Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Scones and Tea

I'm planning a Dead Southern Belle Tea Party for my birthday (it falls on Thursday but I'm having the party on Friday), which of course got me thinking about tea party foods. The first thing that came to mind was scones. But rather than wait until Friday, I decided to whip up a batch last Sunday night to eat for breakfast throughout the week. I searched for scone recipes in my cookbooks and settled on these Banana Date Scones from the Veganomicon:

In the past, my experience with scones has only been so-so. The ones I've eaten (all in my pre-vegan days) have seemed dry and heavy. But these scones were super-duper moist thanks to the mashed banana.

They also contain chopped dates, pecans (which I subbed for the walnuts in the recipe), and no sugar! That's right, no sugar. They're sweetened with brown rice syrup, and since I subbed whole wheat pastry flour for all the flour in the recipe, they're actually pretty healthy. I've been eating these with leftover pumpkin sausage (from the freezer) and iced green tea each morning.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Good Gravy!

A few days ago, Shellyfish on Musings from the Fishbowl wrote an inspiring post about enjoying the finer things in life — long walks in the woods, the last of summer's berries, a few more summer tomatoes. In the post, she included her Great Grandmother Antonia's recipe for Garlic Gravy, which is really just a cute name for a super garlicky marinara.

I love a simple pasta sauce made with fresh, chopped tomatoes, especially when it's loaded with garlic. So last night, I made Shellyfish's Grandma's Garlic Gravy Over Whole Wheat Rotini with Meatless Meatballs:

With only five ingredients, this stuff is so simple and satisfying. It just takes a bulb of garlic, tomato paste, parsley, salt, and a few fresh chopped tomatoes, which I picked up at the farmer's market on Saturday (only two market days left before the end of the season!!!).

The meatless meatballs were cheaters though. They're the Light Life brand and they come already rolled up and ready to go. Honestly, I just had some in the freezer that needed to be eaten. They're good though. Thanks Shellyfish!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Awesome Oats

I'm generally a savory breakfast fan, but every once in awhile, I crave something creamy and sweet, like oatmeal. It's so warm and hearty on a fall morning, even if it's not that cold here yet. But I can't eat my oats nekkid. Sometimes, I stir in my favorite peanut butter for Dark Chocolate Dreams Oats:

My cat Ozzie loves chocolate peanut butter oats too!

I microwave 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup water, and a dash of salt. Then I stir in one or two tablespoons of the chocolate peanut butter after cooking. This time, it didn't seem sweet enough so I drizzled some agave over the top.

Inspired by a post from Shelby at La Belle Vegan, I tried Pumpkin Pie Oats this morning:

This was like eating pumpkin pie for breakfast, only with oats in it (which I guess seems like a rather obvious description, but sue me). I used a bit of homemade pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice), 3 tablespoons of canned pumpkin, Earth Balance, and a liberal drizzle of maple syrup. Suffice to say, I'll be eating this again in the morning.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Punk Rock on My Plate!

After yesterday's raw food detox, I was hella craving some mashed potatoes and gravy today. In fact, I literally drooled over Jesse's mashed potato and tempeh post on Happy Vegan Face last night. So today, I finally tried the Mashed Potatoes with Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance:

Also on my plate are Granny's Rape Greens with Turnips (thawed out from the freezer) and a Gardenburger Chik'n Grill Patty (that I also ended up smothering with punk rock gravy).

If you haven't tried the chickpea gravy yet, I can't even begin to tell you how good it is. I seriously could have eaten a bowl full of the gravy by itself. But it was wonderful on the mashed skin-on potatoes (I like mine a bit chunky, as you can see ... no whipped taters for me).

As for the greens, my Granny makes the best greens ever! She usually uses rape greens (although sometimes she cooks turnip greens instead). I've never seen rape greens in stores, but she always picks hers from a friend's garden. They seem to have a milder taste than turnip greens. She also tends to throw in chunks of fresh turnip. Super yummy!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Raw Food Tuesday! And Obama Rules!

Once again, Obama totally won the presidential debate. He looked smooth, smart, and totally together. And he knew his stuff ... McCain just looked old and lied a lot about Barack's policies. But even though the debate happened just 3 hours down the road from my Memphis home, I spent the evening on my couch noshing on raw food yumminess.

It all started this morning with Raw Nut Yogurt and Fresh Berries:

From Alive in 5: Raw Gourmet Meals in Five Minutes, this recipe calls for processing soaked cashews and almond pulp, water, probiotic powder (which I take everyday anyway), and vanilla bean. I didn't have any vanilla bean, so I used pure vanilla extract. Don't know if that's raw or not. I also added some raw agave in the food processor to sweeten the yogurt up a bit. Then I topped the mixture with fresh raspberries and some blackberries I thawed out from the freezer.

After breakfast, I had my monthly B-12 shot at work, which provided for the energy I was missing by not having my daily coffee. I do drink tea on raw days because I believe that I would die without some caffeine.

For a pre-lunch snack (I was starving by 10:30 a.m.), I munched on this Raw Zucchini Hummus with Celery Sticks:

From Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food Made Easy, this hummus subs chopped raw zucchini for cooked chickpeas. The rest of the hummus ingredients — tahini, lemon juice, garlic — are pretty much the same. The result was delicious. I snacked on it after lunch too with red pepper strips and baby carrots.

