Cookbook Challenge. Week 1. AFR-Buffalo Tempeh and Mac & Trees with Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce

We are only a day into the Cookbook Challenge and I have already seen so many great meals cooked by other PPKers. There is not a menu in the Table of Contents that I am not interested in cooking. I may or may not have already said this, but if you don't own this book, buy it!

On the menu for tonight was Buffalo Tempeh and Mac and Trees with Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce. The second meal I made from Appetite for Reduction was another winner. I made a few minor modifications out of necessity but it wasn't anything that would make a difference in the way the recipe turned out.

The Buffalo Tempeh was made according to the recipe with the exception that I used fresh garlic and onion instead of the granules because I didn't have them. I cooked them down in a little EB before adding cayenne sauce, veg broth and oregano. I would have never thought to add oregano to hot sauce before, especially because I think hot sauce is good on its own but the flavor it brought was great. I usually don't steam tempeh before I cook it but I really do feel it helped it to absorb the marinade and made the texture better.

I have read the Mac and Trees recipe a few times while flipping through the book and again while making my shopping list, I'm not gonna lie, it took me until I actually bought the broccoli to get the "Trees" part. I should have gotten it sooner because growing up my dad always pretended like broccoli was a little tree with little tiny birdies living in it. Now, thinking back, I'm surprised I even ate broccoli that I though contained little baby birdies. Anyways, the Mac and Trees was simple to make, I subbed rotini for macaroni because for some reason the pasta aisle at Whole Foods tonight was barren, maybe due to the impending snow storm we are supposed to get in the Northeast tomorrow night/Wednesday. I think rotini holds sauce better anyways so I wasn't completely devastated.

The Cheezy Sauce was a nooch based sauce which was awesome, but to be honest, I can't really ever tell a difference in any of the nooch based sauces I've made in my vegan life. They all have different ingredients but they always taste very much the same. Again, not complaining, I love a nooch sauce as much as any vegan. After the tempeh was done cooking and the nooch sauce was all mixed in with the pasta I drizzled some of the leftover buffalo sauce over my plate of pasta . As an omni I never actually had buffalo mac, but if I did, I would have to say the vegan version is better. Not only is it better for you, it just tastes awesome.

This was a really hearty meal that left me feeling full after a small bowl and knowing that it was relatively good for me made it taste even better. Just like the lettuce wraps and fried rice I made last night, this is absolutely going to become a staple in my recipe repertoire.

PPK Cookbook Challenge. Week 1. AFR - Lettuce Wraps and Unfried Rice

I posted the other day about the Cookbook Challenge we are doing over at The PPK, and I am using it as an opportunity to not only use some of the cookbooks I have and have never used, but also as a chance to get some more blogging in.The Challenge technically starts tomorrow but I started today just because it's always easier to cook on Sundays for some reason. Up this week is Appetite for Reduction.

I got Appetite for Reduction for Christmas and haven't cooked anything from it until today. I made the Lettuce Wraps with Hoison-Mustard Tofu and the Unfried Fried Rice. Both were super easy to throw together and tasted awesome. When I make lettuce wraps I usually make a copycat version of P.F. Changs tofu lettuce wraps complete with the crispy fried cellophane noodles. While the AFR recipe didn't call for crispy fried noodles, it was definitely an awesome dish, and much healthier! Normally, I can't leave well enough alone and always change something about a recipe, but this one was almost perfect as is. The only change I made was an addition, to the hoison-mustard sauce, I added an extra teaspoon of mustard, but instead of adding the same yellow mustard, the extra teaspoon was Dave's Insanity Mustard. The sauce was really delicious as is, but I like things hotter. The hot mustard really took it to another level, both flavor-wise and heat-wise.

I can't remember the last time I made any sort of fried rice at home, I think it was when I was an omni, but I have had it on a few occasions as a veg while drunk and having Chinese food as the only option for late night eats. I make a lot of rice, but I usually just make plain jasmine rice and top it with whatever random stir fry Im cooking up. The Unfried Fried Rice recipe is such an awesome base to build your favorite fried rice, but without as much oil and other junk.I made the rice an hour or so in advance so it could cool and not get mushy when getting reheated. The recipe called for Brown or Jasmine rice, which I unfortunately didn't have, but white instant rice subbed just fine. I used reduced sodium soy sauce and added petite peas and fresh bean sprouts just before cooking adding the rice to make it healthier and more flavorful. I love the way the little peas pop in your mouth combined with the slight crunch the sprouts have when added in. I really can't imagine eating any sort of fried rice without them.

After a long afternoon this was the perfect meal to make. Fast. Easy. Healthy. Delicious. I am really looking forward to making more recipes from this cookbook!

