parmesan-crusted pork? no, thanks

Yesterday was the first day of my favorite month. I love October for many reasons:
1. the weather is perfect
2. it starts smelling and tasting like fall
3. the leaves in Pennsylvania are at their peak of beauty
4. people start lighting fires in their fireplaces (I love that smell when I'm out taking a walk on a crisp autumn night)
5. we're coming up on another wedding anniversary (I love that!)
and now,
6. because of all the wonderful posts to read (and write) for Vegan MoFo III! I am so excited to be a part of this!

I was previously unaware that this day even existed, but yesterday was also World Vegetarian Day, which I celebrated in grand style...because nothing says, "we love animals" like a Brazilian steakhouse featuring a "parade of meats." Not exactly how I imagined observing World Veg. Day or kicking off VeganMoFo2009, but long story short it was my boss's fault.

As I mentioned before, we recently added about 100 new agents to our staff at work. My colleagues and I make up the management team of the sales department and the Vice President wanted to thank us all for hiring and training these new staff members, as well as hitting projected sales goals in August, so he took us out to dinner. Fortunately, the salad bar was really good - hearts of palm, chunks of cantelope, tabbouleh, herbed cucumbers, steamed asparagus, and a really good mixed greens salad. The greens were so fresh and spicy there was no need for dressing. Also, on the table were fried polenta and bananas. Despite the continuous parade of servers carrying 12 different meats on 12 different skewers for my dining partners to pick off with little tongs, I thoroughly enjoyed my salad (to the great amusement of two male colleagues who had two of every meat). I also especially enjoyed two conversations:

Vice President to female colleague: "Why isn't she (me) eating?" as he observed me passing on all the meat presented to me.
Female colleague to VP: "Because she's a vegetarian."
Evidently, no one told him this earlier.

A server presents a skewer of parmesan-encrusted pork loin to my Jewish colleague who has just finished observing Yom Kippur.
Her: "Ooh, what is that?"
Me: "Parmesan-encrusted Pork."
Her, to server: "No, thank you."

In case you missed that, the combination of Pork and Cow's milk cheese is not exactly kosher.

So that was how I kicked off World Vegetarian Day and the first day of Vegan Month of Food.

Tonight I made Two-Bean & Kale Soup without the cheese toasts. The kale is really a mouthful! I think I need to chop it smaller next time...the pieces were way too big. I feel like either I should know this, or I did something wrong, but kale is really....sturdy. It doesn't wilt like other greens. It looks like it does, but it doesn't, it just turns greener. It's a very hearty green and I enjoyed having to chew it so many times before I could even consider swallowing, but I definitely think I need to cut it up a little smaller next time. It's a good soup for a mildly chilly night, getting a little touch of creaminess by blending cannellini beans with vegetable broth - I love that trick!

Anyway, due to good times and good wine*, I was way too tired to start my MoFo blogging last night, so I may do a "double issue" one of these days to make up for it. Enjoy and please feel free to leave me comments if there is anything you'd like me to write about this month.
Possible topics:
1. Why aren't you vegan?
2. What's wrong with honey?
3. Why isn't your cat vegan?
4. How did you make a cupcake so good someone wants to make love to it? (funny story)
5. What makes some sugar vegan and some not?
6. Amazing egg substitutes
7. Insert interesting topic here______

*Crios Malbec, Argentina - sooooooo good. Soooooo smooth. It was like drinking velvet.

harvesting the nectar before it's gone

It was a gorgeous almost-autumn day today. The temperature was hovering in the low 70s, the sun was out but there was a nice breeze blowing... I wandered down to the Italian Market to try (again) to get either Beluga lentils or more French lentils and they were out of both. How disappointing, but at least I got to take a walk. I bought bunches of vegetables, including 9 different bell peppers - it's going to be a pepper-heavy menu this week, but it seems there's a bumper crop, so it works out.

I also got more bananas which may or may not get to stay whole for more than a day... last time, I was just a day late in eating them all up and the fruit flies won that round. The little buggers only live about two days, but for those two days, they are annoying as hell. Chocolate Covered Katie has a recipe for banana butter which I'm considering, since I still haven't settled into an oatmeal routine. Maybe I won't - I could just spend the fall and winter experimenting, but I have learned several times over that I really just don't like chocolate oatmeal. That probably will not stop me from trying again, though.

