Sunday, October 22, 2006

Double dose of vegan cupcakes and some jerk tofu!

The most moistlicious Chocolate Stout Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, dusted with powdered sugar. The recipe only calls for 1/4 cup of stout so be prepared to relax with your beer while they bake, like I did.
Oh snap! Classic Maple Cupcakes. From VCTOTW, with a maple infused fluffy white buttercream, and homemade maple candied pecans (though the recipe calls for walnuts).
I forgot how big of a maple fan I was, because I bit into one of these and immediately wanted my next birthday cake to be maple laye cake.


The stouts, pre-baked.
From Vegan with a Vengeance - the Jerk Seitan, made with tofu. Paired with sea salt, olive oil & paprika roasted turnips, fingerling potatoes, cauliflower, beets and red kuri squash / steamed chard for me / and a wild brown rice mixture. The sauce was tangy and Thomas loved it, but it wasn't really my thing - I can probably blame the onion, whatever. Still an easy and vibrant one to make!


Fu close up!
I picked up few containers of this tofu on sale for 2/$3 recently and they are super duper firm. Trader Joe's is also selling something similar, check it out.
Tofu in the marinade..
The fingerling taters I picked up from the downtown farmer's market - which is having its last day of the season this upcoming Wednesday. I've made a mental note to pick up more beautiful bell peppers.
Tempeh taco crumbles (in burritos) - I've added this to my favorite food list. I follow the tempeh sausage crumble recipe in VWAV, and use bulk organic taco seasoning, more cumin, more chopped garlic, jalapeno and bragg's. One of the best things I have EVER eaten were the tempeh tacos from the old Country Life buffet in Boston, and these come somewhat close, and that is a magical thing.

This particular burrito included black beans, mixed greens, short grain brown rice, chopped cherry tomatoes and hot sauce. Didn't miss the cheese at all~
On a side note, I can't think of tacos anymore without thinking/singing the "You make me forget about Ta-cohs!" J-lo/Ben Affleck/Cartman bit Thomas and I caught on rerun a couple months back.

Below we have Mexicana Spaghetti Squash topped with more chopped cherry tomatoes and savory toasted squash seeds. This is another PPK test kitchen recipe. Sorry for the lighting in so many photos these days, such as this one, I cook in the evenings, no natural light, yadda yadaa.

Roasted cauliflower over a quickly fixed pasta alfreda.

Earlier this week I had a rough day and wasn't quite sure what to make for dinner, but then I knew what I wanted - the pasta alfreda again, especially after seeing Wiebke whip it up.

Unfortunately I am now out of nooch. I try to only eat pasta once a week, and whole wheat and/or veggie pasta if available. For those with access to a Trader Joe's, I highly recommend their whole wheat (I think they are organic as well) pastas, at 99 cents a bag.Went to the Portland Nursery Apple Festival this weekend and tried 40 types of mostly delicious apples - screw the banana apple, that was awful. Sampled a few apple dishes from the cooking demos as well, of course.
I picked up a bunch of my all time favorite sweet and tart apple - The McIntosh! These are ideal for both munching as is and baking with. Last season apples weren't exactly topnotch in Portland, and I came across no local McIntoshes, the apple we picked as kids growing up in NY. Fortunately things have changed, and I'm planning on making some sort of apple crumb soon.
Jealous of my comparable-to-a-5-year-old painting skills?


19 comments:

Kris said...

Yum, yum and yum! Wow, chocolate stout cupcakes! They look so good. You're always so good and making sides for your meals, that's where I really struggle.

Great kitty pic! What a sweetheart!

laura k said...

Wow, it all looks so good! You've been busy with that cupcake cookbook! The tempeh taco filling sounds incredible--I make a pretty good tofu filling but yours sounds even better.

I found some McIntosh apples today, and I'm excited about what I can do with them...

I'm linking your blog--it's awesome.

Anonymous said...

You are killing me lately with all of this good food!! Cherie

madeinalaska said...

