Vegan MoFo: Chili on a Chilly Day

It's Day 12 of Vegan MoFo! It has been cloudy, blustery, chilly for the past few days...perfect weather for a steaming bowl of chili. Since it was Sunday, I had my restaurant going at my house, chili just had to be on the menu! And, since I can't eat chili without cornbread, as it is a mortal sin, there was jalapeno cornbread, too! While I was at the farmers' market getting produce on Saturday, I came across what are probably some of the last squash blossoms of the season. I hadn't worked with squash blossoms yet, so I figured this was my last chance! So, they also came into play for my Sunday meal. It was fantastic! A big bowl of beany, seitan-y chili, topped with a fried squash blossom and served with a side of jalapeno cornbread

The chili: black, red, and pinto beans with local green peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, spices, and my ground homemade seitan....sooo delicious.
Whole grain cornbread, with locally-grown jalapenos

The beautiful squash blossoms, pre-stuffing

The squash blossoms are stuffed with a mixture of vegan cream cheese, toasted pecans, chopped kale, dried cranberries, paprika, sage, thyme, lemon juice, and agave. The batter was made of beer, soymilk, brown rice flour, garbanzo bean flour, and spices. These were an INSANE amount of good!! I'm pretty sure these were the peoples' favorite!

The stuffed blossoms, resting up for the big show!

The perfect place for a stuffed, fried squash blossom? Atop some kickin' chili, of course!

And the only dessert that goes with chili: Cinnamon Rolls! I made RRF's Cinnamon Rolls, available on the blog http://bjorkedoff.blogspot.com/. Some of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had. period.Naked. Iced.

Served.

As the second leg of the KC Vegan Crawl, Dane made another awesome meal last night, too!! He has a fire pit, and this chilly weather was great for cooking over the open fire.

Kebabs, with my homemade seitan that Dane marinated, and all-local veggies!

Smore's roasting on the fire, getting all melty and gooooood. The marshmallows were Sweet and Sara's Vanilla Vegan Marshmallows, which are perfection!

Tester Hummus and Homemade Ice Cream

Let me just say that I love summer food!! I am not as much in the mood for cooking or baking because of the heat, but I am learning to appreciate the simple and healthy meals that require little preparation on hot summer nights!

A great example of this is hummus! Have it with some pita, on a salad or sandwich, or even as a veggie dip for a no-cook meal. This is Black-Eyed Pea Hummus, and it is a tester recipe for Bianca's Cookin' Crunk cookbook. The black-eyed peas instead of garbs give it such a unique flavor and it is sooooo tasty! Very creamy and thick, too. Here, it is served with some slices of ciabatta bread from the local Uprise Bakery!! mmmm....bread....I also love summer because that means I bust out my ice cream maker!! Pictured below is my S'mores Ice Cream! I made up this recipe using the tips on the A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise blog, and put my own twist on it! It turned out so well! Aren't s'mores the best?? Vegan S'mores Ice Cream (makes about 1 qt)
2 cups soymilk
1 cup soy creamer (I used MimiCreme)
1/2 cup organic sugar
2 Tbs arrowroot powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 cups graham cracker pieces
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup vegan marshmallow fluff

In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the soymilk with the arrowroot. Set aside.
In a saucepan over medium heat, mix together the rest of the soymilk, soy creamer and sugar. Bring just to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat immediately. Add in the arrowroot slurry and whisk well until liquid begins to thicken. Stir in the vanilla and sea salt. Allow this mixture to cool to room temperature.
Freeze soymilk mixture according to ice cream maker manufacturer's directions, adding in the graham crackers, chocolate chips, and marshmallow fluff during the last 5 minutes. Freeze or serve immediately!

In other news, Steven just returned from a trip to New York...and he brought me my first vegan doughnuts!! I hadn't had a doughnut in about 4 years, so the two he brought me were Heaven-sent! These were the Nutrilicious brand-- probably not as good as freshly-baked, but they did the trick for sure.

There was a vanilla doughnut with a carob glaze....
And a chocolate doughnut with chocolate-vanilla swirl frosting! These were both divine, but this one was my favorite of the two! It went very well with a big mug of coffee!

Weekend Goodies

For the first weekend after school started, what better way to celebrate and relax than enjoying some yummy food?! Last night, we had a pot luck and bonfire...perfect for commemorating the end of summer! Here are some of the things people brought (and almost everything was vegan! what good friends!):

A green bean and almond salad:

Fresh Watermelon...in lovely ball form:

Vegan Rice Krispie Treats:
And homemade sausages!! These were soooo awesome!!

Here is Sarah making up the brats...she based them on Julie Hasson's recipe, which is apparently super-easy! and tasty! Sarah is an awesome cook!!And here's the Picnic Potato Salad I made, with three different kinds of potatoes-purple, new, and sweet:

Picnic Potato Salad (makes about 4 qts.)

1 lb. new potatoes, diced

1/2 lb. purple Peruvian potatoes, diced

1/2 lb. sweet potatoes, diced

3 carrots, shredded

1 cup peas

1 red onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup celery, diced

1/2 cup chopped parsley

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup Vegenaise

1/4 cup dijon mustard

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp dill

In a large pot of salted water, boil the potatoes until just tender...but don't overcook! please!

Drain potatoes and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process. Set aside to cool.

Combine all of the vegetables and cooled potatoes in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine the lemon juice, mustard, veganaise, and spices. Pour dressing over potato-veggie mix and gently stir to coat everything evenly. Chill for 30 minutes or so before serving.

For the bonfire, Steve and I bought some Sweet & Sara marshmallows...in toasted coconut flavor! These made AMAZING s'mores!!! I am now obsessed.
For our Sunday morning breakfast tradition, a bunch of us met up at the awesome Cafe Berlin...seriously the best breakfast in town! There are tons of vegan options, they use local veggies, and the staff is wonderful. What's not to love??
I had the Mediterranean Breakfast--a favorite for sure!!
It's a big plate of tofu scrambled with scallions, parsley, and spinach...with a mound of their homemade hummus, homemade (delicious) pita bread, local cherry tomatoes, and kalamata olives. This is worth getting up early for!

Have a good Labor Day! :)