Speedy Gourmet

What is it about gourmet recipe titles? They always just state exactly what's in the dish, like Tofu and Soba Noodles with Hot-Sweet-Sour-Pungent Sauce or Mangos with Lycees and Mint. I think it's the lack of originality in the names of most gourmet dishes that turns me off. I want cutesy names, like Tofu Surprise or Mad About Mangos.

But I'm glad the not-so-creative recipe titles in Speed Vegan: Quick, Easy Recipes with a Gourmet Twist didn't prevent me from actually trying anything in the book. This new cookbook by Alan Roettinger (published by the Book Publishing Company) promises fancy fare at a fast food pace. I made this simply-titled Spaghetti with Olives and Lemon in under 30 minutes:

The pasta is brown rice pasta, which I found surprisingly better than the whole wheat spaghetti I normally buy. The sauce is made from salty kalamata olives, lemon juice and zest, and garlic. I'm a huge fan of olives, especially kalamata ones, so this recipe immediately drew me in. I guess, in this case, the matter-of-fact title came in handy.

While the pasta was cooking, I also whipped up this tasty veggie side — Asparagus with Cannellini Beans:

So simple, so tasty. The asparagus is blanched to maintain a very crisp texture. I have a tendency to over steam asparagus, so I think I'll be blanching from now on. The topping is made from cannellini beans (duh), diced tomato, onion, fresh basil, and a touch of red wine vinegar. I think this also came together in about 30 minutes, and that includes washing and chopping veggies.

Speed Vegan features easy-to-whip-up soups, pastas, salads, vegetables, and sweets. Most are minimally seasoned and feature only a few basic seasonal ingredients. And I suppose, if you're in a hurry, the simply stated recipe titles (by the way, the tofu and mango dishes mentioned in the first paragraph are also in this book) might even help readers quickly choose a dish based on what's in it. As a girl on the go, this book is sure to become one of my staples.

Bluff City Vegan Eats: R.P. Tracks

Memphis is barbecue city. In about two weeks, we'll play host to the annual World Championship Barbecue Cooking Festival, a giant meat-fest that draws competitors from around the world. Our pulled pork and barbecue ribs are said to be the best in the country. I wouldn't know. I've never tasted a bite of my city's beloved meat barbecue. I mean, I had barbecue as a kid back home in Arkansas, but I've never tried the 'cue here.

Unless you count the to-die-for Vegan BBQ Tofu Nachos at R.P. Tracks:

This college bar & grill serves tangy fried cubes of bbq tofu several ways — in nachos, in burritos, and in sandwich form (if you order the sandwich, be sure ask them to leave off the coleslaw). I always order my nachos with the chips on the side (that's how they're pictured here ... I just stuck a few chips in so y'all can see they're nachos).

The vegan nachos come topped with bbq tofu, black beans, lettuce, tomato, and jalapenos. They used to serve guacamole, but unfortunately, they stopped a few months ago. Our server told me they weren't selling enough guac and it was going brown too fast. But I've just started bringing in my own guac. And sometimes I also bring along a tub of Tofutti sour cream.

The nachos are best enjoyed with my favorite beer — Pyramid Apricot Ale — and my friend Vaughan (pictured in the background):

But if hard liquor's your thing, R.P. Tracks offers half-price shooters anytime a train rolls by. The restaurant is located right next to a set of pretty active tracks. Though the barbecue tofu is divine, R.P. Tracks also makes some mean roasted red pepper hummus that's best enjoyed on pita bread with a side of sweet potato fries.

R.P. Tracks is located at 3547 Walker Avenue, near the University of Memphis campus. They don't have a website, but the phone number is (901) 327-1471.

Pick-Up Stix

Anyone remember that game? Pick-up sticks? Yep, that shows my age. I was also fond of Barrel of Monkeys and Hungry, Hungry Hippo. Anyway, this post isn't about retro games. It's about my tasty new Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu Stix:

This is another recipe for my cookbook. Though I was tempted to fry these chicken-flavored tofu strips, I opted for baking so they'd be a little healthier. I'm sure they'd fry up really nice though. I'm trying to strike a good balance between fried food and healthier alternatives in my Southern vegan cookbook. I know the value of a battered, fried slab of tofu. Trust me, I live for the moments I can nosh on deep-fried goodness. But I have to watch my girlish figure, so some of my recipes are done up healthy-style.

These stix were fun finger food, and I tried dipping them in barbecue sauce, ketchup, maple-Dijon mustard, and marinara. Marinara was my fave.

