VeganMoFo: Mom Meals

Kitties are 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!  You can check out all the paintings I have created so far that are still for sale here! 

Cooler weather usually makes me turn to comfort food, and in turn, that usually means Mom-food.  You know, the food you will forever associate with your Mom or other parent/guardian type and what they used to make all the time for you as a kid. Goulash is totally one of those type of Mom-meals for me, just some basic elbow pasta, tomato sauce, onions, some sort of ground protein (I used Gimme Lean Sausage Style), and cheese (I used Daiya Mozzarella).  Bake it in the oven and everyone's tummy is happy.  Nik has let me know me that there are different types of Goulash out there, and his memory of it is completely different from mine (German-style vs. Italian-style).  Who knew!  We totally disagree on what Goulash is, but this is always "Goulash" in my eyes, and most definitely a Mom-food. 

VeganMoFo: Broccoli Dude

Broccoli Dude 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!  You can check out all the paintings I have created so far that are still for sale here! 

I've had a hankering for broccoli-cheddar soup ever since the leaves started falling off the trees here, and lo and behold I received a gigunda portion of broccoli in my CSA share last week.  It was meant to be!  For veggie soups, I like to roast or saute them with olive oil/salt/pepper first before I blend them all up.  I kept it broccoli basic, adding a couple of small potatoes to give the soup more body, and just lots of nooch, salt, pepper, and daiya cheddar to the mix.  Blended up until not smooth, but not gritty either.    I used the water from boiling the potatoes to thin it out. This was a quick weeknight meal, and I just tasted as I went until the flavors were YUM.  Totally made me want to pop my collar and dance like the 'lil broccoli dude up there.

VeganMoFo: Eggplant Parm

His specialty is Eggplant Parmesan!

Mister Bear Chef 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!  You can check out all the paintings I have created so far that are still for sale here! 

Oh eggplant parmesan, you are my ultimate comfort food.  Childhood dreams and all that jazz. I'm pretty specific about how it's put together though...

Requirements:  

1) Must salt eggplant beforehand to soften.  It's true. Skipping this step will result in chewier eggplant, and no one wants that (right?) Salting makes the texture dreamy.  Let your eggplant sit in a colander with salt tossed around on it until you are able to take a slice, squeeze it in your hand, and water drips out. If it's still stiff, resists bending, or just breaks in half, the salt has not finished it's magic yet. 

2) Breading makes everything better.  Whether you bread/fry or bread/bake the eggplant first, it makes the end result DELICIOUS.  I used a crunchier panko breading, with added italian spices to the mix. Also, peel that skin off the eggplant for maximum breading area!

3) More sauce is better than less sauce.  Not much is sadder than running out of sauce and having dry eggplant!

Best part: leftovers!

VeganMoFo: Graham Cake

Her specialty is vegan chocolate cake!

Baker Kitty 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!  You can check out all the paintings I have created so far that are still for sale here! 

So, um, I've been snacking on this amaazingly beautiful cake for the last few days, and I'm getting a little sad that it's almost gone.  This is the Graham Cracker Cake, from Celine and Joni's Hearty Vegan, and oh my goodness is it yummy.  A nice graham cracker flavored cake with chocolate chips speckled throughout, and topped with a whole lot of roasted marshmallow-y gooeyness (I used Dandies).  This would be an excellent cake to bring along and impress people at a picnic or potluck.

Melty mmmm...

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.