boys like girl-treats, too!

It would be something of an understatement to say my cupcakes were a success.  I'm not a big braggart (ordinarily), but I have irrefutable evidence that my cupcakes were a hit - 3 previously cupcake-filled containers came home with me empty.  Then there were the nearly vulgar sounds some colleagues made while eating them.  Personally, I'm a fan of the eyes-widening, mouthful-of-cupcake-smiling reactions, of which I got many.  I've kept you in suspense long enough - wanna see 'em?

of course you do

Let's travel back in our magical phone booths to... 24 hours ago (Mister's been watching Dr Who)...

Although I honestly bought the wine specifically to make the icing, I knew I was only going to use a couple of ounces and it would be such a shame to waste that whole big bottle...  Nothing says "I'm ready to bake!" like a glass of wine balancing on top of two small cookbooks.... nothing, maybe, but a brand new apron (seriously, I don't think I can have too many - I'm becoming an apron addict).

I wish I could have gotten more of the apron in the picture, but my arm isn't long enough to do a full body self portrait, but that cute little pattern just repeats along the body and down to the cute little gathered hem bits.  Okay, so clearly I have to take a picture of the whole apron by itself because that last part made No sense.

This, right here, is probably my favorite part of the whole recipe (except the Eating It part).  This is the part of the recipe that made me fall in love with the oddly-named Funeral Cake.  This part of the recipe actually smells better than the part where the cupcakes are baking.  I know - you don't believe me - but go ahead and melt Earth Balance in a saucepan with oil, water, and cocoa and tell me you couldn't die happy.

Go ahead.  I'll wait.

Anyway, once I was done salivating from the scent of the cocoa boiling on the stove and had cleaned up enough to feel comfortable touching it, I poured the chocolatey mixture over my dry ingredients (which includes so darn much sugar I actually ran out and had to sub in some brown sugar to make up the difference - way to plan ahead and check your ingredients, Natalie - apparently flour wasn't the only thing keeping me from baking) and mixed it all together until it resembled oily fudge.  I filled the cupcake liners to the top and just look at them pretending to be pure chocolate candy cups!

Once they'd finished baking (about 25 minutes was perfect), I managed to let them cool to Nearly Room Temperature (the closest I'm likely to get any time soon) before trying to ice them.

I put about a cup of confectioners sugar in a bowl, then carefully sprinkled in 2 Tbsp red wine.  I stirred it up good with my little whisk, until the sugar had all melted into the wine and the icing had a puce kind of hue going on.  Never a big fan of pink-purple, I added another teaspoon red wine for color, but then the icing was way too thin.  In the future I will likely do the same amounts but either

a) use 1.5 cups sugar OR

b) put everything (cupcakes and icing) in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Despite the huge mess I made, I ended up dipping the top of each cupcake into the icing, swirling it around a little and then setting it down on the tray they live on in the refrigerator.  I put them all in the fridge overnight and it definitely helped the glaze set but not before it dripped all down the sides, making quite a mess when people pulled off the wrappers today.

The woman who inspired me to make these was extremely grateful and astonished I could combine two great things like chocolate and red wine, but she took her cupcake home to eat for dessert tonight, so I have to wait until tomorrow for her reaction, but everyone else gave me instant gratification.  The gents loved the cupcakes and used many descriptive words to tell me how much.  Another colleague has now specifically requested the Strawberry Creme cupcakes that were part of yesterday's brainstorm.  Fortunately, the incredible reactions I got on this batch are definitely provocative enough to get me back in the kitchen in time to bring those cupcakes in next week...

nothing ventured, nothing gained

So, I've been thinking of baking on and off for a couple of months.  Obviously, the best time to do so is during the first May heat wave in years.  Let's back-track, though.

A few times recently the Baking Bug bit me, only for me to open my cupboard and discover (repeatedly, since I don't learn the first time) that I have less than one cup of flour.  Not too many things you can make with that little flour.  A few times recently, Mister's been up to his old tricks, wandering into the kitchen, wanting "something," only to be thwarted by the fact that neither of us has replenished the flour, so again - no baking.

This past weekend I was around cakes almost every waking hour.  I watched batter being made in large quantities and enough frosting (they call it "icing" in the South) to fill a plastic storage bin other people would use for their winter clothing or to corral cleaning supplies.  I was surrounded by the heavenly scent of cakes baking - chocolate, almond pound, vanilla - and watched as they were prepped for icing and then decorated efficiently and skillfully.  I was even lucky enough to have some batter slung at me while I was eating my breakfast, as a sister-in-law reacted in time to save a full cakepan from overturning but too quickly to put down the spatula first.

Needless to say, after a weekend like that, all I wanted to do last night, my first night home, was bake cupcakes and even decorate them.  It's rare that I bother with icing my cupcakes, as I explained over the weekend, because you have to be patient enough to let them cool and I just want to eat them while they're still warm.  Nevertheless, when I started daydreaming about what I would make and how I would decorate, I was rudely awoken to the continued Lack Of Flour in my cupboard.

~*~*~*~*~

Over the weekend, we moved the retail and service portion of our flagship store (which is currently our corporate headquarters) into a new location, just two doors down.  Despite the move being so close we didn't even need movers' assistance, and despite a bunch of hardworking individuals pulling a 14-hour day while I was sitting in Georgia sniffing cake batter, things are still a little crazy as everyone gets settled.  A little (okay, a decent bit) of that chaos is leaking back into the "old" building, where me and other administrative folks are still in residence.  By the end of today, one of my colleagues was clearly in need of some TLC and good, old-fashioned, female-tilted relaxation.  

