Vegan linzertorte thumbprint cookies for Gitana's wedding!

You know you're a Type A Hippie when...

... you rewrite your wedding To-Do list on a clean page so that it's
neat and pretty - and at the top of your list is "Buy tofu."

I ♥ Whole Foods

During this morning's Whole Foods shopping spree (during which I picked up a few delicious baking ingreds for Gitana's wedding), I decided to test a few new food items:

Blackwell's Organic Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Gelato. This stuff is gluten free, cholesterol free, dairy free, and vegan (oh, and they don't mention this on the packaging, but its also delicious). By the time I got home from the store, the gelato was perfectly soft and melty - of course, it was necessary to take a few bites before tucking it into the freezer for a rainy day. (NB: this had more of an icy/sorbet texture than a creamy texture. My favorite [store-available] vegan ice cream stands to be Temptation's chocolate chip cookie dough. It's tastier and creamier than it's regular dairy counterpart, I swear!)

Asherah's Gourmet Protein Powerhouse Vegan Burgers. I got to try a sample from Asherah herself, who was manning the tasting table. Made from organic quinoa and organic vegetables, these burgers are chock full of nutrients and leave you feeling wholesomely full. (Unfortunately they're only available at local grocery stores and restaurants!)

SoyBoy Roasted Red Pepper & Tofu Ravioli. I'm making it for the 'rents for dinner tonight. I bet TequilaDad won't even be able to distinguish the difference between tofu and ricotta cheese after his signature happy hour glass of Old Smuggler Scotch Whiskey ;)

*UPDATE: I made the vegan burger for lunch today. As per Asherah's suggestion, I prepared it in a whole wheat wrap with hummus, lettuce, tomato... Delish! Between Asherah's burgers and the desserts at Vegan Treats, it might be worth making a trek to Suburbia, PA after all!

Vegan Wishlist

Now that I know that vegan ice cream cake is not outside the realm of possibility, I'm going to make a running list of carnivorous dishes that I'd love to someday make (or find) vegan versions of:

- tres leches cake
- new england clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl

(OK that's all I could come up with for now - because so many of the other foods that came to my mind, I've already seen or tried delicious vegan versions of! Meaty cheesy pizza, chicken and cheese quesadillas, whoopie pie, cheesesteak sandwich, bbq bacon cheeseburger, sausage and cheese omelette, dulce de leche, monkey bread, donuts, etc. But I'm positive that other things will come to mind, so I'm going to keep this post even though it doesn't have much substance.)

The Vegan's Dilemma

Tonight my parents and I were invited to a catered dinner party for a group of volunteers from our Church and their families. I was safe (and correct) to assume that the cuisine would be Italian, so I figured there MUST be some vegan-friendly dishes, right? Spaghetti with red sauce, maybe a garden salad? Or at the very least, grilled fish (which I still indulge in from time to time)? Well, I was wrong. And I faced the ultimate Vegan's Dilemma: a carnivorous dinner party. When you're in a social situation and there are no vegan food options, and you don't want be rude or draw attention to your eating preferences, what do you do?

The menu:
Appetizers: cheese and crackers; little buttered toasts with bruscetta topping on the side
Dinner: cheese tortellini mixed with grilled chicken in a creamy alfredo sauce; pre-mixed Caesar salad (incl. grated parmesan and creamy Caesar dressing); sausage and peppers in a red sauce; bread rolls and slices
Desserts: chocolate cake with buttercream frosting; brownies; cookies; mixed fruit; coffee with milk; green tea

My strategy:
I grabbed a large slice of bread, took a small helping of tortellini, a small helping of Caesar salad, a few peppers from the sausage tray, and snuck back to the appetizer table for a large spoonful of bruscetta tomatoes.

