Day Six: Another Filler Survey

This survey is from I Eat Trees.

What is one food you thought you’d miss when you went vegan, but don’t?
Cheese. I used to eat cheese every day. I have fond memories of being a fat kid and coming home from school every day and eating a cheese sandwich with mayonaise and a bowl of ice cream. Cheese was definitely a comfort food. I hate when people say that they couldn't go vegan because ohmygod they love cheese. I loved cheese! Cheese is delicious. But when you decide that you don't want it anymore, and you have valid reasons for sticking to your guns... it becomes pretty unappealing, because you're used to avoiding it. Sometimes I'll see some fancy pants cheeses and kind of miss it, but never enough to eat any, or even think about eating any. (I'll usually think "How can I make that cranberry cheddar vegan?") For the most part, I don't even think about cheese anymore.

What is a food or dish you wouldn’t touch as a child, but enjoy now?
There are SO many foods that I love now that I hated as a little kid. I used to hate, but now adore: kale, green olives, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, onions, mushrooms, tofu, brussel sprouts, lima beans, beets. I mean, tastes evolve and all, but I think that when I went vegan, I originally felt like there was all of this food that I "couldn't have," so I became open to trying everything that I "could" eat.

What vegan dish or food you feel like you “should” like, but don’t?
I can't get into black beans. I don't dislike them, but I don't crave them, and I don't eat them unless there's nothing else to eat.

What beverage do you consume the most of on any given day?
Water. I drink so much water.

What dish are you “famous” for making or bringing to gatherings?
Cupcakes! Cupcakes are perfect for parties, because I always feel like making them, but Chiv and I don't like having them around the house.

Do you have any self-imposed food rules (like no food touching on the plate or no nuts in sweets)?
Nope.

What’s one food or dish you tend to eat too much of when you have it in your home?
Cereal and bread. We don't get these from the grocery store every time we go shopping for the week, because I can eat an entire box of cereal in a day, and I'd rather not.

What ingredient or food do you prefer to make yourself despite it being widely available prepackaged?
Brown sugar. You just add molasses to sugar! I don't use it very often, so it doesn't make sense to use a little bit and then let it get hard and old in the cupboard.

What ingredient or food is worth spending the extra money to get “the good stuff”?
Daiya cheese. Kombucha.

Are you much of a snacker? What are your favorite snacks?
I am! Red grapes. Baby carrots and hummus. Cashews + dried hibiscus flowers. Baked potato chips with ketchup.

What are your favorite vegan pizza toppings?
Daiya cheese, olive oil + garlic sauce, portobello mushrooms, and sliced Roma tomatoes. Or Daiya, red sauce, pineapple, spinach.

What is your favorite vegetable? Fruit?
Red bell peppers. Red grapes.

What is the best salad dressing?
Annie's Naturals Organic Papaya Poppy Seed.

What is your favorite thing to put on toasted bread?
Earth Balance and raspberry preserves.

What kind of soup do you most often turn to on a chilly day or when you aren’t feeling your best?
My dad makes a really excellent vegan stew based off of this beef stew that I used to like when I was little.

What is your favorite cupcake flavor? Frosting flavor?
Lemon and lemon.

What is your favorite kind of cookie?
Chocolate chip.

What is your most-loved “weeknight meal”?
Israeli couscous + tofu + whatever veggies are around + whatever spices mix well. Or a Boca Spicy Chik'n patty chopped up in a big salad. Or pomegranate BBQ seitan + coconut rice.

What is one dish or food you enjoy, but can’t get anyone else in your household to eat?
Chiv is pretty excellent about eating anything that I whip up, but he does not like avocado (though I did get him to eat -- and like -- avocado curry), artichoke hearts, or tempeh.

How long, in total, do you spend in the kitchen on an average day?
An hour or two? More on the weekends, when I have time to test out new recipes or bake things to take to parties.

