Tailgating Vegan-Style

Last weekend I made my triumphant return to the Grand Canyon. OK it wasn't so much triumphant, but it was awesome. A few of the Laurie Scouts headed up to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was gorgeous. The Aspens were turning bright yellow and red, the air was crisp and clean and the beauty of the canyon was beyond description. Sadly, I forgot my camera. Duh! I did take  a few shots on my phone, but I can't find my USB cord. So no aspens for you today my dear readers.

Thankfully my friends remembered their cameras and took some lovely pictures.

So about 545am we headed down the North Kaibab trail. The mission was set out. We were all to hike together until the bridge, where I would make the trek back up 2200 vertical feet on my own and they would continue on to Ribbon Falls. Now, I have to share with you that I was not being a slacker. I had a back injury earlier in the summer and could not properly train for the 16.6 miles we had planned for the day. But when the world hand you lemons, make lemonade.

In this case I made lots of vegan goodies!! We agreed that since I could not make the whole trek this trip that I would be in charge of the post-hike tailgate. Keeping in mind that my friends are going to be tired, ravenously hungry and certainly not vegan, I wanted to make lots of stuff to replenish their bodies and make their mouths very happy. After much though I decided I needed some savory, some sweet, some salty.

I dug into my many archives of cookbooks and test recipes and came up with my menu: From Julie Hasson's upcoming Vegan Diner I made Garlic Dill Cheese. It tastes very much like dill Havarti. I love this recipe, but oddly this one got passed over for some of the other treats.

For the sweet, I made Gluten Free Chocolate-Chocolate Chip cookies from Carla Kelley's testing. The hiking gang loved them! I think one of them ate like 4. My friend said they reminded her of brownies in the best way. They were very yummy.

I wanted to make something hearty and tasty and tailgate friendly that would also travel well. I decided on the Muffulleta from Veganomicon. This sandwich has been very well received by my friends in the past. I am not an eggplant fan, so I subbed grilled zucchini. I highly recommend trying it this way whether or not you like eggplant. It was super yummy!

Next I made a version of my own salsa. I'd provide the recipe, but it is always just a little bit of this and a little bit of that. So it is never the same, but it is always a winner. I served the whole kit n' kaboodle with authentic tortilla chips (a new brand at my WF that is kick booty), organic crackers and fresh crudite. I got rained on twice waiting for the hiking gang to return. So the food had to go in and out of the truck a couple of times. But all in all the hikers were very happy with their special vegan tailgate.

My friends brought festive Halloween decorations. You can see them here.

Muffuletta with Zucchini

Vegan MOFO - Day 20 - Remembering Aunt Jo

We lived close to most of our relatives growing up. This was a great thing as a kid. We got to spend a lot of time with our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. My dad hated holidays and most people. In hindsite this had to stink for my mom. She forged on and made sure our holidays were always spent with the family. Christmas Eve was spent with my dad's side of the family and Christmas Day was spent at Aunt Jo's with my mom's side of the family.

Aunt Jo took over the matriarchal duties as my grandmother aged. She feverishly cooked a huge Thanksgiving feast for a crowd of 20 or so hungry relatives. I can remember the smells of her kitchen and the vast amount of food she cranked out. She had a pool table in her basement. It was covered up for the buffet spread. She would start the same process over for Christmas day. What I didn't appreciate as much then as I do now, is all of the hard work and love that went into her holiday cooking.

Aunt Jo was the one who made sure we all had a loving place to be on the holidays, even when the family was getting a bit crazy and fragmented. We lost Aunt Jo to breast cancer in October of 2006. Sadly those extended family dinners have been lost along with her. Here in AZ I do my best to bring our "family" together around the holidays. It is so important to be with those you love the most whenever you can, especially around the holidays. It is such a magical time. I think of Aunt Jo often when I am cooking the holiday feast.

My mom had this fantastic recipe for Pecan Balls. I loved those powdered sugar covered buttery treats. A few years after I moved to Arizona, she sent the recipe to us. It said Aunt Jo's Pecan Balls. I should have known this recipe came from her! She always had something going on in the kitchen or in the sewing room (a discussion that warrants it's own post). I took the easy way out on this one. I didn't have to do the conversion for her recipe. Terry Romero came up with a version in her new book Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. She called them Nutty Wedding Cookies, I call them little snow balls of love. Thanks to Terry for bringing one of Aunt Jo's recipes back to life for me.