Fried Green Miso Tomatoes

With my tomatoes not ripening fast enough I've had to pick them hoping they would ripen off the vine, but that didn't happen either so I went with fried green tomatoes.

Fried Green Miso Tomatoes:

4 green tomatoes

1/4 cup miso (red)

Water

1/2 cup flour

2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Oil for frying.

Mix the miso with 1/2 cup of water until smooth. Slice the tomatoes and place in the miso. Add more water if needed. Let the tomatoes marinate overnight.

Mix the dry ingredients and coat each tomato slice until fully coated.

Fry on each side until golden brown about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Basic Vegan Sponge Cake

My sister bought me this wonderful cookbook called, Another Dinner is Possible. I haven't had a chance to make anything from this book until last night. I made the Basic Vegan Sponge Cake. I had a difficult time

Basic Vegan Sponge Cake:

400g self rising flour

200g sugar

200 ml vegetable oil

300 ml soy milk

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp lemon juice

Mix the flour and sugar. Then mix the oil. Separately mix the remaining liquid ingredients.

Bake 180 C for 30 minutes.

The cake was not so much spongy, but more wacky cake in texture. It was good, but I think it would be better in round cake form instead of a loaf style.

Check out the book though because it's great!

Favorite Vegan News Man

On Friday, my favorite vegan news man, Tim Riley, lost his job on my favorite radio show, The Rick Emerson Show, along with everyone else - Rick Emerson, Sarah X Dylan, and Greg Nibbler. Tim Riley has the voice of a God, or a 50's news announcer. He made anything sound great, even when he messed up, which was often, for comedic effect. The whole show made my day and now I feel there is a big hole where the trio resided on my ipod.

The Rick Emerson Show is no stranger to station changes, layoffs, and cut backs. But what makes The Rick Emerson Show different from other talk shows that go off the air, when they come back, so do the fans. The last time they sent coffee cups to the GM. This got the attention of other radio stations who later picked up the show a year later.

But back to the man, the legend, Tim Riley. He is often referred to as a vegan, but I am not so sure he is. I think he eats eggs since he's a vegetarian who's allergic to milk. Never the less, he's the token vegan on the show. Or, was. Today, he is my Vegan MoFo!

It's a sad week for the radio waves of Portland. I hope Mr. Riley starts podcasting soon, or gets picked up by another radio station along with Sarah and Rick, because without them, there's not much else to look forward on my morning commute.

Isn't that right donkey?

Here's a photo I took with Mr. Riley 4-5 years ago. I wasn't supposed to touch him.

chicago eating

I made it to Chicago in one piece. thanks for all the eating suggestions. keep them coming.
first place we ate was Handelbar. I ordered the Buffalo Wrap. It had some tastey, spicey setain, letuce, and tomatoes wrapped in a tortilla. A very mild ranch dressing was applied to the whole thing. Unfortunately the flavor was mild but the combination of the thick setain and fresh veggies was nice, but forgetable.
the bbq sandwich was less than forgttable. it was huge. bread the size of your head and soft setain stacked too inches high. it seemed allergy inducing even without a glutten intolerance. the bbq sauce was mild in taste and spice, but pleseant. however, it was too much. some carmelized onions or more tomatoes would have helped.
I do not think we will visit again.

for lunch today we checked out veggie bite. a vegan fast food chain. everything was fried. the beer battered fried and the meatball sub were the two items that stood out among all the food. the chocolate oreo shake was great but just tasted like chocolate sauce. it was too much.
wait until I get back for the photos and proper puncturation.

Chicago Vegan Restaurants

Tomorrow I hop on a plane to go to Chicago to see The Dead Milkmen at Riot Fest. I don't know what I am more excited about, going to see The Dead Milkmen, a band I have loved since I was a kid, but have never seen; Visiting and experiencing Frank Llyod Wright's early work; and eating at vegan restaurants like The Chicago Diner, Green Zebra, and Handelbar. Let me know if you have a favorite Chicago restaurant and I will do my best to visit.

Fakin Fest

Last weekend was Bacon Fest in Portland. To counter act that a group of vegans assembled in the park for Fakin Fest.

