Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen

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!

I hope you all had a nice holiday, or, if nothing else, enjoyed the day off work. I know it can be a really difficult time to deal with family and whatnot, even without being vegan, so I hope you all had drama-free days with yummy food.

Firstly, a shameless plug. But hey, it’s my blog, so I can plug away, right?

We’re having a big sale at Damn Tasty! Vegan on the book and aprons. The book is normally $12, but is on sale for $10. We also have some copies where the registration is off on the cover. The insides are perfectly fine, but the cover is a little unique looking and those are on sale for $8. The aprons are also on sale, formerly $22 now $15. I have been surprised at how many people don’t quite get the “Vegan Master Baker” apron. Trust me, I don’t think that highly of myself. Put your mind in the gutter and then say that phrase out loud and then you’ll understand why we put it on an apron. It’s funny! At least I think so. So, if you’ve been holding out on the book or want to give that special someone a hint regarding what you really want for the holidays, now is the time\!

Okay, plug aside, now let’s get down to business. I have a ton of food pictures for you.

I tried my hand at making a basil scramble, resembling the one we had awhile back Cafe Flora. Cool slices of tomato were served on top, with some quick stovetop apple cranberry sauce that I whipped up, seasoned with maple syrup and cinnamon. It turned out well for a first try, but it wasn’t quite as vibrant. I’ll definitely be trying again, though!

Veganomicon chickpea cutlets with a red wine roux, some mashed potatoes and some greens on the side. I was really excited about these cutlets, but they weren’t quite my thing. Jim liked them a little better than I did, but he described them as “chickpeas held together with bubble gum”. I think next time I’ll try baking them rather than pan frying them. I don’t think they were able to cook through in the pan.

And now for Thanksgiving dinner. We don’t really have much family around here, except for my brother-in-law in Seattle and his wife (and soon to be baby!), but we ended up just having ourselves and two other vegan couples over for Thanksgiving. It was a nice, low key event, with the kitties charming everyone, a fire burning, good food and Trivial Pursuit 80’s edition. It was a really nice evening and we were all roly-poly and stuffed by the end of it.

The main entree was my variation on a loaf recipe I got from Michelle at Herbivore last year. It’s a mixture of chickpeas, walnuts, mushrooms, fresh herbs, nutritional yeast, onions, garlic and red wine, sauteed and formed into a loaf and then wrapped in puff pastry. It was really good and so simple, about 15 minutes of prep and then 25 in the oven.

Kate made some awesome stuffing yet again this year. Stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. I like it so much, I would rather eat it than dessert! Yep, I’m that serious about it. Chris made the cranberries as well, which had some strawberries mixed in, delicious!

Our other friends, Alex and Jen, made yummy, fluffy mashed potatoes and VwaV chickpea gravy.

Garlic roasted brussel sprouts. What’s not to love?

Sweet potatoes roasted in minced ginger and a little maple syrup, with Ricemellow cream on top. Another one of my favorites.

A shot of a plate, with all the fixin’s. Drool…

And for dessert, Dreena’s chocolate pumpkin pie from EDBV. So good! I’m not really a pumpkin pie fan, but this was a beautiful marriage of pumpkin and chocolate and it was so easy to make!

And a maple pear upside down cake I veganized from this recipe. I started prepping it when everyone felt they were about an hour away from wanting dessert, so it would be warm and fresh. I used D’Anjou pears and they were just right.

Topped with some Soyatoo whip. Horray for vegan whipping cream!

Thanksgiving left over breakfast. Basic pancakes spiked with some cinnamon and ginger, with some really thin pear slices in them, topped with leftover cranberry sauce, more pear slices and some whipped cream, with cheezy chickpeas (which I mentioned in my last post) on the side.

This morning I made the pumkin cinnamon rolls from the latest issue of Don’t Eat off the Sidewalk. I added some raisins to the dough as well. It worked out great, because I made the dough last night, put it in a bowl with plastic wrap on top of it and then let it do the first rise overnight in the fridge. I woke up to go to the bathroom at about 7 and then took the bowl out to let it come to room temperature again and the dough was nice and bloated. Sweet. Then I went back to bed for an hour and when I got up I was able to to continue with the recipe from there.

A roll with light glaze on it, a sliced apple and peanut butter and my favorite demented mug that I got at Fubonn filled with white blueberry tea. Her “Don’t Eat off the Sidewalk” zines are filled with great recipes and her writing style is so personable and funny, they are wonderful! Check her out.

I hope you all are having a food-filled holiday weekend! Happy Thanksliving!

So… how’s it going? Quite clearly I have been doing the opposite of Vegan Mofo this month. But alas, I am here and I have pictures and food and a survey, courtesy of our dear Bazu. So let the good times roll!

First up, a way-late Halloween food:

Cupcakes inspired by a recipe from my favorite non-vegan foodblog, Baking Bites. If you’re ever looking for baking inspiration, Nicole is your gal. And she dabbles in vegan baking, too.

I followed her cake recipe subbing Earth Balance for the butter and a 1/2 cup of vanilla soy yogurt for the eggs. It was probably the best “white” vegan cake recipe I’ve tasted up till this point (it was off-white, really). So fluffy and moist. I frosted it with a half batch of Basic Buttercream frosting from Vegan Cupcakes. They were filled with cherry pie filling and additional filling sauce was used for the puncture wounds. A pretty unvegan looking treat, I’d say.

Chickpea Noodle Soup from Veganomicon. It was very good, especially because I made it while sick, but next time I’ll add a little more salt (my broth wasn’t very salty) and a pinch of dill. I used some kamut/quinoa noodles that were quite tasty and we enjoyed some homemade potato bread alongside it.

