So VeganMoFo ends, and I decided to take a small break. Maybe a day or two… maybe a week at most. Well, that was the intent. I was so excited that I’d been a better (more regular) VeganMoFo blogger (mostly due the partnership I had with Seitan of Conscious Cooking), and I vowed to continue with the recipes, reviews, thoughts, and more (someday we’ll start the podcast)… and then life happened. This included issues with one of my other blogs, so I kind of put my Wok on the Wildside blog to the side. What a huge mistake that was, huh? This is the blog I enjoy the most, and I neglected it. The irony here is that Seitan, our families, and I have been continuing our weekly vegan supper club, and we were both musing this past week that neither of us have written much.

But all that is going to change… I swear. I can’t promise daily or weekly entries, but I do promise to write every now and then. This isn’t a promise to any reader in particular, it’s not a commitment I’ve made with Seitan or my family, but it is a promise to me. I want to write more because I enjoy it. I love being vegan, I love sharing food, I love cataloguing my recipes, and I want to showcase that on my blog!

And wouldn’t you know it? Seitan jumped in first and is motivating me again. At a recent vegan supper club, I served a crispy sesame kale that she enjoyed, and she wrote about it on her blog. Now I really have to get moving on my writing!

So in the spirit of starting fresh, here are some pics and stuff from Thanksgiving (Yikes! Thanksgiving? Yep)… and the secret ingredient is love, of course… well, actually, today’s ingredient I’m writing about is tofu skin, but I create the food with love:

So Thanksgiving is a tradition for our family. It’s a day that my mom can take a break and I do the cooking for her, dad, my family, and any of my brothers who might be visiting. This year, due to some personal matters, my parents elected not to come by… what a bummer! So instead of moping around, something that I could have done, we arranged for Seitan and The Conscious Eater to come by and start a new Thanksgiving tradition with us. It was nice to do an all-vegan feast and avoid Thanksoween, as Dan Piraro calls it.

Like any good Thanksgiving feast, it was an all-day event filled with eating, cooking, eating, talking, eating, laughing, eating, and more eating. Although Seitan and I cooked most of the day, it was never rushed or frantic. We took breaks and even got a chance to take a walk around the neighborhood. We were actually trying to get boba from our favorite drink place in Temple City (Boba Express), but of course, it was closed. However, the walk was wonderful. Baby Corn and Dumpling enjoyed the weather and company. Having Seitan and The Conscious Eater there also meant that there were two more pairs of eyes to watch our girls, so Sweet Potato and I got a chance to walk together hand-in-hand… a rare event!

The real magic to the day (other than the wonderful company), was the food, of course.

The menu included:

Need I say that there was way too much food? If we were hobbits, we would have been in food heaven… of course, if we were really hobbits, then we would have had two or three suppers in the evening. I’d have to say that everything was wonderful… I know, I’m pretty biased, but it was! I was most pleasantly surprised by the persimmon pie. That was seriously good! Think pumpkin pie, but with a soft persimmon mousse like consistency. The spices weren’t overpowering, and the crust was amazing with flavor and hearty goodness. I was surprised by it because I’m more of a crunchy persimmon kind of guy… not the soft squishy ones. That said, it was so good. Just the right amount of cinnamon and nutmeg. Seitan did a great job on it, and it featured her wonderful cashew cream.

One of the reasons I decided to make my own seitan turkey was because there are too many products out there that cook up really dry. The Field Roast is pretty good, but I have to admit, I’m not a fan of the Tofurkey turkey or the Now and Zen one. I think they’re dry and a little salty. With my own thing, I get to control the moistness of the seitan I make. I can shape it into little drum sticks or larger breasts if I want to. Most of all, I can wrap it with tofu skin to help retain the moisture and give it a crisp exterior.

So here’s the secret to working with tofu skin (also sometimes referred to as yuba skin or wrap). Okay, it’s not really a secret, but these are tips and tricks I do when I use tofu skin… One quick note, although you can find fresh tofu skin or yuba in many asian supermarkets (or even make it yourself), I prefer to buy the frozen variety because it’s consistent and convenient. So, here are my tips and tricks…

Tofu skin is very easy to use and can wrap a lot of different things. We love the crispy crunch of the tofu skins that have been basted and baked, so we use it to create little eggroll-like things with stuffing. We’ve also created something I call Chinese Samosas with them. When we do things like that, we actually pan fry them with just a small amount of oil in a cast iron skillet. Very yummy!

