VeganMoFo III Approaches!

Dum dum dum! It's coming.

The Vegan Month of Food returns October 1st with a third year of vegan culinary blogging madness. Who's down?

The idea originated with Isa Chandra Moskowitz on the Post Punk Kitchen forums, and this year, Kittee is hosting the official sign up here on Kitteekake. She asks that you please sign up by October 2nd. It's a fulfilling experience and always brings new and seasoned vegan food bloggers into the fold.

If you feel like a vegan blogging adventure and are looking for ideas, check out my posts from 2007 and 2008.

Post about recipes, meal plans, restaurant experiences, favorites, fill out surveys, showcase pictures of your cat eating spinach, your friend with peas stuck up their nose, famous vegan celebrities you crush on, grocery shopping, etc. I'm trying to get my new website together in time! If you're in Portland, check out the VeganMoFo Workshop at the Bye & Bye on Thursday, October 1st.

Look, it's practically a MoFo post!

Recent trip to Fubonn

Who wants to make salad rolls? I do!

Another Farmer's Market Saturday..

This morning Michelle of The Spice Must Flow and I visited the downtown farmer's market - something of a lovely routine for us. I love going anyway, and although I'm flying out this Thursday night for my trip, I still need to eat the next few days, wanted to support the market, see my friend and pick up a couple 'gifts' to bring back with me. Fortunately, my brother will definitely not read this beforehand. As always, I'm glad I went, and this morning - it snowed!! It rarely actually 'snows' in Portland - it was only for a bit, but I practically jumped around with happiness.

Troutdale sprouts (aka brussels) $2.50/lb
Romanesco! $1/lb
Bell peppers $2.50/lb
Blueberry fruit spread $4
Mixed dried beans $1.50/lb (cranberry, pinto....2 or 3 others)
Bag of purple garlic $3
1 lb of roasted hazelnuts $8
just over 1/2 lb of 'soaked' roasted hazelnuts $5

Am I ridiculous to bring a bag of garlic with me cross country to my siblings? Does that really need to be answered? Tomorrow I'm picking up my favorite Strawberry Mango jam from
Jam on Hawthorne as well.
Happy last day of VeganMoFo! (which means my rent is due...)

More PumpkinOSITY.

Major props to Julie Hasson~ I made two of her recipes on Wednesday evening, both involving pureed pumpkin, and both simply delicious.

Pumpkin cake with raisins, and chocolate chips all ooey-gooey on top. I prefer my chocolate chips on top of cake ever since making VWAV's raspberry chocolate chip blondies last year.



For spices, I only had cinnamon and nutmeg in the house (oh my), and I also cut the oil in half by simply using a little extra pumpkin. I often cut some oil with applesauce as well, but never all of it. I don't swing that way.



Julie's Smokey Pumpkin Hummus - used my homemade pureed pumpkin and the chickpeas I soaked over a week ago and had just a bit left of. Julie recommends using toasted sesame oil in this, fyi. I knew I'd like these recipes, a I sampled Julie's homemade versions of them at the Vegan Holiday Festival earlier in the month.




At the demo, Julie added candied pumpkin seeds on top, and since I had seeds myself, I toasted some in a pan with a touch of maple syrup, cayenne, sea salt and a wee bit of canola oil.



This is the dinner that used the rest of my purple cauliflower.
Maybe I'll get more cauliflower at the farmer's market tomorrow - maybe.
If I do, I'll probably be cheaper and just get white. This is a meal I made using what was in the house - simply roasted a veggie, reheated some baked yam fries and made those famous chickpea cutlets for a who-knows-how-many-nth time.
On the side is some Nomicon cheezy sauce and roasted garlic marinara.



P.S. My toes are now orange from all the pumpkin consumption.
P.P.S. This time next week, I'll be on day one of my Boston/NY trip, woo!

Anatomy of a $25 Grocery trip.

Honestly, I do know how to shop for more bang for my buck, let alone at Trader Joe’s, but I still thought this was a good trip, especially since it included specialty items.



