Seattle: Plum Bistro

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

Yikes – how are we already halfway through February?! I know it’s the shortest month and all, but… yeesh. I’ve got some catching up to do!

S and I spent the first week of February in California (LA/Loma Linda) and Seattle, respectively, on separate work trips. S took full advantage of LA’s many vegan eateries and will be back to share his meals soon, but for now I’ve got a quick post  about Plum Bistro, a Seattle fixture. Happily for me, my brother lives in Seattle, so I flew in a few days early and hung out with him. On the Sunday night before the work portion of my work trip started, the two of us and my brother’s girlfriend hit up Plum Bistro for dinner. We were just in time for Happy Hour, which does not just feature lower-priced drinks – they’ve got a full Happy Hour menu! We decided to split a bunch of small plates, tapas-style.

First, though, we started with an appetizer – hand-cut curry yam fries with a trio of sauces.

A big mason jar of shoestring sweet potato fries and three dipping sauces.

A mountain of fries!

The fries were terrific, and each of those dipping sauces was super flavorful and different. One was heavy on the dill and garlic, one was a bit spicy, and the other… well, I can’t quite remember, but I liked it!

After polishing off the fries, our food came. Clearly we hadn’t read the menu carefully enough, because the beer-battered nori-wrapped tofu came with even more fries – frankly, too many for us to finish! In the background are the purple potato taquitos and Plum’s famous mac & yease.

Big bowl of fries, along with two beer-battered tofu squares. In the background are the taquitos and a plate of mac & yease.

Even moar dipping sauce!

Holy moly. The mac & yease totally lives up to its famous reputation – it’s incredibly rich and creamy, probably the creamiest, most unique vegan mac & cheese I’ve ever had. Very impressive, and very filling – I was so glad we were splitting all this food! The beer-battered tofu was not terribly exciting, but the taquitos were tasty.

We also ordered baby eggplants stuffed with smoked tofu, basil, and sweet and sour plum sauce.

Small oval plate with two stuffed eggplants.

Eggplants.

I very much enjoyed these, although I found myself wishing they weren’t fried (like most of the rest of our meal). They had a great eggplant-to-stuffing ratio.

Finally, my brother ordered the jerk tofu yam slider.

Round plate with a small slider. A piece of blackened tofu is visible.

Slider.

I couldn’t resist a bite of the tofu, and I was well rewarded – it was chewy and well-seasoned with jerk spices. My brother polished most of it off, though!

Whew! If that looks like a heavy, rich meal, well, it was. I was so full afterwards! I rarely eat that heavily, and I found myself wishing we’d curated our choices more closely and chosen a small salad to add some lightness. Live and learn! Overall, Plum Bistro was well-worth the hype. I was also pleased at the variety of my fellow diners – there were elderly folks, entire families, and a few couples. I love seeing such a diverse group of people enjoying vegan food!

Creamy Caramelized Onion Soup

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

This story is about soup, but it begins with a McDonald’s.

For weeks now, the McDonald’s a mile or so away from my apartment had had the same message on its signboard: Try our grilled onion cheddar sandwich – $1. Though McDonald’s holds very little appeal for me (veggie options in India aside!), I had to admit that the grilled onion-cheddar sandwich was intriguing.  It lingered at the back of my mind for weeks, in fact.

And then I bought five or so pounds of onions. And then Daiya cheese was on sale at the co-op, and I felt compelled to try the garlic-jalapeño Havarti-style wedge that everyone raves about. And then I realized that I had all the components for something very like a grilled onion-cheddar sandwich.

Instead of grilling my onions, though, I caramelized them. Caramelized onions are (ahem, were) one of my few real culinary nemeses. It’s not that they always come out burnt or inconsistently cooked (though that’s certainly the case sometimes!), but I have never managed to make them perfect, with that mellow, deep sweetness that’s the sign of a perfectly caramelized onion.

