Seitan O’ Greatness

So I attended my last three classes of freshman year today. Now all I have left is around thirty pages of crazy philosophical stuff to write. Woo-hoo.

So I’m bunkering down in my apartment (until Friday, that is. Arcade Fire on Friday I got sick & sad & sold my ticket.). I’ve stocked up on tofu and veggies and lots of brainfood.

I even decided to kickstart it all by making my first loaf of seitan. And I am so glad I did. Not only is this stuff delicious, but it took about 10 minutes to put together (minus baking time) and had minimal clean-up.

I adapted this recipe to make enough for one (and to my liking). Recipe after the jump!

Baking For Others…

…is quite possibly my favorite way to procrastinate.

In my writing class, we all had to pick semester topics to write like six papers on. So I wrote on alternative nutrition & health. I covered things like acupuncture, the corruption in the FDA, and of course, veganism. Since we had to do so much discussing about our topics, I think I got the reputation for being the annoying, pushy vegan (which I’m not at all. I’m not even 100% vegan). So I asked my teacher if it would be okay if I actually brought in some vegan muffins on the last day of class; she said that would be wonderful. So this is the return of the graham cracker muffin.

Blueberry

Chocolate Chip

I also participated in a cookie exchange through The Post Punk Kitchen forums. This is what I sent to my partner, Susie Tofu Monster.

Those are the wonderful pumpkin chocolate chip bars & homemade vegan chocolates!

Rough Day Donuts

I have been totally stressed out and kind of crazy lately, so tonight I decided that I needed to do something happy. And it doesn’t get much happier than these donut holes. I think I’ll take these to my Bio partners tomorrow morning.

I used the legendary Lolo’s mini donut test kitchen recipe. I halfed it and used a chocolate mold to make the little shapes. They’re, at most, one inch in diameter. Too cute.

Another reason I love radio

You know, I have my first exam of the semester tomorrow; I have over 30 pages of writing due in the next 2 weeks; I have writer’s block. So what am I doing at 10:58 pm when I should be sleeping or writing or registering for the next semester?

…Okay, so I’m making roasted red pepper hummus. BUT! I am also listening to my new infatuations: Mat & Dave.

These Canadian guys host an adorable vegan podcast called “Lets Get Baked With Mat & Dave.” Each week they make a recipe with a featured guest (generally a band or something), play catchy music & make me hungry & inspired. I suggest you subscribe and fail all your finals like me. (I hope that feed works; if it doesn’t, just go to the website.)

Oh! There’s also a backlog on their website of all the episodes that feature a ton of yummy recipes.

And vegan baking boys are so cute.

Sexiest Vegan in Silver Spring?

Today in Express (DC’s free daily metro paper), there was a big feature on this guy who has been nominated as Peta’s sexiest vegan or something.

Weird.

PS - Peta sucks.

Panini Porn

When I said I liked balsamic vinaigrette with crumbled tofu, I meant it. It is incredible — on sandwiches, hell - it’s even great by itself. Here’s a great rendition: Chiffonade some fresh basil and throw that in.

Then put it on some toasted flax seed bread, along with grilled zucchini, roasted red peppers, fresh tomato, fresh spinach, and “mozzarella”. Throw that on your George Foreman and yum!

Another gratuitous picture after the jump.

Sushi Picnic!

Yesterday, I made a ton of sushi and summer rolls and took it all to the ampitheatre at my school with a friend.

It was my normal (soy-marinated tofu, avocado, cucumber, carrot, green onion + sesame seed) roll, which I now have officially named the “Kawaii Roll” (which means “cute” roll).

Close-ups & myth-dispelling after the jump.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

I have nothing to say about these. The pictures speak for themselves.

Recipe: theppk.com

Black Bean Bowls

Chipotle has competition now.

For me + a friend:
Whole wheat tortilla; brown “texmati” rice; black beans; grilled onions, green peppers, and mushrooms; fresh tomato salsa with green onion, avocado. Yes.

I would say omit the tortilla. It’s superfluous. I didn’t eat it.

I win.

Busboys & Poets and Breakfast

First of all, I went to Busboys and Poets last night and had the Vegan pizza, which I can’t say was more than just good. It wasn’t phenomenal, but they do use vegan cheese & it does taste like pizza. It comes with typical pizza-esque veggies (peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach) and is like $10. I wouldn’t recommend making a trip to Busboys just to eat it, but if you ever find yourself there (and very hungry — it was huge) it’s not a bad option. But in all honesty, I wish I had gotten a salad or something.

(I also saw two shows at the 930 club last night: the Books with Todd Reynolds & Ratatat along with Hexa and Despot. The Books were absolutely incredible, as was Todd Reynolds. Hexa was just okay. Despot was pretty cool. Ratatat would have been a lot better had dumb drunk people not gotten on stage and proceeded to make fools out of themselves. In fact, Ratatat actually stopped a song to tell people to get off the stage. The crowd was so obnoxious that I actually left early.)

Today I made cranberry pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. They were delicious! (Sorry the picture isn’t that great. Not much natural light.)