I do, on occasion, wish that I had multiple sets of parentals.

The meal pictured above brings about such thoughts. Let me start from the beginning: my boyfriend has the most awesome parents in the world. They're complete foodies (just like me.) Every meal his mother has ever cooked for me has been delicious times twelve. During one of our weekend visits there, his mother conjured up a recipe for seitan wellington with a red wine gravy. It was godly. She also made us some vegan stuffing, equally as delicious.















Then for dessert, his mother made phyllo tarts- berry with Toffutti cream cheese filling and an apple walnut one. Alright, these weren't exactly for dessert, they were much more like finger food to snack on while the real meal was being prepared. I like the way that woman thinks.

Acorn Squash and Shitake Soup

Winter has not been too kind to me. The two weeks preceding this one were filled with frigid temperatures and nearly a foot of snow. At least I have had a cuddly kitty to keep me warm. And soup! Glorious soup. This recipe is from Vcon and as usual I had to deviate from the recipe a tad. While the recipe called for adzuki beans, I opted to just save the money and use red beans. It worked out just fine and the difference went undetected.

HALP, PLZ!

Some of you may know, but for those of you who don't, I live in what may possibly be the least vegan-friendly metropolitan area. Ever. The closest health food store is about a 30 minute drive from my apartment and the selection is kind of limited. For the past year and a half, I've been avidly searching for miso in any grocery store I go to and it simply is not there. I've looked in the international food section and nothin'. Someone tell me where you typically find miso in your town with a staggering population of 30,000. Plz?

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

The only thing richer than chocolate chip pancakes for brunch are the damn Waltons. (Go ahead, slap your knee. We both know you want to.) Dripping with Earth Balance and and maple syrup, these are heart attack waiting to happen. A delicious heart attack.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes:
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 tbs Splenda (yes, I am yet another slave to the Splenda con)
1 cup soy or rice milk
2 tbs canola oil
substitute for one egg (I use Ener-G)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup chocolate chips (or more)

Heat a large pan on medium-low heat before mixing ingredients. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl and wet in a separate medium bowl. Combine mixtures. Add your chips until well combined. I find it is best to use a ladle to spoon your batter in to the pan to get the perfect measurements for a pancake. Also, I discovered that it far better to have someone to share these pancakes. Pancakes are obviously the kind of food that requires company.

Vegan MoFo Post 4: Hodge Podge

I feel like one big failure this month. It's already the 29th of October and I've only watched 27 horror movies (I will post the final count, I know you're just dying) and only posted 4 Vegan MoFo entries. What can I say? It was a mildly hectic month.



Ah, fall. Finally, it's cold enough outside that I voluntarily seek refuge from the cold in a sweltering kitchen. Generally speaking, I think posting chili recipes is utterly pointless so I'm not gonna! I made this with the essential baking dish of cornbread. Cornbread on crack, that is.



This conrbread recipe was the one found in La Dolce Vegan and I was not very happy with it. While the outer texture was very nice, it was still gooey in the middle and it was a little bland.



All this meal made me crave was some pad thai. Just your standard seitan stir fry served atop some rice noodles. Complete with brocoli, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and makeshift teriyake sauce.



I imagine Isa Chandra Moskowitz had envisioned greater things for her Mac Daddy recipe, but that is all irrelevant now. I present: TVP Helper!



The face of instant-one-pot-meal joy. That's right, I'm putting this stuff in boxes and packets and slappin' this face on it to make a killing. Our slogan: Remember when you were 5 years old at the dinner table denying that mass of macaroni and and mysterious creamy sauce with bits of crumbly brown matter swimming in it that mom would force upon you? We forkin' do!

Vegan MoFo Post 3: Trip to Columbus

For my upcoming birthday, my mother decided to take me to Columbus for a day of vegan bakeries and thrift store shopping. We even stocked up on obscure kitchen goods at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. The first restaurant we went to was Dragonfly. We made it in time for the brunch special which included the buffet, (about five or six options of plates of cold stuff), and one entree. This was really expensive and the tab was about $45 for my mom and I just to eat there.

The second place we went to was Pattycake Bakery. Oh. My. GAWD. I only spent about $15 there but I should've stocked up on vegan baked goods. The cool thing about this particular bakery is that you can order stuff off the website. My mother, who I hail as a baking jedi, was seriously impressed with this place. 'Nuff said. On with pictures of the nomz!

Black Bean Salad, Sesame and Collard Pasta Salad, and Cashew Rice Salad

Mixed Greens Salad with Maple Mustard Dressing



Concord Grape Pancakes

Sundried Tomato and Cauliflower Omelet

Whoopie Pies, a delicacy

Cookies, more Whoopie Pies, Spelt Fudge Brownies..



Lovely Lemon Cupcakes


sdkjfhdshjkshgkj. Cheese Cake.

Vegan MoFo Post 2: A Tale of Two Pastas

Kale and Walnut Pesto

This was the first time I've ever had/prepared/cooked homemade pesto. It certainly won't be the last. Pine nuts are too expensive and generally I only keep dried basil in the kitchen. Here is the product of one cheap vegan.

Kale Walnut Pesto:
1 large bunch of kale
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped rather finely
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (you could use soy Parmesan)
salt and pepper to taste

Note: I wanted my pesto to be greener after adding the nutritional yeast, so I added a couple handfuls of spinach, as well.

Seriously, do I need to give instructions for how to prepare a pesto sauce? Blend, god damn it. Then serve over 2 cups of pastaof your choice. I chose brown rice rotini.

Artichoke Chik'n Penne

This was beautiful. I could probably eat this multiple times a week for the rest of my life and not be bored with it or dwell on the repercussions of my carb consumption. Noms.

Artichoke Chik'n Penne:
2 cups penne pasta
1 8 oz jar artichoke hearts
2-3 cloves garlic
1 package Light Life chik'n strips
2 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs basil
salt and pepper to taste

Drain the artichoke hearts and saute the garlic in the juice from the jar. when garlic starts to brown add artichokes and lemon juice. Saute for about 5 minutes then add remaining ingredients. Serve over pasta. Add a few dollops of Earth Balance to your pasta so the noodles aren't so dry.