Entries Tagged 'Miscellaneous' ↓

Speaking of vegan pizzas…we ate out with some friends the other night at the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe & Brewery. Word had it that a person could get a pizza with soy cheese. While the word was correct, the word failed to mention that this was the bogus variety of soy cheese that’s made with…well…cheese. Can someone tell me why this product even exists?

Conventional wisdom would suggest that non-vegan soy cheese must be for either (a) people who want a marginally healthier cheese, or (b) folks who are lactose intolerant (non-vegan soy cheese typically has casein and sometimes even rennet, but not lactose). Unconventional wisdom, however, would suggest that non-vegan soy cheese exists to trick vegans. How many fledgling vegans have picked this up thinking–as any rational person would–that soy cheese  = vegan cheese? Or more likely, how many kindly friends and family members have picked this up for their vegans (this, I would argue, is probably the lion’s share of the non-vegan soy cheese market)? How many of us have been enticed and/or fooled by pizza with this crap? Now compare those numbers to the number of people how knowingly bought it.

At the very least, it seems reasonable to ask these companies to rename their soy cheese to something like 2% cheese or mostly not cheese (but just a little) or The Ultimate ‘Fuck You’ to Vegans ™. Why not just make it vegan and greatly increase the number of people who can consume it? Vegan cheese keeps getting better–Daiya melts just as well as the non-vegan varieties of faux cheese, tastes just as good–if not better, certainly won’t aggravate anyone’s lactose intolerance, and is probably healthier (at minimum it contains less cholesterol). The answer is probably that it would be either (a) more difficult, (b) more work, or (c) both.

I suppose it’s unreasonable to expect a company that presumably is enjoying some small profit to quit what they’re doing. The cost of changing their recipe may not be commensurate with what they’d get back. But I’d at least like to entreat restaurants who use this stuff to switch to a vegan variety. The minimal addition in cost greatly increases the number of people who can eat it. Additionally, it’s more honest. If we hadn’t made a point of asking, I’m sure the Jolly Pumpkin would have served us their not-quite-vegan pizza. What really burns me is that they’re clearly thinking of folks’ dietary needs; they even have gluten free crust! Why leave out the vegans?

This is what I e-mailed them:

Hello! My wife and I stopped in to the Ann Arbor restaurant last week–first off, let me say that the beer was excellent. The restaurant looks great too. We did have two small concerns, however. You offer a pizza with soy cheese–but this cheese isn’t vegan. This (a) excludes us vegans (and there are quite a few of us around here) and (b) is potentially misleading. If we hadn’t asked specifically (and a major thanks goes to our server for knowing the answer to this question), we may have eaten the pizza, assuming it was vegan. The great thing about vegan cheese is that it caters to the lactose intolerant, health conscious, and vegan alike. The other (very small) issue was that the soy cheese wasn’t on the menu; we learned about it from friends. Why not highlight this? I’d imagine beer and vegan pizza would be very popular with local vegans.

Daiya (http://www.daiyafoods.com/) currently seems to be the most popular brand of faux cheese (it’s soy-free too). Folks would probably be relatively happy with Follow Your Heart (http://www.followyourheart.com/products.php?id=25) as well, which has the advantage of being available in smaller retail quantities.

Thanks so much for your attention to this issue! Keep up the fine beers!

Thus ends my rant.

I suspect that many of you out there are just as voyeuristic as I am when it comes to seeing other people’s spaces.  Even though I can afford none of the glory inside, I love picking up a Dwell magazine just for the photos.  Apartment therapy?  Please and thank you.  And don’t even get me started on The Selby.  So, I thought we should give you a little glimpse into IV headquarters (i.e. our kitchen) while it’s bright and clean(ish).  Also, Mark is cleaning up a mess on my art website right now instead of posting about amazing quesadillas (coming soon!) so I thought I would hop into the blogger’s seat, and since I love all of the aforementioned  peeks into others’ lives, that’s what you get–only this time from ours.

What’s that you say?  No no, contrary to appearances here, our kitchen is not located on the surface of the sun, though our dining room does get pretty toasty during the day, much to the cats’ delight.

