Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen

Hello folks! I have been getting emails from people asking if my book is still available. Some copies of it are still out there, over at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe. They also have some aprons.

Hope spring is treating you all well! Happy baking!

Happy New Year! I hope you all rung in the new year in style, or at least watched a good movie and fell fast to sleep at 12:01. We had a casual evening of Indian cuisine, tequila sunrises and good conversation.

This is the last post I’ll be making to Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being sentimental about it. This blog has been a great experience and you folks, all of you, have made this blog, and the book, such a delight. Reading your respective blogs, trying your recipes, your comments, your emails, mailing books all over the world (South Africa! Australia! India! England! Scotland!) has been a high point in my life and I want to thank you all so deeply and sincerely.

But like all good things, this too must pass. My life has changed a lot this last year and is going to continue to change, rapidly. In addition to my regular day job, I am going to start going back to college next semester, to finish up my bachelor’s and move onto graduate school. I also have some fine art projects going on, both of these things elements of myself that I have ignored for too long.

Along with those such projects, Jim and I have outlined some New Year’s resolutions that I am excited to achieve. Like many other people, we want to save money and stop spending on impulse purchases- foodie extras at the grocery store we don’t need, eating out because we’re too lazy to cook, all of these things will help us funnel more money toward our nemesis- our debt! Our second resolution is one that I am thrilled to embark on: not buying products from countries where workers are exploited. At first we said not buying from China, but there are so many other countries as well, so our focus will be on fair trade, as local as possible, used and thrift store goods as well as plain old living without.

I feel like veganism has made my life both more peaceful and also easier. People love to go on and on about veganism being so hard, etc, but it’s not. We live in a society that not only has plenty- we have too much. Too many choices leads to emptiness. Hollow purchases, indulgence, etc. In being vegan we define our values, we become selective and read labels. I don’t have to worry myself about eating too much junk at work because the cookies and muffins aren’t vegan. It’s as simple as that, not vegan = not fit for consumption. While we all value variety and freedom of choice, setting boundaries and guidelines can actually free you, rather than limit you. It’s certainly easy to indulge in Portland, as a vegan, but as a consumer veganism makes you that much more aware. Where did this come from? What’s in it? What process did it have to go through to get to me? This inquisitive, label-reading trait is the perfect way to cut out the unnecessary junk that muddles our lives.

I realize that this will be both hard to do but also that it’s also easier to Jim and I being that we live in a city filled with alternatives and we don’t have children to buy for. There will be times when desire and temptation will weigh heavily on my weak mind to cave in! Buy it! But I really want to stick to this, to help cure myself of the consumer ill to buybuybuy and never askaskask. I want to live simply so I can focus on the things that really do matter, put my money where my mouth is and free myself from the seductive powers of want.

I want to thank you all again, for taking the time to read my blog, listen to my rambling, tolerate my squirrel pictures, kitty pictures and other assorted furry deviations away from food. Thank you for being so sweet and supportive during my father’s death and for just being good people. It’s so easy in a world that feels so corrupted to feel like people just aren’t good anymore, but you all have proved my pessimism wrong again and again. I wish you all well and I’m sure we’ll stay in contact through the wonder that is the internet.

Cheers,
Kris

Well, I have a bucket load of pictures to post, including one of the world’s cutest squirrel pictures taken by yours truly. On with the show!

A couple of weeks ago, I made Susan’s Chocolate-Orange cake. Of course I had to display it just a beautifully as she did.

I will admit to adding a little bit of fat, 1/4 of a cup of oil. Even though a Susan recipe has never let me down, we were having people over for dinner and I didn’t want to risk it, having not made the recipe before. It was extremely good. I think next time I’m going try a grasshopper variation on it and omit the orange and add mint extract. Maybe with some chopped up Peppermint Pucks on top. Yummy.

I love my pressure cooker for the amazing things it can accomplish in 20 minutes.

A quick potato and corn chowder with black-eyed peas, which I’ve been cooking with like crazy. I love how quickly they cook and how they meld with anything. Served with some toasted Dave’s Killer baguette, the perfect addition to any soup.

