Happy Vegan Anniversary!

I was dying to blog about this last week, but didn't have much energy....so, here's a huge catch up!

In celebration of my birthday (remember, last year we went to New York City and The Candle Cafe?), this year was spent in our nation's capitol (we just call it, 'DC') to visit the Holocaust museum and the modern art museum (the Hirshhorn). I guess it was appropriate that we finally went to Sticky Fingers Bakery and Cafe, since I realized it was also my two year vegan anniversary! Hard to believe I've been without real cheese for that long- jk! I don't even miss it anymore. The horrible treatment of cows in the process to give me something that's not even that healthy for me, is worth missing every bite. So anyway, here is a famous sticky bun (which I ate ALL BY MYSELF - what a hog! - no, really, I rarely eat sweets, so I deserved every bite! Besides, I didn't get a cake this year :( so this was my cake...) alongside my husband's choice, which happened to be a wicked awesome Cowvin Cookie (oatmeal cookie bars with creamy filling).

This was after I had scarfed down most of this sandwich (well, I only ate one half of the bread - white bread is so low in nutrients!). This TLT (tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich was perfectly crispy and salty with a toothy bite, crunchy lettuce, and perfect layer of Vegannaise.





Here's my husband's choice: a Reuben (vegan, of course). He thinks it would have been better heated up (they do have a microwave right there for you to do so) but I still think it was really good - perhaps better than my TLT?? Doesn't look as pretty, though... :) The best thing about Sticky Fingers was walking in and looking at all the food and thinking.... I can have ANYTHING here I want! It was overwhelming to have so many choices, when I often barely have one in most chain restaurants.

Speaking of pretty, here is a shot (a pretty good looking one, if I do say so myself) of my lunch for the week: Eat, Drink and Be Vegan's Peanut Sesame Hummus with seaweed rice crackers. I laugh when I think about how different my lunches are from everyone else's that I work with! And they are different every week. I enjoyed this with organic baby carrots, celery sticks and snap peas. Neat flavor and twist on the traditional hummus!

But for some reason, I couldn't stand the taste of the raw snap peas! They were acrid tasting - maybe even bitter?- and I couldn't eat them even with the dip. So, I used up some rice noodles and cellophane noodles I had kicking around, along with some frozen veggies, edamame, and fresh veggies I had leftover, to make The Everyday Vegan's Ginger Hoisin Noodles. Yum! I loved this dish. I was so proud of myself for thinking to use up so many things and not waste moola.
In the spirit of trying to use up leftovers and not spend money, I tried to use up my fresh parsley with the Candle Cafe Cookbook's Tabbouleh. It contains very healthy bulgar wheat, as traditional tabbouleh does. Unfortunately, the cost of the tomatoes (even though I used canned because good fresh tomatoes are nowhere in season), onion, garlic and bulgar completely offset the cost of the 99 cent parsley bunch because.... it sucks! I really hate to say that, and honestly, the taste is great. It's just that the taste LINGERS........the red onion, even though I cut it down from the recipe, is just too much to take. I couldn't stand my own breath after eating this dish for lunch today! I don't know what I'm going to do with it. Pick out all the onion, I guess? I've had this problem before with too much onion in this cookbook's recipes.... watch out if you're making a savory dish from there! I've had lots of tabbouleh in my lifetime, but never as pungent as this!

Next up, I made some Blueberry Bounty Buns from Vive Le Vegan for a friend who just had a baby. With almost no sugar but an incredible sweetness due to the blueberries, I knew these would be good for her and her little one. They have lots of ground oats and whole wheat flour, and very little oil, which is as healthy as you can get! My only complaint was how flat they were (more like muffin tops) and how delicate. I also made Vive's Apple Hemp muffins, which as usual, were moist and nutty and goooood! I think that this cookbook is one of my favorite vegan cookbooks ever - everything comes out great!















