Ice Cream

Ice cream anyone?


I recently had the opportunity to try a new line of premium ice creams from Purely Decadent that are hitting the market, and boy are they good! The ice creams are non-dairy, rich, creamy and delicious, yet aren't total diet busters. The base of the ice cream is coconut milk, which gives you a wonderfully silky texture and clean taste. In fact, my daughter and I both thought that there was almost a marshmallow flavor to it. Yum!! The ice creams come in five flavors, although I only tried the vanilla, chocolate and coconut. I think there's also cookie dough and mint chip. They are perfect flavors for eating with a spoon, ice cream sundaes, topping summer pies or making refreshing root beer or soda floats. Hello! You've got to give these ice creams a try.

I think they're available in a couple of stores at the moment, Whole Foods being one of them. I can't wait until there are more flavors to choose from. These non-beany, creamy ice creams were a quick hit in my house. Now I just need to replenish my stock. Time to go shopping...

The Winner Is...

Vegyogini! Thank you to everyone for putting your name down and playing along (and your awesome comments!). I'll do another drawing again soon. So Vegyogini, please email me in the next 2 days with your name and address, so I can send you a copy of the DVD. You can email me through my profile on this blog.

Now, about the picture. This incredible bread is a Sin Dawg from Dave Dahl, of Dave's Killer Bread. It's super awesomely delicious, and virtuous too! It's a lovely, soft whole grain dough wrapped up with an ooey-gooey cinnamon sugar filling. A-mazing!! Fortunately even if you don't live in Portland and frequent the Saturday Farmer's Market, you can still get your hands on one. Well actually three. Not only did Dave share the recipe with us, but he also filmed a segment of Everyday Dish, and will walk you through the entire bread baking process. Now there's no excuse for you not to bake up a batch at home. The recipe and video are up on Everyday Dish. The direct link to the video is here.

I'll be back in a couple of days with a review of a creamy new ice cream hitting the market. Until then, go bake yourself a batch of Sin Dawgs!

In A Nutshell...

Just to let you know, there's a new recipe & video up on Everyday Dish. The dish is Sauteed Chard With A Cherry Ginger Gastrique. It is really delicious, and comes from executive chef Derek Hanson at Nutshell restaurant in Portland, Oregon (which is a fantastic vegan restaurant). The dish is on their restaurant menu, though they serve it atop a creamy polenta at the restaurant. It's a very simple recipe and I encourage you to give it a try. This is a perfect way to use all of the yummy chard from the farmer's market.

We've been bookin' on the Everyday Dish segments and have some great ones (with some great chefs) coming up. I'll let you know here on the blog, as we post them each week.

On another note, check out the latest podcast of Stumptown Vegans with Jess (of Let's Get Sconed) and Webly (from Fueled By Popcorn). For the latest podcast, Jess and Webly invited me over to shoot the breeze and talk about vegan food and cooking.

Also, I thought that it would be fun to do another DVD giveaway, so if you want to be included in the drawing, please add your name to the comments. I will randomly select a winner by putting all of the names in a mixing bowl, and will announce the winner here on the blog. Once I announce the winner, I will need you to email me within 2 days, or unfortunately I will have to randomly select another winner. I’m not sure when I will announce the winner, so check back.

I think that's all for now. Happy cooking!!

Julie

Hot Artichoke Dip

I promised that I would tell everyone when the Hot Artichoke Dip video and recipe are up on Everyday Dish, and they are! This dip is really delicious! Chef Brian Igarta has some awesome recipes. Go check it out and make yourself a batch.


I also wanted to share some pics from my birthday last week. This is the birthday cake my daughter and husband made for me. They tried to bake it in a giant cupcake pan, but there were a few complications and only the top of the cake survived. It was an absolutely delicious vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and a little dusting of cinnamon. Truly, the combo of the cinnamon and vanilla made it one of the best tasting cakes I've ever had. It was also the perfect amount of cake for the four of us.

The best part of all was that my birthday dinner was homemade by my daughter and husband. We had a Mexican fiesta with awesome jalapeno poppers, tacos and all the fixins'. There was even a lovely agave tequila for that special authentic touch (that my daughter didn't have anything to do with). Dinner was perfect!

These are a couple of my fun new birthday toys. A special little rack for making grilled or roasted jalapeno poppers. This is super-cool and can go right on your BBQ or even in your toaster oven, and holds the stuffed peppers upright. No need to deep fry these babies. A Williams-Sonoma special.

My other new toy is a mini burger press, which my husband thought would make cute little sausage patties. I have to agree with him on this. I think it will make some cool vegan sliders too!