crack the plates

Happy February! Do you love or loathe v-day? I’m pretty indifferent about the sentiment – I shower my Nate with affection year ’round, not just on the 14th – but I adore all the treats. One helpful thing about having been vegan for years is that I’ve been able to try a wide variety… and sporting a sweet tooth that just won’t quit, I have plenty in the off-season, too. Whether you’re buying for your vegan sweetie or just want to give cruelty-free this year, here are my tried-and-true picks for 2012:

Lagusta’s Luscious

Lagusta’s Luscious chocolates are heartbreakingly delicious and painstakingly made by hand with truly artisanal ingredients. Founded in 2003 by a passionate vegan chef, Lagusta’s Luscious artisanal chocolates combine a deep commitment to social justice, environmentalism and animal rights with the love of bold flavor of a true foodie and the obsessive commitment to artisan techniques of a chocolatier. We work closely with small farmers and producers in our beloved town of New Paltz, New York and across the country to source everything from our Maui vanilla beans (from a tiny two-acre vanilla farm) to the candy-striped beets grown by Farmer Jessica less than a mile away. From our 100% fair trade and organic chocolate to our 100% post-consumer recycled paper boxes and packing materials, we are a completely vegan business committed to sustainability without sacrifice. (from the website)

Now, from me: Lagusta is my hero. I fell in love with her tellin’-it-as-it-is style at her personal blog - found while searching for a vegan’s account of Alinea dining – and I stayed for the food. If you’ve hung around Crack the Plates for a while you know she inspired my own meal delivery, after running a successful one in New York for nine years. Now she devotes herself to the chocolate shop full-time. I don’t know how she manages it, but everything she does is perfect. Perfect. That said, her truffle flavors tend to be a bit more mature than you might be used to - beet-coriander, anyone? Sea salt seaweed shiitake? The best place to buy for the sophisticated eaters in your life, she’s also got plenty of the less-adventurous, including peppermint patties, peanut butter cups, and a pomegranate and lemon gift box. You simply can’t go wrong.

For valentine’s, she’s gifted the world with “a six-inch two-piece heart box made entirely of delicious edible semisweet chocolate is filled with nine artisanal treats, then carefully sealed with chocolate ‘glue,’ wrapped in a compostable vegetable cellulose bag and tied with a gorgeous red ribbon made from compostable vegetable fiber. Each heart is filled with two Cashew Rosewater Cream “Love” Hearts, two White Chocolate Strawberry Hearts, one Large Stone ground Cinnamon Solid Heart with cardinals with hand-painted red wings (painted with beet-derived tinted cocoa butter), one Intense Anatomical Heart with black salt, cacao nibs, coffee beans, and dried cherries, one Butterscotch Caramel wrapped in red damask paper, and Two tiny Blue Birds of Happiness—solid 60% chocolate hand-painted with blue and green wings.” $35. (Link)

Desiderio Chocolates

I was introduced to Vanessa Dione’s creations via head Vegansaur Laura’s late-2011 freak-out over Gourmellows. Gourmellows are half-marshmallow, half-truffle, all deliciousness, as Dione puts it. I totally agree, but I fell in love with the Nougatissimo. Her Gourmellows are a treat anyone could love, but the crunchy, fresh, abundant almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts bound in not-too-sweet-or-sticky vegan nougat (with the option of chocolate-covered) reduced me to a puddle. (Note to all my friends: giving me choco Nougatissimo earns you a permanent +1000. :-)) The caramels (Caramella) are also scrumptious. I recommend the vegan sampler so you can try everything and decide for yourself! At $7.50, it’s a steal! (etsy shop; her website: vegan line and inspiration.)

Sjaak’s Organic Chocolates

Based in Petaluma, California, Sjaak’s mission is to create the highest quality gourmet organic chocolates possible while simultaneously supporting a positive work environment, fair trade practices and encouraging sustainable agriculture through the use of organic, non-GMO ingredients. It is also the goal of Sjaak’s Organic Chocolates to build a socially responsible, profitable business that can be carried on for generations to come. (from the website). I’ve been happily eating Sjaak’s for years. Omnivores and dairy fiends who’ve been blessed with sampler boxes have loved every bite. Some of your v-day options include: organic raspberry bites, vegan “milk” chocolate nuts & chews valentine’s box, a giant tub – about 110 pieces – of solid fair-trade chocolate hearts, limited edition hearts of cherry box, individual hearts of cherry, nuts & chews in a limited edition handmade box, limited edition Birdie box, and the dark chocolate lavender truffles in a beautiful box. My favorites are the organic fair-trade European assortment ($9.95 for 9 pieces) and the English Toffee ($9.95/bag).

Note: If items are sold out on Sjaak’s website, look for them at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe, Food Fight! or another online vegan store.

What I Got for Myself: Spencer’s Market Be My Vegan Valentine Deal

I’ll be doing an entire post on my favorite Spencer’s Market soon, but the quick version is that it’s a private vegan weekly deals site offering limited quantities of small-batch vegan products at up to 70% off. Signing up is a breeze: Do so here. They just ask for your name and e-mail address and only e-mail you when new deals are out (once a week). Alas, the Vegan Valentine deal sold-out fast – but you can still get Obsessive Confection Disorder’s treats here. OR you can pick up the current Spencer’s deal – Green Tara Spirulina treats – and tell your healthy sweetie you want them around for a long, long time.

