I Want To Post More, Really I Do!

I've got to just buckle down and start posting at least once a week. Life gets in the way sometimes. Work has been busy and unfortunately, I've been traveling more than I'd like too. I do still make the blog rounds and I've been responding semi-regularly on PPK.

This weekend we had a cool little Earth Day thing near my home where they collected all sorts of items for recycling and reuse. I was super excited to get rid of a few boxes of random stuff found around my house.

Did you know that Nike recycles sneaker soles? I dropped off a couple pairs of my old, stinky running shoes. To find a sneaker recycling location in your area or view the shipping address to send your old sneakers, visit Nike's site.

A few weeks ago I found that a small farm (where I normally pick strawberries and buy veggies) is offering CSA shares this year. I purchased a half share for myself and am looking forward to fresh local veggies/herbs/flowers and maybe berries. Plus, I get to work 6 hours on the farm. That sounds like fun.

When I was in Maine for work a few weeks ago, I picked up Little Lad's vegan but-tah. "Like no udd-ah." That makes me chuckle.

My cooking has been simple stuff though I do have a couple of blogworthy photos.

Finally, I tried the famous seitan '0 greatness. The texture is good and it is interesting that you bake it rather than boil it. Next time I make this seitan, I might change around some of the spices. They really aren't my favorite mix and I would have liked it with a bit more heat.

Log, log, seitan log.

Slices of greatness.

Lolo's awesome lavender shortbread. This batch was slightly extra crispy. I cooked it too long. It just wouldn't brown on the parchment paper. Eventually, I put the rounds directly on the cookie sheet and all was well. ---Lesson learned.

Weekend Eats

I'm still catching up a little from blogging while I was traveling. In Orlando, we found this great little veg place called Garden Cafe. It was reminiscent of Grasshopper. I ordered the Spicy Orange Beef which was very good. If you are ever in the area, stop by this restaurant. It is a little out of the way when you are in the touristy spots, but it is worth the drive. My apologies for the photo, it was taken with my phone.First up an herb storage tip courtesy of aunt. (BTW - She insists I give credit to Rachel Ray where my aunt viewed this nifty little idea) I've always had so much difficulty keeping herbs from the supermarket fresh. In the summer I grow my own and clip as needed. In the cold months, I pay lots of money for way too much of a single herb and they dry out quickly. My aunt/Rachel says wash the herbs when you get home, then wrap them in a wet paper towel and put them in a ziploc. Sooooo simple, but the parsley and mint both fared very well.

Onto the food...

This weekend I tried a couple of new recipes. I'd never made tabbouleh before. It is so easy, you just need to do lots of of chopping. I'm loving the fresh summery taste and the weather is just starting warm up too.


Next up. Lolo over at veganyumyum posted a how-to on roasting peppers awhile back. This was another first for me. I didn't use the gas stove top, but I did use the broiler. This recipe is for Fleh-Fleh Mishweeyeh or Syrian Broiled Pepper Pickles from A Fistful of Lentils. These are mighty tasty. The peppers are sweet and the garlic, salt, cumin, and cider vinegar add lots of punch!

Peppers after broiling and the skins were removed.
Pickles after slicing the peppers and adding the brine.

Next up, there have been a ton of people raving about the Soul Vegetarian Restaurant on the PPK boards. In particular, everyone seems to love the Mac 'n Cheese. I googled and found this article online with a bunch of recipes including that one. This is very cheesy especially after adding a bit of salt. We scarfed this down. Though it makes a huge batch, so there are leftovers.
A quick note - I used Tinkyada brown rice pasta for this. It holds up well and I kind of dig the the flavor. The regular cooking instructions on the bag have an asterisk. When followed, it points to a second set of energy saving instructions. Huh? I was perplexed but flipped over the bag. It said, boil for 1-2 minutes. Then turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 15 min or so. You know what, it worked? I'm thinking, this can be done with regular pasta. Can you imagine how much energy is wasted cooking pasta all the time if it could be done this way? I know it is just a small amount, but multiply that by how many times you cook pasta or rice in a year. How about the rest of the world? I'll let you know how that test goes in the future. If you try it, let me know.

Let's see, what else...

