Vegan MoFo IV: It’s Finally Here!

/ Kelly / 5 Comments

It’s finally here – Vegan MoFo IV begins today! As excited as I am for this MoFo, new beginnings always send me on a long path down memory lane, so I can’t help but reflect a bit on last year’s MoFo experience.

Thirteen months ago marked the beginning of Vegan MoFo III. Thirteen months ago also marked the official beginning of my life as a vegan. During MoFo III, I posted every single day. During MoFo III, I lived with my parents and worked a part-time job with hourly pay. Coincidence? As if.

During MoFo III, I thought to myself, Daily posts? No big deal! Imma rock this shizz and get all up in MoFo’s grill, every day! I’m a new vegan and nothin’ can stop me! Burnout?! What’s that?!?

Ah, naiveté. This year, I live in a big-girl apartment and work a full-time, salaried, big-girl job. I often work 45 – 50 hours a week, and sometimes when I get home from work I’m absolutely exhausted, and the thought of writing up a blog post (not to mention making food about which to blog!) seems like the foodie equivalent of climbing Everest while wearing a bikini, keeping my eyes shut, and having noodles for arms. Plus, as I’ve said before, it’s deadline time for writers at my company, so things are extra busy these days.

Not to mention the fact that I’ll be  on a sUp3R sP3c!@L work trip this weekend, working 12-hour shifts on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I’ll be lucky if my destination (a small town outside Columbus, Ohio) has any vegetarian options, never mind sweet vegan eats that’d merit a MoFo post.

So, November? Yeah, not really the ideal month for hot MoFo action.

However. Having said all that, here are some more factoids about me: I’m a little bit of a masochist. And I’m a perfectionist. And OCD? Yeah, she and I are kinda sorta best frenemies. And so. This year, for Vegan MoFo IV, I am going to post every single day. There, I said it out loud – I’m accountable now! I’ve been thinkin’ about how to make this a fun, enjoyable experience, one that won’t leave me weeping on the floor, cursing the blogosphere, and swearing off anything besides frozen burritos just as that most venerated of time periods – Christmas baking season! – begins. So here are some themes and topics you can look forward to in the month ahead:

  • Nomadic Noshing. I’ll try out some [mostly] authentic foods inspired by places I’ve visited, places I’ve lived, and places I’d like to visit.
  • Cookbook Challenges. Let’s face it – there are some cookbooks I underuse or (heaven forbid!) don’t use at all. I’ll choose a couple of those sad, neglected books and pick recipes that’ve slipped under my radar ’til now.
  • Erudite Eats. I’ll make foods inspired by my favorite books, films, works of art… that sort of thing. I’m really excited about this one!
  • Keepin’ it Raw. I’ve dipped my toe into the ocean of raw foods before, but ’til now I’ve kept it simple with chocomole, banana soft serve, zucchini noodles, and simple stuff like that. It’s time to wade on in and go for a swim!
  • Spreadin’ the Bloggy Luuurve. Y’all have some great recipes out there, and it’s high time I stop just bookmarking or starring them or adding them to my Crap I Want to Make document, and actually make them!

I’ve also got another idea to take MoFo to the next level: interactivity. When I know I have lots of time to devote to cooking, I’ll ask you to challenge me, to suggest recipes for me to try. If I get too many suggestions, I’ll use a random number generator to choose a few of your suggestions and cross my fingers and toes that I don’t wind up making opera cake and vegan turducken.

Beyond those special topics and themes, I’ll also post recipes, product reviews, and – let’s be honest here – the occasional cop-out food survey. And to start things off, how about one of those recipes?

Forgive my silly attempt at a sriracha spiral...

Thai-Inspired Cocobutternut Soup
Ingredients (Makes 1 or 2 servings)
~ 1/2 butternut squash, roasted and gently mashed
1 can light coconut milk
1 t dried lemongrass
Curry powder, salt, and any other spices to taste

After roasting your squash, heat coconut milk and spices in a pot. Transfer all ingredients to a blender (in batches, if necessary), and puree until smooth. Serve with sriracha for a kick of spice.

