Vegetarian Quickie Snacks

My brain is smooshy today. I think it’s the combination of a) sinus infection b) upper respiratory tract infection c)honkin’ amoxycillin horse pills d) class all day today, yes SATURDAY e) aforementioned class being about capstone, a terrifying topic that i don’t care to discuss at the moment.

So based on that smooshy-ness I’m going to forego any depth in this post and stick to the facts. And just blabber about one of my fave activities – eating.

Delightfully Veggie Snackies

~Greek yogurt – the possibilities here are endless!

• you can buy it flavored…  and there are some killer versions that come with a little side dipping area of yumminess -
• throw some toasted walnuts and dried berried into the plain variety – Splenda too if you’ve got a wicked sweettooth like some of us)
• with any variety of dippers! like veggie chips, edamame sprinkles with sea salt, etc.

~Wolfgang Puck’s Lentil Soup - looks freaky – tastes heavenly.  And as per my m.o. topped with greek yogurt.

~Peanut butter on most anything.  Gotta love the classics – apple slices/ celery & raisins - bonus points if you know what that’s called!

~Veggeroni and cream cheese on baguettes.

~Hummus. Dip most things in this too.  Or mix it up with chopped carrots and brocolli and pack a pita – got you’self a winner!

~Bruschetta. ‘Nuff said.

~Lucky cupcakes. These aren’t really ‘quick’ per say.  But I felt compelled to include them in my blog immediately.  Perhaps I’ll yoink the whole post soon?

~Potato chips and cottage cheese – better than it sounds!  I recommend light Ruffles and 1% cc:)  Pretzels are also suitable for dipping in creamy goodness:)

~Green Machine SuperJuice. For when you need something green and over-the-top fortified please and thank you.

~Cinnamon chips and fruit salsa. Takes some prep but is well worth the effort.  Yummalicious.

~Smoothies. Again – a blank slate.  Here’s a nice listing of some easy, dairy-free versions…

~Sorbet. With chopped-up Snickers.  Because sometimes ya just gotta be your own Coldstone.

~Giant soft pretzels dipped in queso. Hey – nobody said these would all be healthy!

~Chocolate frozen yogurt (or pudding!) topped with grapes.

~Cocoa dusted almonds. Same nutritional info as regular ones - HELLO,PEOPLE!! May I also recommend Cinnamon Roast and Cinnamon Brown Sugar?

~Chocolate almond milk (I just squirt the Hershey’s stuff into my Blue Diamond) and graham crackers.

~Graham crackers and fluff (will also substitute for dessert in a pinch;])

~Chocolate-are-you-sensing-a-theme-here?

~Exciting popcorn. Can be achieved with chili powder, parmesan cheese, cinnamon & sugar… more specific recipes here and here.

~Quinoa. This generally curious food (odd in both appearance and spelling) is actually quite delicious and healthy.  My momma makes it best – with just a dash of olive oil, lemon juice, chopped carrots and tomatoes.  It’s also happy to be topped with greek yogurt – but who wouldn’t be?

There’s more… but my brain just turned into a pumpkin. Or gourd.  Or something of the like.  Night babies.  And happy snacking!!

Dear Pandora…

I love ya, and your music gets me through lots of lesson planning… but you really need a “Don’t like” thumbs down for ads.  If you’re going to barrage us with commercialism, can’t we at least opt to avoid dead flesh ads? K thanks!

PS: And McDonalds- Just for the record – I, for one, don’t really take any simple joy in cruelty, suffering and unnecessary death on a bun.  Nor does America’s hardening arteries and bulging waistlines.  Too much?

The Great Butter Battle

So it’s high time I start going through the (absurd) amount of post ideas, and their accompanying photos, and sharing these useless little gems of knowledge with my favorite bloglets.  And since I’m a very logical person (stop laughing) – where else would I start than with the only ‘A’ folder, waiting in the wings to surprise the world!:

Almond Versus Peanut Butter – A Showdown

I’m sure thousands of you out there spend multitudinous hours in the grocery stores around the world contemplating the question of the ages:  ”Should I get almond, or peanut butter?”  Sure taste plays a role in your mental debate, but let’s be real here – they’re both totally toothsome (I know you’re rolling your eyes on that word so I linked it.  Now, since you owe me for questioning my intelligence – I will accept your use of the word in a conversation this week as reparation.) so that can’t really be the deciding factor.  So let us turn our full focus to each spread’s health benefits (okay fine, and just because I love you – cost too).  And since everybody knows how exorbitantly I love Wegman’s – I compiled all my data from their handy dandy website.

Let’s meet the contestants:

Woodstock Farms Natural Almond Butter, Smooth/Unsalted

vs.

Wegmans Peanut Butter, Organic, Creamy

Homemade Veggie Burgers – And Joy, Sweet Joy

Hello darlings!  This is probably as happy as I felt in four score years or something.  I took my last final yesterday and I’m officially halfway through my master’s program.  Plus, I already know I got an A in one of my most rage-inducing classes.  Plus, it’s Jer and I’s 8 year anniversary today.  Plus, we got approved for our mortgage yesterday.  Plus, I got to snuggle with my puppy *and* count my blessings in bed this morning.  Ahhhhhh  - life is good!

