new cookbooks galore!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again- sometimes it's nice to get paid completely in cookbooks! The holidays are usually a big time for new titles to release, and this year has been especially good for vegans who love a good cookbook. Here's one of the titles I've picked up so far this month:

500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman



I'm already a fan of recipes from these ladies. Celine with her recipe-filled blog Have Cake Will Travel, and Joni from Just The Food and the author of one of my favorite comfort food cookbooks, Cozy Inside. I've barely scratched the surface of this huge recipe collection. 500 Recipes is no joke, especially for only $19.95. I was disappointed to see that none of Celine's gorgeous food photography made it into the book, though I have a feeling this was to help keep the cover price reasonable. I hope the publisher goes for color images with these gal's next title, at least.

But the recipes are what's important, you know. And there are a shit-ton of them in 500 Vegan Recipes. From sweet to savory, easy to more complex, everything you could possibly want is included within. They even have a whole chapter on my favorite food category, Faux Meats! You thought I was gonna say Desserts, didn't you? Well, there's plenty of that, too. I had a chance to try the Laurel and Hardy Peanut Fauxsage recipe, and it was super easy to make. It's basically baked seitan, rolled into a sausage shape. So tasty and economical.


Also from the Faux Meat chapter I had a chance to make the Black Bean Grillers. These are truly phenomenal burgers. Ken really went crazy for them, too. Unfortunately, we devoured them before I could get a photo. But I'm sure you can imagine what a great vegan burger looks like. Again, another easy and economical recipe. Store bought veggie burgers can cost as much as $6.99 per box of four! And they are never as good as homemade.

We also tried the Cauliflower Pasta Crisp from 500 Vegan Recipes. The sauce was nice and creamy thanks to blended cauliflower, and kind of reminded me of hummus with the addition of tahini, olive oil, cumin and paprika. Much different from the typical Italian style pasta dishes. Plus, it was topped with a ton of bread crumbs. Can't go wrong there. This was hard to take a good picture of, but trust me, it was delish.



I'm looking forward to cooking more from 500 Vegan Recipes soon. I have my eye on some other yummy-sounding recipes like Crispy Coconut Tempeh Nuggets, Enchilada Casserole, Pumpkin Spinach Ravioli, Savory Tomato Olive Muffins, Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, Peanut Butter Blondies, and more.

Later next week, I'll bore you with my take on two new dessert cookbooks, one you have heard of, and another you might not know about. See you then?

how many times can one person eat in a day?

Ken and I took a whirlwind, 1.5 day trip to New York City last weekend to attend a lovely vegan wedding. Matt and Danielle got hitched on Friday the 13th, and their wedding was a blast!

We ate lots of yummy food at the wedding...

mushroom soup



mushroom & eggplant lasagna



pastry cup with fruit and whipped cream



wedding cake and groom's cake, courtesy of Vegan Treats





The groom's cake was my favorite treat of the evening, with it's vegan cream cheese frosting and red velvet innards. So tasty.

Food related things got really crazy for us on Saturday though, our only full day in NYC. We started off the morning with brunch at Counter along with a group of friends. Though we had been to Counter once a few years ago and really liked it, our experience this time was kind of meh. We were with a big group, but my food came out almost an hour later than everyone else's food. And all I ordered was a tofu scramble with toast! I did not complain about the wait, but the restaurant comp'd my meal anyway. I thought that was a nice gesture, considering the circumstances. Here's Ken's plate of multi grain pancakes with a pile of boring fruit compote that tasted like it had been sitting in a lemon juice bath for too long:



After leaving Counter, we walked around the city for an hour or so before making our way over to Lula's Sweet Apothecary, and all vegan ice cream parlor. This was all I wanted for my birthday, a visit to Lula's. But what to get? A malt, a vegan egg cream, a sundae, a cone? Cake batter soft serve or rocky road? So many choices! I finally decided on a hot fudge sundae, made with rocky road and vanilla, topped with peanuts, whipped cream and hot fudge. Heavenly. Simply heavenly. And how cute is that spoon? It looks like a little shovel, which is kinda fitting.



Lula's has a really nice ambiance. The Lula's folks have managed to create a really cozy atmosphere with nice, old timey touches in spite of their tiny little spot. It was hard for me to take photos in there as it was pretty crowded, but here's a couple.





After our awesome trip to Lula's, we enjoyed the city with friends for a few more hours, then just happened by Babycakes. I swear, I wasn't even looking for Babycakes. Vegan baked goods just find me. So here we are, stuffed from eating a big-ass sundae, yet I find myself stepping into another tiny yet adorable vegan sweets shop, money in fist.



I walked out with two little sweets for Ken and I to enjoy for breakfast on Sunday before our plane trip back home. Here's a pancake flavored bundt cake and a banana caramel bundle. Both of these treats were melt-in-mouth awesome. I have heard mixed reviews about Babycakes, so I was really happy to have chosen the right stuff on my visit. A couple of perfect little bites:



After hitting a bookstore and just wandering around pretending to not be tourists, we met up with more friends at a pizza place called Pala. We weren't even close to being hungry, yet we soon found ourselves sharing some vegan pizza topped with Daiya Vegan Cheese. How can we turn down Daiya pizza? We can't! Plus, we were planning on heading out to an event called Veggie Conquest, which we knew had a dessert challenge. So we didn't know if we would have a chance to eat non-dessert food for the rest of the night. Boy, was I wrong. But more on that later. Here's our candlelit, vegan pizza from Pala, topped with Daiya Italian, Field Roast sausage, asparagus, and some other stuff I don't remember:



After eating more than we had planned, we then took a taxi to another eating extravaganza, Veggie Conquest! We were really excited to find out that the monthly Veggie Conquest event was taking place the same weekend we were in NYC. If you haven't heard of Veggie Conquest, it's a vegan food cooking challenge, with a hint of Iron Chef to it. Here's the description from the Veggie Conquest website:

Veggie Conquest is a monthly amateur vegan cooking competition. Before the event, chefs prepare a dish at home based on a secret ingredient revealed a week in advance. At the event, judges and tasters choose the top dish, prizes are awarded, and everyone chows down and has a great time!

