I Know You Were Expecting Mighty O's...

Has it really been almost two months since I last posted? I didn't mean to drop off the face of blogworld, but it has been an emotionally challenging past few weeks and I really needed some time away. I am trying this weekend to catch up all of your blog posts, and can't wait to see what everyone has been up to!
It feels like forever ago that I was promising yall photos of all the Mighty O's I was going to consume in Seattle. Unfortunately, that trip didn't happen, but I wasn't about to go without donuts! So I used Vegan YumYum's recipe to make these baked donuts with chocolate glaze and vegan sprinkles. A suitable substitute until I can get back up to Seattle.

To celebrate Earth Day our local vegan group organized a potluck picnic, which always means lots of great food to sample! Since we were minus a kitchen at my place (we were getting wood floors installed throughout the house), I went with a simple but classic picnic favorite... potato salad! My favorite recipe lately has been the one from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, but I just spotted an avocado potato salad in the new Vegan Brunch book that I'm excited to try.

Did I mention I visited NYC for a long weekend as well? Despite the rainy weather, John and I walked up and down Manhattan Island in search of good vegan (for me) and Italian (for him) food, while seeing some of the sights along the way. One of the coolest things we saw was on Ellis Island, where John's grandparents had their names engraved on the immigrant wall... a piece of family history! So I know you're waiting now for food pics, but I didn't take any! So instead you get a photo of me on the Brooklyn Bridge....

Okay, so maybe I took one or two food photos, here is a spelt chocolate cupcake from Babycakes! I also picked up their new cookbook, and am excited to try some of their recipes in my own kitchen. In addition to Babycakes, this was the food line-up: fauz meat dinner at Red Bamboo, pizza in Little Italy, fancy dinner at Candle 79, and brunch at Counter. I desperately wanted to make it to Lulu's for ice cream but ran out of time. Gives me yet another reason to return.

And check out the goodies I got in the mail this week...

Amey sent me homemade cookies! From the top down they are maple walnut, chocolate cherry almond (my favorite of the three), and chocolate chip. Thanks so much Amey for sweetening up my week; these cookies put a big smile on my face.

No plans to be disappearing again. I have a shoe and book review to post soon!

Dust Off the Shelf - The Classics

It's time to dust off my cookbook shelf again! This time with a triple shot of Sarah Kramer and a double dose of Tanya Barnard: La Dolce Vegan, How it all Vegan, and The Garden of Vegan. Like many of you out there, these cookbooks were the first thing I turned to when I went vegan (hence the post title, "the classics"). And it was a good thing too, because they are filled with familiar recipes that are generally simple to prepare and taste delicious.
From La Dolce Vegan, I cooked up the Aloo Gobi Potatoes and Cauliflower, making sure I added plenty of peas (a favorite of mine in Indian dishes). This was the perfect quick meal: a short ingredient list and minimal cook time, plus the result was full of flavor and rivaled the aloo gobi at my favorite Indian restaurant in town! Served with my favorite lemon basmati rice on the side. In The Garden of Vegan, I dove right into the extensive dessert section. I was looking for something to build a cute housewarming gift around, and these lemon poppyseed shortbreads were just the thing. Lemon is such a fresh and inviting scent; perfect for a new homeowner! I wrapped the cookies with a cute yellow bow and added it to a box with a lemon tea towel, zester, squeezer, and a tiny bottle of lemon oil.
And finally, from How It All Vegan I made one of my childhood favorites -veganized-... chocolate chip cookie bars. Part cookie, part cakey brownie, but all parts good. These turned out so moist and fluffy, it was difficult not to eat the whole pan!
So now my cookbook shelf is looking rather spiffy and well used... but it will surely collect dust once again, and that's when I'll be back with another round of Dust Off the Shelf!

Daring Bakers Challenge: Tuile Cookies

Tuiles so light so crisp

being a daring baker

you lifted my heart

No reinventing
Yum yum recipe and tools
I cut out my heart
Patience played its part
one broken for one intact
heart flutters each drop
Whipped a mango mousse
into shape you were molded
now i heart agar

Topped with raspberries
endless possibilites
a heart shape five ways

Hope you understood
my haiku lyric journey
tuile around my heart

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Vegan

There is something magical about the Nutcracker ballet... the music, the story, the thought of a land filled with endless sweets. Many years growing up, I looked forward to wearing my holiday dress and using those little glasses to magnify the dancers up on their toes. I would leave the theatre feeling like I too had been transported to the land of the sugar plum fairy with a nutcracker prince at my side. Since I didn't make it to the ballet this year, I put together my own little video to whisk me away to that magical place filled with holiday sweets...
(music from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker)


This year's holiday baking included veganizing some of my childhood favorites. They turned out so well that I'm going to share the recipes...

