Vegan MoFo Survey

Ok, I feel weird posting this... 'cause I don't know if you all really care, but it's part of the Vegan MoFo fun, so here goes!

1. Favourite non-dairy milk?

Vitasoy Organic Unsweetened Original and Blue Diamond Chocolate Almond Breeze.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?

A fancy millecrepe of yet to be determined filling/s, lasagne, pumpkin chocolate chip bars.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?

I usually buy the kind with sea salt and olive oil already on it.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?

Forgot baking soda in a batch of sweet potato biscuits. Eek.

5. Favourite pickled item?

Not really a fan of pickles of any kind...

6. How do you organize your recipes?

They're in book, or on scraps of paper in books or cut and pasted into a computer file, or in my brain.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?

Trash.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?

Avocado, chickpeas, cranberries.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?

Inventing my own cookies: peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip!

10. Favourite vegan ice cream?

Double Rainbow bran something or other: I had it once and now I can't find it again! Barring that, carrot cake flavored Rice Dream.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?

Immersion blender, hand down.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?

Red chile flakes.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?

I think the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook has been around the longest.

14. Favourite flavor of jam/jelly?

Raspberry.

15. Favourite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?

Green tea cupcakes from VCTOTW.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?

Tofu; it's so versatile!

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?

I love baking in the afternoon, but making a fancy dinner w/ multiple dishes and dessert is the best.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?

Brown rice pasta, a cookie rack, a huge comntainer of dried dates, dried pears, dried figs, bananas, a lime, a lemon, garlic, onions, a shallot, apples.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.

Bah, just 3? Ok, broccoli florets, taro dumplings, flax seed... I am a freezer queen though-- there is A LOT.

20. What’s on your grocery list?

I just went today but we're always getting organic chickpeas, canned fire roasted tomatoes, vitasoy, sweet potatoes, onions, whole wheat bread, frozen berries, frozen fake chicken, pita chips, organic firm tofu, newman's own ginger o's and whatever fruit is in season.

21. Favourite grocery store?

Gorgeous indie health food store near my apt. or when I lived closer to one, Trader Joe's.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.

Millecrepe. Also those italian tri-color cookies. Nom nom.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?

Urban Vegan, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, Eat Air.

24. Favourite vegan candy/chocolate?

Terra Nostra Rice Milk Choco. Or anything chocolate + orange or raspberry.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?

Organic raw almond butter. Like $14 I think. Oy. I really wanna make this date-almond butter-banana smootie though you see...

Fried Cauliflower

Not usually a huge fan of cauliflower, but I had some to use up. This would make an awesome appetizer, though I of course ate it for dinner.

Cauliflower w/ rice flour, salt and pepper fried in safflower/peanut oil and served with some leftover marinara. Yum.

Stuff a squash not a turkey!

Mom and Jill take Thanksgiving very, very seriously:




Pomegranate champagne punch with rum and mint.












Artichoke stuffed with breadcrumbs, olive oil and garlic.












Roasted butternut squash, onion and apple soup with pecan cilantro pesto.












Roasted sweet and blue potatoes with fried shallots.











Stuffed sweet dumpling squash with wild and basmati rice, apricot, cranberry, pecan and cardamom from Compassionate Cooks.









Stuffed mushrooms from Veganomicon were a big hit.













Veggie platter with glazed baby carrots, roasted brussels sprouts and cippolinis, steamed broccoli and green beans almondine.












A very full plate with all the aforementioned plus vegan mashed potatoes (no omnivore was the wiser...), some freehanded cornbread and soy sausage stuffing and a rosemary drop biscuit from The Joy of Vegan Baking (easy, delicious). Oh and no, I couldn't finish it all, though I tried my best.












Chocolate pumpkin pie from Dreena Burton's Eat Drink and Be Vegan, and apple strudel from The Joy of Vegan Baking. Both were excellent and will be made again soon.

Weekend Food

A out-of-town guest stays for brunch, and I make snacks for a night in with the girls...




Tofu scramble with baked sweet potato home fries: local tofu, soy sausage, spinach, chickpeas, mushrooms, earth balance, onions, garlic, tahini, tamari, red chile flakes, rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme. Sweet potato, olive oil, sea salt. Obviously, this was all covered in ketchup the second after I took the photo.





Brownies from Joy of Vegan Baking were moist and fluffy-- more of the cake-y variety-- and nearly fat-free. Still looking for the elusive fudge-type brownie veganized...









Sundried Tomato Dip from Veganomicon is simple and delicious if not super photogenic.

Sometimes I don't cook...

