Decoupage and Demitasse

The Northampton Hipster Art Walk

2008-05-31T08:52:00.002-04:00

Last night I partook in an art walk run by friends of friends in my neighborhood. I wish I'd taken pictures to report on the food in the last house we went to, but I didn't feel it fully appropriate as it was someone else's house and food. However, because it was truly 'art food' I wanted to at least blog about it.

My roomie and I walked into this house, aptly named 'The Pop Culture museum' dressed up with an array of twisty-style desk lamps atop a table in the living room, piled with every board game you could imagine against a wall, lots of toys, and every nintendo game you could ever want. We further walked into the kitchen where an array of what I can call only 'art food' lay for us. I didn't eat everything, but quickly became enamored with what I did eat, the most amazing, lovely, surprising house-party food ever. There were your obligatory tortilla chips and chunked artisinal bread, as well as a corn and bean salsa, but also much much more. As more food and beer appeared on the table, we were offered the following:

Chocolate cake flavored with something I couldn't name, at first I thought rose or lavender, but later found from the cook, my new buddy E., that it was Basil! It gave the cake a fresh and herbal flavor which almost was reminiscent of very good, fresh dark chocolate, and gave the rich cake a clean finish.

Chipotle and (I think) roasted pepper dip, smoky and rich and amazing.

Parmesan 'chips' (Parmigano baked into cracker like form) with chopped Preserved Lemons (a traditional Moroccan condiment) that our chef had hand made. There was also a mellow green to garnish it with, maybe spinach or lettuce? But it tempered the lemon and gave the DIY canape a leafy crunch.

The most amazing and strange thing on the table was a cumin flavored caramel. Most people dipped bread in it, our hosts suggested dipping your fingers, and I decided to dip the shaved Parmigano Reggiano into it. It was sweet and almost musty in a good way, and had flavor reminiscent of some sort of dish that would be served at a ancient Middle Eastern or Aztec royal feast.

There were also sugared sliced almonds that looked like they were candied with Demetra sugar, and next to them, 'cookies' made out of them with a balsamic reduction drizzle. The balsamic's tart/sweetness hit first, then the crunch and the sweetness of the sugar, and then the tasty, toasty nut finish.

Lastly, a bruchetta, moist with caramelized onions and green olives, a dish of roasted garlic, and much more which I didn't get to try. I found the lady who cooked all of it, quickly made her acquaintance, and told her to get on the food blog train (She'd been thinking of starting a blog anyhow). I hope we have her as a new reader and writer!

The table had also directions on what to try with what, and which food was Vegan or not Vegan. Highly appreciated. Amazing creative food with unexpected flavors yet attainable ones, as everyone was at least trying and at most devouring everything.

Thanks to our hosts and E. for an amazing food and art experience!

Note: I may be speculating on some of the ingredients, but I used my best guesses and the info I got from the chef and people around.

Creamy Vegetable and 'Burger' Stroganoff

2008-05-30T12:49:00.007-04:00

This is a pretty great recipe I found in a book that I've had for a bunch of years and finally took a peek into a couple of months ago. It's really more of a wintery comfort recipe, and as I'm fully aware it's now Spring/Summer depending on where you are, I still suggest it highly. The Book is 1001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes by Sue Spitler. I altered it a little, as always, and you can too, to taste. This recipe is especially close to my heart, as I used to eat full meat stroganoff growing up.

Creamy Vegetable and 'Burger' Stroganoff

Ingredients:

Vegetable Cooking Spray (*You'll note that most of my suggestions here add fat, but also add flavor. Please use olive oil).
2 medium Onions, thinly sliced (*Vidalias are best)
12 ounces mixed wild mushrooms (*I used baby bellas and frozen shittake)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry red wine or canned vegetable stock (I used reconsituted vegan boullion)
12 ounces broccoli florets and sliced stalks
1 package (9 ounces) frozen vegetable 'burgers' thawed and crumbled (*I chose to use well rinsed and chopped seitan)
1 cup fat free half and half (*Abomination! Use regular half and half or milk)
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dijon mustard (*I suggest Annie's organic dijon)
1 cup fat-free sour cream (*I used some full fat regular sour cream, and some 'Better than sour cream' vegan sour cream)
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed (*Fresh dill is nice, too).
Salt and white pepper to taste (*Hungarian paprika makes this dish genuine and lovely, use for seasoning but also for garnish).
16 ounce noodles, cooked, warm. (*Use whatever you like, but traditionally flat egg noodles are used).

Your main characters

How-To:

1.) Spray large skillet with cooking spray (*Ahem, coat with olive oil) heat over medium heat until hot. Saute Onions, mushrooms and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes. Add wine (or stock) broccoli, and patties (seitan, in this case). Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until broccoli is tender, 8-10 minutes.

