Vegan

I find it almost amazing that Scott & I have lived in so many different places and we've never had air conditioning. Boston, New York City, Colorado, Lake Tahoe, Charleston, Los Angeles — none of our apartments had air conditioning. Even in Europe, air conditioning was a rarity.  This means by the end of May, I would completely abstain from any kind of "baking" until October. I also found myself avoiding the stove, too. Standing over a hot flame in an already hot and stuffy apartment during the sweltering summer? No thanks! (Our apartments have also always been very tiny, which made it even worse. Any cooking turned the place into a sauna).  So was my life limited to salads? Heck no!  Kim G. made HH Portobello Steaks on the grill! (shared via Facebook). I love a good salad, especially in the summer, but I still like having cooked foods like beans, potatoes and rice — just without using my stove.  Although my inner minimalist hates to suggest more appliances, if you live without air conditioning or you live someplace that gets very hot, it's well worth adding to your collection (plus you will use them year-round). Electric Pressure Cooker ($99.99) This is my favorite appliance of the bunch and if you can only buy one item, this would be it (though it's the most expensive).  What I love about my electric pressure cooker is that I can cook my vegetables, grains and beans without turning on my stove and it cooks my food super fast. Black beans in 15 minutes without soaking overnight! Corn on the cob in 1 minute! I also love that I don't have to keep an eye on it (I can cook beans while doing something else) and it's fantastic for travel. We take it with us every time we travel so we can make healthy, nourishing meals in our hotel room in minutes.  The pressure cooker gets me through the summer. I use it twice a day most days. I'm always making a big batch of beans, or rice or potatoes. I also love to cook corn and artichokes in it. My PC also has a "warm" setting which I find works a lot like a slow cooker. I've left frozen marinara in my PC on the "warm" setting and a few hours later it was ready and warm for dinner.  I also use my pressure cooker to make vegetable broth! Rice Cooker ($14.99-$119.00) After one too many unsuccessful attempts to cook brown rice on a crappy apartment stove, I bought a rice cooker. I even splurged on an expensive rice cooker (linked above) that had a special brown rice setting as well as an electric timer so I could tell my cooker when I wanted my rice to be ready (even if it was the next day). To its credit, my rice cooker makes perfect brown rice but I find I'm too forgetful to remember to use the timer feature so I could have gotten away with a cheaper model like this rice cooker. My rice cooker also bake cakes and works as a slow cooker, so that's pretty cool, though admittedly I've never used either feature. I could cook my rice in my pressure cooker but I find the rice cooker does the best job and I also use my rice cooker to cook quinoa on the "white rice" setting. No cooking grains on the hot stove in the summer for me! :) Check out my post (with a video!) about how to cook grains ahead in your rice cooker and freeze for easy reheating. Electric Steamer ($39.99, or less) This was the first "appliance" I ever purchased and it's a great option for those on a budget. I found mine on sale for $20.00 at Kohls and also happened to have a 20% off coupon!  Our first apartment stove was so small that I couldn't fit more than 1 small pot and a skillet on my stove at a time. I bought the steamer so I could cook my vegetables passively on the counter while I prepared other components of our meal. I quickly realized how great it was in the summer: I could steam all my veggies — even potatoes(!) — without heating my stove or oven. I gave mine to a friend when I purchased the pressure cooker, but I used it daily for ye

When I picked up some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes at my local greengrocer I knew immediately I wanted to make a Heirloom Tomato Salad with them. Some ingredients are best enjoyed simply, and this is certainly true of tomatoes in my opinion, especially heirloom tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes lack a genetic mutation that is present in common tomatoes that provide that uniform red colour we are so familiar with, but the lack [...] Delicieux's feed has moved. Please update your feed reader an subscribe to our new feed here.

I LOVE everything about this song. Listen intently, I hope it speaks to you as loudly as it speaks to me.

Post coming tomorrow! This week I'm a stop on the blog tour for Whole Grain Vegan Baking, so check back tomorrow for the review and give away!