The crazy angle of this photo is attributed less to the height-enhancing power from all of the kale in our diet, more to my perch sitting on the counter as I took the photo.  Note the waist-height oven–a first for us, having been used to the more customary oven/stove units prevalent in all of our former abodes.  This makes appliance shopping that much more interesting and complicated as we found out yesterday when looking at all of the choices of ranges: induction electric, electric/induction combos, glass vs. electric coils, gas vs. electric…

So, that’s our kitchen.  She’s quite a champ and has become our favorite room in the house, as occurs with many foodies, I’m sure.  Thanks for taking the tour with me!

Dudes, dudettes, trans/inter/cross-dudered:

This month’s VegNews features Amy’s article “Blissful Budapest” about rockin’ the vegan lifestyle while on an artist’s residency in Budapest, Hungary!

Somehow, while making art, Amy also manages to be a world-famous travel-writer. See? I told you she was superlative!

You’ll probably recognize her excellent photography skills–she not only wrote the article, but also took all the photos (except the one of her on the title page, of course, which was taken by her friend Nannette).

Jennifer from Scrumpdilly passed this my way. I almost never do these things–but the straight-up cooking theme made this a little more compelling.

Brought to you by Lauren of Whoa Wren!
1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
Currently, almond–but only Almond Breeze ™ plain, unsweetened

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?

1. Our neighbor just gave us an omni recipe for a sort of Zuppa Toscana, that we intend to veganize.
2. Seitan is my Motor recently pointed out this recipe for Iraqi-inspired Seitan Stew from FatFree Vegan Kitchen.
3. I think we’re gonna make a pot pie with BISCUIT CRUST tonight.
   

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Earth Balance and salt–after air-popping

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
We tend to escape disastrous, but sometimes things end up weird–so weird that you’re uncertain as to whether they’re really good or just plain terrible. Anything in the failures section.

5. Favorite pickled item?
My friend Ryan has a shirt that says “Cucumbers are pickles soaked in evil.” –that’s how I feel about pickling.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
In a binder for in-process/experiments/recipes from online. Otherwise, here, on this blog.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
Well, we use all three, but compost is always preferable.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?
Avocado, seitan, peanut butter? Can I choose something prepared? Panang Curry from Thai Thai, Taco Salad from Aut Bar, Runaway Potato from Alice & Friends.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
When I was 9 or 10, my friend Shawn and I went to the grocery store and bought a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and a gallon of vanilla ice cream. We brought this back to his place and proceed to make our own blizzards. I’m not sure if it’s cool to let 10-year-olds use a blender unsupervised, but I definitely thought it was awesome then. For like $6 we made over a gallon of blizzard, HEAVY on the Peanut Butter Cups. This was probably my first DIY cooking moment. Our blizzard was infinitely superior and much cheaper than the real thing.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
Temptations Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
How are we defining appliance? I think good knives are probably the single most important thing, along with at least 1 non-stick or well-seasoned pan. We use our crappy blender almost every day. Our coffee maker is probably winning, though I have no special attachment to it. In terms of non-standard gadgets that we find ourselves surprised to love, it’s the immersion-blender, hands down.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Aside from the obvious salt and pepper, cumin.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
How it All Vegan was my first cookbook. I bought it the weekend I went vegan, almost 10 years ago.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Raspberry

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
My blackbean soup seems to go down really well with omnis–I generally try to shy away from “reproduction fare”, since it only highlights your “different” diet.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Seitan, tempeh, then tofu.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Supper. Evening/night. (I’ve also developed a soft spot for brunch after a summer of brunching.)

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
A powder-blue watering can, a medium size turquoise pot, and a large yellow pan.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Homemade ice cream, green beans from our garden, 3 dead birds.

20. What’s on your grocery list?
Potatoes, Bananas, Soy Creamer. I just went to the farmer’s market two days ago, so we’re mostly good.