I rolled fake bacon around dates, baked for awhile then dipped in a maple ganache and sprinkled with vanilla salt.

Suprisingly I won Most Creative Dish!

Muffins that Taste Like Doughnuts

Vegan Vittles was one of the first vegan cookbooks I purchased so I have a fondness for most all the recipes. My poor little book has seen better days, but after being forgotten on the the stove and pages fallen out, it mends together nicely. This is like the recipes - it's a great book to go back to, not just adventures-in-early-veganism.

Muffins that Taste like Doughnuts:

1 Cup flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 Cup soymilk

1/2 Cup apple sauce

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

1 Tablespoon oil

1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

cinnamon sugar

Mix the wet, then the dry, then mix together. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar before baking in muffin tins for 20 minutes. I used my grandmother's muffin top pans.

This recipe is great because they are light and fluffy but low in fat and sugar. This was the first time I added blueberries were good, but I do not know I would add them again. Thank you Joanne Stepaniak for your great vegan recipes.

Watermelon Cake

Fruit is one of my favorite things to eat.

As a kid, I remember picking, cleaning, and eating strawberries until I was sick. Every cherry season you'll hear me say, "I would eat cherries forever if I could!" During blueberry season I dream of quiting my job and joining the ranks of the harvester because I love the way the berries fall into your hands with th lightest of touch - and no juice. I could go on.

Watermelon....ah. Watermelon. I remember feeling releived when I first saw the great/terrible

movie Rubin and Ed with the epic line, "My cat can eat

a whooooooooooole watermelon." It put possibility to my ideas that I too could eat an entire waterm

elon - no need to share. No need for one than one cut. Cut it in half and dig in. I have eaten plenty of watermelons in my life in this manner.

This summer, deep in my watermelon meal replacement kicks, I decided I wanted watermelon cake - a raw dessert. Internet searches for watermelon cake bring up im

ages like this cake. Cute, but not what I was looking for. I thought a raw watermelon cake would be obvious - slabs of watermelon stacked with layered fruit in between. But it wasn't.

It was more difficult than I thought it would be to pair the "filling." It needed to have a consistency that would work well with the cellular crunch of the watermelon - a unique crunch that most fruits don't have. Something too creamy or smooth would feel odd - so no peaches, or bananas. Mangos can be difficult to cut so cutting the cake would not turn out pretty and the top layer would probably slide across the room. A citrus would be nice and compliment the flavor, but I needed it to sit for a few hours and oranges would bring too much added juice. I settled for apples because they have a similar crunch, would cut well without adding too much juice, and a tart apple would pair with the sweet watermelon flesh. This is what I came up with:

Watermelon Cake:

1 whole watermelon

1 green apple

Lemon juice

1/2 cup blueberries

Cut 4 inches out of the middle of the watermelon. Select one that is more oblong than sheprical to avoid irrigular layers. Cut off the rind. Then very carefully cut the 4" slab in half. Set aside.

Core the apple slice into 1/8 inch slices. Dip the cut slices into lemon juice or lemon soda to avoid browning. Arrange on top of one of the watermelon slabs so no piece overlaps but with minimal gaps between the apples. This may take cutting some interesting shapes.

Place the second watermelon slab on top with the angles of the rind cuts aligning with the first slab.

Sprinkle with blueberries and garnish with cut apple shapes. Add other fruit as desired. I created a blueberry compote to "frost" mine.

I came across this similar fun watermelon dessert.

I would have loved to have used more than two layers but I used the other portion of the slabs to make this Watermelon Steak. It was an interesting experiment that turned out very poorly. I might try it again next year, but cooking watermelon for 2 hours is a long time to wait to enjoy the beautiful pink fruit.

Vegan MoFo - The People's Sandwich of Portland

Welcome to my first post for VeganMoFo, and my first post in a long, long time. For the month of October I may or not provide my normal (how can I say normal if it's been so long since updating?) posts with recipes - starting with this post.

As many of you know, I review restaurants for Stumptown Vegans. Most of the time we visit a place at least two times before doing a review. So, there are those few times where we cannot even bring ourself to visit a restaurant for a second visit for a review. Then, there are other times when we cannot wait for the second visit to spread the word. This is one of those times.

