Pics from the past

Ahh, I kinda suck at keeping that "blogging twice a week" promise I made to myself, but at least I have been pretty good about taking pictures... all of food because, um... this is food blog... duh! Check out these scrumptious meals I have been whipping up in my tiny kitchen lately... recipes to follow soon!!

Peanut butter swirl brownies.

Home-made pan-seared seitan with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.

Whoopie pie.

"Beef" with broccoli...

... made with Gardein beefless tips...

.... served over brown rice.

"Chicken" and vegetable soup.

Mexican feast: sweet potato and seitan quesadillas with spicy avacado salsa, black beans, and rice.

Valentine's Day dinner: warm spinach salad and butternut squash ravioli with sage pesto.

A close-up of our homemade ravs - delish!!

A childhood favorite: home-made tomato soup with a grilled cheese and a salad with ranch. 

VegNews Mac and Cheese (with a few modifications)...

So freakin' good!

Kombu with veggies and brown rice.

Kombu package.
(FYI: Kombu is vegan, but the sauce packet it comes with contains fish sauce - eww! - so we made our own!)

Veganizing one of Stephen's favorites: tortilla caserole.

My birthday dinner: cauliflower curry soup and a fresh fruit & spinach salad with a citrus viniagrette ... made 100% by Stephen... so cute, right? (and so delicious!)

Southern Comfort: BBQ baked tofu with savory corn pancakes and a salad with ranch.

Avocado pesto pasta (inspired by Chef Chloe) with sundried tomatoes.

Balsamic baked tofu with lemony garlic potatoes and sauteed zuchini with basil (potatoes and zuchini from mommy's garden).

My first attempt at homemade bread (I used this recipe from VegWeb as as guide) - yumyumyum!!

Luscious Lemon Cream and Blueberry Swirl Pie

Here it is... my pie recipe from the SF Food Wars Pie or Die 2 Contest.. and let me tell you.... IT.  IS.  GOOOOOOD.

It may seem like there are a lot of steps to this pie, but you can totally make everything ahead of time.  The crust can be made up to a few days ahead of time, as well as cashew drizzle.  The fillings can be prepared the day before - just blend in the cornstarch the day of.  Also, this recipe includes the minor changes and tweeks I made AFTER the competition.  Hope you enjoy!

Luscious Lemon Cream and Blueberry Swirl Pie with a Vanilla Agave Cashew Drizzle
(makes two 9 inch pies)

Crust
2 cups unbleached All-purpose flour
1/2 cup ground oats
1 tsp. salt
2 TBS vegan granulated sugar (I use the Whole Foods 365 brand)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) VERY COLD Earch Balance - cut into 1/4 in. pieces
1/2 cup VERY COLD shortening (I use Organic Spectrum brand) - cut into 1/4 in pieces
1/4 cup VERY COLD vodka
1/4 cup VERY COLD water

1. Pulse the flour, oats, salt and sugar in the food processor to incorporate everything together.
2. Add butter and shortening and pulse until the fat is in pea-size pieces. (Note: to make sure my fat stayed VERY COLD, after I cut it up, I put it back in the freazer for about 10 minutes).  Now dump mixture into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add vodka to mixture a little at a time and start mixing with wooden spoon. 
4. Start adding water one tabelspoon at a time until dough comes together and you can mix with your hands (you will probably use the full 1/4 cup).  Do not over-mix dough.
(Note: this dough will be slightly sticky because of the extra moisture from the vodka).
5. Divide dough into two even rounds, wrap with prastic wrap and refrigerate (preferably over night).

Lemon Filling
1 1/2 boxes (18 oz.) Firm Silken Tofu (I use MoriNu Organic)
2/3 cup Vegan Cream Cheese (I use Tofutti brand)
1 1/2 cups vegan granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
zest and juice of 4 lemons
1/3 cup cornstarch mixed with
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (if you dont use unsweetened and/or vanilla, you can add less sugar and/or more vanilla to recipe)

1. Blend all ingredients and reserve.
(Note: Do not add cornstarch until you are almost ready to bake the pie, as the filling will start to set up in fridge after a couple hours)

Blueberry Compote Swirl
1 1/2 cups blueberries (i use fresh, although frozen can surely be substituted)
3 TBS sugar OR agave syrup
1/4 cup water, divided
1 TBS lemon juice
pinch of salt
2 TBS cornstarch

1.  Place all ingredients except the cornstarch and 2 TBS water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Let blueberries cook down, stiring every few minutes.
2. Once cooked down, combine the 2 TBS cornstarch with 2 TBS water and add to saucepan.  Stir thoroughly and cook for another few minutes. 
3.  At this point, you can blend the mixture, so there are no blueberry chunks, or leave as it.  I opted to blend half, as to keep a few chunks.