Sweet and Sara Vegan Marshmallows

Sweet and Sara vegan marshmallows are delicious! They’ve got all the gentle yielding puffy meltable sweetness of a “regular” marshmallow without all the total abhorrent yuckiness of gelatin. Despite their being made “from real strawberries”, the strawberry marshies are, in my experience, very delicately sweet and not very berry – they actually remind me more of pink cotton candy in the best possible way! This year they’re offering a beautiful chocolate-dipped strawberry marshmallow heart at $3.50 per piece.

Thoughtful Valentine Treats for a Crowd: Equal Exchange Kits

For office, classroom, and beyond, the “My Fair Valentine” kit from Equal Exchange chocolates is the perfect way to share v-day treats with a lot of friends. For $9.99 you get a kit of 24 mini chocolates and 24 cards with cute illustrations and fair-trade information. Spread awareness and love at the same time for a totally reasonable price. I’m kind of a loner these days, but if I worked in an office/was still a student, I’d definitely be snatching up several of these kits. It can be hard to just start talking to someone about the importance of fair-trade – especially if you don’t know them very well – but these precious kits make breaking the ice a breeze.

Unsweetened options

I’ve been drinking the “chocolate-covered strawberry” Valentines Tea from Adagio Teas since college. For Valentine’s this year they’re offering the Love Petals teas. Noting that they contain cream and chocolate flavors, I e-mailed the company to find out if they’re vegan. Fifteen minutes later I received a reply: ”None of our flavors contain dairy, and the chocolate chip pieces in our flavored teas are vegan as well.” Hooray!

Ways to give and give!

My dear best pal Jenny runs a small vegan baking and savory food business in Chicago called The Mixing Bowl Bakery. This Valentine’s day she’s offering cupcakes, chocolate-covered strawberries, frosted cookies, and oreo truffles at ridiculously low prices. (Think a dozen cookies for $14 and four giant chocolate-dipped strawberries for $5. Yeah.) The first two are local only (delivery and pick-up) and the last two are shippable. Ten percent of the proceeds from her valentine’s sales will go to Chicago-based Mercy for Animals.

I’ve noticed that lots of no-kill shelters and animal advocacy groups do special Valentine’s events, either by reducing the cost of adoption or simply highlighting potential future friends. Even if they don’t advertise anything, if you’re ready to adopt a friend, ASK! And if your house is full-up, it is always a good idea to donate to an animal advocacy group like Mercy for Animals (not PETA!) or a no-kill shelter. I am proudly 100% against buying animals while homeless pets are left to suffer and die. (Even if you have an allergy or feel you need to get a “special breed” there are plenty of single-breed rescues if you’re willing to do a little bit of work.) Further, non-profits like MFA and your local shelters rely almost entirely on donations for their operating costs. Every little bit counts! If you’re in Atlanta, I recommend PAWS no-kill shelter or my friend Elizabeth, who runs the wildlife rehabilitation center (specializing in raccoons) Tails from the Hart (current buddies-in-residence featured above).

for do-it-yourself folks!

I recommend the following cookbooks for making treats for your sweet: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, Vegan Pie in the Sky; Vegan With a Vengeance (Nate requests the chocolate raspberry thumbprint as his vegan v-day gift); Vegan Brunch – the best way to start the day; More Great-Good Dairy Free Desserts by Fran Costigan; Ani Phyo’s Ani’s Raw Food Desserts (the chocolate fudge cake pictured here will blow your mind); Sinfully Vegan by Lois Dieterly.

The final weeks of 2011 were good ones for the meal delivery. I aimed to show my enthusiasm and gratitude for my loyal clientele by putting together some prettier-than-usual food. Serenbe Farms made this easier by providing a complimentary share of produce for the first delivery.

Note: authors’ names are included because I value giving credit. I didn’t go to culinary school; everything I know about cooking I learned from others (mostly their cookbooks). As a creative and competent cook I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, but the hard work of the individuals listed form the foundation of & inspiration for “my” variations.

Tuesday 6 December – primarily local, almost totally organic, & completely vegan

Mains

• pumpkin cream farfalle with double “peas” (chickpeas and petits pois), a variation on EA’s recipe
• red beans and seitan bourguignonne (Robin Robertson, variation)
• Serenbe sweet potato stew
• crimson cabbage borscht (Myra Kornfeld)
• sweet chili lime tofu over lime-scented collards and cardamom quinoa (VeganYumYum)

Sides

• shaved local fennel, organic satsuma, and pomegranate salad (Myra Kornfeld)
• maple-braised carrots with sea salt and maple sugar
• string beans and pickled onions in agave-lemon-dijon vinaigrette (Peter Berley)
• creamy kenyan curried cabbage with peas
• Hungarian cabbage with noodles (Robin Robertson)

Other

• roasted delicata squash chowder “three sisters”-style with organic corn and pintos
• sanctuary dressing, from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Moskowitz
• Cowboy Cookies, from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa & Terry

Serenbe sweet potato stew

seitan and red beans bourguignonne

sweet chili lime tofu with lime-scented collards and cardamom quinoa

fennel, satsuma, pomegranate salad dressed with five-year-aged balsamic

string beans with pickled onions

crimson cabbage borscht featuring local beets & their greens

cowboy cookies

Tuesday 13 December – locally-sourced vegetables, 85%+ organic ingredients, totally vegan

Mains

• seitan pot roast with local vegetables (Robin Robertson, variation)
• red thai tofu with bok choy
• shepherd’s pie with tofu
• ye’miser w’et – red lentils in a spicy gravy (Kittee Berns)
• tempeh & locally, hardwood-grown shiitake stew (Bryant Terry)

Sides

• roasted delicata squash
• nepalese green beans with coconut and mustard seeds (Bryanna Clark Grogan, World Vegan Feast)
• Christmas couscous: with dried cranberries and pepitas
• ethiopian cabbage, featuring handmade berbere and nitter kibbeh
• local beets with their greens in a five-year-aged balsamic reduction (Peter Berley)

