Substantial Mix-n-Match Salad
Mango (Passion-less) Sorbet
Mushy Peas
Post-Race Protein Shake
Sticky Rice with Mango
Chocolate-Dipped Things
Baked Polenta Fries
Easy Apple Tarts
Orange-Soy Seitan Tenders with Polish Pimped Mashed Potatoes & red kale
This is the first photo taken with my new photo box I got for Christmas. I'm so excited that I can now take food photos at night!!
Starting at 12 and going clock-wise:
1. Steamed collard greens with fresh lemon
2. Black Eyed Peas cooked in the Crockpot with sweet onion, garlic, and serrano pepper
3. Vegan Orange Chicken in tangy orange sauce with fresh oranges
4. Mashed potatoes
Garnished with boiled gold beets and a cherry tomato.
It feels great to be back in So Cal! Yesterday, we rented bikes and cruised Venice Beach.
I wanted to check out the new vegan restaurant, Seed, but my family expired before I could find it. Next time. Anybody eaten there? But I have nothing to complain about, the food so far has been delicious and priced just right! Here's an unofficial guide to eating cheap in and around Hollywood!
I have been known to rave once or twice about the soul food served up at the Hollywood Farmer's Market Sunday mornings at Selma & Vine by A Taste of Life. As usual, Art and I shared the soul food dinner combo with kale, black-eyed peas, vegan pot roast and macaroni and cheeze. comes with cornbread. $12 -- For the price, you can't do better than this if you don't mind sitting on the sidewalk.
This is a new favorite routine of mine:
Go to How's Market, NoHo. Order tofu skewers from the service deli. Check the deli case, and if you're lucky, there will be inari sushi (basically rice inside tofu pouches). Go to the coffee counter and score yourself a Peet's Coffee. Settle at a table in front of the TV and enjoy the newspaper left behind. -- less than $10
I've been dying to try Vicious Dogs since Art discovered it and wrote his guest post.
The owner's name is Willy, and he boasts 4 varieties of vegan dogs. He magically transforms Yves hot dogs into something that looks like this (minus the giant bite). Mine had grilled onions & peppers, sweet & sour sauce, and chopped tomatoes for only $3.99
Abi enjoyed hers plain with ketchup. We sat out front watching the cranes across the street build a new theatre.
All is good here in California! We're looking forward to more adventures including Thanksgiving with family. Hope yours is full of happiness.
XO
Here's Marliece setting up the party in my home. I met her through a vegan meet-up group (click here to find/start a group), we got to talking, and I became interested in hosting one of her cooking shows.
We decided on a veganized version of the 'Chipotle Ck*n Cornbread Cups'
1 c. grated vegan cheddar cheese
1 c. cornmeal
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/4 c. Tofutti sour cream
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tbsp Chipotle Rub (PC item)
1 small red bell pepper, finely diced
1-2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 c. finely diced cooked ck*n (Morning Star Meal Starters Chik'n Strips)
1. Preheat *350. Combine cheez, cornmeal, sugar, 1 c. sour cream, flour and 1 tbsp. of the rub to form a thick batter.
2. Spray mini-muffin pan with nonstick spray. Divide batter evenly among the cups, and bake 15 minutes until golden brown.
3. Saute bell pepper. Add ck*n and remaining rub and heat through. Combine ck*n mixture, green onions, 1/4 c. sour cream in a small bowl.
4. Remove muffins from oven and quickly press tops to form cups. Cool. Divide ck*n mixture evenly among cups. Top with additional sour cream and sprinkle with cilantro if desired.
The party was fun, the food yummy, conversation casual, and check out this kitchen booty I received. . .
Mini Muffin Pan
Mini Tart Shaper
Season's Best Recipe Book
Prep Bowl Set
Food Chopper
Mini Loaf Stoneware Pan
Sweet Cinnamon & Chipotle Rub
all this for $28, which is less than the price of the chopper alone! Not bad, eh? :)
I have the opportunity to guest blog here for Vicki, I've been on the hunt for new vegan grub in the LA area. I have tried various veggie dogs in town, including Pink's on La Brea (they have a "Pat Morrison Vegan Dog"), and also Orean's in Pasadena (they have a good BBQ tofu dog), but NOBODY beats the vegan dog at this place I found. It's called Vicious Dogs, located in the NoHo Arts District on Lankershim Boulevard. They have several vegetarian or vegan style dogs, take your pick. I grilled the owner (pardon the bun) on whether the dogs were actually vegan.
