raised on sunshine

Hello, Goodbye...

2009-12-08T10:18:00.002-06:00

Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to drop a little note to let you know that I won't be posting here anymore. We've started a new blog that will be focused on all of the cooking, canning, drying, gardening and general little homestead-y projects we've been working on since we moved. While I haven't been posting, I have been keeping up (mostly) with all of your blogs and bookmarking tons of new recipes to try. There are so many great holiday recipes that I'm dying to test out.

I've really enjoyed this blog and I know that it has made me a much more adventurous cook. I'll leave it all up for now and maybe edit it down to just recipes at some point. Thanks for all of the great comments and advice over the past few years! Happy Holidays!

Parvo

2009-08-14T06:16:00.003-06:00

pre-parvo

Little Digby came down with parvovirus this week. He's recovering and doing really well now, but it has been extremely painful for him going through it and for us watching him go through it, extremely expensive to get him proper treatment and extremely stressful dealing with all of the reading, speculating, isolating and bleaching that comes along with this horrible virus. The worst part is that it most likely could have been easily prevented if we hadn't been so ignorant of the dangers of our procrastination. Neither of us have ever had a puppy this young before. We had no idea that they were so vulnerable. We had no idea that they needed several rounds of vaccines before they were safe and that they shouldn't be exposed to other dogs until the entire process is complete. We made the mistake of being far too casual and simply put off taking him to the vet.

This has nothing to do with food obviously, but I know that a lot of vegans are distrustful of modern medicine--especially vaccines. And some of us are just lazy. We fall into the latter category. Both of us believe in vaccination; we just put it off until it was too late. Either way, the results are often the same. 85% of parvo puppies will die if not given timely treatment. Treatment is very expensive, generally costing >$1000 per puppy. It's just not worth the risk of not vaccinating. Neither of us would say it out loud, but we both thought that he would surely die. Vomiting, bloody diarrhea, seeing a tiny puppy so sick that he can't lift his head or bring himself to drink water even though he's literally dying of dehydration--why take the risk? Some dogs die within 24 hours of showing symptoms, most without treatment die within 72. Besides the stress of having an extremely sick animal, we had to bleach everything in our house. Parvo can live outside of the host for up to 9 months. It can be brought into your home on your clothes, your shoes, your dog's paws, etc. It can live in your yard and infect other dogs that are exposed to it. It just really isn't worth it. I can't begin to describe what an exhausting process it has been. And we got lucky. We were home when he started feeling sick, kept a watchful eye on him, and got him to the vet immediately when it was obvious that it wasn't a normal stomachache/cold. We were lucky that I was home when it turned for the worst. We were lucky that Mason could take off work early and was only a few miles away. We were lucky that a veterinary hospital is just a few blocks down the street. We were lucky that Mason's parents offered to pay for it so that it wouldn't completely break us.

If you are worried about the side effects of vaccination, I implore you to do the research. It is such a small risk when compared to the array of disease that puppies are susceptible to. I'm no big fan of a lot of the pharmaceutical industry's practices, but you have to weigh the risks. If you are lazy, I beg you to get off your ass and get the vaccinations. It probably won't take more than an hour of your time. If you are broke, find a way to pay for it. Cancel your cable for a few months, borrow it, sell something--it will be way more expensive if your puppy has to be hospitalized for parvo or distemper.

Now that I've scared you to death, you should know that this virus is treatable. 80% of properly treated puppies will live. If you've made the same mistake as we have and your dog starts to show any of the symptoms--lethargy, anorexia, vomiting or diarrhea--get him to the vet asap. The sooner you catch it, the better chance your dog has to live. Most dogs die not of the virus itself, but of the dehydration that it causes. The virus isn't treatable, but the dehydration is. The vet will most likely put your pet on an IV to replenish fluids. They may also give your puppy anti-nausea medication to prevent more vomiting. This is why giving food and water orally will be ineffective--it will generally induce more vomiting, exacerbating the dehydration. Digby is on a bland food diet that is more easily digested and antibiotics to prevent a secondary infection. It looks good for him right now. He's home and feeling almost normal again--because we were lucky. So, I now feel the need to be especially evangelical on this topic: don't depend on luck to save your dog when this illness can so easily be prevented.

Road Trip

2009-08-02T06:10:00.006-06:00

We're back from Oklahoma. These three were actually surprisingly good during this ride, despite the mischievous looks on their faces. It was a fun, but short trip that we attempted to jam pack with activities. We ate birthday cake, sat on porches, hit up garage, estate and church sales, enjoyed all of our old thrift store favorites, introduced everyone to Digby, picked blackberries and decided that we should probably get out of our apartment and possibly even out of Dallas. The dogs love my dad's huge yard and it would be great to have a yard that wasn't shared. We would love to have a bigger garden and grow a surplus to can and freeze. There are tons of projects that we would like to do, but can't without (even a tiny bit) of our own land-rainwater barrels, fruit trees, solar panels, brick and solar ovens, etc. So, maybe we'll find a place and that will give me something new to blog about here.

Summer Salads

2009-07-28T07:55:00.002-06:00

Mark Bittman has a list of 101 Simple Salads for the Season in the Times this week, about 1/3 of which are vegan. Numbers 2, 3, 15 and 18 sound especially good. We make something similar to number 25 at least once a week throughout the summer. I'm especially salad obsessed at the moment because we've missed the farmer's market for two weekends in a row and I'm feeling deprived. We'll be in Oklahoma this weekend, but I'm hoping to work in some berry picking and maybe hit a few farm stands!

Chocolate Orange Zebra Cake

2009-07-27T16:36:00.003-06:00

I found a new (to me) blog that I enjoyed reading today. The author is vegetarian and, in addition to making some delicious looking Indian food, does a lot of beautiful baking. Like this, and this, and this...you get the idea. It rained all day today, so I seized upon the opportunity to throw open the windows and celebrate the 78 degree weather (with a breeze!) by baking a cake. This cake, to be exact. I had serious doubts about whether I could pull off the zebra effect, but was too fascinated not to try. While mine definitely does not look as nice as hers (or this one!), I was pretty happy with the results.

I ran out of cocoa, so the chocolate isn't as dark as I would have liked it to be. I definitely need to find some really dark cocoa and try again. It might also be tasty to layer vanilla and orange for a creamsicle cake, though the zebra effect would be much more subtle. I'm thinking that these cakes would be perfect holiday gifts. I could use my 4" or 6" cake pans, wrap the results in butcher paper and give them away in little tins. This one was really dense and moist, so I imagine that it will keep nicely for several days. I put half of it in the freezer--I'll let you know how it tastes thawed out next week.

Vegan Cashew Mayo

2009-07-26T08:13:00.007-06:00

I bookmarked this vegan mayo recipe the second it popped up in my feed. Last night, while making a franken-casserole of corn tortillas, leftover chickpea dip, rotel, seitan, spinach that was going off and whatever jarred peppers and other dregs I could find in the fridge, I recalled the addendum where Celine mentioned using it as a topping for pasta bakes. I figured that a bubbly topping might make this dish a little more edible, so I decided to give it a try--with a few changes. I've been trying to make more of our foods from scratch, so I buzzed some cashews in the vita-mix and used the milk as a sub for the soymilk in the recipe. I also added way more dill because I love it so much. We don't have a microwave or an immersion blender, so I alternated between heating the mixture on the stove and blending it in the vita-mix. It sounds like a lot of work, but it only took a few minutes and we were both really surprised by the great results. My favorite thing about this recipe is that, if you make your own milk and use dry mustard instead of prepared, it can be made with only pantry staples. The casserole actually turned out pretty well and I still have this little pot of mayo to use on sandwiches and in chickpea salad this week. And I'm always excited to have one more reliable recipe to replace a product that we've been buying at the store.

Summer Slacking

2009-07-24T18:31:00.003-06:00

Digby!

I realize that I've been a huge blog slacker lately, but I have been cooking, baking, salad making, etc--so I promise to start pulling the camera out and posting more often. After a few disappointing experiments this summer, we've just started planning a fall garden that I'm hoping to document over the next several months as well. Additionally, we've been selling some furniture and miscellaneous junk on craiglist and ebay in an attempt to simplify and make a heavy end of summer cleaning more feasible, so some cleaning/remodeling posts may be forthcoming. In fact, there are so many projects in waiting that I don't think that I could list them all here (although, maybe I should try). And, of course, I've been spending every 20 minutes of the last two months trying to house train the puppy that we found and "definitely" weren't keeping. He and Riker instantly became best friends, so I've been scrambling to make sure he is car ready for our trip back to Oklahoma next weekend. He's doing really well! Other things happening around here in the last month: squash burgers, guitar shows, kalachandji's, hiking, tons of library books, estate sales, paletas, come dine with me and so on and so forth.

The Vegan Scoop

2009-06-20T12:23:00.001-06:00

Lately, we've been alternating between being super busy and super lazy. In either case, not much blog worthy cooking is being done around here. We've been depending on reliable favorites like pizza, sandwiches, cereal, salads and scrambles. The high 90 degree weather and a lot of outdoor work doesn't make me any more interested turning on the oven, either. I can, however, manage about 10 minutes at the stove every day trying out some of the amazing recipes in The Vegan Scoop. Really, what's ten minutes at the stove when the result is a quart of delicious ice cream? I haven't seen much written about this book, but I had a Borders gift certificate and have heard way too many rave reviews of Wheeler's Ice Cream not to give it a go. So far, we've made vanilla, peanut butter, coffee, chocolate chip and a couple of variations, chocolate mint chocolate chip and peanut butter chocolate chip. That's actually my favorite thing about this book--the fact that you are given an excellent base and encouraged to add whatever you have in your kitchen to make new flavor combinations. That, and the fact that it has produced the absolute best vegan ice creams that I've ever had--smooth, creamy and rich. Obviously, I'm extremely satisfied with my purchase, but if you need more convincing before buying the book, everyday dish has two videos with recipes.

Camp Dogs

2009-05-23T06:13:00.003-06:00

It worked! It wasn't exactly comfortable on the hardwood floor (we really need sleeping pads), and it took them a while to settle down and go to sleep, but they were really well behaved. Which means that they can start camping with us! Though, I think we're going to have to get Riker his own sleeping bag because it was a bit crowded sharing mine.

Camping In

2009-05-22T17:21:00.002-06:00

grilled corn and skewers with seitan, zucchini, squash, onions and mushrooms

amazingly delicious grilled pineapple

We're having a "camping with dogs" trial run in our living room tonight. We're going to set up the tent and sleep with all the windows open to see if the dogs can handle the noise without freaking out and ripping through the thin nylon walls. To make it extra camp-outty, we grilled seitan/veggie skewers for dinner and pineapple slices for dessert. If it goes well, we'll be taking the pups for their first camp out next weekend. Hopefully, a long day of hiking will leave them exhausted enough to sleep through any wilderness sounds.

Gross Update

2009-05-11T10:15:00.003-06:00

you get a may day cupcake instead of larva filled sauerkraut...

I'm choosing to spare you all today by not posting a photo of our sauerkraut that somehow became infested with an unidentified insect family. The entire batch was lost to us, but they seemed to be enjoying it. It's a little disappointing because it really seemed to be getting there tastewise. It was an interesting experiment, but I don't think we'll be trying it again until we have a garage, basement or at least a larger apartment. I definitely wouldn't discourage others from trying it, though!

Burgers

2009-04-22T07:06:00.002-06:00

It was such a nice day yesterday that we had to bust out the grill. We had portobello and squash burgers, and also grilled some veg in foil to eat with pita and vegan tzatziki tonight. If you haven't tried grilled squash on a burger--do it, it's amazing!

Pine Cone Bird Feeders

2009-04-13T18:15:00.002-06:00

We hung a makeshift planter-turned-bird feeder this week and our little birds have been going crazy for it. I fill it up every morning, watching them through the window as they gather around it the second I step inside. Today, I decided to supplement the little planter with a few bird feeders made from some pine cones that we got for free at an estate sale last summer. I haven't made these since I was a kid, but they're a fun, simple, cheap project that will make your birds super happy.

