24th Annual Lone Star Vegetarian Chili Cook-Off!

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Austin, chili, cookoff, Lonestar Vegetarian Chili Cookoff, NaBloPoMo, vegan, vegetarian

Today in Austin, the 24th Annual Lone Star Vegetarian Chili Cook-Off took place at the Burnet Road Farmers Market. If you’re from Texas, you may wonder what exactly goes into vegetarian chili when so many people here swear by one chili rule: NO BEANS. Well, this native Texan thinks that’s silly. Teams could enter into either category of chili: “Traditional” – chili made with a meat substitute (seitan, tempeh, etc.), or “All Veg” – chili made only of vegetables. This year there were nine Traditional and thirteen All Veg teams competing. Some were from restaurants and culinary schools!

I found out about this event through the Austin Food Bloggers Alliance because they wanted to have a team represent the group this year. Taylor Cook and James Seppi of Coseppi Kitchen (see what they did there?) volunteered to be that team. They are new to the group and have a great vegetarian blog!

Capital City Bakery Cupcake Polls!

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Austin, bakery, Capital City Bakery, cupcakes, election, NaBloPoMo, vegan

In the spirit of today’s big event, Capital City Bakery held a cupcake poll! This vegan bakery on wheels has been on my mental bucket list of places to try, so this was an excellent excuse to head on over there. Only doing my civic duty, right?

The polls were open from 11am-6pm and the cupcakes were available at the special price of $2 if you showed your “I voted!” sticker. I forgot to do this.

Spicy Purple and Sweet Potato Gratin with Coconut Milk

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chipotle, coconut milk, cooking, dairy-free, easy, gluten-free, healthy, kale, paleo, recipe, shallots, vegan, vegetarian

If I could go back in time to just last year, I would thank myself for one thing: coconut. I spent all my life hating it, but after putting myself through a year of trying it repeatedly, it’s quickly high-tailing it to my list of favorite things. I keep reminiscing about a recent coconut margarita, and have you experienced coconut ice cream? If not, change that ASAP.

Always seeking out new things to try, one of the most recent adventures involved the purple potato via a curry. Ever since then, I’ve been wanting to pair it with sweet potatoes. This may mostly be for aesthetic purposes because, come on, you know one of the main reasons you visit food blogs is for the food porn. However, the purple spuds are actually little antioxidant powerhouses which I thought would make an awesome duo with their also nutritious orange cousins.

Wordless Wednesday: Leap Smoothie

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banana, flax milk, peanut butter, smoothie, vegan

[frozen banana + peanut butter + flax milk]

For more WW, click here.

Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Quick Bread!

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baking, banana, chocolate, Daring Bakers, easy, quick bread, vegan

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

Goodness, it’s been quite dull around here! But what’s this? Today is the 27th. This is the Daring Bakers’ Challenge reveal date. I am posting on time! It’s highly possible that a pig just flew by.

Perhaps I was eager to give this Marbled Banana Bread a go. Banana + chocolate is always a winner, but this bread is special because it’s vegan! No eggs, milk, or butter were harmed in the making of this loaf, but I promise that they are not missed. The final product is very moist and flavorful, plus lower in fat and not too sweet. And my, what a looker!

The only vegan-y thing that the recipe calls for is almond milk which you can replace with any milk substitute (I used flax milk) or milk itself. All of the other ingredients are probably residing in your kitchen: ripe bananas, sugar, vanilla, oil, flour, baking soda, salt, unsweetened cocoa powder, and water. Convenient if you’re a non-vegan who has run out of eggs!

Spicy Almond Fudge Babies: My caveman self would totally scavenge for these.

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almonds, chocolate, dates, dessert, easy, fruit, gluten-free, nut, paleo, quick, raw, recipes, snack, vegan

Years ago, my bro-in-law went on the Paleo diet. Years ago, a lot of people thought this sounded kooky. “Paleo, as in Paleolithic? What, do you hunt for your food and cook it over a fire?” It sounded like a good, healthy way to eat, but imagining a world without cheese or bread made me sad. And then I went the vegetarian route. Cavemen didn’t eat tofu, apparently.

