Happy Anniversary, my love!

Stephen and I celebrated our one year anniversary as an official couple this week. We opted to have dinner at home, followed by drinks at the Mark Hopkins Hotel.

I made a spinach salad (served warm) with roasted butternut squash (I buy the already cut and packaged kind from Trader Joes - seriously a life saver) and toasted walnuts with a warm vinagrette - made with slivered red onions, white balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, agave, fresh rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil - the vinagrette wilted the baby spinach leaves ever so perfectly...

The main course was a joint effort. Taking a few tips from VeganYumYum, Stephen and I made some delicious gnocchi with lemon cream sauce and thyme vinagrette. I hardly ever follow a recipe exactly (except when baking, or course), and this was no exception. I didn't have any cashews on hand, so I made the cream sauce from a rue and added a little non-dairy milk, garlic, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper - simple and delicious!

After dinner, we enjoyed a couple martinis at the Top of the Mark - very romantic! Happy Anniversay, babe!

Seitan... More like Satan!!

I just adore Seitan, and since it can be little pricey in the store, I decided to make some at home. Now, this was not my first attempt at Seitan - I actaully made it for Christmas last year, but it was a bit of a disaster. Of course my hunny ate it up, showering me with compliments of how good it tasted, but I knew he was full of sh**. The flavor was alright, but it had this awful chewy texture. So, I thought I would try it again this holiday, but this time, I decided to test the recipe out first...

I used a combination of recipes that I found on VegWeb and created my own recipe. I also tried out a technique I learned from Chef Tanya of Native Foods (who happens to make the best seitan in the world!) - after mixing the vital wheat gluten with water, she rinses the ball of dough under running water to remove the starch. I divided my dough in two and tried this "rinsing" technique on half - i rinsed for about 15 minutes until the dough started to barely hold together and started to look like oatmeal... see below (on the left)...

Next, I put both blobs in a pan with the broth I made - soy sauce, veggie stock, garlic, onion, fresh herbs - and baked in oven until most of the liquid had absorbed (about 45-60 mins). I sliced the loaves in the pan and at this point, couldn't quite tell the difference...

... that is, until I actually ate them... the dough I DID NOT rinse tasted much better than the other, texture and flavor-wise. I sauteed the 'non-rinsed' seitan in a pan with some taco seasoning...

... and made some delicious tacos - with sauteed veggies, lettuce, tofutti sour cream and a whole lotta hot sauce!

As much as I want to, I am not giving up on seitan - "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," right? Well, that I will do! One of these days I will figure it out. Until then, I guess White Wave will curb my seitan cravings.

God, I love Daiya!!

Yes, its a little pricey and is defintely a luxury for us, but when we have a package of Daiya cheese in our fridge, I get oh-so excited to use it. Today was another cold, wet day here in San Francisco and I couldn't stop thinking about soup. As soon as I got home from work, I scoured the fridge to see what I had - 2 broccoli crowns, half an onion, a garlic bulb, a few potatoes, and a bag of "cheddar style" Daiya cheese. I knew immediately what I would be making for dinner tonight... Broccoli potato cheese soup... YUUMMMM!!

I started off by sauteeing the onion and garlic with a little Earth Balance in a pot. When soft, I added a little flour to make a rue. To that, I added a couple cups of veg stock and whisked it until it thickened. Then, I added the Daiya - and I was not skimpy here. I boiled the potatoes separately and when they were fork tender, I added them into the soup, along with the chopped broccoli. I generously salted and peppered the pot and let simmer until Stephen got home - probably about 30 to 45 minutes.

I served it up in big bowls with a sliced bagguette...

Our first Thanksgiving together!

Thanksgiving - one of my favorite holidays, as far as the food goes! And this year was extra special because it was the first one Stephen and I spent together (and sadly the first one we weren't spending with our families). Naturally, I wanted to make a vegan feast! Our good friends Chantz and Valerie (not vegans) joined us in our tiny apartment for dinner. We ate delicious food, drank wine, and had an amazing day!

On the menu...

Tofurkey from Trader Joe's

Mashed potatoes with rosemary mushroom gravy

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Sauteed green beans with garlic, thyme and lemon

Apple walnut Stuffing (made by Valerie)

Bread and butter (Boudin, of course!)

And for dessert, an apple and pear crumble (made by Valerie)

Before...

And after...

