Lately I’ve been craving enchiladas, but without all the cheesey goodness. I’ve already given in to the temptations of Don’s Donuts several times in the last few weeks, so a classic plate of cheese ‘n’ red sauce isn’t exactly what my belly needs at the moment.

Flipping through my cookbooks I remembered some recent trip home where Sue had made the very ambitious Whole Enchilada Casserole from VWFC. I remember it being very time consuming– so much that the authors recommend you make some of the ingredients the day before!

Well, I wanted none of that, not to mention how expensive it is if you follow the recipe to a ‘T.’ So, naturally, I did some modifying and came up with my own version! I will go ahead and say that, despite cutting down on a lot of the work, it’s still a very time consuming recipe to make. Totally worth it, though!

Ingredients
12 large Corn Tortillas
1 can Minced olives
1 can Enchilada sauce
Oil, for frying

Ingredients (Filling)
1 medium White onion, chopped
1 Green bell pepper, chopped
1 Jalapeno, seeded and minced
10 oz. Extra firm tofu, crumbled
1 1/2 cups Refrigerated salsa
1 can Black beans, drained
1 can Refried beans
3 Tbl Tahini
2 1/2 Tbl Soy sauce
1 Tbl Nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tsp. Chili powder
1 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes
Cilantro, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste

Ingredients (Nut Cheez)
2 cups Cashews
1 cup Water
1 Red bell pepper, chopped
2 Scallions, chopped
1 tsp Soy sauce
Cilantro, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste

Directions
- Prepare the nut cheez by combining the cashews and water in a food processor and blending until extremely smooth. Let sit in a warm place, covered, over night or for several hours. I let it sit in the oven at 170 degrees while I prepared the rest of the meal. Then, place it in a small mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

- For the filling: place a small amount of oil, onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno and garlic powder in a medium skillet and saute for 5-8 minutes. Add crumbled tofu and saute for another 10 or so minutes, until the tofu begins to brown a bit.

- In a medium sized pot, heat refried beans over medium-low heat. Slowly add the rest of the filling ingredients, stirring as you go along. Finally, add the tofu mixture. Remove from heat and set aside.

- In a lightly oiled 9×13″ casserole dish, layer 4 corn tortillas so that they cover as much of the surface as possible. Generously spread enchilada sauce over them with a ladle or other large spoon. Spread half the nut cheez over the the top, and then half the filling. Repeat these steps by laying down another 4 corn tortillas, enchilada sauce, the rest of the nut cheez and then the rest of the filling. Lay down the last 4 corn tortillas and yet another serving of enchilada sauce.

- Lastly, top the dish with minced olives and cover with aluminum foil. In a preheated oven set to 350 F, cook for 15 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and cook for another 20. Allow to cook for 10-15 minutes before serving and you’re (finally) done!

I really enjoy eating mine with a slice of lime and some soy yogurt mixed with lime juice, but that’s just me being crazy for lime!

The other day I rode to the beach– what else is new, right? :) This time I rode with Charissa and she took me on a route I’d never been on before! Normally, I ride up Alliance, over Spear and then cross over to Upper Bay Road. But since Charissa hadn’t been on a bike in over a year she was terrified of riding through that much city traffic, so we went straight through 11th to Jane’s Road.

There were lots of sights to see that I didn’t even know existed. Most notably this very creepy ‘abandoned’ Victorian home. There was a good deal of crusty looking furniture, plus a guitar and Casio keyboard hooked up in the living room. We assumed someone had turned it into a college house.

I wanted to take loads more photos of the place, but my imagination started going wild and I became very creeped out, very fast! Everytime I held the viewfinder to my eye I thought I’d see some decrepit zombie-woman with a widow’s peak and dusty old 17th century dress peering out of the window.

One thing I love about riding out to the Bottoms is how most everything is so time-ravaged. I’m sad that, being a girl, I went through the typical “take photos of your feet” phase while all the boys were taking their cameras through the “explore abandoned buildings” phase. I’m trying to make up for lost time, but I am a total, utter chicken, so it will be a long time before I get shots of anything remotely interior!

When we finally got to the beach we locked our bikes up to some sign posts. I’ve been leaving my shoes in the basket of my bike and relying on good faith that no one will steal them. Charissa, on the other hand, looped her bike lock through her shoes! In her defense, they were extremely cute.

