This past week has been filled with good food, good fun, and great friends. Here’s a recap:
I’ve made lots of green smoothies for breakfast, of course. To me, there is no better way to start the day! Aren’t they pretty?
I’ve feasted on some gorgeous snack plates, like the one above that is filled with almond cheese pate, oranges, avocado topped with hot sauce, zucchini, sauerkraut, baby carrots, and one adorable little raw chocolate ball.
I made sure to eat plenty of guacomole and blue corn chips, after all, avocados are one of the best things in the world. Sweet or savory, they are just perfect!
I spent an afternoon at my dear friend Robyn’s house for some delicious food and lots of gabbing. It was wonderful!
Everything she made was fantastic, as always, but my favorite part of the meal was this bright and tangy lemon/lime/mint drink. I’m usually not interested in drinking anything but water, but this was so good I had 3 glasses and I’ve been making it at home so I can keep enjoying it. (Actually, I’ve got an icy cold glass of it beside me right now!)
I brought Potato Spinach Squares which were delicious! The recipe is from Vegan Brunch and I highly recommend it. They were rich and filling with a nice hint of lemon. I loved them.
Doesn’t that look delicious? Robyn made raw rice and vegetables that were so beautifully done, I really couldn’t get enough. The flavors mixed together perfectly, and the texture of the rice was amazing. Thanks, Robyn!
Also this week, the wonderful Mihl from Seitan in my Motor asked me to test out a recipe for her. When I saw the recipe I thought it looked unique and delicious, but I wasn’t sure it was something that would really appeal to me. It was a lime/almond cake with a lime/rosemary glaze.
I should have trusted Mihl, she is the queen of desserts, because this cake was BRILLIANT. It is really one of our favorites around here now. The recipe was easy to use, even with the substitutions I had to make, and the taste was subtle and pure deliciousness. It had the mellow sweetness of a coffee cake, but with a bright hint of lime. The ground almonds gave it the most ridiculously good texture and the rosemary lime glaze was genius. We all loved it!
One of the best parts of this week was that after 2 years of not really being able to ride bikes (one of our favorite things to do) because of not having any place to do it or the money to afford new bikes, we finally live in a place where we can bike and we finally got decent bikes. REALLY decent. We bought Trek 4500′s and we couldn’t be happier with how awesome they are and we’ve been riding nearly every day.
Aramco, the wonderful compound that we live on, has miles and miles of great trails, paved paths, and flower and tree-lined streets that we can ride on. We’ve been having a blast!
But all this outdoor fun has really built up our appetites. I’ve been making very hearty dinners to keep us going. Like this yummy lentil soup, with a side of toasty bread and a mix of avocados, beans, and beets. YUM!
The soup was delicious and very quick and easy to make. In a big soup pot I sauted a yellow onion with several cloves of garlic and then added a bunch of yellow lentils and water. I let the water come to a gentle boil and I cooked the lentils till they were very soft, seasoning with salt, pepper, curry powder, turmeric, and fresh lemon juice and cilantro. Then I blended it up till creamy with my hand mixer.
This is one of my favorite side dishes, and it was inspired by a dish our dear friends Rosanna and Peter make frequently. I chopped up cooked beets and ripe avocados, and tossed them with a can of drained pinto beans, and stirred in a big dollop of vegan mayonaisse and a healthy pinch of salt. SO good!
I’ll leave you now with something strange we discovered while out riding our bikes through the old golf course here on Aramco this afternoon.
Looks gigantic, doesn’t it?
But it’s not!
We have no idea what it is but I love it.
Hope you have all been having a great week too! I’d love to hear about what you’ve been up to and all the delicious food you’ve been eating.
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Hi Tasha, I just wanted to say hi and thank you for your wonderful website/blog! I love your enthusiasm and look forward to checking your site every day. All your recipes & pics are probably my favorite part, but I am also really into the new Wednesday wrap-ups with articles/links! So great! Thanks for sharing, and keep it up!
Maria, 22, Indiana, US
I have a Trek 4500 as well! Mine is about two years old and I named her Gloria. She’s a great bike – congrats on getting yours!