Can you say food coma? Sadly, we were too full to even eat dessert...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Whole Foods totally ripped off Amys Vegan Pizza

Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza is probably one of my favorite frozen meal indulgences - and I say indulgence here because I try to eat very little frozen food. Lets be real - fresh food is just plain better for you. But sometimes I get lazy and dont want to cook - and what can I say... they're convenient! However, when I do "indulge", I always add a heaping pile of fresh chopped veggies on top before I pop that bad boy in the oven.

So anyway, I was shopping at Whole Foods last night and stumbled across a 365 (the Whole Foods brand) pizza that looked just like Amy's. Plus it was about $4 cheaper! So, as would anyone in my situation, I bought one. Check out the photo:

So, following my usual frozen food ritual, I chopped up and piled on whatever I had in the fridge - broccoli, zuchini, potatoes, tomatoes, green onions - I know, it sounds weird, but it tasted damn good! Here it is before it went in the oven:

My final thoughts: Amy's pizza kicks Whole Foods pizza's ass! Amy's crust is better - thicker and chewier - plus it has more veggies (before i added my own extra). So, is it worth it to spend the extra $4 to get Amy's? Maybe. Or perhaps next time I will spend a little extra time and make a pizza from scratch. Yes, I think so.

African Peanut Soup

This is one of those recipes that I constantly stumble across and have been dying to make for some time now, but never seem to get around to it. I have seen a variation of the recipe in VegNews, the VeganYumYum cookbook, and most recently in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's latest cookbook, The Vegan Table. So finally, I decided that I had to try this recipe!

Last night was the perfect night for soup (it was cold and rainy, but then again, we are in San Francisco) and I just so happened to have all the ingredients on hand. So, like I often do, I created my own variation of this soup, taking a few ideas from each recipe. Here is what worked for me:

Makes about 3-4 servings

3-4 tbsp. water (or 1 tbsp. olive oil if you choose)

1/2 brown onion (although, next time, I would only use 1/4), diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, diced

1/2 red bell pepper

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup chunky peanut butter (thinned with some water)

1 cup butternut squash, cut in 1/2 inch chunks

1 small sweet potato, cut in 1/2 inch chunks

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans (I cook my own... and you should too - they taste so much better than canned)

2-3 cups veg broth (i used a boullion cube + water)

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1-2 scallions, chopped

3-4 cups prepared whole wheat cous cous

1. Saute onions, garlic, carrot, and bell pepper until soft.

2. Add in spices and peanut butter. Let everything mix together for a few minutes.

3. Add in butter nut squash, sweet potato, garbanzos, and veg broth. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 mins without lid (until squash and potato are cooked through and the broth has reduced a little bit).

4. To serve, scoop cous cous in the middle of bowl, add soup around the sides, and top with cilantro and scallions. Enjoy!

This soup was truly delicious. I will definitely be making it again very soon! Check out the picture below:

A Day at the Green Festival

The Green Festival finally made it back to San Francisco this past weekend, and having decided to voluteer on Friday with setting up, Stephen and I got free admission into the fest all weekend.. woo hoo!!!

The festival - which was held at the Concourse Exhibition Center in SOMA - hosted over 300 green exhibitors, over 125 speakers, a ton of delicious local, organic food, and lots of other cool stuff!

The list of partners alone was enough for me - Annie's Homegrown, O Organics, Cliff Bar, Nature's Path, Green Living Project, Rainbow Grocery, VegNews Magazine ... Just to name a few! Add in all of the other vendors, and you have youself one hell of a festival.

Upon arrival, we weaved in and out of the 'organic foods' section of the festival, gathering as many free samples as we could (hey, we just moved to San Francisco and we're broke). Mary's Gone Crackers, GoodBelly, Sambazon, Earthbound Farms, Numi Tea, LuLu's Raw Chocolate - you name it, and we tried it! We eventually found ourselves over by the dining area. The smell of beer battered garlic fries filled our nostrils and we knew we had to have some ASAP.

Words can't describe how good these fries (next to the Greek Plate) from Gourmet Faire were! I also got a black bean tamale from Donna's Tamales, but I scarfed it down before I remembered to take a picture - sorry! While eating, we spotted the Beer and Wine Gardens, and for $10, we each got 4 tastes.

After enjoying some delicious wine and beer samples, we made our way through the 'Organic Home and Garden' and 'Eco-Fashion' sections, talked to some people at Peta, bought some recycled wrapping paper, and snatched up a few more free samples!

While the whole day was pretty awesome, the highlight of my night was meeting and talking with the Editor-in-Chief and Pulisher of VegNews Magazine, Joseph Connelly! Wow, what a rush! But, seriously, this day was awesome!! To all of you who are lucky enough to live in or near a city that Green Fest visits (Chicago, Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles), go - it is so worth it!

