Pre-baby Pantry Plunder, part 1

Over the past few months, I have been making gradual progress toward getting the house ready for Baby H’s arrival, which will be any day now (my actual due date is tomorrow-eek!).

Obvious important projects, such as assembling the crib, have been checked off the list:

And I have been hard at work trying to use up/clean out older items from our freezer and pantry in order to restock them with prepared meals that we can turn to in our first few weeks as new parents.

This has been an ongoing project, and I’ve been keeping track of some of my fun (and sometimes, surprisingly delicious!) concoctions so that I can share them here.

For part 1, I’ll start with some of the packaged, brand name foods that had been taking up residence in the freezer for quite some time. All of these were simply heat-and-eat, so very easy and convenient, but nothing too creative or earth-shattering.

Gardein meatless buffalo wings:


I had exactly three of these, most likely left over from some lazy football Sunday, most likely in the 2013 season (yeah I need to clean out my freezer more!). They still tasted awesome, but three tiny “wings” do not a meal make, so note to my future self: if you’re going to open the package, use it all in one go!

Tofurky pepperoni pizza pockets:

I bought these months ago because my curiosity was killing me. They taste eerily similar to the Hot Pockets I used to heat up for an after school snack back in the day (so healthy, I know), and definitely benefit from the liberal addition of hot sauce.

Trader Joe’s stir fried vegetable rolls:

These are delicious and filling and I love them. This might be one that I buy more of to restock the freezer for baby time.

Amy’s baked ziti bowl:


As you can see from the state of the box in the photo, this one had been bashed around in the freezer for some time. It was really, really yummy but unfortunately (as seems to be the case with many such frozen entrees) rather small. You’d want to pair it with a side salad or some bread to make it a more complete meal.

Trader Joe’s Vegetable Pakoras:

I absolutely love this tasty, spicy appetizer and tend to keep some in the freezer to serve if company should happen to come by. But, since I don’t expect to be entertaining much in the coming months, I’m using these up as well.

Stay tuned for part 2!

I Love Tofurky

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!  I certainly did, although I definitely ate too much.  Somehow before tucking in I forgot about the limited space available in my abdomen (what with the 5-6 lb. human residing in there), and paid the price with a pretty uncomfortable evening thereafter, but it was so worth it.

One of the things I of course overstuffed myself with was my favorite staple–the Tofurky roast!–that I bring along to Thanksgiving every year.

I know the word “Tofurky” has become kind of infamous and is maybe a bit of a joke to non-vegans.  It is kind of a silly name, I guess, and it’s kind of misleading because Tofurky isn’t actually a tofu turkey (it’s actually made of a blend of tofu, gluten, and canola oil).  But I really, really love it. Especially with all the caramelized roasted veggies around it–ahh, so good!

It’s obviously not exactly a health food, but it is absolutely delicious and I look forward to enjoying it on this special occasion each year.  For me, Thanksgiving isn’t the same without it anymore.  And, because of the availability of options like this, a meatless Thanksgiving is not only possible, but is truly enjoyable.  That’s definitely something to be thankful for!

And now I’m off to make myself a Thanksgiving sandwich with leftover Tofurky for lunch 🙂

P.S. – After reading over the post and realizing that it sounds a bit like an ad or review (haha!), I just thought I’d clarify that I’m not being paid to advertise Tofurky or anything.  I just really like it and wrote the post while I was getting psyched up for my lunch.

Vegan Snacking from a Prego Pro

Hey there! I’m still here…things have just been super-crazy. Does anyone else feel like time is just racing by? I can’t believe we’re only a week from Thanksgiving!

Aside from being crazy, things have been pretty great on my end. At 33+ weeks, Baby H is continuing to grow, and as s/he gets bigger and bigger, there is less and less room for other things…like, y’know, my lungs and stomach.

It will be at *least* another 3 weeks until s/he drops, so until then I have been taking it slow to try to avoid shortness of breath, and eating small meals and snacks throughout the day to avoid feeling too full.

