The new website is coming along smashingly and we will be up and running with a brand new design and brand new blog in mid-September. Right now, I just wanna grovel for your support at the VegNews awards.
So since Terry and I are listed separately, I’m asking that you vote for Isa Chandra Moskowitz (hey, that’s me!) for favorite cookbook author, and for Terry’s column, Hot Urban Eats, for favorite VegNews column. Thanks! I owe you one!
So basically the story is that I am redoing the website, I just don’t know how long it will take. But that fact makes me not want to update the blog! But I haven’t left you. I post a whole punch (too much?) on the Post Punk Kitchen Facebook page, so please join over there and keep up to date. Then maybe, someday, you’ll come back to the blog and it will be all shiny and new. And life will be good. Until then, let us suffer together on Facebook. Oh, you can follow me and/or Terry on Twitter as well. I am @IsaChandra and Terry is @TerryHope.
The Portland Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti was a smashing success! Over 3K was raised (exact number tomorrow, I’ll let the bank count it), friends were made, community was built and tons of other wonderful things. All told, the vegan bake sales have raised over 25K so far. Hopefully our contributions will help a little bit. I feel grateful to be in a place where I can help, and I hope everyone else does, too. I’ll go to sleep tonight very aware of my place in the world and my duty to the all of the people and animals (and plants!) in it.
Big thanks to:
Monica Cuneo and People’s Co-op for donating such a perfect location. I hope we left it clean enough! Support your local vegetarian co-op, y’all. (I don’t say y’all.)
Mercy Corp! We are so happy to be able to give you guys money to do what you do!
Back To Eden and Dovetail bakeries for donating so generously and happily, and for being generally awesome and community minded (I mean, two vegan bakeries on the same street! Welcome to Portland!)
Kelly Clarke at The Willamette Weekly and Jen McCabe at Oregon Live for helping to get the message beyond all our Facebook friends. (For all other media who did not list it, what is your prob?)
Everyone who volunteered! Kittee, Jess, Kate, Natasha, Jessica (too many Jess’), and god I can’t remember everyone’s names, but you know who you are and you are amazing.
I am off to vacay so don’t expect too much from me this week. Just wanted to get in a quick internet hug and let everyone know how we did. <3<3<3 [|} [|} [|}
Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti - Portland
Sunday January 31st, 2 to 5 pm
People’s Coop, 3029 SE 21 Avenue, upstairs
Check out my dope art skills^
We still need bakers! Use this google document to tell us what you’re bringing.
You can also help by visiting the Yelp! event listing. If you have a Yelp! account, click on “sounds cool” or “I’m in” to keep our event at the top of the listings.
If you’re on Facebook, visit the invite and invite all your friends. Help spread the word!
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Wow, you guys. So far over 10,000 dollars have been raised by vegan bake sales for Haiti nationwide, and that number is sure to multiply next week when sales in Portland, NYC, LA and Minneapolis (and lots of other places) take place. We may not have George Clooney (hey, George! Go vegan!) but we do have chutzpah. And cajones. And moxie. These dollar amounts are providing nice chunks of change to help out those in Haiti who need it. So what I’m trying to say is that I love you.
I’ve learned a lot while helping to organize these sales and from watching other people organize in their cities. As you can see from the Portland shout out above, using the internet to spread the word is crazy helpful. We’ve got google docs for sharing info and Yelp! and Facebook for getting the word out.
Don’t limit yourself to social media, though. Nothing beats good old fashioned pounding the pavement to get the neighborhood involved. Hand out flyers and hang them up on community billboards or in the windows of businesses that say it’s ok (what kind of jerk will say it’s not ok? Jeez, I’ve had a few.) Leave stacks at the supermarket or dry cleaners. Unless Old Miss Withersworth down the street is your Facebook friend, you’re reaching a whole different (and obviously local) audience.
Please let me know if you’ve picked up any tips organizing in your area, and also link to pics of your event. And give us the bottom line, how much did your bake sale earn? Where did you decide to donate?
Some bake sales take months of planning and lots of conference calls and committees and red tape. Well, forget the red tape, we want red velvet! When you need to put together a bake sale fast there’s no other way to do it then just to do it. Sadly in the past few years there have been so many tragedies that called for immediate action. Katrina and the Tsunami both come to mind. And now Haiti.
