Bok Choy Bohemia | A Vegetarian Blog

Broccoli with Cheezy Sauce

2009-03-31T13:00:00.002-04:00

I had a tupperware of the V'con cheezy sauce left over from the Florentine, and when a coworker mentioned the comfort food dinner he'd made including some cheddar broccoli, I knew what I had to do.

YUM. I only wish I'd done a better job of draining the broccoli after steaming, because the green juice mixed into the cheezy sauce wasn't the best. Still good though...

Selah.

"Beef" N Broccoli over Lo Mein

2009-03-29T21:02:00.000-04:00

We haven’t had broccoli in a while, and broccoli always makes me think Chinese takeout, so that’s essentially what I did. I’m not sure what takeout places put on their beef and broccoli, because to my memory, it’s pretty different then what I came up with. It was still good though, so I can’t really complain.

Ingredients
1 large chunk seitan, sliced into bite sized pieces
2 crowns broccoli separated into “trees” (That’s what I call the florets)
¼ cup shoyu
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup water
Approx 3 tablespoons hoisen
Couple tablespoons Plum Sauce
1 teaspoon chili flakes.

Directions
In a large bowl, combine water and cornstarch, followed by all the other ingredients (including seitan) except the broccoli. Allow to marinate for about ten minutes.
In the meantime, heat a couple tablespoons of peanut oil in a wok. Add the broccoli, and once it’s been tossed to coat, pour in the remainder of the ingredients. This will take about ten minutes to cook completely, preferably covered. If all the sauce thickens and the broccoli isn’t fully cooked, add more water, a couple tablespoons at a time.

I elected to boil some organic lo mein noodles and toss them in with the seitan and broccoli when just about done, but you could serve this over rice or whatever grain rocks your boat. The only issue I had with the dish was that it was a bit slimy, but then cornstarch thickened sauce on pasta often gives me that impression.

Selah.

Tofu Florentine

2009-03-28T15:06:00.002-04:00

I didn't exactly have a light hand with the cheezy sauce (this is a V'con recipe, start to finish) But this was damn good. It went down over whole wheat sourdough since we didn't have potatoes or english muffins.

"Tell everyone your boy approves"
'Nuff said.

Selah.

BBQ Seitan and Spicy “Tuna” Sushi. Plus a really cool dish made with the extras

2009-03-27T09:22:00.001-04:00

First off, I need to give credit to an awesome condiment. I finally made the spicy sushi (or suSI as Bobby Flay would say) sauce from Just The Food and it’s great. I even put it in a squeeze bottle so I could drizzle fun patterns over the sushi.

There were a few different rolls going on here. For starters, I made my first ever rolls with the rice on the outside. Unfortunately they’re barely visible in the background of this picture, but the lighting sucked where I had them in the foreground. The first roll I made employed the remainder of the “tuna” with a generous dash of cayenne mixed in. I would’ve added the siracha? directly, but it was already in the sauce I was putting on top. I liked this better in sushi then as a sandwich, but it still wasn’t rocking my world.

I was much prouder of the second roll. Since I’m a sushi addict (oooooh sweet potato maki) I’ve been curious about the bbq chicken rolls recently appearing on sushi menus in my area, and I decided to give my own a try. I started by cutting some homemade seitan into slivers and getting it in a skillet with about two tablespoons of peanut oil and a quarter cup of BBQ sauce. (I’m currently obsessed with eating Annie’s Sweet N Tangy). This cooked for about ten minutes (with an occasional stir) until the BBQ sauce had formed a glaze on the seitan. In the meantime I attacked a couple zucchinis with a mandolin, slicing them into long slivers. Once the seitan had been removed, I cooked up one of the zucchinis until soft. Once the zucchini was done, I did the same to about a cup and a half of sliced button mushrooms.

The inside of the rolls started with a layer of zucchini, followed by a row of mushrooms, the bbq seitan, and then an extra line of bbq sauce. The inside-out rolls got a coating of black sesame seeds on the outside. SOOOO good. I elected not to dip these in shoyu, but my other half did. To each their own. I thought the spicy sauce was good on both rolls.

I seem to always have leftover filling when I make sushi, and this time was no exception. I cut the second sliced zucchini into large linguine style strips, and added them to the skillet with a bit of peanut oil. Once they’d softened and begun to resemble noodles (I use that term loosely) I added the remaining cooked mushrooms and seitan, along with about a teaspoon and a half of tandoori masala.

This was my favorite “sushi leftovers” dish to date….and I’ve made quite a few in my time.
Selah.

"Tuna" Salad and Lemon-Cherry Squares

2009-03-27T09:21:00.001-04:00

The tuna salad recipe came from Lindyloo over at
Yeah That Vegan Shit who got it from…somewhere else. I had to replace the red onion with white and I’d finished my celery in the wonton soup the day before, but I kept everything else more or less the same. Instead of kelp powder (which I should buy, because it’s awesome for you) I crumbled up a sheet of nori into the mix. I must admit, I wasn’t a huge fan of this. Maybe it’s because my chickpeas had a bit too much bite to them (blame goya, they canned the suckers) or maybe it was just too far off from actual tuna, but this didn’t do it for me. It was edible, sure…but not something I’d crave again.

I’ll blame it on the lack of celery, just because I can. I am considering reworking the recipe a bit and using minced oyster mushrooms instead of chickpeas, I find them much more “fishy” all things considered. I really wanted those deli toothpicks with colored cellophane on the tops to stick through this…not because it needed help staying together, but because it would’ve looked deli-esque, and sometimes I crave strange things. The kosher dill on the side was perfect though!

For my baking expedition of the day, I made the lemon squares from Bananas and Soymilk, replacing the strawberry-apple sauce with cherry-apple. I must admit that mine don’t look NEARLY as pretty as Virginia’s, but they tasted DAMN good. More than damn good, they were AMAZING. I’m not normally a fan of ooey-gooey sweet deserts, but these could put me at odds with my dentist, and FAST. Oh my yum.

Double thumbs up. If I had three thumbs it’d be a triple…but then that’d be pretty weird. Three thumbs…
Selah.

Coming Attractions

2009-03-26T11:27:00.002-04:00

There is a site redesign coming. I got sick of the blogger template and all its rigidity in what I can and can not do. I also got sick of blogger.

So I'm relocating to wordpress, and designing (ok my boyfriend who actually knows how to create websites is) a whole new site.

I'm not sure how long it will take to get everything together and up, but in the meantime I'll keep updating through blogger. Added bonus? Since I have my own url anyway you won't have to do any updating of the blogrolls...just keep visiting me here!

Selah.

Sesame Aspargus and an Old Favorite Improved

2009-03-25T22:40:00.002-04:00

I made a green salad with the homemade miso dressing from Vegetarian Planet as well, but it isn't pictured.

I said there would be more asparagus if they continued to look so delicious, and here it is:

This is the sesame asparagus recipe from VwaV, which is really simple, but good. I've never had an issue with Asparagus and soy sauce to date, and I was pretty happy with this. I managed to undercook the asparagus a BIT, so that the thicker fronds had a little more crunch then I like, but they were still very yummy.

The entree of tonight's meal was the Lychee Seitan I came up with awhile ago, but with the additions of some sliced red bell and carrots.

Not only did this photograph beautifully, but it tasted great too...I think I'm just obsessed with lychees. They're so damn good.

Selah.

Wonton Soup

2009-03-25T15:08:00.002-04:00

Just another quick lunch entree to prove that I am, in fact alive. I wish I could figure out how to make wontons like this, cause these were GOOD.

The broth was a quick combination of sliced ginger, Korean hot sauce, salt and pepper. I added some sliced mushrooms and leftover celery just before the water boiled, and then some vegetarian dumplings I got from the Asian market. I couldn't even tell you what the wontons are called, because the entire package is in Chinese except for the words "Vegetarian Wontons" across the front. They have bok choy in them, and perhaps silken tofu if my taste buds aren't deceiving me. I think there might be miso in there as well...they're nice and savory.

Mmmm I love wontons.
Selah.

Mexican Night!

2009-03-22T17:13:00.001-04:00

I actually don’t think I’ve had a hard taco shell since high school…early high school, so I was pretty excited when we decided to do Mexican Night. We got a package of tortillas, and another of the hard taco shell, and set up a Mexican Food assembly line.

Personally, I went for a taco and an enchilada type thing…really it was a taco, but I tried to roll it up instead of just folding in half:

We got some of the Smartchoice? Chikn Strips, which I sautéed in extra virgin olive oil with a sprinkle of cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Once they were turning golden-brown, I turned the heat off. In another skillet, I sautéed some red bell pepper, onion, and jalapeno with salt, pepper, cumin, and chipotle seasoning. YUM!

The tacos (and enchiladas!) were a stacking process. They started with the Chik’n, peppers and onions, and then got toppings of shredded bibb lettuce, diced tomatoes, Spicy Vegetarian refried beans, and spinach-avocado dip. (All the avocados in the store were rock hard, and this was the closest they had to guacamole.) There was also salsa and shredded cheese, both of which I stayed away from this time around.

The only thing this was missing was a side of Spanish rice….next time…I’ll do it next time.
Selah.

Black Bean Un-Koftas, Crumbled Potatoes with Edamame, and Red Cooked Daikon

2009-03-20T10:25:00.001-04:00

This was a very ethnic meal, which I’m sometimes thrilled with, and other times they can be a flop. This one was good. Flipping through Brand Name Chinese, I saw a recipe for lamb koftas, which are meatballs with an almond stuffed inside, covered with a thick yogurt based gravy. Commence mission veganize:

I came up with my own “meatball” recipe based loosely on a combination of their instructions for lamb ones and the beanballs from V’con. That follows:

Ingredients
1 15.5 ounce can black beans, drained
½ cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup vital wheat gluten
2 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs tomato paste
2 tbs. soy sauce
4 tbs. cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp garam masala

Directions
Preheat oven to 375. Mash the beans in a bowl until pretty smooth. Add all the other ingredients, and mix until uniform. Feel free to get your hands in there and do some kneading to activate the gluten. I did…but then I really enjoy being tactile with my food.
Shape the mixture into balls slightly larger than walnuts. Grease a large glass casserole dish, and place the balls about 1 inch apart. Drizzle more oil over the tops of the beanballs.
Bake for 20 minutes at 375F, Flip, and bake for another 10 minutes, remove.

I elected not to stuff an almond inside the balls, just because I wasn’t really in the mood for a nutty surprise. Knowing me, I’d forget it was in there and choke on the thing. You could definitely do it though, and keep everything else about the recipe the same. I copied the gravy directly from the cookbook, so I can’t share that recipe, but I can say that I replaced the yogurt with ¾ cup of plain soy milk. It was delicious.

The latter two recipes were from Madhur’s World Vegetarian, and I was pretty happy with both. The potato dish tasted very good, although they were more like heavily flavored mashed potatoes then crumbled potatoes…I mean they were crumbled….until they were boiled with water for twenty minutes. I’ve always been a fan of potato dishes with turmeric, which was definitely delivered in this:

The dish was supposed to mix peas in with the potatoes, but I only had edamame, so I went with that. Peas would’ve been good too…

Last but not least, was something called ‘red-cooked daikon’. This was supposed to simply be daikon stewed with scallions, but I had to replace scallions with leftover bok choy. This also wasn’t red, so if someone could explain the name to me I’d really appreciate it.

I did learn how to roll-cut daikon in the process of making this recipe, but I still don’t understand why it’s called roll-cutting…there’s nothing “rolled” about it. Basically, you’re cutting the radish into triangles. I’ve decided I very much like my daikon cooked until tender though, so this is something I’ll be doing again.

Selah.

Asian Noodle Soup with Bok Choy and Shitake Mushrooms, Bok Choy, Edamame, Cashew and Orange Rice, and Cold Asparagus with Korean Sauce

2009-03-18T21:26:00.004-04:00

You know what's really annoying? Cookbooks that feel the need to name every recipe after ALL of its ingredients, so that my blog title is about three feet long. Obviously they were thinking of what this would do to me when they published the cookbook...and I DON'T appreciate the sentiment.

But all that aside, this dinner was the tale of two YUMS and an "eh". Interestingly enough, the best looking dish of the bunch gave us the "eh". That would be the rice, pictured here:

Along with the forthcoming soup, this recipe came from Vegan Express, the new cookbook by Nava Atlas. It came to me via the "new releases" shelf at the library...what can I say, I'm drawn to anything that start with "veg". The rice looked really pretty, and was even fun to make, but it tasted very average, middle-of-the-road, boring...and I wouldn't bother with doing it again. Admittedly I burned the cashews, but that was still one of the more flavorful parts of the dish.

The soup didn't look as pretty, but it tasted awesome. Umami is the word I believe. (Always wanted to use that in a sentence, SCORE). I'm pretty sure the success of this dish lies in my overdoing the shoyu, but I can remember to do that again in the future. This also called for Udon noodles, but I replaced them with soba, because frankly, udon reminds me of large worms.

By tomorrow I'll be able to eat the leftovers with chopsticks...the one downside to putting soba in soup is that it soaks up liquid like a shammy. (Anyone else a huge Vince with Shamwow fan?). Wow, I have some serious blogging ADD today.

Last but not least, was the Asparagus in Korean Sauce, which was a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. This was REALLY exciting, not just because the sauce is delicious (it is) but because the asparagus we bought this week was so damn awesome.

These asparagus were long, slender, crisp, and bright green. I blanched them for exactly two minutes, then drained and ran them under cold water to stop the cooking process. If the asparagus continue to look like this, I'll be eating them pretty much continuously for the next few weeks, and you can expect a lot more asparagus recipes coming to a blog near you...

Selah.

Tofu Dill Salad Sandwiches

2009-03-18T13:50:00.002-04:00

I'm becoming a very big fan of lunch...I've been rediscovering the sandwich of late.
Today I went with the Tofu Dill Sandwiches from VwaV, mostly because the ingredients were really basic and I had them...mostly. I had to replace the red onion with white, and the fresh dill with its dried counterpart. All the same, this was delicious.

