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.

Entering the Terrible Twos

The month of August marks my two year veganiversary!! This causes for celebration in the form of super chocolate vegan gelato served in a tulip cone, both from a recent Vegetarian Times issue. Smooth and creamy, this pudding-like gelato was perfect on its own, no extra flavors or mix-ins necessary.


Looking back, here are a few of my proudest vegan moments of the year....

1. Adopting Lucas and Petunia, two rescued pigs living at Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary
2. Vegan wedding cake!!
3. Becoming more involved (currently treasurer) Society of PEACE, a local vegan outreach group
4. Going live on air to interview fellow vegan bloggers and activist/writer Mark Hawthorne
5. Helping paint the Go Vegan Art Car for ten thousand Houstonians to see
6. Winning a Veg Bloggy award from VegNews
7. Discovering that vegan baking is a powerful and convincing form of outreach!

Looking ahead, I think my vegan twos will be terribly terrific!

Sampling Squares, Planks, and Bars

I was lucky enough to get some samples in the mail of "darn good whole foods" made by Honest Foods. When I am traveling or on the go at home, I always have a stash of vegan snacks in case I skip breakfast, can't find something vegan on the lunch menu, or I'm getting the munchies late in the afternoon. So I was very excited about the opportunity to add a few more to my usual repertoire. Inside the package addressed to "walking the vegan line" (which in itself was exciting to see), I received samples of all flavors from their two whole foods product lines: country squares and granola planks.

The country squares are a soft, chewy, whole grain bar that comes in four flavors: choco p'nut butter, apple ginger spice, farmer's trail mix, and cran lemon zest. All four are made with whole grain oats, almond butter, dried fruit, and other ingredients you can pronounce; with 6 grams of protein and a healthy dose of omega 3's. These were perfect for when I was heading out the door hungry. My favorite? Well, this shouldn't be a surprise to any of you that read this blog with some regularity, but it was the choco p'nut butter, followed by the farmer's trail mix (I loved the addition of pumpkin seeds in this one!).
For some strange reason I was less excited about the granola planks, probably because I tend to prefer soft and chewy things to brittle and crunchy. But these were a pleasant surprise! I enjoyed eating the blueberry vanilla crackle plain out of the box, the maple almond crunch crumbled as cereal in almond milk, and the pomengranate walnut crisp topped on vanilla soy yogurt. Check out the Honest Foods website for a list of places where you can purchase these to taste for yourself!
Since I was in the sampling mode, I decided to do more, but this time, no freebies :-) My sister highly recommended the Vosges "haut" chocolate, but with "haut" prices, I was glad to find some miniatures to taste that were a little nicer on the pocketbook. The flavors included the creole bar (coffee + cocoa nibs), red fire bar (ancho and chipotle chilies + cinnamon), oaxaca bar (guajillo and pasilla chilies), and the black pearl bar (wasabi + ginger + sesame seeds). These miniatures are worth savoring every bite, don't use these for a quick chocolate fix! I brought a few with me to share with a few girlfriends when we went to see the SATC movie, and I made mine last about twenty minutes into it. The clear winner for my tastebuds was the Red Fire bar... the fire of the chili and the spice of the cinnamon was a combination that awakened my tastebuds. Coming in second had to be the Creole bar, I loved the crunch of the cocoa nibs.
I think I could get used to this product sampling thing...

So Wishing That Sunday Wasn't Almost Over Pie

Yep, that's the new name for this pie, also known as the smlove pie from Veganomicon. Tonight we watched Waitress (one who makes awesome pies based on her current life drama) on dvd and in preparation, I was inspired to make a pie (but not the crust, it's straight out of the freezer). The heart doily (sp?) underneath is courtesy of my talented sister-in-law.

Here's an up-close shot just to get your mouth watering. The verdict? We both loved this pie. Not sure if it was the type of chocolate I used (El Rey 70-something percent cocao), but the chocolate filling itself wasn't terribly sweet, which allowed you to fully enjoy the peanut butter caramel, maple pecans, and chocolate drizzle on top. If you aren't so crazy about no-so-sweet chocolate, maybe using a different chocolate would be better, but this suited us just fine (and went along perfect with the movie:-)

For dinner tonight, another V-con special, the red lentil and cauliflower curry. I changed it up a bit and subbed red pepper for parsnip, added a can of fire-roasted tomatoes, and a big handful of chopped kale (can you tell I've kept my resolution about eating more greens?). Very filling and this made enough to feed us for the next few days I'm thinking.

And earlier in the week I covered new territory, something I had hoped to do back during Vegan MoFo (November), but never got around to it. I finally tried Soy Curls! After seeing DGMGV show us so many tasty and easy way to eat these, I dove in head first. After rehydrating these for just ten minutes, I browned them and added a healthy Texas serving of BBQ sauce. Add some black beans with sauteed onion, garlic, kale, and plenty of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, and you've got yourself a meal! I ordered 6 more bags of these from Food Fight the very next day.

