When it's too fucking hot to cook

Spring Rolls are what is for dinner! I feel like this is a reoccurring theme with me where I tell you how much I used to hate something but gush about how I love it now but here goes.... Spring rolls used to gross me the fuck out. Not because of the fillings but because of the wrapping, they always me reminded me of flaccid penis. No joke. One day that all changed but don't get me wrong, they totally still remind of a limpy. A delicious and healthy limpy!

I was determined to make something cold but still filling for dinner and everything I was coming up with just wasn't tickling my fancy until I started thinking about limpies spring rolls. I set out to the grocery store and picked up all my fresh veggies and had to make a quick detour to a small local Asian market for the spring roll wraps(my grocery store doesn't carry them? wtf).


For the filling I used baby spinach, red bell pepper, cucumber, bean sprouts, carrots, pickled beets and mint. I got them all rolled up and chilled them for about 30 minutes to maximize the coldness.

After I got home and got all my veggies chopped I threw some sunflower seeds in the blender with some olive oil. I then mixed in some soy sauce, lemon juice, fresh ginger, apple cider vinegar, Asian chili sauce and thought it was good. Jeremy thought it wasn't hot enough so he added cayenne which really made it much better.

I made about a dozen huge rolls and dipped them in the sunflower sauce and a sweet chili sauce. We inhaled them with some fresh lemon and mint water too.  Now all I need is a Tofutti Cutie to make my cold meal complete.

Coconut + Lime = Heaven

It's funny how your taste buds change as you get older. When I was younger I wouldn't touch anything with lemon or lime, especially baked goods. I didn't think they had any place in something sweet. Nowadays I can't get enough citrus in my life. I used to get pissed when a waitress would bring me a glass of water that already had lemon in it but nowadays I always add either lemon slices or fresh squeezed lemon juice to it. If I don't have lemon, lime goes in as a substitute. Ever since I got some Coconut Lemon Liz Lovely cookies to sample and review for xgfx.org my feelings towards citrus in baked goods have changed. In the semi-recent past I have made Coconut Citrus Glitter cookies at least twice, devoured a vegan lime coconut cake that my old boss made for my birthday and most recently was a batch of Coconut Lime Cupcakes I whipped up from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. 

Out of all the cupcakes I have made so far from this book, these are my favorite. I can't wait to keep exploring the awesomeness that is citrus!

So Far This Summer

 I really can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've posted. Talk about slacking! Truth is I was really busy at the end of May and beginning of June and after that I just got lazy. This is just a quick post to let you know I am alive and well and still cooking and to show some photos of what I have been up to so far this summer. Check back for a post on some fabulous Coconut Lime cupcakes I made as well as a review and giveaway of Go Max Go candy bars! I am starting a new job tomorrow with long hours and a lot of weekends so my summer is pretty much over. But starting this new job is a HUGE step in the direction that I want my life to go in... I am no longer a cubicle drone, I am starting training tomorrow as the restaurant manager at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the Boston area!

Just another day in Boston hanging out with Mr. T and Link

And Ben Franklin!

Lots of Lemon Drops!

My birthday!

Oh hey Uncle Sam, I didn't see you there on your tiny bike

Making salsa

Birthday Feast!

Vegan S'mores. With Speculoos!

Camping in my backyard

One man band

Boston, you're my home

Zombies take over Boston!

Mimosas with my Sissy!

Silliness in Provincetown

Taking a break from our secret Soviet life

Sister Day in matching skirts!

Gizmo's first subway

Gizmo and her cousin Barley romping.

Gizmo nomming on a vegan puppy treat

Gizmo and her bff

Father(right) and Son(left)

The original love of my life

That's all for now folks! I'll be back soon!

Polenta, Beans, Cashew Cream and Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes!

I meant to write this post last week. Oops.

I wasn't intending to make a Mexican type meal for Cinco de Mayo last week but it ended up happening. The night before I had started a pot of polenta and simmered and mashed some black beans but by the time I was done I wasn't hungry anymore so I stuck them in the fridge and decided to wait.

I had never made polenta before so I didn't really know what to expect. I took a cup of cornmeal and threw it in some boiling water with some cumin, chipotle powder, cayenne and garlic and simmered it for about 15 minutes. I then put it in an 8x8 pan to set up in the fridge so I could slice and fry it. I started frying them in oil in a skillet but it wasn't working out very well so I busted out the electric counter top skillet and sprayed with a little canola. Other than the slight malfunction I ran into when I was trying to run it at the same time as the microwave on the same outlet and tripped the fuse it went really easily. They crisped up on the outside much better than they were turning out on the stove.

I also had a huge can of black beans that I cooked up with tons of  sauteed garlic, onion and cumin. After letting them simmer for awhile I took about half and gave them a whirl in the food processor to mash them up into more of a refried bean consistency.

The beans and polenta would have been an awesome dinner as is but I took it up another level with a cashew cream sauce. I had about a cup of cashews that had been soaking overnight,  I whipped them up in the VitaMix with some water, salt, lime juice, lime zest and cilantro. It did come out a little thinner than I would have liked but it's my own fault, I added a little too much water but it came out great either way. Lime and cilantro both have such fresh bold flavors and once they are combined with the creamy coolness of the cashews you are left with a refreshing cream sauce perfect for topping any sort of Mexican or Latin inspired dish.

