California Eatin’

/ Kelly / 2 Comments

Greetings from not-so-sunny California! Never fear – the reason it’s not sunny is because it’s barely 6:00 AM. I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my flight back to Madison (via good ol’ Minneapolis) after spending a couple days in Laguna Hills on a work trip. Okay, that’s a lie, because I started typing that last Wednesday and didn’t finish it until now. Truth be told, I’m sitting on my lazy butt here in Madison. Cough. With that out of the way, let’s resume the narrative, shall we?

Said work trip was rather frustrating (Kelly + inefficiency = RAAAGE), but at least I got to make up for those annoyances by seeing my grandfather and his wife and eating delicious food. On my second night in California, my grandfather and his wife picked me up at my hotel and we went out to dinner. I very rarely see them, so I was quite excited when I realized that my work trip serendipitously took me very close to their area of residence. I wasn’t sure how they’d feel about the vegan restaurants I suggested, but they weren’t fazed at all and it took it in stride. My step-grandmother had just read a book about veganism, and she asked all sorts of great questions. Hallelujah!

I was so excited to discover at least three all-vegan eateries within 20 minutes of my hotel, and at the rather exuberant recommendation of the hotel desk lady, we hit up the Veggie Grill at Irvine Spectrum. I didn’t realize that VG was so fake-meat-centric, but as it turns out, fake meat is just the ticket to convince omnis that a veg-based diet is totally doable! My grandfather wasn’t super hungry, but he ordered some “chicken” tenders that he said were pretty indistinguishable from their fowl-based brethren. My step-grandma enjoyed a portobella burger, and she couldn’t stop raving about it! I had a chipotle BBQ burger, featuring strips of faux beef, and I was quite surprised to find that I really enjoyed it – normally, I can take or leave fake meat. But this was just plain tasty, and I got to talk about the merits of veganism with receptive relatives, so I’m calling the whole experience a success (even if I didn’t get any pictures).

Another success: vegan pizza! There were only a few restaurants in the vicinity of my hotel that delivered there (I didn’t have a rental car), and I was a bit concerned that I’d have to order a salad and french fries for dinner one night. But a quick internet search led to this post, which taught me that BJ’s Brewhouse has easily veganizable deep dish pizzas. Hallelujah!

"Friday was pizza day, the best day of the week...!"

This crust was seriously tasty. I was initially a bit wary of deep dish pizza, because the only other time I’d had it was in Chicago in my pre-vegan days, and it was so damn cheesy and heavy that it sat like a brick of dairy in my poor tummy for hours afterwards. But this crust was perfectly light and chewy and everything I could have dreamed for in a delivery pizza. I got it with artichoke hearts and tomatoes and a side salad, and ate the whole damn thing in one sitting with no ill effects. Woo!

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately. I’m also super excited because I’ll be back in RI on Friday to attend my little bro’s college graduation, yay! What exciting things have you done lately?

Oh, and happy day of the mothers to any moms who might be reading! I can’t wait to see mine later this week. :)

Austin/Easter

/ Kelly / 1 Comment

Eep! My poor, neglected blog. I’ve been so busy! Austin was fantastic; I got to spend time with lots of lovely people, basking in the sun and getting a tattoo (more about that later!) and eating tons of yummy vegan food (Mother’s Cafe! Whole Foods! Counter Culture! Other places! Etc!). Then I got back to Wisconsin and froze to death (lie) in the cold and the rain and the FROST ON MY WINDSHIELD, HOW DARE YOU MOTHER NATURE.

Buttttt anyway. I don’t have photos of my Austin eats, because, quite frankly, I was too busy cavorting and finding moonlight towers to photograph my food. However, when I returned to WI, the one consolation for the nasty weather was an Easter package from my marvelous parents. Mumsie and Daddy sent me a bunch of goodies from Pangea! I got chocolates, jelly beans, soap (Mum, do I smell?!), lip balm (perfect timing, because I just ran out of my Crazy Rumors!), and a cute pin.

Easter basket?!

Yay! Thanks, padres! The truffles are delicious; they have little bits of hazelnut in them, and they remind me of one of my favorite pre-vegan candy bars: Kinder Bueno bars. My friend Justine and I fell in love with these bars when we were in London way back in 2004, and we’d always try to pick up a box of them whenever either of us returned to Europe. Alas; they’re not vegan. But now I know I can approximate their flavor with these tasty truffles!