I’m not sure how long we were at the beach, but it was definitely long enough for me to get some color on my legs! I should’ve worn shorter shorts, though, because my jean bermudas left a line that makes me look like I’m wearing sunburn-colored knee highs. VERY classy, hah!

It was a pretty leisurely afternoon, digging our feet into the sand and watching the tide come in. Charissa played some tunes on her ukelele and I took photos of everything in sight (natch). We certainly enjoyed ourselves– and others, as it was pretty crowded. To be expected on such a gorgeous day! There was also this bee that wouldn’t leave us alone. It wasn’t a mean bee, though, and Charissa seemed to develop quite the friendship with it!

When it was time to go home we swung by the boat dock to use the restrooms. I talked to a guy who was letting his dogs run up and down the ramp into the river– he had a golden retriever that was 110 lbs! Incredibly huge pup. Unfortunately, they were too excited by the prospect of guzzling river water and getting their owner drenched to get any good shots of them.

And, if you can believe it, I actually toned this post down a bit. There are at least eleventy million other photos of this particular bike adventure at my Flickr!

I kicked things off with a morning of leisure before getting a surprise call from Allyson, whom I adore. We went to Big Blue Cafe and managed to get the outside table, so we could watch people in the Plaza be drunk and crazy while we ate our scrumptious sandos. The weather started off beautifully, but slowly turned cold and windy (as documented above by the flippy-ness of my hair).

Afterwards we walked to Willow & Rags, which I’ve been to way too many times in the last two weeks. I did, however, find a precious lavender turtleneck for $7. If there’s one thing I l-o-v-e, it’s turtlenecks. Oddly enough, I’m not usually one for purple, but I’ve been eating it up this summer.

Of course, it wouldn’t be 4th of July without baseball! The Humboldt Crabs had games all weekend, and they were packed full of people decked out in red/blue attire. It was hard to tell who was being patriotic, and who just really liked the Humboldt Crabs. Or both.

After we stamped out the competition, everyone darted out of the bleachers and into the ballpark, where the stadium lights were turned off for the fireworks show. Unfortunately, thanks to said fog, it was pretty hard to see much of anything except an eerie colored-sky and some sparks here or there. They also took down the flag halfway through the show, which I cursed them for.

All in all, a wonderful day. I hope everyone else in the States had a great Fourth, as well!

Lately I’ve been going on bike rides like mad! I never rode much in the two years we’ve lived here ’cause it’s so easy to get around on foot– unless you’re going to a neighboring city, there’s no real reason to ride a bike or drive a car. Unless, of course, that reason is the Bottoms!

“The Bottoms” refer to the rural part of Arcata between the city and the beach. It is the best reason to hop on a bike in the late afternoon, just when the sun starts to make its descent towards the horizon. The road is pretty rugged and not really made for skinny tires, but it zig zags between vast amounts of farm land. And where there’s farm land, there’s cows!

Oh, how I love cows. They are such gorgeous beings, though some of these looked a bit sad with warts or tumors on/around their faces. Poor guys… Er, gals! A few days previous to this particular ride I had gone on the same route with Chris and two of our future room mates, Kristina and Katie. We stopped a few times for photo shoots with the cows and they were not having it! This day, though, they couldn’t get enough! They kept following Chris and I up and down the fence, hamming it up for the camera. Too precious.

I also finally got to take photos of this spooky, seemingly abandoned house that I frequently pass by. I have no idea if anyone occupies it, but the prayer flags above the porch are really intriguing to me. Usually abandoned homes are so nondescript aside from their decrepitude. Maybe someone does live there? I’m too chicken to knock on the door!

If you keep riding past the scary house for a few more miles, Mad River Road will eventually take you to the beach. From my house, it’s just shy of an extremely satisfying 15 mile round trip– one that is littered with these fantastic signs warning you about entering/leaving the Tsunami Hazard Zone. I know tsunamis are serious business, but these signs crack me up.

Between bike rides and work, I’ve been doing a ton of vegan baking! The other day I made lemon bars, which disappeared in a matter of seconds. And today I finally got my hands on some wheat germ (you’d think this hippy town would be overflowing with wheat germ!) so tomorrow I will be tackling oatmeal and date cookies. I may throw some coconut in there, too, ’cause that’s how I roll!

I also finished designing my new web page so I can start selling prints / dino dude earrings and generally existing under the guise of an artist, rather than my usual outfit of lazy-bones gamer girl who loves to cook and update her Flickr.