Other

• chick’n noodle soup
• balsamic dressing
• chocolate chip cookies

locally log-grown shiitakes from organic Love is Love Farm; organic shallots, organic leeks

tempeh shiitake stew, a modification of Bryant Terry's recipe from Vegan Soul Kitchen

another view of this sumptuous stew.

ye-miser w'et: Kittee Berns' ethiopian lentils in a spicy red gravy. made with homemade nitter kibbeh (seasoned "butter") and berbere (wet spice mix)

red thai tofu with local bok choi

parting with these four bowls was slightly difficult, as the recipe was one of the best I've made all year.

prep for the beets: red onions, beets, beet greens; tarragon.

vegan pot roast, or, one of the most delicious things ever.

four sides: nepalese green beans, aged balsamic beets, nitter kibbeh cabbage, christmas couscous with pepitas "presents".

I’m looking forward to resuming cooking-for-my-friends again soon. Crack the Plates is a deeply fulfilling exercise, one that gives me purpose and the ability to work with some of the finest ingredients in Atlanta, in the service of truly delightful people. The last four months of 2011 were an experiment: a gamble on something new and wild and exciting. Pushing through made me a stronger, more creative cook and a more organized person. With this teaspoon of experience I welcome the challenges and joys of 2012.

October, my favorite month of the year, decided to wrap itself up with the prettiest of all possible bows: meeting my vegan-cooking icon and long-time role model Isa Chandra Moskowitz (and her freakin’ awesome partner John, who runs Laziest Vegans and Vegan Omaha). Somehow it worked out that over the course of her visit, we also had dinner at Harmony, ambled around Young Blood Gallery, and shared lunch today at Dulce Vegan.

Were this high school, I’d be the melting equivalent of a bespectacled, braces-suffering, Lord-of-the-Rings-lovin’, library-dwellin’, Magic the Gathering-playin’ dweeb who just got asked to go for (vegan)milkshakes with the captain of the track team. And, at least at the signing, I totally felt like that. It was kind of how I felt when I met Lagusta – steeling myself as I parked, curling my toes as I walked through the door, biting my lip as I asked Maresa and finally, trying not to tremble too much as I spoke. (And then we ended up hanging out a lot too – maybe I’m not as awful as I think?) This is what you people do to me!

'Twas a blur, really.

And why not? How does one not feel a little crazy sitting across from the person who taught you, through her books, to roast vegetables? To make scones? To marinate tofu? To press tofu? To make cookies? Pad thai? Hummus? – and not feel a little anxious? How is it possible to play it cool when you’re sharing Chinese food family-style with someone whose recipes and anecdotes you’ve memorized (from reading them so often); whose books you’ve given as gifts; whose name is mentioned so frequently on your little nobody blog than it’s giant in the tag cloud? (Look to the right. —>) At the risk of sounding maudlin, Isa is all of these things and so many more – how could I contain my little bursting-with-joy heart?

Answer: I couldn’t! I didn’t! I unabashedly still don’t! (Okay, maybe a little abashedly – I’m still working on that little low-self-esteem thing.)

I brought Lagusta's tart, made with Taza chocolate. Published in Vegan Pie in the Sky by Isa & Terri Romero.

Though I run a little meal delivery now and have a decent blog following, I’m still that same geeky girl who adores her teachers. I fiercely look up to anyone who gives of herself – through a blog, books, video tutorials, long phone calls, or else – for the sake of others. I can’t think of anyone who has done this for veganism more than Isa. (Lagusta said something similar – a zillion times better - here.) From providing the best forum for recipe-swappers, cookbook-reviewers, and vegan gossip; to coining the term “baketivism“ and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for good causes; to yes, teaching us all how to make a decent scone: can you even imagine where we’d be without her?

With "The Chubby Vegan" John

So yeah. I trembled a bit, smiled wonkily, and tried not to float away on a little cloud. I soothed myself with the acknowledgment that we’re all in this together. As I said to a friend recently: we exist to inspire one another. Standing around in a tight little circle mean-mugging the shiny smiley people might feel superior for a minute, but it doesn’t make our shared world any better and it sure as fuck doesn’t save any animals. Reality is relational: none of us can do anything without the generous and undeserved help of others. Acting like you’ve somehow managed to do without just makes you look like an ass.

Being with Isa, like hanging with Lagusta this summer, steeled my resolve towards sharing what I know and opening myself to others even when it’s inconvenient. It reminds me that a big heart enables extraordinary things, and that at the end of the day, I’ll always prefer to share my straw with an activist. So press on, friends! Goofy, giddy, giving big hugs and big ups, palm against palm – today, tomorrow, always.

Alright folks, I’m back! I apologize for the absence. I foolishly thought I’d only miss a day or so of posting, but then Nate’s ultra-mega birthday party starting rolling towards the big surprise like a snowball down an embankment, getting bigger and messier and funner and more decorative and delicious and AWESOME til I was like aaaaaahhh!!! No time for blogging til it’s over!!!

The big day has come & gone – and it was perfect and I’ll tell you more soon – so we can get back to business, or at least this month’s VeganMoFo theme: Atlanta, the vegan-friendly jewel of the American South! This post is kind of like two others, in that 1) it’s a grocery store tour and 2) it focusses on exciting veganness that’s not quite in Atlanta proper. Of course, I’m talking about

Reason number 8: Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe!