Last Friday was National Bike to Work Day, and even though it was gloomy and drizzly on Friday in Memphis, my co-worker Mark Plumlee and I rode bikes to work anyway. We participate in Bike to Work Day every year.The ride from my Crosstown house to my downtown office takes about 45 minutes, and there are bike lanes for much of the drive. Memphis has become incredibly bike-friendly over the last two years with 55-plus miles of bike lanes added across the city. A few years ago, folks around here didn't know what a bike lane was! Not only has Memphis grown more bike-friendly, it's also become way more vegan-friendly (as I'm sure you can tell in my Bluff City Vegan Eats series posts). Portland of the South? Not quite yet. I'd give that distinction to Atlanta or Austin. But we're getting there for sure. Case in point: the Hunger Monkey food truck.Every year, there's a little Bike to Work Day festival at lunch time in Court Square. Typically, there's live music and food trucks and lots of cyclists hanging out. But since it's rained, hardly anyone showed up at this year's fest. Mark and I were there though. And so was Dawn Vinson, Bike to Work Day's Memphis organizer (who also happens to be vegan!). And guess who else was there? A vegan-friendly food truck!Hunger Monkey is a new truck. It's only been on the streets for a few weeks, but I'd read about it on the Hungry Memphis blog. They serve meat, but they have plenty of vegan options. There's a vegan pasta dish, hummus and pita, and all the veggie sides are vegan. You can make a plate of four sides for $8. So that's what I did.There's Couscous with Tomatoes and Basil, Roasted Okra, Cooked Collards and Kale, and a Kale and Orzo Salad.The roasted okra was AMAZING! As much as I adore fried okra, I have to admit that I think I love roasted okra more (here's my recipe). These guys season theirs with a spicy Cajun-like seasoning. So good.The kale and orzo salad was also amazing. The raw kale was massaged, and I liked how there were more veggies than grains. And the couscous was fantastic (but I did have to add some extra salt). The cooked greens, which are buried under the okra in this picture, were really tasty too. They were slow-cooked, Southern-style greens, and there were little mushrooms chopped up in there.With a good 30-minute bike ride home ahead of me, it was nice to fuel up on fresh veggies rather than something fake meaty or fried (my usual go-to dining out fare).If you're in Memphis and you'd like to find where Hunger Monkey will be parked next, check their Facebook page.

Some people are born controversial, some achieve controversy, and others have controversy thrust upon them. I assume that by now most of you have heard the rumors about Toronto’s illustrious mayor Rob Ford.  It seems, allegedly, that there is an alleged video of the alleged mayor smoking some alleged crack cocaine with two alleged drug [...]

Brunch: Tofu Benedict over Biscuits and Walnut Chocolate Scone with Plum Jam

Cinnamon Focaccia for Victoria Day brunch-- see below for details I'm working on my flatbread experiments, plus a recipe for a virtual potluck blog post this coming Thursday, and testing a recipe or two for another author friend -- delayed due to 4 lovely days of family visiting. My youngest daughter and her husband and son came from Vancouver to stay for the whole long weekend. We don't get to see them very often, so it was wonderful to spend time with them, despite the variable weather. My daughter's siblings all came to spend time, as well, on different days. So, there was lots of conversation and, of course eating. Several days ahead, I made some of my no-knead crusty bread dough (4 loaves-worth) to store in the refrigerator and bake fresh when we needed it. It came in handy! Most of the meals I made over the weekend were decided on pretty much on the spot because my plans to make up the menus ahead of time were thwarted by time taken up by shopping, cleaning house, etc. (that's my excuse, anyway!). But we managed to eat well, nonetheless. I should have taken more pictures of the food, but I forgot to most of the time, in the rush to get everything on the table at the same time and everyone to the table,etc. But here are a few pics and menus... For Friday night, my husband made his famous spaghetti sauce, so we had delicious pasta and green salad and crusty no-knead bread (from my book "World Vegan Feast") for dinner, and Chocolate Mudpie Cake with vegan Coffee Buttercream Icing for a little birthday celebration for my youngest grandson, who turned 9 a few days earlier. Homemade crusty no-knead bread Saturday morning we all had whatever we felt like for breakfast-- whether it be toast, cereal, fruit, etc., along with my husband's great coffee for lattes. My daughter brought me a big bag of whole yellow dried peas from Vancouver (they are expensive around here, when you can find them), so I made some of my vegan French Canadian-Style Pea Soup for lunch... We had what my son-in-law termed a "truly Canadian multi-cultural meal", since the soup was accompanied by Armenian flatbread that they brought from Vancouver, along with my homemade hummus and Turkish Muhammara (a delicious roasted red pepper, walnut, garlic and pomegranate molasses spread from my book "The Fiber for Life Cookbook"). We visited friends in the afternoon (sharing some of the leftover birthday cake with them), and before I knew it, it was dinnertime! We had more pasta, in the form of bowtie pasta (farfalle) in a vegan creamy sauce with mushrooms, Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage vegan sausage and Soy Curls, wine, fresh spinach, garlic, basil and vegan parmesan, with some Daiya mozza stirred in. It turned out very well for a made-up-on-the-spot dish. Sunday was a glorious sunny day! After a another simple breakfast (too much food the day before!), my oldest daughter came over from our sister island to the east, and we headed out for a family hike with the dogs. The island is so green and lush right now and we saw eagles, hawks and ravens and, I hope, walked off a few calories! Grampa and youngest grandson leading the family hike on Sunday Ringo sunning his belly on a sunny Sunday afternoon... Lunch on Sunday was a spicy beans soup with sweet potato and kale, from this blog, which I made with red beans instead of blackeyed peas this time, along with more crusty bread... Cousins playing cards... Sunday's dinner was steamed brown basmati rice with two stir-fries-- asparagus, onions, portobello mushrooms and marinated tofu in a vegan "oyster sauce" (actually made with mushrooms)-flavored cooking sauce, and a spicy Chinese mock "roast duck" and bell pepper dish with black bean sauce. This morning we had a brunch with my daughter and 3 granddaughters coming over from "the big island" (Vancouver island) and my son

