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.

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.

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!

I AM CUPCAKENATOR.

It's too bad I wait so long to upload pics of past repasts sometimes. by the time I sit down to tell you about them, I've oft forgot what half the d'rn ingredients were. (ahhh, the dangling participle conundrum)

Below is Double Sins on a Dime, i.e. carbo-overload mixed with conveniently cheap and dangerously devilish crescent rolls in a tube (eh-hem... PHO. partially hydrogenated oils.) Generally I try to stay away from artery-clogging glue, but on this day I was desperately craving a croissant-filled something, so I "craved-n-caved" to Pillsbury. It is a spana-croissanta, filled with spinach and tofutti cream cheese, mixed with cumin, cayenne pepper, and paprika. Soooo not healthy. But still VEGAN!! The shells were baked atop Muir Glen chopped tomatoes and diced peppers, and a tofu feta, mixed with fresh herbs from my stairgarden (all of which are shrieking like mandrakes as they wither up and die in this unremitting heat).

and outta this world nachos (with ingredients leftover from taco night). it's a damn shame you can't see all of the goodies that went into this whopper. To name a few: veggie ground round; seitan stir-fried with lime juice, chili powder, curry powder, and broth from the "chicken-style" seitan container; red onion; jalapenos; FYH monterey jack; shredded lettuce, cilantro (ya gotta LOVE that cilantro!); and of course, salsa and hot sauce of choice. Oh, I almost forgot: also thrown in were some broiled summer squash, zucchini, and red bell pepper in a "special sauce" .
There. I think I named all of 'em.

yes, my gut was hurting a bit afterwards, but it was definitely worth it.

why do cats insist on being outside when it is hotter'n blazes???? here is Blackboy playing dead amongst dying flowers...

I also baked up some uber-fab mini lemon bundt cakes, with lemon frosting, served with fresh scrawberries. They were thigh-packing good, but some of the bundt stuck to the pan, so not necessarily photo-worthy this time around.

Speaking of baking, what is the DEAL with all the cupcake-orama going around lately? Is it a part of the vegan credo?

"thou shalt commit vegecide once a day, thou shalt bake fancy colorful cupcakes 3x/week"??

It seems that every vegan blog I visit (and many "other" eaters as well) are way into the cupcake thing. At first I thought it was a phenomenon started by the rockin' VwaV girls (that's Vegans with a Vagina to you), but then I found a couple of sites where you-know-who-you-are had not yet heard of their book, Vegan Cupcakes take over the World. So WHAT IS GOING ON??

Let me clarify; I have nothing against cupcakes, or any girlie baking for that matter. Actually, I hadn't really given them much thought in the post-Brownies years of my life. But now I am just jealous! Jealous of everyone who makes them expertly, and shows them off in such confabulous fotos. I even have my very own copy of VCTOTW just waiting on the counter in the kitchen for me to dive into whole happy hog. But, make no mistake, I will show you all that I am truly vegan. I, too, can be a cupcakenator, just like the rest of you. You - just - WAIT.

Come play Vegan Hangout-opolis with me!

Obligate foto of the day

Anyone out there want to move to Asheville with me (or somewhere else 4-seasonish, beautiful, artsy, counterculturish) and open a small vegan cafe/rock and theatre venue/art and gift store? This is just a portion of one of my long-standing dreams, and I'm not getting any younger (in fact, I am getting older and older! blechhh!!)



Though I do not currently have any start-up cash, history has proven to me (by default) that I am at my most motivated, creative, ambitious, and positive best when I have a partner to chase a dream with. The "vegan entrepreneurial" movement is growing at a fast-pace these days, and I am far past ready to hop on the train they call the VBOTOTW.....that's vegan business owners take over the world to you. or more like CVTOTW=creative vegans take over the world. One problem: I do not personally know any vegans (how sad is that? it's not like I live in bumfuck antarctica), much less someone excited by the prospect of opening a funky little cruelty-free artspace cafe. But I know you people are out there!