Christmas was a low key affair for us this year. It was just Jim, the fur kids and myself, so it was basically a day off work with presents (we aren’t religious). As you might remember from last year, I’m kind of crazy about the holidays, normally, but this year I’m just not feeling it. It was my 4th Christmas away from my family, it’s been a downer of a year and it just didn’t feel like Christmas. We didn’t even put a tree up! Even when the kitties were young we still managed a tree. Bindhi’s first Christmas we had a little pre-lit tree that we kept in our second bedroom. We would lock the kitties up our bedroom and bring it out for an hour and then put it away and let them back out. Our last Christmas in Phoenix we took that little tree and suspended it upside down from the ceiling to keep the cats from it! That was bad because after awhile we stopped noticing it and it didn’t end up coming down until March.

Anyhow, this year there was no tree, just presents jammed under our end table. A co-worker gave me this cute little ornament, so I clipped it to the lamp on the table, our make ship Christmas tree.

I clipped it on with a little squirrel clip, which was an early Christmas present. Other than that and the wreath I buy for our front door each year, that was the extent of my decorating this year.

Christmas morning, despite Jim’s pleas, we had to open presents before breakfast. Why? Because part of our breakfast was one of his stocking stuffers. Jim loves anything maple, so when I spotted a jar of maple butter at the grocery store awhile ago, I decided to get it for him for Christmas. It was too expensive for me to justify as a regular purchase, but under the guise of a gift I could excuse away.

VwaV pear ginger waffles with maple butter, cheezy chickpeas and a pear. Yummy! I think I’ve finally learned, though, that I’m more of a pancake girl than a waffle girl. Thankfully all of the VwaV waffle batters make great pancakes.

Christmas dinner was the seitan portabella stroganoff from VwaV.

Yes, those are some accidentally vegan croissants on my plate. Like I said, I just wasn’t feeling it this year and I didn’t want to make real bread for just the two of us. Those were something that I caved into from Jim’s puppy dog eyes at the grocery store. Of course, the stroganoff was wonderful. I need to make this recipe more often.

And now for the serious craziness: I didn’t make dessert. I bought some desserts at Wild Oats. I had two reasons for this. 1) I was feeling lazy, plain and simple, and 2) is that if I made something it would mean there would be a lot of it laying around (cake, cookies, etc) and we really don’t need that. We’re trying to clean up our act, foodwise.

Piece of Cake German Chocolate cake. Very moist and delicious.

Piece of Cake Carrot Cake Bar. It was very good as well, with a strong ginger flavor, but we both agreed that a cream cheese frosting was in order, not a crunchy sugar one.

We often the squirrels in our backyard and recently we’ve been attracting some birds, so I’ve started putting out seed for them as well. This provides food for them, but hours of entertainment for the cats and, honestly, for me too. Now, I’m not some crazy person that things they can tell squirrels apart, but we do have a couple with distinguishing characteristics and I’ve given them names. We have a meaner, fat squirrel who is missing the top half of his tail named Spanky. There is also a large, slightly friendlier squirrel who is missing a chunk of fur from the left side of his tail that I call Chunk. We have 2 younger squirrels who were born this summer. They are incredibly cute, they still haven’t grown into their heads yet and their tails are scraggily looking. I can tell them apart because one of them is missing a bunch of fur from the underside of his tail. I call him Little Chunk. Now, I’m not one to play favorites, but with his boyish charm and baby face, Little Chunk is a real heart warmer. I was taking pictures of him the other day and was really looking at them when I downloaded the pictures a few minutes ago to blog and oh god, I nearly died from this cuteness. If you’ve made it this far into my squirrel-love spiel you are in for a treat, the cutest squirrel on Earth.

Look at how cute he is! That sunflower shell in his hand, the food on his little nose and that open-mouthed smile! Cutest picture ever! My heart physically hurts looking at it.

I told Bindhi that I was going to arrange a marriage between her and Little Chunk. She didn’t look very keen on that idea.

