The whole world knows about Isa Chandra Moskowitz's newest release, Isa Does It. Every living vegan has already taken 1000 photos of themselves with their free-with-preorder tote, and posted a picture of their cat sitting by the book. I'm guilty of posting and hashtagging all the recipes I've made from the book too, and looking through everyone else's renditions. I love attacking my new cookbooks with vigor: marking up the pages, noting in the margins anything interesting that happened while I made the recipe, where I found weird ingredients, ideas for next time... It's like I'm an academic, though I'm a scholar of veganism, not Voltaire. Cookbooks, not Candide. I'm way too punk for Voltaire.

This dish is what I mean about Isa. Scrambled Chickpeas? I would never ever make this if it were posted on someone else's blog, or in some article from VegNews, or anywhere, really. But I trust her. I made this knowing I would love it. Surprise-- it was totally amazing and I ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Twice.

Beefy Asparagus Stir Fry from Isa Does It

This is Lentil-A-Roni from Isa Does It, which looks like a simple pasta even your boyfriend could make, but really, it has amazing depth of flavor and sings to her inspiration, a childhood of chef-boyardee beefaroni. You simply cannot hate chef boyardee, even if you vow never to eat it again. It has a special place in my child-of-the-90s heart. It's creamy, salty, a little cheesy, and totally nostalgic.

Speaking of nostalgia, there are like 4 recipes for mac and cheese. Mac and cheese is an important part of life-- especially for vegans. Isa does the shit out of Mac and Cheese. This is the Roasted Red Pepper Mac. She says she used to call it "Pizza Mac" and after tasting it, I can totally see why. It tastes like pepperoni! It really does. I served it over asparagus just to make it seem like I was giving my body something proper, when really I ate this and several more bowls with no asparagus included.

Quinoa Caesar with Breaded Tofu from Isa Does It

My BFF Jessica came to visit me this weekend! Jessica and I have been tight since college, hitting the beaches hard, spring breakin' it, and baking brownies together for many many years. I was super psyched to have her come visit me and see my new place. 

Jessica is half-way done being pregnant, so I feel like the best way to say, "bring it on" to the next 4 months to come, is to take her to Champs, in BK for breakfast. We both forgot to take pics of our food, but I've already shown you the breakfast burrito like a hundred times and you can probably picture what pancakes look like all on your own. Job well-done, Champs.

We got a cupcake, just cause.

We went to the Vegan Shop-Up Market in Bushwick despite the L being down all weekend. I considered driving, but I'm super happy I didn't because they ran shuttle buses along the subway route, and they were just free. I'm a fan of free. Plus quicker. Here's a look at what would be our loot from the Shop-Up. Maybe next time we won't eat before we go. That wasn't well thought out.

I feel like the owners of Pine Box Rock Shop have got to be pretty cool, not only because they own and operate a vegan bar, but because the bar is decorated with a bunch of concert tickets! I wish I went to see the Pixies in 2004. They probably rule. I do, however, wonder why/how the Big Buck game landed itself at this bar of all bars. It's an arcade game where you blast animals with huge rifles. I saw my friends playing it once, and was like, "This game is pretty effed up" but maybe it's there to be ironic? I don't know, put something else there instead. Put a cupcake decorating game there. Or a puppy-petting stand. Ooo, I'll run that stand.

We wanted to sit after we scored some pudding from this gal from Chicago, I wish we got her name, but her pudding was real good. I got some coffee and Jess got some gingerale, which is pregnant coffee. So yeah, coffee and pudding is a-okay with me any weekend of the year.

So have you guys ever heard of Nanaimo pudding? We were told it was Canadian and stuff. The girl who sold it to us was really excited about it and Jessica thought she was cute so we bought it. I immediately started texting my Canadian friend to find out WTF this stuff is because it is AMAZING. Apparently it usually comes in bar form. This pudding-remix had an almond-coconut base over chocolate cookie crumbles, then a hard chocolate disc on top. I don't hate it.

Side view.

It's not like you can pass by a salted-caramel turtle and not buy it. I mean, let's be real...

We were tired from our adventures and sugar comas, so we stayed in for a nap and a movie. We wandered up the block for Thai food eventually and once again, forgot to take pics of our food, but I mean everyone has seen what green curry with tofu looks like, right? I took a pic of my Chang so you guys wouldn't get mad. 

We made the Puffy Pillow Pancakes from "Isa Does It" for breakfast, because she was flipping through and kept pointing at the picture saying how puffy they were. Sometimes you gotta make a pregnant lady some pancakes. Life could be worse. We tried not to eat any sugar this morning, so we had greens and hashbrowns alongside our pancakes and opted for fruit instead of syrup, and had green tea instead of hot cocoa. But let's be real, you all know I ate my chocolate pistachio praline bar from Lagusta's Luscious while I wrote this post. It was never a question.

It's Squash Season! Not Squash, the sport for rich people in white polos, but Squash, the genre of autumnal vegetables! Behold! The season of pumpkin pie and butternut alfredo is upon us! We vegans especially love our pumpkins. This time of year you can't look at a vegan blog without seeing a recipe for acorn squash stuffing or at least a pumpkin cappuccino. It's a race to the finish to see who can find a way to successfully brush their teeth and shampoo their hair with pumpkin and make it look trendy. Anyways, I'm for it.

This little project left me with a goldmine of seeds to toast. It's a job to separate the pulp from the seeds, especially from all 4 squashes, but just look at this pile of toasty, salty, crunchy seeds!!

I of course, as any vegan worth their weight in pumpkins, have been carefully flipping back and forth through the pages of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's newest release, Isa Does It. It's a beautiful, hardcover, full-color book packed with recipes for practical meals that can be made any night of the week. The photography is really beautiful, and so when you make the recipe and plate it up all nice, you are like, "what the hell" because your plate looks like catfood compared to the photo. I try, nonetheless.

Pumpkin Pie Brownies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, a recipe I've been eyeing for years. I have the strangest boyfriend. He hates pumpkin, you guys. Dealbreaker? 

Anyways, I always shuddered at the thought of having to eat a whole pan of brownies alone without anyone to help me eat them, but the timing was so right today. After blended I had exactly enough pumpkin left to make these. It was fate. I tricked him into eating one. He cried. Nancy.

Anyways, I will find a way to safely transport these to a place where they will be appreciated, work, perhaps.

Happy Squashing!

It's like a lychee, but spiky and pretty. The globe-like ball in the center is super sweet and chewy almost like gummy candy. Very crystal-ball-like. You know there's got to be something good in there when it's covered in spiky pink armor. Went to a Vegetarian Dim Sum restaurant with friends there too, but forgot to take pics. Use your imagination for the rest of the post to see how it looked.