Meatless Memorial Monday

I’m drinking coffee ya’ll…and liking it. This is good news. Maybe I am on my way to quitting the Go Girl habit. Baby steps, baby steps.

It’s memorial day so it’s time to get out your grills.

No not those grills.

These grills…and man I wish I had one like this. Ironically not only is it Memorial Day, but it is Meatless Monday. Today is probably the least likely day that people will want to give Meatless Monday a try. However, if you make your Memorial Day meatless then you my friend, are a rockstar.

Since I am a rockstar and everyone wants to be like me ( note my large amount of sarcasm ) then you will need some awesome meatless Memorial Day recipes.

Did you know that just plain vegetables taste amazing grilled? Take your favorite veggies a little olive oil, salt, and pepper and cook them up on the grill.

And of course if you are still itching for a burger or a hotdog, there is the soy versions you can find at the grocery store. Some brands such as Yves makes some pretty tasty veggie dogs.

You can make your Memorial Day meatless with some simple swaps. Vegetarian baked beans are awesome, I promise you won’t miss the mystery bacon bits.

Well now that you know how to make your Memorial Day Meatless…enjoy your day, don’t drink too much, and be safe.

Sunday Funday

It was great to finally have some good weather yesterday. It made the farmers market even more pleasant and made for a great temperature to eat dinner outside.  I will get the dinner blog up sometime today or tomorrow.

I am having trouble thinking of words to describe it but I am feeling a little discouraged this morning.  If that is even the right word for it. Sometimes I feel like life is passing me by…without me accomplishing much. There is a fire burning in me, I know what I want to accomplish but I just feel that it is an unattainable goal. Kind of the I feel like a failure without even trying first I suppose. You probably have no idea what I am trying to say huh? Well that makes two of us. I am 23 going on 60 and am watching Meet The Press for goodness sakes. When did I get so darn boring?  I am too boring to even have anything remotely interesting to blog about…I don’t even know why I am bothering except for the fact that I am OCD and it is now a part of my routine that I wouldn’t feel right doing away with it.

Welp, hope everyone has a good Sunday!

Cook Day

It’s Saturday again, which is complete awesomeness. I don’t really have much to say except Farmer’s Market, and cooking!

Today the Menu consists of …

Arugula Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

Grilled Tofu with Apricot and Lavender Chutney

Sauteed Summer Squash with Garlic and Basil

Grilled Chinese broccoli

Olallieberry Cobbler ( If I can find olallieberry’s )

You will have to check my other blog on how it turns out though

www.amberhaas.com

Home Sweet Home

Had a great visit with my grandparents and other old friends down Southern California, but it is good to be home. I can’t wait to get back to cooking and be able to find any organic product I am looking for at the grocery store.

Today is also Friday so it’s time to party for the three day weekend…well everyday is a party for me but if you actually have a job and a life you should be expecting an awesome 3 days off. So what do you plan to do with the highly anticipated Memorial Day weekend? Grilling up anything good?

Veggies and Observations

I can't wait to get home. I have an 8 hour drive ahead of me. I can't wait to get back to cooking and blogging on an actual computer. I can't read any blogs on this thing either so I feel like I am totally out of the loop!

This trip has seemed to be full of life lessons. I have learned a lot of things just through observation.

It has also been kind of funny to see how curious people are about what it means to be a vegetarian. After It is announced that I am a vegetarian thd first question that always follows is "do you eat fish?" no my friends vegetarians do not eat fish...or chicken..or ham, or beef, or any other sort of flesh from a living being. Then of course I am completely bombarded with other questions like " well what do you eat" "do you eat fruit? Ice cream? Brownies? Bread?" yes people I eat fruit, bread, and junkfood..but only homemade junkfood, I just don't eat meat.

Anyways...hope everyone has a great Thursday!

"Just another day, the same damn thing. I go get the paper and everthing." Those are the wise words of my Grandpa. I get where he is coming from...I mean I do the same thing everyday too..but I do it by choice and I don't see it as a negative thing. I met someone yesterday that just recovered from a freak accident. She has a new lease on life and is one of the most positive persons I have ever met. I can only hope to be and stay as positive as her as I get older. I think being positive is underrated. I mean, who doesn't like to be around a positive person? ( unless they are positively annoying). Of course you still have to be realistic but there is always something positive to think about.

So on that note...think positive today!

Fresh and Sleezy

It is crazy how much different the culture is around here. Especially the food culture. I was getting to comfortable up in northern CA thinking that the majority of people are aware of eating locally, organically, and nutritiously. The grocery stores really cater to the natural food foodies up north. But down here finding anything organic is like finding a needle in a hay stack. In a way it could be seen as a good thing because it let's you know that stores really do pay attention to what you purchase. So if there is ever an organic movement down here it could be pretty powerful...unfortunately the culture here is not really looking to buy organic or even hear much about it. I think this city needs the power of Jamie Oliver.

Sunday evening after arriving in pico Rivera I had to search for some frozen fruit for my morning bowl of oatmeal. ( if you know me, you know I am super anal about my breakfast. I even brought my own bowl and spoon.) not only was it hard to even find a grocery store but the place we stopped at called Fresh and Easy was a complete joke. Nothing pisses me off more than brands or stores that deceive people into thinking that they are buying something healthy. There is more packaged and highly processed foods in that store than you could possibly dream of. The sad part is that they are a hit down here and people really do believe it is fresh and...easy. Easy? Perhaps. But fresh? No way. They even Make sure to hand out brown plastic bags to give the illusion that they are more natural and eco friendly. For real ya'll there produce is the saddest looking fruit I have ever seen. I hate deceiving stores like this with such a passion that I spent an hour trying to type this with my wee thumbs on my blackberry. I feel so sad for the people here. Where you at Jamie?