Associations

Quick one tonight since I'm just back from a party and it's almost 1 AM here. I might come back and add a picture later, but we'll see.

As I said, I've just been to a party. The person who was head of the department when I was at uni has retired. It was a good time - basically a traditional ceilidh, with songs and tunes and poems, and a bit of dancing at the end (Canadian Barn Dance, since the honoree is Canadian). Food was served; I ate unadorned bread.

But the thing that struck me about it was interacting with others. The first person I spoke to, a friend and the department librarian, told me she'd had red velvet cake and thought of me because it was rubbish (I'd made her red velvet cake for an event and everyone loved it). The next person I talked to didn't remember my name, but she remembered the amazing cake I made for a picnic 2 1/2 years ago. And another person told me that her nephews still talk about the chocolate chip cookies I made when I met them.

The point is this - I am obviously associated, at least in that circle, with making delicious vegan baked goods. I suppose there are worse things for people to think of when they think of you.

Vegan MoFo - Mix v. Scratch: Battle Swirl Cake

This is the first in my "Mix v. Scratch" project, wherein I make both a boxed mix and a homemade-from-scratch version. Challengers will be graded on the time taken to make them, the initial results, and side-by-side taste testing by me, my husband, and my co-workers and/or friends. Today's challenge:

Battle Swirl Cake

The box version is a Betty Crocker Chocolate Swirl Cake with Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Frosting:


How I made it vegan: The box calls for 3 eggs, water and oil. To make up for the binding power of 3 eggs, I used three egg replacer eggs and used milk/acv instead of water.

Time: The box says it takes 10 minutes. If you take into account prepping the pans, preheating the oven, mixing it, and doing the swirl, it's a lot closer to 30 minutes.

Initial results: The cakes baked in the amount of time suggested. I cooled them until they were below room temperature. When I went to frost them, they started falling apart. I barely managed to get the second layer on top of the first before it completely crumbled in my hands. I was mostly able to patch it together with frosting, but it didn't look great.

My taste test: The cake was incredibly moist. It was also incredibly sweet. I could tell from the batter that it would be sweeter than the cakes I've been making. The frosting was also sweeter than what I'm used to. I think the combination of sugar in the two actually gave me a headache, and I still feel a little sick an hour after eating it.

The scratch version is the Marble Cupcakes with Thick Fudgey Frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.



Time: Admittedly, this took about twice as long as the mix. There are a lot more steps, and you have to actually get all the ingredients together yourself. Another thing that added time was that I did a recipe and a half to have enough batter for two 8" layers, which meant doing the mental math for the half while I measured!

Initial results: I think I overmixed the batter and/or overcooked the cakes! They seemed to bake a lot faster than I'd expected, so after 30 minutes (the cupcakes take 24-26 - it seemed a reasonable amount of time) the layers were already overdone. I could tell just by looking, and from taking the cakes out of the pans, that they would be dry.

My taste test: As suspected, the cakes were pretty dry. I also didn't think the frosting was particularly fudgey. It was much less sweet than the other cake, which was good, but the texture and dryness actually made me like the mix cake more (I'm ashamed to say). But I put this all down to my failure to properly mix or pay attention to my scratch cake.

The Verdict: A few of my co-workers had a bit of each cake. While one person preferred the scratch cake because the mix cake was too sweet, the others preferred the mix because the scratch was too dry. One of those preferred my scratch frosting to the tub stuff. Overall, I think the mix was preferred.

THE WINNER (yes, this was the best shot I got):

Vegan MoFo - Trying something new

It's day 2 of Vegan MoFo - I hope no one is burnt out from trying to read all 700 of the participating blogs! (Full disclosure - I'm not reading all 700-odd blogs.)

As I mentioned in my last post, I made an assload of chickpeas on Sunday. Part of my plan was to make falafel, but the other part of the plan was to only use things that I had on hand. Unfortunately, I used the last of my breadcrumbs making Chickpea Broccoli Casserole (nom!) last night and therefore had none to put in the falafel. So, I needed to come up with something else to make for dinner.

Someone suggested yesterday that I use my abundance of chickpeas to make Chickpeas Romesco from Veganomicon. For some reason, I barely even glanced at this recipe before. Maybe it was because I just can't be bothered roasting peppers, and it would've taken a lot of forward planning. Well, as luck would have it, I bought jarred roasted peppers for a tester recipe I made a while back, and I had exactly enough left for this recipe. Not only that, but I also had every other ingredient apart from the serrano pepper (which I probably wouldn't have bothered with anyway).

