Teenage Vegan

2007-02-19T09:22:00.000-08:00

Well, this week was pretty busy, so I didn't have much time for cooking (we even had *gasp* cereal for dinner one night!) Plus, I was pretty worn out on cooking after our Valentine's Day cooking extra-vegan-za!

Me finishing off the rest of the B'Cous Cous I Love You, from Vegan Eats and Treats. Originally, we were going to make homemade ravioli, sauteed arugala, and frizzled leeks from Voluptous Vegan, but after making all of the desserts, we just weren't up to it anymore!

A very happy (and full) boyfriend!

Dessert #1: Believe it or not, these are the chocolate cherry tallcakes from VCTOW that so many people seemed to make for V-Day. The first half of them I attempted to decorate the way suggested in the book, but it just wasn't working, and I blame it all on this:

William Sonoma's Mechanical Pastry Bag... after seeing this on a blog, I begged and begged and was delighted when I unwrapped it under my Christmas tree. But so far, it's been nothing but trouble! The plunger is so difficult to push down that I usually need my boyfriend to do it for me, and then it either shoots out across the room or only comes out in a few sporadic thin lines. Plus, cleaning it is a bitch; no matter how much I scrub, there's always some damn frosting left in the nooks and crannies! So I settled on just frosting the last half of the cupcakes with a knife an then topping them with cherries, and they turned out just fine. Not as pretty, but still tasty.

Dessert #2: Chocolate dipped strawberries, drizzled with vegan white chocolate!

Dessert #3: Dark chocolate coffee truffles, from The Vegan Feast Kitchen. These were Tommy's least favorite dessert, but I've been snacking on them all week! Unfortunately, after slaving away in the kitchen for hours to make all of these delicious sweets, I sat down at the table and realized that sugar (and, more specifically, chocolate) sounded disgusting. So I stuffed myself on coucscous and had one chocolate dipped strawberry (which I only ate because it seemed a shame not to!). Oh well, I suppose it was better for me in the long run!

And one not-V-Day post: Deja Vu Sloppy Joes from Students Go Vegan Cookbook (which we're currently borrowing from the library) and polenta fries from the Vegan Vice blog. I had this with the left over apple cider while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Can life get any better? I think not!

Have a good week, all!

2007-02-10T15:55:00.001-08:00

A congratulatory... grapefruit?

Yes, that is what I received from my best friend and her mother after learning that I was accepted into the University of Washington! I was so excited, because UW was definitely my first choice school. I plan on majoring in sociology and minoring in women's studies (a professional feminist in the making!). It was especially nice since I heard back before the other applications were even due, meaning that I didn't have to finish filling any of the others out! Mwahaha :)

Baked tofu from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Almost No Fat Cookbook, served with vegan tartar sauce on top and fit fries on the side. Although this was greedily devoured by my family, I just couldn't bring myself to eat it after adding kelp powder into the breading for the tofu because it smelled like fish food! It tasted fine, but I put up a mental blockade against it and settled for eating everyone's fit fries for dinner instead (sweet potatoes are good for you, right?)

Curried tempeh filling from The Fat Free Vegan Kitchen on two slices of sprouted barley bread with macrobiotic squash soup (you can see half of the butternut we used in the upper right corner!) and three bean salad from Trader Joe's. This was originally supposed to be sushi, but I was still feeling a bit iffy on sea vegetables after the kelp powder incident, so it turned into sandwiches. Delicious all the same!

Really really yummy vegan raspberry "jell-o" from a box I got at Sidecar (Seattle's vegan grocery store) for only $0.79! I added frozen raspberries in and topped it with soy whipped cream (Soyatoo brand), which I used to hate but now love. I wanted to make the jell-o cute, but the only molds I had were for Easter - hence the rabbit shape.

Pretty much the whole reason I go to Pike Place Market: yes, that is a vegan snickerdoodle the size of my hand. They also have really amazing gigantic vegan cinnamon rolls, but since Tommy and I had just split one at The Globe (which we went to after seeing it featured in the Get Sconed blog, btw) I decided to go for a cookie. I also got yummy wheat-free sugar-free applesauce bread. I'm pretty sure the place is called Cinnamon Works, but I could be wrong.

Really, really good lemon date squares from the Vegan Vittles cookbook, which is pretty much my new favorite cookbook ever. So delicious - just the right combination of sweet and lemony, and perfect to pack in a lunchbox the next day!

Greek Salad also from Vegan Vittles - tofu feta, cucumbers, kalamata olives, roma tomatoes, and garlic caper dressing (our own addition) on top of romaine lettuce with sourdough bread on the side. I'm usually not too big on salads (I know, what a crummy vegan, huh?), but this one was yummy!

Gyros, also from - you guessed it - Vegan Vittles! Seitan stir-fried in a mixture of soy sauce and herbs with sprouted wheat pita bread (which, btw, does not hold together very well) and a tofu-cucumber sauce. We also had lettuce, onions, and tomatoes on them. A bit salty, but good!

Our standby healthy meal: roasted acorn squash with rosemary and olive oil, three bean salad (same as from the sandwiches) and quinoa with a tahini-tamari dressing. Quick, easy, and nutritious (a good source of complete protein!)

PMS + Veganism = amazing chocolately goodness. The World's Best (And Easiest) Chocolate Pudding from Vegan Vittles with soy whipped cream, organic sprinkles, and crumbled up fruit sweetened wheat free chocolate cookies. Definitely made both Tom and I sick, but it was so worth it.

Tofu Yung patties from Chicago Diner cookbook, with brown rice and frozen edamame on the side cooked with mirin. This tasted just like egg foo yung (or so my mom said, I've never had it); it definitely had a very egg-y texture and a delicious Asian flavor.