My only problem is my moniker… Or lack thereof. I’m having trouble coming up with a good domain to register. Suggestions would be helpful! Unfortunately, my name is so painfully boring that any sort of formation of it is already taken a hundred times over. There goes my easy way out! Drats.

In case you’re wondering, the exclamation point in the title was extremely necessary. This was the first time I made bean burgers and, despite a huge bump in the road, they turned out wonderful with the help of a little improvisation.

The recipe I was using, which I transcribed by hand from a cookbook at Meg’s house in Brooklyn!, called for four shallots. I piled all the ingredients into my food processor, with shallots on top, and started pulsing the mixture… But the shallots just stayed put. Eventually I took half the mixture out, processed it, and then the other half… But the shallots didn’t chop. Eventually I became ravenously hungry and depressed that my bean burgers looked more like a bean dip, so I picked out all the large pieces of shallot and left it at that.

To resolve the goopy over-processed problem I doubled the bread crumbs. The consistency of these patties is great, even though nothing like the recipe had intended. I overcooked each side to get a nice, flaky, charred-bean skin around it.

So! Here’s the recipe as I made it. I’m sure the original recipe is fantastic, but I’ll never know! I like this one too much, now.

Ingredients
1 can Kidney beans, drained
1 can Black beans, drained
1 can Cannellini beans, drained
8 oz. Breadcrumbs
1 heaping tsp Chili powder
2 stalks Celery, halved and chopped
1-2 Shallots, minced finely
Cilantro, to taste, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
- In a food processor, combine all ingredients except for half the breadcrumbs. Blend until creamy. Place in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for 20 minutes, or until chilled.

- Add the rest of the bread crumbs and mix by hand. If you wish, you can reserve some of the beans from being creamed, and add them in now, too. Form into 4-8 patties, flatten between the palms of your hand, and store in the refrigerator inside an airtight container until ready for use.

- To cook: heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Pat flour onto each side of the burgers and fry for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until it becomes dark and crispy.

- Serve on a toasted bun with all your favorite fix’ns! These burgers are vegan, but I couldn’t resist a sprinkling of feta on mine! :x I also enjoy eggless canola mayonnaise, mustard, avocado, cilantro, black pepper and an unnatural amount of fresh lime juice.

Blueberry Bonanza Bars have been at the top of my to-bake list ever since I bought the Cookie cookbook. When I worked as a barista I made a much more crude version of them for the dessert shelves and, despite the crust coming from a box, they were absolutely delicious. I don’t really care for blueberries, though, so while at the grocery store I decided to buy some raspberry jam– my absolute fave.

But, while standing in the middle of the aisle, debating what brand to buy, I remembered that I have a monster sized jar of mango preserves in my refrigerator. Like, 48 oz. huge. I couldn’t justify buying yet more jam when I’ve barely put a dent in what I already had, so with my head hung low I dragged my feet to the registers.

I’m such a stubborn brat that I almost made something entirely different when I got home, simply because I couldn’t have exactly what I wanted. It’s a good thing I saw things through, though, because these bars turned out wonderful! They have a subtle but sweet flavor, and they were very easy to make despite the baking time.

The recipe for the bars is right here, which I followed pretty closely. The only substitutions I used were 2 servings of Ener-G Egg Replacer, 1 1/2 sticks of Earth Balance, and 1 1/2+ cups of mango preserves.

Here is the recipe for Almond-Coconut Granola, with vegan substitutions:

Ingredients
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) Earth Balance
1/4 cup Agave nectar
1/2 cup packed Brown sugar
2 Tbsp Water
3 cups Rolled oats
2/3+ cups Sliced almonds
1/2+ cup Shredded coconut, sweetened

Directions
- In a small sauce pan, melt butter and agave nectar over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Add brown sugar and keep stirring until it dissolves. Add water, stir and remove from heat. In a medium sized bowl, combine the oats, almonds and coconut. Pour sugar sauce over the mixture and stir until evenly coated.

