Summer Potluck Season; currently in full swing!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

It's been a whirlwind start to summer & although San Francisco's temperatures are their typically chilly selves, we're still celebrating with all sorts of food & fun! It seems like my social calendar has an Eat-A-Thon scheduled for just about every weekend until the end of time, but I don't mind, it gives me more to share with others!

A few weeks ago, Ryan, Strummer, & myself headed down to sunny Santa Cruz for a PPK potluck hosted by Amey from Vegan Eats & Treats. The weather was perfect & we stuffed ourselves with savories like Empanadas, Stuffed Mushrooms, homemade Bagels, Broccoli Quiche, Spring Rolls, Macaroni Salad, & more! Avocado Key Lime Pie, Rice Krispie Treats, Coffee Cake, & Banana Pudding made up some of the sweets, plus I made a Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cookie Cinnamon Swirl Cake Pie with toasted Marshmallow Meringue. Yes, you read that right. Inspired by Jessie at Cakespy, I made a pie crust, chocolate butterscotch chip cookie dough, & cinnamon swirl cake batter, layered & baked them together, then topped it with Julie Hasson's Marshmallow Meringue from Everyday Dish TV. The most fun of this dish was busting out the kitchen torch & toasting the delicious fluffy topping, yum!

City from New Zealand, aka the NZ Cupcake Queen recently made her way through the United States & we were lucky enough to have her here in San Francisco! We had a great time showing her & husband Chris the sights of the city, but we also had to have a proper American cookout (all vegan, of course), as they were here for the 4th of July! We deemed the day the "Sausage Fest", as we had at least 6 types of veggie dogs & sausages to grill up. Erika made adorable Onigiri with Nori faces, while the rest of us seemed to fill the table with sugary confections from cookies to Lemon Bars. Thanks to Dandies Marshmallows, I was able to make a proper Ambrosia Salad, so the Kiwis could taste the classic potluck dish loved & feared by many!

Speaking of sausages, inspiration struck recently & I decided to make Pretzel Dogs! I started with a homemade seitan hot dog recipe, then made soft pretzel dough. After the dogs were steamed, I wrapped them in the pretzel dough, baked them golden, & boy, was this gluten wrapped gluten delish, ha! I made some classic soft pretzels as well, which were also a hit, & I can see these being a repeat offender in our household.

This weekend a milestone birthday occurred & friends Gina & Adam from the PPK were in town, so of course, an epic celebration with lots of food was in order. Since our friend Nate turned 40, his wife Jen threw the party, which was a surprise for the birthday boy! We had a good potluck assortment with dishes like Quinoa Salad & Pav Bhaji, then also fired up my chocolate fountain with an awesome spread of dippables like fresh fruit, Dandies Vegan Marshmallows, Chocolate Cake Truffles, Pound Cake & pretzels. As if that wasn't enough sweetness, Jen, Jordan, Erika, & I decided to construct the most metal cake around! Chocolate cake & chocolate frosting with oozing strawberry "blood" inside & out, we wrapped the cake in over-the-top marzipan decor & a decapitated groom to honor "40 Years of Brutality"! Not a bad way to celebrate a birthday, eh?!

By the way, voting is winding down for the 2009 Veggie Awards by VegNews Magazine & all votes must be in by July 31st. The Urban Housewife is nominated for "Favorite Blog" & you can win fabulous prizes, just by voting! Get to it already!

Go Max Go Vegan Candy Bars, Millennium's Southern Comfort Dinner, & more Brownies!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

We've all perused the candy aisle at our local store, reading ingredients, only to find most everything is not vegan or filled with questionably sourced items. Well, no more! Go Max Go Foods, a vegan owned & operated company, is aiming to fill your candy void with their four new candy bars in varieties similar to those you may remember! I was lucky enough to get my hand on all four flavors & thought I'd give you a run down of each one.

I started with the Buccaneer, a candy bar in the style of 3 Musketeers. Thick, sweet, nougat covered in a rice-milk chocolate coating, this bar was delicious. While the nougat isn't as fluffy as I remember the non-vegan version being, I was still more than happy to eat this!

