The Radioactive Vegan

I've topped Everest.

2012-01-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

I remember the first time I saw the Windows game Minesweeper. I was at a friend's house (hey-o, Katie Q), and her dad was playing some boring-looking game on his computer. While he explained it to me, little did I know how this game would taunt me for the next fifteen years. I started with the easy mode, just 10 mines in a small field .. no problem (in fact, I once won this level in 0 seconds by choosing the exact right square to start on. Of course, my mom deleted my score .. but it still stands! oh, how it stands.)! Over the years, I slowly worked my way through the levels, forgetting about my mission to sweep the mines for a long time (months, even years) then suddenly wanting to try my hand at it again. And so it went, over and over. All that time, though, I never mastered the "expert" level -- 99 MINES! Well, folks, I'm here to tell you that it can be done.

* To have accomplished so much at so young an age *

And done again.

* And then to have done it twice ... Is there nothing this girl can't do! *

Thank you, thank you. I will be accepting accolades and awards for the next week or so to commemorate this accomplishment. (Yes, each game took more than 10 minutes to win .. but what better way could I have spent those ten minutes? I ask you, what better way!)

Only adults can really appreciate snow days

2012-01-22T14:48:00.000-08:00

Last week, it started snowing Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, I left my house intending to go to work, but only made it about a mile before I was too worried about the roads to continue on; I returned home hoping to figure out what to do from there. At 11:00, work let out because of poor road conditions, and the lab remained closed on both Thursday and Friday. As a kid, I didn't get a lot of snow days, but I know I wouldn't have appreciated them nearly as much as I did the three days I had off last week. I accomplished some serious lounging in those few days (and a bit of work, too).

* I got about 5 inches of snow on my patio *

* This is as far out as I got for almost three days *

Luckily, I picked up my half of a CSA box on Tuesday evening, so I had plenty of good veggies. I lucked across this post by TofuMom on the first day of my captivity. She gives a basic recipe for an excellent-looking split pea soup, and it seemed just perfect for a blustery snow-covered day. I had to use yellow split peas, because that's what I had on hand. I also used onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, turnips, and garlic. Before serving, I stirred in a good amount of spinach and let it cook a bit. This soup is so easy and delicious, it doesn't even need much in the way of spices - I only used salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to season mine.

*A little ray of sunshine during an otherwise cloudy few days *

I enjoyed a big pot of this soup for most of the meals I spent at home; on Friday afternoon, I ventured out to the grocery to try to get a few more staples (and mostly to relieve a bit of cabin fever). Most of the streets in Richland were cleared, but for some reason the streets in my neighborhood haven't been plowed or cleared at all. So most of the drive is fine -- the last quarter mile, however, is quite a doozy.

Last week, I never would have guessed I'd say this, but I'm ready to get back to work tomorrow! Hopefully I can wind my way back to a main road with minimal slipping and sliding.

They like me! They really like me!

2012-01-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

I understand that the Golden Globes were on last night. I didn't watch them, because I haven't seen many movies in the last year; I'd really have no idea what they were talking about. But I'm here to tell you that I have recently won a much more prestigious award! I was recently contacted by the good people at VegOnline.org for a MAJOR AWARD! It didn't come in a box marked fragile, but the gleam of electric sex emanating from my computer is just as compelling.

Vegetarian

On a slightly-related note, I celebrated my veganniversary two Sundays ago (January 8, for anyone keeping track). I'm looking at five years of eating vegan, and I've loved every minute of it. I have often thought, over the last five years, that I would get a celebratory vegan tattoo for this milestone. (Actually, I've been thinking of getting a tattoo since the moment I got my last one .. it really is an addiction.) I'm waffling on this decision now, wondering if I should put it off until a later date for several reasons. (1) I don't have any good tattoo-artist recommendations where I live now (and I have once made the mistake of walking into a tattoo parlor blind to just get tatted. It turned out okay the first time, but not fantastic. I definitely need some touch-up work.) (2) Relatedly, I don't know of any vegan tattoo artists in the area. Wouldn't it be dumb to get a vegan-tattoo with non-vegan ink? And, perhaps most importantly, (3) I have no idea what I'd get or where I'd get it! I'm open for suggestions - does anyone have any fantastic ideas for vegan tattoos and/or locations? Please note that, while I love body art, I don't think my job is particularly forgiving of it (nor would it be for many years), so any location I ink should be easily covered by normal clothes.

Mrs. Frisby had the right idea

2011-12-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

* source *

I don't know about you, but I spend the better part of my day listening to NPR streaming at work. I'd rather be doing work, but that's a (long, foul-mouthed) rant for another day. Last Friday, I heard this great story on Morning Edition: rats will stop to help out their caged rat-buddies (and further coverage on Science Friday - how much do I love Ira Flatow?*)!! The conclusion of the researchers was that rats are empathetic, perhaps even moreso than people (that is my own conclusion). Even when chocolate is on the line, rats will stop to help another trapped rat. I have to say, I might not be so considerate in the face of such an offer.

What, if anything, do you think this new study tells us about empathy and altruism in other animals? I can see arguments for both sides. Perhaps it is not empathy at all, but just a primal instinct to protect your species (survival of the whole group, not just the individual). If that is true and the rat's intentions are neither noble nor honorable, does it really matter? Whose to say that, at our basest level, our acts of humanity are driven by anything greater?

* The answer: Almost as much as I love Ira Glass. Seriously, how did NPR get all the good Iras?

my shorts are animated

2011-10-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

I spent a good bit of today at the Tri-Cities International Fantastic Film Festival (TCIF3). I don't have much to report, but I will point out some highlights from the animated shorts category:

Pigeon Impossible

The Passenger

And, the best short of the day (in my opinion), Fallen Art (warning: pretty macbre):

Having naan of it.

2011-10-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I made an Indian feast, complete with garlic naan. I made enough dough for eight naan, but only cooked two of them. I divvied up the leftover dough into six equal portions and frozen them so that I can have naan, no muss no fuss, whenever I want it! Well, not exactly whenever, because it does have to defrost ... but still with significantly less effort than normal. This morning I thought I might want a naan tonight, so I stuck a portion in the fridge to defrost while I was at work. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to eat, but naan pretty much always sounds good.

Fast forward to this afternoon, I was finally cleaning out my fridge (a chore I think I should do this weekend every Friday ... and every Monday I think oh, maybe next weekend) and wondering what I should have for dinner when I realized I had an awful lot of pizza toppings -- mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, olives, red onion relish, daiya, tomato sauce ... it was so obvious! Luckily, naan has basically the same ingredients as pizza dough -- flour, water, yeast, salt -- so there was no need to worry about the crust, and no reason to not enjoy some naan. If you haven't figured it out yet, I made naan pizza! This naan made for a delicious, thin and crispy crust. And the mixed in garlic just made it all the better.

I have five naans left in my freezer. I'm sure a few more of them will become personal pizzas ... but what else could I do with naan dough? Ideas?

I eat stuff.

2011-10-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've been getting two ears of corn a week for probably the last five weeks. I definitely enjoy corn, but, with all the other vegetables in my CSA boxes, it has been completely ignored. I've even had to throw out several ears because they completely dried out -- a cardinal sin of CSA shares. But all that changed tonight! I finally got around to eating some corn. Here's the first ear I shucked all summer:

* I don't know what that odd black kernel is, but I can tell
you it wasn't particularly edible *

The farmer at The Fruit and Berry Patch has told me many times of his amazing sweet corn -- corn so sweet and tender, you don't even have to cook it. In fact, every time I've been there, he's told me of the woman he refused to sell corn to because she intended to boil it for twenty minutes ... Elizabeth knows what I'm talking about ;)

So I thought I would try this corn pre-cooking, just to check. This is some sweet, tender corn, but not quite sweet enough to eat raw. Just about five minutes in some boiling water made it perfect, though. You might notice that I ate the half with the wonky kernel ... Well, I was curious. Turns out it wasn't ripe. I ate all around it and then poked the kernel for a while until I determined it wasn't really set for eating. Now we all know.

I had a huge plate of food to go with my corn. Clockwise from corn: dilly beans from Kat, yellow tomatoes (from my CSA), greens cooked with tomatoes and apple cider vinegar (from my CSA), and mixed beans. Kat very kindly gave me a lot of canned goods when I moved from Knoxville, and these dilly beans were among them. They are seriously delicious, and I've been parceling them out all summer. I'm sad to say that I'm down to my last serving or two of beans. If you've ever thought about making dilly beans - do it. Then send me a jar!

* This might look like a lot of food. It is.
I couldn't eat it all, but it was all delicious *

On an unrelated note, I forgot to share my first visitor in my new home. This guy was here to greet me even before the movers brought my stuff (ended up being a day before, but that's a whole 'nother story). I took it as a sign of good luck. After snapping a few photos to commemorate his visit, I returned him to the wild outdoors.

* Don't be jealous, but I had a gentleman caller *

Who was your first guest in a new home?

Because I'm a grown up, dammit.

2011-10-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

So, as it turns out, I'm a grown up, for all intents and purposes. Are you looking for evidence? Exhibit A: I pay all my bills. And there are a lot of them. This isn't anything new; I've been paying my bills for ten years, but I think it bears mentioning all the same. And what do I use to pay those bills? Exhibit B: The money from my legitimate job that I do at least forty hours a week. And somedays I even really hate my job, just like a real grown up. Also, Exhibit C: another living thing depends on me to live and has successfully done so for the last nine years.

If you still aren't convinced, just consider Exhibit D: I can eat whatever kind of crap I want for dinner, and no one can say boo about it. Sure, I normally eat nutrient-dense, well-balanced meals. But every once in a while, I realize that I have the ability to eat a super pretzel with a side of dijon mustard for dinner, just like kid-Jamie always wanted to. And on those days, I feel quite grown up. Sometimes you just have to pander to your inner child to really realize how grown up you are.

* A nice merlot is the correct wine to pair with
a super pretzel, in case you were wondering *

What does your inner child wish you would eat for dinner?

Things are getting serious

2011-10-15T15:13:00.001-07:00

I read this morning that the world supply of chocolate may be in serious danger in the next few decades because of projected increases in world temperature. Expected increases of just 2* C (3.6* F) over the next forty years will make it too hot to grow cocoa in many parts of the world. First the peanut butter, and now the chocolate? We need to get some serious science going before these predictions become realities. Start brainstorming!

My humps, my humps

2011-10-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Normally, I don't use the term "Hump Day". I also, as a general rule, don't say TGIF, unless I'm referring to the great 90s television lineup. But today is Vegan MoFo Hump Day, and that seems worth mentioning!

To celebrate being half-way through MoFo, vegan extraordinaire Leslie Hall has provided us with an original song. I'm not sure how to load it directly here, or if I even can, so here are the lyrics:

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!

* Click through to hear the song! *

How do you feel about the colloquialism "hump day"? Also, has anyone asked you if you were "working hard or hardly working"? Did you smack him, even just a little?

Also, many thanks to Kittee for organizing a Hump Day Flash Mob!

It's a mish-mash

2011-10-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

I'm still battling with a huge backlog of CSA vegetables; last weekend I found a huge stash a peppers (of various kinds) and eggplant. What to do? Try my hand at ajvar, of course! I started with this recipe, which I first saw on Katie's old blog (now she's blogging here). The original recipe calls for a lot of red bell peppers and eggplants. I had the eggplants set, but I was a little all over the place on the peppers. I used a mix of red, green, purple, yellow, and white bell peppers, jalapenos, sweet italian peppers, and some random small, sweet red peppers that were in my CSA box. I roasted all of them, peeled them, and threw them in. My dip ended up pretty spicy, but still delicious. I got about four and a half cups; most of it went into jars in the freezer for a later day. I've eaten most of the rest on fresh veggies and crackers, but I also used some as a makeshift pasta sauce. It worked wonders in a pinch. Here I have a plate of whole wheat spaghetti, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and boca topped with a healthy dollop of ajvar. It was a great twist on traditional marinara sauce.

* Yummy mess of stuff *

I still have some eggplants left. I'm thinking about giving eggplant bacon a try, but I'm open to suggestions. What's your favorite way to eat eggplant?

Julie - Don't look!

2011-10-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

So this is not really vegan-specific, but it's too adorable to not talk about! My good friend Julie is pregnant! She's been talking about it on facebook for quite a while, so I assume it's okay to announce here as well. Julie, if you're reading, then stop! You don't want to ruin the surprise that's coming to you and Ellie.

Pregnancy is nothing new to Julie, but I haven't been the best about getting presents to her for all her offspring. I saw this adorable baby sleeping shirt pattern on Oiyi's blog, and knew it would be perfect. I made this one in a very nice 100% cotton. It's actually a really pretty pink color, not a weird orangy color. If I have a chance before I mail it off, I'll get a picture in the sunlight that might show the color better.

* I promise it's a pretty color *

It's practically finished. For how adorable it is, the whole thing worked up pretty quickly. I just have a tiny bit of one sleeve left and then to get some buttons for the other sleeve. In fact, it would be done already if I could lay my hands on the size four double point needles that I *know* I own ... Maybe I just made that up, though. So the whole thing could be done in two days if you're better prepared than I, even for a slow knitter like me. I'll admit that the honeycomb was a little finicky, and there are a few errors in there ... but hopefully Ellie won't be too judgey about that :)

* I resisted the urge to try to put this on Lilly;
I want her to keep loving me *

I love making gifts for my friends' kiddos; it feels so much more personal, even though I imagine they would probably like a million more diapers just as much. What are your go-to gifts when you find out a friend is expecting?

You can pick your friends ...

2011-10-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

And you can pick your fruit ... and you can probably pick your friend's fruit, if you really want to. One of my favorite things in Knoxville was going to the Fruit and Berry Patch to pick fresh strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples ... Before I moved, Elizabeth and I picked a huge pile of delicious, perfectly ripe strawberries to make jam (watch for that coming another day!).

When I got to Richland, I looked for similar you-pick farms. There didn't seem to be a whole lot, but I did find Ray French Orchard, which has all kinds of things growing on trees (hence being an orchard, I know ... ). I've been three or four times this year, and I'm hoping to go back when some more apples are ready to pick.

I got to go for the last day of Rainier Cherries, and I got a HUGE bag of them for just $1.25 a pound -- a steal of a deal compared to the price at a grocery store. Most of these went straight into my tummy, though some were canned with vanilla and some were made into jam.

* Rainier Cherries for super cheap! *

Another time, Elizabeth and a friend of hers from the lab joined me for some donut peach-picking. They have some great baskets for picking into that strap right onto your chest. I think we had the harnesses on backward, but they still worked. At least, they work if you are six feet tall, like Elizabeth ...

* Donut Peaches *

They work slightly less if you are not even 5'2" like me ... it was hitting me somewhere near my knees. But the peaches were delicious enough to make up for it!

* I'm too short for most things *

Between this you-pick orchard and my weekly CSA, I haven't wanted for much in the way of produce here. If only I could find a damned green tomato, I would be set!

Return of the Killer Tomatoes!

