First off, I have been a lazy poster. But, I have been super busy too! This past weekend was a whirlwind of awesome. The Let Live Animal Rights Conference kicked off on Friday evening and lasted through Sunday. This was an amazing event, and I really, really enjoyed myself. There is something about being surrounded by like-minded people that puts one at ease. I didn’t take very many pictures because I was absorbed in listening and learning. I will start off with a great photo of Tim eating a monster-sized sandwich cookie from Sweetpea Baking Company. This was our dessert after lunching on bbq tempeh wraps and tofu coconut curries from Blossoming Lotus (who kindly provided lunch on Saturday and Sunday).

I think he liked the cookie…

So, Friday night was a small turnout of people, but there was delicious food from Los Gorditos, and several of the organizers for the conference spoke. Here is the only photo of me I will probably ever post; I am enjoying my tasty food!

And, here is a nice photo of Chad from Food Fight at the microphone. With him are some of the fine folks who helped with the conference. Big huge thank yous to all the people who put this conference together and helped make it what it was!!!!

Saturday was a long day. There were lots of speakers and workshops to choose from throughout the day. Here is what I did:

1. Conference Orientation and Opening Plenary Address (with Lauren Ornelas and Elsbeth Seymour)

2. Exposing Institutionalized Cruelty (with Nathan Runkle and others)

3. Striking at the Roots (with Mark Hawthorne)

4. How To: Solo Activism (with Mark Hawthorne and Veda Stram)

5. How To: Dealing with Law Enforcement (with Shannon Keith)

6. How To: Becoming the Media and Getting Creative (with Josh Hooten {check the link for some of Josh’s photos from the event! DO IT!!!} and others)

7. How To: Researching Animal Abuse (with Peter Young and others)

Phew! Long day huh?

Sunday was shorter for me because I had brunch with a friend and also met Hannah of My Sweet Vegan! Yeah! She is so kind! I sampled a few of the treats she brought along (whoopie pies and wee muffins). They were the perfect dessert after brunch at Sweetpea!

Next, I headed back to the conference to see Isa speak about Culinary Activism. Fun, and definitely worth the 3-mile walk in the 90+ degree weather I took to get there! Everybody loves talking about food, especially vegan food, so this was a great way to end the conference. Go bake a treat for some friends, it’s a great form of activism.

Lastly, was the conference closing with Lauren Ornelas. If you click on the link for Josh Hooten above, you can view a photo of a bunch of the attendees smiling for the camera. The photos will be sent to the SHAC 7 folks.

Overall, I am so very happy that I was able to be a part of such an awesome event. I cannot wait for next year!

One final photo: a chocolate cake I made with fresh hand-picked berries and vanilla ice cream! Lovely treat for this too hot weather Portland is having…

We’re back from the Let Live Conference Benefit Dinner! It was a truly special evening, set in a lovely, intimate atmosphere (at Sweetpea Baking Company) with amazingly kind folks preparing the meal and serving us. While the room in our stomachs quickly diminished with each new course, we still ate every last morsel of food. That’s how delicious it was!

Let me begin by admitting one of my loopy quirks (two actually): I get very nervous in rooms full of people. As a result, I managed to bump into our table not once, but twice. The first time resulted in spilling water all over; the second time resulted in knocking over the flower vase and spilling more water. Luckily only a few people noticed, and the table remained on all four of its wobbly little legs! The second quirk: I don’t enjoy having my picture taken, so you won’t see me enjoying my meal. Sigh…

Anyway, I was able to take photos of all the food, so here we go!

First, a picture of Tim smelling the pretty rose at our table (well before I clumsily knocked it over)

The salad - Jicama Salad in Citrus Vinaigrette

The soup - Spicy Cream of Sweet Potato with Lime

The main course - Blackened Seitan With Corn Pudding And Chocolate Chili Mole

The dessert - Raspberry Brownie And Vanilla Ice Cream (It was getting dimmer in the room, so this photo is a bit off color.)

Oooops! And, the beverage - Homemade Ginger Lemonade

As you can see from the photos, the presentation of each course was beautiful. My favorite was the dessert (!!!), but the salad was a close second. Tim’s favorite was the main course. Honestly though, it was difficult to choose a favorite because everything was delicious. Thank you Isa, and all of your hardworking helpers for such an awesome evening, and for such a great cause too! Hooray for that!

Tonight my boyfriend and I will be attending the benefit dinner for the Let Live NW Animal Rights Conference being held here in Portland at the end of this month. Since we rarely take a night off from cooking, this will be an incredibly special treat, not to mention an opportunity to taste a delicious menu of food prepared by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and several others. I will be taking my camera with the hopes of photographing the food, so check back later! I have decided I will make attempts to swipe other diner’s desserts, but that may not go over very well and I could be asked to leave. We shall see! I will leave you with a photo of a super friendly dragonfly who wishes that he too, could go to the dinner. He’s vegan!

