Hello September

Today was a beautiful grey day here in Los Angeles. While we didn’t have much of a summer, I’m ecstatic about the arrival of fall. Why? Because fall is the best. The best time to get baking away. And of course Halloween is just around the corner. I can’t contain my excitement.

With Labor day off, I wanted to spend some time in the kitchen. I made the Cauliflower and Mushroom Pot Pie from Veganomicon. This is the perfect recipe for the transition from summer to fall.

This pot pie is  full of fresh fragrant vegetables with a good dose of spices. While the pot pie is leaning towards the heartiness of fall, the vegetables still have a hint of summer.

Check out all that cauliflower. This pie is packed with it. It cooks down to a soft and insanely delicious treat. It meshes greatly with the mushroom and other veggies.

The pie is topped with a biscuit like olive crust. The savory crust is salty and crunchy and a nice contrast to the soft veggies; all in all, wonderfully balanced. While this pot pie is fairly large, Shawn and I were able to finish it off in one sitting. It’s that good, and not overly filling.

Ok, now back to that giveaway. I couldn’t have made this pot pie without the help of my Dutch oven. Well I guess I could have but it wouldn’t have been nearly as simple. But let’s not kid around, these guys aren’t cheap. Cookware.com has offered to give a $70 gift card to one lucky reader (which doesn’t quite pay for a dutch oven, but would definitely make one affordable).  The great thing is that you can buy anything on their site…or any of their affiliated sites, like AllModern.com or 200 other sites. That’s a lot of options.

All you have to do is comment on this post before midnight on September 13th. If you want another chance to win, follow me on twitter (and make sure to mention it in your comment). I’ll pick a winner at random when the giveaway closes. Good luck!

Update

And we have a winner! Congratulations to Meghan! She’s gonna get to go on a fancy shopping spree. Yay!

Spork Foods

A few weeks ago I went to one of the vegan cooking classes at Spork Foods. For father’s day I gave my dad a choice of any class and he picked the Mediterranean  menu. Of course, on the day, I forgot to bring a camera.

I was so enamored with everything that was made, I had to make some of it for Shawn a few days later. I chose the gazpacho, as it was a perfect cool treat for summer. Filled with veggies and rich flavors, I’ve never had a gazpacho so good.

When I received the upcoming class schedule from the Sporkies a day or so ago, I thought I should post something because all the classes look so freaking good. There’s a Italian gluten free class with Cashew Cream Fettuccine Alfredo with Spinach and Pesto Crusted Tempeh Fillets. There’s a Southern Comfort food class with Fried Green Tomatoes and Sweet Potato Biscuits and Gravy. Not to mention a Local Seasonal Fall class with Spiced beer-soaked figs stuffed with a creamy ricotta and Seitan Wellington with a Creamy Spinach Sauce. Does that not sound amazing?

I seriously want to go to all these classes. The Spork Food classes are so much fun. You really learn so many little tips and details about nutrition. The Spork sisters make me want to be a better person. I’m not kidding. Plus the food is all so fresh and inspiring, and of course you get to eat it in the end. Their classes are also great for bringing your friends and family to show them how great vegan cooking can be. Trust me, they will be impressed. Or if you need some vegan cooking tips yourself, these classes are super helpful.

Anyway, go check them out. I highly recommend their classes, and their new space is West Hollywood is great.

I should also add, they didn’t ask me to post this, nor am I getting anything from it, I just genuinely think they’re great and want to support an awesome vegan business.

meow

I haven’t cooked a thing in quite awhile. Nor made anything of significance. I’ve been awfully sick. That “I can’t get off the couch or do anything at all” kind of sick.

Luckily I’m feeling better, but not quite better enough to make something to share.

Instead, I’m going to make it up to you by sharing my cats. Because, well, they make me happy and forget about what ails me. And they’re damn cute. Also, since I changed the layout on Cute and Delicious they aren’t up on the header anymore and I think they deserve an appearance.

This is Mochi (the grey fluffy one) and Meeme (the white and stripey one) on the day we brought them home from the animal shelter.

I just want to say that if anyone ever tries to tell you that there is something wrong with shelter animals they are insane. These darlings are just precious and actually more affectionate, well behaved and friendly than many cats out there. Not to mention that adopting from the shelter was insanely easy and SAVES A LIFE (or two). In other words, I recommend it.

I poured over the LA animal services website for weeks in anticipation of getting these little critters. Ultimately we just went to the shelter and met a few of the cats. It wasn’t easy going into a room full of sweet cats that needed homes and choosing who to take home. We knew we wanted to get two though, so they would always have company. When we found out Meeme & Mochi were sisters, we knew they were the ones.

They are my little babies. Even when they drive me bonkers I just adore them. Meeme, likes to knock stuffed animals onto our heads around 5 or 6 am so I will get up and feed her. She’s a little bit of a crybaby and will sometimes follow me around meowing. Mochi likes to run around our apartment at lightning speed demolishing whatever gets in her path, including, on many occasion, me.  She’s also amazing at sitting down in exactly the spot that will block the entire screen if you are watching a movie, usually right in front of your face.

