Page 28 November 2014 AZ’s Last Slinger Standing Jason Magers from Bitter & Twisted competes in the preliminary competition. By Amanda Goossen Arizona Cocktail Week isn’t until February, but the Arizona chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild isn’t going to sit back and wait patiently for the excitement to begin. The Last Slinger Standing, one of Cocktail Week’s most anticipated events is on February 16 and the festivities began on October 6 with the preliminary competition. The Last Slinger Standing is an unparalleled battle of the bartenders, as teams from Arizona, Colorado and Nevada each attempt to out-mix and out-pour the rest. On October 6, 30 bartenders from Arizona faced the opening round of competition at Crudo Bar in Phoenix with blind judging and mystery ingredients. The drinks were judged by A-list cocktail mavens Travis Nass, Cocktail Currator at Last Drop Bar at the Hermosa Inn, Aaron Defeo, Property Mixologist for Casino Del Sol Resort in Tuscon, Rachel Burkons, Managing Editor of Talking Panel magazine and Kailee Gielgens, a Sales Manager for Azunia Tequila. The individuals who created the top five cocktails will be announced November 4, thus establishing the Arizona team. On February 16, the final round of The Last Slinger Standing will be at Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour in downtown Phoenix at 4 p.m. The Arizona team will face teams from Colorado and Nevada, as well as a mystery competitor from another chapter of the Bartenders’ Guild located somewhere else in the United States. The pressure is on for Arizona as last year’s winner was Phoenix’s own Micah Olson, owner of Crudo Bar. Good luck bartenders! Go Arizona!

Page 29 November 2014 ing Tofurkey day fixings for the vegans and vegetarians By Amanda Savage When I was a kid back in Cleveland, we had a huge family Thanksgiving. All of the extended family was present, and everyone was asked to bring a dish. Everyone raved about my grandma’s gravy. I was at an age when I was finally starting to step out of my food comfort zone and try the adult fixings. I loved my grandma’s gravy. I poured it all over the different foods on my plate, and wondered why it tasted so good, and what her almost secret ingredients were. As a vegan or vegetarian, the holidays can be a land mine. Luckily, we are in a golden age of meat-free living; there are a lot of alternatives out there. Whether you don’t fancy yourself a chef and prefer pickup, want convenience in the kitchen, or want to go all-out and cook a meal completely from scratch, there are options available. If you find it difficult to stick to your meat-free or completely animal-free lifestyle during this time of year, read on – there are no excuses! GET IT TO GO If you’re not into cooking, chances are you’re not into having to read through something to get the information you want, so here it is: Green New American Vegetarian. Green, who I’ve mentioned a few times in these columns, does a whole Thanksgiving feast. You can call ahead and pickup a meal to go. Call Green’s Phoenix location for details, 602-258-1870. CONVENIENCE COOKING Tofurky sells a meal box during the holiday season that comes complete with: tofurkey (fake turkey) roast, gravy, wild rice and whole-wheat breadcrumb stuffing, Tofurky Jurky Wishstix, and a fudge brownie. They are almost always available at Whole Foods during the holiday season. I’ve seen them here and there at other health food stores, but Whole Foods is the safe bet. FROM-SCRATCH HOMEMADE COOKIN’ Making traditional Thanksgiving food that tastes good, and happens to be vegan, will impress even the most skeptical that you can eat tasty, hearty food that’s animal free. For this portion I looked at the classic dishes served at Thanksgiving – turkey, cream corn, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and stuffing – to see what I could make vegan. While vegans are pretty out of luck when it comes to basically all-traditional Thanksgiving recipes, vegetarians are able to eat most of the food. The exceptions being meat broth in dishes like gravy and stuffing. Meat broths and stock are easily replaced with vegetable ones, without sacrificing the food’s flavor or consistency. Instead of a meat-based gravy, opt for a mushroom, herb and barley-based recipe. Recipes for mashed potatoes, cream corn, sweet potato casseroles and pumpkin pies call for ingredients like cream cheese, half-and-half and butter. It’s easy to swipe out cream cheese for Toffuti cream cheese, butter for original Earth Balance spreads, and half-and-half for Silk creamers. If you haven’t tried putting cream cheese in mashed potatoes, you are truly missing out on life. I use a recipe from the Pioneer Woman that calls for cream cheese and half-and-half. I use Toffuti cream cheese, then one cup of Silk vanilla creamer and one cup of unsweetened soy or almond milk (the original recipe calls for two cups of half-and-half). The creamer adds a subtle sweetness, that when combined with garlic salt and chives, really creates a balanced, and mouth-watering flavor. Veggie Beat Pumpkin pie and stuffing usually requires eggs. I find replicating the binding tendency of eggs with other ingredients to be extremely difficult when it comes to cooking vegan. For this column, I attempted to use flax seeds as a substitute. I had read that if you combine a tablespoon of ground flax seeds with three tablespoons of water, that a gel-like substance forms, and can be substituted for eggs. To good to be true? Sort of. While the gel-like substance did form, it broke up when it was mixed in with the other ingredients, leaving my pumpkin pie more like pumpkin pudding, which actually was pretty good. But, if you put the pie in the fridge overnight, the consistency hardens. Although it is still a lot softer than normal pumpkin pie, I was still able to cut the pie into pieces. The flax-gel did not quite bind the stuffing the way I wanted to either, but it was hardly noticeable. There are other egg substitutes out there like soft tofu, which is pretty hit or miss, depending on what you’re making. There are also egg replacers you can buy from Whole Foods that are usually pretty successful. Stuffing can turn out great without the egg. With so many different stuffing recipes out there, the Food Network offers a mix-and- match recipe, which lets you interchange the ingredients you like and want. I found that the trick to making delicious meat- and egg-free stuffing comes in the herbs and bread. Choosing good bread can make a big difference. I especially like using the Artisan sourdough loaves from Safeway, and baking them a bit so that they are hard when you mix them in with the other ingredients. Then, use herbs like thyme, sage, fennel and parsley to add a savory level of flavor to the mix. For vegetarians, I recommend adding MorningStar’s veggie sausage links (they are not vegan) to the base mix of onions and celery. One of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes is the green bean casserole. While I’ve always followed the canned-mushroom soup and French onion recipe, I was curious to see if I could replicate a vegan version of it. Alton Brown has a homemade recipe that calls for half-and-half and sautéed mushrooms instead of canned soup, and onions cut thin and baked with panko breadcrumbs instead of French onions. I subbed the half-and-half for creamer, and while the recipe wasn’t as “mushy” as the original, it was still good, and much lighter and cleaner tasting than the well-known recipe. When it comes to a turkey replacement, I recommend the Tofurky loaf. It is also sold individually from the box set. I’m sure there are homemade recipes out there, but to be honest, that’s more work than I want to do. competes in With a little effort and recipe alterations, Vegans can enjoy Thanksgiving dishes such as stuffing. La Grande Orange Grocery is now accepting Thanksgiving to-go orders Mary’s Free-Range Roasted Turkey and Rotisserie Prime Rib dinners with all the fixings, wine pairings and LGO Bake Shop desserts Let us do it all or order a la carte ! - Reserve by Monday, November 24th - visit www.lagrandeorangegrocery.com to download our order form thanksgiving dinner frOm LGO’s kiTchen TO yOur hOme with all the fixings, wine pairings and LGO Bake Shop desserts To any LGO Hospitality restaurant with mention of this ad and a minimum $100 Thanksgiving order. $ 25 gift card 4410 N. 40 th Street 602 840 7777