Jenny & Gia M! Email me at squirrelsvegankitchen [dot] com with your addresses! You are each getting a “Vegan Master Baker” apron, a copy of the book and a special mystery treat from Food Fight! Please let me know if either of you have allergies. Congrats!

I have Christmas dinner and other goodies, I hope to post tonight. Hope you all had wonderful holidays! Or at least enjoyed the day off.

Thanks to everyone for your support. I am truly touched by all of your kind words. I will do another food post or two before the year end, so the party’s not over quite yet!

And in the tradition of the gift giving, I’m going to do a giveaway! I’m not telling what or how many, but a couple of folks will get a nice little package to help chase away the post-holiday blues. To enter into this random drawing just leave a comment with your favorite holiday treat. Again, it’s random, but the topic is just to make it a little interesting. I know this is a crazy busy time of year, but I’ll close this on Christmas Eve.

Happy commenting!

Yes, oh yes, I am so excited to have this new, delicious Vietnamese restaurant in town! I enjoy Bay Leaf alright, but otherwise the Asian cuisine in Portland is scarce, not like Seattle. But now with Nhut Quang, I am quite the happy camper. Let me show you why:

(This was take out, hence my own dishes.)

One of the yummiest creations in all the world: BBQ steamed bun. A rice flour bun filled with deliciously marinated seitan-style meat, steamed to perfection. I can taste it just thinking about it.

Vietnamese dumplings. These were filled with mung beans and spices. They were okay, but not what I was expecting. I think I was moreso just put off by the surprise of it being different than I was expecting. Served with a light sweet and sour sauce.

Yellow curry. One of the best curries I’ve ever had. Rather than just relying on heat and turmeric to make you feel like you’re eating curry, the folks at Nhut Quang craft a very complex yellow curry with coconut overtones that is very satisfying. The night I had it, it had broccoli in it, Jim’s had celery this night, with faux chicken.

Flat rice noodles, sauteed in a brown Saigon sauce with veggies, tofu and faux chicken. This meal was one of those perfect ones that just hit the spot. Not overly complicated, just flavorful and comforting with wide rice noodles, sauteed veggies, crisp bean sprouts and a delicious sauce. This is one of my favorite meals there so far.

If you come to town, it’s worth stopping by. It’s rather unassuming, in a little strip attached to a Shell station, but as we all know, sometimes the most understated things are the best.

Around this time, the end of December, it’s always time for some reflection. Time to think about where you are, your goals, etc. Time to start making resolutions, taking stock of things, etc. Naturally, I’ve been doing my fair share of this sort of pondering, for a few months now.

And. I have a little thing to announce. This might be a surprise to some people. I have decided to stop blogging. I have decided to stop Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen and Damn Tasty Vegan, everything. This has nothing to do with my commitment to veganism, which is very strong. I have met so many amazing people in my nearly 2 years of blogging. I have made friends all over the world and the cookbook has certainly been an experience! But like all good things, it has run its course. I have had a very complicated year this last year. I have a lot of other interests and hobbies that I want to devote myself to. The past months have seen my cooking and blogging dwindling. It has been great and I appreciate you all so much, taking the time to read about my silly life and sharing yours with me. But I’m ready to move on now, to other things and other elements of my life.

This is why we have been having our sale, to help move some of the book related stuff. Thanks to everyone who has purchased stuff! I am going to continue posting this month, but on December 31st I plan to stop blogging and DTV will stop being available. I will keep this blog up and available, however, for whoever comes across it.

Thanks to everyone for your support and I really appreciate each and every one of you.

I’m am just overflowing with chickpea love! I swear I could eat them everyday in every meal. I could eat them in a box, I could eat them with a fox. I could eat them in a train, I could eat them in the rain. They are absolutely my favorite legume. The flavor, the texture, the versatility… but rather than wax romantic all evening, I’ll get on to the pics, saving the best for last.