Kalamata Olive Oil (Greek) $7.99
Organic firm tofu $1
Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese $1.99
Trader Joe's Semi Sweet chocolate chips $1.69
Bananas 19 cents each
Trader Joe's Mildly Spiced burritos $2.19
Trader Joe's Meatless Meatballs $3.69
One can of whole, salted plum tomatoes $1.19
One can of whole, unsalted plum tomatoes $1.19
Candy Cane effin Joe Joes $2.49
Organic tomato paste 89 cents
Black Olives 99 cents

…and totalling just above $26.

During the colder months when the farmer’s market is closed, I tend to shop more at Trader Joe’s and Limbo, for bulk herbs and produce which is next door to the SE 39^th location. I had cauliflower and green food at home, or this trip would have included spinach and carrots. I’m not big on purchasing that many vegetables from Trader Joe’s, with the whole cling-wrap extra packaging business, but it does happen. My specialty/pricey purchases during this trip are obviously the olive oil – I buy from Trader Joe’s because they try to stock only non-gmo products, and this olive oil is from Greece. I’m sorry, California, but I want my olive oil from Europe. Maybe Australia, but it’s been a while for that. I picked up the meatballs for fun. I’ve only had veggie meatballs once before, at Bye & Bye, and they were pretty good with marinara on a crusty baguette. I don’t plan on buying these again anytime soon, but I would like to try making them, finally. I don’t think I’d had meatballs at all since I was 8! Remember the Campbells alphabet soup? I still could only eat these fauxes when baked crispy.

Anyway, I like to buy my tofu locally as well, but the TJ’s $1 organic price tag is irresistible when I’m there. I don’t think their tofu is really fresh tasting like the stuff I buy in bulk at my coop, but it’s still tofu. I used half in my recent tofu scramble, and half with the pumpkin seed crusted tofu on my lat post. The burritos are for Thomas, I'm just not a wild frozen food fan.

The Peppermint Joe Joe’s….well I am hiding those in my freezer. This was my first time buying them, and they’re even better than Mint Newman O’s. Believe it.

Pumpkin Love.

Just to show that I truly have been enjoying my purple cauliflower...

cubed tofu scramble (okay, more like a light morning stir fry) with purple cauliflower, green bell pepper, carrots, green beans, garlic, spices and nooch. sliced banana. quinoa with white beans and a bit of leftover t-day gravy.

Onto this weekend's farmer's market haul:

bag of purple garlic $3
sugar pie pumpkin $3
pear $1/lb
sweet yellow onions $1/lb
carrots 40 cents/lb

With fewer and fewer produce options at the market coming into the its last month and knowing I already had some cauliflower at home, I couldn't resist the pumpkin. I carried it from the market, to NW portland and then home to SE portland. That's pumpkin love.
I brought it home, and hacked it open:

Scooped out the seeds and gunk.

Baked at 375F for about an hour.

Let it cool a bit, and then spooned out the uh, flesh.

Pureed in two batches (or was it three?) in my food processor..

Tah dah. Now what?
Last night - pumpkin smoothie! Coming soon, DEOT's pumpkin cinnamon rolls
possibly a curry, and more pumpkin love. Maybe something pumpkin AND cranberry?

Field Roast Reviews

With our appetizer-side dish centric meal, the true protein stars of our Thanksgiving mini feast were Field Roast goods - which kick the Tofurkey loaf's ass. I tried the Tofurkey loaf for the first time 2 years ago, and thought it was okay with the slice I had – and then made the mistake of buying it last year. I couldn’t even bring myself to make a fun potpie out of the leftovers. I offered them to people, but I don’t think anyone knew how serious I was about just not being into it. I didn’t hate it, but I just didn’t like it. FYI, I’ve never made a homemade vegan turkey, and I never had a chance to try the Unturkey. I’m not that big on the faux meats in general.

The wonderful, generous folks at Field Roast sent me a package of celebration roast, lentil sage roast and the exclusive-to-retail white truffle country pate last week, and although my friend Karla from Vegan Shizzle and myself sampled some Wednesday evening, the goods truly got a chance to shine on Thanksgiving.

