VEGANVILLE

Free Time, Free Chocolate Shakes, Free Free Free!

2012-02-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

I have been on a blog moratorium for a month. My comment box was down for a week and I couldn't comment on any of the comments. After that happened, I decided I wanted to, you know, shake things up a bit and take some time off. I've spent many hours writing and cooking and baking for my blog, not to mention reading and commenting on other blogger's posts. I wanted to see how I would utilize this new found time. A lot can happen in a month, 9 1/2 Weeks, 3 weeks or 22 Weeks. At least a lot can happen in those Lifetime movies and Drew Barrymore Flicks. Maybe Bill Murray is available to star in my life story. It's been a long winter.

Anyway, there are a couple of reasons I have plotted my return for Valentine's Day. Three of my fans have, okay one...one of my fans has begged me to come back. Here's a tip. If part of your life plan includes playing 25 cut throat rounds of "Words with Friends" everyday (ahem ahem, Cari) you will be caught, especially if you are like me and lack the humility game gene. I promise not to woohoo over my 40 and 50 and 60 point words on FB ever again. Nobody applauds on FB anyway, they just post snide comments like, "how 'bout writing a blog instead of playing another FB word game, GiGi?" Yeah that was my one fan comment. I received that comment tonight so I felt pressured to come back and besides I was tired of losing to my friend Cari anyway. She scores a lot of 100 point words.

More importantly, I scheduled my mighty comeback for Valentines' Day so I could tell you a tale about chocolate. More precisely, yummy slave chocolate. You know that beautiful dark chocolate sea salted vegan heart your Bf just coughed up some dinero for? Sure it's thoughtful, romantic, scrumptious even. It's even got the big V stamp of approval on it's cushy box. Well you can just kiss that big V goodbye, sister. I would suggest that you hurry up and eat all that Valentine chocolate before you read on.

You see, the people over at the Conscious Eating Conference and IDA (In Defense of Animals) told me they would be so pleased to have Veganville sell their goodies at their event, but they needed to know what kind of chocolate I used. I use white chocolate from Pangea or Food Fight or Vegan Essentials. For chocolate chips I use WF 365 vegan chips. Sure bet, vegan, with a big V right? Wrong! Apparently even these chocolates are made by Lilliputians in a third world country. According to the conscious eating people if I use a chocolate that exploits anyone under three feet (four feet is okay) I contribute to the harm of a sentient being. My vegan card could be pulled.

Naturally, this got my shackles, up. Or is it hackles? I always get those two things confused. I believe I am a devout hardcore vegan. I have not exploited anyone in a couple of years. I'm the daughter of a poor share holder. I even read "The Help". None of that counts in the conscious eating folks book. This chocolate stuff is serious business. My questionable chocolate will have to take the day off from this event, while I explore slave free chocolate options. I'll bring my kinder gentle lemon molasses, carrot cake and punk-in voopees with me.

I'm sure this event will be eye opening. There will be experts in the field of sustainable agriculture, animal well being, farm workers and the environment who will answer questions and help people understand why we need a truly stable global and local food system where all have access to healthy food, where all are treated with compassion, and where all are well fed. To find out more about the Conscious Eating Event or to register click here .

Now let's all celebrate a Slave Free Valentine's Day with this special shake!

GiGi's "Harriet Tubman" Almost Raw Chocolate Shake
Serves 3 People (one must be under 3 feet)

2 C cold almond milk

1 Ripe avocado (cut in chunks)

5 T slave free cocoa powder (sometimes you can find it next to the slave free xanthan gum)

3 Heaping T agave or as much as you like to sweeten

1/4 C vanilla rice milk ice cream

5 ice cubes

I am graced to have a special blender with a milkshake blade. Add all the ingredients to your blender and well yeah, go ahead and blend. This is very filling and delicious. Go ahead make it for dinner, and you'll free up the rest of your night wink, wink.

Happy Valentine's Day. It's nice to see you all again. Can't wait to catch up with all my friends and their blogs.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Labor of Love!!! Nasoya Cool beans Winner Steps Forward...

2012-01-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

I couldn't have scripted the outcome of the Nasoya Cool Beans Contest any better. Sometimes good things come to those who wait, or in my case go through literal hell. In all seriousness my husband and I were so choked up when Jenny showed up to claim her Nasoya swag. Her circumstances made this contest extra special!!!

Here's a quick recap of the never ending Nasoya Cool Beans contest:
1. October I was approached to run said contest
2. I finally viewed the Nasoya Tofu U site and thought it was not up to snuff for my vegan readers
3. Didn't receive swag
4. Didn't have enough entries
5. Ran contest again
6. Rivkah the first winner is announced
7. Rivkah does not come forward to claim prize
8. I scout out world's largest number generator to find a new winner (video link in purple)
9. New winner Jenny is announced.
10. I beg Jenny to come forward before I collapse.

Here are the amazing comments I received from Jenny!

Ha, you're so funny! Am I too late?! I hope not!!! I'm so excited. I wish I would have responded the minute you posted this so that you could begin reversing the aging process. My family of 5, almost 6, who loves tofu thanks you!

