EZ cashew alfredo pasta-a work in progress

Ok, folks. This is too early to post but I’m searching for ideas. Below is what I did and I just felt it was a little sweet for an alfredo.

DRAFT: EZ cashew alfredo

• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 2 heaping cups dry cashews
• 3/4 c pine nuts
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 t cayenne
• 1/8 t fennel
• 1 T chia seeds, ground
• 3 cups warm water
• 1 T dried basil
• 1 pound dried pasta
• rehydrated and chopped dried tomatoes
• chopped fresh basil

Pasta:

—boil and drain, set aside

Sauce:

—In a high-speed blender (Blendtec is what I use), blend the sauce ingredients on soup mode until hot.

Garnish:

—fresh chopped basil and reconstituted dried and chopped tomatoes

So, what do y’all think? Should I try pine nuts or walnuts instead of cashews? I’m wondering if it’s the cashews that was too sweet.

 

Holiday Spirit: Squirrel Christmas Song and Google’s Let It Snow

Not in the xmas mood yet? I’ve got two tricks under my Santa hat for you:

1. Get your rhythm going with Peter’s 2011 Squirrel Christmas song, The Family Tree.

2. And if you’re the silent type, head over to google.com and type into the search box, let it snow, hit return and sit back with your hot cocoa.

Now go get your Merry on!

 

Holiday Giveaway: amazing chocolate confections and baked goods from Allison’s Gourmet!

Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite confections are from Allison’s Gourmet. Allison has mastered the art of making vegan caramels, brittle, toffee, truffles, cookies, fudge, bark candy and more. And you know how hard it is to find really great confectionary treats that are vegan, fair trade and organic. Yeah, there are a lot of chocolate bars in the stores but not a lot of gift-worthy, high-end goodies that you can be confident sending to loved ones or business associates while still being able to sleep at night.

Her treats are so good they’re our preferred holiday gift for clients 2 years running. And of course, they work for employee bonuses as well, not to mention Valentine’s Day, birthdays, etc. And now you can enter to win a $20 gift certificate toward anything in Allison’s Gourmet Store. Yep, just read further.

The mastermind that is Allison.

If you haven’t heard about Allison’s Gourmet confections before, you may have seen Allison’s recipes in VegNews magazine. Same chic, same dogged dedication to veganizing great classics whether they’re for dinner or treats.

Gena at Choosing Raw wrote a great backgrounder on Allison and yeah, it totally makes me look like a lazy pixel pushing schmuck. But hey, if we don’t have people like Allison to look up to as heroes, we’d all just be a bunch of aimless mouse potatoes and then were would the world be?

Toffee, caramels, truffles, cookies, how will you choose?

My personal favorites always lean toward the caramels, toffees and brittle. She even has salted, salted chocolate, and chipotle caramels along with traditional vanilla. Lots of varieties of toffee and brittle too.

If you lust after chocolate truffles, Allison just launched a new palette of flavors this month! I did order a box for my own personal employee bonus this year and they are indeed silky, flavorful and very decadent.

And let’s not forget the cookies, brownies, fudge and other delectibles. We received a gift box of the cookies yesterday at work and I am totally hooked on the Butterscotch Pecan even though it was a limited edition. So the next time that flavor swings around on the seasonal schedule, be sure to snag some.

We have a winner! Congrats Meryl!

Random Number Generator select Meryl from among the entries submitted prior to 9am today, Chicago time (per the contest rules). Congratulations Meryl!

Is your mouth watering yet? So enter the contest already!

Allison is providing one lucky Snarky Vegan reader a $20 gift certificate for anything from her online store. I will announce the winner on December 23rd so you can choose to give the gift certificate as a stocking stuffer (printable pdf certificate), keep it for yourself or use it for New Years or some future special event.

I’ll make this very simple: you can enter up to 6 times in the pool to win a $20 gift certificate from Allison’s by leaving a separate comment for each of the following:

1. Look through Allison’s Gourmet store and leave a comment with what you’d like to buy from her gourmet shop.
2. Leave a second comment if you care to divulge how you intend to use the giveaway.
3. Tweet about this giveaway using this bit: “Enter @SnarkyVegan’s contest to win a $20 gift certificate @allisonsgourmet for vegan truffles, toffee, caramels! http://wp.me/pdVnX-Dg”
4. Either like Allison’s on Facebook or post about this giveaway on your wall: ”Enter SnarkyVegan’s contest to win a $20 gift certificate @allisonsgourmet for vegan truffles, toffee, caramels! http://wp.me/pdVnX-Dg”
5. Follow Allison’s on Twitter.
6. Follow SnarkyVegan on Twitter.

Deadline for your comments is 9:00 am December 23, 2011. Drawing will be among comments left prior to 9:00 am CST (Chicago Standard Time ;-) I will send out the gift certificate immediately but you MUST ENTER WITH YOUR CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS when leaving a comment.

