Blogging Saturday Night

Yes, yes I must!

This weekend had so much hope. I was planning to cook, get ahead on the blogging, relax and sleep in and maybe even do some laundry and clean my apartment. As usual, I have done none of these things. I have still not even made the meal I was going to blog about on Thursday!

I was lying on the couch feeling sorry for myself and my sister called. She was blogging over at a coffee shop by her place, Wild Earth. I figured, why not. It's Saturday already, so I might as well try to accomplish something more than couch time.

So here I am spending Saturday night blogging with Laura and drinking chai and trying to figure out what I am going to write about tonight!

Cozy... and quiet. Perfect place for chair and blogging!

First, I am going to give a shout out to Wild Earth. It is so nice to go somewhere cozy and quiet where I can write and drink tea in peace. Wild Earth has a couple locations and one of them happens to be in my sister's neighbourhood. They are a really nice little coffee shop with some fabulous baked goods. They don't have a lot of vegan options, but there is almost always muffins, granola bars or vegan rolls (Think vegan sausage rolls) They also have a few vegan salads like quinoa and vegan bean. One thing that I really like about this place is that they have almond and soy milk for coffee. I don't mind soy, but honestly think that almond is better.. by far. Especially in chai tea. When they first opened I had chatted to the own briefly about the possibility of them using one of my cookie recipes on the menu. I never really followed through with it and honestly I regret. It would be so cool to have another spot in Edmonton that made some vegan desserts and even cooler if they used or adapted one of my recipes! I really have to talk to them again about that one.

Anyways if you are ever in the west end, give this place a try. They have vegan, non-vegan, and gluten free options and their lattes are pretty awesome.

My Almond Chai, so good.

So, I know I haven't actually made this recipe, but I can give you my game plan for it. Hopefully by tomorrow, I'll be able to follow this post up with a review of it.

This week I have really been on a fall food kick. Slow cookers, soups, apples and cinnamon, and roasting vegetables. I found this pie recipe in my Color Me Vegan Cookbook and I really had the urge to make it. It's a crust-less pie with a homemade vegan cheese in it. Normally I get scared off by recipes within recipes, but it seems like a really yummy and slightly healthier way to have some heart warming food.

Its main ingredient is Swiss chard. A lot of people think I weird for loving greens like this one so much. Honestly, before I went vegan I never thought much about vegetable. I didn't love or hate them, just didn't care. I definitely never craved them! This recipe kind of reminds me of a vegan quiche. I have made a quiche before, but I stayed away from ones with tofu in them. This one uses a block of tofu, but the idea of having a homemade cheese made it seem a little better than other recipes I have seen before.

The recipe is simple, saute up some chard (or other green) while doing this, use a blender to combine spices with tofu and the homemade cheese and put it in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or so. My plan is to change the recipe up a little bit in the spices. It is pretty mild with just some turmeric, nutmeg basil and cayenne... I am thinking maybe changing it to sage and thyme with basil and turmeric. It may wreck it, but hopefully it will make for a nice Sunday brunch tomorrow.

Blogging with my sis

The biggest trick to getting this done is to avoid contact with everyone tomorrow morning. I don't know why, but I am always feeling pressed for time. I don't work crazy hours, I don't have kids and I don't have much going on for hobbies yet I never seem to have enough alone time. Maybe I am just greedy with my alone time and want more than the normal amount, but for me. Doing chores and laundry and cooking is not alone time. Alone is having nothing in the world to do and no where to be. No schedule and no phone calls. Today was hopeful, but didn't work out. Tomorrow I am going to try for it again. I have swimming in the morning, but I think maybe the phone will be turned off after this point and I can just have a for real me day. If I can make it happen, it will be amazing!!