Gifts in Kind

I have been lucky enough to receive several gifts in kind the last few weeks...

Amey from Vegan Eats & Treats was kind enough to send me some of her homemade quince jelly. She also included some chocolates which disappeared not long after I opened the package. I have been using this jelly on my morning English muffin and it is delightful!
Two weekends ago while we were in Austin for the chili cook-off, we made a quick pitstop at Sugar Mama's Bakeshop to try out their new vegan cupcakes! After sending an email to the owner thanking her for adding cruelty-free cupcakes to the menu, she offered me a free cupcake! We got there just in time to swipe the last vegan cupcake of the day... peppermint patty. So perfect and so pretty.
And Stacey thought of me when she saw this cupcake notepad while she was out shopping!

With all this kindness that has been gifted to me, I have been wanting to "pay it forward" and send kindness to others. As luck would have it, I opened up Sarah's blog from Sew Crafty Houston (an awesome little craft studio and sewing lounge!) to find a pay it forward challenge. Here it is...

The rules are simple: I will send the first three five people to leave a comment on this post a handmade gift within the next 365 days (that’s my kind of time frame!)

I am willing to post anywhere in the world, so don’t let that stop you from commenting.

The catch is that you have to have a blog and be willing to do the same thing....

And since I can't send everyone who comments a handmade gift (if I only had the time!), my gift to the rest of you are two recipes!

Baked Acorn Squash with Hazelnut Pearl Couscous

Ingredients:
1 acorn squash
2 T olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups Israeli/pearl couscous
2 shallots, finely diced
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1 T hazelnut oil
fresh black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut the acorn squash in half and remove the seeds (clean off the guck and toast them with salt and pepper, they're delicious!). Lightly oil the inside of the squash (approximately 1 T). Place the squash cut side up in a baking dish and fill with 1/2 inch of water. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until squash is tender.
3. While the squash is baking, in a large saucepan saute the shallots in olive oil until slightly caramelized, approximately 10 minutes. Add the couscous and cinnamon and stir to lightly toast the couscous for 5 minutes.
4. Add the water and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes or until all of the liquid is absorbed.
5. Add toasted hazelnuts, dried cranberries, and parsley. Drizzle with hazelnut oil to finish.
6. Once squash is done baking, fill it with the couscous mixture.

And here's a link to the recipe for Society of PEACE's award winning chili!

Vegan Chili Cook-Off Deep in the Heart of Texas

This past weekend, Society of PEACE took a roadtrip to Austin, Texas to compete in the 20th annual Lone Star Vegetarian Chili Cook-Off. Don't let the sign below fool you, this was an all vegan event held at the Austin Farmers Market :-)

17 teams from around our beautiful state competed in the competition. Each team was charged with making 5 gallons of vegan chili. In case you've never had to make 5 gallons of chili yourself, here is what all the ingredients look like.... thank goodness all those cans are recyclable!
After the vegan police inspected all of our ingredients, we got started bright and early (around 8am) chopping vegetables, draining beans, measuring spices, and getting everything prepped to start our first batch of chili.
At high noon, the doors were opened to the public for chili tasting. Before we knew it, there people were lined up at our booth! From then on, it was an almost constant stream of filling up chili bowls, serving up cornbread, selling baked goods, and handing out vegan literature. With all the running around trying to make additional batches of chili, I barely had time to say hello to Diann from Eat'n Veg'n who stopped by for a sample. It was nice to see a familiar face!
So did I manage to actually eat any chili during the cook-off? The answer is, of course, yes. We did several tastings of our own chili to get the seasoning right, and John was nice enough to run out into the crowd for brief breaks from kitchen duty and bring me back almost all of the other chili entries.
Chili wasn't the only vegan food being served up at the Society of PEACE booth. We made several batches of cornbread (one with jalapeno and one without) that were complimentary with chili samples while supplies lasted (it went fast!). To soothe the taster's taste buds, we offered grapes as a palette cleanser. And to finish with something sweet, as a fundraiser we offered Stacey's pumpkin oatmeal cookies and my pumpkin pie brownies as well as chocolate and vanilla cupcakes (Happy National Vanilla Cupcakes Day by the way) swirled with Society of PEACE colors.
As the competition came to a close, we gathered around to hear the results of the judges voting as well as the crowd favorite. Imagine our surprise when we heard Society of PEACE called out... the judges awarded our chili 2nd prize!! It was a rewarding finish to a crazy day. I had such a great time making chili with our awesome team: Sergio, Stacey, John, Kristen, Tosh, and Cairo (he's hiding between Stacey and I). Be sure to check out Stacey's post about the day on her blog Te Amo Vegano! And Tara posted about her experience as a chili tester on her blog My So-Called Vegan Life!
Congratulations to everyone who competed!! And the next time someone asks you how a vegan could ever survive deep in the heart of Texas... send them to the Lone Star Chili Cook-Off!

