Speaking of which, today I made a lovely bruschetta out of some campari tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and some gorgeous-smelling fresh basil from my aerogarden. Yum.

Mix up some oatmeal, nuts, brown rice syrup or maple or agave, some oil, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Bake it.

Press it. I put another cookie sheet on top and then my heavy le creuset on top of that and leave it til it’s cool. This is essential for creating the clumps. Otherwise each oat will be separate. Once it’s cool, break it up into clumps and add some dried fruit (I chose cranberries):

I have it as cereal w/soymilk every morning, it’s wonderful.

These are from the huge pot of beans and rice I made, along with some guacamole I made, and a warm flour tortilla I didn’t make. I could eat this meal for days and days (and I have since the pot’s so big).

I just bought a big bag o’ potatoes so I’ll be making variations on french fries for the next several days…

Sorry for the quietness, don’t worry I’m still vegan. Here’s some yummy puddin’ made with soymilk and cocoa and arrowroot and vanilla and almond extract. Yum. I think I’m gonna make that chocolate cake again and use this as frosting as well. Also I made a huge pot of beans and rice that I’ve been eating for days using this recipe. So tomatoey. I added a bunch of spices though, and beans of course. Also have been using Isa’s recipes for things like felafel:

Made tahini too of course but forgot to drizzle it on for the pic. So, nearly three weeks in, I’ve now lost 5.5 lbs thanks to veganizing and am definitely breathing better without the dairy. Onward!

Ok after eating this awesome mess of vegan hash—shredded fried potato, onion, and vegan breakfast sausage—I now see that it would not be so hard to be a fat vegan. This and the deadly chocolate cake I made last week are ample proof.

Not necessarily the most flattering photo (I told you I suck at food pics) but this was so good I think I like it better than the real thing. Actually I know I do, because I don’t care much for ricotta and therefore tend to like less cheese in my lasagnas. I used Isa’s pizza sauce recipe and then her basil tofu ricotta, which is a mix of firm tofu, basil, garlic, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast. Obviously I could’ve used more sauce–typical mistake when you use no-boil lasagna noodles. Which I guess aren’t vegan so I guess this is not entirely a vegan recipe. Oops. I guess I will allow the exception of pasta because I can’t live without this dish.

Next time I’m adding sauteed spinach and mushrooms.

I used the Fauxstess Chocolate Cupcakes recipe, though I made a cake as I don’t yet have cupcake pan, and it’s YUM. One tip: I used agave nectar instead of maple syrup, simply because it was way cheaper than real maple, and it worked just fine. Here’s someone else’s pic of the fauxstess cupcakes, since mine is just a boring-looking (but delicious) black-chocolate cake:

Sauce is always the most important element in a pizza if you ask me, and Isa’s recipe is simple and absolutely perfect. Smashed tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, a bit of oregano and thyme, and that’s it. And if your toppings are flavorful enough, you won’t miss the cheese. Here we have broccoli, red onion, salty olives from the olive bar, and “Green Garden Puree”, also from the book, which consists of a bunch of green stuff pureed together with garlic and almonds and tofu. It rocks. But it makes a TON, so I will be eating Green Garden Puree for days and days and days. I will also say that most of the recipes in the book are a bit heavy on the salt, so I tend to halve the amount and it turns out right every time.

Also I have tried many times over the years to make my own pizza dough but just can’t get it right, so I use whole wheat pitas instead, which do just fine.

The beet juice is not in the cookbook but I’ve been juicing for several months and this is one of my faves–beet, carrot, and apple. I actually detest the dirt-like taste of beets but they are SO good for you I have been training myself to tolerate them. It’s working.

Also I have been chastized for disparaging vegan desserts—apparently they can be wonderful, despite my experience, so I’m going to try the chocolate cupcake recipe in the book to gather more data and reformulate my thesis. I will return to share my results.

That would be roasted garlic. My lunch today. That’s right, an entire bulb of roasted garlic spread on some whole wheat pita. Heaven. And vegan. And cheap—what does garlic cost, like 24 cents a bulb? Throw it in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil and you’re done.

Dinner was supposed to be Quinoa and Black-eyed pea Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce, but I’m not a fan of quinoa so I substituted wild rice, and decided I was too lazy to form the croquettes so I just made the sauce and the rice.

Bad blurry photo but it tastes better than it looks! The sauce is perfect, and I’ll be using the leftover rice to make the croquettes tomorrow, when I hope to be less lazy…

This will be my main tool for the vegan plan:

That’s right bitches, Joan Jett knows what she’s talkin’ about. I’ve already tried a few recipes and they are awesome. Ask Serpico, he sampled the Spanakopita I made from here and it was divine.

So I’m going to be back here daily sharing pics of my latest creations from this book (and some others). Right now I’m off to the grocery store to stock up on veggies …