TBT - For Lucy, Sweet Potato Dog Treats

In honor of our dear old Lucy, who quietly passed on at home this week, after almost 13 years of happy snacking, today's ThrowBackThursday takes us back to one of her all time favorites, Sweet Potato Dog Treats. Maybe is was goodies like these that helped her live so long. Make some for your favorite pup, and enjoy the wonderful aroma in your kitchen while they bake.

My New Vitamix, Peanut Butter, and The Best Darn Sandwiches Ever

I did it. I finally bought a Vitamix. I've been wanting one for several years, pretty much since the moment I went vegan. Everybody told me that every vegan must possess a Vitamix (or other high end, high speed blender.) I resisted. It's a big expense. I wanted to see how much I could do without one, and if you read back through the blog, you'll see I've done plenty. Certainly one can be vegan without a blender of any kind. Just as certainly, it's more fun and creative with one.

I bought a "regular" blender, and used it for a while. Then I bought a NutriBullet, which I had a lengthy love-hate relationship with. My blog post on the Bullet stirred a lot of conversation, and has more comments than any other post I've written. I'll have to go back over there once more and note that I finally decided to spring for the Vitamix. And, as many people told me would happen, I have a bit of reverse buyer's remorse, as in, Why didn't I do this sooner???

My bullet is going to live at my Dad's, so I can use it for simple things when I visit him, and my beloved food processor so far seems kind of redundant in the presence of the mighty Vitamix. I've tucked it away in a cabinet, just in case, but so far, the right tool for every job so far is my one and only new favorite "Barbie Dream Blender," the elegantly hulking Vitamix.

The other morning I was writing up a post for Eating Vegan In Portland, about PBJ's Grilled, up on 23rd. Talking up those miraculous peanut butter sandwiches, I found myself yearning for one right that very minute. I headed straight for my micro-kitchen to see how well the Vitamix makes peanut butter. I heard that it could. I've seen the videos. But I wasn't going to believe it until I tried it for myself. I filled 'er up about half full of peanuts, flipped the dials and switches, and moments later I had a vat of warm, fresh peanut butter. (Oh, heaven. Hand me a spoon.) Sandwiches were on the way, but not before I planned ahead to dinner and made peanut sauce too. It's the perfect way to "clean" all the peanut butter from the blender. By making a sauce, it was thinned down enough that it was easy to pour and scrape out nearly every last bit. And this way I only had to do the soapy cleanup once. Kind of brilliant, I think.

On to the next round - grilled PB and J's with... drumroll... caramelized onions, jalapeños, apples, and cranberries. Oh yes indeed. Inspired by my new favorite food cart, these delectables are hopping out of my ever-so-lightly-oiled skillet left and right these days. The first one I tried was peanut butter (store bought, but still good), apricot jam, grilled apples, fresh rosemary, lemon zest, and Daiya Cheddar. Swoon.

The original from the PBJ's food cart is PB, marmalade, fresh basil, Sriracha sauce, and curry powder. It's incredible.

My mind is swimming with possibilities, and the experiment with caramelized onions was a great success. Do try this at home.

Peanut butter, from a Vitamix or from a jar, can be more magical than you ever imagined. And yes, having one powerful, versatile, wonderful machine is every bit as satisfying as I'd hoped it would be. Plus it allowed me to clear some counter space, which is a very big deal in a small kitchen.

Vegan Goodness - Bison Star Naturals Soap

Vegan isn't only for food. You knew that. All the stuff we use on the outside of our bodies has the potential to be vegan too, and often not. It makes sense to do the best we can when buying soaps, lotions, and potions, checking to see that the companies we support are using only non-animal products and don't do animal testing.

When a friend sent me a beautiful bar of soap from Bison Star Naturals, I fired off a quick email, asking the owner of the company if the products were vegan friendly. Her quick response assured me that yes indeed, these high-quality soaps are not only beautiful, but vegan and natural too. Happy me!

"... Yes, the soaps are vegan. I am currently working on making my stickers hold a lot more information including a full ingredient list. Following is my white lavender bars ingredients. All of my other bars are very similar with their own unique essential oils and plant material..."

Bison star Naturals is a small, woman-owned, Taos-based company that is most worthy of our support. Head on over to their website and snap up something nice for your own sweet self, or to send as a thoughtful little gift, as my friend did. There are lots of styles and scents that are sure to please.

Hot Product - Extra Super Vega One Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

Do you know about Vega One? I got acquainted with it when I was training for a half marathon a couple of years ago. It's an awesome vegan nutritional shake that's a deliciously quick meal-on-the-run... even if you're not athletically inclined. It's perfect on its own, but of course anything can be dressed up a bit.

The nice folks at Vega sent me some samples to play with, and asked for any recipes I might come up with. I started simple, by adding the Vega One powder to my already-very-good chocolate chia seed pudding. The result is a nutritionally-amplified pudding that's more of a real food than a dessert. It's rich and chocolaty, with a texture resembling tapioca. It has no refined sugar - only stevia (in the Vega One) and dates, plus the rich sweetness of a banana. 

