rolling veggie swag 2011: veg[etari]ans unite and cook the tastiest food imaginable (omnis u shd get in on this, too)

yeah, i think lol american cuisine is somewhat condiment-impaired, as well. could stand to take some pointers in that dept. from india, korea, vietnam, mexico et al

fuck that, we just steal the best condiments from around the world...salsa is no 1 yeah?

yeah but basically i want more pickled stuff. lots more.

two weeks late but my friend owns the ottolenghi cookbook and i drool over it pretty much every time i'm at her apt. we made a (admittedly heavily modified) version of one of the muffin recipes and it was so bomb

another recipe from the TR book: tomato bisque. it's pretty good, i've never actually made tomato soup before. somehow it ended up tasted really cheesy.

heat large stockpot on medium
add 4 tbsp earth balance, melt
add 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped celery rib, 3 smashed cloves of garlic
cook for 10mins stirring frequently

add 28oz can of fire roasted tomatoes (whole), 5 cups of faux chicken stock (recipe recommends 'better than bouillon', i used 4 c of vege stock + 1 cup water and 2 cubes of this other fake chicken stock), a tbsp of fresh thyme, a bay leaf. bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cook 30 mins.

season w/salt and pepper. add 1.5 c of regular cashew cream and simmer for a further 10 mins.

recipe says to whiz in batches in blender and then run through fine mesh sieve. but i just used my immersion blend and didn't bother straining it.

OMG THAT SOUNDS DIVINE!! what is the recipe for regular cashew cream?

I made brownies last night. I've tried tons of recipes, all inedible. These are bomb. Recipe to follow

cashew cream (regular)

soak cashews over night in plenty of water
drain and rinse well
add to blender (i used my food processor bc my blender is a piece of shit, but you can only do small amounts in an FP) and cover with water, with about an inch above the cashews
blend the shit out of it till smooth (this will depend on yr blender/FP: if you don't have a vitamix you're supposed to strain it through a fine mesh sieve afterwards, but i didn't bother)
voila!!

i read that you can do this with sunflower seeds too so i'm trying that tonight

for thicker cream, just use less water. to make a dessert cream, you add maple syrup, vanilla extract and agave.

i made that pine nut/basil tofu again tonight and GODDAMN the first time wasn't a fluke! it is the best tofu i've ever eaten! someone else make it and tell me what a genius i am!

i almost ate an entire pack of tofu - i cooked it last night so it would be cold and delish for dinner tonight, and while i was cooking everything else i kept eating pieces of it... i think jordan only ended up with maybe less than a third of what i made.

I am so trying your recipe once I finally buy pine nuts!

Tonight I'm going to experiment and try to create a vegan tomato-cream sauce by pureeing together a portion of the super chunky marinara I've linked to upthread with some cashew cream and maybe some nootch. It will be served over gnocchi.

and by "upthread" i mean this post:

rolling stupid crazy veggie swag thread

to bread a whole pack of tofu, i only needed about 1/4 c of pine nuts and then an equal amount of flour

i am making that TR chicken scallopine for a friend tonight and also VEGAN APPLE PIE w/whipped cashew cream

Jesus, jstine start a restaurant

what does ilx vegerati think of oprah vegan week?

lol

to both those posts

honestly, i hate cooking so much. i really fucking hate it. but i'm trying.

that oprah thing... i have mixed feelings. like, it's awesome to promote vegan eating but i feel like it simultaneously makes it out like vegan eating is a 'challenge'. maybe that's just unavoidable tho??? but eating vegan really isn't even that hard at all, unless you live on frozen dinners.

vegan apple pie recipe is here: http://veganyumyum.com/2008/05/easy-tarte-aux-pommes/

and for brunch tomorrow i am making these: http://veganyumyum.com/2007/03/blueberry-breakfast-cakes/

man ppl act like it's this holy grail of self denial and I get some responses bout my veganism like someone just said I haven't touched my own wiener in 12 years or something. Like how can u live without x y or z thing, motherfucker...comfortably! Is how I live.

