by Robin Robertson
on December 10, 2010
I don’t know about where you live, but here in Virginia it’s been insanely cold, especially for early December. We usually don’t get this kind of relentless bone-chilling cold until February, so it’s been a daily struggle to stay warm.
One thing that has helped in that department has been an ongoing supply of soups and chili. I had been chopping veggies into pots so often recently that the other day, the unthinkable happened: I ran out of onions and carrots! Since it wasn’t my regular shopping day and there was no way I was going to brave the cold for just a few items, I made a pot of soup out of the dehydrated vegetables you see in the photo above.
We keep on hand a nice supply of dehydrated ingredients along with other pantry ingredients in case of emergency power outages. But it was nice to be able to tap into our pantry stash to make a quick (and easy) pot of soup. If you want to see how the soup turned out (and read more about the dehydrated ingredients), check out Jon’s post on his Vegan Unplugged blog. (Fun fact: dehydrated chickpeas are ready to eat in just 10 to 15 minutes!)
I hope everyone is managing to stay warm! How long until Spring, anyway?
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by Robin Robertson
on December 6, 2010
To look at my Vitamix sitting next to my new single-serve blender, it looks like the Vitamix had a baby — (I’ve always wondered what my kitchen appliances do after the lights go out!)
Fact is, I’ve been thinking about getting a “baby blender” for a long time and only just got around to it last week. After all, I already have (and use all the time) the aforementioned Vitamix, an immersion blender, and a food processor — did I really need another blender?
The answer is yes! I’ve been using it for my morning smoothies and I love it. It’s much easier to wash than the huge Vitamix — and I can drink my smoothie right from the same container. Hard to believe there was a time when we were able to manage without all these gadgets!
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by Robin Robertson
on November 30, 2010
It seems only fitting that my final post of Vegan Mofo features my book, Party Vegan. After all, this past month of bloggers getting together in cyberspace to swap photos, stories, and delicious vegan recipes was like the ultimate vegan party! In keeping with the Party Vegan theme, I want to share more of the great Party Vegan tester photos taken by Tami at Vegan Appetite when she tested these recipes for the book.
Here’s one of my favorites — the Father’s Day Cookout Menu — that’s Spicy-Smoky BBQ Ribz, Grilled Vegetable Skewers, and Foil-Roasted Corn and Potatoes:
Next up is a photo of the Curried Pakora Puffs from the Indian Feast menu:
Below is the Wild Mushroom Ragu over Polenta from the “Italian with a Twist” dinner party menu:
Finally, check out these adorable Fresh Berry Tartlets from the “Just Desserts” chapter:
Now on to the Cookbook Contest Winner: I hope you all enjoyed reading all the comments about how everyone likes to “Party Vegan” — I know I did. Lots of really great ideas! But as you know, ther can only be one contest winner (at a time, anyway!) Chosen randomly by that great computerized oracle at Random.org, the winner of a copy of Party Vegan is: Carla — who likes to party vegan by “bring desserts to share.” Congrats, Carla! Please e-mail me with your address and I’ll get a book right out to you.
I want to thank all of you who participated in my special giveaways and to those of you who only recently discovered my blog during Vegan MoFo, I hope you’ll keep coming back for more recipes, photos, contests, and general food musings (with the occasional cat photo for good measure).
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by Robin Robertson
on November 29, 2010
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always liked to play with my food. Like most kids, I liked to make mashed potato moats for the gravy but that soon escalated to stirring ketchup into mashed potatoes until it was just the right shade of pink and then festooning it with a necklace of green peas. When I was a bit older, I made an entirely blue dinner.
It should be easy to understand, then, why having a wealth of Thanksgiving leftovers is an especially fun time in my house. The day after Thanksgiving we enjoyed the obligatory let’s have “another one just like the other one” with a delicious instant replay of the previous day’s feast. But then, the rest of the leftovers were mine for the creating.
