Hodgepodge of Southern Eats

I take pictures of most everything I eat. Sometimes those pics make it into a blog post, and sometimes they live on my camera's memory card never to see the light of cyberspace. Others get downloaded and saved for a day when I don't have anything new to post. Today's one of those days. It's been a busy, busy week with little time to cook (or work out! Eek!), so here are a few older pictures. All are photos of recipes that will be in my cookbook.

A few months ago, I re-tested my White Bean & Collard Green Soup. This hearty meal-in-a-bowl has all the whole foods that matter — beans, greens, and tomatoes. It's the perfect for crumblin' your cornbread into:

A couple weeks back, I tried my Tofu "Chicken" Pasta Bake one more time. Creamy quinoa pasta meets marinated "chicken-y" tofu, tomatoes, and a touch of nutritional yeast. Tasty casserole for cold winter days.

Over the weekend, I put the final touches on my Seitan 'n' Dumplins:

I've made this over and over again to get the dish where I wanted it, and my testers have offered invaluable advice. My mama's been making vegan dumplins for me for years, so I used her recipe as a base. But I added homemade "chicken"-flavored seitan, potatoes, carrots, and peas to create a full meal that trumps any chicken 'n' dumplins I ever tried in my meatier days.

Don't forget to enter my Caribbean Vegan cookbook giveaway. Click here for details.

Cookie Sale and Caribbean Vegan Giveaway!

Hey y'all. No food photos tonight. On the last night of Vegan Mofo, I want to tell y'all about some awesome discounts on magical vegan cookies. And then we're givin' away a copy of Taymer Mason's fabulous Caribbean Vegan cookbook.

First the cookies — Last year, I was lucky enough to receive a sample pack of some giant, all-natural vegan Intention Cookies by Bountiful Vegan. Not only are these cookies delicious, they're also said to possess a little mojo magic. Each cookie is supposed to bring about positive qualities — love, determination, success, courage, happiness, or prosperity — as you eat it. I don't know about y'all, but I totally believe in magic and the power of positive thinking. But I'm a little airy-fairy sometimes....

I received an e-mail from Bountiful Vegan a few days ago to let me know that they've eliminated two flavors from their line, but they've added four more — Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin, and Chocolate Chip. Those are in addition to the flavors they kept — Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip Orange. Each cookie is named for the quality it's supposed to impart in you as you eat it. For example, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip is "Happiness." Um, duh. I would totally get happy with a PB Chip cookie! See, totally magic.

They're also offering holiday gift baskets with 12 Intention Cookies, a choice of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate (they make the hot chocolate mix themselves!), and a personalized card. Check out the baskets here.

Anyway, Bountiful Vegan is offering a very special deal to Vegan Crunk readers! They're extending their Cyber Monday sale of 30 percent off all gift items through Wednesday, Dec. 1st at midnight. All you have to do is email info@bountifulvegan.com and ask for the "Cyber Monday Extension."

Now for the Caribbean Vegan giveaway! Yesterday, I reviewed Taymer Mason's newly-released cookbook filled with 125 recipes for native foods of Barbados, Saint Lucia, Trinidad, Tobago, Jamaica, Grenada, the French West Indies, and Guyana.

In case you missed the review, you can read it here. Or you can just drool over the photo of Taymer's Hearts of Palm & Tofu Scramble from Caribbean Vegan.

One lucky commenter will win a copy of Taymer's book. Just leave a comment about your favorite exotic dish. Doesn't have to be Caribbean since I'm sure many of you (like me until I got this book) haven't tried that cuisine yet.

For an extra chance to win, tweet about the giveaway and leave an additional comment letting me know you did. For an extra, extra chance, link back to the contest from Facebook and leave yet another comment to let me know. And finally, for a fourth chance, link back to this contest on your blog (if you have one), and leave yet another comment to fill me in. That's four chances to win!

If you don't have a Blogger account with a listed email, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. Good luck! I'll randomly select one winner on Sunday night (Dec. 5th).

Caribbean Vegan!

In my haste to finish my own cookbook, I've been pretty neglectful of my other cookbooks — cherished tomes that once dominated my weekly menu plan. Not only have I neglected the books I already have, I've also had to forgo buying any new cookbooks until after Christmas (that's when I'll be done with mine! Wooo!).