I served the stix with my Dirty (South) Rice — also going in the cookbook:

It's a fusion of traditional dirty rice and classic Mexican rice. In case you don't know, dirty rice is a Cajun specialty typically made with chicken liver or giblets. Um, yuck. Mine is obviously giblet-free (what the hell is a giblet anyway?). But it has a little Cajun spicy kick.

Here's the whole plate:

In the far right corner is my Caramelized Brussels Pecan Saute, a cookbook recipe that still needs a little tweaking. Guess I've got lots more Brussels sprouts in my future.

On another note, Radioactive Vegan won the Etre the Cow novella giveaway. She had the first comment! For some reason, random.org has been picking the low numbers lately. Congrats Radioactive Vegan.

Tea Time

Okay, I'll admit it — I don't really like hot tea. I've tried and tried and tried to get into hot tea, but it always tastes like hot weak flavored water. I'm much more of a strong coffee girl. When I did a 26-day whole foods/low caffeine cleanse in January, I forced myself to switch out my morning java for hot tea, and my disdain for the flavored water only grew stronger when burnout kicked in.

So when Kungaloosh, a gourmet online tea company, asked me to review their products, I was more than a little hesitant. Thankfully, the company offers iced tea blends. And being the proper Southern girl I am, y'all know I like sweet iced tea.

Using a discount code, I shopped around the company's website and first chose this Mango Black Iced Tea:

Wow! Though I'm a fan of plain ole' pekoe, this tropical fruit tea really stepped up my iced tea game. Perfect for sippin' on the porch on a humid Memphis summer day. I sweetened the gallon with a generous squirt of agave instead of sugar.

I also picked out the Bella Coola Iced Tea:

The company's website describes this tea as a "fruit basket in a glass" and that sounds about right. The herbal tea has hints of tart berries, orange, apples, rosehips, and chicory. The only flaw — it's caffeine free. If I'd realized that, I wouldn't have chosen this tea. Despite the yummy flavor, teas and coffees free of caffeine are an abomination. Of course, this isn't Kungaloosh's fault. I should have realized that herbal teas don't contain caffeine. Duh.

Even though I'm not a fan of hot tea, I figured I should pick out a couple of smaller hot tea bags to provide a more rounded review. When I do drink hot tea, I prefer creamier, caffeinated black teas like chai. So this Karma Kream sounded right up my alley:

Karma Kream is their signature chai with Sri Lankan orange pekoe and a bevy of spices including cardamom, cloves, coriander, cumin seed, sweet cumin seeds, curry leaves, lemongrass, rampe leaves, cinnamon, and aniseed. Served with soymilk and agave, it was actually some of the tastiest hot tea I've ever had.

Sticking with my creamy tea safe-zone, I also picked out the Vanilla Cream tea:

Kungaloosh's website described the tea as tasting a little like French vanilla ice cream. And um, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, right? In fact, it did taste very vanilla-y, which made me very happy. I didn't even need to add soymilk to make it taste creamy.

Those were all my selections, but when my review package arrived, I found an extra free sample of Lizanne's Black Currant Tea:

Named for one of Kungaloosh's first customers, this decaf tea (yea, yea, I know ... but hey, it was a free surprise gift. I can't complain) has a hint of currant flavor without being too tart. Dolled up with a little soymilk (not pictured here), it wasn't so bad for a decaf hot tea.

Did Kungaloosh make me a hot tea convert? Not quite. But I do love their chai. And the iced teas — especially that mango — are worth ordering over and over again.

Sarah Kramer Does It Again!

Not to get all gushy and vegan celeb-worship-y, but I love Sarah Kramer! My first vegan cookbook was Garden of Vegan, years before I actually went all the way with the dairy-free, egg-free purge. These days, Sarah's purdy face graces my kitchen wall in her 2010 Go Vegan wall calendar.

Each month features one delicious vegan recipe, and I'm cooking each month-by-month ... because I'm nerdy like that. April's installment is Matthew's Spicy Tomato, Peanut, and Kale Pasta:

I'm not sure who Matthew is, but he came up with a damn good pasta recipe. And easy as pie too. Actually easier than pie!

The sauce is made with canned tomato juice, peanut butter, and fresh local kale. Oh, and a little sriracha. That's it. I served the creamy, fiery sauce over whole wheat pasta shells and a small side salad made with local veggies from the farmer's market. Vegweb lists a version of the recipe here, though it's not exactly the same as the one listed in the calendar (for example, the Vegweb recipe calls for flax seed, but Sarah's does not). It's pretty close though.

If you haven't entered the Etre the Cow giveaway, it's not too late. Enter here. Contest ends Thursday at 10 a.m. CST.

Mochi and Miso! Oh My!

