Vegan in Spain, part 1

Thanks for all of your comments on my Vegan in NYC post. After three wonderful days in NYC it was time to say goodbye to The Big Apple, and hello to Spain! My travel companion Becca flew into JFK to meet me, and from there we flew direct to Málaga, a beautiful coastal city in southern Spain. In the spirit of wasting no time, we dropped off our luggage at the hotel and immediately left for a 4 hour bicycle tour of the city. It was the perfect way to get the lay of the land and learn the history of the city. This turned out to be one my favorite activities from the entire trip.

We worked up quite the appetite biking and thanks to HappyCow I had a few vegan-friendly restaurants lined up.

Loving Hut was my first choice, which also happens to be the only 100% vegan restaurant that I found in all of the cities that we were visiting in Spain. Loving Hut is a Taiwanese buffet and salad bar, owned by the most adorable elderly Taiwanese couple. The man was very enthusiastic to talk about his love of the vegan diet. My Spanish got me far enough to understand that he is vegan based on his religion, and he showed off some tai chi moves while exclaiming that he is 80 years old - "Ochenta, ochenta!!"

At his most comical moment, the owner was trying to speak some English. When he was talking about his religion he said, "I love! I love!", with his hands positioned over his heart. After saying it several times it changed to, "I love you! I love you!" We smiled at him as we munched away on our salads, and he started walking away continuing to verbalize his love. He disappeared into the kitchen and a few minutes later we heard him shout, "I love you!" over the sounds of the clanking pans. Hanging out with the quirky owners definitely made the experience.

As far as the food goes, I am sad to report that it was not amazing. The salad was light and very refreshing, but the hot foods were lacking. The food was barely warm and the flavors were too bland for my taste. Regardless, I was happy to eat a plateful of tofu, seitan, and veggies, and to support this wonderful couple's establishment. My omnivore travel companion was particularly underwhelmed, and from that point she wanted to avoid eating at other veg restaurants the rest of the trip, which was the biggest tragedy of all!

Check out this fun wall decor in the restaurant! The plaque translates to: "Elite vegan and vegetarian. These intelligent, beautiful, and talented people are vegans or vegetarians. You aren't?"

I came to find out later that Loving Hut is a vegan chain restaurant with locations all over the world. I am curious if they are all set up similarly, serving the same type of food. I so wanted to love this restaurant, and I did love everything about it except the food. Shame!

Dining experiences aside, Málaga was my favorite city that I visited in Spain. The short 24 hours that I was there was not long enough! The next morning we checked out of our hotel and returned to the airport to pick up a rental car. We drove up the coast towards our next stop in Cartagena. We were spoiled by views of the Mediterranean and varied landscapes that Spain has to offer along the coast.

Here is Becca with our little stick shift car. We pulled over to get some shots of the amazing view on the other side of the guard rail.

See what I mean?

We also needed to stretch our legs!

While we were on the road we stayed fueled with our favorite local snack, mercona almonds. These almonds are blanched, then sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. It is a different almond experience, let me tell you--so, so good. Don't pass these up if you have the opportunity to try them. To my delight I discovered that Trader Joe's carries this Mediterranean specialty. Their bagged versions are not as amazing as the fresh ones we picked up in Málaga, but still pretty darn good.


En route to Cartagena we stopped off in the city of Mazarrón for dinner. We had the goal to eat Indian food at least once in Spain (since we love India!), and apparently this little restaurant in Mazarrón was the one to eat at in all of southern Spain. Maharaja Palace was everything we hoped it would be. I ordered a lentil curry and a spicy garlic potato curry, and she ordered chicken. We both shared an order of coconut rice and roti. You give this girl and I some good Indian food and that is when we are happiest!

We left Mazarrón full and happy, but not before we stopped off at a rocky beach on the side of the road. The sun was setting and it was so calm and beautiful.

Onward to Cartagena for the night! We arrived at sundown, checked into our hotel, and went out for some sangria before hitting the hay. We did some shopping and walking around early morning just to see the city briefly, and got back on the road before noon.