That shortbread looks so good, unlike anything I've ever seen!
~~~~~~~~

THANK YOU! Sorry I'm just now getting back to you. I'm going in to have my baby TOMORROW morning, and things are a little crazy around here. :) Thanks for doing the contest; you're a lot of fun. Have a good week!

Jenny claimed her prize on the night before she was about to go into labor with her fourth child!

Best of luck Jenny. I hope your labor was shorter than this Nasoya contest! Here's to a healthy happy baby. Sending you and your family much love and happiness! We here at Veganville are thrilled for you and your family! Nasoya will be sending you tofu coupons and a tee very soon.

You can find Jenny's blog at http://veganandsoforth.blogspot.com/

Stay tuned. Later this week Veganville will be introducing some more new cookies to the world. That's our labor of love.

What Do You Call Hoppin' John A Week Later?

2012-01-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

Y'all know what Hoppin' John is dontcha y'all? I had a Southern accent once. It's true. I adopted a Southern accent after living in what I affectionately dubbed "the armpit of the South". I drank a lot of tequila in those days. Slurring my words could easily pass as a drawl. I was a veg back then too. My diet consisted of grits, hush puppies and spirit water. My favorite book about the South is "Tequila a Mockingbird". Did I just lose 15 readers? Bahahaha.

Enough tangentialism... Back to Hoppin' John. Does this make this a blog hop now? What are those things anyway? Blog hops. Hmmm.

Hoppin' John is a dish that is traditionally eaten in the South on New Year's Day. Hoppin' John always includes black eyed peas. I think black eyed peas represent prosperity. Either that or a can of black eyed peas will become a collectible. So remember to save black eyed pea cans.

Here's your trivia of the day: If you eat Hoppin' John as a leftover (like on January 2nd) it's no longer called Hoppin' John. What's it called?
Hint 1: ( fill in the blank) let's not "jump" or "___" to conclusions, shall we...
Hint 2: She married a short Scientologist.

If you guessed "Leapin Katie" you are correct!!! Leapin Katie is leftover Hoppin John!

We had a small gathering of friends who mean a lot to us (and also had no place else to go) over on New Year's Day. My friend Marcia and I had both planned to make Hoppin' John. So dang it we had a shoot out, to see which Hoppin' John was left standing. Actually both Hoppin' John's were vegan of course, but that's where the similarity ended. Marcia made a Hoppin' John salad, that was as lovely as it was delicious. Marcia remembered that I have a gag reflex when it comes to celery, but had forgotten that the gag reflex only happens with cooked celery. Marcia left it out even though the salad was cold. You could make it either way, with or without celery but it would be unlikely since I didn't get the recipe from Marcia. I'll hit Marcia up for it though. We'll probably have coffee and celery sticks later this week. I want Marcia to come work with me!!! Below is reason # 575 I want to work with Marcia again! I love her salad.

Marcia's Hoppin' John

Hoppin' John with Fragrant Basmati Rice and Roasted Rosemary Reds

3 cans Black Eyed Peas drained and rinsed
2 C White Basmati Rice
3 C Vegan Broth ( I use 365 brand) for the rice
1-2 More C Vegan Broth for the Hoppin' John Mix
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic smashed and minced
2 C carrots chopped
1 bell pepper medium dice
1/2 C (or more) Daiya vegan cheese
1/4 C low sodium soy sauce
1/2 packet creole or taco seasoning (taco seasoning has paprika, red chili and black pepper so it works)
2-4 T Tabasco sauce (to taste)
1 Package Italian Tofurky Sausage cut into rounds and halved
21 salute seasoning to taste
1 bag spinach optional (to add in the last 3 minutes of cooking)

Directions:
You can cook your Basmati rice in a separate pot than the Hoppin' John. You can make any kind of rice you like. I'm partial to Basmati. The color of the rice comes from the broth it's cooked in (and the Daiya that is later added). Rinse and drain the rice and then add with broth to a big sturdy pot. Bring to a boil and then turn to low. Spray another large pot with cooking spray and saute onion, and garlic for about 4 minutes, add carrots and pepper, and Tofurky and cook for another minute. Salt to taste. Add the drained and rinsed black eyed peas, and the remaining broth and seasoning mix. It should be ready about the same time as the rice. How cool is that.
Cook the rice for about 17-20 minutes. When I cook basmati it almost always takes 17 minutes. Stir in the Daiya, and salt to taste. Remove from stove.

Serve with vegan sour cream, Tabasco, spinach, balsamic, even roasted red potatoes.

Happy New Year y'all. Here's to a prosperous, healthy, compassionate 2012. Remember to stock up on those black eyed peas!

Shortbread Recipe in Honor of the Alleged Winner of Longest Contest in History

2012-01-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

Do you care that this Nasoya "Cool Beans" contest has taken over my life? Nights are endless and tofu will never be the same. Rivka, I am sad to say did not claim her Nasoya swag. I even gave her an extra two days. Now if this next winner does not step forward I might have to send this Nasoya Tee and coupons to my mommy in Los Angeles, and she's not even one of my followers. Here is a reason why. My mom does not like it when I post pictures or videos of me that make me look like an aging Pinocchio. She didn't use those words exactly. She just thinks I look better in person. Aww thanks mom. When she told me how she felt about the videos I laughed and said, that's right I have a face only a mom could love. My mom got upset and said, and your father and your husband could love and added, what happened? You were never like this? Like what? The truth is, I am happy with who I am, some days I'm happier than others.My serenity is direclty proportionate to my self acceptance. The truth is as I get older the lighting gets worse. Before I include today's, not so attractive, special on location, "Cool Beans Winner" video, I have a disclaimer. (This is for you Mommy).
1. I am not wearing a shower cap.
2. I actually have nice hair, but I need it cut and colored. This is my need a new coif hat.
3. I am cuter in person.
4. This Nasoya "Cool Beans Contest" has aged me, considerably.

Here are some special cookies for my special Mom. My Mom was born in Scotland and actually crawled under an immigration table to come into this country. This worked to my advantage as a kid. If my mom threatened to ground me I threatened to have her deported. An old Scottish saying is," He who has contempt for food is a fool." I think they also say, "He who has contempt for whiskey is a fool", but it's my blog and I can say what I want to say.

I surprised my mom with this over the holidays and she loved it. I was surprised it got all the way to Los Angeles like this. I didn't pack it or anything. I just sent it through the mail on this plate.

Scottish Shortbread kind of, (it's not like the kind I grew up on but My Mom gave it a thumbs up!)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
8 T Earth Balance
2 T vegetable shortening (I use Spectrum)
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
2 T organic sugar
2-3 T ice water
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Beat sugar, salt, Earth Balance and shortening on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.

Gradually sift flour mixture into the butter-shortening mixture, and mix with wooden spoon or spatula. Stir together with the spatula until the dough comes together. Add 2 T-4 T of ice water so the dough holds together.
Lightly grease and line 8 X 8-inch baking dish or round pan with parchment paper.
Place the dough into the prepared pan and press it down with your fingers into a smooth, even layer.

Use a fork to pierce holes into a decorative pattern.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until the shortbread is a pale golden color and slightly dark at the edges.

Remove to a rack and let cool until it's slightly warm. With a sharp knife, cut almost all the way through to form triangles.

And now the moment you've all been wating for...yet another winner of the Nasoya "Cool Beans Contest"!
Drum roll please!

Crackle Cookies and the Longest Contest in World History

2012-01-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

I totally dropped the Jingle Ball this year. Bell, I mean, BELL. I think I was waylaid by the longest tofu contest in soybean history.

Rivkah please step forward! And claim your tofu coupons and tee shirt. I think the Nasoya people hired Rivkah as a shill for a shilling. It's been over a week and not a peep from Rivkah. I never saw Rivkah before the contest, and haven't seen her since. I'm totally screwed! I mean how much longer can this freakin' contest go on? Think I'll give Rivkah 'til Tuesday to call in. So if you did not win last time, you still might win. Feh. Who cares? The best thing about this crazy ass contest is that I have an excuse to use a random generator. It's the best thing to happen to me since off track betting.

I hope everybody had a lovely Holiday Season. I did, except for FB. FB can be pure torment for the already tormented. If you are reading my blog I probably don't have to explain this to you since you are most likely tormented and maybe even demented. Everyday on FB during these festive times, there seemed to be just another picture of some happy little homemaker in their pretty little vintage apron standing next to their barely used Wolf oven with their dozens of Christmas cookies. Hey, I love it when people create and cook, but why once a year? And why do those lady's nails look so nice after they bake? And why is their mascara still intact? I bet those Pfeffernussen aren't even vegan. Who's frilly vintage apron is pristine after sweating it out in a kitchen? A day in my kitchen and I look like I've been mud wrestling in chocolate. Eh. Who cares?!

As much as I wanted to create and bake new items and don a cutesy little apron, it's a super duper busy time of the year for me in the kitchen. Crazy boy and I sleep little, work lots and have too many hang nails. Now that I've had a few rounds of Zzzs. I can scroll through FB holiday pics and appreciate the love and creativity others put into baking even if it's just once a year. I'm incredibly grateful to be able to do what I do. It's been a good year in Veganville. Thank you all for swinging by. I am so grateful to have you join me.
I did manage to test four new cookies. Maybe you have had your fill of sweets. Maybe you received a dozen from Miss frilly prissy, the annual baker. Maybe you are at the gym right now for today anyway. I'll just bring you just one of these fine cookies today. First up is the Crackle White Chocolate and Semi Cookie. My testers said this was fudgy and the perfect chocoholic cookie.

photo courtesy psycho boy

Makes about 2.5 dozen decent sized cookies

12 oz vegan chocolate chips divided
3/4 C unbleached flour
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 C or 1/2 stick earth balance
1/2 C organic sugar
1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
2 flax seed eggs (2 T flax mixed with 1/4 C + 2 T water)
2 tsp non-alcoholic vanilla
1/2 C vegan white chocolate chips

Preheat oven 375 degrees and line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment.
Melt 3/4 bag of vegan chocolate chips in double boiler or microwave. (Best way to measure it out is just put 1/2 C of chocolate chips aside). Now set aside melted chocolate chips.
Mix flour, cinnamon, and baking powder in small bowl.
Cream earth balance and sugars in large bowl. Add flax seed slurry and vanilla and mix well. Add melted chocolate and beat until well blended. Gradually add flour mixture until well blended.

Stir in white chocolate and remaining semi sweet chocolate.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoon fulls, (is their such a word?), onto prepared pans, about 1 and half inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes turning pans halfway through.
Transfer cookies on pans to wire rack and let cool for about 10-12 minutes. (They are little gooey). Remove cookies from wire rack and let cool completely.
Indulge!
Veganville will be adding more cookies to our Etsy and local stores in January too. Stay tuned.
Because we follow the Cretan calendar, we will be ringing in the New Year with you midweek and the Battle of the Hoppin Johns. See, you can have another cookie before your 2012 diet.

Is Rivkah here yet?

And We Have A Nasoya Cool Beans Winner: Special Friday Footage

2011-12-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

Peekaboo, Guess who's here. I finally got a moment to hobble out from Hell's kitchen. Just in time to announce the winner of the Nasoya Cool Beans Contest. Be quiet I know I'm late! You in the drunk reindeer feetie pajamas sipping vegan eggnog, hush, or you're disqualified. You don't need any more pajamas anyway.
Before we get to this humongous contest winner announcement I have a couple of confessions:

1. Sheesh! I KNOW I'M LATE! The winner was supposed to be announced- well here's the link where it says "Friday, December 14th".
2.There is no Friday December 14th! There has not been a Friday December 14th since (see below) the Cretes cured olives, and

3. If you guessed there was one other Friday December 14th you would be right, it is a day I will be forever grateful for, the day George Washington Carver invented the PB Voopee Pie.

4. I can hear you saying, but how do you know these things, GiGi? My answer to you is, I am a savant. Your second question is probably, but who won? My answer to you is, hold your pits.
Watch my amazing talent in this video below.

Because my savantism is limited I used a random generator to pick the winner. I had to use the random generator several times because Andrea's name came up as the winner every time. As much as I love Andrea and her blog, I forgot that she was disqualified. I decided to eliminate Andrea because she is one blogger who already has too much swag. Sorry no gym shorts for you, Andrea!
The winner of the Nasoya Cool Bean Giveaway is Rivka. Rivka let me know what size tee-shirt you'd like. Nasoya probably doesn't have your size but it would be nice to know if I ever have another contest. FB me with your particulars. Congrats again and thank you for playing!!!!

Happy Friday everybody!

Cool Beans Nasoya Giveaway and Leftover Pasta Pie Recipe

2011-12-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

I promised you a contest and I promised you a chance to win some Nasoya swanky swag. I haven't received my swag, (read- tee shirt in size unknown), from the lovely Nasoya peeps over at Nasoya.There could be a couple of reasons for that. If you are a long time reader of mine you probably know that I changed my address. That could be it. Or it could be that Nasoya's very nice PR person chased down the FedEx truck to get my tee shirt back after I conveyed some very real concerns I had about their Nasoya Tofu U site. Sure I like tofu and sure no animals were killed making the silken tofu I use for my mousse, but what about their egg based noodles and all the meat and chicken recipes on their site? What about the frozen PB pie recipe dubbed vegan on their site but dripping with honey? Well I tell you I almost threw the baby tofu out with the tofu water. I was so conflicted. Why should I deprive my readers and fans of a give away? That would not be the right thing to do. No! Besides, I want more stuff...how 'bout a bag, or more coupons, or how 'bout sending me some of those nifty Richard Simmons like gym shorts with Tofu U written on them? I could wear them dancing to the oldies in my kitchen.

Crap. Now I probably have to apologize to Nasoya. I'm sorry Nasoya. I really do love Nasoya Silken Tofu. I used it in the pasta pie recipe I'm about to give you. I actually have used all their tofus except the new sprouted ones. I tried to track down Nasoya's new hummus but it was unavailable in the five stores that I checked. Speaking of five stores I take the fifth on Nayonnaise. It reminds me of that midwest sandwich spread - you know the one with the initials M.W. It might be good with vegan baloney, on vegan white bread if you dig that sort of thing. What do I know? Before we play, check out this interview I had on prime time.

Here's the recipe for leftover pasta pie I promised you.

Leftover Pasta Pie Made With Nasoya Silken Tofu

1 Prepared corn crust pie
1 hearty portion of leftover pasta (ours was made with rice pasta, peas, vine ripened tomato, Tofurkey and red onion)
vegan pesto (enough to cover bottom of pizza shell)
olive oil spray
1/4 C water
3 vine ripened tomatoes
1 clove of garlic minced

1 package Nasoya Silken Tofu (drained and pressed) crumbled
1 C Daiya Mozzarella
1 T oregano
1 tsp liquid smoke

Preheat oven according to corn pizza shell directions. Spread pesto on bottom of crust. Place on cookie sheet or pizza pan. Spray skillet with canola or olive oil, cook garlic for about 2 minutes, mix in pasta and add about 2 T of water, cook about 5 minutes, add crumbled tofu, and liquid smoke. Cook over medium heat for about 12 minutes. Add water or spray as needed. Slice tomatoes and place in concentric circles on pizza shell. Top with tofu mixture, sprinkle with Daiya and oregano. Cook according to pizza shell directions (12-15 minutes). Let sit.

Onto the giveaway and your chance to cash in on some free coupons and tee. Winners will be announced Friday December 14th and will be chosen through a mighty number generator.

Here's all the ways you can play. You can enter as many times as you want too. Tell me what action you took in the comments. Each action is worth an entry. Woo hoo! Number 5 is worth 2 entries. C'mon I want those gym shorts.

1. Add yourself as a follower of the blog.
2. Tweet this contest.
3. Like the Nasoya FB page.https://www.facebook.com/#!/Nasoya
4. Like Veganville on FB https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/VEGANVILLE-Make-No-Bones-About-ItWere-Vegan/101254843910
5. And here's the clincher. Enroll in Tofu U and take the pledge to cook tofu once a week, (we're vegans, how easy is that?).http://www.nasoya.com/tofu-u/

Good luck and thanx for playing the "Cool Beans" giveaway!

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

2011-12-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

Dear Everybody-

Veganville's Black Friday 4 Day Sale was spectacular, and had us working 12 hour days. Thank you to all the wonderful people who made purchases. A big shout out to my awesome readers who commented when I was MIA. Before we get down to business here I'd like to ask you a couple of quick but important questions. Most importantly, do you all have my correct address so you can send me nice vegan gifts?
Just in case, you've misplaced my address here it is again:
                                               GiGi
                                               C/O the Pen Pal Program
                                                Attica
                                               Cell Block 7
                                               Sorry I forgot my zip

Next question: Is it January yet? Did I miss Festivus or any fun ethnic holidays? You know I hate being late. I'd rather not do a recap of Thanksgiving in the first week of December like another blogger friend I know, ahem ahem Andrea. Instead I am going to be the first blogger in the world to post my recipe ideas for Thanksgiving 2012. I win! I win! Serve these roasted chickpeas to your Thanksgiving 2012 guests. Since they are roasted they might have a good shelf life.

I swiped this delicious roasted chickpea recipe from Michelle over at lovinlivivegan. Michelle testified, hence my new sentence. Sorry about the chipped plate, it is the best I could do in the can. P.S. these chickpeas are from a can.

This is the cashew-cuke dip on page 66 in Veganomicon, served with some toasted pita. Some of the stupid pita bread was moldy. I salvaged a couple of pieces and gifted the rest to my slumlord. I told him it was pesto. I made this recipe twice over the holiday and will make it twice over the Thanksgiving Holiday in 2012. Hit me up if you'd like the recipe. I'm in the pen pal program, you know.

You see this funky pie thing. Down there. This is my answer to the looming question about Thanksgiving. Why does everybody eat leftovers the day after Thanksgiving? Everybody loves leftovers so much, so why don't we all just eat leftovers on Thanksgiving Day. This is leftover pasta made into a pizza. Come to my house for leftovers on Thanksgiving 2012! I should be out by then. By the way I added Nasoya tofu to this delectable pie. The Nasoya people just sent out a tee shirt to me to tell you that I used their product. They sent along some coupons too. I'll be back in the next couple of days with a giveaway and your chance to win these same Nasoya goodies. Stay tuned. I'll bring you the recipe and brand new video too.

Leftover Pasta Pie For Thanksgiving 2012