I heaped this up on the remnants of the bread I made last week, along with a sliced tomato and some baby spinach. I must say my breath smells quite strongly of dill now...but there are worse things in life. I like the smell of dill...

Selah.

Mushroom and Onion Burger

2009-03-15T00:09:00.001-04:00

The burgers themselves weren’t mushroom and onion, they were the ones I made A couple weeks ago and froze for enjoyment on a later date.

I reconstituted some shitake mushrooms from the pantry, and then sliced them into slivers. They went into a medium skillet with half a large onion, cut into slivers, a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and a dosing of balsamic vinegar. Once the onions started to soften a bit, I added a grind each of black pepper, sea salt, and some mesquite seasoning. These stayed in the skillet, stirred from time to time, until the onions had cooked all the way down and caramelized.

I swear there IS a burger under there…although it definitely wasn’t the star of this lunch. In all honesty, I ended up pushing the bread aside and simply eating the burger with the mushrooms and onions….like fast food, but so much better…and easy.

Selah.

Meatloaf (The Band) and Banana Split Pudding Brownies

2009-03-13T12:21:00.001-04:00

Being somewhat fed up with the crumbly, rather bland, veggie meatloafs I’ve had in the past, I decided it was high time to try one of my own….and I was pretty happy with the results. It was somewhat crumbly until it had cooled for awhile and set up, but it still held its shape much better than some cookbook versions I’ve tried.

Ingredients
1 cup dried TVP granules
1 cup red wine (I used a California Shiraz)
1 cup “chikn” stock
½ cup vital wheat gluten
½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
2 tbs fire-roasted tomato paste
¼ cup ketchup
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. dried tarragon
Salt and pepper (to taste)
1 medium onion, minced
½ green bell pepper; minced
1 large (or two smaller) zucchini, shredded
2 tbs. minced garlic
1 tbs liquid smoke
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions
In a medium sized bowl, reconstitute the TVP in the stock.
Heat a skillet over med/high heat, and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, pepper, and zucchini. When the veggies have started to sweat out a bit, season with tarragon, salt, and pepper. Allow onions to become translucent, and then add the TVP, tomato paste, ketchup and liquid smoke. Once all the skillet contents have been mixed together, add the cup of wine and allow to simmer for approx. 10 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed.
Combine all the skillet ingredients with the wheat gluten and breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Pour into a loaf pan, and flatten the top. Refrigerate for 30 minutes minimum, or until cool. Preheat oven to 350F.
When you remove the loaf from the fridge, combine maple syrup and cayenne in a small bowl. Use a brush to coat the top of the loaf with the mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes at 350F and then allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

I was VERY happy with this. My proudest achievement was the maple/cayenne topping, which just as I had hoped, got sweet and crunchy during the baking process. The loaf was nice and moist, which I attribute to the zucchini and full cup of wine…a factor that also gave it a nice depth of flavor. I wish this was a bit more solid in terms of holding together, but in terms of flavor, it just couldn’t get any better. I’m extremely proud. TVP, liquid smoke, and wine….it’s just SO GOOD. It almost got me humming a lil’ power ballad from the 80s….note the name.

For desert, I tried out the banana split pudding brownies from VwaV. Since I only had about half as much raw sugar as the recipe called for, I had to replace the rest with brown sugar. I also had half as much flour as needed, and replaced the rest with rice flour which WAS rolling around in my pantry. For the record, I’d vouch for these becoming gluten-free, because they worked great with the rice flour. I considered tapioca flour as well…perhaps another time.

This is a SERIOUS brownie. The banana topping that sinks into it, is ooey-gooey, fruity, and sweet. The brownie part is seriously rich, and frankly I can’t even imagine topping this with sliced banana, although some soy vanilla ice cream would’ve been key. Mmmmm brownies. If you haven’t tried these yet, what on earth are you waiting for? Apparently alterations don’t hurt them much.

Selah.

Un-Crabcakes and Southwestern Corn Pudding

2009-03-12T13:17:00.003-04:00

This was a Southern themed dinner, albeit from different sides of the south.

Representing the Bayou, we have Vegan Dad's Crispy Cajun Crabcakes
Mine looked nothing like his, but they tasted pretty darn good...I suppose I just don't have his skill as far as beautiful food goes.

Mine were also more yellow then red, which makes perfect sense considering the largest flavor component was chickpeas. Then again, my mix was pretty red before cooking. I also doubled the hot sauce, which if anything, should've made mine even redder than Vegan Dad's. But hey...they tasted great, so who cares.

We dipped these in ketchup, which was yummy, they were bit dry eaten as is. I also got 9 out of the mix...not 12, and mine looked significantly smaller than his, I can't explain it. But again...we really enjoyed them...so really, who sweats the small stuff?

I also made the Southwestern Corn Pudding from V'con, which I'd been eying. I expected it to be like a very moist cornbread, which was inaccurate...it was so much better!

I replaced the Jalapenos with a Manzana chili simple because that's what I had. As a result, this had a serious kick, which is fine by me, it was so creamy overall the kick was welcome. This reminded me of creamed corn...but good. I always thought creamed corn was nasty, but when I tried this yesterday, the first thought that came to my mind was "creamed corn...YUM" Now maybe it's because I haven't had creamed corn in years, and don't actually remember what it tastes like anymore, but regardless, this was creamy, corny, and SPICY. Yum.

Selah.

Simple Crusty Bread and Straw Mushroom Pasta

2009-03-12T13:02:00.004-04:00

Hey I'm getting the hang of this baking thing!

I'll be honest...the entire purpose behind making this was that I'm having a HORRIBLE week, and needed to punch something..err...knead, I meant knead.
I found this recipe at the New York Times Website, and they weren't kidding when they call it SIMPLE crusty bread. This has 3 ingredients...that's it. Even I have a hard time screwing something up with three ingredients. I got three loaves out of this one recipe, so I'm going to have a lot of carbs with my meals over the next few days...which is fine by me.

To back up the bread...I made something I've been thinking about for awhile...Straw Mushroom "pasta".

I started things off by sauteing a couple cloves of minced garlic in olive oil. I added the straw mushrooms next (cut off the large stem and separate them as best you can) and once those were starting to soften up, I added about half a cup of canned organic tomato sauce along with dry oregano, cracked pepper, and a couple handfuls of baby spinach. Everything was stirred together until the sauce was starting to bubble, and then served up with some of the fresh baked bread.

This wasn't bad...but it still tasted like I was trying to do something Italian to mushrooms. It was a cool idea, but not quite right, something about it just seemed "off" to me...and I think it was the mushroomy-ness. A nice thought though....and it looked awful pretty.

Selah.

Tempeh Reuben

2009-03-09T13:39:00.002-04:00

Since I'm back on 3-11s 4 days a week, I've been making myself lunch and eating a conglomeration of fruit and leftovers for dinner while at work. I'm really unhappy with it, but there isn't much choice, so today, I'm sharing some lunch:

I made the tempeh reuben from VwaV with a couple minor changes. The instructions say to grill the tempeh but I haven't got a grill pan, and it's snowing outside so I'm not dragging the hibachi onto the balcony. Instead, I cooked up the tempeh in some peanut oil tempeh bacon style, and skipped buttering up the bread, toasting it in the remainder of the peanut oil instead. Yum!

I wasn't able to marinate this for quite a full hour due to time constraints, but it was still awful good. Then again, with all the sauerkraut, avocado, and homemade thousand island, I barely knew the tempeh was in there. I'd have to say the avocado was my favorite part, and I don't even think that's a traditional reuben ingredient. Then again, I hate swiss cheese (traditional) wouldn't come within a mile of the traditional corned beef, and while I can do the kraut...it certainly wasn't my favorite ingredient. So yes, this sandwich is delicious, and thank GD I never had to eat the original.

Selah.

AppleSauce Oat-Bran Muffins

2009-03-08T12:51:00.002-04:00

Yet another muffin of the week...this one being the Apple Sauce Oat Bran muffins from V'con.

I used Organic Apple-Raspberry sauce instead of plain old Apple, and for the suggested dried fruit, I decided to venture a bit out of the box and chop up some dates. GREAT IDEA. The dates were sweet and delicious, and retained all their moisture during the baking process. I probably could've even limited the brown sugar a bit since the dates are so sweet naturally. Next time...

These would be great with a little margarine, although I had no problem polishing off a couple plain as soon as they came out of the oven...

Selah.

Honey Ginger Tofu

2009-03-06T16:30:00.001-05:00

This was a recipe from Rachael Ray’s $40 A Day cookbook, and it just didn’t work. It’s entirely possible that this was my fault. I replaced the chicken with tofu, and didn’t squeeze it out beforehand, so it didn’t crisp up as much as I wanted it to. I also replaced the cornstarch with arrowroot powder, because that’s what I have. The decision was between Arrowroot and Agar Agar (GD forbid I could find corn starch…somehow the other two alternatives are better available where I shop) long story short…the sauce never thickened. Not one bit. Apparently I’ve got some things to learn about arrowroot usage. The vegetables were also supposed to be cooked for about 2 minutes….I may have accidentally left them in longer then that. When I first grabbed the honey from the fridge I couldn’t squeeze anything out of it, so I nuked. I nuked too long…the honey became liquid. Undoubtedly this contributed to my “non-thick” sauce.

I also didn’t have the mint or cilantro to garnish, since without thinking, I finished both off in the coconut chutney that went with the samosas.

Long story short, with the Gomasio and pickled ginger mixed in, this was ok. It was barely ok though, and I wouldn’t even give it a decent. It’s entirely possible the failure was on my shoulders. But my biggest issue with this was a blandness of flavor, not necessarily a lack of texture, so the recipe may also suck. I’m not sure where the issue lies, but I don’t think I’m motivated to try it again. Not everything can be a success….

Selah.

Kimchee, Potato-Edamame Samosas with Coconut Mint Chutney, and Lo Mein

2009-03-05T12:21:00.003-05:00

I'd been wanting to try out the Quick Kimchee from Vegetarian Planet for awhile now, and I finally got around to it this week. Granted, it's been awhile since I've had real kimchee, but I'm pretty sure this tasted nothing like the real thing. Or looked anything like the real thing...

This actually reminded me a lot of the hot n sour slaw from the same cookbook, both of which are good, I'm just not entirely sure what the difference is. All the same it tastes good (and very tangy thanks to my liberal dosing with the rice vinegar)...I'm just not sure I can call it kimchee.

The second part of dinner was the Potato-Edamame Samosas with Coconut-Mint Chutney from VwaV. I was fairly certain I had potatoes....after making the dough, I discovered all I had was a solitary sweet potato. Fortunately, it was a pretty big sweet potato, and with the other ingredients for the filling, worked out great. I'm actually glad I didn't have any white potatoes, it probably wouldn't have been as good. I was also shocked at how easy these were to put together, especially considering how many times I've failed miserably at trying to form ravioli.

The true star of this though, was without a doubt, the chutney. The chutney was DELICIOUS. Frankly I would've eaten clods of dirt dipped in the chutney and enjoyed them. I may play around with the samosas a bit, but I know I'll be making this chutney again, that's for sure.

Last but not least, I'd picked up some pan fried noodles at the Asian Market yesterday, and tossed together a quick lo mein style dish to go along with the meal.

The lo mein started off with some peanut oil to cook the minced garlic, onion, carrots and button mushrooms. After about 7 minutes, the noodles went in, along with about 1/3 cup of water, 1/4 cup shoyu, and a generous drizzle of dark sesame oil and sezchuan oil. (I can't spell that for the life of me) This was simple and delicious...and tasted just like takeout....a factor I'll chalk up to the store bought noodles...

Selah.

Spinach Vichyssoise with Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy

2009-03-01T22:24:00.003-05:00

I'd never actually made a Vichyssoise before, and frankly I think the name is rather ridiculous. Basically it's a creamed veggie soup with lots of milk...or in my case, soy milk. Big whoop. This version came from Vegetarian Planet and it was ok...the salt and pepper were what made it, otherwise this pretty much would've been flavorless goop. On the bright side, the rocking green color it got from the spinach was pretty rad.

I topped this with some fresh chives and cracked white pepper, which seemed quite fitting, and I obviously skipped the sour cream called for by the recipe. I think that would've been better suited if I was serving it cold anyway.

For a main course, I made the stewed tofu and potatoes with miso gravy from VwaV. This definitely isn't a photo-friendly dish....in fact there's really nothing good looking about it, but it's really good. Very salty, yes...but also really good.

I'm not sure what difference (if any) it would've made if I'd found chickpea miso, I wasn't about to put any serious effort into seeking it when I already had light and dark sitting in the fridge. I used the light version for this dish in an attempt to mellow it out a bit, although in all honesty, it didn't do a ton in that regard. Still good though, very good.

Selah.

Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins

2009-02-28T17:34:00.002-05:00

This week I decided to try out the Mocha Chocolate Chip muffins from VwaV.

Let me summarize these for you. Chocolate cake. Shaped like a muffin. Shot of espresso included. AMAZING.

Selah.

Vegan Quesadillas

2009-02-27T22:10:00.002-05:00

Now I realize that Vegan quesadillas is an oxymoron...what with queso meaning cheese and all..but I wasn't sure what else to call them. This was actually a conglomeration of a couple Vegan Dad recipe from the cookbook, but since I'm an over achiever, I went and found them on the site for you as well.

The main idea came from his Potato-Cheese quesadillas. I made the tortillas from the recipe, and did the potato filling, although I tripled the hot sauce. Instead of using Vegan cheese, I mixed in about 1/3 cup of Nooch. In the search for a protein of sorts, I made his Tofu Chick'n from the wrap recipe.

