And the consumer becomes the consumed!

It’s October 31st, folks! You know what that means: Halloween and the end of VeganMoFo. Thirty-one days, thirty-one posts. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted….and totally looking forward to VeganMoFo IV!

The Mr. and I will spend the day taking in an orgy of Halloween horror movies and vegan junk food, so I don’t have enough time to put together a cohesive post. But that’s okay, because hopefully you don’t have time to read a cohesive post.

On the schedule for today, movie-wise, is:

- The Alphabet Killer (2008)

The Alphabet Killer is based on the double initial killings in Rochester, New York in the early 1970s. Eliza Dusku stars as Megan Paige, a police officer who is highly committed to the job. She develops schizophrenia, lasting for more than six months, and includes one month of active symptoms such as illusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior. Megan’s obsession leads her to a breakdown and a violent episode which lands her in the hospital. She eventually loses her fiance, Kenneth (Cary), and her job. Two years later Megan is back working as an advisor, but her more or less normal life goes to hell again when another murder is called in. Her fire rekindled, Megan sets out to find the killer, and this time she plans to get the job done, with or without the department’s assistance.

Fairly B-grade stuff, but it’s set in my hometown, so it’s a no-brainer. Still waiting on the Arthur Shawcross Lifetime movie-of-the-week.

- Ginger Snaps (2000)

Is becoming a woman analogous, in some deep psychological way, to becoming a werewolf? Ginger is 16, edgy, tough, and, with her younger sister, into staging and photographing scenes of death. They’ve made a pact about dying together. In early October, on the night she has her first period, which is also the night of a full moon, a werewolf bites Ginger. Within a few days, some serious changes happen to her body and her temperament. Her sister Brigitte, 15, tries to find a cure with the help of Sam, a local doper. As Brigitte races against the clock, Halloween and another full moon approach, Ginger gets scarier, and it isn’t just local dogs that begin to die.

Feminist horror: yes, please! (See also: Teeth. No, seriously, go watch it. Now!)

- Quarantine (2008)

Television reporter Angela Vidal and her cameraman are assigned to spend the night shift with a Los Angeles Fire Station. After a routine 911 call takes them to a small apartment building, they find police officers already on the scene in response to blood curdling screams coming from one of the apartment units. They soon learn that a woman living in the building has been infected by something unknown. After a few of the residents are viciously attacked, they try to escape with the news crew in tow, only to find that the CDC has quarantined the building. Phones, internet, televisions and cell phone access have been cut-off, and officials are not relaying information to those locked inside. When the quarantine is finally lifted, the only evidence of what took place is the news crew’s videotape.

There had better be zombies!

- Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)

On the surface, Saya is a stunning 16-year-old, but that youthful exterior hides the tormented soul of a 400-year-old “halfling.” Born to a human father and a vampire mother, she has for centuries been a loner obsessed with using her samurai skills to rid the world of vampires, all the while knowing that she herself can survive only on blood like those she hunts. When she is sent onto an American military base in Tokyo by the clandestine organization she works for, Saya immediately senses that this may be her opportunity to finally destroy Onigen, the evil patriarch of all vampires. Using her superhman strength and her sword, she begins to rid the base of its evil infestation in a series of spectacular and elaborate showdowns. However, it is not until she forms her first human friendship in centuries with the young daughter of the base’s general that Saya learns of her greatest power over Onigen may well be her ability for human connection…

Vampires and swordplay – how can you go wrong?

- Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)

The prequel story traces the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor, the cruel vampire king who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja, in his battle against the Vampire army and his struggle for Lycan freedom.

Okay, so Underworld: Evolution sucked, but the third installment looks to be a do-over (read: prequel), so hopefully they’ll recapture the awesomeness of 2003’s Underworld. And while I’ll miss Kate Beckinsale terribly, Rhona Mitra kicks some serious ass, too.

- Mary Reilly (1996)

Mary Reilly is a lonely servant in the home of Dr Henry Jekyll, devoted to her position and her master. Slowly, a gradual friendship between Mary and the doctor begins as well as a growing attraction. However, Mary’s quiet presence is thrown upside down when she meets Henry Jekyll’s assistant, the handsome but enigmatic Edward Hyde. Although initially repelled, Mary soon finds herself drawn towards his passionate nature. But Edward Hyde is not all he seems…

A thriller with a female lead! As a feminist horror aficionado, I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I’ve never seen this film.

Possibly we won’t be able to fit them all in today, but that’s cool; there’s always next weekend. Of course, I’ll be watching with notebook in hand, so I can enter these flicks in The Bechdel Test Movie List.

If the list looks light on zombies, it is – I think we’ve already watched every zombie movie out there. Speaking of which, do yourself a favor and go see Zombieland this weekend. Zombies, vegan Twinkies and a 50/50 male/female cast – what else might a flick need?

As for eats, we’ve got:

- Vegan pizza!

- Leftover pasta – just a simple linguine in red sauce – from last night. (Hey, you don’t want to have to do too much cooking during a movie marathon, am I right?)

- Black bean brownies and green tea cupcakes, which I made during yesterday’s VeganMoFo penance spree.

- Freshly popped, movie theater quality popcorn!

- Go Max Go bars (even though VeganMoFo has come and gone, I still plan on reviewing these, swear!).

