Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Spent.



Don't hate me because I am ending MoFo on such a boring note. I'm out of food, out of money, out of patience, and seriously running out of bandaids to cover the many cooking injuries I've sustained in the last month. I am proud to say that I only broke one glass. It just gouged out a chunk of my pinky in the process.

Tonight, I'm either going to make regular old spaghetti with Newman's Own marinara, or a bowl of Special K Red Berries. Both are totally comforting, and almost zero work. I also have three little faces staring up at me because I am late with bowl-filling.

In the last two days, I've come up with loads of ideas for next year. A European week, Chili week, Pasta week...and I need to remember to look at this before next MoFo. I just found my list of ideas for this year...on the 27th. Yay.

I hope it was a fun month for everyone. I know I've put on at least five pounds, and I can't be alone in this. I'm excited for Isa's new book, so I can start eating like a normal vegan.

Alright guys...I'll try not to be quiet too long. Me sleep now.

Go vegan. Stay vegan.

Monday, November 29, 2010

New discoveries

It's awesome when you find something that's vegan, that you never knew existed, and it turns out to be great. My latest discovery is Mimicreme. This stuff is amazing! I knew it existed, because I'd heard talk of it, but I don't usually shop the asceptic boxes of non-dairy milk, and that's where it is. I got some, wondering if I could whip it (ended up using Soyatoo), but then took it with me on Thanksgiving to make the green bean casserole. Then I used it to make macaroni & cheeze.

I am in LOVE. It doesn't separate, and it comes in unsweetened, so I can use it in savory recipes. It mixed really nicely with white wine, as well as margarine and Daiya. It really is easy to use for any kind of "creamy" needs.

Tonight, I'm going to share the recipe for some soup that calls for it. I have tried making creamy soups with soy creamer, and it just didn't do it for me. This totally hit it on the head.

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You can tell I slurped some up before I took pictures.

Creamy Potato, Mushroom, and Asparagus Soup
Makes 4 servings

1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 quart vegetable stock or boullion
3 average red potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces (I leave the skins on)
8 spears asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 cup cooking sherry
salt, pepper
1/2 cup Mimicreme


Heat the olive oil in your soup pot, and cook the onion and mushrooms on medium heat until the onion is translucent and the mushrooms are nearly black. Add garlic, and cook for a couple minutes. Add broth, potatoes, carrot, and herbs. Cook until veggies are near tender, about 7 minutes. Then add asparagus, and cook for another 5. Add sherry. Salt and pepper to taste. Add Mimicreme. Heat through, and serve.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Last Iron Chef of MoFo IV: Cranberries

I was really quite proud of my cranberry sauce this year. It had vanilla and cardamom in it, and had a warmth to it that was very different from all my years using orange zest. Cardamom is up there with nutmeg as spices that bring back all kinds of memories. My mom used them interchangeably, and always made for delicious rice and bread puddings. I wanted to do something similar for Iron Chef, but not just sauce. I had just picked up another quart of Silk Nog, although I still had plenty from the last one. I also had a fresh nutmeg.

Nog Fudge

If you like sugar, and who doesn't, you'll love these.

Cranberry Walnut Nog Fudge
Makes 30-40 pieces
(thanks to cute and delicious for posting her Best Vegan Fudge recipe, so I had a starting point)

1 1/3 cups Silk Nog
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp Earth Balance
2 tbsp light corn syrup
3/4 cup vegan white chocolate chips I use these dudes)
1 tsp rum extract (or vanilla if you have no rum)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 nutmeg + more for sprinkling

Melt the first six ingredients, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, and heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture reaches 250° (if you don't have a candy thermometer, you can try the cold water test. You want it at the firm ball stage). Remove from heat, stir in the rum extract, and cool to 110° (about 15 minutes or so). Take a wooden spoon, and beat the fuck out of it for about ten minutes, or until it starts to not look so glossy. Beat in the cranberries, walnuts, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.

Meanwhile, have ready a nonstick brownie pan that you have buttered with EB. OR, line it with foil and butter the inside.

Pour the hot fudge into the pan. Sprinkle with nutmeg like it's a big glass of delicious nog. Cover with foil and refrigerate for a couple hours. Eat, or wrap up as gifts.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad)

Getting more comfortable with the new camera. Found that it works much better on the "closeup" setting than on the "food" setting. Will try again in natural light, should I ever get up and cook before dark.

panzanella

Traditional Panzanella recipes suggest rubbing a peeled, halved garlic clove all over the inside of the bowl, and all over the spoon. I skipped this, because I bought some roasted garlic Italian bread from the Wedge, and it had huge chunks of garlic throught the whole loaf. I cut it up and dried it, then soaked the pieces for just a second. Now I had bread I could work with; chewy crust, soft bread.