Jim is really digging on the pumpkin cinnamon rolls from Don’t Eat off the Sidewalk and he actually made the dough for them last weekend! Once again, we made the dough the night before and let it slow rise in the fridge. Once again we added in raisins and I smeared them with Tofutti cream cheese frosting.

I made a tempeh scramble seasoned with nooch and sea salt and a little sage and some shredded veggies, zucchini, etc. On the side was a delish Oregon pear. I love the variety of local produce we are lucky enough to indulge in all year round here. There’s always something. This was a D’Anjou pear, which I think has the perfect stone, sweetness and juiciness.

When I was growing up in a western suburb of Minneapolis we had a local Chinese restaurant in a strip mall by our house called China Star. I’m sure many of you have China Star’s in your backyards, but nothing was like this place. Jim and I used to go eat there for Christmas dinner it was so good. This was, of course, pre-veg. Anyway, I used to always order Chicken with Broccoli, which also has those perfect crinkle cut carrots in them. The sauce was dark and garlicky and thick, more like a glaze. In all my travels around the US I have yet to find a brown sauce with broccoli that can compare. This has become a life calling for me. Whenever I try a new Asian restaurant I always try their broccoli in brown sauce just to see. Alas, it has yet to happen. Sure, many of them are good, but they aren’t the same.

So, in true DIY fashion, I decided to finally try my hand at it. I suck at making Asian-inspired cuisine and while this turned out okay, it was pretty much down there with my other past attempts.

I started with some sauteed minced garlic and incorporated a cornstarch and veggie broth liquid into it, along with a fair helping of soy sauce. It was okay, but I used aseptic veggie broth, which was way too strong and lent an oddly buttery flavor to it. I used some hydrated textured soy chunks I picked up at Food Fight many months ago. I can see why they only carried them for a month or so. They were not very good. I picked mine out and Jim ate them up. The veggies and rice were steamed perfectly at least! You can’t win ‘em all.

Chickpeas! Chickpeas! So amazing and versatile! Breakfast this morning featured Isa’s Fronch Toast, which is, naturally, made with chickpea flour. I made it using this wonderful Breakfast Toast we have been buying from Nature Bake, which is Dave’s brother’s bread company, which is their family bread company. It is a nice dense but moist wheat bread, speckled with walnuts, raisins and orange zest.

Each piece was topped with thawed strawberries and dollop of Ricemellow Fluff. And, of course, cheezy chickpeas on the side.

And for dinner tonight, chickpeas revisited. It’s a recipe that I have been working up all week and I was so excited to finally try it. I’m happy to say it was a great success and I’ll be making it many times.

I’ll post it when it’s tweaked, but it is simple and involves chickpeas, tomatoes, garlic, zucchini, purple kale, kalamata olives, and capers. I served it with some whole wheat olive bread that I picked up at the Whole Foods Formerly Known As Wild Oats.

It’s been awhile since I’ve baked much and I love having a big muffin to eat for breakfast, so tonight I made some muffins from Robin Robertson’s Peanut Butter Planet.

They are peanut butter and cranberry. She has the recipe written for dried cranberries, but I used frozen. They are quite tasty, as is everything else I’ve made from this book. I can’t wait for breakfast!

And what would a post be without a kitty picture? Linus can get sad when I’m away, even if it’s just out for dinner with friends, so he waits by the door for my arrival.

Such a cute and goofy boy. He wasn’t actually waiting for me, he has no patience for that, but whatever he was doing, he was doing it with style.

Later this week I’ll have a yummy review of the wonderful vegan Vietnamese restaurant that just opened up near us. It’s really fantastic, I’ve eaten there twice in the past week and I really hope they thrive and that Portlanders get over their fear of traveling further than 10 city blocks to support them. We have another veg Vietnamese place in town (Van Hahn) that I tried really hard to like, but their food is always so greasy and unpredictable and I always feel sick from greasiness after eating there. Anyway, this new establishment, Nhut Quang, is crazy good (try the Lemon Grass Tofu Sticks and Steamed BBQ Bun!) and I am in big time food love with them. That and more in the next installment of “The Chickpea Lover Chronicles”.

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!