Showing posts with label gluten-free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gluten-free. Show all posts
Saturday, April 28, 2012
My Second Vegan Bake Sale
Saturday, April 21st, was the day of our second bake sale for World Wide Vegan Bake Sale for 2012. Last year's was such a great success, we naturally had high hopes for this year, and we were not disappointed!
Amber and I spent Thursday AND Friday baking in preparation, up to our ears in flour and sugar (hence no teaser posts). We whipped up chocolate chip cookies, wheat-free chocolate chip cookies, no-kill puppy chow, not-so-mad cowboy cookies, lemon-blueberry muffins, peanut butter blondies with peanuts and PB blondies with chocolate, raspberry chocolate chip blondies, and apple-pretzel cookies. As an after thought, we whipped up three dozen savory biscuits: pizza, cheddar-jalapeno, and cheddar-garlic, all using Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet cheeses.
We were barely opened for business and we had quite a crowd. It was about two hours before we could get everything labeled and get our literature/freebie table set up! We were off to a phenomenal start, but that resulted in me not getting pictures of every single thing we had.
Here are the goodies that Amber and I made.
Peanut butter blondies recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I love this recipe. It's simple, only requires one bowl, and at the end you get to mash the "batter" (more like a dough) with your hands. It's an easy, fool-proof recipe that everyone LOVES. As mentioned above, we made one batch with crushed peanuts on top, and another batch with chocolate chips.
We followed the wheat-free chocolate chip cookie recipe from Veganomicon, making our own oat flour by whirring some oats in the Magic Bullet. Easy! The whole recipe is easy and the results are AMAZING. I loved the toothsome texture. They're ever-so-slightly crumblier than a classic chocolate chip cookie.
Lemon Blueberry muffin recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. These smelled AMAZING as they were baking, and we were amazed with how beautiful they turned out. I said they looked like coffee shop muffins. Eat your hearts out, Starbucks!
Raspberry chocolate chip blondies from Vegan With a Vengeance
Here's what was left of the pizza rolls and cheesy biscuits by the time I could take pictures. These were the first items on our tables to sell-out! They FLEW outta there!
Our cookie platter, featuring classic chocolate chip cookies, cowboy cookies, and apple-pretzel cookies, plus some chocolate cupcakes that someone donated (and we whipped up an amazing peanut butter frosting for them).
We used Rice Chex for the no-kill puppy chow, making it another gluten-free option. I use this recipe here, using Earth Balance in place of butter.
Lisa spent her Friday night baking up a storm, too. Here's what she brought to our delicious, colorful table:
Pecan pie! This was a hit last year and was a hit again this year!
These amazing peanut butter bars, reminiscent of a Reese's cup. Lisa used crunchy PB, so it had an added, fun texture. Also, wheat-free! These were amazing and crazy-indulgent!
And THEN, she went and made baklava. Like a baller. Fo real. The baklava really Wowed a lot of people! Lisa also made brownies, but I never got a picture of them.
More donations came in from friends and fellow volunteers/activists.
These mini cheesecake bites (made by Myriam) were a HUGE hit! Made with Follow Your Heart cream cheese and tucked into little phyllo dough cups, most people bought one and promptly put them in their mouth. For several people, this was their first time having vegan cheesecake, and they LOVED it!
We also received some lovely chocolate and strawberry cupcakes, both with cream cheese frosting (made by Kim)...
energy cookies (Gasp! Something healthy!), made by Maria
Jojo donated cute kitty cookies
and some AMAZING peanut butter fudge (my personal favorite of all the items on our bake sale tables)
and Lorelei brought some cinnamon rolls that went FAST! She also brought a loaf of sweet cinnamon bread and some mini baguettes.
We also sold Throwback sodas, but we kept forgetting about them, therefore they didn't sell very fast.
We had plenty of information on TNR (Trap Neuter Return), spay & neuter, and the Save 90 movement in Hillsborough County, as well as vegan recipes, veg starter kits, and stickers (Thanks for hooking us up, Action for Animals!).
And then, a crazy storm rolled in and we got hit with the sideways rain.
