day#30: in closing

woah, i bit off more than i could chew. was i crazy trying to shoot for 1,000,000 hits this month? probably. would i do it again? yup. there's something to be said for aiming high. going vegan has taught me so much about myself, my relationship with food, kindness towards animals, the environment, and what it means to truly nourish myself. i hope that by sharing my eats with all of you and some of the stories about the truly beautiful people i've met at the post punk kitchen, you'll want to stop by some time and take a gander.
this post is dedicated to all of you future post punk kitchen members. it would be awesome to hear my children make an informed decision by telling me that they also want to pursue veganism. i will not force the issue, though. when the time is right, i'll have a conversation with them about how food gets to their plate and see how they feel about it. for now, i have two awesome children that are really good vegetarians. my son can't stand eggs, cheese, and meat. he also hates veggies. but he loves fruit, grains, peanut butter, and most sweets. my daughter has blown me away by eating anything i put in front of her: avocado, kale, peas, bananas, sweet potato, squash, oatmeal, and has shown that she does NOT care for chocolate. weird, huh? the other day she started signing "more" at the dinner table, and is trying to feed herself. how awesome is that?
regardless of how you choose to eat, please take a moment and pause. what can you do to be more connected with your body? how often do you eat in a rush?are most of your meals from prepackaged foods or a number on a value menu? when was the last time you sat down in a chair in the kitchen and enjoyed a home cooked meal? are there smells in the kitchen that make you feel at peace? what are they?

cooking something for someone is one of many ways to express love to others. i cook for myself because i love me. i cook for other people and share food because i love the people close to me. think about it: you have to find out what someone likes, find a special recipe or come up with one on your own, take the time to find the perfect ingredients, make the food, present the food, watch them eat, and clean up after wards. it's a process we take for granted.
sea turtle sammies for my son!

so--schmaltzy as this ending may be, i thank you for stopping by and visiting my blog. i look forward to seeing the end numbers at foodbuzz and writing a check to my local food bank. i couldn't have done this without everyone's support.

eat well, be well, and don't forget that someone out there needs you.

xo jen

day#29: dropping the ball

i know, i know. i missed yesterday's post. noted, ball dropped. i have MOFO burnout, seriously.
and another dropped ball: dear graciakai of the ppk, i know you wanted a vegan chicken parmigiana sandwich--but this was all i had. i hope you don't feel gypped by having a luscious dish of roasted acorn squash stuffed with sauteed portobello mushrooms, roasted red pepper, sun dried tomatoes, and bulghur named after you. i personally think this is way more creative than a veganized chicken parm, but who am i to say what's cool? i'm as dorky as they get.

vegan foodies, i give you the GK's tricked out squash

you'll need:

• one acorn squash
• 2 c. SOAKED bulghur*
• 2 cloves of garlic, via garlic press
• one smallish onion, chopped
  
• 9 sun dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips with kitchen shears
• 1/2 roasted red pepper cut into strips
• 1 T. ms. dash basil blend
• 2-3 portobello mushrooms, chopped
  
• 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 t. salt

clean, halve, scoop, and roast that squash at 375 for about 45 minutes. NOTE: brush halves w/olive oil and poke holes in flesh with fork. put a little water in each half and cover with foil too!

saute onion, garlic, and mushrooms in a little olive oil on low-med heat. add vinegar, salt, roasted red pepper, bulghur and toss in the sun dried tomatoes last. simmer for a few minutes. when acorn squash halves are done, fill each half with this mixture. you can earn extra points by drizzling a little extra olive oil on top too.

*to soak bulghur: 1 part water to one part bulghur. EXTRA NOTE: you can use any grain or small pasta for this. quinoa or rice for you GF peeps, and i believe couscous or orzo would work well with this!

day#27: some things just don't need promotion

look, it's a piece of pie! sweet potato to be exact.
i mean, whadda ya hafta do to promote pie? absolutely nothing. pie pretty much sells itself, it needs no PR. hell, even mud pies look awesome enough to eat, until you eat some and then you realize duh it's just dirt. all hail the pie.

