The Beatles speak again:

HELP! I need somebody, HELP! not just anybody… (YOU?!) Read on…(please!)

Remember when we would rather be “WOKKING?!” (I admit I kept thinking it was meant to be working, but it made more sense if it was a play on walking, since it was a car & they were driving!) Well, now look what’s being advertised:

Cute! Of course, this was in the parking lot after yoga! Hippie-freaks Earth-lovers! ☮

So… ho-hum, what’s going on in the world of OP?! During my long no-blog-time, I was contemplating stopping the blog! Just vanishing– *poof!* But, I really do like it & I’d miss it too much. I love reading your blogs, too, & commenting. How weird would it be if I commented, without having an online identity?! Oh, shame! I’m sorry to say this was what I was thinking, but happy to report that I’ll continue! I love writing! I love the community! I want to RAVE about more than what I’ve been doing… (I’m better than that, right?! hah!)

Okay, okay. I also want to ask you guys for some help here. I want to make a “Recipes” section/page on this site. But I also want to make it through a link, so you can search it, without hitting the arrow down, through all of the recipes! Can anyone help a sistah’ out?! Okay, this is me, being helpless! PLEASE & THANKS!

GRUB!!! I made the Smokey Split Pea Soup from E,D&BV (love it!), but I didn’t add the smoked tofu it called for. I also used smoked paprika instead of regular, so it was still “smokin‘!”

 

served with these “everything” pretzels–>  

I also made a new batch of hummus. I go through one batch by myself, per week. Luckily, my new ED&BV has an entire section for hummus (& dips)!!! This makes me a happy girl! I’ve tried 3 so far, but this batch was modified, from Dreena’s version: it contained curry, raisins & tomatoes, along with the “regular” stuff:

  < part of a raisin on one side of the carrot, tomato piece on the other… not so friendly!

THEN, I had a great idea! This hummus is spicy, but it’s also kind of sweet (think Indian cuisine!), so it would be great with a mango chutney, or something… well, I didn’t have mango chutney on hand (ha!), so I improvised, sammich-style! I used these guys on each side of a toasted ww bagel:

 

& added these guys (onion, cucumber & sprouts):

 to get this:

Va-Va-Voom!!! GREAT combo, if I say so myself!!!

I’m going to try to mix up the posts a little more. What do you want to see? As I’ve suggested before:

• tea time?
• health-nut food store people & stories?
• entire day’s worth of food (because I just post parts of meals & only some of them)?
• doggie-stuff?
• contests?
• OTHER?! Should I dedicate a specific day to one of these ideas (such as “Tea-time-Tuesday” & “Weird Health Store Wednesday” etc.)?

Also, I’ve been feeling VERY CRAMPY during my running (I am running further & longer lately- RAWR!!!)- any tips, advice or insight to this?! My appetite goes away for a few hours, but then once I do get hungry, it’s NON-STOP!!! I don’t mind eating (:-D) but I want to feel more “regular” with meals & hunger!!!

SO: I have a few requests in this post. I hope ya’ll (someone!) can help me out! Youz guyz iz great! 

(I am so vulnerable here…)

Love what I see & taste!

Okay, now that Jasper is safe & acting like his weird self again today, I can breathe! I have to say that today was much more relaxed & I felt more energized than in the past few days.

Ya’ll know how I love tea? Well, I do. I am trying to cut back on caffeine (I can totally drink coffee in gross amounts, anytime of the day. I love the taste, but don’t love the way it makes me feel). Plus, I add cancer to my coffee, in the form of little yellow packets. Not good. Trying to get off the stuff, & it’s a love-hate fight. I’m winning today! So, I brewed this kind this morning:

 < look at the triangular pyramid bag! It’s Lipton blueberry & pomegranate flavor white tea. White tea still has caffeine, but less than black. 

I had breakfast, went to class, stopped by the store & used some coupons that expire soon, had a snack, checked on & fed hungry-monsters Bella & Milo, went to another class (where we’re watching a documentary on surfing- KELLY SLATER, I love you!)  After I wiped my drool, I walked Bella, went home, & made a fantastic lunch (in which I enjoyed while watching Teen Cribs & reading some blogs!). Today, I also ate another snack, went to the gym (I am sweating a lot more lately these days!), fed Milo & Bella (again?!), took a shower, ate dinner, & am having a snack, consisting of something at the end of this post! 