Vegan Pierogies for Easter Dinner

2009-04-12T16:33:00.003-06:00

I saw that Martha was having pierogies as part of her Easter dinner and it made me want to try making them for the first time. In college, my roommate and I used to go to her grandma's house and scarf more than our fair share of her homemade pierogies. They were amazing and nothing at all like the bland frozen versions at the store. The directions and recipes on this page made the process really simple, though it was pretty time consuming. I used tofu as an egg replacer and made two of the fillings listed--the potato and onion and the sauerkraut and onion. Both were delicious! Mas liked them quite a bit and agreed to take part in a pierogi assembly line in the near future. With his help and the use of the pasta maker, I'm thinking that a years worth could be made in a day and frozen for quick future pierogi dinners.

I also threw together a lemon pound cake for dessert. It's a version of this recipe from VegWeb. I've changed it a little each time I make it, but it has alway turned out well. I was too lazy to bother with a glaze, but it is extra tasty with one.

Local Greens

2009-04-11T17:07:00.002-06:00

We bought all of these mustard greens at the farmer's market today for $3. If you know Mason, you know that he has a huge head, so you can use that as a reference for just how much veg this is. Other than these greens and some potatoes, the local section of the market is pretty bare, but we should be seeing more and more new vendors every week from now on. I can't wait for blueberries and peaches!

Sick Soup

2009-04-10T10:55:00.003-06:00

I'm tired of being sick, so I'm drinking loads of tea and juice and eating bowl after bowl of this soup. I made it with an entire bulb of garlic, a huge chunk of ginger, a bit of stock powder, some Braggs, lemon juice, crushed red pepper, vermicelli and a bundle of herbs from the garden. If you can think of anything that would make this even more of a magical healing soup, let me know and I'll add it to the batch I make today. I'm pretty sure that I have bronchitis that will just have to run its course, but I figure this can't hurt.

Vegan Ranch Dressing

2009-04-09T15:21:00.002-06:00

This is the best ranch dressing ever! It's perfect with the macadamia nuts, but I've used a combo of cashews, almonds and pumpkin seeds in a pinch. Really though, the macadamia nuts make it perfectly smooth and creamy. It thickens up in the fridge and also works as an awesome sour cream replacement on potatoes and the like. I always have to add a little extra water to make it a dressing consistency.

Cast Iron Tip

2009-04-08T15:09:00.007-06:00

I burned a huge pan of lentils while watching back episodes of Fringe* the other night. I soaked the pan and scrubbed it with my cast iron brush for what felt like forever (ok, probably 15-20 minutes) with absolutely no progress in removing the layer of burnt on stickiness. I finally gave up and have just left it sitting on the stove for the last two days. But, I want pancakes for dinner tonight! So, I went on a search for ways to clean it without having to use soap and reseason it all over again. I found this method on wikianswers and it worked perfectly. I had to use a ton of salt, but it removed every bit of the burnt on grime without hurting the nice seasoning that I've been building up over the last six months.

Exfoliate your iron pans.
This is good for getting the little burnt stickies off the bottom of the pan. You will need kosher salt, paper towels and vegetable oil. First set the pan on an oven burner on low heat. Add only enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Heat pan till warm to the touch but not hot, then add a generous amount of kosher salt. "Scour" the pan with the paper towels and kosher salt until the burnt stickies are removed. Wipe away excess oil and salt with a clean paper towel and rinse with water only. Dry immediately.

(oh, J.J. Abrams, I read that Josh Jackson auditioned to play Kirk and that Adrian Brody was interested in the part of Spock...why did you not make this happen?? After the "Damon might be Kirk, but no" tease, my patience is wearing thin. I'm choosing to forgive you because this season of Lost has been excellent and Fringe might be the new Lost, which would be excellent.)

Cough Remedy

2009-04-06T20:13:00.002-06:00

I've been coughing nonstop for 48 hours. Anyone know of a good homemade vegan remedy? I know that I need to get all of this nastiness out of my chest, but I've had to sleep--if you can call it that--sitting straight up and it would be nice to be able to suppress it a little so that I could get some actual rest. Any throat soother recipes would be appreciated as well.

Guerrilla Gardening, Sort Of

2009-04-06T19:48:00.002-06:00

We've been planting rogue tomatoes around the parking lot of our apartment building. This is one of the first six that we planted, a mistakenly bought "Homegrown 21". We thought we'd picked up a flat of Caspian Pinks. Not to worry, we went back to the market and brought home 24 brothers and sisters for these six. There are now Homegrown 21s, Caspian Pinks, Yellow Pears, Brandywines and Sweet 100s. We planted them at the beginning of the week, and we've already had four casualties and four near deaths. We'll see how it goes, I guess. The project cost $12 and two hours of man time, so I figure if we get even two tomatoes from each plant, it will have been worthwhile.

There is also a plot of grass in the parking lot about 8 feet wide by 4 feet deep that is just begging to be dug up and turned into a delicious mini tomato farm...

Yerba Mate Limeade

2009-04-05T17:02:00.002-06:00

Mason's Yerba Mate Limeade is awesome! Besides Honest Tea's Black Forest Berry (the Obama tea!), this is the only way that I'll drink tea. It's super easy, refreshing and delicious. We plan to consume gallon upon gallon of it this summer.

Yerba Mate Limeade

1/2 c. bulk yerba mate
1/2 c. sugar
juice of 12 limes
1 gallon water

Bring the water to just under boiling. Shut off heat and drop in tea bags. Let steep ten minutes. Remove the tea bags. Stir in sugar until completely dissolved. Add lime juice and chill.

"Mexican Pizza"

2009-04-03T22:29:00.002-06:00

Homemade crust smeared with refried beans and salsa, topped with zucchini, garlic, vegan parm and Mexican oregano from the garden. This is what we eat when we're out of everything. It's super cheap and a tasty way to use up the veggies in the fridge.

Tomorrow, I have a delicious yerba mate limeade recipe of Mason's to post. It is also super cheap and the perfect spring/summer drink. I can't wait to sip it constantly for the next six months (and beyond!).

Dinner

2009-04-02T17:51:00.002-06:00

I know I've mentioned this before, but Jamie Oliver's focacchia recipe (from The Naked Chef) makes the best bread ever! This one is topped with rosemary from the garden, sea salt and Texas Olive Ranch olive oil from the Rio Grande Valley. We ate it with a big salad that had more garden herbs thrown in for good measure.

March Harvest

2009-04-02T15:48:00.002-06:00

I decided to join the Freedom Harvest Challenge on Freedom Gardens. March was the first month that we weighed and tallied our harvest--a total of 4 pounds. Not bad, I guess, considering it's March and our garden is only about 30 square feet. I'm hoping that we'll have some big numbers once our secret tomatoes start producing. Until then, it's just a half pound here and a half pound there.

Fennel: 2.5 pounds
Chard: .5 pounds
Spinach: .5 pounds
Various Herbs: .5 pounds

And yes, I did harvest a few extra herbs so that it would come out to an even number. We've been eating fresh oregano in our salads and it is one of the tastiest things ever!

If you have a garden (even a tiny one like ours or a few pots on a balcony), join up on Freedom Gardens. It's run by the family from Path to Freedom--the same family that inspired me to start growing heirloom tomatoes 6 years ago. Add your harvest to the April tally! We need all of the poundage we can get to meet the million pound goal.

The Dungeon Masters

2009-04-02T08:50:00.003-06:00

Our days at the festival are over, so posting will go back to normal---after this last bit of gushing. The films for which we actually managed to get tickets this year were, for the most part, incredible and even better than last year. Yesterday afternoon, we showed up extremely early to get good seats for The Dungeon Masters. After the screening, Mason and I agreed that this is the best doc we've seen either year of the festival. It's funny, but never mean or unfair. It certainly doesn't glorify the subjects, but they are portrayed as a whole--good and bad, without pity or disdain. Beautifully shot (cinematography by Lee Daniel!), the film is like a nicer looking, more focussed, more humanizing Trekkies--and I love Trekkies, so that's a huge compliment.

Children of Invention

2009-04-01T11:28:00.003-06:00

The festival and a few other projects are keeping us really busy this week, but I just wanted to quickly mention this film that we were lucky enough to see last night. We generally only see docs at the festival because...well, we're obsessed with them. We've only been to one other narrative screening (eh.), but this one looked interesting and we were already at the theater after volunteering. We decided to see it while we were waiting for the Food, Inc. screening at 10. I'm so glad that we did. It was unbelievably good. I really don't have the time to even attempt to do it justice by describing it now, so I'll just leave you to watch the trailer and a clip. And tell you to see it! We bought a DVD from the filmmaker because you never know when/if independent films will ever be widely released. I think that you could probably contact someone through the site with any inqueries. There is also a list of upcoming screenings. If it is showing in your area, I (obviously) highly recommend that you see it.

The Poetry of Exactitude

2009-03-30T07:33:00.003-06:00

We got a chance to see the documentary shorts while we were volunteering at the festival yesterday. Most of them were excellent. This is the trailer for the one that I thought was incredible. There were a couple that Mas and I both felt a little blah about--not terrible, but not great. Luckily, the filmmakers of all of our favorites were there for the Q&A. Overall, I it might have been even better than last year.

Sick Day Excuses and Hidden Tomatoes

2009-03-25T09:20:00.003-06:00

I took this really poor quality and more than slightly askew video of Mas playing guitar and the dogs freaking out yesterday. It's pretty representative of how we've spent the last few days. We haven't done much except laze on the couch due to the sickness, but I'm feeling quite a bit better today. I desperately need to clean the house and make some real food. We majorly broke our no processed food rule yesterday and had Uncle Eddies Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, Vanilla Nadamoo, Honest Tea Sublime Mate, Reed's Extra Ginger Beer (the best!) and a pizza from Whole Foods. Yeah, that's a pretty big lapse. We just weren't up to cooking and I have to say that it did make us pretty happy to have all of our favorite junk food at once...oh well. At least the pizza was just crust, sauce and tons of veggies.

We did manage to go out yesterday to pick up a craigslist 4 track and 24 tomato plants from the farmer's market. We chose some Brandywines, Yellow Pears, Caspian Pinks and Sugar Plum Grapes that we're going to sneakily plant here and there around the apartment building and parking lot. I seriously doubt that anyone will notice, let alone care, but we went with the cheapest we could find in case they get weed whacked by the overzealous lawn guys. We planted 6 last week and they seem to be doing fine so far. My tomato seeds have also started to sprout, but I'm a little worried about damping off. I'm really hoping they'll make it because I don't want to have to start all over and be even further behind. Thankfully, if it comes to that, our growing season is long enough that we'll still have time to get a good crop. We'll see how it goes.

We finally found pecan shell mulch at an awesome organic nursery in Garland, so we mulched both beds last week and they look much better. It's keeping everything moist and the plants are a lot less droopy. The herb bed is filling up quickly. We picked up regular and garlic chives, rosemary, butterfly weed and more oregano at Rohdes while we were getting the mulch. They had tons of herbs that I hadn't seen locally and I really wanted to get ten times what we did. I'm trying to control my plant lust because of our limited space, but it's difficult. When the chard can't take the heat any longer, basil will take its place and maybe we can fit a few new plants on that side. I'll try to get some pictures of the beds, but they just aren't that photogenic. They look better in person, really, I promise. Cinder blocks aren't exactly beautiful, but lots of our neighbors have told us how much they like them and a few of them have started planting their own. A good sign!

In Case You Were Unaware, I'm Lame.

2009-03-23T12:41:00.004-06:00

Mason had the camera all weekend, so here's a photo of a painting that I love. We bought it at an estate sale last month for $4.

I stayed home sick this weekend while Mason drove down to Austin to work at the SXSW guitar show with his dad. I felt fine when he left on Friday, but was completely wrecked by Saturday night. It's that achy thing where one minute you feel fine, and the next you think you're going to die. Because I felt so poopy, I didn't make (or eat, really) any interesting food or work on any of my garden projects. I couldn't even think of the sauerkraut without throwing up in my mouth. I actually couldn't do much of anything, but I did manage to prop myself up and watch some of the terrible movies that Mas downloaded for me and spend an entire hour deliriously watching videos of babies tasting lemons for the first time on Youtube. I know...

