NYE TV dinner

I envy people whose jobs shut down over the holidays. In corporate accounting, New Years Eve is always a frenzy of trying to get last minute things done before the books close for the year. Tonight was no exception, plus it was bitterly cold outside. When I finally got home, all I wanted to do was put on a bazillion layers of pajamas and watch Netflix. But alas, I'd made plans join 20,000 people to watch the "D Drop" OUTSIDE. Fortunately, it's only a few blocks from my apartment. Looks fun in theory:

photo from Detroit Unspun

To compromise with my whiny, introverted self, I made the most processed, bland, delicious meal ever: Gardein Turk'y Cutlets, Edward & Sons Chreesy instant mashed potatoes and canned peas:

This was the first time I'd made the turkey cutlets and they were pretty solid. The outside was really crispy and I liked the gravy. I think the taste and texture were a little off, but it's been a decade since I ate turkey, so I didn't mind. The potatoes were a drunk impulse buy. I don't think I've ever eaten instant mashed potatoes before, but these were pretty good. Maybe a little gummy, but the taste was solid. And I love canned peas. Now that I'm fed and warm, I suppose it's time to join the masses and welcome in a new year that will hopefully be even better (and more delicious!) than this one. Happy New Year!

Happy Christmahanakwanza!

Happy Holidays everyone! After decades of dreading the winter holiday season, I've been trying to embrace it. I'm constantly trying to buy/have less stuff, so I've been on the lookout for decorations that are upcycled, functional, and easy to store. I'm pretty happy with how my spread turned out this year:

First, the tree: Despite never owning a Christmas tree, I've received a lot of ornaments as gifts. Inspired by Pinterest a few years ago, I flipped over a tomato cage, put a rubber band around the top, and wrapped it with lights and garland. Then I hung on all the ornaments I had. Here are a few phone pictures from 2011 and 2013 to show the evolution (plus lots of cats). I also made that tree skirt out of some leftover fabric, but I didn't use it this year since the tree fit perfectly on my extra-deep windowsill (above).

Decorating with wrapped presents is another trick I picked up (fortunately, my cats don't mess with ribbon). Those giant curly bows? Every year I go through the Xmas morning wrapping-trash-mess and pull out all the ribbon, then condense it into giant bows to use the next year. My family makes fun of me, but it serves multiple purposes: (1) I can justify using a ton of ribbon to make really fluffy bows because otherwise it would go straight to the landfill, (2) I don't have to curl all the ribbon every year, (3) it saves money/waste. Oh, and that foam gingerbread house is from a kit for ages "3+". I made it with my sister while drinking wine and watching Death Comes to Pemberley. Maybe it was the wine, or the distraction of a murder mystery, but I'm a little embarrassed to admit how many times I messed up a craft meant for toddlers.

And now my favorite part - snowflake curtains!!! I just cut regular copy paper into squares, then folded it into sixths, embraced my inner second-grader and cut and cut and cut. It was pretty fun to see how crazy slivers of paper turned into elaborate snowflakes. Once they were all done, I smoothed them out with a dry iron, then glued them on clear jewelry cord (because I had a bunch, but fishing line would also work). Lastly, I tied the cord around tension rods and hung them up. Here's a work-in-progress pic:

I'm REALLY excited about how they turned out! I was a little worried about condensation, but they seem to be holding up well. I even had a few strands leftover, so I sent them to a a friend who now lives in Texas, in case she forgets how awesome snow is while she celebrates Xmas in her pool.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season!

Operation: New Years Resolutions

Like a lot of people, one of my New Year's resolutions was to eat better and exercise more. Also like a lot of people, that didn't happen. In fact, this has been my laziest and unhealthiest year in a long time. But hey, 2014 ain't over yet! There are six weeks left in this year and I plan to finish it at least a little ahead of where I started (from a health/weight perspective).

We all know that cooking at home is one of the best ways to eat healthier, so I pulled out my beloved copy of Appetite for Reduction and picked two recipes to make and portion out. First up: Miso Udon Stir-Fry with Greens and Beans. Almost all of the recipes in that book are supermarket friendly, but this one might have benefited from a trip to the health food store. I substituted black beans for azuki beans and brown rice stir fry noodles for brown rice udon noodles. The regular grocery store did have udon noodles, but in the spirit of healthy eating, I thought brown rice was a better choice. I also didn't have the full amount of miso the recipe called for.

