favorite Mediterranean restaurant.

Now I am off to go bake something! I hope everyone has a good week!

Orientation

Today was a very very LONG day, but I made it! I had to be at orientation by 8:00 this morning and did not get home until almost 4:00. I felt so bad leaving Nico and Ditty here by themselves all day! They were so happy to see me when I got home. Everything went pretty well today, except for the fact that I was starving through most of it. I threw a few snacks in my purse this morning to hold me over until I got back, but I wasn't expecting to be there that late. The lunch situation was just bad altogether, although it had nothing to do with the lack of vegan food. The room we had lunch in smelled like American cheese and the girl sitting across from me didn't know how to eat with her mouth closed. It was pretty gross. Aside from that, everything was okay. It was pretty boring though. I got a quick tour of the campus, figured out where some of my classes will be, and met my academic advisor. The best part of my day was the little puppy that someone was walking on campus. I stopped to play with him and he chewed on my hand for a while. Too cute!

I hope everyone had a good Hump Day. I'm off to go cuddle with Nico now, who is terrified of the thunderstorm we are having.

I Miss You!

It's been quiet around here the past 2 days. Andrew is on another trip and I am here taking care of Nico and Ditty(who are excellent company, by the way). Andrew won't be back until Thursday and I can't wait! Isn't it funny how when you live with someone, not seeing them for a few days doesn't seem like a big deal, but then when they are actually gone you miss them terribly? Like I said though, Nico and Ditty have been keeping me company so I don't get lonely. I woke up at 7:30 this morning with Nico putting his toys on my head and Ditty meowing at me because she was hungry. I don't know what I'd do without these two.

Tomorrow is my orientation for my new school. I'm not gonna lie, I am a little nervous. Not just about tomorrow, but the whole switch. I feel like I get to go to a real university now. Not that JWU wasn't a real school, but it was a lot smaller. There is only around 3,000 students at JWU and over 21,000 at UNC. Yikes. The campus is SO much bigger too, I know I am going to get lost. I need a map! It sounds like the orientation is going to be long tomorrow, but hopefully I'll get something out of it. I'll finally get to register for my classes for the Fall semester too (yay). I'll keep you guys posted on how everything goes.

My meals lately haven't been anything fancy, but good nonetheless. Since I am just cooking for myself this week I have been eating lots of stir-fries, salads, and leftovers. I did make homemade Larabars today though! I love Larabars but they are a little too expensive for me, so I started making my own. What are your favorite flavors of Larabars? So far my favorite is the cashew one.

Random shot of something I made for dinner a few nights ago:

Mexican-Spiced Tofu with Peppers, Onions, and Zucchini