Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Weekend Wrap-up

This is Vegan YumYum's 'Sour Cream Banana Bundt Cake' with fresh peaches. I had everything except a bundt pan, so I used a jumbo muffin tin, reducing the bake time to about 25 minutes. I had it again the next day with kiwi, and imagine any fruit would be delectable on top it's so good - moist and delicately flavored. I highly recommend this recipe, especially if you have 3 bananas that need to be reincarnated, and you're in the mood for a yum-yummy treat.


Making more of Bryanna's 'Vegan Pork Tenderloin' from the Everyday Dish DVD, because we were out... again. We really dig this roast, and I seriously can't wait for her upcoming seitan e-book.
This time, I added 1/8 tsp ground chipotle chile and 1/4 tsp poultry seasoning, and will probably do the same next time. I have the Romertopf clay cooker #111, which I recommend because it is larger and you can double the recipe, cooking 2 roasts side by side, which is what I'll do next time...

We haven't had an outdoor grill for many years, and on a whim we picked one up. We christened the Smoky Joe with boca burgers, black bean burgers, Yves Dogs, and Vegan Pork Tenderloin. The verdict? The burgers were better than ever, and Art loved the hot dogs dipped in spicy mustard. We were disappointed that the Pork Tenderloin dried out too much. Is it because we didn't put bbq sauce on until the plate (we wanted to keep it clean). Any tips on grilling seitan? We had fun cooking outside, and next time I'm throwing on some veggies.

Going to The Berry Ranch has become a tradition for us. It's a cute farm nearby that grows raspberries, blackberries, sweet corn, pumpkins, and so much more including hanging petunia baskets you see in front of the barn.
This time, we bought a flat of blackberries and a "celebrating 15 years" Berry Ranch mug. Although Art and I haven't been visiting the ranch that many years, we have been married that many coming up next month.



A Yummy Salad: greens, fava beans, beets, fresh cut corn, vegan pork tenderloin seitan sauteed with teriyaki & pomegranate juice, red bell pepper, French cornichons, and tossed with 'Simple Cider Vinaigrette' from Vive.

This is how I prepared the fava beans fresh from the FM: 1. pull open along the seams and remove the beans. 2. drop in boiling, salted water for 30 seconds. Drain & drop in ice water. 3. slice the inner skin of each bean with a fingernail and pop out the beans.

Amey, of Vegan Eats & Treats was in town for a wedding, and we were thrilled to have her and Musty over for breakfast yesterday. I took some photos, and can't wait to share them next time. See you soon!

15 comments:

KleoPatra said...

Lucky Amey and Musty, how fun! Lookin' forward to seeing what you did and your breakfast, which i'm sure rocked.

The pork tenderloin (so funny to write that even tho i know it's veg!) looks AMAZING!! Sorry it got dried out on the BBQ. (love the little grill there, very nice with the different items on board.)Nice to put the pork in that salad with the vinaigrette. Yummy!

"if you have 3 bananas that need to be reincarnated" - heh! That Bundt cake looks positively bundt-iful.

Almost anniversary-time 'eh? Celebrating 15 years indeed!! That ranch is stunning with the flowers. There are so many colours it's almost hard to see your cuties in amongst them. Like "Where's Waldo" almost!

A clay cooker, 'eh? Hmmmmmm...

Teresa said...

A new grill!!! How, exciting. You should do some kabobs on it next. Their fun, easy, and taste good too!

I wish I lived on a berry farm. I think that I would never leave. Congrats on coming up to 15 years- a very long time.

The salad looks great and is so colorful- just the way I like it.

How fun to meet a fellow blogger. You are lucky to have met so many now!

Unknown said...

That looks like a nice filling salad! YUM!

Thanks for the doggy treat recipe. Jolie is so cute! That's so awesoem that she is a rescue dog. :)

laura k said...

Wow, that bundt cake! All your food looks so fresh and tasty. The Berry Ranch--that's too cute, and really sounds like a wonderful place. I'd love to visit! How wonderful that you got to meet Amey and Musty... can't wait to hear all about breakfast!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

what a cute bundt cake, haha. that's so nice that you were able to have Amey and Musty over as guests for breakfast!! how fun!

Anonymous said...

The bundt cake looks so lovely !
I'll go and take not of VYY's recipe :)

The farm, all those flowers, triple wow !

Sheree' said...

Hi, thanks for stopping by my blog. Yes, it was so cool to get together with Karen. I really enjoyed myself.

I am so wishing I had some bananas that needed to be reincarnated. This is one time I am wishing they would hurry up and get tooo ripe. lol

I need to get one of those clay cookers. I had one probably 20 years ago and thought why keep something I don't use. silly me! The pork tenderloin seitan roast looks great. I have made the "chicken cutlets" from Bryanna on the DVD and we love them.

Family traditions are what memories are made of. The Berry farm sounds like a wonderful place to be.

aTxVegn said...

Hi, Vicki! What a great post - all the food looks incredibly delicious. The last time I grilled seitan, I formed it into huge chik'n breast sized chunks then baked it. I marinated it in bbq sauce before grilling. So maybe bigger pieces would keep it from drying out. I just got a new grill and I didn't want to get mine dirty either!

Can't wait to see the pictures from Amey's visit.

Carrie™ said...

I really should get that Everyday Dish DVD. Pork tenderloin?! Do I need a clay baker for that? I've done ribz on the BBQ to try and give them a more smokey authentic flavour, but they burned to quickly. Maybe seitan isn't meant to be BBQ'd (or grilled as Americans seem to say).
I adore your previous post of the girls making dog cookies. I used to make Simon cookies all the time, but just fell out of the habit. He loved them! I should make my baby some cookies. I love the photo of Jolie. She's so cute and precious. HAPPY ANNIVERSAY JOLIE!!

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

Hi Carrie - you don't need a clay cooker to make the recipe. You could use a regular pan.

Thanks for dropping by with a comment, everybody! :)

Anonymous said...

great post!make me hungry!

still without computer here!

julie hasson said...

Vicki your food looks divine, as always!

It looks like you had a fun trip out to the Berry Ranch. I just went berry picking this morning. I can't seem to help myself this time of year ;-)

I'll have to give that banana cake a try.

Nabeel said...

the BBQ looks good, glad to see it is not over crowded .. some people just put soo much on the grill.

Julie said...

I wish we had a berry ranch near us! How fun :]

Where did you get your clay cooker? Someday I will get adventurous and try that roast...

I can't wait for lolo's book to come out-that banana cake looks so yummy.

vko said...

Looks like a fun cookout! And how lucky to have a berry ranch nearby- so yummy & good for you & so close...