Chickpea cakes

For my birthday Erin, and my teacher took me out to this new Greek Restaurant in town. There I discovered chickpea cakes. Yummy! These cakes were so delicious I couldn't wait to find a recipe online for me to recreate. I came across the Vegan Dad blog site. Click on the link to get the recipe. I can't wait to make these myself. Happy eating!

Stephanie's salsa

I love homemade salsa, but I have to admit my BBF Steph can make up a mean batch of salsa! Here's how: 1 can roasted Tex Mex canned tomatoes, 1 can stewed tomatoes, 4 garlic cloves, chopped onion, roast several types of chili, cilantro, and salt.

After chili is roasted, and peeled. Chop them up into small pieces. Combine canned tomatoes in bowl. Add chili, chopped garlic, onion, and cilantro. Mix and season with salt.

It's my favorite. You finally made a contribute to my blog Steph. Now I just need a picture of that quilt!

Hummus and Parsley

My instructor brought hummus over for dinner. It was so yummy I couldn't stop eating it. I instantly thought I have to trying making this. He also brought over this parsley garnish that was perfect with the hummus. Here's how to make your own hummus.

Ingredients: Dryed chickpea, 3 garlic cloves, 3 tbsp of lemon juice, olive oil, and water. Optional ingredient are sea salt, pepper,chili, and tahini. You can also substitute dry chickpeas for canned.
Soak chickpea in water for 6 hours. Add soaked chickpeas into sauce pan, and add more water. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove foam that forms on top with spoon. Reduce heat, and low boil for a 1 to 1 1/2. You will know chickpeas are cooked when you can mash them. Place cooked chickpeas into a blender with cooking water. At this time add garlic, lemon juice, and drizzle olive oil. After blending, if ingredients are too dry you can add more water. and reblend. Hummus can be refrigerated up to 2 -3 days in a closed container.

Now for the parsley garnish. Ingredients: Fresh parsley, white onion, lemon juice, olive oil, feta cheese, and steeped bulgur seeds.

Chop parsley, add small dice onion, squeeze lemon juice over parsley, drizzle with olive oil, crumble feta cheese, and add steeped bulgur seeds. Yummy!

Erin's Wine picks

My friend Erin is my wine guru. Here's are some of the wines she has brought over for me to taste. No more boxed White Zinfandel for me she said. Once I get the taste of good quality white wines. Erin will start me on the reds. I can't wait. All of these taste great.

Raw food

My friend Erin asked me to do a raw food diet with her for a week. At first I was a little skeptical that I could get through a whole day without carbs. Boy, was I wrong. I'm so glad I try it. My 1st day I ate strawberries, blueberries, and a banana for breakfast. My morning snack was an apple w/almonds, and raisins. My lunch was a spinach taco salad w/no meat. My afternoon snack was
bell peppers, carrots, and cucumbers. My dinner was a spinach salad w/pecans, and fruit. I was amazed that I did it first of all, but how I didn't feel depressed for carbs at all. In the next few days I started to feel lighter, more alert, less tired, my eyes were brighter, and my skin looked amazing. I knew I was on to something wonderful for me. I'm so thankful to my friend Erin for encouraging me to try this. Here's the book she let me read to understand how raw food benefits your body. Check it out.