Field roast celebration roast, lentil sage roast & white truffle country pate, with sesame rye crackers with mustard and Veganomicon cheezy sauce.

Celebration Loaf

Their Celebration Roast is still by far my favorite Field Roast product that I've tried. Previously, I've sampled some at festivals and dined on a warmed version - but now I officially think it's at its tastiest cold and cut up. The 'meaty' outer layer is nice and firm, not squishy like some homemade seitans I’ve made – it’s firm like the baked variations I tend to go for. There is a stuffing, but it’s more like a different flavored middle section than a traditional stuffing. If there was miraculously a thinly sliced version of this particular roast, I'd probably eat more sandwiches! As it is, I enjoy their other slices at Backspace Cafe, but have yet to buy them at home, since the price is a bit high for me and I’m just now a big sandwich person. I like eating the celebration roast pieces as is - they're the definition of a great, savory & salty vegan prepackaged product. I would bet even my sister (omni) would dig it.

Lentil Sage Quarter Loaf

The Lentil Sage loaf at first seemed quite less flavorful in comparison to the celebration roast, eaten on its on or on a sesame rye cracker. Again, I've enjoyed slices of this before with condiments, but had never eaten it in loaf form. After I took the approrpiate advice from Field Roast's product descriptions, and added a dollop of mustard to the cracker with the roast slice, I was eating something on a whole other level. The tangy mustard in combination with the firm, wholesome & herby sage loaf (you can spot lentils, too!) is a winner. It’s honestly remarkable what a different the bit of mustard made. On Thanksgiving, I also served some spreadable Veganoicman cheesy sauce which worked well, but I think a smoked version would be even better with the lentil sage loaf. The strangest thing about this loaf was the removal of the strings, I knoooow it’s not meat, and I know the strings were obviously already removed from my celebration loaf – but I did squirm while removing them.

White Truffle Country Pate

I don't think I've ever had non-vegan pate, so I didn’t know what to expect. I knew there was fancy-pants white truffle flavor, and as a mushroom fan, I was stoked. The brown bowed packaging was the first thing I liked, and then the pate itself was next. I really enjoyed that while there was as woodsy , mushroomy flavor, there was also a sweetness . If this is country vibe, they’ve got it. At first I thought the pate was to be spread, but my loaf was more fittingly sliced. This pate is currently a retail-only (think Whole Foods hot case by the pound) selection – plus it’s VEGAN pate, so it was really cool to try. I think it’s a matter of my taste buds, but I wasn’t really digging it paired with my sesame rye crackers. It was begging for some rustic baguette. I’m giddily planning on making some sort of filo-wrapped concoction with the rest very soon.

Now that I’ve written this and have a salty craving, I daresay it’s time to buy some of those slices..

Thanksgiving for 2.

Yesterday Thomas and I celebrated our 5th vegan thanksgiving together. I'm not too big on leftovers, so I wanted to focus on making side dishes and appetizer bites for 2. Of course, we have a ton of leftovers anyway since I found myself in the kitchen for more than a couple hours and Thomas took his turn making the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.
Speaking of saucy cranberry abundance, I halved the recipe, but being the only one eating it, I still have a ton leftover - any suggestions? I have pumpkin seed crusted tofu in mind for it, but that's all so far. help!

Onto the goods..

yukon gold mashed potatoes, Organic Arrowhead mills stuffing, maple-white balsamic-garlic green beans & hazelnuts. I'm not a stuffing person and never ate it growing up, so we opt for the storebought (especially since I always leave it off the menu by default and remember it last minute..)
I used yukon golds for the mashed potatoes, and honestly think that once you've made mashed with those, you just can't look at russets the same way - they're just so creamy and golden and almost buttery even without the Earth Balance.


