• Vic Robinson at The Life: Vic is one of the most extraordinary and interesting folks I’ve ever met. He’s not much older than me, but sometimes when I hear him tell stories I feel he’s already lived a thousand lives. One of the posts I’m working on for later this week is an interview I did with him over the weekend, after a meal of seitan steaks, mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, a big salad, and cheezecake – that he made entirely from scratch like it was no big thang. I love Vic’s blog because of all his recipes – “Links” on the right-hand side of his blog. If you like full-flavored food, his recipes won’t disappoint.
• Elisabeth, the Czech Vegan (in America): Not only does Elisabeth have the darn cutest accent ever, but she’s also known for her recipes. My favorite posts have to do with veganizing Czech cuisine. She’s a really generous person who loves to share – recipes, ingredients, time, conversation. I only wish she didn’t live on the other side of town (Buckhead!) so we could hang out more often.
• Alicia Simpson, author of Quick & Easy Vegan Comfort Food, Quick & Easy Vegan Celebrations, and Quick & Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food (forthcoming), who blogs at Vegan Guinea Pig and The Lady & Seitan. Alicia’s recipes are always solid – she’s got two best-selling cookbooks! – and she has a friendly, conversational style. Her “Lady & Seitan” blog is especially fun because she focusses on veganising Paula Deen recipes.
• Laura at Abracapocus: Her blog has a beautiful clean theme (“Less is Less, but usually better”), lovely pictures, and witty copy. She’s a master baker. She doesn’t post recipes often, but she always cites her sources and talks about what works, what doesn’t.
• Steph at Ink & Cupcakes: I really like Steph’s blog. She doesn’t update often but I relate to her themes: vegan baking, healthy-living, depression. This might sound trite, but I like how real she is. There are few blogs that don’t attempt to make everything seem sunny all the time, but Steph doesn’t mess. Since she doesn’t post often, you should follow her on twitter. Oh! And she has a Tumblr, which she updates a lot. Maybe you should just read that one. It’s full of pretty pictures. :)
• Becky at Glue & Glitter: Becky is a blogger, crafter, and cook. Her personal blog has a lot of recipes – food and non (natural home & personal care products). A couple of her recent ones are for a biscuit-topped pot pie & the cutest little burlap sunflowers. She’s an enthusiastic explorer of Atlanta and beyond. Her blog is sure to make you smile – and possibly give you lots of new ideas!
• Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe: maintains a weekly blog that not only discusses new products at the store, but interesting events going on around Atlanta. One upcoming: Isa Chandra at the store on October 30th!!
• Nataleigh at the Vegan Darlin’: Nat will always be special to me because I gave her her name! Not only that, but she’s a new vegan cook who doesn’t use overly-fancy or esoteric ingredients, making her recipes accessible to all. So far she’s covered tomato soup, tomato sandwiches, and sweet-and-sour seitan. Her chatty style is quintessentially southern and adorable.
• ATL Vegan Drinks: the official blog of the Atlanta Vegan Drinks meet-up. Follow for invites to upcoming events, drool-worthy pictures, and the occasional recipe.
• Zack is one of my favorite folks and a from-the-beginning supporter of Crack the Plates meal delivery (along with this equally amazing vegan partner Tony.) One of my favorite little corners of the internet is his comprehensive film log. I have been known to lapse into severe hyperbole and brag that he’s written about every film ever made – not true – but reading through, it really kind of seems like he has!! Zack has consummate taste, so if you’re into films, go there now!
• Jeanette Zeis Ceramics: I really can’t say it better than her “About Me”, so here goes: “Jeanette Zeis Ceramics is a one-woman pottery in Atlanta, Georgia. Recently moving her studio to the historic Old Fourth Ward studio, Jeanette spends her days drinking iced coffee. And trying to make some headway in the never ending “to-do” list. A full-time potter since 2008, Jeanette loves working with clay. It is a constant source of awe and education. If she isn’t actually making pots, chances are pretty good that she is thinking about making pots.” Check out (and buy!) her gorgeous stuff here.
• Jeanette’s vegan partner Kenn runs Free Art Friday Atlanta and sells his interesting stuff on etsy. I love his art and plan on giving it for holiday presents. Buy his stuff here!
• My sweetie Nate, who blogs at Chip the Glasses. It’s usually poetry or programming, but he’s also a passionate vegan. Perhaps the best place to keep up with him, like Steph above, is via twitter: follow him here.
• Other Atlanta Twitter Vegans: @CzechVegan, @Michael_Redman, @vegandarlin, @hillarylibby, @SethP23, @AtlVeg, @hgielatan, @ChocolateOrchid (who blogs HERE), @VeganRun, @HildeeIsaacs, @dulcevegan, @glueandglitter, @JenniferJV, @atlvegandrinks, @KandaiCakery, @CrackthePlates, (you’re following, right?) @werethees, @JeanetteZeis, @heyenglish, @VeganGuineaPig, @atlvegan, @gutenfleischers, @zmcghee, @tmantones, @doughbakery, @KennTwofour, oh, and duh – me: @adriennefriend!