Until this time. Armed with a battery of tips from this handy article and a brand-new non-stick pan that replaced our flaking old one, I can proudly say, without a hint of braggadocio or untruth, that I caramelized the shit out of those onions. They were soft with a few crispy bits, a marvel of kitchen science and patience. And they were pretty damn amazing with melted Daiya on slices of seedy whole-grain bread.  (By the way, that Havarti-style Daiya is THE BEST vegan cheese I’ve ever tasted. It’s the only kind I’d ever consider eating on its own, on crackers or something. It’s a sometimes-food, but I wholly recommend it if you’re interested in actually-good vegan cheese.)

Back to the onions. Now that I’d conquered caramelization, my mind was flooded with a tidal wave of ideas for how to harness the rich flavor of these sweet, tender onions. I began to suspect that they’d make a wonderful flavor base for a rich, creamy soup, and was I ever right. Please – do yourself a favor one chilly winter night and spend a little time at the stove, tending your slowly softening onions and stirring a pot of tender golden potatoes in a simple broth. Then blend them together – my brand-new immersion blender did the trick with ease – and let this hearty soup fill all the crevices of your hungry belly.

Quick soup snap.

Creamy Caramelized Onion-Potato Soup

4 medium-sized yellow onions, sliced into half-moons
3 medium-sized golden potatoes, diced (3/4 inch)
1 T olive oil
1 stalk celery, diced
1 med carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp savory
A dash or two of poultry spice
4 C vegetable broth
1 C unsweetened MimicCreme (or any other unsweetened nut cream, or even your non-dairy milk of choice)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

First, start caramelizing your onions. I won’t give you directions – use whatever method works for you! You don’t need them to retain their shape for this soup, so it’s okay if they reduce to a bit of a mushy mess – mine did.

After the onions have been caramelizing for about 20 minutes, add the olive oil to a stock pot and heat it on medium. Saute the celery, carrot, and garlic  for about 4 – 5 minutes or until they start softening. Add the spices and give the veggies a good stir to coat them. Add the veg broth and turn up the heat to medium-high. When it starts to boil, add the potatoes and bring the soup to a full boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and keep it on a low boil for 10 – 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are softened and cooked through. Add salt and pepper and reduce the soup to a simmer.

By now, your onions should be caramelized. If they’re not, just keep the soup simmering. When they’re ready, turn off the heat under your soup and add the cream or non-dairy milk of choice to the sou,p and then add the onions. Using an immersion blender (or a regular blender, in small batches and removing the cover between pulses to release heat), blend the soup to your desired consistency. I liked mine mostly creamy but with a few small chunks of veggies. You can also add more non-dairy milk or cream to reach your desired consistency. Top with freshly ground cracked pepper and enjoy with a slice of crusty bread.

What’s your favorite way to eat caramelized onions?

Sweets from the Sweet

/ Kelly / 2 Comments

After last week’s discussion of sickness, why don’t we talk about something sweet? Or maybe even many sweet things? Sounds good, right? I agree.

This past Christmas, a few sweet people gave me more than a few sweet gifts. I’m not embarrassed to admit that my immediate family still does the Christmas stocking thing. We like our traditions! And I think my mom likes pretending that we’re still kids. I don’t mind, either, especially not this year when she filled my stocking with a preponderence of delicious vegan treats. Although some of them fell squarely in the savory camp (roasted seaweed snacks!), the majority were sweet – Jocolat bars and dried fruit leather, for example. Perhaps the most exciting sweet treat was a six-piece box of Nicobella truffles.

Thin rectangular box filled with six small rectangular truffles.

Simple and elegant.

Aren’t they just gorgeous, all nestled into that pretty orange box? And the flavors were equally inspiring: blueberry almond, ginger green tea, pumpkin chai, pure cocoa bliss, walnut flaxseed, and sunflower butter banana. I savored these slowly over the course of a week or two, proving that my self-control has grown in leaps and bounds in the past few years. ;) I think the pumpkin chai was my favorite, but plain ol’ pure cocoa bliss was up there, too. A few of the flavors had a little bit of grittiness to the chocolate centers, but it wasn’t overwhelming or unpleasant. I’d love to try some other Nicobella varieties, especially their peanut butter squares! I’m a sucker for all things peanut butter + chocolate, and these are sweetened with my beloved maple syrup.

