veganmofo 2009

B-foods for B-fast

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

When I woke up this morning and saw Katie’s “There’s Chocolate in my Banana Brulee” post staring me in the face in my Google Reader, I knew I exactly what I was going to make for breakfast. I’ve made Brownie Batter Oats for breakfast in the past, and I always use the Melted Banana Trick in my oat bran, but today I took things to a whole new level. I didn’t have that Hershey’s Extra Dark cocoa last time I made my Brownie Batter Oats, but now I do, so today I totally rocked the house with this Dutch-processed delight. My recent discovery of Momma’s immersion blender (hallelujah!) allowed me to create a creamy confection that tantalized my taste buds and satisfied my Sunday morning hunger pangs.

B-foods for b-fast.

What a decadent breakfast, right? I used Bob’s Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal in this bowl; it contains an impressive variety of healthy grains and fills my belly quite well. In fact, this morning’s bowl was so filling and so rich that I was barely able to finish the thick slice of Blueberry-Banana Bread I’d cut for myself! I followed this recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen, although I subbed regular sugar for agave nectar since I’m running low on agave. I also used a mix of unbleached AP flour and whole wheat flour as I don’t have any white whole wheat flour. The bread tastes wonderful and was a great way to use some of the blueberries we picked during the summer. I love having frozen blueberries available at a moment’s notice! Knowing that we picked them from a local farm just sweetens the deal. :)

Before I end, I just want to encourage everyone to check out my post about Project Feed Me. This is really important to me, and I’d love for you all to get involved! So please please please give it a read! Thanks, friends. You’re the bestest. :)

Giving Back During MoFo: Project Feed Me

/ Kelly / 3 Comments

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Hey friends, please bear with me while I use my daily MoFo post to draw attention to something pretty fantastic that’s going on in the blogosphere. It’s about food, so hey – I’m using my MoFo banner and calling it acceptable. ;)

In case you haven’t heard, Natalie at NoNo2YoYo is organizing a wonderful nine-week program designed to help feed families in need during the upcoming holiday season. The concept of Project Feed Me is pretty simple. Every Monday during the program, Natalie will post a list of recommended food items that food banks nationwide need. Participants will purchase at least two of these items per week, and when the nine weeks are up, everyone will donate the food to a local food bank. Not too difficult, right? But Natalie’s really kicking the project into high gear by asking that every participant commit to recruiting at least three more people to participate in Project Feed Me. If everyone at least tries to spread the word, the number of people who participate could be pretty impressive. Check out Natalie’s Project Feed Me page for a FAQ section and more information on the project, including a seriously awe-inspiring chart showing just how much food we could gather if we commit to recruiting participants and work to rally the troops. ;)

During this merry month o’ MoFo, when we blog all about the delicious food we eat and the restaurants we visit, maybe we also need to step back and consider how lucky we are to be able to live this lifestyle, to put yummy food in our bellies, and to have computers and internet access that enables us to blog about said food. How many people are have no idea what – or if – they’ll eat next? And for how many people would the idea of blogging about food just seem purposeless, when they’re struggling to eat? If you step back and think about that, it’s pretty humbling. It seems to me that Project Feed Me is the perfect accompaniment to MoFo, and I’ll proudly participate throughout the next nine weeks, even after MoFo is done and my poor little fingers are worn down from blogging so consistently. I encourage all of you to do the same and to spread the word about this great idea. So, what are you waiting for? Head over here to register for Project Feed Me and to be part of something great. :)

I’m as corny as HOMEMADE KETTLE CORN in October!

/ Kelly / 5 Comments

I’m squeaking by with an hour to spare on my Friday MoFo post; I spent an extended amount of time retrieving my siblings from their various colleges tonight and now I want to go hang out with them, but I’m popping in to make one very important statement: the kettle corn recipe from Joy the Baker is frickin’ amazing. Here’s a crappy picture that doesn’t at all do this recipe justice; you’re just going to have to trust me on this one.

!!!

HOLY YUM, BATMAN. After citing kettle corn as my favorite “topping” for popcorn while filling out that MoFo survey, I kinda sorta started craving the delicious stuff. So when I found this recipe, I knew I had to try it. I expected the results to be tasty but nowhere near as good as the stuff you buy for ridiculous amounts of money at street fairs or Waterfire, but guess what? It was TOTALLY as good as that bagged crap. Like, I-want-to-stuff-my-face-until-my-tummy-bursts good. Umm, hello, new favorite! And I loved making popcorn on the stove. We usually use an air popper, so it was fun to have this hands-on experience. Plus, you get to adjust the proportions of this recipe and can tailor the sugar/salt ratio to your personal preference! I enjoyed a big bowl of this while watching Jim & Pam’s wedding on The Office last night. What a perfect combination.