I even found the motivation to make dessert and wanted to keep with the Cinco de Mayo theme so I decided on Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes complete with cayenne pepper! I have never tried a chocolate cupcake with cayenne and never thought I would make them either but I am so glad I did. I used a basic vegan chocolate cupcake recipe and added some cinnamon, nutmeg and almost a teaspoon of cayenne. Topped only with powdered sugar and cocoa powder they look like an innocent little treat and at first bite they taste that way too. Give it a second and you can taste and feel the spice coming through. They aren't spicy in the way that you will start sweating or feel like your tongue is burning, its more like a gentle kick to your taste buds.

Need some xgfx awesomeness in your life?

If you haven't had a chance to check out the shiny new Gluten Free Vegan site, xgfx, you need to click over there as quickly as your little fingers can take you! The site was created by Allyson of Manifest Vegan, Kittee of Cake Maker to the Stars and last but not least Jessy of happyveganface. They are a badass trio!

Isn't it just the sweetest little site you've ever seen?!  You can find recipes, tips on getting rid of gluten, a blog, tutorials and some pretty fantastic product reviews. The product reviews are written by a lovely lineup of vegan ladies, some gluten free, some not. The best part is, I get to be a part of it all! Wooooooot!!!!

Seriously! I wrote my first product review for the site and it posted today! I got to nom on some deeeeelicious Liz Lovely Gluten Free cookies and write a post on whether I loved them, liked them or just hated them! I'm super stoked to announce that I LOVED them! You can read that review here. 

I don't know why you are still here.. Get your butt over the xgfx.org and start drooling over all the yummy pictures! I am so excited to be a part of this and to learn more about gluten free nomming!

VegNews - Cheap and Deceitful.

It's been just about a month since my last post, I fail at blogging lately. I wish I was coming to you with some yummy noms but sadly I am here writing about "MeatGate 2011"

If you are a vegan and spend any time on the interwebs here in our little veganverse I am sure you have heard about how the always fantastic Quarry Girl brought to light the fact the VegNews has been using stock photos in their magazine. Stock photos, no big deal right? Well when they are photoshopping rib bones out of a hunk of meat to make you think you are looking at vegan spare ribs, that's a little fucked up...

VegNews supposedly prides themselves on being an ethical magazine and has only used these photos due to expenses. Bull shit. There has been talk that people who worked for VN voiced their concerns over using these non-vegan images and were promptly let go. Coincidence? There are tons and tons of vegan blogs and a lot of them have A-MA-ZING food photog skills and I am willing to bet that the majority of them would have been more than happy to test out a recipe and provide magazine worthy photos in exchange for a little cash or even just some credit or advertising. On iStockphoto a search for 'vegan' brings up 235 pages of images. Another site, canstockphoto, has over 9,000 images labeled 'vegan'. Sure, they aren't all great but there are vegan images out there. And soon thanks to the badass couple who run Food For Lovers we will have vegan stock photo where users upload their 100% vegan photos for the rest of the veganverse to use so long as they give the photographer credit. How friggen awesome is that?!

Not only was VegNews making us all think these were their own photos taken in-house but when they were called out on it they were deleting people's comments and brushing off the entire situation. Until they posted this laughable response. No apology, no remorse and no mention of if/how they are going to take steps to change how they use their photos. I have read HUNDREDS of responses all over the web on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, PPK and on VegNews and it seems like the majority of vegans are pissed and don't want anything to do with VN anymore. There are some though who sympathize with VN and are not upset, shocked, pissed or any other adjective I can use to describe how the vegan community is feeling and are choosing to stay loyal to the publication. To each their own but I am with the majority on this one.

How do you feel about MeatGate?

Cookbook Challenge Week 10 - Viva Vegan - Creamy Potato Soup with Avocado and Brazilian Braised Kale

Another week, another book! This time it is Viva Vegan!

I've been so sick all week I have not had any energy to cook anything. I did however force myself to make this soup the other night and even though I should have been in bed resting it was totally worth making the trip to the grocery store and actually doing something other than heating a frozen Tofutti Pizza(which are friggen amazing by the way). From start to finish this meal took me much longer than it should have but I was pretty slow moving thanks to the exhaustion this cold has graced me with. On a normal night this would be a pretty quick and easy meal, the longest part actually being cooking the potatoes in the broth but it's only 30 minutes and it's inactive time so you can prep other things or relax on the couch.

This soup consists of garlic, onion, cumin, veggie broth, potatoes, vegan sour cream and a few other things I am probably forgetting(I am too lazy to go get the book) and is topped with a fresh little mix of onion and cilantro tossed with lime juice. I used lime and lemon because I was feeling frisky! Actually, I think I was mid-fever so I grabbed a lemon and started juicing it before I realized it wasn't a lime but, who cares. That little topping is then topped with diced avocado. The crunch and tang of the onion/citrus mix really goes so well with the mild creamy texture of the avocados. When those two are mixed with the soup, watch out because it's a friggen party in your mouth. No joke. I will be honest though, I couldn't find ripe enough avocados so I had to microwave mine to soften it(gasp!).

I have a HUGE love/hate relationship with cooked greens. It's mostly hate. I always try to give them a shot and most of the time I just don't like them. Fresh raw greens, I will eat the shit out of them, but as soon as they are cooked they get all wilty and I just can't stomach the texture. The one green I have had the most success with cooked though is kale. I don't cook it very often but I do enjoy it almost all of the times I have had it. It is extremely good for you and much heartier than something like cooked spinach(blech!). I went with the Brazilian Braised Kale recipe which uses liquid smoke. I like the dish but honestly think I would almost be able to say I loved it had I left out the liquid smoke. It was still pretty good and all I really cared about was getting something healthy in me.

I am still sick but am going to try my best to summon the energy to cook at least one more meal from this book before weeks end. There are so many excellent recipes that I am looking forward to trying.