Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen

Hello there! I have started a new vegan food blog under a new domain name. SVK will still stay up as an archive, but please join me over at nomnomnomblog.com, ‘k?

Hello folks! I have been getting emails from people asking if my book is still available. Some copies of it are still out there, over at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe. They also have some aprons.

Hope spring is treating you all well! Happy baking!

Happy New Year! I hope you all rung in the new year in style, or at least watched a good movie and fell fast to sleep at 12:01. We had a casual evening of Indian cuisine, tequila sunrises and good conversation.

This is the last post I’ll be making to Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being sentimental about it. This blog has been a great experience and you folks, all of you, have made this blog, and the book, such a delight. Reading your respective blogs, trying your recipes, your comments, your emails, mailing books all over the world (South Africa! Australia! India! England! Scotland!) has been a high point in my life and I want to thank you all so deeply and sincerely.

But like all good things, this too must pass. My life has changed a lot this last year and is going to continue to change, rapidly. In addition to my regular day job, I am going to start going back to college next semester, to finish up my bachelor’s and move onto graduate school. I also have some fine art projects going on, both of these things elements of myself that I have ignored for too long.

Along with those such projects, Jim and I have outlined some New Year’s resolutions that I am excited to achieve. Like many other people, we want to save money and stop spending on impulse purchases- foodie extras at the grocery store we don’t need, eating out because we’re too lazy to cook, all of these things will help us funnel more money toward our nemesis- our debt! Our second resolution is one that I am thrilled to embark on: not buying products from countries where workers are exploited. At first we said not buying from China, but there are so many other countries as well, so our focus will be on fair trade, as local as possible, used and thrift store goods as well as plain old living without.

I feel like veganism has made my life both more peaceful and also easier. People love to go on and on about veganism being so hard, etc, but it’s not. We live in a society that not only has plenty- we have too much. Too many choices leads to emptiness. Hollow purchases, indulgence, etc. In being vegan we define our values, we become selective and read labels. I don’t have to worry myself about eating too much junk at work because the cookies and muffins aren’t vegan. It’s as simple as that, not vegan = not fit for consumption. While we all value variety and freedom of choice, setting boundaries and guidelines can actually free you, rather than limit you. It’s certainly easy to indulge in Portland, as a vegan, but as a consumer veganism makes you that much more aware. Where did this come from? What’s in it? What process did it have to go through to get to me? This inquisitive, label-reading trait is the perfect way to cut out the unnecessary junk that muddles our lives.

I realize that this will be both hard to do but also that it’s also easier to Jim and I being that we live in a city filled with alternatives and we don’t have children to buy for. There will be times when desire and temptation will weigh heavily on my weak mind to cave in! Buy it! But I really want to stick to this, to help cure myself of the consumer ill to buybuybuy and never askaskask. I want to live simply so I can focus on the things that really do matter, put my money where my mouth is and free myself from the seductive powers of want.

I want to thank you all again, for taking the time to read my blog, listen to my rambling, tolerate my squirrel pictures, kitty pictures and other assorted furry deviations away from food. Thank you for being so sweet and supportive during my father’s death and for just being good people. It’s so easy in a world that feels so corrupted to feel like people just aren’t good anymore, but you all have proved my pessimism wrong again and again. I wish you all well and I’m sure we’ll stay in contact through the wonder that is the internet.

Cheers,
Kris

Well, I have a bucket load of pictures to post, including one of the world’s cutest squirrel pictures taken by yours truly. On with the show!

A couple of weeks ago, I made Susan’s Chocolate-Orange cake. Of course I had to display it just a beautifully as she did.

I will admit to adding a little bit of fat, 1/4 of a cup of oil. Even though a Susan recipe has never let me down, we were having people over for dinner and I didn’t want to risk it, having not made the recipe before. It was extremely good. I think next time I’m going try a grasshopper variation on it and omit the orange and add mint extract. Maybe with some chopped up Peppermint Pucks on top. Yummy.

I love my pressure cooker for the amazing things it can accomplish in 20 minutes.

A quick potato and corn chowder with black-eyed peas, which I’ve been cooking with like crazy. I love how quickly they cook and how they meld with anything. Served with some toasted Dave’s Killer baguette, the perfect addition to any soup.

Christmas was a low key affair for us this year. It was just Jim, the fur kids and myself, so it was basically a day off work with presents (we aren’t religious). As you might remember from last year, I’m kind of crazy about the holidays, normally, but this year I’m just not feeling it. It was my 4th Christmas away from my family, it’s been a downer of a year and it just didn’t feel like Christmas. We didn’t even put a tree up! Even when the kitties were young we still managed a tree. Bindhi’s first Christmas we had a little pre-lit tree that we kept in our second bedroom. We would lock the kitties up our bedroom and bring it out for an hour and then put it away and let them back out. Our last Christmas in Phoenix we took that little tree and suspended it upside down from the ceiling to keep the cats from it! That was bad because after awhile we stopped noticing it and it didn’t end up coming down until March.