Carrie asked for some details on the PPK potluck. Someone picked the theme of orange, so all food had to be some shade. It was about 20 people. I met a couple of local veg bloggers. Nikki from Iloveheeze and lolo mentioned earlier. It was also nice to meet some of the PPK personalities from the forum. Examples of some of the food: butternut squash pizza, lasagna, quiche with orange pepper coulis, curries, salads, samosas and lots of desserts including sweet potato and pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and an orange creamsicle cake from Vegan Treats. Someone posted a few pics on the PPK forum. Believe me, there was a ton more food. I think we all started talking and then the photos ceased to be snapped. Can you find me in the pics?

Also Carrie, the orange ginger tofu recipe was from the PPK database. It was good, but if I made it again it would need some tweaking. Maybe it would be better with some sesame oil or cracked red pepper for spice.

Bazu asked about the pumpkin brownies. The chocolate part was espresso brownies, sans espresso from La Dolce Vegan. The pumpkin piece was veganized from this recipe. All I did was use egg replacer and sub apple sauce for about half the oil (and skip the frosting). This batch of pumpkin brownies makes at least double what you need for the swirl, so either halve the recipe when you make it or you'll be cooking a extra pan of pumpkin bread/brownies.

To assemble, pour the chocolate brownie batter in the pan. (9x13 -ish) Then scoop blobs of the pumpkin batter on top. The cream cheese swirl was my own concoction. It was approximately 1/4 cup of Tofutti cream cheese, a tablespoon or so of powdered sugar, a tablespoon or flour, and enough soymilk to make it batter like.

Scoop the cream cheese mixure on top and then swirl all three with a spatula.

Kleo asked for a bird update. Tommy is doing much better thanks to some vitamins I found online. She's got all kinds of new feathers growing in and the vet was really blown away when she saw her last week.

Though today she had a particularly bad day of screaming/biting me/feather pulling. Tommy hates when I read a book or magazine. Attempts to bite me, usually ensue shortly after opening any type of reading material. Since I was home all day and she got lots of snuggle time, I wasn't sure what the deal was with her attitude. When I started doing dishes Tommy began screaming and saying, "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy" over and over. This made me think she wanted a bath, so I got her spray bottle and gave her mist bath. She really enjoyed this and it seemed to calm her down. Maybe the new feathers growing in were irritating her and she need the bath to help out.

At any rate, that's my crazy Tommy bird. I'm still catching up on all the blogs...only about halfway through my list.

Well, hello again!

Wow, I am doing a poor job blogging. I take pictures, but never make it over here to post.

First off, did any of you read the article about Al Gore's electric bill. What the heck? His bill for the year is more than 20 times the national average. I suspect the national average is higher than someone who is environmentally conscious. Come on Al, use some fluorescent bulbs, turn off some appliances, or get some solar panels.

Don't get me wrong, I really respect what Mr. Gore is doing as far as educating the public. He has really opened so many people's eyes. On the other hand, if you don't practice what you preach then some of your credibility is certainly lost. The Inconvenient Truth was a very thought provoking movie. After watching the movie there were two nagging items in the back of my mind.

1. He was never seen in a hybrid vehicle in the movie. Al was always driving these gas guzzling huge cars.

2. He never mentioned the major effects that the Western diet has on the environment versus a vegan/vegetarian diet. Maybe he was afraid he wouldn't be taken seriously if he touted diet as a way to help. Even so, has he made any diet changes of his own?

I'll step down from my soap box now and post some food pics.

First up Lemon Cous Cous from The Mcdougall Quick and Easy Cookbook. This recipe was quick and easy, but lacked a little in taste. I chopped up some extra dill and added sun dried tomatoes the next day.
Next I made pumpkin cream cheese swirl brownies and orange ginger tofu for the PPK Boston potluck. We had an orange theme, hence the pumpkin. The recipe is a conglomeration from a veg cookbook and some recipes I veganized off the net. If you'd like I can post details. I failed to take a photo of the tofu and I'm using lolo's pic of the brownies.

A cauliflower recipe from My Kitchen in Spain. My sister though the house smelled like bacon because of the smoked pimenton. This cauliflower was ok, but honestly I would have preferred to eat the vegetables plain.
The Gumbo z'Herbes with Cajun Tempeh Bacon at Fatfreevegan caught my eye. I made up a batch of this soup which was humongous. The recipe could have been cut in half or quarters. Honestly, I hated the soup. It just wasn't flavorful enough. With every bowl, I found my self adding more herbs or spices or thinking of other ways to use it. I skipped a photo of the green soup, but here's a shot of the Cajun Tempeh Bacon which I enjoyed. When I make it again, I'll use more spices and less sweetener. BTW - This was made with Lightlife tempeh, there are links for a $1 off coupon in other entries below if you'd like one.

