Hot stuff

I'm back this season with a change of direction. Although I am still an avid vegan home cook, my enthusiasm for documenting the results waned over the course of my year spent blogging consistently. Posting in 2011 has been sporadic. I've more and more felt compelled to share things other than recipes, but aside from the spring mix, have refrained. Since the intention of this lil thing is mostly about increasing spiritual nourishment broadly, I feel like it's possible to transition from posting strictly about the stuff I eat to including other forms of soul food as well.

So I'm gonna give it a go. If you check in sometime, expect to see more music, and perhaps some film-, lit- and cat-related material in addition to the usual vegan recipes. This...is...the soulmill.

And in the spirit of summer, here's a burst of seasonal inspiration.



top row: Unknown Mortal Orchestra (I love this band!! Full-length pending release; in the mean time, track down the EP); what is purported to be the most convincing vegan pulled pork out there, executed by Jessica over at Clean Green Simple; Georgia peaches (duh).

bottom row: Vena Cava x tenoversix platforms (very leather, out of my price range, also sold out--I'm in the market for a look-alike); The Body Shop sustainable lip colour in Coral Splash; F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise.

Listen...

I've been makin' some pretty insane smoothies/mylkshakes lately. They're, like, all I've been eating. Drinking. Here's this awesome one that just came together in my blender five minutes ago:



Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard
serves ONE

1/2 tray ice cubes
6 medjool dates, pitted
1/3 cup raw cashew pieces
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2/3 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a dash of cinnamon

Blend until smooth-ish with chunks. Like a blizzard, ya know?

Spring and all

I'm back! It's a new season, starting today, and I feel at least revived enough to post a springy collage. Stuff I've been vibin' on, getting excited for warm Florida weather to return. And a mix, to boot!



From top left, clockwise: NARS cheek schtuff in Orgasm looks good on everyone, I hear; Dancing with Cats, my current hobby; prosecco for when you're feeling low, but can't afford good champagne; roasted baby root vegetables from Sunday Suppers; Earth Girls Are Easy = shirtless Jeff Goldblum; dresses I'm dying for; Wissotzky Rose Chai tea; vegan croissants from Vegan Dad; hair pins from Anthropologie; and oh, the pesto-bilities!


(Pic by Sunday Suppers, poem by good ol' e.e. cummings)

01. Lazybones - Leon Redbone
02. In the Sun - She & Him
03. Dreaming of You - The Coral
04. One Note Samba - Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66
05. Going Up the Country - Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
06. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths
07. Life is Good Blues - Laura Veirs
08. Duet for Guitars #3 - M. Ward
09. Feeling Good - The Skatalites
10. Cow Eyes - Hop Along
11. Cornbread and Butterbeans - Carolina Chocolate Drops
12. Beach Comber - Real Estate
13. Love's a-Comin' - The Impressions
14. Wild Honey - The Beach Boys

>>>Enjoy.

Sister Winter

And so the end to my first year of blogging approaches. Soul Food has definitely served its purpose for me personally, which was primarily to motivate me to cook more, to develop my personal cooking style, to challenge myself in the kitchen...mission accomplished! Maybe you found something tasty to eat in the meantime? Well, here's a final roundup of my major inspiration for the coming change of season. Happy holidays!



Clockwise from top right: A bottle of Veuve Clicquot Rosé, my absolute favorite champagne (and champagne is my favorite altogether); David Lebovitz's orange marmalade, which I'll be whipping up for a holiday gift this year; Black Swan, an increeeedible film; a sharp look from Chanel's Pre-Fall 2011 collection; a beautiful Peppermint Crush cake from Sugar Skull; Ella Fitzgerald's Swinging Christmas - classic; The Flavor Thesaurus by Niki Segnit, a fascinating book explaining what flavors pair best in food; a gingerbread snowflake cookie from Martha Stewart; my planner for 2011, by Jill Bliss, from here; and the original Four Freshmen's breakout record, which my charming brother had signed by the latest incarnation of the group when we caught their show this weekend. I will love those boys forever!

dOughMG

Since my boyfriend started working at a pizza shop, it's been pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening...you know how it goes. And it's AWESOME! Because, as the bumper sticker I got for his car reads, "I'd rather be eating pizza." So there. Anyway, the thing is, pizza dough is just so malleable, you know? You can be the sculptor, shape it into whatever your heart desires. This time, when a leftover ball of dough was placed in my hands, it told me it wanted to be cinnamon buns, and listening was the best decision I have made this month! (Besides, perhaps, those petits fours.)

