this is your brain on bacon

Bacon.  It's kind of like The New Superfood except that it'll kill you, not make you stronger.  In addition to its high fat and cholesterol content, there is a carcinogen in bacon that is activated through the cooking process.

Nevertheless, Bacon.  People love it.  All kinds of people - big people, little people, fat people, thin people, couch potatoes, athletes....and vegetarians?  Yup, sometimes vegetarians love it, too.  It's been referred to as the "gateway meat," the one temptation that proves too much even for a committed vegetarian to resist.  I've heard stories of friend's friends who are steadfast vegetarians... until they get really drunk and then they want to eat bacon.  I guess it's not made of pig when you're drunk.

But listen, I'm not here to criticize.

If you ask most vegans/vegetarians what one thing they miss, taking animals and the environment and everything else out of the equation, it's normally bacon.

Once upon a time, in a land kind of far away (not really), I had a weekend tradition.  My friends and I would go out to a club/bar on Friday night and drink and dance until it closed, then we would return to the home of the friend who lived almost right behind the bar/club, eat nachos and then either disperse or fall asleep.  The following morning, we would curl up on the couch and drink coffee and watch ridiculous things on the TV until we were hungry enough to send her boyfriend to the nearby Burger King for food (yes, I thought that's what it was way back then).  I always got a #5 value meal with Dr. Pepper.  The #5 was a Double Bacon Cheeseburger with fries and I loooooved it.

Time passed and the "weekend treat" turned into my Go-To "to go" meal.  I would even get the "gourmet" version at a local Philly pub.  I truly don't know how I lived long enough to become a vegetarian, but I'm glad I did (and so are my heart, arteries, and waistline).

Believe it or not, this is all building up to my lunch today.  Please keep breathing - I didn't eat a double bacon cheeseburger...

I had a Ziggy Burger from HipCityVeg!  Please excuse the rotten picture - the place was packed, so I took my biodegradable, recycled-and-recyclable bag of lunch across the street to Rittenhouse Square and I care way too much about whether strangers will think I'm weird for photographing a burger, so I just took a crappy picture with my ancient dumbphone.

Anyway, I actually had planned to get the Philly Steak, but when I asked about getting it without the mushrooms and onions, I was told that they were "cooked into" the seitan, so that ended that little dream.  The bubbly, cute girl behind the iPad "register" suggested the Ziggy Burger.  She had me at "smoked tempeh," so I decided to give it a try.

Once I'd seated myself on a bench in the park, I pulled my burger out and was immediately amused by the wrapping:

It looks even neater up close.

The first bite of my burger was an almost otherworldly experience - I never thought I would taste a bacon cheeseburger again, but that is exactly what the Ziggy Burger tastes like.  It was so good.  I don't even want to describe it, I just want you to go to HipCityVeg and try one yourself.  Or anything else from this amazing menu...

photo credit

I want to try everything that doesn't involve Portobello mushrooms.  This is a goal that will likely be spread out over several paychecks, since the fast food set-up does not over-ride Rittenhouse Square pricing.  What's worse is how I only vaguely cringe at this point when my burger came out to $9.10 (including tax).  Actually, no, what's THE worst is that $9.10 only covered the burger.  If I had gotten fries (or kale!) and a drink, I'd have paid $15-20.  For lunch.

That being said, it was a great burger (though I kind of suspect the patty itself might have been a Boca vegan burger...) and when I entered the joint I was offered a free shot of their "Groothie," a green smoothie made of apples, bananas, kale, and pineapple and it was amazing.  I would totally pay $3.50 for it... on occasion.  I was fortunate to get there at a "lull" in the excitement.  Yeah, every seat was taken and some people were lined up along a wall waiting for their food, but I walked right in and up to the register to order - no waiting.  I must have (for once) had perfect timing, because by the time I moved to the wall to await my white satchel of burger with HipCityVeg stamped oh-so-indie-ly upon it in black ink, there was a queue of people straight out the door!

If you miss bacon, do yourself a favor and go to HipCityVeg.
If you love bacon and still eat it even though it will kill you, do your body a favor and go to HipCityVeg.
If you just love to eat good food (tasty and nutritious!), go to HipCityVeg!


