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Cucumber Avocado Sandwich

April 18, 2012 by Erin

I told you I wasn’t over my avocado obsession!

Welcome to the week before payday! This is the 4 day stretch, Monday-Thurs, where I’ve squandered my paycheck over the last two weekends on sangria, celtics tickets and a general social life (oh yeah…and student loans) and am now attempting to feed myself on the odds and ends of my pantry.

For example, I found a pack of yeast from god-knows-when and was able to make myself a loaf of whole wheat bread. Of course, I added 2/3 cup of water instead of 1 2/3 cup and very nearly lost what has been my lunch all week. But my roommate, Bonnie, came to my rescue. She deserves a shrine or something.

Also, I’ve been eating A LOT of overnight oats due to the fact I bought rolled oats in bulk last time I went grocery shopping. I’m still convinced that’s the best breakfast ever.

For dessert, I’ve been eating these week old cookies and these no bake fudge balls. Except, this is my second attempt at making this ‘fudge’ and it came out all wrong again! Which is why I’m not sharing it with you. I’ll just link you to the original recipe so you can drool over what my lumpy bits of wannabe chocolate SHOULD look like.

Anyway, so here is my economic lunch I’ve been eating this week. I was craving sushi but that’s too rich for my budget this week. This is sort of the poor girls, practical take on a cucumber avocado roll (which is hands down one of my favorite foods) and something a little different from avocado toast:

Cucumber Avocado Sandwich
*all ingredients are approximate and will depend on the size of your bread*

1 slice of bread (free, since I had all the ingredients in my house)
1/4 c. hummus (free, since I had all the ingredients in my house)
1/2 an avocado (on sale at Whole Foods 3 for $2)
1/3 of a cucumber
a sprinkle of sesame seeds (free, had in my spice drawer)
sprinkle of soy sauce (free, had in my fridge)

Toast your bread. Slather on the hummus of your choice (I made garlic hummus). Top with sliced avocado, cucumber, sprinkle of sesame seeds and a drizzle of soy sauce.

I know it sounds weird but it’s so good! You can pair it with soup, such as miso soup which is suppose to be very good for you, or some raw carrot sticks. Or you can add another slice of bread and make it into a legit sandwich. Either way, it’s a pretty cheap lunch, even if you have to buy all the ingredients, such as bread and hummus. They will both carry you through the week.

What are some cheap meals you throw together when you’re on a budget?

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Blueberry Pie Overnight Oats

April 13, 2012 by Erin

I hate mornings.

I hate alarm clocks.

I hate having to pull myself away from my warm bed (and possibly that special someone…) to face the cold air.

I hate changing out of my cozy flannel pants and hoodie to put on work clothes.

I hate mornings.

So it goes without saying that pulling my half awake brain together to get myself breakfast never happens. Ever. Especially since I am chronically running 15 minutes late because I hit snoozed/cuddled in bed/picked out clothes for too long.

Because I hate mornings.

but… i LOVE this recipe.

I make it the night before. It comes together in 5 minutes and it makes 2-3 batches which means I don’t have to think about breakfast for 2-3 days. It’s convinent. It’s portable. It’s yummy. It’s my new obsession. Expect a new overnight oats recipe every week in a different flavor.

Because I LOVE this recipe.

Blueberry Pie Overnight Oats
from Oh She Glows 
makes 2-3

Ingredients:

  • 1 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cups non-dairy milk
  • 3 TBSP pure maple syrup
  • 1.5 tbsp chia seeds*
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 small bananas, peeled & mashed
  • 1/2 – 1 cups fresh blueberries
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • Granola sprinkled on top before serving  

Directions: Mix all the ingredients, except granola, in a small bowl. Divide into 2 or 3 small containers (I used glass mason jars) and place in fridge overnight. In the morning, give it a stir and enjoy cold with a sprinkle of granola on top. Keeps in the fridge for 2-3 days.

*The chia seeds can be found in the health food section of most grocery stores and definitely at Whole Foods. They are really essential to the thickening process so without them, you will most likely end up with oats and blueberries floating in milk. Not so tasty. Or, you can get the online. What did people do without the internet?? Though be warned, depending on what kind you buy, they look a little more expensive on line then in the store. One package will last you awhile though.

Also, I used mason jars because 1. I had them around and 2. They have a lid and I can throw them in my bag without having to do a thing with them in the morning. Less work = more snuggling time= a less grouchy Erin in the morning. And that should make everyone a little happier.

