That Pumpkin Pie

Here's a better picture of that pumpkin pie (better than this one) I was slightly obsessed with this fall. This was maybe my best of the, um, five pies I baked. Just enough moisture and cooked just long enough. I felt this one call to me when it was ready. Eatttt meeeee.

Milk and Brownie!

This is the vegan walnut brownie from Wheatsville. It's taking a lot to not go to Wheatsville right now and get this again; this picture looks so good. I absolutely adored it. I was in chocolate and nut ecstasy, mmmmm....*drool*

Man, I think I'm going to go get one. Oh, and it's especially good with this:


I originally found out about this particular hempmilk from Karina's Kitchen pumpkin pie recipe. The recipe itself is awesome. I've made that pie at least five times since Thanksgiving (and, yes, I'm a little burnt out on it unfortunately - it's just so easy!), and it's always been nice to have the leftover hempmilk. I'd never had it before and this was a good excuse to give it a try, as Karina specifically mentions the Living Harvest Hempmilk in her entry. And it is delicious, lemme tell you. I like almond milk a lot, but hempmilk is a slightly richer, different kind of nutty flavor. It's a little thicker and more satisfying as a tasty treat. It fits the whole milk and cookies test, that's for sure.

Sweet Tooth

I have been with a bit of a sweet tooth lately. After the detox, it came with a vengeance once I started eating sweeter things again. I have been treating myself a lot lately, and I think it has to do with my unemployment more than anything. Settling back into the states has been a lot harder than I had anticipated. When I left, I left a good paying job (that I was not at all personally invested in), amazing friends, a healthy social life, and a dream house with dream housemates. I left and traveled around the states and then moved to Argentina for nine months. It was an amazing experience, and I don’t regret any of it, but, man, being in a new town without any job prospects and only a handful of friends, there are definitely times when I pine for familiarity. Eesh, I need a cookie. Having your own troubles in our crappy economy? Maybe you need a cookie, too.


I currently have some very special cookies in my pantry. When in Argentina one of my favorite mid-day mate snacks were these Frutigran cookies. Really, my interest began with just spotting the package in a store one day and LOVING the name. It’s crazy adorable, especially with the Argentine accent. Once I finally got a package, though, I was hooked. They have a super satisfying crunch and are not too sweet at all. It’s kind of funny actually, I guess I proselytized the deliciousness of these cookies so much to friends that people I knew in Argentina now associate their memories of me with these cookies. Twice so far I have been the recipient of packages of Frutigran from friends who have either come back to the states and towed some over with me in mind, or sent packages along with another to hand over to me. I have no shame in this. In fact, I’m down to one package left, and if anyone out there happens to be in Argentina or anywhere that has access to Frutigran, pass ‘em along! Too many of these does make my tum hurt, but two or three with some almond milk or tea is blissful.


This package of cookies Nathan and I did NOT eat all in one night, and I was very proud of us, because they are good. This was my find in Wheatsville Co-op when I was looking for a gluten-free cookie (thanks to Wheatsville's neon-green "gluten-free" labels). They turned out to be very high in the yum-factor. Soft and chewy, with a satisfying texture. You can definitely taste the almonds. I highly recommend these cookies, but watch out. They are small enough to eat quite a few and by the time you know it – a full and aching tummy.

I haven't been eating so many cookies these days and I take that as a good thing. Plus, I only have one more Frutigran pack!

Now to take a nap!

Mind in the Gutter

Nathan was kind enough to cook dinner this night. I do love how he puts in the effort to make his dishes presentable, but I was a bit hesitant to post this one up, mostly because my mind is in the gutter 24/7 and I can't get away from how vaginal his presentation came out. Heehee. Now I will talk about the food.

Suffice to say, it was delicious. We've been really into red quinoa ever since we tried it in this, so we decided to make a salad with it. We decided, but Nathan ended up doing all of the work. I don't even remember all of the goodies that were in this dish (other than what you see in the pic), but mixed all together we had an incredibly scrumptious and healthy meal, if also vaginal. *Giggle*

For dessert, Nathan shined again. He's got a lot of delicious tricks up his sleeves, and tonight he brought out a family favorite - Baked Apples!! Again, I'm not sure what all he put in the apple, but I know that he cored it up and stuffed it with cinnamon, cloves and other yummy spices.

