The Vegan Relationship Survey

I just finished reading the results of The Vegan Relationship Survey and I must admit, I had mixed reactions to it. Not the statistics, mind you. I have nothing against stats. I'm a sociology major. I heart stats. But the way the information was presented really squicked me. 

Perhaps, in M. Butterflies Katz's defense, this is my own personal issue since I'm used to reading study results that are presented in accordance with a certain professional standard. To my knowledge, Katz never claims the study is scientific. As I read it, however, I couldn't help but lament over the poor writing and clumsy handling of the findings.

The worst part of the article, in my opinion, was the paragraph dealing with two survey responders who reported battling cancer. Katz uses these people's illness to segue into a rant about the toxic world in which we live and cites vegans that "eat loads of processed junk food." She wags her finger, reminding us all of the importance of eating a healthy, wholesome, and balanced diet. This evoked an audible gasp from me. Katz, unwittingly or not, actually implies that these people are culpable for their illness. I consider this an unforgivable injection of personal opinion that is not only myopic, but in poor taste.

She also makes clear to us all, twice, that she is personally opposed to having children, or as she puts it, "continuing the overpopulation of the Earth." I know this is a hot button issue amongst vegans and environmentalists alike and even as a parent of my own biological son, I can appreciate this perspective. However, I don't want to have it, or any other personal opinion, thrown in my face when reading survey results.

I think this is the crux of my issue with this article. Are these study findings or is it a platform for Katz's personal opinions? Because the two should never catch sight of each other in a scientific survey. But then again, as I stated before, Katz never claims this thing to be scientific. It's good thing, too. If she had, I'm afraid she'd have half of academia after her.

That said, I'm actually happy to see this sort of survey done. I found the results very interesting, even if I had to soldier my way through the article. I recommend that you read it. And if you do, give me your opinion about it. Am I being too hard on Katz here?

Mexican Hot Chocolate Mini Cuppies & Our Latest Biggest Loser Throwdown Weigh-In Results

Mexican Hot Choco Mini Cuppies
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

Greetings vegans and veg-curious readers. Just thought I would let y'all know I tried another cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World this past weekend. I was tasked with bringing dessert to a Mexican food inspired get-together and decided on the Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes. I crowned them with the Chocolate Mousse Topping from the same book and sprinkled them with crushed Mexican Chocolate.

They were so tasty! They came out super moist with a fun kick from the cayenne pepper. The Chocolate Mousse Topping was over-the-top decadent. I know they look like little swirls of poo, but that's the inherent problem with chocolate swirls and smears. You just have to close your eyes and trust it'll taste good. And these definitely do!

By the way, to make these mini I reduced the baking time to about 13 minutes.

We weighed in Sunday morning and unfortunately, the win for last week goes to Team Red. :::booooo hisssss::: The Husband actually went two pounds in the wrong direction - bad Husband! And that was before the mini chocolate cuppies! I gained .2 pound, which basically means I stayed the same. Fine with me because it's That Time right now. I know it'll come off next weekend and then some.

We have fun things planned for Memorial Day - swimming and more barbeque. I hope to blog about it all very soon. Have a fantastic holiday!

Vegan Summer Nail Polish Colors

I was out with a girlfriend last night and wandered into a store with a great selection of OPI nail polish. Now, I've had a long-time love affair with OPI colors ever since I discovered what's got to be the best red nail polish on the planet: I'm Not Really a Waitress. Yes, that's the name of the color. OPI colors have the best names!

When I transitioned to veganism, I was relieved to learn that OPI products are vegan but for the exception of their Ridge Filler, which I've never used. I've also heard that some of their pearlescent colors may not be vegan, but I'm not completely sure about that and I don't wear those either. If anyone knows anything to the contrary, please let me know.

Anyhow, OPI releases seasonal and other inspired collections every so often and the colors are always spectacular. While I tend to wear only red, black or nearly black, and pale pink polishes (depending on my mood and the time of year) sometimes I like to go wild with color. Especially on my toe nails during the warmer months when I'm wearing open-toed shoes and sandals. Problem is, their collections come and go real fast and if you don't grab them while the grabbing is good, they're gone. 

So last night, when I stumbled upon this great OPI display, I noticed their summer collection is now available. It's called Bright Pair and is inspired by various colors of Paige Premium Denim. I eyed a 4-pack of mini Bright Pair bottles that includes three colors and a top coat. The price was in the neighborhood of $10.00. What a steal! So I grabbed one.

