Pesto potato salad and baguette sandwiches on a beach

Oh man, one of my favorite things about summer is fresh basil. I frequently fight the urge to pick it off the plant and rub it all over my body. I'd smell like a combo of summer and Italian food. It doesn't get any better than that. Today for a beach picnic,

I used up the pesto from this dinner to make a fab potato salad that reeked of basil and awesome.

Potato Salad on the Beach

2 pounds potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces and boiled until done.
1 pound green beans, lightly steamed in bite sized pieces
1 cup small tomatoes,quartered
1/2 cucumber, dices
1/2 cup leftover pesto
1/2 cup vegan mayo

Combine all ingredients except pesto and mayo in a large bowl. Add pesto and mayo in a separate bowl, and then toss to coat your salad. Cool until ready to eat.

I was also inspired by another friend's "best picnic ever", which involved baguettes in France. While I don't have the exotic locale, I do have a baguette and a competitive spirit that makes me want to win every "best ever" contest ever held. So I also made these sandwiches with fried tofu.

Bad Ass Beach Baguettes

1/2 whole wheat baguette
Hummus for spreading
1/2 cucumber, sliced as thin as you can
1/2 avocado, sliced thin
Fried Tofu
Handful of greens
2 tbs of whatever dressing you have in your fridge. I had miso cashew.

Cut baguette in half, spread both sides with hummus, and add your remaining ingredients. Wrap it up all pretty to impress your friends with your skillz.

Most enjoyable when eaten on a sunny day with friends overlooking an embarrassingly polluted great lake.

Kingston Food Fest=Disappointment fest. Good thing I can cook!

I knew it was going to suck before it did.

The weird cow you can milk. A sign of things to come.

 Any time there is any kind of "fest" though, in particular when it promises food, I just can't stay away. What if there was some lovely little booth full of vegan options? What if no one went there and they didn't come back next year? I had to go just in case. Turns out the reality was much worse than I could have imagined. Not only were there abysmal vegan options, for a city who claims to be "a foodie's heaven on earth" the choices were pretty poor in general. Perhaps I missed the great local flavours by arriving within two hours of closing, but for the most part, the choices were all national/international chain restaurants. Laaaaame. Way to showcase our local flavour with restaurants you can get in any city in Canada *slow golf clap*. I bought ten dollars worth of tickets, which I had a stupid hard time spending. I had salsa and a fruit cup, and a gigantic water bottle filled with painfully sweet lemonade.


Good thing I wasn't counting on satisfaction. Or a meal.

 Sigh. And then, the heavens opened up and out came Tandoori Sizzle. This is the Indian take out place by my house that I *love*. I went there once after the world's most expensive grocery trip and had $9 to feed three people. While I maintain you get enough food to share, the owner would *not* let that happen and gave us a feast for $9. It was so kindhearted and thoughtful.

Anyways, here they were to save me again! With Samosas! The line up was unreal, probably because this was the only local/different thing there. From Tandoori Sizzle, my day just went uphill. Next up- I bought myself A NEW FOOD PROCESSOR. My other one got smashed and I needed an upgrade. A food processor is essential for raw food deserts, nut cheeses, hummus, pesto and many other delicious things. I love kitchen gadgets like nothing else, so any time I bring home a new major player it's like having a new baby.

Say hello to your new baby sister, Vitamix. I love you the same, but different.

Since I didn't have exactly $400 to buy the Kitchen Aid of my dreams, this fine Hamilton Beach will be the processor of my now until the dreams come true. But wait! Have a look at the french description. Robot Culinaire.

This beast is not just a food processor, it is now officially my Culinary Robot. OUI!
I also got a trip to the farmer's market as a consolation prize for being downtown on a Saturday, so I had the freshest produce in town to play with.

Basil, carrots and a free(and awesome) restaurant guide to Kingston. Score!

It was time for me and my new Culinary Robot to make some magic. Pesto! My dinner guest for this evening was Deb(one of the funniest girls I know) who, thanks to a big promotion, is no longer my boss. Woo hoo, lets ditch the professionalism! With booze!

So close to becoming a rap video.

 After an embarrassing muscle fail,

If you don't open soon, shit's gonna get real.

it was time for picking dinner. Green beans from my garden....look at us all homesteady and shit.

For our luscious dinner tonight we had Roast vegetable pasta with basil-cilantro pesto,, , garlic bread, and these green beans that are out of control delicious. OUT OF CONTROL!!!

And because carb on carb on carb isn't quite enough, chocolate chip pecan cookies for dessert.

Not even kidding, I had 27 of these.

