My apologies if you’ve seen these on the facebook already, but now they’re all in one place! I promise, I won’t ask you to click back and forth on the same link for minutes of your day. This isn’t that type of place, nor do I really know what that means.

In no particular order, here’s the month in creations, including a bunch of brunch, Vegan Diner fun and a prominent obsession with chanterelles. I realized I had a problem when I was buying them from farmers markets not once, but twice a week, and now there’s a suspicious van parked outside my apartment. Just waiting.

Chanterelle omelet with steamed kale, Cajun roasted fingerlings, fresh thyme, roasted garlic boursin-style spread and seitan sausage.  Recipes sourced from Vegan Brunch, Vegan Diner and World Vegan Feast.

Smoked tofu & cherry tomato benedict with hollandaise, balsamic creminis, steamed kale & baguette. My applewood chips are up next, and on my gosh.

Olive oil & sliced garlic base with baby spinach, roasted red peppers, sliced heirloom tomato, shredded Cheezly & chanterelles sautéed in red wine. Cheezly, I miss you so.

Spicy Ethiopian-style Chickpea Stew, white rice, roasted peanuts. Based on this Whole Foods Kitchen recipe.

With quite a few of these…

Spaghetti with fire roasted marinara, nutritional yeast, grilled pilsner tofu, roasted eggplant, zucchini, garlic & basil. 

This marks the last photo this plate will ever star in. Ker-plunk.

One week, I had a loaf of Dave’s Killer Bread in my house, so I re-learned the art and convenience of sandwiching making.

Additional Pilsner grilled tofu, sliced tomato, green leaf lettuce, Vegenaise, hot sauce and a side of roasted fingerlings with coarse salt.

Baked “fried” green tomatoes and roasted red pepper aioli from the Sunny Days for Texas cookzine.

Pumpkin chocolate chip pancake, seitan & greens, apple ginger juice.

Sun-dried Tomato Chickpea Spread, ExtraVeganZa. My BFF sent me this book for my birthday and I am just as ecstatic about the number of fancy mushroom recipes as I’m sure she was.

Muhammara. Recipe from Epicurious.  I may have bought an incredible number of end-of-season red bell peppers and carried the bag home over my shoulder.

An almost classy, bastardization, dedicated to my girl, Vegan Moxie: Salted Caramel Mocha. I used this DIY method for french press-style espresso (I know), my wee IKEA frother, and this recipe for vegan caramel using Sucanat, with the generous addition of sea salt. 

Next up, the backlog of out-and-about dining, including some of Portland’s latest vegan brunch delights, and a countdown to my upcoming month abroad in Thailand – and beyond.

Vegan Brunch tofu omelette filled with seared asparagus, red bell peppers and crumbled, smoked potato cheese. Served with curry roasted potatoes and field greens with lemon.

I started to write a couple of corny ‘Fakin’ It’ style post titles above and had to stop myself.

If I was attempting to melt less-than-favorable vegan cheese slices on said tofu omelette, that would be sadly, faking it.

If I was upping the turmeric factor to the level of neon overload, that would be faking it – and pretty damn trippy.

However, I’m not, and don’t think the recipe is going for that, either. It’s a matter of creative emulation. The vegan omelette above is not desperate vegan rip off or a faux omelette or fake omelette or whatnot.

It’s a new original. [Recipe from Vegan Brunch]

One of the reasons I’m involved with Portland’s Vegan Iron Chef organization is because I truly believe – and have seen – flavorful, artisan, vegan cuisine.

This deep thoughts brunch-for-dinner contained no artificial ingredients, and with the exception of locally produced silken tofu and a bulk-purchased curry powder blend, was made from scratch. I certainly think it’s legitimate to call this vegan tofu omelette an omelette, and with the assistance of black salt and a nice pinch of that turmeric, it not only looks and somewhat tastes crazy reminiscent of the real thing, it was cooked on my large omelette/crepe pan.

Signed,

a lady who had BBQ tofuffalo for dinner this week,

jess

Test run #1: smoked potato cheese

Truth: Every time I attempt vegan omelettes, I have a varying success rate of 25% – 50%. Go, go patience.

Breaking in the new cast iron skillet on a holiday morning. I am so happy to have an omelette, pancake & crepe friendly pans again!

Here are the fruits of my recent culinary labor:

Mushroom Sherry Pate from The Urban Vegan, take 2.

This time, I added almonds,roasted shallots, maitake mushrooms in addition to cremini, & added a couple of spices.

Cherry Whiskey Cookies

I brought these cookies & the pate to the recent Vegan Convergence 2.19. I spent the first half of the gathering selling ice cream (or orchestrating a Purely Decadent body shot photo shoot with Michele, same thing). These cookies are the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, substituting a small amount of the non-dairy milk for Cherry Whiskey.

Cabbage Patch tofu scramble

Aptly named, as the cabbage was hand-picked on previous berry picking adventures. This scramble has cabbage, sugar snap peas, carrots, kalamata olives and garlic scapes.

Pesto Tahini tofu, marinating.

