Lazy Mofo

Ok, fine. I'm a terrible food blogger. As much as I love cooking and eating and trying new things in the kitchen, I find blogging about it to be tedious. Not only that, but my pictures are terrible and I have little if nothing to say about my kitchen adventures.

But I have been busy. I've made banana walnut waffles. I even invited friends over for brunch and made two pounds of tempeh bacon, a double recipe of tofu scramble, a triple recipe of crepes with baked apples, and two dozen pumpkin muffins with fresh cranberries. I've tried, and failed, to veganize my grandmother's almond tarts another two times. I tried (devoured, really) the vegan meatloaf special at Melt. I assure you, there has been a lot of cooking and eating going on.

I just don't care to write about it.

I will say, however, that a couple of weeks ago I discussed the results of some blood work with my obstetrician. After telling me that I'd passed the test for gestational diabetes with flying colors and that I was, surprisingly, not anemic, she said the following:

"My vegetarian and vegan patients have better nutrition than my omni patients."

Boo. Ya.

In other news, I *did* get a beautiful new camera from my parents yesterday at my baby shower, so when I do start posting pictures of things again, they won't suck (as badly). I've also finally started to get the nursery ready, so it looks like my baby won't be sleeping in a drawer after all. I'm also beginning to have trouble fitting through doorways.

Tonight, I'm off to Toledo for a SSPU show. And tomorrow, joy of joys, is the Cavs home opener against Boston, which I will be attending. It is highly likely that I will hyperventilate every time I see Shaq block a shot. I expect, too, that I will get a bit misty when the players are first introduced. I will blame my hormones, which will of course be a lie.

Then, finally, on Friday I discover whether or not I passed the bar. I'm hoping for the best, mostly because while my son's friends will, at this point, have plenty of opportunity for "yo momma's so fat" jokes, I'd like to not open the door to "yo momma's so stupid" jokes.

Operation Freezer Fill: Mole Chili

With the birth of the Nugget due to occur in a mere 7 weeks and 6 days, I've ramped up efforts to fill our freezer full of healthy eats since I know that neither the hubster or I will feel much like cooking for at least a month or two. To assist my efforts, we bought a little chest freezer for our basement, hoping it would come in handy not just for the post-Nugget season, but for cookie-bakage and, eventually, baby food making.

So this week, I whipped up a double batch of the Mole Chili from VWAV. I like to make mine with tempeh and, usually, I substitute pinto beans for the kidney beans, because kidney beans are too darn big and nobody needs that much bean in one mouthful (I know, I know, "that's what she said.") Somehow, though, this time around I forgot all about my kidney bean aversion and used them, anyway.

This chili is The. Best. Chili. Ever. The hubster is making it for a chili cook-off at his work next month, that's how much we love the chili. I like to eat it over mashed yams or sweet potatoes or baked potatoes, poured over tortilla chips and topped with shredded lettuce, salsa, and Sour Supreme, or topping a tofu dog with enough chili that it drips on my plate, so that I can scoop it up with potato chips.

Here's a big bowl of the stuff served over mashed yam or sweet potato (I have no idea which one is which), with a side of corn spoon bread that I found in a vegan cook zine that I bought ages ago:

Now that I've got enough chili in the freezer to last until the Nugget gets his first tooth, I've got to come up with a few other ideas for food-freezage. So far we've got some VWAV corn chowder and Veganomicon's cauliflower curry (see the heavy Isa theme?), but I'm sort of out of ideas. So if anyone reading this has any great recommendations for freezer food, give me a holler!

Veganizing Christmas Cookies: Gran's Almond Tarts

Right.

So trying to cook, let alone veganize, my Gran's recipes is...difficult. For one thing, her recipes are pretty stark when it comes to instructions. Generally, what you'll see is a list of ingredients, a temperature, and a time. Luckily, I grew up in the same house with her. When it was Christmas cookie baking time, I'd be in the kitchen watching her every move until she got tired of me and sent me to the kitchen table to mold my very own pile of dough. I absorbed enough by watching her to be able to figure out how to make the cookies.

But then, my English Gran's English is not necessarily my English. I'll usually have to call her when I come across a line that reads "2 - 3 oz. cream cheese." I'll call and ask, "Gran, does that mean between two and three ounces of cream cheese, or two three ounce portions of cream cheese? And how did you measure these portions, since cream cheese usually comes in half-pint containers?" And she'll respond with something like, "just use a half a pint of sour cream," leaving me, of course, completely flumoxed.

Last year, when I made my favorite almond tarts for the first time, I had the recipe for the dough written down, called her with the above question, was told to use her butter tart dough recipe instead. She then read said butter tart dough recipe to me, which was completely different than the butter tart dough recipe that she'd written down for me.

The way that I know we're related, of course, is that I wrote down the following:

4 cups flour

Pinch salt

1 lb. oleo

1/2 pint sour cream

However, what I think she said, and what I'm pretty sure that I used, was 1/2 pint cream cheese for the sour cream. We're messes, the both of us.

