Make No Bones About It We're Vegan


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

It's a Relaunch and It's a Cookbook Giveaway

I know, believe me I know what you are you saying. This is like the fifth time you have gone missing GiGi and about the sixth time you have left your readers in the lurch. And now you are back again? What makes your life so much more challenging than mine GiGi, that you haven't written a syllable in months?

I would say to you, yeah...well. 
I know, and  I am sorry, really... sorry. I know we all have challenges. I know that in this fast paced world we live in, we are all just trying to get along. We are inundated with to-do lists, new technologies and deep universal conundrums... I wonder if I can freeze this falafel, how can I lessen Fifi's hairballs, and when can I find time to lock myself in the closet and chug this pint of scotch? I have had those same concerns.

I came back to this blog to give you hope. If nothing else brothers and sisters have gratitude in knowing that my life sucks worse than yours. 

I am about to come clean and in a series of videos, tell you why I have not appeared at this page. Video 1 below. 

What better way to relaunch Veganville than with a video of my whereabouts, a giveaway and a review of my friend, Zsu Dever's new book, Everyday Vegan Eats.
Before I booked the above flight, I had a moment of good fortune. I had the opportunity to recipe test for Zsu's new book, Every Day Vegan Eats. Recipe testing can be especially fun when you send your husband aka Crazy Boy to five  different stores to hunt down a spice he never heard of before. For most people salt should be pretty easy to find, and a little salt can be found in most of Zsu's recipes.



The Alien Pearheads have decided to let me use their kitchen.
They had an abundance of tofu. I was able to revisit one of my favorite recipes from Zsu's book and I made the seafood variation of the marinated tofu and served it with Zsu's famous tartar sauce.

Recipe
14 ounces of extra firm tofu pressed overnight
2 C water
2 T savory broth mix
1/4 tsp salt
1 T sunflower oil

Cut pressed tofu into 1/2-inch cubes.
Heat water, broth mix, and salt in medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
Add the tofu and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the tofu to sit in the broth for an additional 10 minutes. You may also keep the broth in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week before continuing the next step.
Drain the tofu. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the tofu and cook, stirring until golden brown about ten minutes.
Season with salt and black pepper as needed. The tofu is now ready to use in recipes. Below is the seafood variation.

All of Zsu's recipes are straight forward easy to follow, and delicious. I grew up in Brooklyn and married a Sicilian, great eggplant parm and lasagna was nothing new to us. 

Still, Zsu managed to wow us with new versions. I've fed hungry organic Pearheads Zsu's 7 Layer Tex Mex Salad with vats of her ranch dressing, which has kept their hunger at bay for one more day. This book has been a life saver :) The pictures in Zsu Dever's book are total food porn, and fun to flip through even when you don't feel like cooking.

Here is the best thing yet. You can enter to win your very own copy of Zsu Dever's, Every Day Vegan Eats. To enter please tell me in the comments, from the list below which food from Zsu's book would you serve aliens?

Country Fried Seitan
Irish Corn Cabbage
Spinach and Artichoke Pizza
Mushroom Stroganoff
Tater Tot Casserole

Giveaway starts now and is open til Monday, June 23rd. I will pick the winner from a random generator at an undisclosed location.

Good luck and Godspeed. Tell your friends.

xxx
GiGi








44 comments:

  1. I would serve Spinach and Artichoke Pizza...When I was young I noticed my dad's paper work had him marked as 'alien'. I was puzzled by this, thinking he was from Mars or something - not from a different country. So ya - aliens can be from Sicily and eat pizza!

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    1. ha! I bet you found the piece of the missing puzzle now. Thank you for entering, Kendy.

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  2. Hey, welcome back — again. You're always welcome; the door to the Internet is always open, and I missed you. I remember the episode of The Twilight Zone well, as it was one of my favorites — so creepy. That one and the one where the little girl crosses over into another dimension through a portal in her bedroom wall. I wonder why those two have always stuck with me. What I would serve aliens depends on whether they are friendly. If friendly, I'd give them spinach and artichoke pizza.