Thankfully we still had a couple of friends hanging out with us, so we had three extra helpers as we carried our baked goods into Mojo, cleared off the tables, and set them on their sides, like barricades from the rain. It was a mad rush and my pants were soaked from the knees down.
Danny and Melanie were super accommodating and let us set up shop on a table in the center of the store. There was a band playing, so it was very loud and we couldn't hear or talk to people very easily, plus there were a lot of shoppers digging through stacks of records, so it wasn't the best place for our bake sale.
Within an hour, though, the rain let up and we were back outside on the sidewalk. We were able to consolidate all of our goods and literature onto less tables.
We hung out until long past dark. After 13 hours, we gave the remaining baked goods to Mojo to sell in their cafe and continue to collect donations on our behalf. During the 13 hours we were there, we raised...
(drum roll, please.)
$915!!!!
And every penny of that goes toward spay & neuter surgeries and medical care for stray/feral/homeless cats!
We had so much fun sharing delicious vegan baked goods, hanging out with our friends, and chatting with new friends. Thank you to Mojo for hosting us again, and thank you to EVERYONE who supported our bake sale! Special thanks to Florida Voices for Animals and Silverback Peace Group for sponsoring our event and providing literature materials.
Did you participate in World Wide Vegan Bake Sale 2012? Where did you host it and where did your funds go? Tell me all about it!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Ending 2011 Deliciously
On new year's eve eve, a former co-worker of mine was in town for the holidays and she and I went out for lunch and chat at Ciccio's in South Tampa. I had never heard of this place before, but my friend felt confident that I'd be able to find something vegan there. Being a trendy-looking restaurant on South Howard, I was greatly amused to hear White Zombie's "More Human Than Human" playing as we walked in.
At first glance of Ciccio's menu, it looked like the only vegan offerings "as is" would be the edamame and the Asian guacamole. A salad minus at least half of the ingredients would also be vegan. Even their sushi menu listed zero veggie options. Right off the bat, I inquired what made the Asian guacamole Asian. Our server said that it was made with rice wine vinegar and "Asian spices," and it was vegan, so we ordered it. Next I asked if there was a vegetarian/vegan menu, and there wasn't, but the server was knowledgeable and helpful and gave me a few tips on how and what to order. She said an all-veggie sushi roll could be made, and many of the stir-fries and rice bowls could be made vegan by swapping the meat out for portobello mushrooms. There's no tofu or tempeh here, so if you hate portobello mushrooms, you'll be eating a much lighter meal at Ciccio's. Luckily, I love portobello mushrooms, so I was in luck. When she suggested the lettuce wraps with this alteration, I quickly made my decision.
I wish I had taken a picture of the Asian guacamole, not that the picture or my words would do it justice. It was AMAZING. The rice wine vinegar gave the guac this amazing sweetness. I'm not sure what spices they used, but it gave it another dimension of flavor to this amazingly creamy guacamole. Garnished with black sesame seeds, this was a flavor explosion. The Asian guacamole alone will bring me back to Ciccio's! (And also the top hits of the '90s, which they kept churning out the whole time we were there. It was like playing "Name That Tune," and I was totally winning.)
And then this was brought to the table.
This GIANT platter held portobello strips, sprouts, black bean salsa, shredded carrot-zucchini-yellow squash, and shredded cucumber. It came with three different sauces for dipping: red wine vinaigrette, balsamic vinaigrette, and - my favorite - Thai peanut sauce (which the server made sure to go back and check that it's vegan). This was super delicious and tasted very fresh. I loved all the colors and textures and flavors, all brought together on a crispy lettuce leaf. Although Ciccio's doesn't seem vegan-friendly at first glance of their menu, they are actually quite accommodating. I think they should put these vegan suggestions on their menu for all to enjoy!
Later that night, Lisa and I went to Pizza Fusion downtown to cash in her Creative Loafing deal coupon (kinda like Groupon). Parking downtown is always an ordeal, but since we didn't get down there until 8, street parking was free (woo hoo!), but we still drove around in circles several times, trying to find the actual Pizza Fusion location, and then finding a parking spot in that vicinity.