Also, due to the nature of the glaze, this is the ideal opportunity to gush a little bit about Spekuloos, which I believe may actually have come to me from heaven, though for some reason, now they're calling that place Wafels & Dinges. I ordered a jar of this otherwordly stuff about two months ago, but didn't get around to trying it until November. When I finally did, even after planning to use it in several special recipes, it proved impossible because all I wanted to do was eat heaping spoonfuls of it, all by itself. UGHHHH, it's just so GOOD!!! Now it's gone, though. Used the last of it to boost my buns all the way into the next life. :)

Pizza dOughMG Cinnamon Buns
makes 9 buns

[Buns]
1 small-medium pizza dough
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

[Glaze]
3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted in microwave
1/3 cup Spekuloos spread
3 tablespoons agave nectar
1/4 cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400. Mix together cinnamon, ginger and agave in a bowl. Fold in pecans. Push out the dough with a rolling pin until it's a nice rectangle about a 1/2-inch thick. Spread the filling mixture evenly over the top of the dough, then roll it up the long side of the dough. Cut the roll into buns, nine in total. Stick 'em in an ungreased square pan, three by three, and bake for about 15 minutes - until golden-brown on top.

Blend the glaze ingredients until smooth. Pour over the hot buns. Cut and serve!

Celeb Inspiration: Marie Antoinette

So my birthday was this weekend, right? And it happened to be a birthday significant in the States for the reason that when one reaches the age of 21, one is allowed to purchase alcohol legally. For this reason, I attempted to put together the most outrageous and decadent party that I possibly in order that I might dance, drink champagne and eat cake all the live-long day/night. Since any excuse to channel Marie Antoinette/Sofia Coppola's representation of her is quite enough for me.


My ensemble was assembled from various sources, encompassing things old, new, borrowed, and blue, pulled together with a few accenting pops of pink and a fabulous pair of fake eyelashes. The decor and food were of course conceived around the general theme of decadence, hence the abundance of flowers, bubbly and sweets.


You may or may not be able to identify in the picture above (from left to right) my moderately successful attempt at recreating Vegan Yum Yum's petits fours, the chocolate-chocolate chip cookies from Veganomicon courtesy of my boyfriend, a bowl of ever-delicious and surprisingly vegan Jordan almonds, the tree of chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting, and my personal bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne popped alongside the perfect birthday goblet that my mom magically discovered for me in time for this occasion. Ever-so appropriately, it reads "Let them eat cake!"

Fall in a Bowl, Pt. 2

Salad, risotto, and wine: a well-balanced birthday din-din.

For his birthday, I granted my dad a coupon for a special home-cooked meal as soon as I got the chance, and tonight happened to be it. I swooped down on Whole Foods to gather my ingredients, then set to work putting his surprise dinner together. This process was observed from a comfortable distance - the menu wasn't revealed until the moment it hit the plates.

This was my first time taking the care and indulgence necessary to carry off risotto and, uh, it was way worth it. It absolutely melts in your mouth. Devote an evening to making this and I solemnly swear you will not be disappointed.

Butternut Squash Risotto
adapted from the Barefoot Contessa, serves 6

1 medium butternut squash
5 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons margarine
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
4 cups no-chicken stock
2 cups water

Preheat the oven to 400. Halve the squash, de-seed it, and place cut-side down on a cookie sheet greased with two tablespoons of olive oil. Place the squash in the oven for 45 minutes.

Pour the stock and water into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. In the meantime, saute the shallots in the remaining three tablespoons of olive oil and three of margarine until translucent. Stir in the rice, coating thoroughly with butter and oil. Add the wine, simmering for about two minutes. Add two ladlefuls of the warmed broth, plus the salt, white pepper and turmeric. Allow the broth to be absorbed, stirring every coupla minutes. Once it starts to seem a little dry, add another two ladles of stock. Continue this routine for about 30 minutes, until all the broth is used.

