Grown-Up Perks

Sometimes being a grown-up has it's advantages. You can eat whatever you want for dinner!! It was a special treat when I was a kid (in my mind) when we got to have pancakes for dinner. So last night that's exactly what I did. Plus, I got to try out my new double burner griddle pan. Look at everything that fit on there! (and I could have squeezed more) Four pancakes and two veggie breakfast sausages. Please ignore the dirty stove top....

Not only did I have pancakes, but they were totally unhealthy pancakes. No wheat flour here tonight. I liberally tossed in some chocolate chips. I suppose there was a banana in the batter, that's good for me at least. And I ran out of regular soymilk, so I used some of the Silk pumpkin spice soymilk. Extra sweetness! I used the very simple recipe for Banana Walnut Pancakes from La Dolce Vegan (minus the walnuts).
Here's my pancake and veggie sausage sandwich, drowned in maple syrup. Even though the pancakes were sweet, the saltiness of the sausage helped balance things out. And I have to admit, the white flour made these so light and fluffy.


Okay, I promise to eat something green tomorrow (okay, today, I'm being bad and posting this in the past....). Or at least a vegetable.
More VeganMoFo later....

Dinner Before Dining

We've all done it before (ok, let me qualify that, if you are a vegan and reading this, then continue)... you're invited out to dinner at a place where your only choice is some steamed broccoli and a baked potato, so you eat before you go. Tonight, I was obliged to attend a recruit dinner for work at a Steakhouse. And not just any steakhouse, one where they bring out the raw meat to the table to show you their "cuts of the evening". This place went a step further and brought a live lobster on a platter to your table. Talk about an uncomfortable situation for a vegan. I even felt wierd using my steak knife on the vegetables knowing how many steaks they had cut into previously.

So my dinner before dining was using a new vegetable (for me): Thai eggplants! I picked them up at the farmer's market last week and have been trying to figure out what to do with them since. They're almost too cute to cook!

I decided to go with something quick and easy, Thai Eggplant and Chickpeas in Peanut Masala from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. I made quite a few substitutions for spices and cut way back on the onion while increasing the chickpeas. Here's the eggplant starting to brown...
I served the dish over brown rice sprinkled with fresh parsley and some edamame and potato samosas (from VWAV) that have been buried in my freezer for months (but still very yummy). Some of you may remember that I'm not a fan of eggplant. Thai eggplant seemed to have a milder flavor than it's purple cousins, not quite as bitter. The woman I got them from at the farmer's market suggested using them for pickling.... which I've never done before (so maybe it's time during this Vegan MOnth of FOod).
I think I added a bit too much water to thin out the sauce (the eggplants were taking awhile to soften). In the end the sauce lost much of it's flavor, so this wasn't my favorite dish. But, then again, it was light years ahead of what I was served at the steakhouse....

Rolls for RenFest (and a bit of flair)

A roadtrip to the Rennaisance Festival (about 1.5 hours from downtown Houston) requires cinnamon rolls. Don't ask me why, but after seeing so many blog posts on these cinnamony-ooey-gooey treats, I have been waiting for the perfect time to make them. This is what had me up at 6am on a Saturday morning. These aren't your Pillsbury straight-out-of-a-can cinnamon rolls. These require work....

I used the recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. On Friday night I made the dough and let it rise, smeared the filling on the rolled out dough (thanks to John for rolling), and cut up the individual rolls. Saturday morning I let them come to room temperature and finish rising. The smell the filled the house was intoxicating. I came downstairs to check the rolls about 5 minutes prior to being done.... disaster!! The cinnamon rolls completely popped open and the filling was spread out over the baking sheet in a big ole mess. Luckily John came to the rescue and said we should take them out and smoosh them into a pyrex and just ladle the filling on top. Whew! Regardless of this setback, we all enjoyed the cinnamon rolls on the long drive up to Magnolia... (next time I will just cook them in a pyrex)

The last time I was at the Rennaisance Festival I was probably in grade school. My only memories are lots of people dressed up, the hair wrap and wreath with flowers and ribbons I got, and turkey legs (just like you Diann!). Yes, this is not a vegan's paradise for food. In fact, the only thing I ate after the cinnamon roll in the car, was some cinnamon-roasted almonds. Instead of dressing up in traditional renaissance fair garb, I went armed with vegan flair. Five pieces of vegan flair (I know, it's not the minimum of 14 pieces, plus I lost one during the day)! Besides my shirt, I had a "you are not an environmentalist if you eat meat", "vegan freak", "i don't eat anything with a face", and "be kind to animals don't eat them" buttons. And by the end of the day I gained one more piece of flair, a henna tattoo of the word "vegan".

Here's some more pictures from the festival... the grounds are amazingly huge. Lots of big trees, and it was another warm November Day in southeast Texas.

Some festival fairies, an anatomically-correct man+horse (what's the word?), a Star Wars inspired Highlander, and some dancing gypsies...

