why is everyone so serious

Even though I do not live as close to center city Philadelphia anymore (I'm now in the Exton area) my best friend still lives quite close so we get to do our weekly "date nights" sometimes in her area. I always get excited driving out there and seeing the familiar buildings and places that I had spent the last four years in. I love living out here with my fiance as well and the new area that I've grown accustomed to, but I still definitely love going back! Luckily it's still only a 30 minute drive so not too bad!

Anyway, this past date night was in Philadelphia. We had planned on grabbing some takeout from Blackbird and enjoying some wine back at her place, but considering the temperature was nearing 100 degrees and there wasn't any air conditioning, we decided it'd be best to go somewhere instead.
I knew it was Beer Week in Philly and neither of us had tried The Belgian Cafe before, so that was a perfect opportunity to try it!!

The appetizers sounded more enticing than the meals, so we chose three to split to eat during our non-stop gab session, as usual. :)

The first one we got was the Edamame Hummus. I had remembered hearing about their sweet potato hummus, but that wasn't on the menu this time.



The hummus was great! It had cashews on top of it which added a crunch, and it came with the crispy wonton chips and red pepper slices. It was definitely a great option!



The next appetizer was the vegan barbecue wings. According to the site, it is corn meal crusted seitan with their spicy barbecue sauce. It came with the celery and blue cheese which wasn't vegan but also came with the vegan aoli sauce which was really good! I enjoyed the wings better on their own though since the sauce was so good!



Our last appetizer was the stuffed tofu. It was pieces of tofu marinated in Spaten Optimator, stuffed with dried cherries (my fave part!) cashews, cilantro, and garlic. According to the site at least, but I distinctly remember having pieces of red pepper in the mix as well! This tofu was a-mazing. Definitely something so different than the regular tofu options that are usually available!

Of Course, being Beer Week in philly, we had to drink some beers!

We figured being at the Belgium cafe we should drink belgium beers. I'm no beer expert, in fact I rarely drink it, more of a wine-o, but I knew which types of beers I liked and didn't like. After the waitresses suggestion, our first beers were drafts from Ohio..not exactly international but still good none the less!

After looking through the actual bottled beer list, we chose Delerium Tremens for our second beers. I've had this beer before from RFD in Washington D.C....I chose it based on its banner that read "The Best Beer In The World" and had a cute pink elephant next to it, how could I say no? Since then I've had it a few other times and I really enjoy it!



Seriously..how could you not like a beer with a cute pink elephant on it??

I'd definitely love to go back to the Belgian Cafe sometime soon, it was a great atmosphere and the food was awesome and so vegan friendly!
There's just too many places in philly that I already want to try so hopefully one day I'll get back there :)

Oh where does the time go?

4 months later and I'm posting again.
I seem to fall in this rut often within the past year or so..
Although I still read other's blogs all the time and am always inspired to keep going with mine, but yet I always put it to the side. I still take pictures of all the fabulous food I've been making though "just in case" i'll blog about it.
In which I will!

I have another cookbook review.
Appetite For Reduction by Isa Chadra Moskowitz, aka the vegan goddess of wonderful foods and cookbooks (veganomicon, vegan cookies/vegan cupcakes, vegan brunch..yes they're all great!)

I was intrigued by this book however because it was focused on healthier foods with less "fake meats" and more using pure vegetables and "real" food. Not that I don't love a delicious seitan scallopini, but sometimes resorting to how delicious just vegetables can be is a nice refresher.

I was able to get this book at a Border's that was closing, so I got a great discount! They had a lot of different vegan books that I was tempted to buy at such a great deal as well, but I already have quite the bookshelf full of them.

The first recipe I made from this was the Chickpea Piccata and Caulipots (pg. 115 and 54)



I love piccata sauces so I knew this would be good, and I loved the idea of a healthier mashed potato using half cauliflower as well. There were a few variations of the caulipots but I stuck to the original recipe and they turned out great.

Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes (Caulipots): (serves 4)
2 russet potatoes, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 tablespoon of olive oil ( I used smart balance instead! made it taste "buttery" like mashed potatoes i'm used to!)
2-4 T of vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon of salt
several pinches of freshly ground black pepper

Place the potatoes in a 4 quart pot in enough cold water to submerge them, making srue there are about 4 inches of extra water on top for when you add the cauliflower. Bring the potatoes to a boil. Once boiling, add the cauliflower and lower the heat to a simmer. Let simmer for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes and cauliflower are tender.
Drain them in a colander, return them to the pot, and use a potato masher to mash them up a bit. (I think i used a bottom of a cup, but I added a masher to my wedding registry!) Add the olive oil (or smart balance), 2 T of broth, and the salt and pepper and mash a bit more. Use a fork to make sure its seasoned well. Add more broth if needed and taste for salt.