The People's Sandwich of Portland is a great little restaurant in Old Town Portland where they handcraft sandwich like the Hammer and Pickle, or the only vegan sandwich - the Peoples' Sandwich with "soylent green." A lightly panfried slab of tofu with hazelnut pesto and wonderfully marinated peppers.

However, this sandwich does not have a people's price tag at $8 a pop - but it's worth it. The flavors tickle all the taste buds in the order they are supposed to - the sweet balsamic vinegar marinated peppers, the salty tofu, and the sweet hazelnuts and basil. Plus there's the side of hand cut potato chips deep fried to crunchy perfection with a light seasoning. I only wish they would give more of these crispy little morsels. I cannot wait to try their curly fries.

Check out this shop by visiting their website page, then heading over to 53 NW 1st Ave.

A Mr. Bolsh Dinner

Mr. Bolsh made me a special dinner of beans and toast. Okay, maybe it wasn't so special. He meant to add fake hot dogs but we were out. This is Mr. Bolsh's speciality - Amy's canned baked beans with hot dogs.

It tasted like beans and toast...

Mr. Bolsh got an early Christmas present of a pressure cooker, so look for those meals coming up next.

Sugar Cookies

We had a cookie decorating party!
Mr. Bolsh and I created one of his favorite cookies - sugar cookies.
We started with the cookies, two colors of frosting and a plethora of sprinkles!

Frosting and the blank canvas:
I finally got my new camera and I had so much fun taking photos again, that I couldn't stop! There were also so many sprinkles it was hard to choose just one:

So many shapes and sizes of sprinkles:Emilie sent us these beautiful sparkles of pink and white/clear. I've admired them for so long but hadn't put them to use yet because they seem so special and fancy. I love the way they catch light:

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Menu: (all dishes named by Mr. Bolsh)
Potato Rolls
Candied Carrots
Mashed Potatoes
Tofurky with Cider Glaze
Gobble Gravy
Super Green Beans

The Potato Rolls came from Veganomicon. They were fantastic, but not much like the potato rolls I grew up with, but more like dinner rolls.

Candied Carrots is a dish both Mr. Bolsh and I grew up with but it seems most people eat this dish with yams or sweet potatoes. Simply over boil some carrots, drain, then add some earth balance and brown sugar. Cook until the sugar is melted.

Mashed Potatoes are Mr. Bolsh's specialty. I did have some input - I had him add some parsley based off Julie's advice.

Gobble Gravy was something I wasn't planning on making, but it turned out wonderful, and I'm not even a gravy fan! I caramelized 1 1/2 onion. It took awhile for it to cook down. I used sparkling cider to deglaze the pan. I then dissolved 1 cube of vegetable broth in 1 cup of thick cashew milk/cream. Once this was all added together I was planning on adding a thickener, but instead I let it cook for about an hour (while the tofurky was cooking) and it boiled down very nicely.

Super Green Beans were about as simple as the carrots. I roasted the green beans with olive oil. When they were done from the oven I added some flax seed, which lightly coated the green beans and gave a nice nutty texture to it.

The Tofurky, both of them, were all cooked by Mr. Bolsh. A few year ago we started using sparkling pear cider to glaze and marinade the fake meat. This year was no different. Mr. Bolsh boiled the cider into a reduction sauce (though I don't think he knew that's what he was doing) and he kept turning the tofurky to coat it. He then baked it like normal.

On to the photos!

The Spread:
Potato Rolls:
Candied Carrots:
Super Green Beans:
My Wonderful Plate of food:
Nap Time!

Faux Indian Food

I've been craving Indian food lately. It's more the spices and the wonderful smells they bring into the house.

This was a simple meal I made that makes my mouth still water.

Potatoes coated in oil, mustard seed, cumin seed, cardamon seed, pepper, and probably some other spices. I then roasted them for about 30 minutes in the oven.

Pan fried brussel sprouts and onions with similar spices as the potatoes. They didn't taste the same though.

Chickpeas, spinach and a premade tandoori sauce.

Such a simple meal and full of so much flavor!