By the way, Oatmeal is really hard to photograph. And also…Happy Friday the 13th!

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Whole Wheat Cherry Pecan Cookies

April 12, 2012 by Erin

In case you haven’t realized yet, I go through phases where I’m obsessed with something, can’t live without it, then am over it a week later.

Past obsessions:

– Fun.- We are Young. I listened to this over and over again until I was sick of it. Then I went out and bought the CD. It’s not too bad!

–  Strawberry margaritas. Seriously, I couldn’t make another batch of strawberry simple syrup or I would be certifiably a lush!

– avocados. I’m. Still. Obsessed! I may even have another avocado recipe for you in a week or so if I ever stop shoveling my new favorite meal in my mouth and take a picture of it!

Current obsessions:

– This song. I don’t know why-I don’t even really like Pop music. It just gets stuck in my head and I need to listen to it. My roommate actually caught me listening to it really, really loudly and dancing around the kitchen while making peanut butter cookie dough cups. He’s a music major…I’m pretty sure he was judging my music choice.

– Cranberry Blood Orange tea by Republic of Tea. I gave up coffee for lent and pretty much had two cups of this tea every. single. day to help me get through. Now, I can’t say I miss coffee too much (as I sit drinking a cup…)

– I know I’ve mentioned this before but- Pineapple Chipotle Salsa from Stonewall Kitchen. Get yourself a jar…or barrel, and LOTS of chips. There’s nothing worse then running out of chips and having this jar of salsa taunting you in the fridge… which is my current life. 

– Dried cherries infused with apple juice. Best. Dried Fruit. Ever. I love how chewy and a little sour they are. Dare I say, they are like the healthier, adult  version of sour patch kids? I bought them on a whim at Whole Foods and…it led to this recipe:

Whole Wheat Cherry Pecan Cookies
adapted from Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) earth balance, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)*
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 flax seed “eggs” (2 TBSP ground flax seed, 6 TBSP water)
  • 1/2 cup dried cherries
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix up your flaxseed eggs and set aside for 10 minutes.

Mix your flour, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Cream the Earth balance, white sugar and sucanat together. Add the flaxseed eggs and mix until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until well combined. Fold in the cherries, pecans, and chocolate chips. Drop by TBSP onto the prepared baking sheet (no need to roll them into balls). Bake for 9-11 minutes.** Let cool on the pan for about 5 minutes then move them to a cooling rack.

* I subbed out the brown sugar for sucanat because that’s what I had in my cabinet and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Because sucanat has bigger granuales then white sugar and definitely bigger then traditional brown sugar which you usually pack into measuring cups, my cookie was less sweet. It worked well with the whole flour, nuts and dried fruit them. It made for a healthier tasting cookie.

** I like my cookies undercooked so I pulled these out after 9 minutes and then let the sit on the baking sheet for another 9 or 10 minutes. They continue to cook a bit and firm up but the center still stays soft. I love them like that! If you want yours a little more cooked, just keep them in for a little longer.

I was pleasantly surprised by these cookies! I’m not usually big into dried fruits in my baked goods but I love those dried cherries so much that I couldn’t resist trying them in a cookie! Like I said above, the combination of the whole flour, nuts, fruits and sucanat resulted in a less sweet, a little bit heartier feeling cookie. Plus, you can use whatever is in your cabinet for this recipe- almonds instead of pecans, raisins or craisins instead of cherries, etc. I should have just called this “the whatever is in my cabinet” cookie. =)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go put on Call Me, Maybe…again…and pretend I’m Selena Gomez. Dont judge…

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Fruit and Chocolate Dessert Pizza

April 10, 2012 by Erin

This is my answer to the chocolate overdose I was suffering from last week. After making those cookie dough peanut butter cups (which I’m dying to make again with different flavors!) AND a vegan version of Reeses Peanut Butter eggs (which were ok,  but not great, which is why I didn’t post them here), I was so over chocolate. That’s apparently what happens when you make excuses to have peanut butter eggs for breakfast (I’ll just have a peanut butter egg instead of peanut butter on my toast. Same thing!). Infact, the thought of making something heavy for Easter dessert made me want to cry. But backing out of making a dessert wasn’t optional. If I didn’t bring anything then I wouldn’t have a vegan dessert and a holiday isn’t a holiday without a dessert…or five!

