Hey You, Want Some Candy?

I've been down and out. Me and crazy boy really hit the skids. In my experience, nobody shares almonds. It's hard to get a nutritious meal from the food banks. We once got a fifty pound bag of potato flakes and three 16 ounce jars of sugar and oil laden generic peanut butter. One church attendant called us entitled when I gave back the cans of spam and deviled ham that were in our bounty. Well true, we still had our teeth and a toothbrush to share. We even had  jobs and  we could clean ourselves up in the sink of the local Amtrak lavatory. Hmmm, maybe we were entitled, maybe we were a special kind of homeless couple. Our kind of homeless was way before the 99% occupy was fashionable. We were the one per cent. Homeless employed vegans, but stuff happens even to those who are cruelty free. The good news was that my Bloomies card hadn't totally run out so, I had my last hurrah and ran up credit for a couple of bad ass bras. I guess I could have purchased some almonds or shoes instead of the undies, but it's tough on those mean streets and it's good to feel like you got some under armour.

Chocolate Almond Boats with Strawberry Topping

I've tried making quite a few raw chocolates and thus far this has been my favorite. The chocolate base is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Lacey Sher and Gail Doherty's You Won't Believe It's Vegan.  We also made some bark which was equally delicious.

Chocolate Base
1 C raw cacao nibs
1 C agave
1.5 C coconut oil
pinch of sea salt
1/2 C almond slivers

Blend all ingredients, except almonds in food processor or blender, until completely smooth. Stir in almonds. Pour into candy molds or spread on parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze until firm. Store in freezer until firm.

Almond Mousse Recipe (in the Veganville archives)

Strawberry Topping (also in the Veganville archives, but hidden under the code word blueberry...oh just exchange fruits)
Well it is our sincere hope that this post has given you some food for thought. You can't always judge a book by it's cover. And because we've been through it and have lived to tell it we encourage you to say hi to your local panhandler, give them a smile, some dental floss and some much needed greens. We usually protect our anonymity when it comes to our charitable deeds, but we hope you can follow our example.So, in addition to helping one or two animals every 6 months, Veganville now contributes two jumbo cupcakes every 5th Saturday to our favorite Vet on the street. Next month we will be contributing to Junkie Joe and his pitbull Axe. Won't you?

The Art of the Baked Potato

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?