VeganMoFo: Za'atar Pizza

I've never had an authentic Lebanese pizza but this was definitely inspired by photos and recipes I saw online. I had a Trader Joe's pizza crust in the freezer that I used as a stand in for homemade pizza dough. I am not skilled in anything that has to do with yeast so I've been relying on TJ's for my pizza dough for quite some time. I mixed some za'atar with olive oil and spread it on the dough, added baby spinach, mushrooms, chopped tomato and onions. After baking for about 10-15 minutes, it puffed up and got all brown and golden and beautiful. I topped it with more fresh tomato and onions. So so perfect!


A slice served with rocket salad that was simply dressed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Rocket (aka arugula) goes so well with pizza I've learned.


And one must not forget tea in bed on the weekend! My friend brought back tea from Malaysia. It's Cameronian Gold Blend and it's sooooo good. Smooth and beautifully golden colored. I absolutely love it. I enjoyed this with more pizza and apple turnovers that my dad got for me from Ralph's (they are vegan but not healthy!).

VeganMoFo: Mondays Ugh. And Breakfast in Bed.

Had such a nice weekend that went by way too fast. Dodgers playoffs on Saturday was amazing. We swept the Cards so onward to the National League Championship Series! I also didn't sleep well last night so I'm not feeling it today. Coffee, coffee, coffee! That was my morning. After a couple cups I thought maybe I should eat something too. I had half a block of tofu in the fridge so I scrambled it up with onions and made a sandwich on toast. When I used to be omni, I made them with scrambled eggs. This version is just as tasty with the advantage of no cholestorol. Yay. Happy Monday everyone, hope it speeds by.

VeganMoFo: Breakfast in Bed and Bleeding Dodger Blue.

Tonight is Game 1 of the National League Division Series, Dodgers vs. Cardinals. The postseason has begun and I'm excited to see my team fight to make it to the World Series. I will be decked out in Dodger blue today. This morning I made a "blue" smoothie in homage to my boys in blue. It's not really blue blue, more purple really, but it's got blueberries, bananas, dates, mango and a handful of spinach (for some iron!). I also had a couple multigrain toasts with sunflower butter and a side of fresh melon. Deliciously simple and will give me energy to get through the day. Hopefully I'll be home from work in time to catch the first pitch on tv! Let's go Dodgers, let's go!!!

VeganMoFo: TGIF & B.I.B

B.I.B. = Breakfast in bed! There's just nothing like it. I've been doing it more often and have been relishing every moment. I'd do it everyday if I had the time. Sometimes on weekends I extend my B.I.B time by making a more substantial tray of food and bringing it to my room to enjoy with a dvd. It's bliss. I may do that this weekend as my Netflix shipment (BBC's adaptation of Dracula) arrived yesterday. This morning to celebrate all that is Friday, I brought to my room a mug of cocoa chai tea, fresh nectarine slices, mulitigrain toast with sunflower seed butter and a slice of my apple-walnut birthday cake. Carb heaven!


Here's a better shot of the cake. Look at all the apple-y chunkiness!

Chocolate Loaf Cake & Breakfast in Bed.

I made this moist and perfect loaf cake yesterday using this recipe and on a whim added a small mashed sweet potato to the batter. The sweet potato flavor didn't come through at all but it made the cake very moist and fluffy and hold together so well. I've made this cake in the past and sometimes it would be a bit crumbly but this time it was utterly perfect, slice after slice. I topped it with a sweet cinnamon glaze made with powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and soymilk.


Breakfast in bed again! This time while watching my latest Netflix arrival: Mrs. Dalloway. On the tray: Darjeeling/Earl Grey tea, buttered toast, a dish of raspberry soy yogurt with bananas and a slice of cake. It was all delightful.

Breakfast in Bed: Raw Strawberry-Banana Pudding and Toast!

I whipped up this decadent raw pudding this morning that was so thick, rich and creamy. It was really yummy and filling too. Yes, it's healthier than most desserts but it's not low fat because of the nuts.

Raw Strawberry-Banana Pudding

1/2 to 1 cup raw unsalted cashews (I didn't really measure but think I used close to a cup!)
8 dates, pitted
6-8 fresh strawberries
1 frozen banana

Soak cashews and dates in hot water for at least 20 minutes. Drain water. Blend all ingredients in a blender until thick and creamy. Serve with fresh berries on top.

