Music and Veganism

Blame the batteries.  They die and then never, ever recharge.  Everytime I make some interesting food and grab the camera, it won’t turn on!  But there were some freshly charged batteries today, at last, so I was able to get a picture of these delicious, fattening and very interesting cookies.

I’ve been reading Celine Steen’s blog, Have Cake, Will Travel, for many months now, and though I am always impressed by her recipes, I had yet to make one.  One thing that stood out in particular was that every cookie she ever made looked like they were exactly like what I wanted my cookies to be like.  I kept trying to search her blog for a cookie recipe to make, but was having trouble because she has it set up so only one posting is visible per page.  Finally I realized she has a separate page listing recipes, which makes things a lot easier.   And damn, those recipes look good (notably the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which is exactly how I dream them being: crispy and chewy, not soft and fluffy)!  I am totally buying her cookbook.

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to make some cookies using fresh cranberries for a while, so I searched through her cookie recipes until I found one I thought I could adapt well.  Finally I found the Tahini Orange Cookies, and, having tahini in my fridge, I settled on those.

I made these exactly except that I did not use maple syrup (or agave nectar) or zest.  Instead, in a small saucepan, I combined 1/2 c. raw sugar with about 1/2 c. fresh cranberries and less than 1/4 c. water.  I covered, simmered, then smashed it up well.  This was what I used in lieu of the syrup.  I also used whole wheat pastry flour instead of rice flour.

After flattening the first round, I made the second round simple drop cookies.  Phil and I agreed that we liked the texture of these better– they’re almost like macaroons – but the bitterness of the tahini didn’t bake out quite as well.  this could be remedied with a few more minutes baking time.  Both batches were baked for 12-14 minutes instead of the 10 in the recipe.

It goes without saying that pretty much any fruit could be used instead of cranberries.  They would also be great with nuts, or even without the chocolate chips.  Just don’t forget they are full of fat!

Jeez– I have been terrible at writing entries on here.  I’ve also been terrible at taking pictures of recent food concoctions.  And I’ve never been good at taking pictures of food in restaurants– I’m much too self-conscious– but this week I got to go to my favorite vegetarian (and mostly vegan) Chinese food restaurant in Philadelphia: the Su Xing House.  Not only do they have amazing egg-free hot and sour soup, they also have hardly any dishes based on faux meat.  Everything is tofu and vegetable based.  Oh, I love you, Su Xing.  Later tha very same day (yes, it was not the healthiest of days) Phil and I ate dinner at the Local 44 before seeing Where the Wild Things Are.  They have a few veg’n options, and I tried the Oyster (Mushroom) Po’ Boy Sandwich, which was weird, but overall good.

Really, this entry is about the calzones I made the other day.

See, a couple of months ago I bought some of the dough we make our tomato pies with from work, and I ended up freezing most of it.  Fast forward to now: we don’t even use it at work anymore, so I actually had it in my freezer longer than Whole Foods had it in theirs.  I took it out, thawed it with some help from the microwave, and let it proof while I chopped up veggies.  These included red bell peppers, onions, and kale or something.  I also made this really weird cashew cheese, which was okay in the recipe but I won’t be making again.  Once the dough was ready and floured it, rolled it out, filled it with leftover homemade marinara sauce, veggies and cashew cheese, folded it over, olive-oiled it, sprinkled it with rosemary and baked until golden.

Basically, the moral of the story is that calzones are just as easy to make as pizza (actually easier, because you don’t have to worry about the shape), and they use less dough.

I did something great!

I made this pumpkin loaf, and it was so good.  I usually substitute apple sauce for oil, but this time I just said screw it, and I used oil.  Who cares– for this one time?  It was delicious.

The original recipe was not vegan, and I changed enough about it so that I think I can call this “my pumpkin loaf recipe”.  If you decide to make this, by all emans use 100% whole wheat pastry flour– I just didn’t have enough so I kept some all-purpose in there.  I don’t see why all ww wouldn’t work.

Pumpkin Loaf

• 15 oz. can pumpkin
• 4 Tbs. ground flaxseeds, plus 3/4 c. water (or your preferred egg replacer equal to 4 eggs)
• 2/3 c. vegetable oil
• 2/3 c. water
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 3 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ground dried ginger
• 1 c. walnut, plus some for garnish (optional)
• crumb/ steusel topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degree F, and grease and flour your pans.  I made twelve small muffins and a large loaf with this recipe.  Depending on the size of your loaf pans, you will be able to make 2-3 loaves.  But the muffins are fun!

