Tag Archives: vegan mofo 2014

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 Hey everyone … I finally MOFO’d!!! (It was definitely in September I SWEAR.)

I won’t lie to you, I have never actually made my own vegan meal before. That’s crazy right?! I have always just thought they would take a lot of time to prepare and I normally don’t have all of the ingredients that are necessary for them. When September rolled around Jenny told me about “Vegan Month of Food” and recommended that I try out a vegan recipe. I was definitely up for the challenge and then I found out that the recipe I made…wasn’t challenging! I was actually really proud of myself by the time it was done, and I like to cook, so I was happy during the entire preparation process.

I stumbled upon this recipe from Vegan Richa via Jen. She’s been following her (beautiful) blog for quite some time and now I am going to make it one of my favorite blogs too!

 For some reason I never seem to remember how much I love cauliflower until it happens to be in a dish that I make. I know that it’s really good for you, but I think I always find it to be daunting  when I see it in the grocery store and figure I’ll never finish the whole head. After preparing the cauliflower for this recipe I have continued to make it that way up until it was all gone. Hurray! This vegetable is just so versatile that I actually found myself saying “wait…save that because you could use it for this dish instead”. 

 I also love collard greens, but I find that I have a harder time figuring out how to prepare them as well. I have only ever had them once before this, and it was when my Step-Mother prepared them (oh, they were delicious) for us when my parents were living in South Carolina. I like the bitterness of the leaf as well as feeling like I am eating something good for me. Lettuce can be tricky sometimes! Anyway, this was also very easily prepared – just throw your greens into a pan with a smidge of sesame oil, pinch of garlic salt and a pinch of salt and you just wait until they are a bit wilted. Done! Delicious! 

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I’d made quinoa before, and while this was an easy preparation it never occurred to me to add things in while it was cooking. I don’t know why though, I guess it’s only because I never add anything to rice while it’s cooking and I make them the same way? The world may never know. 

The only thing that was REALLY intimidating me throughout this experiment was the Peanut sauce. On Richa’s site the recipe originally called for almond butter, which I neglected to purchase. Luckily Richa mentioned that the almond butter could be substituted for with peanut butter! I love peanut butter! 

I would definitely make this recipe again. It was a hit with everyone who tried it out and it was extraordinarily easy to make. I also think it has enough flavor but isn’t too intrusive so everyone can give it a taste without fear of disliking it. Thanks Richa! I will certainly be browsing her blog for more delicious recipes sometime soon. 

*Note: I actually had extra food after making this meal, which was great! I saved some for Mr. Ian to bring to work for lunch, and the rest I saved for myself for lunch! The only thing I didn’t have leftover after giving Ian his portion was the collared greens, and this recipe is so simple that all I had to do was throw it in the pan with some garlic powder and oil and it was done in just a few minutes. I was so so pleased with the overall outcome of this dish.

 


apples

I never got to post my trip to the farm last weekend. This most recent weekend was spent visiting family in Central Pennsylvania. So these photos are old, but I got some great bug shots and still wanted to share. Though I don’t have much to say, so there will be mostly just photos.

 

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I picking some raspberries and noticed there was a big spider web near my hand. So I searched around for a spider, before I tear down the web to get to more berries. To my surprised there was a HUGE one, with really cool yellow stripes. I knew I had to get my camera and take photos. It took awhile to find him again.

 

berries mysteryberries

I know nothing about wild berries. I should probably start learning, and maybe start foraging. But we all know to be careful since you don’t want to eat those berries, you know, the glitter berries. The first berries came off a bush at my CSA, which was decorative. The second berries was a wild berry growing at an orchard. I got confused at first because it was a vine that was growing up an apple tree. I thought it might of been a new item. Does anyone know what the second berry might be? They just look so cool.

 

chicken chickens2

As I mentioned, we went to a you-pick-your-own style orchard after picking up our CSA share. I love the place since everything is only $1 per pound. Everything is pretty much organic, but not certified. The whole farm is run by one man, who inherited the farm from his mother. By doing pick your own he is able to run it alone, pruning the trees during the off seasons. 

He kept a few chickens for himself. There isn’t ever any eggs available to buy, so I am guessing he keeps them as a hobby.

 

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We walked down the aisles to get to the Asian Pears. His are a little tougher than ones bought in stores. But I guess I can’t complain with the low prices. I noticed this butterfly. There were tons others, but this was the first one that was sitting down long enough for a photo. 

 

house signage


roof

This weekend I went to visit my grandparents in rural Pennsylvania. They are located in Roaring Spring, PA. If it sounds familiar that might mean you bought a Roaring Spring Notebook. The town is less than a square mile, and most people living there work for the local paper mill, or the surrounding farms. The “biggest” town near it is Altoona, which is pretty much unknown to people outside Pennsylvania.

