MoFo Wednesday

Sad to say, I am not above the influence. The influence, that is, of brightly coloured, pretty packaging of the eye-catching variety, enveloping what is sure to be a sinfully delightful treat.

Unless, of course, those treats are Not Vegan, and then I barely notice them at all.

Or unless they contain vegan, but yucky, ingredients, like...oh...spirulina, perhaps.

And so it was with a certain level of bemusement that I found myself inexplicably drawn to Betty Lou's Northshore Smackers. Specifically the Chocolate Spirulina Patties.



Whaaaa?

Yes,it's true.

The friendly, bright yellow packet enticed me and I succumbed to its wiles.

And I am sooooooo glad I did. The patty tastes like it should be a 'naughty' treat, but is actually not too bad for you. Four grams of protein, 180 calories and 0 cholesterol (of course!) make this a nice little pick-me-up on a Wednesday afternoon.

Try one - you might surprise yourself and actually LIKE spirulina!

Stay Vegan Friends!

PS: In case you're interested, here are the ingredients as listed on the packet:

Organic Dark Chocolate (Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Chocolate Liquor, Organic Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla), Organic Almond Butter, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Agave Syrup, Organic Oats, Organic Brown Rice Crisp (Organic Brown Rice, Sea Salt, Organic Brown Rice Syrup), Organic Gum Acacia, Organic Spirulina (1000 mg per serving), Organic Flavors, Organic Sesame Seeds, Organic Rice Protein Concentrate, Sea Salt.

Communing with Sea Creatures and Bakewell Tarts.....

I don't have much tonight - work was long, only marginally successful and the drive home seemingly un-end-ing. So tonight's offering is an 'encore presentation' of yesterday's bakewell tart. A reprise, shall we say, in raspberries and almonds. Here's a close up of the finished product...enjoy!



and more...



Am toying with the possibilities of quitting work, dedicating my time to veganizing old Brit recipe favourites, writing a highly acclaimed, super-popular and hugely profitable recipe book and retiring to a small island in the Caribbean. There to commune daily with the mischievious and enchanting sea creatures I have come to know and love over the last few years (in 10 day increments anyhow)...what do you think? Could this be a plan????

Please send answers on $150 bills to Cackleberry at the above blogspot address....

And Stay Vegan, Friends! :)

Monday MoFo

Today is Columbus Day in Massachusetts and it is also - coincidentally - the first full day of my father-in-law's annual visit. He loves to come over in the fall - autumn - and see the colours change, and yesterday was D-Day - Dad Day!

Now, although he is somewhat...shall we say?...'indiscriminate' in what he eats, he does love a good Bakewell Tart. And who can blame him? For those unfamiliar with this particularly English (British?) treat it is basically a pastry crust, spread with raspberry jam and a layer of moist almond cake, topped with a thick layer of icing and a cherry. Possibly the best known commercial brand is Mr. Kipling and they come in individual tarts like this:



I also remember there being a family-sized tart when I was a child, but perhaps they don't do these anymore. Anyhow, I would no longer recommend them as they contain eggs and milk and all kinds of non-vegan things, so I guess that's something of an aside..... Anyways, in preparation for my FIL's visit, I made a vegan version, which I swear and declare is better than the original. It uses a pate brisee recipe which I found on Vegan YumYum along with an almond cupcake recipe from Isa's VCTOW (is that the right abbreviation??? the enormously successful cupcake book!) and I have to say the result is splendiferous! Here's how it goes:

Make the pate brisee and line a tin with a removable base thus:




Bake blind for about 10 minutes on approx. 400 degrees.

When it's cool enough to handle, remove the baking beans and spread wth raspberry jam. Raspberry preserves. Or raspberry jelly - whatever they call it in your neck of the woods!



Then make the cake-y filling and spread on top of the jam/preserves/jelly. It is a basic almond cupcake recipe and I used the full amount this time which is equal to 12 cupcakes...but worth it! (Last time, I made the bakewell tart shallower and got 3 additional cupcakes out of the recipe, but this time I splurged!).



When it came out of the oven, it looked like this:



Once it cooled, I make a very rough and ready lattice in icing - powdered sugar mixed with a splash of soymilk - and that was that.





The cake part was moist and deliciously packed with ground almonds. The jam lent a touch of sharpness to the overall sweetness of the tart and the pastry was divine - just thick enough to hold together perfectly but not so that it risked dominating the dish. Both my FIL and My Beloved enjoyed it and I have to admit it's one I'll be making again.

OK, that's all I have today. Am back to work again tomorrow so there might be shorter posts this week - what with work and a guest in the house.....Am still thinking through my ideas for the Iron Cupcake Challenge...'cheese' is hard!!!

OK, stay vegan, friends! :)

TGI....P!

Yeah!, it's Friday!

There were times this week that this evening just could not come around quickly enough. Man, oh man, it's been...shall we say...'challenging'. However, here we are at last.....and in Massachusetts it is a holiday weekend: Columbus Day! Hurrah.

So, in celebration of having made it to this point in the week, I am making a pizza.

OK, it's a weak excuse, but I'm feeling that way tonight.

Weak.

Burnt out.

And generally tired of it all.

Work, that is.

So what is better, I ask you, than a cozy Friday night in with My Beloved, our pound puppies and a large vegan pizza? Especially as this particular vegan pizza is loaded with diary-free homemade pesto, thinly sliced potato (a la Vegan Joy), onions, jalapenos (well, My Beloved wanted them even though technically I suppose they're not super-compatible with pesto....sigh) and diced chunks of Vegan Dad's buffalo chickenless wings. And, as I type, a smattering of Vegan-rella is melting all over the top.

