We are deeply obsessed with the Veganomicon cookbook, and have handed out copies to nearly everyone in our crew, vegan or not.  It’s that gourmet, that tasty, that divine… and it celebrates people who love to EAT.  We ain’t talkin’ dressing-free salads and celery stick gals, but full-blown noshers who can throw down like a champion professional eater.  Here at GirlieGirl Army HQ, where the food never ends and the cravings never stop, we can respect a girl-after-our-own-rotten-hungry-hearts like Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  We got a chance to chit chat with this wonderful author, Chef, and overall  green goddess about her newest exciting projects and shower her with some Jewish sister praise.

GIRLIEGIRL ARMY: Hola Isa! Our kitchen shelf is overrun with your cookbooks.  You really filled a void with your book for the Gourmand who truly loves good food.. not just vegan junk food (Mac n’ Vegan Cheese et all.)  What are your favorite compliments about your books that you have gotten over the years?

ISA: Well, thanks! I’ll add that to my list of favorite compliments. It’s hard to think of specific things people say, but I am always happy to hear that people like the recipes. Whether it’s someone who was making something simple, like lentil soup, for the first time or someone getting all ambitious and making crepes, I am just honored to be part of the process. Oh, actually, just this past weekend a girl told me that her dad, who is from India and not vegan, liked to cook from my books because I cook real Indian food. So that is probably the best kind of compliment. If an old Jewish lady told me my matzoh ball soup was was bad, I would be mortified. It’s nice to know that a dish passes! It’s also cool when high highfalutin foodies come around to vegan food via our books, like Saveur or The NY Times. And I do google my books 20 times a day so sometimes the best compliments come from small unexpected places in the middle of Nebraska. It’s like “Holy crap, there is TOFU in Nebraska!” The revolution is here.

Which of your books feels most like your baby?  What makes each tome special?

Well Vegan with a Vengeance was my first so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I kind of can’t believe I did it with as little experience as I had. Now I feel so much more professional but I admire the chutzpah of V.w.a.v. Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World really got us noticed, plus it’s just so friggin’ cute! I want to squeeze its cheeks. Veganomicon made us legit. I guess it’s like the child that takes care of you in your old age, I’m just so proud of it! Vegan Brunch is probably my favorite so far. Brunch is my favorite meal and it seems like people are having so much fun with the cookbook and that’s really what I wanted.

What is your favorite cookie recipe from your upcoming cookie cook book?

What kind of monster could pick a favorite cookie! Just at random, let me say the grapefruit ice box cookies. Because grapefruit doesn’t get enough love in the dessert world!

MAKE ‘EM: Grapefruit Ice Box Cookies

No longer the red-fruited stepchild, grapefruit shines front and center in these buttery square babies. You should be able to get enough zest and juice from one grapefruit, but pick up two just in case. Makes 24 cookies.

For cookies:

• 1/2 cup non-hydrogenate margarine
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup fresh red grapefruit juice
• 1 tablespoon red grapefruit zest
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For glaze:

• 2 cup confectioners sugar
• 3 to 4 tablespoons red grapefruit juice
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons red grapefruit zest for sprinkling

In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer on medium speed, cream together the margarine and shortening. Beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, grapefruit juice, and grapefruit zest. Add flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt, and beat until a soft dough forms. On a piece of parchment paper from the dough into a log about 14 inches long. Roll up in parchment paper and fashion the log into a rectangle by rotating and pressing the dough to square off the sides. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from fridge and slice rectangle into ¼ inch thick slices and place on cookie sheets. The end slices are going to be wack, that’s ok, just discard them or make 2 weird looking cookies. Bake 15 minutes, edges should be lightly browned. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

Make the glaze and assemble: In a small mixing bowl, use a fork to mix together sugar, juice, and vanilla. It should fall from the fork in thick ribbons, if it seems to thin add a little extra sugar. Too thick, add more juice by the teaspoon. Spoon onto cooled cookies and spread a bit. Sprinkle with a little zest. Let set for at least half an hour. If it’s warm in the kitchen, place cookies in the fridge to set. Store in a container until ready to use.

"Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats" will be out in November!

What’s your ideal brunch - what are you eating, who is there, what kinda weather is it, what music are you listening to…?

Let’s see, Joaquin Phoenix and I have just finished an evening long fuckfest and…just kidding. Sort of. Did that image ruin your brunch for all eternity? I actually love a rainy day brunch. Brunch food smells so good on rainy days. We can import some of my Brooklyn friends and invite some of my favorite Portlanders,  start off with some indie rock that everyone but me hates, and of course, end with some booty base. If there was pumpkin french toast and swiss chard fritattas, I wouldn’t complain.

I think food is the ultimate converter.  Why do you think so many veggies just placate their meat eating friends and hit the steak house and order baked potatoes, rather than push them to try the fantastic veg restaurant in their town?

I actually don’t see that! But I suppose people gotta work with the tools that they got. Sometimes you have to go out to that strip mall with your fam. But I think vegans are learning to cook more and more, especially when I am nagging them to.

What’s your least favorite stereotype about vegans?

As I said before, I hate that it’s thought of as a white upper class thing. There are definitely things that white upper class vegans to do perpetuate this, but people of all backgrounds go vegan. And as far as class, going vegan is one of the most economical things a person can do. Let’s say a cheap pound of meat is six bucks, you know how much beans that can get you?

What are the top 10 staples you must have in your fridge?

Let me just give you the top 10 staples in general, refrigerated and non. Also - they’re subject to change! Right now I am down with yellow split peas, cashews, tempeh, almond milk, spelt flour, quinoa, edamame, chickpeas, white wine aaaaaaaand, oh, let’s say agave.

What do you - besides being vegan - to live a green goddess vida?

Well, all the basics. I don’t drive, instead I walk take public transit or ride my bike (ok sometimes I hitch a ride, too!), I bring my own shopping bags cause god knows I do a lot of shopping, and I smoke only local, sustainable, shade grown, fairly traded, biodynamic crack cocaine.

Do you miss NYC?  How does Portland compare to NY life?

I do miss NYC but I feel pretty bicoastal. I get back home often. Portland life, in a word, is easy. Life in NYC can be really hard and stressful, it’s especially hard for me because being from there I can’t really deal with all the change. But you know, instead of just being upset about it I moved to a place where I could be happy. Done deal. I would never have been able to get the cooking school in NY. But yeah, I feel more normal in NYC. Portland just isn’t Jewy at all. I need to go back to NYC often to retain my sanity, which is kind of an ironic turn of events.

Isa Can Kiss Our Cookie Anytime.

Isa Moskowitz, Brooklyn born and bred, has been punking around New York City since the ’80’s.. now Portland. She’s been a waitress, jewelry designer, co-op manager, web designer, ‘zine editor, baker, and much more. Now she’s an author, finally. She started the PPK website in 2003. The rest, as they say, is herstory.  Go, go, go play around on the site.  You won’t be sorry: http://www.theppk.com.  Oh, and it goes without saying that you should order ALL her books online today.  They are that good, not one dissapoints.

Got a craving for carving? With Halloween just around the corner, we know you’re thinking about pumpkins and pie recipes… and so are we! Show off your pumpkin decorating skills in Modcloth.com’s Pumpkin Carving Contest!  From September 28th until midnight, October 31st, post a picture of your carving creation on Facebook and for each photo submission they receive, they will donate $5 towards the animal charity you select! Help them reach their goal of donating $5,000 to a needy animal non-profit by pumping up your pumpkins and submitting them on Facebook! The most gorgeous gourd will also win a ModCloth Halloween Prize Pack.  Props to Modcloth, a fabulous online boutique that feautures tons of great vegan shoes and bags and vintage-inspired, affordable fabulosity, for remembering that fashion is compassion!  While you are on facebook, why not join GirlieGirl Army’s facebook group?  Just sayin’.

What to do with those pumpkin insides?  Why, make a pie of course!

Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie: When you serve this pie, don’t feel obligated to tell your family or guests that it’s crust-free, fat-free, gluten-free, or vegan, but if they do wonder what’s left after so much is left out, tell them “Flavor, pure, delicious flavor!”

