My First MoFo's End

I can't believe I am late with this post (I am back-dating it to Nov. 30th). I have been a procrastinator forever but I hope that some of those bad habits will change and some good habits like blogging will stay. I have really enjoyed being a part of MoFo 2010, and though I only cranked out 10 or so posts this time, it's nearly half of my blogs history. I have learned that I love the community, the food, the wittiness and talent that I have seen in blogs all around. I am in awe and honored to have been able to participate. I hope that you will continue to look here and at the many blogs I read (check out the blog roll below) and embrace or continue to embrace this wonderful compassionate lifestyle. Peace and blessings to all and remember to Keep it Kind.

Thanksgiving Recap. . .

This wasn't my first vegetarian Thanksgiving, but it was my first vegan Thankgiving and the first time, I was able to share some of my favorite foods with my extended family. With my uncle's house filled with about 40 or so people, the festivities began. My family is very used to me turning down the various meats on the table, but bringing a bunch of "alternative food" sets off their individual "this girl is trying to convert me into one of them veh-gee-ter-ree-Uns" radars. Guess what? They loved it. I don't think half of them knew that they were eating vegan at all, and I only bothered to tell them about the Tofurkey, mainly because I didn't want them to waste it and partly because I didn't want them to eat up all of my only protein option. My hubby and I traveled to Accomac County, which is where I am from originally, with goodies in tow. Included in our trunk for travel where a roasted Tofurkey with carrots, celery, onions, garlic and rosemary;

Tofurkey before cooking...

Tofurkey after cooking (I really enjoyed it and so did my daughter, who also had a completely meat-free holiday too)

Green Bean Casserole;

My Cream of Mushroom Soup made from a roux for the casserole

After blanching my frozen green beans, I mixed in the soup

Topped with store bought french fried onions, (I don't skimp on the crunchies)

Though I didn't get a picture, we also took Rum Carrots (My Hubby made those and they were awesomely sweet with brown sugar, rum and Earth Balance), he also made a wonderful vegan stuffing based on his mother's recipe, I was so proud and hopeful for his Vegan conversion (he is destined to be veganized, I can't wait and I won't ever give up ever, muah-ha-ha-ha), I digress.

The following tasted much better than it looks, I browned it just a bit too much, but I was very pleased with how it turned out and my daughter loved it. She begged for sweet potato pie for a week so I took the plunge. Now, I have never made a vegan version of this until now and I may have taken a few more creative liberties than I should have right out of the box. I used Silk Nog instead of just soy milk, which made the normal sweetening and spice choices a bit tricky, basically I don't recommend it for the virgin veganizing voyage on your recipe, but I really did like the idea of playing around with cool flavors. I know, I know, I am not posting this recipe now, but I will as soon as it's perfected the correct way in my opinion. But, I will say this Sweet Nog Potato Pie did please and has been devoured.

Overall, Thanksgiving went so well and I think that I enjoyed it so much more because of all we were able to bring to the table. It has been a busy week, but oh what a week it was. I hope everyone had as blessed a time as we had. Happy Tofurkey Day!!!!

-Ty

Baking Beer Bread

Until about a year ago, I had never heard of beer bread. I know, I am the only one left in the free world, but I had just been beneath the beer bread radar, I guess. Imagine my glee when as a vegetarian, I flipped over a box of pre-made beer bread and found that it was vegan. Shut the front door! Naturally after taking the step from veggie to vegan, I went back to the sweet dense bread for some more of the guilt-free, cruelty free yumminess. There are recipes everywhere, many vegan already, some easily veganized by using melted Earth Balance in place of butter (or eliminate it all together to make it more healthy). I used the recipe here and used EB in place of the butter, next time I may eliminate it altogether. Please take a look and try these recipes, if for no other reason, than that you get to chew your beer in a good way, duh. These were my finished products, my daughter and hubby devoured it.

Roux to Gravy and Smothered Chickpea Cutlets!

I have real respect for Rachel Ray and anyone else who can get dinner on the table in 30 minutes and have it look like real dinner, but I have officially cracked 45 minutes with the help of two awesome cookbooks and some old skills I try to keep handy. For dinner on this night I aspired to make Veganomicon chickpea cutlets (smothered in mushroom gravy from a roux, read on), not-chick'n broth couscous, and Vegan Soul Kitchen's Citrus Collards Redux. It was a night full of C foods (chickpea cutlets, citrus collards, couscous) I just noticed. I firmly believe in a roux. Even before I was vegan or vegetarian or anything in my diet had changed, I had been taught this awesome technique in a high school food management class and never let it go. In this case, I started with my post chickpea cutlet cast iron (more c's, I know). With all the wonderful bits in the bottom (as Isa would say), I added some Earth Balance to the leftover oil in the pan and heated to a sizzle. I added unbleached flour (you can use any flour you'd like) to the oil, about 1 and half parts flour to 1 part of the oil, then a little more flour if it thins out too much. It should be slightly pasty. Before you start this, be sure to have at least 2 to 3 cups of veggie or no chicken broth heating to a simmer in a saucepan nearby.

Stir constantly and smell the toastiness until it has browned to your desired color of gravy (blond, light brown or deep brown). When you're there, add your veggies to saute to this mixture, remember it's hot oils so be careful, saute them with salt and seasonings to taste (salt them well in order to give your gravy a good flavor). It will look a little dry and you'll think to yourself that you should add more oil, don't. Let the veggies soak up the roux making it look wrong and pastey, then when you can't take it anymore, ladle in your broth one after one and keep stirring. I promise it will get creamy and wonderful. . .

Finished roux based gravy for the soppin'.

Zoom in, steamy shot of my goodies for the evening. BTW, you have to try these collards, the citris and raisins seem preposterous, but are soooooo good, my omni hubby loved dinner. Happy MoFo Folks!!!

-Ty