After a very short stay (for me) in Philly, Amy and I took the bus to NYC to hang out for a few days, since I’d never been. Apparently, it’s a minor crime for SE Michiganders to have never been to New York. I’ve now officially been exonerated.

This photo makes the Statue of Liberty look much bigger than it really is. It was much smaller than I’d anticipated. Still, if there weren’t any skyscrapers yet and this is the first thing I saw on my way into the US, I’d be pretty excited. And it was big enough to get the job done in Ghost Busters 2.

We stayed in Manhattan in the East Village, by way of an excellent site called airbnb. Folks with an extra room are able to rent it out B&B style. We stayed for under $100/night in the East Village in a great apartment, with really cool people (and a very cute Pomeranian). By sheer dumb luck, the apartment was revealed by the prior guests to be a couple blocks from Lula’s! So, within an hour of our arrival, Amy and I found ourselves at an all vegan ice cream shop, with more options than we knew what to do with. Amy got a sundae with strawberry cheesecake ice cream and cake batter-flavored softserve, with fudge, coconut whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry.

I went a slightly more boring route and got a double scoop cone with toffee crunch and cookies and cream. It may seem like a waste, but their ice cream–made from cashews–was so awesome that I wanted to enjoy super old-school style. When’s the last time you had an ice cream cone while walking around the city?

After our…errr…lunch, we headed up to Central Park and then the Met (Metropolitan Museum), which was like a small city. Be prepared to spend some time there. We spent a lot of time in the Egyptian tomb (they rebuilt an entire tomb in the museum) and the period rooms (a very cool window into how folks lived in America from its inception through the early 20th century).

A few blocks from the Met is Candle Cafe, the more affordable (though still not cheap) younger sibling of the famous Candle 79. We got the taco salad and the sesame crusted tofu, both of which were phenomenally awesome.

We also got the world’s best vegan quesadilla, made with their own cashew cheese. It was mind-blowing.

The next day, we stopped in at Ost for some coffee and then hit up the Guggenheim, Neue, and Whitney museums.

We saw more great work than would be reasonable to describe here, but some of the highlights were the Charles Burchfield show and Biennial retrospective at the Whitney, and the Sarah Anne Johnson, Markus Hansen, Walead Beshty, Julie Mehretu, and Stan Douglas at the Guggenheim.

We found ourselves, once again, very close to Candle Cafe, and with so much on the menu we had yet to try, it seemed like a good idea. This time we had the lasagna and the Tuscan Seitan Parmesan Sandwhich, both of which were very good, but not quite up to par with our previous night’s meal. We were very hungry (and perhaps a sheet or two to the wind), so no photos on this one.

We got drenched by a crazy storm on the way home. We brought umbrellas, of course, but it was pouring so hard (and didn’t start until we were already walking back to the apartment) that we still got soaked. The next day my shoes were still wet. Luckily, we were only about a mile from MooShoes. My trusty walking shoes (a hand-me-down pair of Saucony’s I got from my friend Jason in 2003) had more or less bit the dust (I was in less comfy Macbeths on this trip), so I replaced them with a vegan pair. Goodbye soggy feets!

We were starved, so we asked the clerk where to eat, MooShoes being a vegan shoe store and all. It turned out we were around the corner from BabyCakes bakery! Not only is everything vegan, it’s also totally allergen-free, super all-inclusive. Obviously, we couldn’t resist doughnuts.

To keep things healthy, we had some savory biscuits too. The staff was ultra friendly and gave us lots of recommendations on where else to eat in the city.

We continued exploring at a slower pace than the previous days. We were hoping to hit up the V-Spot in Brooklyn for dinner, but they’re closed on Mondays. Instead, we treated ourselves to a fancy (read: really pricey) raw meal at Pure Food and Wine. For an appetizer, we tried the Dr. Cow cheese plate. These have been really hyped up and were good, but not great. The texture was perfect, in terms of replicating the type of cheese you’d have on crackers, but the flavor wasn’t anything unexpected; we’ve had more interesting nut spreads, honestly. For our entrees, we got the porcini ravioli and the spanikopita, both of which were outstanding. We had their cheesecake for dessert, which was also bad-assed. This place somehow seemed a little too fancy for photos. So alas, you’ll have to use your imagination or try it yourself.

We headed back to Philly the next day, luckily, since our checkbook probably couldn’t have handled any more Manhattan dinners. Huzzah!

