poopiebitch.com - a vegan food blog » blah blah blah

There’s food in here, I promise

poopiebitch — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:45:00 +0000

Well my lovelies, as promised in my last post I’m going to tell you WHY I will be updating more often. It is a product of some other changes in my life I am making, which are all good and necessary. I’ll explain.

Recently my friend Bianca and I were shopping for peanut butter and beer together (as you do) and I told her about all the nut butters I already had at home (almond butter, chunky peanut butter, cashew butter, dark chocolate peanut butter)… as I picked up two new jars to purchase (maple peanut butter and white chocolate peanut butter). She accused me of being a hoarder, and after thinking about it for a moment, I realized that she was right. I’m particularly bad about the nut butters because I love them so (I don’t want you to think I keep six kinds of everything on hand), but I admit it, the label fits.

Hello, my name is poopie, and I am a hoarder. Problem number one.

The Brit and I are going through a financial program to help us budget better and get out of debt. Oh yes, the evil thing that no one wants to talk about. We have DEBT. Budgeting can be difficult for us because since we’re both self-employed, our income is anything but steady and reliable. We have to keep a large sum of money in the bank at all times, because income could dry up at any given moment and we still have bills to pay. I’m hoping this program will help give us some tools to make things more efficient.

In going through this program and making a budget etc, I realized how much we were eating out. And more importantly, how much we were SPENDING on eating out. Ouch. Problem number two.

These two things combined to result in a new resolution for me: we will still allow ourselves to eat out once a week, but the rest of the time I will cook.

So far I’m sticking to meal plans, and actually enjoying it. It’s more fun to cook when you know ahead of time what you’re going to make, and already have the ingredients on hand. I’m even doing some prep the day before so the cooking goes faster. The Brit has been much more open to my cooking than in the past, and he hasn’t eaten meat since Monday! It is cheaper and healthier than eating out, and it is abundantly more rewarding. Plus, I’m slowly making my way through my over-stocked pantry.

So, more structure = more home-cooked meals = more pictures = more blogging!

If you’ve actually made it this far without leaving, thank you. I will now reward you with pictures of food. And for those of you who just scrolled down to get to the goods… you’re probably not reading this either so I don’t know why I’m even addressing you.

Last night I made another tester recipe for Bianca‘s cookbook. If you’ve never lived in the south, you’ve probably never heard of the phenomenon that is chicken and waffles. It’s pretty popular in these parts, and seeing as Bianca‘s cookbook is of SOUTHERN vegan food, it pretty much had to be in there.

She’s done it again with this recipe. The beer battered chicken fried tofu is out of this world, the waffles are perfect and the maple-dijon sauce? Unbelievable.

The Brit opted to eat his the traditional way:

I took Bianca‘s suggestion and made it into the most amazing wafflewich ever. I wasn’t sure if I would like it all put together like this, but I had no trouble polishing it off once I tasted it. OH YES.

Last but certainly not least, brunch this morning. I’ve had a lot of trouble with pancake recipes for some reason… they never work for me. So this morning, I put away my cookbooks, closed my computer, and used the force. I mean, I trusted my instincts and what I know about cooking and baking, and made pancakes without a recipe. These were THE BEST pancakes I have ever made (thank goodness I wrote down what I did after I took my first bite!). They need a little tweaking, but for a first try at my own recipe, I was very pleased.

And so, without further ado, I give you: Blueberry Pancakes.

I hope that picture was worth reading through the whole damn post.

At long last

poopiebitch — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:21:00 +0000

Finally, that post I’ve been promising with pictures of our New York trip. I’ll try not to bore you with too much verbosity and just stick to the facts.

First off, Broadway. Our hotel was actually on Broadway, on the same block as the Ed Sullivan Theater, so this was pretty much what we saw when we stepped out of the hotel:

We went to the top floor of Rockefeller Center, which was expensive, but totally worth it for the view:

Here’s me pretending to be gangsta:

And here is me being very cold (not pretending):

From there we walked to Grand Central Station. We weren’t going anywhere, we just wanted to see it:

It has cool architecture:

Of course we went to Times Square at night:

I’m pretending not to be freezing in this one:

We rode the Staten Island Ferry at night, which was really fun. The view was great, but it was wicked cold and windy. We took pictures, but because of the dark and the wind, most of them came out like this:

We decided to ride the Ferry again the next day while the sun was still out, and we got some much better pictures:

This was as close as we got to Lady Liberty:

One day it snowed so we walked through Central Park while the ground was covered in white:

It was pretty:

The End.

