Presidential debate cookies!

Inspired by Vegan Crunk's post last week, I made some cookies and had my own little viewing party! Jesse was supposed to make it, but got stuck late at work :( he did make the last 15 minutes, at least. It was torture not to break into the cookies while I was waiting for him!

I used a sugar cookie and icing recipe from vegweb. It turned out pretty well! I did have to add a little water to the dough, and I didn't realize that you're supposed to flatten sugar cookies rather than ball 'em up on the cookie sheet, but they were still tasty if a little goofy-looking!

When I got ready to make my blue and red frosting, I opened up the box of food coloring to discover that some jerk-off took the red out and replaced it with blue! Can you believe that??? So, I used yellow. Whatever. I'm still a little annoyed as you can probably tell! I quickly discovered that O-B-A-M-A is tricky to spell out on a dinky little cookie, so I went with the classic "OBAMA RULZ" after that.

And what a great debate it was! I loved that McCain was trying sooooooooo hard to be nice to Obama after last time, and it was obvious how fake it was.

Here I am ready to laugh my ass off and yell at the tv!

Rasperry cider toast to Obama

Sugar cookies before icing...

...and after!

Veganmofo survey!

Thanks for passing this along, VeganView!

1. Name a song that involves food in some way?

Biscuit - Portishead

2. What criteria do you use when buying a new cookbook?

Do I have money? LOL! No really, I'm a novice cook, so I don't have many cookbooks. I use vegweb a lot.

3. What did you eat today?

A bagel with hummus and veggies, a small bowl of veggie chili, a sticky bun... I need some fruit!

4. Name a vegan food you know exists but have never tried...

I don't think I've ever had a vegan tamale. Sad!

5. The Food Network just called and needs you to start your new show tomorrow. What will the title be?

Vegan Eating for Dummies

6. Favorite hot sauce or other spicy condiment?

That is a tough one... I love Sriracha, Aarvark habanero hot sauce, and wasabi

7. How old were you when you became vegan?

22

8. Favorite vegan cheeze?

Follow Your Heart because it's cheap. Sheese Gouda flavor is really good on crackers with mustard, though!

9. Cutest baby animal?

Any that's not a human and is very furry!

10. Favorite type of jam/jelly?

I love the lavender-infused ones at the farmers market

11. Do you take any vitamins/supplements?

VegLife Vegan Multi

12. What food/dish most embodies the Fall Season?

Definitely pumpkin pie!

13. What food would you have a hard time living without?

Tofu, avocado, olive oil, chocolate

14. Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate?

If it's plain old coffee, then hot chocolate for sure, but if it's a yummy mocha with hemp milk or something, I'm all over that!

15. It's 10 pm and you're starving. What do you eat?

Have I been drinking? haha If not, a handful of nuts or a salad or just go to bed, if yes - I've been known to make cheezy sauce all hours of the night!

16. If you have an animal companion, what is her/his favorite food?

My kitties love their fancy gross meat food, but they (especially Cookie) love to eat whatever else I'm eating. Zoey loves vegan coffee cake, Smart Bacon, and goes wild over chevre when my husband has it.

17. Worst injury you have gotten in the kitchen?

I burned myself pretty good on my inner forearm on the oven the night before I left for Italy... when I got back 2 weeks later it was still all scabby. No scar now, though! That was about 2.5 years ago.

18. When you have a food-related question, who do you call?

Whoever I think will answer the phone! Usually my husband or my best friend.

19. Summer is ending-what food will you miss the most?

That's a toss up between heirloom tomatoes and berries. I love summer!

20. What snacks do you keep in your purse/backpack/desk at work?

Purse - dried fruit and nuts
Work - Lara bars and sometimes a box of cereal or packets of oatmeal. I'm trying to start eating breakfast... it's really hard for me :(

21. Favorite soup to make on a rainy day?

Does chili count?

22. What is your favorite combination of fresh vegetable/fruit juices?

I really like green juices, a la Naked or Columbia Valley.

23. Favorite brand of root beer?

Root beer is foul

24. You are having three vegan celebs to dinner! Who are they?

~James Cromwell

~Woody Harrelson

~Erykah Badu

25. Make your own veganic question! Here's mine:
When was the first time you heard the word "vegan?" What was your first impression?
I remember hearing the word vegan (pronounced vay-gun) when I was a sophomore in high school. A punk friend of mine thought I would be interested in all this stuff he had found out about dairy because I was a vegetarian. He told me about it while I drank a milkshake and he ate a burger at Burgerville. I didn't believe him. I never heard anything about vegans again until I started college and met a few!

And here's a yummy little sticky bun I just ate from Dovetail Bakery

Stinging nettle soup!

Sounds pretty hard-core, huh? Well, you know me! :) Nettles are actually an extremely healthy food - they are rich in vitamins A, C, D, iron and calcium, and have quite a high amount of protein for a veggie at 40%! But what about the whole stinging issue, you ask? Even brief cooking totally neutralizes it.

I bought a bag of stinging nettles from the mushroom vendors at the farmers market last weekend, and ended up using their recipe to cook them up. It made a huge pot of soup, and was surprisingly delicious! Here is the recipe:

Springwater Farm Nettle Soup
1 lb. potatoes
1/2 lb. young nettles
1/4 lb. maitakes
1/4 lb. shittakes
2 oz. butter or olive oil
1/2 pts. chicken or veggie stock
sea salt
black pepper
4 Tb. sour creme (I subbed Tofutti and halved it)


Cook the peeled, chopped potatoes for 10 min. in salted water. Drain. Wearing gloves, cut nettles up with scissors (I pulled them apart with my hands over the saucepan). Melt the olive oil in a saucepan, add the nettles and stew gently for a few minutes.

