We always bring our big cast iron skillet when we camp, but we mostly reserve it for tofu scrambles and breakfast taters on the little Coleman stove. We’ve never cooked with the cast iron over an open flame, and neither of us had ever made paella before. So, paella seemed a natural choice, to finally try our hand at high-brow campfire food.

And oh boy, it was. It really really was.




Paella is perfectly suited for campfire cooking, because it’s a one-pot meal that’s actually super easy (but feels really sophisticated). But traditional paella usually includes seafood and sausage. We chose mushrooms and soyrizo to make this vegan gluten-free version, and we couldn’t have been happier with the results. It was so good!

Credit where credit is due — this recipe is very much based on this Artichoke and Poblano Paella from Fresh Off The Grid.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup white rice, dry
2 cups vegetable broth
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2 poblano peppers
1 package cremini mushrooms
1 package soyrizo
1 can artichoke hearts
1/3 cup Tempranillo (or other dry red wine)
pinch of saffron
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste





Instructions
Place the cast iron skillet directly onto the grate over the campfire.

Dice the onion. Add the tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, and begin to sauté the onion.

Dice the poblanos and cremini mushrooms, and peel and crush the garlic. Add the poblano, mushroom, and garlic to the pan, and sauté until the peppers soften. Stir in 1/2 the package of soyrizo.

Add the dry rice and stir continuously for a few minutes. Once the tips of the rice begin to become translucent, add the wine. Stir and continue cooking until the wine has evaporated. Add the broth, saffron, and salt. Stir to combine all the ingredients, then allow the pan to cook undisturbed and uncovered, for 20-30 minutes.

Once the liquid is almost entirely absorbed, stir in the artichoke hearts and the other half of the soyrizo. Make sure to do this while there’s still a bit of moisture in the mix. Once everything is evenly distributed, allow the pan to continue cooking. The crispy socarrat — the best part of paella — will develop over the next few minutes. Listen for the crackling of the rice. Once you can hear it crackling, cook for 2-3 more minutes, then remove from heat.




Scrape scrape scrape and serve! The deliciously crusty bottom is best when it’s piping hot. Enjoy!

♥ ♥ ♥

Recently, I’ve been sharing photos and stories from our week-long spring break road trip adventure (part I here and part II here). It was such an incredible experience, and it really lit a fire inside me! Camping, being outside, wilderness adventures — these are some of my very favorite things. And after a long winter of hunkering down and hibernating inside, nothing feels better than untamed outdoor exploration. We’ve already done a whole other weekend camping trip with Waits, just 2 weeks after we got back from spring break. Our goal is to camp a minimum of once every month through October. *M I N I M U M*

I’m so excited!

And from the feedback I’ve been getting, y’all are just as excited as I am for camping season! I’ve continued to share my camping tips and tricks, outdoor hacks, and firepit recipes on my Instagram stories, and I’ve loved seeing all of your enthusiastic comments.

So here’s another super easy, totally delicious tried-and-true campfire recipe. Personally, I think potatoes are the perfect camping food because they’re filling and comforting after a long day of hiking or swimming or whatever it is your family likes to do in the great outdoors. Taters never fail to satisfy, and this recipe is 100% kid-approved, parent-approved, and even reader-approved. That’s right — I’ve already had a number of readers tell me they’ve made and loved this recipe!

I like to use thin-skinned potatoes, though russets will work just fine. Cut the taters into strips, roughly the size of steak fries.

Spread the potatoes on a large piece of tin foil (I actually double layered it) and add a few spoonfuls of vegan butter (coconut oil or olive oil work too, if you don’t do processed stuff).

Sprinkle the potatoes with a bit of salt and pepper, and a liberal dusting of nutritional yeast. Then, wrap it all up to make a little packet. It should be snug and well sealed.

Set the packet over the campfire. You can put it directly into the flame — you want it to get hot. Potatoes need a lot of heat to cook, so it’s okay to put it right into the flame.

Timing is tough because potatoes can be so finicky. Cook for at least 15 minutes on each side, but you may need to go 15 + minutes more after that. It all depends on the size of the potatoes and the strength of the fire.

And that’s all there is to it!

These pics are all from our camping trip in the Anza Borrego desert, which is when I first Instagrammed this recipe. But we love it so much that we made it again last weekend camping in Ojai. So trust me when I say, this simple, wholesome, no-fuss recipe does not disappoint!