US residents only, sorry.

Legal disclaimer: Yes, I know Allison, I order her goodies for our clients at work and no, she’s never given me anything for free or in return for my patronage. I just think she’s an awesome happy person whose groovy vibe rubs off on everyone she meets. And I’m a whore for supreme toffee to go with my single malt.

 

SnarkyXmas list: What to get that vegan gardener on your Christmas list.

[UPDATE: After reading Colleen's excellent post on the relationships between corporations and bloggers, I felt the need to update this post since it is a gift guide that lists products I am recommending. My update is at the end.]

Buying gifts for vegans may be challenging enough but what if your favorite vegan is also an avid gardener? What do you need to know?

First I’ll list some of my favorite groovy gifts that I think are perfect for gardeners, especially vegan gardeners. Then I’ll give you a few pointers to help you stay out of trouble while shopping for your favorite vegan gardener. And BTW, I’ve listed some extremely affordable items and some that well, shall we say, may be so nice you’d get lucky this season ;-P

Snarky’s Top 10 Great Gift Ideas:

1. Ethel Gloves

Click for close up.

Ethel Gloves makes a special vegan gardening glove that I actually own and absolutely love. It’s the Garden 4X, a tough and classy glove that even I can’t wear through. I’m really hard on gardening gloves, typically going through 2 pairs in a season. My fingertips generally poke right through because I like to make holes for seeds with my hands rather than a trowel. But after a full season, my pair of Garden 4X black bamboo gloves are holding up just fine. No sign of letting my middle finger loose in the dirt. These gloves also use vegan latex that does not use casein during manufacturing. A very thoughtful gift for a vegan gardener. (And if black isn’t your vegan’s style, all their other colored bamboo gloves are also vegan, they just don’t have the reinforced fingertips that the 4X does.)

2. Seeds!

Click for close up.

D. Landreth Seed Company is the oldest continuously running seed house in the US and one of the oldest companies. In fact, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were both Landreth customers! Landreth ran into financial hardship this year and most of the gardening world has fretted about it for months. So any gift you buy from them will go towards saving this American institution. I’d recommend the catalog of course, as it’s a work of art and full of gardening information. They also have little “Seeds In A Sack” that make great stocking stuffers. They’re all awesome so there’s no way I can single out just one. Besides, you know your gardener best: would they like the Olde Fashion Zinnias collection, Antique Vines for the Garden or Heirloom Tomatoes?

3. German Design

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Weck canning jars are a totally BPA-free and beautiful option for organic gardeners. Yes, I said BPA-free. You know that white rubbery liner in the lid of traditional canning jars in the USA? Yeah, that—don’t go lick it now—it’s made with BPA. The Weck jars use an old fashioned rubber and reusable gasket instead. How well do they work? I’ve heard stories of German great grandmothers still using their jars from the beginning of the last century and they haven’t killed anyone yet. The only problem with these jars is that I don’t want to use them as gifts. No, I’m kinda selfish that way. Oh, if you’re in the Chicago area, you can buy these at Green Home Experts.

4. Garden Art for the Kitchen

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Vetegabowls makes insanely cool food serving bowls that look exactly like garden fruits and vegetables! They are slip cast and glazed to match the colors and actual textures you’d find in a cantaloupe, tomato, grapefruit, onion, honeydew melon, oranges, etc. I adore these bowls and think a set of these would be an awesome gift. (DH, that’s a hint dood, just in case that wasn’t clear ;-)

5. Gear

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Autonomie Project Inc. has a lot of great products but I’m especially excited about their new fair-trade and vegan rain/gardening boots! The rubber in these boots is certified by the FSC for sustainable forestry and the makers receive a fair trade premium on their wages. When looking for gardening boots, remember these things: they are often labeled “rain” boots, consider the calf fit (if your vegan may have large calves, best to skip this item or buy a gift certificate), and the pattern/color.

Fun gardening socks from Garden Shoes Online come with lady bugs, bees, turtles and sunflowers. The more colorful selections are also vegan because they’re made with nylon, CoolMax® and Lycra® rather than latex. Latex is made with casein from cow’s milk so steer clear of anything with that fiber as well as wool and silk.

6. Books

Veganic Agriculture Network has a nice book list of tomes that would be appropriate for a vegan gardener. If you can’t score an out-of-print copy of Veganic Gardening by Kenneth Dalziel, I’d snag Growing Green which is also a source of info for organic gardening without animal products.

7. Luxury

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Moxie Organix has some really nice soaps and lotions that would help a gardener maintain soft hands after a long day digging in the soil. Lavender or rose petal would be great scents for a gardener.

8. Sprouting Supplies

A brick or two of coir fiber makes a great gift for the gardener who starts seeds indoors for Spring. The bricks are small enough to even fit in a stocking while causing a lot of funny head scratching over what could that be? I get my bricks at Green Home Experts in Oak Park, Illinois. When checking your local source, compare pricing with sizes (big box stores sell smaller bricks for a full brick price) and compare the source of the coir itself.