But I couldn't turn down an offer of a free copy of Caribbean Vegan to review. I've been a long-time fan of Taymer Mason's Vegan in the Sun blog, where the beautiful Barbadian blogs about veganized versions of traditional Caribbean eats. Her newly-released cookbook is filled with 125 recipes for native foods of Barbados, Saint Lucia, Trinidad, Tobago, Jamaica, Grenada, the French West Indies, and Guyana.

Seeing as how I'm totally unfamiliar with the foods from all those places, I was intrigued by the concept of Taymer's book. I've never had Carribean food and this book opens up a whole new world. Most dishes are seasoned with homemade wet or dry seasonings, such as Bajan seasoning, Jamaican jerk seasoning, or Trinidadian green seasoning. The recipes for these onion/pepper/herb-based seasonings these are included in the front of the book, and most keep for a year in the fridge. Many of the recipes also call for Scotch bonnet or habenero peppers. I love make-your-ears-burn spicy food, so this makes me very happy. But I bet spice-aphobes could leave the hot peppers out with tasty results.

I made the Bajan seasoning (a mixture of green and white onions, habenero peppers, lime, spices, herbs, and vinegar) to coat the tofu for this Hearts of Palm & Tofu Scramble:

Since I'm still busy testing my main entrees and desserts, I only have time to try breakfasts from other people's books for now. But that was just fine because this super-duper flavorful scramble totally blew me away. The Bajan seasoning added so much depth to this dish. By far, the most flavorful scramble I've ever tried. And who would have thought to add hearts of palm? I love the crazy texture of those things!

I enjoyed my scramble this morning with another recipe from the breakfast section of Caribbean Vegan — Saint Lucian Bakes:

This was similar to an English muffin in that you fry the dough for a crispy outer crust, but despite the dishes' name, you never actually bake these. Just fry 'em on both sides until they're cooked through. Then you can slice 'em open and spread with whatever you please. I subbed whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose in the recipe and enjoyed the finished bake with tomato marmalade. The bread was so soft inside. Next time though, I'll likely double the recipe as this only made three Saint Lucian Bakes. I wish I had enough to last all week!

A few of Taymer's recipes do call for hard-to-find ingredients, such as ackee, breadfruit, and cassava, but she says that her testers from around the world didn't have much problem finding exotic ingredients at well-stocked markets. I figure our massive Winchester Farmer's Market in Memphis — actually a world food market, not a real farmer's market — will have these ingredients. But even if you live out in the sticks, you'll still find that most of Taymer's recipes call for easy-to-find American grocery store fare.

As soon as I wrap up my cookbook, I'll start working through my old (and plenty of new) cookbooks again. And Caribbean Vegan will be at the top of that list! Her Bajan Macaroni Pie with Tofu Cheddar is definitely next up.

Let Me Eat Cake!

I've been eating vegan cheezecake and chocolate pecan pie leftover from Thanksgiving for days, so I really don't deserve a piece of cake. I mean, I always deserve cake because I'm awesome! But you know, my body probably doesn't need any more sugar. Thankfully, I made this yumilicious Yella' Cake with Fudgey Frosting last week, so I couldn't have a slice now if I wanted it (and of course, I do!):

This recipe was the final new recipe to be developed for my cookbook. I've been busy testing and re-testing recipes that I've developed over the past two years, but for some reason, I was holdin' out on creating a vegan version of my favorite cake — a simple yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I knew I wanted to include a recipe for it in the book, but I kept putting off development.

The cake part was, um, a piece of cake since I'd already developed a moist yellow cake (that's yella' if you're from these parts) for my Coconut Icebox Cake. But the frosting was kind of a bitch. It took me three tries in one night to achieve the creamy, fudginess that I was aiming for. It was a work night, and I started baking late. I think I stayed up until nearly 1 a.m. tweaking the frosting. I threw out two batches before I got it right.

I guess third time really is a charm because the last batch was exactly what I had in mind. I brought the finished product to work and it was quickly devoured by my co-workers. I'm so thankful that I have dessert-loving colleagues to pawn sweets off on. Like I said earlier, I always want cake. But my hips know better.

What's your favorite cake/frosting combo?

Happy Thanksgivin' Y'all!

I'm stuffed. Seriously. Just for fun, I weighed myself this morning before eating and then I weighed myself after cramming my face with Thanksgiving deliciousness. I gained five pounds — in less than eight hours!! I ate a lot, y'all. I always do on Thanksgiving Day. In case you couldn't tell, I'm sort of a food addict. I have self-control on most days. But Thanksgiving is the day I give myself full permission to gorge until I'm physically unable to move for at least an hour.

