Ask A Vegan Pt. 19

I had the most amazing adventures the last week and I cannot wait to share with everyone my fantastic week, but until then I have business to attend to. It is time for another Ask A Vegan and I am super excited to share a most wonderful and sweet girl with all of you.

I have been internet friends with Mandee for about two years now. She was my first friend on Flickr and I loved all of the great food she posts photos of. I was impressed with the amount of raw foods she had in her diet and the amazing gluten free baking she was doing. Mandee has since started her own fantastic blog and has been setting up Sydney bake sales that raise hundreds and even thousands of dollars for local charities. She is an incredible and beautiful girl and I hope that one day I will have the pleasure of meeting her in person, and if I have to fly to Australia to do it, I will! (:


Name: Mandee
Age: 27
Location: Sydney, Australia
Website: Cupcake Kitteh

How long have you been Vegan?
Over 4 years

What made you decide to go Vegan?
I grew up surrounded by pets and I always loved animals. I used body products not tested on animals but when I found out that the Body Shop had been sold, I decided to find another brand to use. While searching online for cruelty free products I kept finding websites about going vegetarian, this started me thinking about the animals we consider food and it did feel wrong. I also read about vegans and knew that I had to go vegan right away, not just vegetarian.

It also occurred to me that I’d been caring for domestic animals for years as a veterinary nurse, why shouldn’t that care extend to all animals, not just the cute and cuddly ones but the ones that most people consider food as well. I was horrified to read about the conditions that animals endure before they’re killed and it was definitely something I could not ignore any longer.

How do you feel health wise with this diet choice?
I feel fantastic. When I was younger I often had sore throats and headaches and it was assumed that I was lactose-intolerant. After a year of being vegan my health had improved immensely and I haven’t had a cold in years.

Are you open about your Veganism?
Yes, I will definitely mention it if the occasion arises. I think I am more confident now that I was in my first year or two. The more confident you are, the better your response will be to anyone who wants to question your way of living.




If so, are you involved in any activism i.e. protests, leafleting etc…
I run the Sydney Vegan Bake Sale ( link: http://sydneyveganbakesale.blogspot.com/ )
We’ve been going for 2 years, we started after participating in the first Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale ( link: http://www.veganbakesale.org/ ). We have vegan brochures at our table and we’re always happy to discuss veganism with customers.




What does your family, friends, co-workers think about your diet?
At first family and friends were concerned that it was an unhealthy way to eat, that I would be missing out. Now I have friends that love to eat at vegan/vegetarian restaurants with me and they love my baked goods like cupcakes and cookies.

My Dad participated in the Vegan Easy Challenge last year and was vegan for a month. My boyfriend has always been respectful and supportive of me and while he isn’t vegan he will eat vegan meals and is always on the lookout for vegan food products for me as well as recipes that we can veganise.

What advice would you give those interested in becoming Vegan?
Think about the reasons why you want to go vegan. A lot of people go vegan but find it too difficult or decide to quit after a month or two. For me it was always going to be a lifestyle choice, not a phase or a fad. My love for animals is enough for me to stick with veganism and honestly it hasn’t ever felt difficult. If you see veganism as a restriction or a diet, it will feel hard. If you see it as a selfless and positive thing to do, you will find it easy and you will be happy with your decision.

Buy some vegan cookbooks, read vegan blogs and educate yourself and on why you’re doing it and what to eat. When I first started cooking I was eating the same thing every night (tofu, mushrooms, baby spinach). Now I cook so many different meals and I definitely eat more of a variety of food and it’s much healthier too.




Would you eat at Mc Donald’s if they carried a Vegan burger?
I probably would as a last resort if I was on a road trip. I’ve driven up the coast and in the past the only food along the way was McDs. But I’m sure I’d have plenty of vegan snacks to get me by!

I think if fast food chains offer a veg/vegan option it’s good for people transitioning or for people who need a quick meal option but most vegans would agree it’s better not to support large fast food chains.


