Elementary, My Dear Vegan: Pierożki

Hi everyone! Today’s “Elementary, My Dear Vegan” is from S1E21 (“A Landmark Story”). During their stakeout to identify the person managing what Holmes referred to as “an army of bee assassins,” Watson gets some food for the two of them, informing Holmes that “the closest place open was Polish,” and adding, “I hope you like pierozkis.”

So, long story short, my unlucky streak with pierożki continues (I tried making some in a previous Vegan MoFo; they were kind of a mess). Long story long, I tried a new recipe, but the dough was so incredibly wet and sticky that I almost bailed on it entirely. I started tidying things up but then considered taking another run at it, so I added more flour and kneaded until I was finally able to roll it out and make eight pierożki. After they finished baking, I sat down for dinner, but I was only able to eat two bites; the pierożki just did not taste good to me. There was still plenty of filling left, though, so I enjoyed most of that as a back-up dinner. I’m not going to blame the recipe (especially since the filling turned out so well); this was my first time using buckwheat flour (as previously noted, I added extra), and I’d also substituted soy milk for the canned coconut milk.

Yummy filling!

Today, I used the last of the leftover filling to make pierożki rolls (with crescent roll dough). I added some Krakow Nights seasoning on top, and these were so, so good! Maybe sometime in the future, I’ll try veganizing one of the pierożki recipes from my copy of Polish Cookery, but for now, making them this way works for me!

P.S. So, I watched the series finale of Elementary; there were multiple times during the episode that I got worried about where the writers were going with it, but yeah, it was a good ending, pretty much perfect, honestly. I’m super sad that Elementary is over, but it was such an incredible show; I’m so grateful for it having existed, and for the ability to rewatch old episodes on DVD to my heart’s content!

Cringer and Daisy were on a stakeout of their own today, keeping an eye on the birdies…

Peace. :)

March MiniMoFo

Hi everyone! “Go green!” is the theme for the March MiniMoFo, and all the new recipes I’ve tried so far this month have included spinach – Brown Rice With Lentils, Mushrooms, and Spinach Stir Fry (AfroVeganChick); Marinated Tofu with White Rice and Spinach; and Creamy Raw Spinach Sauce (Vegan Vittles). This week I tried making the creamy spinach dip from Vegan Vittles, but it didn’t quite work out (*shakes fist at my food processor*), so I gave up and just threw all the ingredients into a saucepan with a bit of water, heating it up and mashing the beans as I stirred, ultimately mixing it in with some fettuccine. So, both a recipe fail (didn’t work as the dip it was supposed to be) and a recipe redemption (was very tasty mixed with pasta). 

Cringer loves using her sister as a pillow…

Peace. :)

Spiced Nuts (Fresh & Fast Vegan Pleasures)

Hi everyone! The new recipe I tried this week was the spiced nuts from Fresh & Fast Vegan Pleasures by Amanda Grant. (The ingredients list awkwardly included the mixed nuts line twice, with one of the repetitions calling Brazil nuts "Bazil notes" lol.) Unfortunately, the finished product was disappointing. The amount of soy sauce the recipe called for was excessive (1 T would have been enough); it covered up any hint of the chili powder, so the nuts weren't spicy at all. Well, I had to get the first recipe fail of the year out of the way sooner or later!

In other news, I've gone to my second protest! On Sunday, January 29, Zach went with me to the Philadelphia International Airport for Protest Refugee Deportations at PHL! It was another great experience; I'm so glad I went. Here are the pictures of my sign (front & back); I re-used my signs from my first protest by flipping them, duct-taping them together, and writing on the blank sides.

"No hate, no fear; refugees are welcome here!"

"No ban, no wall; sanctuary for all!"

Here are the cuddly sisters Daisy & Cringer. I found them snuggled like this when I got back from a walk earlier this week. 

Peace. :)

Strawberry Pineapple Green Smoothie

Hi everyone! Today's Vegan MoFo prompt is: It’s Easy Being Green – Look after the environment, or just eat green veg – go green today! A few days ago, I made an attempt at a green smoothie, specifically the Strawberry Pineapple Green Smoothie from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. Everything looked great going into the blender: the kale, the frozen strawberries, the fresh pineapple, so pretty and colorful...

... but it turned out brown, even though the cookbook said it would be "a rich green color"...

If you look closely, there are little flecks of green!

I tried a few sips and wasn't too impressed with the taste, so I thought, might as well add the optional protein powder, but that didn't help any. Well, at least I tried; I just prefer to eat my greens than to drink them, that's all!

Here's Cringer warming up Zach's gloves for him...

Peace. :)

Mushroom Vegetable Soup

Hello on the 17th day of the Vegan Month of Food!  Tonight's post is about a veganized version of my dad's beef vegetable soup.  My sister and I have veganized his recipe in the past (simply leaving out the beef), but this time I decided to add mushrooms, both because I still had more I needed to use up and because I figured that they would contribute a "meaty" texture to the mix.  I didn't have his recipe on hand, and had to scramble a bit (and half it), but it turned out alright.

Mushroom Vegetable Soup

  

Ingredients:
--4 cups of vegan "beef"-flavored broth
--1 cup elbow noodles
--1 can corn, drained
--1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)
--mushrooms 
--spaghetti sauce 

Bring the broth to a boil, add the elbow noodles, lower heat to medium.  Add the corn and mixed vegetables.  Eventually bring to medium-low to simmer.  Chop up mushrooms (I used 2, but I'm not sure what that came out to, measurement-wise, maybe about 1/2-3/4 cup worth?) and add to the soup.  Finally, add about 6 T spaghetti sauce.  Simmer for a little while longer, and then serve with rolls or crackers.

I enjoyed it, but the soup tasted different (from the vegan versions we've made before).  Next time I'll make sure to dig out the recipe beforehand, and to make sure that I have a can of mixed soup vegetables on hand so I don't have to make do with corn and frozen mixed vegetables.  Also, adding the mushrooms was an interesting experiment, but it might not be one that I repeat for some time, as I didn't really enjoy the texture/taste.  So, all in all, it worked, but I wasn't thrilled with it, so I might still label this as a recipe fail.  Ah well, that's what experimenting is all about.  

And now some photos of cat-acrobatics...

...also known as the cat-pretzel.

Peace.  :)