Peach Cobbler & Purely Decadent Coconut Ice Cream

To my delight, I was contacted by Purely Decadent recently for the sole purpose of eating coconut ice cream and dishing about it here.  

Not being entirely selfish, I decided to invite several PPKers over after a lunch meet up and share the decadence.  

To start, the package of their coconut ice creams was fed-exed with dry ice to my office:

Cookie Dough, Chocolate, Coconut, Vanilla Bean and Mint Chocolate Chip

Note to the world - do not touch dry ice!

I set up the ice cream station with dark chocolate sprinkles, organic chocolate syrup, water and a fresh Peach Cobbler.

Now, I am already a fan(atic) of the light and creamy Sharon's Coconut Sorbet sold at Trader Joe's, and do enjoy a few bites of Coffee Coconut Bliss until it gets a bit rich for my taste.

Overall, I enjoyed how these weren't as heavy as Coconut Bliss, for better or worse (aka eating half a pint for dinner).   The Vanilla Bean was my personal favorite, and even the Mint Chocolate Chip escaped being victim to too much coconut.

The winner of the day seemed to be the Cookie Dough and Chocolate.

The Vanilla Bean ontop of a small piece of warm chocolate cake or brownie would probably blow my mind.  

As for the cobbler, I made it with local peaches I picked on my birthday weekend.  It is the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, and somehow I'd never made it before.

Jeff takes the taste test very seriously.

The Veganshizzle enjoying her dish:

I am back from Seattle and had fantastic time.  I'll try to post about it before leaving for Monterey Bay, CA for work this weekend - let me know if you have any tips for there or San Jose - and don't forgot about VeganMoFo starting October 1st!

Get Sconed!

Hi there, I made some scones...




I made a half batch of the basic Vegan with a Vengeance scones, adding 3/4 cup of chopped, fresh peaches and 1/4 cup of raisins.



I really like how they look like mini Irish soda breads. No icing required.

Some cubed extra firm tofu scramble for good measure:



with Trader Joe's extra firm tofu, black beans, portabella mushroom, greens, tomato, carrot, yellow bell pepper, black olives, veggie sausage, garlic, turmeric, thyme, oregano, sea salt, pepper, seasoning salt and care.



See, I can live up to the blog title now and then~

What's for dinner tonight? I have Hot Sauce Glazed tempeh marinading in the fridge, from the now-available from certain stores Veganomicon. Sure, Barnes & Noble has it, but I'd still recommend waiting for your independent book store to get it in, or at least Powell's online. I can understand wanting to get your hands on it ASAP though.
As for the tempeh recipe, it's available on the PPK recipe section already here
and you can check out the photo I took when I first tested it on the main page, too. (oooo!)

Vegan with a Vengeance chocolate chip cookies

Can't you just picture these in an Entenmann's box?

Originally uploaded by jdfunks.


*added 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract.
*currently being eaten by my coworkers.

Vegan Brooklyn Pad Thai, Vege Thai dinner, Mushrooms and Tulips

Hell yea, I finally made (aka picked up the ingredients for) the Brooklyn Pad Thai in VWAV.

I used Trader Joe's new rice noodles (99 cents!), and left out the onion and lemongrass, which I didn't see a need to pick up, as I was already buying bean sprouts, rice noodles, chili sauce and peanut oil. I did not garnish with cilantro, as I hate it. I also julienned carrots but forgot to add them. Regardless of the changes, it was still fantastic! The noodles were a bit annoying to stir fry, but they made it through all saucy and gave me dinner and lunch. Even my 'I don't want to eat Thai food, specially pad thai' at home boyfriend said it looked and smelled like the real thing (he had already eaten).

I've only cooked with peanut oil a couple times before, and I'm really pleased I picked it up - cooking with it smells just like Vege Thai. Greasy goodness of a treat (addiction?) that Vege Thai is....