On Friday my husband and I drove 4 hours in the middle of Pennsylvania, driving through and up mountains. When we hit Roaring Spring, we passed by street signs pointing to the football field. We joked how it was like Friday Night Lights. Once we got to my Nanna and Pappy’s house, we found out that football is no joke in this town. There were signs everywhere for the big game. The field is near their house, so we watched lots of people park on the street and walk to the field. My Nanna even let a friend park on their lawn for a good parking spot.

Football and cheerleader wasn’t anything big at my school. To me it was an outdated stereotype in movies and shows, like the nerd with bottle-thick glasses and the pocket protector. This was the first sign that I have been living in an urban bubble.

streetsigns

It made me wonder, can small towns go vegan? It seems obvious to say yes, an individual can order stranger items online, and the internet can help them learn different things. And that is great. Isn’t that what all vegan bloggers do? Try and connect to everyone?

But it became apparent there are lots of reasons why people in Roaring Spring, or any small rural town, wouldn’t go vegan. One being community. Right before leaving, my vegan friend who grew up in Altoona wished me luck. She knew how frustrating it is to try and get her family to make something vegan. Luckily, my mother always cooks when visiting my Nanna, as she likes to try our cooking. What my family cooks were far from normal for the area. Most foods are bland, and meat based. 

I point this out since we made two chilis for one dinner. One was with ground pork, the other was based off of Oh She Glow’s My Favorite Vegan Chili. My grandparents both seemed perplexed by the idea of a vegetarian chili. My Pappy ate two bowlfuls, despite everyone thinking he wouldn’t touch it. I wouldn’t of thought this would be such a novel idea since chili competitions have a “vegetarian” category.

football

 

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Last weekend I was pretty stressed from the week. It was pretty weird and all over the place, so I decided to lay back and relax. I made a yummy pizza dip for the Broncos and Seahawks game, and made an amazing butternut squash soup from Isa Does it. So you might see some REALLY old things on this roundup. I didn’t get to share them last weekend and I didn’t want them to be skipped completely.

This weekend I visited my Grandparents in central PA, and when I mean central I mean centered Pennsylvania. It’s in the middle of state right dab in the middle. The closest city is Altoona, if you want to google it in a map. There maybe some photos later this week and some thoughts of veganism and farming.

BUT for now—-

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beets

Red Velvet Raw Beetroot Heart Bars & BBQ Beetroot Seitan Steaks by A2K

A2K has a lot of beets, obviously since she is tempting me to two different beet recipes! One is a dessert made with beet roots and made into cute little hearts! And she pairs it with chocolate?! I love beets and chocolate. Then she goes savory with a beetroot steak. I don’t get too many beets yet from my CSA, so these recipes are making me sad. Soon. Soon.

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Liebster-Award

We have been nominated for the Liebster Award again! Before I (Jennifer) was nominated by my friend Jamie. We’ve been friends for a LONG time, and our blogs are quite specialized, and therefore quite different. Her blog is about books, and is currently under hiatus for the moment. But the blog got nominated by Sprouts and Chocolate, which is a vegan cooking blog, which is much closer to our subject matter. So I thought, why not?

Side Note- I am fairly certain Alexa is going to post an Liebster Award herself that I tagged her with, so there might be a double Liebster Award post coming up! XD

So what are the rules? 

  • Answer the questions given and then come up with 10 new ones to ask your nominees.
  • Nominate 8 other blogs, let them know you have nominated them and put a link to their blog in your post.
  • No Tag backs and nominees must have under 200 followers on any platform.
  • You must tell all the blogs that you nominate that you have nominated them.

10 Questions

What was your diet/lifestyle life before you went vegan?

I always have cooked, but I went mostly vegan in college so most of my dietary habits have been vegan for the past 6 years. But there was a year where I ate meat since I was living with my in-laws. My father in-law LOVES to cook and I felt I was being too intrusive cooking my own meal since we all sat down and ate together. But I would eat lots of fish, and meals with very little meat, which I did appreciate. Overall, my life has been home cooked meals from varying degrees- even when I was in college.

What was the tipping point of you committing to a vegan lifestyle?

As mentioned, I was eating meat when living with my in-laws. I was breaking my “vegan” rules all the time in earlier years, but never really eating meat. It was the first time in awhile I was eating meat. When my husband and I moved out into our own apartment, I just didn’t feel right. I decided to go back to a mostly vegan diet, occasionally eating fish (like once a month) and eggs from a specific farm. Within the past few months I started to read articles about brain functions with various sea life, and I just couldn’t do it anymore.