On Sunday my most excellent residency hosts, Krista and Zak (at the Philadelphia Art Hotel) hosted the other resident, Jessica, and I for brunch.  It was super thoughtful of them to make a batch of Swedish pancakes just for me (the only vegan).  I provided applesauce as an egg replacer (1 tbsp as = 1 egg).  Because they are cooked in a griddle, the applesauce didn’t bind quite the way their batch did with the egg, but it did work, and they tasted amazing, as you can see from the photo.  I promise there are pancakes under all of that goodness.

Here’s the recipe Krista followed for about five pancakes:

Vegan Swedish Pancakes

• 2 tbsp applesauce
• 2.5 cups soymilk
• 1 cup flour
• Earth Balance (TM) for cookin’ and slatherin’

Whisk applesauce, soymilk and flour together until a bit runnier than “normal” pancake batter.  Pour a bit into a hot pan freshly dolloped with Earth Balance (TM) and swirl the batter in the bottom of the pan to make a thin, even coat.  Allow to cook until a bit less shiny on top and flip with a spatula.  Once finished, use the spatula to fold the pancake into quarters and pop onto a plate in a warm oven.  Repeat until you have a stack of yummy pancakes.

We served ours with more EB, powdered sugar, blackberry sauce, and fresh strawberries, blueberries and chopped white peaches.

Let us know if you have a go-to Swedish Pancake recipe, or have other ideas on how to veganize this one.  Maybe next time we’ll try ground flax + water.

As Mark mentioned I am currently at a residency at the Philadelphia Art Hotel, run by two amazing people, artists Krista Peel and Zak Starer. I am all set up in a the top floor of a row-house in the East Kensington neighborhood in a studio room adjacent to a kitchenette where, thankfully, I can once again prepare all of my own food. My fellow resident, Danielle Rante, and I are becoming fast friends, along with our other roomie, her dog Kanga.

Lo and behold, Danielle is vegan and Zak and Krista are vegetarian, so it was easy for us all to agree on a local eatery the other evening–the Memphis Taproom–which is in our neighborhood. They serve local beers on tap and have a great selection of vegan food on the menu, as the lady half of their operation is vegan. Danielle and I each got the yummy Smoked (Tofu) Coconut Club with fries.

As great as that meal was, it’s not really representative of how I’m eating here. I love getting to see how other (foodie) vegans prepare food for themselves, and Danielle is teaching me a lot in the health realm. At our house, we tend to eat a lot of starches- regular noodles and breads and decent quantities of them. I think of starch as one of my small indulgences. However, since Danielle and I have prepared some simple meals together–of mostly fresh produce and whole wheat pasta, for example–I realized how great (and how much better for me) whole wheat pasta, or sprouted grain bread can be.  One of my favorite new snacks I’ve learned from her is simply lightly toasted sprouted grain bread with part of an avocado smooshed on top, drizzled with some honey (we’re honey eaters) with a sprinkle of salt.

The (Mostly) Raw Kale Salad above was my lunch today.  I learned from Danielle to rub the kale with a bit of olive oil and salt and let it sit to soften it a bit while preparing the other veggies. This makes it easier to eat. This salad also has an herbed salad mix stirred in with the kale, chickpeas (the not-raw part), diced green onions, blueberries, shredded purple cabbage, half an avocado- chopped, carrots and some hummus on the side. In addition to the oil and salt, it has a dash of balsamic vinegar and some cranks from a pepper mill. It was perfect!

I don’t know where I first came across this recipe (if you can call it that; it’s so simple), but grapefruit and avocado has been one of my favorite hot weather treats for a while now.  Chop a chilled ripe grapefruit and chilled avocado half (I like it when it’s still slightly firm) and mix them together.  I top them with seasalt and pepper because I put salt and pepper on everything.  I find that duo actually brings out the sweetness in the grapefruit.  Enjoy!

I’m curious what everyone else’s favorite hot weather snack is?  I know there are a bunch of good ones out there, so let’s share the wealth.  If you have a foodie blog, you could link to your vegan recipes in the comments.  Thanks everybody…and stay cool!

Mark and I have been a schosh wary of attempting certain ethnicities of foods- some Chinese and Thai, some Mexican, etc.  We can just get better food at a restaurant that has people of that particular ethnicity preparing the menu and food.  Or so we thought.  Score a huge point for IV tonight for whipping up a dern good stir fry in as copy-cat authentic a manner as possible.  The veggies were crispy!  The tofu firm and yummy!  Ironically, I did not learn how to make tonight’s meal from someone from China or Thailand.  No.  I learnt it by observing the cooking prowess of a Spanish-British-Canadian in Iceland.  That’s right.  Thank you Juliana España Keller for showing me how to make a decent Asian dish.  Here goes nothin’!