Counting down the hours…

poopiebitch — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:51:00 +0000

No pictures today, children. I’ve been much too busy the last couple of days to bother with taking pictures of food. What has kept me so busy, you ask? My upcoming trip to NYC, of course!

That’s right, tomorrow morning The Brit and I are getting on a plane and flying north for four days, three nights in Manhattan. The occasion is our ninth anniversary (on Thursday) and I couldn’t be more excited! We have taken many trips together over the years, but NEVER one that didn’t involve visiting family of some sort. This is our first trip just for the two of us.

I have our itinerary pretty much planned for each day, which of course includes food! One of the things I’m most excited about is that we somehow managed to score last-minute tickets to a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday – so be sure to watch and see if you can catch a glimpse of me in the audience!

I may not have an opportunity to get online much while we’re gone, so there’s a very good chance I won’t be able to update until Sunday at the earliest. I will be sure to take plenty of pictures of everything though, especially all the yummy food I plan to eat!

I’m back

poopiebitch — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 22:46:00 +0000

Here’s a quick run-down of my life since my last update:

Sunday, August 3rd, I attended a total health seminar which was pretty awesome. Vaughan payed me to make vegan food for about 20 people. I made spicy tempeh sushi, mushroom walnut pâté with crostini, hummus with bell peppers, mango summer rolls with peanut dipping sauce and pistachio sesame halvah cookies. I took pictures, but they’re gone (see below).

Tuesday, August 5th, my hard drive crashed, and I lost everything on my computer. All of my emails, my photos, my sketches, my templates… everything. I had a not-too-recent backup of my contracts and cake outlines which has literally saved my ass. I have learned a very valuable lesson about backing up.

Wednesday, August 6th, I contacted the Apple Store for an appointment with their “Genius Bar”. I was told it would be a week before I could get an appointment. Great.

Friday, August 8th, I spent the day making icing and 100+ orange and black fondant flowers.

Saturday, August 9th, I made, decorated and delivered 100 vegan cupcakes for a wedding downtown (pictures to come). The Brit’s uncle died.

Monday, August 11th, The Brit booked a plane ticket to England so he can attend his uncle’s funeral. He will leave on the 17th and return on September 1st.

Wednesday, August 13th, I made a shit-ton of vegan food for a catering job thanks to Vaughan. It was for the Memphis Chamber of Commerce and fed 40 people. I don’t have any pictures, but I made spicy tempeh sushi rolls, four types of canapés, mushroom walnut pâté in pastry shells, pistachio sesame halvah cookies and chocolate peanut butter no-bake cookies.

The Brit took my computer to its appointment with the “Genius Bar” at the Apple Store, and was told that they would have to send it off for the hard drive replacement and it would take 7-10 days. He said no thanks, and also fuck you for not being willing to tell us that a week ago, instead of insisting on us showing up to some stupid appointment with your ”Genius Bar” just to be told they would have to send it off. Some geniuses they are if they can’t even switch out a fucking hard drive in store.

Thursday, August 14th, I made 10 spicy tempeh sushi rolls for someone I met through Vaughan. He’s getting me a lot of catering work these days. We took my computer to a friend of the family who is an independent Mac consultant, who we should have gone to in the first place but we didn’t realize he was licensed to do warranty work. He told me he would have it ready by the next day.

Friday, August 15th, my computer was ready and I was finally able to reconnect with the rest of the world.

Tomorrow, August 17th, The Brit will leave for England and won’t be back for two weeks.

The End.

Challenging

poopiebitch — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:38:00 +0000

I’ve signed up for the August Quit Now Challenge, run this month by Jennifer.

I’ve pledged to quit using paper and plastic bags. I have tote bags that I try to use, but I’ve gotten really lazy about remembering to take them to the store. No more!

I will also quit bananas, even though I love them so much.

And last (and most difficult), I will cut back how much The Brit and I eat out. It’s expensive, and because of where we live, we usually end up driving further than I’d care to admit. I can’t promise to cut it out altogether next month, but my goal is 50%.

This last one also ties in with Chile’s Discretionary Eating Challenge, in which I have also pledged to not eat seconds unless I’m really still hungry, and I’ve also pledged to avoid all animal products (which I already do, but it’s still a challenge sometimes!).

I encourage everyone to check out these challenges, maybe there is something you would like to change for yourself.