These babies are the Molasses and Lemon Voopees for sale over at Veganville. I can't leave you without giving you a new coupon code. Get 20% off at Veganville with coupon code veganmeow.

Well I'm off to my "write and go free" class. Boy I miss sharp pencils! Happy Thanksgiving 2012 everybody.

Your pal, GiGi

Ten Reasons to Shop Online and a Big Ass Sale

2011-11-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Psst. You over there. Yeah you with your nose up against the screen trying to read this blog. Go get your glasses because I got a tip and a coupon code for you. Ah you're back. Let's get down to business. It's small business Saturday. Did you know that? Yeah Veganville is a blog but we're a small business too.There are lots of small businesses around who could use a boost too. You can find a lot of cool vegan and veg sellers online too. I'll point you in their direction in a moment.

Top ten reasons to support these vegan online sellers and vegan small businesses:

1. It's cold out and you can stay in and leave on your faux furry slippers, (true you might wear them to go shop in some box store), but they look nicer on you in your living room. You are not Britney Spears.

2. Vegans don't use pepper spray, because it f*cks up the environment, although we might throw some Himalayan rock salt at you.

3. You don't have to drive anywhere. (Environmental reason)

4. You can cook dinner and shop at the same time.

5. You can shop hundreds of stores in the time you browse three crummy shops in the stupid strip mall.

6. True story. I have a friend who works at Best Buy and there were three arrests in one line, one arrest was for soliciting prostitution! (True that might make you want to go to Best Buy right now, but think of the Bail money)

7. No fisticuffs. Nobody will elbow you online, unless of course you share your laptop with a partner who needs to check his FB right now.

8. You can check your social networking sites while shopping.

9. You'll be buying quality and creativity and supporting a hard working self employed business, hence boosting the economy.

10. I ran out of things to say, so if you're still sold on going to Best Buy, remember you can always be solicited online while you shop.

Wow thanx for staying with me! Now the Big Ass Sale you all have been waiting for. There is a 30% off Sale going on at Veganville.etsy.com right now until midnight Cyber Monday. Coupon Code: Big 30

But if you just stuck it out with me and read all the way through and you leave me a comment, I'll offer you 40% off right until midnight tonight with the coupon code reader 40.

Look at all the vegan and veg goods here:

I will give you 40% off anything in my store
So check out these great teams on Etsy.
Etsyveg

and http://www.veganetsy.com/
Now put up those tootsies and start shopping! See you tomorrow with a Thanksgiving recap.

A Tale of One Ice Cream

2011-11-18T18:22:00.000-08:00

You probably know by now that GiGi and her vegan ice cream maker didn't have much fun together during the month of October. In fact GiGi and her vegan ice cream maker were always at odds!

Sometimes GiGi was eleven, sometimes the vegan ice cream maker was 17, sometimes GiGi was 15, sometimes the vegan ice cream maker was 31. GiGi and her vegan ice cream maker never met on even ground.

GiGi and her vegan ice cream maker even disagreed about the basics.

Back and forth. Back forth. They'd yell! Almond! Rice! Almond! Rice! Almond! GiGi would get so upset she would scream, "That's enough! You know what happened to Frosty the snowman don't you? That's right just a puddle and a carrot for a nose. Don't push my buttons, Frosty!" Yes GiGi and her vegan ice cream maker bickered and they even arm wrestled!

GiGi wins match 3002!

Come November neither GiGi nor her vegan ice cream maker felt good about their relationship. Vegans shouldn't act this way. So GiGi and her vegan ice cream maker decided to meditate for their higher good.

The vegan ice cream maker opened his eyes and peeked during meditation.

And then GiGi has a divine frozen dessert moment, where she is given the answers.

GiGi and her now vegan ice cream maker friend are ecstatic about GiGi's inspiration. They are now convinced that their vegan ice cream will take over the world, (but where has GiGi heard that before...take over the world?). GiGi and her vegan ice cream maker pal must make this new recipe right away, but first GiGi has to look up this cranberry recipe from Veganomicon she has remembered in meditation. "I'll be with you in a minute, little buddy...hey bet we can make nutty buddies too bahaha :)"

GiGi opens Veganomicon to turn to the cranberry thingy and then she sees it. OMFG! Right there in front of GiGi is a recipe, but not just any recipe and not the cranberry thingy recipe either, but GiGi's divinely inspired frozen dessert recipe. It's right there in Isa and Hope's freaking book. Did Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero the two wunderkinds of the vegan cooking world think of this recipe first? or did GiGi? or more likely did Isa and Hope invade and take over GiGi's brain??? Just like they said they would?!!! Please watch below reenactment.

Well after I run around the block and exorcise the those two ^^^, I will claim this recipe as all mine...MINE! MINE! (I'm very sorry my lawyer just phoned and I have to say it's partly their recipe, damn them)

The Recipe
This works better if all your ingredients are cold.

About 8oz silken tofu drained
1/2 C creme of coconut milk (Isa and Terry say) Place can in frig over night and scoop 1/2 C off top
3/4 C almond milk
3/4 C agave
1 banana (peeled of course)
3/4 C Almond butter
1 tsp almond flavoring

Add to food processor or blender and blend well. Pour into ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's directions.

O, woe is me; To have seen what I have seen, see what I see! - from Shakes and Vegan Hamlet
I bid you g'night.
xo
music and direction by
Sir Larry AKA Psycho Boy

Spare a Farm Animal Eat Soy Curls

2011-11-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

Set design by Psycho Boy

Even if you don't have the dough to adopt a turkey this year, you can spare a chicken or a pig or a turkey and eat soy curls. I heard about soy curls during MoFo season and couldn't find them in any of my local haunts. And here I thought I lived in the mecca of vegan products. I can't even get Ricemellow- the vegan answer to Fluffernutter around here anymore. This is very disturbing to me, why would anybody with a couple of brain cells discontinue Ricemellow? I considered upping my meds, but instead chose the all natural option and ordered hard to get goodies from Food Fight.

Food Fight is so great! Look at these goods, but not so close, huh!

We scarfed down the Ricemellow in about two days. We ate lots of almond butter and Ricemellow on whole grain. We're still on E2 you know.

Since I'm a soy curl neophyte, I had to check out Butler soy curls' site for prep tips. The package directions say to soak them in water or veggie broth but there are no measurements provided. It turns out it's a one to one ratio. Butler soy curl also recommends using their soy curl "chicken" flavoring to enhance the curls. I like to enhance my curls but didn't know I needed the flavoring. I decided to move on and check out the Nacheez site for nifty recipes and hints. I met the very cool owners of Nacheez at a vegan event a while back and had the opportunity to try their awesome product then. When I surfed their site I found a recipe that utilized the soy curls and Nacheez. How lucky is that?! I didn't have the flavoring or the broth so I tweaked the recipe a little. Check out their recipe though! They use a microwave and a griddle. I used neither. No nuking here.

1 C Butler’s Soy Curls

1 C water
2 green peppers
1/2 onion
2 T salsa
1-2 T sea salt
1T 21 salute
2 T NACHEEZ®
2 Whole grain rolls

Preheat oven to temperature desired for your rolls.
Combine water with soy curls. Let stand for 10 minutes. Spray fry pan and saute peppers and onions for about for ten minutes. Pour off any excess water from the soy curls and add soy curls, salsa and seasonings to the pan. Cook for another 6 minutes. Heat rolls.

Pile the Soy Curls/pepper liberally onto heated rolls. Spoon NACHEEZ® over the top and serve.

Enjoy! Don't be a chicken, you can always foster a new attitude. Cluck, cluck and Peace to all creatures :)

Product Review PureFit Vegan Bar with Before and After

2011-11-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

When the lovely people over at PureFit Nutrition Bars approached me to do a review on their energy bars, I sifted through the myriad of reasons of why they would choose me.

Could it be that:

1. I eat energy bars like Halloween candy. (I put them in an orange pumpkin and ring my own doorbell).

2. I missed a few blogs, lost my zeal, and one of PureFit's mottos is Say No to Nodose.

3. I live in the United States.

4. I tweet tweet.

5. I am an ex-athlete and coach now relegated to the couch. PureFit encouraged me to get out the door and buy a new couch.

6. I have a blog.

7. I like free vegan stuff.

Hey number 7 is where it's at. PureFit sent me these. Check it out. These bars are all-natural, gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, vegan (of course), kosher, high in protein and diabetic friendly too.

Granola Crunch, Almond Crunch, Chocolate Brownie, Berry Almond Crunch, PB Crunch

Granola Crunch

Peanut Butter Crunch

Berry Almond Crunch

Of course we had to try them all. Me and Crazy Boy had a little PureFit party.

Almond Crunch

Chocolate Brownie

View GiGi's Results Below. Larry refused to be photographed.

PureFit and GiGi's Lawyer's Disclaimer
Not everybody will achieve the same results as GiGi has, bikini sizes may differ.

We really enjoyed 5 out of the 6 flavors with Almond Crunch being the clear winner. PB crunch was not far behind with Granola Crunch and Berry Almond Crunch bringing up the rear, (as you can see from my after pic above). They do taste a lot like Power Bars, but without all the added dairy junk. I used to like Power Bars a lot, so this is a good comparison. The chocolate reminded me of the body building MetR-x bars when they first came on the market. We refrigerated what we did not consume and had a couple this morning. They are great right out of the frig. I haven't run a marathon yet, but I did buzz around the kitchen this morning. It's great to know that there is another vegan bar available. I will definitely add the Almond Crunch to one of my go to energy bars. Watch out I might just be back in action, right after I pick out a new couch. Thanks PureFit! Oh you can find PureFit on FB. And Twitter too.

Riffin on Robin- Sweet Potato Enchiladas

2011-11-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

It saddens me every time someone jumps the vegan ship. There are always a couple deserters after MoFo. This is always balanced out by the bloggers and readers who make a true commitment after experiencing all the enticing vegan food and many more reasons to come over to our side. I can't help it. Those cry babies kind of bug me." I can't live without my Dennie's bypass breakfast, and what about the cute hot dog vendor I used to support?" Waaaa Waaa Waaa. How 'bout a tofu scramble with tempeh bacon, and there are lots of hot vegan sausage vendors out there too, you know. Meh, they'll be back!

That being said, I scored a great vegan cookbook from one of those vegan traitors. I don't know the Benedict Arnold personally, BA gave the book to my buddy Mo who's a veg and usually just cooks with me. Mo passed this awesome book on to me. Thank you :)

I am an avid reader of recipes and cookbooks. I often like to put my own twist on the basic recipe. Oh, by the way, said cookbook is Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet. I think the following recipe is perfect for Thanksgiving or "Be Grateful Day". Either as a side or main dish. Thank you Robin Robertson for the great inspiration.

Riffin on Robin's Sweet Potato Enchiladas

I left out the oil, added crumbled tofu, liquid smoke, and roasted chilies. This recipe is awesome by itself but would also be great with some guac on top and maybe some melted Daiya Pepper Jack.

Recipe Riff

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
canola spray
1 large garlic clove minced
1/2 can Ortega roasted chilies
1 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes drained
1 T liquid smoke
1 tsp Tabasco
sea salt to taste
1 14 oz firm tofu drained pressed and crumbled
2 C salsa ( I used TJ's roasted garlic salsa)
8 large whole grain tortillas
1/4 red onion finely chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drain and press tofu for about 15 minutes each side. Spray cookie sheet with canola spray and add peeled and diced sweet potatoes in a single layer. Roast for about 12 minutes, then turn the potatoes over and roast 12 more minutes. Set aside. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees.
While the potatoes are cooking you can get the rest of the filling going. (if you are so inclined)

Filling with Sweet Potatoes

Spray skillet with canola spray and heat to medium high. Add garlic and chilies and saute for about 30 seconds. Add beans, tomatoes, liquid smoke and Tabasco. Stir for about 5 minutes. Mix in tofu and then sweet potatoes. Cook for about 5 more minutes.

Spread a thin layer of salsa over the bottom of sprayed 9 x 13 baking pan/dish. Set aside. Place a tortilla on a flat surface and spoon about 2-3 T of the filling down the center. Roll it up and place seam down on the prepared baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

Spoon any remaining salsa over the panned enchiladas. Top with remaining salsa and red onions. Cover loosely with foil.

Pre Oven

Bake for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly. Let those turncoats get a whiff of this. They'll be back!!

The Awakening...A Hot Non-Toddy

2011-11-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, thanks for coming back. I'm still a wee bit woozy and lightheaded. So word on the street is that MoFo is still happening and roundups are still going strong. I heard some MoFoers have been pulling all nighters, and have not missed a day of blogging since MoFo 2009. And I thought that my "Gratitude Cafe" raw candy was going to be my last post for at least a week. Oh man had I known everyone else would still be bringing it... I would have unplugged the John Tesh ambient machine. Yeah, right. Can't wait to hear John Tesh unplugged. (Bahahaha!) And at least got out of bed to post.

Well I guess can't undo the last few days and nights can I? There is no use crying over spilled (insert hemp, almond, rice, soy ) milk. I will slowly creep my way back into the blogosphere with my spiced ruby chai pumpkin soy chai. Guess I've still got one foot in (notice the blood red) October. Pumpkin works for all the fall and winter months. Don't you think? This hot non-toddy is so amazingly good it will comfort you all year round.

1 C of Vanilla Rice or Vanilla Soy milk
1 C coconut milk
3 T pumpkin puree
3 T agave

1 tsp allspice or pumpkin spice
1 tsp ground ginger
2-4 Ruby Red Chai tea bags (or regular Chai)

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk. Add tea bags to saucepan. Heat to simmer, remember to whisk often.

Pumpkin Soy Creme

1 silken tofu (drained)
3 T pumpkin puree
1/4 C agave or maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla flavoring

Add ingredients to food processor or blender and process to smooth. Refrigerate until Chai drink is made. Serve on saucer next to tea. Delicious alone or added to the Ruby Red Chai drink.

This drink is perfect before bed. And you know how much I like bed :) Night Night. I've got to get some rest to catch up with all these MoFo marathoners.

A Post-it Note From Me to You xo

2011-11-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

MoFo Day 31 Post 26 What Can I Say?!

2011-10-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

But Boo! And Well ..

It has been a journey worth taking. I have so appreciated meeting all of you. Thank you for reading and commenting and laughing with me. It has been an absolute joy to read other blogs and get to hang out with more of the vegan community.

A Journey is Nothing If I Don't Remain Teachable
The Bump in the Road- Stupid camera acts out
The Aha- Take Pics of Leftovers

The Bump In the Road- Ice Creme Maker is Very Mean
The Aha- Use As Blender

The Bump in the Road- Raw Food Is Not the Same As Baked. It Is Not Always As Pretty.
The Aha- I Can Bake and I Don't Have to Eat It, But Raw Does Taste Good!

The Mime- Know when to be silent and Detach With Love, know when to stand up for your rights even though it could make you feel a lot of raw emotions.

Count Your Victories

1. 26 Posts

2. Stayed on the E2 Plan Throughout MoFo

3. Read A Trillion Blogs

4. Have Not Used That Many Hyperboles

5. I Married the Right Guy!

6. We Are Still Married After MoFo

The Brownie we are holding is Adapted From Gratitude Cafe's Marbled Fudge Brownie.

Look forward to our continued journey. See you in November. After I snooze.

In Gratitude and Love,

GiGi

MoFo Day 30 Post 25 And the Secret Ingredient Is....Tropical ...

2011-10-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

For Today's MoFo Iron Chef Challenge Secret Ingredients please view Above Video!

GiGi and Her Team, (her Crazy Boy Husband-videographer and carrot shredder), have decided to make TROPICAL TROUBLE VOOPEE PIES.
Here is a little ditty to go with the recipe and photos.

It's Not a cake

It's Not a Cookie

It's Got a Middle

It's For a Vegan

So It's Called a Voopee

Tropical Voopee Pies Pre Oven and Pre Frig

Hey these are the perfect cookie to have when you are craving an island get away!!

2 Sticks Earth Balance softened
1 Cup Organic Brown Sugar
1 C Vegan Organic Sugar
¼ C water mixed with 1 T Ener-G Egg Replacer (or if you can't stand this stuff, 1 flax slurry)
1 tsp non-alcoholic vanilla or 1 tsp coconut flavoring
2 1/4 C unbleached flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
2 C rolled oats
1.5 C grated carrots
1 C dried pineapple (with sugar) chopped ( about 5 dried pineapple rings chopped finely)
1/2 C macadamia nuts (chopped finely too). You can use more but those babies are pricey
1/2 C dried chopped papaya optional ( I opted out... I couldn't find any anywhere)

Preheat Oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Cream together Earth Balance and both sugars on medium speed until fluffy. Add egg replacer (or flax slurry) and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices in separate bowl. Add gradually to Earth balance mix and mix until combined. Mix in oats, carrots and pineapple and macadamias (papaya if using) until just blended. Use medium size ice cream scoop to scoop into balls and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate for an hour before baking. Bake around 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. Cool completely before filling.

Vegan coconut cream cheez frosting

1 stick Earth Balance (softened)
4 oz. Tofutti (softened)
3 C vegan powdered sugar
1 tsp non-alcoholic vanilla
2-3 T rice milk or coconut milk
1/2 C unsweetened shredded coconut

Cream Earth Balance with Tofutti. Beat in confectioner’s sugar a cup at a time. Remember to scrape down the sides in between. Add vanilla and then add rice or coconut milk..

When the cookies are completely cool, spread about 1 T of vegan cream cheese frosting on the bottom of one cookie and then sandwich it together with another.

My Bags Are Packed Cookie

I'm Ready To Go Cookie With Rice Milk

Ode to A Tropical Trip

Yep I think a Tropical Trip is in the cards right After MoFo 31. Who else needs a vacation here? Where do you want to run away to?

I bid you good eating.

MoFo Day 29 Post 24 Cheerful Little Earful

2011-10-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

I will definitely meet the MoFo Iron Chef deadline this week. Yay. Will post it later today. We interrupt this chatty happy go, (oh lucky doesn't fit), happy go mucky MoFo blog to bring you GiGi's sad face blog. Yep once every other full moon I switch up the apron for a protest sign and use this space as a tiny platform.

You see, Crazy boy and I were invited to this big Halloween bash that our friends were giving. They've been planning it for three weeks. Invites, decorations, dance floor, tons of food. Yep tons of food except nothing for the vegans. I received a stressed out call today while I was working.
Hostess: I'm totally stressed. Just realized that I made four sauces and all of them have yogurt, and I said to myself, GiGi and Larry won't eat that. Should I just keep some of the beets out for you?"
GiGi: Well did you get any vegan ice cream?
Hostess: Um no.
GiGi: So should we bring our own food?
Hostess: Yup.
GiGi: Well we better win best effing costume at least! Hahaha.

Needless to say said friends were going out to run errands and still didn't ask, "Hey what can we get you guys?"

