Technical difficulties.

I was putting the finishing touches on a new post and unfortunately I lost it (my super slow internet timed out) . I am moving past the loss and hopefully will be able to get a replacement post up later today. In the mean time, here is a picture of the squirrel that lives outside my window. I call him Barry :)

Isn't he cute!?! Please stay tuned...I will hopefully get my intended post up later today!
Peace, love and veggies,
Kali

Pumpkin spice and all things I love about Fall.

I'm not sure if I've said this enough....but I. LOVE. FALL. Being born and raised in Arizona I didn't really get to experience seasons. Pretty much just hot, hotter, and mildly hot. It wasn't until attending college in Flagstaff, AZ (NAU represent!) that I got a little taste of the crisp Fall weather I'd heard about. And now that I live in Denver, CO (it's been 3 years now, crazy) Fall has become my favorite time of year. There is something about the brisk air and changing leaves that I really love. I am getting so excited for dresses w/ leggings, boots w/ knee high socks, pea coats and scarves...I have a huge collection. I am hoping to get some thrifting in and add to this seasons collection. Another big reason for my love of Fall is all the pumpkin-y foods and beverages there are to consume. Mmmm. I am dedicating this month, and probably some of November, to all things Fall-y and pumpkin-y. I am so happy I am adding -y to the ends of my words! My bff Maggie ( Blogs "a few of my favorite things" http://frauleinmaggie.blogspot.com/, read it, love it) recently gave me a recipe for pumpkin soup. I made it tonight and it is DELICIOUS!!! Thanks Mags! It's really simple and can be made vegan or non-vegan and modified in many ways.
Maggie's Pumpkin Soup:
1 16oz. Can Pumpkin (or 2 cups if you can only find 32oz cans). NOT pumkin pie filling, that would be gross, save that for the pumpkin cookies I will be writing about below...
2 Bell Peppers (I used one orange, one yellow) roasted, then pureed. I just googled roasting peppers, it's super easy. If you do not roast them just make sure to de-seed and cut out the white parts before blending.
1/2 Cup Cauliflour, steamed then pureed. Optional. You can used other steamed root veggies if you need to add more veggies to your diet or would like a heartier soup.
2 Cups Vegetable stock
Spices to suit- I used garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, chili powder, ground red pepper, ground ginger, Italian seasonings. Any spices to your liking will do (it's all about your preference). I just added a little at a time to taste until I was happy with it.

Blend it all up, heat and your ready to enjoy! I garnished mine with ground pepper and Tofutti sour cream, and served with toasted french bread. This soup is cheap, easy and I'm sure it's going to become a staple in my kitchen :)

I decided to get fancy with the sour cream and make a pumpkin. Stir up a dollup of sour cream until smooth. Then dip the "teeth" of the fork in the sour cream so that just the ends are coated and draw one side of the pumpkin, clean the fork, repeat on the other side and add a stem. It took me a few times to get it thats why it looks a little smudged.

 

Of course I needed something to wash all this wonderful soup down with. Good thing I planned ahead and bought some Blue Moon "Harvest Pumpkin Ale" the other day. Is there anything pumpkin can't do?

Since I was indulging myself in pumkpin goodness, I had to move on to dessert. I found a recipe for vegan pumpkin cookies last year and they were so good I had to bring them back. I followed the recipe exact and they turned out perfectly. That is amazing to me. You have to try them. I took them to my bf's friends Halloween party last year, and they were a big hit. Here is the wonderful recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6672.0. I added "cream cheeze" frosting to mine.
Vegan Cream Cheeze Frosting recipe:
1/4 Cup vegan butter (I use earth balance)
1/4 Cup Toffuti better than cream cheese
2 Cups powdered sugar
1 Teaspoon vanilla

Melt the butter and cream cheese in a bowl. I just use the microwave.
Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Keep stirring until smooth.
Rerfidgerate for at least 10 min before putting on cookies, if you can wait that long.
Easy as that!

My growing pile...it makes quite a few batches.

