VeganShizzle

So not natural....but so vegan...

2009-07-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of sandwiches and fake meats. Oh, and fake cheese when it adds to the experience (some fake cheeses are just added empty calories and processed food intake). I have blogged previously about my love of the bar Tube's vegan ham & cheese english muffin sandwiches and when I was scavenging about in my kitchen for some easy food I came across Tofutti American slices, Tofurkey Smoked Turkey, Vegenaise and my English muffins. I knew that would be tasty, no matter how unnatural the ingredients are. I love to prove that being a vegan doesn't necessarily mean you eat healthy...

I decided to make a melt and since I don't have a panini press, I heated up the slices in a pan on the stove while the English muffins toasted away. I flipped the slices, added a cheese slice and then covered it and turned the heat off. I slathered one side of a muffin with the Vegenaise and added the now melted cheese topped turkey. Deliciousness! Warm, gooey, meaty goodness! I ate one every day for 4 days. I just couldn't help myself...One day I did make some kale as a side so that I felt a little more nutritionally balanced. Another day I had a green smoothie, so I'm still healthy, right?

Sip!

2009-06-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

Picture stolen from Sip's Myspace

In front of People's Co-op in SE Portland you will find the cutest darn "food cart" you ever did see. It's an old, small Airstream and it's been around for about a year now serving all vegan, all delicious beverages. Most people are psyched about the vegan milkshakes, which come in many flavors such as Mocha, Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Cookies-n-Cream. They disappear during the winter months unfortunately so take advantage when you can. Last summer I had the Cookies-n-Cream one and I look forward to trying out the others.

If you're looking for something more on the healthy side you can choose from fresh juices and green smoothies. They also now have a parfait with locally made coconut yogurt, blueberry-almond granola, and local strawberries & blueberries. Yesterday I was [wo]manning the Herbivore booth at the Let Live animal rights conference and the nice Sip boy is here selling select menu items. Sadly, I missed out on the milkshakes, but I ended up getting the Greensicle green smoothie and it was delicious! It's a mix of kale, spinach, banana, vanilla, fresh orange juice, agave and ice. I think this is my first green smoothie and I think I'm kinda in love. It was a beautiful green color and it makes me feel like I'm being so good to my body.

I'm always happy to have more vegan options near me. My (vegetarian) friend asked me, after I told her of the new vegan bbq food cart, if I thought that the all-vegan cart thing was going to get overdone. That befuddled me because if a vegan cart is good, it doesn't matter, people will eat there. Some people have closed minds about vegan food and won't even try it (my friend Kenny has a story about how a guy came into his work -Trader Joe's- and a guy picked up a bag of the Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies and then noticed it said "vegan" and was like ugh and then picked up a bag of the Chocolate Chip Cookies and Kenny then pointed out that in small print it states that those were vegan as well (if you didn't know, the difference is that there's nuts in the Vegan Chocolate Chip ones). The guy puts them back and leaves as Kenny calls after him that they're delicious and he should try them. They seriously are so good, they taste like Soft Batch, which were my favorite when I was young). But most people I know don't care, so long as it's good. Vegans are pretty insane about their food. They no longer take options for granted. You can eat just about anywhere as a vegetarian. Really. It's gotten to be very easy to be vegetarian. I think that's why I've taken to rolling my eyes at people that say it's too hard to give up meat. Those people don't want to, and they should just own up to it. Don't say it's hard, say you don't want to.

Free Show in Portland tonight!

2009-06-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

Argos is a band from D.C. I have no idea what they sound like, but my friend Becca is the singer and her friend B.K. plays guitar. They are playing tonight, Wednesday June 24, at Red & Black at 8pm. It's a free show and it's mere blocks away from Hungry Tiger Too so you get your $1 vegan corndog on before or after the show!

Even if you don't care for the music, still come and support R&B and get a TLP and/or beer/coffee, etc!

I did it! I made sausages!

2009-06-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

mmmm.....so faux-meaty....

Or perhaps I should say soysages? Actually, no, let's keep the word "sausage." As you may know -if you've been reading this blog or know me in real life- I love me some sausage: put it on my pizza, in my southern white gravy with buttery biscuits, covered in sauerkraut, simply grilled/heated and dipped in ketchup. Yum!

Several months ago, the wonderful Julie Hasson put up a recipe and a video for Spicy Italian Vegetarian Sausage. Ever since then variations have been popping up everywhere. Jess of GetSconed! has been making tons of them, from Cherry-Sage to Chorizo (both from Veganomicon). I was honored to be the recipient of a sausage every once and awhile when Jess let me try hers. Which definitely delays the motivation to do it myself.

Well, this weekend is my roommate's 30th birthday and we're going away on a camping trip with friends. I figured that this is the perfect time to try out my sausage-making skills...I mean, skillz. I decided to try Julie's original recipe. The instruction were simple and though I feel like my dough was wetter than it was supposed to be, the sausages came out wonderfully. I took a picture of them, but then I realized I could just use one of Jess' since they all look basically the same. I let them cool and then i removed them from the foil and cut them into rounds so that we can use them for our Stew Pockets (which is when you cut up a whole bunch of veggies, add a pureed soup and put the foil pocket in the fire to heat/cook).

I don't get it...

2009-06-10T14:26:00.001-07:00

Last week I finally got the book I've had on hold for at least a month, This Crazy Vegan Life by Christina Pirello. She's the host of a PBS cooking show called Christina Cooks. The book itself doesn't have anything really new for me. I've read it all before and I feel like this book was a bit on the boring side. I think it would be a good read for newbies, but there's other books out there that I prefer (The Food Revolution by John Robbins and Meat Market by Erik Marcus).

