Fun With Your Food

Thank you for your bday wishes! I’ve been enjoying my visit home and I hope every one’s holidays have been as good as mine



Dessert first, as always, vegan chocolate sour cherry loaf with chunks of dark chocolate. A week or two ago I took a quick breads class and this was my favorite I instantly knew that I was making it for Thanksgiving.

Okay this is the last time (I think) I’ll post cashew cream but this really tops of the heavy thick chocolate loaf very nicely so it HAD TO be done.

Lightly curried sweet potato & tempeh filling for my sweet potato pastry puffs.

Fresh from our oven: Sweet potato & tempeh pastry puff (any ideas for names on this one? not sure I like this name.)

How fantastic is this retro serving platter I found at my grandma’s place? I wish I had a house full of random retro plates!

I swear I didn’t eat the whole sweet potato casserole…. Yet

Sweet potatoes topped with cinnamon maple syrup and pecans. I noticed some family members picking at this dish and munching the pecan topping. That’s a success in my book.

MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT. A chef’s jacket that has my name embroidered on it. Best. Present. Ever.

How was your holiday?

Teddy

Tomorrow is my birthday folks… I am packing for my trip home and NOT cooking today

But you can expect to see some bday treats soon!


Teddy

This weekend was the annual vegan thanksgiving brunch at the Natural Epicurean. Now there was a LOT of food (enough for 3 posts). Once again, I will focus on my favorites, which I just realized are all the sweets. Is anyone surprised by that?? haha
ABC news stopped by this year. Cameras seemed to be going off everywhere and several people were interviewed. I haven’t found the article from ABC yet so if anyone sees it, let me know!

The menu included:
Tempeh stuffing, wild rice pilaf, millet mash and wild mushroom gravy, fresh sauteed greens, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. Warm kukicha apple cider and organic sparkling apple cider were served as well.

Look at me all chef-like, I LOVE it. Scott and I were the “live” chefs. We sauteed fresh picked greens as people came by and offered a rich tahini lemon sauce to top them off.

Each item had a sweet potato card label holder. What a brilliant and adorable idea. I wish I could claim it was mine but I DID cut those sweet potatoes haha

Our greens with radish flowers on top.

Maple pecan sweet potato casserole was my absolute favorite dish of the meal. It’s so sweet that it’s a dessert and that’s perfectly ok with me!

2nd favorite item is the gluten free pumpkin pies. I stayed up past midnight finishing some of these 7 pies at my house the night before. I gave myself a nasty burn by accidentally hitting the hot oven. I’m quite impressed that I’ve been cooking for about 5 months now and only burned myself once. There was a lot of love and time put into them. Plus they’re topped off with cashew cream

Plated pumpkin pie

Cranberry sauce: a requirement at a thanksgiving feast.

If you’re ever in Austin around thanksgiving time come to our feast. I think I’ve provided sufficient proof that it’s well worth the cost! Plus if you want to learn how to make any of these we provide a “how-to” session before we feast.

Teddy

This weekend I am cooking at the Natural Epicureans annual vegan thanksgiving brunch. Look at the insanity of my schedule for the last few days:

Thursday: 730-1030 find a wheel and tire
11-6pm work
6pm-8:30pm school
Friday:
8am-530pm work (getting a tire installed at some point today as well)
6pm-10pm prepare for tomorrows feast- including baking 6 pies.. AH
Saturday
630am -3pm Thanksgiving brunch event
3pm- NAP TIME
10:00PM perhaps back to the future at the draft house

Insane right? I thought so. A great breakfast was needed to start this busy 2 days.

Pumpkin Oats with new and improved cashew cream. What made this batch of cream better? I soaked it for 2 days and added some cinnamon.

Work time for Teddy. Signing off and urging you, once again, MAKE SOME CASHEW CREAM

Teddy

Well NO cooking occurred last night. I got a flat tire (and somehow damaged my rim) so I’ve been wheel and tire shopping all day…

Wish me luck. I’m glad I wasn’t hurt and that I have wonderful friends who helped me out. Cara and Jake are quite possibly amazing- THANK YOU. But I’m not so glad to have hundreds of dollars in unexpected expenses before the holidays. Oh well, be back tomorrow…

I’m thinking of turning the lemons life gave me yesterday into lemon bars! (We’ll see if I’ve got time)

Drive safe!
Teddy

My oh my that is one orange dessert. Don’t be scared. As orange as it is, this dish is a throw back to those crazy jellos of the 60’s. Only this dish is vegan and perhaps a million and 3 times better. Although, you’ll probably need an adventurous group to try this one.