Last supper

poopiebitch — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:18:00 +0000

Thanks to everyone who offered their condolences for my recent loss.

My new oven will be delivered tomorrow. I have needed a new oven since we moved into this house, but I’ve never HAD to buy one, so I’ve been putting it off. It is kind of a blessing in disguise, although choosing a replacement oven was not without it’s own trials.

The oven that died is the original from when the house was built. It’s 23 years old and never held a consistent temperature since I’ve lived in the house. It’s always required constant babysitting of my oven thermometer to not turn every cake and meal into charcoal. In a nutshell, it was time.

Unfortunately, it is a 27″ drop-in oven. The counter around it is built to fit a 27″ drop-in oven, and nothing else. There is only one 27″ drop-in oven on the market these days. It is small, it is crappy, and it is $1200. If I was going to spend that amount, I did not want to settle for a newer (admittedly better) version of the same thing. I had a tough choice to make.

I decided to shell out a little more, and get an oven that I love. Namely, this oven. I had enough money saved from my cake business to buy it in cash, thankfully. It will not fit where the old oven is, so it will have to sit on the other side of the counter (in the dining room) until I can figure something out. I can’t afford to remodel the kitchen right now, so I’ll just have to get used to having the stove in another room. It’s hard to describe, but I’ll take a picture once it’s here and in place.

Here is a picture of the last meal my oven ever made:

Baked BBQ Tempeh, couscous and mixed veggies (from the freezer!). Easy, but good.

Buying ovens isn’t all I’ve been up to the last few days. I’ve also made petit fours (among other things which I didn’t get pictures of)! These were for a bridal shower. They were having a zebra stripe and monogram theme, with red accents.

I think the zebra stripes turned out so cute:

(Hopefully) pictures of my beautiful new oven tomorrow!

I have no photos, but I’m famous (not really)!

poopiebitch — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:20:00 +0000

My camera died. It has since been resurrected, but it was dead right over 4th of July. Even though I don’t have pictures I will tell you what I made, and you can imagine how pretty it was!

I picked up some Smoked Apple Sage Field Roast Sausages to throw on the grill. They are pricey so I wouldn’t normally buy them, but being a holiday I couldn’t resist. They are so good.

I also made the Seitan Ribz from FFV for the first time. Wow! Aside from the fact that the edges got burnt a little on the grill, they were freakin’ awesome. I will make these again on my grillpan soon. If you haven’t tried them, you really should! Even my dad thought they were good, and he’s an avid eat-meater.

To go along with the ribz and sausages, I made some black bean quinoa salad. I was pretty much the only person eating it for some reason, but it turned out so good! I used some tomatoes and bell peppers that I picked up at the farmer’s market – so flavorful!

For snacking I made the Creamy Asian Pear and Tempeh Salad with Wasabi Dressing from V’con. I picked up some wasabi rice crackers for dipping, and it went over so well! I was surprised so many people liked it since the people in my family don’t typically like unusual tastes. I had just enough leftover to make some sushi with it the next day. Seriously yum.

You didn’t expect me to forget about dessert, did you?! I made the Lemon Bars from V’con, which were soooo good! For some reason they turned out a little, um, green. I’m not sure why, but they tasted awesome.

I also made Crystal’s Avocado Pie 2.0. I thought it was awesome, but no one else would even touch it. I couldn’t get one person to even taste it! It made me sad because there is no way I could eat the whole thing, so I ended up throwing like half the pie away. I still have a bunch of homemade soy sweetened condensed milk left though, which tastes so good I could eat it with a spoon. I still haven’t decided what to do with it yet.

So there you have it. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but hopefully I’ll have some more yummy food porn to post soon.

Also, I was featured on the cover of the business section in the local paper on Monday, which was pretty cool. You can read the article here, if you’re interested (please ignore the magnificently crappy picture of me).

A thousand words are worth a picture

poopiebitch — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:46:00 +0000

I don’t have any pictures to share today, so you’re just going to have to trust that I have been eating (but not cooking) some awesome food the last couple of days.

The most notable thing I ate – which I have been craving since I finished it – was a dish from PF Changs. I ordered the eggplant stir-fry and asked them to add tofu to it. I wish I had a picture, but even seeing it wouldn’t be enough to make you appreciate the true awesomeness of this meal. I craved it as I went to sleep last night. I craved it when I woke up this morning. I want it right now. If you go to PF Changs, trust me on this: go with someone who will share food with you, split the tofu lettuce wraps (the other perfect food) and then get the eggplant with tofu. Then you can die happy.