Now that I've been introduced to the PPK forums, I see even more great recipes. Isa (VwaV) posted a new recipe for lemon bars. In the past I was never a huge fan of lemon bar, but cooked these up anyway. Pure lemony goodness! Perhaps fresh lemon juice and real sugar make them more satisfying than the processed monstrosities I've tried in the past.

The crust was ok with 1/4 cup less margarine and it could also cook for about 10 minutes less time. It was crispy, but good. This photo was snapped really quick this morning sans flash and since it was overcast, the color isn't great.
Last pic is my lunch today. I had some Lightlife cold cuts left from the freebies they sent. Before my veg days I obliviously enjoyed a sub on french bread that went by the name of South Beach Club. This was no diet sandwich. Today's incarnation of it was much healthier. Besides being half the size it contained veggie turkey, veggie bologna, 2 bacon smart strips, a slice of toffuti cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a bit of vegan mayo. In a pinch these deli convenience foods are handy.



I'll be making the blog rounds over the next few days. Sometimes lurking is bad, I forgot to stop by PiscesPlace and wish Kleo a belated birthday. ...Must leave more comments.

The Cancer Project

The Cancer Project is a group of doctors, researchers, and nutritionists who have banded together to help educate the public on cancer prevention and also survival. They often host free cooking and educational classes all over the country and I was lucky enough to attend one a few weeks back. (Click here to see if there are any upcoming classes near you.)

What did I learn? Well first, I'll write about what I learned from a health stand point and at the end I will share the few cooking tidbits.

So we all know that one factor that contributes to the likelihood of developing cancer is tobacco use. Did you know that the National Cancer Institute says 80% of cancers are due to factors that can be controlled? Furthermore 35-50% of those factors are due to foods. (To read about the other factors and see them in table form, click here.) Suddenly, it easy to see that we have quite a bit of control over our future.

The Cancer Project advocates a diet free of animal products. Many studies have shown that people/societies who eat more animal products have higher rates of cancer. (Side note: They mentioned numerous studies on milk/dairy. The Dairy Council's study that shows milk aids in weight loss is rather questionable and has not been duplicated. Also it appears that the increase in cases of Juvenile Diabetes can be linked to milk consumption.)

They recommend lots of fruits, veggies, and grains. Societies where the fat intake is less than 10% of their total calories have significantly lower rates of cancer. (Fat increases estrogen production in both men and women. Estrogen helps cancer cells mutliply faster.)

Also 30-40 grams of fiber per day is very important. Why? Fiber is what helps your liver eliminate waste (potential cancer causing compounds) from your blood stream. If you don't have enough fiber, then the waste continues circling through your body. I am paraphrasing a bit here, but one of the doctors there actually compared your body to a walking trash receptacle when you are not getting enough fiber. What foods contain fiber? Fruits, vegetables and grains are all fiber rich. Meat, fish, dairy and egg products contain absolutely no fiber; however they do contain fat, cholesterol, hormones, chemicals, and various other troublesome compounds.

What about someone who already has cancer? I can't remember the exact statistic, but I believe if they consume/or switch to a vegan diet they are 40% more likely to survive.

One interesting health factoid for those us in more Northern parts of the world. In the winter it is very likely that our body can't produce enough vitamin D even if we spent all day in the sun. The doctor speaking at this workshop highly recommended a Vitamin D supplement.

Well, what did they cook? The chef prepared a few different recipes including delicious hummus with cumin in it, guacamole with peas to lower fat content (similar to the mockamole I made awhile back), two different veggie stir fries, a pasta dish using pasta that was 50% brown rice, and smoothies. They sell a cookbook on their site and also give it away to attendees of the four day cooking workshops. The first half of the book is nutritional/health information and the second half is recipes. It is also available free via download. The videos they show at the workshops are available via streaming media in the resources area of their site.

Cooking tips... I've only got a two for you unfortunately. How do you peel ginger? I've always cut it, almost making a square. The chef showed us how to scrape it almost like you would peel a carrot if you were using a knife instead of a peeler. It saves a whole lot of ginger.