Seitan in action. Impersonating beef at every turn.

2.) Mix in half-and-half, flour and mustard, stir into vegetables. Heat to boiling. Boil, stirring constantly until thickened. Reduce heat to low, stir in sour cream and dill and cook 1-2 more minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over noodles.

Done! An easy but extremly hearty one. Feel free to alter with whatever other vegetables, spices and meat subsitutes that you wish!

Like a dream come true. Kind of.

Original Recipe! (sort of) : Cuban Fried Rice

2008-05-30T12:15:00.008-04:00

I'm sort of cheating here, because I blogged this recipe a few years ago in my livejournal. I'll re-'print' the original post here with notes and pictures, as i've updated it quite a bit since it's conception. This is a household favorite, a fun and fairly quick lunch, dinner, or side dish, and can be made vegan or vegetarian.

What makes this dish 'Cuban' is it's Caribbean feel, the combo of spicy, sweet and sour, and the fact that Cuban food is tasty? And it's tasty? Oh just let me have my clever names...

Cuban Fried Rice!

I read a recipe in "Jane" mag a while back, and I kept thinking about it, as we kept not eating our bananas. This is way tasty and with the added elements (I altered it a little) and a good full lunch.

(*I am the queen of redundancy!)

Ingredients:
1 medium sweet potato
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups cooked rice, room temp. (I used jasmine, but use what you like). (*I used Minute rice but use what you like. Heh. Leftover Chinese food white or brown rice works best).

This a product that legitimately freaks me out.

canola or vegetable oil (olive oil works fine if you want, too). (*I now suggest peanut oil for a lighter, more authentic flavor).
1/2 avocado *or use the whole thing...yum.*
1 medium bananna or plantain
salt and pepper
2 eggs (optional, I made it vegan-style, because eggs make me a little ill, and we were out...and it tastes great).
1/2 lime
1 dry hot pepper or pepper flakes (*Or a nice fresh Thai chili. Or a Jalepeno. Or a Habenero. Or chipotle. Whatever.)

1.) Throw your sweet potato in the microwave, or the oven, until it's almost baked but a little firm, still. Remove, cool, peel, cut into bite-sized pieces. (*Please, for the love of god, do not 'throw' your sweet potato.)

2.) Take the garlic, onion, and some oil and sautee. After onion and garlic are cooked *not browned* add sliced banana (cut in half and sliced is the best way) and sweet potato as well as your pepper flakes or hot pepper and pan fry until done but not squishy. Salt and pepper to taste. (*I would actually suggest first heating your oil until glistening, adding your hot pepper first so it can flavor the oil, garlic, then onion, turning heat down accordingly. Then sautee the Banana or Plantain and sweet potato at high heat to brown them up a little. Don't burn! I also suggest adding a little fresh chopped ginger around the same time you add the garlic.)

Your (I mean my) beautifully sweated onions, chili, ginger and garlic.

3.) add a little more oil, add and incorporate your rice, and fry until desired crispiness, watch the heat because the sugars from the banana and sweet potato tend to stick to the pan and burn. Salt and pepper to taste again. If you wanted eggs, now would be the time, make a hole in the middle or the rice, and scramble the eggs in that little 'pan', until mostly cooked, then incorporate with the rest of the rice.

4.) Serve with diced avocado on top, and a squeeze of lime, you can have a lime slice and some cilantro and maybe even some fresh tomato on there as garnish as you want. (*Current suggested garnish: crushed peanuts, loads of cilantro, fresh lime, diced avocado, and Siracha chili sauce).

Super tasty. I'm on my second bowl, but it looks as though it could serve 4 *as long as there was a salad or something involved), or 2 very hungry folks (hehe...or me...4 times, today.)

Enjoy!

(*Hehe. Yeah, make a lot, it goes quick. And ALWAYS have extra avocado on hand).

Current Mood: full

Current Music: Fischerspooner-Emerge

(*For posterity's sake).

Half eaten with seconds on the way

Back-like a heart attack!

2008-05-30T11:34:00.006-04:00

After my ridiculously (too long) hiatus, I have returned! I hope I haven't lost too many of you in the process, but I promise lots of lovely food and crafts posts are ahead!

I have acquired a new arsenal of cookbooks, a new Singer sewing machine, and a new boyfriend to cook for, so inspiration abounds!

Lets start with something that's not nutritionally beneficial at all, at that at some point my roommate asked me to stop making because it would be all he ate for 3 days, thus making him nutritionally deficient! (But it sure is tasty)...

Lovely Copycat Cinnbons (tm)!

Prepare to gain 5-7 pounds! Guaranteed!

