Chocolate Vegenaise Cupcakes

I despise mayo.

I love chocolate cake.

I found myself with a full jar of Vegenaise. I did the only logical thing I could do.

I used this recipe from Vegan Thyme, who veganized it from Fannie Farmer. It's a great cake recipe: rich, moist, fluffy, and totally simple. Perfect for a last minute cake emergency. The only downside is that the batter tastes a little funky, so licking the bowl isn't as enjoyable as it should be. Fortunately, the mayo taste completely cooks out.

I made twelve very large cupcakes from the recipe and reduced the baking time accordingly. They rose like crazy, so next time I won't fill them as much.

The tops came out crackly like muffins, so I glazed them with a basic ganache of equal parts chocolate chips and coconut milk, plus a splash of vanilla extract. They look a little lumpy and, er, rustic, but they taste fantastic.

Someday I'll showcase my vegan sprinkle collection. It is a source of great pride.

The weather is starting to get a little less scorching hot, and all I want to do is bake! Dangerous. 

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Vegan Planet Chocolate Chip Cookies

My boss has been bugging me to make him some chocolate chip cookies for weeks now. He's kind of a jerk about vegan food, so the cookies had to be really good. I decided to try the Vegan Planet recipe for the first time. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of maple syrup, but I only had a maple-agave blend, so I used that instead.

Pros: No margarine required. They stay soft and chewy. Not overly sweet.

Cons: They lack the rich, buttery flavor I've come to expect in a good chocolate chip cookie. There's half a cup of oil in the recipe, but I feel like they almost need more fat. No crisp edges. Requires egg replacer.

Overall: Eh, they're okay. I don't know if I'll share them (I probably will, but only because I don't want to eat two dozen cookies by myself). I try to avoid Earth Balance most of the time because it's expensive, but I've never found a satisfying oil-based chocolate chip cookie recipe. The search continues...

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Pesto Roasted Potatoes

This is my favorite use for the little containers of pesto that always seem to inhabit my freezer. I chop up a few red potatoes and a couple of onions, toss with a few tablespoons of pesto, and roast at 400 degrees until the potatoes are nice and crispy (and kind of charred, because I like that).

I've done this with all sorts of root vegetables (sweet potatoes are especially good!) and many varieties of pesto. It's always good.

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Hugo's Tacos (Los Angeles, CA)

Hugo's Tacos is one of my favorite vegan-friendly restaurants in LA. They serve high quality, cheap California-Mexican food at two locations: Studio City and Atwater Village.

While there's plenty of meat on their menu, Hugo's offers vegan versions of nearly everything. Soy chorizo, Daiya cheese, Vegenaise... they have it all! Last time I was in the area, I went to Hugo's three times in four days. I probably would have gone there on the fourth day too, but I was too busy camping out in a parking lot for a U2 concert. It's a shame they don't deliver.

So, while I was in LA last weekend, of course I headed to Hugo's to get my taco stand fix.

Green tamales, $3.19

I love these spinach and sweet corn tamales so much. The spinach is all blended up into the masa, and there are sweet corn kernels folded in. There's probably a load of sugar in these because they're super sweet and could almost pass as dessert, but that's what makes them delicious. They come covered with mild tomatillo salsa by default, but you can choose another salsa instead. I like the tomatillo. No sense in messing with a good thing.

The only small complaint I have about these tamales is that they are always served lukewarm. I've eaten them three or four times, and not once have they ever been hot by the time I received them. Considering Hugo's pushes your food to you directly from the kitchen via a window, I don't get it. It's not like it's a long journey from the warmer to my face or anything.

Rice and beans, $1.59

The rice is good, but the beans are fabulous. Organic white beans at a taco stand? Yes, that is a great idea. They are so creamy and flavorful.

Frozato, $2.28

I know I sort of buried the lead here, but this is the real reason to come to Hugo's: VEGAN SOFT SERVE! In a vegan waffle cone*. It comes in vanilla, chocolate, and swirl. It is the stuff dreams are made of. It's honestly better and creamier than any soft serve I ever ate in my pre-vegan life. So, so good.

*Hugo's staff at both locations claimed the cones were vegan when I asked. The web site says they are not. However, the web site also says the Frozato is only available at their Atwater location, while it has actually been available in Studio City for a long time. The point is, the web site has outdated information, so I choose to believe what the people have told me. Eat the cone at your own risk. Or, ask to read the ingredients. If you find out something I don't know, please let me know. I would have investigated better myself, but I didn't look at the web site until after I'd already eaten a few of the cones.