Next, I broke open the Twilight, which also contains nougat, but it also has a layer caramel in rice-milk chocolate, ala Milky Way. I loved the caramel in this, as I'm a big fan of anything caramel! Both of the bars were very sweet, so I was able to reign myself in & eat them over a few hours, instead of devouring them in one fell swoop.

I tried the Mahalo, a sweetened coconut candy bar topped in roasted almonds & coated in chocolate, but I'm not the biggest coconut fan & I didn't like Almond Joy bars, so I passed this on to my husband. We both agreed, it tastes like German Chocolate Cake filling, which is his favorite, so he was more than happy to take it off my hands.

Finally, the Jokerz bar was liberated from it's wrapper & headed to my stomach! While I wasn't a huge Snickers fan in my pre-gan days, this one sounded the best to me, hence saving it for last. Roasted peanuts, rich caramel, & peanut nougat in rice milk chocolate? Yes, please! I have heard people say it has too much caramel, but I'm a fiend, so I was thrilled. While I enjoyed all of the Go Max Go Bars, I think this may be the one I find myself craving most.

These fabulous candy bars by Go Max Go are still being added to stores around the nation, so check out the webpage to see if they're sold near you or get over to Food Fight, Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe, or Vegan Essentials to place an order!

Every year, Millennium, San Francisco's vegan fine dining establishment sheds their formal gear & goes country for the Southern Comfort Dinner. I've attended the past two years & this year was another night of fun, food, & friends. This year our table of 9 included friends old & new, including Megan from The Sisters Vegan & Jenna from Vegan Dance Machine.

While some of the table started off with the uber classy bucket of beer, the whole table was treated to a bread assortment from jalapeno corn bread to bacon beer bread with a chive butter, as well as complementary "squished lemonade" & "sun tea".

Next up, a platter of "Branson's Style Nachos Supreme" hit the table with chips piled high with "Cheese Whiz", chorizo, black beans, guacamole, olives, & scrumptious Fried Green Tomatoes! It's funny how a gourmet restaurant can make something so basic taste so good! As we finished our nachos, the "Iceberg Wedgie" arrived. While most people aren't iceberg lettuce fans, this wedge topped with tomatoes, cucumbers, honeydew melon balls, & strangely realistic tofu "egg" crumbles, & house-made 1000 island dressing could tempt just about anyone.

With a selection of entrees to choose from with names like, "Muther Tucker's Oyster Dog" & "Pee Wee Epstein's Shake & Baked Seitan" it was hard to make a decision! I landed on the "Danielle's Hamburger Help Her Sheppard's Pie", which turned out not to be much of a pie, but a small bowl of walnut & mushroom filling with English peas & maitake & morel mushrooms, topped with mashed potatoes. While I was skeptical of the presentation, it was delicious! All dishes came with a side of buttered vegetables, (very strong) bourbon baked black eyed peas, & poppy seed & currant slaw, although none of them really grabbed me.

For our final course, we had a choice of "Muff Cake", something between a muffin & a cake, to take to the DIY (Decorated It Yourself) Bar. While this was similar to last year's Brownie sundae dessert, the toppings bar was lacking in options this year & although our reservation was early in the evening, some options had already run out. Thankfully, the "cherry popping" ice cream was good, as none of us were impressed with much else on the sweets side. That being said, the Southern Comfort is a creative & kitschy yearly event that I always look forward to attending. Look for me next year!

While it seems all I do is travel & dine out, that's not the case! Most of the food I have been making at home is less than inspirational, but I did whip up another batch of brownies, this time for the birthday of my girl Laura B. over at Vegansaurus! Having a few more Dandies Vegan Marshmallows on hand, I decided to use them for Fluffernutter White Chocolate Chunk Brownies! These deep, fudgy brownies with marshmallows, white chocolate chunks, & a peanut butter swirl top were so rich, they were cut in to bite size pieces, a perfect way to keep everyone from sugar overload. They flew off the table fast, so I'm guessing that means they were a hit!

