Turnpike Pizza/daiya cheese/tester recipes/frito misto

Turnpike Pizza with a homemade side of broccolini and seitan.

Sometimes things just don't turn out the way you expect. I had good intentions of making frito misto for the second time last night to try to improve my results so I could post a recipe, but I waited too late to start cooking, and lack of sleep caught up with me. "Can't we just get a pizza or something," I moaned, as I tried to picture myself washing, cutting , mixing and cooking. Now, how many times has that happened to you? Be honest.

We could have gotten pizza from Pizza Pi, a known source of vegan-only pizzas, but I wanted to see if the pizza place down the street could actually come through with the vegan pizza they promised when they first opened. He ordered. We waited. He went to pick up the pie.

I took one look at the pizza, covered with a thick layer of melted cheese, and groaned, "This can't be vegan. I'm not eating it."

"But they said it was 100% vegan. They swore it was," said my husband. Then I noticed a spot of flattened, crispy cheese, and remembered Daiya cheese gets like that if over-heated. (The pizza really is made with Daiya.) So I took a bite. This is the pizza that floated before my eyes the day I decided to be vegan — back in the days when I used to order EXTRA cheese. But that was then and this is now. Now, this thick melted layer of cheesy, stretchy richness was just too much ... too much ... too much like CHEESE. It made me feel a little sick. I realized I'd come to prefer my pizza covered in VEGGIES with just a smidgen of "cheese." This pizza had too few veggies and too much cheese. (My son, who got the cold leftovers when he got home from work, thought it was really good.)

And then there was the crust. Turnpike Pizza is promoted as "real New York-style pizza" or at least "real East Coast pizza." It's been an awfully long time since I've had any such thing but the crust brought back memories not of pizza, but of Philadelphia soft pretzels! In fact, it tasted just like a soft pretzel. It was very white and very smooth. Maybe smooth is the wrong word but it wasn't the bubbly, scorched and chewy brick-oven crust of my dreams.

Okay, I realize I may have just described what you consider a fantastic pizza, and if you live in Seattle you might want to rush over to Turnpike Pizza in Green Lake and order one. What do I know.

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Testing recipes for Celine and Joni
We've been testing some really delicious recipes lately. Above you see BBQ beans that my son and I loved. My husband liked them but was, in my opinion, unaccountably less enthusiastic than I. Believe me, they were great.

Everyone, including unsuspecting company, loved these. They look like ordinary potato wedges but they're not. They're special and addictive. Amazing and fabulous.

Above you see the BBQ beans, the wedgies and a side of kale. Ever since I read about beans on toast at Haiku Tofu I'd been wanting some, and the BBQ beans were just perfect atop a slice of toasted sourdough. I think I'll keep to myself the number of times I enjoyed this combo.

This is an excellent lentil and quinoa salad. It surprised me by being much more delicious than I imagined.

Oh my. I love kale and eat it a lot, but this was amazing. Buy the cookbook when it comes out just for this smoky dish!

These muffins had both carrots and sweet potato. My granddaughter gobbled hers up.

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New version of an old favorite

We love the sweet chili lime tofu with collards recipe from "Vegan Yum Yum" but when my husband proposed making it the other night I said I'd had tofu for lunch, and didn't want to eat soy again. He was disappointed until I suggested making it with chickpeas, instead. It was just as great with the beans, and served over rice.

Here's my first frito misto effort - not quite good enough to post the recipe. The cauliflower crust was a little too grainy, and the sauce too tomato-y. When I added the sauce to the cauliflower, the grainy quality disappeared and the the cauliflower tasted really good - but not good enough. I'll try again tonight.

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Spam attack (the electronic variety)

I've decided to add a word recognition step to leaving comments because I recently encountered some objectionable spam. Someone using the name Disa left a large number of links to porn sites on a number of my posts. The links were in Chinese characters so I used Google translator to translate the phrases. I apologize to anyone who may have followed the links to pornographic pages before I saw and removed them. I hope this won't discourage anyone from leaving comments - I love reading your thoughts.

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You can enter a comment to win a copy of "Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World" at Vegan Family Style.