Hugo's also serves vegan coconut rice pudding for dessert, which sounds awesome. Frankly, I'm pretty sure I'll never try it. I can't not get the soft serve.

Everything I've tried at Hugo's has been great, and if I lived in LA, I would happily eat my way through their entire menu. Having been to both locations, I can report that in my experience, the food quality has been consistently good, with little to no variation between the two restaurants. The menu is the same at both. If I had to choose a favorite, I'd go with the Atwater location, simply because it always seems less crowded, and parking is far less of a pain in the ass.

Hugo's Tacos

Atwater Village
3300 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039

Studio City
4749 Coldwater Canyon
Studio City, CA 91604

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Doomie's Home Cookin' (Hollywood, CA)

Okay, so I failed at posting everyday for MoFo. Life happened and I was busy. Moving along!

I went to LA with my mom for a long weekend. While our main reason for driving down there was to attend a Clinton Foundation benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl (Bono and Edge! Lady Gaga! Stevie Wonder! The Clintons themselves! A whole bunch of other people!), we were also on a mission to eat a lot of delicious food. While Sacramento has enough vegan-friendly restaurants to keep me from getting bored, LA is on a whole other level. You can drive past two other vegan restaurants on your way to your destination vegan restaurant. There's just never enough time, and I never have enough stomachs, to eat even a fraction of the vegan food LA has to offer. But, I always give it a pretty good effort when I'm down there.

Since we were in Hollywood already, we decided to try Doomie's Home Cookin' for the first time. The restaurant is situated in a strip mall with some other restaurants and other business, and it looks pretty unassuming from the outside. The place has a decidedly hipster vibe, but not in an annoying way. The staff was friendly and made us feel welcome.

Doomie's is a vegetarian restaurant with an almost entirely vegan menu. Their only non-vegan offering is dairy cheese, but since (homemade!) vegan cheese is also an option on all of their dishes, it's really a free-for-all for vegans.

The first thing you'll inevitably notice when you walk in is the bakery case with a whole lot of killer looking baked goods inside. I think I stared into it in awe for a good solid couple of minutes before I finally took a seat and looked at the menu. We ended up taking some baked goods to go, but first we did order actual food.

Doomie does classic American comfort foods, veganized, and he does them right. There is a huge emphasis on fake meat, so you have to be prepared for that going in. Think greasy, salty diner food, and embrace that concept.

The Classic Burger, $7.95

My mom went with the basic burger with vegan cheese, which came with either fries or fruit. Thousand island dressing on the side. As you can see, the cheese was pretty saucy, and honestly pretty flavorless. It made for kind of a gloppy mess when the burger was assembled. The patty was quite good, though. It reminded me a little of a Boca burger, but much better. The texture was chewy and meaty, which I guess are desirable qualities in a burger. I thought it was tasty enough, but I'm just not much of a burger person. My mom thought the veggies were a little skimpy, but she enjoyed it overall.

 

Chicken Parmigiana, $9.95

As often happens to me at vegan restaurants, I got overwhelmed by the menu, and had a really hard time deciding what to order. I'm so used to having very limited options, so when I can choose anything I want, I get incredibly indecisive. In the end, I went with the Chicken Parmigiana, which came with garlic bread and a choice of soup or salad. I chose the tortilla soup - the soup of the day. It ended up being your average vegetable soup with pieces of fried tortillas in it. It was good, but nothing revolutionary.

The main course, however, was an event. Atop a bed of pasta with marinara sauce was a deep fried, breaded chicken cutlet. On top of that, vegan cheese sauce (similar to the stuff on the burger, but white instead of yellow). I haven't eaten real chicken (or any meat, for that matter) in close to 15 years, so my memory of the taste and texture has undoubtedly been distorted by time. But, this chicken patty was exactly how I remember chicken tasting. The texture was spot-on. The whole experience was really weird. I almost had to look around and make sure I was, in fact, eating in a vegetarian restaurant, or I wouldn't have believed that patty was fake. I cleaned my plate and enjoyed the hell out of it, but I felt super strange about how much I liked it! I don't know how they make their fake meat, but they're really onto something there. I've never eaten a substitute that came nearly as close to the real thing.