Peace out everybody!

2007-01-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

Man, this was just like, the weekend-o-good-food!

I am absolutely perplexed by the fact that so many Seattle-area vegans don't like this!! This is a slice of the the garlic sauce pizza from Pizza Pi, the only (as far as I know) vegan pizzeria in the United States! It has this amazing, gooey, garlic sauce and is topped with mushrooms, olives, spinach, and veggie sausage so real that it makes you feel like you're cheating. We also got a box of breadsticks with "cheese" on top and marinara sauce for dipping, and cinnamon sticks with vegan frosting. Pizza Pi is pretty far away so it's an occasional treat, but oh man. I seriously want to cry everytime I bite into one of their lighter than air breadsticks, and I am psyched beyond psyched that it will be closer once I move to Seattle in the fall!

As I mentioned earlier, I'm working at a new vegetarian Indian restaurant that I used to love eating at, but they recently changed their menu from North Indian cuisine to South Indian cuisine. I'd never tried south Indian food before so I was a bit apprehensive, but it is goooood. I like it miles better than the north! The big pancake looking thing is a dosa, which is basically like a big, peppery pancake filled with vegetables cooked in Indian spices and served with some kind of savory chutney. It's incredibly rich so I could only finish about 1/3 of it, but with a glass of ice cold mango juice, this really hit the spot!

We went a bit crazy with Indian food that night, so we also got this other Indian bread which was full of peas and tomatoes (the name escapes me, although I do remember that it started with a 'u'.) It looks kind of like pizza, doesn't it? It was greasier than the dosa, but it was really, really good. I brought it to school for lunch the next day (I wanted to bring the dosa but we forgot to put it in the refrigerator! I was heartbroken, haha)

And then all of this pictured above is all the cool and unique things I purchased this week! We went to Sidecar Pigs for Peace, an all vegan grocery store in Seattle, and also to Oujimaya, which is a local Asian grocery store.

First, there is strawberry flavored ricemellow cream (which I think used to be not-vegan, but it is vegan now!) To the right in the white box is some raspberry "jello" made with agar agar that you just add water to. Behind are two more jello-y desserts: in the brown box is a coffee flavored agar agar dessert, and the white box is just agar agar powder with sugar added, both from Oujimaya. The most exciting part? The boxes were about $1.75!! Agar agar usually runs for around $6.00 per 4 oz. or so in these parts, so I was completely psyched about how cheap this was. I'm thinking that I can use the plain powder in some of my dessert recipes that call for flakes, and just omit the sugar from the recipe.

To the right of the agar-dessert boxes are two really adorable rice bowls from Oujimaya; one has monkeys on it and the other one has giraffes. Since monkeys are Tommy's favorite animal and giraffes are mine AND we eat a lot of rice, I figured these were worth it.

They're a little hard to see, but aren't they adorable?

Of course, the bowls in the first picture are sitting atop the brand new bento boxes that I also bought this weekend so I could start bringing lunches to school. You can really clearly see the red one, but the black one kind of fades into the stove (the red one is for Tommy, the black one is for me.) In front of the bento boxes is a stick of... vegan jerky? I couldn't believe it! I'm so used to my eyes glazing over anything that size and shape, but then I realized I was in a vegan grocery store! I haven't had a chance to try it, but it looks good! Next to the jerky is some dried dragon fruit, which tastes like nuts - crazy! I like it a lot better than the fresh stuff though (plus, it's way cheaper - fresh dragon fruit is like $10.00 a pound!)

The big pink package to the right is freeze dried rambutan. This stuff is a trip - has anyone tried it? It falls into the fifth flavor (Americans tend to eat only four), and is characterized by what the Japanese call Umami. It starts off sweet and ends kind of bitter, and it almost tastes deep fried, which is so weird because its just freeze dried! I think I like it, but it will take some getting used to.

The last two jars are probably the most boring of the lot, but I'm still excited about them nonetheless since I've been trying to do more macrobiotic recently. The first is raspberry spreadable fruit sweetened with brown rice syrup, and the second is chocolate flavored brown rice syrup (they had maple flavored brown rice syrup too, but then I thought, "Hey, if I want something maple flavored and syrupy, then it probably makes sense to just have some maple syrup." )

Anyway, tolo is coming up soon and I bought this slinky black dress (for $15.00 at Buffalo Exchange, I might add) and I want to make sure it looks good, so I'm eating a bit lighter for awhile. That doesn't mean I'm going to be sacrificing any flavor though! Here's this weeks menu:

Spaghetti with vegan meatballs (last night's dinner - nice and lazy, didn't want to miss any of Heroes!)
Baked tofu with "tartar" sauce and fit fries (yam fries with no oil, essentially)
International quinoa salad with loads of veggies
Macrobiotic squash soup and curried tempeh sushi rolls (from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog.)
Have a good week!

2007-01-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

So this week I started working at a vegetarian Indian restaurant, which has been quite the interesting experience. I feel really conflicted because the owners are so kind, they really need extra help, and I already agreed to work there on Fridays and Saturdays, BUT I really don't like it, I don't get any breaks, they pay me out of their pockets, and even though I'm the waitress, I don't get any tips. It's really not the best situation. The one plus side, though? I get free food whenever I want. I'm thinking about quitting, even though I know that would be really irresponsible.