For lunch, I had the Harvest Salad, also from Cornbleet's book:

With organic baby spinach, a Gala apple, fresh raspberries and blackberries, chopped pecans and a classic oil and vinegar dressing, this salad really hit the spot. I loved the way the sweetness of the apples and berries contrasted with the tanginess of the vinegerette. By the way, I took this photo in my office breakroom. I've recently started using real plates and silverware at the office instead of wasting paper plates and plastic utensils.

Before hitting the gym after work, I snacked on this Go Raw Spirulina Energy Bar:

It was pretty good. Spirulina always tastes a little funky to me, kinda like wheatgrass. But I know it's good for me, and the banana, coconut, dates, and sesame seeds in the bar made up for the algae's weird taste.

That kept me full throughout my workout (it had 13 grams of fat and 7 grams of protein!). When I got home, I whipped up the Latin American Cabbage from Cornbleet's book with a side of creamy Guacamole:

The cabbage (a mix of salted cabbage, red pepper, tomato, cumcumber, onion, cilantro, lime, and olive oil) was pretty tasty. But I think I'll add some agave to my leftovers. I like my slaw a tad bit sweet. The guac was amazing! Unfortunately, the first avocado I cut into had a ton of black spots inside (has anyone else noticed this happening more often lately?). I had to run out to the store in the rain for another avocado. Thankfully, it was flawless on the inside.

After making all that yummy rawness, I settled in to watch the debate in my PJs! I can't believe it's only a month from Election Day! I'm so excited!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Go Joe! And Obama!

Joe Biden totally kicked Sarah Palin's butt in the debate last night! She's so stupid...she didn't answer a single question. She just kept darting around the answers by talking about John McCain's stupid energy policy. Whatever. Obama's gonna win anyway!

To celebrate our eventual victory, my friend Nathan and I had a debate-watching party at his crib in Cordova. I made Joe Biden's recipe for Oatmeal Cookies:


I found it on the internets, but of course, it had to be veganized. I just subbed Energy Egg Replacer for the eggs, and I cut down the amount of oatmeal and raisins cause the original recipe called for 3 CUPS OF OATS!

These were pretty darn tasty! And I made little flags using tiny pics from Google Images and party toothpicks.

I just love Joe Biden! He's super smart and I love his crazy big smile. And well, Obama is a dream! Seriously, if he wins (and he will), this place is totally gonna change for the better.

BTW, if you're not registered, do it before Monday! That's the deadline!

Here's Joe Biden's (Vegan) Cookie Recipe
-------------------------------------------------------
  • 1 cup Earth Balance
  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • Energy egg replacer equal to two eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups old fashioned oats
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, soda, cinnamon and salt together. Beat together the shortenings and sugars until creamy. Add egg replacer and vanilla; beat well. Add flour mixture, oats and raisins and mix well.

Use portion scoop and drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes (should be golden brown in color).

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

I'm Baaa-aack!

The move is finally over! Everything is unpacked and my life is back in order! Yea! Thanks for all your kind words and encouragement. Vegan food bloggers are the best support group ever!

Also, I need to give a VERY special thanks to VKO from Lifestyles of the Chic and the Vegan. When she learned about my impending move, she sent me a bottle of Rescue Remedy for my pets (I have 6 cats and a dog). Cats do not like moving, and a couple of mine are pretty skittish anyway. This Rescue Remedy stuff was amazing. You squirt a few drops on a cat treat and they're instantly rolling around in the floor like nothing has changed. Thanks so much VKO!

My new house has a HUGE kitchen. I'm used to tiny apartment kitchens, but now that I'm renting a house, I get to cook in a grown-up sized kitchen. It has tons of cabinet space, a lazy susan for my spices, counter space galore, and an oven that beeps at you when it's preheated. Here's a pic of half of it:

I just got unpacked last night, so I haven't had a chance to really cook anything big yet. But Friday night (before the move), I picked up this delicious Mushroom Lovers Pizza from DejaVu:

DejaVu is a new vegan restaurant in downtown Memphis. They have daily specials, and Friday night is Pizza Night. This was a personal pan size pizza loaded high with mushrooms, caramelized onion, sun-dried tomatoes, and vegan mozzerella. So good! Tuesday is Vegan Crab Cake Day, so I ate those on Tuesday but didn't get a picture. You'll just have to believe me when I say they were delicious.

Today, I whipped up some Fantastic Foods New England Vegetarian Chicken Noodle Soup with a Whole Wheat Baguette:

A while back, my dad ordred me some vegan goodies from Vegan Essentials. He picked out this soup mix, which comes in powdered form with dehydrated veggies. The back of the bag has add-in suggestions and I chose to make the Mediterranean Chicken Noodle version by tossing in white beans, parsley, and pesto in the last five minutes of cooking. It makes a huge pot (about 8 servings), so I'll be eating this for a few days.

But that doesn't mean I won't be cooking in my new kitchen! I plan on doing some baking tonight ... gotta christen my oven.