Luckily for me, my Christmas haul included a peanut butter-y, chocolate-y treat. S gave me a whole box of homemade peanut butter cups!

Three round chocolate peanut butter cups on pieces of cut parchment paper.

Handmade!

These were just as delicious as they look. If only S would make me treats more often! If that’s too time-consuming, I’d settle for some store-bought goods. S’s mom gave me (among other things) three Go Max Go candy bars. I joked that she’s my official Go Max Go dealer – the only other time I’ve eaten them was when she gave me a few for Christmas last year! I hope it’s a tradition that continues, because they’re the nearest equivalent to candy bars of yore that I’ve found. Although I can rarely eat an entire bar without getting sugar overload these days, sometimes you just want something that tastes like the chocolate bars of your childhood.

Whew – that’s a lot of chocolate for one post! I just finished up my last peanut butter cup this week, meaning that my stash lasted a month. Not too bad, right? ;)

What sweet treats have you eaten lately?

P.S. I’m going to be in Seattle this weekend/next week on a work trip (and visit with my brother) – if you’ve got recommendations for things to do or places to eat, send ’em my way!

When Vegans Get Sick: A Thought or Two (or Three)

/ Kelly / 7 Comments

Three weeks in and already I’m giving 2013 the side-eye. I’m still pretty optimistic about the year as a whole (I’ve got Plans, you see), but so far it’s brought S and I a hefty share of unpleasantries. First there was my New Year’s Eve case of suspected food poisoning, which, although it didn’t technically happen in 2013, practically did. I say “suspected food poisoning” because, lo and behold, poor S came down with very similar symptoms barely a week later, leading me to think we actually each had a case of fast-moving norovirus.

Then, the very next weekend, S bent his permanent retainer (the kind some orthodontists install behind your bottom teeth) while crunching a roasted sriracha pea. This happened mere hours before a vegan friend cooked us dinner. S was worried that his tooth discomfort would ruin the evening, but his appetite was unaffected and his mouth didn’t hurt as much as he feared. He got the retainer removed a few days later.

Then, a week or two later, we got flu shots* and I experienced some unpleasant side effects. I woke up in the middle night with an unstoppable case of the chills – I was shivering and quivering all over, my teeth were a-chattering, and no amount of blankets or snuggles could make it stop. In the morning the chills were gone, but I was feeling off. I ended up coming home sick because I ached all over and my head felt all stuffy and generally bad.

Thennn, this past Saturday, S experienced a terrible back spasm while moving a heavy clothing rack. He could barely stand up, his face went pale, and he thought he might vomit or pass out. He hobbled out of the store, painfully arranged himself prone on the back seat of my car (he couldn’t sit!), and we went straight to urgent care, where he was prescribed a muscle relaxant and painkillers. Three days later, he’s finally feeling [mostly] better.

And that’s been our 2013 so far! I don’t write all this to complain, though – there are folks with much worse and more pressing medical issues out there. Instead, I want to offer a gentle reminder that being vegan does not mean you will never get sick. It doesn’t mean that you will be wholly resistant to disease, a strapping superhero with an immune system of steel. That’s a pesky notion that worms its way into one too many “all about being vegan” books for my liking. (Christina Pirello, I’m looking at you.) The idea that veganism is a panacea, a cure-all for whatever ails ya, is dishonest and dangerous. How many books and articles have you read that promise glowing skin, radiant health, and instant weight loss once you drop the dairy? Too many. Sure, some folks might experience one or two or even all of those as side effects of going vegan. But just as many – if not more! – people won’t experience those wildly obvious external changes. I’m uncomfortable with promoting veganism as a solution to a menagerie of unruly health issues.

