Once I had my accident things like getting to the store to stock up on Ethiopian food-making supplies was a challenge, and so this adorable zine sat patiently on my cookbook shelf.

I FINALLY managed to stock my pantry with the goodies I was missing…berbere, teff flour, and urad dal. This called for an Ethiopian feast!

First up we have the ye’gelbo gomen (kale). My husband won’t touch anything green, so I had the whole pot to myself. No complaints here.

We also had the ye’takelt allecha (gingered vegetables). This made a LOT. I was eating the leftovers for 4 days. But that just means deliciousness for 4 days. I cooked this for a long time in a covered casserole dish and the veggies broke down and were super tender.

When I go out to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant, ye’miser w’et (lentils in a spicy gravy) is one of my favourite dishes to order. So of course I had to include that on our menu. Kittee offers up two versions in her zine, this is Version II. It was really good! Nice and spicy, just the way I like it.

We had some trouble with the injera “fake-outs” as Kittee calls them (her recipe is gluten-free), but that was our mistake, not her’s. I’m looking forward to trying them again…next time I’ll pay closer attention to the instructions!

About a month ago I was standing in the checkout line at Trader Joe’s when I noticed a display of sparkling blueberry juice (those checkout displays are always so tempting!). I usually don’t buy things like this, but it was near New Years so I figured I would splurge (it’s $2.99 a bottle, so it’s hardly a splurge that’s going to break the bank).  One lazy weekend afternoon I was reading a book and I was craving a glass of wine. I thought I’d try this blueberry cider out instead and WOW I’m glad I did! I really dug it, as I was sure I would as I like most things blueberry-flavoured. It was sweet without being cloyingly so, as there is no added sugar. It’s not something I would buy on a regular basis (I’m a cheapskate) but it’s nice for a treat.

The return of gigantic salads:

Normally I like to eat a gigantic salad for lunch every day. They are super filling and I get tons of nutrients. I fell out of the habit when I had foot surgery in August and could no longer get to the farmer’s market or the grocery store. Starting in January I made a conscious effort to stock up on salad goodies when I go shopping each week and I feel so much better! I’m planning on writing a salad-centric post in the future, but I stick all kinds of things in my large lunch-time salads. Typically you will find greens, raw veggies, leftover roasted veggies, beans/tofu, nutritional yeast, and flax.

I use a LARGE bowl for these salads. Here is my salad bowl compared to my regular-sized bowls (which are actually quite large themselves):

Smoothies for breakfast:

Ironically, before I moved to California I would almost always start the day with a smoothie. I’ve just recently started making smoothies again. Sometimes I add extra greens, sometimes I don’t. This particular one had a banana, soy milk, some mixed frozen fruit (the kind you buy in a bag at the grocery store), flax, and strawberry protein powder. Yum!

What about you? What are some things you’re into right now?

I went running for the first time post-surgery! To summarize, I severed my EHL tendon in my right foot in August, and had to have it surgically repaired. I was cleared for exercise about 2 months ago, but I was told not to run until the end of January. Well, today felt like the day so I gave it a go.

I kept things pretty simple, truth be told I didn’t even break a sweat. I did a 5 minute warm-up (walking), then did 5 intervals of 2 minutes of running (at a very slow pace) followed by 3 minutes walking. Afterwards I didn’t feel ANY pain – which is great news! I am really fighting the urge to do too much too soon, but the last thing I want to deal with is another injury.

I missed you, running shoes!

I had a Living Social deal for Souley Vegan to use up, so the husband and I headed up to Oakland during the holiday season. This was my second time visiting, and I must say this burger was every bit as good as I remembered.

On the side I ordered macaroni and cheese, but I must say I was a bit disappointed. It tasted very flour-y, like it hadn’t been cooked long enough. Serves me right – I was GOING to order the potato salad which I know from first-hand experience is fantastic. Oh well, all the more reason to find an excuse to go back.

Typically we stay in on New Years. Sadly, staying up until midnight is usually a pretty big challenge for me.

This year we decided to have a pizza night. Using the thin crust pizza from Vegan with a Vengeance (I made mine with all WW flour, and added in some flax seed to make me feel like I was eating something healthy), we got out the pizza stone and went to work.

I usually put waaaay too many toppings on my thin crust pizza, resulting in a mess that typically requires a fork. This time I said no way, and opted to keep it simple with a pizza margherita – just tomato sauce (VWAV again), Daiya mozzarella, some sliced cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil. Keeping the toppings so sparring really let me appreciate the flavour of the crust and sauce – I was definitely a fan.

I’m a wuss when it comes to using the peel. I’m always afraid I won’t be able to get the pizza from the peel to my stone. Luckily that’s what husbands are for.