Cinnamon Focaccia for Victoria Day brunch-- see below for details I'm working on my flatbread experiments, plus a recipe for a virtual potluck blog post this coming Thursday, and testing a recipe or two for another author friend -- delayed due to 4 lovely days of  family visiting. My youngest daughter and her husband and son came from Vancouver to stay for the whole long weekend.  We don't get to see them very often, so it was wonderful to spend time with them, despite the variable weather.  My daughter's siblings all came to spend time, as well, on different days.  So, there was lots of conversation and, of course eating. Several days ahead, I made some of my no-knead crusty bread dough (4 loaves-worth) to store in the refrigerator and bake fresh when we needed it.  It came in handy!  Most of the meals I made over the weekend were decided on pretty much on the spot because my plans to make up the menus ahead of time were thwarted by time taken up by shopping, cleaning house, etc. (that's my excuse, anyway!).  But we managed to eat well, nonetheless. I should have taken more pictures of the food, but I forgot to most of the time, in the rush to get everything  on the table at the same time and everyone to the table,etc.  But here are a few pics and menus... For Friday night, my husband made his famous spaghetti sauce, so we had delicious pasta and green salad and crusty no-knead bread (from my book "World Vegan Feast") for dinner, and Chocolate Mudpie Cake with vegan Coffee Buttercream Icing for a little birthday celebration for my youngest grandson, who turned 9 a few days earlier. Homemade crusty no-knead bread Saturday morning we all had whatever we felt like for breakfast-- whether it be toast, cereal, fruit, etc., along with my husband's great coffee for lattes. My daughter brought me a big bag of whole yellow dried peas from Vancouver (they are expensive around here, when you can find them), so I made some of my vegan French Canadian-Style Pea Soup for lunch... We had what my son-in-law termed a "truly Canadian multi-cultural meal", since the soup was accompanied by Armenian flatbread that they brought from Vancouver, along with my homemade hummus and Turkish Muhammara (a delicious roasted red pepper, walnut, garlic and pomegranate molasses spread from my book "The Fiber for Life Cookbook").  We visited friends in the afternoon (sharing some of the leftover birthday cake with them), and before I knew it, it was dinnertime!  We had more pasta, in the form of bowtie pasta (farfalle) in a vegan creamy sauce with mushrooms, Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage vegan sausage and Soy Curls, wine, fresh spinach, garlic, basil and vegan parmesan, with some Daiya mozza stirred in.  It turned out very well for a made-up-on-the-spot dish. Sunday was a glorious sunny day!  After a another simple breakfast (too much food the day before!), my oldest daughter came over from our sister island to the east, and we headed out for a family hike with the dogs.  The island is so green and lush right now and we saw eagles, hawks and ravens and, I hope, walked off a few calories! Grampa and youngest grandson leading the family hike on Sunday Ringo sunning his belly on a sunny Sunday afternoon...  Lunch on Sunday was a spicy beans soup with sweet potato and kale, from this blog, which I made with red beans instead of blackeyed peas this time, along with more crusty bread... Cousins playing cards...   Sunday's dinner was steamed brown basmati rice with two stir-fries-- asparagus, onions, portobello mushrooms and marinated tofu in a vegan "oyster sauce" (actually made with mushrooms)-flavored cooking sauce, and a spicy Chinese mock "roast duck" and bell pepper dish with black bean sauce. This morning we had a brunch with my daughter and 3 granddaught

Uncle Sam Cereal and Almond Milk for breakfast. Intense tiny flakes. A little bit goes a long way.Cucumber and Cream Cheese on a Toasted Everything Bagel for lunch. A lot goes a little way.Field Roast Celebration Roast with Imagine Mushroom Gravy and Roasted Cauliflower for dinner. Just right.The other half a piece of Sweet & Natural Carrot Cake for dessert. Hard to believe I always hated Carrot Cake till the last year or so. Carrot was the Cake that was always thrust upon me at social functions. When served free choice, it's so much better.Will I get my *ss into my cube tomorrow? If so, that will certainly impact my meals.