- Dandies! (Great for snacking.)

- Homemade ice cream!

- Generic (read: vegan) Chex Mix, Veggie Stix, and Kettle Chips Salt & Vinegar potato chips – with Onion/Tofutti Sour Cream dip, natch.

Not for eating, but also on the menu, are five festive doggies:

Okay, okay, you got me; these are all photos from Halloweens past. The weather has been very dreary this month, so I haven’t been able to take many costumed photos of the dogs.

Sadly, this is the best I could do (top to bottom, as always, are: Ralphie, Peedee, O-Ren, Kaylee and Jayne):

I will totally make up for it this FSMas. (Cue evil laugh.)

While we’re on the subject (well, in that area of the house), check out this adorable button Warrior Two gifted me!

Total cuteness. Don’t worry, my flying spaghetti monsters are all vegan. They love…soy balls!

Of course, no vegan Halloween post would be complete without mention of the Vegan Zombie Food Pyramid!

This piece of VeganMoFo/Halloween awesomeness is based on the Zombie Food Pyramid:

Which in turn is based on the old school USDA Food Guide Pyramid. (Yawn. Boring. Meat and dairy, no want.)

(Via Ida, who tweeted me the link in response to “my” GRAAAAAAINS! joke.)

And that’s it for me. Barring any unforeseen yard work, I’ll talk to y’all tomorrow, which is World Vegan Day (the celebrations, they never end!). Please join me in sharing your vegan “a-ha!” moment, if you’ve a chance.

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Opening photo via Flickr user biblicone.

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Since VeganMoFo is coming to a close, I decided to spend the afternoon experimenting with two recipes I’ve been meaning to try, namely, Green Tea Cupcakes and Black Bean Brownies. You may recall that I vowed to try the former at the beginning of the month – and what kind of VeganMoFo’er would I be if I broke that one teensy-weeny little promise?

(Actually, funny story. When making the black bean brownies, I spent five+ minutes trying to coax the cover of the food processor to lock into place. Turns out I had it on backwards the whole time. But wait! That’s not all! Later on, I set the oven timer to what I thought was 30 minutes. It went off 30 seconds later. Oy. Turns out I’m not much of a MoFo’er after all!)

First up: Green Tea Cupcakes with Matcha Glaze from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. Two words: Fucking. Awesome. Seriously, these things rock. Assuming you like green tea, which I totally do.

The Matcha Glaze is kinda funky; before looking the recipe over, I thought the frosting would be a variation of Isa’s iconic vegan buttercream concoction, but as the name implies, it’s really a glaze. It’s different, but nicely so. Also a bit of a relief, because the sugar-heavy buttercream tends to give me a sugar headache. (Any tips for reducing the sugar content? Should I just add more shortening/less sugar? Anyone?)

Matcha is on the expensive side, but most recipes don’t call for all that much. I originally purchased a small box to try out in the Green Tea recipe from Wheeler del Torro’s The Vegan Scoop (also awesome, btw); now, methinks it’ll remain a pantry regular.

The Black Bean Brownies, which I’m saving for tomorrow’s traditional Halloween horror movie marathon, were making the vegan blog round back in May. (Trendy, I am not.) This recipe is from Happy Herbivore; as usual, I substituted vegan marshmallows (Sweet & Sara) for the walnuts.

Hint: do not try to chop chilled Sweet & Saras in a food processor. Not only will you fail, you’ll also shake the bowl off its base. I shit you not.

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Though I hope to eventually pen a piece about canine nutrition vis-à-vis veganism and vegetarianism, this isn’t it! Since I don’t have much time for background research, and don’t want to half-ass it, I’ll have to save that topic for another time. Instead of convincing you to feed your dog-kids a vegan or vegetarian diet – assuming you have dog-kids, that is – this VeganMoFo post is all about feeding your dog-kids a vegan diet (or foodstuffs), frugally.

Granted, commercial vegan and vegetarian dog foods are more expensive than their non-veg counterparts, and feeding your dog-kids a diet consisting solely of homemade food requires enough expertise that I don’t recommend it. Or rather, I can’t advise you on how to do it. You see, even though I occasionally feature recipes for homemade dog food, I primarily feed my kids commercial kibble: ’twas Nature’s Recipe Vegetarian formula for awhile, but we recently switched to V-Dog. Though it’s a little more expensive, it’s also confirmed vegan (DelMonte never would respond to my inquiries). The homemade goodies are more of a “topping,” if you will, to add a little variety to their meals. So all in all, we do spend a pretty penny on dog food in the Garbato-Brady household, homemade goodies notwithstanding.

Luckily, there are other ways to cut costs:

- Make your own dog treats. As with vegan dog food, vegan dog treats can be a little pricey, so you can save some cash by baking treats yourself. In contrast to food, which must meet your dog-kid’s nutritional requirements, treats are extras, so diy is just fine! Just go easy on the fat, salt, sugar and calories, mkay? Also, always check and double-check the ingredients to confirm that they aren’t harmful to canines.

Dogs also tend to be less discriminating eaters than people (well, me), so experiment with abandon, and don’t be afraid to substitute in less expensive ingredients when necessary. Chances are, your kids will enjoy whatever you create. Plus, is there anything cooler than giving your dog-kid a treat you baked especially for her, with nothing but love? (And an oven!)