Add the potatoes and heated stock, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, saute the mushrooms (I used a mix of cremini, shiitake, and chanterelles) in olive oil until cooked. When all is soft, cool slightly and mash with a potato masher, or puree in blender. Add the mushrooms, seasonings, and sour cream. Bon appetit!

The nettles tasted similar to spinach to me, but with a bit more of a bite and they didn't get as mushy. I think next time I make this, I'll add some garlic and maybe onion. This reheated nicely, and was great with Sriracha :)

No flash, served with garlicy french bread

Zoey preferred the bread!

And a bonus! This is probably the best shot of a cat I have ever taken. It's the desktop on my computer now. I am so proud of myself!

Cookie girl mid-bath

I &hearts Indian food

I went to my favorite place to get Indian food today, India Chaat House. It's only a food truck with a bit of covered seating, but I think it has the best Indian food in town. It's all vegetarian, but they will make any dish (or mango lassi!) vegan upon request. I had navraten korma, naan, and pakoras with mint and tamarind chutney. What a feast! I had to keep shooing the kitties away :)

I watched a really thought-provoking and heart-breaking documentary today, The Boys of Baraka. It follows 20 boys from inner-city Baltimore who are picked to go to the Baraka School in Africa, which totally changes their worldviews and gives them support that is completely lacking in the public schools (80% of Black boys do not graduate high school in Baltimore). I don't want to give too much away, but if you haven't seen it you should! In the special features, there is a commentary piece from Bill Cosby that tells it like it is: the biggest problem we face today is that we are losing the ability to communicate with one another. Two of the boys get in a big fight that would probably leave one dead and one in juvy back in Baltimore, but at the Baraka School, they are brought to a remote location and told to set up a tent together before they can leave. Cosby reminds us that this is a lesson that even someone like George Bush needs. As an educator, this is something I believe strongly in, and just another reason that I am horrified by the McCain/Palin ticket and their stances on foreign policy. The three year olds in my classroom don't get away with having conflicts and not talking about it and resolving it with each other, and it is ridiculous that world leaders aren't held to the same standards.

Veganism and booze

There are many vegan straightedgers, but there are plenty of us who enjoy imbibing from time to time. I work the typical M-F schedule, and sadly, my husband works really long days and weekends, so our time together is pretty limited. He does have Fridays off, though, so we try to go out to happy hour after I get off work when we can. It's a nice time to catch up with each other and spend time together without the tv and computers and cell phones and all the distractions of modern-day life. We went out today, and both had an awesome baked avocado salad, which I conveniently forgot to photograph, but when it came time to order more drinks I couldn't specify what I wanted and ended up with an (admittedly tasty) pinos gris. What I wanted was a coffee drink, but I always get confused about what has dairy (Kahlua is safe? But not Irish Creme? Maybe?). So I decided when I got home I would make myself something tasty. Right now I'm nursing chocolate ricemilk spiked with spiced rum. And it's pretty tasty! What crazy vegan ingredients do you all substitute in alcohol beverages? I also enjoy making my own hot toddies at home with agave nectar...

P.S. Sorry for no pictures... my camera cord died, so I ordered this cool thing to stick in the empty slot where cd drives and stuff go that has a usb drive and is a card reader! So I just pop that baby in nice and easy! Thanks newegg.com! It just came today and Jesse is installing it as we speak :)

The best Freudian slip ever!

Ok, before I get into anything directly vegan related, I have to say - did you catch the absolutely hilarious Freudian slip that Palin made toward the end of the debate? "John McCain is ready to LEAVE, excuse me, ready to LEAD..." I think about 200 people simultaneously busted up laughing at the bar I went to watch it! Oh man. I think that says it all!

Today has been a long day. After work I went to a gallery opening for a friend of a friend, then ran off to a nearby bar to watch the debate. She had some new pieces that I haven't seen before, and it was catered by a vegetarian cafe! I was very to happy to eat some real food as well as an amazing chocolate cupcake with espresso frosting before drinking wine and yelling at the big screen :)

Elise's work totally blew me away!

Free food that I can eat! Awesome!

I didn't have time to make it home after the opening to watch the debate, so I went to a bar to watch it with strangers! It was actually really fun to watch it with a bunch of boisterous, like-minded people, though I now reek of cigarette smoke.

Get out the vote! Don't let this
person be the next VP!

Happy Veganmofo y'all!

I decided last night to take the plunge and participate in Veganmofo! Veganmofo, or Vegan Month of Food, is a bit daunting for the likes of me - if you know my blog, you know that posting once a week is pretty good for me, so trying to post every day will really be a challenge! I think it will be a postitive challenge, though, and also help me to really consider what I put in my body on a daily basis.

Tonight I had a surprisingly good dinner! I went over to my mom's house to help her clean and get ready to move for the first time in her life! It's a pretty big deal. Her house is closing next Friday, and it's a big job to pack up your whole life and move it, ya know? Her house is in the Arbor Lodge neighborhood, which although is gentrifying and full of cafes and shops and even has it's very own New Seasons, there are some draw-backs - property taxes have gone up A LOT, there is much more traffic even on the side streets, etc. I think it will be good for her to try something new out anyway. So, she's packing up and moving to Saint Helens of all places! It's a pretty cute small town with lots of old buildings, and even has it's own vegetarian cafe. But back to the point... my sisters were over there to help too, and made burritos for dinner. One of my sisters doesn't like most meat, so she wanted Morningstar crumbles anyway, and even though they looked gross and meaty to me, my sister insisted that I try them! I don't like flour tortillas, so I brought my own corn ones along with some brown rice and had tacos. It was probably the best meal I've ever had over there!

Morningstar crumbles, brown rice, guacamole, salsa, tomato, refried beans, and corn tortillas... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

See you all tomorrow!