The Urban Vegan is yet another one of those books I bought, flagged 50% of the recipes in, and never opened again. I chose the Granada Paella for MoFo, mostly because I had some old Arborio rice I wanted to use up. Personally, I find some of the recipe intros in this book to be a bit annoying. She's always talking about how hip she is and all the places she's traveled. Ironically, the first (and only) time I had paella was at a Spanish restaurant in Paris. I was also excited to use my Iranian saffron I smuggled back from Turkey. So yeah, I'm just as snobby.
The recipe called for vegetarian chorizo, specifically Trader Joe's if possible. I've never been a big TJ's fan, but I live two miles away from one, so I figured it was worth a try. Of course, they didn't have soyrizo. I know I've seen the Yves brand lots of times, so I trekked to Kroger and then two health food stores. And none of them had it! I did find Mexican Chipotle Field Roast, which I kind of slice-shredded and it worked out fine.
Paella is much easier to make than I was expecting. You just saute garlic, red pepper and the sausage, then add rice, broth, chopped tomato and peas with seasonings and let simmer for 15 minutes. I don't have a lid for my giant skillet (or a paella pan), so I improvised with a cookie sheet. Don't judge, it worked!
This was delicious! I left the rice a bit al dente and it was the perfect combination of textures. The sausage added the right amount of spice. It was a great dinner for an Arrested Development marathon on a cool fall night.
The leftovers were great in the microwave and very portable. I'll definitely be adding this to my repotiore.
You know those people who go on raw diets or juice cleanses and talk about how much energy they have and how clear their skin gets and how happy they are? Well, I’m not one of them. I ate entirely raw for three weeks last year and while I lost 10 pounds and learned some new recipes, I didn’t feel any better than usual. (Plus, I passed out giving blood, so I took that as a sign from my body that it wanted bread.) Then earlier this year, I went on a 3-day juice cleanse from Pure BDY. Again, I felt the same, except hungrier and whinier. While I’ve learned that neither of those diets are right for me, I know that I need to eat more raw foods. That’s why I’ve kept Raw Food Cleanse, despite swearing off juicing. I figured I would try "THE Green Smoothie", since they seem to be a hot topic for MoFo this year.
The drink is spinach (or kale), frozen berries, chia seeds, coconut oil and almond milk (or water). I used Silk Almond Milk which probably defeats the benefits of the smoothie with its carrageenan and whatever else, but before coffee I can barely operate the blender, let alone strain fresh nut milk. (The operating the blender thing is not a metaphor – this morning I truly moved my blender to three outlets trying to get it to turn on before I realized I was flipping the high/low switch not the power switch.)
After the technical difficulties were resolved, the Vitamix tore through this in no time and I didn’t even need the tamper. Man I love that thing! I poured it into a cup and was out the door.
Upon my first sip, my reaction was “tastes like spinach.” After a few more sips, though, I was used to it and it was fine. I guess it’s more efficient to drink it, but I’d rather eat blueberries and raw spinach with a glass of almond milk.
When I turned 25, I had a minor quarter-life crisis. I made a list of 30 fun/interesting/epic things I wanted to do before I turned 30. I’m 67% of the way to my 30th birthday (from 25) and I’m right on pace, having done 20 things (including Tough Mudder, going to India, climbing Wheeler Peak, a 21 day raw cleanse, camping in the UP in January). In the next year, I’m planning a trip to China, walking across the Grand Canyon, the One Day [bike] Ride Across Michigan, a weekend in Montreal and hopefully a few other things. One thing I initially put on the list was to make every recipe in Veganomicon. I’ve made pretty good progress so far, making about 100 recipes to date. I’ve only disliked two of them, one due to flavor preference, and one because I deviated too far from the recipe. V'con truly lives up to its subtitle of “The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.” It has recipes for every occasion and menu suggestions (a necessity for a great cookbook, IMO). For MoFo, I chose the Tofu Florentine from the brunch section. I love vegan benedicts, much more than omni versions because they don’t have slimy poached eggs.
(Not pictured: tofu and English muffins)
The recipe calls for broiled tofu, a cheesy (nutritional yeast) sauce, steamed spinach, fried potatoes and a tomato garnish. I used the alternate suggestion of English muffins instead of potatoes, mostly so I didn’t have to cook them, but also because I like having the bread in there. I also halved the recipe for the sauce because I was low on nutritional yeast (I know, vegan faux pas). Well, I attempted to halve it, but accidentally added the full amount of mustard. It didn't ruin it, but the mustard taste was a bit overpowering. That's my fault, though, not the recipe's.
I invariably run late every morning, so it’s too time consuming for me to put it all together for breakfast. Plus, it would be difficult to eat in the car (yep, I’m that person). I packed it all up to take to work and eat for lunch during the week.
Update: Here it is, lookin' fancy on a paper plate in front of my keyboard:
This was really good. Not quite as good as the Tofu Renedict at Bouldin Creek Cafe in Austin, but still solid. I'm sure it would have been even better with the full amount of correctly-made sauce.
Cupcakes might not be as trendy as they once were, but I still think they’re adorable. Since her birthday was Saturday, I had my sister go through Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and pick out which kind she wanted. She chose S’mores Cupcakes, which was great because I serendipitously had all the ingredients on hand.
