tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35638942459455877502009-06-01T11:32:31.925-05:00Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-89953626756058502342008-12-03T21:36:00.009-06:002008-12-04T19:30:48.356-06:00

Having a holiday completely devoted to food means that I can't celebrate just once. So after our small Thursday meal, Dan and I joined friends at Megan and Jay's for way too much food on Saturday. First up from me were mini empanadas, adapted from the Veganomicon recipe, with red kuri squash and black bean and seitan sausages. (I used this recipe, subbed black beans for the pintos, omitted the

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-83851268619874033772008-12-02T21:29:00.005-06:002008-12-03T18:21:25.777-06:00

I never liked Thanksgiving food all that much. Sure, pie is always good, and my grandma could make the hell out of some pie, and I always loved the sweet potatoes (but only because they were simply roasted with butter, none of that marshmallow crap, which sounds truly disgusting to me and I will never try), but nothing else was of much interest. But once I was able to cook the food for myself and

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-4964272881346287302008-11-12T21:07:00.003-06:002008-11-12T22:02:24.068-06:00

The other day I came to a somewhat embarrassing realization: Bridget Jones's Diary is my favorite movie. Sure, if asked I'll always says it's Annie Hall, but it's not. When it's cold outside and I'm home alone and I want to spend an evening on the couch watching a movie, it's usually Bridget Jones. So it was to her that I turned to keep me company as I embarked on my first attempt at homemade

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-3309445154554581732008-10-27T21:41:00.004-05:002008-10-27T22:18:32.952-05:00

I had the best intentions of blogging the hell out of VeganMoFo. But as always, complications arose. First off, my oven broke, making a recent trip to the farmer's market a new kind of hell where everywhere I looked I saw beautiful fall vegetables just begging to be roasted. But today, thanks to $180 and a man named Ivan, I've got an oven again. After nearly three ovenless weeks, what's a girl to

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-76043718165841048232008-10-15T20:41:00.002-05:002008-10-15T21:10:49.448-05:00

I read Vegan Dad every day. I love that his recipes usually quick and kid friendly yet still imaginative. I appreciate a good fancy dish with twelve different steps that I have to start the night before, but those recipes don't help me on a Wednesday night when I got home late from work and just want to eat something tasty as soon as possible before watching Project Runway. That's one of the

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-80520928749140477732008-10-12T11:40:00.004-05:002008-10-12T11:54:41.750-05:00

I haven't done much cooking this week, partly because I've been sick for most of it, meaning all I want to eat is toast. If I were less culinarily inclined, I might eat toast twice a day. It's good food. But also inhibiting my cooking projects this week was the fact that my oven broke. Which I discovered after spending half an hour assembling a Mexican lasagna that now sits in my freezer. But

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-14161885362268324072008-10-07T19:30:00.007-05:002008-10-07T21:18:57.509-05:00

I've been sick for a few days and today is grey and rainy, so obviously it's soup time! I love love love soup. Could eat it every day. Well, at least when it's cold out, which means about nine months in Chicago. The problem is, Dan and Matilda aren't so stoked on soup. Usually a loaf of bread and some olive oil for dipping will cure that though. This particular soup I start to crave as soon as

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-33284755676484532552008-10-05T20:37:00.004-05:002008-10-05T21:22:53.450-05:00

There's one good thing about having nagging who demand that I wake up no later than 7:00 ever, even on weekends: A quiet apartment definitely calls for making scones. When Dan and Matilda are asleep I can have the kitchen all to myself to throw together some dough and have it all cleaned up by the time I'm finished with my coffee. I think I love scones more than any other baked good because I can

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-62400623005383761522008-10-02T20:00:00.009-05:002008-10-03T09:35:59.524-05:00

Last weekend was Matilda's thirteenth birthday. Scary, I know. And not only do I now live with a teenager, I experienced my first slumber party since I was a teenager. Sure there was a lot of giggling, but hey, I got to make cake! And hummus. And pizza. And since we're apparently now mini food fetishists, we had mini Bundt cakes. I used the French vanilla cupcake recipe from have cake, will

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-15588967696487502542008-10-01T19:55:00.015-05:002008-10-02T16:57:06.963-05:00

Recently my friend Mary hosted a mini food party. The original idea was just to make a few tiny, maybe complicated, things, but soon the guest list tripled, and we all panicked that there wouldn't be enough food. Man were we wrong. There was so much food that even the champion eaters among us met their limits (and by "met their limits" I mean "retreated to the backyard in case they had to puke").

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-78898724212162929202008-08-26T21:00:00.002-05:002008-08-26T21:15:44.230-05:00

Last week my twelve-year-old stepdaughter moved in with us. Food-wise this is a little on a scary side, as a normal kid who's used to a lot of Kraft mac & cheese being forced to eat vegan is a bit of a difficult thing. But even more difficult than that: the kid hates onions! She'll let them slide if they're in a store-bought jar (salsa, pasta sauce), but otherwise the onions turn her off the

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-34591628886308222612008-07-27T21:24:00.002-05:002008-07-27T21:37:06.584-05:00

Since I had such success with the cherry-coconut muffins, I decided to use some of the pineapple sitting in the fridge to make a variation. But I have a problem. When I use fresh fruit in muffins, I think, "I love fruit. Fruit is good. So more fruit will make these even better." And, yes, loading a muffin with fruit can be tasty, but it can also make it heavy. So these need a little tweaking—and