So we had a potluck at work for Halloween. One of my “Go To” potluck dishes is a quinoa and beet salad. This is chock-ful of protein, fiber, vitamins, and tasty goodness (not actual ingredient). In other words, this is a perfect potluck dish because it’s cold, delicious, and it ensures that I’ll have at least one thing I can eat at the potluck. Sorry… no photo today… but you do get two recipes for one blog entry.

Quinoa (“keen-wah”) and Beet Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• ½ lb. Baked tofu or veggie sausage, cubed
• 1 lb. cherry or pear tomatoes, halved
• ½ lb. steamed peeled beets, diced (Trader Joe’s has some great ready-to-eat beets if you don’t want to steam your own)
• 1 bunch swiss chard (any color) or kale (leaves only) chopped or torn into smaller pieces.
• ½ – ¾ C. Balsamic vinaigrette

Directions:

• Rinse and cook quinoa according to directions. For more flavorful quinoa, add salt, liquid aminos, or cook in vegetable broth… however, the salad won’t need it because it takes on the flavor of the vinaigrette. At end of cooking, fluff quinoa with a fork to prevent overcooking. It’s important to allow the quinoa to cool before compiling the salad. A great way to do this is to spread it out on a jelly roll pan so that it cools quickly
• Rinse and drain the chard (or whatever greens you’ve chosen). Tear or slice in smaller strips. I usually cut out the stem first and then cut the leaves in strips. If you use chard, you can cut the stem into little ½ inch segments, and they’ll add crunch and flavor. If you’re using kale, then discard the stem.
• Steam or lightly fry chard (or whatever greens you’ve chosen) till wilted, but not overcooked. Allow to cool before compiling salad. Note: adding a pinch of salt while sauteing will cut down the bitterness a little bit.
• Toss kale with small amount of vinaigrette.
• In a large mixing bowl, put all ingredients together and mix together. Add vinaigrette to taste.

Variations:

This is an easily transformed salad. Like it a little sweeter? Add some dried cranberries. Do you like herbs? Fresh basil is a great addition. Interested in having more quinoa, then double the quinoa but keep the veggies the same. Corn adds color and flavor.

Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard (or other whole grain mustard)
• 2 Tbsp (or more) agave nectar (maple syrup works well too)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic grated or finely minced
• 2-4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except oil in a blender. Blend till well mixed. Add oil slowly while blending to properly emulsify the vinaigrette. Alternatively, you can combine everything into a dressing shaker/jar thing and shake it really well. The goal is to create a dressing that doesn’t have a layer of oil.

Variations:

Flavor it according to how you like it! Some people like a sweeter balsamic vinaigrette, so they should add more agave nectar. If you like a little more bite, add more garlic or fresh cracked pepper.

Macaroni and Teese

I want to start by saying that I really like nutritional yeast. I think it’s a great flavor for my homemade gluten, sauces, and when I want a slightly cheesy flavor to things. However, I have to admit that I don’t love nutritional yeast as the sole cheesy flavor when making a comfort food like mac and cheese. Am I the only one who feels that way? Judging by the leftovers my daughters leave when I’ve created yeast-based mac and cheese, I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.

Enter the new era of vegan cheeses. Previously I talked about Teese in the Vegan Nachos. Well, the soft cheddar flavor makes a great base for gratins, mac and cheese, cheesy soups, and many other great dishes (haven’t tried it with fondue, but I’m sure that would be pretty good). Whenever I make a macaroni and cheesy type dish, I like to top it with some breadcrumbs. This adds more whole grains to the diet with a nice crisp crunch… and we could all use some more fiber in our diets, right?

