Do the Zombie

My younger brother is not really a drinker, at all. In fact, its pretty rare to see him drink anything outside of orange soda (blech). So you can imagine my family's curiosity and amusement when, on Christmas Eve last year, he ordered a "Zombie" at our local Chinese restaurant. We were even more amused when they brought out the drink: a glass the size of my head filled with bright turquoise liquid, and adorned with a whole fruitbowl full of tropical fruits (and of course, topped with several dainty umbrellas.) This was my brother who can't even finish a Miller Light.

But, he had just broken up with his girlfriend, so he was able to slurp that sucker right down and actually be in a slightly festive mood for the first time all holiday season. (I don't usually advocate drinking your problems away, but it sure worked this time.) I had a taste too, and was put off on the cloyingly-sweet beverage forever. That is, until I read this Ny Times article about a man seeking to resurrect the Zombie and other tiki bar drinks that have been wrecked by clueless bartenders over the years.

“When people think of tropical drinks, they think of the syrupy slush that gets served on a cruise,” Mr. Berry said, his voice rising in pitch. “But when you get a properly structured tropical drink, it’s unbelievable.”

Alright, sold! I am psyched to try out his recipe. I know it doesn't really seem like a holiday drink off the bat, but with the cinnamon, citrus, and rum, it actually seems more suited to this time of year then to the summer. And I'm pretty sure it won't be electric blue...

Beachbum Berry's Zombie(From the Times.)
3/4 ounce lime juice
1 ounce white grapefruit juice
1/2 ounce cinnamon-infused sugar syrup (*available at Whole Foods and elsewhere)
1/2 ounce Bacardi 151 rum
1 ounce dark Jamaican rum
Sliced fruit and mint for garnish.

Shake all ingredients well with ice cubes. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with fruit and a mint sprig.
Yield: One drink.

And speaking of theme restarants, I had a great dinner at the Argonaut the other night. This bar is one of the many new hipster dives cropping up on H street (like Red and the Black, Rock and Roll Hotel, Palace of Wonders, ect.) and it features a really subtle pirate theme which you have to see to understand. (I mean, how do you make something "pirate themed" without looking like a Disney ride?) Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have upped the vegan content on their mostly omni-menu. I got cauliflower-apple soup, black bean, potato and zucchini pancakes, and their excellent sweet potato fries.

And if you're thirsty, the "Dark and Stormy", with ginger beer and house-infused rum, is a force to be reckoned with.

8 Days of Hannukah...

And 8 new (or newish) vegan cookbooks! Coincidence? Or has there just been a Renaissance in the world vegan cooking of late? I think the latter.

You can buy alot of them here or amazon (obvs) and see many of them reviewed here.
*Also, that Vegan Lunch Box cookbook is insanely popular and awaiting its second printing. But if you can't wait, amazon still has a few.

Garlic is magic!

One of the top things that I am really pedantic about (aside from, you know, feminism, immigrant rights, veganism, ect) is GARLIC. Whenever anyone around me starts sniffling, you can count on me to be obnoxiously yelling "Go eat some raw GARLIC! Put it on a veggie burger! Sprinkle it on pasta! I swear to G-d, it works!"

And as annoying as it is to yell at sick people all time (my bad) I'm actually right here. The Times Health Blog ("Well") has a quickie today on how scientists have been finding all sorts of health benefits hidden inside the gorgeous little cloves.

In the latest study, performed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, researchers extracted juice from supermarket garlic and added small amounts to human red blood cells. The cells immediately began emitting hydrogen sulfide, the scientists found.

The power to boost hydrogen sulfide production may help explain why a garlic-rich diet appears to protect against various cancers, including breast, prostate and colon cancer, say the study authors. Higher hydrogen sulfide might also protect the heart, according to other experts. Although garlic has not consistently been shown to lower cholesterol levels, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine earlier this year found that injecting hydrogen sulfide into mice almost completely prevented the damage to heart muscle caused by a heart attack.

Ok, so I guess none of that proves that it cures the common cold... but I bet you that if you up your garlic intake you will find that you get sick less often, as a nice side effect to avoiding various cancers. Also, wear a scarf to bed when your throat starts hurting. My roomate swears by it.