But even those things that might irritate some people I find endearing. Not to mention the other adorable things they do. They both love to play fetch, especially with aluminum foil balls (or yarn pom poms in Meeme’s case). They love to snuggle on top of our china cabinet, or in their scratch lounge. They are the sweetest, snuggliest cats and I just love them. I love that they both have completely different personalities. I love that they’re always waiting at the door when I come home. I love that I can just scoop them up and give them a hug always.

Since they’re from the shelter, we don’t know exactly when their birthday is, except that they were about four months old when we got them on January 2nd. So that makes them two now! My little girls are all grown up! Ok, thanks for letting me be the crazy cat lady for a little bit. I’ll be back with some treats soon.

Figs!

My experience with figs has been limited almost exclusively to fig newtons. I just wanted to get that out of the way.

Then out of nowhere, I just really wanted to try figs. Perhaps it was because I was being bombarded with yummy fig ideas.

First it was a fig and cheese sandwich I saw at a restaurant (although it wasn’t vegan). Then I came across this recipe. When I passed a box of fresh figs at the market, I had to buy them.

So the sandwich. It’s just a basic grilled cheeze with some sliced figs inside and a bit of spicy mustard just for fun. So good! I may have had a few of these. And by that, I mean I did. Cheesy and delicious with just a hint of sweetness from the figs.

Next up was the fig upside down cake. Part of what excited me about this recipe was making a cake in the cast iron skillet I just recently acquired. I’m a big fan of any multi-use cookware. Not to mention for those of you looking for a little more iron in your diet, cooking in an iron skillet will actually add some iron into your food. See, cake can have health benefits!

The cake was delicious; decadently sweet with a rich brown sugar flavor. I opted to make my own brown sugar by mixing molasses into regular granulated sugar,which definitely gave the cake it’s own distinct flavor (and more iron!).  I probably could have let it cool a bit longer so the figs were not so juicy when I flipped it, but it’s not always easy waiting for cake. Topped with coconut whipped cream, this easy cake could be a treat on a night in or a fancy dessert for guests.

Vegan Fig Upside Down Cake

adapted from here

• 1 1/2 pounds fresh figs, stemmed and quartered
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 ounces Earth Balance
• 1 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1 Tbsp molasses
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2  cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2  teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix figs and sugar in a bowl and set aside. Melt the Earth Balance in an iron skillet on medium heat. When it is warm, add the figs and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.

Beat the vinegar into the almond milk until frothy and set aside. Mix the oil and sugar until combined. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, using a whisk. Combine the sugar, dry ingredients, and soy milk. Mix until there are few lumps.

Pour the batter over the figs in the skillet. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes. Invert on plate and serve.

I highly recommend adding some whipped coconut cream topping.

August 10th

I might get in a little bit of trouble for this post, but I just can’t contain myself.

Three years ago today I met the man I’m going to marry.

That’s him up top, his name is Shawn if you hadn’t caught on yet. He is also known as Studiodrome. These days you might know him as Little Vegan Planet.

Here’s the setting…it’s the second Friday Midnight Ridazz ride. The Clown Ride to be specific. Hundreds of cyclists swarm the streets of Los Angeles from downtown to, in this case, mid-Wilshire. Here we are stopped at a 7-11 to refuel. This photo in particular doesn’t quite grasp the magnitude of how many of us there are. I’m going to say this was during the second golden age of MR.

We met on this fateful night moments after I caught him taking this photo above.  I tried to get out of the frame, and he told me I wasn’t in the photo. Obviously that wasn’t quite true. I kind of love that there is a photo of the moment we first saw each other.

The next day he broke all the rules and asked me out. In fact, he asked me to go get ice cream at Scoops. How could I say no?

So we met up, ate ice cream and talked for a long time. I found out he was vegan too (major bonus points), was crazy about movies just like me and of course, loved riding bikes. I honestly couldn’t believe how much we had in common.

Since then, everyday our life together gets a little more awesome.  We love Halloween. We love spending a whole day (or weekend) watching movies and eating vegan pizza. We love dressing up like zombies. We love biking around every city we visit. You might find us taking photos of all the food we eat.  Or you might find us hanging out and snuggling our cats, Meeme and Mochi.

Last summer we wrote and shot a feature film together…Brainwashed Love. It was by far the craziest, most stressful and most awesome thing I’ve ever done. I know it was only possible because we did it together. Not to mention the work we’ve done in the past year to make it as special as we can.

I wish I could put into words how awesome being with Shawn has made my life. I’m so happy and excited all the time. We get to do the coolest stuff. We get to do all the things that people are nervous about and not worry because we’re together.

I couldn’t be happier that in six short months we’re going to be getting married. I can’t wait for all the things our life together holds. Last night I stayed up late stamping save the dates. I can’t wait to show you guys some of the cool stuff we’re going to be putting together for our wedding, but for the moment it will have to stay under wraps. I promise, cool stuff ahead though.

So here are some old (but always good) photos to remind us of the past few years. It’s crazy that nearly the whole time we’ve been together Shawn has had a beard and now he doesn’t.

Happy Anniversary Shawn. I love you more than anything. xo