Now I am getting ready for yet another trip, this time to California! It’s a work trip, but I am serendipitously stationed close to where my grandfather lives, so I will get to meet up with him and his wife. :) Yay! How are y’all?

Lovely Blogging and Cop-Outs Galore

/ Kelly / 6 Comments

A couple days ago, I was pleased as punch to notice my humble little blog listed next to the One Lovely Blog Award over at Greyt Vegan Life. I always enjoy Christina’s posts and comments, and if you haven’t checked out her blog, you definitely should. There is food, and adorable animals. What more could you want? Oh, there’s also this – Christina’s take on the VegNews controversy. My feelings are quite in line with hers, so you should go give her perspective a read. (Cop-out numero uno.) Now that VegNews has issued an apology that, um, actually apologizes for their deceitful ways, I hope things will take a turn for the positive – all that negativity was getting me down. Here’s to turning over new leaves, changing for the better, etc etc etc!

Aaanyway, back to blog awards. I am now tasked with sharing seven random things about myself. And it’s a good thing, too, because I don’t have anything else to share with you today. :P

1. I can’t imagine having kids at any point in the near future (I still feel like a kid myself!), but occasionally I get really excited about the prospect of being one of those hippie moms who uses cloth diapers and makes all her own baby food and carries her baby around in a sling. I’m totally going to use “I need to puree fruits and veggies!” as an excuse for buying a Vitamix. :P

2. I’m currently 3/4 of the way through Dune, and I think it’s an absolutely fantastic book. I’m a big sci-fi/fantasy fan, and I’m kicking myself for not having read it sooner!

3. My family has two dogs, Tamale (a chihuahua), and Mistletoe (a mini dachshund). Missy ruptured a disc in her spine and now wears diapers and tools around in a sweet doggie wheelchair/cart. My pups are back in RI, and I miss them terribly! I hope to adopt a pupper of my own in the very near future.

4. The only time I skipped school in high school was to attend an all-day showing of the three Lord of the Rings movies. I wore a homemade Eowyn dress, stood in line for hours, and got on TV because my friends and I sang a LotR-themed parody of ‘Jingle All the Way’. My dad dressed up as Gandalf, and when he arrived at the theatre and walked across the parking lot, everyone in line started cheering. It was easily one of the geekiest, most fun days I can remember.

5. My sister is four and a half years younger than I am, but people frequently think we’re twins or that she’s older than I am.

6. My friend and I started this sweet Tumblr, and you should check it out.

7. I’m going to Austin next weekend! The fella and I are traveling to Texas to visit various friends, and I am SO excited to escape the never-ending Wisconsin winter. Any recommendations for awesome vegan eats in Austin? I found this list, and it looks like there are tons of options! Yay!

So, I’m supposed to pass this on to 15 lovely blogs, but I’m too tired and lazy to do that right now – plus, I think many of you have already been officially designated as lovely. :) If you haven’t, though, consider yourself awarded – for reals! (Cop-out numero dos.)

Thanks again, Christina!

Shirataki & Seitan

/ Kelly / 8 Comments

I do not consider myself a picky eater. Sure, I don’t care for bananas, raisins remind me of bugs, and balsamic vinegar turns my tummy, but it’s not like I’d refuse to eat any of those things were someone to offer me one of them or use them [sparingly] in a dish. (Unless it was some sort of balsamic-raisin-banana hybrid, in which case I’d politely refuse and vomit quietly in a corner.) And, truthfully, I used to be much pickier – I didn’t like squash or sweet potatoes or pasta as a kid. Pasta! Oy.

I’ve since discovered the joys of squash and sweet potatoes and pasta. In fact, these days, I’m quite adventurous in the food realm – I’ll try anything! I credit much of my foodventurism to becoming vegan – as an omnivore, I never went out of my way to try new foods, but now every trip to the grocery store is a chance to buy a new type of bean or experiment with an unfamiliar grain. In the past, you probably could not have paid me to purchase a product called “seitan tidbits” from the Asian section of the grocery store, nor could you have convinced me that fish-scented noodles made from tofu would be remotely palatable. But omnivore-Kelly is a girl of the past, and vegan-Kelly relishes the chance to try such a delightfully-named product as “seitan tidbits”.

Tidbits!