I was never too aware of the whole 'copycat' recipe world, but apparently there are dozens upon dozens of websites devoted to the fine art of re-making home versions of the crappiest chain food you ever ate and wish you could eat again in the comfort of your own home. I suggest these recipes for the following scenarios: PMS, A Bad Day at Work, Pregnancy, and Because You are Feeling Particularly Sinful and Suddenly Anti-Gourmet. I have not experienced all of these scenarios personally, but I'm taking a long-shot guess here. You get the idea.

As far as suggestions for this recipe, my notes will still be in italics and marked with asterisks (*). I will tell you if you have a Kitchenaid mixer with a dough hook attachment or a bread machine, this will be a heck of a lot easier.

So without further wait or want...

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
from cdkitchen.com

Ingredients:

Dough:

(bread machine-- recipe):

2 eggs -- room temperature
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup melted margarine
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 1/2 cups bread flour (*all purpose unbleached works, too).
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast (*again, fast rise yeast works great, too).

Filling:

1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons makara cinnamon -- (cinnabon brand) (*I call shenanigans on this. I used lovely Organic Cinnamon from whole foods and it tasted great.)
1/3 cup softened butter (*Unsalted and preferably organic, please).

Icing:

4 tablespoons softened butter
3 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Note: These are most like the original when using Cinnabon's own brand of Makara Cinnamon - available at any Cinnabon Stand. (*Again, shenanigans.)

Dough: Add ingredients in order listed to bread machine baking pan. Insert pan into bread machine and start "dough" cycle on machine. When dough is done, turn out onto floured rolling board and allow dough to rest for ten minutes. Roll dough out into a 16" wide and 21" long rectangle, with a dough thickness of about 1/4 inch.

(*So, if you are using a Kitchenaid or some similar bowl-mixer with a dough hook, you want to mix your ingredients, use the dough hook to knead until smooth, and let sit in a warm but not hot place, covered with a towel. Let it rise to about twice, punch the dough down, and then knead with the dough hook for another few minutes. Let rest for 15 min or so before rolling out. You can do the recipe by hand by stirring or hand mixing your ingredients together, kneading by hand until smooth and then re-kneading for a few minutes after the first rise. I've tried neither, but this dough is fairly easy to work with so i'm sure it will work out regardless of your equipment. A second note is that you want your measurements to be correct, so use a kitchen ruler or a measuring tape. Make sure your dough is an even thickness all the way through, and that the surface you roll it out on isn't something you mind making a mess of).

Filling: Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl until well mixed. Spread softened butter over the surface of the dough and sprinkle sugar-cinnamon mixture evenly over the dough surface.

(*Your butter should be the consistency of a thin paste, spread evenly with a spatula, and then use long 'bird feeding' like movements to spread your cinnamon sugar).

Roll dough jelly-roll fashion along the 16" wide side of the rectangle. Cut dough roll into 12 slices. Place 12 rolls into a 9" by 13" baking pan and bake at 400 degrees for approximately 15 minutes or until light brown on top. Remove baking pan and allow to cool.

(*'Jelly Roll' just means roll it into a spiral. Make sure you roll evenly checking your ends and evening out throughout the roll ever few movements. Roll tightly, also, or your buns will fall apart. Baking in a properly heated oven doesn't take long at all, so watch your time.)

Ready to Bake

Cream Cheese Icing: Combine in a mixing bowl until well blended. Frost cinnamon rolls with icing while rolls are still in the baking pan.

(*The best luck i've had with this icing is a whisk or whip attachment on my bowl or hand mixer, it makes it fluffy and lovely. Do not refrigerate before spreading or it will get too thick, and don't spread on too-hot buns or it will melt.)

Post-bake, pre-ice!

Original Recipe Location: (where you can resize the recipe or even turn the recipe into a word search puzzle!) : HERE.

I suggest serving these right away, covering with plastic wrap at room temp to store, and microwaving for 10-30 sec depending on your microwave to reheat!

Thanks Exitquote!

2008-02-28T11:05:00.002-05:00

An acquaintance of mine, (a girlfriend of a friend) recently posted a re-make of the tofu and the pilaf recipe! Check it out!

Fair Warning (entry:Delicious Food, about 3 entries down).

This is exactly the community I've been looking for! Keep cooking, commenting and posting, everyone!

More food and craft entries coming soon.

New books!

2008-02-24T09:42:00.004-05:00

I took a short trip to Raven Books in Northampton yesterday, and picked up a few new (used) things. The best thing about this place is the used cookbook section. You can get 40 dollar books for 15, and it has a mildly strong veggie section. After scouring the piles and shelves, I picked up these:

Click me

Sacred food:Cooking for Spiritual Nourishment by Elisabeth Luard. This award-winning book is full of beautiful photos of people eating and worshipping food together. It has recipes from around the world that celebrate everything from courting and fertility, to birth and death. While not specifically veggie, i'm excited for it.