and coming soon…

• A little birdie told me that the adorable Chubby Vegan is moving to Atlanta soon for work!!! I am so excited! I can’t wait to read his thoughts about our fair city. Follow him on Twitter.

Well, that’s all I have for now! Please let me know if I foolishly forgot to include you on this list and I will update ASAP. I can be ridiculously absent-minded about this sort of thing, so please don’t take offense – just let me know and you’ll get added!

And just so you don’t get the impression I haven’t been cooking during MoFo, here are a few pictures of today’s brunch:

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Lookit that crust!

I threw this together when a cravin’ for brunch teamed up with my desire to save a little money by cooking at home. This often happens: I get it into my head that I need to eat out, and then I walk into the kitchen, open the cupboards, and half an hour later we’re eating something ridiculous.

Today it was just a simple battered and pan-fried (country-fried?) tofu. Here’s what I did:

• Press fresh firm tofu between two cutting boards for at least twenty minutes to get rid of the excess moisture (fancy folks can use their tofu X-press gadgets)
• Put a few glugs of olive oil into cast-iron skillet; permit it to get hot
• In one small bowl mix about a cup of unsweetened soymilk with a few tablespoons of cornstarch
• In another bowl mix half a cup of flour, 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast, lots of fresh black pepper, & salt
• Cut pressed tofu into about seven pieces, 1/2-in thick
• Designate one hand dry, one hand wet; dip one piece of tofu into milk mixture, then into flour mixture; then back into milk, then back into flour
• Once you have three or four of them dipped & douple-dipped, place them all in the pan on medium-high to high heat and allow them to sizzle and brown, turning every couple minutes.

Interestingly, it brought back instant memories of my mom’s famous pork chops, which of course I haven’t had in fifteen years. Since this is a spin on the classic dip&dredge method, I bet our recipes are similar. Just, yanno, with tofu.

The grits are just one cup Nora Mill stone-ground simmered in a mixture of three cups water-1 cup unsweetened soymilk; flavored with salt, freshly ground black pepper, 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast, and a couple of handfuls of Daiya cheddar for decadence. Daiya is a on-sale-only treat around here – usually we just do the Poor Gal’s Vegan Cheezy Grits recipe, grits with nutritional yeast. YUM!

A sweet ending: Dancing Goats espresso in my favorite mug*, topped with Sweet & Sara pumpkin spice marshmallows.

(*Don’t freak, I’d never spend $50 on a damn mug. It was a gift from my mom years and years ago, found at a thrift store. She has a good eye. Anyway, it’s my fave.)

