Pin It Summah Time And the Livin' Is Easy

Grill, baby, grill!

This summer has been all about grillin'. What an easy and pretty healthy way to enjoy a meal on our brand new deck. The Deck has been more enjoyable than this ex-big city dweller could ever had imagined. What a pleasure!

What have we grilled you say? Everything!

Organics to you comes in on Tues afternoon and I marinate it and Mr. V pops it on the grill.

-Asparagus
-Zucchini
-Spring onions
-'shrooms

etc!

Tofu has really been the MVP tho. Just get the super extra firm kind and it is just amazing. Top a spinach salad with it and you got yourself an amazing, filling, summer meal.

Marinade is easy:

Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Tamari (opt.)
Finely chopped garlic (opt. but DELISH (see below))
Agave syrup -- drizzled (opt.)
salt
pepper
Old Bay Seasoning

BE GENEROUS and just dump all this up on there. Ain't an exact science. The longer the better for marinating time.

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Verde Vegan

Tonight I threw together an Italian dish inspired by a recipe in Real Simple magazine this month. I love this mag! I got it for $5 for a year subscription on Amazon. It has so many helpful tips, and quick recipes. This recipe is so easy, I won't type out the measurements and all. All you have to do is boil up some linguine while you sizzle some garlic in olive oil in a pan. Then you add chopped bite-sized pieces of asparagus and saute until almost done. Then add chopped fresh spinach. When pasta is done, drain and return to its pot. Mix in asparagus/spinach/garlic mixture and add some garlic salt and red pepper flakes. Voila! I also steamed an artichoke that we picked at as a side dish. Sometimes I make dinner into WAY too much of a production. Who has the energy every night? Throwing something like this together made me realize that dinner can be cheap and easy if I just keep it Simple. Real simple. Hhahahahahaha!

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Well well, we had quite the traditional Thanksgiving day over here...if Asian food is your traditional Thanksgiving!!! And I bet it's NOT! I guess if you're not eating turkey, nor seeing your family, and you and your spouse are lazy and busy with an infant, it makes sense that we ended eating a few Asian appetizers for the Day Upon Which We Give Thanks.

So, I made a couple of Korean dishes that I love, and one very interesting take on a traditional Thanksgiving appetizer, courtesy of Veganomicon {a book I don't (but need) to have!}


This spinach salad was really good. The only alterations I made is that I salted the boiling water, and I left the spinach in a tad longer than indication. Also I toasted the sesame seeds before using. This is one of my favorite Korean appetizers and I was so happy to make it myself!

This cucumber salad is so refreshing and delicious. Alterations is that I doubled the recipe, I cut the cucumbers into half moons by cutting it lengthwise and scooping out the seeds and then chopping each half. I didn't use cilantro because I despise the stuff in general. I marinated in the fridge for a while before adding sesame seeds. And I added a dash of sesame oil to taste.

The piece de resistance was truly the panko stuffed mushrooms. I've had some panko breadcrumbs in my cupboard for a while now so it was a perfect way to use them. I didn't use much daikon but it didn't matter -- this was really a treat! I probably could have cooked the mushrooms a bit longer but I thought the stuffing was getting dried out/burnt. If I was less distracted I would have tested to make sure. Oh, and I used red pepper flakes instead of white pepper and it was fine, with a nice tiny kick.

Next year we'll do the usual. Having a baby and no family for thousands of miles has sure shook things up a bit. But next year Baby V will be more aware, and I like the traditions because they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside -- turkey corpse be damned.