Anyway, onto the food! I'm super excited because yesterday I picked up The Almost No Fat Cookbook: Everyday Vegetarian for about $6.00 at Half Price Books, in practically brand new condition! We're big fans of all of Bryanna's recipes that we've tried from her website, AND my mom is trying to go on a low-fat vegan diet to help her lose weight, so we really couldn't have found this at a better time. (At Half Price books I also picked up a book called "The Science of Vampires," written by a PhD, which promises to be really cool, plus a book on the relationship between plants and humans called "Food of the Goods" for my boyfriend, and then a random girly book about how to do your makeup. So probably the most random assortment of books ever.)

Here is the Caramelized Fennel and Shallot Risotto from "Fresh and Fast Vegan Pleasures," topped with minced tarragon and fennel fronds. On the side is a bitter green salad with balsamic vinaigrette. This was very good; the flavors were very subtly sweet, which was nice for the cold weather.

In the words of Rachel Ray: Yum-o! This was the Seitan Piccata with White Wine and Capers from the "Candle Cafe" cookbook, and it was super good. I'm a sucker for any type of piccata! On the side are some oyster mushrooms and asperation (a hybrid between broccoli and asparagus) that my dad grilled. This felt very gourmet so Tommy and I cracked open a bottle of cranberry cider to go with it :)

Of course, we had leftover seitan, so the next night we just heated it up in the microwave and served it with some store-bought BBQ sauce (as you can see, it came out of the bottle a bit faster than we had anticipated!). Tommy and I split a roasted acorn squash between the two of us (which was just mediocre - I didn't think to put olive oil or rosemary on it, like I normally do) and we each had a big old leaf of raw dino kale with some lemon juice, olive oil, and salt - the only real way to eat raw kale. Yum!

And here was this morning's breakfast: Egg Free French Toast from the Almost No Fat Cookbook topped with organic strawberries and maple syrup, served with vegetarian sausage patties, half a pear, and some Odwalla orange juice. My mom and I both enjoyed this immensely; it was quick, easy, and extraordinarily satisfying! (My mom commented that it's weird to be on a diet that allows her to be full and happy!)

Have a good week everybody!

2007-01-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

So, what's on the menu for this week?

Seitan piccata in a white wine and caper sauce, served with grilled oyster mushrooms and grilled (or maybe steamed?) asperation

Caramelized fennel and shallot risotto with fresh tarragon and a nice big salad on the side

A nice and "plain" meal that I'm desperately in need of: Brown rice, adzuki beans cooked with kombu, steamed kale, roasted squash, and beets, maybe with a tahini miso dressing drizzled over all of it.

And for our raw meal of the week (from my new "cook"book Rawvolution): collard green wraps filled with seed cheese and a variety of veggies


   
 Midweek Munchies: What AUTUMN  is contributing this week


The majority of this (I'm talking upwards of 90%) was organic, but I honestly don't remember the few things that weren't.

Sprouted barley bread
Bulk adzuki beans
Bulk arborio rice
2 Luna Bars (Peppermint Stick and Toasted Nuts and Cranberry flavors)
1 bag dulse
Baked rice crackers
Vegetable broth
Hemp granola
Multigrain "milk"
StonyfieldFarm soygurt
Suzanne's Better Than Honey
Agave
Asperation (a cross breed between broccoli and asparagus, I'm excited!)
1 Avocado
1 bunch bananas
1 bunch beets
1 carrot
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch collard greens
2 fennel bulbs
1 head garlic
Fresh basil
Fresh tarragon
1 bunch dinosaur kale
2 kiwi
2 lemons
3 or 4 oyster mushrooms
1 bunch green onions
1 red onion
1 yellow onion
1 bunch parsley
2 or 3 anjou pears
1 or 2 bosc pears
1 or 2 comic pears (pears are my new obsession, if you couldn't tell!)
1 shallot
1 big bag salad mix
2 acorn squash
1 box strawberries (terribly, horribly out of season, but they smelled soooo good!)
Bulk olives

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 Technorati Tag: Midweek Munchies 
 PURPOSE of Midweek Munchies: Put together by a small group of Veg Women, we hope to spread the word about healthy vegetarianism while obtaining idea starters for meals, recipes, learn about new products, and meet other female veg*n bloggers. Visiting and commenting on other participants lists are encouraged but not required.
 Have fun and Go Veg!

2007-01-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Snow!! And lots of it!!

This has been the wackiest year of weather. First, in November, we had these awful floods that qualified Washington as a national emergency area. Then we had a huge snow, followed by a windstorm that resulted in a power outage that lasted over a week for some people (during Christmas, nonetheless!), and now we have another foot of snow. We go entire winters without ever getting snow, so this is really odd. The bonus, of course, is that school was canceled yesterday and today, and Monday is a holiday, so I have a five day weekend! Yay!

This is in our backyard; our inflatable pool pretty much turned into an ice skating rink! I haven't been able to make it to a grocery store since we live on top of a hill, but I did manage to whip up some delicious recipes nevertheless.

This is the "Snow Pea" and Soba Noodle "Salad" from Vegetarian Times, which I modified heavily because I didn't have snow peas or lettuce. I used edamame instead, and added in some big chunks of firm tofu on top of the soba noodles, green onions, cilantro, and red bell pepper. Drizzled on top is a peanut sauce (another recipe which I modified), and on the side are some baked rice vegetable crackers. A very nutritious and yummy lunch!

Also from Vegetarian Times was this yummy quinoa curry. This was originally a non-vegan recipe, but I just substituted plain soy yogurt in and voila! This dish features cauliflower which has been lightly cooked in a curry herb blend and is served with quinoa, peas, cashews, and fresh cilantro.

And yet again from Vegetarian Times was this absolutely AMAZING pudding (which is supposed to be made with bulgur, even though that's not what I used), served with some fresh pumpkin bread that I made that morning. Next time you have a cold winter's night and need something sweet, warm, and filling, you have to make this.