What we did (and ate) on our winter vacation ... part 2 / apple cake

Whenever we're in the Fort Lauderdale area, we always dine at the internationally known vegan restaurant, Sublime. In the past I've noted that Sublime tries very hard to appeal to non-vegetarians by simulating familiar meat-and-chicken-based dishes instead of focusing on the creative use of fresh vegetables, but as the only veg restaurant for miles around, I can understand their position. They've managed to be successful as a vegan restaurant in a steak and seafood world. And I really liked their new menu, which seemed to have more veggie-centered choices.

Sublime is a beautiful and calming space with very good food, and the waitstaff is friendly and helpful. Dining there is always enjoyable, and our latest visit was no exception, though we started the evening with a slight mishap. My sister-in-law had postcards (which were expiring the next day) offering $10 off two entrées, and we planned to use them to defray the high cost of eating at Sublime. As we arrived, my brother realized that he'd forgotten to bring the coupons. We went back and forth about whether to mention this to our server, but when the restaurant owner came to our table to greet us, we told her about the oversight. At first she seemed very pleased that her postcard had pulled us into the restaurant, and appeared to be considering what to do. Then she chirped, "I guess you'll just have to come back again tomorrow," and quickly took off. Oh well. It wouldn't have cost her very much to create a little seasonal good will but I guess we all make our choices.

For starters we shared an order of frito misto, shown at the top of the page. This is crispy cauliflower with sweet chili sauce, and it's addictively good. I've tried to duplicate this at home in the past and was very successful, but unfortunately I didn't write down the recipe so I'll have to try again.

For my entrée I chose the portobella stack with sautéed greens and mashed cauliflower. I'm a sucker for portobella dishes and, besides, this entrée came with the most vegetables. The smallish mushroom came layered with spinach, tomato, thinly sliced potato and a brown sauce. It was really good.

My husband chose a salad and the "four sides" entrée option, and he picked barbecued tofu, asparagus, coleslaw and mashed cauliflower. He enjoyed his dinner.

My brother and s-i-l shared a caesar salad and a "steak" sandwich with oven sweet potato fries. The salad came with several small pieces of fried artichoke hearts, which I thought was very clever. I think all four of us enjoyed this year's visit to Sublime (except for the coupon mishap) and will return again when we're back in the area. The food is organic and vegan, and all profits go towards animal welfare.

After dinner, we visited a street in Pompano Beach where every house on both sides of the street participates in extreme Christmas decorating excess. The pictures really don't do justice to the mind-boggling display of light and color.

All vacations must come to an end, so on New Year's Eve we left for the airport at 7:30 a.m. We were conscious of potentially increased security measures following the underwear-explosives incident on the airliner from Amsterdam. I packed very carefully, trying to minimize the chances of having myself or my luggage searched. Security was surprisingly fast and easy in spite of the fact I totally forgot to remove and display my one quart plastic zip-bag of personal explosives. No one called me out or even removed my empty stainless steel water bottle from my backpack pocket to shake it. This seemed rather slack considering the scrutiny I've encountered in the past.

Anyway, we got home in time to have a New Year's Eve dinner with our son, d-i-l, granddaughter and their friends. My daughter-in-law cooked a meal entirely from The Urban Vegan cookbook and it was delicious. Above you can see my plate with chickpea paprikash and spaetzle, snap peas in garlic and olive oil, and salad greens with croutons.

For a brunch at our kids' house on Sunday I made black-eyed-pea salsa (Texas caviar) from this recipe except I cooked the beans from scratch, and used parsley instead of cilantro to accommodate my favorite cilantro-hater.

No slivered almonds on or in my cake (cake #2)

I also made an apple cake from Bryanna Clark Grogan's wonderful blog but with several alterations — I always have to tinker. I'll give you the excellent original recipe (with permission), and then a second recipe with my changes. I ran out of sugar when I made it the first time so used cinnamon and a little agave for the topping, but that results in a pale-looking (but still delicious) cake. Sugar works much better. I also added dried cranberries with the apples, and no almonds on top due to my dislike for nuts in cake. The cake was delicious but tasted too sweet for my warped taste buds so I revised it a bit when I made it the second time. It still tastes sweet to me but everyone else loves it so I think I'll leave it alone for now.

