Vegan wife extraordinaire

California pasta

2010-02-13T19:45:00.001-08:00

I had been looking at this recipe for quite some time but always thought it sounded strange.. pasta and avocado? I wasn't quite sure, but it tasted really yummy!

We threw on some grilled tempeh on it for some extra protein.

Bread making adventures

2010-02-13T19:43:00.001-08:00

My neighbour is really into making homemade breads and she gave me a lesson because I am totally clueless when it comes to making bread. It's a really long process, but it's totally worth it.

We made some whole wheat bread with oatmeal and oat brand flour, as well as foccacia bread and we put some pizza toppings on top, it was delicious.

The special touch was the infused olive oil with fresh rosemary and garlic.

Caesar salad

2010-02-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

Before I went vegan one of my favourite salads was caesar salad.

I kind of forgot all about it until I saw a recipe and decided to try it out. The dressing is made with silken tofu and it tastes just like the real thing! I was in heaven :)

I even threw on some fake bacon bits

Things are moving quickly!

2010-02-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

I have been planning a fundraising event for the last couple of months, and last night was finally the big night! Things went really well, there was lots of food and booze and everyone was having a great time.

I've been incredibly busy with that, working on my website, and trying to get my company Karine Brighten Events off the ground and have been neglecting my food blog.

I've met a few people over the last month who have told me that they are interested in going veg, and wanted to see my food blog. So I have decided to start blogging again and posting yummy food pics to encourage people to make the life changing decision :)

Nature's Expres Grand Opening - January 16th!

2010-01-03T20:14:00.002-08:00

I am pleased to announce the Grand Opening of the very first Nature's Express in the Bay Area!

Please join us for the celebration!

When: Saturday January 16th, 1:00pm-3:00pm
Where: Nature's Express Berkeley, 1823 Solano Avenue, Berkeley,
What: Free samples, coupons, and giveaways! Our special
guest will be the wonderful Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

Nature's Express is 100% plant based, and 100% delicious!

Please visit our website for more info:
http://natures-express.com/

Event brought to you by:
Karine Brighten Events
http://kbrightenevents.com/

Vegan Valentine's Day Dance

2009-12-27T12:19:00.000-08:00

Type:	Causes - Fundraiser
Network:	Global

Start Time:	Friday, February 12, 2010 at 7:30pm
End Time:	Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 12:00am
Location:	Brower Center
Street:	2150 Allston Way
City/Town:	Berkeley, CA
	View Google Map

Description

This is singles-friendly event!

Get ready for an evening of Valentine's Day Dancing and Drinks, Fun and Food!

Your $50 ticket Includes the following:

-délectable vegan hors d'oeuvres
-an open wine/beer bar
-a raffle ticket
-decadent desserts provided by Sugar Beat Sweets and Fat Bottom Bakery
-gift bag full of surprises from our sponsors.

Event sponsored by:

Fat Bottom Bakery
Frey Vineyard
Lagunitas
Red Truck Wines
Sugar Beat Sweets

Special thanks to our wonderful contributors:

Angel Foods
Cow Jones Industrials
Eat in the Raw
Edwards and Sons
Field Roast
Go Max Go
Karine Brighten Events
Lazy Dog Designs
Nature's Express
Nu Tru
Nutrilicious
Organicville
Sjaak's Organic Chocolates
The Sensual Vegan
tombihn.com
V-dog
Vegan Essentials
Vegan Soap Kitchen
VegNews
Vitasoy

For more info please visit: http://www.veganhealth.org/vday

December

2009-12-17T15:49:00.001-08:00

We are almost a week away from Christmas, but yet it feels like summer for us :)

I haven't been posting very much because I have been extremely busy with school! But now that I'm all done I will start posting more.

I've been making some delicious dinners this last week. Veggy pot pie, homemade pizza, chili and cornbread! I bought myself a food processor with some christmas money I got from my dad, it's pretty exciting news!! I've been without a food processor since July because our broke when we shipped it here from Canada.

I am sooooooo excited to make myself some cashew-ricotta, spinach, mushroom lasagna!! mmmmmmmmmm.

As some of you may know, I have recently launched an event planning company! I specialize in green events of all types (weddings, non-profit events, corporate events), and most importantly I have decided to only do vegan events!

Check out my website for more info:
http://kbrightenevents.com/

Thanks!

K

Event planning business!

2009-11-14T17:34:00.001-08:00

Hello loyal readers,

Things once again have been really hectic the last couple of months.

I have some very exciting news, I recently launched an event planning company called:

Karine Brighten Events

check out my website:
http://kbrightenevents.com

Thanks!

