Punky Pasta

Remember Punky Brewster? Yea, I wanted to be her when I was, like, five years old. I think she and later, Blossom and Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All, shaped who I am today. I've always gravitated toward all things quirky, funky, and just plain weird. As a young kid, I embraced the weirdo girls and grew into a proud weirdo girl myself.

Corny as it sounds, this pasta dish totally brings out that little weirdo girl. Well, I guess I'm a big weirdo girl now. Whatevs. I make this dish every fall, so this isn't my first post on it. It's Sarah Kramer's Punk-kin Pasta from La Dolce Vegan:

Pureed pumpkin, sauteed onions, and vegan sausage coat whole wheat rotini pasta topped with Daiya mozzarella. It's so simple, and yet so, well, funky. I'd never have thought to use straight canned pumpkin as a pasta sauce without Kramer's guidance. Nor would I have thought to top a pumpkin dish with vegan cheese. But it works! It's actually one of the very few dishes I repeat. I rarely ever make the same thing twice, and when I do, you know it's something that I find absolutely delectable.

On the side, I made the Dark Leafy Greens with Sesame Miso Dressing from The Vegan Table:

The greens are kale from the Memphis Farmers Market, but any green will do. They're steamed and tossed with sesame seeds and a warm dressing made from sesame oil, miso, and mirin. Yum!

What pop culture icons shaped who you are today?

Heathen Housewarming

My friend Leslie just moved back to Midtown after spending the last few months in Somerville, Tennessee, a tiny town on the outskirts of Memphis. It's so tiny, I don't even know where in the hell it is. Here's an old picture of Leslie from earlier this year.

Now that she's back in the city, she's been welcomed in true Memphis ghetto fashion. Just after she moved in, her next-door neighbor was arrested for having meth lab materials. And you wanna know how the police found him? They were responding to a complaint that meth dude's brother was grilling a raccoon carcass in the apartment building's parking lot. Yep, welcome back to Memphis, Leslie.

Of course, that was no proper welcome. So Leslie hosted a Heathen Housewarming Potluck with her friends to celebrate her new digs, which are actually really cute despite her crazy white trash neighbors.

We started the veggie potluck with some of Leslie's homebrew. She made Pumpkin Ale (a.k.a. Witches' Brew):

And hard apple cider, or Swamp Cider as we like to call it:

Leslie made a giant salad and provided yummy bottled dressings, including my fave — Amy's Goddess Dressing:

I made the Two-Tone Shepard's Pie from Party Vegan by Robin Robertson:

This hearty casserole is made with seitan, green beans, carrots, corn, and peas topped with a layer of gravy and then topped with mashed white potatoes on one side and mashed sweet potatoes on the other. It was the first dish I've made from Party Vegan, and it was quite a success. I found it in the potlucks chapter.

Here's my plate with Lentil Soup, Salad, Bread with Earth Balance, and Shepard's Pie. Not pictured is the Lemongrass Tofu that arrived after I'd fixed my plate:

We also had Leslie's yummy Nettle Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Orange Frosting:

Leslie's kind of a hippie, so she's always using weird herb-y things like nettle. I'm not even sure what that is, but it tasted awesome in these moist cakes. Almost like a pumpkin pie cupcake.

Welcome back to Midtown, Leslie! And sorry about that meth-raccoon situation!

Rocky Road!

My friend Misti had a baby shower over the weekend, and though none of the hosts were vegan, they were all so concerned that I found something to eat at the snack table. I told them all I needed was hummus with pita chips and a cocktail (yes, this was a fun baby shower ... the kind with liquor). That's plenty to make me happy.

But I knew the fancy, two-tiered, fondant-covered cake wouldn't be vegan, so I brought along some vegan cookies to share — Rocky Road Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar:

These cocoa cookies were flecked with semi-sweet and white chocolate chips and roasted almonds. I'd been hoarding a few bags of vegan white chocolate chips that Panda Cookie had given me at a Nashville vegan potluck last year, and this was a great way to use some.

The cookies were soft and super-chocolatey. And the almond extract in the recipe gave them a really unique taste. But they didn't hold together so well. If not picked up gently, the cookies would fall apart.

But none of the omnivores at the party seemed to care if their cookies fell apart. One guy even proclaimed, after sampling a few, that he would go vegan if all vegan food tasted like those cookies! Score.

Last Harvest

The Gaelic festival of Samhain (a.k.a. Halloween) traditionally marked the last harvest of the season and the beginning of our descent into the dark half of the year. And this year, it just so happened that I was gifted a massive bag of red and green tomatoes right before the weather turned cold last week.

My Granny gave me what was likely my last bag of fresh tomatoes until next summer, as I try to avoid winter tomatoes as much as possible (yuck!). I do have a tomato plant in my front yard filled with green ones, but I doubt they'll ever ripen. But Granny gave me more tomatoes than I knew what to do with before they turned bad. I fried a bunch of the green tomatoes in John P's Fried Okra, Tomatoes, and Tofu recipe last week. And I ate some red ones sliced with a little seasoned salt. A few went into salads, and I still had quite a haul.