So Roommate was inspired to cook by our lovely new kitchen and promises to make it a weekly occurance. I hope so! She made the Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Carmelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping from Veganomicon which was awesome. It's really mellow and creamy and a crowd-pleaser I'm sure. This would be a great Thanksgiving dish as its not too complicated or time consuming, it's made with familiar ingredients and best of all it can be made in advance and baked later.

Lentil soup and curry plantain patty on bok choy

Lentil soup: red lentils, vegetable stock, spinach, mushrooms, onions, garlic, red chile flakes, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, black pepper, sea salt.

Plantain patty: boiled, mashed plaintain, brown rice, panko, curry, cinnamon, salt.

Bok choy: with tamari, orange juice and sesame

VeganMoFo

Ahh, I can't believe I missed November is Vegan MoFo! Well, there is still half a month left-- get ready!

VeganNOMNOMNOMicon

Veganomicon is out, and you just know I have a copy... I may have been distracted by the siren song of The Joy of Vegan Baking for a bit, but I suppose at some point I need to eat dinner before dessert. So I started testing some recipes for my very first vegan Thanksgiving and they all went over well with my little veg*n dinner party last night.


Here's the chickpea cutlet with mushroom gravy from Veganomicon served with some mashed potatoes (yukon gold, new potatoes, earth balance, vitasoy, salt, pepper) and some asparagus (with sesame, tamari, earth balance and lemon juice.) The cutlet was fun to make since I am usually too intimidated to make seitan-y fake meat-y stuff myself, and this was pretty easy. The flavorings were thyme and sage but you could always switch them up too. I think I'll make them again and use in sandwiches since they are so way better than any pre-made sliced "meat" stuff. Also, I'm realizing that I eat *a lot* of chickpeas. They're just so cute and versatile. Do all vegans do this? Am I going to turn into a chickpea? Do I sound crazy? Crazy for chickpeas?! Heh. Oh and the gravy? So good. I added a bit of chile to it which is obviously non-traditional but pretty much mandatory around here. I think next time I will add some rosemary too and maybe use earth balance instead of oil. Also, now that I've bought a big bottle of sherry you can expect that to show up more often since I don't plan on drinking that stuff, ew.



Chewy oatmeal cookies from Veganomicon. They say to use raisins, which are literally the only (vegan) food I don't much like, so I made them with chocolate chips instead. These are awesome, but make sure not to overbake them! Also note that this may be the most delicious cookie dough you will ever eat. I have half a mind to not bake the rest of the dough chillin' in the fridge and just eat it with some vanilla Soy Delicious. Yum...

Just for you...

Sorry about being such a lazy blogger lately. Can I make it up to you, please?

Here' s some spiced chickpeas, pumpkin puree, fire-roasted tomatoes and spinach (canola oil, sesame seeds, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, coriander powder, tamari, turmeric, red chile flakes, black pepper, fresh garlic and onions) on brown rice...




And for dessert I have truffles: three kinds! There's espresso, coconut and cinnamon-chile. (semi-sweet chocolate chips, soy milk, maple syrup, chile powder, cinnamon, ground espresso. coconut extract, sweetened coconut shreds.)



We cool now?

The Joy of The Joy of Vegan Baking

Buy this cookbook now-- there are no excuses. Observe:


Pumpkin cheesecake. Perfect for the Thanksgiving, duh! This is a more "cheesy" cheesecake, so add more brown sugar if you want to cut that tartness a bit.
















Strawberry cupcakes really do have a subtle strawberry flavor so please use organic fruit in there. Topped with vanilla buttercream (best vegan buttercream I've had so far.)















Pumpkin bread (canola oil variation with chocolate chips.) I forgot to take a picture of them, but the loaves rise beautifully. This was really popular with everyone, and I'll be making it again soon and probably adding some nuts and dried cranberries to the mix.















Chocolate peanut-butter no-bake pie...tastes like a giant truffle and is insanely easy.















Lemon bars. Perhaps my favorite of all: pretty, not too complicated, no crazy-sounding ingredients.















Cocoa spice muffins. You *must* make these with the cayenne!













I really can't say enough good things about this cookbook, or Colleen. I met her at the Boston Veg Fest and she is so sweet in person. If you haven't already you should totally check out her Vegetarian Food For Thought Podcast (link to your left) and her cooking DVD which is really well done. Everything I've made so far from JOVB has been gorgeous and delicious. You may want to add a little extra sugar to a few of the recipes (I'd say the cheesecake and muffins benefit from just a little extra) but that is subject to taste. Just test the batter before it goes it the oven.

All the cool vegans...

are posting Mac n' Yeast lately... *Warning: delicious peer pressure to follow* I served some of the good stuff here with some Italian spiced veggies: eggplant, artichokes and spinach. I usually just mix in some broccoli with the noodles and top it all with cornflakes or breadcrumbs though.

