Pierogies Done Fast

 I used to LOVE pierogies when I was a teenager.  My brother, sister and I would make a whole box and just eat that for dinner on any given night, especially when we were in a hurry.  I wanted to make a vegan version for my own family, but all the recipes that I saw were a bit...ummm....complicated.  Ain't nobody got time for that!  So I mulled this one over and decided that if I could just make the dough, then I could fill the pierogies with instant mashed potatoes and then boil them.  This was very effective and turned out to be pretty quick and easy.  Here is the dough recipe that I used followed by my own assembly instructions: 
Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus flour for dusting the work surface
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 1 cup water
• Box of instant mashed potatoes
• Optional: Diced onions, nutritional yeast

Preparation:

1. Combine flour, salt, oil and water in large bowl, and mix until dough forms a ball. If dough is dry, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until moist. If dough is sticky, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it's smooth.
2. On a floured work surface, knead dough 3 or 4 minutes or until elastic. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. 
3. Make a pot of instant mashed potatoes, maybe about 4 servings.  You can dice up onions and add them if you want.  You could even mix in a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor.  Let the potatoes cool before using.
4. Roll out the dough flat and cut into circles that are maybe 8 inches in diameter.  It depends on how big you want them.  I will leave that up to you.  Put a dollop of potatoes in the middle of each circle and fold the edges around the potatoes so that it looks like a semi-circle.  Pinch the edges together so they stick.  Once you have finished making the pierogies, put them in a pot to boil for about 3 minutes.  When they float they are done, but be careful because they don't always float.  That might be a myth even, I am not convinced.
5. You can serve them with vegan sour cream or even salsa or marinara.  Get creative, they are good with pretty much anything.  Some people fry them in oil once they are cooked through.  Before you fry them, you can actually freeze them and they keep for 3-6 months. 

Get the kids to help, it'd be hard to mess this one up!

When the moon hits your eye like a big...

Pizza Pie!  My family and I went on vacation to South Carolina, USA this year and we discovered a groovy new place to eat...Mellow Mushroom Pizza!  We checked out the menu online and were really excited to see tempeh, tofu, seitan, and Daiya cheeses on the "create your own pizza" list!  Woah, it was like my kids had died and gone to pizza heaven.  ANY cheese or protein could be substituted for something vegan.  They also can make salads, calzones, hoagies, and even have appetizers that cater to veg needs.  As you can see by the photo, my kids were so happy and we ate there more than once during our stay!  If you are living or traveling in the USA, there are many locations, especially on the East coast.  Check out Mellow Mushroom's website to see if there is a location near you and to view the menu.  If you aren't near a Mellow Mushroom, you can always gather ingredients at your local grocery and make your own :-)  Sometimes, your own is simply the best!

Thanksgiving with the Turkeys 2013

 Here are some photos from our annual trip to Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, MD, USA to have Thanksgiving with the Turkeys.  This is always a great opportunity to meet other vegans, eat without worrying what's in our food, and enjoy time outside with the animals.  To visit Poplar Springs' website and find out what else they have going on, click here.

 

Lovely Puerto Rico

 I just got back from a wonderful trip to Puerto Rico to celebrate my sister's birthday...it was amazing and, of course, sweltering!  I loved it!  I cannot stand cold weather and snow, so I had the time of my life just baking.  I also ate some very good food.  I have the Happy Cow app on my iPhone, so I did some searches for some good places to eat!  The following is a photo diary of some of my culinary experiences while staying in San Juan, PR.  If you might be traveling to Puerto Rico in the future or are thinking of finding a place to vacation, check out the choices at Happy Cow.

The first thing I did was go to the grocery store, the Super Maxx.  NO JOKE this was the freezer section.  I decided that since there was an enourmous selection of vegan foods at the grocery (in addition to countless ethnic and local foods), I want to move to Puerto Rico.  That and, did I mention it's HOT?

We ate at a wonderful restaurant call the Cafe Berlin in Old San Juan.  I had the vegetarian "steak" with vegetables and it was so filling and delicious.  They had a LOT of vegan/veg choices on the menu, and if we had been there for longer, I would have tried to make it to the brunch.  Also, a little old man serenaded me with his guitar.  Bonus points.

At the Super Maxx, I bought a can of vegan "skallops".  I was curious, so I thought that I would take them home.  Well, they never made it home because one night we were so tired that we ate at the hotel restaurant.  I did not want to eat hummus again (yes, you can have too much of a good thing), so I went out on a limb and brought the waiter the can of "skallops" and asked him if he could do something with it.  This is what I got.  It was amazing.  Thank you Hosteria Del Mar!

