Cookies! and a good book

Chocolate Mint Melties. Yes, that's right. Chocolatey, minty, melty.
Chocolate mint melties from Eat, Drink, Be Vegan, Dreena Burton's latest cookbook offering.
Ok, I can hear the cries for more cookies
These are 5-spice Almond Cookies. There is just something about that crackled look on the top of a cookie. I love it. Can't say why. It's just cool looking and comforting in some holidays with your gran kinda way.

So many people have already sung the praises and talked the talk of this book. I've had it for a while and made a lot of the recipes in it. Talk about a tasty, useful, weeknight dinner book.

This book is broken up into ten recipe sections: Breakfast, Hummus, Nibbles, Sauces/Dressings, Soup/Stews, Sandwiches, Mains, Sides, Desserts, Beverages. In addition to the recipes there are sections there are cooking notes, kitchen tips, baking notes, grain and bean cooking guides

Cocoa Banana Muffins
Also from the breakfast section I can recommend the Tomato Basil Quesadilla.

Black Bean & Orange Hummus (I wasn't completely into this, just too citrusy for my hummus taste) but the Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Hummus was too good.

Zucchini Chickpea Tomato Curry

Sweet & Sour Chipotle Tempeh with Sweet PotatoesGoddess Garbanzos with Polenta Fries. I had never had polenta fries before and she made it sound like I was missing out so I had to try them. She was right. I was missing out.

Sesame Lime Soba with Shiitake and Snow PeasBean & Corn Tortilla Lasagna

Allow me to also recommend:
Pan Fried Tempeh (if you don't think you like tempeh you might be wrong here)
Tamari Roasted Chickpeas (my husband went crazy for these. There were some on the plate. He gobbled those up then pointed at the empty spot and said "any more?")
White Bean & Walnut Bruschetta (I've made this a couple times now. Really good as a appetizer or as a side with pasta).
Coco-Coconut Chili
Sweet Potato Lentil Chili (awesome awesome cold weather dish)
Popeye Pasta
Teriyaki Quinoa

Chocolate Sin-namon Cake with Creamy Vanilla Frosting. Check out the crumb on this cake. It was so light I couldn't get a neat slice. This was a really good cake.

For more desserts do try:
All-purpose Vanilla Cake (the best vanilla cake I have tried so far)
Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Frosting (for the vanilla cake obviously)
Strawberry Cream Frosting
Super Charge Me! Cookies (good travel cookies when you think the airline might ignore the fact you're vegan even though you chose the "pure vegetarian" option).

I still have more recipes to try so I'm sure I'll eventually have another collection of photos to drool on. If only I had better photography skills and a really kickass camera then you'd be in real trouble.

Burlington has a New Ethic

I'm seeing a lot of people finding this blog by searching for New Ethic. Unfortunately New Ethic has closed. There was definitely a lot of interest in the place by the veg and nonveg community so we hope to see another restaurant give it a go. May I suggest the old Smoke Jack's location on Church and Main? It won't be cheap rent but you are definitely right in the thick of it. 5/9/09
I know you will all think I'm a great big fibber but you have to believe me. Burlington Vermont has an all vegan cafe. Let me just say that again,

BURLINGTON VERMONT HAS AN ALL VEGAN CAFE!!!

Sorry for the yelling I just wanted to make sure those of you at the back could hear the news.

New Ethic Cafe, located at 260 North St (right on the corner of North St and S Winooski Ave) in the old north end of Burlington. They are all shiny and new so let me show you around. Ok, it's a cafe so it's not all that big but you can have a look anyway.
Look, door to door service. How nice am I?As we step in you'll notice another person taking pictures. He works here though. I managed to walk in opening day so they were documenting their shiny new cafe just as I was.So you've got your tables, big window, bar seating. Also that cozy nook with the cool artwork about the couch. And I really like the post/pillar (I don't know what the techinical difference is). It's all asymmetrical cool and who doesn't love bamboo? The big glowing orbs you see floating around are those big paper lantern lights, my camera just doesn't pick up the detail of their brightness (I know you were hoping they were aliens but they were just lights, trust me, I talked to them).

So by now you're saying "yeah this is all well and good but how's the food?" I'm getting to that Mrs & Miss' ImpatientPants, geez.