Mrs. Grinchley and The Other Side Cafe - Boston, MA

If you live in the Boston or Cape Cod area and you haven't heard of or seen a production by The Gold Dust Orphans, and you like raunchy, fun entertainment filled with drag queens, you need to check them out! I seriously can't think of better entertainment than watching drag parodies of classic movies, plays and books the way TGDO do it. Every time I see one of their shows I crack up the entire time. They are nowhere near politically correct, hysterical and extremely creative with some occasional nakedness. My sister was home from Cali for the holidays so my mom got her, my sis, my brother's gf and myself tickets to go see the most recent production, Mrs. Grinchley's Christmas Carol. It certainly held up to the reputation of their other shows! You can guess by the title what two holiday classics it combined... We had front row center seats on the last night of the performance for the season. I can't say enough good things about TGDO but it's time to move on to the food...

Me, Sis, Mrs. Grinchley(sitting on top of the bar (s)he is really not that tall), Mom, Gillian

Before we went to the show we stopped at The Other Side Cafe on Newbury St. The Other Side is dark, loud and filled with punks, hipsters, and vegans. Definitely my kind of place. They have a good beer and vegan food selection. I've heard from a lot of people that the service sucks, but the both times I went, once on a busy summer afternoon and again a few weeks ago I didn't have any problems or complaints. It's not the best service in the world but definitely no the worst... Honestly, I'd rather not have a server checking on us every few minutes, it interrupts conversation and eating. Give me some space damnit!

Since our group consisted of all vegetarians and a vegan, ordering appetizers was easy. We started out with the Hummus Plate which was loaded with fresh veggies and lavash to dip into the creamy awesomeness that was the hummus.

We also got the Nature Boy which is a sampler plate of the mock chicken salad, the filling for the spicy wraps, a dip and tons of raw beet and carrot chips. I love beets but I had never had, or thought to have, a raw one. They were sliced thin enough that you got the plenty of earthy beet flavor and crunchiness but not so thick that it was like biting into a raw root vegetable. The mock chicken salad is a combination of ground pecans, cashews and sunflower seeds mixed with cucumbers, celery and green apples. I usually hate anything that has celery, especially raw celery in it, but this shit was to die for. For reals. The filling for spicy wraps is just as good. Ground peanuts, carrot, cilantro and garlic all pureed up together makes an excellent little teaser. Last but definitely not least was the dip that comes with the raw chips. The dip is a blend of macadamia and cashews with garlic, lemon and Bragg's. They were all raw and pretty filling. I was starting to think I wasn't going to be able to eat my sandwich. Somehow I made room though =)

Next up were our sandwiches, although I am only going to write about mine because it's the only one I photographed and everyone else's weren't vegan, except mom but she got the same as me. I got the Buffalo Tempeh sandwich with Daiya sprinkled on it. I love anything buffalo and anything with Daiya so this was definitely the perfect sandwich for me. I don't really have much else to say about it except for that it was really filling, delicious and I am now craving one.

Even though we stuffed our faces with apps and sandwiches we couldn't leave without trying the vegan cheesecake. We ordered one slice for the four of us to split and passed it around the table taking turns with it. It definitely didn't remind of me of the non-vegan cheesecakes of my omni past but it was still really friggen good. It had a custardy texture and a mild but sweet flavor. The crust wasn't really like a typical cookie crust where it retains some of its crunchiness but the flavor was awesome, it tasted like oreos and chocolate cake.

After the food and the show we surprised my dad who as at a bar right up the street with my uncle and some of their childhood friends having a few drinks before going to see Zappa play Zappa at the House of Blues. All in all it was a fantastic day with my favorite ladies!

Cookbook Challenge

Get excited! Starting next week some of us crazy vegans over at The PPK are doing a 12 week cookbook challenge. We will be cooking 3 different recipes per week out of of the chosen cookbook for that week. It's a really great chance for people to work their way through some of the cookbooks we all have but may have not used or just don't use enough. Here is the lineup:

January 10 - Appetite for Reduction
January 17 - Veganomicon
January 24 - Urban Vegan
January 31 - Vegan with a Vengeance
February 7 - Eat, Drink & Be Vegan
February 14 - FREE choice week - Choose any cookbook. Dessert cookbook will be Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World or other.
February 21 - 500 Vegan Recipes
February 28 - American Vegan Kitchen
March 7 - Yellow Rose Recipes
March 14 - Viva Vegan
March 21 - Vegan Brunch
March 28 - Final Week! Free choice - choose any cookbook. Dessert cookbook will be Vegan cookies Invade your Cookie Jar or other.

