Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

Starting one of my workshops at Seattle Vegfest last weekend.

I was honored to be invited to present two workshops last weekend at Seattle Vegfest. What a wonderful event! It's so nice to be with so many vegans and vegetarians, to see so many interested people, and to be able to taste so many new foods! The intrepid and incredibly hardworking organizers and volunteers worked so hard to pull off this great 2-day vegetarian event. Vegetarians of Washington signed up over 600 new members on Saturday alone! What a coup!




VegofWa's intrepid leaders, Stewart and Amanda!

I demonstrated two easy Italian dishes on Saturday morning-- Pasta alla Puttanesca, and Easy Tuscan Beans with Spicy Vegetarian Sausage (see the recipes at the end of the post). On Sunday I demonstrated two easy pie recipes-- French Strawberry Pie and Chocolate Banana Creme Pie. Both demos were well received. There were cooking demos and lectures going all day, both days, all free with the $5 entrance fee-- quite a bargain when you consider all of the food samples you could scarf down throughout the day!

Vegfest was so busy that, at times, one could hardly walk down the aisles! But everyone was polite and helpful, and the mood was generally upbeat and exciting!

I didn't have alot of time to browse, but I did make it to most of the booths. A couple of products particularly intrigued me:


Toby's Tofu Paté, which is like a delicious deviled egg mixture, but vegan! There are 5 different varieties. Unfortunately, they are not sold in Canada.



And the second product:

Bella Diva's Vegan Savory and Sweet Butters are whipped almond oil and cocoa butter blended with specialty flavors. It doesn't really taste like butter, but it's very tasty and rich. For vegans who want a raw spread, or who prefer not to use margarine, even a good one like Earth Balance, or who just want something different, this is a delicious new product. It is certainly better for you than coconut oil! There is a plain version, and also Praline, Orange Almond, and Blackberry, sweetened with agave nectar. Check out their page for the ingredients, etc..


Bella Diva's CEO, Lisa Chambers

Here are some more pictures from Vegfest (and see more here, on Stuti's blog). I'll be blogging a little more about products, etc., in the near future.

VegFest Bookstore, run by The Book Publishing Co., my own publishers (that's Bob with the ponytail!)





Doing one of my demos:



Chat Mingkwan, author of Buddha's Table: Thai Feasting Vegetarian Style, and Vietnamese Fusion, two great cookbooks. He's a teacher and cooking tour guide as well!





Manitoba Harvest Hemp products booth (the Hemp Bliss! people!)-- their organic hemp milk is creamy and delicious!





MORE VEGFEST SHOTS:


A Vegfest clown for the kids!


The Field Roast booth!


Small Planet Organic Tofu-- delicious marinated tofu!


Steve Meyerowitz, the Sproutman!

My publisher, Bob Holzapfel, of The Book Publishing Co., took his sister, me and DH, Steve, the Sproutman, Chat, and Tofu Cookery author, Louise Hagler out for a lovely dinner at the upscale Seattle vegetarian restaurant, Carmelita, on Saturday night. The food was generally really good, but these are the dishes we really liked (sorry the photos aren't very good-- the lighting was pretty bad!):


Roasted Cauliflower appetizer-- very crispy!


Pumpkin Risotto


Smoked Mushroom Soup


Stuffed Chickpea Crepe


Coconut Panna Cotta with fresh pineapple

RECIPES FROM MY ITALIAN WORKSHOP, Saturday, March 29th at 10:40 AM:

BRYANNA'S VEGAN SPAGHETTI ALLA PUTTANESCA:

Recipe here, or Printable Recipe

Sunday breakfast, vegan-style, with Lightlife "Gimme Lean" "sausage" patties

Well, I guess it was inevitable that I get one of those boxes of goodies from Lightlife to try out and report on on this blog. (I am going to be totally candid about my reactions, BTW!) I have tried some of the Lightlife products, but they are no longer available in my area. After trying some of the products, I am going to ask my HFS to get some of them back!

Our favorite was the "Gimme Lean" Sausage Style

which I was afraid might be kind of dull, like many vegan "sausage" brands. It's low in fat, has a great texture, and actually a very nice flavor. If you want it spicier, the great thing is that you can squeeze it out of the tube into a bowl and knead in some spices and/or herbs, then form it easily into patties. Otherwise, just slice it like I did, with a sharp serrated knife.



I cooked the patties in a nonstick skillet with a small amount of Chinese (dark) sesame oil for a smokier flavor.



With hashbrowns, browned onions and apples, whole wheat sourdough toast, and tofu scramble, and accompanied by one of my husband's great soy cappuccinos (made with my homemade soymilk!), it was a great meal!



Previous to that breakfast, we'd tried the Organic Smoky Tempeh "Fakin' Bacon" Strips with a similar meal.



I was not sure how DH would receive these because he doesn't really like tempeh, but, surprise, surprise, he really liked them! They don't get really crispy unless you use alot of oil (and I cooked them in just a little dark Chinese sesame oil in a nonstick skillet, as I did with the sausage patties), but we still liked them. Very nice flavor.



On Friday, my husband tried the Smart Chili for lunch, and saved me some to taste later. It was surprisingly spicy (pleasantly so-- I thought it would be under-spiced), hearty, and low in fat, but a little on the sweet side. But it would make a good quick meal if you are really on the go.



Today for lunch, we tried the Smart Strips Chick'n Strips.



I wasn't as enthusiastic about these. I thought they were too salty, and a bit on the thick side. I rinsed them and drained them, but they were still pretty salty. However, they were pretty good in a "chicken" taco, cooked in my homemade Red Chile Paste (see below) (you could use your favorite taco seasoning).



I used commercial taco shells, Tofu Sour Creme, grated vegan cheeze, commercial tomato salsa, and shredded Savoy cabbage (didn't have any lettuce). They were quite tasty!