What her book did do was remind me of the annoying fact that less than half of all medical schools require nutrition classes for our future doctors. How is it possible that doctors don't have to learn nutrition?? That just seems so nuts to me. Our health depends on what we're putting into our bodies. There's studies all over the place about what foods effect (is that the right -ffect? I asked my friend Corinn and that's what she told me was right...so it's her fault if it's not...) your chances of getting certain cancers or prevents them. Of course, genetics plays into that, but it's a known fact that what we eat can alter things.

Ok, that's all my rant. Not a very good rant. But it's just something I had to say aloud....

I'm still job-less. I gave my resume to Sweetpea Lisa to give to her friend Wes of Blossoming Lotus. They're *finally* opening up their own location (they're currently sharing space with a yoga studio) and working there would be nice, I think. So far I have had no call backs for jobs that I've applied for. I would love to do something with food products, but I'm not sure how to find that since I don't know exactly where to look and what the options are. Something should just drop in my lap :o)

I leave you with photobooth pics of me and my momma from my recent trip home for her birthday.

Just Thai....OMFW!

2009-06-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

I love Thai food. No, really, I do. If you don't believe me, just look at that face filled with excitement! Jess, my "real job" friend (please don't ask me what she does, it's the Chandler of jobs and she has told me numerous times, but I still couldn't tell you if my life depended on it), invited me to come meet her downtown for lunch at a food cart, her treat! She suggested an Indian food cart, but i frowned at the suggestion. One reason was that it was 8:30am when she suggested it and another was that I had heard so much about Just Thai food cart and had loved what I had tasted of my friend's to go food. I also hadn't had Thai for at least a week. So she (gladly) gave in to my Just Thai request.

This isn't an all vegan cart, but they do have a vegan menu and they say they can make any of the other options veg on request. I ended up getting the Vegan Pad Kee Mao and Jess got the Vegan Pad See You. I was very pleased to see they also had my favorite soda, Dr. Pepper! So they get extra...points for that...if we're doing points.

They give an awesome sized portion for only $5! It comes in a biodegradable box lined with foil. It's kinda the worst packaging ever, the box becomes very unsturdy and I'd be surprised if you can eat the whole thing, but I like that they're trying to be better environmentally. I would just try to remember to bring your own to go box and they can put in there. Just remember to bring a big enough one! It's pretty much a must if you're riding your bike....you know, unless you like getting thai food all over your shit. (though I suppose you may be fancy and have a basket on your bike. oo la la)

Bottom line: Great food! Nice people (as far as I could tell, I spoke only about 5 words to her)! Cheap! It ended up costing me about $1.75 per serving, great deal!

Ritteh Shport

2009-06-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

Ritter Sport is not the brand of chocolate I inhaled the most of during my year in Germany. I was a Milka girl. (The Sahne Creme had me wrapped around it's little nonvegan finger) But nowadays anything of Germany excites me and takes me be back to that year abroad. I had heard so many vegans exclaim over the Ritter Sport Peppermint bar. It's one of the few vegan options that the brand carries. The other being Marzipan, and there's a couple more I believe.

Mint has never been a big thing for me. I disliked it in my ice cream. I didn't much like mint tea. But then I start thinking about the mint things I do like: Mint gums such as Double Mint, Andes chocolates that I would get after an Olive Garden meal, I like it in my toothpaste with my cinnamon, Peppermint Patties, those red and white pinwheel mints you can get almost anywhere, and the best of all, Junior Mints. Geez, I do like mint! I might even love it....

For my birthday, Paula sweetly gave me a Peppermint bar. I didn't think too much of it, I was mainly surprised to be given anything at all. I forgot about it after putting it on a shelf in my kitchen and then after a few days in the 80s, I came across it. It had, of course, melted and it looked quite sad. I immediately put it in the fridge to firm it back up. A couple days ago, I finally broke into it. I was in the mood for something chocolatey and refreshing and it totally surpassed that goal. It was so delightful and delicious! The dark chocolate is of the nonbitter sort and matches well with the wonderful peppermint center. It totes tastes like a Peppermint Patty! I suppose if one would want to, they could make a tasty milkshake out of it, but I prefer to enjoy it naked. After all, I don't like mint in my ice cream!

Note: According to wikipedia the Peppermint one now contains butterfat, so check the ingredients before buying (if you're vegan, you're probably doing that anyways, we're a group of double-checkers....).

Image found via Google Image search, from this blog. Thanks, Amey!

Trader Joe's Soy Creamy

2009-05-26T13:02:00.001-07:00

It's organic, it's vegan, it's about $3.50 for a quart (or whatever that size is that's bigger than a pint), it goes well with fruit. I've been a big fan of the Very Cherry Chip (i don't remember the exact name ever) flavor, but had never done the plain vanilla before. I think i had intended it for something-or-another, but i had gotten a big thing of strawberries from Uncle Paul's for only 99 cents and had cut them up and thought, gee, that would go well with vanilla ice cream. And i was right. I also had gotten some cheap mangos from Uncle Paul's and that was like a party in my mouth, it was so good! The other day i didn't have any fruit and just ate the ice cream plain and it was....not the best. It was ok and it was do-able, but the flavor was definitely soy-y. Does anyone know if any of the vegan ice cream makers makes a "vanilla bean" flavor? I don't think i've seen it yet and i would think the beans would make a difference when it comes to covering up the soy taste. Turtle Mountain does have a Vanilla Bean in their coconut milk ice cream line....

I'm currently jobless, so if anyone knows of any jobs out there that i would be qualified for (i have medical clinic, restaurant, and natural food store experience), please let me know!

A Blogpost about This. And That.

