Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen

5 years ago…

And today…

Last weekend Jim and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. We were young when we got married (I’d just turned 21 and Jim was 24) and we got married hastily. We met in online (we lived in the same city), which wasn’t as common a few years ago, and we lied about how we met for a long time because of the stigma attached to it. We were both very sensible, responsible folks and when we met, we fell in love quickly. At the time the progression of our relationship seemed fine to us, but totally freaked out our family. We were married one day before the 6th month anniversary of our first date. Craziness! It was probably only because of our shared histories of being sane, responsible people that our families didn’t have us committed! Looking back, we laugh at it all now. But neither of us have any regrets. Some people are together for 10 years and are never sure if they want to marry the person they are with. We knew after a month. Every relationship is different. Now with 5 years under our belt I think we’ve redeemed our sanity points with our families.

We decided a road trip was in order, so we planned a secret trip to Seattle. While we have both friends and family in Seattle, we wanted to spend some quality time together and to do things on our own agenda, so we snuck away to Portland’s big brother to the north.

We started our road trip in Portland, at the famous NoPo waffle cart, Flavour Spot.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- yum! A large vegan waffle, wrapped around 2 veggie sausages and spread with a delicious maple spread.

Our next stop was in Tacoma at the Bridge of Glass. I have been a Dale Chihuly fan for years, which can seem a bit cliched in this region, as it’s Chihuly’s home base. I love it. He was raised in Tacoma, and was part of the building of a large pedestrian bridge that crosses the highway and attaches to the Glass Museum, decorated with Chihuly’s all the way across.

A section of the bridge. The two large pillars featured huge pieces of the blue-green glass that looked simlar to the beach glass that you find buried in the sand.

A panel of the bridge’s ceiling. One side of the bridge has a full ceiling filled with Chihuly’s Sea Forms, backlit by the sun. This was one of my favorite panels because of a beautiful glass artichoke. I think it’s too small to see it here.

Next we drove to Bremerton, from where you can drive your car onto a ferry and take that to a port in Seattle. It’s a common way to get across for people who commute, rather than going around all of the inlets in the port area. Jim lived in Seattle 10 years ago and this was the way he went to work every morning. It was a fun experience and a beautiful way to enter Seattle (rather than sitting in a traffic jam and grumbling for a couple of hours!)

This was the view from the boat: the Seattle skyline.

By the time we finally got in, we were starving, having only eaten our waffles that morning and splitting a muffin I had baked. We checked into our hotel (we stayed at the Mediterranean Inn in Queen Anne) and cruised over to Teapot Vegetarian House. They are actually an all-vegan Asian cuisine restaurant. Sorry the pictures are so dark!

Satay skewers with peanut dipping sauce. SO good. Their seitan-ish faux meat was marinated in a slightly coconut flavored marinade.

Wontons. I love wontons, but my favorite are cream cheese filled. I doubt I’ll be having those any time in the near future, until I visit Green again in Phoenix, but these were very tasty and filled with a yummy veggie filling.

I had the Chik’n and Broccoli, which is an old stand by for me and this was probably one of the best vegan versions I’ve ever had.

Jim had a veggie and mushroom low mein, which he really enjoyed as well.

The food was great. The prices were a little higher than we would spend on regular dining, but it was an excellent choice for a treat.

This was the view of the Space Needle from the roof of our hotel Saturday night:

The next morning we went to Cafe Flora for their breakfast buffet. Cafe Flora is one of two more upscale places to eat in Seattle, the other being Carmelita’s. Carmelita’s has more of an upscale look, but their vegan options were a big disappointment when Jim and I went and they lived up to a lot of bougie food stereotypes, as well as bad “this is what vegan food is” stereotypes. Thankfully, Cafe Flora is a little more grounded and a lot more vegan-friendly.

We started the meal with tea and coffee and these amazing vegan cinnamon rolls, with a warm maple cinnamon sauce on top and drizzled with the best vanilla icing I’ve ever had. They were stuffed with apples and pecans. Heaven.

I had a mushroom and sweet corn tofu stramble, with fresh dill, roasted potatoes and coffecake on the side. I took a little bit of the dill off, but it was wonderful.

And the winner of the “Most Amazing Meal” in Seattle award was Jim’s scramble- pesto and artichokes, with thick slices of cool heirloom tomatoes on top. It was incredible, I will be ripping this idea off at home and soon! Jim didn’t like living in Seattle, but this scramble was good enough to make him reconsider it.

