Strawberry Tart With Coconut Whipped Cream - Post 2

Over the summer, my Mom returned to North Carolina from Buffalo with vegan, gluten free recipes in hand from the Buffalo newspaper. When she said it, I thought she was kidding. For those of you that have not had the pleasure of visiting Buffalo, it is a place filled with chicken wings, pizza, American style meaty sandwiches, and breakfast food. All of which are neither friendly to a vegan or gluten freer. When I visit family, I go to Wegman's and stock up on goods to make food at my Grandma's place. I don't bother venturing out very much as I have had some bad experiences. 

Enough of focusing on the negative, and getting back to the point.....I was delighted to see a recipe for a Strawberry Tarts with Coconut Whipped Cream. The tarts have a crunchy almond crust with a light and airy whip cream on the top. I have made the tarts on two occasions, one for a Labor Day vegan BBQ and for my Mom's Birthday. The first time I made this recipe, I put the tarts together and let them sit too long and the juices from the strawberries softened the tart crust. The second time I did not make them up ahead. 

These tarts were a winner on both occasions, but much better the second time around. The shells were crunchy with a hint of sweet and salty. The strawberries were mixed with balsamic vinegar and surprisingly did not taste like vinegar, but the flavor of the strawberry was enhanced. The coconut whip cream was rich and fluffy. From what I remember of fresh whip cream, this seemed to be quite similar. I had to stop my self from eating the whip cream on its own. 

I plan on using the tart shells and whip cream in another capacity as well. I have been dreaming up all sorts of savories and sweets that would pair well with the tart. I can also see topping pancakes, french toast, and ice cream sundaes with the cream. I think the writer of this recipe was on to something big!

Welcome to MoFo! - Post 1

Welcome to Vegan MoFo. What is Vegan Mofo you ask? Well, it stands for "Vegan Month of Food." The general idea is for participating bloggers to create at least 20 blog posts for the month of October. The blogger picks the theme, if any, and writes the posts. There is a blog roll and much love and encouragement from other bloggers. Each year I have made new blogging friends and found blogs that I cannot live without. It is amazing how many other vegan and gluten free bloggers there are! 

This is my third year of participation and this year I have again decided to keep my goal at 20 blog posts for the month. I have also decided not to pick a theme, but plan for some of my posts to focus on creating dishes around items we get from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). And do not worry, I'll explain what a CSA is if you do not already know. 

I also decided to update the look of my blog. I have changed the layout, the background, and my header picture. For months I have been thinking about a new picture, one that captures my essence. An image of my blog name kept popping into my head drawn with nature. I retrieved my colored pencils and got to work. This new header has obvious themes of food and nature.  The other themes present are reusing, re-purposing, and reducing my impact on nature. 

I look forward to the new blogging friends I will make, the new recipes I will be enticed by, the humor I will laugh at, and the joy vegan blogging brings me and my fellow bloggers. 

Happy Vegan MoFo 2012!!!

Fruit and Vegetable Onesies

September is a month filled with birthdays of people I care about. Three of those people happen to have celebrated their first birthday this year. I was so ecstatic about the birthday excitement, that I decided to make a personal gift for each of them. With the 2012 Vegan MoFo right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to share them in honor of the month of food. 

This idea came to me as I pondered each of the babies (one being a niece and the other two babies of two of my close girlfriends). As far as the babies go, one of them is a vegan, the other is a vegetarian, and the other is an omnivore. Fruits and vegetables are important to any child omnivore or herbivore and I thought this was a good way to make them fun. 

Violet received the onesies with strawberries and an eggplant. The eggplant came about since her name is a color and it was the only vegetable that was Violet. Now that I think about it, I could have drawn grapes, but the vision for eggplant popped into my head! The smiling strawberries made me think of her with her bright red hair giggling!

Sidney received the onesies with the green beans and carrots. I picked these  because his parents have been feeding him his first foods from their CSA share that we both joined this summer. I could just see Sidney enjoying green beans and carrots. He has a very healthy appetite and I was so excited to be there when he tried his first bite of food!

Catherine will receive the onesies with carrots on it and the apple. I chose the carrots for her because she has two brothers and the image of the three carrots reminded me of the three of them together. I don't have a real reason for the apple, expect that I thought the worm was cute and she Catherine is cute! 

I'm thinking of creating more and selling them in my etsy shop. All I need to do is find a good stash of used onesies!

Help Kickstart The Fiction Kitchen

Most cities have at least a couple of vegetarian restaurants, but when you visit the triangle there is a bit of a void. Cary, Morissville, and Chapel Hill all have vegetarian restaurants, but the two largest cities (Durham and Raleigh) do not. While there are plenty of restaurants in Durham and Raleigh that have vegan and vegetarian options, there is not a place that has stayed 100% vegetarian.

So in step Caroline and Siobhan of Fiction Kitchen. They started off with catering and amazing vegan brunches. And when I say amazing, it is an understatement. They provided brunches once a month on a Sunday afternoon that would knock your socks off. Their creativeness with local ingredients was impressive. They would have over one hundred people lined up outside the Pinhook in Durham for these infamous brunches. The food was different each month and I can honestly say that I was never served anything I didn't absolutely love! In addition, they made an effort to always have a gluten free option for me and some other gluten freers. My favorites included biscuits and gravy and a coffee cake that was out of this world. I still dream of that coffee cake. Ok, I think I just salivated on my keyboard!!