These were so great and I honestly would have had no idea there was cauliflower used in it except for I made them.

Chickpea Piccata: (serves 4)
1 cup thinly sliced shallots
6 cloves garlic, sliced thinly (i used a jarred minced garlic, about 3 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
2 cups vegetable broth
1/3 cup white wine (i used pinot grigio because it's great to drink as you cook)
pinches of black pepper and dried thyme
1 16 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup capers with a little brine
3 T lemon juice
4 cups arugula (I used spinach)

Preheat a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Saute the shallots and garlic for abuot 5 minutes, until golden. Add the bread crumbs and toaste tehm by stirring constantly for about 2 minutes. They should turn a few shades darker.
Add the broth, wine, salt, pepper, and thyme. Turn up the heat, bring the mixture to a rolling boil, and let the sauce reduce by half; should take about 7 minutes.
Add the chickpeas and capers and let heat through, about 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and turn off the heat.
To assemble correctly, and if you made the caulipots as well -- put on a plate the spinach or arugula, then top with a serving of caulipots, then a serving of chickpea picatta so the spinach gets warm and it all goes together perfectly!

These two recipes I think would win over any omnivore easy. It's such a comforting and delicious, yet extremely healthy meal that anyone would enjoy it. :)

The next recipe I tried from the book was the Red Thai Tofu (p.149) and Green Beans with Thai Basil (p.98).

Both of these recipes were great, and went together perfectly for a delicious meal :)



The flavoring and seasonings on the tofu were perfect and the way of cooking it made it just enough crispy and firm to not be on the mushy side.
The basil in both of these recipes really brought it all together.
However, for both of these recipes it calls for fresh Thai basil.
I could not find this type in the stores near me, and regular basil leaves worked just fine! As I've been learning with a lot of recipes..don't be intimated by the complex ingredients, as long as you can find something similar in your local stores then the recipe will be fine and have your own twist to it!

Another recipe that we made was the Mango Baked Beans.


I'm back and forth with this recipe. i halved it for just Jason & I, and it still made a TON. I'm pretty sure the leftovers ended up being trash after being in the fridge for too long though. :(
The night that I made it and we ate it I really did like it.
I also made the accompanied corn bread with scallions with it and that gave it a nice touch and was great to dip into the bean sauce.
The mango added sweetness to the beans and bbq-ish to it which was a nice contrast.
I don't think I'd make this again though, but it was nice to try and a great easy weeknight meal!

The most recent meal that I've made from AFR was the 2nd Avenue Vegetable Korma.
This was AWESOME!
I always have trouble when I eat out and order a vegetable curry.
It always comes to me the way I don't want it to -- more of vegetables in a "soup" then vegetables with a sauce on top. I like coconut milk in my curries, but not my vegetables drowning in it.
That's why I prefer to make my own curries with coconut milk at home. Plus I can make it with light coconut milk, which in my opinion is much better than the full stuff..it just has a less overpowering taste but still brings on tons of flavor!



This recipe made a ton and was great the next day as leftovers over spinach!
Any indian-inspired meal I'm instantly drawn too, and usually very happy with so this was no different. It was great to use such fresh veggies for it as well. The zucchini was a nice change to the usual veg lineup.

This cookbook is truly great and I've been bookmarking many other recipes from it that I plan on making in the future.

My only demise? There is no dessert section!!

While I know Isa's cause of this book was to be "healthy" after making Vegan Cupcakes and Vegan Cookies cookbooks, it would still have been nice to see some "healthier" versions of her own desserts that she's come up with!

That's okay though, my "healthy" cookbook of Happy Herbivore has delicious fat free carrot cake cupcakes that we made to tie me over, which I'll review next time. ;)



Another recipe tried from the book was the

as we know it

As a christmas gift from my friend I got the new skinny bitch cookbook.
The first book, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch was given to me by my aunt 3 years ago for Christmas..and what was the push to lead me to finally take the plunge into veganism that January.
As I became interested in different vegan cookbooks and recipes, I realized how much I did not really like the recipes from skinny bitch. They seemed very simple, (recipe for vegan cheeseburger - 1 vegan burger patty, 1 slice vegan cheese, 1 vegan bun..not too complex and not really cooking..)
However, the book by Kim Barnouin, one of the skinny bitches, that recently came out is very different, and I absolutely love it!
The pictures in the book are wonderful and the recipes are even better :)
So far I've made three of the recipes, but I have many of them bookmarked and will be making them soon, I'm sure.