Here’s what I ate for lunch, though:

 < this new Rachel’s (wickedly delicious, she boasts!)product. She carries yummy yogurts, but now she sports cottage cheese, too! They have fruity flavors, but I chose this cucumber-dill flavor, with lower sugar than the others, but I also like cottage cheese as a dip sometimes & thought this would be tasty in that way. I also had an interesting combination of ingredients in a whole wheat wrap: roasted garlic beets, homemade smoked paprika hummus, avocado & lettuce:  < See?

I ate some crudites (well, carrots, tomatoes & some extra avocado) to eat with the container of cot-chz:  < that’s some black pepper on Rachel.  This was great! I loved the texture, protein & flavor of this. Except the price wasn’t marked, so I took a chance to discover it was $1.50 for one!!! A treat (like Greek yogurt) every once & a while, but a tub of regular cot-chz will do me just fine, thanks! I usually buy small curd 4%, by the way. I loved the flavors of the wrap, too. Yummy, healthy fats to power up my afternoon! RAWR! 

I almost bought another PB-recalled Clif product, but when it didn’t scan at the register, it hit us (duh!) that it was because of the recall.  Soo, I exchanged it for something else. Someone’s lookin’ out for me!!!

Per the title of this post, between Kelly Slater & the beautiful day (80-degrees & not a cloud in the sky!) & food, my eyes are pleased, as well as my taste buds. No, I didn’t taste the man. Just the food. You stop!

And since it’s a blog & not a… well, not 3-D, I’ll give ya another picture of something to rave about:

 < the newest Vegetarian Times, Back to Nature granola (new to me!), & one of my favorite all-purpose orange notebooks! It’s not full-sized & easy to tote around, as I sketch weird things of my imagination, write lists, or whatever… keep tabs on Jasper, perhaps?!

I want to start cooking more. I subscribe to Vegetarian Times online & get a few new recipes each week, & have a couple of cookbooks on hand, but I want to ask YOU:

*Where do you turn for meal ideas when you crave something new, tasty & exciting?! Thanks, in advance!

Beginning to look a lot like…

the Holidays (to not be religiously-biased) 

…even though the high will be 80 degrees on Christmas morning…

So, for my homemade gifts, I’ve decided against giving out the “Almond Joy” granola because I tasted it and it tasted… burnt. No one wants that, no matter how bad they were this year!!! I woke up yesterday morning on a mission: better granola, & something else homemade. What, may you ask? How very trendy of me to make biscotti!!! I looked up some recipes from V’con and other cookbooks and sort of varied it to my liking. I came out with my own, OrangePop variation! It’s fabulous, if I do say so myself! Healthy + Vegan + Delicious = a winning combination! 

For my 1st trick, I present…. GRANOLA:

^ this was the best, yet! I added nuts and dried fruit but I added the sliced almonds during the last 5 or so minutes because that’s where I got, um, *burned* last batch! Good move, me!

I packaged them like this, afterall:

 with a little tag with the ingredients, added later. I used mostly organic ingredients from my health-food store (aka work) so people will know they’re adding wholesome goodness to their innards! 

I also made a ginger-sunflower seed version that was great, too!!!

I shall post these recipes, okay?!

For my next trick, I reveal… BISCOTTI:

and I packaged them all differently, like this:

 I gave one to my uncle and he didn’t want to choose one because he didn’t want me to waste the “gourmet wrap job” on lil’-ol’-him! HA, it’s wax paper… and ribbon…

* I will post the recipe, because it was original when it was finished, and not exactly from any book or recipe I looked up! *

Anywho, amongst all the baking and the house smelling ab-so-lutely divine, I also baked up a cake because my grandparents came over for dinner to see the house all decorated purrty for the holidays. It was a suuuper-easy recipe my mom had, so I whipped it up real quick. It was a lemon bundt cake with a cinnamon-sugar swirl. Here’s it in the making:

…and the final product:

^ Do you see what I see? A lil’ bit of me, OP looming in the background?!

mmMmmMmm… orange soda…

One of these days I’m going to post a photo of the BEST part of our Christmas decorations. I’ll reveal that later. But now, here was our dining atmosphere last night:

HAPPY & HEALTHY HOLIDAYS 😀

November is almost over?