We also stopped by one location of a local chain of bookstores that I love: Twice Sold Tales. Along with having tales, they also have tails- each store has a couple of in-store cats. It’s fun to walk around and see scratching posts everywhere and chairs covered in cat hair. One kitty, a fat orange tabby, was very happy to see us and we spent a while giving him some love.

While there, I found a book I’ve been wanting to pick up: Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. It’s a book full of pressure cooker recipes. So far everyone I’ve looked at has been vegan. It’s a spendy book normally, about $30, but I was able to get it for $13 used. Score! With fall in full-swing I’ll be using this often.

The weather was wonderful, sunny and clear, and we couldn’t have asked for a better weekend (well, except for a longer one!) I hope you all had lovely weekends as well!

* A note about Portland- Someone asked in a recent comment if it’s as rainy as everyone says it is in Portland. I get asked this all the time. Here’s the thing- Seattle is really, really rainy, foggy, etc. Portland, while close in terms of region, is different. Yes, we get rain. But it’s not like how people think. In most regions of the country you have rain in spring, sun in summer, rain in fall and snow in winter. In Portland we have rain in spring, a beautiful moderate dry summer (no rain for months, honestly), rain in fall and, because it doesn’t get cold enough for snow, rain in winter. It will snow for a day or so, one time over the course of the winter. But winter time is warmer here, in the 40’s and 50’s, so it’s not snow weather. It’s really no different than other parts of the country, in terms of precipitation, it’s just that the precipitation doesn’t change form. I compared the national weather in Minneapolis (where I grew up) to that of Portland when we moved and Portland has more days of sun per year than Minneapolis. Also, when it rains, it’s not like heavy, falling rain like it is a lot of places. It’s more like some overcast clouds with bouts of misting rain. It’s really not bad at all. I think the association of rain to Seattle, and Portland’s proximity, make people assume the same about here.

Thank you all for your comments. I am feeling much better, but this cold has certainly made its rounds. I think about 1/4 of the people I work with have been hit this week. Blech.

Portland vegans are spoiled. We know it. While we only (compared to Seattle or New York) have a handful of vegan exclusive restaurants, we have a nice amount of vegetarian and incredibly vegan-friendly places. But the number of vegan exclusive places has gone up this year, with the Veggielicious food cart, Nutshell, and the new NE bar Bye and Bye. Vegan food and drinks abound at this place, in a beautifully restored space on the corner of Alberta and 10th. The decor is clean and modern, but warm and inviting and the artwork is beautiful. They have a CD jukebox with a nice array of music and a very nice patio. Ample bike parking. We went there last night to celebrate some good news with friends.

Barbeque “Chicken” Plate. Chunks of tofu, coated and slathered in BBQ sauce, with steamed broccoli (usually comes with greens) and black eyed peas on the side. Spicy and delicious. I especially liked the tang of the BBQ sauce. I’m not big on southern greens, so I subbed broccoli, which was sprinkled with nutritional yeast. In the background was a drink I ordered with crushed blueberries in it. Yum.

Meatball sub, with soy meatballs, melted cheese and marinara and sprinkled with nutritional yeast, with a side of greens.

Veggie dog, with the works: tomato, onions, mustard, peppers, and black eyed peas on the side.

The food was very good, but we all found our meals suprisingly spicy. Some of us didn’t mind it, but others were a little surprised. If you like Southern food with a little kick, you’ll love Bye and Bye. The drinks are good and reasonable, it’s non-smoking, it has a great atmosphere and it’s vegan owned! It doesn’t get more Portland than that.

I’ve been meaning to write a review for awhile now of the Tao of Tea. This little gem, tucked back on vegan-friendly Belmont in SE, is seemingly overshadowed by Paradox, Laughing Planet and Hoda’s, which are other vegan-friendly restaurants within the same two blocks. On one side the Tao of Tea is a tea room and store, but just 2 doors down, is their other tea room with a menu. I went there one day on a whim and had an amazing meal that has lead to many repeat trips. Creating a little haven for Portland’s lack of Indian cuisine, Tao’s menu has a wide range of appetizers and entrees, all at great prices and in a relaxing atmosphere. The food is admittedly Americanized, but tasty, filling and crave-worthy all on its own. Their food menu is only one page within a book of teas, so be sure to not overlook it the next time you go for a tasting. Many of the appetizers and entrees are vegan.