Okay, time to go face reality. I think I need another piece of pie....

Pumkpin

I just have to say that I have hard the hardest typing the word pumkpin ... whoops, pumpkin, this fall season. It's not that I can't spell, just something about the way the keyboard is set up and it just feels un-natural to type it. Okay, glad to have gotten that out of the way, now back to the food.

Last night I made Autumn Cloud cookies (I love the name) aka pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, from a recipe on the vegan cookies blog. These were so so good. Very soft and fluffy and cakey, I love my cookies that way. I'm just a bit sad because there are only two left and I thought they would last longer. :-(

After getting out of work early today (yay!) I got started on Thanksgiving baking. Here is the pumpkin cheesecake from the Joy of Vegan Baking that I've blogged about before (but I think this is a better pic). We will also have the Fudge Pecan Pie From La Dolce Vegan. Did I mention there will only be five of us? Not sure if any of you saw Paula Dean's Thanksgiving special, but she actually made a fried pumpkin cake, in fact her whole Thanksgiving meal was fried. I wonder if it was any good...
There will also be pumpkin hummus tomorrow and I may toss some pepitas in somewhere. I'm excited about spending the morning in the kitchen with my mom and sharing a big meal with my family.

All that typing of the word pumpkin has made my fingers tired....

Blonde Ambition

This is my favorite form of vegan outreach: baked goods! Sunday evening we went to a small gathering of colleagues from work. So I used the opportunity to try the Raspberry Chocolate Chip Blondies from VWAV.

Oh, these were so good!! I'm not even usually a fan of raspberries. This was a much cakier blondie than I am used to, but I enjoyed the change. Plus it was lots of fun dotting the top with the dough. Maybe next time I'll try for a lattice design or something fancy. Ah, but I am a bit saddened now thinking of the next time.... it will probably be awhile. There are so many new sweet recipes I want to try, there's just no time to make something that I've already tried!
Since this made a huge 9x13 pan of blonde babes, and the party was small, I took the remaining bars into work this morning. After about an hour they were gone. Hopefully someone noticed the "Gentle Thanksgiving" information I set beside it. I thought this was better than just labeling them as vegan blondies.

Okay, so I might veer from normal vegan mofo posting next time to put up just a few wedding photos (the professional ones have finally arrived). You don't mind do you?

One Year of Cruelty-Free Living

Yesterday I celebrated my one year veganiversary!! Well, I'm not sure of the exact date last year that I decided to go vegan, but it was definitely early August. So how to celebrate? Cook a big meal of course! So I put on my Vegan Freak t-shirt and my Damn Tasty Vegan apron and got to work. My parents came over and we enjoyed manicotti, broccolini, a fresh fruit salad (courtesy of mom), and a fancy dessert (I'll get to that in a minute!)


The manicottis were filled with a creamy tofu-cashew ricotta. I added a package of frozen spinach to the original recipe. The filling was super creamy and rich, and the spinach was a nice addition. Next time I may add basil as well. To top the manicotti, I whipped up some tomato sauce using two cans of diced tomatoes (one with basil and garlic seasoning), one can of tomato paste, at least a cup of red wine, garlic, shallots, red pepper flakes, a squirt of agave nectar, and some salt and pepper. After baking the manicottis for about 30 minutes, I topped it off with some Follow Your Heart vegan mozzerella and turned the oven on broil for the cheese to melt. And melt it did! The picture doesn't show it too well, but it was a nice addition. A very filling meal, but we had to make room for dessert....

I have been waiting to try aTxVegn's winning dessert from Urban Vegan's "vegans gone wild" recent contest. This seemed like the perfect excuse to make the Extreme Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Tart with Caramel Sauce. How could it not be a winner with those three things? I got up early Sunday morning to start baking. I was so proud, this is the first homemade tart crust I've ever made, and it turned out great!! Just a word of warning though, those tart pans are sharp! I sliced up my finger cleaning it ...ouch.

The result of several hours of labor was well worth it. This tart is rich and chocolatey and the nuts add a wonderful texture. Be sure to top it with plenty of the sugary sweet caramel sauce! But be careful, a sugar overload may ensue! (that's a good thing sometimes)




This piece disappeared in mere moments..... ahhhh, pure bliss!



This past year has been an amazing journey. I feel I have grown so much as a person, there is a certain peace that comes along with veganism that is difficult to explain to those that are still consuming animal products. I have never been happier or felt healthier in my life. I have discovered a love for cooking, baking, and creating. And of course, I have discovered my love for blogging! Thanks to all of you for the chance to peak into your vegan world, I have learned so much from you. Can't wait to see what the next year brings!