2009-05-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Warning: long-ass post to follow....

I just noticed I have one less "follower" (yes, i am Quotation Mark Queen as of late...), who ditched me??? I demand to know! Ok, so I do pay attention to the number, but I was so proud to go from 6 to 13. I don't take much stock in those numbers since I myself have no idea how to do the Follower thing with any of the blogs I keep up on (I'm seriously RSS Feed illiterate). I like to think I have at least twice that amount that actually read my blog. But I could be totally off....

Anyways, so what's new with me since my May 4th post? Well, I've turned 29 (goodness! I'm less than a year from 30!! Less than 11 years 'til 40!!!) Many of my wonderful Portland friends came and met up with me at my favoritest bar ever, the all-vegan Bye & Bye. They may have come just to have a good reason to go there. Cute bartenders (they even have a mighty-cute girl bartender now, it's not just studs!), tasty food - BBQ Brussel Bowl, yum!, and delightful cocktails served tall. It's the only bar where I forget (and forgive) they don't serve the must-have bar food, french fries. My friends from Sweetpea, Jeff & Katie, brought me a cake:

Katie tried to make it as girly as possible, there's hearts, flowers and a butterfly. The cake was vanilla, with dark cherries in the middle layer, "buttercream" frosting. Oh, and maraschino cherries, of course! Deliciousness!

Me with Stockholm and cake

Before my birthday, I had gone to Asheville, North Carolina for a friend's wedding. I was psyched because I hadn't gone to Asheville since I lived in Chattanooga, which was about 8 years ago. I was sorta veg then, but I hadn't seeked out veg food and I had kept reading everywhere about how veg-friendly the city was and everyone talked about Rosetta's Kitchen and The Laughing Seed. I got there on a Thursday morning and an old friend from my hometown picked me up. We ended up at Rosetta's for the first meal. We both got the Tempeh Reubens, which I had been told were a must. I paired it with a PBR (from tap, fancy...)

This tempeh reuben was quite delicious. I had never had one before with red kraut and it also comes with their homemade walnut-something spread. This kraut was of the raw (you know, like Bubbies) variety and, though it was tasty, i would've liked a more soft sauerkraut. It was served with a side of tortilla chips, which you can sub out for a $1 more if you want fries. I would do that next time. To make vegan, you ask for it minus the cheese and they allow you to sub anything else for free, I chose avocado. The service at Rosetta's was friendly and helpful. On another trip there with some nonveg friends I got mashed taters and gravy and 2 different cookies- Cowgal, Cowboy, and Double Chocolate. The mashed potatoes/gravy was good and sorta healthy tasting. The two Cowpeople cookies got one skeptical friend believing that vegan cookies could taste good. They both had seeds and perhaps even nuts with dried fruit. Hearty and tasty. The chocolate one was dry and I was tempted to return it, but I am too shy to do that. I figure it's the risk of buying something.

The next day I ended up at the Laughing Seed with the friend that picked me up, who I shall call Tiffany henceforth....because that's her name. We shared pankoras, one with squash and the other with broccoli and cauliflower (surprisingly I liked the latter more) and we both had Mercury Not Rising, a fish-style seitan sandwich. I choose fries w/jalapenos and onions as my side. Tiffany got the healthy, pretty side salad. So yeah, my whole meal there was all fried stuff. The pankoras were delicious fried Indian goodness. They had a soy yogurt sauce available for vegans. The sandwich was...all right. I don't think seitan is the right faux meat for this. It's not of the same texture. It came with a dill sauce and I'm not a huge fan of dill so it was a little much for me. I ate almost all my fries before even getting to my sandwich. I had hoped that the jalapenos and the onions would be breaded, but they're just fried straight up in with the fries. Still good though! For a beverage I got the pint-sized Dark & Stormy, "Reed's Ginger Brew and Cruzan Black Strap Rum with a splash of lime." I think the "splash of lime" was just the lime they put on the glass. I could've used more. It was a bit strong for me.

I also came across The Chocolate Fetish chocolate shop and purchased some of their dark chocolate dipped dried fruit. I got banana, red plum and cherries. My preference in that order as well. Bananas and chocolate go so well together, don't you think?

I tried to eat at the Green Sage but their kitchen was closed when I had room for it...

I did like Asheville, but I gotta say that Portland kicks it's ass when it comes to ambiance and general all around awesomeness.

Por Que Yes!

2009-05-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

Warning: this blog entry is kinda babbling and all over the place....

I went home to Sarasota, Florida to surprise my mom for her birthday last week and also got to surprise some friends and other relatives (it was a very last minute trip). While in Florida i don't eat the best and usually cut myself a little slack on total veganness. My family/relatives aren't very supportive of my eating habits. They don't get it and usually i hear "but plants are alive too" or some such ridiculous statement. I got to see my cousin Polly and her 18 month old Elliot, that i haven't seen since he was a month old. Apparently, he's practically vegan. He's lactose intolerant and likes veggies and fruits more than meat. I hope to influence him greatly in the future...heh...

Whenever i go home, i partake in the eating of Chick-Fil-A waffle fries and a Dr. Pepper at least once. This time was no different.

I get Polynesian sauce, which is like sweet and sour sauce, to dip them. The fries used to have beef juice in them, but thankfully, no longer.

Other places i ate while home: Sweet Tomatoes chain- salad buffet, Taste of Asia- overpriced Thai that was sooo not as good as Pad Thai Kitchen, Whole Foods salad bar, Granary ( i used to work at this local natural food store chain, they aren't as good as they used to be)- blackened tofu and multi grain roll from the deli, Smoothie King- Light & Fluffy.

