Vegan Mofo Day 4: Soy Curls

When we moved to Portland last fall I had never heard of Soy Curls. It wasn't long before we became very familiar with them. A lot of the vegan friendly  food carts and restaurants use them in all sorts of dishes. They are dehydrated textured soy protein. They are so common here in Portland because they are made fairly locally, in Grande Ronde, OR by Butler Foods. (Use this link however to find out where to buy in other states!) They look like this when you get them:

The name sounded like some kind of snack to me when I first heard it. Out of curiosity, I popped one in my mouth to see how edible they are before you cook with them. It can be done and it's not awful but they are way better cooked. Here's our dinner with rice & leftover biscuits from the night before!:

 

If it had to be compared to meat, I suppose it's most like chicken in texture, but it's pretty refreshing that none of the packaging tries to make the comparison. As with most vegan protein options, it does its own thing, which is being really yummy!

P.S. Soy Curl became our nickname for our cat Lucy this week due to the picture of her curled up in her snugly cat bed!

Vegan Mofo Day 3: Spaghetti Squash and Dinner Rolls

 

Spaghetti Squash is a really neat thing! Basically we made a simple sauce with tomato based sauce (and we threw in some broccoli.) We used the squash in place of the pasta. It makes a good side, or a nice light meal. We tried something a little new to us this week and picked up a Stripetti spaghetti squash, which is a hybrid of a traditional spaghetti squash and and delicata squash. (I guessed as much from the stripey appearance & the delicatas nearby at the market) but this ehow page was handy in confirming that. Turns out there are 3 other spaghetti squashes I would love to try.

Also pictured are Granny's Hurry Up Dinner Rolls (link to the recipe from vegweb) Which turned out really well. They have a just bit of sugar in them, but otherwise tasted a lot like rolls my Mom typically makes at thanksgiving, but vegan.

 

Above is what the squash & its innards actually looked like, simply cut it in two, baked it, & then remove the innards. When we've had traditional spaghetti squash in the past. That variety seemed to produce longer, more linguine like strands. But both of these taste pretty great and are perfect if you're looking for a lighter alternative to pasta. 

Vegan Mofo day 2: Pea Soup with Biscuits

Well, in retrospect, that was a lot of pepper! Sunday night we made a simple Split Pea soup with biscuits, & dumplings. Also had some leftovers for lunches during the week. The soup was made simply, with spices, carrots, water, and dried peas. We let it simmer for about about an hour and a half. 

 

We sampled some french toast from Mom's Vegan Kitchen at the VegFest NW last month. They are based here in Portland, so it's easy to find mixes at Whole Foods, Food Fight, etc. but they are also available from some online retailers, listed on the website. We tried out the mix for both the dumplings (dropped in the soup) and the biscuits (baked.) Both were quite yummy. 

 

Chuck regularly makes dumplings in the soup, so here he is doing the fun part. About 20 minutes before the soup was done simmering the mixed up biscuit mix got added. They turned out just right, very delicious both ways. 

Vegan Mofo Day 1: Trip to the market

 

Today is day one of the Vegan month of food (vegan mofo)! I participated once before, in 2008. The last few years I've been more of a casual observer, but I can tell you there are lots of awesome posts including reviews, recipes, and more happening all month long. I'm pretty excited about participating this year, although I signed up on a whim, but I hope it will motivate lots of cooking and experimenting this month. And, hey, if not maybe I can just review lots of great vegan and vegan friendly restaurants here in PDX instead.

Saturday was a pretty great day to start vegan mofo, since the Portland State University farmer's market is on Saturdays almost all year long. It just seems appropriate to have the first post be about stocking up. We got a few things, pictured above.  A bag of peppers, Italian prunes, Acorn & Spaghetti Squash, tomatoes, Apple & pear cider, and zucchini. No particular plans just yet, but I'm sure Chuck & will come up with something.

 

We also treated ourselves to some morning snacks for all of our shopping effort. One of our favorites, Petunia's Pies & Pastries, had a fancy pancake sandwich. I was more in the mood for a muffin, so I picked up a marionberry muffin (the marionberry was developed here in Oregon, FYI, and it's one of my favorites) from Blacksheep Bakery. There's definitely no shortage of vegan options here in Portland.