Friday, October 16, 2009

On it like chocolate on strawberries!



















All dressed up and everywhere to go! Chocolate-strawberry vegan cheesecake and cupcakes make you the most popular guy or girl at the party. Cupcake recipe is just the faithful old chocolate Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World one, topped with chocolate ganach. The cheesecake recipe is here at Bakingsheet. I just reduced the lemon juice, added some vanilla and baked a double batch in a homemade chocolate cookie crust.

Monday, October 12, 2009

New Farm Macaroni


Mmmacaroni and cheese- vegan style. Recipe is from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook. I added some peas to the casserole and topped it with sliced fresh tomatoes and lots of paprika. Comfort food to the max.

If you're not familiar, the New Farm cookbook is great stuff. It's the favorite recipes of an intentional community called The Farm in Tennessee circa the '70's(complete with groovy cartoon illustrations and great vintage hippie action pics) . The Farm is still around, and besides pioneering simple down-to-earth vegan home cookery, they also were the first to distribute my beloved nutritional yeast (vegan dietary supplement and "cheesy" flavoring of the gods) and also apparently they also published a lot of work about natural birthing techniques. Anyway, it's cheap as heck used on Amazon, and you won't be disappointed, unless you're like looking for low-fat recipes or something. The brownies and the oatmeal cookies are particularly yummy.

Kitty pic for a good cause!



"Simone here, Jill's adorable rescue kitty here sporting my 'treats nao bish plz' face to remind you to please adopt an animal and to never ever patronize fly-by-night puppy mills and pet shops! 4 million adoptable cats and dogs are put down each year in shelters. I'm one example of an awesome rescued cat. I was found dumped in an abandoned part of the city, and then after I was rescued, I waited a whole year in a crowded cat rescue before I got a real home. Even after I found my home, I hid for weeks from the humans in the house because I was a scaredy-kitty, but now I *love* snuggling with my people, watching wildlife documentaries (OK, sometimes I fantasize about being a cheetah or a lioness!), meeting new visitors and obvs-- TREATS."

It's almost Halloween, when, sadly, many black cats are adopted as props or pranks nationwide and soon after discarded or worse, hurt because they're no longer "needed" for "decorations." Black cats (and black dogs) are already less likely to find a permanent home (seriously!) so give them a second look when you're out looking for a furry friend. Even if you have your heart set on a particular breed, there are lots of purebred animals in shelters and there are also plenty of breed-specific rescue organizations you can contact too. Just because an animal is in a shelter doesn't mean there is anything wrong with them. This campaign from Animal Care & Control of NYC does a good job of illustrating that. All these animals are "guilty" of is wanting some love!

Adopt A Pet, Save a life!
Black dog syndrome/ black cat syndrome

Perogies



Yukon gold potato-dill perogies served on a mound of perfectly caramelized onions. These were far and away the best perogies I've ever had, and I've had a quite a few. This recipe is in Vegan Brunch, my newest favoritest cookbook of all time. Tomas made them for me, so I'm not sure exactly how time-intensive they are, but from his exhausted state when I came home to find these cute little guys, I would assume they're a good bit of work. But the recipe make a LOT and they're all you'll want to eat anyway, so I say they're well worth it!