Food for Thought Thursdays: Vegan = Tasty

Janet here: We are very happy to introduce Gigi, author of Veganville, who we gave a shout-out to a couple of weeks ago. As we said in our posting, Veganville is not your typical food blog. Gigi likes to throw it out there. This is cooking with an attitude. We think you'll get the idea when you read her guest post here. While I have basically avoided veganhood — who can live without dairy! — Gigi's blog has made me decide to give it a try. Here's hoping you're inspired too.

Gigi:
A while back, Janet and Rachel invited me to be a guest blogger. I’m really excited to be here at Life Told in Recipes. I just hope they remembered that I was coming. I noticed that other guest bloggers received some interview questions and a lead in. I flew all the way from Veganville too. Veganville is my place in cyber land. I’m a vegan food and fashion writer, sometimes irreverent essayist. I’m also the owner of Veganville a small vegan baking and cooking company in Berkeley, California. Hmmm wonder where they are…

Since I’m here, I’d like to mention that I never proselytize but merely expose some truths about certain industries. Today, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you about my experience with Martha.

Martha is a thug! There was a time when Martha thrived on sustainable ingredients but that was before she did time in the pokey. I’m sure you’ve heard about her famous ketchup packets and cigarette butt gazpacho by now, but I bet you didn’t know that while doing time, Martha also made eyeliner from peas. She fenced a lot of local ingredients and always composted while in the yard. Martha stopped eating the green meat and slimy eggs and was one step away from Veganhood when she was released.

This was the first cake she asked for on the outside.



It’s made with 582 eggs. Think of the chickens Martha, they are not as free range as you think. There’s a lot of crowding and barbed wire going on in those places, Martha. Think of a prison for chickens. I think I might have heard Martha cackle “I don’t care GiGi - I’m out”.

I took the liberty to veganize some Martha cookies.



Martha’s in the Big House Carrot Sandwich Cookies

ingredients
2 sticks Earth Balance softened

1 cup organic brown sugar

¼ cup water mixed with 3 teaspoons egg replacer

2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon ginger

½ tsp allspice

2 cups rolled oats

1.5 cups grated carrots

1 cup raisins

method

Heat oven to 350. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment. Cream together Earth Balance and both sugars on medium speed until fluffy. Add egg replacer and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices in separate bowl. Add gradually to Earth balance mix and mix until combined. Mix in oats, carrots and raisins until just blended. Shape a tablespoon of dough (a small ice cream scoop works well) into balls and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes until lightly browned. Cool completely before filling.

Vegan cream cheez

ingredients
¼ cup Earth Balance (softened)

¼ cup Tofutti (softened)

2 cup vegan confectioner’s sugar

1 teaspoon non-alcoholic vanilla

Cream Earth Balance with Tofutti. Beat in confectioner’s sugar a half a cup at a time. Remember to scrape down the sides in between. Add vanilla last.

When the cookies are completely cool, spread about 1 T of vegan cream cheese on the bottom of one cookie and then sandwich it together with another. Enjoy!

Blogs That Make Us Hungry: Veganville

Janet here: A friend tipped me off to the wild world of Veganville and I was immediately addicted. The author, Gigi, is unafraid to tell her world like it is, but it's so refreshing. And as a vegetarian myself, I am always so impressed by vegans; it's just so much harder to take that extra step of omission — no eggs! no dairy! — in my mind. Vegans make vegetarians kind of seem like wusses I think.

Veganville is not a blog of food porn where you're going to see high-end photography or even high level recipes. But what you will see is a regular person just throwing it all out there and making it real, and I just find that incredibly appealing.

Rachel here: The thing about veganism is that it can be super delicious (see my chocolate cake post here). As a carnivore, this is easy to forget. Gigi's blog is a great reminder, though, that eating super conscientiously can be not only delicious, but accessible, too. Plus, she's a Bay Area girl...and, you know, I generally think we rock.