I couldn’t resist the vegan chocolate chip cookie!

 You got cookie?  So Share it Maybe!

Dude, it’s salt & vinegar chips, but on kale!  This super snack is local, raw, and vegan.  New York Naturals rocks.  They use the whole leaf, so there are some stems, but they seem to stay whole better than other kale chips I’ve found.  You don’t end up with a huge pile of crumbs at the end.

I was having trouble coming up with a MoFo theme this year, but was trying to come up with something to do with entertainment. I was flipping through the channels and found the Weird Al Yankovic episode of Behind the Music.

Weird Al has been vegetarian and mostly vegan since 1992. So to start off vegan mofo 2012, here’s a link to Weird Al going to be a jedi.  Cheers!

Also check out Vegan Sci Fi  who pretty much has the vegan entertainment idea all the time.

BBQ Gardein chicken & Daiya cheddar burritos

This one isn’t going to win me any cooking contests, but might win over an omni to try something vegan.

The red velvet is beet juice, cocoa powder, crispy rice, rice milk, and coconut water.  It’s unbaked, but definitely has a nice cakey texture.  The mango coconut layer is fresh mango, dried unsweetened coconut, and coconut milk.  They layers held up pretty well when digging into it.    

Vegan Red Velvet Coconut Mango Parfait

Red Velvet
Bunch of beets with greens (about 2 beets)
1 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup Crisp Rice Cereal
1/4 cup Rice Milk
1/4 cup Coconut Water

Coconut Mango
2 fresh mangoes peeled, pit removed, and chopped into bits
1/4 cup dried coconut
1/2 cup regular coconut milk
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Juice the beets & greens.  Blend together beet juice with cocoa powder, cereal, rice milk and, coconut water. Adjust ratios as needed to get a cake batter like consistency.  The beets will stain, so don’t make this in your party clothes.

In a medium bowl mix together the mangos, coconut, coconut milk, and powdered sugar with an electric mixer and try to get it as fluffy as possibly.  Depending on how sweet the mango you have is, you can add more sugar if you want a sweeter “frosting”.

Layer red velvet then coconut mango in a parfait or pretty glass so there are at least 2 layers of each starting with the red velvet and ending with the coconut mango.  Garnish with a sprinkling of coconut and a slice of fresh mango.  Serve & Enjoy!

Squash blossoms from the CSA this morning.  I usually just lightly saute them in a little olive oil, but this time, I decided to go all out and stuff & fry them.  

Not entirely sure what to actually stuff them with, but I had some chickpeas already cooked and figured I was going with a ricotta type consistency.  The tofu never made it out of the package, but pretty much everything else went into the filling.  I made way too much, so I won’t even give a recipe.

There’s potato, cauliflower, chickpeas, cashews, pine nuts, tahini and every French type herb (thyme, basil, etc.) on the spice rack.  I probably wouldn’t add the tahini in the future, because I can definitely taste it in there.  I might use some miso, though.

Stuffing these buggers was challenging.  I followed a non-vegan internet instructions to blanch then ice water bath, which was a BAD idea.  My blossoms were pretty small, so this made them kind of get too stuck together.  For more mature blossoms, this may have worked, but I just opened the rest by hand which worked just fine.

A trick is not to overstuff them.  Just a bit in the bottom, then fold over the flowers.  Keep in the fridge until ready to cook.

The batter was a flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and sparkling water concoction.  Again, measuring wasn’t a major factor.  Light pancake batter consistency.  

Dust with flour, then dip in the batter, fry in cast iron about a minute a side.

Here’s the final product.  The photo does not do it justice.  These were light and tasty and the filling was almost melty despite containing nothing cheesy.

Depeche Mode isn’t able to join me for dinner, but let’s have a Black Celebration anyway.  Multi-tasking is the key to getting this completed in about the time it takes to listen to this classic 80’s album.

The lovely and amazing Isa posted a Chopped challenge and I couldn’t resist the throw down.

The Challenge:  Make a vegan entree using Blackberries, Fresh Mint, canned Black-Eyed Peas, and Bittersweet Chocolate

I thought this up at work on Friday, and I am shocked and amazed at how delicious and interesting this turned out.  I’ll try not to hurt myself patting myself on the back.  I was seriously worried about the chocolate pasta.  I’m delighted with the results.

Black Celebration pasta garnished with challenge ingredients:  Blackberries, black-eyed peas, mint chiffonade, and chocolate shavings.

Trio of components with authentic splatter



Simmering Blackberry Marinara



Marinara sauce:  Heat olive oil in saucepan.  Chop garlic and onion and add to pot to saute.  Chop herbes and add to pot.  Squish up tomatoes (reserve juice) and add to pot.  Blend blackberries with juice from tomatoes and add to pot.  Let simmer until ready to serve.  I didn’t need to add any salt.

Frying Black-eyed Pea balls

Black-Eyed Pea balls:  Heat vegetable oil in cast iron fry pan.  Blend black-eyed peas, olive oil, salt, water, fresh herbs, and dried herbs.  In medium bowl, mix together wheat gluten and breadcrumbs.  Add black-eyed pea mixture and mix together with your hands to form dough.  Knead a little.  Break into just smaller than golfball sized pieces and shape into a ball. Fry until golden brown.   Tip: If you slightly flatten 6 sides to kind of make a square with them, they’ll be easier to get brown on all sides.  

Linguini part 2.  Break off a small ball and roll as flat as possible, then slice into ribbons.



This would have worked much better with a pasta maker, but I wanted to make sure this worked if you didn’t have one.  Cook in boiling salted water for about a minute or 2.  



The cooked linguini which now actually kind of looks like sea creature tentacles!



The pasta was definitely chocolatey on its own with a slight bitter edge.  Paired with the rest of the ingredients, though, I’m not sure you could tell that it was chocolate if you didn’t know.  Kind of like mole sauce.

The mint is more subtle and blends well with the other fresh herbs.  You get an occasional distinct minty bite from the garnish and it’s not weird.



Black Linguini ready to cook



Awesome Chopped Challenge.  Can’t wait to see what everyone makes.

I made the rest of the pasta and shared with my neighbor who I “forced” to judge.



Yay, she loved it!  Definitely digging the bean balls.  Seriously, she wanted to lick the bowl.  What better compliment is there?









Declan the cat also looked quite envious.

Mmmm mushrooms.  There’s a fancy mushroom stand at this year’s farmer’s market.  Yeah, the exotic ‘shrooms are a little pricey, but well worth it.  I picked up some Japanese Maitake Mushrooms or “hen of the woods” and was a very happy shopper.