2015 Resolutions - Appetite For Reduction

2014 was, for me, a pretty good year. Unlike 2013, I actually made a net profit from being a full-time musician, and, in traveling to all of the various Renaissance Faires, conventions, and SCA events at which I performed, I got to try so much delicious food! I took tons of pictures from the various places at which I ate in St. Louis and Kansas City, and I plan on getting those posted to the blog this year (Procrastination, thy name is musician.)

Due to a combination of all of the delicious food I ate through 2014 and the fact that I messed up my right knee jumping on a trampoline in late August, I ended 2014 heavier than I started it. My goal weight is 140 lbs, and I'm currently about 176 or so. I have been using the My Fitness Pal app on my iPhone to track my calories, but eating out at restaurants is very difficult to track, unless you're at a big chain (MFP knows *exactly* how many calories are in a tall soy mocha with no whip from Starbucks!) Since I want to lose weight, since restaurant food is so hard to track, and since I'm such a fan of "Julie And Julia", I've decided to cook and blog my way through Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes in 2015. I think it'll be fairly easy to cook 125 recipes in 365 days, and I imagine I'll be repeating some recipes that are really good. I'm also planning on having lots of healthy smoothies throughout the year, as well as getting more use out of my juicer, and eating a few raw meals.



I'm going to allow myself one "cheat day" a week (where I can eat pretty much whatever I want - mmmmm, vegan donuts), but at least six days out of the week I'll be eating as healthy as possible. One of the things I love about "Appetite For Reduction" is that each recipe has full nutritional information listed. Talk about easy to track in my app!

Since yesterday was January 1 (Happy New Year, by the way!), I started with "Hottie Black-Eyed Peas & Greens". My sweetie and I went shopping on Dec. 31 to pick up black-eyed peas and collard greens, so I was set to make this yummy-looking recipe. My sweetie swears up and down that he hates collard greens, so I made just half of the recipe so that he can eat some black-eyed peas plain.



I thought this was absolutely delicious! I ended up using both paprika and Tabasco sauce, and the flavor was amazing. My sweetie ended up trying a couple of bites, and decided that he loved the dish, but still isn't fond of the bitterness of collard greens. He's going to use the recipe, minus the greens, to prepare his half of the black-eyed peas, though.

Weight - 181.4 lbs. Recipes to go - 124.

Alamo Drafthouse New Vegan Menu - Austin, TX

I got a tweet the other day from the Alamo Drafthouse telling me that I was invited to a tasting for their new vegan menu (which will be available at the Village location only). This is awesome, and something I've been hoping for since I starting going to the Drafthouse 11 years ago.







The tacos were tasty, with crunchy tortilla chips in it, and slightly spicy salsa that complimented it nicely. The bruschetta was also good, with super creamy avocado and good flavors provided by the lemon vinaigrette and balsamic reduction. The samosa tasted fairly standard for samosas (delicious, in my opinion), and have my vote for the easiest thing on the new menu to eat in the dark). The cookie was warm and chewy, with a nice fruitiness from the cherries.

When the menu launches tomorrow, the bruschetta will be a full cup of avocado and tomato mixture, with crostini all around the edge of the plate.

Some of the other people at the tasting mentioned that a chocolate dessert would be quite welcome, and Trish, the chef, said that she'd had a hard time finding vegan chocolate at a good price point. We told her about the vegan chocolate chips in bulk at Wheatsville, and suggested that she contact some of the vegan bakers in town to get suggestions from them about where to buy. I also mentioned that I would love to see soy milk for the coffee drinks at all I the locations, and Trish said that she would make sure that it happened, since it should have been happening already (she said if it wasn't, it was an oversight).

An Apology And Old Fashioned Custard Pie

First of all, I apologize for the long delay with no posts. I was hibernating with the hedgehogs for the winter, and lately I've been spending all of my time performing music at the Sherwood Forest Faire and getting ready to move to a new house at the end of this month (which means I've only got two more days to pack and move before I spend my entire weekend out at faire! Eek!)

I've got SO much I want to share with you - I've visited a bunch of awesome restaurants, made several yummy dishes, and got a new kitten, who is the most adorable kitty ever (but don't tell my cat.) However, it's going to have to wait another week or two until after I've moved and unpacked enough to have some semblance of my office intact.

For the time being, I shall share with you my vegan interpretation of Old Fashioned Custard Pie, which I'm modifying from Hillbilly Recipes. I haven't actually made this yet, but I plan on it once we move and unpack all our kitchen paraphernalia. If you made it, let me know how it goes!

Old Fashioned Custard Pie

1 unbaked pie shell (or make your own - my favorite is the olive oil crust from "Vegan Pie In The Sky")
3 flax "eggs" OR 1 flax "egg" and 1 mashed banana
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
2 2/3 cups of non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix "eggs" [1 tablespoon fresh-ground flax meal plus 3 tablespoons water per "egg", and refrigerate mixture for 15-60 minutes to thicken] and mashed banana (if using), then add sugar, salt, nutmeg, and milk. Beat well and pour into the unbaked pie shell. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Sprinkle the top of pie with fresh ground nutmeg.

RESTAURANT REVIEW - Cafe Caliban (Inside Prospero's Uptown Books), Kansas City, MO

After visiting the flagship location of Prospero's Books on 39th St., April and the hedgehogs were excited to finally try the reportedly delicious food at Cafe Caliban inside Prospero's Uptown.