Maybe I'll see you there after I get my next paycheck ;)  I'll be the one with sweet potato fries, sauteed kale, and a groothie begging the lady with the iPad to take my money.

music in my kitchen

Do you ever have those moments, normally in the midst of some utterly mundane activity, when all of a sudden you are completely at peace?

I may be sending women back a few decades when I share this, but for me, those moments most commonly occur for me when I'm in my kitchen.  Tonight's Introspective Mundane Activity involved peeling the safety seal off of a new bottle of Hunt's ketchup.  There was really no good reason, which is what made it such a delightfully calming moment - opening a new bottle of ketchup has absolutely no symbolic significance (unless you really want to dig, Dr. Freud) and I would hardly consider it a life-changing experience.  Yet, as I was prying up the edges of the seal and pulling it carefully back from the bottle, I just had this moment where all was right in my world and I could honestly say that I am happy with where my life has brought me.

I generally try to stay away from existential dilemmas and my life-long angst around them (Sword of Damocles and all that) on the blog because I like to keep things generally light-hearted (so that when I occasionally go on a babbling streak about something I care about passionately, there's a better chance people will listen). To tell the truth, though, I have not been very happy with my life over the last year.  I think that is one of the reasons this is only my sixth post in 2012.

Other reasons include my wacktastic work schedule lately.  It's about to either settle down or get a lot crazier, but I'm excited about some changes taking place and looking forward to the new adventures I'll have as I learn my new position and work my way up this new "corporate ladder."  Nevertheless, in the past few months, I've needed to work later than I'd prefer some nights, resulting in a dinner schedule that is erratic at best.  Since I've stuck primarily to familiar recipes, dining out a little more frequently, and more dinners involving prepared foods, I haven't felt inclined to share, especially in the face of the writer's block that apparently also struck me mid-January.

Fortunately, it appears my recent obsession with current events and political hot topics, leading to last night's post (which went a bit further from the point I was trying to make than I'd prefer), has broken my inadvertent silence.  I might even start taking pictures of food again!

Let's not go overboard, folks.  Tonight's dinner was veggie burgers and fries.  But first, a word from our sponsor: Fantasies for a Future Kitchen....


{cue shimmery deedly-deedly music and wiggling fingers}

I have this vision in my mind.  Actually, it's kind of like a collage of many visions which all combine to create My Perfect Kitchen.  It's spacious, of course, but efficiently designed so that all the things I need are near me.  It's big enough for a small breakfast table, probably, and a baker's rack.  Not only is there enough space for all my stuff, but there is space left over for more!  So now I can fit in a stand mixer and... my Bose SoundDock, so I can charge my ancient iPod while listening to its eclectic mix of music out loud while I cook, rather than through my earbuds with the iPod unceremoniously tucked into my apron pocket.  Maybe I can even sing along without Mister thinking I've lost my marbles.

{shimmery music fades, returning us to my small but happy and efficient urban kitchen}


There was music in my kitchen tonight, though, despite my iPod being plugged into my computer to charge while I labored over frozen fries and frozen Boca patties (we're all about the brand placement tonight, folks!).  Actually, while we're on the subject, I would like to put in a little plug for Ore-Ida.  Ordinarily, I buy the store-brand fries (as well as just about anything else), but there was a sale on Ore-Ida, so I picked up a package of "Extra Crispy" fries.  They really are!  Seriously - crispiest, tastiest fries I've ever cooked in my own kitchen.

But wait - there's more!  They sing!


Yes, really.  They sing.  Or whistle, or scream bloody murder.  Whatever.  At one point, they kind of sounded like bagpipes and for some reason, I found that so amusing I thought I actually might like to listen to bagpipes (ssshhhh! don't tell the "Irish" bar across the street!).  Seriously, I noticed a kind of sizzling noise when I stirred them halfway through cooking, but when I pulled them out of the oven, they were making a whole heck of a lot of noise.  It wasn't unpleasant, though, it really sounded like they were singing for me.

I truly never thought I could write a fun post about veggie burgers and fries for dinner, but I also never knew fries would sing for me.

how low can you go?

[note: Blogger crapped out on me mid-post last night, so "Part I" will be last night's post, leading to "Part II" which is tonight's dinner adventures.  Look it as a bonus post!]

