Finger Food

I had to test a few recipes from the appetizer section of my cookbook project this week. Since I wasn't planning on throwing any fancy parties, I made the appys as my main course. Inspired by Tasha's (of Voracious Vegan) famous "snack plates," I put together a fork-free lunch that was perfect for nibblin' on while I caught up on some deadlines at the office.

One such nibble were these Sweet Tater "Sausage" Balls:

My mom used to make sausage balls with Bisquick, meat sausage, and cheddar cheese. They were always a hit at potlucks and parties. But mine are pretty darn tasty too, and they're Bisquick-free, cheese-free, and meat sausage-free. Instead I use vegan sausage and mashed sweet taters. The potatoes make these really soft and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

Though the sausage balls taste yummy on their own, I'll include this Spicy Cheezy Sauce as a suggested dip in the cookbook:

I had six of the sausage balls with dip, alongside this colorful plate of veggie sticks with my Garlicky Black-Eyed Pea Hummus:

There's carrots, celery, cucumber, zucchini, and red and green bell pepper — a cornucopia of fresh veggies to act as the middle man between the hummus bowl and my big mouth. I love eating with my hands!

BBQ Spaghetti, Anyone?

Ever heard of BBQ Spaghetti? Supposedly, this Italian-meets-soul-food delicacy was invented right here in Memphis. That's what "they" say anyway. But since I don't know who "they" are, I'd like to know if BBQ Spaghetti is a regular thing in other places. Anyone heard of it? Had it? I know I'm asking a bunch of vegans, which may not provide for the best survey sample.

Even if you've never heard of 'cue-topped pasta, I'm sure you'll like my BBQ Tofu & Mushroom Spaghetti. It's going in the cookbook, but I'm going to warn ya now that it's not the world's prettiest dish:

But it tastes mighty fine, fo sho. The tofu is simmered in homemade BBQ sauce, which is why it takes on that peculiar color. White + red = pink. But I always add a dash of fresh sauce to the top for extra barbecue flavor and because it just looks a little prettier that way.

On another note, the awesome Ms. Jen of Pain in the Ass Vegan has awarded me with the Most Versatile Blogger Award. Thanks Jen!! To accept this honor, I'm now supposed to spill the soybeans on seven things you may not know about me. Then I have to pass on the award to five other bloggers (it was originally 15, but Jen changed the rules and I'm stickin' with 'em).

So without further ado ... Stuff About Me:

• I like to eat seasoning salt by itself. Pour a little in my (clean) hand and lick it right off. My favorite is Cavendar's Greek Seasoning. I realize this is not healthy, but I try not to overindulge. One of my guilty pleasures.

• I have a disgusting fascination with dead skin. I love getting sunburns just so I can peel away the dead stuff. Totally gross, right?!

• I'm a super Foursquare nerd. I check in everywhere, all the time. I am the mayor of the Kroger near my house.

• I plan my meals two weeks in advance though I do leave a little wiggle room in case someone asks me to eat out.

• Theme parties (with costumes) rule my life! I rarely ever host a get-together that doesn't involve some campy theme and fun dress-up party. My friends and I also take every opportunity that we can to go out in public in costume. Just last week, I went out for the night dressed as Floor Show Janet from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

• When I was little kid, I hated being from the South. I trained most of my accent away, but I can bring it back whenever I want. I came to truly appreciate my Dirty South roots while studying regional folklore in college (I was a folklore minor).
  

• I like rap music, especially Dirty South crunk (hence the name of my blog).

Okay, now you know all there is to know about me — costumes, dead skin, rap music, and Foursquare. Now I'll pass the Most Versatile Blogger Award to some of my fave bloggers of the moment:

* Yum Veggie Burger- Because Ali's veggie burger reviews make me drool!
* Kuntrageous Vegan- Because Lacey's my homegirl over in Nashville! And because she has the best blog name on the planet.
* The Health Sleuth- Because Rick has gone from SAD to super-glad in just one year, and he's now a tireless crusader against evil.
* Voracious Vegan- Because, um, duh ... everybody loves Tasha!! Her snack plates and world hunger mission are uber-impressive.
* Veggie Cookie- Because Jessica loves the same kinds of food I do! I swear, sometimes when I look at her blog, I feel like I'm looking at my own plate. And she also loves beer!

Raw Food Tuesday ... and the Coconut Butter Winner!

I have long-ish picture-heavy post of raw eats planned for tonight, so I won't make y'all wait 'til the end to reveal the Artisana coconut butter contest winner. I'm no Ryan Seacrest, after all ... but I will do a little drumroll ... (insert drumroll sound here) ... and the winner is Jess the Domestic Vegan! Congrats Jess.

Jess was randomly selected using Random.org's number generator, but you wanna know something weird? I won my first ever blog giveaway — a big ole box of Liz Lovely cookies — on Jess's blog back in May 2008!