Once the squash is cooked through, peel off the skin and cube with a knife. Stir into risotto.

Fall in a Bowl

For a gluten free, yet highly nourishing breakfast on chilly mornings like those of the past week, I always go for Cream of Buckwheat. I have a friend who really digs 'em as a grit-replacer, with just salt and nutritional yeast mixed in, but my favorite preparation is slightly sweet with lots of mix-ins. Today, my buckwheat was flavored in the spirit of fall:

Butternut Buckwheat
serves 1

1/4 cup Cream of Buckwheat
1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup mashed butternut squash (I had some roasted leftover in the fridge)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
10-20 drops liquid stevia (or your preferred sweetener)
a dollop of cranberry sauce
a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds

Bring the almond milk to a boil, add the buckwheat, and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, until it has thickened up to a grit-like consistency. Mix in squash, cinnamon and stevia, then transfer to a bowl. Top with cranberry sauce and pumpkin seeds and enjoy.

Dr. Cow Climbs Mount Tostada

It's been a real trip finding delicious ways to enjoy my limited supply of Dr. Cow's Tree Nut Cheese, and it's not over yet! Last night, in an attempt to use up some farmers market veggies beginning to look sad in my fridge, I adopted a pile-on strategy that resulted in some sweet yet spicy tostadas I have already wholly consumed. Aged macadamia beats queso fresco any day in my book.

Spicy Sweet Potato Tostadas
serves 6

6 corn tortillas (I used sprouted all-corn ones)
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 poblano peppers, cored and sliced
1 red bell pepper, cored and sliced
1/2 large sweet onion, sliced
your favorite enchilada sauce (love the one from the Hot Damn & Hell Yeah cookzine)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and drop in the sweet potatoes. Leave these to boil for about 20 minutes, until you can easily pierce them with a fork. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan, then toss in the poblano, bell pepper and onions. Cook until softened and set aside. Mash the sweet potatoes well, mixing in the chili powder and salt.

Prepare your enchilada sauce, if you don't have it ready, while toasting the tortillas for 5-7 minutes in the oven. Then begin assmebling! Smooth a scoop of the sweet potato mash onto each crispy tortilla. Load on the peppers and onions, drizzle with enchilada sauce, crumble on or melt some cheeze of your choice on top, and DEVOUR.

Vegan MoFo

Did y'all know that November in the food blogosphere is Vegan MoFo, or Vegan Month of Food? Well, I remembered a little too late to officially register Soul Food for the challenge of posting every weekday with some recipe or tip or tidbit about vegan food and how much I love it, but I'm observing this holiday anyway, along with all the others that seem to pop up this time of year.

As a matter of fact, a dear friend's birthday was yesterday, so to celebrate, she hosted what is known as a food orgy. (Here I go again with the suggestive party names!) There's lots of food to eat, BUT you cannot feed yourself - you must have someone else feed you! It was really a lot of fun. Seeing as it was potluck-style, I made these roasted veggies and a big pot of yummy cranberry sauce, which I paired with some Dr. Cow's Tree Nut cheese in Macadamia and Cashew-Brazil Nut I got on sale over at Vegan Essentials.



Today, I was brainstorming ways to try my cheezes in other gustatory contexts, and landed on a salad. So I roasted a big, beautiful chioggia beet, crumbled some of the macademia over a bed of spinach, and topped it all off with a Dijon mustard viniagrette. Looks tasty, eh?!

Anyhow, if you're in need of a sugar-free, yet uber-delicious cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving this year, I'd recommend giving this one a try.

Spiced Cranberry Sauce
makes a lottt

12 oz. fresh cranberries
1 lemon's zest and juice
30 drops liquid stevia
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon xantham gum

Combine all ingredients except xantham gum in a saucepan. Add just enough water to cover the fruit, then heat over medium-high until boiling. Lower the heat slightly and simmer until the fresh berries start to pop. At this point, get out your potato masher and start smushin'. After about 5 minutes, most berries should be crushed and the mixture beginning to gel a bit. Stir in the xantham gum, turn off the heat, and BAM! Done.

Everyday Soul

For your supply of soul this week, three tantalizing treats and one perfect party idea from around the blogosphere:


• Food & Style's Shoestring Okra Fries (Baked them, spiced them, loved them.)


