VeganMoFo: It's Soup time!

Meet Acorn, the floppy bunny.  She's a sweetie with a streak of mischief in her.  Watch your garden closely!

Acorn is for sale here

Medium: Watercolor on heavy Arches paper
Size: Approximately 5"x7" (image size is 4"x6")
Will fit in 5"x7" frame! Signed on back.

Note: I am doing a painting-a-day challenge for VeganMoFo, and will be creating a new painting of rescue animals or vegan food throughout the month of October, and placing them for sale. All proceeds (minus shipping) will be donated to For the Animals Sanctuary, because they are a pretty super-great non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary, in Blairstown NJ, and are vegan owned and operated. Feeding, housing, and taking care of these animals costs a lot of money, and as a non-profit organization, they rely entirely on donations. Hopefully (with your help!), I'll be able to make a size-able donation at the end of the month!

This was one of those use-up-old-veggies kind of soups.  I had some carrots, an acorn squash, a bunch of cloves of garlic, and an onion that I chopped up, drizzled in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted in the oven for about 30 minutes on 400F or until tender.  I then threw them all in my blender with a can of coconut milk, and heated it up on the stove top until hot.  More salt/pepper to taste and a little bit of sriracha hot sauce for a kick and voila!  I liked the creaminess and thickness of this, but you could add some veggie broth or water to it thin out.

VeganMoFo: Homemade Tofu

Tofu! is for sale here

Medium: Watercolor on heavy Arches paper
Size: Approximately 8"x8" (image size is 7"x7")
Will fit in 8"x8" frame! Signed on back.

Note: I am doing a painting-a-day challenge for VeganMoFo, and will be creating a new painting of rescue animals or vegan food throughout the month of October, and placing them for sale. All proceeds (minus shipping) will be donated to For the Animals Sanctuary, because they are a pretty super-great non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary, in Blairstown NJ, and are vegan owned and operated. Feeding, housing, and taking care of these animals costs a lot of money, and as a non-profit organization, they rely entirely on donations. Hopefully (with your help!), I'll be able to make a size-able donation at the end of the month!

Soak your beans overnight!

I may have mentioned that I bought a soy milk maker and tofu box awhile back, and I have been happily making my own almond and soy milk and tofu ever since.  Both are such staples in my diet, that it was a no-brainer for me to invest in both, for environmental reasons and saving money reasons.  As long as you remember to soak your beans or nuts the night before, it is pretty minimal effort that you have to put in.  I thought I would give a basic tutorial of the steps that go into making tofu.  This is the Soy/Nut/Rice milk maker that I bought and the tofu box also. 

Add soybeans and fill with water to line inside.  Plug in and push button. Ta-da!

Machine beeps when soymilk is ready.  Pour into strainer into pitcher (both came with machine).   You are left with the okara (which is super-nutritious!  There are lots of recipes around that use this up)  I will usually make two batches of soymilk to put into the tofu box at once. 

Add a tsp. of Nigari (magnesium chloride) to 1 cup hot water and slowly pour into soymilk.  The tofu box that I bought came with Nigari crystals, but I just recently ran out (they lasted a LONG time).  I found this weird liquid version at a local Asian store. 

Weird separation occurs as the curd/whey do their thing.

Pour into cheesecloth lined tofu box and let slowly drain.  Once most of the liquid is gone, wrap up cheesecloth and put a heavy weight on lid and let sit for 10 minutes or so.   I'm aware that this photo looks totally gross.  

Magic tofu! Yum! 

VeganMoFo: Conan and Jalapeno Poppers

Meet Conan. This dapper young fellow will wallop you at a game of chess, without blinking an eye, but will also lend a sympathetic listening ear for all of his dear friends. That Conan, he's a swell guy. 

Conan is for sale here

Medium: Watercolor on heavy Arches paper
Size: Approximately 8"x8" (image size is 7"x7")
Will fit in 8"x8" frame! Signed on back.

I was going for a Pomeranian puppy here, but he's kinda foxy too!

Note: I am doing a painting-a-day challenge for VeganMoFo, and will be creating a new painting of rescue animals or vegan food throughout the month of October, and placing them for sale. All proceeds (minus shipping) will be donated to For the Animals Sanctuary, because they are a pretty super-great non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary, in Blairstown NJ, and are vegan owned and operated. Feeding, housing, and taking care of these animals costs a lot of money, and as a non-profit organization, they rely entirely on donations. Hopefully (with your help!), I'll be able to make a size-able donation at the end of the month!

