I made this gorgeous Red Velvet Cake for the True Blood premier on Sunday. The recipe is from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s The Vegan Table. Really easy recipe and the cake is (er, well, was) super moist and yummy. Seriously, though, I turned into one of Bill Cosby’s children by insisting that cake is OK for breakfast…I mean, it’s got wheat and milk (unsweetened vanilla hemp in this case) and is part of this nutritious breakfast.

And as a healthy balance to my cake for breakfast, here’s the bounty from my first CSA share. The tomatoes were from the greenhouse. I cooked the GIANT bunch of kale, and it went into things like scrambles and soups. I’m still not sure what the heck I’m going to do with all the bok choy. The purslane was nice in a salad.

I read a lot of books about food. I’m rereading Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver to get inspiration for eating local. The farmer’s market is open and my CSA shares start tomorrow. I’ve always got plenty of staples in the pantry, so I’m going to try to not eat take out as much and start making more of my meals from fresh local ingredients. In case you’re not familiar with Barbara Kingsolver click the link to see her books. She’s an wonderful novelist who loves to share her opinions and has a writing style that I find refreshingly readable. Animal Vegetable Miracle follows her family for a year in their effort to “live off the land” in West Virginia. Just be warned, this is not a vegan book, though she is vegetarian friendly, the family raises chickens and turkeys for eggs and food. They do have a whole vegetarian Thanksgiving. The book is mostly about the vegetables and I really enjoy it.

Back to actual vegan topics…Stay Vegan is taking a poll on how long you’ve been vegan. Check them out to vote.

River is taking a break from her hiatus to give away a super gizmo* (that won’t spawn if you get it wet or turn into a gremlin if you feed it after midnight.) Post a comment on her website for a chance to win (or just to say hi, whatever.)

The Healthy Chef is a steamer, dehydrator, yogurt maker and rice cooker (yes, rice cookers are awesome, Ginger.)

*For all you non children of the 80’s this is gizmo…who was purchased from the Wing family…hhhmmm.

Oh, the joys of being able to order anything (and everything!) on the menu. I wasn’t even planning this, but we went for drinks with friends and when the talk came to dinner, my friend suggested we walk over to Blossom.

Now, it was dark and candle lit inside, but I just had to snap a photo of everything. I had to use the stupid flash, so I just took one shot for each dish and I’m going to post them all anyway. I had a few bites of some dishes before I remembered to take the photos. My friends were really good sports about me sticking my camera (and my fork) in their food.
Black-eyed Pea Cake – Crispy cake of yukon gold potatoes and black eyed peas, served with chipotle aioli.
Cape Cod Cakes – A blend of hiziki seaweed, tofu, potato, herbs and spices, served with a vegan tartar sauce.

Caesar Salad ~ Romaine lettuce & herbed croutons tossed in a creamy Caesar dressing, topped with herbed gomashio.

Port Wine Seitan ~ Seitan cutlets pan-seared in a sauce of port wine and mushrooms, accompanied by creamy mashed potatoes, tempura onion and sautéed garlic spinach.

Ravioli with Cashew Cream ~ Spinach, mushroom, and pine nut filling.

Baby Spinach Risotto ~ Shiitake & portobello mushrooms, caramelized pearl onions, and shiitake-crusted tofu, braised in a vibrant lemon confit.

Seitan Skewers ~ Flame-grilled skewers basted with a rich hickory sauce, accompanied by jicama slaw.

Chocolate Ganache

Coconut Lavender Creme Brule

Every dish was fantastic, and the port wine seitan was absolutely out of this world. The photos don’t do any of the dishes justice, so if you’re in New York City, definitely check out Blossom. I will be back again soon.

Tracy at Strawberry Hedgehog sent me a lovely bar of Rosewood Orange soap. It smells fantastic and is a little reminiscent of Fruit Loops. This finally prompted me to remember to join her soap club where you get one (or three!) different soaps each month.

She was also on Good Morning Arizona recently and you can check out the video of Tracy making soap on the show.

There aren’t always vegan restaurants when you need them, but I’ve got a few fave “normal” New York take out options for when I’m hungry and in a hurry. In Grand Central Terminal and other locations, you can get a slice of vegan pizza with no more wait than a normal slice. Two Boots has not just one, but TWO vegan pizzas available by the slice. I’ve posted the Earth Mother before. My new favorite is the Mrs. Peel’s vegan and it’s a perfect snack before my train ride home. It’s a thin crust with roasted garlic; red, green and yellow peppers; artichokes; sauce, fresh basil, and it’s topped with breadcrumbs. This is slice perfection and you’ll never miss the cheese.

Downtown in the Wall Street area, I’ve got 2 new vegan choices. There’s Pump and Switch. I know that sounds like a porno, but it’s the names of 2 new take out joints. Pump emphasizes health food and is set up like Chipotle with an assembly line of burrito, salad, rice bowl options. The best thing is that Pump has baked tofu and vegetarian chili.

New kid on the block Switch has pressed sandwiches and lots of vegan side items, like Israeli cous cous, grape tomato salad with basil, and killer homemade regular and sweet potato chips. The vegan sammich option is the Casablanca which is a pressed sammy with chickpeas, roasted red peppers, watercress, and a garlicky eggplant spread. I’ve eaten this about 3 times this week! Each sandwich comes with a little side of lime-mint edamame.

Yup, I was there. Held up the signing line for a photo op…I couldn’t pick just one, so the winners of the personalized signed copies of Vegan Brunch are Amanda, Tracy, and Vic. If you’re not too jealous, check out the links to their sites.

And I thought it was fitting that there was a Peta ad on the M-15 bus on the way there, so I snapped a quick photo of that, too.

I’m headed over to Moo Shoes tonight to celebrate the release of Vegan Brunch. Send me a comment* to win a copy signed by Isa!

You don’t get much greener than a local farmer’s market. Mine opened for the season today and I made a super locavore breakfast out of the bounty.

Scramble-Tofu mixed with black salt, turmeric, and lemon juice; mustard greens; beet greens; garlic; asparagus tips, sage, chives.

I also realized you can EAT the chive flowers, so I topped the scramble with them. Nice light oniony flavor and oh, so pretty.

It’s no Hitori Hanzo sword, but I have Japanese steel! You know the part in the Veganomicon where Isa and Terry tell you to consider dropping a benjamin on a good knife? You should listen. My brother showed up on vacation with his Top Chef style knife kit and well, I got a little jealous. So the ninja (who sanctions all household weaponry) got me a new knife set. Let me tell you this baby slices through a potato like it was buttah (or Earth Balance, whatever.)

On to this evenings creation. It’s potato, mushroom, and red swiss chard layered and topped with sauteed leeks. I used a 4 inch springform pan for the mold.