Sticky Fingers For All!

 I recently took the kids on a trip to Washington, D.C. to see the museums.  No trip away is complete without checking where vegans go to eat!  The last time we went we wanted to go to Sticky Fingers Bakery and cafe, but did not have time.  Well this time it was at the top of our destination list for the day!  When we walked in it seemed small, but had a nice vibe and there were other folks eating there, too.  So not creepy at all, as some places in D.C. tend to be.  The menu was OUTSTANDING.  We all had a hard time deciding what to get, since we are not used to having so many choices.  I decided on a tempeh Reuben and sweet potato fries.  Delish!  My daughter had the TLT (tempeh, lettuce, and tomato).  And of course we all had desserts and shakes.  Like, delicious, cold, creamy "milk" shakes.  They were of course, non-dairy milks.  We stuffed ourselves and even took some home.  They had a variety of products for sale, including some vegan Easter chocolates.  I waited till the kids were distracted and then stocked up.  Overall, the experience was amazing, the food was phenomenal, and I recommend Sticky Fingers as a place not to be missed if you enjoy exploring the veg scene as much as we do!  

Wedding Fare

Photo booth madness!

 A few months ago, my cousin got married, and we are all so happy for her and her new husband, who we all like very much!  The wedding was one of the most lovely I have ever been to...but we were of course a little worried about the food situation.  My brother and his wife are also vegan and vegetarian (respectively), so they was a nice little crew of us who were waiting with baited breath to see what would be on the menu.  We were ASTOUNDED when it came time to eat and there were options for us!  I think I actually cried a little.  There was a stuffed squash and noodle and veggie dish that was amazing.  On the buffet there were grilled (like, really fresh and grilled, not just overheated) summer vegetables, hummus and pita bread, and even a mashed potato bar with a separate bowl of mashed potatoes just for us!  And to top that all off...the caterer made VEGAN CUPCAKES for us.  I am pretty sure it was the same recipe that I use from Isa's book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.  They were yummy, we were all full and so happy, and the wedding was like a dream.  Because we were not hungry, we were able to dance all night and really enjoy ourselves too!  The catering company is called Chef by Design Catering Company in Virginia Beach, VA.  I HIGHLY recommend them, I was very impressed!    Additionally, my general suggestion is to NOT be afraid to speak up about your dietary needs when you RSVP for a wedding or similar event, because you might just be pleasantly surprised (or in my case...mind-blown!).

Hello, Cupcake!

A few years ago I met Isa Chandra Moscowitz at the D.C. VegFest.  She was amazing...she did a demonstration and shared vegan gumbo with everyone.  I love Isa and I love her cooking!  Which is why I love Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.  This is her book that is devoted entirely to cupcakes and cupcake icing.  I actually brought my personal copy to the VegFest and she signed it for me!  Anyhow, I have made her recipes over and over again, with my favorite being the golden vanilla cupcakes with classic buttercream frosting.  They are fantastic and not difficult to make.  My family and friends ask for them all the time.  If you have to have this book, you can get it at most major bookstores, or yo can order it from Isa's website, Post Punk Kitchen.  Yeah, the photo below is not stock footage....I made those babies and they ROCK!!

Apple Dumplings

 My husband's grandmother has always lived on a farm.  Her cooking is simple but filling.  I have posted her pot pie recipe before.  Last winter she shared a recipe with us that I am in LOVE with!  It is very easy to veganize.  Pillsbury crescent rolls are vegan already (check the label!), but I buy the store brand.  Then of course I substitute regular butter with Earth Balance vegan butter, which is available most places, even WalMart.  It is mouth-watering and was a great addition to my holiday table!

Read Your Labels!

I am a busy mom and a full-time teacher...I love to cook and do it regularly, but it absolutely thrills me when I find a product that is yummy and makes me proud to serve it to my family.  That's why I read labels!  It's like a treasure hunt at the grocery store, and I typically find what I am looking for.  For example, recently I started craving cinnamon rolls.  Made a batch from scratch...took forever.  I felt good about it but I cannot do that frequently, I just do not have time.  So I kept thinking that there MUST be something at the grocery store...I was right!  After reading the labels for several different brands of easy bake cinnamon rolls, I found that the store brand was exactly what I was looking for.  You see, many of the everyday products that people eat are, in fact, vegan and they do not even realize it.  Potato chips, oreos, pastas, you name it.  So I read a LOT of labels, and it does take time.  But that's OK, because finding those products that are quick and easy but good for my ethics saves me time in the long run.  I love it when I can whip up a hot and wholesome meal...after working all day, picking up the kids from swim training, and squeaking home around 5:30 pm.  Just be careful, when you are reading those labels, there are a few key words you want to avoid that a lot of people do not usually recognize: sugar, rennet, lard, sodium, bha, caffeine, caramel, carrageenan, calcium disodium, lactic acid, maltol dextrin, modified food starch, mono-and diglycercides, monosodium glutamate(msg), nitrites, polysorbate, propyl gallate, red dye 40, saccharin, aspartame, & GUMS-arabic,cellulose,xanthan gums.

