The Last Supper(s)

As I type, there are only four more hours left in 2009, which means I'm just a day away from kicking off my 26-day Adventure Cleanse Tune-up (ACT). It's a no sugar, no alcohol, no gluten, no caffeine, raw til dinnertime cleanse (I'll give ya'll all the details in my next post) from the Crazy Sexy Life website.

Until then, I'm enjoying the last un-ACT friendly meals I can. This week, I tweaked my recipe for Creamy Tofu "Chicken" & Pasta Casserole:

This is another recipe for my cookbook, and it certainly doesn't look as appetizing here as it really is. The tofu is marinated overnight in my vegan chicken marinade, and that makes the whole dish taste like it's laced with a creamy chicken sauce. It also contains my homemade cream of mushroom soup, tomatoes, bell pepper, celery, and other yummies. True comfort food.

On the side, I enjoyed some Steamed Cauliflower with Bacon Salt and Creamy Cheddar Teese Sauce:

I can't have processed foods on the cleanse, so this is my last taste of Teese for the next 26 days. Boo! And if ya'll haven't heard about bacon salt, I'd suggest you look for it at your local grocer. I found mine at Kroger, and it makes everything taste like bacon. But it's vegan (at least, the hickory flavor is)!

I also made the Tamarind Tofu Cabbage Bowl from the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook recently:

So, so good! Fried tofu, cabbage, and brown rice are mixed with tangy-sweet homemade tamarind reduction. It's the first dish I've made from Lauren Ulm's amazing full-color book. My awesome friend Lindsay bought it for me for my birthday, but I've been so busy reviewing books that I haven't made anything from it until now. And the dish is ALMOST cleanse-friendly. The only thing holding it back is the sugar in the tamarind sauce. Oh well ... I can make it again in February.

On a non-food note, some of ya'll asked to see the punk rock prom dress my BFF Sheridan made me for Xmas. Here ya go:

Cute, huh? She found this old dress in a thrift store and laced it up the back with purple ribbon (can't see that in the picture, but it looks great ... like a corset). And she added the big purple bow for fun.

Happy New Year, ya'll! I'm off to hear my favorite aristo-crunk rappers Lord T & Eloise and watch the guitar drop on Beale Street!

Dairy-Free Pizza!

I've been a cookbook reviewin' fool lately, so it's no wonder that I just now got time to make something from my awesome review copy of Go Dairy Free by Alisa Marie Fleming. She graciously sent me her book (along with a copy of My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky) last month, but it's so full of wonderful information that I've just now gotten to the recipe portion.

As my first taste from Go Dairy Free, I chose to make the Thai Chick-Un Pizza:

Now, this may sound familiar to ya'll fans of Dreena Burton. The recipe was adapted from her book, Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan. That's the lovely thing about Alisa's book — it's a combo of original and adapted dairy-free recipes from popular cookbooks. Since I still don't own Burton's book (I know, bad vegan!), I was so excited to see this recipe. I've heard plenty of raves about it, and all the praise was spot on.

This hearty, exotic pizza features a spicy peanut sauce in lieu of traditional tomato sauce. Smushed garbanzos, red bell pepper, pineapple chunks, green onion, and mung bean sprouts (that I sprouted myself!) top the rich sauce. And of course, I liberally applied a dose of sriracha on top of all that.

The Thai Chick-Un Pizza is just one of many delicious dairy-free recipes in Alisa's book. Besides delicious entrees, Alisa includes recipes for sweetened condensed "milk," sliceable Swiss-style cheese, and homemade coconut butter. And she includes a wealth of information on the reasons and health benefits of going dairy-free.

Her book is so worth checking out! Even though, I started with an entree, I can see this book becoming a resource for information on how to make my own vegan cheese and milk substitutes. Even non-vegan lactose-intolerant folks would gain loads of info from Alisa's book.