1 1/2 cups soymilk
1 tbsp. Ener-G egg replacer*
1/4 cup water*
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups pureed or mashed cooked pumpkin (or cushaw or winter squash)
1/2 cup rice flour (or flour of your choice–not whole wheat)
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. ginger powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch deep dish pie pan with cooking spray. (I used a Pyrex pan, and it came out with no sticking.) A deep dish is recommended because this pie will rise a lot during cooking but will fall back down as it cools. Put the first five ingredients in the blender, and blend well. Add the pumpkin, and puree. Add the remaining ingredients and blend on high for 2 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides a couple of times to make sure everything is thoroughly blended. Pour into a pie pan and bake for about 60 minutes. The top and edges should be brown, but the edges should not be over-done. (Since this is a custardy pie, using the standard toothpick or knife test does not work; it will remain somewhat moist in the center, but it shouldn’t be uncooked.) Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the counter. For best results, refrigerate until chilled before eating. *If you don’t have Ener-G egg replacer, you can omit it and the 1/4 cup water and use any other replacement for two eggs. Of course, if you’re not vegan, you could use two eggs, but why not give the vegan version a chance? Recipe via the fabulous FatFreeVegan.com:

Want the with gluten/ more classic version?  Here you go darlings:

Pumpkin Pie

2 cups peeled and cooked pumpkin (or other orange fleshed squash)
3/4 cup coconut milk (not lite)
1/2 - 3/4 cup filtered water (see how it is with the lesser amount)
2/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup silken tofu
1 tbsp. cornstarch or arrowroot powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger (or 1 tsp. fresh grated ginger root)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. sea salt

To cook pumpkin, wash outside, slice in half, scoop out seeds, and place flesh-side down on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven, pre-heated to 375oF for about 45 minutes, or until soft. Allow to cool until you can handle it comfortably, then scoop flesh out from the skin. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and about 1/4 cup of the coconut milk and whisk until smooth. Combine this mixture, along with the rest of the coconut milk, water, tofu, maple syrup, all the spices, and salt in a blender until smooth. Add pumpkin and blend a bit more - just until there are not large chunks of pumpkin. Be careful not to run the blender too long or the pumpkin will loose all texture and resemble baby food. Pour into a pie crust or a lightly oiled baking dish and bake at 350oF for 45 minutes or so (it should be somewhat firm in the middle). Serve with organic whipped (vegan soy) cream or cashew cream (see below), if desired.

Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups whole spelt flour (or 1 1/4 cups light spelt and 1/4 cup oatbran)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup sunflower oil
up to 1 tbsp. maple syrup (optional)
1-2 tbsp. cold non-dairy milk or ice water

In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and cinnamon if using. Add oil, maple syrup (if desired) and soymilk or water as needed to form a ball of dough. Roll out onto a clean, floured surface and fit into a 9″ pie plate. Trim edges. Bake at 350oF for 10 minutes, until dry in the centre, but not browning at the edges.

Cashew Cream

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water to cover for 4 hours
3/4 - 1 cup filtered water
2 tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
a pinch sea salt

Drain soaking water off cashews. In a blender, whirl up all ingredients (starting with the smaller amount of water) until smooth. Add extra water if necessary. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes enough for a couple pies, so you may want to freeze half of it, or make more dessert.  Recipe via domesticaffair.com.

Yo Yogis! Get ready to jump for joy! Talk about a weekend of bliss! The World Peace Yoga Conference will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 23 - 25, 2009, have your tickets yet? Grab a friend and get your peace on before the hectic holidays turn you into a bag of stress. Take a yogacation to this much buzzed about Conference for three days of peace, love, great food and yoga with master teachers including; Sharon Gannon and David Life (Jivamukti), Julia Butterfly Hill, Karen Dawn, Gabriel Cousens, Will Tuttle, Harold Brown, and more.

The amazing David Life & Sharon Gannon will be headlining this Fest.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS: Come enjoy cutting edge classes in environmentalism; make the connections between our economy, global warming, pollution and poverty in the world - and learn exactly what we can do about it.