Unlocking the Benefits of Garlic

Sticky Fingers Bakery

I went to this fabulous vegan bakery/ coffee shop this weekend and was thrilled beyond expectations. Here are some of the features:
-pink and brown walls
-cinnamon buns
-cakes and cupcakes (tried the carrot cake and chocolate cupcakes- both were scrumptious and completely kick cakelove's ass)
-DIY hot dogs with cheeze and chili!
-really cute employees
-good coffee and soy creamer sitting out to put in it

I think I will be living there during final exams. Yay for Columbia Heights!

My Veg Thanksgiving

So after much agonizing about what to make for Thanksgiving, everything ended up coming together easily.

I started off with some Spinach Dip to munch on while cooking and to ply the guests with while they waited for the ornery turkey to be done. I just mixed a garden variety onion dip mix with a container of Tofutti sour cream and a package of frozen spinach, thawed and patted dry. It was perfect with whole wheat crackers.

For my main course, I tryed the NY Times recipe for Roasted Squash w/ Sage Cornbread Stuffing and Vegetable Ragout. I used seitan rather than tempeh, because seitan is more turkey-esque to me. The cornbread stuffing, studded with sage and roasted chesnuts, was very sweet and crunchy, while the stew-like ragout on top was filled with savory leeks, parsnips, carrots, seitan and shrooms. Next time I would have added a little soy sauce or tamari to add a bit more salt to the ragout. It was pretty much perfect though, and definitely centerpiece-worthy.

On the side, I had all the delicious dishes that my parents had thoughtfully prepapred with earth balance and soymilk. (After I bugged them about it all day, that is. And swore not to tell my brothers.) We had green bean casserole, Mashed potatoes, and my Aunt Mary's sweet potatoes (recipe here.) In addition, I made the cranberry sauce recipe from Veganomicon which was magic, like everything else in that cookbook. I also made the Mushroom gravy from Dreena Burton's awesome cookbook The Everyday Vegan, which has always come out perfectly the last 20 times I've made it. (Love her, btw.)

All in all, my fabulous meal definitely disproved the notion that vegans have to feel sad and neglected on holidays. And I didn't have anyone trying to ply me with turkey this year, either--- my plate was too full as it was.

After dinner, everyone sat around the outdoor firepit my Dad built last year. My little brother passed around his guitar and we all sang Bob Dylan songs and drank bourbon. Considering the hell on wheels most Thanksgivings are, I can't imagine a better dinner or night!

Mystic Vegan Pizza and Caesar Salad

Its not always easy being in an inter-diet partnership. My boyfriend eats almost exclusively meat, and is loathe to try new foods that don't have bacon in them. He's always polite, mind you, but if I offer him, say, an eggplant casserole, he turns white and just says, "oh, no thanks baby, it looks great though." So I usually end up polishing off most of my delicacies myself, or with the help of my veggie garbage disposal roommate. :) But on the rare occasion that I do want to accommodate him, I make sure to make the least scary, most friendly-looking thing I can think of, and then add in a secret ingredient or two.

So last night I made him Caesar salad with homemade croutons and from-scratch pizzas with his choice of topping. I topped mine with marinated tempeh while he topped his with pepperoni, but just the fact that he happily gobbled down the Caesar made me happy. (I used the Veganomicon recipe to give it a shot, and I have to say it is the closest I have ever tasted to real, anchovy-based Caesar. Except way, way better, of course.)

You all know how to make home-made croutons, right? They have saved many a salad of mine. Just heat up a few tablespoons of olive oil and throw in some garlic and whatever spices you have handy. (Basil, thyme, oregano, savory, parsley and sage are all good bets.) When the oil is hot and the spices are fragrant, turn off the heat and toss in some cubed, stale bread. (White bread works best, but whatever floats your boat.) Once they have been adequately coated with the oil, spread 'em out on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook to desired crunch on 425 degrees. So easy.