But now that i'm back in Portland i have more options and i'm happy to have at least one option (almost) anywhere i go with friends. Yesterday some girl friends and i went on a Pretty Dress Bike Ride. We ditched it about 20 minutes in because the weather was starting to suck and the ride just wasn't doing it for us. We were hungry so we rode on down to Por Que No (Hawthorne location), a colorful restaurant that has a back patio and a 3-6pm happy hour, during which tacos are 50 cents off and margaritas are $1.50 off. While we all enjoyed our Bryan's Bowls (well, Kathleen decided on tacos) and drinks the rain came down and the wind blew, but we were dry under the patio cover. There's not a ton of vegan selections here and no faux meats or tofu, but the Bryan's Bowl ($6.50ish), made vegan, is filling and delicious and you can sometimes make 2 meals out of it. It's rice, pinto beans, seasonal veggies, gaucamole and your choice of chips or 3 small yummy homemade tortillas. You can buy more tortillas for 25 cents a piece, which i did. The margaritas are delicious, pint-sized and $7 during happy hour. They also have 3 different flavors of juices that they sell out of those plastic see-thru barrels. (Rum can be added to any of them)

see? yum!

This week i'm heading to Asheville, NC and i'm excited to check out the vegan food i've heard about! Tell me any suggestions you have!

Pecan Maple Turtle? Yes, Please!

2009-04-27T15:08:00.001-07:00

The PSU Farmer's Market is my favorite market in town. It's also the only one i can go to because of my work hours. Ok, that's not true, i believe the Hollywood one in the Grocery Outlet parking alot is on the weekend as well...Anyways, it's my favorite because of the vendors and because the people watching is the best. I used to work at the Hot Lips Pizza booth a couple years ago and trading with other vendors made it worth the early hours and having to work on Saturday. It just feels awesome to get produce and goods directly from the farmers/producers.

Black Sheep Bakery is a local bakery that sells all vegan baked goods, but their cafe also sells meat sandwiches and other nonvegan items. The owner isn't vegan and says she created the bakery back in 2000 because she knew there was a niche that needed to be filled. A lot of the vegan community don't support this bakery for a couple reasons. One being that she's not vegan and some think it's not appropriate to support her. We vegans used to not have much to choose from, but now with the opening of Sweetpea Baking Company, Dovetail (they make delicious pecan sticky buns! buy them only fresh, because they suck when they're not), and Monkey Wrench, there's a lot selection and you have the ability to choose who you want to give your money to.

I, however, give money to whoever makes tasty non-animal things. Unless they're killing babies or puppies (and a few other cute things) i will buy. People talked shit about giving money to Nutshell because their owners also owned a restaurant that sold foie gras. After a brief stint of adding dairy and eggs to the menu, the place closed. Businesses will supply whatever's in demand, so if you buy vegan items they will continue offering them and coming up with more options.

But whatever you believe is right, do. I'm done with my babbling...

Back to what i started yakking about...Pecan Maple Turtle. mmm....i was walking the market and i peeked in the Black Sheep Bakery case and there was some chocolates i hadn't seen before. I saw the PMT and it called my name. I love caramel and chocolate and pecans. And this palm-sized chocolate was a good deal at $1.75. And so good! The caramel did that stringy thing that's annoying but awesome at the same time and each layer was delicious.

Yum! I want one now!

Cherry Almond Deliciousness!

2009-03-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

I tested for Isa and Terry's Veganomicon a couple years ago and am now privy to test recipes for the upcoming cookiebook, which comes out in November. There's been tons of pictures taken of the cookies that will be in the book and they look amazing! I have been able to try a few of them thanks to my baking-fiend friend Jess. Also, while Evan was in town he made a lot of them and i got to try the ones that i'm completely in love with currently. Cherry Almond Cookies. YUM! I've made 3 batches in the last week. I put coconut flakes that needed using in the last batch. It didn't really add much to the cookie so if i didn't have the flakes i wouldn't go buy some just to use for the cookies. It probably doesn't help that the coconut flakes are kinda hella old. Also, note that the recipe calls for slivered almonds....I accidentally bought sliced. It doesn't make a huge difference, i just find that slivered would be less awkward when placing them on your cookie sheet. The cookies themselves are kind of shortbread tasting and the almond extract in them gives them a wonderful flavor. They're delicious....

You can preorder their cookiebook, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar on Amazon.com, but i think i'll be waiting til it comes out and buying it from a local place like Herbivore or Food Fight!.

Fundraiser for My Friend's Nonprofit

2009-03-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

My two friends, Corinn and Jessica, started a nonprofit called SOSSA (Speaking Out on Sibling Sexual Abuse) and they are having a fundraiser Saturday, March 28th at Chaos Cafe (the Parlor part) here in Portland, Oregon. It starts at 8pm and there's a suggested $10 donation to get in. There's gonna be music (The Morals will be playing as well as two other bands) and a silent auction for items from local artists/photographers.

They started this nonprofit to bring awareness to a type of sexual abuse that isn't as talked about. Jessica herself has dealt with this firsthand and wanted to help others. They do workshops and support groups for those that need it. Go to SOSSAinfo.org for more information.

I'll be working the silent auction, i think. Come by and say hello.

Question Me

2009-03-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

I read(look at?) a lot of food blogs. A lot. When hanging out with my vegan friends, this is not a weird thing, but my other friends (most are vegetarian, some omni) don't really look at blogs. There's some exceptions, like my sister. I'm not sure if it's just my friends or if it's because all my vegan friends are obsessed with food and therefore love looking at food porn from other vegans. So today i was wanting to post about something and i couldn't really think of much. I have thought of doing a post about GoodBelly, a newish probiotic product in the stores around here, but i am ready for it yet.

