Vegan Food Swap - September Reveal

I signed up about a month ago to a fun little thing called The Vegan Food Swap sponsored by Cat at The Verdant Life vegan blog. Want to learn more about it? Click here to read all the details, rules and to fill out the registration form.

My sender, Hindy, from Confident Cook, Hesitant Baker picked the PERFECT surprises for me. Thank you, Hindy!!

First up: the plantain chips are killer!! They're crispy, tangy, and spicy (all snacks should fit these requirements). I couldn't help but shove them into my face by the handful.

Second: the YumEarth Sour Beans blew my mind. My fella and I had to force ourselves to stop munching them. They're the best jelly beans I've ever had.

Third: the popped apple chips are pretty tasty. A little sweet, pretty flavorful. I'd definitely buy them if I saw them in a store.

Finally, I love almonds. Almonds rule almost as much as cashews. These almonds are nice and salty and tasty. Definitely a winner.

Overall, it was a fun experience and I'll probably do it again next month!

One Lovely Blog Award

I was nominated by VeganMonologue!

I'm completely honored and flattered by the nomination! Thank you so much for the kind words, VeganMonologue!

7 Facts about me:

1.  In my daily life, I curse like a sailor. Except at work. There, I am the perfect angel.
2.  I'm obsessed with my pup, Marley. She's the greatest being to ever grace this galaxy.
3.  I have a master's degree, and I'm not afraid to use it!
4.  I'm fantastically lazy sometimes. But when I'm feeling motivated, you best just stay out of my way.
5. I started my dream job in March, and I couldn't possibly be happier about it! I never dread going to work.
6. No one has heard me sing since about 1992. I know I suck, but I just can't help myself when I'm alone. I belt out the tunes like there's no tomorrow.
7. I own more shoes that I know what to do with. I need an intervention.

 My nominations:

Nicole Leigh / Veggie Panda: She is my foodie soulmate. Her foods and photos are amazing. I'd consider her my twitter girlfriend. You need to make her asparagus pizza. It'll blow your mind.

The Tolerant Vegan: Her photos are beautiful. Her foods are fantastic. And she is overall, super friendly and generally awesome. You need to check out her Mac & Cheese Pizza! OMG.

JL Goes Vegan: JL is such an incredible person. Her food is spectacular. She focuses on health and eating well (which I need to do a lot more of) and inspired me to try, and subsequently love KALE.

Vegan ESP: Run by 2 awesome vegans, they post all sorts of food reviews and recipes. They rock hard. They show everyone that vegans don't eat just twigs and leaves.

VeganVille: Gigi is such a sweetheart, and a long-time visitor to my blog. And she's silly and has a stellar vegan baked goods Etsy store! I'm dying to try her minty chocolate whoopee pies.

Czech Vegan (in America): Elisabeth cooks up some excellent food, with lots of czech classics made vegan. She's super cool and is a blogger at VeganYANerds, a teen lit blog.

The Rules of One Lovely Blog:
• Link back to the blogger who nominated you.
• Paste the award image on your blog, anywhere.
• Share 7 facts about yourself.
• Nominate 5-15 other blogs you like for this award.
• Contact the bloggers that you have chosen to let them know that they have been nominated.

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

I decided to start doing an occasional Wordless Wednesday post when I get busy. So, here's what I've been up to for the last week:

Flowers from one of my favorite library patrons.I have the BEST job ever.

Homemade baked falafel with lemon tahini sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and steamed veg.

Adorable tiny bird at my feeder having its dinner while I cooked mine.

The awesome pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting I made for a dear friend.

Zen at the park.

Walking the pup at the park.

I grilled some pineapple. First I soaked it in full-fat canned coconut milk, then I grilled it and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Spotted this little guy on a dandelion out behind my house.

Vegan sausage gravy and biscuits with bananas for breakfast. Hell yes.

Crappy picture of the fabulous nachos I had. 'Chos are my excuse to eat tons of guacamole.

Due to horrific storms, we went without electricity for 8 hours.

I discovered the awesomeness that is the Nature's Harvest dry roasted edamame. So Yum.

New Rollerblades...finally. It's been so many years since I skated. Yes, I skated through my neighborhood in my librarian clothes after work. It was awesome.

I couldn't resist. I wear it on my work badge.