For treat ideas, check out It’s A Vegan Dog’s Life, Yummy for Dogs and the Innocent Primate Vegan Blog, for starters.

The obvious downside to baking your own biscuits is that they don’t keep as well as the store-bought stuff, so it’s a little harder to keep some on hand at all times (you never know when you’ll need to entice your dog-kid away from a found animal corpse, am I right?). However, this brings us to the next tip:

- Fresh, raw, dehydrated and dried fruits and vegetables make great treats, too! With a few exceptions, your dog-kids can eat many of the same foods as you. (Although, again, you shouldn’t rely too heavily on table scraps, particularly salty, fatty and sugary foods, and always stay away from foods that are harmful to canines.)

Come breakfast time, my dog-kids are all ears, waiting for me to crack the cabinet in which the dried cherries, blueberries and cranberries are stored. Even though I’m readying breakfast for myself, they know I’m a sucker for a furry face (or five). Before I’ve even set the bags on the countertop, I’m surrounded. Blueberries for everyone!

Likewise, I never chop or dice fresh fruits and veggies solo; there’s always at least one dog, hovering, waiting for a carrot or potato cube to fall to the floor. Carrots are a popular snack, and one I hand out at will, as they’re neither expensive nor unhealthy. Raw tofu is a big hit, too, as is popcorn.

Last but not least, frozen and partially thawed fruit makes a refreshing snack during the hot, humid summer months.

- Forget about the pig ears. Before I switched him to a vegetarian diet, our first-born dog kid, Ralphie, absolutely loved rawhide treats. He’d spend hours gnawing on them and then spend another hour transferring his prize from hiding place to hiding place. Once he “went veg,” bye bye rawhides. (Cue the tiny violin; once we introduced Peedee to the family, the hidden rawhides probably would have caused too many battles to keep around anyhow.)

While there are a few brands of vegetarian “pig ears” and plant-based rawhides available, in my experience, they don’t hold up to rough chewing nearly long enough to justify their expense. As a substitute, we’ve switched to rubber Kongs. Most varieties of Kong have little nooks and crannies in which to hide treats – biscuits, chews, even nut butters such as peanut, soy, almond, cashew, etc. (these work best, IMHO, but they can be very messy and thus are best enjoyed outside).

In addition to providing hours of entertainment, stuffed Kongs help to clean dogs’ teeth. Rennie is our most voracious chewer – and she has the purtiest teefies!

Kongs are sturdy, but not indestructible, so always supervise your dog-kid and replace damaged toys immediately.

Kong is our brand of choice, but there are a number of “rip-offs” on the market. Before ordering multiples of any one toy, take one for a test run to ensure that you dog-kid likes it. Rennie, for instance, will only play with Kong rubber toys. You can see how many testers we bought before giving up!

Also, shop around – the prices of identical toys vary widely, depending on the vendor. I’ve had good luck at Amazon as well as wholesale websites, such as Pet Blvd.

Got more frugal vegan dog food ideas? Do share!

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Though I’ve been focusing on healthy, frugal vegan foods this month, I have a confession to make: I’m a pizza addict. The Mr. and I have pizza for dinner several times a week. And it’s not exactly the healthy, low-fat, veggie-loaded, cheeseless kind – not even close!

Usually, we make these cute lil’ mini-/personal pizzas using pita bread as the base, but every few weeks or so, we go all out and make large pizzas from scratch.

Okay, well, not totally from scratch: the dough is fresh, but the sauce is canned, as are the black olives. I guess you could say that the faux pepperoni and soy cheese are made from scratch, just not by us (our artisans of choice are Lightlife and Follow Your Heart, respectively). The sundried tomatoes may or may not be homegrown and homemade (read: dried); while I still have a batch from 2008 stashed in the freezer, our garden was a huge fail this year, and we’ll probably deplete our stores by the end of November. But it’s too painful a subject to discuss quite yet. Sigh.

Anyhow, the pita pizzas make for a quick and convenient meal; not only does the pita bread allow you to forgo the dough-making step, but the pita is also small enough that the pizzas are edible as-is, no cutting required. The larger pizzas are another story.

While fresh-made dough requires some planning ahead, it’s more time-consuming than difficult. Rather, we’ve found ourselves plagued by a problem of a different sort: namely, slicing the layer of thick, gooey vegan cheese and through the crispy crust underneath. Though I’ve never had dairy-based cheese (I’m allergic to milk, making the transition to veganism that much easier), Shane swears that pizzas with vegan cheese are infinitely harder to cut than their non-vegan counterparts. For a while I assumed that the problem lay in our cheap-ass cutlery, but we always manage to make a mess of our pizza toppings, no matter the sharpness (or dullness) of the knives used. We even tried a few of those charming little pizza-cutters-on-a-wheel, with little luck.

About twelve months ago, Shane started going on about an idea he had for “the perfect pizza cutter.” I rolled my eyes not a few times, especially since he was going through this Billy Mays* / Anthony Sullivan fascination phase. But he kept on with it, contacting local metallurgists and welders in his spare time. I more or less humored him, thinking that it would be so insanely expensive to commission a custom-made piece from a professional that the idea wouldn’t go anywhere. And a few metalworkers did give crazy high quotes – we’re talking $500 and up (thanks, but no thanks). Still he persisted, and got in touch with a welder – with experience in kitchen utensil development, to boot! – who was willing to do the job for fee low enough that I couldn’t say no.