Quick: think of an entirely vegan grocery store run by a family of cool vegans. Time’s up! Food Fight come to mind? VeganEssentials? Somewhere else? Whatever, those places are great, but since I learned of their existence in 2007, Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe has been my go-to for vegan goodies. Online shopping is fun and all, but like opening a menu at a vegan restaurant and sighing with joy at the knowledge that you can order ANYTHING, there’s something special about walking into Cosmo’s retail location in Marietta, Georgia. Their selection is vast: cookbooks, personal care items, wallets and accessories, companion animal food & accessories, lots of local products, and of course, a giant grocery. You can buy all the things!!

BREAKING: World-famous cookbook author and all-around awesome person Isa Chandra Moskowitz is going to be at Cosmo’s on October 30th, promoting her new collaboration with Terry Romero, Vegan Pie in the Sky. Order your copy now if you haven’t already. (I’m excited to try my pal Lagusta’s chocolate raspberry tart.) You’d better be there!

Owners Leigh & Ken are long-time vegans and importantly, super-duper nice people. Here’s an example: so Cosmo’s is only open to the public on Saturdays these days, and Nate & I *really* wanted to stop by en route to my cousin’s wedding reception last Saturday.

my lovely cousin Laurel & her perfect new husband John on their wedding day!

Unfortunately, a late start, terrible Atlanta traffic, and yes, even a little fender-bender (not involving us!), had us getting out of the city later than usual. Nate called Leigh and said we were on our way, but we’d probably be there right at 6 – is that okay? She conferred with Ken, and yes! No prob! And then we had to call back because it was going to be 6:10, and they were all like, see you soon, drive safe! Isn’t that something. (NOTE: This little anecdote should not encourage you to push boundaries of Leigh & Ken’s kindness. Don’t be jerks like us, get there between 10 – 6!)

As a yummy thank you, I brought them one of the grasshopper cupcakes I’d made for Laurel & John’s reception.

Based on recipes from Isa's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Walking in, I spied the seasonal candy display of Sjaak’s, Yummy Earth, and Sweet & Sara products. Sjaak’s is a great little organic chocolate company in Petaluma, California. Cosmo’s introduced me to their products years ago and I have been a fan since.

***

You know, cuz they’re vegan, AKA not made with gelatin, which is a partial hydrolysis of collagen extracted from the boiled bones, connective tissues, organs and some intestines of animals such as domesticated cattle, pigs, and horses. Yuck!

Turn around to greet the candy shelf:

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general grocery stock

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Angel Food products: marshmallow kits & vegan meringue cookie mix. Made by my friend Alice, imported from her shop in New Zealand!

Vegan chicharróns – “pork” rinds.

The elusive white chocolate chip! Imported from Israel.

Let’s walk back towards the cold cases, where we’ll find lots of interesting things.

Passing by a great stock of meaty mixes, TVP, and Soy Curls…

We come to a freezer. Gardein burgers, May Wah products (chicken nuggets, tuna, fish sticks (?!?!), citrus spare ribs, ham, bacon…), even vegan calamari?!?! (All the links are to Cosmo’s, but you should check out May Wah’s website too, just to see all the crazy things they’ve veganised. Like LOBSTER.)

The other freezer has slightly less-weird vegan choices: seitan-based products by Atlanta locals gutenfleischers.

The MATCH meats:

Cosmo’s carries MATCH brand Mediterranean-style stuffed vegan chicken, New England-style crab cakes, vegan ground beef, ground breakfast sausage, ground chicken, ground crab, ground Italian sausage, and ground pork. I haven’t tried MATCH products but all the folks I know who have just love ‘em. Honestly, while I absolutely agree that meat analogs can help ease the transition to veganism, I don’t really use them. I’m more of a tofu/tempeh/seitan kinda gal. In fact, typing all this “ground” chicken/crab/lobster business is really weirding me out! Even if my freezer isn’t stuffed with it, I’m still glad it’s an option.

Nate was possibly most excited about this from Vegetarian Plus brand:

After thawing, I whipped it up with Vegenaise, sweet relish, dijon mustard, and a little black pepper. (My first “tuna” recipe in fifteen years, and somehow I never forgot the “proper” components.) It was absolutely too fishy and “real” for me, but Nate LOVED it. I broiled Daiya on a piece of wheat bread for him so he could have a tuna melt like the one he got a Curly’s Vegetarian Lunch in NY over the summer. He was in pieces. This box comes with two rolls and makes enough tuna salad for 4-6 sandwiches.

When you tell people you’re vegan, one of the most common (non-bitchy) responses you get goes something like this: “Oh, I could probably/definitely do vegetarian, but I could never go vegan – I couldn’t give up CHEESE.” Setting aside the fact that cheese is absolutely horrible for the environment, (in terms of carbon emissions, cheese is third only to lamb & beef. Seriously, go look at this chart from the Enviromental Working Group’s Meat Eater’s Guide right now.), and the fact that most of the “cheese” people squee over is total crap anyway, there are SO MANY DELICIOUS MELTY CREAMY TANGY YUMMY VEGAN CHEEZE CHOICES THESE DAYS. There’s simply no excuse anymore.

Teese by Chicago soydairy in mozzarella, cheddar, nacho cheeze, and creamy cheddar; Wayfare Foods’ “We Can’t Say It’s Cheese” dips and spreads in cheddar, hickory-smoked cheddar, cheddar-style dip, and mexi-cheddar.

My favorite vegan cheeze is Dr-Cow, made of cultured cashews! Daiya is another that’s generally beloved by all, renowned for its stretchy, melty texture.

And then there’s Sheese by Bute Island Foods, in gouda, mozzarella, smoked cheddar, blue, medium cheddar, cheddar with chives, and strong cheddar.