What I love about these little mini packs is that I can afford to dabble in multiple colors, without making the commitment of purchasing a full-sized bottle. Also, by the time summer is over, most of it will probably be gone. 

The OPI Bright Pair Mini 4-Pack includes four 3.75 mL or 1/8 Fl. Oz. bottles of...

• A Grape Fit! - A gorgeous light purple
• Shorts Story - A super hot pink with cool blue undertones
• On the Same Paige - A fabulous orangey-red
• RapiDry Top Coat - Dries hard with a delicious high-gloss shine in minutes

Score! The changing of nail colors is part of my Friday ritual, so I'll be trying at least one of my new colors tonight. It's the little things that make us girls happy. And these little OPI sample packs definitely put a smile on my face.

Sunday Night Dinner: Za Za Ziti with Spinach Salad

Sunday Night Dinners are back in la casa de La Vegan Loca and I couldn’t think of a better way to revive the tradition than with an Allison Rivers Samson recipe. As you may recall, she’s the creatrix of The Best Mac n’ Cheese Ever and the Clam-Free Chowdah that was so good, I couldn’t get pictures of it before it was devoured. So when I saw she had another recipe in the latest issue (May/June 2009) of VegNews, I knew it would be the one to usher Sunday Night Dinners back into our home.

Za Za Ziti with Spinach Salad
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

Her latest offering is called Za Za Ziti and it is beyond indulgent. I must confess, when I read the recipe I was a little skeert. The Husband and I are still working diligently on loosing weight and Allison’s Ziti has macadamia nut ricotta cheese and a cashew cream sauce. That’s on top of fire roasted tomato saucy pasta. We weigh in every Sunday morning, so I strategically planned the meal in order to maximize “recovery time” before our next weigh-in. By the by, see the bottom of this blog post for the results of this morning’s weigh-in.

While reading it, I also noted there are several steps to the recipe. In order to get the most out of my Sunday, I spilt the work up over the course of the day. I started soaking the nuts for the macadamia nut ricotta cheese just before lunch. I also threw the cashew cream sauce together while I was in the kitchen, because it’s a quick and easy food processor or blender job.

Come mid-afternoon, I hopped back in the kitchen and made the tomato sauce.

When it was time to get serious about dinner, I had the three main components prepared so all I needed to do was boil the pasta, throw it together and bake it. No problem! Sure, there were some extra dishes to be washed, but this meal is worth it. I assure you. Besides, The Husband did all the dishes tonight. ☺

While the ziti was baking, I made an Italian salad with baby spinach, some extra macadamia nut ricotta cheese, toasted pine nuts, fresh Roma tomatoes, and hearts of palm. I tossed it with Newman’s Own Lighten Up Italian Dressing, which next to a big pile of Za Za Ziti is kinda like having your donuts with a diet coke, but whatever. It was tasty and I didn’t have to make a dressing.

We sat down to eat and both The Husband and I were shocked at how luscious this dish is. Some of the little bits of pasta that were sticking up got all crispy and nummy while baking which was an awesome contrast to the creamy goodness beneath. It was a very quiet dinner. And you know the food is good when nobody’s talking!

My notes for this recipe are:

1. I had to add a bit of extra water both to the cashew cream sauce and the macadamia nut ricotta cheese in order to get the proper texture and consistency. No problem there, just an FYI. These things happen particularly when you’re measuring things like nuts by volume rather than by weight.
2. Next time, I’ll make extra cashew cream sauce because the pasta soaked up most of it. I’m sure that added to the flavor, but the sauce was so delicious on its own, I think the dish would be even better with a bit of it drizzled over the top after it comes out of the oven.
3. Lastly, plan ahead. Like I said earlier, this is a multi-step recipe. You can’t wait ‘til late afternoon (when I usually start thinking about dinner) to start putting this baby together. It’s seems like a lot of work when you look at it, but if you break it up into manageable chunks, like I did, you’ll be fine.
   

That’s it for notes. I have no criticisms. Za Za Ziti rocks the Casbah. I’m officially an Allison Rivers Samson devotee. Try this recipe, or any of her others for that matter, and you will be too.

