Garlic Puff Twists

Inspired by Barry's Bakery French Twists (The Original Flavor, which in my opinion is like crack in a tub, I mean, seriously, I could eat them all in one sitting!) we decided to make a savory version of these to go along with dinner tonight.

Start off with a package of frozen puff pastry dough, thawed according to package instructions. Cut the sheet into strips about 1" wide by 4"-5" long.



Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or Silpat. Twist each strip a time or two and lie onto the sheet. Repeat with the remaining strips.

In a small bowl, melt about 1/4 cup of Earth Balance mixed with some garlic powder, paprika, a little salt and some dried basil. Brush each twist liberally with the melted butter mixture.



Bake at 400 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes until golden and flaky.

CHEAP vegan eats from Big Lots

Every now and again I like to peruse the aisles of Big Lots just to see what there is to see. I usually pick up some random "gourmet" stuff for super cheap.

Here's my latest haul:
2 jars of Hummus ($2 each)
2 containers of Garlic Powder ($1 each)
2 containers of Onion Powder ($1 each)
1 container of Imitation Bacon Bits ($1)
1 container of Ground Cumin ($1)
3 varieties of fettucine ($2 each)

Taco Tuesday...on Thursday!

Taco Tuesdays...we think about it every Tuesday and sometimes we remember to make 'em. Well, this Tuesday got away from us so Taco Thursday it was. Tonight's tacos featured red chile flour tortillas, TVP taco meat, refried beans, lettuce, green chiles, taco sauce, and, yes, more Daiya. (I promise to stop posting about Daiya, as soon as my batch runs out, which I fear will be soon, and even if I buy more, I promise to refrain from posting anymore about it, at least during 'mofo...deal?)

Cheezy Chikin Casserole

As soon as the weather hits below 90 degrees, it's time for comfort food. Growing up, my mom used to make casseroles. I absolutely LOVED them. I still make them. They are so easy to throw together and they make enough to heat up for practically the rest of the week. Another nice thing about casseroles is that you don't really need a recipe. You just throw a bunch of stuff together and then bake it. So easy.

Here's a picture right out of the oven:


Here's a close up, inside shot:


Here's what's in it:
1 pound prepared pasta (penne in this case)
about 1/2 cup Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds
about 1/2 cup Daiya Italian Style Shreds
about 1/4 cup Earth Balance
about 1/3 cup Tofutti Better than Sour Cream
about 1/4 cup Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
about 2 cups Soy Curls reconstituted in about 2 cups water with "chicken flavored" broth powder
about 2 cups frozen peas and carrots
about 1/3 cup panko style bread crumbs sprinkled on the top

Here's what I did:
Boiled the pasta in salted water. Drained it and retrned it to the pot. Added the Daiya, EB, Sour Cream and Cream Cheese. Mixed it all up until it was creamy. Stirred in the peas, carrots, reconstituted Soy Curls along with the remaining broth. Transferred it all to an oven safe casserole dish, and sprinkled on the panko.

Baked, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes, then I cranked up the heat to 500 for about 10 minutes to brown the top.

Biodynamic is the New Green

Biodynamic Sugar? I'm sold. The stuff tastes great and costs about the same as Florida Crystals.

I met with a sales rep from Native Organics (their website is in Portuguese, as this is a product from Brazil) and she told me about the "Green Cane Project". I found it all very interesting, and have decided to support this company by using their sugars as often as possible.

Currently, I can buy the Crystal Organic Sugar, (Here is a rough English Translation: Produced according to the nature Native Experience in version course, for the delicious cuisine in general, replacing refined sugar and crystal. Native sugar is the result of an absolutely natural process where sugar cane is grown with organic fertilizers, subject to biological pest control and harvested green, that is, without burning, which, besides keeping intact its qualities, preserving soil and the environment. Each grain of Native is the purest essence of healthy sugarcane honey - where does your taste fruity.)

as well as the Demerara (raw) Organic Sugar (The organic version of Demerara sugar type Native Experience in Gold version, which sweetens giving a special flavor all the grout and hot drinks.)

at Whole Foods for about $7 for a 1 kilo (2.2 pound) bag, but I've also seen it online on Amazon. Although it doesn't seem like it's quite available for purchase quite yet.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

Bay City Rollers reference aside, Saturday nights are a time for fun, right? Well for me, that means an easy, early dinner, and a drink before heading to bed, since I have to get up at 4:30 am tomorrow morning for work.

Daiya Nachos with Refried Beans, Tofutti Better than Sour Cream, Salsa and Jalapenos:


My new favorite nondairy milk, Earth's Own Almond Fresh, the vanilla flavor, with Kahlua over ice:


Nighty-night kids. This old lady is hittin' the hay.

Orecchiette Rigate in a Quick Garlic Cream Sauce

Pasta. Me and pasta have been good friends for a very, very long time. Be it an elbow, linguine, lasagne, soba, cous cous, or even plain ol' spaghetti. A bowl of pasta can be as simple as tossed in a little olive oil, or complicated with a slow cooked home made marinara. However it's served up, pasta gives me comfort. Let's me know that whatever the day has challenged me with...well...it's all gonna be okay.