…it sure is!
I’ve celebrated 5 months of employment at my job! Ha, very monumentous… I am happy to still have a job with the way things seem to be now. Although, the price of gas yesterday, I saw as low as $1.79!!! I had school on Monday & Tuesday, but am off the rest of the time for a little break! 

I started seeing the Christmas tree tents being filled with trees the other day, too! It is always a tradition for us to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving… which is today. So, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, ya’ll!!! I am blogging to you straight from my couch, as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is starting. Oh, Miley C. and David A. are headliners. What youth this country has!

Last night we had 2 of my aunts and an uncle over for dinner. And some little boy hung out with us… who?! Let me show you:

Jassi’per!

Afterward we went out by the pool and had a fire in our fire pit and made s’mores! Let me tell you: it was cooooollldddd! My mom made the best soup in a large pot- plenty for seconds and leftovers! We call it “Garlicky Spicy Tortellini Soup.” It’s super easy, warming, filling, a little spicy, and GOOD! Basic ingredients: (We don’t even use a recipe anymore because it’s this easy. Just stock the ingredients and add as much or as little as you like!) 

• Package or 2 of Tortellini (we used dry Barilla tortellini, probably the Cheese & Garlic kind, but any would be great! (spinach, 3-cheese, etc.)
• Large can of stewed tomatoes, cut up
• 2 cans of tomatoes with green chilies
• Bag of fresh spinach, rinsed and drained
• GARLIC!!!!! Few cloves… or bulbs. Ha, no, but this is essential to making the soup that much better (doesn’t garlic just do that to everything?!)

Cook everything and let simmer and add spinach last, just before serving until it shrinks like it does and mixes well. You can add red pepper flakes or S&P, but it’s not really needed.

And, VIOLA! Serve with crusty bread and lots to drink!

Today, of course, is the main event of Thanksgiving! The family is going to be eating real bird, and I’ve seen the whole Tofurkey roast with stuffing, that’s like $27.99, but it’s just me and I’m weary of the Tofurkey brand (although I DO like the lunch “meat” that’s “cranberry-stuffing” flavor. So, that’s holiday-ish!). Anyway, I LOVE Quorn chik’n, so I saw a Turk’y roast (I love how ebonic vegetarianism becomes…) with 5 servings, so I got that to try! 

I’m not a pie fan. I think I used to like it, and I want to like it, but I don’t. We’re having apple & pumpkin pies and Ginger-Macadamia Nut-Coconut Carrot Cake from Vegan with a Vengeance.  Oh-la-la, I’m excited! I’ve got that to cook up today!

We used to have lunch at my mom’s parent’s house, then dinner at my dad’s parent’s. *Phew!* That’s a lot of eating. My mom’s parent’s aren’t alive anymore and everyone’s sort of adopting their own traditions with family, so we’ve decided to give my dad’s parent’s a break since they host Christmas and invite both sides of the family and whoever can make it, comes! We might take the ol’ rascal, Jasper to the park to tire him out, since we’re having a lot of people over today and he’s not a (total) crazy man!

Have a wonderful, giving, loving Thanksgiving!

*Questions for ya:

WHAT ARE YOUR HOLIDAY TRADITIONS?!

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE PARADE (if you watched!)… and/or THE HOLIDAY?!

WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?!

I hope you really think about these and really tell the people you love how you feel and take note, not just today, but everyday, for all you have and are able to do! Truly, I’m thankful for so many things I want to cry in appreciation… XOXO~ “Miss OP”

*And yes, I do plan on waking up early to shop. I have to work (changed to later, though!), and even though I rarely buy much, I love the spirit of it and the “kick-off” to the holiday season!

I speak with honest GARLIC breath!