♥ ♥ ♥

One of the most frequent questions was: what do you cook while camping?

So, during the trip, I shared campfire recipes in my Instagram stories. And then people asked me to share them here on the blog as well — so here we go! I think vegan campfire cooking is actually really easy, as long as you keep it simple and stick to what you love.

My family? We love broccoli!



Lay out a large piece of tin foil (I actually double layered it) and spread broccoli on top. Add a few cloves of rough-chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Tuck a few slices of lemon in there for good measure.



Wrap it all up to make a sort of tin foil tube. You don’t want it too tight since the goal is to let it steam. But it should be sealed.



Set it over the campfire. You can put it directly into the flame — don’t worry! It needs to get hot. Leave it for 8 minutes, then flip it and let it go 8 minutes more.



And that’s it! Unwrap the foil (be careful of that steam escaping) and you’re good to go. It’s so easy, but seriously delicious.

We served ours with traditional camping fare. It was perfect.



♥ ♥ ♥

I’m posting it! After “recipe testing” with Waits every Christmas Eve for the past five years, we’ve perfected our gluten-free vegan Meyer Lemon Loaf. And so now, for this Christmas Eve, we finally get to share it!

This wintery citrus treat has become one of my favorite Christmas traditions. We use meyers from our own miniature tree (the one I used to keep in our living room and pollinate with paint brushes when we lived in Portland!), and we spend the evening before Christmas listening to music and making a lovely lemon loaf. But it’s taken a few years (4 Christmas Eve’s, to be exact) to perfect the recipe. Gluten free and vegan can be pretty dang finicky.

You can see our progress in last year’s (2016) Christmas post. I didn’t post about Christmas in 2015, since that was the thick of grad school + wine bar, so blogging was pretty sparse back then. But the lemon loaf showed up in my Christmas photos from the year before (2014) and this little Le Love List the year before that (2013).

So yeah, this recipe has been a long time coming. And I’m so happy to finally share this special tradition, from our Christmas kitchen to yours.

Ingredients
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Biscuit and Bread Mix (you could use another gluten free mix, but I think this one works best)
1 cup evaporated cane juice
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chia seeds
1 1/4 cups plant milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tablespoon meyer lemon zest
1/3 cup meyer lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Lemon Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons meyer lemon juice
1 tablespoon meyer lemon zest

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375º and grease a loaf pan (I like to use coconut oil).

Zest and then juice 3-4 meyer lemons.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: gluten-free flour, evaporated cane juice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chia seeds. Once thoroughly mixed, make a “well” in the center of the dry ingredients.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: plant milk, canola oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the well you made in the dry ingredients, and then quickly stir to form a batter.

Pour the batter into your greased loaf pan, then bake at 375º for 50 minutes. While the loaf is baking, whisk together the ingredients to make the icing. Whisk until completely smooth and then set aside. After 50 minutes, check with a toothpick to make sure the loaf is cooked all the way through (the toothpick should come out clean). Ovens vary so you may need another 5-15 more minutes.

Allow the loaf to cool completely before icing. I usually make the loaf and the icing the night before, and then drizzle the icing over the loaf right before serving.

We serve this Meyer Lemon Loaf for breakfast every Christmas morning, but of course it’s not reserved for Christmas only. It would be a perfect tea cake, or could easily be modified into muffins. Meyer lemon is such a unique flavor, and the tart citrus combined with the sweet bread is just delightful. It’s pretty much perfect for any occasion.

Happy Holidays, friends!

♥ ♥ ♥

The inspiration for this recipe came to me rather unexpectedly — from Waits’s teacher! A few Mondays back I was dropping him off at school, and I asked her about her weekend. She told me that she’s made a delicious nasturtium pesto, and I was like “Wait, WHAT??”

I love nasturtium flowers and I eat them every spring: sprinkled in salads and wrapped up in rice paper rolls and even frozen in popsicles. I love eating the flowers, but it never really occurred to me to eat the leaves!




In past years I’ve always foraged for my nasturtiums, because they grow with great gusto around these parts, filling hillsides and creek sides and side yards and pretty much anywhere else they can think to creep.

But this year, sort of on a whim, I actually grew my own. They’re early bloomers and I appreciate a colorful entry into spring. Plus we put up that big beautiful lattice last summer, and it was just begging for some creepy crawly climbing annuals.

