Monday, November 1, 2010

First Day of Vegan MOFO and Halloween weekend review.

It's November and the first day of Vegan MOFO! I hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend! I did, it's my birthday on Halloween. Dave, Keaton and I went to a late breakfast Halloween morning and guess who was sitting a table away from us?????? Peter Facinelli, Jennie Garth and their kids. A vampire eating breakfast right by me. hee hee!   That was a pretty cool celebrity sighting and start to my morning.  Later that afternoon Dave carved the pumpkin.

Scary Leprechaun

Keaton made me a chocolate cake, while I made the filling and ganache topping.

The go to  chocolate cake recipe we go to all of the time that is super moist and comes out perfect everytime is taken from the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts.  There are some changes I make they are: We double the recipe, use applesauce for half of the oil and I add a couple of tablespoons of instant coffee.
The caramel filling I used was actually the Dulce De Leche recipe from Viva Vegan and then the chocolate ganache was made with full fat soy milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted of course, than poured over the top.
Keaton went as a gorilla this year.  He had some cool sunglasses to wear but forgot all about them.


3 Bean Chili

For dinner I made a pot of chili and a side of cornbread.  For this recipe I used a ground veggie crumble because I thought that one of the parents were coming over to eat with us and they are a big time meat eater.  We actually prefer no veg meat in our chili. I forgot to add the chipotle chili in adobe sauce which adds an amazing flavor, oh well next time.  I make my own beans and this is actually the first tine I've cooked up my own kidney beans and man are nothing like the canned, they are so much better!  I also use Pomi tomatoes in a box because it is free of BPA but you can use any tomatoes you like, even fresh which I use all summer long.

3 Bean Chili

Olive oil for sauteeing
2 medium onions, diced
4 Italian red peppers, diced
2 Anaheim peppers, seeded and diced
5 garlic cloves, minced 
1- 12 oz. pkg veggie crumbles
1/4 C. soyrizo
1 1/2 T. oregano
1 1/2 T. cumin
4 T. Chili powder
2 T. Cocoa powder 
1/2 tsp salt
39oz. Pomi diced or whole tomatoes in juice, don't drain( if whole you can chop up or just pour into pot and mash them with spoon against side of pot to break them up)
2 C. water
2 C. black beans, drained
2 C. white beans(northern beans or cannelini), drained
3 C. kidney beans, drained
Chipotle in adobe sauce (optional) use according to how much heat you can stand

In a large heavy pot heat oil.  Once oil is heated saute onions, red peppers, garlic until they start to soften.  Then add the veggie crumbles and soyrizo.  Cook until it is browned and pepper-onion mixture is soft.  Next stir in the spices, salt and cocoa powder for about 1-2 minutes.(This is also the time to add the chipotle if you want).  Then add the water, tomatoes and beans.     Bring to a boil cover and turn down heat to a simmer for an hour or longer.  The longer it simmers the more the flavor develops. 
      

13 comments:

  1. How are u cooking your beans? With a pressure cooker...I keep telling ppl that after u made your own beans the taste for tinned beans are really inferior!
    I am happy you are doing MOFO too..cant wait to see what you will do tomorrow

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  2. A Halloween birthday must be ever more special! I love that you two made a cake together and it looks delicious!

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  3. HI Caribbeanvegan.... I just did a post about making beans from scratch! Check it out!!!

    http://eatlivebewell.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/how-to-make-black-beans-from-scratch/

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  4. Your chili sounds great! I had chili this weekend after not having it for quite a while and was reminded of just how much I love it. How exciting to have a halloween birthday! Your cake looks gorgeous as well!

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  5. That is the most gorgeous pumpkin ever! He's got some mad carving skillz!

    Great gorilla costume, and I can't wait until Guppy is big enough to make me a cake, too!

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  6. cool leprecaun pumpkin! and that cake looks amazing.

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  7. It all looks great. That's so fun that they were sitting next to you, especially like you said - on Halloween. :)

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  8. I just remembered I forgot to wish you a happy belated birthday!!! There. Did it.

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  9. Caribbeanvegan- That's what I want for Christmas, a pressure cooker. Since I don't have one I bring the beans to a boil, take off heat and soak for 2 hrs. Then I rinse them and cook for 1-2hrs. The cooking time actually depends on the type of bean, I notice garbanzo cooks very quickly and cannelini too.

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  10. That is the scariest pumpkin I've ever seen! Well done!

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  11. happy Vegan MoFo to you, JoLynn! and happy belated birthday, my friend! it sounds like you had one delicious day filled with lots of fun, family, and tasty eats. yay! that pumpkin is super scary - and i love Keaton's gorilla costume. awesome! also awesome - your celebrity siting. w00t! we usually keep our chilis vegan meat free as well as the beans can carry their own, but we totally do the same thing - when making chili to share with omnis i always add in some tvp or crumbles. never tried cocoa powder in my chili before - TOTALLY gonna have to try that next time. your 3 bean chili looks great, and your birthday cake looks amazing! i'll take the whole thing. mmmmmmmmmm! looking forward to all of your MoFo posts!

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  12. Happy Birthday. What a fun day to have been born on! Your Halloween treats look so yummy, esp that dulce de leche filling!

    Happy Vegan MoFo!

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  13. A belated Happy Birthday to you! Sounds like you had a super fun weekend! The chocolate cake looks really yummy! :-)

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