Ingredients:

• 1 package elbow macaroni (whole wheat, rice, or plain semolina… and you can use any smallish pasta like shells)
• 1 block of soft cheddar-style Teese (10 oz. size)
• ½ cup unsweetened rice milk (you can also use soy, almond, hemp, or whatever non-dairy milk you enjoy)
• 1 tbsp non-dairy buttery spread (Earth Balance is great)
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp salt (or more)
• fresh breadcrumbs from a single slice of whole wheat bread
• olive oil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cook the macaroni according to directions. I prefer to keep mine just a tad more al dente than I like to eat it because this dish gets finished in the oven. So take a look at the package and cook it a minute less or so.

Break up the Teese into smaller chunks. You want to make sure it’s not huge so that it melts a little more easily. When the macaroni is finished cooking, drain lightly (that means that you don’t want to drain it till it’s bone dry. It can have some of the cooking water on it and still be moist.

Put macaroni and Teese into the pot you were just using and put on medium-low heat. You don’t want to scorch the Teese. Stir constantly while melting Teese. When the majority of Teese has melted, add butter, rice milk, and nutritional yeast. Mix thoroughly and continue cooking for about one minute. Add salt to taste, but 1 tsp is usually good. Mix thoroughly and taste more.

Put the mixture into a ceramic or glass casserole dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the macaroni mix and spray with a little olive oil. If you don’t have a sprayer, then use your thumb to cover the opening of the olive oil, leave just a tiny opening, and shake over the casserole dish. Move rapidly. You don’t want a lot of oil on one part… just a light spritz and spread of olive oil so that the bread crumbs get nice and brown. Bake in the oven till the top is golden brown and crunchy. Watch out! You don’t want it to be burnt… just crunchy.

Remove from oven. Let cool and set for about 3 minutes. Scoop and serve!

Variations:

Add any manner of herbs or spices to the topping for a slightly different taste. You can also add chopped Tofurkey or veggie ham to the macaroni and Teese mix for more protein. For a little tangy surprise, add some pear or grape tomatoes to the macaroni and Teese mix before baking. For more veggies, add some slightly blanched green beans or asparagus (chopped not whole).

Slow Simmered Pinto Beans

Comfort foods are things that I love to eat when I’m not feeling great (mentally and/or physically). My list of comfort foods seems to grow every year, but this list includes vegan versions of baked potatoes with toppings, rice porridge, oatmeal, lasagna, pad see ewe, bun bo hue, thai curry, samosas, mango with sticky rice, minestrone soup, split pea soup, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, hot chocolate, and sweet potato fries… okay, I’m sure there are way more foods I consider comfort foods, but those are the ones off the top of my head. Well a nice bowl of slow simmered beans is right up there. This is a dish that’s easily modified to match a variety of cuisines. Depending on the beans you use and the flavorings you add, it can be southwest style, mediterranean, or even asian-inspired.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried beans (whatever you want… I used pinto beans in this recipe, but I’ve also used black beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, black-eyed peas… I’m sure you get the idea, any beans will do)
• 8 cups of water
• ½ onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic smashed
• 1 bay leaf or 1 strip kombu
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon liquid aminos
• juice from ¼ lemon
• ½ tablespoon of agave nectar or other sweetener

Directions:

I’m a traditionalist when it comes to this recipe. I like to soak my beans overnight to prep them. For some reason, it makes the beans come out more tender, and they seem easier to digest. Maybe that part’s my imagination. Anyway, I rinse the beans then put enough water in the pot with the beans so that the water line is 2 inches above the beans.

The next morning, I pour out the water that was used to soak the beans (carefully reserving it to water the garden with). In your crock pot or slow cooker, put the beans with the 8 cups of water, the onion, the garlic, and the bay leaf or kombu. Do NOT add the salt and other flavors. There will be plenty of time for additional seasonings once the beans are tender. Don’t ask me why, but when you add salt, the beans don’t get as tender. Something about cooking it with salty water makes the beans hard. This isn’t like the digestible thing. This is a fact.

I set it to high until the water is simmering. Then I set it to low and leave it alone for about five hours… or until it’s tender. You can keep it on high if you want to, but I think the beans get more tender when it’s a lower heat.

Alternatively, if you’re pressed for time, you can use a heavy pot and bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 60-90 minutes. Test the beans. When they’re tender, it’s ready!