2011-10-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

Two summers ago, I tried to grow some tomato plants outside my apartment in Knoxville. I got the plants from a very kind woman on freecycle, who was getting rid of some volunteers. Eventually, I had to begrudgingly admit that my apartment got zero sunlight and was unsuitable for growing much of anything. This summer, my patio was bathed in sunlight, and I was lucky enough to find another generous freecycler with volunteers to give away.

* I got four tomato plants of initially unknown variety *

* They all turned out to be yellow pear tomatoes *

I've had some bursts of tomatoes all summer long. Usually, across all four plants, five or ten will be ripe at a time, which isn't a lot when you're talking about tiny tomatoes.

* Sometimes they try to hide in the back *

* They are pretty much the size of grape tomatoes,
but yellow and much tastier *

* This is a normal day's harvest *

Nothing much happened for almost a month. Plenty of tomatoes were growing, but they were all staying green. I started to think they'd never ripen, and I was planning what I could do with possibly a hundred small green tomatoes. But, then, a few days ago, a lot of tomatoes just decided to turn yellow over night. And this is what happened:

* This was one day's harvest,
getting some final sun in the kitchen window. *

It looks like I won't have an unripe tomato problem after all. I may have a crazy tomato problem, though ...

Getting that perfect drizzle

2011-10-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today, I'm going to share with you one of the very few things I learned at my second legitimate job, working at a mall cookie shop: making a delicious chocolate drizzle. I worked at this job for approximately a year when I was 16, and, like all crap high school jobs, it was an experience. I won't get into the ins and outs of mall work just now, because I imagine you had to be there for most of it to make any sense at all. I'll just show you this amazing drizzle of chocolate and the super simple way to get it without even thinking about a double boiler.

* You could drizzle chocolate on most anything,
and it would be better. *

You only need a few simple things here: a plastic bag, a cup, some chocolate chips, scissors, and, of course, something to drizzle onto. Note that this method is proven 100% effective for drizzling straight into your mouth, so feel free to go that way if you wanted to.

First: put some chocolate in a plastic baggie. Here I have about 40 chocolate chips, which was enough to drizzle onto eight muffins. You can do the exact same thing with a bar of chocolate, chunks, bakers chocolate -- pretty much anything.

Get a cup with some hot water in it. I usually just put some water in a glass and microwave it for about 90 seconds. Dunk the closed baggie of chocolate in the water and let it sit there for a few minutes.

* It's starting to get melty *

It's done when you can pull the bag out and squish all the chocolate without feeling any hard pieces.

* This chocolate is drizzle-ready *

Snip a very small bit off the corner ...

And get ready to drizzle!

Drizzle till your little heart bursts with happiness!

Super easy, super fast, and I have eight lovely drizzled muffins in no time.

In case you're interested in full disclosure, these muffins are a veganized version of the egg-free chocolate-banana loaf from Vegetarian Times. It's an easy veganization: I just replaced the buttermilk with a mixture of soymilk and apple cider vinegar. I used three smallish mashed bananas but didn't measure them. I got 14 muffins total (in really fantastic Halloween wrappers). These are some delicious muffins; they aren't too sweet, and the chocolate drizzle on top really gives them a nice kick of flavor.

Does anyone else have an easy shortcut for things like drizzling chocolate?

If anyone is interested in other things I learned at the cookie store: Use cookie scoops -- they are super awesome! All kinds of things can go on in an walk-in freezer that you do not want to walk in on or be privy to. Also, I am not meant to be in charge of a group of high school students, at least not while I was also a high schooler.

Attack of the Mary Kay Commandos!

2011-10-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

I don't really have a legitimate post tonight because I spent the evening at ... a Mary Kay party! It was super fun, and I had a great time. But it pretty much took my entire evening, so there was no epic dinner made or anything. I did bake cookies to take with me, and they seemed like a big hit. I made the Chocolate-Chocolate Chip-Walnut Cookies (pg 236) from Veganomicon but without the walnuts, because you never know about nut allergies. So they were just Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies, but they seemed well-received. The young lady of the house made a bee-line for one. And they will be in the lunchroom at my work tomorrow, if anyone wants to swing by to get one.

* Oh, Opus. You're just the best *

To keep this post at least vaguely mofo-related, I can announce the big winner of the Quick-Fix Vegan giveaway! Out of 24 comments, the big winner is .... comment 17! Congratulations, ~Cee~. I sent you an email, but if you don't see it, send me a message with your mailing address and I'll get it off to the good people at Andrews McMeel Publishing.

I'm terribly sorry to the 23 people who didn't win, but you should definitely look into this book. Buy it, borrow it, or get it from your local library! You won't be disappointed.

Everything is better in day-glo colors

2011-10-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I'm taking a break from leftover Indian food to eat ... some different leftovers! I was feeling a little under the weather last week (in a way that mostly just made me super tired all day and not so much sick), and all I wanted to eat was soup. You might recall that I have a hundred cookbooks or so, and you might think that I would turn to any of them to get a feel-good-soup recipe. But I try to keep the mystery alive by doing the unexpected. In my sleepy haze, I decided to just wing it. Here's a picture of my soup. Take a moment to think about what might be in there before you scroll down for the rest of the story.

* The color makes you feel better before you even eat it! *

So, write down what you think is in the soup and see if you were right. That's okay; I'll wait for you to get that crayon and scribble it out. Here's a video to watch while you make your list. It's related, because pink soup is super manly.

Okay, enough suspense. I have a (so far) foolproof method for making comforting soup when you don't want to think about it: Pull all the best vegetables out of your fridge. Scrub those veggies. Roughly chop them. Dump them in a pot with a good bit of water or broth. Bring to a boil and then simmer for a long, long time. Cook it until everything is soft. Now comes the magic: blend that shiz. Blend it good. If you have an immersion blender, this is the time to bust it out. I've followed this exact method with countless combinations of vegetables, and it's really never been bad. The soup you see above has in it: potatoes, bell peppers, beets, onion, broccoli, carrots, celery, garlic, zucchini, spinach, and black and pinto beans. I may have also thrown in the kitchen sink ... it's hard to say. It was pure luck that it blended into that fantastic color. It's okay to be amazed, but try to not drool on your shirt.

Okay, last plug: if you haven't already, enter to win Quick-Fix Vegan by Robin Robertson. The giveaway closes tomorrow at 9pm PDT (midnight EDT).

Keeping up with MoFo

2011-10-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

It's day four of Vegan MoFo, and I'm already slacking off. I'm sorry, guys, but this has been a bitch of a day. Luckily, there was something to look forward to: CSA pickup! This is my CSA, in case anyone is interested. I've said it before, and I'll repeat it -- the CSA is awesome. For just $18 a week, I get a ton of fresh, mostly organic produce. Here you can see this week's delivery. Some of it is hard to see, so let me elaborate, roughly clockwise from noon: jalapenos, tomatoes, small (purely decorative, I think) pumpkins, bok choy, arugula, zucchini (in the middle of the table? I'm guessing ... they look a little strange), cilantro, sweet corn, eggplants (both purple and white), radishes, and dinosaur kale. Yes, all of that for only $18!

* Lilly approves this produce *

So, looking at these things, what would you make? I'm looking for some delicious ideas!

PS - Today is my half birthday. To celebrate, enter here to win a copy of Quick-Fix Vegan, which is hot off the presses today!

The many ways I humiliate tomatoes

2011-10-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

You might be able to guess what I'm having for dinner tonight (and lunch earlier ... and lunch tomorrow and possibly dinner, too). That's right, leftover Indian food. Since I don't have any new food to show you today, I figured I'd dig through my old photos file. While it's true that I haven't been blogging much since my westward expansion, it is also true that I've been taking pictures of everything all the same. Lucky for me, because now when I cook one night, I have to eat the same thing a few meals in a row. It'll save you all from photos of my leftovers during MoFo. You're welcome ;)

I have a great CSA here in Richland. I've posted about my awesome hauls a few times. I love getting all the produce, but I simply cannot get through a full box in a week. I try to eat the things that will go bad, so that I'm at least throwing away a minimum of stuff. I've done some canning with some of it, which I'll talk about later this month (watch for that! it'll be good stuff). A few weeks ago, I found myself with almost three weeks worth of tomatoes, and no way to eat them all in the face of getting even more tomatoes in a few days. I primarily had roma tomatoes, but not nearly enough to make even a jar of sauce. I decided instead to oven-dry them before they became all wrinkly and ornery.

Emergency oven-dried tomatoes

A method more than a recipe

Preheat your oven to the lowest setting you have. The directions I saw called for 140*F, but my oven will only heat to 170*, so I went with that.

Wash your tomatoes, and cut off any bad spots. Cut the tomatoes in half (if they are large tomatoes, perhaps you should cut them in quarters). Put a cooling rack on a cookie sheet. Place your tomatoes skin-side down on the rack. I found that they can touch, because they're just going to shrink. I sprinkled salt on top of my tomatoes, but it's totally optional. I think you could put other herbs on there, but this was my first attempt at drying tomatoes, so I kept things simple.

* So cheap and juicy! *

Put your tomatoes in the oven. Wait FOREVER! I thought this would take *maybe* eight hours, but it was closer to 24. The good news is that your oven is only at 170*, so you shouldn't be too worried about just leaving it on all night long. When your tomatoes are done, they should look something like this:

* They're just humiliated tomatoes *

Store in an airtight container and enjoy as you see fit! I have had a few chopped on pizza, and they are very delicious.

What do you do when you have a mountain of produce? What's your favorite dried food? Raisins: delicious or humiliated grapes?

Oh yeah ... Enter to win a copy of Quick-Fix Vegan.

How will you prepare for the zombie apocalypse?

2011-10-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

My plan, apparently, is to stockpile Indian food. Today, I made enough Indian food to sustain me through at least the first three years of the zombie invasion, maybe longer. Have you ever noticed that you can't eat just one Indian dish at a time? Maybe it's just me, but I want to have a large selection of dishes anytime I sit down to Indian food. With that in mind, I slaved for many, many hours on today's meal. Okay, slaved might be a strong word, but I did stand in the kitchen for a long time :)

* Clockwise from noon: Chana Masala, Yellow Dhal,
Gobi Manchurian, Okra and Onions, and basmati rice *

Starting no where in particularly, I made this chana masala, which I saw just a few days ago. I have four or five cookbooks with heavy Indian sections, but none has a recipe for chana masala -- a tragedy! I halved the recipe, to try to keep quantities at a reasonable level. This was really tasty, and using canned chickpeas made it super quick and easy.

I also made spinach dhal from ThinkFood, which I won quite a while ago from Hannah of BitterSweet. This cookbook has 50 recipes purported to improve brain function and cognitive ability. I have no idea if any of the recipes actually do that, but they are quite delicious all the same.

Next up, gobi manchurian (based largely on this recipe), the vegan's answer to sweet and sour chicken. I loosely followed the recipe, adding extra ketchup to the sauce to make it a bit sweeter and water to the batter to make it more ... batter-like. If you have never had gobi manchurian, you are certainly missing out. There is nothing (or at least very little) nutritious that can be prescribed to this dish, but it is tasty enough to make up for it. Go make this now! And if you find a better recipe for it, please let me know!

Finally, I made okra and onions from The Indian Vegan Kitchen. I've made this dish several times before, and it is delicious every time. Although it is blasphemous for a Southerner to say this, this is my favorite way to eat okra -- it's even better than fried. You can probably tell that I overcooked it quite a bit here, but the flavors are still great. I bought double the amount of okra that the recipe calls for, so I'll be making it again real soon. And next time I will keep a closer eye on the cooking times.

And speaking of things I overcooked .. I also made some garlic naan. I based it on the sesame naan recipe from The Indian Vegan Kitchen, but I added several (maybe five or six?) cloves of minced garlic to the dough and topped the rolled out naan with more minced garlic pre-baking. All the while that I was making Indian food, my Indian friend, Nitish, was telling me how difficult it is to make naan. The recipe I used seemed fairly foolproof, but nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool (aka me). I overbaked my naan, by about 30 seconds. You definitely have to keep an eye on this stuff! Despite the slight crispiness, the naan was still delicious. I still have dough for six more naan, so I'm sure I'll be an expert by the time I finish them all.

* Garlic Naan *

So, that's my day ... now I'm going to go pass out in an Indian food coma. Tell me, how are you preparing for the impending zombie hoards?

Don't forget to enter to win a copy of Quick-Fix Vegan; do it fast, before the zombies get you!

Let's kick this MoFo off right!

2011-10-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

In case you hadn't realized, Vegan MoFo has rolled around again. I haven't had the best blogging record of late, but I'm planning to post as much as I can this month. Of course, I'll shoot for all 31 days, but I'm happy to have at least one! What I'm really excited about is seeing what everyone else is doing for MoFo. If you have a blog with a great theme, or you just write stuff and want more people to look at it, leave me a comment! I like to read new blogs during MoFo, but I really do not have time to follow all of them -- there are 700 blogs signed up!

I figure, this is my third year participating in Vegan MoFo, and I want to start it off right! If you have been taking notes (and you should be!), you might recall that I got to test recipes for Robin Robertson's new cookbook last February. At the time, I wasn't sure when the new cookbook, Quick Fix Vegan, would be released. And, to be really honest, I had kind of forgotten about the upcoming book in all the hoopla of the last six months, but I recently got an exciting email reminding me of it! I was offered a copy of the book to review here. Knowing how great the recipes I tested were, I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I love the way Robertson starts this book, "As much as I love to cook, most days I'm too busy to spend much time in the kitchen." That simple sentiment is exactly how I feel most nights. I want to have a delicious, wholesome homecooked meal every night ... but I don't always have the energy to cook it. In the absence of a live-in vegan chef, this book is going to be my savior for late evenings and low enthusiasm.

In addition to the dozen recipes I tested, which I can already tell you are all delicious, I tried a few more recipes so that I could give you a thorough review. I picked three delicious-looking recipes: a quick snack, a warming soup, and a filling pasta.

If you've ever wondered what would happen if guacamole and hummus hooked up late one night and had a torrid affair, the answer is hummamole! Hummamole is not only fun to say, but it's fun to eat! It's a great twist on hummus, and it's not too heavy because all the fat comes from the avocado (no oil!). I had to add a little water to help it mix up in my blender, but I also left it a little chunky because that's the way I like things. That's right, men, you heard it here first -- I like things a little chunky. (No, I'm not really sure where I'm going with that ... )

* Hummamole - pg 23 *

I am a HUGE fan of black bean soup. Whenever I get a new cookbook with a soup section, that's the first thing I look for. This soup didn't disappoint. It was delicately spiced, and the addition of mango salsa really made it sing. I have a strong predilection for blended black bean soups, and that's how I'll eat this one in the future. But this is still very delicious and filling in its un-blended state. I'm not sure that I can recommend this enough.

* Island Black Bean Soup with Quick Mango Salsa - pg 92 *

Finally, I took another pasta dish for a spin. During testing, One Pot Pasta Primavera (pg 67) was my favorite dish. It is still one of my favorite pasta recipes. I thought I'd try to branch out and see if Robertson could strike pasta gold twice in one book. As it turns out, she can! Then Summer Pasta with Red and Yellow Tomatoes is absolutely delicious. I have noticed with all the pasta dishes I tested and with this one that her servings a quite generous -- too generous for me. I made half this recipe, which should have given me two servings, but I ate it for four meals. I'm not complaining, though. It was a great meal to have four times over!

