A Very Vegan Thanksgiving...

Hi guys! Guess what? I'm back on Blogger! We sorted out our problems and have decided to accept our differences and live in harmony. Besides, it's way better than Wordpress. :P Anyway, as it has taken me about a month to get my technical problems worked out, I bring you a very belated vegan Thanksgiving, soon to be followed by a very vegan Christmas (hopefully less belated). 

Here I am making some (veganized) 'stuffin' muffins,' the original creation of the culinary genius known as my mom. Basically, they are just stuffing in muffin pans, but don't muffin pans make everything more fun? The madre was very cool about using Earth Balance and veggie stock instead of butter and chicken stock and even reported that there was no real difference in flavor.

These are some super cute turkey place cards I made for our Thanksgiving table. The turkeys are happy because they aren't being eaten (well, by me at least!). Notice my vice, Coke Zero, chilling seductively in the background. I know aspartame kills, but I eat pretty darn well most of the time, and if I die of an aspartame overdose I'll die happy. So there, haters.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for: the Thanksgiving plate! Left to right (ish): roasted brussels sprouts, mashed rutabega with EB, stuffin' muffin, steamed corn with EB and ground pepper, homemade yeast roll, sweet potato casserole with Dandies, mashed taters with mushroom gravy, and cranberries chillin' in the middle. I know, you guys probably notice the lack of turkey substitute. To be honest, I'm pretty cool without it. I know a lot of people need something meaty to make it really feel like Thanksgiving, but the turkey's never really been the centerpiece of the meal for me. I'm weird, I know.

As for Xmas, I have put in the word to the big guy in red that I REALLY want a copy of the Happy Herbivore Cookbook and a gift card for Pangaea. We'll see if he comes through!! Happy holidays, guys. See you after Christmas.

A Much Needed Move

After much hemming and hawing with my frenemy Blogger,  I have decided to step on the WordPress bandwagon. It helps to, you know, be able to post pictures. But no, I'm not bitter. Not at all...>:C

Anyway, visit me at my new address:
www.vegannerdery.wordpress.com

PS: It is still under construction, but I promise it'll be looking pretty in no time :)

I'm Baaaack...well, sort of...

Hello vegan nerds! In case you haven't noticed, I've been gone kind of a long time. Well, actually, that's a lie. I've been gone a really long time. No worries, though, I've just been super busy with being cast in three plays at once, juggling AP classwork, tutoring elementary schoolers, and other assorted activities that take up lots o' time. Chicago was wonderful (three months ago) but I'm back...with a temporary but notable exception. As I'm sure you can see, my computer has decided to fail me and disallow me from posting any photos. Therefore, I can't show you * teaser teaser * my brilliant meals at several Chicago veganeries. Reviews with photos will come in time. Lack of pretty pictures is a pain, but I hope to have this fixed in time for...
MOFO! That's right, this year I'll be participating, so get ready for vegan mayhem come October!


*:_*~   .* :    :*-_*-:     .    ~*_:*
         -       *-*          *-*  -                      <In the mean time, enjoy this pretty font art to make up for lack of actual   photography! :D

Headed to Chi-Town...

...not to be confused with the equally wonderful Chai Town.
Anyway, I'll be in Chicago next week and therefore will not be posting, but once I get back prepare for some boss restaurant reviews (Chicago Diner here I come!) Love you guys! See you in a week!

Dinner for the Fam, v2.0

Om nom nom! This dinner was even better than the last. Because it seemed to go so well last time, I went with a down-home southern type of theme again that Bianca Crunk would be proud of. This time it was vegan mac n' cheeze, yummy garlic kale, and curried acorn squash (okay, so that one's not so southern, but I'm a yankee. I don't know better.)
The 'rents loved it! Here are the omni-pleasing recipes:

Super Simple Vegan Mac

Ingredients:
1 box cooked whole wheat elbow macaroni
1/4 cup almond milk (unsweetened)
1/3 cup veggie broth
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tbsp whole wheat flour

What to do:
Combine your liquid ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Add in the flour and nutritional yeast and whisk until homogeneous. Add to a skillet and warm your mixture over medium heat. When your 'cheese' sauce is warm, add in your noodles. And voila! Enjoy!

Garlicky Kale


Ingredients:
1 large head of curly kale
1/4 cup veggie broth
3 cloves of garlic
Parma, for sprinkling on top

What to do:
Sautee garlic in veggie broth on medium heat until garlic is fragrant. Add in the kale and cover the pot, allowing kale to steam for about 5 minutes. Serve with Parma sprinkled on top.

Curried Acorn Squash


Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen acorn squash puree (Cascadian Farm makes one)
2 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp Earth Balance

What to do:
Steam frozen acorn squash until heated through. Add in curry powder and Earth Balance. That's it! You're done!

In Which I Make Dinner for my Family

You heard right. The other night, I offered to prepare a vegan dinner for my decidedly un-vegan family. Despite the fact that my family is about as southern as a polar bear, I decided to prepare a traditional(ish) down home dinner of barbecue seitan and broccoli from the PPK, corn muffins, and my own 'recipe' for mashed sweet taters, which was just local yams mixed with maple syrup and cinnamon. This would also be delish in a casserole with Sweet and Sara marshmallows mixed in, just sayin'. 

The Verdict: The parental units approved! They asked me to make them dinner again! *fist pump*

Mmmm...Pancakes

Hey all! I'm getting back in the blogging groove, and to celebrate I made some pancakes to share with you guys! These puppies are whole wheat banana pancakes. I kinda made up the recipe as I went along, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were hella good, especially with some pure maple syrup on top. Sticky deliciousness!

I obviously couldn't wait to eat before taking a picture, as is evidenced by the big chunk cut out of the pancake on the left!

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes:

Makes 8 small-ish pancakes

What you'll need:

2 cups of whole wheat flour

1 big, ripe 'naner

1 cup of non-dairy milk

2 tsp of sugar

1 tsp baking powder

What to do:

Mix the flour, the sugar, and the baking powder together. Meanwhile, mash your banana up. If you like it chunky, just use a potato masher, but if you want it to be more of a puree, chuck it in the food processor quickly. Mix the banana with the milk, an add that mixture to the flour mixture. Stir it all up till it gets to be batter-like in consistency. If it has trouble getting to that point, don't be scared to add a little extra milk. When you're done mixing, lightly oil a griddle or big pan and pour your batter in, making your pancakes as big or as small as you want.