The quesadillas were filled with the potato mixture and generous handful of the tofu chick'n. They were folded in half and then pressed down in a cast iron skillet for about 30 seconds a side, just to heat things up a bit.

I drenched everything in salsa, because that's what I do, but I'm excited to report I didn't miss the cheese in this AT ALL. In fact, it occurred to me as I was eating that greasy cheese melted over all the great flavors inside probably would've killed this. Now I just need to figure out nachos without cheese...that'll be harder for me.

Selah.

Mushroom Curry

2009-02-25T21:12:00.003-05:00

This is a recipe I'd been wanting to try from Melbedggood since we're always up for trying new mushroom recipes over here. I added some chopped scallions to the recipe for a bit of green, and used a full teaspoon of hot Asian chili paste.

I'm pretty sure I also doubled the tomato paste, although I wasn't really measuring as I squeezed it out of the tube. (side note: tomato paste in a tube is my new favorite thing, ever). Thanks to my alterations, this was VERY hot, but also deliciously tomatoey, through which I thought the heat was fine. Then again my opinion of "ok" heat is about 6 levels above most people's, so I wouldn't take my word on it if I were you.

All the same, props to Melbedggood for a great recipe...which coincidentally, was delicious over couscous. Go figure.

Selah.

Sweet Potato-Watercress Hash, Stir-Fried Turnip Greens, and Asian Marinated Tofu

2009-02-25T17:43:00.001-05:00

I realize that the sweet potato hash recipe in VwaV is supposed to be a breakfast food, but I really don’t think I’d want it for breakfast. The sweet potatoes are very rich and savory, and watercress is simply not a breakfast vegetable as far as I’m concerned. Don’t get me wrong, this was REALLY good, I’m just glad I chose to make it for dinner. I’m not sure how Isa cooked her sweet potatoes in 12-15 minutes like the recipe said though. I ended up covering mine (which wasn’t in the recipe) and it still took over half an hour for them to really get soft. I never even made it to the caramelizing step, since I was too hungry by that point. In the future I think I’d treat this as I do a normal hash…boiling the potatoes first, and THEN adding them to the skillet to crisp up.

I’d never had turnip greens before, but I saw them at the market this week, and was curious. I used the easy stir fried greens recipe from V’con, and was quite happy with the result. As it turns out, Turnip Greens are a bit bitter, and probably not my absolute favorite flavor (I much prefer milder greens like chard and spinach) but this wasn’t bad. The sauce ingredients definitely made the recipe. I might have mixed some sliced button mushrooms into this if I’d thought of it; they would’ve added some nice dimension to the dish. Something to keep in mind for the future…

Last but not least, were the tofu steaks, which I kind of screwed up. I used the Asian marinade recipe from V’con, and once again, decided to bake the tofu in the marinade. At some point during the 45 minutes at 400F, the sauce completely cooked away, in the process concentrating the shoyu, and making these much too salty for my liking. (someone else might tell you it’s a matter of opinion) When I make this recipe again, I’ll either drain the marinade before cooking, or halve the amount of Shoyu, so there isn’t so much in there to concentrate into the tofu. The crispiness on this was great though, so I’m happy with that.

Mmmm, I like an Asian inspired dinner that doesn’t involve pasta or rice of some variety; I’m thinking this is something I should do more often.

Selah.

Javanese-ish Noodles

2009-02-24T17:20:00.001-05:00

Originally, I was trying to make the recipe for Javanese Noodles from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. I’m not entirely sure what her dish was supposed to look and taste like, because apparently it was written above a BA reading level, and I got totally confused and lost at some point. Since I’d already had to replace a couple ingredients due to availability, I figured “what the heck” and ended up doing my own thing, which was a pretty standard spiced pasta dish. If you’ve got the cookbook and want to try and figure out the real thing…go for it. Then let me know how it’s supposed to taste. This is what I made:

And this is (more or less, to my memory) is how I made it.

Ingredients
1 lb fettuccini noodles, cooked al dente.
3 large tomatoes, diced
1 13 ounce can black eyed peas
Approx. 20 basil leaves, julienned
½ cup minced cilantro leaves
3 shallots, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup mung bean sprouts
2 manzana chilis, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
1 tbs. ground asafetida
2 tsp. ground mustard
1 tbs. curry powder
4 tablespoons peanut oil
Salt
1.5 cups water

Directions
1. Put a pot of salted water on to boil. Once it has reached a rolling boil, add the noodles.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and add 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil. Once the oil is hot, add the asafetida, 1 tsp of the mustard and all of the curry powder. Allow the spices to toast for about a minute before adding the shallots, one pepper, and basil. Sautee until the shallot is translucent.
3. Add the tomato, beans, and 1.5 cups of water to the shallot mixture. Stir, bring to a boil, and then lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for 7-8 minutes or until tomatoes have broken down into more of a sauce.
4. Uncover the sauce, and add cilantro, tamarind paste and salt, to taste. Stir again, and cover, allowing to simmer for 15 minutes this time. If the sauce looks too thick, feel free to add a bit more water.
5. While the sauce is simmering, pour remaining peanut oil into a small/medium skillet over low/medium heat. Once hot, add the peanut oil and 1 tsp. of the ground mustard. After 30 seconds, throw in the two remaining shallots, pepper, and mung bean sprouts. Sautee for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.
6. Drain the Pasta, and pour into a large bowl. Add the sauce that’s been simmering, and mix well. Top each individual serving with the mung bean mixture. Enjoy.

I under salted this a bit, so if you’re giving it a shot, try not to make that mistake. Fortunately, you can always add salt on individual servings, so it wasn’t a big deal. When push comes to shove, the topping was definitely the best part of this dish. I loved the crunch of the bean sprouts interspersed with the noodles, and as usual, I was a fan of the kick from the peppers. I do wish I knew what the dish was ACTUALLY supposed to look/taste like, but as meals go, I was fairly happy with my own rendition. I might also increase the tamarind to 3 tablespoons, or add a bit of lemon juice for some additional acid, but it’s not totally necessary.

And what part of the world does Javanese refer to anyway? Sorry if that makes me look un-educated, I’ve heard the term before but really don’t know…

Selah.

Carrot Bisque and Cornmeal Blueberry Sunshine Muffins

2009-02-22T18:45:00.002-05:00

This was another VwaV night, and as has been my experience with the cookbook, a total success.

I'd never made a carrot soup before, but decided it was high time to give it a try, and I'm happy that I did. This actually reminded me a lot of baby food, which is totally not a bad thing...I've been known to enjoy some fruity varieties of baby food past my baby years...shhh don't tell!

I do think I'd make this a complete puree in the future...it would be absolutely to die for in a smooth and creamy form. It was great with some texture, but I think a real puree would class things up a little bit. It would also make it thermos ready, and who doesn't want classy carrot bisque in a thermos? The flavor also reminded me of something I've had before, but I still can't put my finger on exactly what that is.

The muffins were TO DIE FOR. These retain a pretty serious crunch from the cornmeal, which might be a turn-off to some people, but was probably my favorite part. I didn't have soy yogurt in the fridge, but I upped the soy milk a bit and it seemed to work fine. These weren't dry at all.

As Isa says in the book, I'm sure they'd be great with a bit of margarine, but they're just fine plain as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't want to weigh them down with anything additional.

Selah.

Pepper Bake and Pad Thai

2009-02-20T21:42:00.003-05:00

The pepper bake is actually a thicker version of a flatbread, and is VERY good. The recipe came from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian and was real easy to make. There's no yeast involved, as I'm sure you can tell from the picture, although it does require you to cover and leave it alone for an hour before cooking.

The inside of this is soft and moist, and the onion and pepper provide great flavor. The only complaint I have is that the hot pepper I minced into the bread batter lost all of its heat in the cooking process, robbing me of the kick I was hoping for. Perhaps I need to go with habanero over manzano chilis next time...

The Pad Thai was a conglomeration deal...

I made the sauce from the Brooklyn Pad Thai in VwaV, and instead of tofu, used the chicken nugget recipe from Vegan Dad's Cookbook. I skipped the breading of the nuggets, and cut them into strips before adding them to the wok with the other pad thai ingredients.

There weren't many vegetables in the fridge for me to add to this, but we did have garlic, lemongrass, a full onion, and a handful of fresh basil. I cut the onion into slivers, and sauteed it along with the garlic, lemongrass and chick'n. The sauce went in along with cooked bean thread noodles (damned if I can tell the difference between those and rice noodles) and everything simmered for a few minutes. The basil was julienned and mixed in when I turned off the heat.

I wish I'd had some more vegetables to put in this, but it was delicious with what we had. This also didn't taste very peanuty, although I added a couple of tablespoons PB to the sauce to make up for the roasted peanuts which I didn't have. The tomato paste really shone through though, and made for a wonderfully bold dish that I can't wait to make again...

Selah.

Pink Bean and Quinoa Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce, and Italian Tofu over Wilted Spinach

2009-02-20T12:21:00.002-05:00

Who ever would've thought to do a croquette with quinoa? I swear Isa is a genius...
I was worried these would never stay together, but I'm glad to report that I was dead wrong. Until they were hit with a fork, these held their shape perfectly, and that's all I can ask for.

Recipe from VwaV

The recipe is actually supposed to be made with black eyed peas, but I didn't have any of those, and there was 3/4 of a can of pink beans that's been sitting in the fridge for about a week. I'm sure the black eyed peas would've been good too, but I loved them as is. The mushroom sauce was great as well, although I put in a bit too much tamari for my liking...my counterpart was thrilled with it though. These also would've been great served in a more Italian style with a marinara dipping sauce...like mozzarella sticks, but SO much better...

On the Italian front, I made some of the Italian Marinated Tofu, also from VwaV, and served that up over some quick wilted baby spinach.

Isa recommended marinating for an hour, and then draining the liquid before baking the tofu for 30 minutes at 400F. I actually made the marinade in the casserole dish, and after marinating for an hour, put the entire thing in the oven. It spent 40 minutes at 350F with the croquettes, and then I turned things up to 400F for the last ten. This ended up being nice and chewy, and very well flavored, since it soaked up every last bit of marinade during the cooking process. I only wish I'd had twice as much spinach to wilt down...it always amazes me how it melts away to nothing in seconds...

Selah.

Maple-Mustard Glazed Potatoes and String Beans

2009-02-17T19:49:00.002-05:00

VwaV...you went off, and you did it again, these are AMAZING. As usual I went ahead and jazzed things up a bit by mincing a hot pepper and adding it to the mix, but the sauce was all Isa.

I could've eaten the entire casserole dish worth of this by myself, but sadly, I had to share. These are sweet, tender, spicy (at least my version is), and straight up comforting. A big bowl of this after a tough week at work would probably be my ideal for a friday night.

I'm glad I started prepping this early and actually read the recipe, because I hadn't realized it needs about an hour and a half in the oven. This definitely is not a thirty minute meal...but it's totally worth it. It would make a great side dish with tofu or seitan as the protein, but I skipped the traditional protein tonight and went with a side salad and some leftover kugel. Yum.

Selah.

Cauliflower-Leek Kugel with Herbed Almond Topping

2009-02-16T19:29:00.002-05:00

I feel pretty safe saying that I'm something of a kugel expert. I am infinitely familiar with sweet desert kugels...sweet dinner kugels....vegetable kugels...noodle kugels...meat kugels (although I haven't had one in years) you name it...I've probably had it in kugel form.

This VwaV recipe, however, was my first vegan kugel, and the actual kugel part was damn good. I replaced the matzos in the recipe with sourdough flatbread crackers which lent the dish a pretty exciting dimension...I just thought the topping was a bit much.

When I make this again (and I will make this again) I'll probably just mix together parsley, dill and panko with a bit of olive oil for the topping. I just didn't need all the almond and additional crackers in there, it was a bit too much crunch for me.

Selah.

Valentines Dinner

2009-02-15T17:32:00.002-05:00

This was me and my boyfriend's third V'Day together and we did the same thing we have the last couple years, which is cook a nice dinner together, for just the two of us. This was the first time our Valentines dinner was completely Vegan, although with all the coconut milk it was beyond decadent, there was certainly no one wanting for dairy here...

In VwaV, Isa says that Sweet Potato Crepes with Cilantro-Tamarind sauce are the perfect Valentines day meal because they're sexy. I'm not sure about that, but they taste damn good.

The recipe says to chill the crepe batter for half an hour, but after leaving it for about 40 minutes I discovered it had become way too thick for crepes, and had to add a solid cup of water to loosen things up. That was the only issue I had with these, and the sauce is DAMN GOOD. I'd eat that stuff on my toast in the morning if I could...it'd get a bit messy though.

We decided to pair up the crepes with Green Thai Curry on the preceding page in VwaV, not just for proximity, but because a lot of the ingredients overlapped, and I'm big on having complimenting flavors in my meals.

Unfortunately I added a bit too much lime juice and not quite enough maple syrup, which I figured out too late. The result was a rather tart curry, which wasn't bad, but also wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I'd also refrain from frying up the tofu as well as we had beforehand because it stayed pretty dry and didn't soak up the flavor of the curry which I found disappointing. That's a personal thing though. Some people might prefer texture to flavor, in which case you should go right ahead and get those triangles golden. This would also be really good over rice, although we ate it as-is.

I left the desert making to the boy, since I have a penchant for screwing up sweets. He made the strawberry cobbler with lemon-poppy seed crust from V'con, minus the rose water, since after going 4 separate places we couldn't find any. It was replaced with almond extract, which seemed to work fine.

That's a scoop of Mango gelato on top, it couldn't have been a better finish. It's impossible to tell with a single serving, but I would like to give credit for the GORGEOUS lattice crust he made, I would never have been that talented...

Selah.

No-Rise Bread

2009-02-15T17:16:00.003-05:00

Even a non-baker like me couldn't screw this up. (too bad; the bottom did burn a bit) This bread was deliciously crusty on the outside and luxuriously soft on the inside. It was great for sopping up all the sauce from the vegan baked ziti that was sadly gobbled up too fast for a picture.