November 1st...

2009-11-01T16:15:00.003-08:00

Wow I can hardly believe it's November 1st already....

Things have been insanely busy for me these past couple of weeks. I went back home to Canada for a bit to visit my family, came back, had my very first Walk for Farm Animals event, and then started working on the content of my website (I am happy to announce that I am launching an event planning company in the next couple of weeks!!)

So needless to say my food blog has been put on the back burner for now.

Here are a few pics from my trip back home, it was my niece's first bday and I made her an all vegan cake and it was delicious! I went out for dinner with some friends at a thai vegan restaurant, really enjoyed that. Went to a burger place for my bday (they have a yummy veggy burger and vegan gravy!!). My mom had a custom-made vegan bday cake for me, it wasn't that delicious, but it looked nice! lol

Pecan Lentil tortiere purses

2009-09-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

This recipe comes from Canadianliving.com and it is totally vegan! Tortiere is a very French Canadian thing typically made with ground beef, but you can also make it with pecans and lentils and it has the same texture.

Tempeh sausage puff pastry

2009-09-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I tried the recipe and it was a huge success! It was also my first time cooking with puff pastry. It was TASTY!!!

Linguine cherry tomato pasta

2009-09-15T21:30:00.003-07:00

This recipe comes from Martha Stewart, and it is easily transformed into a vegan recipe :)

Again, this is another very simple dinner that can be made really quickly and taste delicious!

-linguine
-organic vegetable broth
-garlic
-canned tomatoes and fresh cherry tomatoes
-basil
-spices

Stuffed shells

2009-09-15T16:41:00.001-07:00

I made my delicious and easy stuffed shells the other day! My mom use to make a non-vegan version of this when I was younger, so this dish makes me remember those times :)

The recipe is so easy, you fry up some diced peppers and onions, then you put some ground round (fake beef), add a bit of pasta sauce, salt and pepper. Then you stuff the shells and put some more pasta sauce on top and some vegan cheese.

I recommend Hotels Combined and their spread the word for charity program!

2009-09-11T08:40:00.004-07:00

I recommend Hotels Combined and sent $20 to Farm Sanctuary!

You can shout and help too.

Cooking lessons in Berkeley (and surrounding areas)

2009-09-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

I have decided to start offering vegan cooking lessons in the Berkeley area!

Whether you are a new vegetarian or vegan, or just need help I'm here.

Lessons could either be given at my house or at yours.

Drop me a line if you are interested.

K

Walk for Farm Animals in San Francisco, Oct 24th 2009

2009-09-02T15:37:00.002-07:00

Dear readers,

I am co-organizing a Walk for Farm Animals benefiting the Farm Sanctuary and I need all your help!

Please visit my fundraising page, and let me know if you are interested in being: a volunteer for the day of the event, a walker, or a sponsor.

Thank you for supporting this very important cause.

My favorite dinner + other food I've been making this week

2009-08-30T11:27:00.005-07:00

Last night I decided to make my favorite dinner again, I just can't get enough of it! Chickpea cutlets with mustard sauce, mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus. It is not that difficult to make, but it takes a long time to put it all together. I am totally making this meal next time I have
friends over for dinner, it is so tasty and looks fancy :)

Check out this cute Indian baby eggplants! I roasted them in a dry pan and put them in a stir-fry. I wasn't crazy about them, but my husband really liked it. I can never seem to cook eggplant properly...but every time I eat it at an Indian restaurant I love it.

And this is my stir-fry with curried tofu,

carrots, pattypan squash and green beans

I've been buying these fingerlings potoates from Costco lately and they are delicious! I threw in some parsnips and carrots

My husband got me a new cookbook for our anniversary, and I just HAD to try the beer battered tofu recipe! Super unhealthy, but yuuuuuumy. It reminded me a lot of fish and chips. I even made some vegan tarter sauce for the first time. It was very eas to make.

Vegan tarter sauce = yummmmm

Tofu balls with dijon mustard sauce, green beens, and sweet potato fries

Mitsou and Nina LOVE to cuddle in bed with their daddy :)

One year wedding anniversary celebration at the Millennium

2009-08-29T14:50:00.008-07:00

For those who don't know, I had my wedding reception at the Millennium Restaurant last summer and we were blown away by the food! (Check our my post on it - August 2008). So when it was time to make plans for our first wedding anniversary, it was obvious we were going back there to celebrate!