My first recipe out of the book was the Tempeh Tomato and Tarragon Stew on page 208.
The recipe made 4 servings, and since it was just Jason & I, I knew there would be plenty leftover.




This stew (mine was more soup-like than stew-like, maybe thats why we had so much leftover!) was really easy to make and I had never cooked with swiss chard before, so I was excited to try it out!
Funny though, as i took the swiss chard out to cut, I actually had no idea what to do, and had to google it. First time for everything!
Jason made his verrry delicious garlic bread to go along with this, which was a fresh baquette from the store with smart balance, garlic, and dried basil. He does make some delish garlic bread! :)

Tempeh Tomato and Tarragon Stew:
2 T oil (you can use spray for the cooking if you'd like)
2 cups 1-inch tempeh cubes (I kept the recipe the same otherwise, but only used 1 cup of tempeh..which was one package, seemed like 2 would be a ton!)
salt and pepper to taste
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 celery stalk, diced
3 T minced tarragon
1 T minced thyme
1 bunch swiss chard, thinly sliced
2 1/2 c diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups red wine
4 cups vegetable broth

Heat a large saucepan over medium high heat with cooking oil/spray. Add the tempeh and saute for 5 minutes until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper and remove from saucepan and set aside. Add onion, carrot, and celery to saucepan and saute for 3-4 minutes. Add tarragon and thyme, and saute for 1 more minute. Stir in the swiss chard and cook for 6 minutes. Return the tempeh to the saucepan and stir in the tomatoes and garbanzo beans. Add the wine and simmer for 8 minutes until liquid has reduced to half (mine never really reduced too much..hmmm...)Pour in the broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer for 20 more minutes and serve hot.

As much as I really enjoyed this soup the first night, I did not enjoy it as much later in the week for lunch reheated. I'm not the biggest fan of the flavor of red wine, so I think after sitting in the fridge for a few days, the flavor really took over. If you like red wine, you'll really enjoy it though :)

Another recipe I made was the Spicy Vegetable Curry on page 222. Another thing I really like about this book is that there are a ton of ethnic dishes! I love ethnic foods..indian, thai, chinese, etc so I was really excited to make a lot of them!
This curry came along really quickly, so it was a great week night meal when I didn't feel like cooking a long recipe. I didn't get to take any pictures of this, but I highly recommend it, it was great!
The recipe calls for mushrooms, eggplant, and okra. I really really don't like mushrooms, eggplant isn't one of my faves either, and I could not find okra. Thus, we used veggies we liked - broccoli, bell peppers, and any other random veggies we had on hand. It's a really versatile recipe which makes it even better.

One recipe that caught my eye first while skimming through the book was the Asian Macaroni & Cheese. It seemed like such a different approach to the usual mac & cheese, so I was really excited to make it. Plus I have yet to make my own vegan version of the dish, although I have had the packaged vegan mac & cheese's which have been pretty good.


Sorry for the bad lighting, my apartment really isn't the greatest place to take food pictures.

Asian Macaroni & Cheese:
2 cups cauliflower, cut into small pieces and stems removed (i just used a bag of frozen cauliflower florets..yeah, lazy way out I know)
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup water
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp white miso paste
1/4 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
1 tsp potato starch
2 T oil
1/2 c firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes
2 1/2 cups cooked macaroni (i used heart-shaped macaroni, in the v-day mood!)
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium saucepan, cook 1 cup of the cauliflower with the coconut milk and 1 cup water over medium high heat until soft. Add garlic, nutmeg, miso, soy sauce, mustard, salt, and pepper. Cook about 3 minutes and add potato starch to thicken. Pour the mix into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
In another saute pan, heat oil and saute the rest of the cauliflower and tofu over medium high heat until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. In a lasagna-style pan, add the macaroni, cauliflower, and tofu mixture. Mix in the cauliflower and coconut milk sauce. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top, and add the garlic powder over breadcrumbs. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

I halved the entire recipe, and it still made a ton. I also used an 8x8 pan instead of a lasagna style pan since I made less. Also..white miso paste..I had been looking for it everywhere for a while, and finally found it in a natural food store near me. The darn jar was $13! After coming home and adding the 1/2 tsp to the recipe, I really do not think it was needed at all! So expect a lot of recipes soon to be incorporating the miso, the jar is huge!

Anyway, this dish was fabulous!
And days later, it was still just as good.