So to celebrate… let them eat veggie burgers!  My baby girl Kara generously shared this recipe with me after she made them for me a bit ago.  They are too delicious, too flavorful, too wholesome and too healthy for words!   So what are you waiting for – whip some up tonight!!

Kare’s All Goodness Veggie Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 can black beans
• 1/2 green pepper finely chopped (a little chopper is great for all this chopping business)
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 or 2 carrots finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2-3/4 cup oats or bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup ( or  more) shredded cheese

Directions

1. Mash the black beans
2. Add all the chopped veggies and cheese
3. Mix together the egg, spices, and hot sauce  and then add to black bean mixture.
4. Add oats or bread crumbs.
5. Shape mixture into patties and sauté on medium heat until hot throughout and slightly crisped on sides.
6. Top with sour cream mixed with lime zest/juice (Tessah substitution: plain greek yogurt for sour cream – MMMMM!) and *delight in the deliciousness*.

Get excited about far more (and more wonderful) blogging over the next few days – wif is in her happy place!

Love love love you all!

Hose 22 – Delicious Is Worth Chasing

Last night hubby and wif FINALLY celebrated the big V-Day…  partly because we’re all over that fashionably late thing – partly because there were a few delays along the road.  Namely surgery on gramps (something about cancer, hospitals and stress just kills the celebrating mood – go figure) and, more recently, tundra like conditions taking of New York state.  But finally our shining moment came last night and wif was more than ready to be showered in love and gifts revel in the Hallmark holiday.

As always, wif did her homework and decided on a sweet-lookin’ new place all the way the heck out in Irondequoit.  Although hubby was a little disgruntled about making the 45 minute drive in the end he was singing wif’s praises in agreement that Hose 22 was SO worth the drive.  And of course, silly goose, that is BEFORE the renovation…

The place is saweeeet lookin’ – a beautifully renovated firehouse with warm and classy comfortable decor.  Check out this guy’s flickr page to see the gorgeous interior.

We were seated immediately (OK so it was 5 o’clock on a weeknight but still) and our waiter was BEYOND energetic. The overwhelmingness of his excitement was outweighed by his reference to hubby as Ashton Kutcher and wif as Demi.  Sure, she could be wif’s momma but still – *smokin’!*  So, once the waiter had flattered the crap out of the happy couple won us over we ordered off their delectable menu.  Not very often that wif has to make a choice – usually it’s veggie burger, or veggie burger on a wheat bun (exciting eh?).  They had numerous 1st, 2nd and 3rd alarms for wif to choose from (fancy firehouse talk for appetizers, salads and pizza) and then one veggie sandwich (5th alarm!) and one veggie entree (6th alarm!).  Wif went with the:

Marinated Roasted Veggies

Grilled veggies, melted mozzarella, Asiago and
red pepper aioli sauce on a seasoned baguette.

You have to wary of roasted veggies – they have an awful tendency to head straight from crisp and luscious to slimy and gookey – ew!  But the Hose nailed these – they were perfectly cooked and marinated and the generous mozzerelly did all kinds of wonderful things.  Did I mention that it was A HUGE sandwich – like a foot long sub *but amazing*.  Plus the sweet potato fried were outrageous.  Crisp not soggy and perfectly seasoned.  And wif did some serious inspecting in order to steal recreate the recipe.  Guess what the secret is! *whoopsies – you’ll just have to wait for the blog about that;)*

Plus it was National Drink A Glass of Wine Day so obviously wif had to get some Firehouse Riesling!  Wif approved of that too.

Hubby went with the:

BBQ Chicken Sandwich

A grilled chicken breast slathered in our house barbeque
and finished with bacon and melted cheddar jack.

(being the carnivore that he is) and the side of firehouse frites (aka fresh cut fries aka GET IN MY TUMMY).  He polished his meal with great satisfaction as well.

So from prompt and wowee joyful service to our delectable meal – it was an A+ performance.  But wait – there’s more!

Did you really think wif would go out to eat without getting dessert.  Get a grip. They offered a brownie sundae, a molten chocolate cake and Cheesecake Factory fromagecakes.  You had me at hello Mr. Hose. After a bit of deliberation we went with the brownie sundae – mostly because the waiter said it with even more excitement than the others and an emphasis on “house specialty.”

It was a divine thing – perfectly warm and done brownie and obviously no shortage on the whipped cream and ice cream.

Hubby and wif proceeded to inhale make quick stuff of the dessert before waddling out and living happily ever after*.

*Especially because the grand total of this ambrosial meal was $30. Yeah – you read that right. 2 huge entrees, wine and dessert.  For $30.  Wowza – we’ll be back for you Mr. Hose – oh, we’ll be back alright.

Those Devilish Eggs

I’m sure you will be sensitive to wif’s potentially entering a food coma at any given moment.  You see… wif is two weeks away from terribly close to *that time of the month,* so naturally her appetite has quadrupled increased slightly.  But don’t fret pets, of COURSE the kick in metabolism that accompanies these monthly happenings [thank you very much weight watchers for your scientific excuse research), will burn off those three buttermilk biscuits slathered in butter and honey, folllowed closely by half a box of thin mints few extra calories.  [And speaking of biscuits... stay tuned -mmmmmmm.]

