Friday, February 22, 2008

Why, that's just ththsouper!

Okay, people. I uploaded these pictures quite a while ago, saved them to draft, and now I have only my feeble memory to rely on for summoning up descriptions of what may have been going into my mouthhole at the time. The first two are easy. I had this fantastic idea that I would bake up little slices of vegan heaven (or whole pies, as is the case), and take them around to local coffeeshops, where the owners would surely realize they had been missing out not only on sensation, but on a whole clientele market, and would commission my baking expertise on a weekly basis. What actually happened was I spent a lot of money and time on baking and delivering, some lucky people got some good free eats, and the plan flopped like an eggless souffle. I did, however, have one tiny success. A neighbor bought a beautiful apple/almond torte from me to take to a party, which I somehow forgot to get a snapshot of.


Below is the extremely decadent and rich dark chocolate mousse/raspberry torte...

...and here is a chocolate covered espresso almond torte.

I'm not sure what this is, but it sure looks good! Rice noodle spicy tofu stirfry, I believe.
Probably with some sort of ginger sauce.


This I remember: I went through a soup phase for two weeks; every night
was a different soup or chowder concoction. Below we have seitan dumpling soup.
This is my first dumpling soup ever, and it was as rich and comforting as I imagine its origins meant it to be on a cold winter night.

a bowl of the yummy bone-warming elixir.

here is a couscous/almond/currant salad over red leaf lettuce with a citrus-y
vinaigrette, using fresh juice from tangerines and lemons.


I believe this to be a thai peanut-noodle dish with lightly sauteed kale, carrots, peppers, and ribbons of raw daikon. (topped with a squeeze of lime and a sprig of mint)


of course there had to be a pho night during the soup marathon (pronounced "fuh", my friends).
here are all the garnishes for diners to greedily pick and choose from:
peanuts, carrots, mint, basil, lime, jalapenos, serranos, green onions,
mung bean sprouts, and cilantro
putting it all together, we start with the noodles.

add some color and texture: thai marinated tofu, shrooms, bok choy, and green onions.

Add your sauce (sadly I don't remember everything I threw into the sauce, but if you want to make your own pho, I suggest starting with an authentic pho sauce recipe, omit the beef broth, and throw in some of your own flavors to bring back the depth and "hardiness" of the broth. It tends to be very intricate...a lot of ingredients!). Serve with garnishes and enjoy!

My neighbor was sick with some sort of cold/flu conglomeration, so I made her a beans and greens "get well" soup. She reported that her sinuses cleared almost immediately, and she was feeling good again within a couple of days. The broth was very strong in fresh ginger, cayenne, and garlic, and I tossed in a medley of kale, swiss chard, carrot and beet matchsticks, onion, kidney and black turtle beans.
This is an African "peanut egglant" soup....I mostly followed the recipe from Veganomicon (same fabulous authors from Vegan with a Vengance).
OMG I want some right now!

This is a miso/chickpea/macaroni soup, also inspired by a recipe in the aforementioned Veganomicon.



Whilst I am certain there were more soups in the marathon, this seems to be all of the pictures I retained. That's ok, there are bound to be some super soupy days ahead! Besides, I think I've found some other images in my repertoire that I may have to entice your greedy little devouring eyes with. But I will save that for a separate post (possibly another one today).........that way I can feel all caught up and gooshy inside, and who knows.......one day, just maybe, purrrrrrrrrrhaps, I will do this right and start giving out recipes! That was the purpose of this blog all along, right? Well, alas, though I may have failed at everything else in my tiny little life, at least I am a PRO at crastination!!!
honk honk!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLING UP TURKEY-FREE FOOD!

That's right, people. Dessert is first around here! Shown is a spiced rum chocolate pecan pie. Toss one back for all ye Capt. Morgan fans out there. (you know who you are :) )

Sur la table.

A la table.


A sanctified marriage of greens.
Green beans amandine and chipotle swiss chard all wrapped up in one!
Mushroom and merlot gravy, simmering away.

Garnet yam and coconut soup, souped-up thai style with curry and lemongrass.
Yeeeeeee-um.

Soup's on.

Celebration roast in puff pastry, rolled with curried and roasted
red pepper, yellow squash, and carrot.

The innards.
(It was so fabulously hot it broke my beautiful polka-dotted dish clean in half!)

Before it was all drowned in gravy. Especially the garlicky mashed golden yukons.

Can't forget the spiced cranberry apple compote!

...and herbed garlic butter (earth balance, bien sur!), with fresh herbs from my
"green room": basil, parsley, oregano, and sage.

Not pictured is a 12 grain/seed bread fit for slathering.

Finally, let's be thankful for that super-hot kitty love!






(and they weren't the only ones lounging around in cozy baskets after that huge meal!)






That's it for my photo-journey for the month.


Thursday, September 20, 2007

Just a few things that I LOVE




This is the way TomLucas rolls, and I love it!

You can't really tell from the photo, but he is roosting high up above the earth.
















Anytime can be SAMMICH time!
I love sammiches. on crusssty bread.
I love critters who love each other.
2 honky brothers, in this case.