Regardless of which method you use, when the beans are tender, go ahead and remove the bay leaf or kombu, and add the salt, liquid aminos, lemon juice, and agave nectar. Let it simmer for an additional 15 minutes or so to bring all the flavors together. Serve hot with brown rice.

Variations:

These beans are great as is, but you can also dress them up with other flavorings. Try some chili powder and cayenne for heat. Add molasses for a deep sweetness. Add the beans to 10 cups of broth and assorted vegetables for a tasty bean soup. Tomato paste gives the beans a nice tanginess.

Easy Peasy Spanish-y Rice

Have you noticed a pattern to my cooking yet? When I have time, I tend to do more fancy, time-consuming stuff. But I rarely have time, so I do a lot of quick and easy recipes. This one is the quick and easy variety. The thing is when you do Spanish-style rice, a lot of recipes call for frying the rice a little first (toasting it in a pan) and then bringing it to a boil and then lowering the heat to simmer while covered… blah blah blah. Throw it all into a rice cooker and be done with it. The rice grains won’t be as separate as when you cook it in a pan, but the dish also won’t be as oily, and the rice cooker makes it dead simple… no checking to see if the rice is done yet or worrying about burning the bottom layer or forgetting you have it on, etc. etc. etc. It’s easy peasy.

Also, this recipe is totally modifiable. I usually use frozen corn and edamame. I didn’t have any this time, so I think I used green beans. No vegetable broth? Add water and a little more salt or liquid aminos. You get the idea. Lots of options.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rice (I use brown basmati or jasmine rice, but white works fine… so does brown short or medium grain rice. Just don’t use sticky rice)
• ½ cup ground tomatoes or diced tomatoes in juice (if you don’t have either, then use 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and increase the broth by almost ½ cup)
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp liquid aminos
• 1-2 cloves garlic (minced)
• ¼ onion chopped
• ½ cup total of frozen vegetables (I usually use edamame, corn, and carrots)
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• about 2 to 2 ½ cups vegetable broth

Directions:

Rinse rice and drain. Make sure you pour the drained liquid into another container so that you can water some plants with it (this also works great with water you’ve used to wash vegetables).

Put rice in a rice cooker. Add vegetable broth to just under the correct marker. So pretend that you’re making slightly dryer rice. Typically, I use about 1 ½ cups liquid (water or vegetable broth) for each cup of brown rice. So in this recipe, reduce the liquid by about ¼ cup for each cup of rice. Don’t worry, the liquid from the tomatoes and vegetables will make up for it.

Add in all the other ingredients and mix well.

Press start on the rice cooker (if I had a nickel for every time one of us forgot to press start… well, I wouldn’t be rich, but I might have 4 or 5 dollars).

Variations:

A variety of frozen mixed veggies work well. Some of the mixes are a good choice (like Trader Joe’s Soycutash). You can also use fresh shredded carrots if you have more time. If you like things spicy, they use a little hot sauce or chili powder.

Howdy Vegan MoFo’ers! Been a few days since I wrote. Actually, that’s not true. I’ve spent the last few weeks writing a grant at work which we just turned in. Now back to what’s way more fulfilling (unless we win this grant)…

Summer is such a great season. Sure, I could do without the extreme heat, frequent humidity, and plethora of bugs that want to suck my blood (are there vegan mosquitoes?), but the fruit in summer is amazing. From pluots to peach to watermelon to mangoes to a variety of berries… summer is never lacking in bold, fresh flavors of fruit. I like my fair share of fruit salads as well as eating whole fruit, but sometimes the lazy chewer in me gets the best of my cooking choices, so I like to whip up things like dessert soups. They’re cool, refreshing, and full of flavor.

