It's Official

I've moved. I finally finished my website, and will now be blogging there. The website is juliehasson.com.

So please come on over and say hi. I just posted the cover for my new book, and there is lots more to come. There's nothing like a fresh new look to get one blogging regularly again.

XO Julie

Happy 4th

I want to wish everyone a fab 4th of July! I can't believe that summer is already here (although I wouldn't know it by the rain outside my window).

I've been thinking about some of my favorite 4th of July recipes, which I thought I'd share. The peanut sesame noodles are always a huge hit, as well as homemade sausages (to grill), edamame guacamole, easy bean salad, breast of tofu sandwiches, artichoke dip, quick and easy corn dogs, bbq pizza, susan's ribz, homemade blackberry soda and lemonade, just to name a few. That doesn't even include the ice cream and desserts, that are just as important at a BBQ or picnic as the mains and sides.

In other news, I finally decided to have our awesome web guy help me out with redoing my website, since I was struggling with it too much. It should hopefully be up and running in the next 2 weeks or so. I'll be sure to let you know!

Until then, I hope that everyone has an awesome holiday weekend!

XO Julie

I haven't Forgotten You!

I haven't forgotten you! I am working on setting up the new site. It's taking me a little while because, we'll, I am a Wordpress virgin. I'm hoping to have everything up and running in the next couple of weeks at juliehasson.com.

I'll let you know when it's ready to go... Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

XO Julie

What's Up?

Thanks for all of the awesome comments on the cookbook. I can't wait to finally have it finished and see it on bookshelves.

I haven't totally disappeared, although it has been a few weeks since I last blogged. Well, here's the latest from the Hasson camp: I've been working on recipes for an upcoming magazine article (I'll share details when I can), still editing chapters for Vegan Diner, developed and launched a new bowl at the cart, had my daughter home for Spring break and celebrated her 19th birthday, decided to try my hand at serging, after watching the amazing Miss Kittee with hers (although it's still siting on my dining room table waiting to be used), signed up for a sewing class to make my own t-shirts, have been teaching my son how to drive so he can take his driver's test, and lastly, trying to do a blog/website redesign. Whew!

It's all lots of fun though, and I'm really enjoying the process of doing the site design. Especially since I know nothing about HTML or CSS. But, I've learned a few things along the way, and am thinking about building it at Squarespace, and moving everything (including this blog) over to juliehasson.com. I was going to use Wordpress, and still might, but Squarespace is looking pretty cool. Anyone have any thoughts or tips for me here? I'll let everyone know before I move the blog.

I hope everyone is having a great spring!

Julie

A Couple Of Pictures

I'm back editing the cookbook, and thought that I would share a few photos with you. These are just snapshots that I took while I was working on the recipes. The pictures are as follows: grilled cheese sandwich with homemade cheese, blueberry lemon cake, onion rings, almond raspberry cake and pina colada pie.

I can't wait until the book is released. I've been working on it since the beginning of last year, and it will be so much fun to finally be able to share (spring 2011). The book (aptly named Vegan Diner) will have over 100 recipes, filled to the rim with diner favorites and comfort food fare. I am so excited to see how it all comes together and magically appears on bookstore shelves.

A New Cheese On The Block

I had the pleasure of testing out a new product line recently, which I'm very excited about. The line is called We Can't Say It's Cheese, and is made by a small family-owned company in Montana called WayFare foods.

I was sent 4 different spreads to try, Cheddar-Style Spread, Cheddar-Style Dip, Mexi Cheddar-Style Dip and Hickory Smoked Cheddar-Style Spread. I immediately tasted them all, too excited to wait for the rest of my tester crew to gather round. They were all very good, but my hands-down favorite was the Hickory Smoked. So good! I immediately could see serving it with crackers and a bottle of wine. Not something that you can say about vegan cheese very often, if ever.

Once I gathered together the rest of my tasting crew, I watched them dig in, while I waited to watch their reactions. I knew right away that the cheeses were going over well. My son kept going back for more, saying "this stuff is good". His favorites were the Cheddar Spread and the Mexi Cheddar-Style Dip. My husband finally got a chance to taste, once my son was done topping off his crackers. He really enjoyed all of them, but especially the Hickory Smoked and Cheddar-Style Spread. 

These cheeses are of the spreadable variety, not firm and hard, like something you might grate on a pizza. They are made from whole grain oatmeal, sesame, pimentos, nutritional yeast, seasonings, sea salt, calcium carbonate, evaporated cane juice and a vegetable oil blend. It's refreshing to see a short ingredient list, and even know how to pronounce the ingredients.

From what I understand, the company is cranking on their production and distribution, and we should start to see it appear in stores on the west coast soon. I believe that it's also available in other areas of the country as well now too.

I will definitely be buying more, as soon as I can find it in Portland. I see some nice relaxing evenings ahead, unwinding from a long day at the cart with some Hickory Smoked and Cheddar-Style Spreads. Maybe a bottle of wine too...

Is It Almost February Already?

 Wow, I can't believe it's already the end of January! Where has the time gone?

I think that I'm ready to come up for air, and get back blogging again. You know it's bad when your mom calls to remind you that you haven't put a new post up in several months. Got it mom... Nothing like a little Jewish guilt. Anywho, the new routine of opening and working our food cart, along with finishing the cookbook and the zillion other projects I was juggling, had me put the blogging on the back burner. I just had to let the blogging go temporarily. I had a bit of creative burnout.

Thankfully, it was short lived. I'm back and excited to be blogging again. There's so much to share. Maybe my posts will be a little fresher now too.

The picture above is one of many from the new cookbook. We'll, from the testing phase at least. It's a strawberry chocolate pie. One of my tester's favorites. I have lots of other photos too, which I will start to post.

If you find yourself in the Portland area, please stop by our food cart (Native Bowl) in North East Portland and say hi.

XO Julie