While at the Cottage

 This was my daily view from the lake house where I spent my 40th birthday vacation! You can't see it, but there's a hot tub out on the deck. I spent a lot of time there when I wasn't in the kitchen.

 I made my infamous seitanic wingz. All you do is grab some seitan, lightly flour it, bake it up for a bit. I did 350 for ten minutes on each side. Once out of the oven, coat it with some wing sauce. It's not that hard and you have the fabulous flavor without any of the poultry or icky bones.

 I served it along with some fresh veggies and ranch style dip. I use beans as the base of the dip, and flavor it with ranch style seasonings. Think of it as ranchy, hummusy goodness.

For one night, we got rid of the kids and had some adult time together. I made this for dinner: The Jimwich from Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! by Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes. It's pan seared seitan served with bbq sauteed onions and FRIED PICKLES. It was SO GOOD.

More Praises for "Hearty Vegan"

 I decided to dust off my growing cookbook collection and get to gettin' with the cookin' if you know what I mean. I opened up Hearty Vegan: Meals for Monster Appetites by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman. The pictures had me drooling. Yowza! I picked a few dishes based on ingredients I had at home, made a shopping list for what I didn't have, and was off to work.

The first picture is of the Cheesy Chili Bake. I had a few cups of chili that was looking lonely and wanted to do something creative. This was a great move on my part. This ain't your momma's chili mac-- the shit was fabulous, the stuff of ultimate comfort food. Then again, that's Hearty Vegan in a nutshell for you-- ALL the recipes are for mouthwatering, homestyle, and rib sticking delights. The chili bake has a cheesy sauce inside the bake and another one on top for twice the cheese goodness. This is a must make for anyone craving cheese. I topped the casserole with some french fried onions for flair.

Breakfast, anyone?

These are the Chocolate Pecan muffins from the breakfast section of the book. Don't be fooled by the chocolate top. The muffins contain three types of grains to keep you filled and energized to tackle what the work week may bring you. 

Brrrr, it's cold outside! How about a Pot O' Lentil Stew?

This was a delightful way to end my Sunday: a nice lentil stew served with some Smoky Pub Cheez. Who knew you could recreate the bar cheese sensation with oatmeal? I know I've hit your curious nerve. Now go make it? The spread has a nice mellow bite and is perfectly smoky, a must bring to a party. The lentil stew warms you up from the inside out and is full of lentily-vegetabley goodness. 

I made all of this and that's just the tip of the iceberg for this cookbook! The instructions are easy to follow, the pictures are drop dead gorgeous, and the recipes are inspiring. I mean, don't you want to make your own vegan peanut butter cups? How's about waldorf salad wraps? And what in the hell are Irish nachos? You'll have to buy the book to find out. 

I'll be covering more vegan cookbooks in future entries to ignite the spark within you all.

Post X-Mas Buzz

 Hope everyone had a great Tuesday. Nothing like an ol' Tuesday for opening gifts and hoggin' out on comfort food. Happens all the time.

I wish I could tell you I spent all my Christmases eating Chinese food and going to movies, but I didn't. I'm from an assimilated family and was raised with the holly jolly dysfunction of commercialism tied in with a splash of the baby Jeebus. So at our house, we celebrate both. To me, it's really all about the food!
I gotta talk about the chance I had to have some "me" time--went out for Indian food and tried Bhindi Masala for the first time. Woah, I never thought I could like curried okra, but I do!  My only regret is diving in before taking a picture of the uneaten meal. The local eatery Taste of India has plenty to eat if you're vegan. They label anything on their menu that's vegan with a big, fat "V" for vegan friendly. How cool is that?

And the holidays wouldn't be the holidays without something pumpkiny. I am a fan of these pumpkin cheesecake squares from Kittee's bake 'zine Papa Tofu-(I think it is out of print!)

Selfish plug: I removed captcha from my blog to encourage others to comment. I'm kinda sad that the only comments these days come from spammers. Ugh. So please, if you are a real person, leave me a real comment on any of my entries to cheer me up a little. 

Vegan MOFO Day #31: The Grand Finale

 Whatever happened to Herschel's leg? I think it's still on the prison floor. At the end of MOFO, I'm always stumped for ideas, and a reader suggested making a leg of Herschel sandwich. I didn't have the time to put a lot of love into that idea, but I did buy some pizza dough from my local eatery and made a pizza instead.

 I give you the Herschel. It's a pizza with my pesto sauce and sun dried tomatoes. You can rip the toes off and dip them in your favorite sauce if you so desire.

This has been a great MOFO and I appreciate everyone hanging in there with me. I certainly hope you've enjoyed yourself. I feel my theme wasn't as strong as last years, but I stuck with it and that's all that really matters. I already have an idea for next year's mofo, so I'm going to start taking pictures and working on recipes so I can have my ducks in a row come next October. Happy Halloween!