This place that has been only in my imagination for the past 15 years or so is destined to be in reality; I just want to make sure I'm the one to do it! However, although I am not disclosing all details of said venture, if this sends shockwaves of warm fuzzy bubbles through your body because it is the exact same dream/goal you have, and even better, if you've got the business know-how but need a creative partner (I can also add/subtract and spell good. g-o-o-d. see?), then let's tawk tofurkey. Maybe, just maybe, we will hit it off.



I am ready to start anytime. The kitty jungle and I have to find a new home in 3 months time, and I'm searchin hopin wishin for some wonderful bit of grace in the face of bleak reality...

she wants to see inside my fridgamicator!

ok, I uploaded these pictures yesterday, but then we lost power due to an electrical storm (lots of those this week), and I couldn't finish my post. lindyloo, from yeah, that "vegan" shit wants to know what is in my fridge (and yours, too), so sorry for this what-some-might-consider banality, and bear with me...



I won't bore you with a list of details, for if you are reading this, then I assume you have the eyes, brain capacity, and/or imagination to make out the goodies inside and pretend what may be lurking beyond.

here is the "meat" drawer, watched over by Filberto the Fire Pig

some produce goodies

I use Sta-Fresh bags to keep my greens and other veggies, well, fresh

and in the door, we have condiments!

hot sauce in every variety and nationality

here is a close-up section of magnets and ooey gooey food remnants that no amount of scrubbing with biokleen can erase

Now for some gratuitous kitty fotos before we move on to the gastronomical portion of this simple post.

here we have the Black Boy (a.k.a. Sylvester) showing us how to slumber

and here we have L'il Frito, one-upping Black Boy in the how-tos of Zen Beauty resting

Last night's supper (and the night before, as well) consisted of brown rice fusilli, curly kale, white onions, broccoli, and almonds in a garlic lemon sauce (with a little white wine and olive oil thrown in as well, bien sur!) sprinkle a little cayenne powder on top, and you've got yourself a pretty pasta meal deal!~~~ an episode or two of The Lost Room is a fine accompaniment for this dish.

The creeping kitties want my lunch! I don't blame them.... I made a burger with the same leftover patty mash concoction I previously made some "croquettes" with (scroll down to see). I'm not sure I can remember all of the ingredients I used now, but originally they were meant to be millet bean burgers. After I pretoasted then pressure-cooked my millet, I lifted the lid, let them steam clear for a second, and to my soooooo-prise I found that I had cooked yet another batch of quinoa! In their raw, dried form, the two grains (well, quinoa is not technically a grain, it's a seed) look almost identical. The good news is that they also make good substitutes for one another, although millet has more of a sticky quality that holds burgers and croquettes together better. On the other hand, quinoa is a complete, power-punching protein, so take that! No wonder those frisky frelines are trying to get at my sammich!

quinoa bean and beet burgers go a long way, topped with lettuce, onion, pickle and 100% rye bread!

the farfrednugen said they tasted very "convincing", or something to that effect

howdy-hoo, am I ever getting hongry! thought you might like to see the precooked patty (shaped just like a slice of bread). if you squint your eyes just a little, it looks like an authentic bloody-cow burger that's been left to fester in the heat. the quinoa wigglies appear to be maggots, and there're a few dead cockaroachees and who-knows-what-else in there! ok! so don't squint your eyes! and believe me when I tell you it's not only tasty, but 105% prime healthy.

contains (besides quinoa): beets, sunflower seeds, black beans, garlic, onions, much-rooms, cumin, and what-all

a simple breakfast of cinnamon raisin mochi with a tahini/maple syrup dish. deeeeeelish, and such a more nutitious, longer energizing sweet morning treat than an almond croissant!




...and here are the quinoa-bean croquettes, served with avocado and red leaf lettuce (to make wraps), a mustard dipping sauce, and summer squash fries with chili dust. the fries were super-tasty, but next time I will use a deep fryer to give them a better crunch.
fianally, the lunch pic I promised in my last post...

I don't really have anything mind-blowing, earth-shattering, creative, or even dull to say right now (and haven't in a while). I am just taking it all in... so as Porky Pig would say, "Th-th-th-that's all folks! Now stay away from me and go eat a tree!"