This came together really easily, though it was a bit time consuming. I sped up the process by using pre-ground almonds instead of grinding them myself. It would've taken me less time if my dishwasher would actually wash all the dishes and therefore my garlic press had been clean.

I served it over couscous, since I could throw that together during the 10-minute sitting phase of cooking the chickpeas. (Sorry, it's not the best picture, and none of them will be because it's winter in northern Europe and therefore dark by 3.30.)



I can't believe I waited so long to make this! It's amazingly delicious. Mike loved it too. Apart from the absence of the serrano, I didn't make any significant changes. Since the recipe suggests fire-roasted tomatoes, which are unavailable here, I added a few drops of liquid smoke for the smokiness those might provide (a tip I got from Liz at Cooking the Vegan Books).

If you've never made Chickpeas Romesco, bust out your copy of V'con and get cookin'!

Vegan MoFo - Failure to prep

Happy World Vegan Day! And happy first day of MoFo!

Sunday was meant to be spent prepping for the week to come so I could be sure to have time to do everything I wanted to do and still have time to blog about it. Unfortunately, it ended up being an extremely lazy day - I was up by 11, but I managed to not even get breakfast made until about 4 and did very little else.

One thing I did manage was to cook a giant pot of beans. And 'giant pot' is no lie. I measured out 4ish cups for VwaV Chickpea Broccoli Casserole and 2 cups for VwaV Falafel, and I still had about 3 cups left. Since we're not keen on homemade hummus (not smooth enough - I'm not making it again until I get a VitaMix), I need to think of something to do with 3 damn cups of chickpeas. If anyone has any non-hummus ideas, let me know.

I also made one of the cakes for my first "Mix v. Scratch" challenge - Battle Swirl Cake. I'll share the results of that later in the week.

I had to do my shopping tonight, but I (hopefully) got all of the fresh ingredients I need for the rest of the week. Later in the week, I hope to be able to make VwaV falafel (which I've never made before!), VwaV BBQ Pomegranate Tofu, and V'con French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme.

I hope all you other MoFo's have a great month!

MoFo plans

ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!


Vegan MoFo IV, the Vegan Month of Food, will be upon us in 2 days! For a run-down on what's happening and who's participating, go to Vegan MoFo International Headquarters. There are [EDIT] over 500 MoFo'ers right now. If you're interested in participating, you have until 2 November to sign up.

I've got some very loose plans for this year's MoFo. Some people have every day planned out, others are just gonna wing it, but I've basically got a weekly idea and a couple of things that I'll stick in for each themed week.

My first week is basically "cleaning out the pantry". I'm experimenting with getting a huge order of bulky/heavy groceries in every month and only buying fresh fruit and veg from the store, as well as things I can only get in person (e.g., nooch or cheeze). To make this feasible, I need to sort out my storage. I also need to actually use the stuff I buy in. So for week one, I'll focus on cooking things that I already have on hand and only shopping for fresh ingredients.

Earlier this year, I tested for Alicia Simpson's new book, Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations, and I just received my tester copy today. I loved so much of what I tested (as did those I fed everything to), but I didn't even see most of the recipes in the book. So in week two, I'll be making recipes from Q&EVC that I didn't get to test. I've only just had a quick look, but I've already seen plenty I want to make.

Week three isn't set in stone, but I might do something like "allergen week". If you know me at all or have even skimmed my blog, you'll know that I have loads of food allergies and sensitivities - several types of nut, melon, avocado, and the newest, quinoa. I know loads of people who are gluten- and soy-free. I'm thinking, for this week, I'll focus on foods that are allergen-free.

In week four, my best good friend Eva is visiting from Newcastle. We're taking the opportunity to sit around and do nothing for three days. However, we will be making tamales, and that happens to also be Thanksgiving week. As a couple of Americans in the UK, we're often forced to come home from work and have sad little T'giving celebrations with our husbands (or alone) while we listen to our friends and family back home talk about getting the day off and gorging on massive feasts with everyone else they know. This will be the first time we've celebrated T'giving together. So the theme for that week will be "PARTY TIEMS".