This is a very comforting salad. Little bit of baby greens, marinated veggies, chunks of rustic bread, and a salty, olive oil based dressing. Tomatoes and basil are a must. I made it very quickly.

Dressing
for two salads

1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp crushed garlic
salt & pepper to taste

Whisk until blended.

This would also be good with vegan tuna, roasted red peppers, sweet onion, and olives. I just used what I had on hand. It was worth running out in the cold and coming dangerously close to dealing with Holidazzle crowds to pick up basil.

Tomorrow: Iron Chef: Battle Cranberries. Stay tuned!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Consume!

I was perfectly happy to spend Black Friday at home, doing laundry and cleaning the kitchen, but curiosity got the best of me and I looked at the Target ad. The $140 camera I wanted was $79! I was downtown within a half hour.

Greek Salad

I obviously need to play around with it more. Some things look way better, but some things still look like shit. I took a bunch of pictures of this salad, and realized they were not great after I transferred them to the computer. At this point, half the salad was in my mouth. Oofps.

I know I promised two salads today, but that was more for me, and I think I can forgive myself. I would also have to head out for more ingredients, and my fridge is already packed. Well, it wouldn't be if the Cherberple was gone. I need to pack that up and start giving it away before it fossilizes.

Greek Dressing

Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp capers
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp dried oregano
pinch salt
olive oil

Blend the first five ingredients, then add oil in a thin stream until dressing becomes somewhat creamy.

I tossed some red onions, cucumbers, artichoke hearts, red and green peppers in the dressing. Then soaked a few cubes of tofu in a red wine vinegar/oregano marinade. It didn't taste like feta, but it was good in the salad.

Veggies I used: Romaine lettuce, cucumber, red onion, artichoke hearts, green pepper, roasted red pepper, kalamata olives, peperoncini rings, and a load of oregano. Once the whole salad was combined, I didn't worry about the absence of cheese flavor. Next time, I'll just leave out the tofu.

Now...off to play with my new toy.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Feast of the Beast

I just want to shake my head in disappointment of all the people who said, "Happy Turkey Day!" today. There is not much happy in the US today for turkeys. Except these guys playing soccer.



With that said, I will finally say that I am thankful that I got to spend this holiday with vegans. It really is a relief to have a meal with friends and not have to explain, educate, and defend myself while asking, "What's in this?" about everything on the table.

I headed over to the home of Dallas and Brandon this morning, and got to work. My poor time management caused us to nix a couple of items from the menu, but there was still enough food to disable five healthy adults for the rest of the night.

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I'm super bummed that I didn't take a few pictures of this because this is the only one, and it sucks a whole ass. It's green bean casserole, and quite possibly the tastiest one I've ever made. Mimicreme, creminis,and white wine. It made all the difference, and made up for the fact that I kind of burned the french-fried onions. Oops.

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Loads of mashed potatoes and pumpkin gravy. There's only a smidge of stuffing in that dish because so much of it went into...

Thanksgiving2010 004

The Beast. Layers of walnut and cranberry stuffing, roasted seitan, pumpkin gravy, and mashed potatoes, sealed in with puff pastry. Inspired by Robin Robertson's Thanksgiving-in-One-Dish recipe. It was a HIT, and the Beast will be making appearances at holiday meals to come.

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Inside the pan, inside the Beast.

Gingery Pumpkin Cheesecake was had again. The crust turned out very cookie-ish and yum, but the filling just wasn't as high. It was still awesome, though. You've already seen pictures here and here.

Thanksgiving2010 006

Milo the cute.

Two salads tomorrow, I promise. I am just zonked.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Vegan Niçoise



I think it's hilarious that the Facebook group invented to bring back Tuno has 23 members. I thought, "Wow. 23 people liked it?"

I spent a lot of time online today, scouring for vegan tuna substitutions that didn't involve tofu or chickpeas. Those two are fine if I want to make a tuna salad sandwich, but I needed something with the texture and flavor of tuna itself. The Shannons recommended some Vegieworld product called "Fish Ham" that I wasn't excited enough about to get suited up for a trek up Nicollet to Shuang Hur to look for. So, I did an experiment.

