I joined an unofficial challenge (there’s four of us) to eat no refined sugar for the month of September.  One of us has a pretty severe sugar addiction, and the rest of us wanted to lay off the sweets and baked goods for a little while.  I haven’t been too worried about it, because I’ve done the raw thing before, albeit for a lesser amount of time.  But I do have a sweet tooth, and as much as I love fresh fruit, sometimes I want something different.  Enter fruit “ice cream” – simply frozen fruit (usually with banana for creaminess) and occasionally a pinch of spice, blended.  No fat, no non-dairy milk, no added sugar and all raw to boot!  Pictured above is a bowl of “ice cream” made from frozen strawberries, peaches, bananas, a splash of vanilla and a small handful of sultanas (or golden raisins… though they have a higher concentration of natural sugar than fresh or frozen fruit, they still count as good sugar to me .  The best part is that it takes me only a minute or two!

I use my trusty Vita-Mix for this, but I have noticed a very similar concoction popping up in the vegan blogosphere: Gena’s Soft Serve.  For that you need only a food processor, and as a bonus you also get introduced to Gena’s inspiring posts and easy-to-make recipes, which are worth the visit alone!

I’ve meant to post much more than I have been, and while I doubt my excuses are necessary, I’m going to list them anyway.

First, I was stricken with some mystery illness last week; it was either mild food poisoning or some freakish flu bug, which at any rate kept me out of the kitchen for a few days.

Second, I’ve been having tester guilt.  I signed up to test recipes for both Terry Romero’s Latina cookbook (title yet unknown) and jae steele’s follow-up to Get It Ripe (Ripe From Around Here).  Being big fans of both of them and feeling grateful for the opportunity to give feedback in the creation process, I realized how little I felt I’d done in the past month and a half, so I’m in the middle of catching up before some impending deadlines.  You can check out photos-in-progress for Terry here and for jae here, neither of which reflect the entirety of what I’ve tested, but will hopefully get you excited for two great vegan cookbooks coming out.

Speaking of cookbooks, is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by how many vegan cookbooks are out there?  I feel like I went vegan on the cusp of a cookbook explosion, and I can’t keep up… and I love cookbooks!  But I’m definitely having to be choosy since my pocketbook can’t afford everything I want to own, and I still haven’t even cooked from some of them yet!

It also reminds me of how much work I have to do to get some recipes together for my second zine/mini cookbook project.  Speaking of which, and I feel like I’m being self-important asking this, but are there any requests you have for recipes or concentrations?  I’m compiling a list of ideas before I delve into experimentation phase, and I’m very open to suggestions; feel free to leave any of these in the comments section.

And lastly, I’m in the beginning stages of updating my blog to a new server and deciding what to do about this old one; what to keep, what to get rid of, etc etc.  If you’re still reading to this point, I basically am feeling a little overwhelmed by all the work I’m setting up for myself, and figuring out how to sort through it in the best way.  But my favorite season is just around the corner, and I’m sure that the happy-giddy boost it gives me will help me get through all of this stronger and bursting with posts and recipes and veganfoodlove.  So continue to bear with some of my absences, and hopefully everything will be looking rosier soon!

Hi everyone.  Above you’ll see a photo from Torrey Pines State Park (in San Diego) that I took back in January 2008.  Next week I’ll be heading back to my hometown for 6 days for a much needed vacation and a visit with my sister and a lot of old friends.

I’m in a food rut right now, which is pretty sad considering all the lovely local produce I can get my hands on!  But when you work 7 hours a day with food already and volunteer once a week in a kitchen that serves chronically and progressively sick folks, it can get hard to come home and keep cooking for yourself.  When I make something, it’s usually a green smoothie, a salad, some protein and grains, or a bunch of frozen fruit made into the BEST ice cream ever in my Vita-Mix.  Seriously, I’ve been eating whipped banana+other handy fruits almost every day either as a meal or for dessert!

Beyond the fresh fruit and veggies, I’m really craving comfort food right now.  A lot of you will be shocked and/or horrified to hear this, but I’m kinda ready for fall.  Our summer was weird weather-wise (it’s consistently the hottest it’s been now instead of as it should have been back in July), and for some reason I just can’t wait for apple and squash season.  I promise I’ll stop talking about that now, though.

I was on the radio last Saturday!  While I answered questions a couple times before my official segment, most of my brief talking can be listened to in part 4 on this page (the August 8 broadcast).  I am far from a public speaker, so I of course feel dreadfully embarrassed about the whole thing, but I’ve decided to put my self-loathing aside because it was a really awesome experience and the hosts were oh-so-wonderful!  They’re doing a really great job of promoting local foods and supporting farmer’s markets.

