Dessert Parfait Recipes as Promised to Go With MoFo12

RECIPES FOR MOFO 12 (find story there)

JAIL BREAK PARFAIT
espresso mocha cupcake, with double fudge mousse, and coconut creme

Espresso Cupcake can be easily made xgfx by exchanging flour and adding xanthan gum

1 C Rice milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4  C agave
1/4 C canola oil
1 tsp non- alcoholic vanilla
1 C unbleached flour
1/3 C dark chocolate cocoa powder
2 1/5 T instant espresso
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 and line a jumbo muffin tin with paper liners.
Whisk the rice milk with the vinegar in the bowl of your mixer. Add agave, oil, extract and espresso powder and beat until frothy.
In another bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. Add to wet ingredients. Make sure you scrape down the sides. Pour into liners. Sometimes this only makes about 5 Cupcakes but hey they are big so it's really okay.
Bake for about 30 minutes, switching racks halfway through baking time.
Let cool on rack. After ten minutes remove cupcakes from tin and let cool completely.

Double Fudge Mousse

1 box of silken tofu
1.5 T of  can of coconut oil hardened
1/4 C cocoa powder
2 T agave
1/2 packet of stevia
1/2 C vegan chocolate chips melted (either in a double boiler as I do or you can nuke them)

Place first two ingredients in food processor and mix until smooth. Add next three ingredients and process. Lastly, add melted chocolate chips and blend well, scraping down sides of processor in between. Set aside.

Whipped Coconut Creme

1 14 oz. can of very cold coconut creme
1 T agave or stevia

tip: I usually freeze my hand beater whisks for about ten minutes before making this.
Scoop out coconut creme into large mixing bowl. Whip to soft peaks and fold in sweeteners.

 tip: Easy way to sterelize mason or canning jars. Preheat oven to 225 degrees.Remove lids and rims from jars. Spread out jars and lids and rims on cookie sheet and heat for 10 minutes. Remove promptly.
Enjoy!

Cut cupcake horizontally in half and then mush into mason jar. Follow with a layer of mousse, and then a layer of coconut creme. Continue to layer, making the top layer coconut creme.

This was the fancy ass jacked up cousin of a devil dog. Enjoy!

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?

It's a Mad Mad Mad Matzoh World

It's spring. Vegan peeps season has come and gone. The bunny costume is in moth balls 'til your next gig. And that ugly green basket filler can't be composted. Well boo hoo hoo. Things are still looking up little ducky. After all it's still matzoh time. Matzoh is like the tofu of the Jewish World. Bland by itself but supernatural when mixed in with other flavors. Matzoh is a quick change artist. Today's post deals with all things matzoh. 

The Uncensored History of Matzoh

Once upon a time there were two Jews, probably living in Brooklyn. It was right around Easter.  Anyway these two Jews needed a snack so they went to their corner bagel shop. The corner shop was totally out of pumpernickel bagels, their favorite. Mr. Leven the owner, said, I'm out of leavening, which is very Un-Levened of me. Bahahaha, all the Jews guffawed. But here take some flour and New York water with you.They have this new cracker in Egypt called matzoh, maybe you can make it. It has no Levening. Bahahaha. The Jews guffawed again.
So the two hungry Jews went home and made something that looked a lot like cardboard.
One of the Jews chipped his tooth, but that was okay because the other Jew, (his friend) was a dentist.
This matzoh is tough.
Matzoh tough, yeah good luck with that.
Let me try.
Yeah Matzoh's tough. Good luck.
Still they thought this cardboard wasn't bad if they added some dead sea salt. Maybe tough to break, but something  that they still wanted to share with friends. They would just have to tell their friends that the matzoh was tough and good luck.
So each time the Jews gifted their friends with a box of this new matzoh, they would say, "matzoh tough, good luck". This later translated into Mazel Tov, which means good luck with the matzo.
It wasn't until like Zero A.D. that matzo became perforated, right around the same time thatJesus invented zip lock bags.

