I like your bundt.

Many of you follow theppk on facebook, so this is old news for you. For those of you who haven't tasted this fabulous bundt cake, I command you to add theppk on facebook and make the Triple Apple Cider Bundt Cake.

Obviously, Isa's pictures are way better than my cell phone picture of the cake straight out of the oven (no frosting on it, as you can see in the photo. Here it is, sorta a proof of baking thing.

I made this cake for a co-worker's birthday. It was gone in about four hours. It goes well with coffee, tea, or a glass of soymilk (or whatever milk you prefer, I'm sure). My boss and co-workers give this cake 5 stars! And coming from all omnis, that's really awesome.

I ended up making 2 cups of the apple filling (...accidentally? I love apple pie, so probably not an accident). I ended up plopping some of that deliciousness onto toast - amazing!

Eating with mi madre.

I don't know how difficult transitioning your family into your veganism has been for you. For me, it was terrible. For the first year, my sister would invite me over for a "special" dinner then try to get me to eat meatballs. She has come a long way (she'll talk about her sister being vegan to anyone), but she won't eat anything with chickpeas or seitan in it.

My mom, being allergic to poultry, was a bit better. Plus, she's watched me get sick after eating food throughout my life. I will spare you the details of the sickness, but note that I'm like a perfect radar for knowing if something really has dairy in it or not.

Let's reverse to about 5 years ago: I was trying to save money and figure out what I was going to do with my life. Living with my mom for the last year of college went like this: you [mom] can't eat poultry and hate seafood, I can't eat red meat or dairy. What shall we eat? Insert: Vegan with a Vengeance and a some of the vegetarian recipes from my mom's random cookbook collection.


We came up with "standby" meals. These were easy to put together and are comfort foods for me. This includes: frozen vegetable mixes (California veggie mix is my favorite), several kinds of beans, several kinds of rice or quinoa, and potatoes. When in doubt, my mother also will make me a baked potato!

Flash forward to this weekend! I dropped by my mom's house to say hi, and we enjoyed my standby meal together. Rice, cannellini beans, and steamed california mixed veggies.

Besides potatoes, I can always count on her having ginger ale and earth balance sticks as well!

Product review: Dr. McDougall's Ramen Bowl

When I work on the weekends, the last thing I want to do is make lunch and dinner to eat at work. At my local Hy-Vee (grocery store), I recently found Dr. McDougall's right food big cups. Today's review is for the Ramen variety.

Q: How easy is this to make?
A: Very easy! It takes about 2 minutes in the microwave after adding the spice packet (included) and water.

Q: What would you compare this to?
A: Ahh...you don't really need to know what I ate in college. But since you're curious, (pre-veg) I used to eat the chicken flavored ramen with a quarter bag of frozen "peas and carrots" dumped into it. (no, Jen-nay Forrest Gump references, please!). But this is exactly what it tastes like to me: freshman year of college. I just need to not gain that fifteen pounds again!

Q: How's the sodium level on that?
A: Not too shabby! This is a big cup of ramen - definitely 2 servings, as suggested on the cup. However, for one serving, there is only 320mg of sodium. For a ramen-replicate and for being completely processed food, I'd say that's not bad.

Q: Did it fill you up?
A: Honestly? YES! I didn't realize that the cup was 2 servings, so about 3/4 of the way through the bowl, I pushed it aside because I was super full. Then, I realized that I'm an idiot and didn't read the nutritional facts.

Q: Would you buy this again?
A: Yes. And I plan to in the near future. This is great for my desk drawer at work - I'll keep a couple in there for emergency needs or "I forgot to grab my lunch off the kitchen table" kinds of days.


P.S. If your local store doesn't stock this, you can purchase the ramen bowl (and other soup bowls) on Dr. McDougall's website.

Sharing the love of tofu with non-vegans!

I'm not too outspoken, in fact I think I might have the quietest voice in Omaha. I'm also not the vegan police. However, this doesn't stop me from sharing my love of delicious [vegan] food with others! Especially when I get to share it with someone who isn't vegan and has never tried tofu. In this case, I've told my friend Erin I would cook for her anytime.

One of my favorite recipes comes from Vegan Brunch. No, I've never tried the omelets. I'm still stuck on the Tofu Bennys! I love hashbrowns and home fries, so I haven't tried making the english muffins.

For breakfast, a Tofu Benny on its own will fill me up. For dinner, I wanted more. I'm greedy. I had my friend pick out another recipe from Vegan Brunch. Miraculously, I had everything to make the Pumpkin French Toast.

To this wonderful pair, I made us soy lattes. Every morning, I made 4 cups of coffee (this is only two servings for me). I enjoy one serving hot with Silk soy creamer and store the other serving in a quart-sized mason jar in the fridge. When I need a pick-me-up or to impress someone, I make a cold soy latte using one of those protein shake containers. I use a 3:1 ratio of coffee to creamer, add the lid, and shake, shake, shake. This mixes and adds froth!
Verdict: Amazing! We have another tofu-lover in the world!

Aloo Gobi: North Indian style

One of my co-workers Parul is from North India - actually, about a quarter of the Indians in my department are from North India. The rest of mostly from South India.