Last but not least are these Rosemary Tofu Balls from TEV. Don't they look beautifully golden? I had a craving for spaghetti sauce this week, and wanted something to go with it. I had some fresh rosemary to use up (here we go again!) and the rest of the ingredients were easy to pull together. Because it only used half of a container of tofu, I cubed and stir fried up the rest of it to eat with my ginger hoisin noodle leftovers this week.

And here are the results. I was a little disappointed in the tofu balls, as I thought they would taste like non-meatballs (I've made seitan ones before that are great!), but they had a different, curious flavor to them. My husband said they tasted like this sandwich meat spread he grew up eating. I don't think he cared for them much. I thought they were nice and crispy on the outside, but a tad pasty in the middle. Overall not bad, but I probably won't make them again anytime soon. However, the sauce was the real kicker. A nice organic, tomato-basil sauce from Bertolli.... and it sucked! It was watery, too sweet, and not very flavorful. I will make my own next time or use my standby - Del Monte's canned sauce - only 99 cents! And the money comes full circle, I guess.... Happy eating this week! And happy vegan anniversaries to everyone else out there celebrating.

Finger Food

This week involved lots of finger food! I love eating with my hands (that's why I enjoy Ethiopian, Indian, and other similar foods so much!). I've been overwhelmed with all my new cookbooks (not that I have stopped purchasing them!), but trying to make a dent in the recipes I want to make. Here are the treats I made for my friends on Valentine's Day and for our recent Sierra Club meeting. They are the Peanut Butter-Chocolate Squares (or were they bars?) from The Joy of Vegan Baking. They actually made more than the recipe called for (I cut them pretty small, since they taste so rich!), but they were so completely easy! I used up some rice krispie cereal I had (it was still good, don't worry!) and there was no baking involved, so it was a win-win situation all around. They were smooth, a little crispy, and completely yummy! One of my favorite vegan desserts ever, due to their Reese's Peanut Butter Cup flavor!
Here is another shot, take more from the side, so that you can see that they really are pretty thin. I wonder how they'd be in a smaller pan? Anyway, not healthy one bit but soooo very good! So, I had to move on to some healthier grub.







Like I said, it was the week of finger food. I was still on a sandwich kick this week, and trying to save some money, so here was the cheap and easy (ha, ha) Eggless Salad Sandwich, from The Everyday Vegan. It reminded me so much of the egg salad sandwiches I devoured every week when I was a kid! I used to make my own lunch every night before school the next day, and I always made egg salad sandwiches at least once a week. It amazes me how many children (at the school where I teach) have their entire lunches made for them every day, when they are in the upper elementary grades! Get kids into the kitchen, get them involved in their food choices, and let them do some work, for goodness sake! These were filling and flavorful. Tofu has a ton of protein and calcium, and it's perfect for 'faking' egg textures.
Also for the Sierra Club meeting, I made the Roasted Red Pepper-Almond Hummus from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. I am trying to make as many of her hummus and dips as possible - there are so many! This was excellent, too, and pretty quick to make. Great with pita bread and veggies sticks. The only problem I had was when I was roasting the red pepper. It calls for jarred peppers, but I can't afford those and it's so easy and healthy to roast your own! However, I hadn't done it in a while, and I used Veganomicon's recipe for roasting peppers. In the past, I have used high heat until they are black, then you throw them in a baggie and wait for the steam to loosen the skins for peeling. However, the book doesn't call for getting them black or peeling them, so the temperature was much lower. I had to keep them in the oven so long, they almost completely dried out and I couldn't peel them. So, I threw the pepper into the hummus batch with the burnt skins and all.... and it was still good!
All in all, it was a great week for vegan finger food. Tonight, I move on to make The Everyday Vegan's Black Bean and Millet Patties (I have lots of millet to use up!) and for the week's lunch, Peanut Sesame Hummus with rice crackers and snap or snow peas. Loved reading everyone's posts this past week! I still laugh when people ask me, "what do you eat?" My answer....everything and anything I want!

