what's up obsession

Hi my name is Brigitte, and I'm addicted to nuts. #hiiibrigitte

If you open up my nightstand, this is what you'll find. Seriously, this is nuts! Pun intended.

getting back to my roots

When my mom said "let's make tamales" I said "LET'S DO IT!" If you haven't seen the movie He's Just Not That Into You then scratch that last comment and let's get to good stuff. This was literally an all day task, I have no excuses for not having more than one picture.

We went to 3 different grocery stores, made homemade salsa verde, sauteed our grilled veggies in the salsa, mixed the salsa with the matza to add more flavor, soaked the corn leaves, and then had to compile them into something that wouldn't fall apart, which is a lot harder than it seems. Thank god Jaimee was there to... Slice the cheese.

Probably one of the best things I have ever tasted/made. I'd be lying if I said the vegan friendly tamales were just as good as the ones with cheese. Me and Jaimee had to pry the forks out of each other's hand so we could save some for the rest of the family to try. Literally! :)

i'm having an affair with my juicer

I love love LOVE baking and cooking, but after going on a desserts binge these past few months, I figured the most efficient way to add vegetable to my diet again would be to juice them.

I don't really have a strategy when I juice. I just grab whatever is in the fridge and WUHLAH! The past few days that's consisted of carrots, celery, beets, pineapple, apples, and lemon. Amazing combo btw. Haha.

I like to make a big glass bowl full so I don't have to keep cleaning up and rejuicing.

I didn't get the lemon in the picture, but that little lemon is crucial when juicing! For one, the taste is way too sweet without a littl--LOT of lemon added. And secondly, it preserves your a juice longer so it can last a few hours in the fridge :)

Yummmmmmy. I know you're jealllly.

And that is my 10 ounces of heaven.

I always start by making a cup full and then fill up my bowl for later. That bowl is much bigger than it looks. It's also glass and air tight so that it doesn't fermentate :)

tis the season

This holiday season came up so fast! I didn't even have time to bake, cook, etc. So I helped with the little things like, setting up the table and.. Eating.

Okay I lied. My twin sister set this up. I could never set up anything this nicely. I'm convinced she is an interior designer at heart. Haha. I didn't get any pictures of the main course, but I did get some of dessert! ;)

The in-laws brought over a big heaping plate of BAKLAVA! They are Greek, so it was like the best thing I have ever tasted. I had 13 in less than 15 minutes. I'm not exaggerating AT ALL. I got pretty sick.. Don't try this at home kids.

Jaimee and her Christmas dinner.. Well, her first plate of three if I remember correctly. We went to the in-laws house Christmas day to feast, and they did not let us down! Seriously, I would pay to eat there.

They even had some delicious options for me :) That is a traditional Greek salad sans the feta cheese and quinoa with veggies, which my mom brought. I had two plates of this and saved room for the desserts. I wish I would've taken pictures, they were all so pretty and SCRUMPCIOUS! My mouth is drooling just thinking about that Christmas just 10 days ago.... Ok, back to blogging. I had countless desserts and then got sent home with a plate of homemade cookies that could feed an army. So, safe to say my feast didn't end at their house.

I was a pretty bad vegan this holiday season, but can you blame me?

I topped off my food coma with a nice glass of red wine :)

hummus house

Pretty much anything with the word hummus in it has my complete attention. So naturally when my dad asked if me and my sister wanted to try a restaurant called Hummus House, WE WERE IN!

The restaurant was pretty empty when we got there so we got great customer service! I ordered a falafel pita wrap, which I didn't get a picture of because I was too busy eating it, if that gives you any idea how delicious it was! They had so many different types of hummus' but we went with traditional. I tried to get my sister to try my huge wrap but she insisted she already had too much on her plate. I tried hard to believe it was because she was filled up with her lamb wrap and not because she didn't want to try mine because it was vegan. Haha.

Then came dessert. And I am a sucker for anything sweet and nutty. Easily the best baklava I have ever had. They did something different then most places and it had a nice Indian flare to it, I think it was pistachios :) Jaimee doesn't care much for desserts so I happily ate hers as well!

vegan banana nut bread

I have a HUGE sweet tooth. I love pastries, cupcakes, and basically anything with nuts in it. Sometimes I get too impatient and will eat anything my mom brings home but then sometimes I force myself to think long and hard about what I'm actually craving and make it! In this case, it was banana nut bread. And who doesn't love that?!

 Once again, Jaimee helped me. I always love having her in the kitchen with me, even though most of the time she is just texting and occassionally sticking her fingers in the mix.

This is the finished product. It might just look like any old plain loaf of bread, but let me tell you it was amazing! I literally ate half of it in one sitting and my sister had to hide the other half from me, which usually involves her placing it somewhere too high for me to reach. Please try this at home kids :)

vegan pumpkin pie

I still had some left over pumpkin puree so I decided to make some good ol' fashion pumpkin pie. This recipe is super simple so I knew if I let my sister help me, she couldn't possibly mess it up. Haha.

I'm not sure what happened to the coloring on this photo, but this is my sister mixing all the ingredients.

Usually I when I use this recipe I don't put it in a pre-made graham craacker crust because after it's baked it usually thickens along the edges, creating it's own crust, but my sister insisted on using one. We are total opposites when it comes to food.

I popped our pie into the oven. While this was baking we licked all the remaining batter off of the bowl, blender, and spoon; you can tell a lot about the way a pie is going to come out based on the batter ;) An hour later this is what we got....

Kinda ugly, right? I'll admit, it has come out much prettier in the past, but don't let it's lumpy face deceive you. It was still as pumpkiny and moist as ever. Next time I probably won't use the pre-made crust but it was worth a shot!