I hatched a plan on my walk home: moist dark chocolate cupcakes, topped with something decadent.  Maybe I would get a decorator tip and food coloring and make a red rose topping (a wee bit ambitious for someone who has never actually decorated a cupcake outside of smearing an improvised "cream cheese" icing on top and carefully placing chocolate chips to look randomly sprinkled on).  No.... I try to stay away from artificial ingredients, so why would I use food dye?  Ah!  Strawberries!  Yes, I would puree fresh strawberries and then make a pink "buttercream" to frost the tops of these decadent chocolate cupcakes.  Hmmm.... suddenly, the light flavor of a strawberry creme topping seemed better suited to vanilla cupcakes, which I had no interest in making.  Then I remembered a comical conversation about Tequila-tinged cupcakes and rethought the strawberry theme - I'll stop at the liquor store, pick up some Pinnacle Whipped and macerate some berries in it, then plop them on top of a chocolate frosting!  But then there's the issue of transportation... thinkthinkthink... I've got it! 

~*~*~*~*~

As I sit here, telling ridiculous stories and dragging this post out as long as possible to make up for all the words I haven't been sharing, I am breathing in the thick, delicious aroma of newly baked chocolate cupcakes.  I used Dynise's recipe for Funeral Cake in her new book Celebrate Vegan.  I actually tested this recipe for the book, so I knew its intense flavor was exactly what my colleague (and I!) need to make it to Friday.  It is taking every ounce of my imaginary self-control to stay away from the cooling cuppers (though I think the large amount of batter I scraped from the sides of my mixing bowl and ate while they baked helped...)

I know, I can feel your sarcasm seeping through the computer as you think "Wow, Natalie, you made chocolate cupcakes?  Good freakin' job."  No, no, friends - it gets far better.

When I stopped to get flour on my way home (and strawberries, just in case I changed my mind), I also picked up a bottle of sweet red wine.  Again, nothing much new here, so let's skip right to the Big Innovative Moment this has all been leading up to:

If I actually let the cupcakes cool without eating them, I'm going to whip up a glaze using that wine.  The cupcakes alone are enough to give you a foodgasm, (have I mentioned you need to get the book??) but if the icing comes out even half as well in real life as it does in my brain, the complementary flavors will kick these sweets up a notch and a half.  Current plan is to do a cup of confectioners' sugar with 2 Tbsp of the wine, then more or less paint the glaze on or possible dip the nicely domed tops of the cupcakes to allow a little Hershey Kiss-shaped action on top.

No pictures tonight, sweetpeas, nor confirmed recipes - I promise I will return tomorrow with pictures, recipes, and reactions, but for now it's time to get to sleep so I can get up early and ice my cupcakes!

in pursuit of the perfect brownie

I know you're not expecting this, but OMGMyHomeSmellsSoGood!


'Twas the week before Christmas
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring
'cause Angst killed the mouse

I suppose I could probably rewrite the poem to be clever, but why mess with something that time-honored. Besides, I've got brownies to wax poetic about.

Thanks to Isa and Terry, I've got vegan cupcakes and vegan cookies down, but brownies continue to be that impossible-to-replicate baked item.  I have a few recipes and I've gotten some decent feedback on them, but to me, they've fallen short of "the real deal;" dense, fudgy brownies with the crinkly top.  When I stumbled on this new post from a fellow Prodigal Blogger, I decided this recipe would answer all my prayers - after all the post's title is "The Best Vegan Brownie You Will Ever Eat."

I hope that's not true.

To be fair, it is the best vegan brownie I've eaten so far - so in a way it is true.  However delightful it made my kitchen (and therefore, entire apartment, possibly the better part of the building) smell, and no matter how crinkly the top was, and regardless of the fact that this is the first vegan brownie I've had that's resulted in me chugging soymilk to settle the sweetness, it's still not all that I wanted it to be.

It's very chocolatey.  It's very sweet.  It's the closest I've been to the moist, dense, fudgy brownies I remember from the not-too-distant past, but it fell just a little short.  My main grudge against vegan brownies is that they crumble.  Brownies are not meant to crumble - we'll leave that to shortbread and biscotti.  Brownies hold together by the sheer weight of their fudginess.  You could, conceivably, eat a brownie without a plate.

When I was mixing the wet and dry ingredients together, I thought it would be fun (and a little extra decadent) to include a handful of peanut butter chips (and it was).  As I was "pouring" the batter into the prepared pan, I found that I had to "spread" it to the corners - not a quality I usually look for in brownie batter, but the recipe did state that the batter would be thick.  It certainly was.  I kind of think that if I hadn't pushed it into a perfect rectangle with my spatula, it would have been perfectly content to be a little oblong brownie.

That's another thing.  I don't know what's up with all these "brownie bites" you can buy in grocery stores, but brownies are square or rectangular.  They are not round.  When you pour brownie batter into a mini-muffin pan and bake it, what comes out of the oven are mini-muffins, not round brownies.  There is no such thing as a round brownie.  Are you listening, Superfresh?


Okay, back to tonight's baking adventures.

So, my intention was to make these incredibly dense and moist and fudgy brownies, spiked with little bits of peanut butter, and then carefully pack them between layers of wax paper and deliver them to colleagues tomorrow so they could ooh and aah and exclaim their surprise about how fudgy and perfect my vegan brownies were.  I'm not sure they'll make it in and it's not necessarily because Mister and I can't keep our hands off (though they really are very tasty).