Next stops: Alicante and Valencia. More on that, and Amsterdam, in my next post!

Here is where you can find the restaurants mentioned in this post:
Loving Hut - Calle Peregrino, 2. 29002 Malaga, Spain
Maharaja Palace - Avenida de Doctor Meca 116, Puerto de Mazarrón, Spain

Vegan in NYC

In my last post you might recall me mentioning a little trip I would be going on. You might also recall that, for the first time ever, I planned to try blogging while traveling. Well, if you bet against me, you were right! I was betting against me too, honestly. I am not holding it against myself though, as it turns out 9 days to visit NYC, Spain, and Amsterdam is a little bit frantic.

In anticipation of visiting these 3 amazing destinations, I must admit that the foodie in me was most excited about New York. I have been twice before, but not since becoming vegan. Oh, the food I would eat! So so many vegan options there, where to begin?

I was already hungry when I landed early Friday evening. I rang my friend and she was still at the office, so I had her point me towards the most delicious vegan option near her apartment. My luggage and I rolled up into Rice in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. This cute spot had enough vegan options for me to be conflicted about what to order. My friend told me that the tofu meatballs over Thai black rice and edamame is where it's at, so tofu meatballs it was. She was right, this dish did not disappoint!

Saturday morning we hit the Brooklyn Flea Market in Fort Greene. I spotted a papusa booth right away and confirmed that they can be made vegan, hooray! This Salvadoran specialty is best described as thick handmade corn tortillas stuffed with beans, vegetables, beans, and/or meat. My brother lived in El Salvador for 3 months and this was his favorite local food. He would have never forgiven me if I didn't jump on the opportunity to try one.






I decided on spinach only for the filling. The papusa alone isn't bursting with flavor but the pickled cabbage, onions, jalapenos, and red sauce quickly fixed that. These would be really fun to make at home, and is officially on the list to try.

I ventured out on my own for a bit Saturday night and treated myself to the Green Garden Platter at Caravan of Dreams, decidedly the fanciest vegan meal I had in NYC. They describe this dish as sautéed greens and vegetables, seitan, garlic, grilled carrot polenta, but I describe it as a mountain of yum. So gingery and garlicky, so good.

With a belly full of veggies I headed down the block to the vegan ice cream shop, Lula's Sweet Apothecary. I had heard that their ice cream is outrageously good, so I saved just enough room to try some. The flavor debate was over as soon as I saw maple walnut on the menu. This was the best vegan ice cream I have had to date!

After my ice cream I made my way down to the famous vegan bakery, Babycakes, not too far away. No - I didn't eat more desserts! I picked up two cupcakes, a biscuit, and two cake balls to bring back to my friend's apartment for us to enjoy over the rest of the weekend.

The cake balls were superb, the flavors were mint chocolate and carrot cake. The biscuit was heavy and bready, not light and buttery as I had hoped. This situation was not helped by the fact that it had been refrigerated overnight and wasn't fresh. The cupcakes held up very well in the fridge. I liked the lemon cupcake the best, and my friend favored the pumpkin. I loved that these cupcakes were agave sweetened, and the pumpkin was gluten-free.

If you visit NYC over the weekend you have to brunch. Our obligatory brunch Sunday afternoon was at Maggie Brown, another vegan-friendly spot in Fort Greene near my friend's apartment. The "Grandma Harriet" sub tofu for eggs was a perfect dish for me. Sauteed tofu loaded with fresh dill, tomatoes, and caramelized onions -- most excellent. The potatoes are not vegan, so they doubled my salad.

I ventured out again on my own Sunday night and headed to the theater district to try to score a good deal on a last minute single-seat. I entered the front row ticket lottery for Next to Normal and was one of three people who didn't get their name called. There weren't a ton of options for Sunday night shows, but I wanted to keep trying. I narrowed it down to a very affordable rush ticket for Rock of Ages or a slightly more expensive ticket to Chicago. My favorite musicals have always been older shows like Phantom, Fiddler, and West Side Story, so I opted for Chicago.

