Domestipithecus

April 5th, Boo and I had our engagement party at the house. It was supposed to be a housewarming as well, but we had received notice from our landlord that he was putting the house up for sale, so it turned into a houseleaving.

We had a lovely vegan BBQ with plenty of snacks and nummy desserts.

Setting up:

Backyard (the dark spots were hastily filled holes - we think the previous tenants had a dog or something):

Mmmmm beer:

The BBQ setup:

Table set up in the Wii room - yes we had a Wii room for the party (veggie platter with “ranch” dressing; avocado, sprout, white bean hummus rolls - some with loaf):

Hot stuff (Not-wings - both buffalo and not, veatballs and fixins for the metric ton or so of veggie burgers we had):

The bar:

The dessert table (Vegan Magic Cookie Bars, Fudge Drop Cookies (made and brought by my sister) and Banana Split Cupcakes - made by Boo’s mom - I think from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World):

And my favorite and proudest part of the whole party:

This is a snack platter made up of Cheddar Cheez, Jalapeno Cheez and Onion, Horseradish and Dill Cheez all from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook (well the jalapeno is just the cheddar with finely chopped jalapenos) and vegan pepperoni (veggeroni) from one of my favorite blogs, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

The party was great. So many people tried things that I know they would have never otherwise even thought about, and most were pleasantly surprised. We only had a few people who didn’t bother to try anything but the desserts and only one person who complained. We had given all our guests fair warning that all would be vegan and to inform us of any soy or wheat allergies (as most of the stuff was going to contain some of that). We also grilled up some portabello mushrooms for a handful of people.

Boo and I are baby-stepping to the vegan diet so we have decided to have a vegan wedding. We figure by then we will be mostly vegan - the exception being when we read ingredients and don’t recognize the animal ingredient. So we wanted people to not be afraid of the wedding and had the engagement party be vegan as well.

It was a great time and it was wonderful to have all those people we care about in one place. No I have to actually put the thank you notes in the mail. They are right there, just waiting… bah.

I love produce weeks!

We have (as they say in the UK) subscribed to a box scheme. We get a box of produce delivered to our door every other Monday. For the last couple deliveries, we have gotten the mixed fruit and vegetable box. We were getting a lot of fruit as opposed to veggies and when we would look at what the all veggie boxes were getting, we would be all jealous. So we switched to all vegetables.

Boo and I love veggies. There are very few that we don’t like and the ones that we haven’t tried yet, as was the case for me with some chard one time, we are so excited to try. This is the list we got this time around:

1 Lettuce,Green Leaf
1 Peas,English(3/4 lbs.)
1 Tomato,Cluster(1 lb.)
1 Onion,Yellow
1 Chard,Rainbow
1 Spinach,Bunch
1 Asparagus,Bunch
1 Carrot,Rainbow(Bunch)
5 Squash,Zucchini
1 Tomato,Roma(1 lb.)
1 Potato,Red(1 lb.)
1 Bell Pepper,Yellow

I am so freaky excited it’s ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous freaky excitement. The blueberries and strawberries we got last time were starting to… fade. So I made sorbet! Its so yummy. I sort of used the recipe in my Kitchen Aid ice cream maker booklet. I cut the tops and softer spots out of the strawberries (I had a one pound container) and put them in the blender. Then I threw in the blueberries, about 4oz and about 1/4c water and blended. Then I poured in the simple syrup (made previously with 2c sugar and 2c water), blended and then poured into the already churning Kitchen Aid bowl.

The results (the picture sucks but whatever):

I also made some vegan sourdough english muffins.

Basically used an english muffin recipe but used warmed, unsweetened soy milk instead of regular milk or powdered. I had thought Dwight (my starter) had died when I went to Ireland for 3 weeks, but he’s alive and kicking and sour as ever! I love making things that look like they do in the store. I remembered the first time I made these I kept exclaiming, “They LOOK like english muffins!!”

These are more dense than the store bought ones and the holes (nooks and crannies) are not as pronounced, but I have read that the real English english muffins have much smaller holes than what we expect here in the states. And they taste great so who cares!?

Since we borrowed Veganomicon from Josh’s mom I have been obsessed. I love it. I want to make everything in it, except for that nasty portabella mushroom steak thing. *hurl* I despise mushrooms. They are disgusting and slimy and they taste like moldy dirt. You want to torture me? Make me eat mushrooms with cilantro. I’ll give away any secret I know to avoid putting that bile-rise inducing “food” in my mouth.

I have gotten better with the mushrooms. I can actually eat food that they have come in contact with. I didn’t used to be able to. I remember going to chinese buffet years ago, back when I ate meat, with my co-workers for lunch. I would go to get something from the buffet and I would come back to a mushroom on top of my peking dumpling. I would then have to give it to someone else and go get another for myself. I ended up getting a lot of dumplings for other people that way.

