This is one way to start.

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Something of a holiday gathering spread with neon sugar cookies decorated by J. Legume, breads for roasted garlic & squash fondue, and gluten free chocolate peppermint cake. Not pictured: tator tots, chipotle ranch and other fun stuff, like the makings of pickle backs.

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Pumpkin pie brownie bars, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

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We’ve been going on Portland Art Museum brainstorming visits for Vida Vegan Con

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Sizzle Pie special brunch slice (even though green onions can rot in hell)

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…and a delight it was.

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North Park Blocks

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Really, really local produce shopping on Division Street

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Late fall visit to the Hollywood Farmers Market

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It’s kinda like someone opened a coffeeshop in my parking lot.

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The usual.

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Penne alla vodka. The dish on the left is topped with grated, air-dried Parmesan from AVC. Lovely.

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Pizza night with my bff: gluten-free cornmeal crusts and all the vegan cheeses in the house.

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Pizza #2. The first pizza has a roasted and herbed delicata squash sauce, while this one is more traditional with a fiery marinara.

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The Artisan Vegan Cheese adventures continue…

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Our neighborhood fermented pickles. Best in the (North)west? Probably. Finally. 

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Artwork by J. Legume, of course.

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Our Ethiopian feast on Thanksgiving, nearly entirely from Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian – injera from a local Ethiopian market.

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Thanksgiving day dessert: chocolate cream bourbon pie, minus the never-starting Soyatoo

My feelings on Portland winters are bittersweet, at best. It mists, it hails, it still rains a lot. It might snow that turns into rain that turns into snow that may turn into snow for an inch or two and then shut the city down for three days, and yeah, it drives me bonkers. I find myself reminiscing about blizzards coating Long Island and New England winters and the lights on Comm. Ave. and craving the cold, or now, seeking something totally different. Getting away. I’m a broken record about my SE Asian travels last winter, and while my next epic adventure has been postponed until after May, I’m somehow going to be spending the rest of the month on hiatus….and most surely, in the snow. Time will tell if it feels right. More on that another day. Holidaze, indeed.

Best. Leftovers. Ever?

Yeah, you can correctly assume that this leftover-incorporation project was an experiment gone oh, so, tender and right. Being that J. Legume and I were opting for something different this past Thanksgiving, we decided to make what turned out to be a giant batch of mashed potatoes the weekend prior.  I’d never foreseen this as an issue before – J. Legume is quite an enthusiast, and I’m all about using leftovers as breaded, Italian-style mashed potato croquettes, just like my mom used to make, except I now bake them vs. frying. With this bout of leftovers, I wanted something new and my google searches were a mess of ugly Shepherd’s pies, been there, done that pancakes, and basically, links to top ten lists of the same three basic recipes and pictures of little kids holding messy spoonful of mashed potatoes. Or something like that. I was actually leaning towards a soup or loaf of bread, when my luck changed with a curiously appropriate recipe for Leftover Mashed Potato Biscuits on Serious Eats (a website that I love to hate because it’s both inspiring annoying, and I clearly just wish I was writing for a vegan version).

What happened next was a success and a veganization that will make it into further rotation, no doubt. I mean, hey, I typed it out and everything.

The whole gang.

Leftover Mashed Potato & Cheese Biscuits (adapted from Serious Eats)

Makes 6-8 biscuits, depending on your cut

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1.5 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ cup chilled Earth Balance margarine
• 1 generous cup of mashed potatoes
• ⅓ cup unsweetened nondairy milk
• ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup shredded vegan cheese Note: I used Follow Your Heart cheddar
• additional flour, as needed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a small cup, vigorously whisk together the nondairy milk and vinegar with a fork and set aside. Mix together the flour, nutritional yeast, salt, sugar and baking powder in a mixer bowl or food processor (or if you’re a badass, by hand). Add in the margarine in small chunks, and mix until the batter is crumbly. Then pour in the ‘buttermilk’ components of nondairy milk and vinegar, as well as the mashed potatoes. Mix until fairly well combined. Lastly, add the shredded vegan cheese until *just* combined (especially if you want to see the colors swirl). Using flour as needed, gently spread the mixture until ¾ inch in thickness. Using a pizza cutter or long knife, divide into 6 or 8 biscuits, and place on the parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Serve with additional margarine, or what the hell, steamed kale and gravy, if you please.

These are softer and less flakey than your typical biscuits, but lovely in their own special way.

Yeah.