And so the Perfect Pizza Press was born!

I have to hand it to him: he came up with a really kickass idea.

The basic premise is this: you start by rolling your dough out onto the stone (or pan) as usual, cover the dough with sauce, and then – before adding any additional toppings – press the pizza cutter down into the dough.

(The plan was for the prototype to fit our pizza stone precisely – though, true to form, Shane managed to get the measurement wrong. The original Pizza Press is about 1.5″ too big in diameter for our pizza stone, but luckily it’s still usable.)

From there, you sprinkle on whatever toppings strike yer fancy – Daiya cheese, broccoli, grilled tofu, tempeh, pineapples, chocolate sprinkles, you get the idea – and then bake as you would normally, Pizza Press and all.

Once the pizza is done baking and has cooled a little, simply lift the Pizza Press up, and the individual slices stay put. The Pizza Press prototype is constructed of stainless steel; though some of cheese stuck to the metal the first time around, once you “season” the metal, this becomes a non-issue.

While we’d hoped that the Pizza Press would simply relieve us of our cutting problem, we also discovered two unexpected benefits:

1 – Because the metal isolates each slice from the next, you can add different toppings to each slice without worrying about “contaminating” the adjacent slices. Say, for example, you like Lightlife pepperoni (me!), while your partner prefers Lightlife sausage (Shane!). No worries! Everyone gets the topping of her choice with the Perfect Pizza Press, no picking necessary. This is especially useful for mixed households, wherein you’ve an omni and a vegan tussling over cheeses. (Though, to be honest, I’d probably strongarm my partner into eating vegan, at least in my presence and at this stage in my life. Fortunately, this isn’t the case, as Shane’s a willing vegan, thank Dog.)

2 – If you like your crust crispy – and wtf doesn’t!? – the stainless steel effectively bakes the edges of each slice, for added crispycrunchygoodness.

Really, my only complaint is that the Pizza Press is too damn big to fit in our dishwasher. Well, that’s not 100% accurate; it’s too big to fit in our dishwasher, given that a) we only run it once a day and b) the top shelf, where it would fit, is dominated by dog food bowls. Also, our prototype isn’t flawless – since it’s a prototype and all – and the metal is a little uneven, so that it doesn’t rest flush with a flat surface. Thus, there are a few places where the dough’s not completely sliced through, necessitating a little extra cutting. Of course, this is a rather easy problem to solve through professional/mass production.

Ah, mass production! You may have inferred through my continued use of a product name that this is something we’re thinking about selling. And we are, sort of. Meaning we’re still in the early stages of research and development, trying to figure out if this is even remotely feasible.

Once we received the prototype and saw that the idea was solid, Shane did a patent search. (He’d already searched online for similar products for sale, with no results; initially, we’d hoped to just buy a pizza press from someone else!) The closest ideas, while kind of similar in shape (round and spoke-like), all involve cutting into the pizza after it’s been baked, necessitating in costly, high-maintenance blades. Naturally, this also increases the cost of the item exponentially: similar, post-bake pizza cutters retail at $300 and up. An industrial model, for all you Food Network types, will cost you $1400 plus. In contrast, we paid a mere $75 for a custom-made piece. Even at the premium price (because costs should only decrease with batch production, right?), we’ve come out ahead of the competition!

Anyhow, the next step is meeting with local manufacturers to get an idea of how much they’d charge per unit. We also need to factor in other costs and tasks, including designing and building a website; creating a company logo; writing up product instructions and/or brochures, complete with “DO NOT EVER TOUCH THE PERFECT PIZZA PRESS WHILE HOT!!!1!” legalese warnings; hiring an accountant and lawyer; incorporating a business; setting up an online checkout process; etc., etc., etc. There’s so much to consider, it makes my head ache to think about it for too long.

We’ve also been thinking about fun, vegan stuff. Though this isn’t a specifically vegan product – as in, omni’s can get just as much use out of it – it is vegan, barring any weird, unforeseen animal byproducts that might be used in the manufacturing process. Of course, this is something we plan to grill potential manufacturers about, as is the overall “greenness” of their facilities. And then there’s product packaging; recycled cardboard, yes please!

This could also be an awesome opportunity for some undercover guerrilla vegan activism. For example, we thought it might be cool to package the Press with a booklet chock full of pizza recipes – all vegan, natch. Throw in some coupons from vegan manufacturers, particularly those that offer potential pizza toppings – Lightlife, Yves, Tofutti, Butler, Follow Your Heart, Daiya, et al. – and we might even convert a few cheese addicts!

Of course, there’s also the question of how much we should emphasize “the vegan angle.” Too much, and the activism isn’t so guerrilla anymore; but too little doesn’t work either, as I’m not willing to compromise (or even hide) my beliefs.

Last but not least, we would loveloveLOVE to use this as a way to raise money and awareness for vegan organizations. We hope to donate a percentage of the profits to a vegan non-profit – and when I say “vegan,” I mean vegan. No HSUS welfare crap here! (Oh Tofurky, why must you break my heart so?) I’d love to feature a different animal sanctuary or advocacy group every month – there are way too many kickass groups to choose just one!