All the food looks so delicious! I just went on a little nut cheese adventure, and it was delicious! Do you have a recipe for your almond cheese paté?
I’m glad that you had such a good week! I hope your weekend is just as awesome
How do u find time to breathe and sleeep ? You do SO SO much.
Well, I eat a lot differently than u…but some of that stuff looks interesting!
I think you meant to say DELICIOUS. And it is.
Fabulous pictures today!! That little “thing” is really really cool!!
Isn’t it? I have no clue what it is or why it was built but I just love it so much. Makes me want to find all my old barbies and set up shop.
haha i love that visual illusion thing, how cool! you make me want to move to your aramco compound!! you’re gorgeous, so is the landscape for riding and your snack plate and savory dessert. everything is such a feast for the eyes!
I love raw cauliflower rice, and I assume that’s what that it. Looks delicious. So does your snacky plate. I should eat more snack plates. I love grazing and don’t do it often enough.
Grazing is the best way to eat! Anything I can do to keep eating for as long as possible makes me very happy.
And yes, that is cauliflower rice. It was YUMMMY!
Wow, an amazing packed post with beautiful pics! Love the smoothies, finishing mine now
Oh, I can’t wait to get back into biking myself, our weather has been too muddy here – so jealous! The soup looks great, I’m a huge curry fan.
OK first of all, I cannot even remember you taking that picture in my kitchen (it’s messy as per usual!!!). I loved having you over again, and hopefully one day when I am not so crazy with work we can make it more regularly
Those green smoothies look incredible too.
Hey btw let’s take bikes out together really soon. I’ll drop you an email with my days off this week xx
Those potato spinach squares look GREAT. Going to dig out my Vegan Brunch, which had been hidden behind Veganomicon!
The compound looks AWESOME! I want to live there!
Currently eating: my first green smoothie and Amy’s black bean breakfast burrito (after seeing you recommend it!). DELISH!
I’m so jealous! We haven’t been able to find Amy’s burritos for a few months around here and I am craving them like crazy! Aren’t they delicious? I like to eat them with lots of barbecue sauce.
I didn’t know you and girl on raw lived nearby! it must be nice.
those overflowing green smoothies are begging me to slurp off the top.
love seeing your eats and activities.
That lemon/lime/mint drink sounds so refreshing. Kind of mojito’ish without the rum! lol! All of the food looks so good. Is it lunch yet?
I wonder what that is built into the rocks? You’ll have to find out what that temple/house thing is built into the rock wall. Very neat looking.
Haha, that little.. whatever it is, is so cool! Whatever it’s purpose, the person who made it was pretty talented.
That lime cake looks gooood!
PS. Are some of Robyn’s fruits wrapped in plastic?
Wow that raw rice looks amazing! So do the tater squares and, well, actually EVERYTHING looks delicious!! Happy week!
that avocado beet salad sounds so interesting. and you had me at rosemary glaze.
Wow, you’ve had an awesome week! I love those kind of weeks filled with nature, wonderful people, and wonderful food. They’re the best. I guess one of the good things about blogging is that you can have a record of the great times, reflect over them, and find new joy apart from when you directly experienced them. Not sure if that makes sense! Happy saturday! x
Dee-licious! I wish we lived near each other, because your meals look like what I wish mine always did, and it’s inspiring! Just digging all those fresh and colorful veggies.
I’m up way past my bedtime but had to say that I am soooo envious that you and Robyn have a little coffee clutch going
with raw rice and vegetables of course! Wow how fun! Robyn looks sassy and beautiful as do you with your new bike! Wow, how excellent for you!
Loved your meat/not food/adventurous comment you just left me. Oh how I totally agree!
The cake w/ rosemary..how interesting & i bet the flave combo rocks!
xoxo
Not being able to bike in two years sounds not fun. I am glad you can go biking again. The raw rice and vegetables look absolutely delicious, like all the other stuff. And thanks again for being such an awesome tester.
Thank YOU for creating such a delicious recipe! It was out of this world delicious. And yes, biking again has been a blast! I am so grateful we can do it again.