The final product. Topped with a few sprinkles of pumpkin pie spice. I somehow managed to only eat 2! I prefer to share my baked goods with my friends. I have a lot of things planned for this month and next. We'll see how far I get. I have all kinds of projects brewing. Refinishing an end table and breakfast table. Dia de los Muertos paintings. Possibly a hand made Halloween costume. Pumpkin carving. Sewing projects. And of course more pumpkin recipes.

Peace, love and veggies,

Kali

Let's get baked.

I have never really into baking, even as a vegetarian. Besides baking with my mom growing up, I guess I had never really gave it a try. I do not have a huge sweet tooth, but after becoming vegan I found myself missing desserts. Kind of the “you want what you can’t have” thing, or in my case “choose not to have”. And I found that most restaurants and gatherings that I’d go to really don’t offer any sweets for vegans. So I jumped on my computer for recipes and went to the cupboard to take an inventory of any baking ingredients that I had accumulated. I ended up having to go to the grocery store and stock up on some basic needs. I have been on a roller coaster ride with vegan baking this year. I have a slight rebellious side and don’t follow all recipes exact. With cooking you can mess around with other ingredients, but baking, especially vegan baking require a few staples. And that brings me to the dreaded (maybe only I dread this)…Egg Replacer. Turns out there are actually a few different egg relpacers that work for different kinds of baked goods. The best solutions I’ve found are on one of my fave vegan blogs, Post Punk Kitchen. (Here is the link to the egg replacer options: http://www.theppk.com/vegan-baking-the-post-punk-kitchen-shows-you-how). In my most recent baking experiment I used an egg replacer that was: 2 Teaspoons baking powder, 1 Tablespoon oil and 2 Tablespoons water.
I call these babies Chocolate Chip Biscuts (they were supposed to be regular cookies, haha)

The source of this recipe said it would be good for binding in cookies. They turned out huge and biscut like! I am not sure if it was from the egg replacer or the fact that I also added the baking powder that was in the cookie recipe that caused this Hulk like product. They were still good dipped in a big glass or almond milk. For future baking I am going to make sure to stock up on several other ingredients for egg replacers and decide which ones I feel turn out best. Stay tuned. I also recently had a baking experiment that worked out great! A non-vegan friend of mine was having a house warming party. She provided a hummus and pita dish as a vegan option for me (my friends seriously rock). I decided I wanted to bring a dessert that I would be able to enjoy as well as share with the party. I found a recipe for Chocolate Chai Cupcakes on vegweb. (Here is the link of the recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=26038.0) I made a few modifications to this recipe:
I used 3 chai tea bags
Added almond milk to make batter smoother
Added 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon (the chai tea flavor didn't really come out, other spices may be good too)
And I used my Mini Cupcake Maker!!! I love this thing :-)

The cupcakes were a big hit! I coated the tops with an amazing chocolate ganache. I found a simple recipe on Post Punk Kitchen. Here is the link: http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/vanilla-bean-cupcakes-with-chocolate-ganache/. They made my cupcakes look like doughnut holes and tasted great nice and chilled.

I look forward to more baking experiments. Fall is in the air here in Denver. Hands down my favorite season. I have been collecting lots of pumpkin recipes...I love all things pumpkin!
Peace, love and veggies,
Kali

The good, the bad and the awkward.

Hellooo, this is my first post of my first blog. I am not the most savvy at these kinds of things so bare with me. My goal for this blog is to share my vegan recipes, the good, the bad and the awkward. As well as cruetly-free products, design, up-thrifting/recycling projects, and crafting. I have been vegan for a little over a year now, vegetarian pretty much my whole life. I live on a simple budget, so I am learning how to cut corners without compromising my health and style, like many are too.  I have spent quite a while this year taking pictures and collecting vegan recipes. Some worked, some didn't. I've come to learn that it is all trial by error and more importantly that we all have completely different tastes. There are some recipes where you do not want to modify too much....but that is also where I have a lot fun. Her recipe may say "add onions", but I may add diced peppers instead. His recipe may say "add walnuts", I may add almonds. I cannot emphasis enough to just have fun and don't worry! You will not die from under cooked tofu or from eating raw vegan cookie dough. A challenge that I have been facing personally is high altitude baking. I had to train myself to remember that not everyone posting rad recipes live up here in Denver. So I have to modify to make it work. I had many flat cupcakes and breads in the beginning but I didn't let that bother me (my boyfriend always ate it all and said it was delicious).