Pumpkin Waffles

This is just a simple praise for Pumpkin Waffles!
These were from Vegan with a Vengeance.
Quick praise to my waffle maker who decided to make waffles that didn't fall apart on me!
YUM!

Spaghetti Squash

I've made it public many times that I am not a big fan on pasta. I enjoy pasta about every time out of five times I eat it. There have been times I've wanted pasta but I've gone out of my way to make something pasta like, but not involving pasta. I was in the same mood a couple of days ago so I picked up a squash that use to repulse me - Spaghetti Squash!

Since this is the month of food I thought I should try it again, give it another shot. I had already experimented with brussel sprouts again, why not try another food.
I've heard you can pour spaghetti sauce over it and eat it out of the shell, but that didn't sound good to me, so this is what I did:

Basil Spaghetti Squash:
1 medium spaghetti squash
2 Tablepoons Earth Balance, or other vegetable fat
2-3 teaspoons frozen chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400F
Cut the squash in half and scoop out guts.
Place face down on a cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.
Check the squash - the skin part should be a bit squishy to touch. If it's not ready, take out of the oven, turn over, place 1 tablespoon of earth balance in each part and return to the oven for about 10-15 minutes longer.
Take out of the oven and mix up the squash. Spaghetti squash is a stringy squash - that's how it got it's name (I am assuming) so when you start mixing up the squash you'll see that.
Add the herbs and spices to the mixed squash and serve warm.

It's a quick and easy meal. It tastes like healthy spaghetti. Try it again for the second time.

Thanksgiving

I have many thoughts on Thanksgiving. I usually share those thoughts with my close friends, but today I will tell you.

I don't care much for Thanksgiving. I love the time off from work, but it's no big deal to me because I cook all the time, from scratch. I get annoyed with all the extra people at the grocery store, hearing people talk about making a pie from scratch, using fresh vegetables...these are common things for me. I live a busy life and I always make time for cooking. (This is where I get in trouble) I see the people who cook real meals three times a year as posers. There I said it. Posers.

I do love that an event makes cooking real food popular and that everyone can enjoy a real meal full of love and healthy ingredients.

Mr. Bolsh loves Thanksgiving. I prefer to fast, but we all do things for our partners to make them happy. The past three years we've spent Thanksgiving in Bend, OR, cooking in a tiny kitchenet, but this year we will have our first Thanksgiving in our first house. I am excited for that. So I've let Mr. Bolsh plan the menu:
2 Tofurkys
Mashed potatoes
Boiled Carrots
Chocolate chip cookies

Yes, two tofurkys, for two people. I'm not the biggest Tofurky fan, but Mr. Bolsh is and he wanted one all to himself.
My favorite thing to do with Tofurky is to either glaze it with sparkling pear cider o marinate it with pear cider. It creates a wonderfully sweet glaze and full flavor. But this year, Mr. Bolsh will not have any of my silly gourmet tactics - back to basic, except for the cookies.
Hopefully a camera will be able to capture the glory of the meal.
As a side note, Mr. Bolsh has expressed interested in participating in one day of VeganMoFo. We'll see if he is really interested in telling you about his cooking skills.

Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time with your favorites.

Dill Cauliflower

I normally consider dill to be a summer spice. Last night I mixed it up to make it into a hearty winer meal with a thick sauce.

Dill Cauliflower:
1 head of cauliflower
flour, soy milk, dill, garlic powder, onion powder and pinch of nutritional yeast

Steam the cauliflower.
Create a roux with flour and soy milk. Add the spices and keep mixing until it's thickened.
Pour the sauce over the cauliflower and sprinkle with dill and salt. Serve warm.

Caramelized Onions, Chestnuts with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

This dish was made for a friend's pre-thanksgiving feast. You should make this for your feast if you celebrate such things, if not, find another way to enjoy this dish. You might want to half the recipe it's just you.

Brussel Sprouts with caramelized onions and roasted chestnuts:
2 rods of brussel sprouts, de-rodded.
1 large onion
1 pound chestnuts
4 cloves garlic.
Earth Balance
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Simple recipe:
Add roasted chestnuts, garlic and caramelized onions to sliced brussel sprouts and roast as normal.