Chamomile tea, believe it or not, would be a nifty stocking stuffer for a gardener because not only can they drink it when pests are bumming them out, it’s a great fungal deterrent. In fact, many professional growers spray it on the soil’s surface to fight Damping Off in tomato seedlings. A great little crafty gift could be a box of chamomile tea bags and a spray bottle. You could even craft up your own Healthy Seedling or Fight Damping Off label for the bottle.

9. One-of-a-Kind Glass Garden Sculptures

Click for close up.

Barbara Sanderson is a glass artist specializing in hand-blown art glass for gardens. Her Fiddlesticks and Flowers are amazingly beautiful. You can often find Babara at various flower and garden shows around the country as well as art shows. She’ll work with you to combine glass, water, light and gardens to create lovely and stunning outdoor spaces. If you can’t afford her larger works she also creates Christmas ornaments and other holiday glassworks. Her Halloween pumpkins are always groovy and I’d love to have some of her originals in my garden.

10. The Holy Grail of Gifts!

The Holy Grail of Gifts!

And finally, the Holy Grail! Whether you wanna be rewarded with sex from xmas until New Year’s Eve or simply awesome food for the rest of your life, I’d totally recommend giving your vegan the new Blendtec’s Total Blender Designer Series. It’s a super badass blender that can handle anything your organic gardener can grow. Seriously. But check first to make sure your vegan hasn’t already ordered it or that ‘other’ brand of blender. The Designer Series model is so badass, it includes the WildSide jar which is a patented 5-sided jar allowing a better vortex during blending and wider at the base for easier removal of thick nut butters, a nearly 4-inch diameter blade, and a new touch interface like on the iPhone. AND a 7-year warranty! Oh yeah baby, it can handle just about anything including those twigs and leaves you think your vegan eats.

And THAT my fine fiends, is the best of the best, the most unique, and perfectly vegan-friendly gifts for organic gardeners!

Read onward for some tips on what to avoid when shopping. It seems tricky sometimes but it all makes sense, I promise.

Things to watch out for:

• Leather gardening gloves and leather tool pouches: Many gloves have leather palms or are fully constructed from leather, a big no-no for vegan gifts. Also, most tool companies like Felco, Fiskar and Corona sometimes bundle leather pouches with their pruners. Best to just buy the awesome pruner and ignore any bundles that include leather.
• Manure or animal ingredient plant foods: Not that you’d give your gardener crap for xmas, right? But anyway, you’re going to have to read the labels on these. Avoid brands that include manure or feather, fish, bone, and blood meals. Best to stick with plant-derived ingredients like kelp or seed meals like cottonseed. It also goes without saying that most vegans will also be organic so steer clear of chemicals like Miracle-Gro (the cosmic blue stuff).
• Pesticides: This is a tricky area. Some vegans may be ok killing insects while others are not. Safer to just not go there.
• Animal hide journals or notebooks: Garden journals are quite popular these days and are awesome gifts for keeping a diary of what’s been planted. However, I’ve seen a few that are leather bound. Look for a label that says, “man-made materials” or go with canvas or paper coverings.
• Boots or garden shoes: Again, watch out for leather. A gift certificate from a place like Zappos may be safer than actually trying to find a poly boot that fits the foot of your vegan Cinderella, depending of course on how well you know that foot.
• Wool socks: Garden socks can be a really fun gift, many come with ladybugs and flowers woven into them and are quite charming. Just read the label to ensure there’s no wool or silk. Bamboo would be a nice fiber to find and is soft and resilient. Or see the links above for cool and fun socks.
• Vermiculture or ‘Worm bins”: Best to steer clear of this as well. Not all vegans would be happy with worms in captivity although some are. Unless you know your vegan gardener well, safer to look for other gift ideas.
• Homesteading Books: Watch out for homesteading books that include chapters on raising cows for milk, beheading chickens or butchering pigs. Go for books that focus on veggies and such.

So, now that you’re prepared, what are you waiting for? You’ve only got 12 more days until Christmas! Get the compost out!