There are lots of other ways to raise fund and volunteers, but a bake sale has the added benefit of giving us a feeling of community and relieving us of some of the despair we might feel. Falling into a depression helps no one, and even if it seems like our 25 dollars or 250 dollars or 2500 dollars isn’t enough, every bit counts. And you can’t put a price on mental health. Keeping spirits up and letting people know that we care is priceless.
If you don’t already have a group of bake sale ninjas waiting in the wings, ready to spring at any given moment, then the best place to start is the internet. Put a call out on local message boards, facebook and twitter. Email all your friends and family. Even if they aren’t vegan, have ready some vegan recipes for them and help them along the way. It’s for a great cause, hopefully they will be receptive to it. Get a little group of people together to get things started. Once that’s in place, delegate the next steps.
Location: It might be hard to procure a location last minute - especially one that will let you have the bake sale free of charge. But once they know that it’s for a good cause, some places that might be open to it are churches, temples, community centers, libraries, and food co-ops. Public schools are a maybe, but usually there is a lot of bureaucracy that you would be best to avoid. You might also have luck with a local bar. Try not to pick a super sleazy one. A well lit, non-smoking bar that doesn’t have a lot of lushes hanging out 24/7 is a great place for a bakesale. Depending on state laws they will let the under 21 crowd in before 7pm or so, and they do appreciate the crowd a bake sale brings. Cause hey, beers and cupcakes go great together.
If it’s a nice day, you might also opt to have your bake sale outdoors. Again, it depends on the laws and how nice the cops will be. If it’s for a good cause, you probably won’t face harrassment, but use your best judgment. Pick a street with foot traffic where you won’t be to in the way. Maybe in front of a closed store or a school building? Don’t plop down in front of a business unless they’ve said it’s ok. Outside a public park that gets a lot visitors is also a great place.
What to serve: Make everything vegan of course! Make sure nothing is store bought. Cakes, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, sandwich cookies, rice krispie treats, whoopie pies…these are always the first to go. Quick breads and muffins seem like big winners but unless they are covered in chocolate they always seem to be left to the end. Cookies are great to sell in bulk if you’ve got a lot of little ones. Make deals like 7 cookies for 5 dollars, or a dollar each. That way they’ll spend the extra bucks to get 2 “free” cookies. Have cute plastic bags to pack them in. Savory items like tamales or samosas can be a nice surprise. I’ll be putting up a few Bake Sale Greatest Hits recipes in a bit.
How to serve: It’s great if people bring their baked goods already plastic wrapped, but it’s fine if they don’t. The organizers should bring lots of plates and platters to display the baked goods beautifully. Here’s a great tip: Have tiered displays to lead the eye. An interesting display means you’ll bring in more bucks. Have cake stands or organizing trays to create different heights. If you don’t have cake stands, great creative. Place a bowl upside down and a plate on top of that.
Keep things sanitary by using tongs and wax paper to grab the goods. Have napkins available, and plastic bags so that people can take home a lot. Have pie slicers and spatulas as needed. Hopefully participants will bring these things, but as an organizer it’s a good idea to provide them just in case.
Ask people to bring an ingredients list for their goods, but no biggie if they don’t. Bring scrap paper and colored markers to make cute signs. Fashion them together with tape and toothpicks. Table cloths are great if the tables you’re using aren’t the most beautiful.
Have some forks and to go containers in case people want to buy a lot of stuff, and many people are willing to spend 20 bucks if you give them the means to get it all home.
How to get people there: Flier the neighborhood! Use community boards, telephone polls (if it’s not a big legal issue), hand fliers out to people face to face. If you’re doing handouts then print out four fliers on one sheet of paper then cut them (to conserve paper). Contact your local paper and local news, let them know about the event. There is probably a local blog in your area, contact them, too. Hey, contact the mayor’s office and let them know. You never know who will show up! If you can direct them to a blog with more info then that would be awesome. Make sure to create a Facebook page and annoy everyone with invites.
This is what I can think of off the top of my head. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask and if you have anything to add, please chime in! I’ll update this as ideas are added.