Now these wonderful women want to open a restaurant in downtown Raleigh and need your help.  Please visit their kickstarter campaign and consider donating. Make sure to watch the video too! (Yours truly makes several appearances in it.) Even if you can only share a couple of bucks, it will help. They have a goal to reach by October 13 and we need to help them get there. If they do not meet their goal, they don't get any of the money. If you do not live in the area, you can still donate and I promise once they open to post pictures of their amazing food. 

What are you waiting for? Get on over there and give them some support!

Vegan MoFo 2012

Fall is approaching and it is that time of year again. Yep, it is time for Vegan MoFo 2012!! What is it you ask? It is the Vegan Month of Food 2012 blogging challenge. Volunteer bloggers from all over the world and come together to blog about vegan food. It is a great way to connect with wonderful people and get a ton of new meatless, cruelty free ideas. 

All you have to do is sign up here. Sign up goes until September 26. You can also follow the buzz on Vegan MoFo's facebook page and check out their blog for upcoming information. Yours truly will be participating for the third year in a row. I even plan to roll out a new graphic and color design for my blog. 

I hope you will join me. If not, please come back to my blog and the other participating blogs. Some of my favorite blogs were discovered during MoFo. 

Happy MoFoing! 

Vegan Housewarming Letters

I was recently asked by my friend Julie to make letters for her new home. She wanted something to signify that she and her husband had a new, cruelty-free kitchen.  A place where animal products have never touched the counter, refrigerator, dishwasher, cabinets, sink, utensils, plates, etc. This might not sound like a big deal to the majority of the world but, those of us who live a vegan lifestyle because we reject the notion of cruel factory farming practice, think this is a big deal.

I thought of painting cutesie pigs, cows, chickens, and fish, but that didn't seem to go with the style of the new space. After discussion, we came up with an espresso background with a salmon-creme boarder. After seeing the cabinets in the kitchen, I wanted to mirror the finish so that the letters look like they were a planned fixture. I'm not sure I achieved that look with the letters, but Julie was delighted when she saw them and that is good enough for me!

Happy housewarming Julie and Greg, may you have many years of delicious, heart-warming, and cruelty-free meals in your beautiful kitchen! 

Introducing "The Vegg", A Vegan Egg Yolk

I have noticed Facebook buzzing about a new product called The Vegg. The website touts itself as the "the world's first vegan fried egg." Upon first glance at this product I was fascinated. I have tried many substitutes for egg and they have all worked well, but none of them allowed for the substitute to stand alone as an egg yolk. Since going vegan, I have not ever really craved an egg, but after seeing this it made me think of the possibilities. 

One such item that came to mind, although not a stand alone egg, is vegan gluten free french toast. This might seem mundane for many of you, but to someone who lives their life as a vegan gluten freer, this is something that I have longed to enjoy. With the current egg substitutes available, the breakfast dish did not seem appealing. After hearing about The Vegg, I began to dream of a meal of french toast, sprinkled with powdered sugar, served with fresh berries. 

Since the product is not yet sold locally, I had the option of buying it online. A friend had recently tried the product and had positive reviews. As I was contemplating placing an order, I saw a Facebook status from The Vegg calling for bloggers to review the product. Within seconds, I sent an email and received a response that the product would be sent to me.

I received the product this past week and was delighted to see that the labeling stated that it is gluten free. Now, it was time for my desired meal. I decided that we would have french toast for dinner with fresh strawberries from our CSA followed by a salad, also using ingredients from our CSA. I have been dreaming of french toast ever since I heard of this product. As a gluten freer, this is not something I get to have often. In fact, I have never had french toast gluten free. Luckily for me, I would finally get to satisfy a craving. And, let me say this certainly lived up to my craving expectations! Gluten free bread is not the tastiest, but the soaking of the bread in The Vegg mixture did wonders for it! It was how I remembered french toast from my childhood. The product offered an egg-like flavor that was subtle and not too overwhelming. 

We have only tried this product once, but it was enough to get my creative juices flowing for other ideas. I imagine this will be something will always have on hand. I am hoping that it will become easy for us to have on hand by being sold in a store in Durham or Raleigh soon.

Vegan Gluten Free French Toast

• 6 slices of gluten free, vegan bread (I used a Rice Pecan bread) 
• 3 tsp The Vegg powder 
• 1 1/4 c soy, almond, or coconut milk
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• Olive oil or canola oil spray
• strawberries (optional for garnish)
• powdered sugar (optional for garnish)

In a blender, or using a hand blender, blend The Vegg powder and 1/2 c of the non-dairy milk. Make sure to scrape down the sides to get the mixture to blend well. Add in the cornstarch, vanilla, cinnamon, remaining milk, and agave nectar and blend again. Place the mixture in a shallow bowl or pan, with enough room for two pieces of bread.

Place a skillet on medium heat and spray with olive oil or canola oil spray. While the skillet is heating, place two slices of bread into The Vegg mixture and let it soak for about 5 minutes. When the pan is heated, place two pieces of bread in the skillet. Place two more pieces of bread into the mixture to soak. Turn the french toast in about 3 minutes when it is slightly browned. Cook until it brown on the other side. Serve with sprinkled powdered sugar and sliced strawberries.