A Couple Of Pictures

I'm back editing the cookbook, and thought that I would share a few photos with you. These are just snapshots that I took while I was working on the recipes. The pictures are as follows: grilled cheese sandwich with homemade cheese, blueberry lemon cake, onion rings, almond raspberry cake and pina colada pie.

I can't wait until the book is released. I've been working on it since the beginning of last year, and it will be so much fun to finally be able to share (spring 2011). The book (aptly named Vegan Diner) will have over 100 recipes, filled to the rim with diner favorites and comfort food fare. I am so excited to see how it all comes together and magically appears on bookstore shelves.

A New Cheese On The Block

I had the pleasure of testing out a new product line recently, which I'm very excited about. The line is called We Can't Say It's Cheese, and is made by a small family-owned company in Montana called WayFare foods.

I was sent 4 different spreads to try, Cheddar-Style Spread, Cheddar-Style Dip, Mexi Cheddar-Style Dip and Hickory Smoked Cheddar-Style Spread. I immediately tasted them all, too excited to wait for the rest of my tester crew to gather round. They were all very good, but my hands-down favorite was the Hickory Smoked. So good! I immediately could see serving it with crackers and a bottle of wine. Not something that you can say about vegan cheese very often, if ever.

Once I gathered together the rest of my tasting crew, I watched them dig in, while I waited to watch their reactions. I knew right away that the cheeses were going over well. My son kept going back for more, saying "this stuff is good". His favorites were the Cheddar Spread and the Mexi Cheddar-Style Dip. My husband finally got a chance to taste, once my son was done topping off his crackers. He really enjoyed all of them, but especially the Hickory Smoked and Cheddar-Style Spread. 

These cheeses are of the spreadable variety, not firm and hard, like something you might grate on a pizza. They are made from whole grain oatmeal, sesame, pimentos, nutritional yeast, seasonings, sea salt, calcium carbonate, evaporated cane juice and a vegetable oil blend. It's refreshing to see a short ingredient list, and even know how to pronounce the ingredients.

From what I understand, the company is cranking on their production and distribution, and we should start to see it appear in stores on the west coast soon. I believe that it's also available in other areas of the country as well now too.

I will definitely be buying more, as soon as I can find it in Portland. I see some nice relaxing evenings ahead, unwinding from a long day at the cart with some Hickory Smoked and Cheddar-Style Spreads. Maybe a bottle of wine too...

Is It Almost February Already?

 Wow, I can't believe it's already the end of January! Where has the time gone?

I think that I'm ready to come up for air, and get back blogging again. You know it's bad when your mom calls to remind you that you haven't put a new post up in several months. Got it mom... Nothing like a little Jewish guilt. Anywho, the new routine of opening and working our food cart, along with finishing the cookbook and the zillion other projects I was juggling, had me put the blogging on the back burner. I just had to let the blogging go temporarily. I had a bit of creative burnout.

Thankfully, it was short lived. I'm back and excited to be blogging again. There's so much to share. Maybe my posts will be a little fresher now too.

The picture above is one of many from the new cookbook. We'll, from the testing phase at least. It's a strawberry chocolate pie. One of my tester's favorites. I have lots of other photos too, which I will start to post.

If you find yourself in the Portland area, please stop by our food cart (Native Bowl) in North East Portland and say hi.

XO Julie

Some New Videos...

Okay, I can finally share the news on my top secret project. Morningstar Farms asked me to do a series of videos for them, featuring some of their recipes. The videos are aimed at getting people excited about veg meals. The recipes aren't all vegan, though they are pretty easy to veganize with a few substitutions (which I did in the recipes using soy cheese and sour cream). I'm really excited about the videos and will post them here as soon as I figure out how. Until then, they are on the homepage of the Morningstar Farms website here and on their Facebook page. And let me just say that the quesadillas are killer with Daiya cheese in them. Yum!

I'm also putting the finishing touches on my manuscript, which I turn in after Thanksgiving. I am really happy with the way that it's all coming together. I just wish that the book was coming out sooner.

I will try and blog again before Thanksgiving, but if I don't (we're expecting a lot of houseguests next week), happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

XO Julie

Quickie

I'm still here! I've been typing and testing away, trying to finish the last part of the diner book. The recipes are finished, and the editing is just beginning. Each day I say "I'm going to do nothing but edit all day," but sure enough, there are so many details to stay on top of for the food cart, that the editing has become a slow process. Not to worry though, I am persevering, and having a great time too.

So, testers for Vegan Diner, there are quite a few new recipes to test, and LOTS more coming shortly.

We also squeezed in some filming last week, so there will be some new additions to Everyday Dish coming soon. I've also been working on another top secret project, which I'll hopefully be able to mention soon. I tell you, as crazy busy as things have been lately, it sure does keep life interesting!

Also, I put up a new post on the "Dish" page of Everyday Dish (yes, my second blog...). It has some yummy Thanksgiving recipe ideas, so if you're in need of some ideas, check it soon.

Back soon!

XO Julie

P.S. I have also been trying to tweet, semi-regularly. You can follow me on Twitter at (http://twitter.com/everydaydish)

A New Post, Finally!

 

Sorry that I am not posting as often. I'm going to try, really!

I've been wanting to share some pictures of our new food cart, all set up and open. I even brought a camera with us every day last week, but that didn't seem to help. We just never stopped to snap pics. Fortunately my friend Joanna came on our opening day, and snapped away (Thanks for letting me borrow your pic Joanna!).

We are having a great time with the cart. It's fun to have a venue where we can once again cook food for other people. I can also try out recipes that I'm developing as well, such as the seitan pastrami that is part of our awesome new reuben sandwich. Guess what? The recipe will be in the new cookbook. I also have some lofty dessert plans, and hope to start baking vegan chocolate Twinkies and a killer carrot spice cake soon. All in good time. At the moment, I've made sure to have a full cookie jar at the cart, so there's always something sweet.

If anyone in Portland is looking for our cart hours, you can follow us on twitter (nativebowl), where I've been trying to post our hours. Truthfully, we are still feeling the hours out and seeing what will work best. Right now we're open Wednesday through Friday 11:30 to 2:30ish. On Saturday and Sunday, we're  staying open later, depending on the hungry crowds.

I promise to be back soon. I still need to share the pics of my trip to the headquarters of Better Homes & Gardens this summer.

Moving Along

We physically moved the food cart to it's new home yesterday. It was so exciting to see it all tucked in amongst the other carts. There's still a few things that we have to take care of before we can open for business. We're aiming to officially open our doors next Monday, the 5th of October.

Now comes the millions of other details, like making sure that we have every tool and piece of equipment that we'll need to operate, compiling a list of all the ingredients we'll need to order, getting the right packaging, signage for the cart... There are so many details that my head is spinning. I must remember to do yoga in the mornings, to keep the stress in check.

So that's the scoop for the moment. I will let you know once we're up and running. Thanks again for all of the well-wishes and support!

XO Julie

P.S. Although I had brought the camera with us to photograph the event, I discovered the battery was dead as I went to snap photos. Thank you to the awesome woman who took these photos, and then so kindly emailed them to me!