VeganMoFo V: Easy as 3.14159265...

Words cannot express how much the combination of MoFo and school are kicking my butt right now.  I have two exams this week and turned in a major paper Monday.  I'm living on 4-5 hours a night, and it's making me crazy.  The first time I went to college, I did the same thing for finals.  I ended up driving into my best friend's parked car because, in my delirium, I thought my foot was on the brake.

All of that is really just a build up for no Bobby Flay today.  However, I was looking through my food porn, and forgot about all the awesome things I tested for Vegan Pie in the Sky!  Yay!  I seriously heart Isa and Terry.  They are, indeed, the best.  I got to meet them in person at VVC and they were cooler than cool.  Enough glowing...onto PIE!

sweet potato brazil nut

I ended up testing 24 recipes.  It was the sweetest, most delicious testing experience yet.  The vegan dream team completely changed my perspective on so many things.  I'll list my top ten testers, counting down to my favorite.

old fashioned chocolate pudding pie

10. Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie-This pie is so chocolatey and delicious that everybody will be easily fooled into thinking it takes a lot of effort.  So easy!

9. Cosmos Apple Pie-I mostly think of apple pies as boring, but this pie is ridiculously good!  It's just piled high with appley goodness...then topped with this cinnamon sugar concoction.  Mmmm.

8. Blueberry Ginger Handpies-Are you kidding me?!  If I hear ginger, I'm totally there.  These things have the added bonus of oozing with blueberry perfection.

cosmos applie pie

7. Rad Whip-I admit that I am so super dense.  I couldn't figure out for the life of me why it was called that.  Isa and her friggin puns!  Haha.  When it finally dawned on me, I felt so silly.  Alls you needs to know about this is that it's amazing!  Two chillings and a whip later...you have legitimate whipped cream topping that doesn't just melt away at room temperature.

6. Maple Pecan Pie-Whaaaat?!  Yes.  The Texan in me was so super happy when I made this.  First vegan pecan pie that solidified and had the essence of what a pecan pie is to me.  So yum!

5. Banoffee Pie-Bananas, toffee, chocolate shavings.  I didn't expect to love this pie as much as I did.  I bit into it and actually swooned.  Delicious!

banoffee pie

coconut cream pie, lime variation

4. Pear-Cranberry Gallette-Something about the combo of the buckwheat and the pears just really felt comforting to me.  I seriously loved this pie.  I had never tried buckwheat flour before and absolutely loved the earthiness!

3. Banana Cookie Cream Pudding-Just when I thought nanner pudding couldn't get any better, Isa and Terry invented this.  It is amazing!  I took it to a family reunion, and it was devoured.

2. Sweet Potato Brazil Nut Pie-I don't even like sweet potato pie.  In fact, I told Terry that I loathed it when she posted the recipe.  Something about the island infusion just made me think I'd love this.  And I do!!!  It completely changed my perspective on sweet potatoe pies.  This is fighting for a spot at my Thanksgiving table this year!

chocolate caramel tart w/ fleur de sel

1. Lemon Mousse Pies-I am highly outspoken of my love for lemon meringue pie.  This is pretty much like that but flipped with the light and airy part on bottom.  Plus, there's a gingersnap crust!  I LOVE THIS THING!  Best lemon pie ever!

lemon mousse pie

Tomorrow is the last day of my school week (and the short class day) so I will definitely bring you that Bobby Flay lovin'.  Hopefully, I'll even be able to comment on blogs again.  Woo!

VeganMoFo III: Domingo! Domingo! Domingo!

What a busy Sunday.  Laundry, working out, catching up on the dvr, and I still have homework to do.  SERENITY NOW!  Today marks the beginning of health week.  I'm going to be eating sensible meals and posting mosaics of my daily intake.  Of course my attempt to be sensible for MoFo means that a bunch of blogs were posting pictures of chocolate chip cookies and delicious looking cupcakes today!  I think I did pretty good, though.

So why health week?  I have been trying to lose the same amount of pounds for years.  I never really struggled with weight until I was 13.  It was a domino effect for me.  I got really depressed and stopped being active which caused me to gain weight and that caused certain jackasses to torment me for being "fat" which caused me to turn to food which made me gain weight...  The list goes on to self loathing and EDs, but this isn't supposed to be a buzzkill.  I became healthy mentally.  I was at a completely comfortable weight in my early twenties but gained a bunch when I started working full time office jobs instead of restaurants and retail.  Honestly, I really don't have an ideal weight.  I just want to have a wider variety of clothing to choose from.  Especially bras.  Is there a certain rule that says anybody above a "c" cup only gets black, brown, and nude for a color?  Digressing...

My strategy when it comes to losing weight is super simple: love what you're doing and love what you're eating.  I don't believe in deprivation.  I know how that forces a person to just give up all together.  So I try to eat 4-5 small meals a day and drink tons of water.  If I have a craving that just won't quit, I'll make a healthy version of it.  When it comes to exercise, I do what makes me happy.  I'd rather spend two hours on the elliptical than to run for 15 minutes.  I hate running with a passion.  Unless there's a psychopath wielding an axe behind me, I take no comfort in it.  So I like doing cardio kickboxing and walking around the neighborhood and pretending like I can play tennis on Wii.

At the end of the day, I'm really good at being healthy and losing pounds...but horrible at the follow through (story of my life).  I guess the main thing I have to learn is that one misstep does not mean all hope is lost.  So if I falter on this journey, I'm no longer throwing in the towel.  Enough with the jibber jabber....

Breakfast: 1/2 an apple and 1/2 a pear, 1 tbsp peanut butter (held by a monkey)

Lunch: romaine, tomato, cucumber, and cilantro salad with hot sauce coated baked tofu, salt, lime juice
Snack: banana oatmeal breakfast cookie (VCIYCJ tester), chocolate soymilk
Dinner: spicy black eyed peas & greens and ginger mashed sweet potatoes & apples (Isa weight loss testers)

Water-10 cups
Exercise-45 minutes on elliptical while watching Buffy.  The beginning of Willow and Oz...squee!!!

Coming up this week: Wesley Snipes, raw food goodness, baked falafel, repollo, pear and zucchini soup, and how to turn your fridge into a salad bar.