So anyway, when I heard “nasturtium pesto” my eyes just it up and I knew I had to veganize it!

When selecting nasturtium leaves for eating, choose the smallest, most tender ones you can find. Nasturtium is quite peppery, like arugula, so taking only the youngest shoots will ensure you don’t get a pesto that tastes “mustardy” or bitter.

If you’re foraging your nasturtium (it’s easy to do so you might as well), always make sure you wash it thoroughly before preparing — especially if it’s growing near a road.




Ingredients:

2 cups nasturtium leaves
1/2 cup avocado (or other neutral) oil
1/3 cup raw green pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
juice from 1/2 a lime
1-4 cloves garlic, to preference
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, to taste

Instructions:

Add all of the ingredients to a food processor or blender. Process the ingredients, stopping every so often to scrape down the sides, until thoroughly combined. You want just a little bit of texture — not too clumpy, but not a paste either.

When the pesto is done, transfer it from the food processor. You can store it in a glass jar in the fridge, where it will last about a week.

Or, you know, devour it immediately.

Enjoy!

♥ ♥ ♥

These days, I feel like I’m straddling two separate worlds. One is the world I’ve been living in for the past 10 years: the hustler lifestyle. It’s a fluid schedule, always-on-call mom, freelancer, grad student, part-timer, small business owner, non-profit worker, HUSTLER.

The other world is the one that I’ve never inhabited before. It’s the calmer, more stable, more traditional world of a daily 9-5. And right now I’m walking the line between those two worlds, between the previous me, and the potential me, with one foot firmly planted on each side.

And who knows how it’s all going to end up?

But anyway, here’s what it looks like these days. A typical Tuesday in this post-graduate, but still-scrambling kinda life.




I feel like I might be getting sick. I feel like I might be getting sick, so in the morning while I’m rushing around getting myself ready for work, getting Waits ready for school, getting both of our lunches packed up and our clothing on and our hair and teeth brushed, I take a second to down a dropperful of my godfather’s homemade elderberry extract. Immune booster!




On the way to school to drop off Waits. I eat coffee for breakfast.




I drop Waits off, say hi to his teacher, kiss him goodbye, and then head out to UCSB. Today it’s the last week before dead week, so parking is a bitch. I have to park out at campus point which is far away, but pretty. It overlooks the lagoon and beyond that, the ocean.

And this is my building. Life Sciences. Back at my old stomping grounds, but no loner a grad student (thank god). These days I’m temporarily filling a position as Academic Coordinator. You can see my office in that pic: top floor, second from the left. Overlooking the ocean . . . not so bad!

I didn’t take any pictures throughout my morning because, well, brand new job has me busy busy busy like a bee. It’s a lot of work to Program Manage an 1,100-student class (the very biggest single course on campus). I scramble around like a madwoman until lunch time.




I retire to my car to eat lunch. Super introvert power! Some days I eat with my coworkers, who are all really awesome people. But today is one of those days that I just need my quiet bubble. I listen to a podcast and gaze out over the freshwater lagoon, where I did some of my research as an undergraduate. Beyond that, the gorgeous Pacific ocean, all clear and sparkling blue. The spring flowers are blooming. I really, really love the UCSB campus.




PIZZA! Jeremy had made pizza the night before, so lunch is leftovers. Gluten-free crust with barbecue sauce, tofu, spinach, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, green onions, and vegan cheese. MMMMMmmm.

On my way back to the office, I swing by the coffee kiosk for an afternoon caffeine refill.




Back at the desk, coffee and computers.




But the view ain’t bad!

At 2:30 I leave — only on Tuesdays mind you — to pick Waits and his best friend up from school. We have a standing afternoon date and nowadays, this is the only school afternoon that I get with Waits. So it means a lot to me.

First things first, we hit Whole Foods for after school snacks.




Besties. They each get a vegan blueberry muffin and a “green” juice. Apple cucumber kale parsley for Waits, and OJ carrot kale for Weston.




And dandelion beet cucumber apple ginger turmeric for me.

From there we head over to one of my garden schools. The boys play on the playground while I tend to the garden and plan the following morning’s lesson. I teach at 9 am Wednesday mornings, starting with K/1 and going all the way up through 6th grade. It’s a lot to plan!