So i was reading Allularpunk's blog, Awesome. Vegan. Rad., and she had a post where she answered someone's questions. So i decided to steal them and answer them myself.

1. What is a food you disliked before going vegan, but now enjoy?
Hmm...this is tough because i don't remember starting to like something since going vegan. Soy yogurt, perhaps? yeah, no....i still dislike celery and cilantro. I think i do like quinoa a little more.

2. If you could convince one person to go vegan, who would it be, and why?
My Mom, so that she might make me stuff and not complain about my way of eating.

3. What is the kitchen appliance you can't live without?
toaster oven, those things are so great.

4. What is your favorite veg restaurant you have eaten at (or your fave restaurant in general)?
I am really looking forward to going to Portobello again. I've only gone once. If they every make tortellini i will shit twice and die. Happy.

5. Do you face any dilemmas/struggles as a vegan?

Occasionally, when i'm not in Portland. Actually, not true. Sometimes when i'm at a restaurant that's got some veg options, but most of the staff/owners don't know what vegan really means, i have the dilemma of asking what the exact ingredients are. Usually, i just play the ignorant vegan and don't ask. I'll still ask the server if something's vegan, but a lot of people who aren't vegan don't know of the items to look for: casein, whey (seriously, i know someone who was like, what's whey? it's from dairy?), lactose, vitamin D3.

Does anyone have any questions they want to ask? Contact me, i love survey shit.

J-E-L-L-O!

2009-02-28T12:07:00.001-08:00

It's not just for omnivores and lazy vegetarians anymore!

Trader Joe's has started selling 2 flavors of vegan jello. My friend Anna Corbett informed me a couple weeks ago of this news and i think she more excited than i was or am. She was using expletives and many exclamation marks. What's strange was that i had *just* been dreaming about jello. Not literally. I had seen a commercial for Jello on tv and i was jealous of those people eating cool, wiggly boiled-horsehoove gelatin.

Trader Joe's sells it in Black Cherry or Peach Mango flavors, both of which are delicious. I don't think i have a favorite, they both have their place in my world. I also found out that Food Fight! just started selling it. They sell it in an additional flavor, Orange, which doesn't really speak to me so i probably will never try it. They sell it individually for $0.83 (i think that's what i was charged, i think the tag said $0.85...i don't ask questions, i just hand over the money...) instead of the 4 packs at TJ's.

This is the firmest vegan jello i've had. I have had vegan jello before at places like Todai Japanese sushi buffet. The Japanese use agar to make a jello type product. This jello product uses no agar, to my surprise. Only carrageenan, which will freak some people out. I've been told it's used to de-ice roads for airplanes. But you know what i gotta say to that? Salt is used too! Am i wrong? Should i be scared? Does someone know something i don't? I have heard people say they only drink soymilks without the stuff. Have you ever looked at soymilk labels? Almost all of them use carrageenan.

Everything in moderation, right? Right?? Tell me i'm right...

Edited to say: I did know that carrageenan is derived from seaweed (thanks though, jeff!)

Stewed Prunes: It's not just for your Grandma

2009-02-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

I went to an all-ladies night on Tuesday and our theme was old ladies. Many of my friends dressed the part. I didn't go home after work, didn't bring clothes to change into, and, if you know me, you know i don't "do" themes really. But i did bring old lady food. I made stewed prunes and cherries! My grandma made stewed prunes a few years ago and i happened to try them and love them. Prunes get such a bad rap, it's sad. Think of them as dried plums, it sounds better, doesn't it? I found a recipe online. Of course, my grandma didn't use port. I served this over ice cream (So Delicious Vanilla). It was good, but i think i liked my grandma's more actually. i'll have to ask her how she made hers. The recipe doesn't call for dried cherries, but i had read about some blogger who added it to her prunes and it sounded good. I think next time i'll cut the prunes in half before stewing. They're kind of big to eat all at once. Remember not to eat too many! They are tasty and you may overeat them. This is a dried fruit and they have a lot of fiber in them, meaning they'll make you poo.

Prunes Stewed in Port Wine
about 2-3 cups
1/2 pound dried prunes
1 clementine, sliced very thin
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup ruby port
2 tablespoons sugar (optional, to sweeten it up a bit)
Combine all the ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan. Add enough water to bring the liquid level just up over the prunes. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for about half an hour, or until the prunes are very soft. Add more water as it simmers, if necessary.

Serve over yogurt, ice cream, pudding, etc...

Pasta Della California

2009-02-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

Last night i came home from work and decided to use up some veggies that needed using. I happened to have an avocado and immediately thought of Pasta Della California from Veganomicon. I had been wanting to try it and i looked it up to see if i had enough of the ingredients (since i finally will make something even if i don't have everything, i'll just do as i can) and i pretty much did.

What i didn't have: white wine and arugula. What i had instead: kale stolen from roommate, crimini mushrooms and zucchini. oh, and pine nuts. i didn't replace the white wine with anything. I also did use as much veggie broth since i didn't use 3 cups of greens. This recipe uses 8 cloves of garlic and i love garlic so i left that as is. I normally wouldn't put avocado in a warm dish like this, but i liked it. I felt like i was still missing something, but i don't know what.....maybe Joanna's faux parm? It was good though and it was so healthy looking since i had spinach fettucine and with the broccoli and kale.....yeah, yum! There's some kick in it from red pepper flakes and i felt like it was just the right amount. I'll definitely make this one again.

The Vegan's Hundred

2009-01-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

First, I'm at Tiny's coffeeshop in the SE and they're playing music that is driving me freakin' batty! It's the crap that people call "music" where it's just a lot loud banging about. So. Annoying. That's not music, people, that's pounding on instruments incessantly!

