Woman in Real Life

The weather is warming up significantly around here. We were promised some sort of record-breaking warm day today. I'm not sure we're quite going to make it, but the temperature is expected to go up to 13 degrees Celsius this afternoon. It's warm for February, but today it's also accompanied by dense fog. With most of the snow melted, the yard is just plain ugly. But I'm not complaining (okay, I'm complaining a bit) because spring is surely on the way!

This What I Ate Wednesday, I'm looking at highlights from the last couple of weeks. I don't seem able to post as regularly as I used to, but I hope spring takes care of that too. More energy, more ambition, all that good stuff. As I said on Instagram, between sick days, PA Days, exam days and snow days, I had one or both of the kids with me quite often over the past month or so. That has limited my creative time and also my time spent experimenting in the kitchen. Once the kids were finally back at school for a stretch, I decided to make a special breakfast just for me. The kids aren't hot on the idea of coating French toast with coconut, so I made one of my favourite quick, easy and delicious breakfasts - the coconut French toast from the incredible Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week.

If you are a collector of vegan cookbooks (or even cookbooks in general), you're likely to have a book by Isa Chandra Moskowitz in your collection. Surprisingly (for this particular cookbook addict) I didn't own an Isa cookbook until I got my copy of Isa Does It last year. You can read my review of that inspiring cookbook if you don't yet own it. I encourage you to get that one for the fall because it has lots of warm, nourishing vegan recipes for the cooler months.

Because Isa Does It is now one of my favourite cookbooks, I have been wanting to try more Isa books, preferably all of them. During my household purge (still ongoing) I tossed several old, somewhat outdated vegetarian and non-vegetarian cookbooks. In theory I have more room on my shelves for new cookbooks. (In reality I still have quite an abundance. What can I say? I'm a cookbook addict. But it's a pretty harmless addiction, right?)

This What I Ate Wednesday I'm going straight to a look at a full day of eats. It happens to be my Tuesday menu. I feel like it looks like I'm on a diet. I usually eat more food than I ate yesterday. In reality I just didn't feel like making anything special.

I started the day with a smoothie made from banana, cherries, pineapple, strawberries, chia seeds, water, orange juice and Natural Calm.

Happy Wednesday! My spirits have picked up some this week. (I was a bit miserable last week after losing my beloved cameras.) The weather has been pretty close to perfect these last couple of days and I am looking forward to sunshine, picnics and drinks on the patio.

Being without my cameras, I have grown a little bit more easygoing about snapping pictures. Although my LGG3 cellphone has a great camera, I am usually a big advocate of using real DSLR cameras. But I have been quick to use my cellphone camera this week and I find it a little bit freeing. I have used a mix of cellphone and Olympus pics here, starting with this one from my phone, above. This was a pic I took for Instagram (I'm @ziajojo) of a juice I made in the juicer one day - using celery, baby carrots, lemon, apple and parsley. It was a good blend of veggies and sweet stuff.

You know when you're sick and you can't eat much? That was me last week. In the midst of a flu (or whatever that wicked, wicked virus was), I (shamefully) recall looking down at my belly and thinking, "my stomach looks pretty flat." When I finally hobbled woefully downstairs after a few days in bed, my mom said, "You look skinnier already." And I said, "I know" with a distinctive hint of joy in my voice. It's sad, but true. That is the one up-side to being sick - pride in your flatter tummy.

In this case it's easy go, easy come, though, because I don't really see a big difference now. To be honest, food turns me off a bit still. But I didn't mind swallowing a bunch of pasta and pizza when my husband made it this past Sunday. He made rapini pizza (my favourite) for me and pasta with Yves vegan meatballs. Pictured is the lunch portion I had the next day. I stirred some leftover chickpea salad into the pasta for extra nutrition.

Have you started your holiday baking yet? I feel like it's too early, and here's why. If I make cookies and squares now for Christmas, I.will.eat.them.all.before.Christmas. Even if I put them in the freezer. I mean how long does it actually take for cookies to defrost. Seconds, right?