I’m not big on “New Years resolutions,” but I do believe in goal-setting. A lot of my life is uncertain right now, but here are some of my current goals I’d like to achieve in 2012:

1. Read 50 books (cookbooks don’t count!)

I used to be quite an avid reader, but that has been tapering off in recent years to the point where I’m averaging about one book a month (not including cookbooks). I’d like to bump this up to one a week if I can. Often I’m wasting my time doing something boring when I could be reading a book and actually expanding my mind instead of boring myself silly.

2. Make a comeback to running

I would love love LOVE to actually have a goal of running a marathon in 2012. Since my surgery in August I haven’t been able to run. I’m just now getting to the point where I can walking a few miles (in my stylin’ orthopedic shoes) without limping. My surgeon says I should be able to try out running at the end of January (that’s so close!) and see how it goes. Because of this, I am hesitant to actually set a goal of running a marathon this year, as I obviously don’t want to push my foot too far too fast and end up injuring myself. So I am purposely leaving this goal non-specific.

3. Make peace with my body and “dieting”

Like most women, I am always wanting to lose a few pounds. I’m not overweight, around a size 8, but of course for vanity’s sake who wouldn’t like to drop a jean size or two. Heavily motivated by Stop Chasing Skinny, I want to make 2012 the year I focus on eating right, being healthy, and accepting my body for what it is. As long as I’m healthy, I shouldn’t care what the scale says. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and it’s time I stop chasing an unrealistic ideal that I’ve been spoon fed. My emphasis in choosing foods and exercising should be on health, not losing weight.

Of course I set goals for myself throughout the year as well, but these are the three that I am currently working on as 2012 begins. What about you, do you set yearly goals?

During the holiday season I made a trip up to Canada to see my parents. My parents live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, but the closest airport is in Winnipeg. Before dropping me off at the airport when I was flying back to California, my mom and I stopped at Boon Burger – an all vegan veggie burger cafe. I lived in Winnipeg for four years way back when I was an undergraduate student, and boy do I wish something like this had existed back then. Their menu is great and they have daily specials that change all of the time. It is kind of small and they have communal seating, which I really hate, but I love how busy it seems in there. Lots of Winnipegers are loving their vegan burgers!

I perused the menu for a good long while and finally settled on the “bacun cheese burger” – a grilled patty, mayo, dijon, Daiya, smokey bacun (which definitely seemed to be tofu-based), pickled, red onion, tomato, and lettuce. The patty itself was made out of mushrooms, brown rice, tofu, and oats. Wow. Words cannot describe this. It was hands down the best burger I have EVER tasted. I’d love to recreate the patty here at home, since flying all the way to Winnipeg whenever a craving strikes seems a little extreme (and expensive).

My mom had the Oslo burger – same patty as my burger, mayo, a caper remoulade, cranberry sauce, pickles, fresh beets, red onion, gravy, and dill. I wasn’t sure about that combo of ingredients, but I had a taste and it was really good too! I think it’s hard to go wrong at this restaurant.

On the side we split an order of poutine. This poutine is pretty non-traditional – it comes with green onion, Daiya cheddar, and gravy – but it was still delicious! Their fries are made with sesame oil and they were super crispy and fantastic. I do wish the Daiya had been more melty – I’m thinking they just throw it on and then top with gravy. A little zap in the microwave or a little time under a broiler would help with the melting. But that’s a pretty small gripe, overall my experience was fantastic and it was such a great end to my trip.

There was a pretty decent spread, including a seitan roulade made by Amey, based on a recipe from the PPK (Amey changed up the stuffing though and used kabocha squash – my favourite squash!).

There were TWO kinds of brussel sprouts! This dish with hazelnuts made by Autumn and another one with garlic made by Kathy. Both were super good!

Autumn also made stuffed mushrooms, using this Chef Cloe recipe:

And of course, the ubiqutious cranberry sauce, also made by Autumn:

I made some rolls, using the recipe from the I-40 Kitchen:

Another savory dish was the butternut squash lasagna from Yellow Rose Recipes. But I’m an idiot and I was so busy snapping photos of the other dishes, I forgot to take a picture of my own! Oh well. Trust me, it was good and it lives up to the internet hype.

Now on to desserts! Amey made the most AMAZING truffles ever!! She used this recipe from Hannah Kaminsky. You have to make these NOW.

Nikki, aka Cold&Sleepy from coldandsleepy cooks brought a really yummy apple and quince galette. It was my first galette experience and it was pretty tasty. I wasn’t sure what a quince was so I had to Google it when I got home and learned all kinds of things from Wikipedia. Internet, you are so amazing.

For a third dessert, Kathy made an apple pie. Look at that fancy lattice crust! I’m super impressed! Pie crust intimidates the heck out of me.

