January » 2011 » VeggieGirl

Brunch Potluck

On Sunday, Montclair Vegans had a brunch potluck at my friend Rachel’s house. Brunch potlucks are a lot of fun because people get really creative with the food they cook. And everyone’s food was always really amazing! A few people came in after I took pictures, so I don’t even have a record of just how much food there was! This was a meal of epic proportions.

I made potato spinach squares. There weren’t any left at the end of the day! The recipe is from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Jessica made tofu scramble.

Rachel made build your own tofu rancherous fixin’s.

Caren made mini pumpkin muffins.

Eileen also made tofu scramble.

Lori made a 7 layer dip.

Amanda made muffins.

Beth made potato and veggie sausage hash.

Stephanie made tofu another scramble.

Jenna made crepes.

Jen C made carrot cake pancakes.

Karen made tofu scramble with greens and sweet potatoes.

Jen G made mini muffins.

Deana made polenta frittata.

Venkat made a bean dish.

Irina made roasted squash.

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It’s Not Too Late!

It’s not too late to sign up for my New Year’s Resolution Group Program! The program starts this Wednesday, so contact me today to sign up and ensure your spot.

In this program you will learn how to develop a new relationship with food and your body for the rest of your life. I will support you while you work through emotional blocks in your personal relationship with food, as well as provide you with practical tips to optimize your health. You will benefit from the group setting by getting extra support from other members.

In This Program You Will:

• Set and accomplish goals

• Understand and reduce cravings

• Increase energy

• Feel better in your body

• Learn how to effectively deal with stress

• Improve your overall well being

The Program Includes:

• One 90-minute session every other week for six months (12 sessions in total)

• A one-on-one health consultation with me

• Handouts that cover the meeting’s topics

• On-line group support

• Email support with Dianne between sessions

The group will meet every other Wednesday evening, beginning January 12, from 7:00 to 8:30. The group will meet in my home in Montclair, NJ. The address will be sent to you after enrollment.

The cost of this group program is just $600! That’s just $50 a session! (Individual programs can cost as much as $200 a session, so this is great deal!) Contact me today to sign up!

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Vegan Celebrations

For Christmas, my friend Vanessa bought me Vegan Celebrations by Alicia C Simpson. The book is has sections with different occasions and menus for each. Some are appetizers, some are desserts, some are full meals. The recipes looked so good that I didn’t want to wait for a special occasion to start making them. I went through and marked off the dishes that appealed to me the most, went shopping for ingredients and started cooking!

Tempeh Cakes with Spicy Remoulade. I think this is technically an appetizer, but I made it as a dinner dish with quinoa and kale. These were soooo good!

Huevos Rancheros. Every once in a while Dennis tells me how good the huevos rancheros he had at the now defunct VegCity Diner in NYC years ago were, so when I saw this recipe in the book, I knew I had to make it for him. He loved it!

Rosemary Chive Biscuits. I used spelt flour instead of of wheat and, and I also made drop biscuits instead of rolling them out, which the recipe suggests. They were delicious.

Broccoli Frittata. The frittatas I’ve made in the past use firm tofu, but this one uses silken, which gives it a more delicate texture.

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A Very Foodie Christmas

My friends and family all know that I love to spend time in the kitchen, so I received a lot of really nice foodie-type gifts for Christmas. Here they are:

These are the gifts I received from my coworkers. Vanessa gave me Vegan Celebrations and a nice snack dish. Liz gave me a cute tea towel and a cake plate. Kelly gave me the newest David Sedaris book, which has nothing to do with food, but it’s something I really wanted!

I’m not sure who had me in the Secret Santa gift exchange at work, but whoever it was, he or she knows that I like to cook! I got a nice oil and vinegar set.

Dennis got me a much-desired TofuXpress! I’ve wanted one of these for a while. I can see why so many people love them! It presses the water out of tofu in record time. I’ve used it for tofu several times already, and I’ve also used it to squeeze water out of thawed frozen spinach.

Dennis also bought me a nice shiny new food processor!! This will see lots of use in the very near future! Our previous food processor was very, very old and leaked when the contents where really wet.

Dennis also gave me Quick Fix Vegetarian and Party Vegan, both by Robin Robertson. As you can see, I immediately started marking the pages of things I want to make.

My friend Jessica gave me Clean Start by Terry Walters. I’m excited about cooking from this because I loved her first book Clean Food.

My friend Irina gave me this super cool clock! I love it! Of course, it has absolutely nothing to do with food, but I hung it in my kitchen, so I’m including it the “foodie” gift category.

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Feeling Crafty

In addition to cooking and baking a lot, I like to make things. My friends like to call me The Vegan Martha Stewart, but I like to call Martha Stewart the omnivorous Veggiegirl. I tend to totally immerse myself in a new craft, buy lots of supplies, and then get completely bored of it and throw everything in my office closet. In November I cleaned out that closet (it took half a day!) and found remnants of past crafts. Among other things, there were pounds of paper, tons of tiles, yards of ribbon, skeins of yarn, and loads of unfinished wooden pieces to craft onto.