We All Fudge Up Sometimes

I've never before posted a cooking failure here. I never felt the need. But, since I messed up so badly, I was pissed. Then I had to force myself to laugh it off and move on. I funked up some double chocolate walnut cookies today...bad. I just started a new librarian gig this week, and haven't done much cooking the last few days. My mind has been on all the new duties and things I need to remember. Somehow, while making these cookies, I added way too much butter. Who would've thought that you could ever have too much butter? Haha. Well, here are the photos of my failure. My cookies were flat as hell, oily, and burnt around the edges. Just know you aren't alone in your recipe flubs. I've had a few. You just have to pretend they never happened, and start over. No big deal!!

My Wintry Morning

This is what I woke up to. Kind of beautiful...unless you have no soul (in which case I wonder why you bother visiting a vegan website in the first place). Really. Why would you even bother?

This is the first snow of the year and I'm totally giddy for it. By February, I'll be over it, but for now, I just want to enjoy it.

Anyway, cold, snowy mornings always make me hungry for a hot breakfast. So, I remedied that situation by making this:

Chelsea waffles from Vegan Brunch (altered, of course) and some oniony, mushroomy, cheesy hashbrowns.

You can tell that I love my hashbrowns. I could eat them pretty much every single day without complaint. The Chelsea waffles from Vegan Brunch were altered because I didn't have all the ingredients in the recipe. It calls for barley malt syrup, which is ridiculously expensive around here, so I subbed in maple syrup. It also calls for canola oil, but I used coconut instead. Ever since I first tried these waffles, they have been my favorite. I've probably made them 15 or more times. I usually make a full batch so I can freeze the rest for quick breakfasts later on. They're awesome popped in the toaster and topped with a good slather of Earth Balance. Mmmm, dudes. I know I always talk about Vegan Brunch, but for real, YOU NEED THIS COOKBOOK. Best cookbook purchase I've ever made.

Here's the rest of my lovely snow photos from this morning.

My Pantry Essentials for New Vegans

My most-used food cupboard. Top shelf is pasta and other dry goods (Jiffy mix and Stovetop are not vegan, but I live with a non-veg fella). Middle shelf is egg replacer, VWG, dried legumes, oats, nooch and peanut butter. Bottom is dried fruit, lots of nuts, teas and some snacks.

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now because I have had several people ask me how to get started cooking after spending years survivng on boxed food and take-out. When I first started to cook (about 2 years ago), I didn't know what I needed to keep in my pantry. It felt like every recipe I tried required tons of ingredients, but that was just because I didn't have well-stocked pantry. Over the months, and now years, I have learned what I will always use and try hard to keep it stocked. It includes and assortment of baking goods, spices, condiments, dried goods and even a few cans and frozen goods. I hope this helps those of you just starting out. Don't be discouraged, after you get the pantry stocked, cooking gets loads cheaper because you'll already have lots of stuff ready to use. But, it does take $$ and patience when you get started. Good luck! And please feel free to contact me if you need any help or ideas.

Things you'll always find in my freezer:

• peas - add to curries, soups, even salads
• corn
• hashbrowns & tater tots - perfect for quick breakfasts and lunches
• shelled edamame - add to soups, salads and stir-fries
• Daiya - I like to always have some on-hand and it keeps longer in the freezer
• tempeh - perfect for pretty much any meal
• Gardein crispy chikn strips - nom nom nom

Spices I can't live without:

• garlic powder and garlic salt
• onion powder
• chili powder
• coriander
• cumin
• curry powder
• black pepper
• kosher and sea salts

 Foods in my Cupboards at all times:

• dried legumes and lentils
• brown rice
• nuts -almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, and walnuts
• pasta -spaghetti, penne and shells
• canned beans - chickpeas, black beans and kidney beans save time in a rush
• tomato sauce and crushed/diced tomatoes for making my own pizza/pasta sauces and chili
• Nooch (nutritional yeast) - I add it to tons of dishes for cheezy flavor and for the B-12.
• peanut butter
• Bisquick (yup, it's vegan)
• coconut oil or any cooking oil, like olive oil. Coconut oil can be pricey if you don't hunt for bargains.
• sesame oil
• TVP/TSP - textured veggie/soy protein makes a great ground beef texture when cooked

In my fridge all the time:

