Photo Dump! Part the Second.

I found a bunch of food photos on my computer that I've never uploaded. Now's as good a time as any.

Allons-y!

Flatbread with zucchini, leeks, potatoes, Daiya and olive oil

Tropical Veggie Burger

-burger-Amy's California burger, pineapple, tomato, spinach, peanut sauce (amaaaaazing)

-sauteed collards with leeks

-sweet potato fries & BBQ sauce

I got the idea from some blog, but I have *no* idea where. Whoops.

Burger closeup

All we ever make are flatbreads, and it's been so long, I forgot what these are.

-Left: zucchini, potatoes, onions, Daiya (I think)

-Right: Red pepper, zucchini, Gardein chicken, Daiya (I think)

Happy Birthday, Mike! These were for the guitarist in Fred's band Samantha. VCTOTW chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream.

We had extra buttercream from Mike's cupcakes, so Fred and I made another batch. I titled this photo "yours look like houses, mine look like hairdos". Oh, the things you think of under the influence.

Happy Birthday, Matt! These were for the cheese buyer at work, and his favorite flavor is strawberry. I used the VCTOTW raspberry recipes and switched everything to strawberries. Matt and his girlfriend continue to rave about these to this day.

Urban Vegan Rock Cakes are one of my favorite morning recipes. So easy. So simple. So delicious.

Vegan Brunch Mixed Berry muffins. Classic. Awesome. Classically awesome.

I told Fred I'd make him cupcakes in return for doing me a favor. I don't remember the favor, but the cupcakes were damn delicious. VCTOTW pumpkin with cinnamon spice icing. I used pecans instead of chocolate chips. I'm not really a chocolate kind of girl.

Grilled Daiya and tempeh bacon. Yuuuuuuum. Though, I used waaaaaaay too much Daiya. With some Amy's butternut squash soup and some apple cider, it was a tasty lunch.

The measuring tape in the back has been donated to my roommate's cat. She loves that thing. It's one of her favorite toys. Weirdo.

AFR Classic Black Bean and Veggie Chili. Classic is right. I'd been craving an uberveggie chili for a while, kind of like the veggie bean chili from Whole Foods. I'd like to add some more beans, maybe chickpeas next time. Yums.

This blurry little camel found his way into my beer one night at Danny's. I think he just wanted some of my Lagunitas IPA, one of my favorite brews.

This concludes the old photos on my compy. I have some more on my camera.

MoFo Day 7! Hummus and Feijoada

Two things tonight to make up for all the late posts recently, also to celebrate the return of internet. First up...hummus! Like any/every vegan, I’m completely addicted to hummus. I think it’s a requirement. I could eat hummus every day, for every meal. In fact I have some weeks. I have no idea where I originally found this recipe. All I know is that there is a .jpg file on my computer that was originally marked ‘hummus’. One day, after making this recipe, I decided to look it up. Based on some of the clues in the picture, I figured out that it’s from Vive le Vegan by Dreena Burton. The first pic below is the original file I found, complete with someone’s notes. I don’t follow the notes. I like the hummus as written. I usually use 4 T. lemon juice and sometimes I add less tahini. I’ve tried a few different hummus recipes over the years, and this is my favorite I’ve made. The second picture is the hummus I made this afternoon. I usually eat it with Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn chips or carrot sticks, but it’s great with pitas or on sandwiches or straight out of the blender. Yes, I’ve nicked my fingers on the blades on multiple occasions trying to get every creamy bit.

(This is not my picture! I found it somewhere online.)

Tonight I finished the feijoada from Urban Vegan. I started soaking the beans on Wedesday night, but didn’t get around to putting them on the stove until Saturday around 2pm. Then around 3, Fred called, asking if I wanted to go bowling. I did, so I turned off the heat, threw a lid on the pot and headed out the door. Fred and I ended up hanging out all night, and I stayed over at his house. This afternoon, when I came home, I turned on the stove as soon as I walked in the door. This is a long recipe, but there’s hardly any active prep, just soaking the beans, chopping an onion, some garlic and the tempeh bacon.

I think the recipe has potential, but I found the actual flavor somewhat lacking. It had a nice smokiness from the tempeh bacon, but I thought it needed some salt and more pepper flakes. I’d also like to try it with hot sauce and avocado, maybe more garlic too (says the garlic fiend). Now that I think of it, there’s no salt in the recipe. I’m assuming it’s because of the two packs of tempeh bacon. I think like most soups and stews, this will taste better tomorrow, once the flavors can meld a little more. It was filling, inexpensive and easy. And the brown rice gave a nice texture contrast.

Vegan MoFo Day 1! Quiche & Pumpkin Pockets

Yeah! MoFo! I'm really excited that I started my blog just in time to participate this year. Plus, today is World Vegan Day, which is totally appropriate. Okay! Here goes....

Hands down, the books by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (and Terry Hope Romero) are my most used. Buuuuut….I have somewhere in the vicinity of 20 cookbooks. Most sit on the shelf, yearning to be as dog-eared and nooch-stained as VWAV and V’con. Sorry, guys. I try. I really try. I alwayslook at the other books, but Isa & Terry’s always sound so good! So, with this whole MoFo/fancy new blog thing, I’m going to make a concerted effort to expand my cookbook horizons.

First up! Urban Vegan, by Dynise Balcavage. I’ve made a couple recipes from here since I got it. I love the Punk Rock Cakes (post for another day). They’re super easy and give you that scone-y feeling without going through the trouble of making scones. The rock cakes are fool-proof. Scones, somehow are not (for me, anyway).

Anyway, I’ve been craving quiche for a while, and I thought that my first step out of the PPK box would be the Quiche Du Jour. It wasn’t until I was ready to start assembly that I realized she called for all of the fillings to go on top. Hmmmm. Okay. I’ll go with it.

The recipe is designed to be flexible. Basically, add 2 cups of whatever fill-ins you want with the tofu mixture. Sweet! I can handle that. I used some of my favorite veggies: zucchini, red pepper, sundried tomatoes, kale, garlic and onion. The combo was good, but I really think I would have preferred it if the veggies were integrated with the quiche mixture. Since the veggies were just sitting on top with nothing to hold them together, the quiche fell apart as I was eating it.

If anything else, this recipe introduced me to the Flaky Pie Crust recipe from the book, which is oh so good. I like the idea of using whole wheat pastry flour along with straight-up all purpose. This is probably the first time I haven’t over-mixed my dough, pretty much ever.

The hot quiche action:

Man, the lighting in my kitchen is horrible.

Dessert looks better. Promise.

There’s a bakery in town that sells Pumpkin Empanadas. Anytime I see them in the case, I have to buy one. They’re flaky, handheld bits of love. But unlike pumpkin pie, these suckers are mostly crust. That’s pretty appropriate, since an awesome crust can seriously make a pumpkin pie.

While I was rolling out the dough for the quiche, I knew there would be more than enough. Conveniently, I had half a can of pumpkin purée sitting in my fridge from the VWAV pumpkin oatmeal cookies I took to a Halloween party. I threw in some cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and maple syrup, gave it a good stir, tucked the filling in the leftover dough, and sprinkled a little raw sugar on top.

It’s not a perfect recipe, by any means. The ratio of spices, etc was a little off, and I stuffed them a little too full, but they were a quick and tasty. They were so tempting that I ate one before I snapped the picture. I think I’ll revisit these guys again someday. *Mental note*

I hate using the flash, but they do look slightly more appetizing. These guys were in the oven for about 15 minutes or so. I didn't really time them, I kept checking until they looked done.

Well, there's my first official food post. Many more to come.