Cheap and Good Bacteria

It's been a rough couple of years for vegan yogurt. First, Whole Soy & Co shut down production as they built a new facility. Wildwood disappeared from shelves locally, without so much as a goodbye. So Delicious released a coconut yogurt,  but it was sweetened.  Whole Soy came back, and after a few gritty batches, became a luxury purchase at $1.99 a serving. Also, still no unsweetened plain. I assumed I'd never be able to make my sweet potato chili again. Then,  Chelsea over at Suzie V. Homemaker told me how easy it was to make my own.

I ordered a yogurt machine online (the EuroCuisine one was a steal at $14.95), a box of vegan yogurt starter (I ordered this one, and now they've started carrying it at Whole Foods), and headed to Trader Joe's for soy milk. I read that it was best to use soy milk with very little added to it; especially without carageenan, because it may hinder the culture process.  Westsoy soy milks are purely soy beans and water, and maybe vanilla. The Trader Joe's brand organic, plain, unsweetened soy milk is the same, and a steal at $1.69 for a quart in an aseptic box. I got one of those, and a quart of Westsoy vanilla.

I did entirely too much work for my first batch;  heating the milk, cooling it, whisking in the starter, and finally breaking my candy thermometer. Then Chelsea pointed out that I could skip the heating part, since the milk was in the aseptic container. Also, no cornstarch, agar, pectin, etc was needed to thicken. A good 8-10 hours in the yogurt machine made seven little jars of soygurt, for a fraction of what it would cost to buy it already made.  Once the jars are cooled, mix in fruit, maple syrup, lemon juice,  or whatever you like in your yogurt.  Use plain for recipes, dressings, and vegan cheeses.

Catching up.

Oy, I have not much of an excuse for staying away for so long. One is that I am lazy, and the other is that I lost my camera. But then I found it, so laziness wins out.

Much stuff going on in the little vegan world in Minneapolis. I'll start with two fun and successful bake sales! The first one was to benefit Kinship Circle; an organization organizing rescues for abandoned and injured animals after the Haiti earthquake. The Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale (Twin Cities style) took place at Ethique Nouveau on April 24. Here are some pictures from both (this was also my chance to get some shots of the new store!) :

This tree is in the front window. I love that they bought Aqua Globes.



Beautiful jewelry, handbags, and cosmetics.





Those avocado brownies were awesome. Really. I swear.



These cranberry-almond muffins got many five-star reviews.



Celeste's truffles. By popular demand, they also appeared at the next bake sale.



These are mine. Lemony macadamia white chocolate scones, and double chocolate muffins.



On May 14, I attended a sushi class at the home of Ciree Linsenman. I had a blast (hanging out with other vegans usually is), and found out that assembling sushi is really not that hard. I'm looking forward to having some friends over to roll our own. These pictures were taken with my new Samsung Behold II phone, as I had misplaced my camera. As you can see, it takes pretty okay pictures of food, while my digital camera leaves much to be desired. I guess six years is long enough. Time to get a camera that takes good food pictures, dammit.

Gobo Boats: red quinoa with pickled burdock root. Color is from beets.



Tavo Tavo Maki.



Tavo Tavo Maki, pre-rolled.



Rainbow Inari parcels.



Black Dragon Back Roll (in the back, with the bok choy sticking out).



Coming soon: Waffles! Iron Chef! Skin Trade movie premier! Stay tuned.

Rainy days and Sundays

This was the view from my window as I looked out from under my snuggly comforter.



So, what better activity is there to do on a rainy Sunday than watch football, do laundry, and make homemade vegetable stock?

When I make stock, I start by heating about three tablespoons of olive oil in a big stockpot, then adding a roughly chopped onion, celery, and carrots. Skins and all. Once they are giving off that delicious smell, I add a bunch of vegetable scraps I've kept in the freezer: garlic skins and pieces, onion skins, mushrooms, bell pepper guts, eggplant tops, tomato butts, chard, etc. Then a handful of chopped fresh parsley, bay leaves, and enough water to fill up the pot. Bring to a boil, turn the heat to low, and loosely cover.





About two hours later, I pour off some liquid in order to season, as well as save the pot from boiling over.















I take this liquid (about 4 cups), and add thyme, salt,rosemary,sage, and a handful of peppercorns.














Maybe an hour or so later (when the broth in the pot is a light golden brown), drain out the solids into another stockpot.









Smoosh it.









Add the seasoned broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat.










Skim broth periodically. Doesn't that stuff look like the foamy crap that collects around the rocks in the Mississippi? Retch.










Reduce broth to about 3/4, or when you smile when you taste it. Salt to taste. Strain it again, this time into your container.












Finally. One gallon of the yummiest homemade veggie stock. Coming up...what I'll do with it.