I’m hoping that after my vacation I’ll be a little more pumped up to blog and work on some recipes.  At the very least, expect a full report of what delicious vegan eats I’ll be getting my little hands on while in sunny San Diego!  I’ve gotten a lot of new readers lately, and I hope you’ll keep coming back despite this little hiatus.

Enjoy your summers, and see you back here soon!

***Just a little reminder that I still have zines for sale if you haven’t gotten one yet.  Send me an email at mplsnightheron AT gmail DOT com if you’re interested!***

This past weekend, my girlfriend and I partook in an old Midwestern tradition.  “Going up to the cabin” is a very white (and rather heteronormative, at least as far as the neighbors) activity that’s always been kind of intriguing to me, and a friend of ours kindly invited us up to her family’s cabin in far western Minnesota (about 40 miles from Fargo, ND).  While the weather in general was not very cooperative, we were lucky to have a playful new kitty, some board games, and vegan-cooking-receptive hosts.

Isn’t he cute?  Buffy made us all exclaim with delighted glee at his tiniest movements and kitten behaviors.  He took a particular liking to our friend Anne’s great-aunt Ruthie, who is 93 and, as it turns out, likes vegan food enough to “swear that [tempeh bacon] was meat!”  Often we would find him curled up in her lap while she read, or played Rummikub, or even while we ate some vegan chili the night of our arrival:

We also let him outside, where he scurried up posts and climbed trees:

We also got to check out lots of birds at the feeder… nothing new for us amateur birdwatchers, but I still find White-Breasted Nuthatches so so cute (that’s a Black-Capped Chickadee in the foreground):

One thing I like about cabins, especially older ones that aren’t remodeled or aren’t some excessive structure more akin to mansion, is the time warp into which you feel you’ve stepped.  What may not be terribly obvious from this blog is that I’m a fool for mid-century kitchen stuff, knickknacks, decor, clothes, etc.  In addition to an old and giant percolator in which we brewed our morning coffee, there was this amazing little corner of the kitchen:

And as if that weren’t enough, check out this assortment of “ancient” remedies from the past:

Wait a minute, this is a food blog!  Ahh yes, fear not, I have two humble photos for you.  Being the sole vegan and the one who likes making food most, I was put in charge of cooking for the weekend.  Since dinner was a casual affair overshadowed by a simultaneous game of Rummikub I didn’t get a photo, but brunch on Saturday and Sunday were both lovely and sunlit affairs.  Exhibit A – the “Mexican” breakfast, consisting of spiced, roasted red and sweet potatoes (the seed of an idea for a zine no. 2 recipe), stewed black beans, avocado slices on a side of spinach for me (I passed, naturally, on the eggs):

And Exhibit B – Ricki’s Carob Date Pancakes (from her book Sweet Freedom) drizzled with maple syrup, the aforementioned tempeh bacon, and fresh fruit salad.  Yum!  It makes me wish for a cabin of our own someday.

Exciting News! Kim from the (Minneapolis) blog Affairs of Living recommended me for a guest appearance on AM950’s Fresh and Local Show, which I’ll be on this Saturday, August 8 to talk about eating fresh, local food.  Eep!  I’m really excited but a bit nervous, and ever so grateful this doesn’t involve videotaping… although I’ve been reassured that the ladies are awesome and it’s tons of fun.  If you live in the area, you can tune in Saturday morning from 8-9am (I’ll be on there sometime after 8.30).  If not, the show should be archived within a week or two to the website above.

Speaking of local food, I’m about to pluck some ripe Bloody Butcher Tomatoes from outside my front door for dinner

Eating Out: Cafe Agri's Wild Mushroom and Asparagus Polenta

I’ve been spending the last few days trying NOT to cook.  After a relatively chilly start to June, we’ve been sweltering in the humid 80s and 90s the past few days.  (And of course every Minnesotan who was wishing for the hot temps at the beginning of June is whining about it being too hot now!)  It’s strange to think that four months ago we had a day where it was about 117 degrees colder than it is today, and that was before windchill!  Sometimes I can’t believe I live here.  I even cut off all my hair today!