I also ate falafel… again. What?

Other things I have done since my last post include a surprise girls’ night for my sister’s 30th birthday (that’s what the cupcakes were for), for which I was DD – so no drinking on my part. We went to dinner, we went downtown, we danced, we got harassed by strange men. It was good times.

After all that craziness, I really needed a chill out night last night with a couple of friends. Nothing on earth beats sitting on a patio with your good friends, drinking beer, eating fries and laughing at each other and yourself into the wee hours of the morning. It’s rejuvenating.

I promise to have more to say soon, along with some actual pictures of food!

Compensating

poopiebitch — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:07:00 +0000

We have water! We still have to have someone come out and rehang drywall so they can put the sink back. Right now it’s living on our (wet) bedroom floor:

The plumber cut a very large hole to find a very small pipe:

Hopefully all of that will be over with soon. Oy.

This post is pic heavy because I am both trying to make up for my lack of posts, and trying to make up for the fact that it will probably be Monday before I post again. I have a wedding cake and groom’s cake to make and deliver to Oxford, MS tomorrow, and another small wedding cake to be delivered in Memphis on Sunday. I will be crazy busy/extremely exhausted, so I’m apologizing in advance.

In the meantime, pictures!

Banana Wheat Germ Muffins from V’con. These were very tasty, and not too sweet. I baked them in muffin liners with little animals on them, because they are adorable.

My first ever seitan! I used the recipe for Seitan O’Greatness from the PPK forums. I really liked the flavor and how easy it was. The Brit loved the texture, but wasn’t so crazy about the flavor. Anyone who knows him would know what a huge deal that is – he actually almost liked it! I’m going to make it again and switch up the seasonings until I find something he’ll like.

I will take this opportunity to introduce two of my favorite kitchen tools. First, my cast iron wok (all oiled up here, ready for action):

Second, my rice cooker. I freaking love my rice cooker:

Using these two tools, together with my Seitan O’Greatness, I made a yummy sweet and sour stir-fry that was actually pretty good. Even The Brit ate it!

I always make a little extra rice so I can have rice pudding. This time I added some currants, which I love! I shook up the soy milk before adding it, and for some reason it stayed really foamy even after cooking it with the rice. You can see the little bubbles:

We bought some more strawberries and I decided we should have strawberries and champagne. After trimming and cutting the strawberries, I macerated them in some Grand Marnier and a little sugar for about half an hour. Then I poured on a little Silk Soy Creamer (The Brit used real cream) and served them up with a glass of nicely chilled champagne. Indulgent, I know! (sorry for the crappy picture)

And last, this morning I made ‘Egg McVegans’ using this recipe. I pressed the tofu overnight in the fridge so I would have more time this morning. Also, I used Gimme Lean ‘sausage’ instead of the veggie bacon. The tofu was a little too vinegary for my tastes, but I may try making these again with less vinegar and maybe some more seasonings. All in all they were pretty good, though.

They sure looked like the real thing!

The joys of home ownership

poopiebitch — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:24:00 +0000

So, a pipe burst in our wall and we shut the water off to the whole house yesterday afternoon. We’re now waiting for a plumber to get here and presumably tear a huge hole in our bathroom to get to it.

The good news is that it is on the opposite end of the house to the floor we’ve just laid/are about to lay. The bad news is it’s ruined the carpet in our bedroom and closet, which must now also be torn out and replaced.

Sometimes I really miss living in an apartment.

Five things

poopiebitch — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:17:00 +0000

I have no pictures and nothing interesting to share today, so it’s lucky that the lovely and talented Vegan Cow Girl tagged me for a meme. I have to list five things about myself, and attempt to make them interesting. Here goes…

1. I was raised in a family of seven; my parents, four girls and one boy. My mother homeschooled us all, and I have never forgiven her for it.

2. I got my first full-time job when I was 14, back when minimum wage was $4.25/hour.

3. I once weighed over 300 pounds (I know, sad huh?).

4. I met The Brit in an online chat room, back before online dating services even existed and before everyone knew someone who had met someone online. We’re talking 1998 here people.

5. I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome – or PCOS. It is either not as scary as it sounds, or much scarier than it sounds, depending on how you say it.

I am tagging: No one. Sorry, but I don’t really know enough bloggers out there and those I do know have already done this meme. If you haven’t, please feel free to take it! The rules are: 5 things about yourself.