- This granola is pretty scrumptious to keep hanging around by itself, so if you want to make it without the granola bars, simply bake it at 375 F on a rimmed baking sheet for about 25-30 minutes, or until the oats begin to turn golden. Store in an airtight container and nibble as needed :)

Coming home from a weekend of guiltless face stuffing it was kind of hard for me to even think about food, let alone the thought of preparing it myself. It’s incredible how much crap I managed to put in my body during those few days– we are definitely due up for a vegan-detox. Uhm… Nevermind the donut holes and apple strudel we had for dessert last night! :x

I decided to crack open ol’ faithful (which is apparently available on Google Books!) and try something I hadn’t done before… Preferrably something easy. The original recipe for Booker T’s Southwest Tempeh Chili doesn’t look incredibly difficult, but I veered so far away from the recipe that I can’t really comment on it. I mostly used its flavors and spices as my base because– awful vegetarian confession here– I’m not too hot for tempeh. When it’s good it is so good, but when it isn’t good it’s just money down the hole. So I decided to replace and add ingredients fit to our tastes. The results were fabulous and it was as easy as opening cans and dumping them into the soup pot!

Ingredients
4 cups Vegetable broth
1 cup Yellow onion, chopped
1-2 stalks Celery, halved and chopped
1 Jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces
1 can Stewed tomatoes, diced
1-2 cans Refried beans
1 can Black beans, drained
1 can Corn, drained
2 Tbsp Tomato paste
3 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Lime juice
1 Tbsp Chili powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Garlic powder
1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped

2 medium Russet potatoes
6 oz. Plain soy yogurt
Lime juice

Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Rinse Russet potatoes, stab with a knife and wrap in aluminum foil. Place in the center rack of the oven and bake until fluffy.

- While potatoes are baking, bring vegetable stock to a slow boil in a large pot. Add onion, celery, jalapeno and sweet potatoes. Cook for 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.

- Add stewed tomatoes and tomato paste and let cook for 5 minutes. Depending on how thick or thin you prefer your chili, add 1 or 2 cans of refried beans. I only added one in anticipation of the chili losing water in the refrigerator overnight. Stir occasionally, making sure the refried beans fully dissolve in the broth.

- Next, add soy sauce, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and cilantro. You may use fresh garlic if you’d like. I didn’t have any on hand, so I used a can of stewed tomatoes that had garlic in it. Quick fix! After stirring those ingredients into the pot, you may now add the black beans and corn.

- Let sit on the stove top without a lid over medium heat until baked potatoes are finished cooking. Meanwhile, in a small bowl prepare sour creme by combining soy yogurt with lime juice and cilantro to taste.

- Once everything’s finished cooking, serve chili on top of baked potatoes, with a dollop of sour creme. I confess to adding a few pads of butter and some salt to my potato fluff prior to dousing it with chili, then stirring it all together into one gnarly looking (but delicious tasting!) mess.

Enjoy! :)

I have no clue how I’m going to manage getting these done in a reasonable amount of time. What’s even worse is that Amanda sent me a link to these adorable amigurumi made by Flickr user artoo1121. There’s everything from Lord of the Rings, to Futurama, to Firefly– and of course Star Wars! Some of the costumes are extremely well crafted, and I just can’t take my eyes off this Zoidberg!

They have an Etsy shop as well as a blog. I can’t tell you how tempted I am to put in some custom orders, but ever since my mother took up crocheting the last thing I need is even more amigurumi.

Who am I trying to kid? You can never have too much amigurumi! :D

I hadn’t been to the shop in ages, but if there’s anything Chris loves it’s Rubik’s cubes, and I would’ve bet my life they’d have some sort of alternative cube. I seriously wasn’t ready for this, though. Behold: the Irregular IQ Cube!

This thing is insane. I thought it’d give Chris something to tickle his brain with now that school’s out forever, not to mention the fact that he has mastered the normal cube to the point where it must be a bit of a bore now. He’s perplexed and determined all the same– a sign that I picked the right gift. There’s one more nerdy part to his brain-tickler graduation gift, but it hasn’t arrived yet so my lips are sealed!

Of course, I couldn’t leave with just that. I hadn’t been to Think Geek in so long, I forgot what amazing things they have to offer the repressed nerd in us all. Honestly, I could empty my whole bank account in one fell swoop. I managed to only buy myself one thing, the Atomic Tupperware set. They’re fantastic! Dishwasher / Microwave safe, and they nest for easy storage. My kinda tupperware!

Holding back didn’t do a whole lot of good, because the next time I go back I know I’m just gonna burst! I built up quite a shopping list…

And, while we’re on the subject of the best SciFi television show ever, my dream home will have these sprinkled along the walls, framed and matted of course!