Since I’ve been vegan for years, I haven’t eaten too many chocolate cake donuts. Last summer I went on a veritable quest for them in the bay area, finally finding some evening-discounted buddies by Pepples Donuts at Ritual Coffee. (Mmmm, what a dream team.) Four or so flavors were left and I bought every single one. Sadly, not one was a chocolate cake! Yet having determined the maker of my beloved treat, I skipped over to Herbivore for brunch the next morning and nabbed a chocolate cake. Divine!

But that was last year’s vegan road trip. More recently I gobbled several from Vegan Treats in Bethlehem, PA. I wondered how long I’d have to wait for another until…

I happened to be in Kroger, looking for very different things…

When there, on the end of an aisle…

Some department manager’s embarrassing mistake: a whole stack of doughnut pans, undesired by everyone in the Atlanta area, and marked down to half off!

Seriously, Kroger – what the hell you doin’ carrying doughnut pans? And featuring them on an endcap?! Doughnuts are great and all, but a doughnut pan is hardly a tempting impulse buy for a major chain grocery store.

Except, of course, to me. With visions of becoming the Vegan Doughnut Queen, I bought every pan. All eight of them. Sure, it set me back fifty bucks, but if I’d bought the same pans on sale anywhere else, they would have been $10 each! (I’m looking at you, Amazon.) A ten-year warranty (yes, on cake pans) sealed the deal. This is how I rationalise.

fresh out of the oven

It was only about six hours after time of purchase when I had six lovely doughnuts resting on my cooling rack. I whipped up a simple glaze of home-powdered sugar (SO EASY: just whizz good vegan organic granulated sugar in a high-powered blender), maple syrup, a little vanilla, and water. Dipped each one twice and let ‘em set. Aaaah.

I used the recipe posted on my friend Vic’s blog, The Life. It appears to be a variation on the original internet-famous vegan donut recipe by VeganYumYum, only chocolatified – thanks, Vic! ONE MAJOR CORRECTION: I’m pretty sure that where he typed “1 1/2 cup sugar” he meant to type one half-cup of sugar, or, more directly, 1/2 cup sugar. At any rate, I absolutely did not use one and a half cups of sugar – I used 1/2 cup, and it was delightful. I also re-wrote the narrative to reflect how I proceeded.

Here’s the recipe, but do be a dear and go check out Vic’s blog! He’s always coming up with interesting recipes and is super about sharing.

vegan chocolate cake donuts

1.5 teaspoon of powdered egg replacer mixed in 2 tablespoons of warm filtered water
1 cup organic all-purpose flour
1/2 cup organic vegan sugar
3/4 cup soymilk with 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar mixed in
1/3 cup of organic, fair-trade cocoa powder
4 tablespoons vegan margarine (OR, I wager, coconut oil – gonna try this next!)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Grease and flour your six-well doughnut pan. (Have you not greased-and-floured before? Oh my! Just grease the pan with solid vegetable fat – I use Spectrum Organic Non-Hydrogenated all-veg shortening – and then sprinkle in the flour. Shake the pan so that the flour completely covers the fat and then gently tap off the excess. Voila!)
• In a small saucepan on med-low, melt margarine.
• While margarine is melting, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Pour in sugar and thoroughly combine.
• To melted margarine add soymilk mixture (soymilk + vinegar) and vanilla. When the liquid mixture is warm – not hot – pour it into the dry mixture. Quickly pour in the egg replacer and stir it all up until well-combined.
• Bake for 16 minutes at 375 degrees.
• Please! Permit the donuts to rest in the pan on a baking rack for 30 minutes. Thirty whole minutes. Agony.
• I greased and floured my pan so well that the donuts came out of the pan with no provocation, but you might need to gently prod and twist them.

Once they’re very cool, whip up your little instant glaze (recipe above). Pull out a piece of saran wrap and put it under your dry rack (you could also just put a paper or cloth towel under there). Once you’ve immersed the donut in glaze, let it rest on the dry rack and firm up, about fifteen to twenty minutes. Like so:

It’s totally worth it, letting them set ‘n settle. The glaze gets kind of nicely crispy in spots. It’s not a too-sweet doughnut on its own, so the glaze complements perfectly.