So… have y’all ever tried shirataki noodles? I’d heard rumors that fresh out of the package they smell like fish, and THEY TOTALLY DO. It’s weird and a little off-putting, but after taking a nice bath in some cold water, the odor of the sea dissipates (thank heavens). Apparently they’re a dieter’s best friend because they are quite low in calories and carbs, but I just wanted to try them because they’re so weird! You buy them in a squishy package from the refrigerated section of the grocery store, and they’re swimming around in fish-scented juice… mmm.

As you can see from that photo right up thurrr, I added my noodles to a broccoli-laden stir fry. Said stir fry also featured the aforementioned seitan tidbits, and let me tell you, this was one bizarre-o stir fry. The noodles were a little chewy, but they tasted just fine. The seitan tidbits, however, were just… weird. I ate one and thought, “Oh, these are okay!” but after chomping a few more, I changed my tune slightly. They were very, very squishy, and they kind of oozed some sort of liquid-y, oily substance. I didn’t even check their nutritional stats when purchasing them, but because they’re packed in oil, they’re disgustingly fat-laden, to the point where I felt a little sickish after dinner. Bleh.

So, for a dish that featured two new-to-me and slightly less than mainstream foods, this wasn’t half bad. (It was only 1/3 bad.) I’m glad I can cross shirataki noodles and canned seitan off my vegan bucket list, and I’d definitely consider using the noodles again, but next time I’ll stick to homemade seitan. :)

Have you ever tried either of these two items? What did you think about them?

In Which I am Helped by Tempeh

/ Kelly / 8 Comments

A couple nights ago, I made the Tempeh Helper from Appetite for Reduction. It was the first time I’d had *anything* Helper.

When I was a kid, my parents (by which I really mean my mom) refused to keep junk food in the house. While my classmates had Gushers and Capri Suns and those adorably small bags of Doritos overflowing from their Power Rangers lunch boxes, I had baby carrots and leaky thermoses of juice and homemade peanut butter and cracker sandwiches waiting for me. While my friends gleefully gorged on Captain Crunch for breakfast, I mournfully munched on cornflakes. While my peers sucked down Coke, I sipped on water. Soda and artificial colors and chips were just not welcome in my house, thank you very much. I always looked forward to road trips with my dad, because I knew he was more tolerant of junk food and would stock up on Pringles and Arizona iced tea. Score!

So, perhaps needless to say, we didn’t really keep any sort of Helper around the house, hamburger or otherwise. Therefore, my experience with Isa’s Tempeh Helper was my virgin foray into being Helped. Rawr!

The help.

I totally ignored Isa’s pasta recommendation for this dish and made it with my new favorite pasta shape, cavatappi. I can’t get enough of those big ol’ spirals! And I think it worked; they paired nicely with my “rustic” chunks of tempeh.

So, what did I think about this Helper experience? Well, it was tasty, but not mindblowingly amazing. I love me a nutritional yeast-based sauce, but I honestly felt that the Easy Breezy Cheezy sauce was a teensy bit bland. The sauce calls for two tablespoons of broth powder, and Isa recommends Frontier’s “chicken” broth powder. I was quite excited to discover that my co-op carries many a Frontier powder (thanks for the co-op membership, mum!), so I happily purchased a small bag of said powder. However, the Tempeh Helper recipe also calls for two tablespoons of the same broth powder, and I felt that the entire recipe (Helper + sauce) was sort of a one note deal – the “chicken” broth flavor overpowered everything else! Now, maybe that’s the allure of the Helper franchise, and perhaps anyone who grew up on Hamburger Helper would take one bit of the Tempeh Helper and be walloped with a massive smack of nostalgia. But my Helper-less childhood rendered me immune to those sort of attacks. That said, it was still a totally satisfying meal, and I’d probably consider making it again… but I’d mix up the spices for sure.

Were you a junk-food-deprived kid like me, or were your parents less strict? Have you tried Isa’s Tempeh Helper? What did you think?

Vegan Bake Sale for Japan!

/ Kelly / Leave a comment

Hey all! This weekend my Google Reader was filled with people excitedly talking about how much money they raised for Japan by hosting vegan bake sales. If you didn’t have a bake sale in your city, you can still help out! The ever-generous and compassionate Katie is hosting a blog-based vegan bake sale featuring dozens of scrumptious goodies. And it’s super simple to participate! All you have to do is:

1. Check out the bake sale.
2. Bid on an item by e-mailing Katie.
2a. Bid again, if necessary!
2b. Repeat step 2a until you WIN.
3. Make a donation to the Red Cross.
4. E-mail your receipt to Katie.
5. Receive baked goods in mail. Eat baked goods. Bask in the deliciousness of compassion!