I've been there twice now and will keep going back. Not only to support the business but to try everything on the menu. How can you make a recomendation of a place without trying lots of their stuff? Most places you can't try everything because it's not all vegan, but here, it is so I will. So there.

The first meal I shared with my veggie pal Megan. We split two sammies down the middle in the middle of our hard work day. What you can't see is that this plate is on a cardboard box. It was the perfect time out.
First up, the Plantain Burger with lettuce tomato onion and the New Ethic special sauce. Now I'm new to plantains so I went straight for this, and it sounded cool. So it was cool. It contained two small plantain patties and they special sauce was finger lickin' good.
And next up we have the BLT (hickory smoked coconut bacon, lettuce, tomato, and house mayo). I had to order this the first time out. Coconut bacon? No way! Yes way. This is the shiz. I like how little or lot you can have of this bacon, it's not crumbles like bacon bits so it has a better mouth feel. The flavor is all there.

The second time around I went for Sunday lunch with the husband guy. He ordered
The sweet chili burger. A house made burger with onions and sweet chili sauce. He added a bit of bacon cause it's hard to resist. As you can see this came with a small side salad and dill pickle (I love dill pickles and stole this right off his plate). The take out order I placed the first time around did not include the salad so that might be an eat in perk. I got a bite of this and it was awesome. If you have ever made veggie burgers you know they can often come out a bit too soft. This had an awesome texture. I highly recommend it.
I went for the nachos. This are pretty self explanatory. You can barely see in the picture but there is a little sprinkle of nutritional yeast on top. I loved this cause I have a thing for nooch. Cheese, black beans, salsa, corn, avocado. Yup, these were great, I loved every bite.

So check out the menu for yourself. It has a good offering of various foods covering things between bread, comfort foods, healthy smoothies. I'll report back on more delicious eats as I try them but . . .

if you're in the area. eat there
if youre coming to the area. eat there.
If you're thinking about coming to the area. Do it and then eat there.

Don't think you can find it? That is soooo not an excuse, let me know, I'll get you there.

Peter Piper didn't pickle these peppers

And here my friends are the fruits of my labor. Ok, there wasn't much labor. These peppers practically grew themselves. I watered them a bit sure. Oh, and put them in the ground in the first place. Ok, yeah, the fruits of my labor. Some thai chilies, jalapeno, and I forget the big bell peppers (I'll fix this when I remember, tee hee).

When the pepper harvest came around I knew I needed to resurrect the Thai curry but then I'm usually not home until 7 or 8 so I want to make something quick. Enter ready to go red curry paste. You can make your own and store it in the fridge and I will because I need to do something with all these thai chilies. I just didn't this time.

Thai Red Tofu Curry

2 Tb peanut oil
1lb extra firm tofu, drained and gently pressed
2-4 Tb thai red curry paste
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 14oz can coconut milk
4 kaffir lime leaves
Juice of 1 lime (optional)
Handful of thai basil (optional)

Cut tofu into 1/2" pieces, you pick the shape (triangle, cube, rectangle, whatever). Heat the oil in wok or lg heavy bottom pan over medium heat, add tofu and cook 3-5 minutes per side. You want to lightly brown the pieces. Do this in batches if this makes it easier, I think I did two batches in a wok. Set the tofu aside and set your wok back over the heat.
Add the curry paste to the pan and heat for 1 minute stirring a couple times. Add the red pepper and cook until slightly tender, 5 minutes or so. Add the coconut milk and stir to incorporate the curry paste and coconut milk. Add lime leaves and tofu and let the mixture simmer for 20 mins.
Serve your curry over the rice of your choice (we had brown basmati rice). Sprinkle serving with thai basil leaves and with a squeeze of lime juice (or serve with lime wedge) if desired.

Crack of Noon

You know, brunch time. Isa has been feverishly working away at a new cookbook and I was able to do some recipe testing. This has resulted in some pretty tasty meals. I know you want to see some previews so I'll show off some of the recipes I tested to get your mouths watering. This book will need to be on your wish list.