Matzoh Lasagna

Matzoh Lasagna up close and personal

Matzoh Lasagna Recipe

Approximately 1 box matzoh (any flavor) I used plain
20 oz ( I think) Hm marinara or in a pinch TJ's organic basics tomato sauce in can
2 cups broccoli (chopped)
2 C mushrooms
110 oz tofu drained and pressed
3 T nooch
1 8 oz. package of Shredded Daiya Mozzarella
T of oregano
canola oil spray or olive oil spray
sea salt
1 C H2O

Crumble the tofu in a bowl and add about 2 T of nooch and sea salt to taste. Set aside. Spray fry pan with oil and saute broccoli about 3 minutes, add mushrooms and saute about 2 more minutes. Remove from heat. Get out your 9x13 in. lasagna pan and some foil.
Ladle about 1/2 C marinara on bottom of lasagna pan. Layer with about 5 matzohs. Spread with tofu ricotta, then a layer of veggies and a about 1/4 C Daiya. Repeat with sauce....layering. Pour the H2O all over this baby in between the crevices too, (you don't want hard matzoh), then sprinkle with a little nooch and oregano. Cover with two overlapping layers of foil. Bake for about 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes til bubbly and you just can't wait.

 Two Desserts: Here Comes Trouble

PB Matzo Sandwich Cookie

3-4 Matzos preferably perforated
1/4 C chopped walnuts or peanuts
3-4 T PB
1/2 C dark cocoa
4 T coconut oil melted or in liquid form
1/4 C agave
Line cookie pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with canola oil. Combine coconut oil with agave. Stir then add cocoa powder. Stir until it gets thick. Set aside. Spread PB evenly between matzos. Sandwich together. Cut in even rectangle or squares. Brush both sides with chocolate mixture and sprinkle with nuts. Place in refrigerator or freeze until solid.


Matzo Chocolate Brittle

Make Chocolate the same as above, but ignore matzo perforations. Cover Matzoh sheet in chocolate and freeze. Break or cut into triangle and serve with your favorite vegan ice cream.

P.S. Can I have a bagel now?
A big thank you to my photographer today Mr. Crazy Boy :)

Free Time, Free Chocolate Shakes, Free Free Free!

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

Crackle Cookies and the Longest Contest in World History

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?

MoFo Day 31 Post 26 What Can I Say?!

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 12 Lookie Lookie Lookie Here Comes Snoozy

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 5 Veganizing Martha

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 Morning 1 Pie Jolt

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!

Random Acts of Randomness, Updated Giveaway and a New Recipe

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.

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

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!

For The Horseys!

After last week's jalopy hullabaloo I almost forgot to tell you something. I like to share the good stuff too, you know. Particularly when it comes to some shameless self promotion. There's always good if you look for it.

Veganville's PB Lover's Voopee romantically dubbed "PB and Chocolate Get Married" Voopee was chosen as one of Etsy's top five cookies of the week over at this delightful blog called Silverrose Designs.  Holly Westfall promotes other Etsian artists as well as her own beautiful shop, but I made this ...She does not make voopees. Maybe she does, most people do these days.

Holly hand crafted these stunning earrings though. I did not. It's hard to make jewelry when I'm making voopees.

Here is the coolest thing about the above jewelry.You get to support a great animal organization! 100% of the purchase price on these earrings goes to benefit Forever Morgans. FM's mission statement:
ForeverMorgans is an organization of volunteers whose purpose is to be a resource for Morgans in need, whether they are surrendered, rescued from shelters, auctions, kill buyers, or simply removed from potentially dangerous situations. ForeverMorgans wishes to open our virtual barn doors to all Morgans in need of safe and loving homes. We focus on registered Morgans but will consider unregistered Morgans on a case-by-case basis.