I really, really love Vege Thai, and the downtown Veggie Express food cart. In particular, the food cart has given me opportunities to try different menu items that I probably would not try at the restaurant. Above, though at the restaurant, is something I've ordered twice now, the pineapple curry with tofu, medium heat.
Thomas' favorite - Pad Sei-iew with mock pepper steak. This one is great as well, made with a dark soy sauce. I am constantly asking to his plate.
If you go, do remember to ask for the 'vegan' chicken if you are vegan, as they have both vegan and vegetarian chicken.
The other night I was just feeling mushrooms for dinner, and made this balsamic galzed (VWAV) cremini, cherry tomato, field greens, avocado, roasted garlic and vegenaise sandwich on a ciabatta roll from New Seasons. I used white balsamic vinegar for the shrooms, since that's all I have right now, but I intend to pick up some red soon. The white just isn't as deep a flavor to me.
This is a Veganomican test recipe that I made for the second time on Monday night -
Spicy tempeh with broccoli and whole wheat pasta.
I'm a big spicy, and tempeh, garlic and broccoli and whole wheat pasta fan, so yum.

One of my favorite things to make and eat - stuffed mushrooms. This was my first time marinading the caps beforehand. They were in a mixture of red wine, shoyu, garlic, white balsamic and olive oil for over 24 hours. A similar recipe of mine, Hazelnut and Red Wine mushrooms, is currently up on the Herbivore website in the subscriber section (so subscribe!).


A little pile of Italian-y foods. Baked and bread tofu, roasted eggplant and garlic, baby spinach, and sundried tomato marinara (variation of a Veganomican test recipe).
The eggplant slices were rubbed with garlic and baked for 10 minutes on each side at 400F, and the tofu was dipped in soymilk, and then seasoned breadcrumbs and baked for 15-20 minutes at 400F on each side on parchment paper.


On Saturday night Thomas and I dined for the first time at The Farm Cafe. It was a special, fancypants excursion for us, but absolutely worth it - dinner and cocktails to celebrate our 4th anniversary, blah blah!
We both highly recommend the herb crusted tofu with mashed potatoes and mushroom Marsala sauce, as does everyone else we know who's tried it. The dish was $10 and worth every penny, every bite - and it's a place that focuses on local/organic!
Thomas had the wild mushroom (vegetarian) lasagna special. Unfortunately, no photos of the meal, but here are some lovely tulips:

Somehow, Zelda has not managed to eat these yet.

Tofu Florentine, Avocado Key Lime Pie and a lot of tempeh

Veganomican Test Kitchen Tofu Florentines

Avocado Key Lime Pie from The Artful Vegan



















Tempeh bacon, 123s and chreese and a side salad. I have been craving tempeh!
Also pictured are Veganomican Test Kitchen Caeser Salad with broiled tempeh and roasted garlic croutons, a tofu scramble and tempeh bacon breakfast, and roasted delicatta squash rings with paprika, agave, olive oil and sea salt.

I tried some new ones this past week..

These are the Sexy Vanilla Lowfat Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.
They are spread with local strawberry jam, squiggled with vanilla icing and topped with local strawberries.
I'm making a different batch of never before made cupcakes from the book this evening. Don't you love an excuse to bake? Especially in the cooler months!?!
Group Shot. Made three plain glazed ones as well.
Chickpea Noodle soup goodness.
This is a PPK testing recipe from their book in progress, due out next fall.I have a new favorite 'cheez' recipe, the Vegan with a Vengeance Alfreda! It's nothing like actual alfredo, but I dig it even more. It has bite, and is reminiscent of 'Yumm' spread. This photo is from last week, and I made it on a wim last night after a stressful day.
The sauce recipe is also available on theppk.com here. I omitted the onion, threw in a pinch of onion powder and thinned it with some soymilk to my liking. Urbanvegan raved about it a week or two ago and I knew I had to try this one.
Served over steamed chard, and with steamed chopped spinach.
Sweet potato and pear tzimmes, also from the PPK test kitchen~ Roasted delights.
My gigantic breakfast from our new favorite spot - Junior's. Spuds, tofu scramble with chard, tomatoes, mushrooms & vegan sausage, whole wheat toast with mulberry jam and an orange slice. The essential hangover breakfast (though I wasn't hungover!)BBQ Pomegranate tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance. On the side are roasted bell peppers and red kuri squash, wild brown rice blend, sliced cucumber and more steamed chard <3

My copy has seen better days, it's even lost the cover, but it's well used and well loved!


Ah, lowfat cupcakes..