What is your least favorite question that you are asked about your diet?
”What do you eat?” because there are so many food items that are vegan, if people thought about it for a few minutes they might be able to answer the question.

What is your favorite dish?
Hmmm! This is a difficult question because I have SO many favourites. Right now I am loving the cookbook Viva Vegan! and one of my favourite meals from it was the guatita (peanut potato stew).

What do you typically eat at Thanksgiving?
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia but at Christmas I tend to make a salad, a main meal like mini pot pies and dessert is either gluten free pudding, cake or fresh fruit.

If I could make you any flavor cupcake in the world what would it be?
Banana and coconut are two of my favourite flavours so I’d make a banana cupcake, spiced with ginger and topped with coconut icing and shredded coconut.

Please share your favorite Vegan recipe.




Cauliflower Cheeze (adapted from my Mum's recipe) - gluten & soy free

450g cauliflower (1 cup)
1 T corn flour
1 T Nuttelex (or other vegan margarine)
3/4 C rice milk
A pinch of mustard powder
A large pinch of salt
1/2 C cashews
1/4 C macadamias
1/2 C water

Pre-heat oven to 160C. (320 degrees)

Steam the cauliflower for 10 minutes. Arrange in a baking dish in a single layer so the florets are packed together.

Melt the Nuttelex is a small pan, add the corn flour and whisk to make a roux, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add the rice milk, continually stirring. Add the mustard powder and salt. Remove from heat.

Blend the cashews and macadamias with 1/2 C of water. Add more water if needed, you want the consistency of a thick sauce. Add nut mixture to the milk mixture, combine.

Pour the sauce over the cauliflower. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until top is golden.

Food Porn

I am too lazy to write cohesive sentences. I am all tapped out on word play so instead I will inundate you with pictures of food I made over the weekend. Yum!

From the Coffee, Cookies and Crafts Fair in Phoenix





From Althea's baby shower





And Willow eating a cupcake!

Chocolate Banana Brownie Cupcakes

Sometimes life is full of really tough decisions. These decisions can be so challenging that they can bring one to tears, horribly large mascara smearing tears. Recently I was faced with an extremely difficult choice to make, should I eat brownies or should I eat cupcakes? To some of you out there this seems like a very silly thing to have vexing me to tears but if you happen to be a sugarholic like I am, then you completely understand my dilemma. Oh how I love the fugdy gooieness of brownies, and the soft fluffiness of cupcakes (not to mention the frosting, oh heavenly delight) that when forced to choose between either my head just about explodes. That is how I decided on brownie cupcakes, complete with chewy crust, fluffy cake and even melty ganache for gooey goodness. I think these little ladies will have to make an appearance this weekend at Coffee, Cookies and Crafts seeing as how they are too good not to share with the world. Yum!

Chocolate Banana Brownie Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
2 bananas, the riper the better
1 cup soymilk, or almond works well in this too
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup melted baking chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. chocolate extract

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and either line or grease your cupcake pan. This recipe makes 15 cupcakes, or 12 pretty large cupcakes. So you may have to use two pans or prepare for huge cupcake goodness!
In a bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Melt baking chocolate either in double boiler or microwave (I never use a microwave, but I understand the convenience of using one, just make sure you don't microwave too long, because the chocolate can burn). Mash the bananas really well, or toss in a blender to create a thick banana goo. In a mixer combine bananas, soymilk, sugar, canola oil, vanilla extract and chocolate extract. Then add in melted chocolate until well mixed in, then slowly add your flour mixture. You will end up with a thick and dark brown, almost black batter. Pour the batter into your cupcake tins and bake for 22-25 minutes.




Buttercream frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I use Spectrum Organics)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. chocolate extract
4 T. soymilk
3-3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Using room temperature Earth Balance cream together with shortening. Slowly add in powdered sugar, then add in extracts and soymilk. If mixture is too thick add more soymilk one tablespoon at a time, and if too thin add more powdered sugar. I don't really measure this stuff so really just use your best judgement on the soymilk/powdered sugar factor.