Ahead of time, Lisa inquired for me about Pizza Fusion's gluten-free crust, and yes, it is vegan! Yay! AND they offer iced black tea AND green tea, both unsweetened, but they have agave nectar upon request! Yay again!
Lisa ordered the Very Vegan with daiya cheese.
I ordered the Farmers Market with daiya on the gluten-free crust.
I was VERY impressed with this gluten-free crust. It was soft and chewy and had a very pleasing texture. Next time I'll get a larger size! And for all you daiya-haters, they also offer Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet cheese. Pizza Fusion also offers a vegan brownie, but we were too full to try it this time around.
On New Year's Eve, I closed out 2011 and rang in 2012 with my vegan friends. I LOVE my vegan friends -- we always eat like royalty at these get-togethers! I didn't get pictures of everything, but here's a portion of our spread.
These are Loving Hut's seasoned "passion fries," which are pretty good, but made AMAZING by whatever dipping sauce comes with them. Wow!
These seitan skewers are also from Loving Hut. I didn't try them because seitan ruins my guts (although I did eat other wheat things that night, bad girl I am).
We had two different kinds of chili, chips and Veggie Booty, corn breads, a Chinese noodle dish and a stir-fry, a fruit tray, and a veggie tray.
And Dean brought cheesecake! Ahhh! Banana-nut and gingerbread, served with a glop of Healthy Top.
All that food fueled us for a night filled with amber Woodchuck; lots of dirty, That's What She Said-type jokes; Guesstures and Taboo, and watching the ball drop AT MIDNIGHT! (When I lived in Missouri, we always watched it at 11pm. Stupid Central time.)
I rang in 2012 with the exact same people I was with to ring in 2011. Only this time, I'd known these people for over a year, instead of just a month. The only difference is that we've only gotten more crass.
<3
Happy New Year!
At first glance of Ciccio's menu, it looked like the only vegan offerings "as is" would be the edamame and the Asian guacamole. A salad minus at least half of the ingredients would also be vegan. Even their sushi menu listed zero veggie options. Right off the bat, I inquired what made the Asian guacamole Asian. Our server said that it was made with rice wine vinegar and "Asian spices," and it was vegan, so we ordered it. Next I asked if there was a vegetarian/vegan menu, and there wasn't, but the server was knowledgeable and helpful and gave me a few tips on how and what to order. She said an all-veggie sushi roll could be made, and many of the stir-fries and rice bowls could be made vegan by swapping the meat out for portobello mushrooms. There's no tofu or tempeh here, so if you hate portobello mushrooms, you'll be eating a much lighter meal at Ciccio's. Luckily, I love portobello mushrooms, so I was in luck. When she suggested the lettuce wraps with this alteration, I quickly made my decision.
I wish I had taken a picture of the Asian guacamole, not that the picture or my words would do it justice. It was AMAZING. The rice wine vinegar gave the guac this amazing sweetness. I'm not sure what spices they used, but it gave it another dimension of flavor to this amazingly creamy guacamole. Garnished with black sesame seeds, this was a flavor explosion. The Asian guacamole alone will bring me back to Ciccio's! (And also the top hits of the '90s, which they kept churning out the whole time we were there. It was like playing "Name That Tune," and I was totally winning.)
And then this was brought to the table.
This GIANT platter held portobello strips, sprouts, black bean salsa, shredded carrot-zucchini-yellow squash, and shredded cucumber. It came with three different sauces for dipping: red wine vinaigrette, balsamic vinaigrette, and - my favorite - Thai peanut sauce (which the server made sure to go back and check that it's vegan). This was super delicious and tasted very fresh. I loved all the colors and textures and flavors, all brought together on a crispy lettuce leaf. Although Ciccio's doesn't seem vegan-friendly at first glance of their menu, they are actually quite accommodating. I think they should put these vegan suggestions on their menu for all to enjoy!
Later that night, Lisa and I went to Pizza Fusion downtown to cash in her Creative Loafing deal coupon (kinda like Groupon). Parking downtown is always an ordeal, but since we didn't get down there until 8, street parking was free (woo hoo!), but we still drove around in circles several times, trying to find the actual Pizza Fusion location, and then finding a parking spot in that vicinity.