Utopia Granola

Time for a post I've been sitting on for awhile! You see, a few weeks ago the Farm's Book Publishing Company sent me a bundle of dessert books to review. One of those was Sweet Utopia by Sharon Valencik, a beautiful full-color tome of mouth-watering dessert recipes. I immediately decided on making the Utopia Granola as Xmas gifts for all my friends. So of course, I couldn't post about how delicious this stuff was until all the gifts were handed out.

I made a couple of variations — Cranberry Pecan Utopia Granola:

And Coconut Almond Utopia Granola (with raisins):

Valencik's granola recipe provides a list of base ingredients (like oats and sugar, of course) and suggests quite a few add-ins, like nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. I love pick-and-choose recipes like this! In a weird way, the freedom to choose my granola add-ins reminds of those Choose Your Own Adventure books from the 80s (anyone remember those?). Your choice influences the final outcome.

And lemme tell ya, the final outcome for both of these granolas was scrumptious. I made two giant batches and bagged them up into nine cute holiday treat bags. The friends who received granola were pretty excited, and all attested that it was delicious. Of course, I also saved a bit for myself, and I believe this is way better than any storebought granola I've tried. It was absolutely delectable topped with a little unsweetened soymilk for breakfast.

So far, I've only tried this recipe, but the gorgeous full-color photos of EVERY dessert have me craving more. Next on the list: Sticky Toffee Pudding (see Voracious Vegan's post for tasty-lookin' pics), Coconut-Almond Cheesecake Pie, Carrot Cake Cookies with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting, and Chocolate Sausage (I know that sounds weird, but it's just a cute name for something that doesn't involve any real or faux sausage ... just raisins, rum, chocolate, nuts, and graham crackers).

I'm not sure I'll be making any more sweets until February though. I'm starting the Adventure Cleanse Tune-Up on January 1st (details to come). So no sugar for almost a month ... but after that, it's on.

Oh, and some of ya'll requested that I post pictures of the punk rock prom dress that my best friend Sheridan made me for Xmas. I have one picture, but my eyes are closed. However, I know Sheridan took one too, so I'll post hers when she sends it to me. Promise.

Xmas Recap

There are few things I love more than food and presents, so as you can imagine, Xmas is one of my favorite holidays. I don't really get into the religious aspect of the day. I'm far more interested in stuffing my face with my family ... and of course, opening and giving gifts.

On Xmas Eve, my parents, my boyfriend, and I had dinner at Chili's in my Arkansas hometown, where I enjoyed some scrumptious veggie fajitas with corn tortillas (their flour tortillas are not vegan, fyi). Then we went back to my parents' house and opened gifts. I got an Excalibur food dehydrator (expect lots of raw goodness soon!), a new Nikon zoom lens for my D60, lots of clothes from Delia's, a Vegetarian Times cookbook, a set of pots and pans, and some more fun stuff.

I gave my mom this hula hoop, created by local hula hoop gang the Hooper Troopers. My mom is a hula hoop champion ... just look:

After presents, my best friend Sheridan came over to exchange gifts with me. She made me a punk rock prom dress (for fun dress-up time!) and gave me Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa and Terry. So of course, we immediately baked up some Peanut Butter Blondies from the book:

And then we stuffed our faces. Here's Sheridan:

These blondies were so super peanut buttery and chewy. Perfect! I can't wait to get this blondie in my mouth:

On Xmas morning, we woke up early for our annual Xmas breakfast at Granny's house. In case you haven't heard, I have one awesome granny. She's totally embraced my veganism, and she's helping create delicious desserts for my cookbook. She even keeps vegan margarine and soymilk on hand at all times. Here's Granny with my Pa:

While everyone else noshed on eggs, ham, and non-vegan biscuits and gravy, I enjoyed my own vegan breakfast plate (most of which my mom cooked up the night before so I'd have something to easily re-heat):

There's a tofu scramble, Gimme Lean Lightlife sausage, and biscuits and gravy (made with evil, but tasty white flour ... hey, it's Xmas, I can have white flour if I want). Also, Granny made some tasty hash browns that made it to my plate a little later.