• soy sauce and Braggs aminos
• mushrooms
• Veggies: carrots, lettuce, red onion. potatoes, fresh heads of garlic, spinach, broccoli
• ground flax - add it to all sorts of stuff, even smoothies, make flax eggs.
• dressings, especially vinaigrettes
• salsa
• maple syrup for anything from baking, breakfast, to tempeh bacon
• yellow and dijon mustards
• Vegenaise (Best vegan mayo brand ever). Find it in your grocer's cooler.
• Earth Balance vegan buttah

Baking goods:

• unbleached all-purpose flour
• sugar (find sugar made from sugar beets as they don't use bone char to bleach the sugar)
• brown sugar
• cinnamon
• vegan chocolate chips - I always use Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips which are accidentally vegan
• cocoa powder
• vegetable shortening
• vanilla extract
• powdered sugar

I hope this helps out :)

Hain Brown Gravy & Hot Turkey Sandwich...Vegan Style

I don't know about you guys, but I grew up frequenting coney islands and diners. My most favorite thing there (besides the always-classic grilled cheese) was always the hot turkey sandwich. It was a slice of white bread topped by cooked deli turkey, topped by another slice of bread. On the top was a heaping pile of mashed potatoes smothered in a boatload of brown gravy. So, recently, when I found these Hain brand vegan gravy mixes at my local HFS, I knew what I had to make...Vegan hot turkey sandwich.

Holy hell, dudes. It was just a blast from the past. I will definitely be making it again REALLY soon. I just need to hit up the health food store and stock up on that brown gravy. I snagged the chicken gravy kind, too, but I haven't tried it yet. I never was much of a chicken gravy gal, myself. But I do highly recommend the brown gravy. In fact, I'm getting hungry just writing about it.

The gravy packs look like this:

The gravy says you can either stovetop cook or microwave cook the gravy. I chose microwave as I was already busy making the mashed potatoes and lightly pan-frying the turkey slices. It came out weird at first, with a big clump in the middle of the gravy. I whisked for about 4 minutes non-stop and it broke it down with no problem. I would probably make it on the stovetop next time, so I can whisk throughout cooking and make it smoother and thicker. Regardless, the taste was excellent! I just added a tiny bit of pepper to the cooked gravy and it was good to go. I definitely recommend it! And, no, I'm not being sponsored or anything like that, I just found something that I really love and I think you might like it, too.

Saturday and Upcoming Vacation

Saturdays are a ritual. I go out to lunch with my mummy at Steady Eddy's, which is at the Flint farmer's market. I used to always eat the same couple of dishes that I knew were vegan and I really liked. Then, to my excitement, I found out that the diner we eat at (the only veg-friendly place around) has declared that all their soups from now on will be vegan. So, over the last couple of weeks, I've become obsessed with finding out what their soups are. Yesterday was chunky potato. It was very tasty. I am really starting to like non-creamy potato soups. They're filling, without being heavy and super fatty. Anyway, last week was a stellar 7-Bean soup. The week before was a cream-free potato leek soup. I'm in love! Their soups are always homemade and always so super tasty.

In other news, no recipes for the next few days. Sorry, I'll be on vacation and don't want to dirty any dishes before I leave town. No one wants to come home to a sink full of dirty dishes. Okay, maybe somebody out there does, but not me. I'm already lazy about doing dishes on a regular day and I know I won't be keen on it after my vacation. Call me a mega nerd if you want, but I am roadtripping down to Florida for my pal's wedding...and a day trip out to the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Orlando. It's going to be so rad. So, I will be gone from blogging for about a week. I'll probably have lots of photos to share when I get back. So, I hope you all have an awesome week and I'll see you again soon.

Oh, and before I forget, I spotted this in my backyard:

From what I have  been able to determine, I believe it is a Downy Woodpecker. Because it has the red on its head, I think it is a male. He was pecking on some sort of large weed in my yard. I'm so lucky to see so many awesome critters from my kitchen windows.

**CLOSED** -Monsta Madness Giveaway! - Vegan MoFo Finale

11.4.11- Thank you to everyone who entered! I just drew the winner using random.org random number generator. The winner was Meagan G!! She was entrant #8 in the drawing. Congrats to you, Meagan!! I'll be sending you an email ASAP! Thank you for entering and we hope you love your mOnsta!!
 