And with that, I’m out like a powder blue polyester leisure suit. Peace!

(P.S. Please forgive the stupid title of this post; I’m feelin’ a little hyper right now.)

Coziness in a Cookie

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

I love cookies. I love baking them and eating them and sharing them. I especially love sharing them. Because even though I could down a seriously impressive number of cookies in one go, I love the warm fuzzies I get when I can make someone’s day by giving her a homemade cookie. It’s a wonderful feeling.

So last night, I whipped up a batch and a half of these Molasses Cookies from Hell Yeah It’s Vegan. One batch of cookies is usually enough to share between my parents and I, but I had something special in mind for these babies and needed to make extras. I just couldn’t resist this recipe; I’m a huge fan of molasses cookies, and I was salivating just looking at the pictures of these beautiful little buggers. They seemed like the perfect cookie for a chilly night. Because I’m not a huge fan of it, I omitted the crystallized ginger. I did include the ground ginger, though, because I don’t really mind it when it’s not in chunks. The dough came together wonderfully, and my sampling of said dough reassured me that the finished products were going to be fantastic. I’m not ashamed to admit that I probably “sampled” at least two cookies’ worth of dough while it was chillin’ in the fridge. It was that good. But the finished cookies were even better. See?

Cozy goodness.

They’re perfectly chewy on the inside and the tiniest bit crunchy on the outside, thanks to their roll in a bowl full o’ sugar. I just couldn’t get enough of them. The spice blend provides a wonderful little kick, which is complemented by the rich molasses flavor. I used a mix of blackstrap and regular molasses, which I think worked really well. These are the ultimate “cozy” cookie. I predict I’ll be making them fairly often come winter, perhaps even for Christmas. Yum.

I did have to restrain myself from really chowing down, however, because I needed to save ten of these lovelies for a special purpose. They’ve left the nest and are on a one-way trip halfway across the country to my boyfriend, because I’m feeling a little maternal at the moment and I want to feed him lots of yummy baked goods, especially ones that make you feel all cozy inside when you eat them.

So adios, my delicious, cozy, cookies! I hardly knew ye. ;)

Raw Wednesday: Choosing Raw’s Zucchini Marinara

/ Kelly / 5 Comments

It’s Raw Wednesday, people! Get excited! I know I sure did. Today I realized that I haven’t used Sallie the spiralizer in a few weeks, and that’s just a darn shame. So I liberated Sallie from her hiding place in the cupboard and set her to work making zucchini “pasta” for my raw lunch.

As I was debating what to use as a topping for my zucchini noodles, I remembered hearing various bloggers rave about the Sweet Pepper Marinara from Choosing Raw. When I checked out the recipe and realized that I had everything I needed to make the famed raw marinara sauce, I just couldn’t resist. Into my trusty ol’ blender went all the ingredients, and the result was a thick, beautiful, brightly-colored marinara sauce that tasted as good as it looked.

Pretty colors, no? I followed Gina’s suggestion and added some avocado slices to my zucchini noodles, which helped bring some variety to the bowl. Unpictured is a big handful of mung bean sprouts I also threw in there; we had some in the fridge that needed to be eaten and I figured, what the heck? They’re noodle-y enough! And the marinara sauce tasted just wonderful over all my veggies. I’m glad to say that the sauce lived up to the hype; I really loved it. I think I’ll be sure to add more sundried tomatoes next time, though, because I was eyeballing my measurements and I think I skimped in that department. Ah well.

Now I just need to get me some dates and whip up some of that Chocomole that looks so enticing! Mmm, dessert… :)

Tried and True and Tried Again

/ Kelly / 6 Comments

Having go-to recipes is fun. I get a funny little thrill when I can say, “Oh, yeah, this is my go-to recipe for awesome cookies,” or “Isa’s Bakery-Style Berry Muffin recipe from Vegan Brunch is a no-fail delight.” It makes me feel like a real cook, y’know, like I’m starting to chalk up a sizable amount of experience points in the kitchen. Go-to recipes are solid and reliable; the results are predictable and comforting in that predictability. I appreciate that in a recipe. I really do.

But sometimes, you’ve just gotta mix things up a bit.

I’ve been craving super-chocolaty cookies for a few days now, so last night I decided to rely on a fall-back recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance – the Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies. I’ve made these a few times in the past – and mentioned them once – and even when I make them too big and kind of obscene-looking, they still taste damn good with cherry or apricot preserves in the center. But after my post on innovation in the kitchen, I felt like messing with a good thing. I meant to do it that very night, but it was late and I live with my parents and I didn’t think they’d appreciate me banging around in the kitchen and whatnot. So my experimentation was postponed ’til last night.

