I mostly just care about the food for Superbowl parties. If my team is playing, I'll of course pay more attention and get excited for touchdowns, but I usually prefer to be in the kitchen and bringing out the snacks. As soon as everyone sees me come out they look so excited to see me, but really they are just excited for what I'm bringing for them to eat. This time I made the Life-Affirming Nacho Dip from Oh She Glows, a dish that I constantly see on my friends' blogs getting rave reviews. It did not disappoint! I ate quite a lot of this, even using carrots to dip -- which is strange since it's made from a carrot base.



I also made the BBQ Chickpea Snack from The Abundance Diet. These were gone pretty quick, since I only made about 1 1/2 cups, or 1 can's worth of chickpeas. Can't exactly go wrong with something called BBQ Chickpea Snack.


I tried the Kite Hill Ravioli the other day. I got the spinach ricotta flavor. I swear there's only about 10 ravioli in each package, so basically one package feeds one person. I threw away the receipt, but I think I paid $8 each. They were good, but not mind-blowing. The price was too crazy to buy again. It made me want to make my own ravioli more often. I think I could make them just as good, and the labor of love makes them just a little more tasty. Nye mean?


The ravioli reminded me of when Alex and I first moved away, we used to eat frozen ravioli all the time. Such formative years! A few years later I was making my own tortellini by the hundred and selling vegan cupcakes to everyone I knew. It feels like a million years ago.


Last night it was windy and chilly and Pot Pie was speaking loudly to me. I made the Vegetable Pot Pie from Thug Kitchen 2, using their recipe for Coconut Oil Crust, leaving out the sugar, adding a little salt, and some dried basil. It's a whole wheat pastry flour crust with tons of coconut oil, so it was super flaky and delicious.


I loaded the filling with leftover veggies and even roasted some cauliflower and broccoli to sprinkle over the top. Roasted cauliflower is like butter. It's so amazing! So toasty and nutty, almost like nothing else, at least no other vegetable I can think of.




Dip Night!! Okay, my mom used to make what she called "dip night" for my brother and I when she didn't feel like cooking. She would make some frozen nuggets or something we never usually ate, leftover cucumber slices,and celery sticks and then pour different salad dressings into little silver "dip dishes" and we got to dip different veggies into different sauces and it was so fun! We begged for dip night all the time, which was a strange win for my mom, because it was virtually no work. Now I have translated much of this tradition barring the "no work" aspect. One night, the night of the big snow storm where we got 3 feet of snow(!), I got dip night in my head and I just couldn't let it go. So I went to the crazy mobbed store for vegetables and tofu, the only types of food left. I got home and made tons of dip! Left to right is the Roasted Red Pepper Dip, Creamy White Bean Pesto Dip, Roasted Garlic Dip, and Spinach Artichoke Dip, all from Thug Kitchen 2. I also made the Cornmeal Roasted Potatoes from the book, breaded tofu cubes, and had veggies and triscuits for dipping. Dip Feast!


The following night Alex was sick of dip, and demanded pizza. He is so spoiled! I made this pizza inspired by the In Ricotta Da Vegan pizza from Paulie Gee's that I love so very much. I used tofutti ricotta, which I immediately regretted, since making my own from cashews and tofu is soooo much tastier, and some spicy sausages from my freezer. Not the same as the restaurant, but still good.



A few days a week, Alex walks half way to work with me and we stop at Coffeed to sit and chat before I go off to work for the day and he stays there and works. I have been getting Matcha Soy Lattes a lot, and this time the barista made it pretty for me! It always makes it more fun to drink when it is pretty like that.


Another weeknight dinner was the Queso-ish-dillas from Thug Kitchen 2. The queso is made from butternut squash, and the filling is pinto beans, tomatoes and cabbage slaw. They really sing when you hit them with a big scoop of guac. Who wouldn't sing when hit with a big scoop of guac??



Since I am childless and in my late twenties, it's prime time to make #irresponsbilepurchases. Such purchases include 8 Sleater-Kinney albums with limited-edition presses with 7" singles and autographed posters and hard-cover alternate-artwork-deluxe-2-disk-white-180 gram vinyl .


I spent many snowy hours reading while spinning these new beloved purchases. My life is dope.


After having a bad experience at Roberta's this fall, I vowed not to return. I like Paulie Gee's just as much, and now I think even better, and they have so many vegan options there. Roberta's just got a little old to me, waiting 2 hours to get a tomato pie with mushrooms for $15, and don't forget the $9 beer, sometimes even in a can. And if you have bad service just once, it should probably be enough to keep you away forever. Alex, however, did not share the same opinion, and the pizza was calling his name one afternoon after the shop-up. We walked over, and the wait for 2 (at 3pm on a saturday) was already 60 minutes. We hung out and played Street Fighter while drinking delicious, albeit overpriced IPAs while we waited in the lovely snowy backyard. The pizza was very good, even though I think Alex ate most of mine. I am not really a pizza fiend, totally on #teampasta but I understand that Alex needs pizza to live, in the same way that I need pasta to live, so I understand.




 I made both Kebob recipes from Thug Kitchen 2 which were both involving grilled tempeh and veggies, but one had pineapple with sweet & sour sauce, and the other had chimichurri sauce. I made their Twiced Baked Spinach Potatoes to go alongside. Fun, but time-consuming if you're not using an outdoor grill. I'm living that #apartmentlife so I'll always be grilling on a mini grill pan with a standing fan blowing the smoke out the window. Classy.


I feel like this was the bro-iest meal I ever made. I feel like I will see this meal on all the weight-lifting people's instagrams later. I made it for the deliciousness, which was imminent. It was the Blackened Broiled Tofu from Appetite For Reduction and the Roasted Parmesan Asparagus from Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen.  And a Fireside Chat to drink!


One night I was feeling like pasta, and nothing else would do. I made some angelhair with red sauce and the Italian Chopped Salad from Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen which was very nostalgic of the kind of food we get to eat when we visit my father-in-law in Florida. I can't wait to go this year!