I'm feeling slightly better now, mostly because of all of the tasty things that Mas brought back from Wheatsville. Vegan peanut butter cups! Vegan espresso cookies! Vegan peanut butter brownies! Vegan chocolate cake! Yeah, I managed to get some of that down. He also brought back a cup of their vegan queso, which is amazing. Most vegan queso that I've had/made has had a thick, velveeta-like texture. I've found some excellent recipes and mashed them together to make up the one that Mas and I love. But, they were always more like a thick dip, not so much like restaurant queso. The Wheatsville queso tastes exactly like restaurant queso! It's delicious. I don't know how they do it. There was also some sort of incredible salad dressing that I've already scarfed. I don't know if it was because I hadn't eaten in a while or what, but it was the best dressing that I've ever had. I'll ask him what it was called when he gets home.

This post is verging on incoherent. I'm sorry. I'm waiting for Mason to get home from work so that I can attempt my first real conversation with anyone other than a dog in the last 60 hours.

I love Michelle

2009-03-19T17:33:00.003-06:00

This is the best thing ever!

WASHINGTON — On Friday, Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of White House lawn to plant a vegetable garden, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets (the president doesn’t like them) but arugula will make the cut. While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at time when obesity has become a national concern.

In an interview in her office, Mrs. Obama said, “My hope is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.”

Twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington will help her dig up the soil for the 1,100-square-foot plot in a spot visible to passers-by on E Street. (It’s just below the Obama girls’ swing set.) Students from the school, which has had a garden since 2001, will also help plant, harvest and cook the vegetables, berries and herbs.

Almost the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said laughing. “Now Grandma, my mom, I don’t know.” Her mother, she said, would probably sit back and say: “Isn’t that lovely. You missed a spot.”

Whether there would be a White House garden has been more than a matter of landscaping. It’s taken on political and environmental symbolism as the Obamas have been lobbied for months by advocates who believe that growing more food locally could lead to healthier eating and lessen reliance on huge industrial farms that use more oil for transportation and chemicals for fertilizer.

In the meantime, promoting healthful eating has become an important part of Mrs. Obama’s agenda.

“The power of Michelle Obama and the garden can create a very powerful message about eating healthy and more delicious food,” said Dan Barber, an owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., an organic restaurant that grows many of its own ingredients. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it could translate into real change.”

The Clintons grew some vegetables in pots on the roof of the White House. But the Obamas’ garden will have 55 varieties of vegetables — from a wish list of the kitchen staff — grown from organic seedlings started at the executive mansion’s greenhouses.

The Obamas will feed their love of Mexican food with cilantro, tomatilloes and hot peppers. Lettuces will include red romaine, green oak leaf, butterhead, red leaf and galactic. There will be spinach, chard, collards and black kale. For desserts, there will be a patch of berries. And herbs will include some more unusual varieties, like anise hyssop and Thai basil. A White House carpenter who is a beekeeper will tend two hives for honey.

Total cost for the seeds, mulch, etc., is $200.

The plots will be in raised beds fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. Ladybugs and praying mantises will help control harmful bugs.

Cristeta Comerford, the White House’s executive chef, is eager to plan menus around the garden, and Bill Yosses, the pastry chef, is looking forward to berry season.

Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef who prepared healthful meals for the Obama family in Chicago and is an advocate of local food, will oversee the garden. The White House grounds crew and kitchen staff will do most of the work, but other White House staff members have volunteered.

“First of all,” Mrs. Obama said, “there’s nothing really cooler than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen with Cris and Sam and Bill, and cutting and cooking and actually experiencing the joys of your work.”

Mrs. Obama, who said that she never had a vegetable garden before, said the idea for it came from her experiences as a working mother trying to feed her daughters, Malia and Sasha, a good diet. Eating out three times a week, ordering a pizza, having a sandwich for dinner took it’s toll. The children’s pediatrician told her she needed to be thinking about nutrition.

“He raised a flag for us,” she said, and within months the children lost weight.

For children, she said, food is all about taste, and fresh and local taste better.

“A real delicious heirloom tomato is one of the sweetest things that you’ll ever eat,” she said. “And my children know the difference, and that’s how I’ve been able to get them to try different things.

“I wanted to be able to bring what I learned to a broader base of people. And what better way to do it than to plant a vegetable garden in the South Lawn of the White House.”

The country’s one million community gardens, she said, can also play an important role for urban dwellers who have no backyards.

But, sitting in her office in the East Wing, Mrs. Obama stressed that she doesn’t want people to feel guilty if they don’t have the time to have a garden: there are still many small changes they can make.

“You can begin in your own cupboard by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables,” she said.

(via NYT)

Food, Inc.

2009-03-19T09:04:00.000-06:00

We went to the AFI Dallas volunteer orientation on Saturday to sign up for our shifts. We actually liked working so much last year that we're hoping to sign up for more time this year, which means that we'll probably be seeing fewer films. One that I would obviously never miss is Robert Kenner's Food, Inc. As you know, I'm a total sucker for documentaries in general, but I am specifically interested in anything about food and food politics. I will admit to having watched (and enjoyed) some of the lowest quality garbage "documentaries" on television because they focused on my favorite topic. Well, if the reviews are valid, this film is on the opposite end of the spectrum.

A few quotes:
"Food, Inc. is the most important film about our food system in a generation."
Michael Pollan

"Food, Inc. does what good reporting does--it connects the dots."
Variety

"The film I've always been waiting for."
Alice Waters

If you live in or near Dallas, I highly recommend that you get to the festival. We saw some great films last year that are still not available anywhere else. The documentary shorts are often amazing and difficult to find elsewhere. It's just a really great festival--and you can save a ton of money if you buy your tickets ahead of time at the box office.

Apartment Sauerkraut

2009-03-18T07:32:00.000-06:00

I've seen references to Wild Fermentation for years now and have always been interested in reading it, but I'm cheap and the library doesn't have a copy. On Sunday, I decided that I could no longer wait for the book and desperately needed to make my own sauerkraut. Luckily, Sandor Katz has the instructions posted on the Wild Fermentation site. I grabbed one of the smaller buckets that Mason has brought home and decided to give it a try. The worst that could happen is that I'm out two heads of cabbage and a few tablespoons of salt. It was pretty simple. Slice the cabbage, throw it in a bucket, sprinkle it with salt, pack it down and cover it with something breathable. If you'd like to make some for yourself, the instructions are really easy to follow and free, so I won't bother repeating them here. I used green and red cabbage, garlic, caraway, dill and celery seed in mine, but he says you can pretty much toss in whatever you like. If this batch works out, I'm going to try some with carrots, onions and broccoli.

I have to admit that the wafting scent of sauerkraut is a little nauseating at 5 in the morning, but I'm hoping that once I clear a space in the storage closet it won't permeate the entire apartment. This is probably more of an issue for us than most people because our layout basically amounts to us living in one big room. If you have a garage or basement, you should be fine. For other small apartment dwellers, I'll let you know how the closet storage works out over the next four weeks.

WinterSown.Org

2009-03-17T13:58:00.000-06:00

As you can see, I've already ordered more heirloom tomato seeds than I (and my reclaimed 5 gallon buckets) can handle, but if you are thinking about growing your first tomatoes this year or just want to add some new varieties to your existing garden, WinterSown seems like a great way to do it. They are a non-profit seed sharing group that I read about on Rachel's Tiny Farm. All you have to do is send them a self addressed stamped envelope and a slip with your choices from their list of varieties. If you've never eaten a homegrown heirloom tomato, you are definitely missing out and need to get some seeds ASAP. It looks like they are able to operate mainly on donations from growers, so if you don't need any seed, maybe you have some to share. That's most likely what I'll be doing at the end of the season. We need to get as many varieties into the hands of as many growers as possible to encourage diversity and food independence. Victory gardens, community gardens, CSAs and the like are the key to the survival of so many foods that Monsanto would prefer you never knew existed.

Not to get all serious on you, but since I've already invoked the name of evil...
I've just watched a French documentary by Marie-Monique Robin called The World According to Monsanto that should be fascinating/horrifying to any of you interested in the politics of food and why we should all be growing as much of our own as possible. Much of the information was previously examined in The Future of Food, but this doc expands upon several elements, most importantly the obscenely codependent relationship of Monsanto and the US government. You can buy it here or watch it for free in 10 parts here.

So please watch this documentary and get depressed and angry, but then go to Wintersown and feel grateful that there are a lot of people out there trying to change our food system for the better.

More Seeds

2009-03-17T05:11:00.003-06:00

You can tell Spring is here because the Boston Fern is sending out tons of baby shoots and I'm completely obsessed with buying and trading seeds.

Tomato Bob's is having a sale on selected seeds at the 1945 price of just 25 cents. I ordered several the other day, but it changes weekly, so I'll be watching the site periodically for more great deals. Some of the seeds that I ordered won't work in my little raised bed or containers, but at that price I grabbed a few anyway. We're planning to do loads more guerrilla gardening this year, and they can either be used for that or shared with friends/family who have more space. I really like the idea of melons popping up in vacant lots all around the neighborhood. And, of course, I had to throw a few more packets of heirloom tomatoes in with my order...
This is going to be an interesting growing season.

Fresh Nut Milk

2009-03-13T22:32:00.000-06:00

After several holiday (and post-holiday) indiscretions involving homemade almond bark, chex mix, cashew brittle and various cookies, Mason and I have been trying to get back to eating a healthier diet. We've cut out the white sugar and are trying to lower our heavy agave comsumption somewhat. We've also cut out almost everything processed that we had been depending way too heavily upon and are just trying to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and whole grains. I bought a book for $1 at Half Price called Not Milk...Nut Milks!, which inspired me to get a nut milk bag and start making my own almond milk. Our preferred (and the cheapest) brand of soy milk comes in a big plastic bottle and we go through tons of it. The idea of all of that unnecessarily wasted plastic was really getting to me. Well, now I just feel ridiculous that we've had a Vita-Mix all this time and I've been wasting money AND plastic on soy milk. Almond milk is so easy! I've started adding in pumpkin seeds and brazil nuts for some extra nutrition. The pumpkin seeds also cut the cost quite a bit. Our weeks worth of milk takes me about ten minutes to blend, strain and bottle and costs about $1.50 per half gallon.

This recipe is very "earthy", so you might want to ease yourself into homemade milk by using only almonds and/or adding more sweetener. Some people prefer a stronger milk and use 2 or 3 times the amount of nuts, but we're cheap and this tastes fine to us, so just experiment until you find what you like. Before I ordered the bag, we were using this unstrained. It wasn't a problem for me because I don't drink it straight up, but it was definitely too gritty for Mas. If you're just going to use it in smoothies or with cereal, you may not even need a bag. Try it and see!

Almond-Pumpkin Seed-Brazil Nut Milk

scant 1/4 c. almonds
scant 1/4 c. pumpkin seeds
4 brazil nuts
1/4 c. agave
pinch of salt
vanilla to taste (optional)

Toss everything in the blender. Fill with water to the 8 cup line.
Blend. Strain. Bottle. Refrigerate. Shake (a lot) before using.

Seeds!

2009-03-12T13:23:00.001-06:00

Seeds I've ordered so far this year:
Lime Basil
Lemon Basil
Lettuce Leaf Basil
Catnip
Wild Zaatar Oregano
Green Grape Tomatoes
Arkansas Traveler Tomatoes
Omar's Lebanese Tomatoes
German Red Strawberry Tomatoes
Fox Cherry Tomatoes
Black from Tula Tomatoes
Black Cherry Tomatoes
Ananas Noire Tomatoes
White Currant Tomatoes
Wapsipinicon Peach Tomatoes

Those are all coming from Baker Creek, but I'm still browsing a few sites for other heirlooms and odd seeds that I can't buy locally. We already added Hot and Spicy Oregano, Mexican Oregano, Italian Oregano and Golden Oregano to the raised bed with all of the herbs that overwintered from last fall. We're going back to Redenta's later this week to buy several heirloom tomato seedlings to plant in the 5 gallon buckets that Mas has been lugging home from work every day. So, yeah, we like tomatoes...and herbs...Basically, we're trying to grow things that have pricey and not all that tasty supermarket counterparts. What are you guys planting?

(P.S. In case you haven't noticed, this is the post where I gloss over that fact that I've completely ignored this blog for the last four months. Umm--if it makes you feel better, not all that much happened.)

