Tempeh-tastic

Homemade tempeh bacon based somewhat on the VWaV recipe: steamed tempeh marinated in maple syrup, tamari, liquid smoke, orange juice, garlic and chile flakes fried in peanut oil. Roasted yukon gold potatoes (just with a little canola and salt,) and some mixed baby greens with maple-mustard dressing (maple syrup, dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt).




If you've never cooked with tempeh before, you should definitely give it a try. Tempeh is a Indonesian-style fermented soy product. It's made with whole soybeans and has more protein an fiber than tofu. You can pick it up at a well-stocked health food store or grocery usually in long cakes. I usually steam it first, to remove some bitterness and to tenderize it. Just a few minutes will do fine. Then throw it in a stir-fry, like this one...




Tempeh stir-fry: Steamed tempeh, steamed kale, broccoli, red bell peppers, sesame oil, peanut oil, scallions, minced fresh garlic, minced fresh ginger, agave, tamari, peanuts, sesame seeds, served over brown rice.

More festive foods

I saw a recipe for something like "maple mustard glazed potatoes and green beans" in VWaV while I was planning my x-mas dinner contributions and spending time with the family. I thought it looked pretty yummy, but we ended up going with the standard amandine preparation anyway. I knew I'd make it for myself eventually, but alas, when I returned to my apartment I realized I had left the cookbooks at my parents house. Arg! Anyway, I decided to improvise my own recipe and it was *awesome.* It included: maple syrup, dijon mustard, olive oil, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, black pepper and sea salt. You whisk it up (the mustard makes the whole thing emulsify perfectly). I poured the mixture over some veggies in a casserole dish and baked until tender at 375 degrees. I've already made this again using brussels sprouts and I think the monster butternut squash on my kitchen table awaits a similar fate. Maybe also beets...or sweet potatoes. These are great on their own, but some leftover veggies/sauce + cranberries + pecans + baby spinach = best...salad...evvvver.



New Years Eve food included some store bought taro and red bean steamed dumplings and massive amounts of fried veggies (onion rings, sweet potato fries, whatever else was in the crisper...?) for no especially good reason other than perhaps a latent desire to give all of my otherwise healthy young guests some early coronary events. Anyway, my friend Momo and I created a very effective deep-fried assembly line and the best dish of the night was really his idea: champagne tempura batter! We dipped some baby bella mushrooms and some green beans in it and I have to say, the mushrooms were really the star here. I mean seriously, perfectly puffy, golden, fatty, little mushrooms. Nom. Nom. Nom. Everything was served with an impromptu aioli (roasted red pepper, vegenaise, white beans, garlic, basil, sea salt, pepper).

Champagne tempura:

*1-1 1/3 cups liquid: we used almost all cold champagne, but you can use water too. If you use champagne you'll probably need more liquid.
*1/2 cup AP flour
*1/2 cup rice flour
*2 tbs ener-g egg replacer powder
*pinch salt
*pinch sugar
*pinch red pepper powder

*mix egg replacer with liquid, whisk until frothy, add rest of ingredients.
*dip your veggies (mushrooms strongly suggested,) and roll in panko if desired.
*fry in canola or safflower oil.
*remove veggies from fryer, drain.
*finish with lots of black pepper.

Enjoy! And happy new year!

Mmm... Dinner.

X-mas dinner for The Vegan: spanikopita and ginger-roasted winter vegetables from VWAV and green beans amandine. The spanikopita was again a big hit with the entire family: from my cousins' elderly southern grandma whose jaw dropped when I finally dropped the tofu-bomb to my younger sister who is admittedly a very picky eater, especially around vegetables and tofu. Phyllo dough is truly the stuff of wonders. The roasted veggies were popular too, though next time I think I'll just make them with sweet potato and squash since they cook faster and I like them better anyhow.



Grilled zucchini and eggplant on a baguette schmeared with homemade sundried tomato and white bean spread (with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, basil).

7th Street Fashion Show and Block Party

Ok, I'm a bit late on this mega-post, I know.



