Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen

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!