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    1. hey, Andrea always great to see you. Thank you for the kind welcome :) I missed you too, but I have been slowly but surely catching up on your blogs!
      yay, mine too one of my favorite. The little girl in the portal is like "looking for John Malkovich". I hope they are friendly. Thank you for entering!

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  3. Since I am one of the aliens, I would choose the Irish Corn Cabbage because I would want to know what being Irish has to do with food and especially with corn and cabbage. Like, why not Iowa Corn Cabbage?

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    1. well to answer your question, Molly...since vegans don't eat the Irish dish, corn beef and cabbage they don't eat something very delicious from Zsu's book called Irish Corn Cabbage, but no corn in it. If there was Iowa corn cabbage would make more sense.

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  4. Hello GiGi and welcome back. my head hurts too much to feed aliens anything. They'd probably just get my leftovers.

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    1. Hi Maude! Nice to see you. I hope you feel better, or does your head hurt from reading my blog?

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  5. I would serve mushroom stroganoff. Mushrooms, being fungi, probably would intrigue them.

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    1. Yes, KathyD. Stroganoff is a great pics, since some aliens are fun guys.

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  6. I was so delighted to see your post in my reader once again. It's been lonely without you! Great job on the video! It was super fun. I am doubly lucky, because I have TWO copies of Zsu's book already. So don't include me in the giveaway. Welcome back, Gigi!

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    1. CADRY!! Thank you. So nice to see you too. Thank you for your kind welcome. I read your great review on Zsu's book!

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  7. I would serve the spinach and artichoke pizza: a flying saucer with green stuff on it - how much more alien can it be?

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    1. Great alien food pick! Flying saucer pizza.

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  8. I sure hope this is open to Canadians!

    I would serve the mushroom stroganoff, it's one of my favourites and talk about tasty!

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    1. Hi Tungstens Mum. It sure is open to Canadians and aliens.

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  9. Tater tot casserole for sure!!! who can just eat one tater tot.

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    1. On a few occasions I have tried to control my tater tot consumption and stop at one. I am off to the races after 1.

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  10. Spinach and Artichoke Pizza! Yum!

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  11. Tater Tot Casserole -- a big enough helping and it would lull them to sleep.

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    1. Good thinking Ali K! I don't know if aliens sleep though.

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  12. This is a difficult question....but I think I'm going to go with Tater Tot Casserole because I hear aliens are obsessed with the movie Napoleon Dynamite!

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    1. That is a little known fact, Ilsa. When alone and no body is looking, aliens dance like Napoleon Dynamite.

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  13. Spinach and Artichoke Pizza, because I probably would be joining the aliens in eating and I looove artichokes. Plus, artichokes look like they came from another planet, so the aliens might be used to eating them already. :)

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    1. I think you are right, ratgirl. Artichokes and aliens go together like broccoli and tofu, although that might be a yukky analogy, and reminiscent of Soylent Green.

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  14. Spinach and artichoke pizza sounds good!

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  15. ...hey...that was my Favorite Episode...

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  16. I would honestly make that purple and green ice cream you have pictured on your header. But from Zsu's list, it would have to be Country Fried Seitan

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    1. Hi Jennifer. Well maybe the aliens can eat the blueberry ice creme for dessert :)

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  17. I think I would have to serve tater tot casserole! It sounds like something aliens would love. keden66@aol.com

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    1. yep that's a mighty good choice served with some gravy and biscuits.

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  19. Mushroom Stroganoff because I love it and hopefully I'd be eating with the aliens too! :D Welcome back back back back ... Gigi. :D

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    1. Nice to see you Lovelie. Thank you!!!! Aliens like mushrooms, I hope!

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  20. Welcome back! I would feed the aliens pizza, because pizza is the best food our planet has to offer :)

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  21. You're back? And I missed the contest. Boo Hoo. I'm the cry baby!

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  22. I would feed the aliens tater tot casserole, because, TATER TOTS. Thanks for the chance to win this book!

    gaia (at) cinci (dot) rr (dot) com

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    1. Aaah! Terry you are a day too late,and I hope not a dollar too short. The winner was announced last night, but come back often we have lots of fun stuff happening at Veganville.

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