Authentish Summer Stir-Fry

• 1.5 cups uncooked brown rice
• 3 cups water for the rice
• 1 large white or yellow onion, cut into petals
• one head of garlic, each bulb peeled and cut into thin slices
• a smallish chunk of ginger, sliced finely
• a head of broccoli, chopped into florets
• a handful of snowpeas, whole
• about 1/2 cup Chinese cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 2 small to medium-sized carrots, cut into thin diagonal slices
• about 1/4 cup fresh coriander, leaves only (no stems)
• 3/4 of a 1 lb. block of tofu, frozen, then thawed
• 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tsp chili sauce/paste
• 1 tsp thai curry past (any flavor)- we used red
• tamari to taste
• sesame or peanut oil to taste (for sauteing)

Start brown rice cooking first.  It takes about 40 minutes to cook and that’s about how long preparing the meal took, so it was ready right on time.  Next thaw the tofu in the microwave and press.  Cut into slices as pictured and set aside.  In a saute pan, drizzle a hefty amount of oil and about half of the chili paste, curry paste and hoisin sauce.  Add a touch of tamari.  Throw in a little bit of the garlic, onion and ginger and bring up to medium/hot and add tofu.  Allow tofu to brown on both sides, checking it periodically.   I would cook at about low-to-medium heat.  You can start the veggie part of the stir fry while the tofu is browning on one side, but be sure to keep an eye on it and flip it in time.  Once tofu is finished, remove from heat and put pieces on a plate.  Pour remaining oil/sauce onto cooking veggies.

While the rice and tofu are cooking, have all of your veggies ready to go.  Add the rest of all sauces (and a little tamari) and some oil to a wok or large saute pan and bring up to high heat.  Add veggies in batches, starting with onions, ginger and garlic.  Toss them in oil/sauce mixture on high heat, adding a small amount of water to create some steam- about a minute.  While they’re still very crisp, add the broccoli, carrots and snow peas.  Stir them continually for about two minutes or so.   Add a little more water to create a little more steam to cook the broccoli to al dente.  Next add the coriander and cabbage.  Toss in with the rest of the veggies, adding a bit more oil or water or both if necessary.  Add a little tamari.  These last ingredients barely need time on the heat, as they will continue to cook once the wok is removed from the heat source.  Be mindful that the veggies should remain crisp and the stir fry is finished when the broccoli and snow peas are a very bright green.

Place stir-fry in a large bowl (to stop the cooking process) and add the tofu.  Pour any remaining sauce over the mixture and stir.  Serve with the brown rice.  Hooray!

Hot on the tail of Mark’s “Cooking For One” post, I wanted to chime in with the perspective of cooking for one in my very particular situation: at an artist residency, in a shared kitchen, in a foreign country, as a vegan.  I been fortunate to have the time and space to reflect and observe my habits a lot in the last couple of weeks. I noticed that when we arrived, and I was somewhat stressed with jet lag and a new situation, my eating habits tended toward satisfying cravings, comfort food, and quick fixes–such as fast pastas and a lot of bread and carbs in general.  As I grew more comfortable in my situation, my attention turned toward my health and I realized I needed to put more care (and fresh fruits and veggies) back into my diet.

Here are a lovely breakfast fruit salad and luncheon sammich chock-full of veggies, herbs and slathered in Dijon mustard with soda water and juice.

We’ve also continued eating meals together in a group.  Often, people happily eat vegan food we prepare together, such as this tom yum soup made from scratch by Julie. She kindly made it with veggie stock and had fish sauce available for the non-vegs and tamari for the veg-heads.  It was delicious and I was fortunate to get to eat it again as leftovers.

It helps that there is another vegetarian in the group.  If the main meal involves meat, then we whip up some sort of veggie something and a veggie salad, which everyone can eat.  Last night Julie made lamb (very prevalent in Iceland) and polenta and sauteed mushrooms.  She saved out some polenta for me (and added cheese to it for everyone else) and made the mushrooms vegan so I could partake.  I made these yummy sauteed veggies (a lot of zucchini, garlic, onion and tomato) with fresh thyme and A LOT of paprika, which I have been putting on everything since returning from Hungary in March.  A splash of red wine in with the olive oil made it really flavorful.

Communal eating with new friends in a foreign country is a wonderful opportunity to get to know some new recipes and share food with fascinating people.  I have found that if I am as considerate as possible concerning my dietary preferences and values, people are generally very respectful and accommodating.  Skál!  (Cheers!)