Couscous Pudding with Figs
1 tbsp. Suzanne's Better Than Honey or real honey, depending on whether or not you eat it
1/2c. dried figs, soaked in warm water for a few minutes (until they are soft)
1/2 c. + 1/8c. couscous
1/2c. multigrain milk with 1/2tsp. vanilla added, or any other vanilla flavored nondairy milk
1/4c. dried currants
1/8tsp. allspice
Chopped walnuts, to taste

Bring 1 1/2c. water and honey or honey replacer to boil in a saucepan, stir in couscous. Cover and remove from heat. Let couscous stand for five minutes, or until the water has been absorbed (make sure it doesn't get too dry or burn onto the bottom of the pan!)

Stir in multigrain milk, currants, and allspice. Bring to a boil, add in figs. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered, for 3 minutes, or until it looks kind of like oatmeal. Stir in nuts or sprinkle on top. Serve warm. (When I had this for breakfast this morning, I also added in a couple teaspoons of margarine, which made it even creamier than before.)

Pumpkin Bread
1 3/4c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2c. spelt flour
2 1/2tsp. baking powder
1/2tsp. baking soda
1/2tsp. ground allspice
1/4tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
1/4tsp. salt
1 (15-oz) can pureed pumpkin
3/4c. Just Like Honey, real honey, or brown rice syrup
2 1/2tbsp. walnut oil
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9 by 5 loaf pan. In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder and soda, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, honey or honey replacer, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just incorporated, being careful not to overmix. Spoon the mixture into the loaf pan and bake until it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, about 55 minutes. Let cool before slicing. Serve with maple butter or honey replacer on top. Delicious!

2007-01-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

So after a week and a half of eating really well (lots of macrobiotic and raw), and after starting to PMS, I decided that I just couldn't take it anymore. I needed some good, old fashioned, down home comfort food. So Tommy and I had the idea to do a vegan "KFC" night - everything was so delicious that thinking about it now is making me hungry again! Next time I would like to add coleslaw, biscuits, and gravy to the mix. The best part about it all though? The whole dinner (including dessert!) took me less than an hour!

Clockwise from bottom left we have mashed potatoes from scratch, some raw dino kale with olive oil and lemon juice (not anything you'd typically find at KFC, but I needed something green!), vegan fried steak, and macaroni and "cheese." Both the vegan fried steak recipe and the macaroni and cheese recipes were taken from vegweb, here: http://vegweb.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=f94d3b5b9163122ccbcba29def887c9c&topic=7534.0 and here: http://vegweb.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=f94d3b5b9163122ccbcba29def887c9c&topic=8295.0, respectively. I'll post them in the blog later, but I have school soon!

Dessert #1 (yes, we had two) is surprisingly NOT from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but rather from the first Millenium restaurant cookbook. It's an individual Mad Good Chocolate Cake, filled with a rich chocolatey ganache (which unfortunately baked into the cake, it was supposed to be a rich molten center) and topped with coconut sorbet. There was supposed to be a caramel rum sauce too, but we're trying to cut back on sugar (the cake recipe only used maple syrup, which was awesome). Very delicious, but I was sad because of the lack of molten ganache center, because I tasted it while it was cooking and it was really, really good. Next time I'll just pipe it in after baking.

Dessert #2 was more of the coconut sorbet (Palapa brand), with a cut up mini banana, some dried figs, cinnamon, and homemade carob sauce from the failed banana ice cream on Friday. Nice and refreshing!

Peace!

2007-01-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

I think that from now on I'll post every weekend and upload photos of all the food I made throughout the week. I'm pretty busy Monday - Friday with school and whatnot, but I've still been managing to cook my little heart out! Tommy (my boyfriend), and I are trying to cook macrobiotic twice a week, raw once a week, and just plain old vegan the rest of the time, only with less white flour and white sugar (we're trying to cut back). It's been working pretty well!

The infamous chocolate "oreo" cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I took these over to my friend's house for New Years. Her dad, who is Polish and extremely carnivorous/anti-vegan, gobbled one up before Sabrina revealed their secret. He still loved them anyway!

And people say that vegan food is dull! I hadn't really made any plans for New Years dinner, so I just threw some of the vegetables in my fridge in a pot to stir fry (carrots, bell pepper, cucumber, onion, and some garlic), along with some seasonings (lemon, Bragg's, and Vegit). I then cooked up some heirloom quinoa I found at QFC, of all places, and tossed them together. I topped it with some of the leftover raw cashew-tarragon "cheese" from the beet rawvioli. Very simple, very healthy, very delicious!

This was a very interesting recipe from the Real Food Daily cookbook - chorizo tempeh samosas, only that's not dough the samosas are made out of, it's mashed potatoes! The filling for this was absolutely delicious (carrots, peas, tempeh baked in soy sauce... yummy!) and since I'm a potato fiend, I gobbled it right up! It was a bit more work than I wanted to do on a school night, but this will be a great recipe for weekends.

Not the best picture, but these were the kava kava brownies from the Vegan World Fusion Cuisine cookbook, minus the kava kava because I couldn't find it (I just used water instead)! This is the closest thing you will ever find to a health food brownie - no white flour (it uses whole spelt), no white sugar (it uses sucanat), and no oil or margarine, plus it has flax seeds and raisins in it. I topped it with grated coconut and the Strawberry Sauce recipe from the same book, which was a bit too minty for my taste.