What do you hate about blogging? (I personally hate all the dishes for failed recipes!)

Trying to remember everything I want to write! I have so many ideas and things I want to mention in the post. After posting it I think “Crap! I wanted to mention how to make the recipe gluten free!” Or it could just be as simple as writing a recipe down and forgetting where it is. There is a recipe for vegan quinoa sloppy joes somewhere. Not written down. Boo.

What is meal have you made and thought to yourself (or out loud) “Damn I am good!” ?

I recently made Tomatillo Baked Tofu. I’ve been searching high and low for tomatillo recipes and couldn’t find much other than salsa verde or something with salsa verde. LAME! So I just took a chance and made the best tofu ever. I took not so hot photos but I WILL be posting it soon, probably next weekend.

What is your favourite “junk-food” snack?

ICE CREAM! It is the biggest bummer about being vegan. It isn’t like I can’t FIND ice cream. It is just so damn expensive.

What cuisine do you find easiest to veganize?

Asian. I know there are lots of non-vegan pitfalls. It is a pain to pick up every package and read the ingredients to make sure there are so fish or egg or milk in there. BUT meat is pretty scarce in recipes or used as a flavoring agent which can be subbed with other ingredients. Not to mention there is a strong vegetarian movement due to buddhism. So I feel like mix that and combine it with the little amounts of milk traditionally found in recipes, it is pretty easy to veganize. 

What recipe of yours is a carnivore’s favourite requested dish when you go to family/friend gatherings?

Hmm… probably none. I’ve been requested one thing- a roasted cauliflower, chickpea, and olives dish that I made one Easter. Well, there are more requests from my husband’s side of the family, but my family is kind-of a cut-throat we all wanna cook sort of family. I think my pitfall is that my sister picks some of the vegan dishes from non-vegan cooking sites. She picked a vegan beet risotto and it blew. 

What is your favourite cooking season? (Do you love Fall for pumpkin? Or peas and mint in the Spring?…etc)

The beginning of any season is exciting because it means new ingredients. But kind-of truthfully winter is most liberating since I don’t get any shares from my CSA. That means I get to buy whatever I want! If I see a recipe, I can buy anything. I don’t have to say “what the hell am I going to do with all these green beans?” and google “vegan green bean recipes”

Nominees:

Caeli from Little Vegan Bear
Faye from Veganopoulous
Barb from That Was Vegan?
Danielle from Danielle Atkins
Alissa from Connoisseurus Veg
Jennifer from My Blissful Journey
Raechel from Rebel Grrrl Living
Dawn from Veg-Am

10 Questions for the Nominees

  1. What is your favorite food: One savory, one sweet?
  2. What was your first vegan cookbook?
  3. What is your specialty dish?
  4. What is your main reason for going vegan? Environment, health, compassion?
  5. What would your consider the best day off?
  6. How do you take your coffee?
  7. Do you carry your veganism into other parts of your life? (Clothing, toiletries, etc)
  8. Do you consider yourself a feminist?
  9. What is your cooking jam?
  10. Are you a wine, beer, hard liquor, cocktails, or non-alcohol type of person?

asksnanswers

Alexa is working toward a vegetarian diet, and is loaded with questions. Jennifer’s got answers. We talk about anything as long as it is vegan. Are tattoos vegan? How do I politely not eat Thanksgiving dinner? How do I order without pissing off the waitress? We know you are dying to ask!

asksalexaDo you think Vegan desserts are harder to pull off? I have had some vegan desserts where the texture is a bit mealy and gross, and some that you wouldn’t even be able to notice the difference between that and a “traditional” treat.

Wow. It sounds like your friends are terrible bakers. I’ll give you a quick example of an everyday vegan baked good. Oreos. Bet you didn’t know those were vegan? It’s been that way for years. So why are there so many bad vegan baked goods? Although vegan alternatives can work well replacing butter, eggs, and milk, there may need to be minor changed to original recipes. That means converting Grandma’s chocolate chip recipe might not be as simple as 1 cup dairy milk to 1 cup almond milk. There is a lot of trial and error. It helps to understand the role of each ingredient in a recipe. 

Eggs: These guys are a binding agent in cakes and cookies. There are a huge array of replacements out there including, tofu, fruit, veggies, powders, flax seed, and more. Egg replacement is a little more tricky in frostings and meringues. Fork and Beans has a great in depth page on egg replacements.

Butter: It adds flavor and fats. Traditional baking is already making a shift away from butter as oils make a more moist and tender cake. But vegan margarines and shortenings are available and can be subbed pretty easily. Again, Fork and Beans has a great page about non-dairy fats in baking.

