PB Crispy Rice Treats

I melted peanut butter, Earth Balance, and Dandies Vegan Marshmallows and then added some crisp brown rice cereal to coat and set the mixture in a pan to set. Once the treats firmed up I sliced them up and gave each one a little dip in a semi-sweet ganache bath (chocolate chips, soy milk) and topped them with a few roasted salted peanuts.

Dandies, (the candies with the happy bow-tied marshmallow on the bag) are great for this kind of dessert or any other classic puffy sugar application-- you know, your s'mores, your hot cocoas, etc etc. I like the Sweet & Sara marshmallows too (They come in fancy flavors! And I can see their factory out the subway windows on my commute! Their logo is a bunny!) but I think they are better appreciated on their own, maybe served with some fancy chocolate and fruits.

Rockie Road Cookies

These are from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. They have roasted almonds, chocolate chips and vegan white chocolate chips, which can be tricky to find (I usually order them online). They were a fun change from regular chocolate chip cookies and well received by the other vegans in my office. (There are 3 besides me now!)

Peanut Butter Waffles

Peanut butter waffles with sliced bananas and maple syrup. Recipe from Vegan Brunch, which has to be my favorite vegan cookbook at this point.

I got a waffle maker (a $20 one from Target) because of this cookbook's many waffle recipes. All of the ones we've tried have been great. I used to be a bit intimidated by homemade waffle-craft, but that seems silly now. Making waffles is less time-consuming and more dummy-proof that pancakes and they re-heat better too. If you make one batch of waffles over the weekend, you can just pop the leftovers in your toaster during the rest of the week. These peanut butter waffles are easy to make using 1/2 whole wheat flour and go great with some applesauce and cinnamon if you want a healthier breakfast.

Mango Seitan

Mango Seitan: Fry seitan chunks dusted in cornstarch. Drain and set aside. Stir fry red onions, green bell peppers and fresh mango chunks until veggies are softened. Add minced garlic and ginger and let cook for a minute longer. Add seitan pieces back to your wok and toss. Stir in a slurry of orange juice, lime juice, tamari, agave, sriracha, black pepper and cornstarch. Cook and toss until sauce thickened. Serve over rice and top with chopped roasted cashews, sliced scallions and fresh cilantro.

Getting serious about Vegan Pizza

Pizza made on a pizza stone (new!) with tomato sauce, roasted eggplant, garlic, spinach and fresh basil. Topped with Daiya Italian Blend vegan cheese. Daiya is melt-y, cheese-y and soy-free if you care about being free of soy. I don't but I think it's cool that they made "cheese" out of cassava.

We can't find anywhere to buy Daiya in in NYC, so I order it from VeganEssentials.com when we want some, but if anyone knows where to get this locally, let me know in the comments! The cheddar flavor is also excellent is quesadillas.

Also, Fleischmann's brand yeast makes a special pizza yeast. I didn't think it would make a difference but it does. Makes the crust chewier and more toothsome. Recommended.

Bienvenidos a Queens!

It's been a while since I posted and lots has happened in food- and non-food related news. I'm starting grad school in August, cut my hair off, and started baking bread every week. Also, Tomas, Simone and I moved to Sunnyside, Queens and I've been eating well the whole way.

Queens has fewer exclusively vegetarian and vegan restaurants than Brooklyn does but there is lots of good eating for vegans and overall everything here is considerably more affordable. In our neighborhood we have a Mexican restaurant with a special vegan seitan burrito on the menu (and they deliver!) as well as some very friendly Thai spots whose staffs have all been very accommodating to our "no egg, no fish sauce, extra tofu!" requests. We live above a 24-hour grocery store with a seemingly special room for kimchi and fresh noodles and there are several specialty Middle-eastern markets within a 3 block radius so many varieties of halvah and spiced teas are readily available. We also enjoy an abundance of Irish bars with very affordable happy hour specials for those rare occasions when food isn't really necessary...

Some recent homemade dinners made by Tomas, who is happy to be back to his home borough (where his New York-ese accent fits in better):



Here are the Courico Tacos with Grilled Pineapple Salsa from Vegan Brunch. God I love this book. And tacos. I love tacos. Seriously, the spicy soy filling is a great contrast to the salsa: sweet pineapple chunks, cilantro, red onion. I would eat these for any meal.









Yellow rice with peppers, cilantro and pinto beans, garlicy kale and sweet fried plantains (platanos maduro).