I’m not a big fan of Christmas shopping at the mall, and I don’t really like buying people useless presents that they’ll cram into the back of a closet and forget about. But I do like thoughtful, homemade gifts. So I spread all of my supplies out, assessed the situation, and decided it was time to start making Christmas gifts. I went through everything and decided what to make and whom to give it to. I mainly made mosaics, but I also threw a few paper-crafted items in to the mix for a little variety. I was able to make most of the presents I gave this year, and I didn’t spend much money! Now that everyone has received their gifts, I can show you what I made.

A few years ago I made mosaic trays for our parents. This year I decided to make them matching mirrors. This is the mirror I made for Dennis’s mom and step-dad.

Here’s the mirror I made for my dad and step-mother.

I made this mirror for my Aunt Cathy.

I made this frame for my friend Elizabeth. A few years ago I made her a little trinket box, and this matches it.

I made this frame as a “just in case” present, and decided to keep it for myself!

A tray I made for my friend Jessica.

Another tray I made for my friend Irina. This is the first time I made a mosaic with little marbly-pebbly things, and I think it worked well. I want to make one of these for myself now!

Trinket box for my friend Jill.

I made two of these paper-crafted frames with photos of us in our Halloween costumes and gave them to my dad and Dennis’s mom.

I made this paper-crafted frame for Dennis. Apparently I started to work on it years ago and threw it into the closet. Finishing it wasn’t difficult and didn’t take much time. This is a picture of us eating at Veggie Heaven, so I used part of their menu and added replica Chinese coins.

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Need Help with Your New Year’s Resolution?

Did you over indulge this holiday season? Is your New Year’s resolution to lose weight? Eat healthier? Manage stress? Treat yourself better? Did you know that resolutions usually die out before Valentine’s Day? I can give you the support you need to stick with your resolution all year long! I have both group and individual programs, so you can choose the one that’s best for you.

New Year’s Resolution 12 Month Group Program – $600
This is a group version of the Six Month Comprehensive Program. This program integrates nutrition and self care to make sure both body and soul are nourished. In this program you will set goals for the new year and receive both personal and group support to help you achieve them.

• Twelve 90-Minute Sessions – $50 per session
• Sessions take place every two weeks, beginning Wednesday, January 12th
• Program includes: group online support between sessions, individual email support between sessions and handouts.

Six Month Comprehensive Individual Program – $900
This is a life changing program that integrates nutrition and self care to ensure that body, mind are spirit are all nourished. In this program you will set and accomplish goals, explore new foods, understand and reduce your cravings, increase your energy, feel better in your body, learn to reduce stress, improve personal relationships and more.

• Twelve 45-Minute Sessions – $75 per session
• Sessions take place every two weeks
• Program includes: notes emailed after each session, email support between each session, handouts and food or personal care samples.

Three Month Condensed Individual Program – $510
This program covers nutrition and food. In this program you discover which foods are right for you, understand and reduce your cravings, increase your energy and feel better in your body.

• Six 45-Minute Sessions – $85 per session
• Sessions take place every two weeks
• Program includes: notes emailed after each session, email support between each session, handouts and food samples.

One Month Tune Up Individual – $200
This program is for people who are already healthy but want to make sure they are taking optimum care of themselves. The program will include detailed recommendations based on the topics you want to discuss.

• Two 45-Minute Sessions – $100 per session
• Sessions take place every two weeks.
• Program includes: notes emailed after each session, email support between each session, handouts and food or personal care samples.

Group program takes place in Montclair, NJ. Individual programs take place either in person in Montclair, NJ or over the phone, depending on your location and schedule.
Prices reflect January discount and are good through January 31, 2011.

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! I started 2011 out with a broccoli frittata and rosemary chive biscuits, both from Vegan Celebrations. The recipes were in the Mother’s Day section, but They seemed like good New Year’s food to me.

Instead of making a resolution, I’ve set a few goals for myself this year. My website, VeggieGirl.com hasn’t been updated in quite a while, so I’m going to completely revamp it, and move this blog over there. I will also be combining VeggieGirl with my health counseling website. Being an organized person, I’m looking forward to having all of my websites in one place.

I’m also planning on hitting the books more this year. My cookbooks that is! I have about 65 cookbooks, and I don’t use all of them. When a new book comes out, I HAVE to have it. So I get it, flip through it and put it on the bookcase with the rest of my collection. So what I’d like to do this year is pick a book each week and make three things from it. I think three is a good number because that still allows me days to make recipes I’ve seen in magazines as well as a day or two to eat out.

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2011!

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