Hamster Cookies.

Using Veganomicon's (page 234) "Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies."
I wanted to try and make these *Hamster* head shaped. With cranberry eyes and nose, coconut whiskers, they are almost too cute to eat. (almost...)





















Poor hamsters, they are the third most commonly used 'research animals.' They are bred as *commodities* and are treated inhumanely before being sold to pet stores in the same manner as dogs from "puppy mills" It is a sad fact that the vast majority of pet stores acquire the animals they sell from "mills" rather than responsible breeders. This means the animals are often not adequately taken care of, as these stores are trying to obtain the cheapest "stock" possible so that they can do one thing: make a profit.

In 2006-2007 Peta exposed a Manchester, Connecticut PetSmart for their direct participation in cruelty small animals.
http://www.petsmartcruelty.com/investigation_manchester.asp

Both PetSmart and Petco have obtained their animals from Rainbow World Exotics in Hamilton, Texas, an undercover expose' of their conduct can be viewed here:
http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/petsmart_investigation

Most people when I talk to them about my work with our local "Hamster rescue" say one of two things:
'I did not realise there were rescues for rodents' or 'Why is there a need for a hamster rescue?'
Not many people understand how many hamsters, gerbils, rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits and ferrets end up in their local (county or rodent specific) shelters and rescues each year.

Adorable hamsters are frequently bought on impulse when parents can't resist their child's pleading. The hamster may not initally cost much, but supplies add up quickly.
Other times the child's interest in caring for the animal wanes. Then these little guys find themselves living in shelters.

To anyone who is looking for a little rodent friend, "Pie" (who herself is a *rescue*)
...and I, ask you to please take a look at Petfinder.com or check out your local shelter or rescue before taking that trip to the pet store.
Many shelters have several hamsters at a time who are all looking for loving homes, so there is a good chance you will be able to find yourself a new friend.
Most shelters have a small adoption fee to take home one their animals, but the money you are spending supports animal rescue and care rather than going to profit for a pet store or towards supporting cruelty.

Seitan Chops

Inspired by:
Isa's entry for the Iron Chef (Ginger/Apple) challenge. I wanted to try the Seitan Chops.

The chickpea flour subbing for the nutritional yeast, really is perfect! These had a tender yet 'toothy' texture. I would be proud to take these anywhere. I think they will make a dinner appearance somewhere over the coming holiday months.
For dessert (and because I had 2 Cortland apples going *mealy* and no-one wants to eat them then) I made
Phyllo Apple/Oat filleds.

1 & 1/2C Diced apples

3/4C Turbinado sugar

1/2C W/W Pastry flour

1/2C Oats

1/3C Softened Earth Balance

(Cinnamon and ground nutmeg to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

(Usual assembly for phyllo triangles)

Bake at 375 until golden

The truth is brutal your grandma's kugel...

Oki, I couldn't resist to quote the Beastie Boys, but this is NOT your grandma's kugel.

Another one from Veganomicon - The Spinach Kugel.
The first time I made this I had to puree the spinach for my husband the 'spinach-phobe*' - the resulting filling was a grainy light green mess mixed through with rombi pasta, and also was the first *food-porn* I had ever made that made me ashamed.

*It has not been an easy task to undo the "Vege-trauma" inflicted on my husband by his mother - Whose Vege-assault is to boil and overcook any vegetable into a sad, tasteless, flaccid parody of its formerly nutritional self.

It's ok, we all have *faults* (one of my own being, that I will stall and do anything except download my pictures from my camera for two and a half days.... *sigh*)

Good News! Compromise is possible. Since cooked whole spinach leaves come too close to "something his mother would have made" - I roll (like grape leaves) and cut all our spinach into short small ribbons before cooking them. For some reason, this makes a more palatable texture in his mouth, we avoid the "Vege-trauma" and I get the spinach I love. Win!

Inspiration and Deviation

I was hungrily inspired by J-Dub's PPK post about her awesome 'Smokey Mushroom and Spinach Quiche' that she got from her omni work. After rattling the "well how would I do thats" around in my brain for a few days, I came up with this.

