Rabbit Food

Fresh from the Farm

The majority of my food now a'days has centered around the incredible produce I receive from volunteering at Spring Creek Farm.  Along with an overflowing fridge of some of my favorite veggies, I've noticed a really interesting change in the way I think about meal preparation.

 Local Gazpacho

I believe that when one begins taking an interest in cooking, one (and I'm really talking about me here) may be seduced by foreign ingredients and complicated recipes.  I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing.  In fact, I think the allure of exotic flavors is a wonderful way to learn about foreign ingredients, their histories, and the way they are used in current cooking trends.  Not only is one's palate able to experience a whole new world of flavors, but one may learn a bit about the cultures from which the ingredients and recipes hail.  After experimenting with many kinds of cooking styles and flavor combinations, one usually ends up becoming a pretty decent cook too.

 

A rainbow of a garden salad made with local ingredients!

Having said this, I'm really enjoying my recent shift toward utilizing local ingredients.  The local food movement is an idea I've been interested in for a long time.  It's an interesting challenge.  Rather than thinking, "Okay, I want to make this recipe, so I'm going to run to the store and buy this-and-this-and-this," my musing now falls along the lines of  "Here are the ingredients I have available to me right now, how can I combine them to make something delicious?"  It has been an entirely new outlet in which to be creative.  Finally, I have an incredible sense of pride in knowing that I helped grow the food that I'm eating, or -in the case of the food I buy at our local farmers' market- that I'm supporting the livelihoods of local growers.

Snippets from My Show

Greetings everyone!

Here are some snippets from my show this weekend at Wilde's Chateau 24.

 

   

  

The show went nice and smoothly.  I felt so lucky to have such a great turnout, and especially to have my close friends and family all in one place!  Thanks to all of you that came out, talked a little art, drank a little wine, and ate a little a lot of these (so that I couldn't eat them all!)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups 

 The recipe for these devilishly-tasty treats is from Alicia Silverstone's new nutrition/ cookbook, Kind Diet.  I haven't bought the book yet, but you can snatch-up the amazing recipe here.

There were a few other goodies including:

No Bake Cookies

 

Robert's Empanadas

 

And another batch of Raw Cashew Ranch Dressing from The Sunny Raw Kitchen.

 

I'm scheming up another show for this summer-possibly during First Fridays in Kansas City-with newer and more work. So if you are nearby and missed this opening, keep you ear to the ground for the next one.  I'll keep you posted.  In the mean time, this work will be up for at least another month.  So feel free to drop by The Chateau and check it out.

New Year's Reservations Party

It's about time I post about a really great dinner party that occurred last weekend.

The two gracious hosts, Dr. Robert and Mr. Eriq, schemed up the idea for A New Year's Reservations Party ('cause resolutions are never much fun, are they?) in which our favorite people came to eat, drink, and merrily forget our collective reservations about 2010.

The turnout was incredible.  I'd estimate that twenty or so folks crammed their beautiful bodies into Robert and Eriq's spunky little casa.  There was a great mix of people and some pretty incredible food.  The crowd consisted of mix of dietary preferences, but since I play god on this blog (a vegan god, of course) I'm only going to discuss the delicious vegan fare that I'm hoping delighted all.

Jordan, Anita, and I came loaded-up with vegan goodies.

We started the crowd off with a fresh and delightful

Pomegranate, Blood Orange, and Almond Salad. 

 

The salad was loosely based on the Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad from the Art of Simple Cooking by Alice Waters which comes complete with instructions for a yummy home-made vinaigrette.

I also brought over some left-over Raw Ranch Dressing (from The Sunny Raw Kitchen) that was left over from the TLT Salad from my last post.  We served it with some baby carrots and it was gobbled-up lickity-spit.

Don't you think for one second that I'd show up without dessert.  I made some Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies from Veganomicon that were really simple to make and crazy-delicious to eat.  (...and let me state the obvious, they also looked super sexy dangling from Jordan's mouth.)  I used some of my G-ma's home-made raspberry jam in the recipe, (made with raspberries growin' right near her cottage, even!  Oh, the locality!) which is seriously the best jam ever.  I think it made the cookies a little extra-delicious.