My brownies are crumbly.

I feel like I should have known that when I was forcing the batter into the corners of the pan.  At least three times before I put them in the oven I thought, "maybe I should add a little more liquid?"  Because the flavor is so good, I may make a second attempt and follow my heart on that, but it's too late tonight.  No brownies for you, faithful and persevering colleagues, or at least not tomorrow.  Tomorrow night will find me in the kitchen again "after hours," either perfecting this recipe or making cookies.  I guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out...

snowtober??

One thing I have to admit I love about news & weather websites/TVstuff is how easily and frequently they sensationalize any possible divergence from "normal" weather.  Last winter, we had a "snowpocalypse" and I will admit, last January saw way more snow than I can remember in the last 15 years - in fact, the only time I remember more snow was January 1994 when they were cancelling school by the week and I actually only had three days of school in January.  That was, as you say, epic.

So, enter today.  Well, last night, actually, weather.com started predicting a snow storm with actual accumulations along the northeast corridor, including Philadelphia.  By the time I left work, they had updated it to the season's first Nor'easter.  If you are unfamiliar with the term, let me break it down like this: really really sucky windy storm that usually comes down from Canada to mess things up real good between Virginia and Ohio and up to Maine, generally involving heavy cold precipitation of some sort.  Now, I like snow a lot, but a nor'easter was not what I wanted to hear.

So I wake up this morning to my alarm, believing I can probably head out to the suburbs and teach before anything serious starts, if it's even more than just crappy rain.  I'm lying there for just a minute before rising and I hear it:  tap, tap, ping, tap, etc.  I think to myself, "No...it's not freezing rain.  Not yet," and get up, pulling my bathrobe warmly around me as I head into the kitchen for breakfast.

Angst is in the window, smacking at the snowflakes.

Yup.  Snowflakes.  In October.  I mean, for heaven's sake - it's not even Halloween yet!  Everyone was freaking out all over Facebook, swearing they were going to move if we were in for another winter like last year, or worse.  Me?  I'm kinda hoping for it :)

Anyway, because it's so unusual for snow to start so early in the season ("normal" first snowfall in Pennsylvania - with any accumulation likely - is mid-December), everyone, including weather.com, is now talking about Snowtober.  I guess that's kind of clever.

In case you were wondering, I did not ride the train a half hour out to the suburbs for the privilege of teaching at least three students who didn't bother practicing.  Instead, I watched really awesome make-up tutorials on YouTube by this angelic little English girl, Klaire de lys, and then completely neglected to paint my own face.  Poor Mister.

Eventually, I got it together to make dinner, which really couldn't have been anything other than Black Bean Soup with Kale and Rice from Vegan on the Cheap.

I was so relieved when the soup came out so chunky and substantial, because I know Mister's not a fan of soup dinners and he didn't eat much all day, but he seemed pretty happy about everything except eating his dinner with a spoon.  I had forgotten how rich the broth is, and what a fabulous mouthful all the ingredients come together to make.  Some sweetness from the carrots, creamy black beans, chewy rice, bitter kale, and tangy tomatoes were all brought together and spiked with a savory broth with simple spices.

Nevetheless, I knew Mister would be craving something more to eat later on, so when I was washing up the pot afterwards, I put a stick of Earth Balance out to soften.

Right now, my home smells incredible.  I started out with the intention to make Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting, also from Vegan on the Cheap, but decided I had very little interest in the frosting.  I started to just make chocolate cupcakes, but then decided to "doctor" them a little, resulting in a cupcake version of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which were always among my favorite [Trick or] Treats.

It was a simple alteration, really.  I started by filling each cupcake tin about 1/3 of the way

then I dropped about a half teaspoon to a scant teaspoon of peanut butter (I used chunky 'cause that's what we stock, but you can use whatever makes your little heart sing) into the center of each future cupcake, pressing down very lightly to set it in place.  The dough is actually pretty stiff, so you shouldn't have trouble.

Once the PB was safely nestled in a little chocolate nest, I plopped the rest of the batter on top, filling each cupcake paper almost to the top, taking care to ensure it fell completely around the glop of PB, encasing it.

After teasing Mister and I with a luscious smell for about 25 minutes, these little beauties were finished cooking and ready to cool as much as we would allow them to...

Back to Klaire de lys for a few minutes...ah, so that's how they did the make-up for Black Swan.
And other stuff I don't really need to know.  Thank you, YouTube!

Okay, back to the cupcakes.

So good.  Seriously.

There were a couple of things I'd like to tweak in order to make this recipe completely my own and utterly scrumptious.  Cooking Light got me in the habit of mixing up my flour to lighten it and then gently spooning it from the bag to my measuring cups before leveling them off.  The idea here is that you use less flour = less dense baked goods = fewer calories.  I think I need to abandon that for these cupcakes, in order to make them the dark, dense, fudgy outside I want them to be.

I think they could hold a little more peanut butter, too.  I think a full teaspoon, maybe even heaping, would be in order here.

I also need to remember to check how much cocoa powder I have before committing to a chocolate cupcake recipe.  I didn't have exactly a half cup of it left and I think that was to the cakes' detriment.

Believe me, these will be made again.  And again and again and again, especially if we have a really snowy winter.  Once I've "perfected" them, I'll share a recipe.

Vedge is on the Horizons

Please pardon me if I giggle to myself throughout the post - I couldn't resist the urge to have such a punny title.  Better to laugh at my ridiculousness, though, than to cry over the closing of Horizons, right?