21. Favorite grocery store?
Generally, our local food coop. Occasionally Whole Foods for the few items we can’t seem to get at the coop.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.
No, you name one. I take requests.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Vegan Dad, VeganYumYum, Scrumpdilly

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Peanut Butter Cups from How it All Vegan

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
It’s been pretty back-to-basics lately. We did buy a slew of fancy flours and starches recently to make gluten free pancakes for a vegan brunch.

26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?
Nothing comes to mind. I don’t like vinegar very much, but that’s more antipathy than fear.

It was the best of quiches, it was the…well, I guess, okay, of quiches?

Here’s the gimmick: one quiche is almost entirely from scratch, the other is almost entirely from pre-packaged ingredients. In the battle of the century, which will win?! Sundaysundaysunday! Be there!

(Genius battle plan devised by Amy)

Obviously, we were pulling for from-scratch, as we try to keep our consumption of packaged/processed foods to a minimum.

Pre-packaged ingredients on the left; fresh, local, organic ingredients on the right

We unveiled these bastages at yet another brunch (this summer’s been lousy with the things)–to mostly omnivores, served alongside a “real” quiche. About half of each was eaten, which isn’t half bad given the competition, but isn’t as good as being inhaled within minutes.

The consensus, ultimately, was that the more homemade-y variety was superior, though the soysage in the faux-ass quiche was much better then the tempeh crumbles that I invented (poorly) for this recipe. Additionally, even though I took precautions against it (by using 1 block of non-silken tofu), neither quiche ended up as springy as a “real” quiche. Amy likes to think of these as “breakfast pies”. To me, that sounds a lot like “breakfast failures”.

So color this a “work-in-progress“. Consider some improvements below!

L’ Quiche au Naturale

Filling

• 1 lb extra firm tofu
• 1 pkg extra firm silken tofu*
• 1.5 – 2 cups chopped kale or spinach**
• 1/2 large white onion, diced
• 1/3 large green bell pepper, diced
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp white miso
• 1/4 cup nu yeast
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup faux milk beverage (preferably, unsweetened)
• 1.5 tsp arrow root powder
• tempeh sausage crumbles
• faux-made cheez

Tempeh Sausage Crumbles

• 1 pkg or a 5″ x 3″ x 1/2″ block tempeh***
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1.5 tbsp soy sauce/tamari/shoyu
• 1 tbsp liquid smoke(tm)
• salt and pepper (lots of pepper), to taste

Faux-Made Cheez (nabbed [and modified slightly] from Scrumpdilly)

• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin

Crust (I know, this shit is getting ridiculous. That’s what being awesome means.)

• 2.5 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup ice-cold water

* As far as I know, this only comes in packages. Fuck. Being good is so hard.
** Whatever is available locally. Kale seems easier to find in our neck of the woods.
*** Our local coop sells locally made tempeh in bulk. This is in Ypsilanti, MI. You can find this. If you can’t, use homemade seitan.

Directions

Crust

Sift 2.5 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour into a large mixing bowl. Cut in (with two battling butter knives) 1/2 cup butter or shortening (Earth Balance makes both). You want the mixture to form large crumbs. You may need up to an additional 1/2 cup of butter or shortening–but take it easy. You want crumbs, not giant shortening boogers. Once you’ve got this crumb-ified, add in 1/4 cup of ice water, a little at a time until all the crumbs are sticking together. You want this just wet enough. Knead the dough into a big ball then separate into two smaller balls. Put this in an airtight-ish reusable plastic bag or plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least four hours. Then roll and rock, in that order. Easy!

Tempeh Sausage Crumbles

Chop tempeh into crumbles. I’ve documented this ad nauseum in the biscuits and gravy post.  In a large pan, brown the tempeh over medium heat in soy sauce/tamari/shoyu and liquid smoke, tossing in remaining ingredients once the tempeh is coated. Cook until nice and brown. Fantastic. You are a champion.

Cheez

Follow Jennifer’s recipe, sans pimiento and jalapeno.