Snarky’s Product Relationship Disclosure (or rather, more info than you wanted to know)

Below I will note any relationship I have with any of the companies making the products I’ve included in my gift guide for gardeners:

1. Ethel Gloves: Over the years, they have sent me several pairs of gloves either through events or as awards when I entered contests. None of them lasted more than a month or two because I wore through the fingertips. I guess I use that middle finger on my right hand a little too much. When I saw them at the IGC in 2010, I asked about the 4X. They explained that the fingertips are reinforced for people like me (my words, not theirs). I tried to buy a pair but they didn’t have change for a $50 so they gave me a pair to try out. I have now used them through 14 months with none of the middle finger issues I had previously. Yes, these gloves were free to me but when they do eventually wear out, they will also be the only pair I buy.
2. D. Landreth seeds: They have never given me anything for free. I buy their seeds and love them. They don’t even know who I am.
3. Weck Canning: They have never given me anything for free. I bought their jars last season for canning relish (which was awesome BTW), and I love these jars. I feel safer using them over the regular jars with traditional metal lids and they are way prettier.
4. Vegetabowls: They have never sent me anything for free and they didn’t even know I was including their bowls on my list until I emailed them after posting. I just love their bowls. I hope they don’t mind me using their photo.
5. Autonomie and Garden Shoes Online: Neither company has ever given me anything for free. I searched high and low for fun garden things that are vegan-friendly to include in my list. The boots have the added benefit of being FSC certified. But alas, I am a large woman with large calves and have yet to find any boot that fits me but I thought these may be great for other gardeners, who are skinnier.
6. Books: There are not a lot of veganic gardening books in print or out of print. Given the less than stellar options, I’ve listed two that come recommended by another reliable source, Veganic Agriculture Network. Currently, I am on a waiting list for the out of print book.
7. Moxie Organix: Yes, I have used samples of their soap at the Vida Vegan Con in August. They included their samples in our hotel kits so we didn’t have to worry about hotel soaps containing tallow. I loved the soaps enough to wrap the used samples gently and schlepp them home on the airplane.
8. Sprouting supplies: no corporate brands here but I use both of these recommendations when starting seeds indoors for spring.
9. Barbara Sanderson glass sculptures: Barbara has never given me anything for free. I have purchased her glass ornaments as client gifts in the past and they are truly beautiful. I love the quality of her glass.
10. Blendtec: Blendtec has never sent me anything for free. I have borrowed “that other blender” from a friend and it overheated repeatedly when grinding sopping wet cashews. I also have two friends who purchased Blendtecs this past year and they use them, with no problems, for grinding nuts . Therefore I became a Blendtec Affiliate and ordered the newest Designer Series model for myself as soon as it was released to the public. I am anxiously awaiting its arrival right now and will test it immediately to compare it to the older models my friends have.

 

Vegan MoFo 2011: Fettuccine Afraido! A perfect kid dish!

We’re huddled in the house with the lights off because there are toooooo many trick or treaters! And they’re BIG! So I thought I’d make one more of Allison Rivers Samson’s VeganizeIt! dishes from VegNews magazine. Luckily the kitchen is at the back of the house so I sneaked quietly back there and whipped this up in no time. Seriously, this as a fast and easy kid-friendly dinner for a weeknight.

Fettuccine Afraido! (i.e., Fettuccine Alfredo)

If you liked regular cheese Alfredo before going vegan but it was always too rich for you, this is a lighter and much healthier alternative. No oil, no cholesterol, and you can incorporate whatever veggies you want, or not. My only wish is that I had one of those awesome high-speed Blendtec blenders to grind these nuts to the powder per the recipe instructions.

You don't need great knife skills to pull off something fun for the kids, but the more you practice, the better than me you'll be.

Reprinted here with permission by Allison Rivers Samson and VegNews magazine. Any changes on my part are noted.

4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 2 tablespoons raw pine nuts
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice, fresh (although I used jarred)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/16 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
• 4 cups cooked fettuccine (I used linguine)
• 3 tablespoons freshly minced parsley (I made a monster instead of doing an adult dish)

1. In a blender, grind cashews and pine nuts into a fine powder. Add water, lemon juice, garlic, nutmeg and salt. Blend until completely smooth. (I was stuck with a food processor but a nice blender would do a better job.)
2. Transfer sauce to a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk as you bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 7 minutes, whisking regularly. Stir in black pepper.
3. Serve over hot pasta and garnish with parsley and freshly ground pepper to taste. (I tossed it together in a bowl and then arranged my monster.)

That’s really it. The hardest part is figuring out how to make a monster. Now go scare someone tonight before it’s all over for the year!

 

Vegan MoFo 2011: Ghoulish Sheperd’s Pie

Ok, so I’m on a ghost roll. I love Halloween and just couldn’t come up with any other ideas for the mashed potatoes on Allison Rivers Samson’s Shepherd Pie recipe printed in her award-winning VeganizeIt! column in VegNews magazine.

Of course, other folks have created better mashed potato ghosts than mine. My first effort at making mashed potato ghosts is a bit amateurish but I’m sure with practice they could resemble those ghosts by these other masters.

Use a zippered sandwich bag with the corner cutoff to squeeze out easy ghosts made from mashed taters on shepherd's pie. Push in lentils for eyes before baking.

This Shepherd’s Pie is perfect, even DH said so.

You may have read here that my hubby is rather picky about food so if he likes something, it’s got to be good, right? Yep. This is a great Fall/Winter dish that will definitely become a regular around here because it’s healthy and something hubs will eat.