Cut the onion in half and slice into 1/4"-1/2" slices. Cut into half if you'd like.
Melt 2-3 tablespoons of earth balance in a a frying pan on medium-low heat and add onions. Cover for 5-10 minutes until the onions are sweating. Heat uncovered until they are caramelized. Add 1 tablespoon on brown sugar when they are done and cook for a few more minutes until the sugar is dissolved.
Take the sprouts off the rod, clean, take off damaged leaves and cut in half.
Dice garlic.
Drizzle the sprouts with olive oil and throw in the diced garlic.
Cut an x into each of the chestnuts and roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 400F. Husk and cut in half.
Roast the brussel sprouts and garlic at 425F for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and throw in the caramelized onions and chestnuts.
Return to the oven and roast another 15 minutes.
Serve warm.


The nutty flavor of the roasted sprouts adds beautifully to the sweet chestnut and sweet onions. I am salivating just writing this. I can't wait to take more!

Survey Says

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
I like the cheap kind. I normally go for rice in cereal and soy in baking. I don't really have a favorite anymore.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Brussel sprouts with roasted chestnuts and caramelized onions
Black and White cookies
Muffins - I'll find out what type when I make it to the kitchen.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
melted EB and sun dried tomato powder, and fake parm

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
Trying to make marshmellows a few years ago and I blew my mixer and now it only has one speed, super fast.

5. Favorite pickled item?
Okra!!!!!

6. How do you organize your recipes?
I write them on lose paper while I am making them, crossing things out, adding stuff, then I transfer it to a recipe card.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
We have a garbage disposal, it's just not installed. We need to hire an electrician.
The compost, I talked about that in a previous VeganMoFo.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
Potatoes, spinach and mangos. Maybe tomatoes.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
Tuna melts. I still miss tuna. It's been 13 years and I still think about tuna fish sandwiches on little rolls with a bit of cheese on top and cooked in the toaster oven.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
PB zigzag from soy delicious or the cookie dough.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
Right now it's the bullet. It's replaced the use of the food processor.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Garlic.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
Vegan Vittles. It even has a burn on the front cover that just happens to match the metal coils on an electric stove!

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Strawberry freezer jam!

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Tofu spinach lasanga.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
I don't know. Seitan I suppose.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
I haven't been eating much lately, but I love to make breakfast. If only Mr. Bolsh would clean up after me.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
cereal boxes too big to go in the pantry, jugs for water.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Frozen "tropical" fruits, flax seeds, cashews.

20. What's on your grocery list?
apples, pears, greens, squash, cereal, soy milk, chocolate chips.

21. Favorite grocery store?
New Seasons!!!! It's the best store in the world.

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
there are many I've tried, but failed - meringue, tuna melt, coconut cream pie.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
I just go through my google blog reader from the top down. Right now I am far behind. I do get really excited when I see Emilie made a new post.

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
candy - swedish fish and chicosticks. and the truffles from trader joes.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
$5 MimicCream. When I saw what it was made out of I thought I could make it at home, but I wanted to try theirs.

26. Make up your own question to put here (and answer it).
What's your next kitchen project - non food?
After cutting the hole in the cabinet for the dish washer we can't yet afford, and putting up the new shelves for all the bulk items, the next main thing is the counters. I am planning on getting dark gray concrete. I want a bright red under counter mount sink, black/dark gray concrete counters with a little bit of sparkle. To the right of the stove I want a built in hot plate that is a bike chain ring. I want the edges of the slab (the vertical part) to be inset with little pieces of bike chain. to the left of the sink I want a built in drain board. The backsplash will be an aluminium tile and the floor will be a bright red marmolium. Maybe I should change the question, to "tell me about your long term kitchen goals." Then I would mention sanding and restaining the cabinet boxes, refacing the cabinets with a more modern angle. Under cabinet lighting, dishwasher, garbage diposal...I'm a designer - my house will never be done.

Poppyseed Persimmon Pears

I've been craving the persimmon and pear combination lately. I bought the persimmon, but forgot the pear. Now I just have to sit and stare at old photos and remember better times.