These Apples are Freakin' Awesome!

Just sharing...

Got them at Trader Joe's and they are good!!!!!!!

Just ate two in a row!

Yum....

Yummy Recipe

RECIPE:

"Layered Avocado and Black Bean Salad"

Ingredients needed:

cilantro

olive oil

salt and peppa

wheat tortillas

black beans, rinsed and strained

grated cheese (soy preferred)

sour cream (soy preferred)

avocados

lime

shallot

salad greens of your choice

First bake the tortillas until they are nice and crispy. Next, make a mean cilantro pesto by blending cilantro and

some olive oil in a food processor or blender. Add salt and peppa (that's how I like to say and spell it) to taste.

Make a yummy dressing with juice of a lime, olive oil, some finely chopped shallot and salt and peppa.

To prepare your salad put down some salad greens on plate. Add some dressing. Smear some cilantro pesto

on one side of tortilla and put it face up on salad greens. Next comes the fun part- start to stack or "layer" your salad by putting some beans on top of the pesto side of the tortilla, then sliced avocado, then shredded cheese, then the dressing. Repeat this several times or as high as you would like to build it! Top off with a final spoonful of dressing and some sour cream! Lovely! Quick and easy! And of course fresh and good for you!

We had so much fun making these!

Oh, you can pretty much eat with your hands like nachos since the tortillas are baked (they don't crumble)

and just use a fork at the end for the greens and any "runaway" beans or cheese.

An old favorite saves the day...

So I am fighting a cold and the last thing I want to do is cook dinner. The only effort I can make is to suggest

we order take out. My husband ALWAYS likes that idea! So we go with Shan Chuan, a neighborhood favorite

on Ridge Avenue in East Falls. They offer a Chinese AND Japanese menu AND have a full selection of vegetarian options including "mock" dishes. I go with a quart of their Tofu and Vegetable soup which puts me in a warm and fuzzy state upon slurping my first spoonful. It's a lovely vegetarian clear broth with carrots (the fancy cut kind), snap peas, bamboo shoots, baby corns, watercress, mushrooms and cabbage. Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is. Good thing I have some left over for lunch! Mike (my husband) goes with his favorite- Mock Sweet and Sour Chicken. Just like the real thing only with soy gluten, served with rice and green peppers and pineapples and sauce. He devours it in seconds. My one year old shares my soup and loves it!

We have also tried Shan Chuan's vegetable spring rolls-very good! And their Vegetable Lo Mein, Golden Tofu, Mock Orange Chicken, Mock General Tso's Chicken and Broccoli with Garlic Sauce. From their Japanese menu I have tried their Ginger Salad-but probably would not order again. Their Green Rolls were good as well as their Edamame, Fried Tofu and Veggie Tempura. Let's not forget the Green Tea Icecream! This place rocks for take out when you're fighting a cold or just too darn lazy to cook! We only ate in at the restaurant once and it was lovely-great service, very friendly, even after our son spilled cheerios everywhere!

Check it out sometime!

My fortune cookie said: " For everything there is a season."

Eating Animals

So, I'm reading "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer. Stuff I mostly knew about dreaded factory farming...but for some reason I keep reading and getting angrier and angrier and sadder (is that a word? or should I have said "more sad"?). Anyway, he decided to really learn about where our "food" comes from upon the birth of his son, where now he would be responsible for feeding another human being and probably answering some tough questions as to how animals become "food." It makes me think about how as a vegetarian family we will now raise our son as vegetarian and probably get some not so nice or understanding comments on the matter. I want our son who is only one year old to eventually KNOW what he is eating and with that there is an obligation as a parent to tell the truth. Of course when he is older he can begin to make his own decisions-and as a vegetarian I can only hope he chooses with his heart. I want to make the right choices and yet it is so hard sometimes. I am learning there is no such thing as "free range" or "non-caged" egg laying hens at factory farms. There is a lot of lying or misuse of terms which can lead us to believe that nothing has suffered to supply us with the food at hand. My latest idea since we can't have our own chickens for eggs is to find a local person who may like to sell us some eggs from their family chickens. If not, we may just cut them out completely and go with alternatives we have learned to love: tofu scramble. I feel like a hypocrite because I haven't eaten meat (fish, chicken , beef, lamb, pork, ) since 1996 but have still eaten eggs and cheese.We really try to buy from local farms (what's left of them) but not always. I know there is still suffering that happens in the production of these things and that just saddens me.

I am rambling and originally intended this blog to be a venue for vegetarian restaurant reviews.....but for today

this is what's on my mind!

Mmmm, a hint of Spring today on our lovely walk in the Wissahickon! Makes me think about getting out of hibernation, becoming more mobile and eating more fruit and veggies! Starting to get some ideas for raw food

recipes for a little "out of winter" detox. And of course starting to eat more salads as more local ingredients

come into season... thinking about an herb garden I want to plant this Spring.....my mind is all over the place-and that's a good thing! No more stagnation!