Enough with the stereotypical Minnesotan topic of the weather, after I needlessly explain to you that I haven’t been very into cooking lately.  Except other people’s cooking.  I went crazy and ordered a handful of cookbooks from the internet, and signed up to test for another cookbook (jae steele’s – yay!).  All while settling into being a two-person household again, and trying to make up for being a bit of a poor Veggie Thing contributor since I had been so busy making my own meals at home.  I know I owe a backlog of baking recipes (not to mention starting to develop recipes for a second zine), so for today, you get a bit of a photo gallery of recent yummy eats instead of more productive posting.  I promise to work that out as soon as I feel brave enough to fire up the oven for experimenting on my own food.

First of all, I got Vegan Brunch.  Overwhelmed by the choices and wanting to make something that I hadn’t seen online yet, I opted for the Mushroom Leek and White Bean Pie, only I used a different crust recipe and made it more of a tart than a pie.  While delicious, my ladyfriend and I took to calling it gas pie due to some unfortunate after-effects…  I am looking forward to trying out the tofu omelettes and some of the baked goodies in the future!

Mushroom Leek and White Bean Pie

My other cookbooks haven’t arrived yet, so I have been busy making some of jae’s testers.  First we made the Tempeh Soysauges, which were really yummy and a nice alternative to seitan-based sausages:

Tempeh "Soysauges"

Everyone’s favorite part of new cookbooks, it seems: sweets!  Here are Constellation Cookies, which are chocolatey and dotted with little amaranth grains.  They were loved by all!  Also, some Apricot Oatbran Scones, which I would add some cinnamon or ginger to, but were simple and light and fruity.

Constellation Cookies

Apricot Oatbran Scones

I have also been making a point to go to the farmer’s market every weekend.  This week everything seemed green, and I was excited to see garlic scapes!  I bought a bunch and made jae’s recipe Garlic Scape Pesto which I later used to make Pesto Potato Salad.  I’ve never been a fan of mayonnaise, egg-based or not, so this was a yummy way to eat a picnic staple:

Garlic Scape Pesto

Pesto Potato Salad

I am diligently working out an epic post on green smoothies also, have no fear.  I am trying to figure out the best way to organize the information and get some tasty little concoctions copied down as recipes for inquiring minds who want to know.  Hope everyone is well and staying warm or cool, wherever you are.  Till next time!

Flowers from the lady

Yesterday I was having a bad day at work.  Nothing catastrophic happened, just a bunch of little things adding up to put me in a stressed and sourpuss mood.  Towards the end of my shift I heard my name being called from the other end of the kitchen and looked up to see this gorgeously pink and yellow bouquet of flowers that my special ladyfriend got for me (she’s still on tour until Monday).  All my cares melted away, and I had a huge smile for the rest of the day!

I feel the need to update you on my back-to-cooked food situation.  I can tell you that I’ve probably made a few poor diet choices since Sunday (Malaysian food, some homemade white flour biscuits a friend brought over, a couple of mint juleps that left me feeling pretty hungover the next day, and I’m rarely hungover), and I’m feeling a few effects that differ drastically from last week while I was eating raw.  One, I’m really really tired.  As in I took a four hour nap yesterday after work.  And two, my stomach is experiencing some gastric distress, today especially.  So right now I’m sitting here eating a bowlful of sugar snap peas for dinner and regretting the chai oatscreme shake I got earlier at work (my heart is racing and my stomach feels quite sad).  So, more raw food for me again, maybe even two smoothies a day!  I need to work on my savory green smoothies/soups anyhow…

Last but not least, my little rudimentary baking tips video has finally been posted!  I feel least qualified amongst the other baking advisers featured in the post, but you might find the video amusing – watching with the sound on is a definite must for the full effect!  (Scroll down to the bottom of the post, I’m the last one.)

I haven’t blogged in awhile, and I’ve just gotten home from a week-long road trip to Utah (without internet access).  If you’ve sent me an email in the past week concerning zines, I should have responded by now, but feel free to drop me another email if I lost you somewhere in my inbox!

Once I recover from sitting in a car for so long and not sleeping much or well for the past week, I hope to crank out several posts that I owe you lovely readers and commenters.  Thanks for your patience!

I feel like I haven’t been able to blog as much as I would like to these days.  Sometimes I just don’t feel like there is much that is blog-worthy.  But I do have a couple of announcements to make, after you get to see this picture of some gluten-free shortbread crust experimenting I’ve been doing combined with two of my favorite seasonal fruits: strawberries and rhubarb!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Tarts with Gluten-Free Lavender-Orange Shortbread Crust

I don’t feel comfortable posting a recipe for these because I think the crust needs a little work with proportions. (They were still good to eat though!)

