Native Foods & Lentil Soup.

We went to lunch yesterday at Native Foods in Westwood. So sad that the Culver location is closed. Santa Monica too. Why??? It happened so fast and so mysteriously.

This is the BBQ chicken salad. So yummy! For dessert a chocolate cupcake.

Fries and blueberry hibiscus tea.

Today's cooking: Ina Garten's lentil sausage soup. I didn't have leeks so I left them out. Used Tofurky Andouille sausages. Mmmm!

Served with a healthy portion of mashed potatoes.

Lunch for me and lots of leftovers for the work week lunches.

Vegan Cosmetics Review: Shiro 6th Anniversary Sale

Geez, I should probably start a vegan makeup blog huh? Well, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to order from Shiro Cosmetics when they were having a 20% off 6 year anniversary sale. Their stuff is so pretty and fun. So this is what I got: 2 lipglosses in Baby Don't Hurt Me and a custom gloss in That's Chess! 2 eyeshadows in Huge Six-cess (free with $25 purchase) and Smells Like Victory. And one face powder highlight in White Chocolate Frog. Shiro also included 2 free samples: a powder highlight in Curaga and eyeshadow in Violence Solves Everything.

White Chocolate Frog has the cutest packaging. Inside the lid you get a surprise character card. I got Harry Potter!

White Chocolate Frog is a pearly highlight. I'm pretty tan so if I use this, it is very sparingly and with a fluffy brush to create diffused highlight on my face. Top is a heavy swatch and underneath lightly dusted and blended.

Smells Like Victory is a matte-ish brick red/orange with a slight gleam. Huge Six-cess is a beautiful muted teal with glorious sheen.

My beautiful glosses in 2 colors that also fall into my wannabe BIBA makeup colors. On the left is That's Chess! in moderate. I think it's a little more opaque than moderate but I don't mind. It's a beautiful rusty, sludgy reddish golden brown with a nice metallic sheen. If not for the metallic aspect, it's almost a dupe for Biba's Turkish lipstick. On the right is Baby Don't Hurt Me which is sooooo gorgeous. A plummy mauve which falls into the "bruised fruit" color category a la Biba. 

Both glosses swatched on my arm. Lovely.

As you can see here, my Shiro Cosmetics gloss collection is growing!

Pizza pizza.

I had a pizza craving last night so I made this with the Trader Joe's dough and vegan mozzarella. I left it in the oven a bit too long so the cheese got burnt but it tasted just fine. Sometimes you don't want a bunch of toppings, just a good cheese pizza.

Salt and pepper Gardein chicken.

Not the greatest photo. Last night I made a quick dinner of salt and pepper chicken using Gardein chick'n. The veggie garnish is sautéed celery, green onion, bell peppers, garlic and ginger. It was seasoned with salt, pepper, mushroom soy sauce and s touch of sugar. Came out good.

On a sad note, we said goodbye to our fur friend Sampson last night. He was my brother's best friend and for the past two months we were helping him take care of Sampson who had cancer. Last night he took his last breath and died in our living room. It is very sad. We will miss him very much.

Mother's Day Lasagna.

Immense lasagna for Mom's day! Lots of photos to drool over. Insides consist of sautéed zucchini, mushrooms and onions, roasted red peppers, cashew tofu ricotta and Trader Joes vegan mozzarella and topped with marinara. Mom said it was The Best!

Sausage gravy on toast.

Doesn't look appetizing but let me tell you, this was delicious! I cooked some Gardein crumbles with onion, garlic, peppers and spices like smoked paprika, black pepper,  fennel and rosemary, sage and thyme.  Then I made a basic bechamel sauce and added the Gardein mixture and the magic ingredient: Sriracha! I should have made biscuits but I was lazy.  Everything is good on toast!

Lentil Chili and Cheddar Garlic Beer Bread!

Cheddar garlic beer bread! I found this recipe at the Daiya website and I printed it out. I don't think it's on the site anymore but I posted a pic of the recipe at the bottom of this post.

It's tender and chewy and really flavorful! I added a clove of crushed garlic to the recipe for more flavor.

Lentil chili on the stove.