Cilantro I will never, ever be able to eat. That leaves out a LOT of food when you live in SoCal. They put it in EVERYTHING. When I first moved out here, I couldn’t figure out why all the food I had tasted like dirt. Finally, a friend figured out that it was cilantro. I didn’t even know what cilantro was. They don’t use a whole lot of it back in New Hampshire. Here, they use it like salt. *shudder*

Well. That was a rant.

What I had originally started this post for was to put up some pictures of things made from the book mentioned above, my own stuff and other new cookbooks.

Below is my own home fried potatoes with a tofu scramble from How It All Vegan! (minus the mushrooms). Isn’t it cool how the tofu looks like scrambled eggs?

This is my own roasted garlic mashed potatoes (roast 2 heads garlic and mash with 4 largish russet potatoes and some earth balance), corn and vegetarian bangers (sausage) from a mix I bought while in Ireland. I also sliced up and sautéed some elephant garlic to put on top of the potatoes.

This is my easy peasy (though I used corn) vegan shepard’s pie. Easy peasy because I layered the potatoes that were left over from above on top of a can of corn which was on top of onions and Boca Ground Burger that I had fried up. I used regular ketchup on top with onion powder, garlic powder and Italian Seasoning mixed in. This was incredibly yummy and tasted just like I remember from when I was a kid (except my mother, knowing that I hated peas, would use peas. Stupid peas.)

I love how the camera caught the steam rising from both plates.

And last, but certainly not least, Boo had flowers delivered yesterday. They are gorgeous.

I love me my Boo.

We got our first organic produce delivery on Monday. It was chock full of goodies. We ordered from Paradise O on the recommendation of a fellow Rose City Knitter, subliminalrabbit.

Just look at the veggie goodness! I have only used the red chard but I see in our future steamed artichokes, a yummmmy salad, possibly Aloo Gobi and Butter Paneer Masala and and and and and…whew. I’m tiring myself out just thinking about it.

Over Thanksgiving I made my pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting (all vegan). It came out better this year than last and I think it’s because I added more pumpkin puree so it was crazy moist. I always make cupcakes with any new cake experimentation first so I can taste it before subjecting anyone to a possible fail. CN has no problem with that as he gets to eat the test cupcakes.

After deciding that the cupcakes were missing something, I remembered that last year I had used Sugar in the Raw and this year I was using white vegan sugar. That made a difference in the taste so I changed the second batch to turbinado sugar (the same as Sugar in the Raw). I also added more pumpkin puree. I honestly have no idea how much pumpkin pie spice I put in, but it was until it tasted right.

The cake was fantastic, if I do say so myself. The frosting needs some help, but I’ll work on it.

Then there were the pumpkin seeds to deal with. A little kosher salt and peanut oil solved that problem.

Tuesday I had a dentist appointment. I had to get an old filling replaced. It’s all fine now. The only place that hurt when the numbness went away was the site of the injection of the Novocaine. I couldn’t open my mouth all the way for a day. So I made salami. Seitan salami to be exact.

I used the recipe in the latest issue of Cutting-Edge Vegan Cuisine newsletter by Bryanna Clark Grogan. It’s ok. Not “OHMYGODITSSALAMI!” but it’s close. It’s a little too moist for me so I put it in a very low oven to dry it out, kind of like with meringue cookies. Now it’s back in the fridge.

I also whipped up a batch of “Even Better than Veganaise” that I got the recipe for over at Epicurvegan. It’s yummy, though the recipe makes a lot. I will need to cut it in half next time. I have a picture, but it really doesn’t photograph well so I won’t be including it.

Now I have to go get ready for date night. I think we’re going to hit Crown City Brewery and add a couple more beers to our scorecard. There isn’t a lot there for us to eat, basically just a veggie burger and some sides/appetizers, but the over 100 different beers is worth a not so tasty dinner.

The rattie cage arrived and I put it together.

I only managed to hurt one finger and get a tiny scrape on my forehead. The boys like having all that room. It took a little bit for them to get used to it, but they really seem to like it.
Denver and Henson taking a nap and Henson exploring:

Today I did a lot of laundry. Crazy amounts. Tons even. There is one more load drying right now and I started when it was still AM o’clock I think.

Aside from the metric crapload of laundry, I also did a little baking. CN’s mother has this recipe for fake meat. It can be used as chicken, turkey or beef depending on how it is flavored and if you add any other textures. For example, for meatballs, adding italian breadcrumbs, lipton’s beefy onion soup mix (yes it’s vegan! scroll to “Staples”) and some Yves ground “turkey” or ground round will give it a meatball texture and flavor.

