Potato eggplant curry

I wasn't sure how to start this post ... so I gave up and ate the leftovers instead.  And oh my god.  I had packed them up in a takeaway container that's useful as Tupperware, and eating out of that container I had a very hard time convincing myself that I wasn't *actually* eating leftover takeout Indian food!  So proud.  Especially since I have NO real idea how to cook Indian.  Or rather, I haven't learned how to cook Indian authentically, but I did a wonderful job convincing myself that I do actually know how, because man did I feel with every bite that I was back in one of my favorite restaurants here.  (Indique Heights - they have this wonderful all-vegan section of their menu. :) )  Another one that's wonderful with a glass of chilled white wine - the cool slight sweetness to counter the curry.  Perfect.

Tomatillo-fingerling Pizza, with Thyme

I don't have lots to say about this one, other than YUM.  I wasn't sure how tomatillos would do as a replacement for regular tomatoes for pizza sauce, but they worked out absolutely perfectly.  The flavors blended together smoothly, and the tomatillos led to a nice subtle tanginess underneath the light freshness of the thyme.  Goes perfectly with a nice glass of chilled white wine, as you can see in the picture below.  :)  This one disappeared way too quickly....

Have your cake and eat your greens too

...cake donuts that is.  Made with kale. Yup. Kale donuts. It happened.

[Sidebar edit: For those stumbling upon this post here, come find me and this same post over on my new site: A,B,C,Vegan. Adventures will be continuing over there, and the donuts are now for sale!  Check that out, with other goodies, here. :) ]

I know you all know how much I love kale (seriously), but I don't think even I knew that I loved it enough to make it into dessert.  And then this conversation happened.  And my life changed forever.  (My friend posting and commiserating with this picture is what inspired my first comment.)  After the idea of kale donuts was placed into my head I couldn't. stop. thinking. about it.  I googled it and didn't find a single recipe, so while this scared me off a bit, it also made me want to make it happen that much more.  I had just read about making spinach ice cream the day before, so I decided it had to be doable. And taking on the totally absurd and seemingly impossible makes it just all the more satisfying when you succeed.  (Check out the Blog of Impossible Things for more on that idea!)

So I set out to make it happen, and I am damn proud of the results.  Mission. Accomplished.

Want to eat your greens but really just want to eat dessert?  Now you can.  All in one confusingly delicious package.  These are reminiscent of zucchini bread, but different.  A rich earthiness, but blended with warm spices and sweetened just right.  Oh and of course they're vegan.  Obviously.  :)  With the benefits of drinking a green smoothie for breakfast ... how about a green donut instead?  :D

If you're interested in ordering, please go to my donuts (and other goodies) page here.  I can make them with plain glaze, bourbon, lemon, sriracha, chocolate, unglazed... gluten free... thinking of making a pumpkin variety for the fall... the sky's the limit!  Let me know what you'd like, and we'll experiment with making it happen!

Kale donut. Strange but true.

Really dark picture - but look at those beautiful ingredients.  Do all those greens look like they are making dessert?? 

Alien donuts? 

YUM.

Garden Vegetable White Lasagna

Remember that day I became a chef?  Today is the next phase in that journey.  Today I created my own technique for making a vegan cream sauce.  Maybe it's not actually new, but I've never read it anywhere, so to me, it's my own.  :)  The other day I made this sweet potato "mac and cheese" that was unbelievably good (and I highly recommend trying it!), but it didn't really resemble mac and cheese, other than by color.  But it got me thinking ... what if I started with the same concept ... but put the potato, nooch (vegan shorthand for "nutritional yeast"), etc into my Vitamix and made a sauce?  How could I get that to really be creamy?  A few days worth of mulling it over, and I came up with something that I think could easily be mistaken by an omnivore for a rich creamy white lasagna type sauce.  Wait no - it IS rich and creamy.  But they would never know that there is not a hint of dairy in it.  :)

Mix with some veggies hanging out in my fridge from my CSA, some leftover over penne noodles from the previous dish, and voila! Perfect garden vegetable white "lasagna". (Could easily work with lasagna noodles, just aren't what I used. :) )  Didn't know that's what I was making, but that's what it became, and it's perfect. And best of all?  It's still creamy the next day for leftovers, unlike any other cream (or "cream") sauce I know.  :)

Wow I want to eat this again right now.  Conveniently, I have leftovers for lunch.  :)

Summer empanadas plus kale with tangy miso dressing

In searching for things to make with kohlrabi, I came across this recipe.  By the time I got around to making it, I had of course long used up the kohlrabi.  However I had everything else, and turnips, so I decided to give it a shot subbing them in.  Worked quite well.  :)  If you want to do the same, I just recommend sauteing the veggies for quite a bit longer, as I wanted the turnips way softer than they would end up after just a couple minutes.

In order to make it vegan I simply sauteed only in oil (instead of oil and butter), and left off the egg wash for the crust.  However if you want that finish, you can easily achieve the same effect by brushing the crust with soy milk.

