Another Dang Giveaway

I haven't been able to keep up with my MoFo this year, but I promised another giveaway and I will do it. I have one last copy of Amey's Vida Vegan Con Zine for one lucky reader. It is chock full of Amey's fabulous drawings with recipes from a number of speakers from the con. All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment here. Contest ends September 28 at 11:59 pm PST. Please make sure I have a way to contact you through the comment you leave.
Edit update!  I will ship internationally, so this is open to everyone.

Awkward Food Photos: Pigs in a Blanket

I love me some food wrapped up in other food. So tasty. A classic example of this is the pig in a blanket. Now, this is a vegan blog so the only pigs in blankets are the ones sleeping at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary in the big barn. But take any old veggie dog and wrap it with some dough or crescent dough and you go from a boring meal to a fun event in which your tastebuds will be wowed.

But what's with that food porn photo from your bocce potluck? A pile of wrapped dogs in a limpid tupperware that doesn't showcase the fun of eating food wrapped in other food.

This photo needs help!™

Put it on a piece of wood! Nothing says fun like a rustic wooden board. And double wrap those dang dogs. Two in one. Make sure it's a bit blurry or your eyeballs will be burned out by the sheer fun it is emanating.

Awkward Food Photos: Chickpea Salad

   Chickpeas! So tasty, so versatile! The chickpea salad recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance is one of my favourites. Hijiki is where it is at.
  
    But what horror is this? You end up with is a big tan mash with some delicate black highlights. And a strip of blue in the back because it's part of your tupperware and you didn't want to sacrifice any of that pile o' tan to crop it out.

This photo needs help!

   Slap a copyright on it! Choose a bright color that contrasts and can't be missed. Now you mean business and people are going to take this blog seriously. And big ol' bonus! Now no one can use your photo because it's got your name emblazoned across the bottom.

Hot Damn A Giveaway

I was fortunate to attend the Vida Vegan Con Fun Time Extravaganza this past May. And I was able to pick up an extra copy of Amy's Vida Vegan Con 2013 Cookbooklette, which features recipes from a number of Vida speakers. (Check out Amy's blog Vegan Eats and Treats and her Noshtalgia theme for MoFo.)I thought MoFo would be a grand time to give away a copy of the zine, so all you lucky readers have a chance to get in on this. I'll ship worldwide. No need to like or follow or offer bribes (cookies, you say?). Just leave me a comment and make sure there is a way to get in touch with you. Contest closes at 11:59 pm PST this Saturday, Sept. 7.
Good luck!

Awkward Food Photos: Seitan

Oh heavens! What horror is this? A delicious batch of simmered seitan, straight from that must have cookbook Vegan With a Vengeance. But the flash! The brownness! The lack of any color whatsoever. The 50 year old Revere Ware (for life, baby) instead of a Fancy Pot from Fancy Store.

This photo needs help!

Look at that! Just throw on some random filter you find in your Photoshop and now it looks like a fun pot o' good times. Hell yeah!

I'll be here every Tuesday with more Awkward Food Photos.

Vegan Mofo 2013

It's that time of year again. The mofoiest time of year. Panda With Cookie has officially signed up but for the first time I have no plans and no themes. It has been a busy past month and will be a busy upcoming month but I am hoping to get some mostly humourous posts up here for your reading enjoyment.
We shall see what will come! Cheers!

Happy Halloween: The Klaus Nomi Lime Tart

How fitting to end my Vegan Mofo with a subpar food photo. But the inspiration was magnificent.

Halloween has long been my favorite holiday. I love the costumes, the jack-o-lanterns, the freedom (once upon my childhood) of traipsing around to strange doors for candy. It is a strange holiday. I wanted to come up with something fun for my Mofo Halloween but was lacking in ideas. I made the oatmeal cream pie cookies from the Sunny Days in Texas zine for my post over at Vegans on the Move.  But inspiration was failing me here.

In some odd sequence of events I had posted my vinegar pie recipe around the same time I posted  a Klaus Nomi video on my Facebookery page as the soundtrack to some cookie baking. Which led to a discussion with the wonderful Johnp over at I-40 Vegan about Klaus being a pastry chef and making tarts back in the day. And what with my successful vinegar pie, why not attempt to veganize the Klaus Nomi lime tart?


Nomi epitomizes what I love about Halloween, a combination of the strange and beautiful. So I got my lime on and tarted it up.

You will need
1 1/4 c graham crumbs
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c melted margarine

Mix all together and press into a 9 inch pie plate or tart pan. I went with only 2 T of sugar so my crust wouldn't be too sweet.

4 eggs (I used a combo of soy yogurt and clear jel)
1 can sweetened condensed milk (I made my own using this recipe.)
1/2 c lime juice
some lime zest

What with all the egg separating and whipping that went on in this recipe, I decided to just hope for an edible tart like pie. I mixed the condensed milk with 1/2 c vanilla soy yogurt, the lime juice and zest. I then used 2T instant clear jel and sprinkled it in and mixed like mad. Clear jel is usually added to sugar or other dry ingredient to keep it form clumping, so I added it slowly over about 20 minutes.
Then I poured into the crust and refrigerated.