And of course festival games! Jacob's Ladder, long bow, tomato toss, and knife throwing.
It was a long day, but lots of fun. I even managed to block out the presence of turkey legs, and the elephant and camel rides. It'll probably be another ten years before I go again...

Feeling a Bit Peckish?

First of all I would just like to say that it's not even 7am on a Saturday and I'm blogging about food .... now if that isn't love for VeganMoFo, I don't know what is.

Last night my folks came over for tea (i.e. dinner), and there was a theme! Just a year ago, my parents returned to the States from living in Chester, England for four years. I thought I would give them a vegan version of some traditional English favorites (or at least what I thought was English). My dad dressed for the occasion...



Although throwing together a curry was tempting, I decided to attempt the Tempeh Shepardess Pie from Veganomicon (what are people using as acronyms for this book? it's exhausting typing that out every time). My parents have never had tempeh, but I have introduced them to seitan and tofu with great success, so I figured it was time and they were ready. I followed the alternate suggestion and used sweet potatoes for the topping instead of regular potatoes, a good move I thought. The meal came together fairly easily (I cooked the potatoes the night before to save time). Everyone agreed that this was definitely a huge step up from traditional Shepard's pie. This made a ton of food! Three of us had two helpings and there is still enough leftover for a meal for four. On the side I served some roasted brussels sprouts (I decided that these were sort of an English thing, my dad confirmed that they are pretty popular over there, what instinct!), a green salad, and a fruit salad made of two varieties of apples and the remaining red Bartlett pears.



For dessert, I took a huge leap of faith. You always hear mixed things about bread pudding, lots of people seem to hate it. But I wanted to keep with my theme. So again, I entrusted our meal with Veganomicon, and made the chocolate banana bread pudding. Thursday night I cut up the bread into chunks to let them get stale. At this point I questioned my judgement of choosing whole wheat bread, would it be sweet enough? I was very worried. But, lo and behold after soaking up the soymilk mixture and adding a bunch of ripe bananas and chocolate chips, this turned out so much better than I imagined. I think I may even go sneak some now for breakfast :-) A dallop of Soyatoo whipped soy topping in the bread pudding-filled ramekins finished it off.

During dinner we talked about some English traditions and sayings. In trying to find a clever title for my post, my dad mentioned that in southern England, when people are hungry, they say they're "feeling peckish". By the end of the meal, we were peckish no more.

I'm sure you're wondering why I'm up so early (or maybe not). We are headed up to the Renaissance Fair with some friends today and I'm bringing a breakfast treat that has involved some serious labor. More on that later. Enjoy your Saturday!

Simple Gifts

Tis a gift to be simple....
The holiday season if officially upon us (not sure why it's official, but those words give the statement some oomf). All the stores have their Christmas decorations out and speakers are blaring elevator music versions of "Jingle Bells". My grocery store even had this little treat for me as I perused through the dairy alternatives case....

I am in love. They need to make this stuff year-round I've decided. Now I usually don't buy Silk brand products (two reasons: because they need refrigeration and also I think they are owned by a large dairy conglomerate), but this one was calling my name. Went perfectly with a slice of zucchini bread, recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking.

Another simple gift, red Bartlett pears. I got a few over the weekend, and picked up some more today. Although I'm missing my summer berries, there is something about the pear that I adore. I think it's the mealy texture; when it's ripe, it just seems to melt in your mouth like velvet.

I have vowed this year not to go to a mall to buy Christmas gifts. It's just too stressful and too generic. Last year I tried to buy all of my friends and family a gift that was "eco-friendly" (and of course, vegan). This year I'm going for "handmade" and hopefully eco-friendly as well. Baked goods are high on my list (must start making a list of potential goodies), as well as handmade items from others on etsy. I am also attempting to make my own holiday cards and gift tags with all of my new scrapbooking devices.

It is a stressful time of year as well. So try and keep things simple!

Her Choice

A his and hers post for VeganMoFo....

I love pasta. I think I could eat it everyday if allowed. But, sadly John would go crazy and stop eating what I fix, so compromise is necessary. On Monday night it was my choice, so we tried the Roasted Tomato and Fennel Pasta from ED&BV. This was such a simple dish to put together, and even though there was not an actual "sauce", there was still plenty of flavor. I added a bunch of chopped spinach to the pasta after cooking so it would wilt, just wanted an extra boost of greens. Topped it with plenty of basil, toasted pine nuts, and capers. Next time I would almost double the amount of veggies.

Next up, his choice...

**And an update. You'll notice there is no longer a smudge on my photos. :-) Embarassingly enough, I did not think to look at the lens, which was very dirty. A little wipe, and all better. The curse has been broken!

His Choice

When I first started cooking (maybe two years ago, before that, I relied on restaurant food and cereal), I made lots of simple salads. After all, they are easy and versatile and good for you! Since developing my fondness for cooking, I must say that I tend to want to try more complicated things in the kitchen. John always begs for salads, so to appease him, last night we had the Roasted Portabello Salad with spicy mustard dressing from Veganomicon.