Anyhow, this year there was no tree, just presents jammed under our end table. A co-worker gave me this cute little ornament, so I clipped it to the lamp on the table, our make ship Christmas tree.

I clipped it on with a little squirrel clip, which was an early Christmas present. Other than that and the wreath I buy for our front door each year, that was the extent of my decorating this year.

Christmas morning, despite Jim’s pleas, we had to open presents before breakfast. Why? Because part of our breakfast was one of his stocking stuffers. Jim loves anything maple, so when I spotted a jar of maple butter at the grocery store awhile ago, I decided to get it for him for Christmas. It was too expensive for me to justify as a regular purchase, but under the guise of a gift I could excuse away.

VwaV pear ginger waffles with maple butter, cheezy chickpeas and a pear. Yummy! I think I’ve finally learned, though, that I’m more of a pancake girl than a waffle girl. Thankfully all of the VwaV waffle batters make great pancakes.

Christmas dinner was the seitan portabella stroganoff from VwaV.

Yes, those are some accidentally vegan croissants on my plate. Like I said, I just wasn’t feeling it this year and I didn’t want to make real bread for just the two of us. Those were something that I caved into from Jim’s puppy dog eyes at the grocery store. Of course, the stroganoff was wonderful. I need to make this recipe more often.

And now for the serious craziness: I didn’t make dessert. I bought some desserts at Wild Oats. I had two reasons for this. 1) I was feeling lazy, plain and simple, and 2) is that if I made something it would mean there would be a lot of it laying around (cake, cookies, etc) and we really don’t need that. We’re trying to clean up our act, foodwise.

Piece of Cake German Chocolate cake. Very moist and delicious.

Piece of Cake Carrot Cake Bar. It was very good as well, with a strong ginger flavor, but we both agreed that a cream cheese frosting was in order, not a crunchy sugar one.

We often the squirrels in our backyard and recently we’ve been attracting some birds, so I’ve started putting out seed for them as well. This provides food for them, but hours of entertainment for the cats and, honestly, for me too. Now, I’m not some crazy person that things they can tell squirrels apart, but we do have a couple with distinguishing characteristics and I’ve given them names. We have a meaner, fat squirrel who is missing the top half of his tail named Spanky. There is also a large, slightly friendlier squirrel who is missing a chunk of fur from the left side of his tail that I call Chunk. We have 2 younger squirrels who were born this summer. They are incredibly cute, they still haven’t grown into their heads yet and their tails are scraggily looking. I can tell them apart because one of them is missing a bunch of fur from the underside of his tail. I call him Little Chunk. Now, I’m not one to play favorites, but with his boyish charm and baby face, Little Chunk is a real heart warmer. I was taking pictures of him the other day and was really looking at them when I downloaded the pictures a few minutes ago to blog and oh god, I nearly died from this cuteness. If you’ve made it this far into my squirrel-love spiel you are in for a treat, the cutest squirrel on Earth.

Look at how cute he is! That sunflower shell in his hand, the food on his little nose and that open-mouthed smile! Cutest picture ever! My heart physically hurts looking at it.

I told Bindhi that I was going to arrange a marriage between her and Little Chunk. She didn’t look very keen on that idea.

Jenny & Gia M! Email me at squirrelsvegankitchen [dot] com with your addresses! You are each getting a “Vegan Master Baker” apron, a copy of the book and a special mystery treat from Food Fight! Please let me know if either of you have allergies. Congrats!

I have Christmas dinner and other goodies, I hope to post tonight. Hope you all had wonderful holidays! Or at least enjoyed the day off.

Thanks to everyone for your support. I am truly touched by all of your kind words. I will do another food post or two before the year end, so the party’s not over quite yet!

And in the tradition of the gift giving, I’m going to do a giveaway! I’m not telling what or how many, but a couple of folks will get a nice little package to help chase away the post-holiday blues. To enter into this random drawing just leave a comment with your favorite holiday treat. Again, it’s random, but the topic is just to make it a little interesting. I know this is a crazy busy time of year, but I’ll close this on Christmas Eve.

Happy commenting!

Yes, oh yes, I am so excited to have this new, delicious Vietnamese restaurant in town! I enjoy Bay Leaf alright, but otherwise the Asian cuisine in Portland is scarce, not like Seattle. But now with Nhut Quang, I am quite the happy camper. Let me show you why:

(This was take out, hence my own dishes.)

One of the yummiest creations in all the world: BBQ steamed bun. A rice flour bun filled with deliciously marinated seitan-style meat, steamed to perfection. I can taste it just thinking about it.