Vegan MOFO Day #30: Woodbury Special

 In Woodbury, folks like to keep life simple: no Starbucks, no cell phones, no adult movie theaters, early curfew, and no zombies. Hell, I'd move there--even if the Governor is a mega crazy ultranationalist who keeps a collection of walker heads in aquariums. Everyone has their vice.

 The town special isn't special at all. It's just some potatoes, onions, green peppers, and Yves Italian Sausage slices all fried in a skillet. Serve it up with some strong coffee-(sorry, no fancy foo-foo drinks in this town) and you've got a breakfast that will keep you focused on protecting the borders of your little slice of heaven. Let's face it, no one wants a town crawling with the undead ruining your Tea Party.

 If you like the Walking Dead, you should tune in to Bankrupt Vegan's geek blog, titled Jen The Geek . She likes to dish out her views and news about all things from the nerdly kingdom.

Vegan MOFO Day #29: Using What You Have

 So what are they gonna do with all that canned and prepackaged food in prison? Make some seitan n' dumplings. It's super easy. You don't even need a recipe, right? Just make yourself some seitan stew using broth, veggies, and seitan. I like to thicken the mix with a little cornstarch so I have a nice thick stew. I used about 3T total for a 32 oz container of no-chicken broth. While the concoction is all nice and bubbly, plop your dumpling batter in the mix. Cook for 10 minutes covered, then another 10 minutes and you have a filling dinner.

Since I'm no recipe master, I used Bisquick-(accidentally vegan!) to make the dumplings.

Vegan MOFO Day #25: The Governor's Stir Fry

 The Governor wants everyone to eat more vegetables. He'll make it law. Someone should probably tell him he's not really the governor anymore now that the 'pocalypse is hizzere. This all reminds me I have to vote pretty soon, but I digress.

 The people agree that veggies are important, and vital in making one healthy enough to dodge a walker. He told everyone he marinated some tofu in teryaki sauce/sesame oil and broiled the crap out of it. SIDE NOTE: spell check just suggested "Trekkie" for teryaki. Guffaw. Then he served those nomable planks of soy over some cooked rice mixed with steamed veggies. "If you mix the veggies with the rice, you won't eat too many carbs." Says Mr. G. Doesn't he know carbs are good in zombieland? Fad diets are all out the window. The motto these days is eat or be eaten.

Vegan MOFO Day #24: The Nom-Nom-Nom Salad

 Hey Kids, I'm not feeling so hot so today's entry will be short and sweet. Cold and flu season is here-- I hope I'm not turning into a zombie.

 Everyone else on the show has had a dish, but I haven't told you what I've been eating. I give to you the nom-nom-nom salad. It's a mixture of chard, arugula, and kale topped with roasted eggplant, roasted yellow peppers, and olives. Perfect fuel for those days when you're on the go running from walkers until the sun sets.

Vegan MOFO Day #10: Maggie's Fried Green Tomatoes

I couldn't write about Maggie without having her cook something green. Get it, Maggie Greene? Groan. I kill me. So you want to know the secret to Maggie's badassery? It's not the chutzpah gene from her daddy, it's fried food. Yes, fried food.

Just look at those babies frying in oil. Everything is better when fried.

No recipe needed. These are just green tomatoes fried in some cheap batter mix. Which kind, you might ask? You won't believe me if I told you. After Maggie and Glenn did some of their lovin' at the pharmacy, they found a discount bin chock full of Larry The Cable Guy's spicy batter mix.  No joke. Who knew that a piece of that d-bag would survive the zombie apocalypse. That's a way to Git-R-Done. These turned out to be more chewy than crispy, but that's okay.

Vegan MOFO Day #8: Andrea's Zombie Fingers

Andrea might not always know how to act or shoot a gun, but she can sure make a mean spring roll.

"They're called zombie fingers." She says.

Spring rolls filled with a mixture of fakin' bacon bitz, avocado, veganaise, yellow pepper, lettuce, and tomato. Perfect for those days when it is just too hot to cook. These make great appetizers for those pre-shooting practices. You want to be in tip top shape to take a walker down, and these will get you there.

Andrea's Zombie Fingers
You'll need:
Spring roll wrappers

• 1 avocado
• 2T bacos or other favorite brand of fake bacon bitz
• 1/4 c. chopped tomato
• 1/2 c. chopped favorite green or lettuce
• 2 T veganaise
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped

Smash avocado and add chopped veggies, bacon bitz, and veganaise. The mixture will look kind of gross, but I assure you it is delicious. Get your spring rolls wrappers ready per package instructions, and spoon two small spoon fulls of the mixture in the middle of every wrapper and roll into tight -(you can see my wrapping abilities are shitty) fingers. For presentation, arrange on a plate or platter in the shape of a hand. Have a nosh and reload.