Nevertheless, I have done a bit of baking this week. All of which, naturally, was soon eaten. Not just by me, thankfully. I have a family to feed. I relied on Isa Does It for several recipes this week. Like this marbled banana bread, above. (Clearly I don't know how to "marble.") Love, love, love the cookbook, but have to say this isn't my fave recipe.

I am holding off on turning on the furnace for as long as I can. I find it so drying to my skin. We are making ample use of the fireplace in the meantime, but I confess it's sometimes a wee bit chilly around here.

Making soup, stew, chili and fresh warm baked goods helps. I predict that Isa Does It is going to help me get through the winter. There are so many great recipes for cozy-looking vegan comfort foods. Like this Down-Home Curry With Tofu & Broccoli, above. As Isa says in the intro to the recipe, it's "a homey, filling, stick-to-your-ribs meal that's easy enough to throw together anytime the feeling strikes you." I could go for some of those savoury tofu chunks right about now.

It's that (rather depressing) time of year when it becomes difficult to take evening food photos. I have been making dinner a little later than usual and it's near dark by the time dinner is on the table. I have actually gone out on the deck a couple of times to get a bit of the last remaining light into my shots.

Anyway...Happy Wednesday! Here's a (partial) look at what I've been eating this week. I had Nature's Path hemp waffles for breakfast one day, with vegan margarine and maple syrup. Simple and yummy.

As I said on Instagram, working from home has a number of benefits, one of the most important being I can break to make pancakes or French toast at any time if I so choose. Not that I do it often. But one day this past week I did in fact break to make delicious vegan Coconut French Toast from a recipe in Isa Does It. It's so simple and the coconut makes it absolutely scrumptious. I could have this for dinner, it's so good!

It's a little bit summer, a smidgen fall and a whole lot I'm-scared-of-winter around here right now. Which means a mix of warm weather foods and comforting fall soups. Distinctly in the summer category - the fruity ice pops we made recently in the Zoku. I took my recipe for Strawberry Peach Green Tea Ice Pops and changed it up a bit. Instead of green tea, I used water (I was rushing). I also added half a banana into the mix, and included slices of strawberry and banana to perty it up a bit.

This week is the "Oh crap, it's the end of summer vacation and we haven't accomplished any of our home projects" week. That means painting, organizing and purging, with a wee bit of cooking tossed in. It also means I haven't taken as many food photos. So I'm going to share a single day's worth of food pics from yesterday.

I started the day with Bob's Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal. It reminds me of the Red River Hot Cereal I enjoyed as a child. I served it topped with brown sugar just as I did as a child. But I use soy beverage now instead of dairy. The 7 grain cereal keeps me full for a while. It's a combo of wheat, rye, triticale, oats, oat bran, barley, brown rice and flaxseed, so it's full of fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals.

I have a lot of cookbooks! But the sad truth is that three-quarters of my cookbooks don't get much use. I could tell with one quick look through Isa Does It, however, that the latest cookbook in my collection was going to get lots of wear.

Why? Great photos for starters (from photographer Vanessa Rees). And lots of them. Secondly, I love the tone of Isa's writing - knowledgeable and authoritative and yet funny. While I had of course heard of Isa Chandra Moskowitz before, surprisingly I didn't own any of her cookbooks. But, after several people told me that Isa Does It is one of their favourites, I just had to have it.

Here's a What I Ate Wednesday look at food highlights from the past week. Starting with the best highlight of all - sushi! All-you-can-eat sushi actually. My husband had a day off last week during exams and our first priority was a vegetarian sushi lunch.

We have had some crazy weather here these past couple of days. We got our new patio conversation set out on the deck just in time for rain! Oh well, better days ahead. Here's a Wednesday look at some of the foods we've been eating this week, starting with these "Omaha Yakisoba" noodles, made from a recipe in Isa Does It. I rarely make recipes with cabbage (too lazy to shred it) so this took me nicely out of my comfort zone. It features red cabbage, broccoli and corn.

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! Yep, that's a picture of me in one of my happiest moments - they generally occur when I'm eating at a restaurant. Especially if it specializes in vegan food. It's nice not to have to skip most of the menu!