I have pretty low blood pressure.  I have since I was a young teenager.  The same way that some people (ahem, Mister) need to eat a certain way to manage their blood sugar levels, I sometimes have to eat to manage my blood pressure.  It's actually a fairly enviable position in which to find oneself - I fear, though, for the day Mister's family history of heart disease threatens our little family because we love salt.  Although I am good at enhancing the flavor of foods without adding salt, I would not be as happy a little chef if I couldn't add my precious Mediterranean Sea Salt to roasted vegetables.  In fact, my world might stop turning if I couldn't sprinkle roasting broccoli or asparagus or potatoes with this magical mixture.

I don't have any pictures because Mister and I were in quite a rush to eat (hungry, hungry hippos), but dinner really wasn't anything especially attractive tonight anyway.  I made Pasta Puttanesca from Vegan Express and roasted some broccoli with olive oil and the sea salt blend as a side dish (gotta get some green in there, right?).  For you to truly understand why I love this blend so much, I want to clarify that there are plenty of other flavor elements besides just the incredible chunks of sea salt that catch themselves in a floret to deliver a satisfying crunch when you bite down.  The ingredients on my blend are: sea salt (really?), garlic, basil, oregano, lemon peel, red bell pepper, and the ever ubiquitous "natural flavor."

Speaking of red bell peppers, I don't know what happened to the one I was supposed to slice for tonight's dinner!  I know I got one, but I'm wondering if I accidentally used it for a different recipe.  In any case, I ended up substituting my orange bell pepper for it and I don't think it mucked up the flavor too much.  The pasta was good, but not as good as I wanted it to be and not as incredibly tasty as the roasted broccoli.

Speaking of broccoli....  When I was at Trader Joe's, I saw a bag of broccoli florets for what looked like a pretty decent price - probably a better deal than anything but frozen.  I looked around a bit and discovered that I would get a lot more broccoli for my buck if I bought the convenient pre-cut bag of broccoli than if I got a couple of spears and spent all that time separating the little florets from one another.  Score one for convenience!

[Part II]

Ever since our "celebrity chefs" came to visit and put on a little show a couple of weeks ago, I've been craving chickpea burgers.  Chef Michael Solomonov (Zahav, etc), made turkey burgers, served on the burger thins I love.  They looked so much like chickpea burgers, I kept hoping that if I wished hard enough, they would be.  Alas, they remained little beige patties of ground-up birds, so I had to DIMyself.

I didn't take a picture of the burgers because a) they were not even close to as attractive as Chef Solomonov's turkey burgers and b) burgers just aren't all that exciting to photograph.  Even though the turkey burgers looked very tasty, I would not have whipped out my camera if I'd had it with me.  I might have just had a small inspiration, though.  We'll get back to that later.

Along with the Lemony Garlic Chickpea Patties from Vegan on the Cheap I made the Middle Eastern Chopped Salad from Vegan Express.  This was most definitely worth photographing:

Local cucumber, tomatoes, and a yellow bell pepper came together to make a colorful and festive looking salad, sprinkled with fresh parsley and lemon juice, enriched with olive oil and oil-cured black olives.  I love cucumber-tomato salads dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.  I think I would have been happy to include some garlic as well, so I'll keep that in my mind for the next time I make this salad, but I will freely admit that I am sorry I've never made this before.  It's a lot of chopping, so between that and the made-from-scratch burgers, dinner took well over an hour to prepare, but it's nearly Friday, right?  A little sleep deprivation never hurt anyone, right?

sleep is for the week

No, that was not an unintentional spelling error, it was a very poor pun.  I am ridiculously exhausted and for no good reason, other than being in a more or less constant state of sleep deprivation.  So, on Friday nights while the rest of the world is gallivanting around my neighborhood, I am struggling to keep my eyes open and form coherent sentences.  As such, I find that where I used to stay out until the bars closed, I'm old and tired and ready for bed before midnight as my body, aware that we've reached the end of the standard work week, tries to make up for the hours and hours of "lost" sleep I didn't get this week.

It's super cold in Philadelphia, which is a stunning way to welcome Springtime - I think it is actually below freezing right now and the heat keeps kicking on.  I decided, as I was leaving work and walking through rather blustery conditions, that there was nothing special enough about today/tonight/the recent past or foreseeable future to warrant a walk through the cold, windy night for the privilege of paying $25 for tofu.

