A Week's Worth of Deliciousness

This week has been packed with events featuring some darn tasty food!
To start things of last Sunday, Dane hosted his weekly Sustainability Sunday meal as part of the KC Vegan Crawl! We ate some good food and discussed closed loop systems, and how to apply those principles to small businesses. So good!!
He made Pomegranate Marinara over Penne Pasta and Fresh Spinach And Tomato-Basil Bruschetta on locally-made Farm to Market Baguette

For dessert, there were Chocolate Biscuits! Yes, two of the best foods ever, combined into one! Topped with Chocolate Sauce, Pomegranate Seeds, and Blackberries. Absolutely divine!!Our friends Kevin and Janae brought the appetizer, Kalamata Olive, Sun-dried Tomato, Artichoke, and Pine Nut Tapanade, with Organic Blue Corn Chips...it was so tasty that I truly could have eaten all of it!!! Monday night was our sewing circle! Of course, there had to be a potluck beforehand...can't sew on an empty stomach!

I made a Local Tempeh-Adzuki Bean Chili....Other vegan offerings were: Citrus-Mint Quinoa Salad, Coconut Curried Sweet Potatoes, and Salad with Carrots, Avocado, Berries, and Vinaigrette Dressing.....

There was even a vegan dessert! Our friend Megan brought Chocoalte-Chocolate Chip Muffins!! Perfect with coffee before stitchin' and bitchin'!And then yesterday, for my weekly vegan brunch at my place!! Lots of people came out despite the bitter, nasty cold and snowy streets! Yay community!

I made Tofu Benedict: Homemade English Muffins (a la Isa's Vegan Brunch), topped with Homemade Seitan Canadian Bacon (recipe to come soon!), Tofu Eggs, Sauteed Organic Kale, and Hollandaise (also from VB). And, since it was brunch, there had to be potatoes!! Homefries with Caramelized Onions! Yes!!

I had never made Benedict before, even in my omni days, and I was sooooooo happy with how this turned out!!!! Everyone else was, too!

And for one more nod to Isa's Vegan Brunch cookbook, East Coast Coffee Cake, with a Cardamom-Date variation! I am in looooooooove with this cake!! Heavenly! I was so blessed with so much great food and great friends this week....let's hope this next week is just as wonderful! :)

Tester Times Two and Vegan Brunch Muffins!!

I have been a busy little tester these days! With testing for two cookbooks simultaneously, I have had lots of cooking to do...and I'm loving every minute of it! Here's some recent test recipes:
From Cookin' Crunk testing, which comes from the lovely Bianca of the Vegan Crunk blog: Seitan Hot Wings. Spicy and tangy, just how they are meant to be! Chunks of seitan are battered, baked, and tossed in a buffalo wing sauce. One of my favorite Crunk test recipes so far!! I served the Seitan Hot Wings on homemade Cornbread Buns (thanks to Melisser for the awesome recipe!) for open-faced sandwiches! These were brilliant! Hot wings, my homemade vegan ranch dressing, spinach, and toasted cornbread buns...perfect summery sandwich!

On the side, I sauteed local mustard greens, garlic, and my momma's tomatoes. Fresh and delish.
The next pic comes from Terry Hope Romero's Vegan Latina tester forum: Seitan Chorizo Tacos! While not a test recipe itself, the Seitan Chorizo is a test recipe, as well as the homemade Soft Corn Tortillas. Both are totally drool-worthy on their own.... but paired with baked butternut squash, red onion, green olives, pickled jalapenos, chopped chipotles in adobo sauce, and crispy red leaf lettuce...I think I don't even have to tell you how good these were! Tons of texture and flavor variations make these tacos perfect. When you get Vegan Latina after it comes out, I highly recommend using the Seitan Chorizo just like this!

And lastly, a non-test recipe: Cocoa Raspberry Muffins from Isa's Vegan Brunch! I am trying to work in as much VB I can with all the cookbook testing recipes, but it can get tough sometimes. I am so glad I could squeeze these in my schedule!! Just a little sweet with a little tartness from the raspberries make nice little muffins that are perfect for breakfast or a mid-day snack. With a nice hot cup of tea, of course!

Swiss Chard Frittata

The more dishes I make from Isa's Vegan Brunch, the more I think that this cookbook is genius! I am not ashamed to say the breakfast/brunch is my favorite meal of the day, so VB and I are a perfect match!

This weekend, I had a bunch of locally-grown swiss chard, and it was obvious how I needed to use it: the Vegan Brunch Swiss Chard Frittata!! This is really easy to prepare and can be made using common vegan cupboard ingredients, and not to mention it is crazy delicious...perfect for a savory breakfast (at morning or at night)!
I served mine with some garlicky homefries, and it was great!! Now I am looking forward to many frittata adventures in the future! God bless you, Isa!

