dinner is good: cornmeal crusted baked tempeh February 4, 2010
Posted by getsconed in broccoli, dinner, portland, ppk, products, restaurants, roasted, tea, tempeh.6 comments
Leigh and Ann’s Homemade Creole Sauce from the Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti spooned over thyme-y, cornmeal crusted, baked tempeh strips. Roasted broccoli with fresh lemon, coarse sea salt and pepper. Steamed yam with sea salt.
I had been craving good ole tempeh. The tempeh strips were marinated overnight in tamari and the Creole sauce (so good! such a nice tangy flavor!), dipped into a water and cornstarch slurry, then pressed into fine cornmeal with thyme, garlic powder, sea salt, lots of freshly ground pepper, and crushed red pepper, and then baked at 375F for 20 minutes on one side, and then 15 minutes at 400F – for the crispin’. Served with roasted broccoli, steamed yam, and more Creole sauce.
In my head, and mouth, this meal was channeling the great The Lone Ranger plate at Chaos Cafe. Except without the quinoa and kale, since I didn’t have them on hand. Out of quinoa, I know – not even an extra bag of red hiding in my cabinets. What’s my life coming to?
In other news, I had no idea there was a tea store tucked behind SE 12th and Division. My life has changed. The intersection hosts the new Gorditos, a cute pet store, vegan-friendly Artemis Cafe, and The Beer Mongers (note to self – finally visit!)
Foxfire Teas: Passion Yerba Mate (drinking right now – lovely), Foxfire Herbal Chai and Charcoal Baked Dong Ding. All purchased by the ounce, loose leaf.
Tea makes everything better.
Photo Essay #703: BloLo Brunch & Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti February 2, 2010
Posted by getsconed in BloLo, Pretzel Necklace, Taqueria Los Gorditos, bake sale, brunch, charity, cookies, events, friends, italian, portland, restaurants, soy curls.10 comments
One of my favorite, least-cohesive type of updates.
Over the course of this past slammin’ weekend, I saw the Mayor at a brew pub, dined with friends at Taqueria Los Gorditos: The Restaurant, tried out a new karaoke spot, baked biscotti, finished The Comeback (delightful!), sipped a couple local microbrews on the engaging, Pretzel Necklace™ NW Portland Brewpub Crawl, baked more biscotti, baked even more biscotti, brunched at the new Blossoming Lotus, sold cookies at Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti, and had a super fantastic meeting with my friend Janessa for a secret big project we’ll be announcing later in the month. !!! I also found a bit of time to feed my cats and do one mere load of laundry, score!
Brunch at BloLo: Florentine Scramble Plate with Maple Seitan Sausage.
Brunch at BloLo: Sweet Pancake
Brunch at BloLo: Grits and Greens
Over all, one of the best and classiest vegan brunch experiences I’ve ever had. Hands down the best in Portland so far.
The excitement never ends about Taqueria Los Gorditos. It’s in my hood!
Fajita Soy Curl Burrito at Taqueria Los Gorditos
Would you believe this is my first actual burrito from Gorditos? You should believe it, because it’s true. I hear they make their own soyrizo now. I’m on a Soy Curl kick, myself.
Weekend Baking.
Biscotti: Savoury Italian with Sun-dried Tomato, Rosemary and Basil. Sprinkled with Coarse Sea Salt & Black Pepper.
Biscotti: Savoury Italian and Blueberry, Lemon & Basil
Blueberry, Lemon & Basil Biscotti
Rummy, Spiced Chocolate Chunk Biscotti
I have social anxiety over making pretty things for bake sales, so I went with something I knew, and that was meant to be over-baked!
Onto the Bake Sale!
Insane amount of donations, insane amount of love, insane amount of purchases! Isa’s idea was beautiful – last time I checked, the grand total for these nationwide, DIY vegan bake sales was over 32k! Portland topped 3k, alone!
For most of the day, there were 4 tables: $2, $3, $4, and COOKIE.
Some pretty scones and coconut cupcakes made their way to the cookie table.