In a glass bowl, I wisked together about 1/2 cup of kosher dill pickle juice, with the little garlic bits in it, and about two teaspoons of Sea Seasonings' Triple Blend.



I then tore up a bunch of pieces of White Wave's plain old seitan in the blue box, and added it to the pickle juice/seaweed mixture. Added about a teaspoon of salt, and let it sit. I went out in the cold to get some groceries, came back, and I had tuna.

tuna 002

It had the texture, and it had the taste. I'm usually put off by things with seaweed flakes in it, but this worked out really well. Since this fish wasn't going to be swimming in Vegenaise or a casserole, it had to really work. I gave myself a high five, and put the rest of the salad together.

nicoise 005

Vegan Salad Niçoise
Serves 2

Dressing:
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp capers
couple shakes of onion powder
salt to taste

Blend.

Salad:
1 cup vegan tuna
4 oz. haricots verts (French green beans; the skinny ones)--steamed until tender
3 avg. red skinned potatoes, quartered and boiled until tender
2 tomatoes, cut up
2 very thin slices of red onion
handful of sliced niçoise or black olives
fresh parsley
salt & pepper

Once the beans and potatoes are done cooking, toss with half of the dressing.
Arrange salad on two plates. Sprinkle with parsley, salt, and pepper. Spoon over dressing.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Vegan Cobb Salad



I remember eating a lot of Cobb Salads when I would go out to eat lunch with my dad at the Calhoun Beach Club. I was six, and everything else on the menu didn't appeal to me like a big bowl of meat, cheese, and ranch dressing. It's definitely a comfort food memory for me.

I really miss creamy salad dressings. I didn't like them as much as an omnivore, but now that I'm vegan, I long for bleu cheese and ranch. I whipped up this ranch dressing today, and I hit it on the head. It was perfect!

Vegan Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup reduced fat Vegenaise (I know the purple one is awesome, but the RF is actually just as good, and with fewer calories)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried dill
pinch salt
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk

Blend until smooth. Add soy milk slowly, until it reaches your preferred ranch thickness.

cobbsalad 002

The salad is basically your regular green salad with cukes, mushrooms, etc. Toss with dressing. Decorate the top with Smart bacon (I grilled it--AWESOME)or Bac'uns,strips of hickory smoked Tofurky slices, spicy chik'n strips (Boca) or some other kind of vegan chik'n, and your favorite cheezes. I used Daiya cheddar and mozzarella.

Serve with a big piece of toasted baguette, and lots of ice water. Awesome hangover cure.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Pesto Spaghetti Salad



Just a quick one tonight, as I am currently waiting for my hair to dry, and then I need to get my ass in gear and boogie down to Vegan Drinks in about an hour. I didn't want to take the chance that a) Triple Rock serves a salad other than a bunch of lettuce and a couple cherry tomatoes, and b) what if it turns into One of Those Nights and I don't get home in time to blog? So, here I am.

I made this cold, although I will admit that I do like hot pasta dishes thrown on top of a big salad in a bowl from time to time. Maybe I'll get to that this week.

The only parts of this that took any time were the cooking of the pasta and the making of the dressing.

Creamy Pesto Dressing
Two handfuls fresh basil
handful walnuts
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil

Blend the first four ingredients, and add the oil in a stream until creamy. Salt to taste. Toss with cold pasta and veggies.

pestosalad 004

Drinky time!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Iron Chef! Battle Portobella Mushrooms and Chipotles


The more I heard about the ice this morning, the less I wanted to get up and go to the store. I was given until 5:00pm my time to do this, and I had to blog it as well as pack it up and head out to Turkey Free Thanksgiving. I got into the Vikings game (tick tock), fell asleep briefly (tick tick tick), and finally got up and slid down the street to the bus and picked up what I needed. My timing was perfect, because I ran into my friend Aaron in the checkout line! We're going to pig out on vegan yummies tonight.

Back to the dish. I have felt just...ugh...since last night. My body is rejecting all the crap from last week. I feel it is necessary to have a week of healthy foods. Namely, salads. Big salads, with a lot of stuff in it. I brainstormed while watching the Vikings lay an egg, and came up with an idea for a chipotle cream. The rest just fell into place. Then I saw red quinoa at the Wedge, and threw that in the basket.

chipotle_portosalad 003


Grilled Portobella Salad with Red Quinoa and Chipotle Cream


Marinade:
1/2 cup Bragg's
few shots of hot sauce
1 tbsp crushed garlic
couple glugs of olive oil
a little salt
One pound portobella mushrooms, washed, degilled, and sliced.