Owner Leigh & shopper Nate discussing the Teese.

Moving on from the cheeses, we can go play with makeup: Beauty Without Cruelty and

and Herbs of Grace Mineral Makeup both have displays.

Browse the t-shirts and “Cupcaprons” by Atlanta crafter (& friend!) Becky Striepe of Glue & Glitter (etsy shop ; blog.)

Wallets…

And stickers, too! they always have a great selection of stickers. Guess which two of these Nate picked up at Cosmo’s?

Ok, so you know how earlier I said this place is not actually in Atlanta? Cosmo’s moved from N. Highland (Atlanta) to Marietta a few years ago. Atlanta really isn’t a very big city – wikipedia tells me our population is about 400,000. (Please don’t laugh.) Include the “metro” area and it zooms up to several million. So, there are cool things outside the border that is interstate 285.

We have this little joke around here: ITP vs OTP, Inside The Perimeter or Outside the Perimeter. The Perimeter is defined by interstate 285. If you’re inside, the joke goes that you’re a hipstery urbanite, all loft livin’ and Whole Foods shoppin’. You value a walk (or short bike ride!) to Trader Joe’s, independent movie theatres, clubs, adventurous restaurants, and take public transit. Outside? You’re defined by suburban values: an emerald front yard, coupla cars, coupla kids, and the latest-model flatscreen you can afford. You like fast-casual chain restaurants, Hobby Lobby, volunteering at church or with a civic organization, and you live in your car (thanks to a soul-crushing two-hour+ commute to & from your intown job).

THESE ARE HUGE STEREOTYPES OF COURSE, but for some reason, some folks get a kick out of them. If you *do* decide to make Atlanta your home, don’t think anyone’s gonna look down on you if you choose to live outside the perimeter. It’s not my choice, but you’d definitely be closer to Cosmo’s – and that’s a huge plus. :)

Another? Our two Loving Hut restaurants are located OTP! (Norcross & Kennesaw.) Do you know about Loving Hut, the worldwide vegan chain nurtured by the Supreme Master Ching Hai?

Reason 8.5: Loving Hut!

If not, all you basically need to know is that they make one of the best veggie burgers around:

I have dreams about this burger.

My stomach is tying itself in knots of longing over this picture. If only you weren’t so far away!

If you’re already an in-towner, make a Saturday trip to Cosmo’s and be sure to stop in at Loving Hut in Kennesaw for a burger. Think of it as a mini-vegan road-trip. Yum!

I once read a recipe for BBQ tofu that called for a bottle of commercially-prepared barbeque sauce.

Did you catch that? Someone actually published–in a book!–a BBQ recipe that called for a bottle of Heinz. “Yeah, I’m lazy” was the author’s aside. Now maybe it’s just the deep-southerner in me hollerin’, but BBQ sauce ought to be made fresh, and out of everything but the kitchen sink. Bottled barbeque sauce, like boxed cookie mix, pales in comparison to the real thing. It ain’t fit for company.

One of my favorite recipes is from (surprise, surprise) Vegan With a Vengeance. I know a number of my friends haven’t actually tried it, though, because it calls for an esoteric ingredient: pomegranate molasses. I’ve made several adjustments to the recipe that should make it accessible & easy in most kitchens. Here’s what you’ll need:

Kitchen-sink barbeque sauce, adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s BBQ Pomegranate Tofu (original recipe’s ingredients in parentheses, where applicable)

• 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil               (1 tablespoon peanut oil)
• 1 cup onion, chopped fine                                  (1 cup shallots, minced)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (can use prepared if you’ve run out of the real deal)
• 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder or 1/8 tsp each ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger, freshly-cracked black pepper
• 2 cups vegetable broth (or one vegan bouillon cube dissolved in two cups steaming water)
• A few grinds of fresh black pepper
• 1 6-oz can tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons all-natural peanut butter            (2 tablespoons)
• 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses                   (2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses)
• 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1.5 teaspoons hot sauce (more to taste)            (1 teaspoon, more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke                                    (this is a must! You can get it in the grocery store on the sauces aisle)

For the tofu:

• One block of tofu, drained and pressed
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons tamari

Press a pound of tofu between two cutting boards to remove excess water. It’s up to you how long you want to press it. The difference between a few seconds and a half an hour is essentially how firm & chewy the tofu will get. I don’t usually press mine very long, but some people press an hour or more.

Slice the tofu about 1/2-inch thick (see below). Preheat oven to 350. In a 9×13-inch (preferably glass or ceramic) baking pan, turn the tofu in two tablespoons of oil and two tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce. Swish it around, coat on both sides. Bake for 15 minutes at 350, then flip the slices and bake 15 more. Should look about like this when done:

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. In a cast-iron skillet over medium heat, saute the onions in the oil for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and five-spice powder (or cinnamon, cloves, ginger and black pepper) and saute 1 minute more. Add the broth and bring to a simmer. (This step will go really fast if you used already-steaming broth.) Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.

At this point, your tofu should be done baking. Smother the tofu with the sauce:

Return to the oven and bake 15 minutes more. Remove from oven.

Reserve the corner pieces for your favorite person–that’s where the sauce has caramelized the best.

If you want to be a real meat-and-potatoes vegan, simply serve with a pile of fluffy mashed potatoes. But peas & broccoli are nice additions.

I’ve been doing a lot of daydreaming about sweets lately. It starts off innocently enough. When desire strikes, instead of heading to the kitchen to rummage for chocolate, I make a cup of tea & roam the internet looking at delicious vegan treats. (Vegan Etsy team members bakesalery & SweetVConfections are two recent drool-worthy favorites.) I invariably turn up at the confections section of Cosmos Vegan Shoppe which in turn inspires me to go see what brilliant vegan marshmallow* purveyors Sweet & Sara have been up to. Harmless fun.

