I made a new friend at Ikea today!

Mr. (or Ms., it can be hard to tell with cruciferous vegetables) Broccoli!  My BFF!

Teasers

I was going to post pictures of the newest additions to our collection of Fiestaware kitty bowls (the Homer Laughlin Company calls them fruit bowls, but I think I know a kitty bowl when I see it), but my phone is dead so you'll just have to take my word for it that the new flamingo color (in stores now!) is the bomb.

I know some people have come up with themes for their vegan MoFo posts, and have even laid out a schedule of what's coming up.  I'm not that organized, but I realized that I do have the first few posts pretty much laid out in my head:

October 1:  World Vegetarian Day
October 2:  Roasted poblano peppers
October 3:  Refried beans
October 4:  Chili

After that, I'm not sure.  Maybe calabacitas.  Maybe something with acorn squash. If I'm able to find more dried hominy, I'll make posole.  But that's a big if.

I've been on a Southwestern food jag since I got back from New Mexico two weeks ago, and as you can see it shows no signs of ending.  I'm not going to commit to making the whole month about the Southwest, though.  At any moment I could crack and go back to my first love, Indian food, or throw in a macrobiotic recipe or something.  And at some point this month I'll probably write about my local farmer's market and fall produce.  Maybe I'll even sneak in those kitty bowls.

See you tomorrow!

Sniff

. . . and I'm not just sniffing because green chile makes my nose run, although that too.

Food of the Gods.

I'm sniffing because this jar of Extra Roasted New Mexico Green Chile, which I bought at Whole Foods in Albuquerque a couple weeks ago, is empty.  This is a sad, sad day.

Ever since we got back from ABQ I've been cooking pot after pot of black beans, and eating green chile at pretty much every meal.  We've got some dried green chile left, and a few green chile singles, which amazingly enough did not explode in the cargo hold of the plane, but the Jar is empty.

So now the quest begins:  can I buy green chile in Baltimore?  Stay tuned.

The Cat Who Would Be Vegan, Part II

A few days ago I wrote about my kitten Newman and his devotion to carbs.  Today he continued to amaze me by showing his love for another vegan staple, refried beans.

Kitty crack -- who knew?

This morning I decided to include Trader Joe's refried beans in my lunch, and as soon as I got out the can opener Newman was right there on the counter.  You might think he was just responding to the presence of a can,  as cats who eat canned food will do, but no.  He wrapped his little kitten arms around the can, and eventually I had to shut him in the bedroom to get him to stop licking up all the beans.  He was  pretty excited about the kale and corn that weregoing into the lunch container, too.  That got me thinking -- if I weren't such a lazy bitch, maybe I really could turn this cat vegan.

Please don't troll me with how terrible a vegan diet is for cats, or what a hypocritical vegan I am for having cats at all, never mind feeding them meat food.  I've done the research.  I know it can be done.  I also know it's risky, especially for male cats because they are more prone to urinary tract problems.  And I have two boys.  And I'm a lazy bitch.  So this isn't happening any time soon, if ever.  But I do find it fascinating how excited these "obligate carnivores" get about vegan protein sources.

Here's what I ate for lunch.  I can't call it a recipe since it basically consists of opening packages and mixing the contents together, but it's fast, nutritious, and yummy, so I'll include it here.  All ingredients are from Trader Joe's:

1 can salsa-style refried beans
1 pound package frozen kale
About half of a one-pound package frozen roasted corn kernels

Nuke the kale and corn until completely thawed.  Put in a lunch container with the beans.  Nuke it again at work until hot.  Eat this with an apple and you've nailed all your vegan food groups.  Don't forget to floss!

Vegan Break-Fast

Well, another Yom Kippur has come and gone. We broke the fast at our favorite divey Chinese restaurant -- Kung pao tofu and green beans with garlic sauce, yay!  Breaking the fast with Chinese food is something of a tradition with us. A lot of synagogues host break-fast meals so you can eat immediately after the service ends, but in my experience those tend to be lox-and-bagel type affairs, and the vegan option is . . . bagels.  Period. Maybe a few grapes or baby carrots if you're lucky.  That just doesn't cut it when you haven't eaten in 24 + hours.  My girlfriend always craves tofu after a fast.  And I don't even eat bagels any more.

So we had our tofu and green beans with steamed rice,  and on the way home we stopped at Trader Joe's for some of their yummy fresh squeezed OJ.  Now I've had all my food groups.

Sorry, no pix. I was abstaining from screens for the holiday and didn't have my phone with me. Man, that tofu was good. It has a nice hint of smokiness that I probably can't reproduce at home without a gas stove and a really well-seasoned wok, neither of which I have. Which means Towson Best Chinese Restaurant (its real name) can count on my business for many Yom Kippurs to come.

I hope everyone who observed the holiday had an easy and meaningful fast. And a sweet New Year to us all.

I can haz oatmeal?

Cats are carnivores.  I respect vegans who do the hard work of feeding their cats vegan food while making sure they stay healthy, but I'm too lazy to try it myself.  I feed my cats meat cat food every day.  But the cats, and our kitten in particular, insist that they also need vegan food!

Every vegan cat caretaker knows about cats and nutritional yeast.  They just can't get enough nooch.  Maybe it's because we named him after a cookie, but our kitten Newman is also in love with carbs.  He eats bread, rice, potatoes, and this morning it was oatmeal.  First he practically tried to climb into the pot.  Then when I served the food he was trying to eat out of our bowls.  I had mixed hemp protein powder into my oats, and that only seemed to make it more appealing (I'm glad somebody thinks that stuff is appetizing).   I shut him in the bedroom so I could eat, but I figured my food was safe with our older cat, LC, who in six years has never shown interest in oatmeal.  Well, he and the kitten have clearly been talking to each other, because as soon as I walked away to answer the phone he was in my bowl as well.  In order to eat without audience participation I have to shut both cats in the bedroom, or wrap my arm around my bowl like I'm in prison.

What unexpected foods do your cats crave?

Howdy

I was getting all excited about Vegan MoFo and I said on Facebook, "I'm thinking of starting a blog just so it can be in Vegan MoFo." Two of my peeps said "Do it!"  so here I am.  This blog will be mostly food and pictures of food, and probably some other vegan stuff.  Actual content will be here soon.