Peach-Strawberry Dessert Soup with Tapioca Sauce

Peach-Strawberry Dessert Soup with Vanilla Tapioca Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rice milk (soy or almond milk), divided
• ⅓ cup small tapioca pearls
• 1 ½ tsp cornstarch (or 1 tsp. arrowroot)
• 3 tablespoons agave nectar or other sweetener
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pound strawberries, washed and stemmed
• 1 pound peaches (peeled)
• agave nectar to taste
• juice from ½ a lemon
• 1 pint raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or other fruit in season, rinsed and drained

Directions:

For the tapioca sauce… place 2 1/2 cups of rice milk and the tapioca into a saucepan. Heavier is better so that it can simmer without scorching. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally to avoid scorching the liquids, and then turn down the heat to a simmer. Stir well every few minutes, scraping the bottom and sides. This is one of those recipes that you can’t just leave and come back to. If tapioca just cooks unattended, it can congeal together, and that’s really not the goal. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the tapioca pearls are just turning translucent.

Make a slurry of the arrowroot and 1 tablespoon of rice milk. Set that mixture aside. Add the remaining rice milk to the pan along with the agave and vanilla extract. Increase heat so that the mixture gets up to a gentle boil again. Continue cooking for five minutes. Don’t forget to stir! Mix in the arrowroot slurry and cook until the liquid thickens.

Remove from heat and chill in refrigerator for about 2 hours or so. You can also use a cold water bath to chill it faster. The mixture will be thicker than water, but not as thick as a pudding.

While the sauce is cooling, prepare the fruit for the dessert soup. Cut the peaches into bite-size pieces. Cut the strawberries in quarters. For each fruit, you’ll want to follow this process… put the fruit in a food processor along with the about 1 teaspoon of agave nectar and pulse until coarsely pureed. Taste it. If it’s too tart, add another teaspoon of agave nectar. Stir in the juice from ¼ lemon to add depth of flavor and keep the color from turning. So start with the peaches. When the peaches are done, process the strawberries.

I like my fruit purees to have a little texture, so I usually don’t puree it very long. If you want an ultra-think soup, then puree longer. You can also add some apple juice to liquefy it more.

To assemble… using a pretty glass container, add about ¼ cup of the thicker fruit puree to the bottom of the glass. Follow that up with ¼ cup of the other fruit puree (for me, it was peach first then strawberry). Add about two tablespoons (or more) of the vanilla tapioca sauce and top off with a few raspberries, blueberries, or whatever fruit you’ve chosen. Serve immediately, or chill for up to ½ an hour if serving later.

If you’re the thin fruit soup type person (don’t worry, some of my best friends are thin fruit soup type people), then use a small shallow bowl and pour the fruit purees into two halves. If you’re careful, you can even do a yin yang design with them. Top with the vanilla tapioca sauce and fresh fruit. The consistency of apple sauce, or slightly thicker, is good for layering. Anything thinner is best for a shallow bowl.

Variations:

Try different fruits. In summer, there are plenty of fruits in season (like melons and other stone fruits). Mango is great too! Also, if you make the vanilla tapioca sauce thicker (like a pudding), then you can turn this into a parfait.

So what do you call cheese that doesn’t belong to you? Nacho Cheese! Cue the laugh track, please…

Vegan Nachos

Let’s talk about vegan cheese for a moment. Raise your hand if you know someone who says that they would be vegan except that they love cheese. Keep your hands raised if you’ve also wanted to give them a biting response that you’d go back to eating cheese, but you actually prefer to avoid the mistreatment of cows in the dairy industry… ahhh, but we’re a polite society. The fact is that even as a vegan, I have to admit that vegan cheeses, just like the early days of soy ice cream, haven’t always been very good. From hard, un-melting, styrofoam-like blocks to off-tasting liquidy messes, our veganism has been mistreated. Sure, there were always cashew creams with plenty of nutritional yeast, but it still wasn’t the cheese we remember as kids… not even close. Well, that’s changed a bit. What’s amazing to me is the variety of choices for vegan cheese now. From Follow Your Heart to Teese to Cheezly to Daiya (the newest kid on the vegan block and 2009 VegNews winner), vegans are not lacking for some pretty good choices for vegan cheese. Those are just some of the choices. There are others as well.

Long a fan of Follow Your Heart’s Mozzarella, we’ve been wanting to try something different. So we were at the Rancho Mirage Clark’s Nutrition (where they also have a great vegan cafe called Nature’s Express), and we saw three varieties of Teese on the shelf. So we seized the day… and the Teese. One of the flavors was Nacho Cheese, so this is my homage to vegan nachos. To tell you the truth, this is a super-simple version of nachos.