So I found the last fresh tomato recipe I'll make this season to use 'em up — Sweet Garlic & Tomatoes with Pasta from Vegan's Daily Companion:

This simple, slow-simmered tomato sauce is made with lots of fresh garlic (2 whole heads!), about 10 diced tomatoes, olive oil, scallions, salt, and pepper. That's it. The recipe actually suggests serving it with farfelle (bowtie pasta), but I couldn't find that in whole wheat at Kroger. So I opted for whole wheat penne pasta instead. I loved this garlicky sauce, but it was a breath killer later.

On the side, I used some other fresh-from-the-garden produce. Granny had also given me a giant bag of fresh greens. And I mean, GIANT. I filled two soup pots with greens and slow-cooked 'em down crunk-style with turnips and my special seasonings (my recipe for Mess O' Greens with Turnips will be in my cookbook that's due out in April):

I'm not sure what type of greens these were (rape? mustard?), but they were delicious. And my greens recipe works with any type of leafy green, like collards, kale, turnip, mustard, or rape greens.

What have been your last harvest meals lately?

Nom-nom-nomelet

For years after going vegan, there were two things I missed the most: egg-y omelets and melty cheese. Thankfully, I discovered Susan V's vegan omelet from Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen, followed shortly by the omelet from Vegan Brunch. And by then, there was Teese and Daiya to stuff into my omelets, so my vegan prayers were answered. I even dedicated a post a few years back to my trials and successes in cooking pretty omelets.

But then I got Happy Herbivore, which contained yet another tofu omelet recipe — the Nomelet:

Although the concept is the same, the omelet is baked in a cake pan rather than cooked on the stove in a skillet. The baking method results in a thicker, heartier omelet. Look how thick that sucker is!

After it came out of the oven, I stuffed half the omelet with Pepperjack Daiya Cheese Shreds and sauteed peppers and red onions. Then I heated it in a skillet sprayed with non-stick spray to melt the cheese. Served with a slice of toast with blueberry jam, this was the ultimate breakfast.

Day of the Dead

Today was Dio de Los Muertos, the Mexican holiday honoring those who have passed. As a lover of all things skull-ish, I've always adored the traditional Day of the Dead skeleton decor.

But in my tradition, I honor the dead on Halloween, when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is at its thinnest. But since I went to Me-maw's on Halloween night (see last night's post), I held my annual feast honoring my dead friends and family on Sunday night.

Every year, I make the same delicious stew for this occasion — Smoky South American Seitan Stew from Grub by Bryant Terry and Anna Lappe:

I sat a place at the table for all my deceased, and this year, I had to add three extra plates to the table since that many friends have passed since last Halloween. There were plates for Xander, Daniel, Smoky, David Ray, Alexeis (my kitty that died of feline leukemia years ago), Patches (my kitty from childhood), my Grandpa Haas, my Aunt Ruth, and the newly deceased friends Trudy, Tammy, and Adam.

I enjoyed the hearty stew of homemade seitan, chipotle peppers, red potatoes, and fried plantains in silence as I honored their memories.

On the side, I made my Pear Salad (a recipe from my cookbook) made with fresh farmer's market pears from Jones Orchard, walnuts, green onions, and a homemade pear vinaigrette:

And not pictured is the slice of walnut-scallion bread from Memphis-based Shoaf's Loaf. For dessert, I enjoyed a Maple Spice Cupcake purchased from Imagine Vegan Cafe:

It was a nice meal to enjoy with friends and family who have passed. We will remember.

Halloween Hot Dog Party!

This is my Me-maw:

She loves Halloween more than any other holiday, and that's saying a lot because this is a woman who loves her holidays. She completely redecorates her house in holiday-themed knick-knacks and wall hangings (even themed toilet seat covers and shower curtains!) for every major holiday. But her Halloween collection is out of this world. Me-maw's house is filled with motion-activated singing mummies and witches, fiber optic pumpkins, harvest wreaths, and even a Halloween tree (like a Christmas tree, but with spooky ornaments).

Every year on Halloween, our family gets together at her house in Arkansas for a little chili dog party! My mom always brings veggie dogs and vegan chili for me. And I usually make the hour drive to Me-maw's house with a small portion of vegan cheese to melt atop my dog. This time, I used some Cheddar Style Sheese:

My mom brought her re-created version of Pancho's Salsa:

If you grew up anywhere in the Mid-South, you've probably had Pancho's dip. It's the house salsa served at the Pancho's chain of Mexican restaurants that once peppered this region. Only a handful of the restaurants are left, but the grocery store dip sales are still a booming business. Years ago, my mom found one of those restaurant food re-creation recipes. She claims she made it a lot when I was a kid, but I don't remember. Anyway, this stuff is amazing!! It's pureed fresh tomatoes, onions, and other stuff spiked with cumin and seasoned with a little oil.

My mom also brought a couple dozen Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudgey Frosting (and yes, they were vegan!):

She used the basic chocolate cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and I think she improvised on the creamy chocolate frosting because my mom is awesome like that. Yummy!

And although I didn't dress up tonight, I'll leave y'all with a picture of my Halloween costume from Saturday night, which I wore to several parties.

If you can't tell, I was a Mexican wrestler, and I used my new fairy wings (a recent birthday gift) as my cape. My wrestler name was Hada del infierno, Spanish for "Hell Fairy."

How did you spend your Halloween?