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Best Wishes to all during the end of December 2008!  I don't really celebrate anything myself, besides time off from work and the possibility of snow - and Portland had a White Christmas!!

According to the National Weather Service Forecast Office, this was an event - the probability of it happening was less than 0.08%.  End of the world, thanks!  It's now turned to rain and in the 40s again, but I was happy for real, inches of snow while it lasted and extra time away from work.  I really don't hate my job, I just prefer not being there.  Shocker.

Bittersweet chocolate and peanut butter tofu mousse

Food wise, I've been soaking beans, eating Thai, baking cookies and playing with my

new Vita-Mix.  Recently I learned that I could turn my homemade Roasted Garlic and Red Wine Marinara into tomato sauce silk.  I also took 3/4 of a block of silken tofu and blended it with chunks of bittersweet chocolate, almond milk, peanut butter, vanilla and a little bit of sugar to see if it would mousse it up, and it absolutely did.  No need to melt the chocolate beforehand! I let it set in the fridge for a couple hours and then enjoyed this vegan classic.

Chili sin Carne ala Mole - from Vegan with a Vengeance

Using soaked small red beans and black beans, I made this recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance.  I used the last of my locally made Cast Iron Seitan sample and added carrots and yellow bell pepper.  I've never had seitan in chili before and call me a fan.  

This was my Christmas eve dinner above - with a Full Sail Limited Edition Lager Recipe #1 and side of gluten free cornbread.  The only gluten free part of the meal was based on the Veganomicon recipe, using Bob's Red Mill gluten free baking mix for the flour.

Vegan Lunch Special Soup from Pad Thai Kitchen

On Christmas Eve, I ended up meeting a few friends for lunch at Pad Thai Kitchen on SE Belmont.  It's proven to be a reliably vegan friendly Thai restaurant.  

Vegan Pad Thai lunch special, with tofu and vegetables

Citrus Glitters 

From the Isa and Terry Vegan Cookie Book test kitchen - 

here's a slide show of what I've made so far.

Almond Soy Latte from Tiny's in SE Portland.

Snow Serpent from another time...

V-I-T-A L-O-V-E & Snow day Love

Ladies and Gentleman, I've been using a Vita-Mix. I know, my life is changing!

I have found myself complaining when pureed soups aren't quite smooth and I encounter a teeny piece of noticeable onion or fresh herb, and this baby is smoothing things out in every way possible. Vita Mix users - share your ways with me! I'm sure to be documenting my usage here.

Veganomicon's Creamy Tomato Soup

Chunky

Smoothy

Vita-Mix, you rule for sending this to me for review! The biggest perk of being a food blogger, ever.

Snowed In - Lower Fat Gluten Free Mac and Cheeze - Leftovers Edition

Making Snow Angel Dogs this weekend...

soup stuff.

Tomato, Rice, Roasted Garlic & Navy Bean Soup from 

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.

Made with my old favorite, Muir Glen Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes.  I can recall being 21 living on my own in East Cambridge, MA and first learning to cook - and finding a way to eat these once a week.  They were constantly on sale at Harvest Coop and Whole Foods and I couldn't resist.

These days, I break them out a few times a year for soup or homemade sauce.  Rest assure I haven't broken my old addiction completely and typically have one can in my cabinet.  

This soup recipe is one of my favorites since testing for the cookbook. I typically find myself making half the recipe and it feeds me for many meals.  But then again, I'm not big on leftovers. I'm also an evil person who subs onion powder for onions and adds a bunch of minced garlic.  

New at Sweetpea Bakery-

This weekend I got ridiculously buzzed on three cups of Stumptown coffee at Sweetpea.  Bad decision!!!!!!  I usually save my rare coffee indulgences for late night adventures, but I was sucked into the sitting-at-the-cafe in the vegan mini mall experience after a morning of shopping and mentally prepping for the next day's holiday cooking class..  I didn't fall sleep until after 2am.  