Anyways...

Out in the blogosphere something called The Omnivore’s Hundred, a list of 100 foods that all omnivores should eat at some point in their lives, came about. Well, Hannah Kaminsky from Bittersweet liked the idea, but she changed it and calls it The Vegan’s Hundred instead! Everything here is either naturally free of animal products or can be veganized, and just like the original, these foods vary from the every day to extraordinary, delectable and disgusting. In her words "They’re simply all of the things that, in my opinion, any vegan foodie should definitely sink their teeth into at least once."

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!

I don't know how to cross things out so i'll just write comments after each...

1. Natto- No freakin' way!
2. Green Smoothie- i think i've had one in the past
3. Tofu Scramble- oh, yes!
4. Haggis- i haven't had that yet. i saw it while in Scotland (the vegan kind), but didn't try it. i'll have to nab some from Food Fight! sometime
5. Mangosteen- nope, though i might have had some in tea form
6. Creme brulee- nope
7. Fondue- nope
8. Marmite/Vegemite- no, i haven't yet!
9. Borscht- i don't think so
10. Baba ghanoush- of course! Ya Hala's is the best!
11. Nachos- yes
12. Authentic soba noodles- yes
13. PB&J sandwich- well, of course!
14. Aloo gobi- i think
15. Taco from a street cart- Yay for Los Gordito's!
16. Boba Tea- bubble tea? yes
17. Black truffle- no
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes- yes
19. Gyoza- yes
20. Vanilla ice cream- yes
21. Heirloom tomatoes-yes
22. Fresh wild berries-yes
23. Ceviche- nope
24. Rice and beans- oh, yes
25. Knish- i think
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper- no
27. Dulce de leche- i think
28. Caviar- no
29. Baklava- not since i went vegan
30. Pate- yes
31. Wasabi peas- i've tried but i dislike wasabi
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl- nope
33. Mango lassi- not since i went vegan
34. Sauerkraut- oh, yes!!!
35. Root beer float- nope
36. Mulled cider- with Captain Morgan!
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam- yes!
38. Vodka jelly- no
39. Gumbo- no
40. Fast food french fries- yesssss!
41. Raw Brownies- yeah
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans- no, not fresh
43. Dahl- yes
44. Homemade Soymilk- no
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more- ugh, no, i'm hard pressed to buy $12 wine
46. Stroopwafle- yes!
47. Samosas- yes
48. Vegetable Sushi- yes!
49. Glazed doughnut- oh, my, yes!
50. Seaweed- yes
51. Prickly pear- i don't think so
52. Umeboshi- yes
53. Tofurkey- yes
54. Sheese- yes
55. Cotton candy- yes
56. Gnocchi- yes
57. Piña colada- i think
58. Birch beer- yes
59. Scrapple- not the vegan kind, i should make that soon!
60. Carob chips- yeah, not a big fan
61. S’mores- S'mores cupcakes!
62. Soy curls- yes
63. Chickpea cutlets- yes
64. Curry- yes
65. Durian- i don't think so
66. Homemade Sausages- yes! mostly thanks to Jess!
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake- not since vegan
68. Smoked tofu- yes
69. Fried plantain- yes
70. Mochi-yes, yum!
71. Gazpacho- yes
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies- yes
73. Absinthe- no, i don't think so
74. Corn on the cob- yes
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can- yes
76. Pomegranate-yes
77. Fauxstess Cupcake- not yet
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy- yes
79. Jerky- yes
80. Croissants- yes, good old Pillsbury!
81. French onion soup- nope
82. Savory crepes- yes
83. Tings- yes
84. A meal at Candle 79- nope
85. Moussaka- yes
86. Sprouted grains or seeds- yes
87. Macaroni and “cheese”- yes!
88. Flowers- yes
89. Matzoh ball soup- yes
90. White chocolate- yes
91. Seitan- yes
92. Kimchi- nope
93. Butterscotch chips- not since vegan
94. Yellow watermelon- yes
95. Chili with chocolate- yes, thanks to Missionary!
96. Bagel and Tofutti- yes! Sweetpea has awesome bacon and scallion cream cheese!
97. Potato milk- no
98. Polenta- yes
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee- don't think so
100. Raw cookie dough- yeah

more mac n chz....

2009-01-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

Because who doesn't like the comforting warmth and goodness of pasta with a cream sauce with veggies (to make you feel like you're eating something healthy) and a protein?? who, i ask??

I don't think I had tried the Road's End Organics brand before. I possibly may be lying. But if I am, it was years ago. I was at the People's Co-op shopping with my roommate when I saw the box that showed shell macaronis on it, and was, like, Must! Have! I really like shell pasta and you don't see it very often. I also picked up the new seitan in town, Cast Iron Seitan, made by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and her husband Justin. They sell it in bulk at People's (as well as local company Ota Tofu, Earth Balance and Tofutti Cream Cheese) for $6-something/lb. So as soon as I got home, I started sauteing up organic Oregon cremini mushrooms and diced seitan, steamed some organic broccoli and frozen organic peas, and boiled the pasta shells.

Now, don't expect it to taste like the blue box of mac n cheese. It's not the same flavor. (though I'm sure if you add enough salt, it may. b/c y'all know that cheese isn't real cheese. it's crap. like Velveeta) But it's comforting and I really liked it. I ate up the leftovers the next day. So I would say it serves two, but who would want to share? :o)

New Years Meal!

2009-01-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

Every year for the past few years my family has made a particular meal for January 1st. I believe my sister started it. She found some recipe from one of Nava Atlas's cookbooks (the 5-Ingredient one) that has black eyed peas and greens and we found that we liked it a lot. We eat it every year with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and some kind of fake brat/sausage.