Autumn actually brought a fourth dessert, but it met an untimely end and crashed into the street on its way to the potluck. RIP poor pumpkin cheesecake.

All in all it was a super fun time filled with delicious food. It made me really thankful to live in a great place where I have a group of fun vegan friends (who make good food).

Life threw a curve ball a couple of weeks ago. The company I worked for had massive lay offs that nobody saw coming (well I guess somebody saw it coming, but for the most part they were a surprise). Basically over 750 people showed up to work one day and were told “go home now.” Unfortunately I was one of the people that were no longer needed. It was quite a shock.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I think in the long run it is for the best. I was getting quite frustrated with some aspects of my job, and I already have 3 interviews lined up for next week so I know I’ll be okay. There are some big decisions to be made in the near future, but basically I am doing all I can do and then wait and see where the chips fall. In the meantime I am getting caught up on the gazillion errands that fall by the wayside when you are working full-time and taking advantage of my extra time for working out and getting back in shape now that I have been cleared for cardio post-surgery (still no running until early Feb though…boo). I’m feeling like I’m in a good place. It’s kind of a scary place as I’m someone who likes to be in control, but I know I’ll land on my feet (or foot…).

Anyway, this post isn’t all doom and gloom. A couple of weeks ago I participated in Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals in San Francisco. I was still in my air cast/walking boot, so I didn’t think I’d be able to do the walk, but actually Kathy, Autumn, and I did  a shorter version of the walk and it felt pretty good to be out and about, especially given that the walk was in Golden Gate Park which is stunning.

Here we are afterward with a friendly pig:

We wanted to grab some lunch after the walk, so we headed to Berkeley to check out Cha-Ya, an all vegan Japanese restaurant. It took me soooooo long to figure out what I wanted! They have a very large menu and everything sounds scrumptious. The big toss up was between sushi or noodles….noodles won out. I ordered a vegetable curry dish with soba noodles.

Autumn ordered a delicious plate of vegan sushi:

And Kathy ordered the vegetable sukiyaki:

I definitely need to get back to Cha-Ya to sample more of their dishes. Next time I’m for sure getting the sushi.

After lunch we headed to Berkeley Bowl, a local independent grocery store. Their produce section is INSANE. Look how big it is!

And they have such neat things! Like giant squash:

It was a super fun day. I always love exploring the Bay with my veg buddies.

My favourite thing about MoFo is discovering new blogs to follow all year round! I know I found quite a few gems to add to my blog reader and I hope you did, too.

It was definitely a challenge for me to go from no blogging to blogging every day. When the month first began I thought being on crutches would hinder my MoFoing. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because I have been working from home most days, I was able to take my food photos at lunch time, which is much better than dealing with the dreary winter darkness that is now a problem at dinner time. And I’m happy to report that I am now off of crutches full-time! I am still in my walking boot/air cast though, and probably will be for a few more weeks. But hey, after being on crutches for 8 weeks I’m not going to complain!

And now I leave you with something that kept me going this past weekend when I had such a bad headache I couldn’t be bothered to cook – pumpkin oatmeal! The blogosphere has been writing about this stuff for ages, but I rarely have canned pumpkin in the house. Basically I just took a bowl and threw in some oats, a few scoops of canned pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and water. I mixed it up, microwaved it, and then topped it with agave. Voila. It would have been better with soy milk, but I was fresh out. It was still perfectly yummy!

First of all, Jack and Virginia know their stuff. They are both registered dietitians and write extensively on vegan nutrition and health. There is a LOT of junk out there on the internet, and a lot of false info about vegan nutrition (from both pro-vegans and anti-vegans). I am a trained scientist and I can’t stand reading articles that talk about detox this or living enzyme that, or reference a case study and use the results to make broad generalizations.

One thing I appreciated in the beginning of this book is a break-down of what actually constitutes good scientific evidence. Sometimes I forget that the rest of the world isn’t an egg-head academic like yours truly. So if you have ever been confused about what makes a research study “good” or “bad”, then you will find this helpful.

They start by going through specific nutrients and explaining exactly what you need and what foods you should be eating. And don’t worry if all of the daily requirements seem mind boggling, because they provide a nice vegan food guide that is designed to make sure your diet is balanced. They also suggest certain supplements you should be taking and how often. I know I found this useful and will be stocking up on a few different things.

The second half of the book has chapters devoted to specific target populations, such as pregnant women, feeding vegan children, people over 50, people with medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, and athletes. There is also an entire chapter devoted to the soy debate. And if you are the type of person who likes sample menus, you are in luck because there are plenty of those as well.

All in all I’m super stoked about this book and I don’t think I could have asked for a better giveaway prize, so thank you Celyn!