By the time I figured it out I only had 30 minutes to find some dinner and get back. I walked around for about 10 minutes without finding any good options. Grabbing at straws I dipped into one of the million nyc delis to see what they could do for me. They whipped up a roasted veggie wrap with balsamic vinegar that was actually very decent. Off to the show I went. The seat was great, the production was great, but sadly Chicago is not one I will be adding to the favorites list. I guess I'm not one for a bunch of scantily clad murderous females.

Monday morning I woke up early to do some laundry and get ready for my evening flight to Spain. My friend and I had time to fit in one more meal and she suggested vegan fast food joint, Foodswings. Sounded fun to me! We headed out on the subway, but didn't get far. The train made a stop nowhere near our destination and we were told it wouldn't be going any further. We were determined so we started walking looking for a bus to get us closer. After just shyly missing the bus we needed we headed towards another subway option. Did I mention that it was raining? We were really earning this meal! It was quite the trek, but we made it.

We did not order the vegan knockoff of the KFC double down, but I had to get a photo of the sign to prove it existed.

We started with a somewhat healthy option to offset the other not so healthy things we would be eating. This is the Chick'n Caesar Salad. Unfortunately it was lacking. The chick'n was too chewy and the dressing was very bland.

Next up was the Chick'n Cordon Bleu sandwich. This was a fried cutlet, with a slice of vegan ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo. They got this sandwich just right.

For a mere $2 a piece we decided to sample two of the drumsticks. These are available buffalo style, bbq, southern fried, and sweet southern fried bbq. We chose the buffalo style and the sweet southern friend bbq. These were fun and tasty - they even had a stick inside as a vegan-friendly bone (which I was clued in to beforehand by the menu: "Please note: ―'bones' are not edible & may present a choking hazard to small children, the elderly & the intoxicated."). Did I mention we washed all of this down with pistachio milkshakes?

This meal was pretty outrageous and unfortunately I didn't feel too great after all of that indulgence. The newbie vegan in me cannot handle having so many choices! Nonetheless it was a great way to end my visit to NYC. I feel like I have hardly begun exploring the vegan options in that amazing city, so I have no choice but to go back as soon as possible.

Signing off for now, more on the rest of my trip in my next post. I also have some great recipes coming your way soon!

Fun with Uncheese and Vegan Care Package Swapping

Over the past few weeks I have been cooking up recipes from the newest cookbook in my collection, The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak. The word on the street is that this cookbook lives up to its name, so this recovering cheese-o-holic had to see for herself.

Not too long ago I was a vegan cheese newbie (January to be exact). Since then I have tried a few other dairy-free cheese recipes, and have occasionally enjoyed a couple store-bought varieties. After 6 months of vegan cheese experimentation I was ready for The Ultimate Uncheese experience.





This book offers everything cheesy under the sun, including dips, sauces, soups, fondues, casseroles, sweets, and more. The section that grabbed my attention first was block uncheeses. That's right block uncheeses, as in smooth, firm, slice-able, shred-able vegan cheese. I had never heard of such a thing! This section includes vegan versions of Swiss, Gouda, Colby, buffalo mozzarella, muenster, Monterey Jack, and brie. The obvious first choice to me was Colby, a mild tangy cheese, with that classic yellow-orange color shared by many popular American cheeses. As you can see the color was spot on!

Many of the ingredients in the Colby recipe are the usual suspects in vegan cheeses, including nutritional yeast, cashews, tahini, onion powder, roasted red pepper, and lemon juice. However, there was one ingredient that I had never used making vegan cheese: agar flakes. Agar is a sea vegetable available in dried flakes or powder, which I found in the Asian section by the other sea vegetables at my local Whole Foods. This ingredient is responsible for turning this recipe from a liquid uncheese to a block uncheese. Agar is the vegetarian alternative to gelatin (which is made from animal products). When it is heated in water it creates a thick gel, which becomes more solid as it cools. I had first purchased agar flakes for a vegan lemon bar recipe, so knowing what it is capable of I was excited to see how it worked on vegan cheese. I was very pleased with the results! While it isn't quite as hard as the real deal, this cheese has a nice firm texture that is smooth and creamy to the bite. The flavor is light and tangy, with added depth from the hints of roasted red pepper, and the garlic and onion powders. A+ for flavor!