I hope that 2009 will be a good year for me and for you too! Happy New Years! And definitely follow the link and try that greens recipe out!

ARCTIC! BLAST!

2008-12-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

I'm supposed to be enjoying 70-80 degree weather at this exact moment in my hometown of Sarasota, Florida. But no. I'm stuck in the winter wonderland that is Portland, Oregon. We've been dealing with snowy weather for 2 weeks now and it's gotten pretty old. I'm over it. I don't see how people deal with this as part of their normal winter weather. I prefer rain. Rain doesn't delay/cancel flights. I was supposed to fly out Monday night but i had to reschedule and now i'm leaving Saturday morning. I was looking forward to Christmas at home and New Years in Portland, but fate had it planned differently. So i'm trying to roll with it. My mother is none-too-pleased and thinks i should make them give me a flight since that what i was paying for or at least a voucher.

I don't know what i would be doing without my new rain/snow boots from Rocketdog. (which apparently were being sold for only $15 on that website....i paid a bit more for them...but not $89) I probably wouldn't leave the house as much for fear of my feet being cold and wet. They have a trim inside of some kind of brown furry material. I've been wearing them nonstop. Kinda like my new jacket that i got from Papaya. (i'm the one on the far right). It's quite warm for being only $35.

I've been spending a lot of time at Sweetpea Baking Co. They have soup nowadays, which is great. I like having "real" food to choose from. They were out of it since Jessie, their soup guy, went on vacation, but i did see they had it again yesterday. It was the Chik N Noodle kind. It has chunks of seitan in a broth with noodles. Tasty stuff. I just would like to mention again, out loud, that i would love Lisa forever if she decided to make biscuits and gravy a regular menu item. I love Hungry Tiger Too's version since it's only $4 and it's got faux sausage in it and the biscuits don't suck (::coughparadoxcafecough::), but the one time i had Lisa's version at a brunch, i was diggin' it. It's a nice southern white gravy with no heavy spices but pepper and her buscuits are light and fluffy. HT2 has a lot of herbs in it, which isn't what i look for, i just want a good ole southern sausage gravy.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! It doesn't feel like Christmas Eve to me. Probably because i'm not at my parent's house that's all decorated. I only remember once not being home for Christmas and that was the year i went to Germany. I'm not a huge family-gatherings person, but it's tradition for me. And i like tradition. I'm glad that i do have a lot of friends that are still in town. My roommate is leaving tomorrow evening so we'll be together for our first roommate Christmas. :o)

Be safe, y'all. Curl up under the covers and watch While You Were Sleeping or some other nice Christmas movie.....heh....seriously, love that movie though....

it's on the B.L.

2008-12-15T12:04:00.001-08:00

Yesterday morning i woke up in a hotel room with snow flurrying about outside my window. It's like i was in a movie or something. But instead of being snuggled up next to a boy, i was in bed with 3 girl friends. One of those friends had gotten a free night's stay at Hotel Deluxe and we made the best we could of a king size bed in the smallest hotel room i've ever been in. They did have a "Make It So" motto, where you could call them and ask for whatever. One of those things was a wide selection of different pillows, like body or one of those special neck pillows. We totally made it so....By breakfast/brunch time there was 3 of us left.

We walked to Blossoming Lotus for breakfast. I had never been there for breakfast before. Me and Maeve's feet were about frozen when we got there. I was wearing Chucks and a thin pair of socks and she had on boots that had a hole in one of the heels and weren't wet-proof.

They didn't have much in the warm side for breakfast. Really, there was only one choice and that was toast...So i ended up ordering lunch (which they serve after 10am).

I chose the Smokey Maple Tempeh Sandwich.

Yeah, look at that plate of deliciousness....mmm.....so it's copious amounts of vegan aioli (i don't know what makes this aioli, it tastes like Vegenaise to me...yum..), alfalfa sprouts, tons of ripe avocado, lettuce and slabs of warm smokey, mapley tempeh on spelt bread. It was so good. I was only able to eat half of it (i polished off the leftovers last night...). This picture was taken by Jess. She herself had gotten one of their bowls filled with pinto beans, tempeh chunks, kale and quinoa (or rice?) with a peanut sauce/ginger sauce mix. that was pretty tasty too.

Unfortunately, i wasn't able to order some of their delightful vegan soft serve. The flavor of the day was Nog, which probably would've been fun to try.

I like Blossoming Lotus, but it's not for breakfast place unless you're looking for a muffin, juice, granola or smoothie. I'm looking for warm and comforting when i go for breakfast. Oh, they have oatmeal, but i don't usually roll that way...

Ice Cream!!!!

2008-12-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

We all scream for it, don't we?

Recently I had the chance to pick some flavors out from the Turtle Mountain company and give them a try. I had had some before so I knew they weren't going to suck. Here's a list of the flavors some friends and I tucked into:

Snickerdoodle- this has a nice cinnamon flavored ice cream with bits of snickerdoodle cookie dough. I didn't like the cookie dough part. Partly because I'm still cookie doughed out from when cookie dough was popular when i was a young teen, and partly because it tasted like i was eating small balls of brown sugar...weird......My other friends that tried it and loved it, so apparently I'm the only one that disapproves of the dough...

Coconut Craze- this is one of my favorites. The ice cream is just damn straight delicious. I believe I've already spoke my love of this flavor before here.

Turtle Trails- caramel sauce and praline pecans in vanilla ice cream. I thought I would fall for this flavor completely. I didn't. Not that's bad. I would just buy other flavors before I would buy this one.

