Get down with Root Down

Root Down is something of a Denver institution, complete with stunning reviews and long wait lines (make a reservation) and this past weekend, I launched an investigation (aka made a reservation a month an advance) to see if the rumors are true. Results: they are! I got a simple tofu scrambled and it blew my mind. Made without tumeric, it looks a bit pale on arrival but will quickly win your taste buds over with tahini and sunflower seeds. The real star of the meal, however, are the potatoes. Our amazing waitress said that they tasted like mashed potatoes and I was obviously skeptical because the potatoes are clearly not mashed. One bite proved our waitress right- little, diced and fried mashed potatoes. I could eat these potatoes for every meal for the rest of my life and be more than okay with it. I'm excited to go back for lunch and dinner to explore Root Down's other options, but until then I'll be dreaming of those potatoes!

MOFO Round Up #1

So, five days into 2012 Vegan Mofo and I've blogged a stunning twice (um, including this one). I'll try to make next week better, eh? However, others have been doing vastly better than I have, and here are some of my favorites:

Cudding kittens will distract you from my lack of blogging, right?

Simple Cashew Cheese from The Picky Vegan

Creepy punch for a Halloween party- and it's raw!

Joanna's snickerdoodles rolled in sprinkles have BLOWN MY MIND

What?! Pear "Honey" Jam from The Vegan Crew

Raw onion rings. I want to eat them all. Right now.

Here's to an amazing weekend and a more fruitful Mofo on my end! What are your favorite posts so far?

Carrot Top Pesto

Carrot Top Pesto nestled between roasted delicata squash
and carrot-quinoa salad

I hate wasting food. I'm sure I'm not alone in this sentiment, so I'm sure I'm also not alone in always trying to figure out what to do with all the extra greens that accumulate from purchases from the Farmers' Market: carrots, beets, etc. Sometimes this ends horrifically- I tried to save the greens from beets once but before I could figure out what to do with them, they begin emitting the foulest odor I had ever experienced, necessitating their swift departure from my apartment. However, a quick search on the handy internet turned up some non-vegan recipes from carrot greens, which were this week's puzzle. Armed with my prior knowledge of pesto and a fair level of confidence that ingesting the carrot greens wouldn't kill me, I set to making carrot top pesto. The result? A creamy pesto that tastes quite traditional, but with a hint of earthiness underneath. Lucky you though- you get to brag about how to you used all of the carrot bunch you bought at the FarMar, and isn't it delicious?

Carrot Top Pesto

1 bunch worth of carrot greens
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup pine nuts (walnuts would work too!)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt
4-6 cloves garlic (I used five)
Olive Oil (enough for the pesto to emulsify in the food processor)

I'm sure there's a more proper way of doing this, but I threw everything but the olive oil in the food processor, pulsed it a few times, scraped down the sides and poured in the olive oil while it ran, occasionally stopping to scrape down the sides.