Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen

Can you believe it, a post with no baked goods! It doesn’t mean it’s not happening, though, just not as often the past few weeks, which is probably a good thing. Enough babbling, though- Let the food begin!

Burrito bowl in a really cute bowl that Jim bought me, lined with hedgehogs and squirrels. I also have a matching mug. This is a standby quick dinner in our house, black beans cooked up with some cumin and garlic, salsa, Tofutti sour cream and guac, scooped up with blue organic corn chips. Drool…

Another standby that makes a great lunch the next day, too. Leslie’s Sloppy Lenties. I make this often since it’s so easy to just let them simmer while I’m doing other things. I don’t chop things down quite as fine as Leslie, because we just eat it like a chunky stew. We had it with this wonderful kalamata olive par baked bread that I picked up at New Seasons. The outside got nice and crisp, but it was still soft inside and not too chewy.

Next up, Meditteranean Pasta from Robert Robertson’s new book Quick-Fix Vegetarian. The book is actually, like 97% vegan, with only one or two suggestions of dairy in it. Anyhow, this pasta is chock full of goodness, with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, kalamata olives, orzo pasta, parsley and other assorted spices. It was really good, both hot and cold, and even better the next day. I’m looking forward to fitting in more recipes from this book because they are healthy and fast, since we’ve been really short on time lately.

A different take on a banana split. A banana smoosh? Banana-peanut butter ice cream from our Champion Juicer, with fresh strawberries and chocolate sauce. Last week organic strawberries were only $1 a pint at my beloved Limbo, so we stockpiled and ate a ton of them.

Brunch this morning at Veganopolis. Now, I must admit that I’m in the club of Portland vegans who just isn’t that into Veganopolis. It’s not that it’s bad and the owners are really nice, but it just doesn’t call me back for seconds. But Jim and I haven’t been there in some time, so we met up with some friends for brunch. They have their famed breakfast buffet and are now open on Sundays, so the crowd was hungry and steady, which is great for them. On the plate, clockwise, there’s a spelt biscuit with gravy, the orangy savory bread pudding (the highlight of the buffet), roasted potatoes with ketchup and some veggie hash, which had rutabaga, carrots, beet, potato and other root veggies in it. To balance the heaviness, I had some fresh fruit on the side. It was a decent breakfast, but Jim and I still aren’t their most loyal patrons.

Dinner tonight, some lentil and rice pilaf with asparagus on top. I tossed the asparagus in lemon juice, salt and pepper and a light coating on olive oil before broiling it for a few minutes. It was a nice, light springtime dinner on a beautiful sunny day. It’s not all clouds and drizzle here!

Hopefully by the end of this week I’ll have a better idea of what’s going on with the book and whatnot. Hope you are all well and enjoying springtime weather!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to swing by and say hi. I have a backlog of food pics (as always) that I will be posting soon. I’ve been super busy with work and all of the post-book work, going over the proof, working on some other projects for the book release, building the book website- which is going to be really cool and full of neat stuff- and just every day life! The book should be done in about 2 weeks! I’m so excited to see it in as an actual book and not just a large file or a bunch of printed off pieces of paper, held together with a lobster clip.

I’m hoping to get around to read people’s blogs this weekend. I miss seeing what you’re all up to and we’re in a serious food rut! I need some ideas!

This week’s Totally Not Vegan was a story that happened to Jim. Chris captured his cuteness quite well, if I do say so myself.

Yum, yum, yum! We had some fun last week in faux meat land. Food Fight carries several different kinds of Asian faux meat, the only one we’d tried up to this point was the chik’n nuggets. But everyone kept talking about the famed ham tube, a large frozen cylinder of faux ham with strange, sex-toy looking nodules all over it. The combination of its tube form and the freaky texture has never made it really enticing, per say, but all the hype got to me and I had to buy one.

It’s a big tube, so the first evening I made a quick pressure-cooker corn and potato chowder with some lightly friend ham cubes. It’s not really so hammy, but it makes for a good faux meat fix.

We planned on having a heathen Easter dinner anyway, so what’s better than a glazed ham tube to top the whole event?

Let me tell you, I was not that crazy about it in the chowder, but this glazed ham tube, which I glazed with a mixture of agave, apricot preserves and a hint of dijon, was SO good! I spiral cut it before glazing it and baked it covered in foil for about 1 1/2 hours at 350, turning it every 20 minutes or so. It really nicely glazed and was incredibly flavorful. And what’s more fun than saying you made a spiral cut glazed ham tube for Easter?

Here’s the whole meal: mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, homemade wheat rolls, steamed broccoli and, of course, the ham tube!

On Saturday they FINALLY came and replaced our new/broken oven and brought us our new/working oven, so I had to try it out. And what a better dessert to break in a new oven with than a Boston Cream Pie! This recipe is from my upcoming (coming up really soon!) cookbook, The Damn Tasty! Vegan Baking Guide.

Two fluffy yellow cake layers with a thick layer of vanilla cream in the middle, coated with chocolate ganache and, on Sunday, decorated with fresh strawberries. Jim and I were both huge BCP fans when we were omnis and I try not to make this too often because it doesn’t last long in our house. We polished off the last piece tonight, actually.

And as my gift to you, the recipe for this springtime treat is on my Recipes page. Enjoy!

Today was the first day of the big downtown Portland farmer’s market and who did I run into but Julie Hasson! I always enjoy run ins with her and her charming husband, but today was especially great- her vegan cooking DVD is done!

You many remember Dreena talking about this DVD this past fall, when she came to Portland to cook up some goodies for it. Bryanna Clark Grogan also shares her passion for good eats and faux meats on it. Julie herself is a very accomplished cookbook author, with a variety of delicious dessert cookbooks under her belt.

So when I got home tonight I checked out the site for the DVD, it’s so much fun! Not only can you pick up the DVD, but you can check out some videos on the site, including one of Dreena and her cute Canadian accent whipping up a batch of her chocolate chip cookies. Aw, she makes me miss Minnesota!

It’s so great to see not only more deliciously amazing vegan resources out there, but also some great DIY stuff as well. Our little community is just so full of talent, it’s amazing to see what we all can do together.

So yesterday was rather big- I dropped the book off at the printers! It was so exciting and now the waiting game begins. I’m supposed to have a proof copy to look at by the end of the week- eek! I will keep everyone updated as I hear more!

I hope you are all enjoying spring-like weather. The big Portland farmer’s market is going to be kicking off here soon (this weekend, I think) and I’m looking forward to wandering around and grazing on the amazing produce Oregon has to offer. I’m hoping to explore some new varieties this year that I may have been to much a baby to try before.