• Manifest Vegan's Chocolate Acorn Squash Baked Custard (Sooo making these for Thanksgiving!)


• Vegan Dad's Zucchini Pancakes (De-glutenized and served last night at my very own version of...)

• Rachel Red Lips' Naked Lady Party! Otherwise known as an all-girl clothing swap, this simultaneously frugal and fun party idea inspired me immediately to arrange one, which went off without a hitch last night. Traded some darling fall clothes with my stylish friends and fed them lots of zucchini pancakes with homemade tzatziki sauce. I highly recommend the experience.

Photos borrowed from the respective bloggers!

Keepin' It Spicy

I must tell you, by the third week of this Detox for Women, it has gotten harder to stay inspired in the kitchen. The detox, lasting 30 days, bars gluten and sugar in all forms, all processed foods and even nuts and beans! So my cooking palette has been comprised solely of vegetables and a couple approved grains.

Especially in the last week, since the weather got colder, I've really been missing some of my favorite fall dishes: chili, shepard's pie (or as we call it around here, gardener's pie!), and...well, burritos. Recreating the flavors of your favorites with spices and other detox-approved ingredients is one of Natalia Rose's suggestions for keeping us cleansers from getting bored, so that's what I set out to do for good old burritos with these very, very flavorful stuffed peppers.

Mexican Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers
serves 4

4 green or red bell peppers, cored
1 cup quinoa
1 3/4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 large white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large ripe tomato, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder
1/2 cup pepitos
1/2 avocado, sliced

Preheat the oven to 350. Bring quinoa and vegetable broth to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until quinoa is fully cooked - around 15 minutes. In the meantime, saute the onions, garlic and tomatoes in a little bit of olive oil. Once they start to soften, mix in the spices. After it starts to get nice and fragrant, mix the sofrito-ish thing into the quinoa with the pepitos, or pumpkin seeds. Stuff a quarter of the mixture into each pepper, place them in a circular baking dish with a 1/4-inch of water in the bottom, cover with foil and place in the oven for one hour.

Garnish with sliced avocado and a sprinkle of paprika. I recommend serving it with some squash soup. Makes for a super-nommy Tex Mex dinner.

Falling for Fall

If I'm being honest, my favorite season has always been autumn. Where I grew up, in South Florida, the leaves didn't actually turn pretty colors, and the temperature never really started to drop until the rest of the country had already made the transition.

Here in Northern Florida, well, not much has changed! But I like to think I'm far enough north now to enjoy some of the natural joys of the season. Here's what's been getting me jazzed for the next couple months.



Clockwise from top left: Peacekeeper Natural Lip Paint, an organic line of lipsticks with some really choice shades (top-rated for its low impact and absence of toxic substances on goodguide.com); Howl and Other Poems, a representative collection of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg's incredible work; a proliferation of butterbeer recipes with the grand opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - boy, I could really see myself kickin' back by a roaring fire with a frothy glass of this stuff; Jules and Jim, French actress Jeanne Moreau at her finest; butternut squash bread pudding (to be veganized immediately!); meringue "bones" (with my recent meringue experimentation, how could I help myself?); The FEST 9!!! (I'm fortunate enough to be performing at this glorious annual Gainesville festival on All Hallow's Eve - couldn't be more excited); and finally, a charming Sartorialist photo of a young lady dining al fresco at a Parisian cafe - how chic...I love her hat and her pattern-mixing. :)

Lemon Meringue Pie

My boyfriend craves sugar like a junkie. I mean, I do too, but more often than not, he's in a better position health-wise to indulge in them than I! Actually, I'm not even in the habit of baking very often unless he cajoles me into it. And in fact, some truly fabulous confections (like the glorious Baklava Cheesecake) have arisen from such occasions. Last night was just one of these.

Lemon Meringue Pie
serves 1 if you're feeding one really hungry boy, but otherwise 8-10 :)

[Crust]
1 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup raw cashews
5 pitted dates
4 tablespoons margarine, melted

Blend almonds, cashews and dates until they are finely ground and sticking together. Press this mixture into a pie tin, then pour the melted EB over top.

