Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Grocery Delivery


Kris and I have been receiving Organics To You for a while now. And we have a love/hate relationship with it. Let me be clear. I love OTY. The people are so friendly and accommodating. The produce is gorgeous and fresh and delicious. The prices aren't even bad. The problem is we can't go through it fast enough. At least not in the Winter.

I love the idea behind the whole grocery delivery thing. I love people bring my groceries to me. I love that they pick the produce out for me that I (still) can't seem to do for myself. But I just don't know what to do with 4 kinds of Kale! One might be Collard Greens, I am not sure, yes they have a list online, but still, if it is Collard Greens, how do I cook them without bacon?! (seriously, I have cooked them in Earth Balance, but SEND IDEAS, I need some!!)

I can't say enough about how much I really do love OTY, but I also want to give a big thumbs up to Hearth of Vancouver.

This is very near and dear to my heart as it is as local as it gets for me and is operated by a wonderful woman with a lot of goodness in her heart and veggies in her garden.

I very simply haven't switched to them because OTY has done nothing to lose my business, it seems unfair to leave them when they have been a providing very valuable service for me (although we are considering switching to every other week). I heartily suggest either company if you are looking for fresh local produce and other groceries.

Let me close up by saying, if you have delicious plant-based recipes share them! Leave a comment below or catch us on our facebook page. We want to hear from you. I am pretty sure Kris is getting sick of the umpteen versions of the same stew I have been making for weeks!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Season's Greetings!!


Have a safe and happy holiday!!! We love you!!! 
~VanVeggie

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Vancouvria

I love Portlandia. (If you have been living under a rock at least check this out so you know what I am talking about) This is a cute little spoof on the trailer for the Vancouverites -

Monday, December 19, 2011

Lazy Vegan - Famous Sicilian Buzzito

Another tasty vegan microwavable burrito from The Higher Taste - or as the call them Buzzitos.

I actually enjoyed this one a little more than the Vegan Supreme. Grab and go Italian food can be a little tricky if you want to avoid animal products, so this was nice and different.



Like before, I nuked it then threw it in the toaster oven. If I could change one thing, I would use Kalamata olives instead of black. I love black olives, but the sharp flavor of the Kalamata's would have really added something.

Easy, vegan, and yummy. Not a bad trio.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Winner!!!

Who's the big winner? Michelle S. from Vancouver!! She has a copy of Vegan Diner, showing up on her doorstep in the next few days!

Thank you everyone for participating! (If you are confused, because there aren't 50 followers, go here - VanVeggie's Facebook Page to get the full scoop.)

Monday, December 12, 2011

CONTEST!!!

Okay my lovely veggies!!! We need followers, and yes, we are willing to bribe you!!

When we get 50 followers, there will be a random drawing from our followers*, for your choice of cookbook!


Vegan Diner - by Portland local Julie Hasson

-OR-

Babycakes Covers the Classics - by Erin Mckenna (for our gluten-free friends) 


Tell your friends!!

(* Open to US residents only, because we are broke and can't afford to ship it anywhere else.)

Friday, December 9, 2011

Cookies!! (a la Babycakes)

I had the lovely Miss Donna over today. (She isn't really a "Miss" since she is suuuuper married) to make some gluten-free (for her) and vegan (for both of us, even though I ate some Cheetos just now - I never said I was a saint, only that I am trying to be one) cookies.

We got the recipe "Chips Ahoy!" out of BabyCakes Covers the Classics: Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes from Donuts to Snickerdoodles. My advice, buy it or do as I did, and check it out from your awesome local library. Or WIN IT! What What? More on that later...


What we discovered was a seriously awesome recipe! 


What constitutes an awesome recipe for me - 
1) It has to be easy. Check (even though you will need some specialty ingredients, so once you get them, then it is easy)
2) I like to eat things right away, so I don't like things that have a long cook time. These took 7-10 minutes. Check.
3) It needs to taste good. Double check.


The only drawbacks were as follows. The dough is kinda yucky. It is really sticky and oily. The chips don't really stay in the dough well and the dough gets all over your fingers and spoon. Like way more than normal. And also since there is a lot of oil, it doesn't taste good (yes, I like my dough to taste good before I bake it. I look forward to licking the spoon) and they probably aren't all that great for your hips. We used canola oil instead of coconut oil. It was an option and I had it in my pantry, so maybe next time I should switch it up.


In the end it didn't matter, because what we ended up with were moist, chewy, and scrumptious cookies that even the most white flour loving, animal-product consuming, cookie aficionado, will groan over.


The lovely Donna

mmmmm

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Cauliflower

I received cauliflower in my Organics To You box yesterday. As far as I knew, I didn't like cauliflower.

