I'm feeling Fall.

Yesterday was a great day. I spent all of my day with the wonderful girlfriend. We went out to breakfast at Poor Boy's, a diner down the street from my house. I cheated a little and had eggs benny, which I've been dying to have for weeks now. I figured I would redeem myself later with eating a healthy lunch and dinner. We went to four different, beautiful farms around the area and picked apples and pumpkins. It's something I've been dying to do since Autumn came around. I love the fall. It's such a beautiful time when the leaves start changing and the colors of New England really start showing. I know it sounds ultra cheesy, but it was a romantic day. Picking apples with my girlfriend and holding hands while we walk around the farms is my kind of Sunday. We got the biggest pumpkins we could find, but she was feeling a little under the weather, so we opted out of carving them last night and did them today instead. I also made delicious pumpkin seeds, which is really easy to do. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet coated with olive oil or earth balance butter. I did some experimenting with the flavoring which was one section topped with cayane pepper (Brittany thought these were delicious, but the brother and cousin did not), one section was regular sea salt, one section was the sweet and salty (sea salt and raw sugar), one was maple (I used straight up maple syrup) and one section was brown sugar. I topped them all with a bit of olive oil and baked them under the broiler for about 10 minutes. Make sure you don't put them too close to the broiler coil because they will burn fast. I made sure to check them a few times and rotate the pan once so they didn't burn too fast.

I'm also in the process of making some homemade apple crisp, something I would say is my specialty. I first created it almost two years ago in a health class I was taking in high school and perfected the recipe to my liking.

Taylor's Perfect Apple Crisp (Vegan Friendly)
1 1/3 Cup Flour
1 Cup Oats
3/4 tsp. cinnamon, mixed with 1/4 tsp. sugar (if you are from NH and you've heard of Camp Mix Spices, they make an amazing tasting apple cinnamon spice that you can use 1 tbsp of in place of this)
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional, because some people don't like the taste of this)
1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 Cup Earth Balance Butter
4-5 apples, peeled and sliced into cubes*
*I always use different types of apples because it gives it an original taste, but people tend to like Grannysmith, Gala, or Courtland for this type of baked good. If you aren't familiar with apples, I would suggest against a Red Delicious, because those have a weird texture when baked and the McIntosh, because those become way too mushy. You can check out the Cook's Thesaurus' apple section to find out if your favorite apple is good for baking.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and butter well. (this is crutial because if you don't mix the butter well, there will be parts of the crisp that are too liquidy)
Take 9x13 glass baking dish and pack half the mixture on bottom
Take cut apples and distribute over mixture into evenly dish
Add rest of mixture on top of apples (optional: if you want to add a crumbly topping, mix cinnamon sugar with some butter and mix very well and sprinkle on top)
Cook for 30-40 minutes, depending on what type of apples you use. You will be able to tell it's done by the looks of the crisp, not apples.
Let cool for 5 minutes and serve on top of Vanilla Soy Delicious ice cream!

Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

ChubbyGirlT

It's been a while...

But I'm still alive. I have been so busy lately with starting my new job, continuing to work at the salon, working out and trying to get down time to be with my girlfriend. It's been hectic, but I've been doing fair with eating right and working out. I haven't stayed on schedule with working out, which I'm a tad upset about, but it'll come back to me. Getting used to waking up at 6:30 am is a challenge. I also start school again Oct 19, but I'm going back for nights. I'm pretty excited because I have to admit, I missed it. I've been crazy looking for creative, healthy recipes and I'm leaning towards the more vegan side of things. I haven't been going crazy with the vegan diet, but I love checking out the alternative to meats and cheese. It actually makes me feel a ton better. I made up this delicious buffalo tofu wrap recipe that my friends and girlfriend were a pretty big fan of.

Taylor's Buffalo "Chicken" Wrap

1 block extra firm tofu, drained and pressed

1 cup of your favorite buffalo wing sauce

2 tsp. honey

tortilla wraps

red peppers, chopped

onion, chopped into small pieces

shredded mexican blend or cheddar imitation cheese

Drain and press tofu (if you have never cooked tofu, click here to find out how to press)

Let sit for 15 minutes

Cut up tofu into small blocks

Mix 1-1 1/2 cups of buffalo wing sauce with honey and put tofu in to marinate for about 1 hour in fridge

After marinating, get a frying pan and coat with olive oil.

Cook tofu in frying pan on medium low heat, keep constant movement on tofu so it won't stick to bottom of pan

Tofu will be cooked when it starts to get brownish around the edges

Add red peppers and chopped onions

Serve with cheddar "cheese" on a tortilla

*I just put my stir fry on half the tortilla and folded the other half over, and stuck them in the oven for a few minutes under the broiler.

Hope you guys enjoy this delicious vegan meal. It's great for a quick lunch or you can turn it into a casual dinner.

I am also going to make an effort to write more blogs. I've been cooking alot lately, so I'll be putting up recipes and letting you know if they are a pass or fail. I think this is a pass and everyone that tried it gave it 4 stars.

I'm planning some baked ziti, not sure yet if I'm going vegan with this one. But I did find a wonderful blog, who has adorable photos on her page of her cute kids and she's got some GREAT!! vegan recipes and all the stuff you love to hear when you are a vegan. Your Vegan Mom, check her out.

Happy Vegan Eating.

ChubbyGirlT

[EDIT: I also updated my weight ticker! 5lbs lost ladies and gents. (:]