After the garden, we swing by the pickup location to grab our weekly CSA. It’s good this week, with parsnips and beets and apples and avocados (and much more), but no strawberries yet. The boys are eagerly awaiting the return of those. For now, they’ll have to be satisfied with fresh-from-the-earth carrots.




We all eat three carrots apiece by the time we’ve gotten home.

Back at the house, the boys entertain themselves with Waits’s vast Lego collection (no screen time when friends are over), and I busy myself preparing dinner. We’re heading over to a friend’s house for “Taco Tuesday” . . . or “Wine and Whining,” as we like to call it, because although it’s usually on Tuesday, Waits has declared that he no longer likes tacos (blasphemy!!!), so we rarely eat those nowadays.

This week I’m preparing a vegan lasagna, and she’s on salad duty.




Carrots aren’t enough to hold me over:




And the cats are thrilled that I’ve given them the empty CSA box to play with:




Weston’s dad picks him up around 5:30, and Waits and I head out to my girlfriend’s house.

When we arrive, her daughter is having a playdate and her husband isn’t home from work yet. Waits joins the girls to play, and my friend and I . . . well, wine and whining!




(Yes, that’s an ultrasound in the background. Okay, the wine was just for me — she’s abstaining!)

Whine whine whine. Gab gab gab. *discussion of the delicacy of human nature, the minutia of daily existence, hopelessness, happiness, witchcraft and why it matters, and also the best way to keep your damn dyed hair from drying out*




Snacks for our kids. Hummus and cucumbers. (and vintage Voltron lions, a whole complete set belonging to our friends, Waits is officially obsessed)

Around 7, my friend’s husband arrives home, and dinner is served. We all pile our plates high with vegan lasagna and kale salad, and smoosh together around the table for a big ‘ol friends/family dinner.




A legitimately terrible picture of my food. I apologize. But also, I was living very much in this wonderful moment, and I’m sure you understand.

After dinner it was getting late, and I had to get the kiddo home for bath time and bed time. We bid our friends adieu, and made our way back home, where Jeremy was awaiting us after his own very long day at work.




Waits was very happy to see him, and dang if that doesn’t just absolutely melt my heart. *sigh*

But it was time to get that kid cleaned up, since my friend had sent him home with a bowl of frozen blueberries. See??




Oi! What a mess. From there it was bath and teeth and hair and bed, stories and songs and sleepy time for the little mister.

Followed not too long by my own bedtime, because OI. What a day!

♥ ♥ ♥

Sooooo Expo! Expo West is the largest “natural living” trade show in the world; a 4-day extravaganza of healthy food, bath/body/beauty, supplements/wellness, cleaning/home, and any other eco-lifestyle product you can imagine, and it all takes place every March at the Anaheim convention center. It’s a bit of a shangri-la for those of us in the healthy-living community, and it’s always a totally wild, totally overwhelming, totally exciting adventure.

Whenever I go to Expo, I try to think of some creative or clever “angle” for my write-up. Should I forecast future health trends? Focus on new kid-friendly foods? Or maybe, like I was thinking of doing this year, write a think piece on the way that the health community is changing, returning to its crunchy “granola” roots.

But then, I also always feel like that’s kind of not what people really want? Like, on the years that I don’t get to go to Expo and all my friends are there, I’m not posting on social media asking them for their thoughtful analysis of the health and wellness industry. No . . .

I just want food pics! I want to know what’s new and I want to get excited about eating it!!

So this year, for this blog, that’s just what I’m doing. I’m sharing all the super awesome exciting delicious new vegan eats, because there’s a lot of them and it’s raaaaad! No lofty think pieces or fancy-pants analysis. I ate yummy food, and it’s coming soon to a grocers near you! So let me tell you what I loved the very most . . .




So can I just say? Follow Your Heart is KILL. ING. IT.

I grew up on this brand so they will always have a special place in my heart, but in the past few years they’ve completely upped their game with a series of seriously ground-breaking products being released on the regular. I mean, Vegenaise is my all-time favorite vegan mayo, and I love their cheeses – especially their block and sliced cheeses – and their gluten-free bread is the *best*. But apparently that’s only the beginning.




This new line of soy-free yogurts is awesome, and with fun uncommon flavors like piña colada, key lime, and strawberry rhubarb, they totally remind me of those Yoplaits from the 80s that came in a million different flavor combinations. I loved those! And these are the same — super fun and a nice departure from the old standards.