At this point, it's time for cards. This is my nerdy secret. I love cards. I love shuffling, I love  trash talking (clearly) and more than anything I like winning. So when you dine at my house, the unofficial initiation is beating me at cards. I won't tell you this at the time, but if you can't beat me at Speed at least once without me letting you, you won't be invited back. Turns out Deb is a shark, because bitch smoked me right from the start. I let her have her sitting ovation for awesomeness.

Next time I won't let you win.

 Just this once.

Vegan picnic in paradise (Who would have thought Wolfe Island?)

New adventures abound! My English friend Sally invited me to spend the day with her family at their cabin/mansion on Wolfe Island. If you're anywhere near Kingston, Ontario-Wolfe Island is a perfect day trip on a free ferry!

When travelling with children, you should consider hiring a sherpa to carry all the junk you need to get them happy throughout the day.

Unintentional product placement.

I was unable to locate one for this trip and instead looked like I was on a backpacking trip through Europe. Totally worth it for the good times about to unfold. Their beautiful house is right on the water, and is the perfect place for both epic fun and random yoga bombs.

This is what triangle post on Wolfe Island looks like.

Sal doing the prerequisite "what will you do to be on my blog" shot.

Sucker. Taking pictures and doing yoga is hard work. This meant it was time to refuel. Though it's almost always time for me to refuel. Feed me! Today was no ordinary lunch. We had a vegan(though they aren't) FEAST on their private island! I got to prepare it in the kitchen of my dreams overlooking the water. It even has my dream gas stove. In their cabin. I like to stand over it and weep. Despite the fact that I don't get to keep the kitchen, I still feel fortunate to even get to use it. My contribution to this potluck was portobello mushroom fajitas with cilantro sour creme (just sub the chipotle for 2 tbs of minced cilantro that you'll add after everything is blended) and avocado (the weird looking thing in plastic wrap.)

Christina's F-Bomb Fajitas

4 portobello mushrooms
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs meat rub (I like Costco's sweet mesquite)
2 tbs coconut oil
1/8-1/4 cup dry white wine (red also works, just with a bit different flavour.)
Juice of one lemon
1 tbs mesquite seasoning (failing that, a mix of salt, cumin, chili powder and cayenne works well)

Drizzle washed mushrooms with olive oil, and use your hands to get into the nooks and crannies. Sprinkle first portion of rub, and massage into your shrooms. Set aside for about 30 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients and heat your BBQ. Cook until tender and not charred to death. Set aside. Once cool, slice. In the meantime, heat your pan and melt coconut oil. Cook onions until they're about halfway done (not quite translucent)and then add your minced garlic. Saute for another minute, and add the peppers. Once your veggies are about 5 minutes from tender-add the portobellos back to the pan, in addition with the remaining ingredients. Cook until everything is tender, taste and adjust seasonings.

Also featured were artisan PB and J sandwiches, homemade pickles, tomato salad, and garden salad. Oh baby!

From there we watched huge cargo ships pass by and tried not to get epically sunburned. Mini practiced her skills on the water, which clearly involved being fancy. For those getting picky about the irony of  fishing during vegan lunch, you'll be happy to know that vegans don't fish-we weed :D

The only thing about Wolfe Island is that the ferry fills up quickly in the summer, so catching it back is always 30 panicked minutes rounding up your junk and hauling ass to get in line. Our hustle paid off, because it gave me time to enjoy the view and take random pictures.

Yuhuh. And then look who I got to make friends with!

Awesome. If your day doesn't end with a turtle, then it can't really can't be "the best day ever". So thanks to Sal for the good times and to Wolfe Island for being a pretty fabulous place to spend a gorgeous summer day. Go check it out for yourself, and remember that Kingston is waiting right where you left it.

Thanks for the gorgeous photo Shannon!

Shit hippies like: D.I.Y. Haircuts

My hair is currently one of my most prized possessions. I get to wear on my head a reminder that out of one of the worst things that ever happened, came one of the best things that ever happened. So it went down like this. The day after this picture was taken,

I kiss my sweet slumbering son awake only to be two inches from the biggest infestation of lice the world has ever known. On my pillow. In my bed. After we had just spent two hours cuddling head to head.*Insert a word so bad I won't even post it*. So I call the Dr. It isn't something they treat. I call a hairdresser. Like hell will they come within 20 feet of my house. This calls for the mother of all D.I.Y jobs. We all had glorious long hair, and since I'm a hippie and won't put chemical death on myself or my family-we were going to have to do this the long way. This meant torturous hours of wearing a cap of vegan mayo on a hot day, tea tree oil shampoo and the agonizing process of painstaking combing that would go on for weeks. Cut that shit off! So thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I got a basic tutorial on how to cut off the long hair that I've had all my life. And went from this

to this.