All in all a very comforting meal, especially since it was not made by me.

Grocery Store Finds

I got this Nasi Goreng (Oriental Fried Rice anyone?) package randomly from Fiesta the other day. The ingredients didn't look too scary, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Plus, it was like 80 cents and I was already on a grocery store high. This was my first time going to the 24 hour Fiesta Mart near I-35. It was a religious experience. I went alone, which was perfect because I could peruse the aisles one section at a time. Their produce section is inspiring - not a lot of organic stuff, but a HUGE array of vegetables and fruit, a lot of which I'd never heard of, and won't even try to remember. The most exciting area of the store (though the section for work pants, cowboy hats and belts is pretty awesome) is the International section. There's an aisle for Indian, Thai, Chinese, but also Caribbean, Columbian, Russian, and more! They even had a tiny Argentine section I was happy to find, with cheap mate and all. This place is amazing. So by the time I got to the last aisle of the International section, I wanted to try something, and I wanted it to be cheap, so I spontaneously picked this up. We had some leftover brown rice at the house anyways.

The packet is harmless enough, but it looks kind of gross before you mix it in:

I threw in some chopped carrots, peas, some cayenne and a little bit of light sesame oil, what I fried the rice in before adding the Nasi Goreng package. Once mixed in, it looked much, much better and tasted quite nice. I added some avocado.

It's hard to mess up fried rice, though I accomplished just that plenty of time in my early cooking days (less than two years ago I was just beginning to cook for myself for realz). This package, for anyone who can find it or has access to Fiesta, is not bad and really nice for a lazy supper. The ingredients aren't horrifying either, here they are: Shallots, Tomato, Soy sauce, Vegetable oil, Salt, Chili, Garlic, Herbs, Sugar, Flavor enhancer (yeast extract), Antioxidant (Tocopherol).

For dessert, I treated myself to a piece of vegan Chocolate Ginger Cake from Wheatsville Co-op. My god, was this decadent like nothing I'd had in awhile. I can't believe I ate the whole thing, but I did. It was a night of total indulgence, and it was heavenly. I took a long hot bath and read for a long time. Then I realized I was getting light-headed and dehydrated and luckily right then Nathan got home from his improv classes just in time to catch me giggling, goofy and near faint and he helped me to bed. The End.


Look at that cake. Isn't it just so seductive? That little flap of cream coming off the edge in its little come-hither stance. It's actually kind of adorable.

Sooo Delicious

At about 10:30 pm, a little after dinner, I wanted a treat. So much did I want a treat, that I totally wasted gas (though at $1.69/gal, how could I not? (just kidding!!)) and drove a measly six blocks to Wheatsville, Co-op to look for ice cream, specifically, a dairy-free Neapolitan ice cream.

Oh, I remember – Nathan had gotten a huge gallon tub of Bluebell’s Neapolitan flavor. Oh my god, Bluebell, Texas’ “best ice cream in the country,” and, dude, I haven’t found better. I mean, it’s a whole different category of ice cream – just super rich and creamy, very distinct from gelato and so much better than any other ice cream I’ve had. Horrible ingredients; really, don’t look at the ingredient list. When I was a kid I remember stopping by the Bluebell Ice Creamery in Brenham, Texas. My parents enjoyed very much recycled vacations, so we went there about three times in my childhood, at least (and the State Capital four times, the LBJ museum and the Alamo also four times…four times). I credit these experiences when it comes to my high tolerance for repetitive actions. What can I say, they meant well.

So, Nathan got a gallon of Blue Bell ice cream and pulled it out that night. I’m sure he was pretty happy to not share (really, this ice cream is tasty), but seeing him indulge was too much, and I ran out to see what dairy-free treats I could find. Luckily, there is a soy version of Neapolitan ice cream by So Delicious. And it was good! I’ve never really liked the texture of soy ice creams, but this particular one really got it. The strawberry and chocolate flavors were the superstars in the trio. Definitely recommend it. Once I was savoring this, without the stomach-ache I would have gotten from a dairy ice cream, I didn’t miss Blue Bell so much. And Nathan was pretty happy about that for a number of reasons.