Not only am I celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday today, but I'm also celebrating my 16-year vegiversary (technically it's the day after Thanksgiving, but....). I think that gives me a pretty great excuse to be a glutton.

I always do Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's house, and my awesome mama makes all the dishes vegan! She makes a turkey for everyone else, but I always get a stand-in of my choice. This year, I went with the new Gardein Stuffed Turk'ys. Here I am before I gained that extra five pounds:

Let's take a closer look at that plate. Here's all I could cram onto one plate, but I also had a second plate filled with baked beans and corn. And then those plates were followed by dessert:

Now, let's break down each item. First the Gardein Stuffed Turk'y — a new item this year on the faux turkey market. These breaded stuffed "breasts" were mighty tasty, as one should expect from Gardein. They even came with some tasty gravy. The only drawback? The package only comes with two small stuffed turk'ys, which doesn't leave much for leftovers:

For the past three years, my mama has made homemade cranberry sauce. Before, we always had the stuff from the can. But we've learned that fresh is so much better. Ours has pecans and orange zest:

My mama's vegan cornbread dressin' is the best in the whole world. She also gets props from the rest of the family for her non-vegan dressin'. But I don't remember what that tastes like. My omni boyfriend tried both and preferred the vegan version. Lucky for y'all, this recipe will be included in my cookbook:

This Ramen Noodle Slaw was a first this Thanksgiving, but it's definitely a keeper. This dish was hands-down my fave of the meal. It's a sesame-flavored Asian-style slaw made with crunchy Ramen noodles. Y'all KNOW how much I love Ramen, so it's no surprise that this was the best.

My mom made these mixed baked beans using kidney beans, lima beans, vegetarian baked beans, brown sugar, and some veggies. Yum, yum:

My parents only recently discovered that they actually like sweet potatoes. They both grew up eating the sickly-sweet candied yam-style sweet taters, topped with gooey marshmallows. Neither my mom or dad remembered liking those, and both thought sweet potatoes were gross. And then I introduced them to savory sweet taters (like sweet tater fries, roasted wedges, and such). Now they like sweet potatoes when prepared without added sugar. My mom made these whipped sweet potatoes super creamy by adding Tofutti cream cheese:

I made this cornflake-topped hash brown casserole from my cookbook. It's a veganized version of the one my mama used to always make. I didn't really tell anyone that it was vegan, and I don't think they even noticed! I used Daiya cheddar in place of shredded dairy cheese.

Mama made some green beans and white potatoes in the Crock Pot:

Granny brought over some of her famous Greens & Turnips. Nobody makes slow-cooked greens like my Granny. Nobody. She must sprinkle them with magic soul food dust:

Granny also brought over a Crock Pot of corn:

And Granny made a creamy vegan cheezecake with strawberry sauce! I'm not sure what all went into it, but I know it involved tofu, vegan pudding, and a crunchy homemade crust.

I baked the Dark Chocolate Tipsy Pecan Pie from my cookbook. It has a little rum in it just for fun:

I wasn't the only one who stuffed myself until I was incapacitated. My boyfriend Paul went straight back to bed after dinner, where he promptly passed smooth out!

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was as awesome as mine! Now I'm looking forward to leftovers (and Black Friday shopping) tomorrow!!

What was your favorite Thanksgiving dish of the day?

Pardon a Turkey ... For Real

Though I haven't eaten turkey in almost 16 years (my veganaversary is the day after Thanksgiving!), I only began my annual tradition of adopting a turkey last year. Every year around Thanksgiving, the Farm Sanctuary raises money through their Adopt-A-Turkey Project. Between 250 and 300 million turkeys are raised for slaughter every year in the U.S. – more than 46 million alone for Thanksgiving. I want NO part of that! But I do love the idea of putting my money toward helping some of these birds live a long and happy life.

Donors pick out their favorite bird on the Farm Sanctuary website and give a gift of $30 to sponsor their turkey of choice. The money is used to help further Farm Sanctuary's compassionate work of rescuing animals and providing care for them at their California and New York sanctuaries. This year, I chose Daphne:

Isn't she a cutie? She reminds of my girl cat Pandora. I'm not sure why. There's just something about her look that made me think, "if Pandora was a turkey, that's what she'd look like." You see the resemblance?