I made reservations 3 weeks in advance because they are always booked up on weekends. When we got to our table there was an envelop on the table with our names on it. We opened it up, and it was a gift certificate from my in-laws for a Taster's Choice Menu with wine pairings!! What an amazing gift, we were so thrilled. It was a bit too much food though.... lol

Here are some pictures

Little Gem Salad
(julienne carrots, toasted croutons, roasted garlic-ceaser vinaigrette)

Melon & Summer Greens salad
(shaved fennel & radish, candied cashews, mint, melon-cardamon-ginger vinaigrette)

I forget which kind of soup this was, but I can tell you it was great :)
flatbread with babaganoush, and something else (this wasn't on the menu)

Cornmeal Crusted Oyster Mushrooms
(sweet & spicy apple-pepper jam, shaved onion & radish salad)

Black Bean Torte
(whole wheat tortilla, caramelized plantain, smoky black bean puree, pumpkin-habenero papazul, cashew sour cream, watermelon salsa

Seared Potato-Scallion Cake
(yellow Indonesian curry, saute of neon eggplant, bok choy, mung bean sprouts & crispy tempeh, shaved green papaya & Asian aromatic salad, toasted peanut-chile sambal)

Pecan Crusted Tempeh
(peach-bourbon sauce, roasted red pepper & corn grits, collard greens with caramelized onion & fennel, dill & garlic pickled green beans)

French Fingerling Potato Roulade
(cremini mushroom duxelle filling, black pepper pastry crust, saffron scented gold tomato coulis, seared romano bean & sweet onion salad, truffled black pepper thyme oil)

Lobster Mushroom Risotto
(brick dough beggar's purse filled with savory creamed corn-pudding, vaquero bean, arugula & cherry tomato salad, vanilla-thyme oil)
chocolate mouse type cake, fresh figs and ice cream, plum crisp

We had a fantastic night, and we can't wait to go there again! If you live in the Bay Are and have not been to the Millennium, I highly recommend it. It is a great place for vegans AND non-vegans.

K

Things I've been making since I've been here

2009-08-28T18:16:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned before, I have been making amazing simple meals with fresh organic produce!

Here are some pics (if you want any of the recipes just let me know)

Spinach dip:

Homemade gnocchi with pesto and peppers:

This is one of my FAV dinners!!! Chickpea cutlets, with mustard sauce, roasted asparagus, and mashed potatoes. yummmmmmmm:

These are called lemon cucumbers, my friend's dad grows them in his backyard. They are delicious:

This is my husban's idea of a dessert (ice cream, peanut butter cookies, and peanut butter puffs):

Now THIS is what I call a GOURMET burger (boca burger with sauteed mushrooms, onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato, fancy ground mustard, and roasted potatoes):

Delicious fingerlings potatoes from Costco:

Living the vegan life in Berkeley, California!

2009-08-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

Hello my dear readers,

I can hardly believe it's the end of August, and last time I updated my blog was March!! That is very shameful of me lol.

I moved to Berkeley about a month ago, and let me tell you it is a vegan paradise! Being in the produce section of Berkeley Bowl (an amazing grocery store) is like being in a candy store. I have never seen some of this stuff, it truly is amazing. However, it does make shopping more difficult because there is so much to choose from. I was standing there for about 10 minutes trying to figure out which kinds of potatoes to buy! lol

Every dish I've been making tastes 100 times better than when I made it back home. Everything tastes for fresh and flavorful.

It has been a challenge cooking in a new kitchen, learning how to cook with my new stove,but it's working out pretty well! I have a gas stove for the first time, and food really does taste different. Sad news is that my food processor broke in transit, so I NEED to replace it. It will cost $100 to replace the parts, so it will have to wait a bit longer. I am slowly but surely replacing everything in my kitchen that I sold back home, it's been a big job! I do miss having a fully stocked kitchen :(

I will be off work for the next 3 months, so I promise to update my blog on a regular basis.

K

It's been a long time!

2009-03-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

To my loyal readers,

Sorry I haven't been updating my blog :)

The truth is that I've been very lazy lol. My husband is still in Washington, and I haven't been cooking as much as I thought I would be.

I visited him in Washington a couple of weeks ago and it was great! We went to Sticky Fingers (a world famous vegan bakery in Washington, DC) and it was sooooooooo yummy! We had 6 different kinds of cupcakes. They were not cheap wow, they were selling them for $2.50 each, it was worth it, but expensive. And we had some sticky buns, DELICIOUS! We had them for breakfast on vday day :)

Here are some pics:

The highlight of the weekend was a visit to a farm sanctuary called Popular Springs. It was the first time visiting a sanctuary, and getting so close to farm animals! These animals were soo beautiful, friendly and CLEAN contrary to what a lot people think. My favorite were the pigs :) They were adorable, and they LOVED getting their bellies rubbed. Spending time there reminded me again why I'm vegan. It was really touching to be have an experience like that.