As you must know by now, Haiti was struck with a devastating earthquake that has killed tens of thousands of people and caused who only knows how much destruction. It was already a sucky time for Haitians and this is just heartbreaking.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t get over there to volunteer and I don’t like the feeling of being utterly useless and hopeless. This afternoon I put out a call for bake sale volunteers on twitter and facebook and I got a really great response. I’m hoping that we can not only raise money, raise awareness but also remind ourselves of what really matters. Cupcakes! Wait, no…community!
I’m writing this note to have a central place to exchange info and help organize in our areas. Let’s show our support for the people of Haiti and harm no animals in the process.
If you are planning a bake sale, please get in touch here or email me: postpunkkitchen@gmail.com. I will update this list as more info becomes available. If you have other ideas for helping out then let us know!
The list, in no discernible order:
Portland Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sunday January 31st, 2 PM to 5 PM, People’s CoOp upstairs, 3029 Southeast 21st Avenue. There is a Facebook invite for this event here. All proceeds going to Mercy Corps.
NYC Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sunday January 31st, 11:30am to 6:00pm at Moo Shoes, 78 Orchard Street. There is a Facebook invite for this event here. All proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders.
NYC Mini Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Hosted by SuperVegan & Vegan Drinks, Jan. 28, 7pm-9pm Angels & Kings Bar, 500 East 11th Street. Volunteer info at http://supervegan.com/blog/entry.php?id=1402
Omaha Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sunday January 24th, noon to 2Pm at McFosters. There is a Facebook invite for this event here. All proceeds going to Mercy Corps.
LA Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sunday, January 31, 11:00am - 4:00pm, Locali - 5825 Franklin Avenue. There is a Facebook invite for the event here.
Sacramento Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Saturday, January 16, 2010 - 10:00 AM - 3:00PM, R5 Records - 2500 16th Street, Sacramento, CA 95818. Benefiting: Red Cross: Haiti Relief and Development
Sacramento Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti II: Saturday 1/23, 11am to 3pm, Sugar Plum Vegan Cafe 2315 K. Street. All money will go to Food for Life Global–an organization that is bringing vegan meals to those in need in Haiti
Orange County Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sat 1/16 noon- whenever 2814 Newport Blvd, Newport Beach, CA .Contact krislegeek@blogspot.com with any questions or advice!
San Luis Obispo, CA Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: The Central Coast Vegetarian Network is hosting the bake sale on Saturday, 1/30, 10 am to 2 pm, at Vons in San Luis Obispo, 3900 Broad Street. The sale will benefit Partners in Health. It is scheduled as a meetup for members of the CCVN. The facebook invitation is here.
Takoma Park, MD: Sunday Jan 24, 10am-2pm. Takoma Park Farmers Market
Falls Church, VA: Saturday Feb 6, 10:30am-2:30pm, Falls Plaza Giant supermarket
Miami Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Date is set for 1/31, more details to come. Contact kimberly@alaskanstar.com
Minneapolis Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Animal Rights Coalition on Saturday January 30 from 12pm-5pm. 317 W 48th Street. There’s a Facebook invite page for this event here.
Philly Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Saturday 1/16, 11:30AM till the baked goods run out. Siren Records, 25 E State St in Doylestown, Contact jkw1975@gmail.com if you have questions or would like to help out.
Akron Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti: Saturday, January 23rd, 11am to 5pm, Vegiterranean restaurant, contact cwhy1@hotmail.com if you are interested in providing vegan baked goods for the sale. More info here: http://akronbakesaleforhaiti.wordpress.com/
Seattle Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sun 1/31, 2pm to 5pm, Neptune Coffee 8415 Greenwood Ave North. There is a Facebook invite page here.
Ottawa, Ontario Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Saturday, January 30th. Location and time TBA. Still looking for more volunteers - contact keira_zikmanis@hotmail.com
Milwaukee’s Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti: Saturday, January 30, 12-5PM at Riverwest Co-op, 733 E. Clarke St. 100% of all profits will be matched and donated to American Red Cross. Please email or visit veganbakesale.nailedtothenightlife.net with questions, comments, or if you want to lend a hand.