So I opened up Vegan With A Vengeance to see what it had to offer.

It had this to offer - Cauliflower-Leek Kugel with Almond-Herb Crust

So I only had enough ingredients to make a half recipe. Also I didn't have any onions, so I added some garlic to add flavor.

It was DELICIOUS!!! The pictures really don't do it justice, not that it was that pretty, but it wasn't this ugly either.


Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Books - Skinny Bitch

Skinny Bitch - Co-authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin




I hesitated reading this book. I have always wanted to be skinny and never have been. I call people skinny bitches, but only to their face. But the truth is, I don't ever want my daughter to feel that she needs to be. I don't want her to value herself based on her pants size, like I so often do. And also I don't want her to be a bitch. Self-confident and fiery? Absolutely! But with enough awareness to realize that bitchiness, while sometimes fun, really is mean-spirited and tacky. Thus resulting in my wavering over reading this book. (In other words yay for me, boo for our new generation of women.)

But getting past the title and into the meat of the book (or soy-based meat replacement), I realized that the authors, rather rapidly, explain what they mean by the title of the book and it isn't that you need to be a bone-thin twat. Rather the opposite. In fact thinness has very little to do with it. So good. I can keep reading.

There are many short chapters covering everything from politics to poop. If you spend your time reading peer-reviewed medical journals or can easily digest current economic theories, then this book is going to drive you nuts. It is a lot of catchy and intense one-sentence facts pulled from studies. There are about umpteen million footnotes. For the average reader, this is nice. Someone did the research for you and just gave you the goods. However, if you are looking for deep reasoning behind making a life changing decision, like going vegan, you may find that you need something more in depth.

Three things I really liked about this book. One, I laughed out loud a lot. I really like to laugh. It is up there with sex and food and pictures my daughter draws for me, as far as basic needs go. Two, they give you a list of stuff you can buy at the store. Like what kind of cereal, milk, bread, cheese, etc to buy. When you are getting started, you don't need recipes, you need food. You know, to answer the what the hell am I supposed to eat question. And of course we know, you are supposed to eat veggies and fruit, and I have upped my veggie intake by about 500%, but that isn't really what you eat everyday. You don't wake up in the morning and pull out the celery, or start roasting pepper. Well maybe you do, but I sure don't. I want toast or cereal or granola bars. This will give you a realistic list to start with.

The last thing I really enjoyed is their coaching. Every time you say "no I can't" - they say "shut up, stop whining, don't lie to yourself, you totally can."

And the truth is, they're right, you totally can.

The consensus - worth picking up or borrowing from a friend.


Saturday, December 3, 2011

Dovetail Bakery

I had a Chinook Book coupon for Dovetail Bakery and decided to use it on this foggy December morning. I have only had their goods through New Seasons, so I was excited to try it fresh from the bakery.

http://dovetailbakery.blogspot.com


Located in NE Portland (I know, not Vancouver - wah wah), this tiny shop offers a limited selection of baked goods. There aren't any menus, so check their blog to see what the specials are. For example, we ordered from their pastry case and then we saw a heaping plate of biscuits and gravy go by. We didn't even know that was an option! Come prepared or you will look like we did...out-of-town idiots.

I ordered the raspberry jam scone, hubby got the sticky bun and the little bean got a cinnamon bun. All of them were fantastic!!!! Also they make pies and you can order just the pie crust, so you can make your own at home. All of it is 100% vegan, even the creamer for your coffee was coconut creamer. 

So if you are looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth without having to question what is in it, I highly recommend checking it out. And they open at 8am! Thank you for that, if you have kiddos you know breakfast generally starts a lot earlier than a lot of places open.

**A warning - Don't go with a group of people if you want to sit down. There are 7 chairs in the whole place. So, get it to go or come with just one buddy.**

Friday, December 2, 2011

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

I didn't like squash until this year and this recipe is what turned me on. It is a vegan spin-off of this  - Ellie Krieger's Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Pictured with chili powder instead of chili flakes because I ran out, apparently.

Vegan Curried Butternut Squash Soup


1 large yellow onion - chopped
2 large cloves of garlic - minced
2 containers of Pacific Vegetable Broth (8 cups total)
1.5 of the big bags of pre-cubed Butternut Squash from Trader Joes or one big (like 3lb) squash peeled, seeded and diced
1 tbs curry powder
1 tbs canola oil
salt to taste

Heat the oil in a pan over med-low, add onions and garlic, cook until soft, not brown. Add broth, squash, and curry. Bring to a boil and then simmer until squash is soft. Take off heat and use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. I normally return it to the burner to make sure it is nice and hot. Want thinner soup? Use less squash.

Add salt to taste and garnish with a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.