Day Five: Tempeh Bacon Gets Another Chance

 

I decided, after over a year long break-up from tempeh, to give it another chance.

I made the marinade for the tempeh bacon from Vegan Brunch last night, and let the tempeh marinate until I got home from work this afternoon. I fried it up with some olive oil and...

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe tempeh and I were meant to be. (As long as it is almost-burnt. And I think next time I'm going to bake it instead of fry it in oil.)

Day Four: Bull City Vegan Challenge

I am kind of enamored with North Carolina. While it's no vegan mecca, I usually don't have too much trouble finding something to munch on while dining out. Still, unless I'm at a restaurant that specializes in vegetarian food, it's slim pickings. I'm sure you've all become great friends with hummus and pita plates, garden burgers, and mysterious slices of stale carob cake.

Chef Shirlé Hale-Koslowski and Eleni Vlachos decided that there needed to be more vegan options in Durham's locally-owned restaurant scene. Instead of writing letters, emails, or passive aggressive Yelp reviews demanding more than sad, defrosted patties, they decided to tap into chefs' competitive natures and create a challenge to find out which local chefs could pull together the best vegan appetizer, entrée, and dessert.

No hummus and pita plates allowed. No veggie or portobello burgers. No chocolate cake.

The response was amazing.

Now, admittedly, I didn't get to go out to try a lot of these places -- but I am really happy that it happened. I never got into cooking, really, until I went vegan. To me, cooking vegan is simple if you're willing to do your homework and try something new. I think that every good chef can make a good meal that's vegan. It was awesome seeing so many enthusiastic chefs get into the challenge, and seeing what they came up with.

You should check out the list of entries (with pictures!) HERE.

When Stephanie Anne visited me in October, Chiv and I took her to Nosh, because we were both the most excited about the fall slammer -- pumpkin pancakes, tempeh bacon with red onions, and your choice of fresh fruit or curried potatoes. It was amazing.

It was so nice to be able to go out to eat at a restaurant and have someone else make me pumpkin pancakes!

Before our pancakes.

After our pancakes.

Shirlé and Eleni are revealing the winners Tuesday, November 9th at The Pinhook in Durham. If you are local, you should come out! From 5pm - 8pm they are having a "protein potluck," where they are asking everyone to bring their favorite (vegan, of course) protein. Go look at The Pinhook's website for more info!

Day Three: A Short Survey

It's 11:03pm. I had a very long day, and I'm feeling kind of like curling up in bed with the boyfriend and our puppies instead of finishing the post I'm going to write about Durham's Bull City Vegan Challenge. I promised myself that I would update every day, though, so... a survey it is! I will finish my other post tomorrow.

This short survey comes from a post on the Post Punk Kitchen Forum.

What's your favorite spice or spice blend?
I am a gigantic spice nerd and have filled an entire drawer in my kitchen full of spices. I put that fresh-ground lemon pepper from Trader Joe's on everything, but I am also pretty fond of Hungarian paprika, cardamom, cloves, and ginger.

You have $20 to spend on fresh groceries and produce for the whole week (with a fairly well stocked pantry of dry goods, legumes, grains, and spices). What do you buy?
Spinach, kale, cucumbers, red bell peppers, honeycrisp apples, bananas, red grapes, mushrooms, vidalia onions, olives, tofu, almond milk, crunchy peanut butter.

What's your favorite way to make tofu?
Extra firm, pressed forever so that most of the water is out -- then sliced in really thin little triangles, rubbed with a little olive oil and curry paste, and baked until crispy.

Vegan guilty pleasure?
Purely Decadent coconut milk ice cream. Especially chocolate peanut butter swirl. I only eat it every few months, though.



If you could make anyone vegan, who would it be?
I've never thought about this. I sometimes think that it would be cute if Chiv was vegan, but... he doesn't have to be? I do most of the cooking at home, and he loves everything that I make, tells doubtful omnivores that seitan is fantastic, and he religiously checks labels for me when he goes grocery shopping. I might get a reduction in my vegan points for saying this, but I don't really mind if he eats a cheeseburger twice a month.