Orecchiette Rigate in a Quick Garlic Cream Sauce

1 pound pasta of choice (in this case Orecchiette Rigate)
1 stick nondairy butter (like Earth Balance)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1-2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk
1 tablespoon dried basil (optional)
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)
sea salt and frersh cracked pepper to taste

Prepare pasta according to package directions. In a pot, melt butter over medium high heat. Add garlic and saute for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent browning. Add in flour and stir vigorously to form a roux. Continue to stir until mixture is a thick paste and turns a lovely golden color. Add in 1 cup of the milk. Reduce heat to low and stir until thickened. If you like a very thick sauce, that's it. Add in the basil, pine nuts (if using), salt and pepper and you're done. If you prefer a thinner sauce add in additional milk until the desired consistncy is reached. Immediately pour over pasta and enjoy.

Eatin' Out with Vegan Friends

One might think that living in Southern California would mean that there are hundreds of thousands of vegans just knocking down my door to eat with me. Sadly this just isn't the case.

I have a couple of close friends who are vegetarian (Hi Jill, Karem and Brent!) and my cousin Leah and her husband, Tim, are vegan, but they live all the way in LA. My friend Danna moved way up to the mountains and Jenn is also in LA. What's a lonely OC vegan supposed to do?

Well, mostly, I cook. Not a bad thing, really, as it saves a ton of money, and I pretty much can guarantee I'm going to enjoy what I make.

But, sometimes it's nice to be served. To walk into a 100% vegan restaurant and be able to order anything off the menu without having to ask 100 questions. Sure, I can bring any of my (non-vegan) friends or family to a vegan restaraunt. But, that's just not as enjoyable as going to one with someone who will really appreciate the experience as much as I do.

So imagine how excited I was to find out that Jess (of Get Sconed!) was going to be in town for a few days on business!

One might also think that Southern California is swimming with vegan restaurants. Sadly, this is also not the case. We have a few absolutely fantastic joints here and there, but there is a good amount of driving to get from one to another.

So, I picked up Jess, and we headed out for a good forty minute drive to Native Foods in Costa Mesa. Sure, there was a closer location, but the Costa Mesa location is tops. It's in a tent. It's simply rad. Lucky us. Chef Tanya served up our meals personally on that day. Once again, rad. I didn't take any pictures, but I know that Jess did, and she promised to post about it sometime during 'mofo, so check in on her to see for yourself. We were both very happy with our meals, and with bellies full we headed back to the beach.

Picture Stolen from the Native Foods website, note the cool chalkboards, usually filled up with AR slogans:



The following day, I met up with Jess again, and this time, we headed for the monolithic Irvine Spectrum to check out the Veggie Grill. Once again, there is a closer location, but this one was next to the ferris wheel!

Picture stolen from an article in the paper, and those Sweetheart Fries ARE as good as they look:


After lunch, we headed to the Native Foods in Aliso Viejo for dessert.

Thanks, Jess, for letting me drag you all around the OC, just to eat!

Hello 'Mofo!

I seriously cannot believe it's already October. Well, those of us in the know, know what that means. It's 'mofo time!

(For those not in the know, Veganmofo is the Vegan Month of Food. Vegan bloggers around the universe post nearly every day in the month of October about vegan food! It was originally inspired by Nanowrimo, where writers attempt to write a novel in a month.)

The wonderful and amazing Kittee has taken on the mindblowing task of gettin' every participating 'mofo-er onto one HUGE bloglines feed to help you keep up with everyone.

I haven't quite decided on a theme for this year, so I'll probably just post random recipes, pictures, product and restaurant reviews.

Bring it on 'mofos!

Cake for Baby!

My bestest friend ever, Jennifer, is having a baby girl! I volunteered to make the cake and cupcakes for her shower yesterday!



The cake and half of the cupcakes are lemon with raspberry cream cheese frosting. The other half of the cupcakes are VCTOTW basic chocolate, with raspberry cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut with marzipan eggs.

Each tier was 3 layers of lemon cake (this recipe without the poppyseeds) with raspberry preserves and raspberry cream cheese frosting between the layers. The whole thing was coated with a crumb coat of the raspberry cream cheese frosting (Equal parts Tofutti cream cheese and Earth Balance, with a bit of vanilla extract and Flavorganics Raspberry Syrup, mixed with enough powdered sugar to get the right texture) then decorated with tinted vanilla fondant.

I was going to make my fondant from scratch, and did make a small batch, but it was a lot of work, and I needed a lot of fondant, so I bought Satin Ice brand fondant, which, as far as I could tell from the label and my internet research, is vegan.

My first time working with fondant. I am no Duff, but I think I did pretty good for my first go 'round. One thing I learned is that it is key to have ample flat working space to effectively pull this off. I was working on a folding card table, that wasn't level, so I had a bit of trouble rolling it out evenly. I know I could have done a much better job, if I just had a proper kitchen counter.