The other thing the chef did that was pretty neat was water sauteing. He skipped oil with the veggies and added just enough water to keep them from sticking to the pan. It was necessary to add a bit more water at times. This even worked with onions, you could see them caramelizing. Often I use less oil than called for. On occasion in the past I have water sauteed spinach or asparagus (as it is almost like steaming). It had never occurred to me that I could skip the oil altogether on other veggies.

Anyway, I hope this post is helpful and I highly recommend checking out their site for more information. For me going vegetarian had most to do with political/economic and environmental issues. As I learned more about animal rights issues, I made the switch to vegan. Health benefits were just a plus. The information from The Cancer Project makes these benefits seem very important as well. Even going by the minimums in the NCI statement where diet can cut the cancer risk by 1/3, that is pretty significant. Next time someone asks why you are vegan, now you have more great reasons!

I'll try to respond to some of the questions and comments to my previous post tomorrow. I'm traveling and the Internet connections are spotty.

Excuses, Excuses...

I've had so many posts lined up and just haven't been able to sit down and get to writing. Last week, I was away on vacation with some friends and that allowed me to answer the question:

Can you make it through a week on a cruise ship as a vegan?

Answer: Yes, but with a few difficulties. I'll expound later.

Before leaving, I attended a cooking workshop that sponsored by The Cancer Project. They advocate vegetarian/vegan diet for health reasons. I learned so much and could not wait to post, but getting ready for my trip really put a damper on my lofty blogging goals.

Two days before leaving, the heater in my house kicked the bucket. Obviously this was quite a problem with the cold temperatures. Since the central air bit it shortly after I bought the house, I needed to replace both. That left me with the option of canceling my trip to be there for the installation or ummmm, let's see: Moving half my basement from one side to the other, finding a place for my birds for the week, moving all their stuff, and packing in about 10 hours. It was crazy weekend with no sleep, but I did make it out of Boston on one of the last flights before they were all canceled due to weather on the east coast.

I'll write about food now and then do a separate Cancer Project post within a few days before I head out for another week long trip.

First from VwaV, Seitan Portobello Stroganoff. This was very tasty.

I used the Lightlife Smart Strips Chick'n flavor to make some burritos. They were stir fried and then added to wraps with tomatoes, onions, some refried beans, and home made tomatillo sauce. The Smart Strips were quite good, unfortunately the rest of the meal really was not. The bean mix was the dry kind that needs to be rehydrated. It was quite terrible in comparison to canned beans whole or refried. The tomatillo sauce was also hideous. The recipe I used was reviewed well, but it was awful. Perhaps the tomatillos weren't fresh or the chili pepper was too spicy. If you'd like to purchase Smart Strips and try using them in a different recipe that is more palatable, here's link to a $1 off coupon. View the pic of bean/tomatillo monstrosity, it certainly looks unassuming until you taste it.
I picked up a fresh young coconut to try out. It was rather fun to hack it open. Inside is a soft jello like flesh rather than the thick tough coconut flesh in a regular brown coconut. There was also a lot more coconut water. The coconut water was sooooo good and I enjoyed the soft coconut fruit.It is easy to see how it might be sliced for noodles in raw cooking. Unfortunately, I just used it for smoothies and ate some on its own. The coconut is below along with some of the flesh.


Here is a LightLife Fakin' Bacon wrap. It has lettuce, tomato, Fakin' Bacon, a bit of mayo, and some sunflower sprouts. Thumbs up on Fakin' Bacon. Link to LightLife $1 off coupon.

Last but certainly not least, I made up a batch of Seward Cafe's Rebel Rocks found at Cooking By Kittee. Who could imagine rye flour, coconut and chocolate would morph into such a delicious treat? Rebel Rocks, rock! I love these, doesn't matter if they are hot out of the oven, room temperature or frozen...always yummy!
Ok, a quick blurb on vegan cruising. My friends were really worried about what I would eat, I had some concerns too. Supper in the sit down dining room was a little difficult. I often checked out the menu earlier in the day to see if I could find vegan friendly options. If not, I'd hit the buffet which I kind of preferred anyway as it didn't require dressing up. I managed to find salads, cold soups, and pasta or veg chili (sans cheese) in the dining room.