Bagels, yes bagels from scratch
Leek & Mushroom Breakfast Pie
Sausages
Morning Casserole
Peanut Butter Waffles
Beer Battered Tofu
Corn waffles with seitan & mole
Banana Rabanada
Matzoh Brie
Sesame tofu (this is probably my favorite)
Tofu Benny
Polenta Rancheros
Pumpkin French Toast
Samosa mashed potato pancakes

This is just what I too pictures of, there was much more yumminess enjoyed. This is going to be a seriously delicious book. You'll be able to put together a stellar brunch for anyone, omni or vegan.

Don't forget to get yourself a copy of this when it comes out. It's already up on Amazon for preorder but it will probably also be available at your usual vegan venues (Herbivore, Cosmos, Food Fight, etc).

Alright, it's late. Keeping up wit all these MoFo posts is almost a full time job, keep the vegan food flowing guys!

Iron Chef: Apples & Ginger

This VeganMoFo Iron Chef Challenge comes to you from Katie at Don't Eat Off The Sidewalk. I'm posting this a little late but there's a recipe in it so I've got to share that.

For this Iron Chef Challenge our ingredients were Apples and Ginger. Immediately I thought dessert and could not escape the allure. I asked my husband what he thought I should make (sometimes two heads are better than one, sometimes you want everyone to shut up, today I wanted ideas). After throwing out a few standard flavors, pie being the quickest to mind, he stopped and got this slightly excited look on his face.
"Make ginger cake"
Me: "Make a ginger cake, ok . . " It sounded kinda boring to me but I had forgotten, he's a brit, he didn't mean just any ol' ginger cake
Him: "Yeah ginger cake, my Nan used to love them. Ever heard of Lyons Ginger Cake? "
Me: "No . . . What was that brand name again?" Now I'm poised over my keyboard, cursor at the search bar.
After some searching around I kinda found what he meant. This wasn't just any ol' ginger cake indeed. This was a classic packaged cake. One that I had never had so I was going to have to try and make it and then rely on his sensory recollection for the flavor and texture.

For the cake a did a little searching for recipes for a jumping off point. I found one and it seemed easy enough to veganize. My version goes a little something like this:

Like Lyons Ginger Cake

2 Tb flax meal 6 Tb water
3/4 cup earth balance vegan margarine
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup agave nectar 1 scant cup nondairy milk
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2-3 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 300. Lightly spray loaf pan and line with baking parchment. Whisk together flax and water, set aside. In a saucepan melt the margarine with sugar and agave. Remove from heat and mix in milk then add in flax mixture and combine well. In a bowl mix together flour, ginger (use anywhere between 2-3 tsp depending on how strong you want your ginger flavor), baking powder and baking soda. Combine flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hr then cover the top with parchment (so top doesn't burn) and bake another 25 mins. The cake is done when tester (or knife) inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool for 5 mins in pan then turn onto rack to cool completely.

This cake may keep forever, you'll see what I mean when you slice into it. That's one dense cake. You get an idea on how this is pretty shelf stable.

So now I needed an apple component.
I used local Ananas Reinette Apples from Scottfarm in Dummerston for this delicious fall treat. Ananas Reinette, an old European variety that resembles a Granny Smith a bit which makes it great for baking or just eating, means royal pineapple for it's flavor has a slight pineapple twang to it.

Caramel Candy Apple Topping
4 Ananas Reinette apples (or 2 Granny Smiths)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 Tb water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon a pinch of nutmeg

Slice or dice your apples, go for 1/4 inch thickness. Combine all the ingredients in a large heavy bottom skillet. Simmer this mixture over medium heat for 5-8 mins, you want the liquid to thicken to a syrup consistancy and the apples to get a little tender but not fall apart.
Serve this however you like. The cake is moist enough to eat on it's own if you want so fear not if you run out of topping, or just double to topping recipe.

Fear not your kitchens, great and small

I'm in my second kitchen since becoming vegan. I don't have any photos of our previous kitchen but think studio apartment (big room with a bathroom). As you walk in the door you have a small square of counter next to a small apartment size stove. On the upside, this was a gas stove and aside from the oven seal leaking half the heat out it worked pretty well.
Beside the stove was a small doorless closet/pantry type room. This housed the sink, about the size of a normal bathroom sink. Another small square of counter, smaller than the first but big enough to hold a dish strainer. Washing dishes in this sink was a job. You would bang dishes against the taps* and you would get wet.** After reading How To Cook In A New York Apartment by Laura Dave I know that it could have been much much worse.*** At the back of this room were strangely deep shelves where we kept our dishes, silverware, nonperishables, everything kitchen basically.

