Invasion of my Wok

It was just like any other ordinary evening. After prepping the veggies I got out my wok to start stir frying. I casually grabbed the bottle of olive oil and drizzled a bit in the pan, turned my back to grab a spatula for only a moment, then returned to my wok to find this weird little guy looking back up at me.
You know how sometimes you see produce that is just so beautiful that you put it in your basket and forget to check the price until you see it flash on the computer screen at check-out? This happened to me with some gorgeous graffiti eggplants (not sure why I didn't photograph it), now forever known as the $7 eggplant. I kept it simple and served the eggplant napoletana style with artichokes, tomatoes, and capers from VWAV. Being a somewhat picky eggplant eater, I thought the graffiti eggplant had a milder flavor, but probably not quite worth the high price!

I recently picked up a copy of Vegan Express and have been meaning to try out a recipe from it. Wow, do I love how fast this meal got cranked out... grilled polenta with spinach, black beans, and sun-dried tomatoes (I also added a few chipotles in adobe sauce). This meal also reminded me how much I love my grill pan!
And after dining at the real Candle Cafe in NYC back in July, I dusted off my Candle Cafe Cookbook to make the tempeh scallopini. You honestly can't go wrong with a mushroom sauce made with wine. This sauce theme was continued later in the week when I made purple hull pea and quinoa croquettes with mushroom sauce from VWAV (but the picture turned out kind yucky).
I am so ready for the weekend! We have our first Houston Vegan Knitters meeting on Sunday at Field of Greens, and I think I'm going to attempt veganyumyum's knit cupcakes for the occasion! Oh yeah, and I turn 29 on Monday....

Been a Bad Blogger

So I should come up with some really good excuse now about why I haven't blogged in over a week, truth is, there isn't one. I felt sick for a few days last week and since have been a bit unmotivated in the kitchen and busy getting ready to leave town. John and I leave Saturday for our delayed honeymoon on St John (any one have vegan food suggestions there?). I have also fallen behind on reading blogs, but I will really try to visit all of them before I leave!! I am a bit sad because I totally blew off the end of Vegan MoFo, I had so many other posts planned that just didn't make it. I could almost do a whole post on that! One of them will be tomorrow, and I'll try to fill in the rest as the month goes on.

Culinarily speaking (is that a word?), not much going on in my kitchen. Mostly we've been trying our best to clean out the fridge and pantry. But I think today I'm going to have to make a run to the grocery store because I'm craving fresh veggies and we have none! Last night I actually ate cereal for dinner. But the night before we had a real meal....

In the front is a stir fry of smoky seitan (used the V-con marinade for the smoky tempeh), red pepper, mushroom, and a bit of zucchini. Served alongside pureed white beans cooked with onion, garlic, and thyme. These taste creamy like mashed potatoes but are probably much better for you! And p.s., I used my new hand blender for the first time on these and fell in love, what a cool gadget! And up top is some pan-fried polenta (straight from the package) topped with roasted tomatoes (which I love on everything). Not bad for a meal when we had not much in the fridge.

For dessert, I indulged in some fudge that my mom sent home with me on Sunday. She enticed me over to the house with promises of fudge to help her decorate the Christmas tree. It's been a long standing tradition in our house, decorating the tree = fudge. Of course, I would have helped without it. And what's even better is that my mom now makes a vegan version, which is apparently also a lot easier than what she used to. Here is the recipe. I'll leave you with a photo of this creamy, chocolately holiday fudge.
Promise I'll be back with more tomorrow!

Too Many Things in the Oven!

Last night was my first serious cooking since returning to Houston on Monday. Here's a peak at our crowded plate:



After seeing a sneak peak of some recipes for the upcoming Veganomicon on the ppk, I knew I had to try one out. And luckily, I had some tempeh in the fridge, so I made the Hot Sauce Glazed Tempeh. I used chipotle hot sauce, since I love that smoky flavor. And in my rush of trying to keep track of all the other things going on, I forgot to add lemon juice to the marinade, but it all turned out fine. Since I don't have a grill pan, I went with the broiling option. Alongside the tempeh (and the other things that took up space in my oven) was roasted brussels sprouts, roasted sweet potatoes and red pepper (seasoned with cumin, coriander, and garlic), and pan-fried polenta topped with roasted grape tomatoes. A delicious meal that even our omnivorous friend devoured!

While I was busy with the oven, we had pita chips and store-bought hummus to munch on (I know, very lazy of me). But I had to take a photo of my new chip and dip platter, a wedding gift from my grandparents!



For dessert we had leftover wedding cake (marble cake with the best chocolate frosting ever). I froze about half of it and the rest we're (meaning mostly me, John likes to be healthy but I can't resist) trying to eat. Maybe I'll freeze a little more.

Still working on getting wedding photos together. I'll post those sometime over the weekend.

Blog Food

Saturday, we dined purely on blogworld food! After a long morning walk (it's actually getting a bit more bearable outside now), I made Bazu's buckwheat pancakes!! I had bought buckwheat pancake mix ages ago for a vegan fried chicken recipe that failed miserably (not sure why since it had so many great reviews!), and I knew that pancakes could never fail! My only change up was to add some cinnamon (which I'm not sure I tasted in the end) and served the pancakes with a mixture of maple syrup and agave. These were a tasty change up from regular pancakes, and will certainly be added to my breakfast repertoire! (plus I love to make extra to keep in the fridge as snacks, just slather on some pb)



All week I have been trying to find pre-cooked polenta to make Polenta Lasagna. Finally while making a stop at Central Market to get apple cider (John's going to start a batch of hard cider and not many stores carry this quite yet...), I hit the jackpot! So we came home with some basil & garlic polenta as well as sun-dried tomato and garlic. Instead of kale, I used spinach (yay, it's still on the shelves!) and also added in plenty of zucchini. As you can see it came out of the pan a bit of a mess (check out Susan's pic), but we both still scarfed it down just the same.



Okay, I can barely contain my excitement for my early birthday dinner celebration with my family tonight!! Rumor has it there will be cupcakes involved. This is one of those instances where I'm making an exception to my little "diet". Oh, I am just salivating thinking of them!!