October 31, 2011

Rabbit Food Cookbook Book Blog Tour, last day!

Well, the blog book tour has come to its end. Today's blog is from Sarah at Vegansaurus blog. She liked the book, in general, but was dejected at the thought of using garlic powder, like, ever, under any circumstance (in main dish recipes). Well, to each her own. I call for it in some recipes to make them quicker, and in others I do call for the real thing. Sarah tried out the tofu pot pie, but suggested different ways to execute parts of the recipe, which is fine, since cooking is all about adaptation and experimentation. In my recipe's defense, though, I never have crunchy onion problems in the pot pie by following the directions as I've written them.

Well, that's all for the official tour! Hopefully there will be some more talk about the book out there on the internets to follow as more people get copies of the book in hand!

Photo from when Agnes and I made our tofu pot pies!
Um...yeah, mine is the more perfect looking one in front,
but! it was in a smaller pan and I'm more experienced with the recipe.

October 30, 2011

Looking for vegan food suggestions in Portland?

Some folks asked me for recommendations for vegan-friendly restaurants in Portland on Saturday at my author event at Grass Roots Books in Corvallis. I admitted then that Darren and I are totally fixated on eating at Vita Cafe on Alberta as our first destination every time we are in Portland...If we're there for more than one meal we then pick out another place to eat, LOL! I was having a hard time thinking of other recommendations on the spot. I know there are a ton of places to go, like Blossoming Lotus, Bay Leaf, VegeThai, Vegetarian House, Hungry Tiger Too, DC Vegetarian, Paradox, Proper Eats, etc., etc., etc., and I've enjoyed a bunch of other restaurants over the many years I've been living in this area. There are also a ton of people interested in choosing vegan options in Portland, so there are resources out there that answer this important request for recommendations. After all, Portland is a vegan tourist destination!! Visit Portland, and you will need to go to the gym every day the week after you get home. There is just so much delicious vegan food to gobble up.

Well, lo and behold! I happened across a Vegan Guide to Portland that my friends at Food Fight! Vegan Grocery have put together to answer this very important question better than I could off the cuff. They have links to some of the excellent vegan restaurant review blogs, and descriptions of well known restaurants that we can count on to have vegan options! Check it out! And - while you're roaming around Portland looking for places to stimulate your taste-buds, it's always fun to stop in at Food Fight's store at 12th and Stark for their amazing selection of specialty vegan treats and eats!

food fight's store-fisheye view, or something! linked from their website

A new place on facebook to find me being chatty

Carving a block print
You know, I just realized I forgot to mention here that I recently created a new facebook public page for Beth Bee Books, Rabbit Food Cookbook, and my paintings/artwork updates. I went back and forth on what to title the page, and I settled on Beth Bee Books because that's more interesting than just calling the page "Beth Barnett". Although my name is a perfectly fine name (I'm glad my parents didn't name me something misspelled, like Gweendolyyn or Mykaael), there are a number of other people out there in the world who also have my same name, but no other businesses called Beth Bee Books, so there you go.

If you're on facebook, you can "like" the page to connect with me there, or if you're just curious, go take a look at my posts and links. You don't have to have a facebook account to look at the public page. Cheers!

Book Blog Tour - day seven at cookveganeasy!

Today! We've come to the second-to-last entry in the official blog tour for Rabbit Food Cookbook sponsored by Sasquatch Books. They sent a free copy to Andrea of cookveganeasy.blogspot.com to check out, and she decided to try the curry tofu & peas recipe! I enjoyed reading her review, as with all the others, and I'm sad the tour is coming to and end soon! Maybe I'll see some other reviews later on as other folks get copies of the book in their paws.

This recipe is super easy and flavorful, and the thing that works great about it is the combination of the sweet peas and the spicy curry flavors. The end result is a spicy-sweet taste, without needing to add any sweeteners!

Blog tour, day Six!

I was pretty busy on Saturday morning, preparing soup and breaded tofu for my 2pm author's event in Corvallis (which went great!), but I did still have time to go look up the day's entry in Rabbit Food Cookbook's blog tour, which was assigned to Allyson from ManifestVegan blog. Allyson has to cook gluten-free, and although I don't have special indicators in my book to point out the gluten free recipes, there is a lot of variety in the book and quite a few recipes happen to be GF. She decided to try the wassail - very season appropriate, now that it's fall!