I assembled the bruscetta tomatoes on the bread and ate it slooowly with a fork and knife. I moved the tortellini and salad around on my plate. I picked at the peppers (I know it wasn't very vegan of me to take the peppers that had been cooked with the sausage, but whatevs). The result? No one noticed! Since I ate super slowly, no one noticed that I was only eating three of the five things on my plate. I debated not serving myself the foods that I definitely wouldn't be eating (tortellini and Caesar salad), but I didn't feel like being bombarded with questions. (Hey, if ya can't beat 'em, join 'em.) Since I had the tortellini and salad on my plate (and strategically moved them around), no one blinked an eye. And I made it a point to comment on how delicious the tortellini was (what can I say - sometimes I feel no guilt about lying). As for dessert, as tempted as I was by the cake and brownies (non-vegan desserts still have a way of luring me in), I exhibited great willpower and opted for a handful of grapes with my green tea. People DID comment on my dessert choice, but I simply said "I'm attending a wedding next week and as of now, I can barely fit in my dress" - which is not untrue!

I know I'm not really "advancing the cause" by dishing non-vegan food items onto my plate in an effort to blend in and avoid annoying questions. But hey, sometimes I'd rather be polite and not make waves - namely when I'm around people I don't know very well (Church acquaintances and boyfriend's family members being at the top of that list). Besides, I feel like I do my part to advance the cause with people I know very well and am comfortable with. I know for a fact that countless friends have become more open to vegetarian recipes and vegan desserts as a direct result of my food choices.

Moral of the story: nine times out of ten, there will be some sort of vegan option. You just have to seek it out.

But just in case, eat a snack before you leave the house ;)

Katie Couric Interviews Ellen DeGeneres

If you have time to watch the entire (30min) interview, go for it. In my opinion, Ellen is an AWESOME woman with an amazing and positive attitude. In this interview, she talks about everything from gay marriage, to veganism, to women's body image / health / beauty in today's society. If your time is limited, I'd suggest watching the portion about veganism (minute 15 thru minute 20):


Watch CBS News Videos Online


Here's a link to the movie she recommended; I just added it to the top of my Netflix queue: http://www.earthlings.com/

And at the end of the interview, she refers to her website for some yummy vegan recipes (ranging from easy to complicated): http://ellen.warnerbros.com/recipes/

Enjoy!

You know you're a Type A Hippie when

you create a GoogleDocs spreadsheet, color-coded by recipe with initials to decide who buys what, to best plan vegan wedding desserts with the baker, who lives in Philly, and the bride, who live in Peru.

Dessert trial: biscotti

Well folks, today may have been my final pre-wedding dessert
experiment! After attempting to veganize my mother's notoriously good
omnivore biscotti recipe a few weeks ago, I decided to test a truly
vegan biscotti recipe from my beloved vegan cookie cookbook. I even
ordered vegan white chocolate chips online for the occassion. The
result? A great success. They turned out perfectly crunchy and
deliciosly sweet. Here they are below; I'll be making them mini-sized
for Gitana's wedding!

VeganYumYum: the sequel

OK well I don't have a fireplace lit or a chickflick on TV, but I am snowed in with a delicious salad in hand! The Avocado Wasabi Salad was a great success. It was a bit time-consuming to prepare, so I wouldn't recommend it as a quick last-minute weekday dinner solution. But if you're having company over, or have the time and motivation to prepare something delicious, this salad is the way to go.

Aside from the wonderful flavor (how can you go wrong with ANYTHING containing avocado?), this salad also has an amazing texture. The crunchiness of the toasted almonds and broccoli combined with the softness of the wasabi-tamari chickpeas creates a little party in your mouth. My only recommendation would be using a RIPE avocado as the recipe suggests. In my eagerness, I used a completely unripe avocado, so the texture of the dressing is a little chunky (even though I pureed it in a food processor). I think it would be nice if it were a little smoother. Oh, and I added two cloves of garlic to the dressing, which made it even yummier. (Also, it's extremely filling - I could barely finish two small bowls!)

Enjoy!

PS: the recipe yields about 2-3 times the amount of dressing you need for a large party bowl of salad to be thoroughly coated. Set aside the extra for another time.

PPS: I'd suggest eating this salad right after mixing. I think it would be way too soggy and lose its magic if it sat already-mixed in the fridge overnight.

VeganYumYum

http://veganyumyum.com/

Loooooove this website. I've had the iphone app for weeks, but I never actually tried any of the recipes. Then when my friend send me the link today, and I laid eyes on the Avocado Wasabi Salad, I immediately grabbed my coat and keys so that I could buy the necessary ingredients before the snowstorm hits tonight. I can't wait to sit at home tomorrow, snowed-in, fireplace lit, chickflick on tv, delicious salad in hand...

