Hot Tamale Pie

I love fresh vegan tamales, but from what I've heard, making them is an all-day process. And I'm a gal on the go, so I ain't got time for all that mess. That's why I developed this Hot Tamale Pie for my cookbook:

It has a polenta-esque crust and it's filled with beans, veggies, and TexMex seasonings. Yummy in my tummy! I had some last night and today for lunch (served with a small romaine salad).

In other news, my kitty Seymour learned to drink from the sink this morning. He always sits on the counter in the bathroom when I'm getting ready in the mornings. Sometimes he'll lick the water left in the bottom of the sink after I wash my face. Today, I turned the sink on just a little, and after testing it with his paw, he tilted his head and started drinking!

Here's what he looked like afterward ... with water dripping from his little fuzzy chin:

Chocolate for Breakfast!

Who says you can't have dessert first thing in the morning? I'm kind of a rebel, so that's how I roll sometimes. Like this morning when I dined on creamy Chocolate Gravy and Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits:

This is actually an old picture that I posted last year, but I really did have the same dish again this morning. I was just too lazy to take another picture when I knew there was one in the archives.

I first tried chocolate gravy on a family trip to Michigan City, Indiana (visiting the same relatives I mentioned in the dumplins post). But it's a Southern food tradition, so this recipe (as well as the biscuit one) is going in my cookbook.

Lucky for ya'll, I spilled the recipe for this in my old post, and you can find that here. The only difference in the updated recipe I used for the most recent batch is subbing whole wheat pastry flour for all-purpose (since I don't use that anymore).

Testers, I've finally posted this week's recipes on my tester site...though I'm a few days late. Sorry!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Hey ya'll! It's our last day of debauchery before Lent begins, so laissez les bon temps rouler (or "let the good times roll," as they say in NOLA!). I don't actually celebrate Lent, nor do I live in New Orleans, but no good Southerner misses an excuse to throw a party. Today, I brought one of Kittee Kake's yummy-nummy King Cake's to the office:

Hidden somewhere in there is a white bean dressed up like a baby (thanks to Sharpie) since I couldn't find a plastic baby anywhere.

On Saturday, Stephanie (a.k.a. Poopie Bitch) and I hosted a Mardi Gras Vegan Dessert Potluck for our veggie group Food Awareness. Here we are all decked out in proper Mardi Gras colors:

Steph brought one of Kittee's King Cakes! Hers looks way better than the one I brought to work today. She used more colored sugar ...

I made the Smlove Pie from the Veganomicon:

OMG! This was so good, ya'll. Definitely my new favorite party dessert. It's a chocolate tofu-based pie with a graham cracker crust, peanut butter caramel, candied pecans, and chocolate ganache!

Steph also brought some yummy Half Blondies/Half Brownies. So good (and believe it or not, my first blondie experience)!

Corey and his girlfriend (I can't remember her name! I'm such a bad party host!) brought some non-alcoholic Darjeeling Sangria Tea, which we promptly spiked with vodka (hey, it was a Mardi Gras party!):

The lovely raw Judith made a savory Raw Bread (garnished with fresh daffodils!) to prevent us from going into sugar comas:

Overall, the event was a huge success. We all gorged on sweets, sipped tea and hurricane cocktails, and let the good time roll:

Back row: Nic, Judith, a nice lady who's name I don't remember, Dale, Corey, his girlfriend, Rita, Max, Barbara, and Vaughan. Front row: Paul (my boyfriend), Me, and Greg

Hope ya'll have a great Fat Tuesday!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Friday night was my best buddy Nathan's 30th birthday! Yes, he's going to hate me for sharing his age with the world ... but whatev.

Here's the birthday boy in his younger years ... this was taken at Gay Pride in 2006.

He requested the same cake that my mom made me for my 28th birthday last October. It's the Incredible Vegan Carrot Cake from VegWeb:

My mom cut the oil and sugar in the recipe when she made it for my birthday, so I kept to her changes (about 3/4 cup oil, and 1/2 cup each brown and white sugars).

