Whole Foods Vegan Mousse Parfaits

Not that I really need to eat dessert, but while at Whole Foods a few days ago, I found myself standing in front of the dessert case looking for more Candle Cafe mini tarts. To my disappointment, there were none to be found, but I was quite surprised to find vegan mousse parfaits in about 5 or 6 different flavors. Of course, I had to try one! I got a chocolate parfait and Dennis got a raspberry one. They were quiet tasty and the chocolate one was so rich that I couldn't finish it!

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Back to the Grocery Store

I feel like I'm always at Whole Foods. Despite the fact that I come home with bags and bags of food, the fridge always seems empty. This time I went with a plan, so there are lots of tasty meals that I will be making in the days ahead. In the meantime though, I picked up dinner at the salad bar. Dennis had a meeting for the film he's working on (more on his film next week) and I didn't feel like cooking dinner for one. I filled a container with steamed and grilled veggies: kale, eggplant, sweet potatoes, broccoli, beets and cauliflower and then I added some tofu and a grain mixture. When I got home I drizzled a little olive oil and lemon juice over the whole thing. It was quite delicious, and look at how colorful it is. Remember - the nutrients in veggies are in their colors, so make sure you have lots of colors on your plate. Try to aim for 4 colors in each meal.

Coming up next week: recipe testing for Robin Robertson, Dennis's short film, cupcakes and Ted Leo, the V Note and more!

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Baked Pumpkin Ziti with Carmelized Onions

This is another recipe from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. It's a really interesting twist on baked ziti that uses puréed pumpkin instead of tomato sauce. The pumpkin purée is mixed with tofu ricotta, carmelized onions and some spices and then mixed with the cooked ziti. The dish is then topped with breadcrumbs mixed with spices and margerine.

It was pretty easy to alter this recipe to fit my allergen-free diet. I used rice pasta and rice bread crumbs, both of which I bought at Whole Foods. (I was happy to recently discover that the local Shop Rite also stocks them.) Instead of tofu ricotta, I mixed up a batch of the same cashew ricotta that I made for the lasagna tart a few weeks ago. As you may have figured by now, I'm not big on lots of onions, but the carmelized onions in this recipe were really tasty. After cooking the ziti mix in the oven for half an hour, I popped it under the broiler for a few minutes to get the top of the bread crumbs a little crunchy. In true broiler fashion, the top burnt because I turned my back on it for 5 seconds too long. The dish still tasted great though, and everyone wanted to know what smelled so good when I reheated leftovers at work today.

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Allergen-Free Shopping Trip

Today was my first wheat-soy-corn-nut-free shopping trip to Whole Foods. I made the mistake of picking a day that we're expecting a big snow storm to go to the grocery store, but I managed to make it in and out in one piece.

I picked up some Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour, Spelt Flour, Pancake Mix and Xanthan Gum. (What would I do without Bob's Red Mill?) I also got some sample sized packets of Vega protein shake powder as well some hemp powder to help out with amino acid transport problem. The doctor said I should increase my oil intake and vary the oils I cook with, so I bought grape seed oil, avocado oil and peanut oil. Also on the shopping list were spelt bagels, red rice bread, rice macaroni and spelt noodles. Yesterday bought some vegan wheat free baked goodies at The Montclair Bread Company.

I was planning on weaning myself off of offending foods and I didn't want to throw anything away, but I just had too much of all of it in the house. After having tofu salad on a whole wheat wrap for lunch, I decided to clean out the cabinets. I'm sure I will be feeling the affects of that sandwich later and I'm anxious to start eating allergen-free. I threw away a few things and put aside some things to give to friends. I'm going to bake some cookies to give as gifts later so that I can get rid of some the wheat flour and nuts I still have. There are still a few things let in the house that I'm allergic to, but I'm getting closer to being allergen free.

Tonight's dinner will be a red curry, and it will probably be the last for a while since coconut milk is on my list of no-nos. I'm also planning on making spelt chocolate chip scones later.

If you're on the east coast, stay inside where it's cozy and warm!