Reprinted here with permission by Allison Rivers Samson and VegNews magazine. Any changes on my part are noted.

6 servings

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups yellow potatoes, dices, cooked and mashed
• 1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 cup slices mushrooms
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1/4 cup diced celery
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons barley flour
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 cups cooked French lentils, drained well
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
• 4 teaspoons tamari
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine mashed potatoes with margarine, 1 teaspoon salt and non-dairy milk. Set aside.
2. In a large saute pan over medium head, add oil and onions. Saute for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, carrots and celery. Cook for 2 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 1 minutes. Add flour and stir until absorbed. Stir in marjoram, celery seed, thyme, paprika, remaining salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, and then stir in broth. Continue to stir frequently until the mixture comes to a slow boil. Stir in lentils, parsley, Worcestershire, tamari and peas, then remove from heat.
3. Transfer mixture to a deep pie dish or a 9×13-inch casserole. Spread the mashed potatoes on top of the vegetable mixture in the dish. Use the tips of a fork to rake across the top of the mashed potatoes, making a rough surface to facilitate a brown crispy top.* Bake for 40 minutes, or until potatoes are browned. Serve hot.

*I used ramekins to make single portion pies with an individual ghost for each pie. Glad I put them on a baking sheet to bake because they did cook over the sides.

Just look at how yummy the pie is under the ghost!

Tired Wench Tips:

• Make a stash of lentils up to 3 days prior.
• Use frozen carrot and pea mix to cut back on some chopping.
• Buy pre-sliced mushrooms.
• Make both the taters and vegetable mixture in advance and assemble for dinner after work. Not sure I’d put the mashed potatoes on the veggies ahead of time because I don’t know if they’d merge into a goo. You can nuke a side dish of veggies and set the table while this is baking.

Now pardon me while I go determine how many leftovers to eat for lunch. It’s difficult to determine this when you have to share with someone else.

And don’t forget to enter that contest on my other post for a subscription to VegNews magazine! Deadline is noon (Chicago time) tomorrow!

 

Vegan MoFo 2011: Creepy Halloween Martinis

When I was  initially toying with the idea of Halloween martinis, it seemed overwhelming. There were too many various combination of ingredients possible and where would I find the time to test them all? Unlike trying various ingredients in food, martinis pose the additional issue of testing alcohol while maintaining a clear enough head to discern what is working and what is definitely not.

And no, I’m not a fan of the swish and spit method as it is entirely wasteful ;-P

Let’s start a test group!

So I thought, why not spread the inebriation to get more done, more quickly? There were two approaches I wanted to try and just not enough ideas in my little brain to handle it all. After opening up the idea to Twitter, several vegans stepped forward eager to play with the two ideas: chocolate and pumpkin.

Here’s a quick list of the other really fine, awesome, and patient gals participating in this challenge. You really should read all of the posts as they’ve all created their own variation of these martinis and THEN SOME! I’ll add more links at the posts become available.

• Lowrie at Tak-Home-A blog
• Kelly at Kohlrabi and Quince
• Jenna at The Art of Fun
• Leigh at The Tasty Vegan
• Elysha at Little Things Big Things
• Melissa at Will Work 4 Veggies
• Amanda at Amanda Eats

Two ideas for Creepy Halloween Cocktails.

First up, we have an easy one that should be possible for anyone anywhere to pull off: a dark chocolatey martini that could be dressed up any number of ways for Halloween.

The second martini was way more of a challenge for me personally. The problem that I wanted to solve was to create a vegan version of a pumpkin pie martini without the dairy products like cream, butter, etc. Thank Gaia for Barnivore! Without them I never would have found the vegan liquor ingredients for this harder-to-nail martini. Even so, I was initially headed down the wrong, wrong and SUPER WRONG path by wanting to incorporate rum along with actual ground pumpkin pie spices. Both of these are a BAD idea. The rum was too spiteful and didn’t add any value. The spices were too gritty to use in a martini. I wanted a smooth velvety martini, just like pumpkin pie. I even tried using a finely ground Ceylon Cinnamon from Penzy’s but it too, was too gritty. The only grit I wanted in my pumpkin martini was the Newman’s Ginger oreos I used to rim the glass. All other grit was unappetizing and—it turns out—unnecessary.

Here are the two recipes. The chocolate martini is as it was, no changes. The pumpkin when through many trials and most of the time I spit it out in the sink. Not a pretty sight (fat vegan chick wearing a sleeveless red tank and corduroy derby spitting in the sink, yeah baby). But finally, what I ended up with for the pumpkin pie martini is awesome, IMHO.

The Graveyard Smash Martini

Rim the glass with Newman-O’s (or Oreos) chocolate cookies and set aside. A wipe of chocolate syrup will help them stick.

In a shaker, shake the following:

• ice
• 2 ounces vanilla vodka or regular with 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract added
• 2 ounces Frangelico
• squirt of vegan chocolate syrup

Pour into glass, garnish with Halloween spookies.