if you're a pie hater, i don't want to know you. i'm sure a few of you exist--you just haven't had really good pie yet. oooh, so you're a cupcake person? i'm not. i suppose you feel the same way about me. i hope you're not going to convince me it's hip to pay $4 for a fancy schmancy cupcake, because i'm not out to convert you. i'm happy you don't like pie, because there's more for me. pies 4 eva!

pies4eva is a post punk kitchen forum member, and i love her dearly. i met her on the playground, the parenting section of the forum. if you have little sweet potatoes, i highly recommend going there to read/share/vent any and all things parent related. screw those other parenting message boards.

so this pie--it's wolfie's pumpkin pie recipe from vegan-a-go-go. i subbed sweet potatoes for the pumpkin and used EB/oil blend for the crust. it was a really nice way to seal the deal on our thanksgiving dinner. the topping didn't turn out the way i thought it would. i envisioned more of a struedely like topping and it just sank in the pie. sugary and nutty morsels throughout the pie was really rad anyway, but not intentional. perhaps that happened because of using the potatoes? who knows.

day#26: dinner in a tzip

most nights i don't really have time to make or even eat a good dinner. i get out of work, pick up kids from day care, possibly run an errand, go home, fix them something to eat, then throw something to eat that i devour over the kitchen sink while furiously multitasking.
this particular night i had some leftover roasted multi-potato blend:(yukons, russets, reds, and sweet). i threw them into the mini chopper for a few seconds so they were finely chopped, but not blended. i added them to some baba ganouj i had made, threw in a T of flour and made this gigantoid babagalatke. it was a big risk to blend two very unique dishes of my heritage together and see what would happen. i lucked out! this would make a really rad snack to bring to the upcoming channukah bazaar. what, you haven't been invited? just crash it. you know you want to.

baba-ga-what?

you can read all about latkes and baba ganouj by clicking on the links. i don't have recipes for either, i just can make them on command and they turn out great every time. being jewish and all-- sometimes i wonder if i've been genetically programmed to make both, but i doubt it, i'm about as jewish as a Qdoba is Mexican.

so from one heeb to the other, i dedicate this babagalatke to tzippy who writes for the jewish vegan. i don't even know if she's on the new ppk boards. so many people have changed their names i can't keep up with them.

so tzippy, this one is for you--the latke is simply called "esquire."

happy eating!

day#25: grateful for choices

i know many people believe vegans have fewer choices when it comes to eating. i disagree. we have a bounty of choices from all kinds of beans, veggies, fruits, grains, nuts, etc. vegans just have to have forethought, a knack for reading labels, and a sense of adventure.

point in case: mo betta vegan's meat cake. in my opinion, it has been the holy grail of MOFO entries. she was inspired by vegansaurus who was inspired by someone else. why would a vegan call a meatless meal "meat cake?" well, meat isn't just flesh of animals, it is the protein of nuts, beans, and can be used to describe fruits and vegetables. examples: say, that's a meaty tomato you have there. boy that peach i ate yesterday was super juicy and fleshy. get it? mo's cake gave me the muse for our family thanksgiving dinner. here's what i did:
chickpea cutlet recipe from veganomicon x3. instead of using a third cup of chickpeas, i added some lentils. i oiled a bundt pan with olive oil and pressed the mixture in it, then filled the rest with stuffing. i don't have a recipe for the stuffing--i totally winged it and it was DIVINE. i baked it for about an hour at 300. it fell out of the pan perfectly and had a nice crunchy crust. above is the nekkid meat cake. NOTE: i skipped the sweet potatoes because i made a sweet potato pie using wolfie's pumpkin pie recipe from vegan a go-go, but subbed sweet potatoes for the pumpkin. score! i'll post that noshable tomorrow.
then i covered the outside with mashed potatoes, tree of life organic cranberry sauce, and miso happy gravy.
can you see that little chickpea peeking out in the cross section? it's saying, "Happy Thanksgiving!" this was a rave for my taste buds. paired with some more cranberry sauce and fresh green bean casserole the whole family was happily gobbling every bite. except for my son who only knows the following food groups: pb&j, dry cereal, milk, and bananas. my daughter on the other hand has been super receptive to everything i make--she even likes kale! yes, kale!
look at that little angel tearin' the meat cake to shreds! i wish i had taken a post meal photo because she had food everywhere.

