The Wynn creates a vegan oasis in the desert

Tofu and Eggplant

It's an old cliche - a billionaire creates an epic hotel, hires some of the world's finest chefs, goes vegan and then makes all the world famous chefs create vegan menus.

Well, it's not a cliche at all, but it should be.

Tracy and I sat down together to see if there were any good reasons to get out of town for the weekend. The idea of Vegas came up. It was probably a joke at first, but the idea became a real possibility when we remembered some old vegan news clippings that fell through our google news filters about an eccentric rich guy, Steve Wynn, who was doing something crazy: veganizing his restaurants. ( read about his veganism )

10 Foods Vegans CAN Eat

I was checking out YDV today and discovered a very frustrating post in reference to an even more frustrating article, "10 Foods That Vegans Can't Eat". Granted, it was one of those stupid Yahoo! articles that seem to be just there for content sake, rather than actually being anything worth reporting, but it was frustrating nonetheless.

And actually, the article itself was a nice little nod to the vegan community, in a way. It's intention seemed to be to inform the masses (who for whatever reason don't know already) what being vegan actually means. And I appreciate that. The real frustration was the comments. They all seemed to be ANGRY at vegans and often referred to them as hypocrites. YDV did a great job of pointing out that perhaps a better article would have been "10 Principles of Veganism".

But since I'm primarily in the business of cooking and eating, I would like to instead write a list of 10 foods we CAN eat. After all, that is the question we get asked the most, right?

'Tis the Season: Give the Gift of a Charity Donation for Animals!

December 1st has come and gone (with snow, too!) and if you're slacking on holiday shopping, look no further! The best gift you can give to the compassionate people in your life, is the gift of giving. Giving to any charity in someone's name shows you care about that person and their causes. Not to mention, you don't even have to leave your home. So, pull up a mug of hot, mulled apple cider, grab your laptop, and get holiday shopping!

Here's a list of some great animal organizations that you could gift to someone this year!

• Mercy For Animals: If you live in Columbus, you probably hear about MFA a lot. They sponsor meetup groups (like our Thanksgiving Potluck last month), hold charity events, and Dec. 11th they are having a holiday party at Dragonfly Neo-V. They are a great organization, dedicated to giving a voice to animal rights: Read more about their mission.
• PeTA: We all love to hate PeTA, I think. They're certainly controversial. But what they do a good job of is keeping animals rights a part of the conversation. Gift a donation for PeTA.
• You can also go to this website and gift over hundreds of charities of your choosing, including American Humane Association, SPCA, Wildlife Conservation Society, etc.
• Donate to a Farm Sanctuary! Or take a trip down, and volunteer. It's the best way to directly help animals in need.
  

COLUMBUS VEGAN WEEK! WHAT?!

In an effort to help protect animals and the planet (and be super awesome), seven local eateries have collaborated with the Ohio-founded animal advocacy organization, Mercy For Animals, to offer exciting, new vegan options in celebration of World Go Vegan Week in October. I know. It's nuts.

Louie's Fusion Grill - Now in Upper Arlington

Louie's Fusion Grill used to only have one location in Hilliard... which I never go to, so this spot slipped under my radar. Now that they opened a second location in Upper Arlington, I can tell you they have the most delicious veggie tacos!

Andrew enjoying the Louie's ambiance

I didn't expect much from this place, but Andrew likes to go into places and harass them about vegan options. Well, not so much harass, as politely ask. But I still get slightly uneasy when he does. Half the time people don't know what you're talking about, or they think you're joking. It's sort of a degrading experience.

Fall is here.

I haven't cooked or baked much in a while, which probably explains my long standing silence on here.

Andrew's Aunt Laura died in July, just a couple weeks after our all-family vacation to North Carolina. She had been suffering from some, even still today, mysterious symptoms that were causing her a lot of pain. She was one of my favorite people in Andrew's family, besides Andrew of course. She took pottery classes with me. She stuck to them even though they made her cry. She was probably the only person who read this blog. She always asked me about it and told me which posts she liked best. We had similar taste in music. We even went to a concert together once. She was always giving me tickets to things. We got along well. She was nice. I had been losing interest in this blog, as most people do with blogs, and when Laura died... it was too depressing. Even still, I get sad looking at it.