Fudge brownie, $4
Carrot cupcake, $2

Neither of us could manage dessert after finishing our huge meals, but we had to take a couple of things from the bakery case for the road (breakfast the next morning, actually). The dessert section of the menu also looked pretty amazing (fried oreos!), so I'll make sure to save room next time.

The brownie, while not very photogenic, was incredible. Without a doubt, this was the best vegan brownie I've ever had. Probably the best brownie I've ever had, period. Also, it was almost the size of my head. Rich, fudgy, gooey, covered in ganache: this brownie had it all. The price may seem high, but it was totally worth it.

The carrot cupcake, my mom's choice, was also delicious. We both liked that it wasn't overly sweet, and the frosting was light and fluffy.

I regret that I couldn't try the amazing looking red velvet cake or croissants, but I'll get to them someday. I will absolutely be going back to Doomie's on my next visit to Hollywood. While it's not the sort of food I would want to eat regularly, it was a really fun treat.

Doomie's Home Cookin'
1253 N Vine St, Suite 9
Hollywood, CA 90038

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Product Review: Veetee Dal Tadka

Veetee Dal Tadka: Yellow and red lentils in a "punjabi tadka"

My schedule has been pretty insane lately, and I haven't been able to cook. While I don't normally buy a lot of prepared meals, I happened to have this Veetee dal in the cupboard, so I tried it for dinner tonight.  I enjoyed it, and it definitely helped break up the peanut butter sandwich monotony.

I've had other Veetee meals before, and I've always been impressed with their quality and authenticity. I don't generally have high expectations for food that comes in pouches, but their packaged curries are an exception. The ingredients are all real, recognizable foods, and I don't feel like I'm settling on eating crap for the sake of convenience.

After microwaving the pouch for two minutes, it's ready to serve. A+ for speed and simplicity of preparation!

The first thing you may notice about this dal is that gigantic red chili hanging out in there. This stuff is SET YOUR FACE ON FIRE hot. Now, the package describes the product as spicy, so I guess I can't complain that they didn't warn me.

While a bowl of lentils hardly ever looks appetizing, I can assure you that this tasted really good. There were whole curry leaves in there, as well as whole cumin and mustard seeds. You know, like you'd have in there if you'd actually cooked this yourself (or not?). It looks like real food. It tastes like real food! It's good!

Just be sure to serve it with plenty of rice (I didn't have enough!) if you're sensitive to heat, because this stuff is not messing around.

Pro tip: Grocery Outlet sometimes sells Veetee products for $1. That is a fantastic price, so I suggest keeping an eye out. Grocery Outlet, I love so much about the things that you choose to be!

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Chia pudding: I'm not a fan

I was wandering Whole Foods recently, trying to figure out what to buy with the Living Social voucher I'd purchased. I have the hardest time spending money in that store! Everything is expensive, and I can't think of very many things I can buy there (that I actually want) that I can't find cheaper elsewhere in Sacramento. I settled on a little bag of chia seeds, among a few other totally unnecessary purchases. I've been eyeing them on Amazon for a while (where, naturally, they are much cheaper), but I thought I'd try them out before committing to a bigger online order.

The first experiment was chia pudding, which has been making its way around the internet for a long time. It seemed like the sort of thing I'd really like for breakfast, since I've been known to eat tofu pudding (silken tofu + frozen banana + cocoa if you're feeling decadent) for breakfast pretty regularly. And I like seedy things. And tapioca. I knew I'd like this stuff. So, I put 1/4 cup of chia seeds in a jar, filled the jar with soymilk (probably too much, because it was a little runny), added a couple dashes of vanilla and a pinch of salt, and let it do its thing in the fridge overnight. I was anxious to try my pudding the next morning, but it was honestly a pretty disappointing experience. It tasted good. I mean, it tasted like vanilla soymilk, and that doesn't suck. I even sort of liked the gelatinous/crunchy texture.

That problem was that I was still hungry, 400 calories later. I felt like I'd just had a glass of milk, and wanted to move on to my real breakfast! I toughed it out and went to work, hoping I'd suddenly not be hungry once I started thinking about other things. That didn't happen, and I had to eat again before lunch.

Bottom line: this stuff is enjoyable enough, but it doesn't work for me as a power breakfast or whatever. I've read all sorts of accounts of people feeling energized and amazing all day after eating this stuff, but it only made me cranky because I felt like I hadn't eaten anything. I think I'm just going to throw the rest of my seeds into my regularly scheduled smoothies and forget about making any more pudding.