…yep. That’s it. Simple and quick. :) I think I liked this soup, but I’m not sure. I definitely liked the idea of it, but my reservations towards coconut-flavored things kept me from falling madly in love with it and running off to Vegas to get hitched. Maybe you’ll like it, though.

…and with that, I’ll wrap up my inaugural MoFo IV post. You should know that I essentially wrote this post twice yesterday because WordPress ate the first one. You should also know that, despite it having been a frustrating day in the food department (burnt oven fries and dry pie dough and stupid kitchen towels that kept falling off the oven handle, oh my!), I resisted my urge to cry and/or give up on MoFo before it began. Instead, I immediately rewrote the post. I know that I forgot a totally awesome title for a couple of my themes/topics, but other than that I think I recreated it fairly well. An inauspicious beginning, perhaps, but things can only go up from here, eh?

Anyway – happy MoFoing, and I’ll see y’all tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

/ Kelly / 1 Comment

Happy Halloween!

I AM the Pumpkin King!

Hope y’all had (or are having) a fantastic Halloween weekend! I’m tuckered out from the amazingness that was the American Gods gathering at the House on the Rock, but just looking at that cute ‘lil cupcake from Halloween ’09 makes me smile.

See you all tomorrow for the start of Vegan MoFo IV! Hope you’re all as excited as I am!

Fibertastic Pumpkin Muffins (or, how I learned to suck it up and use my pumpkin pie mix)

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

Remember when my inner food snob reared her ugly head, inspired by an accidental purchase? I showed my true colors and disparaged the accursed can of pumpkin pie mix that made its way into my grocery basket one day when I mistook it for the far more acceptable pureed pumpkin.

Sneaky devil!

Well, I still stand by my opinion that pumpkin pie mix has no place in my kitchen cupboard, thank you very much. However, I still had to use up the rest of the mix, so with a little creativity, I came up with another place for it: muffins. Yeah, I totally ignored every recipe in the whole wide world that says, “Be sure to use pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie mix OR ELSE YOUR BAKED GOODS WILL EXPLODE AND YOU WILL DIE.” Pshhh, whatevs. I purposely used this sucker in a batch of muffins. And you know what? It worked. SO THERE.

Nobody suspects the s3cR3t iNgR3d13nT!1!!!11!!

Fibertastic Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T warm water)
1 C pumpkin pie mix
1/3 C nondairy milk (I used almond)
1/3 C applesauce
2 T oil
2 T molasses
Heaping 1/4 C raw sugar
1 t vanilla
1 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 C toasted wheat bran
1/3 C old-fashioned oats
1 T baking powder
1/4 t sea salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/8 t allspice
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
1/8 t cloves

Preheat your oven to 350˚.

In a medium bowl, combine the flax egg, pumpkin pie mix, milk of your choice, applesauce, oil, molasses, vanilla, and sugar until well mixed. In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Pour spoonfuls of the batter into greased muffin tins and fill them about 3/4 full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Et voila! Healthy, fiber-rich muffins that use up a good portion of your ungodly-sized can of pumpkin pie mix. You could also make this with regular canned pumpkin and just up the amount of milk you include, and maybe add some more spices. This recipe is loosely based on the Pumpkin Bran Muffins from Vegan Brunch, but I changed a fair few ingredients and adapted it for my own nefarious needs. By which I mean (obviously) my need to use up the mix.

I’ve still got a bit left, but I’ve discovered another use – as an addition to oatmeal. I’m accustomed to adding regular pumpkin to my oats, but I won’t lie – the additional sugariness of the mix adds an undeniable bit of sweet yumminess to my breakfast.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for ya today. I hope I survive this crazy windstorm the Midwest is battling, because one of my best friends is visiting this weekend, and we’re going to geek it up and hang out with Neil Gaiman at the House on the Rock. Yeah, no biggie. ;) Anyway, my posts might be sparse for the next few days, so have a great weekend and a fantastic Halloween! Do you have Halloween plans? Will you dress up? And – more importantly – do you like Neil Gaiman?!