Las Vegas Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Tuesday 1/26, UNLV, 4505 S Maryland Pkwy, 11 AM. Please see the meetup group for planning details and get involved! http://www.meetup.com/vegasveg/calendar/12351580/
Atlanta Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sat 1/30, details TBA, please contac vegananderson@gmail.com to get involved!
Chicago Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sun 1/31 at Greenheart, 1911 W. Division, noon until 5:00. Email marla@veganstreet.com for donating time and/or goodies.
Little Rock (Mostly*) Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sat 2/6 at the White Water Tavern. 2500 West 7th Street. Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/event.php?eid=256204152103&ref=nf *Event is being organized by a vegan and stressing vegan baking but will not turn away not vegan baked goods if they show up. I am listing this anyway because it is a small town that doesn’t have many vegans and hopefully this will be the start of something good!
Denton Texas Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Also a craft sale! Wed 1/27, 9:15 PM, Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, 411 E. Sycamor. Facebook invite here.
Houston Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sun, 1/24 from noon-4pm at Mango’s Veg Cafe. Sponsored by Society of PEACE with proceeds going to benefit both the people and animals of Haiti. For more information on how to get involved, visit: http://www.vegansocietyofpeace.org
Austin Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sunday 1/24, noon-4pm, 10000 Villages 1317 South Congress Avenue. The Facebook invite is here.
New Orleans Vegan Bake Sale For Haiti: Sat, 2/6, 11am - 3pm. Near the Whole Foods on Magazine Street in Uptown. For more information, contact: taylorroyle@gmail.com
Unwrapping a tin foil beet is a lot like unwrapping a present. Well maybe not really because you know exactly what’s going to be in there, but it’s still somehow such an exciting surprise. Roasting brings out the beet’s sweet flavor so they’re like precious rubies in a candy box when ready to eat. I usually do two pounds at a time on a weeknight or Sunday afternoon, and use some of them that evening as a side dish with whatever I’m eating. Then I refrigerate the rest and use them in salads or just for a quick snack throughout the week.
The cooking method and time really varies depending on the size of the beets you’re using. If using small beets, say golf ball size, and they are very fresh, then don’t both to peel. Just slice in half, wrap and roast. And remember to save the beet greens to saute with some olive oil and garlic. But if using those big honkers of a beet that you’re more likely to find come January and February, then it’s a little different. Peel them and then slice top down into segments (like orange slices) that are about 3/4 of an inch thick at their widest. If a beet is especially big, say softball sized, then I sometimes will slice widthwise, too. Then, keeping all the slices together in a neat package, place on tin foil and wrap so that it can easily be unfolded from the top.
Roasting time will vary, but I do at least an hour at 425 F. They’re ready when easily pierced with a fork. Be careful when handling, because there will be a lot of red beet juice just dying to drizzle out and stain your countertops. Although maybe that could look cool.
My current favorite quick treatment for roasted beets: toss with fresh orange juice, toasted sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds. Salt to taste and add a little Sriracha and you’re as good as gold. Or garnets.
There’s another kind of seasonal eating that’s not so much about being environmentally friendly but about emotional connections. Eating pumpkin in August just doesn’t feel right, ditto for strawberries in December. I like how my senses are tied to the time of year; scent and taste seem to hang onto memory in a very specific way that photographs or recollection can not. Think of the way the first breath of spring air sneaks its way into the crevices of your mind, suddenly awaking all the sleepy springs of years gone by.
And so for 11 months of the year, I am basically building up a lust for gingerbread. One bite and suddenly I’m a little girl just the perfect height for ogling all the beautiful cookies in a Brooklyn bakery case. I’m a teenager cutting out of school with my friends and making snow angels in Central Park instead. I’m in my twenties baking up my first pan of gingerbread, and the kitchen smells so warm and cozy it’s as if I had a fireplace, but in reality my apartment doesn’t even have heat. Our taste buds are as close to a time machine as we’re ever going to get.
All season I sneak gingerbread into pretty much everything; lattes, waffles, cookies of course and these muffins. They are low enough in fat and sugar to be vaguely appropriate as a breakfast, but still sweet enough to feel like a special wintery treat. Note that this is a recipe for only 6 muffins, I do so much baking all month that if I’m baking for myself I do smaller batches. Feel free to double the recipe if you like! If you’re looking for a more healthy tasting muffin, do the whole wheat pastry flour. Flax not only adds a healthy touch, but it also works to bind a leaven the muffins, making them nice and fluffy. If you’re looking for something more traditional tasting, do the all purpose white flour.