Vegan Supreme Pizza

2008-10-30T11:30:00.003-06:00

I was at a loss for what to make for dinner last night, so I called Mason as he was leaving work and he said he would take care of it. I knew that he was making a pizza, but I had no idea that it would be the ultimate vegan pizza--a crispy crust topped with red sauce, red peppers, green peppers, black olives, green olives, roasted onions, roasted eggplant, marinated artichokes, shredded zucchini, tempeh bacon and grilled tofu! Seriously, I can't even put into words how good it was. It's now known as Mason's Vegan Supreme and it was topped off with another delicious new recipe from Mas, a pumpkin pie smoothie! I'll get the recipe from him and post it ASAP.

Cast Iron

2008-10-29T12:48:00.003-06:00

I've always been under the false assumption that cast iron cookware was too much work. So, so wrong. Mason and I picked up a Lodge cast iron skillet this weekend and I love it! You can do so much with this one piece of cookware. We made a mushroom pasta sauce the first night that cooked up so easily and perfectly that I was flooded with regret at cooking in stainless steel for all of these years. Last night, I made the scalloped potatoes from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. It is so nice to have cookware that can go straight from the stove top to the oven. By the way, the potatoes were delicious and will definitely be made again (in a cast iron skillet, of course).

Anniversary Cake

2008-10-19T06:21:00.003-06:00

Things have been so busy lately that I feel like I'm missing my favorite month. We had to drive back to OK last week for a funeral. As soon as we got back, we started preparing for the guitar show this weekend. So, it's been mostly sandwiches and pizza this week, though I did manage to make this chocolate cashew sheet cake for our anniversary on Wednesday. We were too tired to do anything except eat it and watch The West Wing.

Good news: Last night, the lady at Roti Grill told us that they don't use any ghee (just vegetable oil) and that the naan has no dairy in it. We were starving and extremely happy to hear that, so we shared a huge plate of chana balti, rice, garlic naan and veggie samosas.

First Garden Salad

2008-10-11T05:47:00.003-06:00

I picked my first salad from the garden yesterday. The spinach was getting a little leggy, so the prunings got tossed in my bowl. Next came the sweet basil, a plant that was so loaded with heavy leaves that it was starting to droop. The lowest leaves of both kale plants were huge and crunchy. And the mesclun needed thinning, so I had little sprouts to sprinkle all over the top. It was delicious. It is so nice to sit down and eat a salad that actually tastes like something. I used about a teaspoon of homemade vinaigrette, but it was probably unnecessary. Really, it's no wonder that so many Americans need to pour gallons of ranch dressing onto their salads--otherwise they are completely tasteless. I always get angry when I hear people say that veg food is bland, but I guess it's true if you do all of your shopping at any major grocery store and never learn to use any herbs or spices. If your vegetables were picked 3 weeks ago and the only seasoning you use is salt, I can see why you would feel the need to add a load of fat to make them more palatable. I never wanted to eat my veggies as a child until we started growing them in the garden. I got back into the rut of pouring blue cheese dressing on everything in high school, and it wasn't until Mason and I started our little garden in Norman that I remembered that real vegetables taste like something. Now, I won't even look at tomatoes at the grocery store, but what if they were the only ones you'd ever had? The three most popular vegetables in America are potatoes (usually in the form of french fries), canned tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. If those, along with maybe canned corn and overcooked green beans, were the only vegetables that you had ever eaten, would you think that going vegetarian (let alone vegan) was an option? Would you think that even one meal without meat was an option?

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

2008-10-08T06:59:00.002-06:00

It can be hard to find vegan cinnamon raisin bread that isn't loaded with HFCS (it's good for you, silly...), hydrogenated oils and tons of chemicals. But, why bother looking when it's so easy to make for yourself by making a few changes to this sandwich bread recipe. I've been making loads of whole wheat loaves this summer, for which I reduce the total amount of flour by 1/4 cup. When making the cinnamon raisin loaf, just add 1 tsp to 1 T of cinnamon to the flour. I also like to add cinnamon to the flour I use on the board as I'm rolling out the dough. After rolling it out, smear it with as much (or as little) Earth Balance as you like. Sprinkle as much (or as little) cinnamon sugar over the entire rectangle and add raisins, if you like. Then, roll it up, let it rise in the pan and bake as usual. When you place it in the loaf pan, it helps to pat it down really well to get the layers to stick together. You just have to let it rise for a little longer, but it's worth it when you go to slice your bread. I will say that, if you'd like your loaf to be sweet, add more sugar than you think you need. It looks like a lot as you're sprinkling it on, but mine is never as sweet as I think it will be.

Sprouting Up

2008-10-07T10:07:00.003-06:00

We got a really nice rain yesterday. It was the perfect amount--not enough to drown the seedlings, but plenty to soak all the way through the garden. And now the seeds are sprouting up like crazy! We have tons of little radish and mesclun seeds that I accidentally sowed much too thickly and will have to thin next week. I'm hoping for the peas and nasturtiums to push through in the next few days. The weather has been perfect, so we've been out working on the front bed. Our solution to the major flooding issue is for Mas to bring home loads of #10 cans from work. We cut both ends off and push them about two inches into the soil, then plant the seedlings in the top of the cans. The gives them 4-6 inches of extra drainage and should (hopefully) protect them from the slugs. We put Brussels sprouts in the first nine cans he brought home Sunday. I'll try to get a photo of them soon because I know my explanation makes no sense.

Pancake Help!

2008-10-06T14:27:00.004-06:00

What's your favorite fluffy pancake recipe? Mason has the thin pancakes down, but we haven't found the perfect fluffy recipe yet. These were made with a recipe from recipezaar, but they were only ok. They were excellent in the fluffiness department, but had no flavor and the white flour made them a little glue-y texture wise. If I can remember which recipe I used, I'm going to try to make them again with whole wheat flour and maybe some cinnamon and agave. While I'm asking, what is your favorite vegan pancake recipe in general? Along with pizza, stir-fries and scrambles, pancakes are one of the most popular meals around our house.

Our Tiny Plot

2008-10-05T06:12:00.003-06:00

We couldn't take living without one anymore, so we built up a little raised bed and planted ourselves a garden. It's only 4x6, but Mason had to schlep a lot of bags of soil from the car to our back door for this tiny thing and it's 24 square feet that we didn't have before. We bought some seedlings from Redenta's and ordered seed from Baker Creek. The Baker Creek seeds haven't come yet, but the seedlings and a few discounted organic Burpee seeds have already been dug in. We've got two kinds of basil, fennel, rosemary, thyme, oregano, chives, two kinds of onions, two kinds of kale, spinach, watercress and arugula. The radishes, nasturtiums, peas, chard and mesclun should be sprouting up in the next few days or so. I also have some spinach seedlings and some really nice looking brussel sprouts that I need to pot up today. But, what I'm really excited about are the Baker Creek seeds. I lust after their hundreds of heirloom seeds every year, but I've never actually ordered any until now. We're waiting for Thai dill, he shi ko and flat of Italy onions, Spanish and Chinese radishes, French spinach, Chinese kale, baby bok choy and dwarf pak choy. I can't wait to get them all into the ground. I've missed having our old garden and tons of land like mad for the past two years, so this is a really great compromise--we have a garden and civilization.

If you have a garden, join up on Freedom Gardens. It's run by the family from Path to Freedom, which is my dream project. If you haven't heard of them, they have a .2 acre urban homestead in Pasadena where their garden produces over 6,000 pounds of food annually. In addition to their amazing gardens, the vegetarian family keeps chickens, worms, cats, ducks and goats, and have spent years and years turning their homestead into a sustainable living center. I found their blog three (or so) years ago became obsessed immediately. I could go on and on about all of the amazing things that they do, but I'll just stop now and let you read more on their site if you're interested. When we find a house of our own (or just an empty lot we can afford), we would be glad to do even 10% of what they've managed to accomplish.

Mac and Yeast

2008-10-04T07:05:00.000-06:00

I've tried at least 15 different macaroni and yeast/cheeze/"cheese" recipes in the last two years. This one from Vegweb is my absolute favorite. It's not perfect, but I doubt I'll ever find a replacement that tastes like "real" macaroni and cheese. This is just a very tasty mac and yeast in it's own right. And that's good enough for me.

I'm reposting the recipe here with my changes, but you should check out the original because the OP included a huge list of tasty variations.

Yeast Sauce

1 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 block firm silken tofu
1/2 cup nayonaise
1 T tahini
1 T prepared yellow mustard
2 tsp sriracha
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
pinch of salt
tons of pepper
2 cups soy milk

Add ingredients to blender in that order. Blend until completely smooth and combined.

At this point, you can just pour the sauce over your noodles and warm in a pot for a few minutes, you can bake it as the original recipe states, or you can do what I do:
While your noodles are boiling smash and mince a large clove of garlic for each serving of pasta. Sautee the garlic in a tiny bit of olive oil along with whatever veggies you have in the fridge (summer squash is good!) until the garlic is golden and the veg is just tender. Drain noodles well and toss in pan. Stir to coat noodles with garlic and oil. Pour sauce over noodles. Keep on low heat for 2 minutes. Eat!

This makes a lot of sauce, at least a pounds worth. It depends on how saucy you like your noodles and whether or not you bake it (which thickens the sauce drastically). It keeps fine for a few days in the fridge. We usually make a full batch and use it on pasta, rice and/or veggies throughout the week.

Local Pears

2008-10-03T07:18:00.001-06:00

We bought pears at the market this week! They have pretty tough skin and aren't quite as sweet as the California pears we bought last week, but they are local and almost as crisp as apples. They baked up perfectly in a crumble the other night. I wish I'd remembered to take a photo before we scarfed it.

Okra and Tomatoes

2008-10-02T10:32:00.002-06:00

We found some nice looking local okra at the farmer's market this week, so I decided to try out a new recipe for a dish that I hated as a kid--okra and tomatoes. Of course, I like it quite a bit now and this recipe from Vegweb made for a tasty, slightly spicy dish.

Vegan Deep Dish

2008-10-01T07:54:00.000-06:00

Mas and I both have much love for pizza. We put on pound after pound in college ordering and devouring huge, deliciously greasy Pizza Shuttle pies. We probably eat just as much pizza now, but (1) we make it ourselves, and (2) it's healthier, vegan and not at all greasy.

Deep dish pizza is actually a really veganizable food. Because the cheese in a deep dish is layered on the crust and topped with sauce, there is no missing the bubbly, gooey topping when you omit it or replace it with a less melty vegan substitute. Mason just took some dough from the freezer and patted it into the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9X13 cake pan. We spread it with some homemade tofu ricotta and topped that with diced onions, peppers and Field Roast Italian sausage. Field Roast sausages can make anything taste like pizza. (I've decided to cut out most processed foods and make all of my own seitan, but haven't found anything close to as good as Field Roast in the Italian sausage department. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.) We poured sauce over the rest of the toppings and baked it for about 20 minutes at 400F. It was the complete opposite of the pizzas that we normally make, which was a nice change. And it was extremely filling, so we had leftovers for days--also a nice change.

Fresh Vegan Pasta

2008-09-30T07:27:00.004-06:00

spinach pasta, drying on a makeshift rack

I've had my Ampia pasta machine for probably at least 4 years. I bought it at the Goodwill for $5, picturing all the amazing fresh pasta in my immediate future. I've never used it. Ever. I've thought about using it. I've watched Jamie Oliver use his. I've read about tons of other bloggers using theirs. Mine, however, has never left the box. Until last week. If there is anyone I trust to lead me through a new cooking process, it's Bryanna Clark Grogan. It's obvious that she puts a lot of thought (and work!) into developing, documenting and explaining her recipes and cooking techniques. Her instructions made my first pasta making experience shockingly simple and made me realize that I'm a total fool for leaving my machine in the box for so long. I made spinach pasta, some of which we ate with a bit of homemade pesto and sauteed mushrooms and peppers. I shaped the rest into little nests and froze them. You can drop the frozen noodles into boiling water and have ready to eat pasta in about one minute. It's so convenient and delicious that I doubt I'll be buying dried pasta again anytime soon.