Ice Cream Dreams

Every once in a while I come across some new product at the grocery store that I didn't even know existed...this is one of my new favorites!  Yours Truly cones are remarkable, they taste delicious and they are reasonably priced.  When I was a kid, I was a big fan of drumsticks, and these are even better.  Instead of nuts, it has cookie crumbles on top of hard chocolate on top of soy ice cream on top of a cone.  There is even solid chocolate in the tip of the cone.  My kids love, love, love these, and I can get them to do just about any chore around the house if I bribe...errr...REWARD them with a Yours Truly cone.  These are not at most grocery stores yet, but it is worth taking a look in your store's organic section or taking a trip to a whole foods type store.  I mean, I love a pint of soy or rice milk ice cream, but this is just a different experience altogether...yumm...

Mediterranean in Virginia Beach

Vegan Moussaka

 We recently when on a vacation to Virginia Beach, VA.  Nothing complicated, but my aunt and uncle live there, so it was nice to visit them and have some fun, too!  We played disc golf at Munden Point Park, went to Croatan beach (where I got on a surf board for the first time in 10 years!), saw the state aquarium, and made/ate some great food!  One of the best things about going away for a vacation is eating food that you do not normally eat!  We are so busy that we quickly get into a rut with meals...spaghetti, enchiladas, mac and "cheese", stir-fry, vegan meatloaf...they are all pretty easy, and good for a typical week night.  When I am on vacation, though (as you know if you have been following this blog for a while!) I want to send my taste buds on vacation as well!  So one restaurant that we tried was Baladi Mediterranean Cafe.  It is pretty close to where all the action happend in VA Beach...the boardwalk, the beach, the carnival, etc.  I checked the website before hand (thanks again Happy Cow!) and was very pleased to see lots of green "V's" on the menu, indicating that a dish was vegan.  EVERYTHING (yes, I am serious!) on the starter menu was vegan, and they also had some nice entrees and wraps as well.  I tried the vegan moussaka...they brought me a huge plate of it and my first thought was that I would never be able to finish it all...well, it was gone in no time because it was THAT good.  I also had some really great baklava (vegans, when was the last time you had that!?!?), made with agave nectar instead of honey.  Oh, and some Turkish delight!  Overall, the atmosphere was great, the staff was so polite, and the chef personally came out to see how we liked our meal.  Do NOT go by Virginia Beach without going to Baladi!

Vegan Baklava with a Turkish Delight!

Snowballs!

There is no better time of the year than winter to make snowball cookies.  My aunt used to make them when I was a kid, and I always remembered them.  Before this year, I had never thought to even bother making them, but there is no time like the present.  Here is a great recipe that I picked up at VegBlogger.  It is very good...I do not chop my own nuts, I buy crushed walnuts from the grocery store.  These are pretty fast to make, and they go well with any plant-based milk :)
What you need:

1 cup of vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)
1/4 cup vegan sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans work best)
1 cup confectioner's sugar
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Add the butter, sugar and vanilla to a mixing bowl and use a hand mixer on it until it is fluffy. Then add in the flour and combine the ingredients. Next, add in the nuts and mix everything together. Then, have the kids take small amounts to create one inch balls out of the dough. Place them on the cookie sheet, at least an inch apart. Bake for 28-30 minutes. Once you take them out of the oven, roll them in the confectioner's sugar while they are still hot. Place back on the cookie sheet to cool. Enjoy!

VegNews Peppermint Bark

I found this great recipe in the November/December issue of VegNews magazine...it is amazing and addictive!  Peppermint bark chocolatey and minty at the same time, what a combination.  It is pretty easy to make too, so I am happy to share the recipe.  I was able to whip up a batch while doing about thirty other things at the same time (as any parent/teacher/busy person knows well).  I would like to add that Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips make this bark really, truly gourmet.  My kids and my coworkers gave it two thumbs up!