Pumpkin Crackers for Oktoberfest

/ Kelly / 9 Comments

AGGHHH. What a week! I wrote this post on Tuesday, but due to having no internet at home (Star Satellite, me no like you) and being insanely busy, I’m not posting it ’til low-traffic Saturday. Oh well. :(

My life’s a little hectic these days. It’s crunch time at work, and on top of that I’m taking an American Sign Language class two nights a week, from 6:00 – 8:30. I don’t get home ’til 9:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays, but that doesn’t stop me from booking up my Tuesday evening. Whaddya think – did I have a hot date? Hit up the bars? Get crunk in the hood? Nah. I made crackers.

A work friend hosted an Oktoberfest-themed cocktail/beer gathering on Thursday, and I offered to bring “pumpkin-y snacks.” I spent days musing about what to make. Cookies? Mini pumpkin pies? Pumpkin bread? They just didn’t seem appropriate for a cocktail party.

Then the wonderful Angela came to my rescue. I was over the moon with happiness when I saw her serendipitous post about homemade crackers. Immediately I thought, “What ho – crackers! I shall make crackers!” and then I thought, “PUMPKIN CRACKERS! I shall make a cracking batch of pumpkin crackers!” And then I scrolled down and saw that Angela, too, had thought of pumpkin crackers – she’d even topped her regular crackers with a pumpkin and EB mixture! Brilliant!

So on Tuesday night I took Angela’s flexible recipe into my own hands. I managed to create a batch of some darn lovely crackers, despite nearly getting killed by my microwave (It started up while I had the door open! If I sprout tentacles and become a cracker-eating mutant, YOU’LL KNOW WHY). and discovering that a hasty post-class grocery store shelf-grab of canned pumpkin had resulted in something terrible.

THE HORROR!

PUMPKIN PIE MIX. AGH. Of course I only saw the writing on the wall after I’d opened the lid, and then I gasped in horror, causing my roommate to think that the microwave had attacked me again. Never in my life have I purchased pumpkin pie mix! Easy food?! Just add eggs and a can of evaporated milk?! You can’t get any further from my food philosophy than that. The ingredients in this “mix” include something horrible called sugar syrup. I… don’t want to know. I hope it’s just sugar + water. Anyway, I ended up using the pumpkin pie mix, and, to be honest, it’s not really noticeable.

Anyway, I modified Angela’s super-flexible recipe a bit when making my crackers. I subbed the accursed pumpkin pie mix for 1/2 C of the almond milk, and I added extra sesame seeds and some hemp seeds in place of the whole flax seeds. I cut down on the nutritional yeast and scratched most of the spices in favor of poppy seeds and rosemary. Then I doused them in the pumpkin pie + EB mixture, sprinkled on some salt, and popped ’em in the oven.

My vintage yellow Pyrex bowl glows oddly in photos...

I even got to use the adorable teeny-tiny Wilton Halloween cookie cutters I picked up on clearance a few months ago! Can you spot the tiny bats and pumpkins?

These are tasty little nuggets. The pumpkin flavor isn’t too pronounced, but that’s okay – they’re complex and yummy nonetheless, and about 1000x better than mass-produced crackers. The rosemary flavor is a little strong for me, so next time I think I’d use a little less. I’d also cook them for longer, and be sure to use a dark baking sheet – the batch I cooked on a light sheet is more chewy than crunchy.

I brought them to the gathering, where they were fairly well-received. One girl in particular asked me all about them and said she really enjoyed them. I even served them with a really simple dip, a blend of Tofutti and the pumpkin pie mix. The hostess also served about five types of pretzels and five types of mustard to go along with our Oktoberfest theme, so there was no lack of snacks.

Have you ever made your own crackers? Do you generally try to bring vegan options to social gatherings? Maybe the real question here is, what on Earth am I going to do with 8/10 of a giant can of pumpkin pie mix?!

P.S. Forgive my food snobbery; I tend to use hyperbole for the sake of entertainment. Easy pumpkin pie mix has its place in the world… just not on my shelf. ;)

Christmas in October?