For those of you who already love the VeganEgg, you might be excite to learn that the product will soon be released in a liquid form! Just pour and go, easy peasy.




And the glorious pièce de résistance: ROCKET CAKES! Probably (okay definitely) my favorite new food find from Expo 2017, this is gluten free vegan pancake batter that comes ready to squeeze onto the griddle, just open and pour, no mixing no mess. And they are good.




From a big brand, to a baby brand — this was one of my favorite discoveries in the “New Vendors” exhibit hall. Elmhurst “milked nuts” offers a line of nut milks that are free of the gums, thickeners, emulsifiers, and other additives that are so common in plant-based milks. Each variety (almond, cashew, hazelnut, and walnut mmmm) is just water, nuts, cane sugar, and salt. And they’re sooooo delicious!





So like I said, Vegenaise has long been my favorite vegan mayo, which is why I was always reticent to try Sir Kensington’s Fabanaise, the new kid on the mayo block. But . . . WOW. This stuff is amazing! It uses aquafaba (whipped chickpea liquid), which gives an incredibly light and fluffy texture. Try the chipotle, it’s A++.






And speaking of mayo, the folks at Field Roast/Chao have an expansive new range of products, from Chao mayo and butter, to various mac ‘n cheeses (!!!), to fun frozen meat subs like buffalo tenders and mini corn dogs! Alas, they are gluten-full, so I wasn’t able to try them myself. However, I have it on good authority that the entire line is deeeeelicious.




I’m not one of those pumpkin spice people, but DANG these new cheesecakes were awesome.




Another favorite find from the “New Vendors” hall, these buffalo nut wings are unlike anything I’ve ever tasted and I could eat the whole bag in one sitting. Buffalo walnuts??! Why didn’t I think of that!




And finally, helloooo gluten-free ice cream sandwich cookies from Coconut Bliss! I’m thinking these will become a permanent fixture in my freezer, come summer.

And that’s it! The best of the [Expo] west, in my very humble opinion.

So now I’m curious — what are YOU most excited about? Something I’ve posted here? Something you saw in the flurry of Instagram photos that bloggers were posting from Expo? Or maybe . . . a thoughtful analysis of the health and wellness industry, eh? Lemme know!

How do I get myself into these things? Well, like this: I was dropping Waits off at school one morning, back in early December, and I casually asked his teacher, “Hey, I’m going to Costco this afternoon, is there anything you need?” Because they often need supplies for the classroom, like tissues and wet wipes and stuff. She thought for a second, and then all of a sudden, she got this . . . mischievous sparkle . . . in her eye.

Uh oh.

She smiled really big and she said, “Well actually, if you want to help … well here, let me show you.” And she took me over to her computer and opened up a Pinterest recipe for black bean and butternut empanadas. “You could make these vegan, right? Because we need someone to make food for the Holiday Party, and it would be great if you made vegan food because then Waits would be able to eat it too.”

And that was that. Before I knew what was happening, I was committing to making empanadas, which I had never in my life ever made before. And when I asked her how many, she looked at me, totally deadpan, and replied “Eh, like maybe a hundred?”

GULP.



And so it was that I found myself, literally the day after I turned in my final paper for my Master’s degree, holed up in my kitchen for 5 hours, making empanadas for my kid’s school’s Holiday Party. And honestly? I can’t think of a better way to spend my first day of freedom. Just puttering around in my kitchen, being a mom. I loved it!

And, everyone loved these empanadas.

Before I made them I scoured the internet, and I read a lot of vegan empanada dough recipes, as well as the feedback on those recipes. I couldn’t find one that seemed perfect or foolproof, so I sort of patched together my own, combining what seemed like the most successful elements from the most successful recipes. Here’s what I came up with, and yes — they were a huge success!



Ingredients
3 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (I use Spectrum Vegetable Shortening which is organic, non-hydrogenated, from 100% Columbian palm oil – so no Orangutan issues), at room temperature
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cups water

Instructions
In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add the shortening, using two knives to cut it into the flour until small pebbles form. Then add the apple cider vinegar and water, and use your hands to knead until you get a smooth, firm dough.

Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for at least half an hour, ideally an hour or more.

While the dough is chilling, prepare your empanada filling and preheat the oven to 400º F.