Tofu-spinach ricotta lasagna

2009-01-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

Andy has been gone for a week now and I've been cooking all my favorite things! (My favorite things happen to be the things Andy likes the least)

A couple of nights ago I decided to embark on a lasagna adventure. It was my first time making and it took me about 2 hours. It wasn't complicated at all, just a lot of different steps and ingredients.

The recipe was from Veganomicon. It was seriously the BEST lasagna I have EVER had..

I made the mariana sauce from scratch, and the highlight of this dish was the cashew tofu ricotta filling. It was soo good that I was eating the filling on its own :) It was sooo rich and creamy, just like ricotta!!

It was such a satisfying and filling meal.

Andy took the camera with him to Washington, so I'm afraid I won't be able to post pictures for the next little while :(

It's been a while..

2009-01-07T06:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything for a while because I've been lazy and busy at the same time. I ate a lot of great food over the holidays (I didn't have to do any cooking during the holidays, it was nice to have a break). Sorry I didn't really take any pictures!

But now I'm back in the swing of things. I hosted a vegan potluck at my house a few weeks ago and it was a huge success. Sorry didn't really take any pictures lol. I promise to take more pictures in the future. My husband is leaving in two weeks, and I will have A LOT of spare time on my hands :)

Here are few pictures of things I made in the last month or so.
Enjoy!

Chickpea cutlets with roasted vegetables:

Polenta pizza (it actually looks MUCH better than it tasted -we didn't spread the polenta enough and it didn't cook properly in the middle):

Adzuki and pear soup:

Curried udon noodle stir-fry:

Bulgar pilaf with apricots and chili:

I am having a going away party for Andy / potluck party this Saturday. Stay tuned!

K

Granola bars

2008-11-16T16:15:00.000-08:00

Today I decided to make some homemade granola bars!

These yummy bars consist of the following:

dried apricots
shredded coconut
slivered almonds
chocolate chips
dried apples
oatmeal
flour, earth balance, brown sugar, baking soda/powder and salt

and voila!

Banana bread

2008-11-15T16:01:00.000-08:00

Banana bread is one of my favorite things to bake because it's super easy and yummy! In fact my mom always asks me to bake her some banana bread for xmas lol.

The recipe is from a Canadian Living cookbook, and I veganized it by using soy milk and oil instead of milk and butter.

The key is to use bananas that are the perfect ripeness! I often freeze my bananas when I see they are getting brown.

I also add walnuts to give it an extra touch.

I LOVE eating this warm, and I really enjoy spreading some earth balance on it. yummmmmm

I will be doing a lot more xmas baking in the next coming week. Instead of buying gifts for my family and friends, I bake and make crafts for them :) The challenge of making the goodies ahead of time is NOT eating them lol.

Stay tuned for some yummy vegan xmas goodies!

If anyone has a good vegan gingerbread cookie recipe please let me know! I tried a recipe last year, but it didn't turn out too great. The dough was very hard to work with.

K

Lentils with squash and kale

2008-11-15T13:55:00.001-08:00

This is one of my favorite dishes, but my husband isn't too crazy about kale so he's not a big fan of the dish. The recipe is from a newspaper, from a few years ago. It is really easy to make. If you want the recipe just let me know.

It contains the following ingredients:
couscous, kale, tomatoes, butternut squash, lentils, and spices.

Tofu pineapple strir-fry

2008-10-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

I hadn't made a stir-fry for a while, so I thought it was time!

I marinated my tofu in homemade terrayaki sauce and pineapples for about 2 days (the longer the better)

Then I added some mushrooms, peppers, onions, and rice stick noodles. I also added some rice vinegar and a put of hoisin sauce. OH and I also added some toasted cashews.

Muffins / Cupcakes

2008-10-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

I decided to make some pumpkin muffins with the leftover pumpkin puree, they turned out MUCH better than my pie :)

My husband went to an Animal Law Conference in Portland on my bday weekend, so I had to make myself vegan bday cupcakes. They were a huge success! I'm usually not very good at making cupcakes, but these were really easy to make.

Vanilla cupcakes with lime frosting:

Leak and bean cassoulet with biscuit

2008-10-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

Mmm mmm mmm. This receipe is very similar to my veggy pot pie, with it has a nice twist with the biscuit on top!

I recommend using a BIG pot, not a frying pan like the book suggests

Once I realized my cast iron frying pan wasn't big enough I transferred everything to my cast iron oven.

