Things that make my vegan world go round

I have been so bad at posting recently! So I finally decided that the best way to get off my lazy bum and do more than just read your blogs would be to write a post about a few of my favoritest things.

1. Justin's Maple Almond Butter

Justin's Maple Almond Butter is the most incredible nut butter product to have ever graced my mouth. If I wasn't more concerned about having variety in my diet, I would eat this maple almond butter morning, noon, and night and in all my snacks. My favorite way to have my morning oatmeal is with a spoonful of maple almond butter, and quite often I have almond butter on toast for a quick lunch. Sometimes I will eat a couple teaspoons for dessert!

I split a jar with a friend to save on shipping and went through my half entirely too fast!

2. Larabars

My absolute favorites are...

Cashew Cookie

Peanut Butter Cookie

(Too bad about the stinky Salmonella scare! Hopefully everything will be cleared up and these lovely morsels of goodness will be back on shelves soon. No Salmonella-related illnesses have been reported as a result of peanut-containing Larabar products.)

I don't have a picture of the Coconut Cream Pie flavor, but that is only because it is so darn delicious that I must eat it as soon as I buy it.

I love having Larabars with a soy latte (see Love #4)! They are a great treat together. Perfect midday snack, oh yes yes yes.

3. Whole Foods Market

I eat meals here ridiculously often. In fact, Whole Foods Market is my favorite place to eat. I am obsessed with the fresh cranberry walnut rolls from their bakery, and I get the raw kale salad from their salad bar a lot. Whenever I see roasted root vegetables or roasted Brussels sprouts in their hot bar selection, of course I can't say no. The awesome part about eating at Whole Foods is that you can pick whatever you like from the hot bar and/or salad bar and make a meal of it. Between the bakery, freezer section, cookie aisle, multitudes of organic chocolate bars, and bulk foods section, I can always find a vegan dessert too.

Here are photos from my last few Whole Foods excursions...

Vegan Chicken Scallopini, cranberry walnut roll, raw kale salad, marinated mushrooms, curry sweet potatoes, and grilled vegetables

Here's a big shout-out to the Nashville Whole Foods location! They have the most intriguing and delicious and indulgent vegan down-home cookin' selections! On my plate are a couple of popcorn tofu cubes, steamed broccoli, fresh kale salad, wheatberry & quinoa salad, maple mashed sweet potatoes (Whole Foods actually made it with vegan margarine, oh my gosh!), and tofu 'n yeast with gravy (made with soy margarine, again, and nooch too -- I love you, Nashville Whole Foods!). OH, and their bakery makes 5 different types of vegan cookies for the cookie case. I picked the vegan peanut butter cookie, and it was excelente!

This meal and the one that follows are from Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas day dinner. I bought two servings of the items I wanted at Whole Foods and reheated them in the oven at my families' houses -- and I got two delicious meals! In both photos are a hazelnut cranberry roast wrapped in puff pastry (by the Field Roast company), roasted Brussels sprouts with pecans, cinnamon-dusted butternut squash, and cranberry walnut dinner rolls. My grandma made some pickled beets and the salad in the top pic, and in the bottom pic, I added some carrot sticks and broccoli florets to my plate (my other g-ma bought a giant raw veggie platter, and I ate like 2/3 of it just by myself on Christmas day!!!). My other aunt made some mushroom sauce and set some aside before she added the non-vegan ingredients, and the sauce was great over my Celebration Roast!

I couldn't have asked for a better holiday dinner!

4. Espresso

A lovely soy latte. I got this from a local coffee shop that roasts their own beans, so the espresso is fresh all the time. And the baristas know what they're doing. Check out the latte art:

Sadly, my own latte art is not up to snuff quite yet. Here's a recent pour I did:

In order for latte art to occur, you have to have several variables in place. (And of course you need an espresso machine.)

(1). Your espresso beans have to be fresh (not stale!), roasted recently, within the past two weeks at the very most, and they have to be ground right before you put 'em in the portafilter of the espresso machine. I buy my beans from local roasters every week or have beans shipped hot off the presses from my favorite roaster in Chicago.

(2). You need a straight-sided steaming pitcher for heating the soymilk. I got mine from intelligentsiacoffee.com.

(3). You have to microfoam your milk (soymilk, that is -- hehe) so it has a velvety, thick texture and no big bubbles! They must be micro-bubbles! To do this you have to have an espresso machine with a nice steam wand -- none of that auto-frother nonsense!

(4). You can't let the milk sit for too long after steaming. Even one measly minute may be enough to ruin your artistic endeavors. Latte art potential goes down as sitting time goes up! You gotta be fast, and pour that soymilky stuff right in after you microfoam it!

(5). You make latte art by pouring the textured milk into a cup that already has the hot little espresso shots waiting inside. You have to pour from the proper angle, at the right speed, and start rocking your hand at the proper point in the process. As you may be able to tell, that's the part I have trouble with.

(6). The artwork must taste good. Who cares if it's pretty if the espresso isn't exquisite?

Another failed attempt:

But I am getting better! I just made some art on a cappuccino yesterday and haven't uploaded the photo yet! I'll keep postin' my progress. :)