I suspect that part of the problem is the vegan community’s reluctance to admit defeat. How many times have you read a blog post that starts with something like, “I rarely get sick, but I have a cold!” or “I haven’t been sick in aaaaages, but now I’m hit with the flu.” I’ve certainly been guilty of it. Maybe what we say is true. Maybe some vegans do have stronger immune systems – I’m certainly not doubting that it’s possible. But I think we often like to present ourselves as, perhaps, stronger and healthier than we are. Maybe it’s a reactionary instinct to the nay-sayers who think that vegans are, as a rule, sickly and weak. Maybe it’s just because everybody else is doing it, so we don’t want to appear less than our vegan counterparts. Either way, I find it worrisome. If I’m a new vegan, and I don’t immediately experience clear skin and boundless energy, and I still experience allergies and colds and general sickness, mightn’t I feel like I’m doing something wrong? Or that I’ve been duped by the spunky, oh-so-radiant vegans who told me going vegan would take care of all my woes? I’d rather we be honest and admit our weaknesses instead of setting up the unreal expectation that we’ll never get sick and we’ll all be beautiful and glowing and we’ll all be our ideal weights and able to run marathons with no practice. Y’all, that’s just not how it works.

I’m musing on this topic in part thanks to our series of recent health unpleasantries and in part thanks to Sayward’s recent post on a similar topic. Her health journey was scary and serious and eye-opening, and she writes about it and its implications in much more depth than my rambling last couple paragraphs. But her points and my points are aligned, I think, and though I could say more (indeed, have been thinking of more for months and months!), I’ll stop myself. This is already a photo-less, word-heavy post, and that just ain’t my thang.

I’m curious, though – do you feel compelled to present yourself as extra-healthy just because you’re vegan? Do you notice the vegan-as-panacea myth in vegan circles and literature?

*A note on the flu shot: No, it’s not vegan – it’s incubated in chicken eggs. I didn’t plan to get it, but I’ll be working in a hospital next month and it’s required for all staff and visitors. Veganism is about doing the best we can with the options we have, and as a vegan alternative to the shot doesn’t exist yet, I’m okay with having a non-vegan vaccination if it means protecting the health of folks with already compromised immune systems. For more thoughts on the intersection of veganism and vaccinations, check out Gena’s fabulously comprehensive and thoughtful post on the topic.

Guest Post: Everlasting Life Café Review

/ Kelly / 2 Comments

Today I’m sitting back and letting someone else do the talking! My dear darling S (whom I most definitely did not just call an overly mean name for running the dryer instead of the washing machine and then wondering aloud why the clothes hadn’t gotten wet…) spent his Christmas holiday in Maryland. He made a few jaunts up to D.C. for some friend-visiting, and one night he emailed me a couple of food photos with the caption, “I can’t wait to take you here!” Three weeks later, he’s still talking about the meal that inspired that email, and now he’s going to share his review of what’s probably his new favorite restaurant. So – here’s S!

***

I chose to go vegan for entirely ethical reasons. That’s why you’ll find me wolfing down an entire slice of Chicago Diner cake while Kelly watches in awe, fork dangling from her fingers.

That’s also why I devoured a huge plate of food, plus half of my friend’s sandwich, on a recent trip to the vegan soul food restaurant Everlasting Life Cafe in Washington, D.C.

The restaurant itself is almost aggressively unassuming–at night, with the blinds drawn, it looks from the outside like it could be abandoned. I walked right by the first time. But inside you’ll find a spacious dining area, bar, and in the back, a beautiful cafeteria-style spread:

Angled shot of an open hot bar and a covered deli case full of food.

Free samples, you say?

On the left you’ll see a hot bar serving an ever-changing array of entrees and sides. Choose from main courses like shepherd’s pie, barbecue tofu, or country fried chicken, and sides such as collard greens, macaroni and cheese, or black-eyed peas. On the right is a cold bar with a mind-bogglingly huge selection of fresh salads like marinated kale, seaweed, and mung bean.