CLICK ME TOO!

Japanese Vegetarian Cooking:From Simple Soups to Sushi by Patricia Richfield. This veggie (and incidentally almost completely vegan) is written by a woman who spent years in Japan. I'm looking forward to cooking with it as I love Japanese food, and I'm a huge fan of cooking culturally accurate food.

I know I haven't been as good about updating the blog, and for that I apologize. New job, new life, etc. Hopefully some new books will give me the inspirational push I need. I'll keep you all updated about how the books are, maybe even write some mini-reviews at some point. Hope you all are keeping warm and fighting through this end-of-winter madness. And for those of you in warmer climes-my jealousy has no bounds.

Tofu and Pilaf...It's been awhile...

2008-02-19T12:02:00.005-05:00

I am lame and have had this blog entry in storage for a week....But here it is. And I promise you will hear more from me.

What is to come

Still loving on the v'con, I made this awhile ago, but as said, I'm lazy and it takes a while for me to get some posts up sometimes. This is dish that was a big hit amongst my housemates, but not me, unfortunately. I liked the tofu a great deal, but it 'caramelized' (read:burned and did not make a syrupy sauce as I was hoping) probably because I cut the tofu differently than the recipe called for and didn't use a shallow enough pan (I was dying to use my new pyrex casserole dishes).

So, a word to the wise, unless you like gummy-burn-sauce, be sure to use a shallow dish and WATCH THE TOFU like, check on it more than you deem necessary.

As for the Quiona, I will say that it is an EXTREMELY easy grain to cook. It's hard to overcook, it cooks quickly with a nice chewiness-but-not-too-chewiness, and it seems like, because of it's versatility, that it could easily become a breakfast-grain, salad grain, etc. I disliked this dish only because...I think I really don't like beans larger than black beans unless they are smushed (ie: Hummus, Kidney bean spread). I also might of sort of skimped on the bean-price, or bean-work, as I bought discount store (but they were organic!) 'salad' bean mix when the recipe called for chickpeas. They sort of were surrounded by that bean-y soup that canned beans get, and it was a little creepy altogether. As said, my housemates loved it, so maybe I was just freaked out by the bean-goo.

Without further ado, here's the recipes, tell me what you think, and how you would make them better!

Tangerine Baked Tofu
From Veganomicon ( pg. 126)

I used clementines for this recipe, cause I had a ton. Either would work.

Ingredients

-1 pound extra-firm tofu, pressed and sliced width-wise into eights.
-1 heaping teaspoon tangerine zest
-3 tablespoons lime juice
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-1 tablespoon agave nectar or pure maple syrup
-1 tablespoon peanut oil
-1/4 teaspoon cumin
-1/8 teaspoon allspice
-Freshly ground pepper
-2 tablespoons dark rum

1.) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. *I suggest lowering this to 400 or 350 and cooking a bit longer. Maybe you won't end up with no sauce that way.

2.) In a shallow glass baking dish whisk together all your marinade ingredients.

3.) Place the tofu cutlets in marinade. Using a fork, carefully poke a few holes into the cutlets. Flip them over and do the same on the other side.

4.) Bake the tofu for 45 minutes, flipping several times, about every 15 minutes or so. The tofu is ready when most of the marinade has reduced. Spoon any remaining marinade over the cutlets before serving.

Chickpea-Quinoa Pilaf
Veganomicon (pg. 115).

Ingredients:

-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 small yellow onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 teaspoon cumin
-1 tablespoon coriander seeds
-Several pinches of freshly ground pepper
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon tomato paste
-1 cup quinoa
-2 cups cooked or 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed.
-2 cups vegetable broth or reconstituted bouillon

1.) In a small stock-pot over medium heat, saute the onions in olive oil for about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.

2.) Add the tomato paste, coriander, cumin, black pepper, and salt. Saute for another minute.

3.) Add the quinoa and saute for 2 minutes

4.) Add the chickpeas and broth, cover and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, lower the heat to very low, cover, and cook for about 18 minutes, or until the quinoa mixture has completely absorbed the liquid. Stir occasionally. Fluff with fork and serve.

I know I may not have made this sound too appetizing, but hopefully you'll find ways to make this your own and improve it! (Or maybe it's wicked good like everyone else says and I was really picky that night?) Good luck!

Welcome New Readers!

2008-01-27T23:52:00.000-05:00

Google Analytics tells me that I have a 60 percentile of new readers, or something. That's great! Decoupage and Demitasse has also gone on a wild promotions spree including the creation of a Facebook account(see "Places to Go" on your right for a link) and whoring itself out to those blog directory sites.

Also, old and new readers will also find that anyone can comment now (instead of just google account owners). So comment away! Questions, requests, complaints and suggestions are always welcome!

