Summer Blackberry Cobbler

Last Wednesday, my lovely friend Joette and I paid a visit to Sauvie Island. (You may remember an Autumn Trip I took out there a few years ago.)

The U-Pick Berry farms were sadly done for the season, but luckily for us she has a big truck and we both had a burning desire for berries. We pulled a bit off road and found a mecca of blackberry bushes and picked til we were dusty, scratched, sunburned and happy as could be.

I knew right away I wanted to make a cobbler, but the first chance I had was today. I just made a simple recipe with ingredients I had on hand. You could definitely do the whole lemon juice in the fruit, or vanilla in the cobbler, but I was out of both. I considered for 1/2 a minute making a blackberry violet cobbler, but my brother Ahi wisely told me to keep it simple.

So here it is, my simple summer blackberry cobbler.

Summer Blackberry Cobbler

1/4 cup raw sugar

 6 cups fresh blackberries

 2 tbs cornstarch

1 1/2 cup wheat flour

 1/4 cup raw sugar

 1/3 cup almond milk 

1/3 cup melted Earth Balance

 1/4 tsp baking powder

 1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

Turn oven to 400 degrees. While it's preheating, pour blackberries, sugar and cornstarch into 9" X 9" baking pan. Mix together and place in oven.

While blackberries are warming, mix remaining ingredients into a sticky batter. Gloop big spoonfuls onto the blackberry mixture. (Gloop is totally an adjective, don't worry.)  They should almost cover the pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 400 degrees  until biscuit topping is done. Serve with So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Ice Cream if around. If not, serve on a plate and enjoy the essential taste of summer.

Serves: 2-8 
Calories: Does it really matter?

Some Morning Listening

My two favorite songs right now.




Langhorne Slim. Not a local band, though the lead singer just moved to Portland and they play here often. He reminds me of both Connor Oberst from Bright Eyes and John Lennon.



My Morning Jacket. This song is incredibly annoying at first, then strangely addicting. I can't get enough. Jim James, the songwriter (and falsetto singer in the song), said this song is about a London cop questioning a little girl about a crime. Whatever, it's just cool.




What are your favorite songs, RIGHT NOW? They don't have to be current songs--I'm usually between 3-30 years behind current music trends. ( I do wish I could have gone to see Lady Gaga last night while she was in town.)

Taking Advantage of Vegan Portland

As part of Try Vegan Week, Jess from Get Sconed and Stumptown Vegans and I gave a talk in Portland last night; Taking Advantage of Vegan Portland.

I'll be the first to admit how indulgent we can be, living in this vegan mecca where many establishments embrace the word VEGAN. This talk definitely wasn't going to focus on ordering the vegetarian sandwich without cheese at the local co-op or where to buy the best tofu. No, we wanted to talk about the multitude of dining options that await happy vegans all over town.

Favorite Vegan Food by Quadrant

Portland has five quadrants (it's silly, don't ask) so Jess made a great handout that listed our favorite places in each.

Portland's Five Quadrants

Pizza, toffuffalo wings, milkshakes, tacos, thai food, sandwiches, sushi, brunch, bowls, bagels and cream cheese, cheesecake, bloody marys.... this stroll through Portland neighborhoods gives you all of these, and so much more. 




Please keep in mind this is by no means an exhaustive list; they're just the ones near and dear to us or the ones we wrote down first. For more information, location, or hours, click on the links. All the links go either to the establishment's website, Yelp page,Twitter page, or Stumptown Vegans review.

+Favorite Vegan Food by Quadrant+

Northeast Portland

Back to Eden Bakery

Vita Cafe

Dovetail Bakery

Bella Faccia Pizza

The Bye and Bye

El Nutri Taco Cart

Black Sheep Bakery

VooDoo Doughnuts II

Blossoming Lotus

French Toast from Blossoming Lotus

Tacos from El Nutri. (Photo courtesy of Jess from Get Sconed.)

Downtown & NW

DC Vegetarian

Homegrown Smoker

VooDoo Doughuts

Just Thai

Tube (brunch on weekends!)

Backspace

XV

Food Front

Prasad

Indish

Laughing Planet

Andina

Someday Lounge

Ham and Cheese Sandwich with a Hamm's from Tube

Southeast

Sweetpea Baking Co.

