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.