I’ve made this before to top salads and been thrilled, but this batch was a little lackluster  since I was trying to cut down on the ingredients and salt-factor for a potluck. This version had homemade almond pesto, tahini, water, white wine and coconut aminos.

Pesto Tahini Baked Tofu, garnished with fresh basil and cherry tomatoes

Baked Jerked Seitan, marinating.

Both jerk sauce and seitan recipes are from The Urban Vegan. Hot stuff!

Seitan Lite & Greens

The seitan lite recipe is from another fun cookbook I’ve been enjoying  - American Vegan Kitchen.

Jelly Donut Cupcakes

from the holy Veganomicon.  shockingly, my first time making them. I made both the cupcakes and seitan for an initials potluck last week. The JS for my behind the scenes name, and the JD for my really, really behind the scenes name. Identity crisis, commence.

Cashew Miso Mayo

A test recipe for Isa’s upcoming Appetite for Reduction book.

In Conclusion, Part I: fresh, local raspberries are swell.

In Conclusion, Part II: My friend Jeff  with his birthday Triple Vegan Bacon Cheeseburger from the super nice & delicious D.C. Vegetarian cart.

Jeff told me all he wanted for his birthday was a photo of him, at Tube, eating this custom birthday burger, displayed on the internet.

Happy Birthday, Jeff! Somehow, he made it through.

There is no denying that Portland is a vegan mecca. People seem to travel from around the world to sample deep fried vegan corn dogs, soft serve from Blossoming Lotus and biscuits and gravy from Vita or Paradox, among hundreds of other delicious ideas that immediately popped into your head. Well, here’s another crown you can bestow upon this city – Tofu Scramble Capital of the USA.

The Stumptown Vegans have joked about how we could spend a month eating nothing but tofu scrambles for future reviews, and have projects and podcasts up our sleeves, on top of recently being interviewed about all things tofu scramble, vegan breakfast and more on Breakfast in Bridgetown. The past few years have seen an expansion in tofu scrambles across this city, overall shifts from cubes to scrambles and a decrease in the many menus that used to say ‘sub tofu/pay more’. Why, I remember when I first talked my way into a ‘subbed’ tofu scramble with smoked tomatoes at Genie’s…

So!

I decided it would be, well, fun, to see just how many tofu scrambles are available at different restaurants in Portland. I started making a list and couldn’t stop, and that became a table, which I’m calling a census.

Portland is home to excellent local tofu and some of the best produce in the country, and really, it’s an easy, cholesterol-free dish for any restaurant to offer during breakfast & brunch.  But who’s got your favorite? Who cooks that tofu just right and has the best sides?

The Great Portland Tofu Scramble Census.

*If you see something missing, retired or worth mentioning in this directory, please say so! There are places I haven’t managed to order a scramble yet, or I’ve blocked out of my mind.

Italics = my favorite places for scramble.

Onto some tofu scramble examples:

Superhero Scramble from Junior’s.

One of my favorite plates of food in this city (or their Vegan Potatoes + Tofu = Whoa, Yes).

Curry Scramble from Jam - on a ‘big pieces’ day!

Portland Scramble from Hungry Tiger Too. This one wears their cheesy sauce.

Greek Scramble from Hungry Tiger Too.

My go-to order here. Because I really love kalamata olives and garlic in my scramble.

Vegan Scramble from Jam Cafe & Arthouse on Hawthorne. Adore their jams and hash browns.

Check out the Everyday Dish cooking video to learn the spice mix!

Tofu Scramble Taco from Tube bar

Cricket Cafe Make-Your-Own Tofu Scramble.

Tons of black pepper – this was gigantic, but I’ve heard a friend mention theirs was tiny.

Genie’s (Subbed) Tofu Scramble – go for the smoked tomatoes! They have great roasted potatoes and an amazing cocktail menu.

P.S. I have to give my friend Bazu credit for the origin of this idea, with her post on The Great Tofu Scramble Debate. Personally, I go all three ways – scrambled mush, cubed, and the in-between.  Oh, and don’t forget about baked scrambles! Not such a fan.

P.P.S. You probably make the best scramble in town.

Emily watches the dramatic first squeezes…

Where you can make your own pancakes at your own table on a hot grill.

Where their vegan batter is multigrain and remarkably light.

Where the lights are bright, service is prompt and novelty abounds.

Where I felt like I was in Seattle, style wise.

Where the chocolate chips were not vegan.

Where I’d go again, but my impatience and previous squeeze bottle batter experience would give way to ordering my own pancakes and passing on novelty, but cheering my friends with their cute and crude pancake shapes.

Where I was a tourist in my own city, and left with a smile on my face.

Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze – Chelsea worked it!

Side of potatoes

My attempt at a cat

I think Liz was making a TV here…

The adorable addition of bananas = yes, please.

That’s all for now..no finished pancakes because again, my camera busted and my tears mixed in with the maple syrup on my plate (and then the strawberry balsamic…and then the blueberry).

Look for a review on Stumptown Vegans in the future! Webly is the real pancake pro!  I want to try their tofu scramble options next, I’m all about savoury for breakfast/brunch…