I really cannot wait to make more from this cookbook, just so many awesome refreshing recipes in it!
Next post I'll be doing a DC trip review, we went there this past weekend for valentine's day and tried a few awesome vegan friendly places! Plus I met Lindsay Nixon aka Happy Herbivore, and that in itself was awesome!
Take care!
<3

Hey 2011!

So it's 2011...
one more year until 12-21-2012, but we won't think about that, right? ;)

Also, the year that I'm getting married!! Almost 8 months away!
Should be a good year, to say the least!

I'm not exactly one to make resolutions, but I do want this year to be filled with health and happiness, that's not too much to ask I hope.

I've started off the year right with cooking though!
One thing I would like to work towards is cooking more indepth recipes..usually when I'm feeling lazy a stir-fry works or a heated boca burger, but I really want to make more recipes that take time in the kitchen. I love being in there and cooking and making up a recipe that both my fiance and I enjoy.
Plus, for the month of January, Jason has gone vegetarian!!
Even more reason for me to make delicious vegan food for him so maybe I can sway him into making it a year-long resolution ;)
Just kidding, I love him no matter what.. but I do like that he at least always tries and usually likes the vegan foods that I cook or that we eat at vegan restaurants!

We spent our Christmas' this year apart at our own families, but we both made it back despite the snow to our apartment on Sunday for our own Christmas.
I had made the vegan crabcake recipe from myvegancookbook.com a few months back, and though it took forever to make, Jason really enjoyed it.
We chose this to be our Christmas dinner. Since it was snowing out when I left from Maryland, I had plenty of time to get back to Pennsylvania and go out to the store to get the ingredients for the cakes!



They came out as good as the first time! We ate them with sauteed asparagus in white cooking wine and garlic, with a side of mixed greens. Also, we used the vegan sauce on the website for the crabcakes (so good! and who knew that Kraft Creamy Italian dressing was vegan!).
Here's the link to the recipe..I highly recommend making these for a perfect vegan crab cake!
http://www.myvegancookbook.com/recipes/recipe.php?id=67

My new years was also really good, but our dinner was supposed to be the Ethiopian Seitan & Peppers from Vegan with a Vengeance. The seitan took MUCH longer than I had anticipated, and since we were supposed to go out around 8:00, they did not happen that night.
Instead, we had this recipe tonight. I had made the seitan from VWAV on Friday and refrigerated it in the broth until tonight. I also halved the recipe since it was just the two of us, but it still made enough for 4 servings, so we saved 2 pieces of seitan for another recipe for this week.




Here's the seitan recipe from VWAV:
Makes 6 cups (we halfed the whole thing for us, and still had half the recipe left over!)
2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup cold water or veg broth (i used water, was still fine!)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 T tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp grated lemon zest (i left this out..oops, hey it still tasted great!)
for broth:
12 cups water
1/2 c soy sauce

in a large bowl, mix vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, and flour. in a seperate bowl, mix the wet ingredients through lemon zest if using.
pour wet into dry and combine with a firm spatula. knead the dough for about 5 minutes until spongy and elastic. let the dough rest for a few minutes and in the meantime stir together the broth ingredients in a large saucepoit. roll the dough into a log shape about 10 inches long and cut into 6 pieces of equal size. place into broth. partially cover the pot and leave a little space for steam to escape and bring the broth to a boil.
when the broth has come to a boil, set the heat to low and gently simmer for an hour, turning the pices every now and again. (this was hard for me, the seitan seemed very mushy, but i was able to turn them without breaking them too much!)
turn off the heat and let the broth and seitan cool for at least 30 minutes.
after, i put the seitan pieces and some of the broth into a sealable tupperware until we were ready to use it. if you're going to use it right after, then continue with your next recipe.

Ethiopian Seitan & Peppers:
For puree:
I used diced chile peppers in a can from target, the recipe called for 6 serrano chiles, seed and chopped..but the can worked fine!
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 tsp cardamom (left this out..)
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp cloves (used allspice instead)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c red wine (i used sherry cooking wine)
3 T olive oil
seitan, cut into strips
2 green bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1-inch strips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place all puree ingredients in a blender and puree until relatively smooth. (I used my magic bullet)
Place the seitan strips and peppers in a 9x13 inch baking dish, smother with the puree. Cover with foil and cook for 20 minutes. Remove foil, flip the seitan and peppers, and cook for 20 more minutes.

We ate this with a simple sauteed brocolli and califlower dish with garlic and soysauce..but the book recommends rice and veggies. Take your pick!

We both agreed this recipe was great and a definite make-again.
I would love to try an ethiopian restaurant in philly and see the vegan options that they have!
Hope everyone else had a great new years as well! :)

NYC - some repeats and new finds!

