Vegan MoFo Day #14: Tagine For Two

This a very special day! Not only is it Day 14 of Vegan MoFo, the end of its second week, but today marks exactly 3 weeks until the presidential election! Although this has been the longest presidential race in history, I serisously cannot believe it is about to be over...it seems like all these debates, commmericals, rallies, and smears are just everyday news. Since John McCain and Sarah Palin CLEARLY are idiots, and Barack Obama and Joe Biden are CLEARLY going to make wonderful president and v.p., I am obligated to remind you today and everyday until November 4th to go vote. For Barack. F'reals.

Now, onto the fooooods! It is MoFo, after all! Today was kinda icky and dreary, so a nice warm stew was for sure needed for dinner! I had some local eggplant and sweet poatoes to use, so Moroccan Tagine was perfect! I made my favorite tagine recipe...Tagine For Two...that I have posted about before, and served it with some whole wheat couscous and a cucumber-dill raita sauce. This is so flavorful and fragrant, so it fills your home with all its yumminess... You just can't help but make this healthy, veggie-packed, and delicious stew! It must have been invented for chilly fall days like this!

Iron Chef Challenge: Chestnut-Pear Bread Pudding

Welcome to this, the 13th day of Vegan MoFo! First up, I gotta share my entry for the second Iron Chef Challenge from Don't Eat Off The Sidewalk: Pears and Nuts. I am slightly obsessed with chestnuts, with their sweet and savory and crunchy and creamy qualities....I knew that this is the nut I had to go with to pair with the pears in my challenge recipe! Luckily, Clover's had a butt-load of LOCAL chestnuts and several varieties of organic pairs. I had some stale bread from our wonderful Uprise Bakery, and fall screams for bread pudding, so there you have it! Chestnut-Pear Bread Pudding! Here she is, all cozy in the pan....And plated up, all gooey and yum. Oh, God, chestnuts rule!! I recommend drinking tea with this!

Chestnut-Pear Bread Pudding (serves 4)

1/2 stale baguette loaf, diced into cubes

1 cup soymilk

1/2 cup water

1 Tbs egg replacer powder

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 Tbs cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs almond meal

2 ripe pears, diced

1 cup roasted chestnuts, chopped

1 Tbs canola oil

Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly oil a large loaf pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg replacer, water, and soymilk. Let sit for 10 minutes to thicken. Whisk again, adding in the maple syrup, sugar, spices, vanilla, and almond meal. Fold in the bread cubes, pears, and chestnuts. Let this sit together for 15 to 20 minutes to get all nice and goo-rific. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown on top. Serve warm...particularly with some vanilla So Delicious :)

Ok, onto dinner (yes, we did eat an actual dinner before going to dessert!)

Kung Pao Seitan! This was friggin delicious! Sweet, spicy, saucy, crunchy, savory, and just plain good. Steven definitely went back for seconds...he probably would have gotten thirds if I had made more!! I modified this from the Kung Pao Tofu recipe from the Whole Foods Cookbook...added some carrots, celery, and broccoli, and obviously swapped out the seitan for tofu. When I was an omni, I loved Kung Pao Chicken from Chinese restaurants, so seitan was more what I wanted for the taste and texture of the old days. Without the cruelty! Yay!

If you don't have this cookbook, check it out from the library, buy it, borrow it from a friend, I don't care what you do--just make this recipe! I served it up with some brown rice tossed with tamari and toasted sesame oil. Dinner is served!

Vegan Mofo Day #12: More Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu!

Today was another wonderful Sunday! A bunch of us enjoyed an amazing Sunday breakfast at Cafe Berlin...my favorite tradition! I had the veganized version of the Yankee Breakfast: Scrambled Tofu (with spinach and lots of spices), tempeh bacon, roasted potatoes, and an English muffin, with lots of organic grape jam. I loooove this breakfast! It has lots of my favorite breakfast-y things, especially the tempeh bacon rocks that my socks so very hard!