/ Kelly / 12 Comments

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Or, well, sort of. I saw the most wonderful, heartwarming thing at the grocery store this weekend – SEASONAL TEAS. My favorite [no-frills, employee-owned] grocery store, Woodman’s, had a brand new display of seasonal teas by Celestial Seasonings and Stash. I nearly had a teagasm right there in the store! I’m familiar with Celestial Seasonings’ offerings, but I’d never seen Stash’s holiday-inspired teas. My Christmas-season-loving heart thrilled inside of me when I saw tantalizing flavors like Christmas Eve (herbal mint blend) Christmas Morning (black tea blend), White Christmas (white tea, peppermint, and a hint of ginger), Holiday Chai (black tea with hints of gingerbread and rum), and organic (!) Merry Mint (green tea, spearmint, and peppermint). Stash also has gorgeous packaging – what can I say; I’m shallow! I managed to restrain myself, though:

Teas on the floor. Class-ay.

Unfortunately I didn’t realize that White Christmas was a mint tea, so I accidentally purchased two minty varieties. Guess I’ll have to go back for more! Clearly tea is one of my major weaknesses, but for $2.00 a box, I’m not too concerned about breaking the bank.

All of these Christmas flavors got me thinkin’ about other foods I associate with my favorite holiday. My family has a tradition of enjoying cinnamon buns and grapefruit on Christmas morning, and as I thought about holidays of yore, I got a strong craving for sweet, cinnamon-y goodness. Last year Mom made VeganYumYum’s incredibly decadent cinnamon buns, and they were gorgeous and tummyache-inducingly rich. Throwback photo time!

Oof.

I feel full just looking at them! I didn’t want to make anything that rich during this go-round, so I turned to Happy Herbivore for a healthier alternative. I ended up making Lindsay’s whole-wheat, fat-free cinnamon buns, and despite an emergency grocery run necessitated by moldy applesauce, they came together quickly and with very little fuss.

Tea&bun.

And they taste fantastic, too! Soft and chewy on the inside, only the outer rings of my buns (heh heh) were at all crusty. The cinnamon filling is absolutely perfect, and it only contains brown sugar, applesauce, and cinnamon. Genius! I’ve been savoring these babies for the past few days, and they’ve totally sated my cinnamon craving. Once they’re gone, I’ll lay off the buns so that I’ll properly appreciate our traditional breakfast come December 25th.

Do you have any holiday traditions? Do you get excited about winter holidays? Any favorite seasonal teas?

Karma Chameleon’s Gonna Get You

/ Kelly / Leave a comment

…see what I did there? Yeah, pretty lame, I know. Moving on.

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the idea of good energy, good vibes, karma and the like. To an extent, I do believe that if you surround yourself with positivity, you will be healthier and happier than a peer who views the world through poo-colored glasses and slips into Debbie Downer* mode 500 times a day. But I’m not so sure about the next level of karma, the idea that if you send out positivity and good vibes, they’ll come back to you in some cosmic-scale recycling effort. I don’t think it’s impossible, but I do find it implausible. On the other hand, perhaps upbeat people surround themselves with similarly-tempered folks, so their interactions are generally more pleasant? Or perhaps they make others feel happy and centered and calm, and those others subconsciously return the favor? I just don’t know.

That said, I had what I can really only call a good karma experience recently. See, I have this friend (no, really!). Or, more specifically, I had this friend; he was an essential part of our core group of pals for most of college, and I was especially close to him. During senior year, however, he sort of grew apart from our group for various reasons. After we graduated, I harbored a fair amount of anger, underneath which was a large pool of hurt. For over a year, we barely spoke. And by barely, I mean I sent him a Christmas card, and he sent one back, and that was it.

A few months ago, though, I realized how stupid that was. Because when you’re close to someone, when you can talk about things that matter like life and feelings and not just shiny surface-issues, that’s a friendship worth preserving. So I let it go. I let go of the anger and the hurt and the need for an explanation for what transpired. It was liberating, and so much easier than I’d imagined. And then I reached out to him, and despite my fears, his reaction was nothing but positive. Now, I am so glad to have him back in my life. We always had great rapport, and I missed it. Even though he’s in New York and I’m in Wisconsin, it’s still great to Gmail chat every couple of nights and to catch up on the past year.