Not pictured is a juice bar hawking nogs, shakes, and smoothies sweetened with agave and molasses, and a sandwich bar with offerings like a fried chicken sandwich and a steak and cheese sub. More on that chicken sandwich later…

When I approached the counter, I had a momentary flash of fear–what if I’d misread the menu? What if this was the wrong place? But the server, perhaps a mind-reader, greeted me with a smile and a reassurance: “Everything here is 100% vegan.” What a statement! As a newbie vegan, precious few are the restaurants I’ve visited where everything is vegan. It’s so nice to be able to relax and choose based on what looks good instead of what looks like it doesn’t contain fish sauce.

It was also great to be offered a barrage of samples in tiny paper cups; a sign declared only three were allowed per guest, but our server seemed to want us to sample the entire menu. After trying the macaroni and cheese, kale salad, and sweet potatoes, I wanted it all. I settled, however, on the lasagna, with collard greens on the side.

Plate with a large piece of lasagne and a side of collard greens.

Lasagna as big as yo face.

Wow! This meal blew my mind. The lasagna was packed with a great non-dairy ricotta, TVP-esque meaty bits, and plenty of delicious spinach. As you can see, the portion was huge, as was the helping of collard greens, which were deliciously savory with a strong smokiness.

Despite the abundance of food, I didn’t have any trouble scarfing it down, and when my friend offered me the rest of her chicken sandwich, I accepted with very little prodding. Sorry I don’t have a picture, but it was a breaded seitan chunk slathered in vegan mayonnaise and topped with tomatoes and lettuce. In other words, exactly what a fried chicken sandwich should be!

I cannot wait to return to D.C., hopefully with Kelly in tow, and pay another visit to Everlasting Life. It’s not fine dining–you grab your own silverware–and you should steer clear if you’re watching your weight. As Wikipedia notes, soul foods “tend to be very high in starch, fat, sodium, cholesterol, and calories.” But if you’re looking for a hearty, indulgent vegan meal, look no further than Everlasting Life.

Giveaway Winner!

/ Kelly / Leave a comment

With the help of good ol’ Random.org, we have a winner for my cookbook giveaway!

Screenshot from the True Random Number Generator. The minimum is 1 and the maximum is twenty-one. The result is 10.

The winning comment is #10, from Dalores! I asked what you’re looking forward to in the new year, and Dalores said:

I have How it All Vegan and love it! I’m sure the others would be just as good or better. I’m excited about cooking new recipes!

Congratulations, Dalores! I’ve sent you an email, and your books will be on their way once I get your mailing address. I hope they provide lots of fun new recipes to try!

Thanks, everyone, for your comments! I quite enjoyed reading what everyone’s excited about. Lots of you are feelin’ good about delicious vegan eating – I can definitely get behind that! One commenter said she’s excited because her sister is having a baby in 2013. I’m excited for that too! (My sister’s baby, not the commenter’s sister’s baby. Although I bet that baby will be pretty cool too.) Anyway, thanks again, and happy 2013! I’ll be back soon with a post from a super special guest. Any guesses?

Recipe Testing: Tempeh Time!

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

Now that the holidays and all their hustle+bustle are over, we’re settling back into our comfortable routine of weekly meal planning. Does that sound boring and all domestic-like? Perhaps it is, but I don’t mind – it keeps me from turning into an angry hunger-monster after work and ensures that our dinners are varied and, dare I say it, exciting.

I made one of our dinners this week extra exciting by trying a brand-new recipe from the ever-inspiring Joni Marie Newman. I tested for her delightfully crafty Vegan Food Gifts book a year or so ago, and now that that book is released, she’s back in the culinary saddle again with plans for yet another cookbook. And once again, I’m helping test recipes for it. So exciting! I won’t spoil the theme of this book (trust me, it’s a good one), but I’m very excited about it. All the dishes I’ve tried so far have been jam-packed with flavor, helped in part by a multitude of brilliant from-scratch sauces and marinades. This week, I tried an orange-y marinade with some tempeh, which I then cooked on S’s lovely little cast-iron grill pan.