Eat this for dessert, or even for breakfast. Give it to your kids, or to elders who need may not feed themselves healthfully all the time. As far as I've experimented, everybody likes this pudding. Enjoy!

Extra Super Vega One Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

1/2 cup raw cashews

6 pitted dates

2 cups water

1 packet (or one scoop) Vega One powder - I used French Vanilla

1 banana

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup chia seeds

Place the cashews, dates and water in a blender and let them soak for about 15 minutes.

Add the banana, cocoa powder, and Vega One, and blend on high speed until smooth.

Pour the mixture into a large bowl and stir in the chia seeds.

Wait 10 minutes and stir again.

Refrigerate for several hours. It will thicken as it cools.

Hot Product - Curry Love

I was at Whole Foods the other day, and came across a nice man offering samples of curry sauce over rice. Is it vegan? I always ask. And happily, one of the two sauces he was offering was indeed plant based. I fell in love at first bite, and bought a jar of Curry Love's Red Thai Curry, along with a head of cauliflower and some frozen peas. Dinner was taking shape.

I love an easy meal this time of year–ok, any time of year, really. I have become a city girl and a shortcut cook. It's great when a little old jar of sauce can save me from having to shop for and lug home all the ingredients to make said sauce, and then doing the actual making and cleaning up. I know many of you feel the same way!

This meal was a snap. All I did was cook some rice "pasta style" (see below), throwing in the veggies for the last 5 minutes or so. While the rice was cooking I warmed up the sauce in a small pan. Serving was simply scooping the rice-and-veggies in bowls and pouring the sauce over it. A few chopped peanuts sprinkled on top made it kind of fancy and added a happy crunch.

This was a terrific, versatile meal that we'll certainly repeat. The sauce is flavorful and quite spicy, which we like a lot. Consider adding all sorts of other vegetables, and maybe even some tofu. It would be great on noodles too. With a sauce this good, there's really no need to get all carried away with what you pour it over. Keep it simple, and keep a jar of this stuff in your pantry for those nights when you just don't have time for a big production.

 ~ If you aren't familiar with cooking rice like pasta, it's really simple. The reason to do it this way is to remove as much arsenic as possible, and from what I've read, it's really effective. We love rice, and we don't want to give it up, so here's the solution. Rinse your rice really well. Better yet, soak it for several hours. And best of all, take a couple of days to soak and then sprout it. I know that's asking a lot. When it's time to cook it, just put it in a big pot, covered with lots of water. Bring it to a boil, cover it, reduce the heat to low, and let it cook for 20 minutes. Test it for doneness and cook a few more minutes if necessary. Then drain, rinse with hot water, shake out as much water as you can, and put it back in the pot. Cover it, turn the heat off, and let it sit for about 5 minutes. This fluffs the rice by drying out any excess moisture.  ~

I look forward to trying more sauces from Curry Love. All of the curries are vegan,  and the yellow and green are less spicy than the red. The company's other sauces are only vegetarian, so be sure to check the labels before you buy. Do check them out though. I think you'll be pleased!

TBT - Miso Happy Soup

There's a lot of good stuff in this blog that you might not bump into unless you've either been here since the beginning, or are going along reading the whole thing from front to back, or back to front. I'm making use of Throw Back Thursday to re-share some of my own personal favorite posts, in no particular order. Hope you enjoy the time-travel.

It's cold and drippy in Portland - which is just what we expect this time of year - and Rick is warding off a bit of a cold. It's a perfect day for soup. More specifically, our favorite remedy for the sniffles, Miso Happy Soup. Today I'll make it with some noodles tossed in instead of rice. It's a really versatile soup, and easy to throw together in a hurry. 

Here's the link to the original post and recipe. Cheers to staying healthy for the Holidays!

Miso Happy Soup

I'm Back

I've been gone for a while. Other things to do. You know how it is. Plus I felt like PV needed to be re-defined since my move to Portland and my radical downsizing to a micro kitchen that is frankly, pretty inadequate. 

Poor me? No way! In fact, my dinky kitchen has inspired me to simplify my cooking, which makes for easier, quicker-to-make recipes I can share with you. Re-focusing the blog, and the website too for that matter, it's now all, and only, about the good things that come with being vegan. Not just recipes, but also products, gadgets, people, events, and other things that make my vegan heart sing.

There are plenty of sources out there to give you information on why you should become vegan and how you might go about it. I'm no longer interested in recruiting - much to the relief of my friends, I suppose! Yes, of course I'd love for the whole world to go vegan, but the only one I'm really responsible for is me. You get to do what you want. And if I can help you figure out how to do what I'm doing, I'm pleased as punch to do it!

Thanks for hanging around.

Where will we go from here?

I have a few ideas...