Hi hi hi! It’s been a whirlwind around here and I can’t even believe it’s October, ack! This month is going to be full of lots of fun traveling and activities, so I’m looking forward to it, but can someone else just come do my laundry for me so I don’t have to while this is all going on? Ok that’s what I thought. Let’s get started!
Eats:
-I checked out the My New Roots cookbook from the library a few weeks back and fell in LOVE. I already have a lot of dang cookbooks, but I think I’m going to have to spring for this one soon. I made the Strawberry Coconut Milkshake for lunch one day and it was fantastic, along with the cashew yogurt that turned out perfectly. There are so many other recipes I want to try out of this book, so I need to just jump on it and order it soon.
– My favorite farmer’s market is still going on here, so I stopped by last week to pick up some early fall produce and see what’s looking good right now. I came out with lots of potatoes (for making my favorite potato pizza!), the last of a sweet corn crop, and a bunch of mizuna. Mizuna is a new to me green, so I thought  I would give it a try and I loved it! This article from The Kitchn helped me figure out what to do with it and I think I’m going to use the last sauteed with veggies for dinner this week.
– I was never a huge fan of tofu, until I found the perfect way to prepare it! I Am A Food Blog has a perfect oven baked tofu recipe that I’ve made time and time again and never gotten sick of it. Replace the honey with agave and make a double batch of the sauce, because it’s DANG good.
– Sushi is a go-to for me when I have nori and rice on hand, but sushi bowls have become a whole new favorite lunch ever since Kate posted this brilliant recipe. I made this one day when I was working from home and it was gone in a matter of hours. The way of cooking the rice with the nori and seasonings takes everything to a whole new level and I just used any veggies I had on hand. For the sauce, I used Just Mayo and it worked perfectly.
– Ever since discovering that pizza should be cooked at home under the highest heat your oven can handle, my pizza game has been upped by a thousand percent. Sara’s guide to making perfect homemade pizza was what really drove perfect pizza home for me, especially since the rise/make time doesn’t take all day/night. I usually top mine with lots of veggies from the fridge and use a jarred sauce or barbecue sauce to make things easier.
– I’ve been not so great at meal prep and making actual dinners lately (hello tortilla chips for dinner!), but I made a double batch of Pure Ella’s quinoa and chickpea burgers a few weeks ago and they have been a lifesaver. I’ve had them over salad, in a pita and just straight up with some chips on the side.
– Last but not least, snacks! This is totally not sponsored, but I’ve been really into coffee and cinnamon spice peanuts from Lush Gourmet lately. They did kindly send me some nuts to try out, but I have a cake recipe using them coming up next week and it is PERFECT. Trust me.
Books:
– After being hooked on binge watching lots of television for the past year or so, I’ve finally transitioned back to reading in my free time! I always love reading and miss it when I don’t do it for a while, but it’s felt refreshing to really get back into getting lost in a book. My favorites this month were The Royal We (seriously, so good!), Stir (food book), and Luckiest Girl Alive. I typically like to mix things up between serious/funny/chick lit and these all provided that. I wouldn’t say Luckiest Girl Alive was the most amazing book, like I had been hearing, but it was still pretty good!
Listen:
– The Food Blogger Pro podcast has been my main jam when listening to podcasts this month. From interviews with Bjork and Lindsay themselves to a lot of inspiring bloggers, I love the format of this podcast and the info it gives.
– I don’t know how it took me so long, but I finally started listening to the Spilled Milk podcast and LOVE it. The idea of listening to people eat things and talk about them sounds odd, but it really is so good. I just listened to the Melons episode and was laughing like a maniac as I was driving home from work last weekend.
– Chopped Con podcast had a great episode come out a few weeks ago about blog production process and planning and it helped me so much in my search for trying to plan out blog posts in a more efficient way. One of the biggest takeaways for me from this episode was using the talk to text feature to write out blog posts by talking through them. For me, this makes way more sense because I try to write the way I would talk about a recipe, so I’m hoping experimenting with a few tips from the podcast will help my workflow with posts a bit.
– I didn’t do much traveling this month, but this month is a different story. I’ll take any and all recommendations that you have for Kansas City and Boston, food, sightseeing, etc. Lay them on me! Also, I appreciate good airport food recommendations, so I’ll take those too.
Hope you had/have/are having a fabulous weekend! I’ve got a full week ahead of dinner dates, happy hours and lots of baking on the brain. xo
Beth Hornback | Eat Within Your Means says
Loved this post, Abby! 🙂 Can’t wait to meet you in person at ChoppedCon!
The Frosted Vegan says
Thank you sweet Beth! I can’t wait to see you too!
Rob T says
Greetings from Trunk Monkey!
The Frosted Vegan says
Oh no, you are out causing trouble again! 🙂
Sara @ Cake Over Steak says
Oh hey girl hey! Thanks for the sweet shoutout to my pizza post. I’m glad that was helpful for you. That high heat is seriously key, and just makes the whole process faster anyway. I loooooove me some homemade pizza! You have so much good stuff going on in this post: Food Blogger Pro, The Royal We, Chopped Con and the My New Roots cookbook! So good. I’ve been googly-eyeing that book a lot lately, but haven’t made a ton from it yet. I need to dive in more, so thanks for the reminder. Can’t wait to see you in a few short weeks! Eee!!! xoxo
The Frosted Vegan says
You should get your hands on that book, it’s so good! Eeeekkk!! See you SO soon! xoxo
Liz @ Floating Kitchen says
I love that you checked a cookbook out of the library. That’s why I love you. Also, I need to start doing that! Kind of brilliant and I’m not sure why I haven’t thought of it before. I need to pick up the two new Food52 cookbooks. Pretty excited about those. Also, I’m so happy to see Boston on that list. Yahoo!
The Frosted Vegan says
Woo hooo!!!! It’s a good way to figure out if I really want to buy the book, or if it’s a dud I’ll abandon in a month 🙂 I have the Food52 ones coming in the mail and I CANT WAIT to get them 🙂 See you in a few short weeks!!
Janel M. says
When in Boston, check out Veggie Galaxy diner in Cambridge (5 min from Boston). Mostly vegan restaurant, 100% vegan bakery. http://www.veggiegalaxy.com/
The Frosted Vegan says
Ahh thanks for the tip!
Victoria says
I just found your blog and it looks great! Is there a recipe for the rolls pictures above? are they vegan? They look relish!
The Frosted Vegan says
Hi Victoria, thank you so much! They are vegan, I’m actually getting ready to post the recipe next week 🙂
marlymcb says
It was so great to meet you in person (finally) at ChoppedCon. So happy for you and inspired by all your amazingness! Also, thanks for mentioning the Chopped Podcast on your list. I agree with you – that was a pretty cool tip Christine shared!