Pictured above: My first vegan white cake...more like a vanilla brownie. Haha. The trick is to add 1/4 teaspoon more baking powder/baking soda...silly me.

My vision for this cake (maybe too big of a project for a first veg cake) was a Banana Split Layer Cake. The picture above looks crazy, but it was actually very delicious...smashed up in a bowl eaten with a spoon. I frosted the cake with chocolate frosting, layered with sliced bananas and strawberries, then layered the rest of the frosting and topped with chopped walnuts. I actually really love this picture. It is such a disaster, but also a reminder of the progress I've made this year.

So enough about my baking disaster. There is one dish that I have mastered (in my opinion) with help from my boyfriend...the vegan "Mac & "Cheese".  This dish has become a staple for us and many vegans these days. It's filling and super healthy. I found my first mac & "cheese" recipe online and made it exactly how they instructed. It was good, but definately had WAY too much vegetable oil and liquids. So we continued to read other recipes, putting together what we liked and adding ideas of our own, kind of like a food experiment. Finally we locked down our favorite version of this recipe. I would like to share it with you!
What you'll need:
1 Large casserole dish, or 2 loaf sized pans.
1 Large bowl/container for mixing the sauce.
Aluminum foil.
1 Box of pasta (any kind, we like shells)
1 Block tofu (firm or extra firm, you'll only use 3/4 of the block)
1 Cup Nutritional Yeast (This can be found in your local health food store in the bulk section, it's bright yellow, great cheese substitute. Ask an associate for help if you can't find it)
2 Teaspoons Oil (we use olive oil, but canola or veg work too)
1 Cup PLAIN vegan milk
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1 Teaspoon Mustard Powder (don't worry if you don't have any on hand, I've forgotten it before and it still tasted amazing)
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
Bread Crumbs (any vegan kind you can find, whole wheat or panko work great)

Step 1:
Boil pasta according to the directions on the box. While that is working, prepare the sauce.
Step 2:
Get our your large bowl/container for mixing. Take 3/4 of the block of tofu and crush it in the bowl, so it looks like ricotta cheese. Feel free to use a fork for crushing, I use my hands, it's fun. Add the nutritional yeast, oil, vegan milk, garlic powder, paprika, mustard powder and salt, all the ingredients except bread crumbs. Mix very well.
Step 3:
Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. When the pasta is ready, drain and put into casserole dish/pans. Pour the sauce over pasta and use a spoon to smooth it out evenly. Cover with foil and place in the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 min, take it out and layer the bread crumbs, as much or as little as you prefer. Bake uncovered for an additional 10 min. Everyone's ovens are different so your's may take longer, use your best judgement.
Step 4:
Let it cool for as long as you can take, dish up and enjoy! Sprinkle with veg parmesean, veg baco's or your favorite hot sauce if desired. Again, this is just how I like mine made, it is all about personal preference. Sometimes we add veg sour cream, chopped broccoli or use silken tofu. Check out other recipes and have yourself some fun :)

The final product plated up with a side of greens and fresh chopped artichoke hearts. Mmmm.

Here is a pan that we made and sprinkled with veg baco's and panko bread crumbs.
In addition to my own recipes and favorite vegan products I will also be sharing other blogs, books and tricks that really helped me transfer into a full vegan lifestyle. It did not happen over night, and slip ups happen. But I am lucky to have a lot of support from family and friends. Oddly enough you will find that a lot of people will be offended by your lifestyle choice. I just tell them it's what works for me, everyone is different. I have read in different books ways to deal with people like that and the questions people may ask you. I know I am doing the right thing for me and that is all that matters :)
Peace, love and veggies,

-Kali