So gallop on over to Holly's Shop. You'll be doing a good deed, indeed! I'm done horsing around (oh, boy- sorry). Thank you Holly!

Experiment in the Kitsch Pre Rapture

I had a moment in the test kitchen yesterday. There is a reason they are called experiments. Do you know what an experiment is boys and girls? According to Webster an experiment is a method of testing - with the goal of explaining - the nature of reality. For reals. I'm working on Orange Uncrummy Muffins. Although delicious, (crazy Taurus man downed the whole tin), they are not ready to present to the world for some unexplainable reason. They need to be cosmetically tweaked- a little kitchen botox.

And now for some shameless self promotion... drumroll please. Check out the Veganville interview at Christine Murray's gorgeous blog called Kezia and Friends.
http://keziandfriends.blogspot.com/2011/05/veganville.html

While there take a gander at Michelle's handmade jewelry at her Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/maryanny143

I Love these! Just in case anybody missed my birthday ^ mid- April .

And as if that special feature wasn't enough excitement for one week, a treasury Veganville's Assorted Chocolate Voopee box is in made the front page of Etsy. That's big stuff! It's like having a commercial run during the Super Bowl, whatever that is.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4dd685e1d7906d9108f52797/no-lame-ties-for-dad-here?page=2#comments

It was created by the talented and whimsical and villainous Sinister Soaps. Vincent Price would be proud.
Here's just a sampling of Sinister's wares.  See you after the Rapture, my friend. Bahahaha.

New Kick Ass Chocolate Lover's Sample Box and Vegan Bake Sale

Greetings and Salutations from an undisclosed oven. Please don't confuse me with Sylvia Plath. Sorry, I'm getting a little punch drunk here. New goodies aboard. And in addition to our other nifty locations you can now find Veganville Muffins at Philz Coffee on Shattuck in Berkeley, and at Thyda's Thornhill Coffee House at 5772 Thornhill Drive in Oakland. Come check out our muffins and voopees. Yippekayay.

I had a special request from my buddy Hope (of the cool Blackbird and Peacock) for a "Chocolate Lover's Box" over at Etsy this week. Now why didn't I think of that before? We have a "PB Lover's Box" and a "Mint Lover's Box" and a "Sample Box" and a "Chocolate Voopee Assortment Box", but where was my head on that one? Yeah I know- probably in the oven. Sorry Sylvia. It includes Double Choc Choco Voppees, hunks of devil rich Sam Sam Loaf, Jumbo Chocolate Cupcakes and some Chocolate Mousse to boot. Or if you prefer some groovy Chocolate "Creme" Cheese frosting.

Did a vegan bakesale to raise funds for Animal Place this past weekend. Animal Place rescues abandoned and abused farm animals and does dynamic work.

The mastermind behind the sale is my pal, activist and jewelry and bath/body designer and (part-time bakesale baker) Roni Seabury from Daisywares. There were so many spectacular bakers. A big shout out to Yvonne Emanuel, Tiana Trutna, Dana Portnoy, Me, Raelene Coburn, Kelly Beth, Vanessa Morelan and Laura Etter for donating vegan baked goods to the Animal Place Bake Sale. And of course Roni for making those Mexican Wedding cookies that sold like vegan hotcakes!


People were generous and a big thanx goes out to Nature's Express for letting us use the space in front of their store. Mary Rose rocks. I got to sample their Salt Caramel frozen dessert. Freeze head prevailed but it's oh so good and worth every moment of my icy cerebrum! Everything sold out, well almost everything (there were a couple of lonesome carob muffins left). $602.00 was raised it would have been $604.00 but ahem ahem someone swiped a Chocolate Oatmeal Banana cookie and it ruled! I mean I heard it was quite good.