And they went from this,

to this.....

And this...

I realize this isn't a shining example of awesome. It was almost physically painful getting near hair with so much lice, so it was a hack job. I've since improved.

Booya, I just saved $130! So it turns out I'm actually awesome at cutting hair! 90% of the time I like it more than any hairdresser has ever done and I get exactly what I want! Plus I can change it whenever I like. Though the back is often a group effort(there've been a few hot messes to date), as I can't see what the hell I'm doing. Hippies like saving money. Hippies like doing things themselves. Hippies love a chance to say "screw you man, I'm going off the grid". So that's what I've done with my hair. I get compliments on it all the time, even from hairdressers. Yeah, I did that shit myself!

More adventures feeding Omnivores

Tonight my dinner guest was my fabulous German friend, Sunny. I met her at the gym I work at and loved that she's always wearing yellow! Matching your clothes to your name=winning. Sunny is a music therapist and was in charge of the tunes while I supplied the culinary magic. Sometimes Germans have amazing taste (hello electronic music) and sometimes questionable taste (David Hasselhoff anyone?). This was displayed beautifully by the Macarena and Chicken Dance sandwiched in between other amazing music that didn't make your ears bleed :D. Germans also have a reputation for a serious love afair with meat, so I was a bit nervous about the response to vegan food. For our culinary delight, we had Chickpea and Spinich curry from Vegan with a vengance.

I realize this doesn't look that awesome. Lighting was poor and curry is hard to make look pretty.

 For the second round, I made avocado chocolate mousse on fresh local strawberries.

Here's a little secret-if you dessert looks like turds, shredded coconut hides a multitude of sins.

I picked these bitches myself (in a mini skirt no less) so was extra proud of them! Dessert and dinner were enthusiastically recieved! Woo hoo. Winning over German Omnivores-check mark!

Sunny may never talk to me again. We laughed at this picture for two hours and I promised not to post it on the internet. I lied.

Another excuse to eat dessert for breakfast!

So a couple weeks ago, I gained 10 lbs in 5 days. This quickly sent me into panic mode that all my late night cupcaking was finally catching up to me. I made a pact to eat in the best way I know how, and that's raw fooding. Just like when I tried vegetarianism and veganism, I decided to give it a go for one week to see how it went. Now I never committed to full raw- I just have no idea how to do that. Essentially, when you are a raw foodist you don't eat food cooked over 104c to preserve the living status of the food. This shit is hard, but I'm getting there.. After doing this for one week, I have a few observations.
1) Raw fooding makes your body feel amazing. Like "my cells have all banded together and are having a rave" kind of amazing.
2) It's astounding how fast your body can burn through $40 in nuts.
3) Simple vegetables really can taste delicious on their own, but you have to get rid of the other crap that's killing your taste buds.
4) A big salad for dinner actually can be the most filling and yummy part of your day.
5)If you're a sugar junkie like me, you won't actually perish from sugar cravings. In fact, I barely had any!

I realize this dessert isn't made with oranges. And I'm not the world's best dad. Deal with it.

So here is the tastiest thing I've made in the past couple days. It tastes amazing and you can have it for breakfast! Since the beauty of this is it's simplicity, I'm going to force you to cook without measuring. It's awesome and you can do it!

Raw Orange Yum

One orange peeled and cut up

2 handfuls pecans

1 lrg handful dates

salt

ginger

nutmeg

cinnamon

Process all ingredients except oranges in a food processor until crumbly. Peel and cut orange, put it in a bowl and top with fruit/nut mixture. Best enjoyed in sock monkey pajama pants while contemplating the complexities of life.





Stop what you're doing! Make this RIGHT NOW!

This picture has nothing to do with this blog post or Chia Seeds.
But she is pretty much the best thing I've ever made(though not in the kitchen).

Guys, I just made a discovery that rivals chocolate avocado pudding. CHIA SEEDS! I am seriously going bananas. These little things are so insanely good for you-read this link to learn about why Chia seeds are a superfood you need to make friends with!

I have been trying really hard lately to get corresponding pictures of delicious meals, but haven't been terribly effective. Hopefully you'll be able to use your creative little brains to imagine how good it looks. Though this one actually looks a little like barf, so you may have to paint in some mint and raspberries too. This is also my weak apology for the delay in posts. The thing is, this stuff is so flipping amazing that I couldn't stop shovelling it in my mouth long enough to take a picture. And just for the record, real life application of photographing everything before you eat it is both embarrassingly nerdy and painful on the delayed gratification front. So without further delay, here is a recipe for Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding. Please make it today, and then call me so I can come over and make sure there are no leftovers!