So I decided a light, fruity dessert would be perfect. It would be a nice change from heavy cakes, cheesecakes and chocolate that usually show up for our holiday parties. The one I made had a thin, chewy snickerdoodle cookie crust, a layer of creamy chocolate pudding (pudding technically isn’t a chocolate. It’s way too light for that!), and a layer of fresh fruit. Yes, please!

 

Snickerdoodle Cookie Crust
from Wicked Vegan

  • 1/2 cup vegan butter, at room temperature ( used Earth Balance)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 Ener-G “egg”
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons milk replacer (I used unsweetened soy milk)

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream vegan butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add “egg” and vanilla, mixing well until combine, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix until dough comes together. Dough will most likely be crumbly at this point. Add in milk 1 TBS at a time until the dough comes together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, spread dough onto a round pizza pan. The dough will be thin. Cook between 10-15 minutes. Mine took about 12 1/2 minutes.

Let cookie cool 100%. Melt about 2 TBSP of vegan chocolate with  1/2 tsp of vegan shortening in the microwave. Spread a very thin layer of the chocolate onto the cooled cookie and let dry. This will prevent the pudding from making the cookie soggy.

Vegan Chocolate Pudding
 from epicdialogue.com

  • 1box (1.4oz) jell-o instant chocolate pudding mix*
  • 1 package (12.3oz) silken tofu, chilled
  • 1/2-3/4cup almond milk (I used 3/4 cup)

In a food processor, puree the tofu with the almond milk until smooth. Add the pudding mix and blend to a creamy texture. Put in fridge to set for about an hour. Spread on the cookie. I had about half the mixture left over.

*jell-o instant pudding is dairy-free but it has a few chemicals and weird ingredients that I wasn’t thrilled with but I couldn’t find an organic, more healthful instant pudding. I found the cook and serve kind but not instant. I wasn’t sure how the cook and serve would work so I opted for jell-o. If anyone finds a better instant pudding product or tries the cook and serve in this recipe, let me know how it turns out!

Toppings

  • strawberries
  • kiwi
  • banana
  • blueberries
  • raspberries

Slice up your fruit and layer as desired. Really, you could use any fruit you wanted, including mandarin oranges, apples or pineapple. Or you could use shredded coconut, slivered or sliced almonds or other nuts. I haven’t tried those but I bet they’d be great!

mmm…I want some of this right now. After all, if I can justify a knock-off Reeses egg for breakfast,  I should have no problem doing that with a fruit covered cookie!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups

April 4, 2012 by Erin

It’s Easter in less than a week. Let’s face it, Easter is a sad sort of holiday. The candy isn’t as good as halloween, the food isn’t as good as Thanksgiving and the Easter baskets aren’t as cool as presents under the trees. It’s a sad fourth on the list of major holidays.

This does not mean that it isn’t as big of a consumer holiday though. When I went to Target the other day in search of a cookie cutter, I stumbled into the holiday area and nearly died of shock when I saw how much candy they were selling. There was an entire aisle of jelly beans! Who even likes jelly beans?! I’ve never met a single person that lists jelly beans as their favorite candy. This didn’t stop me from having an urge to buy up every. single. Reeses product under the sun…but I managed to resist!

Anyway, when I left (with no cookie cutter, thanksfornothingtarget), I couldn’t get all that candy out of my head. I wanted chocolate peanut butter in the worst way! So many of the chocolates and candies have milk or gelatin in them, though, that I couldn’t resist the challenge to make my own.

Of course, I had planned to make one and then I looked down and found I was making two recipes at the same time. How did that happpen?!

So here is the first recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups
from How Sweet Eats 

2 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips

1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I would recommend Earth Balance or Teddy’s)(I used chunky because it’s what I had and it tasted great)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I couldn’t find vegan mini chip so I just ran a knife though some regular chips once and it worked fine)

In a small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Whisk in brown sugar until dissolved, then let it bubble for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in peanut butter. The mixture will be liquidly. Whisk in vanilla. Let sit and cool completely, about 20 minutes but not longer. If it sits too long (like while your making a batch of other candies…it will solidify and you have to start all over)

Line a mini muffin with with liners. Melt 1 1/4 cups of chocolate chips (I do mine in the microwave, heating on full power for 20 seconds, stir, 30 seconds again, and stir until melted). Drop 1/2-1 teaspoon of chocolate into each liner, then use a pastry brush to brush chocolate up the sides of the liner. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes. By this point the butter + sugar mix should be cool. Whisk in powdered sugar, salt and flour, until combine and few lumps remain. Fold in mini chocolate chips (if the dough isn’t completely cool, your chips will melt and you will be left will swirled dough…so don’t do that…). The dough will be wet, but pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes to harden.

