Diaries of Someone Who Ain't Got No Kids

It's been green smoothies every morning here in my apartment for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I bought Somer McCowan's The Abundance Diet...

It's been green smoothies every morning here in my apartment for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I bought Somer McCowan's The Abundance Diet and have just been rotating through the green smoothie recipes based on the produce I have on hand. I never used to like kale in my smoothies and was afraid of the ugly color they produce when you put things like strawberries and cherries in them to make it taste better. I think I just need to stick to a recipe, because most of my self-made combinations in the past have been no good, and I need to leave the kale smoothies to the professionals if I am ever going to get any down. I haven't made anything from the rest of the book yet but I want to make the neopolitan overnight oats! This smoothie is the Choco-Nana. It's just kale, bananas, cacao, ice, chia... that's it I think. I have been feeling so much better since drinking these. I've been realizing that perhaps a large amount of vegans found veganism in a search for better health, rather than for animal ethics. I am intrigued by how powerful our daily decisions of what to eat are. 


I'm certainly no saint, and am only beginning to shift away from junkier, more convenient foods, and foods I'm used to eating. I'm about to share a bunch of photos of not kale so stay with me.


Alex and I went to Little Choc Apothecary a couple weekends ago. I had been wanting to go for so long! I loved the place, the menu, the art and the juice! This one is Red Nosed Reindeer, with beet, carrot, apple, mint, grapefruit, and ginger. It was perfect. 


Someday when I have a place where "counterspace" exists, I'll buy a juicer and juice everything that comes in my path.


I got the Pizza Crepe, with marinara, cashew cheese, basil and pepper flakes and it was so amazing.
I ate the whole thing and then eagerly eyed Alex's for bites.


He got the Khail Seitan, which had kale, setian, caramelized onion, roasted red peppers, and bbq sauce. His was bigger, but mine was better. I would have ordered a sweet one to follow up, but it was going kind of slow that day, and we didn't have time to wait. Next time I've got my eye on a banana one with either the newtella or caramel.


After crepes, we went for coffee, and then watched the Women's World Cup at Banter. Then we moseyed around Manhattan in the rain poking in some record stores while we waited for our reservation at Blossom on Carmine. When we go for fancydinners, we do it right. We each get a special cocktail, we share an appetizer, we each get an entree and we always get dessert. Alex's cocktail choice was the Jaguar Ride, with jalapeño tequila, sriracha bitters, lemon and lime juice, orange liquer and salt rim. It was super spicy and savory. I somehow failed to photograph mine, but I got the Dale Hollow, with angel's envy whiskey, and ginger syrup with mint over ice.


Our appetizer was gnocchi with leeks, fennel, pea shoots with a cashew cream sauce. It was amazing. Alex usually doesn't get into cashew cream stuff, more of a vinaigrette guy, but he was a big fan of this! 

I ordered the pasta, which was orecchiette with ground seitan chorizo, cashew alfredo, sautéed broccolini, artichoke hearts and soy parmesan. Alex was a big fan of this dish too! I think he ate at least half of it! I was super full, otherwise I would have been on defense and eating it all myself.


He got the seitan scallopini, with lemon wine caper sauce and truffled mashed potatoes. Some sautéed kale made an appearance on this plate as well. I am not a giant seitan-lover so I took a bite or two but the truffled mash was the main event on this plate for me.


For dessert, we shared a brownie, with vanilla ice cream. Definitely cakey, not fudgy, a bit dry, the ice cream was pretty icy not creamy. This was the big loser of the night. I make better brownies at home.


Overall, we would definitely go back to Blossom on Carmine. We liked it much better than Candle 79, where both of us were pretty disappointed with not only the food, but the service as well. Candle does make a better brownie, however. Still, I don't think we'll go back there. Blossom was better for food for sure.

More from Thug Kitchen, I made Posole Rojo, a spicy soup thickened with chilies and tempeh. I topped it with lots of cabbage and avocado, and unfortunately all you can see are the toppings from this picture that I took, but just use your imagination or something.


I had an amazing 4th! We went back to Old Lyme to visit my parents and cousins, and my best friend Jessica came down and brought her daughter who is one. She is adorable. She learned that she likes the ocean, likes sand, and likes to eat the sand, despite three grown adults watching her carefully the entire day. All of my cousins came and it was a great family gathering. My family is food-challenged, in that it is a great challenge to produce a food item that everyone in my family can eat due to conflicting allergies. You would probably have better luck finding the hidden object in Legends of the Hidden Temple.  Said item must be free of gluten, soy, corn, dairy, and egg. These cupcakes were made with air. Air and love. I am a magician.

It helps if you make them look super cute too.


