FAQ

Can i know more about you?
Uh, sure? I was born and raised in Hawaii, and came to California for college in 2001. I grad in 2005 and decided to stay here for a while. I live in Pasadena, LA, CA, with my wonderful boyfriend and crazy kitty. I love to cook, and sing opera loudly while doing it. I became a veggie when i started working for Greenpeace in 2005. I became vegan early in 2007 and it's been wonderful! I have a BA in British Literature from Occidental College, work at a yoga studio, am a freelance editor and writer, and sing professionally with the Angeles Chorale. And my pin # is ****.

Why are you vegan?
Ahh the ULTIMATE question... I'll keep it short, but i must preface it by saying that I do not belive it is wrong to eat animals, i believe it's OK to eat animals. BUT, and that's a BIG BUT, i am not ok with the way animals are treated in the meat industry. Phisiologically humans are designed to eat meat, AND plants, but i don't agree with the quantity of meat and the quality of conditions the animals are forced to live in order to provide it. Until we can learn to treat all animals ethically, including the ones we choose to eat, i will NOT eat them ot use their products!

How can i get on your links list?
Recipies are the key, i want my site to have something you see and can make immediately. If you have a vegan blog/site with recipies, just email me and after reviewing the recipies (i.e. if they look good) i'll add you to the list! If you have a veggie blog that can be adapted to vegan (most can using simple ingredients, egg replacers and such) then email, i'll take a look and add you!

Sheppie Pie

Everyone has their own recipe for sheppie pie. I love to make this in a ceramic dish and toss it in the toaster oven at 350 degrees for an hour, and not heat up that whole damn oven.
Untopped:

Ready for cooking:

Shepherd's Pie

3 lg russet potatoes
1/2-3/4 cup soymilk
2 tbsp Earth Balance
1 pkg Good Grounds (or other soy grounds)
1 onion chopped
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1 cup frozen corn (loosely packed)
1 cup frozen peas (loosely packed)
1 cup gravy (Recipe located HERE)
Salt and Pepper
Shallow ceramic/glass baking dish
Foil (yeah, i know...)

1) Boil potatoes till tender, drain, mash with the soymilk, Earth Balance, and a dash of salt and pepper.
2) Prepare gravy. (recipe to follow soon!)
3) Sweat the onions (or carmelize if you have the time) in a large skillet)
4) Crumble good grounds over onions and stir to combine, turn heat to low/medium low.
5) Add frozen corn and peas, heat through.
6) Pour gravy into the skillet, stir, make sure there's gravy throughout ground and veggies.
7) When heated, pour ground mixture into shallow ceramic/glass baking dish.
8) Spread mashed potatoes on top, making sure they're even and everything is covered.
9) Cover with foil and bake in toaster oven at 450 for 1 hr or regular oven at 350 for 45-60 minutes.

Tips
If you're feeling special, sprinkle some shredded "cheese" on top for the last 10 mins of baking...

Noodle Casserole

I make this with Tuno brand mock tuna and it's so tasty, but you can also leave it out (esp if you're scared of it) and it's still quite nice. We had an unusually cold day and this dish was perfect for it. With toasted breadcrumbs on top, it's time to crank up the ac in LA and pretend it's January.

Noodle Casserole
1 can Tuno (you can omit if you want)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4-1/2 cup sliced pitted black olives
Rotini or penne pasta, enough for 2 large or 4 small servings
2 cups soymilk
2-3 tbsp Earth Balance or margarine
1-2 tbsp flour
1 cup shredded vegan cheese OR 1/2 cup nutritional yeast + 2 tbsp arrowroot powder
breadcrumbs or crushed croutons
salt and pepper

1) Boil pasta.
2) Heat milk and butter in saucepan, gently bubble for 10 minutes to reduce liquid.
3) Slowly add cheese (or yeast) till melted.
4) Wisk and sprinkle in flour to desired thickness, add a dash of salt and pepper.
5) Combine drained pasta with cheese mixture.
6) Stir in drained tuno, peas, and olives.
7) Dump everything into a casserole dish and cover with breadcrumbs.
8) Bake at 350 till warm and bubbly (about 20-30 minutes).

Notes:
DON'T BURN THE MILK! If you do, wash it out and start over.
Sprinkle the flour as you wisk, don't dump it in at once, you'll end up with a huge lump of blesh. (that's a technical term)
Cook the flour after you wisk it to get rid of the powdery taste. Just a few minutes of stirring over the heat will do it.
I toss the casserole dish in the toaster oven when i don't feel like heating up the big oven and go for a bike ride. 20 min on 350, and it's perfect.