Yes, Horizons is now defunct.   The doors are shut and will not reopen until the building bears a new name (because this area needs another pizza place....like I need a hole in my head), so I will share the details of our "last supper" (toot, toot!  here comes the Hell Train again!  First stop - Blasphemy) before turning my eyes forward to anticipate the opening of the new restaurant, Vedge.

Saturday night was temperate - not too hot, but not remotely cool, and the humidity was surprisingly held at bay.  We prettied ourselves up a little (I felt the occasion warranted sultry red lips and relatively minimal black-shadowed eyes) then headed to Horizons for the last time.  To my surprise, the entire outdoor seating area was unoccupied, so we elected to start the trend - indeed, before we had our aperitifs, we had guests at two other tables nearby.

To be honest, I spent part of Friday and most of Saturday daydreaming about the menu at Horizons, from pre-dinner cocktails and appetizers to the last sip of espresso and bite of a sinful chocolate dessert.  By the time we started our jog over there (Mister's whole family is made up of speed-walkers, whereas I have short legs and sometimes have to run to keep up), I had plotted out my entire gastronomical experience.  I started with the Nightboat to Recife, which I already raved about here, which was a nice accompaniment to my Salt-Roasted Golden Beets.

There is a very sweet-n-sunny difference between your standard roasted red beets and these lighter-tasting siblings.  The sweetness of the beets was appropriately matched with dense, barely-ripe and definitely chilled chunks of avocado, concealing a "surprise" center of marinated tofu.  I even appreciated the charming crunch of the red onions diced within, despite my standard hatred for the allium.

Mister had a delightful looking mediterranean-influenced chopped salad that I forgot to take a picture of until he had already marred its beauty by digging in. [edit: you can see Kelly's great picture of it here]  We both struggled with the desire to start out meal with the BBQ Seitan, because we knew it was unlikely to be featured at Vedge this fall, but we agreed that there was no need for that much seitan in our meal.  How much, you say?

Well, like I mentioned when I recapped our previous dinner at Horizons, there were certain "old favorites" I wanted to taste once more before they were gone.  I have been so busy enjoying the varied flavors and textures of some of the more esoteric entrees on the menu, it's probably been over two years since I last ordered the Grilled Seitan entree.  Mister gets it every time we go there and has already expressed his concern that it might not be available at Vedge, but I've already secured his promise to go when it opens regardless of the presence or absence of seitan on the menu.

While it was certainly as delightful as I remembered it, I'm not killing myself over neglecting it for half the time the restaurant was open.  One of the reasons I was able to allow myself to branch out, so to speak, was the knowledge that Whole Foods and Essene both carry the same brand of seitan that Horizons used.  Somewhere in the last two years, I forgot what made their seitan special isn't the maker, but rather then preparation and presentation.  Mister and I agreed that what really takes Horizons' seitan over the culinary edge is that they grill it to melt-in-your-mouth perfection, meanwhile leaving the little crispy bits on the edges for texture.  Now that Horizons has closed its doors and there is not much chance the Grilled Seitan entree will be on the menu (at least initially) at Vedge, I may need to finally invest in a grill pan for the stovetop.

No meal would have been complete without the amazing Truffle Fries with white BBQ sauce.  I didn't take a picture because I always forget to take a picture.  I don't know - there's something about its side dish status that makes me think, "why would I take a picture of a little tin bread pan with wedge fries in it?"  Regardless, they were every bit as delicious as they've always been and if Vedge doesn't think they're worthy of a place on the menu, it looks like we'll also be investing in some truffle oil of our very own.

Since I'd spent the day fantasizing about dessert, I did not require Mister's reminder to get an espresso to accompany my exquisitely rich (yet not too much so) Chocolate Tart.  No matter how amazing the other desserts are, knowing that Kate Jacoby will be focusing more on fruit-centered desserts at Vedge, I knew I had to get the Tart while I could.  I have very little doubt she will continue to serve her amazing cheesecake, especially since it lends itself so well to fruit accompaniments, but I thought the rich, chocolatey nature of this dessert put it on the endangered list, so it was the last bit of Horizons to pass my lips.

Or not.  As we were finishing up dessert, I heard my name exclaimed from behind me.  Turning, I saw Kelly, looking perfectly pixie-like, especially beside her very tall, incredibly friendly husband.  A round of introductions were had on behalf of the two Misters and then Kelly and Hubby excused themselves to take a short walk before returning for the Happy Hour AfterParty held in the upstairs bar.

As previous pictures of our dinner at Horizons have shown, the dining area inside is considerably darker than the outdoor tables.  Considering it was a fine dining restaurant, this makes sense, and it's nearly surprising that they even had an outdoor seating area as casual as the one on their sidewalk.  There were tasty hors d'oeuvres being butlered by Kate Jacoby herself, as well as some other members of staff.  I was still quite full from dinner, but could not refuse the opportunity to try a seitan-kimchee kind of roll-up...which promptly bit my face off and I had to wait for the bartender to make me a delightful daiquiri unlike any I'd had before in order to take another bite.

I had a great time getting to know Kelly and her husband a little better and after closing the bar (literally, unfortunately), we all walked out together to see the saddest sight I've seen in a while.

While I am truly excited about Vedge and very much anticipating its opening day/night, I am very sad to see Horizons go.  I guess I'll just have to hone my seitan-slinging skills and up my culinary creativity (harbinger of things to come...).

worth waiting for

Normally, I'm scrambling to write my post and publish it by Midnight...you may or may not have noticed that, but if you wander through my blog, you'll find most of the posts went up pretty darn close to Midnight.