Hope to hear from you all soon. You can also now reach "The Blog" (me) at this address.

Vegetarian times: Veggie Pho

2008-01-26T14:45:00.000-05:00

Every since I've become a vegetarian again, I have missed some of those foods that were vaguely 'meaty'. For instance, the amazing Vietnamese dish "Pho", the heal-all beef broth based soup with so much good antiseptic, pro-digestive, nausea relieving power it's sort of like a cross between beef stew and a medicinal herbal brew. I was psyched to see that Vegetarian Times had a recipe (again, condoned by Andrew Weil) for veggie Pho in it's January issue. It was that particular issue that made me fall in love with this magazine all over again (I used to read it in high school but didn't quite 'get' it).
Thanks to My Recipe Box for writing this out already, because the truth is, I am a lazy, lazy girl. (The proof is in the fact that I have about 10 blog posts lined up and none of them are posted).
Again, my notes are marked with a (*) asterisk. Good luck, this one is a bit of a time consuming adventure.

Vegetarian Times' Vegetarian Pho Soup.

Broth

6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth *I suggest bouillon cubes. Usually one cube makes about 2 cups of broth.

3 large shallots, sliced (1 cup) *Shallots are like tiny, sweet onions. They look like this:
1/2 c. dried shiitake mushrooms *I actually found frozen shiitakes for this purpose. Don't use regular white mushrooms, shiitakes' have a particular 'meaty' and smoky flavor that is important for this dish.

10 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed *Remove the skins of your garlic by crushing them gently with the flat part of your knife. Don't bash them or you'll end up with a bloody hand. And a blood knife. Example:
3 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce *I use Bragg's liquid aminos. It tastes the same, and gives you a nutritional kick.

12 thin coins of fresh ginger (about 1/4 inch thick)

1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. rice wine vinegar

1 tsp. ground black pepper *Please please PLEASE invest in a pepper grinder and do this fresh. Ground pepper in a can is wicked old, because it doesn't really 'expire'. Add how long you've had yours and about 3 years (how long it's been on a supermarket shelf) and prepare to be grossed out. Old pepper has no flavor.

2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise *A spice that smells like licorice, looks like a little wood star.
5-6 fresh basil stems, leaves reserved for the soup
5-6 cilantro stems, leaves reserved soup

Pho

8oz. pkg. rice noodles

8 oz. pkg Asian-flavor baked tofu, thinly sliced (maybe more) *Asian baked tofu is half as much as a regular package of tofu and twice the price. Make your own: Mix a little brown sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce (or Braggs), garlic and ginger together, slice your tofu into thin patties, and soak for about an hour. Bake at 400 degrees or until chewy but not crispy. Or pan fry in a little peanut oil. You can change up the marinade to flavors of your liking.

2 cups soybean sprouts *These are large, white sprouts about the thickness of a dandy lion stem. Not the thin hair like sprouts you put in salads or sandwiches.

2 cups watercress *I'd call this optional. Veg times just kind of stuck this in there for extra calcium, or something, it's not traditional Vietnamese.

4 green onions, sliced *Up east we call these scallions.
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
1 c. fresh basil leaves
1 lime

To make Broth: Place all ingredients in large pot with 8 cups of water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 1 hour. *Yeah, well, an hour is good if you are rushed. If you have an afternoon, let it simmer on very low heat for as long as you can. The flavor will be much better.

This is what your pho looks like before 'discard solids'
Did I mention your house is going to smell amazing for days?

Strain broth and return to pot. Discard solids.

It's been hours. You've discarded your solids.
Look how sassy your broth is now!

To make Pho: Cook rice noodles according to package directions. Drain, and rinse under cold water. Divide among 6 large soup bowls. Ladle broth over noodles, and top with tofu, sprouts, watercress, and green onions. Serve cilantro, basil and lime wedges on the side to be stirred into the soup. *I like to have all my garnishes ready to rock so people can make their own decisions. I am no Pho Nazi, except for what goes in the bottom of the bowl.

Plate O' Garnish

Scallions, cilantro and asian tofu ready to be broth-ed.
Brothed? Brothotized? Have broth poured upon them?
Oh, whatever...

*The traditional way to eat Pho is as follows:
Load up your hot broth with basil, more scallion, cilantro, and a lime wedge. Mix around and wait for a few minutes to eat so that the flavors can mesh. Chopsticks in your best hand, use to load solids into the spoon in your other hand. To add sauce, make a little puddle on the plate and dip your chopsticks in it. That flavors your next spoonful of noodles. In the case of Pho, the 'sauce' is lime juice (squeezed from your garnish wedge) mixed with a little black pepper to make a paste. You could also use Nuoc Cham, but it wouldn't be completely veggie considering that it is a fish based sauce. You can also garnish with a little Sriracha chili sauce, hot peppers, or hoisin sauce.