Using Isa's Classic Broccoli Quiche recipe for my *template* and making sight deviations. Armed with only 1 bunch of fresh spinach rolled and chopped to ribbons and 8 oz of sliced mushroom what I ended up with was this.
To *smoke up* the mushrooms I sauteed them separately from the spinach/onion/garlic/spices(for the tarragon, I subbed in corriander in the same 1/2tsp amount) mixture and threw a pinch of salt on them so that they would give up their juices faster. Once they did, I added 1 TBsp of dry white wine* and 2 tsp of hickory smoke flavor. I continued to sautee them until they were mostly dry.*Blogging is really showing me just how much I love wine. ;)

I made certain to really squeeze my tofu before adding it to the chopped raw cashew in the food processor (knowing that no matter how hard I squeeze that sauteed spinach, some liquid will always remain.) After the squeezing of the spinach mixture, I added it back to its sautee pan and added the mushrooms in with it, cooking it down just a little bit more.

Instead of adding 1cup of the sauteed mix to the tofu filling mixture I added the tofu filling to a mixing bowl and added the sautee mix to that. Stirred around until it was all uniform in color and the rest of the quiche directions follow the original template.

Thanks J-Dub! This was a needed variant in our mushroom centric house.

On another day I decided to try the Veganomicon Latkes
But I was afraid of the shredded onion, which in the past has burnt me, by being too wet.

So I added 1 TBSP onion powder and then thought the onion was lonely without its companion 1 TBsp of garlic powder and then thought 1 TBsp of parsley flakes would give it a nice green speckledness...
I used panko instead of the matzo crumb and cornstarch instead of potato starch.

They were awesome, hashbrowny but crispy. I want more. Here is the first batch out to cool

VeganMoFa?

Hmmm, Vegan Month of Fattening? =)
It's going to be if I keep trying to make the Veganomicon 'jelly donut cupcakes' into the *loaf* cake.
Epic FAIL. 3 attempts, and no successes. (The first one was the best, alas, I didn't take a picture of it)
Although on ALL 3, the "cheap" jelly sunk to the bottom, but that's workable, just turn your loaf 'upside-down' when you turn it out from the pan, leave it that way and have a jelly upside down loaf!
Tries 2 and 3 stuck so badly (despite greasing my glass loaf pan each time) that they were mostly jelly topped crumbs. The *evidence* left behind of failed tries №2 and №3 were eaten to protect the guilty.
There is NO such thing here though as a *bad* vegan baked good. They all get eaten up. (regardless of how unattractive they may look)
And the bonus of vegan baking is that you can eat your batter (cookie dough, sweet cakey loaf whatever) - raw!

Believe it or not, I want yet to try a 4th time. Only maybe baking the loaf for 20 minutes and then adding the jelly to the top of the loaf and then returning it to the oven to let it finish baking. Hoping that when the jelly is added to the semi-bakedness of the loaf it will be more stable, thick and preventing of the jelly falling all the way to the bottom.

Through crop share, I'm buried under what appears to be the last harvest of red and white potatoes, straggler zucchini and a few tomatoes. The cooler weather has me in "Bake Mode" and I'm starting to crave the stratas, kugels and cholent.

MoFo'ing with me...

Ой...

I was really torn about what to title this post. Because "Our own bailout plan" or "You can take the girl out of Russia but not the Russia out of the girl." - seemed also appropriate.

Oki, Yesterday night, I pet our cat Taag and her back was wet, not a little wet - but ALOT!

So I say to my Vegan Apprentice, "Why is Taag's back wet?" and being male and on general much more laid back than myself he says "Hmmm because she was washing herself?"

No... I mean she was *wet* and right down the middle of her back - where it would be hardest for her to reach.

So then at my repeated *promptings* (a.k.a. *nagging*) the hunt begins for "Find the wetness"

And sure enough, the 17! year old "Softsider waterbed" is leaking. Right at the foot end where Taag likes to seek sanctuary under. Lucky for us, our bed was dual-bladdered and only 1 bladder can leak its water at a time.