My camera didn't want to focus on this, but here's what it looked like:

This is perhaps the first recipe from AFR that I haven't loved. I liked it enough to eat it and I'll eat the leftovers, but it was a bit bland and mushy. I take full responsibility for that, though. I think if I had used the right beans and noodles, and proper amounts of miso and sriracha, it would have been better. It still has a ton of veggies and was a huge pile of food for 410 calories, so I might try making it again.

Usurper Alert: Daiya Frozen Pizza

When Whole Foods opened a store in Midtown Detroit last year, the media went nuts. This fit perfectly into their narrative that there are no grocery stores in the city (disproven here) and that the city was completely abandoned and is now showing signs of rebirth (refuted here). In fact, there was already a health food store a half-mile away from the WF location. But, rant over. Any positive media attention is good for the city. Plus as a yuppie, I love a one-stop-shop for organic groceries, vegan prepared food, fresh flowers and wine. Geez, I can't believe how pretentious that sounds...

When I was there this weekend, I stopped by the frozen pizza section, planning to grab a Tofurky pepperoni pizza. They taste just like the cheap omni pizzas I grew up eating and I LOVE THEM. Much to my dismay, the Daiya pizzas had completely overtaken the freezer case. Rather than pout, I coughed up $10 for the Fire Roasted Vegetable variety.

Before:

After (also, after eating 1/3 of the frozen vegetables and cheese while waiting for the oven to heat up):

I was a bit skeptical about the gluten-free crust, but it was actually pretty good. Overall, the pizza was good with the right amount of cheese and flavorful sauce and veggies. This was more of the "gourmet" variety of frozen pizzas, which I always thought were pointless because they cost the same as a fresh (and much better tasting) pizza. For the price, I can get a deep-dish pizza from Buddy's which also comes loaded with Daiya. If these were ever on sale, I might buy a few for emergencies (i.e., after the bar), but I don't see this being a new diet staple.

Peanut butter + waffles = heaven

I was like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for Vegan Brunch to come out back in 2009. When I finally got my hands on a copy, I made at least half the recipes. I ate brunch food for breakfast, lunch and dinner for months. Then like most new toys, I just kind of forgot about it.

Fast forward to 2014... I wanted waffles for breakfast and leafed through the book to see what I had ingredients for in my nearly empty cupboards. Peanut butter waffles were the clear winner, even though I didn't have any peanut butter [because all PB that enters my home is immediately consumed]. I did have peanuts, and while I felt a little guilty running the Vitamix at 9 on a Sunday morning in my apartment, my desire for waffles overrode any feelings of neighborly courtesy. So armed with some freshly ground peanut butter, I got to work.

The batter was easy enough to throw together, and true to the instructions, very forgiving of my tendency to overmix. My waffle iron was a hand-me-down and came without instructions. After years of disappointment that my waffles never turned out right, I decided to check the internet for an instruction manual. Sure enough, I found it, and realized I'd been using too much batter all this time. And what do you know? These turned out great! I served them with some sliced apples, EB and maple syrup. They were great - not overly sweet, just the right mix of crunchy and tender, and a hearty way to start the day. Vegan Brunch FTW!

Happy Dark Season + a wreath

There are two seasons in my world: leaving work in daylight and leaving work in the dark. With the end of Daylight Savings this past weekend, I was abruptly pushed into the dark season. I know it's technically been fall for a while now, but now that MY season changed, I was finally inspired to make a fall wreath. I stopped by JoAnn to get some ideas and found their fall floral was 70% off (procrastinating DOES pay!). Unfortunately, it was almost all hideous, but I did mange to grab a few sprigs of yellow and orange berry/bud things for $0.89/each, plus a spool of burlap ribbon. I had some old dried wheat that had seen better days (it was turned into maracas during a dance party... don't ask) and a grapevine wreath already, so the whole thing cost $11. I didn't take any in-process pictures, but here's a basic overview of the process.

Step 1: Gather materials.

 Step 2: Recruit assistants.

Step 3: Insert decorations into wreath until it takes desired shape.

Step 4: Admire your handy work.