Cookin' with Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Dandies Vegan Marshmallows!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

Cooking with friends is always fun, so when myself & small group of friends received an email asking if we'd like to cook together, I jumped at the chance. Of course, there was another reason to jump at the chance, the email came from a friend who you may also know, one Isa Chandra Moskowitz of the upcoming Vegan Brunch & a host of other vegan cookbooks.


After a last minute change of plans, the dinner ended up being moved to my house & the emails started flying, brainstorming for menu items. A mention of Matzoh Ball Soup & the proximity to Passover generated a menu & a trip to Rainbow Grocery was in order! We all know I love Rainbow, I think I created another Rainbow lover in Isa, as we easily spent plenty of time perusing the aisles, oohing & aahing over beautiful produce, gorgeous mushrooms, & a million types of dried berries. My stowaway & typical shopping partner Strummer also joined us & Isa also took a great photo of her when she was too happy to stay in her bag!

With oodles of ingredients in tow, we made the trek back to my house & the meal preparation began. Red Bell Peppers were roasted & peeled, then added to hummus flecked with Kalamata Olives & served up with Pita Chips. We roasted Root Vegetables & served them over Arugula with tangy Inca Berries mixed in. The Trumpet Mushrooms we spied earlier were brought home & sauteed to be served with grilled Red Endive with Balsamic Vinegar & Walnuts. Jordan & I had our first lesson in Matzoh with both a Cauliflower Leek Kugel & Matzoh Ball Soup being made.

With so many projects being tackled for dinner, we wanted to keep dessert low-key. A package of Dandies Vegan Marshmallows, the new confections from Chicago Soy Dairy, at our fingertips, we dreamt up "Jewish S'mores"! These tasty treats consisted of pieces of Matzoh dipped in Chocolate, topped with Dandies, drizzled with more dark Chocolate, then finished with coarse flakes of Sea Salt! Simple & amazingly delicious! Needless to say, it was a wonderful meal that came together easily considering how last minute everything was. Read about Isa's account of the night at the PPK blog!

As I mentioned, I managed to get my hands on some Dandies Vegan Marshmallows! I'm sure you've heard the hype about these little guys & believe it, they're downright delicious! Marshmallows were a major love of mine before going vegan, so when I tried these air-puffed little gems, I was thrilled with find they're incredibly similar to the marshmallows I remember! It took all my strength not to keep popping them in my mouth & once I roasted them, OH MY, I was a goner.

The first thing I tackled when the Dandies arrived was a small batch of classic Rice Krispies Treats. I used the basic recipe from Kellogg's, veganized, with bulk brown rice cereal from my co-op. They turned out exactly like I remembered them being; gooey, sweet, & delicious! I can imagine these being turned in to so many treats, butterscotch chip filled, chocolate ganache topped, or even a crust for a crazy layered confection! I ended up having to hide the 2nd bag from myself, so I would have enough to make another dessert for the right occasion!

My grandfather recently celebrated a birthday & as usual, I was the designated dessert maker! Remembering his love for Rocky Road, I decided to use the last of the Dandies & make a big batch of Rocky Road Brownies. I doubled my basic recipe & the end result was uber rich, fudgy brownies filled with Chocolate Chips, toasted Walnuts, & Marshmallows! I made sure to put small pieces of Dandies on top, only to find they puffed up high & made awesome gooey bubbles! To serve them, we decided to top them with Vanilla Bean ice cream & drizzle them with Chocolate sauce for an insanely decadent dessert! Seriously, I thought I was going to have to be rolled home & Ryan found his belly aching after he went back for seconds. Over all, Dandies rock my world & I hope all of you can get your hands on them soon!

Well, I'll off to Chicago! I should be back next week & ready to go with a report on vegan dining in Los Angeles. As usual, if you have places you think I should check out or want to meet up, get in touch! While I'm away, check out Veggie Thing, the new place for major vegan food porn by Citysearch! I'm a "Dictator" there along with many awesome friends & bloggers!