Several months back, I posted about my dislike for vegetables as a child. Now, thanks to a more adventurous palate, my bond with all things vegetable has gone out of control (in a good way)! There are still some vegetables I am hesitant to eat, such as artichokes, Brussels sprouts, and zucchini. In an attempt to trick my taste buds into liking at least one of the aforementioned, I made the Zucchini Spelt Muffins from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. Oh my goodness!! These were the most dandy yummy muffins I have eaten in a very long time (thanks for the recipe, Dreena)! And because the zucchini was hidden inside these muffins, I ate them without a thought. The recipe is packed with nutritious ingredients like flax meal, applesauce, zucchini, raisins, and walnuts. I added some lemon zest to complement all the flavors and it worked nicely. I also had to substitute whole wheat pastry flour for spelt, but they turned out beautifully nonetheless. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the excess shredded zucchini I have sitting in my fridge…I am open to suggestions, please!!!

And, because I am a kid-at-heart (and I am often mistaken for a teenager despite having crossed the 30+ line), I made the Kid’s Dynamo Hummus also from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. I used to think hummus was for hippies when I was a stupid naive fool. Thank goodness I have come to my senses! I LOVE this hummus! I mean, it has cashews in it! It has flax oil too! I added lots of extra garlic and ate it with some homemade pita wedges. Who’s the hippie now?

I also made some basil pesto, but we all know what that looks like, so there is no photo. But hooray for summery pasta meals!

This is a foodless post. But, the photos will put your mind at ease!

Hiking and backpacking are two of my favorite outdoor activities. Early summer weather is usually perfect for enjoying both of these. However, as I have mentioned in previous posts, the weather in Portland has been stuck in a late wintry phase for quite some time. While I love cloudy days, I am ready to immerse myself in the outdoors…away from the city.

Last weekend the sun made an appearance for a day, and my boyfriend and I took full advantage! Letting Tim chose the hike often results in overgrown, unmaintained, or very crowded trails (but beautiful nonetheless!). This time around, he choose a hike in Silver Falls State Park. More of a leisurely stroll than an endurance-busting hike, this trail boasts ten waterfalls (and it is just over an hour from Portland, which is nice)! We packed a lunch and walked the seven-mile loop taking in views. We even saw a girl in a flowy skirt and flip flops, which seemed a wee bit weird since the trail is wet and muddy most of the time due to all the water. Snicker, snicker…

Here are some photos of the waterfalls:

And finally, a photo of a lil’ friend we met on the trail, luckily too, because he blended right in (we gently moved him safely to the side so he wouldn’t get tramped on by an unsuspecting hiker):

I plan on baking up a storm this weekend so hopefully I will have some tasty treat photos soon!

I’ve been threatened by somebody I live with. Either I post about his “pretty dang tasty flippin’ sweet cornbread” or I get kicked to the curb. Goodness, with that sort of fear riding on my shoulders I guess I better comply!

My boyfriend works from our apartment. On occasion, he will make dinner before I get home. This is awesome because I can sit back, relax, and eat a tasty meal after a long day at work. Most recently, Tim opened up Veganomicon and prepared a BBQ-esque meal: Skillet Cornbread, Cheater Baked Beans, and Smoky Grilled Tempeh over some sauteed spinach. He really is the master of baking bread, even though cornbread is a little different. I must admit, I get a wee bit jealous when the breads he makes turn out so perfect. I think it must be his patience. I always sneak peeks at the dough rising while Tim leaves it alone until it is time for the next step. Regardless, this is some of the most beautiful cornbread I’ve seen:

The cornbread tasted delicious. It was moist, slightly sweet, and perfect for absorbing the sauce from the tangy baked beans. I wish I had a photo of the entire meal, but it was so dark and gloomy that night, definitely not an optimal environment for a food photo shoot.

I will, however, leave you with a photo of the bread master “at work”…!

My walk home from work today was far from routine. The usual four-mile route was riddled with obstacles, leaving me no choice but to make detours. Along the way, I was harassed by people trying to sell me video iPods, people asking for directions, and people making some rather unmentionable requests. Seriously! On a normal day I can walk along the esplanade, next to the river. It is quiet and scenic. Today was the exact opposite. With the annual Rose Festival going on, some minor construction, and a bunch of other nonsense, it took me much longer to reach the solace of my apartment. By the time I put my key in the door, I was hungry, moody, and tired. But something changed all of that…something that was waiting patiently for me in my mailbox…something from Celine! I ran upstairs with my last wee bit of energy, slammed my door and collapsed on the futon. Holding the package, I couldn’t help but think “Please be a treat, please be a treat, please be a treat…(greedlessly of course)”

It was a treat! Packaged so carefully in one of the biodegradable bags I sent Celine were Cheezy Quackers! Just what I needed! There was, however, a delay. A sticker on the packaging was warning me: DO NOT OPEN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. I contemplated what to do. And then I opened the bag and ate about two dozen quackers. These savory crackers are incredibly addictive. Thank you so much Celine, for the awesome gift! Along with the quackers was a lovely card:

What a beautiful and photogenic kitty (photo by Celine). I really like the composition of the photo, and it is now displayed on my bookcase. See? Mail can make all the difference in an otherwise blah day.