PB Swirl

9/10ths of the time I've got some gratitude going on. Even if I have to drum it up and eek it out. I'd rather be happy and dopey than a pitiful slug. A lot of people like to step on slugs. Vegans aren't even that fond of them. Not that we would intentionally step on anything. I won't even step on a crack because I don't want my mom to suffer.
The 1/10th part- you know, the grimacing gastropod part hit me upside the head this week. It all started with an honest mistake. I sent out caved in cupcakes. I tried covering the offending grand canyon cakes with mounds of icing. The client wouldn't have it. Of course I replaced them, apologized profusely and offered them a free trip to Arizona. Water under the bridge, as they say. Lalalala. I let it go and moved on. It's not good to stress. So I mosied over to my Etsy account. Yep I'm in treasuries everyday, but the sales are bupkus this week. In an effort to make myself feel better I decided to check out other vegan bakers sites to see if perhaps their sales were down too. I consoled myself with, "oh well maybe it's a slow week".  350 sales on one vegan baker's site and 450 at Megaprettyvegan's online account. I just wanted to clear my 60 sales this week.  I tried to let it go. I really did. And just when I was thinking of packing in all my cupcake liners, blue icing and Swedish fish I received a convo on my Etsy account. Nope it didn't make me richer, or even get me past 60 Etsy sales but somehow it kept me at this baking gig for one more day. Here is the letter and our correspondence. Thank You Bakado!


Hi there,

I get mine (pb lovers voopee) at catahoula coffee in Richmond, I'm using them for motivation while training -they are my "cheat" meal (I'm assuming somewhere around 600 kcal for a whole pie) and plan my day's meals accordingly. So far it's been working - down 20 lbs with 5 to go. So thank you for making these pies.
Only problem - is they are too popular at catahoula lately, and I haven't been able to get one for at least a week and a half - and I am feinding FEINDING I tell you!
I would order through easy but the danger of a 6 pack of these sitting on my freezer ( they freeze well right?) scares the dickens out of me - as at least having to get to catahoula stops me from eating these every day of the week.
So please, please please I beg of you - deliver more to catahoula - you can always complain to me via email if they aren't moving and I will make sure everyone I know gets some...
Thank you for your time and voopies
~ ~
Hi Bakadoh (ha ha)
Thanks for your nifty letter of PB Love. If you are picking up this message now 1:45 Friday some Fresh PB voopees should be in your local Catahoula by 2:00 today. I just sent some out.
PB in a jar often calls my name from an undisclosed location, so I can understand your voopee in the house predicament. They do freeze well, by the way. But A freezer never stopped anybody!
Down 20 pounds, that's terrific. What are you training for? You can always order a batch to bring to a friends (just convo me) and I can drop them off at Catahoula sans shipping of course. I'm not sure about the caloric content, but be assured the calories are much less than a whopper, a better source of protein and cruelty free.
Would you mind if I used your letter on my blog today?

Run don't walk to Catahoula now.

Thank you again. Always happy to motivate. (I'm an ex-athlete and coach)
Keep pedaling.

GiGi
Head Honcho of Veganville
~ ~ ~
Of course you can use my letter in your blog. I'm at catahoula right now - buying three... But I love how many there are here.

I won't bore you with my life story - but I'm training to see how fit I can be. Even when I was body building many years ago I never was able to get under 190 for very long. Now I'm hovering between 180 and 177 steadily losing since January 31st.
Sorry chocolate all over my iPhone from the vooper... I'm good for another week- I'm going to try to addict two people for you today, by sharing.
I love your idea for drop ship at catahoula

In honor of the lovely letter I received I am creating a PB Lovers Box that will include PB Voopees, Vanilla Cupcake with PB frosting and PB Swirl Brownies. 60 Etsy sales here we come.

Wanna add some swirl to your brownie now? Make your fave brownie batter and place in prepared pan. In a separate bowl make the PB mixture.
Mix together:
2/3 C PB
2 T canola oil
2 T organic powder sugar

Place dollops of PB mixture on the panned batter. Swirl with knife. Bake according to your favorite brownie recipe directions. Feel free to write me a very nice letter.