So Nik has had this idea for awhile, that we need to have a double-header night watching both of the old Conan movies (Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer).  I resisted for a really long time, but finally gave in to appease the masses (and by masses, I mean Nik.)  I decided to make a fun dinner to go along with it, to make it interesting for myself.  Jalapeno poppers have been in the back of my head for awhile on the "must make soon" list, and when we scored a whole punch of jalapenos in our CSA recently, it was a no-brainer.  I upped the yum-factor, by pickling the jalapeno about a week before I was going to use them for poppers.  I didn't really follow a recipe to pickle them, but just kept it basic with equal parts vinegar and water, plus salt and peppercorns.  For the filling, most vegan recipes on the old internet suggest tofutti cream cheese, which I usually think is pretty gross so I nixed that idea.  I love the cashew cheese from Veganomicon, so I made a batch of that and added in a bunch of the pepperjack Daiya to the mix.  I cut the pickled jalapenos in half, filled each side, and rolled the tops in some panko for some added crunchiness.  I sprayed them with some olive oil and baked for about 20 minutes (flipping half way through) on 400 degrees F.   I had onions and potatoes laying around, so I went for the fried gold medal and made onion rings and baked potatoes too (new fave method, slicing potatoes and drizzling olive oil on top and baking.)  We had fresh sweet corn and some cantaloupe to balance out the breaded extravaganza. 

Oh, and Conan the Barbarian was terrible.  Our copy actually stopped working about 3/4 of the way through, and I was so relieved.  Unfortunately, Nik is master downloader and had a new copy about 20 minutes later.  I refused to watch the second one!

VeganMoFo Day 04: Soy and Sake

Veggie Sushi is the best.  One of my favorite vegan NYC restaurants is Soy and Sake, where their specialty is vegan sushi (plus a whole lot of other things).  I went out with a friend there recently, and we pretty much inhaled everything.   We ordered the Rock Shrimp Tempura as an appetizer (because it's my absolute favorite and I order it everytime I go there).  For my main course, I went for the Soy chicken tempura bento box (!! HUGE !!)  I definitely couldn't finish this, but hey, leftovers are awesome!  

Today's charity painting is a veggie themed one, because veggie sushi can be super-creative and impressive and I felt like saying HOORAY FOR VEGGIES.  

Happy Veggies painting for sale here.

Medium: Watercolor on heavy Arches paper
Size: Approximately 8"x8" (image size is 7"x7")
Will fit in 8"x8" frame! Signed on back.

Note: I am doing a painting-a-day challenge for VeganMoFo, and will be creating a new painting of rescue animals or vegan food throughout the month of October, and placing them for sale. All proceeds (minus shipping) will be donated to For the Animals Sanctuary, because they are a pretty super-great non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary, in Blairstown NJ, and are vegan owned and operated. Feeding, housing, and taking care of these animals costs a lot of money, and as a non-profit organization, they rely entirely on donations. Hopefully (with your help!), I'll be able to make a size-able donation at the end of the month!

The Rock Shrimp Tempura appetizer. Possibly my favorite appetizer of all time.

Soy Chicken and Veggie Tempura Bento box, with miso soup, california roll, edamame, dumplings, salad. YUM. 

VeganMoFo Day 03: Lemon Cake!

It's happy cake time! Nik's birthday was last week, and though I would have loved to make him a super rainbow layer cake, he's more of a lemon and vanilla kind of dude.  Delicious though!  I used the vanilla cupcake and lemon buttercream out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, with lotsa extra added lemon zest and juice. 

Super-happy rainbow cake is for sale here. 

Medium: Watercolor on heavy Arches paper
Size: Approximately 8"x8" (image size is 7"x7")
Will fit in 8"x8" frame! Signed on back.

Note: I am doing a painting-a-day challenge for VeganMoFo, and will be creating a new painting of rescue animals or vegan food throughout the month of October, and placing them for sale. All proceeds (minus shipping) will be donated to For the Animals Sanctuary, because they are a pretty super-great non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary, in Blairstown NJ, and are vegan owned and operated. Feeding, housing, and taking care of these animals costs a lot of money, and as a non-profit organization, they rely entirely on donations. Hopefully (with your help!), I'll be able to make a size-able donation at the end of the month!

