June 13, 2012

June 13, is one of the hardest days of my life. It's not the day that my sister passed away, but rather it is her birthday. The difference between her birthday and the day she died is that on the day she died, it is supposed to be an average normal day. But on her birthday, so many memories and thoughts race through my head throughout the entire day; I wonder "Wow...what would we be doing today? We'd probably be going crazy right now!". It's the memories and the "what ifs" that are the hardest to get through. Like, what if she were alive- would we be going out to celebrate her 20th birthday? Would we be in a fight as siblings? Would she be dating a male skankatron? Who knows what today would be like to celebrate her birthday.

I lost my sister when I was 8 years old- she was 6 years old. She was my best friend. She looked over my brother like a HAWK and I was right behind her doing mischievous things. If you didn't know any better, you would assume Marie was the oldest, the way she looked after my brother. she loved him so much so and made all the decisions for him. It was so cute and so funny at the time- she was actually the one that named our cat Cynthia- she obviously convinced Joey this was the perfect name for a cat.

It's weird not having my babygirl around. On her birthday, how do we celebrate? Do we celebrate at all? Every year we send you up a balloon Marie with all our wishes and love to no end. Is that enough? 

In her memory, I made one of her favorites. Marie loved hot dogs when she was little, and corn on the cob was her go-to vegetable. I obviously cannot eat a hot dog (and probably don't know when the last time I had one was), so I made a juicy vegan burger. I finally found a bread that is PRIME- udi's sandwich bread in the freezer aisle. I added some red onions, lettuce from the garden, tomatoes, daiya pepperjack cheeze shreds, and a vegan burger patty that's gluten free and then some sriracha vegan mayo (1 T mayo and 1 t sriracha). I had corn on the cob on the side- I simply preheated my oven to 350 and cooked it with the husk on for 30 minutes. However, I'd strongly recommend that you grill these puppies- it tastes so.much.better. I just didn't have the energy to heat up the grill today. 

No more recipes for today. I'll be sure to get one tomorrow...today is just a dreary day. And enjoi life :]

Grilling with a veghead- Vegan Pesto Mayo & Asparagi Fries!

The afternoon was so pleasant yesterday, that Bill, my mom and I decided to have a grillout! Poor Billiam has to stick with my mom and I- complete veg heads. The menu for today? Grilled portabello, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, grilled asparagus and some vegan pesto mayo! Absolute heaven. 

Thank goodness we started our grillout earlier, because it poured an hour later!

Earlier in the morning, I had to go to the dentist for the first time in three years to get my poor wisdom teeth checked out :[ 

Anyways, back to the real talk of the town- the Asparagus with the pesto. Everything about this meal was so simple- all you have to do is grill it and eat it! But this pesto was so decadant, I was dipping my asparagus in it and it satisfied my taste like fries and a special sauce! But, these are even healthier for you!

Vegan Special Sauce

serves 6 

1 cup basil leaves

3 tablespoons veganaise 

Juice 1/2 lemon

a pinch of salt and pepper

1/4 cup pignolis

- add basil leaves, lemon, salt, pepper and pignolis in a food processor (I used a tiny food processor to get the pine nuts extra fine)

- once it is all chopped up,fold in your veganaise, however much you want. I like a more basil taste, so I didn't use as much.

- put it in the refridgerator to get nice and firm and enjoy with anything!

        * use as a salad dressing

        * use as a mayonaisse substitute

        * dip it in asparagus!

And here's some wise words from my dentist :] <3