Bete Lukas

Hopworks Brewery

Hungry Tiger Too

Portobello Vegan Trattoria

Los Gorditos - cart & taqueria location

Apex

Artemis

Sip

Fred Meyer

Food Fight

Red and Black

Peoples Coop

Fu Jin

Food Carts at SE 12th (Whiffies, Pyro Pizza, et al)

Dots

Bay Leaf

Vege Thai

Veggie Pizza with Daiya Cheese from Hopworks

(Two FarMar shout outs: Peoples & Lents)

NoPo & St. John’s:

Proper Eats

The Parlour: vegan-friendly hair cuts & tattoos

The Fixin Too

Mississippi Marketplace: Native Bowl, Ruby Dragon, Sushi Tree

Thai Food Cafe

Por Que No

Mississippi Pizza

Dalo’s

Grilled Cheese Sandwich special from Native Bowl

Want something a little off the beaten path?  Check out our Hidden Gems; places that may not be exclusively vegan or flaunted as such, but have some pretty killer (no pun intended) choices.

HIDDEN GEMS

• Alberta St Public House (happy veggie burger)
• Built to Grill (vegan pesto gnocchi)
• Jazzkats Coffee (vegan bagel sandwiches, cheese, and doughnuts from Acme)
• Cloud 7 (homemade vegan pastry selection)
• New Seasons (new vegan menu at Deli) & Wok Bar
• BridgePort Brewpub (vegan beer, vegan quinoa bowl and happy hour tofu fries)
• Food Court on SW 2nd & Taylor: Pho PDX (and late night), Koi Fusion tofu tacos

Vegan Salad Rolls from Pho PDX

• Tarboush on SE Hawthorne
• Shopping: Food 4 Less, Fubonn, Grocery Outlet, farmers markets, International markets
• Alma chocolates
• Little Pots & Pans
• Green Wok Lunch Buffet
• Barbur World Foods: specialty foods, hot pita for cheap, other deli items
• Oregon Ice Works
• DK Kitchen on Belmont
• Chili Pie Palace
• Lickety Split

Potsticker from Green Wok

We also brought up questions to ask when you dine out and secret ingredients you may want to look out for.

Questions to Ask/Secret Ingredients:

• What’s vegan? Just go ahead and ask nicely!
• Can you *make* anything special vegan? Would you  recommend anything for a vegan?
• Is there a ‘secret’ vegan/veg menu?
• Do you have a vegan Bloody Mary? Can you do one?
• Does this have honey?
• Does this contain dairy?
• Does this have animal products? I cannot eat them.
• Is this a vegetarian broth? No chicken/fish/meat?
• Is this fried separately?
• Is there anywhere around here you’d recommend for vegan options?
• Is this gluten free AND vegan? (egg whites, etc.)
• Miso soup woes (bonita flakes!)
• Soy cheese & casein
• Inari
• Thai Food: How to order
• Thai Iced Teas: sub coconut milk for condensed milk
• Beer/Wine
• Will this cost extra to be vegan?
• Pizza dough: honey, eggs, dairy

A big shout out to Heidi from Heidi Ho Organics who brought her soy-free and gluten free cheeses for snacks for our hungry audience. You can find her hand-crafted cheeses and spreads at Jazzkats Coffee in the Hollywood District.

Feel free to add any spots to the comments section; there are several amazing places not listed, so this may be a work in progress.

If you live in Portland, be sure to check out the rest of Try Vegan Week, culminating in a Vegan Prom this Saturday!

Hope this helps you navigate some of the tricky yet delicious waters of Portland Vegan food.

DC Vegetarian makes my world go round. (Here's why)

This beautiful sandwich:

• is roughly the length of my left leg
• has wonderfully soft and supple bread 
• is loaded with soy curls and celery and onion all coated in vegan mayonnaise
• has sweet and smokey pieces of vegan bacon and fresh ripe tomatoes
• is only $6.

For hours, information, and to find out how to follow them on twitter, go here.

And now, on a lighter note... Pizza!

A few weeks ago some friends and I had a Vegan Pizza Party.

I made this:

Spinach Salad with blanched almonds, grapefruit segments and a mint basil vinaigrette

 

The Spicy Vegan made this:

Spicy and delicious hot wings with homemade ranch sauce and celery

Other notable eats:

 

Yes, that is homemade vegan pepperoni sitting among those toppings, made by the fabulous Garrett of Back to Eden Bakery.

Before the oven. The cheese is the incredibly melty Daiya Cheese. Also on this pizza: Red sauce, pineapple, basil, red onion, and Garrett's pepperoni.

Before the oven. Fabulous Pesto base with yellow peppers, asparagus, vegan sausage crumbles and black olives.

Ready to eat.

Talk about Yum.