and then michael pollan, goddamn, on the one hand he basically created this sub genre of food books, but on the other he is dense as fuck as an analyst, no vision at all, gets behind the wackest shit that will make fucking no difference to anyone cept the self satisfied foodie yutzes, fuck outta here with slow food and localism

haha I'm swearing a lot today, comes with the dn I guess

i don't think anyone answered sam's question about agave nectar:

it's basically a sweetener that comes from a certain type of plant (some sort of cactus i think??). i think hardcore vegans prefer it bc sometimes bone is used in the production of white sugar (altho i read somewhere awhile ago that that isn't really the case anymore). i think it's supposed to be better for you bc it isn't overprocessed like white sugar.

yeah i feel like every week there are more and more options for vegan subs too. eg i just found vegan fucking marshmallows for jordan, and he almost died from happiness (marshmallows are basically his most favourite food ever).

agave is a great honey replacer, otherwise I use regular ass sugar

omg the sweet and Sara ones????? god it's like vegan cavier it's so expensive, but fuck are they good!!

in other news I got like half the special Ed dept eating quinoa now, WHAT UP

http://www.chicagosoydairy.com/where_to_buy/dandies_vegan_marshmallows

i really want to try faux gras but dang i inquired about prices/shipping and it's a min. 4 tub order + $30 shipping (cold pack) = $50

I'm not so sure the Oprah "challenge" is that beneficial to the veganism. There's nothing preventing her from making vegan options permanently prevalent at the Harpo productions commissary, nor from presenting only vegan cooking presentations live. But recording her staffer's "struggles" just confirms the general sentiment that veganism is impractical and ascetic.

Also, better to lead by example than subtle coercion. I doubt that all 378 of her staffers are "volunteering".

the dandies aren't that expensive but the shipping is ridic - more than the cost of the dandies! (they mailed them in the huge-ass box filled with packing)

if anyone comes across a good recipe for vegan 'pate' plz post it here

that veganist book by what's her face was #1 on amazon for two days and is at #2 right now iirc. It may not be framed in such a cool way, but I think at least oprah has proclaimed to her audience "veganism is a thing that exists that ppl do and they are not dead and not crazy (but they like to fart)"

Agave nectar is from the same plant that brings us tequila. Its very sweet, and has a low glycemic index, at 90% fructose, but as I'm swayed by Dr. Lustig's argument, in quantity it may be significantly worse obesity and LDL-wise than 55% fructose HFCS or 50% fructose table sugar.

is it bettr or worse for you than cocaine

Better. LD50 for sugar is >10000 mg/kg, for cocaine its 95 mg/kg.

This creamy tomato sauce was a success; the texture is simply divine.

agave is a great honey replacer, otherwise I use regular ass sugar

― fuck wit my dinner with andre day (m bison), Saturday, February 5, 2011 7:01 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

sometimes I get spendy and buy the premium ass sugar

well I'm p baller so regular sugar is on that evaporated cane juice business 4 me

so you are saying you buy evaporated ass sugar

made from the finest of asses

i have to sleep with a bodyguard because of this

tbh the only reason I invited you over that one time was bcz I wanted to harvest you for sugar. You didn't even wake up or anything, too.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Aphid-giving-birth.jpg

typing anything so that is not my bookmark

my apple pie was delish!!!!! i fucked up the crust somehow - it cracked and crumbled so it was really hard to roll out to the right size and there were no edges to fold over the top, but it still tasted ~~amazing~~. and the best thing about making your own apple pie? --- no fucking stupid cinnamon in it!!! or nutmeg!!! or allspice!!! gross!!! just lots of brown sugar and earth balance.

also: the cashew cream
i got it wrong up thread - it's thick cashew cream, add agave and vanilla essence and (a lot) of coconut oil. it was pretty delish, v coconut-y, and super rich. i think i will make it with less coconut oil next time.

lol m bison got me thinking and i have started a vegan food blog ^_^

LINK

LINK

― if there is a King Moaty, apparently he is huge into slapstick. (a hoy hoy), Monday, February 7, 2011 8:43 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

http://quizilla.teennick.com/user_images/V/Vyrus16/1076620065_ctureslink.jpg

http://vegantester.wordpress.com/

:)