My co-worker Pam loaned me her copy of Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source. It's appears to be a totally vegan cookbook, but author Terry Walters doesn't like labels. As far as I can tell, she only mentions the words "vegan" and "vegetarian" once in the intro where she explains that she doesn't like to name her diet.

And that's fine, but I prefer to shout my veganism from the rooftops. Vegan pride and all. I'm of the believe that the more vegans who proudly proclaim our compassionate lifestyle, the more accepted we shall be. Then again, I guess a book like Clean Food, a seasonal cookbook of simple meals prepared with seasonal, whole foods, may also appeal to non-vegans. And that's kinda sneaky. I like sneaky.

Nevertheless, I won't hold it against Walters for not making a big deal of the vegan thing. After all, she is the driving force behind these delicious Mochi Dumplings, a recipe listed in the book's Spring section:

Mochi may just be one of my favorite foods. It starts as a hard brown square of tightly pressed brown rice, but after a few minutes in the oven, it poofs up leaving a hollow inside that's perfect for stuffing stir-fried cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and ginger. And I love mochi's chewy factor. The recipe also includes instructions for a simple dipping sauce of sesame oil, rice vinegar, and tamari.

I served my dumplings with a steamy bowl of Miso Soup:

Just my standard miso — one cubed square of Fumara Savory Baked Tofu (tastes like Chinese five-spice powder), a sliced carrot, a little napa cabbage, some green onion, a teaspoon of miso, and a generous squirt of sriracha.

I could be wrong, but I think this meal may have been totally, accidentally macrobiotic.

By the way, don't forget to enter the Etre the Cow book giveaway here.

Etre the Cow: A Review (and a Giveaway)

I don't typically post book reviews for works of fiction. Since this is a food blog, I assume most readers would rather read cookbook reviews and drool over photos of sample dishes. But I'm making an exception for Etre the Cow by Sean Kenniff. That's because this powerful work of fiction has the potential to create more vegans and vegetarians for our revolution. World vegan takeover! Ha! Just kidding ... well, not really.

Vegan Crunk is just one of several blog stops on Kenniff's virtual book tour for Etre the Cow, a fictional account of life on a farm written from the perspective of a very perceptive bull. This short volume (just a little over 100 pages) begins with Etre, perhaps the most insightful cow at Gorwell Farm, feeling humiliated as humans taunt him with jeers of "Moo cow!" He's ashamed to be a beast, and try as he might, he can't seem to make the humans (or other cows) understand him.

Etre is a sentimental bull who takes solace from his boring pasture life in the songs of the farmer's little boy. Those songs seem to offer Etre's only distraction from chewing kale and grass. Written in a narrative first person style, Kenniff's book brings readers directly into the lonely mind of Etre. By mid-book, it's hard not to feel you're the cow, doomed to a life of chewing grasses and waiting for slaughter.

As expected, the book takes a dark turn when Etre finds himself on the line to be slaughtered. Thinking he's moving to a new pasture, Etre happily joins the line of cows in the chute, but as he approaches the slaughterhouse, the smell of blood and the sounds of tortured cows send him into a panic.

If I were an omni, this book would convince me to give up meat (or at least beef) immediately. Anyone who reads Kenniff's horrific description of the slaughterhouse assembly line will be moved. If you eat a burger after that, you obviously have no heart. Its easy for omnis to live in ignorance and denial, but books like Etre the Cow serve to open their eyes and hearts. At least that's the hope.

Etre the Cow is the perfect gift for a meat-eating friend or relative, but it's also important for vegans and vegetarians to read such books as a reminder of why we believe in practicing compassion for all living things.

A little trivia: The author, Sean Kenniff, was one of the original castaways on Survivor in 2000. In real life, Kenniff is a physician, radio host, and television journalist. Sadly, according to his bio, Kenniff is not a vegetarian. I'm not sure how someone can write such a compelling pro-veg work without being moved to give up meat. Maybe one day. Everyone comes around at a different pace.

The publisher, Health Communications, Inc., is offering to give away a book to a lucky commenter. If you're interested, leave a comment at the end of this post. They're limiting the contest to U.S. and Canadian residents only. Sorry international buds! The book is available on Amazon as well.

For an additional entry, tweet about this contest and link back to this post. Then leave another comment to let me know.

For another additional entry, mention this contest on Facebook with a link. Then leave yet another comment. Each entrant may leave up to three comments this way.

Note: If you do not have a blog, please leave your email address! I had to disqualify a few people in the last giveaway because I had no way to contact them. Good luck! I'll pick a winner at 10 a.m. CST on Thursday.