As for our weigh-in this morning, we rocked it. We dominated Team Red with a Blue Team total loss of 6 pounds this week. The Husband lost 4 and I lost 2. Now it’ll be interesting to see if we can recover from Za Za Ziti and register another loss next weekend. But we were smart and offed the leftovers as soon as we were done eating. We ended up feeding a family of four omnis with what was left in the pan and got rave reviews. They couldn’t believe it didn’t have any dairy cheese.

Winner, winner, chickpea dinner! Now I'm going to roll myself onto the couch and bask in the afterglow of my temporary self-indulgence. 

Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding

It's no secret I'm a fan of Mark Bittman. His book, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian is basically the main text book for my DIY culinary school program. He's not a vegan. He's not even a vegetarian. But his recipes are spot on and the things he has to say to omnis about reducing the amount of animals and animals products they consume in order to be kind to our environment and ourselves are quite encouraging. Why? Because he's a foodie, so people listen to him. They don't really listen to us. We're too fringy. 

Anyhow, yesterday he published a lovely article in the New York Times encouraging people not to fear tofu and using a recipe for Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding as a selling point. There's even a cutie instructional video. Check it out!

(The above photo is from the online article. I believe it can be credited to Evan Sung.)

I Am Mercy for Animals

A lovely and short video you can share with friends, veg and omni alike. No slaughter or cruelty footage. Lots of famous quotes are paraphrased. It would have been nice if they had credited them, but overall it's nicely done. Enjoy!

Mother's Day Barbeque! With cake!

We just wrapped up a fantastic weekend filled with lots of great food and fun with the family. This past Sunday, we celebrated both Mother’s Day and The Boy’s (belated) birthday.

Grilled Veggie n' Tofu Kebabs
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

My parental units decided they wanted to barbeque, so after a little brainstorming, I decided to make tofu n’ veggie kebabs. I filled each skewer with big hunks of locally grown zucchini, mushrooms, gorgeous Amorosa tomatoes, and tofu marinated in a homemade Cherry Barbeque Sauce. I got the sauce, which we also slathered on the other veggies while grilling, from this Vegetarian Times recipe. Delish! A wonderful balance of sweet and savory with a lovely kick from the cayenne pepper. The next time I make this sauce, I’ll make a double batch. It was so yummy, there wasn’t enough to go around.

Mother's Day Vegan BBQ
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

I also made a beautiful Grated Raw Beet with Jicama, Avocado, and Orange slaw, another Vegetarian Times recipe. It was outstanding with some really unique flavor notes. Crunchy, fresh, and the perfect side dish for any barbeque. I’ll definitely make this again, too!

We enjoyed our grilled kebabs slid off the skewer and onto some whole grain buns, which we also grilled. We topped all that with some sliced avocado and it was a little bit of heaven. Alongside our grilled kebab sammies was the lovely, pinky-red slaw and some killer, locally grown, grilled corn on the cob. So summery and so so good!

Lime Coconut Cake w/ Lime Coconut Buttahcreem Icing
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

After we ate, we dove into The Boy’s birthday cake. I baked him the Lime Coconut Cake with Lime Coconut Buttahcreem Icing from Jae Steele’s awesome book, Get it Ripe. This was my first experience with this cake and it was definitely a winner. The cake, which was made with spelt flour, was super moist and dense deliciousness. The Lime Coconut Buttahcreem Icing was so incredibly tasty! I decided to try my hand at one of those rustic, drippy looking cakes and I think it turned out pretty well. I garnished it with more shredded coconut and some lime zest.

Vegan Cake n' Ice Cream
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

We served the cake along side some vegan vanilla ice cream that we topped with a homemade Lime Sauce. I just altered the recipe for Lemon Sauce from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. It was super easy, very pretty, and delicious on top of the ice cream. It really tied the flavors together with the cake.

A glorious and sunny, southern California day spent by the pool with family, good food, and a book. Perfection!

A note to my fellow bibliophiles: I’m currently reading and very much enjoying The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley.

Mini Vanilla Birthday Cuppies

Mini Vegan Vanilla Cuppies
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

Last week I had the pleasure of baking up a couple dozen mini cupcakes for The Boy to take to school in honor of his birthday. It was so much fun! He picked out the colors for the tie-died cuppies and then carefully observed as I frosted them all. When I ran out of coloring, I decorated the rest of them with multi-colored sugar sprinkles.