I bought a jar of nut butter once that had chia seeds mixed in. They added a nice bit of texture. Maybe I'll do that. If anyone has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. Chia seeds are super healthy, so I want to be able to get excited about them!

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Granola Not-Bars

I make a batch of granola bars every couple of weeks to keep in the freezer. They're great snacks to take to work, when I need something quick and nutrient-dense to get me through the afternoon. Generally, I don't even use a recipe. I just throw a bunch of stuff in a bowl, mix it up, press it into a pan, and bake it. Every batch is different, and that's part of the fun! I guess I'm easily amused. I really like making anything where I can just dump stuff in and not worry about ruining it. Granola bars are pretty much like that, because even if they crumble apart, you get granola! And that's good too. And that's what happened with these.

The King Arthur granola bar recipe looked promising, so I decided to follow it... sort of. The recipe calls for a ton of sugar, and I don't like my granola bars to taste like cookies (as much as I love cookies). I used 1/4 cup of brown rice syrup to sweeten the bars, and eliminated all of the other sugar. As it turns out, the sugar is the glue in this recipe. I added about 1/3 cup of peanut butter and 1/4 cup of ground flax seeds to the wet ingredients, but they weren't enough to bind the bars together. Oh no!

Hey, that's a mighty fine lookin' pile of crumbs, King Arthur! (Totally not Arthur's fault. I didn't follow the recipe.)

In any case, these taste great, and they're plenty sweet. I think this is a promising base recipe to work with, but I'll have to tweak it some more to make it work better for me. Applesauce might be the key. I think the batter was just too dry. Also, the recipe calls for the bars to be cut while still warm, which I think is a mistake. As you can see, I ended up with a mess. They might have held up better if I'd waited until they were completely cool before I cut them.

Oh well. I'll keep working on it.

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Chipotle, I LOVE YOU!

Black beans, cilantro lime rice, grilled fajita veggies, guacamole (free only in meatless burritos - HAHA!), corn salsa (hidden but present), pico de gallo, and lettuce.

Best.

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No time for meals...

Only jars. And spoons.

If I could somehow bypass the spoon and pour it directly into my mouth, I probably would.

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Mati's (Sacramento, CA)

I've wanted to try Mati's for a long time, but they used to be located in Natomas. Considering I venture to that area pretty much never, it never happened. Fortunately, Mati's recently relocated to midtown! Well, I think they've been there since last year. Anyway, thanks to Groupon, I finally dragged myself over there tonight.

Mati's has good quality counter service food at really good prices (and it was an absolute steal with the Groupon). They have a good selection of vegan curries, all of which are clearly labeled (it says "vegan" right on the stickers on the food case! Go Mati!), so you don't have to ask a lot of questions. The staff was very friendly, and even offered us samples before we committed to ordering anything.

We went with the $16.99 Meal for Two special, which included three sides, naan (garlic or regular), two samosas, and rice. Most of their vegetarian dishes were vegan, and the exceptions were obvious. For our sides, we chose aloo gobi, chana masala, and mixed vegetable curry. The mixed vegetable curry was basically a bowl of cabbage, so I wasn't really into that one, but the other two dishes were very good. The chana masala could have used a little more spice, but the flavor was good. Has bad chana masala ever existed, anyway?

The star of the show was the bread basket! The garlic naan was pretty light on garlic flavor, but it was still delicious (and delightfully puffy!). And the samosas? Well, I could probably have just eaten a basket full of those. Samosas can sometimes be heavy and greasy, but these were light and perfectly fried. Hot, potato-filled goodness. Really, it's worth a trip to Mati's just for the samosas.

The meal also came with our choice of chutneys. We tried three: onion, cilantro, and mango. I wasn't thrilled with any of them, as they were more like little containers of spicy paste than chutney. The mango one was particularly odd. The flavor was somewhere between mango jam and a bottle of perfume. Pass. I didn't need the chutneys anyway, so no real loss there.

I've had better Indian food, but considering the quantity you get for the price, I was impressed with Mati's. Their vegan-friendliness also makes me want to support them, so I will be back. I hope they do well in their new location. The restaurant was pretty empty for dinner, but I would imagine they do most of their business at lunch time, since you can get in and out of there pretty quickly. They seem to have some good luch combination specials, too.

If you're in midtown and in the mood for Indian, give Mati's a try. Don't leave without trying a samosa!