Field roast celebration roast, lentil sage roast & white truffle country pate, with sesame rye crackers with mustard and Veganomicon cheezy sauce turned spread. My next post will be a review of these Pacific Northwest grain meats~


vwav biscuits (threw in herbs & nooch) and my recipe for hazelnut & red wine stuffed mushrooms

maple-variation of the nomicon cranberry sauce

since it contains agar, you can hold it upside down! and drop it on your neighbors!


all that jazz on our coffeetable (we've been in between kitchen tables forever which will soon change).

mini apple pies & mini pumpkin pies
made with nomicon basic pastry crust. the pumpkin filling was made by my friend michelle of the spice must flow
the apple pie filling was a simple one - sliced local apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, sea salt, cornstarch & sugar

Strange to think it was only this past Thursday.. I'm currently enjoying my 4-day weekend and roasting a sugar pumpkin. My next few posts will feature the full review of my Field Roast products, this morning's farmer's market purchases, a breakdown of a recent grocery trip and yesterday's lunch out - who wants to eat leftovers so soon anyway?

T-day prep..

T-day prep begins...the simple pastry crust from Veganomicon is in the fridge as I type, waiting to become mini pies.
I had no real prep that I *had* to do the night before, for our simple meal.
Well, the meal won't be simple, but I'm really thinking of it as perhaps, an extensive weekend meal, eaten early, just cooking for two. Since the Sweet Potato pie has already been made and eaten at this past weekend's potluck, I have no more emotional attachment to this holiday besides calling my brother, sister and grandparents (if any of them answer the phone..)

Check out the BIG earth balance containers. I picked up another one yesterday at the coop, because honestly the container on the right has one pat left. But still! Tons of earth balance in this house. I like buying the larger ones (cost $8.99, plus coop discount), so I don't have a ton of empty small ones kicking around. Time to finish the Hazelnut Liquour & Soymilked coffee Thomas just put in front of me..

Eating at work.

I try to specifically make enough food for leftovers, and/or grab greens with me for steaming or salads to eat at work during the week. Fortunately, we have a spacious fridge, kitchen table, toaster oven, microwave and plates to work with. Ever notice blue plates here? Totally not mine.
Today I ate instant wild mushroom cous cous (Mmmm Near East!) and round two of the salad mixture below for lunch. I do dine out on a regular basis, particularly when a meal can last me more than one lunch's worth of food or I can share it. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for leftovers, and sometimes I remember I left my lunch at home while on my way to work - that 'oh mannnnnnnnnnn' moment (especially when I recall something great like chickpea cutlets, just sitting.in.the.fridge). My lunch staple is definitely soups - particularly this time of year. I like to make a batch on Sunday evening, and then enjoy it's savory warmth for the next 3+ days. The Creamy Tomato soup from Veganomicon is certainly in store soon.

So far this week, my lunches have featured this salad with romaine lettuce, purple cauliflower, tamari roasted chickpeas and green bell pepper :

On Monday I dined on Saturday night's leftovers: chickpea cutlets and mushroom gravy:

A surprise on my work kitchen table!

Ow, ow! Field Roast sent me some goods! More on them to come.

White truffle pate, lentil sage loaf and celebration roast.

Mmmm, brown sugar

THE WEBSITE HAS MOVED, SEE THE RECIPE POSTED HERE.

****************************************************************************

Full sized Sweet Potato Pie Casserole, pre-baked.

You can see my extra sprinkle of brown sugar on top. I also added at least another cup's worth of pecans on top, and some cinnamon to the mash.



I had worried that I was bringing too much sweet potato pie casserole to my friend's vegan Thanksgiving potluck this evening, even though she thought 20ish people were coming - who wants to lug a dish across town and then home again?
Fortunately, I came home with a serving or two left, just the right amount for leftovers. After making such a giant amount of these, from giant yams, no less, I've decided that I'm set for the holiday season. Perhaps I'll make it again for xmas, but I'm good for Thursday.

