Breakfast at Herbivore

tofu scramble at herbivore

Kevin is going to be soooo mad that I went to Herbivore for breakfast this morning while he had to sit in his class. Hey, I had to eat, right? I chose to go to the one on Valencia, since I spent a lot of time in the Mission when I lived here. It was nice to see some familiar landmarks like that big ‘ol prison looking building, the Bombay Market and Munroe Motors where I threw away a lot of money trying to keep my Triumph running.

 It was kind of hard to decide, but I ultimately went with the tofu scramble with spinach, tomatoes and mushrooms. The scramble was nice and moist from the tomatoes, but not soggy. Nutritional yeast was used, but not with a heavy hand, not that that’s a bad thing. And it was crumbled up really tiny. I don’t care, but some people like it chunky better.

The potatoes were partially mashed redskins. It was almost like they used a panini press on the grill to get the creamy & chunky inside and crisp and brown outside effect. They may have been slightly salty, but overall amazing. Although I really can’t tell you why they were yellow.

The toast was a nice artisan bread with lots of holes and a crisp and chewy crust. It came with a jam that was tart and might have been made in house.

Anyway, no real complaints here. Maybe Kevin and I will try the Divisadero location.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, Take 2

Back in November, I tried making the Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls from Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk #2 and while they tasted great, they didn’t rise properly. So I gave them another shot. And they came out perfectly. I was even 1/4 cup short of pumpkin, but just added a splash more of soy milk when the dough seemed too dry. I think last time I used a packet of yeast. This time I just used the bread machine yeast I keep in the fridge. Also, to make sure it indeed had a warm place to rise, I turned on the oven for a minute to 200 degrees F, then turned it back off and put the dough in there. I left the door open until it felt to be a good warm rather than hot temperature and left it in there to do it’s thing. So one of those things, or both, resulted in kick ass cinnamon rolls.pumpkin cinnamon rolls 

A tale of two muffins

What’s better than baking a batch of muffins? Baking two! For the first batch, I modified the Zucchini Muffin recipe from Yellow Rose Recipes to make it carrot and zucchini. Not much of a modification…just reduced the zucchini and added grated carrot. I also skipped the raisins and opted to toast the pecans in a pan before chopping and adding. We’ll call these the healthy muffins. They have a really small amount of oil and are light on the sugar but they’re still sweat enough and don’t at all taste like hippie food. Plus I got to break in the whole nutmeg I picked up at the Indian market. Wow, does that make a difference! I even cut back the amount a bit so it wouldn’t overpower.

carrot zucchini muffins 

And these Hearty Spiced Cocoa Muffins we’ll refer to as pure evil. This might be my first try at a recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking.  The heavy reliance on Ener-G Egg Replacer in the book made me a bit nervous as I don’t like it in everything. In this case I had nothing to worry about. They came out perfect and kick much ass. The cinnamon, cloves and cayenne pepper go so well with the chocolate and the higher than usual amount of salt really makes the chocolate flavor pop. I just stuck with the chocolate chips and did not add any nuts. 

Hearty Spiced Cocoa Muffins 

I think it’s kind of funny that I chose to photograph the “evil” muffins against black and the “good” ones against white. Hmmm… Oh, and my helpful tip of the day, well, and probably of the year because I don’t really hand them out, now do I? How often does a muffin recipe make exactly 12 muffins? Not often, right? I have these little muffin cup sized ceramic ramekins  that I use for mise en place, salsa, etc. They’re also perfect for overflow muffin batter. See above. No wasted batter!

Vegan Brunch

Okay, yeah, it’s been almost a week since the vegan brunch I had at my house, but finally here are some pictures.  Below we have Chocolate Chip Brownie Waffles from Veganomicon, biscuits & yeast gravy, fruit, Indian spiced greens in the crock pot, and sweet rolls. vegan brunch 1 Here the coffee cake on the far side comes into view.vegan brunch And a better look at those sweet rolls, some “sausages” and hiding in the back, Beer Battered Seitan from Yellow Rose Recipes, Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance and whole grain waffles. vegan brunchOh, and this wasn’t all. We also had sweet potato hash browns, a fruit salad, some potatoes maybe and probably more stuff I’m forgetting. Let’s put it this way, this was the only meal I ate this day. So much yummy food!  And since the “chicken” ‘n waffles didn’t really show up well on the table, here it is as blurry leftovers:chicken and waffles  

Mmmm…baked goods

Mmmm…baked goods, originally uploaded by abracapocus.

A lavender choc chip scone and a jumbo peanut butter bar with chocchips from Dolce Vegan picked up at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe, Atlanta, GA

I know the lavender choc chip scone sounds strange, and it might be to you. I’ve always been all about eating flowery foods. Back when I still ate dairy, I loved trying the different flowery flavors at Paolo’s.  This reminds me, I need to hunt down another jar of rose jam. Anyway, I was concerned about the choc chips in this. It didn’t sound quite right. Now that I’ve eaten one, I can say it isn’t totally wrong, but I think something else might be better. I like the idea of pine nuts. Maybe pecans or walnuts. Or don’t add anything. That said, I’d still eat again with the choc chips. 

The jumbo peanut butter bar was moist and yummy. Be warned: you can taste the banana in these so if that will turn you off, don’t get it. As someone who occasionally enjoys a peanut butter and banana sandwich, that didn’t bother me at all. The peanut butter was not super strong tasting. A chocolate ganache might’ve been nice drizzled on the top, but not entirely necessary.