Original recipe:
BRYANNA’S RUSTIC APPLE-ALMOND CAKE
makes 1/ 9x13" cake

Dry mix

• 1 and 3/4 cups wholewheat pastry flour PLUS 1/4 c. oat bran
• OR 2 cups wholewheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 2 cups chopped apples (I don't peel them if they are organic)

Wet mix

• 1/3 cup smooth unsweetened applesauce
• 3 Tbs. oil
• 1 cup unbleached organic granulated sugar
• 7/8 cup nondairy milk

Topping

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 cup slivered, blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13" cake pan.

1. Whisk together the dry mix ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Stir in the apples.
3. In a blender, blend the wet mix ingredients until smooth.
4. Mix the Wet Mix into dry mix, stirring as briefly as possible.
5. Spread into prepared pan.
6. Mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the cake. Bake 35 minutes. Test for doneness.
7. Cool on a rack and serve right out of the pan, cut into squares.

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Apple-cranberry cake (adapted from Bryanna's rustic apple-almond cake)
This cake is so easy and delicious — wonderfully soft and moist — it's destined to become a new favorite at our house!

Dry mix

• 2 cups white wholewheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp spice mix* (or cinnamon) see note below
• 2+ cups apple, chopped into 1/2" pieces (Don't peel if organic) (I used two med.-lg. apples)
• 1 cup whole cranberries (mine were frozen), each berry cut in half or 1/2 cup dried

Wet mix

• 1/3 cup smooth unsweetened applesauce
• 3 Tbs. oil
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup unbleached organic granulated sugar (evaporated cane juice) If using dried cranberries, the cake is very sweet. If you like cake less sweet, use 1/2 cup.
• 7/8 cup nondairy milk or amazake (Amazake gives great texture.)

Topping

• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
• 1 tsp. spice mix* (or cinnamon) see note below

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13" cake pan.

1. Whisk together the dry mix ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Stir in the apples and cranberries.
3. In a blender, blend the wet mix ingredients until smooth. (I just beat them with a spoon.)
4. Fold the wet mix into dry mix, stirring as briefly as possible. The batter will be very thick.
5. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
6. Mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Sprinkle half the topping evenly over the cake. Swirl in gently with a knife. (Don't knock yourself out with the swirling; the batter is too thick for real swirling.)
7. Sprinkle on the rest of the topping.
8. Bake 35 minutes. Test for doneness.
9. Cool on a rack and serve from the pan, cut into squares.

Note: *I used speculoos spice mix from Seitan is my motor (except mine has allspice instead of cloves, and extra coriander) to flavor the cake. (to make a batch: 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ground allspice, 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp. ground coriander, 1/8 tsp. ground ginger, 1/4 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg) Follow this link to find out more. I had previously mixed a lot to keep handy with my other spices so it was right there waiting for me when I made the cake.

What we did (and ate) on our winter vacation ... part 1

We're finally back in rainy Seattle after a wonderful week in warm, sunny — SUNNY — Florida. We were gone for eight days, returning New Year's Eve. I really hate being confined to a mini airplane seat for hours so was reluctant to go so far away, but am so glad I did. (The plane ride from here to Atlanta took 5-1/2 hours, then it was another 2 hours from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale. Ugh.) We spent a whole day getting there and another whole day returning.

The view from our room

We stayed in Delray Beach for the first five nights at a wonderful hotel called Crane's Beach House. It's very "Key West" I'm told. It's like escaping to a private island; once you enter the hotel grounds, the sights and sounds of the city disappear, and you're surrounded by palm trees and waterfalls. We had a one-bedroom suite furnished in white wicker and red clay tiles with a living room, full kitchen, bedroom, and dining area. (Tourism is down this year making for much better room rates so we upgraded from our efficiency after the first night. We didn't arrive until after 1 a.m. so the first night wasn't worth the added cost.) For the last two nights we stayed in Pompano Beach with my brother and sister-in-law.

We visited with my 92-year-old aunt and 95-year-old uncle, my late-father's dear friend, Rose and my brother and s-i-l. We also got to spend time with vacationing friends from Madison. In between, and mixed into the socializing, there were beach walks, swimming, eating, movie watching, treadmill walking, after-Christmas bargain shopping and just plain relaxing. On our last day, I even fit in an appointment for acupuncture and full-body massage with my sister-in-law's practitioner.