With the Equal Measure cup, I can satisfy both my geeky and foodie desires. Two birds, one stone!

And then, of course, the t-shirts. Sweet Jesus, the t-shirts!

Like I said: my whole bank account!

This recipe is an adaptation from the one found in Vegan World Fusion Cuisine– there are some slight modifications due to personal taste, or not having ingredients available. Ample amounts of peanut butter and lime juice, plus all your daily servings of veggies are used to make a very unique kind of pad thai.

Ingredients
1/3 cup Shoyu
1/3 cup Lime juice (when in a crunch, lemon juice will work okay)
1/4 cup Unrefined sugar
3 tablespoons Peanut butter
1 tablespoon Tahini
1/2 teaspoon Green curry paste
1/4 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Coriander

8 oz. Rice noodles
1 cup Extra firm tofu, cubed
A medley of vegetables for stir frying. I usually use the following:
1/2 a White onion, sliced
1/2 a head of Broccoli, chopped
1-2 Carrots, halved into small sticks
1-2 Scallions, chopped
1 small can Sliced water chestnuts
Celery, halved and chopped
Handful of cashews, coarsely chopped (optional)
Sesame oil (for frying)

Directions
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the first nine ingredients and mix. I usually let my bowl sit next to the stove top as I cook so the peanut butter and tahini have a chance to warm up and make mixing easier. I also make this sauce in large batches and store in my fridge in an airtight container– that way, when I want to make pad thai again in the next couple of weeks I simply have to prepare the noodles and veggies. Then, voila!

- In a wok, saute onions in sesame oil while preparing the rest of the food to be fried. Add tofu and cook until all edges are golden brown. Add broccoli and carrots and cook for about 15 minutes. Add celery, scallions and water chestnuts. Put the lid on the wok if necessary to speed up the process, making sure not to let the broccoli and carrots get too soft.

- Meanwhile, prepare rice noodles according to packaged instructions. Usually this involves boiling water, removing it from the heat and soaking the noodles for 3-5 minutes before pouring into a colander and rinsing with cool water. During a visit a few months ago, my best friend gifted me a Sheartoku, which I now use to cut the noodles into more managable lengths. If using, now would be the time to add the cashews.

- After making sure the veggies are cooked to your liking, add noodles and mix. Slowly stir in the peanut-lime sauce to taste, making sure not to add too much. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Let the pad thai sit for a few minutes to ensure noodles and sauce become warm– then serve and enjoy!

I’ve been on a big cookie dough kick lately now that school is out and I don’t have anyone to pawn large batches of cookies off on. Baking has never been simpler– make a big batch of dough, store it in the fridge and bake cookies as we crave them. These are exceptional for such a process because the longer it sits, the more concentrated the banana flavor becomes.

The original recipe comes from the famed Martha Stewart cookie cookbook, but I’m always cautious of cookies that call for lots of oats, nuts and chocolate “chunks.” I hate making ugly cookies, and if there’s anything large amounts of those three things can do, it’s ruin the aesthetics of a round, relatively smooth cookie.

To fight the problem I ran all of the oats and half the chocolate chips through the food processor before stirring everything else in. This made the texture of the cookies a lot less chunky and easier to roll.

But to the common cookie lover that’s just the nitpicking of someone who likes to make cookies more than she likes to eat them. :) The bottom line here is that these treats combine the tastes of banana bread and chocolate chip cookies and, when you consider that, who cares what they look like?!

Veganized and beautified recipe as follows :)

Ingredients
1 cup All-purpose flour
1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 cup Butter, room temperature
1/2 cup Unrefined sugar
1/2 cup Brown sugar, packed
1 serving Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 1/2 tsps Vanilla
1/2 cup Ripe banana, mashed
1 cup Rolled oats
1 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup Pecans, or other nut, chopped

Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. In a small bowl, whisk the first four ingredients.

- In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, cream butter and both sugars together for 2-3 minutes. Add egg replacer and vanilla and process more before adding the banana, oats and half the chocolate chips. Process once more for about 30 seconds.

- Transfer batter to a large bowl and gently fold in the flour mixture by hand. The dough will be pretty sticky, but it’s okay– no extra flour is needed. Roll them into evenly sized balls, approximately 1″ thick, and place on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat. Bake until delicious– or about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool before noshing.

Store extra batter in an airtight container in the fridge and bake as you crave. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Enjoy! :)