Why, hello, my lovely long-necked friend! I saw this at the store and had to try it! Why? WHY NOT?! Yes, it is diet, but it still tasted like I melted an orange creamsicle in my mouth! I felt like I was in the 50’s at the soda fountain. Oh, a twist on my beloved orange pop! Too bad I don’t have a juke box and I wish I drank it with a straw, but now I think of it…

To back-track, I made some famous Chickpea Cutlets from V’con for lunch today. I also had Emerald Kale Salad from the deli at work, which was excellent. One bite into the cutlets and I said, “OHHH YEAH!” I made a spin off of some mustard sauce, which I could never in a million years replicate, because I just sort of put some of this in, and some of that in… improvisation! From what I remember, it had some mustard powder, Braggs, Wasabi powder, garlic, Agave nectar, some flour to thicken it… I don’t know for sure, but it was garlicky, tasty, and delicious, all together! I was very satisfied, can you tell?! The kale salad was garlicky, too, so afterward, I sort of felt like I had just eaten the entire bulb of garlic! Ha! (Jasper and Tucker did not want to speak to or kiss me afterward!)

Isn’t my mini-whisk the cutest?!

So, I went to the mall after that, because I have a few gift cards and I love a good sale, but nothing caught my bargaining eye, so I left and picked up my liquified-creamsicle and some decaf coffee (Cinnamon Hazelnut, thank you) and went home. I really wasn’t hungry for dinner. 4 hours later, can you believe it?! Usually my body is saying, “FEED ME!” every 3 hours or so, but I wasn’t hungry! I was, however, in the mood to cook. After going through my recipe books and taking stock of what I would fancy in my head, I decided I would eat a good, full, meal. And it would be tasty! I made a spin off of Pasta de la California in V’con (hmm, Pasta de la Madam Orange Pop?!), with some spicy Bar-B-Que tempeh, and a side-salad with Annie’s Woodstock dressing! How have I not known about this beauty-of-a-dressing before?! Loved it! Props to Annie and her employees! Again, I have garlic breath, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I have to be honest here. I’ve been dreaming all today when I would sneak in some exercise, other than walking around the mall. I haven’t been feeling as strong lately and it’s been probably a week since I’ve hit the gym. But, I have been walking, biking, running (minimally) and working recently. And, some more honesty for you, I’ve been feeling a bit tired, frail/thin-feeling. This is not a good feeling for me because I am usually full of energy, happy, warrior-like (yes, me, Orange Pop, Warrior Princess!)… so I knew I needed to eat and eat I did! I feel like sometimes I look like a little girl, or worse, a little boy! You know what I mean? So, here I type, full, sleepy and a bit uncomfortable, but I will be kind to myself because I’ve been not-so-kind in the past, if ya know what I mean.

So there’s honesty for ya! I promised myself and my parents I’d take great care of myself while they’re away, and always! That’s a gift everyone should let themselves have!

Quick, Easy, Successful

Not men, but I mean the GRUB!

I got a tea ball! I consumed too much java yesterday, so I figured I’d switch to tea this morning! After my mis-hap with my teacup (the holes were bigger than the leaves!), I used my tea ball to brew some Mango Green Tea. I am LOVING mango in any form these days and this tea was awesome! Here it is, all brewed in my (self-) painted cup, with the tea ball sitting on the little tea bag holder.

I also made some homemade oats this morning! Usually, I use a package of Quaker Simple Harvest oatmeal, which is great and easy and has some really yummy ingredients, but all I have in the cupboard is the one with honey and in an attempt to have a vegan day, this morning I made my oats with soymilk, a chopped-up apple, cinnamon, walnuts, and brown sugar. How very autumn of me?! I love this combo, though! Maybe I’ll try some muesli sometime with cold oats and mango! Oh, that’d be delish!

Last night after coming home late from work, I had been planning on making a dish from V’con, but instead, I went to my 3 reliable amigos… allow me to show them to you:

So easy and quick and satisfied my taste for some Mexican cuisine! Okay, okay, I’ll admit I did add a few other ingredients (like onion, green pepper, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast, avocado and, of course, tortilla chips). But still- easy and tasty! This morning I felt the fiber of all that and the beans right before bedtime… eek, but that’s totally healthy, right?! I’ve got a fridge full of leftovers, it seems: beans of all sorts, veggies, tomatoes, rice… hmm, the possibilities!