Creation #1: Yuba-Wrapped Thanksgiving Rolls. (photo above) I wrapped leftover seitan, stuffing, white and sweet potatoes, and green beans in small sheets of yuba and cooked them in a skillet with a little oil to brown. I then finished them up in the oven while I made a dipping sauce with leftover cranberry sauce combined with ginger, soy sauce, and sriracha. All I can say is, “Wow!”
Creation #2: The Leaning Tower of Thanksgiving. I stacked layers of all the Thanksgiving dishes into one mighty tower and surrounded it with a cranberry-port wine sauce made with leftover brown gravy, cranberry sauce, and a generous amount of port. To serve, I sliced it right down the middle and arranged each half, cut side down on a plate with more of the luscious sauce. Leftovers never tastes so good.
This is my 20
th Vegan Mofo post!
I’m excited that I made it this far, considering what a crazy-busy month this has been.
Tomorrow, Vegan Mofo ends with the announcement of the winner of my
Party Vegan giveaway.
If you haven’t entered yet, do it
now — contest closes at midnight tonight!
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by Robin Robertson
on November 26, 2010
This year’s Thanksgiving pumpkin cheesecake was similar to the one I make every year, but as usual, I just had to do something a little different for the topping to keep it interesting. This time, I made a streusel-type topping by combining pecans, dried cranberries, and vegan butterscotch chips. I pulsed them in a food processor to chop them up well and stirred in a little agave. Instead of covering the entire top, I just framed the outer rim with the streusel.
As Jon said when he had his first (!) slice, “You start out thinking you’re eating the best thing in the world, and then you get to the part with the topping on it and it’s even better.” With that kind of review, I think this new topping may just have to make the rounds again next Thanksgiving! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
There’s still time to enter my final Weekly Vegan MoFo Cookbook Giveaway! Just leave a comment here for a chance to win a copy of my new book, Party Vegan!
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by Robin Robertson
on November 24, 2010
Can you stand one more post featuring the illustrious kabocha squash? It’s not that I’m obsessed with kabochas, well okay, maybe I am. But in a good way. The really reason they seem to be taking over my kitchen recently is because I usually have to drive an hour to find any and when I do, I buy several and roast them up to use in various ways. Sure I could scoop the brilliant orange goodness into freezer containers to use another time (and I do) but I also keep some out to enjoy in different ways, as you’ve noticed if you’ve been following my blog.
Today, it’s soup! It was so easy to make, it doesn’t even need a recipe. Just cut the squash in half, scrape out the seeds and roast the squash until very soft. I roasted this one with some shallots and then scooped the pulp into a my Vitamix (a food processor would work too) and added a couple roasted shallots, some coconut milk, a little vegetable broth, a touch of sriracha, a little grated ginger and lemongrass, and salt (to taste). Then I just blended until very smooth and that was it. I had reserved some of the thick coconut milk from the top of the can to garnish the bowls of soup, and a little extra sriracha as well.
The great thing about a soup like this, is you can easily change up the flavors, using different seasonings. For example, use almond milk instead of coconut milk and swap the sriracha for chipotles in adobo, a little cumin instead of ginger and lemongrass, and you’ll have a vastly different flavor profile.
Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for: another cookbook giveaway contest!
This is the 4th and final giveaway to celebrate Vegan Mofo. The winner will be chosen at random on 11/29 at midnight and announced on Tuesday, November 30 — the final day of Mofo! This week’s prize is a copy of my newest book: Party Vegan!
Party Vegan isn’t just about cooking for holidays and special occasions, although there’s lots of that in there too. But it’s also about casual meals and celebrating the little things with family and friends. So the question to answer in order to enter the contest is this: “How do you like to ‘party vegan’?” Just leave a comment at the end of this post.
Thanksgiving Notes:I’m very excited to announce that some of my Thanksgiving recipes are featured on the Food Network site.
For these and more of my holiday recipes, visit Vegan.com. You can also find some of my recipes in the VegNews Holiday e-book and in Nava Atlas’ Thanksgiving e-book. With all these sources, there’s no excuse not to have a vegan Thanksgiving dinner!
I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!
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