Mix up the marinade. Put the mushrooms in it. Let sit about a half hour.

Salad:
3/4 pound baby greens
1 cup cooked and cooled red quinoa
Grilled red onions, if you want.

Cilantro vinaigrette dressing:
Bunch cilantro
1/3 cup olive oil
3/4 cup champagne vinegar

Blend all ingredients. Salt and adjust to taste.

Heat your grill. If you're putting onions in it, grill those first. Salt while cooking, so they caramelize nicely. Remove with grabbers and set aside.
Grill your marinated mushrooms until brown on both sides.

Toss greens with quinoa and onions. Add other veggies if you want; grape tomatoes, corn, etc. Toss with the cilantro vinaigrette (do this close to serving time). Plate salads, and top each with a few slices of mushroom. Spoon on a little chipotle cream.

Chipotle cream:

1 cup Mimicreme unsweetened
1/2 small can of chipotles in adobo sauce (mostly chipotles)

Blend until smooth. Taste, salt.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Stunt Week crawls to a close: The Cherberple.



About two weeks ago, my dad sent me a link to this article. I was fascinated, disgusted, and sure of one thing: I was going to make this thing vegan. For those who are scared to click the link, the Cherpumple is what's been hailed as the "Turducken of desserts." Three store bought pies, baked into three cake mix cakes, layered, and frosted with three cans of cream cheese frosting. Makes you sick just to imagine it. Maybe you drool a little.

I'm on vacation starting today. It worked out that the last day of stunt week would involve the biggest stunt of all, and would also fall on my first day off in a bazillion days. I considered sleeping in, but eventually dragged myself up at noon and preheated the oven.

I decided to make a "CherBERple," as opposed to the cherpumple because I didn't want to even try looking for a vegan pumpkin pie, and I didn't want to ruin pumpkin pie for myself (nor anyone I feed this to) before Thursday. The pumpkin pie was replaced with a berry pie.

It took some girl on the intertubes five hours to make this thing. I figured I'd have it photographed and blogged by 6:00pm, leaving me free to...well, do nothing. I can tell you that I hadn't even put the last layer in the oven by six. Also, I burned myself pretty badly with the side of a cookie sheet, so I deserve the extra time. As well as an awesome story to accompany the scar.

Here is layer #1, sometime earlier today:

cherberple 001

It's a Marie Callender's Razzleberry Pie baked inside a (Duncan Hines, I think...whichever one is vegan)strawberry cake. Set it aside to cool, and then worked on the second layer: dutch apple baked into a spice cake. When cooled, I inverted the spice cake onto the frosted strawberry layer.

cherberple 004

Some minor issues with the structural integrity soon gave way to the cake looking like the Roman Coliseum, and no amount of spackling with two different kinds of frosting (vanilla and lemon) was going to help it. Then the last layer cooled.

cherberple 008

This is the only side that was ready for a close-up.

It wasn't until I cut out a slice that the whole thing became a sinkhole.

cherberple 009

cherberple

And here is the "slice," with a little coconut cream.

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I couldn't finish it. It had to be a supernova of calories. I'm now off to stop the cake. It's starting to crawl across the counter.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Stunt Week Day 6: Shopsin's Mac n' Cheese Pancakes



I watched a documentary called "I Like Killing Flies" (I know, not very vegan, huh?)about a month ago, and fell in love with this little store/restaurant in New York City, even though I have never been there. The owner, Kenny Shopsin (above) would probably kick me out if I told him I was vegan and he had to change a dish for me. But with a menu of over 900 items, I know there's at least one thing I could order. Trust me, it's on my list for my next trip out east.

Shopsin's is very well known for a lot of things (Kenny's rules, for one; no parties over four people!), but certainly most mentioned are the mac n' cheese pancakes. I would have never attempted this without Daiya. I have to say, it turned out pretty good.

shopsins 003

To make, use your favorite pancake batter recipe. Pour batter onto the griddle. When it's almost time to flip, throw some elbow macaroni (still hot) on the wet side, with a sprinkle or two of Daiya cheddar. Flip. Cook a couple more minutes, and slide onto a plate. I was a little squicked about putting maple syrup on these, but it absolutely made the whole experience complete. Incredibly easy, fun to make, and tasty. This would be a good one for the kids.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Stunt Week Day 5: The Lasandwich



I read about this thing online, and all I could think was, "How could they do something so wrong to something as awesome as lasagna?"