Fortunately I just so happen to be a master of vegan snacking. Aside from obvious choices like fruit and nuts, here are some of my pregnancy-approved snacks:

Non-dairy yogurt with hemp seeds:

This was my first time trying So Delicious almond milk yogurt and it was pretty good, but didn’t taste much different to me than soy yogurt. It also suffers from the common yogurt pitfall of having way too much sugar, so this has only been an occasional one for me.

Sriracha popcorn:

This one is a bit more of a guilty pleasure. H and I bought a bag of this at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo earlier this year, and it had been hiding, unopened and forgotten, in our cabinet ever since. I remedied the problem pretty quickly.

Barbara’s peanut butter Puffins with almond-coconut milk [it won’t let me load my own photo for some reason so here’s a nice stock image from the Barbara’s website for ya]:

I have always loved Puffins but am now officially obsessed with them. The supermarket by my work almost always has them on sale at 2 boxes for $6, so I’ve been buying them up like mad. Plus, between this snack and my morning coffee, I’m now going through almost a gallon of almond-coconut milk each week. I’m not even sorry.

Carrots and hummus:

The tried and true classic. I grabbed a few of these little individual sized hummus cups at the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival a couple of weeks ago, and love how convenient they are.

Also, has Cedar’s changed their recipe? I find myself *loooooving* their hummus recently, where previously I thought it was only okay.  It’s creamier or something.

I enjoyed it so much in the little travel packs that I went out and bought a giant 16 oz. container of it, which I’ve been using to enjoy…

Hummus and olive tapenade on crackers:

So…this is the one that I truly cannot get enough of. I buy the olive tapenade from Trader Joe’s and if you haven’t had it, I’m telling you it’s a must-try. So salty and delicious. Baby H approves.

Trader Joe’s roasted plantain chips:

These are cheap and great in a pinch. I keep a bag in my desk drawer to keep afternoon hunger pains at bay until I can get home and fix myself some hummus and tapenade 🙂

In the next few weeks as the countdown to Baby H’s arrival continues, I’ll be turning my attention to clearing out our freezer in the hope of restocking it with meals that will be easy for H and me to thaw and eat in our first few weeks as new parents. Hopefully I’ll come up with some fun concoctions to share with you all!

Return of the Green Smoothie

Green smoothies are back in my life.  Life is good.

Green smoothies played a big role in the early days of my pregnancy. I was blending them up almost daily with plenty of fresh ginger (remember the Tropical Ginger Smoothie with a Secret Ingredient?) to help combat my nausea while also giving Baby H a nice dose of fruit and veggie goodness to start the day.

But after first trimester I found that I lost my taste for smoothies for a while (ironic since this coincided with the middle of summer!). It was one of those situations where the thought of one brought me back to the queasy, unpleasant feeling I had had for those first few months. Just…not appealing.

Miraculously, however, over the last two days my taste for green smoothies has come back with a vengeance!

Last week H picked up some Orange Peach Mango juice from Trader Joe’s (sooooo good) so I used that for the base. On Monday I made one with 1 cup of OPM juice, 1 frozen banana, 3/4 cup frozen strawberries, and a large handful of organic baby spinach.

Yesterday I did the same thing but used 2 frozen bananas because I was out of strawberries.

So sweet and frosty and delicious–I can’t get enough!

And I swear you cannot taste the spinach at all. Not that I personally mind the taste; I just think this would be a great starter smoothie for people who feel weird about drinking their greens.

Just a reminder: today is your LAST CHANCE to enter my Ecolissa infinity scarf giveaway! Don’t miss out!

Halloweekend 2014

Hi there! I hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend!

Ours was very low-key, for obvious reasons. We didn’t have any plans except to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters and to stop by a small “open house” type gathering that some of our neighbors had organized. Suburban living at its finest 🙂

I stuck with a super-simple DIY costume (shirt, sharpie, and fabric paint) for Baby H and me:

And worked up these little clementine Jack o’ lanterns to bring to the neighbors’ house:

I did not come up with this idea! I just saw it floating around the Interwebs and thought it was cute. Plus, it matched my costume! The neighbors seemed to get a kick out of it too!