Simply 4 ingredients make this one:
Carrot juice, 1 tablespoon organic pumpkin pie filling, apples and agar-agar.

What makes kanten irresistible is cashew cream. I think I could eat cashew cream on just about anything and it’s so simple to make. Soak raw cashews (NOT ROASTED OR SALTED) in H20 for at the very least 2 hours (up to 2 days if you’d like). Vroom it in the food processor with some lemon juice, agave and flavorings of your choice until it is smooth and creamy. Give THAT one a try sometime for sure
Teddy

This weekend wasn’t ALL just sitting on my booty at a lake. I cooked too!
BEHOLD:

Squash dumplings sauteed in sage and olive oil.

I know he may not be popular in the vegan/veg world but Alton Brown is my favorite FoodNetwork chef, hands down, no questions asked. Ever. I was watching him do a special on squash this weekend. I knew I had squash in my fridge and thus acorn squash dumplings were born. I admit I don’t have a recipe at this time (will be making it again asap to form one) but here’s the basic idea.

Roast or steam your squash so you can remove the meat. Mash the squash meat up until smooth-ish and add flour until you have a biscuit- like dough. How much depends on your squash. Mine was small so I used about a cup of flour. Cut your dough in half, then in half again and work with one of the quarters. I just rolled mine out so it looks like a 2 ft rope (I’ll take pics to demonstrate next time). Cut the rope into 1 inch pieces and place in boiling water. When they’re cooked, they float so it’s easy to know when they’re done. Put the dumplings in an ice bath when you remove them from the boiling water. I patted them dry with a towel, then sauteed them in olive oil (was out of butter) and sage.

I’m not going to lie, it took a while, but it was worth it.

Teddy

I must admit I’ve been having quite a few more kitchen disasters than normal. That is hat happens when you try new things I suppose. Out of disaster comes opportunity right? Opportunity to try new restaurants!

Koriente is a hidden little tea house in the middle of downtown Austin. Their lunch prices are extremely reasonable ($6.50-$8). You can take a look at their menu on their website.

Lunch comes with a soup or salad.

I choose the Japchei: sweet potato noodles and an assortment of veggies. The noodles were fantastic but I would definitely throw in the extra couple of bucks to get tofu next time. The meal was very refreshing and would be great on a warm summers day. Fortunately for me, it was about 78 degrees outside (in November?!) but as it’s getting colder I’ll probably go for a more hearty meal next time.

My friend Dustin decided on Koriente Curry. I’ll have to admit I was eyeing his food and already know I want to try that curry. Perhaps this will be my “fall back” place to eat for lunch downtown. The atmosphere is fantastic. Koriente is literally a hole in the wall with fantastic Asian decor. They even have a small pomegranate tree in front. We got there before the lunch rush (around noon) and by 1230 the place was packed so try to get there early or you’ll be in a line of Japanese businessmen and locals that is out the door.

I wonder, how do those Japanese businessmen know about this place? I’ve been here 4 months and am just finding it. Anywho, I loved it, the pictures speak for themselves regarding the food. Give it a try sometime.

Teddy

Since I had no class this weekend I decided to relax.

What a better place to relax than this? My apt complex has a park/lake in the middle of it. I woke up early this morning to get some laundry done and hung out here while my clothes were “cooking”.

In the wee hours of the night and morning there are birds that hunt for the minos in the lake. I was lucky enough to watch this one for a while (although, for a little while he watched me haha)

Don’t worry, I cooked TONS this weekend…
Pudding (my favorite so far)
Kanten
Dumplings
Cashew cream

I even managed to go to a new restaurant. All of that is coming up this week. Have a relaxing weekend!

Teddy

Does this remind anyone else of Married with Children? It’s a park that I go sit at for lunch sometimes. That cracks me up.

After all of last weeks baking I have been in need of light, quick, raw foods. Hence, pressed salad with lunch ( I think I had more sushi this day too).

This salad included organic collards, carrots, daikon and cucumber. It was very cool, refreshing- the exact opposite of those rich baked foods. The change was nice but next time I’ll add a tahini dressing (I’m addicted to that stuff).

Great news everyone: NO CLASS THIS WEEKEND!

I am going to relax, hang out with friends and work on my crepes/brunch foods/and one batch of cookies probably. I’ve already made some vanilla cashew cream that’s to die for.

See you soon

Teddy