Okay, onto the food. Today (Tuesday) was my monthly raw food day. I skipped last month because I just didn't have time on the first Tuesday of the month. But today, I started my morning off fresh with this bowl of Rawsome Breakfast Mix:

I know it just looks like a big ole blob of fibrous fruits and veggies (and it is), but it's made from apples, pears, celery, raisins, almonds, and spinach. Everything is tossed into the food processor and chopped into tiny bits. The recipe came from my new VegWeb app for the iPhone, but you see it here on the VegWeb site.

Raw food never fills me up for long, so I bring plenty of snacks to work, like this platter of celery, carrots, and Artisana Raw Walnut Butter:

And some yummy Coconut Butter-Stuffed Mejool Dates:

Lunch was one of my go-to raw recipes — Gena's Raw "Peanut" Noodles from Choosing Raw:

There's actually no peanuts in this dish, but you'd never know if I didn't tell ya. Somehow Gena's homemade Asian dressing tastes peanutty without the help of any nuts. For "noodles," I used zucchini, cucumber, red bell pepper, carrot, soybean sprouts, and mushrooms.

There was a long lull between work and yoga at 6:15 p.m., so I whipped up this Super Banana Sundae to hold me over until dinner:

This recipe is also on the VegWeb app and here on the regular web. Mine looks more like banana soft serve soup than banana soft serve as I put a little too much water in to aid in processing. But it tastes delicious nonetheless. The sundae is topped with a raw cacao-agave syrup, pineapple, and blueberries.

After yoga, I was famished until I threw together this Creamy Corn Soup:

Also from the VegWeb app, and the recipe is here. This simple soup of fresh corn, avocado, red bell pepper, cashews (which I subbed for the recommended walnuts), and Bragg's was super-duper good. I wish I had another bowl right now. I'll most certainly be making this again.

On the side, I had this Salad with Creamy Lime-Basil Dressing:

Another VegWeb recipe (available here). This was just okay. The dressing has a base of almonds and sunflower seeds, which give it a special creaminess. But my salad mix contained arugala, and I've learned that I don't care to mix arugala with a creamy dressing. I'd have enjoyed this dressing more on some crunchy romaine.

That's it for raw day this month. I feel great after eating all that nutritious food, but I'm really looking forward to having toast in the morning. If nothing else, raw food makes me appreciate cooked food so much more!

Mellow Mushroom Has Daiya Cheese!

So this may not be news to everybody, but in case you hadn't heard, the Mellow Mushroom pizza chain has begun offering Daiya vegan cheese!

For those who already live in awesome big cities where vegan cheese is readily available, this may not be big news. But I never, ever, ever thought I'd be able to order a vegan cheese pizza at a Memphis restaurant. Yet last Thursday, I did just that. Stephanie (aka Poopie Bitch) and I split this massive large Mega-Veggie Pizza with Daiya:

OMG! The only way to describe this pizza is, um, orgasmic. Seriously y'all. I've never put a tastier pizza in my mouth, not even in my cheese-eatin' days. This sucker was piled high with Daiya Italian shreds, tofu, sundried tomatoes, spinach, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, black olives, tomatoes, broccoli, banana peppers, and artichoke hearts. The original Mega-Veggie comes with feta, but we subbed out the Daiya instead. Look at that sexy slice:

Washed down with a frosty pint of Magic Hat #9, this pizza was my ultimate dream meal. If was on death row, this would be my last meal request ... for real.

The Mellow Mushroom location in Germantown (a suburb just outside of Memphis) didn't have Daiya listed on the menu yet. So if you go to a location in your hometown, be sure to ask if you don't see it listed. All the vegans with nearby Mellow Mushrooms need to order Daiya as often as possible so the pizza chain won't consider ever removing it from their offerings.

By the way, this post wouldn't be complete without a shout-out to vegan buds Lindsay and Jordan (I think Jordan was in a conversation across the table when I took this, hence the silly facial expression):

These two just moved to Chicago over the weekend, and we met up with them at Mellow Mushroom for a goodbye dinner. Lindsay was the one responsible for telling me Mellow Mushroom had Daiya! In fact, Lindsay is on top of all the vegan news ... I'm really gonna miss that bitch. I'm sure she'll be happier in Chicago though (land of vegan opportunity ... like delicious dinners at the Chicago Diner ... sigh).

If you're local (or visiting Memphis soon), you can find Mellow Mushroom at 9155 Poplar Ave. (901-907-0243). But if you're not in the Bluff City, you can find Mellow Mushroom locations in 16 states. Click here for a location guide.

Tuesday is the last day to enter my Artisana coconut butter giveaway. Click here for details.