Gingerbread Flax Muffins Makes 6 muffins 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (or your preferred non-dairy milk)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1 1/4 whole wheat pastry flour or all purp flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup light molasses
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.
First measure out the milk. Mix the apple cider and ground flax seed directly into the measuring cup and stir vigorously with a fork for about a minute. That helps to bring out the oils of the flax seeds while the vinegar thickens and curdles the milk. Both of those things will help the muffin to rise.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt.
Make a well in the center and add the milk mixture. Add in the oil, applesauce, molasses, sugar and vanilla. Use a wooden spoon to mix ingredients together until everything is just moistened. Don’t overmix, it’s okay if the batter is a little lumpy, muffins like that.
Fill muffin tins most of the way full. Bake for about 22 minutes, until tops are puffed up and firm and a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
When cool enough to handle, transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Did your childhood Thanksgiving come out of cans and boxes? And do you kinda sorta maybe just a little wittle bit miss it? That quivering cylinder of cranberry sauce, those salt spiked cubes of stuffing that came to life with a bit of water (or magic) and, my absolute favorite, I could eat it by the trough - the Greenbean Mushroom Casserole.
Now this was the real fake cooking, it had like three whole steps or something. Can of cream of mushroom soup, bag of frozen greenbeans, and if you could hold off on eating them, a tin of prefried onions.
There are plenty of Thanksgiving menus going around and maybe yours is already planned, but perhaps you can squeeze this baby in? It is a must for my table, all that creamy savory flavor and onion-y crunch. My version has a few real ingredients, but don’t let that fool you, it’s still as embarrassingly good as its predecessor.
Oh, and before I leave you, our Etsy shop is up and running with the comfiest tshirts in the world! New handmade aprons will be up soon, too.
Greenbean Mushroom Casserole
This recipe is pretty flexible in terms of what kind of dish to use. My favorite is this 10×10 casserole I have, but if you don’t have that size, I’ve done it in an 11×13 pan and it was fine, just a little thinner. You can also double it for deeper casseroles. You’ll see that two of the ingredients are optional. I’ve done this with nutritional yeast and broth powder, and without. Those optional ingredients definitely add flavor, but you don’t miss ‘em too much if they’re not around.
4 cups green beans (1 lb), fresh or frozen (ends chopped if fresh)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups sliced mushrooms
4 cups creamy mushroom soup (one box)*
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
2 tablespoons vegetable broth powder (optional, Frontier brand is my fave)
6 oz can of fried onions, divided*
Bring a pot of water to boil for the green beans. When ready, boil for about 7 minutes then drain.
Meanwhile, in a large pan over medium-high heat, saute onions in olive oil for about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute for 7 minutes more.
Mix the flour into the mushroom soup until very few lumps are left. Add to the pan along with the salt, peppers, and, if using, the nutritional yeast and vegetable broth powder. Stir often for about 10 minutes, until thickened.
Preheat oven to 375. Add the green beans to the pan and use your spatula chop them up a bit into smaller pieces (roughly in half). Mix in half of the fried onions. Transfer to an oiled casserole and top with the remaining onions. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until browned and bubbly. For yummiest results, let cool for at least 1/2 an hour before serving.
*A few words about finding vegan ingredients. The box of creamy mushroom soup is made by Imagine, and I believe they may have more than one vegan version. I remember a non-portobello one, but this year I couldn’t find it. But this is definitely vegan, for reference. Your Whole Foods will have it, but I bet it’s in well stocked groceries as well. As for the fried onions, French’s, the most popular brand, has Propylene Glycol, which seems to be questionably vegan and is, in any case, one of the main ingredients in under arm deodorant. Does that make you hungry? Probably not. Look for organic ones in your friendly neighborhood health food store. Here’s one brand from Holland, for reference. Last year Food Fight was carrying some good ones. But I had no problem finding them at a normalish grocery store in Portland.
Edited to add: Apparently Trader Joes is a source for healthier onions, too!