 

The three of us gals were not the only peeps cookin' up good eats .  As I've posted before, Robert is a really great chef and loves mixin' up some yummy vegan treats.

Here's my love in action, playing host and making sure everyone was getting their fill.

 

Robert spoiled his vegan/vegetarian guests with a vegan pizza loaded with pesto, roasted red peppers, yellow squash, mushrooms, green onion, and Anjou pears.  The mix of textures and tastes was so exciting and it was baked to perfection.

 

He also made several kinds of empanadas, including a vegan variety stuffed with spinach, pine nuts, dried apricots, and dates.  Yummy in mah' tummy!

Jordan and Anita gettin' in on the action.

The verdict:

So good!

Welp, that's pretty much all I have to say about that.  I think I can safely say that the party was a hit.  We all had full bellies, enjoyed each other, and hopefully nullified many-a-New Year's reservation.

TLT Salad, Raw Ranch Dressing, and Fudge Baby Party

Hey guys!  Here is an amazing dinner I had recently brought to you by the goodness that is the vegan blogging community.  While I try to continue to experiment with mixing up tasty meals on my own, it's great to have such a fabulous resource for recipes, as well as an abundance of information about food, nutrition, and health.  The village keeps growing and it makes me happy to be a part of a movement geared toward healthy living, sustainability, and animal rights.  This great food would not have been possible without the creative minds behind a few of my favorite blogs.

TLT (Tempeh, Lettuce, and Tomato) Salad with Raw Ranch Dressing

Thanks to Mindy and Jessica from Veg Out With Us , I made an amazing TLT, (tempeh, lettuce, and tomato) salad, with "tempeh bacon" strips.  I had never had or made tempeh "bacon" before, but after one bite I was cursing myself for not jumping on the wagon sooner.  Following Jessica's lead, I topped my garden-party with some Raw Ranch Dressing from The Sunny Raw Kitchen.  Oh my goodness!  Just as Carmella claims, this has to be the best dressing I've ever had!  Go make it now!

I  finished dinner with some of Chocolate-Covered Katie's amazing fudge babies.  The creative and ever-ingenious Katie discovered a method to recreate the recipe for Lärabars at home.  Lärabars are such a god-send.  They are packed full of vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, and healthy-fats and contain only natural, whole ingredients. Plus they so absolutely mouth-watering and satisfying, you'd never know you were being so good.

Katie did a great job playing mad scientist.  These little babies are not only delicious, but like Lärabars, they are super-nutritious; they are totally raw and contain only four ingredients.   You can also whip up a big batch and enjoy them at only a fraction of the cost of store-bought Lärabars.  I opted for her cookie-dough variety and drizzled them with some organic, dark-chocolate syrup. She spells out the recipe here.  All you need to do is throw some cashews, dates, chocolate chips, and vanilla extract in a blender or food processor, and bam!  You're good to go.  Yum!

Portland is for (Art, Food, Book, Beer) Lovers --Part 1--

Robert and I are back from our trip to the City of Roses.

Our trip was a pretty relaxed one as neither of us had much of an agenda in mind.  My birthday was on Tuesday, so I used the holiday as an excuse to get outta town and visit a city I've wanted to check out for a long time. Portland has definitely gained a reputation as a Vegan Mecca, as well as a city with super sustainable practices, plenty of local microbreweries, and supportive of a pretty happening art scene.  Believe you me, it didn't disappoint.  

I feel like there has been some sort of diaspora of Lawrencians relocating to Portland (one time I even googled everyone is moving to portland! and had pretty impressive results) and after this trip, I might just have to add my name to that list.  I was completely enamored with the city; it was the perfect mix of big city entertainment/culture and sweet home-town, neighborhood-y comfort.    