Unfortunately, there's not much natural light in my apartment hallway, so I can't get a good image of the colors. But I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially considering it cost $11 and took an hour. I really did just jam everything into the wreath in a circular pattern. For the bow, I loosely used this tutorial. I'm pretty proud of my ingenuity, because to make the bow you're supposed to use floral wire. I didn't have any, so instead I used a piece of the wire I'd cut off the sprigs of berries. It required pliers to bend it properly, but it worked!

MoFo Day 30: Carrot cake progress

Today is the last day of Vegan MoFo. I made a decent showing with 22 posts and I've really come to enjoy sitting down at my table to eat meals without distractions, so I'm happy. And I found a bunch of new blogs and really enjoyed reading the awesome, hilarious and informative posts the vegan blogosphere came up with this year.

Speaking of enjoyable meals, the GIANT piece of carrot cake I had for dinner tonight was great. I made it for dessert when my parents were over on Sunday and this was the last of it. I've eaten a lot of vegan carrot cake over the years, but this was my first attempt at making one. I've always read rave reviews of the recipe for Ginger Macadamia Coconut Carrot Cake from Vegan with a Vengeance. I never made it, though, because I have very specific ideas about what a carrot cake should be, and that doesn't include ginger, macadamia nuts, or coconut. While searching for a recipe, I realized I could just substitute walnuts for macadamia nuts and raisins for coconut and leave out the ginger. And it worked perfectly! I like a lot of "stuff" in my carrot cake and the recipe's proportions didn't disappoint. I also made the cream cheese frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which was good, but was I thought it tasted too much like sugar and not enough like cream cheese. This was definitely a step in the right direction, and maybe now I'll stop spending $5 on the Chicago Diner carrot cake slices every time I go to Whole Foods.

MoFo Day 29: Pumpkin mac

When I initially chose my MoFo theme this year, I was intending to have guests and cook for them much more often than actually happened. Realizing that, I invited my parents and sister over for dinner last night. I took zero pictures, but I did learn an important lesson - I need more entertaining practice, because having people over AND cooking is stressful!

I decided to make the Pumpkin Baked Ziti from Veganomicon because it's one of my favorite foods ever, it's omni-friendly, and can be prepared in advance. But instead of preparing it Sunday morning as planned, I went on an (awesome) kayak tour of the canals along the Detroit River, so I was scrambling to get it done as my family arrived. Regardless, it turned out amazing and all the omnis cleaned their plates. Seriously, if you haven't made this yet, do it! It's like macaroni and cheese, but 100 times better. And don't be worried about the huge pan it makes. You'll want to eat it all. I did ration a bit out for lunch today and it was just as good reheated. 

MoFo Day 27: Bagel Sandwich v2

In yesterday's post about my bagel sandwich, I had intended to mention that I'd been craving a "turkey swiss bagel" all week. Instead, the post turned into a love letter to Tofurky. (Incidentally, I'm rushing to post this because I'm heading to Seva, where I will likely order a club sandwich made with Tofurky). Anyway, while I was flying home from Vegas last weekend, Delta mentioned they had a turkey bagel sandwich for sale and it sounded SO GOOD. Not in a "I want to eat that" way, but in a "I wish it was Tofurky on that bagel" vegan-way. For a week, I thought about that sandwich, and when I finally made it to the grocery store yesterday, I got the fixins'. After my mediocre attempt yesterday, I researched what actually goes into a turkey bagel sandwich. I decided to try a hot version and this was 100 times better than what I had before:

Since I don't have a toaster (I have three kinds of blenders but not a toaster), I heated up a skillet with a little Earth Balance and grilled the cut sides of the bagel. I also threw on a stack of Tofurky slices and a Daiya provolone slice, and topped it with some dijon mustard. I mentioned yesterday that I thought the Daiya was too sweet, but it was much better melted.

MoFo Day 26: Bagel craving

Tofurky Deli Slices have always been among my favorite vegan 'novelty' foods. I vividly remember the first time I tried them - on a sandwich at Seva in Ann Arbor shortly after going vegan. It had Tofurky slices, roasted red peppers and Vegenaise on multigrain bread. (That was ten years ago. I wish I could remember useful information as well as I can remember meals.)