Sure enough, they are! Yves, and he was kind enough to pull them out and prove it! He tosses them on a special section of the grill, and you can order them any way you want. I've tried several varieties, but the best one, and what seems to be most popular there with vegans, is the "Sweet and Spicy" vegan dog. Damn, it's so good I have to cuss about it! I usually order two of them, they are $4.00 each, it's got grilled onions, grilled peppers, sweet and spicy sauce, and a delicious soft bun with the jumbo Yves dog in there.
The onions and peppers are grilled in a pan with olive oil. I caught this photo just as he had tossed the stuff on the grill. You could smell it already. They report that the vegan dogs are one of the most popular (there is a large arts community in the area and we know that artsy people are often vegans). Well, you can have it anyway you want, so I'm thinking about coming up with my own variety and asking him to name it after me. He has an "Original Willy Style" which has a special chipolte sauce and other stuff, but I'd say my favorite is the sweet and spicy and that's going to be hard to beat.
Look at that puppy! It was so good, after taking the photos, I wolfed it down and then got another one to go! You can call in your orders and each dog is made specially and ready to eat when you get there. Or, do like me, and order the dog there and talk smack with the owner, which is more fun, and probably why it's called Vicious Dogs. The difference here is that the vegan dog is cooked perfectly on the grill, as opposed to boiled or microwaved. We've tried the Foreman grill at home and it's okay, but nothing like this. So let me know what you'd put on a special vegan dog and maybe I'll get one named after me?
She's doing a 21 day cleanse, which is vegan, sugar-free, caffeine-free, alcohol-free, and wheat-free. What's left?! Find out on Oprah's blog where she shares her menus and a few recipes. Oprah says, "How can you say you're trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?" Oprah is recognizing that conscious eating goes far beyond calorie counting, and in the process could become a "Skinny Bitch!" More importantly, conscious eating is about this, this, this, and even that is just the tip of the (melting) iceberg. Hey Oprah, have your chef make "Chickpea Cutlets" from Veganomicon, goes well with a green salad, and risotto topped beet circles. Do you think Oprah will stick with it?
How about her Chef? His name is Tal Ronnen, and he's worked Sublime in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Candle 79 in New York City and Madeleine Bistro in Los Angeles. He assisted rocker Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders in opening her restaurant, VegiTerranean in Akron, Ohio. He is also the founder of Veg advantage, a non-profit dedicated to helping other chefs offer vegan selections on their menus. That's quite a resume, and wouldn't it be nice to have him cooking?! For dessert, Oprah might like Apple pie from The Joy of Vegan Baking.
After reading about Julie's sausages, I wanted to make them right away! Deciding to do without a store-run for the exact ingredients, I tried to get as close as I could to the recipe using what I had.
Btw: If you're like me, and enjoy cooking shows, you'll definately want to see all of Julie's cooking videos. Bonus! She gives you the recipes, too! What could be better? Well, she makes it fun, too. :)
Chefs in training mixing the dry ingredients:
vital wheat gluten
nutritional yeast flakes
chickpea flour
onion powder
coarsely fresh ground pepper
ground paprika
salt
ground allspice
2 Tbsp poultry seasoning (to make up for the spices I didn't have)
When mixed with the wet ingredents:
Better than Bouillon veg base (to make up for not having Bill's Best)
cool water
garlic
olive oil
soy sauce
the mixture comes together really fast, and it's easy to work with.
Here I am just before rolling the last of 7 sausage logs. Scoop up dough with a measuring cup, and form into logs. I was surprised that the dough wasn't very sticky at all, and quite easy to manipulate.
A unique aspect of this recipe is that you steam the sausages!
Our tamale steamer worked great, as usual, for these kinds of steaming projects. I was able to fit 5 sausages along the bottom, with 2 stacked on top. I do wish it had another shelf as Julie described hers.
After they cooled at room temperature, I removed the tin foil, and stored them in an air-tight container in the fridge.
Don't they look great?
The spices are on spot. No overwhelming flavor, ready to take on your unique spice preference.
Later that afternoon, I served them with pita chips and stone ground mustard. It was a delicious snack for Art and I.
The girls were curious, especially after all the cooking excitement earlier, but neither were brave enough to try it. One of these days, I think they will try it, and I think they'll like it, too.
Again later that evening, Art was mixing us cranberry & vodkas (so rare an event, the bottle is literally over 10 years old, so I took a photo!) and decided that called for cutting another log!! Yes, we are exciting married people.
Next, we plan to sautee it in teriyaki for rolls, or for a tofu scramble, or soup topper. We have some thoughts on the next round of spices, to add other sauces to experiment because the possibilities are endless!