Truth be told, I could have started writing around 10:30 and had plenty of time to clean up our awesome, make-up-for-last-night dinner.  However, it's now pushing 1am and I still have a kitchen full of messy dishes...why?

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Mister loves chili, especially since it means he doesn't need to use a pesky utensil to eat.  No, we don't use forks here, we scoop our chili up with multigrain tostitos.  So, to "make up" for last night's less than successful dinner, I made SusanV's Red, Gold, Black and Green Chili.

Not only did this tasty and slightly zesty chili make up for the Seitan and Prunes debacle, it also restored my faith for the third and final recipe on the menu from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.  I should note that I am not faithful to Susan's Fat Free Manifesto - I think olive oil is a good healthy fat when used in moderation and lends a delightful flavor you cannot imitate by sauteing with water.

A few other variations: in place of Tabasco sauce, I added a healthy dollop of harissa, mainly because anything hot-saucy that isn't harissa kind of terrifies me.  At least I know what to expect from harissa.  Also, Mister has mentioned his distaste for "squishy wheat" before, so I decided to forego the barley in the recipe, especially in light of last night's fail.  In place of it, I added a can of Eden Organic caribbean rice-n-beans.  It actually worked out perfectly.

So, why do I still have dirty dishes and I'm sitting here at my computer?

Well, shortly after I put our dishes on the counter to be washed, the Baking Bug bit me.  Yup.  So, in an effort to be a good little tester, I wandered over to my computer to see if there were any baked goods in need of testing.  To my ineffable delight, it seems the Baking Bug bit Dynise, too, because a chocolate cake recipe was sitting there, newly added, waiting for its first test.  I was more than happy to oblige.

Just before going into the oven.  I couldn't escape how closely the batter resembled fudge.  I really just wanted to eat the batter, so I stuffed this pan into the oven and just focused on licking the mixing bowl and spatula clean.  Score another win for vegan baking: No need to worry about salmonella when there are no raw eggs in your batter.

It actually started smelling amazing before I'd even finished mixing all of the components together, due to a patently killer technique used in prep.  Have I mentioned YOU ALL NEED TO GET THIS BOOK?  You do.

Here is my fudgy-wudgy but surprisingly fluffy and light piece of Funeral Cake.  Despite the slightly morbid name, it's just the best chocolate cake I've ever made.  Perfectly moist, the right amount of squishy, not too sweet (which surprised me, considering how much sugar is in there), and with those great little crumbs that you can squish with the back of your fork so you get every last morsel.  I could eat this cake until I got a bellyache.  I definitely see why this rich, dark chocolate cake would be comforting to mourners.

Well...those dishes aren't going to do themselves, and I can't leave them for Mister every night... can I?

I need an intervention

I am going through a serious bout of IDC and the only thing I can think of to do (besides giving in to my darker nature) is to re-read the first chapter of Skinny Bitch until I can convince myself to give up my most recent vice.  Right about now, though, you're probably scritching at your noggin wonder just what exactly IDC is.  Insatiable Desire for Chocolate.  I cannot get enough and it's awful.  Maybe it's my body's attempt to battle the blues and anxiety that come from drastic cost reduction efforts... efforts that provoked terrible and understandable gossip in my recent absence from work, since the day I left early was the day our company "right-sized" by asking about 100 staff members to leave.  "Asking," by the way, is a euphemism.

In any case, I find myself craving chocolate in a way I haven't craved chocolate in many, many years.  All weekend, I was fighting a hardcore need for chocolate cake.  I can't explain it, I just really wanted chocolate cake.  With icing.  And layers.  I'll pause my self-flagellation for a funny story about that:

I'm at my desk at work; it's around 6pm.  My boss comes over with an incredulous expression.
Boss: Do you want to see an amazing chocolate cake?
a big, bright lightbulb shines into brilliance above my cranium.
Me: No.  I would like to eat an amazing chocolate cake.
Boss: Okay.  Follow me!

One of the supervisors was throwing a little party to celebrate recent achievements of two hard-working members of her team.  One of the teammates brought in a beautiful chocolate cake, in which I indulged with my boss's encouragement and shared guilt.  Every bite was exactly what I wanted it to be.  I don't even like cake.

You would think that would be the end, right?  Wrong.  Instead of quelling my IDC, it intensified it.  This will not end well.

I would love to use anything I just shared to segue into our dinner, but there is absolutely no common thread.

The only dinner left on my menu was Savory Sausage and Peppers from Vegan on the Cheap.  I delayed making this one for two reasons:
1. as you can probably tell from the picture, there was a lot of chopping involved and I just haven't had the energy.
2. I was afraid it wouldn't be as awesome as it was the first time I made it.

I needn't have feared - it was just as delicious in my mouth as it was in my memory.  There is something so perfect about the combination of potatoes and "sausage."  The abundant flavor of the Tofurky Italian Sausages that Mister chose for this dish were calmed and complemented by the creamy blank slate of the potato slices.  The tomatoes and peppers provide little bursts of juicy sweet-tartness amidst the already magical flavor profile.

I think one of the things that really "makes" this dish is that the very first step is to brown the diced sausage in a tablespoon of olive oil, then remove it from the skillet, add another tablespoon of oil and proceed with adding the rest of the ingredients for a hearty saute.  Although there is nothing in the recipe that specifically instructs me to do so, I do my best to rescue only the sausage from the skillet, leaving behind the flavor-infused oil, rich with the essence of sun-dried tomatoes and italian herbs.

