Hello, my name is Jhames

Sorry for the lack of recipes, I was busy redesigning my website. You know how those things can be. And, please, don’t even get me started on Google Analytics failing on W3C validation. Jesus. As much as we use Vegan with a Vengeance and The Veganomicon in the kitchen, I can’t say I’m a fan of their recipes for cookies. Specifically, chocolate chip cookies. The cornerstone of any American childhood if you grew up in the ’burbs and your mom was only eager to bake you cookies unlike some mothers I’ve known that were still sleeping off the previous night’s binger. But I digress. When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, it’s almost impossible to improve the recipe for Nestlé® Toll House® chocolate chip cookies. Which I’m sure has everything to do with ungodly copyright laws enacted by Nestlé and its cabal of lawyers. So … Continue reading →

We interrupt VeganMoFo to address a question I was sent regarding payment after completing a project without having a contract. What sucks most about this type of situation is that you can end up looking like the bad guy if you don’t resolve the matter in a diplomatic fashion. Especially when dealing with companies that do not understand or appreciate the cost of design services. Not only am I going to help you get your money, I’ll even tell you how you can win over potential clients that balk at your hourly rate!

One of the best things about living in Seattle is the Vietnamese culture. Unlike Americanized “Chinese” food, Vietnamese dishes rely heavily on fresh vegetables and herbs. One of my favorite Vietnamese classics is bánh mì, a baguette sammich filled with fried tofu, sliced jalapeño peppers, spears of cucumber and pickled daikon radish & carrots, and fresh cilantro. What makes this sammich even better is the cost: $1.75 at my favorite Vietnamese deli. Cheaper than a taco truck and much more filling. Making tofu bánh mì at home is easier than you think. The most time-intensive part of this recipe is making the pickled daikon and carrot. Everything else comes together quickly if you have all your ingredients prep’d.

A couple years ago when I visited Milan, Italy I dined at the restaurant Joia where I sampled some of the most inventive vegan meals I’ve ever experienced. It’s a shame, really, that I had to travel to another continent just to enjoy a vegan meal that celebrates vegetables rather than replicate a meat dish. But I digress. Blub (pronounced bloob) is aptly named for the sound the soup makes as you eat it. Yes, Blub is a soup. But not just any soup. Blub is a layered soup, one that you eat without stirring together the ingredients. In order to eat Blub just right, you will need a tall glass instead of a bowl (a 12-oz glass is perfect for one serving!). I won’t like to you: there is quite a bit of prep work that goes into the making of Blub, and knowing the … Continue reading →

I loves me some Indian food. Ever since high school when I attended Sunday prasadam at the Hare Krsna temple, I made an effort to learn how to prepare Indian-style cooking at home. The smells and flavors of spices in Indian cooking are as vast as the people of India. My favorite dish, when I ate cheese with aplomb, was saag paneer: creamed spinach with cheese curds. The English translation simply doesn’t do this dish justice. The spicy mixture of spinach is tempered with the curds perfectly fried to a golden brown. For years I tried to recreate this recipe at home but never successfully made what I ate in restaurants. Then, one day, whilst shopping at a spice market in Berkeley, I asked a woman in the store how I could make saag paneer at home. Her face lit up like Diwali and she … Continue reading →

Yesterday as I was cleaning the kitchen I lifted a 50 lb bag of flour without bending my knees. There is such a huge bag of flour in the kitchen because it’s fall which allows for cooking and baking without roasting like root vegetables. My back decided to repay my bad decision-making skills with a humdinger of a lower back ache. So listen when you are told repeatedly by people to always bend your knees whilst lifting heavy objects, for God’s sake listen. With that said, enjoy this recipe for cookies made with chocolate chips and cornflakes. As you can imagine, substitutions abound. Go crazy.

Fun facts about vegetable proteins! Protein sources for veg*ns come from a variety of sources, the most obvious being tofu which is a cake made from coagulated soy milk. Tempeh is the whole soybean which is fermented and pressed into a cake form. Soybeans and other legumes provide a lot of protein which, when combined with whole grains and rice, become complete proteins and provide veg*ns with essential amino acids. Another source of protein for veg*ns is wheat gluten, otherwise known as its macrobiotic title seitan. Veg*n restaurants may use seitan to create all sorts of fake meat dishes but it’s almost a little too eerie how well the texture of meat is replicated. I enjoy the versatility of seitan in vegan dishes, and making it at home is not at that complicated. You can follow the time-intensive process of washing vital wheat gluten … Continue reading →

Last night’s dinner was one of those impromptu meals where you have leftovers in the refrigerator you’d hate to see go to waste: roasted spaghetti squash with plenty left after our initial meal; carrots from the farmer’s market in the crisper drawer; and a large bag of onions. I decided that the best fate for these vegetables was to make patties—a homemade Gardenburger® if you will. Carrots can be spiced in any number of ways but I find that squash has its limits. Thankfully, curry works well with both carrots and squash. With a little ingenuity, and a lot of stuff in the cupboard, I put together the following recipe for curry patties.

I’ve made vegan chocolate-chip cookies with little satisfaction in the final product. The cookies may have baked in an oven but they tasted a lot like raw cookie dough. If I was looking to nurse mental anguish with food, at least I have a safe alternative to possible e-coli exposure. This recipe for vegan oatmeal cookies, however, is nothing like its chocolate-chip cousin (twice removed, possibly thrice). Every time I have made these cookies, the final product is never the same. The cookies either come out brittle, thin, or with just the right amount of crispy-chewy goodness. Since I never know what to expect, I never feel disappointed. These vegan oatmeal cookies are the sweet epitome of buddhist doctrine: let go of expectations (the cookies will come out tasting good).

I can’t take credit for this recipe, it was given to me by my French language teacher who received this recipe from one of her former students who is a personal chef. This vegan mousse is not as light as a traditional mousse but it is just as rich in flavor. I’ve read quite a few veg*n online forums where users try recipes with myriad substitutions because of cost or access to ingredients. I can appreciate the sensitivity to cost but honestly, a quick run to the liquor store for two airline-size bottles of Godiva liqueur will not break the bank.