Baked:

Farmer's Market Saturday

I could go on and on about farmer's markets, and how much I love the Portland ones, buying local, organic, gorgeous, delicious produce - but I'll leave it at that. This morning I went with friends for the first time in over a month, and restocked my kitchen:

We're fortunate in the Portland area that buying organically does not necessarily equal overspending. Here's what I paid:

1 pound bag of roasted hazelnuts - $8
shallot - 20 cents
2 heads of purple garlic - 75 cents each
4 + lbs of yukon gold potatoes - 60 cents/lb
7 apples - $1.49/lb
giant green bell pepper - 50 cents
gigantic head of purple caulifower - $3 (check out The Spice Must Flow to see what Michelle does with hers!)
Maiktake mushrooms - $12/lb

Definitely larger than my hand...........

Afterwards, I stopped by Uncle Paul's Produce Market in SE Portland and picked up yams for 47 cents a pound - score!

I have some cauliflower roasting as I type...I'm planning on making the caulifower hummus from Nomicon as well. I also have chickpeas soaking with the Tamari Roasted Chickpeas from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan in mind.

You know that quiz...

You know that quiz that's been going around? Well, if you're bored to tears by the thought of reading it again, then leave my blog now. If you're remotely interested, or obsessively interested (huh? I love you.) then read on....
I saw this on fellow Portlander Anja's adorable Clever Nettle Kitchenette blog and started filling it out a couple days ago, and got around to finishing just a few minutes ago. Check out her Etsy shop for even more adorable-ness.
Now it seems like sure, I've seen this quiz all over the place the past couple days, but I still consider it VeganMoFo worthy....

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?

When it comes to soymilk, not that I ever actually buy it (due to price and evil associations) I do think Silk makes the flat out tastiest and most-drinkable one. My actual favorite is probably the Vitasoy Chocolate Peppermint, but that’s seasonal. Personally, I routinely buy whatever’s cheapest and try to mix up soy/rice/nut/other. I also really enjoy Hemp, Hazelnut and Chocolate Almond milk.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
I received Eat, Drink & Be Vegan! in the mail recently and I’ve got hummus and the chickpea and rice soup on my mind. Yesterday’s shopping list was for the Tempeh Shephardess Pie in Nomicon, that I just may make tonight. Well, I may not since it’s Friday night, we may go out, and who wants to eat leftovers on the weekend? I am currently trying to resist the urge to make Katie's Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls that are calling out to me.... I really want some darn roasted cauliflower with nooch sauce.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Melted earth balance or canola spray, homemade parmesan and sea salt. Sometimes I leave out the parm, and sometimes I’ll add cayenne. Webly got me hooked on sundried tomato-nooch-sea salt & basil for a while.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
Like Anja, I have a lot of problems with pancakes. Sometimes they’re awesome; sometimes I get stuck on a bad roll for a few months and abandon thoughts of waffles. I also made a roasted butternut squash soup last month that I put WAY too much garlic into for a half batch of soup, and only ate a small bowl’s worth. I’ve also had quite a few UGHHHHHs on my gluten free adventures.

5. Favorite pickled item?
I don’t think I could handle anything else pickled except for cukes. I like the traditional Jewish deli ones.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
I have file folders, bookmarked recipes, cookbooks on a shelf, a couple notebooks I jot in and printed out recipes all.over.my.bedroom.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
Trash, recycling & garbage disposal. I never had a garbage disposal growing up and use it all the time.

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)?
How much? Am I growing something, or do I have an endless supply? Would they go bad? Potatoes keep well, chickpeas and what the hell, homemade parmesan.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
My mom’s sweet potato pie.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
Double Rainbow Soy Cream (but not the flavors at TJ’s). Blossoming Lotus' is probably the best in town, though.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
My mom’s old Kitchen Aid mixer is rad. My knives are handy, too.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
I wouldn’t die, but I’d be less of a person without sea salt and pepper. I’m also a big user of thyme (thanks, Isa) and oregano.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
A Fannie Farmer Junior Cooks book my mom gave me.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Strawberry Mango jam from Jam on Hawthorne. I also enjoy marionberry jam. I’m pretty open to local jams.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
coooooooookies. I actually haven’t had many opportunities to serve food other than baked goods to omnivores. Lame. Realistically I actually know mostly veg*ns, though, and I'm not about to bring a tray of baked tofu to work instead of cookies.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
It’s tough! I would say tofu followed closely by tempeh. Often I will prefer tempeh to tofu, though seitan – I still like ya (finally). Tempeh bacon is kinda my love.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
I think brunches are fun to put together, but I’m hungriest and think the longest about dinner. Dinners are versatile, and brunch can be for dinner anyway.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Bottles of oil, vinegar, bulk containers of rice, popcorn and a couple boxes of tea. Aka everything I need a stool to reach.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Edamame, tempeh and chocolate.

