A Vegan Crunk tester, and activists vs. mall cops!

Oh man, is it a sweet deal to be a recipe tester! The pickin's are pretty slim for cajun and southern foods, let alone vegan-style, here in Portland. So it was quite a treat to have tempeh gumbo for dinner last night! Nice job, Bianca!

Tempeh Gumbo and whole wheat french bread

Newsflash!

Remember a few months ago when the Radical Cheerleaders for Animal Rights were cheering about puppy mills in front of Scamp's in Lloyd Center? And as they were leaving a fellow activist was thrown to the ground and arrested? Well, Lloyd Center has dropped it's charges against Matt Rossell and lifted his 4 year ban from the premises in exchange for his promise not to sue. But there's an even bigger victory! Scamp's has closed all of it's doors! Check out this write-up in the Oregonian http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/animal_rights_protester_makes.html

Crunky testers and CHOCOLATE!

I tested two side dishes for Vegan Crunk's upcoming cookbook this week - Mess O' Greens with Turnips and Mashed Sweet Taters. Both of these recipes were freakin' delicious, but seriously - the greens recipe would be worth the purchase price alone! I doubt I will ever make greens another way again. I enjoyed them with baked tofu. Oh yeeeeaaaahhhhh.

More greens n' turnips with a tempeh sandwich

I told you I really like 'em! I made them again last night to go with Jesse's new favorite sandwich - marinated tempeh and onion. I found some Annie's marinade's at Grocery Outlet a few weeks ago for $1.49! I should have bought more...

Pretty place setting!

I spent a few hours yesterday reclaiming the dining room table for eating. Well, most of it at least. There's still a drill press on the corner of it. You see, living in a one bedroom apartment, our dining room also serves as our office and Jesse's workspace/hobby space. Moving and organizing everything was a pain in the butt, but the room feels twice as big and it just makes me happy! Yay :)

Chocolate pancakes topped with Special Cocoa Spread and maple syrup and hashbrowns

I did a swap on the PPK last month, and got a box full of awesome stuff from New Jersey! One of these awesome things is a chocolate spread from Israel, very similar to Nutella but without the nuts. It is quite delicious on pancakes as well as on cookies, in a peanut butter sandwich, and of course - right out of the jar! I am in chocolate heaven!!!

Happy Easter if you celebrate, and if you're a heathen like me - you should eat some chocolate anyway! xoxo Chelsea

I'm baaaaaa-aaaaaacccckkkkkk!

Hello everyone! Jeez, I have been gone for a long time! My computer died, so I've been using the laptop and took a long time to figure out how to download pictures on it (did you know that you can stick your memory card right into most laptops? I had no idea...) and then I hurt my back, got the flu, and had a really intense (but in a good way!) couple weeks at work, and somehow just got out of the habit of even logging into blogger. How have you all been? I hope life has been treating you all well! Happy Spring! Please enjoy some food porn!

Vegan Crunk's tester Sweet Potato Pecan bread

Inside shot! This stuff was so yummy and easy to make!

Pizza with Trader Joe's herby crust, FYH mozzarella, and lots of veggies (and don't forget the walnuts!)

Potato tofu veggie scramble and my cute little tea cup!

Voodoo Doughnut expanded their vegan offerings! I will never eat another cake doughnut again!!!

After drooling over dairy spinach dip at a potluck, I went home and made my own!

Jesse asked me what I wanted for dinner, and of course I replied with, "NACHOS!" Here's what I got - my own friggin' nacho bar!

Delicious!

Lemon Gem cupcakes from Vegan with a Vengeance

Reubeny sammich - tempeh, sauerkraut, grilled onions, and a Vegenaise/ketchup/hot sauce blend

Mac and cheeze and kale and shallots

And what's a blog post without some cute kitties???

Zoey and Cookie sleeping in the top of their cat tree

Cookie loves to give me baths :)

Next up, my first attempt at sushi! Woohoo! xoxo Chelsea

Gettin' crunk in the kitchen

So I'm doing a little testing for Vegan Crunk's upcoming cookbook (yeah, yeah, I know you're jealous!) and oh man, do I love that Bianca! I tried two recipes out today and all I can say is YUM!!!

Vegan Crunk's Corn Casserole - I could eat this everyday

Vegan Crunk's Chili of Awesomeness (my name, not hers!) :)

This weekend has flown by! I went in to work yesterday (trying to make up some of those pesky snow days) and after that I was at the Red and Black's one year anniversary at their current location party! The Red and Black is an anarchist, worker owned cafe that has always been veg, and just went vegan a few months ago! Woohoo! I think every vegan in Portland might have been jammed in there, and it was fun to see everyone out supporting our community. Yay Portland! There were lots of bands and the Radical Cheerleaders for AR performed (sorry, no pics this time!), and free vegan cake!

Adelit@s - guerrilla armada con melodias

Have a great week everybody! xoxox