Enjoy!

Adventures in Veganomicon:Caramel-Apple-Spice Cupcakes

2008-01-17T13:25:00.000-05:00

So, I love to bake. And for some reason, vegan baked goods turn out better than most (most of the time). I think it's that Vegan chefs put in a little more of an effort to make sure something tastes spectacular, since there isn't all that lovely butterfat to hold onto the flavor. Locally, Oh! Sweet Mama's is sort of the best thing ever. I admit that I have a small addiction to their pecan-chocolate chip cookies, as they are more buttery and perfect than any other cookie around. There, I said it.

Oh yes...only available in 6 locations but so...tasty...

It's well known fact that Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero are sort of the queens of Vegan cupcakes. Their book "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" was a NY Times Bestseller, and I sort of covet it, even though it's teeny tiny and still has a mighty 15 dollar price tag. (Yes, I'm cheap).

Click to purchase me...er...yourself a copy.

I'm happy to say, however, that my mother bought me the "Veganomicon" for my birthday. Already adored by food/vegan bloggers all over the world, this book has tasty vegan recipes with easy to get ingredients and extremely easy to follow instructions. I'm not a vegan, but enjoy vegan cuisine quite a lot due to it's whole grain adornment, meat-free qualities, and generous amounts of fruits and vegetables, something people of all food-eating-groups should get into, as it's the best way to live till you're 110 (according to Andrew Weil).

Frannie Loves the V'con.

Enough intro though, let's get onto the not-so-healthy but still vegan sweet cuppin-cakes!
(I'll give credit where credit is due here, but if it's a Faux Pas to post a recipe, those gals can eat it [pun intended], I'm still mad at them for making fun of my celebrity husband, Anthony Bourdain). My notes are marked with an asterisk.

Caramel-Apple-Spice-Cupcakes
(from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, pg. 252-3)

Thank you to my lovely hand model. Author of The G'st.

Ingredients:

-2 firm, tart cooking apples such as Granny Smith Or Northern Spy *(I used what every I had around, I think it was Fuji).
-2 tablespoons (tbsp) brown sugar
-1 tbsp. vegan margarine *(Earth Balance)
-1 cup soy milk *(I buy unsweetened, so that you can control the amount of sugar you use, though vanilla or 'plain' would work fine here)
-1/3 cup canola oil
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-1 teaspoon (tsp) grated lemon zest
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour *(I use king Arthur unbleached white)
-1 1/2 tsp baking soda *(yellow box)
-1/2 tsp baking powder *(red can)
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 tsp cinnamon*
-1 tsp ground nutmeg*

*for these last 2 ingredients I use a blend called 'apple pie spice' and use about 1 1/2 tsp total.

Caramel-Penuche Frosting:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. vegan margarine
1 Tbsp. molasses
1/3 cup soy creamer or soy milk
2 Tbsp plain or vanilla soy milk powder *(After much searching, I still have NO idea what this is, and did not find whatever it is, so omitted).
Pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped, roasted peanuts for sprinkling (optional)

Equipment:

-12-cup capacity muffin pan or two 6-cup capacity muffin pans
-Chef's knife
-Cutting board
-Saute' (frying) pan
-Large mixing bowl
-Rubber Spatula
-Heavy bottomed saucepan
-Small Mixing bowl
-Whisk or Electric Mixer
-Small spatula or butter knife.
-Measuring cups and spoons.

*These steps are not as originally written for the sake of brevity.

1.)Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.)Core and dice apples to about 1/4 cubes.

3.)Heat brown sugar and margarine in pan over medium heat, stirring, until bubbling. Add apples and stir to coat. Heat, stirring occasionally, until apples have lost almost all their liquid. (12 minutes). Allow to cool.

4.)In the large bowl, beat together the soy milk and lemon juice and allow to sit for a moment to curdle. Add the oil, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla and beat well, either by hand or with an electric mixer. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir only until ingredients are moistened. Fold in the apples along with any remaining juices.

5.) Now, here it says to line your pans with cupcake liners, but unless you are dealing with really delicate cupcakes (which you aren't here), I say they are an environmental waste. However, if you do not have a fancy shmancy muffin pan that's non-stick like mine, you may want to stick with the liners. So, do one of those, I didn't use liners and used cooking spray, and then fill those suckers up about 3/4 of the way. Bake in your 350 oven for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6.) When they are done, cool them on wire racks. If you followed my environmentally sound advice, you may want to take the muffin tin(s) with both hands (protected by oven mitts or something) and give the bottom of it a good WHACK on the table to loosen your cupcakes.

