Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Los Gorditos, squirrels, vampire cupcakes, Veganomicon
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!
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.
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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!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Crock-pot, Dave's, Hazel, Recipes, Seitan, VwaV
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!
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Emmie! Drop me a line with your email address and which apron you would like and I’ll get your goods on their merry way.
Wow, those were all some crazy search qweries. I love how searching for vegan squirrel recipes because of Weight Watchers Points got someone to my blog! How funny is that?
Food will be on it’s way shortly, along with some cold-weather recipes.
Filed under: Uncategorized
There is a time for food. But sometimes I just want to write a little. I hope that’s okay.
How are all of you? How were your summers? Are you settling into fall or resisting it will all your might like Bazu?
I have to admit that, while fall is my favorite season, I am resisting it. I feel like I barely did anything this summer! And it was a cold summer and it’s already so chilly this fall that we’ve had our heat on 2 nights in a row. And while I’m looking forwards to soups and stews and holiday baking, I’m already overwhelmed by the impending holiday season and the guarantee of cold feet for the next few months.
For fun, here are a few of the fun Google search queries that have brought up this blog, some more disturbing than others:
Vegan ovulation
Eating undercooked kale
Botulism blueberry muffin
Cats that like bananas
Little boy with carrots in his ears
Smoked Squirrel (there are a surprisingly large number of searches for cooking squirrel. who is savvy and resourceful enough to use the internet yet cooks squirrel?)
Creepy squirrel comment
Mint extract made brownies taste like toothpaste (I’ve been there! Make sure it says “peppermint” specifically)
TVP trail mix (am I the only one who thinks this sounds gross?)
Recipe for making a squirrel (good luck with that one)
John Lennon eat squirrils (sic)
Most disturbingly, I have had more hits than I can count from people looking up a really gross sex act, that brings up my blog because of some of the key words in this title ofthis post. You can use your imagination.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve Googled? Keep it tame, kids, but reply to this post with your own odd search queries and I’ll put your name into a drawing for not only a copy of my book, but also an apron!
Entries will close Sunday night and I’ll announce the winner on Monday.
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Thanks for the all the kind words and birthday wishes. I had a great weekend last weekend, celebrating my birthday with my lovely posse.
On Saturday we went out to dinner at Vita Cafe. I really wanted to go to Nutshell, but with a group of 14 on a Saturday night, I knew we were doomed to wait for hours and be split up. Of course, in the mix of it all, I forgot the pictures, but I started with the spicy tempeh sticks and had the mac ‘n cheeze with broccoli. I learned from this experience that it’s too hard to go out with a group that size that doesn’t all know each other and really mingle and talk. Next year, party at the house.
After dinner it was on to the Hollywood Bowl!
Jim and I suck at bowling, but we love it. I broke 100, which is exceptional for me. I’ve only done that one other time. We haven’t bowled since we moved here, so it was fun to bust out our bowling balls and give them a little shine.
On Sunday, I had my birthday breakfast at a new waffle place in Portland: Jace Gace.
Jim went with a good old traditional waffle, with a blob of whipped EB and some maple syrup on the side.
I decided to spice it up with the pina colada. Coconut cream, bananas, pineapple and a dusting of brown sugar. Yum! They also that an avocado rancheros waffle. Maybe next time.
These waffle pictures were taken with my super bad ass new digital camera. I’m still reading the book and playing with techniques as I conquer the beast. No more digital brick camera! Thanks Chris and Kate!!!
With all the baking I love to do for others you’d think that I would want something really big and decadent for my birthday treat.
But really, at heart, I’m a simple girl. I’ll take cookies any day over cake. But with all the sweets we’ve had lately, with Jim’s birthday, I wanted some healthier cookies. These are Dreena’s Maple Walnut cookies from Vive!, with the addition of chocolate chips. Chewy and very mapley, I enjoyed them with a warm mug of jasmine green tea.
Dinner last night:
Nate’s meatball sandwich with Tofutti Mozzerella and some steamed veggies, topped with Parma. I love the size of the Nate’s meatballs, you can make a nice sized sub on a hot dog bun.
Today I received another present from one my favorite people. Apparently I’m one of hers too:
A vintage Singer Featherweight. It was built in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1934. I LOVE it! It has all the original presser feet, the original manual (with the original owner’s name and address penciled in on it) and everything. What a beauty, I can’t wait to start making some goodies on it.
Well, summer is coming to a close, despite the warm weather we’ve been having this week. The trees are starting to turn and leaves are starting to fall and the morning air has that distinct crispness. While I love fall, it’s my favorite season, I am sad to see summer go. I hope you are all having fun savoring these last few weeks.
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Jim’s birthday was on Labor Day. He’s not a big birthday celebrating kind of guy and he especially doesn’t like surprises or having a lot of attention on him. After having a hand in two friends birthday’s this year, one turned 35 and the other 30, Jim said to me, “You have to promise that you won’t do anything like that for my 30th.”
So. I did it for his 29th instead! If there’s one thing about me, I don’t like being told to not do something. That is a dangerous combination mixed with my love of spoiling Jim.
I got his siblings in on the plan and they came out, with their respective spouses (one set from Seattle, the other from Phoenix), for the weekend. I planned a big vegan BBQ birthday bash for last Saturday that turned out to be a blast. We had all the vegan food you could ask for and more, tiki torches, some music and guitar playing, even Dave came by to hang out!