Adorable Blackberry-Apple pie pops
Behind the scenes, what at one point was the drop-off table
Love
Love – Leigh and Ann’s Spicy Haitan Creole Sauce. So good!
I had some over tempeh last night! Talk of this is all the rage on facebook.
Eek! Woof!
Love. Cupcakes.
Pie!
Pretties.
Butterscotch Bundt !!
Convenient Cookies!
A brief moment the cookie table wasn’t jam-packed.
Vegans rule.
Yellow Curry & Butternut Squash Hummus (or Sweet Potato) January 29, 2010
Posted by getsconed in appetizers, awesome, beans, chickpeas, curry, events, gluten free, hummus, party, recipes, sweet potato.6 comments
Imagine if President Obama were vegan! He would look like this….
Political Hummus Creation and Image Credit: Sabra Hummus and Kirk Rademaker
Actually, I simply don’t have an accompanying photo for this recipe, and I googled “hummus monster” and the hummus John McCain turned up, and I went from there.
Onto the dip!
I first made this Yellow Curry & Squash Hummus on a whim for a I LOVE 2002! party last month. I was already making Smoked Paprika Hummus from The Urban Vegan, had more chickpeas, and beans dips are easy, inexpensive party food. You can go classic, or you can go creative. My brain went…..remember a week or two ago when you made Yellow Curry Squash soup? Let’s work with those flavors and add chickpeas! You’re out of tahini anyway so use you have to use peanut butter. And it happened.
I decided to make it again and play with the recipe for the refreshments table at my presentation on Local & Vegan Eating at the library recently because a) it’s fairly creative b) party food for a crowd! and c) hummus is SO vegan. I easily subbed mashed sweet potato for the squash on round #2, since I had it on hand.
Yellow Curry & Butternut Squash (or Sweet Potato) Hummus
(aka what would happen if you pureed yellow curry with chickpeas)
Serves: Many!
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of rinsed chickpeas (canned or cooked)
- 1/2 peanut butter OR 1/4 cup tahini + 1/4 cup peanuts
- 1.5 cups roasted sweet squash (or sweet potato – roasted or canned)
- 2 heaping teaspoons yellow curry paste (I use local Thai & True brand, also available from Food Fight! online)
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tablespoon – 1 tablespoon ginger (if you like more, use more)
- 1-2 teaspoons of Sambal Oelek or other heat source (crushed red pepper, hot sauce, etc.)
- 1/4 water or coconut milk
- 1/4 cup tamari (you can obviously sub soy sauce, but this keeps it gluten free)
- 3 tablespoons peanut oil
- juice of one lemon
- 1 teaspoon agave or brown sugar
- pinch of dried basil, or a few leaves of fresh basil
- optional: 2 tablespoons flaked coconut (especially if you’re not using the coconut milk)
- generous pinch of freshly ground pepper
- dash paprika
- Dipping instruments, such as pita bread, tortilla chips or crudites
Directions:
- Puree oil, chickpeas, peanut butter or tahini and peanuts, and garlic in a food processor or blender, until smooth. Use a spatula to wipe down the sides a couple times.
- Add everything else, blend well!
- Transfer to serving bowl and garnish.
Garnish: Toasted sesame seeds, diced fresh basil
Garnish, if you’re not me: sliced green onions, cilantro
Remnants:
And one more thing - Crossant with chocolate chips from Back to Eden Bakery & Boutique =
Out of this World, Vegan Awesome.
Product Review: Higher Taste Buzzitos and Hummus January 27, 2010
Posted by getsconed in Adventures with Daiya, Buzzitos, Veganshizzle, burritos, fake cheese, portland, products.7 comments
ATTACK OF THE BUZZITOS.
This past fall, The Higher Taste worked 2 Vegan IT products into their line of Buzzitos: Soy Curls and Daiya Cheese. Way to be on top of the vegan community, really!