This is the bread:

It's not actually orange, it just looks that way because the sun was beaming down on my kitchen table when I took the picture, and the alternative was looking blue. I find orange much more appetizing. The recipe is from The Kitchn which also has a very exciting looking slow rise bread, I was just too hungry to wait that long on this particular occasion.

The idea for the ziti came from VegTimes via LindyLoo at "Yeah that Vegan Shit" She made the ultimate lasagna and was less than impressed, but couldn't speak highly enough of the tofu ricotta filling, so I decided to give it a shot. I skipped the onion/garlic/spinach step, combining tofu, cream cheez, olive oil, basil, nooch, and salt and pepper in a blender. I mixed that with TONS of tomato sauce, and once the ziti had cooked to al dente added it to the mixture. The whole mess went into a casserole dish and I coated the top with panko. It spent 25 minutes, covered, in a 375F oven, and then another ten without the foil to brown the panko. Perfection. Seriously. I never want baked ziti with animal derived cheese again, this was WAY too good. The cream cheez is key to making it creamy and fulfilling.

Baked ziti and bread reminded me of Italian takeout in school...but so much better cause I made it...

Selah.

Sweet N Spicy Stir Fry

2009-02-13T10:46:00.002-05:00

Making this over Ramen was a mistake, but otherwise it wasn't bad. The dish was a little too sweet for me, and the spice was lost in all the sauce. Next time I'd probably halve the sugar and double the chili flakes, but other than that, the foundations of a good sauce are there.

I'll post the recipe as I made it, but if you're going to give it a shot, I'd definitely recommended half the sugar and twice the chili.

Ingredients
1 scallion, sliced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1.5 cups pineapple juice

Directions
1. Create a slurry by combining the rice vinegar and cornstarch.
2. In a pot over high heat, bring pineapple juice,sugar, scallion and red pepper to a boil. Stir in the cornstarch mixture, bring back to a boil, and then cook.
3. Use as desired.

Selah.

REALLY GROSS Pasta Salad and Portabella Burgers

2009-02-11T19:31:00.003-05:00

I knew as I was making this that it would be gross. The ingredients were just plain weird, but I kept at it anyway, pulling things out of the fridge and combining them, more out of sheer boredom than anything else. I was right, this was gross, and I won't even bother sharing what I put into it, because frankly I don't want anyone else to suffer through the same pain.

I think my first mistake was thinking I could make a cold pasta salad with tofu shirataki noodles, they should never be served chilled. They also don't go well with vinegar, or any number of the Mediterranean based ingredients I used. The sliced smartdogs didn't help either.

Moral of the story? If something SEEMS wrong as you're making it, stop, and do something else. It won't be magically delicious, and it's a waste of perfectly good food.

The portabella sandwich was good...probably because it was the same V'con mushroom recipe I used for the salads earlier this week, and I set it up with some chipotle mayo and salad greens.

Easy, and something of a relief after that disastrous pasta dish.

Selah.

Stuffed Graffiti Eggplant

2009-02-10T19:40:00.002-05:00

I'll be honest, and admit that I bought these because they were called graffiti eggplant, there was nothing more to it than that. What can I say? I'm a sucker for cool looking vegetables. For some reason I came up with the idea to stuff them, and it was a good one. I was originally going to roast the eggplants in the oven, but I think the steaming method I eventually chose preserved the peels much better for stuffing.

Ingredients
2 graffiti eggplants, halved the long way
1 large bunch swiss chard, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
1 teaspoons five spice powder
1 cup rice
2 cups water
3 cloves Asian Marinated Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon roasted red chili paste (I use the Thai Kitchen variety)
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 stalk crushed lemongrass
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 scallion, sliced
Gomasio (sesame seed-salt seasoning)

Directions
1. Set a steamer over boiling water (if you use a bamboo one like me) and place the four eggplant halves, flesh down into it. Allow to cook for 15 minutes.
2. While the eggplant is steaming, heat a large skillet, and add the peanut oil, garlic, lemongrass, five spice powder, and roasted red pepper paste. Stir around and once the garlic is starting to turn golden, add the swiss chard (including stems) and celery. Stir around for 30 seconds to coat, and then add soy sauce and lime juice. Cover and low heat to simmer for approx. 5 minutes.
3. In the meantime make the rice, I did a cups worth using a 2-1 ratio.
4. Remove the eggplant from the steamer and allow them to cool for a couple minutes before scraping out the insides with a spoon. Mince the eggplant flesh and add to the greens and celery, turning the heat up to medium so it will cook.
5. When the rice is ready,add that to the vegetables, and cover for 5 minutes so that the rest of the liquid can cook out.
6. Spoon the rice mixture into the eggplant halves, top with scallions and Gomasio, and serve!

Normal civilized people would probably eat this with a knife and fork...me and my other half? Simply picked up the eggplants and started chowing down. It was a bit messy, but it worked, and it was good.

My thoughts on this were that the rice dish is really good, and has a great Asian flair to it. I was also a big fan of the celery, as I had intended, it added a much needed crunch to the dish. Stuffing the rice into eggplants looked really cool and made a nice eating vessle, but it was in no way necessary. The hollowed out eggplant skins were pretty bland and unexciting, all show no glow. So the rice dish? I give myself a star, but I would be more excited about the eggplant if it added a solid taste element to the dish.

Selah.

Portabella Salad with Spicy Mustard Dressing

2009-02-09T19:53:00.003-05:00

I went back to V'con tonight, because when I'm having a tough day (and tough is an understatement for my last couple days) and need something comforting...V'con it is. I'm not even necessarily saying the food is comfort food (although much of it is) but the book is comforting to me. The pages are folded and spattered with food, I know where all my favorite recipes are by touch alone, and it's brought me so many happy meals and snacks over the past year or so.
When I was out shopping the other day, they had the most beautiful portabella mushrooms I'd ever seen, and unable to resist, I picked up four HUGE ones. Enter the Portabella salad with spicy mustard dressing. I'd been eying this one for awhile, but not being a huge "salads for dinner" person, had never really gotten around to it.

I am SO glad I finally tried this! The mushrooms were juicy and perfectly flavored, and the mustard dressing on the salad was delicious. My boyfriend actually thought it was a raspberry vinaigrette at first, and after a couple tries I just had to give him the ingredient list. This is GOOD. It's REALLY good, and after one bowl full, I'm totally satisfied. I think I've finally found a salad I can have for dinner!

Selah.

Tofu N' Roots

2009-02-07T18:05:00.002-05:00

The bland, unexciting avocado BLT burger is in the past. It is SO in the past. I can't even remember it, that's how far out of my memory it's been pushed. You know why I'm totally over it? Because these were so darn GOOD.

This was another burger recipe from Just the Food and boy did it perform. As the recipe says, these are pretty mild and sweet, don't expect anything bold and spicy here. On the other hand, they're absolutely delicious, don't weigh you down, and hold their shape like nothing else. To top it all off, the recipe makes about 3 million, so I was able to pack away more than a dozen burgers in the freezer for future consumption.

I topped these off with a napa cabbage slaw which was based on the one I found here

I simplified mine a bit though, combining about two tablespoons of peanut oil with some fresh-minced ginger and then adding a handful of the sliced napa cabbage. Once the cabbage had wilted down, I added a couple tablespoons worth of chopped scallions, a generous squeeze of honey, and a couple teaspoons each of honey, shoyu, and rice vinegar.

I had this burger on bread, and set each slice up with some Nayo. The slaw went on top of the burger, and this was absolute perfection, I could've eaten three. (although I held myself back) The one thing I would say, is that these are definitely not "ketchup and mustard" burgers. The condiments would totally overpower the mild patty and clash with its sweetness. I think any sort of mild wilted green would go great on top though...

Selah.

Irish Pizza

2009-02-07T13:02:00.003-05:00

Ok, the picture does this no justice. It is SO much better than it looks, and while I could've added some sparkle or something in photoshop, I don't think that would have made it look more appetizing, so I left it alone.

I tend to trust Vegan Dad, since in all honesty, he has yet to steer me wrong, but potato pizza just sounded weird. I was dubious about so many carbs on one poor crust, but yesterday was pizza friday, and having not planned ahead, I had to go with something for which I had all the ingredients on hand. Vegan Dad's Irish Potato-Sausage pizza. And OH WAS IT GOOD.

The only annoying thing about this, was that the potatoes didn't actually attach to the pizza in any way, so you had to hold them on while slicing and eating. I promise you though, it was a small price to pay. I wasn't able to eat too too much of this, only because the white sauce that goes on the crust is very rich, and I am forever limited in how much I can eat of anything rich and creamy. My boyfriend had no such issues though, and polished off 3/4s of the pizza in a single sitting.

This was GREAT. Everything about it worried me to begin with...would the recommended breakfast sausage be too sweet, would the potatoes just be WRONG...would the crust ever harden underneath all the toppings? The crust was perfect, as were all the toppings, the potatoes were light and delicious, and the sausage couldn't have worked better. After some less-than-mediocre recipes of late, it was high time for a real success.

Enjoy with your favorite Irish beverage...I did ;)

Selah.

BLT Burgers

2009-02-05T19:38:00.002-05:00

I'd been looking forward to making these for about a week and a half since my oven's been broken since before I saw them on Just the Food.

I started things off with the bacon bit recipe from the Same Place. That was really my mistake with this recipe, as the TVP never become flavorful at all, and I decided to just run with it. My payback, was burgers that weren't flavorful at all. Shocking.

Don't get me wrong, this is an AWESOME burger idea, and I in no way blame the chef who wrote the recipe, it's all directed at myself here. This burger probably held together better than any veggie burger I've made in the past, and the avocado in the middle was a great idea. It kind of popped out when I cut the burger in half, but had stayed in through the cooking process, so I'll chalk this up to user error as well.

I definitely plan to do more experimentation with this and other stuffed burgers...I feel like I've got a whole new world at my fingertips. The next attempt will involve crumbling up the tempeh bacon from VwaV, which should give it tons of the "bacony" flavor I was looking for here.

Selah.

Strawberry Macadamia Nut Muffins

2009-02-04T19:33:00.002-05:00

This was my first attempt at making up my own baking recipe, since I'm normally terrified of messing with anything that's supposed to rise. All things considered, this went really well, and while I think I need to tweak things a bit, these will be polished off without any issues.

I got the idea for these last week when I asked my friend what kind of muffin she'd make if she could do anything, and she responded "how come no one ever makes strawberry muffins? Do that." So I set about coming up with a strawberry muffin recipe. The cool thing about this is that the strawberries basically turn into jam during the cooking process, totally pumping up the inside of the treats. the only real issue I had with these was that they were a bit chewy, and if anyone's got recommendations on what causes that, I'd love to hear them. The flavor was spot on...

Ingredients
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup non-sweetened vanilla hemp milk
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1.5 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup minced strawberries
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest
10-12 macademia nuts halved
1 tbsp. ground flax seeds
3 tbsp. water

Directions
1. Combine the flax and water in a small bowl and whip until it starts to emulate the consistency of egg whites.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and then add flax mixture and all other wet ingredients. Stir well.
3. Preheat your oven to 375F. Grease a muffin tin and pour in batter. These don't do a ton of rising, so you can fill the tins without worry.
4. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool ten minutes, if you can wait that long...

I'm beyond excited to have my oven back, and you can expect more exciting oven creations in the near future.

Selah.

Ethopian Tofu of Meh

2009-02-03T19:53:00.004-05:00

So I'm in a rut. My oven has now been out of commission for over two weeks. Remember the sloppy joe buns I had to make in the toaster oven two weekends ago because the oven wasn't working? Well they came in a few days later, and supposedly fixed the oven...in attempting to make a casserole that week, I discovered it still didn't work. The "oven guy" finally made it back last monday, and after saying the whole thing *WAS* actually shot, my super decided to order me a brand new oven. It was supposed to be here today...shockingly, it wasn't. I went looking for the super, but it doesn't even appear that he ever came in today.

THAT said...there are only so many pasta dishes and soups I can show, which is why this place has been a bit slow lately, and will probably continue to be until I get an oven...join me in praying it shows up soon...

I made an Ethiopian dish called "dorowat" tonight, which had already been (kindly) switched from the traditional chicken to tofu by Rhonda on Recipezaar. Too bad, because it still wasn't very good. This was way over-spiced, and under-salted. It tasted dry, and almost chalky, probably because half of my spice rack went into it (and I have a pretty expansive spice rack). The dish seriously needed salt, along with acid, although the tomatoes provided a bit of that.

Overall though....very disappointing, it just made me miss my oven even more...

Selah.

Seitan over Rice Noodles with Emeril's Asian BBQ Sauce and Sweet N' Sour Brussel Sprouts

2009-01-31T20:21:00.002-05:00

Tonight's dinner was wholly inspired by the remaining contents of my kitchen the day before grocery shopping...and the food network website.

In honor of the newly returned year of the ox (my chinese zodiac!) I decided I wanted to do something with an Asian flair. I saw Emeril's recipe for Asian Spicy Barbecue Chicken, and the first thought I had was THAT WOULD BE PERFECT ON MY SEITAN! and so it was. The seitan got a dry rub of salt and five spice powder as Emeril had suggested, and while the sauce was simmering away, I got a sliced carrot and zucchini sauteing along with the seitan and some peanut oil in my wok. I added some rice noodles that had been soaking in cool water for a couple hours, and then the sauce.

I ended up adding about a quarter cup of water so the noodles would soften the rest of the way, but in the future I'd just want to double the sauce. The flavoring on this was great, but it was a bit dry. Otherwise, two thumbs up, and I can't blame my lack of insight on Lagasse.