We really enjoyed this meal yesterday!
Bryanna's 'Vegan Pork Tenderloin' tops steamed organic Collard Greens. Beside that is Robin Robertson's 'Skillet Cornbread' surrounded by tomatoes from a friend's bountiful garden. I prefer collards with a little Earth Balance, sea salt, and a big squeeze of lemon juice.
You need to make the 'Vegan Pork Tenderloin' the day or more before. Plan ahead, it takes well over 4 hours from start to finish, and then, it's best after being in the fridge overnight. It's a great thing to do while laundry is going, and it's really quite fun and easy. Here I'm forming the dough to place in my Romertopf clay cooker with the cooking broth waiting to be poured on. I've printed out the recipes from the Everyday Dish DVD, and keep them in a file folder.
This is our favorite faux meat recipe. Just look at how nicely it slices, and it tastes great. When we eat packaged faux meat products at home, it's usually because we're out of this. This time, I used bbq sauce instead of ketchup in the basting broth, and Art used the same sauce to saute it in on the stove.
On my quest to find more recipes like this, I emailed Bryanna, and found out she is working on a seitan e-book. I can't wait for it to be available! 
The 'Skillet Cornbread' recipe is in this month's VegNews (p. 63). The article convinced me to break out our cast iron skillet, but first I needed to season it:
1. Scour thoroughly with hot water and soap; dry
2. Coat with cooking oil (vegetable works well)
3. Heat in 300* oven for an hour
4. Remove excess oil after cooled
We really enjoyed the cornbread! Art says it's possibly the best he's eaten. It was crusty outside & soft inside. I think using a cast iron skillet makes all the difference.
After being away for a while, we wanted to spend the long weekend close to home.
We started the weekend by going to the Farmer's Market. It was the biggest FM of the year (doubling in size) and lasted 2 days (doubling in duration). There were two stages for performers and an extra street was blocked to accommodate more vendors. Lots of people came out for the City Harvest and to support local farmers and artisans.
I took home apples, peaches and green beans.
Abi & I enjoyed sharing a couple Honey Crisp apples. Art took a look at us and wanted to know what all the crunching was about, and ate one also. These are THE BEST apples. They are super crisp, juicy, and perfectly tart. But the lady who grows them says they aren't the best for cooking.
We were invited to a BBQ, and that morning, Wendy called to ask if tofu would be a good sub for hamburger. There was a recipe in the newspaper (article by Jim Romanoff) for burgers, and she wanted to make them vegan for the party. I steered her in the direction of LightLife, which is what she did. Here they are all prepped for Fred to grill.
Art and I were touched and impressed that she served these. They were super tasty! Wasn't this so thoughtful & generous?!
'Smokey "beef" and Black Bean Burgers'
1 tsp. canola oil
1 sm. yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. ground chipotle pepper
3/4 c. canned black beans, rinsed & drained
2 slices firm ww bread, torn in small pieces
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 package Litelife "Smart ground"
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
Heat the oil in a small nonstick skillet over med. heat. Add onions and saute until softened. Add the garlic, cumin, & chipotle and saute 1 min. Transfer to a dish to cool.
In a med. bowl, combine the beans, bread and tomato paste. Use potato masher or fork to mash them into a rough paste. Add the Smart ground, cilantro, salt, pepper and the onion mixture. Mix thoroughly, then shape into four 3/4-inch thick patties.
Grill the burgers on a well-oiled rack. I chose a sesame seed bun and added avocado, lettuce, mustard, & sriracha. Served with that was the sweetest corn on the cob, and Fred's insalata caprese. We all enjoyed some laughs in the backyard while the kids played.
We picked up an electric ice-cream maker at a garage sale earlier this summer for $5, and I tried it out today. On page 284 of this cookbook is 'Chocolate Sorbet' and the description fits, "a rich, chocolaty frozen dessert, with a texture between that of sorbet and ice cream."
3 first time events for me: first time making home made ice cream, first recipe I've made from this cookbook, and first time making cashew milk.
I'm happy to report that it was a big success all the way around. The sorbet is delicious -- perfect texture and the flavor is major chocolately with a touch of espresso. My daughter went to bed asking if she could have more tomorrow. And, I'm ready to try another Voluptuous Vegan recipe, like the 'Coconut Sorbet' or any of the many other recipes that caught my eye.
I admit to being a delinquent blogger lately, and I miss your inspiring blogs. But vacation has a way of picking up my momentum. I'll be back with that next time.
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!