The buffet had many options. Salads, Asian style sauteed veggies, sushi (avocado/cucumber), pastas, grilled veggies. I found vegetarian miso soup with tofu one night. Another night there were Indian chickpeas and lentils. Breakfast was normally fruit and maybe some peanut butter on a roll or toast. Otherwise oatmeal and bananas with almonds. Obviously you won't find vegan desserts on the ship, but perhaps that is better for the waistline. One night I did go searching the shops for dark chocolate. I found some decent vegan dark chocolate, but it was sugar free and I had no interest in aspartame flavored chocolate.

Cruise Caveats - They rarely label any of the foods or have ingredients listed at the buffet. That makes it very difficult to discern if there is butter or milk in something or beef/chicken stock in soups. If I saw a cook milling about I'd ask, but often I skipped anything potentially bad. One day I asked about an Indian soup. The gentleman confirmed it was vegetarian. As I was ladling it into a bowl, I saw chicken. After that I only took soup if it was labeled as vegetarian.

Anyways, look forward to my post on the Cancer Project workshop. I'll be making the blog rounds shortly as I've got a week and a half to catch up on.

Chili and Date Nut Bread

I'm reading how cold it is everywhere. The same here, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Though I really want to stick to my 2 day per week raw resolution, I'm having trouble with the cold weather. I'm just craving soup and tea. I've been making a concerted effort to have at least one raw meal it day. That might translate to fruit for breakfast or an interesting salad for lunch.

When the summer months roll around, I'll be preparing more raw foods for sure. What did I cook up last week? Well we had a chili cook-off at work before the superbowl. Since I wasn't planning to partake I made up a batch of VwaV Chili Sin Carne Al Mole. This was my first brush with adding cocoa to a meal rather than dessert. Believe it or not the seitan and spices with cocoa is actually might tasty.

Since I started on the raw kick, I seem to have developed an addiction to dates. Funny because as I child I hated them! Anyway, last night I baked a loaf of Date and Nut Bread from Vegan Vittles. The recipe is not as sweet as I'm used to with other Pumpkin and Zucchini breads, but it very good. It made a great breakfast with some Tofutti cream cheese.

For those of you that have been asking about Little Lad's. I'm posting a photo of the cheese in the container and the package with the label. Everything is very simple. If you are looking to get a hold of their products, I think you'll need to stop in at a local store in Maine. No it doesn't look that appetizing cold, but it sure looked great melted for mac n cheese in my other post!

Another week...

Did you all catch the new story about a lucky duck in Florida? She was shot by a hunter and spent two days in the refrigerator. When the hunter's wife opened the door, the duck looked up at her and she had her daughter rush the poor duck to the vet. Fortunately it is now recovering at a wildlife sanctuary. Link to article.

What else? This afternoon I went with a friend to see the movie Babel. I'd wanted to see it in the theatre, but didn't make it earlier. Thanks to the Oscar buzz, it is back. It is a very interesting movie that I enjoyed. One 30 second scene which wasn't all that necessary to the movie, stuck out to me because of the audience's reaction. In preparation for a wedding ceremony in Mexico, one of the actors kills a chicken for dinner. It was more graphic than necessary and the packed theatre expressed disgust rather audibly.

Situations such as these both perplex and frustrate me. There were likely few other vegetarians or vegans in theatre, yet everyone was shocked and revolted by what happened on screen. How is it that people can compartmentalize where their food comes from and then sit down to dinner?

Anyway, on to good vegan food. Sorry about the dark photos, they were taken with my cell phone. On my raw days this week I stuck to fruit and salads again which means not many pictures. To the right is grape tomatoes with some evo, basil, and crushed pesto LivingNuts. These sprouted raw nuts come from Maine. I originally found them while there for work. These babies are a little expensive, but they have an amazing taste and I order them every once in awhile. To the left is kale and collard salad. It is the same salad I made last week with swiss chard. I also blended up a noteworthy smoothie with coconut water, banana, raw cacoa powder, and raw almond butter.

It has been so cold here and of course when it was 10 degrees outside it was on my raw days. The very next day I cooked up a batch of Spicy Peanut Eggplant Shallot Stew from PPK. I'm pretty sure this is a teaser from the new cookbook. The verdict... I like it, but probably not enough to make it again. This soup was a lot of work and I had higher expectations for it. It seems like the lemon overpowers the peanut butter which is rather disappointing to me.