If you could only read one other vegan blog, what would it be?
I really like Alien's Day Out.

Were you always interested in cooking, or did veganism change the way you saw and interacted with food?
I definitely started cooking more, and collecting recipes, once I went vegan. I did a bunch of baking pre-veganism, and knew some Italian dinner recipes from my dad, but... going vegan really got me excited about cooking for myself and other people. I'm not a very aggressive vegan. I'm not trying to recruit anyone. I like making delicious things from scratch, feeding them to omnivores, and reminding people that vegan food doesn't taste like whole wheat flour mixed with fermented soy beans. I like being able to cook anything. I never really thought about it before -- I didn't have to be able to cook, I could just go to a restaurant and get it. You can't always do that as a vegan. Vegan cooking can sometimes be a really fun treasure hunt and science experiment.

What is the one vegan staple that everyone seems to love, but you can't get behind?
I'm trying harder to like tempeh.

What would you like to veganize, but haven't yet?
French macarons.




Favorite kitchen utensil/appliance?
My stand mixer makes me feel fancy, but I love my blender.

What question about being vegan do you HATE answering?
"What can you eat? What's left?"
"Where do you get your protein from?"
"What about yeast?"



All right, kids. Bed time. Tomorrow will be better. <3

Day Two: Zucchini Cinnamon Rolls with Ginger Cream Cheese Icing

Last year, Jes from Eating Appalachia posted a recipe for zucchini cinnamon rolls on her old blog, Cupcake Punk, that had me swooning. I didn't get around to trying it out until this past Sunday.

Since then, I have decided:

1) This is now my "go to" cinnamon rolls recipe.

2) I am not allowed to make this more than once (okay, maybe twice) a year, out of fear of doing nothing but eating cinnamon rolls every single day for the rest of my life.

Chiv being tough and eating vegan baked goods. He's a beast!

It was my first time making cinnamon buns from scratch in my own house (I worked at a bakery a few years ago and made cinnamon buns en masse with a few people at 3am, but didn't get the whole making-it-from-scratch experience then). It was also my first time making (and eating) zucchini bread.

The verdict was that these were too delicious to make often, and that we needed to get rid of them as soon as possible. I gave a fourth of these to Katie in addition to the birthday cupcakes I threw her way.  I might make them again if I'm going to some sort of brunch thing. But... I am okay with just eating a lot of vegetables for the rest of the week and fondly remembering how perfect (and sugar-filled) these were.                                                                                                   

Recipe is here. I made only one change: I added about 1 teaspoon powdered ginger to the icing.

You should make these if: it is raining outside and you want to eat cinnamon buns and watch foreign movies, you want someone to fall in love with you, you feel like grating zucchini.

Day One: Rosewater Pistachio Cupcakes

I love these cupcakes. I made them once before, about a year and a half ago, and hadn't made them since. I've been making a lot of dark chocolate cupcakes lately, and so when I needed to whip something up for a Halloween party, Chiv suggested that I make something not as rich and heavy. These are light and fluffy because of the soy yogurt, and they're full of crushed pistachios, two tablespoons of rosewater, and... well, the recipe calls for "a generous pinch" of cardamom, but I usually put in about 3/4 teaspoon of the stuff. I wound up making a batch for my friend Katie's birthday the next night, too.

The recipe can be found in Terry and Isa's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which you should own if you like: cupcakes, nice things, all that is good in this world.

I also went crazy and made zucchini bread cinnamon rolls with ginger cream cheese icing while I was making Katie's birthday cupcakes. It was my first time making anything that required me to wait for dough to rise. Pictures and recipe of that tomorrow morning. :]

Happy MoFo-ing!

VeganMofo 2010

You guys! VeganMofo 2010 is almost here!