While at Sweetpea, I tried a small bowl one of their new daily soups - the Lentil Potato.  I am ridiculously excited about savoury foods at Sweetpea and not being as tempted by sugar whenever I'm within a one mile radius, no offense to the baking wonders they are.  I've always been more of a fool for salty over sweet.  Triscuits were practically my candy bars growing up.

Lentil Potato Soup and Foccacia

For $3, I had a bowl of delightful soup and of course, housemade, foccacia with herbs and coarse salt for required dipping.  The soup was so wholesome with a nice kick of garlic.  I don't make a lot of soup at home because leftovers bore me and I start to think of them as wet, soggy vegetables in liquid, so again, I'm probably way too excited to see more vegan soup variety in town.

Remember what I said about not being tempted by sweets?  Well,  I had no choice below.  My friend Katie engineered these new sticky buns and I couldn't resist trying this little awkward end.  It's so pretty!  And it tasted pretty!  So pretty.  

Sticky Cinnamon Bun

And thanks to the weekend - I had daylight and actually photographed a recent meal.  Apparently I need to restock my kitchen, because the past two meals I've made revolved around seitan, celery and quinoa.  I made another batch of Veganomican's baked seitan cutlets on Thursday night while relaxing with my cats and watching television.  I added ginger, hoisin, extra tamari, garlic and yellow curry paste to the baking broth.

Baked Yellow Curry Seitan with Celery and Sweet Potato over Quinoa

I roasted the seitan itself about 20 minutes at 400F, flipping once, then threw plain soymilk (oh the travesty! no coconut milk!), vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce, sambal olek, Thai and True yellow curry paste (vegan! locally made!), tamari, minced garlic and veggies into the pan and cooked another 15 minutes at 450F.   If I had fresh basil and ginger they would have been added.

The end.  

Navy Bean and Sweet Red Pepper Soup

We made it to the end of the Vegan Month of Food!  As I forewarned, I'm ending the month with a simple soup recipe.

Navy Bean and Red Pepper Soup

 The quinoa sprinkled on top is a silly share of the spicy quinoa I ate on the side.

Earlier this week I was planning my work lunches and found myself with a few leftover veggies looking to be used, basic spices and frozen navy beans (which are not blue, fyi)  that I'd cooked a couple months before.

It being the end of the pay period and me buying cheap, I wanted to use what I had on hand and with rainy season upon Portland, some hodgepodge soup was delivered.  

Please note that this recipe was simply feeding me, so double if you want more soup.  

Ingredients:

4 cloves of purple garlic, minced

1/2 small, sweet yellow onion, chopped

1 German butterball potato, peeled and diced

1 sweet Italian red pepper

1.5- 2 cups of navy beans

2 cups of vegetable broth (or more, depending on what you like)

good pinch of white pepper

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

1/2 teaspoon of oregano

pinch of crumbled thyme

1/2 teaspoon of savory seasoning mix or other dried herbs - I used Spike salt-free seasoning salt - I've had it for years!

dash of paprika

dash of crushed red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons olive oil

Let's have a go at Instructions:

It's easy.

-Add the oil to the saucepan and put the heat on medium.  I have an electric stove and this is really low-medium for me, so be careful not to burn anything and heat as you reasonably like.

-Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring often.

-Add the chopped potato and red pepper.  Stir and cook another 5-7 minutes.

-Add the garlic, salt, pepper and spices, cook for another couple minutes, stirring frequently.  

-Add the broth and stir once.  Bring to a boil and decrease the heat to low.  

-Add the beans - frozen or defrosted, cover, and let sit for 25-30 minutes, however long you like.

-Stir occasionally.

-Puree to desired consistency.  I'm not about to eat an onion chunk, so I smoothed things out in my Magic Bullet blender in two batches.  

-Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.

-Eat in a mug with a spoon.  

Take that, cold and rainy day in Portland!! 