Mati's
1501 16th St
Sacramento, CA 95814

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A Lonely Bunch

 

We have a grape vine in the backyard. It has produced practically nothing. One bunch of grapes, to be precise. I'm not even convinced they're edible, since the birds have totally ignored them.

But, it's still a backyard grape vine. Therefore, still awesome. 

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Scramble!

I really love tofu scramble. I also quite like the word 'scramble.' The scramble pictured above is the PPK blog recipe with onions, carrots, and broccoli, and it is quite good. I like to cut the salt a little and only use two tablespoons of nooch, but otherwise I stick to the recipe pretty much as written. Serve with fresh corn tortillas for the ultimate scramble experience. Yay tofu!

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Green Pea Hummus

With two jobs, I often have to pack two work meals a day. I try to plan ahead, so I always have something fresh and substantial to take with me. Hummus is a lunch staple for me, and I often make a big batch at the beginning of the week. I portion it out and chop my vegetables ahead of time, so all I have to do is grab a couple of containers when I'm rushing out the door in the morning. It's not the most exciting lunch ever, but sometimes it's all I have time for, and it sure beats raiding my emergency Clif bar stash at work.

I found myself with half a bag of peas in the freezer, so they became the hummus of the week. It's a little lighter than traditional hummus, which I think gives me license to eat a ton of it.

Green Pea Hummus

2 cups frozen peas, thawed (run them under the faucet in a colander to thaw them quickly)
1 tsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. tahini
3-4 Tbsp. lemon juice
3-4 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Puree everything in a food processor or blender (I use an immersion blender for hummus because it's easier to clean, and I'm lazy). Add a little water to thin it to your desired consistency.

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Wheatgrass Pesto

This started when my mom gifted me with a cute, seemingly useless, little container of wheatgrass. I don't own a juicer, and what else can you do with wheatgrass? Ultimately, I decided to do with it what I do with most other green things I need to get rid of: make it into pesto.

Sounds weird, I know. I was skeptical, but it actually turned out pretty tasty! Bonus: I got in touch with my inner hippie! Many people in my life would probably argue that I'm never too far out of touch with my inner hippie, but I don't eat wheatgrass much. Or ever.

The problem with wheatgrass is its stringy texture. I tried really hard to puree it in the food processor, but it never completely broke down. Fortunately, once tossed with pasta, the texture wasn't bothersome at all. I cut the wheatgrass with parsley, which tastes kind of grassy anyway, and the flavor wasn't all that different from an ordinary parsley pesto. Except it's extra healthy, I guess.

Wheatgrass Pesto

1 bunch parsley
1 bunch wheatgrass (about the same amount as the parsley)
1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
4-6 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Blend it all up in a food processor! Toss with pasta, using some of the pasta water to make it saucier.

On a completely unrelated note, check out our very last two remaining backyard strawberries! I thought the strawberries were done, but these guys were still hanging on, being cute. I almost felt bad eating them. Almost.

Thanks for a good summer, little strawberry plants. Also, thanks to the bugs for not eating them before I got there.

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A Naan Starter

Get it? Naan starter? Because I'm starting this blog with naan? I'm hilarious?

This was my first try at naan, and I think it was pretty successful. These certainly came out just as good as a lot of the naan I've ordered in Indian restaurants.

Whole Wheat Naan
Heavily adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

makes 8-10 pieces

2 tsp. instant yeast
2/3 cup unsweetened soy yogurt
2 Tbsp. light olive oil, plus extra for brushing the naan
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Mix all ingredients to combine. If the dough seems too wet (mine did), add flour until it reaches a workable consistency. I had to add at least another cup of flour, but your mileage may vary.  Knead by hand or with the dough hook of a stand mixer for 10 minutes, or until the dough is soft and pliable, but not sticky.

Form dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and let rise for 1 hour. After the dough has risen, divide into 8 or 10 pieces (I made 10 because I added so much extra flour), and roll into thin, oblong shapes. Brush with oil and cook in a pre-heated frying pan on medium-high heat until the dough bubbles.  Brush the top side with oil, flip, and cook through.

I promptly made an open-faced naanwich with pan-fried tofu, homemade hummus, and spinach. Delicious!

About my first ever Vegan MoFo: I don't really have a theme. I mostly aim to a) try new recipes and b) clean out my overstuffed pantry a little bit. I'm super excited to participate, and I hope I have the motivation to keep blogging after the month ends.

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