The next day, I dropped him off at school with 2 dozen mini vanilla cupcakes, a bunch of juice boxes, and a stack of napkins. He was so excited and his classmates were super stoked when they found out they got to eat cuppies for their mid-morning snack. They even made a cute Happy Birthday sign for The Boy. It was all way too much fun. Since he's in preschool, this was the first time I was able to play the role of the cool mom who bakes good shit to eat and I gotta say, I liked it!

Mini Vegan Vanilla Cuppie
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

Also, I learned something really important: mini cuppies are dangerous. Their size makes them even harder to resist. What is it about things in miniature that makes them so alluring?

Anyhow, I used the recipe for basic vanilla cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and just reduced the baking time to about 13 minutes to accommodate the mini size. I frosted them with the killer vanilla buttercream recipe from the same book. These recipes never fail.

Winner, winner, chickpea dinner!

And after much effort, Man created swine flu

If you abuse nature by mass-producing meat in appalling conditions, you pay the price by incubating diseases.

Follow the link to a very interesting article about mass "producing" animals in deplorable conditions and the consequences that come along with it. Worth the read.

Raw Banana Coconut Cream Pie and "Offsetting"

This looks amazing!  And watching the vid is zero calories.  :)

Strawberry Banana Nut Waffles

Strawberry Banana Nut Waffle
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

I decided to tackle the Banana Nut Waffles from Veganomicon this past weekend. I've made them plenty of times before, and for the record - they rock, but I wanted to see if I could "healthify" the recipe a bit.

I made the following changes:

• replaced soy milk with nonfat soy milk
  
• used only 2 of the 3 tablespoons of canola oil called for
  
• replaced half of the flour with organic spelt flour
  
• replaced the other half with unbleached flour, rather than AP
  
• replaced half the walnuts with chopped, fresh strawberries
  

They came out great. There was no distinguishable difference in taste or texture from the reduction of fat, with the exception of fewer nuts, of-course. The exterior of the waffles was still crispy and the innards were still fluffy and light.

Win!

The nutritional info for my version breaks down like this:

1 serving = 1 regular waffle or half a Belgium-style waffle

126 calories; 4g of fat; 0g sat fat; 0g trans fat; 0mg cholesterol; 170mg sodium; 51g carbs; 2g dietary fiber; 5g sugars; 3g protein

1% RDA Vit A; 6% RDA Vit C; 5% RDA calcium; 6% RDA iron

I don't mean to be obscene, but ILVTOFU!

The Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles turned down a request from a vegan driver to display ILVTOFU on a set of personalized license plates because the phrase could be construed as obscene, Tom McGee reports in The Denver Post.

I get it. I LV TOFU could just as easily be read I LV TO FU. But still ... really?

OMGWTFBBQTOFU!!!11!!1

Seed Balls

I just read an interesting NPR article about seed balls.  Apparently, they were created by a pioneer of natural farming in Japan and are used to plant in inhospitable and otherwise abandoned stretches of land.  These little seed balls sound like a fun family and/or community project and an excellent vehicle for a little guerilla gardening.

Here's the 'how to' cut n' pasted from the article:

How To Make Seed Balls

Emily Gallagher, a NAG member who specializes in open space issues, says it's easy to make seed balls.

"First, we mix the mulch and a seed mixture," Gallagher says. "We try to pick a seed that is native to the area and can withstand drought. We mix those together, and then we knead it like bread into a red terra-cotta clay. It is important to use the red terra cotta, because other kinds have different chemicals in it that affect growth."

The mixture is rolled into little balls, which then has to dry. The group then puts them in bags and distributes them. The mud and clay protect the seeds from being eaten by birds and rodents. After three to five rains, the balls break down and the seeds germinate.

Read the full article and check out some pics of seed ballin' in action here.

All the little birds on J-Bird Street...

... Love to hear the Marni goin' tweet tweet tweet.

So do you tweet on Twitter? I've recently been sucked into the Twitterverse and I must admit, it's hella fun.  If you're on Twitter, please follow me and I'll return the favor.  I tweet under the name HailSeitan.

Fascists and Google Bombs

Attention writers, readers, and those that use language and value freedom of choice:

Amazon.com is "stripping the sales figures and accompanying rankings from GLBTQ books, erotica, and romance novels, particularly those with what they term "adult content." Quoted from this article over at the Smart Bitches Love Trashy Books site.