I personally really like how the creamy butterball meets bland bean and sweet pepper in this.  I ate it and thought "Man, I don't even want to put hot sauce in this!"  

Menage a Trois ala PPK

Da da dum!
Hold onto your Veganomicons, here comes some testing for the brunch and cookie books, all of it done on Tuesday evening....

What the hell could this be?

Why, it's Savory Tomato Rosemary Scones!

My dinner on Tuesday evening - BTK Savory Tomato Scones, spinach, Tofurkey breakfast sausage and BTK test recipe Smokey Mushrooms.

Cookie Test Kitchen Banana Everythings
I heart these, really.

Veganomicon Tomato, Roasted Garlic, Rice & Navy Bean Soup, with one of the scones.
aka what I've had for lunch the past 2 out of 3 days, and will have again today.

Soup is Easy.

Make shift minestrone = instant soul warming


Tonight I came home a brisk walk to and fro the video store, and knew I wanted soup. I had leftover sliced vegetables from my new year's shindig, marinara sauce from last week, and assorted cooked beans in the freezer. The soup above contains minced garlic, herbs, better than veggie bullion, touch of olive oil, lemon juice, marinara, celery, carrots, red bell pepper, beans, leftover vegetable pasta, chard, spinach, crushed red pepper and I'm sure more I'm not naming off the top of my head. Big bowl of soup + leftover ciabatta = Mmmm, and lunch for the rest of the the week~

Eating at work.

I try to specifically make enough food for leftovers, and/or grab greens with me for steaming or salads to eat at work during the week. Fortunately, we have a spacious fridge, kitchen table, toaster oven, microwave and plates to work with. Ever notice blue plates here? Totally not mine.
Today I ate instant wild mushroom cous cous (Mmmm Near East!) and round two of the salad mixture below for lunch. I do dine out on a regular basis, particularly when a meal can last me more than one lunch's worth of food or I can share it. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for leftovers, and sometimes I remember I left my lunch at home while on my way to work - that 'oh mannnnnnnnnnn' moment (especially when I recall something great like chickpea cutlets, just sitting.in.the.fridge). My lunch staple is definitely soups - particularly this time of year. I like to make a batch on Sunday evening, and then enjoy it's savory warmth for the next 3+ days. The Creamy Tomato soup from Veganomicon is certainly in store soon.

So far this week, my lunches have featured this salad with romaine lettuce, purple cauliflower, tamari roasted chickpeas and green bell pepper :

On Monday I dined on Saturday night's leftovers: chickpea cutlets and mushroom gravy:

A surprise on my work kitchen table!

Ow, ow! Field Roast sent me some goods! More on them to come.

White truffle pate, lentil sage loaf and celebration roast.

Roasted garlic, wine, veggie & bean soup: My SICK soup

Roasted garlic, wine, veggie & bean soup



Last weekend, the weather change and sniffling coworker got to me, and I woke up sick.
On Sunday night, I found myself finally, really hungry, and wanting both garlic and soup. I had a bunch of vegetables hanging around, from the farmer’s market the day before (yes, I go when I’m sick!) and random leftover veggies, here and there. I rarely use fresh tomatoes in soup, but went for it, especially since so many readers commented on missing it come autumn on my recent post, and good call!

This recipe only uses half a head of roasted garlic, so, if you like, use the whole thing, especially if you double the soup – if not, save half to enjoy elsewhere. Perhaps serve it on the side, spread onto cuts of crusty bread. In my head, I was thinking “Do I want corn chowder?...Not realllllly…”.
The ingredient list may be long, but it’s a very easy, basic soup.