Considering that Crazy boy and I have an open house policy and friends are always here chowing down, and that we will accommodate special dietary concerns like gluten free, sugar free, and we always ask everybody if there is any food that they won't eat or are allergic too, this lack of hospitality knocked the wind out of me. I asked three times in the last few weeks if I could bring anything. The answer was, just bring yourselves. (Subtext: and freaking starve to death you annoying vegans.) The hostesses were even invited over to our house this past Friday evening but declined since they were whipping up a storm, uh not for any vegans though.

Now to the bullet points:

Veganism is not an anathema. Vegans don't make these food choices to stress you out.
These vegans have chosen to live this way because we respect all animals and don't believe animals were put on this earth for our consumption. Isn't there enough violence in the world?
With the exception of my few in person vegan friends, none of my friends have ever asked why we have chosen to live our lives this way.
With all honesty, most of my friends have made a concerted effort to accommodate us and have made beautiful meals, or even tacos and hummus, but none of them really know why we are vegans. We appreciate the meals so much, but wish you knew more about us and the why's of veganism. Perhaps you would be able to make more informed choices.
Oh and the next time you ask a vegan over, we don't expect you to make something fancy shmancy for us from one of our fancy cooking blogs, but we'll happily make that for you.
Why not visit your local Whole Foods and pick some already prepared grains from the salad bar, serve with premade baba ganoush and chips and we're good to go.
Or just ask. Yep just ask your pain in the ass vegan friends, something like, "Would you like anything special?"

I'll probably give you the standard answer I've been giving for forty years. (Vegan for 7, the remainder veggie). "I'll be fine with just a baked potato, some sea salt, and a tossed salad with vinegar. Yep don't wanna cause any trouble, ma'am. One carrot is fine."

As Colleen Patrick Goudreau says, I obviously need to raise the bar.
If you've got a couple of minutes, check out this amazing video from Colleen called "From Excusitarian to Vegan."

I'll be back in a couple with some cookies and rice milk, I promise.
Thanks for listening.

MoFo Day 28 Post 23 Squash and the Alphabet

2011-10-28T23:42:00.000-07:00

I had a relatively easy morning in the Veganville Kitchen, so I decided to catch up on reading through the MoFo blog roll. Contrary to my blog post tangents I really do think pretty linear. I must go through each post alphabetically and not skip around. It is day 28 of MoFo and I just got through the "T's". There are like a thousand blogs that begin with the word, "The". My eyes are tired, and it makes me looks shifty.

If everybody is going through the blog roll alphabetically like I am, I sure hope they get to mine. Getting to the" V's" after all the "The's" might not happen til December for some readers. Could explain the lack of new followers I'm getting. My blog title begins with a "V'! Oh I'm f*cked. So do you think I should change Veganville to Eganville for next year's MoFo? Is it to late to do it now? Now instead of saying "Welcome to Veganville", I can say, "Welcome to Eganville", and it'll sound all cockney like. Now you try it.

Hey do you guys know about pininterest? My buddies over on my Veganetsy team just told me about this site about 1 month ago. I'm probably late to the party. You can search all these cool pics there and you'll be led to the creators of the cool pics blog sites. Anyway that's how I found a recipe that I adapted below. I never would have found one of the recipes if it wasn't for Pininterest, because the site is not all vegan, just this recipe. As a matter of fact right above the recipe on this blog there's a picture of a rodeo the blogger went to. Yuk. I might have to grab some of my activist cronies and go picket her blog. The recipe was decent enough to swipe. My pics came out suckaroo. I made squash fries too, adapted from another blog. The only thing I copied, (there I said it), was her cutting technique. So there. No linkie for her.

Also I'm a pretty compassionate person, but right now I just want to smack my freakin' camera. I made this big ass dinner and now I have to use a stock squash photo and give you a link to rodeo gal's blog.

I will add a cute pic of my cat. Crazy boy took this pic of Zuule before the camera went Sybil on me.

Above is the stock pic for the squash fries I made...

Squash Fries
1 medium size squash
Gomasio to taste
Himalayan sea salt
canola spray

Preheat oven to 425. Line a cookie tray with foil and spray that too.Using a kitchen peeler, peel away the squash skin. Using a sharp knife, cut your squash in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds in the middle. Cut each half in halves, (width wise), so you are left with four equal sized parts. Then cut matchsticks out of the butternut squash so they look like real live French fries. Toss into a shallow bowl and spray. Add the gomasio and sea salt and toss to coat. Put butternut squash fries in a single layer on a tin foil lined cookie sheet for about 35-40 minutes. Flip fries over halfway through cooking time.

Here's the link to the sandwich I made. I changed a few things up. I substituted regular non-alcohol Dijon for dry mustard, pomegranate wine vinegar for white vinegar, and replaced sugar with agave.
Next time I would definitely add avocado, fried onions and sprouts to this sandwich and switch up the bread we used. Otherwise it makes for pretty good vegan BBQ.

Oh and here's Zuule looking through the window at Daddy!

I'm very photogenic Mommy, too bad your food isn't!

MoFo Day 27 Post? Liebster Award Show Part 2. The Winners!

2011-10-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

If you missed the first half or tuned in late to the 5th Leibster Awards Show, it is taped, (please see our previous post before viewing Part 2 Below).

Click on this video for part 2. The winners!!!

A big thank you goes out to Amanda for passing on the the Leibster Award to me. She cooks up some lovely food stuffs like- black and white quinoa for breakfast, kale and avocado salad, Thai cuisine and more. Check out these recipes and more at Newman Improved

Leibster Award is a Pay it Forward Award that originated in Germany. Winners, if you get a moment to thank the giver, um... that would be me :) and then choose 3-5 bloggers to pass the award onto and then notify them by posting in their blog comments.

The Winners as noted in the video and Congratulations to: (in no particular order).

Natalie from Angst Loves Spinach. In addition to having great taste in music, (we both love Evanescence and the pianist Lang Lang), Natalie sets the score with humor, and a delightful honest conversational writing style. She'll tell you why her man Mister and her cat Angst like or don't like the meal she just whipped up. Much of her culinary journey is punctuated with music. Her pastas always look especially fab to me.

Fattopotamus From Fattopotomus hails all the way from Australia. I don't know if Fattopotomus has another name, she doesn't say so in her profile. She does say, she is overweight and a sometimes roller derby hopeful. "F" cracks me up, really! She whips up faker tuna casseroles, caramel tarts and my personal favorite burger cupcakes and cookie fries. Vegan, of course. "F" 's significant other is featured too, he's Mr. Pants.

And last but certainly not least is that crazy ass but super sweet Cara from over at Fork and Beans. I believe this is Cara's 56th Liebster Award, (I only have two). After veganizing every Halloween candy known to the human race, Cara switched over to crudites and apps, (as they say in the biz). Yesterday I reserved a plot in her carrot and parsnip graveyard. Two plots actually, right by the broccoli tree. Today, I kid you not, Cara made roaches from dates.

Applause! Applause!

MoFo Day26 Post ? The 5th Annual Liebster Awards Show

2011-10-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

I was so psyched to make pumpkin ice cream for you in my new "vegan" ice cream maker, but as you can see from the above footage, I was temporarily detained.
I am quite mortified by my current relationship to this new appliance. We have been fighting on and off since he moved in. One day I take him out and he's too icy. I turn up the thermostat, and he won't churn properly. Too cold, too hot, where is just right? He's like the three bears of standard appliances. Maybe I need to look at this relationship in a whole new light. After all I do need a blender.
This was supposed to be an award winning pumpkin ice cream. Behold the delicious ice cream maker pumpkin-banana smoothie. And let me tell you the late night addition of banana rocked this smoothee. Who knew?

Even one of my cats liked it.

14 ounce can coconut milk cold, (I used lite) and added a cornstarch concoction and it was delicious but not needed, feel free to use a whole can of coconut milk
1/2 C rice milk cold

1 C canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie)
1/2 C maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp non-alcoholic vanilla
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
1 ripe banana (chunked and fozen)

Blend and enjoy. It's the cat's meow...

MoFo Day 23 The Inspiration to Continue to the Iron MoFo Challenge

2011-10-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, sometimes the greatest inspiration comes from someone you don't know that well :) I think I will add her to my speed dial now.

I am so elated after that phone call, that I can now go on, and make this award winning candy. I am so inspired that I have included this week's MoFo secret ingredient in the candy. Shhhhh. Coconut! Don't ask me why but this tastes remarkably like chocolate caramel. Wowie.

Award Winning Raw Candy
4 pitted dates

1/3 C coconut oil, melted or room temperature
3/4 C cocoa powder
1/2 C Agave

Filling

1 T raw peanut butter
2 T almond butter
2 tsp non-alcoholic vanilla
2 T agave

cacao nibs
shredded unsweetened coconut

Directions:

1. Combine dates and coconut oil in a small bowl and let soak for 30 minutes.
2. Transfer to food processor and add cocoa powder, 1/2 cup agave and process until very smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, combine peanut butter and almond butter, vanilla and 2 tbsp agave and mix well. (this is the filling)
4. Place 12 mini muffin cups on a large plate. Fill each cup about halfway full with the chocolate mixture. Gently spread about 1 teaspoon peanut butter in each cup.
5. Top cups with the remaining chocolate, covering the peanut butter completely. Variation: I covered some with coconut and topped with cacao nibs, so I would have a candy assortment.
6. Chill the cups in the freezer for about 2 hours before serving.

While you are waiting for the candy to chill, you can chow down on something else, write your acceptance speech or call another toll free number. Thanx for reading, viewing, etc.

MoFo Day 23 Is My Visitor Fried or Baked?

2011-10-22T23:39:00.000-07:00

The last time I made a polenta dish Martha S. that's right "S"as in Stewart came over to "help". I thought about giving her another chance tonight, yeah for like 2 seconds I thought about it. Do you remember how Martha left me to do all the heavy prep work while she disappeared into my bathroom? I can always tell when a guest has been snooping in my medicine cabinet, (ahem ahem), Martha.
Without further ado. Tonight's recipe..
Ding dong
Excuse me, reader. I'll bring you this kick ass recipe in a minute.

GiGi: Who is it?
Voice: Trick or Treat.
GiGi: You're early. I'm not opening the door.
Voice. Trick or Treat. Smell my sheet. It's been air dried in lavender.
GiGi: Oh no is that you Martha? What did you come dressed as... dental floss? (see earlier post where Martha suggests cutting polenta with dental floss)

(GiGi looks through peep hole)

Martha: Very funny,GiGi. I brought you something.

GiGi: Martha you know I don't drink. Oh. Just hand it under the door.

Martha: That's not very hospitable. What are you making?

GiGi: Um. Vegan Parmesan Polenta Fries with dipping sauce. Colorful Salad. And..

Martha: Polenta Fries?

GiGi: Yes. Now go away.

Martha: That's my recipe.

GiGi: No it's not.

Martha: Yes it is.

GiGI: Is not.

Martha: Is too.

GiGi: Is not.

Martha: Too.

GiGi: Not.

Martha: What? No dessert.
GiGi: There is dessert. But I'm going to post that tomorrow. You took up too much time.

Martha: Did not.

GiGi: Did too.

Martha: Not .

GiGi: I can't stand at this peep hole any longer.
Martha: Well. If you feel that way, GiGi.
GiGi: I do.
Martha: Oh.
GiGi: Bye.
Martha: Bye.

Sorry everybody.

Baked Polenta Fries My Way

1 tube (18 ounces) plain prepared polenta

canola oil spray
2-3 T nooch
2 tsp dried oregano
sea salt to tasteDirections

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and spray with canola oil. Unwrap and cut tube of polenta in half crosswise, (no need to use dental floss). Then cut each half lengthwise into 8 wedges.

2. Place polenta wedges on baking sheet; season with salt and pepper, and turn gently and spray again to coat with oil. Arrange wedges in a single layer. Sprinkle with nooch, sea salt and oregano.

3.Bake, turning once with a thin metal spatula, until golden and crisp, about 55 minutes. Serve with marinara or dressing or dipping sauce and salad.

Salad with fresh beets from my friend Mo's sis' garden

Hey Remember those Mozz Stix from Days of Yore... These taste surprisingly similar, but with no fat, no fried and cruelty free. I'll be back tomorrow with some dessert. Martha will be happy. Thanx for stopping by.

MoFo 20 Another Quake but No Cake

2011-10-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

I didn't feel the first earthquake today. Me and crazy boy were on a walk when a jeweler came out of his store and told us there was a jolt. We weren't home 20 minutes from dinner out at Herbivore in Berkeley when our building shook like a roller coaster. We both had shwarma wraps and salads at Herbivore. I had seitan. Larry had the un-chicken. The wraps were good, nothing we couldn't duplicate at home, but what if it was a real earthquake? What if that seitan shwarma wrap was my last vegan supper this time around? I'd be pissed. It's pretty sad that some people can only down jello before they go. I know jello isn't vegan, but really who wants even the jello vegan stand-in kanten or agar agar as their last meal. Sure kanten can be pretty and colorful but a last meal it does not make!

Time Magazine did a photo essay a while back, where famous chefs gave a brief description of what they would like their last meal to be. They were photographed with part of the meal the meal they would choose. I was appalled to see how gamey and cruel their favorite meals were. One chef was pictured with a rifle. One was pictured with a pig. Incredibly sad.

There is an entire website dedicated to death row inmates' last meals. Vending machine sodas, and corn chips are often included in their requests. One inmate requested two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I didn't expect any of these inmates to be vegans, but I didn't expect the chefs to be so non chalant about their choices either.

What would I choose when there are so many kind choices? I know! I'd like the- hell I'd like the vegan Caesar salad to start, please. Hell, Caesar. Gee, I hope this meal never ends ;) Hmmm. I'll have to think about the rest of this last meal. This is definitely food for thought.

Isn't this just the perfect icebreaker for your next Halloween party? What would you choose for your last meal?

MoFo 19 Masquerade Balls

2011-10-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Molly just asked if I had a sizeometer on my blog. All food blogs should have sizeometers. Don't you think? I like to calibrate things. I'd really love to know how many pounds of almond butter, and dates I've downed since I've started MoFo. I'm a raw foodist trapped in a cooked vegan's body. The dehydrating trips me up though. I don't own a dehydrator. Why? I don't want everything I make to look like prunes.
In addition to salads and raw veggies, I make balls. I make balls in my food processor. Add any kind of nuts with some dates and some agave to your food processor, process to a paste. Spatula out. Scoop up the paste and roll and you got your self some balls. I'm eating so much of these cylindrical beasts that I'm turning into a nut ball. Now after the sizeometer is finished measuring the almond butter and dates, it will be the sizeometer's job to measure the balls.
Molly just texted me to tell me that a sizeometer is really a blog feature that basically counts the number of people who read your blog and then a sizograph tells you where they are from. It is the same thing as the "stats" feature on blogger. I just checked my stats. Yay.
Big shout out to my one reader Solveig, in Antarctica.

You can find the recipe here, I switched up the brown sugar for a bit of agave, and added more dates, I think you could probably cut the brown sugar completely and keep the original date amount and it would work just fine...but that's up to you Solveig :)

MoFo 18 Different Bloats for Different Folks

2011-10-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

You know that little avatar picture of me? That's right. The blogger picture... the one where I'm wearing an apron. The one that looks like I'm a reflection in a fun house mirror? My mommy hates that picture. I tell her if she didn't take all those wonky valley of the doll vitamins when I was a mere seedling maybe I wouldn't look that way. "Not funny Gi!" she says, which takes me back to the picture. It looks like I'm not feeling that great in that picture. How are all the Mofo bloggers feeling anyway? Digestion tract wise? There's a lot of sugar going on in blogger land for sure. Lots of Halloween candy. Lots of cakes, lots of bean things, tacos, stews, not to mention raw foods and cruciferous casseroles. There was no late night post from me last night because I had soup bloat. I will post two times today.

Important info for new vegans. Beano is not, I repeat (get it hahaha-repeat/never mind), NOT vegan! It is made from fish gelatin. Ugh.

For those situations where you need a little extra digestive help, try Bean-zyme, which is a vegan form of Beano. The cartoon below has nothing to do with bloat, it's a happy vegan cartoon. Here's to a happy digestive tract today. So how you feeling bloggers? And did anyone cut you out of their will today?

PS I love you, Mommy!
PSS thanx crazy boy for the awesome title

MoFo 17 Is This Soup Godot or To Stay?

2011-10-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

I've been bedridden for almost two days. I was courageous enough to scuff to the kitchen and make that ice cream and ugly cake I told you about. Crazy boy is making me vegan chicken noodle soup. It must be Godot soup or some existentialist plot. I am very grateful that Psycho boy has taken it upon himself to make this cure all, but this is killing me. First he didn't have enough broth, so he had to run out to his 4th store to get it. He announces each action, like, "now I'm cutting the carrots into semi-circles." He ends each statement with a question, like, now I'm caramelizing the onion, okay? Okay. Okay already. He has just announced "I bet the longer this sits, the better it tastes". How about the longer I sit the longer I fast? OMG this has now evolved into the War and Peace of soups. Never mind Austria, I might have to find Napoleon to invade the kitchen. Now Psycho Boy wants me to look at the soup while he's oohing and aahing, " look how the rice pasta thickens it, ooh we might need some Himalaya salt, ah how 'bout some nooch?" Yay. It's Ready. And I'm feeling better and I'm not in a holding cell! Let me tell you, this soup was well worth the wait...just like my crazy boy, well worth the wait!

Is This Soup Godot or To Stay? Larry's Soup that He Learned From Me only Slow Cooked

3 boxes of 16oz. vegan broth
1/2 onion cut in semi circles according to PB
2 C carrots- Larry likes semi circles
3 stalks celery for taste not chopped (GiGi has an aversion to cooked celery)
5 cloves of garlic minced
2 boxes of TJ Chick-Un Strips- chunked
1/2 box of rice spaghetti
about 3 C spinach
sea salt
21 salute
nooch to taste
canola spray

Spray heavy bottomed pan with canola spray (or use 2 T canola oil and heat pan) add onion, carrots and saute beyond translucent but not quite caramelized. Add garlic (might have to spray more at this point). Add Chick-Un Strips and cook for a couple of more minutes. Add broth. Season to taste. Bring to a boil and add pasta and cook according to package directions. Add spinach during last minute of cooking time. This all in all should be a rather quick soup to make. I feel better already.

Chick-un Noodle Soup

MoFo 16 Welcome to Parfait World

2011-10-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

I think I just ate my weight in agave sweetened gluten free cake. If it sounds less than appetizing it wasn't, but it is a pretty ugly cake. I hate to talk behind my cake's back but it's not a cake you'd want to escort to a party where there's a beautiful spread. It's better to eat it under the covers with the lights off. And you won't have to answer to anyone. Or you could try the botox of the cake world...usually it's frosting but yours truly is still off the sugar. This works on dense cakes. Grab the cookie cutter of your choice and and stamp out a shape of cake. Like I just did, now ugly cake is a star in her own right.