The two dishes we had for dinner two nights ago, from the Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics. Neither look terribly appetizing, I realize, but both were really delicious and refreshing. The top is a mushroom barley soup with onions, miso, and lemon juice, and on the bottom is vegetables nishime (which means something to the effect of 'cooked in its own juices,' I think), and has parsnips, carrots, daikon radish, and onion in it (the green thing near the bottom left is a piece of kombu, which is supposed to help aid digestion, and since I had an upset stomach that night I thought, 'hey, sounds good!')

The last picture here (which is also relatively unappetizing and which my father was desperately trying to get out of) is of our raw food meal for the week - bell peppers stuffed with raw sunflower seed pate, from The Raw Gourmet. Well, it was supposed to be stuffed with a sunflower seed pate, but I unfortunately forget to read that the sunflower seeds needed to be sprouted first (don't you hate that?). So I kind of threw something together instead, using walnuts and almonds with some olive oil and Braggs. I then mixed in a raw Asian Dressing, from the same cookbook, which had scallions, honey, ginger, and tahini (plus a few other things). This was really, really filling and actually very good too! For dessert we had frozen banana ice cream with raw carob sauce that I thought was awful but that my boyfriend Tommy loved. I didn't find it be particularly picture worthy.

2006-12-31T11:37:00.000-08:00

Last night's dinner was delicious, but I'm afraid to say that I don't think it was worth the pain that resulted from it!

This is the raw beet raviolio with cashew cheese filling, tarragon, and pepper puree from the great "cook"book Raw Food Real World. It is absolutely delicious, super easy (especially for a raw recipe!) and nice and filling for a cold winter's night. Unfortunately, we didn't use a very good mandoline slicer to cut our thin beet sheets. As a result:

Both my mom and I sliced our fingers open trying to slice the ravioli sheets (that's my grandma, the nurse, on the left, fixing us up!) Next time, I won't try to use something that isn't a mandoline slicer to make thin rounds. (Of course, the next morning, we realized that our food processor can do mandoline slices. Go figure.)

And here was this morning's breakfast: the most scrumptious pancakes that you will ever taste, vegan or not! As can be seen above, my grandma and I both had ours with bananas, organic maple syrup, and chopepd pecans. My mom had hers with some butter (she's not vegan) and strawberry reserves and seemed quite content with that as well. My dad just drowned his in maple syrup, as usual. You can find the original recipe on vegweb: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5138.0

2 1/2c. flour (I used half unbleached white and half whole wheat pastry)
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2c. non-dairy milk (I used rice milk)

Lightly mix all the ingredients; mixing too much will result in tough pancakes. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes to rise. Gently fold the batter, and then let sit to rise for another 5 or 10 minutes (I skipped this second rising time because I was too hungry!) On a lightly oiled skillet, drop tablespoon fulls (or bigger, depending on how big you want them) of batter and cook until lightly browned on both sides. Enjoy!

Peace!

2006-12-29T21:43:00.000-08:00

I've been doing my fair share of holiday baking! Sorry if the pictures are a bit small, but I'm still getting back into the swing of flogging.

In the lower left hand corner are my grandma's infamous peanut butter date balls, which are full of powdery sugar goodness and coconut and then covered in chocolate - so good! On the bluish plate is a veganized version of marshmallow fudge using vegan ricemellow. (The other desserts are non-vegan peanut butter date balls and divinity).

This is the macrobiotic dinner that my boyfriend and I had last night: hambulghur helper from the Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics. It's full of carrots, celery, tempeh, onions, and bulghur wheat. Very refreshing!

Another macrobiotic dish from the same cookbook: strawberry kanten (vegan jell-o, essentially) layered with tofu cream. Really good, but very rich. I spilled half of mine on the carpet and still couldn't finish it all!

Mmm, banana nut muffins! I was going to make low fat banana pancakes, but these sounded way better. Check the recipe out here: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5712.0

For Christmas, my boyfriend's grandma got me a really cute dessert set (with a serving tray, plates, and cups,) and my mom got me a mechanical pastry bag. On top of that, I got Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and there were recipes for a tea/craft party in Vegetarian Times. You don't have to be in tune with the universe to figure out that message! So I had a vegan tea party. Above are tea sandwiches with soy cream cheese (mixed with either chives or green olives), tofurkey, and cucumber. The teas I served (which I didn't photograph) were chamomile with ginger and cranberry, and green tea with pomegranate and orange.

This was amazing brazil nut cheese, which is coated in a mixture of herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary and pepper) and then baked and drizzled with olive oil. I got the recipe out of Vegetarian Times, and I'm sure you'll be able to find it on the website in the next few months, after the issue is off the shelves.

These were the first cupcakes I made from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Holy freaking cow. Pictured above are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and low fat vanilla cupcakes with strawberry jam and icing.

These were requested after all 24 of the other cupcakes had been consumed (by only 8 people, I might add!) They're coconut cupcakes with coffee buttercream frosting. You're supposed to use coffee extract, but I didn't have any and used coffee liqueur instead. I would highly recommend making this substitution.

But of course, some people disliked coconut, so then I was requested to make these: chocolate cupcakes filled with peanut butter cream, drizzled with chocolate ganache, and then topped again with more peanut butter frosting. Some of the responses included: "I don't even like cupcakes but these are amazing!" and "I thought you said you were vegan?!?! Because these obviously aren't." Mwahaha! Vegan victory!

Peace!

2006-12-27T21:24:00.000-08:00

After a three month hiatus, I'm back!

School was insanely busy this quarter; 15 credits make a full load and I took on 21, plus two different honor societies, college applications, occasional work, and my senior project (for which I'll be starting a vegetarian club at my high school, I'm so excited!)