Ingredients:

• ½ head of roasted garlic
• 2-3 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon of diced Hungarian spicy pepper, or use your favorite chili pepper, crushed red pepper or hot sauce to taste
• 1 ear’s worth of corn
• 1 cup of white beans – I used corona, which RULE, and navy
• 1 chopped red bell pepper or sweet pepper
• 1.5-2 cups of chopped tomatoes – I used a combination of cherry, roma and vine
• 2 sliced white mushrooms
• Handful of torn greens – kale, spinach, chard, etc.
• 3-4 cups of vegetable broth/water with appropriate buillion
• ¼ cup of white wine
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon of dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• Good pinch of seasoning salt (I used some Spike brand stuff)
• Good pinch of onion salt (sure if you want onions use one!)
• Great dashes of freshly ground pepper

Optional: 1 cup of dried pasta

1. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium. Add the onions if using, 2 tablespoon of white wine, peppers, and mushrooms. Cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring well.

2. Add the garlic and dried herbs, salts and pepper; cook an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring.

3. Add the rest of the white wine, corn, tomatoes, fresh herbs and beans, cook and stir for an additional minute or so.

4. Add the broth/water, bring to a boil, and then lower to a simmer for a few minutes.

5. Add the pasta, tougher greens if you’re using (kale),run to the store and have Thomas watch it, I mean…cook on low for an additional 10 minutes or so, add the less tough greens (spinach, chard), and then, serve.

6. Enjoy. Top with additional fresh herbs if Publish Postdesired.



Fast forward to the end of the week, and I'm fine.
FYI, I'll be away on business for the next week, so if you have recommendations for the Half Moon Bay & San Fracisco, CA do send them my way...

Tofu Stir Fry, Soup & Italian Grilled Portabella Burger

I honestly have more meals to report, but our internet was down at home for a couple days, and it just didn't feel right not to make another post by the weekend.
For now, I'll share three meals, a big ole grocery trip and a cat.
I have some Yellowrose Recipes Lowfat Cookbook testing to report - herbed polenta - with a cherry tomato, basil and navy bean sauce I made three nights in a row (grilled and panfried) I liked it so much, but that will wait for now...

In case you missed it, check out Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recent Satya article for their final issue: "Vegan Culinary Activism in 10 Yummy Steps, where she gives a nod to Get Sconed! (don't mind the web address mistake, she knows). I'm freaking honored.
And more PPK news, brace yourself - Veganomican is set to be released October 28, 2007. I have actually tested 55 recipes myself, and that's not even half of them, for real. I have tags on some of them, but of course I forgot to do all of them. When did this post become primarily text?

Another stir fry with broccoli, tofu, cremini mushrooms, shiitakes, carrots, zucchini, cashews and sugar snap peas.
First I pan fried the drained and pressed tofu in a bit of sunflower oil and toasted sesame oil, and sprinkled it with crushed red pepper flakes. I remove it from the pan, and stir fried the vegetables and cashews with garlic, ginger, sambal olek, vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce, hoisin, tamari, toasted sesame oil, pepper, brown sugar, rice vinegar. As per veggiegirl's suggestion, I served it over quinoa~


Vegan yum yum tester - Velvetting Vegetable Soup, with navy beans

Italian influenced grilled portabella burger - with tomato/basil traditional bruschetta topping, roasted red peppers, greens, vegenaise and basil. The shroom was marinated in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fresh basil, dried oregano and tamari.
On the side is what may have been my last local asparagus of the seasons, roasted with olive, oil, sea salt & fresh ground pepper.

A recent giganto grocery trip to Limbo in SE Portland and Trader Joe's. 50 cent organic cherry tomato pints at Limbo & again, giganto organic portabellas~
Though not local, $1.50 for a HUGE container of organic spinach, too.

Zelda says hi, by the way.


Alright, I'll be away on business for the next few days, starting tommorow morning, in Washington again (prentending to be a grown up?) - enjoy the rest of your weekend~

p.s. I finally posted the Stumptown Vegans review review for Teapot Vegetarian House review for Teapot Vegetarian House in Seattle, check it out if you're interested!
P.P.S. Webly and a couple of ours friends went blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and mulberry picking today and I am in pure sweet heaven.

