AT-ST [Two Door Cinema Club]

Vegan MoFo Day 10

AT-ST
This is my take on the vegan BLT. Avocado, tempeh, spinach, tomato. Normally I use arugula instead of spinach. AT-ST, AT-AT doesn't matter, both are references to Star Wars vehicles.

The tempeh bacon recipe comes from Vegan with a Vengeance. There are plenty of other tempeh bacon recipes online, though. I make an avocado spread with lemon juice, cilantro and green onion.

• 1 avocado
• 2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 green onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Just mix everything together. This is good on bagels, too.

Assembling the sandwich should be self explanatory. In this case I used some hoagies that I had sitting around. The white bread is an odd choice for me. They're left overs from a work halloween party where I attempted to fit in while everyone else ate hot dogs. I made this last week and (sadly) used the last tomato I had from my sister's garden.

Two Door Cinema Club
Tourist History by Two Door Cinema Club is one of my favorite albums ever. There isn't a single bad track on it. It's the only album that has made it onto my running playlist in its entirety. I was supposed to see them in concert, but they were stuck in Europe due to a volcano eruption.

Take Phoenix and make them happier and you get TDCC. It's electropop at its best. Do yourself a favor and listen to the whole album. You can start with these few tracks:

Thai Inspired Tofu Scramble [The Big Pink]

Vegan MoFo Day 9

Some days I just want to go into the kitchen and fly by the seat of my pants and see what comes out. This is the result of that most recent time.

Thai Inspired Tofu Scramble
I had a craving for Thai food and a poorly stocked kitchen. So instead of making something traditionally Thai, I just stole some flavors. I didn't take any measurements, so if you give this a try just go with whatever feels right to you.

• Coconut oil
• Sweet potato
• Tofu
• Turmeric
• Cumin
• Miso
• Peanut Butter
• Black Beans
• Bragg's Liquid Aminos
• Sriracha
• Cilantro

This picture is garbage...sorry

I started by sauteing the sweet potato in coconut oil (which probably would have been good just by itself). Once those were showing some gold, I crumbled a block of extra firm tofu which I had pressed. After a minute or two, I added a healthy amount of turmeric and some cumin. About 2 minutes later, I added some miso and peanut butter. When everything looked about ready, I added the black beans with just enough time to get them hot. I used the braggs just to deglaze the pan. Added a fair amount of sriracha to introduce some heat. Right before eating it, I added about 2 handfuls of chopped cilantro.

My normal tofu scramble is finished off with nutritional yeast flakes, but I didn't feel like this one needed anything extra. I really enjoyed the flavor, but the texture was unlike other tofu scrambles I've made or have eaten. I think the peanut butter was the culprit of that. I'm not sure how I'd change that or if I'd even bother, though.

The Big Pink
A Brief History of Love by The Big Pink is full of great tracks. They don't seem to fit together very well, though. I could see thinking "Is this the same band?" between a few of the tracks. I think The Big Pink is classified as electro rock and they run the spectrum between those styles. Some songs are downright trance like and some feel more like rock.

Despite a lack of cohesion, these guys write good tracks. Here's a sample of them:

Pumpkin Cookies with Cashew Frosting [Metric]

Vegan MoFo Day 6

I get pretty excited about pumpkin come fall. I haven't made a pumpkin pie yet this year, but I made pumpkin cornbread a few weeks ago and now I've moved onto pumpkin cookies.

Pumpkin Cookies with Cashew Frosting
These were so good that I forgot to take a picture and now they're gone. I guess I'll just have to make them again and snap a picture. Warning tangent ahead: I rarely bake these days due to a lack of margarine that I'm willing to use. After reading about the source of palm oil and the destruction that it causes, I stopped buying Earth Balance. So, I chose this recipe because not only does it not call for margarine it uses the okara that is left over from making soy milk.

The cookie recipe comes from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen and can be found here: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/10/pumpkin-cookies.html. I didn't make any modifications to the cookie recipe. The cookies taste really good. They are well spiced, which is something I'm looking for in a pumpkin baked good. The texture is not what I expected, though. It was more like bread, which is not bad. It just was not what I anticipated.

For frosting, I made a thick cashew cream. It is similar in process and ingredients to the cashew cream that I wrote about a few days ago here. You want the icing to be thick, so use soak water sparingly. I went a little heavier on the vanilla and agave nectar, too.

Let the cookies cool down before icing. I think the icing was best when it had a chance to firm up. So, I let the cookies sit out for a few hours before eating them. You don't want to leave them out all the time, though since the icing is raw. Store them in the fridge to prevent spoiling.

Metric
Fantasies by Metric is an album that doesn't disappoint during any track. I saw them in concert when they came through Columbus (their own show, not when they opened for Muse). Not only was the music awesome, their show was really fun, the lead singer had tons of energy and the lights were great.

It's tough to pick just a few tracks from this album. If you have a chance, listen to the whole thing.

BONUS: two great Metric tracks not from this album:

Clever Crow Pizza [???]

Vegan MoFo Day 5?

Clever Crow Pizza
No cooking tonight, but fantastic pizza instead! This is Clever Crow Pizza from a bar named Circus. All of their pizzas are made on cornbread. On the vegan pizzas, they use a nut pate or a nut and hummus paste instead of cheese. They are the only pizza place I know of that is doing that. It's delicious and is not processed like faux-cheese.