Thick & Hearty Cornbread

Saturdays are reserved for Omni Evan and i to spend time with each other. This means of course, that we sleep late, roll out of bed around 11 and feel too lazy to cook up a storm. So i pulled out our cast iron pan (unused from the days of bacon) and whipped up this thick and hearty cornbread recipe. It sticks the ribs, isn't exceptionally sweet, and satisfies the tummy all day long.

The Dry
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal (yellow or even blue!)
2-3 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
good pinch of salt

The Wet
2 tbsp ground flax
2 tbsp water
1-1 1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 4 oz container of unsweeted applesauce

also:
1 Tbsp Earth Balance
1/3 cup frozen or canned corn kernels

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2) Put Earth Balance in skillet, pan, or whatever you'll be baking in
3) Place skillet in oven to heat
4) Mix The Dry
5) Separately mix The Wet
6) Combine the two, stirring till moist and combined (batter will be thick)
7) Fold in the corn kernels and mix evenly
8) Carefully take skillet out of oven, use pastry brush or paper towel to spread melted EB up the sides
9) Pour in batter, cook for 17-20 minutes

CAUTION: SKILLET WILL BE EXTREMELY HOT!!!

I love serving this warm with some Earth Balance on top. It could work well as a dessert too, warmed up with some "ice cream" on top or with maple syrup. I packed some up for our hike later that day and it kep exceptionally well. Be sure to cut it like a pie so everyone gets a piece of the crust!

Tested Recipe: Crispy Sweet and Sour Seitan

When i saw this on Vegan Yum Yum, i knew that the Seitan O' Greatness would be perfect. I decided to go with the garlic sauce, as i am a garlic fiend! Here is the original recipe. (I apologize for the poor pic quality, my camera is very retarded.)
Starting the sauce, ooh look at all that lovely garlic! I added some red pepper flakes for kick and a dash of onion and garlic power for some more flavor. Cause you know, you can never have too much flavor.

Frying up the seitan in the peanut oil, it's so fragrant. The oil is the only part i don't like of the recipe. I'll try frying with some water next time, cause i had to drain them on a lot of paper towels.

The finished sauce, thick and glossy. I subbed arrowroot powder for cornstarch as i have a pound of it. The garlic released some great oils as it heated, and i added another dash of red pepper.

With some carrots and broccoli added right in, topping of sesame seeds.

This was really good, the perfect blend of spicy and sweet. I realize now that i used sushi vinegar instead of seasoned rice vinegar but it still came out great. I had to drain the seitan a lot to get the oil off, and i forgot that my vinegar had msg in it (i got it in chinatown, what should i expect!?), but this will be in my regular rotation for sure.

Tested Recipe: Tip Top Tofu Loaf

Got this recipe from La Dolce Vegan. Due to copyright protection, i can't post the recipe, but i can tell you that it contains olive oil, tofu, onions, garlic, ketchup, tamari, dijon (i omitted this, bleh, mustardo), parsley (i used cilantro), pepper, oats, and tahini. Here's some lovely pr0n shots:

I glazed the top with some ketchup and vegan worcestershire sauce, per the usual meat loaf. It turned out alright. Omni Evan liked it more than i did, but i think i crubled the tofu too much and it was bland. Next time, i'll cook up a nice gravy and crumble the tofu less or use some gimme lean for meaty heft.
Overall i'm not too impressed. C+

The Seitan O' Greatness

This recipe has taken over the internet in a matter of days, and for a good reason, no boil seitan is a dream come true. This is my second run of the Seitan O Greatness.

Original Recipe:
1.5 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp allspice
3/4 cup cold water
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (or soy sauce)
1-3 cloves garlic, crushed well

(1) Preheat oven to 325°.
(2) In a large mixing bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix the rest of the ingredients (liquid ingredients) in a smaller mixing bowl. Wisk well until mixed.
(3) Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well, then knead for several minutes.
(4) Form into a log (6-8" long), wrap tightly in foil, twisting ends.
(5) Bake for 90 minutes.

Notes:
When done baking, unwrap and leave out to cool all the way.
I tweaked the recipe by adding some liqid smoke, more minced garlic, and onion powder. Here is a shot after a few minutes of kneading and shaping. It started to turn my hands and cutting board orange!

All demure and wrapped up in tin foil...

I used my toaster oven just like SusanV from the Fat Free Kitchen. If you look closely, you can see my reflection on the left, ready to chomp on the tinfoiled (ouch!) seitan.

After 90 mins in der toaster oven, i've never been to delighted to see a warm steaming brown log.

I didn't wait until it fully cooled to slice a yummy piece off. This is absolute perfection, i can see stews, stir frys, sammiches, and the like in my near future.