Failed burger yields breakfast yumminess

While TequilaTanya was having the best vegan burger ever designed, I decided to make some mushroom burgers here, with a pinto base.

Well.

It *tasted* fine. In fact, the combo with the green onions and beans was quite good. But this recipe fails in consistency. There is nothing binding it, so instead of burgers, it turned into a vegan hash. And it was GOOD as a vegan hash. A nice, hearty breakfast dish.

I will try to make them burgers again by pureeing the beans with a little bit of the water used to boiled them to get a better consistency, and I will add a little more oil for the same reason.

nb: I used boiled, not canned pintos.

Mushroom Veggie Burger

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 3/4 cup diced fresh mushrooms
• 1 15 ounce can pinto beans
• 1 tsp parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying

Preparation:

Sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil for 3 to 5 minutes, until onions are soft. Add the green onions, cumin and mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked. Set aside. Mash the beans with a fork or a potato masher, or process in a food processor until well mashed.
Add the mushrooms to the beans and add parsley, salt and pepper. Stir until well combined.
Shape the mixture into patties. Heat about two tablespoons of olive oil and cook each patty until the veggie burgers are done, about 3 minutes on each side.

Plant Cafe

Highly recommended by Gitana, Plant Cafe (formerly called Lettus)
serves wholesome, organic breakfast and lunch fare, as well as juices,
smoothies, pastries, etc. in their three San Francisco -based
locations. So when I found out their newest location was a five-minute
walk from the office where I was interviewing yesterday, I excitedly
planned to spend my lunch break there. The place was PACKED and if
Gitana hadn't insisted that I try their signature lentil cashew
burger, it would have taken me hours to decide what to order! The
burger was certainly worth the hype (picture to follow), and I
finished it feeling deliciously full in the wholesome way that only
organic vegan food can provide.

Since my lunch break was so rushed, I snuck back after my last
interview for a relaxing cup of [excellent] drip coffee and a
[deliciously chewy and soft] vegan oatmeal raisin cookie. (Why is it
that I can justify eating dessert after both lunch AND dinner when I'm
traveling!?)

In any case, I will certainly be returning to Plant Cafe during my
next trip to the Bay Area. (And i already know what I'll be ordering!
The "Protein Smoothie": banana, hemp protein, coconut milk, and almond
butter. Yum!)

Ok I know this looks like a nasty raw beef burger but this lentil
cashew burger with grilled onions on multigrain bread from Plant Cafe
will rock your world!!

The Ultimate Type A Hippie Capital

Beloved Readers,
(OK let's face it - I know it's just you, V - so shall I rephrase?)

Beloved Reader,
Within a handful of hours on my first full day in San Francisco, I experienced several Type A Hippie moments, as well as an amazing lunching experience. I'll fill ya in on the city's amazing veg food later (plus pics). But for now, the details about getting in touch with my true Type A Hippie Self...

You know you're a Type A Hippie when...
You're packing your purse for an afternoon of job interviews and notice that your Inner Type A packs an extra pair of contact lenses (in case one unexpectedly and freakishly pops out of her eye en route to the office) and a pair of tweezers (in case one dark and unsightly chin hair decides to make its presence known right before the interview, threatening to distract the interviewer with your Arab hairiness), and your Inner Hippie packs a snack bag of raw almonds (in case of extreme hunger and a lack of vegan food options) and an individual to-go packet of powdered soy creamer (for that pre-interview cup of French-press coffee).

You also know you're a Type A Hippie when...
Your Inner Type A insists on taking her lunch break outdoors - black stilettos, Ann Taylor Loft skirtsuit, and all - and your Inner Hippie selects the crunchiest meal (a lentil cashew burger from the Plant Cafe), consumed on the steps outside of a museum (where all of the homeless people are sitting and eating their scraps).

But most of all, you know you are a Seriously Hardcore Type A Hippie when...
Your Inner Type A removes her signature nosering before her interview, so as not to risk appearing unprofessional or to distract her interviewer with her dazzling bling... and upon discovering that the piercing FULLY CLOSED during the two-hour timespan of the interviews, your Inner Hippie goes to Walgreens and - I shit you not - purchases a box of sewing needles, a packet of matches, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol, then proceeds to repierce her own nose, locked in the unisex bathroom at the Plant Cafe. (After stabbing my unusually-fast-healing-cartilege with a self-sterilized sewing needle, I now have a newfound appreciation for the phrase "blood, sweat, and tears"...)