Vegan MOFO Day #3: Dale's Sensible Hash

 I'm really mad that no one thought of looking for walkers in Dale's nostrils. They're huge. Just loot at 'em.

 I tried to bring it up at one of our camp meetings, but no everyone was distracted by the Rick/Shane/Lori love triangle, and the whole idea ended up hurting Dale's feelings. When I apologized for my rhino insensitivity, Dale just hugged me and said it was okay. What a guy. We bonded around the campfire and he showed me how to make one of his favorite breakfast dishes.

Dale's Sensible Hash

You'll need:

• 1 bag Simply Potatoes, sliced variety* (WARNING: linking to their page will show non-vegan food) the link was only put as a reference, I receive no compensation whatsoever from the company.)
• 1 can of blackeye peas
• 1 c. chopped bell pepper-(i used a combo of green and yellow)
• 1.5 c. chopped kale
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 1/2 c. your favorite hot sauce
• 1 T olive oil

 Saute your onion and peppers in the oil. Add potatoes. Drain and rinse your peas, then add the peas, kale, and hot sauce to the skillet after the potatoes have fully cooked. Serve with your favorite bread or bagel. This tasty plate of goodness will fuel you with plenty of energy to lecture people while standing on top of a Winnebago.

PLEASE HELP ME GO TO VIDA VEGAN CON. I pledge to donate 10% of all monies to my local food bank. If I don't make enough to go, I'll donate it all to MHC. You can send that money to jennifermolica@gmail.com at PayPal. ANY AMOUNT WILL HELP. Thanks!

Test Kitchen: Fried Green Tomatoes

I'm still working this recipe for fried green tomatoes. A couple weeks ago, I had a ton of them, and they're still coming in by the bag full! They weren't bad, but they weren't what I imagined them to be. Most of the time, one can fry just about anything and it turns out awesome, but not so with these. I used flax seed as the egg to dredge the slices in and the sticking power lacked. So back to the drawing board. Once I have them just the way I want them, I'll add them to my 2012 MOFO theme. So there, readers--there's a hint for you. Fried green tomatoes, and no I'm not doing a theme on Fannie Flagg.

I'm also messing around with a recipe for a dipping sauce for the tomatoes. It's a base of veganaise, tofutti sour supreme, basil, sun-dried tomato, and regular tomato. I did not photograph it because it looked kind of gross, but it was tasty. It just didn't have the punch I was looking for, so I will also be dinking around with that as well. What sounds better to you, a basil based dipping sauce, or a garlic dill sauce?

Secret to a Perfect Smoothie

During my lack of appetite, I followed the smoothie suggestion by a number of readers. I made a batch last night for dinner and forgot how much I like to make and eat them. I've been told that I need to open my own smoothie cart on the B-line trail, because they're so good. Sheesh.
About smoothie science, they're such no-brainers, right? Wrong. If you don't know your stuff, you can end up with a cup of barf. And I'm not into drinking that stuff. I took these photos as I finished my magical concoction and could kick myself for not thinking of taking one earlier when it was thicker and prettier. Oh well. look at the pictures from an art perspective I guess. Look at the shapes, shades, colors, negative, and positive space. Boo-yah.

I don't measure, I eyeball, and that is my success story for a perfect smoothie. Here's what I threw in the blender. I had enough for 2.5 servings.

• 1/2 c. Biotta beet juice
• 1 c. apple juice
• 1 c. so delicious cultured coconut milk, vanilla flavor
• about 5-6 c. frozen fruit: kiwis, bananas, mangoes
• 1/2 c. blueberries

I blended it and it was the most amazing color ever. I so love that Biotta juice. Perfect berry punch. Here are some things that will make a smoothie fail, so take heed:

Don't use-

• Water- duh. Well, DUH.
• Ice-EVER. I don't trust people who ice their smoothies. They taste like shit. Freeze your fruit or yogurt in an ice cube tray instead. Ice is the killer of good smoothies. Just don't fucking do it.
• Disproportionate amounts of veggies to fruits, it's a careful balance. Example, I would never use more than a cup of spinach or kale in a smoothie if I did that sort of thing.
• Too much soy milk, you'll kill the fruit flavor.
• Too much melon. again, use a 1/3+1/3+1/3 part. Example 2c. kiwi, 2c banana, 2c mango.

Do use-

• juice-apple works best
• veggie juice in small amounts: 1/2 c. beet or carrot juice is nice and packs a vitamin punch. I wouldn't use V-8 unless I were doing a savory smoothie.
• non dairy milk, about twice the amount of your veggie juice blend
• companion fruits: berry/melon, peach/banana, stone fruit only, berry only, 
• peanut butter with a berry blend=liquid pb&j...oh so good!

Tell me about your favorite smoothie blend!

Lettuce Be Stuffed, and What is a Texas Tank, Anyway?