I also made Rachael Ray's Sweet and Spicy Brussel Sprouts I wasn't expecting these to be spicy, since there wasn't anything spicy in the ingredients. I was actually amused by the people complaining about the lack of spice in the comments...if you read the ingredient list I'm not sure what you were expecting! It's a strange name though. They are actually sweet and sour, which is a new flavor for me with Brussels sprouts. They taste a bit pickled...something that'll probably intensify by the time I go for the leftovers.

I wasn't a huge fan of these, but I'm not sure the recipe is so much to blame as the sheer number of brussells sprouts I've been eating lately...I think I'm getting a bit tired of them. I might wait a while before giving this another shot, it's a very novel idea, and I can appreciate that.

Selah.

Sicilian Eggplant Stew

2009-01-29T19:34:00.002-05:00

This is the last of Jamie Oliver, I swear. This one is called a "stew" although I really think it'd be best suited served up on a crusty piece of bread. We're out of bread at the moment though, so I ate it "stew-style" and I must say it was quite good.

The eggplant was kind of cooked to oblivion, which was probably more my fault than Jamie's, I left it alone much longer than I should have while trying to get all the other ingredients chopped and prepared.

I really liked the green olives in this more than anything else...while I love to snack on green olives, I don't cook with them much, mostly because they're a pain to de-pit. I'd say it was worth it in this instance though, and they married extra well with the capers which were also involved.

Selah.

Braised Seitan with Brussels, Kale, and Sundried tomatoes

2009-01-27T11:44:00.004-05:00

This smelled REALLY good. It looked delicious. The ingredient list was an all-star line-up. I was SURE I'd love it before I'd even begun to make it. It was just ok.

It still smelled great on the plate, but the flavors weren't quite as complex as they seemed. In addition to that, something is giving it a bitter flavor, and I can't figure out what for the life of me. Add to that my hope that I could bring some brussel haters over to the dark side with this, and it's simply not going to do it. In addition to the bitterness and all, the whole thing tastes brussel sprouty...there aren't even that many in there, but they flavored everything. That's a non issue for me, since I like brussel sprouts, but something tells me I won't have help finishing off the leftovers.

The sundried tomatoes rock in this though. Literally. They're like a headbanging musical interlude to break up all the brussel sprout-boredom that seems to permeate.

Recipe courtesy V'con

Selah.

Wild Mushroom Ragu

2009-01-26T21:21:00.002-05:00

Mario Batali strikes again, and he strikes vegan!!! I was actually supposed to make fresh egg=based pasta dough for this, but I used an eggless boxed variety because I was feeling lazy, so I didn't have to worry about that. Mario recommended some grated parm on top,but I think it would've ruined it, the flavors in this were much too sweet and subtle to overpower with some salty cheese. Boo cheese.

The dish actually looks as good as it tastes, which is pretty unusual.

For my wild mushrooms, I reconstituted some porcinis and oysters that were hanging out in the pantry, and they played together beautifully. The sauce had a gorgeously sweet undertone to it...not overpowering or anything, but just right, and I didn't even add anything sweet...I think it may have been the tomatoes.

This was quick and easy, and tasted like it was cooking for a really long time....I'm starting to see how Mario gets away with charging inordinate amounts for pasta in his restaurant, it tastes like its very special, no matter how simple the ingredients.

Selah.

Wakame Soba Noodle Soup and a TLT

2009-01-25T19:03:00.004-05:00

I was trying to decide how to stick to one ethnicity/food style for dinner tonight....and somehow we ended up having TLTs (tempeh, lettuce, tomato) and a wakame-soba noodle soup.

The soup was a recipe from Vegetarian Planet and it was ok. Just ok. I do like the wakame, which I'm used to from the miso soup at my favorite sushi joint (their sweet potato maki is to DIE FOR...and the mango/avocado roll with peanut isn't shabby either) but have never actually bought on its own before. Other than that, there was nothing special about this soup....it was mild, fairly bland, and the sliced ginger didn't do much to flavor the broth at all.

It looks pretty,and it was warm and filling, which is always good on a winter night, I just don't think I'll remember much about it two night from now. I could try doubling the miso in the broth and making it into more of a hearty miso soup, but short of that, it doesn't show a ton of promise.

The TLTs on the other hand were DELICIOUS. I've never had an actual BLT, since with the whole kosher thing, bacon was never one of my food groups even before I went veggie. I never really got the excitement surrounding some crunchy strips with lettuce and tomato, but I TOTALLY get it now.

I made the tempeh bacon from VwaV again, which is quite possibly becoming one of my favorite foods. I also toasted up the bread in the remaining peanut oil from the tempeh, which totally brought it up a notch. The bread was spread liberally with nayo, and then topped with sliced tomatoes and some spring mix. I could've had FOUR of these. I am definitely now a TLT addict.

Selah.

Banana-Orange Oatmeal Pancakes

2009-01-25T16:51:00.002-05:00

I love waking up on a sunday morning and having plenty of time to shuffle around in my pjs and come up with something delicious for breakfast, there's just nothing I find more relaxing. Better yet, my sister and her guy were here this weekend, and unbeknown to the happy omnivores, I fed them Vegan pancakes, and they loved them. Score.

Second most exciting thing about these pancakes? I came up with the recipe myself, so I can share.

Banana-Orange Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients
3 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. baking powder
1/3 cup oatmeal
1.5 cups unsweetened vanilla hemp milk
3 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp. canola
1 banana. minced
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. orange zest
1 tsp. cinnamon
water

Directions
1. Mix together all ingredients except water, then add water slowly until batter looks the right consistency. I added about a cup. Most cookbooks would have you think you need to mix together dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls before combining, but I never have...and I've never had an issue. Just do the dry stuff first, mix, and then start adding the rest.

2. Heat a griddle over med/high heat, spray with Pam or equivalent, and use a ladle to drop the batter, cooking approx. 2-3 minutes per side.

3. Drown in maple syrup, and enjoy!

I was hoping the oatmeal would give them a crunch, which totally didn't happen, but the nutritional content certainly didn't hurt.

Selah.

Linguini with "monkfish", thyme, and zucchini

2009-01-23T18:21:00.002-05:00

I actually got this recipe from The Mario Batali in Italy cookbook (what can I say, I'm having a celebrity chef week) and it worked out quite nicely. I replaced the monkfish with the cruelty free version, also known as tofu in some circles.

I treated the tofu just as Mario had suggested, giving it generous grinds of salt and pepper while frying in olive oil. I'd say he'd be proud, but it seems all chef's (except awesome veggie ones) think tofu is the most appalling thing on earth, so he probably wouldn't be. That's fine, I am.

I'm not sure what made this so special, when it seemed to be a fairly run of the mill pasta dish. It may have been the fresh thyme, or perhaps the white wine mixed in with the tomato sauce...who knows? This is why Mario is an Iron Chef, and I'm not...

...although there's also that whole thing with cooking up bloody animal carcass and killing live sea creatures...ok I lied...there are a LOT of reasons I'm not an iron chef.

Selah.

Pea Soup and Jamaican Jerk Seitan

2009-01-22T19:33:00.003-05:00

First off...I have to give credit to Jamie Oliver, he redeemed himself with this one. The only change required to make this soup vegan was replacing the chicken broth with vegetable...or in this case "not chik'n broth". You can't see it in the picture, but this is chock full of fresh peas, undoubtedly the best part. I can't stand split pea soup, but I love the real thing.

This also had broken up spaghetti in it, not to mention a whole bunch of onion, and a delicious broth. This could definitely be my vegan replacement for chicken noodle soup...

The second recipe I made was the Jamaican Jerk seitan from Vegan with a Vengeance, and although you can't see much in the picture, this was REAL good. Whenever I try a new seitan recipe I'm convinced it's the best ever until I try the next one....so for now, we're calling this the best ever, which I'm sure will change.

The only thing I could say about this recipe is that if you're not a fan of green pepper (some people I know aren't) it is pretty powerful in this. Happily, I have no such qualms, and I enjoyed this mightily. Another great recipe from VwaV, I can add it to the tempeh bacon as a standard to be further enjoyed in the future.

Selah.

Kale Alfredo

2009-01-20T13:21:00.003-05:00

I'm always trying to think up new ways to serve Kale, since it's such an amazing vegetable, but can be a bit much cooked up and served alone. This one came to me a couple nights ago when I was having trouble falling asleep, and I was very happy with the result. although it didn't go entirely as planned.

I rinsed the kale leaves, and then attempted to slice them into long spaghetti-like strips, which didn't really work out, but that's fine. The kale then went into a pot of boiling water, where I allowed it cook down for 25 minutes or so. In the meantime, I prepared Vegan Dad's Roasted Garlic Alfredo sauce, replacing the soymilk with hemp, since that's all I have this week. I also added a bunch of sliced mushrooms to the recipe instead of green pepper, since I felt that would go better with the kale.

As it turns out, the hemp milk made it even creamier then it would've been with straight up soymilk, and the whole recipe is delicious. If anything, I wish I had a bigger bulb of garlic to make the sauce even more garlicky, but that isn't a huge deal.

I topped my serving with Bac-Uns (as I would any good white pasta dish) and commenced to enjoy for lunch. I couldn't eat a ton of this stuff at a time, since any creamy food tends to fill me up really fast, but I can definitely do a servings worth...often.

Selah.

Radicchio of Grossness

2009-01-19T12:18:00.002-05:00

I love Jamie Oliver...really I do. I met the guy back in college when I was interning at Regis and Kelly, and he was seriously the most down-to-earth person I have EVER crossed paths with...really a big kid whose making it in the food business. I love what he's all about in terms of food, and although he cooks and eats meat, he's big on getting it from small local farms where it was treated and fed well throughout its life, and was killed humanely. Of course I'd love him even more if he was veggie, but as far as food philosiphy goes, I can stand behind him.

And that's why it hurts so much that he let me down with this one..although it's not totally his fault.

This came from his "Jamie in Italy" cookbook, and it looked great. Better yet, it was totally Vegan to begin with, I didn't need to mess with anything. Another selling point (I thought) was the raddicchio..my new years resolution is to try a new food or drink every week...and I've never had raddicchio before, so I thought it'd be great.

memo to me: Raddicchio is bitter. It's REALLY bitter. Nasty, strong, I never want to eat it again bitter. EWWW. So this one was a failure, but I tried out two new things this week, and as it turns out I REALLY like hemp milk, the vanilla kind anyway...

Selah.

Sloppy Joes

2009-01-17T19:47:00.002-05:00

I did it. I saved the "veggie burgers" from Vwav, and they were absolutely delicious. I'd been wanting to try out a sloppy joe tvp rendition for awhile now, and although I've never even had the original version, when it occurred to me that I could try it with the failed burgers, I was quickly off and running.

Since we didn't have any buns, I started with those, using the recipe found here and replacing the white sugar with raw, the margarine with canola oil, and the milk with soymilk. None of that seemed to matter, because these still came out perfect. The only (huge) hitch, was that after they'd been formed and risen, I discovered that the oven hadn't been preheating. I tried again...no luck...tried with the door open...nothing. It would appear the pilot light is out. And since it was after 4 pm on a Saturday and Monday is a holiday...I probably won't have use of an oven until at least Tuesday. Go figure. Instead I made the buns three at a time in the toaster oven....which worked, but took forever.

To make the sloppy joes, I dumped all the "burgers" into a deep skillet, and broke up the few that held some shape with a wooden spoon. I added a large jar of tomato puree, a generous squeeze of ketchup, spicy brown mustard, maple syrup, liquid smoke, and bac-uns. I mixed and then let it all simmer on medium-low for about 15 minutes. Perfect, and VERY messy. Who knew those TVP burgers would make such great sloppy joes?

Selah.

Orange Glazed Scones and Mashed Potatoes with Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy

2009-01-16T19:00:00.004-05:00

So today was a VwaV day, and OMFG did it make up for the TVP burger disaster. Breakfast was a combination of the leftover tempeh bacon from yesterday (my omni friend who'd never heard of tempeh before this morning even liked it!) and the orange glazed scones (also from VwaV).

The scones were ridiculously easy, and I didn't even measure things! For me to not screw up baking something, is always a big deal...and proves that the recipe really IS idiot proof.

Dinner featured some mashed potatoes with the Punk Rock Chickpea gravy from VwaV, and WOW.

Just WOW. I want to eat this stuff everyday, for the rest of my life, on EVERYTHING. PERIOD. It may not be the greatest looker, but boy does it make up for it! Everything Isa says about this recipe in the introduction to it is true, and if you own the cookbook and haven't made it yet, DO IT, NOW. OH MY CHICKPEA GRAVY.

ooooh...and a white russian with kahluah, coffee flavored vodka, and soymilk...YUM. I am NEVER going to fall asleep tonight.

Selah.

Tempeh Bacon

2009-01-15T12:38:00.002-05:00

As promised, I have the tempeh bacon from VwaV...

This was REALLY good...chalk it up on the slowly growing list of tempeh foods that I actually enjoy. It's no bourbon glazed meatloaf...but it's awful close. I think the trick to this is to burn it...mine was literally black on the bottom, but it tasted great..and smelled frighteningly like real bacon...I was almost scared to eat it lest it had morphed into a pig at some point in the cooking process.

I also attempted the TVP burgers from VwaV today, but that was such a failure I can't even take a picture. They smelled great...but didn't hold together AT ALL in the grilling process. Now I need to come up with some recipes to stuff flavored TVP into...

Did anyone have luck with that recipe who'd like to share their secrets?

Selah.

Maple Roasted Winter Vegetables

2009-01-14T11:29:00.002-05:00

I love roasting vegetables, and it's not something I normally follow a recipe for, but these maple roasted ones from VwaV just sounded too good to pass up.

I was right...they are too good to pass up. The only warning I have about these is that they're pretty sweet, so you can't eat a huge platter at a time (something I must admit to having done with roasted veggies) but they make a great side dish for a more savory course. The other mistake I made was cutting the squash chunks MUCH too large and throwing them into the marinade before I realized my mistake, so everything else is bite sized and the butternut squash is well...big. Oops.