The result? Mostly good. My crust was a bit crumbly but the filling maintained its shape for the most part and was quite tasty.  But the real beauty was simply in the idea to do something ridiculous.
Happy Halloween and Happy Mofo kids!

Little Panda on the Prairie: Vinegar Pie

Vinegar Pie! It is mentioned in Farmer Boy and possibly other books. Almanzo digs into slices of apple and vinegar pie. It seems that vinegar was often used in place of citrus, since those fruits weren't readily available in the US until fairly recently. An orange and a penny in the stocking at Christmas were considered mighty special. I liked the sound of this pie, so I chose it as my last challenge to veganize.

Common Family Paste for Pies
You'll need: 1 1/4 c flour
1/2 t salt, scant
1/3 c lard (I used 1/3 c. shortening)
1/2 t butter (I used Earth Balance)
Chill all ingredients and bowl
Mix flour and salt
Spoon shortening into flour and blend with fingers dipped in cold water. Continue to toss as you add 3 T ice water. Press into a ball and chill whilst preparing the filling. Roll out and lay in pie pan.

Vinegar Pie
You'll need 1/4 c butter (I used Earth Balance)
2 eggs (I used a mixture of agar and Instant Clear Jel. This was the tricky thing to sub here.)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c flour
few grindings of nutmeg
3 T vinegar, cider

-Melt Earth Balance.
-Blend sugars, flour and nutmeg with 4.5 T instant clear jel
-Boil 1 c water with 1/2 t agar
-Stir into the sugar mixture the vinegar, Earth Balance and 1 c water til well mixed. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

As you can see, this held its shape nicely when sliced. The flavour is quite strong and unique but I enjoy it. The amount of filling was less than needed for a 9 inch crust, so you could use 8 or maybe even 7 inches here. I like the ratio of crust to filling in the 9 inch pie plate, though. It isn't too thick and keeps the vinegar flavour from being overpowering.

Panda Raps: Brown Food

Panda raps like Petula Clark, Special Edition.

When you're alone and life is making you lonely
You can always eat - brown food
When you've got worries, all the lentils and the curry
Seems to help, I know - brown food
Just sniff and see the tater tots and biscuits in the gravy
Linger in the kitchen where the hush puppies are pretty
How can you lose?

Vegan Mofo Hump Day!

Vegan Mofo Hump Day Song o' Fun. By the fabulous Leslie Hall.

Vegan Mofo Vegan Iron Chef Chickpea Challenge

Katie always does Vegan Iron Chef challenges for Mofo and this year she's posting them at the main Vegan Mofo blog. I've never done one because I am not good at just tossing stuff about and coming up with something edible. But the first challenge ingredient posted was chickpeas and I just happened to have a pound soaking for a cookin' and I had no plans for them.

I am not too up on the hip vegan food trends, so I have never roasted a chickpea before. I decided to dice some onion and toss with the great garbanzos along with some olive oil, corriander, mustard seed, a wee bit of cumin, some pepper, some red pepper flakes and maybe one or two spices I am forgetting. They roasted for a good bit while I prepared cabbage vijita (cabbage sauteed with mustard seed, coriander and pepper) and then I dumped it all in a bowl for dinner.



Quite tasty! Now some of you may not think this is much of a recipe, most likely because it isn't, but I was pleased with the results of something new for me inspired by Vegan Mofo.

I Like Cats

During a recent west coast tour I took a lot of pictures of me with various cats. I just fucking love cats. They are great. So each Saturday I will have a photo of me with a cat. Because I can.
Tiny Mr. P. looks to the side. What is this?

Amazing Savings Find O' the Week

Each Friday I will be featuring my amazing find from Amazing Savings in Asheville, NC. This week, Dandies for $1.19.

Little Panda on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie! I loved these books as a kid and I still do. My Thursday theme is veganizing recipes from The Little House Cookbook published in 1979.

First up is the rye 'n' injun bread that is mentioned in Farmer Boy and various other books. This is the bread they just toss together and put in the wood stove to cook over night. Ma and Laura were always just tossing stuff into bowls and pans and hours later pulling out some finished product.

To make this you will need:
1 1/2 c cornmeal
1 1/2 c rye flour
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 eggs -- I subbed 2 T flax mixed with about 3-4 T water
1 c cultured buttermilk -- I subbed in 1 c soymilk with 1 t apple cider vinegar mixed in.
3/4 c dark molasses

Heat the oven to 200. On the lower rack place a pan full of water. Grease your loaf pan.
Mix together the cornmeal, rye, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl mix together your flax eggs with the milk and molasses. Combine the two and stir until just moistened. Pour into your loaf pan and cover with a baking sheet. Place in the oven above the pan of water and let bake for 12 hours.


The result is a dense dark rye loaf. 12 hours seems like crazy talk, but it turned out quite fine. The top of mine sank in a bit but the bread wasn't a bit dry and I obviously went ahead and dug in before taking the photo for the blog. I am most excited to make this and have hunks of fresh brown bread with a mug of winter tea. And then I will round up my mending and sew up Pa's suspenders.