Homemade pizza takes a bit more effort, but its worth it. And working with dough is soothing, anyhow. (For me, anyway.)Here's the Joy of Cooking recipe for the dough, and while thats rising you can work on this easy chunky tomato sauce and marinate some tempeh.

Easy Roasted Tomato Sauce
1 28 oz can Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
1 tbsp EVOO
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

So simple. Just cook the garlic in the oil on medium low heat until its fragrant. Then add in the canned tomatoes, and the rest of the ingredients. Raise the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occassionally. Definitely adjust the spices if needed, I am a basil FIEND.

For the Marinated Tempeh, I simply sliced up a plain package of tempeh and tossed it in an air-tight container with some soy sauce, EVOO, fennel seeds, garlic salt, and a few drops of hot sauce and liquid smoke. After a half-hour or so I sauteed the slices until just brown and set them aside to top the pizza with, along with some sliced mushrooms and onions.

The trick with vegan pizza is if the toppings are good enough the cheese is utterly unnecessary. If one were so inclined they could always find some soy cheese, but I don't much care for it on pizza. With a fire-roasted sauce and marinated tempeh, what's the point? My boyfriend even agreed when he had a few bites.

See? He is so turning. Slow and steady wins the race, kids.

Hain-Celestial makes HRC's List Again

Just wanted to mention that this is the second year in a row that the Hain Celestial Group is on the Human Rights Campaign's list of companies that do NOT support gay rights. In fact, they scored lower than Wal-Mart. (And that's saying something.)

I would almost guarantee that you have something in your cabinet from this company right now. According to their website, they are "a leading natural and organic food and personal care products company in North America and Europe." They make products like Arrowhead Mills (many different flours and gluten-free baking products), Celestial Seasonings (tea) and Soy Dream ice cream. Oh yeah, and tons of different soy and rice milk products.

Its sad since they have so many great cooking basics and frozen veggie entrees, but I will try to avoid their products as long as they stay on this list. How can you bill yourself to vegans and environmentalists and then not support gay rights? How can you care about animals and the planet but not people? I hope they make some major changes this year. Its a shame that I have to miss out on their brownie soy ice cream.

Hain Celestial
HRC's 2008 Buying for Equality Guide

Food filled weekend

This weekend I had the pleasure of helping my friend Nick prepare a six course meal for 12 people. He's not a chef, but he enjoys cooking so much that he often ends up throwing these big fetes and cooking ridiculously huge pots of jambalaya or beef stew or the like. Such was the case this weekend- he signed himself up to cook a full Thanksgiving dinner for a group of friends. He's insane.

Anyways, the meal was by no means vegan, but as usual I like to pick up tricks that can be adapted and just see what he comes up with. I always get some great new ideas. The first course was these little roasted beet napoleans. They were super easy and I can think of a few ways to make them vegan. Essentially, you are just roasting beats for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees, then taking them out, carefully slicing them, and sticking them in a bowl of red wine vinegar. Then you stack them with sliced rounds of goat cheese. The vegan way? Maybe thin slices of tofutti cream cheese that have been mixed with the green onions? I will have to give it a try- look how dear they turned out. (Oh yes, and use a well cookie cutter to get them perfectly rounded like that.)

Next up was delicious butternut squash soup, the recipe for which is available in every cookbook on the planet. Then, in place of traditional sweet potatoes, we made sweet potato gnocchi with a sage butter cream sauce. They were so awesome. The recipe was essentially the epicurious one except we didn't use the cheese. The process is simpler then you might think. You are essentially roasting and peeling the sweet potatoes, then mashing them up and using them as a base for dough. So you add in some salt, pepper and egg replacer, along with a bunch of flour, then roll it out thin, cut it up into little squares, then roll them off the bottom of a fork. Lastly, you cook them like pasta with the sauce of your heart's desire. They were fabulous.

The rest of the meal was rather meat and dairy filled, but we finished up with these delish pecan shortbread cookies, which are just a hop, a skip, and a tub of earth balance away from being vegan. They were topped with some spiced pumpkin pie filling and a dollop of whip cream- a sort of deconstructed pumpkin pie. I'm telling you, Nick is just full of ideas.