Everything's Better When It's Homemade!

There is just something so gratifying about making things yourself! Not only because they usually taste better and are healthier than when store-bought, but when you are biting into your homemade creation, there is a great sense of accomplishment and pride in your hard work. I love this feeling, so this week I tried really hard to make as much as I could from scratch! It was a lot of fun...and tasty, too!

For breakfast, I have been munching on the Bakery-Style Berry Muffins from Isa's Vegan Brunch. These are perfectly sweet and fluffy and satisfying in the morning with a little schmear of Earth Balance and berry jam. This makes me want to try all the VB muffin recipes now! No good vegan could go around tauting homemade goods without mentioning seitan! I love seitan made from scratch! It has such a wonderful flavor and is so easy. Most of my dinners this week have been centered around the Steamed White Seitan, a tester recipe for Terry's upcoming Vegan Latina cookbook. This seitan is supposed to be for chicken- and pork-type dishes, as it has a mild flavor and is spiked with delicious herbs and seasonings.For the first meal in which I used the Steamed White Seitan, I made the Arroz con Seitan, another VL test recipe. This is Terry's veganized take on Arroz con Pollo, a very traditional Latina dish with chicken, rice, and veggies. It was delicious!! First the seitan is marinated and grilled...Then combined with the rice, a delicious broth made with beer, and lots of veggies--including green olives, which I adore!! Very flavorful, hearty, and even nice on a hot summer evening with a side of juicy local tomato slices!Then last night for dinner, I used the seitan for Chipotle Seitan and Potato Tacos, a VL test recipe as well. I love love love tacos, and these were amazing! I prepared these for my friend Sarah and myself, and we devoured every last bite. Perfect on a hot night, with all the heat from the chipotle peppers to make you sweat!

I even made my own Soft Corn Tortillas for our tacos! This was my first time making homemade tortillas, and it was surprisingly easy! These were a Vegan Latina test recipe, of course! I think I will be making these all the time now!
These spicy, savory soft tacos are filled with a chipotle and beer marinated seitan that has been grilled, roasted then pan-fried sweet potatoes, shredded cabbage, the Pickled Red Onions (a VL test recipe I had leftover), and a Lime Yogurt Crema, which is Terry's spin on a sour cream-style sauce....lots of lime and cilantro and yum! I cannot stress enough how awesome these were and how excited everyone should be about the VL cookbook! woo!

And, of course, there's nothing like a homemade pie for dessert! My wonderful friend Cody had a birthday this week, and he requested a peanut butter pie instead of the traditional b-day cake. So I delivered! Celine at the Have Cake, Will Travel blog posed this PB & J Pie recipe not too long ago, and it caught my eye (and taste buds!). I made a homemade whole wheat pie crust and filled it with layers of peanut butter-based filling and raspberry jam. This was awesome! Peanut butter is good just about any way you throw it at me, but this was exceptional! It was even more perfect with some freshly-brewed coffee and lovely company!

Foods Worth Celebrating!

Over the past few weeks, I have gone to a lot of party-type events, such as b-days and anniversaries, so I have been making plenty of celebration-worthy foods...because, as we all know, there is no better way to celebrate!!!

For my awesome friend Anna's birthday, we made grilled pizzas! Perfect for summertime and delish, of course. Mine had vegan cheese, Smartlife faux pepperoni, fresh basil, mushrooms, red peppers, onions, black olives, and Anna's mom's homemade tomato sauce! So good!!! My dad's birthday and fathers' day falls in the same week, so I made a cake to commemorate both! He requested carrot cake for his birthday cake, so I made Mama's Twisted Orange Carrot Cake from the PPK website. This cake is amazing!! zomg!! There is an entire pureed orange in the batter! This cake was extremely moist and had a wonderful flavor...I altered the recipe a bit to make it healthier, by substituting applesauce for the oil and using whole wheat pastry flour. Next time you need to make a carrot cake, I highly recommend this recipe!This past weekend was my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary (yay for them!) and we had a big family get-together, because that's what families do I suppose, so my mom and I made our popular family recipe for Scotcheroo Rice Krispie Treats! We veganized it and healthied it up, of course! These use peanut butter as the glue in the treats themselves, and the yummy topping is a mixture of chocolate chips and butterscotch chips (again, thanks to Bianca for those!). These treats were gone very quickly!!

Last week was my lovely friend Anne's birthday, so I made a Cookin' Crunk tester recipe for her birthday treat: Old-Fashioned Strawberry Pie! She wanted a pie instead of a cake for her birthday, so I made it happen! This pie was so delicious....whole wheat crust, organic fresh strawberry filling, and a whole lot of love....she adored it!
Now for a few foods that weren't made for a party or anything, but should be celebrated themselves for being so tasty!!