And voila! The finished result

Our amazing wedding reception in San Francisco

2008-10-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

My husband and I got married on August 22, 2008 in Berkeley and we had our reception at The Millennium in San Francisco. We had moved to California for the summer to do internships, and we decided to get married :) I planned the whole wedding in about a month, yes it was crazy, but everything turned out perfectly!

Food is really important to us, and we wanted nothing but the best for our wedding! (And of course we wanted an ALL vegan wedding) Finding the best location was tricky, we tested out a couple of restaurants, and the best BY far was The Millennium (an all vegan restaurant). We really wanted to impress our guests with the food since many non-vegans think all we eat is salad!! lol

We were blown away by food, and so was everyone else. There was even a vegan pasty chef who works at the restaurant who made a wedding cake for us.

Here are some pictures (I can't find the original menu for the life of me, so I can't tell you what each dish was called right now, but I will re-post when I find it :)

Bottom tier was hazelnut, top tier almond. With raspberry sauce, fruit in the middle and white chocolate mousse

Various dishes

2008-10-16T07:48:00.001-07:00

I've been taking pictures of my creations way before I start blogging. So here are some of the meals I've made in the past.

Easter dinner with our vegan friends (smashed potatoes, green beans, potatoes mix, and spatzel)

Field roast with potatoes and mushroom gravy (Oh how I miss living in California!! They don't sell Field Roast in Montreal :( )

Veggy pot pie:

Smashed potatoes (red potatoes, red onions, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper):

Cold udon noodles and tofu topped with a spicy peanut sauce:

(The cupcakes were actually made by my husband - and I am sorry I don't remember what they are called lol) :

Candied pecans are sooooooooooo yummy

Hiking in Vermont

2008-10-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

My husband and I went hiking with our girls during the thanksgiving weekend. I absolutely love this time of year!!

Here are some pics:

Most people are really surprised when they see Nina hiking because the perception is that small dogs are wimps. But let me tell you, Nina can out-hike me ANY day! She is sooo fast, full of energy, and she LOVES to jump everything. Andy and I keep joking about her being a circus dog. If we could afford it, we would take her to agility classes because we know she would love it.

Thanskgiving

2008-10-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

This was my first thanksgiving dinner as a vegan wife (first year actually making the dinner because in the past we always went to my in-laws), and our second cruelty-free thanksgiving.

I decided to try something completely different, so I made seitan! I was always intimated by it, but found a great recipe for it in Veganomicon. So I made seitan cutlets with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It was delicious! I can't believe how much seitan actually looks like meat.. it's a bit scary lol.

And here is the finished result (with Nina in the pic!) :

As for dessert, I haven't quite mastered the art of making pies! :( The filling tasted good, but the pastry was pretty pathetic. Apparently you aren't supposed to use a glass pan? Oops!

Hello!

2008-10-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

I've been contemplating starting a blog for a while now, and I think it's time. This blog will showcase the yummy vegan food I make, and hopefully inpsire vegans and non-vegans. You will all notice that my two dogs are like my babies, so you will see lots of cute pics of them :)

Let me introduce myself for those who don't know me:

My name is Karine, I am 27 years old, and I live in Montreal, Quebec. Andy (my husband) and I have been vegan for almost two years now. It all began when he was taking an animal and the law class at law school. We had no idea just how badly animals were treated, we were in total disbelief. We love animals, ALL animals not just "cute" animals lol. We have two toy poodles, Mitsou who is 15, and Nina who is going to be 6 in December.

We went from being vegetarian, to strict vegans. The transition was really hard for me at first because I was a big cheese eater! Andy was never a huge fan of dairy so it wasn't too hard for him. I basically had to learn how to cook all over again! It was quite challenging at first, but now I don't even think twice about it. I believe that anyone who really cares about animals can do this. My compassion for animals has really got me through all of this. It also helps if you like to cook :)

I really do enjoy cooking, I find it extremely rewarding, and I love making my husband happy :) I'm not really the type to invent recipes, but I do often modify them. My heros are Isa Moskowitz & Sarah Kramer. I really look up to these two wonderful women who have brought many smiles to the dinner table. How it all vegan, Vegan with a Vengeance, and Veganomicon are my bibles!! Veganomicon is pure genius, it explains all sorts of techniques, and talks about handy kitchen tools. I highly recommend all 3 of those books.

I will start posting pics of some of the food I've cooked in the past once I figure out how to.

Stay tuned for pics of yummy food.

Enjoy! And feel free to ask any questions