Guess what, guess what guess what?? No, silly. We got the ice cream maker to make ice cream. Psycho boy defrosted the freezer and turned it up as far as it would go and yay my first attempt worked, but I would definitely tweak it. PBoy ate all of it. Well I had a little. I used vanilla soy creamer, coconut milk, vanilla flavoring and agave. I realized I'm not such a fan of soy creamer, but I'm stoked that I got the consistency right. It was spoonable. Check out my parfait world. I included strawberry Rice Dream ice cream which happens to be one of my faves. Just in case you don't have an ice cream maker, right yet. Right yet? Must be my Southern evil twin who just wrote that. Right yet?

Feel like indulging in a parfait? Scroll down my recipes to desserts and I'm sure you'll find one that will make your taste buds happy. See the example of "Just Peachy" parfait.

MoFo Day 15 A Blast From MoFo Past And Week In Review

2011-10-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I posted a video that looked good before I posted it. On further inspection, I realized that the video is quite dark, which probably left you in the dark. Last night I had ten of my besties over for a dessert night. There is one veggie and one vegan amongst them. Of course I wish all of my friends were vegan for many reasons. We vegans love to take pictures of food but since I was busy trying to force the new ice cream maker to work, nobody thought to take pics of all the desserts I had slaved over. My friend Darcy whipped out her iPhone, but I don't know where she is right now and I must write this blog.

Mofo week in Compendium:
1. One blurry video of GiGi.
2. One crazy blog that I rapped on because Kittee the Cake maker to the Stars told me to.
3. Cream Cheez Cherry Brownies with no pics.
4. Date Nut Chocolate Nib Balls no pics just hearsay.
5. A demented ice cream maker that makes milk shakes.
6. I realize I should have hired a photographer instead of buying an ice cream maker.

Where Am I Going This Week?
1. Crystal clear videos
2. No more other blogger challenges for me! I walk to the beat of my own dumber.
3. I will track down Darcy and for next week's girls night, I will insist that everybody brings a camera or they will be refused entrance.
4. More date nut balls, raw food, another Martha experience, vegan chicken stuff. I think.
5. Freaking ice cream. I will get this to work, this cannot be the baine marie of my existence.
6. GiGi will have new strong non-mealy mouth boundaries. Nobody eats until everything is plated and shot!
7. I will be well rested.

Since we have experienced technical difficulties this week, here is a blast from last year's MoFo past.
Follow this linky dink for everything you ever wanted to know about Paella.
I bid you a good night.

Mofo 14 Mofo Celebrates Hump Day the Kittee Way

2011-10-14T23:16:00.000-07:00

Hey hey hey baby... I gotta free ride and I don't have to cook.
I'm not gonna post.
I can shelf the vegan cookie book and
Chuck the seitan roast.
Don't need no food porn.
Yep I'm gonna coast.
Cuz gonna celebrate me some Mofo Hump Day.
Yep cuz Kittee Bee said it's okay.
If I just give you a link to some vegan rapper with big sun glasses
Who wears these gemmy sweaters and some real teased up bouff
Yep we're some real vegan bad asses. And yep baby baby baby that there's the big V truth.

Here are the lyrics I'm supposed to post, written by vegan jam master and creator of the ubiquitous Gem sweater (seen above)-

Leslie Hall: and for some reason I can't get the video to upload...she's pretty funny, just check out her pic...Happy Hump Day!!!

I eat the finest cuisines, in the finest of places Stuff my mouth full and always say thank you. But if it's raised in a cage, and it can't even move, if it's hormone filled and in a bad mood. I'm gonna pass on that. Reach for something better. The only milk I'll drink comes from the nipple of a soy bean. Veggies make you live forever, and they seem to taste much better. when they're cooked and grown with love. So give a chef who knows what's up a hug. Momma just can't seem to get it, Papa he just rolls his eyes. When I tell them I'm much healthier, they just say that it's all lies. But beans, nuts, fruits and veggies can really fill the belly. Get you vitamins you need, shiny hair and extra speed. Don't take that meat-wich any further, I want a marinated, deep fried, hand-tied mushroom burger. I like it! We gotta stand strong for our feathered furry sometimes scaly animal friends and their little babies. 'Cuz I wouldn't want to live in a cage in a dark warehouse killed at an early age. Pumped full of hormones, sleeping in my feces. Never met my mother, raised by machines. Never get sunshine never get green, but that's just me. [That girl loves fruit leather.] So ask us what we're eating. Delicious and repeating, fruits and veggies are so nice. With a slice of tempeh, yes, I'll have that twice. Don't forget the legumes!

See ya once I get over the hump. Are you as confused as I am?

Mofo 13 Faker Feta With Kalamata Olives and other Stuff

2011-10-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

Now that that is settled,(See video above) the manufacturer's directions tell me I need to leave the barrel in the freezer for 16 hours. 16 hours? 16 hours? I read the info about the 16 hours after I read the recipe booklet that said the ice cream would take 2 hours to sit in the freezer. Now that's 18 hours. There goes my big big plan of eating ice cream for dinner.

There is no way me and crazy boy are having popcorn again for dinner tonight. I feel like the Dead Sea after all that sodium. This of course won't keep me from salting our dinner tonight. I like to wake up looking like a cross between a Cabbage Patch Doll and Rodney Dangerfield.

Just for an update... Remember the 28 day Engine 2 Plan Diet Larry and I were on...we're still doing it. It's about day 35 of the 28 day plan. So we are still off sugar, oils, fats and any white (even unbleached organic) flour. I love doing it. The plan is great. It has kept me from noshing on too much sugar in the kitchen. I no longer have frosting jowls. I have more energy, and our skin looks good. We've lost our tire tummies too. I've lost a few inches (no not in my height). The scale arrow would go farther down if I could just kick the confounded almond butter addiction.

Tonight's Reluctantly Healthy Dinner is...

Broccoli with Cherry Tomatoes, Kalamata olives and Tofu Feta over Rice Penne
1 Package Rice Penne
2 Cups broccoli chopped
1 C kalamata olives
1.5 C cherry tomatoes halved (easier to half with a bread knife so they don't squirt in your eye)
1/4 C salsa
1 T vegan pesto (optional)
1 clove garlic
TJ's 21 Salute
canola spray

Feta
1 package of firm tofu, drained and pressed (about 15 minutes each side)
1 T sea salt
3 T red wine vinegar
2 T oregano
1 T basil
(dill and 2 T olive oil optional)

Put water on for pasta, while draining and pressing tofu. Spray skillet with canola spray, saute broccoli with kalamata olives, about 6 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes and saute another 6 minutes. If you are not on the Engine 2 plan feel free to add 2 T olive oil to the skillet or to the tofu faker feta.

For the Faker Feta
Crumble drained and pressed tofu into bowl and mix with remaining ingredients. Add to skillet and cook for about 12 minutes. Serve over pasta or rice.

Buy some coconut ice cream for dessert unless you have 18 hours to wait. See you tomorrow. I promise to drink some water before I see you, so I Iook a little better.

MoFo Day 12 Lookie Lookie Lookie Here Comes Snoozy

2011-10-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

Is it November 1st yet? Sorry didn't know you were there. I was busy celebrating my first day off in two weeks. Tomorrow is the actual day off but tonight I got to take a power snooze. I could have slept until tomorrow but the Type A nudnick inside of me didn't want to miss another MoFo post this early in the game. I'll keep it short, sweet and unadorned. I wanna get back to my pillow. No technicolor dreams for me. Here is a snapshot of the inside of GiGi's REM cycle brain. Photo credit of GiGi's inner sleep sanctum taken by the husband aka Psycho Boy. Thank you PB!

Our awake life and dinner...

Sweet dreams.

MoFo 11 Radium Pie and Spying on Other Blogs

2011-10-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today's MoFo entry is exceptionally horrific and partially stupid. GiGi accepts no liability for the content of this blog, so there.
Today was another monster day in the kitchen. I wound up downing Whirly Pop popcorn tossed with Daiya mozzarella, nooch and sea salt for dinner for the 2nd consecutive night this week. This does not make for a great food photo op, so rather than miss another day of MoFo I decided to troll. Please take note of all my horror metaphors, (monster, troll bahaha). I actually spied on other MoFoers. Spying is way more fun and way more productive than reading my blogger stats every 15 minutes to see if someone in Singapore has read my latest blog about Martha Stewart. There is some scary ass stuff going on in MoFo land. I'm not kidding. Here's what I found.

1. Crazy funny Cara over at Fork and Beans posted a picture of some pumpkin head regurgitating his breakfast.
This is what I looked like back when I used to mix tequila with my oatmeal.

2. Another blogger almost poisoned their family, (with undercooked beans). I'll have to remember that. Undercooked beans, undercooked beans! The blogger further explained that poisoning their family was unintentional. This was a slight disappointment to me. Imagine the Agatha Christie like headlines:The MoFo Murderess Among Us. I mean think about it for a moment. There's gotta be at least one off their rocker blogger among 872. Right? Hmmmmm. BTW does anyone recall who the almost murderess was? Her name escapes me, perhaps she escaped too. If you know please contact me, so I can give her and the FBI a shout out.

3. Boychucker confesses that she has just had a steamy affair with Seitan. They've been to hell in a steamer basket. She's done playing with fire, so this week Boychucker is all about sandwiches or sammiches.

4. Last night at the stroke of 10:15, I created a pear and cranberry crumble or was it a pi? It might have been a pi because I was able to cut exactly 3.147 slices. Either way the dessert vanished without a trace of a recipe. I believe the ingredients will come to me in a dream.

Here is evidence that it was indeed created.

Pre Gluten-Free Crust

Radium Pie With Glowing Gluten Free Crust

Gggggggggg "night. Bahahahaha.

MoFo 10 Polenta: Made Martha's Method or GiGi's Way

2011-10-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

I'm giving you a couple of options today. Let's say you've got oodles of time in the kitchen, an organic greenhouse on your estate, boy toys who massage your feet while you wait for your manservant to serve your casserole piping hot and bubbly direct from your "Wolf" oven. You savor this fragrant bit of magnificence that you have created while your winning show dog, (who has not come from the pound), fetches your slippers. If I have just described you, then Option 1: "The Martha Method" is for you.

Are you sweating it out with a day job that barely pays the bills? Do you work crazy ass ridiculous long hours on calloused feet? Is the only time you get to sit during a 15 hour day is when you blog for MoFo? Is the only garden you see an aloe plant you artfully placed on your garbage can? Would you love to gaze at this aloe plant through your kitchen window but your kitchen has no window? Do your domesticated ferals shed all over your Salvation Army chairs? Do people often confuse your apartment with an MRI machine? Then hurry up and make this quick and wolf it down, and post the recipe for MoFo or "GiGi's Way" is the one for you.

Polenta Casserole Option 1: "Martha's Method"
Martha's Polenta
10 cups cold water
1 heaping tablespoon coarse salt
1 dried bay leaf
2 cups coarse-ground polenta meal
Freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Put 6 cups cold water, the salt and bay leaf into a Dutch oven or a heavy stockpot, and bring to a boil. Bring remaining 4 cups cold water to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add polenta to large pot in handfuls, separating your fingers to let the grains slip through and whisking constantly until combined. Reduce heat until only a couple of large bubbles appear at a time.
3. Whisk 2 ladlefuls of simmering water into polenta, and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until water has been absorbed, about 5 minutes. Continue to add 2 ladlefuls of water every 5 minutes, stirring often and waiting for it to be absorbed before adding more, until polenta is creamy and just pulls away from sides of pot, about 45 minutes. (It may be necessary to adjust heat.)
4. If not serving immediately, reduce heat to lowest setting, cover pot and keep warm until ready to serve. (Up to 1 hour). Remove bay leaf. Season with pepper.
5. For soft polenta only: Stir in butter. Sorry GiGi. Earth Balance. Use a damp spoon to serve. Top each serving with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Sorry I didn't mean that, GiGi! I mean nutritional yeast, GiGi!
6. For set polenta only: Pour into a slightly damp medium bowl (or a 13-by-9-inch baking dish). Let stand until no longer steaming, about 10 minutes. Refrigerate, uncovered until cold and set, about 1 1/2 hours. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to serve. (Up to 2 days). Turn out polenta. Using plain dental floss, cut horizontally in half, pulling string toward you. Cut in half crosswise, pressing string downward. Cut each half lengthwise into 1 1/2 inch-wide strips, cut strips crosswise into thirds, and then into triangles or squares if desired. (Alternatively, cut polenta with a knife.)

Option 2: "GiGi's Way"
ZzzzzzOh come on Martha, I mean I really appreciate you blogging with me but, dental floss? Dental Floss!!?

For the polenta part, "GiGi's Method":
Purchase one cylinder premade polenta and slice into rounds, then half moons. That's it. Your turn Martha.

Option 1: Sauce "Martha's Method"
Be sure to pick the ripest greenhouse tomatoes. Remember how you lovingly tended to the vines while the pool boy watched.

I'm sorry Martha. Again I really appreciate you helping me blog here, but me and the readers have to get some sleep and we haven't eaten yet. And your revery as delightful as it may be is just taking a little too much time. Say good night Martha :)

Sorry folks no more options tonight. Let's cook this baby up. I can't believe Martha was about to use real parm...what was she thinking? And dental floss?

GiGi's Fast and Effective Polenta Casserole continued from above.
1-2 Cups marinara sauce
2 C roasted broccoli (spray foil lined roasting pan with olive oil and bake at 450 degrees about 15 minutes)
1/2 C pitted and chopped kalamata olives
1 C Daiya mozzarella
1/4 C nooch (nutritional yeast)
1 tsp dried oregano

Pre Oven Polenta

1. Lightly spray casserole dish with olive oil. Place rounds or moons in dish layer with 1 T sauce per round, and one piece of roasted broccoli per round. Layer until there is no more polenta :(
Top with Daiya. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
2. Eat.
3. Now would be a good time for you to use use Martha's floss.
4. Go to bed.
5. Tomorrow's is another day of Mofo.Sweet vegan dreams. Lalalala.

Post oven Polenta

MoFo Day 9 GiGi Sells Food To Famous Vegan(s)

2011-10-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

Last year during, my initiation into MoFo land I posted 29 days out of 30 or 31 days. I never remember that rhyme that tells you how many days each month has. If you know please tell me. I missed class that day, and if you've read any of my other blogs you could probably see that I cut, I mean missed a lot of other classes too. This year I missed two days in the first week of MoFo, which means I posted only 5 days. I did take a chance and post on the day a psychic yelled at me on the phone, (experience it live, just hit the link), so please, please, please cut me some slack or cut me some slacks. (I could use a new pair of pants).

Here is my big ass excuse. (If you are making me pants please don't make me big ass pants). Really. Veganville was busy saving millions of animals, (I wish), at the Animal Place "Music in the Meadow" event. Here are some pictures of our table at the event. It was an awesome day, and I'm even wearing one of PPK's Tees. We haven't gotten Veganville tees yet, but will sometime in the near future.

Notice how I am sitting with my food, but promoting PPK because that's the kind of vegan I am. Please ignore scotch tape at lower right corner.

Famous vegan celebrity cookbook author and keynote speaker Colleen Patrick-Goudreau bought a cuffin and a slice of pumpkin chocolate chip loaf. She is very sweet and thanked me for doing whatever it is I do for the animals. I considered not charging her, (especially when she called me GiGi), but something inside me said this famous vegan cookbook author and activist makes trillions, and gee I sure hope I make my vendor fee back. I charged her and Colleen even gave me an extra dollar since it took me long to find change in my old pants. (Still waiting for you to make new ones for me). I wish I had a picture of me sweating while looking for change for Colleen Patrick Goudreau.

I shared a booth with my buddy, Roni from Daisywares. I'd post a picture of Roni and give you a link, but Roni doesn't need any more press from me. She sold more vegan bath care and necklaces than I did voopee pies. So no link :) NO here it is.

Check out the "vegan" license plate in the background.

Here I am playing "Guess Who's Under the Hat". Roni sits this round out.

Piper Crusell, the event coordinator, did a great job pulling this all together. Great job for a great cause. I didn't get an opportunity to take any pics, but I do want to do a shout out to some great vendors.
Nacheez is a topping or a dip or something or a pasta topping or something you just eat right out of the jar. I got to try their delicious medium spice flavor over some chips and let me tell you it went down smooth with just the right bite. I would order some online if I were you. Isla Hess and Chris Sanders, co founders of Nacheez, are super nice too. They gave me lots of chips too.
http://www.nacheez.com/

Check out this awesome family owned vegan grocery store in Sacramento. Uber cool Jen and Shawn Forsight are moving to a new space in mid-October, but you can follow them online and on FB. Rad buttons, tees, accessories, vegan jerky, all kinds of food, food, food, food and cookbooks. http://www.neverfeltbettervegan.com/

I also had the opportunity to sample some delicious and I mean delicious raw food from Baagan, a raw cafe in Roseville, California. The chia granola was to die for. We traded too. One voopee pie for a bag of these cheezy kale chips, which you can order online at the link I provided.

Crazy Boy, (Mr. Veganville), and I were so pooped afterward, plus we had a 2.5 hour ride back home, that we regretfully didn't get to play with all the animals. We did sit and watch the adorable bunnies before we hippity hoppitied on home though. Thank you for having us Animal Place. Thank you for your compassionate work!!!

Mofo 6 A Happier Burger Would Make a Smarter Clown

2011-10-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

Please play important video before proceeding to the rest of this blog and lovely recipe. Thank you signed, GiGi's attorney.

Entrepreneur, Celebrity and Spokesman Ronald McDonald, aka Ronald McCruelty, Hospitalized After Nearly Being Hit in Crosswalk

Ronald and his lawyers

Hospital Officials say that R. McDonald’s near death experience occurred just after 3 PM in a crosswalk just outside the famed burger joint. He was in shock but hospitalized from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and fallen arches. R. McDonald’s release is slated for next week some time. Since McDonald was not hit straight on, police are no longer looking for the vehicle which swerved out of his way but ran over Mickey Dee’s happy meal. McDonald’s lawyers are not happy about this.

A Happier Burger with 1000 Island with a Punch
6 Portabellos with caps twisted off and cleaned with a damp towel (never run mushrooms under water) Marinate the twisted off caps too.
1/2 C olive oil
1/4 C balsamic vinegar

1 tsp sea salt
Kaiser rolls
Fave vegan slaw or lettuce and tomatoes
Preheat oven at 450 degrees. Whisk together olive oil, balsamic and sea salt. Marinate portabellos for about 1/2 hour, unless you are in a super hurry.

Bake 20 min one side; 15 min the other.

1000 Island with a Punch
1/2 Vegenaise
1/4 C your favorite vegan BBQ sauce
1 pickle (my favorite are Bubbies) chopped
shot of Tabasco

Mix ingredients together, slather on kaiser roll, add portabellos and your favorite toppings. I'm partial to slaw. What toppings would make you happy?

