Fridays With Friends: Snarky Vegan’s Julia Moran Martz
We were so excited to have two featured guest bloggers last month making Allison’s “Veganize It!“ recipes for Vegan MoFo month! Julia Moran Martz, aka, Snarky Vegan was one of our amazing contributors and answers some questions this week in our Fridays with Friends episode.
Allison’s Gourmet: Were you always inspired to cook/bake or did that happen after you adopted a vegan diet?
Julia Moran Martz: I’ve been baking since I was a kid back in the mid-70s ”helping” grandma make grape jelly and complaining about having to help my aunts string beans from the garden. Back then I was also making Christmas goodie boxes for friends and family. They always contained soft pink peppermints, cookies, glazed lemon nut bread, turtles, Mexican wedding cakes, and one year I even made peanut brittle. 
I do remember becoming a much less picky eater after going to college and realizing how handy it was to make a huge vat of something cheap to eat throughout the week. That’s when I expanded to things other than candy and baked goods.
AG: What’s the biggest challenge in running a food blog?
JMM: Finding the time and energy after running my business all day, every day. When you own a company, as Allison knows, it doesn’t shut down for you at 5pm. This also poses an issue with photography because I do most of my cooking in the evenings after work. Natural lighting is non-existent at this time and my house is too small for professional lights.
Also, I should note that my blog is really about both vegan food AND vegan gardening because as vegans, we often grow our own food. Ethical vegans are also concerned about the animal farming by-products used in regular organic farming (all the meals: blood, bone, feather and then manure). My goal is to bring awareness to the entire vegan food chain: soil to plate. There are veganic options for an ethical and healthy edible garden; it’s just an unpopular topic with media so it rarely gets any mention.
AG: What do you love most about it?
JMM: Getting feedback from people who try my stuff and then post photos of what they did. That’s sooo cool! So far my most visited posts have been the quick and easy White Trash Tater Tot Casserole and the higher-end, more time-consuming, fermented cashew cheese.
AG: What was your favorite ”VeganizeIt!” recipe you made for Vegan MoFo and why?
Photo by Snarky Vegan Julia Moran Martz
JMM: The Shepherd’s Pie hands down because DH liked it. He’s so picky and hardly ever eats anything but salad or peanut butter sandwiches but he really liked the shepherd’s pie. Obviously, I have to work on my mashed potato ghost technique.
AG: What was it like to participate in Vegan MoFo? Do you think you’ll do it again?
JMM: I try to do it every year but it always seems to coincide with some big trade show we have to do for work. So it’s a struggle to find the time.
AG: Are there any whole-food staple grocery items you can’t live without? (Favorite fruits, veggies, beans or grains?)
JMM: OMG there’s so much that I consider critical to have on hand. Stuff that we keep in large quantities in the kitchen are: vegan mayo! always at least 2 big jars in the fridge; jumbo Tupperware containers of flour, rice and pasta; huge tubs of raw oats, nutritional yeast, dried black-eyed peas and black beans, pecans, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries; unsweetened soy milk; lots of cans of garbanzo beans; a really good balsamic vinegar; and romaine, onions, potatoes, lots of bags of frozen peas and broccoli. I also keep a stash of homemade apple butter in the basement. Oh–I do keep some plant-meats in the fridge but it’s limited to just vegan sausages and also lunch meats for quick sandwiches and roll ups.
I did kinda go overboard this summer and grew enough garlic to feed 2 families for a year. Of course, I’m planting more this year. I plant a mix of early, mid and late-season varieties then keep them braided and hanging next to the bag of home grown shallots in the cool basement so they last longer throughout the winter. Storing home grown alliums at 55ºF max is the best way to make them last into winter. Store bought garlic has been treated so once brought above 32ºF won’t store as long. If you want to keep home grown garlic longer, peel, mince and freeze it double bagged and in small amounts that you can break off for soups or whatever.
There are a few things that can be harder to find and I snag several whenever I get the chance even though I don’t use them every week: vegan worcestershire sauce is a must have, organic chili sauce is handy, vegan cheeses (I like the ones that really melt), Ceylon cinnamon (from Penzeys), and vegan marshmallows of course. Whole Foods carries most things but are not always located in everyone’s neck of the woods.
