How Well is Your Digestive System Working?

Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

This has been a great winter for me and my old enemy soup. We have been able to work out our differences and have an amicable relationship. For soup Sunday this week I made coconut curry chicken soup, yet another awesome recipe I was exposed to thanks to Pinterest. In the original recipe it was suggested to pour the chicken and veggie mix over the rice, but I stirred it in.  It will thicken significantly if you do this, so I added about a cup of extra chicken broth.  The coconut flavor was mild and you could certainly add in more curry if you wanted a stronger flavor. Yet again, I found a soup I will make again.

Wholesome Cake

I received some samples of cake mix from Whole Some Chow, who offer both a vegan line and a gluten free, vegan line. I was iffy about whether or not this was going to be good, because honestly I have not had any vegan cake mixes that are actually good. Every other time when I have made a cake with oil instead of eggs it separated after being baked. The other issue with vegan cakes is density. It's expected they will be more dense, but some are just inedible.

Thus, you can understand my doubt that these cakes would be tasty, but I gave it a go. I started out with the chocolate cake, which was good enough to frost.  The vanilla cake was really good; the first day I could hardly tell it was vegan, but the second and third day it almost seemed to become more dense.  The raw batter was actually better than the baked cake.

Then there was the chocolate lavender cake.  I waited as long as I possibly could because I dislike lavender and just could not imagine it in a cake.  When I finally did make it it had a similar consistency to the plain chocolate, but something was off about it both in taste and texture. Just not for me. Overall I do not think I would buy these mixes, but if you're vegan, I suppose they are worth a go.

It's Museum Time!

To find out all the details and to plan your day please visit SacramentoMuseums.Org 

Buns & Barrettes

I have dined at the Counter several times before, but most recently was the first time I was able to order a burger with a bun! A friend and I journeyed out to the fountains plaza for a typical whole foods/counter combo. We were pleasantly surprised to see they are now offering Udi's gluten free buns. It was nice to be able to order a real burger, bun, and all, although I will say I am more so a fan of Canyon Bakehouse buns. In any case, the burger was absolutely delicious. And if you have not had their sweet potato fries, you're missing out.

 After the meal and our way over to Whole Foods we passed a new store to the plaza called Charming Charlie. All the glitz and glam, and colored coordination- it was calling our names, but given the set up of the store and the location we figured we surely could not afford anything. We were however once again pleasantly surprised for the evening. We discovered it was actually sort of like Clarie's but geared more to adults.  Violet and dark purple on separate rounders, lime green and forest green; we were in accessory overload.

Where was this store a year ago when I needed some accessorizes for multiple events? In any case, it was an evening adventure of girly fun.

Salsa Bean Soup

My husband looked at me a little funny when he asked for dinner and I told him salsa bean soup.  Once he ate a bowl, he wanted a second, and confessed it was absolutely delicious.

In the making process I realized it was probably the way some people make chili- with a can of salsa.  In any case, the type of salsa will either make or break this recipe.  I used homemade salsa that I am absolutely in love with, and a can of drained cannelloni beans. Heat them together, and that's about it. I topped it with Daiya Cheese, avocado, and some tofutti sour cream.

I had previously calculated the cost of my homemade salsa at $2.00 a jar, and with that knowledge I was able to determine that it was only $2.09 a servings, including all the dairy free toppings.