Amber Eats Veg Presents: This Vegan Lyfe

BandMan and I struck a deal last night: "I will make you some banana bread tomorrow in exchange for a bottle of wine tonight." He agreed and here we are.

Hey y'all! I think I'm starting to get the hang of this gluten free baking thing.



1 3/4 c brown rice flour
1/4 c tapioca flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 c coconut sugar
4 extra ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 c olive oil
1/2 soy milk
1/2 c applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat that oven to 350Mix all those ingredients together and slap them in a loaf pan.Bake for 45-60 minutes or  until you can stick a butter knife in the middle and it comes out clean. 

I have a friend in town from Colorado. She requested Greek food for dinner and this was part of the feast I prepared. I did some research on Grecian cuisine and I found that Grecian vegetable dishes that are cooked with olive oil and tomatoes are referred to aslathera. The most popular vegetable to make "lathera style" is the green bean. So here you have it.


2 lb. green beans, cleaned and trimmed
1/2 c olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 potatoes, wedged
3 carrots, chopped
1/2 c chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 c crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 c warm water
1 tsp raw sugar
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
Salt and pepper, to taste
In a large pot, heat up that olive oil and saute up the onions and garlic.When the onions are softened, add the green beans, potatoes, and carrots to the pot. Mix the tomato paste and warm water and add that to your veggies. Also throw in the crushed tomatoes, parsley, and sugar.Cover the pot and simmer on low for about 40 minutes or so.  When the 40is…

This is a special post for BandMan. A month or two ago he asked me to prepare an apple crisp for him. I'm not sure why it took me so long but here it is.

It's not too sweet which makes it perfect for me and it's exactly what he needs after a long day of eating chocolate.

I would normally write more but all I can think to write about is how much I love that guy. And y'all don't wanna hear about that mushy shit.

2 lbs apples, cored and sliced
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c raw cane sugar, divided
1/3 c brown rice flour
1/2 c oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 c pomegranate juice
2 tbsp raw cane sugar
Preheat the oven to 375.Oil up an 8 x 8 pan and toss in your apple slices that are already coated with the cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Bake for 10-15 minutes.While the apples are in the oven combine the rest of the ingredients (don't forget about the other 2 tablespoons of sugar) to make the crispy crust. Sprinkle that oat…

I just recently discovered Shirataki noodles over at BandMan's grammy's house. She has some health complications going on and apparently has been eating these instead of pasta noodles. Have you had them? They're amazing!

I seriously can't sing their praise enough. The sauce that I made to accompany the noodles isn't nearly as good as BandMan's Bomb Spaghetti Sauce, but it is easier/less labor intensive. Plus, I like the natural sweetness of slow roasting the tomatoes and onions, over adding in sweeteners like maple syrup.

Try the shirataki noodles...like now.


1 1/2 - 2lbs tomatoes, halved
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt + pepper, to taste
all your green dried spices

1 package Shirataki Noodles
Preheat that oven to 375.On a big cookie sheet, make a pretty design with your tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Make sure you're going cut side down on the 'maters.  Drizzle your olive oil all over top and give a sprinkling of all the spice…

This week's Bountiful Basket was filled with peppers, mainly of the poblano variety.  I don't mind too much, I love the challenge of using the same ingredients to create several meals. It is difficult to make each dish exciting and different but this one turned out pretty great.

If you don't have poblano peppers, just use bells. If you want to just use reggae mashed taters, that would be awesome. If you're in to Daiya "cheese" that would be a cool additional. Just play around it with it. And never leave out the spices.


4 poblano peppers, split and seeded
1 russet potato, peeled and quartered
1 yam or sweet potato, peeled and quartered
1 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tbsp curry
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 c crushed corn flakes
Preheat dat oven to 375In a large pot, bring some water to a boil. Put in those poblano peppers and boil for 5 minutes or so. Use tongs to remove the poblano peppers and place in a baking dish.Use the p…

If I told you that breakfast can be ready in 10 minutes, with little work, and only 2 ingredients, would you believe me? Cause it can be. This morning I made these pretty rad, and not to mention easy, breakfast cookies. The bones of the recipe are banana and oats, I added in a half of a cup of coconut flakes and a teaspoon of vanilla to my breakfast cookies. I imagine they'd be the bomb dot com if you added in dried cranberries and chocolate chips.

Use the basic recipe below to go nuts with the add ins (or just eat it plain. it's good that way too!)




2 c oatmeal
3 ripe banana, mashed
Preheat your oven to 350.Use your blender to turn your oats into flour. Mix both ingredients and bake for 10 minutes. 

hi internets.

i sometimes get paid to make soups even though most of them are not that great.

but this one...this one is the best of soup of all time.

eat your heart out campbells. 
-BandMan


1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, diced
5 tomatoes, chopped
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
5 tsp curry
1 1/2 c lentils
1 small yam, chopped
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1/4 head of cabbage, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
Saute up the onions, carrots, and tomatoes in your olive oil. Add in the coconut milk, spices, lentils, and yam; bring to a boil. Stir often until the yams are soft. Add in the cabbage and chopped cilantro. Yum.

The city of Boise is frozen still but still filled with vibrant life. The community has been through an unusual-for-this-time-of-year cold snap. The highs for the past week have been in the pre-teens and we've just barely made it to them. The streets are lined with white powder and the roads are packed down with sedimentary ice. The wildlife is bustling and the scenery is breathtaking.

You know what else is breathtaking? The frozen tundra air once it hits your lungs. That shit hurts. It's also breathtaking when your car starts fishtailing in the middle of a busy street with children in the bike lane and deer bounding in front of you. That shit's nerve wracking.

So I've been enjoying the beauty and magic of this time with as little travel as possible. Sure I've run a few errands, gone to work, and slid over to band practice but just going out for the sake of going out has been drastically reduced by the weather (luckily we have a heat wave coming on today; we'l…

Hey there beautiful humans, 
I'm Amber's neighbor (aka PaleoChick) and I have some tasty tasty fried things to share with you.  Brace yourself for a food-gasm (And abundant, unnecessary parentheses. Because I like them).

But first a little backstory. For a glorious week beginning with Thanksgiving I decided to explore my cultural roots and dive into the wonderful world of traditional Chanukah/Hanukkah/Channukkah? foods (I haven't a clue how to properly spell it, just keep adding consonants and you'll get there eventually).  What followed were days and days of braided challah loaves, pinwheeled rugelach, horseradish-laden kale, and a veritable rainbow of roasted root veggies (with olive oil of course - it's all about the oil after all).  But most importantly, there were mountains of latkes.

If you have a similar cultural background to me you likely stopped reading at some point and mentally shouted at me that the Festival of Lights actually began on sund…

Around 1:30 yesterday, BandMan sent me a text message that basically said that eating sweets at work (he's a baker) is making him sick. The text started with "I should probably be all vegan." My heart almost exploded. We've talked about this on several occasions: the only thing that 's really stopping him from being 100% vegan all the time is his love affair with chocolate and all such sweets that contain it. It's basically like crack for BandMan. He just can't quit.

Since receiving the message, I've hatched a plan to keep vegan/gluten free sweets stocked at the ShugaShack. Hopefully having easy access to his favorite sweets will deter him from gorging on chocolate at work. 

My first conversion attempt was this heavenly chocolate cake made from chickpeas. Not too different from these black bean brownies I've made for him before. It would taste amazing with anything on top. I'm a big fan of wine-berry compote on anything. 

Give her a whirl.




3 c coo…