I took a class this quarter all about sustainable agriculture and American consumption and I'm more into organic and local produce than ever - which, of course, isn't too easy in winter in Washington. I'm now of the opinion that no one should live in Washington because there isn't any local seasonal produce possible from November to March, except for the occasional pear or winter squash (and I'm definitely not living off that!)

With the holidays, I've been doing a ton of cooking - plus my grandma came out, so we've been baking up a storm making all of her old holiday candy recipes, like chocolate dipped peanut butter date balls and a veganized version of her marshmallow fudge.

Yesterday, we dined on yummy tempeh reuben sandwhiches from the new cookbook I got for Christmas, "The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics." They were super simple and even my carnivorous grandma liked them!

This afternoon for lunch, I whipped up a super yummy "chicken salad" from left over chick-style seitan we made on Christmas eve, some vegan mayo, some red pepper miso mayo (if you can get your hands on this, try it! It's amazing), some celery and some pickle relish. I served it right on top of some poppy seed crackers with pear. It was amazing; tasted just like the real stuff! (at least to someone who hasn't had the real stuff in awhile, lol) Tonight my boyfriend and I made morrocan winter squash and carrot stew with quinoa for his dad, another meat eater, and that went over very well! (Get the recipe here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/233714)

On the menu for this week? Lots of fresh foods to help me detox after I went for my third slice of Vegan Eggnog Cheesecake from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog and second slice of Bryanna's Pumpkin Pie! Recipes will include:

Macrobiotic "hambulghur helper" with lots of fresh veggies, mainly being made because I'm easily amuseable and the name cracks me up
Macrobiotic Strawberry kanten (vegan jell-o) with creamy topping (the strawberries are ones that I froze this summer, so I suppose that's technically not out-of-season)
Seitan stir fry with cashews from Vegetarian Times magazine
Raw red beet ravioli with cashew tarragon filling - so good!
Brazil nut cheese on crackers (from Vegetarian Times) along with tea sandwhiches and green tea cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, for a tea party I'm having

My camera is kind of spazzing out on me - it will only take pictures when I press the button in a circular motion for 15 some seconds - but I will still do my best to take photos of these dishes and share them!

Midweek Munchies: What Teen Vegan is contributing this week

Bold Indicates Organic!

Ketchup
Relish
Sourdough Bread
Sauerkraut
2 8 oz. packages of tempeh
1 medium onion
1 large carrot
Bulghur wheat (to make the hambulghur helper recipe from my new macrobiotic cookbook!)
Whole wheat elbow pasta
1 ear corn
2 stalks celery
Apple juice
Agar Agar flakes
Brown rice syrup
1 lb. firm tofu
Umeboshi vinegar
Raw cashews
2 lemons
2 green onions
Tarragon
Parsley
3 yellow and orange bell peppers
1 red bell pepper
1 large bunch red beets
Frozen edamame
Ginger
1 head garlic

1 12 oz. package seitan

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PURPOSE of Midweek Munchies: Put together by a small group of Veg Women, we hope to spread the word about healthy vegetarianism while obtaining idea starters for meals, recipes, learn about new products, and meet other female veg*n bloggers. Visiting and commenting on other participants lists are encouraged but not required.
Have fun and Go Veg!

2006-09-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

I'm back!

So where exactly did I go? I'll give you a hint: it was like vegan heaven on earth.

California!

My apologies for the lack of posting the past few weeks; before leaving for California my boyfriend was in California and I wasn't cooking much... then I celebrated my 18th birthday for what seemed like four days in a row and I didnt' cook much... and I also haven't really cooked much since coming back BUT I do have some pictures from two fabulous eateries that we visited, and I did manage to buy both of the restaurant's cookbooks. I'm so excited!!

The first restaurant we visited that deserves mention was Millenium in San Francisco. The funny thing was that we discovered it completely by accident! While we were shopping at a very cute little natural food market in Burlingame (where we were staying, about 20 miles outside San Francisco) my dad showed me a yummy looking cookbook he had found. I immediately fell in love with the colorful pictures and creative dishes and while we were checking out, the woman behind the register said, "You do realize that Millenium is in San Francisco, right?" Um, no! Score! (Btw, if you do ever have the pleasure of staying in Burlingame, there is a delicious little raw food restaurant right next to the natural food store called Que Se-Raw Se-Raw. The mock-tuna pate, the pesto pizza, and the chocolate torte were all amazing!)

The first course of our meal was an avocado, jicama and raddichio salad with a cucumber relish and a pink peppercorn ranch dressing. Yummmmm. I (unfortunately) did not realize how small it would be and split it with my best girl friend who came along on the trip, but I think the ranch dressing recipe is in the cookbook, so yay!

Next up my parents had a potato and okra chowder which I unfortunately did not snap a picture of in time... they ate it rather quickly! After the soup came the amazing entrees.

This was my dinner. It's Indian Spiced Pink Bean Ragu with purple Peruvian potatoes, heirloom cauliflower, tomato confit, cumin scented poori flatbread, kachumber-methi salad and coconut mustard seed cream. The flatbread was AMAZING. The entire thing was amazing!

This is what both my mother and friend had: Eggplant etouffee stuffed with dirty rice, tofu sausage, and some other things that slip my mind... and around the base are sauteed oyster mushrooms which were probably the best thing I've ever had. And I absolutely loathe mushrooms!

This was my dad's dinner, which was really really really good too... it was a smoked blackened tempeh dish with caper dill cream, vegetable hash, and some type of pickled vegetable on the side. The cream on top was to die for!

