food fight rematch, seedlings, and a biggie bio

above is a yummy meal i made after finding daiya's dairy-free "cheese style shreds" at my local whole foods in marlton, nj. the pizza shell is an ezekiel sprouted grain tortilla, topped with mozzarella style shreds, diced tomato, basil, garlic, olive oil, and hemp seeds. the salad is topped with avocado, mushrooms, and my sweet lime cilantro dressing.

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Sweet Lime Cilantro Dressing

(makes about 1/3 cup)

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp agave
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/4 C. cilantro
1 garlic clove
pinch cayenne
pinch salt
pinch cumin

blend all ingredients until smooth.

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the mozzarella style shreds made a delicious pizza, much like a dairy cheese pizza (melty and stretchy), but was it able to stand up to my raw pizza in a food fight?

no way! the cooked pizza on the right may look better, but in the taste department, raw pizza wins again.=)

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the recipe below produces a "cheese" just as good as any dairy or fake dairy cheese, in my opinion. when warmed in the dehydrator a few hours, it tastes even better.

Quick and Easy Cashew Cheezy

2/3 C. raw cashews, soaked
1/4 C. water
1-2 garlic cloves
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast flakes

process all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth and creamy.

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though i prefer homemade raw cheeze, daiya mozzarella style shreds are tasty and convenient. in my opinion, the taste is more like melted american cheese than mozzarella, but it's still a nice flavor. any way you slice it, daiya shreds make a healthier cooked pizza alternative to take-out!

 image from daiyafoods.com

the site states that daiya is free of soy, artificial ingredients, preservatives, hormones and antibiotics, cholesterol, and trans fats. the shreds are also said to be an excellent source of a naturally occurring vegan vitamin B-12 as well as an excellent source of B vitamins in general. herbies gotta love that!

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in the mood for a tuna sammie today, i decided to try happy herbivore's fat-free vegan tuna to find out for myself which is tastier - raw or cooked mock tunas.

the fat-free vegan tuna was super simple to make and absolutely delightful! i couldn't stop shoveling it into my mouth while prepping our "tuna melts" for the toaster oven.

daiya's cheddar style shreds are really yummy, and taste very similar to cheddar cheese, but did they make the sandwich better than raw oh my this is a tuna! on a collard wrap?

not at all! though it was really good, it didn't taste much like tuna. i'm going to call it creamy chickpea salad, and stick to oh my this is a tuna! when the cravings strike.=)

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out in the garden my seedlings are starting to take off. look how cute they are!=)

arugula

 kale

(i've got some sprouts under fencing to keep the birds and squirrels away.)

tango leaf lettuce

sunset lettuce

and look what i spotted growing behind one of our compost bins...

a baby from one of last year's pansies!

i guess the seeds blew over and found a nice warm place to grow. i wonder if more will come up around the yard. (and people wonder why i don't like to cut my lawn!)

what have you got growing at your place?

we've got lotsss of clover... and a cat belly that keeps growing bigger!

for those who don't know, this is our old lady-baby, mrs. bigglesworth. i realize she was never properly introduced, so here's a brief biggie bio for those interested:

biggie is estimated to be about 15 years old. she was found outside a friend's house when her adopted mommy, kelli, was a teen. rumor had it she was abandoned by the neighbors when they moved. swept up in the new austin powers movie, the neighborhood children called her mrs. bigglesworth.

kelli's 2 y/o niece alaina pronounces biggie like "piggie", and thinks "piggie's so bootiful".

kelli and her father took piggles in about 12 years ago. she remained an outside cat where she lived the good life in the suburbs of south jersey. (of course she spent nights and unpleasant weather in the house.)

in the fall of '09, a vet found that biggles was in the early stages of renal failure (kidney failure). she was prescribed a subcutaneous injection of fluids once a week, which she sometimes takes without a problem. biggles also has arthritis in her back leg. but despite her health issues, she's a playful, happy kitty.=)

mrs. biggles lived with kelli's dad up until december '09, when she went to spend her twilight years at john and kelli's kitty retirement village (aka their house=). there she is loved and pampered around the clock. 

biggles loves coconut oil and tells you she wants some by scratching at the bathroom sink. she prefers to drink her water on the second floor of the house, in a black mug, thank you. (she can be a bit prissy.=)

as you can see little ms. biggles is super cute, and her people just adore her!

 look at that lil' mouth!

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since dessert is always the perfect ending, i leave you with a plate of averie's nut butter filled caramel bites coated in chocolate. YUM! (if you haven't already, make sure you enter averie's giveaway for a super cute custom necklace!)

 ~*~