Instead, I made a pit stop at Superfresh for black beans and fries and cooked up some bean burgers.  The excitement never ends.  One of the things I truly enjoy about my husband, however, is the bizarre and thoughtful conversations we have after dinner. Tonight we talked about clonal trees and Methuselah, a tree thought to be 4,800 years old; the oldest living non-clonal tree.  Last night we discussed the Hadron Particle Collider and how the Earth nearly imploded in 2008.  Which, of course, led to the most romantic thing said all night:

If the whole world has to implode, I hope I implode with you.

I know.  We're kind of like Romeo and Juliet.  I'm just waiting for our movie to come out.

Anyway, I have absolutely nothing interesting to say about our burgers, so I'll skip right to the menu.  I wanted to do something a little different this week.  I've actually wanted to do this for a while.  I did not use a single existing cookbook to construct my new menu - each of these recipes comes from a blog I've been following for a while, in one capacity or another.  You can link to all the blogs on the left side of the page and as I prepare each recipe, I will link back to the blog from which it came.

1. Seitan and Broccoli with Pantry BBQ Sauce from the Post Punk Kitchen, Isa's blog.

2. Pasta with Peppers and Sausage
3. Red, Gold, Black and Green Chili
4. Sicilian Market Pasta, all three from SusanV at the Fat Free Kitchen blog.

5. Meatless Meatloaf from Mama Pea at Peas and Thank You.  Mama Pea will have her first cookbook published this summer and I couldn't be happier for her.  You should pre-order the book - I'm planning to pick my copy up the moment it's out.

6. Wheatberry "Paella" with Chickpeas and Leeks, also from thePPK.com.  I'm pretty sure Isa can't write a recipe that doesn't include chickpeas...just an observation.  A fun story - apparently, she was posting about the same time I was poking around my bookmarks looking for fun food, because I went back to the PPK about a half hour after deciding on #1 and found this freshly posted recipe.  I feel kinda special about that.

7. Seitan with Prunes, a test recipe for the forthcoming UV2.  I think all the other testers are a little afraid of this recipe.  I'm not saying that I'm going into this without a little trepidation, but I will be the first person to test this recipe, despite it being posted about two months ago.  I'll admit, I'm a little worried about how Mister will feel about savory-braised prunes sharing a skillet with his seitan, but I'm willing to risk a fail dinner for the sake of testing this "scary" recipe.  You can count on a great and detailed post that night!  Unfortunately, I won't be able to share the recipe, but I'm sure I'll plug once again for you to buy the book when it comes out.

With that thought, I'm going to give up on consciousness.

dinner improv

So, yesterday was my birthday.  I stayed home, not because it was my birthday, but because I didn't want to be a sniffly mess by the time we went out to celebrate my birthday.  In any case, it was delightful - I slept until almost noon, then stayed in bed savoring the coziness for another 20 minutes.  When I emerged from the bedroom, Angst hurtled himself from my chair and down the hall to greet me with an unusual amount of enthusiasm.  He must have known it was a special day.

No.  His food bowl was pitifully empty.  It's the thought that counts.

Speaking of thoughts, Mister had a few of his own and when I finally deigned to take a shower, he stealthily wrapped them up all pretty.  If there had been anyone present for the gift-opening, they probably would have thought he'd given me the most outlandish gift to give a vegan ever:

I laughed so hard...and then made Better Bean Burgers from Vegan on the Cheap for dinner tonight.  They are so darn easy to make and now they're easy to smush, too!  The burger press comes with a removable insert that also creates a dimple so the burgers don't swell while they're cooking.  I'm guessing that's a meat thing, because I have never had a problem with my veggie patties poofing.  I made three of the burgers using the insert and one without.  I don't think I'll use the insert again, at least not for these specific burgers.  They smushed more evenly without the dimple - that seemed to obstruct the flatness to which I could smush.

I didn't take any pictures tonight because they don't really look any different from the first time, other than being a little flatter.  Besides, I want to tell you about my amazing birthday dinner.

Last night, which was my actual birthday, we went to my favorite restaurant - Horizons.  Considering yesterday's highest temperature was 27 degrees Fahrenheit, and considering our reservation was at 8:30, a good 3.5 hours after the sun tucked itself beneath the Philadelphia horizon, I'm pretty glad my favorite restaurant is only two and a half blocks away.  I told Mister a funny story about a crosswalk conflict I encountered on my way home the night before and by the time I had finished, we were there!