Authors are beginning to report that since having their sales ranking stripped, their books are no longer found in searches on Amazon.com.

What a buncha bullshit!

The smart bitches over at Smart Bitches have organized a Google Bomb:

Amazon Rank

I'm sure I don't have to spell out why this is important.

Do your part ... follow the link and repost it as many times in as many places as you can. The link should read: Amazon Rank

This is armchair activism at its finest!

Also, I just read that Powell's Books is considering organizing a GLBTQ book sale in response to Amazon.com's fascist asshattery.

Go Powell's!!!

Why is this important to me?  Well, I love my freedom of choice and abhor censorship, of-course.  But I also write erotica, which is one of the genres being de-ranked by Amazon.com.  So yeah, this one's personal.  

I'm am here.

Wowsers.  It's been a long time since I posted.  Sorry to disappear so suddenly like that and thanks to those of you who checked in on me while I was gone.  What happened?

Well...

As my regular readers know, I've been trying really hard to lose weight for quite a while.  I'm much larger than I'm comfortable being and as I get older, things are starting to hurt.  Oh my aching knees.  Yikes, my poor back.    

It occurred to me that I need to redefine my relationship with food if I was going to make any progress getting healthier, so I up and stopped blogging about food as an attempt to get inside my own head and parse out what I needed.  Admittedly, it took a bit longer than I expected.

Anyhow, I realized I needed three things:

1. A form of exercise I can do at home, with my son in the same room.
2. Camaraderie masked as competitive motivation.
3. An eating plan that's not really a plan at all.  No counting, measuring, figuring points, calculating grams, none of that shit.

Wanna know what I came up with?

Well, first we had a big garage sale and The Husband and I used the money we made to purchase a Wii Fit.  So now, every afternoon I can be found in my living room, acting a fool with my son eagerly requesting that I play the running game or boxing game or whatever he's in the mood to watch.  Every day I do a minimum of one hour of cardio vascular exercise on the Wii.  If I have time, I also do strength training and yoga, but the aerobics always gets done first.  It's working out quite well (no pun intended) and I've got to say the Wii Fit is an extremely motivating little thing.  I love all the charts that clearly illustrate my progress for me.  I also love the motivation the little animated balance board provides, though I do find it a bit creepy at times.  Like when I fire it up first thing in the morning and it comments how early I'm up that day.  But there advantages to that as well.  For instance last week I was having a rather crappy birthday, and when I hopped on the Wii, I got exuberant birthday wishes complete with confetti.  Nice.  

Second, I devised a way to use my competitive nature as fuel to reach my goals.  The Husband and I challenged our neighbors to a "Biggest Loser Throwdown."  The four of us are working on losing weight and getting fit and we're using the friendly competition as motivation.  We feel accountable to each other because we weigh-in together every Sunday morning and we support each other through our slip-ups and, more often, successes.  They are the Red Team and we are the Blue Team.  So far, the Red Team has three wins and the Blue Team has two.

Third, I've figured out an eating plan that's not too structured and it seems to be working for me.  Each day, I eat nothing but fruit until midday.  For lunch I enjoy a large salad with beans or tofu and a low- or non-fat dressing.  I get my cooking fix in by creating delicious meals and most of them have been coming from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites.  The recipes are delicious (we can't stop eating the roasted asparagus) and much, much lower in fat and calories than any other low-fat vegetarian or vegan cookbook I own.  On nights I don't have time or energy to cook, we've been eating Boca burgers with beans and veggies or some of Amy's Organics Low-Fat and Non-Fat soups.  When I need a "fix" I have a small bowl of organic kettle corn or, if I'm really feeling needy, a square of chocolate.  I've also drastically increased my water intake, which is easy to do when you work out, and cut my diet soda intake to one per day.

Wanna know what sort of progress I've made?  I hope so because I want to share!  

Since I started trying to lose weight at the first of the year I've lost at total of 32 pounds.  18.4 of those pounds were shed over the last 5 weeks as a result of our Biggest Loser Throwdown.  I'm so excited!  I feel like I'm finally making progress in an area I've struggled with for years.  And as I told some dear friends of mine recently, I used to diet and work out because I hated my body and now I do it because I love and appreciate my body.  What a difference that makes!