This November, my goal is to post every single day, as long as I'm in town and able. The boyfriend and I are headed to the coast for Thanksgiving, so we'll see what the wireless situation looks like while we're down there. I'm thinking about writing a few posts out in advance every few days and posting them in the mornings, instead of posting an entry every night like last year. That way, I if I have a rough day and don't feel like baking a coconut-lemon bundt cake and taking pictures and then editing pictures and then uploading pictures and then coming up with something that makes me sound cheerful and witty at 10pm, I don't have to -- I can just publish a pre-written post about ... I don't know. Puppies or seitan.

Anyway. So excited! See you kids on Monday. :)

Curried Cauliflower Soup

Saturdays are for being excited about having a paycheck and going grocery shopping, and Sundays are for cooking and cooking. I'm about to make a banana-mango-cardamom-protein smoothie, and I just made the espresso chip chocolate cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar because I'm going over to a friend's later (and - let's be honest here - just felt like making cookies), annnd I just made a pretty filling, lovely, spicy cauliflower soup. Here is the recipe:

Curried Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
3 cups nondairy milk
1 TB garam masala
Curry powder to taste (I wound up using vanilla almond milk for my milk because it's all that I had at the house, so I used a bit of curry powder to overpower the uber-sweet combination of garam masala and vanilla almond milk. I'd say that I used about 1 TB of curry powder for this batch).
3/4 cup peas
salt and pepper to taste
(Next time I make it, I'm going to add:
1 diced carrot
1 diced potato
1 small diced onion)

Directions:
1. Put the milk in a pot on the stove over medium heat. Tear cauliflower into florets and add spices, salt and pepper to taste, and your diced carrot and potato. Do not put the peas in. Bring to a boil, then lower the temperature and let the pot hang out on the stove for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. When veggies are tender, remove the pot from the burner and set aside for a few minutes to cool down. Put soup into a blender or food processor (might take a few batches) and blend it up a little bit. I like my soups creamy but still a little chunky -- if you like your soups like that, too, you could put about 3/4 of the soup into a blender / food processor and then add the smooth, blended soup to the 1/4 that you didn't blend.
3. Put soup back in the pot. Add peas. Add salt and pepper or whatever else strikes your fancy.

Vegan Treats

Last night, me and Chiv drove from Chapel Hill, North Carolina to Nazareth, Pennsylvania. It was a fun 9 hour drive. We wound up getting into town at 4am, crawled into Chiv's brother's guest bedroom, and promptly passed out. TOTALLY WORTH IT, THOUGH, because Chiv's family lives about 15 minutes away from Vegan Treats (http://www.vegantreats.com/), which is this amazing vegan bakery in the middle of no where in Pennsylvania. They sell their baked goods to restaurants in DC, Philly, and NYC. They are AMAZING.









I bought a peanut butter bomb, a pumpkin cheesecake, and a white chocolate banana cheesecake. Chiv bought us both Boston cream donuts. I also bought a hoodie and some pins, and I was good and did NOT get any peanut butter soy soft serve, even though I think that that sounds great. I am glad that I don't live nearby, because I would gain five thousand pounds.

Chickpea Cutlets

I made chickpea cutlets for dinner! They weren't pretty, but I approve of them anyway.

I have a laundry list of recipes that I feel like every vegan kid on the planet has tried, but I haven't. I've been cooking vegan for a year and still hadn't made any sort of faux cutlet thing. Tonight I made the chickpea cutlet from Veganomicon. They were pretty ugly (in a totally endearing way), but smelled lovely and I think - with the right sort of gravy - would be awesome with mashed potatoes and string beans. Definitely something that I'd like to make a bunch of and then nuke for an easy, old-fashioned kind of dinner... but not really something that I'd feed omnivores on the first date. I improvised a mustard-based sauce with some dijon and a splash of Annie's Naturals Woodstock dressing and ate a cutlet with my Chinese leftovers (coconut curried vegetables) from last night. Nothing too fancy pants, but it was nice and filling.