Hittin the Refresh Button

Hello! Im back to the blogging world. I've decided to kind of reroute the purpose of this blog. I had to take a while to get grounded and see what I wanted out of this. I knew I loved taking pictures of my food and sharing the recipes to my friends. And I enjoy writing. Yet, I realized: having a food blog was to ...constraining and for anyone who doesn't know me I don't like rules. I will follow most but the mere thought of not being able to do something, makes me want to find a way I can. Which is why I stopped blogging, I felt bored. I now am Planning on posting on this blog to give insight to what my life is like here in NYC and also share easy, healthy and overall delicious meals I make.
To start this new direction I am sharing a super easy recipe I threw together last night.

I just got home from spending a week at home back in Encinitas Ca. It was honestly a very needed trip. Last Thursday was my first day off in ages.  I had to work or dance everyday since December 28th 2013. (Minus a few days where I was extremely sick) And man was I burning out! My exhausted body just wanted to be in sick mode and sleep, my brain was shot from dealing with the emotional toil that comes from dancing and living in NYC. Needless to say going home was perfect. I got to see my family and friends and walk on the beach, eat, sleep, let my mom do my laundry and feed me. I even got sick and enjoyed my mom fussing over me. But now I'm back to the grind and I decided to go on a short cleanse before I go back to my full schedule. Thus on my last days of spring break I can detox my body out an gather vitamin C/the last bits of sleep before going into the last six weeks of the semester. Sooo heres what I created:


I went to Trader Joes and bought:
2 grapefruits
1 package of peeled and steamed. Baby beets
Go Raw trail mix (walnuts,almonds, cashews, peanuts, raisins)


I cut and peeled the grapefruit
Cut up the beets
Threw them in a big plastic container added a dash of salt, paprika and one tablespoon of diced ginger (that i keep in my freezer)

When I eat it I add a handful of the nuts. Its super easy and flavorful. I think that salt really brings out the flavor while keeping it looking fresh :)

Stuffed Portabella mushrooms

I think that at this point its obvious im a "pintrest loving gal." Well over the past year i keep repinning image of stuffed portabello mushrooms that make my mouth water. Last night i decided to go and give it a go. The reault was visually stimulating and the flavor was clean yet rich. Not to mention the mushroom aroma that filled the kitchen

Heres the result...not bad right?!!!

I wasnt very hungry and only made enough for  four

I used

 About 1/4 cup quinoa PER mushroom (that i had previously cooked)

4 unstemmed  portobello mushrooms

1 avocado 

Tofu feta cheese -to taste

Olive oil-to taste

Salt-to taste

This was literally so easy to make I cant believe how short my instructions will be.

I heated the oven to 400 then spitzed some olive oil onto a cookie sheet. 

For the mushrooms

I simply broke of the stems and washed the mushrooms. Spooned in the quinoa sprinkled salt drizzled olive oil on top and popped them in the oven  for about 20 minutes. The mushrooms are very watery and I figured they were ready when there was mushroom juice bubbling on the tray. 

Then I topped them with sliced avocado and tofu feta...THATS IT. 

So easy, so flavorful, so satisfying and so fast! 

Tofu Feta Cheese

Tofu Feta Cheese
For me, the thing I miss the most is cheese. I always say I'm a vegetarian because I don't support systematic killing. After researching I finally went the full yard when I realized that animals in the slaughter house may be killed, but the animals in a dairy farm have to live through  terrible treatment until they can no longer be of use or bear it. I genuinely would not be able to put up with what these poor creatures have to deal with all the time.
anyways
I was at a vegan diner near my home...when I saw they had all these fake cheese options. Theyre all good
especially the feta cheese.
SO I went on pintrest looked up tofu feta cheese
and then gave it my own try
Super easy and cheap!

I used:
1 Container of extra firm tofu
5 small garlic cloves 
1 Lemon
1/2 a lime
salt (to taste... I love salty feta so I used quite a bit)

First thing I did was peel the garlic cloves and mince them (chop into super small pieces). Then I put it in a bowl and squeezed all the juice out of the lemon and added a (espresso) spoonful salt . I mixed it.

Then I took the tofu and peeled back a corner of the cover and drained all the liquid out. Next, I took chunks of the tofu and squeezed it in my hand so more liquid came out. Finally I crumbled the tofu into a bowl and mixed in the lemon-garlic-salt combo I tasted it and squeezed in 1/2 a lime and added more salt. I let this marinate for 12 minutes.

Then I spread out the tofu on a lightly greased cookie sheet and popped it in the oven for 8 minutes at 200 degrees.

