The Best Laid PLans

Often go awry.

So there we were, all ready to cook our way through Appetite for Reduction, when Terry started testing for her upcoming international cookbook: Vegan Eats World (working title). So I told my mother I'd like to incorporate some of Terry's new recipes into our plan and if she was disappointed by the idea of supplementing her diet of Low Fat Healthy Vegan Food with dishes from the person who brought her Sancocho and Quinoa Roasted Pumpkin Risotto, she hid it well.

At this point, we'd already had the AFR Sanctuary Dressing (kind of like ranch, but better), Spinach Lasagna with Roasted Cauliflower Ricotta (delicious, but my mother thought the dressing was too thymey), and the Quinoa, White Bean and Kale Stew (perfect for a chilly fall night). The Ginger Bok Choy Soba was up next, so we topped it with Terry's Pressed Baked Tofu.

Terry suggests pressing the tofu after slicing, which is way faster than doing it before. 35 minutes was more than enough for perfect firm, chewy tofu. The marinade was delicious, too. It was a bit too spicy for me to eat the tofu alone (I'm a huge baby), but it was perfect over noodles and on toast with a bit of Veganaise (so perfect that I wanted to make another sandwich today, but didn't want to hog all the tofu because my mother really liked it).

In other news, my tester copy of Vegan Pie in the Sky arrived this weekend. It's beautiful. Lowfatcookingwhat?

Back to Food

I'm no sure if I've mentioned this in the past, but both of my parents are extremely overweight. As a bonus, my father is diabetic and has heart disease. My mother is hypertensive with high cholesterol and degenerative disk disease in her back. I can't remember the last time she stood up without exclaiming "Oy!" I hope to change that.

Starting this Thursday, we're eating our way through Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Appetite for Reduction. We won't be eating from there exclusively, but I'm trying to encourage them to keep it vegan in the house, and save the animal products for restaurants. Make eating out a real "occasion".

With some work, I hope to bring down my father's blood sugar and my mother's cholesterol and blood pressure. I'd also like to see her get some weight off of her back and joints. I don't know if it will actually happen, but it's worth a try.

This is one of those times where most "real" bloggers would start breaking out the menu planners, scales and measuring tape in order to document everyone's progress for the whole Internet to see. (Un?)Fortunately, I don't have that kind of time, but I'll try to post occasional updates, even if it's just a heads up of which dishes people like best. And if my mother starts doing cartwheels down the hallway, I'll be sure to post video.

Hey Look!

More cookies!

Vanilla and chocolate thumbprints from The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur.

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This Post May Be a Lie

And if it is, I apologize. I have an open bag of wakame in my pantry but have no idea what I used it for. I made this soup so long ago that even though I remember how to make it (basically) and how it tasted, I don't remember what sea vegetable was in it (and don't currently have access to the recipe). Process of elimination: the wakame went in this soup. I may be wrong. It may be nori.

Today's plant: Wakame
Used in: Manhattan Glam Chowder from Appetite for Reduction

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Picatta!

One of the (many) good things about living in New York is that when it comes to vegan food options, you're pretty much spoiled for choice. No matter what kind of food you want, we have it. And we usually have more than one option for it. And no two people will ever agree on which option is the best. Every place is someone's favorite. Fine dining is no exception. Some people prefer Pure Food and Wine, some Blossom and others Candle 79. One thing almost every can agree on, though, is that the best thing to get at Candle 79 is the seitan picatta (but if you're there for brunch, get the tofu scramble. Seriously). So eating picatta always makes me feel fancy. Even when I make it myself, it looks like this and I'm eating it in my pajamas:

(how did I never notice how ugly this bowl is?)

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WHHHHHHHHH WWWWWWWWHHHHHH

That's the sound of me attempting to blow the dust off this blog. Sorry.

Most of the cooking I've been doing lately is testing for Appetite for Reduction, which I suspect will be done soon. It's all very tasty and I'd love to share it with you all, but night cooking is not conducive to photography and I hate food blogs without pictures.

So I'm here to talk about an upcoming event of deliciousness instead:

It's Sea Shepherd NYC's first fundraiser and it's to benefit our campaign to rescue animals affected by the Gulf oil spill.

We will be serving s'mores and other tasty food, there will be compassionate raffle prizes, and Sea Shepherd merchandise. Please eat responsibly. Drinks not included in ticket price.

Space is limited.
Please RSVP to ensure your attendance to this special event.

WHEN: Monday, August 9th, 2010, 7 PM - 10 PM
WHERE: V-Spot, 156 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217
TICKETS: $20 each
PURCHASE TICKETS: http://seashepherd.org/nyc
Facebook RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=122720817772190

There will be edibles from The V Spot, Sweet & Sara, Whole Earth Bakery, Babycakes, Sweet Avenue and more as well as raffle prizes from:

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics
LUSH
Lantern Publishing
Go Max Go
Lazy Dog Designs
Zenthreads
Life Without Plastic
KleanKanteen
Unique Art Pendants
VP2
Kate's Joint
Caravan of Dreams
Loving Hut
Pala Pizza
XOOM Juice
VegNews
MooShoes
and more.

Exciting, yesno? Hope to see you there!

Awesome: It's What's for Dinner

When it's not a special occasion, my meals usually consist of enough whatever I can throw into one bowl or plate to fill me up, whether it's a vat of homemade soup or 674832910 microwaved vegan nuggets (yes, I know that's gross, but when I'm hungry and tired...don't judge). I know this isn't really the best way to go about doing things and have gotten a lot better about putting together real meals while testing for Isa Chandra Moskowitz's upcoming Appetite for Reduction.