* Summer Pasta with Red and Yellow Tomatoes - pg 72 *

If you've made it this far -- kudos! To reward your perseverance, I have a giveaway to tempt you with! The fantastic people at Andrews McMeel Publishing have agreed to give one lucky winner a copy of Quick-Fix Vegan. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here. The contest is open to anyone, anywhere. I'll choose the winner at 9 PM PDT on Thursday, October 6. That gives you five days to figure out what you want to say :)

If you don't want to take your chances with the pseudo-random number gods, you can pre-order it here (or just regular order it after October 4th!).

How do you feel about your bad reputation?

2011-09-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

Personally, I don't give a damn about mine, but we'll get to that in a second. First, I have to tell you that I'm fine. I haven't been lost in the bowels of the tri-cities. I'm just trying to get used to living here. It's quite an adjustment, but I'm slowly coming around, I think.

Of course, it gets easier when the local fair opens with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts! For just $12, I got to go to the fair and see an awesome show. Try to contain your jealousy :)

* The spryest 53-year old I've seen *

So, seeing Joan Jett at the fair got me thinking ... thirty-five years ago, I doubt anyone thought she would be playing the county fair circuit. She put on a great show, and I'd happily have paid to see her in a regular venue. Who do you think will be (surprisingly or not) playing fairs thirty years from now?

A very hipster holiday

2011-07-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

For my first holiday in Washington state, I decided to make my way up to Seattle to spend the weekend with my friends Rick and Elizabeth. I'm sorry to any Seattle readers, but it's pretty much hipster heaven. I love it, though! I was going to write a big post about it, but I took about a hundred pictures, so I'll just let them speak for themselves.

First up, BeerFest! We went on Saturday, and it apparently wasn't a unique idea.

* There were at least this many people in every direction. *

*Kettle corn is the perfect snack for
hot, beer-drinking days in the sun. *

* Sampling some of the world's finest beers *

* Rick lets out his inner hipster *

The next day, we went to Cafe Flora for brunch.

* Elizabeth got a delicious thai sandwich.
She let me have a bite. I might have had a really big bite ... *

* I had the Rancho Colorado Scramble.
Easily the best tofu scramble I've ever had! *

Next up, we continued a three-year Seattle tradition: canoeing at University of Washington!

* These people were being mobbed by ducks.
They must have had crackers. *

* Katie, what is this bird? It went under water for crazy lengths of time! *

* Rick and Elizabeth are a lot more serious
about water safety than I am. But I can swim ... *

* Aren't they just the cutest? *

And no trip canoeing would be complete without a trip to Mighty O Donuts.

* Yes I have a dozen donuts. I am saving them for a rainy day. *

And, finally, we concluded the awesome weekend with my first ever trip to conveyor belt sushi at SushiMe! They didn't have many vegan options on the belt, but the chefs were very happy to make some for me.

* Just watch that sushi roll on by *

* Elizabeth passes me a delicious plate of futomaki. *

* I remembered to take a picture of the last one ... *

* Elizabeth is pretty proud of her stack of sushi plates *

* And then a few beers at a Bellevue pub.
Rick got the pinkest thing on the menu. What a weenie *

* My glass said "Reel Fish Swim Naked" *

I made my way home on Monday to spend a relaxing evening at home before work started up again on Tuesday. In less than two hundred miles, I went from this:

to this:

How does that even happen? It's very nearly a weekend again! I love four-day work weeks. Who has exciting weekend plans?

Who's ready for a challenge?

2011-06-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

I picked up my second CSA today, and I'm still quite impressed. Just look at this haul:

Clockwise from noon: Beets, Spinach mix, Broccoli, Chinese Cabbage,
Red Romaine Lettuce, Fava Beans, Snow Peas, and White Chard

I have mis-identified any of these goods, please let me know! I'm just going by the list and instinct. So, I've made a decent attempt at identifying all my produce this week, but I still have a challenge for you all. My question is: what do you do with fava beans? I've never had them at all, and I really don't want to try that Silence of the Lambs thing.

As a preemptive thank you for all your help with the fava beans, here is the recipe I used to take care of the last of my kale from last week's CSA.

Yummy Kale Chips

1/3 c Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
2 tbsp Water
salt and pepper to taste

6 - 10 leaves of Kale

Preheat the oven to 350*. Spray a little oil on a baking sheet. You don't need much, but this will make clean up so much easier.

In a small bowl, mix nutritional yeast, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper.

Add in water and mix well. Add more water for a lighter kale chip coating, less water for a thicker coating. Add salt and pepper to taste. I don't add more salt, because of the soy sauce, but I put in a healthy amount of black pepper.

Tear kale into chip-size chunks and throw it straight into the bowl. If you are awesome like me, then you can use purple kale, which is both delicious and beautiful. Or you can use any kind of kale you have lying around, because I'm sure that you all keep kale lying around the house.

Mix it up to get everything well coated in the yeast mixture.

Next, spread the kale chips out on a single layer. This is a bit of a pain, but make sure you spread things out. If you try to cook wadded up blobs of kale, you will end up with weird, nasty little blobs. If you spread the kale out so that it's flat, then you will end up with delicious, crispy kale chips. Just a pro-tip.

Bake for 10 minutes, until the kale is dry and crispy. Remove from oven, and eat fast! The chips will keep for at least an hour (which is the longest I've had any sitting around), but I wouldn't recommend trying to keep them for too long. They're just too delicious anyway.

Okay, I gave up my kale chip recipe, so now you all owe me some awesome ideas for fava beans! Spill it. (Get it? Spill it? Beans? Spill the beans? oooh, I'm funny)

Chipmunks show admiration

2011-06-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

source

Cacti shrug acrimoniously

source

Curmudgeons sashay with antelopes

source

Okay, I'm not talking about any of those CSAs, just the regular community supported agriculture. But I really wanted an excuse to post that antelope picture. One of my first acts as a Richlandier was to sign up for a new CSA. I loved my CSA in Knoxville last year. The food was great, and I really enjoyed getting to know Jessica and Ryan, my farmers. After just a few days in Richland, and two farmer's markets in two days, I knew I needed to get a regular supply of local produce. Based on a few minutes of internet research, I signed up for a new CSA. My pickup is every Tuesday, just up the road from my office -- tres convenient.

I picked up my first CSA box last Tuesday. Just look at it!

The box just looks like grass clippings, but here it is all sorted out:

Clockwise from roughly 12:00: bok choy, asparagus, spinach mix, purple kale, lettuce, three types of herbs I couldn't *exactly* identify, and TWO containers of strawberries. I'm still not completely sure on the herbs. I think one is spearmint, one is maybe oregano?, and the third is a mystery to me ... I thought it was sorrel, but as you'll see below it is not. This is one drawback of my new CSA: no one is available at pick up to tell me what stuff is. My Knoxville CSA pick up was at the farmer's market every weekend, so Jessica or Ryan told me what every single thing was as it was doled out. I never had to wonder what anything was or how to cook it. This CSA pick up is just a stack of boxes in a parking lot. I go over there when I have a chance and find the one with my name on it. No one's around to answer questions or give me identification tips. I might just need to start doing some research at their farmer's market stand to figure out what things are before I get them.

Tonight I cooked my first CSA dinner, using several things from my basket. I thought I had some sorrel, but then I started cooking with it and realized it was not sorrel. In fact, I realized I have no idea what it is. Regardless, I forged ahead and was rewarded for my bravery. I cooked the not-sorrel with some kale, and it made for a tasty mess. I didn't actually use my CSA kale, but kale that I bought at the farmer's market before I signed up for the CSA.

* I don't think this is sorrel after all ... any ideas? *

Here's my method for cooking up a mess of greens (that's how we measure greens in the South: by the mess). I'm calling it a recipe, even though it's not at all. I'm going to pretend it's a recipe and make it look like a recipe, but just remember it's not. It works for any kind of greens, really, but I usually do it with heftier greens like kale or mustard.

A Mess of Greens

makes 1 mess

A bunch of greens - kale, collard, mustard, spinach, chard, anything goes!

Some fresh, leafy herbs that go with your greens (like sorrel, or not-sorrel .. whatever you have)

Olive oil

Garlic - as much as you want! I usually go for three or four cloves

Crushed red pepper - about a half tablespoon .. or whatever you want. This is no recipe, folks.

salt and pepper (to taste, of course)

Wash your greens and herbs. Pull everything off the stalks and tear greens as necessary into small pieces.

* This size mess feeds one me or probably two normal people *

Peel and chop your garlic. I like big pieces. If you like small pieces, just keep chopping. Who am I to tell you how to chop your garlic, anyway?

Heat a little olive oil in a pot over medium heat. When it's warm, add the garlic. Saute for a minute or two, until fragrant. Add salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.

* I could probably stop right here, but the kale will only make it better *

Add your greens to the pot, stir them around and push them down some if necessary. Put a lid on your pot so that the water on the greens will help them steam. Cook them until they look too delicious to resist.

* Pre-cooking *

I paired my greens with some beans - a mix of pinto and black, because I do not believe in bean segregation - and the last of my CSA strawberries. The whole meal was pretty much delicious and filling. Jealous? We both know you are.

This last picture ended up way sadder than I meant for it to. But as you can see, there's room here for another diner, if anyone wants to break bread. I can cook up a mess of greens for you, too.

* Add in a Widmer .. That's practically local here! *

On to the important question ... how do you measure your greens?

I like the way you work here.

2011-06-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

No diggity.

I've started my first "real" job. Sort of ... heh. Let me tell you why I'm hesitant to say I've really started. I went to orientation yesterday, which was about five hours of hearing about benefits and reading a lot of stuff on a computer screen. When that unbelievable bit of torture was finally over, I got my work badge and called the admin for my new group. Earlene very kindly told me that there was a snafu with my office, and I didn't have a phone there yet. Apparently, I can't get my computer hooked up without the phone line, so there was no point in going in. She sent me home. My first day at work was only five hours long and unbelievably boring!

* After I spent all morning picking out
my first-day-of-work outfit *

I went in today at 7:45am, hoping that I'd be all set up to catch up on what I missed yesterday. No dice. I still had no phone, but after a heated discussion between Earlene and telephone services, I had a brand new phone within the hour! Yes, Earlene can get stuff done. Unfortunately, what we didn't realize is that my computer wasn't hooked up to the network anyway ... If any of you have ever worked for the government, you probably know how impossible it is to complete the seemingly straightforward task of getting a computer onto a network. So, I ended today with still no computer access.

I did have a full day of work, even without a computer. Apparently it can be done! I spent the whole day meeting (and re-meeting) people, trying to find my way around our labyrinthine building, and reading some papers and background information. I have to admit, I kind of prefer not having computer access. As soon as my computer is set up, I have a whole list of on online training to do. I'd rather read thirty year old reports for a while, honestly.

So, that's my first two days in a nutshell. I've also been looking for a place to rent. I've looked at three houses so far. The first was too small, the second was too far, and the third was way too big ... I feel like Goldilocks here. I'm looking at another place tomorrow, but I think it's going to be too far away, too. The too-big house was pretty nice, and an interesting layout. It might be easier to find a roommate than to find a better house. And Katie makes it look so easy!

Until next time ...

We need more rappers in overalls. Someone talk to Snoop Dogg.

It's official ...

2011-06-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm a Washingtonian? ... Washingite? ... Washillian? ... urm, I live in Washington now. My parents and I left Knoxville on Sunday morning and got to Washington on Wednesday afternoon. How did we get here? well, just take a gander:

My parents were kind enough to take this road trip with me and Lilly, to help me sneak Lilly in to each hotel room (which sometimes took a good bit of spywork), to tell me the whole while I wasn't making a huge mistake. They've left now, after checking out my new city for a few days to make sure I won't be completely corrupted living here. You may be happy to know that the city of Richland has my parents' reluctant approval. But before I get to all that, let me tell you a bit about the trip.

I wanted to take photos all along the way to share our whirlwind cross-country adventure with you, but sadly my camera battery died just a day and a half in, and my charger seems to be packed into a box somewhere. I have purchased another battery charger since getting to my new (temporary) home, but I didn't have this along the way. So you just have to take my word for some of the highlights ...

Our first stop was Blue Springs, MO, just outside of Kansas City. My dad grew up in KC, and his two sisters still live there. One nephew is still in the area, but his other niece and nephew live with their families in Europe (Switzerland and Austria, respectively). Luckily for us all, Joel (the Austrian-dwelling nephew) and his family were scheduled to be in Kansas City during our trip. We got to spend an evening with a lot of family that we haven't seen in a long, long time (and some that I've never seen at all!).

* Liam's exit of choice *

My aunt had a few unexpected additions to our family, too. She has two nests of baby birds living on her patio. I tried to snap some pictures of them all, but didn't want to use the flash and blind the poor little things. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a clear photo of one family. I did get some cute pictures of a few baby cardinals.

* Two little birds hanging out just beyond the kitchen *

Baby cardinals remind me a lot of the bad guys in The Dark Crystal, but in a good way ...

* And Mom watching nearby *

And we can't complete a trip without some punny signs, like Custard's Last Stand in Missouri:

We also saw a sign for Stoner Drug Store somewhere in Iowa, but my camera battery was dead by then, so you'll just have to take my word on that one (or click the link to see someone else's photo). We also hit up the finest rest stops the midwest had to offer.

It was a long drive, but an oddly fun one. Lilly seems happy to be done with the car for now; I'm sure she would not mind never getting in one again. Now the long search for a permanent home begins.

If anyone is interested, I did choose three cookbooks to bring with me: 500 Vegan Recipes, Vegan on the Cheap, and Putting Food By. I should be good to go for the next two months with these three resources, and all the great recipes online!

My first day at my new job is tomorrow, and I'll be back to tell everyone how it goes and give you a full report of my initial impressions of my new hometown.

What I'm taking to my deserted island ...

2011-06-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

When last I left you kind folks, I dropped the bombshell of my upcoming move to Washington state. Well, upcoming up and came and I'm leaving for the wide open west in about a week. It's been a bit of a mess getting ready for it all. I officially finished my job and all the related deliverables (i.e. reports) on June 1 (only a day after I quit getting paid -- pretty good, I think). I've been slowly weeding through my belongings to get rid of stuff I don't want or need any more. Now, I'm planning what I'll take with me on the drive (yes, drive) to Richland.

Here's the kicker: I couldn't find a place to move into when I get there. I have no address, no home, no where to hang my hat (if I wore a hat, anyway). What this means is, I'll be living in temporary housing, and all my things will be living in temporary storage. I'll be able to get my car back from the movers, but none of my other stuff. I could be without THINGS for two whole months while I look for a place. Obviously I need to pack clothes to keep me dressed all that time, at work and at play. I'll have my computer and my cat; I'll have my ceramic Buddah-esque statue; I'll have a furnished one-bedroom apartment with a kitchen. I won't have my bike; I won't have my standing mixer or my insanely expensive blender; I won't have my cookbooks. Oh, my cookbooks! I feel almost lost to not have them. I hadn't realized what a crutch they've become, but I turn to them often for dinner ideas, recipes, late night reading. I plan to sneak three into my car to give me at least some of the comfort of home, and I'm having a difficult time choosing which three. The collected works of Dreena Burton? The impressive tome of Veganomicon? Sarah Kramer's trilogy? The classic Joy of Cooking? It's so difficult to choose! So here's my question to you, dear readers: If you could take three cookbooks with you (and only three), which would you pick? List any three at all; they don't have to be in my sidebar list, because that honestly isn't as comprehensive as I might have you believe.

