I am so crazy excited. Vegan Essentials just notified me that the Angel Food kits are in and I ordered some! YAY for vegan meringue!!!!!!
My favoritest cookies I used to make were meringue surprise cookies. Meringue with chocolate chips “hidden” inside. Oh good gravy I cannot wait to make these vegan-wise
*dances*
Well, I am back from a pretty dern horrible week. Last Monday I received a call telling me a family member had died in a horrible car crash. He was only 21. He was the most adorable child and seemed to be growing into a pretty awesome guy. It was a difficult couple of days, watching his mother have to deal with the loss of her child and watching my grandmother get just a bit more sad and angry as she continues to watch people she loves die.
His sisters and friends got up and spoke. I think that was the hardest part of all. Watching these young people in so much pain. It was heartbreaking when his mom went up to comfort one of his closest firends, who looked like he wasn’t going to make it through the pain. It brings tears to my eyes just writing about it now.
This is how I will always remember Joshua Robert. The smiling, beautiful, little boy.
This is the young man he was at the time of his death. The young man I never really got to know, living so far away, but someone who was loved very much by all who knew him.
I flew back east on Tuesday to be there for the Wed. afternoon calling hours. The funeral was Thursday and I came back (just barely) on Friday.
The ‘just barely’ is because of the ice storm they had that brought down trees, power lines and telephone lines. We lost power on Thursday evening and my sister just got it back today, and she is one of the lucky ones. Everyone around her is still without.
All in all, it was a miserable trip.
That said, we got our Vegan Essentials shipment while I was gone, so yummy vegan stuffs to come.
I have some pics that I haven’t uploaded, but will hopefully get to this weekend. Just wanted to post a glance at Boo’s Xmas stocking.
This is done with the two handed technique I learned at The Philosopher’s Wool website. I hope it gets better with blocking. Yeah yeah, it’s wool… I never claimed to be a full blown vegan yet. Babysteps ok?)
When Boo and I would get back from our long runs while marathon training, I would cook up a tofu scramble to help feed our depleted bodies. It worked quite well except for the getting home from running anywhere from 10 to 18 miles and having to freaking chop veggies and cook.
One day I decided to get tortillas and make the scramble and assemble breakfast burritos the night before so we could just nuke them. They were fine like that.
Then, when I was having my mother, sister and cousin in the house the morning of the wedding (my family stayed here, his family stayed at his parents’ house) I made them up a week ahead of time and froze them. That worked even better.
Now, I make a double batch when we are running out (about 3 or 4 left) and put them in the freezer so we always have a quick breakfast (or even a lunch or dinner if we feel like it). This is based on the tofu scramble in How it All Vegan.
I take two blocks of extra firm tofu, not silken, and wrap and press before even starting the fauxsage mix.
For the inside, I make a fauxsage (scroll down to see). I used to chop it up into small bits, but since we got a KitchenAid grinding attachment as a wedding gift, I am able to grind the thing up. This works so much better as it distributes wonderfully throughout the mixture. Much better than the chopped pieces.
This time I made an apple-sage sausage. Basically I used the pumpkin-sage recipe linked above, but used apple sauce instead of pumpkin puree and I upped the sage a little.
Once the sausage was done baking, I put it on a rack to cool and started preparing the veggies. This will vary depending on what we get in our box scheme and what I have already prepared, but frozen.
This time
1 large yellow onion – chopped small but no need for full on dicing
1 large green pepper – this was frozen this time so was already chopped
3 medium red potatoes – diced
4-5 cloves of garlic – crushed (though Boo and I love garlic so I usually throw in even more)
3 small vine tomatoes – chopped
Approx 1Tbsp curry
After I finish the veggies, I grind up the sausage – about two-thirds of it. It should be cool enough by this time. I save the other third for other things like country sausage gravy or pizza topping.
I lightly spray a large (I use this one) pan and put the potatoes in. Once they seem near done, I take them out and set aside.
Then the onions and peppers go in. Cook them for a little bit, you don’t want them all the way done or they will get crazy mushy. Once they seem cooked but still firm, add the crushed garlic. Stir that around for a couple minutes.
Add ground sausage. Cook for a couple minutes.
Add potatoes back in. Cook for a couple minutes.
Take the tofu and crumble it in. Cook for a couple minutes and then sprinkle in curry. I usually just add this from the container so the measurement is a guesstimate. I sprinkle some on, mix and if it looks like it needs more, add some.
Once the curry has been thoroughly mixed with all the ingredients, add in the tomatoes (juice and all). Mix it up and then let it cook a bit. I put the cover on to keep in the moisture, but it’s not necessary.
After that is all done I set the mixture aside and cook the tortillas. I just buy flour ones at the store. I cook them briefly over my gas flame on the stove, just enough to soften and brown in spots. Then I roll. Boo taught me how to do this well – he worked at Del Taco when he was younger.