I had the aloo parantha, a thin, freshly made flat bread filled with Indian spiced potatoes. It comes with a small container of dal and, usually, raisa, which has dairy in it, but they will easily swap it out for a side of the chana, which is wonderful. There is also a side salad, with young greens, apple slices, marinated black beans, and dried cranberries, tossed with a tea vinagrette. The whole meal is very filling and delicious and is only $7. Excellent. We went with friends and each tried a few flatbreads. The group favorite was the miso flatbread, which looked similar to this, but had a very complex, almost cheezy flavor to it.

They say they have several vegan dessserts, but really only one is (the others have honey in them). This is the one, though, and it’s wonderful. A banana coated in sweet, sticky rice and steamed in banana leaves, served with a mango dipping sauce, dried cranberries and dried coconut. It is a good sized dessert for sharing with someone and perfectly hit the sweet tooth without over doing it.

A meal at the Tao always leaves me feeling happy, full, and nourished. I love to just get a big bowl of chana and cup of tea. It’s my new total comfort food and health wise, it’s probably much better nutritionally than the burrito I usually get at Laughing Planet: the one filled with mashed potatoes and garlic sauce.

Two more tasty places, one new and one sleathly tucked away, in P-town.

Ooh, and I have an exciting annoucement: I will be doing a book signing and tasting at Sidecar for Pig’s Peace in Seattle on Novemeber 11th from 11-2. Come on by and have some yummy samples from the book and chat with me!

… I love you, but you suck! It’s only the first week of October and I’M SICK! Darn it!

I’m laying around on the couch, sniffling and sneezing, so I thought it would be a good time to do some blogging. When I have a cold I have an insatiable appetite and today has been no different. I have been chowing down, thanks to me stocking the fridge yesterday (pre-sickness) and Jim being a great kitchen helper today.

This morning Jim made me pancakes, with black raspberries in (and on) them. With a little bit of EB and dusted with some powdered sugar, they were delicious. I enjoyed them with an acai smoothie on the side. We went to a festival this summer that was supposed to be vegan friendly, but the only vegan thing we could get where these acai smoothies. So we drank them. Lots of them. Luckily, they are delicious and I was so surprised (and happy) to find these acai smoothie packs at the grocery store this weekend. Score!

Another fun treat this weekend was the vegan jello that Food Fight got in. When I was a kid my grandpa would always make jello with a can of fruit cocktail in it. Whenever I get sick, I crave nostalgic comfort foods, so I sent Jim out to fetch a can of the healthiest looking fruit cocktail possible and I whipped it up this afternoon. My Pappy would be proud.

BBQ! Barbequed tempeh sandwich on Dave’s bread with some pickles (out of spinach or salad greens, darn it!). I simmered the tempeh in water then coated it in a 50/50 mixture of nooch and flour, pan fried it to coat and then dumped on some barbeque sauce. I picked up some purple potatoes this weekend, so we had purple mashed potatoes with sweet corn and a super ripe nectarine on the side. A very Southern dinner, done NW style.

Bulk cooking for lunches the next few days:

Susan’s Gold Rush Chili. I love anything that can get some squash or sweet potatoes into Jim (he hates sweet things in savory dishes) and this seemed like it would work. Not only was he up for trying it, he helped me chop and dice and peel away until we had a big pot of simmering chili on the stove top.

I hope you’re all well and healthy and warm! Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks to everyone for being so patient and lovely as I have been completely sucking at blogging. The mixture of work, stress, other hobbies that are taking up more time than before and being in a funk for the past few months has made cooking/blogging/web surfing happen less and less for me. But, as we are now well into fall here in the Pacific NW, it’s time to turn on the oven and roll up my sleeves! Yes, nature is calling me to cook and bake and who am I to say no?

So, I come bearing some recipes and lots of foodie foodie goodness.

Fall is here, I hate to say. Well, I don’t hate to say, as it’s my favorite of all seasons. But I do love summer and don’t feel that I got much of one this year. Alas, there’s no use in holding on to something that’s not here anymore, because the maple in front of our house is starting to blaze bright red, I have been wearing a jacket to work and last night I busted out the flannel sheets. When in Rome…

My desire for things fall-ish led me to buy a new crock-pot. My old one was, well, old. And small and cheap and, frankly, scary. I got a nice new one at Target for $39 on sale, and it’s digital and purty and shiny and red, just like other things in my kitchen. Me likey. My first attempt in it was a seitan pot roast.

