Real food, junk food, and scary food

Today I have lots of food pics to share! (And that's the best kind of pics, right?) First off, I think this is the best vegan dish I've thrown together just from crap in my fridge/pantry. I dragged my love to Whole Foods last weekend for a few things, and talked him into buying me some organic tempeh to try (tempeh is a fermented form of soy with a grainy texture that somewhat resembles ground meat). I thought it looked like a great thing to toss in a pot of chili. I was right! After cooking the tempeh for a minute in the bottom of the pot, I added a little canned tomato sauce, canned diced tomatoes, and a can of mixed kidney beans (all organic, of course!). I seasoned it up with some fresh lime juice, cayenne, cumin, fresh cilantro, and a dash of garlic salt. To go along with the chili, I cooked up some rice, to which I also added fresh lime juice, chopped cilantro, and lime zest. Sprinkling chopped scallions on top perfected the meal. Mmmmmmm, it was probably the best thing I've ever made myself. Well, aside from my cookies that is! I took the leftovers over to my mom and sis--they loved it, too! Mom is a tiny woman; she really does not eat much, but she finished off most of the large bowl by herself. I take that as a hefty compliment. My boyfriend was out of town for work, so I recreated the meal for him the next night.


The night I took leftovers to mom's, Care made us all some brownies from a vegan recipe she found and tried before. Me and Care, together, making sweets... who woulda thought? In case you haven't figured it out yet, my family has a bit of a sweet tooth! Oddly enough, I make cookies and things way more often now that I'm vegan. I suppose that's for a few reasons: out of excitement that I can, knowing that while it may not be healthy, it's still healthier (not to mention the extra room in my diet for "naughty" things if I so desire), and I want my family and friends to see that I'm not missing out on anything! I share my treats with them, and so far they've received nothing but praise (which in my dad's case comes in the blunt form, "Tastes like a cookie.") By the way, I've gone from 108 to 103 so far on my new diet full of chocolate, coconut ice cream, and other goodies. Jealous?


Ok, so the last item for today. Reading more into The Kind Diet (which I've now almost finished!), Alicia mentions over and over something called umeboshi plums. She uses them to re-balance herself after having things like sugar or processed foods. She even says that when she was introduced to them, sucking on half of one cured her hangover! Sounds like a miracle food, right? Well, Tony (my bf) and I went out to the Asian market by our apartment this morning to peruse the isles for these plums and any other cool finds suitable to the superhero diet. Holy crap did they have a large vegetarian frozen section, with everything from fried tofu to vegan fish, shrimp, and even vegan peppercorn steak! Anyway, eventually we found them, but I must say I'm a bit scared. Umeboshi plums are pickled plums. Pickled plums. Hmm. I'll let you know when I gather up the courage to try one.