My Sampson

By Monica on November 29th, 2007

With his insurmountable pride and dignity intact, Sampson left us yesterday after an ultrasound revealed diseases that even his indomitable courage and fighting spirit could not overcome. His quirk and snark were surpassed only by his sense of humor and enormous heart. His constant voice and warm snuggles will be missed terribly.

You stupid cow.

By Monica on November 27th, 2007

There hasn’t been a tremendous amount of cooking going on at home lately. By the time we get Sampson taken care of, dinner time is 10:00 at night so we’ve been surviving on spaghetti for 2 weeks now. Good thing I love pasta! This is what I’ve had time to drum up though:

VWAV Tempeh Reubens. Delicious and oh so gooey as the dressing drips down your arm whilst trying to eat it! I added a slice of Tofutti mozzarella since I’ve never found soy swiss cheez.

A lentil based Shepherd’s Pie, made after watching last week’s episode of Kitchen Nightmares when Gordon schooled the Irish pub on how to properly make one. Now, I did not pipe adorable little mashed potato puffs onto the top like Gordon, but I also didn’t fill the pie with dead things, so I think we’re even! Eh, dead things or not I love watching him, even if he would call me a ’stupid f-ing cow’ for refusing to pipe mashed potatoes.

Seitan Chick’n wings from Vegan Vittles. They tasted good, but like my Oktoberfest Wiener experiment, they had more of a poofy bread texture than a meaty texture. Seitan experts, what am I doing wrong?

And finally, a bread machine rye bread. I am not pleased with this so there shall be no recipe yet, though the chickens enjoyed it just fine and it sure looks lovely! I was hoping that I could cheat and make good Czech rye bread in the bread machine instead of kneading and sculpting and lighting the oven… nope. Not yet anyway.

The Thanksgiving Post

By Monica on November 23rd, 2007

This year was the first year of my adult life that I did not host Thanksgiving dinner.  I have a small family and this year the crowd would have been a measly three people, hardly worth cooking for.  So I made the executive decision to trek down to the Chicago Diner for their 25th Annual Vegan Thanksgiving.  Let someone else cook and do dishes, was my motto.

The diner was all dressed up for the big event:  fall colored cloth napkins, pumpkin candles on all the tables, the music was slightly toned down from the usual punk sounds, and all the servers were even wearing clothes their mothers probably approved of.

Upon seating, we were presented with a basket filled with adorable little muffins and rolls, breadsticks, and herb ‘butter’.

First out was a field green salad with champagne vinaigrette.

Next up was Roasted Squash and Apple Soup with Maple Pepitas.  This was really the masterpiece of the meal, for me, absolutely fabulous.

And finally, onto the main course.  Mumsy & I had the Roasted Veggie Turkey which was oven baked tofu with chestnut stuffing and gravy. All the entrees came with cranberry relish, 7 grain stuffing, green beans almondine, wild rice pilaf, and maple mashed sweet potatoes.

Ray had the Beefy Wellington, really an impressive sight! It was a pastry crust with seitan, mushroom pate and tofu filling, covered in peppercorn sauce.

Last but not least, chocolate pumpkin cheezcake.  Oh. My. Hell.  There had to be a 1/2″ thick layer of chocolate on top of this baby and the piece of cheezcake is mammoth.  If there’s one thing the diner does better than anyone, it’s cheezcake.  This terrible picture is a shameful tribute, but it was dark in there!

While I did miss cooking for everyone, I am very glad we had a welcoming veggie place to eat at.  My mother, who I’ve turned into ‘half-a-vegan’, was a good sport and enjoyed herself as much as Ray and I.  Actually, she’d never been into this part of Chicago and was delighted at how nice Boys Town is.

And for the obligatory sobby, What-I’m-Thankful-For component of this blog post, today I’m thankful that Sampson is still with us.  He’s at home now after I was taught how to give him IV fluids and all his meds.  Keep sending him vegan hugs, they seem to be working!

Wait, one more thing!  Adopt a turkey!  For a one-time $20 adoption fee, adopters receive a color photograph of their turkey, an adoption certificate and a year subscription to Farm Sanctuary’s quarterly newsletter. The adoption fee provides funds for feed, bedding and veterinary care for the turkey.  This year we adopted Moth.  Ain’t  she lovely?

I hate Illinois Nazis

By Monica on November 19th, 2007

Saturday night Ray & I went out to dinner at a local dive. At the table in front of us was a man who kept telling his 3 young sons to “stop eating so many carrots and eat your fried chicken!” At the table next to us was a family full of white supremacists complete with a very scrawny pale kid, maybe 18 years old, sporting a swastika tattoo on the top of his right hand. Now, I know the swastika symbol has been around long before Hitler and has significance to other cultures, but this was the Nazi version for sure.

Yes, some days it is a real hoot living in the rural Midwest. All I could think of was Jake Blues in the Blues Brothers: “I hate Illinois Nazis”. Best movie ever.

Glutton for punishment, after dinner we stopped at the grocery store to see if I could find vegan graham crackers for a cheesecake crust. (Snowball’s chance in hell, right?) Now I’ve been to this store in the past and it’s like all the rest out here - meat, processed crap, semi-rotten vegetables. I don’t know what transformation the Hy-Vee underwent since our last visit, but it was a vegan extravaganza! Out here! In the sticks!

Not only did they have graham crackers I could use, but THREE kinds, including chocolate graham crackers! There was tofu, and it wasn’t even expired or covered in a layer of dust! There was soy chorizo, two kinds of Tofutti cheese, Gimme Lean sausage, Sour Supreme, polenta, TVP, dairy free ice cream, tempeh, the ‘good’ hydrogenated Tofutti cream cheese… It was my Christmas miracle, even though it’s not quite Christmas and I’m not quite (at all) religious. No longer do I have to trek 60 miles to Whole Foods when I need tempeh or tofu! So today I am sending off an email to Hy-Vee thanking them for carrying these things, though I will probably not mention that Ray and I now call them “Hy-Veegan.”