Farmer's Market Soup

As I mentioned in my previous post I have some gems of neighbors living in this lovely town of Northampton who distribute the leftover Farmer's Market goods to people downtown who just don't have the luxury of going on a Saturday morning. Owning my own store is a 7 day a week job and the thought of attending a farmer's market is a thing of the past but hopefully not for good. Anyways, I just thought I would mention in the month of Thanksgiving how lucky I feel to live in such a community where people are more then happy to have each other's backs and go out of their way for nothing in return.

On to the food! This week as I mentioned the main components were kale, turnips, peppers and carrots. When the weather starts to get chilly like it is here I could live off of good soups and good bread.

I saute onions, garlic and leeks in olive oil until cooked through. I then add in some veggie broth with the carrots, peppers and turnips to let it soften. Normally I use the ends of veggies to make home-made veg broth, but I was out! So organic Trader Joe's brand it is.

I wanted some spice and protein so in went a package of Trader Joe's soyrizo and the kale at the end. Since the soyrizo has so much flavor the only other spices I added in was a ton of nooche and salt and let it simmer for probably an hour altogether. I am a nuts for nooche and a total salt whore. (I put salt on my cereal and my soy delicious ice cream but that's a whole other post)

Soup simmering away...Sorry for the craptastic iphone photos you will most likely see again and again.

And in case you didn't see enough of me in a french maid costume, here is my pup Lutey and her halloween bow, so pretty, in my store on Saturday

Happy Tuesday!

Heyyyy I missed blogging!!!!

I'm back! My store, Layla Vera, has been open for exactly 3 months today! DAMN! It is going really well, and I am very much looking forward to the Holiday season. BUT I decided after everyday of getting into my store and checking like 20 of your fabulous blogs a day, I realized I needed to start again! I missed it! And I have a new apartment downtown Northampton where I do a lot of cooking, a lot of eating out, a lot in general, so I needed to fill my empty blogging void.

First this is just an introduction to see if anyone is even still reading this! If you are then YAY! I hope everyone had a great Halloween yesterday and of course enjoyed vegan mofo which was so much fun to follow. Here are just a few Halloween pics from last night, and tomorrow I will get to the food! I promise! Some dear friends of mine every Saturday take all the leftovers from the downtown farmers market and distribute out all the leftover goods for FREE, YES FREE to their friends in businesses downtown that don't have the time to go. AMAZEBALLS! So from yesterday I have two bunches of kale, some peppers, carrots, and turnips to play with tonight. Glad to be back!

Ok pics, I am the french maid with some friends in my apt.

More fun friends!

Dancing the night away

My mom and friend dressed as Yankees players...they're both from NY

Have you ever seen a ZOMBIE SMURF?

The good, the bad, and the wonderful

While sipping my organic vodka and lemonade cocktail, and snacking on some ridiculously too good too be true scrumptious plump dates with almond butter, I find it a good time to break this news. 

The Good: I am opening MY OWN high-end women's accessories boutique in Northampton, MA. It is a very very very exciting, overwhelming, fun, and crazy time right now for me. At the age of 24 I never thought I could accomplish this type of thing so soon after college. I have worked very hard in this type of field throughout school and in the last couple of years, the opportunity seems to have fallen into my lap. It is amazing for me and I will be sure to keep you guys informed as much as I can on the name, when I open, my merchandise etc. If any of you live in the Western MA valley, you MUST come find me :)

The Bad: The informing you as much as I can part will unfortunately not be that often. My hours and days and weeks blend together, and I don't even open till August! If you think my blogging has been slacking lately, just wait come then....literally ;) Don't get me wrong, there are so many things daily food wise I want to share with you fabulous vegans, such as today, I had vegan salami for the first time and loved it totally, anyone else?? But I just might not have the time to blog as much as I normally would love to, as I did last summer and up until the last couple of months. 

The Wonderful: I will still be checking your blogs and commenting as often as I can. It is much more soothing to see all yours for a few minutes then to write a post after an exhausting day for me, let alone take the food porn. Oh, the food porn....But I love love love reading your blogs, and seeing your posts daily. I will not be stopping that quick check every day, few times a day ;)

And, I hope you will keep checking in on me when I do post. Your comments and thoughts are always really great to read.

PS. I checked and knew it was coming, yes my vegan blog 1 year anniversary is July 8! My goal is to post before and on that! 

Happy Weekend!

Being a vegan in LA=AMAZING

I have just gotten back from La La Land, and it was effing amazing. Since this is a food blog I will focus on that. First night I got there, my friend Alison below took me to this funky place in Claremont on her campus and they had a vegan date curry tempeh dish with quinoa. It was creamy and fantastic. 

Below is us one night at www.lepainquotidien.com.

I ordered the vegan white bean soup with amazing bread and then a Farro salad with raw beets and carrots and sesame ginger dressing. We then split a vegan apple dessert which was warm and sweet and delicious. 

I also made it to Cocoa Palm, a beautiful restaurant/bar that overlooks all of LA, which was awesome to see at sundown. Awesome mango salad there and plenty of cocktails :)

While in Claremont, I also ate at Casablanca which is the best Mediterranean restaurant I have ever been to. casablancaclaremont.com/ Amazing hummus, tabbouleh, salads, falafels, wine, I went nuts. The staff was so accommodating and friendly as well. 

We also saw the group Matt and Kim and had a great time. Ever hear this song?? www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgBeu3FVi60

I moved to stay with my brother for the next few nights who lives in Burbank. We went to the Getty Museum, Amoeba Records (I could have spent days in there), Griffith Observatory, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and a swap meet where you can get all these amazing handmade clothes and jewelry by bargaining outside. A very trendy up-scale flea market type deal. I ended up with 4 dresses, a top, and a beautiful necklace. Check out the sign at Amoeba, loves it. 