 

I enjoyed the Colby recipe so much that I decided to try another block cheese. This time I wanted to try a bolder flavor so I made the pepper jack variation of the Monterey Jack recipe. It turned out to be a pretty mild cheese as well because I was too shy with the hot peppers. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this recipe immensely. I served both cheeses sliced on top of crackers and sandwiches, and shredded over steamed veggies, tofu scrambles, and burritos.

Moving away from the block uncheeses I decided to try out a recipe from the "Casserole and Dinner Pie" section. I love broccoli and I love any dish involving phyllo dough, so I had to try the Broccoli Strudel. Light crispy phyllo dough over a savory crumbled tofu and broccoli filling. Perfect! This was a simple and satisfying meal, easy to whip together on weeknight.

I must say that The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook does live up to its name! I have so many other recipes bookmarked to try. So far the Colby block uncheese was my favorite--it is definitely going to make regular appearances in my kitchen. I'm excited to be able to share this recipe with you by permission of the publisher, Book Publishing Co.. Enjoy!

Colby Cheez
from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak
(published by permission of BookPubCo.)

1-1/2 cups water
5 tbsp agar flakes, or 1-1/2 tbps agar powder
1/2 cup roasted red peppers (skin and seeds removed), or pimento pieces
1/2 cup raw cashews or skinless Brazil nuts
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp mustard powder

Lightly oil a 3-cup plastic storage container and set aside. Combine the water and agar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring often, until dissolved, about 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender and add the remaining ingredients. Process several minutes until completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender jar as necessary. Pour into the prepared container and cool uncovered in the refrigerator. When completely cool, cover and chill several hours or overnight. To serve, turn out of the container and slice. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator. Will keep 5 to 7 days.

Variations: In place of the red peppers, use 1/2 cup cooked chopped carrots, 2 to 3 teaspoons paprika, or 2 tablespoons unsalted tomato paste. For Chedda Cheez add 2 tablespoons light or chickpea miso prior to blending. For Olive Cheez replace dry mustard with 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard. After blending, stir in 3/4 cup chopped black olives or sliced pimento-stuffed green olives.

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In other news, I participated in a vegan care package swap hosted by Cook.Vegan.Lover. I was paired up with none other than the lovely Ricki Heller of Diet, Dessert and Dogs. Check out the amazing goodies that she sent me!

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Ricki lives in Toronto, the most multicultural city in the world, so she went with a multicultural theme, including several local Canadian goods.

Can you believe how much she spoiled me?! This is what I got:

• Chana Masala spice mix. How cool is that? Chana Masala is one of my favorite Indian dishes, and the next time I make some I won't have to measure out 10+ different spices!
• "All in One" rice flakes and chickpea mix. Oh my goodness this Indian snack is so spicy, crunchy and delicious!
• Onion Rings. These remind me of funions, except way crunchier, way tastier, and way less questionable ingredients :)
• Dried mangoes from the Phillipines. 
• Milano mille feuilles. These crisp flaky Italian pastries are way too good!
• Roasted fava beans. This was the most intriguing item in the package, so I had to try it first. These beans are crunchy and salty, and actually kind of remind me of salted peanuts, but crunchier. Yum!
• New Moon Kitchen Mo' Mints. Organic fair trade cookies made in Toronto, so so delicious, my absolute favorite item so far.
• Empower Glo Bar. I have always wanted to try Glo Bars! They are made by Canadian blogger, Angela, of Oh, She Glows. Can't wait to try!
• Creamy dill dip mix. This will be great for parties.
• Two Girls Looking Kale Chips - spicy, cheesy, perfect!
• Cinnamon chocolate bar from the French choclatiers in Montreal. Oh-la-la, tucking away this beauty for a rainy day!
• Theobroma almond cranberry chocolate bar - more local chocolate, poor me!! ;)
• President's Choice organic popcorn - little did Ricki know that popcorn is my ultimate snacking weakness, good choice!
• Last but not least, some non-food items: 2 cute new dishtowels and Windmill Hill handmade pear and vanilla soap (which I must have accidently cut out of the picture). This soap smells amazing!