Veganizing the dough was a snap. I used a soy margarine that I discovered recently called Willow's Creek. Yes, there are hydrogenated oils in it. No, I don't care. Why, you ask? Because the WC margarine is, like, half the cost of Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, and when you make 1,000-2,000 Christmas cookies each year, the cost of all that EB will ruin me. And, has anyone else noticed that EB has a funky smell to it when cooked? The hubster tells me that I'm crazy, but seriously, I smell it, and it grosses me out.

I also subbed Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese for the cream cheese. Yes, the stuff is expensive. However, the one recipe of dough will yield at least six dozen tarts (I'm still not done using it all), so one or two tubs of the stuff each year won't bankrupt anyone. Maybe.

Veganizing the filling, however, is another story. The ingredients, and this is from memory, are something like:

3/4 cup ground almonds

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup almond extract

2 drops green food coloring

I vaguely remembered an on-going cookie baking competition at Herbivore where the competitors would use the same cookie recipe, each use a different egg replacer, and then judge the results. I also vaguely remembered that the guy who used soy yogurt usually had the best results, so soy yogurt I used.

The results were not so good.

For one thing, the cookies did not taste almond-ey at all. I'm not sure if the yogurt overpowered the almond taste or what, but though the smell of the cookies baking was right on, the taste was not. For another, I cooked them for 30 minutes at 350 rather than 20 minutes, because the filling just wouldn't set. I eventually took them out of the oven just to keep the shells from getting too overdone.

Also, the things didn't rise, and the longer they cooled, the more they sunk in the middle. The taste wasn't terrible, but the insides were way too gooey. Not to mention, the poor things were just too ugly to frost (I use confectioners' sugar, soy half and half, vanilla extract to ice them and then top them with half of a candied cherry or two shelled pistachios). The hubster and I ate them, of course, but soy yogurt is definitely not the answer for these puppies.

Tonight, I think I'll try using soy milk curdled with apple cider vinegar and a little bit of baking powder to get the things to rise up a bit. I'll also add a little bit of almond extract to get the taste right. For now, some pictures of my first attempt.

Shaping the dough:

Filled and waiting to be baked:

Fresh out of the oven:

Sunken and goopy in the middle:

Veganizing Christmas Cookies: An Introduction

Last Christmas, I baked oodles of Christmas cookies to bring to my in-laws and my parents for Christmas and to share with friends as gifts. I baked so many cookies that Aud and I had to shuttle them from our apartment downtown to our newly purchased house that we were not yet living in so that we could store cookies in the freezer until Christmas. Here is a crappy iPhone shot of the spread:

What you see there are tollhouse cookies (for the hubster), gingerbread cookies (for the parents), peanut butter kisses (for the hubster), kalache, butter tarts, thumb prints, and almond tarts (for me). All in all, what you see there consists about about 80-hours of post-finals, pre-move baking time.

Sadly, last year only *one* of the cookies was vegan. To ensure that all members of my family and friends continue to eat and enjoy said cookies, I'm keeping which cookie was vegan to myself. Why would I do such a thing? Well, let me just tell you that I know and love some very vocal anti-veg*ns. You'd like an example? Well, one such gentleperson once ate and enjoyed something as simple as a store-bought french onion soup, thoroughly enjoyed it, was later told that it was vegetarian (not even vegan, mind you), and said gentleperson proclaimed that he/she "did not believe in that" and has never again touched said delicious soup.

Ridiculous.

But let me tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that said person ate the hell out of that one vegan variety of cookie last Christmas. Apparently, I'd gotten the frosting down "perfectly" after all these years of baking said cookie.

I almost screamed aloud. Best. Christmas. Present. Ever.

I'm determined, this year, to make most (if not all) of my cookies vegan. To do this, I've begun experimenting with my favorite Christmas Cookie of all, my Gran's almond tarts. Tomorrow, I'll share the first (unsuccessful) attempt, which I hope will by followed by the kind of success story that warms your heart and brings tears to your eyes.

Stay tuned.

Vegan Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

Last night my in-laws joined the hubster and I for dinner, and so I brushed off the miniature deep dish pizza pans that my sister bought me from Williams-Sonoma for my wedding shower, and got to work. The recipe for the dough that came with the pans makes some pretty tasty pizza dough, and I'm thankful that I also received a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for my wedding so that I don't have to make it by hand.

I topped my pizza with the cashew ricotta from Veganomicon, a few of Nate's Italian Meatballs, a ton of sauteed onions and green and red bell peppers, and my favorite pizza sauce. The pizza was delicious, the closest that I've had to Pizzeria Uno since...Pizzeria Uno. I'd love to share pics with you, but I felt a bit silly taking photos of my food with guests present.

I may, however, have to write and post my "Official Rules for the Kitchen" so that guests understand what behavior is and is not acceptable when present for the cooking stages of dinner. Examples:

OK Behavior: Offering to help (I'll almost always say no, don't worry).