Filling

In a medium-sized pan, over medium heat, sautee the onion, garlic, and green pepper until soft. Combine the water and arrow root powder. In a food processor, or Vitamix(tm) if you won the lottery, blend all of the filling ingredients except the kale and sautee-fixins, along with the arrow-root-water. In a large bowl, combine the sautee-fixins, the kale, the tempeh sausage crumbles, and the filling. You may want to save a few tempeh crumblins to sprinkle on top of the quiche.

Finally

Pour the filling into the crust. Drizzle faux-made cheez (and crumblins if you saved any) on top of the filling. Bake for about 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Tada!

L’ Quiche au Faux

• 1 lb extra firm tofu (packaged and sealed [oooh! Go with Whitewave(tm), they're total bastards!])
• 1 pkg extra firm silken tofu(Mori-nu(tm))
• 1.5 – 2 cups chopped store-bought, bagged or boxed spinach (go with the box, that’s really offensive–fuck you nature!)
• 1/2 large white onion, diced (I think some places you can buy this pre-packaged)
• 1/3 large green bell pepper, diced (you’re gonna have to do this yourself…maybe you can put some cans in the garbage to offset the positive effect?)
• 2 tsp salt (is it still possible to get pre-Gandhi British tax-oppression salt? If so, use that.)
• 1/2 soysage log (Litelife(tm))
• 1/2 block of cheddar or nacho cheese (Follow Your Heart(tm))
• 1/2 block of mozzarella cheese (Follow Your Heart(tm))
• 1/4 cup faux milk beverage (preferably, Silk(tm), oh, where to start…)
• 1.5 tsp arrow root powder (sorry, arrow root powder is totally awesome!)

Directions:

In a medium-sized pan, over medium heat, sautee the onion, garlic, and green pepper until soft. In a different medium-sized pan, over medium heat, sautee the processed soysage. Use a spatula to mash it into largish bits.

Combine the water and arrow root powder. In a food processor, blend all of the filling ingredients except the spinach, soysage, and enough faux cheese to sprinkle on top, along with the arrow-root-water. In a large bowl, combine the soysage, spinach, and the filling. You may want to save some soysage crumblins to sprinkle on top of the quiche.

Pop the filling into your convenient store-bought crust, sprinkle on some processed soy cheese and soysage, and bake that badboy for about 45 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 463.555 degrees Kelvin.

Au Naturale on the left, Au Faux on the right

Possible Improvements to Au Naturale

• Use seitan instead of tempeh; this will improve the taste and will work better as larger chunks
• Use VeganYumYum’s cheese from the Mac & Cheez instead of Scrumpdilly’s nacho sauce (which is great, but not really suited to this)
• add broccoli (duh! what was I thinking?)
• tone down the salt (I know, I know, hard to believe I could ever say such a thing)
• add in something “bready”–bread crumbs, bread makings, anything to make this a little lighter–more like a bake and less like a pie

With no end to brunches in sight, I’m sure I’ll come back to this at some point. In the meantime, I’d welcome any comments/suggestions/anti-quiche hatemail.

And for the record, the Nip is all about the natural:

There are countless tofu scramble recipes out there…and they’re all roughly the same. Sautee some tofu with turmeric and nu yeast. Add sundry spices. Vary by adding other vegetables.

For those in need of a recipes, allow me to muddy the scramble-y waters:

Tofu Scramble

Required!

• 1 lb tofu, drained
• 1 small – medium onion, diced
• 1/3 cup nu yeast
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 3 sprigs fresh / 2 tsp dry rosemary
• 3 sprigs fresh / 2 tsp dry oregano
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp chili powder
• cooking oil

Optional! (any or all of the following will enliven your scramble)

• 1 small bag / 1 – 2 cups chopped spinach
• 1/2 can black beans
• 1 handful chives / 2 stalks green onions, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper

In a large pan, sautee the onion (and green pepper, if using) in oil over medium. When the onions just begin to get soft, crumble in the tofu. Mix well, breaking up the large tofu bits with your spatula. Add in the spices. Cook for about 10 minutes, then add in the remaining optional ingredients, if it suits your fancy. Cook for about 5 more minutes, then reduce heat to low. Serve when the mood strikes you and/or the bagel/toast is done.