Over the years, I've made countless Tofurky sandwiches. My current favorite is Hickory Smoked Tofurky, avocado, tomato, sprouts and lettuce. That's a special occasion sandwich, though, because it's a lot of work. Seriously, there are so many steps in slicing an avocado! Plus tomatoes and rinsing lettuce? Ain't nobody got time for that. Today, I opted for a much easier version of Tofurky, Daiya provolone, Vegenaise and dijon mustard on a bagel. I tried the provolone once before and thought the flavor was too sweet. And surprise, I still thought it was too sweet. Next time I'll skip the cheese, but this was still a solid (super-processed, non-nutritious) sandwich.

MoFo Day 25: Mac and PEAS

Whenever I'm going on vacation, I try to leave an empty refrigerator. The downside is that I come home to an empty refrigerator, like this:

I'd forgotten about that Amy's mac and cheese in the freezer (otherwise I would have eaten it much sooner). I think mac and cheese tastes a million times better when peas are involved, so I added A LOT. On a plate, it looks like a fancy dinner:

MoFo Day 21: Back to the Grind

I returned home yesterday from my week-long trip to the southwest US. Coming back Saturday afternoon gave me a nice chance to ease back into normal life cuddle/nap with my cats for 36 hours. This is how I've spent most of my time since returning to Detroit:

I did take a break from cats and napping-with-cats to go to Wasabi in Midtown Detroit yesterday for dinner. I ordered the tofu dolsat bibimbab and it was delicious, as always. I took another cat-break today to sit at my table and eat leftovers for lunch.

MoFo Day 20: DONUTS DONUTS DONUTS!!!!!!!

The long awaited day has finally arrived. VEGAN DONUTS!!!! For those who don't know, Ronald's Donuts in Las Vegas is a regular mom-and-pop donut shop that happens to have mostly vegan donuts, and theirs are the real deal. I've tried a handful of other vegan donuts over the years, but they all tended to be of the "healthier" type. I like whole grain cookies and muffins, but when I want a donut, I want it to disintegrate in my mouth and leave grease marks in the box. Ronald's definitely delivered on both of those.

I was a bit overwhelmed by all my choices and anxious that I had to choose wisely because I wouldn't be back for a long time. I ended up with:

4 boston cream - my absolute favorite pregan donut, Ronald's was every bit as good as I remembered

2 apple fritters - a coworker used to bring these in every Friday and I would watch enviously as they were devoured. Ronald's were even better than I imagined those to be.

2 jelly - these were good, but the jelly was kind of viscous. Maybe all jelly donuts are like that?

2 sugared - a nice snack in-between donut binges

2 chocolate long johns - another in-between snack

I picked these up on the way to the airport at 5:30am. Let me tell you, these were totally worth all the comments and stares I got lugging a pink bakery box that smelled like donuts through the rental car return/shuttle, security, on a plane, through baggage claim and my apartment lobby. 

MoFo Day 19: Living the dream

Room service is one my favorite things about vacation. I know it's lazy and expensive, but the idea of having precooked food delivered to my bed is too tempting for me to pass up. After driving from Flagstaff to Las Vegas today, and a week of hiking, and an early flight tomorrow morning, going out for dinner just wasn't appealing. A quick scan through the in-room dining menu revealed pasta primavera and my plans for the evening were cemented.

This is a poorly-lit phone pic, but I think it covers all the essentials: pasta, bed and pajamas.

Of course, no trip to Las Vegas is complete without a stop at Ronald's Donuts. I'll be there when they open at 5am tomorrow to pick up a dozen (and probably three or four to eat in the car).

MoFo Day 18: BBQ Chicken Pizza (finally)

Years ago, I read a post (on Vegansaurus, I think, but I can't find it now) about all the great things about being vegan. It covered the basics (animals, environment, health), but also some of the unexpected life aspects. One point that struck me was the joy of finding vegan things and that "grocery shopping becomes a treasure hunt". To me, eating in general is a treasure hunt. Sure, sometimes that means finding a lot of empty treasure chests, but other times what you find was more than worth the trek.

As I've mentioned, my vacation food this week has been less than stellar, but that all changed tonight. A last minute change in plans led to a night in Flagstaff, Arizona. I checked Happy Cow and found Picazzo's Organic Italian Kitchen was a ten minute walk from my hotel. When I saw they had Daiya AND Beyond Meat chicken strips, in the form of a vegan BBQ chicken pizza, I was sold.