Tofu cutlets, breaded with a herbed breadcrumb mixture and lightly pan fried, with a creamy garlic sauce on top, with roasted baby yams and green beans on the side. I made the sauce with a whole head of roasted garlic pureed into some soymilk, blended into a simple roux.

I found those adorable little organic yams at Trader Joe’s, but now that Food Fight has reopened (and just blocks from my work) with a great produce selection (and bulk and expanded everything and nacho cheeze goodness) I won’t have to give TJ’s such a large chunk of my grocery money now.

Breakfast delight:

Apple Cinnamon Swirl pancakes from Susan’s blog, with my “Cheezy Chickpeas” and a mandarin orange. On the side, in lieu of maple syrup (for me, not Jim) is some organic apple sauce and a cappucino soymilk box from Food Fight. Those cappucino soymilks are the absolute most amazing things I’ve ever consumed in liquid form. It’s like a creamy, melted chocolate milkshake.

These chickpeas have become a staple in our house and I promise that they will be in your house, too, if you give them a go. I simply drain and rinse a can of chickpeas, then simmer them in just enough water to cover for about 10 minutes, to soften. Drain the water and add about 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons Earth Balance, 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast and 2 tablespoons for chopped fresh basil, or 1 tablespoon dried, and a nice sprinkle of sea salt. Sautee for a few minutes, until nooch has dissolved and chickpeas are a light golden brown. So good…

And finally, my ode to Los Gorditos, the taqueria on the corner of 50th and Division in SE Portland. They have a large vegan menu that is to die for (including serving exclusively vegan on Sundays!) and Jim and I have practically been living there the past few weeks.

This may look like a big, messy container, but it’s not. It’s vegan nachos. Tortilla chips with refried beans, rice, Soyrizo, lettuce, tomato, avocado, onions, cilantro and jalapenos. I swear they have some sort of addictive substance in there, I crave it all the time.

Close up of a bite of heaven. This is what tastebuds were made for.

Bazu likes a good survey and so do I, so I decided to take up her general tag and fill out the one she recently posted.

1. Favorite non-dairy milk? For straight drinking, the cappucino soymilk cartons from FF. So amazing. And unlike the incredible Chocolate Mint Vitasoy, they are fortified so I can feel better about drinking them. Second fav would be hemp milk.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook? I am going to make Dreena’s chocolate pumpkin pie for T-day next week. Otherwise I don’t have much concrete right now.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn? EB and Parma. Nothing is better.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure? Oh boy. Last week I decided to make split pea soup. Then I decided to use some green curry paste in it, to make it more like dal. Then I added some garam masala and other spices and some coconut milk. Then I pressure cooked it. It was so horrible, we couldn’t even bear to eat the leftovers.

5. Favorite pickled item? Straight up pickles or beets. I’m traditional, I suppose.

6. How do you organize your recipes? Ha! Clearly you don’t know what my recipe collection looks like. Scraps of paper, newspaper clippings, cookbooks all over the house. I’m lucky if I can remember ever seeing a recipe so I can try to track it down again. Organization is not my forte.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal? Trash and recycling, of course. I wish we could compost, but we live in a townhouse community with an HOA.

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)? Chickpeas, strawberries and artisan bread.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood? Being at my grandma’s over Christmas and creeping down to the cellar at night, where she kept the extra cookie stash, to eat my favorites, the apricot filled ones. My grandfather died in that cellar (heart attack) so you know my love for those cookies had to be strong, to creep around there alone at night.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream? Soy Dream vanilla. Again, I’m just traditional.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance? My mini-chop food processor. Sure, I love my big guy, but I wouldn’t be anywhere without this little one to chop up cashews for Cashew Cheddar cheese or to ship together a quick little side of berry sauce with breakfast.

12. Spice/herb you would die without? Sage. I put it in everything, I swear.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time? A cookbook that my great-grandmother’s church put out in the 70s. I got my own copy of it in high school and while I don’t use it, it contains many treasured family recipes.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly? Apricot or strawberry. Jam only, I’m very anti jelly!

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend? Any baked good.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh? Tempeh. It took the longest to grow on me, but has the strongest hold. I love it!

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)? Brunch. Brunch is by far the best meal ever, no matter if you’re eating it at 11am or 7pm.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator? Some useless stove burner covers, as our new stove is a flat top, and little stuffed animal squirrel.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking. Frozen strawberries, Amy’s frozen burritos for “emergency” lunches, frozen fava beans.

20. What’s on your grocery list? Baking powder. I’m really bad about making lists.

21. Favorite grocery store? I obviously love Food Fight, but New Seasons is like going to therapy for me. I love it there.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet. Angel food cake. I know it can be done, dammit!

23. Food blog you read the most. Oh boy, I don’t know. I read so many of them, I can’t pick. Probably Vegan Yum Yum or Fat Free Vegan, because I don’t have bloglines set up (yes, yes, I know) and I those are the first two that I check daily. And those woman can photograph! Wow!

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate? sour patch fruit.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately? Hmm. I haven’t bought anything extravagant lately. I think I’ll have to change that…

26. Veganaise or Nayonaise? I don’t care if it’s vegan or not, they are gross. Sorry.

27. What is one recipe or ingredient or cooking technique that you’ve become familiar with in the last year that you can’t imagine you ever lived without? Hmm… good question. Probably perfecting the fastest and most efficient way to dice an onion.

28. What are your plans for Thanksgiving? We are having a big vegan Thanksgivng dinner at our house, with loads of food, desserts, board games, music and kitties. What could be better?

29. Make up your own question to put here (and answer it!)

I’ll leave you with this insanely cute picture of a squirrel on my back patio enjoying a Sugarpie pumpkin. So cute!