Last time I was in Maine for work, I picked up some of Little Lad's Not Cho' Cheese. This stuff is great and unfortunately, I've been unsuccessful at duplicating the recipe as of yet. It is made from potato, carrot, lemon juice, soybean oil, water, and "spices". What did I make with it? Pure comfort food... Mac and cheese with slices of soy dogs. On the side is Asian style broccoli. I've posted about this before. Just steam broccoli and add a dash of soy sauce, sesame oil and cracked red pepper. Yum!

Lastly, oven baked tofu. Also on my last trip to Maine, I picked up a bottle of Soyvay Wasabiyaki on clearance. I'd read about it, but this is the first time I actually saw it. How lucky am I to find it for half price? Anywho... I marinated slices of tofu in the Wasbiyaki (teriyaki with wasabi) then baked it for about 45 min in the oven at 425. I like to use my toaster oven as it uses less energy (no need to fire up the gas stove for 6 slices of tofu). Turn it once about halfway through cooking. I'm a now a Soyvay fan! Tommy also dug this tofu.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes regarding my knee. Every week it is getting better. I actually picked up a trainer for my road bike and I've been using that to keep up the exercise and also help rehab my knee.

Hope you all had a great week and that your are staying warm if you are in the North East!

Lots of New Recipes

My knee is still recovering, but I'm doing much better. Though stairs are still a bit difficult, I am back to some active stuff. Monday was a work holiday for me and I gave the treadmill a go. I managed a slow mile (3.5 mph), but I was able to jog. I'm pretty psyched about that.

Anyway, onto the food...

The generous folks over at LightLife sent me a mini cooler full of their products. I've purchased Lightlife brand foods before, but this actually gives me a chance to try some items I might not normally purchase. Ha! Now I finally need to try tempeh again. (I've got some tempeh issues.) They also sent me a link to give out for you to print a LightLife coupon. I'll try to keep posting it as I use up the rest of the cooler pack.


While watching the news last week, there was a chef from a restaurant in Boston's North End (Little Italy) called NEBO. They demo'd a recipe for Tagliatelle with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe. I easily veganized it with LightLife sausage and some veggie broth. Oh, and I hate raisins...so I used chopped dried apricots. Since it was a test, I made it without and then later added them. I actually kind of enjoy the spicy, saltiness without the fruit; however, it is tasty with apricots as well.

BTW - You can sub fettucine for tagliatelle if you have trouble finding it. Check out the wiki article on tagliatelle for an interesting read.

Broccoli Rabe ---I'm not a huge fan. I think this is the first time I tried it and I found it to be rather bitter. When I make this dish again I might just use broccoli or spinach.

Since I needed to use up the rest of the sausage, I made some vegan waffles and patties for breakfast later in the week. The recipe for Ginger Buckwheat waffles came from vegweb. These were ok. They definitely needed less ginger. I added some cinnamon, but they were still lacking something. I'll have to keep searching for a good vegan waffle recipe.

I've mentioned before that I'm preparing more raw foods. I'm trying to eat raw at least 2 days a week for the year. Last week, I failed to take photos. Today was raw day and I did snap pics of almost everything. As you'll see, I'm keeping it very simple for now.

Breakfast was just some fruit as I rushed out the door. For lunch, I packed the fixings for guacamole and mixed it up at the office. Instead of chips, I used chopped romaine lettuce squares. In addition, I brought some carrot salad. The recipe was from Rawsome!: Maximizing Health, Energy, and Culinary Delight With the Raw Foods Diet. It looks very plain, but the orange and cumin pack some flavor.

For dinner, I decided on a smoothie and a side of greens. The smoothie was mango, banana, and freshly squeezed orange juice. The greens were based on a recipe using kale and collard greens from Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People. I used rainbow chard. Wow, this really surprised me. I'd never really eaten raw swiss chard before and didn't have high hopes for it. This is a great dish that I'd make again with any type of greens.

It is very simple. Chop up the greens with some basil and garlic, then mix by hand (important, to mix the dressing directly into the leaves) with lemon juice, olive oil, and bit of salt. The recipe called for a dash of cayenne which I skipped. Let it rest for 10 minutes and enjoy.

Time Flies

I keep planning on posting and then the day whizzes by and I've forgotten to post yet again. Over the holidays, I did quite a bit of cooking, though I only managed to document a few of the recipes. As usual, I've been lurking at other blogs. I was blown away by some of your holiday creations.

Anyway, here are the recipes I did photograph.