Growing Power

2008-09-26T11:21:00.005-06:00

I have some food posts that I don't have time for today, but I wanted to stop for a second and say how wonderful it is that Will Allen of Growing Power has received a $500,000 genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation. Will and his daughter were featured in the documentary, Food Fight, that Mason and I saw at AFI Dallas in April. As someone who is very interested in food, fairness and sustainability, there aren't many organizations that I think deserve this as much as Growing Power.

There is also a short Q&A with Alice Waters in the Times today.
And can we please have a moment of silence for Scrabulous. So depressing.

Vegan Pigs in a Blanket

2008-09-24T12:42:00.003-06:00

Hey, remember this dough? We didn't either, until we were scavenging for something to eat for dinner on Monday. Wrapping it around Yves hot dogs made for the perfect vegan pigs in a blanket. They were flaky and delicious dipped in yellow mustard. I also made this little jelly pastry with the leftover dough--which froze and thawed even more beautifully than I had hoped. We'll definitely be making this dough again and again and again.

Taco Joint

2008-09-23T10:49:00.002-06:00

Mas had the day off yesterday, so we took the dogs for a walk, hit the library for a bit and decided to walk over to the Taco Joint for lunch. Until they opened in August, he'd been stalking these guys for months begging for them to finish remodeling and serve us some vegan tacos. They've now been open for over a month and are totally awesome. Not only do they have vegan refried and black beans (both delicious), they also have veggie enchiladas. Just ask for any of the veggie items on the menu without cheese. They will also substitute their veggie mix for the meat on some of the lunch items (like The Lester, which I love). They are all nice and friendly, the restaurant is clean (which means more if you know our neighborhood...), the food is tasty and the prices are overly reasonable. Oh, and the salsa! The salsa is amazing! They have free wi-fi, too.

veggie enchiladas--probably my favorite

Our Weekend

2008-09-15T10:20:00.002-06:00

Watching ER and Degrassi, making giant sandwiches, Comet getting sick, Comet getting better, serving food with the Salvation Army, folding laundry, riding bikes in the rain, becoming obessesd with cashew cream, buying tons at the library book sale, community garden veggies again, drinking loads of orange juice, enjoying the weather, staying up late, getting up early.

Peach Danish with Lemon Glaze

2008-09-12T12:00:00.004-06:00

The other night, we skipped dinner and decided to make a peach danish instead. The pastry recipe is from the New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook and is pretty awesome. Ours didn't turn out perfectly, I think we failed to fold it enough times to fully laminate it, yet still managed to overhandle it. I also failed to make enough filling. I used half a bag of frozen peaches, cooked with sugar and cinnamon and pulsed a few times in the Vita-Mix, but I really should have used at least a whole bag. All that aside, it was still incredibly delicious. So, even if you know you'll screw it up, this recipe (and New Farm, in general) is highly recommended.

Homemade Pizzas are the Best

2008-09-09T09:25:00.006-06:00

The night before last, Mas and I took a nap at 5PM and accidentally slept until almost 10. Since we missed dinner and we knew we'd be up for several hours before getting back to sleep, we decided to make a big focaccia. I love Jamie Oliver's recipe in The Naked Chef, so I mixed it up and left it to rise while Mason sauteed some onions and mushrooms for toppings. After this huge late night snack (eaten while watching way too many episodes of DJH), I stuck the other half of the dough in the freezer for pizza. We split it in half last night and baked two pizzas, one for dinner and one for lunch/dinner today. Today's pizza was just made with leftovers we had in the fridge--pizza sauce, canned pineapple, black olives, garlic and some homemade tofu cashew ricotta, but last night's pizza was one of the best we've made yet. The crust was super thin and crisp, the sauce was homemade pesto and olive oil, and the toppings were all sauteed together--mushrooms, spinach, cabbage, garlic chives, basil and Vegefarm soy chicken. I also dolloped on the rest of the tofu ricotta, which is my new favorite pizza topping. It solidifies and turns a light golden color after baking. Next time, we're going to try mixing in more fresh herbs and spreading it over the entire crust as a mozzarella replacement.

Tofu Cashew Ricotta

1/2 pound extra firm tofu
1/4 c cashews
juice of 1 lemon
1-2 cloves of garlic
2 T nutritional yeast
2 tsp Penzey's pizza seasoning
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Process cashews and garlic in food processor. Drain and pat tofu dry, then add to processor with lemon juice, nutritional yeast and spices. While processing, drizzle in agave and olive oil. Continue to process until thick, smooth and creamy.
(This is even better if you let it sit overnight and drain again before using.)

Community Gardens and Stir-Frying

2008-09-08T07:48:00.007-06:00

This weekend was the 20th anniversary of the East Dallas Community Garden. They had a little party, so we rode our bikes over to watch the dancing and pick up some veg. The community gardens in our neighborhood are primarily tended by Cambodian and Laotian refugees, so they often have Southeast Asian produce that we can't get at the grocery store. We bought a bag of Thai eggplants and huge bunches of green onions, water spinach, garlic chives and basil--all for $6. They also had a huge spread of food made by the gardeners and volunteers, but we decided to come home and cook because it was getting hot and we didn't want to hold up the line trying to figure out which of the dishes were vegan. Besides, we had tons of great produce to use and thought it would be a perfect time for stir-fry. We have stir-fry at least 4 times a week; we actually really need a wok because our biggest saucepan is the wrong shape and doesn't hold enough. There was a big bunch of broccoli in the fridge, so we tossed that in with onions, cabbage and some of each of veggies that we bought at the garden. Two things: (1) water spinach is tasty, (2) garlic chives and basil make a stir-fry. Really, it was the best one that we've ever made.

Stir-Fry Sauce
2 T. water
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. vegan oyster sauce
1 T. rice vinegar
1/2 T. agave
1/2 T. sambal oelek
1/2 T. cornstarch

Whisk it all together and add it about 2 minutes before you turn off the heat.
This is enough for a TON of vegetables, so you might want to half it.

parking our bikes

sunflowers by the entrance gate

rows and rows of greens

lots of handmade frames and trellising

lush greenery

Colby Uncheese

2008-09-02T07:21:00.005-06:00

I'm really just not a vegan cheese person. I love uncheese spreads and sauces, but the solids do nothing for me. With the exception of Sunergia Soy Feta and FYH (which I generally don't like) used very sparingly on the pizza at Marco's, I don't pay money for vegan cheese. I just don't like it all that much and it isn't worth the money to me. Of course, I'm holding out final judgment until I try Sheese, Teese and Playfood, so maybe I'm completely wrong and I'll retract this entirely...

All of that said, this colby from The Uncheese Cookbook isn't too bad. I don't find it at all appealing plain, but Mas made some delicious quesadillas with it yesterday. It didn't really melt, but he managed to get it to soften in the way that almost melted cheese softens. His method involved a skillet on the stove and the microwave. I'll ask him the details tonight. It would be worth making for that alone (it only takes about 15 minutes), but I'm interested in trying it in other recipes too.

Lunch Box Picnic

2008-08-27T09:50:00.004-06:00

Here's a shot of a picnic that Mas and I went on last week. His mom bought him some awesome lunch boxes for his birthday and we've been putting them to good use. From left to right you have: birthday dolmas, simple seitan slices and our first attempt at uncheese made with agar (not so great), plums, pickles, grapes, carrot sticks and frozen brownies. The brownies are Celine's recipe and they are highly recommended by both of us. Unfortunately, we have no access to butterscotch chips here, so I just doubled up on the chocolate chips. I have to admit that we were both a little disappointed when we tried them straight out of the oven. I should have known better and done exactly as she said because they are so delicious after you let them cool. We like ours straight out of the freezer. These are probably the only way that I'll ever really like sweet potatoes.

New Farm French Toast

2008-08-26T09:28:00.002-06:00

I finally found a vegan French toast recipe that I love! It's from the New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook and is super quick and simple to whip up. Mason has the day off, so we had a big breakfast to fuel up for a day of thrift stores, bicycles and soccer in the park. If you don't have the book (it's awesome, by the way), the recipe is here. I added 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon to the batter and topped them with powdered sugar and a bit of agave.

Seitan and Dumplings

2008-08-24T09:28:00.007-06:00

yeah, i know. it looks SO appetizing...

Out of fear, my wheat meat attempts have always been baked. Until yesterday. Apparently, in my attempt to avoid falling into the trap of boiled seitan sponginess that I've read of in so many vegan horror stories, I've been missing out on the amazing texture and juiciness of simmered gluten. The Simple Seitan from Veganomicon has changed all of that. It's even easier than my usual baking method and results in a completely different type of seitan that is actually a lot more versatile. I used my own broth recipe and subbed Bragg's for the soy sauce, but followed the recipe other than that and it worked perfectly.

Because I had a big pot of broth that I didn't want to go to waste, I decided to use half of my first batch to make seitan and dumplings. I diced the seitan into cubes, added a few cups of thinly sliced cabbage and tons of black pepper, plopped in the dumplings and dinner was ready. Dumplings are one of my favorite foods ever--I've always loved them with a passion. They are the perfect Fall/Winter food and I guess that making them in 95F weather is my attempt to will Autumn into coming early this year.

Herbed Dumplings
(adapted from allrecipes)
1.5 c. flour
3 T. Earth Balance
3/4 c. soy milk
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. your favorite dried herb(s)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. paprika

Combine all dry ingredients. I vary the herbs I use depending on the dish. Cut in Earth Balance until very crumbly. Gradually pour in milk, stirring just until thoroughly mixed. Drop by heaping rounded tablespoons into broth and simmer for 10-15 minutes. You can cut one in half to test for doneness. Try not to let them come to a boil or overcook them to avoid toughness.

Spinach and Soy Duck Tacos with Mexislaw

2008-08-24T06:04:00.000-06:00

For some reason, this post from two weeks ago never actually got published...so, here it is.

Smoked duck is one of our favorite meat analogs thus far (I forgot to get a package photo--sorry!). We have tried it on sandwiches, in stir fries and, last night, on tacos. For the tacos, I sauteed the duck with garlic for a few minutes before tossing in a bunch of chopped spinach to wilt for about 30 seconds. To top them, I made a mexislaw and chopped up some ripe tomatoes.

Mexislaw
1/2 head of cabbage
2 carrots
2 jalapenos
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 T olive oil
juice of 2-3 limes
salt and pepper

Slice the cabbage into long strips, as thinly as possible. Grate or thinly slice carrots. Mince garlic and whisk with olive oil and lime juice until thoroughly combined. In a large bowl, pour dressing over cabbage and carrots. Add salt and pepper to taste (it's best with tons of pepper) and use your hands to toss the salad several times. Seed and slice jalapenos and mix into slaw.

My skin is ridiculously sensitive to capsaicin, so I have to add the jalapenos after mixing the salad with my hands. If it doesn't affect you, add them anytime.

Dolmas

2008-08-23T08:47:00.003-06:00

Mason's mom and Nanny made the best dolmas ever for his birthday. I usually don't really care for grape leaf rolls and give mine to Mas at restaurants, but these were amazing!

Spinach Pesto

2008-08-18T17:59:00.003-06:00

Today was dark and rainy and perfectly autumnal. I would love to just skip the rest of summer and have it stay this way for months. It was the perfect day to pull a stack of neglected cookbooks off the shelf and pour through them between loads of laundry. We don't have a lot in the fridge, but I was dead set on making something new. I found two simple recipes that would help to use up the few vegetables leftover from last week. One was the Hot and Spicy Pickled Cabbage from Vegan Deli. Can you believe that I haven't even looked through this book since I first made the Vita-Mix Baba Ghanoush? That was January, which is absolutely ridiculous because this book is full of perfect for summer, no-cook recipes--exactly what I've been looking for for the last two months of high 90s Texas heat. I'm determined to make up for lost time. The other recipe I found was just as quick, easy and delicious. It's the Tantalizing Spinach Dip from Vegan on a Shoestring, another neglected favorite. I doubled up on the lemon juice for more of a pesto consistency. This recipe is so good. It calls for tahini, which I think makes it taste more like pesto than any of the vegan versions that I've made with nutritional yeast.

Mason's Birthday--with Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake!