Do I have a back story for the wassail? Of course I do! My lovely mother volunteered with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in Indianapolis, Indiana, while I was growing up, and the Symphony held an annual holiday performance at which the volunteers raised money by selling wassail and cookies. When I was old enough to help, mom took me (and my sister) along to assist with serving. That was the only place I recall having wassail rather than typical hot cider, but I always thought the wassail was special and delicious. The main difference between the two hot drinks is the added flavors of lemon, orange, and ginger that go into the wassail. Yum!

Book Blog Tour, day five! with VeganCraftastic

I've gotten a little behind. Friday's blogger in the online book tour went to Kala from VeganCraftastic blog! She also tried out the chana masala recipe.

She was excited to try making this dish at home after having it in restaurants many, many times. I worked on creating my version of this recipe for the same reason. It's a delicious dish, and a reliable vegan choice on the menu at Indian restaurants. It's really not that complicated, and easy to make at home, too! It's a good idea to run the stove exhaust fan while cooking with these potent spices, though, unless you want the house to also smell like an Indian restaurant, not just the food itself, and the kitchen!

October 27, 2011

Book blog tour week - bonus blogging!

What a treat! Today Amanda of the blog inmyveganlife  wrote about Rabbit Food Cookbook too! She just made a batch of my lentil soup recipe this week, and, hey, so did I! ...Actually, 1 full recipe makes so much that Darren and I have been eating it all week, and there are still a few more servings left! But! It is soup season! Plus, my new work site has no cafeteria, so the abundance of soup is working out just fine.

It's fall now. Although I love the warm air and late evening light of the summer, and always think I just can't get enough of it in the brief summer season in Oregon, there are so many things I always love about the approach of fall: apple cider, big batches of soup, seasonal silk nog and westsoy mint chocolate drink (mmmmmmmm!), holiday tofurky and tofu pot pie, fire flickering in fireplaces, and bright red and yellow fall sweet gum tree leaves!

Blog book tour for Rabbit Food Cookbook - day four!

Day four in the blogosphere! Today, a review by Carrie of CarrieOnVegan.com! Carrie tried out my chana masala recipe (spicy chickpeas)! I developed the recipe to be flavorful and simple, and I think Carrie agreed.

I do have a confession to make, though. I love my full recipe, but I also sometimes bypass my list of spices, oil, and tomato paste to make a variation of my chana masala using a great prepared spice mix that includes all three. It's called Patak's Original Mild Curry Paste (Cilantro and Cumin) imported from the UK. It's my favorite short-cut version since it saves some steps in the cooking process. You can find it in health food stores and grocery "ethnic foods" aisles. Not all jars of curry taste the same, but this one is very similar to the spice combination in my recipe! Enjoy!

Rabbit Food In the newspaper

Had a nice surprise to find my book and author event mentioned by Chris Peterson in the local Corvallis Newspaper food section on Wednesday!

Blog Book Tour for Rabbit Food Cookbook - day three!

Day three of the blog book tour! My friend Agnes Barton-Sabo came over a couple weekends ago for a tofu pot pie baking extravaganza! We had lots of fun making two pot pies. Agnes wrote all about it for her friend's blog bake and destroy! They're even giving away a copy of my book!

The results of our Tofu Pot Pie extravaganza!

October 25, 2011

Blog tour for Rabbit Food Cookbook - day two!

Day two of Sasquatch's virtual book tour via blog! Very exciting! Today Lindsay of cookveganlover.com has taken the time to try several of the recipes, including some of the new ones for the 2011 edition. Check out here blog post here.

October 24, 2011

October 8, 2011

Rabbit Food Cookbook now available!

With an October release date, Rabbit Food Cookbook 2011 Sasquatch Books edition is now available and in stock in a number of bookstores, with more to come! Want to get a copy and also support an independent bookstore? The book is already available from Powell's Books! xoxo, Beth