FOODIES: Scarf down some seriously delish and gourmet vegan food while dining with well known vegan authors/ notables, speakers, and friends.. and learn about cooking, nutrition, and gardening so you can keep eating this well at home!

ANIMAL LOVERS:  Meet like-minded and kindred souls, and learn with inspired teachers about the connection between animals and the environment, world peace, compassionate living, sacred activism and more.

YOGIS: For the guru in you - get activated on and off the mat by yoga masters teaching the pure essence of yoga, including asana, chakras & meditation.

Convinced?

• For Class Descriptions, Presenters and Event Schedule, click here. Sign language interpreters are available for deaf participants provided request is made in advance.
• For Pricing and Registration, click here.
• For Travel Arrangements, click here.
• For Photo Gallery, click here.
• For Conference Logistic Info: Location of Conference: Grailville 932 O’Bannonville Road ~ Loveland, Ohio 45140; Office # 513-683-2340; Website www.grailville.org.
• If interested in Sponsorship/Exhibitor, click here for information and application! Requirements of business sponsors: 1.  Promoting a holistic lifestyle. 2. Promoting environmentally friendly products which are animal-free/vegan. 3. Promoting organic/veganic foods and sustainability.

What are some of your favorite eco-notables saying about this festival?

At the Toronto Film Festival, gorgeous vegan Amy Ferguson, Hollywood starlet and model was asked by InStyle Magazine “What is the last favor you asked of someone?” Amy said, “Three days ago I asked Woody Harrelson to come to the World Peace Yoga Conference.”

Amy Ferguson

“Care enough about the world to become peace-filled in Love-land! The World Peace Yoga Conference is the best idea of the millennium. This is an opportunity for all of us to show that we care enough about world peace to take the first step ourselves. Yoga means “you do it!” You don’t wait for someone else to be compassionate, you do it. You don’t wait for someone else to create peace, you create it -  find out how, by attending the World Peace Yoga Conference.” -David Life, Co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga

“A magical, powerful event is on the horizon in Cincinnati! I am grateful to the organizers of The World Peace Yoga Conference. We live in critical times. A new world is waking. We know in our bones that the old stories aren’t working, and now, finally, we have a gathering of the leading pioneers in the yoga, spirituality, and food movements coming together to light the path to a beautiful future. This conference will be a time of growing and celebrating, of learning and connecting, and of making the new world of peace, justice, and harmony not just possible, but inevitable. Please join us! You can be part of this vital effort at this crucial time! Your future is beckoning!” -Dr. Will Tuttle, author, The World Peace Diet

“The worlds first all vegan yoga conference!” -Sharon Gannon, Co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga

Lot’s of you Gals n’ Guys have told us you are planning on (or currently) raising vegan kiddies.  When we met handsome, charming, and very vegan Ayinde Howell and he told us he had been VEGAN SINCE BIRTH we couldn’t wait to hear his story!

“So what do you eat… Grass??”

This was a question I often got from the kids at Hennery Foss High School, to which I’d shyly respond, “No, I eat tofu and stuff, you know…” Not that that really helped. Tofu, let alone the word Vegan, was not even really a part of the American vernacular in the early nineties. The reaction to my response would inevitably come as a twisted face and look that unmistakably said, “weird…” At the time, I was a Vegan, Rastafarian, home schooled till high school, baggy pants wearing, typical teenager desperately trying to be perceived as cool. So, to avoid the drama, I would go somewhere private and eat my bagged lunch - generally a tofu sandwich and some blue corn chips made by mom that morning - and then come to the lunchroom and say that I wasn’t hungry or just eat fries. Oddly enough, I was never tempted to try the chicken nuggets (whatever part of the chicken that is) that all of my peers ate tirelessly everyday. I guess somewhere deep down I believed in what my parents were doing.