[Filling]
adapted from the Yellow Rose Recipe for Mojito Pie

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
12 oz. soft or silken tofu, drained of extra water
2-3 teaspoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon raw honey or agave nectar

In a sauce pan, bring lemon juice, water and sugar to a gentle simmer over medium high heat. Preheat the oven to 375. Whisk until sugar dissolves, reduce heat to medium low and cook for 25 minutes, stirring every couple until it is thickened and a lot like light syrup. Take off heat and cool until about room temperature.

Blend tofu, lemon zest, honey and lemon syrup until very, very smooth. Pour mixture on top of the crust and bake for 10 minutes. Remove pie to pipe meringue on top.

[Meringue]
Make one batch of Angel Foods Vegan Meringue Mix and transfer to a large plastic sandwich bag. Cut the tip off of one corner, then pipe meringue over the filling. Bake for another 20-22 minutes.

Allow pie to cool for at LEAST 2 hours, as it will be rather jiggly until it has time to set up. I actually put it in the fridge overnight before cutting into it.

Boyfriend approved!

Slow Oats

This morning was UF Slow Food's first breakfast potluck, conveniently also commemorating the first day of fall! A few members put together some beautiful breakfast treats and met up outside one of the dining halls on campus to tempt the morning rush of students away from fast food and toward us slow pokes. It was rather nice rising a little earlier than usual, enjoying the sun and breeze in a patch of grass before moseying on over to my first class. Taking one's time to enjoy such small moments, I think, is what Slow Food is all about.

Anyway, back to the food! Here's my recipe for, owing to their prep time, what simply must be called...

Slow Oats
serves 1, but easy to double or triple

1 cup gluten free rolled oats
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup unsulphured apricots, chopped
1 1/2-1 3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1-2 tablespoons agave nectar

Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl, mix well, then pour the almond milk over top. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, stir in the cinnamon and agave and enjoy. So easy to prep, but every ingredient is thoroughly wholesome. It's actually almost like having rice pudding for breakfast. Who doesn't want that?!?!

Thanks to Nick for posing with the yummies!

Everyday Soul

Since it's been a while, here's the short list of what's been replenishing my soul lately:

It feels like a miracle every time I'm blessed with the opportunity to eat an ALTER ECO chocolate bar. Right now, I've moved on from the one studded with crystallized orange peel (still so good...) to their Midnight Crunch bar, a glorious imitation of a classic with friggin' QUINOA providing the evocative CRUNCH.

Another sweet, but ultimately pretty darn healthful treat I finally got to try is the new line of Larabars that, with the edition of chocolate chips, easily pose as such everyday favorites as chocolate chip cookie dough and fudgy brownies. Identify these new flavors by their chocolate spots! They aren't being carried by any of my local stores, so I had to have my conspiring mother bring me a stash when she came to visit last weekend. Yeah, I hoard sweets a little...

And last, a DIY gardening tip I'm hyped to try: Toilet Paper Roll Seed Starter Pots! Upon noticing how these little cardboard buggers were piling up in my bathroom, decided to repurpose them for my autumnal backyard gardening endeavor.

Apples to Apples, Squash to Squish

On a hot late-summer evening, sometimes soup really does the trick. Not sure how many of the folks at my house last night expected to be fed, but this big ol' pot of squash satisfied 'em all through a long round of Apples to Apples, and I still have some leftover! In fact, I'm going to go eat some more right now...

Thai Squash Soup
serves 10

1 large butternut squash
olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup tomato puree
3/4 cup coconut milk
3 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon red curry paste
2-3 tablespoons peanut or almond butter
1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
sliced green onions
cashew pieces
toasted coconut

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Cut the squash in half and lay cut side down in a baking sheet filled with about a 1/4-inch of water. Bake for 45 minutes.

Once the squash is done, commence sauteing the onion and garlic in a little olive oil. As soon as they've softened a bit, add the peeled squash, tomato puree, coconut milk, vegetable broth, curry paste and peanut or almond butter. Simmer for 20 or so minutes.

Blend the soup well (whether with an immersion blender, food processor, whatever), then sprinkle with green onions, cashews and coconut.

Slow Food Shabbat

The beginnings of a feast. In the center, my cheddar scalloped sweet potatoes.