And, oh, what a lovely experiment it was. I decided to use Hershey’s Extra Dark cocoa in my cookies, because I’ve fallen hard for the beautifully dark color and sinfully rich depth of chocolate flavor that Dutch-processed cocoa imparts to baked goods. And I also decided that the perfect pairing for dark chocolate cookies just had to be peanut butter. So I made two versions of these chocolate-peanut butter delights; for most of the cookies, I just put a small bit of peanut butter  into the thumbprint-y center of the cookies. I thought it’d create something like the inversion of those peanut butter cookies that are ubiquitous at holiday parties, you know, the ones with Hershey’s Kisses in the center? I imagined a cross between those and the original Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies. But because I’d mixed the peanut butter with confectioner’s sugar to make it a little more solid and to sweeten it up, it didn’t spread in the center like jam usually does in thumbprint cookies and thus just kind of made a little peanut buttery blob in the middle. Which, if you think about it, is pretty akin to those holiday cookies. It just wasn’t what I was hoping to achieve; I’d wanted it to spread out a bit, to create a little pool of peanut butter… not a lump. See what I mean?


(This photo is horrible. Please forgive me.)

Luckily, my second experiment yielded much yummier results. I added enough confectioner’s sugar to the peanut butter so that it reached an almost dough-like consistency, and then I rolled this into smallish logs and twirled them with thicker logs of the chocolate cookie dough, creating a marbled, swirly-type effect. I used to make clay beads with this technique all the time, and cookie dough is just edible clay, right? Heh. In any case, the marbly cookies were the stars of the bunch – the contrast between the rich chocolate and the salty, stickier peanut butter is amazing. I wish I’d done this for all the cookies!

All in all, my experiment was a success, I’d say. Reese’s were always my favorite candy in my pregan days, and I think I’ve found a way to approximate that flavor contrast in cookie form. Hooray!

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

/ Kelly / 2 Comments

Tonight I conquered yet another taste aversion – butternut squash. Similar to my previous dislike of sweet potatoes, butternut squash has always been on my “do not want” list. My mom always used to make this apple, butternut squash, and raisin bake for dinner, and whenever she did, I’d find myself picking at the apple slices while avoiding the other two ingredients. It was that savory/sweet mix, y’know? Between that and its texture, squash is just something I prefer to avoid. Tonight, however, I decided that the indirect approach might be best – instead of eating squash face-on, in the flesh, I turned it into a soup, because I’ve never met a soup I didn’t like. Thus, Curried Butternut Squash Soup was born.

Yum.

While I don’t think I’m ready to conquer straight-up squash anytime soon, this soup has definitely helped give me an appreciation for this oddly shaped vegetable (fruit?). There’s something decidedly autumnal about this dish, and because curry-flavored anything is a sort of comfort food for me, it makes for a cozy type of meal. I’m not sure why I feel that way about curry; I didn’t grow up eating curries at all. I did, however, enjoy curry chips when I studied abroad in Ireland a few summers back; perhaps those memories have led to my pleasant associations with curry. Whatever the case, I really enjoyed the combination of the curry and squash flavors in this soup, and although the preparation of the butternut devil was a bit hellish, I’m willing to forgive it because the result is so darn yummy.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients (serves 3)
2 butternut squash, quartered and peeled
1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
~1.5 T olive oil
~2.5 cups vegetable broth
1 t curry powder
1/2 t cumin
1/4 t coriander
1/4 t cinnamon
dash cayenne

Preheat oven to 425˚ and spray a baking pan. Prepare butternut squash in your favorite way; you basically need them quartered and de-seeded. Place the quarters on pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until squash is tender.

Once squash has baked, remove it from oven and let cool. Heat up some olive oil in a large soup pot while you chop and mince the onion and garlic, respectively. Add to heated oil and cook until soft, then turn off the heat. Meanwhile, chop the baked squash into smaller pieces and add to blender with a fair amount of vegetable stock; puree the whole mixture. You’ll have to do this in batches, adding in the onion and garlic eventually. Once everything is pureed, return to the soup pot and add spices. Stir to mix, heat everything up, and then let simmer until serving time.

You can, of course, adjust your spices as necessary and adjust your blending process depending on what kind of kitchen appliances you have. I tried using an immersion blender after pureeing a small amount of the squash, but it really didn’t work that well. I’d imagine that a Vita-Mix would work excellently here, but alas – I am not lucky enough to have one (yet).