Two thumbs up though...not that I'm surprised, I expected this to be good before I began.

P.S. I also have some bacon tempeh marinating in the fridge, so I'll fry some up for breakfast tomorrow and report back....

Selah.

Polenta Lasagna with Roasted Vegetables

2009-01-13T12:50:00.002-05:00

Yet another Vegan Dad recipe...this is the last (of the week) I promise. I've used cornmeal to make cornbread, and to crust various things, I've even made the creamy porridge like polenta...of which I'm not a fan. I never really liked cream of wheat for breakfast, and that's what it reminded me of...except for dinner. I've also bought the tube of polenta, sliced it into rounds and baked them...that wasn't bad...but I've never tried anything like this.

I made the polenta from scratch, and then spread it onto the cookie sheet to harden, just as instructed...it worked! I was terrified that it would remain a mushy mess, and I'd be up a creek with a whole bunch of lasagna ingredients and nothing to hold together the layers, but today I was in luck. It wasn't even horribly difficult to spread out, although you do need to act fast.

My favorite part of this was probably the roasted peppers, since I love the flavor, and I really enjoy roasting them...it's the best part of having a gas stovetop. I did cheat a bit by using real mozzarella instead of the Vegan kind, but other than that I kept everything as is....except mine is a two layer creation and Vegan Dad's is three...apparently he has a deeper casserole dish than I...

Creamy-Spicy Seitan with Coconut Quinoa

2009-01-12T13:17:00.002-05:00

This feels so NAUGHTY...and yet, it's really not bad for you. Granted the entire can of coconut milk in the recipe IS full of fat....but according to some reading I've been doing lately, although coconut is chock full of saturated fat, it's good for you...great even. Apparently indigenous people who cook everything with coconut oil live extremely long lives...so I'm going to try and abate my fear of the coconut...as long as I'm not eating it everyday, and I DO really enjoy the stuff.

This one comes from the Vegan Dad Cookbook as well (have I mentioned you should buy it?) and he really has yet to let me down. I'm a little afraid to try the bread recipes at the back of the book...only because they look amazing, and I'm scared I'll screw something up and totally destroy them. It would be horribly disrespectful.

But THIS was hard to screw up. I added some sliced thai chilis to the seitan marinade for added kick, but other than that, left everything the same..oops I lied. I didn't have any cilantro for garnish, but made everything right by adding some coriander (same plant!) to the marinade. See, we're at equilibrium. This has got to be the NICEST thing you can do for your seitan...and over quinoa...we all know how I love to sing the praises of quinoa.

Selah.

Baked Chimichangas

2009-01-11T17:57:00.002-05:00

This is another one a la the Vegan Dad Cookbook...I can not recommend purchasing his work enough. I'm not entirely sure why a baked chimichanga remains a chimichanga and doesn't become a burrito...mine looked and tasted like burritos, but who am I to talk?

Whether they were burritos or chimichangas, these were quite good, and real easy to make. My favorite part was definitely the crunch of the tortilla outside when I first stuck my fork into these....I had been concerned they wouldn't really set up like that in the oven...concern abated.

These are good...but could've used something more "fresh" tasting. I'd want to hit them up with fresh shredded lettuce and tomato along with a bit of guacamole in the future...there was a bit too much "brown" going on here for me.

Selah.

Breakfast Veggie Chorizo

2009-01-11T00:07:00.003-05:00

So I've owned Veganomicon for what feels like forever, and it is my kitchen BIBLE...but I only obtained Vegan with a Vengeance as a belated Chanukah present last week. The first recipe I made? Breakfast Veggie Chorizo of course! I'm pretty sure the true test of any cookbook is how good its breakfast recipes are...I LOVE breakfast.

I didn't have any onions, so the onion was replaced with about a cup of baby bella mushrooms...minced. The only other change I'd make is eliminating the tablespoon or so of sugar that was called for...the "chorizo" was a bit sweet, which isn't necessarily a flavor I want at breakfast...unless I'm having sugary bad-for-me cereal.

Those are hash browns with ketchup you can see off to the side..they were delicious, but nothing new....I've done hash browns plenty of times before, and I didn't think they warranted a blog entry, just know that they were good.

Selah.

Apio

2009-01-09T22:51:00.000-05:00

This quick celery preparation is something I came across in a cookbook or website a long time ago, and copied to a card in my recipe file. I haven’t the faintest idea where it came from, but I know it isn’t my creation, so sadly I can’t post the recipe. I’m sure that with a google search of “Apio” though…you could find it.

The original recipe only involves celery and a number of liquids, but since we had a bunch of baby bella mushrooms nearing their demise in the fridge, I decided to slice up and add a few. The mushrooms were PERFECT, and when I make apio in the future, I’ll definitely be including them. I’m even considering adding a number of other vegetables to make this more of a pre-meal sweet salad when guests are over. This is meant to be an appetizer prior to a meal, but I made it as my lunch today, since I was short on time and there weren’t many other options in the fridge. I also just really like cooked celery…I’m not sure what it is I’m so attracted to, but I’m sure there are worse foods I could be hooked on.

Selah.

Cornmeal-Masala Rousted Brussel Sprouts with Spiced Yogurt Sauce over Chickpea Basmati Rice

2009-01-06T12:07:00.003-05:00

This one isn't a looker, but boy was it filling and delicious.

This was a combination of three V'con recipes (count em!) and not one steered me wrong. I did fail on my secondary mission of getting my other half to like brussel sprouts, although I won a small victory as he DID enjoy the crispy-covered leaves that fell off in the roasting process.

The rice recipe is "Fresh-Dill Basmati Rice with Chard and Chickpeas" in V'con, but I had to omit the swiss chard since I didn't have any, and replace the fresh dill with dried for the same reason. Nevertheless, it was delicious, and I'd eat it alone any night...it doesn't need the brussel sprouts and yogurt sauce to class it up, although they certainly didn't hurt.

The only negative thing I can say about this recipe is that I expected the cornmeal coating to stick to the brussel sprouts and form nice, cruncy exteriors, which never exactly happened...but I like brussel sprouts so much as is, I could hardly say I was disappointed.

Overall this was a great, soul-warming success, although I probably wouldn't recommend it if you're trying to impress a dinner party with real elegant looking food...this ain't that kinda meal.

Selah.

Sticky BBQ Wingz and Cheater Baked Beans

2009-01-05T14:15:00.004-05:00

In addition to a nice, healthy, salad. (not pictured) last night's meal was a sugar-ridden cacophony of kid-friendly, dentist-hating food.

We started things off with Vegan Dad's BBQ Buffalo Wingz...which are absolutely AMAZING. I'd been wanting to try these off his blog forever, and with the book in my pantry, I had absolutely no excuse to wait any longer, and OMG are these good.

Even if you don't have the book, the recipe for these is on his website, check out Vegan Dad and I'm sure they're findable through his quick search bar on the side.

These had a nice crunch on the outside, thanks to the oven baked panko coating, and were deliciously chewy inside. The recipe gave two separate options for a full-out hot sauce glaze, or the homemade BBQ sauce. Unable to decide, I combined the two...making the BBQ sauce recipe with a solid half cup of tabasco...and it was perfect. I simply can not say enough about how GOOD these were. It's a bit of a pain getting the seitan to stay on the stick, but considering the result...I'd do it again in a millisecond...literally, a millisecond...and that's fast.

The second component of this meal was the cheater baked beans from V'con...and these I wasn't as much a fan of.

While that classic 'baked beans out of a can' flavor was in there, to me it was over-shadowed by something else that DIDN'T belong...the allspice perhaps, I'm not sure. I also think there was simply too much molasses in there...the dish stayed quite dark, and was VERY sweet....I think our pure organic mollases with no dilution or added ingredients should be used in something less than a one-to-one ratio with the icky stuff...regardless of what it says on the side. I'll probably try these again with twice the tomato, half the molasses and none of the allspice...but for now, it's not a favorite, they did a bit too much for me here.

Selah.

Steamed Eggplant with Korean Hot Sauce

2009-01-04T16:57:00.002-05:00

I had a couple of the long japanese eggplants to finish off, and was looking for something simple to do with them when I struck pay dirt in Madhur Jaffrey's Vegetarian Planet. Who has real Korean Hot Sauce from Korea just sitting around in their nearly-empty fridge? A girl lucky enough to have just had a visit from her friend living in Korea for the year of course!

The eggplant spent about ten minutes in my bamboo steamer, which was all it took to reach perfect melt-in-your-mouth status, and the korean hot sauce was mixed with a couple other ingredients and topped with gomasio. (sesame seeds and salt). This was soooo good, it's worth having the Korean hot sauce on hand alone.

I also had to share this picture:

I saw it out of the corner of my eye in the "english foods" section at Shaws, and simply HAD to take a picture...too bad I only had my camera phone on me. It probably speaks to my maturity level that this gave me the giggles for a solid hour...

Selah.

Spiced Hash Browns

2009-01-03T12:32:00.003-05:00

Definitely not my first Vegan Dad recipe, but it was the first I made from my officially printed and bound copy of his book!

These were pretty classic hash browns, although the array of spices was a pretty nice addition, and I was a BIG fan of the cayenne...but aren't I always? I can't wait for continued fun with Vegan Dad's cookbook...lots of stuff looks good.

Selah.

Sesame Glazed Green Beans

2009-01-01T23:17:00.002-05:00

Last night's meal was a quick mix-up of oven baked fries, leftover chickpea cutlets with gravy, and these sesame glazed green beans from Vegetarian Planet

There's a tree on the plate, which is covered up by the green beans, but I just wanted to clarify that those are branches sticking out from underneath them, not some strange part of the meal. The green beans are REALLY good too, very saucy and Asian tasting. Which matched perfectly with the plate.

Selah.

Happy New Years

2009-01-01T17:04:00.004-05:00

I made some black eyed peas for good luck today...

The recipe is simply called "Black Eyed Pea Salad" and came from The Olive and the Caper I always thought black eyed peas being eaten as good luck on New Years was a tradition that started in the south, but according to Wikipedia it's actually a Jewish tradition the the Sephardim brought to Georgia in the 1700s. Who knew?

Selah.

Asian Quinoa Pilaf and Sugared Basil

2008-12-30T19:56:00.002-05:00

I wanted to make this recipe for "lemongrass quinoa pilaf" that was in Vegetarian Planet, but as it turns out, I couldn't find lemongrass ANYWHERE this week. If worst comes to worst, Shaws normally has it in a tube...but they were completely out as well, go figure. Who needs parsley in a tube?

Since I had to be creative, I replaced the lemongrass with a combination of tamari, sherry, and lime juice. Everything else in the recipe remained the same.

The dish was very simple, and quite delicious. I had quinoa for the first time less than a year ago, and I still can't get over how friggin DELICIOUS it is...never mind how good FOR you! Why quinoa isn't more mainstream I'll never know...perhaps I'll make bringing it out into the mainstream my life's ambition, why should rice get all the love?

The second component of this meal was an idea that I would NEVER, in a MILLION YEARS, have come up with on my own. This was another recipe from The Olive and the Caper and darn those crazy Greeks, they decided to go off and sugar basil leaves.

Who DOES THAT? ME. That's who. Not only are these delicious, but something tells me they'll make awesome garnishes for some of my new years eve drinks as well.

The basic idea here is that you brush the leaves with anything moist (the recipe suggests egg whites, but soy milk works just fine) and then sprinkle sugar on both sides. Afterward they go somewhere "airy" for a couple hours to dry out and turn crispy, and OH BOY are they good. Basil for desert...who knew.

Selah.

Marinated Mushrooms and a Hot n Sour Slaw

2008-12-29T21:22:00.002-05:00

Tonight was a very "antipasti" medley of sorts. We had green olives and whole roasted garlic spread on toast as well, but they aren't pictured.

I've been wanting to try out Marinated Mushrooms for awhile, as they're a household favorite, and I'm not huge on some of the sketchy ingredients that come in your average jar. The recipe I used was from the cookbook The Olive and the Caper and was good...although not quite what I was after. These were very oily (not surprising considering how much olive oil was in the recipe) and the anise seed was just plain strange....next time I think an ingredient is odd...I'll follow my gut. Otherwise they're good...but it looks like we'll keep buying the jarred kind for awhile...at least until I can get my own version up to par.

The salad was in no way Greek, but still quite good. I got the recipe from Vegetarian Planet, and the introduction to it said that "hot and sour soup is good..but hot and sour slaw is so much better."

I LOVE my hot and sour soup, and not much can get in the way of our relationship. So while this salad is REALLY good, and I went back for seconds...it's no hot and sour soup, I'm sorry. If you've got the cookbook, I highly recommend it though...it is VERY good, they're on to something here.

Selah.

Stir Fry

2008-12-29T10:37:00.002-05:00

There's nothing overly special about this....except that I used a couple fun new things I found at the Asian Market. One was long, purple eggplant....I simply couldn't resist their fun color...and the other is green tea flavored soba noodles. The eggplant tasted a lot like normal eggplant, but nice and mild, no soaking/salting here, and they weren't bitter in the least. The green tea noodles has a VAGUELY tea like flavor when you ate them alone, but it wasn't noticeable under anything else. They were dirt cheap and they look cool though, so I'll probably buy them again.

The sauce was a combination of black bean paste, hot chili oil, mirin, the soaking liquid from the "dry sliced mushrooms-I wish I knew what the Chinese said, but they're good", and some dried mustard and five spice powder.

Simple and Delicious...and topped with some Gomasio for a bit of crunch.
Selah.