Thanks again, Ricki! It was so fun care package swapping with you, and all of your selections are most excellent! (Here is Ricki's post about the swap, which also includes a giveaway for some Amy's brand goods!).

Now I am going to disappear again for a couple of weeks. I am leaving for a 3 part trip including New York City, Spain, and Amsterdam. I look forward to sharing my adventures and my vegan dining experiences with you when I return. I may even try to blog while traveling, but we'll see how that goes ;)

Fresh Corn Pesto

Corn-a-palooza 2010 continues! Of course I am referring to those 14 ears of corn I acquired recently. A few days after the bisque, I made this fresh corn pesto. My recipe was inspired by a recent pasta dish by fellow Chicago blogger, Tim, of Lottie + Doof. His pesto sauce was not vegan, incorporating things like bacon grease and Parmesan, but was screaming out to me to be adapted. My adaptations paid off, big time. I dipped a spoon into my food processor to sample a bit of my creation and actually caught myself smacking my lips, immediately followed by going back for more. It is rich and savory, with a slight sweet note from the corn.























I started by sautéing the freshly cut corn kernels with garlic, then pureed the mixture with pine nuts, walnuts, nutritional yeast, and basil. I went easy on the basil as to not overpower the other delicate flavors -- the result was a flavor-balanced cheerful yellow pesto with tiny flecks of green. You can use this sauce for anything you would use a more standard pesto for. Some of mine fatefully ended up atop 4 single-serving whole wheat pizzas, along with thinly sliced red onion, sun dried tomatoes, and a sprinkling of daiya cheese. The rest of it is tucked away in my freezer, where only I know, so don't even try to find it.

Fresh Corn Pesto
(Inspired by Lottie + Doof)
Makes 1-1/2 cups

3 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from about 5 ears)
2 large cloves of garlic
3/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup walnuts
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place a large dry skillet over medium heat and add pine nuts and walnuts. Toast nuts until the pine nuts are lightly browned, about 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove nuts and set aside. Heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in the same skillet and stir in corn, garlic, salt, and pepper. Saute about 4 minutes, until the corn is just tender, but not browned.

Scrape the corn mixture into food processor along with basil, pine nuts, walnuts, and nutritional yeast. Turn on the processor and drizzle the olive oil in through the feed tube, and process until almost smooth. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

You may opt to thin out the sauce with a bit of water - I added 2 tbsp. If you are using this sauce for pasta you can do what Tim did and stir in up to 1-1/2 cups of reserved pasta water, added in 1/4 cup at a time until you achieve your desired consistency for serving as pasta sauce.

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In addition to churning out corn recipes, I have been baking! I was asked to bring something to share at a very large attendance barbecue this past weekend. Being the only vegan in attendance I wanted to make something that the crowd would remember. What better way to spread vegan love than with dessert?

Feast your eyes on these vegan delights! Clockwise from the left: Browned Butter Pecan Praline Blondies, Cookies 'n Fudge Brownies, and Double Chip Peanut Butter Blondies. All of the above are featured in Hannah Kaminsky's most recent e-book, Blondies and Brownies.

This massive platter was reduced to crumbs in a few short hours, despite there being plenty of sweet competition. People were shocked and intrigued that these were vegan, and asked me all about vegan baking and eating a vegan diet in general. Hoorah!

I'll leave you with a shot of me the night before the party baking up a storm! Check out my sweet new tofu pirate apron. I did not own an apron (what's up with that?), and when I found this handmade beauty by Panda with Cookie, I knew it was the one for me.

