One delicious breakfast for the road…. A filling concoction of papaya, strawberry, banana, oatmeal, almond, flaxseed and soy strawberry yogurt. Mmmmmmm - that should at least get me to Canada =) We are headed off today on our latest adventure - relocating from the great state of Alaska to the lower 48 for more grad school. I can’t believe I’m actually heading back to school, but such as it is. I will be incommunicado for the next week or so while I traverse the face of Canada, but expect to be at the new house cooking up a storm in my new locale. I am excited to see what fresh local produce I can find and will report back soon! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you on the other side.

Another hit from Vegan Yum Yum - Blueberry Waffles with Lemon Icing. Delicious and beautiful!

As I continue my journey to incorporate new (and previously snubbed) vegetables I decided to try to cook something with Eggplant. I used a recipe from The Candle Cafe’s - Eggplant and Zucchini Lasagna. I did not have any Zucchini, so I stuck with Eggplant roasted in the oven with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I used some of my Farmer’s Market Tomatoes to make a homemade marinara that was stupendous! I also modified the herb ricotta by adding fresh baby spinach and a couple pinches of nutritional yeast. I layered the lasagna with noodles, spinach ricotta, roasted eggplant, marinara and then sauteed onion and mushrooms. I topped the final round of noodles with a modified pine nut cream. I remembered making a version of this recipe from Veganomicon. For my version I used 1/2 cup pine nuts, 1/2 cup soy milk, squirt of lemon juice, dash of sage and 2 T wasabi powder. I spread this on top of the noodles and baked everything for 45 minutes. It was good! I actually found the eggplant palatable! Victory was mine!!!

Another success from Veganomicon - Curry Udon Noodles. I love curry, and have never used garam marsala before, but I think they were a good combo. This was spicy, but delicious!

I cooked some tempeh based on a recipe in The Candle Cafe. Basically the tempeh is cooked in a delicious juice mixture for about 45 minutes. It comes out tender and flavorful. I also used stir-fried carrots and broccoli to complete the meal. Yum!

Delicious Black Bean & Lentil Salad from La Dolce Vegan. It’s a delicious salad and one of my favorite to make. I only made a few modifications, and highly recommend this recipe to all =)

A tangy yet delicious smoothie. I used a whole pink grapefruit, strawberries, 2 dates, a banana, collards, flax seeds, hemp protein powder and a cup of water. Yummy!

I had vegan lunch meat left-over from the Shaved Seitan Sammich, so I made this with all my fresh purchases from the local farmers market: Apricot Walnut Bread, Spinch, Tomatoes, Red Onion and a side of cole slaw. Delic!!!

So tonight’s dinner came courtesy of Vegan Dad. I made his new lunch meat, and modified his sweet and sticky barbecue sauce. I reduced the amount of ketchup and water and added in some marsala and a few other odds and ends. The result? Delicious!!! I would definitely cook this again - YUM!

I made a side of delicious coleslaw to go with. This was from this recipezaar recipe that I veganized.

I used soy milk, veganaise and a buttermilk made from soy milk with apple cider vinegar. It was great!!!

It was pretty hot (relatively speaking) here in the land of the midnight sun this weekend. After a good bit of time outside in the 24 hour a day sun, sorbet was definitely on the brain. First up: I had a watermelon that looked great, but turned out to be too mealy for my liking. Usually I toss it on the compost in disgust while muttering about the $52.00 a pound it cost me to buy it. Today, however I was hit with inspiration on two fronts. I discovered (either because a: I am a genius, or b: I dropped a piece on the floor - that will be for you to decide) that my matching set of dogs LOVE watermelon…

AND - I took the remaining piece, cut it into smaller chunks, tossed in the freezer and then blended it up into the best watermelon sorbet I’ve ever had. Okay - the only watermelon sorbet, but I still stand behind my initial declaration.. also the best =)

Next up, I went a traditional route with the strawberries. I boiled 1 cup water and 1/3 cup sucanat for about 3 minutes. Then I added pureed strawberries and a squirt of lemon and boiled for another couple of minutes. The whole concoction went into the freezer. Right before serving, I blended again. MMMmmmm!!!!

Finally, I took some left-over Cashew Banana Ice Cream and added fresh pineapple, mango and papaya. Blended it all, tossed it back in the freezer until serving. Wow! It was sooooo goood!!!

So I was shopping around for dinner ideas, and I saw something interesting at Diet, Dessert and Dogs: Mango Avocado Salad. I had all the ingredients, and it whipped up really fast. It had mango, avocado, red onion, jalapeno, olive oil, rice wine vinegar, lime, agave, tamari, mint, cilantro and I used peanuts instead of cashes. The result - delicious!!!

Hmmm, so what should I make with it? I found a recipe for Thai Chicken Pizza that looked easy enough to veganize. I still had a pizza dough to use in the refridgerator. The Thai Chicken Pizza recipe came from here. I skipped the dough (and actual chicken), and here is what I did for the rest:

Sauce

• 3 1/2 Tbsp peanut butter
• 3 Tbsp brewed black tea
• 3 Tbsp brown rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp chili oil
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
• 2 tsp agave

Topping

• 3 frozen mock chicken patties, cooked until hot and sliced thinly (I scraped off fake crust)
• 2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds and some black sesame seeds for the top
• 1 Tbsp paprika ( I used Hungarian Sweet)
• 1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 red onions diced

I blended the sauce. I mixed the topping together with about 3 tablespoons of the sauce. I spread the remaining sauce on the pizza crust and then topped with chicken mixture. I sprinkled black sesame seeds, extra paprika and some walnut parm on the top. I cooked it at 425 on a pizza stone for about 15 minutes. The end results was fantastic! The pizza was slightly dry and could have used more sauce, so I would double it next time. Really great pizza, and a delicious dinner all around.