I can't believe it's not even cold out and we're already in comfort food mode. Not that I'm complaining anything ('cept maybe about the impending doom posed by global warming since c'mon, it's almost November)... This was actually one of the first dishes I veganized (before I went vegan) just to make sure I could do it-- between this stuff and the cupcakes I definitely don't miss a (pus-filled) thing. I don't have a recipe for Mac n' Yeast since I just make it up every time. Essentially it's whole wheat macaroni topped with a roux based yeast flavored sauce. (White flour, canola oil, salt, nutritional yeast, soy milk, pepper, paprika, tomato paste, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, red chile powder, turmeric.)

If you've never used nutritional yeast before you might want to go easy on it at first, it's a different flavoring than what you might be used to-- it seems strange, I know, but you'll grow to love that bulk-sized tub in time; I promise. Just be sure to buy the "vegetarian support formula" since I've actually seen non-vegan varieties, ew. Plus the vegetarian support kind has *tons* of vitamin B-12: the only vitamin us vegans gotta watch out for.

Check out the yummy vegan groupthink here:
*A recipe by the lovely Lolo whom I met this week-- what a cutie! Her cookbook will coming out soon, remember to pre-order from Amazon soon!
*And another one from the truly prolific Susan at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.
*Lindyloo the delightfully profane has a version too of course!
*Here's Jess of Get Sconed fame with a updated New Farm Cookbook recipe
* Plus, Lori of Pleasantly Plump Vegan with a nice lookin' plate
*And I know someone posted a pic with the Mac plated with eggplant and spinach which is where I got the idea for my dinner-- but I forget who it was. Will this yummy vegan blogger please stand up?

Boston Cream Pi-- I mean Cupcakes

See, it's apt since I'm going to be here this weekend. Yay!

From VCTOTW... Sorry it's a crappy pic; there is yummy custard inside the cupcakes but the ganache on top sorta seeped in there too. A bit of extra time is required for these babies, but anything for Beloved Roommate's birthday. We also went Vegetarian Dim Sum House and had one of the best meals in recent memory: cheap, adorable and 100% delicious. Please go there and enjoy red bean, sesame paste, vegetarian char siu bao, taro and assorted other dumplings, spring rolls and such. I don't really know what's involved in the famous "treasure balls" either-- except it's like mashed potatoes but crunchy and oh geez just go there, ok? No really, now!

Vegan Lunchables

A carbtastic dinner tonight + lots of leftovers for lunches this week: roasted delicata squash with spinach, basil and artichoke pesto (with pignoli, olive oil, vegetable broth, oregano, black pepper), roasted sweet potatoes, mashed parsnips and potatoes (with olive oil, rosemary, black pepper and soy milk), brown rice and some store-bought cranberry sauce, inspired by vegan yum yum's latest post. I don't care how hot out it is outside-- I want fall food!


Peanut ginger tofu salad w/ carrot and cucumber sticks and toasted whole wheat pita triangles inspired by an Everyday Dish show with Julie Hasson, but taken in a more Thai direction by yours truly. In the salad: extra firm tofu, peanut butter, sriracha, scallions, grated carrot, cilantro, cucumber, ginger, garlic, tamari, white pepper.

More cookies!

So I went to a vegan baby shower this weekend. It was awesome; I met so many vegans and had a great time. There was a ton of dessert, so I don't know how many people ate these at the party ate cookies when there was a midblowingly cute tower of vegan cupcakes, the gold standard of vegan baked goods: the peanut butter bomb cake from Vegan Treats as well as some sort of yummy homemade chocolate pie with a cookie crust. A plethora of vegan desserts is always a-ok by me though. Anyway, here are almond apricot tea cookies from How it all Vegan, some chocolate chip cookies revamped from a Compassionate Cooks recipe and some raspberry jam thumbprints from a veg web recipe I think I'm going to work on a bit. Oh, and the food was catered by Red Bamboo in Brooklyn (including mango "chicken" salad, yum) and there was much Yeungling for all. Burp.

Congrats vegan parents; that's one very lucky baby, thanks so much for inviting me!

Crunchy Oatmeal Cookies

A recipe so simple you could memorize it... And really-- you should.

Adapted from a Williams Sonoma Recipe

1 c. all purpose flour
1. c. quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c. earth balance margarine
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed lightly
1 ener-g egg replacer, prepared
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbs. soy milk

Preheat oven to 375.
Stir together dry ingredients (up to and including cinnamon) in a medium bowl
With a mixer on medium speed beat wet ingredients (everything else) in a large bowl until combined
Add dry ingredients into wet in two batches until combined
Roll dough into little teaspoon sized balls
bake 9-10 minutes.