 Peppermint Bark

You need: 12 candy canes, 4 cups chocolate chips, 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
Do this: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Crush the candy canes in a plastic bag with a rolling pin (this is super fun for the kids!). In a double boiler over medium heat, melt the chocolate chips (i don't have a double boiler, so I used a glass bowl set on top of a sauce pan that had a couple inches of water in it). Remove from heat and add peppermint extract and 1/2 cup of the crushed candy. On the baking sheet, pour out the mixture and spread as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the remaining candy on top, pressing the larger pieces into the chocolate. Place in the fridge for like an hour or so. Remove from baking sheet and break into pieces. Store in the fridge until you use it! Enjoy!

A Better Blueberry Muffin

I have posted a blueberry muffin recipe before, and it was OK, but the new recipe that I have is BY FAR the best I have ever tried, vegan or not.  They are light, fluffy, and delicious!  The recipe originally comes from The Joy Of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick Goudreau, but the folks at EgglessCooking.com have tweaked the recipe a little bit.  They used apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar, which the recipe from the book calls for.  And then I added a twist of my own that I personally think changes the flavor completely.  Instead of lemon extract, I used vanilla extract and left out the lemon zest.  They are wonderful, lemony or not, so give this one a try...everyone will be begging for more.

Blueberry Muffins
You Need:

2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour (I used bleached)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Lemons For Lemon Zest (optional)
3/4 to 1 cup Sugar
1 cup Milk, any (I used vanilla soy, at www.egglesscooking.com they used Rice Milk)
1/3 cup Canola Oil
1 teaspoon Lemon Extract (I used vanilla instead)
1 tablespoon White Vinegar (or Apple Cider Vinegar)
1 and 1/2 cups Fresh OR Frozen Blueberries
Do This:

Preheat the oven to 375F for 15 minutes. Lightly grease a muffin tin or use papers.
In a medium bowl, combine together flour, baking soda, salt and lemon zest.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, milk, oil, extract, and vinegar. Mix well.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stir until just combined. Don’t over stir.
Gently fold in the berries using a rubber spatula. USE FROZEN BERRIES...I stress this because as the berries cook they get very juicy and toward the end of the baking process they begin to explode and ooze out...this makes a very creepy-looking muffin.  Frozen berries prevents this for the most part, I have found.
Fill the muffin tins about 2/3rds full.
Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. After that remove the muffins from the tins and cool on a wire rack.

Halloween Treats

We had another super Halloween this year, I always enjoy this holiday because it kicks off the official holiday season for me.  The kids wore some interesting costumes...we had an angel and Darth Vader.  Trick-or-treating can be more of a trick than a treat for parents of vegan children, though.  We have played around with different ideas in the past, but this year was the best so far.  That's why I want to share it with you!  We did the traditional door-to-door candy collecting, but immediately afterward we went to my parents house.  Everyone, including the friend we were trick-or-treating with, dumped out their bags and we sorted candy right away!  My guys gave up ALL their chocolate and other non-vegan things and then traded them for candy they could eat.  This was great, and everybody got plenty of sweets!  Our favorites are Smarties, Nerds, and Jolly Ranchers!  Hope yours was great, too :)

A Taste of the South

This summer I wanted to try some new recipes that I had never tried before.  One of them was a fantastic vegan key lime cheesecake.  I had no idea what to expect, but I knew what I wanted it to taste like!  A few months ago we went to The Vegetable Garden restaurant in Rockville, MD and I had a slice of their recipe.  It was so good, I knew it was going to be at the top of my list of new things to try.  So I made a similar version and it was...amazing!!!  I tested it out when we had a dinner with some vegans and omnis, and everyone raved about it.  Since it is more like a cheesecake than a typical pie, it is very, very rich.  A little goes a long way.  Here is the recipe if you want to give it a go:

Ingredients:

2 containers vegan cream cheese (Tofutti brand is best)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup lime or key lime juice
2 tsp lime zest
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 9-inch pre-made vegan graham cracker pie crust
fresh fruit for garnish (optional)

Preparation:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a blender or food processor, combine the vegan cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, lime juice and zest, and cornstarch. Process until smooth and creamy. Pour into pie crust.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, until cheesecake is lightly golden brown on top. Allow to cool, then chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
(Recipe discovered at : About.com)