7.) Frosting time:Combine the sugar, margarine, molasses, soy milk, and salt in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Stir and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, remove from heat.

8.) Cool mixture slightly, then add half the confectioners sugar and vanilla, and beat in, either by hand or with electric mixer, for about 3-5 minutes, until creamy. Add the rest of the confectioners sugar, and beat in, until frosting has a thick, fudge like consistency. At this point I found that my frosting was a little too thick, so I added soy milk until it was the consistency I wanted.

9.) Spread quickly onto cooled cupcakes! Let rest and the frosting will have a satiny finish! DONE.

Is my blurry photo tempting you?

Shopping Post #1: Monster Pillow

2008-01-09T14:17:00.000-05:00

For my birthday this year (12/24), I decided, drunk on Sangria from Tasca , that I deserved a little birthday present (OK, well, I'll be honest, it was from my father technically, as he supplied the birthday money).
So while browsing online, I found myself this site: Mechanical Bunny. Not only do they have pretty cute 'goth' and 'punk' clothing for all sizes of women, but they also have 'spiritual' supplies, and what caught my eye, as I've been 'redoing' my room and bed--MONSTER PILLOWS (would include link, but it seems as though that part of the site is currently down for maintenance).

I chose the monster buffalo, as he was red and black and big. The pillows are handmade, and can be customized, but this little guy was already made and ready to ship so I didn't have to wait the usual 2 weeks for the girl who runs the site to make it for me.

Oh the Horror.

Anyhow, he's very fuzzy, doesn't shed, is pretty good for a pillow with teeth, and every part of him is soft and well secured. Well worth the $35 price tag :) Plus, Frannie may have found true love.

Mini-movie review:Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd

2008-01-05T01:08:00.000-05:00

The chair in the movie was actually not red.

Went to the more corporate and less local theater tonight and saw Sweeney Todd, after 3 previously failed attempts (weather, personal problems, etc). I've heard multiple peanut gallery style reviews about this film, some said it was great, a few said it was 'boring'. Now, a lot can be said about this film: It has simple content, yes, the story does not have many characters, sure it takes place in about 3 buildings, but it is NOT boring. I can't see how anything this coated in lovely fake blood, amazing costumery, jealousy, rage, revenge, cannibalism, romance and great, spooky, fucked up music could be boring.

I want to touch on a few things, first, the costumes:I could NOT STOP LOOKING AT THEM. It's the kind of beauty that is so intense that it made me want to go out and buy a ripped up corset. It definitely had traditional 'Tim Burton' aesthetic, but also called from Victorian, Steam-punk, Ephemeral spooky ass old photos of your great grandparents, and so on. It seemed as if the filmmakers knew how brilliant and striking the clothing was, too. In one particular gorey scene, S. Todd (Depp) does not know what to do to cover up his tracks, so throws on a fucking sassy ass muted blue short coat. Looks even more hot and hides his sins in one go. Clever. I love that Burton has Johnny Depp to be his personal dress up doll, and his addition of Alan Rickman and Helena Bonham-Carter to the kit is almost enough for me to buy some Nightmare Before Christmas underwear for my boyfriend and have a Beetlejuice themed dance party.

Cleavage and razors do not equal boring

A closer look at our heroes.

Secondly, the blood was unbelievable:So much classically silly/fake thick red wonder that you could fill a room. 'Nuff said. Stuff like that rocks especially when done in a classic horror way that works and still makes you feel a bit creeped out.

And I can never resist a story about a lady-cook*, especially one with goth makeup and ripped petticoats :)

Um, excuse me for a second, I think one of my sex dreams just became a Tim Burton film.

Overall an amazing film, with pretty good vocals considering these are not 'singers' per say. For the record I would certainly not, by any means, call this film boring. I give it one strong spooky hand to the forehead.

*Yeah, I know it's about some 'demon barber' or something, but I suppose we see what we want to see :)

And a little taste:

Mini-movie review:Juno

2008-01-02T22:42:00.000-05:00

Just got back from the local theater to see this lovely film. It's the adorable story of boy and girl do it, girl gets pregnant, girl makes a decision, and hilarity and emotional tumult ensue. It's has a super adorable cast, starring, but certainly not limited to, Michael Cera (of Arrested Development and recently Superbad fame, as well as one of my favorite web-finds ever The Clark and Michael Show), as well as Ellen Page, who apparently starred as Kitty Pryde in the hellish X3.

However, all adorablility aside, this movie was almost completly perfect. The aesthetic of the whole thing had a really great Daniel Clowes/Ghost World feel, as well as some definite nods to the Salingeresque world of Wes Anderson, as well as something completely different that made the movie great, eerily familiar, and heck, i'll say it, reminded me of me.

Hello, my name is Ellen Page,and I am freakin' adorable.