AutuMMMn

Cornbread from The Joy of Vegan Baking (sample recipe online!) made with whole spelt and served with a schmear of homemade red onion vegan cream cheese and red pepper jelly I concocted from some gorgeous farmers market peppers and chiles.





Fall food is hands-down my favorite: kabotcha squash and green beans from the farmers market with Japanese curry roux, mushrooms, walnuts, dried cranberries, safflower oil, soymilk and black pepper.

And yet more cupcakes...

Sorry I've been lazy about posting lately, I've been busy you know, working. I know, I know, weird huh?

Aaanyway, I have TWO vegan co-workers at my new job. Yay! When I found out one of them had a birthday coming up I offered up my baking services pretty much automatically. One night o'baking and a very careful subway commute later I had forty some odd vegan cupcakes at the office. Some were skeptical at first, but these were certainly a hit. After all, who wouldn't be won over? There were green tea with almond flowers, chocolate cupcakes filled with raspberry jam and covered in ganache, peanut butter covered in ganache, and coconut lime with an agave lime glaze and shredded coconut.

I can haz bakin "egg" burger?

Another tester for Joni Marie over at Just The Food, a breakfast burger recipe I've smothered in the classiest of sauces, ketchup. This is really quite egg-like, studded with faux bacon bits and perfect with some OJ and toast. Don't you love how vegan "junk food" is still made out of tofu? You'll have to wait for the book for this one I'm afraid, but I won't, muahaha!

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 !

Japanese Eggplant "Parm"

Served here with sauteed mushrooms and spinach and whole wheat penne. Garnished with fresh basil and Italian flat-leaf parsley.

*3 Japanese Eggplant
*1 recipe veg web vegan tempura prepared as in my sushi post, with 1/2 AP flour and 1/2 rice flour
*1-2 cups panko breadcups, seasoned with dried Italian herbs (oregano, basil, red pepper powder)
*Oil for frying (I used a peanut and safflower mix)
*1 26 oz. jar marinara sauce
*handful of shredded vegan cheese

Heat oil in a deep pot to frying temp and prepare a deep pie pan with a layer of marinara. Cup eggplant on a bias, in 3/4 inch slices. Toss slices in bowl of tempura batter. Next, roll individual slices in the seasoned panko, and fry in batches until golden (flip halfway through frying with a chopstick). Place one layer of fried eggplant in the prepared pan, season with kosher salt and black pepper, top with more marinara and another layer of eggplant, season with more salt and pepper, then cover with another layer of sauce. Top with vegan cheese and bake at 375 on the top rack of oven until bubbly, about ten minutes. If cheese doesn't melt, broil briefly. Fyh vegan cheese can be temperamental though, so don't worry too much either way, it will taste good anyway. Alternately melt the cheese in a saucepan and pour on top of baked dish before serving.

I've always made killer eggplant parm, at least according to many a well-fed roommate. This vegan variation is my favorite yet, and trust me, I've done a lot of eggplant troubleshooting. Getting rid of the dairy fat allows you to taste the eggplant and tomato much better, and the Asian-ized eggplant component fries up fluffier and crisper than the traditional Italian application. I added some follow your heart monterrey jack and cheddar I already had shredded, but it's plenty good without it. I've also made batches with silken tofu + raw cashew + nutritional yeast cheezes, and that's quite good as well, though if you do that, I suggest that you add a dollop of the cheez on each serving after you bake it. I think baking the tofu-nut mixes tends to take away from their texture in this case.

UPDATE: I think I've improved this further. I make it often enough, right? I had about a block's worth of leftover fyh cheeses, 1/3 cheddar and 2/3 mozzerella. So I melted them fully in a saucepan, whisking away al the while, and then drizzled some directly on top on each layer of fried goodness then covered each with the marinara. A bit of melted cheese was on top for prettiness. This was pretty unbelieveable. I really don't think people would know this was fake cheese. At all.

What happens when you google "vegan sweet potato biscuit"?

These magically appear.

Used rice flour instead of cake flour, added salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg to the original recipe. Oh, and I used a fork as a pastry blender and an empty can as a biscuit cutter 'cause I don't know if you noticed, but it isn't exactly Williams-Sonoma around here...nope.

Avocado salad

Tomato and basil from Mom's garden, avocado, walnuts, lemon, juice, grey salt and fresh black pepper.

Margarita cupcakes

I thought the green tea cupcakes were my favorite-- until I made these. Wow.

My cousin Emily helped me make these too! She is turning out to be an awesome chef. She's helped me make appetizers, pizza and cupcakes before, and this week she made the pesto recipe from VWaV with walnuts solo. It was delicious.