What could you simply not live without, if you had to give up all your normal possessions for a few months?

Pudding flies like a banana.

2011-04-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

I'll preface this post with a short disclaimer, so that you don't all think I'm totally out of the loop. I know there's been a lot of discussion about VegNews in the last week or two, but I don't want to add to that (really, how could anyone top this analysis?). I understand their position. Of course, I wish they had been more candid about the use of stock photos. But I'm glad they've fessed up, and I'm extremely hopeful for the future vegan stock photography program. So, with all that said -- I still support VegNews. I don't intend to cancel my subscription anytime soon, and I'm not going to send back their weekly newsletters, either. In fact, VegNews sends me some pretty awesome recipes every week (You can get them, too. Just go to vegnews.com and sign up for the Recipe Club in the right sidebar). Most recently, they sent this recipe for Vegan Banana Pudding Bars.

The recipe comes from Hannah Kaminsky, who is pretty much a genius with vegan desserts. She helped me bring vegan whoopie pies to Sophie's last birthday. Somehow she keeps delivering winners! I grew up in the South, where banana pudding is a mainstay. And I don't mean banana-flavored pudding. I mean rich, creamy vanilla pudding with sliced bananas and vanilla wafers, basically diabetes waiting to happen. It's one of my favorite desserts of all time, but I haven't had any since sometime before going vegan -- probably more than five years ago. When I saw this recipe, I knew I needed to try it out.

* Hannah's photo is much better than mine,
but I can at least promise this is not a stock photo ;) *

The recipe wasn't without its stumbling blocks, though. Vegan vanilla wafers may be a thing, but they sure don't exist in Knoxville. I went to three different grocery stores with no luck at all. What's a dessert-craving vegan to do? Well, make my own vanilla wafers, of course! Lucky for me (and you), there is a vanilla wafer recipe in the new Vegan Cookie Connoisseur. The recipe made about three dozen cookies, and I used all of them for an even thicker crust. It turns out you don't actually need to be a Keebler elf to make delicious cookie treats.

These two lovely ladies teamed up to bring me a delicious vegan dessert that really hit my nostalgia button. And I got to share it with several friends who also seemed to appreciate the trip down Southern Memory Lane.

Kimchi, kimchoo

2011-04-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

In March, I was lucky enough to attend a kimchi-making workshop led by my friend, Kat. After a fun day of chopping (mostly vegetables, a little bit my finger ..), I had a gallon of kimchi. With four quarts of kimchi sitting in my fridge, it seemed prudent and kind to share a jar with my brother.

* Chickens may not know art, but they know what they like *

I spent a short amount of time in South Korea several summers ago, and I learned to love kimchi while I was there. I'm not sure when or why Duncan first tried kimchi, but he seemed quite happy to have some. I've been pretty uncreative with my stash -- mostly eating it straight or adding it to an occasional stir fry. But Duncan really went the extra mile and found a recipe to use his kimchi. Duncan hasn't quite seen the vegan light yet, so his dish wasn't anything I wanted to try, but he raved about how good it was. How could I resist making a vegan version?

The original recipe calls for beef, so seitan seemed like an obvious substitute. I used a test recipe from Carla's Slow Cooker Cookbook; it's smokey and salty and perfect for this application. Choose a seitan that is "darker". The chili paste is completely optional, based on your tastes and the spiciness of your kimchi. Mine was not particularly spicy, so I added 1 tablespoon of sambal oelek. Next time you have some extra kimchi sitting around, give this one a try.

Spicy Seitan and Kimchi Stew
adapted from myrecipes.com
serves 2-3, probably
ready in under 30 minutes

1 tbsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp ginger, grated
1/2 c water
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
8 oz "beefy" seitan, cubed
1 1/2 c kimchi
1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
2 tbsp scallions, sliced (optional)
chili paste to taste (optional)
cooked brown rice to serve

Find a medium- or large-size pan with a lid. Heat sesame oil over medium heat. Saute garlic and ginger until lightly browned, about two minutes. Add water, soy sauce, and mirin. Add cubed seitan and bring to a slow boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for five - ten minutes, until seitan is warmed through. Add kimchi and chili paste, if using; cover and simmer for 10 minutes more. Pour stew over a pile of brown rice, garnish with sesame seeds and scallions. Serve immediately.

* I didn't have any scallions, but I'm sure they'd be delicious *

Good news, everyone!

2011-04-25T05:21:00.001-07:00

I promised some REALLY BIG NEWS, and here it is: I'm moving. In a few months. Clear across the country.
I'm moving from here:

* This bridge is currently in the process of being destroyed/rebuilt *

to here:

* Yeah, it really is that flat *

From lush, green mountains:

* Cades Cove *

to the tallest TREELESS mountain in the US:

* Rattlesnake Mountain *

A short 2400 mile drive away ...

View Larger Map

You might think I'm crazy, and maybe I am. Finding a job seems to be a lot like getting married: You can find the spouse that's best for you, but you don't get to pick his family. Likewise, you can find the job that's your best fit, but you can't always pick the location. I finally found a job that seems like an excellent fit for me, but sadly it's in the-middle-of-nowhere, Washington.

I'm really excited about starting a new job. I'm really nervous about moving so far away from my friends and family. Does anyone live in or near the tri-cities? What's fun and awesome to do there? Tell me about a time that you were scared to make a big change, and it all worked out! I need the encouragement.

When a kid asks for a pony, a kid wants a pony.

2011-04-24T05:24:00.001-07:00

* From geeksaresexy.net *

Happy Easter to everyone. I hope you all get a pony, or at least a vegan chocolate bunny! Come back tomorrow for some REALLY BIG NEWS.

Chop! Chop!

2011-04-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

I'm a woman with dreams, goals, aspirations. I wish I had awesome knives. And I wish I had awesome knife skillz to go with them. And I wish I had the patience to lovingly chop a full onion into a miniscule dice with these knives and skills. And, while we're at it, I wish that wishes were dollars, so that I could be rich ... As it stands, I have decent knives and no discernible skills with them (and my wishes aren't paying off, either). Sure, I can cut stuff. I can slice; I can dice; I can make julienned fries (not really ... but go with me). I can also cut myself pretty seriously when I get carried away. In an effort to keep my fingers attached to my hands, I have a whole kitchen full of tools to help me safely get through the tedious work of chopping.

The newest addition to my chopping arsenal comes from my mom, who sells Pampered Chef products (click on the link to the right if you're interested in more information). For my birthday, Mom gifted me a Manual Food Processor, shown below. It's a small bowl with a blade inside and a pump arm to get it twirling. The arm even locks in place for compact storage.

* The bowl holds perhaps a four cup capacity *

For my maiden usage, I cut up half an onion and a few stalks of celery. I cut each into a few large chunks and dropped the whole mess in my bowl.

Just a few (maybe 25 - about 30 seconds worth of work) arm pumps later, this is what I had! Onion and celery both completely obliterated. This is seriously a better dice than I've ever gotten on my own. And the best part -- no blood shed!

I've used the food chopper five or six times in the last week. I've chopped onions, shallots, garlic, carrots, and celery all together, and got the same great dice. The ingredients were evenly chopped and mixed throughout. I even used it to cut up some seitan for a Not Meat Loaf, a test recipe for Carla's upcoming slow cooker book. Sorry I don't have a photo -- the smell was too amazing to wait for my camera to warm up :)

My only complaint is that the lid doesn't lock onto the base. I'm a little worried about flipping the lid off, but I think it's completely unfounded. It hasn't happened yet, and I've been pretty energetic in my pumping. All in all, I think this is my favorite chopping aid to date. Thanks, Mom (and Dad)!

What could be easier?

2011-04-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

If you've been wondering how you can help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami disasters in Japan, wonder no more! Head over to Chocolate Covered Katie today (April 5) for her blogger bake sale! There is a sale for shipping to North America and a separate sale for shipping to other places, so everyone can bid on something. Notice that everything up for bid in both sales is vegan, but there are treats for every diet beyond that -- raw, gluten-free, nut-free, etc. There are even a few non-baked sale items up for grabs, including an indian spice set and a pretty swanky looking Arbonne kit. So, check out the rules and then place your bids!

It was a dark and stormy night ...

2011-04-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

... and I had a birthday! The weather today has been pretty much awful, but that didn't stop my birthday from rolling through. I had a great birthday and I just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who made it fantastic (including the 40-some odd well-wishers on facebook).

I got these flowers a few weeks ago (due to a small clerical error) and got to enjoy them during my last weeks as a 27-year old. What a great way to bid adieu to a pretty big year.

* Beautiful flowers from a beautiful friend - Thanks, Nitish! *

Then, my parents gave me some lovely gifts. My mom got me a few gifts from Pampered Chef, the 8x8 baking dish and the manual food processor. I haven't had a chance to try either out, but I am super excited. They also got me a bag of dried black-eyed peas. Hey, they know what I like ;)

* The price tag on those peas? fifty cents.
Who says vegan food is expensive? *

And, finally, an amazing gift from Derek: three new cookbooks and some awesome dinosaur figures! My newest additions to my giant cookbook collection are Vegan Fire & Spice, Color Me Vegan, and Party Vegan - three books I've been coveting lately. Now I can put at least one deadly sins to rest. I really need to update my sidebar list; give me time, people. Give me time.

* A super awesome birthday gift! *

* RAWR (that's dinosaur for "I'm taking over your cookbooks!") *

But I'm not the only early April birthday in my family. My biggest niece just turned the big oh-five! She is becoming scarily grown-up. And she managed to wrangle much better weather for her big day. She recently requested some chocolate-mint cookies, so I took this opportunity to kick it up a notch! I made a batch of mint chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I topped each one with a faux Thin Mint cookie, from The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur. I just recently got this cookbook (yes, I have a problem. We can talk about that later), and this is my first recipe from the book. I love these, and I'll definitely be trying a lot more recipes in the coming months!

* Don't let the purple icing fool you;
these cupcakes pack a minty punch *

And now, some gratuitous photos of the birthday girl. No, not me; the much cuter birthday girl!

* A little bit of birthday magic! *

* Enjoying the nice weather on G's birthday *

* Mary is making off with the big girl bike! *

Happy April to everyone! I hope the weather is a bit nicer wherever you are.

Calling all vegans

2011-03-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

I saw yesterday on Jack Norris, RD that Carol Adams and Patti Brietman are working on a new book, which is meant to help people make the decision to become vegan. This message is copied directly from Jack Norris's blog (I couldn't think of a better way to word this request, so I hope you all forgive my plagiarism).

A message from long-time vegan activist, Patti Brietman:

Carol Adams and I are looking for vegans who are willing to tell others what they eat on a typical day, as well as some of their favorite foods, healthy or otherwise. Your answers may be included in our new book that is intended to help “not yet vegans” discover the ease, joy, variety and abundance of a vegan diet. If you are interested in participating, please email Carol J. Adams at cja@caroljadams.com and she will send you a survey.

We are especially eager to hear from students, people on a budget, creative home chefs, vegans who do not cook and everybody in between.

We hope to hear from people by April 15.

Please feel free to share or publicize with vegans!

With gratitude and all my best wishes, Patti

I hope you'll all consider sharing your experiences for this book.

Lowering the odds.

2011-03-25T13:46:00.001-07:00

I realize that you are all probably pretty jealous of my awesome giveaway prize, so I figured I'd clue you in to a few current giveaways that you can still get in on. Of course, by doing this, I'm just lowering the odds of me winning these prizes, but I like you guys enough to do that.

First up, you can head over to Carla's blog to win a copy of her newest book, Vegan Bake Sale. I was lucky enough to test for this book, so I can vouch for its amazingness. You can see some of my favorite testers here, here, and here. You could be making any of these delights in no time (notice these are all recycled photos)!

Rosemary Zucchini Focaccia

Blueberry Macadamia Nut Biscotti

Blueberry Banana Tealoaf

You can also enter to win a copy of Robin Robertson's Party Vegan at her blog. I haven't had a chance to cook from this book (because I sadly don't own it yet), but all the reviews I've seen online have been outstanding.

So what are you waiting for? Go win something!

Fra-gee-lay: it must be Italian.

2011-03-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

I recently won a major award from a giveaway at Meet the Shannons! If you aren't familiar with them, they are a GENIUS couple who are veganizing the Betty Crocker Cookbook, one delicious recipe at a time. They've already veganized a ton of recipes, but I think an extra special shout out is due the Beer Can Tofurkey. Seriously? That's genius. And we can't forget the vegan hardboiled egg and poached egg. Did I mention these people are veganization geniuses? Because they are.

It turns out that the Shannons are not only amazing at veganizing Betty Crocker's best recipes - making them even better in the process - but are also amazing at giveaways! My major award arrived in the post yesterday and just look at what it was:

A tofurky lunch box! WOAH. I didn't even know this was a thing, but it's really adorable. It has cartoons of (what I assume to be) soybeans at the circus, and, really, the tofurky circus is the only circus I want to go to. But wait! There's even more. Open up the lunch box, and you'll find:

A bag of vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! I don't know who Uncle Eddie is, but I want him to come to my next family reunion. These cookies are a little more crumbly than I usually like, but they are delicately peanut buttery and perfectly spotted with chocolate chips (and they may be almost completely gone by now ... ). And the collection of items below those delicious cookies?

Oh, just a whole lot of awesome! What we've got here is a big collection of stickers, some awesome coupons, a mystery cd, and more. This is seriously an amazing haul. Thank you so much, Shannons! Your generosity is way beyond anything I ever expected.

Just so that you don't think my whole life is about getting awesome packages in the mail, here's a look at some recipes I've been testing for Carla's upcoming slow cooker cookbook. Definitely watch for this one in about a year's time - it is not one to miss.

* Cheesy Crackers *

* Nut Roast with Marmite Gravy *

* Magnificent Mushroom Soup and Pesto Biscotti *

Darby O'Gill ain't got nothin' on me.

2011-03-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

* Yum. *

Like so many others, I hate to let a good holiday pass un-celebrated. Sure, there are pub crawls and green beer and non-vegan Irish meals to be had all over the place on St. Patrick's Day, but I opted for a more low-key at home event. Armed with a small bottle of green food coloring and Irish-ish vegan food, I invited some friends over for a night of debauchery and board games (really, the two go hand-in-hand).

The food coloring was intended to make the beer more festive - to give it that certain special something that everyone loves on St. Patty's Day. We experimented with a variety of beers, but our best results were probably Corona (obviously not Irish) and a Michelob Amber Ale (again, not particularly Irish). The whole thing brought questions to my mind of the viscosity of different beers and the related effect on color diffusion. I feel a science fair project coming on!