This was my parent's dessert, a red peach Indian bread pudding with caramel sauce and bourbon vanilla ice cream. Delicious! I was in such a state of food nirvana at this point that I completely forgot to take a picture of the desser that Steph and I had, which was a Mocha Creme Brulee with mint chocolate chunk ice cream and an espresso chocolate cookie that had a creaminess to it I never thought I would experience again in the rest of my vegan life.

Anyway, I don't want to make this blog too photo heavy, so I'll put up the pictures of the other restaurant - Real Food Daily in Santa Monica - tomorrow. Happy eating!

2006-08-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I mentioned earlier that I was overrun with giant mutant zucchini from my boyfriend's grandmother's organic garden. I wasn't kidding!

On the right is a regular store bought zucchini. On the left is the freaking huge home-grown zucchini! Do keep in mind too that my boyfriend - who is modeling the zucchini - is 6'2'' and all torso. The thing is as long as he is! I've barely even made a dent in the darn thing. I did, however, have a lot of fun making chocolate zucchini bread and waiting until people told me how good it was before I told them the secret ingredient!

I wasn't able to snap up any pictures of the zucchini bread; my friends ate it that fast! I used a recipe from recipezaar (found here: http://www.recipezaar.com/73985) and made very few changes - I added in about 1/4c. of flaxseed and also underbaked it just a tad so that chocolate chips were like little surprises of melted chocolately goodness in the middle. Yummy!

This is something I whipped up as a quick snack/lunch the otherday, but it turned out so yummy and pretty that I had to take a picture of it and share!

Easy, Healthy, and Delicious Tacos!

1 or 2 handfuls of organic yellow corn tortilla chips (or more, depending on how hungry you are!)
Non-dairy sour cream (I used the non-hydrogenated Tofutti)
Roasted tomatillo salsa (I imagine regular salsa would work fine, but if you can get your hands on Trader Joe's tomatillo salsa, it works very well!)
Arugala
Cherry tomatoes
Kalamata olives
Avocado

Mix together the salsa and sour cream, using about half as much sour cream as salsa. Layer this on top of the tortilla chips. Top with everything else - or anything else you can think of! - and enjoy!

This, of course, was not so healthy... but it was delicious! It tasted just like the greasy oily treats you get from carnivals. I found the recipe on (where else) recipezaar, and changed it to make it vegan. It was surprisingly easy, and the substitutions worked great :) The original recipe can be found here: http://www.recipezaar.com/74146

Dutch Babies
3/4 c. soymilk
1/2 c. unbleached white flour
Egg replacer equal to 2 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. non-hydrogenated margarine
1 tbsp. powdered sugar
Freshly cut fruit to top it with (as you can see, we chose blueberries and strawberries. Amazing combination!)

Preheat the oven to 450°
Mix together the soy milk, flour, egg replacer, sugar and vanilla. Put the margarine in the pie plate and place it in the oven just until it is melted - for me, this took only about 30 seconds. Make sure to check it every 15 seconds or so, otherwise you'll end up with margarine burnd onto your pan! Use a brush to spread the melted margarine all around the sides of the pan.
Slowly pour batter into hot pan; bake for 20 minutes; reduce heat to 350° and bake another 8-10 minutes, until the dutch baby is golden brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top; serve immediately with fruit on top!

Alright, so none of these recipes are very current... I'm still playing catch up. These are all from about two or three weeks ago. I've got a lot of recipes to post!

2006-08-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

This week has been very busy food wise! I've taken many pictures but have yet to upload them.

Earlier in the week, I recieved some food from my boyfriend's grandma straight from her garden - several potatoes, some tomatoes, and two zuchinni that are about as big as me! I have quite the excess of zuchinni right now and I'm not sure what to do with it (or myself!) I think I'm going to try some zuchinni bread or a chocolate zuchinni cake.

Tonight, I'm trying my first taste of "jerk" with a blackened fruit jerk tempeh recipe I got out of my "Bold Vegetarian Chef" recipe. It's marinating in the fridge right now and smells delicious!

Ok, here is my first raw food recipe. I'm really not sure where I got it from, so if it looks familiar just hollar!

Raw Summer Peach Parfait with Almond Creme

1 c. raw almonds
Water for soaking
4 ripe peaches
2 tbsp. almond butter
1/4 c. raw local honey or maple syrup (we used honey from a friend who keeps bees)
1/4 c. fresh squeezed orange juice
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg (we omitted this)
1 c. of blueberries, strawberries, or other berry of your choice (we used strawberries out of my garden)

Soak the almonds for 6 to 12 hours or overnight - this makes them both softer for your blender/food processor and also easier for your body to digest. When done soaking, drain the water and put the almonds in the fridge until you need them.

Peel and slice the peaches. In a blender or food processor, mix 1 c. of the peaches. Mix in all of the almonds, the almond butter, the honey or maple syrup, the orange juice, the vanilla extract, the cinnamon and the nutmeg. Puree the mixture until it is mostly smooth (it will probably be grainy from the almond butter) and thick. If necessary, add more OJ for a smoother mixture.

Divide the reserved peaches into four tall glasses and top with the almond mixture. Garnish with fresh strawberries and a mint leaf!

This was really very good and filling! We had leftover almond creme, so the next day we mixed it with some banana and cinnamon and made a quick raw crust by chopping almonds and dates in the food processor. I think I liked this even better than the parfait! I would definitely reccomend it, especially on days when it's just too darn hot to use the stove!

2006-08-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

Alright, this is the next dish, which I made on Father's Day for my dad (duh). It was very yummy, especially when warm!