Vietnamese dumplings. These were filled with mung beans and spices. They were okay, but not what I was expecting. I think I was moreso just put off by the surprise of it being different than I was expecting. Served with a light sweet and sour sauce.

Yellow curry. One of the best curries I’ve ever had. Rather than just relying on heat and turmeric to make you feel like you’re eating curry, the folks at Nhut Quang craft a very complex yellow curry with coconut overtones that is very satisfying. The night I had it, it had broccoli in it, Jim’s had celery this night, with faux chicken.

Flat rice noodles, sauteed in a brown Saigon sauce with veggies, tofu and faux chicken. This meal was one of those perfect ones that just hit the spot. Not overly complicated, just flavorful and comforting with wide rice noodles, sauteed veggies, crisp bean sprouts and a delicious sauce. This is one of my favorite meals there so far.

If you come to town, it’s worth stopping by. It’s rather unassuming, in a little strip attached to a Shell station, but as we all know, sometimes the most understated things are the best.

Around this time, the end of December, it’s always time for some reflection. Time to think about where you are, your goals, etc. Time to start making resolutions, taking stock of things, etc. Naturally, I’ve been doing my fair share of this sort of pondering, for a few months now.

And. I have a little thing to announce. This might be a surprise to some people. I have decided to stop blogging. I have decided to stop Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen and Damn Tasty Vegan, everything. This has nothing to do with my commitment to veganism, which is very strong. I have met so many amazing people in my nearly 2 years of blogging. I have made friends all over the world and the cookbook has certainly been an experience! But like all good things, it has run its course. I have had a very complicated year this last year. I have a lot of other interests and hobbies that I want to devote myself to. The past months have seen my cooking and blogging dwindling. It has been great and I appreciate you all so much, taking the time to read about my silly life and sharing yours with me. But I’m ready to move on now, to other things and other elements of my life.

This is why we have been having our sale, to help move some of the book related stuff. Thanks to everyone who has purchased stuff! I am going to continue posting this month, but on December 31st I plan to stop blogging and DTV will stop being available. I will keep this blog up and available, however, for whoever comes across it.

Thanks to everyone for your support and I really appreciate each and every one of you.

We’ve been eating some delicious and fun treats lately. The pictures aren’t quite as good as the food was, but c’est la vie.

With the leftover pumpkin from the amazing pumpkin rolls I made in the last post, I made some pumpkin pudding for dessert last weekend.

Basically I took a regular vanilla recipe, decreased the liquid slightly, added some pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon and then stirred in the pumpkin when it started to slightly thicken. I thought I would be slick and pipe around the perimeter of the glasses with some melted chocolate and then write our names in chocolate on top of the pudding, but the hole on my piping bag was too big and I basically made a yummy mess. I topped each glass with some Ricemellow Fluff and a little sprinkling of cinnamon.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m completely obsessed with Trader Joe’s, and rightfully so. They just have some of the most amazing products and their prices are incredible. And as if they couldn’t get better (save becoming an all-vegan store) they are starting a new labeling system that will clearly mark all vegan items with a big, beautiful V on the front of them! Vegetarian items will be marked with a little carrot. They are also labeling for things like gluten-free and low fat. I love TJs! I was chatting with the cashier about how much I appreciate these changes and she told me that starting with the new year, TJ’s is also changing their importing guidelines and will no longer import products made in China. Again, I love TJs so much!

And because TJs loves me (and you) their holiday Joe-Joes are out, chocolate peppermint! Yummy cookies with crushed up peppermint candy in the cream. For chocolate mint lovers, this is the mother lode!

I crushed some of them up and mixed them vegan Coldstone style into some vanilla So Delicious. Sooo good, even though I was cold to begin with, who can resist such goodness? Not I, my friends.

I am also a big fan of the Real Food Daily cashew cheddar cheese recipe. I made it this week, but the texture was off, it’s not smooth like it normally is. I think I heated it too fast, so it thickened before the agar was dissolved all the way. But I couldn’t let the cheese go to waste so we made quesadillas!

I whipped up some white bean spread with a can of white northern beans and a head of roasted garlic and spread it on one side of the tortilla, with a heavy sprinkling of grated cheese on the other. Cooked in the quesadilla maker we were given right before going vegan (and we have used all of once, to make waffles in) they were really good. The garlicky white bean spread fulfilled my constant craving for mashed potatoes. We ate them with salsa and a side of broccoli.

Now that cold weather has hit full on, we’re trying my hardest to stay warm. Sweaters, scarves, sleeping in pajama pants (which I loathe), Hazel is in hibernation mode, everything! My cute little cat kids have it easy though. They have each other to cuddle with.

Bindhi and Ravi normally don’t lay together very often, but in our drafty house they are taking advantage of each other’s warmth. How cute are they? I wish I could have gotten a better picture before they woke up and started beating up on each other, but we do what we can.

I hope you all are staying warm and healthy! Cheers!