I made the cake in two layers and frosted with a tasty Tofutti cream cheese-based icing. Then I attempted to decorate with some pre-made colored icing that I found in the baking aisle at the grocery store. I'm sure it was loaded with nasty chemical ingredients, but it's a birthday, so who cares.

We started the evening at the Young Avenue Deli, where I ate a tasteless portabello burger and fries. The Deli has amazing fries, but all the veggie food there is bland and boring. Then we moved to Molly Fontaine's, an adorable cocktail bar located inside a converted Victorian mansion. That's where we cut the cake and sang happy birthday.

Un-Chicken 'n' Dumplins

When I was a kid, my mom and I traveled to Michigan City, Indiana every summer to visit some pseudo-relatives (they were actually my aunt's relatives, but they felt like family). The family matriarch, an almost senile old lady, always made chicken 'n' dumplins. Though they lived in Indiana, the family hailed from the South, so it wasn't uncommon for them to make traditional Southern dishes.

Since she was super-old and kinda losing it, she always left the chicken bones in the pot. Others had to go behind her back and pick them out before serving. Gross, huh? Well, my Un-Chicken 'n' Dumplins is totally bone-free:

This is another cookbook recipe that I'll likely put up on the tester site next week. I developed it last winter, but it needed some work, so I made it again on Tuesday night. It's basically chicken-flavored seitan cooked in a chicken-ish broth with whole wheat dumplins' (we never pronounce the "g" down here), potatoes, carrots, and peas. Perfect hearty dish for cold winter nights, which unfortunately we're having again after the spring tease of last week. Bah!

My Tofu Scramble

Every vegan has a preferred scramble. Some go back to a cherished, dog-eared recipe in their favorite cookbook. Others develop their own and either memorize it or write it all down. I've got mine typed up in my Cookin' Crunk recipe binder, ready to go for my cookbook.

I've been eating this scramble for breakfast everyday with Ezekial toast spread with sweet potato butter. The veggies always vary, but this time I used garlic, spinach, and mushrooms.

Since scrambles are a dime a dozen, my recipe's no big secret. I'm gonna share it with ya'll here. I actually call it Cheeze "Eggs" rather than tofu scramble 'cause it contains nooch and reminds me of my mom's cheese eggs (when she'd melt shredded cheddar in my scrambled eggs).

Bianca's Cheeze "Eggs"
----------------------------
1 lb. extra-firm tofu
1 cup chopped vegetables, optional
3 Tbsp. soymilk
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. celery salt

Blend soymilk, soy sauce, and spices in a small bowl. Spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray or use a couple teaspoons of olive oil to sauté veggies (if using) for 3 to 4 minutes. Crumble in tofu and add spice mixture. Cook several minutes until any water from the tofu is absorbed and tofu is hot.

Serves 4 to 5.

Sweet Tater Butter

A few months ago, my mom and Granny gave me a humungous box of sweet potatoes. Thankfully, they stay fresh for months (aren't root veggies amazing for that reason?!), so I've been slowly working my way through them. Now I'm down to the bottom of the barrel, and a few are beginning to go funky. I knew I needed a recipe to use a good chunk of them before it was too late.

Leave it to bloggers to come through in such a time of need. Laura from Peace by Pastries posted this delicious Crock-pot Sweet Potato Butter recipe a few weeks ago. I mentally bookmarked it and finally got around to making it yesterday. It took 12 hours in the Crock-pot.

A couple pounds of sweet potatoes made two jars about this size. I put one in the fridge for immediate use and attempted to can another jar in a boiling water bath. But for some reason, the jar seal has yet to pop. I'm starting to worry I didn't can it properly. Oh well, that just means I'll have to eat it up more quickly.

Since this stuff is super-cinnamony with a hint of a smoky sweet flavor, I don't think eating it up fast will be a problem. I had a healthy smear on some Ezekial bread with my breakfast this morning!

To the testers: I've posted several new recipes to the Crunk Cookin' site, all of which come together to make a tasty wafflewich.