On to the announcements…

First, I’ve got a couple of contributions posted up on Veggie Thing, here and here, which is CitySearch’s new food p0rn guide to vegan dining out.  If you don’t live in Minneapolis, there are plenty of other cities and contributors to check out!  I’ll be submitting to this site regularly from here on out.

Second, remember those mystery photos I posted awhile back?  Well, the “secret” is that I was asked to photograph some raw dishes to be used on the cover of an upcoming raw foods book!  They actually ended up choosing a photo from a shoot I didn’t post (to be honest, I was even hesitant to submit them… I must have really different standards ;-P ), and I don’t have very many details about the book itself at the moment, but I’ll update you as soon as I know more.  The bonus to that news is that I’m also getting paid for the work I did, which for yours truly means an upgrade to a lovely macro lens I’ve been dreaming about.  My biggest thanks goes to Carmella of the Sunny Raw Kitchen, who so kindly recommended me for the project.

Third and last, keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming video of some basic baking tips I contributed to this blog project.  The blog author (who is super awesome and nice) is working on doing 24 random projects assigned to her by other people to celebrate her 24th birthday.  I think it should be up in the next week or two, and I can tell you my contribution involves baking tools, dancing, and Yma Sumac!

I’m still testing recipes for Terry’s upcoming Vegan Latina cookbook, and like many fellow testers have already said, it’s going to be delicious and AMAZING… it goes far beyond the usual fare of burritos and enchiladas (though there are definitely recipes for those as well).  Just check out this amazing taco, tostones, and mango-jicama salad dinner I ate recently!

Taco Dinner

Yummy yum yum!

(As a wee reminder, I still have zines available for sale if you haven’t ordered one yet!  The info is still located here.  Thanks again to everyone who has already ordered.)

I'm like a happy mother with her newborn child... (And I have to be honest and disclose that I ate four of these mini Sweet Potato-Cranberry Scones shortly after taking this picture.)

The long wait is over, and my first cookzine swell is now available!  Each zine is handmade in quarter-size (4.25″ x 5.5″), which means it’s cute and it won’t take up too much room on your counter.  The covers are printed in gold (fancy!) on recycled paper and sent to you in an envelope which is also made from recycled paper.*  The pear/avocado cover was drawn by me and printed with the help of my awesome friend Dan in his very own attic.

Three colors, one zine.

What you really want to know is what’s inside though, right?  swell has 15 vegan recipes for savory and sweet delights, plus a mini-primer on preparing tofu and tempeh.  While I definitely have a couple “naughtier” recipes included, the zine has a primarily healthy, whole foods focus, and there are several soy-free and gluten- and/or wheat-free options, too!  Want to know specifically what’s included?  Here’s the table of contents:

-a little♥word about the recipes-
Chipotle Black Bean Tahini Dip
Mandarin-Sesame Green Beans
Mole-Roasted Cauliflower
Coconut Red Bean Quinoa -and-
Coconut Quinoa with Greens and Almonds
Spicy Tahini Stew
Lentil Bolognese
-a little♥word about tofu and tempeh-
Maple-Mustard-Chili Tofu (or Tempeh)
Sarah’s Savory Baked Tofu
Orange-Glazed Tempeh
Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers with Millet and Leeks
Sweet Potato-Cranberry Scones
Great Aunt Betty’s Oatmeal Bundt Cake
Lemon Zucchini Bread

Let’s face it, though… words don’t mean as much as pictures do when it comes to food!  For your eye-feasting glory, here are photographs of some most of the dishes you can make once you’ve got this baby in your hands:

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers with Millet and Leeks on a homemade spelt bun with guacamole, lettuce, and tomato.

Chipotle Black Bean Tahini Dip - great with veggies and chips!

Coconut Quinoa with Greens and Almonds - a variation on another recipe for Coconut Red Bean Quinoa

Mandarin-Sesame Green Beans

Mole-Roasted Cauliflower

Lentil Bolognese over spaghetti squash

The Soy Trio:

Grilled Maple-Mustard Chili Tofu

Sarah's Savory Baked Tofu over a tasty veggie salad.

Orange-Glazed Tempeh topped with cilantro and scallions and served with raw baby bok choy.

Sweet Potato-Cranberry Scones

Lemon Zucchini Bread: muffinized!

Great Aunt Betty's Oatmeal Bundt Cake

(There are more photos, old and new, here.)