We spent the trip visiting small galleries, book reading and coffee shoppe-ing, bar hopping, and of course dining at Portland's abundance of vegan-friendly restaurants.  Thanks to Jess (no really, thank, thank, thank you!) from Get Sconed! and Stumptown Vegans, we were able to get the inside scoop on the best vegan eats and explore the city with full and happy bellies. 

We stayed at The Jupiter Hotel in southeast Portland, and if you ever decide to visit Stumptown, I highly recommend staying there.  It's sort of like a Motel Six dressed to the nines, with a cheesy but awesome glam rock meets IKEA feel; think glass taxidermy dear heads, bamboo gardens, and low lighting.  There is also a pretty swank restaurant/bar/venue called The Doug Fir Lounge attached to The Jupiter, as well as a salon and even a tattoo parlor.   The lounge can get pretty rowdy after hours, so I may redirect my recommendation to those that like that sort of scene or are just champion sleepers.

Here's our room:

The complimentary condom that was left to greet us:

and the sweet chalkboard door we used to leave each other messages/ draw inappropriate cartoons:

After checking in we headed over to the Pearl District for First Thursdays to check out a few art galleries and grab dinner.  I'm always really hesitant to take photos at foreign-to-me galleries, so I don't have many images to show you. I did ask the gallery representing the artist of one of my favorite exhibits,  Jim Riswold, if I could snatch up a few photos.  Here's my favorite piece entitled Damien Hirst Makes A Rug.

 

So good!

Taking photos at restaurants is a little awkward as well, but I did manage to document the heck out of our food.  Our first stop was Blossoming Lotus,  a COMPLETELY vegan cafe located inside a yoga studio.  Many of their dishes are of the raw food camp, and I was excited to give the place a try as I have not experimented much with raw entrees.

While I was intrigued, Robert was pretty hesitant, " You want to eat vegetables in some gym's cafeteria?"  I could understand his doubt as the place was uber quiet and yes, it was hard to tell our raw pizza from its accompanying side salad.  BUT.  UH.  WOW.  All questions were shushed as our mouths devoured our really tasty raw pizza with basil and hempseed pesto, cashew cheese, and an explosion of veggies a top a spiced tomato and walnut crust.  The salad was also delicious, with a really unique dressing I'm guessing had some of the same basil and hempseed pesto in it.

(F.Y.I.  This photo was taken after most of the pizza was gone.  I was so into eating up the pie that I forgot to take a photo until most of it was gone.)

I finished off meal with some awesome raw fudge.  It was really rich and melted in my mouth.  Well done Blossoming Lotus.  You are kinda strange, but I liked you a lot!

That night we visited The Tube, a bar that looked like the inside of a double-wide trailer, with a chill, friendly crowd and awesome happy hour specials.  

The next morning we walked a couple blocks down to Portland's ultra-awesome "vegan strip-mall" including Sweetpea Baking Company, Herbivore clothing store, Food Fight! vegan grocery, and Scapegoat Tattooing.  

We nestled into Sweetpea for some yummy coffee and breakfast.  While it may have been a cardinal sin to neglect to order any of their delectable-looking baked goods (check out their website, their cakes are incredibly beautiful!), I was really hungry and wanted some proper nourishment.  I ordered a simple sandwich, a un-tuna on white bread.  This may seem like a kinda lame choice, but the thing I don't think most people realize about vegans is that sometimes a cruelty-free recreation of a childhood comfort food-like tuna sandwiches on white bread- is the best thing ever.  Most white bread isn't vegan, but since Sweetpea is 100% vegan, I knew I could trust 'em.  I washed down the sammich with a spicy dirty chai with almond milk.  Let me say that again.  Almond milk.  I love almond milk, and Sweetpea spoils us with a selection of hemp, almond, rice, and soy milk.  Be still my heart.

So many pretty little cupcakes!

Okay.  I'm gonna cut myself off here before this ode to Portland gets out of hand.  I'll return soon with the rest of the tale of books, and bars, and soy-shrimp, oh my!

TTFN!