It's available at UK supermarket, Tesco, and here is the description:


"Between two thick slices of white bread, you'll find a generous filling of diced beef in a tangy tomato and herb sauce, layered with cooked pasta sheets and finished with a creamy cheddar, ricotta and mayonnaise dressing."


Seriously? You call that a lasandwich?

lasandwich 002
Now this is a Lasandwich.

Vegan lasagna on garlic toasted French bread. This was about four meals.

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Announcement for you Minnesota vegans!

17th Annual Turkey-Free/Healthy Harvest Thanksgiving Potluck
Join us on Sunday, November 21 at 5:00pm at Lake Harriet United Methodist Church, 4901 Chowen Ave. S. in Minneapolis for this fun (and filling) event. We had well over 100 people attend last year, and the buffet line was simply amazing.

Please bring a vegan dish (side/main) or dessert to share with others, preferably organic (vegan=no meat, dairy, eggs, gelatin, honey or refined sugar). Also bring a serving utensil, a copy of the recipe/ingredients to set by your dish, your place-setting (plate, cup, utensils).

And, special thank to Turtle Island for donating a Tofurky roast for the event. :)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Stunt Week Day 4: The Luther



If you do an image Google for "Luther Vandross," you're going to get quite a few pictures of the original version of this. It involves an outrageously huge cheeseburger snuggled between two Krispy Kreme donuts. Apparently, the onetime "Heavyweight of Soul" admitted to enjoying his burgers this way. Of course, now that Luther has shed those pounds, and passed away five years ago, it has been relegated to internet infamy. I wonder if he'd have liked my vegan version?

I started off making a dozen raised donuts. This was a two day process, because the first batch was ruined by dead yeast. I picked up some fresh stuff, and tried again. I need a deep fry thermometer, because my donuts got brown really fast.

donuts_raised

I set aside a couple, and took the rest to work, where they were devoured within a half hour. I guess my first attempt at raised donuts wasn't a total disaster.

When I got home, I figured I would trim my veggie burger so it would fit on the donut, otherwise it would just look like a giant patty with a tiny little donut beanie on. As you can see, I don't have a donut cutter; just a biscuit cutter, so they were leetle. Look at the size of that pickle slice!

luther 003

How did it taste? Um...delicious. I couldn't eat a huge one, but the little slider size was perfect, and may show up on the menu the next time I have the opportunity to serve party food. Super Bowl, perhaps.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Stunt Week Day 3: Maple Bacon Rice Krispie Treats



I was going to make donuts this morning for another stunt, but my yeast was dead. It took ALL DAY for my dough to rise. I'll try that again tomorrow. Maybe.

In a panic, I took a long lunch and jumped on the bus and headed to the Wedge. They had vegan bacon bits, so I went ahead with something I saw online. I skipped the Nutella and used chocolate chips, and soaked the bacon bits in hot water and maple extract. The result? Absofuckinglutely delicious. Seriously.

krispie 001

Monday, November 15, 2010

Stunt Week Day two: The Loco Moco



When my parents lived in Hawaii (just before my mother died), I went to visit. My dad took me to a place in Waimea called The Hawaiian Style Cafe. One of the specialties (apparently a staple among Hawaiian restaurants)is a dish called the Loco Moco. When it was described to me, I winced, and I was still an omnivore at the time. A bed of rice, a giant burger patty, a fried egg, and smothered in brown gravy. Well, when I decided to do this, I knew I wasn't about to scramble up some tofu to top an Amy's veggie burger, so I just used a handful of Daiya cheese. I cooked the rice with two mango black tea bags, topped it with the burger and cheese, and ladled on a simple brown gravy made from veggie broth and Bragg's.

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Now that pictures are taken, I'm off to throw a bunch of vegetables on this. I feel so dirty. Mahalo!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Stunt Food! Day one: Banshi Rolls



I woke up at 6:00 this morning with a massive migraine. I took a handful of ibuprofen, followed by some Extra Strength Tylenol two hours later, and then topped it off with Excedrin Migraine when I got to work. The headache wore off sometime around 6:00pm, leaving me with lingering queasiness. I almost scrapped tonight's mofo plan. But I soldiered on, and here it is. Banshi Rolls.



It's a cross between a Burger, pANcake batter, and suSHI. A cheeseburger (Amy's and Daiya), pickles, rolled in sushi rice, coated in batter, and deep fried. It was harder than you'd think, and I was in a hurry, so they came out more like Banshi Blobs. The flavor? Uh...if I'd been drunk? Awesome.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Fluffy white stuff

Those of you who were wondering: we got our first snow. It started sometime last night/early this morning, and it just stopped a bit ago. When I ran outside in inappropriate footwear to take pictures, it was already at three inches.