Tonight I ordered the vegan walnut pate. It's topped with red onions, caramelized onions and spinach. The crust is very hearty and the toppings are so delicious. I've had the vegan corn which is also delicious and had purple potato on it. The new seasonal pizza features a spiced winter squash puree. I'll be back to try that one, too. Probably sooner than later since it's only about a 2 minute walk from my apartment.

You can check out the Clever Crow menu on their facebook page. If you find yourself in Columbus do yourself a favor and check it out.

No Music Tonight
There was some music on in Circus. I have no idea what it was.

Homemade Soy Milk [The Futureheads]

Vegan MoFo Day 3

Homemade Soy Milk
Store bought soy milk comes with a few issues, in my opinion. Mainly, it's overpriced and it comes in packages that are not recycled. I'll buy it in a pinch, but I prefer to make it myself.

Making my own soy milk required a steep investment, though. I use a SoyQuick (link). It can make various milks including soy, almond, oat and rice. The machine comes with a book of recipes. I normally just make plain soy milk, though. It's really easy to use and to clean. The machine's cycle is only about 15 minutes. I spend more time than that on prepping the beans and filtering the milk when it's done, though. I think it's important to remove the skins from the beans before making it or else the milk will taste like beans which is quite different than commercially available soy milk. I also add a little salt and agave to mine.

There's quite a bit of pulp left over from making soy milk. It's called okara and we'll be seeing it next week in a cookie recipe.

The Futureheads
The Chaos by The Futureheads is a non-stop fun album. I had a difficult time picking just a few songs for a playlist. The entire album is peppy and I'm not sure that anyone can resist dancing when "Heartbeat Song" is playing.

If you're a fan of peppy music with a punk influence, this album is for you.

Brazilian Rice [We Were Promised Jetpacks]

Vegan MoFo Day 2

Brazilian Rice
This dish is an attempt to replicate a dish that is from the hot bar at Whole Foods. I think I come pretty close. Either way, it's tasty stuff.

I'm not sure this is anything close to Brazilian cuisine, but that's what Whole Foods called it and this is my attempt at their dish. Here are the quantities that I used (I really like turmeric, so you might want to back it off a little):

• 1.5 cups rice (uncooked)
• 1 bullion cube
• 2 tsp turmeric (maybe 1.5 tsp)

I use a rice cooker for all of my rice. Add the rice and spices to 2 cups of water. Adjust depending on your method of preparation. While it's cooking you might think that I'm seriously out of control with the turmeric, but it's okay. Turmeric is a very aromatic spice and it's not going to overpower the other flavors (I promise).

• olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 cans worth black beans (about 1.75-2 cups prepared)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1.5 tsp oregano
• 2 tsp parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• water
• salt to taste

Heat up a bit of olive oil (2 tbsp maybe) in a pan. Cook the onions until they are translucent. Add black beans. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add spices and tomatoes. Add the cooked rice. At this point, I add some water and cook everything down at a low temperature. This blends that flavors and makes sure the rice isn't too sticky. Taste during this and add salt as you see fit. When it looks ready to go, add the cilantro.

I made this with tomatoes from my sister's garden and they were amazing! The most flavorful tomatoes I've had in a long time. So, thanks sis for the great ingredients.

Still hot in the pan!

We Were Promised Jetpacks
We Were Promised Jetpacks has put out a pretty fun album. The lead singer has a very distinctive Scottish accent, which is fun and novel for us colonists. There are a few tracks that are long and well thought out (Keeping Warm), a few that build up into something great (It's Thunder And It's Lightning) and some that are great from start to finish (Quiet Little Voices). They came through Columbus, but they were touring with Jimmy Eat World and they deserve better than that. So, I did not see them.

There are more tracks worth listening to on this album, but here's a playlist of the tracks mentioned above plus "Ships With Holes Will Sink":

Fruit with Cashew Cream [Arcade Fire]

Vegan MoFo Day 1

This is my breakfast almost every day of the week. Dates, blueberries, strawberries and bananas covered in cashew cream.  Sometimes I mix it up with some raspberries, too.

Cashew Cream
Cashew cream is pretty amazing stuff. It's a bit fluffy, tastes like dessert and it's raw (almost raw? I'm not sure. There's some debate about vanilla extract).  The amounts should be adjusted to how you like it, but here's a starting point:

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1.5 cups water
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Soak the cashews in water for 30 minutes.  Save 1/2 cup of soak water, drain cashews. Grind cashews in food processor.  Add up to 1/2 cup of the soak water (start with less and work up to 1/2 cup if it needs it).  Add agave nectar, lemon juice and vanilla extract.  Puree until smooth. Refrigerate.

The cream will firm up a little bit in the fridge. I puree my cashews with the water for a few minutes until everything is extra smooth.

Very unflattering picture of just the cashew cream

My breakfast (unmixed)

My breakfast (remixed)

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
This album is strongest as one continuous listen. There are a few songs that are strong on their own, but the songs really support each other and are best in album order.

In my opinion the strongest tracks are "We Used To Wait", "Ready To Start", "City with No Children" and "Rococo". Here's a playlist of those four tracks:

There's a very cool music video for "We Used To Wait" that uses google maps images of a location that you specify in the video. There are several other uses of new web technologies, as well. It's unlike any other music video I've ever seen and definitely worth checking out: http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/