Today I made what we call “loaf.” Chicken/turkey flavored loaf that can be sliced up and used as sandwich meat substitute. I would love to give out the recipe, but since it isn’t mine I don’t want to assume it’s ok to post on the internet. I can tell you what’s in it and show you pics. If you figure it out for yourself…. hehe

Ingredients:
tofu
great northern beans
chicken flavoring (the stuff pictured is from an asian market but Wholefoods Market also has a chicken flavoring that is vegan in it’s bulk section)
wheat gluten flour/powder (Wholefoods bulk section - though you can get pre-packaged wheat gluten just about anywhere)
Oven 375

Here are the pictures:

Beans and tofu mixed:

Adding some of the chicken flavoring:

After adding wheat gluten:

his shows the consistancy it should be. The mixture should resist being pulled apart and bounce back slaightly when shaped:

I like to shape it into a rough loaf before putting it into the pan because it doesn’t like to be shaped much ad when you try and push it into a loaf pan it just doesn’t want to do what you want it to.

Once in the pan I cover with aluminum foil to keep it from drying out.

1 hour covered and about 15 additional min uncovered makes a tasty treat:

This is sliced and next to the bread machine wheat agave bread I made (well I put the ingredients in the machine and IT made it…

I’m going to go make CN a loaf sandwich for tomorrow. The key to making loaf sandwiches is to slice the loaf thin and put many layers…

This can also be formed into “nuggets” and fried to make, well, nuggets and with the addition of Red Rooster hot sauce, CN’s mom’s famous “Not Wings.”

Yesterday I received the Cafe Paradiso cookbook I had ordered shortly after arriving back in the states. Creative Nickname, his sister, brother and I went there while in Cork. It was fantastic. The parsnip mash was so yummy I needed to reproduce it exactly.

All the recipes in this book are amazing sounding. They do have a couple of the dishes that we had there in the book and so much more. I can’t wait to make the Pumpkin gnocchi with spinach in a roasted garlic cream. How good does that sound?

The rat’s cage should arrive today. I am looking forward to putting the boys in their new home. I am sure they will love all the space.

I am thinking of making some pasta today. I only started making it by hand after we got the KitchenAid mixer and pasta attachment. We had no idea how good fresh pasta tasted. Now we can’t go back. We like to toss it with some olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and parsley. I think I have some old pictures…

Making the pasta:

The olive oil cooking the diced garlic and the chopped parsley (that and the red pepper flakes go in right before removing from the heat):

Tofurkey kielbasa. This stuff is amazing tasting and it’s vegan!

The finished product (tossed the pasta in the olive oil mixture):

I make egg pasta, though I have made it with Ener-G egg replacer for CN’s sister. The pasta was ok, a little more slimy than I am used to, but not bad.

I’m going to go knit some on the Alphabet Blanket. Maybe next post I’ll have enough done for a picture.

My fiance (I am going to have to come up with a clever nickname for him) and I are both vegetarian. His sister and mother are both vegan. This means that all recipes and the like will be either of the above and will contain no meat. We do use dairy and eggs still, though we use Earth Balance, vegan “butter” and Veganaise, vegan mayo. They taste pretty good.

You will probably notice that my blogroll has links to blogs that cook with meat. I sometimes use them as a reference for non-meat dishes, substituting tofu or some other meat replacement in place of the meat. Sometimes that isn’t possible, but I still like to get inspiration from others. The sauce, method of preparation etc, can all be used for non-meat dishes.

That said, yesterday I made some Agave Wheat bread in the bread machine. Agave is a substitute for honey. A good one at that. I originally got agave nectar so his sister would have something to sweeten her tea and other things when she was over for a visit. The first time I made the bread, the recipe called for 3 tbsp of honey so I thought I would give the agave a try. It was very good. This time around I added 3 1/2 tbsp which made the bread a little more moist and a tiny bit sweet.

I also made “loaf”, as the family calls it. It’s a variation on a recipe that my future mother-in-law found. She simplified it to within and inch of it’s life and now we have turkey. chicken and beef substitute, depending on the flavoring put in. The texture is perfect, unlike some other meat subs, and it tastes great. Sliced, it makes great sandwich fixins.

Of course, I had to round it out with dessert so I made brownies. I didn’t have any solid chocolate, so I needed to use cocoa. I located this recipe. I had to cook it longer than it said and used a microwave for the cocoa mix like some commenters did. They came out ok. Nothing spectacular. It may have been the cocoa (Tollhouse) though so who knows.

So this morning I sent my fiance off to work with a loaf sandwich on agave wheat bread and a brownie for dessert. He was pretty happy.

Today probably won’t have a lot of cooking, just a lot of cleaning and getting into costume for handing out candy. I wish I had decorated, but we just got back from three weeks in Ireland on the 21st, and my car was in the shop, we just didn’t have time to buy/make any and put them up. I’m thinking having one of my ratties on my shoulder while handing out the treats will either creep out the kids or they’ll love it. I’ll report tomorrow.