Notes:

• I did try this with soy milk added for a milk chocolate approach but it didn’t seem to add an value or interesting flavor. Plus I liked the looks of a darker martini; more chocolatey flavor.
• I am going to try this with a raspberry framboise liquor that I just bought today in place of the Frangelico. Orange would also be yummy.
• Might also try it with Van Gogh Dutch Caramel vodka to see if that’s more complex than a vanilla vodka.

The Great Pumpkin Pie Martini

I’m not even going to bother telling going into detail on the initial recipe other than the two ingredients that DID NOT WORK for me: rum and actual ground spices. Below is my recommended recipe and it is yummy. In fact, I’ve got to finish this post before I finish the two vodkas sitting in front of me lest you have to cope with more typos ;-P

Rim the glass with ground-up Newman-O’s Ginger cookies. Use maple syrup on the rim to get the crumbs to stick.

Mix the following Pumpkin Mash really well in a tiny bowl:

• 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1.5 ounce soy milk, unsweetened
• 1/8 teaspoon Goldschlager cinnamon liquor (you could leave this out but I swear it really adds more of a pie flavor depth, no kidding, I was surprised)

Add pumpkin mash to shaker along with:

• ice
• 1 ounce plain vodka*
• 1 ounce butterscotch schnapps*
• *Or use 2 ounces of Van Gogh’s Dutch Caramel vodka in place of the plain vodka/schnapps combo

Shake, shake, shake and pour. Dress up your martini with Halloween ghoulies.

Notes:

• I tried brown rice syrup but maple syrup added a nice flavor to the pumpkin pie idea.
• I also tried using actual pumpkin pie spices but they were too gritty for my taste. Using the Goldschlager instead allowed spiciness without the grit. I was skeptical about a 1/8 teaspoon but it really did work. Any more than that and you’d have a Jolly Rancher Fire Rancher.
• And about the rum, that was a bad idea. I have this romantic notion about rum in general being all butterscotchy and musky and it never quite lives up to that. Not sure where I got that notion but trust me, go with Schnapps or the Van Gogh.
• Using 2 ounces of Van Gogh Dutch Caramel vodka has more of a vodka-like edge than mixing the plain vodka with butterscotch schnapps. But I prefer the use of the Van Gogh, even with the pronounce alcoholic sharpness. The caramel is much stronger than the butterscotch. Both will get you equally  hammered though.
• Regarding pumpkin puree, maybe it’s my imagination but I swear there is a subtle taste difference between Libby’s and the local grocer’s house brand. Libby’s is also more orange in appearance and makes nicer looking martini.

Barnivore makes it all possible.

I’m going to give a little plug here for one of the most indispensable vegan resources available: there’s no way a drinking vegan could get along without Barnivore. Seriously, I’m sure the liquor store folks wonder what the hell I’m doing on my iPhone while standing in front of the row of Schnapps. But I swear, I could not survive—well, could not drink anyway—without Barnivore. We should all send them money for the service they provide to vegans everywhere. Seriously.

 

Vegan MoFo 2011: Spooky French Onion Soup!

EZ Comfort Food for Tired Wenches

This recipe is by Allison Rivers Samson and printed in her award-winning VeganizeIt! column in VegNews magazine. Because this recipe is still currently in print—in fact, it’s from the Sept/Oct issue—I can’t reprint the recipe here.

But I will outline the critical parts of the recipe and also the parts where I feel you can save time if you’re a tired old wench like me.

I’ll also tell you how I made my little cheezy ghost toasts!

And remember, I’m having a contest to win a subscription to VegNews on the Frittata blog post page! So hop over there after reading this to enter in the comments.

Allison’s Vegan French Onion Soup, Made Spooky!

Well, you know me...Halloween is my favorite holiday. So I took the opportunity to make cheezy ghost toppers for Allison's already yummy French Onion Soup recipe.

There used to be this little French bistro in one of my several home towns and I loved their onion soup. It was the best. I should also mention I’ve never made French Onion Soup, either before going vegan or now. So I had no idea what was in store for me.

Before we get into the details, remember, there’s plenty of time to nap, drink or shave your legs while cooking the onions. Just be sure to set a timer.

Making like a French Zen Master

I think perhaps the French could’ve been a little more creative in naming this soup. I would have considered something like French Zen Soup because you have to slooooow down and take the time to do the onions right. Seriously. There are no short cuts with cooking the onions as it takes 90 minutes to simmer them to a browned caramel perfection. There’s no way to speed up this part of the recipe. Sorry.

Saving time like I save coupons.

I did find another area of the recipe where I could save substantial time for other Tired Wenches: making the vegetable stock. There are a lot of great store-bought stocks. But if you choose NOT to make your own, be sure to go easy on the salt as many store-bought stocks are already salted. Of course, nothing beats a home made vegetable stock but in a pinch, store-bought will do.