2008-08-17T05:59:00.004-06:00

The 15th was Mason's birthday!
We started celebrating when he got home from work on Thursday afternoon. I made a tiny mint chocolate chip ice cream cake, which we ate while we watched movies and he opened a few early presents. Friday, we got up early to watch Olympic soccer and Mas walked across the street to the newly opened Taco Joint (which deserves it's own post) to pick up a breakfast of vegan potato and bean tacos. When I asked Mas what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday and he requested a vegan version of his Nanny's chocolate sheet cake, I was more than a little worried. I've never made a vegan sheet cake and Nanny's is amazing. I decided to be as safe as possible, so I adapted this recipe for Texas Sheet Cake, which sounded pretty close to the one that Nanny makes. It turned out really well! Probably not as good as Nanny's, but we haven't had it in so long that it didn't matter. We ate it with vanilla ice cream (we both love the 365 vanilla) and he opened all of his bicycle related presents. For dinner, I made spicy seitan pepperoni, two kinds of hummus and tofu egg salad sandwiches to pack up and eat while we went to thrift stores. As Saturday morning breakfast, Mas wanted biscuits to eat with black pepper pork chops. I decided to try the JOVB biscuit recipe--and, just as I expected, it was great. However, the recipe calls for 24 walnut sized scoops of biscuit dough. That seemed a little strange to me (is it regional? in other parts of the US, do people eat tiny biscuits?), so I halved the recipe and then doubled the size of the scoops for six medium biscuits. They were the lightest drop biscuits that I've ever had, and we both agreed that they would be excellent for biscuits and gravy. We had leftovers and way too much cake for the rest of the day. Now, Mas is back at work and I'm putting off cleaning the kitchen by making this ridiculously long run-on sentence of a post.

Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. soy milk
1 c. Earth Balance
1/3 c. cocoa
2 c. sugar
2 Ener-G eggs
1/2 c. soy milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 13x9x2 inch pan.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside
Whisk (or blend) 1/2 c. soy milk with apple cider vinegar and set aside to curdle.
In a saucepan, begin melting Earth Balance while adding cocoa and 1 c. soy milk. When well combined, but not yet boiling, add sugar. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and beat into the dry mixture until thoroughly blended. Add sour soy milk, Ener-G and vanilla and beat for one minute on medium. Pour batter into pan and bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes.

Chocolate Frosting
1/4 c. Earth Balance
3 T. cocoa
3 T. soy milk (with a dash of ACV whisked in)
2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

In a saucepan, combine Earth Balance, cocoa and soy buttermilk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and beat in vanilla and sifted powdered sugar. Beat on medium until well combined. Pour over cake as soon as it comes out of the oven and spread with a spatula. The frosting sets up as soon as it starts to cool, so try to spread it as quickly as possible if you care at all about it looking decent. I can't stress this enough--the frosting will set up to a thick fudgy consistency very quickly. You really don't even want to have to spread with the spatula more than once.

(Reading this back, I've realized just how rambling it is. Sorry for that. This should really be a few separate posts, but I'm much too lazy to change it now.)

Espresso Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2008-08-14T17:13:00.002-06:00

I think it's well established that I adore the chocolate chip cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking. Since tomorrow is Mason's birthday, I wanted to make some to send to work with him today. Though they are amazing, I thought it would be a little boring to send plain chocolate chips cookies yet again. So, what kind of cookies do you make for a barista to take to work? Espresso Chocolate Chunk!

Mas and I made the chunks for the cookies by melting a bag of chocolate chips with two tablespoons of Earth Balance, a teaspoon of agave and a tablespoon of Nescafe. {By the way, my resident coffee expert informs me that espresso powder is a total rip off. Just use double the amount of Nescafe for equally tasty, yet much more affordable results.} We spread the melted chocolate in a thin layer on an oiled sheet of parchment and stuck it in the freezer for about an hour. When it was frozen solid, I cut it into thin strips lengthwise, then cut the strips into chunks.

The chunks had a really nice coffee flavor, but it wasn't quite enough. I wanted the cookies to really tasty like coffee, so I added another tablespoon of Nescafe to the water when I whipped the Ener-G eggs in the Vita-Mix (another tip from TJOVB, which makes the Ener-G much frothier and more eggy). It worked really well and gave the dough a subtle coffee flavor that was pretty great in combination with the chunks.

More Gift Food

2008-08-12T06:20:00.002-06:00

I've been too busy watching the Olympics to care about food this week, but I did manage to bake a dozen of these chocolate chip cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking yesterday. I haven't made them in a while, and I was hoping that they would be as good as I remembered. They were. These are, hands down, the best chocolate chip cookies that I've ever had. I hardly ever make them because they are so, so horrible for you, but these were for a gift. They make great gift cookies because they are huge and not terribly fragile. I did keep two for us, of course, but they were long gone by the time this photo was taken.

No Picture, Just a Tip

2008-08-10T20:15:00.002-06:00

Steamed broccoli + Swiss Fondue from Vegan Vittles = Amazing!
It tastes just like broccoli casserole. This fondue recipe is pretty much my new favorite thing to make. We had breadless ruebens today. Sauteed cabbage and onions with seitan pastrami, sauerkraut, swiss fondue and homemade thousand island dressing. I didn't bother with the camera because it was super ugly, but it tasted great. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Vegan Vittles? It was my first vegan cookbook, and it's still my favorite.

At the Lake

2008-08-10T08:20:00.003-06:00

We spent the day at White Rock Lake. The dogs loved it, as usual. They were so exhausted that Mas almost had to carry Comet back to the car. I didn't manage to get up in time to put together a picnic, so we had Larabars (Cinnamon Roll, seriously amazing!), dried bananas and nori snacks.

Riker loves to swing!

Eggless Egg Salad

2008-08-04T17:08:00.003-06:00

I've never really liked egg salad. Mason has never really liked egg salad. I don't really know why we decided we needed to make a mock egg salad, but we did. I've tried several recipes over the last year and this is a combination of what we thought was the best of all of them. This salad is good with extra firm tofu (which is what we use for almost everything), but it's even better with a hard water packed tofu. We buy it occasionally at the asian market, and it makes for a firmer, less watery salad. I use Spectrum vegan mayo for most things, but the Nasoya makes this tangier and more egg salady.

Eggless Egg Salad
1 lb extra firm or hard tofu
1 sweet onion, diced
4 T Nasoya
2.5 T yellow mustard
2 T sweet relish
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. dill
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk mayo, mustard, relish and spices until well combined. Squeeze excess water from tofu and crumble into a bowl with the onions. Combine sauce with tofu. Chill for at least 1 hour.

Blueberry Poothie

2008-08-03T08:09:00.004-06:00

This is my favorite smoothie at the moment. By the end of the week, we've usually gone through almost all of our fresh blueberries, but there are always some that begin to go a little off by mid-week. We keep them in a bowl in the fridge and use them for baking or smoothies. They usually get added to peaches or bananas a 1/4 cup at a time, but this is my new favorite way to use them up. Mason has taken to calling this a poothie, due to the bran and flax. It is extremely filling and full of fiber. Even with the Vita-Mix, it can be a little bit...toothsome (okay, chunky). If that grosses you out, you should probably just skip it.

Blueberry Poothie
1 T. bran
1 T. flax meal (I like golden flax)
3/4 c. blueberries
1 c. soy milk
1/2 tsp. spirulina
1 tsp. agave nectar

Pulse bran and flax in Vita-Mix until fairly fine. Add remaining ingredients and a handful or two of ice. Blend until smooth.

This makes a lot of smoothie! It's best to drink it all at once, or blend it again if you save some for later so that isn't too thick and pulpy. It has over 100% of your daily Vitamin A, E and B-12 and 30% of your Vitamin C, calcium and iron--and 8 grams of fiber.

Newstart Veggie Garden

2008-07-31T20:16:00.002-06:00

Speaking of restaurants that we should have known about and been frequenting, we ate at Newstart Veggie Garden for the first time today. Newstart Veggie Garden (not to be confused with Veggie Garden in Richardson) is on Royal over in Koreatown. It's a fresh, mostly healthy, vegan buffet--and it blew our minds. We tried a bit of pretty much everything on the buffet, and almost all of it was amazingly delicious. I was a little shocked at how tasty and fresh everything was. Nothing was overly oily or even a tiny bit stale. They put out small servings very frequently so that nothing sits out for too long. We had California rolls, cabbage rolls, spicy tofu soup, pumpkin soup with rice balls, yellow curry, seaweed salad, kimchi, "steak" with mushroom gravy, sweet and spicy veggie seitan, mung bean pancakes, sweet potato noodles with veggies, homemade wheat bread with raisin jam, oatmeal flax cookies and cinnamon date juice. I read somewhere that they make everything in house, and I didn't see/taste anything to the contrary. I did manage to snap a few photos while trying to stay out of the way, but they really don't do the food justice.

Mas and I agreed that this would be a good place to eat with a mixed group of vegans and non-vegans. There are several "normal" options along with the foods that some consider "weird", like tofu and seitan.

(edit: They mention agave, maple sugar and honey on the desserts page of their site, so we'll have to ask if anything contains honey next time. Hopefully, nothing--I really loved their bread!)

Vegan Pizza in the DFW

2008-07-29T06:25:00.002-06:00

Yes, we found vegan pizza in Dallas, TX. And not at Whole Foods. At a real pizza place. A good pizza place. How did we not know about this for two years? Pizza by Marco not only has vegan cheese, they have vegan pepperoni, sausage and hamburger. I know that those are all things that you could buy at Whole Foods and do yourself, but there is just something really appealing about occasionally being able to order a pizza and go pick it up like the rest of America. Truthfully, I could usually care less about vegan cheese. We're pretty sure that it was Follow Your Heart, which I would never even bother to buy at the store. But, somehow it was extremely tasty on the Marco's pizza. We ordered one with sausage, onion, olive and mushroom and brought it home to eat while we watched the first episode of the new season of the best show on television.

Vegan Snickerdoodles

2008-07-28T12:33:00.004-06:00

See, as soon as I stop promising to cook, I have things to post. Last night, I baked a batch of peanut butter cookies to send to my dad, since we can't be there for his birthday. It didn't seem like enough to warrant the shipping, so I decided to try out this snickerdoodle recipe that Celine posted a few months ago. They turned out pretty well, though I made them quite a bit bigger than the recipe calls for and they probably could have benefited from a few more minutes in the oven. I know it's not very snickerdoodle-y, but I think that I might spice the dough a bit next time or maybe add a little almond extract.

I'm a Horrible Blogger

2008-07-26T19:38:00.004-06:00

Okay, I am officially addicted to blueberries. I eat about 5 pints a week. Yes, 5 pints. I'm starting to worry that I won't be able to function with out them when the season is over.

We took a suffocating car trip (in the non air conditioned Volvo) up to Plano yesterday for Asia World Market shopping madness. We still had a few meat analogues left from the last trip, but I we wanted to get more to continue..er, start really, this long lost series of fake meat reviews. We don't eat them that often, but I will try to post photos of the dish and the packaging whenever we try them out. We had some fake mutton the other day that was bought mostly as a joke because we'd never had real mutton and both thought it sounded especially disgusting. It looked like dog food, but actually tasted kind of like tasty chicken fried steak. We grabbed another bag yesterday, so I'll try to get a shot of the packaging to post. Asia World also has the absolute best vegan red bean pastries ever! We had them for dinner...

I know that I keep promising to cook/post more often, but it just doesn't seem to be happening. It's not that I'm not cooking, but it's basically just been the same old stir-fries, quinoa salads and fresh fruit--all pretty tasty, but none from recipes really. I will definitely have at least a few food-dedicated posts in August, but I've decided to start posting about other things (bicycles, thrift stores, puppies, and general Dallas-ness, most likely) to fill the gaps.

Rich Man's Stew

2008-07-10T16:13:00.004-06:00

The other day, we rode our bikes over to the big Salvation Army, where I found a copy of Marilu Henner's Healthy Life Kitchen for $2. Reading Marilu's Total Health Makeover in 2002 was what lead us to give up red meat (and our first attempt at cutting out dairy). While she's not vegan, she's a big proponent of vegan cooking and eating, and I guess you could say that she was kind of a catalyst for our veganism. Anyway, this book is full of recipes that include eggs and fish, but I decided that there were enough vegan recipes to make it a worthwhile purchase. The first dish that I made from it is totally inappropriate for our current weather, but it sounded so good that I had to give it a try. It's not very photogenic, but it is extremely easy and unbelievably delicious. Mas had three bowls before forcing himself to stop. Here's a link to the recipe. The fresh tomatoes taste amazing, so I would highly recommend using fresh instead of canned, if possible. I had no basil or green peppers, but it didn't feel like it was missing anything to either of us. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly--and my lentils ended up being pretty overcooked. Next time, I think that I'll cut the cooking time in half.