Place a good amount on the tortilla (ignore the bit of filling I dropped on the counter)
Fold it in half and with a little pressure slide the top towards you, compacting the filling
Fold the sides in slightly diagonally so that the open part is a little slimmer than the bulk of the burrito
Et voila! A nice looking, tightly packed burrito. 
I stack ‘em while I make ‘em
Then spread them out to cool before putting into freezer bags to await being eaten!
To cook after freezing
Wrap loosely in a paper towel on a microwave safe plate. Nuke for 1 1/2 minutes. Flip. Nuke for 1 1/2 minutes.
MMMM good eatin’.
Because Thanksvegan isn’t Thanksvegan without it. I lurve Tofurkey. My first and second vegetarian Thanksgivings I disliked it. Now I can’t think of the day without it. Weird eh?
The day was nice, but my sister-in-law had to go to the ER because her stupid contact abraded her ENTIRE cornea. The poor thing was in pain the whole day. They told her it should feel better today, but she has to go to en eye doctor person to get it looked at. She’ll be fine, but it just sucks.
Boo told her that at least it’s happening now and not the day before the wedding. I don’t think that was very comforting, but he was trying.
Anyway, without further ado, I present the Tofurkey Day goodies.
I baked Tofurkey. One for the meal and one for Boo and I to slice up for sandwiches for the weekend. I roasted them with one red potato, one sweet potato, about 8 cloves of garlic and one yellow onion. I tossed the veggies with a spray or three of oil, sage and thyme.
I made the basting recipe on the box, so no fancy stuff there.
Then there was the Sweet Potato “Buttermilk” biscuits. They were so good. Flaky and tasty. I used this recipe on Chow, but made “Buttermilk” instead of milk (soy, of course). One Tbsp. of vinegar and then fill to one cup. The recipe comments said something about them not rising much, so I figured the extra acidity would be perfect (as the commenter suggested). I got crazy flaky delicious biscuits. I did grate frozen Earth Balance buttery sticks and then refridgerated the dough for a couple hours before rolling, cutting and baking.
Before baking
After baking
Look how high and flaky!
I also made Easy as Pumpkin Pie ice cream pie. I got a chocolate cookie crust (yes I was lazy and bought pre-made) and drizzled some chocolate on top. Heaven. So amazingly good I almost didn’t want to bring it because we wanted it all to ourselves.
This was the spread at my mother-in-law’s with a good shot of her homemade “turkey” (includes the Tofurkey and biscuits)
Clockwise from the top left: rolls, Tofurkey, green bean casserole, mom’s “turkey”, baked sweet potatoes, biscuits, soysage dressing and in the middle, mashed potatoes. Cranberry stuff from the can and agave-cinnamon earth balance are on the periphery.
The gravy
A typical plate of food
And of course, there was wine. Frey wine 
For dessert, my sister-in-law made an apple pie and a pumpkin pie. I only had the apple. It was awesome – and I don’t particularly like baked apple stuff. I heard from everyone else the pumpkin pie was great as well.
The pies and mom’s sampler plate The white on the ice cream pie is defrost stuff
Gratuitous puppy shot
That’s Maggie, Boo’s parent’s dog.
I hope everyone had a good day full of friends and family, and of course, a boatload of food.
Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to kiss me once ore even twice, but it has been a long, long time. In internet time it’s been almost a whole generation!
I have been cooking away and taking pictures when I remember. I think the wedding stuff settled down (oh the thank you cards I had to write, my hand be cramped up!) just in time for the holiday buzz. Not to mention we have THREE weddings next year (possibly 4) of good friends and relatives.
A good friend and ex co-worker got engaged in Vegas this year. She and her guy have been together for years and have been friends for even longer. I used to ask her all the time if she was engaged yet. She finally was able to beat me to the question by telling me she was This one is in June.
I think I mentioned that Boo’s sister got engaged in August. If not, Boo’s sister got engaged in August. We had all traveled to Hawaii for his brother’s wedding and she and her guy stayed an extra week. He proposed on the top of Diamond Head on their one year anniversary. Soooo romaaantic… Boo is officiating his sister’s nuptials and I will be a bridesmaid! Wait… I’m married now, does that mean I will be a bridesmatron? Ugh. This one is in October.
Our friend that officiated our wedding proposed to my other awesome friend after 5 years together. They are so perfect together and Boo and I are crazy happy for them. They are the awesomest. Is that a word? This may happen in Sept. They don’t have a date as they just got engaged this past weekend.