Happy February!

Growing up in New England, February was often the dreariest month. By then, we were sick of snow, sick of the cold, and ready for spring! These days, in Virginia, I can't say we've had enough snow yet, but I am certainly getting a hankering for a new season! There are changes abound in my little family, but like Urban Vegan, I am still cooking and baking up a storm. Here's what I was up to last week....
We had a baby shower for a good friend at work, and I volunteered to make the cake. Well, I ended up making a chocolate cake (recipe from Sinfully Vegan) with vanilla frosting and then FOUR DOZEN cupcakes! There was plenty to go around, but I sure was ready to yack at the smell of confectioners sugar by the end of the week! It took me two nights to bake and frost them all. (That's a baby's bib on the cake, by the way).





Here are the Pistachio-Rosewater cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (VCTOTW) that I have been meaning to make for quite some time. I was easily able to get the pure rosewater at my local grocery store. They cater to a wide variety of clients! I did use regular vanilla frosting, though, as I wanted to make them pink and do some baby girl-type decorations.






By far the favorite sweets were the Lemon-Macadamia cupcakes, though. They are a bit strong with the lemon flavor, but still amazing. Recipe also from VCTOTW. I've made these before.









Of course, I had to have plain vanilla cupcakes, to satisfy those less-adventurous eaters in the crowd. These are topped with cute (but expensive!) candy pacifiers. Not a single cupcake or slice of cake was left.... After this week of sweets, it's no wonder I turned to something tangy and salty for dinner this weekend....








Here are Cold Udon Noodles with Peanut Seitan (or something like that) from Vegan with a Vengeance. This would have been perfect, had the seitan not crumbled a bit (and burned) in our new cast iron pan. Although we both thought this was very yummy, I think we would have enjoyed it more had it been summertime! The flavors and textures were great, the sauce was perfect, and we buckwheat soba noodles we used instead of the udon were perfect. But still, this would be a better dish in warmer weather.



This was a great dish to use up the seitan I had made a month or so ago and put in the freezer. I froze it in the cooking liquid, in one pound portions. I actually used my mother's old scale to measure this out, which is really a very old postal scale! But, like most things made "back then" it is still very accurate. Here is a shot of the meal after I mixed it up a bit, so you can see the yummy whole grain noodles. It also contains bean sprouts, red pepper strips, cucumber strips, lime wedges and beautiful black sesame seeds. I love eating with chopsticks! Now, I am feeling almost normal again. The sugar has almost worked its way through my system....

Redemption Time!

Once again, it seems that second chances are always the best way to go. After last week's disappointing reviews, I was eager but wary to venture into the depths of Veganomicon again. I am pleased to announce that the Pumpkin Ziti Bake with Caramelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping not only was worth the time (it requires several fairly simple, but altogether time consuming steps), but it was TOTALLY DELICIOUS! I mean this with every ounce of my body - this is not a suck-up repentant post! This dish is so fall-winter, creamy, hearty, yet not heavy....my husband went back for a large plate of seconds and I tried to contain myself from eating it straight out of the pan! It doesn't even taste very pumpkin-y, so if you are wary of that flavor, not to worry! The fresh breadcrumbs, as suggested by Isa and Terry, are completely worth the little effort and do add such a yummy crunchy contrast to the creamy filling! The onions added another subtle richness to the dish. Oh my - make this today! I am so glad I gave Veganomicon another try.

Here is the whole dish, before it was put into the oven. The breadcrumbs look dark because I used whole wheat sandwich bread (my husband will never eat the heels!). Oh - and got a question about protein? This sucker has an entire block of firm tofu in it, which was part of the Cashew Ricotta (oh, I could eat that straight up - Jess was right!).
Not to mention the aforementioned cashews and the walnuts in the breadcrumbs.

And here is the dish, right out of the oven, a minute longer than it should have been in for, but it didn't taste burnt at all....Yummm......