For my sister's birthday, we ate at a lovely eatery called The Garden.  I had the curried tofu with jasmine rice.  It was so good, I am so glad that there are so many places that I can eat at in Puerto Rico.  Almost too many...I am seriously going to have to hit the gym hard this week.

Sidenote: There are some places that you should never eat.  This is one of them.  If you see a string of roadside "cafe's" that have their food sitting out and basically look shady, go to Subway of Burger King.  Your stomach will thank you.

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...

Thanksgiving With The Turkeys 2011

Me and Will Tuttle

My crew in the food line.

Piggy Nose

We had another fantastic time at the Thanksgiving with the Turkeys at the Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, MD, USA.  It was a beautiful day, clear and brisk, and it was perfect to hang out on the farm with our friends the animals.  We always enjoy going out to Poplar Springs, but Thanksgiving is the best because they host the biggest vegan potluck I have ever seen.  Table after table of delicious vegan eats.  Since hundreds of people show up, there are hundreds of dishes to choose from.  There was a great selection of wine and drinks and desserts as well.  Even though I do not know most of the people there, I always feel right at home!  The turkeys always eat first, since they are the guests of honor.  They get long trays of corn and other things turkeys like to eat.  Then the people eat, and it is amazing.  Once we got our food and sat down, I got the surprise of the day...right over my shoulder, not more than 30 feet away, was the one and only Will Tuttle!  If you do not know who Will Tuttle is, you need to.  His website says, "Dr. Tuttle presents about 150 events yearly  at conferences, retreats, and progressive churches and centers throughout North America. A former Zen monk with a Ph.D. in education from U.C., Berkeley, he has worked extensively in intuition development, spiritual healing, meditation, music, creativity, vegan living, and cultural evolution."  He wrote the book "The World Peace Diet", which is "the first book to make explicit the invisible connections between our culture, our food, and the source of our broad range of problems—and the way to a positive transformation in our individual and collective lives."  He signed my copy and I got to meet and talk to him.  I was so honored!  The rest of our time at Poplar Springs was spent wandering around and visiting the other animals (especially our favorite, the pigs), talking to new friends, watching the kids run around and play, and digesting!  If you have the opportunity to make it out for this event, you really should!  Start looking for announcements on their website around September.

D.C. Vegfest 2011

Veg Kids!

Wayne Pacelle

Here are a few photos from the D.C. VegFest that we went to on the 24th of September.  We had an awsome time, I was especially impressed with the speakers.  Isa Chandra Moskowitz is the author of the Post Punk Kitchen and she actually did a book signing after she gave a demonstration on how to make vegan gumbo and pumpkin cheesecake.  Both were delicious and I brough my copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for her to sign.  Yeah!  Wayne Pacelle, the CEO of the Humane Society, was there signing his book, as was Colleen Patrick Gourdreau.  I am a regular listener of her podcast, The Compassionate Cook.  I really had stars in my eyes for a little while there.  One of the main things that we came to do was EAT!  If you get a chance to take the family to a vegetarian or vegan festival, you should, because there is always tons of food.  And as a vegan, I like to eat a LOT!  I had some great nachos, and they had pumpkin spice whoopie pies.  A whoopie pie is like a GIANT cream-filled cookie/cake.  They are unbelievable!  My kids were thrilled to see other vegan kids, and we actually signed them up for a Vegan Kids playgroup there.  If you are a lonely vegan, a festival is a great place to hook up with other vegans and get plenty of great info on what to do next.

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Vegan Thanksgiving 2009

Although we have been vegan for nearly 3 years, we have never invited our family to have Thanksgiving at our house. Well, this was the year!! And I have to say, it was a success. First of all, you can't go wrong with a fire in the fireplace and lots of great wine. But our menu was one that no omnivore (person who eats meat and plants) could pass up. We had: Tofurkey, baked corn, green beans, rolls and bread, mashed potatoes and vegetarian gravy, twice-baked potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, squash, apple pie, pumpkin pie, vanilla soy ice cream, and homemade chocolate chip cookies with coffee. The pies, by the way, were bought and baked...I did not have time to make pies from scratch. Mrs. Smith's makes great pies that have no eggs or dairy in them, but be sure to CHECK YOUR LABELS! So we were all very stuffed, very thankful, and had tons of leftovers for days!