I had a great Xmas. I hope ya'll did too!

Merry Xmas!

I hope ya'll have a very merry Xmas! I won't be posting again until Sunday night since I'll be doing holiday stuff (yea! presents!) with my parents in Arkansas and my boyfriend's parents in middle Tennessee. But I will leave ya'll with this cute-ass Xmas cupcake that I made for an early family holiday party last weekend:

Aren't those toppers just the cutest things you've ever seen?! I love how they're bucks with doe spots! I ordered them from Sweet Estelle's Baking Supply on Etsy.com. She has an array of kitschy-cute toppers. The cupcake is chocolate-mint with vanilla buttercream, a variation on the classic chocolate cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Happy Holidays!

I Fixed My Favorite Peanut Butter Cookies

I have a love affair with peanut butter. Chunky, creamy, white chocolate, or maple-flavored — it's all equally magical in my eyes (or well, mouth). I could eat jars at a time, but I know better. A little good fat is a good thing, but too much of a good thing can be bad. That's why I love Fran Costigan's recipe for "I Fixed My Favorite Peanut Butter Cookies" (yes, that's the actual name) from More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally:

I must admit that I was first drawn to the recipe's name. Any time a recipe title includes a verb, adjective, and noun, that's a beautiful thing. But after reading Costigan's ingredient list, I knew these may become my new favorite peanut butter cookies.

Why? Because they're actually pretty healthy! Costigan's book features recipes made with whole wheat pastry flour, natural sweeteners, and as little oil as possible. Most peanut butter cookies are loaded with margarine, but Costigan reasons that PB already contains plenty of good fat to make a soft and chewy cookie. Why add more? The entire recipe only calls for three tablespoons of canola oil and a half-cup of creamy peanut butter. Dispersed between all the cookies, that's certainly not enough good fat to become a bad thing.

The result was a melt-in-your-mouth, salty-sweet peanut butter cookie that would rival any non-vegan version I loved when I was a kid. I brought a batch to work today and they were all gobbled up before noon.

Costigan's book is yet another amazing title from the Book Publishing Company in Summertown, Tennessee. Though this is the first recipe I've tried, I have many more on my to-make-soon list — Carob German Not Chocolate Cake, Honey-Free Better Baklava, Peanut Butter Mousse in Chocolate Candy Cups, and so much more. Stay tuned. And check out the book.

Egg McGuffins ... and Solstice with the Pets!

I know this is horrible, but I used to love going through the McDonald's drive-thru in my pre-vegan days to order egg & cheese biscuits and McMuffins. I thought, since I was leaving off the meat, that it must be better for me. That was before I read Fast Food Nation, mind you. These days, the thought of anything from McDonald's makes me shudder. But these Egg McGuffins from Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia Simpson surely didn't make me shudder this solstice morning:

The "egg" part is made from silk tofu, nooch, and turmeric. And of course, I added a little black salt (not in the recipe) for effect. The "egg" cooking technique is similar to that of the tofu omelet in Vegan Brunch. The "sausage" is Gimme Lean, and the super-melty cheeze is Tofutti American cheese. The English muffin is a whole wheat version from Whole Foods. Perfect way to begin my Winter Solstice morning.

Since my dog Datsun opens presents with his grandparents on Xmas Day, we do presents at home on Solstice. He got a big ole (very non-vegan) rawhide bone and a new pillow bed:

I hate giving him those icky rawhide bones, but I swear, nothing in the world makes him happier. Just look at those crazy eyes! Anyone know of a decent vegan faux rawhide dog bone? I'd gladly order him some if I could find them.

As for the cats, all six of them went crazy for their new catnip snakes. Just look at Pandora:

And Gelfling got pissed when he couldn't decide between the new swatter toy or the catnip snake. Look at that crazy face. Roar!