Perfect with a giant mug of OFT coffee!! This is a really filling and hearty meal, which was just what I needed to give me some energy before Steven and I went rock climbing all day!

This is Earthquake Hollow, where we went climbing! No picture could capture how pretty it was there today....I love Missouri foliage!!!

Here is Steven, psyched on a beautiful day for climbing!!

After a day of climbing and hiking, we needed a nice, comforting meal to satisfy us! I had just enough Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu from Veganomicon left over for both of us, so I served that up with some mashed local sweet potatoes, garlic-sauteed greens, and a whole grain roll from the wonderful Uprise Bakery here in Columbia. This meal definitely hit the spot!Now I'm off to try and create something fantastic for this week's Iron Chef Challenge...I am so excited! :)

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...

A Missouri Vegan Is NOT An Oxymoron!

Ok, it's day 10 of vegan mofo, so I think it is high time for me to talk about how it is to be vegan in Missouri. And not in Kansas City or St. Louis...mid-Missouri. Lucky for me, Columbia is a growing college town that is pretty progressive, so there are a lot of options for the community of vegans/vegetarians here! I will tell you about a few of my favorites...partly because I want you to believe me that being vegan in Missouri is not impossible and partly because I want you to try these places if you ever happen to be driving through Missouri (we're right on I-70)!My top 5 favorite veg-friendly restaurants in Columbia:

1. Main Squeeze Natural Foods Cafe:
Yes, I am biased because I work here! But, this is the only 100% vegetarian place in town, and it is extremely vegan-friendly! I should know, I bake and chef there :) They serve
sandwiches, wraps, salads, juices, smoothies, and baked goods, so there is something for everyone!Some of my favorite items are the Good Fortune Wrap and Tofu Blondies for dessert! www.main-squeeze.com
2. Cafe Berlin International:
Seriously, the best breakfast in town!! Don't be fooled by the name: this is not a German or even extremely ethnic restaurant....it is actually pretty much home cooking and comfort food at its best. They have tons of vegan breakfast items, with scrambled tofu, tempeh bacon, etc. There is even a new menu item named after me! weird, right?? I think my favorite items are the Vegan Breakfast Burrito and the Veggie-Tofu Scramble. www.myspace.com/cafeberlin
3. Uprise Bakery:
This is an absolutely amazing bakery! They use organic ingredients and everything is homemade! Almost all of their breads are vegan, and the veg items can be "made" vegan...they even have some vegan desserts! yay! My favorite items are the Hummus Bread Plate and the House Salad! Bread is such a God-send.
4. International Cafe:
This Middle-Eastern restaurant is kind of hidden away from the main roads, but it is wonderful! Really authentic foods, the staff is nice, and there is outdoor seating! There are a few vegan options, but all of them are awesome! My favorites are the Falafel Platter and the Hummus and Pita Sandwich.
5. Shakespeare's Pizza:
While you wouldn't typically think of a pizza place as being extremely veg-friendly, this place is an exception! They have great whole wheat crust, all homemade ingredients, and lots of veggie toppings (they even have almonds! whoa!). This is one of those places that you can go with a big group of people, and everyone will be happy, without complaining that they have to go somewhere "hippy" or "healthy." I am still trying to work on them getting vegan cheeze as a topping option! My fav pizza: wheat crust, no cheese, extra sauce, broccoli/mushrooms/artichokes/peppers/olives/almonds. not as crazy as yo might think. www.shakespearespizza.com

Besides vegan-friendly restaurants, Columbia has a few other vegan staples to offer, too!

