Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen

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!