Until… I cease with the casual observer act and start seriously envisioning how I might make the treats myownself. I’m not much of a baker or candy-maker, so I’m generally at a very low risk for trying these sorts of things. But today, I had some time on my hands & needed to distract myself from worrying about a big presentation on Thursday. Thus, vegan peanut butter s’mores pies were born.

I discovered that I still had a pack of Angel Food vegan marshmallow mix from an ancient Cosmo’s order. I had purchased two kits & when the first attempt yielded an extremely sticky kitchen & gummed-up hand mixer, I hid the second pack. Catching sight of the expiration date persuaded me to go ahead and make them today. (8 Sept edit: if you like the looks of these, don’t hesitate to order a kit (or 2) directly from Angel Food. Even coming from New Zealand, shipping is very reasonable & quick. And proprietress Alice is a truly lovely person to deal with! For those in the Richmond area, I’ll be doing a demonstration with Earlham Animal Advocates United soon, so stay tuned!)

And you know what? It wasn’t bad at all! I didn’t make a tragic mess or ruin any kitchen appliances. The first time I neglected mise en place, which turns out to be pretty important for some of the recipe’s rapid steps. (Mise en place: setting out, measuring & prepping all ingredients in their proper amounts ahead of time.)

A couple hours later, I made the lightly-flavored cookie base. I used Isa’s recipe for Graham Crackers with some very minor modifications. Furthermore, instead of rolling them out, scoring, and stabbing like real graham crackers, I used a glass to cut them into perfect little circles.

After the marshmallows had some time to cure, I turned them out of the pan:

And used a glass to make cut-outs.

I set one large marshmallow circle on each cookie.

Because the marshmallows set slightly irregularly, I smeared the peanut butter (mmmm vegan Smart Balance Rich Roast chunky) on the uneven side and then gently pressed it into the cookie, smooth side up. Like this:

Ah, that’s better.

All done!

I set all of the marshmallow towers on a drying rack so that when I dressed the completed creatures with chocolate it could just drip through onto the plastic wrap underneath it, rather than pooling.

On that note, I melted a bag of vegan chocolate with one tablespoon of vegan shortening in a makeshift double-boiler (metal pan over medium-sized pot of boiling water):

Using a large spoon I ladelled about two tablespoons of melted chocolate over each tower & used the spoon’s concavity to smooth out the edges & ensure even application.

Cross-section of the completely cooled treat…

…and my new best friend. Vegan peanut butter s’mores pies forever!

*Vegan marshmallows?! Why yes! That stuff most folks freak out over at campfires and in Rice Krispie treats is NOT suitable for vegetarians (& many people who follow religious dietary laws). Marshmallows are made with gelatin, a protein produced by partial hydrolysis of collagen extracted from the boiled bones, connective tissues, organs and some intestines of animals such as domesticated cattle, pigs, and horses. The natural molecular bonds between individual collagen strands are broken down into a form that rearranges more easily. Gelatin melts to a liquid when heated and solidifies when cooled again. Together with water, it forms a semi-solid colloid gel. Thanks, Wikipedia–ugh. I’ll stick with my vegan marshmallows, which use agar-agar (a sea plant) to set (available locally at Nature’s Nook.)

Nate’s sister & brother-in-law came to visit last weekend. Like all my best friends, past & present beloveds, and intrepid family members, they got the culinary royal treatment. The weekend prior I went marketing at one of Richmond’s jewels, the Saturday morning farmer’s market, and came home with this bounty:

Highlights: Assortment of red, gold, & blue potatoes from David Reed, an elderly couple, & Earlham’s Miller Farm; onions from Preston; cabbage from a good-natured Polish woman who lived through the war (& has been farming since!); two peppers from the same, purple by way of green, with a slow-glow to red; heirloom garlic from Arden Hearth; heirloom tomatoes; squashes for a tempeh dish; eggplant for roasting; carrots from David for munching; jalepenos to give curries a kick.

Peppers after a luminous week-long vacation in the windowsill:

Incidentally, I mentioned this magic to David Reed on Saturday when I picked up a couple of big green bells from him. He had no idea! The ones he sold me for sixty cents apiece are slowly turning a lovely orange in the same spot.

Friday night I made baked tofu with sesame flavors, new potatoes in a wasabi creme gravy, peanut noodles, and edamame & fresh corn in radicchio. Tofu pressed for well over an hour + three days worth of marinating = intense saturation of flavor.

Saturday lunch was pineapple & onion burritos from La Mexicana, but that night was special. I had made fresh seitan a few days prior and whipped it out for a caribbean jerk recipe. Served with mashed roasted sweet potatoes (soymilk + earth balance + maple syrup + salt), and sweet-and-sour kale, a rhapsody in flavor:

Quite happily, this meal reminded me of one I shared with an aforementioned beloved at Calabash Vegetarian Kitchen in Atlanta. Success!

Lazy Sunday morning? Brunch! Doesn’t it look like these fluffy orange scones, studded with organic zest & dressed in a home-made citrus glaze, are about to levitate from the plate? Divinity!

The main course was asparagus & sun-dried tomato frittata, one of my favorite recipes from Vegan With a Vengeance (from whence the scone recipe comes, too!), and a sad attempt at hashbrowns. Clearly my line-cook days are too far behind me… I just couldn’t get ‘em crispy enough. Oh well, I’m not crying over one miss among so many successes! Especially when we just smothered ‘em ketchup.