These phone pics don't even being to convey how beautiful and delicious this pizza was. It looks like Picazzo's has locations throughout Arizona. It was a bit pricey, but worth every penny.

MoFo Day 17: Best wrap ever

As I mentioned before, I'm currently on vacation in the southwest US. I haven't been keeping up with my MoFo posts because I did a poor job of planning ahead and the best meals I had all week were Goober PB&J sandwiches. For those who don't know, Goober is peanut butter and jelly in the same jar. I know, it's ridiculously lazy, but Goober has earned its place as a travel staple in my book. On multiple camping and bike touring trips, I've found myself in a small-town grocery store looking for meal options. A loaf of vegan wheat bread and a jar of Goober costs $7 and makes 10 sandwiches that will fuel any activity and won't spoil (I'm sure eventually they will, but not in the three day span I've ever carried Goober and bread in my bike panniers or suitcase).

Anyway, this post was not intended to be a love letter to Goober. Today I went hiking in the Grand Canyon. Afterward, we stopped at a coffee/deli stand at the visitors center. I looked in the "grab and go" sandwich case purely out of boredom, not because I thought I'd actually find a vegan sandwich. Much to my surprise, the case was full of veggie hummus wraps (likely because by 3pm, everyone had bought the meat ones). I was initially suspicious that a wrap of tortilla, hummus, carrot and lettuce could be good. But this was delicious! So delicious, in fact, that I scarfed it down before I thought to take a picture. So instead, I present you with a photo of trash.

And a picture of the Grand Canyon, as seen from halfway down the South Kaibab Trail: 

MoFo Day 13: Another sad veggie wrap

As I mentioned, I'm deviating from my MoFo theme since I'm on vacation. A friend and I flew into Las Vegas last night, then rented a car and got out of town as quickly as possible. We spent today hiking to Angels Landing in Zion National Park. Don't let the short distance fool you -- it was one of the most intense hikes of my life. See that narrow ridge behind me? That's part of the trail. As harrowing and exhausting as it was, it was totally worth every minute. 

On the way into the park, I noticed a brew pub just outside the gate. An hour into the hike, I decided nothing would feel better at the end than drinking a cold beer. Because this is Utah, we had to order food with the beer, so rather than go to the restaurant down the street that had delicious sounding tofu dishes, I ordered a veggie wrap. The wrap was about as good as you'd expect, by which I mean, not-good-even-after-five-hours-of-hiking. The saddest part? I didn't even drink half of that beer before leaving. Totally not worth it.

MoFo Day 12: On the road again

When I initially committed to MoFo this month, I knew I was going to be on vacation for a week in September. I had planned to backlog enough posts to keep up with my theme of sitting down to nice meals through the month. As with most things I ambitiously plan to do, that didn't happen. So instead, I bring you a vegan travelogue.

I had also ambitiously planned to pack in advance of my departure, but that didn't happen either. So after racing around like a crazy person, I was a bit frazzled by the time I got on the plane and hadn't had a chance to eat before the four-hour flight. I was pleasantly surprised to find a "tapas" snack box on the Delta in-flight menu. They even have symbols for vegan and vegetarian. This was vegetarian, but I figured I'd just give away anything that wasn't vegan. In a great stroke of luck, everything except the cookies was vegan. And I'd just inhaled their Biscoff cookies, which are better than any lemon cookies could possibly be.

Of course $9 is a bit steep for some hummus and pita chips, but it saved me from being annoyed at the world on a four-hour flight, and that's priceless.

MoFo Day 10: Cereal Defense

Breakfast today:

I realize a bowl of Raisin Bran and almond milk is a pretty lame MoFo post. BUT sitting down at the table to eat a bowl of cereal is a huge step for me. For my entire day-job-working life, I ate cereal in the car on my way to work. Yes, I know the dangers were clearly displayed in Reynolds vs. Reynolds: The Cereal Defense on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But Dennis didn't realize the secret is a Pyrex two-cup measuring cup. Easy to hold, hard to spill.

Since I started walking to work two months ago, it's been a huge adjustment for me to make five minutes in my morning routine to eat breakfast (because the only thing I love more than eating is sleeping). When I do eat breakfast at home, I've always set it on the counter and taken bites between picking out clothes, lint-rolling them (damn cats), and getting dressed. This morning was a major accomplishment, and it felt good to calm down for a few minutes and get ready for the day.