I own most of them and for the ones that I don't I will be getting the recipes online or from some lovely ppkers who are willing to email me some =) Hopefully I will see this one through to the end and not burnout like I did for MoFo. I am off to start putting together my recipe list!

Grasshopper and Gizmo meets Santa

Grasshopper is definitely the vegan restaurant I visit the most when I am in the Boston area. The portions are huge, the prices are decent, the food is always cooked to perfection and service is QUICK! The atmosphere is a little lacking and I'm always really cold when I am in there but it's a small price to pay. A lot of people I talk to either love it or could care less about it, but me, I obviously love it. Now that I think about it, I can't think of a vegan restaurant I've been to that I haven't loved. I am starting to think I am really easy to please, I always thought I was difficult. Moving on...

I recently purchased some CoupMe coupons for Grasshopper which gets your $15 worth of food for $1. Seriously? Even if you don't love the restaurant, that is a deal! I bought 5 of them, they can only be used for dine-in and it is 1 per visit, but hey, $15 is $15.

Since Jeremy and I were heading into Boston the week before last, we decided to stop over on our way home. We were both starving due to excessive drinking the night before and this is definitely the place to go for some delicious Asian comfort food. It's comfort food, to me at least.

My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach because we ended up ordering so much food. Jeremy of course finished his entire plate, plus everything I couldn't from my soup or appetizer. I took my leftover entree home though.We definitely had ourselves a feast.

We started out with the House Special Assorted Appetizer plate. That could have been a meal in itself, it had Vermicelli Rolls, Fried Wontons, Fried Dumplings, Fried Bean Cakes and Fried Spring Rolls. It was a lot of fried, but that's just what I want when I have a hangover. Everything was great, with the exception of the Bean Cake. I didn't really know what to make of it. It looked like a muffin but was really dry and didn't have much flavor.

Next was the Wonton Soup. I could have probably guzzled a gallon of the broth. It had plenty of wontons, carrots and potatoes in it. I'm not sure what they were filled with but they tasted good.

Jeremy got the Eggplant & Tofu Surprise which was really good. It reminded me of a dish we usually get at our local Thai restaurant. There were tons of eggplant, tofu, peppers and baby asparagus. The portion was so huge, I can't believe he ate the entire thing. Including his side of rice. And the rest of the appetizer and soup I couldn't finish. He is a garbage disposal.

Last but definitely not least was my entree. The dish that most people know Grasshopper for. The No Name. It is a bunch of little chunks of battered gluten fried and tossed with sweet and sour sauce, steamed veggies and sprinkled with sesame seeds. It is the perfect balance of crispiness and chewiness and is SO filling. I barely made a dent in it but I definitely took it home. It didn't last the night though, I ate the rest of the No Name when we got home a few hours later and Jeremy ate the rice.

Before our trip to Grasshopper we did stop of at the MSPCA Angell to have Gizmo's picture taken with Santa.

Faux Tuna Salad

This is going to be a quick post because I'm tired, being lazy and watching The Veg Edge on The Cooking Channel. Finally, a cooking show focused on vegetarian and vegan cooking! So far it's been really great, it has focused on 5 cities and some really great veg chefs, including Isa Chandra Moskowitz

I've been trying to get better about making things in advance to bring to work for lunch so I can start eating healthier(I haven't been the healthiest vegan lately) and stop spending as money on takeout. On of my favorite lunches as an omni was a tuna sandwich and when I went vegetarian I came to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be eating them anymore and went on with my life. I have googled vegan versions of just about every favorite dish I had as an omni and I almost always found a recipe that seemed good. I always thought any tuna alternative would probably be gross so I never bothered looking into it until I stumbled onto one. It was awhile ago so I can't remember how and where I heard about it but I decided to look more into it. I found so many recipes using chickpeas as the base and mixed with veganaise, some even had nori to help give it a "fishy" flavor. I decided to forget the recipes and just run with the idea and see what happened. The first time I made it I think I only mixed some mashed chickpeas, veganaise, salt, pepper and garlic powder and I fell in love. I instantly knew this was something that could make its way into my lunches and it was even better with pickles mixed in!

I've been having to get up earlier lately so I don't have the time in the morning or the energy at lunch to prepare lunch for the next day. It had been awhile since I had a faux tuna sandwich so I decided to make a big batch of it to keep in the fridge at work. I threw one can of drained chickpeas into the food processor to chop them up and mixed them in a bowl with veganaise, salt, pepper, garlic powder, a pinch of cayenne and shredded carrot.

This is the perfect quick lunch to throw on bread with a slice of Follow Your Heart Monterey Jack and some sliced pickles and a side of chips.