Not OK Behavior: Taking a spatula out of my hand and trying to hip bump me out of the way so that you can get to the stove.

OK Behavior: Telling me what toppings you'd like on your pizza.

Not OK Behavior: Telling me to turn the temperature down on my mushrooms, and explaining to me how mushrooms need to be cooked.

In other news, tonight I'll attempt to veganize my Gran's almond tarts, so that the recipe will be perfect in time for Christmas. I promise pictures.

Breadsmith Event

I've often heard (well, read online, since I know like 1.5 vegans) that it can be difficult to find vegan bread. Lucky for me, I live mere minutes away from a store called Breadsmith in Lakewood, OH. Breadsmith has a variety of daily vegan selections, and a helpful website for vegans looking for more information. My favorite breads are the Rustic Italian and the Marathon Multigrain, but there's something for everyone.

I stopped at Breadsmith yesterday to pick up my weekly two loaves (the Italian for tempeh bacon sandwiches and cinnamon toast, the Multigrain for everything else), and of course, grabbed a vegan sweet made by Sweetie Pie Bakery.

Every day, Breadsmith offers at least a half a dozen vegan bakery options baked in house by Sweetie Pie Bakery, from cookies and bars and scones to cupcakes, pies, and muffins. I opted for the Pumpkin Cranberry Muffin, because when either pumpkin or cranberry is being offered, I'm helpless to resist. I'm so helpless, in fact, that if there were also muffins stuffed with $100 bills on the very next display for the same price, I'd probably still buy the pumpkin or cranberry option.

How was the muffin, you ask? It was the best pumpkin dessert I've had in ages, and it put the pumpkin-apple muffin I picked up the other day at Nature's Bin in Lakewood to shame. It was super soft, moist, and had just the right amount of spice balance (I so hate when bakers of pumpkin goodies use too much clove, it ruins everything!).

Good news for any Clevelanders reading this post (are there any?). This Friday, October 9, Breadsmith and Sweetie Pie will be celebrating one year of baking together. From 12:00 to 5:00, you can stop in for free samples, discounts, and raffled goodies. Try to sneak out of work early if you can and, seriously, try the pumpkin muffin. You won't be disappointed.

Vegan Comfort Food

When I first gave veganism a shot, back in February of 2005, I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I had no idea what to cook or what to eat. To make matters worse, I worked over sixty hours a week, and had no time to learn to cook or even practice cooking. This meant that I relied heavily on convenience foods, like Amy's meals, side dishes, and faux meat products. I'd also hit Mustardseed Market in Solon, Ohio to pick up some pre-made vegan dinners. Let me tell you, eating back then was not cheap.

One thing I really missed, in those days, were big "Sunday" dinners like the ones that my Gran would make for our family when I was growing up. These meals usually centered around a roasted animal of some sort with lots of gravy, a potato (either roasted, mashed, or scalloped), a vegetable (maybe even a green bean casserole, but usually peas or canned corn), and perhaps some stuffing or, depending on the meal, dumplings or Yorkshire Pudding. Sometimes we'd have stuffed cabbage, spaghetti that took hours to make, or "chop suey" (which I hated with a passion and looked, to me, like the insides of that animal that Luke Skywalker cut open at the beginning of one of the Star Wars movies). We'd all eat until we were in a coma, my mother and father in the living room, my Gran, my sisters, and I in the kitchen. After dinner, my sisters and I did the dishes.

Luckily, I've since learned my way around a vegan kitchen, and Sunday dinners are no longer something I yearn for the way that I used to. This is due, in part, to lunches like the one I had today, leftover fake-loaf, green beans with earth balance, mashed potatoes with gravy, and jellied cranberry sauce.

Aud and I make this fake-loaf at least a half a dozen times each winter, and we'll serve it with all the Sunday dinner fixings we're in the mood for, be they roasted brussel sprouts, Pillsbury crescent rolls, or the stuffing that I pick up from Mustardseed Market that is, thank heavens, vegan. The fake-loaf also makes phenomenal sandwiches like the kind my mother would send us to school with when there was leftover meatloaf. These days, I prefer my fake-laof sandwiches on rustic italian bread from Breadsmith with romaine lettuce, Vegennaise, and lots of salt.

A word on the recipe posted on the site I linked to, because my results are a bit different than you'll see posted. If you make sure to use the Boca soy crumbles, measure 10 oz. of tofu (most packages come in 12 or 14 oz sizes) and squeeze the water out a bit before mashing it, really mush the ingredients into your bread pan (I prefer Pyrex), and cook it until the top is a little browned and crispy, your fake-loaf won't fall to pieces when you slice it.

And finally, I just want to thank the fine people at Hain for making this delectable stuff:

I seriously don't know how I'd survive without it. Sure, there are some decent vegan gravy recipes on-line or in just about any vegan cookbook you put your hands on, but when I want brown gravy, *this* is the stuff I crave.