The place was packed.  I'm thrilled that Horizons continues to thrive.  If anything, they are growing in popularity.  When we arrived for our reservation, there were only two tables open in the entire restaurant (and they had both floors open and operating).  The noise level was a little higher than I would have preferred, but the ambiance was still unbeatable.  If anything, the fact that the joint was hoppin' kind of added a hip vibe; like we were finally where the action was (I feel like I'm normally late to the party). 

The menu was to die for...yet, nothing did.  How's that for a happy birthday?  There were a bunch of new additions to the menu, of which Mister and I shamelessly availed ourselves.  I began my birthday dinner with a charming little aperitif: Chocolate Chai - a heated drink in a coffee cup, chocolate chai tea + dark rum + frothed soy milk with a side of agave, just in case you need it sweeter.  It certainly did the job of warming me up!  I started my meal with Salt Roasted Golden Beets - smoked tofu + avocado + capers, sandwiched between several very thin slices of golden beets, garnished with two artful and paper-thin slices of pumpernickel bread and served beside a shallow pool of cucumber dill sauce.  The whole thing was chilled, which was much easier to swallow after my innard-warming pre-dinner drink.  It was an amazing combination of flavors and textures and the cucumber sauce was very much like a smoother (less garlicky) version of tzatziki.  Mister ordered the Purple Potato Pierogies, which were fried and better resembled empanadas than any pierogi I've ever seen.  They were filled with - wait for it...purple potatoes - and garnished with a salsa of dried olives + avocado + pickled red onions and laid upon a generous puddle of aji amarillo crema.  He was almost in ecstasy over these little polish dumplings - he said they fulfilled every taste: salty, sweet, savory, sour, a complementary bitterness and that the textures were just as varied as the tastes.  Mister and I have dined at a lot of nice places with fabulous food, so I didn't take his last comment lightly: it was the best appetizer he had ever had, anywhere.

Moving on to dinner would be quite a challenge with the appetizers garnering such lavish praise!  Mister selected the Grilled Seitan, laid on a bed of mashed Yukon Gold potatoes dressed with grilled spinach sheets.  Atop the seitan itself was a roasted pepper filled with a baba ghanoush-like tapenade.  Mister gets this every time we go to Horizons, except for last year when we got the chef's tasting menu, but he loves it so he's always happy.  I opted for a brand new addition to the menu, Cauliflower and Smoked Eggplant Braciole.  It was amazing - the cauliflower was wrapped inside thin filets of eggplant, a little package topped with a sprinkling of roasted Kalamatas, nestled among a crowd of English peas and grilled chickpeas on Sicilian salsa verde.  I took a scoop of peas and garbanzos first and my mouth nearly imploded from pleasure - what a phenomenal first bite.  When I cut into the braciole itself, I was similarly thrilled with the combination of the cauliflower, smoked eggplant and roasted olives.  My dinner was accompanied by a lovely glass of Malbec, perfectly poured at the table by none other than Kate Jacoby (I felt so special).  We also shared an order of Curry Fries.  I think we're using the word "fries" a bit liberally here because what we got were five huge baked wedges of curried potato - the curry was faint, almost unnoticeable, but they were still delicious.  I still prefer the Truffled Fingerling Fries, but they were disappointingly absent from the menu.

As we blissfully finished our dinners, we reflected on how brilliantly planned the menu and presentation is at Horizons.  They give you just enough of whatever you're eating that you are happy and sated, yet not about to roll home in a wheelbarrow.  That means there is also always room for dessert.  When the waitress brought the dessert menu, we happily perused it.  Mister ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding, which was a gooey square of cake, soaked with toffee sauce, and accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I opted for the Bittersweet Chocolate Tart, which was sprinkled with crystalline balls of cinnamon and brown sugar and befriended by a scoop of cinnamon ice cream topped with a stick of cinnamon.  They were both so good they were gone before either of us realized we'd eaten the whole thing.

That did it, though.  They tipped the scales from being pleasantly full to feeling round enough to be rolled home like a barrel.  Once we made it to the apartment, I immediately changed into my yoga pants, vaguely aware of the irony... regardless, stretchy waistbands were made for nights like last night.  Now I repent - watch my next menu come nearly completely from Appetite for Reduction, for real this time!