Just look at that dark caramel brown onion soup! Allison has a lot of unique and special ingredients that go into the soup base. Some I never would have thought of.

Getting creative for Halloween.

Allison’s recipe calls for rounds of French bread that you top with mozzarella cheese and pop under the broiler to melt. Then you use these cheese gooey rounds to top your bowl and garnish it all with a sprig of parsley.

I made my ghosts with a ghastly cookie cutter, topped them with shredded vegan cheese, broiled to melt then cut tiny eyes from itty bitty bits of black olives. Prolly shoulda used more cheese but I didn’t want to lose sight of my ghosts!

TIP: Remember the diameter of your cookie cutter before buying your French bread. If they don’t match, your ghosts will have no heads ;-P

And in case you’re wondering, yes, I did get over my fear of the broiler. I peeked inside—remember, it’s a bottom drawer type broiler—saw that there was nothing living down there and successfully broiled ghost toasties. All without startling the smoke detector!

One more thing.

Remember that sherry vinegar I was bitching and moaning about not being able to find? Well, I finally remembered that my favorite source for balsamic vinegar (The Olive Mill in Geneva, Illinois) also has a bazillion other products and sure enough, they have a sherry vinegar.

They also accidentally sent me a bottle of chipotle olive oil which I’m offering via a contest on another blog post. So head over there and enter that contest too, eh?

 

2nd contest this week: win a free bottle of The Olive Mill’s chipotle olive oil!

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of The Olive Mill in Geneva Illinois. They have the most amazing and affordable balsamic vinegar I’ve had. Love love love it. So when they accidentally shipped me two bottles of chipotle olive oil, I decided I’d give away the second one. After all, I just don’t have room for more than 7 bottles of oil at a time in my 10×10 kitchen.

So, here’s your chance to win a 375ml bottle of @TheOliveMill’s chipotle olive oil!

All you need to do is one or several or all of the following:

• leave a comment on this post describing your idea re: how you’d use a chipotle flavored olive oil (vegan ideas only please). Leave as many different ideas in multiple comments as you’d like. No limit.
• follow @TheOliveMill on Twitter
• follow me @SnarkyVegan on Twitter

My own ideas so far include:

• spread on breadsticks or focaccia
• drizzle on creamed potato soup
• use for sautéing onions or other veggies
• roasted potato fries
• roasted sweet potato fries
• use as oil for making scrambled tofu
• salad dressing with oil, vinegar, garlic, and mustard

I did try is on focaccia bread tonight by brushing the dough before pushing it out flat then sprinkling it with zaatar spices. It was pretty awesome. Spicy but smooth.

So have at it, this contest ends at noon CST (Chicago Standard Time) on Friday the 28th. I’ll use a random number generator to select the winner from the comments and announce at 5pm that day.

Limited to USA residents in the mainland states. Sorry, that’s the limit of my postage budget, poor schmuck that I am.

UPDATE: WINNER CHOSEN!

Using the Random Number Generator to pick a winner from the 39 entries at noon on Friday the 29th, Tofu Mom is the lucky gal!

 

Vegan MoFo 2011: Italian Frittata, Healthy and OMG Yummy!

EZ Comfort Food for Tired Wenches

Two quick announcements before we get to  Allison Rivers Samson’s frittata recipe:

1. Allison won the 2011 Veggie Award for Favorite Column in VegNews magazine! Yep, voters really dig her VeganzeIt! recipe column and if you haven’t read it, you should, right now…or later, after you read this post ;-]
2. To celebrate Allison’s award, we’re giving away a free subscription to VegNews Magazine! Just read this post and follow the directions at the end to enter. You’ll have lots of ways to enter and the winner can choose the printed version or the tree-free version. I’ve seen the tree-free version and it’s pretty nifty and you can still print pages if you really gotta do that.

QUICK UPDATE:

The print version can be won by a US and Canadian citizen but the e-version would be delivered if the winner is from another country. I’m sorry that’s confusing.

Now, onward to yummy goodness that’s good for you.

Allison Creates a No-Fart Frittata: Yummy in the Tummy and Easy on the Gut

Just before popping in the oven, I topped the frittata with Daiya cheese and asparagus spears.

When I think of veganizing frittata or quiche, I automatically think of tofu as the egg susbstitute and then I give up because I’m not a big fan of tofu. It’s almost become the standard vegan crutch and too much soy can cause gastronomical issues in some people.

So when I saw that Allison had created a frittata without soy, I got super intrigued. Then I saw how simple it was to make and got really tweaked about the possibilities. I began fanticizing about using the basic mixture for quiche, terrines…even savory custards.

Then I got even more excited because I could use Allison’s recipe to make mini-frittatas for lunch bentos. This would be not only healthy but a yummy compassionate protein to go with a salad or side veggies. AND it would be easy to manage portion control, something I struggle with daily…ok, hourly.