Ahead of time, Lisa inquired for me about Pizza Fusion's gluten-free crust, and yes, it is vegan! Yay! AND they offer iced black tea AND green tea, both unsweetened, but they have agave nectar upon request! Yay again!
Lisa ordered the Very Vegan with daiya cheese.
I ordered the Farmers Market with daiya on the gluten-free crust.
I was VERY impressed with this gluten-free crust. It was soft and chewy and had a very pleasing texture. Next time I'll get a larger size! And for all you daiya-haters, they also offer Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet cheese. Pizza Fusion also offers a vegan brownie, but we were too full to try it this time around.
On New Year's Eve, I closed out 2011 and rang in 2012 with my vegan friends. I LOVE my vegan friends -- we always eat like royalty at these get-togethers! I didn't get pictures of everything, but here's a portion of our spread.
These are Loving Hut's seasoned "passion fries," which are pretty good, but made AMAZING by whatever dipping sauce comes with them. Wow!
These seitan skewers are also from Loving Hut. I didn't try them because seitan ruins my guts (although I did eat other wheat things that night, bad girl I am).
We had two different kinds of chili, chips and Veggie Booty, corn breads, a Chinese noodle dish and a stir-fry, a fruit tray, and a veggie tray.
And Dean brought cheesecake! Ahhh! Banana-nut and gingerbread, served with a glop of Healthy Top.
All that food fueled us for a night filled with amber Woodchuck; lots of dirty, That's What She Said-type jokes; Guesstures and Taboo, and watching the ball drop AT MIDNIGHT! (When I lived in Missouri, we always watched it at 11pm. Stupid Central time.)
I rang in 2012 with the exact same people I was with to ring in 2011. Only this time, I'd known these people for over a year, instead of just a month. The only difference is that we've only gotten more crass.
<3
Happy New Year!
Monday, December 26, 2011
Christmas Dinner 2011
I am declaring Christmas 2011 my best Christmas EVER. I spent the entire weekend with people I love and cherish. Who could ask for anything more?
My best friend's hubby is a chef and he and I collaborated on Christmas eve dinner. No, he isn't vegan, but he likes the challenge of cooking vegan food. (You may recall the fig sauce he prepared awhile back, posted HERE.)
For a little over two hours, we set to work on some amazing food to bring to the family dinner: a savory "Holiday Tart" (recipe from VegNews HERE), acorn squash stuffed with wild rice stuffing (stuffing recipe HERE), and mashed potatoes with butternut squash. There are no photographs of the cooking process as we were on a time crunch and were bustling around that tiny, 800-degrees kitchen, but behold! The finished product!
Here's the tart, fresh out of the oven.
This was delicious! The filling is mostly chickpeas, walnuts, spinach, celery, onion, and garlic and some other herbs. This could be eaten without baking, and it would make a delicious dip or spread. I think it would also be great crust-less, just baked like a casserole.
The wild rice stuffing was delicious! I cooked the rice in vegetable broth, and it cooked for a very long time, and we still had to drain excess liquid, but it still turned out perfect. Instead of an apple, we diced up a pear-apple, which was fun. Pecans are great in rice dishes.
And mashed potatoes, well, you can't go wrong with mashed potatoes! (Especially garlicky ones.) The butternut squash was a great addition.
At the family dinner, everyone was eating pasta and seafood, but I was happy to share my food with everyone (we made plenty to go around!), and I got some lovely feedback!
Here's my plate:
I also made a no-bake fruit pie with So Delicious vanilla on the side, and that was warmly received, but I have no pictures of that. (I've blogged about it awhile back and the "recipe" is HERE.)
It was such a delicious meal and I was SO FULL that I couldn't even THINK about turning my new hula hoop that night! I had an amazing weekend, so full of love. I am so lucky to have such amazing people in my life.
I hope you had a lovely holiday, too! What was on your holiday plate?