Combine the 3/4 c. water with the 4 Tbsp. ground flax, stir very well, and let sit.

In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.  Mix well.

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, oil, water, sugar and flax mixture (or whatever egg recplacer you are using).  Mix until evenly combined.

Add the dry to the wet, and once again stir until combined, but only just.  Do not overmix!  We want this to stay fluffy.

Finally, fold in the walnuts.

Fill your loaf pan about half way.  You may need to thin out the batter with a splash of water.  If making muffins, fill the muffin cup 3/4 full.  Bake the muffins for 25-35 minutes (until a knife comes out clean) and the loafs for 50-60 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy!

I think this recipe would also be great sans walnuts and with fresh cranberries or perhaps raisins instead.  I may try a cranberry version soon–!

I haven’t been in much of a blogging mood lately, although I have been reading lots of blogs!  Vegan MOFO is lots of fun.  I’ve got plenty of reading entertainment while I scarf down my breakfast.  But I knew that I couldn’t commit to writing more often this month, and besides, no one really reads this, so why bother?

Anyway, last weekend Phil and I went with two of our friends up to Middletown, CT for a couple of days.  One o our very good friends grew up there, so we stayed at his parents house and he showed us around.  It made for a pretty relaxed weekend, although we did get a good hike in on Sunday.  But what I want to write about was the food.

Saturday night, my first night there, we made food and grilled, so that was good.  We ate leftovers for lunch the next day, and Jay’s mom made us rice soup for breakfast.  This is just leftover rice simmered in water, then seasoned with soy sauce.  Simple but tasty.  Jay grew up eating this and his mom said he always hated it. but I thought it was pretty good.  For dinner that night, Jay’s mother made the boys a tradional Chinese hot pot with seafood and chicken, and she made me a special vegetarian stirfry with brocollini, tofu and some wheat gluten.  She’s so sweet!  It was really tasty!

On Monday, our last day, we drove down to New Haven.  I was able to convince everyone (all omnivores) to go to this vegetarian restaurant called Claire’s Corner Copia for breakfast, with the agreement that we would get pizza from a “famous” New Haven pizzaria for lunch before hitting the road.  So we enter the restaurant; it’s not crowded at all but becomes apparent pretty quickly that you have to order at a counter and then find a table to eat at.  Not a big deal.  As we stood in line, however, a line began to build behind us.  By the time we had ordered and found seats, the line was to the door and stayed that way for the rest of our time there.  I ordered the “Migas” vegan-style, which was tofu sauteed in salsa, with black beans and guac, served over corn chips.  I actually really liked it.  Too bad it took forty minutes to arrive at my table.

Jay got the quiche, which was $8, so he assumed it was a personal sized quiche or something.  Nope.  Just a slice that should have cost $4.50.  And totally mediocre, he says.

Phil ordered the omelette.  This supposedly was three eggs, and you were allowed to choose three fillings and a cheese.  He chose spinach, portbella mushrooms and black olives with swiss cheese.  Forty minutes later they brought him the most pathetic (again, $8) omelette I have ever seen with spinach and tomatoes, and swiss.  So not only did they short him a filling, they gave him tomatoes instead of one of the fillings he actually ordered.  Again, bland.

This place prides itself on being organic and sustainable, and I give them props for that.  But you now what?  I’m from Philly, and I’m not impressed.  I’m pretty sure the only reason this place is still around is because the poor New Haven residents don’t know how much better a veg’n restaurant can be.  They make excuses for it because it’s organic, vegetarian, whatevs.  No fair.  I’ve seen waaaaay better.  I hope people boycott this place so they can learn a lesson, because Yelp.com is full of crap reviews (wish I’d checked before I dragged my friends there!).

