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.

Cookbook Challenge - Week 9 - Yellow Rose Recipes

Oh, hey guys. How's it going? I haven't been around much lately and I've been missing you. The past few weeks I have been so exhausted at night and have had zero motivation to drag my ass into the kitchen to cook anything worth writing about. Until now. Remember that Cookbook Challenge I was doing? I haven't posted anything about that in weeks because I didn't have some of the books(and the other reasons above) but I am pretty excited to jump back in for the last few weeks of it.

The book for the past week was Yellow Rose Recipes written by the lovely Joanna Vaught. YRR has tons of easy and awesome recipes complete with adorable illustrations and some drool-worthy photos. I was so excited when Joanna busted out about a dozen copies of this book from her personal stash to sell to some of us PPKers who didn't have it yet.

I made the Penne Alfredo and the Very Berry Muffins. Both were extremely easy and were omni-approved by my best friend Diane.

The Penne Alfredo is a really versatile dish. It didn't remind me of the Alfredos of my pregan past but I really can't say that's a bad thing. In the time it took to boil the pasta the sauce was cooked up and ready! The "sauce" for this alfredo was thick, creamy and stuck to the penne but wasn't very saucy if that makes any sense. The Alfredos I am used to are fat laden cream and cheese based sauces while this one consisted of mostly soymilk, raw cashews, garlic. Much easier on your waistline but still very satisfying. After the sauce had cooked I gave it a whirl in the Vita-mix to make it extra smooth, tossed it with some fresh parsley and rosemary and that was that!

Next up were the Very Berry Muffins. I've had a box of Ener-G Egg Replacer sitting in the cabinet forever but I had never used it until this recipe. These muffins came out pretty good but I can't say that I love them, at least not yet. I used a mix of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. I have a huge love/hate relationship with blueberries but I think if I had used just them and not mixed berries I would have loved the muffins a lot more. I sliced one in half, smeared it with Earth Balance and toasted it up in a skillet and had a nice little treat for myself Saturday morning though!

It felt great to be back in the kitchen cooking again so stay tuned this week for the latest book of the Cookbook Challenge, Viva Vegan

GF Flourless Chocolate Coconut Cookies

I've never intentionally made anything Gluten Free because for a long time the thought intimidated me. Luckily I found a really easy recipe for my first attempt and I'm pretty excited about it. I saw the recipe for Flourless Chocolate Cookies over at Oh She Glows I knew I had to make them. Saturday was a pretty lazy day for me due to too much tequila consumption the night before, but when I finally got off my butt to make Carob Muffins for the pups I decided I wanted a treat for myself. After overindulging on my homemade Thin Mints last week I wanted to try something a little healthier and much easier to make. Than I remembered I had printed out this recipe the day it was posted!


These cookies leave you feeling much less guilty after inhaling a few than your standard cookie. There is no flour, margarine, oil or a lot of sugar. The fat in the cookies comes from the almond butter but I will take that over a ton of canola oil any day.

The cookies didn't spread out much like the recipe said they would which was fine with me. They came out perfect. When they were cooked on Saturday night the edges were slightly crispy and the insides were soft and chewy. By Sunday they had lost a little crispness but were still excellent. Because of the changes I made to the recipe they taste very similar to a brownie!


Angela adapted her recipe from Wing It Vegan and I adapted mine from hers.


Flourless Chocolate Coconut Brownie Cookies

1 tbs flax meal
3 tbs water
1 cup dried shredded coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup dark cocoa powder
1/8 cup regular cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup almond butter, smooth or chunky
1/4 cup almond milk. Or coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 and line baking sheets with parchement paper.

In small bowl mix flax with water and set aside so it can gel up.

In a large bowl mix together 1/2 cup of coconut and remaning dry ingredients excluding chocolate chips

In a separate bowl mix together all the wet ingredients, including flax/water.

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix. Fold in chocolate chips and remaining coconut.

Using a regular teaspoon(the eating kind, not the measuring kind) scoop out spoonfuls on the parchement and bake for 13-15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to cooling rack. Makes approximately 24 cookies.

Better Than Your Grandma's Chowder

Massachusetts and New England is known for their Chowders(pronounce Chow-Da here in Mass). More specifically the Clam Chowder. All across New England, but mostly in down the coastline, there are Chowder Festivals celebrating the creamy clam filled soup. I was never  a fan of any type of seafood in my pregan days so Clam Chowder has never been something that excited me or made me feel like I needed to create a vegan version. Corn Chowder on the other hand is awesome. What isn't awesome about a huge bowl of corn and potatoes cooked up into a thick and creamy soup? Especially on a snowy New England day.

Outside my bedroom window this morning

I will admit, I have never made a chowder in my life and when I began creating and cooking this recipe the other night, my intentions weren't really to end up with a chowder-like soup. I don't really know what I was expecting but regardless, the results were fantastic. The idea for this soup came about because one of my friends was pretty sick earlier in the week and I wanted to do something nice for him. Normally I would have made a vegetable soup loaded with fresh veggies but not only is he not vegan, he doesn't like most vegetables. I always tease him that the only ones he eats are corn and potatoes and then it hit me, corn and potatoes in a soup! Technically this probably wouldn't be considered a chowder at all because in addition to it being vegan, I didn't use any vegan cream but the creamy buttery flavor is certainly there. To make the soup creamy I pureed half of it in the Vitamix with a little vegan cream cheese and added a corn starch slurry at the end to thicken it up.

My Vegan Corn Chowda

1 medium onion, finely diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 tblspn olive oil

2 bay leaves


4-5 large potatoes, cubed

enough water or vegetable broth to cover potatoes

3 tbslpn Earth Balance or other vegan margarine

1 sprig of fresh thyme

1/2 tblspn fresh rosemary, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

3 cups of corn kernels

1 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 cup vegan cream cheese

cornstarch slurry - mix a few tblspns of cornstarch with cold water and add to soup and bring to a boil to thick. This is optional, for if you want a thicker soup.

Heat oil in a non-stick pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, cook for about 5 minutes, or until onion and garlic are soft.

Add bay leaves and potatoes, cover with water or veg broth until just covered. Bring to a boil.

Once boiling, add margarine, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper and 1 1/2 cups of the corn. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until potatoes are fork tender, about 15 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon take about half of the potatoes and corn and add to Vitamix or food processor with cream cheese and process until smooth. Return to pot.

Add nutritional yeast and remaining corn. At this point if you want the soup thicker, add the cornstarch slurry and bring back to a boil. Otherwise, cook an additional 5-10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve.