Vegan Mofo We Hardly Knew Ye

Happy Halloween and happy end o' MoFo. I'm just going to enjoy sitting in the glow of my carved pumpkins from last week. Thanks for following along this year, gentle reader.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween y'all! Paul and I carved pumpkins this weekend and were pleased with how they turned out.

Isa Does It Testers: Ginger Chocolate Cookies

I do love a good cookie. And you can't go wrong with ginger and cocoa powder and a mix of white and chocolate chips. I realized with this post that I have focused a lot on baked goods testers but the majority of the book is quick and easy savories not sweets. I just happened to have my camera out whilst baking on a sunny day as opposed to trying to take a half lit photo of a half eaten bowl of the amazing kale and quinoa stew at 7pm.

Food Haiku: Seitan

Hail seitan! Mighty
wheat gluten warrior which
is baked, boiled or steamed.

The Local Food Review: Papa G's

I don't see this restaurant mentioned a lot in Portland but Papa G's has become one of my favourite places to visit. They are an all vegan, all organic deli and restaurant located on SE Division Street near 24th. They have a full menu to order from as well as some cold salads, daily specials, desserts, and a by the pound salad bar. You can find their flavoured tofus in local stores like Food Fight and People's Co-op.

I most enjoy the plate pictured above, which features locally made tempeh with gravy, mac and cheese and beets. The tofus and mashed potatoes are all tasty as well. The staff has always been super nice when we go in and they have ample seating to enjoy a quick crossword puzzle.

Friday Fun Waffle Time

Waffles! Folded in half and stuffed with maple cream and pecans. Head on over to Flavour Spot on NE Mississippi and Skidmore and get one or five for yourself. Perfect autumnal treat.

Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day: Chickpea Shawarma

Chickpeas! Mighty and delicious. Who can resist? This is the world's least interesting photo but y'all know how I feel about brown food. I made the chickpea shawarma recipe from Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day and piled it on some flat bread with roasted red peppers, tomatoes and the tahini sauce from the recipe. I love the seasonings on the chickpeas here and they can be used in a variety of ways.
Get this book! Tami and Celine are both delightful in an age of increasing internet self promoters and they might not be the flashiest at posting on every forum everywhere but these are some good solid recipes. I haven't had time to make any of their cold cuts yet, but word on the street is that they are mighty good. And of course, many of these recipes don't have to be used for sandwiches. Toss a sauce on a salad. Use that moo-free seitan in some pot pie. Then bring me the pot pie.

Paul Cooks: Fudge

What's better than a big ol' pile of salted peanut butter chocolate fudge? A big ol' pile of salted peanut butter chocolate fudge that someone else made for you.

Tasteless Tablescapes

Oh dear. It looks like someone ate the take out leftovers and left none for the party guests. They've been licked suspiciously clean so it's highly probable that the cat got to them as well. Welcome to the party.

Isa Does It Testers: Lemon Blueberry Loaf

Lemon Blueberry Loaf! I do love a good loaf. I've made this at least 5 times since my initial test. That photo may be nothing special but the loaf is. You could bake up a whole pile of these to give out as gifts come Arbor day or National Loaf Day or just to eat for yourself. This again uses easy to find, simple ingredients and makes a magnificent treat.

Food Haiku: Burrito

Spicy burrito.
No fancy jibber jabber.
Just rice, beans and guac.

The Local Food Review: Sweetpea Baking

Sweetpea Baking Co. was the first vegan bakery storefront in the Portland area, located at 1205 SE Stark St. I had stopped in for various treats on my NW sojourns but had never tried a sandwich until I moved here. Pictured above is the P. Cole with layers of Daiya, remoulade, seitan, pickles and tomato. I had missed the sandwiches at Snice when I left Brooklyn and was pleased to find a place in Portland to fill that hole in my heart. I highly recommend a side of the macaroni salad, too.

