a veg life

(posted by Emily) A quick recipe, perfect for cold and rainy days here in Los Angeles! Who knew a photo on Instagram would generate so many requests to share how this soup was made! Homemade Pho (or maybe more like a pho/ramen hybrid....but still amazing) **Disclaimer: I made a HUGE batch of this soup. Most ingredients were added to taste, so it should be easy to size down. I also make my own veggie stock  using veggie scraps, so we always have a large amount on hand in the freezer.** Ingredients: 1 gallon veggie stock 3 inch long piece of ginger, roughly chopped (don't worry about removing the skin) 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped 5-6 dried shiitake mushrooms, broken into pieces 2 medium onions, sliced thin 2 carrots, sliced on a diagonal 4 stalks celery, diced 3 tbs coconut oil 3 bunches bok choy, sliced thin (I include both the white and green parts) 3 green onions, diced 3 tbs miso (I like brown) 4 tbs soy sauce (more or less to taste--start with a tbs ...

(posted by Emily) We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving week with friends and family! I know we sure did! After our trip to Portland and the chance to check out some brand new products at VegFest , I decided to reach out to some of our favorite companies to see what sorts of taste testing we could do. Luckily for us, Amy's Kitchen was one of the first to reply! A family founded company, Amy's uses truly natural, organic ingredients, no GMOs, no meat, and no hydrogenated fats--pretty great if you ask me! The best part? You can find their products in almost any grocery store! We've had a variety of Amy's products before, including their Roasted Vegetable Pizza , Macaroni and Soy Cheeze , and No Chicken Noodle Soup . In fact, picking up a few cans of Amy's soup is always a special treat when we are traveling during the holidays--we can even find their products at the local Wegmans in Syracuse, NY when visiting Rick's family! I was so excited w...

(posted by Emily) Thursday 10 July  Daily Step Count: 21,089 We woke up to another rainy day on Thursday. Since we didn't have high hopes for our cheese/bread/fruit picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower outside, we decided to make the best of it and have the picnic on the floor of our flat for breakfast! I ran out to grab bread and apples, and we put together a cheese plate, toasted the croissants, and made coffee.  cheeze plate maybe the croissants were in the toaster for too long......still yummy! It still counts if we can see the Eiffel Tower out the window, right? :) Because it was going to be another rainy morning, we decided to go to the Musee d'Orsay . The museum is inside a former train station, and houses art from the mid 1800s to 1914. That includes lots and lots of Impressionist paintings, like Monets and Pissaros, and post-Impressionist works by Van Gough, too. Technically, you are not supposed to take photos in the museum, b...

As many of you know, Peas and Thank You was one of the food blogs that served as an inspiration to me in my early vegetarian and vegan days. Mama Pea was/is raising a veggie family, and her posts were always filled with great ideas and great food. Sadly, shortly after finishing her second cookbook, Mama Pea decided to call it quits. I miss her posts a lot, but we are still enjoying her food! I put together this crock pot soup on Sunday--it's the first time in at least 8 months that we've had it, and I definitely think it will be back on our table very soon! Spicy African Peanut Stew from Mama Pea  ( my comments are in italics ) (I usually double this recipe to fit in my crockpot--that way we have leftovers, too!) 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 1/2 cup dry garbanzo beans from your bulk section) 1 sweet potato, cubed (about 1 c. total) (I also added butternut squash we had on hand) 1 1/2 t. curry powder 1/2-3/4 t. garam masala (depending on how spicy you like ...