 It's getting hotter n' balls outside again. And I don't want to cook. This dish ain't the prize at the picnic, but lemme tell you it's easy to put together. Just take your favorite pesto recipe, bathe some of your favorite seitan in it, and stuff large lettuce leaves with the mixture and throw some sun dried tomatoes in there for good measure. I had none on hand so I used Ms. Dash, garlic, basil, and sun dried tomato blend.

 Yum!

I went to MI last week for not one, but two job interviews and had to stop by my new fave place with vegan options, Studio Grill. I had me the Vegan Texas Tank burger. What's that? It's something that requires at least 4 napkins and will make you a little musical if you know what I mean. It's a black bean burger topped with vegan chili and hummus on a grilled bun. Serve that with sweet potato fries and you are good to go. Seriously, the taste was awesome, but I propelled myself throughout the day with the gas. Don't forget the root beer!

BTW, I did end up getting a job back in MI. So over the next week, my posts will be a little more sporadic due to getting ready for a big move back to my homeland of Kalamazoo*.

*-yes, that town exists and it is also on its way to vegan awesomeness.

Tell 'Em What You Want, What You Really Really Want

One of my favorite local eateries is not a veggie/vegan spot at all. It's a diner called The Cozy Table, right off the highway at the 3rd St. exit. They serve comfort grub, with lots of meat, but that doesn't bother me no how.

I just order the veggie skillet without eggs or cheese and ask for a side of salsa. And I always ask to be put in Paula's section, because she is a waitress dynamo. Look at that gorgeous pile of taters. Filling and satisfying. In fact, most family restaurants carry the same menu, so don't be afraid to custom order some of these for yourself. If the place doesn't carry the skillet, then just ask for a double order of hash browns or home fries and add every vegetable they have available in the kitchen. One time I went to Ft. Wayne to Sara's Family Restaurant and they even put squash in there--wOOt!

So there--being vegan while traveling is really no big deal. With everyone having food allergies and sensitivities these days, you might even be able to convince your favorite joint into carrying soy milk just for you. Places want new and returning customers, so tell 'em what you want!

Summertime Can't be Beet

 Hey readers! I've been so busy diggin' it up in the garden, cookin' in the kitchen, and just loving this weather. It's official, I'm a convert to beets. Never thought I'd like them. Always loved the colors, but would scrunch up my nose at borscht. Then I had Biotta brand beet juice last year and felt differently. This year I wanted to grow some in my garden and this is the first harvest of candy striped beets. Aren't they just bee-you-tiful? I can't bring myself to cook them, so I'll eat them raw. Good thing, they taste like sugar. Seriously. Toss that in some vinegar, oil, with a little dill and salt, --BOOM! Salad time. Or you could do the whole sweet n' salty thing by making a nice vegan feta like spread and dip the beets in them.  I played scientist with some of the slices and am letting them soak in the leftover brine from a jar of banana peppers. What color will they turn? Tune in and see.

Did you know Stauffer's chocolate animal crackers are accidentally vegan? Yep. I like to melt chocolate and dip them in it. Then I stick 'em in the fridge and I have a portion controlled sweet treat to eat when it is hotter n' balls outside. I made this batch with a nice chili chocolate, which is a pleasant surprise after sticking a frozen piece of chocolate cookie in your mouth--wait for it, wait for it! Feel the burn. I love to torture myself.

Got it bad, so baaad, I'm hot for HuHot

This is actually a picture from my buddy Dan's yearly Mongolian BBQ party two years ago. I just wanted to make a plug for HuHot for all of you lazy vegans who don't like to cook and are scoping out new digs to dine.

So, I balked at this adventure for many reasons. There's the whole dress like Genghis thingy that I'm not so fond of, and there's plenty of animal meat. I'm not one of those vegans who is opposed to dining in an omnivorous establishment, I just doubted I'd find anything substantial. I was pretty hungry and it was Mr. J's birthday.

So I consulted the IU Veg web page and put my vegan superpowers to use. I told our server I was vegan and she promptly gave me a food allergy list so I knew what sauces I could use. Then she told me the grill guys would thoroughly clean off a spot on the grill, section it off from all the meat, fish, and cook my own individual stir fry. Pretty cool, huh?

First time up I had tofu, pineapple, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, and wheat noodles. I chose ginger juice, garlic oil, and Kung Pao, Yow! sauce. So you don't have to go through a bunch of research, here are the vegan sauce options:

• Samurai Teriyaki
• Kung Pao, Yow!
• Not So Sweet n' Sour
• Feed The Hordes Hoisin

All sauces have allergen information on their respective placards on the bar, if you forget. I was really bummed that many of the sauces contain fish or mollusk stock--so even you vegetarians beware! That stir fry might not even be vegetarian! C'mon, Hu-Hot: how hard is it to make a VEGAN PEANUT sauce?

All in all, I would go again.