AG: Do you have a favorite seasonal meal idea or recipe you’d like to share?
JMM: My hands-down favorite seasonal item is not one of my own unfortunately but it’s my most favorite recipe ever: Vegan Vanguard’s pecan pie. I grew up on traditional pecan pie and since becoming vegan, I’ve tried a lot of very bad vegan versions. VV’s version is the best I’ve ever had, including the ones I used to make in the 70′s with 6 eggs.
If you want one of my own recipes, it’s gotta be my version of black-eyed peas and collards for New Years good luck. By using chorizo seitan crumbles and a good veggie broth, it’s pretty amazing. Took it to an omni party one year and no one asked if it was vegan.
AG: Where do you find inspiration for new meal ideas?
JMM: I like looking at the food sections of news sites to see what trends would be fun to veganize and I try to stay up-to-date on other vegan blogs. I also have this really cool ancient 3-inch-thick cookbook that was my great grandmothers and it’s really fun to see what trouble I can cause with that. It’s falling apart of course but everything in it is the stuff our grandmothers and great grandmothers made. All traditional ideas just waiting to be veganized.
AG: Which Allison’s Gourmet goodie is your favorite or would you most like to try?
JMM: This year for our client presents, I’m ordering a testing box of vegan toffee, peanut brittle and caramels for myself. Of course she doesn’t have a testing box per se so I’ll likely be ordering “extras,” it’ll be my own little Christmas bonus. ;-P
Are you a vegan foodie or know one we should catch up with for the Fridays with Friends series? Drop us a line on Facebook and Twitter!
On Winning, Winners and Monster Candy
It’s always refreshing to know that you’re appreciated. Allison felt a big rush of that this week as she learned that her 
“Veganize It!” column was the winner of the VegNews award for best column! If you haven’t checked it out, it’s a deliciously fun way to learn how to turn non-veg recipes into scrumptious vegan meals. And, the recipes are so easy and malleable that our two Vegan MoFo bloggers are tweaking them all month long. You can read the latest from Julia and Heather on Mondays and throughout the week on Facebook and Twitter.
This week we also announced the winners to our first-ever Tee and Tote Design Contest! Congratulations to our Grand Prize 
winner Erika Themaras, our 2nd prize winner Jonathan Day and our third place winners—it was a tie—Karen Rosenstein and Devin St. Clair! All the entries were inspired and creative and we loved getting to know all of the artists. We hope you love the designs as much as we do, and we look forward to more contests in the future.
Speaking of the future, Halloween is right around the corner, and we’ve got a special batch of hard caramels that just melt in your mouth in four yumtastic 
flavors: vanilla, mocha, chocolate and butterscotch pecan. The creamy organic vegan goo is perfect for any ghouls, goblins and monsters who prefer healthy treats in a scary world. Until next time!
Vegan MoFos Meet Vegan Monsters!
October is Vegan MoFo month and already just a week in our incredibly talented guest vegan chefs have recreated several of Allison’s “Veganize It!” recipes in mouth-watering detail. 
Congrats to Heather Blackmon and Julia Moran Martz (aka Snarky Vegan) for their commitment to make at least 20 vegan meals this month! We’ll keep you updated on Twitter and Facebook as they submit new recipes and we’ll feature their faves here on the blog too.
This week Allison also announced a very special limited edition Halloween candy: Hard Caramels. They come in four ghoulishly good flavors for your little vegan monsters: Vanilla, Chocolate, Mocha and Butterscotch Pecan, and make the perfect Halloween treat for tricksters of any age. The all organic ingredients are a much healthier choice than the corn syrup laden junk sure to be the
predominant option as door bells are rung across the country by costumed kids this year.
We announced this week that we’ll be officially moving from our Facebook friend page to our Facebook fan page. Many of you already “like” us there, and we hope many more of you will join us! The shift happens officially on November 1 and will allow us to better manage our time and interactions with you in one Facebook home. We look forward to seeing you there and on Twitter! Until next time….
Salted Confections Gift Set: The Photo Shoot
Little known fact: we do all our own photography here at Allison’s Gourmet. And I don’t mean we hire some pro photographer to come take pictures for us. Nope, all those gorgeous photos you seen on our website? All us (not to toot our own horns too much, but I do think we’re pretty awesome for amateurs). Recently we had a photo shoot for the new Salted Confections Gift Set. You can see the finished photos along with our other holiday gifts online at our website and in last week’s post.