Garam Masala Stir Fry

2008-12-23T18:48:00.004-05:00

We've had a bottle of garam masala marinating sauce that's been kicking around in the fridge for awhile, and tonight was its big night. I marinated tofu triangles for about half an hour in the sauce, and then grilled them in my cast iron skillet, pressing down on each side as they cooked.
I also re-hydrated oyster mushroom, lily flower buds, and shitakes in boiling water, and sauteed them up with minced ginger, scallion, and sliced baby carrots.

The remaining garam masala marinade went over these vegetables and everything simmered as it cooked. The frozen peas went in last, since they don't take much cooking time.

I served this all up over rice noodles, and it was pretty good, although I'm still a bit skeeved out by the slightly bitter aftertaste from the lily buds...now that I've tried them twice I can safely say that I won't buy more once I've finished the current supply. They aren't horrible...I just don't love the taste they impart on everything.
Selah.

Creamy Tomato Soup and Panko Stuffed Mushrooms

2008-12-18T20:03:00.002-05:00

Tonight's V'con menu was much more successful, which I was excited about, since I'm still on a "try the few recipes you've never made in V'con" kick.

The first thing I tried out was the panko stuffed mushrooms, which I'd been eying for awhile since everything "mushroom" is a big kick around here. I'd made stuffed mushrooms before...but never Vegan ones, my past attempts have always had some kind of cheese kicking around in them. The most exciting part of these was the fresh diced daikon...I'd never have thought to put a crunchy radish in a mushroom...but it's delicious!

Doesn't it just look like the mushroom is beckoning to you...saying "eat me...please eat me"? Never fear, we ate all of them without issue.

I also gave the creamy tomato soup a go, and it was a huge success as well. The sun dried tomatoes are absolutely key, giving this soup a much richer and more tomato-ey taste than campbells...that's for sure. This simply felt rustic and as though it'd been cooking and developing all day, while in actuality it took me barely 30 minutes.

I have five words: I LOVE MY IMMERSION BLENDER.

That is all...have a good night.
Selah.

Sphagetti Squash Mexican Fiesta with Avocado Salsa Fresca

2008-12-16T19:47:00.003-05:00

...or something like that.

There's not a whole lot I can say about this....It was a a V'con recipe...I didn't like it. Okay, that's not totally true...I loved the fruit salsa component...the whole Mexican bean stuff underneath was nasty....or at least that's my opinion on the matter.

Selah.

Cajun Meatloaf with Bourbon Sauce and Sweet N' Sour Potato Shreds

2008-12-15T21:32:00.003-05:00

Vegan Dad went...and he did it again. He made something so totally delicious looking, that I could practically taste it from the picture, and couldn't think of anything else but consuming it until I'd made my very own.

Vegan Dad's Picture looks way more appetizing than mine, but I can promise I followed his recipe to a tee and that it was absolutely delicious. I've been slowly reintroducing myself to tempeh over the last couple months or so...doing my best to hide it in things and overwhelm its texture and taste so I wouldn't know it was there. Well, I used two entire packages of tempeh in this recipe, it was the main protein component, and I LOVED IT. I just couldn't get enough of this. THANK YOU VEGAN DAD, THANK YOU!!!

Since I was feeling pretty down-home comfort food...I figured meat and potatoes was a good direction to head culinary-wise. My potato component was the Stir Fried Sweet N' Sour Potato Shreds from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian (real "steakhouse" traditional, I know) My mandolin was really what made this recipe, since you need the potatoes to be in thin little shreds for this to work.

The potatoes are only cooked (with a number of other ingredients) for a couple minutes, because you want them to retain a solid crunch. I never thought I'd like almost raw potatoes...but this is really, really good...and I definitely enjoyed when my boyfriend asked "what vegetable is this?".
Selah.

Sweet N Sour Seitan

2008-12-13T13:46:00.002-05:00

This was another idea I got from the Brand Name Chinese Cookbook although I didn't follow the directions in the least.

The seitan hit the wok with sliced carrots, green bell, celery, leek, and a can of pineapple chunks. The sauce was a combination of the juice from the pineapple, shoyu, hoisen sauce, and white wine vinegar. I didn't measure any of them, so frankly I couldn't tell you what the amounts are. After adding all the ingredients to the wok, I simply allowed things to simmer for about 15 minutes, giving it a toss with the tongs every five or so....

mmmm...more chinese food...I'm definitely seeing a trend in my tastes lately.
Selah.

Orange Seitan

2008-12-11T22:30:00.004-05:00

Orange Beef is another popular Chinese dish that I remember from my childhood...and since I was making some seitan for a sweet and sour dish coming later this weekend, I decided to double the recipe and make some orange seitan over rice as well.

I used the simple seitan recipe from V'con as usual, and then sliced it into strips which were sauteed in peanut oil. The sauce was a combination of 2 parts OJ, and 1 of equal parts sherry and shoyu. I mixed in about a tablespoon of cornstarch, and then added it to the seitan in the wok. About a minute later it had reached the correct consistency.

Not counting the seitan which was made earlier in the evening, this meal took barely ten minutes to make, which is good...because that mustered all the motivation I had.
Selah.

Pad Thai

2008-12-10T20:07:00.002-05:00

According to the Brand Name Chinese Cookbook, this recipe is called "tofu noodle salad with spicy peanut sauce". I don't know why they call it that, it's a great Pad Thai.

I've made plenty of Pad Thai's before, and this ranks well among them...nothing stellar, but not bad either. The real trick to this was using fresh ground organic peanut butter...although I think "brand name chinese" called for Jiff.
Selah.

Fennel Orange Salad and Sopa de Ajo

2008-12-09T18:26:00.003-05:00

I found a Sephardic cookbook in the library last week, and just had to check it out. For those unfamiliar, Jews are basically divided into two groups based on their family origin. More well known around these parts are the Ashkenazim....or Jews from Eastern Europe. We have the Ashkenazim to thank for quintessential Jewish dishes like kugel, matzoh ball soup and latkes. The Sphardim are quite a different bunch, hailing from Spain/South America and the Middle East. Don't ask me how Moroccans get grouped in with Argentinians...I don't know. Sephardi food is very different from the classic Ashkenazi "Jewish Grandmother fare" with a lot more spice and less fat, and is in my opinion....better. *removes soapbox, steps down*

The first recipe I made was a simple orange and fennel salad with LOTS of orange. We're talking orange zest, orange juice, and the insides of the oranges. (I supremed beautifully in case you were wondering.) Considering I don't like orange juice or most orange flavored foods (weird, I know) I REALLY liked this salad. The anise flavor of the fennel with the crisp leek and the citrus-y dressing just made me happy...literally, it must be all the vitamin C.

The main course was a sopa de Ajo, which in laymens terms is a yogurt and garlic soup. The whole affair sounded a bit strange to me, but it involved swiss chard which is quite possible my favorite leafy green, so I figured it couldn't be all bad.

It turns out that it's all good. It was rich and creamy, and absolutely DELICIOUS. I liked this soup A LOT, and while there was certainly nothing wrong with the yogurt, for a slightly thinner and easy Vegan alternative, I might try out a coconut milk version at some point.
Selah.

Mediterranean Pesto Pasta

2008-12-08T12:37:00.002-05:00

Sometimes leftovers are pretty blah...other times they're pretty great, and today's lunch erred on the side of pretty great. We're in painful need of a grocery shopping excursion which is planned for later tonight, but I did manage to scrape up some remnants of food and put together a pretty nice lunch for myself.

I wilted down the remaining baby spinach (that didn't quite get used up in salads this week) with some minced garlic and olive oil. I added some leftover cooked angel hair that was in the fridge along with some oil cured black olives, sun dried tomatoes, and a gladware of arugula pesto that I'd made a couple weeks ago and totally forgotten about since it got lost in the back of the (now empty) fridge.

PRESTO. A quick, mediterranean lunch made from practically nothing...and quite delicious if I say so myself.
Selah.

Shakshukah

2008-12-06T13:04:00.002-05:00

When I spent the semester in Israel, I had one of two things for breakfast every day...the first was Israeli salad...fresh chopped cucumber,tomato, and bell pepper with lemon juice,olive oil,salt,pepper,and zataar. The other thing was Shakshukah. Think scrambled eggs, but with more tomato and veggies then eggs...in this case they're simply a thickening agent so that the finished product holds shape better on toast.

I'm sure you could mix a pre-made tofu scramble into this as well...but today I went with the original.

Ingredients
1 can pureed tomatoes
1 md. onion,minced
1 ripe tomato,chopped
Approx. 10 leaves fresh basil, julienned
3 lrg. mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp. minced garlic
3 eggs
hot paprika
garlic salt
dried oregano
cumin

Directions
1. Heat two tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and onions,and sautee until translucent. Add the mushrooms,tomatoes, paprika, garlic salt, oregano, and cumin. Stir for a couple more minutes.
2. Add the can of pureed tomatoes and allow everything to simmer for 5 minutes. Add the eggs and basil, and mix until thickened and resembling a somewhat loose version of scrambled eggs.

This is best divvied up on toast...I'm currently hooked on a whole wheat sourdough,although it works on anything. I do intend to try it out with a tofu scramble in the future...I'll post the recipe when I do...

Selah.

Mushroom Focaccia

2008-12-05T20:15:00.003-05:00

We decided to mix up pizza night a bit by making focaccia instead of pizza...a mushroom one to be exact.

I used a pizza dough mix for this...straight out of the bag and add water. The dough was topped with morrel mushrooms, white buttons, minced garlic, sundried tomatoes, dried basil, salt, pepper, and white truffle oil.

Once these were served up, I added a drizzle of balsamic to the mix...and perfection was met. I seriously can't imagine anything I would've liked better for dinner...this is going to become a mainstay, I'm making the prediction now...

Selah.

Slow Cooker Chili

2008-12-02T17:11:00.002-05:00

Since I saw my first snow of the season last week (it didn't stick...thankfully) I've officially deemed it chili season. I made chili in a pot last year, and kept an eye on it all day long to make sure I didn't burn my apartment down in the process...this year, I have a slow cooker! I scored the Hamilton Beach model for $10 on black friday, and today's chili is it's first run 'round the block. I got a slow cooker recipe cookbook from the library today, so I have a number of options for its next adventure.

The chili was topped with some avocado and Nooch...I wanted to make a guacamole, but the avocados were still too firm for mashing, but that doesn't mean they can't be enjoyed sliced and diced.
The one thing I always keep constant in my chili is using V8 as the liquid...I already know I like the stuff, there's always a box-full in my pantry, and it comes pre-seasoned, how could I lose?
Today's combination was as follows:

Ingredients
1/2 lb dried kidney beans
1 lg. onion, diced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 green bell pepper,diced
1 jalapeno (with seeds) minced
1 pkg tempeh, diced
3 cans V8 juice
2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
1.5 tbsp. garlic salt
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. dried basil
1.5 tbsp. cumin

Directions
1. This is the best part of having a slow cooker...dump EVERYTHING in, turn to high, and forget for 6 hours.

Have I mentioned it also makes the apartment smell like chili-deliciousness all day? I may never make a 30 minute meal again...
Selah.

Sweet Potato Shepards Pie

2008-12-01T17:06:00.005-05:00

I was partially listening to Rachael Ray at some point last week, and saw that she was making a sweet potato Shepards Pie. It sounded like a great idea to me, and so later that night when I was at work and bored out of my mind, I put together a recipe for a Veggie version. Since I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to Rachael I'm not sure if this is anywhere close to the real thing, but it certainly tasted good, I can attest to that.

I melted cheese over the top since Rachael did, but in eating, it turned out the cheese is completely unnecessary, it was much better with the leftover cranberry sauce and gravy.

I am rather proud of this recipe, since it turned out so well, and I highly recommend you give it a shot, especially if you were ever a fan of the omnivore version.

Ingredients
4 large yams, peeled and cubed.
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup grated cheddar (optional)
1 medium onion, minced
5 large mushrooms, minced
1 tsp. liquid smoke
1/4 cup red wine
2 cups TVP
2 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp. Bac-Uns
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. garlic salt
Salt and Pepper

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Peel yams, cube, and boil until soft. Add Salt and Pepper, and mash.
2. Combine the stock, wine, and liquid smoke, and stir in TVP to reconstitute.
3. In a large skillet, add olive oil, garlic, onion, and spices. Cook until onions are just becoming translucent,and add mushrooms. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the TVP with liquids, and the peas. Simmer until everything has reduced and resembles ground beef.
5. Grease a large casserole dish. Coat the bottom with the TVP/Vegetable mixture, and layer the mashed sweet potatoes over that. If desired, cover with grated cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.

Once this had been sitting out for a few minutes it held its shape much better...I simple couldn't wait that long for my first serving, so the picture is a bit more abstract...
Selah.

Banana Waffles

2008-11-30T15:47:00.003-05:00

After wanting one for about 3 years...I finally bought my own waffle maker. It's actually a waffle iron/panini press/grill in one with exchangeable plates. I got it on black friday for 10 bucks.

I took the new toy for a test drive with the banana walnut waffles from V'con, minus the walnuts.

These were waffley and delicious...although I did learn that my new waffle iron thinks it's done when the treat inside is still a bit gummy...I need to wait an extra minute or two beyond the green light...
Selah.

Penne a la Vodka

2008-11-30T05:31:00.000-05:00

I got all my ingredients out on the counter tonight, and proceeded to make the penne a la vodka from V’con. Just as I’d begun simmering the sauce, my other half walked into the kitchen and saw the handle on the counter…six shots later, dinner was ready.

While this certainly wasn’t bad, it was missing the creamy component that bottled vodka sauce usually gets from cream. The recipe called for sliced almonds as a replacement, which were then pureed into the sauce, and meant to retain a bit of texture. In retrospect I have to say I simple don’t love a lot of texture in my tomato sauce…and almonds taste nothing like cream. I have had a lot of success with cashew creams in the past…I could see giving that a shot, but I’m more apt to go with soy creamer first,

The fresh basil was really key to this, and the whole wheat rigatoni pasta we used added some nutrition, so I could even call it a healthy meal…

Selah.