So, I'm ready to start blogging again but I'm sure the flavor of my content will change.  I'll post updates on our Biggest Loser Throwdown weigh-ins every Sunday or Monday so you can track my progress if you are at all interested in that.  I'll also share healthy recipes I find or create and there will probably be other changes, I just don't know what they'll be yet.  For now, however, I'm just happy to be back.

Cupcakes!

I baked a bevy of cupcakes for a birthday celebration this week. Five dozen, to be exact. This is both a good and bad thing. Good, because I'm trying to branch out a little with my baking - getting my name out there, testing recipes, etc. Bad because I ended up eating a few more cuppies than I probably should have.

Vegan Tie-Dye Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

I started with the recipe for Golden Vanilla Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and oomphed it up a bit adding some premium ingredients and swapping out some others. The frosting was the Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting from the same book colored as the birthday girl requested.

I made two types, both "Very Vanilla." The only difference between the two was the way I frosted them. The first batch received the tie-dye treatment, with fluffy swirls of pink, green, and purple sugary goodness.

Very Vanilla Vegan Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

The second batch was topped with a straight-up pink icing and edible pink glitter. Very girlie and exactly what the birthday girl wanted. I was happy to hear the positive reports roll in from the skeptics and kids alike. Hooray! More omnis primed for conversion. Soon, using vegan cupcakes as our proverbial carrot, we will lead humanity to live and eat with compassion and we really will take over the world!  Muhuhwahahaaaaaa......

Did I say that out loud. Heh ... moving on.

Right now, I'm happy the two-day cupcake frenzy is over even though it really was a lot of fun.

The Bummer:  I'm still trying to clean up all the powdered sugar dust coating everything in my kitchen. 

The Upshot: When the husband saw how much I was struggling through making batch after batch of buttercream frosting with a hand mixer, he promised me a stand mixer when the tax return cometh.

Schweet!

Sunday Night Dinner: Chowdah n' Puddin'

On last night's menu:

• Clam-Free Chowdah! from the Jan & Feb 2009 issue of VegNews (pg 60)
  
• Sourdough bread from a local bakery
  
• Homemade Chai Rice Pudding

We had a couple guests for dinner last night so I wanted something I could make in advance and just heat up when we were all ready to eat. The soup and rice pudding recipes fit the bill. I made them both Sunday morning which made for totally stress-free entertaining.

First, I apologize for not having any pics of the Clam-Free Chowdah. I've made it twice in the past week now and each time it has been inhaled too quickly for a food porn photo shoot. But trust me, it's worth it.

This recipe, which is published in the current issue (Jan/Feb 2009) of VegNews is another brilliant brainchild of Allison Rivers Samson. You know, the creatrix of my favorite vegan Mac n' Cheese recipe. I had high expectations for the chowdah and Allison did not disappoint.  If she continues to churn out these culinary gems I'll be forced to build an altar to her in my kitchen. 

Hey Allison, when's your cookbook comin' out?  :::hint hint:::

In this veganized version of chowdah, the clams are replaced by sauteed oyster mushrooms (yum!) which have a similar texture - chewy and delightfully meaty in that special mushroomy way. The soup gets its insanely creamy and silky-smooth texture and thickness from a base of pureed raw cashew nuts and cauliflower. Genius and delicious!

The only issue is that there is a typo in the recipe. The ingredients list calls for 2 cups of water, which are never accounted for in the recipe instructions. The first time I made the soup, the water was never added to the soup pot and we ended up eating stew, instead. Nummie, fantabulous stew, mind you, but stew nonetheless.

The second time I made the chowdah, I wised up and added the 2 cups of water when it seamed most logical: along with the remaining veggie broth, seasonings, cashew mixture, and salt in step #3.

I served the Clam-Free Chowdah in deep bowls, dished over hunks of torn-up, locally-baked sourdough bread. Oh yeah, baby. Now that's eatin'!

Vegan Chai Rice Pudding
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

For dessert, I made the vegan version of Chai Rice Pudding from the Vegetarian Times website. Not only is this dessert hearty and delicious, it's low in fat and will cost you a mere 4 Weight Watcher points per serving.

I dished out the puddin' into pretty tea cups, topped each serving with whipped Soyatoo, and added a dusting of cinnamon.  Rich and delicious, just as rice pudding should be.

Hot chowdah and a hot, creamy dessert accompanied by freezing rain and storm that whipped our palm trees against the house ... it was pretty much the perfect combination and certainly a lovely way to end the weekend.