so who's the post dedicated to? all of us. human or animal, vegan or not vegan, whoever you are, wherever you are, you are loved dearly by someone. even the biggest, stinkiest turd on the planet has someone who cares for them. i wish every day were like thanksgiving so we could all think about that.

day#24: it's getting later and later--what's a gal to do?

i'm getting to these posts just a little to late for my liking. what's a gal to do? snack. snacky-quacky-snackytown. love the snacks. i wanted s'mores. i don't have a fire place or the means to start a fire outside or in the house. mr. j would get mad if he saw that i had burned the couch down just to have toasted marshmallows, and i really need to be on his good side because channukah is right around the corner.

so i improvised. i grabbed some vegan grahams covered them with vanilla dandies-(omnis: these are vegan marshmallows) and some kroger valu-brand chocolate chips. NOTE: @$1.50 a bag, that's some cheap vegan chocolate!
put the sammie on some heavy duty foil and wrapped-(((insert record scratching noise here)))
set in a non stick skillet between level 3 and 4. watched carefully and turned a few times.
look! vegan marshmallowy goodness. wouldja look at that gooey chocolate!
hellooooo s'more. how are you? meet mah mouth.
nomnomnomnomnomnom
going, going, going....
last happy shot before i stuffed the whole thing in my face. i regret not taking a post eating photo. when i went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, it looked like i had eaten it without hands and was very funny.

this snacky doo is called "alien on toast" and dedicated to BAPS and her blogging talents via her spectacular blog also called alien on toast.

what's on the menu for thanksgiving? well, i have been way inspired by mo betta vegans meatcake. she will forever go down in MOFO blogging history for that epic noshable.

day#23: a different kind of stuffing

okay, i couldn't get enough of those stuffed pancakes. i wanted to make something gluten free, so i gave it a shot by applying GF ingredients to the brainless banana pancakes from how it all vegan. to sub for that recipe, i used bob's red mill GF AP flour. i doubled the batch and added 2 extra bananas, cut back the milk by 1/4 cup, and added some cinnamon to reduce the beany flavor of the flour. that's my main critique of Bob's--too damned beany.
anyway, i stuffed them with a kitchen sink compote--also gluten free. i'll call the mixture "oh the irony", and dedicate it to dr. apricot from the ppk. the irony? there aren't any apricots in the compote. i'm sure she'll find that funny.

"oh the irony" kitchen sink compote-(also makes a great pie/tart filling)

• 2 apples chopped
• 1 cup of black berries, frozen
• juice of 1 pomegranate
• 1/3 c vegan powdered sugar
• 1 chopped pear
• 2 T instant tapioca
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t cardamon
• 3/4 t ginger
• 1/3 cup apple juice
• 1 orange, peeled and torn apart
• 1 clementine, peeled and torn apart

oven: three fiddy. wash fruit, peel the apples/pear. add other fruits, juice, and mix in sugar/spices/tapioca. mix this well! cover with foil and let it do its thing for about 30 minutes. it'll get nice and bubbly. let it completely cool before sticking it in the fridge. makes really rad stuffing for pancakes. NOTE: you can really use any fruit blend, i think. i've never tried tropical fruits, just play around with it and see what happens. i'm lucky this combo worked. it's not my fault if some wacky combo doesn't work for you.

day#22: does your food have a face?

of course your food has a face! mine does, just look at that gnawdorable cutesy pie!
technically speaking this isn't a pie. it's an empenada. seems like every cuisine has its take on the hot pocket. the empenada is the spanish version of america's favorite on-the-go nasty goo stuffed in a pastry shell. unlike the hot pocket, this baby is filled with all sorts of good stuff: black beans, cumin, cinnamon, salt, carrots, onions, jalapeno, corn, and some red pepper. it was a party up in that bidnezz, and a fiesta en mi boca!
i borrowed bits and pieces from a recipe from vegan ronin's blog, and she got the recipe from vegetarian times. i added different kinds of flours and some corn meal for tooth for the dough. it rocked. look how that empenada is drooling!
i had lots of left over filling, so i mixed it with brown rice and topped it with salsa verde from los reyes. when you buy their salsa, they donate part of the funds for the CASA-(court appointed special advocate) program.