Afterwards, I felt really guilty.  When it was time for lunch we went to “Little Italy”, New Haven and ended up at The Original Frank Pepe’s Pizzaria Napoletana.  Walking in, I really loved the place.  It was very casual and the waitstaff were so sweet.  The prices were pretty decent, too, considering this was supposed to be some of the best pizza of our lives.  They had a vegetable pizza on the menu, so it was decided I would get a small veggie with no cheese, and Jay and Phil would split a large pizza with sausage and olives or something.  The pizza looked really good on everyone elses tables, so we knew we were in for a treat.

When they brought the pizzas, I was totally impressed with the cheesy-meaty pizza, but when they set mine down my eyes zeroed in on the veggies: frozen.  They had used frozen veggies on a vegetable pizza.

Okay.  A lot of people may think I’m making a big deal out of nothing.  Jay shrugged and said, “Well, they’re not really known for their veggies.”  But this excuse doesn’t fly for me.  It’s not like I asked for something special.  This place should take pride in everything on their menu.  They were on the Food Network!  Come on!  It’s so simple and easy to use fresh veggies that to me, the message is that they really don’t care.  And obviously, if the pizza had been delicious despite the frozen veggies I wouldn’t be complaining, but it smelled weird and it was just really, really not good.  The crust was eh, the sauce was eh, and the vegetables were pathetic.  And frankly, once it was room temperature, it was inedible.

Okay.  So that’s my food review.  Sorry I get a little angry at the end, I just feel strongly that a restaurant should feel proud of everything they serve– if they can’t serve a good vegetarian pizza, then don’t offer it.  We would have gone somewhere else that could accomodate us better.

Tomorrow I will post about the awesome pumpkin load my friend Jon and I made yesterday while watching the game!  It’s making me fat.

So, I haven’t mentioned this yet on the blog, but I officially quit consuming coffee on August 28th.  And judging by the fact that I know the date (and time passed since last cup of coffee: five weeks and five days), you may be able to guess that that is a pretty big deal.  I have several reasons for quitting, and while these include a habitual and physical addiction, the most important one to me had to do with a myth I had heard that coffee makes you happy.  The idea is (and there is a lot of evidence to support this) that, similar to heroine but to a much lesser degree, coffee stimulates dopamine production in your brain.  Since dopamine is the pleasure chemical, we feel good and happy afterward.  If you drink coffee every day, your brain gets used to this extra stimulant and adjusts your natural dopamine production, i.e. you produce less dopamine on your own.

So this is reason number three: I honestly believe I was more addicted to the dopamine that coffee told my brain to produce than to the energy boost.  Because what I started craving wasn’t a “pick-me-up”, it was a joyful, toe-tingling happiness that my brain no longer produced on it’s own.  Work monotonous and strenuous?  Drink coffee and it becomes fun!  Which makes sense, I guess, if you’re twenty-four and you’ve been drinking coffee almost every day since you were seventeen (and regularly enough at fifteen and sixteen).

Okay, so I stopped drinking coffee.  And it was so hard, but I did it.  Actually I didn’t drink any caffeine at all for a whole month, except once when I had some black tea on our moving day because I only got three hours of sleep.  I can honestly and confidently say that I am no longer addicted to coffee or caffeine, although I do miss the habit of drinking a hot beverage from a mug.

Initially I said that after not drinking coffee for a month, I would start drinking tea again.  But now that the time has come, I’m apprehensive to start drinking caffeine again.  I mean… I sort of think it’s evil.  The problem is that I have really enjoyed drinking yerba mate.  Some people claim that yerba mate contains caffiene (about 1/3 the amount that coffee does) and others claim it contains a stimulant in the same family, but either way, it’s basically caffeine.  So if I drink it, am I just beginning a new stimulant addiction?  And is that bad?

As an aside, one of the most interesting things I’ve noticed from this whole experience is that coffee drinkers tend to almost take it personally when they learned I’ve given up coffee, and to try to talk me back into drinking it.  Does anyone know if caffeine is the most widely abused drug in the world?

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day, so I thought I would finish the task that the mosquitos wouldn’t let me finish last night: baricading the backyard.

Phil and bought some concrete edgers to block off the gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground.  In particular there was a huge hole beneath the “gate” (in quotes because I doubt it’s ever been used), and that is where the cats enter from exclusively.  I blocked it off last night, but when I started to get brutally eaten alive by the ’squitos I thought I’d save the rest of the back fence for today, since I’m off (it’s my Sunday).