The link only seems to work part of the time, so here's a copy and paste without any of my changes.

Rich Man's Stew

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups sliced portabello mushrooms
1 small green pepper, chopped
6 cups vegetable stock
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cups red lentils
1 bunch basil, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in large soup pot and saute the onion, garlic, mushrooms and green pepper (about 5 minutes). Add vegetable stock and tomatoes to the pot and mix well. Stir in lentils and bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover, and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the basil and balsamic vinegar and simmer covered for another 15 minutes. Add pepper to taste.

Berry Picking

2008-07-02T06:02:00.003-06:00

We spent the weekend in Oklahoma, attending a wedding and a birthday party. Since we knew that we'd be missing our lovely farmer's market, we decided to run over to the local market in my hometown. Of course, the second we woke up, it started pouring rain. Nobody showed up to the market, so we went a few miles further to a little place called Sun Berry Orchard to pick some blackberries. These were the biggest, sweetest blackberries that either of us have had in years. They also grow some tasty peaches--not quite as good as Lemley's, but they only travelled about 100 feet before we bought them. I highly recommend heading out to your local pick your own. We're hoping to make it out to Balch Springs next weekend for more picking.

Grilled Tofu With Quinoa And Peach Salsa

2008-06-23T06:17:00.002-06:00

Mason's parents love estate sales as much as we do, so we go to as many as we possibly can whenever they come down for the weekend. Two weeks ago, we scored a ton of stuff (including an awesome vintage Columbia exercise bike that rides better than anything at the gym), but the best deal of all was The Griddler. It seems as though somebody thought Grandma would like to make herself a shitload of paninis--and Grandma disagreed. There were two brand new presses wrapped in plastic sitting completely untouched in their original boxes. One was a smaller Krups and the other was a Cuisinart Griddler. Both were $12. We settled on The Griddler, and it was the best kitchen purchase we've made in a long time. This grill makes the best grilled tofu ever! Just set it to sear and let it get extremely hot, slice the tofu however you like and leave it for 5-10 minutes. No sticking! We ate ours with leftover quinoa and fresh peach salsa made by Mason from entirely local ingredients. Although I'm glad that we didn't have to, it would have been worth paying the full price for a grill/griddle that works as well as this. I can't wait to try making pancakes on the griddle plates. I'm a huge Cuisinart fan, by the way. We paid $99 for our food processor almost 7 years ago, use it several times a week, and have never had even the slightest hint of a problem with it.

Best Blueberries Ever

2008-06-22T09:52:00.002-06:00

These blueberries are yet another reason that I haven't been cooking much lately. I've come to the conclusion that it is definitely worth suffering the insane Dallas heat for the benefit of eating some of the best tasting produce I've ever had. These are from a couple of guys from east TX who aren't certified organic, but farm using organic methods. Everything we've bought from them has been awesome. If you happen to be in Dallas, go downtown to the market, into the local shed, and look for them on the far end of the left side. They've had blueberries, blackberries, squash, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes so far. We also get tomatoes from Lemley's on the other side of the shed. The big baskets of "ugly" seconds are only $6. You get about 10-12 large or 15-20 medium tomatoes. Some of them may be a little overripe, but we eat them so quickly that it's not a problem. In fact, we've been eating so many tomatoes that we bought 2 baskets from them this week, plus a little basket of cherry tomatoes and a few low acid yellow tomatoes from the berry guys. I dread the end of the growing season.

Vegan Pimento Cheese Spread

2008-06-17T20:16:00.003-06:00

Mason made up a delicious vegan pimento "cheese" recipe at work. He made the above (even better) version for dinner the other night and we finished off a huge bowl of it. It needs a little more work, but I'll post the recipe as soon as he perfects it.

Cosmic Is Open Again

2008-06-12T13:21:00.003-06:00

After a fire and a few months hiatus, Cosmic has reopened and is as tasty as ever. We'd been meaning to eat there for a few weeks and finally got around to it on Tuesday when we met Mason's dad for some delicious hummus and curried veg.

Seedy Tofu Oat Burgers

2008-06-08T17:02:00.004-06:00

I know, I know, they look like oatmeal cookies.

I haven't been posting much because we've been eating pretty much the same thing every day--quinoa and various amazing local fruits and veggies. But, I actually made something new today. I don't have a name for them other than what they are, so seedy tofu oat burger patties it is. This recipe (loosely based on the quality tofu burgers from VegWeb) makes 8-9 very filling patties. I baked four and saved the rest of the mixture for later, so I let you know how it holds up when I make the next batch. We ate ours with Miso Mayo and fresh tomatoes and onions from the farmer's market.

Seedy Tofu Oat Burgers
14 oz. block of extra firm tofu, drained
1.5 c. oats
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
1/4 c. pumpkin seeds
4 T onion, minced
2 T water
4 T soy sauce
1 T sriracha
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
dash of pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. Mash tofu with water, soy sauce, sriracha, onion and spices. Grind seeds in blender or food processor and stir into tofu. Add oats and combine well. Shape into patties and place gently on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 20 minutes, turn and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

DAP

2008-06-04T07:13:00.003-06:00

Local Food

2008-06-01T13:53:00.002-06:00

It was really nice this morning as we rode our bikes downtown to the Dallas Farmer's Market. We were surprised and happy to see that they have made a big improvement in the way of local food. Stands selling local produce now have signage stating what they've grown and that they are a "Verified Local Farmer". Today, we picked up local green beans, sweet yellow and baby red onions, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peaches, new potatoes and blackberries. We had a peach right away. It was so juicy, sweet and perfect--not rock solid and bitter like the peaches we bought at the grocery store last week. For lunch, we had leftover tofu scramble with squash, green beans and amazingly delicious tomatoes. The (huge) blackberries are almost gone, too. We probably should have bought more.

Our First Vegan Potluck

2008-05-27T08:34:00.002-06:00

Well, the potluck was awesome. About 60 people came and brought tons of amazing food with them. I'm an idiot and didn't think to take any photos of what we made--traditional hummus, red pepper hummus, edamame spread, black bean and corn salad, lebanese potato salad, pepper relish, peanut butter cookies and oatmeal cookies. I think that we all ate way more than we should have. We also learned to play this viking game, which is fun and extremely addictive--even if you're terrible at it (and by you, I mean me). Potluck summary here and more photos here.

It's A Quinoa Summer

2008-05-22T07:18:00.003-06:00

I know that I haven't been posting much, but that's mostly because we've been eating the same thing every night--quinoa! I've loved quinoa since the first time I tasted it, but lately it's the only thing that I ever want to eat. I think that it's because we've been outside on our bikes so much and it's already getting pretty hot here (90F). Quinoa is just so light and delicious. Basically, we toss some quinoa in the rice cooker, cut up some veg, steam or saute it for a sec, whisk up a vinaigrette or some sort of sauce, mix it all up, top it with some fresh veg and eat! All the prep work can be done while the quinoa is cooking and dinner is ready in about half an hour without using the oven--or even the stove half the time. The photo above is of last night's mexi-quinoa cabbage wraps with corn, onions, garlic, spinach, tomatoes, avocados and jalapenos.

I guess this is a good time for me to gush about how much I love my rice cooker. It's the Rival RC61 from Target. We bought it out of desperation because I kept forgetting to check the rice and burning it. I never thought that I would become so obsessively in love with a $15 rice cooker. Not only does it make perfect Texmati rice, it also makes quinoa and even steel cut oats. It's really small, but makes the perfect amount for 1-6 people. It comes with a little steamer basket and it's super easy to clean. I can't recommend it enough. We've had it for almost two years and it hasn't failed me once. Oh, and did I mention that it was only $15? Mas and I have seriously talked about buying 10 of them to keep in storage in case they stop making this model. Ok, sorry. < /gush >

Edit: When I use the rice cooker to make quinoa, I usually add an extra 1-2 T. of liquid and check it a few minutes before the cooker clicks off to keep the bottom from crusting. When I make steel cut oats, I double the liquid, add cinnamon and stir once or twice when most of the water has cooked off. For rice, I add a little less liquid because I like my rice really dry. Just experiment until you get it the way that you like it.

We're Having a Potluck

2008-05-17T08:28:00.003-06:00

Mason and I are forming a little group called the Vegan Potluck Society. We're having our first East Dallas vegan potluck at 6:00PM on Monday, May 26th at Tietze Park. I've set up a separate blog for all of the details, but I'll probably have lots of tasty vegan food porn to post here after the potluck. If you're in or near Dallas, definitely try to come!

Serenity Springs Sanctuary

2008-05-11T09:10:00.007-06:00

Tonya, just 1 of the 119 pigs at Serenity Springs

I was looking at the Farm Sanctuary site and found my way to this FS hosted national shelter listing. They list other farm animal sanctuaries that do not do any of the following: 1. Promote the consumption of farmed animals by serving animal products (meat, dairy, eggs) at its events and functions. 2. Breed or sell farmed animals. 3. Engage in behavior harmful to farmed animals.

Through the site, I found a link to Serenity Springs Sanctuary-a Texas based farm sanctuary! I've spent the last hour combing through the site, looking at photos of and information about all of the animals at the farm. There are 158 total--119 of which are pigs. It looks like a really amazing place that I would love to visit. There are no paid staffers, only the owner/operator Terry DeGaw and volunteers. All donations go directly to caring for the animals, who are all up for sponsorship. When he gets home from work, I'm going to have to ask Mas which one we should choose (I have a feeling he/she will be of the goat variety...).

I also love what the director has to say about her work.
Personal Statement from the Director: In all honesty, there are times when I wonder why I ever got involved in the rescue of animals. There are days when I wonder if I can continue. Even when I don't feel very good, the animals are still foremost on my mind, and I know I must be there for them. My one and only vacation in the last 14 years was the two days spent in the hospital having a stent implanted to make sure I could continue my work. Some days I need more time than is available, as the work never ceases. It's not just about feeding, watering and providing a clean environment. It's about interacting with them, so they have direct contact with someone and know that they are loved. The latter is so very important! Everything I do revolves around them, and sometimes, I wonder why. The answer is that the unconditional love and acceptance they offer rewards me. They depend on me, and in turn, I depend on them. In essence, we need each other. My "kudos" come from seeing them happy and healthy. That is all I need. They are my life and the rest of it will continue to be dedicated to them.

Vegan Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-06T23:55:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, so I met Mason on his way home from work for a shopping trip on the bikes. We completely stopped driving for Earth Day and will probably try to keep it going for at least a month, if not the summer. It had been raining on and off all day, but it was really light and made the weather extra nice for riding. We stopped at Fiesta to pick up the makings of a CdM dinner of elotes, guacamole and tortilla soup. Elotes cups are really popular in our neighborhood. You can pick one up on pretty much any corner and sometimes from the paleta bike guys. Of course, they aren't vegan, so we've been thinking about making a vegan version for a while. I don't think that this version was quite right, but I'll keep working on it and post a recipe soon. For now, here's my lazy tortilla soup. It's not fancy or anything, but we like it. Today, I dumped a few cups of cooked quinoa in with the leftovers to stretch it for a few more meals and honestly, I like it a lot more with the quinoa than with the tortillas.

Vegan Tortilla Soup

1 T. olive oil
1 small white onion, finely diced
1 bulb of garlic, minced
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cayenne
28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1-2 tsp. sriracha
6 c. veggie stock
juice of 4 limes
salt and pepper to taste

Toppings:
fried/baked tortilla strips or crushed tortilla chips
tons of chopped fresh jalapenos
chopped green onions
sliced avocados

Add 1 T. of olive oil to pan and fry chili powder, cumin, oregano and cayenne for 1 minute. Add onion and garlic (and a bit of water or more oil, as needed) and cook until they begin to soften. Add diced tomatoes and sriracha and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add veggie stock and salt and simmer for as long as you like (at least 20 minutes). Add lime juice and black pepper just a few minutes before serving. The toppings (especially the jalapenos) really make this soup, so don't skip them.