When you visit go next door to Herbovire and say hello to the nice folks and get a sweatshirt while you're at the Vegan mini mall. Then hop into Food Fight and buy all the jars of crunchy Speculoos. And then come say hi to me so I can have some of those jars.

Friday Fun Halloween Theme: Pumpkin Roll

I love a good pumpkin roll. I have not seen a vegan version floating around until this spring when I stumbled upon one in the Sweet Vegan book. Comes an autumnal October Sunday and it was time to try my hand at pumpkin rollin'. My biggest concern was that the cake would crack when it was unrolled to spread on the filling and, sure enough, crack it did.
We added some extra spices and this thing tastes amazing. The large crack on top is only one of about 3 so you might not want to take it to the Pretty Food Shindig you were planning on but it would fit right in at the Hell Yeah Tasty Food Get Down.

Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day: Peanut Butter Brownies

Yes! There is a dessert chapter in Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day and I wanted to try at least one for my MoFo purposes. I picked out the peanut butter brownies sandwiches and am quite pleased I did. The brownie part is like a cross between a cookie and a brownie. So a bit hardier that a soft brownie but still with a slight brownie texture. Slapped in between is a peanut butter frosting and you can't go wrong with peanut butter frosting. I love these. You should make these. Quadruple the batch and you'll be the belle of the Halloween ball.

Paul Cooks: Squash Casserole

This Wednesday had Paul cooking squash like a Tennessee farmer. Last year the I-40 Kitchen published a couple of squash casserole recipes for MoFo. How can you not love something called a squash mold? This was delicious and I highly recommend breaking this one out for your upcoming Thanksgiving celebration. Throw it down with some of his fabulous rolls and pass out in a pile of leaves.
Paul may or may not be a snacker and may or may not have nibbled at that corner before I got the photo.

Tasteless Tablescapes

Well well. Your guests will simply swoon when they come over for your fabulous dinner party and find the cat licking leftover rice off the table instead. Distract them with his cat cuteness and everyone will forget all about the food you promised. Hopefully they brought some dessert you can eat instead.

Isa Does It Testers: Sesame Tofu

Sesame tofu in a big ol' salad. Cooking tofu that I love has been a steep learning curve for me. I can never seem to get it as firm and flavorful as I would like. This sesame tofu recipe may have solved any tofu woes I had. I love the texture I got and can futz around with the recipe to get a plethora of flavours to always have a good and tasty protein source to toss into my big ol' salads. I think one of my favourite things about testing for Isa books is that the ingredients are usually simple but the results are always great.

Food Haiku: Cookies

Sweet oatmeal cookie
or perhaps chocolate chip.
I will eat you all.

The Local Food Review: Whole Bowl

The Whole Bowl is an excellent option if I don't have a good meal in the house and am busy trying to get some crafting done. There's nothing fancy going on here, just rice, beans, salsa, olives, avocado and some of their yellow saucy sauce. I love having a healthier option that I can grab when needed instead of just eating a bagel and a cookie. They're usually nice and add some extra avocado for me since I get the vegan version. 

Friday Fun Halloween Theme

 Ice Cream! I was sad to leave my beloved Donvier hand crank ice cream maker back east when I headed west last winter. I got that for $5 at a stoop sale in Brooklyn and made many a fine ice cream with it. I was thus thrilled when I stumbled upon a mini half pint ice cream maker from the fine folks at Donvier at an estate/yard sale about a month ago. I inquired and found the price to be a whopping $1 so I took it with glee. There she sits, in all her icy glory.

 The ice cream recipes I usually use are for about 2 pints, so I needed to scale down for the wee half pinter. The maker came with a handy little instruction guide on the box as well as a basic recipe. I veganized that baby and got my churn on. Here's a poor quality blurry photo of that Donvier magic happening.

 This post may indeed be fun but it isn't really Halloween themed. I did put the ice cream in an orange container to really up the festive quality though. I got those vintage tupperwares for 25 cents at the same estate sale. 20 minutes to a wee serving of homemade ice cream. Long live the Donvier!