I know a lot of vegetarians do not like to eat out at restaurants. I am definitely one of those people. I am very picky when it comes to what I eat and I find myself second guessing and questioning exactly what may have touched my food. I know it says it has all vegetables on it, but how do I know if the guy that is cutting up my carrots didn’t just cut up chicken?

It freaks me out a bit and to be honest turns me off eating anywhere where I cannot see the food prepared in front of  me. That is why I like cooking my own food

I love hibatchi because I can see everything cooking in front of me, and I see they start on a clean surface. When you are a vegetarian at hibatchi, 100% of the time they will prepare your tofu and veggies before hand, so you have your food way before the chicken ever touches the grill.

What are your feelings?

Lentils

I have recently become obsessed with lentils.

Lentil soup mostly! Delicious and definitely good for you.

I was always a little turned off by legumes, beans, and the such. But I have definitely grown up a bit, and I love them.

With a 10-30 minute cooking time, lentils can be added to any recipe!

“With about 30% of their calories from protein, lentils have the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any legume or nut, after soybeans and hemp.” – Wikipedia

Lentil quick facts:

• a good source of iron
• contain vitamins and minerals
• when mixed with grain, they give you a good portion of the days required protein
• Lentil soup is recognized as a highly nutritious, particularly good source of protein, dietary fiber, iron and potassium.

I yoinked a quick recipe from http://www.thecleaneatingmama.com

which can be found here.

Hearty Vegan Lentil Soup

• 2 cups lentils, rinsed and looked over
• 6-8 cups of vegetable stock or water
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 2 cups of chopped yellow potatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped or tablespoon of garlic powder
• 3-4 carrots, chopped
• 3-4 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1-2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Other than being obsessed with lentils, I have been trying to get my taxes done. I would love to get a good $300-$400 back – if I am lucky. I have noticed my blogs rank going up and down too. I wonder what is causing it, other than not posting and losing traffic possibly. I have also been thinking about starting a new blog. No ideas yet, but I know I want to drive traffic quickly to it. I am weary about trying free link building tools, because I am not well versed about them and what benefits they have. But it’s worth a shot!

Trying to get this blog back on track

So my brother gifted his girlfriend a fondue set for Christmas. So naturally that meant, FONDUE PARTY!  Laura just moved into a new apartment with her mom and she decided to have a house warming/fondue party together. I definitely had a great time! We got there a little before the football and hockey games were on so we were able to drink a little/a lot of wine beforehand! Laura made orzo with mozzerella cheese and basil, and steak tips for an appetizer. I didn’t eat the steak of course, but the orzo was vegetarian and it was tasty! It was all prepared and cooked very fast, so in no time the cheese was cooking and ready for eats. I looked at the recipe that Laura used and it incorporated a little beer, and less milk. So it was more of a beer batter type cheese instead of milky/dairy cheese.

The base of the cheese was mostly cheddar and Monterrey, nothing fancy like Gouda or one of those expensive German cheeses. Once people started to dig in, the cheese didn’t keep a proper consistancy but it was still flavorful. Hey, it was her first time, no one is perfect. We learn from our mistakes! There were veggies like broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for dipping. She also had pretzels and bread. For dessert, of course there was melted chocolate. With bananas, oreos, apples, brownies, rice krispy treats and marshmallows to dip in. The chocolate was really good, but of course very sweet.

Cheese Fondue!

Dessert!

It was her first one, but there will be more fondue to come! I suggested trying out some other kinds of cheeses next time, a variety would be awesome! And white chocolate is my favorite, so I would be so excited for that!

I feel as if the gift that the Goog has given me should inspire me to do something more with this blog.

I kind of want to make it more than a cooking blog. I have more to say and more to put out there.

After my BlogWorldLA excursion, I sort of have a new outlook on some things.

I want to take this experience and apply it all aspects of my life.

As I type this blog post, I am annoyed by my sticking broken space bar. But I am happy with the Noel Gallagher album playing in the background, the great conversations I am having with friends and the nice smelling shampoo I just used.

So here’s to new beginnings! Cheers!

During my trip to LA, I ate at fabulous shabu shabu place in downtown LA called Yojie.

My coworker Melissa and I shared a pitcher (haha, no kidding) of delicious sake sangria.

She did the salmon and steak shabu shabu.

I got the vegetarian sukiyaki. But I did not document this food because I didn’t want to get my phone dirty.

But I did get a photo of our evidence of OWNING that sake sangria:

ALMOST GONE!

and the most epic thing evar:

GREEN TEA CHOCOLATE

We dipped bananas, strawberries, rice krispy treats and little red velvet and marble pound cake squares in it.

Pretty much died right there!

—-

I am going to update my blog with other BWELA stuff later! Good night!

Avocado Spinach Panini

Directions

1. Layer avocado slices, tomatoes, onion, and 1/2  cup spinach on each roll. Spray panini with cooking spray.

2. Coat skillet or grill pan with cooking spray, and heat over medium heat. Place panini in pan; weight with smaller-diameter saucepan weighted with 1 or 2 cans. Cook 2 minutes, remove weight, flip panini, replace weight, and cook 1 1/2  to 2 minutes more. (Or cook 4 minutes in panini maker.)

Thanks to Vegetarian Times for this yummy recipe!

What are some recipes that have meat in them that you substitute with a Smart Dog, Boca Burger or MSF Chicken Patty?

Just last night I came up with a really interesting salad.

I fried up a tortilla,

Got some lettuce, corn, salsa, cheddar jack cheese and put it on a plate. On top of the tortilla.

Then I fried up onions, peppers, Smart Hot Dogs.

Placed it on top.

It was awesome!

What are some of your best make shift recipes?

Maybe you have a myriad of ingredients in the fridge, what did you come up with?

Here is a question to those out there.

What are some non-vegetarian products that you would want someone/somewhere to make vegetarian!?

Throw out some ideas!

I went to get Subway yesterday and I was really unsatisfied with my sandwich.

I got a Veggie Delight. And they give you cheese with that, right. So since you aren’t getting meat, you would think they would give you MORE cheese. Since veggies are free, and someone that gets a sandwich with meat on it, is allowed the same amount of veggies as you anyway. So when I am given the same amount, if not LESS cheese than a person getting a meat/cheese sub, you can guess that I was pretty pissed off.

If I am not getting meat on my sub, and you give me less cheese than my friend with a meat/cheese sub, and all I am getting is cheese…well what the hell is that. Subway, you suck. This crap needs to be fixed. I was pretty upset because when I asked for more cheese, I was charged an extra dollar. When I go to Wawa, QuickChek, Quiznos, etc, I am given plenty of cheese and I pay the same amount. I paid for extra cheese and Subway and I still didn’t get the same amount of cheese that I get with Wawa/QuickChek/Quiznos with their normal amount.

Skimpy, Subway, you are skimpy.

Boo!

OK WHOA. I think I should update my blog now.

I really have not been updating at all, which is bad bad bad. But I have good reason. I have been busy.

So I think I should just update a bit with what has been going on. After complaining to QuickChek about their limited vegetarian options, I finally see a new sub flavor.

I had it once, it was pretty good. It is definitely another option when I go there to get a sandwich. I was stuck getting the same thing all the time.

Taken from their site:

6″ Fiesta Vegetarian

Good stuff, all they need now is guacamole!

It was a beautiful week today in the Tri State Area

And I was so happy to be able to make it up to NYC for BlogWorld’s first East Coast Conference.

It was a busy and great week, networking and seeing old friends.

Lots of free wine, laughs and intense talks were had.

It’s always a great time when I go to NYC.

It’s where I need to be.