I’m sure you’ll hear more from Mark in the next few days on how he’s fairing without me (poor guy… *wink*).  Next up from me: more eating out adventures around Iceland- in and outside of Reykjavík.

A guest post by our pal Ryan!  Let’s hope he behaves himself… 

I wanted to call this Mod’ed Polenta with Lemon Asparagi and Chickplease but my hands were slapped, and I was told NO because it isn’t nice for folks searching for a delicious dish with asparagus and chickpeas. I could have told the hosts of this guest post to go stuff it and f-off, but I guess I can surrender to a bit of authority for a moment in pleasing some friends.

After an afternoon of working in a hot and sweaty room, staring at computer screens, a dish that was light and delicious was in order. So Mark, Amy, Val and I (of imjustdoingthisthing) cooked down a delicious meal. Amy in her quest to eat healthier found this amazing looking recipe on FatFree Vegan Kitchen. Since the recipe is mod’ed I’ll try to really only point out the differences and save pixels (mods of ingredients are in italics).

Alright, I probably didn’t need to re-post the recipe and wasted more pixels than I wanted to, so here is where I am going to save on pixels. The polenta and the chickpea/onion mix of goodness were cooked as suggested by the FatFree Vegan Kitchen recipe, go there for how to cook that part. The asparagus was the big change and if you have ever read Val’s and my blog (another shameless plug) you would know that I like to grill. In preparation for the grill: rub the oil on the asparagus, sprinkle on the salt, pepper, paprika, sesame seeds, and thyme. Toss on the grill, over a medium high heat, and cook until al dente. Be sure to flip them over once so that you get nice purty grill marks on both sides. Once done remove from the grill let cool (to handle) and chop them into 1-1/2 to 2 inch bits. Pour some lemon juice on, sprinkle the zest on top, and add salt and pepper to taste if necessary.

We had a salad on the side made of freshly picked lettuce  and radishes from the IV garden, carrots, red onion, tomatoes, and candied pecans lightly tossed in vegan caesar dressing. Our bellies are full. Hopefully you will one day enjoy this meal.

Alright this has been fun; hopefully someone will at least spell check for me before posting. This is Ryan signing off from a guest blogging stint.*

*Amy here: I think Ryan was an all-around superlative guest!  (and spelling…checked!)

The Indian Feast Saturday night would not have been the same without pakora.  We especially like that our version is baked, not deep fried.  If you know anything about us here at IV, you know that we leave frying to greasy spoons and love adapting fried recipes to delicious (and healthier) baked ones almost as much as we like converting meaty, cheesy, eggy dishes to delicious (and healthier) vegan versions.

When we told our friend Mad Dog about this recipe last night, she nearly squealed with glee.  We hope you receive it with just as much enthusiasm.  Adapted to vegan from this recipe, it sure was fun to make (even more fun to eat).  At the last minute, we got the bright idea to make dhaniya dipping sauce to accompany the fresh pakora.  Ken was a champ and served as our runner, heading out the local food coop for a big bunch of cilantro (in southeast Asia, it’s called coriander) to make it happen.  Without further ado, we give you:

Baked Pakora and Dhaniya (Coriander Chutney)

Pakora:

• three medium-sized soft-skinned potatoes (such as red or yukon gold) or peeled russet potatoes, grated
• one large onion (any color), diced
• one overflowing handful of chopped spinach
• any other veggies you might want to add such as grated carrots, peas, or diced cauliflower.
• 2 cups chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp red pepper (optional)
• 1 1/2 tsp dried coriander (cilantro)
• 1 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour, spices, herbs, baking power).  Stir in enough water to make a batter.  Do it a bit at a time, making sure that is it about the consistency of pancake batter.  Ours was a little too thin, but didn’t affect the overall deliciocity of the outcome.

In a separate bowl, combine all veggies, and mix well with your hands.  Pour the batter into the veggies, stirring to a homogeneous consistency.

Use a spoon to ladle little bundles of battered veggies onto an oiled cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes, then flip and bake for 10 more minutes until toasty around the edges.  This batch made about 30 pakora for us, but the final quantity really just depends on the size you make each one.

Dhaniya

(We used this recipe and are rewriting it here with some measurement and ingredient changes.)

• one large bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro), leaves peeled from the stems
• a one-inch square chunk of fresh ginger, grated on a ginger grater (or about 1 tbsp of dry ginger)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• the juice of half of a lemon
• a whole green chili (we used half of a poblano pepper since that’s all we had)
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• enough olive oil to make into a sauce (1/4-1/2 cup)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.  If you want enough dhaniya to accompany all of the pakora in the recipe above, I suggest at least tripling this recipe.