Fridays hold in store a new tradition for me, I think! For the past two, I've convened with friends both new and old to share potluck-style dinners. This week, around ten kids met at my house to talk about the formation of a Slow Food chapter at our university. We had a delicious spread, shared wine and bread, and came up with some exciting ideas to carry out with the club this semester.

For my contributions, in an attempt to stay mostly in sync with my Detox for Women (which I start in earnest today!), I tossed up a simple green salad and utilized the five-pound block of Daiya cheddar my roommate and I just ordered to create a decadent vegan version of this Food Network recipe.


A beautiful monstrosity, amirite?

Cheddar Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
serves 10, easily!

1 tablespoon soy-free Earth Balance
8 small-medium sweet potatoes, washed and peeled
about 1/2-pound cheddar Daiya cheeze, grated
2 3/4 cups unsweetened almond milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
a pinch of nutmeg
s&p

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a rectangular or oval-shaped pan with EB. Slice sweet potatoes to 1/4-inch. Meanwhile, in a medium-sized pot, bring the almond milk, garlic, nutmeg, s&p to a boil over medium heat.

Create a layer of sweet potatoes on the bottom of the pan, so that the slices overlap slightly and none of the bottom of the pan is showing. Sprinkle this layer with Daiya. Make another layer of potatoes, then another of Daiya, then one more of potatoes before pouring the recently-boiled mixture over top.

Finally, finish of with the rest of the cheeze and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes. Broil for an extra five to get some nice browning going on top.

Voila, Veganized!

For a while after I went vegan, it was hard for me to watch some cooking shows or read some food magazines anymore because of the amount of meat and dairy usually involved in the recipes. These recipes seemed off-limits in a way.

Then I realized just how freaking easy it is to veganize just about ANYTHING, as I'm sure many others have too. That's why, when I glimpsed the cover of this month's Food & Wine magazine ("American Classics Updated: 50 Best Recipes from the New South"), I had a very good feeling about the next week in my kitchen.

My first veganization? A combo of two recipes. Adapted their classic shrimp n' grits, then nabbed their spice-roasted shrimp and transformed it into spice-fried tempeh. Lordy lordy, do I love me a classic Southern brunch! Check it.

Spice-fried Tempeh with Grits n' Greens
adapted from Food & Wine magazine, serves 2

[Cajun-fried Tempeh]
1/2 pound tempeh
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onions
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1/4 cup safflower oil
s&p

Cut tempeh into strips and boil for 10 minutes in well-salted water. Drain and cool while in a paper or plastic bag, you combine all the spices. Drop the tempeh into the bag and shake vigorously, so that the tempeh gets coated. Let it sit for a few minutes while heating the oil in a frying pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side. Meanwhile...

[Grits n' Greens]
2 2/3 cups water
2/3 cup quick-cooking grits
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
s&p

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil, then gradually add the grits and a big pinch of salt. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the grits are thick, about 7 minutes. Season with s&p, stir in the nooch and spinach. Top with fried tempeh and serve immediately!

Sippin' on private stock

I am so ready to embark on Natalia Rose's Detox for Women. My mom surprised me with a rebounder (a miraculous mini-trampoline that is Rose's preferred method of exercise) delivered directly to my front door here in Gainesville. The thing is just amazing. It fits under my bed until I feel like bouncing, at which point I simply slide it out, secure the legs, put on some Beyonce and go to town. It's a convenient stress-reliever, as the weather can be fair or not and it doesn't matter a bit.

Anyway, the other apparatus it is suggested you have for the detox is a juicer. Breakfast every morning is supposed to be something called a green lemonade, involving a whole head of romaine or celery, some kale, one or two apples, lemon juice and fresh ginger. Well, I haven't tried that combo yet, but since receiving my Tribest Z-Star hand-crank juicer in the mail, I have tried a few combos, like the beet-carrot-garlic juice pictured and some carrot-papaya juice that I'm considering henceforth referring to as Carotene Attacks!

Ohhh my goodness, I love juice. There is definitely a lot of sugar, though entirely unprocessed, in fruit juice, so I'll be cutting out the fruits except for a few once the cleanse starts. I think the carrots alone will be enough sweetness for me. While I'm in experiment mode, what are some of your favorite fruit/veggie combos for juices?