Organic cabbage was on sale, so I made up "veggie ribz" and cole slaw. The slaw is just red and green cabbage with carrots, celery seed, some vinegar, and a bit of soy mayo. You might notice 3 flavors of "ribs". Two are BBQ sauces. The third (and slightly scary colored one) is Ah So Sauce. I saw a jar at the supermarket and picked it up awhile ago. My mom sometimes cooked Chinese (non veg) stuff with this sauce. When I was a kid, I loved it. The verdict now ---not bad, but I prefer regular BBQ sauce.

Since I still had leftover cabbage, I gave this recipe for cabbage soup a try. Of course I used veggie broth instead of beef broth. This soup is surprisingly simple and the dill really added a lot flavor. Unfortunately, it didn't photograph all that well.

We have a restaurant chain here on the east coast called Bertucci's. It is pretty decent Italian food. One of my favorite side dishes there is the spinach and artichokes. I noticed a can of artichokes on my pantry shelf, so I cooked them up with spinach, evo, and a dash of pepper. The photograph isn't all that impressive, but I scoffed it up.

Onto junk food...

I saw Bryanna's Gingerbread People on another blog and decided that I must make them. Originally I skipped icing, but then I went in search of a vegan icing recipe for them. This led me to Jennifer's post about vegan icing for Schmoo. I used her idea and mixed some VitaSoy Holly Nog with powdered sugar. I'm lazy, so I made it a little on the watery side so I could just dip the cookies rather than spreading on the icing. These cookies were a hit. People couldn't believe they were vegan.

Side note - I'd seen others post about the VitaSoy Peppermint Chocolate drink. Though I like the Holly Nog, I didn't have incredibly high hopes for the new flavor. Boy was I wrong! I'm in love the Peppermint Chocolate soy milk. ---Soooo good. It is on clearance at many supermarkets now, so get it while you can!

Speaking of peppermint chocolate, I saw these great chocolate candy cane cookies on Jess' blog. She actually got the recipe from FueledByPopcorn. Since I am obsessed with the VitaSoy Peppermint Chocolate, I figured I'd give these cookies a try. That day, I was being difficult and didn't feel like following the recipe exactly. I cut down on the margerine by 1/3 and used apple sauce instead. Apple sauce is sweet, so I cut down on the sugar by about 1/3 as well. Lastly, I was worried that the cookies would be too minty, so I cut down on the mint by 1/3. These were some tasty little buggers. When I make them next time, I'd cut out even more of the mint.

Over the past few days I've been experimenting with raw foods. I'm actually digging some of the new recipes I've tried and I'll do my best to post some photos. Tomorrow, I meet my dad for dinner, so I will be having my first cooked meal since Sunday.

Brazil Nut "Cheese" and GF Snickerdoodles

I've got one more recipe to bake up this afternoon when I get home from work, but I decided to hop on and post quickly at lunch. (Just in case I don't have time later.)

Tonight my family is having a Chanukah party and I'm bringing a couple of items. Last night I followed an interesting recipe I saw in Vegetarian Times for Brazil Nut Cheese.

It is very simple. Soak Brazil nuts in water overnight and then food process with salt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and water. After that roll it into a ball and squeeze out extra moisture. Then roll it in fresh herbs and bake it in the oven. Serve it drizzled with olive oil.

I'd give this recipe 9.5 stars out of 10. It is a tiny bit salty for my taste, so next time I will cut down the salt and likely it will be 10! The picture really doesn't do it justice. I sliced it open so you could see the center.

This is the kind of thing I've missed a bit as a vegan. Spread this on a veggie sandwich and you have one heck of a lunch!

One of the people attending the party tonight has Celiac, so I wanted to be accommodating. I know what it is like when I go to party and can't eat anything. I'd decided on Snickerdoodles, but now I had to veganize and make the recipe gluten free.

The recipe I used was from allrecipes.com. First, I replaced the eggs with Ener-G egg replacer which is gluten free.  Then I replaced the flour with a gluten free mix. Everything else stayed the same.

The first batch of cookies was too soft after 8 minutes, so I put them back in for 2 extra minutes. Later, I learned that the cookies need to rest for a few minutes before removing them from the sheet. S0... If you like crunchy cookies, cook for 10-11 min. For softer ones cook for 8-9. Wait before moving them from the cooking sheet.

I hope you all enjoy the holidays!