Cafe Rivva

So I received an email from Cafe Rivva advertising:

Rivva "Veggie Crispy Chicken" & Avocado Sandwich

Heirloom Tomatoes, Romaine Lettuce, Red Onions & Vegenaise (no egg)  

Dressing

Now how could I pass that up?????  The restaurant also happens to be within walking distance of my office so I decided to hit it up and was not disappointed.  

This sandwich was delicious.  It was a bit messy because the "chicken" was all chopped up and the avocado made it all slippery.  However, it was well worth the messy Veganaise-y fingers.  I suspect that the chicken was Gardein but it was still yummy.  The side salad is also great.  The inclusion of plums was a surprise but a tasty one.


The menu changes every week at Cafe Rivva and it's easy to miss because it's in a shopping center on the second floor, but everyone should check this place out.  I didn't order a smoothie because I was totally broke but next time I go, I definitely want the kale smoothie!  Sounded delicious.

Catch up

As always, I start this post with a chastisement to myself as a bad blogger.  However, I feel like a wedding and honeymoon and getting back into the fold of things are my excuse this time.  I dare you to top that!  So yes, I am officially married to my lady love and have some stuff to blog about.

First, our honeymoon was in Hawaii.  I found one vegan restaurant called Joy's Place pretty close to where we stayed.  I ordered the Veggie Burger Sandwich and it was incredibly tasty.  The patty was homemade with beans, lentils and grains.  I expected it to be mushy but it held up really well.  I also got a kale, spinach, banana avocado smoothie.  Yummmmmm.






Sorry for the picture alignment.  Blogger is not working with me today!











So I will update on some LA restaurants soon!

Candle Cafe frozen meals

Ok so as of today I've tried both the Macaroni and Cheese and the Tofu Spinach Ravioli.  I gotta say that I had very high hopes for these products because I've heard such amazing things about the restaurant.  However, neither were that great.  Certainly not better than anything I could make myself.  I'm pretty sure both entrees used Daiya, which is readily available at most Whole Foods.  The ravioli was a bit on the mushy side.  At more than $5 per entree, I think they may need to rethink their recipes.

Nevertheless I am still ecstatic to try Candle Cafe in NYC.

Baked Tomatoes, Squash and Potatoes

So I opened my new issue of Whole Living Magazine (which used to be A-mazing and now is just sorta so-so but I'm a subscriber so whatever) and found a section on what to do with bumper crops.  Because my CSA gave me a ton of tomatoes and I'm not the biggest fan, I was excited to find this recipe because it incorporated tomatoes with stuff I like much much better.  Here is the recipe:

Whole Living's baked tomatoes, squash, and potatoes

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2-3 small tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1 medium yellow summer squash, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 medium yukon gold potato (or 2 smaller potatoes), sliced 1/4-inch thick
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (omitted)
• 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat oil over medium and cook onion until tender and lightly golden, 6-8 minutes
3. Arrange the onion on the bottom of a 9 x 13 in ch baking dish.  Overlap tomato, squash, and potato on top of the onion.  Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with thyme and parmesan, and drizzle with olive oil.
4. Bake covered for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake until golden, 30 minutes more.

I actually used both crookneck yellow squash and zucchini so mine didn't turn out as pretty as the picture they showed.  However, all the tastes really came together in a really delightful way.  (Obviously I also substituted parmesan for Daiya mozzarella.)  I'm not the biggest fan of thyme it turns out so next time I think I would add a bit of garlic.  Oh and I also don't own a casserole dish so instead I used two pie pans.  Oh the fun of kitchen experiments.  Nevertheless, I ate the entire thing in two days, which is cool cuz it's pretty low in cals, and ate it so quickly that I even forgot to take a picture!  Oh well.  Make the recipe; it's good.

Around the world with greens

Ok so I've obviously failed the blog challenge so I'm back to just posting bout food!  So last night I decided to cook, which is bad because it's been awhile.  I made Kenyan Kale and Tomatoes, garlic broccoli and then a tofu shallot salad from Whole Foods.

I know it all looks the same on the plate but all three flavors are distinctive and awesome. The kale and tomatoes were soft and delightful whereas the broccoli was still crispy and pungent and the salad is my favorite one at WF because the dressing is sweet with a tiny hint of spice. Both the dishes I cooked were really easy to make.  I decided to make this meal because I knew that Becca would most likely shrug at mere kale and tomatoes as a full meal.  Though she's basically vegetarian now, she still has a hard time defining a meal as just veggies.  She wants some sort of bread or rice or fake meat to go with it.  I am currently trying to stay as gluten-free as possible so it's been a challenge.

This morning I started the Tracey Anderson Method.  This is a workout series (I'm ignoring the meal plans as even the vegetarian track is dairy-heavy) that has toned the bodies of such celebs as Gwenyth Paltrow, Courtney Cox and Shakira.  So far so good.  I'm not too sore so maybe all that personal training is working out after all!  However, I have 31 days before my wedding so only time will tell!

A year ago

I'm supposed to upload a picture of me from a year ago and talk about how I've changed.  However, since Facebook sucks, it's a pain to pull pics off the site and upload them so I suppose you will have to imagine what I looked like a year ago, i.e. basically the same with slightly longer hair and more weight.

How have I changed?  Well, I've lost about 15 pounds so that's good.  I got engaged to be married so that's a big one.  I went vegan a little over a year ago which was the single most important decision in my life.  Really though I have the same job, same apartment, same gf since last year so there hasn't been a huge shift, except in my perception of things.  I'm actively trying to be positive, something I never would have fathomed a year ago.  I just want to be the change I want to see, as cheesy as that may sound!

Giving Up?

Ok so is it totally lame to give up on a 30 Day Blog Challenge halfway through when I've already missed plenty of days?  Today is supposed to be about goals but honestly I'm so confused about my goals at this point in my life that I don't even know what to say.  My only real goal is to have a wedding without too much drama.  As far as work, I just don't know anymore.  I don't really like my job. It's not challenging at all, but then again I get paid to read celebrity blogs and watch movies on occasion.  There are certainly worse things out there but I just don't feel like I'm contributing to the greater good here.  We make movies, horrible ones at that.  But I mean, do I want to be a nutritionist?  A yoga instructor?  A housewife?  I just don't know and I feel like I'm getting to that age that it's no longer acceptable to not know...

Ok so that's a downer.  I guess here are some of my goals.
1. Lose another 10 pounds. I want to be a skinny person.  There. I said it.
2. Finish my novel.
3. Find a more fulfilling job.
4. Adopt another kitten.
5. Rent a house in the next year or so.
6. If I rent said house, and it has a backyard, I would also love a goat and a bunny!
7. Volunteer more hours at Animal Acres.
8. Meditate more.
9. Work out 5 days a week.
10. Drink less but still be fun!

Alright I think that there is enough goals!  Le sigh.  Looks like I won't be quitting this blog challenge after all; it just means it will take me about twice as long!