Here’s a little peek behind the scenes:
Allison and I seem to be ridiculous perfectionists in similar ways, which makes us perfectly matched to work together. Everything we produce is absolutely top quality whether it’s corporate food gifts, heavenly confections or monthly cookie flavors, so we want the photos of these things perfect too. 
This photo shoot of just one image took us several hours. That was partly because we’re breaking in a new camera and had to learn how to use it. But seriously, the process goes something like this. We take a few photos, go look at them on the computer, go back to the studio table, make minute changes, take a few more photos… And the process continues with tiny changes in angle, number and spacing of salt crystals, plumping up and balancing of caramels and carefully melting chocolate with a heat gun.
Luckily, we’re great friends and we love the work. We also have similar tastes in chocolate (which really keeps us going). Between the chocolates on the side, and the peanut brittle and caramels that were lying around everywhere, we were pretty loopy by the end of it all. 
In looking through the final photos, we had a fit of hysterics over this photo, see if you can figure out why…
Exciting New Improvements
Every spring I get this mental image of summer in my mind: the long, lazy days, swimming and tanning and backyard barbecues… Truth be told, I haven’t had one of those stereotypical summers since junior high, ah nostalgia. But, here at Allison’s, I’ve been enjoying my busier-than-planned summer none the less. The deadline for submissions to our Tee and Tote Design Contest is drawing near and it’s fascinating to watch all the wonderful designs rolling in! Meanwhile, in the kitchen, we’ve acquired some new equipment, we’re testing some new recipes, and, believe it or not, we’re already gearing up for the holidays!
In case you’re wondering where most of our vegan chocolates have disappeared to this summer, we took a break from some of our chocolate production (while it’s really too hot to ship chocolate gifts safely anyway) and we’ve been using the time to test a few new chocolate recipes. We recently acquired a new tempering machine for our chocolate production that has helped to stoke Allison’s creative fire. Last week we even did a test of something very special, which isn’t quite right yet so I can’t say much, but was pretty exhilarating anyway.
Our vegan fudge has been the “hot” seller for the last couple of weeks, especially in the form of Fudge of the Month Clubs. Our clubs keep your sweets pantry stocked, make gift-giving easy, plus they have the added bonus of giving you a discount on everything you order as long as your membership is active. With amazing flavors like Apple Pie and Peppermint Velvet, what’s not to love?
While doing some “summer cleaning” we also discovered that we had a backlog of your love letters that we’re finally getting around to publishing in the form of product reviews on our website. Have you tried our goodies recently? You, too, could be among our famous fans. Tell us what you think below, or on our Contact Us, Facebook or Twitter pages. We’d love to hear from you (and if you include a picture of yourself, we’ll be especially grateful)! 
New: Special Caramel Flavors for Mother’s Day!
Allison’s mind is often in a whirl of fun ideas for new products and more. Several months ago, when she first told me her idea to use Lavender and Rose flavors in our caramels for Mother’s Day, I’ll admit I was a little skeptical. After the first test batch, I got to do one of my favorite tasks of my job description – taste-testing – and I was an instant convert! Eating these caramels is like eating the rich yet delicate scent of lavender and rose flowers (covered in caramel, of course!). The floral accents are well-rounded and dynamic, without overpowering the caramel’s perfection. To tell you the truth, they’re absolute heaven.
Allison created two glorious flavors in honor of moms in all forms:
Salted Lavender Caramels - Combining organic lavender with our already to-live-for Salted Vanilla Caramels creates these sweet, luxuriously chewy and brightly lavender flavored delights. Enjoy them sitting in your garden with the sun on your face listening to the bees buzzing in the flowers.
Chocolate Rose Caramels - Most of us know that chocolate and roses are natural complements. Allison built on this classic pairing by adding just the right touch of Bulgarian rose to our oh-so-elegant Chocolate Caramels, creating a confection that is both flowers and chocolates in one ideal gift.
Mother’s Day is quickly coming up – in just under two weeks – and there are probably a bazillion moms out there who will be clamoring for these unbelievably delicious and unique caramels as soon as word gets out. So, get ahead of the game and surprise all the super-women in your life with life-changing caramels (and maybe breakfast in bed, too)! You can place your order today and request a delayed delivery date (in the order process) for timely arrival.