Almond Berry Coffee Cake
Adapted and veganized from a Martha Stewart recipe

For the topping:
1 c. unbleached white flour
2/3 c. packed light brown sugar (turbinado would probably work fine as well)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted
1 stick softened non-hydrogenated margarine (such as Earth Balance)
1/4 tsp. almond extract

For the cake:
2 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. fresh raspberries
2/3 c. blackberry jam
1 1/2 sticks non-hydrogenated margarine
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp. lemon zest
Egg replacer equal to 3 large eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. soy vanilla yogurt

Make the topping by mixing together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and toasted almonds. Work the margarine into the topping with your hands until it forms coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the almond extract on top and toss to combine.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a different (small) bowl, fold the raspberries into the jam. In yet another (large) bowl, mix together the margarine, sugar, and lemon zest with an electric mixer until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the egg replacer slowly, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla. Mix half of the flour mixture and all of the yogurt into the bowl with the lemon zest mixture. Mix well; then add the rest of the flour mixture.

Spoon half of the batter into a well oiled tube pan (be a little generous here, I didn't use enough batter on the bottom layer and it made the berry mixture ooze a lot). Spread the berry mixture in a ring in the center of the batter. Top with the rest of the batter and then sprinkle with the topping. Bake 60 - 70 minutes at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Pull up on the tube to lift the cake from the pan and let it cool an additional 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a baking sheet, remove the tube portion, then reinvert onto a rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

2006-08-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

Midweek Munchies: What Teenage Vegan is contributing for the week

Today was one of my largest grocery shopping trips to date! I bought enough for four full dinners (sides included) to feed anywhere from 2 (my boyfriend and I) to 6 (friends and family). I also got the fixings for four delicious desserts, as well as plenty of snacks and things to eat for lunch and dinner. I tried to do mostly organic (when available) and I managed to keep it under $200.00.

Bolded items = organic

Red bell peppers
Roasted tomatillo salsa
Twin pack of extra-firm tofu
Peach soy yogurt
Strawberry soy yogurt
Raspberry soy yogurts
Arugala
Raw pecan halves
Raw cashews
Raw pine nuts
Dried mixed wild mushrooms
Cherry tomatoes
Fresh parsley
Salad tomatoes
Ground cinnamon
English muffins
Joe's O's cereal
Hansen's cherry vanilla creme soda
Shallots
Luna bars
Golden raisins
Par-baked baguette bread
Black beans
Sun-dried tomatoes
Maple Syrup
Green Protein Juice
Vegetable broth
Quick cooking raw oats
Dried zante currants
Soft wheatberries
Nutritional yeast
Apple juice concentrate
Single serving wildberry pie
Tortilla chips
Tempeh
Veggie canadian bacon
Chocolate soymilk
Plain soymilk
Avocado
Beet
Carrot
Celery
Basil
Limes
Mango
Red onion
Valencia oranges
Zucchini
Kalamata olives
Raw macadamia nuts
Ginger
Habanero pepper
White pepper

Links to other Midweek Munchies
(If you participate, leave your link in the comments and I'll post it below; or, you can post in the comments)

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A special thanks to Running2Ks and Rift for all of their help with coding, graphics, and encouragement for this project.

2006-08-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Well, here's my very post! I've been surfing around blogspot for a few months now, drooling over all the amazing photos of vegan food. And I finally thought - hey, I enjoy cooking, I take random pictures of my food... why not share? As a bit of an introduction - I am 17 years old (will be 18 in less than a month) and have been meat free for 2 1/2 years, 2 of which I have spent as a vegan. I am the only non-meat eater in my family, but my boyfriend is a vegan and two of my three best friends are also vegetarians. I love love love to cook, especially for my friends - many of whom eat meat or are very finnicky eaters. I especially love making desserts and I think (hope!) I have a knack for it. Most things I make are consumed rather quickly (with a few exceptions, of course). I'm not big on meat substitutes (ie, boca burgers, tofu dogs, etc.) but I do very much enjoy fake dairy (ie, soy yogurt, soy ice cream, soy cream cheese, etc.) I'm not too good at making up my own recipes, but I usually tweak what I have a bit and will always cite the source of anything I steal.

I am very health concious, as you might be able to tell. I was into the raw foods thing for a couple months, but I don't have the will power to stick with it. However, my boyfriend and I still enjoy eating raw occasionally, so I'm sure I'll be posting raw food recipes and such as well! Since I have a stock of several vegan dishes that I have made and photographed, I'm going to start with them rather then what we are currently eating. Once I run out, I'll switch to more current dishes.

So, here we go, my first recipe!

Spinach, Tofu, and Kalamata Olive Stuffed Manicotti
Tweaked from Bunny Toy's Spinach Ricotta, found at the following link: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7587.0

1 lb firm tofu
1 large handful fresh chopped spinach
1 handful chopped and pitted kalamata olives, or to taste
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt (I like to use celtic)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp fresh chopped oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 package whole wheat mancotti noodles (around 6 noodles)
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce (roasted garlic was great on this!)

Drain the tofu. In a food processor, mix together the tofu, spinach, olives, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano, and olive oil. Mix until smooth and similar in texture to ricotta cheese.
Spread about 1/4 of the jar of tomato sauce onto the bottom of a glass baking dish. Stuff the uncooked manicotti noodles with the tofu ricotta mixture using a spoon or a pastry bag. Place the stuffed noodles on top of the sauce in the baking dish and cover with the rest of the tomato sauce. Cover with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove the tin foil, and bake for an extra 10 - 15 minutes. Let cool, and enjoy!

We served this with a side of bitter greens topped with creamy italain dressing. It was really very good and very easy to make! I can't remember where I found the tip to bake the manicotti noodles without boiling them first, but it gave them just the right texture :) My boyfriend and mom both gave this a big thumbs up!