MoFo Day 9: More leftovers

I can't take much credit for preparing tonight's dinner. My sister cooked it over the weekend and I took home leftovers. She is a great cook, and fortunately a great person, so she always makes sure I have a delicious vegan option when she cooks. This was no exception - black bean tacos, Mexican rice, refried beans and pico de gallo. She fried the tacos, so they didn't have the same crispy exterior this time, but still a solid dinner. I put them on a plate, per my MoFo theme, and enjoyed my dinner.

MoFo Day 8: Vegan Coneys

If you visit Detroit as an omnivore, one thing at the top of every suggested itinerary is to sample the coney island hot dogs (aka "coneys") at American and Lafayette Coney Islands. People have a Coke-vs-Pepsi-type allegiance to the places. I was vegan before going to either, so my preference is American simply because they have salad AND fries, while Lafayette only has fries.

I realize my vegan version is blasphemous to die-hard coney fans, but I think it's amazing. If you want to recreate them, I have just one piece of advice for you: use the cheapest ingredients you can find. Whole wheat bakery buns and Amy's Chili don't work. You need supermarket-brand buns and Hormel vegetarian chili:

 

Procuring those ingredients is the hardest part. The chili is sometimes hard to find, but I did recently see it at the Detroit Meijer. Once you have the ingredients, you just heat up some vegan hotdogs (I used Lightlife because that's what Meijer had) and the chili, spoon the chili on the assembled hot dogs, and add some chopped onion and mustard. White onion is preferable, but I only had red. I also like a ton of mustard on mine. And because in a coney island, these would be served a fried side, I threw in some Ruffles chips.

I've served these to omni's in the past and always had good reviews. Saturday night, I made them for my omni boyfriend (a very romantic dinner) and he cleaned his plate. He actually told me to blog that he liked them, so I'll interpret that as approval.

MoFo Day 7: Impromptu Breakfast

When people ask me what I miss from my pregan days, the main thing I think of is "breakfast." Not breakfast food, because I've found veganized versions of everything I could want. By "breakfast," I mean the ability to go out for breakfast. Now I live within biking distance of a number of places with great vegan brunch options (PJ's Lagerhouse and Seva are my top picks), but going out while traveling or in the suburbs generally means hash browns and dry toast. I don't mind eating that, but I think it makes veganism look really sad to the people I'm with, especially as they scarf down their Grand Slam or eggs benedict and keep looking over guiltily to ask if I had enough to eat.

To restore balance to my vegan universe, I vowed to start cooking more breakfast food, especially when people (i.e., my boyfriend) spend the night. I hadn't planned ahead this morning, but I did have half a loaf of bread that had been in the refrigerator for two weeks. Fronch Toast from Vegan with a Vengeance is one of those awesome recipes that I always have ingredients for (just bread, almond milk, cornstarch and chickpea flour), and it's quick and easy and tastes better than I remember regular french toast tasting. With some Tofurky Tempeh Bacon and sliced pears, I had a delicious and fancy breakfast ready in ten minutes.

MoFo Day 6: Fancy Leftovers

In keeping with my MoFo theme, I ate restaurant leftovers on a plate for possibly the first time in my life. I would normally eat noodles like this straight out of the container while standing in front of the refrigerator, but MoFo is forcing me to be a civilized human, so I put the food on a plate, waited 60 seconds to warm it up in the microwave and ate at the table, even using my fancy chopsticks.

I went to Wasabi in Midtown for dinner on Wednesday. I was starving when I got there, so I inhaled a few gyoza and a Sapporo beer upon arrival. Once my blood sugar returned to normal and I was no longer hangry (hungry+angry) at the world, I tried the tofu yakisoba. I normally get sushi or a bibimbab, but I wanted some noodles, so I ventured out. It was good, and I think it actually tasted better as leftovers.

MoFo Day 5: Desperation cookies

Sadly, I LOVE peanut butter and will eat it by the spoonful, so I generally don't keep it in the house. I'd been craving PB cookies for a while and finally got desperate enough to not only make them, but to make peanut butter as well. I had some roasted peanuts in my cupboard, so with 1.5 cups of those + 60 seconds in the Vitamix, I was ready to bake.