Note: The scones also take a while (setting time for the glaze), but if you own Vegan With a Vengeance you’d be a fool not to try them. However! The recipe is wrong, wrong, wrong when it comes to the amount of flour you’ll need to use. Isa says 3 cups of all-purpose flour, but the dough didn’t reach the right consistency til I’d added around four cups. And when it says soy creme, you really can just use soymilk.

I hope Nate’s fam felt extra-special loved. As with Ayurvedic cooks, I deeply believe that one’s goodwill is transmitted through food during the cooking process. And while my kitchen certainly isn’t ritually clean, the intent is there. I’ve joked that cooking is the only thing I get “right”… not because of special skill or years of practice, but because from mincing to garnishing, I’m thinking about how much I like the person I’m feeding. May you be blessed with the same treatment!

Only a reworking of the first two frames of Dinosaur Comics can adequately express my frustration with myself right now:

T-Rex images owned by Ryan North/Dinosaur Comics/Qwantz.

So there you have it. It’s pretty freaking hard for me stay on top of my blog as of late! It’s probably harder to admit it, which is why I’m saying it with a post, in hopes that this will jar me from my inaction!

It’s mostly frustrating because some interesting things have happened that I want to tell you about. I mean, I only did one day of mid-June’s San Francisco trip, when I ate at so many awesome vegan restaurants! (Donuts with in-house-ground organic flour, for goodness’ sake!!) There was also a drag show a few weeks ago, and a couple recent trips to see my gorgeous BF Jina beena. I want to tell you the exciting bits!

But alas, the non-exciting parts have been dragging me down. As I anticipate yet another move, I once more find myself in that tight “in-between” place. Waiting, waiting, for things to happen, in the meanwhile, hesitant to put down any roots. I’m also languishing in this heat/humidity, but then again, who isn’t? Except for what’s been mentioned previously, not much punctuates these days of languid reading, drinking iced oolong, eating chilled watermelon, and generally assuming a couchant position as much as possible. And when the temperature in your house climbs towards the mid-90s, who in the hell wants to use a laptop as intended?

In the interest of getting you caught up (turning a new leaf? or is that too ambitious at this point? sigh), let’s have a bit of a camera dump from the past couple weeks, with commentary. Deal? Deal.

I made a vegan shepherd’s pie, which was phenomenal. I spread the mashed potatoes over the filling just before putting it in the oven to bake:

There is no recipe, but here’s roughly what I did: re-hydrated large chunk TVP, cooked in tamari, nutritional yeast, and pepper; cooled & roughly chopped the TVP; added it to home-made no-fat gravy; added an assortment of fresh chopped and steamed vegetables; poured it all into a casserole dish, covered with home-made mashed potatoes, baked. Sounds easy, right? It took a couple of hours in one of hell’s hottest rooms: my tiny, poorly ventilated, very dilapidated kitchen (with two working eyes on the stove).

Here’s the finished product:

Oh, cute story about the framing of this photograph. While I was in San Francisco, we dined at Millennium, SF’s chicest (read: simply most expensive) vegan restaurant. I called the waitress (seemingly pretty laid back) over to make a joke about the fact that my apricot-glazed portabella stack looked somewhat cheaply made. I pointed at the familiar threesome of just-so cut carrots, peas, and corn and teased, “This trio comes from a can, and it says VEG-ALL on the side!” Apparently she took herself more seriously than I did, because she didn’t get the joke, insisting the ingredients were harvested at the peak of freshness from local, organic ingredients. But she went one further, claiming that the chef meant the dish to be an “homage” to Southern cooking.

Uhhh…. are you laughing yet? I wish I had a picture of it to share with you, but suffice to say it looked nothing like the above. This desiccated morsel with hardly any of the advertised apricot glaze, sitting dumbly atop stiff, flavorless mashed potatoes and the inspid trio of carrots, peas and corn, was the furthest thing from “Southern cooking”. Just to confirm that she did mean Southern US (rather than Southern CA?) I shared that I was from the South, the deep south, northwest Georgia, in fact. Undeterred, she claimed “the South” as well–Bloomington, Indiana.

Hm.

Sorry, Millennium chefs. That dish was the furthest thing from the cooking I grew up with and loved, and you’d do your otherwise highly competent wait staff a favor by not trying to pass this disaster off as anything but. You know what, just scrap the damn dish. Everything else–appetizers, spirits, main courses, desserts–was superb!

Wow, side-tracked.

On the subject of a proper apricot barbeque glaze, though, here’s the first I made using Isa’s recipe from Veganomicon–and about ten fresh apricots! Thick, hearty, oozy, shiny:

Plated:

Would you believe I’m not a huge broccoli fan? Alas, it’s true. I had to cover mine in extra apricot sauce.

Earlier this month I went to see one of my favorite queens from season two of RuPaul’s Drag Race with Nate & Michael at the famous Union Cafe in Columbus Ohio. We had dinner at Indian Kitchen before the show. Complimentary papadums:

The view from our table.

Greasy snacks.

Michael’s lovely plate.

What is that you say, dear server? Complimentary aloo parathas, as well? Don’t mind if I do!

Sadly, we were the only ones in the place. Highly recommended! Try it next time you’re in Columbus, instead of the Taj Mahal (which is basically across the street).

Fireworks in the sky:

Fireworks on stage.

Gorgeous Columbus gal Nina West chides an extremely drunk Polish man.

Jujubee prepares!

Look at that body!

I am also in possession of an extremely embarrassing shot of Juju, but I’m choosing not to post it out of RESPECT! (E-mail me if desired.)