Cafe Caliban (inside Prospero's Uptown Books)
3600 Broadway #107, Kansas City, MO
Facebook page

April and the hedgehogs hadn't managed to make it to Cafe Caliban yet on this visit to KCMO because Prospero's Uptown is only open until 5 pm, and Cafe Caliban is only open until 3 pm. They decided to visit today for lunch. However, when they got there, there was a sign that said "Emergency - be right back", and the door was locked.



April waited in her van for a little while, listening to the radio, and the hedgehogs played "who can spot the most number of blue cars" (Hedgie won, but Buttercup says he has an unfair height advantage). Just as they had decided (sadly) that it might be time to leave, a car drove up, and a gal got out, opened the door of the bookstore, and went in. April and the hedgehogs gave her a minute to get situated, then went in themselves.









April had heard that the vegan tacos were really good, but she couldn't pass up the jackfruit panini, since she's been on such a jackfruit kick lately. The gal working there made some quinoa salad to go with it, and gave April some "conspiracy-free" (filtered) water.



The panini was delicious; grilled perfectly and very flavorful, with mushrooms, onions, and peppers mixed in with the shredded jackfruit. The cool quinoa salad was a great accompaniment to the hot sandwich.

April hopes to get a chance to go back to Cafe Caliban once more before she leaves so she can try the tacos. She left this time with full hands as well as a full stomach -

In Which The Hedgehogs Make April A Faux Egg Salad Sandwich

After a long day of faire, April discovered that she had an unwelcome, unexpected visitor. She drove home, and the hedgehogs sent her to relax while they made dinner. Since April had been planning on making the Faux Egg Salad from page 50 of "Vegan a Go-Go!: A Cookbook & Survival Manual for Vegans on the Road", the hedgehogs decided they'd make it for her.



The hedgehogs had almost everything they needed, but realized they didn't have any garlic or pickles. However, they had a GIANT bunch of parsley, so they added lots of that.


Buttercup says that Hedgie is going to owe her BIG TIME after this.

After mixing everything together and tasting it, they decided it was good, but needed a little something. They added about 1/2 teaspoon of Kala Namak (black salt) and two yolk's-worth of The Vegg, and mixed some more. This time, it tasted really good!

Hedgie and Buttercup made a sandwich with some of the Faux Egg Salad and some avocado, and toasted the whole thing.


"Hey, Hedgie. How are we going to get it up the stairs to April?" "Oops."


Full Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate links included in this post. I receive a small commission if you click through to Amazon and purchase products using these links. That being said, I'm currently in the process of trying to pay off a $34,000 hospital bill, so if you want to buy something, feel free to click!

The Hedgehogs Visit Prospero's Books, Kansas City, MO

Tonight's post isn't going to be about food; April and the hedgehogs had a very long, wet, muddy day at faire, and are officially too tired to make the non-egg salad from "Vegan A Go-Go" (which April had planned on doing for tomorrow's lunch). Instead, the hedgehogs are going to show you all about their visit to Prospero's Books on 39th St. in Kansas City, MO last week. They'll be visiting Prospero's Uptown (which has Cafe Caliban in it, which apparently has delicious vegan food) on Monday, but thought that they'd show you what another location of Prospero's looks like.

The Hedgehogs See The Carter/Lea Duo!

The hedgehogs would like to appologize for the lateness of today's post. Besides technology generally being very unhelpful, they had a very full day.

First, they went with April to her Tulstin Troubadours band business meeting, where Mark's girlfriend Demaris' dog, Isabella, showed off All The Cute -



Then, they all went to the coin-op laundromat to do some clothes. Hedgie and Buttercup broke out into song.


"Tell you how. How you make. Make me feel. What's the phrase? Like a fool. Kinda sick. Special needs. Anyways."

Then, the group all traveled to Prospero's Books so April could pick up the debit card that she'd left there a couple of days before (Hedgie tried to tell her she'd forgotten it, but did she listen? By the way, you'll hear more about Prospero's Books and Cafe Caliban on Monday!) On the way out, they saw a monkey in the window, and Buttercup swears she heard it talking.



The group's ultimate destination was their stagemate, Marianne Carter's, show with her musical partner, Darrell Lea. Since the show was going to be at Cutter's Smokehouse in Eudora, KS, April decided to walk just down the street from Prospero's to grab dinner from Mud Pie Vegan Bakery. An Eggy Breakfast Burrito (made by FuD) and a chocolate coffee muffin really hit the spot.



Once they all got to the show, April asked about possible vegan options on the menu. Just in case. For science. Apparently, all the appetizers (like the corn nuggets, stuffed mushrooms, and onion rings) have dairy in the batter, the veggie burger is made with egg whites, and the waffle fries are seasoned with something that probably isn't vegan. That being said, the rest of the varieties of fries, including the sweet potato fries that April ended up getting, are vegan.

The show was awesome! The group is used to hearing Marianne (Matty Stryker, at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival) play hammered dulcimer and cittern, so hearing her play guitar and upright bass was a real treat (and a bit of a surprise!)







On the way out, Hedgie and Buttercup made a new friend, and stopped to chat for a bit -