(until it seemed that the liquid had been absorbed and it was less wet.) I took it out, let it cool completely, put it in a Tupperware and put it in the fridge!

and it looks so legit!:)

Potatoes, tomatoes for dinner?! oh my!!!

Tonight i made delicious wannabe indian potatoes! My mom makes amazing indian food and i have been craving it alll week. But i dont have all the right spices (especially cumin) sooo once again I improvised!!

First I boiled three potatoes until they were soft enough for me to stick a fork in deeply but not so that they fell apart. Meanwhile I peeled and chopped some ginger and red onion.

And the two tomatoes as well. 

Then I put the onion and ginger in the pan along with a bay leaf and olive oil.

I sauteed them for a little bit then i put in the tomatoes and about 1/4 cup water from the potatoes I boiled. The water has alot of nutrients potatoes release when cooked!  I also sprinkled on tumeric for color.

I put a lid on top of the tomatoes and  to stew/steam them. And cut the potatoes up. Then added them as well and put them under the lid.

I cooked the suckers for 15 minutes on high then lowered the flame for another ten ( should take less time but i kind of undercooked the potatoes) anyways these were they half way! 

And then this is the final result :)

Pumpkin Granola (vegan and gluten free!)

My friend sarah came in for a super quick visit last week. And she introduced me to pumpkin granola. The minute I smelled the stuff I knew I needed to create my own!!

I bought a huge can of pumpkin puree that was on sale and some pumpkin spice.

After looking up recipes on Pinterest I kind of combined all of them into one to cater to what I had. 

These are the ingredients i used 

3 cups rolled oats

3/4 cups quinoa

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 rounded teaspoon of pumpkin spice 

1/2 tsp of Salt 

1taespoon ground flaxseed

1tsp cinnamon

1/3 Cup melted coconut oil

1/2cup pumpkin puree

1tsp vanilla

1/4cup honey

1 tablespoon of brown sugar 

The first thing i did was heat the oven to 325 degrees and melted my coconut oil. I greased two cookie sheets with coconut oil while the oil melted.

Then in a large bowl i mixed the dry ingredients. And in a smaller bowl the wet ingredients, i made sure everything was really well mixed. 

Finally i added the wet ingredients to the dry and mixed those thoroughly.

I spread out my mix super evenly on the two cookie sheets and baked them for 30 minutes; taking them out every ten minutes and moving the granola around. 

The kitchen smelled amazing! And the granola was delicious pumpkin-y and not to sweet! 

 

I had it for lunch today with bananas and apples!!

Baked apple with steel cut oats

I dont have work until 1030 on saturdays now which means...i have an extra hour in the morning to be a person!! But i cant sleep in and i was hungry; 

Therefore i decided to continue my fall inspired kick. And saw that i had two apple and two types of breakfast cereals. SO my mind instantly thought of this pin i saw  on pinterest and i looked it up.

The recipe called for some ingredients i didint have like eggs.so as usual i tweaked it a little.

First I brought

1/2 cup water with a pinch of salt 

To a boil then i added 1/4 cup steal oats. While that cooked i cored one apple.

Then i turned off the oats and mixed in cinnamon and brown sugar. 

I filled the apples with the steel cut oats. Put a little apple cider on the bottom of a baking pan  (the recipe called for orange juice) 

And baked it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. 

This was the beautiful result!

 

I let it cool then put it on a plate.

It came off the pan super easily because of the apple cider! Finally I just Sprinkled on some cinnamon and had an amazing, vegan, gluten free, protein filled delicious breakfast. And honestly it was super easy to make!

Breakfast Protein Flax Bars

My quest for a breakfast bake continues.....and the latest concoction/attempt to make a breakfast bake ended up becoming this amazing protein filled bar. that was extremely filling yet light and perfect to eat really quickly in the morning!

Also on a personal note;  Last week I bought peanut butter and bananas because I was craving protein, fat and potassium (to fight my aching body and early signs of a weird cold-flu that put me out of commission for this past week actually)
ANYWAYS
here is what I did and used this time around :)

• 2 cups GF Oats
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds
• 2 mashed bananas
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
• about 1/3 cup coconut milk
• a pinch of salt

I mixed the oats, flax seeds, salt and baking powder. Then I added the peanut butter and bananas which I struggled with until my brain turned on and I added the coconut milk which instantly made the mix less stiff. It turned thick but not lumpy which was what I wanted. Last but not least I spread the oil on the round baking pan and poured in the batter.
I put it all into the oven
and after 25 minutes I got this nicely golden firm yet soft baked oatmeal which i cut into squares right away and let cool
I stored them in an airtight container in the fridge and ate them in the morning with some coffee and coconut milk.

I pretty much only had left over peanut butter and bananas so I put more on top of the bars some morning which enhanced the flavor :)