Meanwhile, it was time to try another dessert from Veganomicon, which I knew wouldn't go wrong. These were the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (or something like that). I used chocolate chips because they were for a bake sale at my school, and I figured lots of kids probably don't like raisins (there was even a time when I didn't - the intense lover of dried fruit that I now am!). They probably would have been better with raisins, but they were still damned good! You can see the dark, chewy center - oh, they were so perfect!


This Curry Chickpea Hummus, from ED&BV was my weekly foray into protein lunch dips. I loved the spice, plus the hint of sweetness from the raisins. Here are my little Tupperware cups, all ready for the week's lunches! I plan on eating this with organic veggie sticks, pappudums (check out this link for the exact brand that I bought - they are even made with lentils, which is a great protein!), and whole wheat pita bread. Last week, I made my first UnCheese CookBook recipe, which was a delicious cheezy chickpea spread, but forgot to take a photos!

When I was off Veganomicon last weekend, I tried two magazine recipes in an effort to use up some of my clementines. Here is a Citrus Salad from Cooking Light. Lovely grapefruit, orange and clementine slices with toasted almonds and a light, citrusy dressing over mixed greens. This went perfectly with....





Sweet Potato Bisque with Clementines and Sage! This included carrots, parsnips and clementine juice, but you'd never know. They just added a delightful, but subtle sweetness to the dish. I used my handy-dandy immersion blender to puree it up, right in the pot! No messy pouring into a blender for me!












And here is the bisque, steaming away in my bowl, waiting for me to dig in. I enjoyed this all week, and still had plenty to freeze for later! This Vegetarian Times recipe makes a ton. What a wonderful week of orange foods! I feel so healthy :) I can't help but feel energized and happy and excited about life when I have such yummy foods to look forward to!

Veganomicon is perhaps one of the most enticing, yet somehow disappointing cookbooks for me so far this year. I bought it with hopes that I would find amazing new recipes, alongside comforting basics with a twist, all with simple steps and quick directions. I read it with anticipation, laughing aloud at Terry and Isa's comments throughout, marking page after page of, "I must try that!" I have not given up yet, as I know several recipes have been making the rounds on vegblogs with great rejoycing, but I have been slightly disappointed. I have made two muffin recipes and several main dish ones, and all have either taken several steps, or have been unexciting to taste (or both). Here is a good example. After much chopping and prep work, and quite a bit of simmer and rest time, this Red Lentil-Cauliflower Curry came together pretty nicely. Yet even with the burner on lower than called for, it burned to the bottom. And, although the texture and smell were great, the flavor was rather bland! I know that the recipe states that all curry powders are not created equal, so that if I make this again (doubtful), I will add double the curry it calls for, but after the long time to prepare this dish, I was a little disappointed in the results.
A second dish made this past week from Veganomicon was this Pineapple Quinoa Curry. Again, fairly easy to come together, though required several prep steps. But the taste....didn't blow me away! I guess I am surprised because both of their earlier cookbooks (Vw/aV and Cupcakes), did and continue to wow me with every recipe. I know I have barely scratched the surface of this book, but I am beginning to get rather frustrated. I plan on making the Cashew-Ricotta for the Pumpkin Ziti Bake next weekend. And I haven't made any desserts yet, so perhaps those will be this book's savior. Anyone else having similar disappointments, or can suggest a recipe that will knock my socks off?

Meanwhile, here is an innocuous recipe I found online for apple cider muffins. The original called for eggs, so this wasn't even a vegan recipe. But I used Ener-G-Egg Replacer, left off the sweet streusel topping, and added some heart-healthy walnuts to the batter....and wow!! What delicious, flavorful muffins with a crunchy surprise inside!