I also cleaned up the last of the crap and tried to fix the pieces of tarp that had made their way above the stones.  The backyard is finally starting to look good– Phil even got this cute little patio set for free from a job he worked.

I am currently sitting at this little table, enjoying being in my backard for the first time.  So I’d say that’s a win!

But, because I can never not complain if a complaint is warranted, this really shouldn’t have been our responsibility.  In the end, we decided we’d rather pay $20 or whatever the stones cost us than wait for the landlord to do anything.  I mean, it’s been over two weeks since we informed them about the problem (which was something they probably already knew about) and meanwhile we were paying rent for a backyard that neither or us wanted to set foot in.

At any rate, it doesn’t smell anymore, the turds are gone, and so are the flies.  Let’s hope it stays this way.

The first time I had pot-popped popcorn was when the summer before I turned sixteen, in a small town called Covelo, California.  It seems like such a simple thing, but at fifteen, I’d only ever had popcorn from a bag and microwave.  My aunt and her live-in boyfriend at the time taught me how to heat the oil, add the corn, shake the pot and, most importantly, how to season it.  The boyfriend had a special technique that I don’t use myself but I often think of: he would put the popcorn in a grocery bag after popping, add the seasonings, roll it up and shake it to coat.

I brought my new-found knowledge back home to the East coast and popping popcorn became a tradition I shared with my parents, too.  My dad and I enjoyed experimenting with weird seasoning combinations– sometimes we’d divide the popcorn into separate bowls so we could have more than one flavor.

Eight years later, I still absolutely love popping my own popcorn.  So much, in fact, that I have a special popcorn pot given to me by my parents some years ago, and it gets used frequently.  Phil prefers a traditional butter (well, Earth Balance) and salt popcorn, or sometimes a kettle corn thing (you know, sweet and salty), and though I will happily gobble those flavors up like there’s no tomorrow, I still harbor a secret love for what I think of as the Covelonian popcorn.  Of course, no one else in Covelo seasons their popcorn like this.  And honestly, I’m not sure if this is how N , who’s not even from Covelo and no longer lives there, actually seasoned it (he usually made the popcorn and my aunt and I ate it) or if this is what my dad’s and my experiments molded the original seasoning combinations I learned into.  Either way, it’s either the direct or indirect result of popcorn in Covelo, therefore it will always be Covelonian popcorn in my mind.

And that is:

• soy sauce (not too much– just enough to make the dry seasonings adhere to the puffs)
• hot sauce or crushed chili flakes
• dried dill
• optional: salt

Not included in the original development but something I almost always add nowadays: nutritional yeast.

When was the last time you popped your own popcorn, and what did you put on it?

The farmer’s market in our new neighborhood is small, but I like it a lot already.  The people at the stands are personable and chatty, and the prices are slightly less expensive.  In my old ‘hood, the market was famed throughout the city, so people would come from other areas of the city, making it very crowded.  It was crazy and sometimes I wouldn’t go just because I didn’t want to face that many people.

Yesterday was my 2nd time at the new market.  I did pretty well for under $20 (I think this was around $18… I splurged on some locally-grown fall decorations!).

Here we have some gala apples, a cucumber, white button mushrooms, tomatoes, green beans, onions, broccoli and some small decorative ears of corn and a decorative gourd.  For all you non-city folk (I don’t actually know if anyone other than my mom reads this, but just in case), $18 on this may seem like a lot.  But for the city, it’s a steal.  When I read other blogs and see the amount of stuff other people get in their CSA’s or on their weekly trip to the farmer’s market, I’m always blown away!  Still, the two stands at this market has some pretty good deals.  I have to admit, though, that I get my kale from WFM because it’s local, it’s $2.49, and it’s a shit-ton of kale.  Cannot beat that price at no farmer’s market.

I’m really hoping to convince Phil that we should do a CSA next year.  The past two years have been a bust, since you need to pay the money upfront and I’ve always struggled with convincing him that it will probably end up actually being cheaper.  Lancaster Farm Fresh, for example, offers either a half-share or a whole-share.  The whole share, which would have us overflowing with fresh produce, evens out to $28/wk.  It’s recommended for 2 vegetarians.  The half-share is recommended for 2 non-vegetarians (isn’t that interesting?  Shouldn’t we all being eating our veggies, veg’n or not?) and that evens out to $14/wk.  Both have the same size ’shares’, but the half comes every two weeks, which could be inconvenient.  The ideal would be something in between, but I guess we could do the half and then supplement if we had to.  They also do a half-share of fruit for only $60 ($3 a week! but again every other week delivery) that sounds very, very worth it.  The other benefit of LFF is that one of their drop-off sites is only a block away from our place.