But I’m getting miles ahead of myself! Amidst our brainstorming, Shane and I have been trying to keep the excitement level to a minimum, lest things not work out and our souls get crushed under the weight of bitter disappointment. I kid, I kid. Even if the idea doesn’t go anywhere, we still got what we came for: The Perfect Pizza Press. Two of them, actually: the welder who made our prototype so enjoyed the challenge that he made a second one, on the house, in his downtime and using spare pieces of metal left over from other projects. How vegan is that?

Now that I’ve blathered on for 1600+ words, the least I can do is ask you to tell me a bit about yourself. What does your perfect (vegan) pizza look like?

Photo via Flickr user Christaface; more vegan pizza porn here. Try not to yum in your pants, mkay?

* RIP BILLY! (And yes, I’m yelling, because Billy would totally appreciate that!)

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Okay, so this might seem like a rather obvious tip, but it’s been a long, exhausting day, and I just have to do this one last thing before I can retire to bed with a pint of Purely Decadent and the remote control. I will have a perfect VeganMoFo III record, dammit!

So, where were we? Ingredient prep. When you purchase ingredients that have been prepared beforehand – for example, lettuce that’s already been shredded, pre-mixed spices, growth-stunted carrots, etc. – you’re paying not just for the price of the food, but also for the additional handling and processing, as well as the added convenience to you, the consumer. Sometimes the cost is negligible; other times, the markup can be significant. By purchasing raw, unprocessed ingredients and preparing them yourself, you can save a little extra money every week. Time spent in the kitchen translates to cash in the wallet.

For example:

- Baby carrots usually cost more per pound than full-sized carrots. Whereas you have to peel, wash and slice large carrots, baby carrots just require a quick bath in the kitchen sink before they’re ready to eat. Luckily, peeling carrots: not that hard. Just invest $5 in an ergonomic peeler, and you’re good to go.

- A whole head of lettuce is cheaper than bags of shredded lettuce or pre-made salad. Again, lettuce isn’t that hard to prepare for use. However, unless you’re able to consume a whole head before it goes bad, bagged lettuce might prove less expensive in the long run. On the downside: all that wasted packaging.

- Corn that has been pre-husked and tethered in plastic to a Styrofoam board: just don’t do it. Seriously, no.

- Spice mixes are sometimes (but not always) marked up more than the cost of their individual spices. Before you buy a seasoning blend, ask yourself if it’s something you could make on your own. The most egregious example of this I’ve seen is a newer phenomenon: cinnamon and sugar packaged together in a blend. I bet I could teach my smartest dog-kid to combine 1 part cinnamon with 1 part sugar in a small tupperware container and shake ’til mixed. Hell, I do it in a half-groggy morning stupor once every few weeks – and I don’t function well before 10 AM.

- Ditto: fruit and nut mixes. Take, for example, Wal-Mart’s store brand bags of dried mixed berries: they’re mostly cranberries, with a few cherries and blueberries sprinkled in – but the mixed berry blend costs 50% more than a bag of straight cranberries. Welch’s pulls the same stunt with its mixed dried fruit (70% raisins; some are golden, but still!), as does Planters et al. with their nut blends. Most of the time, the least expensive ingredients are overrepresented in blends, yet the price charged to consumers reflects the higher-end components. You can save not a little money by purchasing the ingredients separately and creating your own fruit and/or nut blend. Added bonus: no picking out raisins or Macadamia nuts!

- Also, try to stay away from pre-packaged, pre-prepared salads, fruit or otherwise. We’re kind of straying into the “make it from scratch” area here (a topic I’ll be addressing separately), but you can also save money (and again, packaging) by purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables separately and then preparing and mixing them into salads yourself. The fruit salad in your grocer’s cooler section has a shelf life inversely proportional to its retail markup. And all that plastic, oy vey!

Probably there are dozens more examples of this, but I think you get the idea.

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Photo via Flickr user Chris Daniel; the revelation of baby carrots’ homosexual agenda via Stephen Colbert.

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Green Giant Steamers, I can’t believe this is the last week of October – and of VeganMoFo 2009! It’s been rather exhausting, this daily blogging, and yet I feel like I’m just getting started – there’s so much more to say! It’s all good, though; since I’m vegan 365 days a year (366 in 2012), I can get my VeganMoFo on whenever, wherever, with whomever I want. (Um, just don’t tell Shane I said that.)

Anyhow, for our very last Monday Mashup of the month, I decided to go with a frugal vegan theme. All of these dishes are made with relatively inexpensive, readily available ingredients. You name it, we’ve got it: veggies, fruits, pasta, grains, beans, tofu, pancakes, cookies, pie, breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner and dessert – represent! Veganism: truthy, yes; inconvenient, not so much.

