- 1/4 cup vegan margarine
- 8 ounces vegan chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- 1/2 cup agave syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tbsp soy milk
Category Archives: Self & Life
Unconventional Fondue Feast (photo journal + recipes)
The “Self & Life” section of my blog has been sadly neglected. So begins my attempt to remedy that. (I do have a life outside of writing, really.)
Today’s share: a photo/recipe journal of my at-home dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free fondue feast (that’s a lot of “free”s). Fondue has always been one of my favorite foods (food types? food groups?). Since I stopped eating dairy and gluten, I’ve felt fondu-deprived. 
No More! My brother gave me a fondue pot for Christmas, and presto! excellent motivation to get creative.
Plated fruit. Chocolate, anyone?
The feast, as it happened–
Ingredients were laid out…
My mom did this.
And this. Isn't she awesome?
Course 1: Vegan, GF cheese + bread
I discovered Daiya vegan cheese at Pala pizzeria in NYC–they also have gluten-free pizza, go check them out, but I digress. I was ecstatic to realize my local health food store carries their products. This stuff melts and shreds and tastes quite a lot like “the real thing.” (And, no, I am not affiliated with Daiya in any way, and this is not an ad.)
Time to dig in!
Layla-approved? Yes!
Likelihood of enjoyment by people who eat everything? Not very high. Stick with the conventional version.
For the cheese fondue, I combined this recipe from the Daiya site for “Cheesey Fondue” with this one for conventional cheese fondue from Simply Recipes.
Like so:
1. Split a clove of garlic and rub all over the inside of a small saucepan.
2. Bring 1/2 cup white wine to a boil, lowered heat.
3. Mix in 1 package, or a bit more, of Daiya mozzarella-style shreds, and cook on low-heat until melted.
4. While cooking, stir in 1 tbs of rice flour. Add: Braggs liquid aminos, lemon juice, onion powder, and garlic powder (to taste).
5. Transfer to double boiler insert of fondue pot.
6. Eat! Dip cubes of bread (I used Gluten-free, vegan rolls from the supermarket), cool for a few seconds, and enjoy.
Course 2: Free-range Bison + veggies in olive oil
Ready, set...
Cook meat and veggies in olive oil.
Allow to cool.
Dip in tangy sauce.
Bison is my favorite meat. Feel free to substitute yours (my mom had beef). I used this recipe from Lidner Bison (to find it, scroll down on their site). It’s really simple: meat + enough olive oil to just cover it. Note: don’t use the double-boiler insert for this one. When it came to the sauce, I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I did this:
Tangy dipping sauce:
1/2 cup vegan mayo
1 tbs catsup
1 clove garlic, minced
It was delicious.
Layla-approved? Heck, yeah!
Vegan/vegetarian? Use veggies, and tofu or tempe (maybe spice up your oil a bit)
Course 3: Vegan Chocolate!
Yum.
Dip.
Bites.
Doesn’t that look good? I adapted this recipe from About.com.
Ingredients:
Prep: Melt chips, butter, and milk in a double boiler. Once melted, add other ingredients. Transfer to double-boiler insert of fondue pot. Enjoy with fruit.
Layla-approved? Total win. This tasted exactly like the one I used to get at my favorite fondue restaurant!
Likelihood of enjoyment by people who eat everything? 99.9% (see last question)
***
One more for the road.
That’s it. I hope your enjoyed 
.
If you try any of these, please stop by and let me know how they turn out.
Happy eating!
~ Layla
In Which I Plod (and see a lake. Ooo, pretty.)
My writing goal for May 9-15 was “just keep working.” This I did and it was sort of a plod-along week. I even plodded up a hill to visit this lake.
Grassi Lakes
Pretty, huh? My last week’s writing summary isn’t nearly as enthralling, but here it is.
Monday: 2 hrs organizing draft & notes, editing
Tuesday: 2:20 hrs editing Book 2, part 1 (I want these events to work before I move on)
Wednesday: 3 hrs editing & agent research
Thursday: 2:30 hrs editing + 0:30 agent research = 3 hrs.
Friday: 2:15 hrs book 2
Saturday: 0:45 hrs
= 13:20 hrs
Since I did not quite put in my 15 hour minimum, that will be my goal for this week.
Goal May 16-22, 2011: Keep working, for at least 15 hours
None of that is particularly exciting (except maybe the lake), so how about a few more tidbits from last week?
Tidbit 1: A quote I read and loved
”The creative life…is the love of something, having so much love for something–whether a person, a word, an image, an idea, the land, or humanity–that all that can be done with the overflow is to create. It is not a matter of wanting to, not a singular act of will; one solely must.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves
Tidbit 2: My current read is
The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge
Recommended? Highly.
Tidbit 3: As mentioned above, I took a hike to Grassi Lakes. My hiking companion was…
Oscar "Boo"
Isn’t he cute? (You know, of course, that there is only one correct answer to this question.)
See you next Monday!