i'm dedicating this power lunch to ms. terry hope romero because she's a doll face. i'm so grateful for all of the amazing vegan chefs that make vegan eating one of the best things i've ever done for myself.

day#21: is butt kissing vegan?

that question has crossed my mind once or twice since i've started the mofo ppk cafe theme. technically, if the butt kissing were literal and it humiliated or brought suffering to an animal, then it wouldn't be vegan. the quest i've been on this month hasn't been an exercise in brown nosin'. i just really wanted to thank this awesome community for helping make veganism so fun, easy, and tasty. this is not the veganism i participated in a decade ago where i did it for all the wrong reasons, didn't know how to cook, and didn't really understand why i was making the choices i was making. i was doing it to be a follower.

my following days are over. i happily bang my own drum all day long.

there will probably be names that don't get mentioned this month and that's not intentional. there are too many people to mention that make every day life for me a blessing. i just lacked the time to come up with a dish for every single forum member.
this isn't a dish dedicated to anyone. this is someone's dish from their upcoming southern vegan cookbook. she was an active ppk member to my knowledge, but i don't think has come back since the remodeling. of course, i'm talking about miss thang--bianca from vegan crunk. featured above is her chickpea chipotle chili. it's as awesome as it sounds and looks. below is her jalapeno cornbread recipe that i cooked in my skull shaped muffin tins. i added black olives for the eyes and hot red pepper for the mouth prior to pouring the batter in the pans. they look like tasty zombies, don't they?
bianca's cookbook is supposed to come out in 2011, but i'm not sure of the date as of yet. i test for her when i have time and there hasn't been a recipe i haven't liked. thanks mizz crunky for showing me the ways of vegan southern eats, you are an adorable human being and always a source of laughter!

day#20: who doesn't like brinner?

weirdos, that's who. there's nothing like breakfast for dinner, and you cannot convince me otherwise. i'll also happily eat a burger for breakfast too.

i'm pretty picky about my tofu scrambles and only have really enjoyed one other recipe for it outside of my own. i used to attend michigan womyn's music festival and the scramble they made there was amazing. i quit going for reasons of activism, they have a policy that only "womyn born womyn" may attend which is wrong in my book. but this ain't no activism blog-( tenting fingers--or is it?) this is a food blog. i'll happily discuss gender politics with y'all in another forum, if you'd like.

this variation of my scramble is dedicated to tofulish. i really, really, really like her. she's the kind of person that makes you think about things outside of the box in a way that isn't argumentative which is a fine art to practice. i paired the scramble with a blend of roasted potatoes and a whole wheat bagel. i shall call this the legal eagle brinner.

to make the scramble:

• 1 pkg super firm tofu, drained
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 small onion diced
• 5-6 cloves of roasted garlic, smooshed
• 1/4 c. mustard
• 1T miso
• pinch of pepper
• 1 t braggs
• 6-8 sun dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips with kitchen shears

with a T of olive oil, saute onions. in a mixing bowl, mash the other ingredients together with gloved or clean bare hands into a smooshy ricotta cheese like texture. make sure this is mixed well. put mixture into skilled with sauteed onions and cook until warm and browned. serve with your favorite carby sides and enjoy.

day#19: it's so cheasy to fall in love...

truth be told, i'm kinda jaded by vegan cheese. really-- life is okay without it. i was something of a dairy hound as a vegetarian and an omnivore. don't get me wrong, teese and daiya are cool. they're also expensive, so i don't buy them as often and a little goes a long way. i have come to like my pizza with sauce and veggies, sammies are cool too, and there are all sorts of fun sauces that really make pasta and potatoes sing.
there is one thing i insist on covering in cheezy goodness: broccoli! i will eat it plain, but i'll bitch about it. sue me. i wanted to make a cheese sauce on my own without any assistance from a vegan cookbook. so i took what i knew from the color wheel. for those of you with no artistic ability, you want to mix ingredients of varying colors to get a particular color. this was truly an experiment. a magnificently tasty experiment.

readers, i give you fo' sheezy my cheezy sauce dedicated to mollyjade at the ppk. she requested a kugel, but i ran out of time. i know she likes broccoli and i hope she likes fake cheese. scratch n' sniff baby, scratch n' sniff....