Interestingly, I ended up being pretty judicious with the amount of candy and sweets I took in over this sugar-filled holiday (in stark contrast to last weekend!). The sweets craving was fun while it lasted but I am glad that it seems to have subsided. Lord knows I won’t need any extra help putting on the pounds in these final two months.

Later this week I will have a fun giveaway so come back and see me then!!

This Sweet Tooth Is Real

These days it seems that Baby H’s main interest, besides somersaulting, is sweet treats.  According to the Old Wives’ Tale, this apparently means I’m having a girl.  Of course, the latest poll of 16 of our nearest and dearest, collected at my baby shower on Saturday, reveals that only 4 (including H and me) think we are having a girl.  We’ll find out for sure in about 10 weeks!

That belly don’t lie…

In the meantime, I’m trying to moderate how much I’m actually taking in, but also make sure I enjoy the indulgence whenever I do decide to treat us!

And fortunately, I’ve had access to some of the best vegan sweet treats in existence.

A couple weeks ago, H and I took a quick trip to NYC.  We both knew that we wanted to visit the Cinnamon Snail food truck while we were there, so on Saturday morning, we checked their facebook page and learned that they would be at the monthly Vegan Shop-Up in Bushwick that day.

Some of you may already know this, but the Cinnamon Snail is very close to my heart.   Before he started the food truck, I used to visit Chef Adam’s booth each week at the Red Bank Farmer’s Market, about 3 miles down the road from the town I grew up in, to sample some of his vegan donuts, raw pizzas, and other incredible vegan fare.  His astonishing success has been hard-earned, and honestly, is extremely well-deserved.

The Cinnamon Snail is, quite simply, amazing.  They have all kinds of food but their baked goods are especially outstanding.  When H and I visited the truck a few weeks ago, we stocked up!

Double-Chocolate Fudge donut (this is H’s all-time favorite!)

Thai Basil Coconut donut (an incredible flavor combo if there ever was one)

Pistachio donut (with tantalizing hints of cardamom)

Gluten-free Peanut Butter blondie (great texture and not overly-sweet)

And my absolute favorite…the Vanilla Creme Brulee donut

You guys…seriously. This thing was soaked in gooey caramel and had the most delicious, crunchy, sugary crust.  I was in heaven eating it.

This past Sunday, my sister Marley and I headed down to the annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival.  Initially I didn’t plan on going inside, because it’s usually crowded to the point of not being able to move, and that is something I’m not comfortable with in my present condition.  However, we got there right when it opened up so I managed to make one good round and pick up some coupons and samples.  And then I got in line for Vegan Treats.

Vegan Treats is based out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and is the highlight of the VegFest for me every year.  Their peanut butter bombs are one of the best and most decadent things I have ever tasted, vegan or not.

It’s basically a layer of dense chocolate cake, topped with fluffy peanut butter mousse, and then the whole thing is covered in a chocolate shell and a peanut butter drizzle.  Ah-maz-ing.

I got two (the third was for Marley, I swear!).

I also snagged a black and white donut, a white chocolate key lime cheesecake for my parents, and a pumpkin cheesecake on a stick (!) <–it’s the candy corn looking thingy in the middle–so cool, right?!

Then we went outside to patronize the fabulous Like No Udder vegan ice cream truck!  I still get giddy when I think about the fact that something like this exists!

Baby H and I settled on the Oreo milkshake. It was sweet and creamy, with lots of delicious cookie chunks, and totally hit the spot!

Marley, who has developed a bit of a sensitivity to soy, went inside to grab some coconut-based ice cream from FoMu.

She got a cup of apple cider donut ice cream.  Yes, you read that right…vegan apple cider donut chunks esconced in creamy, cinnamony ice cream.  I tried some and it was effing amazing.