I’ve spent much of the past 2 days on the phone with my sister, who just returned from a 3 week vacation in Italy. She spent her days working on small farms and her evenings sipping red wine. I’m so proud, and my kitchen has been thinking of her as I recall the brief Sicilian wanderings of my early 20s.

Cashew miso alfredo over fusillata casarecci with sauteed morels and fresh parsley.

This isn’t the first nut-based alfredo that’s come my way, and barring any further, emerging allergies, won’t the be the last. And I just can’t put into words how stellar and succulent the Earth Balance sautéed morels were with this. Wait.

Cashew Miso Alfredo

Ingredients:

• 1 cup soaked raw cashews
• 3/4 cup water
• 2-3 cloves worth of sliced garlic
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• pinch fresh thyme
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon white miso (less can be more – same goes for the garlic)
• salt & pepper (preferably white), to taste
• fresh parsley

1. Saute the sliced garlic in the olive oil for 3-4 minutes over medium heat.
2. Remove from heat, and carefully add to blender, along with the rest of the ingredients, with the exception of the parsley.
3. Gently reheat in a small saucepan, and whisk in more water if needed.
4. Serve over pasta or other entrée, and sprinkle with fresh parsley and additional pepper, if desired.

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Next up, a vibrant edition in the never-ending, clean-out-the-fridge series. It’s a take on this recipe, which was inspired by the smokey mac at Bang Bang Cafe in Seattle. I left out the (pointless – I was simply out of oil?!) bit of packaged vegan cheese this time around, and skipping the cashews, incorporated both roasted red peppers and coconut milk into the pureed sauce.

Smokey Roasted Red Pepper and Coconut Mac & Cheeze

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Tomatoes are having a slow start this summer. Sadness. I finally spotted some at the Montavilla Farmers Market  a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve grabbed a pint at every market since then. Fast forward a couple of more weeks, and I’m impatiently expecting true sweetness!

Orrechiete with sautéed red and sungold cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, purple and roasted garlic, olive oil, fresh basil, crushed red pepper and fresh black pepper. Served with balsamic roasted green beans, with a pinch of brown sugar. The pasta dish was inspired by a similar meal from a downtown food cart last week.

Last week, I was charmed by a sandwich. True story.

softly opening

I stopped by the soft opening of Brass Tack Sandwiches, located on the corner of N Fremont & N Vancouver, and I continue to look back, wistfully. This new deli has creative vegan, vegetarian and omni options, including housemade vegan salami, ham, beanballs, turkey, cold salads & slaws, daily soups, housemade beverages and coming soon – pickles! Both my friend and I ordered the Velveeta Underground, featuring agave smoked seitan ham (yup, I just wrote that) and smoked oat cashew cheese (and that!) and other goodness in between one of Fleur de Lis’ ciabatta rolls. Dare I say, this sandwich was artisan. There’s a build-your-own option amongst other unique named signature vegan sandwiches, too. Here’s the menu.

This adorable combination was served on a cafeteria style lunch try. Add the mug of soup; cue instant charm & nostalgia.

The soup of the day: Cream of Mushroom sprinkled with fresh chives. So great.

Purple Cabbage & Dill Slaw

Behold, The Velveeta Underground

Brass Tacks & the return of Susie

I’m stoked about returning & trying the Captain Nemo, a white beanball & marinara sub, on my next visit.  And believe it: I learned after the fact that this shop was a freaking Kickstarter project come to life! Impressive.

Bonus points for being on my bus line!

Note: They have both vegan and carnivorous versions of their meats – make sure you order the right thing, yo.

Smokey Mac & Cheese, inspired by Bang Bang Cafe

This recipe marked the first time I’d turned to VegWeb for guidance in years. The veg recipe directory and LiveJournal’s vegan cooking communities were my learn-as-you-go and read-the-comments because you can only-sorta-trust-the-internet tip toes into the vegan culinary world back in the early 2000s. It’s like I can recall mildly freaking out when the number of nutritional yeast sauce recipes rose above 10. After our time apart, I admit that I really enjoyed seeing that most of the recipes I perused were still called “The Best Ever” “The Very Best Ever” “Mom’s Best” “The Best in the World!!!!”, etc. I like vegan enthusiasm.

To get to the point, I just decided to chance it on the internet, test my tastebuds and emulate the memorable vegan mac & cheese my friend Chelsea ordered at Bang Bang Cafe at Seattle this past weekend. I stole a couple of bites, and I was a little jealous that I hadn’t ordered their smokey vegan mac for breakfast, too!  I thought it was so good that it must contain vegan cheese, and was surprised to learn that it was tofu and nutritional yeast based! Swell.