Now if you’ll excuse me, those twice-baked potatoes are calling my name…

Photos, top to bottom, left to right:

1. #15 : tomato salad
2. warm lemon corn pancakes
3. garlic green beans
4. Raw vegan granola bars
5. vegan chewy chocolate-raspberry cookies
6. Twice Baked Potatoes
7. Cinnamon Peach Pie À La Mode
8. grilled veggies
9. fried rice,
10. mushroom, leek and white bean pie | pastel de champiñones, puerro y judías blancas
11. Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili
12. Vegan Veggie Pizza
13. Tomato and Cannellini Bean Soup
14. Linguini Primavera
15. scrambled tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance
16. Vegan Chcoolate Quinoa Pudding

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Ozzy is not amused by all this talk of pumpkin-flavored dog food.

The dogs finished off their last batch of homemade food yesterday, so I had to throw something together in a hurry. I decided to try a seasonal Halloween version of the “Have-a-Hearty Hound Loaf,” which basically consists of a base of mashed tofu and/or beans, dressed up with various goodies (Italian Tofu Styley, anyone?).

This time around, I mixed mashed tofu with pureed pumpkin, black beans, ginger, cinnamon, dried apples and cranberries, and a bit o’ carob chips to give the loaf an orange/candied feel. My initial instinct was to use a sweet potato puree in place of the pumpkin, but little Miss Rennie doesn’t seem to care for sweet potatoes, so I decided against it. (I made a sweet potato soup/gravy for them a few weeks back, and she so disliked it that I had to make an extra dish of mixed veggies and beans just for her. Hmph!) But you can sub in sweet potatoes if you’d rather.

Also, I was running a little low on pumpkin puree; I thought about mixing in some rolled or quick oats, but didn’t want to dilute the pumpkin flavor too much, so decided against it. Add extra pumpkin and oats if you’ve got ‘em – don’t be shy!

This dish is meant for the dogs, but you can probably play around with the seasonings and spice it up to your own liking. The finished loaf holds up well, retaining its shape and integrity, even though the center is rather moist and crumbly. The dogs sure like it, and as an added bonus, it gives off a very autumnal odor that will linger for hours – until well after you’ve cleaned the dishes and stashed the leftovers in the fridge.

Have a Pumpkin (Not a Cow!) Loaf

Ingredients

3 14 to 16 ounce bricks of tofu
30 ounces pumpkin puree (buy the canned variety, sans spices – or make your own!)
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
15 ounces canned black beans
6 ounces dried cranberries (optional: use fresh cranberries instead)
1 cup dried apples (optional: use one fresh apple, diced, instead)
1/3 cup carob chips (note: NOT chocolate chips!)
1/3 to 1 cup pumpkin seeds

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Drain the individual bricks of tofu and place in a large mixing bowl. Wish a hand masher, mix and mash the tofu until it’s relatively crumbly. A few intact, medium-sized cubes of tofu are okay.

3. Add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon and ginger to the mashed tofu and mix well. Add extra pumpkin and spices to taste.

4. Drain and rinse the black beans and add them, along with the cranberries, apples and carob chips, to the tofu/pumpkin base. Mix well.

5. Lightly grease a glass baking pan. Transfer the tofu/pumpkin mix to the pan, packing it in and evening out the top with your spoon. Garnish with pumpkin seeds.

6. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. At the 30 minute mark, remove the cover and bake for another 30 to 45 minutes.

7. Serve warm, and be prepared for sloppy, gingery doggy kisses for the rest of the night!

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Freecycle ™ is a network of local groups (primarily hosted on Yahoo, though the renegade/breakaway chapters aren’t necessarily) that allow members to request items they need, and offer items that they need to get rid of. It’s much like Craigslist, with one significant difference: everything offered and requested must be 100% free. Membership is also free, as are all ads. (Full disclosure: I founded and moderate my local group – a fact which doesn’t necessarily bias me in favor of the concept. I kid, I kid.)

Of course, you can’t get any cheaper than free! While food isn’t necessarily the most popular category of freecycled goods – methinks that honor goes to secondhand clothing, or perhaps household items – it is possible to score some yummy vegan finds.

- Expired food is perhaps the most popular edible commodity, and while I recommend caution when buying/trading/eating expired food, many non-perishable foods can be consumed well beyond the expiration date. Even perishable goods, such as soy milk and yogurt, are usually okay for up to a week after the expiration date. Just be sure to do your homework – and when in doubt, throw it out.

- Occasionally you’ll also see members offer up specialty vegan or vegetarian foods. Perhaps someone decided to give Meatless Mondays a try, bought a box of Boca Burgers at Sam’s, and decided they didn’t care for them. While this is certainly a hit for Team Vegan, there’s no need to let perfectly good food go to waste. Their loss is your gain.

- The summer and autumn months are an especially fruitful time for vegans on Freecycle: it’s not uncommon for green-thumbed, kind-hearted members to offer up excess fruits, vegetables, nuts and even plants on the list. Among the fresh vegan foods I’ve seen change hands on my local list are green and red tomatoes; walnuts; pecans; apples; peaches; pears; strawberries; and all manner of fruit, veggies, herbs, and flowering plants. Trees and shrubs, too!

Naturally, vegan freecyclers need not limit themselves to food! Commonly freecycled items include secondhand clothing; hand-me-down furniture; small appliances, including the very popular but rarely used bread machines; larger appliances, usually older and displaced due to renovations; books; and crafting materials.

