Happy 101 Award | Tandoor Chef | watermelon smoothie

I recently received a Happy 101 award from Rose, the talented writer of the Dandelion Blog. If you haven't had a chance to read Rose's vegan cooking blog, you should definitely take a look. Anyway, the award asks me to post, in no particular order, 10 things that make me happy. I'm also supposed to pass the award along to 10 other blogs. Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am BAD at making choices. I'm a true Libra, and I tend to agonize over every decision no matter how small, but it really wasn't hard to quickly come up with a list of 10 things that make me happy. I just had to convince myself that it was OK to not worry about whether these were the things that made me most happy, or just happy. :D

1. Sunshine. I didn't realize how much I love sunshine until we moved someplace with a minimal amount. I especially love sunshine on a cold winter day, when the golden warmth makes the air feel fresh and vibrant, and the snow sparkle. I love it in the spring when it feels like hope, and in the fall when it lights up the changing leaves, and makes the transition to cooler days seem more pleasant. Sunshine and summer go together like hugs and kisses.

2. Rain during the night in summer. I love when it rains during the night (my apologies to night people) yet I wake up to a sunny day. Everything is clean and watered — the plants are no longer thirsty, and the new day always seems so full of potential.

3. Salt air at the ocean. When I was growing up, every summer my family went to the same place for a vacation — the New Jersey shore. ( I know. I know.) Down the shore, we called it. My favorite moment of the trip there, was just after we passed the (smelly) bay, and approached the beach town where we stayed, and the smell of salty sea air hit my nose and filled my lungs. I love that gorgeous smell.

4. Dogs. When I walk down the street and someone approaches with a dog, my eyes are on the dog. Often I speak to the dog, ignoring the human, and I've been wondering about this. Is it anti-social, or do I just really, really love dogs? If I remember to look up, the human usually seems happy that I like their dog, because I think they probably love dogs, too, and understand.

5. Family. I love my family, both immediate and extended, and all the people who are part of my family through marriage. What a great bunch! Why can't we just all live in the same place.

6. Friends and acquaintances. Moving away from the place I've lived for 30+ years has given me a new appreciation for my community of friends. I miss these people dearly when we are in our new surroundings. I miss purposely, and randomly, running into them during daily activities. I also appreciate new friends who have extended a welcome.

7. Good books. I love to read. My favorite reads are historical fiction and general fiction, but I read everything — biography, science, journalism, cookbooks, science fiction, etc. I'm currently reading two books by Sherman Alexie and a science fiction book called "The Sparrow." Just finished a young adult fantasy trilogy — "The Golden Compass," "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass." Before that the Nick Kristof book, "Half the Sky" and before that "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer.

8. Long walks. How great is it to walk in a beautiful place, breathing the fresh air, enjoying the scenery, and knowing that in addition to appreciating the experience, I'm getting exercise and benefiting my health. Woo hoo.

9. Making art.
Taking photographs. I love taking photographs, especially of food, and I LOVE when they turn out well. I keep it fun by not stressing too much over the photos that aren't as nice as I want, and instead, try to make the next ones better. I also love working in Photoshop.
Painting. By painting I mean creating a two-dimensional art work, not painting a house, though painting a house is fun, too.

10. Being vegan and knowing that my food choices are not taking the lives of animals.

If you are reading this and see your blog listed here, consider this award yours. Absolutely Green, Amanda's Domestic Adventures, Bitt of Raw, Bread Without Butter, Cooking for a Vegan Lover's Blog, Cooking in Color, Earthsip, Heathen Vegan, The Voracious Vegan, Vegan Awakening.

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The last of my Tandoor Chef frozen entrees
I was recently sent several varieties of Tandoor Chef frozen vegan entrees to review, and here's the last of them. Dal Rajastani (exotic lentils and split peas) was, like the other varieties we tried, well-spiced and delicious. Once again, it tasted like a dish you might enjoy in an Indian restaurant, or had spent hours making at home. After heating in the oven (or microwave), it was ready to serve with rice and veggies that we prepared, for a convenient, fast meal. The two-serving size box says it is gluten-free and vegan, (made in a facility that processes tree nuts, milk, wheat and sesame). (Nutritional info per serving in two-serving box: 130 calories; 6 g fat (no saturated, no trans); 470 mg sodium; 14 g total carbs (2 g sugar, 1 g fiber); 5 g protein.) 

I was kind of surprised to find Vegetable Pad Thai (gluten-free, vegan, made in a facility that processes tree nuts, milk, wheat and sesame) among the Tandoor Chef selections because I was assuming all the foods were Indian, but I guess not. The second surprise was that the box was considered one serving, not two. With more fat and salt than I'd like, I used it instead as two servings, and prepared a vegetable dish to accompany it. It was enough for two of us as part of a meal, and we both enjoyed the flavors and textures of the various components. It was really good.
(Nutritional info per one-serving box: 490 calories; 19 g fat (2 g saturated, no trans); 740 mg sodium; 72 g total carbs (9 g sugar, 5 g fiber); 10 g protein.)

In my last review I said my husband had cooked Masala Burgers and they fell apart, so I cooked one to see what would happen. It didn't fall apart, but I could see why he had a problem.

The burgers consist of whole corn kernels, small cubes of potato and other small vegetable pieces rather than a uniform, mashed consistency, so when you break into them, they tend to pop apart. This was very appealing to me, but you do have to treat them carefully rather than attacking them with a spatula. (Not saying he "attacked" them ... but, maybe ...)

Full disclosure: The Tandoor Chef products were provided free to me, with a request for a review. No attempt was made to influence my opinion.

To go with the pad thai, I prepared a dish of Japanese eggplant, long beans, tomato, tofu, leftover sweet corn, red curry paste. I'm not providing a recipe because I didn't like it much. The texture of the eggplant was wrong — kind of mushy instead of velvety-soft. My husband liked it but not me.

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Breaking out of my smoothie rut
Maybe the title is misleading since I'm still having smoothies every day, but at least I'm having different smoothies. This one was particularly delicious. It started with chunks of yellow baby watermelon which, when blended, provided the liquid needed to blend the other ingredients. The 40 ounce blender jar was about 3/4 full of chunks when I started. I added 4 ounces of coconut milk yogurt, several strawberries and about a cup of frozen mango chunks, and processed everything as smooth as my blender was able to do, meaning there were still some small pieces of mango left. The watermelon was a fabulous addition and the smoothie was great!

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Vegan wedding cake directory
I recently received a note from Ashley Lane about a project she's working on. (If you're a vegan food blogger you may have received the same note.) Here's what Ashley had to say:
My cousin is a wedding cake vendor (in Utah) and I've convinced her that we need to create a (nationwide) directory of other bakers who can make vegan wedding cakes, on her website ... to help the vegan community with this problem (I'm vegan, btw). I would love to ask you for a big favor. Could you create a quick blog post asking your readers if any of them had a vegan wedding and if they could contact us here: ashley@onesweetslice.com to tell us where they were able to get their vegan wedding cake. (wherever they live)? I'd love to turn this into a complete resource ... but finding a vegan wedding cake baker in every state is more work than I thought ... so I'd really, really appreciate your help! :-)

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You can win a dessert e-cookbook from Ricki!
Ricki, from Diet, Dessert and Dogs is hosting a giveaway for her fabulous new dessert e-cookbook. Visit her blog to read about it and enter the drawing.