VegNews First Annual "Great Vegan Dessert Giveaway"

Go to the VegNews Facebook page, "like" them, and comment your favorite vegan dessert on their post about their dessert giveaway. Then, that's it. You're automatically entered to win a trio of awesomeness from Allison's Gourmet, BabyCakes NYC, and Sticky Fingers Bakery.

Best of luck!

Clintonville Community Market: New Website, New Deals

In the past few months, Clintonville Community Market has revamped their website and store. They have more and newer registers, as well as new deals on memberships fees. They're cheaper now! For an individual wanting 2% discounts for a year, it only costs $20/yr; for a 5% discount for a year, it costs $40/yr. And if you're a family of 2 or more, it's 2% at $35/yr, and 5% at $60/yr.

So, go check out their new site. They post sales, news, and info about their products. And sign up for a membership while you're there.

Starbucks Soy Frapp Official

READ: Soy Caramel frappuccino, no caramel sauce, no whip

It's official, guys. I've had one a day since Tuesday. You can, once again, enjoy caramel, mocha, green tea, or any other flavor frappuccinos with soy milk at every starbucks in the city. Confirmed locations include: Kingsdale, Fifth Ave./Grandview, Lane Ave., the Goasis in Ashland, and probably all the rest. I thought I might miss the caramel sauce/whipped cream part, but they're plenty sweet and amazingly delicious. I went in on Tuesday to the Fifth Ave. location just to confirm that they exist. They were concerned that it might be too sweet, so they asked my opinion. And while it is sweet, I sort of recognize that as the point of a frappuccino. The soy milk is sweetened, so you may want to do half the pumps of syrup. But I really enjoy the sugar overload. Check them out!

Starbucks SOY Frappuccino

Coming next week, Columbus, OH will have vegan frappuccinos.

I was informed by my friendly, neighborhood Starbucks barista that their frappuccinos will no longer be made with the cream based mix and can now be made with soy. She says they are even better. And although you still can't have the caramel frapps (caramel sauce is cream/butter based) or the whipped cream, you CAN have the mocha frapps or any other flavor of frapp you can think of.

The plus side of the vegan frapps: they're not all that bad for you. Since they're mostly ice, and you can't eat the whipped cream, a tall coffee frapp is only 125 calories.

It's not all stores, though. And the only one I can absolutely confirm in Columbus is the store on Henderson Rd. You may want to check with your local starbucks to find out.

I'm Still Here

These are the "Oysters" Rockefeller from The Conscious Cook. They're absolutely amazing if you ever need a fancy appetizer for something. A lot of time goes into them, but it's worth it. Coincidentally, The New York Times has an article questioning why vegans shouldn't eat oysters. It's a silly point, mostly because oysters do have a simple nervous system. But you might want to check it out none the less. Some interesting comment discussion.

Anyway, life has been busy and thus the blog has been vacant. Andrew is fighting at the end of April, so he will need to cut weight. We're transitioning his diet this weekend to a low carb vegan diet. Any suggestions!?

Warm Wasabi Cream

I got a new camera last week! I'm pretty excited about it. It's a Nikon D5000, and though I'm not exactly a mad wielder of awesome pictures yet, I can see a huge difference with my food photos already. Which makes me pretty excited about this post. It's the premiere of the D5000.

I've really been plowing through The Conscious Cook. The recipes are a little challenging and often time consuming, but I really enjoy the change. This recipe is Old Bay Tofu Cakes with Horseradish Cream and Summer Vegetables. I made a few alterations, because sometimes it's just a pain in the ass to run out and grab every ingredient. Especially when you've gone to two stores already looking for old bay and you somehow forgot the horseradish.

Can't find Old Bay? It's often in the seafood section.