Back to Bang Bang, where I fed my bourbon-induced mild hangover a more wholesome bean and roasted veggie filled burrito. When I returned, however, I had a potluck meeting to attend to the next day and after browsing my limited ingredients and finding a box of whole wheat shells, knew it was time to eye my 2 jars of Spanish smoked sweet paprika, Hungarian hot paprika, Hungarian half sweet paprika, Alder smoked salt and my good buddy, the giganto container of nutritional yeast flakes. The finished result didn’t seem to fit everyone’s tastes – which is how vegan mac & cheese always seems to work – but more than a couple folks seemed obsessed and another friend had me write down the recipe, so here we go. Dare I say I had fun making a mac & cheese recipe where you simply had to puree the cheesy sauce ingredients..because, I did.

Smokey Baked Mac & Cheese, adapted from Best Vegan Mac and Cheese in the entire world…seriously, as posted on VegWeb.com. I halved the recipe and made a few changes based on what I was aiming for and had on hand.Go, go smokey, creamy mac!

Ingredients:

•    3/4 lb whole wheat pasta or rice pasta, preferably with ridges

Cheesy sauce

•     1/2 cup unsweetened nondairy milk (I used a combination of So Delicious coconut milk beverage and soy milk)
•     3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
•     1-2 tablespoons of olive oil or non-hydrogenated margarine
•     1/2 cup water
•     2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
•     1/2 cup soaked and drained raw cashews
•     1 clove of garlic
•     1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
• pinch cayenne
• pinch hot paprika
•     generous pinch of salt (add more to taste after blending sauce)
•     1 tablespoon mustard (I used TJ’s spicy sweet mustard)
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• OPTIONAL: 1/4 cup vegan cheese (I used Teese cheddar sauce)
• breadcrumbs
• pinch of additional paprika and cayenne
• olive oil mister/spray
• smoked salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Lightly grease a small casserole dish. Boil the water and cook pasta 1 minute less than instructed. Drain and add to your casserole dish. You’ll want at least a couple inches of room to be able to add the cheesy sauce.

2. Puree the cheesy sauce ingredients  in a blender until smooth and adjust the seasonings to taste. Carefully stir into the cheesy sauce and vegan cheese, if using.

3. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly on top, followed by the smoked salt and additional paprika and cayenne, if using. Lightly spray with oil. Bake until the breadcrumbs looks golden, 15-20 minutes. Broil an additional 5 minutes, if desired.

Serve with steamed greens, unless you’re nuts.

Bang Bang's Vegan Mac & Cheese

The aforementioned vegan breakfast burrito with red chile sauce

Alicia's Bang Bang burrito with red & green chile sauces

Melissa went with a classic Mighty-O Donut

Smoked Potato Cheese: Take 2, Creamy Edition. I'll post the recipe after one more test run before Heartichoke.

Have I mentioned that I'm digging my stovetop smoker? Well, I am. Smoked Cherry Tomato & Kale Raab Pesto Bruschetta

Kale Raab Bistro Chowder; Bruschetta. Bistro Chowder Recipe from Appetite for Reduction. Farewell, Soup Season.

Tofu Cube Toss with Smoked Tomatoes, Roasted Red Pepper, Maitake Mushrooms, Kalamata Olives, Collard Raab; Mac & Cheddar Teese Sauce with Miso & Collard Raab. This ain't no wimpy scramble.

Baked Saffron Rice with Roasted Peppers. The recipe will be in the Spring issue of T.O.F.U. Magazine. Zomg.

From a small dinner party: Baked Saffron Rice with Roasted Peppers, Serrano Seitan Ham over Kale, Roasted Potato Bread and Blood Orange & Grapefruit Marinated Olives, etc.

Galician Empanada Pie with Smoked Soy Curls & Serrrano Ham, Take 1. Will be working on the conrmeal crust and spice factor.

TGI Return of the FarMar & Multi-Color Carrots. There are white carrots in the empanada pie, yo.

From the PPK Test Kitchen: Cappuccino Mousse Pie with Rad Whip. I'll get the fluffin' up next time.

From the PPK Test Kitchen: Manhattan Mud Pie. Photo by Lucas DeShazer. Truly, one of the few times you'll ever see me in the backround of a photo here.

Portland Hidden Gems are up next. Really.