To find a group close to home, you have three options: browse the groups listed at freecycle.org; search for a group on Yahoo; or run a more comprehensive internet search with Google or similar. In addition to the “sanctioned” Freecycle groups, there are a number of similar – but non-affiliated – “free” or “cheap” classified ad-type groups around the nation. Craigslist, too, has a section devoted to “for free” listings.

On the downside, Freecycle.org only requires that Freecycle groups “keep it free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.” Beyond this, local groups are somewhat free to set their own rules, so you will some variation in group rules and regulations. Many allow nonhuman animal listings, which is both hugely depressing and dangerous for the animals “freecycled” this way. Consider yourself lucky if your local moderators are progressive and forward-thinking enough to prohibit “pet ads” on the list; if not, you can either try to avoid the listings, or look for another list. (ETA: Craigslist allows animal listings as well. Urg.)

Personally, I’ve both given on gotten on Freecycle. Most memorably, last summer I unexpectedly found myself with five apple trees, all overflowing with green and red fruit. It was more than I could eat – or even process and store (I made applesauce, fruit leather, dehydrated apples, and plenty of fresh snacks) – so I ended up giving away a good 120 grocery bags filled to bursting with apples on Freecycle. Even after that, I kept about 40 bags for myself, and another 40 or so went to the deers, bees and butterflies (pictured above). While I really wanted to donate the excess to an animal rescue group, the closest farmed animal sanctuary is over four hours away, in St. Louis – not really do-able. Splitting the extra food between local human families in need was the next best thing.

Likewise, I’ve also received some cool stuff on Freecycle: an old poker table, some extra blankets for the dogs, a cork bulletin board that still graces my kitchen wall, some five years later – and a huge lot of The Vegetarian Times magazine. No food (yet!), but then again, we’re rather picky – we live so far outside the city that many items aren’t worth the travel; both time- and gas-wise.

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So the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – PCRM for short – has introduced their own version of the USDA’s Food Guide Pyramid, called The New Four Food Groups. (Actually, they created the guide way back in 1991 – when vegetarianism was just a niggling feeling worming its way up through the depths of my conflicted brain – but that’s neither here nor there. I just happened to discover the guide today, and that’s what counts. Particularly since I’m running low both on time and VeganMoFo post ideas!)

Naturally, PCRM’s reconstruction of the USDA’s food pyramid eliminates all animal-based products, instead focusing on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes:

Many of us grew up with the USDA’s old Basic Four food groups, first introduced in 1956. The passage of time has seen an increase in our knowledge about the importance of fiber, the health risks of cholesterol and fats, and the disease-preventive power of many nutrients found exclusively in plant-based foods. We also have discovered that the plant kingdom provides excellent sources of the nutrients once only associated with meat and dairy products—namely, protein and calcium.

The USDA revised its recommendations with the Food Guide Pyramid, a plan that reduced the prominence of animal products and vegetable fats. But because regular consumption of such foods—even in lower quantities—poses serious health risks, PCRM developed the New Four Food Groups in 1991. This no-cholesterol, low-fat plan supplies all of an average adult’s daily nutritional requirements, including substantial amounts of fiber.

Specifically, PCRM recommends that you eat the following, along with “a good source of vitamin B12, such as fortified cereals or vitamin supplements”:

Fruit: 3 or more servings a day

Fruits are rich in fiber, vitamin C, and beta-carotene. Be sure to include at least one serving each day of fruits that are high in vitamin C—citrus fruits, melons, and strawberries are all good choices. Choose whole fruit over fruit juices, which do not contain very much fiber.

Serving size: 1 medium piece of fruit • 1/2 cup cooked fruit • 4 ounces juice

Vegetables: 4 or more servings a day

Vegetables are packed with nutrients; they provide vitamin C, beta-carotene, riboflavin, iron, calcium, fiber, and other nutrients. Dark green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, collards, kale, mustard and turnip greens, chicory, or cabbage are especially good sources of these important nutrients. Dark yellow and orange vegetables such as carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin provide extra beta-carotene. Include generous portions of a variety of vegetables in your diet.

Serving size: 1 cup raw vegetables • 1/2 cup cooked vegetables

Legumes: 2 or more servings a day

Legumes, which is another name for beans, peas, and lentils, are all good sources of fiber, protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and B vitamins. This group also includes chickpeas, baked and refried beans, soymilk, tempeh, and texturized vegetable protein.

Serving size: cup cooked beans • 4 ounces tofu or tempeh • 8 ounces soymilk

Whole Grains: 5 or more servings a day

This group includes bread, rice, tortillas, pasta, hot or cold cereal, corn, millet, barley, and bulgur wheat. Build each of your meals around a hearty grain dish—grains are rich in fiber and other complex carbohydrates, as well as protein, B vitamins, and zinc.

Serving size: 1/2 cup rice or other grain • 1 ounce dry cereal • 1 slice bread

Apropos last week’s discussion of how one can obtain adequate amounts of protein on a low-budget, cruelty-free diet, note that the only “faux” “meat” or dairy item PCRM mentions by name is soy milk: no Fakin’ Bacon, no Daiya cheese, no Purely Decadent ice cream. Instead, many of the foods touted by PCRM are relatively inexpensive: pasta, cereal, millet, chickpeas, beans, broccoli and melon. You can even grow items from two of the four groups in your own backyard and eat them raw! While not exactly free, it’s hard to get any less expensive than homegrown.