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!

it's the thought that counts (great guac doesn't hurt, though)

I didn't even know I liked guacamole until this year, so imagine my delight when it improved what could have been a less-than-pleasurable "dining experience."  Let's throw this puppy in reverse and back up to Monday.


After a relatively unremarkable day at work, I was driving home, excited to see my dear husband, already thinking about dinner.  As I sang along with Lady Gaga, I was picking through the menu in my mind and alternately thinking about whether I wanted to try to convince my well-rested Mister to take me on a date.  Upon arriving home and climbing the stairs to the apartment, I was quite surprised to open the door on a dark and empty home.  As I entered, I did a quick scan of the place:

cat? check
Mister? missing
Mister's bike?  also missing
note on the table in Mister's chickenscratch?  check.  It read something to the effect of:

hanging out with the guys at C____'s, took the phone, call me when you get home pls.

Ah, yes - Mister's cellphone/our home phone? also missing.  So, I pulled out my cellphone and called "home," but no one answered.  Mister called back a few minutes later, apparently having a little trouble answering the flip-phone.  Apparently, the boss was having a little BBQ on his roofdeck; although Mister was just going to stop by, Boss presented veggie burgers, thereby making Mister feel compelled to stay...and invite the Missus.

He had me at "roofdeck," so I checked the status of Angst's food (adequate) and headed back out the door, to Angst's dismay and disapproval.  I walked the four and a half blocks to the BBQ reminding myself how fortunate I am to live somewhere I feel comfortable walking around alone after dark (and how glad I am I found flat sandals I can live with), and then climbed four flights of stairs to the Boss's apartment and adjoined spectacular jungle roofdeck.

I was not seated for even a moment before Boss parked himself across the table from me and commenced to showing me the Super Awesome Antique Campagnolo Corkscrew some of the guys got him for Christmas a year or two ago.

Of course, he couldn't just show me this super-cool corkscrew - he had to demonstrate how awesome it was...by opening a bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and pouring me a glass.  I don't remember the label - it was kind of dark and I was kind of starving by now - but it was light and sparkly and well-suited to black veggie burgers.  Or hockey pucks.  Couldn't quite tell from a distance.

It was really sweet of Mr Boss to get veggie burgers and fire them up on the grill for us.  I think he got a little overzealous over the size of the flames, which resulted in the veggie burgers being a little crunchier than they are when you cook them on a skillet.  Regardless, Mr Boss had also supplied a little tub of the most amazing guacamole to date.  It was just Whole Foods homemade guac, but it was so good - creamy, but with decent-sized chunks of unmashed avocado and a healthy amount of raw garlic.  I slathered the bottom of the bun with about a half inch of guacamole (it's "healthy" fat) and the top with a generous squirt of ketchup.  It worked like a charm - between the wine and the condiments, I could barely tell the veggie burger had been burnt almost beyond recognition.  It was nice, though, to not have to cook dinner, because I really wasn't feeling it.

Last night, then, we had what I would have made on Monday if we hadn't gone to a little party: Cajun Red Beans and Rice from The Accidental Vegan.  It was just as good as it was the first time I made it, and it didn't look any different either, so I didn't take pictures.

Tonight is One-Serving Wednesday.  I took a different way home from work tonight on a colleague's suggestion and got a little turned around twice (literally, actually), so to say I was ravenous by the time I walked in the door would be an understatement.  I munched on some SnapeaCrisps while I formed a plan in my brain because I really did want to cook something.  I knew this: I was in a savory mood.  A glance in the fridge made my plans complete.  I grabbed the leftover kale, "leftover" Tofurky sausage, and leftover rice and came up with....

Kale and Sausage Skillet
(makes 2 scant servings)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 Tofurky kielbasa (or your preferred vegan sausage), halved lengthwise and sliced
2-3 cups of chopped kale
3/4 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup V8 Spicy Hot (or regular V8/tomato juice + a pinch of black and red peppers)

Heat oil on medium-high heat; add sausage and stir to coat with oil.  Saute on medium heat 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage begins to brown.  Stir in garlic and kale.  Cook, stirring constantly, until kale is slightly wilted and bright green.  Stir in rice and V8.  Cook 2-3 minutes more, stirring, until liquid is absorbed and rice is heated through.