The only complaint I have about this dish is that the potato slices stick together and no matter how gently or insistently I try to coax them apart with my spoon or spatula, I cannot get the slices to spread out from one another.  They're like a really snobby food clique.  I think the dish would be even more amazing if I could get the slices to stay away from each other long enough to absorb the infused oil and play nicely with their orange, red, and green neighbors, but the potatoes are not having it.  Does anyone know any tricks for keeping them from sticking to one another?

~*~

Angst is so good at sleeping, I know I show you an inordinate number of pictures of him being adorable and sleeping somewhere ridiculous, but I'm so amused watching him adjust to his new home.  I like seeing him explore and find new places he can call his.  I'm currently in the midst of creating a little Kitty Cave for him; his very own "bedroom" for the first time in six years, dressed completely in leopard print decor 'cause that's how he rolls.

For now, though, he has found that squishing himself into the space where the seat of the couch becomes the back of the couch is a really comfy place to fall asleep:

(I can't wait to get a slipcover)

welcome weekend: wine & chocolate

I made it through the week, the day.  I'm home, with a loving husband and a sweetly snoozing kitty.  I'm halfway through my second glass of Montepulciano.  The first glass accompanied a tasty dinner, of which I couldn't get enough:

I love the color of those deep red kidney beans - they're nearly purple against the tawny colors of the Rice Island Casserole from Vegan on the Cheap.  I think it only took me half the time to make it this time around, due to a not-so-secret trick I used to ensure the rice actually cooked: I cooked it in the broth, separate from the rest of the ingredients, only combining everything for the last ten minutes while the liquid cooked off.

I had two and a half helpings - I couldn't stop eating it!  Surprisingly, I think my overindulgence was owed at least partly to the way the single dish satisfied all the tastes our mouths desire: sweet and savory, etc.  That's my opinion, anyway, because normally, if one taste dominates a dish, I find myself foraging within an hour, looking for whatever the opposite taste is. 

Speaking of which, my second glass of wine accompanied a deliciously dark square of chocolate, thanks to Endangered Species Bug Bites.  I wish I had a second one, especially since three squares equals a full serving.

I'm happy to put this week behind me and greatly anticipating next weekend and preparing to move.  For now, though, it's time to finish up the wine and get some sleep, a precious commodity this week.  Menu tomorrow!

stress relief isn't always chocolate-flavored

It's here!  The moment you've all been waiting for - the post for which you've been holding your breath!  The Great Vegan Chocolate Round-Up.  Yes, I am a woman of my word.  But first, a lesson in stress relief, should you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being destitute in chocolate possession.

Mashing a can of black beans until they look like the picture above just might be the best way to relieve stress I've found in 2010.  Sure, eating too much chocolate and occasionally drowning in wine might be fun, but beating the pulp (quite literally) out of a pile of beans is pretty darn rewarding.

What was even more rewarding was when they [eventually] held together and really did let me form them into Better Bean Burgers from Vegan on the Cheap.

Mister and I agree that I should have smushed the patties a little thinner to make them more crunchy and less mushy, but the Vital Wheat Gluten ended up doing exactly what it was supposed to and forming these into some pretty "meaty" (if not a little squishy) "burgers."

I placed each burger between two halves of an Arnold's Sandwich Thin and served with a healthy side of fries.  What you can't see in this picture is Mister's healthy side of condiments, because heaven forbid he should taste the food.  Anyway, the Better Bean Burgers were tasty and relatively simple to make once the beans were mashed.  Besides, I'm pretty sure I'll always have days when a little bean-mashing might help, so it's good to know I can turn that aggression into a tasty meal!

Now, my patient, dedicated readers, it's time for dessert (long overdue).

By way of introduction and explanation, I set out on this journey quite selfishly.  I love chocolate and I love excuses to eat chocolate.  That being said, I especially enjoy savoring my chocolate and I would rather have one really good small square than an entire bar of something I'm eating just because it's chocolate.  Life is too short and calories too precious for either to be squandered on less than the best chocolate.  While trying to discover the best ways to spend my time, money, and calories, I figured I would share my findings so that you might find it easier to navigate the road of vegan confections (if you're new to this game) or possibly get a pointer from someone who has traveled this road before.  Katie, I'm looking at you.

The contenders?

• Theo Mint Dark Chocolate 70% cacao
• Bug Bites by Endangered Species
• Equal Exchange Very Dark Chocolate 71% cacao
• Newman's Own Organics Dark Chocolate 54% cacao
• Green & Black's Dark 70%
• I very much enjoyed the Vivani I bought a few weeks before this idea popped into my head, but I wanted to focus on chocolates I hadn't tried yet, so you can see what I have to say about Vivani here, with the added endorsement that I will absolutely buy it again.
• I have had Endangered Chocolate bars before and find them completely enjoyable.  Feel free to read about my first encounter with this vegan chocolate here.

The Criteria:  I tasted, savored, and chewed my way through these delights with these things in mind:

• texture
• "darkness"
• savorability (on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least and 5 being the greatest)
• nutritional profile
• company karma

Theo Mint Dark Chocolate was first on this reviewer's tongue.  It had a smooth, velvety texture, as well as a bittersweet darkness that was perfectly accentuated by the mint, resulting in a savorability score of 4.  I liked that there were only 5 ingredients, although as I made my way through the rest of my chocolates, I discovered that to be a theme.  That just shows how brainwashed I had been by commercial candy producers, to be impressed by simple, pure ingredients with no more than three syllables per word.