Cast-iron grill pan sitting on an electric stove. In it are four wooden skewers with squares of tempeh on them.

Skewered tempeh.

These babies were also bathed in a citrus-y, garlic-y sauce that added even more flavor. I served some of the extra sauce over brown rice, and I even drizzled some onto my arugula side salad. Yum yum!

White plate with two tempeh kebobs, an arugula side salad, and a small mound of brown rice drizzled with sauce.

Ze full meal.

I was a little disappointed that my tempeh didn’t achieve those gorgeous grill marks you might get from a real, outdoors grill, but no matter – I was okay with the few little black lines I saw. The sauce and the marinade were excellent, but my meal was sadly marred by my first (!) experience with bitter tempeh. Until this particular encounter, I’d never understood why some folks complain about tempeh’s unpleasant bitterness – I’d never experienced it. This time, though, I used a new-to-me locally produced tempeh, and I didn’t steam it beforehand. S didn’t seem to mind, but it was a little off-putting to me, and I fear I’ve gone off tempeh for a while. Ah well. I can still use the leftover sauce and marinade on tofu! :)

Don’t forget to enter my cookbook giveaway by tomorrow (Sunday) night! I’m enjoying reading everyone’s exciting plans and hopes for 2013 – keep ’em coming! 

Lookin’ Back: Christmas 2012

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m really lucky to have such a veg-friendly family. This past Christmas, our dinner table was overflowing with a variety of delicious vegan options. They were supplemented by a cheesy lasagna and some sort of meat in sauce that my aunt brought, but we won’t talk about those. ;) Let’s focus on the animal-free stuff!

But first, our traditional Christmas morning breakfast: cinnamon buns and grapefruit (not pictured)! Mom used the same Vegan Yum Yum cinnamon bun recipe she’s used for the past three years, and these were as heart-stoppingly decadent as ever. This year, I could barely manage to eat a quarter of mine, it was that rich! Here’s the buns pre-eating on Christmas morning:

A glass pan of baked cinnamon rolls being topped with a cream cheese icing.

Buns!

After a morning of intimate immediate family present opening, our guests arrived and it was time for dinner. Mom had a bit of a panic because we were running late with our preparations, but my brother and I stepped in and made sure we were on track. We were a good team!

Our first course was a Mexicali Chopped Salad I prepared. My mom ended up whipping up the dressing based on an internet recipe I can no longer find, but rest assured that it was cilantro-y, lime-y, and absolutely delicious. The salad included romaine lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, corn, pinto beans, diced avocado, and homemade tortilla strips.

Small bowls of a choppe salad topped with thin tortilla strips.

Christmas salad!

Our next course was even greener than our salad. My brother took advantage of Mom’s Vitamix (oh how I covet it!) and created a spinach-y, spicy blended soup. I don’t know what he put in it, but I recall a curry spice blend and lots of flavor. It might not have been the prettiest soup, but it packed a tasty punch. My uncle described it as “like drinking a salad” – he meant it as a compliment, too!

A large ceramic tureen filled with a silky, olive-green soup.

Green soup.

And then – finally! – we set to work on the main course. My (non-vegan) aunt had an old paper copy of a recipe for something called African Rabat, a veggie-laden stew laced with all sorts of comforting, warming spices. (We started calling it “rabbit” eventually, a very non-vegan name for a very vegan dish!) The recipe made an insanely huge amount of stew, so we cut it down some – but still managed to fill my parents’ large wok precariously full. We ate leftover rabbit for days! To serve the stew on Christmas, though, Mom picked up some sourdough bread bowls from Panera for herself, my brother, and me, so our vegan main course was super filling. We managed to stuff ourselves with side dishes, too – I gently seasoned and then roasted three varieties of colorful cauliflower, and my sister made a vegan version of the classic sweet potato casserole dish. She used a liberal hand with the Earth Balance and brown sugar and then she topped it with a thick layer of Dandies, so it was a super sweet dish – really more of a dessert! I’ll excuse her, though – she is pregnant, after all! ;)

In the foreground is a small plate with roasted cauliflower and sweet potato casserole. In the background is a bowl filled with a bread bowl filled with stew!