Thai Coconut Corn Bisque

While grocery shopping last week it occurred to me that I hadn't had any corn yet this summer. Seeing that I live in Illinois (read: the land of corn), that seemed outright insane. I snatched up 4 cobs with plans to consume them as soon as possible.

A couple days later I was roaming a farmers market over my lunch hour just for fun (what, you don't do that?). A lady was standing out in front of her booth as I walked by, and she approached me with an ear of corn, husk peeled back and ready to bite into. She claimed to have the best sweet corn around and insisted that I try it. Her tactic worked, ignoring the 4 cobs already at home, I bought a half dozen of hers.

Two days passed, still none of the 10 cobs had been consumed. My CSA delivery arrives with, what else, more corn. I suddenly found myself up to my ears in ears, 14 to be exact. It was definitely time to buckle down and eat some corn!

I decided to go with soup to start, because I knew I could get through half of my surplus in one shot. My soup borrows some techniques and ingredients from Joanne's and Ashley's soups, with a few twists of my own. The most exciting part is the homemade stock, which puts the bare cobs to use after the kernels have been stripped. Brilliant, and more importantly, delicious! The spicy Thai and citrus flavors compliment the sweet corn wonderfully. The bit of coconut milk stirred in for a creamy finish rounds out the Thai flavors, yet keeps things light enough for a summer meal.

Thai Coconut Corn Bisque
(Adapted from Eat Me, Delicious)
Serves 4

1/2 tbsp oil
1 onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 stalk lemongrass
1/2 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
4 cups fresh corn kernels, divided  (about 6 large ears, reserve cobs for stock)
4 cups corn cob stock* (recipe below, or sub other vegetable stock)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tbsp kaffir lime leaves, chopped (or sub zest of 1 lime)
1 tsp Thai curry paste, red or panang (omit for milder soup)
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
Juice of 1 lime
1/3 - 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat oil in a large pot. Add onions and saute for about 3 minutes. Stir in celery, carrots, garlic, and ginger - cover the pot and cook for about 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, start prepping your lemongrass. Cut off the bulbous portion at the bottom and remove the tough outer leaves. Cut a few slits along the stalk, and "bruise" the lemongrass by pressing the flat edge of a chefs knife blade down on it. This will open it a bit and release the flavors.

Add the lemongrass to the pot, along with the coriander, salt, crushed red pepper, 3 cups of the corn kernels, and the stock. Increase the heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove lemongrass and puree the soup with a hand blender (or in batches in a blender), leaving it a little bit chunky. Return the lemongrass to the pot, along with the remaining corn, diced red bell pepper, curry paste, and lime leaves. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the lemongrass, stir in the coconut milk, lime juice, and cilantro, and serve.

*I made the stock a day ahead and refrigerated overnight to cut down on prep time.

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Corn Cob Stock
(adapted from Eats Well With Others)
Makes 4-5 cups

6 corn cobs, kernels removed and reserved for another use
1 red onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled
1 rib of celery, trimmed
2 garlic cloves, sliced
4 sprigs thyme
1 tbsp coriander seeds
8 cups water
1 tsp salt

Heat a large (dry) pot over medium heat. Add coriander seeds and toast for about 3 minutes, or until fragrant, stirring frequently. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding the solids. Freezes well.

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Have corn but not in the mood for my soup? Check out these wonderful looking, corn-centric recipes that are sure to inspire!

A month in review, a year in review: part 2

Now that we have properly celebrated the 1 year anniversary of my blog, I'd love to fill you in on all of the fun stuff that I have been up to the last month.

The weekend of May 22 was Green Fest at Chicago's Navy Pier. I won a pair of tickets from VegNews, so I grabbed Steve and we went. This was my kind of trade show, and I am so glad that we decided to go!

Natural health, green energy, fair trade and recycled goods, animal rights, vegetarian/vegan/raw food, and more. Here are a few snapshots:

I had many great conversations with various exhibitors that day. I had the opportunity to meet a few of the girls from VegNews, including Savvy Abby. I had a nice long chat about publishing, vegan cooking, and blogging with Thomas Hupp from Book Publishing Co. Here is a shot of us at their booth--check out all of those vegan books!