I love teen movies. There, I said it. I liked them when I was a teen, and I like them now. I really HATE slapstick and gross 'man' humor (though I don't believe this sort of humor is exclusive to men, lets be clear). I'm also not entirely a fan of drug humor (though there was a pretty amazing and rare Adderall joke in this film). So this was refreshing as it sort of had that grrl power (not girl power) feel, as well as the forming of unconventional relationships and not just the boring 'hero-love interest' or 'hero-parents' or 'hero-best friend' scenarios you usually see. The focus was truly more on 'hero-self' and 'hero-?' (I can't spoil everything, now can I?).

If I were to write a tag line for this film it would be: "A post-punk story of love in unexpected places and knowing when it's time to grow up." Though that would be a total cop-out because there is nothing generic about this sweet, fun, different, film. See it.

Slightly off-topic: man teaches baby wolf to howl.

2008-01-02T14:54:00.001-05:00

That's all there is to say really.

"Shaun Ellis is a British animal researcher who is notable for living among wolves, and even "adopting" a pack of abandoned wolf cubs. He was the subject of an Aqua Vita Films documentary called "A Man Among Wolves". It has been shown on the National Geographic Channel in the United States of America (U.S.), and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) version of the film entitled "The Wolfman" has been shown on Five.

The documentary shows how, by carefully mimicking wolf behaviour, Ellis was able to raise a pack of three wolf cubs to maturity in a nature reserve in Devon, becoming the pack's alpha male.

His expertise brought him to the attention of a Polish farmer, whose livestock had suffered wolf attacks. Since wolves are a protected species in Poland the farmer hoped that Ellis might be able to find some non-violent way to deter the marauding pack. Ellis travelled to Poland to study the local pack, bringing with him audio recordings of wolf howls.

Ellis believed that if the local wolves heard howls coming from the farm they would believe another pack had already claimed it as their territory, and keep clear to avoid a conflict. In order for this to work Ellis had to determine the size of the pack and play back recordings of a similar-sized pack. Initial results were encouraging; in the first few weeks after the farmer began playing the recordings the farm suffered no further attacks.

Returning to Devon, Ellis attempted to reintegrate himself with the three wolves. In his absence the wolves had established a new hierarchy, and though they recognised Ellis and welcomed him back he was now the pack's omega, relegated to a peace-keeping role between the new alpha and beta males."

From the wiki entry for Shaun Ellis.

Food Entry One: These nuts, I made 'em.

2007-12-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

Balsamic Glazed Pecans

Every year, since I became obsessed with the idea of sweet and spicy combined, my family has requested I make some sort of dressed-up appetizer nuts. My mother prefers pecans, so pecans it is. This year I did my normal sweet-and-spicy recipe (photo below) but also adapted Coconut and Lime's recipe for Balsamic Glazed Almonds. These were pretty tasty, but also turned out a little stickier-- almost too sticky to handle, even after letting them sit overnight. I served them with little olive tongs, and that seemed to work out pretty well.

My recipe for sweet and spicy nuts keeps getting better every year, however. It worked out great, and was a hit. The best part is if you have leftovers, you can throw them on a salad or in a pasta dish. I am mainly pesce, though I eat very little fish, and try to eat as much vegan food as possible, so it's additionally great that both recipes are vegan snacks with lots of richness and flavor. However, please remember to check your labels and use as much local and organic product as you can. This recipe is free form, so please feel free to substitute, play, or alter. Let me know if you come up with something different!

Sweet and Spicy Pecans
Recipe by Jilian Oder last updated 12/24/2007

Ingredients:
2 Cups pecans
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
2 Tablespoons Oil (Canola, Vegetable, Olive, all fine)
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder, Vanilla Extract, Tobasco sauce
(or any other sweet or spicy flavoring you have around).

Equipment:

Parchment Paper
Baking sheet
Bowl
Rubber Spatula
Oven

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together, toss to coat.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Spread nut mixture as evenly ass possible on lined baking sheet with the help of the rubber spatula.
Bake, stirring every 5 minutes, until liquid has disappeared and everything looks brown and crispy.

That's it! Serve in a pretty bowl or put in gift bags for friends or family!

Sweet and Spicy Pecans

Hope you enjoy these, much more to come as I've got sort of a holiday food backlog.

Welcome!

2007-12-28T18:15:00.001-05:00

This is the first entry of what is to be an exciting, sensual, creative adventure into the world(s) of food, DIY, arts and crafts, homekeeping, and everything else in between. I've kept a personal blog for the past 7 years, and posted only vague recollections of what is going on my life, while my REAL life is in between the internet searches, the new recipes, the art I create, the letters I write, the gifts I give, the things I read, the moments shared with the people I love and the things I make...I could go on forever.

But I think it's best if we just begin...