Rinse. Repeat.

**Update #2 - I caved and washed my hair with Head & Shoulders, then "deep conditioned" with some Pantene stuff. I'm not sure if it was the days of water rinses, the Apple Cider Vinegar, or the chemical-laden shampoo/conditioner combo. But my hair is shiny and FABULOUS and lustrous and all sorts of adjectives that end in -ous. Must try this regimen again.
 

*Update 2/3/10 - my hair now feels dry, tangled, and just not fabulous after the apple cider vinegar rinse yesterday and just a water rinse today. Will research natural conditioner-type things; else give in and use normal shampoo and conditioner tonight. At least cutting back to once every 4-5 days is better than every day, I suppose.

After four days of no shampoo and only washing with water - maybe five, I lost count - my hair was definitely feeling oily. I had, as one friend called it, sculpty hair - that point at which it is malleable and holds.

As good a time as any to try the apple cider vinegar recipe. 

Vegan Treats

This morning I drove an hour on what can only be described as a pilgrimage to the temple of the vegan dessert gods. Vegan Treats, located in Bethlehem Pennsylvania, was well worth the journey. This is one of the few places I've ever seen on Yelp with a solid five-star rating. In my opinion, it certainly lived up to its reputation.

Vegan brownies, pies, donuts, cinnamon buns, sticky buns, big cakes, little cakes, cupcakes, brownies, whoopie pies, cheesecakes, french pastries... This place is literally a dream come true. (They normally carry a variety of vegan soft serve flavors but the machine was broken today.)


When I arrived shortly after opening, the place was piled high with boxes and delivery men, loading their vans to deliver the treats to veg restaurants in New York and Philadelphia. The majority of the items I saw in the back of the bakery were large boxes and cakes, so I imagine the bulk of their revenue comes from catering for restaurants and special events. I was overwhelmed by the selection, but by the time the morning deliveries were out, I had had time to recover and decide upon my initial order: a cookies 'n' cream donut and a small coffee with soy milk. There's only a small seating area in the bakery, but the short barstools with sparkly pink plastic covers certainly add charm to the place. My donut and coffee were served in a zebra-print plate and mug, with an accompanying bright pink napkin. I fell in love, hard.

The tougher decision was settling upon which treats to take home. I decided to play it safe and ordered the most Yelp'ed about items: the peanut butter bomb and the carrot cake. And, having a serious weak spot for Oreos, I couldn't resist ordering a beautiful little chocolate cake with Oreo frosting and an Oreo crumble topping.


I took a few bites of each after I got home (then they went straight into the freezer for a rainy day!) and I can honestly say that these are some of the best desserts I've ever had, vegan or otherwise. An aspiring baker myself, I can only hope that someday my baking business will be a fraction as delicious and successful as my new favorite vegan bakery.

Sugar scrub

I "invented" a skin scrub yesterday: brown sugar with a dash of lime juice and just enough water to make it into a paste. Used it on post-sunburn skin yesterday, followed by CVS aloe lotion, definitely helped immediately, and the skin today looked a lot brighter and was healing better. Just used it on my face, worked it in gently for about a minute and rinsed REALLY well. My skin is super sensitive and prone to clogged pores; no other face scrubs really help, they just cause breakouts, even the "gentle ones." Will see how it looks tomorrow.

Stored the leftovers in the fridge to avoid ants. Will see how it holds up.

Sugar scrub

2 tbsp brown sugar
Juice from 1/4 small lime (I used a key lime)
Enough water to make a paste that won't drip (a few drops worked for me)

Use as a body scrub or face scrub. I think that rubbing gently, but for a few minutes in trouble spots, seems to be better than aggressively scrubbing for shorter times.

You know you're a Type A Hippie when

You stock up on your breakfast basic non-perishables - flax seeds, oat bran, kiwicha powder - in bulk so you don't run out, then organize them in your pantry according to the order in which you put them on your cereal in the morning.