I know I wouldn't be satisfied with just the empanadas without some sort of dipping sauce, so I ended up making up a quick dressing, which I then decided would go really well over kale - another great accompaniment to the empanadas, so I ended up with quite the delicious dish.  Fun to take something that would have been great on its own, and turn it into something really special.

Tangy Miso Dressing
2 T miso
2 T agave nectar
1 T ginger
1 t soy sauce
1 t water (or as much as needed to desired consistency)

Mix all the ingredients and serve over roughly chopped kale.  Serve empanadas over top.  Enjoy!

Beanfields chips - comes in nacho flavor! Bonus giveaway included.

Edited, 12/11/12: Find this post and me blogging and working now at A,B,C,Vegan - the current version.  :)

So I had the wonderful fortune to be contacted by Beanfields chips to see if I would be willing to review their chips for my blog.  Upon hearing they had a nacho flavor - the healthy vegan Dorito?! - I happily agreed.  They also sent me extras so that I could host my first giveaway!  So read down for the details on that.

Beanfields chips were just named "Best of Show" by VegNews at the 2012 Natural Products Expo West, so I was of course excited to give them a try.  They are tortilla chips made from beans and rice instead of from corn, and they live up to their award.  I can't think of a great way to describe them other than ... like tortilla chips ... but better.  Really, just based on flavor I would choose the regular sea salt variety over tortilla chips any day.  And they avoid using the corn that we get all day every day in so many products, are gluten free, and have 4 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber per one ounce serving - according to their website, twice as much as regular tortilla chips, potato chips, etc.

So how did the nacho flavor stack up?

They were GOOD.  Really good.  I would happily eat them ... well, all day.  However I can't in good conscious call them the vegan Dorito.  There are similarities, for sure, and for someone who is missing Doritos they might be a nice substitute.  But you have to know they are different.  Not as over-the-top cheesy as Doritos, but a more subtle cheesy flavor.  However, I taste tasted them amongst all my non-vegan co-workers, and while agreeing with my conclusions, everyone absolutely enjoyed them.  I think that speaks volumes for the quality of the product.  Everyone said they would happily snack on them all day.  Team vegan FTW!  :)

So about that giveaway.  I'll be sending off 2 of the 6 ounce size bags (including one nacho flavor).  Ways to win:
1. Comment here, telling me *your* favorite vegan snack.
2. Follow me on Twitter (@abcvegan) for another chance to win, and post a separate comment here telling me you did so.
3. Share the link to the post on Twitter or facebook for 1 more chance to win each.
U.S. addresses only please sadly.  I'll use a randomizer to pick a winner on Tuesday morning (June 26th) at 9 AM.  Good luck!!

Passover! Excited. :)

Ok, so this is cutting it close to the wire, but I wanted to be sure to get this out while it still has potential to be helpful this year.  This will be my first year keeping Passover vegan, and I have to say I'm extremely excited.  In prior years I allowed myself dairy and eggs for this one week, because I just couldn't figure out how I would do it otherwise, especially given that I am Ashkenazi and do not eat kitniyot for the holiday.  However, this year I can't figure out how on earth I didn't think it was possible before - I have more things to make than I could possible eat in a month, let alone in a week!  :)  I am hoping to pass on some of that excitement to you and encourage you that anything is possible once you really put your mind to it.  (So cliche I know... but it's true!)  I can't believe that I am actually excited for Passover.  The creative spark it has lit feels so wonderful and I'm ready to get cooking!

Vegetarian seder plate, courtesy of Creative Commons here

So a quick sampling of possible Passover dishes, and links where I have them...

• My lunch today - some sort of quinoa salad / stir fry, most likely topped with some sort of cashew dill sauce, similar to here.
• Spinach pancakes, that I wrote about here.
• Want to try veganizing these banana almond butter pancakes with a flax egg for breakfast tomorrow
• MUST make these "Reese's" peanut butter eggs immediately
• And also from Chocolate-Covered Katie - I never thought I would miss macaroons, but now that I can't have the store-bought ones (because they all have eggs in them), I feel like I will miss them for Passover!  So I will make my own and they will be awesome.
• All sorts of dips potentially for spreading on matzah - roasted red pepper based ones, cauliflower and pumpkin based ones, and maybe this raw broccoli "hummus"
• I'm sure eggplant will figure prominently (now that I've learned to like it!).  Potentially like I wrote about here as a baked dish, here as baba ganoush, or trying this recipe for marinated eggplant that sounds divine.  
• Some sort of potato kugel, like these simple mini ones, or perhaps something a little more fancy with leeks
• Here there is another eggplant possibility, for "nutty baked eggplant" and a cashew horseradish cream sauce.  Yes please!  

Suffice it to say that this is just the beginning of the possibilities, and I can't wait to get started! I hope this gives you some places to start too.  Please let me know if you have any favorite Passover recipes that I should try - I'm excited to gather as many as possible.

Hag Sameach!