Anyway, tonight's dinner was Stewed Lentils with Soy Sausage and Fingerling Fries, both from Vegan Express by Nava Atlas. It was not a fast meal, but that is owed to two factors:
1. I don't believe in canned lentils. They just seem gross.
2. My stove got crippled somewhere between reheating that amazing lentil soup we had earlier this week for lunch and making dinner tonight and all that came out of the burner was the wretched smell they put in natural gas to prevent you from killing yourself accidentally. So, down a front burner and too short to reach the back burners for something requiring frequent attention, it took a little longer because I had to trade off.

The stewed lentils looked kind of gross, but it tasted good and that's really what matters. The fries were both attractive and tasty, though a little bland because I'm very conservative with the salt (you can always add more, but you can't take it away, right?).
I stand corrected, now that I've made a whole bunch of recipes from Vegan Express - Nava has two standard ingredients: sun-dried tomatoes and Tofurky sausage. It kind of works out, though, because Mister loves Tofurky everything and I have thus far been unable to give him a Tofurky for a holiday feast. Someday...when our home is big enough for guests...

I thought I had finished my food shopping today, but it turns out I did forget to pick one thing up at Whole Foods. I'm glad I have to go back because when I was looking at some of the blogs I follow today, I found that my absolute favorite fruit and nut bars are being discontinued! So, I'm planning to march my butt back to Whole Foods tomorrow and buy every Lemon Vanilla Cashew Nectar bar and Dark Chocolate Walnut Nectar bar they have. It's ironic - after all my bar testing, those remained my favorites for many reasons.

In any case, here is the menu for this coming week. I still have one more Isa soup I'm making tomorrow night, though, from last week's menu.

1. Potato Corn Chowder (from Accidental Vegan by Devra Gartenstein)
2. Seitan Pepper Steak (also Accidental Vegan - this was one of the recipes that made me buy the book)
3. Vegetable Etoufee (from One-Dish Vegetarian Meals by Robin Robertson - this is another old standard that I make almost every time I flip through this cookbook)
4. Punjabi Peppers and Tofu (from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer, the crazy Canadian who introduced me to the wondrous world of vegan cooking, as well as the magical spice medley called Garam Masala)
5. Penne Pasta with Fresh Veggies (from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau) That has to be the most unimaginative name I've ever seen for a recipe, but we'll forgive her because she comes up with clever-cute names for her full menus.

bring on baking season!

The perfect way to welcome September - with Apple Pie! Okay, it was just a larabar, but it was delightful!

This was a dense and very sweet bar. I was initially inclined to think it was too nutty, but after a few more bites I realized that the nuts helped to calm the flavor some. It reminded me a bit of the Apple Cinnamon Nectar bars (which also have gorgeous packaging), but easier to eat, due to the nuts - the Nectar bar is just too sweet.

The first thing I noticed when I unceremoniously ripped open the wrapper was the wonderful smell of apple and cinnamon...absolutely one of my favorite scent combinations. It was like tearing open the wrapping paper on Autumn (my favorite season).

Now, when I say "baking season," I am primarily thinking about tasty little treasures made up of warm syrupy fruit, smothered with an oaty, streusal topping, or maybe the melt-in-your-mouth crumbs of a coffee cake, or these fantastic little cookies baked with freshly cut apple chunks. However, I also love baked dinners. They provide warmth from the inside out in a way only slowly cooked foods can...the rich scent of lasagna or pastitsio, the tenderness of stuffed peppers baked in the oven, rather than on a skillet, and the inherent sweetness roasting brings out in vegetables. Also, baked dinners allow me a little bit more time to relax in the evening, as opposed to the whirlwind of perpetual motion that leaves me dancing around my small kitchen, tending to three pots at once and hoping I don't burn the garlic.

My inaugural baked meal (welcome, dear September!) was Isa's BBQ Pomegranate Tofu, served on a bed of coconut rice (with real toasted - and almost burnt - shredded coconut). I love this tofu - I keep saying "this is my favorite," but seriously - this is my favorite tofu. It's baked to perfection, then smothered in the best BBQ sauce ever and baked some more. We ate every last morsel!