Remove muffin tin and cookie dough, then place 1 teaspoon of cookie dough (I somewhat rolled mine) into the chocolate cups. Place back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Melt the remaining chocolate chips, then cover each cookie dough top with chocolate, smoothing with a spoon. Freeze again for 15-20 minutes. These are fine out in room temperature for a few hours (they may soften a bit) but I like them best stored in the fridge.

This was the second candy recipe I had no intention of making. I had extra chocolate from my other candies and they were in the freezer chilling. All of a sudden I look down and I’ve lined mini muffin liners with chocolate. What?! well…ok…I might as well continue…

These were great. I love the fillings texture. They are also dangerous in the mini-size so my recommendation is eat like 4 in one night until you feel sick because they are so rich and chocolaty and then you will want to die and will give them all to your roommates…or spouse…or something…I imagine.

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Deliciousness coming soon…

April 3, 2012 by Erin

Hey Wickedvegan readers. I know I post something on Monday or Tuesday usually but life got in the way this week. Check back in Weds, Thurs and hopefully, Friday. I have some vegan-friendly Easter candies to share with you (did someone say Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg knock-off??) and some ideas for Easter dinner.

See you tomorrow!

Posted in Life | Leave a Comment »

Crispy Margarita Tofu Tacos with Strawberry Avocado Salsa

March 29, 2012 by Erin

(Before I begin, please know that 1. my photo editor, which is free and does minimal things anyway, is not working and 2. the light in my kitchen is out so I’ve been using this tiny stand lamp to light the entire kitchen and my photos. So, we’re kind of lucky we have any photos at all but I’m sorry they are sort of flat)

Anyway, When I planned my menu for this week, I was soaking up the sun in 75 degree weather. I was wearing sunglasses. I was sipping strawberry frickin’ margaritas on my porch!

Currently, I am in two layers of clothes,under two layers of thick blankets…sipping strawberry margaritas…but it’s way colder!

they get all golden and delicious. yum!

So keep in mind that even though this is quite possibly my favorite dinner, when I planned on making it and sharing it with you, I imagined it going well with my cold margaritas and sunshine…and without the layers of blankets.

Crispy Tofu Margarita Wraps with Strawberry Avocado Salsa
 adapted from How Sweet Eats

4 lb of tofu, pressed*

8 4-inch tortillas (corn, whole wheat, flour)

1 cups panko bread crumbs

1 1/2 TBSP whole wheat flour

zest of 3 limes

1 teaspoon ground coriander

for marinade:

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup tequila

1/4 cup lime juice

zest of 2 limes

1 teaspoon ground coriander

for salsa:

1 avocado, chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

4 large strawberries, chopped

juice of half a lime

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

toppings: shredded lettuce, vegan cheese, cilantro, lime wedges

12-48 hours before making the tacos, combine the marinade ingredients in a baking dish. Slice the tofu into strips and season with salt and peper. Add the tofu to the marinade and let sit in the fridge until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine panko, flour, lime zest and coriander in a bowl. Lay a wire rack on a baking sheet and spray with non-stick spray. Remove tofu from marinade and coat strips in panko mixture, pressing so crumbs adhere. then place on wire rack. Bake for 30 minutes.

While tofu is cooking, combine avocado, tomato, strawberries and onion. Mix with salt, pepper and lime juice.

Heat tortillas if desired, then serve with crisp tofu, salsa, and toppings. Spritz with lime wedges.

*You can also use some sort of meat substitute like Morningstar Farm or Quorn chicken patties. They absorb the marinade quicker than the tofu but many of them aren’t vegan. Make sure you check the package first. Also, I pressed my tofu too long so it didn’t absorb the marinade in the time I gave it (12 hours). I would recommend using the paper towel/plate method or pressing it in a tofu press just over night. I forgot mine and left it in the fridge for two days. Whoops!