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup soymilk
2-3 T. agave

Heat soymilk until warm, but not boiling then pour over chocolate chips and mix well with a small spatula, then add in agave. You should have a thick syrup. Place in refrigerator to cool, or I usually just let it cool on my counter top until it is room temperature.

Once cupcakes have cooled frost the cupcakes with one layer or buttercream frosting, drizzle on chocolate ganache and then put more buttercream on top. So friggen good!! You may have to put the cupcakes in the refrigerator for a couple of minutes just to make sure ganache doesn't melt down the sides and so it is solid enough to add more buttercream on top. Let the cake eating commence!

Some Stuff

The Vegan Month Of Food is upon us and for me that means I need to actually take photos of my food and document what a Vegan eats and also share recipes of said food. The good thing is in nine days Timmy and I will be embarking on a fun filled vacation to the Vegan capitol of the world, Portland Oregon. So for whatever days I may miss and whatever details I may lack, all will be forgiven once I arrive in the Vegan mecca. That is how it works right? All of my vegan blogging sins will be washed away in the Portland rain, that is what I am told anyway. For those of you living in Phoenix, stop by and say hello to me at the Coffee, Cookies and Crafts fest this Saturday at Bragg's Pie Factory. The event goes from noon until five and there will be all kinds of great handmade treasures not to mention dozens of teeny tiny Rikki desserts. Yum yum!

And some fun Halloween photos for today and a new recipe coming tomorrow...ooooh how exciting! I cannot wait! (:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Who doesn't love a good whoopie? I mean really even if you haven't ever enjoyed the indulgent-y goodness of a whoopie pie the word alone fills one with unencumbered joy. I think I may have mentioned in the last year of blogging my absolute idolatry of pumpkin anything. Pumpkin pancakes, smoothies, pies, cakes, pasta and even a pumpkin black bean enchilada have graced my taste buds and tummy since my transformation from vegetarian caterpillar to a beautiful vegan butterfly. Thus it seemed only reasonable that when the newest King Arthur Flour catalog arrived at my door with a recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies I needed to veganize it...and quick. Since that fate-filled day I have made these whoopie pies 6 or 7 times and each time I am discovering how to improve the recipe so they work with vegan ingredients. The first take was a mess, instead of whoopie pies I ended up with whoopie discs, quite crispy and thin. Yikes! A change here, a change there and finally I have something I can be proud of.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

1/2 cup Earth Balance, room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 T. molasses
1 tsp. baking powder
1 Tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. ground flax
2 T. water
1 can pumpkin
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Using a stand-up mixer cream Earth Balance, canola oil, and brown sugar until most of sugar is dissolved making a brown goo of sorts. Add molasses, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. In a small bowl whisk flax and water with a fork until a bit frothy, then add to batter. Mix for about 1 minute to get everything well combined the add pumpkin and mix for another 30 seconds. Finally add it flour 1/2 cup at a time and mix well until you get a light, fluffy whipped batter.

I discovered the best thing to use when baking these is a silpat or parchment paper, a greased pan will cause the whoopies to spread...eek!


Using a pastry bag and tip #5PT pipe small circles (for mini bite sized whoopies) or larger 2 inch diameter circles (for normal sized whoopies)

Pipe about two inches apart from one another. Place in oven and bake for 13 minutes (for minis) to 16 minutes (for regular). Remove from oven and let cool. Once cool pipe frosting on one whoopie and top with another creating a delicious pie!

Filling:
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1/2 cup vegan cream cheese or shortening (either make for a great flavor)
2-3 cups powdered sugar (I never measure this, you just want to make sure the end result isn't too soft or runny, so increase powdered sugar until a nice thick but soft frosting emerges)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. ground ginger

In stand up mixer cream together the Earth Balance and cream cheese. Add in powdered sugar until desired consistency then add vanilla extract and ground ginger. When frosting is complete put into a piping bag and using a star tip pipe into a circle on one whoopie and then top with another whoopie then shove into your face and great elation. Yep, it is that good!