About a month or so ago, Jason & I went to New York City for the weekend. We've been there together a ton of times since we've been together, and each time we always have a blast and see tons of stuff! :)

This time we tried a few new places, vegan-wise, so that was really exciting for me anyways!
We bustled through the traffic on friday night and had a reservation that evening at Blossom for dinner. We've been there a few times before, and it's Jason's favorite, so of course we had to go while we were there. I did not take any pictures, due to the poor dim lighting of the restaurant and the fact that I've been there a bunch of times before. We split the Cape Cod Cakes for appetizer, basically vegan crab cakes, and they were SO good! Jason got the Port Wine Seitan which he's had before, and is really awesome, and I ordered the Pistachio and Pepper Dusted Tofu, which was a new one for me! I really enjoyed it, the pistachio crust and sauce was really good, but of course, Jason's seitan was better ;)

The next day we wandered around the city, went to central park and did a bunch of sight seeing and such. I love just walking around new york :)

For lunch we went to The Candle Cafe. We've been to Candle 79 before for dinner, which is a lot like Blossom in terms of upscale vegan gourmet food, but the cafe sounded like a good lunch idea!

I was a bit thrown off when I saw the menu, and saw that it was almost identical to the menu of Candle 79, including the prices! For a crowded and cramped "cafe", you'd expect it to at least be cheaper! However, when I see the menu for dinner I am less opt to order a sandwich or salad for dinner, so this was nice to finally try the lunchy part of the menu.


I ordered the greek salad. Which included a tofu feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, chickpeas, and a delicious greek vinagrette dressing! I was really glad to have tried this, I loved it! :)


Jason ordered the Tuscan Seitan Parmesan Sandwich. Sorry for the bad pictures! The lighting wasn't that bad, but for some reason they just wouldn't come out clear. Anyway, he really enjoyed his sandwich :) I had a bite of it and I really liked it as well. It came with delish fries and a side of mixed greens!

For dinner that night I wanted to try a new place. Someone I knew had recommended Pukk as "the best" vegan place in nyc. Taking this recommendation into consideration, I thought we should try the best!



The inside is really small and modern looking, I liked the feel for it a lot. You basically sit on top of the people next to you, but I didn't mind the small-ness!
The menu was super small..literally. The book was so tiny and hand-held!
They had a lot to choose from on the menu though. It's an all vegetarian thai place, and since I love thai food, I was hopeing it would be really good.


I loved our appetizer! We started out with Vegetable Roll, which was mixed greens, tofu, and pickle daikon with smoked soy sauce. I loved that it wasn't fried too, I'm fonder of spring rolls that are steamed instead of fried :)


Jason's dish (and of course, the better one!). He ordered the Duck Basil which was with onion, bell peppers, and "spicy sauce". I really like mock duck a lot, almost everywhere that I've tried it I always love the consistency of it. Pukks was really really good.


My first dish. The Green Chicken Curry, which had bamboo zucchini and basil. Looks kind of like matzo ball soup, in my mind. Anyway, I took a bite out of this and really did not enjoy it. I don't know why I order Currys when I'm out, I enjoy them much more when I made them myself (I really do not like coconut milk but sometimes they make them without, but this one they definitely used coconut milk). Anyway, to make a long story short, they took the dish away and I quickly chose something else as my main.


I chose the Green Delight. This was basically just a veggie stir fry, with broccoli, spinach, and napa in a garlic sauce. I enjoyed it though, much more than the curry, so I was happy they were easy going with changing my meal.
I will say, I do not agree with the statement of Pukk being the best vegan place in nyc. (and because of this, i lost a facebook friend..true story) since I have a lot of thai places near me in pennsylvania which although they serve meat, they have an extensive vegetarian menu and are much better than Pukk! Maybe another time I would have had a better experience though..

Anyway! I saved the best part of the trip for last :)
While at a bar one of the nights, I googled on my phone where Stogo was. I had been to Lula's Sweet Apocathery before, and LOVED the ice cream there, but I heard that Stogo was just as good, if not better from some opinions. I knew I had to try it!
Just so happend the bar we were at was only a few blocks from Stogo!


Jason and I's ice creams!!
I ordered the Apple Pie A La Mode. Jason ordered the Chocolate Peanut Butter.
Why did I order the apple ice cream? I do not know, because about 2 bites in I asked Jason if he would want to trade, and luckily he said yes :) His was much better haha.
Not to mention there was skipping down the streets of NY and screaming "i got stogo!" ....but we won't go there ;)

Anyway! New york was awesome, and the new places we tried, I'm glad we got to try them! Hopefully next time we can try some more as well :)


Us in central park :)