My best friend's hubby is a chef and he and I collaborated on Christmas eve dinner. No, he isn't vegan, but he likes the challenge of cooking vegan food. (You may recall the fig sauce he prepared awhile back, posted HERE.)
For a little over two hours, we set to work on some amazing food to bring to the family dinner: a savory "Holiday Tart" (recipe from VegNews HERE), acorn squash stuffed with wild rice stuffing (stuffing recipe HERE), and mashed potatoes with butternut squash. There are no photographs of the cooking process as we were on a time crunch and were bustling around that tiny, 800-degrees kitchen, but behold! The finished product!
Here's the tart, fresh out of the oven.
This was delicious! The filling is mostly chickpeas, walnuts, spinach, celery, onion, and garlic and some other herbs. This could be eaten without baking, and it would make a delicious dip or spread. I think it would also be great crust-less, just baked like a casserole.
The wild rice stuffing was delicious! I cooked the rice in vegetable broth, and it cooked for a very long time, and we still had to drain excess liquid, but it still turned out perfect. Instead of an apple, we diced up a pear-apple, which was fun. Pecans are great in rice dishes.
And mashed potatoes, well, you can't go wrong with mashed potatoes! (Especially garlicky ones.) The butternut squash was a great addition.
At the family dinner, everyone was eating pasta and seafood, but I was happy to share my food with everyone (we made plenty to go around!), and I got some lovely feedback!
Here's my plate:
I also made a no-bake fruit pie with So Delicious vanilla on the side, and that was warmly received, but I have no pictures of that. (I've blogged about it awhile back and the "recipe" is HERE.)
It was such a delicious meal and I was SO FULL that I couldn't even THINK about turning my new hula hoop that night! I had an amazing weekend, so full of love. I am so lucky to have such amazing people in my life.
I hope you had a lovely holiday, too! What was on your holiday plate?
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Happy Birthday to Me!
It's my birthday today! This means I am not promising a very substantial MoFo post. Not only am I sick AND working today, but it's raining like crazy outside. I actually don't mind the rain, though. When I was growing up in Connecticut, most of my birthdays were rainy. The only thing missing are the autumn leaves, but I'm quite fond of palm trees, too.
On Friday I cashed in my free birthday meal at Moe's Southwest Grill. I got the usual: the tofu rice bowl. Not the prettiest dish you've ever seen, I'm sure, but free food is automatically beautiful, amirite?
The green tomatilla salsa is the BEST. Chock full o' cilantro-y goodness.
Yesterday, Lisa and I met up for tea at Kaleisia. We split a carafe of their PHENOMENAL iced soy pumpkin chai latte. You can taste and feel and SEE the pumpkin in it!
I have some sad news about my beloved tea lounge, though. What I always loved about Kaleisia is that they're super veg-friendly. Their small food menu was all vegan, and they offered cow's milk (as well as soy) for their drinks and the majority of their baked goods had dairy and eggs, but they were always a meat-free cafe. Until recently. Now, all of a sudden, they're serving FRIED CHICKEN. I was so disappointed when I read this on their Facebook page, and I'm still disappointed. They lost a billion cool points with that decision. I realize that they are still veg-friendly, but now they're not as friendly.
Moving on.
Next was the monthly vegan buffet at Trang Viet Cuisine. I totally forgot to take pictures, but the offerings were pretty much the usual. For me, the soup and rolls are the best. My dinner at Trang was also free, as they do complimentary meals for your birthday, and they're closed today. Score! My buddy Amber (who blogs at Zombie Cats Eating Plants) and I share a birthday, so we both scored free birthday meals last night.
From there, a group of us went to the Improv theater in Ybor City, as a friend had free tickets. Little-known stand-up comics can be a little iffy -- they're often a bit too sexist or prejudice for me to find funny, but other than a couple offensive (to me) jokes, the opener and headliner were pretty funny. There were a few moments when I could barely breathe because I was laughing so hard, so that's always a good sign. Plus, the headliner - Godfrey - has been on 30 Rock, so this brings me a little closer to Tina Fey.
