The Brunch Crawl

Every Sunday afternoon, my neighborhood is overtaken by drunken yuppy hipster brunchers literally crawling from one brunch hangout to another. Unfortunately, just about the only vegan item on the menu is a mimosa or a bloody mary (which I'm happy to partake in, but it leaves a girl needing some food!). So now join me on my own mini brunch crawl, courtesy of the fabulous new Vegan Brunch cookbook, as I take you from the savory all the way to the sweet.

First up are the Chesapeake tempeh cakes with a tangy remoulade sauce. Holy moly these things are tasty. For those of you that are tempeh-haters, give this recipe a try and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Really, you can't go wrong with capers and panko. If you don't have Vegan Brunch yet, you are in luck because this recipe is online.
After a few failed previous attempts at making vegan omelets, this recipe made it so easy! I filled my omelet with roasted plum tomatoes, grilled asparagus, melted teese, and fresh basil. I could have eaten ten of these things they were that good. On the side are baked hashbrowns, a nice variation to the typical fried version.
Oh, the bagels. Now I know making bagels sounds a bit daunting to some but you must try it (plus people will be impressed). I literally ate three bagels 20 minutes after they came out of the oven, I couldn't stop myself. The toppings were a bit finicky with them coming off in the boiling water, but it was all worth it. I made an assortment of cinnamon-sugar, poppy seed, and sesame seed bagels. They were perfect plain but my favorite way to eat them was toasted and slathered with some tofutti.
And now moving on to a few sweeter items.... these are the bakery style berry muffins. I used a mixture of frozen raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and a few frozen strawberries. These muffins had a delicate crumb... so delicate that a few of the berries exploded out (result of no muffin liner, but hey, that's bakery style!), but they were eaten regardless.
And the sweetest of all, really a dessert, the East Coast coffee cake. I followed Isa's suggested variation of adding both frozen raspberries and chocolate chips. This is a sure way to win over your friends and family when hosting vegan brunch.
So don't crawl, don't walk, run and get a copy of Vegan Brunch. You will have people lining up at your door for good food and good times on a Sunday afternoon! Oh, and don't forget the mimosas.

See? I Have Been Cooking...

Looking back on my posts from the last few weeks, there has been very little vegan noodle-made food! That comes along with being out of town and just being generally busy (like everyone else isn't and you're still cooking fabulous dishes, puts me to shame...) and not cooking anything too spectacular. But I thought some of these were definitely blog-worthy. Let's see if you agree.

Here is the spinach tarragon "quiche" from V-con. It was different from other vegan quiches that I've tried because it's not made with tofu, but navy beans and walnuts and asparagus. I subbed dill for all of the tarragon, just because I needed to use it up. We both really enjoyed this dish, plus I thought it was kind of pretty. Oh, and I was really proud that I made the crust on my own, usually I just cheat and use the frozen ones.


A side and up-close shot of a slice. I served this with a simple spinach salad topped with pine nuts and grape tomatoes (and I think avocado, but I don't see it in the pic and I've since forgotten). I think next time I would top it with some balsamic glace to finish it.

The Sunday before last, my family came over for brunch since my brother was in town for a bachelor party (impressive that he made it to our place on time!). My mom was awesome enough to make cinnamon rolls from JOVB. Yum yum yum. This is the one I saved for the next morning when I was up in Calgary.

My contribution was another V-con recipe, the blue flannel hash, fitting since my latest obsession has been with blue/purple potatoes (I have a bag in the pantry, any suggestions on what I use them for next?). And of course you can never get enough tempeh.

And finally, for dessert, the lower fat deep chocolate bundt cake from V-con. It really was some seriously deep chocolate, thanks to the coffee I'm thinking. My first bundt cake ever too. I was so glad to have a piece of this on the plane ride (and shhhh, for breakfast)


I was recently tagged by LizzyQ to tell all you readers five things about myself. So, here you go...
1. I have never owned a pet (excluding inheriting my best friend's two hamsters when she moved to Singapore). But I would like to someday if we live in a place with an actual yard. I'm thinking I'm a dog person, mainly because I'm allergic to cats.
2. I am eligible to run for president in 2016. I figured this out when I was about twelve.
3. I have never eaten a fast food hamburger. As a kid I thought they were disgusting.
4. I have been married 169 days / 4063 hours / 243803 minutes / 14628214 no 15 no 16 seconds
5. Okay, what a spinoff.... I was going to write here that this year is my ten year high school reunion and instead of going to my own, I'm gonna crash (with her permission) my friend's in Las Vegas (she's the one who went to Singapore, so they're meeting back in the US). BUT out of curiosity I google my high school, and what do you know, they are actually getting together. Now I'm wondering, should I go??

Alright, I'm supposed to tag five people but I'm sleepy, so consider yourself tagged if you are reading this!

Wedding Food!

So I figured I would start out with wedding food, beginning with, of course, the cake!! As I've mentioned before, Hippie Chick Bakery designed, baked, and delivered my wedding cake. I absolutely loved the colors, I didn't want just a plain white wedding cake. The vegan buttercream frosting was sweet and creamy, I could eat it by itself, and I'm not even a frosting fan!



To let our guests know what flavors of cake were available, I made a sign out of the tons of leftover paper we had from programs, napkin rings, etc. And of course I had to highlight that the cake was vegan! It is so hard to choose a favorite flavor. We haven't even tried the marble yet (It's in the fridge waiting to be cut, one quarter to the freezer for our anniversary and the rest we'll try and eat!). But both the pumpkin and the chocolate were amazing ....



Now moving on to dinner (we actually ate this first :-) There were plenty of hors d'ouevres to start with, but I didn't get pictures (at least yet). Veggie sushi, spring rolls, falafel, and samosas. The caterer (Celebrations Gourmet) was even nice enough to bring trays over while we were taking pictures! But on to the main course, here was my dinner plate (one photo I actually did snap myself).



The plate consists of a wild mushroom strudel made with shitake, crimini, and oyster mushrooms sauteed with leeks and Madeira wine rolled in phyllo pastry. This dish got rave reviews from many of our guests.



On the side we had roasted asparagus



And roasted sweet potatoes (a bit blurry)



I went back for seconds of the strudel. I even told the caterer that I'd leave it on my plate awhile and not to take it away, that I'd be back for it. Of course I had good intentions, but I was so busy I never made it back! So instead, they packed us a lunch for the next day and also gave all the leftovers to John's family. They'll be eating this stuff for days!

In other eating adventures before the wedding, we tried the Boston Hot Dog Company while in Salem. I of course had the Veggie Dog which was made of tofu I believe. The guy running the place was quite a character.



I give it an okay review. Not something I would really eat again, but at least I tried it!



And finally, dinner in Salem at Fresh Taste of Asia where I had the sesame tofu. Also tried their Idaho Maki roll, deep fried sweet potato sushi. It was delicious and even converted my not-so-crazy about sushi sister.



More wedding photos to come!