Anyway, last year I adopted Gideon, but I couldn't find him on the list this time. I hope that doesn't mean he's gone on to turkey heaven. :-( If so, at least he spent his last few years in a lovely sanctuary.

If you're already a vegan or vegetarian, consider adopting a turkey as an annual tradition. And if you're an omni, I double-dog-dare you to give up meat this holiday and adopt a turkey instead. Double. Dog. Dare. That's right.

Have a happy Tofurky Day, y'all! I won't be posting tomorrow night because I'll be at my parents' house getting ready for the big day. But I'll be back on Thursday night with a full Thanksgiving recap!

Vegan Mofo: Thanksgiving at the Office

Almost every year, my company hosts a Thanksgiving lunch a few days before we get off for the actual holiday. Some years, we do a potluck. But this year, the company ordered a catered lunch from Corky's, a local barbecue joint (for the record, the 'cue joint served traditional Thanksgiving food). We have at least six vegetarians at the office, two of whom are vegan (including me!). In case you're wondering, I write for an alt-weekly, The Memphis Flyer.

Corky's doesn't offer any vegan food. Thankfully, I was lookin' for an excuse to cook up my Tofurky Vegetarian Feast, which Turtle Island Foods offered me for free in exchange for a blog review. So I spent last night and this morning cooking up the contents of the feast box — one Tofurky roast (now 20% larger!), one package of Tofurky Giblet Gravy, and an Amy's Chocolate Cake. I also whipped up an extra side dish and dessert.

Now I've had Tofurky plenty of Thanksgiving's before, but in recent years I've switched to Field Roast's Celebration Roast (nothing against Tofurky ... I was just trying to switch things up from year to year). I was excited to give the Tofurky roast another try, cooked up with an olive oil/soy sauce/sage baste and some chopped white potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and onions:

I've always loved Tofurky, but I swear it was tastier than it used to be. The texture seemed more tender, and the taste was more, um, turkey-like. Another co-worker commented that it tasted better than she remembered too. If you haven't had a Tofurky in awhile, try it again and see what you think. I think they've changed the recipe for the better. Several of my omni co-workers tried (and liked) the Tofurky as well, and my boss even called it "passable."

Though I didn't photograph the "giblet" gravy, it was also included in the feast box. I'd never it tried before, and it was pretty darn delicious for a frozen heat-and-serve gravy. Tasted homemade.

The box also included an Amy's Organic Chocolate Cake:

Now I've seen these advertised in VegNews, and I've noticed the frozen loaf-size cakes in Whole Foods. But I rarely ever buy pre-made desserts. I figure if I'm gonna splurge on sugar calories, they better be from something homemade. But y'all, this cake is fan-freakin-tastic. OMG. You just take it out of the freezer, thaw for a few hours, and voila. No baking involved. The cake is so, so moist. You could even eat this stuff with a spoon. It reminded me of cake batter, but in solid form. I ate one piece at work and finished off another two pieces later. I wish I had more right now. Thankfully, the feast box comes with coupons for more cake.

I asked other vegetarians in the office to contribute a dish to our alternative feast if they wanted and Hannah (the other vegan) brought a yummy veggie pot pie with phyllo crust. Very fancy. She was worried that it would taste like poop, but it was delicious! Sheryl brought some savory wild rice that really hit the spot. I wish I'd snapped a photo of both dishes, but by the time I saw their food, I was more concerned with eating than taking pictures. I did snap a plate shot, but it came out blurry. Boo.

To make sure we had enough food, I also brought my Hungry Jill Casserole — a baked bean and biscuit dish topped with Daiya:

And I made some Chocolate Pecan Tarts:

The tarts aren't quite where I want them yet, but they're almost there. I figure if I tweak the recipe one more time, I'll have a winner. Both the casserole and tarts will be included in my cookbook.

Several of us herbivores sat together at the company lunch. Here's Susan and Mark, enjoying their cruelty-free fare:

After lunch, Hannah and I fought over the Tofurky Jurky Wishstix:

This cute jerky "wishbone" was also included in the feast box. I'm not sure who won, but Hannah managed to score the bigger half. I think that means she won. Cheater. :-) By the way, check out my festive and seasonally-appropriate "Save a Turkey, Eat Tofu" shirt.

What do you serve as your Thanksgiving centerpiece?