But now I want to talk about some other fluffy white stuff. Namely, whipped cream. Vegan whipped cream. I needed to make some for the recipe Hassan chose from Pillsbury Appetizers & Desserts magazine. I didn't want to resort to canned Soyatoo, because it's not only expensive, but I needed to fold some berries into it, and wasn't sure how that would work. I heard somewhere that Rich's non-dairy creamer could be whipped, but the thought of taking any buses today turned me off. I needed to make a trip to the store, but today was just not the day. I went into the fridge to pull out some leftovers for lunch, and that's when I noticed the box of Soyatoo whippable that I was POSITIVE I had used. Crossing my fingers, I got to work.

raspberry_puffs 004

It didn't make much. Just enough to fill all the puffs, but only top about ten. I now have a can of coconut milk in the fridge, and will finish these up tomorrow before work. A plea to the makers of Soyatoo: That box is nowhere near big enough. And you need to redesign the canned stuff, because I have now purchased two that got clogged after the first use. Seriously. Someone needs to make a vegan equivalent of Cool Whip. I'm completely terrified that these puffs will look like sad little islands in a pan of slushy cream by morning, and like Minnesota snowfalls, will just be shoveled away. I'll say a prayer for the little guys tonight.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Waiting for the snow


I have never been so ready for winter. I know, I always duck when I say that. But living here my whole life, I know I'd miss the cold and the snow if I moved somewhere warm. My dad packed up everything and moved himself, my mother, and their business out to Hawaii after the Halloween blizzard of '91, declaring that "This will be my last Minnesota winter." Well, he was right, sort of. He retired to his hometown of Valley City, North Dakota, which is not Minnesota, but may as well be. At least Minneapolis has city-run snowplows. Also, driving down to the Cities for holidays kind of puts him back into Minnesota Winter territory.



Shannon also picked tonight's recipe. A very snowy-evening kind of dessert. The original recipe, from Bon Appetit, calls for an obscene amount of eggs. It's supposed to be light, puffy, and soufflé-like. I tried. I whipped silken tofu in a frozen bowl with frozen beaters. I added agar. Powdered sugar. It wasn't going to happen. Instead, I focused on making the pudding taste rich and wonderful, and stopped worrying about being some sort of vegan meringue pioneer.

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The pudding is pretty close to the real recipe as far as ingredients go (minus the eggs), with a tofu/Silk Nog/agar/almond extract mixture folded in. The topping is pecans, Earth Balance, brown sugar, gingersnaps, and pumpkin pie spice. The ginger-orange marmalade I used has big pieces of orange zest, which really adds to it. It came out fluffier than I'd expected, which was a nice surprise. In future attempts, I'll add a little cardamom. Because my mom would have.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Sopa de FUBAR



Relax. The soup turned out fine. I'm still trying to determine if I need stitches or not.

Today's recipe comes from Saveur magazine, and can be found here. Seeing as my vittles from the last few days have been (in order): thrown away due to oversight, ignored, and eaten with a simple review via text message ("I ate it. It's good."), I decided that if I picked one, I would 1. eat it, 2. like it, and 3. never make another goddamn thing for my ungrateful coworkers. Except for my boss. He took the time to call me and tell me how wonderful the coffee cake was. So there.

sopa_de_Fuba 002

This soup took FOREVER. The 40-minute whisking and cooking of the cornmeal was a pain in the ass, but it made for a very hearty broth. Instead of chicken, I used veg broth, and also used Tofurky kielbasa for the sausages, and silken tofu for the eggs. I definitely want to make this again, because it is now the only dish involving collards (next to abesha gomen, of course) that I enjoy. Otherwise, that devil green can go to hell. Anyway, during the 40-minute whiskfest, I did a few dishes, and a glass broke as I was sponging out the inside of it. It took a chunk out of my pinky the size of a kernel of corn, and I have since soaked through three paper towels and some gauze. It's now wrapped and taped, but I'm scared that unwrapping it will start the bleeding all over again. Some "awww"s and "poor baby"s would really help me out right now.

sopa_de_Fuba 009

Next time I make this, I'm going to immersion blend the tofu into the broth. Whisking didn't quite smooth it out like I'd hoped. I hate those itty bitty white tofu globs. But it tastes pretty awesome. Or I could be getting woozy.