The whole bar was 420 calories, 34g fat (20g sat.fat), 22g sugar, 8g fiber, and 6g protein.  However, one of the things I enjoyed most about this bar was that it was divided into 6 perfectly-sized mini-bars (think Hershey's fun-sized), which make a much more palatable nutritional profile.  Assuming you can practice self-control and eat one sixth at a time, you'll only set yourself back 70 calories, 6g fat and 3.5g sugar, which is a small price to pay for dessert.

In terms of company karma, Theo has a pretty good leg up on other chocolate companies.  They were the first organic, fair trade chocolatier in North America and they invite consumers to visit the facility in Seattle.  "Best of all, Theo Chocolate tastes amazing because it's made with love, integrity and only the highest quality, sustainably sourced ingredients."  This is a company you and I can feel good about supporting.

 Next up, we have Bug Bites, individually wrapped .35oz pieces of dark chocolate by Endangered Species.  I grabbed one of these little guys on my way through check-out at Essene one day, figuring it was the perfect size to be a nice dessert one night without making a commitment to a whole bar of chocolate.  The texture was smooth enough to seem creamy, earning it a savorability rating of 4.5 and the dark but sweet flavor brought out the deep berry notes in the Beaujolais I was drinking alongside.  Something I found a bit alarming and a little charming was when I opened the wrapper, a small square picture of a Green Darner dragonfly greeted me.  I don't know why I wasn't expecting that.  Bug Bites are certified organic by both the USDA and Oregon Tilth.  They are also gluten free, kosher, and vegan.  A serving size (see nutritional label ^) is 4 pieces, but I found one to be completely adequate for satiating my chocolate cravings for only 50 calories, 4g fat, and 2.5 g sugars.

 Equal Exchange Very Dark Chocolate (71%) absolutely lived up to its name.  The chocolate was extremely dark with a strange hint of fruit juice at the end.  I couldn't quite make out whether it seemed to be a berry or citrus flavor, but it wasn't overwhelming either way.  For savorability, this bad boy was the favorite, coming in at a perfect 5.  The chocolate is fair trade, kosher, organic, and the cacao comes from small worker-owned co-ops in Latin America.  If that doesn't get you karma points, please tell me what does!  
 
The nutritional information is a little alarming, but once again, this bar can be broken into sixths for long-term enjoyment, bringing your evening dessert to 92 calories, 7g fat (4g sat.) and 4.5g sugar for 4 squares of dark chocolatey goodness.

Newman's Own Organics Dark Chocolate (54%) was far sweeter than the others and almost fudge-like in texture.  Honestly, it was cloyingly sweet and it may have been the lower cacao content, but I would be borderline on labeling this as dark chocolate.  I suppose its saving grace was the lack of dairy that would deem it Milk Chocolate, although that does have me pondering what SoyMilk Chocolate might taste/feel like.  Unfortunately, the overwhelming sweetness lowered its rank on savorability to a 3.  The whole bar has 470 calores, 32g fat (19g sat), 41g sugars, 4g protein.  The bar is divided into 8 squares and 2 seemed an adequate dessert which would still set you up with the scariest nutritional profile yet: 117 calories, 8g fat, and 10g sugar.  As for karma to balance that mess out?  Well, they are USDA certified organic as well as Rain Forest alliance certified.  I love their cookies, but I'm really not impressed with the chocolate.

 Green & Black's Dark 70% will bring this party home.  I picked up one of the "fun-sized" bars, weighing in at 1.2 oz, which is only slightly above the recommendation for daily dark chocolate intake.  Yes, that's what I said - due to the happiness-inducing qualities of the flavanoids (antioxidents) present in dark chocolate, health/wellness professionals recommend eating 1 oz of dark chocolate daily, especially through the winter months when people are at risk of developing Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  That's right, folks, put away your artificial sun lamps and buy yourself 100 oz of dark chocolate!

Anyway, this little bugger is the only chocolate on our round-up with a foreign accent: distributed internationally, these tasty little treats were made in Italy!  Like the other chocolates reviewed, G&Bs are organic and paired well with Beaujolais.  This bar was adequately dark, but not outstanding and not quite as smooth as the other chocolates.  The wrapper is sophisticated and attractive, but the chocolate itself started out a little "waxy" for lack of a better term, which influenced its overall savorability, earning another 3.  The best thing about this bar is its size - I found half the bar to be quite sufficient for an after-dinner treat, but even if you ate the entire "Little Taste of Green & Black's" you would still only eat 190 calories, 14g fat (8g sat), 10g sugars, 4g fiber, and 3g protein.

So, there you have it - my Super-Duper, Organic, Good-Karma, Vegan Dark Chocolate Round-up.  I sure hope it was worth the wait!  Did I miss anything you were hoping to see?  Did I miss anything you love and think I should eat?  Let me know!  Until tomorrow, Champagne wishes and dark chocolate dreams!

biryani in a hurry

So, I have this weird thing that happens when I eat an apple.  I'm starting to think I may be the only person alive afflicted in such a manner, so please, if you also suffer from the problem I'm about to share, please let me know.  I feel so alone...  ;)

Anyway, I eat an apple and I'm full and happy because apples taste good and take a little while to eat.  It's apple season, so I'm presently chomping my way through at least one a day.  Here is my problem: I am ravenously hungry within an hour of eating an apple.  Not just a little hungry - so hungry I can't make dinner until I stuff an olive in my mouth to pretend I'm eating.  It's bizarre because it's not just that the apple has apparently digested quickly and abandoned my stomach - it's as though in the process, it hijacked everything else I ever ate and went hiding somewhere.  It feels sometimes like I'm actually hungrier after eating an apple than I might have been if I hadn't eaten anything at all.