Coffee Shops (who can resist a good soy latte??):
-Lakota Coffee Company
-Cherry Street Artisan Coffee Shop
-Coffee Zone
Grocery Stores:
-Clover's Natural Market (yeah, I work here, too. I'm shameless.)
-Hy-Vee Grocery Store (wonderful natural foods section! they have Sweet and Sara products!!!)
-Root Cellar (ALL local produce and other food items)
Other Cool Places:
-Sparky's Ice Cream (local ice cream shop...great vegan sorbets!!!)
-Kayotea Tea Room ( soy BOBA!)
-Peace Nook (a few grocery items, lots of reading materials, stickers, and a co-op!)
-Columbia or Boone County Farmer's Market. good GOD!

Long story short, Columbia is a pretty good place to be vegan! At least for a short time...I'm thinking NYC or PDX someday...but CoMo will do for now! Next time you're in the area, I hope you will know where to go for some good food and good community!

Vegan Mofo Day #9: Tofu "Crab" Cakes!

On this momentous 9th day of Vegan MoFo, I made my favorite meal: Vegan Tofu "Crab" Cakes! I am serious, these are strangely good! Perhaps it can be attributed to the Vegan Remoulade (aka tartar sauce) on top which is made from Vegenaise, my true love. Who knows! I wish I could emphasize this point more, but I just don't know how: these "crab" cakes could end the world with their deliciousness. I won't waste space to re-post the recipe, but here it is from a post I made a few months ago:Tofu Crab Cakes

I highly recommend serving these with some dirty rice (basically, brown rice with some Cajun spices and hot sauce) and my Crunchy Coleslaw, like I did! Here's my coleslaw recipe...I think you'll like it, too!

Crunchy Coleslaw (serves 6-8)

1 small head white cabbage, thinly shredded

1 small head purple cabbage, thinly shredded

2 shredded carrots

1/4 c minced red onion

2 stalks diced celery

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

juice of 1 lemon

2 Tbs dijon mustard

1/4 cup Vegenaise

pinch salt and pepper

1 tsp paprika

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well to coat everything with the dressing. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving. Yum!

This is Laura, and I have approved these "Crab" Cakes! :)

Fronch Toast and Cinnamon-Baked Apples. For Dinner!

Today is the 8th day of Vegan MoFo...I can't believe we're in the second week already!
Tonight, Steve and I needed some breakfast for dinner...go figure! I made Fronch Toast from VWAV, using some tasty baguette from Uprise Bakery here in Columbia. I had never made this before, so I wasn't quite used to making this with baguette instead of sliced bread, but it turned out pretty good! Not perfect, but everything's good with lots of maple syrup :) I served it with Scrambled Tofu, with onions, garlic, peppers, spices, local purple cherokee tomatoes (my absolute fav tomatoes! ) and cilantro. Screw you, eggs! Scram'fu will kick your butt! We also had some Cinnamon-Baked Apples, which I based on some baked apples I've had from Germany, to tie it all together. I am almost certain I will still be eating these apples we picked for all of my days. oh well! These are so fall-y and delicious...it's like the filling of apple pie, but quite a bit healthier! I will give you the recipe, I suppose! Cinnamon-Baked Apples (serves 2)
2 medium apples, thinly sliced
1 tsp Earth balance, cut into little cubes
1/4 c raisins
1/4 c chopped yellow onion
1 Tbs cinnamon...or more, if you're naughty
1 tsp nutmeg
dash of cloves
dash of salt
2 Tbs maple syrup
pinch of cayenne

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all of the ingredients in an oven-proof pan and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, stir the apples, and bake for 15 more minutes. Serve over toast or pancakes for a tasty breakfast! Or eat them by themselves, as they are super delicious!

We, of course, had to have a treat, too!
Introducing: German Chocolate Cake! This is simply the Basic Chocolate Cupcake recipe from Isa and Terry's VCTOTW, turned into a cake, with the Coconut Pecan Fudge Frosting, also from VCTOTW. I looooove German Chocolate Cake, and this is seriously amazing! I added a teaspoon of almond extract to the cake batter, and it made a really nice addition! Almond extract really brings out the flavor of chocolate, plus adds a little something extra for your taste buds. I think you should make this...if that's what you're into.