The salad did not disappoint. The roasted mushroom was tender and juicy, and the aroma of garlic and red wine filled the house to our delight. While I usually add a bit of mustard to vinaigrette's that I make, this recipe called for a large amount of spicy mustard. What a difference! The mushroom, dressing, salad greens (with fresh herbs, I love cilantro in my salads), avocado, and chickpeas all came together beautifully in this salad. It was one of those salads where I plan my final bite to include a bit of everything, so the flavors can all join forces in my mouth. Am I the only person who does this?

Mystery Faux Meat

So I've had this lurking in my pantry since May (got it from Food Fight while in Portland). Any suggestions on what I can make with it? Has anyone out there ever used this product? My goal is to do something with it in the next week or so. I think I'm up for the challenge....

After all it's the Vegan Month of Food! More tomorrow on what's been cooking.

Chili When It's Not So Chilly

There is nothing better than eating vegan chili at chili cook-off in Austin, TX in 80 degree weather. Okay, maybe a few degrees cooler would've been better, but still. This weekend we drove three hours up to Austin for the Lone Star Vegetarian Network's 19th Annual Vegetarian Chili Cook-Off. They should just rename it a vegan chili cook-off because that's what it was (all entries had to be vegan).

Ten dollars buys you entry to the Austin Zoo (a rescue zoo) and all the chili tasting your stomach can handle! We got to vote on our favorite of over a dozen chilis that we tasted. My vote went to a smoky white bean chili, but it was a tough call. There was everything from traditional chili to raw chili and everything in between. You wouldn't think that a few bites of each chili would fill you up, but then you'd be wrong! I could barely move by the end (although I did manage to save room for some vegan pumpkin carrot cake with cream cheese frosting ... don't ask me how, I think I have a separate compartment in my stomach for dessert).
We also got to walk through the zoo and see some of the rescued animals. There was some excitement when one of the monkeys escaped and was hovering in the trees between the lions and the tigers (it ended happy)! Regular zoos have always troubled me, I love seeing these beautiful animals up close, but hate the fact that we have taken ownership of them. I don't know too much about this Austin Zoo, but from what I've gathered from their website, it seems different.
Another highlight of the festival.... I got to meet Diann from Eat'n Veg'n and her son Chase as well! My first encounter with a fellow vegan blogger! It was so nice to meet you Diane!!

The rest of the weekend was spent biking and running along Town Lake, one of our favorite things to do in Austin. We also got to try three different veg-friendly eateries. First, after a grueling (okay, it wasn't grueling, but my butt is certainly sore from it!) bike ride, we drove down to "the Drag" near UT campus and went to Dhaba Joy for their famous Oatscreme! I got the chocolate-vanilla swirl. Very different from soy ice cream I thought, but still delicious. Also, I couldn't resist all of their vegan cupcakes, so I went for a mini chocolate-mint cupcake. Yum. And I didn't have to bake it! It's almost a good thing I don't live in Austin, otherwise I would be buying cupcakes right and left!

Our other two food outings were for brunch on Sunday at Mother's Cafe and dinner Saturday night at Mr. Natural's. Even though brunch made us quite full before the chili tasting, it was awesome to be able to go out for breakfast and not have to scour the menu for vegan options. I had breakfast tacos. My heart had originally been set on pancakes, but since they have just re-opened due to a fire, the menu was limited. Unfortunately our experience at Mr. Natural's is not much to write about. The food was cold, service was slow, and the guacamole and salsa were unforgiveable (especially for being in Texas). It was a big disappointment, which I hate to say about vegetarian restaurants, but I have to be honest.

Alright, so enough about Austin. Does this count as a post for VeganMoFo? If not, I will do better tomorrow!

Nom Night

I have officially broken in my copy of Veganomicon. It even has a small stain on it from the marinade for the Smoky Tempeh. I was so excited to use my next grill pan for the first time! I still need to work on perfecting the grill marks, but I was happy just the same. I have really started to like tempeh just recently, and this recipe was no exception. The tempeh accompanied another newbie, pineapple-cashew quinoa. After re-learning my lesson about touching hot chiles (ouch in the nose, trust me), this dish came together quite easily after some serious chopping, but it was well worth it. I think the highlight of the dish was the mint and basil, so if you make this don't skip the fresh herbs!

Even though we still have gingerbread cookies, and we're leaving town for Austin tomorrow morning (to attend a Vegan Chile Festival!), I still wanted to try a cookie recipe. Since I have been craving chocolate, I went for the chocolate-chocolate chip walnut cookies. The only thing I did differently was use chocolate hemp milk to sub for the soy milk. I think the result was an even chocolatier flavor. These were yummy right out of the oven, I actually needed a glass of water to wash them down (sometimes soy milk just won't do that for me). John even ate a whole cookie on his own (which he rarely does, he usually has a bite of mine), attesting to the true power of these cookies.

My love affair with this book has only just begun....