I'm surprised I didn't give up on cooking there, vegan or no. I wasn't really raised on processed junk so I don't think I have it in me to live on junk. I surely have eaten the boxes of macaroni & cheese as a kid and as an adult I've had mac and chreese (or whatever) but I have always wanted to create my own meal. Bring together the parts to make something bigger, sometimes better sometimes not.

The new apartment is much more spacious, the kitchen much bigger, with cupboards! I'm using up all the counter space and loving that my cookie sheet fits all the way in my sink.
The stove is electric (boo!)
And after a few months of cooking I built up a pretty decent spice collection. There is actually another row of herbs & spices behind the visible on in the bottom picture.
Before making the shift to vegan, my cooking sucked. I could make edible foods but you would never call any of my creations "culinary delights." I could bake, thank my mom for that one. She always baked from scratch. You would never find a mix in our house. You will never find a mix in my house now. Since becoming vegan I have lost my fear of trying new foods, new techniques, and of screwing up. I still screw up, not all recipes turn out as intended but I'm no longer afraid of the potential results. This is most likely because my ingredients are less likely to kill me if improperly prepared but we shall leave the dangers of meat cooking/preparing/eating for some other time shall we?

*yes taps, there were two, poised right over the tiny sink forcing everything to be angled around and under them
**the sink was low enough to get that stereotypical wet patch across the front of your pants normally reserved for public restroom adventures. You would probably end up with wet feet, top of bottom, from the unavoidable splash & dump of water out of this inadequate sink.
***this essay can be found in the book Alone In The Kichen With An Eggplant edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler

Stone Soup

Oh Burlington, now that we have learned your mysterious ways. We have found your hidden vegan delights and shout the delicious praises far and wide. Zabby & Elf's Stone Soup is one such place. There is always a vegan option, several actually. On their permanent menu (well as permanent as I can tell as it hasn't changed since I've been going there) you'll find:

• Vegan Club (tofu & tempeh mega yum)
• Hummus & Veg (pretty self explanatory)
• Seitan Pepper Steak (seitan, sweet peppers, onions - make sure you ask for this without the cheese or "make it vegan" they will either use vegan cheese if they have some or just leave it off).
• Seitan Reuben (seitan, sauerkraut, you know, a reuben - make sure you ask for this without the swiss or "make it vegan").
  
• Roasted Tofu (a roasted/baked tofu hot sammie)
  

All these sammies are $7.95-$8.50. That may or may not sound like a lot of money for a sandwich depending on where you're based but you aren't just buying a sandwich here. You're buying more like two sandwiches. These are huge. Yes I've seen people eat a whole one in one sitting (*cough* my husband *cough*) but they really are big enough for two meals. See for yourself . . .

This is my seitan pepper steak I brought back to eat at my desk. Don't mind the papers everywhere. The filling is barely contained within those giant slabs of bread.
Is that kale? Why yes it is. Everyday, like clockwork there will be hot kale. It says so on the Stone Soup t-shirts. All the sandwiches are served with chips but if you ask nicely they will give you kale instead.

The kale brings me to another great feature of this little cafe, the hot/salad bar. Most of these items can change daily. As I mentioned, kale is everyday (horray!) with the hot items. You'll usually find a few other vegan items here like seitan stew or pot pie, tofu sesame stew, brazilian bean stew, roasted sweet potato. The salad bar is usually rockin' with greens, beans (edemame, chickpeas, etc), peas/corn, sprouts, carrot, seeds, tomatoes, great stuff and of course a selection of dressings.

On the bottom left of that handy chalk board will be the daily soup selection. This day there weren't any vegan choices but there is usually at least one. I've had a pretty tasty carrot soup as well as a superb lentil. And check out that wall of bread, so pretty.
I have been known to stare off into that kichen, mesmorized by the prep for next day, the giant soup pots, the equally giant tubs of spices.

Did I mention that they also have vegan desserts? I didn't? It nearly slipped my mind. Yeah, they make vegan chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies, macaroons, brownies, peanut butter chocolate bars, a couple other things I'm probably forgetting. They are a great treat after a ginormous salad or sammie. If you can pack it in.