Sweet Tater Waffles

Hey y'all! Short post tonight since it's a holiday weekend and all. Not that I'm doing anything for Labor Day, but I do get to stay up late tonight and watch movies since I'm off work Monday. So I'm just gonna show y'all what I ate for breakfast last week — Sweet Potato Waffles from Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia Simpson:

It's been way too long since I've pulled a cookbook off my shelf. I've been so busy testing my own recipes to get my cookbook done in time that I haven't had much time to cook other people's recipes. But I'm mostly done with my breakfast section, so I finally had the opportunity to try some breakfast recipes from my beloved cookbook collection. Of course the first book I reached for when I had the chance was Alicia Simpson's awesome collection of comfort food.

These waffles were made with mushed up sweet taters, so they had a really neat texture. And you could taste a faint hint of the sweet potato too. I topped mine with hot sorghum syrup and blueberries (not pictured).

Hot waffle tip: When I want waffles on week days, I whip together the batter on Sunday night. Then I cook up the whole batch in my waffle maker and store them in the fridge in a large bowl. Every morning during the week, I toast two of the waffles, top 'em with syrup, and eat 'em for breakfast. They taste just as fresh as they would if I'd made 'em that morning.

Vegan Scallops in a Can

Back in June, my boyfriend and I made the three-hour road trip to the Farm in Summertown to meet with the staff at the Book Publishing Company in regards to my Southern vegan cookbook. Along the way — about 40 minutes or so outside Summertown — we drove past a teensy health food store in the middle of nowhere. I wish I could remember the name of the town or the store, but I can't.

I'd actually stopped at this store on my prior visit to the Farm a few years back, and I was pleased to see that it was still in business. It's rare to find a health food shop in a rural Tennessee town! Of course we had to stop again this time. I purchased some large chunks of TVP (a size I can't find in Memphis) and this interesting can of Cedar Lake Vegi-Scallops:

Now, I've never eaten an actual scallop in my life. I grew up hating seafood, but for some reason I was intrigued by these. The ingredients didn't list anything that sounded like it'd taste fishy, so I thought I'd take the chance. I'm far for more culinarily daring these days. Here's what the stuff looked like after opening the can:

Little bits of chewy, white wheat gluten. I tried one in this state, and it was, well, weird. It had the texture I'd imagine a scallop to have. But then again, I don't really know what texture a scallop should have. It didn't taste bad. Just kinda bland.

I googled scallop recipes and came across a few scallop stir-fries. I was kind of in a hurry, so I figured a simple scallop fried rice would be easy and quick. I sauteed the "scallops" with garlic in a little canola oil, then added chopped cabbage and carrots and a little leftover brown rice. For a sauce, I combined soy sauce, chili-garlic sauce, and mirin. Here's the result, topped with extra sriracha:

It wasn't half bad. In the stir-fry, the scallops reminded of the canned vegetarian mock duck I sometimes buy from the Asian market. But honestly, the best part of the dish was the cabbage, carrots, and rice. I probably wouldn't buy the scallops again, but they were fun to try. Next time, I'll stick with tofu in my fried rice.

Don't forget to enter my Artisana coconut butter giveaway here. It's open until Tuesday.

We Got the Beet!

Everybody get on your feet. You know you can dance to the BEET! Jump in, get down. Round and round and round. Woooo!

Sarah Kramer's August recipe in the 2010 Go Vegan wall calendar has me singin' the Go-Go's. That's because the always-clever Mrs. Kramer named the dish "Beauty and the Beet Borscht":

Can a recipe name get any cuter? Seriously? I didn't think so. I make every one of the monthly recipes in Sarah's calendar, but I was super-excited to give this hearty beet soup a try. I realize today is September 1st (and many of you are reading this on September 2nd), but I made the August borscht on Sunday, and that was still technically August.

Okay, confession time: I'm a former beet hater. Up until about two years ago, I thought beets tasted like dirt. But I first tried beets raw, when their earthy flavor is most potent. Boiling or roasting really brings out their delicate flavors. And who doesn't love bright pink food?!

The "Beauty and the Beet Borscht" featured loads of veggies, but in the picture, they're all beet-stained and indistinguishable. Hearty beets are simmered with delicate cabbage, sliced carrots, celery, and onions. It's topped with a dollop of Tofutti sour cream and seasoned with dried dill. If you don't have Sarah Kramer's wall calendar (for shame!), you can also find this recipe in La Dolce Vegan.

A soup like this deserves a thick slice of whole wheat bread. I had half a loaf of my last bread machine experiment in the freezer. I thawed out the slices and topped them with melty Daiya Italian shreds and crushed, dried garlic:

By the way, Sarah Kramer's 2011 Go Vegan wall calendar is already on sale at Amazon.com. Go here to order. I haven't ordered mine yet, but I definitely will. I love having a surprise recipe every month.

Don't forget to enter my Artisana raw coconut butter giveaway here. And if you'd like to learn more about me (or just see some yummy pictures of my strawberry shortcake), check out Rikki's "Ask a Vegan" interview with me on Seitanic Heathen Vegan.