Empanada fillings can be as diverse as your imagination allows! I’ve seen everything from spinach and pesto to pineapple and cinnamon. Savory, sweet, cheezy — it’s really up to you. In this case, the empanadas were for the Winter Holiday Party, so I went with a seasonally appropriate roasted butternut, black beans, caramelized onions, and fresh scallions mix. I didn’t measure anything so I don’t have an exact recipe, but that’s kind of the awesome thing about empanada filling. It’s very forgiving! Just mix up whatever sounds good (next time I’m trying vegan chorizo plus roasted green chilis) and as long as the dough works, it’s almost guaranteed to succeed.

Once you have your filling, remove the dough ball from the fridge. Pinch off a large piece (maybe a quarter of the ball) and roll it out thin on a lightly floured surface. Then, use a cup or a small bowl to cut out round disks from the dough.



Place one disk in your left (or “off” hand) palm, and spoon 1-3 tablespoons (depending on the size of the disk) into the center of the dough. Fold the disk in half to make a semi-circle pocket, using some water if necessary to seal the edge.



There are two ways to seal an empanada: the easier way, “crimped” with a fork, and the more traditional way, called “repulgue.” Repulgue is a technique of folding the dough over itself along the edge to make what looks like a two-strand braid. I figured I’d try it and even though it was my first time, I found it surprisingly quick and easy. There’s a tutorial here if you want some guidance.



Place the sealed empanadas on an unlined baking sheet. Poke each one with a fork to allow steam to escape, and brush the tops with water. Bake at 400º for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.



It took three batches of this dough to make exactly 104 mini empanadas, so this recipe yields roughly 26 small circles, or 12-15 regular-sized ones.

As I said, these were a huge crowd pleaser, and they’re something I’m definitely looking forward to making again. The dough would work well for calzones as well, which is next up on my list. Or sweet hand pies! Mmmm yes, the possibilities are endless.

And in case you were wondering, this is what 5 hours of empanada work looks like. 104 on the nose:




♥ ♥ ♥

8 years.

8 Years is a long time, and these past 8 of mine have been some of the most magnificent, and most harrowing, years of my life. In these 8 years I have loved, and lost, and loved again, I have made a child and built him inside my body, out of my body, out of plants (mostly burritos), and I have been sick and I have been better, I have moved from a home I loved in Portland to a broken home in Santa Barbara, built a new foundation and formed incredible friendships family, watched my little baby boy grow into a bright beautiful firecracker of a creature, his body still built completely of plants (mostly Magic Beans), and I have loved fiercely and I have fought demons, I have hit rock bottom and also, miraculously, I have recovered. And fought onward.

8 years is a really, really long time.

During summer I eat watermelon for breakfast pretty much every day. Big bowls, I mean BIG serving-bowl sized bowls, overflowing with crisp cold perfectly juicy red flesh. It’s one of my greatest pleasures.

On this particular day I had a late-morning appointment, so I set out on foot for a slow stroll to my destination. It was such a lovely August day, all warm and ocean-breezy, everything blooming and vibrant and alive. Quintessential summer.

My walking sunbath nourished me as much as the watermelon did. 8 years in, and I’ve learned that health and wellness go so far beyondsomething as simple as the food we put into our bodies. We need sun and serenity, nature and quiet and connection. Good, plant-based food goes a long way, but optimal health is ultimately a product of the mind.

That’s the greatest thing I’ve learned, 8 years in.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch!

Jeremy was bustling about in the kitchen, getting his food geek on and flexing his creativity which he so rarely gets to do. Preparing for me a feast of a lunch, featuring produce from our garden and flavor pairings unlike any I’ve had before (I love his culinary mind, so different from mine, and so untethered by convention).

When I arrived home, hungry after my meetings and my miles of walking, I was greeted with this:




Mostly raw, but with a protein punch — just the way I like it! This was so amazing and I can’t even begin to describe it. And a beet rosette! A homegrown beet rosette!

Speaking of homegrown beets . . .

After lunch I was able to spend some serious time down in the dirt in my garden, which is my absolute favorite place to be. There was so much to harvest — so much abundance! — and I’ll do a garden update sometime soon. Sunflowers and strawberries and herbs and greens and of course, the beets. My garden is overflowing!

In the evening we both showered and got a bit gussied up, just a bit, and made our way out for a dinner date. We intended to hit our favorite noodle bar but alas, they close early on Mondays! Oh well, we wandered on through downtown Santa Barbara, not really knowing where we were going, but trusting that we would find something good. And with a little of that Veganniversary luck, we struck gold!