I love thai spring rolls. I wish I had taken a foto of the pre-roll-your-own layout. A beautiful tray full of all sorts of enticements, including zucchini strips, carrot strips, marinated tofu strips, portabellos (lightly sauteed), red bell peppers, mung bean sprouts, bean (cellophane) noodles, leaf lettuce, cilantro, peanuts...what have I forgotten. oh yeah, fresh basil, of course! Served with a thai peanut lime sauce (with coconut milk and jalapenos and other goodies).





I love chocolate on chocolate cupcakes!
with fresh sprigs of chocolate mint!
and cat butts!
can you find the cat ears in the first photo?

I love good ol' southern comfort food.
Macaroni and "cheese" (with an added creamy tahini lemon sauce for pure zesty goodness)
Sauteed spicy swiss chard
Mushroom and onion turnover
FANNNNNNTABULOUS.

Morning glories and morning coffee
with the first hint of a fall breeze
wafting through my morning breath

Kitties who hold down the bad chi in the disastrous office zone.

2 person desk.
bad chi.
good kitties.

I also love love.
and I love loving love.
and I love others who love loving love.
and I think I might love lovage.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Crazy mixed up starry weekend and more

Suffer ye no more, the bad camera and its subjects hath returned! I will let pictures speak mostly for themselves this time around.....the monotonous photo uploading has wearied me for the day. Plus, I need to go trim mine fingernails.


very hard to see what this is, so I will tell you. Goulash. With real Hungarian paprika, carrots, red bell peppers, onions, garlic, tomato sauce, red wine, vegetable broth, jalapenos, mushrooms, potatoes, a hint of butter (earth balance), and fresh marjoram. oh YEAH, of course there was pasta (creste di gallo---which means rooster's comb, but it reminds me of dinosuars), which I cooked right in the stew.

I topped it with a dollop of suncheese, to really drive home the richness. It was served with french bread, marjoram-garlic butter/olive oil combo, and Pepperwood Merlot (altho something spunkier, like a Pinot Noir or Chianti, would be nice)

"Last night's leftovers" Salade Nicoise

I had grilled herb potatoes leftover from a cookout, and tomatoes,red onions, and jalapenos leftover from taco night, so I threw together a salad for lunch. I very quickly sauteed the potatoes, onions, pine nuts, green olives, and capers, tossed them on top a bed of shredded red leaf lettuce, threw on the diced maters, then drizzled with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar. A little mustard added to the dressing would also be superb.
I had some leftover sauteed shiitake shrooms and julienned carrots, so I decided to make a couple of sushi rolls. I spread a little umeboshi paste on the rice to cut the richness of the mushrooms, and served with seaweed salad. Another semi-light lunch.

So-Easy After Dinner Love Bites
Just grab some frozen prepared filo pastry shells, add a spoonful of vegan custard to each
(I had some leftover from my Boston Cream Bundt cake), sprinkle in some vegan chocolate chips, top each with a raspberry, and bake until the chocolate has melted.

Things got reeeeeally HAIRY Labor Day Weekend! I just couldn't leave these out.
So solly.


Megan has decided that black wigs make the best sleeping partners

I've finally found the star characters for my new comic series

oops, how'd that get in there??


How "The View" would look under my direction

Scooby Doo, where the HELL are you?

the evidence is in: what vegan food can do to you. It's totally addictive.

The entire Labor Day Weekend was a bachelorette blow-out for my neighbor Jennifer. And that's 7pm Friday eve through Monday morning, when it was finally time to start drying out. However, it started even a couple of days earlier for me, because I was asked to cater the Sunday morning Brunch/Negligee party. I thought I had taken a couple of shortcuts to make it easier on myself; alas, I was running around harum-scarum until the very last second.


Here is the bride-to-be. Looks like she puked up a pink explosion.

lemon blueberry cupcakes with lemon frosting (real lemon juice and zest). sprinkled with confetti
I had a star theme going on (the bride is a fan of them). Thus, the star-shaped bowl, with star confetti pasta salad.


Here is an upside-down Boston Cream Bundt Cake (the chocolate is on the bottom layer). I thought I had screwed this one up, but it came out tasting terrific. Notice the star formations on top...

Star-shaped Gimme Lean soysages, with pesto mashed potatoes dolloped on top. I also made a hollandaise sauce to go with...

blueberries, scrawberries, and bananas tossed with lemon juice and cinnamon

chocolate blueberry croissants. not shown are spinach and chipotle cream cheese (vegan, of course) croissants

the table, also befitted with a pitcher of mimosas that kept on flowing
there were bagels and spreads, as well, and someone else made up a batch of scrambled eggs
(I was the only vegan in the house)

It was an overall success. YEAH!!!



Ok, that's all for this time, my friends. If anyone wants to donate a camera, I'll give you my address!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

"doo-DOO-doo-doo"

o.k. I just have to mention something really serendipitous about my last post...

You see where I said "what is the DEAL with cupcakes...." meant to be spoken in a Seinfeld whine? And then you see further down, where I make the link to the VCTOTW website? Well, if you go to that website, and read the current blog, she makes the EXACT SAME REFERENCE! Get - OUT! How weird is that?! I swear I hadn't already read this post; in fact, hadn't even been to the website in a while...