Pot roast is one the few things my mom would occasionally make from scratch when I was a kid. My favorite part was the roasted veggies, which I could not get enough of. Because of the nature of cooking seitan, and having it covered in water, the veggies didn’t get that addictive carmelized quality that comes with the oven, but they were very fragrant and delicious. The roast recipe can found here.

Slices of seitan roast with a quick gravy I whipped up using the liquid from the crock-pot, carrots and potatoes on the side and a delicious salad provided by Kate
that had a light dressing, strawberries, nuts and seeds and home sprouted grains and lentils. Yum!

Dessert:

Vegan with a Vengeance Raspberry Blondies. I have made this recipe before for Jim to take to work, but this was the first time I was able to try it. Wonderful, as always with Isa (can you WAIT for Veganomicon to come out?!), but I will probably double the raspberry part next time, out of personal preference. Excellent with coffee.

Dinner from boxes:

Fantastic brand sloppy joe mix on some Dave’s Killer Peace Bomb bread, some Shells and Chreeze and steamed broccoli on the side. It was a tasty “junk food” dinner where I picked most of the elements from Food Fight. If you’ve ever made the Mac ‘n Chreeze before and hated it (like I did), I have some pointers. First off, don’t go by the box instructions for making the sauce, or it will be clumpy and gross. Go by sight. I use about 3 tablespoons of EB and about a 1/3 cup of soy milk and then I whisk it up and keep adding milk as needed to get it creamy. The starches in the sauce mix can make it get pasty, but if you keep adding milk, it will get really creamy and then you can add the noodles for faux cheezy perfection.

Food from an impromptu dinner with our Totally Vegan friends:

Too lazy to make the gnocchi from scratch, I opted for store bought gnocchi and then Urban Vegan’s amazing cream sauce. So amazing. I can’t wait to make it legit next time. On the side was a veggie and bean dish that Kate whipped up with black beans, garbanzos, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, tomatoes and other assorted goodies. Delicioso! We ate some more Dave’s bread on the side to sop up the sauce.

Last night I made up Bazu’s Voodoo Stew.

Yum, yum! Jim and I rarely drink alcohol and we have a nice little surplus of beer from his birthday BBQ. This gave us the perfect excuse to use up a bottle and for me to show Jim how to use the crock-pot. We went to the last day of our neighborhood farmer’s market yesterday (the downtown Portland one goes well into December) where I harvested the goods for this stew. It was wet and drizzily. I always forget how hardy and unflappable Portlanders are. No one bats an eye when it rains and the market was buzzing with people, a live band and wet dogs. No one had any kale, so I substituted it for spinach leaves the size of my face. In the last hour of cooking, I threw in a couple of summer squash, too, and I tipped my beer in honor of summer and for Bazu.

Last night I was in the mood to bake and my strawberry soy yogurt from breakfast set a strange craving in mind, so I made up these muffins:

Strawberries ‘N Cream Muffins. I am so pleased with them, I have posted the recipe so you all can share the love. They are a lightly sweet and fluffy muffin with a creamy, strawberry center, perfect for breakfast or lightly warmed up with a cup of tea in the evening. I imagine they would be heavenly with Peaches ‘N Cream or Raspberries ‘N Cream, too.

Today I realized that Jim and I are very selfish. Here we are, dominating this blog with our food, but there is another vegan in the house: Hazel the hamster! Hazel also gets to benefit from the amazing local produce that we get. Along with ample exercise and lots and sleep, Hazelina thrives on a seasonal, organic diet. And she loves it! So here is Hazel’s dinner from tonight:

Some fresh spinach and a segment of a yellow raspberry. For reference, her fresh meals are usually about the size of the surface of a quarter. Every evening after she runs in her ball, Hazel gets fresh dry food, which contains a variety of nuts, dried beans, grains and seeds, as well as her raw dinner. She only gets fruit every other night, to help combat potential diabetes, which hamsters can be prone too. We don’t feed her any pet store junky treats, just fresh goodies. Greens are her favorites, with broccoli and spinach being very popular, and apples coming up a close second. But she also likes fresh, summer berries though. You’ve never seen cuteness until you’ve watched a hamster eat a juicy berry and then lick her hands clean. Painfully cute.

Hope you’re all snuggling up and hunkering down for fall and cold weather. Unless, of course, you’re on the other hemisphere and you’re anticipating warm weather. Happy eating!