Now it seems like everyone is jumping on the Paleo wagon. Rachel just threw an engagement party for her little brother and his fiancee. When I asked if there was anything I could make, she said that most of her relatives were eating like cavemen! Always up for a challenge, I said I’d make a Paleo-friendly dessert and set off googling. The first hit (maybe due to my location?) was from the Austin Post for things called Fudge Babies by Chocolate-Covered Katie. After reading a bunch (okay, that’s being generous) of other possible recipes, Fudge Babies it was.

Sourdough Follow-Up: Second Spawn of Brutus

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baking, bread, Daring Bakers, French, starter, vegan, whole wheat, yeast

So my first attempt at sourdough (AKA the December Daring Bakers’ Challenge) was a bust, but I persevered! That night I started feeding Brutus the Starter again from Day 1. He developed a voracious appetite and grew so much more than in the first week!

After reading through all of the posts in the challenge reveal thread of the DB forum, I felt better knowing that others had some related problems. A few things were different this time around: I used my scale to measure everything while making the dough, and resisted the temptation to over-knead. The production leaven was definitely bigger and more bubbly, and the dough itself was more wet than last time, which is supposed to be a characteristic of sourdough. There were also a couple differences due to being in my kitchen rather than my parents’: this loaf is round (different proofing vessel!) and it was a whole new oven and slightly different climate.

I also crossed my fingers while the dough was resting.

Roasted Garlic Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

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appetizer, black-eyed peas, cooking, garlic, gluten-free, healthy, hummus, New Year's, party food, recipes, vegan

Do you eat anything special on New Year’s Eve/Day for good luck? My mom would always cook black-eyed peas (meh) and sauerkraut (no thanks!), which we’d have for dinner on the 31st. Come to think of it, shouldn’t it be a tradition on the 1st to start the year off with luck?

I don’t think of myself as a superstitious person, but do notice coincidences from time to time.

Two years ago I definitely didn’t have black-eyed peas for New Year’s because I had just made it to New Zealand. I’m not sure if they have them there, but am pretty sure that eating them for luck is a southern US thing. Anyway, aside from that amazing trip, the rest of the year was no good, partially because I was broke and bored: poor from the trip, and couldn’t find work (so I started a blog!). Last year I made this yummy black-eyed pea dip for a NYE party, and have to say that 2011 has been a much better year, at least in those areas. Hooray!

I just went ahead and tried an experiment with the things, and dang, what a win!

Chile Lime Peanuts

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chile, easy, gift, gluten-free, lime, Mexico, peanuts, recipe, savory, snack, spicy, vegan

What’s this? Five days until Christmas?

Of course I’m prepared!  Cookies are baked, presents are not only bought, but wrapped!  hahahahahaha!

Err, right… Tomorrow through Friday I’m going to be doing my annual stint with Trans-Siberian Orchestra which is kind of hampering my last-minute Christmas prep. This is the first day I’ve had off in about five weeks, so I feel less guilty and more helpless than anything. Whee!

If you’re stuck in a similar predicament, but still would like to make instead of purchase gifts, you can go the easy route and bake a lot of variously spiced nuts. Think of the people they’re for: do they like/dislike certain kinds of nuts and have a favorite cuisine? Pick a nut (or a mix) and a couple spices with some sort of liquid for glue, and you’re good!

Daring Cooks’ Challenge: Cooking with Tea!

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Asian, bok choy, cooking, miso, noodles, soup, tea, tofu, vegan, vegetarian

Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique!  We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

Cooking with tea?  Interesting…though I almost didn’t do this challenge.  The vegetarian recipe provided sounded good, but potentially bland.  I did it though, and my instincts were correct, to me at least.