Mounds Bars - a graham cracker crust with a gooey coconut filling and topped with a layer of chocolate

Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Earth Balance vegan butter, melted

1 cup coconut (sweetened, not dessicated)
3/4 cup sweetened condensed soy milk (recipe here)
1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips
1 T chunky peanut butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix crumbs, sugar, and melted earth balance and press into an 8x8 pyrex dish.
2. Combine coconut, sweetened condensed soymilk, and vanilla in a small bowl. Spread carefully on top of crumbs in an even layer.
3. Bake for 15 minutes in 350 oven. Remove from oven and cool.
4. Melt chocolate chips on a double broiler. Add in peanut butter. Spread on top of baked bars.
5. Refrigerate until chocolate has set and ready to serve. Store in refrigerator.


Pecan Tassies - a creamy dough with a sugary sweet pecan filling

Ingredients:

1/3 cup vegan cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan butter, softened
1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp EnerG egg replacer + 2 T water
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 T Earth Balance vegan butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line a mini muffin pan with liners and lightly oil. Set aside.
2. In a stand mixer, cream together softened cream cheese and butter. Mix in flour until well incorporated. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour.
3. Shape dough into 24 - 1 inch balls. Place balls into greased muffin cups. Press dough into the bottom and up the sides of the cups.
4. Beat together the EnerG, sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Add the chopped pecans.
5. Fill the dough lined muffin cups with the pecan mixture. Top with extra pecans if desired.
6. Bake for 25 minutes at 325, or until filling is set. Remove from oven and cool until able to remove the tassies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Crispy Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup chunky natural peanut butter
2 cups crisped brown rice cereal
1/2 cup sweetened coconut

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combin rice cereal and coconut, set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil.
3. Add peanut butter and return to a boil. Continue to boil for approximately one minute.
4. Pour sugar and corn syrup mixture over cereal mixture and quickly coat the cereal.
5. Drop 1 T sized balls onto waxed paper and allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday full of friends, family, and of course, lots of vegan sweets.

W.I.P. Wednesday: PJs and Pizzelles

I have graduated to sewing curves! And the zigzag stitch! And elastic! These Eiffel Tower pajama pants were made with the Sew Easy Pajama Pants pattern and with the help of the lovely Sarah. They are an xmas gift for my sis (who loves Paris, hence the pattern).

In addition to my normal holiday baking, I also attempted vegan pizzelles for the first time (and subsequently learned that I've been pronouncing "pizzelle" incorrectly my whole life). The whole process was a bit finicky, but with a little more work, I think I'll have it mastered! I used a variation of Emilie's recipe, with both anise and ground almonds.


My next project? Baby bibs and an animal friends fabric book for my good friend who is expecting a little one on Feb 14th! And maybe a pair of pajama pants for myself :-)

Holiday baking post is up next....

Sugar Cookies with Cairo

On Friday night, we took a break from our regular weekend routine and hosted Cairo, a 3-year old vegan toddler that is full of energy! This gave his parents a chance to have a night off on their own. Cairo requested that we make vegan sugar cookies earlier in the week, and who am I to say no to baking?

First step... dough smashing! And of course getting flour all over the counter and on our faces (on Cairo's cheek and my nose). I pre-made the dough using the recipe from Katie at Troubled Tofu, which I highly recommend if you like soft sugar cookies! Scroll to the end to see the crossposted recipe.

After dough "smashing" we rolled out the dough... Check out the cute "Junior Baker" apron he has on!
Next, we cut out the cookies into different shapes. Cairo was especially excited about the dinosaur cookie cutters (triceratops, stegosaurus, and tyrannosaurus rex), he loves dinosaurs.
While the cookies were baking in the oven, we built a skyscraper made out of Linkin Logs. I remember playing with these as a kid, but don't think I was ever able to build anything that tall!
Once the cookies were cooled and the icing was made, Cairo got right to icing the cookies (like the stegosaurus shown below).
Then there was the question of sprinkles. Too many choices. But once Cairo made a decision on what color to use, he was committed. John tried to coax him into adding more sprinkles, but Cairo clearly had a vision. A vegan master baker in the making!
Check out the care he used in applying the sprinkles! He decorated a cookie for his mom, a cookies for his dad, a cookie for John, a cookie for me, and a few cookies for himself (smart kid!).
The finished plate of iced vanilla sugar cookies... my favorite (besides the blue T-rex that Cairo decorated for me) was Cairo's rainbow snowflake on the bottom left. He kept dipping the spatula into the different color icings saying "a little of this and a little of this and a little of this...." So cute!

Whew! Three hours with a three year old really wore us out, but Cairo was such a happy, fun, loving kid that it was worth it. As we were sitting on the couch watching a video, there was a dragon eating spaghetti and meatballs. John asked Cairo if he ever ate meatballs. His reply? "We eat spaghetti with veggie meatballs".