Throughout the month, I'll also have a couple of other things going on not necessarily connected to the theme of the week. One of my projects will be "Mix v. Scratch". I'll make both a boxed mix and a homemade-from-scratch version of four things - swirl cake with fudgy frosting, lemon drizzle cake, gf chocolate chip cookies, and gf muffins. I'll ask co-workers, friends, and Mike to compare the two on taste and texture, and I'll weigh in on the time it takes to make each.

In addition to that, I'll have a couple of events on - a retirement party, a roller derby bout (volunteering, not skating), and possibly a birthday party, I dunno. I'll do my best to document how I get on with those.

I'll probably post about MoFo prep tomorrow. It's gonna be a busy-ass month. And unlike last year, I'm also working! We'll see if I can even keep up with blogging, let alone themes and projects.

Mug cake revisited - the mother of all mug cakes

I posted about mug cake ages ago, saying that I had perfected the recipe. Well, I've been tinkering a lot lately because we've been eating a lot of mug cake. While it is a lot easier to make than a whole cake in the oven, I started getting tired of busting out the egg replacer every time, and I was constantly annoyed about those dry bits at the bottom and sides of the mug that I always missed.

Taking a cue from this post on the PPK, I first decided to start making my mug cake in a bowl. This made the process (and the clean-up) far easier. I also changed up the method. But the stroke of genius (that I really should've worked out ages ago) was to stop using egg replacer and make it like normal cake with curdled soy milk. I now present -

The Definitive Vegan Microwave Cake

Ingredients:
1/4 c soy milk (for these experiments, I used vanilla, but plain should be fine)
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp oil (canola, sunflower, etc.)
1/4 c sugar
splash of vanilla
1/4 c plain flour
1-2 tbsp cocoa (depending on how chocolaty you want yours)
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

1) Combine soy milk and vinegar in a small, microwaveable bowl (I use a ceramic cereal bowl) and allow to sit for a few minutes to curdle.
2) Add oil, sugar, and vanilla and mix thoroughly with a fork.
3) Add dry ingredients (sift if you have a small enough device to do so without getting stuff all over the counter) and mix to combine.
4) Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes (it takes mine 4 minutes in a 700ish watt microwave).
5) Eat straight from the bowl, or turn out on a plate and top with raspberry jam (or whatever you like)!

I think this is even easier than the original mug cake, and the flavour is slightly better (it is still cake made in a microwave).

As before, if you have applesauce on hand, you can probably replace some of the oil with it to make this lower in fat. You could also use wholewheat pastry flour for part or all of the flour, if you really wanted to. But if you're so desperate for cake that you're making it in the microwave, I think you deserve that little indulgence.

It's almost October, and Mike and I will be going sugar free for the month. I did this back in June, and it was pretty good (I lost 6 pounds!). It took some thinking to sort out what to eat (toast and scramble instead of cereal for breakfast, hummus and pita instead of cereal bars or muffins for snacks, etc.), and I did miss sugar a couple of times. I don't see myself having many problems this time, since I worked out the kinks in June. I thought I'd really miss coffee, which I've recently started drinking because Mike suddenly insisted on having it, but I've suddenly gone off it again. We'll see how Mike does with it, though - he has cereal for breakfast, biscuits and/or chocolate for snacks most days, and coffee and some kind of dessert every night after dinner. Hopefully it'll be OK.

Gearing up for this year's MoFo and a challenge.

VeganMoFo is just around the corner. I know October seems a long way off, but it's really only 2 months away. Woah! It's a little scary. This year I have a job, so I don't know if I'll be able to keep up like I did last year, but I'll do my best. Hopefully we'll have some other challenges on the PPK like we did last year. I found that really helpful in giving me something to talk about.

So, here's the challenge part. This year is my 5th veganniversary. I went vegan sometime around June of 2005, but I backslid a bit when I moved to Scotland because I was still uneasy with my veganism (OK, I didn't like vegetables), and I didn't know where to buy the things I liked for a while. But I went back to veganism around October - which is the month of VeganMoFo! This year, I'd like to challenge 5 (or more!) of my non-vegan friends and family to try veganism for one week in October and keep me updated on how they do. It would be even more awesome if anyone could pledge to go vegan for the month!

Obviously, if anyone does take up the challenge, I can offer advice (where to shop, unintentionally vegan products, vegan on the cheap, etc.) and recipes as and when they're needed. And if bribery is more your style, I'll bake you some cookies at the end of the week! (Even if you're in the US, they should be OK to ship since it'll be cooler.) So why not help me celebrate the anniversary of one of the best decisions I've ever made and go vegan for a week in October!