The not so Crispy Cat May 27, 2008

The other day Kala and I were in the uptown area of Minneapolis doing wedding stuff, and stopped at the Wedge Co-Op.  Kala had pointed out the Tree Huggin’ Treats Crispy Cat candy bar specifically the dark chocolate and peanut variety. Kala could not try it her self due to the product being made on shared equipment with dairy and the unpleasant reaction that would follow, so allergy sufferers beware.

On to the candy bar itself. The Crispy Cat is a smallish bar, the chocolate is not very dark in appearance looking more like a milk chocolate, and the taste leaves a bit to be desired no real richness or depth do it, its a bit like chocolate in some vegan energy bars, you can tell its chocolate, its just sort of mediocre at best. Inside the chocolate is the peanut rice filling. It had a good peanut taste but no real crunch to it (I was promised crispy!), it was very chewy. On the whole the bar reminded me a bit of the Whatchmacallit candy bars that were around in the 80’s in my child hood/pregan days.

I can’t give this product a glowing recommendation, but if you want a candy bar that is vegan it would be ok in a pinch.

–Shane

 photos: Kala

The Lazy Vegan: Frozen Burrito May 24, 2008

 

Today was kind of a long day so Shane and I decided to pick up something frozen from The Wedge for dinner.  He also got a peanut butter cup shake that I stole some sips off of, soooo goooood.  And I got an oatmeal pecan cookie.  Ok, back to the burrito.  This was the first time I’d tried this flavor, Red Hot Volcano from The Old City Cafe.  It promises to be “extra spicy!” and “red hot.”  Well, it’s Minnesota hot.  It’s good, it’s just not spicy. 

 

 

For a frozen burrito, it’s also not completely horrible for you, coming in at only 4 grams of fat and 8 grams of fiber.  All in all, I liked it and would have it again when I got that frozen burrito desire.   

 

-Kala   

Scramble-licious May 20, 2008

 

Tofu scramble, what’s not to love?  I adore tofu scramble but I’m usually not awake enough in the morning to make it, I’m sooooo not a morning person.  So it’s usually a lunch or dinner item around here.  But I slept in a nice long time today so I had the pep to scramble me up some tofu.  I’m not going to include a recipe because there are a lot of things that go in that I don’t measure, but I’ll list some of the ingredients:  tofu (duh), mushrooms, zucchini, green onions, turmeric, spices, hot sauce, lemon juice, soy sauce…. lot’s of stuff.  Some people put nutritional yeast in their scramble but I’m not a big fan of the stuff so I don’t put it in.  I like mine with a nice whole wheat tortilla and a good amount of chili sauce. 

-Kala 

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt May 17, 2008

 

When I was a kid, I loved frozen yogurt.  Peach was my favorite and now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever had strawberry.  But today we had soy yogurt and we had strawberries so I had to experiment.  The result is only a partial success.  I love the taste, slightly yogurty and not too sweet.  I just want the texture to be a bit more creamy and less sorbet-like. 

 

 

This will definitely take another try or two before I get the recipe where I want it.  But it’s still very tasty and the weather is finally appropriate for frozen treats!

Eccentric Hummus May 15, 2008

 

Or maybe Weirdo Hummus is a better name, I don’t know.  Anywho, I was starving like crazy and needed a quick snack before dinner (the boy is making bbq tempeh sammies, yum!) so hummus came to the rescue yet again.  Oh hummus, what can’t you do?  Being in an adventurous mood, I decided to play around with my standard recipe.  My first change was to add in a can of soybeans that have been sitting in the pantry for a while.  Straight out of the can, I can’t say I was impressed with the soybeans, and I usually love beans right out of the can.  But with everything else, they worked out nicely.  All in all, the hummus was tasty although it took a few bites for it to really grow on me. 

 

 

Eccentric Hummus

Ingredients:

• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can soybeans, drained and rinsed
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced (I would have used more but this is all we had)
• 2 TB lemon juice
• 2 TB tahini
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• handful of raw spinach
• big pinch of salt
• 3 TB chili garlic sauce like Sambal Olek

Instructions:

1. Throw everything into a food processor and process until smooth.  You may have to add in some water, depending on how thick and chunky you like your hummus.
2. Serve with tasty papadums!

 -Kala

Sesame Noodles May 14, 2008

Long long ago a friend and old roommate of mine, the panda, introduced me to the following equation: Tahini+Noodles+Spices=Yummy.  Over the years I have tweaked and adjusted the concept to include Mock Duck, red bell pepper and cilantro. It only improved a tasty dish, making it all most a proper meal although it does sort of walk that line of being junk food. Please enjoy the noodles in their food-pornographic glory.

–Shane           photos by Kala

Chocolate Sorbet May 10, 2008

 

I love chocolate.  And I love sorbet.  But really yummy chocolate sorbet is a bit hard to find, it can be too icy or really weak in it’s chocolate flavor.  Last night I decided to make some, actually I decided the day before that but we were out of chocolate chips.  After searching around a bit, I decided to use a chocolate sorbet recipe on Epicurious that was reprinted from the book Perfect Scoop:  Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz.  I haven’t seen this book before but I want to check it out now because this recipe was absolutely perfect.  Perfect!

 

 

It’s creamy and stays creamy even when it’s been in the freezer overnight, no need to wait for it to thaw out before you can devour it.  Of course now I’m thinking of variations for next time like chocolate raspberry, chocolate orange, Mexican hot chocolate…

-Kala     

Living Green Expo May 8, 2008

This last weekend, the Shane and I took the free bus trip out to the Living Green Expo at the fairgrounds.  It turned out to be a lot of fun and there was even vegan food to be had!  Here’s me at the hemp milk booth:

 

 

It was the first time I’d had hemp milk and it was pretty good.  I still favor soy but I think I liked it better than rice milk.  When lunch time rolled around, we opted for vegan pizza by the slice (who wouldn’t?)  It was from Galactic Pizza and it was awesome.

 

 

 

 

And, of course, we laughed at the people who were talking about how much they care about the environment while they were standing in this line:

 

 

  -Kala

Candy caliente!!!! May 4, 2008

It was my turn to take a run at something from My Sweet Vegan and I opted for the spicy peanut brittle. It was ever so easy, and it had been sooooo long since I made brittle(10th grade chemistry class to be exact). It was very tasty, although I did double the cayenne pepper in the recipe giving it more of a kick. Sadly it went very very fast.  This will be made again, maybe even soon.   –Shane

Photos by Kala

Sol Food May 3, 2008

Yeah, I couldn’t resist the cheezy title!  Cheezy why?  Cheezy because it’s about one of my favorite chain food places, Baja Sol.  If you don’t live in Minnesota you probably haven’t heard of Baja Sol, I know I hadn’t before I ended up here.  Think fast Mexican food made with fresh ingredients and best of all, free chips and salsa bar.  Here’s what we always get:

 

 

Two veggie tacos, baja style, and a side of black beans.  Yummilicious.  Yes, that is a word!  And with the AAA discount, it’s dinner for two at just under $11.  Hooray for cheap ass vegan food! 

Here’s a picture I took of the mister getting ready to dive into his tacos, note the dainty index finger in the air:

 

    

-Kala