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!
Do 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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).
Okay I cheated a little and this didn’t get posted until Monday morning. I was a little distracted by football and cleaning yesterday. I am still keeping true to the new Vegan Mofo setup- at least 4 recipes, and at least 4 vegan articles. I think I even found 5 recipes this time! Actually there were more but I had to stop myself from posting them. So many yummy things are going on this month.
I’ve been doing well with this Vegan Mofo challenge. Our front page is filled with vegan food posts and I am now starting to pile up ideas of recipes and articles to post. Which is a pretty good thing. But let’s go and check out those recipes and articles!
Connoisseurus Veg: Vegan Pumpkin Muffins with Cashew Cream Cheese Frosting
I love pumpkin. I love pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin beers, and pumpkin baked goods. Only the pumpkin beers are usually vegan. The others I usually have to make on my own. These muffins look delicious and should be a great replacement for the muffins I use to eat at Starbucks.
The summer crops are dwindling. The farmers recommend that we stock up on peppers as they won’t be around much longer. The tomatillos were a little dry and sparse. There are less tomato varieties from which to pick (slicing, cherry, peach, and plum). The clearest sign that fall crops upon us? Beets and various greens are making it back to the menu.
This recipe has been lurking for over a year now. I made a vegan eggplant and tomato soup over a year ago. It was amazing. So amazing I thought it would be something really nice to make my friends when they came down for my wedding. But I couldn’t find the recipe again. The soup was okay, but not quite the same as the first time. Alexa might remember this soup when I put alphabet noodles in it. Maybe not.
After a few trials I found the perfect amount to get the right consistency. This gives all the same vibes as the out of can tomato soup we all grew up with, but with a more adult twist. White wine, eggplant, and carrots give the soup a complex flavor that doesn’t take away from the tomatoes. I like to pair it was something rich and fatty. Like a vegan grilled cheese sandwich or bread with avocado spread on top.
The only reason why it took me so long to post this recipe was the photos. I like to keep skins on when roasting and eating veggies. Needless to say red plus purple doesn’t make a pretty color. I eventually found time to peel the eggplant, giving a vibrant red soup. You don’t need to peel the eggplant, but if you like your food to be souper pretty, go for it (did you see what I did there?)
I wasn’t sure if I was going to even post this recipe on here since it was so simple. The flavor isn’t drastically different from normal tomato soup. The ingredients list is short. What does my soup have to offer?
Well, I am being a little selfish here. I am always loosing this recipe. So I am mainly getting it written down for my own records. So I don’t care what any of you guys think of this recipe. I am doing this for me. Side note, don’t forget the salt guys! The soup in the picture kind-of sucked since I forgot to add the salt and pepper. Ugh. Continue reading
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!
Hey Guys, I am starting to feel that people are starting to honestly read this blog. People are leaving comments that aren’t spam, and articles are being read. On top of that, I got my first SLR (Single Lens Reflective) camera, which means our photos are going to be much better. So I feel like the blog is working more towards where I imagined it to be.
Which means we are adding new segments- Alexa Asks, Jen Answers. Here Alexa asks common questions and I puts my know-it-all-ness to action. Some questions might not actually be from Alexa, but commonly asked questions that I would commonly hear in the past. So let’s get started with question number one:
There are two ways of looking at this question. One way is what is the hardest thing for other people to understand that you can’t eat. This is something that affects you at restaurants and family get togethers. The second way of looking at this question is what is personally the hardest thing for you to stop eating.
For the first question, dairy is the hardest thing for people to stop serving you at family functions. I think meat, fish, and eggs are pretty straight forward- they are or will be animals. Lard, honey, and gelatin are a little less obvious but not as commonly used in modern kitchens. But no matter how many times I say I don’t eat milk, I find cheese in my kale salad or butter melted on the veggies. Traditionally, European cuisine uses meat or cheeses as the focus points in meals. So many people are unsure what to put in the dinner to make it pop.
Can I first point out that I got a new camera? I am very excited. I majored in film and video in college so I love total control. I didn’t get that with an iPhone. There is so much joy in zooming in knowing the quality will be just the same, and being able to focus on whatever you want. The photos speak for themselves really.
I was so excited when I finally got the memory card for my camera that I started snapping away. This dinner wasn’t originally something I was planning on posting, but I think it turned out pretty good. I am hesitant to post some pasta recipes since they are so simple. But a lot of thought was put into which ingredients to use. So I ended up with something that was powerful in flavor.