* You could chart some interesting
diffusion patterns in the Corona *

* Though not at all in keeping with the Crayola green
of St. Patrick's Day, this was actually a beautiful shade. *

While green beer is probably enough to celebrate St. Patty's Day in its full splendor, I didn't want to invite people over for just any old meal. Last year, if you recall, we had a sushi party, complete with green rice, which was downright fancy. This year, I wanted to stick to something a little more traditional, though. Luckily for me, recipes for Shepherd's Pie were flooding my Google Reader that day! I started with Angela's recipe at Oh She Glows and made some changes to suit my tastes and my ingredients on hand; roughly the recipe I used is given at the end. I've personally never made or eaten Shepherd's Pie before, so this was easily the best one I've ever had! Michael, pictured above with the Corona, claims to have sampled many a Shepherd's Pie in his day and put this one in the top three; I'd say that's pretty damn good for a first attempt.

Because no holiday celebration is complete without dessert, I made a big tray of rice crispy treats using Dandies marshmallows and some green sugar sprinkles (to make it more holiday-appropriate ;) ). I probably ate half of these myself, because I haven't had a rice crispy treat in over a decade. It was well worth the wait.

* I wish I had another tray of these right now. *

So, along with a rousing game of Power Grid (which I won - eat that, Rick!), that's pretty much my holiday. What did you do to celebrate your Irish-ness (or lack thereof)?

* How does anyone take a decent photo of Shepherd's Pie? *

Yet Another Vegan Shepherd's Pie
(based heavily on this recipe at Oh She Glows)

For the mashed potatoes:
6 potatoes (about 3 lbs), washed and diced
1 tbsp Earth Balance
1/3 c+ plain soymilk
1 tsp salt
coarse ground black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp garlic powder

For the filling:
3/4 c dried lentils
1 tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic
3 carrots, diced
1/2 large white onion, diced
3/4 c frozen peas
1 1/2 c veg broth
1/2 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp rubbed sage
1 tsp salt
coarse pepper to taste (about 1/2 tsp for me)
3 tbsp flour
12 - 15 small white mushrooms, diced

2 large handfuls of spinach

Preheat oven to 425 and grease a 2.5 quart casserole dish.

Put lentils in pot with about 3 cups water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat slightly, and let it boil slowly for 10 minutes. Drain lentils and set aside. You want them to be well cooked, but not at all mushy -- al dente, if that means anything for lentils.

Boil potatoes until soft, about 20 - 30 minutes. Drain and return to the pot. Add in Earth Balance, soymilk, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Mash well and set aside. You may need to add more soymilk to get a good texture; I was fine with 1/3 cup, but it all depends on your potatoes. If you need more, add it in a tablespoon at a time, mashing well between additions, until you get a nice, fluffy mash.

While potatoes are boiling, heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add in garlic and saute until fragrant (1-2 minutes). Add in carrots, onions, and peas. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix broth, spices, and flour. Add to pan along with mushrooms and spinach. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes, until sauce is thickened and spinach is all wilted. Add in cooked lentils and mix well. Pour vegetable mix into casserole dish. Scoop mashed potatoes on top of the veggies and spread out. Garnish with pepper, paprika, thyme if desired.

Put the casserole dish on a baking sheet in case of drips. I didn't do this initially, and I now have Shepherd's Pie drippings all over my oven. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the mashed potatoes are golden and some sauce is bubbling up around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool for ten or fifteen minutes. Serves 6 - 8, depending on what you have with it.

And now for something completely different

2011-03-15T14:34:00.001-07:00

Updated, see below.
I wasn't going to say anything about the nuclear reactors in Japan for a number of reasons. First, the situation is subject to 24 hour news coverage already. Second, the engineers and operators in Japan are doing an amazing job of reacting to events quickly and appropriately as they unfold to keep the local residents safe from any radiation threat. And, most importantly, there are so many more important, more dangerous, more pressing things going on in Japan right now -- nuclear reactors are the least of their problems.

However, several people have asked me about the situation. I am no expert on nuclear reactor design or safeguards, but I do have some credentials -- I'm a nuclear engineer by education, so I'm familiar with the inner workings of nuclear power in a bit more detail than your average Joe. I also did my first NE research in the area of severe accident mitigation at boiling water reactors -- specifically accidents involving loss of off-site power, and even more specifically investigating the off-site dose consequences of these accidents. Again, this does not make me an expert, but I do know a fair bit about these kinds of accidents. Here are my major thoughts. I'm trying to keep it brief, but informative.

First, and foremost, I want to say this: No matter what happens, there is no way that the Fukushima reactors will become the next Chernobyl or anything even close. It is physically impossible for this to happen -- the BWR reactor design is inherently safer than the RBMK design. There are containment structures to keep any radionuclides contained as they decay into safer isotopes, and there are safety systems in place that automatically respond to accidents such as earthquakes.
Reactors currently in operation around the world are designed and built to safely withstand natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc. These design-basis accidents vary by location, but even reactors in east Tennessee are built to handle earthquakes! The reactors in Japan responded to the largest earthquake in recorded Japanese history (in nearly a century and a half) safely and effectively -- seismometers detected the earthquake and control rods were immediately inserted into the reactor, halting the nuclear fission reactions. This caused the heat in the reactor core to drop to ~6-7% of that at full power (due to decay heat and residual radioactive decay). This heat will dissipate exponentially, meaning that the situation is literally improving with time. If the reactor can be kept cooled and immersed in water for about a week, then it will be in hand.
There have, to date, been no significant radiation leaks from these reactors. Due to the problems with the cooling system experienced as a result of the (30 foot!) tsunami, some of the water in the reactor boiled to steam which had to be vented to relieve pressure in the primary reactor containment. This lead to small radioactive release to the surrounding area, but this is primarily composed of radioactive nitrogen. This particular isotope of nitrogen has a half-life of less than 10 seconds, meaning that by the time it gets to people it will most likely be decayed to safer isotopes. Despite the hydrogen explosions in the the secondary containment buildings (commonly called reactor buildings), it is extremely unlikely that the primary containment will be damaged, preventing more serious release to the environment.
"Meltdown" is a scary word that isn't as bad as it sounds. If sections of the fuel rods are uncovered for a sufficiently long time, there is a chance that they can heat to the point of being damaged or even melting. This can be referred to as a partial meltdown. Even this is not as dangerous as it might sound -- the molten material will collect in the bottom of the reactor vessel (an 8-inch thick steel barrier between the reactor and the primary containment building), cool, and solidify into "corium". Like in Three Mile Island Unit 2, this material can be cooled and decommissioned safely.
A lot has happened in the last five days, but the important thing to know now is that all four reactors are shut down (one was actually shut down for routine maintenance at the time already), units have been flooded with boronated sea water for cooling.

** UPDATE: I erroneously posted that the reactors were in cold shutdown -- this is true for the Fukushima Daini plant - all reactors are currently in stable, cold shut down. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Of the six reactors there, two (Units 5 and 6) were already shut down for routine inspection when the earthquake struck; those seem fine. Unit 4 was also shut down for inspection; however, this unit has received some damage. Specifically small explosions and fires in the reactor building (secondary containment), which have affected the spent fuel pool. Units 1, 2, and 3 are still being treated with boric acid and sea water to maintain cooling, but have not yet been reported in cold shutdown. Sorry for the confusion on my part. **

I'm sorry for the long post; I honestly did try to keep it down. There is so much mis-information out there, but my main take away message is this: Nuclear power is safe. In the face of the largest earthquake and tsunami in Japan for the last 140 years, the reactor operators and engineers have maintained a high level of safety. Before you start picketing your local PWR, keep in mind that ash from coal-fire plants is more radioactive than nuclear waste and the death rate per kilowatt-hour is nearly 400 times greater for coal than nuclear.

If you are interested in more information about the Fukushima reactors, please peruse this blog: Neutron Economy. They are presenting excellent information in a very accessible way. If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask them here or email me at theradioactivegan (at) gmail (dot) com.

I did not find a gateway to Narnia

2011-03-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

I did, however, tackle my second goal in the Challenge of the Month at Pretty in Orange -- decluttering my wardrobe. I may have mentioned before, I'm a bit short. One of the features (not necessarily a benefit, but a feature) of being short is that I haven't outgrown clothes since middle school ... and I still have some of those clothes. In fact, I still wear some of those clothes (I'm not saying I'm fashionable in doing so, I'm just saying I do it.). Even though I still have, and still wear, some clothes from 1996, I keep buying new clothes. I try to stay somewhere in the ballpark of fashionable, or at least not always look like a 13 year old. So I have a lot of clothes. A whole lot of clothes. One of my goals during the decluttering mania was to weed out some clothes that I don't wear much (or that I do wear, but know I look bad in). So, I actually managed to snap before and after shots of part of my closet. Here is the before:

* The first bit of stuff is Derek's ...
but maybe only half a dozen hangers worth. *

I have a walk-in closet. Really, it's more of a step-in closet because I've crammed so much in there. On the other side of the closet is a set of wire drawers which hold shirts, sweaters, tights, etc. I couldn't get an angle on those, but I think you all know what wire drawers crammed full of stuff look like (or at least you can imagine). I started out by going through every single thing in my closet and deciding if I *knew* I wanted to keep it or not. If I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to keep it, I pulled it out and threw it on the bed. One huge pile of maybe clothes later, and I had to try all that stuff on. This part took about an hour and a half, maybe two hours. Luckily, I have gotten over my childhood aversion to trying on clothes. When I was a kid, I really hated trying clothes on, which I'm sure my mom can attest to. Now, I don't mind so much. I'm not sure what changed, but thank goodness. It would be much harder to buy clothes now if I still detested trying on. I did maintain my affinity for twirling in skirts to ascertain flounciness before I buy them ... but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, I tried everything on and either put it back in the closet or dumped it into another pile to give away. I did keep a few things that I've never worn before because I think they look "professional." I put professional in quotes there because I'm really hoping my next job will be extremely casual so that "professional" just means "jeans and a shirt", but I'm keeping some things just in case. Otherwise, if I wasn't sold on it, then I put it in the freecycle stack. When in doubt, throw it out! This includes shoes, too, which I managed to weed out about 6 pairs (two of which were usable, the others had to be trashed because I'd ... well ... walked them into the ground). Here's my closet after:

* Oh my god! There is a floor in there *

You might be thinking, "Oh, she just straightened everything up a bit. She didn't declutter anything." But here is the freecycle pile for further evidence:

* I managed to shove all of this into a tall kitchen trashbag *

I posted the clothes and shoes on freecycle last night and got a ton of responses right away. With any luck, the whole lot will be picked up and gone by the time I get home from work. So, that's quite a bit of clutter already cleared out. And don't worry, I still have enough clothes to not wash any for a month or more and still be in clean stuff.

I try to clear out my clothes at least once or twice a year, otherwise it would be a disaster. What about you? Do you have to clear out your clothes so often? Could you make a pile like this to get rid of, or are you more on top of it than I? Does anyone else use freecycle? I love it.

I feel like a super sleuth!

2011-03-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

I'm probably showing up late to the party on this one, but I "discovered" a way that I can respond to your comments last weekend. I've waited to post about it until I was sufficiently sure it would work (hey, I'm a good little scientist. I need evidence!). If you make your email address public on your blogger profile, then when you submit a comment I can respond to that email address directly. Just sign into your blogger profile (whether you have a .blogspot.com blog or not, you can have a profile) and check the box that says "Show my email address", as indicated below.

* I discovered this like Columbus discovered the new world .. but I'm still happy about it *

The nice thing is that gmail addresses are free, and you can set up as many as you want to all route to the same inbox (I currently have three gmail addresses and two .edu addresses all going to my one inbox ...). If you don't want to make your primary email address available, just make a new one specifically for this purpose. It doesn't even have to be the email address that you use to sign into the account (or a gmail.com address). Just enter whatever email address you want into the "email address" box under Identity.

Now that I've finally figured this out, I am replying directly to any comments that I can. I never think to go back and check a blog post for a reply to my comment, but some interesting dialogues can result from direct responses. If you want to hear from me about your comments, just enable this feature on your blogger profile. If you don't want to hear my response ... well, why are you commenting on my blog anyway? ;)

I might be a little challenged

2011-03-08T06:42:00.000-08:00

I've already signed up for two challenges this month. The first mercifully only lasted a week, while the second runs all month. I will readily admit that I bit off more than I could chew with the first one, but I have big plans for the second. Enough ambiguity, already! Want to hear about my short-term goals?

First, I (foolishly and rashly) decided to take part in the sugar-free week that Katie's recently started. This monthly purge is set for the first week of every month, and I readily jumped in (well, not so readily ... but I convinced myself I could do it). It seems so simple -- don't eat sugar for seven short days. If you'd asked me a week ago how much sugar I ate, I'd have told you very little. Boy, was I wrong. The week started out strong on Tuesday, or so I thought. As I ate my peanut butter sandwich at lunch on Wednesday, it dawned on me that my store-brought bread probably had sugar in it. And when I got home -- yes, yes it does. As the days slowly wore on, I realized how many times in an evening I reach for a handful of jelly beans or a square of chocolate, how many times at my desk I mindlessly chew on a piece of gum, how many peanut butter sandwiches I want to pack for lunch. But all of it is contaminated with sugar! Oh, mindless habits, why do you plague me so?

I wasn't perfect -- not even close -- but I did up my fruit intake to cover some of the missing sweetness, and that's never a bad thing. What's more, I'm ready for the next month with renewed vigor and insight (although I will be observing it on a week that is not the first week of April, for my own selfish reasons). I think I have a better idea of the preparations I'll need to eschew sugar for a full week. But I don't want to oversell myself; check with me again next month.

I also signed up for the March Challenge of the Month at Pretty in Orange. Last month, Angela challenged us to try a new exercise, but this month's challenge is even trickier -- declutter your space! I have a lot of stuff - a whole lot of stuff. I've decided to break this challenge into smaller challenges over each of approximately four weeks.

My office
My wardrobe
My bedroom
My kitchen

I started with my office, which is really just a cubicle. As such, you might think it couldn't get too messy, but I can shove junk in anywhere. I am a master hoarder! I didn't take any before pictures, but here is my desk now. Most of the clutter was in the drawers and overhead shelf, but I won't bore you with photos of those now-empty spaces. Obviously, I never said I was cleaning off the junk on my backsplash.

* What you see here includes many artifacts integral to my work:
A nerf gun, a tiny replica leg lamp, two David statues (one with loincloth),
Power Puff Girls figures, and various and sundry photos of my friends and pets. *

I've cleared out a lot of old stuff from the drawers including old papers and forms, a large fistful of pens, random clips and bobs for holding papers. I found a lot of things I didn't know I had, like three 3.5" floppy discs (I have no idea how I will open these, but I'm holding on to them for now), my blood donation papers spanning about three years (which gives me a way to roughly track my iron levels over time), and some particularly thoughtful greeting cards that people have given me over the last five years. I'm not just getting rid of things, I'm finding things, too!

I'm glad for this challenge; it's what I needed to kick me into gear. I'm hoping to pare down a lot of things, which will help me significantly when I move (which will happen someday, I swear).