For more Mother’s Day gift ideas, check out our special Mother’s Day page.
Monday Yumday: Caramel Apples
In case you missed it in our Newsletter this month, this is Allison’s recipe for out-of-this-world caramel apples using our very own individually-wrapped vanilla caramels. Take them to a harvest party or hand them out to excited children (and adults!) on Halloween:
Vegan Caramel Apples
My favorite apples to bathe in gooey caramel are the illustrious Honeycrisp Apples from Washington State. If you’re not lucky enough to find these, crisp Fuji apples will do just fine.
What to use . . .
6 crisp apples, washed and dried
9 ounces individually wrapped vegan caramels, unwrapped
2 tablespoons coconut milk
. . . and How
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Remove the stem from each apple and firmly press a popsicle stick into each top. Place apples bottom side down onto the lined baking sheet.
3. Heat a heavy saucepan over low. Add caramels and coconut milk. Stir regularly. Once the caramels have completely melted, allow to cool for 3 minutes. Then, holding the popsicle stick, roll each apple quickly in caramel sauce until well coated. Place apples bottom side down onto the prepared sheet pan to set.
Recipe copyright: Allison Rivers Samson of Allison’s Gourmet, an organic, vegan bakery & confectionary boutique. If you wish to reprint, just ask!
Announcing our new Salted Chocolate Caramels!!
Last month, Allison was excited to attend Portland’s VegFest and visit with friends in her old stomping grounds of the Pacific Northwest. One of the many highlights was a visit to the factory of Theo Chocolate, a Seattle company that makes delicious 
bean-to-bar, organic, fair-trade chocolate (too bad they’re not all vegan!).
Filled with inspiration and anticipation, Allison returned home to begin her new love affair with salted caramels. Always one to do something different, she chose to avoid extra layers between our luscious caramel and delicate Himalayan pink salt by lightly adorning our individually-wrapped chocolate caramels rather than the standard practice of salting chocolate covered caramels.
These decadent, chewy, rich and chocolate-y salted caramels are so delicious that we couldn’t wait another minute to share them with you! We hope that you’ll love them as much as we do.
Summertime Shipping and Eco-Friendly Chill Packs
Summer can be a hard time for shipping perishables. So much of the shipping process is out of our hands, and packages often sit in hot trucks, and on sunny porches before being opened and enjoyed.
Not to be deterred by a little heat, however, we’re pleased to offer a styrofoam-free, eco-conscious chill pack option for shipping vegan chocolates and other perishable items in warm weather. Our chill packs create much less waste and are lighter and more efficient to ship than traditional styrofoam boxes. Plus, we offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all of our vegan chocolates and other confections and baked goods, when you follow our shipping guidelines.
Here are some tips for shipping perishable items in summer heat:
- Always include our recommended chill pack and ship via FedEx 2-day air.
- Ship to an address where someone will be present to receive the package.
- Do NOT include “deliver without signature” or “leave at front door” in the note to driver line. (These notes allows FedEx to leave packages in unknown conditions).
- If you’re shipping to a location over 90ºF, consider less perishable items like caramels, non-chocolate toffee and brittle, cookies and brownies.
- If you are unsatisfied with your products upon delivery and you followed the shipping guidelines above, write us an email with the details of your order for credit or re-shipment free of charge.
Weekly Wrap-Up: Toffee and Caramels
Welcome to another edition of Allison’s Gourmet weekly wrap-up. I hope you all had a fantastic week!
Thank you for the great Facebook activity this week everyone. We loved your comments on our homemade tempeh posts. Also, thank you so much for sharing this week’s blog posts with your Facebook and Twitter friends. If you missed it, everyone seemed to enjoy Vegan Toffee: Not Just for the Holidays post.
We’d like to give special shout outs to our fellow tweeple for your support: @Animal_Advocacy, @melissagerman, and @eatpure. The lovely @eatpure was kind enough to blog about our caramels! Check out her post here: Vegan Caramels. Thanks so much!!
We sincerely appreciate your support friends – keep us posted on what you’d like to see or hear more of, and don’t forget catch up with us on Twitter and Facebook. Have a great weekend!