Hooray!

Vegan Madness in RI, and Pasta con Broc-occoli

/ Kelly / 7 Comments

GUYS. Get this – according to Go Dairy Free, the world’s first vegan ice cream truck is based out of – wait for it – Rhode Island. For serious! I’m swelling with Rhody pride for my little Ocean State. Why wasn’t I aware of this when I actually lived in RI?! Not only can RI vegans get their ice cream fix from a bangin’ purple truck, but they can also satisfy sugar cravings at a vegan bakery and juice bar that opened recently. When my mom visited me in February, she brought a bag of their cookies for us to share, and they were yummy! Admittedly, they needed a turn in the microwave to restore them to optimal softness, but they’d traveled 1200 miles across the country, so can you really blame them? I’ll ask Mom to buy me a fresher cookie when I go back home in May for my little brother’s college graduation (eek).

Speaking of my mom, she has a weird little habit of saying “broc-occoli” instead of “broccoli.” Not all the time (that would be annoying), but fairly frequently. So sometimes, when I cook with broccoli (more than fairly frequently), I call it broc-occoli in my head. I definitely did that a couple night’s ago when I tried one of the recipes from Appetite for Reduction recipes that’s garnered the most attention – Pasta con Broccoli.

Now, lemme just clarify something here. I do not actually have an appetite for reduction. I am not trying to lose weight. Being a bit on the skinny side, I’m a bit hypersensitive about those sorts of misunderstandings; I don’t want anyone to think I’m unhappy with myself and am on a diet. I was even a little hesitant about buying AfR because I felt like people would see it on my cookbook shelf and make silent assumptions. :( But a good cookbook is a good cookbook, and I am not going to deprive myself of delicious recipes just because someone might silently assume things. Pshaw.

Anyway, Pasta con Broccoli. It’s gotten rave reviews from many of my bloggy friends, so I decided to give it a whirl a couple nights ago. I’ll admit that I had my misgivings; it seemed a little… boring. And, honestly, it doesn’t look extremely exciting.

PCB

It’s pretty, sure, but it doesn’t look like a dish that’d send you into throes of culinary ecstasy or make you starry-eyed with gastronomical pleasure. And honestly, I was a little underwhelmed at first. Now, I’ll admit that I omitted the balsamic vinegar because that shit is nasty (sorry, 99% of the world), so probably I lost some flavor there. It was tasty, sure, and the broc-occoli itself was excellent, but overall I didn’t quite get what everyone had raved about. But I had extra, and despite my distaste for leftover pasta, I ate it for lunch the next day. And you know what? Because the pasta had soaked up the leftover sauce, it was so much more flavorful! I can totally see why people add this to their regular dinner rotation; it’s easy and yummy. If I made it again, I’d let it sit in the pan for longer to let the flavors really get it on. Rawr. Nothin’ like hot broccoli-on-pasta action to spice up your night. ;)

Do you have AfR? Have you tried the Pasta con Broccoli? What do you think? And more importantly… how awesome is RI for sporting a vegan ice cream truck!?

Unintentionally Mushy Peas

/ Kelly / 9 Comments

Last weekend, I hosted a party.

Half of you probably read that and thought, “…yeah, okay?” You’re probably thinking, “Is hosting a party even worth mentioning unless something ridiculously awesome happened at said party, like aliens?” Well, haters, there were no aliens, unless my social ineptitude rendered me particularly un-humanlike. The thing is, my roommate and I are both rather introverted, and we. don’t. host. parties.

Okay, that was a lie, because obviously we hosted one last weekend. We had many things to celebrate, so we shoved our introversion aside and planned and planned and planned, and then we planned some more. As part of our planning (some might say “over-planning”), we created a [physical] drink menu for guests, and in preparation for making said drinks, I might have gone a little overboard on supply purchasing. Not only is our liquor cabinet now overflowing with more booze than I’ve seen outside of a bar (shut up; I’m sheltered), but our pantry is overflowing with citrus. We currently have a giant bag of limes and a giant bag of lemons to use up – turns out most cocktails only require a relatively small amount of citrus juice, not the juice of 5 lbs of fruit. Who knew?

So, in an effort to not waste said citrus, I’ve been on the hunt for lemon-y and lime-y recipes. I got to use 4 whole limes yesterday during a curry-making adventure with a delightful fella, and today I gave my lemons some attention with this Lemony Yellow Split Pea dish.