I love bread. If I could, I would capture the aroma of bread baking and stow it in my pockets…This past weekend, I made my favorite recipe for rye bread: Rye Bread. This recipe is only slightly adapted from a paperback book my mom gave me entitled Baking: Easy-to-Make Great Home Bakes by Carole Clements. It reminds me of the Swedish Rye Bread I made when I worked at a bakery back in Pennsylvania. That was my very first job and the reason I developed a passion for baking (sigh…I miss working there!). The recipe says it makes one loaf, but who eats a four-plus pound loaf of bread?! Crazy huge. I always end up dividing the dough in two, and giving a loaf away to a friend or being greedy and eating both. This bread freezes well too. Smear it with some Earth Balance and homemade jam and kick back all happy and full. See? What’s not to love?

Rye Bread (adapted from Baking: Easy-to-Make Great Home Bakes)

2 cups rye flour

2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup molasses

5 T Earth Balance

1 T sea salt

2 T roasted caraway seeds (bake at 325 degrees F for about 7 minutes)

2 1/4 t active dry yeast

1/2 cup + 2 T lukewarm water

1 t unrefined sugar

6-6 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

cornmeal for dusting

1. Mix the rye flour, boiling water, molasses, Earth Balance, salt, and caraway seeds together in a large bowl. Set aside to cool.

2. In another bowl, stir together the 2nd measure of water, yeast, and sugar. Set aside for about 10-15 minutes, until it becomes a foamy mass.

3. Add the yeast mixture to the cooled rye flour mixture. Add the all-purpose flour one cup at a time, until you can no longer stir by hand. I usually transfer the mixture to my stand mixer because I am a lazy kneader. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, adding more flour as needed. Place into a greased bowl, cover with a towel or plastic bag, and allow to rise in a cozy spot until doubled in volume. Punch down, and allow to rise again, for about 45 minutes.

4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Dust two baking sheets with cornmeal. I line mine with parchment first, but you don’t have to. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape into round masses, or, tuck into loaf pans if you wish. Let rise again on prepared baking sheets for about 15-20 minutes (or the time it takes for your oven to heat up). Score across the tops, and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the bottoms sound hollow when you tap them. Cool on racks.

*Note: I usually bake one loaf at a time because my oven is mean and won’t bake evenly if I stuff it too full. Maybe you have a nice oven that cooperates? If so, go ahead and bake both loaves at the same time. I dare you. Enjoy your bread!

Yikes. I think this dessert is dangerous. It gave me the fidgets. It made my teeth creepily black. It tasted so rich and chocolaty…Meet the Black Hole Sorbet:

I adapted this recipe slightly from one I’d found online for a plain chocolate sorbet. Since I had recently purchased some black cocoa powder and chocolate extract, I subbed these for regular cocoa powder and vanilla extract. The result was so dark and rich that my boyfriend named it Black Hole Sorbet. And honestly? You only need one small scoop to be satisfied for the entire day. We mistakenly ate more (unknowingly, of course!) and were left with endless energy and buzzing insides. Unfortunately, I cannot remember where I found the recipe, so if anybody is interested, let me know and I will e-mail it to you. The wee bits of chocolate in this sorbet add a lovely “crunchy” texture.

And, here is a belated Memorial Day dinner photo:

This is a burger adapted from my Black-Eyed Pea Soul Burgers. Instead of the black-eyed peas, I used kidney beans. This recipe is so incredibly versatile! I love it. Along with the burgers are some sweet potato fries. A simple meal for sure.

Lastly, I received the sweetest package in the mail today. Jamie, one of the winners in my Cookie Giveaway, made the cutest fruit magnets as a thank you for the cookies I sent her. How extremely thoughtful! If you read Hannah’s blog, these might look familiar. Anyways, these little magnets were so cooperative and happily posed for a photo shoot! Check them out:

Thank you again Jamie! I absolutely love these magnets!

