I wish I was eating this right now:


I found a bunch of cans of this at Duffys (which is now defunct) and it was seriously so good. Of course I had to add salt, pepper and some nooch to it to really make it awesome. It was totally cheap when I bought it, but now that I really want some I can only find it for $3 a can. Yeah right! That's not cheap! I could buy a package of english muffins and some tofu for less than that, and eat 6 egg mcvegans. Boy I wish I was eating those too.

Fiddleheads

It is sort of JUST hitting me that I am pretty broke. I have a job (per diem) at a hospital, but I haven't been called in for a few weeks. The pay is great, but the hours obviously suck. So for the past few weeks, I have been spending more money than I've been making ($0 per week).

Even so, that didn't stop me from going to the casino this weekend and losing $50.

I also spent some money making one of the best meals I've had in quite some time. I picked up some fiddlehead greens the other day because I happened to find some. These are only available for about 3 weeks out of the year in May. I would say they are about $8/pound, so I bought a package that was less than half a pound.

I can't seem to find the exact recipe I used, but then again I didn't even follow it exactly.

-Cut the brown tips off of the fiddleheads.
-Rinse them all really good
-Steam them for 8 or so minutes
-Then sauté some minced garlic in earth balance or olive oil
-Throw in some salt and pepper, a pinch of sugar and some soy sauce (I think...I'll double check later)
-After that's been cooking for a few minutes, toss in the steamed fiddleheads and cook for a few more minutes

I put these all on the Fettuccine Alfreda from Vegan with a Vengeance. I don't have the recipe to share with you, but I'm sure it's out there somewhere on the internet. (EDIT: I found it!)



Not cheap, considering I had to use pine nuts and fiddleheads, but wicked good.

Testing!

So I'm testing some recipes for the upcoming book The Crack of Noon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (i.e. I'm better than you). Just kidding about being better than you. Probably half the people on my links list are testers as well.

Anyway, I try to choose the recipes that I already have all the ingredients to so I don't have to run out to the store. This morning I decided to make coffee cake. If you have never had it, it's a bit dry and crumbly, and contains no coffee whatsoever.

I obviously can't give you this recipe, but I can give you a picture!



I think tomorrow I'm going to make some peanut butter waffles. I'll probably bring most of the coffee cake over to my good friend D.C.'s house to trade him for some dumpstered Odwalla.

Fruit Stands

Living in Massachusetts kind of sucks when it comes to buying produce. We have some farmer's markets, but most don't open until May and only stay open for a few months. I try not to buy too much produce from regular grocery stores. I like to go to a fruit and vegetable stand that is only a few miles down the road. They are open year-round and sell a lot of seasonal food. I guess it's semi-seasonal. I know I tried to get asparagus there once and they weren't carrying it, so I went to the store and bought some for way too much money.

Anyway, I got all of this stuff for about $10. If I had gone to a regular grocery store, I'm sure it would have been more.

Egg McVegans

I saw a recipe for Egg McVegans a long time ago on VegWeb, but it took me awhile to finally make it. I wish I hadn't waited so long! I tend to have tofu and english muffins on hand. If I only have one or the other, I will purposely go out and buy its partner.

Recipe originally found here: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5087.0

Egg McVegans
1 package extra firm tofu
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
English muffins
cheeze (optional)
Vegenaise (optional, but highly recommended)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Drain and press as much water out of the tofu as possible. I usually wrap it in paper towels, put it on a cutting board on the sink, and put my moms cast iron pan on top of that. Leave it for awhile and then when you come back it should be all set!

You can get all fancy and cut your tofu into round shapes, but I find that wasteful. If you do it that way, you are left with all these little pieces of tofu. I cut mine into 6 equal parts, which goes perfectly with the 6 english muffins in a pack!

On a rimmed baking sheet, pour the apple cider vinegar, olive oil and salt and mix together. Put the tofu on this mixture and coat both sides. Bake for 10 minutes on one side, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes.

Toast the muffins, coat each side with Vegenaise, put a piece of tofu on top, put some cheeze if you have it, and eat!

Assembled:


Before cooking:


After cooking:

New Vegan Restaurant in Worcester - Buddha Hut

I went to the grand opening of Buddha Hut in Worcester yesterday. I have been going to Quan Yin for years, so when I heard they were opening up another location I knew I had to go. While there isn't much parking in front of the restaurant, there are a few parking lots right down the street. There is also more street parking up June St. Walking in, the restaurant is beautiful. There are many more tables than at Quan Yin, so it is much more accommodating for larger parties. There are more waitresses, and an adorable little girl who walks around handing out menus and books. The waitress we had was extremely nice and seemed genuinely happy that we chose to dine there.

Few items cost more than $8, except for Peking Duck(half) and Seafood Delight. Appetizers range from $2.50 for a single item to $6.95 for assorted appetizers . I highly recommend the Crab Rangoon ($3.95) and Steamed or Fried Dumplings ($4.95). Also on the menu are Soups, Salads, Noodle Dishes, Rice Specials and Combination Vegetables. There are veggie, tofu, "chicken", "beef", "duck", and "seafood" dishes. Whatever it is you are craving, they are sure to have something for you.

If you live in or around Worcester, please support this all vegan restaurant. Also, don't forget to keep going to Quan Yin!

Buddha Hut
Vegetarian Cuisine

415 Chandler St
Worcester, MA 01602
Tel: (508) 459-0367
Fax: (508) 459-0784

Business Hours:
Sunday: Closed
Monday-Thursday: 11am-9pm
Friday-Saturday: 11am-10pm

Sometimes, being too cheap doesn't work out in the end. The other day I had to decide on jarred spaghetti sauce. Seeing as though I was at Price Chopper, I decided to buy their brand name sauce since it was the absolute cheapest. What a mistake. This sauce has ruined one too many meals for me. It didn't help that I bought the fat-free one, either. I don't know what was wrong with it, but it was foul. The other day I tried it on some pasta, and ended up trying to mask the taste with nooch, chili flakes, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. It didn't help much. Today I was desperate for food, so I tried again. This time I sauteed some garlic first, then added the sauce. Nope. Disaster. I hate to waste, but this time I will make an exception.

Maybe the other jar of PC brand sauce will be better? It is some kind of garlic flavor, so maybe it won't be so bad.

Tonight I also tried to make pudding using some Ghirardelli hot cocoa mix. That didn't work out too well either. I've been making this hot cocoa practically every day since it is delicious (hazelnut hot cocoa!) and every time I make it I think about how it looks a lot like pudding when you make it on the stove. I came up with the bright idea of adding some cornstarch. I added it, cooked and stirred for awhile, but it never got as firm as it should get. I poured it into little bowls anyway and threw them in the fridge. Taking them out later, I found that it hadn't solidified any further. It looked like super thick, cold cocoa or extremely runny pudding. It was also entirely too sweet for my adult palate. Really, I can't eat things that are too sweet anymore - I feel like an old lady. I tried a few bites (or licks?) and I just couldn't do it. I put it back in the fridge for some reason. I tried it again later, and it was no better. I gave up and dumped it into the sink.

So instead of anything semi-nutritious or delicious tonight, I had ziti with earth balance, salt and pepper, two expired fruitabu's, and some trail mix with raisins, sunflower seeds, pepitas, almonds and some other crunchy things. I did have hot cocoa for breakfast and leftover pad thai for lunch, so today wasn't too awful.