Cheery peas!

This is meant to be a side dish, but it totally works as a main dish. If you were not lazy like me, you might serve it up with rice or some veggies, but I’m super lazy and ate it all by itself. It’s surprisingly tasty for such a simple recipe; the major players are yellow split peas, garlic, lemon, and cilantro. The recipe also calls for freshly grated ginger, but I didn’t have any so I substituted the powdered variety, which was totally overpowered by all the other flavors. Even with the absentee ginger and the garlic I might have slightly burnt and my overcooking fail (it was much more mushy than intended), I really enjoyed this dish, and topping it with cilantro totally sealed the deal for me.

However, it only used 1.5 lemons. Curses! Help a girl out – what awesome lemon-y or lime-y recipes do you like?! Also, have you ever had intentionally mushy peas? Like the kind they serve across the pond? I tried some in Ireland, and I really enjoyed them!

Sicky McSickerson and the Inherent Awkwardness of Blogging During Major World Disasters

/ Kelly / 8 Comments

Hey y’all, guess what? I’m sick! I rarely get sick, so this is quite novel. I spent the weekend on the couch, reading and watching movies and bungling up my knitting because my brain’s so addled. It sucked. Except every time I think, “Ugh, this sucks,” I then feel ridiculously guilty, because you know what sucks a whole lot more than being congested and headache-y and sore throat-y? Earthquakes. And tsunamis. And definitely nuclear power plan explosions. Their suckage totally dwarfs my suckage.

Sometimes I avoid blogging when Major World Disasters happen, because… what do you do? Totally ignore it and go on talking about the mouthgasmic brownies you ate last night? Preface your post with a sentence about how shitty the Major World Disaster is, and how you feel guilty talking about your brownies, but then go on to talk about your brownies anyway? I mean, I guess I’m going to take the latter route (minus the brownies; sorry), but it just feels… inadequate. But at the same time, what else can I do? I can read news stories until I’m overcome with crushing despair, I can make offhand comments to friends and family about how unbelievable it all is, but is that going to help anybody who’s actually hurting? Nah. I can donate money. That’s about all I can do to tangibly help anyone, and it just feels like such a cop-out. Meh.

So… yeah. Here’s the part where I awkwardly transition into the food-related point of my post by saying “Oh, looks like I took option number 2; I’ve acknowledged the Major World Disaster, and now I’m a-okay to talk about food because y’all know that I know that things in the World at Large suck, so you won’t think I’m totally selfish.” Again… meh. Anyway… awkward transition, activate!

So being sick does suck. But I’ve managed to keep myself pretty well hydrated and pretty well fed. Between chain-sucking Ludens and filling a small forest’s worth of Kleenex with nasal excretions, I’ve been drinkin’ a lot of this:

Image nabbed from Google.

and slurpin’ down a lot of this:

Recycled image alert!

My current miso incarnation trades leeks and scallions for the tofu in this version. Ah, miso soup – so versatile! So delicious! So slurpable!

What do you eat when you’re sick? Do you get sick often?

Like I said, I really don’t… in fact, I’m currently taking my very first sick day since starting this job over a year ago. I actually feel better than I did yesterday, but not well enough to go into work, and I don’t want to spread my germiness to everyone else. I’m just glad I’m getting this out of my system now – tomorrow’s my 24th birthday (…), and this weekend I’ve got plans that would not play nicely with illness.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for ya. I think I’m going to put on some real person clothes and take a short walk to the drugstore to pick up another box of Kleenex… maybe the sun will kill all my germs. That’s how it works, right?! :)

Dusting Off Ye Olde Blogge

/ Kelly / 3 Comments

Oh.. oh, hi, blog! Yeah, I sort of ignored you for a while there. I pretended I didn’t see the WordPress Dashboard link in my bookmark bar, and I glanced the other way when I got an e-mail about a new comment. I don’t really know why, either. I’ve been eating food lately (shocking, I know), and it’s been yummy, but… I haven’t felt like blogging about it. And then I avoided you for so long that when I went to WordPress at long last, it didn’t even remember my username. Oopsies.

But I’m alive, srsly I am. And I’ll be back soon with food & photos & all things that are good, I promise! In the meantime, have a blurry photo of the ongoing protest in Madison, taken a couple weeks ago.

This is what democracy looks like!

More fun coming soon, for realsies. :)