Sigh…my apartment smells like a barbecue pit. Why? Well, it’s my fault and it’s a funny story (which I will get to in a moment)…

First, I must admit that my boyfriend Tim and I rarely go out for dinner. I would guess that we take a night off from cooking once every few months, if that. Saturday just happened to be one of those rare occasions when we didn’t feel like cooking. Where did we go? To a small place called Blossoming Lotus. The restaurant (a cafe really) is located in the hipper/trendier section of Portland called the Pearl District. We don’t hang out in the Pearl District much because we are far from hip. Anyways, Blossoming Lotus is inside a yoga studio, so the environment is very calming. You don’t actually see the yoga classes in action, but you do have to take off your shoes in order to access the potties.

The cafe has an open kitchen and a 100% vegan menu that includes raw foods and desserts. So far so good, right? Hmpf. That’s what we thought too. We were seated promptly next to a window (making for awesome people-watching) and given menus. I forgot my camera, so there are no photos, but the website has pictures! The cafe was out of both the Eight Herb House Iced Tea and the Lavender Lemonade, so we had water. We ordered the Heavenly Hummus with raw flax crackers as an appetizer. Unfortunately, our hummus arrived after our main courses (and only when we politely asked our server for the second time “Where is our hummus?”). For the main meal, I ordered the Monk Bowl which had beans, rice, steamed kale and my choice of spicy peanut sauce or a ginger sauce…so hard to choose…until my server said I could have both! Cool. When my meal arrived, it only had the ginger sauce. Tim ordered the BBQ Tempeh Platter (which came with black bean chili, green salad & spicy corn bread). Both of our meals were good, Tim’s perhaps a bit more.

Since we were seated right next to the dessert case, it was hard to resist some vegan soft-serve and a piece of Live Strawberry Shortcake. The soft-serve had a lovely lemony-vanilla flavor which paired nicely with the shortcake. All in all, the food was decent, but the service was very slow and we were pretty much ignored. Maybe the servers sensed we never eat out? We aren’t hip enough? We don’t do yoga? I don’t know. Maybe we will give it a second chance…

Now the reason why our apartment smells like a barbecue pit:

After our dinner, a thunderstorm rolled in. Portland never gets thunderstorms. Tim and I both grew up along Lake Erie where thunderstorms are very common, so we really enjoyed listening to and watching the storm. It seemed like the perfect night for baking, so I made mini chocolate cupcakes (recipe halved from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) with chocolate cream cheese frosting. While I was getting the ingredients out of the cupboard, I managed to knock over a bottle of liquid smoke seasoning. The bottle didn’t break, but the lid did, spilling liquidy yellow smoke flavor all over the floor. If you have ever used this stuff, you know that a wee drop will do…an entire bottle is extremely potent! We ended up having to mop the kitchen, wipe down cupboards, drawers and ourselves. To make matters worse, we couldn’t open the windows because the rain was falling sideways. The smell is slowly fading a day later…

I also made a Lemon Currant Granola with Sliced Almonds (recipe follows). I created this recipe after being intrigued by ATXVegn’s Earth Day post where she mentioned buying a bag of Lemon Currant Granola. Who doesn’t love lemons?! I have not had this with soy milk yet, but I did snack a bit on it, and it tastes very good!

Lemon Currant Granola with Sliced Almonds

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/6 cup canola oil

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 T maple syrup

1 1/2 t lemon extract

1/2 t vanilla extract

1/2 t fresh lemon zest, optional

1/2 t cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/2 cup currants

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Stir together oats and sliced almonds. Add canola oil, agave nectar, and maple syrup. Add in extracts and lemon zest if using. Stir in cinnamon and salt. Spread mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the granola is golden. It might be wise to stir/rotate pan halfway through baking. Stir in the currants once the granola has been removed from the oven. Allow to cool before transferring to an airtight container.

The rain continued through Sunday morning and afternoon, so I made something I have been wanting to make for a long time: homemade graham crackers! Yep! I adapted this recipe from a backpacking/trail foods cookbook I borrowed from the library years ago called Simple Foods for the Pack. These are so tasty and simple to make. They take some time because you need to roll out the dough, but they are worth it! I promise.

Cinnamon Graham Crackers (I halved this recipe, and they turned out just fine)

3/4 cup vegan margarine

1/2 cup agave nectar

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

3 cups graham flour (or whole wheat flour)

1/2 cup raw wheat germ

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t baking powder

3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Beat margarine, agave nectar, and vanilla until fluffy. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add dry ingredients alternately with water to the creamed mixture. Roll out onto a floured surface to about a 1/4″ thickness. Cut into desired shapes and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Prick with a fork. I sprinkled mine with cinnamon-sugar, but you don’t have too. They just taste yummier this way! Bake for about 20 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Lastly, I baked bagels. I used an awesome recipe from Happy Herbivore. This woman is a genius. These bagels were incredible! Seriously. The recipe is perfect because it makes four bagels, just right for two people. I made two sesame seed and two cinnamon-sugar bagels. Try this recipe! Go do it now! They are easy and have little rising time, so you can eat them faster.

That’s it. I need another graham cracker anyways!