Another slam dunk from Robertson

2011-03-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

No, not that Robertson ... Robin Robertson (If I had any photoshop skillz, I'd totally fake a picture of her playing basketball ... you'll just have to use your imagination.)! I mentioned a few days ago that I got to test for her upcoming cookbook, and I can tell you that at least a dozen of the recipes are awesome! I have no doubt that the recipes I didn't get to test are equally delicious.

Without further adieu, I give you a photo array of up-and-coming deliciousness:

* One-Pot Pasta Primavera *

* Bruschetta with Sicilian Greens *

* Jerk-Spiced Kale Crisps *

* Roasted Vegetable Tart *

* Farmer's Market Pasta Salad *

* Tropical Quinoa and Black Beans *

* Super Nachos *

* Lemony Cashew Cream Sauce *

Watch for her newest book, Quick-Fix Vegan, coming out soon (unfortunately, I'm not 100% sure when). I know I'll be in line to get a copy as soon as I can!

Don't let their feigned indifference fool you

2011-03-05T07:05:00.000-08:00

Caturday is quickly turning into funny cat video day, but I'm not going to complain. This one explains so, so much.

As always, if you have a hilarious video featuring a cat, a cute picture of a cat, an epic tale of a cat in boots, or anything else you want to feature here, please email me at theradioactivegan (at) gmail (dot) com.

* Happy Birthday to Katie's Dad from Lilly and me! *

Double mushroom all the way! What does this mean???

2011-03-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I secretly LOVE the double rainbow guy. I don't know if I've ever been that excited about or moved by anything. I'd like to think I would be excited to tears by a full-on double rainbow. Unfortunately, I've never seen one (I doubt many people have), so I don't really know how I'd react. Recently, I did get a chance to see how I'd react to some other unexpected doubles: double mushrooms!

* I know, I need to take better photos ... but just look at that wacky 'shroom *

I sometimes buy produce at the local asian market because it's insanely cheap (for certain things). Regular, white mushrooms are one of those insanely cheap items, but they only come pre-packaged. Normally, I buy bulk mushrooms so that I can make sure to get good ones -- Pro-tip: you always want to buy mushrooms that are still tightly closed around the stem. When they start to open at the bottom it means they're getting old. Sometimes I relinquish that control to get a deal, though. So imagine my surprise and wonder when I opened my last package of mushrooms to find not one, but TWO double mushrooms! What does it mean???

* Is that a quadruple mushroom? *

It means it's time for pizza! I had the honor and luxury of testing recipes for Robin Robertson's next cookbook, and one of the recipes I got to test is for pizza dough. I shared this dough with three other people for the purposes of testing -- my boyfriend and my two favorite nieces. Reviews are in, and everyone loved it! Derek determined this is the best pizza dough I've ever made, and it was super easy, so it'll be my new go-to recipe. I wish I could share it with you all, but you know what you'll have to do ... wait for the book to come out.

Everyone made their own, individual pizzas for maximum customizability. The girls made tiny, heart-shaped pizza to celebrate a belated Valentine's Day. Below you can see their dinners, topped with tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, onions, and olives (for the more adventurous one, anyway). Not shown, I covered mine in veggies and tomato sauce, and I can corroborate that the pizza dough is absolutely amazing.

* Post Valentine's Day heart pizzas for the girls *

* She's pretty proud of her personal pizza *

* And this is just too adorable to not share ... Yes, I'm a proud aunt. *

I was able to test about a dozen recipes for Robin. Look for a post showing most of them off (the ones I could get decent photos of anyway) coming soon. I don't want to make you too too jealous, but ... you really should be jealous. So, tell me: What's your go-to pizza dough recipe? And your go-to topping selection (I personally like to load it up! no pizza left un-topped.)? Aren't my nieces just the most adorable kids ever? (hint: the answer to that last one is "yes")

The one where I finally try something new

2011-02-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I never work out. I mean, really, never. I'm not trying to say that I'm in such great shape that I don't need to work out -- that is not the case. I'm just lazy. Many, many years ago, my ex-husband and I would go to the gym at 7:00am every day to exercise before work, and I think that just made me hate it. Now, I only exercise as a consequence of other activities (like riding my bike to work in the summer or walking to lunch or playing a game of kickball). But, I'd like to change all that. In fact, I want to run (read: jog) a 5k with a couple friends this spring. Right now, I could easily walk a 5k, no problem, but jogging? I'm not so sure. So when I saw the February Fitness Challenge on Pretty in Orange, I thought, "Yeah, sign me up!" What I didn't think was, "I'm going to be gone as many days in February as I'll be home ... when will I exercise?" In fact, I have not spent seven contiguous days at my house since sometime in mid-January (but my cat is there protecting my worthless belongings, so don't get any ideas!).

This month's challenge is to try something new. As you may have gleaned from the above, pretty much any deliberate exercise will be something new for me right now. But having to do this exercise outside of the comfort of my routine adds a new depth to the challenge. There are a few things you should probably know about me: (1) I don't like to back down from a challenge to myself and (2) I never remember to pack gym clothes when I travel. Obviously, with no gym clothes, taking advantage of any hotel exercise facilities is out of the question. But I can get creative! My solution this month has been taking advantage of Netflix streaming workouts. You might think Netflix streaming is only good for old episodes of Hey Arnold! and Rocko's Modern Life and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And while it is good for all of those things, they also have a lot of workout tapes available. I've been focusing on pilates workouts because I have some serious back problems stemming from my complete lack of back muscles. I hear pilates is good for that sort of thing. I've tried all of these videos, and I've enjoyed them all. My favorite part of it is that I'm doing it all in my own hotel room, alone, so if I look totally goofy no one will know (except you guys since I'm posting a couple pictures of me looking goofy doing the "the one-hundred"). Plus, I can do these in my jammies - no special gym clothes required.

* Yeah, these are my pajamas. Nothing too exciting here. *

I know Kara has done some workouts on Netflix, and I've got her suggestions queued up. Have you ever done any video workouts? What do you suggest (that I can get on Netflix, anyway ... )?

Technology can get the better of anyone

2011-02-12T06:23:00.001-08:00

Today's caturday comes with another video! Theresa of The Tropical Vegan reminded me of this video that gives us some insight into why printers are so frustrating (and why British cats are so funny!). I've also included a rather long clip from Eddie Izzard's Glorious tour about Techno-Joy; the pertinent part begins around 3:25, but, as with all Izzard, it's all funny. I will warn you, though, that both videos have some pretty choice language. Depending on your job (and the availability of headphones), they may be NSFW, and NSFchildren as well.

As always, if you have any cute photos of cats, funny videos of cats, stories about cats in hats, or anything even slightly cat related that you'd like to share here on Caturday, please email me at theradioactivegan (at) gmail (dot) com. Until then, happy weekend!

Don't give me any crepe

2011-02-07T20:32:00.000-08:00

* This is how the Frenchies do it! *

My good friend (probably my best friend within 200 miles of me at any given time), Elizabeth, is half French (other half regular ol' American, I suppose). As such, she is always talking about how great crepes are; I think French people have crepe batter flowing through their veins. After all this build up, we finally scheduled an evening to make crepes at her place. I was super excited because I've never had a crepe in my life. I did make some really bad, flat pancakes once .. but it wasn't really the same.

So, back to our crepe-tacular! For my first ever crepe making experience, I turned to the batter recipe in Veganomicon. This version uses chickpea flour to make up for the missing eggs. If you aren't interested in using chickpea flour (which tastes pretty much awful until it's cooked!), then I would turn to this recipe at VeganYumYum; I haven't tried it myself, but I've never gone wrong with a VeganYumYum recipe. If you try it out, please let me know!

Every time I asked Elizabeth what would be good to put in crepes, she basically said "you know, stuff you would put in crepes" ... no, I didn't know. But I guessed: sauteed mushrooms, sauteed rainbow chard with garlic, and Daiya cheese. Turns out, I was right! This made for some delicious crepes.

So, how do you make crepes? Well ... heat your pan over medium heat. Get it nice and hot so that your crepes will cook quickly. It is important that you have a very flat pan here, not a sloping pan like you would use for most things.

* Don't cook your hand! That wouldn't be vegan. *

Pour in some crepe batter (a ladle full - maybe a quarter cup), and swirl it around to fill out the pan with a thin, wide pancake. Let it cook for a few minutes while you contemplate the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything ...

* Hmmm ... Considering crepes *

Then flip that bad boy over and put in some delicious toppings! I used some sauteed chard, mushrooms, and Daiya. For a savory crepe, I think greens and mushrooms are a delicious combination.

* My very first ever vegan (or any kind of) crepe! *

Flip the sides over and let it heat through for a few minutes -- or until you are so excited about crepes that you can't handle it anymore!

While you enjoy your most delicious crepe, other people will make other crepes. These will not be as good as yours, because, well, you didn't make them. But you will encourage your friends all the same just to be nice :)

* Michael is a crepe twirling king! *

* Mary wins the prize for being most excited about crepes *

In addition to my savory, "main course" crepes, I made a dessert crepe, which was really just filled with Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter that I got on mega-sale a few weeks ago, and topped with confectioner's sugar. Throw some sliced up banana in there, and you'd be golden. Golden!

* Dessert crepe. It has two s's because it's So Sweet! *

As we ran out of crepe batter (there were two kinds -- regular, and my super deluxe vegan batter), Elizabeth wanted to test her crepe flipping skillz. She poured the last little bit of batter into the pan, and we immediately saw this guy:

* This one looks like Slimer. *

Then she went mad, and flipped it up into the air!

* Flipping the crepe in the pan! *

And caught Slimer-crepe like a pro!

* Total flipping success! *

Not only was the final crepe a flipping success, the whole night was! The great thing about crepes is assembling your own however you want to. So mix up some batter, ready your fillings, and invite your friends over for some crazy fun. I really enjoyed cooking and eating crepes; I think they may be my next movie night adventure! I actually went ahead and bought a crepe pan for my next crepe adventure. I haven't used it yet, but at $10.21, you can't go wrong for an introductory pan.
Have you made crepes? What do you like to put in them? We rebranded "French Fries" as "Freedom Fries" ... how could we rebrand "crepes", an obviously French word? Damn Frenchies. ;)

The cutest thing you'll see all day.

2011-02-05T05:39:00.001-08:00

All day, all weekend, and possibly all year! This may be the best commercial I've ever seen for anything, especially for pet adoption. I will tell you that it trumps those sad abused puppies in cages set to slow indie rock ballads commercials hands-down. Just watch it and try to tell me you don't want to race to Winnipeg to adopt a cat today! I'll probably be seeing you there.

More adventures in interviewing (Or: Why I hate being short)

2011-02-04T20:20:00.000-08:00

I had an interview last week for a job in Boston (there are four candidates for the position, but I still put my chances at maybe 5%, if that ... but that's a story for another day). The interview itself was nothing short of brutal, harrowing even. But the fact that I got called at all was simply amazing, given my general lack of experience at anything other than grad school... but really that's neither here nor there.

* Seriously, it was an honor just to be nominated ... *

If you follow weather at all, then you might realize there is a TON of snow in Boston. We're talking about piles seven or eight feet high from clearing roads, sidewalks, and parking lots. The amazing part to me was the general lack of acknowledgement by the people of Boston that anything inconvenient was going on. I understand that they get a lot of snow, so they are used to it, and they know how to handle it, but, to a girl who's lived the last ten years in a city that SHUTS DOWN for just a few inches of snow, it was mind boggling. People were riding bikes in the snow (without helmets, I might add ... come on, Boston, I thought you were supposed to be smarter than that!). The threat of additional major snowfall on Wednesday night didn't keep anyone at home. I sat at my interview dinner and watched many, many passersby out the window (I was already pretty sure by this point I wouldn't get the job, so why bother with small talk?). I even saw a few people in flip flops! The city did get a good bit more snow over Wednesday night, as you can kind of see from the photos. The piles of snow made me a little less sad that I'm not going to be hired for this particular job.

* The view from my hotel room Wed. night *

* The same view Thurs. morning *

So, you're probably wondering by now, "This post is subtitled 'Why I hate being short'. How is any of this about shortness?" Well, that is an excellent question. Here's where my diminutive stature comes in to play: I can't buy pants that fit. No, seriously. Even "petite" or "short" size pants are for people taller than I. And I know that; I've been dealing with it since probably fifth grade, so I should be well aware that any new pants I own have to be hemmed before I wear them. However, until very recently I didn't own much in the way of "business attire." I'm a jeans and a t-shirt kind of girl, a fashion sense passed down to me by my father. I still don't have many interview clothes (I'm assuming here that I will have a job that allows me to dress much more casually than I would for an interview; fingers crossed!), but I have been slowly growing my wardrobe, thanks to some hefty sales at Kohl's. But herein lies the problem -- I forgot to hem my new pants! So, as I was getting ready for my interview Wednesday morning, I had to ghetto-hem my pants. Luckily, I remembered the problem as I was packing and threw in a sewing kit. We're not talking about a minor hem, either. We're talking three or four inches, with heels on.

* The thread on the left leg blended in, but on the right I had
to use a very noticeable khaki. Luckily, engineers aren't known
for their fashion sense. I don't think anyone noticed. *

* Yep, that's mad sewing skillz right there. *

So, we can add not being able to wear pants off the rack to reasons I hate being short. In all my interviewing, I've been waiting for someone to ask me one of those inane "What's your greatest weakness?" questions. I know the popular answers are things like, "I really just work too hard." "I'm a bit of a perfectionist." "I don't know how to do a bad job." My answer will be, "I can't get things off the top shelf." Yeah, I'm ready for that one.

Valentine's Redux

2011-02-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

I think we should rebrand Valentine's Day. I know that a lot of people don't like the "holiday" for whatever reason - they aren't in a relationship, they don't like how commercial it is, their significant other is too dense to realize that even stupid holidays should involve chocolate ... whatever the reason, Valentine's Day is contentious at best. I'll admit, I (usually) like the holiday. I've never had anyone go crazy overboard for me on Diapered-Baby-with-Wings Day (anyone going with me on this one? maybe not a great name either ...), but I like the little punny notes that kids give out; I like seeing people walking around with random flowers and goofy grins; I like sending cards and unsolicited texts to my friends in the hopes of making them smile; I just like Hallmark-Says-I-Love-You Day (okay, that may be a little too close to home).

And the chocolate -- oh, man, I love the chocolate. I remember the pure envy I felt for every girl walking around high school with one of those gold boxes that just screamed, "Someone loves me enough to spend $100 on three pieces of chocolate." One year, I was one of the lucky, jealousy-inducing recipients of just such a box. I remember victoriously (but oh-so-nonchalantly) carrying my prize around school all day ("What this? Just something my BOYFRIEND got me for VALENTINE'S DAY." Yes, even nerds are catty.). And I can tell you, the chocolates were all the sweeter for having shown them off all day long.

I'd like to say that I've grown up since then, that I realize Commercialization-of-Romance Day is just that -- a way to encourage people to spend money needlessly. But we all need to admit that there is a reason this holiday works so well: Everyone wants that tangible reminder that someone really does care. Words and actions are sweet, but all too often they are forgotten during normal, day-to-day life. This is a chance to say, "Hey, I care about you, I remember you, and I took time out of my life to find something to show it to you." It's about the thought, and it's about the gesture. I completely agree with people who say that every day should be a Celebration-of-Your-Undying-Love Day, but who really has time to live it? I am happy to settle for 364 days of mutual respect and one Here-Are-Flowers-and-Chocolates-and-I'll-Take-Out-the-Trash Day.

