The sewing machine hates me.

I've almost broken my Brother sewing machine twice tonight. Well, actually, it's Elie's sewing machine. I bought it for his birthday a couple of years ago. He's great with repairing rips in my clothing, making us curtains, and customizing his own hats with horns and patches. We can have pictures of that later. But I want in on the action too now! I'm trying to fix the pleats on a Tracy Reese dress that is just perfect for this fall weather. A friend of mine walked me through it about a year ago and I'm trying so hard to remember what she said about threading the machine.

Yes, people I struggled for an hour trying to thread the damn thing. I finally did it and trimphantly tested it out with a piece of stray chiffon. Is that perhaps a dangerous choice? Well, thank heaven that I did test it first, because the machine looked like it was eating the clothe! So, I cut it out, reathreaded everything, and tested again. Apparently, the machine is hungry, cause there goes the chiffon!!!! I've put everything away for the night and will have my lovely man-wife show me how to work the expensive Brother tomorrow. But not all is lost. Nick Cave is going to be in Union Square at a book signing tomorrow! EEEEEEEK!!!! Yay, I'm excited! Here's to Cave and then dinner at Curly's Vegetarian Cafe. If anyone has any advice on the whole sewing machine thing, well feel free to leave comments...Please!

Mmmmm stuffed peppers and muffins

Had the best freaking lunch today! A beautiful red bell pepper stuffed with awesomeness. The stuffing is made of brown rice, silken tofu (that's been sauteed in red wine and tomato juice), dried cherries, walnuts, black pepper, and fresh ginger. So yummy! Then I shove all this into red and green bell peppers and bake for about 15 mins. So easy and soooo good. This comes to us courtesy of a great book called Vegan Meals for One or Two, by Nancy Berkoff. The book has been great so far with lots of simple recipes for everyday vegan cooking. Perfect when you're pressed for time. They turned out so good!

Another item that always turns out great are the carrot and raisin muffins form Vegan with a Vengeance. These are Elie's favorite and I can tell why. Now, I'm a big fan of the quinoa muffins from the Veganomicon, but these muffins are so soft. The carrot and raisins make them so naturally sweet. The nice thing is that this recipe is easily modified. I can use agave to replace the white sugar and it doesn't really alter the texture much. Love that! These muffins are perfect for all the time, especially cause they're so easy to make. But the nutmeg and cinnamon in them makes me think so much of the fall. I have a feeling that I'll be having these a lot more from now on.

Healthcare reform

Obviously, this a huge topic of debate and hopefully productive discussion. I read an interesting article on the subject by the CEO of wholefoods. Some things I agree with and some things I find questionable. What do you think?
Read and leave a comment.

Vegan Marshmallows!

I want to die a delicious death where I'm smothered in these vegan marshmallows. I must be the last person to find out, but these marshmallows come from and awesome company called Dandies. I have been, thus far, so dissatisfied with my vegan marshmallow experiences. They always have a weird texture, or are way too sugary, or are sometimes brown (which I guess matters to me more than it should). But the most awesome thing about Dandies marshmallows is that they are sweetened with Beet sugar. This means so much to those of use who try to stay away from white sugars (which aren't really vegan) and who try to avoid evaporated cane juice.

Here's the ingredient listing:
Vanilla Dandies Vegan Marshmallows Ingredients:
Corn Syrup, Vegan Beet Sugar, Corn Starch, Corn Dextrose, Water, Carrageenan, Soy Protein, Natural Vanilla Flavor

Dandies claims that Rice Krispie treats come out exactly as if you were using evil marshmallows (obviously, not vegan).

So exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I recently discovered these on an awesome blog, Vegan Eats & Treats, when Amey posted about making S'mores. I can't wait to make my own! Thank you, Amey.

I'm back and with Biscuits.

What?! It's only been about 4 months since my last post. Alright, I promise. I'm trying to be a lot better about doing this consistently. I promise!

I have to post about these awesome biscuits I've been baking. They come from Vegan with a Vengeance, an awesome vegan cookbook. They're baking soda biscuits. The recipe is soooo easy, that's why I love them. Anything that's easy to make I'll do over and over again. The best part is that you can modify them to whatever flavor you enjoy. I wanted a savory biscuit, so I added fresh rosemary and dried oregano, sage, and thyme. It was a freaking Scarborough Fair biscuit. They go so well with soups and chilis. I paired them with white bean patties that also came from VWAV.




So yummy!

A Work of Art and Dirty List

I need to share this beautiful nutritious meal. So beautiful you could have an orgasm just looking at it. Look at it! It's kale and chanterelle mushrooms (yes, those ridiculously expensive ones, but I got mine for free when the man came home from a camping trip in California) sauteed with garlic. I don't know if that's best way to prepare those mushrooms, but I liked it. My grain was a tomatoey quinoa and chick pea mix that came from the Veganomican. Topped off with a few sesame seeds for a pleasant crunch, the meal was perfect. I've been big on the kale thing lately. But it's important to know that recently that mighty leafy green has been named one of the most pesticide ridden vegetables. Refer to this list, known as the "dirty dozen," to get the low down on the other most highly pesticide riddled fruits and veggies. These may be worth spending a little more money on to get organic. I know it's a lot, but since I've been having kale a couple of times a week I'm gonna try to get myself the cleanest I can.

Soup with Mac and Cheese. Yay Comfort Food!

Another yummy meal was made thanks to my never-ending roving of vegan and veggie blogs. This time I made a lovely tomatoey roasted garlic and white bean soup. Found in the Veganomican, the best thing about this soup is that there was just so much left over. It fed us both for a week! I loved the taste of two whole bulbs of roasted garlic. Even roasting them was a pleasure. I love the smell of it wafting around the house.

To accompany the soup I made vegan mac and cheese found on the Vive Le Vegan blog. Such a great source for easy vegan recipes. This pasta was really intriguing due to its "cheese" sauce made of brazil and cashew nuts. When following this recipe trust what is said about the pasta. It won't look like you have enough, but you will. The soupy consitancy of the sauce thickens and soaks up in the oven. But as you can see here I way overdid it on the bread crumbs. I think this would have been a fantastic Mac and Cheese, but unfortunately the bread crumb overload made it super dry. After brushing some off though I really was able to enjoy the nutty tast of the sauce. You will enjoy this! I'm so grateful to all the blogs written by vegan chefs out there. They provide an endless amount of nutritious and usually tasty meals. I can't wait to go online and find out what the next culinary experiment will be!