Your Vegan Mom

Crackers

 

 Did you know that you can make crackers faster than you can convince a 5-year-old to put on his shoes?  And definitely faster than you can get two kids dressed and in the car and out of the car and into the supermarket and back into the car and onto wherever you were headed with your crackers in the first place.  

Mushroom Stroganoff and Vegan Junk Food

 

Just in time for the resoluteness of New Year's resolutions to wear off, Los Angeles chef and caterer, Lane Gold swoops in with her adorable new cookbook, Vegan Junk Food.  It's jam-packed with corn dogs and cookies and nachos and all sorts of totally not good for you vegan fare.  The recipes that I tried were all rock solid, and quite a few of them are not even all that junky.  We loved the silky, rich mushroom stroganoff and it really would make a lovely date night dinner if you're looking for a last-minute recipe to woo your Valentine.

Sweet Potato Tots

 

It's Valentine's Day next Tuesday, and that, of course, means that you need to know how to make sweet potato tots.  Can you think of a better way to show your love than with the delicate crunch of fried potato giving way to its sweet and creamy insides as it's dipped into a cool and smoky sauce - each nugget lovingly shaped between your fingers rather than shaken out of the freezer bag? Homemade tater tots?  That's love, man.

Layered Reuben Party Dip

I would not normally be this attuned to your football watching plans, but Paul and I happened to carve out a date afternoon the Sunday before last and at the top of our list of things to do without our children was go check out the new Golden Road Brewery near the L.A. River.  

It turns out that the Sunday before last was not the day for the football clueless to go to a palace of beer.  We lucked into two bar stools and ordered the first two beers on the list and a smattering of snacks and mutely gazed at all the flashing tv screens and raucous fans.  People were excited about the football, man.  

I'm excited about Golden Road's huge train-ajacent patio that will be a perfect place for Felix and Desmond to watch the box cars, then the oil cars, then the coal cars, then the flat cars rumble past while we share snacks and a beer.  The menu is promising. The banh mi was way-underseasoned, just disappointingly dull, but the big warm pretzel with a vegan pimento cheese dip was excellent.  

So, all that yelling and carrying on reminded me that the Super Bowl is coming up, and while I don't care, I do care about your party snack needs.  And I'd been mulling over this layered dip ever since I brought home a cute little bag of rye toasts from Trader Joe's.  This dip has all the layers of your classic tempeh reuben sandwich - the warm spiced tempeh, the tart sauerkraut, the creamy pickle-flecked dressing, topped off by melty cheese browned under the broiler.  I prefer mashed avocado to cheese in my sandwich, but in this dip I wanted the enticing bubbly brown top layer. The whole thing comes together pretty quick, and ready to party.  Go team?