Now that's a Happy Meal :)

MoFo 5 Veganizing Martha

2011-10-05T23:45:00.000-07:00

October 5th. Thank God October 4th is over. Before we get to veganizing Martha today, I gotta come clean here. This has been weighing heavily on me. I have a confession, two actually. Two confessions.
Confession 1- I don't do yoga. At all. Unless lying on the couch in a fetal position is a yoga pose. There probably is something called Fetal couch yoga but I don't know since I don't do yoga. I think I could like the shvitzing part of Bikram yoga. I'm used to ovens. Sylvia Plath probably should have tried Bikram yoga a couple of times instead of using her oven.

Confession 2- I hate nature and the great outdoors. What's so great about it? Being bitten alive by things buzzing around your head in a swamp is not a fun time. And I have never camped. Ever and never. I've heard there is no room service for tents. I know these confessions are un-vegan of me, please believe me when I say...
I am an ethical vegan for health reasons. I'm glad I told you. Phew.
GiGi: Oh look who's here.

GiGi: Come on in Martha.

GiGi: Shit. Sorry wrong Martha. How is George these days? See ya.
GiGi: Oh good you're here.

Martha S: Thanks for having me, GiGi.

GiGi: You are very welcome. Thank you! It's a good thing. You always say, "it's a good thing", ha ha, right Martha?

Martha: Yes, I always do say "it's a good thing", GiGi. What are we making today GiGi?

GiGi: We're making Chocolate Glazed Gingerbread Cakes.

Martha: Oh it's a good thing. From my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook.

GiGi: Hahahaha Martha. Yes you wrote that recipe before you did time in the big house. Not a good thing, Martha.
Martha: Had I not done time we might not have met GiGi.

GiGi: Yeah... well right Martha uh, let me give the folks at home a list of ingredients here.

5 T Earth Balance

Martha: Earth Balance?

GiGi: Yes Martha. It's a vegan butter so to speak.

Martha: What's wrong with organic home churned butter?
GiGi: Come on Marty. Mind if I call you Marty, Martha? Certainly Marty, you are aware of how exploited the animals are..

Martha: But it's a good thing.

GiGi: What?! Let's move on to the recipe.
1.5 C organic unbleached flour

1 tsp baking soda

2/3 C boiling water
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 C packed brown sugar
2/3 C unsulphered molasses
1 tsp ground flax seed made into a slurry with 3 T water
Ganache and crystallized ginger.

Martha: Where is that organic egg?
GiGi: Marty, you came here to veganize. I used groudn flax seed instead of an egg. I don't want to proselytize, but I happen know what happened to the chicken who laid that organic egg last time you had the flu.
Martha: Farm raised organic chickens make the best soups, GiGi.
GiGi: Oh God help me.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You can take it from here Marty.

Martha: Generously butter...or Earth Balance and flour a 6 Cup jumbo cupcake pan, tapping out excess flour. In a small bowl, (perhaps an heirloom), stir together baking soda and boiling water. Set aside. In a medium bowl, (perhaps one you've bought at a country store), sift together flour, baking powder and spices. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butt, I mean Earth Balance with brown sugar until light and fluffy.

GiGi: Awww. Fluffy I had a cat named Fluffy. Now add the flax seed slurry. Beat well. Add molasses, fresh ginger and reserved baking soda until well combined. Divvy up the batter amongst the prepared muffin pan, filling each about 1/2 way. Bake about 25 minutes rotating halfway. Transfer to wire rack and cool for 15 minutes.

Martha: Invert cakes onto rack to cool completely. Here's an interesting thing GiGi. I came up with this recipe while practicing my daily yoga inversion headstand. I glanced at a rack of marmalade muffins and thought wouldn't it be priceless if they were actually upside down cupcakes.

GiGi: And here I thought I would have to pour ganache over them while standing on my head.

Martha: See GiGi, yoga. It's a good thing.

GiGi: Well thanks for stopping by Martha.

Martha: You are welcome. Thanks for having me.

GiGi: Yeah. Yeah.

Hey I didn't forget about the ganache. Martha had to leave to go camping.

Ganache

1/3 C vegan chocolate chips

1/3 C coconut milk or soy creamer

2 T agave

Boil coconut milk in heavy saucepan. Add vegan chocolate chips and agave and stir until melted and ganachey. After the cupcakes have cooled, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place cupcakes, (still on wire rack), above it. Drip about 1 T of ganache over each cupcake. Let ganache run down sides. Refrigerate until set.

Hey I wonder who else will stop by to help me cook this week. Who do you want to help in your kitchen? Thanks for stopping by. Off the record...do you camp or do yoga?

MoFo Day 4 Repo Man

2011-10-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

Yes the road is often paved with good intentions... and shitty karma. My laptop broke, okay that's not the whole truth. Actually my 93 year old dad let's call him- Mr. Repo took my laptop as collateral yesterday. He won't give it back until I promise to take him out for a hot dog. So I have no photos today and no recipes since Mr. Repo dad replaced all my nifty vegan recipes with pictures of Angela Lansbury. My sincere apologies to anybody who is reading. I'll be back on October 5th to veganize Martha. Boy oh boy I just know October 5th is going to be way better than October 4th. While you are here maybe you can figure out what this lady in the video is saying to me. Thanx in advance.

I Really Expected a Blender...MoFo Day 3

2011-10-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

As you well know, since you follow my meanderings closely, yesterday was mine and Crazy Boy's 21st wedding anniversary. Now, I'm not the type of girl who peeks through wrapping or looks under beds for hidden presents, so of course I didn't sneak around looking for my anniversary present from you know who. I mean we've had over 21 years of giving gifts to each other, so who cares any more about gifts? Right? Wrong!

I mean I thought CB was so supportive of my doing MoFo again this year. I mean, Laaaaaaary, (aka Crazy Boy), don't you remember that our blender bit the dust a while ago? And remember we were going to make us some awesome coconut based ice cream with a brand new shiny ass ice cream maker? I mean you do want to try this whole marriage thing out for at least up until next year right?

Oh man. The box looked so promising too, with it's artfully wrapped purple recycled paper. I just knew the box looked a little small for a blender, and unless there are ice cream makers made especially for ants, I knew it wasn't an ice cream maker in this box. It's not that I'm ungrateful. But...

Shoes!? Shoes!? Okay they are very cute shoes, honey. Really cute shoes and thoughtful, honey, but I don't think I can churn coconut ice cream in them unless I spin around a lot. And then I don't feel like freezing my feet overnight to get the right creaminess.

Don't you worry, dear reader I still have a frozen dessert recipe for you today...and yeah, well I guess I'll post some pics from our "Gracias Madre" meal. And what an undeniably delicious meal that was :)
Before we went to Gracias Madre translation "thank yo Mama"

gracias madre

Larry had another little surprise for me...

GiGi all strapped in the car and excited and stuff to go look for an ice cream maker!!!!!!!!

The above video is what happened in the ice cream maker store.

I was so grateful to have a beautiful experience at Gracias Madre.

Guacamole

Gorditas

Enchiladas with Cashew Creme and Kale

Here as promised is the frozen dessert recipe.

Rice Dream Karma Very Cherry (is very good!)

Handful of strawberries hulled and washed of course, then sliced

flaked unsweetened coconut

Chocolate sauce- I ripped off Rip, (see previous posts, please), with a twist from me

1 tsp cornstarch

1/2 C water

3 T agave

2 T cocoa powder

Mix 1 tsp of cornstarch with about 2 T of the water. Mix well 'til no lumps remain. Add to

heavy bottomed saucepan with the remaining water, agave and cocoa powder. Whisk and mix until liquid starts to bubble and turn down to simmer until the chocolate is thickened. Take off stove.

Scoop Rice Dream Karma into parfait glass with strawberries, spoon sauce over it and top with coconut if desired. Chow down. Happy Mofo Day 3. I'm so stuffed.

MoFo Day 2 Wedding Anniversary and a Theme Within a Theme Within a Theme

2011-10-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

Guess what? Today is me and Psycho Boy's 21st wedding anniversary. We got married kind of young. We both were ten years old, but we had fake proof. Isn't it funny how our wedding anniversary coincided with World Veg Day? Today we are going to World Veg Day and then having dinner at Gracias Madre. Gracias Madre is the Mexican food sister to Cafe Gratitude, the vegan raw joint where every meal starts with an affirmation.

I would like the "I am phenomenal" almond shake please.

Then the wait person, repeats back to you., "Yes, you are phenomenal". Then you say, "you are phenomenal." No, you are. And they say, well you get the picture, because "You are phenomenal!".

Here's something else about affirmations I really should tell you about. Never repeat an affirmation in the negative. For instance, do not say,"I do not suck as a food blogger". Instead say,"I am the queen of food blogging". Even though you may not think that. If the universe hears you say, "I am the queen of food blogging" enough, you might begin to think that you rule the food world and one day you might even become infant Jesus' personal chef. Ever notice how Chef jackets and straight jackets look remarkably alike?

You might be thinking....Where's the food on this freaking blog today, GiGi? Well. Seems like some photo genius whiz blogger just posted about "Gracias Madre", the very restaurant I was going to take some less than average pictures of. Check these crazy ass pictures out. OMG. They are featured over at the drool worthy Vegan Culinary Crusade blog.
I suck! Whoops I mean I am the queen photographer of below average pictures .Maybe I'll take a photo essay of me jumping off the Bay Bridge today.

Here's the other thing. Yesterday while reading all 850 MoFo blogs I saw that most of the smarty boots bloggers have come up with themes for MoFo. I might not be the sharpest measuring spoon in the drawer but I thought MoFo was the theme. I think that these bloggers' themes are themes within a theme. Ohhhhh. I get it. I think. So if we can drive past the Bay Bridge safely today, here are a few themes I will include in the month of Vegan Food.

GiGi's Theme within a Theme

Martha's Peas

1. Veganizing Martha- I will veganize some of Martha's recipes from her pre-jail bait days, (pre 2005). I will also include a few recipes Martha came up with while she was in the can. Who can forget how Martha made eyeliner out of peas for the other pen gals?
1.a. Peas might also make a good theme.

Martha walking towards the yard to pick some veggies.

Inmate with green pea eyeliner, Martha whipped up in the pen.

2. Ripping off Rip- You know Rip Esselstyn the writer of the Best selling, "Engine 2 Diet"? His diet is more of a plan, plant based of course. It includes, no sugar, no white flour, no oil. Today is day 21 for us on the plan. Shorthand for this plan is E2, but since I will be ripping off most of Rip's recipes, let's call this the G2 plan.

Fireman Rip and his fruits.

3. And back by unpopular demand, I will include more Video footage of inanimate objects. Happy Mofo Day 2. And Happy Anniversary, Baby!

MoFo Morning 1 Pie Jolt

2011-10-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

MoFo Morning

MoFo Morning Espresso Yourself Pie
If you eat this for breakfast, you must eat broccoli for lunch. Below see components sans soy yogurt and cocoa powder I decided to add while processing.

The above espresso is better as a food ingredient, because really who wants to drink instant any kind of instant coffee.

First let's make the crust. If you are new to my blog , let me give you a quick recap of the last few weeks. My crazy man and I have been on the Rip Esselstyn Engine 2 Plan. Since we run a vegan baking company this has been a wee bit of a challenge. Plus Rip himself has not been very supportive, (he has deleted my last post from his site), even though I wanted to do an Engine 2 giveaway. More about that later. Here is the crust I ripped out of Rip's book.

Riffin on Rip Crust
1 C dates
2/3 C walnuts
1/3 C raw cashews
1 tsp non-alcoholic vanilla

Mix all the above ingredients together in a food processor until it's kind of sticky, because you are going to pour it into a pie plate. Press the crust evenly onto the bottom and about 1/2 inch up the sides of pie plate.

Caffeine Mousse
1 package silken tofu
2 T instant espresso
2 T cocoa
1.5 T vanilla soy yogurt
1/3 C agave

Raspberry Topping
As many raspberries as you want (washed)
1T raspberry jam
1T water

Sprinkling of cacao nibs

Blend all the Caffeine ingredients together so that they will go down smooth and give you a good buzz. Fill pie crust.
Add raspberries in concentric circles or just plop them on, who can see in the dark anyway. In separate cup mix water and raspberry jam to make a quickie glaze and paint on the plopped on raspberries.

Sprinkle with cacao nibs for an extra jolt. You might want to make this pie the night before so it sets in the frig over night. Remember to set your alarm for MoFo 2!

Veganville Shoutout on Veg News and The Lovely Blog Award Goes to...

2011-09-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

We interrupt this blog for a bit of shameless self promotion. Whoopee! I mean Voopee!! And yippeekayay. Look what Veg news said about Veganville and my friend, Vanessa over at Desiderio Chocolates. I often send Desiderio chocolates as gifts. Everybody raves about them.
For more great vegan sellers and to see the full article, click on the link.

http://www.vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=3667&catId=7
From caramels and cookies to spicy lollipops, Etsy sellers are satisfying vegans with super tasty treats.

Sometimes, you just want to nosh on something homemade, a sweet treat crafted with care. But likely, you’re too busy with all of life’s responsibilities to whip up Grandma’s chocolate cookie recipe, and she lives too far away to come to the rescue. Alas, homemade superstars of Etsy enter the scene; with the site’s passionate, dedicated community of sellers baking creative treats in their kitchens every day, your craving for all things homemade and veg will soon be satiated by a trip to your mailbox.

Seller, DesiderioChocolates takes her marshmallows to the next level with the “gourmellow”—half marshmallow, half chocolate ganache truffle, and wholly mind-blowing, not to mention the entire creation comes dipped in rich, dark chocolate.Combining the ease of store-bought with the unrivaled flavors and textures of homemade, Etsy cookies offer the best of both worlds. You’ll be considered officially insane if you can resist ordering a box of vegan “voopie” pies from Veganville. Six perfect pies in flavors like pumpkin, peanut butter cup, and java, delivered right to your doorstep? They’ll literally have you saying “whoopee!” as you ravenously tear the tape off the box and dig into these cream-filled treats.

Thanks for the shout out Veg News!

See it says right there in the Veg News shout out that you'll be certifiable if you don't buy Veganville "voopees"!
Allergy alert:
Remember they are made in a kitchen by nuts!

Check this out too. This happened in the very same "New Moon" week. I just happened to check on my friend Lilah over at Vegan Food, Art and Music... and saw that she had won the "loveliest blogger award". Yay and congrats to you Lilah. I glanced down the page and realized the award was bestowed upon me too! Oh wait, there must be a mistake. It's the loveliest blog, not blogger. I gratefully accept this award now. Thank you, Lilah.

The loveliest blog award originated in Germany. The purpose is to share blogs that you admire with other people. People who receive the award can then pass it on to 5 more bloggers who have less then 200 followers. You are not obligated to pass it on. Wait a minute... Should I be happy that I qualify with less than 200 followers? Please sign up to follow me, Mommy!

Here are some blogs I'm digging lately:
I've been a reader of Exploits of a Vegan Wannabe since it's conception. Sherry and Sandy co-conspirators at EVW began their blog when they decided to become vegans close to two years ago. They continue to create tasty food and always take on new challenges. They are working on a cooking show, started running and racing, and have adhered to the Engine 2 Diet. (The very plan that crazy boy and I are on). They're Engine 2 recipes are equally as inspiring as they are. Thanks girls. Keep up the great work! See you at MoFo.

I found this nifty blog last MoFo.
Choose Your Own Food Chain is a blog after my own heart. It's insightful, clever and with posts like Bare bones Vegan Cheap and Easy (Just How You Like It), and Death Row Mac 'n Cheese, funny. Throw in some great recipes and a shot of activism and I'm a happy reader! CYOFC will be at MoFo again this year too.

From the faraway land of India we bring you Veganosaurus, (rants and raves of a new age chick). Penned by the multi-talented jewelry designer, cook and baker, and miniature monster maker, Susmitha this blog is beautifully written with gorgeous photos of Indian food, (one of my favorite foods). It's earthy, spiritual and inspiring. Veganosaurus is excited to participate in MoFo for her first time!

xCarlyx is the blogger behind, (I love the name of her blog), A Profound Hatred of Meat. xCarlyx is a professional cook and still finds the time to cook at home and post extraordinary dishes everyday. I mean everyday! Yep, with dishes that include creole coconut tofu and grits with seasoned snap peas, and banana tartine, *Carly* is some kind of wizard.

Last but not least is The Snarky Chickpea. How can you resist a blog with that title? Snarky's subtitle is "an amateur dishes up delicious recipes and junk like that". The blog is conversational, the pics and recipes rock and Snarky is a kick.

Happy reading and cooking everybody! Countdown to MoFo!

Autumnal Pumpkin Pancakes with Bob's Dread Mill

2011-09-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

The vegan boards are in an upheaval. That's right. Apparently Bob and Mrs. Bob the retired founders of Bob's Red Mill have considered donating a hunk of money to an Oregon corporation that does animal testing. This is not good, especially since lots of vegans, me included have at least one of Bob's products in their pantry. Bob's face is even on the front of the package. We have a package of unopened Bob's Gluten Free all purpose baking flour in the cupboard. Now what should we do with this brand new bag of Bob's? Well, rationalize of course. See no evil, hear no evil...doesn't usually work for me. However I did purchase said bag before Bob's Red Mill became Bob's Dead Mill. So after much deliberating, Crazy Boy and I decided to see what would happen if we used some of evil Bob's flour. Would we be struck down? Would we be ostracized from the vegan community? My activist friends know where we live. Would we wake up to find that our apartment had been leafleted, toilet papered and bloodstained in the middle night? Would my reveries of being a poster child for PETA end?
C'mon, please dear vegan friends, we bought this gluten free flour way before Bob and Charlee donated to the evil corporation and we besides we want pancakes for dinner.

Psycho boy googled an Engine 2 suitable pancake recipe and without reservation, tore open the Bag with his teeth, and got to work. For some crazy reason he used a waffle recipe for pancakes. Sometimes waffle and pancake recipes are interchangeable. Sometimes waffle batters are thinner. Personally I didn't want to take any chances. I was scared enough using the butcher's bag of gluten free flour. PBoy mixed the batter together and heated the pan. I hid in the closet with a crucifix and some roasted garlic.
Let me know when it's ready, I'm freaking starving, I croaked from my place of darkness.
Stop panicking it's just a bag of gluten free flour, your friends won't find out, PBoy said.
Yeah they will. They know everything there is to know about butchering. And then they'll show up with picket signs.

And then I heard it, bloodcurdling Linda Blair screams coming from the man who was once my husband.
I ran to the kitchen, stopping on the way to pick up another makeshift rosary. Actually it was two Popsicle sticks and a necklace stuck together.
What is it????
Oh these stupid pancakes have no oil in the pan because we're on this E2 Plan and they are sticking to the skillet. Damn it!
So add some more spray.
Okay.
Anything else?
NO..They're almost ready.
Good I'm starving.

I must say they were excellent pancakes, except for their obvious deformities, hence no pics.
Use this recipe at your own risk! Bahahaha.

Sideshow Punk-in Pancakes Gluten Free

11/4 Bob's Dread Mill Gluten Free Fix