This starts the long process of draining both bed bladders and disassembling the bed. 3 hours later everything is broken down, but we are bedless. My husband needs to work tomorrow (today) so he is the one who gets to sleep on the improvised "bed" of blankets. And I? decide to go back to Russian time (GMT +3 a.k.a 8 hours of EDT) and stay awake the night. Deciding that we will *shift* the "bed" and he can sleep through the night and I through the day...

Fine enough, but, sleeping on the floor is rough when you're 40 (I know I would not have minded this so much at 20..*sigh*) Bony hips can dig through any amount of blankets and lucky for us both I wake at 3:20pm! (His work break will be at 4pm and dinner must be pulled together by that time) So half disoriented I stumble to the kitchen, (SO glad that I have boiled seitan on hand to sautee)

Chop onion, peel and press garlic, cut carrot and look around for what I can quick throw together that will get us through the day.

Yra! for "stocked pantries" - this really is your saving grace, for nights like this.

This is what I threw together while wiping the sleep from my eyes. When my Vegan Apprentice comes home on break he mentions that the GOOD smell permeates the house, and for a reward?

I have got us each a bottle of our local vineyard vegan (Yeah Franklin Hill Vineyards! - for *fining* your wines with bentonite and not animal derived finers, and for using LOCAL fruits!)

Tomorrow is the first day we have free to *shop* our new bed... Look for another *easy* dinner, since I don't know what time I will have or when.

P.S. I think I need to Veganomicon's "Jelly Donut Cupcakes" as a loaf! and make one HUGE *comfort* - Jelly Donut *Krimpet/Loaf"!

Recipe for Easy! Dnner.

1 TBsp Olive Oil

1 Veganomicon *simple seitan* but a little bit overboiled so that it's soft and puffy...

Sauteed with onion 5-7 minutes until translucent.

2 LARGE garlic cloves minced

1/2 TBsp vegan Worchestshire sauce

1/2TBsp soy sauce

1 8. oz can tomato sauce

12 ounces your choice vegetable (here I chose 2 oz fresh carrot. slightly steamed, and frozen pea and corn to equal 10 oz)

Basil, Orgegano, Thyme, Onion Powder, black pepper, salt - to taste

7 ounces pasta of your choice.

Sautee your seitan with the onion, once translucent add your minced garlic, sautee until fragrant.

Start to steam your carrot slices.

Add your spices

Add the worchestshire and soy sauce to deglaze your pan.

Add the tomato sauce..

Lower the heat to low. Add your slightly steamed carrots (crunchy crispy yet - Cover your pan for steam retention

Hold back your corn and pea mixture until 3 mintues before y our pasta is done.

Add your pasta to the boiling water (cook according to directions and drain)

Hold back some of your pasta cooking water for *moistening* of your dinner.

Add frozen corn and pea and slowly bring to heated thoroughly.

Add your cooked pasta, and any of your pasta water that you need to moisten the dinner to your likening.

Stir thoroughly and serve.

Later, eat, relax, write your blog and drink *your* wine!

Gearing Up

Last year I didn't participate in VeganMoFo (Vegan Month of Food)
I don't know why. I cooked all through the year, ate all through the year, I even took pictures of most of our food.
(That started so that I could have a *portfolio* of "Food Porn" to easily answer the question "What do you eat?" for people who weren't near enough to get a taste of my cooking, but who were curious.)

This year, I'm determined to be a part of VeganMoFo. So to get *in the mood* Here is my flickr
With pictures of most of last years yumminess.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nukanuk/

Some Favourites of mine...

Homemade sauce, sauteed V'con seitan Stuffed Peppers


General Tao's Tofu


VWaV Fritatta (variant)


Kasha Phyllo Pie - with Marinated Mushrooms/Onion/Garlic replacing the Sauerkraut layer...
Mushroom Marinade
8oz sliced mushroom
Meduim size onion - cut large
1/3C Vegan Worchestshire sauce
1/3C Dry red wine
2TBsp Olive oil
2TBsp Soy sauce
1TBsp Lemon Juice