Ingredients:

• Tortilla Chips (I used an assortment of blue and yellow, but use what you want)
• ½ block of Teese (I used the nacho cheese style, but anything will be good)
• special bean mixture*
• guacamole
• pico de gallo or other very chunky salsa type topping
• chipotle cashew cream*

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (that seems to be a magical number for melting vegan cheeses… 375 works fine, but 400 seems to work so much better. Take an oven safe platter or large plate (it should not be a bowl). If you don’t have anything like a serving plate that’s oven safe, then a sheet pan will do. Layer the chips on the bottom (you can have a few on top of each other, but you don’t want to have a five chips stacked up… that would totally blow the toppings to chips ratio (and it’s totally about the toppings to chips… too many toppings makes soggy nachos… too little toppings means you’re basically eating chips only.

Break up the Teese (or whatever vegan cheese you’re using). If it’s solid, you can shred it, but if it’s like the nacho cheese style Teese, then, it’s going to be pretty soft, so it’s all about breaking pieces into small bits to spread around the chips. Not all chips need to have cheese because there will be other toppings, but it’s up to personal taste.

Bake in the oven till cheese is melted and bubbly. Watch out! You don’t want burnt chips. Remove briefly and spread out the bean mixture. Put it back in the oven and bake for another 3-5 minutes till heated through.

Remove from oven. Top with guacamole, pico de gallo, chipotle cashew cream, and cilantro if you like. Serve immediately.

Variations:

The toppings are all up to you. If you don’t have a special bean mixture, then that’s fine. The essential thing is the vegan cheese… and the guacamole… and the salsa… okay, I like to have all these things, but you don’t have to!

*Bonus Recipes! For effort of reading one blog entry, you get two additional recipes!

Chipotle Cashew Cream

This recipe is totally based on Seitan’s Cashew Cream recipe on her Conscious Cooking blog.

Ingredients:

• Makes about 1 Cup
• ½ cup raw cashews
• ¼ cup water or almond/rice/soy milk (preferably unsweetened)
• 1 canned chipotle pepper (not the whole can… just one pepper or two if you like)
• 1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp agave nectar (omit if you’re using rice milk)
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• ¼ tsp salt (or to taste)
• ¼ tsp black pepper

Directions:

In a blender, pulse chop the nuts until they resemble a coarse meal. Add water (or the milk if you’re using it), chipotle, yeast, agave, lime juice, salt, and pepper (I guess I could’ve just typed that you should add the rest of the ingredients)… blend on puree setting (or a higher setting) for 3 minutes or so until the consistency is very creamy and smooth. Add more liquid if you want it more liquidy. Season to taste. Serve with nachos or other southwesterny foods. Great with enchiladas and tacos.

Variations:

Add more chipotle if you like it really spicy… more lemon if you like it sour… more salt if you like it saltier… it’s up to you.

Spicy Bean Mixture

Ingredients:

• 1 can of black beans, black-eyed peas, pintos, or other bean rinsed and drained (a chili bean mixture works well)
• 1 segment of the Mexican Chipotle Field Roast, broken into 4 pieces or so.
• juice from ¼ lemon or ½ lime (or to taste)
• salt to taste

Directions:

In a food processor (I use my Cuisinart Mini Prep for this), chop the Field Roast until it’s in many small granules. In a small bowl, add the beans, the Field Roast mixture, juice of lemon or lime, and about ¼ teaspoon of salt to start with. Mix well. Taste for seasonings. Use to top nachos or fill enchiladas or tacos.

Variations:

The sour and salty flavors are to taste. You can vary the beans easily too. Feel free to add corn or other small veggies as well.