Hope yours was grand!

Strawberry Pancakes

Strawberry Pancakes
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

Another great Saturday morning breakfast. I do believe I've started a trend akin to my Sunday night dinner posts. Perhaps I'll add Saturday morning breakfast posts to the lineup.

Anyhow, just like last weekend, we started with the Pancake recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance. But rather than going with the blueberry variation listed in the book, I omitted the cinnamon and stirred in a cup of chopped, fresh strawberries instead. I garnished the pancakes with more strawberries and some sliced banana, drizzled 'em with a bit of maple syrup and enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast.

The Husband and I liked these even more than the Blueberry Pancakes we had last weekend. Plus, we had the satisfaction of using the locally grown strawberries I picked up at the farmer's market earlier this week.

A kick-ass way to start the weekend, if I do say so myself. And I just did. So there.

Resolution Roundup

I listed a hefty set of resolutions for myself and this blog at the beginning of the year.  It's my intention to check in with myself, as a way of making a run at accountability, once per month.  So, here's goes my first roundup...

1. BETTER PHOTOS  I'm working on this one.  I think I'm getting better.  I'm more aware of the light I'm shooting my food in and I'd like to start concentrating more on diverse settings and backgrounds, as well.
2. ORIGINAL RECIPES  Yes!  I think I'm rockin' this one.  I've posted lots of original recipes already and, as promised, have stopped regurgitating published recipes as blog fodder.
3. QUALITY NOT QUANTITY  Awesome.  I've stopped pressuring myself to post something every day and I think my blog has improved for it.  My stress level has also decreased.  
4. THEME WEEKS & MOONSHINE MONDAYS  I had a great theme week last month (Healthy Resolutions: January 12 - 18, 2009) and a new topic planned for February.  I need to work on being more consistent with Moonshine Monday posts, though.
5. NUTRITIONAL INFO  I'm getting better at learning how to calculate the nutritional info for recipes and was really good about posting it during Healthy Resolutions Week.  I think I've slacked a little since then, so I need to get back to that.
6. RECIPE CONTESTS & PUBLICATION  I've successfully entered one recipe contest and had one misfire (missed the deadline).  I'm currently working on my third attempt and I'm also talking with an editor of a website that I might have the opportunity to write for at some point in the future.
7. A COOKBOOK  Hmmm ... work on the cookbook has stalled out.  I'll be sure to have something positive to report on this one next month.
8. ORGANIZE MY RECIPES  This is very slow going because I have so many!  I've gathered them all to a central location and worked out an organization system.  Much progress has been made here as I tend to work on it a little almost every day.  Perhaps next time I'll show pics of how I'm organizing them all.
9. STREAMLINE MY KITCHEN  Unfortunately, I feel like I need a bit of money for this one and we don't have much extra cash floating around right now.  I'll need to get real creative to show some progress on this goal.
10. 
    Steepware Mugs for Tea
    Originally uploaded by Marni Molina
    GET INTO TEA  Though I haven't bought any tea yet, I have purchased a couple of really cool Steeping Mugs for myself and The Husband from The Tea Spot.  I grabbed them a few weeks ago when I saw they had gone on sale at my local market.  They're plenty big, each holding 16 ounces.  In addition, they each have a built-in basket with lots of room to hold loose tea with a lid to keep the heat in while steeping.  One of the coolest features is that the basket fits perfectly inside the lid when you're ready to drink your tea.  I can't wait to try these babies out.  
11. WHAT'S IN SEASON  I've brought back this column.  It's on the right sidebar and I love having it there to remind me of all the great produce I can get locally grown at any given moment.
12. 
    My New Thyme Plant
    Originally uploaded by Marni Molina
    GET BACK INTO MY HERB GARDEN  It's not quite time to start planting things yet, but I have been planning quite a few items I'd like to add to my garden this year.  Also, during a recent trip to a local farmer's market, I replaced my poor thyme plant.  It fell victim to a freak frost we had a couple months ago.  This is San Diego.  We don't really get frosts here.  I wasn't prepared.  Anyhow, I'm more aware of the possibility of frosts now and my new thyme plant is currently residing in my kitchen window until it's ready to venture outside.
13. SHARE THE LOCA LIGHT  So far, I'm only brainstorming here.  I hope to have something new to report very soon.
14. DIVERSIFY MY POSTS  I've dipped my big toe into this pool, having written recently about the wonders of water, weight-loss tips, and a brief op-ed piece on a skanky PETA commercial that (thankfully) never aired on TV.  I feel like I'm moving in the right direction with this one.
15. DIY CULINARY SCHOOL  I've worked out how I'd like to begin this process and will be posting about my plans some time within the next month.