As you can probably tell from the recipe, it is a quick-cooking recipe, which is always a helpful thing to have in your back pocket.  It's also very tasty and green.  I have really fallen quite in love with kale and I hope Essene finds and stocks those kale chips.

vegan version fusion

Today I discovered a glimmer of courage I had not previously observed in my mother - she fed my father tofu! I didn't believe she'd do it and she proved me wrong and I just wish I could have been there to see the faces my "if it's not meat, it's not food" father made. She called me last week to ask if she could find tofu in a "normal" grocery store and where to find garam masala and I so didn't believe she would really feed my meat-and-potatoes father the Punjabi Peppers & Tofu but she did! Well done, mom.

Last night I made my Pomegranate Saute on Cinnamon Bulghur again. I guess it's a good thing when you like your own recipes enough to reprise them? It didn't look any different from the first time, so if you want to see what it looks like or get the recipe, look here. I did substitute pineapple juice for the apple juice in the recipe because I have better things to do with my time than chase down a small-serving bottle of apple juice. It didn't really taste any different, though I did need to add a little bit of salt to counteract the sweetness.

Tonight, however, I went out on a limb... it creaked a little, but it didn't break and I'm not sure I'll push my luck with this one, though I like the idea enough to try to modify it further in the future (I dare you to say that 5 times fast - further in the future...). I made Fusion Enchiladas from Clean Eating Magazine. I made a couple of substitutions and omissions, since the recipe in the magazine may contain quality ingredients, but one of them used to run around on 4 legs and we're not down with that. Anyway, I'm not going to give you the recipe, but I'll let you know about some of the fun bits of making it.

Okay, okay...I'll give you the recipe. By the way, if you aren't into magazines but still want to learn about the tenets of clean eating, Tosca Reno has published The Eat Clean Diet as a cookbook full of other helpful tidbits.

Fusion Enchiladas from Clean Eating, Sept/Oct 2009
"REFRIED" EDAMAME (pronounced eh-dah-MAH-may)
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, smashed (I pressed 4)
1 cup frozen shelled edamame beans
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp fresh lime juice (I just squeezed a whole lime)
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

"BEEF" FILLING
1 1/2 tsp olive oil, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
8 oz sirloin beef, thinly sliced*
1 cup corn kernels
1 medium red bell pepper, finely diced
2 cups baby spinach (I just used a whole 5 oz bag)
1 1/2 cups all-natural, low-sodium tomato sauce, divided (I used a 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce - I wouldn't do that again - not enough sauce and not enough flavor)
Sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
8 small whole wheat flour tortillas (about 6-8" in diameter) (I used 6 medium sized)
1/2 cup low-fat mozzarella cheese, shredded (omitted)

*I used Amy's All American veggie burgers. I cooked 3 burgers for 2 minutes in the microwave (sacrilege) then cut them into strips to saute in step three. It really didn't go as I had planned and in the future, I will either use seitan like I thought I would originally or I will use a different veggie patty - these just didn't hold together very well.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Prepare "refried" edamame: Bring 2 cups water to a boil over high heat. Add onion, garlic, and edamame, bring back to a boil and cook for 4 minutes. Drain onion-bean mixture, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Pour bean mixture and reserved liquid into a food processor and add cumin, chili powder and lime juice. Puree until almost smooth and season with salt and pepper. Scrape into a bowl and set aside.
Prepare "beef" filling: In a small bowl, combine 1/2 tsp oil, garlic and cumin. Add beef and mix well to season.
In a nonstick saute pan, heat remaining 1 tsp oil over medium-high heat. Add beef and saute for about 1 minute, until lightly browned. Add corn, red pepper, and spinach, and mix well to combine. Add 1/4 cup tomato sauce and cook for 1-2 minutes, until heated through. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce over the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish and set aside.
Spread tortillas out in a single layer on a flat work surface. Scoop 2-3 Tbsp edamame filling and spread in the center of each tortilla. Top with 2-3 tbsp "beef" mixture and roll tightly. Place enchiladas seam-side down on top of tomato sauce in baking dish. Cover with remaining tomato sauce, top with cheese (if using) and place dish in oven. Bake enchiladas until hot throughout and cheese is melted, about 8 minutes.