Milk: Usually milk is used to add more protein to baked good but most essentially moisture. Since protein is important sometimes soy milk triumphs over other substitutes. But sometimes, it doesn’t make a difference and any other milk replacement works fine such as rice, almond, oat, or hemp milk. 

So what are the major pitfalls of baking and picking a vegan recipe? Well, for starters, implement good baking practices. Weight flours, level measuring cups, completely preheat the oven, etc. If you are making bad cake with butter and eggs, you’ll make bad vegan cake.

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korburg0

I am in love with a new Korean drama- Master’s Sun. It has one of my favorite actresses Gong Hyo-jin. She is an amazing actress, who can play a shy, kind-of hearted girl or a hard-ass gang master. Most Korean shows have various elements that make it hard for a Westerner to watch. They are usually a little sexist, slow moving, drawn out, and the girl AWAYS gets with the asshole guy. Master’s Sun probably will have the lead actress get with the asshole guy, but they set it up in a way that makes it understandable (and funny). The show is quite polished and well written. Heck, I even got my husband to say he would watch it with me.

The story is of Gong-shil, who sees ghosts. She found that being able to see ghosts has prevented her from leading a normal life, and finds herself as a maintenance woman at an apartment complex. One day she bumps into Joong Won, a rich and snobby business owner. Whenever she touches him, the ghosts disappear. It is a really good show, and I recommend checking it out on Hulu.

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Okay, enough gushing about the show and start gushing about these burgers! I had adzuki beans sitting in my cupboard for months now. I wasn’t sure WHY I had them, but they were sitting there, stewing in my mind for ideas. I finally thought burgers would be the best. And I figured I would make them with some gochujang paste for a kick.

I tried to keep it to ingredients that you would find in a Korean kitchen. Some might be a stretch but they are pretty accessible to Westerners. I was afraid that the burgers would fall apart, but they are actually more sturdy than the burgers I based the recipe on! I am guessing it was the mix of seaweed and short-grained rice.

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I feel as though you may all be getting the sense that Jenny is WAY more put-together than I am. I don’t always have the time to put delicious meals together (well, not AS delicious as Jen’s…but not bad!) and when I do I feel as if they just aren’t as grandiose or full of fresh farm ingredients. Not to say I don’t like eating healthy! I am also still living with my parents – so that sometimes makes the refrigerator situation a bit hectic. What I do know is that I enjoy cooking, but right now it’s just on a lower scale. As I was making my dinner (or “Din-Din” as the title would suggest) tonight I noticed that 99% of it came from Trader Joe’s, which just happens to be my favorite grocery store! They have great frozen food options, low prices, and I’m not worried about where the food is coming from. Their meats have a guarantee that they were free range and cruelty free throughout their lives (even though I am not buying meat anymore it is definitely something that I took note of) and they have a ton of vegan and vegetarian options around the store. I figured now would be as good a time as ever to start reviewing some of the food/products that I purchase from TJ’s all the time and spread the word of the great grocery deity.

Dinner: Trader Joe’s Tofu Nuggets with a Spring Mix salad (including mushrooms, english cucumber, shredded carrots and yellow papper).

Sauces: Trader Joe’s Chipotle Mango Ginger sauce, Trader Joe’s Balsamic Vinaigrette, Sriracha

Living the childhood dream of eating nothing but nuggets.

Living the childhood dream of eating nothing but nuggets.

The Nuggets: I picked these up on a whim one day as I was going through the frozen food section. I figured it was worth a shot and it looked as if they were easy to prepare and would be good to bring to work. Turns out – they’re pretty delicious! Even Mr. Ian likes them! I put them into my toaster oven for about 10 minutes and they get a nice crispy outer layer but are still soft on the inside, which includes tofu, carrots and edamame. These tofu nuggets are also great because they are really reasonably priced, I think the bag only cost me $3 or $4? I checked the bag for ingredients and noticed that it was certified vegetarian, not vegan though. As much as I wanted this to be a super simple vegan meal for MOFO … I failed. I tried guys I promise!

You may not believe it... but there is DEFINITELY some lettuce under there!

You may not believe it… but there is DEFINITELY some lettuce under there!