Stef is allergic to wheat products, so we rocked the gluten-free naan action for the Indian Feast.  She and Ken came prepared with this recipe, which we veganized.  It was some superlative naan, I assure you.  I should mention that before they arrived on Saturday night, I searched high and low all over the interwebs for vegan AND gluten free naan to no avail.  So this might be one of the only recipes of this sort you’ll find for this Indian curry-scooping staple.  Here’s the translation:

Veganized Gluten Free Naan

• 1 cup tepid unsweetened soy milk
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour (superfine)
• 1/2 cup white rice flour
• 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
• 3 tbsp chickpea (garbanzo bean) and/or fava bean flour (we didn’t have the required teff flour and this worked fine)
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp gluten free baking powder
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp dried active yeast
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup soy creamer (or soymilk) with 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 2 tbsp cornstarch added as replacement for the yogurt [plain soy, coconut or rice yogurt would probably work fine too if you have one of them on hand (we didn't)]
• 1 tbsp ground flax seed combined with 3 tbsp water as replacement for the egg
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• melted Earth Balance ™ for brushing atop naan prior to baking
• onion powder and more salt for sprinkling onto naan prior to baking
• optional fresh minced chives–either mix into dough or sprinkle atop each piece prior to baking (ideally both!)

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the tepid soymilk and store in a warm place for 10 minutes or so. Make the “egg” and set aside. Make the “yogurt” by whisking the ingredients together and set aside. In a large-ish bowl, sift the dry ingredients (flours, salt, baking powder, xanthan gum) together. Mix the wet ingredients (“egg”, “yogurt”, and yeast-milk) into the dry and continue mixing until a smooth dough is formed.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Divide dough into about six separate balls, and roll each one into a thin flat round using the traditional rolling pin method (be sure to use one of the flours on the rolling pin and surface first), or use a floured plastic bag or piece of parchment paper between the rolling pin and the dough. It should look something like this:

Place each piece onto an oiled cookie sheet and bake for about three minutes. Flip bread and bake for 2 minutes more.  Watch for brown spots to appear on top of each piece. You may need to put it under the broiler for additional browning, or add baking time depending on your oven.

Celiacs and vegans alike can rejoice over this one!  The naan was an essential component to our feast.  Victory!

We have attended many a brunch in the last couple of years- vegan and otherwise.  At almost every brunch, our friends Abigail and Steven descend with their heavenly looking (and smelling) waffles, but alas, they contain milk, eggs and butter.  They kindly gave us the recipe and this last Sunday they debuted in the IV kitchen in all of their veganized glory.  Behold:

So, the MAJOR trick to getting these waffles right is to really get to know your waffle iron, and to pre-plan, since they need to be started the night before.  Mark spent a lot of time testing time and heat settings to get the perfect level of finish (ratio of crispness to doneness).  I was not at all sad to be the taste tester for this process as I whipped up the quiche.   Truth be told, the waffles in the photo are the teensiest bit underdone, but were wonderful with Earth Balance ™ and real maple syrup none-the-less.  So, we suggest practicing these with your waffle iron on some long morning where you can experiment, before you unveil them at a brunch.  I think his best efforts occurred somewhere in the middle of the testing.  Since the only other folks present for this brunch were my mom and brother, we bought their patience with bites of hot waffle goodness.  Here goes nothin’:

Abigail and Steven Waffles: Veganized!

• 2 1/4 cups milk of your choice (warmed)- we went with unsweetened soy milk.  I bet vanilla soy would be good!
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 8 tbsp buttery spread (melted)- we use Earth Balance ™
• 1/4 cup water (warm)
• two egg substitutes- we used Energ Egg Replacer ™ (follow the directions on the box), but next time we may try apple sauce, one tbsp per egg
• 1/8 tsp baking soda

The night before:

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large-ish mixing bowl (it should be able to fit into your fridge).  Add milk, flour and melted butter.  Mix.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

*Tip from Abigail: Set the bowl onto a cookie sheet or tray in case the yeast causes the batter to overflow in your fridge (it did in our case and we were happy for the tip!).

The morning of:

Beat egg replacer and baking soda into batter.  Follow the directions on your waffle iron at first, and if those don’t cut it, experiment as mentioned above until you have golden brown waffles of glory!

Thanks Abigail and Steven!

We served the waffles with this wonderful quiche, but this time I substituted a huge handful of chopped baby spinach (in season!) for the rainbow chard, since we had the one and not the other.  My very non-vegan mom and brother ate everything up and loved it!  Victory!