The recipe called for some shallots and other ingredients with fresh vegetables, bla bla. Instead, I bought a frozen bag of mixed, organic vegetables and cooked them with some thinly sliced yellow onion [[it's what I had on hand]], olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. And because I forgot the horseradish like a dummy, I decided to make a warm wasabi cream. Again, it's what I had on hand. Here's what I did:

[[Warm Wasabi Cream]]

1 heaping tbs earth balance
1 glove garlic
about 2 tbs brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1 tsp salt and pepper
2 tbs wasabi

-- Warm the E.B. and the garlic.
-- Add the brown rice flour when the E.B. is completely melted and slightly bubbling. Whisk together and let sit for 20 seconds.
-- Add the soy milk, salt, pepper, and whisk to combine.
-- Allow to thicken on medium heat.
-- When thickened, whisk in wasabi and set on warmer until ready to use.

The tofu cakes were phenomenal. I'm not a huge white pepper fan, so I may leave that out next time, but they were really great. They were a little difficult to patty after sitting in the fridge for a a half hour [[still too runny]], but I made due. They certainly didn't come out as pretty as his, but they still tasted great. Creamy inside, with greasy crispy outside.

November Treats: Pumpkin Spice Granola

Hey, Columbus. I wanted to do a quick post about the most amazing granola I've ever had. I never got into the whole seasonal food thing, mostly because the thought of a pumpkin spice latte made me cringe a little. BUT I'm here to tell you, I've been converted. Pumpkin spice granola is officially my new favorite thing ever, served with vanilla rice milk. You can get it in bulk at the Clintonville Community Market, and I highly recommend that you do! It's flavorful, crunchy, and feels like fall in a bowl.

Vegan MoFo Day 30: How to Fix a Broken Sauce + Recipe

Above is a really delicious, but REALLY broken, sauce. It's a lemon butter sauce. The base is a little soy milk, reduced, and a little no-chicken broth, reduced. And sometimes, for one reason or another, when you add your fat, everything sort of falls apart. And you get this sort of speckled, animal print looking sauce. It's really frustrating for a vegan because the best way to fix a completely down-right ruined sauce is to use an egg yolk. But for obvious reasons, that won't work.

So, in honor of my failures this week, I thought I'd give you all some tips on how to fix your broken sauces.

1. If you see it start to break, immediately obtain some of your base [[this could be soy milk, broth, whatever you started with]] and whisk some in, about 1-2 tsp., until the sauce comes together again.

2. You can whisk a little flour in when you add your fat [[oil, butter, etc.]]. This way, your sauce is less likely to break since flour is a pretty awesome binding agent.

3. You can also try blending a little tofu, a flax egg, or using an ener-g egg replacer in order to bind the sauce again.

4. To prevent, add you fat slowly and whisk quickly. And don't let it sit on the heat too long.

[[Lemon Butter Sauce]]

1 tbs olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1/4 cup chopped assorted mushrooms
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup no-chicken broth
1/2 cup soy milk
2-3 tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 tbs earth balance
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper

-- Heat olive oil on medium heat.
-- Add shallots, mushrooms and garlic, when oil is heated. You can test the oil with one piece. If it sizzles, it's ready.
-- Cook vegetables for 3-4 minutes. Allow the garlic to become fragrant and the shallots to become soft and translucent.
-- When ready, add the no-chicken broth. Turn the heat up to medium high. Bring to a simmer.
-- When the broth has reduced in half, add the soy milk and whisk together. Once again, allow the milk to reduce in half at a simmer.
-- Add the lemon juice. Whisk together.
-- Add the 4 tbs of earth balance and whisk quickly. Add the earth balance slowly! If you add it too quickly, it will break. Try one teaspoon at a time. If the sauce begins to break, try any of the methods to salvage the sauce as stated above.
-- Add the parsley and pepper. Serve over any meat substitute, vegetables, pasta, mashed potatoes, rice, etc. Be sure to not let this sauce sit on the heat too long, as that will cause it to break. Prepare it right when everything else is ready. And if you refrigerate it, you're doomed! Dun, dun, DUN! [[like scary music?... ok.]]