Then, I moved on to make the final of three raw candy recipes from March/April 07 Veg News magazine. These Coconut Candies were ....well, I love coconut, but even if I didn't they are a tropical paradise dancing in your mouth. I used dried cranberries instead of apricots, and they still turned out incredible. They contain absolutely no refined sugar (well, except the sweetened dried cranberries) and the coconut is the unsweetened variety (but still high in fat). I can't get enough of them! I am trying to cut down my sugar intake, so these naturally sweetened treats are perfect-sized bites of decadence without guilt!
Here is a closeup of those babies. So, it goes to show you that sometimes 'unpublished' random recipes can be better than ones you shell out the big bucks for! Of course, what would this post be without a reference to one of the most famous peace-makers of our time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we are observing today. I just read an interesting article online about how, when he was assassinated, he wasn't nearly as popular as when he did his, "I have a dream," speech. In fact, he had been campaigning against war and poverty, not so much the segregation issue, at that time. The article's author was saying that Dr. King has been used a symbol without understanding his full message. Yet how ironic that so many of our peace makers (Ghandi as well) die from violence. I am so eager for a new (US) president - one who is strong and firm, but not aggressively so, and one who acknowledges that diplomacy and talking are not signs of weakness but of courage and maturity. A comment on my previous post suggested that even if Kucinich doesn't win, we still have a chance at a Department of Peace. In the spirit of this special day, I hope everyone has time to read a little about this proposal (check out the link above) and reflect on how they can be peacemakers even in their personal lives. Sometimes family members get the brunt of our frustrations, because we think they can take it (they love us so much!), while we bend over backwards to be kind to complete strangers. But don't our families, the ones we love beyond words, deserve to feel that love as well?

New Year's Resolutions Underway!

The new year is already two weeks underway and I'm working hard to address my resolutions! With the cold weather struggling to stay around, I am still craving hot foods. I could never be completely "raw" for that reason (although I once said I could never be completely vegan! - ha, ha!).

One of my resolutions was to try new kinds of cooking, or at least ones I had been too "scared" to try before. Behold my first try at injera! An Ethiopian flatbread, used as a scooping-type utensil, it is made from teff flour, so it is gluten free and very high in protein and nutrients! This picture shows you how you should serve an Ethiopian meal with injera. First, you put one piece flat on the plate. Then you add the meal on top. This helps soak up some of the sauce (although this recipe wasn't very saucy!). Last, you roll up several injera pieces and slice across, serving this on the side of the plate to use in eating the meal. Gotta' love no silverware! This is a meal that children might enjoy! (except for the spiciness, which you could easily cut down). The recipe for the wat was from Veg News (Mar/April 2007, I believe), while the injera was from Fat Free Vegan's site.

Now, I never make pancakes, and when I do, they always split into two, but if I do say so myself, these injera came out darn good! They were intimidating at first, but after the first few, I was flipping them out like a pro! Here is the batter. It's pretty soupy, like crepe batter.






Following the recipe (see above link), I ended up with several changes. One example is shown here, as the recipe states to tilt the pan so that the batter covers the entire bottom. When I did this, the injera ended up too thin and burned. So, I just let it naturally spread. Also, I had to turn the heat down and didn't let it cook NEARLY one minute (more like 30 seconds). I could tell when it was done, by watching for the absence of any light spots on the top.


The last major change I did to the recipe was to not use a paper towel dipped in oil to grease the pan, but rather my lovely olive oil pump sprayer! It is so easy and mists the pan just perfectly! Here are the first few injera, steaming from the pan. They are not overcooked - the flour is already pretty dark.




Here is my half-done, big pile o' injera! I challenge you to try this out!













Part of my resolution to try new foods included raw foods. I tried these "Raw Energy Logs," from a recent Veg News issue, and was thrilled with the results! Well, the taste results, anyhow. They were tender and sweet and just the right size. With only dried fruit and nuts, there was zero guilt. The hint of cardamom made them so perfect. The only problem is, as you see by the photo, that they look rather like.... well, sorry, but giant cat turds, compete with kitty litter. I was grossed out until I tasted one. Soooo... next time I will roll these into balls, and call them Raw Energy Bites! Yum, yum, yum.
Now, as far as my peace resolution, I was thrilled (several months back) to find that presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has been the only one to propose (even if he doesn't make it, he still is urging this) a (get this): National Department of Peace. We have a Department of War (oh, that's right, it's defense) but where the hell has that gotten us? I love this idea. Now, if only he was rich - then he'd make it ALL the debates and get more press time!

