Fun with Rhubarb!

MoFo: Day 3!

This has to be a very quick post as My Beloved is taking me back up to Northampton for a bite to eat. It's been a 'helluva week' at work and really we need to get a couple of beers and wind down a bit. So, instead of making the pasta dish we *were* planning, we're off for some sushi or a veggie burger or something easy and quick, made by someone else!

However, in order not to let the side down on the whole MoFo thing, here's a sneak peek at my plan for tomorrow. I am really hoping to go to the farmers' market in the morning to get some of this:

'Wait!', I hear you gasp, 'Rhubarb?!?!?'

Well yeah! I found this truly scrumptious recipe in - I think - The Garden of Vegan for Rhubarb Bread and I really - REALLY - want to make it again. This was how it turned out last time:



It was moist, sweet but not overly so, the crumb was well rounded, held a fantastic texture and it just melted in your mouth.

Well, in my mouth anyhow!

So it's on the menu again this weekend, as long as someone at the farmers' market can provide me with a few stalks of the red stuff.

Here's hoping!

Stay vegan, friends! :)

Smoky Refried Bean Stoup

Day 2 of the MoFo Challenge! Well, yesterday really was a roaring success, I think, and I am so thrilled at the comments I have received here regarding my post! Equally, I was pretty happy that two of my coworkers asked me for the recipes, which shows a little more on their part than simple polite interest. I even managed to have a great conversation with one of them regarding flax seeds as an alternative for chickens' eggs in baking.

Result!

Now, for today's offering, we have smoky refried bean stoup - a cross between a stew and a hearty soup. It comes from Susan over there in the Fatfree Vegan Kitchen and I have to admit it smells divine.

My Beloved went out to our favourite bakery Hungry Ghost Bread at lunchtime and bartered some freshly minted Greenbacks for a loaf of their spectacular 'Country Wheat', a veritable feast of a loaf and just one of the multitude of reasons why I could not, would not, go raw!

*******Food Porn Alert!!*******

Look at that crust:




And here's the final dish:



Thickened by the refried beans, packed with home-cooked black beans, redolent with chipotle chili, Hungarian smoked paprika and roasted garlic and topped with a sprig of fresh Thai Basil.....Yum!

OK, am off to eat it now while watching the VP debacle...oops..sorry...debate!

Stay Vegan, Friends!

Happy World Vegetarian Day, 2008!

I am off to a blazing start on this MoFo Challenge! Today, dear reader, as you probably know is World Vegetarian Day and, in anticipation thereof, I devised a cunning plan. It was breath-taking in its simplicity: offer great vegan baked goods and they will come!

Yeah, and when they showed up, I also had available some brochures from Vegan Outreach and some podcast sampler CDs from Compassionate Cooks. Let me explain....

Last night I spent most of the evening baking. I made scores of mini chocolate-orange cupcakes, battalions of carrot cake mini cupcakes, great troughs of chocolate-raspberry chewie cookies and hods of ginger sparkle cookies. The overall haul looked like this:



and these were my supplemental materials:



and



Devious, no?

So, I arrived super-early at work to set it all up. We have a central cafeteria where everyone comes to swipe in, so that seemed like a logical place to host this 'event'. 07:40 in the AM (yeah, I said 'super early!) saw me spreading leaflets and CDs on the table, uncovering cakes, pinning flyers to notice boards and generally having a great time. As you can see, this whole event was carefully orchestrated. I took these pix and stole quietly away.

The general scene:



...and a close up or two:







Anyways, it was not long before folks were happily tucking into the food and by mid morning there was - by all accounts - only a single, solitary choc-orange mini cupcake left. People were obviously too polite to take the last one, methinks! At lunchtime, however, I peeped into the cafeteria to take stock and beheld a scene of utter devastation. Not a single crumb remained!

But even better than that, approx. two thirds of the outreach materials had been picked up and 24 out of 30 podcast sampler CDs had also been accepted. Which means, I hope, that the whole experience provided not only a mid-week morale boost and a tempting, semi-healthy snack but also great Food for Thought.

Which is, of course, what it's all about.

A great day to be vegan, friends!
:)