This is a super simple recipe, I know, but it’s quite tasty, if I do say so myself. My parents and I really enjoyed it, and I hope you will, too. :)

Veg-innovation: Improvisation in the Kitch

/ Kelly / 2 Comments

Last night, my mom decided to make something to bring on a day trip to visit out-of-state family. She wanted to use up some of the apples we’d picked a few weeks back and came to me for help choosing a recipe. The first thing that popped into my mind was the Apple Pie-Crumb Cake Muffin recipe from VWAV; I’ve never made them before but have wanted to try them for a while now. Mom thought they sounded excellent, but then while she was skimming the ingredient list she noticed that it called for apple cider.

“Oh no! We don’t have any apple cider! My plans are ruined!” she wailed.*

“Mom,” I said, calmly, “We have apples. We have a juicer. Just use fresh apple juice instead.”

“Ah. Well, I suppose I could do that… but apple cider is different than apple juice! It’s tarter! And, um, fermented!”

I sighed. “Yeah, but do you really think the muffins will be utterly ruined and inedible because you substitute one apple-based liquid for another? C’mon now, woman! Don’t be afraid – experiment in the kitchen!”

Experiment she did, and I’m happy to say that Mom’s muffins came out perfectly, as any muffin recipe by Isa is wont to do. But the point here is not that Isa is a muffin goddess but that my forays into vegan cooking have helped me to loosen up when I’m in the kitchen. Yes, it’s true – I used to be like my mother, scared to alter a recipe for fear something awful would happen, oh noez!1!!!11! Having always been a rule-abiding, authority-fearing good little girl, the discovery that I could use my intuition and my creative side in the kitchen was truly a liberating experience.

Today, even though I still love following recipes, I’m much more creative than ever when it comes to cooking. I am learning how to improvise, how to sense which ingredients would pair well with which spice, how to size up the state of my cookie dough and decide that, yes, it needs more flour, and – gasp – even how to eyeball measurements. For an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist, that’s a big step forward, folks. I never thought that I’d be capable of coming up with recipes of my own; somehow, the idea of experimenting with food always scared me a little bit. But how silly is that?! It’s just food! It’s not like I’m going to create Frankenstein’s monster and then have to chase it across the Arctic whilst contemplating nature vs. nurture and the duties of a creator! The worst that can happen is that I come up with an inedible mess that I have to throw in the compost. Big deal.

Nope, I’m not afraid any more, and I have vegan food – and vegan food blogs – to thank for all that. Without having discovered all these amazing veg*n blogs last year, I would never have had the courage to start trying new ingredients and to start experimenting in the kitchen. But I am so, so glad I did. So thank you, veganism, and thank you, vegan bloggers, for helping me to find a new passion and to break out of my rule-abiding, scaredy-cat shell!

…and now I’m off to mess around with a tried-and-true recipe from VWAV. ;)

*I may be exaggerating slightly for effect. Possibly. Just a little bit.

Stuff That Makes Me Happy: Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge Coconut Bliss

/ Kelly / 10 Comments

As much as I love your average, everyday vegan eats that I prepare on my own (tofu! sweet potatoes! cupcakes!), there are some pre-made products that just make life a little bit easier – and a little tastier. So here’s the first of my “Stuff That Makes Me Happy” product reviews, wherein I’ll sing the praises of vegan products that, well, make me happy! First up is Coconut Bliss frozen dessert, because I just polished off my first pint of this sucker and it deserves a little love.

Before I get to the good bits, I’ll be honest – the $5.99/pint price tag doesn’t actually make me happy. But I was lucky enough to comment first on a Coconut Bliss blog post, and the lovely people at Luna and Larry’s sent me a fabulous Coconut Bliss t-shirt, a couple of stickers with their logo, some literature on their products, AND a coupon for a free pint of their ice cream! Now, that makes me happy, as does the organic, dairy-free, and soy-free ingredient list.

I used my coupon to pick up a pint of Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, and, well, yeah. Holy yum. This is decadence in a carton, folks. It has the slightest hint of coconut flavor, which I think works well as a base for the chocolate. The hazelnuts add a fun textural change to your ice cream experience, although I think my pint could’ve used a little more fudge. My only other [eensy-weensy, super-tiny] complaint is that I wish the ice cream were just a bit creamier, but I may be spoiled because the last dairy ice cream I ate was gelato… in Italy. So. Yeah. Take that minor complaint with a [big, gigantic, humongous] grain of salt.

