a veg life

(posted by Emily) Today's post is one I'm pretty excited about. We've shared our zucchini brownies with you before and they've always been a favorite. Well, I think we've found a way to elevate them to a new level of deliciousness.  My Kappa alum group meets once a month on Wednesdays, and I volunteered to bring a dessert to our meeting tonight. I'm not sure how the idea struck me, but I decided to remake one of our family classics. I have always loved these marble brownies my mom would make growing up. This picture is of her original recipe, complete with handwritten notes from her  mom :)  As you can tell, this fella needed a bit of reworking to be vegan friendly!  I decided to stick with what I know is a sure-fire winner, so instead of a box of Duncan Hines mix, I made a single batch of our zucchini brownies. That was the easy part! Next, it was time to figure out what to do for the cream cheese marble. The original recipe c...

(posted by Emily) Last week, I needed an easy dinner that would yield a decent number of leftovers. Inspired by Angie over at bumbershootdesign , who shared her own favorite Trader Joe's Hack , I decided it was time to share my own favorite meal redesign, using ingredients from our favorite grocery store. This recipe is adapted from an idea shared by Mama Pea, of Peas and Thank You. Her blog is no longer live, but you can check out her book here . Basically, we are jazzing up some jarred pasta sauce with fresh ingredients. I may have posted about this meal before, but I think it bears revisiting, because this was my most successful hack yet!  Trader Joe's products used:  2 bags Brown Rice Pasta Fusilli Marinated Artichokes 2 jars Organic Tomato Basil Marinara Charles Shaw Shiraz Fresh ingredients from home:  Red bell pepper Yellow bell pepper 2 onions Garlic Fresh basil (from the plant I bought at Trader Joe's!)  the spread I s...

(posted by Emily) When I think about "the staples" in our house, an unconventional list comes to mind. Then again, I guess that's to be expected since our staples don't include things like eggs, bread, and milk! Thinking about the foods we buy every week without fail, here are my top ten items we can't live without.  Top Ten: Food stuffs we can't live without 1) Bananas via 2) Veggie broth made from our leftover veggie scraps in the crock pot .  via 3) Hummus via 4) Avocados via 5) Rice noodles via 6) Tomatoes via 7) Potatoes via 8) Olive oil via 9) Celery via 10) Sprouts via I hope you had a great week! Happy Friday! --E&R

(posted by Emily) Yeah, I'll say it. There are non-vegan foods that I really miss sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love my vegan life and wouldn't trade the way I eat now. But sometimes, I just really want a bagel.  Top Ten: Foods I miss now that I'm vegan 1) Cream cheese. This Philadelphia cream cheese commercial gets me every time. via 2) Toasted bagels with cream cheese via 3) Scallops via 4) Shrimp cocktail. It makes me (only a little) sad to know I'll never try this .  via 5) Jeni's non-sorbet flavors via 6) Chocolate with caramel via 7) Red Velvet everything (good thing Sprinkles has a vegan RV cupcake!) my midwestern friends know what this is ( via ) 8) Goat cheese via 9) The Playboy Roll via 10) That blueberry goat cheese log from Trader Joe's, with their gorgonzola crackers via via Now I'm hungry.  --E&R

Hello all! This past weekend, Rick and I headed to Chicago to celebrate our wedding with friends and family who weren't able to come out to California for our big day. I'm sure many of you heard about the shootings at LAX , and it was quite an adventure getting to the airport for our flight! Yes, you are seeing things correctly--we walked in to the airport, along PCH. Not a car in sight! Although things were a bit crazy as many people waited to rebook their flights, we had no trouble getting through security in time for our flight.  The only time we were a bit nervous was when we came across this abandoned bag while picking up some snacks for the flight..... Despite all of the craziness, we made it to Chicago safe and sound--and only about and hour and 20 minutes late. Saturday was the day of the party, but we still made time for a quick lunch at the Whole Foods in Chicago and visit to see Diane. On our way back, we decided a bit of an after...