Boo’s cousin got engaged to his long-time love the day before our wedding. They kept it so quiet I didn’t even know until she had already flown back to their home (he stayed here to visit with family a little longer). This one has no date and this is the “possibly 4″ I mentioned above. They talked about wanting something very small with immediate family only. Though, Boo and his cousin are very close and cousin considers Boo one of his closest friends, so we may end up going. We don’t know if this one will happen next year or in 2010.
Whew.
Married life is pretty much the same as before, with more stuff. Boo and I lived together for about a year before we were married so not a lot changed. Except we do the sappy “Good morning my wife” “Good morning my husband” thing.
So what have I been up to in the kitchen, you ask? Wait, you didn’t ask? Eh, I’m going to tell you anyway.
Broccoli and Noochy Mac.
Fresh broccoli from our box scheme
Amazing Mac and Cheez sauce from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook which is our favorite nutritional yeast (nooch) sauce
Horrible picture of the meal (it tastes awesome)
I mostly just steam the veggies we get, so this is how the broccoli was prepared. Veggies taste sooo good just steamed.
To give the noochy mac an even homier feel, I like to cook some chopped up Tofurkey Kielbasa and add it to the mix. Reminds me of a grown up version of the hot dogs and mac and cheese I had when little.
A while back I asked a friend of mine what to do with too many sweet potatoes. Our box scheme has them in there quite often and sometimes there are just too many. He had a lot of great suggestions, but I ended up doing a delicious sweet potato soup. I pretty much cut up sweet potatoes, onions, one yukon potato and garlic and then tossed them with olive oil, dried sage and thyme.
Then I roasted them until I felt they were done (sorry no real recipe here), pureed and served.
This freezes great. All pureed veggie soups do. Roasted root veggie soups are a favorite in this house so now that winter is coming there will be more of them. I love making a huge batch and using up the saved Earth Balance containers to freeze it for lazy, cold nights. A little bread for dipping and you have an amazingly comforting, filling meal.
As a side note, I have to go to Whole foods today. So. Not. Happy. Of course, it was my scatterbrainedness (bzuh?) that made this have to happen. I need Earth Balance Buttery Sticks for my sweet potato biscuits I am bringing to the Thanksvegan feast. I don’t want to use the tubs because it is softer and the biscuits may spread to much.
Yes, I said Thanksvegan. I am lucky enough to be going to Boo’s parents’ home for the holiday. An all vegan household. Mom is making her own “turkey” and sides and I will be bringing the biscuits and a Tofurkey, just because Thanksvegan isn’t Thanksvegan without it.
Oh and I made Bittersweet’s pumpkin pie “ice cream” last night that I may bring a bit of. But Boo and I might want to keep it all for ourselves. It’s crazy good.
I promise to be a bit more posty going forward. I will definitely be bringing my camera to the Thanksvegan (I love that word) feast so you all can share in the yum.
Though, I would never actually ride a horse.
Monday after the wedding, one of my oldest and dearest friends came over for a home cooked meal. This friend (I like to call her Super Girl or SG for short), drove (well, rode – I am such a control freak) cross country with me when I moved to California. We met under somewhat embarrassing circumstances, but we don’t talk much about that 
I made chick pea cutlets, mashed potatoes, steamed green beans (fresh from the just delivered produce box) and gravy. Yep, an old standard in the Ape household, but SG hadn’t had the good ol’ vegan cutlet o’chick peas before. It was nummy and really, no need for pictures as I think I have made it and taken pictures more than once before in this blog.
Last night I made a nice angel hair pomodoro, minus the basil. I just didn;t have any and didn’t feel like going to get any. It was my and Boo’s last day/night before he went back to work so we were playing it close to home. We also had some Delicata squash we had gotten in a previous produce delivery. Those Green Bags are absolutley wonderful. I have 2 1/2 week old zucchini I am thinking about cooking up tonight that looks like I got it Monday. Anyway, I cut the delicata into slices, removed the seeds and roasted with olive oil and kosher salt. They were like yummy, sweet potato tasting squash rings.
Again, no pictures as I am not sure where the camera even is at this point.
Once we get better pictures back, I will post the food and cake from the wedding. And maybe a few pix of the bride and groom
Now I’m off to do my daily Wii Fit. Boo and I got it as a wedding present to ourselves. It’s great fun!
And ever so tired. Will be happy to get back to cooking and posting!
Soon, I promise!
This should be veganmofo post something or other day… um… 13. However, I have contracted the plague and cannot be arsed to care. The wedding is in *tries to do math and fails* this Saturday and I am on day one million (ok maybe day 4 or 5) of the worst sore throat I have had in forever and now allergy/sinus issues that make it so if I even attempt going horizontal, everything clogs up and leaks.
Sorry, not much for food here. Mostly been surviving on vegan chik’n broth and popsicles. Soooooo sick of broth and popsicles.
So, yeah, this post is me whining about being sick right before the wedding and apologizing for not updating.