Next is the BEST vegan meal I have EVER had. REAL FOOD DAILY. www.realfood.com/

GO, seriously, just go to LA to go. And besides the food, more adorable gay vegan men then you could possibly imagine. Heaven on earth, seriously.

Just look at these nachos!

My brother got the portobello sandwich and I got the BBQ tofu salad with "ranch" dressing. We could barely eat our meals after those nachos, but we brought some back. Along with their chocolate praline almond cake. Thinking about it now, I just want to have some.

MIKEY and his Miso Soup at Real Food Daily.

Our cake to go! 

Who LOVES LOST. Ok, well I am obsessed and got so excited to see this. Look at this pendulum...remind you LOST addicts of the one in the show? It was explaining about the earth's rotation and what not, exactly what the writers use to explain their time travel and coordinates of the island. Ok, it's not food. But I had to throw that in there.

Speaking of TV, I adore Entourage. My bro and I ate at Urth cafe where the crew from the show go regularly and many scenes have been shot. Very cool. I got the vegan chili and the hummus/tabouleh salad. We didn't see E or Vince, but the place is awesome and the food delish. www.urthcaffe.com/

Outside at Urth!

And one final last but not least little story. When I was in the island of Eleuthera last year (remote island off the coast of the Bahamas) I met Cameron. He lives in LA and we got to see each other for the first time in the US and for the first time since last year on the island. We went to some great bar, caught up, and had a very, very fun night. And look at my top and necklace, from the Swap Meet! He remembered our vegan breakfasts every morning on the island we would eat haha. Sunflower seed butter, toast, fresh island fruit and Kalik beers. Good times.

That was a long post, if you made it through it, THANK YOU, and I hope you all are enjoying your week!

Passover Post :)

I hope everyone had a great holiday this past week. Here's a sneak peak at mine

Passover Foods!

First up our lovely arrangement of pickles, pickled tomatoes, and the seder plate to the left. I used toothpicks for the bone, and didn't boil an egg. But I did say the prayers, tell the story, and read the questions ;)

Traditional Charoset: (Purple stuff on seder plate)

1-2 Apples, peeled and cored

1 cup walnuts

Kosher wine (you could probably get drunk off the way I made it)

Cinnamon and if desired sugar to taste. 

Vegan Matzo Ball soup. I am pretty sure I could LIVE on this. 

Recepe here: www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=147

We made a variety of foods. Below on the first plate~

Tzimmus: Basically I bake a whole lots of chopped carrots and sweet potatoes in a combo of about 1 cup orange juice, 1/2 maple syrup, touch of salt, cinnamon, apple pie spice and pumpkin pie spice.

Eggplant casserole: From the Vegetarian Resource Group. (VRG.org) 

~1 onion chopped

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 eggplant peeled and cubed

11 oz tomato sauce

1 tsp. salt and pepper

2 large tomatoes, diced

about 2 cups matzo meal. 

I also added in tri-colored peppers and lots of nooche. 

Saute onions in olive oil and then combine eggplant, peppers, tomato sauce and seasoning. Cook covered until eggplant is tender (about 15 minutes, maybe longer) Stir in tomatoes.

Then in another baking dish, arrange and alternate the veggie mixture and the matzo meal. Begin and end with the veggies. I added the nooche all over. Bake for 25 minutes at 350.

Amazingg kale sauteed with olive oil, onions, garlic, salt and pepper. (This pic is annoyingly blurry)

Second plate also has the delicious potato/mushroom pancakes we fried up: Basically like potato pancakes but with onions and mushrooms as well. I can't find the freaking recipe we used anywhere haha, but they were delish.

And of course whole wheat matzo. I love this with earth balance and also in the morning with some almond butter and organic jam. Yummm.

And just because I celebrate Passover, that's no reason not to have mimosas with your friends on Easter Sunday. They had my favorite vegan cake there too! Coconut Lemon Creme from Bela in Northampton.

 

If you haven't read my post before this one, it's really short and you must. It will make your day complete :)

YOU MUST CHECK THIS OUT

perezhilton.com/2009-04-12-headline-of-the-week-weak-384#more-49723

Passover post coming soon!

Happy Spring!

Spring Time & Food Porn

I couldn't think of a clever title, but we had our first thunderstorm in Western, MA and it's getting warmer, and YES, I have been cooking! A few photos to share.

Seriously, there is SUNLIGHT! Hanging out on the Amherst College commons for the first time all year 

And, at night time, LOOK MA NO SLEEVES :)

 

Below: A ridiculously delicious simple soup/stew/meal whatever your heart desires you call it. A mixture of whole wheat couscous, white beans, carrots, organic stewed tomatoes (LOVE these), spinach, onions, veg broth, and an array of sweet and spicy cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne. Bet ya can't have just one bowl ;)

Next up: VEGAN LASAGNA, need I say more? A mixture of tomato basil sauce with soy chorizo, crumbled tofu, spinach, maple butter (holy wow), nooche, and a bit of organic ketchup and organic bar-b-q sauce (Thank you Amy's) I definitely couldn't have just one piece, believe me. Layers and layers of food goodness. 

I have been having some issues at my work lately, and seriously somewhere I used to like going to everyday, now is something I just don't look forward to. I am sure some of you guys know how this feels. Honestly, it suckssss.

On a better note, I am going to LA in a few weeks to visit my brother and good friend. Who's got some restaurant recommendation for me??? If you don't I will be "stuck" dining at PF Changs twice a day, hey I did it in college and could DEFINITELY do it again, but just wanted to know any thoughts from my fave vegan bloggies :) Happy April Fools Day!