you'll need

• 3/4 c roasted butternut squash-bright orange
  
• 2T veganaise-white
• 1/3 c. nutritional yeast-yellow
• 1 t samba oelek-deep red
  
• 1/2 avocado-bright green
  
• 1/4 t mustard-deep yellow
  
• splash of lemon juice
• 1T miso-golden color
  
• 1/4 salt
• 1/8 plain non dairy vegan creamer-white

i blended everything together and heated it on low heat. i spooned it over steamed broccoli and it was divine. this makes a very thick cheez sauce, so you may want to add more liquid ingredients to thin things out if you feel so inclined.

thanks for reading and happy eating!

day#18: woah, i almost didn't make it!

today was one of those never ending days at the office. i'd hang up the phone and it would just ring again. normally, i blog in the morning before work or after i get home. after work, it was a never ending game of waitress for the kids and i almost didn't get my blog entry in today! the following sammich is the perfect thing to have for lunch-(or dinner) on one of those hectic gogogogogogogogogogo days where your life might need a couple paper clips, straw, and string to create some sort of invention to get you out of a crazy jam.
this is not to be confused with the adamcrisis fridgey feng shui, because it didn't require me to clean out my fridge or rock out to punk. nope--this is a careful selection of some of my favorite sandwich ingredients that i could still manage to broil, assemble, and gobble within 15 minutes.
i call this masterpiece the shitty macgyver, after mumbles the thrax. i believe ol' mumbles is just known as just mumbles on the new ppk board. it is made with an organic cibatta roll made by tree of life foods, slathered with veganaise, roasted red pepper, banana peppers, cheddar daiya, bacon bitz, pickles, and gold medal tomato slices. i almost burned the house down broiling it, so the bacon bitz were a little burned.

i don't think richard dean anderson or just mumbles would really mind.

day#17: it's what's on the inside that counts

i typed the title of that entry at least five times before assuring myself that was grammatically correct. i still don't think it is. it just sounds funny, y'know? it's what's? i was never an english major, and do not profess to be the grammar police. i just don't like sounding like an idiot.
well, let's set that shit aside and talk about this pancake. this ain't no tiny hotcake--this is as thick as it looks. about 2.12 inches to be precise. see that crack on the outside? it's the gateway to heaven: filled with a glorious strudel filling that will have you doing flips, cartwheels, n' shit you never thought your body could do. in fact, you might say you died inside and was born again a better human being. if you're smart you'll see the segue to the dedication. these amazing stuffed pancakes are dedicated to the aspiring nutritionista ijustdiedinside from the ppk.
i'll have to post a video on how to make these "nailed to the v" stuffed pancakes. i can't list the recipe right now because i've run out of time. i'll film something this weekend so you can see your author in action. there's definitely a learning curve, but the payoff is awesome.

day#16: twofer tuesday for the gluten free peeps

this first dish was a dish that could have been a disaster, but i didn't give up hope. i hate wasting food. i wanted to make a gluten free dessert without chocolate-(a super challenge for me) and thought, hmmm--it's been a while since i've had rice pudding. i think i'll make some. i looked over tons of vegan rice pudding recipes on the web. i moaned: i did NOT want to wait 4+hours to make it. i had an idea. what about putting the rice+milk in the rice cooker? it should work, right? it made the whole house smell like christmas, but the rice didn't cook. fail.

instead of tossing it all in the compost pile, i put the dish in a tupperware container and added more milk, and i let that soak overnight. the next day i reheated it in a pan with some smashed bananas, topped with some homemade raisins-(made by my own rabbi) pecans, a dot of EB, and just a touch of agave nectar. this turned out to be a better than average save! i brought some to work and had my omni and vegetarian employees try it. they both liked it quite a bit.

i'll call that little treat a cup of hope rice puddin' for mittenmachen, one of the ppk gluten free girls. her blog is really cute, and her food photography is wonderful!

here's how i made the pudding--feel free to make the rice first so you can avoid the failure.

in the rice cooker:
1 c sushi rice +2 c water. set your cooker to "cook" and walk away