Tonight's feature: Aloo Gobi (cauliflower and potato dish)

I'm told that aloo gobi is the first thing that girls are taught to cook. This recipe is simple and hearty and will satisfy your cravings for Indian, even if you've never cooked Indian food before. It also happens to be my favorite meal ever [currently], so I begged Parul to show me how to make it.

This recipe calls for cumin seeds. Yes, the seeds. No, not the powder. You can go to Whole Foods and pay $5 for a small bag of cumin seeds that may be split. Or you could go to your local Indian shop and grab a giant bag of cumin seeds for about $4. Either way, just don't use the powder in this recipe!

Aloo Gobi - serves 4 (or 3 really hungry people)
2 Tbsp whole cumin seeds
2 tsp red chili powder (or more if you like it spicy)
1 Tbsp turmeric
1 Tbsp coriander powder (powder, not seeds)
1 small white or yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1/2" cube of fresh ginger, peeled and diced
1 head of cauliflower, florets pulled* apart into 1" pieces
4 small potatoes, cut into 1/2" pieces (I used new potatoes)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (more if you like the vegetables crispier)
1/2 cup water

Heat 1/3 cup of the vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok on medium-high temperature. When the oil is hot, turn down the setting to medium and add cumin seeds for about a minute. Add the turmeric and coriander powder and let cook for about another minute. Add the garlic and ginger and stir to avoid burning the garlic. When the fragrance is taking you back to India (about 3 minutes), add the onion. Turn the heat back up to medium-high and cook until the onion is browned. Add the rest of the oil and the cauliflower; cook for about another minute. Now add the potatoes, turmeric, and water. Place a lid over the skillet (or wok) and cook for about twenty minutes.

If you have a nice recipe for roti or a nice Indian friend who happened to bring over the dough for roti, now would be the perfect time to make about 4-6 roti. This would also go well with basmati rice or tortillas.

Stir every 10 minutes or so until the vegetables are cooked to your liking. Serve with roti or rice.


*Parul's mother taught her to pull/break off the florets instead of cutting them. According to her mother, it helps with the flavor and texture. Because Parul and her mother do it this way, I will continue this tradition.

sushi

I love sushi. I would eat it everyday if I wasn't so lazy! Most favorite sushi rolls are avocado cucumber rolls. And when I have tempeh and carrots, those get tossed into my sushi too. Why not! What can I say? Carrot-cucumber-avocado-tempeh rolls! So, I'm kinda boring. and pretty lazy. Speaking of lazy, have you checked out the laziest vegans in the world blog? Yeah, you should do that!

Being a poor grad student that is also lazy, I can't afford to go out for sushi too much, but I do enjoy a properly rolled sushi roll. Here's my quick-and-dirty way of how to make sushi rolls, Nebraskan style:

1. Get a rice cooker. Seriously, it will make life easier. Plus, you are probably super efficient, right? You want to chop and not have to babysit the boiling water on the stove! In the rice cooker, for quinoa and most rice, I do a 2:1 ratio of water to rice. 2 cups of water per 1 cup of rice. Sushi rice is no different. Get that rice cooking! It is the rate-limiting-step!

2. Cut all ingredients that are going into your rolls into thin strips. For me, it is usually sauteed tempeh, carrots, cauliflower, and avocados.

3. Make a thick creamy sauce for the inside the rolls. I use a couple of spoonfuls of vegenaise and a small spoonful of thai chili sauce. If you like some spice to your sushi, go ahead and add your favorite hot sauce. I have a farmer's palate, so I keep things boring, unspicy, and uncomplicated.

4. Once that rice is done cooking, add a couple of splashes of white rice vinegar and a pinch or two of sugar and mix that all up.

5. Set up your assembly line: a bowl of water for your fingers, bowl of rice, sheets of nori, your thinly sliced fillings, and that amazing creamy sauce. Also grab a really sharp knife.

6. With dry hands, lay your nori sheet on a dry cutting board or plate. Dip your fingers into the bowl of water, then grab a handful of rice. Fill 2/3 to 3/4 of the nori sheet with a thin layer of rice.

7. In the middle of that rice, add the creamy sauce and filings.

8. Begin rolling up the sheet as tightly as possible, starting on the side of the nori sheet full of rice.

9. When you get to end of the paper, re-dip your finger into the bowl of water and dampen the edge of the nori sheet. This is going to help "glue" the nori together.

10. Place the seam facing down on the cutting board.

11. Dampen your really sharp knife with the water.

12. Cut your rolled up nori filled with goodness in half. Then cut those halves in half. Then cut those in half. You should get 8 sushi rolls out of the sheet of nori (or maybe I just like my sushi to be thin!)

13. Serve with a small bowl of soy sauce. Enjoy!

Vegan MoFo - coming to blogs near you!

This is what this blog needs - a little kick in the pants to get its author to start writing more. And who's doing the kicking? Vegan MoFo.

Here's the deal: five days a week in the month of November, blog about something related to vegan cooking or veganism in general. My plan is to blog every weekday about what I'm eating for dinner.

If you want more information about Vegan MoFo, hit up official Vegan MoFo website.

I also found Kittee's blog to be incredibly valuable in that whole kick-in-the-seat thing.