Peanut Butter Zig Zag- I don't think I like peanut butter in my ice cream. A friend of mine and his 8 year daughter love this stuff and helped polish off the pint.

And I also tried some of their new Coconut Milk line as well. These aren't totally soy free (they use soy lecithin and other soy products depending on the flavor), but for those looking for a little less soy in their life, it's great. The flavors:

Cookie Dough- I liked everything about this flavor except for the dough part. I loved the ice cream flavor and texture and the chocolate chips, but I ate around the balls of cookie dough. I'm just so not into frozen balls of dough....which is sad, because this ice cream is good.

Chocolate- good, i would like to make a banana chocolate milk shake with these. Sip has probably already done that.

Coconut- this is probably my favorite coconut ice cream I've had. A lot of people like the Coconut Bliss brand and though it's not bad, it doesn't have the creaminess I look for in an ice cream.

I've also previously tried the Blueberry Cheesecake and Cookie Avalanche. The Cookie Avalanche is a cookies-n-cream flavor that I really like. It nostalgia from my days back in high school when that was my favorite flavor. I love the idea of the Blueberry Cheesecake, but it didn't quite do it for me. The chunks of crust are very dough-like....meaning I'd rather they weren't there. Also, I'm not a huge fan of blueberries in food except for scones and muffins. Oh, and beer. That's food, right? I once heard it called "liquid bread."

Oh, also the Blueberry Cheesecake is gluten-free for all you gluten-free peeps out there.

Sorry, this is pictureless, I forgot....

Canadian 'Couv...oh, and Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

Across the border, of Oregon that is, there is a town called Vancouver in the lovely state of Washington. My sister lives there in a cute house and i, occasionally, visit her. Most people call Vancouver by it's nickname, the 'Couv. I am one of those people. Kinda how we call Beaverton (a Portland suburb) "Beavertron" and Gresham "Shithole." Heh...i kid on that last one. Seriously, no ill will towards Gresham, i just don't want to live there. 'Cause it's not Portland....

anyhoodles, this is all really just to say i went to the "real" Vancouver this past weekend. Yeah, as Michael from a recent The Office episode says, i went abroad. I have a friend that lives there and i haven't seen him since moving to the Northwest 3 1/2 years ago and i wanted to see Vancouver again. I had a 5 day weekend because of Thanksgiving. It probably would've been better had i used all 5 days, but i really wanted to spend Thanksgiving here with my sister and her in-laws and also with my friends (i had two Thanksgiving meals).

Short side note on Thanksgiving:

I made my first Pecan Pie!

I had leftover filling so i made some pie dough (i had to make a second batch, the first was with whole wheat flour which is why there's such a color difference in the one to the very right) and smooshed it into some cupcake/muffin tins. I loved these mini pies! i'm sure i'll make them again. I used a premade graham cracker crust that needed to get used for the big pie. I do believe graham cracker crusts aren't the best for pecan pie. The Pecan Pie recipe comes from a PPK thread, it's Toddx's recipe and it was adapted by Jess, which is where you'll have to go to get the recipe b/c i can't seem to copy it from the document i have it on....

But back to Vancouver. The weather was rainy and my feet got wet and cold (wearing Chucks in the rain = ridiculous), but other than that, it was a great trip. I walked around downtown and shopped and ate. I ran across Gorilla Food, which i had heard about, and decided to eat some raw food. I had a kale/seaweed salad that was tasty and a carrot-beet-apple juice that was large in size and kinda tasted like dirt. You know how sometimes carrots have that dirt flavor? yeah, that. I could've used more apple....i left there early b/c there was a strange guy that sat next to me and made me uncomfortable with his words, such as "can i come visit you?" and "will you remember me?"....and also b/c when i shook his hand, he didn't let go and he rubbed it...

i also ate at Naam, which i was excited about. Unfortunately, half way through the meal my stomach became upset. But, this place has big portions and, best of all, open 24 hours! I got a dragon bowl, but i think i should've picked something else...it was good and all, but i have a feeling i would've liked something else more. grass is always greener, eh?

I also had a hot dog at Japadog, a hot dog stand known for its' japanese style toppings. I just had the holy trinity of toppings: sauerkraut, ketchup and yellow mustard. The grill there dogs, so it takes a little longer than the boiled kind, but it's definitely worth it.

I also picked up a 24 pack of Dr. Pepper. They don't use high fructose syrup there. Or any other country, right? We're the only ones that refuse to give that shit up, i think....

I had a good time in Vancouver and hope to go again when it's sunny out....

Skipping....

2008-11-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

Hey, guys!

I forgot to write what i ate and now i can't remember. but for the most part it consisted of:

Yogurt muesli or english muffin toasted with pb & homemade-by-my-roommate j

snack of raw almonds, red hot blues tortilla chips and pretzels

mixed baby lettuce with sunflower seeds and Goddess dressing

Boca Melt without the Melt at East Burn- comes with carmelized onions and mushrooms

French Fries

Beers

Cocktails

Coffee

Glazed Donut

Brussels Sprouts with Garlic from VWAV

Sauteed mushrooms, tofu, leeks and carrots with quinoa, Better Than Sour Cream and Srirachi

Yup....

Today was:

Yogurt muesli

Nachos from Hungry Tiger Too

My roommate had the Portland Scramble and declared it the best scramble she's had out and about. And they have hash browns like Jam on Hawthorne, so that's a plus. I tasted the scramble and thought it good, but i thought the portion size of the scramble was quite small for $9. Seriously, i should have leftovers for that much....yeah, i'm having a serious issue with HT2's prices.....

PBR

dinner will probably be the leftovers of the veggie/tofu/quinoa from last night