• 2 c non dairy milk
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t cardamon
• 1/2 t ginger
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 overripe bananas

mix cooked rice with other ingredients under low/med heat until nice, thick, and sticky. garnish with raisins, pecans, dot with EB-(or not), and a touch of agave nectar. this makes a great breakfast.

i have a limited range when it comes to seafood. i never had much exposure to it growing up so i can't tell you what crab really tastes like. fishy? i guess so. i wanted to make a stuffed mushroom with mock crab sort of thingy, and this is what i came up with. i tried these out on some omni friends that thought they were really good. i don't think these tasted crab like at all, just like spicy-quinoa-cheezy goodness!
these are called titty babies, for the great and illustrious kittee. she's the kind of person that oozes so much cool, all you can really do is stutter around her. i wish i were independently wealthy so i could hire her to be my personal creative assistant, because she's such a smart gluten free cookie.
here's the recipe. i love you, kittee!

titty baby mushroom whores d'vores:
you'll need:

• a bunch of button mushrooms, medium to large in size. wash 'em and scoop out the caps n' junk.
• 1 1/4 c. cooked quinoa
• 1 t powdered seaweed
• 2 big T veganaise
• 1.5 t red pepper flakes
• juice of a lemon
• pinch black pepper
• 1 t bragg's
• 1/2 c. daiya cheddar cheese-set aside

preheat the oven to 350. got yer mushrooms ready? grease a cookie sheet or rub some olive oil on a glass baking dish. mix the cooked quinoa and everything else-(except that cheese) and stuff that mixture lovingly into the caps. be gentle so you don't break the mushrooms. now, set these tittie babies in the baking dish/on cookie sheet take little bits o' the cheez and top them all. if you want to really go big, top 'em with fakin' bacon, but most bacon bits have wheat in them, and that would negate the whole GF thang.

cook uncovered for about 15-20 minutes. if you like a soggy mushroom cover with foil. enjoy!

day#15: the brazilian blowout

today's title sounds like a beauty shop procedure gone bad, right? can you imagine someone calling into work and saying, "sorry can't come in today, i got a case of the brazilian blowout". sorry, i have a 14 year old boy that lives in my head that thinks everything is a dirty joke. ahhh, good times! it's really a hair straightening product, that i'm sure has enough chemicals to kill a small village. i don't think i'm going out on a limb by saying that it probably has been tested on numerous warrens of wabbits too. in addition to being sad, that always strikes me as odd--how is bunny hair anywhere similar to human hair? sheesh.
well this brazilian blowout is dedicated to a firecracker known as torque on the ppk. she expressed wanting a spicy noodle dish served preferably on fire. sorry babe, i'm lacking in the pyrotechnics department. i made something else that's pretty dang spicy just for you! it'll make you feel like your taste buds are on fire!
tell me, is there anything more adorable than a chickpea? sure there is, but for my sake pretend that you agree.

i call this chile de fogo-(fogo is fire in portugese). this is a cinch to put together-- think your traditional white bean chili with a little kick. i thought this was adequately spicy, but mr. j told me it was too much. what a wuss. this recipe could use some testing, so please try it and gimme some feedback if you still have a tongue.

chile de fogo-GLUTEN FREE!

1 can garbanzos-(drained and rinsed! don't make me preach the gospel of that nasty bean juice) i personally make a large crock pot of 'em, portion them in 2 c servings, and store 'em in the freezer.

• 1 c. pureed yellow tomatoes- i used gold medal from my garden.
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 t salt
• 1 t cumin
• 1/4 t chili powder
• 3/4 c roasted butternut squash (roasted in cubes). tip: roast this the night before. you could also use cooked carrots or any yellow vegetable instead.
• 3/4 t cayenne pepper-( i think i added more than this. use less if you don't like spice)
• 2 finely chopped jalapenos
• 1 small chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1T EB
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1/2 can coconut milk

saute onion, jalapeno, and garlic in the EB-you can use olive oil if you want. add coconut milk, pureed tomatoes, water, spices, and beans and simmer on med heat for about 15 minutes. i dressed mine up with soy sour cream and some frank's red hot. if i had this to do all over again, i would have thrown some chopped fresh cilantro in the chili. a sliced lime would be nice on the side too, i suppose. seitan would be good in this, but that would no longer make the recipe GF.