Anyone else or am I just a freak who should consider a new favorite fruit?

I have another Biryani recipe, which I mentioned when I laid out this week's menu.  It was the first biryani I made and I proudly made it for anyone who would eat it because I thought it was so spiffy.  That recipe, though, is better relegated to Special Dinners, as it is quite time consuming.  Compared to tonight's Vegetable Biryani from La Dolce Vegan, my original recipe has far more ingredients and requires a great deal more effort, since there is sauteing and simmering and baking before the eating.  Tonight's biryani simplified the process, which I dearly needed by the time my hungry self got home.  A few simple but complementary ingredients, set to simmer together on the stovetop for about 20 minutes, which gave me a little time to heat up the oven, set off the fire alarm, and make some garlic naan.

Laborious and burdensome though it may be, I am trudging on through my taste-testing for the chocolate round-up I hope to publish this weekend.  It's difficult, eating square after square of high-quality vegan chocolate.  I do it all for you, dear readers. 

Okay, I guess I do it a little for me.  You can see, however, that the chocolate always seems to be propped up against a glass of red wine, which is my reward for putting myself through these vigorous tests... and dark chocolate and red wine are such great friends, each enhancing the other's best qualities, while affording me the feeling of luxury if only for a fleeting moment.

Stay tuned - this weekend should finish things up and see the round-up come to fruition!

a whole world of difference

I'll tell you, it's really difficult eating all this chocolate to prepare for my round-up.  I mean, really, there's only so much high-quality, ethically-created, sustainably-sourced dark chocolate one girl can eat before....she moves on to the next bar.

I knew I would get chocolate tonight, because it's Friday and it goes so nicely with wine and relaxation.  I'm currently composing this post in what will surely become a fruitless effort to avoid "seconds" on tonight's Taste Test - Equal Exchange Very Dark Chocolate.

I'm not going to say much about it right now, else it would nullify the point of a chocolate round-up (coming soon, I promise!), but I want to share the thrilling experience I had actually purchasing the chocolate tonight.

There is a wonderful, independent natural foods store near my home, Essene Market.  In addition to consistently stocking my favorite brand of seitan and providing a tasty and innovative salad/hot foods bar, they have an impressive array of chocolate bars: Dagoba, Green & Blacks, Endangered Species, and Equal Exchange bars, and in every flavor imaginable!  Tonight, I went over with ever intention of leaving with a banana and a small dark Green & Blacks bar, but when I saw that Equal Exchange was on sale, I knew I had to give it a try.

Even now, it sits on my table, beckoning my return.

Before I give in to Friday, though, I wanted to share an article my mom photocopied for me from the November 2010 issue of Christianity Today about the recent obsession with quality of food.  The title of the article is "A Feast Fit for the King" and it was contributed by Leslie Leyland Fields.

In the article, Ms. Fields discusses the shift in focus lately, provoked by documentaries like Food, Inc, books like The Omnivore's Dilemma, and far-too-frequent food recalls brought on by unsafe conditions ultimately poisoning our food supply.  She examines eating as both sustenance and as righteousness.

Obviously, she can't finish the article without pointing out that righteousness can only be achieved through Christ and not of our own efforts, but there are many thought-provoking asides along the way there.  Ms. Fields notes that one of the driving forces, whether we realize and admit it or not, behind what she calls the "new food movement" is our desire to somehow make ourselves better through the way we choose to fuel our bodies.

It has long been my view that more Christians should be vegan/vegetarian, and would be if they really thought about it.  Perhaps that is why the new food movement is gaining such ground and leading to such innovation in food sourcing, eating, and cooking.  If you care about the world, God's Creation, if you will, it should be natural that you would want to protect and preserve it by whatever means necessary, short of harming another part of Creation.

Although Ms. Fields praises the new food movement for making a strong stand on eating and [otherwise] consuming ethically-sourced food, she brings up one of my favorite justifications for not making the decision to forgo meat and whatever else you'd like to lump into the Undesirable category: orthorexia.  She provides a pretty extreme example, but I really wish people would stop thinking of people who give a crap about themselves and the world around them as diseased or unhealthy.  I don't want to eat dead cow that's been injected with drugs I wouldn't take if they were prescribed to me.  I guess that means there's something wrong with me.

The bottom line of this article is that people appear to be making an attempt at righteousness through restrictive diets.  I can't stand behind that as a condemnation (only of their apparent attempts to achieve righteousness/purity without God's help).  I can only stand behind it as a cheerleader, encouraging people to actually make an effort to care about the world in which we live.  We (humans) have been blessed with so much: a huge star at just the right distance to heat us and grow us and not [necessarily] kill us; intelligent minds, capable of creations and innovations beyond most peoples' imaginations; countless varieties of food that is nourishing to our bodies and when done right, helpful to the land's fertility.  We are so fortunate that we have the opportunity to choose whether we will eat vegetables or Cheetoes, Kit Kats or lentils.  I hope you'll read the article, but what I want you to take away from it is gratitude that we can make these choices to care for our bodies and for our world, and how very wonderful it is that so many new people are making those choices every day.

Kum-ba-ya, MoFos.  Have some chocolate and smile :)