Recent Tester Goodies

Being a tester for cookbooks is soooo much fun!!! And tasty, too!

Almond Lime Cake with Rosemary Lime Frosting, from the upcoming Vegan Girl's Guide to Life by The Urban Housewife. One of the best cakes ever!!! And the most beautiful! Sweet Potato Pie, from the upcoming Vegan Bakesale by Carla of The Vegan Year blog! I loooooove me some pie, and anything sweet potatoes, too. Perfect combo!

And finally, Chocolate Cereal Squares, also from the Vegan Bakesale cookbook. So much crispiness and chocolatiness all in one!!! Yummmm!

(No Animals) Sufferin' Succotash!

Yeah, cheezy title. sorry. This post is aptly named because I discovered a new vegan-friendly restaurant in Kansas City today: Succotash! This was the first Saturday of the season that I went to the farmer's market in downtown KC, which was exciting in itself, but while I was there, I of course had to eat lunch! So when I saw Succotash, it was obvious what my job was. I had heard it was great before AND my mom had a gift certificate AND I was at the City Market, where it is located....how could I not eat there?? The restaurant is in a warehouse-type space and it is decorated really cool, lots of bright colors, paintings, retro lamps, etc.....Also, they have great food! The Pitch voted them best breakfast in Kansas City! I wouldn't say this applied to vegans, as there weren't really many vegan breakfast items, but the lunch food was wonderful! About 90% of the people who worked there were really nice and helpful, but I guess you always remember the 10% that wasn't. Anyway, one of the girls who worked there was vegan, and she pointed out some options on the menu and substitutions and whatnot.

I had the Veggie Wrap: spinach tortilla stuffed with lemony lima bean hummus (subbed for the eggs and cheese. yuck.) , succotash, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach, served with a HUGE side of home fries! This was amazing! The succotash was really crisp and flavorful, with tons of dill in it, and the lima bean hummus was amazingly creamy and fresh-tasting. I am in love!My mom had the Veggie Quesadilla: spinach tortilla with grilled succotash, tomatoes, spring greens, sun-dried tomatoes, and lemony lima bean hummus (subbed for cheese again), served with also a HUGE side of home fries. She really, really liked this, too! It was a lot like the wrap I had, since we made so many substitutions to make the items vegan, but we both loved what we had! And it was really reasonably priced! Yesssssss!While we were at the farmer's market, we picked up some Sweet Potato Pasta from Pappardelle's, a local pasta maker/vendor. They had a wide selection of pastas to choose from, but many of them had eggs in them. Luckily, they were really helpful in picking out which did not contain eggs, and I knew which one I had to have when my eyes landed on the words "sweet potato" and "pasta" since I am a carb lover and proud of it! Now I just need to figure out a meal special enough to use this in!We also stopped by a local natural foods store, Green Acres Market, to pick up a few groceries. While shopping, we discovered they had a new vegan item in their bakery: Vegan Chocolate Chip Raspberry Bars! I was pumped, because I love the raspberry chocolate chip blondies from VWAV, and these were inexpensive and already made for me! Lazy points! These were really good...not even close to as good as Isa's, duh....but quite tasty for a natural food store's bakery section! The crust was nice and dense and there was just the perfect amounts of both raspberry and chocolate. Very nice. In unrelated news, we had Waldo Pizza for dinner last night! Waldo is a KC local pizza place that has Follow Your Heart Vegan Mozzerella as a topping option, toooooons of veggie topping choices, and several vegan crust and sauce choices! They even sometimes have vegan cookies and brownies, but only if you go on the right day. Figures. We had the standard Veggie Pizza with Vegan Mozzerella...I added some Italian-Baked Tofu I made once we got it home, you know, for a litte more protein. It was so freakin' delicious!! The traditional crust is just the right thickness and it is soft and flavorful and crisp on the edges and perfect! It is nice to know you can always get a good vegan pizza in Kansas City!

Also eaten this week was my Green Tea-Almond Noodles! It's a recipe I have been working on and thinking about (you know how it is....) for a while now, and I think it is pretty much "there." This Asian-style dish is basically udon noodles, toasted almonds, veggies, and the Green Tea Almond Sauce (below), and it makes for a pretty quick and filling meal on a busy weeknight! This was a perfect pre-LOST treat!