All hail, Queen of donuts!

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’m still in a fair amount of pain, but it’s healing. My wrist has been the worst–impossible to cook, painful to type–but it’s looking a little better. And my appetite is coming back. Something about poison ivy just wrecks my appetite! Most days I just had a couple bowls of cereal and a bunch of watermelon for the vitamin C, if that.

So basically, I’ve been making up for lost time.

Yesterday’s late lunch was barbeque tofu & mashed potatoes. I love this picture because the taters look so ethereal… reminds me of the last scene in a favorite childhood book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

We had dinner with Lindsey & Chris at their place. My favorite part was discovering that their apartment abuts a huge children’s library! I’m praying that they ask me to apartment-sit at some point. Aren’t they cute?

Lindsey made a fabulous sweet potato dish with lots of fresh veggies from the farmer’s market. It reminded me of the sweet potatoes at Ghyslain, only better.

To thank Nate for cleaning the kitchen floor on his hands and knees this morning, I made him pancakes and tempeh bacon (recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance) for brunch.

The marinade recipe is as follows: 3 tablespoons soy sauce + 1/3 cup apple cider + 1 teaspoon tomato paste + 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke + 2 cloves of garlic (+ one 8oz block of tempeh). I quadrupled it for three blocks of thinly-sliced tempeh. Allow the tempeh to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.

In the pan:

On the plate:

Since I don’t keep apple cider around, I picked up a bottle of Sammy Smith’s Organic Cider for the marinade and just drank the rest last night as we watched the IT Crowd. Mmm, mmm.

While writing Liz today I was reminded that one of my favorite childhood breakfast treats was (don’t laugh!!) my momma’s fluffy biscuits with sausage & mustard. I figured some of the more thickly-sliced pieces of tempeh could stand in for sausage (the flavors are mighty similar) so I baked a pan of biscuits this evening for dinner. Our friend Patrick, who came over for after-dinner games, heartily approved.

Perfection:

For those of you looking for recipes: I’ll be doing special posts for the barbeque recipe AND the biscuits tomorrow and Tuesday.

I was also lucky because foodwise, my momma went easy on me. If I absolutely refused to eat something, she didn’t press the issue. But she never quite understood why I wouldn’t eat her meatloaf. “Just smother it in ketchup,” she’d urge. An excellent cook, she probably thought meatloaf was one of her tastiest dishes. Everyone raved about it–so why wouldn’t her darn kid eat it?

To start, I hated watching her make it! I remember looking up at her working the ground animal in her rough, wizened hands and thinking, I’m never going to do that. Was I simply grossed out by the texture, the color, the sounds? Did I despair over its origin, a life-loving creature like myself? Honestly, I can’t say. But to this day I’ve never cooked with animals. Going vegetarian at 14 meant I never had to suffer that feeling in my hands: I depended on my mom for meals pre-veg & figured out how to cook for myself afterwards. The closest I came to touching blood & guts was while passing poorly-packaged meat products over my scanner as a grocery cashier.

One of the reasons I LOVE being vegan is because I can make all of the dishes I enjoyed as a non-vegan, except they’re tastier and free of cholesterol, saturated fat, and cruelty! Traditional southern recipes, soul food, I rise to the challenge: I once made a pot of fordhook lima beans that were so flavorful & “authentic”-tasting that my mom couldn’t believe they were vegan. But for obvious reasons, meatloaf was never anything I wanted to veganize. Sure, I saw the recipes in my cookbooks… but the childhood trauma lived on!

‘Til recently, that is. Having made peace with the fact that it’s still going to look disgusting, I tried the recipe from the Grit cookbook. And oh lawdy, it’s a winner. Made with tofu, veggie ground crumbles, walnuts & nutritional yeast, and seasoned well enough to please a roomful of Southern grandparents, I’m glad to add it to my repertoire. Best of all, Nate rechristened the dreaded dish “meetloaf”. Only one letter difference, but I love it because it makes me think of meeting up, hanging out, loafing around–things all mammals, not just we humans, enjoy!