If it wasn't for summer produce I'd flat out hate the season

Thomas is coming back to life in the kitchen! Below is his dinner of spanish rice and grilled vegan ham (tube). Perfect grill marks! The ham tube is just too fleshy for me, but I still give it's flavor credit.

Resting and not going to the store soup: Tomato, Vegetable, Red Wine & Chickpea soup with veggie and kamut noodles. Plus, the weather has cooled down and I'm going to pretend it's becoming fall...ahh

Another clean out the cabinets and fridge soup: Carrot and Roasted Red Pepper Bisque.
It's a variation on the VWAV recipe, with red curry.

Low and behold, there's tempeh in the freezer!
I defrosted some overnight, and baked it in a marinade of agave, liquid smoke, mustard, tamari, ginger, garlic and water. Probably more that I'm forgetting..
We had some with breakfast, and then I encrusted/baked the rest in ground dry roasted almonds, herbs and nutritional yeast. It's served with melty Follow your heart mozzerella and garlic roasted romanesco, broccoli and asparagus.

A triangle of baked tempeh, fresh orange, lowfat lemon cornmeal muffin , and a rosemary & cayenne roast of red potatoes yams.


Leftover kamut and veggie pasta (free at VegFest), dished up esme's style. Mmmmmiso.

I finally tried the chocolate chip cookies from Vive Le Vegan! I must say, whoa, these are the chewiest cookies I have EVER made. I cut the fat with some applesauce, and added dried blueberries, chopped almonds, almond extract and coffee grounds.

Speaking of Voo Doo Donuts....
We picked these up a couple days *before* the Seattle trip. Chic-o-stick topping! Sprinkles! Sugar rush!


In other Life news:
-returned from Washington on Thursday night
-medical procedure on Friday, rested all weekend
-returned to work Monday: went to the doctor after and realized I've been limping and in pain because I've sprained part of my foot!
-rested Tuesday and am now on crutches
-Wednesday: at lunch I hobbled to the farmer's market to restock my life with greens, berries and cherries.
-FYI, An Index is now up on Stumptown Vegans. Woo, organization!

Nomination Pizza Party?

I actually just came across this, on the new veg blog Yum DC, and I am quite touched. Can I mention that Celine rules for nominating me?? She does, and she can bake, too!

It's lovely to see vegan food blogs on this list.

Onto the goods-

Chocolate Chocolate Hazelnut Chip cookies, of Veganomican. The chewiest cookies eva.

And because I just love my pizza heaped with veggies:

It had.......

-organic pizza dough from New Seasons
-VWAV pizza sauce - roasted garlic and fresh basil variation
-roasted garlic and hazelnut pesto
-black olives
-black sesame seeds
-breaded Italian tofu bites
-sliced roma tomato
-roasted red pepper
-spinach
-garlic tossed mushrooms
-nutritional yeast and herbs


I had two slices for dinner and man, it was good.

Soup I threw together for Thomas - who was wanting some beany-soup. It had chickpeas, portabella mushroom, shallots, garlic, herbs, yukon gold potato, roasted red pepper, tomato, vegetable broth, soy milk and nutritional yeast. I think that's it...


Simple breaded & baked tofu.

I took bulk tofu from People's Coop and marinaded it in Trader Joe's organic balsamic viniagarette and shoyu with garlic and fresh basil overnight. I ate some grilled for my lunch yesterday, and last night I breaded the rest in a mixture of breadcrumbs, herbs, sea salt and pepper, nutritional yeast and wheat germ.
I dipped the tofu in flour, then unsweetened plain soymilk, and then the breadcrumb mixture, and baked on parchment paper for about 40 minutes, flipping once, at 375.
I put some on the pizza, and have two pieces with my lunch today as well. I also baked a full log of sundried tomato and Italian herb seitan last night, so I get to break into that this evening - rad.