That’s Eggtastic!

So you’ve opened up the fridge, excited to make a delightful omelet, when, low and behold, you see the dreaded past expiration date on the egg carton.

Fear not little one.

Apparently there are a couple of hints on figuring out whether your eggs are actually bad, aside from the printed expiration date.  Although this may seem a bit terrifying, wif really hates to throw anything out does like to live on the edge, so rather than chuck the dozen eggs that “expired” yesterday, she made some tasty deviled eggs, thanks to this handy dandy checkin’ method.

*Fill a bowl to about five inches in depth of cold water.

*Place the eggs one at a time into the cold water.

That’s it!!

Oh, you want to know what it all means?  Let wif tell you:

*Check that little guy out: if he’s…

• Sinking to the bottoms and laying on his side… He’s fresh!!
• Lying on the bottom, bobbing a little… He’s about  a week old – enjoy!
• Balancing on his little end with his big end pointing to the sky… He’s about 3 weeks old… still safe!
• Floating to the surface… He’s elderly… Chuck it!

Wif’s eggies were stretching towards the roof, but since she’s a wildchild she still made the deviled eggs.  She’ll let you know if anyone gets violently sick at the family party she’s taking them to they don’t turn out so well.  Check out this post [coming soon] for the recipe:)

Top of the Heap [Turkey]

Hmmm.  Wif is really struggling coming up with some heap toppin’ today.  Maybe it’s the lack of sleep or the disheartening effect of having to scrape the shell of ice off of her car for the past several morning.  This should raise a red flag in your head.  BECAUSE IT’S ONLY OCTOBER.  Wif doesn’t remember hating strongly disliking the climate in New York quite so much before…
Back to the topic @ hand.  All of this talk about toppings has made wif hungry.  So today we’re going to talk food!  Perhaps you’ve noticed… wif doesn’t eat animals.  She likes to pet them instead.  So if you’re opposed to delightful alternative food – leave this site now!  Read no further.  You’ve been warned.
Today’s top of the heap…

TOFURKY!  Okay, okay, not just any tofurky, the oven roasted thin sliced deli kind*. 
This stuff is scrumptious!  Not super expensive, quick easy and healthy–hip hip hooray!  A generous 5 slice serving only contains 100 calories and 3 grams of fat while packing 12% of your daily fiber, 6% or your iron and 13 grams of protein.  Did somebody say mean, lean tofurky machine?
Wif’s fave is a wheat bread, spinach, American cheddar and lots o’ yellow mustard sandwich with this fine stuff.   It’s sold in the refrigerated organic section of Wegmans…  If you haven’t already – find this stuff and give it a try!  And let wif know what ya think…
 
*For those of you who are more skeeved out impressive faux meats than the actually carcasses… (ie hubby) – here’s the breakdown shakedown:

Water, wheat protein, organic tofu (water, organic soybeans, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride), non genetically engineered canola oil, natural vegetarian flavors, shoyu soy sauce (water, non genetically engineered soy beans, wheat, salt, culture), non genetically engineered corn starch, white bean flour, garbonzo bean flour, lemon juice from concentrate, garlic, onion, calcium lactate from beets.

Wonderful weekend and evil worchestershire…

Wif had SUCH  a lovely weekend that she can’t wait to share about. Absolutely divine.  However, there are too many lovely things to share in a very-quick-wif-must-do-some-homework manner.  So, please be held over by this very quick (and raging) update.  About a sneaky sauce.

Wif’s mum made some delightful chex mix for the sharing.  And wif was really really enjoying it while putting off studying.   Except then something quite awful happened.  A long-lost warning came back into wif’s brain (it was either long lost or from half an hour earlier when mum warned wif as she gave wif the snack). 

Wif’s mum had thought perhaps wif should beware of the delightful chex mix because it contained worchestershire sauce, which mum thought may contain those poor littly fishies called anchovies.  To which wif had retorted “silly mum, you’re thinking of Caesar dressing, of course.“  But guess what: FALSE.  Those little guys are in that impossible-to-pronounce condiment too!  How rude.  No more Worchestershire or mum’s delicious chex mix for wif.  Sad day for the fishes*.

 

the evil sauce

*Except there is semi-good news despite this major tragedy.  Some caring people out there in the world do make creature-free Worchestershire.  Fellow animal (yes – even little anchovies!!) lovers – rejoice!!  And consider the following when you’re craving some delightful chex mix.

• Annie’s Natural Worchestershire Sauce
• Edward and Sons Worchestershire Sauce
• The Wizard`s Organic Original Vegan Worcestershire Sauce

or if you’re a little crazy ambitious you can make your own here.

 

Poor Little Fella...

Keep lovin’ fellow bloggers… even the tiniest silvery fishies:]   Dirty lying products. A quick google search turned up GUINNESS BEER.  What is happening to the world??? FISH IN BEER!!@%$#@%#$@  argh.  Any other bewildering vegetarian-seeming NON-vegetarian food products that we should be duly warned about??