Vegan MoFo Day 6: Potato Rosemary Miso Pizza and moooore!

So this morning I woke up with a plugged duct. For those of you not versed in breastfeeding, this is basically like having a clogged pipe... where the pipe is in your boob. Suffice to say, plugged ducts freaking HURT. This is the first plugged duct I've had in about half a year, but before that I had been getting one a week for about two months. Yuck.

Anyway, all I really wanted to do was lie in bed and feel sorry for myself, but of course I can't do that. Baby to watch, chores to do, and most importantly, delicious vegan food to eat! (Okay, maybe not most importantly. Definitely most excitingly, though.)



What is it: Apple!
My thoughts: Can you believe this is the only apple we ate today? Crazy, I know. We only have one left, though, and I wanted to have one at least for breakfast tomorrow.
Emperor's reaction: Not that into it this morning. He wanted to carry it all around the house but he really only ate two bites of it. I ate the rest.




What is it: Vegan tempeh reuben at Dharma's in Capitola, CA
My thoughts: Dharma's is one of our all-time favorite places to eat around here, and we hadn't been in several months. Did I mention I was feeling a little self pitying today? Yes.

One of the reasons that I love Dharma's is that even though it's sort of a cafeteria style setup (you pick up your food at the counter and eat it on a tray at your table), their service is really good. Today they accidentally put my order in as a non-vegan tempeh reuben. I noticed right away... the dressing was wrong, and when I checked the sandwich, it had definite dairy cheese on it! Some places would give you sass or roll their eyes at you. "Whatsamatta, can't eat a little CHEESE, hippie?!" Dharma's is not that place. They immediately put in an order to replace it with a non-dairy version and apologized profusely to my husband (who I made go up and complain for me... again with the self-pity!). When the order was ready, the guy who mis-entered my order personally brought it to my table and apologized. Aw jeez. I'm touched and a little embarassed.

Really tasty sandwich, too. Between the food and the service, I'm always happy there.
Emperor's reaction: This kid LOVES tempeh. He will eat basically as much tempeh as you'll give him. He ate probably about five bites of mine here before I ate the rest. He also nibbled a grilled potato (not thrilled), had a bite of pickle (seemed confused), ate two big slices of cucumber out of my salad (pleased), and ate a little of my rye bread. He would not touch the sauerkraut. I can't blame him, I hated sauerkraut until right before he was born.



What is it: Single shot of espresso made with Organic Love Buzz coffee and a splash of chocolate hazelnut milk, and one of Kerri's Kookies, pumpkin pecan (!!!) flavor.
My thoughts: At this point, you may be wondering if eating all these treats is somehow making my boob feel better. The answer is: MAYBE IT IS. Ha ha. I was out of ground coffee (I only buy a tiny amount of a time, like usually about a 1/4 lb, because I don't have a way of grinding it at home right now) so we stopped at New Leaf to get some more. And of course, I gotta drink some right when I get home afterwards. Also, I did not know Kerri's made pumpkin pecan cookies. Oh wow, TOO GOOD.
Emperor's reaction: He really gave me the puppy dog eyes, so I let him have a tiny bite of the cookie. Then he clung to my leg and cried until I gave him a second bite. Yeah, he liked it. Two bites is it, though, kid.



What is it: Potato pizza with rosemary-garlic-miso sauce!
My thoughts: Not the catchiest name, but boy, this turned out to be a GOOD pizza. I knew I wanted to do something with super thin slices of potato, and at first I was thinking just olive oil instead of sauce... then I got the idea to steal some flavor similar to what we had last night. So I made a base of about 1/3c red miso with a tablespoon of citrus soy sauce, two tablespoons of sake, and two tablespoons of peanut oil. I whisked it all together, added half a head (not clove, head!) of minced garlic and some fresh rosemary, and slathered that stuff all over the pizza dough. Then I layered on the potato, added a bit more rosemary and some white pepper, and baked for 15 minutes. Finally, I broiled for a minute or two to brown it a little more.

It was FANTASTIC. (Though a word of warning: if you don't like salt, this would make you cry. Sorry.) It was a little too greasy... next time I'd use less oil in the miso mixture. Other than that, though, pretty much perfect.
Emperor's reaction: He had a bite or two of the crust but seemed overall unimpressed. Oh well!


Bonus pictures! This morning the Emperor whipped out this cookie sheet, sat down on it, and laughed. Is he starting to understand all of our baby eating jokes?




And here he is trying to wear the sieve as a hat. Good look for him, don't you think?