Cake, and other Stories

All right, so a few months ago I promised photos of cake.
I will now prove that I am not a (total) loser.
Behold! Cake! A chocolate vegan cake, no less!


Also, a snapshot I found of something I made last summer: Yakima Valley Polenta.
I got the recipe from 'Vegetarian Times,' and had to alter it a bit for what was (or wasn't) in the kitchen. So instead of port wine, I used brandy; and I put together my own herbes de Provence. Also, I think I used Soy Cheese.
I think I could've cut down on the sweetness of it some, but overall, a very good dish.

Who are the real turkeys here?

Oh, yeah. Another reason why I hate Thanksgiving.
Run, turkeys, run!
I'm not a crazy animal-rights activist (you wouldn't, for example, find me in a ridiculous costume by the side of the road with a placard), but to me there is no excuse for animal cruelty. It's all right to eat meat; we're allowed to do so. But part of that involves respecting life and thus respecting the animals. Just because it'll soon be filled with stuffing and covered in gravy doesn't mean it should suffer beforehand.

Vegan Cake

All right. So, in my quest to stay (mostly) vegan and still eat good desserts, I'm seriously loving the cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance (by Isa, from the PPK). I especially love the Lemon Gem cupcakes, made nice and tart with lots of lemon zest in the batter.
There's an anniversary party coming up soon, and two of the kids can't have soy, milk, or eggs. So, I'm going to have to experiment with making some vegan, soy-free cakes.
I figure I can accomplish this by using rice-milk or almond-milk instead of soy, but I'm a little curious about the small amount of soy-protein in Earth Balance (my vegan butter substitute that is even better than, um... butter).
This is going to be a challenge.
Seriously, I'll need an award for this.
I'm also wondering if chocolate cake is the way to go, or to transform the lemon-gem cupcakes into a sheet cake. They're cupcakes, so the batter is light and fluffy and frothy; maybe I can add some density to it somehow.
Anyway. Chocolate, or lemon?

Converts and disasters

I swear I've been cooking things since March. Good grief, it's been a while.
So my family went veggie for a while, but this has ended in what I call, eh, disaster. My sister, Grace, was the first to go. She called one day and after much "ehhhh"s and "ummmmm"s said that she'd broken down and gone carnivorous.
"How, exactly?" I said, my eyes squinted with the squint of cynicism.
She'd apparently eaten a chicken nugget. Well, four chicken nuggets. And a burger. And some bacon.
"I fell off the wagon," she said.
"No. You fell off the wagon, rolled down a cliff and burst into flames." I was trying to be positive, you see.
"Meh," said Grace, sounding depressed yet relieved.
All I could think was, thank Gordon I didn't buy her that subscription to the 'Vegetarian Times'.

Anyway, hope you're all having a lovely autumn. I made a ridiculously good potato soup two weeks ago, and a pretty good apple pie. I shall get back into the swing of things and post photos from now on! I swear it!! Arrgghhh!!!