Day off! Day off! House to myself! I’m going to cook some good stuff, write some letters to friends (yes, I’m that old-fashioned, still!), and perhaps go shopping (I’m looking for some comfy shoes to wear to work, since I stand on my feet all day!), maybe rent a couple movies (any good suggestions out there?), and tool around with the dogs! Have a spectacular “Hump-Day!” (Think Fergie: My Humps!)

More V’con Variations!

I merged 2 recipes from V’con to make 1 very nice one! I wanted to use some more of the chipotle peppers I had from the last recipe I used since I have a lot of heat left from those babies. But the “Everyday Vegetable-Chipotle Tamales” sounded like too much work and I don’t have the steamer basket it requires! Soo, I used the Everyday Vegetable-Chipotle filling recipe and turned them into enchiladas and used the recipe for the Enchilada Chile Sauce in the recipe for “Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce.” I used sundried-tomato wraps. Here was the finished product:

Totally vegan, but I put sour cream and cheese on the table for my family. Also, no Mexican-themed dinner is complete without tortilla chips, so I had those out, too! I wish I had taken a picture of the innards, but let me tell you it was pretty and delicious!

Tucker wanted some of my sister’s… but there was none left for him! And he would have cried from the spice! Sorry, boy!

My mom was giving Jasper a little taste, but he was distracted by the bright light of my camera and his eyes look spooky!

 

On another note, I just finished a book and am onto reading My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult. I am only about 60-70 pages in, but I really like it and am excited to read it before I see the movie (With Cameron Diaz and “Little Miss Sunshine”)! Is that the best way to do it: read, then watch?! I think so, or I’ll never finish the book, because I know how it ends already!!!

Okay… another day of thrifting and hanging out! I go to my aunt’s to dog-sit tonight, so I’ll be checkin’ up on all your beautiful blogs there, most likely! Thanks to all those who have added me to their blogroll! Have a wonderful hump-day!

*Boom!* *Bang!* *Ooh, Ahh!*

Catchin’ up…

Guess what came in the mail, ya’ll?! Veganomicon!!!! Yes, I’ve read it, and re-read it again and again. I love it. I’m so pumped to cook from it! This week I’m working mostly nights, but I’m dog-sitting down by the beach again this week, so I’m going to cook on my days off (Wed. + Thurs.) and invite my parents over to enjoy the scenery and food! Aren’t I sweet?! Ha!

My Independance Day was nice. I went for a bike ride in the A.M, had lunch in the car to go thrifting, then my parents, sister and I went to an early Rays baseball game and spontaneously kept driving afterward to see some fireworks. We got there just in time for them to go off and we just stood and watched, then got ice cream and went home. Very nice, except my dogs were spooked! Poor things…

Here’s a quick, late lunch: The last of my cranberry + stuffing Tofurkey slices, hummus, chipotle mustard, cabbage, tomato and cucumber on honey wheat bread… and Honest Tea. I loved this flavor!

Annnnd, here is a picture of our view of the fireworks… how Florida is this?!

Which fireworks are your favorites? I love how they are kind of weeping-willows and silently, beautifully come in and drift out! Here’s us… who’s that creepy guy in the background?!

Oh, it’s just my dad. Ha! Look how hot and lovely we all look…

Anyway, I deposited 2 nice little (little? hmm…) checks in the bank yesterday. Yeah, cha-ching! I’m working 2 full days today and tomorrow, then relaxing time. I’m planning to go on some bike rides and cook on my time off. Perhaps I’ll make some bootleg Lara Bars, too!