The main event!

Needless to say, we were STUFFED after dinner! I barely ate a third of my bread bowl, and I was still full. (Don’t worry, I ate my leftovers the next day.) A few hours later, after the exertion of distributing and opening gifts, we were ready to fill our bellies with even more food – this time of the sweet variety! Besides the multitude of non-vegan desserts, we had three veg options. First up is my dad’s cheesecake. Apparently Dad has been quite the vegan cheesecake-maker; he’s experimented with both cashew-based and nut-free varieties because my sister is allergic to nuts. This particular cake was cashew-based, and it was fantastic. The bottom layer was a simple vanilla, and then he topped it with a sweet orange layer. Finally, he covered the whole thing in a sweet, tangy cranberry sauce. Delicious!

A tall, multi-layer cheesecake topped with cranberry sauce.

Non-cheesy cheesecake of deliciousness.

My contribution to the dessert table was this Candy Cane Bundt Cake from Meet the Shannons. Filled with more sugar and Earth Balance that I’ve cooked with in a long, long time, this pound cake was rich and dense, with a fun swirl of peppermint-y cake in the middle. The crushed candy cane topping finished it nicely.

A bundt cake with a slice or two cut out. In the middle of the cake you can see a pinkish colored layer.

Candy cane cake!

Our final vegan dessert (other than the vegan date balls and candied nuts my aunt brought) was a pumpkin-banana-chocolate-chip quick bread my brother made. You can’t go wrong with that combination, and this yummy bread was perfect with a hot caffeinated beverage.

A loaf of dense, dark orange-brown bread studded with chocolate chips.

Bread of many ingredients.

Whew! I’m full just looking at al this food (or maybe from the dinner I just finished). This was truly a wonderful Christmas, both thanks to the food and the company. I have a pretty great family. :)

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway before Sunday! I’ve got three gently used books up for grabs.

Welcoming 2013 with a Giveaway!

/ Kelly / 26 Comments

Happy 2013! Even though my tummy issues prevented S and I from having a very exciting New Year’s Eve, we still enjoyed our quiet evening at home with the pup. So far, 2013 has been just fine, with lots of good food and good company.

On Friday, I skipped out of work a little early to drive up to Wisconsin Rapids to visit one of my best friends, who lives in Italy but was home for the holidays. We had a fun night playing games with her family and watching various shows on DVD, and her mum fed us a delicious tofu stir fry with brown rice and homemade bread. It was a quick visit, but totally worth it.

I drove back to Madison in the early afternoon on Saturday, and then S and I had a dinner date with the friend whose New Year’s Eve party we missed. She’s also vegan, and she served us a delicious gluten-free dinner. We started with crudités and a fantastic Brazil nut spread, then moved on to a blended parsnip soup flavored with Chinese five-spice. The main course was rolled eggplant slices stuffed with tofu ricotta and tomato sauce, and then we rounded out our meal with Coconut Bliss chocolate-hazelnut ice cream topped with chocolate-hazelnut cookies and homemade fudge sauce. Oh, and of course we drank lots of wine and a homemade orangecello (like limoncello… but with oranges). Much of our conversation centered around vegan food and restaurants, which is always fun – it’s wonderful to have someone who gets it and will happily gush about vegan eateries! She also sent us home with a bag of extra cookies. :)

And now it’s Sunday and we’re getting back into our normal routine – we’ve planned our meals for the week, I’ve gone grocery shopping, and tonight we’ll finish watching the Two Towers extended edition. Life is good.