Red Earth Farm is another one that looks good– a “partial share” evens out to $18/week and seems like about the right size for us.  Plus, everything is certified organic and the partial share is delivered every week with the full shares; they’re just smaller.  They also have a dropoff site nearby (probably not as close, but I’m sure it’s still walkable).  Their fruit share is not nearly as cheap at LFF, so that’s a bummer.

Man, I have to year to think about this one!  Why get started now?

Anyways, I made some roasted veggies over pasta for dinner last night.  I also had a little cucumber and tomato salad.

Man.  I LOVE kale.

It would rain even though it wasn’t supposed to after I spent a fair amount of time spraying my backyard with citronella oil.  ‘Cause that’s how nature rolls.

Anyways, obviously I didn’t work today, since this is my second time blogging today.  Just wanted to share some recent food I’ve been cooking.  I haven’t made any recipes since we moved– I plan on continuing to do the whole VegTimes thing again, I’m just a little behind right now…

Some kinda beans and rice stuff.  The rice was slightly undercooked.  There were potatoes in it, too.

My fav: roasted veggies with mashed potatoes.  Kale, carrots, onions, zucchini, and Anaheim peppers.

BBQ ‘chicken’ pizza.  Homemade crust and bbq sauce, TVP that didn’t really taste like chicken, corn and onions.

Tomato and spinach pizza: pesto base with tomatoes, onions and spinach.

I’m usually not a terribly productive person, ever, but I do have my exceptions.  Today was one of those.  Among other things I rarely do but I did today, I prepared my backyard for Operation: Stray Cat Elimination.

Remember the essential oils I ordered?  Well, they came today.  (So did some awesome looking tea and yerba mate I ordered, as well!)

So I raked up dead smelly leaves, then spent about 20 minutes cleaning up more cat poop.  Then I sprayed down the pebbles with my new garden hose– I don’t really know why I did that, for some reason it seemed like a good idea but I think I just wanted to use my hose because I bought it today.  I filled a spray bottle with water, then added some citronella oil, shook it up, and sprayed it everywhere.  Including the patio, plants and fence.  I chose citronella first (the other options being eucalyptus, rosemary and orange) because we also have a lot of mosquitos and I’m one of those people that mosquitos always bite first.

This is the yard ‘poop-free’, or as ‘poop-free’ as I could get it.  I reeeeally hope I don’t die from cat shit disease.  I scrubbed my hands afterward like they were covered in zombie.

I think it’s starting to look OK.  It definitely reeks of citronella.

I’d like to meet whoever “landscaped” our backyard and give him/her a solid flick in the middle of his/her forehead.  You know, not to hurt him, just to make him feel stupid.  Because the whole cat turd thing is annoying on multiple levels.

First of all, if there was just concrete, they wouldn’t shit there.  They’d find somewhere else.  And if it was dirt, the shit would either be easier to clean up, or it would become one with the earth.  But it’s not concrete or dirt, it’s pebbles, and that brings me to the second-of-all.

Second of all, because it’s pebbles, the cats bury their turds and the shit starts to spread out from the point of origin, seeping through the surrounding pebbles as well.  This makes it tedious and disgusting to clean, and because the shit just sits there, it’s a magnet for flies, which inevitably lead to maggots, and I almost touched way too many squirming maggots today.  Gross.  And this brings me to my third-of-all.

Third of all, now my backyard is potentially teeming with bacteria, including E. coli, and I cannot have my three-year-old niece or newborn nephew back there.  Not that my sister and brother in law are often able to make the drive from their town, but if sometime they are able in the next couple of years, too bad D and L, you can’t play out back.

So hopefully the oil thing works.  And then I will ask the landlord to bring in some more pebbles or something– or better yet, take the pebbles away and let me plant stuff instead, because I could make that yard really nice.  And if the oil thing doesn’t work?  I don’t know.