I would like to introduce you dudes and dudettes to my mega-awesome pal, Steph B. She makes incredibly cool, unique, one of a kind mOnstas of all shapes, sizes and types. I kid not, I have never seen two that look alike. On top of being all-around rad, Steph is also super cool with the vegan lifestyle. And, she has a madd cute little kiddo named Olive. What could be more sweet than that? Oh, wait, I know!!! She's going to be giving away 1 mOnsta to a lucky winner.  Before we get to the giveaway, though, I'd like you to take a minute to meet, Steph, owner of the rockin Frankenstitch Productions!

This is my favorite mOnsta (Oona Owl). She's all mine. You can't haz.

• What is your favorite food? 
• My all time favorite food is saag paneer!

•  What is your favorite vegan food?  
• I love hooked up salads with spinach , grilled tempeh, avocado, chick peas, grape tomatoes, black olives, cucumbers and  peppers with a lemon wedge and when the seasons right chopped fresh herbs.

• What is your favorite vegan sweet treat? 
• My favorite vegan sweet treat would be Megs pumpkin cookies and the all time stand by would have to be banana with peanut butter.

• When did you start sewing? When did you start sewing mOnstas? 
• I started sewing monstas in 2003. I started after a couple years of sewing applique mOnstas on pouches that were 100% hand stitch and never to be duplicated even by me.

Seriously...how cute is this little bat?

• Did you start mOnstas on your sewing machine or by hand? 
• I started sewing by hand 100% for the first 4 year and very slowly transitioned in to the sewing machine which now I consider to be one of my best friends. When all else fails in the day, she usually seems to do me right, her name is dream boat- cause its nothing but smooth sailing these days.

• Are the mOnstas created with vegan (non-animal) materials? 
• All of the mOnstas are created out of fleece, faux fur, thread, poly fil, plastic safety eyes, cotton, some times vinyl accents and love. So yes these products are vegan :)

• What inspired you to make mOnstas? 
• Back in the days of Borders Cafe, I used to check out this big 3 inch book entitled 'Animals." I loved it so much it, and it would help me create my version of that particular mOnsta. Back then, I was only stitching them on pouches. My friend, Michael S., from work mentioned making plush to me, and once I started I never quit. It's way better to bring the mOnstas to life in 3D than to look at it 2D. I am hooked with the entire process- from the cutting to the sewing to the stuffing and mending the parts together- you really never know what you're gonna come up with till you stuff it up.

• Which are your favorites to make? 
• My favorite plush to make would have to be the OOAK (one of a kind) mOnstas. They take the most time and detail, but in the end it pays off. All of my mOnstas are one of a kind... I have a fear of patterns, maybe I'll kick it someday maybe not. I let the scissors do the work, otherwise it would stress me out. I do this to wind down for the day.

• Do you have a website or Etsy where we can check out your creations? 
• I am currently in the works of creating a blog- its nothing to talk about at this point. I sell most of my product locally in Flint via art shows and craft shows. My Flint friends are the reason I never quit doing what I'm doing; they've given me so much love and support!! I sell online at my etsy shop. I also have a facebook page where I announce my upcoming events and newest creations. I post the custom orders here that no one sees on etsy.

• Do you take special requests? 
• I do take special requests, If I can see it in my head and I feel confident taking on your challenge I will for sure do it. You can visit either the etsy shop and message me or send me a message on my Frankenstitch Productions page, both of which are posted above.

• What is the biggest creation you ever made? 
• The biggest creation I've made was a 5 foot 5 inch monkey named big Tim and a 4 foot Brobee (from Yo Gabba Gabba!) for my daughter who is obsessed. I'd totally have bought one at the store if they weren't non-existant last X mas.

• Tell me your favorite quote about animals, food, or peace. 
• Wherever you go, go with all of your heart!- yogi tea

Thank you so much for stopping by, Steph! And thank you so much for the giveaway prize. I'm not telling anyone what they'll get! It'll be more fun to be surprised :)

We are only able to ship to the United States and Canada for this giveaway! So, please don't enter if you don't have an address in either of these countries. The giveaway will end on October 4th at about 11PM eastern time. Just click the link below and fill out the form. Don't fret, I won't sell your info. Be sure to leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win. I'll just use a random number generator to draw the winner. Good luck!!

--> Click Here To Enter!! <--