…waiting…

STILL, for my Veganomicon cookbook! My other one came in just over a week, and it’s nearing 2 and a half, and I’m worried about it! I ordered it via Amazon.comand still have the virtual reciept, so I feel like I have a back-up if it doesn’t work out, but I’m keeping my hopes up about it! I haven’t tried any recipes from VwaV but I’ve looked through and I think I’ve made a mental note about a few… #1 is the curried tempeh & mango salad sammiches! I love tempeh, and a good sammich… and mango, so this sounds right up my ally! Whenever I buy dried fruit, I go for the dried mango strips (not really the pieces, though), but I have branched out lately with apricots and dates. Apricots are becoming a ravin-fave too! Also, I’ve never made scones, or had them for that matter, so maybe their hazelnut scones are worth trying?

The other night I made dinner for my family. I love doing this, and I just had an itch to do it because I felt like I wouldn’t have a nice, home-cooked mealfor a few days, or really until maybe Friday because I’m working a lot of nights this week, sooo I busted out my recipes and my sister helped me decide on Spicy Peanut Stew from Vegetarian Times. I served it over wheat berries, which I love, and you must try, if you haven’t. They are kind of circular and look a bit like barley, but darker (reddish?), and when you eat them, it seems like you can pop them in your mouth! Great! No picture, sorry dolls! There’s a picture on Veg. Times, and it actually came out pretty well (and very spicy!). It would be even better, with those veggies, in the fall.

In reading posts about optimism from my beautiful fellow bloggers (i.e. Jenna & Emma), I was actually thinking of life and how lucky I am yesterday. The sun was shining, after being hidden for maybe 5 days in a row, and I was out for a little fresh air stroll, when I walked passed a girl’s house, who would have been my age, had it not been for a horsing-around-car-accident that took her life. I walked passed, thinking of how she was not alive and how lucky I was to be alive and that I should actually live everyday of my life! Not merely exist. Live for me, and live for all those who have unfortunately lost their lives. I have been close to that, too, so I am so very appreciative of all I have. And I’m learning to celebrate who I am and am becoming! I’m the youngest of three girls, so sometimes growing up it seemed like I got the “leftovers”- in clothes and hand-me-downs, as well as energy, care, and emotion. Not really. I’ve been very fortunate in all the love that has been shown to me! Not just from family, but feeling it from everyone that’s known me. Wow. Not everyone is like this. At work, I hear people complaining about wanting time off, being bored, blah-blah-blah… I’ve been out of work for maybe 7 months and have since learned to appreciate and handle “down-time” and “me-time” and when I’m with someone to be with them in mind and body. People respect that when you’re with them, whether they realize it or not! To treat others as they really are important and matter, and to interact with them in order to gain something from them in life (whether material, internal, emotional, etc.) is wonderful! So, respect each other and love one another. Nothing in life is ever accomplished by loafing around, or complaining. We are dealt things in life because we must learn from them, and because we can handle them! Smile! Laugh! Care! Appreciate! Love! Always work on yourself, because that’s the best kind of work that can be done, and it’s ever-lasting! Not only is happiness contagious, but it’s excellent for your health!

Have a great week, and I mean this in my heart 🙂

P.S. Happy 24th Birthday to my oldest sister! I have to work tonight, so while the rest of the family goes out to dinner at a Bar-B-Que place (*phew* too bad for me, missing all that meatiness), I’m taking her out to get Mexican for lunch… her favorite, although I’m glad for it, too 🙂

It arrived!

I ordered 2 cookbooks through Amazon: 1) Vegan with a Vengeance and 2) Veganomicon. Book #1 arrived yesterday, before I went to work. I was excited but could only skim the pages, but before bed I did some more reading and browsing through…

 

*night-night, Isa, and bookie :)* I’m looking forward to having a couple days off in the near future to get to work in the kitchen! Do you have favorite recipes from either of these books, or variations of them that you love?! Can’t wait ’til #2 comes, too!

The other day, my dog Jasper went for a car ride. Oh, he loved it! Look at his wind-blown hair!

Then, he sat down on the ground. It’s like that commercial for the camera with the little pom, “You think you own me?! Okay, maybe you do own me!” He’s border collie (dad)/golden retriever (mom). You can see a bit of the golden behind his ears! He must be the happiest, silliest dog I’ve met! He’s only just over a year now.

Word today, then Sunday & Monday off and you know what that means… COOKING TIME! Happy weekend, everyone 😀