To help you have a delicious 2013, I’d like to give away three cookbooks! I’ve been feeling a pull towards minimalism lately, and because I received three new vegan cookbooks for Christmas, I feel compelled to get rid of three that I don’t use all that often.

Three cookbooks fanned out on a wooden table.

One winner will receive the following [gently used] cookbooks:

  • How it All Vegan, Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard
  • La Dolce Vegan, Sarah Kramer
  • The Garden of Vegan, Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard

I inherited these cookbooks from a friend of a friend, but I just don’t use them that often, for a variety of reasons. But maybe you will! If you’d like a chance to win, just leave a comment telling me what you’re excited about in 2013. I’ll choose a winner next Sunday, January 13th, around 7:00 PM CST. (If you already own one or more of the books, enter anyway – I’ll split ’em up if need be!)

Good luck, and happy 2013!

Cupcakes with a Side of [Unrelated] Food Poisoning

/ Kelly / 8 Comments

Oh dear. You’ll have to excuse me if this post isn’t filled with my trademark exuberance (?) and humor (??) – I woke up this morning with what I now think was a quick-moving case of food poisoning. It came on suddenly (while I was in the shower, gross!) and lasted for an hour or so, leaving me exhausted and disgusted. Needless to say, I didn’t make it in to work for my first day back after the holidays, and calling in sick was terrifying because I kept thinking I’d have to throw down the phone and go throw up! Yuck. Luckily I’d already taken the afternoon off as a flex holiday, so I happily rested up for the entire day. S graciously did some errands after his half-day, including picking up some bread because our cupboards were bare after our vacations.

So, with all that in mind, you’ll excuse me if I don’t feel inclined to talk about food for too long! I suspect it was last night’s dinner (a panang curry from a place that’s never made me sick) that did me in, and I’m not yet ready to eat much more than toast and crackers. However, I feel up to a brief chat about one fun food-related event during my Christmas vacation: my sister’s baby shower! My not-so-little sister and her fiance are expecting their first child in March (just a week before my birthday!), so my mom and I planned a surprise shower for her just after Christmas, when all the family would be in town. It was a big success; my sis had no idea! Even the impending snowstorm (which ended up starting halfway through the shower) didn’t deter friends and family from attending, and it was a really nice afternoon. I, of course, was in charge of dessert. I used a Christmas gift – a tiered cupcake stand – to display the three dozen cupcakes I made.

Cupcakery!

I made three varieties: coconut (with toasted coconut on the frosting), plain vanilla, and chocolate with crushed candy-cane Joe-Joes. All were topped with vanilla frosting, and the top layer had pretty blue pearl sprinkles to match the whale/nautical theme of the shower (and possibly the baby’s future room!). My mom and I also made some really cute whale toppers for the cupcakes after failing to find any appropriate ones for purchase at the craft store.

Whale toppers.

We didn’t just serve cupcakes, however. We held the event at Lemongrass, an Asian restaurant near my parents’ house. They did an excellent job of preparing a huge selection of food for us, all peanut-free (to accommodate my sister’s allergy) and quite a few vegan (to accommodate me, my mom, my aunt, and my brother). I wasn’t terribly hungry, but did enjoy one plate at the event and one later, because we got to bring home lots and lots of leftovers.

Eats.

On that plate is an eggless fried rice, eggless egg rolls, veggies with tofu, and lo mein. It was your standard Chinese food – a little bit greasy, but totally satisfying.

Y’know, looking at these pictures hasn’t made me feel at all queasy – maybe I’m ready for more substantial food. I think I’ll see if some spaghetti sits okay with me. In the meantime, here’s one last photo of my cupcake creations.

Cupcakes up close.

Happy New Year, all! Be safe and have fun.

S and I are canceling our party-going plans because we’re both under the weather, so we’ll have a quiet night in with the pup. :)