There were so many cookbooks that I wanted to buy, but I managed to escape with just two: Cooking with PETA and The Chicago Diner Cookbook.

Here is some of the other loot I picked up at the show, some Mary's Gone Crackers samples (YUM) and a coin purse from Global Exchange made from recycled tires.

Steve bought a new hoodie from Organic and Vintage Wear. This sweatshirt is made from recycled plastic bottles! It is so soft and comfy, it's hard to believe that it is made from plastic.

Then of course, we ate! Steve could not resist his favorite restaurant, The Chicago Diner. He ordered the vegan gyros and then the peanut butter puck for dessert.

It was a tough decision, but I opted for Soul Vegetarian (it was the greens that got me!). Check out my plate of "ribs", mac 'n cheese, greens, and cornbread.

 

 After we ate we left the exhibit hall and went out to enjoy Navy Pier for a bit before heading home.

Moving right along, in my month in review... later that same week my new roommate moved in, meet Meril:

I have been keeping busy in the kitchen cooking for us, trying out all of my favorite recipes on her. Meril is an omnivore, but very open to eating all of my vegan cooking. So far she has really been liking it! In addition to my favorites, I've also tried a few new recipes this month that are worth sharing. This is the New Age Vegan Pasta Carbonara (recipe by Ricki Heller).

I have been wanting to make a mock chicken salad and I finally did. Behold the Tempeh Salad Wrap (recipe by Morgan of Little House of Veggies).

Originally I was going to include my Memorial Day weekend vacation in this post, but this post is already long enough! For now I will leave you with a photo from my trip, and a clue, this was not NYC. :)

A month in review, a year in review: part 1

Well, hello there, I believe we have some catching up to do around here! A whole month worth of catching up in fact. They should lock me up and charge me with neglect for ignoring my blog-baby this way. I mean, I didn't even wish her a happy first birthday a few weeks ago!

Shameful.

Well, that's not entirely true. I had a 1-year-of-blogging celebration with one of my favorite things in the world: brunch. And a tasty brunch it was: tofu 'n' greens quiche with millet crust, sage and garlic sweet potato homefries, roasted asparagus, and fresh berries. I recommend this quiche, which is a combination of the crust from Ricki's quiche and the fillings from Lindsay's quiche - perfection!

Looking back on this year o' blogging I am pleased to realize that I have accomplished even more than I had hoped to. I always loved cooking, but being self taught I had limitations. The first year of this blog is largely a documentation of many firsts in my kitchen. Some of my favorite firsts were exploring Indian cuisine (and traveling to India!), making vegan cheese, simmering from-scratch soup (and subsequently many many more soups), discovering my obsession with butternut squash, and cooking with a pressure cooker.

One year later my kitchen is a totally different place. The most unexpected side effect of blogging was my decision to go vegan in January of this year. If you would have asked me a year ago if I ever thought that I would become vegan, I would have said no way. One day it just clicked, and I can no longer make sense of eating any other way. My new cruelty-free diet is so fulfilling and brings me so much happiness!

Looking to the year ahead, you can expect to see a few changes around here. First off, to reflect the big changes in my kitchen the blog title and url will likely be changing as well. I am still thinking this through, but don't worry, you will be the first to know if I decide to make the move. I have been doing a lot of cookbook cooking lately which I feel is worth sharing, so I plan to start including some cookbook reviews from time to time. Other than that, this site will continue to be a place for vegan recipes, and the documentation of many more "firsts" of mine.

I owe a big thanks to all of my fellow food bloggers for the daily inspiration. I have so enjoyed reading all of your lovely blogs and cooking your wonderful recipes. Thanks also to all of my readers, I am so honored that you choose to spend time with me in my kitchen. I should mention that any readers out there that have your own food blog but never chimed in to say hello here, please do, because I would love to read your blog too!

I will be back with part 2 tonight to catch you up on all of the goings-on of the very eventful month I spent away from blogging!