I'm rambling on here, but the main reason I'm writing this is to remind everyone: It's nearly THE Day. If you are romantically involved with someone, don't just let the day pass you by. Take the chance to let him know you're so happy to be in the relationship. If you aren't romantically involved, do something special for your friends, your family, and yourself. In addition to all the great vegan chocolate options posted here, I like to give charitable donations for holidays (because, really, most of my friends have everything they need). And there is always the ever popular jewelry. Instead of diamonds and rubies, why not try some recycled glass pieces this year?

What are your feelings on Chocolate-in-a-Box Day? Yay? Nay? What do you want to give or get for the big day?

Caturday strikes again!

2011-01-29T07:42:00.001-08:00

I'm sorry for the lack of Caturday posts the last month or so, but this video finally kicked me back into action! This video is pure adorable. It makes me want to get a kitten. And a plastic box. And then put Lilly under that box to allow hilarity to ensue. Unfortunately, Lilly is far too dignified (read: would scratch my eyes out if I even tried it) to let me do that. I'll just have to enjoy this video and dream of having a kitty again some day.

And here is a gratuitous Lilly shot, just because she's awesome.

* Lilly's audition for Up *

As always, if you have any cat-related things you want to submit for caturday, please email me at theradioactivegan (at) gmail (dot) com!

I'm addicted to crack(ers)

2011-01-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

Back in my pre-gan days, I put down quite a few goldfish crackers (Nothing like my ex, though, who could go through one of those giant cartons in a matter of days. But I digress ...). Like so many other things, I happily said goodbye to cheesy crackers when I became vegan. And I think that when you see what's really inside those things, you might reconsider just how delicious the fishes are, too.

Anyway, cheese crackers were gone but not forgotten from my diet. In fact, during a trip to Seattle last summer, I stopped in at Sidecar for Pigs Peace and came away with a box of Eco-Planet Cheddar Crackers. These things are pretty much amazing, a perfect replacement for the cheesy crackers of my youth. Of course, there is no where in Knoxville (or probably a hundred mile radius thereof) to purchase these tasty morsels. Interwebs to the rescue! After seeing The Domestic Vegan's post on cheezy crackers, I just had to make some myself.

* Holy cracker goodness, Batman! *

I followed the original recipe on VegWeb exactly; I wanted to use the pumpkin puree substitution, but my puree was looking a little suspect so I threw it out. I also stole Jessica's idea of using a skinny shotglass as a cracker cutter since I don't have any tiny fish cutters. My shotglass is approximately an inch in diameter to give you an idea of the finished cracker size.

I think Jessica's estimate of 10 dozen crackers was a little low. I have 77 crackers on that baking sheet alone, and I cooked maybe three sheets full -- so closer to 20 dozen crackers! I'll admit that at first I was a little worried about these going bad before I finished them, but I really didn't need to be. They kept beautifully, and I gobbled them up like nobody's business anyway.

* The crackers do not spread during baking -
in fact, they contract a little, so you can put them as close together as you want. *

I don't know about you guys, but I really love peanut butter on cheese crackers. Boom. Instant noms.

So now I can make my own crackers. That's right, I'm bragging :) What have you made lately that most people would think is strange?

I also made marmalade at a recent workshop in town. I didn't take any pictures, but you can read about it here. Kat has hosted several canning classes this winter, and I've loved learning about it. I'm already geared up for next month!

Just 'cause I luv you

2011-01-19T15:07:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard about it, you can get a $20 Amazon gift card from Living Social for only $10 today (meaning, buy it before midnight!). It's a sweet deal, and you can use it to buy any one of the ten bazillion things that you have on your wishlist, or one of the ten bazillion things on mine ;)

For just $10, you could pre-order Quick and Easy Vegan Bake Sale

Buy Veganomicon

or learn to do some sweet crocheting

As far as I know, this is legit. I have bought deals from Groupon, Half Off Depot, and a few other discount sites. I haven't had a problem yet. Regardless, buy at your own risk.

Shake your Pom Poms

2011-01-17T18:44:00.001-08:00

What do you think of when you hear pom-poms? Maybe you think about cheerleaders, like this one:

Brittany: Thanks for helping me earlier in art. May be there's something I could teach you.
Daria: Well, you could show me how to twirl hair around my little finger and look vacant.
Brittany: [Twirling hair around her finger] I don't know if that's something you can teach.

or, even better, this one:

Yes, that is RuPaul. If you haven't seen this movie, do it! It is a must see for everyone

Or maybe you think about one of these:

I personally love pomegranates - how delicious they are, how cute the arils are, and how fun they are to eat! Luckily, one of the recent Earth Fare giveaways was for 2 free pomegranates. Derek stopped by the store and got two of the biggest pomegranates I've ever seen in my life.

That's a grapefruit in the middle!
Okay, it's just a tangerine ... but if it were a grapefruit, that'd be insane!

* These pomegranates are seriously each the size of my head. *

I love pom arils on salads, with noodles and peanut sauce, on beans and rice, or mixed in to a fruit salad. But with this bounty of pomegranate, I wanted to do something special. The Baking is Hot blog recently featured an excellent use for pomegranate arils: White Chocolate Pomegranate Cookies. The recipe was pretty easy to veganize (vegan white chocolate, earth balance, and egg replacer powder), and I don't think the omnivorous version could possibly be any better than the vegan. The only change I made was cutting down on the white chocolate. I used only half a cup because I had very small chips, instead of chunks. And now, cookie making, an event in photos:

* Assemble your ingredients, then stop to arrange them and take a photo *

* Make some tasty cookies *

* Flatten the cookies slightly for maximum delicousness *

* Cool on a super space saving cooling rack *

* Get ready for some serious noms! *

I'm getting a little more Alfalfa in my life

2011-01-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

Not that kind of Alfalfa, although I wouldn't say no to a boat ride ... No, I was the lucky winner of Dreena's sprouter giveaway ages ago. My CSA basket was sprinkled with sprouts of various types all summer: alfalfa, sunflower, radish, more that I don't remember now. But this bounty has long since run out, and I'm missing the quick topper for salads, sandwiches, and wraps. Now, I'm piqued to try making my own sprouty concoctions. Armed with some tips from Jessica (my CSA lady), I finally put my new sprouter to work shortly after ringing in the new year.

* From the website *

I've already been eyeing the sprouting seeds at my local Earth Fare, but as a complete sprouting newb I don't want to spend a lot of money on the learning curve portion of sprouting. The sprouter came with a generous supply of alfalfa seeds, so I figured I'd start there. This inaugural use of my new sprouter popped my sprouting cherry, so I didn't really know what to expect. I decided to play it safe and only use one of the three trays available. I figured that way, I wouldn't waste as much of my alfalfa supply if I did something wrong, and I wouldn't end up with an uneatable quantity of sprouts all at once.

Luckily, this thing is pretty much foolproof (provided you aren't a sufficiently talented fool). You spread a small amount (I used about a teaspoon) of seeds on each tray you want to use, reassemble your tower, and pour some water in the top reservoir. The funneling action takes care of all the work for you, making sure that each tray receives as much water as it needs and then passes the water on to the tray below. Twice a day, just empty the water from the bottom, check the funnels to remove any wayward seeds, and rewater. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. So on to the main event, the growth of sprouts: a pictorial guide.

* They start off as humble seeds in the sprouter tray *

* The funneling action is the secret to it all. *

* Some initial growth *

* Full on sprouty goodness! *

I didn't take any pictures of the meals we had with these sprouts, but it was pretty standard -- salads, wraps, sandwiches. They made the most delightful substitute for lettuce on some tofurkey sandwiches (note to self: sprouts >> lettuce).

I really think the modular design is one of the nicest features of this sprouter. Because it has three distinct trays, I can fill only one tray, I can sprout three different things at a time, or I can sprout in a cycle. By starting one tray every day or two, I could have a continuous supply of fresh sprouts! Much like singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat in a round, someone would always be coming merrily down the stream.

What are your favorite kinds of sprouts? I had sunflower sprouts over the summer, which were delicious. I hope to make some of those soon, as well as chickpeas, lentils, and broccoli. The possibilities are wide before me! Where should I go from here?

Christmas Craftacular 2010

2011-01-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

Okay, so these are no longer works in progress, but it's Wednesday, so I figured I'd throw it in. They definitely were WIPs just a few Wednesdays ago.

I already showed the Chromosome Hat I made for my friend Billy. I still haven't seen him to give it to him, so I'll probably just have to mail it and hope he can dig it out of his mailbox (He seriously checks his mail about once every four months).

* I always absent mindedly put my hand on my hip.
I hope people don't think I'm reprimanding them. *

But the craftiness didn't stop there! I also made presents for my brother's entire family:

A kindle cover for Duncan, made from this pattern.

An ice scraper sleeve for my sister-in-law, Sara. Duncan told me he was getting her an ice scraper for Christmas and suggested some kind of cover for it ... You might think he could have sprung for one with a cover already on it, but I'm sure he got her something else, too ... well, pretty sure.

* Hopefully her ice scraper is exactly like mine; it was a pretty tight fit. *

And, the main event, the entire cast of monsters from Yo Gabba Gabba! I crocheted these from this set of patterns. Unfortunately, DJ Lance wasn't available when I got the patterns. But, then again, I'm pretty okay with that. He kind of creeps me out. (Get ready for photo overload. I'm pretty darn proud of these.)

* Poor picture quality, fancy toy quality :) *

* Muno *

* Plex *

* Toodee *

* Brobee (he's a bro) *

* Foofah *

I bought the patterns for these toys last January, purchased some of the yarn needed to start them, then set it all aside until the day after Thanksgiving to actually get started. Maybe someday I won't cut it quite so close, but, really, that doesn't sound like me ...

I also made some other gifts, less ambitious gifts. I have an ongoing project to knit dishrags for my Dot. I think I've given her about a dozen over the last couple years, but she always seems to want more. Since she is 81 and probably has everything else she wants, I'm happy to comply!

* This is a very old picture from last year's dishrag knitting.
Notice my old couch. So dark, so forgiving of stains ... *

I also made some food gifts, which I don't seem to have photos of, but trust me when I say they were delicious: ginger garlic mustard from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, rosemary-maple nuts, and pumpkin cranberry granola. I also made some blueberry macadamia nut biscotti from Carla's upcoming Vegan Bakesale cookbook -- so easy and so good. Never buy biscotti out; you can make your own that is so much better!

Did you give out handmade gifts for Christmas this year? If so, what did you make? I need some ideas for next Christmas! (I've already bookmarked these awesome produce bags from Katie's blog)

* My Brobee eats tofu and pretzels, which makes for a pretty great party. *

The one where I still don't make resolutions

2011-01-02T21:42:00.001-08:00

I find myself firmly planted in 2011. No matter what I do, it seems that I just can't get back to 2010, and, apparently, 365 days simply were not enough to finish everything I wanted to accomplish. I did get some things done:

* I'm not any of these people, but I don't have any photos from my graduation *

I graduated university! With my terminal degree (woot, woot). I've been referring to the doctorate as my terminal degree for a while to try to drive home the idea that I'm actually going to leave school some day. Perhaps I haven't actually *left* yet, but I'm well on the way!

I made some pretty fancy crafts. Look for a wrap up post of the 2010 Christmas craft-athon coming soon! Just a hint -- Brobee will be there, Muno, too.

I participated in my second year of Vegan MoFo, with a massive 28 posts. Maybe it doesn't seem like too much of an accomplishment, but I was pretty happy about it. I'm already looking forward to my third MoFo this year :)

A friend and I instituted movie night to combat D&D night (you know, for all the cool kids). We've watched a lot of good movies and eaten a lot of good food. I've successfully fed half a dozen (on average) people vegan food once a week with no complaints. I'm excited to get it started again when the holiday buzz settles down.

And, of course, there are some things that I thought would happen this year that just didn't get done. I don't have a new job, I didn't win ten million dollars in the lottery, and I haven't grown four inches. Sure, maybe the new job was the only thing I really expected to happen, but still ... didn't do any of those things.

Like so many others these days, I'm considering the possibility of making resolutions to kick off the new year. Just like last year, I'm not really on board with the whole resolution making schtick. And, I feel, for good reason. Instead I prefer to take time during the beginning of the year to reflect on ideas I might do well to keep in mind during the coming year. Some of these ideas are repeats from last year, but I think they bear repeating. A few of these didn't stick with me as strongly as I'd hoped last year, but maybe this will be the year of the tidy apartment? Maybe ... but probably not. But there's no harm in hoping! Without further adieu, 11 ideas for 2011.

Petting my cat is good for my health and hers. Lilly will always be there for me, so I need to always be there for her.
Spending time with my brother's kids doesn't need to be relegated to babysitting time. I might not be here next year, so I need to embed my liberal, vegan ideals in them while I still can ;)
Getting mad that someone cut me off on the interstate is not going to change the fact that he cut me off. Calm down.
Relying on one person for everything I need is a good way to go crazy.
Nice people are nice to everyone, even people they don't like. Manipulative people are nice to people they don't like only when they need to be in order to get something. I want to be a nice person.
I spend more time being idle than I'd like to. I can knit or crochet while I sit and watch tv; there is nothing on that needs my undivided attention.
I have a hundred cookbooks (and counting), and I need to take advantage of them. Welcome back, Cookbook Challenge.
Clutter is distracting and embarrassing. I want to be focused on what I'm doing, and I don't want to scramble around every time anyone comes to visit to straighten things up. I would be well served to keep my apartment and my desk tidy.
Related to that, I don't need to have so much stuff. When in doubt, freecycle it!
Things (all things) work out, eventually. Just because it doesn't seem like the best thing now doesn't mean it won't get better.
I'm not nearly as bad as I think I am.

How do you look back on 2010? Fondly, I hope. What are your plans for 2011? World domination, perhaps? Please consider me when the uprisings begin.

New Year, New Caturday

2011-01-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

* One of my new year resolutions will be to get a haircut. *

I had a very mellow new year's eve at home last night. I wanted to go to an 80s prom party, but no one else wanted to go, but no one else wanted to go out :\ It was four votes for staying in, one vote for an 80s dance party -- so, like all mature adults, we compromised. We all stayed in, and I wore my fancy 80s prom dress. Everyone wins! Lilly and I want to wish you all a very merry new year. Welcome to a new year, a new decade, and a new chance (chance to what? to do whatever it is you still need to).

* This dress is actually a lovely coral color, but every
time I get a photo of it, it looks orange. Oh, well ...
Go Vols! *

How did you spend your New Year's Eve? Did it involve a stylish formal dress? As always, if you have a cat you'd like to feature here on Caturday, just email photos, stories, links, etc. to theradioactivegan (at) gmail (dot) com.

Reusable Bags -- Today Only!