Green Tea-Almond Sauce (makes approx. 2 1/2 cups)

2 cups water plus 2 bags green tea

1/4 cup cold water whisked with 2 Tbs cornstarch

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional for extra heat)

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 Tbs maple syrup or agave nectar

2 Tbs Dijon or spicy mustard

Bring water to a boil and add tea bags. Remove from heat and let steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags return to medium heat. Add the cornstarch slurry and the rest of the ingredients and whisk constantly for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened to a honey-like consistency. Toss with noodles, veggies, and almonds, and then serve hot or cold!

p.s. Is everybody ready to make Easter dinner tomorrow? What are you fixing?

Vegan MoFo Day #21: I Love Apples!

I ate a lot of apples today, I must confess! After all, it is fall and apples are in season, and I still have dozens and dozens left from when we went apple-picking weeks ago! I am trying to use them up before they go bad, so I have been trying to feature them in many of my meals, desserts, and snacks.

For dinner, they were a sweet addition to my Braised Red Cabbage with Apples and Onions. I paired those with Rosemary-Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Homemade Bratwursts (which I based on Julie Hasson's Spicy Italian Sausage recipe)...loaded with organic sauerkraut, obviously!! This meal was perfect!!! It featured lots of wonderful, local fall produce, economical homemade sausages, and an homage to my love for all things German. I will definitely make this meal again soon! It's so colorful and pretty!!

Dessert also featured apples! I made Apple-Cherry cobbler bars, a modification of the Apple-Date Bars that I bake at work for Main Squeeze. These have lots of cinnamon, cardamom, maple syrup, and apples, so eating them makes you all warm and happy...especially when paired with a nice chai tea! And they are wheat-free, so those who are sensitive can enjoy them, too!!

Apple-Cherry Cobbler Bars

These make a great treat to eat while reading vegan mofo blogs!!

Breakfast was also amazing, but it did not involve apples. darn. But, I did make something new and wonderful: Vegan Bagels and Lox! A while ago, I was thinking about how to make this awesome breakfast item vegan-style. Then, lo and behold, I was flipping through cookbooks at the bookstore, and saw a recipe for vegan lox in Vegan Vittles. I didn't use that recipe, but I got the idea from that recipe to use roasted red peppers as the smoked "salmon." This was awesome to wake up to...you mofos should fo sho try this!

Vegan Bagels and Lox (serves 2)

2 sprouted grain bagels

4 Tbs Tofutti vegan cream "cheese"

2 roasted red peppers, sliced into strips

2 Tbs capers

1 tsp olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

pinch of salt

1 tsp kelp powder

1/4 cup hijiki

1 cup water

1 tsp dill weed or 2 Tbs fresh dill

To make the lox (do this the night before): Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, water, kelp, hijiki, and salt in a small bowl and mix well. Place the sliced red peppers in this marinade and refrigerate overnight. In the morning: split and toast the bagels. Spread each bagel half with 1 Tbs cream "cheese." Lay strips of marinated peppers on the bagels. Place capers over the peppers, and sprinkle each bagel half with dill. Serve immediately.

This is breakfast at its best!! (But it makes me miss New York so badly!)

Po(e) Boys!

Day 11 of Vegan MoFo sure was a yummy one! For dinner, I was craving a big fat sandwich, and I wanted to try something new. I decided to try out the Tofu Po' Boy sandwich from Isa and Terry's Veganomicon...and I am sooo glad I did! I must admit that I am a little biased because this sandwich and I share a name, so I have wanted top make this for a while now. Maybe I should rename this sandwich the Poe Girl instead of the Po' Boy, because this is one of my new favorites! I could not believe I had never made this before!! The Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu was strangely similar to fish in texture, but I didn't mind, because the whole sandwich was freaking amazing! Especially since it was on a loaf of crusty baguette from our local Uprise Bakery! I served the Po' Boys with some oven-fried local okra (which I've posted about before) and slices of local Purple Cherokee heirloom tomatoes, that Steve got at the market today! This was a perfect weekend dinner for sure! mmmmm! If you haven't made this sammie, do so please!!
Dessert was a true celebration of fall, in these Sweet Potato Bars, based off a recipe from Main Squeeze...with my special touch, of course! I want to start calling these Sweeties, because they are the sweet potato version of a chocolate brownie or vanilla blondie. Maybe I should just keep my dorkiness to myself :) Sweet potatoes are one of my absolute favorite foods, and I have a huge sweet tooth, so these just make sense!! I will post the recipe for these another time...there are a few more perfections I need to make...