There are a lot of Vegan MoFo’ers out there this year! So where does a vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore go for a sample of the great recipes, thoughts, and humor of the Vegan MoFo masses? Where do you start? Think of this as a guide… a roadmap for traversing the Vegan MoFo Universe. These are a few places I like to go, and what I’d recommend for people interested in sampling a variety of what’s out there and then digging deeper…

First and foremost, Vegan MoFo Headquarters International. VMFHI is to Vegan MoFo as Cupertino is to Apple fans… in other words, it’s like the mothership in a way. It’s there as a resource gathering of info. Headquarters doesn’t feature everything and everyone participating in Vegan MoFo, but it highlights some of them. Be sure to check out their Contests section for news of giveaways and cool things you can win. There’s a team of bloggers who post, and they include some of the best vegan writers around like Isa Chandra, Jeni Treehugger, kittee and more.

I’ve also been checking out VeganDojo. Sam and Bonnie have created a site that compiles a lot of the best of Vegan MoFo as well as the best of Vegan stuff on the Web. I’m especially impressed by the sheer volume of information here. But before you start to feel intimidated by the possibility of being inundated with info… give it a try. The site is very well organized with big buttons for recipes, lists, events, restaurants, blogs, and more. I especially like their questions section because they’ve listed and answered so many common (and frustrating) questions that vegans get.

If you’re into selecting and sifting yourself, then head on over to the Vegan MoFo blogroll at Bloglines. Bloglines is a great site where you can mass all your RSS feed sites into one location. So from anywhere, any computer, you can catch up on all your news, entertainment, and more (as long as it’s on an RSS feed). Kittee has set this one up so that all the Vegan MoFo’ers out there can be viewed easily.

Kittee of Cake Maker to the Stars fame has the complete list as well if you don’t want to go to Bloglines. If you’d rather do the ol’ click on the links and go to another page, then Kittee’s got all the participants organized alphabetically. While you’re there, be sure to visit her recipe site paku paku.

I’m a visual learner, so sometimes, I just want to see the food that’s being made. For that, I head on over to the Vegan MoFo Flickr Group. The food looks great and the photos are beautiful. More than anything, they inspire me to create something delicious and amazing looking.

On a different note… For Vegan MoFo’ers all over the world (and probably the universe)… I think we all know Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who was the driving force behind Vegan MoFo the last two years and is the best selling cookbook author of Vegan Brunch, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Veganomicon, Vegan with a Vengeance, and the soon-to-be-released Vegan Cookies Take Over the Cookie Jar. The first four cookbooks (some of them written with Terry Hope Romero) are full of great recipes, tips and tricks, and plenty of humor and attitude… and I’m sure the newest one on cookies will be equally fun and high quality. I saw a cool little interview of Isa Chandra in the Buzz section of VegNews today where she talks about VeganMoFo.

Paprika Oven-Baked Potatoes

Brunch is definitely my favorite meal to cook. I mean, I like cooking dinners… especially special dinners for celebrations like Thanksgiving… and I like cooking lunches… snacks are good too… Okay, I guess it would be safe to say that I like cooking at almost any time! That said, brunch is special to me because I feel like I have a chance to mix and match the best of breakfast and lunch. Somehow, whenever I cook brunch, I feel the need to make some potatoes. They’re easy to prepare in the oven, and once they’re in baking away, you have the chance to work on the other components to brunch. These are the potatoes I prepared with the pancakes over the weekend. Another favorite of my family. Oh, and we also serve these potatoes for dinner or lunch.

Ingredients:

• 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch to 1 inch cubes (you can actually use any variety of potato… or even a mix of potatoes. If you select a more waxy potato like the yukon gold, purple, or red potatoes, then you don’t have to peel them)
• 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
• ⅛ to ¼ tsp fine sea salt (basically to taste)
• ⅛ tsp fresh ground pepper
• ¼ tsp paprika

Directions:

Preheat the oven to at least 375 degrees but not more than 425 degrees. On a baking sheet, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle the paprika over the potatoes.

Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. If you’re into having potatoes that are really evenly cooked, then go ahead and mix up the potatoes and turn them over. I have to admit, a lot of the time, I don’t even bother turning them, and the potatoes come out great. Cook for an additional 15-25 minutes more till the potatoes are golden brown. They should be starting to form a crust on the outside, but be nice and soft on the inside. You can test for doneness by sticking a fork into one of the potatoes. You can also just take a potato out, let it cool for a moment, and eat it to check.