So there you have it.  All the vegan sweets fit to eat!

Fortunately, my other cravings at the moment are broccoli and black beans 🙂

Carbs and Updates

Well hello there!

Sorry I’ve been a bit MIA the past week or so.  Between work, traveling around for the High Holidays, and baby stuff, I haven’t had a whole lot of time for cooking or blogging.

Rest assured I am still eating very well!  Today I did something that was LONG overdue and paired PB & Co.’s White Chocolate Wonderful with my mother-in-law’s homemade raspberry jam.


Oh my God, this was heaven.
White Chocolate Wonderful is nothing new, but it’s not something I’ve bought all that frequently in the past due to the high potential for overindulgence.  Now that I am on a blessed (albeit temporary) break from calorie counting, however, I can embrace that it’s something that’s right up my alley, and just enjoy.

Speaking of calories…I’ve also been eating a lot of bagels. Like, a lot. H and I stocked up on the world’s best bagels (from Bagel Station in Red Bank, in case you’re curious) when we were down in New Jersey for Rosh Hashanah two weekends ago and they have been my go-to ever since.

These bagels are outrageous.  They are giant and fluffy and doughy–no exaggeration, some of them are the size of your head.  Most of them don’t even have a hole because the dough bakes up so high.  Yum!!

With Daiya cream cheese and some sliced farmstand tomatoes (the classic):

With Daiya cream cheese and sliced baby beets (new to me and SO SO GOOD–try this if you haven’t before!!):
Now let’s just hope I pass my glucose test next Thursday after all this carbo-loading.

While I was in NJ, I also got to try these wonders of human creation for the first time, courtesy of my dear sister M:

They are as good as I’d imagined.  I am still impatiently waiting for them to show up on shelves in Massachusetts.

Finally, today I officially start my third trimester!  I can’t believe how close we’re getting to meeting this bouncy/jabby/rolly future Pats fan.

Simply Perfect Breakfast: Avocado Toast

Being pregnant has definitely affected my eating habits. For example, I’m not really one to eat breakfast first thing in the morning. I normally start with a some fruit or a smoothie around 10 a.m., well after I’ve arrived at work, and then follow it with more fruit or half a PB&J&B around 11:30.

Recently, however, I’ve been forced to get some food down first thing in the morning, as that’s when I take my prenatal vitamin, and I get really nauseated if I have it on an empty stomach.

Enter avocado toast, my new favorite breakfast, and also anytime snack.

I’m never NOT in the mood for this.

All you need to create this plate of perfection is a ripe avocado and a piece or two of whole wheat toast.

I use one quarter of an avocado on each slice of toast; I find this to be a good ratio of fruit to bread, plus it’s economical because avocados are expensive, and this way you get four servings of toast out of each one.

Just scoop it out, spread it on, and season as desired. Cumin tastes great on this, but the combo I can’t get enough of is salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of Vesta:

MMM creamy, spicy heaven!

If you’ve never tried avocado toast, now is the time. Bonus points if your toast has team spirit:

GO PATS!!!

Babymoon in Chicago and a Trip to the Iconic Chicago Diner

Last week, I reached the halfway mark of my pregnancy, which coincided perfectly with H’s and my trip to Chicago for our babymoon!

For those who don’t know, a babymoon is basically a final trip you take with your partner where it’s just the two of you before baby arrives, and it’s a great chance to connect and get excited about the upcoming changes in your lives and relationship. Yeah, it’s kind of trendy, but H and I do love to travel and so we embraced it!

We stayed in the beautiful Swissotel overlooking the Chicago River (thanks, Hotwire!). Our room had a view of Lake Michigan (and some other buildings, obviously). It was amazing!

I had never been to Chicago before and I have to say, I was blown away by what an incredible city it is.



