i'm a foodie, in that i like to eat. a lot. my life tends to be mostly consumed with food related conversations, meetings with friends, and time spent surrounded by food food. i'm a foodie in that i like watching people cook FOR me, and i enjoy the spoils of friends who do enjoy cooking - and make me their guinea pig.... i have good friends.
when i became 'vegan' (quotes, because it's the easiest thing to call the way in which i eat) 6 years ago, my lifestyle made a quick turn towards spending hours each week figuring out where i could get the best nutrients, when, how to consume them best with one another, and so on. i have charts, and schedules and vitamins and the like, in order to keep this temple (aka. my body - which by the way, would be a failure of a temple. falling apart by the second. one of those castles in ireland that no one sees, because it's halfway to falling off of a cliff) chugging along. combine veganism with multiple health issues that require a strict regiment of medication at very specific times during the day, and you have yourselves a mess of a woman who can't cook well, but needs to be eating nearly once every hour, AND taking medication every 3. as a result, i spend far more time that i ever thought that i would, considering my food choices, making meals for the week on sundays, freezing things, and looking at recipes (which i rarely follow, so this could be taken down as a complete waste of time... though i love the pictures!). i can't follow direction, so long winded and complicated recipes have NO place in my head/apartment/kitchen.
so, though i can't cook extravagant meals like a ton of my friends, nor do i have to patience to do so, i have a knack for looking in my fridge, seeing what is in there ('vegan cheese, naan bread, cucumber onion and tomato, and some leftover black beans? PERFECT!') and creating something (usually) edible. and, if i ever reach for a recipe, it tends to be something like a 5 ingredient, walk-away type one.
unfortunately for me, i also like fancy things. don't get me wrong - a loaf of focaccia and some oil and vinegar do me fine for the most part. but everyone likes a little something special in their lives every now and then. i, for example, enjoy grapefruit perrier more than i care to admit (to the tune of a bottle a day... tee hee).
so. the dilema. combine my lack of patience/time/care for recipes that are longer than 6 ingredients, and take more than 20 minutes of my time, and my love for the finer things in life.... and you have a conundrum.
so what is one to do? find the easiest - yet fanciest - recipes you can, and make them CONSTANTLY. and that's what i do.
some of my most faves?:
lavender lemonade (droooool-y). i've been making this FOREVER, and when i saw this on this blog, i was so excited to see someone had actually shown me how to ACTUALLY make it. and put photos to boot! recipe here
vegan cheese sauce - a total staple in my place. i make huge batches and freeze it. so. good. this is a great, not-many-ingredient version.
i make vegan lasagna a ton - to freeze, to bring to parties, etc. I use this recipe, but no vegan cheese. straight up seasoned tofu. and i make it into actual lasagna - not rolls. it's goooooooood.
another freezer friend to my lasagna and cheese? butternut squash soup. i've been diggin' adding other squashes too, and i blend it like crazy. so amazing. and warm. and yummy.
and my main grain - my love affair with quinoa. this website had this recipe posted way long ago, and she redid the recipe! it's amazing now....
oh. and stir fry. all. day. long.
enjoy your cooking!! (i'm going to eat - these photos made me hungry).