2010-12-30T09:28:00.000-08:00

I just opened today's Groupon deal and it was such a good one that I thought I'd share it. For only $10, you can purchase $25 in merchandise from Xoopii. Xoopii (no, I have no idea how to pronounce that. In my head, it's zu-pee) sells reusable bags made from recycled materials. I personally love these:

* Full size, structured tote bag*

* Collapsable bag. How do they get all
that cute in that tiny little pouch? *

They also sell some other cute things, like these wristwarmers and adorable stickers.

Shipping is a flat $4.95, which you can pay for with your Groupon. Since you can get two Groupon deals for yourself, I recommend you get one of everything! But make sure you hurry, the Groupon offer runs out at midnight (EST).

A Caturday Christmas

2010-12-25T05:31:00.000-08:00

What do kitties do with Christmas trees? Here are two answers: first in cartoon ...

and then the real thing!

Happy Christmas to you all!

Here comes Santa Claus

2010-12-21T10:17:00.001-08:00

Here Comes Santa Claus by Bob Dylan

More Bob Dylan music on iLike

I've got an early Christmas present for everyone. Yes, I am awfully generous. Just remember this when my birthday rolls around ;)

What I have for you is a coupon for a shopping spree at Ecolissa, a recently launched online boutique which sells eco-friendly and vegan clothing and accessories (Don't you just love those gifts that require you to spend money to use them? I know you do).

If you're short on time, I've even done some browsing to get you started. Here are a few of my favorite things from the shop:

* I love this skirt without even trying it on! *

* Everyone needs a sassy dress,
although this one sadly looks too long for me *

* And top it all off with a classy clutch *

I am seriously considering making that flouncy skirt mine! And if Santa brings me some cash for Christmas, then I just might do it. It'll be a lot easier with this awesome coupon: Use the code vegan20 for 20% off your entire order. And if Santa happens to bring you an extra wad of cash, I'll take anything in a small.

Putting a little spring in my step

2010-12-20T19:42:00.000-08:00

Obviously it is always best to eat seasonally, but sometimes when it's freezing outside I just want to remember warmer days. When the mood struck me last week, I happened to have half a bunch of asparagus sitting in my fridge. What says spring faster than asparagus risotto? Honestly ... probably lots of things, but I was in the mood for risotto. I used this recipe, with a few adjustments for what I had on hand. I didn't have a leek, so I used some finely minced white onion in its place. Maybe not the best substitution, but it worked for me. This gave me an amazing respite from the winter doldrums; if you need a dinnertime vacation, then hop on board.

In her Caturday Debut ...

2010-12-18T20:29:00.000-08:00

Today's Caturday post comes a little late because of an early Christmas celebration. However, I don't want to skip today's kitty spectacular. Because today I have our first ever reader entry! This adorable feline is Bob (because of her naturally short tail), who lives with the lovely ladies over at The Good Luck Duck. Bob's favorite activity is being touched. She's a little plump, and does love to eat, but she'd pass up paté if you looked like you might pick her up instead.

* Ladies sometimes sit like this *

I absolutely love long haired, fluffy cats. If I thought Lilly would put up with another cat around (she absolutely wouldn't), I would get a long haired cat. Preferably one who sits like this for easier access to tummy rubs :)

Thank you so much to Annie and Roxi for sharing your sweet girl with us! If you have any cat pictures/videos/stories/jokes you want to share here on Caturday, please email them to theradioactivegan (at) gmail (dot) com.

Could it be ... seitan?

2010-12-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

For movie night this week, I made seitan pot pie. I think pot pie is the best cold weather food there is. I started with this recipe and went from there.

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I decided to make my own pie crust. And, what's more, a single giant seitan pot pie just would not do. No, I made individual pot pies because (we can all admit it) the crust is absolutely the best part of any sort of pie. Individual pies maximize crust to everyone, and I think we can all agree that's a win. I used a modified version of the basic pastry dough recipe in The Joy of Cooking (pg 665). I replaced a cup of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour to give a heartier crust for the savory pies. I used spectrum shortening and earth balance margarine for the lard and butter, respectively. I also doubled the recipe over all to give me plenty of dough (I'd hate to run out mid-pot pie construction!).

* My very excellent pastry roller *

I also made some changes to the pot pie filling recipe. To begin with, I replaced the tofu with seitan, because seitan just seems more pot pie-y to me. I used the boiled seitan recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance because it's texture seems well suited to a savory pie filling. I pretty much threw in all the vegetables (fresh and frozen) that I could find in my fridge: onion, celery, peas, carrots, corn, potatoes, mushrooms, and probably other things I'm forgetting now. Other than ingredient changes (and totally eye-balled amounts since I was making a larger volume of pot pie), I followed the directions given to cook the filling. Eight individual-sized pot pies were filled with veggies and covered with some gravy/sauce.

* Pot pies all filled up and ready for top crust *

* Extreme pot pie close up! *

And, of course, a top crust was put on each one to hold in all that pot pie goodness. I baked these in a 400* oven for 20 minutes with foil covering each. I then removed the foil and baked for another 20 - 25 minutes to get a nice brown on top. It was a long, long process, but it was a lot of fun. And a great thing about these pot pies if you aren't feeding a small army, you can freeze the pies and keep them for future enjoyment. Then you just heat them up like any Marie Calendar's classic pot pie.

* Prebaked. They looked a lot the same post-baked, but I didn't get a photo *

And what film series is an absolute must see during the Christmas season? There are so many -- Home Alone being an obvious choice. Only slightly less obvious is this: Die Hard! This movie night was brought to you by the suffix -er, meaning we watched Die Hard 2: Die Harder. Best movie sequel title ever. Some people seem to think that Die Hard 2 is superior to Die Hard. Me, I like the original. The second one is basically a spoof of the first, with a lot of the same stunts and bigger explosions. John McClane even says "Oh man, I can't fucking believe this. Another basement, another elevator. How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?" I do not know, Mr. McClane. I do not know. We'll let the impartial jury of Rotten Tomatoes settle this. And survey says ... Die Hard - 94%, Die Harder - 64%. A clear victory for the original film! Regardless, they are both fine films and holiday classics.

You say Aubergine, I say Eggplant.

2010-12-12T18:07:00.000-08:00

My Indian friends call it Brinjal ... but that's neither here nor there.

More often than not, it seems that I take my most interesting recipe adventures when I realize that something I bought on sale at the market ages ago is about to go bad. When I open the fridge and see such-and-such-that-was-on-sale-last-week is starting to get soft or bruised or discolored, I go to the interwebs for some vegetable salvation.

Just this situation occurred about a week ago when I realized that the eggplant I bought for just a dollar the week before was dangerously close to suicide by fridge. Luckily the blogosphere had just the solution for my problem: Basil Eggplant Balls! With a name like that, how could I go wrong?

I basically followed these directions for roasting eggplant in my oven. Then I dumped everything in my blender and whirred it till it was a nice, elastic ball of eggplant dough. In retrospect, this might not have been my best idea. I think I lost all the benefit of the breadcrumbs by blending them in. If I make this recipe again, I'll experiment with the breadcrumbs for better texture.

I also chose to deep fry the balls instead of pan frying them because I have a very difficult time pan frying things without getting the fire department involved. As you probably all know, eggplant soaks up oil like nobody's business. If you decide to deep fry as well, make sure your oil is as hot as possible so that your balls will cook quickly and soak up less oil. Next time, I will try to bake these bad boys for a much more reasonable healthful factor.

Deep fried balls, ready for eating (after a brief cool-down anyway).

And finally, dinner! Whole wheat pasta topped with tomato sauce and eggplant balls with a side of warm, toasty garlic bread. Never let anyone say that vegan food is healthful food. But it is delicious, damn delicious.

Should you find yourself with an extra eggplant reaching maturity in your fridge, I highly recommend this recipe. If you do try this recipe out and you use a different cooking technique than deep-frying, please let me know how it goes!

This is my second entry into the current Blog Bites event at One Hot Stove. Check One Hot Stove for the wrap up at the end of December.

It's not the size of the cat that matters

2010-12-04T07:01:00.006-08:00

We might need to rename this week's post Faturday, because this is one sizable kitty. If you follow anything fake news related online, you probably know about Giuly, the tubby tabby making the rounds for being the funniest feline on the interwebs.

* You have to wonder if there a piece of string being dangled just off camera *

Giuly's person is a young teacher in Italy who posts photos of Giuly doing all kinds of cute things on her flickr stream. I strongly suggest you all hop on over there and check out some other pictures of Giuly being adorable.

I hope Giuly's person doesn't mind me snatching a few of her great photos to show off her cat. If you have any pictures of your cat that you want featured here on caturday, please send them on to me at theradioactivegan (at) gmail (dot) com.

You need to WIP it. WIP it good.

2010-12-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

Look at that! It's not even Vegan MoFo anymore, and I'm still putting up a post. Don't count on this to last too long. I just wanted to remind everyone (as if you didn't already know) that Christmas is just a few short weeks away! And so begins the mad Christmas crafting dash! For my second ever WIP Wednesday, I'd like to share the few x-mas gifts I've been working on. Just for a quick recap -- here is my first WIP Wednesday. You might notice that was posted in April. And honestly ... I haven't done too many crafty things since then. I haven't even finished that blanket! It quickly became far too warm to work on a blanket (or anything involving lots of yarn), so I abandoned it. Hopefully when I finish my list of Christmas gifts to make I'll be ready to pick it up again. Until that happens ... here are the presents I've been working on.

First up, for my bestie who is a Biology major at Vanderbilt, I've made a chromosome hat according to this pattern at Carissa Knits. I first saw the hat on Making Food and Other Stuff and knew it would be perfect for Billy. I even had some really great yarn sitting in my stash just waiting for a project. It took me an entire Friday to knit this, which was probably five hours of knitting or something like that, interspersed throughout the day. Now it is neatly wrapped and waiting under my tiny tree.

Every year I make toys for my nieces for Christmas, and luckily they are still young enough for that to work, because it's so much fun! I've started on the first of five patterns for this year's gift. I'm very hopeful that I'll get it done in time for Christmas, but even if I don't they live basically across the street from me, so I think I can get it to them a little late ...

* Who can guess who this guy is going to turn into?
Hint: He'll be doing a dancey-dance when I'm through! *

In addition to finishing my troupe of toys for G&S, I'm hoping to knit some dishrags for my Dot (she already has a ton, but she seems to like them ...), make some canned mustard and a few other things, and then just give in and buy presents for everyone else. My mom has expressed a lot of interest in a homemade apron, but I've never done that sort of thing ... so we'll see how ambitious I get. Are you making any gifts this year? If someone were making a gift for you, what would you want it to be?

Goodbye, MoFo

2010-11-30T09:16:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems like just yesterday that Vegan MoFo began, but actually it was 30 long days ago. I kind of fell off the MoFo wagon here at the end, but after all the excitement of Thanksgiving I seemed to run out of things to say. I'll leave this MoFo with one final dinner, and say farewell till next year.

So what was on the menu for dinner last night? Muir Glen Split Pea Soup (that says vegan right on the front! love it!), topped with a generous sprinkle of Bacos and accompanied by a ooey, gooey grilled Daiya sandwich.

* I love the color of this soup. And I had to throw in some Bacos
to get the Christmas-y pink and green vibe *

I had a little trouble with my first grilled Daiya sandwich because the cheese didn't want to melt as quickly as the bread wanted to burn. So my solution to that little dilemma is this: I take two pieces of bread and sprinkle them with the cheese I want in my sandwich (I like a mix of the two flavors together, and then I sprinkle on some pepper and crushed red pepper and sometimes other spices ... but you can just do the cheese. Just know that my grilled Daiya sandwich will be much fancier than yours). Then I pop that in the toaster oven on broil for a few minutes to pre-melt the cheese. Once the cheese is nice and melty, just smack the two pieces of bread together into a sandwich, smear the uncheesy bread sides with EB and grill as you would any other. You get perfect melt, and a perfect bread char. I think it would be criminal to grill a sandwich in anything other than a cast iron skillet, but I'm probably not going to prosecute so do whatever feels right to you.

I hope everyone had a very merry MoFo. What was your favorite post of MoFo? If you have a blog, what's your favorite thing that you posted? I read so many great posts that it's hard to pick just one, or even just one hundred. I'd love to hear what you guys enjoyed.

A glass full of cherries

2010-11-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

I little while ago (okay, okay, a long while ago ... I was slow to get this review up), I got a message from a newer juice company: Cheribundi. They offered to send me a few samples of their new cherry juices. I got four 8-ounce servings; two of Tru Cherry and two of Skinny Cherry. There is apparently also a Whey Cherry, but we won't waste time wondering who might want to adulterate their juice with milk bits ...

Cheribundi Tru Cherry juice contains 50 cherries per 8 ounce serving, which gives you the equivalent of 2 servings of fruit, if you're worried about that sort of thing. It is 100% juice, consisting of both cherry juice and apple juice (for sweetness). The Skinny Cherry juice has a full 40 cherries in each 8 ounces, with additional water and natural sweeteners (stevia) to help cut down the calorie count. In the interest of honesty, I don't think too much about calorie counts. I should, but I don't. If I want to eat something, I eat it. If I want to drink something, I drink it. I haven't forgone anything because of calorie content in probably five years. I think you can tell that when you see me ... so 130-calorie Tru Cherry did not have any immediate benefit to me over 90-calorie Skinny Cherry. That said, orange juice is pretty much the only juice that I drink straight. More often than not, I water juice down because it's just too much for me. Also, I gulp all my drinks like I've spent the last week in the Mojave desert ... so I tend to add water to a lot of things.

So what did I think of the Cheribundi drinks? In a phrase, I'm for 'em. The Tru Cherry juice does have a stronger tart-cherry flavor than the Skinny Cherry, but if you, like me, are going to water the juice down anyway then that doesn't really matter. What I *really* loved was adding the juice to smoothies. It gave my morning elixir a tartness that was just what I needed to kick it into gear in the morning. I only added about 4 ounces of juice to any one smoothie, so I had several chances to try different combinations. And I did not happen upon a single bad one: from a simple combination of frozen bananas and cherry juice to more complicated clean-out-the-fridge numbers with half a dozen kinds of frozen fruit and leafy greens, all topped off with cherry juice -- they were all good.

* Pretty much all the smoothies looked the same, so I'll only give you one picture ... you all know what a glass of smoothie looks like anyway. *

Cheribundi is available in some stores, though none near me. I do like that they offer larger packages than the 8 ounce bottles. You can order (or presumably buy in stores) 32 ounce bottles so that you aren't putting quite so many into landfills. I don't think I'll order any juice through the mail, mostly because I'm never home to get packages. But if I see this on store shelves, I'll probably pick up a bottle. It did take me a while to use up the four juices, because I like to save things "just in case." In case of what, I have no idea ... These juices are shelf-stable and keep for ages. So if you find a great sale, you can stock up and store them on the highest shelf of your pantry for those rainy days.

You can find Cheribundi on Facebook, if you are inclined to do such a thing. They certainly have quite a following. They post a lot of articles and information about the positive health effects of cherries; it's some interesting reading.

Full disclosure: I was provided with 32 ounces of Cheribundi juice free of charge. I was not explicitly asked to review the juice on my blog, nor did I receive any additional compensation (beyond the original free juice) for the review. The opinions given here are my own.