20. What’s on your grocery list?
see my last post! Plus garbage bags, yams, pecans and brown sugar…

21. Favorite grocery store?
New Season’s, even if I drop more money there than I’d like to. I’ll say it for a millionth time – I adore shopping at the farmer’s markets and should go tomorrow for the first time in over a month! I also shop at Fred Meyer, Trader Joe’s (more so in the winter when the markets close), Limbo and the lovely People’s Coop – which as a year round, albeit smaller, farmer’s market on Wednesdays.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.
uhhhhhhh ? It’s not that this hasn’t been veganized by people other than me, but roast pork lo mein – similar to the chicken chow mein I had recently at Bamboo Garden. Really, chow mein/skinny lo mein. What’s my point? I didn’t really ‘like’ a lot of foods before I went vegan. I’m not going to veganize gouda cheese or cream puffs successfully, so whatev.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it every day). Or maybe the top 3?
I have Have Cake, Will Travel and What the hell does a Vegan Eat Anyway?, Jewish Vegan & Fueled by Popcorn on my Livejournal friends list, so those three. I have some more on my google reader, but forget to check it, so I mostly find myself food blog hopping after I receive a comment and then touring the community from there. I always make a point to check out Utopian Kitchen, Urban Vegan and Conscious Kitchen, Veganshizzle (even if she doesn't update a lot) and Kitteekake, but I need to stop naming names because I’ve already thought of half a dozen more….

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Peppermint Ritter Sport. Hands down.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
I’ve been meaning to buy some more fancy olive oil, but have yet to. I have a drop left in my current TJ's bottle, which is okay since I’ve been cooking lower-fat lately because of it, ha. It’s not exactly extravagant, but I did buy natural orange flavoring last month for cupcakes. Oh, and Portlanders – New Seasons has Spice Hunter Madagascar Vanilla Extract on sale for $2.50. I did indulge in Sweet & Sara marshmallows a while back – over $6 for a teeny tiny box. Since I just had my heart and mind touched while watching BlackGold (I highly recommend watching this) at Coffeefest, I’m going to be purchasing more ethically than ever (reason to buy fancypants organic fair trade chocolate, sure~)

26. What was your favorite food BEFORE becoming veg*n?

cheese. Although I didn’t actually eat and enjoy Mac & Cheese until college, it would be on the list. And gouda. I’ve even been there! Ricotta Salata was a favorite when I was younger, but I wouldn't want to veganize cheezes, and developing a taste for expensive faux cheez is not a smart habit, financially or creatively.

And just so we get some Food Porn up in this hiz-ous, here's Tuesday's $5 BIG BIG BIG lunch special from the all veg India Chaat House food cart:

I want to swim in Channa Masala, okay?

What am I making?

I mentioned last week how I was saving money, working with what I had around the house for meals, etc....and with today being payday and the realization that my produce consists of half a head of romaine lettuce, it's time to go shopping. On top of that, I not only have Veganomicon, but my copy of Eat, Drink & Be Vegan arrived - !!!!!!! Which hummus to make first? Let me know of any recommendations~
Not too much, since I'm still budgeting for my upcoming East Coast trip (hotel, camera, winter coat, new luggage, spending money!), but I'd like to restock on tamari, chickpeas, dark greens, the cauliflower I've been craving and the following for a specific recipe Thomas and I agreed on last night, while watching Kitchen Nightmares (yet AGAIN being filmed on Long Island, my homeland):

• shallot
• garlic
• cremini mushrooms
• coriander (I'm not quite fond of this but it's for the recipe)
  
• black pepper (running low)
  
• frozen peas
• corn
• parsley
• potatoes
• nondairy milk (I buy whatever is cheapest and organic)

Can you guess what I'm making? It's from one of my new books, and well, everyone but Isa and Terry are allowed to guess....