A regular blue-plate special, this one:

I baked it in my big cast-iron skillet (the same that sauteed the veggie ground “beef” and peppers, if you check out the recipe) and served it to Lindsey & Chris for our first Thursday evening co-op dinner. They gobbled it up. Here’s the recipe, with some minor modifications. Thanks, the Grit!

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 or 2 small bell peppers, minced
• 2 cups vegetarian ground “beef” — I re-hydrate the dry stuff from Dixie Diner because it’s more economical than getting Boca Brand (or something similar) frozen at the grocery store.
• 2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce (Kroger’s is naturally vegan, or you could make your own)
• 1 15-oz block firm tofu, crumbled (the more-common water-packed kind)
• 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1 cup walnut pieces
• 4 tablespoons ketchup
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup soy sauce (you can use low-sodium, I suppose)
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon or so freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed, if you just happen to have it hanging around.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a large casserole dish OR just plan to use the same large skillet that you prep the “beef” and peppers in, as I did.

Heat the oil in large cast-iron skillet and add onions, garlic, and peppers. Saute five minutes or so, stirring often. Add the vegetarian ground beef (re-hydrated in “beef” or veg broth if you’re using dry) and Worchestershire sauce. Cook on medium heat, stirring often, 5-10 minutes (20 minutes if you used frozen crumbles).

In a food processor (I know, Sorry!), combine remaining ingredients and process til fully blended. Combine ALL ingredients and mid well. Pour and press into your casserole or skillet. Bake 15 minutes, remove from oven, turn in batches, return to oven, bake 15 more minutes. Bake an additional 10 if you think it needs it. Let cool for five minutes or so and then serve to smiles!!!

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.)

Well, check out what David’s have become in just three days:

I’ve long thought that any honest pepper would change its spots with time: all colored bell peppers start out green, maturing to red, yellow, purple, even brown! But a quick check reminded me that there are some green bell varieties that will not turn. I wonder if the uniform specimens found in most grocery stores–genetically modified for perfection–have had the ability to become brilliant bred right out. Too bad: we lose not only aesthetic value, but nutrients as well: colored peppers can have double the vitamin C.

Colored peppers are more expensive because they require more care–they spend more time on the vine, after all! So if you want this at home, get a green pepper within hours of its being picked–say, from a farmer’s market. (If you get an old pepper that’s lived in a climate-controlled environment since the harvest, it’ll likely go soft [rot] from sitting out, thus undermining your whole experiment.) And if you happen to be growing your own, just let the “green” bell pepper sit on the vine and see what happens.

The peppers should be ready for use by tomorrow night, when I hope to pair them with tempeh. I’ve got a few blocks I need to use up before the fast-approaching expiration date; tonight I incorporated it into a simple rotini primavera:

Yesterday I made bhindi masala with the brilliant mango powder (amchoor) that arrived from the spice house. (Apparently they didn’t lose my order after all!) Amchoor powder is basically my favorite ingredient. And since four ounces is less than four dollars, you should get some and make your own. Here’s the recipe I’ve refined over many skillets-worth:

• prep, FROZEN: Steam 1lb whole frozen okra til it’s cooked through; rinse with cool water. Cut the stem-ends off; slice lengthwise in two.
• prep, FRESH: Steam 1lb okra til al dente; rinse; cut the stem-ends; slice lengthwise in two.
• Chop two or three small-to-medium tomatoes.
• Chop a white or vidalia onion or two, depending on how much you love onions
• Toss onion into a preheated, oiled, large cast iron skillet. I usually use 2 tbsp of olive or canola oil.
• Cook onions over medium to med-high heat til soft, a little brown, so long as they’re cooked; it’s really up to you.
• Add in a teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of mango powder, 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne, and 1/2-3/4tsp tumeric. Stir fry a minute or two.
• Add in the tomatoes, mix thoroughly with the spices.
• Add in the okra. If using fresh okra, mix thoroughly, put a lid on it, and let it steam of a while (now on medium heat). If using frozen, it’ll probably already be mostly cooked from the steaming, so you just need to mix thoroughly and let it simmer for a few minutes so that the flavors can mix.
• Serves two hungry folks; four or more if it’s being offered alongside other things.