The Inter Coastal as seen from the bridge

Our hotel was a block from the beach, and a short walk to downtown Delray Beach. To get downtown, we had to cross over the Intercoastal Waterway on a draw bridge — very scenic.

The Colony Hotel

Above you can see a wonderful renovated hotel on the main drag. It has a large front porch where people gather to have drinks or just to relax, and a fabulous lobby filled with inviting furniture and an atmosphere that makes me think of The Great Gatsby. We've never stayed there but we always stop in to gawk.

While not the most vegan-friendly place in the world, Delray Beach and the surrounding towns did provide us with a week's worth of reasonable eating. On our first and last nights we had dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's condo. They always go out of their way to make sure there is plenty of delicious food for us to eat.

Here's a somewhat demolished spread of hors d'oeuvres that we dove into before I remembered the camera. It was a collection of dips, spreads, salsa, olives, raw veggies and chips.

My s-i-l was feeling her "Martha" vibe when she set the table. Her settings are always elegant.

My plate holds tofu and rice, kale-sesame salad, broccoli and brussels sprouts.

On our last night we had pasta with mushrooms, and green beans.

We found a vegetarian falafel stand in a high-end shopping mall (Town Center in Boca Raton) that was amazing. It's called Maoz Vegetarian and is part of a chain. The first time we were there I didn't have my camera so I can only describe my lunch. I had a falafel with broccoli and cauliflower, chopped tomato and cucumbers, and tahini sauce on whole wheat pita. The pita was almost fluffy - the best I've ever tasted - and the veggie combination, though it sounds weird, was great. You can choose from a large assortment of unusual toppings for your sandwich. You can also just choose the salad bar. The sandwich above was from our second visit when they were out of whole wheat pita.

We discovered a cool pizza place in Delray Beach, Mellow Mushroom, that we could walk to, and we went there for dinner the evening we spent with our friends from Madison. It was packed and crazy noisy so we ordered pizza and salad to go, and took it back to our hotel where we could relax and have a conversation without shouting. Our pizza didn't have cheese but it had everything else — sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, peppers, mushrooms, onions, olives, tomatoes, broccoli, artichoke hearts and tofu. The sun-dried tomatoes gave the pizza a rich depth that completely erased the need for a cheesy topping. (If you prefer not to use cheese substitutes when making pizza at home, you might want to try adding sun-dried tomatoes to your pie.) The real surprise was the memorable whole wheat crust — perfectly bubbly, charred and chewy.

Sweet Tomatoes

Sweet Tomatoes

One evening we went to Sweet Tomatoes all-you-can-eat buffet in Boca Raton for soup and humongous make-your-own salads. In addition to all the usual salad ingredients, they always have interesting things like raw, shredded butternut squash. Sweet Tomatoes requires a bit of patience if the line is long, but it's inexpensive, filling and vegan-friendly.

I was excited to discover a Chinese restaurant in Boca with a separate vegetarian menu, but we were all disappointed with our food. It doesn't look bad in the photo, but it wasn't too great. The front page of the veg menu had a whole discourse about the benefits of miso soup, and a long statement about how they catered to vegetarians. I ordered seaweed soup and it didn't taste like it had any miso in it. It had that fake-stock taste, if you know what I mean. The seaweed was delicious but every mouthful included a small dose of sand, so I gave up on eating it. Bleh. My spring roll was so greasy I peeled the outer skin off so I could eat the yummy cabbage filling. The main dish was okay but not something I'd look forward to eating again, but I doubt we'll ever go back to this restaurant.

This is getting too long, and I've got a bunch more photos to post so I'll call this part 1, and get the rest done asap. Coming up in part 2 will be our evening at Sublime Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, and lots more. But first I leave you with a little warning for the new year. Always check your back.

Above is an unnamed mystery guest who had just given himself an unfortunate d-i-y haircut before coming to the party. I photographed the back of his head so he could see why everyone was laughing. It was a good thing he was among friends, and hadn't gone out in public before corrections could be made. : )