Dosa Dinner at Home

Yesterday was such a great day! It was a gorgeous Saturday and after spending a few hours at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, where we sampled and bought some yummy Indian bread from Sukhi's Gourmet Indian Foods (all were delicious, but we eventually decided on the Vegetable Delight Indian Stuffed Bread), Stephen and I headed over to Bloomingdale's for a free cooking demo with Indian restaurant DOSA owner and chef Anjan Mitro.

Now, Ive only been to Dosa once before, but that one time was enough for me to know how truly amazing this restaurant is, so when i found out about a FREE cooking demo, obviously I was pretty stoked!! Other than the fact that the dish they prepared was Mangalorean Prawn Masala and sadly we couldn't sample it, the demo was very interesting and informative, as well as the inspiration for our dinner last night. Plus, we had Sukhi's bread!

Other than the prawns, the Masala dish is totally vegan, so I decided to sub Cauliflower. I also had to make quite a few other adjustments, as I did not have all of the spices on hand - let's just say mine is the simplified version:

Mangalorean Cauliflower Masala

2-4 servings

2 tbsp. coconut oil

1/2 large brown onion (or one small), chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated or chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 cup water, as needed

2 tbsp. curry powder

extra pinch of cinnamon and cumin, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

1 tspn. red pepper flakes

6-8 oz. lite coconut milk

1/2 head of cauliflower, cut in bite size pieces

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

1/3 cup raw cashews with 1/2 cup hot water, blended into a paste

1. Melt the oil and saute onions and garlic until brown, adding water as needed (about 10 minutes).

2. Add grated ginger and tomatoes. Continue stirring until tomatoes reduce and begin to brown. A paste will start to form.

3. Add all seasoning, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes.

4. Continue to stir, adding water, to create a paste.

5. Meanwhile, steam or boil cauliflower until tender.

6. Add cashew paste and coconut milk to onion/tomato mixture.

7. Stir in cauliflower and top with cilantro and mint.

I also cooked up some green lentils (using basically the same flavors) as well as some basamati rice. Check out the photos below:

Green lentils simmering away!

Cauliflower Masala on the stove top!

And dinner is served.... Mmmmm!!

Late Night Garlic Soba Noodles

After a long day of volunteering at the Green Festival yesterday (including a 45 minute wait to take the bus home.. seriously i have such a love/hate relationship with Muni right now), we were famished!!

So... on the bus, I scanned through Chef Chloe's blog (btw, one of my favs at the moment) on my iphone, and gained some inspiration for our dinner from her post on 'Garlic Sesame Soba Noodles'. I knew i had soba noodles and garlic - the rest I figured out when we got home.

Sure enough, I had about 90% of the rest of the ingredients, so I decided to make it work - it was fast, easy, and ended up being delish!!

Instead of the mushrooms Chef Chloe uses - Stephen hates mushrooms, but I am determined to change his mind about them - I used broccoli. I also added in some cubed tempeh pieces and bean sprouts I had in the fridge. Within 25 minutes of getting home, I had dinner on the table and we scarfed it down in no time!!

Oh, and one last thing - because we volunteered to help set up yesterday, we will be attending the Green Festival tomorrow (free of charge - woo hoo), so stay tuned for a post on that!! It should be pretty awesome!!

Check out a picture below!! p.s. Im hoping to invest in a much better camera in the near future, so bear with me for now.

Hello and Welcome!

... to anybody who is acutally reading this blog (which I know could very well be nobody), hello and thank you for stopping by. This isn't my first blog on food or veganism, but I felt a brand new blog was appropriate as I start of my new life here in San Francisco.

So, here's the scoop...

I just graduated in May... shortly after, my boyfriend and I decided we needed an adventure. San Francisco became the lucky destination, we set the date (October 1), worked and saved money all summer (because anybody who's ever been to this city knows how damn expensive it is), and at the end of September, we had our bags packed. We've been up here just over a month now, and we are having the time of our lives!!

Besides stressing out about our dwindling bank accounts and finding jobs, we are loving it up here! And because we are so broke, we do a lot of cooking at home... yay for me!! Cooking is my passion and vegan is what I am, so this is my vegan food blog. On this blog, I will share my adventures in the kitchen (and a very tiny kitchen it is), as well as our experiences dining out. But really, I just needed a creative outlet. So, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!!