An aside: evestirs...did you try the Vegan-rella yet??

OK, so I hear the little timer beeping away meaning that the long-awaited pizza MAY be ready. Am off with the camera.....be right back!





And there's the finished product. Pix are hastily taken, but I am too hungry to bother with 'styling'. Let the munching begin!, says I....erm...anyone need a beer???

Oh, and Stay Vegan, Friends!

One Down, Three to Go

Squash. Everywhere I look in our (admittedly compact and bijou) kitchen I see squash.

And so I took it into my head to bake one of the cheeky little things for dinner and this is the result:



In essence, all I did was to split an acorn squash in half, drizzle the inside with a little olive oil, scatter on some salt, pepper and a tad of garlic powder, invert both halves onto a baking sheet and bake until soft.

While that was happening, I roughly chopped an onion and a pepper (colour = your choice) and sauteed them off in a little oil basil, oregano and thyme. I added some Gimme Lean (sausage-style), chopped mushrooms, sliced sun-dried tomatoes and a baby bok choy that struck me as a novel ingredient. (Although I guess celery would have been more appropriate!) As a side, I threw a mix of brown and forbidden (purple!) rice into a pan with boiling water and let it cook until chewy and beautiful to behold!

Pulling the end result together was simplicity itself: rice is rice, say no more. I spooned the stuffing mix into the hollowed out, baked squash and was dissuaded from topping with grated Vegan-rella by My Beloved who felt it would have been overkill.

And that was that. A really nice meal, pulled together fairly quickly (even quicker, I guess, if you microwave the squash - although I've never tried that so I can't really recommend it, as such) and perfect for a Wednesday night.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the other three squash gracing the vegetable rack.....

Stay Vegan, Friends!

MoFo for Wednesday: The Utter Deprivation of the Vegan Lifestyle

Well, I struck out on the rhubarb, sadly. Everywhere I turned at the FarMar there were squash, squash and more squash, so I bought a couple...four, in fact....and am thinking about what to do with them. Two were acorn squash, one a butternut (which never fails to make my giggle in a most juvenile way) and the last was a Blue Hubbard squash, which kind of look like a deformed smurf head. Pictures will come later.

However, having commited to making a rhubarb bread, and having no rhubarb, I decided to try out the 'sister recipe' from How It All Vegan: Apricot Bread. Oh man, am I glad I did.

The original recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of nuts (your choice) but since My Beloved is not a nut fan, I decided to swap these out with 1/2 cup diced dried pineapple instead. The combo of the pineapple, diced dried apricot and the cup of fresh orange juice makes this treat heavenly. Would you just look at this golden-brown loveliness?.....



And it sliced delightfully - just look at that crumb....



And I simply could not confine myself to one lonely slice. Damn, I'll never be thin....



But I will always be vegan. And I will always laugh (surreptitiously) at those who say that veganism is about abstinence and deprivation. Bring it on, says I!

Stay Vegan, Friends!

All Hail Vegan Dad!

Over the weekend, I decided on an adventure and peeked out from behind the relative safety of my much loved vegan cookbooks to embrace a recipe or two from the blogosphere. I had stumbled, you see, upon one of my new favourite people: Vegan Dad. OK, so I don't know him personally and I am unlikely, I guess, to ever so do, however, I love his blog and was determined to test out a dish or two.

And so, in the best tradition of Saturday night 'junk food', I selected Boneless Chickenless Chicken Wings, seitan-based little morsels of delight and wonderment. Mine, not quite as pretty as Vegan Dad's, looked like this:



They paired really well with some twice-baked potato skins stuffed with garlic mushrooms and topped with Vegan-rella, thus:



And finally, celebrating the fact that we now have a broiler (a small miracle!) in an oven whose door actually closes, we also enjoyed a plate of nachos - tortilla chips, topped with a mixed bean-tomato confection and grated MELTING Vegan-rella cheddar cheese. See here:



No, I'll readily 'fess up and agree that it was not the healthiest meal I ever dreamed up, but My Beloved just was not in the mood for another plate of sauteed greens. And, on a Saturday night, who can blame him????

Stay Vegan, Friends!

I (heart) Green Beans....

Yeah, I know you're chomping at the bit for news of my rhubarb exploits, but you'll have to wait just a little longer. I don't have the pix available right now - and what is a blog post without pix, I ask you???? - so instead here are some of the brunch I enjoyed at the Green Bean on Saturday.

Having been to the farmers' market, My Beloved and I popped into our favourite place in NoHo for brunch. I am going through phases where I have the same thing over and over, so decided it really was time to break the habit and have 'Something Else'.

The herb and onion bread with almond butter gravy and a side of roasted red potatoes.

Yeah, I KNEW you'd approve!

OK, here's how it stacked up:

The cutest coffee cup in the whole wide world....



And then it found a friend.....



Sipping happily at the excellent brew, I was *thrilled* when this arrived:



and



The gravy is creamy and savoury and the kind of thing I could imagine poured over streamed greens, drizzled over crepes, or just in a bowl with a spoon. If I can ever - EVER - get the recipe, I will post it here because you absolutely have to try it. Have to.

But until that happy time, if you are in the New England area make a beeline for Northampton and the Green Bean and try it for yourself. It is well worth the trip - even if you are coming from - say - Alaska!

Anyways, better get back to work so, until next time, Stay Vegan, Friends!

PS: Oh, and the little dish of 'butter' in the background? That's Earth Balance. And it was brought to me without me even having to ask, beg, look sad, or bribe the staff. Our wonderful server simply brought it over. Because that is the vegan thing to do.

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!