Here’s what it should look like when you’re just adding the okra:

And here’s about what it looks like when it’s done: (using ripe green tomatoes; red will result in a different hue).

Lovely zebras.

This dish is my favorite thing to make for dinner because it’s naturally high in calcium (20% DV per serving) and low in calories. A pound of okra only has about 130 calories in it TOTAL, and a few fresh tomatoes, onions, and spices in the recipe don’t add many more. Just go easy on the oil and all that refined basmati rice you’re eating with it.

Finally, don’t forget to give to Pakistanis suffering the greatest natural disaster of our time.

You can text “SWAT” to 50555 from your phone to give $10 and help flood victims. Doctors Without Borders physicians are “working around the clock” to meet the needs of the displaced, focussing on providing clean water, treating diarrhea, and providing women’s health services–as amid the tragedy, babies continue to be born. Church World Servicecontinues to provide food and disaster supplies.

Post-illness, I itched to get back into the kitchen & prepare something more complicated than canned soup. So yesterday I cleaned out the veggie drawers of four bunches of organic golden beets, chopped up a cabbage & steamed it a la mama, whisked up some low-fat tofu & no-fat gravy, and partnered it all with an organic baked potato (and MORE GRAVY). Divine!

The beets were simply tossed in two tablespoons of olive oil, primo cinnamon & garam masala and then roasted in the oven for 40minutes at 400 (cover with foil for the first 25, remove for the last 15) . My new favorite way!

Today’s was even better. I wanted to do something with the bag of Dixie Diner no-chicken breasts I bought last summer with our annual TVP order & only just rediscovered a couple weeks before the expiration date. Lucky! I thought I’d just do something simple, like boil, sautee, and pair with last night’s leftover gravy, but I was soon taken by more exciting possibilities. Basically I thought, hell, I’ve got the resources, time, & enthusiasm–why not just go all the way & make a vegan chick’n parmigiana for the first time? And so I did. Here’s a shot of Nate’s plate:

In hindsight, this was actually kind of a lot of work…but in the moment, it didn’t seem like a big deal at all. First, simmer the chops in chick’n flavored veggie broth for 25 minutes. Then, make a seasoned breadcrumb mix (breadcrumbs + cracked black pepper + powdered garlic + nutritional yeast) and dredge the cooked “breasts”. Spritz with Bragg’s and bake in a 450 degree oven for 12 minutes.

baked cutlets: your non-vegan momma would never know the difference.

cutlets and sauce

Meanwhile, heat up tomato sauce (I cheated & used Kroger’s organic Italian herb, snagged on manager’s special for .99/jar) and make the Cheezy sauce. I use “The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook” recipe with some changes:

1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes + 1/2 cup flour + tsp salt + 1/2 tsp garlic powder + 2 cups water + 1/4 cup margarine + 1tsp wet mustard (I used dijon)

Whisk the dry ingredients in a big bowl and then dump in your large (10-12”) skillet; whisk; whisk in water. Cook over med-ish heat, whisking constantly, til it starts to feel thick and bubble slightly. Cook at this state for under a minute; remove from heat, whip in margarine and mustard. Whisk thoroughly. The Farm recipe adds that it will thicken as it cools.

Nate is absolutely ga-ga over this cheeze; I think it’s pretty good (and certainly went well in this recipe) but, to be honest, it is not my favorite thing in the world. So it depends!