Super Bowl Nibbles

Build Your Own Vegan Nachos
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

The Super Bowl is always a mixed bag for me. The culmination of a season of exciting football (sweet) but also, the end of football season (bummer). On top of that, Super Bowl XLIII had its own layer of paradox to offer: the Cardinals lost but the food was great.

I made a big basket of build-your-own nachos that kept The Husband, our guests, and me munching through all four quarters and beyond. We picked up the chips, freshly made and still hot from a local tortillarilla the morning of the game. In one bowl I placed some homemade refried beans and in the other was the cheeze sauce from my favorite vegan Mac n' Cheese recipe, doctored up with extra cayenne pepper and garnished with some scallions.

To go with that I made some stuffed potato skins that were out of this world.

SoyRizo-Stuffed Potato Skins
Yield: 40 skins

Soyrizo Stuffed Potato Skins
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

• 20 small red potatoes (not the baby ones, those are too small)
  
• some vegetable or canola oil
  
• salt and pepper
  
• 1 package SoyRizo
  
• cilantro or scallions for garnish

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Wash your potatoes and place them onto a rimmed cookie sheet. Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss n' roll it all around, coating each potato, and when the oven is ready, pop 'em in and let them roast for 30-40 minutes or until they are fork-tender. Set them aside to cool.
   
2. In a large frying pan, place about 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Remove the SoyRizo from its casing and cook it in the hot oil, breaking it up as you go.
   
3. Adjust the heat so you don't burn the SoyRizo. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice them in half. Using a melon-baller, a small cookie dough dispenser, or a teaspoon, carefully scoop out the potato innards leaving at least 1/4-inch of the flesh behind. Drop the removed bits of cooked potato into the pan with the SoyRizo as you work, continuing to break it all up and incorporate it as you go. Return the heat to medium if necessary. Continue working until each potato skin is carved out and all the SoyRizo and potato has been incorporated and thoroughly heated through. 
   
4. Stuff each potato skin with some of the SoyRizo mixture until each skin is full and all the SoyRizo mixture has found a home.
   
5. Garnish with cilantro or chopped scallions and serve with Sour Cilantro Cream from V'Con.

For the requisite "something sweet" I decided to make cooling meltaway cookies to balance out the heat from the Soyrizo and spicy cheeze sauce. I veganized the recipe for Lime Meltaways from Martha Stewart's Cookies, which was really simple since the recipe doesn't call for any eggs.

Vegan Lime Meltaways
Yield: 4-5 dozen cookies

Vegan Lime Meltaway Cookies
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) vegan margarine
  
• 1 cup organic confectioner's sugar or Veganized Powdered Sugar
  
• Finely grated zest of 2 limes
  
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
  
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla
  
• 1 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unbleached flour
  
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher or other coarse salt

1. Put margarine and 1/3 cup sugar in a medium mixing bowl and mix using the whisk attachment of your mixer on medium speed 'til pale and fluffy. Add the lime zest, juice, and vanilla and mix 'til fluffy and fully incorporated.
   
2. Whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt in another bowl. Add to butter mixture, and mix on low 'til just combined.
   
3. Divide dough in half. Place each half on its own large sheet of parchment paper. Roll each in parchment to form a log 1 1/4 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along the edge of the parchment at each turn to narrow log. Refrigerate logs until cold and firm, at least 1 hour.
   
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove parchment from logs and cut them into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Space rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 13 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through cooking. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool slightly, 8-10 minutes. While still warm, toss cookies with remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a zip-top plastic bag. These cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Almond Tequila
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

In additional to all the delicious food, we enjoyed traditional margaritas and shots of my favorite tequila, pictured here. I've never seen it for sale in the US, so every time I know someone going down to Mexico, I have them bring me a bottle. It's almond tequila and it's pure heaven - so much so that it's a moral imperative to drink it straight up. I, and my guests, dutifully obliged.

I hope your weekend was grand!