Speaking of grocery items, guess whose favorite faux meat has a blog and mentioned Get Sconed! ? Field Roast! Yum.

Lunch yesterday: Leftover pizza with soy cheez and black olives and a side salad (ahem, that lettuce..) from It's a Beautiful Pizza in SE Portland, from a PPK dinner with fellow bloggers Joanna, Susie, Strawberryrock, VeganFabulous, Michelle & more friends.

Vegan Contests! & Thanksgiving Plans

Hi guys, I didn't want to rush a VeganMoFo post today, so I thought I'd share these two contests that Amy over at Vegcooking and GoVeg told me about....

from her email:

1. Win Vegan Twinkies!

The Brooklyn based bakery, Vegan Honey, has donated one $40 gift certificate to their Etsy.com online shop. There you can find all kinds of vegan baked goods, even a Fauxstess Line that includes vegan Twinkies! It’s too cute. All you have to do to win is leave a comment about your favorite vegan dessert on the VegCooking blog, and the best comment wins.

2. Win Veggie Turkey in Time for Thanksgiving

We are giving away four Garden Protein Veggie Turkey breasts, that are stuffed with wild rice and cranberries, to one lucky winner. It’s simply enter to win, and the winner will receive their “turkey” in time for Thanksgiving

___

Speaking of Thanksgiving, this will be my 5th Vegan Thanksgiving, and here's my tentative menu for 2:

• VWAV biscuits and gravy
• Roasted garlic mashed yukon gold potatoes
• Steamed string beans
• Stuffed mushrooms -or- tempeh meatloaf (Thomas wants the mushrooms, I want to try the meatloaf)
• My mom's Sweet Potato pie casserole
  
• Cranberry sauce
• Mini apple pie
• Mini pumpkin pie

If you're in the mood for some vegan thanksgiving food porn, check out my post from last year here, featuring the Tofurkey I will not opt for again.. What are your Thanksgiving plans? As you can see, I am adoring the idea of cutesy individual pies.

Seattle-y

Looks are deceiving - although this cinnamon roll may look like it kicks cinnamon sugary ass, it didn't. I had actually been at the Globe for breakfast first thing Saturday morning, and resisted one of their fresh rolls to pick this up from Cinnamon Works at Pike Place market later on (aka leaving Coffeefest while Thomas was in a cupping class).

Back to the roll - though not too highly priced, at $3 this big big was just that big. There was a whole row of rolls, but maybe I had weekday unluckiness? It was bready, bready and dry. I bought 2, and neither was finished. Although I ate the one I bought in June from The Globe for 3 days, these were dried out within a couple hours. Plus, I was sorta peeved that the frosting wasn't classically white. I've never had an honest-to-goodness moist vegan cinnamon roll, what's up with that? (though I haven't tried Evan's)


Kittee inquired if I went to The Globe - of course! And I actually thought of her when I decided on my meal~ The all-vegan Globe Cafe is so cool that I felt silly turning on the flash. They've taken the tofu scramble off the menu and granted, replaced it with a fancy spanish vegan omellette. I didn't order it, due to onion-osity, and since Tommy ordered the biscuits and gravy and I also wanted savoury, but nothing too too heavy - I went this 3 sides: a biscuit, grits and garlicky collards.

The collards were probably the best I've ever had, the biscuit was of the yeasty variety (fast forward to ugh about the cinnamon roll later in the day) and the grits were good - just super hot and requiring a TON of nooch and some sea salt. I was expecting them to have some super awesome vegan buttery flavor, but there was margarine for personal use so I added some myself.


After our first day at the fest was over, we dropped off our swag at the hotel, changed into dry socks and went to Bamboo Garden for a late dinner, which was nearby our hotel in South Lake Union. We had gone to Bamboo Garden last January when my sister and her boyfriend were in town, and I wasn't wowed, but I can honestly say this was a very positive second experience. I would certainly go back. I don't think it's on the same 'level' as Teapot, quality wise, but expect a high review on Stumptown Vegans in the future, yo.