I prefer skinny noodles to shaped pasta:

The end!

I emphasize my friends’ places-of-origin because I was so baffled by their lack of awareness of something I, a Southerner with extremely limited snow experience, so delightfully cherished. For truly, my familiarity with the stuff only extended so far as the infamous Blizzard of 1993 (which has its own wikipedia page) and fewer than a handful of other pathetic dustings. My ever-clever momma taught me about snowcreme when the blizzard hit, seeking, as she might have been, a way to distract the six restless nine-year-old girls who’d just been snowed in at my birthday party. (Yeah, the biggest meteorological event of the decade happened a day after my ninth birthday.) How could two people who grew up with seasons of snow year after year never think to whip it up in a big bowl with some cold milk, sugar, and vanilla? Heavens to betsy! I exclaimed, in my mom’s accent, I’ve got to teach these boys something!

Ever the inappropriately under-dressed, over-confident belle, I trotted out to the back porch in one of my more laughable get-ups: thin pink nightgown over pumpkin-print pajama pants, protected by a red WECI hoodie. I harvested the primo first layer of fluffy snowdust from the back-porch railing, even as new snow continued to come down. (Protip: There’s a narrow window between when the snow falls and when it gets soggy, hardened, and yucchy–so time your collection well.) Befuddled onlookers snapped shots of my work from behind the screen door:

harvesting snow

at work

As you can see in the picture, I did some of the work with the snowcreme on the back porch, feverishly whisking the snow into a sweet soymilk and vanilla base. By the time I got back in the house it was ready to be served.

I can’t quite remember how my housemate & boyfriend described their first experience, but I’m pretty sure the words “transcedent” “miraculous” “glorious” and others from their heavenly ilk flowed like honey in the kitchen conversation that day. And it didn’t hurt that I’d just made some of Isa’s pumpkin oatmeal cookies from Vegan With a Vengeance, either…

Zoomie (my housemate) delighting in cookies

…or that I decided to make a chocolate-mint version of snowcreme with Vitasoy’s Chocolate Peppermint holiday soymilk:

Lucky housemates. The feast:

Snowcreme recipe, veganized:

• Whisk some soymilk (vanilla, chocolate, or peppermint!) in the bottom of a large stainless steel bowl with a little organic vegan sugar and a dash of vanilla extract
• Go get some snow. Preferably light, fluffy, and fresh. Scrape it off into the bowl. Whisk til the mixture thickens. Grab a stainless steel spoon and start to do more stirring, less whisking. Add a bit more milk as necessary. Eat!!

Ardent readers will re-call an earlier post devoted to this dish; tonight’s recipe probably wasn’t much different. Since I didn’t do the world’s best job explaining how I made it then, here’s a little guidance in the event you’d like to re-create it:

• Chop a bunch of onions, garlic, carrots and celery
• Sautee these vegetables in your cast-iron skillet with some organic herbs of choice (I pinch dried Frontier marjoram, basil, oregano, and thyme. Mostly marjoram and thyme.)
• Prepare a big pot of broth (about half-full to accomodate all the add-ins); put the burner on high to get it boiling
• Add the vegetables to the broth; bring to a boil; add a couple cups of frozen cooked chickpeas and a couple ounces of soba noodles, broken into small bits
• Meanwhile, have some large-chunk TVP reconstituting in broth in your microwave; it takes about 7 minutes in mine; check half-way to make sure there’s plenty of broth to do the job
• Once the TVP has cooled, chop it into bite-sized pieces; dump it into your hot skillet and season with tamari or Bragg’s and about a 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• Dump seasoned TVP into pot, bring up to temperature
• Serve and enjoy!

Of course, I’m always up for questions if you do find you need help.

For dessert we mined a pomegranate for its bizarre corn-like jewels. Nate’s first time = adorable bewilderment.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the proper way to eat a pomegranate is decadently, i.e., by the handful.