The cupcakes are made with brown sugar and molasses and have graham cracker crumbs mixed in. Then they're topped with vanilla buttercream frosting. Despite how desperately I wanted one, I rarely use my KitchenAid stand mixer. I hate having to always stop the mixer and reach around the attachment to scrape the bowl, plus the bowl is so deep that I have a hard time reaching the bottom (#firstworldproblems). I generally find it easier just to use a hand mixer, but I do love it for making bread and frosting. I wanted to make these at least partially resemble the adorable picture in the book, so I brought out my trusty Wilton frosting bags and 1M tip for decorating.
After piping the frosting and topping with graham cracker crumbs and shaved dark chocolate, they were actually looking pretty cute. I left one for my ever-patient roommate who never complains about me taking up 90% of the kitchen cupboard space or having boxes all over the dining room and office despite moving in over a month ago.
Pardon the phone pic, and the frosting which settled a bit on the 35 mile drive, but here they are ready for my sister:
These got rave reviews from my omni family. The cupcakes were very moist, and had a very 'fall' flavor of molasses and cinnamon. And my sister took the leftovers home, so I don't even have to eat 6 cupcakes in the next few days. Happy Birthday Buster!
I've been very delinquent in my MoFo postings this week. I've just been super-busy, both at work and outside of it, so I ate leftovers and didn't cook anything. That will be changing tomorrow, though. In the meantime, I bring you cat pics because the internet + vegan food = cats.
And a video of one of my favorite bands singing one of my favorite songs. I was fortunate enough to meet them at Wheatland Music Festival a few weeks ago and see them perform twice, both times from the edge of the stage. They are so great live and so much fun to see. I strongly recommend checking them out!
[I accidentally deleted the pics of this dish from my camera.... oops!]
Years ago, I was milling around Borders (RIP) and found Appetizers, Finger Food, Buffets and Parties for $5. It's a huge book with pictures of every recipe and it's reasonably veg-friendly. Since it's the same price as a magazine, it was definitely worth the cost just to look at all the pretty plating. My sister made a few very simple recipes (salsamole and caprese sandwich skewers) that she liked, but in 5 years, I've never cooked out of it. Perhaps that's a good thing, because the Avocado Tabbouleh Wraps I made were so bland I didn't finish them, and I like bland food and hate wasting anything.
They're exactly what they sound like... very plain tabbouleh and some mashed avocado in a tortilla. My first clue that this wasn't tested/edited should have been that the recipe said it made 6 servings but only called for 4 tortillas. And they were served like wraps, not cut into cute slices or something. Even after sitting for 6 hours, the tabbouleh was still really bland. It only called for 2T each of parsley and mint, for 1 cup of uncooked bulgur. One great thing about metro Detroit is that there are as many falafel shops as McDonalds due to the large Middle Eastern population. I have a pretty good idea of how tabbouleh should look and taste, and this wasn't happening. I added a lot more herbs and lemon juice and it got a little better, but still not great. The "avocado" part was mashed up avocado with lemon juice and red onion. That can't NOT taste good, but it wasn't delicious enough to mask the wheat tortilla and wheat salad. I threw away half the tabbouleh because there was too much and it wasn't good enough to eat on its own. I ate wraps twice at work, but only because I was too busy to step away from my desk long enough to even go downstairs to grab something.
While they weren't inedible, they were definitely not enjoyable. Sad day for MoFo :(
[I accidentally deleted the pics of this dish from my camera.... oops!]
The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur is one of those beautiful books that I immediately fell in love with and bought without considering whether I’d actually use it. I love the classic peanut butter cookies, and my sister got rave reviews on the biscotti she made last Christmas, but otherwise I never look at it. I guess I’m a cookie purist and most of the recipes are inventive. Also, I have no self-control and if I bake a batch of cookies, I will eat all of them immediately, so I try to avoid random baking.
I was looking for a dessert to take to my parents’ house for dinner and my MoFo cookbook options are dwindling. I had some butterscotch chips and coconut in my pantry and thought the Seven Layer Bars would be a good option. Keebler and Nabisco both make vegan graham crackers and I’ve never had a problem finding them. The universe conspired against me today, though, because I went to four grocery stores looking for them (Detroit Meijer, Hazel Park Kroger, Ferndale Foods, and finally Western Market in Ferndale). Western Market is the place I would least expect as it’s a small, gourmet market, but they had BOTH Keebler and Nabisco. When it rains, it pours, right?
The recipe has you make a graham cracker crust and top it with chocolate chips. Then you make a caramel to top the chocolate. I way overcooked my caramel. The recipe could have been more specific about cooking time and method, but I should have researched “soft ball” stage before my first candy-making attempt. By the time I took it off the stove, it had reduced a lot and didn’t spread in the pan. I poured the glob in the middle of the pan and tried spreading it, which melted the chocolate and made a mess. I soldiered on and added the coconut, butterscotch chips, and nuts and attempted to press them into the thick chocolate-caramel glob in the middle of the pan.
I served it for dessert with ice cream and it was good, but really sweet. There wasn’t much added sugar – just 3T of agave in the crust and 1/3 cup of brown sugar in the caramel. I would definitely omit the agave from the crust next time. About 50% of the coconut, butterscotch chips and nuts fell off between serving and consuming, but that was because of my caramel mistake, not the recipe. I prefer the Magical Coconut Bars in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, but these are more like traditional 7 layer bars, if that's what you're going for.