NoWhey's Sugar Cookies

2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
egg replacer = to 1 egg (use ener-g, not flax)
4 teaspoons soymilk (might need to add more in later)
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Thoroughly cream shortening, sugar and vanilla in a mixer until a bit fluffy, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl every once in a while. Add egg replacer; beat until even more light and fluffy. Stir in soymilk until well combined. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients and then blend into creamed mixture. It will seem a little dry at first, but keep blending and it should be moist enough to hold together well. If it is extremely crumbly, add about a teaspoon more of milk. Divide dough in half, wrapping each half in wax paper. Chill at least 1 hour.
On lightly floured surface, roll to 1/8 inch thickness (one half at a time, while still chilling other half). The thicker it is, the softer the cookie though. Cut in desired shapes. Bake on greased cookie sheet about half an inch apart at 375 for 5-7 minutes. Cool slightly, remove from pan. Cool all the way before frosting. Makes 2 dozen (depending on cookie cutters).

VeganMoFo: Presidential Bakin' and Debatin'

No need to watch the presidential debate tonight and get frustrated about the candidates avoiding questions or answering with a bunch of political mumbo jumbo. Instead, you can bake and eat your way to deciding who you will cast your vote for come November 4.

Before we get to the judging, I'll share the recipes which are both available online (from Family Circle magazine). My modifications to veganize the recipes are in blue. To be fair, I veganized them using the same methods.


Obama's Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Earth Balance buttery sticks
1 1/2 cups plus 2 T (reserved) vegan sugar
2 flax eggs (1 T flax meal + 2 T water = 1 egg)
2 T Amaretto (almond liqueur)
1 tsp each orange and lemon zest
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 T soy milk
Chopped nuts, dried fruit, or poppy seeds (optional)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 325. In a large bowl, cream together EB and 1 1/2 c. of the sugar.
2. Whip flax eggs in food processor. Add to Eb & sugar and beat well until smooth. Beat in Amaretto and zest.
3. Stir in flour and salt until combined.
4. I baked these as cookies by flattening out the dough and using round cookies cutters. You could also bake all together in a 17x12x1 inch baking pan.
5. Brush tops of dough with soy milk. Sprinkle on topping if desired (I used pistachios, dried cranberries, and poppyseeds), and sprinkle on remaining 2 T of sugar.
6. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes or until brown. Mine took a little less time than this since they were individual cookies.


McCain's Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Earth Balance buttery sticks
3/4 cup vegan sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 flax eggs (1 T flax meal + 2 T water = 1 egg)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 2/3 cups vegan butterscotch chips

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375.
2. In a large bowl, cream the Earth Balance, sugar, and brown sugar. Add the flax egg (use same method to make flax egg as in the previous recipe) and vanilla and beat well.
3. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until blended. Add oats and butterscotch chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart on greased (or silpated) cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10 minutes until the edges begin to brown (mine were done in 9). Transfer to wire rack to cool.

And here is a head-to-head analysis of how the presidential cookies stacked up. Each check mark is worth one point.

Veganizability - each recipe needed 3 ingredient substitutions

Access to vegan ingredients - vegan butterscotch chip are available only in the northeast (thanks to Bazu for mine!)

Ability to shape cookie into first letter of candidate's name - I tried an M but it came out a big ole mess

Inclusion of chocolate - I must say I was disappointed that neither included chocolate anything

Inclusion of booze - Boozy baking is always better

Office appeal - I set out a plate of cookies in the workroom kitchen at 8am, by 10am there were 2 McCain cookies left and 3 Obama cookies (I grabbed an Obama cookie so now it's even)

After tallying up my votes, it looks like a 4-2 win for...

But no matter if you make your decision based on cookies or credentials, make your voice heard.... get out and vote on November 4th!

The Cape Without Cod

To celebrate John's parent's 50th wedding anniversary, the whole family (all 20 or so of us) spent the week on the beach in South Yarmouth on Cape Cod.


Before heading down to the Cape, John and I took a detour into Central Square for lunch at Rangzen Tibetan Restaurant where we were joined by Emilie from The Conscious Kitchen and her husband. The four of us enjoyed a delicious lunch from the buffet and good conversation. After interviewing Emilie several months ago, it was so much fun to be able to meet with her in person!

Emilie must have heard my secret cries for a week without homemade cupcakes! It was so thoughtful of her to bake these and transport them by bike. They were devoured rather early in the week and I can now attest to the fact that her baked goods taste just as amazing as they look! Thanks Emilie!

On the way out of Boston, we stopped by Wheeler's Frozen Desserts to get a taste of their famous vegan ice cream. I had a scoop of peanut butter (my favorite) and Mexican chocolate. Still waiting for they day when they open up shop in my neighborhood...