Enough of all this rambling, though, here’s the grub!
Kabobs! Just on the grill, so not quite grilled yet. I marinaded the tofu overnight in a teriyaki sauce and then skewered them with chunks of pineapple and zucchini.
We also had Field Roast and Tofurky brats, but those were boring looking, so I didn’t take a picture. A note for grilling such things, though: soak them in water for a couple of hours ahead of time if you have the time. Then you can cook them longer without them drying out inside. Grilled and juicy!
Real Food Daily Cashew Cheddar alongside the Seitan O’ Greatness. As I always do, I up the spices with some sage and fennel and liquid smoke, to make it pepperoni-ish. Jim and I could live on this seitan and cheese and crackers. When we eat stuff like this I wonder what it tastes like to people who aren’t vegan or haven’t been vegan for very long. I mean, does it just taste foreign and weird? I can’t really remember what cheese tastes like, except greasy and salty (does it really taste like anything else?) and I don’t think it tastes like cheese, but it does taste damn good and that’s all that matters!
Curried tempeh salad from Vegan Planet. Our friends Jen and Alex brought it and it was wonderful. They said they about doubled the spices from the recipe itself and I loved it and that is saying a lot as I have a history of being anti cold salads (that aren’t lettuce based).
An amazing salad that Kate made using assorted greens, micro greens, nectarines, blueberries, cashews and a flax oil and rice vinegar dressing.
I also made this asparagus pasta salad, but forgot to take a picture! Oops.
For dessert I made a chocolate peanut butter pie. Well, two actually.
You all know, if you’ve read this blog for any period of time, that Jim and I are both peanut butter and chocolate crazy. Not slightly crazy, but seriously crazy. It’s just the best taste combo! So good, in fact, that I have to show you all another picture:
If you are allergic to peanuts, other nut butters also taste amazing paired up with chocolate. I imagine that cashew butter would be heavenly with this.
And to share the love, here is the recipe!
Hands down, the best gift Jim got (and me too, as I’m lucky enough to share it with him) was this beautiful family portrait, painted by none other than the talented Chris Harback:
Isn’t it great? Jim and I are both getting the biggest kick out of Hazel, in her little ball. It reminds us both of a sorcerer, that we are all under the control of. Jim and I are both still in shock and marveling at how amazing this is. I mean, look at all of us! Chris is one heck of an artist and an even more amazing friend!
In closing, here is a cute little video we shot of Hazel tooling around her cage. We were trying to get her out to clean her cage, but she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to come out or not. Please ignore my strange baby hamster-babble.
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Where has the time gone? It’s been so busy this summer and it’s rolling right into September now and doesn’t seem to be letting up. Jim’s birthday is this weekend and I’ve been extra busy preparing for his big shindig. It’s his “Almost 30th” birthday and we’re having a big BBQ to celebrate with Tofurky, Field Roast, some teriyaki tofu kabobs and other assorted treats. But more about that later, after it happens!
I’ve been being a good girl and taking advantage of all the amazing produce that is thriving despite our strange summer weather. Look-see:
A creamy white bean, garlicky sauce over whole wheat fettuccine noodles and fresh carrots, green beans and carrots on top. Yum! I basically just sauteed some garlic in a little olive oil and mixed in a little flour, about a cup of soy milk, some basil and a can of white beans and cooked it until it thickened a little. Super yummy and very garlicky.
Some minestrone that a friend shared her recipe for:
The usual suspects were present, green beans, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, some summer squash, kidney beans, quinoa noodles, spinach and herbs. It was an awesome way to incorporate bulk veggies and was also welcome during our little cold snap a few weeks ago.
Tofu scramble! I think my tofu scramble count is starting to rival my pizza post count- how many times can I post about it? As many as it tastes good for, I suppose. This one was extra special because I got to use a new treat I picked up at Whole Foods- frozen fava beans. I got hooked on them earlier in the season, but now the time for fresh favas has come and gone. I don’t make it over to Whole Foods very often, as we have a local chain that is more conveniently located and that I like better, but these will have me making the trip more often. Also included is a sweet potato, some spinach, herbs, olives and zucchini. Some of Dave’s bread on the side with a smear of Trader Joe’s new blackberry jam and it was happy breakfast for dinner night!
And now for the not-quite-as-healthy portion of this post:
Batter-dipped tempeh sticks with mashed potatoes and fried zucchini. I learned something about myself the night we ate this. Even though 3 tempeh sticks doesn’t seem like much, IT IS! Geez, I know that Jim and I aren’t the healthiest of eaters, out of the vegans we know. But apparently we have our bodies adjusted to a certain standard. Three sticks and I felt terrible! I didn’t fry them for very long, they were well drained and not greasy, but it was enough to make me feel like I ate some serious junk food. I can’t imagine what it would be like to go back to eating the kind of crap I used to eat when I was younger, in my preveg days. Subway, Wendy’s, yes even McDonald’s. Veganism aside, I just can’t imagine…
I hope you all are well! I will have a super big food blowout soon, between Jim’s b-day and mine there will be much goodness to be consumed. Thanks for stopping by!
~Kris
