My Week: Farmers Market Scores, Pizza, & Wraps

best coffee shop name ever

Portland has decided to give Summer a wet welcome complete with gloomy skies and and a grey shadowy blanket a la The Killing.  I have no complaints.  It's Saturday morning and I'm still cuddled up in bed with my boyfriend, cat, and laptop, listening to the downpour via open window.  The rain is what keeps Portland pretty and green, as well as washing away some of the pollen that's been feeding our seasonal allergies.  Welcome, showers.

Here are some Instagram photos I've posted over the past week:

Gluten free, vegan cookies with oatmeal, pistachio, and dark chocolate inspired by the recipe in Babycakes Covers The Classics.  They were a little greasy so I plan on using less oil next time.  But overall a really nice cookie recipe.

Some non-produce purchases from the Portland Farmers Market:  A raw vegan fig bar from Eatin' Alive and a gf/v strawberry shortcake whoopie pie and cinnamon roll with icing from Petunia's.  So many options in Portland, Oregon!

I've really been into making wraps.  This was a breakfast wrap with daiya, spinach, saffron quinoa, avo, garlic aioli, and sriracha.

This one with avo, aioli, quinoa, and kale.

A work lunch with left over saffron quinoa, cucumbers, tahini kale (hiding), and black sesame seeds.

Pizza night!  Always the best night!  Have you made Romesco Sauce?  It's a red sauce with toasted hazelnuts in it.  We love it on everything, including pizza.  This one with soy curls, green beans, crimini mushrooms, and daiya.

I finally made it to Loving Hut for lunch with my mom.  Loving Hut is a vegan chain with over 200 locations.  Each location is individually owned with a unique menu.  The food is tofu/soy heavy at the Portland location with only a few gluten free options, but our meals were very tasty and the service was super friendly.  I'm  glad that places like Loving Hut, Veggie Grill, and Native Foods are offering vegan dining options to the masses.

With warmer weather comes more smoothies.  This one was spinach, strawberries and almond butter.

And last but not least, my most favorite summer kombucha drink, cherry chia.  I could drink one every day.

It's been a good food week around here.  With the farmers markets in full swing we're eating lots of delicious local scores.  I had an exhausting work week and look forward to plenty of relaxation over the next few days.  Hooray for rain.  

I Loved Fennel, Sweetie Peppers & Green Food This Week.

Good Sunday morning!  Sleeping in, playing with the cats and having some extra coffee time felt great today after much busy-ness.  Sweet bf even refilled my coffee while I was still in bed.  He's a keeper!  Work has been taking a little more of my energy because I'm learning a bunch of new stuff (thankfully there's always more to learn in my field!) and I'm studying for certification in my specialty.  I also turned our spare bedroom into an office.  And I was on call for 75 hours on top of my usual work schedule.  Hmmm, this explains sleeping 11 hours last night? 

I'm still on my green food kick.  Work food has been kale salad, carrots & tahini, and fruit:

I actually pack 2 kale salads because I'm at work for 12 hours.  I've been trying to have a green smoothie or juice before I leave the house in the morning.  The difference in my mood and energy level is noticeably better when I have my green drink.  Here are a few juices I made this week:

The addition of fennel was especially good!  For dinner one night I made a cheesey green pasta with some veggie noodles that we get at a Japanese market:

The noodles remind me of udon, but have extra veggies added in.  Of course I Americanized them by putting them in a creamy cheesey sauce with some sweetie peppers and sauteed onion.  The cheese sauce used We Can't Say It's Cheese Cheddar Spread, Daiya Mozzarella Shreds, tahini, lemon juice, salt & pepper, and almond milk.  It was quite a delicious comfort food treat.

And of course we had our favorite non-green food on pizza night:

Rosemary crust brushed with olive oil, red sauce, fresh basil leaves, sauteed fennel & mushrooms, Daiya shreds, and sweetie peppers from the olive bar.  I really love making pizza. 

I hope everyone's enjoying the weekend as much as I am.  See you next week :)

Tahini Kale Pizza Is Tasty!

First of all I want to thank everyone for the well wishes yesterday.  This morning feels a little better and my brain fog seems to be lifting.  Yay.  Progress.

Last night my body still wasn't cooperating, but my mind was begging me to get off the couch.  Six days of rest was starting to give me a case of cabin fever.  So, I fired up the tea kettle and brewed a strong mug of gunpowder tea, with hopes for a little shimmer of energy.  Thankfully, my favorite hot green drink gave me just enough buzz to make it into the kitchen, clean up some of the dishes, and throw together a pizza for dinner.  Just a little change of scenery, for about an hour, seemed to help.

After rummaging through the produce drawers I decided to make tahini kale pizza with stuffed crust, sauteed mushrooms, avocado and daiya mozzarella shreds.
 

See the creamy, melty cheddar daiya inside the outer crust?  It really makes the last few bites of each piece a special treat.  This pizza was made with:

* rosemary pizza dough
* red sauce
* kale massaged with tahini sauce (tahini, lemon, garlic, water, salt)
* cremini mushrooms sauteed with olive oil, oregano, salt & pepper
* avocado
* daiya mozzarella shreds on top
* daiya cheddar shreds in the crust
* outer edge of crust brushed with olive oil before baking

Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.  Try to be patient and let it cool before diving in or you'll burn the roof of your mouth off.  Unfortunately I have no patience when I have fresh home-made pizza in front of me.  But the pain was worth it.  The tahini gets cheesy when it's baked with the kale and the creamy avocado takes it to another level.

So, is everyone watching the game tomorrow?  I'm not that into sports, but I do look forward to watching Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.  I also look forward to annoying anyone who happens to be around with, "oooooh... cuuuuute...puppies!... omg.... did you see that?!", every 30 seconds. 

Happy Saturday!