Seriously, this salsa recipe is easily in my top 10 favorite foods. Anything you pair it with will pretty much taste amazing. You can serve it with tortilla chips if you don’t want to make the wraps and it will still be delicious. My wraps usually end up being 1 or 2 strips of tofu and then half the serving of salsa, or something like that. I should really have called this recipe a strawberry avocado salsa wrap…with some crunch tofu thrown in.

Best. Dinner. Ever

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find my gloves. I’m going to need them to finish off this ice cold margarita in my heatless apartment. Clearly, I have my priorities straight.

PS. How sticking cute is this little purple bowl I bought on vacation?? I wanted to buy them all but wasn't even sure I could justify purchasing one.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Baked Blueberry Streusal Oatmeal Cups

March 27, 2012 by Erin

I haven’t adjusted well to the whole going back to work thing. In fact, I’m starting to think my future holds a man with lots of money and me staying home all day, cooking him a healthy vegan meals, scrapbooking and watching my stories. Except, my stories would be more like re-runs of Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls and not traditional soap operas.

This morning, I not only managed to sleep through my alarm clock, but I somehow also managed to reset my clock forward 15 minutes. So when I woke at 7:15, aka the exact time I’m suppose to leave the house, I had a huge freak out. At some point as I flung on whatever clothes where closest to me, I was able to calm down a bit because I realized I had 15 whole minutes instead of 0. But still, I have zero recollection of resetting my clock!

A little tip: Save all your glass jars from sauces, nut butters or jams and reuse them for storage. My ground flax seed is in an old tomato sauce jar and my spices are stored in tiny mason jars! You reuse, it helps with storage situations and it keeps nasty moths and bugs out of your items. Yeah!

I also managed to 1. forget my badge for work so I had to run back and get it, 2. wait 15 minutes in my driveway as my next door neighbor’s painter moved his van, 3. get stuck behind the recycling truck, 4. get stuck behind a school bus and 5. forget my much-needed, happily-caffinated tea at home.

At least I managed to whip up a batch of these last night so that I had a yummy breakfast…

Baked Blueberry Streusal Oatmeal
adapted from Healthful Pursuit

Wet

  • 1 flax egg (1 tbsp freshly ground flax seed mixed with 2 tbsp warm water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before use)
  • 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1/2 banana, mashed (yield about 1/4 cup mashed)
  • 1 1/4 cup non-dairy milk – I used unsweetened, original almond milk 
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp maple extract
  • Dry
  • 2.5 cups rolled oats
  • 2 tbsp ground flax seed
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp  baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt  
  • One small carton of blueberries (roughly a cup)

Toppings

  • 2 TBSP vegan butter (I used Earth Balance), melted
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with muffin liners.
  2. Place wet ingredients and mix with a mixer or beaters.
  3. Place all dry ingredients in a large bowl and combine. Pour wet into dry and mix. It will be runny, but don’t worry!
  4. Fold in blueberries.
  5. Pour mixture into muffin cups and top with desired toppings. The don’t rise so you can fill the liners almost to the top.
  6. Mix all the topping ingredients together in a bowl. Top the oatmeal cups with streusal mix (I forgot to get the pecans for this photoshoot so these are sans nuts. They work well this way too)
  7. Place in prepared oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Mine were done at 26 minutes.
  8. Allow to cool in the pan for 2-3 minutes before removing onto a cooling rack.
  9. Microwave before serving for 30 to 45 seconds to get a hot oatmeal flavor. I served mine over half a carton of vegan vanilla yogurt to make it a little more heartier.

 When I made these, I was sort of expecting a cake like consistency but they really do taste like oatmeal! The applesauce and the banana make them super moist and give it that oatmeal consistency. I’m definitely a fan!

Plus, without the streusal topping, Leanne at Healthful Pursuit said these were only 102 calories! Not too shabby.

If you are looking to keep this sugar-free, some possible toppings that Leanne tried were:

  • cinnamon raisin: 1/2 tbsp raisins and sprinkle of ground cinnamon per cup
  • apple: 2 apple slices per cup
  • coconut: 1/2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut per cup
  • trail mix: 1/2 tbsp trail mix per cup

I haven’t tried any of those yet so I can’t vouch for their yumminess but the overall, the oatmeal cups are great so I imagine any toppings you like will be a great addition. Note: Leanne didn’t add blueberries to her oatmeal so those toppings were all added to a plain oatmeal cup.