Every since that loser sommelier told me that time that I could never understand the finer things in life because I'm vegan, I've been wanting to host a vegan wine and cheese party. Even though all I know about wine is that is comes in red and in white, I'm like really good at drinking it. However, I did not know too much about vegan cheese. From the consensus of the internet, the best vegan cheese to buy is Mikoyo's Kitchen. Despite the company taking 5 days to ship an order I placed, and Fedex not following instructions and doing what they do, I managed to climb to the ends of the Earth to claim what was truly mine -- the best vegan fancycheese on the market. That evening I hosted a vegan wine and cheese party, and by that I mean I brought my fancy vegan cheese over to my aunt's cottage and shared it with everyone. I was the only vegan at this party but the vegan cheese went over super well, especially amongst certified vegan-haters, and cheese-haters alike. Even alex, who only likes the cheese that comes on pizza, seemed to enjoy the cheese!


Of course I served it with classy stone fruits! We also served them with triscuit crackers because we are fancy. The flavors I ordered were Double Cream Chive, which was a creamy (obviously) spreadable cheese that reminded me of boursin cheese. It was overwhelmingly the most popular. The second kind was Sundried Tomato Garlic, also a double cream variation, also spreadable, but more sundried tomato and garlicky, as one might expect. I loved this one as well. The third kind was Mt. Vesuvius Black Ash, which was a much harder cheese, with a smoky and sharp taste. It was nice that all three weren't the same texture and sharpness. I am more a fan of the creamy variety but I would still choose to order a cheese like this next time for variety of the fancycheeses.


Beautiful and fancy stone fruits

This is my plate with some of each kind. Oh don't worry I had much much more than this.

My aunt and uncle got a new puppy while we were visiting. His name is Redford, and he is adorable. When I came to visit he was fast asleep. My uncle tried really hard to wake him up but his machinery was switched off. Nothing could wake him up! We let him sleep because he looked super cute. When he woke up he played tug of war with my mom for an hour and nipped everyone and everything in sight.

I've been going nuts on Salad Samurai still. I've been trying to make more of the Summer Chapter salads because I spent a lot of time this winter making the winter ones, but it's nice to make salads filled with summery produce. This is the BKT bowl, the B being Tempeh bacon, the K standing for Kale, rather than your ordinary L(lettuce), and tomatoes were traditional and unadulterated here. There was avocado and red onion as well all tossed in a mustardy-citrus vinaigrette. It was so good I am going to make it again tonight!


Another salad I've been making over and over is the Orange Poppyseed Tofu Salad with Strawberries, which also has blueberries, orange segments, and Sriracha and Smoke Pecans. The pecans are like crack. I learned from times prior to make a double batch. The pecans take only 15 minutes and the tofu about 30. In the 15 minutes while the tofu finishes and the pecans are out of the oven, I eat them all. Fast. There are like 5 pecans left to put in the salad. I learned, and made a double batch this time! This salad is unbelievable dope and it makes me enjoy summer just a little more.


I feel like I have my head submerged in a vat of wedding planning and am a big ball of stress lately. I can't wait for the day to come even though I know it will go by in a flash. I'm trying to keep my head and not become bridezilla and know that everything will come together. Any advice is more than welcome. 
<3 all you vegans <3,
KZ

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8 comments

  1. Ooooh! I've been cooking a lot from The Abundance Diet, but I still haven't made any of the smoothies. Thanks for such a great endorsement. I'm going to the farmers market today, so I'll get some stuff. I'm also super eager to make those neapolitan overnight oats. They look totally delicious! I love all your other pics too. My husband and I are going to NYC in the fall, so I'm taking note of Blossom on Carmine. The food looks great!

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    1. Hi Amey! I just realized half my writing for this post didn't publish!! Sorry! it's up now. The kale smoothies took a little getting used to but they really did help me feel better. The farmers market is so nice this time of year. When you come to NYC we will have to meet up and have dinner sometime! I've been reading your blog for years and would love to meet you!

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  2. "Stone fruits"? You ARE fancy!! Thank you for admitting you didn't only eat two crackers with cheese.

    I've been drinking The Abundance Diet smoothies for two weeks now and I'm totally addicted! I feel so much better too. Such a conundrum since you know I love me some sugar and cocktails.

    It's a toss-up between what's cuter: that doggy or your cupcakes! Who says the childless have no fun?

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    1. It's true, sugar and cocktails are a weakness of mine as well. Redford is very cute and reckless, and the childless totally have fun! We are proof of that!

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  3. This was quite the whirlwind tour of vegan yumminess! What a fun post. I had toyed with the idea of ordering something from Miyoko's, and now I really really want to. Good stuff.

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    1. I actually found some of Miyoko's cheese in a store in Brooklyn the other day! So lucky I don't have to order it from across the country anymore!!

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  4. Yum! I'm jealous this looks so good. My fav green smoovie is granny smith apple, kale / spinach / both, bananas, almond milk. It's creamy, sweet, and sour/bitter. I'm glad you can eat bananas again <3

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    1. Yum that smoothie combo sounds perfect! So funny you say that about bananas, since I JUST got sick from a banana last week. Don't worry, I'm already adding 1/6 of a banana at a time to my smoothies to get back on them though. I won't be beat by bananas!!

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