Happy Birthday, old boy!

Back from Florida and ready to rumble!

I flew back in time for Mr. Kev's 28th Bday. A lovely birthday brunch was had by all at Great Sage, an all-vegan cafe in Clarksville, Maryland.

Breakfast of champions... Vegan Bloodies.

Kevin only eats tomatoes if the taste is masked with vodka and hot sauce. I found more gray hairs while he was sipping away.

"Huevos" Rancheros with sour cream and guac.

Birthday Boy Breakfast Burrito, with collard greens so that he'll grow up strong.

Vegan MoFo: Collapse from Cooking

It's all made. Cooked. In the fridge.

Two cooked chickpea cutlet roasts, stuffed with apple-cranberry dressing. Also, surplus pumpkin pie that has fallen prey to my quality-control measures. The house smells divine.

Time for a glass of wine.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Vegan MoFo: It's Beginning to Smell a lot like Thanksgiving!

 Grandma's antique Native American napkins with happy birds, probably made by Florida Seminole Indians.

Commence preparation! I have my work cut out for me. Our menu is set to include:

• Stuffed chickpea cutlet loaves
• Green Bean Casserole
• Cornbread stuffing
• Spiced sweet potatoes 
• Gravy
• Dinner Rolls
• Apple Pie
• Pumpkin Pie
• Guest contribution: swamp cabbage! More on this later...

My mom had to go to work yesterday, so I was home alone with nothing to do but cook! Woe is me. I've done a good amount of the prep work, including making the cornbread for the stuffing.

Whole Grain Cornbread (adapted from VegWeb)

1 cup non-dairy milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 T cornstarch or arrowroot + 1 T water, whisked to combine

3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup cornmeal, medium grind
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. Combine the wet ingredients, whisking to combine well.
2. Assemble the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix.
3. Add dry to wet, stir only until combined. Prolonged stirring makes for flat, stiff bread.

This bird guards the clean napkins year-round.

 

Papayas! Ah, Florida in November.

Papaya blossoms

Vegan MoFo: It was only a matter of time...

...before I was another vegan gone gaga for Vita-Mix. You may remember my former post: SOS, Send Vita-Mix. Well, the Vita-Mix didn't come to me, so I went to the Vita-Mix. In addition to awesome photo props, my mom also has fabulous cooking appliances. I guess some people come to Florida for the sunshine and beaches, but I come to rave about the awesome food blogging opportunities. Nerd alert.

 

 After an hour of pilating, this was my healthy, wealthy, and wise lunch. It's a result of asking myself "what in this house can I Vita-Mix (v.) that isn't for Thanksgiving?" The result:

Low-Fat Cauliflower Alfreda Sauce

• 1 lb frozen cauliflower
• 1/2 cup almond milk, or other non-dairy "milk"
  
• 1/2 to 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 scant tsp onion powder
• 1 scant tsp garlic powder
• 1 T. white miso
• 2 T. nutritional yeast
• Cracked black pepper

1. Cook your cauliflower per package. I quickly blanched mine. Don't boil the hell out of it, or you'll destroy it's nutritiony goodness. Drain when done.
2. Place milk,cauliflowers, and remaining ingredients in Vita-Mix. 
3. Turn that baby on, and oh my god it's amazing. 

You can eat as soup, but I had some leftover soba and ate it as an alfreda sauce, sprinkled (in my case, sloppily) with paprika. A twist of lemon might be nice too.

Vegan MoFo: Where the heart is...

In celebration of my "inter-employment" break, I've flown to Florida to enjoy the warm weather and family holiday. My mama and I are off to a good start: a visit to her community garden, a nice long walk, shoe shopping, and lovely dinner. We've been setting the menu for Thanksgiving, and the master shopping list is ready for our pilgrimage to Whole Foods tomorrow. All that food-talk got me in the mood for something sweet, and luckily my mom had bought these treats from the farmers' market. They're made by local celebrity, Chef Brooke. She has a cozy little cafe that focuses on clean eatin' called... (are you ready?)... Chef Brooke's Natural Cafe.

 

Pumpkin Muffin with Marshmallow Raisin Topping

My mom's house has better photo props, like this cute little pumpkin guy that our Japanese friend Kazuko glazed and fired for us. Ah, memories.

Vegan MoFo: Long live the turkeys!

Kevin and I are both taste testing a few Thanksgiving recipes. We did vegan T*giving together at my mama's house last year, but this year he'll be staying in Maryland and showing his family how amazing cruelty-free "Turkey Day" can be. Mom and I are making Thanksgiving for a few omnivores, so we're all aiming to please and impress. I was inspired by Vegan Yum Yum's seitan roulades. Here's our attempt at a stuffed chickpea loaf that goes great with gravy. You could consider this your homemade version of Field Roast of Tofurkey, cause who really wants to bring packaged food to Thanksgiving?

First you have to make a double batch of chickpea cutlet dough and a batch of stuffing. Roll the cutlet dough out to an 8x11 inch rectangle-oval. Place string underneath, fill with stuffing (not too much or you'll have that same "too full burrito" type dilema.) Roll it up, overlapping the edges slightly and sealing with a little water. Tie it off. Brush the top with olive oil.

(Next time, I may try cooking seam-side down for a cleaner appearance.)

In an oven heated to 350F, cook your chickpea loaf and additional stuffing for about 30 mins. Chickpea loaf should, like cutlets, be firm to the touch and slightly golden brown.

On their way to the oven.

Cremini mushrooms make stuffing yummy and moist.

VegWeb 'I Can't Believe It's Vegan' Gravy. 

I love this stuff. 

Heed my warning, friends: let your loaf COOL for at least an hour or so before you slice it. This would work well to be made the night before, then wrapped in foil and reheated in the oven on Happy-Turkey Day.

Vegan MoFo: A day in the park

Since resigning from my job, I have time on my hands to do fun things like picnic with my friends in the park. Today's blog post is brought to you by yesterday's lovely lunch.

My dear friend Kimber and her four year-old daughter Harper are my closest vegan friends here in Maryland. Kimber was an inspiration when I first transitioned to veganism. She's one of the birth center nurses, and we would stay up late nights with laboring moms, talking about veganism or looking through whatever wonderful cookbook she'd brought. She also seemed to never come to work without some sort of delicious homemade vegan treat. There were a lot of long nights made better by vegan cookies. She was a great support when I decided to give up my sinful ways and come over to the lighter side.

She made the tempeh pecan salad from I Eat Trees, and I contributed a bottle of sake. We packed it all up and headed to the park for a lovely lunch in the crisp fall air.

(Thanks so much to my amazing and inspiring friend Kimber for sharing lunch with me and taking these photos! Check out her blog: Vegan Hippie Mama.)