I promise to be more interesting soon.

Exit stage left

poopiebitch — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:59:00 +0000

For those of you wondering what happened – it’s pretty simple really.

I worked in an office with one other person, who just happened to be the boss’ 19 year old, inexperienced daughter. Granted, I had very little experience in accounting myself before taking this job, but I digress. I must also point out that my boss also recently hired his own wife to do some part time work around the office, which she is terrible at and which has to be supplemented by myself and my coworker. We won’t talk about the fact that they have eight children and she brings the youngest ones to the office to run around wreaking havoc which I later have to clean up. But again, I digress.

My boss decided that the company needed to hire a full time certified accountant to handle the books. I do not disagree with this decision, in fact, I fully support it. The company has grown rather significantly in recent months and the books had become a bit overwhelming for two people who had little to no accounting experience.

In order to make room for the accountant, my boss had to let one of us go. I am 27 years old. I show up to work early every day. I have many years experience with many types of jobs, and have very good people skills. I am extremely computer savvy, I am a hard worker, and I am smart.

My coworker is 19 years old. She never arrives less than ten minutes late, and frequently makes excuses to take two hour lunches or to leave early. She has very little work experience, little patience with people, and fairly poor computer skills. She frequently makes very, very stupid mistakes.

Clearly keeping her was the obvious choice.

Tomorrow I find out about filing for unemployment (if only to piss them off), and begin the job search. And life goes on.

Cake or death?

poopiebitch — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:51:00 +0000

For anyone who doesn’t know, I happen to enjoy decorating cakes and spend many nights and weekends indulging this hobby/business. I have a website here if you’re interested (and if you’re wondering, yes I make vegan cakes too).

The reason I mention this is because yesterday evening I attended a meeting of the local cake club – just a bunch of women (and sometimes a couple of men) who enjoy baking and decorating cakes. They had a demo of different techniques and just general discussion as well. It was more fun than I expected it to be, honestly.

They were serving a meal, so I let them know in advance that I would be bringing my own food. I got quite a few friendly questions when everyone else started chowing down on pork, cheesy potatoes and green beans cooked with bacon (seriously, what is the southern tendancy to cook vegetables in bacon grease all about?), and I pulled out my PB&J with Terra chips, soy yogurt and a banana. The caterer asked why I brought my own food, and when I told her I was a vegan she said “Well, that’s okay, I love you anyway”. She then spent the rest of the evening referring to me as “my little vegan”, which is funny, because I’m not really little at all.

Oh yes, and I tried peach soy yogurt this time, it was pretty awesome.

Sunday (I know, I’m three days behind) I made lemon corn waffles from Vegan with a Vengeance, but I didn’t make the blueberry sauce because I’m lazy. I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose. I drizzled a little pure maple syrup over them and spread on some raspberry jam – they were delish.

I made super-yummy tacos Monday and have been eating the leftovers for lunch. I will try to take pics today before I devour them so I can post them tomorrow. See? Something to look forward to.

Food, fun and facts

poopiebitch — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:56:00 +0000

Yesterday I tried scrambled tofu for the first time ever, courtesy of Bianca. She is part of a local vegetarian society, Food Awareness, that meets once a month to talk about things that are happening in the world of animal rights, as well as the health and environmental benefits of eating a more plant-based diet. There is a lot more information on their website. She did an awesome demonstration on how to cook scrambled tofu, and then everyone got to chow on the yummy results. My verdict? I will definitely be making it at home, especially now that I’ve seen how easy it is!

The meeting was really relaxed, fun and informative. So nice to meet other people in this area who hold similar beliefs and values as myself, as there aren’t many around here. The people in this group seem to be doing their best to change that though, and I look forward to getting more involved as I grow into this new lifestyle.

In other news, I got some funny looks yesterday when I took my own food into a restaurant. The Brit was feeling better after being ill the day before, and since he hadn’t eaten at all on Wednesday, he decided he wanted to go to Perkins for lunch. Not very vegan friendly. So, I made myself a sandwich of half a whole wheat pita, garlic hummus, Yves ‘turkey’ slices, tomato and organic baby greens. I also took along some of my new favorite dressing, Annie’s Naturals Goddess Dressing (so good), so that I could order a side salad (without cheese, dressing or croutons) when I got there.

Yeah, our server and some of the other patrons gave me some funny looks, but it sure beat going hungry!