The Salad: I want to start this off by saying that I wish I had a CSA near me or was able to go to more farmer’s markets. I love the idea of buying local produce and being able to use it all in my meals…but unfortunately I have to settle for now. When I go to TJ’s I usually end up getting a few different bagged lettuces (I know..it’s never really something I thought I would do!!) and they tend to be pretty solid for what they are. I like to get some darker and leafier greens because of their health value and mix it up with just a little bit of butter lettuce to make it a little crispier. This salad only contains mixed greens though! I also LOVE cucumber – so I accidentally cut up more than I originally planned on…woops!
Note: While I normally don’t buy much produce from Trader Joe’s (I find that it’s just not that great in quality and not very extensive so I go to the supermarket closer to my house for all of that) I will say that their cucumbers, yellow/red/green peppers, mushrooms and carrots are all good and delicious. I have never had any weird problems with them in the past and can feel comfortable that it won’t go bad in a day or so (I haven’t had great luck with their apples…).

Sweet & Spicy...the perfect combo!

Sweet & Spicy…the perfect combo!

The Sauces: I love sriracha. I am surprised that this bottle has lasted me this long. I’m pretty sure that I use it for almost everything, and tonight was no exception! The mango ginger chutney sauce seems to be a fairly new product at Trader Joe’s, they has it EVERYWHERE the first time I picked it up. I love all of those flavors so I figured they would be 1) delicious together and 2) delicious on other things. It’s already a little bit spicy on its own, but I wanted more so I added the sriracha for that extra kick. Turns out it was a good choice! 

dressing

When I was younger I was never really a fan of any other dressing besides ranch…or any other creamy dressing. I think the flavors may have just been slightly too strong for me? Not too sure…but I haven’t had ranch in years because I found out that putting it on a salad is defeating the purpose of a salad! Trader Joe’s (Giotto’s??) balsamic is perfectly tart and savory, and it doesn’t have random floaty bits in it like some other balsamic dressings. Whenever I run out of it I go into panic mode because all of the other salad dressings in the house are mediocre at best.

So I guess it seems that it’s pretty obvious that I enjoy Trader Joe’s…if anyone else who reads loves it too let me know in the comments! If you have a favorite item I might go pick it up and review it here :). Life is too short to not try new things.


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Last week I thought it would be a good idea to take the train into Philadelphia. I live close to the Patco (or speedline for any South Jersey/Philadelphia readers) so going into Philadelphia only takes 15 minutes. Once I paid for my ticket, went through the gates, I overheard that the trains were delayed. Someone was hit by a train at 8th and Market, and trains were delayed. I was then “blessed” with hearing 40-somethings bitch and moan about “these things don’t happen in other cities.” I even heard (this was my favorite) that “we were all pawns in someone else’s big vendetta.”

And for the record, people being hit by trains is a much more common than what people might think. I am constantly hearing about this from my Mother-In-Law who has a very lengthy 3-hour commute (each way) into New York City. There have been some nights she unable to come home because someone jumped in front a train and delayed trains during rush hour. It was a little insulting hearing some passengers compare delays due to rail-wor to delays due to suicide. 

compilation

But moving on. My train was delayed and I was starving by the time I went into the city. I had plans to stop in the city and grab something from HipCityVeg. There are lots of rave reviews and online hype for the mini-chain. Truthfully, when my friend first told me about it, I remember being frustrated that nothing on the menu clarified what was vegan or vegetarian. It was so hard for me to believe that there would be an all vegan restaurant at the time.

Man things have changed. I remember not believing people that there was an all vegan pizzeria when I was living in Philadelphia. I also didn’t think I could ever get my husband to go to it. Now he told me he is going to have a hard time choosing between Blackbird Pizzeria or HipCityVeg when going into Philadelphia. Little does he know about the many other vegan venues we have yet to go to!

hipcitybag

By the time I made it to HipCityVeg (the Center City location) I was so hungry I couldn’t wait for my food. So I grabbed their seasonal shake, Apple Pie flavored. It tasted a little too “appley” in an artificial way, but I was so hungry it tasted awesome anyways. I also grabbed their Udon Noodle Salad. I wasn’t really reading the item so I was surprised by the faux chicken bits on top. I have to say, they were VERY chicken-y. Actually more chicken-like than some of the cheap chicken that is available.

chickensalad

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sky

As mentioned before, I took a lot of photos this weekend at my CSA. What I love about my CSA is that they encourage members to walk around the grounds. They have a bed and breakfast that hosts weddings, gardens to explore, some wooded trails, whole sale flowers, and an education center. So there’s a lot to explore.

The weather wasn’t the prettiest. There were gloomy clouds hanging above, telling us of the upcoming rain. There wasn’t a drop the entire morning, which gave some great photos of the animals. It did provide rain while we sat around in our cozy apartment.

 

duck chores

As I mentioned before, our CSA also runs an education center. They host field trips showing kids “farm life.” I use quotes since most of the animals at the farm aren’t being used for their original purpose. No one is milking the cow, goats are kept alive, chicken eggs are not sold at the CSA stores (though the workers might be taking them home).

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