Edited to add:


This is dinner tonight. It's a cauliflower, potato and mushroom gratin adapted from Brian McCarthy's Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin from The Vegan Family Cookbook.

Tea for One.

Ah, weekend! There's nothing better than a restful and relaxing weekend after a long and hard work week. I did a bit of shopping this morning and afterwards came home to make another marble loaf cake. While that was in the oven I watched an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot and then later made a tray of "tea for one" to take to my room. I enjoyed this light supper while watching 'Desperate Romantics', a mini-series about the Pre-Raphaelite painters. On the tray: hot ceylon tea with soymilk and sugar, an "everything" bagel with Tofutti non dairy cream cheese, marble loaf cake and fresh nectarine slices.

Dinner in Bed.

After having breakfast in bed, then lunch I thought, why not dinner? So here it is. After a nice productive day at work I came home to this. Baked mac n "cheese", cucumber salad and a side of sweet melon. It was perfect.

Lunch in Bed.

I made "lunch in bed" today instead of breakfast. I kept it simple with a toasted pita spread with walnut paté, salad (cucumbers, onions, greek olives, tomato, sumac, lemon juice, olive oil) with a dollop of Vegenaise and half a banana. All with a cup of tea. I really like eating meals in bed. There's something very relaxing and leisurely about it. It makes me slow down and enjoy my food rather than wolf it all down before I head out the door. It also makes me more mindful about my food. So here's to more meals in bed! I'm not planning on anything fancy for dinner tonight. I've got homemade broth bubbling away right now for the ramen noodles that I will have when I get home from work. Noodles have just been hitting the spot lately. This is a short work week for me (I've got Thurs. and Fri. off) so on Thursday I'll go grocery shopping and make something nice. I've been leafing through my Iraqi cookbook and want to make so many things out of it. So we'll see...

Edited to add a picture of my ramen:

This was sooooo filling! That red stuff is Sriracha hot chili sauce.

Breakfast in Bed + Ready Made Curry

This was my breakfast this morning, in bed while reading my Agatha Christie. I had a whole grain english muffin spread with Earth Balance margarine, a piece of orange blossom cake and hot ceylon tea (with a dash of soymilk and agave). I enjoyed this very very much. Only thing missing was fresh fruit which I didn't have today.


A close up of the cake. It was supposed to be sour cherry/orange blossom but the sour cherry flavor never came through. I used a half recipe of kittee's vanilla cake and used a mixture of water/sour cherry syrup for the liquid portion but I think I should have added more sour cherry, less water. Oh well. I will try to tweak it next time. But even so, this cake was delicious. Orange blossom is wonderful in desserts.


Sorry about the bad lighting but by the time I got around to eating this, it was late and the light was terrible. This is Trader Joe's Choley curry with toasted and "buttered" rolls. I served it with a side of cucumber salad. Yummy.

Long weekends and leaving room for quiet moments.

What a weekend! Hope your Memorial Day weekend is eventful as well as relaxed with time to recover from a long work week. My weekend was full of fun; my cousin's beautiful Thai wedding on Saturday morning, followed by a beautiful backyard reception all evening and into the night with tasty food, family, friends, great music and tired feet! I felt totally beat up the next morning but had to get up to go to my little brother's house for a bbq and a Dodger game on his large HD flat screen television. That was a lot of fun (even though we lost!) and I ate way too many veggie dogs. I was still tired from the wedding and nursing a small headache and achey limbs. When I got home, I did as much household chores as I could handle and relaxed most of the evening. To contine the "relaxation" trend today, I prepared breakfast in bed to eat leisurely while I lay in bed enjoying this quiet morning.


Very simple but perfect breakfast. Cardamom flavored coffee, pita with margarine and a really nice Bulgarian wildberry jam, and a little bowl of mangos, oranges and bananas sprinkled with cinnamon.

Breakfast in Bed.

I have mornings to myself before going to work and I usually get loads of things done before then. I work on jewelry, run errands, walk the dog, do a bit of cleaning and many other things that I allow myself to squeeze into these free hours. I was off yesterday and worked on jewelry so I took a break from that today. I walked the dog early this morning, came home and after a fresh shower, I prepared a tray of breakfast that I brought to my room to eat. It was a lovely little breakfast of pita toasts with margarine and a drizzle of agave syrup, a bowl of oranges and mangos sprinkled with cinnamon and a cup of my favorite Ceylon tea. It was delicious. I should do this more often!