2 T cornstarch
1 T ground flax seeds
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/ 2 tsp allspice
1 T agave
3/4 C solid-pack canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
11/2 C rice milk or any vegan milk thereof
2 tablespoons orange juice

Spray skillet with canola spray, heat pan. Mix all ingredients together. (Batter will be thick; add more liquid if you want a thinner batter.) You will need to spray skillet between batters. Proceed at your own risk. Oh stop waffling. Any thoughts on the Bob's Red Mill debacle?

The Art of the Baked Potato

2011-09-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

Day 11 on Engine 2. If you've been diligently following the Veganville blog, (my mommy won't even add herself as a follower), you would know by now what Engine 2 or E2 is without googling. Don't feel like googling? Just take a gander at Veganville's most recent blogs and you'll garner enough top secret information to understand the fundamentals of the E2 eating plan.

Yep, today is 11 with no sugar, flour or oil. Here's an update of how I feel, which includes the perks and the challenges.

Perks:
1. I have so much energy that I have appointed myself leader of the free world.
2. My skin is as soft as a baby's bottom that has been injected with botox.
3. My middle age tire tummy is almost flat.
4. I am less of a slug.
5. My brain is not as foggy as London town.
6. I get to call my jeans, "skinny jeans".
7. Those 2 stupid and annoying water pimples vanished.
8. Psycho boy is nicer- (this really should be top on the list of perks)
9. It's easier to choose what to have for dinner, since there is not much to choose from.
10. The food bill has decreased. If you fold the bill in half it will have a crease.

Challenges:
1. Initially it was hard to determine portion size. I don't think Rip the E2 fireman guy meant for me to eat 20 corn tacos in one sitting. Yes corn tacos are E2 approved food and Rip really doesn't indicate how many you should eat in one sitting. "Sitting" being the operative word here, if I continued on with those portion sizes my barrel tummy would never let me up.
2. Brownie edges! I always cut the edges off trays of PB brownies for orders. Those brownie edges are MINE! The rest of the tray is for your order. Okay, you can have the edges now.
3. When Swedish Fish are in the house.

Ooh look the perks outweigh the challenges. In all actuality me and crazy guy feel so much better that we plan to keep on keeping on with this. This plan does not feel like deprivation. It feels healthy and cathartic and we can differentiate between real exhaustion and sugar lethargy.

The other night we even had a baker party. A baker party is a perfect way to initiate non-vegans into the vegan fray. The food is recognizable and the toppings rock. I am bummed that no one thought of taking pics. We were having too good a time to stop for a photo op. I made 2 pots of awesome chili and 23 baked potatoes. If you really want to bake them, never put the potatoes in foil. That only steams them. Way back when, I used to hang in a jazz club in Los Angeles that served all kinds of stuffed baked potatoes. It was called "The Baked Potato"!

I made a dessert buffet that included Sam Sam loaf, cookies, voopees, 3 different Rice Dream ice creams, almond mousse, and chocolate mousse. We had friends bring potato toppers. There was so much we could eat on E2 that Larry and I were even full. Don't worry we'll have another baker party for MoFo and post pics and a chili recipe then. In the meantime, here is sugar free mousse.

Almond Mousse

1 silken tofu
1/4 C almond butter
2 T agave

Add ingredients to food processor and well...process. Refrigerate. Enjoy.

The Perfect Potato

1 - 1000's of potatoes, scrubbed not peeled
canola spray
sea salt to taste
seasoning of choice

http://www.thebakedpotato.com/

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spray scrubbed potatoe(s) and sprinkle with sea salt and seasoning of choice. Bake 1/2 hour, then flip potatoes over and cook another 1/2 hour. Take them out of the oven. The outsides will be crispy and the insides will be fluffy. Like me :)
The bottom line is we feel good! I intend to bring this plan all the way through October. I would love for you to join me on it. Remember, you are not alone on this journey. Here's to your health!What's your favorite baker topper?

Mo Betta Vegan: On the Horizon...

2011-09-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Mo Betta Vegan: On the Horizon...

Day 6 No Sugar and a Nifty New Dressing

2011-09-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

Today I will be using some abbreviations. I'm gonna be just like those youngins when they text or txt. Nobody really spells things out anymore. U no wut I mean. Thos days r ova. Yep no more alphabet, no more alphabet soup even, now it's text/txt soup. So guess what? I just had to go back to using full sentences because I've been doing them for a while. It's just too hard to text a blog. Anyway.
Watch out for the abbrevs though. Today's Day 6 of E2. If you read my previous post like a good little vegan blog reader you would know that E2 is shorthand Luke for Engine 2 Diet/Plan. Out with diet, in with plan. So from now on..."we kul peeps?" It's the E2 Plan, NOT Diet.
The plan is all vegan of course, no sugar (not even organic), no white stuff and no saturated oils.

So guess what else? No not that.
MOFO is coming MOFO is coming. If you are a text geek this acronym would most likely stand for something else. At least my sources tell me that it would. But in the vegan world MOFO is Vegan Month of Food. Bloggers from all over the world write a blog a day, (or as many as they want for the month), about vegan food. I had such a blast participating last year. I went to sign up for MOFO today, but I couldn't figure out ( please read the following as an expletive!) what my MOFO RSS Feed is. I must figure this out, because I already know one of the dishes I'm going to make for (not the expletive)MOFO. I'll tell you after I give you this E2 salad dressing.
The dressing is a variation of Rip Esselstyn's, (he's the fireman who wrote the E2 book), dressing. We were surprised how good this is since we both are olive oil lovers.

2 T nooch
1 T low sodium soy
1 T 364 Dijon mustard (no alcohol in it)
1.5 T orange juice
1 T agave
2 T balsamic vinegar
about 1/4 C water or more or less to make as thick or thin as you desire

Whisk all ingredients together. Add water and whisk again. Enjoy the dressing on salad, or as a dip with raw veggies or even drizzle on a taco.The salad below is a simple, delicious and nothing fancy combo of rinsed black beans, chopped carrots, and salsa on Romaine lettuce served with a warmed corn tortilla.

I'm going to make Abbreviation Soup for MOFO. C U soon. xo
P.S. My spell check just went crazy with the above post and was so angry it decided to highlight the word "just".

Sgetti Pie and Day 4 of Engine 2

2011-09-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

I think crazy man (a.k.a my husband) is more scared than he's letting on. On day one, I asked him if he was excited about the new plan we were about to embark on, and he said NO! Committed, Yes! I guess whooping it up and jumping for joy are not Larryisms. Oh, don't get me wrong, Psycho boy can be a real Mr. Funbags when he wants to be, but he's such a Taurus that I often have to prod him along. I'm more a whoopdeedo- let's do it kind of gal. So we started the Engine 2 Plan 3 days ago. If you are not familiar with Engine 2, it's a vegan plan/diet (diet seems so passe) devised by Rip Esselyn a triathlete/fireman. Phenom, Lance Armstrong used this eating plan to train for his last Tour De France. The jacket of the Engine 2 book calls this diet a 28 Day Save-Your- Life- Plan that Lowers Your Cholesterol and Burns Away Pounds. I think that blurb is important to attract readers. Not this reader though. Yes, I'd be happy to burn fat and get lean and mean and build muscle. My cholesterol is good, so is my husband's. He's thin, most people would say I am too, and we are both already vegans. If I lose 5-6 pounds that would be a fringe benefit with no fringe bikinis I promise!!!

So why this decision?
No I am not a cyclist. As a matter of fact I'm an idiot on a bike. I'm not training for a triathlon.
Neither is "have to push him off the couch and drag him to exercise, man".

Top 10 Reasons GiGi is Doing This:
1. I need something to blog about. (No but it sure helps with 28 days worth of blogs).
2. I bake for a living and stray chocolate chips often wind up in my mouth, and on my hips.
3. I bake for a living (I know I said that before) and leftover dough....please see number two (mouth/hips).
4. I bake for a living (there it is again) and I must test each and every frosting to see if it is good enough for my clients. (please see numbers two and three)
5. I have found myself saying, if only I didn't bake, I would not do sugar and flour...hmmm, so why let my baking be a limitation?
6. Speaking of limitations, I've realized some are self imposed, and I am in fact accepting things I can change. I am an ex-competitive athlete and coach. When I see people who are in terrific shape I say, "Eh well good for them. I had my day". Why should my days be numbered?
7. I've had sports related injuries. 3 herniated discs, (one neck, 2 lower back). Blown out knees and 9 years ago loss use of both arms for a year and a half. I walk, but lift weights and do core ball exercises infrequently. I already know what a vegan diet can do for me. I believe if I rid myself of the rest of these toxins I'll be able to work out consistently and without fear and run as well.
8. Family history- my 92 year old dad played semi-pro ball and played all kind of sports all his life. He swam up until a year ago. My mom now in her 80's and former professional dancer played tennis until two years ago. My sister was a runner, and tennis player and now just walks. None of them are on plant based diets. All of them suffer from severe arthritis and back and neck pain. In addition to this my sister suffers from severe migraines. Could you imagine how great they would feel from all those healthy sports if their diet had been/was different? I believe I can eliminate most inflammation by following this plan.
9. I like a good challenge.
10. I want more energy. I work long hours on my feet and am tired of being tired and sleeping away my time off. I want to embrace life.

Please keep up with me on this. I'll let you in on my goals, and Larry's reason for doing this too.

For more information on Engine2 plan please visit:http://engine2diet.com/

Here is what we had for dinner on day 2.
Day one was brown rice penne, marinara sauce, broccoli and nooch.

E2 Sgetti Pie
1 C leftover cooked brown rice pasta (or any whole grain pasta)
2 C broccoli chopped
2 C mushrooms sliced
1 clove garlic
1 vegan sausage sliced and cut in half
1 C E2 approved marinara sauce (sans oil and sugar)
1 tofu drained
1/2 Cup Daiya Mozzarella
1/4 C nutritional yeast
1 T dried oregano
spray oil
sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray an 8 inch pie pan and set aside. Spray heavy bottomed fry pan and heat. Add broccoli, and garlic and saute for about six minutes. Add veggie sausage and saute for two minutes. Add shrooms and saute another couple of minutes, add the marina and stir. Meanwhile in a big bowl, crumble the tofu until it is the consistency of ricotta. Add the cooked ingredients to the tofu and mix well. Stir in the nooch and 1/4 cup of the Daiya, and oregano. Empty bowl into prepared pan and press firmly. Go ahead it's fun. Top with remaining Daiya and sprinkle some more nooch if your little heart desires. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for about 3-4 minutes.

Today is day four.

Feel free to jump in any time. Do you have any goals right now?

The Slothful Vegan

2011-09-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

Zzz... Oh sorry forgot I was blogging there for a minute. Didn't know you were here. Hi! Today is a minuscule blog. Today is Labor Day, a day to celebrate no labor and a wonderful excuse for me to be slothful. Happy Labor Day to the rest of you slugs. (I guess I should put the grin emoticon here so you know I am indeed kidding) Let's try it again. Happy Labor Day to the rest of you slugs ;) ;) wink wink. You freaking slug.

In the time it takes me to finish this blog you could make the fastest dinner ever, not including store bought hummus and store bought edamame rice crackers.

Ready go.

One Bowl Don't Even Cook the Beans Bowl Recipe (2 servings)

1 Packet TJ's Brown Rice (cooked according to box directions) with 2 T water added at end
1 15.5 oz. Can of no lard black beans or pinto bean of your choice (drained, rinsed with hot water)
TJ's Peach Salsa (about 6 T)
1/2 bag TJ's organic butter lettuce
3 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
sea salt to taste
optional (dollop of Vegenaise or tofutti sour cream, shredded Follow Your Heart Jack, or Daiya, shot of Tabasco)
Avocado (optional) (although who wants to cut something up and pit something now)

Okay. Get your two bowls lined up. Split greens amongst them. Add vinegar and oil to each with sea salt to taste, (or if you prefer whisk dressing in another bowl). Just keep in mind we are being lazy here so if you use another bowl, it's just one more dish to wash later. Cook brown rice according to directions. I find the rice to stick a little to the pot.To prevent this unfortunate mess, add 1-2 T of water near the end of cooking. Layer rice, beans, salsa in each bowl. Top with whatever your little heart desires. See the "optional" listings.

This dinner is fast, it's cheap, it's easy. This dinner is a floozy!

Your Toast or You're Toast

2011-09-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today I will attempt to explain some unkind things to you. I don't want to necessarily make your day suck or anything, that's all up to you and your lonesome. Remember, we can always change our days around by taking positive action, so your day never really has to suck that much. Even making tiny changes can be so empowering.

Anyway, this post is rated PG for PG, partially gruesome. I'll give you a recipe at the end of the post so if you want, you can just bypass the graphic stuff. Hey speaking of bypass, you do know that eating animal products can cause quadruple bypasses, right? Yep. Thump, thump, stop! So if you wanna keep that heart a pumpin' and a thumpin' it might be time to eat more of a plant based diet.

Today let's take a glance at one of the animals you might still be putting on your plate. I applaud you if you've give up red meat. It's a start but don't think you are totally in the clear, buddy! This isn't just about your health any more. It's about compassion. Like I've said before, comapssion is good for your soul, hence your heart.

Let's take a look at chicken, shall we. Let's imagine what the chicken feels like when confined to a battery cage.
WARNING!!!! DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Just imagine How it Feels! I repeat! Don't Do This At Home! I take no responsibility for burnt toast.

Imagine this scenario:
You take your favorite morning multi-grain bread out of the frig and place it in the toaster. You savor it, and say to yourself, (because you always talk a lot to yourself in the morning), this flax seed toast is going to taste so good especially if I put some softened Earth Balance on it!
You, get some organic coffee brewing, plug in the toaster, place the flax seed spelt bread in the slot and press the highest, darkest toaster setting. You pour yourself a steaming cup of joe, and consider getting baptized even though you are Jewish.
You shout Thank you baby Jesus for free trade caffeine!
You sip your morning java. Ah java.
The world is a beautiful place.This is better than the 70's. Peace.
Yes this is a beautiful life, it's such a beautiful world I might be able to share the earth with Ann Coulter.

Uh oh is that toast burning? OMG! And just like that you are Snapped out of your disgusting Ann Coulter revery. Thank Goodness.

Crap. Just when you were going to catch up on all your Vegetarian Times reading too and live in placid co-existence with Tea Party folk, the revery ends. Oh no! The smoke alarm in your tiny digs is crazy loud. Your moron next door neighbor the one with the "don't save the dolphins unless they have beer" trucker hat is pounding on the wall of his trailer. Your freakin' toast is stuck and won't pop up. You grab the nearest knife, the one that was going to spread your softened Earth Balance on your whole grain toast. You stick the butter knife in the slot. What?! Don't tell me. You didn't unplug the toaster! Expletive. Expletive.

Zap! Jolt! Hey bub, you still with me? Oops. Sorry about that.

Hey! Now you know that this is how a chicken confined to a battery cage feels everyday of his existence. These poor chickens never even get to experience their morning coffee. Yep, these poor creatures are debeaked too, so they never ever get to wake up and smell the coffee. Yep, these poor chickens are toast!

Please think about what you eat before you eat!

Hey! Let's have a real life breakfast!!! You deserve it.

I heart the new marinated tempehs from Turtle Island Foods Inc. At least the ones I've tried, like Smokey Maple Bacon and Coconut Curry.

The Smoky Tempeh Bacon is perfect in a tofu scramble with tomatoes and peppers and onions. They are already pre-sliced. Of course the tempeh is perfect in a BLT as well. I know I promised breakfast, but really who wants it after the toaster ordeal. Let's do lunch instead.

BLT Taco Salad with Broken "Tortilla Flats"
with a nod to John Steinbeck

Half-Assed Recipe Because I'm Toast Today (serves 4 "Big Baby" salads or 4 baby salads)
For the Salad

About 16 ounces of butter lettuce
8 cherry tomatoes
package of the tempeh featured up there cooked according to package directions
2 T canola or olive oil
About a C of your choice of your favorite shredded Daiya
Crispy corn tortillas as many as you can handle

For the Fake Blue Cheez Dressing
1/2 a block "tofu life" lemon garlic smoked tofu crumbled
1 C vegenaise
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions: Plate it so everything looks pretty. Decorate with broken tortillas while you nosh on some.

Dressing Directions: Whisk all ingredients together except the crumbled tofu. Fold that in last.
Serve over your pretty salad.

Enjoy tomorrow's breakfast.

Random Acts of Randomness Veganville Contest Winner Announced

2011-08-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

An Important Announcement From The President, Mucky Muck, Grand Poobah of Veganville:

Satchmo Girl, the President and Diva of Veganville

After many many weeks of mommy paying people to partake in this contest, I would like to announce a winner...Sorry Oprah it's not you, even though you were the only contestant for a while there. Take it a way, Zuley.

Thank you all for playing, even though mommy had to grease your palms. Hey a big thank you goes out to vegancraftastic who reminded mommy to turn on the blogger comment feature. Sheesh, mommy!

A Big Meow goes out to The winner of the Random Acts of Randomness Contest ...

And the winner of the Veganville big box of treats and gorgeous bookmark is... Meow roll please!!!!

~~*****Glen Held****~~

of Wantagh New York

Our winner is currently in the middle of hurricane Irene. Um, Mommy does Veganville mail to evacuation centers?

We will just have to wait until the debris clears. Congratulations and stay safe everybody.

Stay safe to the animals too!

xo
Satchmo Girl and Zule

Transylvanian Stroganoff and Comfort

2011-08-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting for last minute entries to trickle in and watching the weather channel for updated hurricane news. I've been praying for all my friends and family back on the east coast. Some of my friends have been evacuated. My FB page really has the most up to date news that is fit to print. What kind of meals are served in evacuation shelters anyway? What's happening to the stores and the restaurants? Wishing you all safety, warmth and nourishment. Here is some comfort food.

Thursdays are our day off in Veganville, so we either take time to experiment in the kitchen or hit up a new vegan restaurant. I asked Crazy boy what he wanted to do and he said he wanted me to whip up some stroganoff. I've had Vegan Vengeance for years. The pesto stains and melted chocolate in the margins indicate how it's one of my go to books. Although the stroganoff looked like a great dish I've never been a seitan worshipper, so this beautiful recipe has been abandoned until now. CB promised to chop the onions into little half moons like Isa suggests. Onions make me weep, which can be cathartic when I'm not famished. He promised to photograph the stroganoff in stages too. It was a done deal.
We were very happy with the results and it made enough for three dinners. I'm still not a huge fan of seitan but I do love pronouncing "stroganoff" with a Transylvanian accent. It makes the dinner more fun. Hey did you ever take "transylvanian meditation"? Bahaha.

Transylvanian Stroganoff Variation on Isa's Stroganoff