PCRM also produces a weekly webcast devoted to the dietary and health aspects of veganism. The most recent three episodes examine “The New Four Food Groups” in greater detail; so far, fruit, vegetables and grains have received their due, with an episode devoted to legumes forthcoming. I’ve embedded each after the jump.

Now go forth and veganize, my frugal grasshoppers!

The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Fruit

“This weeks episode, The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Fruit, is the first of a four-part series highlighting the New Four Food Groups. Co-host Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., explains why fruit is a part of the new four food groups and why its good for you. Then co-host Jill Eckart, C.H.H.C., demonstrates how to make a Tropical Freeze smoothie.”

The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Vegetables – Part 1

The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Vegetables – Part 2

“This weeks episode, The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Vegetables, is the second part of a four-part series highlighting the New Four Food Groups. Vegetables come in a rainbow of colors, and co-host Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., discusses the nutritional benefits of eating a colorful array. Then learn how to boost your immune system by putting more orange into your diet: Co-host Jill Eckart, C.H.H.C., demonstrates how to make Breakfast Sweet Potato Pudding.”

The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Grains – Part 1

The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Grains – Part 2

“This weeks episode, The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Grains, is the third part of a four-part series highlighting the New Four Food Groups. Jill Eckart, C.H.H.C., discusses grains such as rice, barley, and quinoa—a staple of the ancient Incas. Then Jill shows you how to boost your morning with Fruited Breakfast Quinoa. Whole grains like quinoa are loaded with fiber, antioxidants, magnesium, and protein.”

Updated to add: Legumes have finally gotten their due, too!

The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Legumes

“The New Four Food Groups: A Focus on Legumes, is the last part of a four-part series highlighting the New Four Food Groups. Jill Eckart, C.H.H.C., discusses the health benefits and cooking times of legumes such as mung beans, lentils, and pinto beans. In the kitchen, Jill uses black-eyed peas in Hoppin John Salad. Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day brings good luck, according to a Southern tradition. But why wait until January for the fiber, protein, antioxidants, and other benefits this legume offers!”

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Photo credits:

Geeky (unintentionally) vegan awesomeness via Flickr user Stéfan.

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Many, many years ago – back when the show was still “innovative” and “popular” – a designer on TLC’s Trading Spaces pulled a grotesque and speciesist stunt. Genevieve (Gorder), tasked with redecorating a kitchen, created some “artwork” by raiding the family’s fridge in search of decomposing animal corpses, posing the “meat” products in various “comical” positions, and photographing and framing the result (“meat people”). Cue laugh track.

Granted, the bit was rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but to me, the utter pointlessness of Gorder’s actions made them that much more offensive. It’s bad enough that cows, pigs, chickens and other farmed animals suffered and died in order to feed humans who could just as easily subsist on a plant-based diet; worse still that their corpses were mocked, ridiculed, and then wasted further. (There’s no way that “meat” went back into the fridge after being handled under hot camera light for several hours.) It was enough to turn me – then an apolitical vegetarian – off of the show for good. I even fired off a few complain letters to TLC, Trading Spaces and Ms. Gorder herself. I’m still waiting on a reply.

Anyhow. My point in telling this story isn’t to rail against Trading Spaces, but to introduce today’s post – a vegan version of Gorder’s “meat people,” if you will. Fruit and vegetables make for darn shiny fun artwork! Mr. Potato Head is perhaps the most beloved human-vegetable hybrid – (Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask my mother if she still has my old family of Potato Heads; methinks they’d look cute on the mantle. But I digress.) – however, he’s only the beginning. There’s life on melon (and lettuce and tomato and eggplant), after all!

Halloween is coming, so it’s only natural that we start the exhibit seasonally, with some Great, big, beautiful pumpkins!

Pumpkin art runs the gamut, from crazy creepy smiley faces:

to scifi geek chic:

and heathen election year pop-aganda:

even Scooby Doo!:

My favorite sub-genre of pumpkin art, though, has got to be the homages to His/Her Noodliness:

Closely related to carved pumpkins, carved watermelons commonly grace buffet tables on cruise ships. These magnificent melons are the tropical cousins (twice removed, natch) of autumnal jack-o-lanterns.

Watermelons rarely go on vacation solo; usually you can find ‘em hanging out with fellow fruity foodstuffs, such as cantaloupes and pineapples.

A food of the people, fruit art ranges from the elaborate and professional to the unpretentious and DIY:

Not to be outdone, vegetables make beautiful people, too! In contrast to the fruits’ cruise ship circuit, vegetables seem to be more popular amongst the school and county fair crowds.

In addition to their beauty, produce people are oftentimes edible, too – making them twice as attractive as their once-sentient counterparts!

Got an edible vegan friend? Introduce us in the comments!

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Photo credits, top to bottom:

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Tagged: vegan veganism food food blogging carnival october veganmofo vegan mofo vegan month of food PPK Post-Punk Kitchen animals animal rights animal welfare herbivore meat-free dairy-free cruelty-free animal lovers blog swarm art vegetables fruit mr. potato head fruit people watermelon pumpkins jack-o-lanterns meat people tlc trading spaces flickr photos halloween snack attack