Breakfast for Dinner!!

My favorite meal in the world has got to be breakfast for dinner!! It is genius, because breakfast food is the best kind of food and you get to make and eat it when you aren't all tired and cranky! Brilliant.
So for dinner tonight, I made Blueberry Pancakes, Gimme Lean Sausage, and Roasted Potatoes. Not the most veggie-filled meal, but it's still healthy :) I promise! For the sausage links, I just used the tube of sausage from Gimme Lean and formed it into links, then pan-seared them in a skillet. To make the roasted potatoes, I diced russet and sweet potatoes, then tossed them with oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme and roasted them for about 30-40 minutes. Super easy, but super tasty!! These pancakes are simply perfect: fluffy and light, yet hearty and not overly-sweet. Plus, they are all whole grain, so you can feel good about eating them for dinner! I used locally-grown organic blueberries in mine, so they were absolutely divine!

Blueberry Pancakes (serves 4)
1 T flaxseeds
1 1/2 cups rice milk, or milk replacer of your choice
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup corn flour
2 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup organic sugar
2 cups blueberries (if frozen, thaw first)

In a blender, blend all of the wet ingredients together until the flaxseeds are completely ground. In a large bowl, sift all of the dry ingredients together. Gradually pour the wet mix into the dry mix and gently stir until just combined. Do not overmix!
Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray with non-stick spray. When skillet is nice and hot, measure 1/2 cup of batter and pour onto the skillet. Spread out the batter to make pancake about six inches in diameter. Drop 10 to 15 blueberries evenly on the pancake as it cooks. Let the cake cook for a few minutes, until it starts to bubble on the surface, then gently flip pancake over to cook the other side for a few more minutes. When browned on both sides and not doughy in the middle, transfer to a plate and cover with a towel to keep warm. Repeat the cooking process seven more times until all the batter is gone, making eight pancakes total. Serve warm topped with maple syrup and more blueberries. WWWOOOOOWWWW!

Here's a nice stack of nekkid blueberry pancakes, ready to be dressed with warm syrup!

For the grand occasion of the first presidential debates, I thought I should celebrate by baking a yummy dinner and eating some delicious baked goods! I made the Date Crumb Squares from the Candle Cafe Cookbook. Ever since I ate at the Candle Cafe when I visited New York in May, I often think about that restaurant and how amazing the food is! I finally broke down and ordered their cookbook online! Thank goodness I did, because there are so many great recipes in this, you should definitely check it out!! Anyway, these bars are really tasty! A new way to use dates is always good...underused for sure! The crust is sweet but not too much, and crumbly in a way reminiscent of a nice apple crumble. They are actually quite healthy, so make up a pot of hot tea...perhaps Earl Grey...and dig in!

Date Crumb Squares (makes 12)
1/2 cup dates

4 cups oat flour

4 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup safflower, or canola, oil

1 cup maple syrup

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp sea salt

The day before making these bars, soak the dates in a cup of warm water to soften. Drain, put the dates in a food processor, and blend until smooth. Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, and walnuts and mix well. In a separate bowl, blend together the wet ingredients and salt. Combine the two mixes together and mix well. Press half of the mixture into a greased 12 by 6 pan. Spread the pureed dates over the dough, then top with the remaining half of the mixture and press down to make an even surface. Bake for 30 minutes until the crust is lightly browned. Let cool, then cut into squares.

That's not all I baked this week....

I also baked a batch of lavender chocolate chip cookies!! God I love these cookies! They are even more perfect dipped in vanilla hemp milk!! This picture is Steve's hand doing just that! To make these beauties, make the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from the Joy of Vegan Baking, and add 1 cup of dried lavender flowers to the batter when you add the chocolate chips. Holy crap! Whoever first thought of combining chocolate and lavender deserves a kiss on the mouth.