You Want One?

I'll give you one. In fact, I'll give away 2!

Leave a comment, here, and I will randomly choose 2 of y'all to receive a free copy of 500 Vegan Recipes on Friday November 20 at 6pm PST, and, yes, I will ship internationally.

You want to double your chances to win? Celine is also haveing a giveaway over on Have Cake, Will Travel!

Oh, and go check out the new blog specifically for 500 Vegan Recipes.

500 Vegan Recipes!

Wow, I can't believe it's finally out!
Go buy one, or two, or seventeen!



Attention Testers: The publishers are sending us the author copies...then Celine and I will get together, sign, and send them out to you! Don't worry, we didn't forget you :) Please shoot us an email with your current address if you haven't already. Thanks.

Broken Promises

To start off, I am breaking my promise to not mention Daiya for the rest of 'mofo. Why? Because today I procured about 2 pounds worth of "Block Cheddar." Thinking that this has to be the most amazing find ever, I brought it home. My drive home was anxious, as the smell drifted out of my bag, despite the tight wrapping of said block. My car reeked of CHEESE. Not of fake-smelling-weird-chemical-cheese, but it stank of the real deal! This only made my anticipation worse. I cut off a slice about 1/4 inch thick. I cut that slice into 6 rectangles. I got out 4 saltine crackers. Placed 4 pieces on the crackers, leaving 2 unadorned pieces to savor on their own. Took an eager bite of one of the lonely chunks. Nearly spit it out. Not good. Actually, it tasted quite like I remember cheddar, but the texture definitely left something to be desired. I placed the 2nd lonely piece on another cracker, knowing I would not eat it cold and alone. Still, not good at all. I was beginning to get depressed. I placed the remaining 4 cheese and crackers on a plate and zapped them in the microwave for 30 seconds...guess what?



PERFECTION!!!

I sincerely recommend the following:

DO NOT eat Daiya Block Cheddar cold, on it's own, or on a cracker.

DO enjoy it on a grilled cheese, or other toasty sandwich, or any other place you'd enjoy a thick, melty, gooey, stretchy bit of cheese.

DO continue to enjoy the shredded variety on pizza, in mac and cheese, tossed in a salad, or any other way you can think of to use it.

The key (for me, anyways) to enjoying Daiya, is to melt it.

Squashkin Butter!!!

Today, I received a little box in the mail. Inside was a little blue note with a cute little birdie drawn on the front, and a jar of home made Squashkin Butter from the lovely and wonderful Amy of Tahinitoo. When I visited Portland over the summer, I had the pleasure of meeting Amy (and Tim) and she gave to me a jar of home made Vanilla Cherry Jam. That was soooo great, so I knew I was in for a treat when I got this jar of deliciousness.

So what did I try it on first?



Toast, of course.

Thank you Amy! So, so, good. It really put me in an Autumnal mood.

Lumpy Gravy

Sometimes dinner that doesn't look very good, really hits the spot. This completely colorless meal was so full of flavor and so easy to make, I didn't care that it looked like crap (literally!!!)



I am working on a cutlet recipe that tastes like a combination of chicken fried and salisbury steak. I'm pretty sure I have the flavor down, so I just gotta remake it again, to double check the measurements, then I'll share, I promise.

Pictured above is the cutlet, smothered in lumpy brown gravy with a side of mashed potatoes. This meal almost reminds me of a TV dinner.

*Bonus points if you know who had an album titled "Lumpy Gravy" without clicking on the link!

I have finally met my match!

Yep. That's right. Joni has finally met a veggie burger that TOOK ME DOWN! I couldn't even finish half of it! What? Joni? Not finish a burger? Yep. It was so big and so delicious, I wish I could have, but I failed.

What is this burger you say? It's the new Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger at Native Foods. Let's just work our way through this bad boy layer by layer...

Thinly sliced layers of marinated seitan, carmelized onions, tempeh bacon, daiya cheese, FOUR CORN BATTERED DEEP FRIED PICKLES, lettuce, red onion, tomato, carrots, vegan mayo and barbecue sauce, all on a soft whole wheat bun. WHOA!


Picture from the Native Foods Website:

Sunday Breakfast

Geez, with breakfast being my favorite meal of the day, you'd think I'd make it more often! I took advantage of a few free moments this morning to make myself a BIG hearty breakfast.



Let's start with the scramble. A basic crumbled tofu-turmeric-garlic-onion-salt and pepper combination with some Daiya tossed in at the end for good measure. The potatoes were just some frozen shredded potatoes fried up and served with ketchup. The tempeh bacon was simply marinated in about a tablepoon of liquid smoke mixed with about 1/4 cup of maple syrup and then pan fried until crispy.

Friday Night = Pizza!

Sure, any one of us could make a kick-ass-home-made-yeast-risen pizza, but, after a long, long work week, everyone deserves to have dinner delivered in a big, flat box. Even us vegans. The trick is to find a delivery joint that will deliver vegan pizza. Just find out the ingredients in the crust at your local pizza joint, and order it cheeseless with your favorite veggies on it. If you want to, doctor it up with some vegan cheese and enjoy! Even those of you that live in the least vegan friendly cities don't have to go pieless. Little Caesars has a vegan crust, as well as the breadsticks, as long as you specify "no-cheese."

I also live outside the delivery zone of any vegan pizza delivery joints, so tonight, mine is the "Crispy Thin Crust" from Domino's with mushrooms and roasted red peppers (and some added Daiya.



Happy Friday!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have I already told y'all how much I am in love with Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flour? Well I am. I love the soft texture and the slightly sweet and slightly coconut-y flavor. I have been trying to replace most of my all-purpose flour with this in my baking lately. Tonight I tried it out in some cookies, and I think it worked out fantastically.



Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups creamy no-stir peanut butter
1 cup evaporated cane juice (sugar)
1 cup coconut flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup nondairy milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment or a silicone baking sheet.

Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix well until everything is well incorporated and you have a crumbly dough.

Grab about 2 tablespoons worth of dough and form into a ball, then flatteninto a cookie sheet.

Place 12 cookies on each sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, or until crackly on top and just beginning to brown.

Allow to cool at least 5 minutes before transferring to a rack ro cool completely.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Pretend it's still Wednesday!

I totally fell asleep on the couch last night after an emotionally draining 2 episodes of Ghost Whisperer (Does anyone else cry at the end of every single episode?) so I didn't post last night. Just pretend it's still Wednesday, and later tonight I'll post for today.

This post contains no recipes, rather it is a list, per se, of things I would have if I could create my dream kitchen.

To start things off, my dream kitchen would have concrete floors and countertops.


It would have a restored commercial stove.

It would have a HUGE walk in pantry.

It would have open rack shelving.

It would have a butcher block island.

It would have a hanging pot rack.

It would have pendant task lighting.

It would have a proofer/oven combo.


It would have UNLIMITED spice storage, a couple of these card catalog cabinets should do the trick.


It would have a WALK-IN cooler.


It would have a commercial sink.

It would have an indoor herb garden.

Let's not even get into appliances!!!!

And, finally, a couple of these Lawyer's Bookcases for cookbook storage.

Yes, I would need a lot of space to make this happen, but a girl CAN dream!