Oh, duck feathers.

Wowza, look at that haul! What could I possibly do with a boat load of poblanos, black krim tomatoes, and limes?Never mind the basil. That herb clearly was pulling a photobomb. Recently harvested Yukon Gold potatoes was late for the photo shoot. I would love to say that this group was from my garden, but it was from the food bank. My tomatoes were not ripe at the time. The potatoes were all mine though.
This is what you can do with it: spicy poblano potato casserole from Viva Vegan! This is the second time I've made it. This time I passed on the pine nut crema and went with some soy yogurt, cilantro, and a lime wedge. Totally gnawsome. Excellent use of stale tortillas and a fantastic reprieve from the scorching balls weather.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. It is important to have those kinds of conversations because I believe it helps people with preconceived notions about veganism-- that people stand at various places on the line and that we're not a bunch of militant killjoys. We have fun, we love food, yay-yay-yay! We don't sit in a corner listening to Morrissey eating plain blocks of tofu. The company rep sent me an e-mail later that night confirming that the l-cysteine used as a preservative was derived from duck feathers. WTF? I'm imagining chefs with mustaches like Salvador Dali, sitting around sampling flat bread exclaiming in exaggerated French accents, "You know what zees could use? Hmmmm, duck fehzairs." Really? The entire incident has inspired me to make my own bread consisting of ingredients I can pronounce.

Vida Vegan Con is right around the corner--ack! My chest is heaving with all kinds of energy and my taste buds are getting restless. They want fried pie. They beg for a voodoo doughnut. They want to shake hands with Bryanna Clark Grogan and admire Isa Chandra's tattoos. They want to gossip on the Cosmopolitan Hour and find out how to turn PITA Vegan into an occasional podcast. I'm having a bake easy this weekend with hopes to raise a little extra money to help with PDX expenses. If you're interested in donating a buck or two, that would be awesome! Just drop me a message.

Don't forget about my granola giveaway! You have until midnight on 8/19 EST. All you have to do is mention it on a social networking site and let me know what your favorite granola combination is. That's it! What do you have to lose? I'll pick the winner based on the most intriguing combination, make a batch in that person's name, and send it to them!