By the time I was 16 I had already been exposed to Yoga, raw foods, and regular fasting (master cleanse at 10 years old, yeah, thanks again dad…).  I had found a small crew of kids that kinda understood my story but I was still keeping up appearances by eating fries and popcorn when at the mall or at football games.  My home life was strictly filled with lots of tofu, tempeh, and organic whole foods - we had a huge vegetable garden and even a flour mill! My father had a wholesale license and was not afraid to use it; everything from pounds of fresh Flax seed we “had” to eat on our homemade (vegan) yogurt to homemade kombucha  (that’s one creepy mushroom), sprouted grains, unrefined sugars, coconut water - you name it, we had it…in bulk!

Fast forward ten odd years to a conversation that really struck a chord with me. I remember off handedly mentioning to my one of my co-workers that I grew up vegan, and blah blah blah… I stopped to notice that her mouth was hanging open.  She said, “Oh my God can I take you to Florida to meet my mother-in-law so she can see a real live vegan from birth?!” I chuckled but she was dead serious. Now I look around and notice that people are falling all over themselves to “go Raw,”  “go Vegan,” Whole-Foods-this, Organic/Local-that, and I realize that not only have my “crazy parents” placed me miles ahead of everyone around, but that I’m also a living testament to the life that it seems a worldwide energy is striving towards.

So allow me to debunk a few myths:

• Soy is not the devil. I’ve eaten Tofu, Tempeh, and Soy milk for my whole life and I am not over loaded with estrogen or growing Boobs and my Penis works just fine! The Soy “issue” lies in non-organic processed GMO foods that we all over consume (about 92 percent of all soy beans grown in the us are planted with GMO seed, and about 50% of all livestock diet is that GMO Soy. The other half is GMO Corn. Thanks Monsanto!) But, hey soy is cheap to produce and a great source of protein and cows eat it, corn and  (wait for it…) Grass and manage to have enough protein.  Food for thought indeed!

• Raw Food is not the Holy Grail! However, I have personally seen multiple cases of people using raw food to cure themselves of cancer, Candida and other major illness that come from processed meat, sugar and carb heavy diets. You do the math: fill yourself with toxins from processed meat, overload your system with processed sugar, fats and carbs… and your body and immune system say   “F you!” Then give yourself organic, whole, unprocessed, and uncooked foods that the body can absorb the maximum amount of vitamins and minerals from, your system rejoices and starts working properly, and everyone thinks it’s a miracle… Duh!

Or you could just do this: have a fully integrated, raw, cooked, fresh, organic, BALANCED, plant-based diet from day one and skip all the drama…

Of course, you should see a nutritionist and DO your Research! My parents took a very educated risk with me.  You should know your specific body type and its needs, and that of your children. Notice I said nutritionist, not doctor - western medicine hasn’t caught up to this yet; according to them I should have been dead a long time ago… Suckers! Looking back on my upbringing, I can’t say that I’ve had any major illnesses and to this day I rarely get sick. I’m not saying I’m perfect but take it from a life-long Vegan - all babies don’t need cow’s milk! The food pyramid is out-dated! The vegan lifestyle is exponentially much more accessible and so much less “risky” than it has ever been. Even outside major city centers (except for some parts of the Midwest), the term vegan vegetarian is well known. This new thing called the Internet is a pretty good tool as well (want to know what to make for dinner? Google, baby.) Bottom line: it takes more than just listening to the first thing you hear; look deeper.

To all you future vegan baby mama’s As my Mama would say, “do your part, by not contributing to the death and suffering of any being on this planet, the person you will help to create will have an open mind, a higher vibration, and can truly change the world…” not to mention a much smaller carbon footprint and in my case, quite a sexy individual (modesty not included).

Ayinde is a very healthy and very foxy man - inside and out.

Watch Ayinde’s newest music video below to see a real live vegan-from-birth in the flesh! ;)

Ayinde Howell is an Entrepreneur and Creator of Film, Music and Food, as well as an avid Yogi and certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher. He is currently creating quite a stir as executive chef at the JivamuktTea Café in Manhattan, NY.

This is part 2 of our series about The Green Shows at NYC Fashion week. In this installment we meet Tara St. James of Study, Suki Kramer of Suki, and Eric Dorfman, founder of The Green Shows. Look out for part 3, coming soon!

A Gorgeous Recycled, Eco Piece from Study