Honestly, I am too tired to write anything else so that's it for tonight.

An Homage to Root Vegetables.

 Ok, so I clearly sucked at Mofo. I lost my steam, got busy, got sick and just got lazy. Next year I will definitely be more prepared. And motivated. I still have TONS of back reading to do on the MOFO blogs. The short time I did participate was really great though, I got to read a million new blogs, chat with some really amazing and talented bloggers, got some new readers and bookmarked some really great recipe ideas that I am excited to try out in the weeks and months to come.

I really am going to make more of an effort to keep up with consistently blogging because it is my baby. I love it, but I have definitely been neglecting it. Instead of feeling guilty and not doing anything about it, here I am. I'm back and I'm not going away again!

Moving on...

I love the Boston Vegetarian Society. This is not my first blog post about an event I've attended and it will certainly not be the last! It really is a great group aiming to promote a vegetarian way of life(all of the events I have been to have been all vegan.) They organize tons of events at local vegetarian and vegan restaurants, have monthly speakers, cooking classes, holiday outings and more. They are also the group that organizes the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival. It's really great to see such a diverse community of vegetarians and vegans gathering to enjoy one of the things we are most passionate about, food.

Last night's dinner was being held at Veggie Planet, a really great veg restaurant in Harvard Square. I met up with my lovely mother and brother's girlfriend(both vegetarians, yay! Gillian is part of the reason I ended up going veg myself. More on that in another post.) and took the subway to Harvard Square. When we walked up the steps to the street and I felt the first snow flakes of the season gently falling down I experienced the same excitement that kids do when they wake up to so much snow that school gets canceled. I love snow but I can't remember ever feeling like I did tonight. In the crowd of bustling people I enthusiastically exclaimed, "It's snowing!" to which a random person with equal enthusiasm replied, "It is!" I literally did a little jump, threw my arms up in the air and shouted "It's Christmas time!!" Ha. There is something about being in Boston during a light, beautiful snowfall that I can't explain, but love. Sadly the snow stopped during dinner and there was no evidence of it ever occurring as we walked back to the train.

On to the food...

They weren't serving their normal menu(which I love), instead it was an all vegan Homage to Root Vegetables. It was a 4 course prixe-fixe menu all featuring a root vegetable as the main ingredient. The first course was Four Onion Soup with Olive Compote Crostini. I don't know how to describe the soup without sounding confusing but it was a very light soup with very few ingredients yet very hearty, if that's possible? It also had a slight tang to it that I can't figure out but it was a great flavor. On top of the soup was the crostini. It was perfectly toasted and piled with the olive compote with almonds. The mixture of the soft, salty olives with the crunchy almonds was amazing. After sitting on top of the steaming soup for a few minutes the crostini went from perfectly toasted to perfectly chewy, they way a good piece of bread should be in soup. I could have had have definitely had another bowl or two...

The second course was Roasted Fennel and Golden Beets with Roasted Garlic Dressing and Mixed Greens. Wow. I love beets so much but have never had golden ones, I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't know if they would taste the exactly like red beets or something completely different. I am very happy to say that they taste just like the red ones, but without all the red staining! Fennel on the other hand, until this plate, I could have gone the rest of my life without having it ever again and been happy. I hate licorice and everything that has even the slightest licorice taste to it but the fennel in this dish was great. It didn't have the flavor I was expecting, and that is a good thing. I am going to give fennel another chance. They were both roasted perfectly and slightly warm on a bed of mixed greens.
 

 The third course was supposed to be Baked Potato Gnocchi with Cashew Sour Cream Sauce, Chives and Fried Crimini Mushrooms. I say 'supposed to be' because the chef had come out to announce there was a problem with the gnocchi when they dropped it in the water, it was falling apart so they had to toss it out. Luckily they did have whole wheat macaroni elbows so they cooked those up and tossed them with the cashew sauce, chives and topped with the mushrooms. The sauce was nice and thick, it clung perfectly to each elbow. It also had this citrus-y background flavor and while we couldn't figure out what it was(I'm assuming lemon) it added the perfect amount of zest to the sauce and made it feel a little lighter. We all agreed that even though it was delicious, and quite possibly one of my personal favorites of the night, we were glad it was only a small serving. Otherwise, we could have, and probably would have eaten mountains of it.

 

 The last course was Sweet Potato Pie with Brown Sugar Ice Cream. I've never been a fan of sweet potato pie but this was pretty good. The best part was the ice cream, especially when I mixed it all up with the walnut crumble on top of the pie. I can't remember but I am pretty sure it was a rice milk ice cream.

 

All in all it was another successful BVS event and I am really looking forward to the next one!