We found a recently re-opened Mexican restaurant, with a gorgeous patio and an enticing ambiance. Their new ownership is super open-minded, and their new menu boasts nearly 20 vegetarian entrees! All of which can be made vegan by simple omitting the dairy.

Mmmmm yes.

Our appetizer was house-made chips with guacamole and pico. Also margaritas! And our first course was a roasted beet salad with arugula, apples, and balsamic, and a plate of nachos where each chip had been dipped in house-made adobo.

Epic.

We split this final entree and were so stuffed we couldn’t even finish it. Such a unique and satisfying meal! Gotta love that good Veganniversary juju.

After dinner we made our way back home, a nice long walk on a warm summer night. We talked about our future — about our plans and our dreams. We’re so good at that, Jeremy and I. Always plotting to take over the world!

And we will, I think, in our own little way.

8 years I’ve lived in alignment with my heart, uncompromised in my moral core. It is an incredible gift, and one that I am grateful for every day. Because every day I live my values of empathy and integrity.

8 years down, and the rest of my years to go!

♥ ♥ ♥

Well would I ever!




You guys know that I don’t often take on sponsors (for all kinds of reasons), but a love of mason jars + all things preserving? Well yeah, that’s something I can whole-heartedly get behind! Can-It-Forward Day is all about celebrating the bounty of the season, and it’s happening tomorrow, this Friday July 22nd. There will be Facebook Live demos and Twitter parties and tons of info, so tune in here for more on that!




In honor of the project, I received a copy of The All New Ball Book Of Canning & Preserving. So of course, I immediately flipped to the section on fermented foods! As you guys know, I’m an avid lover of all things cultured, and I was eager to see what sort of exciting new ideas this book had to offer. There’s an easily-veganizable Worcestershire sauce that caught my eye, and a fermented Harissa hot sauce that looks absolutely amazing. But then! Serendipity! I came across a recipe for a Ginger Bug.

I’ve been dying to try my hand at making my own Ginger Bug ever since I saw Bianca from Vegan Crunk do a demo last year at Vida Vegan Con. So when I saw the recipe here, I knew I had to try it!




Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar (organic is best), divided
1/3 cup grated unpeeled fresh organic ginger **use only organic ginger in this recipe! non-organic ginger has been irradiated and does not carry the natural yeasts and bacteria essential for fermentation
3 1/2 cups non-chlorinated water or spring water

Instructions:
You’ll need a 1-qt canning jar, measuring spoons, a small grater or microplane, and cheesecloth or a coffee filter.

Combine 2 yablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of grated ginger in the 1-qt canning jar, and then cover with the 3 1/2 cups of water. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Cover the jar with the cheesecloth or coffee filter, secured with a rubber band, and set aside in a cool place out of direct sunlight.





Each day for the next three days, add 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon ginger, stirring and then re-covering with the cheesecloth.

On the fourth day, remove the cheesecloth and loosely apply the canning jar lid. Each day for the next four days, add 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon ginger, stirring and then re-covering with the lid. The mixture will become very bubbly, at which point you can transfer it to the refrigerator for storage.




Lots of ginger at the bottom of the jar, and a cloudiness to the liquid, by the end of the process.

Use your Ginger Bug within 2 weeks of transferring it to the fridge. Or, you can re-activate it to keep it growing by bringing it back to room temperature and continuing to feed it for a few days as described above. Like a sourdough starter, you should be able to keep your Ginger Bug alive indefinitely this way.

You can use your Ginger Bug to make all manner of home-fermented sodas and herbal brews. Its got all the probiotic goodness of other cultured foods, and it’s absolutely delicious.

But as for Jeremy and I? Well . . . we made cocktails of course! Because that’s what you do when barware is your business.





Moscow Mules with Ginger Bug soda, hibiscus-infused agave, and homegrown mint. Garnished with my beautiful Bachelor Buttons which are growing like mad all over my yard (and they’re edible, too!).

Don’t forget, tomorrow, Friday July 22, is international Can-It-Forward Day! You can sign up and get tons of info on the Pledge Page. Also, tune in to the Facebook page for Facebook Live demos all day long, or check out the Twitter party and ask any and all canning questions throughout the day on the @BallCanning Twitter handle, by using the hashtag #canitforward.

Hope to see you there!

♥