Vanilla Agave Cashew Drizzle
1/2 cup raw cashews (soaked for 4 hours)
1/4 cup agave syrup
scrape of half a vanilla bean (you can substitute a tsp of vanilla extract, but using a bean give the sauce those little black vanilla bean specks)

1. Blend the cashews, agave syrum, and vanilla bean.  You can add a little of the reserved soaking water to thin out the sauce.

To Assemble the pie:
1. Roll out pie dough and press into two 9-in pie pans.  Crimp edges and poke dough with a fork all over.  Line pie crusts with parchment paper and fill with pie weights (I used dry beans).
2.  Bake pie crust at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (you can bake one or both at the same time)
3.  After pie crusts cool, spread a thin layer of the blueberry compote at bottom of pies.  Fill with leamon cream filling , leaving about a quarter of an inch of space at top of pie.  Drizzle in blueberry compoteon top and use a knife to make a ripple design (draw lines through pie filling horizontally and then vertically - see picture below)
4.  Place pies back in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Let pies cool completely before serving.
5.  Drizzle with cashew sauce.

And VOILA....

SF FOOD WARS: PIE OR DIE 2

Well, I did it... although sleep-deprived and noticably poorer, I made it through the SF Food Wars Pie or Die 2 Competition, and boy does it feel good!!

Here's a little recap of how it all went down...

So, I had my pie idea from the very beginning, but perfecting the recipe was a little hard.  I only actually tested my crust recipe once and my filling recipe twice - for two reasons - 1. ingredients are EXPENSIVE and 2. as it turns out, pie making takes a lot of time.

Week of the Competition...

I got all of my ingredients for the pie (minus the blueberries) earlier in the week, but as the week went by and I decided to make more and more pies for the event, Stephen (being the most amazing boyfriend that he is) would pick stuff up for me at work - oh, the perks of having a boyfriend who works at Whole Foods!

So, I got started on my dough Friday night after I got home from work.  Four and a half hours and enough dough for 18 pies later, I was done!!

Day before the Competition...

Saturday morning, after Stephen and I walked to the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market to buy my blueberries,  I got started on my pies.  I completely underestimated how long it would take and even had a mini-meltdown after my oven started smoking and blueberry puree exploded out of my blender, covering the wall... I sat down on the kitchen floor and started crying.  I know, I can be a little dramatic sometimes!  After Stephen helped clean up the mess, I called my mom and both of them convinced me it was going to be ok and because I had already put in this much time and effort, I could not back out now!  So, I got back to it.  Thank god for my friend Lyndsay, who came over and helped zest and juice over 30 lemons!  I pre-baked all of the crusts, made the blueberry compote, started making filling, then filled crusts as they cooled, then back in the oven, then made more filling, then filled cooled crusts, and so on - I started to get into a routine and I felt like I was on a role, until I put my last two pie crusts in the oven to pre-bake without pie weights and completely ruined the crusts.  I went to bed around midnight, exhausted, my entire apartment covered in sugar-flour-blueberry-butter-stickiness AND a sink FULL of dishes.

Day of the Competition...

Sunday morning I got up at 6am to make extra pie dough so I could re-make the two pies I botched the night before.  I finished them with enough time to shower, pack everything up, and even make a run to Bed Bath and Beyond (talk about waiting til the last minute - I needed a display stand for my table).

As soon as we got to the event, the next few hours flew by.  We must've served over 200 pieces of pie, but still went home with 5 extra pies!!  I was a little bummed when I didn't place, but honestly, I didn't expect a vegan pie to win with so much non-vegan competition - no matter how good my pie tasted.  Bottom line, it was great experience and I am so glad I did it!!

Here's a few things I learned:

1. Quality over quantity!!  I had more than enough pie for everyone to taste (I went home with five extras, but my co-workers were pretty stoked when I brought one to work for them the next day), but my pies were a little less than perfect.  I would have rather made less pie (maybe about 14 or 15) and been able to spend more time making each one, as opposed to making so many (19!) and rushing through the process.

2. Test your recipe.. A LOT!!  I cannot stress this enough.  I signed up for this competition without having EVER made a pie crust before - yes, really!!  Like I mentioned above, I only got to test my recipe a few times, and sure enough, during and after the event, I was making all kinds of mental notes on how I could've improved the end result. 