The only shortcoming of this ice cream is its nutritional profile. I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty dismal in the fat department. Whereas most soy-based ice creams only contain a few grams of fat, coconut milk-based ice creams are extremely rich and contain large amounts of saturated fats. Although the folks at Coconut Bliss address this on their website and explain why coconut-based fats are at least somewhat healthier than animal fats, the fact that one 1/2 cup serving of Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge contains 10g of saturated fat and 16g of total fat is just a little frightening. To be clear, I don’t worry about fat content for weight purposes; I just know that diets low in saturated and total fat are, well, a heck of a lot healthier than those containing lots of fats.

In the end, though, I believe that it’s a matter of moderation. I don’t eat much fat on a day-to-day basis, and if I want to splurge and have a serving of Coconut Bliss every once in a while, I’m damn well going to do it, and I’m going to feel fine about it. I’m treating it like, well, a treat, especially since it’s so rich that I can’t eat much at a time (even when I was a kid, foods high in fat made me feel sick). I’ve made the pint last for at least three weeks now, which is really quite impressive. When I do have a helping, I make sure to savor it – no mindless eating here! I pay full attention to each spoonful, enjoying the flavors and textures. And that, my friends, makes me very happy indeed. :)

(“Photos” aren’t mine, obviously. I found them from Google Images; I imagine they’re from the Coconut Bliss website originally.)

That VeganMoFo Meme (you know what I’m talkin’ about!)

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

Although I didn’t want to resort to doing this so early in the month, my posting plans for tonight were thrown off kilter for a variety of reasons, so today I’m going to fill out that oh-so-popular meme that’s been taking MoFo blogs by storm and was created by Whoa Wren. It’s like a “get out of jail free” card for VeganMoFo, y’know? Shameless, but whatevs. So here ’tis.

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
Probably Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla… I’ve not tried hemp or oat milk yet, but I will!

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Umm… I know I’m going to make the Ancho Lentil Soup with Grilled Pineapple soon, because that shyte is de-frickin-licious. Other than that, I’ll definitely resort to my “Crap I Want to Make” document when I need inspiration. ;)

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
I’m a kettle corn kind of girl – that salty/sweet juxtaposition gets me every time.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
In recent memory, I’d have to go with the big Lemony French Cake debacle, although I managed to salvage it fairly well.

5. Favorite pickled item?
Okay, confession time – I’m not a huge fan of pickled things, mostly because I don’t like anything that tastes strongly of vinegar. So I’d have to go with those lightly pickled cucumbers you get at certain homestyle restaurants… yum.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
They’re in virtual form in my aforementioned “Crap I Want to Make” document on the computer, and in solid form on index cards.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
All three, plus recycling, of course!

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?
Oh dear. Umm, dark chocolate, lemon poppy seed muffins (is that cheating?!), and mangoes.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
I have wonderful memories of Christmas morning; after waking our parents up at the crack of dawn, we’d be allowed to open our stockings before eating breakfast, which was always grapefruits and cinnamon buns. Heh.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
I’ve not tried very many yet, but the chocolate-hazelnut variety of Coconut Bliss is ridiculously delicious. Super unhealthy, though, so it’s really a treat.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
My blender, fo’ sho’. I lurve my Green Monsters.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
I’m debating between cumin and cinnamon… and cayenne… oh boy. Um, anything that begins with a ‘c’? :D

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
I only got my first cookbooks (VWAV and VCTOTW) last Christmas!

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Probably apricot.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Any sort of spicy, bean ‘n veggie laden chili always goes over well.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Aiii eee ooo, killer tofuuu!

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
I end up doing most of my baking in the evening, although late afternoon dinner making can also be delightful.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Nothing. My parents redid the kitchen about two years ago and my mom is kinda crazy about keeping it clean now.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
The aforementioned Coconut Bliss ice cream, some sort of veggie burger, and ice. ;)

20. What’s on your grocery list?
Pineapple, ancho chilies, and some sort of non-dairy milk.

21. Favorite grocery store?
Trader Joe’s fo’ sho’.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.
I guess I’d like to try my hand at a mac ‘n cheese…

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
FatFree Vegan Kitchen, Chocolate-Covered Katie, and Happy Herbivore, although I read most blogs equally often now that I’ve discovered the wonders of Google Reader!

24.Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Just give me a super dark chocolate and I’m a happy Vegga!

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
I dunno. The Coconut Bliss would fall under this category if I hadn’t had a coupon for a free pint, though!

26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?
I’m a little nervous about trying my hand at making seitan, but I wouldn’t say I’m scared of anything!

…okay, whew, that took longer than expected! I hope everyone fills this thing out, because I enjoy reading other people’s answers. :)