2 T arrowroot or cornstarch (I used cornstarch)
2 C vegan broth or cold water (I used 365 vegan broth)
8 tsp olive oil
1 C shallots thinly sliced
1 large onion cut into half moons by Larry (if you don't have a Larry, anyone who doesn't sob will do)
3 cloves garlic minced
2 C cremini mushrooms thinly sliced
2 portabello caps thinly sliced
2 T thyme
1 package seitan (we used a smoked seitan) or 3.5 C seitan all sliced in wide thin strips
2 tsp sea salt
Isa uses 1 C burgundy wine (we are allergic to wine so we used 3/4 C water with 1/4 aged balsamic)
1 T Hungarian paprika
1/2 C nooch
1/2 C plain soy milk
2 tsp Dijon mustard (I use 365 mustard- sans wine)
1 C frozen peas
1/2 pound wide noodles (we used fresh pasta)

Dissolve the cornstarch in the 2 C of broth. Set aside. Heat 2 T oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add shallots, onions and saute for 5 minutes. Add garlic, all the mushrooms and thyme. Saute for 15 minutes.

While this is sauteing heat a cast iron skillet with remaining 2 tsp of olive oil. Add seitan and saute over medium heat 'til brown and crispy. If you use store bought like we did this will take ten minutes. If using homemade seitan it will take about 25 minutes.

Okay, back to the sauce. Add salt, water and balsamic or wine and paprika. Turn up heat to high so liquid reduces, about ten minutes.
Lower heat to medium high and add cornstarch mixture, stir well and let the sauce thicken for about 5 minutes Add nooch and mix 'til well dissolved.

Add soy milk and mustard and bring heat down to low. Isa says to be very careful here not to let the mix boil, since boiling can make the soy milk and mustard bitter.

Add the seitan and peas, and cook for 10 more minutes. Prepare your noodles according to package directions. Divide noodles amongst dishes and top with the stroganoff. Tofu sour cream is really good on top too.

Hey thanks for the pics CB. I'll be back with a winner of Veganville's most recent contest a little later today.Thanks for playing everyone. In the meantime, may you all find comfort in the middle of life's storms.

Random Acts of Randomness, Updated Giveaway and a New Recipe

2011-08-24T06:19:00.000-07:00

Hello my little patooties. After much reflection and zippo contestants I have decided to simplify said contest!
This will do absolutely nothing for my self esteem if nobody enters this time. This is beginning to feel like all the times my conspiracy theories were rejected. I still believe that Alvin and the Chipmunks were behind the sabotage of Liberace's Final Vegas show. I believe Theodore and Simon, both longtime members of CETA (chipmunks for the ethical treatment of animals), threatened Liberace with a candlelabra. Liberace, famous for his ermine lined robes, even wore a chipmunk and diamond encrustted coat once. Why oh why does nobody believe me? You can't handle the truth!! Well never mind. Let's move on to the cruelty free contest. Shall we? The link below is for your listening pleasure, you know to listen to while you enter the new easy peasy contest, and try a new recipe.

Believe me you, this contest has no hint of the delusional. Even though I will be preparing part of the prize.

Same great prizes are available, yep the grand poobah prize is a mighty box of Veganville goodies and this beautiful bookmark. Here are the new easy rules. What are you lookin at?

Easy Peasy Rules:
1. Become member of this blog.
2. Comment on what your new fave or old fave Veganville goodie is. (new faves below)
3.Twitter or FB fan page your comment.
4. Enter as many times as you like.
5. Sorry only US entrants eligible.

Contestants will be entered into a random generator this Saturday August 27th at 9 PM Pacific Standard time. Practicing random acts of randomness is enlightening.

Veganville will be adding new items this fall like our new Black Forest "Cuffin". Thanks for naming our newest cuffin, Cynthia Welch of Los Angeles, CA!

Double Jolt Voopees- Chocolate Voopees with Java-Oreo filling
Blast from the Past- Coffee and Ho Ho Cupcakes with Java Oreo filling
Spice Boy- Cardamom-Espresso Cuffins
Brooklyn 'Nilla Voopees- Vanilla Voopees with half Chocolate and half 'Nilla frosting
Black Forest Cuffin- Dark Chocolate Cuffin- filled with plump dried cherries and dark chocolate chips

I'll even give you the recipe if you'll play.
Yields 6 Jumbo or 12 Standard Cuffins

Black Forest Cuffins

1/3 of a 29 oz. can of Pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 C canola oil
1 T of Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 1/4 C H20 into slurry (or 1/2 banana)
1 1/2 C organic sugar
1 3/4 organic unbleached flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 C dark cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
1- 1.5 C dried cherries
1/3 C H20

Line cuffin pans with liners of course. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pumpkin, canola oil, egg replacer slurry, and sugar in bowl of electric mixer. In separate bowl combine flour, baking soda and baking powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon and sea salt with wooden spoon. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in 1/3 C of water and then add chocolate chips and dried cherries. Bake for about 35-40 minutes. Keep an eye on them though. Rotate halfway through cooking time. Cool in tins for about 10 minutes, then remove and cool on racks. Chow down!

Now please enter...go on. Must I beg you? Contests are good for the soul. I've heard that you have to be in it to win it...but that could be just a freakin' theory, my little chipmunks. Bahahaha.

Don't Be a Dum Dum, Dum Dum and Vegan Posole

2011-08-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

So I have this big ass contest going on here in Veganville. Yep since like um before last week. Yep. Lots of people, yep lots and lots of people have entered.

NOT!

You know how many???? Look below for the answer.

You don't see any numbers. Do you? You don't see anything at all, right? That's because NOBODY ENTERED! NOBODY!
Bupkis. A big ass zero for the big ass contest. Which in my self respected opinion is:

Dum, Dum, Dum! When you could win yum yum yum! See contest! Hey...speaking of dum, dum, dum. That's the name of the dummy pic above. This is a photo dear to my beating ventricle. It's from the ultra fantastic Etsy shop, Snailbooty. If I were you I would move my booty over to Snailbooty before I snatch up this pic for myself.

Did you know that I was almost a ventriloquist? Well I was... I had a dum dum like the middle dum shown above. Jerry and I were inseparable when I was in the first grade. We had matching red suits and we went everywhere together. Jerry would even order dinner for me. "GiGi will have a knish, and I'll have a Shirley Temple." That is until Jerry's head fell off!

Hey look what I found. I knew I'd find you my long lost friend! Sob, Sob. You can find Jerry's head sans body at Marieskidscollege, a nifty little vintage shop only on Etsy. Why he's almost like "Johnny got his gun" of the dummy world.

I think I'm gonna see if my friend Gil the lamp guy can make Jerry's noggin into a lampshade, just for old time's sake. Gil says they will put a lightbulb in anything. Even Jerry.
And let me tell you- some heads are going to roll if nobody plays my contest, Bahahaha. Jerry said that, not me. Dum de dum dum.
While we are waiting for a contestant to freaking show up, here's a delicious recipe for Posole.

Traditional Posole is more brothy, so feel free to up the liquid content. Either way it's a bowl of hearty goodness. I like it more stew like.

Posole Stew

1 small can roasted diced chipotle peppers
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 C chopped onions
1 T canola oil
1 Summer squash diced
1 yellow, red or green pepper diced
1 zucchini diced (boy this is getting dicey)
1 tomato diced
2 tofurky links sliced (we slice 'em we dice 'em)
3 T tomato paste
15 oz can hominy (drained)
16 oz can pinto beans with chipotle rinsed and drained
1 tsp. cumin
1.5-3 C vegan broth or H2O
sea salt to taste
oregano to taste
cilantro julienned (optional)
1 avocado (optional)
lime
tortilla chips

***** breaking news******we interrupt this recipe to bring you a contestant****All the way from Chicago****

I Can't believe I won another box of voopees, GiGi!

I'm speechless, Oprah.

But I'm not speechless!
How did you like my Oprah impression, GiGi?

At one time you had the upper hand in our relationship Jerry, but now you have no hands so I win. So bob on out of here so I can finish this recipe.

Posole continued: without interruption, Jerry!

Heat oil in big heavy pot and add chipotle, onions, garlic and veggies, and saute. Add remaining veggies and tofurky rounds and cook til lightly browned. Add hominy, beans, tomato paste, spices and the amount of water (or veggie broth) you are comfortable with. Simmer for about a half hour. Serve in bowls. Top with cilantro, lime and avocado. (I added lime to the Pasole while it was cooking) then added more to my bowl. Just because I like it.

I used to like Pasole, but now it goes right through me. Bahaha. Good Oprah impression, huh, GiGi,huh?

Jerry quit talking over me! Sorry for all the interruptions today, folks. Hey don't be a dum dum. Be a smarty. Play the contest, join the party.

Blogger Posted Old Blogs!

2011-08-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

I take full responsibility for the 2 old posts that repeated yesterday. It is Mercury Retrograde. Blogger went berserk! Thank goodness Blogger stopped spitting out old blogs when it got to two.
Okay. Maybe I could have had something to do with this. Then again it is Mercury Retrograde. You see I just wanted to make searches easier for all my readers. Yes after two and a half years in blogville I finally figured out how to use the label button.The label button is conveniently located in front of my nose. Then again it could be the size of my nose that blocked the label button. Labels allow you to search the blog by category. Categories like eggplant, cupcake, even Mommy.
Now that I got that out of the way, where are the contestants? Huh? Veganville is running a really fun contest. What? Didn't you see it? C'mon it was right in front of you nose.
contest
I'll be back a little later with some food to share.

2011-08-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

It started in the seventies. Yep I'm kind of old, but I don't really look it because I use good moisturizer and I don't wear old lady clothes. Nooo, silly. I'm a vegan, that's why. Anyway, the parental unit was eating chicken, and Dad said, "Hey Gi pass the leg". For some reason I never gave much thought to a chicken having a leg, but that was it and my vegetarian/vegan journey began. In the beginning, my mom chased me around the dinner table with a hamburger. I was a competitive athlete and my mom thought I would faint on the court if I did not eat dead flesh. Once my mom saw that this was not a phase, she bought me vegetarian pate' and Morningstar bacon, made me hard boiled eggs, salad plates and a yummy carrot cake which is actually more like a side than a cake. I lived on graham crackers and fresh PB from the only health food store around. Once in a while I had a scoop of tuna at a local diner. Oh the shame that's not vegetarian! This is true but in the early 70's really, who knew what a pescetarian was? I was vegetarian enough. My sister Heidi gave me my first vegetarian cookbook ever. I think it was written by George Bernard Shaw's cook. The fish had to go, but what about Caesar salad and Worcester sauce in a bloody mary? My mornings would never be the same. Ah the concerns. But when one's committed to a cruelty free life, there is always an alternative. The years brought greater commitment and love for the world's creatures. Giving up dairy was simple. I was a performer/vocalist and I didn't like the phlegm. The thought of what little yolks could be made my tummy hurt. Sure the egg on the plate was gone, but I had to compromise, didn't I? I mean I was a baker after all and I didn't want my baked goods to suffer. But what about the chickies? Being mostly vegan felt like being a little bit pregnant. I would find a way to make these baked goods taste good with out sacrificing taste and most of all not sacrificing a living creature. You can too.
1.Banana is a good vegan leavener-half a mashed banana=1egg.
2.Ener-G Egg Replacer is awesome. 1.5 T Ener-G +2 T water mixed well =1 egg.

Good luck on your vegan journey. You are doing a great thing, my friend. I'm free to answer your questions. You can check out my recipes or order some vegan delights from me too.

2011-08-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

I don't like to keep peanut butter around. Peanut butter is relentless. Ground buttery legumes whisper to me from wherever Larry has tried to hide them- behind the coriander and cumin, beneath a Peet's house blend or under several semi dark chocolate chip bags or even in the closet next to his hats.That pesky Pb jar knows that I am just an arm length and a big wooden spoon away. PB was my first vegetarian go to food. I bought fresh Pb in tubs from my local health food store.Pb is warm from the machine. I ate it from the container and spread it on graham crackers with a little bit of honey. When I was 18 I lived in Louisiana and on a midnight jaunt found Mr. Peanut Butter Cookies in the town's Piggly Wiggly. Hello Beautiful. I think Peanut Butter should have a skull and crossbones on it just like Scope. Wait Scope doesn't have a warning label on it. Maybe that 's just in my house.

What?! A Veganville Contest for Carnivores and the Ilk? Contest! Contest!

2011-08-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

What? It's been eight days without a blog, you say. In Beatles' lyric lingo eight days is a week.
Crap, I owe you a contest or something. I got a doozy of a contest right up my bamboo organic sleeve too.

Boy oh boy I hope people enter. This is open to all members of the human race, except members of the Tea Party. I think I contradicted myself there, since Tea Party members are not considered humans or mammals.

Quite honestly I never could stand tea, and that kombucha stuff just stinks. I know I'm a vegan and I'm supposed to expound on the benefits of tea, right? Screw that I say. The only time I really drank tea was when I used to get my tea leaves read. My whole crazy family used to visit the tea leaf lady. She was a little old lady who wore a flowered mu mu and had a pornographic light switch in her bathroom. You know the kind. The switch has an erection when you put the lights on. And when you switched them off well...sometimes that happens in the dark. (bahahaha). Mildred the mu mu clad pornographer tea reader lady had a favorite phrase she used while reading your leaves to you. After each leaf prediction "you will get married when you are 20" or "you will have a friend named John" she would add in this high pitched voice..."and that is that". "You will brush your teeth" and "that is that". One day you will not drink anymore tea...and that is that.

Back to the contest.

I won't leave you in the dark here. Stop playing with that light switch, would ya.

Anyway, this contest has a little twist to it because as we all know I can be a little twisted. I don't like to proselytize.Yeah, of course I'd love it if the whole world became vegan. I'd love it If everybody left the itty, little, bitty baby calves alone with their mommies. And I sure wish those little, itty, bitty babies weren't taken away from their mommies so they could be placed in a cramped disgusting box to live out their infancy just so you could make them into Italian V Parmesan sandwiches later. NO! I didn't bring you here to tell you that. No I did not.

This is not a conversion contest so I won't tell you how cows are abused just so you can eat some soft serve or coffee praline heavy duty ice cream sundae. I promise I won't mention how porky pig becomes your breakfast side at Denny's (bacon has a mommy too) or ramble about how chickens suffer in battery cages. Nope why should I become all hot and bothered about that stuff. I know you are still going to rush out maybe not today but tomorrow to get a triple heart attack burger with some drippy bleu. (I won't even mention the health benefits of eating vegan or how much water we save by going veg.) Nope I won't tell you that stuff.

This is a contest here and let's have some freaking fun. Shall we. Really I just want you to know how great the vegan options and food is today. If you are looking to feel better, look better or even want to be a little more eco conscious try 2 meatless Mondays. Try out your local veg restaurant. Try one vegan lunch one day, and a vegan dinner another. Oh don't be such a big baby.

This contest is for all you pesky pescetarians, all you died in the wool carnivores, the "I could never leave my cheese behind" vegetarians, the "I hardly ever eat red meat because I'm so effing healthy", and the "I eat only free range organic" gourmet, and of course let's not forget all you "I'm already vegan but only eat chips and salsa" friends.

********Think you can cook vegan? contest******
Official Rules and What You Win****
1. Contest Starts Right Now. August 6th 2011 and ends August 26th 10 P.M. PST
2. You must make two completely vegan meals. It's okay to use prepared vegan food like vegan chili or vegan meat substitutes or vegan sour creme.
3. Vegan means no animal products whatsoever. No meat, no dairy, no honey. You are welcome to use any of the recipes on my site, an original recipe or one from a vegan cookbook or a recipe you veganized from a regular cookbook. Send me the recipe and a picture of the meal you made. Tell me if you created the recipe or where you got it from.
Videos are welcome. I am open to questions and happy to make suggestions.
4. I will feature contestant's meals on the Veganville blog in the coming days and weeks.
5. You can enter as many meals as you like over the three week period.
6. You must be a follower of this blog.

7. I'll post your entry on my FB page too. Get your friends to enter or vote.
8. Let's rack up the comments and I'll bring in a surprise guest judge too.

Vegan newbies Hints
Some fave substitutes:
1. Daiya Cheez - perfect meltability, it's not soy based and tastes great.
2. Follow Your Heart Cheez is excellent as well.
3. Vegenaise mayonnaise is the only way to go in the mayo dept. (my mom even likes it).
4. Nutritional yeast (not Brewer's Yeast) is a great stand in for Parmesan and mixed and there are amazing recipes out there for vegan "mac and cheeze".
5. Wanna veganize a family recipe and not sure how, hit me up.

Prizes:
A big box filled to the brim with assorted Veganville goodies. And a beautiful handmade vegan bookmark from Lylah's Etsy shop. I have one myself. Please check out her shop for some more real gorgeous artwork. I heart her line drawings and doodles. You can also check out what project Lilah is working on right now at her blog.

I'll add some more prizes if we get a good showing here. Come on what are you waiting for? Get cooking. And tell your buddies. It's fun to share. Why hell, make a party out of it! Cook up some nifty vegan foods and have a vegan potluck.

And that is that!

A Narcoleptic's Food Blog

2011-07-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

veganMy sleep habits are funky lately. If you stopped by because you are vegan for health reasons, you came to the wrong place. Sorry. We're ethical vegans over here in Veganville. If it was the 90's and I was a decade younger, (okay 20, 25 oh shush years younger), we'd be vegan straight edges here too.
Anyway let's discuss narcolepsy, shall we? Narcolepsy as anyone would tell you is characterized by scatter shot sleep patterns. Narcoleptics fall asleep at inopportune times like when triple chocolate chip cookies are supposed to be taken out of the oven. Remember when I gave in and got the most unugly crocs I could find? They are very comfy. Crocs are a big catalyst for narcolepsy. Anyway my snoozing function is off kilter. An intended one hour catnap could morph into six or even a baker's dozen. By the time I drag my groggy ass to the kitchen to cook dinner, kale and wilted greens become less of an option. Homemade kettle corn usually does the trick and provides the needed nutrients.
I started recording again and am working on a new show. I know the adrenaline rush has effected my quotidian shut-eye. If you are good I'll give you a peek at the new project at the end of this post.

Kettle Corn- (My keyboardist makes it in a Whirly Pop but you can use a big heavy pan)
1/4 C sugar
1/2 C popcorn kernels
1/3 C mix of canola/olive oil
3/4 tsp sea salt

Heat oil in a large pot or Whirly Pop over medium-high heat. Add popcorn and sugar giving it a quick stir and then cover with lid. Once popcorn starts popping, pick it up and give it a quick shake every few seconds until popping slows down, between 3-4 minutes. Remove immediately from heat and pour into a large bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt and chow down and checkout this Cd..

Our keyboardist, Larry Tasse suffers from the same syndrome I do.

Robby will don this shirt for the next shoot. What was he thinking?