Now, you might be thinking, “Kelly, that is all warm and fuzzy, but where is the karma? I was promised karma chameleons and there is a distinct lack of it in this post.” Or, perhaps, “Kelly, I do not give a hoot about your college friends or your karmic musings. Where’s the damn food?!” To both of you I say, hold on to your hats! It’s coming (sort of)!

 

Look at him! He's like a tiny dinosaur saying, "Bitch, please. I've had it with the karma jokes!"

 

Image from here.

My friend is the bio-major type, and he currently has a couple of research positions working on various projects. Someone he works with is an ex-vegan (sad!), and when my friend found out that I’m vegan now, he told me that his ex-vegan friend was looking to get rid of some vegan cookbooks, and did I want them? Because he’d gladly send them to me!

Did I EVER want them! Today, I received this stack of fabulousness:

 

Kram-o-rama!

 

Basically, Sarah Kramer now has some serious real estate on my cookbook shelf.

Anyway, let’s recap the chain of events: I extend the olive branch to my friend. My friend reciprocates. I get free vegan cookbooks. The only possible explanation? Karma, baby!

I let go of negativity and consciously chose positivity, and I was rewarded with Sarah Kramer. Thanks, Mr. Chameleon, sir.

Do you believe in good energy and karma and the power of positivity? And on another note, what’s your favorite recipe from any of those cookbooks? :)

* Yes, I did watch every single Debbie Downer skit on Hulu to choose the best one to post here. It was research! BLOGGING’S HARD WORK, Y’ALL.

Vida Vegan!

/ Kelly / 6 Comments

Guys. I just made the greatest spontaneous purchase EVER.

What did I buy, you ask? A clue:

OMG OMG OMG! I REGISTERED FOR VIDA VEGAN CON.

It’s past midnight on a work night right now, but for some reason – for the first time in ages and ages! – I’m lapsing into a college-era late-night creativity-fest, and my post-11:00 PM giddiness has resulted in me registering for the first ever vegan bloggers’ conference. AHHH!

Truth be told, I didn’t even intend to go to the con when I first heard about it. I mean, I’m a small-time blogger, for one. And second… well, the idea of going to a convention makes me a little panicky. I struggle with social anxiety and related issues, and the idea of going to a packed convention and maybe not knowing anyone and probably feeling really lonely even when surrounded by all these awesome people just makes my heartrate increase and my mind go a little spinny.

If I’d let myself focus on those negative thoughts, I never would have done it. Then, come next August, I would’ve sat here, reading other people’s posts about how TOTALLY RAD Vida Vegan was, and I would’ve beaten myself up for not registering and missing out on all the fun. So, in this case, late-night spontaneous decision-making proved the kick in the pants I needed! Woohoo!

And you know what? It WILL be totally rad. The vegan community is awesome, right? And I’ll find someone with whom to room, right? Yeah! Plus, “Vida Vegan” is just so damn close to my blog name that I couldn’t not attend!

So – are YOU going to Vida Vegan?!

A winner is you!

/ Kelly / Leave a comment

Hi everyone! The results are in, and the big winner of my autumn-themed giveaway is…


Lucky comment number 7 – LIZ! Liz’s favorite thing about autumn is “Afternoon walks with my Greyhound, underneath the beautiful blazing trees in my neighborhood, when it’s sunny but cool…”

How lovely! Makes me want a doggie. :) Liz, I’ve e-mailed you with a request for your mailing address so I can send off your package. Congrats!

Thanks for playing, everyone! What with VeganMoFo on the horizon, I intend to do another giveaway in the not-too-distant future. :)

Apple-Carrot Harvest Bread

/ Kelly / 1 Comment

Hello, friends! Happy Tuesday. Sorry for the prolonged silence – remember when I said that summer made a triumphant return to Wisconsin? Well, this weekend things really got crazy – the temperature soared into the low 80s and quite possibly shattered a record or two. So, needless to say, I made sure to get outside and soak up some rays. Gotta stock up on enough vitamin D to get me through the dark days of a Wisconsin winter!

