America the beautiful

Despite its amber waves of grain, America has developed an unparalleled love of all things meat. So July 4th was the perfect weekend to welcome us back to omnivorousity. Enter: Nathan's famous Coney Island hot dog eating contest.

We spent Independence Day amidst beach and carnival goers and hundreds and hundreds of hotdogs. A combination of disgust and utter amazement came over me as world-record-holder, Joey Chestnut, devoured 54 Nathan's hotdogs in 10 minutes. This did not come close to beating his former record of 68 dogs, but the fact that this man consumed in 10 minutes more hotdogs than I have possibly consumed in a lifetime was enough impress this watermelon-eating, America-loving girl.

We finished off the evening with friends, fireworks, and a flag-themed fruit tart (recipe below), all the while basking in our freedom to eat anything we wanted.

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Berry America Tart

This just-sweet-enough and refreshing tart is from a recipe I found in Real Simple. I typically make it with only blueberries. For our 4th of July celebration, I added raspberries and strawberries for a slightly corny but delicious flag theme.







Ingredients
Flour (for work surface)
One 8oz sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup blueberries (or about 2 cups if other berries omitted)
3/4 cup strawberries, sliced
3/4 cup raspberries

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375° F. On a lightly floured surface, unfold the sheet of pastry and roll it into a 10-by-12-inch rectangle. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.

2. Score a 1-inch border around the pastry without cutting all the way through. Brush the border with the egg and sprinkle with the granulated sugar. Bake until golden and puffed, 18 to 22 minutes, or following package instructions.

3. Rescore the border of the cooked pastry without cutting all the way through. Gently press down on the center of the pastry sheet to flatten it. Let cool to room temperature.

4. Meanwhile, with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the cream, lemon zest, and 2 tablespoons of the confectioners’ sugar and beat until smooth. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly within the borders of the pastry.

5. Arrange the blueberries, raspberries and strawberries in a single layer over the filling, in any pattern of your choosing, and sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of confectioners’ sugar.

"Buttering" you up with vegan treats

After enjoying a completely vegan sunset on my vegan rooftop last night, I decided to bake some vegan goodies. Brandt and I are going to DC this weekend to see some family, and since we've asked them to accommodate our vegan lifestyle, I thought a gift of tasty treats was in order.

One of the best parts about most vegan baking is that, since it excludes raw eggs, you can take as many tastes of dough as you'd like. Although, the nutritionist in me is inclined to recommend only 1 or 2 to save room for the finished product, which I always also want to taste.

Vegan Coconut Chocolate Bars were what I decided on. I found them online, but altered the recipe, so thought I should share my version.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup whole wheat flour, sifted (you must sift before measuring!)
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (I realized that I accidentally purchased sweetened, so decreased the sugar from this recipe by about 1/8 cup)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons non-dairy milk (don't really need to measure, just add when the time is right)
1/4 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1/4 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (almonds and pecans would be good too!)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, divided

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray an 8 x 8 baking dish with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda and powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine applesauce, oil, sugar, and vanilla.

Add wet mixture to dry and mix until combined. Add non-dairy milk a little at a time until it holds together well.

Fold in coconut (reserving about 3 Tablespoons for the top), chocolate chunks, and walnuts. TASTE :) Press into baking dish and sprinkle over remaining coconut.

Bake for 21-23 minutes. Remove from over, let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting. I cut mine into 25 small pieces. (Then Brandt ate 2).

Oh Mexico...

This weekend seemed to be particularly fiesta themed. After learning on Friday the history behind James Taylor's song, "Mexico," we still found ourselves oddly drawn to a variety of Mexican-themed fare. Friday night we spent the evening at one of Suzy's family's favorite NYC hangouts--the Willy Wall, an undiscovered gem out in the middle of the Hudson River. Our picnic in hand included Mango-Avocado Salsa and a number of other great snacks. We were one-upped by our Willy Wall neighbors who had the ingenuity to bring pizza out to the booze barge (we finished up the night with a slice ourselves...that mozzarella smell is really intoxicating, and will undoubtedly be a temptation for the vegan month of June).

Saturday continued the Mexican-themed festivities with outdoor brunch at Dos Caminos in Meatpacking. As we ate our meals and sipped our complimentary cocktails with our friends, Julie and Basil, the 4 of us planned dinner for the evening, which ended up consisting of shrimp tacos, micheladas, and fat witch brownies--Brandt's favorite is Caramel. All in all, a nice little Saturday (insert witty Spanish phrase here, because I don't know any).

This is how we eat

this is how, this is how, this is how we eat.

In order to lend credibility to this experiment in veganism, we thought it necessary to first document for the whole world to see that we really do in fact love cheese, meat, and many other non-vegan foods. We will do this through a semi-regular Food Log.

In T-22 days, when the vegan adventure begins, you can expect these logs to be a bit shaken. But for now, check out some of the amateur but tasty recipes coming out of our UWS kitchen and our typical daily food choices.