Another Cookin' Crunk tester recipe for Cashew Mac 'n Cheese! This used cashews, nooch, spices, and soymilk for the cheesy sauce, and I opted for the shell pasta over the elbow macaroni, cuz I loves me some shells and cheese! This went perfectly with some bbq tempeh, btw! Can't wait for this cookbook to come out, Bianca!Finally and best of all: Bagels from Vegan Brunch!! This was my first attempt at homemade bagels and it was a success! I used whole wheat pastry flour in mine and they turned out wonderfully! Instead of poppy or sesame seeds, I dusted the tops with coarse sea salt before the boiling and baking...mmmmmm....I have been eating these pretty much everyday for breakfast. Topped with peanut butter, jam, Tofutti cream cheese, vegan lox, or whatever strikes my fancy that morning. I think next I would like to make a bagel sandwich with them! Make these when you have a few extra hours on your hands: you won't regret it!!

Dinner with Terry and Isa

Tonight I had dinner with Terry and Isa. OK, maybe I didn't actually "dine" with two of the best vegan chefs ever, but I did make one Terry dish and one Isa dish for my dinner tonight! It was great! Tonight's meal was Latina-themed, since I am currently testing for Terry's upcoming Vegan Latina cookbook. btw, this cookbook is going to be awesome! A lot of the recipes are multi-step and take some time, but all of the recipes I have made so far have turned out delicious!!

The main course was the Sexy Avocado-Tempeh Stuffed Arepas, a Vegan Latina tester. omg these were amazing!! If you haven't heard of arepas before, they are a little corn-based tortilla, but much thicker and denser, and they are used for stuffing and devouring! Very popular in South America especially. The insides of these Venezuelan-style Arepas have a polenta-like texture, while the outsides are crispy, almost like the crust of American cornbread...these are very interesting and tasty little treats! The Avocado-Tempeh Filling is really creamy and delicious, and gets a little zing from lime juice, and there is a secret filling ingredient: shredded jicama! It lends an amazing texture! I could go on and on about these little guys, but I will let the photos do the talking:

First, the Masa Harina-based dough is pan-fried...
And, of course, cooked to a golden brown for a nice crust...Then, they all go in the oven for a little while to get the insides nice and cooked...And then they are ready to be stuffed with all sorts of goodies!Here they are, stuffed and ready to be eaten! Even better with a few dashes of hot sauce along the way!

For my side dish, I made a recipe from Isa's new Vegan Brunch cookbook: Fried Plantains!! I picked these mainly because this sounded like a perfect Latina accompaniment to my Terry-tester-arepas, but also because I really want to make everything ever in Vegan Brunch!! These were really good, too! I like my version a little better, I must admit, as these were more salty and less sweet, but still delicious! I mean, it IS an Isa recipe for goodness sake...can't really go wrong, can you??!

I'll definitely be making all of these dishes again and again and again....

Apple Rosemary Scones

I am kind of on a scone kick lately, so I made another variation of the scone recipe in Vegan Brunch: Apple Rosemary Scones! These have a perfect balance of savory and sweet, and are absolutely divine with a little Earth Balance for breakfast....even better if enjoyed with a hot mug of coffee and the New York Times. Maybe that's just me. Either way, you must try this scone recipe! You will not be sorry!

Vegan Brunch + Local Produce = Amazing Meals!

I am happy to announce that I am a proud owner of Isa's Vegan Brunch!! I received it in the mail on my birthday last week....definitely in the running for best present ever! I was lucky to be able to incorporate some local produce into the brunch meals as well. Yay!
I have read this cookbook cover-to-cover probably ten times already and I keep discovering new and exciting things! It is filled with beautiful pictures, tips, and more to
make anyone an amazing breakfast chef! Here's what I've made so far:

Scones, with the Berry-Lavender VariationThese are very moist and delicious and are perfect any time of day. They did not come out quite as dry and dense as I like my scones, but still wonderful all the same! Isa suggests a Marionberry and Lavender combo for a variation on the basic scone recipe, but I used raspberries, as I couldn't find Marionberries anywhere around here. The flavor combination is great...especially slathered with Earth Balance and organic berry jam!

Basic Scrambled Tofu, with Onions and Local Kale

Banana Flapjacks

Since I am such a breakfast-lover, I made brinner last night for dinner! I made the Banana Flapjacks and served them with the Basic Scrambled Tofu, with onions and local kale scrambled in with it. The flapjacks get nice and browned on the outside from all the banana goodness in the batter, so they get crispy edges while remaining fluffy inside! So good! There was, of course, lots of maple syrup involved with this delightful meal.

Speaking of local veggies, here's a random salad I made for dinner this week, featuring local lettuce and tomatoes (!), as well as homemade seitan, hempseeds, vegan Caesar dressing, and other tasty produce. It was perfect on a hot summer day...thanks, Columbia Farmers' Market!