However, the high temps don’t negate the fact that it is, quite obviously, still autumn. Ochre and burnt rust colors dominate the skyline; most of the trees around here have changed already. It’s quite sensorily confusing to feel summer-hot while hearing brittle eaves crunch underfoot and seeing yellows and oranges and reds. These autumnal colors are also prevalent in my food lately, because I haven’t given up on autumn-inspired meals and ingredients. Carrots and apples and pumpkins, oh my! Inspired by a bounty of freshly-picked apples and the beautiful, bright carrots from my latest CSA share, I came up with a perfectly autumnal recipe:

 

Autumn in bread form?

Apple-Carrot Harvest Bread
Ingredients:
2 medium-sized apples, grated
2 carrots, grated
1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T warm water)
2 T oil
3 T applesauce
1/2 t vanilla
2/3 C rice milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice)
1/3 C vegan cane sugar
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
2 t cinnamon
1/8 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
dash ginger
3/4 t baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350˚F and lightly grease or spray a loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the water and ground flax to create your flax egg. This is a great time to grate the carrots and apples. Next, add the oil, applesauce, milk, vanilla, and sugar to the flax egg. Whisk until well-mixed. In a large bowl, sift the remaining dry ingredients together. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just incorporated – be careful not to overmix! Fold in the grated carrots and apples, pour the batter into your loaf pan, and pop that baby in the oven.

I baked mine for probably 45 – 50 minutes, and it was just a little bit under-done in the middle. I recommend keeping it in for longer – just wait until a toothpick or thin knife inserted in the center comes out totally clean. Remove from oven, let cool, and enjoy! You now have a slightly dense, very flavorful, and quite healthy quick bread, perfect for enjoying with a mug of tea and a good book on a cool afternoon.

…not that I’ve had any of those recently. :)

Hey, don’t leave yet! You still have one more day to enter my giveaway! I’ll choose a winner tomorrow night at 9:00 CST (not 7:00 as previously mentioned… I’ll be in class then!). So get on it!

In Which Mama Nature Makes a Liar of Me and Then I Show You a Photo of Soup

/ Kelly / 1 Comment

Whoa! I’m so happy that y’all are excited about my giveaway! If you haven’t entered yet, what are you waiting for?! There’s a fantastic cookbook and some yummy treats up for grabs – so git!

Of course, right after I post about how it’s sooo autumnal and seasonably chilly and the epitome of fall and whatnot, the weather has to go and make a liar liar pants on fire out of me. Thanks a lot, Mama Nature. I mean, it was 70 degrees in Madison today! Shenanigans! It’s okay, though. I’ll take blue skies and warming rays of sun any day, even if they make me eat my words.

However, I’d rather eat something delicious and tasty – like soup! I’ve been testing for Lindsay‘s upcoming soup, stew, and chili-riffic e-book, and I’ve had some seriously yummy eats lately! From hearty, filling chilis to elegant, bisque-like squash soups, she’s got some tasty recipes. I enjoyed this pureed, bean-based soup this weekend (when it was ACTUALLY autumn-like!).

Neutral tones ftw!

I won’t divulge any of Lindsay’s secrets, but suffice it to say that this was a really warming and comforting dish. So if you’re in the mood for soups, stews, and chili galore, keep a bonny eye out for her e-book! And go enter my giveaway for a chance to win Nava Atlas’ Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons.

Or if you prefer muffins to soup, check out Emily‘s sweet giveaway! She’s kindly giving away a hand-baked batch of yummy muffins, and you can choose the variety!

ORRR – and I promise that this is the last giveaway I’m going to mention today! – you could go enter to win one of three cookbooks published by Vegan Heritage Press. You can choose between American Vegan Kitchen, Vegan Unplugged, and Vegan Fire & Spice. Awesome!