Ubiquitous Tofu Mousse

2008-04-29T09:41:00.003-06:00

Is there a vegan alive who hasn't made some sort of chocolate tofu mousse?
I like to cut the chocolate chips to 3/4 c. and add two tablespoons of peanut butter.

Spicy Cabbage Wraps

2008-04-28T07:10:00.004-06:00

Just to prove that I've actually been making food, here is one of last night's cabbage wraps. They were nothing fancy--just Savoy cabbage leaves filled with quinoa that Mas had stir-fried with jalapenos and onions and chickpea cutlet strips that I had baked and tossed in a spicy sauce, all topped with leftover guacamole and green onions. The chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon are by far my favorite recipe of '07. They are extremely versatile and always tasty. They are amazingly good pan fried, but I usually bake them and then marinate them in a sauce (marinara, hot sauce, vegan ranch) so that I don't have to use so much oil. They are great alone, topped with gravy, on sandwiches, in wraps--pretty much anywhere. And I love how unbelievably easy they are to make. I know that every vegan on Earth has posted about them (including me), but they really are that great. I have to admit that I haven't made all that many recipes from Veganomicon yet--and I've had a few flops, but the book was worth the money for this recipe alone.

Recycled Rack

2008-04-25T07:27:00.005-06:00

Mason scored a pretty sweet bike rack for us yesterday. While they were installing a new one at work, he asked what they were going to do with the old one. They were just going to throw it in the dumpster! So, he asked if we could have it. It's a little big for the courtyard, but it's pretty awesome. People sure do love to throw perfectly useful things away.

Hummus Pizza

2008-04-23T19:33:00.004-06:00

This was our best cheeseless pizza ever! We always cheat and use Whole Foods pizza dough for the crust. This one was topped with leftover Vita-Mix Hummus, olive oil, roasted peppers, mushrooms, garlic and Penzey's Pizza Seasoning. So unbelievably good! I really need to learn to make a pizza dough that's as good as the Whole Foods dough, so if you have any suggestions for really great whole wheat crust recipes, definitely let me know. Their dough makes a perfect chewy crust and my so-so attempts just really haven't measured up.

My Dinner...

2008-04-15T18:56:00.003-06:00

So, you're trying to eat more veggies and whole foods when someone comes home from work with a freshly handmade almond waffle cone and a pint of your favorite soy ice cream*...what do you do? Uh, yeah. At least the the cone was all natural. Mas made it himself and I must say that it was perfectly crisp and delicious.

*Peanut Butter Zig Zag, what else?

Vegan Bubble Loaf

2008-04-14T08:23:00.006-06:00

I always loved bubble loaf as a child, but I haven't thought it about it in years--until yesterday when I decided that I had to have one. I don't buy frozen dough or biscuit rolls, so I went off searching for one made from scratch. I found several, but none of them seemed all that veganizable and I didn't want to risk an inedible finished product, so I came up with this kind of strange vegan bubble loaf "recipe" that's really a combination of a few different recipes for rolls, bubble loaf and coffee cake. Because there are so many different ways to make bubble loaf (a.k.a monkey bread, a.k.a. bubble bread, a.k.a. pull apart bread) and because I haven't had the real thing in years, I can't promise that this will taste exactly like the one you remember. But, it's close to what I remember and we both thought that it was tasty.

Vegan Bubble Loaf
5 c. white flour
3 T. sugar
1 tsp. salt
5 tsp. yeast
1.5 c. warm water
1 Ener-G "egg"
4 T. oil

3/4 c. melted Earth Balance
1 c. white sugar
3 T. cinnamon

Combine 2 cups of flour with the sugar, yeast and salt. Add water, "egg" and oil. It should be the consistency of an extra thick, wet batter. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 15-20 minutes. Add the remaining flour and knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth. My dough was pretty tough to knead after adding all of the flour.

Combine cinnamon and sugar and place in a shallow dish. Grease your bundt pan and set up an assembly line in this order: dough, EB, sugar mixture, pan. Pull off walnut sizes pieces of dough, knead once or twice, roll into a ball, dip into EB, roll in sugar until well covered and place in pan. You are going to do this, placing them loosely into the pan, until it is about 3/4 full.

When 3/4 full, cover the pan and let rise for 30 minutes in a warm place. Preheat oven to 400F. After the dough has risen to fill the pan, bake for 10 minutes at 400F. Reduce to 350F and bake for 15 minutes. The loaf should easily slide out of the pan immediately.

Because I was combining recipes, I had a hunk of dough leftover. I did some experimenting, so I'm not sure exactly how much to reduce the recipe to make the exact amount of dough needed for the loaf. The leftover dough can be used to make another tiny bubble loaf, dinner rolls (bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes after brushing the tops with EB) or, when rolled extremely thin and cooked in a skillet, they make tasty flour tortillas.

Please let me know if this recipe gives you any trouble. I didn't sit down to write it out until this morning, so hopefully it's coherent and complete.

Mason's Guacamole

2008-04-12T10:36:00.007-06:00

Mason doesn't cook all that often, but he has his specialties and they are all delicious. He's the designated pancake, sandwich and pizza maker--and anything grilled is his responsibility. He also makes the best salsa and guacamole ever! There have been some really good avocados at Fiesta this week, so we've taken advantage of them by having guac and chips with salsa for dinner twice so far (and we still have a huge bowl in the fridge for tonight).

Mason's Guac
6 medium Haas avocados
1 large or 3 small tomatillos
1 medium white onion
2 serrano peppers
10 mild seeded jalapenos
juice of 5 limes
salt and pepper to taste

Dice tomatillos, onions and peppers. Scoop flesh of all six avocados into a large bowl. Add lemon juice and salt. Mash with a potato masher until creamy. Add diced veg and mix well. Pepper to taste.

This makes a lot of guac! It would probably serve 8-10 people, but it will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days in an airtight container. I'm going to try freezing some to eat later--I'll let you know how it works.

Chewy Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

2008-04-09T18:41:00.007-06:00

I've been looking for a simple, chewy vegan oatmeal cookie for a while now with no luck. A lot of vegan oatmeal cookies tend toward the drier, "healthy" tasting variety of which I am not much of a fan. Today, by combining elements of several non-vegan recipes and subbing vegan ingredients, I finally found the (almost) perfect replacement for my old favorite chewy oatmeal cookies. The chocolate chips turned out to be completely unnecessary in this recipe, so feel free to ditch them.

Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. Earth Balance
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. white sugar
2 Ener-G "eggs"
2 t. vanilla
1 and 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. oats
1/2 c. chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F.
Cream Earth Balance and sugars. Whip Ener-G "eggs" until foamy and whip into creamed mixture with vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda and salt into bowl and mix until combined (try not to overmix). Stir in oats one cup at a time. Add chocolate chips, if desired.

Bake on parchment for 12 minutes. They may not look completely done, but be sure not to overcook or they will harden. I baked mine in fairly large mounds (maybe 2 T. each) to keep them soft and chewy.

Hey, Guess What

2008-04-07T16:27:00.002-06:00

I forgot to mention that April 1 marked one year of no eggs or dairy for our house. We didn't completely give up honey until a few months later, but I consider this our biggest vegan step and I'm so glad that we decided to do it.

Though last week was insanely busy, I did manage to attempt a new cookie recipe--and I could use some help with it. The chocolate chip cookie recipe from Please Don't Feed The Bears is one of the best tasting cookies that I've ever had. The problem is that they ran like crazy and basically ended up not even slightly resembling cookies. The recipe says that they spread out as they cook, but this was insane. I didn't get a photo, but just imagine a crazy, runny blob of cookie and that's exactly what they were. So, the result was kind of a failure, but dough and ugly cookies tasted so good! I followed the recipe with no changes, so I don't know if it's my oven, the recipe or some other, yet to be discovered factor. If anyone wants to give it a try, I'd love to see if they turn out for you. I'm definitely going to try them again at some point because the dough is too good to give up on.

Curly Jim's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c white sugar
2.25 c flour
1 c margarine
1 bag chocolate chips
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup applesauce
3 T peanut butter
1 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 325F. In a large bowl, mix the margarine, sugars, vanilla, applesauce and peanut butter until creamy. Then add the flour, salt and baking soda and mix. Finally, add the chocolate chips.

Place the dough in tablespoon-sized dollops on a baking tray. They will flatten and spread out as they cook. Bake 9-12 minutes, keeping an eye on them the whole time. The longer they bake, the harder they get. Cool on racks.

Put The Veg Back In Vegan

2008-04-06T09:36:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, we got a chance to see the very first screening of a new documentary called Food Fight. It's subject is California Cuisine and how it was the beginning of a food revolution that has really spread to all corners of America since. The film mainly focuses on the positive--lightly touching on the negative (like my mortal enemies, Monsanto), but mostly informing the viewers about the loss of flavor in food and what they can do to find it again. Because I've done a lot of research about food in the last few years, I didn't get a huge amount of new information, but this film did remind me that we have totally been slacking when it comes to the way that we eat. The problem is that it's just as easy to be lazy about food as a vegan than it is as a non-vegan when you have products like Tofurkey brats, flavored soy milk, ABC cookies, Primal Strips and various Asian soy meats at your immediate disposal. I love all of those products, but Food Fight made me realize that they have become much too common in our diet and have all but replaced some of the vegetables that we love. So, we decided that now was the perfect time to return to the foods that made us love being vegan in the first place. Spring in Texas is a pretty great time for produce, so we're going to start making a weekly trip to the Coppell or McKinney farmer's markets for fresh, local produce from grower's only. It's about 40 miles round trip, which seems like a lot to two people who rarely leave a five mile radius. But, if you compare it to the number of miles our produce (mostly Mexican) travels to get to the supermarket, it's a minute percentage. We kind of gave up on the Dallas market after finding nothing but dealers upon the last few visits, but a woman from Slow Food was at the Q & A and talked a little about how Slow Food Dallas was working with the Dallas farmer's market to promote more locally grown food. I'm excited to check it out and support the policy change. We're also going to be a lot more diligent about getting up early and walking over to the community garden for extremely local (3 blocks away) and fresh Asian vegetables. All of this seems to tie in nicely with Vegan Dad's post yesterday about being inspired to put the veg back in vegan. Our goal is to put the mostly organic, mostly local, fresh, tasty veg back in vegan.

Postless

2008-04-03T08:13:00.003-06:00

I know...no posts for over a week, but this time I have an excuse. This week is the AFI Dallas Film Festival and between volunteering and seeing tons of documentaries, I haven't had time to cook anything at all. We've mostly been surviving on sandwiches, banana chips, cookies and smoothies, but it's been worth it because we've seen some really amazing films.

Here's what we've seen so far:
a Mexican narrative feature called Bad Habits, which I highly recommend
and the docs Crawford, More Shoes, The Fat Man Walking, Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story, and the block of documentary shorts that included The Frozen City, Galleria, Farewell Packets of Ten, Movement and Kids + Money.

Vegan Nachos

2008-03-24T15:43:00.005-06:00

We made some pretty sweet nachos today. Mas dropped by Fiesta and bought some of our favorite tortilla chips on his way home from work. We whipped up this nacho sauce (based on this one from VegWeb) and cut up tomatoes, onions, olives, jalapenos and limes for toppings.

Vegan Nacho Sauce
1/2 block firm silken tofu
1 c. nutritional yeast
1/2 c. vegan mayo
2 tsp. cornstarch
2 T. tahini
1 T. yellow mustard
1/2 T. sriracha
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. black pepper
pinch of salt
1 c. unsweetened soy milk
1/2 package El Burrito Soyrizo

Add first 14 ingredients to Vita-Mix and blend well. Add soyrizo and pulse until combined. You can heat the sauce on the stove or in the microwave, stirring regularly. This makes enough sauce for 4 platters of the size above, so you may want to half the recipe. Eat these while drinking cold Mexican Cokes.

Edit: I just realized that I made it sound like I did my share of the work in making these--which is so not true. I feel like crap today, so Mas did almost everything by himself. Thanks, Mas!