Not too long ago, the Veganshizz and I met at the Vegan Mini Mall and had a grand time, squealing as we dispersed an abundant amount of samples from Portland-based The Higher Taste Ltd. The company makes really popular, wholesome, vegetarian convenience foods. Nearly their entire line is vegan, with the exception of the Bean & Cheese Buzzito (correct me if I’m wrong).
Their products include sandwiches, Buzzitos burritos, hummus and gourmet salads – some of the latter can be found in the new green Hawthorne Fred Meyer deli, by the pound. Both sandwiches and Buzzitos are found in convenience stores, grocery stores, Food Fight! New Seasons, coffee shops (including K&F Coffee), and more.
Now, I’m not a frequent purchaser of packaged, vegan convenience items these days. However, I was once a college student and running around with a wrap, burrito or falafel sandwich was a way of life, and some were…gasp! packaged! With that, some were definitely better than others- and Buzzitos belong in that category.
I took home my Buzzitos and Hummus from that fateful day the vegan mini mall and will be talking about my three favorites today – Karla will soon discuss the rest!
The Buzzitos.
Ya-Hoo! Bar-B-Q
Ya-hoo! BBQ Buzzito: This new Buzzito features Oregon-produced Soy Curls, chewy in sweet BBQ sauce, with chopped small pepper pieces, mild onions, and brown rice. This was the first one I tried, briefly microwaving it, and then cooking in a toaster oven, as per Karla’s tips.
Hands down, this was my favorite Buzzito. It was the easiest to eat, the best tastiest combination, I dig Soy Curls, and I have a soft spot for new-traditional BBQ burritos.
P.S. Soy Curls are also in the new Fiesta Buzzito!
Vegan Surpreme, wearing its sombrero
Vegan Supreme: This flavor was already popular, and then got blessed with the addition of phenomenally melty Daiya cheese. Perhaps if you’re come to my site before, you know that I’m not a big Daiya fan.
I went into this burrito open-minded, and I appreciate the warming melt it offers. I ended up picking around the majority of the Daiya in it and breaking out my fork, due to personal preference, but I was stoked that I still found it satisfying. I’m sure the remaining Daiya-tolerant, 95% of the vegan cheese eating population would dig this burrito!
Famous Sicilian
Famous Sicilian: I have deep Sicilian roots and I would have been very upset if I hadn’t liked this burrito – but I did! Selfishly, I would have dug a wee bit more of an olive & tomato presence, but I was really into the flavorful bites of hearty vegan sausage (not sure if it’s homemade), beans, rice and green pepper.
Overall take on Buzzitos:
A versatile line of satisfying, cost-effective vegan friendly burritos packing more flavor than you’d expect!
I dig that they’re locally produced, using special vegan products, aware of vegan trends, and made with fresh ingredients.
They won’t become a regular addition to my shopping trips, but I won’t forget the Ya-hoo! Bar-B-Q as a special, on-the-go purchase or emergency lunch. Karla’s tips were key – the just so slightly crisped tortilla and heated filling works for me.
There was this moment of calm happiness the day I thought I forgot my lunch at work, and remembered the extra Buzzito in the fridge!
About Hummus.
Higher Taste Hummus – As soon as I tried their hummus, I instantly placed it as the hummus the Basement Pub serves. If not, it’s ridiculously similar. That being said, it’s incredibly creamy, but on the bland side. This is nice in a comforting way, especially if you’re not into a lot of garlic in your hummus – which I’m sure some folks appreciate – even if they may not admit it in public!
And once again – it’s great to see locally produced hummus, and I’d be down to try new varieties if they come out.
Buzzitos in Action:
Ya-hoo!
Vegan Supreme, Inside Shot
If you have a favorite Buzzito, please share! There seemed to be a tie between the new Ya-hoo and Vegan Supreme when I inquired via the vegan social internet machine.
This has been a Get Sconed! Product Review.
The company, The Higher Taste LTD., provided the complimentary products for review.
P.S. I shared some with friends!
Update: There are actually 2 vegetarian buzzitos, to clarify.
Cold salads are also available at Zupan’s, both Food Front locations and Ross Island Deli in the Portland area.
