Random Happenings in the Life of The Veggie Guy

So, yeah, I've been absent for a few weeks now. I'd like to say that I've been working on new vegan recipes, but the truth is, I've been heavily focused on some other things. Here's a quick rundown of what's been going on:

• I recently migrated my 6 Figure Blogging Strategies blog to Wordpress (sorry Blogger). The blog is quickly gaining popularity, so I figured I needed to take care of this quickly so I could make and correct all of my Wordpress blunders before too many people noticed. The new address is www.bloggersworkshop.com, if you'd like to take a look. (And feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed, if you'd like to learn how to effectively monetize your blog.)
• The Job (TM) is rapidly coming to a close. It's really kind of a relief, especially since I have so many other things going on right now. Between copywriting and blogging, there's little time for things that don't further my personal/professional objectives.
• Aria has started ballet classes. It's a big time commitment, but to me, it's well worth the effort. I'm very happy to see that she's tackled ballet with enthusiasm and determination. She wants to take Tae Kwon Do too... we'll just have to work on fitting that in.
• My wife is embarking on a career change - from insurance to nursing. Glad to see her getting back to something she's passionate about - it certainly makes for a happier life.

So there you go. The pieces are all starting to come tigether, so I plan to try out some new recipes very soon. Thanks to everyone who stuck with me through this unannounced blogging hiatus... I'll be catching up with your blogs in the coming days.

Samantha Ettus Interviews Food Writer/Television Personality Mark Bittman

Here's a video of an interview that I found particularly interesting. As you know, the purpose of The Veggie Guy is to offer healthy vegan recipes that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. Ok, so I don't always hit that 30 minute mark, but that's the goal.

Anyway, Mark Bittman is a well-known food writer that focuses on simple, fast cooking. This interview is well worth watching if you're looking for ways to get meals on the table quickly.

As a vegan who is leaning toward raw foodism, I really appreciated his comment early in the video that "Everything you cook, you eat... but everything you eat, you don't necessarily have to cook."

Well said!

Anyway, here is the link to the video. Enjoy!

http://obsessedtv.com/2009/02/samantha-ettus-interviews-food-writer-and-television-personality-mark-bittman/

Vegan Cookie Bars

One of my goals for the new year was to expand into baking a bit more - I've never been much for baking, but in the interest of developing a more well rounded Veggie Guy, I decided it was time to give it a go.

I wasn't really sure what to call these - I got the inspiration from something called "Congo bars", but those called for walnuts and coconut - two things I'm not overly fond of. They also weren't vegan. Anyway, my wife simply dubbed them "cookie bars", so that is what they shall be named.

The end result was indeed quite cookie-esque, if you ignore that they're about 1/2 inch thick, and that they're in bar form, rather than the traditional circular configuration.

I managed to find vegan peanut butter chips at a local store called Raisin Rack. Frankly, I've never seen them anywhere else (and frankly, as often as RR changes things around, I may never be able to find them again). I'm pretty sure you could substitute 1/2 cup of peanut butter for the chips and life would be just fine.

So here we go...


Vegan Cookie Bars

• 2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 3/4 cup Earth Balance vegan butter
• 8 oz light brown sugar
• Ener-G egg replacer equivalent to 3 eggs*
• 4 oz vegan chocolate chips
• 4 oz peanut butter chips (or 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter)

*The Ener-G package directions say that 1 1/2 tbsp Ener-G plus 2 tbsp warm water = 1 egg. I doubled the water for this recipe so the batter would mix better.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In another bowl, mix melted Earth Balance and brown sugar. Add to flour mixture.

Fold in prepared Ener-G egg replacer (about 1/3 at a time).

Mix in chocolate chips or peanut butter chips/peanut butter.

Transfer batter to a greased, lightly floured 9x13 glass baking dish. Press down batter evenly with a spatula (or your hands, if you're impatient like me and don't like to look for utensils).

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool for 20 minutes before cutting into bars.

This is the type of dessert I'd take to a gathering of omnis - they're relatively familiar-looking, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who could recognize that these cookie bars don't contain eggs or dairy.




Anyway, that's enough of that. Something else I wanted to bring up...

Maida over at Mission Vegan posted an alternative to fried rice in stir fry dishes - wheat berries! I'm quite intrigued by this idea and - while I haven't tried it myself yet - I thought I'd share. I can't wait to give it a go!

Ok, back to the mad dash of "oh my gods, the weekend is almost over and I've still got a ton of s*** to do!" Yay!

Dal Soup for A Frigid Winter Night

I'm guilty - this blog has been a bit light on recipes lately. I haven't really been trying out new recipes lately, mostly because of myriad other things going on:

• I've been working crazy hours at The Job (TM), getting in early and leaving late pretty much every day.



• My new blog, 6 Figure Blogging Strategies, has been taking up a lot of time... not only with posting, but with coding, setting up ad campaigns, and all of those other "new blog" tasks to minimize my time in the Google sandbox (it's kind of like purgatory for blogs, I hear).



• We've been gearing up for Aria's birthday, which is today (my baby turned 6 today *sniff*).

So in the interest of stalling, I'm recalling a recipe that I originally posted a couple of years ago... but since I made it again today, I thought it would be a good time to share this with my new readers...

This is a highly inauthentic but quite tasty "dal soup" I make at least a few times every winter. It's a spicy, simple dish that works perfectly for those post-holiday winter nights. Comfort food, in my estimation.

Dal Soup

2 tbsp Earth Balance vegan butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red onion, coarsely chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

2 roma tomatoes, diced

1 cup red lentils

2 tsp lemon juice

2 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 1/4 cups coconut milk

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Add Earth Balance butter, garlic, onion, red bell pepper, turmeric, garam masala, cumin, and chili powder to large saucepan. Cook for 30 seconds on medium heat, stirring frequently.

Add tomatoes, lentils, lemon juice, vegetable broth, and coconut milk. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top with chopped cilantro.

Note: I use roma tomatoes because they are a little heartier than other types of tomatoes, and stand up better to long cooking times. Just a personal preference there - other types work fine, they'll just be a little softer.

If you have the time and inclination to make your own naan or poori, either of these breads make a fantastic accompaniment for dal soup. One of these days, I'll get around to posting a recipe (and maybe even a video demonstration) for making these fantastic Indian breads.

ETA: Happy Birthday Aria!

Comment Moderation

Blech. I never thought I'd have to do this... but as of today, I've enabled comment moderation.

It really sucks, because I have such a wonderful and creative group of readers... and up until now, giving you free reign on my blog has gone perfectly. I've learned a great deal from all of you, and I hope you'll keep commenting on my posts.

Just so no one thinks they said something to offend me... here's the comment that forced me to make this decision:

Kevin, on my Low Fat Eggplant Parmagian post:

"For an overall informative review of various pills used by people across the world to treat anxiety, erectile dysfunction, depression as well as to facilitate [link removed], just log in to the website [link removed]. An entry to the pill-care zone would acquaint you with the manifold advantages of FDA approved pills for treating anxiety, erectile dysfunction et al and altogether this website would provide you details on how to opt for those pills as well as the correct procedure of administering these pills to your system."

Well, Kevin, I deleted your comment and removed the links here just to piss you off. But I did keep the link to your profile, just so everyone reading knows what a plinth you are.

For the rest of you, my wonderful readers... please don't be offended by my decision. I'm simply committed to keeping this blog crap-free (well, I guess that's dependent on personal taste. After all, I did run over a pumpkin effigy of Criss Angel).

All right... I've gotten that all out of my system. New recipe coming soon....