The cost is $3USD in the US of A, $4USD in Canada, and $5USD elsewhere (all prices include shipping).

If you’d like a copy, please e-mail me at mplsnightheron AT gmail DOT com with your (snail mail) address.  I will give you Paypal contact information in return, and we’ll get the ball rolling on getting swell into your happy little hands ASAP.  Hooray!

In the spirit of giving, here’s a recipe from the zine to tantalize your tastebuds… One of my testers, John P, has been a particularly big fan of it, and this particular recipe is soy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free, too.  (And easy!)

Coconut Red Bean Quinoa, with a salad

Coconut Red Bean Quinoa (makes 4 servings)

This is a quick, tasty, protein-packed dish with warming ginger and creamy coconut milk.  Serve it with a side of steamed greens or a fresh salad, or use it as a hearty base and add onions and garlic and veggies to it for a one-pot meal.  This is the simplest version – if you like it spicy, add a minced hot pepper or some crushed red chili pepper in with the ginger, or dress it up with whatever other spices suit your mood (I like coriander myself).

1 1/2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp ginger, minced
1 c quinoa, rinsed
2 c vegetable stock (or water)
1 15-oz. can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup coconut milk (lite is fine)
salt to taste
3 tbsp cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil in a pot and sauté the ginger until fragrant.  Add the quinoa and stir to coat, cooking for another minute or two.  Add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until most of the water is absorbed (about 10-15 minutes).  Add the beans and coconut milk and heat gently.  Salt to taste and stir in chopped cilantro.

*Larger orders will be sent in different (larger) envelopes.

**Depending on the success of this zine launch-thing, I may not be blogging regular food/recipe posts for a little while.  From here on out though, I hope the blog will be better than ever!

(EDIT: I’ve been getting a lot of requests for the Rosemary Crisps recipe since posting this.  I’ve posted about them before, and while I wish I could take credit for their ultra-delicious existence, they are from Rene Loux’s book Living Cuisine.)

It’s been a really long time… I’m sorry!  I most definitely have not forgotten about this blog.  And while every time I list off excuses I think of my seventh grade social studies teacher (who was known to respond to situations of tardiness and missing homework by saying, “An excuse is like a rear end – I don’t want yours”), I am still going to give you my list.

First off, I was stricken with a nasty head cold.  Nothing to keep me out of work, but enough to make me sleep away most of my free time.  Nextly, I had been eating a lot of boring food whilst sick, and then a lot of raw food from my growing collection of uncookbooks.  I’ve been noticing a lot of comments on various entries asking for recipes, which makes me realize I haven’t been posting many recipes lately, and that’s something I’m taking into consideration as I rethink the future of my blog (there will be some changes around here in the next few weeks or months).  And lastly, I’ve been putting most of my energy into this:

My Kinko's haul.

Yes, that’s right – it may be later than promised (forgive me!), but here is (virtually) living proof that I actually am progressing on the zine’s completion.  It’s going to be called swell (imagine that!), and I’m printing the covers tomorrow afternoon with my good friend Dan, who is an amazing self-taught printmaker (and fellow bandmember of my girlfriend).  We’ve got some family coming to stay with us this coming weekend, so I don’t know how much construction I’ll get done this week once the covers are printed, but I can tell you it feels really good to be so close to sharing this.

Today was also a productive day for the dehydrator.  I actually filled 7 of my 9 trays today with various treats that are mostly for some other people.  I’m participating in Shellyfish’s mum’s 60 days of gifts and I hope I’m not going too far out on a limb by sending her some dehydrated treats.  The rosemary crisps are still drying, but tomorrow they’ll get sent out with these four raw oatmeal chocolate date cookies:

Raw Oatmeal Chocolate Date Cookies

I’ve also been working on some food that my girlfriend’s schoolmate won in their program’s recent service auction – my contribution was a “Dehydration Extravaganza!”  Which is really going to be more extravagant than it should be for the going price, but I am helping put some unfunded grad students through their program this year.  Along with the above mentioned rosemary crisps, there are some applesauce fruit leathers and this hastily concocted Pumpkin-Goji Buckwheat Granola.  Looks rather tasty despite being “unstaged” on the mesh dehydrator screen:

Sprouted Buckwheat Granola

So.  I am hoping that my next post will be both sooner and about the zine (eek!).  I hope everyone is doing well, and that spring is really beginning to visit you wherever you live, rather than the torturous weather yo-yo we have here in Minnesota.  Ahh well, it will be worth the wait