WTF do I BBQ?

Today was so beautiful. Perfect enough weather to make you wish you lived outside. This is the time that it feels painful to tear yourself away long enough to make a meal. The neighborhood fills up with the delicious smells of.....bbqd animals. Sad face. The smell takes you right to family and holidays and warm summer days and happiness *siiiiigh*. So what is a hungry girl to do on days like this? Throw something bad ass on the grill!

I'm going to be honest with you. I don't think this picture says bad ass as much as I'd hoped.

Not having any buns turned dinner into salady bliss instead. I hate to admit how much I love salads- it's such a vegan cliche. Plus restaurants can't seem to get the hint that we like to eat more than that. When I make a salad, I make a SALAD. Thumbs way down for iceberg and cucumber with italian dressing. To qualify as a salad to me, it  must be able to be described as one or more of the following: huge, beefy (as in fill my tummy to explosion), loved up, bursting, just picked or raw . I also like to use my Vitamix. A lot. So this meal combined a whole lot of my favorite things. I'm going to do you a solid in two ways. First, I'm going to give you my recipe. Second, I'm going to teach you how to cut an avocado so that people from Texas won't laugh at you.

Christina's BBQ Portobello salad

Infused with happiness and belly rubs

4 Portobello Caps, washed and trimmed. Pat dry and rub with olive oil and steak/mesquite bbq rub.
1 zucchini, cut in strips lengthwise. Put on a plate and add about 1 tbs olive oil, 1tbs balsamic and salt.
1 carrot julienned, or sliced thin
1 avocado, halved. 1/4 reserved for salad dressing.

Grill portobellos until they are slightly charred on the edges, and soft/cooked throughout. The zucchini don't take as long, and are a good place to practice making fancy grill marks! Set aside until you're ready with the rest of your ingredients.

      Living in Texas became the first time I regularly cooked with friends. The first time I prepared an avocado, they laughed hysterically at their little Canadian. While I still maintain that they're jerks, it's more effective so I'll pass it on-they don't mess around with avocados!
First, you have to pick a good avocado. They usually ripen up really nicely in a sunny window after only a day or two. If you want to eat it tonight, look for one that is quite soft, but not squishy and usually brownish in colour. Once you've got an avocado in your possession, you'll cut it in half lengthwise. From there, open it up and take out the seed in the middle.

Don't make me cut you!

Use a pairing knife and make slices from top to bottom, taking extra care to not stab through the skin and revoke the vegan status of this meal.Then crosshatch so it's in a nice dicey pattern.

 From here just scoop out your avocado out with a spoon. Now it's time to dress this thing!

Dijon Maple Dressing

1/4 an avocado
1 tbs dijon mustard
1 tbs maple syrup
1 tbs braggs/tamari/soy sauce
1 clove garlic
1 tsp balsamic/red wine/apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water

Blend to perfection! Layer greens, raw veggies, grilled veggies and dressing. Best enjoyed while sitting on a chair in the sunshine.

How I'm messing up my children today.

Today is Mini's third birthday! Another day, another opportunity to mess up my kids by being a weirdo. Preparations for her birthday went as follows:

-Make avocado chocolate frosting for birthday cake
-Make hummus in the Vitamix
-Wrap birthday presents in discarded packaging paper (also known as trash to other people LOL!)
Last year I told everyone to skip gifts and instead give her something from around the that house they no longer used. At least I didn't do that, but for the record it turned into a huge success. Because I promised more things you could actually make, here's the recipe (ish) for avocado chocolate frosting which would also be a bad ass pudding.

Avocado chocolate frosting

-Two very ripe avocados

-1 tbs or more cocoa powder

-a handful of dates

-a few tbs of water. More or less to get the consistancy you desire

-1 tbs of coconut oil (This will make it set firm once you refrigerate, I didn't have any today and it was just fine)

 Combine all ingredients in a vitamix. If you don't have a vitamix, blend for three hours :D. I know this sounds weird, but is really delicious and you'd never guess it's got a vegetable base. At least I didn't top it with breastmilk ice cream.