I must say it all looks quite spectacular!

bazu said...

Wow. I have to get off my bum and start baking cupcakes, already! It's just that I've become so attached to the idea of fitting into my pants... Just kidding! I will bake cupcakes this week. All the food looks super, and I didn't even notice there was a cat in the last photo until I read the comment that said great kitty pic- pretty cool!

funwithyourfood said...

I think richard would like to give these a try. I must confess, I haven't got the cupcake book b/c I'm a little scared of the consequences.
haha

teddy

liz said...

your pictures always make me so hungry !

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

Hey Kris - I give total credit to my csa share with the sides inspiration lately. Obviously, I needed to use tons of random veggies, and secondly, it's a way of having the veggies that I want for myself on the side that sometimes my boyfriend doesn't like (aka chard) and remind myself to eat them and be all responsible and healthy and whatnot : )
And my kitty says thank you.

Laura - Just 3 recipes so far! Well, 2 before the book came out as well....
Enjoy the McIntosh and give the tempeh filling a try - it's so so good. I'm going to try tvp tacos for the first time at home tonight..

Chris - I'm not much of a seitan gal, but I actually wished I had gluten to make it for this. I'm going to have to hop over and see yours next..

Cherie & MadeinAlaska & Speedvegan - Much Thanks!

Bazu - I have strict rules of not keeping more than a cupcake or TWO for each of us at home, and once I get the hang of the new recipes, fat will be lowered indeed. I'm chubby as it is, and make sure I'm very true to my workouts if cupcakes are made - plus most times I bake as gifts~

Teddy - Try atleast the lowfat ones!

urban vegan said...

I'm SO full. Everything was wonderful.

Your cupcakes look so cute--I have to get baking.

Nikk said...

Yum! It looks like you've been running a restaurant!

Anonymous said...

mmmmmmmh, those tempeh crumbles look so good! and yay, i feel famous now, thanks for the link! :)

so stoked, i just got invited to cook a thanksgiving dinner for a friend and her family. how cool is that!

JENNA said...

those tempeh taco crumbles sound amazing!! my husband and friends are not tempeh eaters. this sounds like the perfect way to "sneak" it into dinner.

JENNA

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

mmmm, all the cupcakes look amazing! i need to pick my first recipe from vctotw... now, i'm thinking it should be the classic maple.

Michelle said...

there's so much good stuff here! i still haven't bought the cookbook yet, but i totally wanna make cupcakes every time i see yours! i've got some of that hazelnut nectar that we tried at laurelthirst that i bet would be yummy with chocolate!

the savory dishes are also super fancy! and i wish i knew about that apple tasting! i gotta get myself some yummy apples soon for apple pie!

erica said...

Thanks for your comment on my blog. I'm always watching yours for retaurant recommendations (since I also live in portland), though I rarely eat out because it's so expensive.

I looked for VCTOTW at Powell's last weekend, the system said they had one copy left but I couldn't find it. I make myself go to the bookstore so I have to put out the effort, so unless I get my butt off the couch and get down there I don't get the cupcakes, either :)

Kati said...

Awesome looking food and a cute kitty, what more could one ask for in a blog?

I'm adding you as a link on my page - keep up the good cookin!

Carrie™ said...

As usual, everything looks kick ass. I want that cupcake cookbook so bad. I tried a couple of weeks ago to get it, but it hadn't been released in Canada yet. I think I'll go take another look, because those maple ones have my name all over them.
Jerk seitan is one thing I haven't made. (make mental note to try asap).
I love apples. They are easily one of my favorite fruits. This year, I'm really liking Spartan.
Can't wait to see what you whip up next!

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

yum, yum, yum!! those cupcakes look divine. i've been craving chocolate tonight too. what are you trying to do to me? ;oP
seriously though, everything looks amazing as always.

Don't Get Mad, Get Vegan! said...

mmmmmmmmm, roasted cauliflower. haven't done that in a while. thanks for the reminder.

as usual, everything looks fantastic!