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This is a Test

Of the Emergency Deliciousness System. If this had been an actual Deliciousness Emergency, the post you are viewing would include many healthy recipes to shock, amaze and astound. This blog serves the Greater Veganistan area. This concludes this test of the Emergency Deliciousness System.

Sorry, I'm in a silly mood today. That's my longwinded way of saying today's post is going to be all about tester recipes from Isa Chandra Moskowtiz's upcoming low fat and whole foods book, Appetite for Reduction.

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Passing on the Meat

My family recently celebrated Passover and we tried a little experiment: I would cook two vegan Seders (big, traditional dinners) and my family would go vegetarian for the rest of the holiday. Eight days without any meat in the house. My plan was to cook as much as possible, since the more I cooked, the less matzo with cream cheese they ate.

I'm pleased to report that even though the holiday ended a week ago, no meat has been consumed in our house yet and both of my parents are considering going vegetarian on a more permanent basis (they're both totally cool with keeping meat out of the house, but right now, they'd still like to eat it at restaurants on occasion). Also, I think my mother now has a bigger AR soapbox than I do. It's pretty rad.

Here's a small sample of what we ate:

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Salad Daze

Right now, I love salad. To people who think vegans eat nothing but piles of raw vegetables all day, that might seem like a silly thing to say; if you don't like salad, being vegan would totally suck. But, as we all know, there are loads of vegan options that don't resemble salads in the slightest. And during the winter, that's what I thrive on. It's months of soups, curries, stews and other hearty (and hot!) foods. But spring may have finally sprung in NYC, so I'm all about the salad. Here are a few awesome ones from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's upcoming Appetite for Reduction (do you love that title half as much as I do? It makes me so happy it's almost stupid).

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Oopsie

One thing I forgot to mention about my trip to Barbados is that I missed my flight. Oops. That was my first time missing a flight, ever. I'm usually there ridiculously early. I once even got there before the ticket counters opened and slept on the floor. Thankfully, I was able to fly standby and get there the next day without having to pay a load of fees. This was yet another day with nothing to do but cook, so I checked out the tester forum for Isa Chandra Moskowitz's upcoming healthy/low fat/whole foods book and got to work.

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Sunday. Sunday! SUNDAY!

This is where I was Sunday, December 20:

This is where I was Sunday, December 27:

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Looking Forward to Leftovers

One thing the veg-friendly of NYC look forward to this time of year is the Thanksgiving Leftovers Sandwich from 'SNice (which now has two locations). This year, I was inspired to make my own.

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The Morning After

What do you do after you've spent days in the kitchen preparing Thanksgiving dinner for your whole family? If you're me, you get up early (relatively) and make brunch.

Back when I first learned to cook (and had stopped eating all animal products, though I still thought of myself as a vegetarian, not vegan) and my family was still eating turkey during Thanksgiving dinner, we came up with Flesh Free Friday: the day after Thanksgiving, I make brunch and dinner and the whole family goes vegan for the day. This year, the main attraction was the Coconut Orange Dessert Pancakes with Candied Spiced Coconut and chocolate ganche from Vegan in the Sun:

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Thanksthieving

Oh, holidays! Hope everyone had a lovely day.

This was my first time trying to do a somewhat traditional Thanksgiving (apparently, chili and a cornbread boat aren't traditional for Thanksgiving. Who knew?). My family doesn't really have many traditions (the only thing that seems to happen with any regularity in my house around Thanksgiving is the basement flooding), so I stole some from my friends and the Internet (and my friends on the Internet). Here's what I came up with:

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Currying Favor

I love curry. I say this despite knowing most of the curries I eat are not authentic and most authentic ones burn my face off. So far, none of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipes have burnt my face off, for which I'm grateful. I most recently tested her potato spinach curry and tamarind quinoa recipes.

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A Moveable Feast

I have a confession to make: Sometimes, when I'm going someplace, I look more forward to packing something to eat than to what I'll be doing. This is especially true of going to work. And so, here's a post dedicated to the food I've been packing myself for the last few days.

Behold! Today's lunch!

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It's Always Better on Holiday

I am very excited. In December, I'm going to Barbados to visit one of my closest friends (JetBlue had amazing introductory rates from JFK). This will be my first time leaving the country since 1998 and my first straight up vacation (as opposed to traveling for an event) since 2000ish.

Just when I thought I couldn't get more excited about this, I found out about Vegan in the Sun, an upcoming vegan Caribbean cookbook. All those pictures look so delicious, I just want to hop on a plane right now and go to the islands just to eat. I can't do that, but I can test for the book, which is almost as exciting. The first recipe I tried was roti:

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Curry Laksa

When it's not too spicy, I love curry and all things curry-related, so it surprised me when I realized I had never cooked with curry paste before, just powder. I remedied that recently, by testing a new recipe for Isa Chandra Moskowitz's upcoming whole foods book: Curry Laksa.

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Let Me Eat Cake

Damn. It's been months since I've posted about real food (i.e. not cake, sweets, the bake sale, or a combination thereof). That's probably because cake is pretty and I still haven't gotten the hang of making my savory food look good.

I guess that's my way of warning that today's post is going to be full of crap photos (especially given that it's monsoon season in NYC).

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