zoe & the beatles

good evening kidlettes!

currently chowing down on dinnerrrr. it’s a good one! i’ll get to that in a second. let me rewind a little bit first.

did everyone have a nice weekend? i hope so! i ended mine on a great note. i had my LAST DAY at my job! donedonedoneee. so happy! yesterday i woke up with absolutely nothing planned. i debated a run. i debated a free day. i did not, however, debate breakfast! i bought gluten free oats (bob’s red mill) and decided to give them a test run. they ended up looking quite beautiful (oats? beautiful? i’m weird.)

in the bowl:
1/3 cup gluten free rolled oats
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup water (plus a little more)
a ton of cinnamon
half a nanner

topped with:
1 (heaping!) T dark chocolate almond spread
a few cinnamon puffins
unsweetened coconut

sadly i think the gluten free oats cook differently and the portion was WAY smaller than “normal” rolled oats. and the coconut milk flavor didn’t shine through as much as i’d would of liked it to. so i ate this to round out a fully satisfying breakfast:

do you guys like melon? i LOVE melon. any kind. candace hates it. (weirdo).

yesterday i really tried to eat three solid meals and at least one snack. started off well, if i do say so myself !

after breakfast i happened to catch the “adventure list” on our fridge. candace and a few friends of ours created a list of “adventures” to go on when we could not think of anything else to do. one it? walk across the golden gate bridge! believe it or not, before yesterday, despite living less than 20 minutes from it my entire life, i’ve only walked across the bridge ONCE. when i was six. i one upped the adventure and decided to run it! i invited my mom along and my dad jumped on board last minute. they walked while i ran from the marin side to the san francisco side. i met them up in the middle. a quick two-ish miles! i’m getting faster, too, folks ! happyhappy.

honestly, i love spending time with my parents. the older you get, the more you want to go home. interesting, hmmm ?

once we got home we aaaall wanted food. my dad threw together a pretty little veggie pizza on cornmeal crust (of which i had once slice) and i threw together a pretty substantial salad:

in the salad: one head romaine, one roasted carrot, cherry tomatoes, roasted corn, navy beans, and sauteed mushrooms (left over from the pizza!). daaang. this hit the spot. anyone else crave salads for lunch? it’s a must in my life just about every day. i try to vary it though. otherwise i might bore myself to death. death by salad…who would of thought!

following lunch my brother accompanied me to whole foods where i purchased the final bits for dinner. i’m a dork and brought food from my apartment home to cook for dinner. i couldn’t abandon operation clean out the pantry! plus i dreamed up a pretty tasty dish…vegan enchiladas! i got inspired by susan over at fatfree vegan kitchen and angela at oh she glows.

guys…these turned out phenominal. they were so ridiculously tasty! please try them, or any variation you’d like. vegan enchiladas make for one happy tummy!

what you’ll need:
one spaghetti squash
one medium sweet potato
one ezekiel wrap
one block firm tofu
one can tomato sauce
one T oregano
one T basil
one t salt
one T cayenne (or any other hot spice. i used this amazing one my dad got at a spice store. can’t remember the name, sorry! also — use as much spice as you’d like. you know how i like me some spicy eats!)
enchilada sauce (use as much as you’d like)
“cheese” (i bought that daiya i’ve read about because it was on sale. you guys. this stuff ROCKS! sosososososooo good. and worth that $$$!)

what you’ll need to do:
preheat oven to 400
cut spaghetti squash in half and scoop out insides. place in baking ban with about an inch of water. drizzle olive oil over the halves before adding as much salt, pepper, and minced garlic as you’d like. stab holes into the sweet potato. bake for 40 minutes, remove the squash, up the temp to 450 and cook sweet potato for another 20 minutes.

meanwhile, prep your tofu! drain water and press for at least half a hour to get out all excess water. once ready, crumble into bits and pieces in a bowl so it resembles ground beef.

in another bowl, mix together tomato sauce and spices!

dump sauce on tofu and let marinate, covered, in the fridge for at least half an hour. (mine sat for about an hour).

allow sweet potato and squash to cool. scrap half of the squash into a bowl. (i saved the other half for more things to come this week!). cut sweet potato in half. take out wraps! spread half of the sweet potato in the middle of the wrap. layer it with the squash. then the tofu. the final product (before wrapping) should look like this:

it may not look appetizing but just trust me on this one.

you’ll want the oven at 350 now. cover a small pan (about 8 by 3) with a layer of enchilada sauce (i used trader joe’s bottled because it was in my pantry. but next time i don’t think i will. the ingredient list was super long…). carefully roll up your wrap and place in pan. cover with as much enchilada sauce as you want. (i made a small half wrap for my mom, too!) looks like this:

bake for 15 minutes in oven before taking out and adding “cheese”. cook for five more minutes. take out and stare down at deliciousness:

then you plate! and devour! (i plated both enchiladas before putting my moms on a separate plate. hence the messy, unattractive plate.)

not only did my mom (a non-vegetarian/vegan) LOVE this, but my brother tried a bite and asked me to make one for him too. and they said i ate weird food the flavors just went really well together. it was super filling. later my bother and i went for some fro-yo. gooood night.

going home always puts me a great food as i’ve said before. it gives me a chance to relax and catch up with my family. my brother and i managed to squeeze in a mini hike before dinner. we live up in the hills and hiked up one. at the top there were swings!

the views were gorgeous.

it was a good day.

i spent the night at my house because this morning i went to the bakery i got hooked up with. however, it did not go as planned…i didn’t get the internship she said it was bad timing, as she was looking to actually hire someone, not take on an intern. she also said i needed to improve my skills as well, as i wasn’t quick enough in the kitchen. at one point i was removing thyme from branches and she said: “you got to learn how to manage your time!” haha, pun intended? i’m not sure. regardless, i laughed. it’s true — in the kitchen, especially one THAT busy, (line-out-the-door busy kidlettes!) time is essential.

i agree, i most definitely do. but it’s still a bummer. i’m looking on the bright side though — she said i could always come back after i got a little training and was super encouraging about getting practice. she was really nice about the whole thing. plus, i learned how to crack an egg one handed today — in BOTH hands! and she gave me free pastries for my time.

summer has a whole new outlook now. i’m going to find a new job i will hopefully enjoy and i’m actually kind of excited. it will be much more relaxing then planned. i can always enjoy more relaxation.

like right now. this is a LONG post. and i had a major hot yoga session earlier so all i want to do is curl up with some tea and a documentary. nightnight kidlettes!

namaste

zoe