*UPDATE* Urban Vegan has a step-by-step guide to sweet potato gnocchi with a yummy-looking cream sauce. Give it a shot here.

Sexual politics of...wtf?

Wow, our culture is so confused about its symbols. Here we have a standard handbag being carried by a stylish young woman on the way out the door. But whats that on her bag? Why.... its a uterus!

Hmmm... thats.... interesting.

And even better: its sewn out of leather! So. This kicky girl is wearing around a bag that features a picture of one of her most embattled internal organs--- stiched out of dead skin from a cow. In other words, an animal had to die so she could make a heavily confused statement whilst toting around her lipstick and wallet. (Is that image supposed to be empowering? Perhaps, educational?)

The whole thing just reeks of dismemberment and absent referents. I mean, we are referring to a woman's insides by way of a cow's insides... and ignoring the living beings behind both.

In case you're itching for one, they're available here. And don't worry, they've also got heart, lungs and kidney. :)

Oooh, and did I mention...

That I made those potato kale enchiladas from Veganomicon?

They were so amazing, my vegetable-hating roommate had three.

Quite a bit of effort, but so, so worth it. I ate them all weekend with dollops of Tofutti Sour Cream. Go make them now.

Potato Kale Enchiladas
*One note: they are so frigging spicy, even with only 2 Anaheim peppers, so I would check yourself before roasting three.

More Thanksgiving tips

The Internet is abuzz with tips on how to make thanksgiving more veggie-friendly! Who needs all that tryptophan anyways?

Epicurious has a great article on vegetarian mains from cookbook author Crescent Dragonwagon. (Thats her name. I shit you not.) Here's what Ms. Dragonwagon has to say:

"You need something visually big and bold enough to stand alongside—or in place of—the bird," she says. "I like to make a stuffed pumpkin. You can put it on a platter and let it be the visual star. It's as captivating and once-a-year-ish as the turkey." And though this dish might not go pound-for-pound against turkey for heartiness, it does take the place of another Thanksgiving favorite: the stuffing, which is probably soaked with turkey stock and off-limits for vegetarians. Moistened with vegetable stock, the pumpkin's apricot- and prune-accented filling is ready for everyone at the table to enjoy. And the pumpkin flesh itself, rubbed with salt, pepper, and brown sugar, is delicious.

Vegetarian Thanksgiving

The NY Times has a zillion recipes in their food section, and also quite a few veggie resouces. Here's Denise Landis on veggie thanksgivings:

One view of vegetarian dishes — an outdated one — is that they are too simple, and therefore lack elegance. Chefs like Mr. Tucker disprove this with dishes like the one he created last Thanksgiving: a rich mix of chestnuts, sage and corn bread roasted in squash and mounded with an apple-cider spiced ragout. There were also stuffed baby pumpkins and a roulade of wild mushrooms with seitan (wheat gluten) wrapped in pastry. The pastry was layered with yuba, a tofu product that has a crisp texture when roasted.

The Times Thanksgiving Special

And finally, here's an article written for carnivores about how to make Thanksgiving dinner more friendly for their vegetarian guests. I'll admit, its a little dumbed down. ("Start by sorting out what type of vegetarians you will be serving. Many won't eat red meat, poultry or seafood, but will eat eggs, cheese, milk and other dairy products. Vegans exclude all animal products, including honey.") But, it could be an easy thing to email to Mom or Dad in advance to give them some ideas.

Vegetarians Over for Dinner? Focus on the Sides.

They really will take over the world...

Just finished with my first experiment from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, another stellar cookbook from the Post Punk Kitchen ladies Isa and Terry, and OMG they are the most adorable food products I have EVER produced. And my word are they tasty.

These luscious cherry-chocolate cream cupcakes are almost enough to make up for my crappy weekend spent preparing for and competing in a moot court trials competition. And for the fact that I can't help ending all my sentences now with "isn't that so?" Ugh. Law school sucks. Cupcakes are awesome! And did I mention these were super easy?

Here's some bonus vegan baking tips from the Post Punk Kitchen website. Wow, I'm really starting to fall in love with those womyn.