We made it to the restaurant about after 8:30pm, and didn't actually eat lunch, so picture me literally diving into this plate of chicken chow mein....



Thomas ordered the sesame chicken..balls. balls. balls.



chicken ball vs. noods



I liked the chicken fingers enough, but the springrolls weren't my thing. at all.
too much greasiness, but at least they came to the table within, oh, 5 minutes of ordering?



Tonight I'll be dining with some PPKers, celebrating the return of Strawberryrock to the States, and beautiful vegan pizza. Hard to believe it's already the third week of VeganMoFo..

Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?

You know what, I just don’t feel like cooking.

Normally, if I somehow don’t have the urge to cook, I will anyway since it’s a cost-effective and personal way of getting food into my body. Usually I actually try to embrace some of the rare times when I don’t feel like cooking, or don’t have the time and/or energy to. In my last post, when I was sick, I didn’t and so I ordered some pho. Other times, I’ll take advantage of the time enjoy a local restaurant or design my own organic stir fry from nearby New Season's Market.

So, why don’t I feel like cooking?
True, I’m tired from my weekend trip to Seattle for CoffeeFest – which I will get to tomorrow.
Is it the fall blues? The fact that I haven’t gone to a farmer’s market in a couple weeks? My empty refrigerator post-weekend-trip? The dining out we did?

The fact that there’s a dozen Mighty O Donuts sitting at home, and above?

All of the above. Mostly the last one. Which was surprisingly easy to get to via public transportation.

Thomas and I sat down in the shop, and each ate one (pumpkin for me, glazed for him) and had a house of coffee (Stumptown is making the moves on Seattle!). I bit into mine, and it was so moist and lightly pumpkiny and spiced and just enough glaze and wonderful that I thought I become a puddle of contentness on the floor.

In case you’re wondering……there’s Pumpkin, Glazed, Lemon Poppyseed, Chocolate Coconut, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Mint Grasshopper, Raspberry, Coconut & Nutty French Toast.

In all seriousness, I will probably not only eat donuts for dinner because I'm craving cauliflower, randomly, but don't be surprised if I complain of a bellyache during tomorrow VeganMoFo.

Attack of the Sore Throat!

When I'm sick, if I'm hungry, it's usually for spicy, greasy chinese food - something I can taste and crave. Yesterday afternoon, I started suffering from a sore throat. Fast forward a few hours and magazine stuffing party at Herbivore (the new issue is so cool) later, I could only sleep after taking some cough medicine that I'm pretty sure expired last year...but that's besides the point.
The point is, today my appetite wasn't in regular swing, but I wanted a soothing soup - and I wasn't up for making it.. I was too pooped to make lunch for today last night, and I couldn't make it across town on my lunch break for what I truly wanted - the hot and sour soup at Bay Leaf. I didn't really want to spend much money since I'm last-minute money-crunching, so I walked to Blossoming Lotus with my free gift card from the Vegan Holiday Fest in hand, and opted for the Pho, which Webly had recently talked about in high regards when she was under the weather.

Mmmm. Ahhhhh.
Not only was this photo taken in a rush, but I attempted to eat some of this super hot pho too quickly as it was. I have an hour lunch break, it took me 7-10 minutes-ish to walk there from my office, I waited 10 minutes for a table, and then 25 for food...you get the picture. Regardless, although it was a bit bland since I didn't have time to let the jalapenos kick into the broth, the broth and bits I did eat were enjoyable. I look forward to the rest tonight - and not cooking.

NW Veg members receive a complimentary 1 ounce soy soft serve or sometimes raw fudge from Blossoming Lotus - and today I got raspberry (which was honestly more like pink vanilla).
It was still GREAT, and soothing, and I'd like to credit this goodness that I ate on my walk back to the office with helping my throat.

Alright, I'm off to pack for Seattle. I'm going to aim for a quick VeganMoFo daily post tomorrow, but if not, have a lovely weekend.