Sometimes while I'm waiting for my order to come up I'll listen to other people order. The main courses aren't so interesting. Either you're a vegetarian or you're not, either you like veggies/tofu/seitan or you think it's strange. No, I like to watch people pick out a dessert. It is immediately obvious who thinks vegan food is not only strange but potentially gross and poisonous.

Customer: "I'll have a chocolate chip cookie"
Server: "The vegan chocolate chip?"
Customer: "Actually I'll have a (insert whatever they see next that does not say vegan on the sign)"

I have to giggle everytime.
Oh and they have a fresh fruit bowl too so if you are in a eating healthy kinda mood you are covered.
Beverages range from the complimentary filtered water to bottled water, juices, iced teas, to wine and beer. I think they also have some house brewed iced tea, unsweetened.

So the only drawback to this place is that it is pretty small. They've crammed as many seats in as possible and in the warmer weather there is outside seating too but when that lunch crowd hits, watchout. Don't let that put you off going though. They food is good, homey, comforting, fresh and I haven't had a snooty or rude encounter yet. It's a great place to go with your omni pals because they cater so well to both so no one feels left out.

Oh and on the corner of the counter there is a shelf below with a copy of, yup, you guessed it, Stone Soup.

A Cherry Happy World Vegetarian Day to You!

How fitting that the first day of VeganMoFo is also marked by World Vegetarian Day. No, it's not World Vegan Day, that's next month, but everyone needs to start somewhere right? And vegans are vegetarians (just not all vegetarians are vegans, you see how I snuck in some of that logic I learned in school. Man I hated writing out all those proofs, so easy to mess up one step and the whole proof is in shambles. And if you have an instructor how insists on perfection . . but I digress).

In honor of the day I will stand in the meat section of our local supermarket growling at anyone who dares even thinking about eating meat. Ok I won't actually do that. I'm working all day and I'd probably be carted off by the police.

What I will do is share with you a super yummy new ice cream recipe. You all know I'm in Vermont, the birthplace of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. One of their most famous/popular flavors has been Cherry Garcia. It's actually THE most popular flavor, see for yourself. The number 9 flavor on that list is the frozen yogurt version of this illustrious flavor.
It has been, of course, quite some time since I've had this ice cream. There is no comercially available vegan version. It is time to make one people!

Cherry Garcia Ice Cream
Vegan Style

1 14oz can coconut milk (you can use a light variety or use yogurt for froyo goodness)
1/4 cup cherry juice (if you use a concentrate you might want less)
1/4 cup frozen cherries
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cherries (fresh pitted or frozen) cut in half
1/4 cup chocolate chunks or shavings

Add the coconut milk, cherry juice, 1/4 cup cherries and sugar into a blender.
Blend until cherries are well broken down and everything is mixed well.
Add the mixture to your ice cream maker and freeze according to the normal directions.
About 1-2 minutes before the mixture is done add the halved cherries and chocolate pieces. You can also stir these in separately just work quickly so your ice cream doesn't turn to soup.
Place your ice cream, covered, in the freezer until it is your desired hardness.

At the last ice cream unveiling received some compliments my ice cream bowls. I'm not sure if they are still available for sale but I actually picked these up from the above mentioned ice cream super power, the down town Burlington Ben & Jerry's scoop shop.

Vegan Blogs Take Over the World

For a month anyway. October is
Participants write as much as they can about vegan food over the course of the month (at least 20 days of the month). I missed this last year for whatever reason (no blog, not so good at paying attention to the world around me, realizing there was a VeganMoFo at all until it was nearly over). There are quite a few of us taking part so do your best to keep up because it's going to be crazy (I hope!). A vegan blitz of the blogoshere. Of course this is all going to be taking place on our own blogs, it's not like we are taking over other peoples' blogs, although if those others would like to join . . .

Check out the list of participating blogs compiled by Isa on her blog. The list of participants include not only vegans but not yet vegans who have pledged to post all vegan if not become vegan for all of October. I wish everyone much inspired writing over the month and much inspired eating.

I've started a list of potential posts, taken lots of pictures, chatted with other bloggers, I'm ready. I think.

Are you?