Now, let’s see if I can actually eat my breakfast without dropping it on my lap or down the front of my shirt. I don’t have high hopes but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

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Fresh Strawberry Margaritas, plus heavy sarcasm

March 23, 2012 by Erin

Happy Friday! I had a really hard day, guys.

– It’s the 8th day of my vacation. Only 2 days left.

– I went to the midnight showing of Hunger Games (don’t judge!) last night and didn’t go to bed until 4am, which forced me to stay in bed until noon, obviously. I gotta get my 8 hours!

– Then I had to go grocery shopping. But I didn’t feel like it so I left my PJs on (which contain my super cute new cupcake shorts I got at Gap outlet for $1.99!)

All that shopping was a huge drain so I was forced to whip up this margarita and have lunch on my porch (um…it’s 78 degrees in Boston right now!).

Fresh Strawberry Margaritas
makes a single serving
straight from How Sweet It Is

  • 2 ounces Grand Marnier
  • 1 1/2 ounces Tequila
  • 2 ounces lime juice
  • 2 1/2 ounces strawberry simple syrup
  • lime + fresh strawberries for garnish
  • salt + sugar for the rim

Rim the ridge of your glass with a lime wedge and dip in a mix of margarita salt + sugar [I used about 3 tablespoons salt to 2 teaspoons sugar]. Fill the glass with ice. In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, grand marnier, simple syrup and lime juice with ice, and shake for about 30 seconds. Pour over ice and squeeze in lime slices and add a few strawberries.

For strawberry simple syrup: combine equal parts sugar and water, bring to a boil and let sugar dissolve, then turn off heat and let cool completely. Combine 1 cup simply syrup + 1 1/2 cups slices strawberries in a blender and blend until combined. I don’t mind strawberry seeds, but if you’d like you can strain the mixture over a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

I’m debating keeping my PJs for my friday night dinner but my little pseudo-niece calls me out when I wear mismatched socks. I can’t imagine how she’ll react if I show up wearing PJs for dinner

PS. that salsa is Stonewall Kitchen’s Chipotle Pineapple Salsa. I discovered it when I was in NH. I’m obsessed!

Posted in Recipage | 4 Comments »

A mountain update and the world’s easiest, tastiest lunch

March 21, 2012 by Erin

This morning I woke up feeling pretty sad. Today is my last full day in NH and my last day to scrapbook. Tomorrow, I pack everything up, clean up and head back to the city.

That sadness lasted for approximately 10 minutes, until I went to take a shower and found a large, black spider perched on the drain. *shudder* After I managed to pseudo-drown it and then flush it down the toilet, I went to finally get in and found two more! Of course, even after I killed those two, my short, luke-warm shower was filled with dread that there were more spiders lurking in my shower poof waiting to extract revenge for the death of their friend and family.

…I think my vacation is wrapping up at about the right time.

Anyway, I don’t know if this counts as a recipe but its one of my favorite lunches and it’s INCREDIBLY easy to prepare, especially if you are making it at lunch at work. It requires almost zero, night-before preparation and the ingredients can be thrown in a bag in about 60 seconds when you are running late.

Avocado Toast

  • 1 piece of bread
  • 1/2 an avocado
  • salt, to taste

1. Toast your bread. Make sure it’s some really yummy bread. There’s only really two ingredients here,
people. You’re going to want the best. My favorite is When Pigs Fly.

2. Mush 1/2 of the avocado onto your toast.

3. Salt to taste

4. Eat the amazingness that is your new favorite lunch and marvel how few ingredients are in it.

If I’m having this at work for lunch, I will have 2 pieces of bread and use the whole avocado. According to the Avocado website , one serving of an avocado equals 1/5 of the avocado. Seriously? Who eats only a fifth of an avocado?! On the plus size, a whole, medium size avocado only has 250 calories and is packed with vitamin C, potassium, protein, and healthy fats.

I like to serve mine up with some raw carrots sticks or fruit. It’s an overall healthy lunch! and it’s SO. EASY.

By the way, this is me procrastinating working on my scrapbook. I have over 50 pictures of Pompeii that I need to tackle and that’s after i weeded out 50+ that I didn’t deem scrapbook worthy. I don’t even know where to begin so I spent most of my morning soaking up the sun and reading A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I love vacation…minus the spiders…

Posted in Recipage | 1 Comment »

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