I doubled the recipe so I'd have enough batter to make some mini frittatas in a muffin tin. I lined the tin with parchment to make them easier to remove later.

A great thing about frittata is that you can use almost any vegetable in the mix so it’s totally seasonal. Spring spinach and asparagus, Summer tomatoes and eggplant, Fall beans and zucchini, they’d all work well.

Italian Frittata

Reprinted here with permission by Allison Rivers Samson from her VeganizeIt! column in VegNews magazine. Any changes on my part are in parentheses or noted with asterisks.

6 servings, if you aren’t a hoarder.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1  1/2 cups garbanzo bean flour
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1 cup onion, quartered and cut into thin slices
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 2 cups broccoli florets cut into small pieces*
• 1/4 teaspoon kala namak

*After doubling the recipe, I added 1 box of chopped frozen spinach in lieu of doubling the broccoli. I also added about a cup of Daiya mozzarella shreds to the hot mixture and then used some extra as topping with the asparagus spears.

Steps:

1. Oil a 9-inch tart pan (I used a pie plate). In a medium saucepan (large if you’re doubling recipe) over medium heat, add water and salt. Gently whisk in the garbanzo bean flour to combien completely. Whisk occasionally as the mixture begins to boil to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. As it begins to thicken, reduce heat to low and cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, place a saute pan over low-medium heat and add margarine and onions. Saute for 5 minutes, then add basil and marjoram and cook for another 5 minutes. Add broccoli and cook for an additional 5 minutes (this is where I added my defrosted spinach as well). Turn off heat.
3. In a large bowl, combine cooked garbanzo bean mixture, vegetables and kala namak until well mixed. Spread evenly into oiled dish. Cool completely in the refrigerator for two hours. This step imparts the egg-like texture so don’t skip it.
4. Preheat oven to 350, then bake frittata for 20 minutes (I baked for 30 because my oven is weird). Move frittata to broiler rack and broil for 3-5 minutes, until the top has browned (I have a small apartment-sized stove and skipped this step because the last time I used the broiler the smoke detector took issue).

The overall texture after baking is fluffy and creamy. The taste is also very yummy and savory due to sauteing the vegetables before blending.

When warm, the slices are a tad loose but they do firm up after cooling which will make them perfect for including in lunch bentos. I really gotta get a decent stove with a broiler that doesn't cause too much smoke.

Tired Wench Tips:

• This recipe required a set-up time of no less than two hours in the fridge. Overnight if possible. That means that it’s an easy make-ahead dish that only takes 20-30 minutes to cook when you’re ready. So make it Sunday for Monday morning breakfast or a quick comforting dinner after work.
• Likewise, make ahead mini-frittatas in muffin tins to use in lunch boxes throughout the week. Accompany with a side salad and some fruit (strawberries, banana, apple, etc) for a healthy lunch.
• Or do what I did and double the batch, make a frittata in a pie dish for dinner then make the minis for lunches.
• If you’re a penny pincher, grate the broccoli stems and incorporate into the batter with the florets.
• And my favorite tip, if you don’t feel like chopping a bunch of veggies, buy chopped frozen veggies instead. All you really must chop is the onion. Sorry, there’s no way around that.

Contest Update: we have a winner!

To be fare and increase the odds for actual entries, I removed the pingback comments and Allison’s comment so that only the 38 actual entries were left. THEN I ran the Random Number Generator and Moonsword won!

So Moonsword, just send your contact info to me at julia at snarkyvegan dot com and we’ll connect on getting you the subscription!

I will reinstate the pingbacks tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for participating!

Now, About That Contest. You Remember Right?

You know you want it! VegNews magazine for free for a FULL YEAR!  There’s even a tree-free edition so the lucky winner can choose paper or pixels.

How to Enter.

This is so cool and really, not too hard. All you have to do is one or more of the following and then leave a comment stating that you did one of the following. BUT leave a separate comment for each of the following tricks you perform, eh? On Halloween, I’ll pull a number out of a block of tofu, well, actually, I’ll use a random number generator based on the number of entries via the comments to this post. Yep. So hop to it eh?

1. Check out Allison’s website and comment on this post about the recipe you’d like to make for one entry.
2. Tweet this message: I read about @AllisonsGourmet’s soy-free frittata recipe (http://bit.ly/pvlY9h) in @VegNews on @SnarkyVegan’s blog #vegan #giveaway
3. Follow @AllisonsGourmet on Twitter
4. Like Allison’s Gourmet on Facebook
5. Follow @VegNews on Twitter
6. Like VegNews Magazine on Facebook
7. Follow @SnarkyVegan on Twitter
8. Like SnarkyVegan on Facebook

Entries open until Halloween, Monday, October 31, 2011 12pm CST (that’s noon Chicago Standard Time ;-) Winner will be announced at 5pm on Halloween.