My favorite PB cookie recipe (and believe me, I've tried a lot) is the Thin and Crispy Peanut Butter Cookies from Vegan Cookie Connoisseur (the recipe is visible on Google Books). The recipe says to refrigerate and slice the dough, but when I want cookies, I WANT cookies, so I always just roll them in balls and press them so I don't have to wait for the dough to chill. They sometimes turn into funny shapes, like this one with cat ears. Regardless of how it looked, it tasted delicious crumbled over vanilla ice cream.

Also, I know dessert is kind of a departure from my MoFo theme of sitting down to meals. But of all the things that I should eat without distractions, dessert has no other value than the taste, so I should concentrate and enjoy it.

MoFo Day 4: Kale - it's not just a garnish

Prior to going vegan, my only experience with kale was using it to cover the metal on the salad bar I worked at in high school. I don't think I even knew it was edible back then. The first time I ate it, at Om Cafe in Ferndale in spring 2005, I was blown away that it could taste so good.

I've never been able to replicate the steamed kale I had back then, but I did find a really good recipe base for a raw kale salad here. The proportions are way off in that link, but it's a delicious concoction that covers all the basic tastes - bitter (kale), sour (lemon juice), sweet (tomatoes), salty (miso) and umami (nutritional yeast). The idea is that you take kale, massage in some lemon juice and white miso (about 1/4 cup of each), add nutritional yeast (another 1/4 cup) and as many cherry tomatoes as you have. It tastes healthy, but in a "wow this is delicious. I'm so happy I'm eating it" kind of way. I threw in some baked tofu from AFR and sat down to a delicious MoFo dinner.

MoFo Day 3: BLTs - even better than the real thing

Bacon is the bane of my vegan existence. Not because I want to eat it, because I don't. But because of all the "what do you mean, you don't eat BACON???" and "OH MY GOD, how do you LIVE without BACON?" remarks I've heard over the decade I've been vegan. To be fair, when 19-year-old-me first decided to try veganism, I remember thinking "this will only last a few months. There's no way I can go the rest of my life without bacon." Much to my surprise, within a month, I had no desire to eat it. And within a year, I found the smell disgusting. I'd argue it's not bacon people love, but the smoky, salty, sweet flavor combination. I even argue (though no omnivores have ever agreed with me) that a BLT is just as good with tempeh as with bacon. The BLTs I grew up eating were bread, tangy mayo, lots of lettuce, and thick slices of garden tomatoes, plus maybe two pieces of bacon. The bacon just gave flavor, but it wasn't a huge part of the sandwich. So naturally, I don't even notice swapping out something that gives the same flavor (but is easier to bite and doesn't splatter animal fat all over the kitchen when I cook it). Here's all the ingredients, ready to become a delicious TbLT:

One of the myriad perks of living within walking distance of work is being able to come home for lunch. In keeping with my MoFo theme, I sat at the table and ate my lunch like a civilized person, rather than a cube-jockey at my desk, eating while staring at spreadsheets.

I made the mistake of grabbing an apple from my apartment lobby. It's September in Michigan. In a month, we'll have amazing apples everywhere. Sadly, this mealy thing was from New Zealand and I threw it away after eating two pieces. Yuck!

MoFo Day 2: Capellini Pomodoro (aka tomato noodles)

Tomatoes are my favorite thing about summer. When I opened my CSA basket and saw a bazillion, I was ecstatic. Then I saw the basil and imagined myself in a Tuscan paradise of (vegan) caprese salad, panzanella and margherita pizza. Sadly, I soon remembered that I'm lazy and didn't want to buy any more groceries, or make fresh mozzarella or pizza crust. So I used my stand-by noodles+grease+garlic recipe and made an approximation of Capellini Pomodoro (or cap-pom, as we called it at The Olive Garden during my brief stint as a waitress there. Lasagna will always be "lasa" and fettuccini alfredo will always be "fet-alf" to me.)

I just used what I had, which ended up being not nearly enough basil or garlic, and spaghetti instead of angel hair pasta. I mixed the pine nuts with some nutritional yeast and almonds in the food processor to attempt a parmesan-like topping. It somehow turned out more reminiscent of bread crumbs, but whatever.  Paired with a glass (or three) of wine, it made a quick, easy dinner after a ridiculously dumb day at work.

Apparently Bill-cat approves. He snuck a longing glance while being shooed off the table.