I made some orange cranberry scones on about three hours of sleep for church brunch. They were great. The best part was when an elderly member of the congregation asked for the recipe and where, exactly, to get soymilk.

I made a couple of dark-chocolate-bottomed peanut butter silk pies (with a couple teaspoons of agar-agar; recipes modded from Vegan with a Vengeance). Here’s one:

Sing with me now, isn’t she lovely?

Sorry if three pictures is overkill. I rarely bake.

Did I mention I have another cat, now? Her name is Perl, but Nate & I have been calling her Perlba recently (Perl+[goom]ba). She’s not much like a cat, actually. She was abandoned as a kitten & very likely orphaned, so she wasn’t socialized by/with other cats til adulthood. She didn’t learn how to drink water properly til a few months after she moved in, & she’s not yet totally clear on cleaning herself or using her claws, either. It’s sad. The upside is that she kind of acts like a dog, lolling on her back, showing her belly, never getting upset like a normal cat. She likes to sit on computers and in her raspberry box. She’s mostly looks up to her “big sister” Unix, but she eats waaaay too much.

I made the quintessential vegan summer food, The Grit’s vegan chicken salad. A hellish recipe, consisting of separately cooked tofu, gravy, home-made vinaigrette, and vegan mayo, apart from the ingredients in the actual chicken salad recipe. In short, the reason I make it once a year. This time I tripled the recipe so it’d last a week & we’d have enough to share.

And finally, a couple trips to see my lovely Jina Beena in Ann Arbor. I spent a fair amount of my mornings getting caffeinated at Zingerman’s:

A view of the cafe.

The best part was our picnic at Pickerel Lake. Jina is the queen of picnics!! We raided the People’s Co-op for our favorites: baba ghanoush, watermelon, peaches, and a new wonder, coconut milk ice cream!

Sorry the photo is a bit blurry. It’s hard to hold still when you’re witnessing such beauty.

A close-up of our Zingerman’s bread and assorted treats.

Okay, that’s enough for now! There’s a blue-tongued skink upstairs that needs a piece of watermelon! (No, really, I’m helping skink-sit.)

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged in a week. What makes it even worse is the fact that SO MUCH AMAZING FOOD has been created in my kitchen recently. (Including two different kinds of barbeque! And tempeh chicken salad! And scones! PIE!!) I don’t know what my problem is, but I hope I can get on the ball soon. It’s July, for goodness’ sake.

But let’s start with the most recent. A couple days ago Nate expressed interest in learning to cook. This was weird for me, because in spite of the fact that tons of people love for me to cook for them, almost no one has taken me up on the offer to teach them how to do it themselves. Lazy Bs! (Just kidding.) For Nate, it’s clearly about self-improvement & empowerment. Since he only knows how to make three dishes–a simple spicy red lentil dal, a brown lentil broccoli concoction, and a nice homemade tomato sauce with chickpeas–he feels a little helpless when hungry. Since there are rarely leftovers (we eat a lot) and we don’t really buy (expensive) vegan convenience food that often, he usually depends on me to feed him dinner. And he’s not entirely comfortable with this fact.

After mulling it over for a few moments, I suggested we do our “cooking class” in the following way: we’ll pick two consecutive nights a week to do the same recipe. On the first night, he shadows me, helping out to a limited extent. But he has to pay close attention and really take it all in, for on the second night, he’ll have to re-create it all…flying solo! Pleased with my cleverness, I felt relief at his enthusiasm in proceeding this way.

And so we did! Last night we made Isa’s famous “Chickpea cutlets” recipe from Veganomicon with homemade no-fat savoury brown gravy (Bryanna Clark Grogan’s recipe), baked potatoes, and steamed peas. I thought this would be fun because gravy is seriously one of his favorite things in the world, and I wanted to demystify the process for him and show him that honestly? he can have gravy whenever he damn well pleases. The chickpea cutlets are also kind of like the “chick’n fried ‘steak’” we had at Chicago Diner, and who doesn’t love fried things?

Here’s last night’s plate, made together:

As Isa says, it’s vegan food you can eat with a knife and fork.

And here’s what Nate created this evening:

Seriously, my Southern grandparents would love this meal.

He was so adorably worried that the cutlets came out too thick, but he did an amazing job & I showered him with praise. Strangely, the most important compliment seemed to be “it tastes just like last night’s.” I think since he holds my own skill in such high regard, this meant a lot. But I hope our cooking classes can continue to show him that with a little practice, anyone can make a legendary vegan meal.

Let’s get this embarrassing fact out of the way: my bf & I are the kind of saccharinely sweet couple that celebrates monthly anniversaries. Groan, right? Well, generally the “celebration” just means a slight uptick in cooing at each other & maybe a vegan chocolate or two, but every once in a while we mix it up & do something interesting. As in the case of tonight’s dinner:

or

that’s

• organic vegan mashed potatoes (unsweetened soymilk, earth balance, salt, & freshly cracked black pepper)
• bhindi masala: okra with cayenne, ground mango powder, turmeric & tomato
• kitchen-sink homemade barbeque sauce (a slight adjustment to Isa’s recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, featuring blackstrap molasses, peanut butter, liquid smoke, tabasco, maple syrup, vidalia onion, and tomato) simmered long & slow and poured over thrice-baked tofu

In return, he drew pictures for me of one of my most favorite things EVER! Goombas. Yanno, dese guys:

In other news, I used a paint-brush to line my eyes with some electric teal with blue sheen eyeshadow in an attempt to achieve this look. I actually did a pretty good job! Now we’re probably gonna go raid the free kids’ section of the movie gallery. Hurrah!