Hearty and Wholesome Winter Eats

When it is winter time and snowy and such, all I really want to do is snuggle up inside and make some rib-sticking, delicious food!! So that is pretty much all I have been doing lately...and I love every minute of it!!

Some stuff I have made recently...warm, tasty, filling, and healthy, too...mmmmm.....

Chili-Rubbed Seitan Sandwiches on Homemade Sweet Potato Buns with Raspberry Chipotle Mayo. Sweet Maple Slaw. Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles, from Isa and Terry's Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar! These are sooooo goood! I made some chocolate cinnamon buttercream, and turned them into cookie sandwiches! Forgot to picture it though....too much eating to do!

Two Potato Chowder with local sweet and yukon gold potatoes! Garnished with local tempeh and scallions. Side of Jalapeno-Molasses Cornbread.

Nutty Fig Bars, with local pecans. Seitan Reubens--Homemade rye bread topped with homemade corned "beef" seitan, organic sauerkraut, caramelized onions, and homemade 1000 island dressing. Ah, the open-faced sandwich, how I love thee. Side of local Sweet Potato Salad.Salted Caramel Pecan Bars from Isa and Terry's VCIYCJ. These are my favorite thing I have made from that cookbook so far!! Salty and sweet and crunchy and chewy all at the same time!! I served them with some vanilla soy ice cream, and it was a perfect combination! Pecan-Crusted Seitan with Smoky Smothered Greens and Mashed Local Potatoes and Gravy.

Maple Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream and Candied Walnuts from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World!!! These are seriously amazing!! They taste like maple doughnuts, which I looooved in my omni days! People went crazy for these! Perfection when eaten with a hot cup of coffee and shared with lovely friends.

This Week in Sustainability...

Yesterday's Sustainability Sunday was a HUGE success! Dane and I both had tons of people come out to our supper clubs, and the KC Vegan Crawl made yet another mark on the midwest! Yay!

At my place for lunch, I made everyone's favorite: Brunch!!

My Lemon-Ginger Scones! A big, big hit! The recipe is here...I highly recommend it. I even got the lemons at the Farmers' Market!For the main event, I served up cakes 'n eggs, vegan-style!! Awesome Whole Grain Pancakes, Scrambled Tofu with Local Greens, and Local Homefries, featuring both yukon gold and sweet potatoes.

To mix it up a bit, I gave my guests a choice of different pancake toppings: Plain (Earth Balance and Maple Syrup), Homemade Pumpkin Butter, Cinnamon-Baked Apples, Chocolate Chips, or, for those with a savory tooth, Spicy Seitan Chorizo!

Here's my plate-- I topped mine with both the pumpkin butter and baked apples, being the little glutton I am. Did I mention ALL the produce and tofu used were local? Well, they were! The savory option: Pancakes topped with homemade Spicy Seitan Chorizo Crumbles, drizzled with agave nectar and sprinkled with sea salt. Holy moly this was one tasty plate o' food!!Then, for dinner at Dane's place: Gumbo and Rice! Food for the working folks, for sure!! Tons of okra, Anasazi beans, tomatoes, garlic and more in a delicious, spicy broth, topped with fluffy white rice. I think all the vegan Southerners would be proud!!And there was homemade bread: Whole Grain and French Baguettes!! BREAD!!And, since no meal is complete sans dessert: Depression Cake!! Dane found a recipe for cake from the Depression era, when things like eggs and milk were scarce...so it was already vegan and tasty and cheap to make! Yes!! He jazzed it up a bit with a Cranberry-Orange Glaze, and it was just too good!
Thanks to everyone who has been coming out to the Vegan Crawl!! Hopefully we'll just keep growing and growing! There will be more delish food to come, ya'll!

Mock Duck! And Foods From the Weekend

Tonight, Steve and I were adventurous and tried a new product that we found at our local Asian market, Chong's...Vegan Mock Duck! I had heard about this before, but was hesitant because I typically don't eat canned foods, and it sounded really bizarre, but I figured I should give it a shot!

The mock duck is made out of wheat gluten and seasonings, and it tastes slightly sweet and salty. It was actually really good! I liked the chewy texture (which freaked me out at first...look at the fake duck skin-looking piece! weeeeird, man!) and it had a lot of protein to keep me satisfied! I roasted it in the juices that were in the can along with it...and I served it with some Natto Chutney I bought at Clover's Natural Market:

To make a whole Asian-themed meal, I served the roasted mock duck with vegetable fried rice (loaded with local veggies and organic brown rice!) and sesame-glazed local green beans. This meal truly hit the spot, with the perfect balance of fresh from the veggies and savory from the sesame and mock duck! yuuuuuuum!!For lunch the other day, I used the Smoked Tofu from Tree of Life to make a TLT sandwich...a perfect way to celebrate local tomatoes while I still can! I of course spread it liberally with Vegenaise to make it a perfect sandwich!
This weekend, Steve and I visited my family in Kansas City. Lucky for us, one of my all-time favorite restaurants...which happens to be vegetarian...is in KC: Eden Alley! This wonderful restaurant is located on the Plaza, and focuses on healthy foods made from as many local and organic ingredients as possible. They also have an awesome selection of raw, soy-free, and gluten-free foods to meet everyones' needs! Eden Alley has really creative and eclectic menu items, and clearly labels which items are vegan or can be made vegan! That always makes me appreciate a restaurant more!! If you are ever in Kansas City, check this place out!!!
My mom had the corn fritters, which were topped with a smoky black bean sauce and a smoky chipotle aioli. Of course, she let me have a bite, and they were great! A southern feel and wonderful flavors made this so tasty...I want to learn how to make some like these!Steve had the sweet potato burrito, one of our favorite menu items! It is a big flour tortilla stuffed with hummus, brown rice, and roasted sweet potatoes, then topped with fruit salsa on a bed of greens. This is crazy good!!
I had the spinach-mushroom loaf with a side of roasted sweet potatoes...it was getting chilly out, so this seriously hit the spot!! For dessert, my mom ordered the vegan creme brulee! I had to try it, of course, and it was really nice...not too sweet or anything! And now I can cross that off my vegan 100 list :)
Steve and I both had the "Pollack cake," which was a coconut vanilla cake with chocolate chips, drizzled with vanilla and chocolate frosting. This was sooooo moist from the coconut and the frosting was so creamy and good! wow.

Sunday was my grandma's 69th birthday, and my family asked me to make the meal for her birthday dinner...I was honored! For the older crowd, I picked comfort food, with a healthy twist! They really liked it all, so I was pleased...

To start off the meal, I served a loaf of the 5 Olive Bread from Whole Foods: And we also had a nice green salad with sunflower seeds as an appetizer: For the main meal, I made garlic mashed potatoes (no gravy, sorry!!), olive oil-roasted green beans, and Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon...the ultimate in faux meats, I think! Everything turned out just wonderfully and we were all very satisfied:
But there was still room for dessert, of course! What would a birthday be without cake, I always say!! I wanted something simple, yet rich...with chocolate for my grandma! I made the Decadent Almond Cake from Hanna's My Sweet Vegan. oh lordy. make this cake for your next birthday. or any party really. or Monday. just make it! the almond flavor is soooo wonderful and it so moist and has a great mouth-feel. I made the ganache out of carob instead of chocolate, so I could force my family to be adventurous...and I loooooove carob!
I served the cake with Purely Decadent's Pomegranate Chip ice cream. No one would ever guess that this was not "real" ice cream, I swear! The fruity flavor was perfect and it went so well with the richness of the almond cake! A match made in heaven!The cake and ice cream together, the way it always ought to be!