When Good Cookies Go Bad

I should have known.... never, ok, well rarely, do I try recipes from the backs of boxes, the insides of lids, etc. But when I found this teff flour, which I intended on using to make injera tomorrow, I happened to see that there was a recipe for peanut butter cookies on the back!

At first, I was thrilled, since our vegetarian group meeting was upcoming and I knew there were several celiac members (gluten-free). Teff being gluten free, and this product being officially tested as safe for celiacs, I jumped in. A little warning voice in my head said, "But this recipe calls for no baking powder or baking soda, and this flour is damn expensive!" Hold the expense, I told the voice (I love to talk to myself, but it's even better when I talk back). These people are worth it, I said. Besides, I'll just add some baking soda.

Well, the results, as you can see, are picture perfect. They cooked nicely and didn't stick to the baking sheets. The flavor was peanut buttery and not too sweet. But the texture? Well, let's just say my husband called them, "sand cookies," and recommended that I not serve them to the general public. I scowled at the voice in my head but what was I to do? I could not, will not, throw them out. So I thought I would ask my dear readers, many of whom are excellent with the food experimenting thing, to give me some ideas. I have nearly two dozen sandy peanut butter cookies! What to do next? (I did have one idea - crumble them with some oil and bake them into pie crusts). Please leave a comment and help a poor vegan baker out!


Meanwhile, here is something that did turn out - very well indeed! This is Dreena's "Hempanola" (Eat, Drink and Be Vegan) Yup - it's got hemp seeds! I've used them before, but they're mighty hard to find. When visiting my parents, I saw that my mother (of all people! - she's never even smoked...I don't think) had a bag of hemp seeds in her fridge (for Dreena's Apple Hemp muffins - go figure!). She helped me procure some and now... I'm all smiles as I scarf down this excellent granola. Actually, I really can't stop eating it.... someone help me!.....Small note - I didn't find the barley flakes (after searching every possible store in two states) so I just used oat. And I used a tropical fruit mix for my add-ins. Yummy breakfast for the new year, but still I prefer muesli, as it doesn't make me crave sugar for the rest of the morning.
Speaking of good food (no mistakes here!) I also made Eat, Drink and Be Vegan's Chickpea Sensation Patties. I knew after tasting just the raw mix, I was going to flip for these! They were perfectly spicy, very flavorful, and not too much work. I had some leftover brown rice from New Year's, so that part of the recipe was already done! We enjoyed them in whole wheat pita pockets with balsamic-flax dressing, which could barely hold the lettuce, shredded carrot, and shredded cucumbers I had to pile in there! I'm a vegetarian for a reason, you know!

However, I did notice that I couldn't really taste the awesome flavor of the patties with all that veggie stuff in the way. My husband remarked, upon first bite, "They're ok." I thought - well, he hasn't really tasted them yet. I encouraged him to eat one without the toppings and he was really impressed! Impressed enough to eat four total patties that night (this coming from a man who sometimes "forgets" to eat lunch). The next night, I was eager to eat these again, but this time I served them with fresh kale (quickly stir-fried with olive oil and garlic), and topped them both with Everyday Vegan's Tahini-Tamari Sauce and a few shreds of carrot (just for effect). The best! Now, if you haven't read my blog in a while, you'll be interested to know why my blog name has changed. Just check out the post before this one. My peaceful thought for the day: I returned from my vegetarian group meeting so thankful for people that think the same way I do, and with whom I can talk openly about the horror of the meat industry and it's harm to the planet. It made my step and my heart lighter. Peace.