Fire Ants on a Log

I am trying as hard as I can to get rid of the celery that is lurking in my crisper (especially since it's going on two week old). My solution? Updating the favorite (?) kids' snack of ants on a log. I have never been a big raisin fan, but I love dried cranberries (though not by themselves as much). This made the celery easier to swallow (since usually I can't stand it) and made for a healthier after-work snack than I usually have.

Like the rest of the country, we are experiencing some colder weather, somewhat welcome since we've had a mcuh warmer than average winter. Another method of ridding the house of celery? A veggie chili! I tossed in every veggie I was in the mood for, including onion, red pepper, zucchini, kale , and 3 kinds of beans (black, pinto, kidney). Add some diced tomatoes, plenty of chili powder, and a package of Boca crumbles and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. And what goes better with chili than cornbread? This was the recipe for skillet cornbread from V-Con, except I didn't use a skillet (pyrex) and I halved the recipe. And I threw in some jalapenos for good measure.
But did I mention there are benefits to having a warmer than average winter? Fresh, local strawberries!! These are from Wharton County, just up the road from Houston. They were so big and bright and juicy....
And all gone!! I love my little strawberry bowl. Reminds me of the time I spent in England with my parents (this is from Portmeirion).....
And finally, a quick dinner from earlier in the week. I have been really anti-going out to eat lately. Mostly because I'm just sick of explaining to waiters that I don't eat animal products and then they point out the fish on the menu. Ugh! No seriously, it's not that bad here. But I wanted to not go to one of my standard places I'm comfortable with. So I took Ruby Red Vegan's advice and hit up Pei Wei. I got the teriyaki bowl with veggies and tofu, and left feeling full and satisfied.
I am sooooo ready for Friday.

Cozy Night

Finally, we've had a cold snap! The low tonight will be a chilly 56 degrees. Time to break out the chili! John and I have both been feeling a bit under the weather (him more than I), so we stayed in this evening, layered on the blankets and ate while watching a movie. Sometimes I do just need to veg a little bit...

This is the Sweet Potato Red Lentil Chili from ED&BV. Not your typical chili, but I loved the spice combinations (cinnamon and nutmeg in chili....genius!). I used a can of fire roasted tomatoes and didn't puree them as the recipe directed, I like my chili nice and chunky. I also substituted frozen corn for celery (I always sub something for celery). This made me feel all cozy and warm inside.

Okay, that's enough for a Friday night. Tomorrow we are attending a Vegan Thanksgiving Feast here in Houston. Can't wait!

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!

Boston Part One: The Food

Well, we made it back! I have missed reading everyone's blog and I'm hoping to make lots of visits in the next few days! Like others have done with their recent vacations, I'm splitting my posts on Boston over the next few days. I'm going to make everyone wait to hear about the wedding cake, but don't worry, it's coming soon! First, here's some of the yummy vegan cuisine from Boston and surrounding areas...


My favorite dish of the trip by far was actually not from Boston or even Massachusetts! John and I drove up to the White Mountains of New Hampshire to escape wedding planning during the week. Thanks to our B&B's recommendation (The Bartlett Inn) we tried the White Mountain Cider Company Restaurant. The chef created a unique and delicious dish especially for me. There was a zucchini stuffed with corn, asparagus, and chanterelle mushrooms. Underneath was a mouth-watering tomato-based sauce surrounding by more of the filling and purple potatoes. I thought the presentation was phenomenal. I highly recommend a meal here if you're ever in the area!






We had high hopes of climbing Mt. Washington, but alas, the weather was not cooperating. It all turned out well though, as we spent a relaxing day in our cottage and driving around the White Mountains. We stopped at Pinkham Notch to check out the trailhead we would have taken and got some lunch there.... veggie chili! It was just cool enough outside to eat this surprisingly spicy chili. Lots of zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, black and kidney beans with some whole grain bread. Made me want to snuggle up with John next to a fire and take a long nap.

Back in Boston, sort of. Thursday we had two tastings to attend (trying to decide between wedding caterers). Between the two we were trying to escape the rain in Beverly, MA and I remembered the Organic Garden Cafe. So we stopped there and I had a raw chocolate brownie with some fresh cashew milk. I was surprised that I liked the brownie so much, raw desserts tend to taste more like dates than chocolate, but I was pleasantly surprised. The cashew cream on the brownie was especially yummy.

The next day we returned for lunch. I started with a cup of their cold zucchini lemon bisque. It was delicious and refreshing.

Then I had a hummus wrap with veggies. Sorry for the blurry photo. I enjoyed lunch, my soup was definitely the favorite. Can't wait to return and try some of their other menu options when we're back in September!

And finally, while spending a beautiful Saturday in downtown Boston, we detoured slightly and stopped for lunch at T.J. Scallywaggles for vegan pizza!! I asked for the most popular pizza, and the swift response was the Chikhin BBQ. I was in heaven being able to order a pizza and not ask about the veganess of the dough, ask to hold the cheese, check and see if there's dairy in the tomato sauce, etc. Another cool thing that I've never seen at a restaurant before was a book with all their ingredients they use and the labels with nutritional information.

More tomorrow on our cake tasting trip as well as other wedding planning excitement!