VeganMoFo Day 02: Ollie

Add caption

Meet Ollie!  Ollie loves sitting in high places, sprawling in the afternoon sun, and just generally being a rascal.  He's a young kitty, but struts like a full-grown tiger and knows how to play the cute card to get attention.  Nachos and a good veggie burger (with actual veggies in it) are his fave.  If there are sweet potato fries around, he will come a'running.  Ollie wants to find a happy home with a super-great person who can also tell great jokes.

Adopt Ollie here!

***Details***
Medium: Watercolor on heavy Arches paper
Size: Approximately 8"x8" (image size is 7"x7")
Will fit in 8"x8" frame! Signed on back.

Note: I am doing a painting-a-day challenge for VeganMoFo, and will be creating a new painting of rescue animals or vegan food throughout the month of October, and placing them for sale.  All proceeds will be donated to For the Animals Sanctuary, because they are a super-great non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary, in Blairstown NJ, and are vegan owned and operated.  Feeding, housing, and taking care of these animals costs a lot of money, and as a non-profit organization, they rely entirely on donations.  Hopefully (with your help!), I'll be able to make a size-able donation at the end of the month!

I just got back from an extended weekend away in Washington D.C. and I'm still in vacation recovery mode, but I thought I would show one of my favorite meals I had there.  Nik and I went to Busboys and Poets our first night there, and we shared an epic vegan nacho platter, followed by a pretty gigunda veggie burger with sweet potato fries.  No, I couldn't finish it!  Darn if I tried though...

Both were delicious! The burger really reminded me of Campbells veggie soup (like, from the can), which was odd, but completely delicious.  The nacho platter was masterfully made, with alternating layers, so we weren't left with a pile of soggy chips at the end (win!)  I automatically order sweet potato fries whenever they are on a menu because they are my fave!  These didn't disappoint and were super crispy and sweet.   We had Thai food and pizza (they had Daiya mozzarella there!) the other two nights, but it was dark in both places, so no photos.   Super-yummy all around!

Vegan burger and SWEET POTATO FRIES from Busboys and Poets, in Washington D.C.

Epic vegan nachos from Busboys and Poets, in Washington D.C.

VeganMofo Time!

Squee!  Brutus and Abbie, photo from For the Animals Sanctuary

It's time for VeganMofo again!  I'm super-excited to participate for my 3rd year in a row, and I'm doing something a little bit different this year.  Usually I will paint cute little food or animal paintings that go along with my daily meals or recipes (you can see some past examples here and here and here).  I'm still going to be doing this, BUT I decided to go a little bit further this year and put the paintings up for sale and give all the proceeds from this to a charity.  I've chosen to donate to For the Animals Sanctuary, because they are a pretty super-great non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary, in Blairstown NJ, and are vegan-owned.  Feeding, housing, and taking care of these animals costs a lot of money, and as a non-profit organization, they rely entirely on donations.  Hopefully (with your help!) I'll be able to make a sizeable donation at the end of the month!   I will be making original watercolor paintings of a mix of cute 'lil animals and my goofy food characters, and will be in the $25-45 range (depending on complexity, size, time it took, etc.)  I ran into a bit of a conundrum for this first day of mofo, since I'm actually in Washington D.C. at the moment, so the first painting will go up tomorrow (along with some tasty DC eats I've been enjoying) when I'm back home!  Excited!

Happy VeganMoFo!

xo,

Michelle

Crafty Bastards! D.C.!

So I'm heading to Washington D.C. this weekend for Crafty Bastards, and I'm pretty excited about it.  I've only been to D.C. once before, during the Inauguration, and I can't wait to properly explore the city and take part in what is shaping up to being an amazing craft fair.   If you are in the D.C. area, I would absolutely LOVE it if you came and introduced yourself to me!  And, if you have any can't-miss tips for things I should do/eat in D.C. (I am already pretty excited for Sticky Fingers Bakery...), that would be much appreciated.

I will be at booth #163, in the tennis court area.  Also,  if you are so inclined, I would love it if you voted me "Craftiest Bastard."  I could win some pretty sweet swag!  Thank you!

xo,
Michelle