Today we had some friends over for a grill-out. The main event was a heap of barbecued veggies from the CSA, but I also thought I'd make some other new stuff to try. I whipped up the black bean burgers from the vegan bible, Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. It was quite easy; the hardest parts were mashing the black beans and chopping the cilantro. Actually, patting the burgers was a lot of fun-- Unlike patting meat burgers, which even my buger-loving mate admits is disgusting. Ah, the simple joys of being vegan: you can lick the burger off your fingers! I managed to follow the recipe to the letter (which I never do). Well, up until it told me to pan-fry the burgers. I mean, this was a grill out, not a pan out. And the gluten in the burgers really helped them keep their shape on the grill.
The burgers were a huge hit. Our dinner party consisted of a vegetarian, two open-minded omnivores, and me, the lone vegan, as usual. But everyone raved about the burgers and no one missed the meat or cheese.
But you know what was even better? Dessert. My husband wanted to whip up some brownies, so we busted out the box of Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix... wait, did you just say "wha-haaa??" Did you know that Ghirardelli makes vegan brownie mix? No? Well, probably because (a) Ghirardelli is not in the habit of marketing to vegans and (b) most vegans have the good sense not to make boxed brownies. But I happen to LOVE "accidentally vegan" things. And in case you steer clear of the boxed mixes at the grocery, let me tell you that a good portion of the boxed brownie and cakes mixes are vegan. Up until you add egg, of course, but that's why we have egg replacer, right?
Maybe my love of boxed brownies means I have no backbone...that I'm pumping money into the pockets of "big food." But I don't care. I love to find out what random things are actually vegan. And maybe if I buy enough of the vegan brownie mixes, big food will change all the boxed mixes to being vegan. ...Well, a girl can dream, right?
And anyway, I balanced out the brownies with real, honest-to-goodness homemade ice cream, again from Veganomicon. This was the first ice cream I've made all year, and my husband says my best venture to date. Well, that's because I was using full-fat-and-sugar everything, just like the recipe says. I used almond extract instead of vanilla, and it was heavenly. It never got very solid, but it made a fluffy, dreamy sort of soft serve. And it was awesome on brownies.
I'm embarrassed to say that I have been vegan for over 2 years and owned Veganomicon for over 6 months, but this is the first time I've cooked from it. I just don't use cookbooks much -- I'm more likely to wing it or look something up online. But when I decided I wanted to make black bean burgers, I figured Veganomicon would have a recipe, and I happened to have almost everything it required. So we'll call that providence. And after my first two tries, both unqualified sucesses, I will definitely be using it more often in the future. Maybe I'll even remember to take pictures.
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