We packed a lot into three days, while still managing to build in plenty of time to relax in our lovely hotel. Here are some of the highlights:

We took a boat tour along the Chicago River with the Chicago Architecture Foundation (which I HIGHLY recommend).

We walked through Millenium Park and stopped to take pictures by the famous Cloud Gate.

We also stopped by the outdoor Goose Island shack for some refreshments and cornhole. I was happy to discover that they make their own (caffeine-free!) root beer and it was delicious!

We visited Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears.

It’s a really interesting stadium. It originally opened in 1924 and underwent major renovations in 1978 and 2003. During the most recent renovations, the stadium was totally modernized, but they were required for historical preservation reasons to keep parts of the old structure intact. The result is a venue that, according to H, “looks like a UFO crashed into the Greek parthenon.”

The really cool part is that you can walk around the entire outside colonnade area, even when the stadium itself is closed.

We also visited Wrigley Field, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and went to a Cubs game!



The Cubs lost, but I’m told that’s kinda what they do.

The biggest thrill of the trip (for me anyway) was our pilgrimage to the Chicago Diner, one of the oldest and most famous vegetarian restaurants in the U.S.

This place exceeded all of my expectations. It was flawless.

I started with the soup of the day, a curried cauliflower soup (YUM):

H and I also split the peanut butter cookie dough shake:

This was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

And for the main event, I had no choice but to sink my teeth into the storied Radical Reuben:

Oh my God. I devoured every last messy, succulent bite. The mac n’ Teese was pretty good too! It was my first time trying Teese and I give it a thumbs up.

After we left, I actually started to cry a little because I was so happy that I finally got to go to the Chicago Diner, and sad because I don’t know when I’ll get to go back (that one I’ll blame on the hormones).

Our babymoon was everything I hoped it would be. Chicago is an incredible city and an absolute blast! It’s definitely a place I know I’ll be visiting again in the future.

A Mini Cook in the Making

Okay so after only posting 16 total times in the last three months, as well as dropping off precipitously from reading and commenting on other blogs, I am finally ready to provide an explanation for my whereabouts.

H and I are having a baby!!!

Baby H is due January 6, 2015. We will not know the sex until then so you’ll have to stay tuned for that 🙂

I am 18 weeks and 1 day today, so well into the second trimester by this point.  I’ve been feeling great the past couple of weeks, although it was quite a bit rougher before that.  While I luckily didn’t have violent morning sickness, I was pretty much constantly queasy for about ten or eleven weeks there, and TIRED beyond all belief:

I miss you, Marty ❤
[Note: this picture was actually taken the night before we realized anything was up with me!]

Needless to say, it was sometimes necessary to stay away from reading some of my favorite blogs, because even the most beautiful recipes had the tendency to inspire bad feelings in my tummy (sorry!).

Thank the LORD for no coffee aversion!

As for eating, well…let’s just say I haven’t exactly been a paragon of vegan eating recently.  I’ve tried hard to walk the straight and narrow but there were times when it was almost impossible to think of anything that sounded good to eat.  My meals have ranged from very healthy:

Biggest salad of all time, constructed from the greens in my fridge + goodies from the WF salad bar

To decidedly un-:

Grilled Daiya (Swiss slices used) with tomato and tater tots…call it a craving?

Same with snacks. Thumbs up:

To thumbs…sideways:


^These are magical for nausea, however.

In general I’ve just been trying to get lots of rest and a moderate amount of exercise in between my regular work schedule and planning for baby.

Work has begun on the nursery!  Step one: painting, is complete.

In the past few weeks we’ve “come out” to everyone we see on a regular basis, which is fortunate because it’s becoming tough to hide!

Resting with my boys

Anyway, I hope you can all forgive my absence (from here and from your blogs) as well as my delay in announcing this news–this is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to us and I wanted to make sure I could do it some justice!

Before I sign off, let me just say that by no means is my blog going to be all about pregnancy for the next few months.  However, hopefully now some of the weirder crap I’m eating can be put into context 🙂

Happy Hump Bump Day!