We found out that the secret ingredient was cranberries, and the dishes were supposed to be dessert. And the contestants really went all out, too. All of the dishes were amazing.



Ken, Kevin and Laura waiting for the food to start flowing:



Our note card and number, in preparation for the taster's choice award:



The judges table, with pastry chef and cookbook author Fran Costigan, vegan baker and creator of veganbaking.net Mattie Hagedorn, and cookbook author Sharon Valecik.



Here's Jessica, who is the creator of the amazing Veggie Conquest, with Joshua Katcher, aka The Discerning Brute, who was the emcee for the evening.



I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of the wonderful food at Veggie Conquest! Everything was going so fast and fun, that I forgot the official blogger's motto: "pictures or it didn't happen."

You know what else happened? After the fun dessert challenge at Veggie Conquest, they served a full meal of savory food. Jeezus. Everything was so good, and I couldn't believe I was still eating after the gustatory day we already participated in.

The good thing is, we didn't die of overindulgence. I guess my usual heavy training regime of cookie eating really served me well in this case. This was truly the fastest 1.5 days of my life. And a memorable birthday, too! I turned 35, by the way. Yay.

I feel a detox coming on soon.

seeking simplicity.

The past few months have been quite a challenge for delicate little me. Lots of work, travel, and personal stuff has kept me in the habit of unhealthy food choices, not enough sleep, and lots of nail biting. But I am destined to get back on track, and I'm going to get back to the gym as soon as this lingering cold is gone!

Breakfast doesn't get much simpler than the image above. Store bought soy yogurt topped with some freeze dried pomegranate seeds is sweet, a little sour, and full of probiotics and antioxidants. I need to get with the program and try my hand at making homemade soy yogurt sometime. It is pretty funny that, in order to make your own yogurt, you have to buy some store bought yogurt. We recently saw David Cross live, and he called making yogurt with yogurt cheating. Heh.

So, what are your favorite ways to satisfy a craving simply and healthfully?


Okay, different subject entirely. In fact, Vegan Treats is the opposite of simple and healthy. Other adjectives come to mind, like decadent and crazy. Ken and I were working at the Boston Vegetarian Festival last weekend, and we were surrounded by vegan sweets of all kinds. Pennsylvania-based Vegan Treats is a luxury we rarely get to indulge in, so it almost made me pass out when I walked up on this:



An army of vegan sweets! Donuts! Fancy little cakes! Jeezus, I can hardly stand it. We tried not to go crazy, but we did get some things. Like a Boston Cream donut for Ken:



And a miniature cheesecake, topped with brownie chunks:



A mini Peanut Butter Bomb:



And a lil' Tiramisu:



Whew. Those folks sure know how to rock a vegan's world.

Most of what we did in Boston was work-related. He's a couple of nerds in matching shirts:




But we did manage to get out on our first night in Boston to try the newly remodeled, renamed, and all-around new 100% vegan pizza place called Peace O' Pie. We arrived just in time to this tiny little gem in Allston, as the place was filled elbow to elbow about 20 minutes later. We stared off our meal with the house salad, which was a fresh mix of greens topped with walnuts and cranberries. A balsamic dressing served on the side rounded it all out.



Then came the pie. We chose a pizza called The MD, which was an array of herb-roasted onions, zucchini, and vegan apple sage sausage. We upgraded to Daiya vegan cheese from the default Vegan Gourmet. This pizza was warm, gooey, and oh-so-good!



Our only complaint about the pizza at Peace O' Pie, and this is really just a preference and not a real complaint, is Ken and I both would have preferred a thicker crust. The crust wasn't thin enough to be called thin crust, but not thick enough to really remind us of restaurant-style pizza. But the crust was a great texture and tasted fabulous, so it's still well worth the cost of dinner. Peace O' Pie also had fresh, house-made baked goods available. We purchased several peanut butter topped sweet rolls for breakfast the next day, and they really hit the spot. No pictures of those though, sorry!

Here's the crust up close and personal:



After the fest on Saturday night, we headed out to dinner with friends at Vej Naturals. This place comes highly recommended by our friends who live in Boston, and we were happy to try it for ourselves. The menu was short and sweet, and apparently the selections change frequently. Ken ordered the pot pie with puff pastry crust, which we found to be simple and comforting, without too much fuss:



I decided on the Seitan Daube, a tasty herb-infused seitan in wine sauce, served over mashed potatoes. This dish hit the spot, though the flavors were a bit mild for my taste. However, I was coming down with a cold, so my taste could have been dulled from that, too. I would order this again, for sure:



The staff at Vej Naturals were super friendly and warm, and the company was good. I have to say though, this restaurant is tiny. Not cozy in a nice way, but tiny in an uncomfortable way. Far, far too small for more than two people. Especially if you like privacy when you dine. BUT. According to a sign on their door, Vej Natuarls is moving to a new location soon, so I'm sure that will clear up this one issue. Do check them out if you ever make it to Boston!

Our trip to Boston was short, busy, and full of good times. But now I am ready to chill out for a week or so, before our whirlwind trip to New York City next weekend. We are going to NYC for a friend's wedding, but it's also my birthday weekend! Woo, vegan ice cream parlors, Veggie Conquest, and more! Will somebody get me off this ride? I'm feeling kinda woozy.