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-7044391705049264772008-07-15T21:37:00.004-05:002008-07-15T21:57:49.272-05:00

A friend of mine is on an extreme elimination diet and is seemingly eating nothing but beets, greens, brown rice, and quinoa. OK, it's not quite that extreme, but almost. Two words: no salt. But he has inspired me to finally cook beets. I've eaten beets plenty, but usually on a salad, where someone else had to deal with the pink hands. Seeing Martha Stewart prepare beets while wearing latex

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-65176190087520959772008-07-13T21:08:00.006-05:002008-07-15T21:35:46.404-05:00

I've been experimenting with a decent mac & cheese using Teese vegan cheese for a while now, and I think this is the closest I've come to deliciousness yet. As usual, there are still things I think I'd tweak, but overall it seemed to be a success. The interior was gooey but not runny, and the large bread crumbs on top added a nice crunch. Curiously, the Teese I sprinkled on top (below the

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-728966345384753572008-07-02T20:43:00.004-05:002008-07-02T21:14:37.878-05:00

The way I see it, vegan scones usually have one of two problems: 1) They're so dry you fear losing a tooth every time you bite into them, or 2) they're too moist and fluffy, resembling flat muffins more than scones. I always used to use a recipe from Everyday Food magazine, which was touted as lower fat and didn't use any eggs. But these always fell on the too-fluffy side, although if I put

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-3841844280056577842008-06-24T21:21:00.005-05:002008-07-27T08:15:53.316-05:00

This is officially the first baked-good recipe that I have developed 100% on my own, with no inspiration or measurements or anything from another source. And I expected to have to make a few trials, tweak it a bit here and there, but the first time was pretty perfect. Beginner's luck I guess. The muffins came out light and airy, moist but not soggy, and the flavors were wonderful together. The

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-91129783503510689302008-06-11T21:02:00.003-05:002008-06-24T21:42:37.279-05:00

Last week was my lovely husband Dan's birthday. But since we had just returned from our Seattle/Portland vacation (where we ate roughly 80,000 calories, I'm estimating) two days before, there wasn't much time to plan much of a celebration. On the cab ride home from the airport (at 11:30 on a Tuesday. ugh), Dan declared that he wanted cheesy mac and garlic bread for a birthday dinner. Now, due to

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-16753955609007801472008-05-24T19:52:00.000-05:002008-05-24T20:31:46.700-05:00

The moment I saw the pistachio crusted tofu on Fat Free Vegan, I immediately wanted it. But of course when I went to Whole Foods that night, they were all out of shelled pistachios. So almond crusted tofu it was! Sure, it's not as pretty as the original, being so beige and all, but it's still crunchy and delicious. And I learned that the combination of Veganaise, German mustard, maple syrup, and

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-52724780328789425142008-05-19T21:54:00.000-05:002008-05-24T20:11:28.940-05:00

Dan and I were on our way home from work and I had nothing planned for dinner. Completely out of character, we decided to go to Jewel. I'll admit that I have an aversion to normal (i.e., not Whole Foods) grocery stores--something about the two aisles containing nothing but chips and soda--but I'm really against Jewel. It always smells funny. It probably comes from years of living in Wicker Park,

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-60585886134353157232008-04-09T20:26:00.001-05:002008-05-24T20:12:04.996-05:00

Last weekend I got the new issue of Cook's Illustrated in the mail. The few issues I've received so far haven't much excited me; lots of tips on searing roasts and other useless things, plus a lot of stuff I already know. But this latest issue was actually pretty good. So good in fact, that I made two of the recipes soon after reading through them for the first time. The first was lemon artichoke

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-52381035529575667112008-04-07T22:21:00.001-05:002008-06-24T21:43:52.124-05:00

Friday was my co-worker Chris's last day, and since I was losing my vegan ally, I made biscotti. I used the recipe from Veganomicon quite a few times already, but this was a new combination (I still think the orange chocolate chip is my favorite, especially with a cup of Earl Grey tea). I used the basic recipe, subbed hazelnuts for almonds, and omitted the anise (I despise anything that tastes

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-72808518635244457592008-04-03T20:39:00.001-05:002008-10-01T21:47:25.735-05:00

I've been lucky enough to be a guinea pig for Teese Vegan Cheese, and I think I've probably blown through at least five pounds already. Of course, I've had help eating it, but I have been more full of cheese lately than even in my life. It's super melty (just look at that cheese toast above!), doesn't mold in the refrigerator after two days like some other vegan cheeses (in fact, I've had some in

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-28153617481893318522008-04-02T22:18:00.001-05:002008-05-24T20:13:44.427-05:00

Sometimes I get jealous when I hear people say that everything they know about cooking they learned from their mother. I sure didn't. Everything I know about cooking--and pretty much everything else--I learned from Martha Stewart. It infuriates me to watch her current show, because she just kisses minor celebrity ass while throwing a few things in a pot, and it's impossible to actually learn

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563894245945587750.post-5259565267379098042008-03-30T19:36:00.001-05:002008-06-24T21:45:09.041-05:00

I've been thinking about starting this blog--and taking a lot of pictures--for a long time, so it may seem a little odd that my first post is something that didn't turn out as well as I would have liked it to. But failure is often a big part of vegan cooking. So this is a learning a post. I tried to veganize something I never even tried in a non-vegan state, which is odd, and although the results

Karahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602118302807017179noreply@blogger.com0