Thirty Days of Rikki Cupcake: Day 30

My favorite song:

Trying to narrow down my favorite song is incredibly complicated. There are numerous songs that make me smile, accompany me when I cry, play softly in the background when I make love, encourage me to be playful and happy when I bake, and also songs that provide enough energy for me to propel myself forward and often in whimsical circles on my bike. Trying to think of just one is impossible. Instead I will list the first five that pop into my head...

1. The Beatles-For No One, this is one of the saddest songs and I adore it so very much.
2. Jets to Brazil- Sweet Avenue, because the line "Budding at my fingertips, touching you I start to bloom" makes me smile every single time I hear it
3. Alkaline Trio- Radio because I remember fondly a time when I was driving my car with five or six passengers all squished in and this song came on and all of us started singing it as loud as we could. It was great.
4. Jeff Buckley- Hallelujah, I know Leonard Cohen wrote this song but Mr. Buckley's version gives me the chills. His voice is beautiful and haunting.
5. Sam Cooke- You Send Me. This song is simple and is my favorite love song.

Potato Leek Soup

Some days I am a machine, I will wake up at 2:30 in the morn' bike 15 miles to work and bake my little heart out, only to bike 15 miles home to clean the house or bake for another event in my evening hours. Then there are days when I sleep in until 6am (yes that IS sleeping in) I will pour a bowl of cereal and read, then eventually fall back asleep and wake up again at 9am or so and just lallygag all day until Timmy comes home to occupy my bored and weary brain. Yesterday was one of those days I spent loitering around the house doing the bare minimum so I wouldn't feel like such a sloucher. I washed a dish or three, did a load of laundry and then made a soup so delicious Timmy barely noticed how I destroyed the the kitchen in the soup making process.

Now, I haven't had potato soup in years, in fact the last time I think I had it was as a child and it was always served with bacon. My grandmother made the best soup ever, always from scratch and always the perfect flavor. She even put an ice cube or two in it for me so it wouldn't burn my little tongue.

I hope as these cooler months sweep in this soup recipe will be utilized the warm up all of my favorite people who pass by this blog. It is easy to make and so very tasty. Also the ingredients are easy to come by, so no confusing market searches.



Potato Leek Soup

20-25 small red potatoes (wash really well and leave the skins on)
1 T. olive oil
1 large leek, washed and chopped
6 cloves of garlic, cut into small chunks
1 cup chopped celery
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
6 cups water or vegetable broth
1/4 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos
1/3 cup white wine
1 tsp. ground pepper
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. dried rosemary
1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

Fill a large pot 3/4 way full with water and boil potatoes until soft, about 45 minutes. Strain the potatoes and let cool until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile start chopping and peeling all of your vegetables. In a large pot place 1 T. of olive oil and turn heat to medium. Toss in your leeks and saute for about five minutes, then add the garlic and saute for another three minutes. Add pepper, salt, rosemary and thyme and stir around.

At this point your kitchen is going to smell heavenly. Pour white wine and Liquid Aminos in the pot with leeks and such and turn heat down to a medium low. At this point add in the celery and carrots and cut up potatoes into chunks and add in as well. Lastly pour in your water or vegetable broth and cook the soup on low for about an hour.

Using a food processor or a reliable mixer remove about 1/2 of your soup and blend until you get a smooth creamy mixture. Pour the mixture back in with the rest of the soup and cook for another hour or so on low. I like to have my soup cook all day, but really it is not necessary. I served our soup with grilled cheese and pepper sandwiches.



If you try this recipe let me know what you think of it. This amount made 6 hearty bowls of soup and is great for a family on a budget, because all of the ingredients are fairly inexpensive.