When the potatoes are done, take them out of the oven. Put the potatoes in a serving bowl and serve immediately. This recipe should serve four people as a side… maybe two or three if you love potatoes… probably only one serving if you really really love potatoes and only eat that.

Variations:

If you want more of a kick, then you can add more black pepper or ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper. Sometimes I add a little curry powder for a different flavor. A variety of fresh or dried herbs can also be used to give the potatoes a different flavor. Rosemary is a good choice with oven-baked potatoes.

Chocolate Chip Buckwheat Pancakes

Before I begin, I want to make sure everyone knows that Sweet Potato is my soulmate. She and I have been married now for 15 years, 3 months, 3 days, and counting. That said, ever since I met Seitan at an EdTech trainers thing at the Los Angeles County Office of Education, I’ve felt like I met a culinary soulmate. Our flavor profiles and food choices are very complimentary and compatible… even when the styles are so different. So it’s with a high amount of humor that I read her post on Cornmeal Pancakes, because this weekend I was also experimenting with pancakes. Call it ironic, cosmic, kismet, or just weird vegan ju-ju, but it was definitely funny (and tasty too).

By far, one of my family’s favorite breakfast treats includes homemade pancakes. From Pumpkin Spice Pancakes to Chocolate Chip Buckwheat pancakes, we like experimenting with different flavors and have liked them all… well, okay, maybe not all of them. My wife and I have liked all of them, but I think sometimes the kids get a little taken aback at first… then they come around and develop a taste for the experiments. However, that said, these are their favorite.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
• ½ cup buckwheat flour
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rice milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
• 2 Tbs canola or safflower oil
• 3 Tbs agave nectar (maple syrup or brown rice syrup work pretty well
• too)
• oil or butter for cooking

Directions:
Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) in a mixing bowl. Stir up the dry ingredients to combine them. In a 2 cup measuring cup (or other mixing bowl), combine the liquid ingredients (rice milk, oil, and agave). Be sure to mix the liquids together. The sweetener has a tendency to just sit at the bottom unless mixed in.

Bring the dry together with the liquid in one happy, harmonious pancakey batter. As always, gently mix the dry and wet ingredients together and do NOT over-mix. How will you know if you’ve over-mixed it? If the pancakes come out tough, then it’s been over-mixed. So make a mental note to mix it less next time. If you are going to add in any mix-ins… now’s the time to do it! I like to add in non-dairy chocolate chips or fresh berries. Blueberries always work well, but both Baby Corn and Dumpling like the chocolate chips, so I usually go with those.

Time to warm up the pan. You can do this step earlier, but it forces me to let the batter rest, which helps it become fluffier. Use a heavy non-stick pan. Cast iron is always good. Warm the pan up on medium heat. Make sure the pan is fully pre-heated, or the pancakes will be harder to flip. That’s the one thing that I notice with these pancakes… they tend to stick a little, so they require a little work when flipping, and a well-heated pan does wonders.

By now, the batter should be a little airy and fluffy. That’s a good thing! Fluffy batter translates to airier pancakes. As you begin to scoop and make pancakes, the fluffiness will go down a little, it’s okay. The pancakes will still taste great and be light and fluffy… maybe just not as fluffy. Lightly oil the pan and pour the batter in about ¼ to ⅓ cup batches. The goal is to make pancakes that are about 4 inches in diameter. Wait till the batter is looking a little bubbly or holey and a little dry. You can also take a peek at the cooking side. It should be a nice golden to deep brown… not black. Carefully flip the pancakes and cook for an additional 30-60 seconds till done (also golden to deep brown on that side).

Serve with non-dairy buttery spread (we like Earth Balance, and now they even have soy-free versions), maple syrup, and fresh fruit… if you really want to get fancy, then make some Cashew Cream á la Seitan (updated) from Conscious Cooking.

Variations:
Try different flours. Sometimes I’ll do a mix of whole wheat pastry flour and unbleached white whole wheat flour. Experiment with mix-ins. Just be sure not to add more than a handful to handful-and-a-half of mix-ins because the pancakes will be harder to cook, and the mix-ins may burn on the pan.