Two Sundays ago my friend Kate Goldwater of AuH20 Designs, Amarcord Vintage Fashion and some local entertainers held a fashion show and block party event. Refreshments were provided by Abraco (the cafe next to AuH20 and Amarcord) and Bitchin' Vegan Kitchen of course! I would've gotten my name on the flier above, but my contribution was the stuff of some very last minute inspiration. In any case, it was a lot of fun and a great way to wrap up my summer before I started Serious Grown-Up Job the next morning. I set up shop on an ironing board (of course!) and passed out all the free vegan goodies to the way hotter-than-Fashion Week crowd.



Here are some lemon bars and peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate ganache from VCToTW. Even though the cupcakes and cookies went faster, the lemon bars were my favorite. They're a brilliant ppk recipe thickened with agar and even though I overbaked the crust a scotch they were still ridiculously good. A must-make-again favorite. The ganache was awesome too. I saved the leftovers and some truffles rolled in espresso powder for Roommate and I.



Chocolate thumbprint cookies from VWaV with raspberry jam filling. I make them all the time because in addition to be simple delicious, they are always gorgeous.



Dan Kitrosser as Patti Lupone MCing the event with some very special, very bitchy and very er-- graphic tunes as everyone's favorite Tony winning lady entertainer. Seriously, check out Dan's Myspace and his show "Hour of Love;" it's gonna be "more famous that John Stamos" for sure kids.





Eli Maniscalco, the clever singer songwriter.












This is Ian Sciotti with some mellow acoustic Spanish guitar...











...and my lovely Kate (on the right) with some of her models. It's all recycled and handmade, and she'll customize and tailor anything in the store for you too, on the spot.









Malorie Leogrande sang some Stevie Wonder. I assure you she's even more adorable in person.









Finally here is a gorgeous outfit from Amarcord, Kate's next door neighbor. Support small businesses and local artists-- go now !

extraVEGANza

So Jackie is moving to Philly to go to fancy lawyer school. We totally hate her for leaving New York, but figured it was a pretty good excuse for a dinner party regardless. Here's the money shot: spanakopita from VWaV, saffron risotto stuffed tomato (arborio rice, saffron, shallots, white wine, olive oil, sauteed artichoke hearts, garlic, pignoli, red chile, black pepper), asparagus with margarine, lemon and pepper and some homemade hummus with tahini and garlic a la Esme, our lovely hostess. If you own the VWaV cookbook you really should make that spanakopita. it takes some time with all the washing, chopping, squeezing, sauteeing and such, but it is so, so, so worth it.



Here are the green tea cupcakes from VCTOTW with marzipan hearts and fresh fruit. These are my favorite cupcakes out of the book so far (and I've already made quite a few!). They're really fluffy, just like real Japanese baked goods and now that I have the matcha green tea powder, I will be making these again soon for sure.

Welcome to Bitchin Vegan Kitchen!

To celebrate my inaugeral blog post I cooked up the Mango-Ginger Tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance exactly according to the recipe. To compensate for all that crazy coloring in the lines and such I free-handed some sesame greens (broccoli and baby bok choy in peanut oil, sesame oil, garlic and Chinese five-spice powder) and some coconut cashew rice (brown basmati, toasted cashews, toasted coconut flakes, coconut milk.

The meal went over well with my enthusastic taste-testers. I do wish I had thought to marinate the tofu a bit longer as the Mango-Ginger marinade had an incredible flavor--but it hadn't penetrated the (well drained and pressed, extra-firm) tofu. I also garnished with chopped fresh cilantro which added another nice layer of flavor. Very fresh and summery.



For dessert there was another Isa Chandra Moskowitz recipe-- the Low Fat Sexy Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The cupcakes are very light and almost more like muffins than cakes but when topped with jam, fresh raspberries, a confectioner sugar glaze and my inspired addition of non-dairy chocolate chips something magical happens. I'm not telling you anything you don't know though, since you already own that book... right?