After the show and parting ways with the group, I dashed over to the Orpheum and was able to catch the last half of the Mates of State show, which was lovely and made me feel warm and fuzzy, which was nice after scurrying through the rain.
I'm so glad I didn't miss this song, as it holds a special place in my heart.
And then this morning, I woke up barely breathing, this time from congestion, so I just laid in bed for awhile, listening to the rain. I pushed myself out of bed and made a birthday cake for myself because I'm pretty sure it's bad luck to NOT have cake on your birthday. I used this basic Gluten Free Pantry brand of cake mix that I had on hand and added chocolate chips.
Batter up!
While it cooled, I whipped up just enough peanut butter frosting: peanut butter, melted Earth Balance, trickle of vanilla extract, and some confectioner's sugar. I didn't use any precise measurements; I just added until the consistency was right.
And here's my quick and easy birthday cake / breakfast!
And since it's my birthday, I'm going to shamelessly plug my blog's Facebook page. Go ahead and give it a like! It's another way to stay up to date on my blog posts (another option is following with Google Connect), plus I share other fun links, videos, pictures, and other goodies from time to time over there.
What did you do over the weekend? Who else has a birthday during Vegan MoFo?
On Friday I cashed in my free birthday meal at Moe's Southwest Grill. I got the usual: the tofu rice bowl. Not the prettiest dish you've ever seen, I'm sure, but free food is automatically beautiful, amirite?
Yesterday, Lisa and I met up for tea at Kaleisia. We split a carafe of their PHENOMENAL iced soy pumpkin chai latte. You can taste and feel and SEE the pumpkin in it!
I have some sad news about my beloved tea lounge, though. What I always loved about Kaleisia is that they're super veg-friendly. Their small food menu was all vegan, and they offered cow's milk (as well as soy) for their drinks and the majority of their baked goods had dairy and eggs, but they were always a meat-free cafe. Until recently. Now, all of a sudden, they're serving FRIED CHICKEN. I was so disappointed when I read this on their Facebook page, and I'm still disappointed. They lost a billion cool points with that decision. I realize that they are still veg-friendly, but now they're not as friendly.
Moving on.
Next was the monthly vegan buffet at Trang Viet Cuisine. I totally forgot to take pictures, but the offerings were pretty much the usual. For me, the soup and rolls are the best. My dinner at Trang was also free, as they do complimentary meals for your birthday, and they're closed today. Score! My buddy Amber (who blogs at Zombie Cats Eating Plants) and I share a birthday, so we both scored free birthday meals last night.
From there, a group of us went to the Improv theater in Ybor City, as a friend had free tickets. Little-known stand-up comics can be a little iffy -- they're often a bit too sexist or prejudice for me to find funny, but other than a couple offensive (to me) jokes, the opener and headliner were pretty funny. There were a few moments when I could barely breathe because I was laughing so hard, so that's always a good sign. Plus, the headliner - Godfrey - has been on 30 Rock, so this brings me a little closer to Tina Fey.
After the show and parting ways with the group, I dashed over to the Orpheum and was able to catch the last half of the Mates of State show, which was lovely and made me feel warm and fuzzy, which was nice after scurrying through the rain.
I'm so glad I didn't miss this song, as it holds a special place in my heart.
And then this morning, I woke up barely breathing, this time from congestion, so I just laid in bed for awhile, listening to the rain. I pushed myself out of bed and made a birthday cake for myself because I'm pretty sure it's bad luck to NOT have cake on your birthday. I used this basic Gluten Free Pantry brand of cake mix that I had on hand and added chocolate chips.
Batter up!
While it cooled, I whipped up just enough peanut butter frosting: peanut butter, melted Earth Balance, trickle of vanilla extract, and some confectioner's sugar. I didn't use any precise measurements; I just added until the consistency was right.
And here's my quick and easy birthday cake / breakfast!
And since it's my birthday, I'm going to shamelessly plug my blog's Facebook page. Go ahead and give it a like! It's another way to stay up to date on my blog posts (another option is following with Google Connect), plus I share other fun links, videos, pictures, and other goodies from time to time over there.
What did you do over the weekend? Who else has a birthday during Vegan MoFo?
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