While on the Cape, we didn't do much eating out, but one afternoon while shopping in Chatham, we stopped into the Anytime Cafe where they had a vegan wrap on their menu. Not the tastiest wrap I've ever had, but certainly edible.

A few cool pictures from the trip... an amazing orange full moon on our walk home from dinner one night. And a jellyfish from our dock at the mouth of the Bass River. John got stung one night while in the water (I was safe on land)!

Home for the week was a little cottage merely 50 feet from the water. When we first arrived, I was a bit skeptical as to how I would be able to cook anything in the miniature and dated kitchen, but it grew on me and I was able to turn out quite a few meals for myself and to share with the family. The stove/oven combo must have been straight out of the 1950's! But I managed to make things like tofu and asparagus stir fry, baked tempeh, roasted chickpeas, and a beautiful peach and blueberry crisp! The potato salad on the bottom right (please excuse the camera lens in the photo) is a family favorite put together by my father-in-law. John's family went out of their way to make sure I had plenty to eat :-)
The hydrangea must be the most popular flower on Cape Cod, because we saw them everywhere. I especially loved this heart-shaped one from my sister-in-law's garden. And I couldn't not post a photo of one of the gorgeous dahlias planted by my father-in-law.

One foggy afternoon we went on a whale watching trip to Stellwagen Bank, just northwest of the tip of Cape Cod. I was a bit skeptical that we would actually see anything, but we saw a number of minky whales, and had numerous sightings of humpback whales! One pair was a mother and baby (left photo). It was amazing to be so close to these majestic creatures.
We also trekked over to Chappaquidick Island, sight to the famous beach scenes from JAWS, to enjoy a final day in the sun. Lunch was picked up from Skinny's Fat Sandwiches (I got a pretty tasty tofu salad wrap) and I baked some chocolate chocolate chip pecan and peanut butter oatmeal cookies for dessert. It was a perfect beach day (the first photo in the post is from the beach on Chappy).

After returning to Boston for one night before heading home, we soothed our sun-soaked bodies with some of the new Purely Decadent coconut milk ice cream, cookie dough flavor. I am still sad I haven't been able to find this stuff in Houston.
So that wraps up my posts about my month of intense traveling and I should now be getting back to blogging about life in Houston!

MeatOut(reach) in Houston

Spring is a time of year when everything gets a fresh start... flowers are in bloom, baby birds are chirping, streets are lined with garage sales galore, and many people are taking a close look a their diet (no doubt some are trying to get their bodies in "beach shape"). This is where Meatout comes in. Every spring, this grassroots campaign asks people to "kick the meat habit" and promotes a plant-based, cruelty-free diet. Events were held throughout the world, and here's a few things that happened in Houston!

First, for my personal activity, I made a batch of cupcakes (also to celebrate a friend's birthday) to bring into work. My colleagues got to enjoy the mucho margarita cupcakes from VCTOTW. I kept them on my desk in my office, and as people came in, they could read my meatout literature and paraphenalia as the scent of tequila-spiked frosting wafted through the air.
On Friday night, I joined other members of Society of PEACE for Food Not Bombs in downtown Houston to serve up free vegan food to the needy as another form of Meatout outreach. There was quite a large turnout, but we were prepared and easily had enough food to feed 100 people! I made baked ziti topped (just free-formed this part) with pine nut cream from V-con. Not the prettiest picture I know, but rest assured that what it lacks in visual appeal was more than compensated by its creamy goodness.
Our final outreach event for Meatout was tabling and leafleting to the downtown Houston lunch crowd just outside of city hall. SOP had a table set up with plenty of veggie literature, including vegan starter kits and information about Houston area events. Five of us took to the sidewalks and handed out leaflets to anyone who would take them (and surprisingly, many people did!). My favorite combination to hand out was a post card saying "Stop global warming one bite at a time" and the Vegan Outreach leaflet entitled "Even If You Like Meat" My opening line? "Would you like some information about the connection between global warming and your diet?" Since global warming is a hot topic right now, I figured this was a good way to draw them in, and hopefully they would see how cruel and unneccessary the animal industry is as well. Many people did a double take and asked how global warming and your diet are connected. Sadly, I think this is a connection that many people still fail to make. At least now a few more Houstonians are aware!
And I couldn't let this opportunity for more baking go by, so for the volunteers, I made whoopie pies with pink frosting (recipe from My Sweet Vegan). I thought these came together nicely, the cakey cookie wasn't too sweet, letting the sugary frosting really shine through! Almost like a vegan dessert hamburger of sorts, or at least that was my thought process in connecting them to meatout!

I will be trying desperately the next few days to catch up with blogs! I was out of town this weekend (in Seattle, more on that trip soon) and came home to almost 300 blog entries to read! I hope everyone is enjoying the start of spring, or if it doesn't quite feel like spring where you are, you at least got to enjoy Meatout 2008!<