3. Plan and prep!!  I was scrambling around days before the competition trying to get everything I needed.!  Although I thought I had it all figured out beforehand, I didn't really.  I was still coming up with ideas and changes the day before the event!  Not a good idea.

4. Have fun!!  Bottom line, just have fun with it.  Ya, its a competition, but its pie!  Although i didnt place, I had a lot of fun with it, met some great people, and got a lot of compliments on my pies!

I will be posting my pie recipe soon.  For now, check out the pics below:

Blueberries and lemons!!

Enough ingredients to make 18 pies.

Dough for 18 pies.

Pie assembly line.

Finished product.

Our table

Team #3 Sweetie Pies

Stephen made our shirts - so cute, right?

Having fun at our table!

Pie test #1

Stephen and I left Thursday night for Buffalo, NY to celebrate my Grandpa's 80th birthday party with my whole family.  However, it being only one week away from the SF Food Wars Pie or Die Contest (check out the post about the competitors - we are Team #3), I was determined to make at least one pie while I was gone.  I was able to get all of the ingredients I needed at Wegman's - quite possibly one of the best grocery stores I have ever stepped foot in (their organic/natural/vegan/vegetarian/etc. section was very impressive!).

I was able to work on my pie after the birthday bash at my Aunt's house - in other words, I had already had quite a few a few drinks.  It didn't matter though - I was determined to make this pie!  However, I made a big mistake right off the bat - I bought a tub of Earth Balance and a tub of shortening, instead of the sticks, to use for the crust.  Although I froze both, by the time I measured out the amount I needed, my fat had gotten too soft and blended into a paste in the food processor.  I had ruined the crust. 

Nevertheless, I was still set on making this damn pie!  I found a graham cracker pie crust in my aunt's pantry (which happened to be vegan), so I was still able to test my filling recipe.  The mixture I made tasted really good... I just needed it to set up nicely in the fridge.....

Well, not as nicely as I hoped - it was a little too soft.  Although it did firm up a little bit, I am either going to have to add extra corn starch, or go a different route and bake the whole pie, instead of making a chilled pie.

Ahhh, so many decisions... so little time!!

Oh, and I wasn't even able to snap a picure of the finished product because my omni relatives were so eager to try it - everyone grabbed forks and dug in!  The looks on some of my cousins' faces when I told them it was made of tofu were priceless!

Pie or Die!!!

So i entered in the SF Food Wars Pie or Die Contest a few weeks ago and just found out that I will be one of twenty people competing - holy crap, I am SO EXCITED!! 

This news came as a bit of a shock, after an email I received last week telling me I had not been chosen.  But, alas, the vegan baking gods have been watching over me, because apparently someone dropped out of the competition, and I was next in line to compete!!

As far as I know, I am the only competitor making a vegan pie -

A vegan lemon cream and blueberry swirl pie... HOLLA!!!

Needless to say, I'm a little nervous because a) I don't make a lot of pie - in fact i've never made my own crust - which means I need to seriously step it up in the baking department for the next 2 weeks and b) if I am the only vegan baker, talk about pressure!!  This pie needs to be fucking amazing!!

Whatever, I'm excited and I will have the most supportive person I know right by my side - my own sweetie pie, Stephen.

Wish me luck!!  

Good to Know...

While I try to buy organic and local as much as possible, I am also a struggling college graduate living in one of the most expensive cities in the country. In other words, sometimes I buy conventional produce because it's cheaper - Gasp!!

And while I am very lucky to have a boyfriend who works at Whole Foods Market, where just about all of their procuce is organic, sometimes walking to the corner store to buy a few groceries is not only easier, it's cheaper...

So, if you must buy conventional produce, like I occasionally do, try to take a few tips from this Shopper's Guide and avoid The Dirty Dozen!!

Happy Shopping!!

Shopper's Guide to Organic and Conventional Produce

The Daily Gourmet

I just discovered this really great webiste, The Daily Gourmet. I know, you're thinking "really?? ANOTHER deal site", but this one is different - It's just for food!!!!

And it's totally vegan-friendly! When you sign up, you can pick and choose which type of products you are interested in - including 'vegan' 'vegetarian' 'gluten-free' and a bunch of other options!  How great is that?!?

I've already become so obsessed with this site, that I signed up to be an affiliate.

So, do me a favor and seriously check out this site NOW!!