Pistachio Encrusted Tofu

2008-11-29T05:42:00.011-05:00

Last week, we went out for our two year anniversary and had a delicious and expensive dinner at a restaurant/lounge in New Haven. When the waitress rattled off the specials of the evening, one was a pistachio encrusted tilapia, and that gave me an idea. Pistachio crusted tofu of course!
The only real issue with this meal was a serious case of over-salting…at least I thought so. I salted the tofu, salted the lemon-caper mayo I coated it with, and the pistachios that went over that were salted. The stock in which I cooked my saffron rice was full of sodium…and I sautéed the asparagus with salt, pepper, and cumin. I’m really not sure what I was thinking. Regardless, I’ll share the recipe minus some of the salt…because it was a great idea, and worked out as I’d hoped it would.

Ingredients

1 block extra firm tofu

1 cup rice

Approx. 15 stalks fresh asparagus

2 cups vegetable stock

1 cup shelled pistachios, pulsed in food processor

1 tbsp. saffron powder

¼ cup nayo

2 tspns large capers, minced

1 tbsp. lemon juice

Salt and Cracked black Pepper

Cumin

Directions

Press tofu for approx. 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375. Slice the tofu into eight thin rectangles and lay out on a greased baking sheet or casserole dish. Rub each slice with pepper and cumin, and then bake for 30 mins on the first side, 15 on the second.

In the meantime, bring saffron and vegetable stock to a boil. Add 1 cup rice, cover and reduce to a simmer, so that it cooks.
Bring some water to a boil in a skillet, and add the asparagus. Blanch for two minutes, then drain the water, and finish with olive oil, salt, cumin, and pepper.

Mix together nayo, capers, lemon juice, and pepper to make a sauce. Once the tofu finishes baking and cools a bit, coat each slice in the sauce, then coat with the pistachios.

Serve! Altogether this was really good…and I’ve eliminated salt from a couple steps here, which should eliminate my one large issue with it…so enjoy!

Selah.

Jelly Cupcakes

2008-11-25T17:54:00.002-05:00

These were the first cupcakes I've ever made...seriously, so I was pretty concerned about how they'd come out. I should never have feared.

I got the Jelly Cupcake recipe from V'con, and chose that one for a couple reasons...1. It looked quick and easy, 2. It reminds me of Chanukah time Jelly donuts, and with all the Christmas hype already, I needed some holiday cheer of my own. Go figure...I choose thanksgiving week when I'll be getting plenty of calories to try out baked goods...I'm horrible.

I thought the jelly in these (I used lyngonberry) would actually sink completely into the batter and create a fruity surprise in the cupcake...but no such luck. As you can see, it sunk in a bit, but remained very evident at the top of the cupcake.

Selah.

Asian Crustless Quiche

2008-11-25T06:58:00.004-05:00

This meal was doomed. It tasted really good, and was a great way to use up some leftovers on shopping night, but it was definitely doomed.

I chopped up a bunch of leftover bok choy, along with a handful of mushrooms, and added to it milk, eggs, hot Asian chili paste, five spice powder, and salt and pepper. The concoction went into the oven for 45 minutes at 375F and was served topped with black bean paste.All good, except that when I tried to remove a slice with the wrong implement it fell apart...as evidenced by the picture.

I would've taken a better picture when I had seconds, except for one small hitch, after we each had a single slice, there may have been a small accident in which someone kicked the remaining 3/4 of the quiche off the coffee table, and onto the floor...upside down. Apparently we need to start keeping food above "foot reach" Sigh, I saw so many great things to come for this, and its life was cut short much too soon...
Selah.

Cranberry Cabbage and Poached Eggplant with Korean Hot Sauce

2008-11-23T05:25:00.000-05:00

I always want to cook exciting ethnic food that neither looks nor tastes like anything I’ve ever had before, the only problem, is that sometimes it doesn’t taste nearly as exciting as it sounds. None of the food tonight was bad, but it wasn’t earth shattering either. To be perfectly honest, it was a bit bland and unexciting, and since there was no protein, I felt full temporarily, but an hour later I was starving. I’ve been thinking I want some real classic American comfort food…too bad that tends to also mean “full of fat food”…I shall have to be creative. Come to think of it…some spaghetti and beanballs with homemade marinara sounds good right about now…with whole wheat spaghetti I could even call it healthy.

Back on topic, I tried out a couple new recipes tonight, from World Vegetarian since that’s been my cookbook of the week. The first was purple cabbage in cranberry juice. This starts out in a large pot, and then is moved to a covered casserole dish so it can hang out in the oven for an hour and a quarter and really cook down and sweeten up.

There was absolutely no way of making this photogenic, but I did what I could…it still looks a lot like purple worms. The fennel was the real standout of this recipe…it reminded me a lot of oven-roasted vegetables…but cabbage and kind of fruity. While it has the cooking time of an entrée, this really is just a side dish. It’s pretty mild over-all, and while one serving is good, you wouldn’t want a ton of it at a time. I feel like it would make a great addition to a tapas meal of humus, olives, and various picked vegetables and salads. I could totally see stuffing it in a pita with falafel…you just wouldn’t want a full plate of it.

I also made a dish the book called “Poached Eggplant with Korean Hot Sauce”. The eggplant wasn’t poached so much as it was boiled, and the Korean “hot sauce” wasn’t remotely hot, even after we nearly doubled the amount of cayenne called for. This actually reminded me a lot of hoisen sauce, although there was none in the recipe. I felt very much as though I was eating a blander version of moo shoo pancakes.

We wrapped this up in tortillas that were hanging out in the back of the fridge, and I think I may have the leftovers in a whole wheat pita tomorrow…with the addition of some of my home made zhug (Israeli hot sauce) so the kick it was SUPPOSED to have is actually present. Who knows…I may decide to be a rebel and stuff some of the leftover cabbage in there with it.

Selah.

Stuffed Mushrooms and Green Curry

2008-11-21T05:21:00.001-05:00

For some reason I’ve had NO appetitive the last couple days. Throughout the day I have less than zero desire to eat, and when I force myself to do so, I can only choke down a few bites before feeling like I am about to explode. Considering I usually eat enough for two…this is VERY much out of the ordinary. That said, I still feel compelled to cook, and I fulfilled that need tonight with a couple more recipes from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian.

This is a bean curd stuffed portabella mushroom, which I decided to serve up over greens. Sadly it was pretty bland, even with the included sauce, although that could also be the lack of appetite talking. I felt this would’ve benefited quite a bit if the portabellas were marinated prior to stuffing and cooking…there’s just no equivalent to that kind of flavor.

The mushroom and pea curry on the other hand, was delicious. (Although I could still only get a couple bites down) To be honest, I don’t know what the original recipe would taste like…I made a number of changes. I didn’t have the green chili called for, and replaced it with a generous dosing of cayenne pepper. I didn’t have any cilantro either…so it was omitted. There were also a number of steps and orders to be followed…but I wanted a simple one pot meal, so I threw all of that out the window. I also replaced the cream called for with regular low fat soymilk, which I was a bit concerned about, although it turned out fine.

My complete disregard for the instructions didn’t seem to hurt this…it was still quite good, and I’m looking forward to the leftovers at lunch tomorrow…assuming my appetite is back.

Selah.

Steamed Vegetable Dumplings...de-constructed

2008-11-20T03:52:00.000-05:00

I gave the steamed vegetable dumplings from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian a shot tonight, and remembered why I’m not huge on most dumplings. I love those thick white dim sum buns filled with sweet bean paste, but dumplings…not so much. I’ve always thought they were kind of bland and gummy, and these were no different.

The simple dipping sauce I made to accompany these (shoyu and rice vinegar) made them edible, but other than that, they were forgotten by the time I finished chewing, they were that boring. These were also a LOT of work considering the mediocrity of the result, and I don’t think I’d put the time in again.

Since there was so much filling leftover, I had to do SOMETHING with it. The mixture that went into the dumplings wasn’t spiced in any way (per the recipe) so I added some mirin (to deglaze), hoisen, hot chili sauce and five spice powder to the mixture. Peas went in as well…which were not in the dumplings.

I served up the mixture over soba noodles, and the flavoring was good for me, although my other half did add some Braggs…he’s a salt fiend though, so I wouldn’t judge anything by him unless you’re sodium obsessed too.

Selah.

Beer Brats and Garlic-Stuffed Potatoes

2008-11-19T05:18:00.000-05:00

The recipe for the brats came from Yellow Rose Recipes, and the idea to top them with onions and peppers is from B36 Kitchen. The sausages were o.k....I’ve made and eaten better. To be honest these were rather bready and bland, things I should have thought of during the mixing process because I could have fixed them then. It probably didn’t help matters that we ate them on these rocking sprouted buns that were great...but almost un-distinguishable from the “sausage” in terms of texture and weight.

The peppers and onions on the other hand were a definite score. I cooked these up in olive oil, garlic salt, and thyme. (the crumbled herb version not the powder – we have both) and I could’ve eaten them alone…seriously…who needs the brat?

The potatoes were actually a recipe from a friend. We went to her place for dinner one evening, and when we arrived she had cut slits into potatoes and was stuffing them with sliced garlic, who would’ve thunk? After being stuffed with the garlic, the potatoes are drizzled with canola oil and receive generous grinds of salt and pepper. I’d never seen this done before, and I thought it was ingenious.

These are baked in the oven for an hour at 375F and are best served with some sort of dressing. If you’re using Yukon Golds or a similarly skinned potato, feel free to leave them unpeeled. The Maine baking potatoes I had on hand are a bit too thick-skinned for that. In our household we like “green dressing” which is an emulsion of herbs, oils and braggs…but the exact recipe is secret and not mine to divulge. I’d be willing to bet that a Ceaser or mustard vinaigrette would be delicious as well.

The beer brats could use some work, and since I’ve made better sausages in the past, I think I’ll stick with those. I will make onions and peppers to top sandwiches again...or maybe just to snack on as is. And the potatoes? Always a mainstay around these parts.

Selah.

BBQ stir fry

2008-11-17T20:41:00.005-05:00

Frankly I don't remember what went into this. If you see it...it's there. The pale yellow stuff is chili oil packed bamboo and I know I served it over soba noodles.

I started things off with some preserved garlic and ginger in peanut oil, and added shoyu, mirin, and roasted red chili paste and honey barbecue sauce to the vegetables.
It was a weird combination (to my memory, it included mushrooms, corn, peas, garlic, ginger, bamboo, black olives, fake hot dog and green onions) and somehow it was REALLY good...I think I can blame that on the bbq sauce.
Selah.

Burekas and Shitake Consumme

2008-11-14T05:20:00.000-05:00

I’ve wanted to try out home made burekas for a couple years now, since among other things, they aren’t available in the freezer section of my local market like in Israel. I’m pretty sure the standard bureka just has a layer of mashed potatoes between puffed pastry, but these were a bit more “unique”, and really VERY good. The potatoes were jazzed up with fresh parsley and turmeric. In following the recipe I added a couple eggs and butter, but I’m sure they would fair fine without.

The recipe came from Joan Nathan’s “Foods of Israel Today” a cookbook I’ve owned longer than I’ve been cooking, but have made very little from. I set these up with a really simple dipping sauce of sliced baby bellas, jarred tomato sauce and red chili flakes. They were an odd shape, but that’s because I followed the recipe directions. In the future I think I can make them into the more traditional triangles, and while this recipe is good, I’m thinking the more traditional flavor might also be nice from time to time. I need to limit myself though…puffed pastry is like eating pure butter…or so it tastes.

The other half of this meal was a shitake “consumme” lifted from Vegetarian Planet. Apparently a consumme involves simmering a whole bunch of vegetables for a long period of time (in this case an hour…that’s long for me) and then discarding all the vegetables and adding a couple flavors to the broth that remains. I’m not into trashing a pot full of perfectly good produce though, so this strays a bit from that idea.

The recipe called for transparent bean thread noodles, which I may have been able to find…but I had no issues using Asian rice noodles that I already had on hand. Once the broth was done simmering, I strained out the liquid and seasoned it along with the noodles. Each bowl got a couple ladle-fulls of the broth-noodle mixture, and a scoop of the reserved vegetables on top. This wasn’t groundbreaking in any way, but it was definitely good with all the vegetables in the mix. I have no idea why you’d just want to throw it all out and eat plain broth…

Selah.

Jamaican Mix-Up Rice

2008-11-13T07:51:00.000-05:00

If Jamaicans had their own version of fried rice…this would be it. And I don’t want to sway in my allegiance to greasy brown rice and undistinguishable veggies in a cardboard carton, but this was damn good. The recipe also made a TON, so I’m sure I’ll be eating it for the next three days.

The recipe came from Vegetarian Planet, and allowed for a bit of wiggle room. I decided to use carnival as the requested squash (the recipe called for pumpkin or butternut) and collards as the green. This also called for allspice, but since I only have whole allspice and I don’t have a spice grinder (or mortar and pestle for that matter) I decided to replace it with cloves and jerk seasoning. I’m not entirely sure why I picked up cloves from the spice rack, but I can tell you that I just figured jerk seasoning belonged in a Jamaican dish.

The jalapeno was optional in the recipe, but I’ve made my feelings on spice pretty clear….a whole pepper, seeds intact, joined the mix. I have to admit the best part of this was essentially the garnish. I fried up some sliced banana in oil and set that atop each serving. It added a sweet, uniquely textured element not otherwise present in the dish…I only wish I’d made more than two bananas worth, since I’ll have to make a new batch to adorn the leftovers.

I made more of the black bean burgers from V’con today too…as expected, they went great with the sundried tomato dip. They’ve had their photo ops though…so I didn’t bother.

Selah.

Pasta Fazool and Sundried Tomato Spread

2008-11-12T05:22:00.000-05:00

I got these awesome looking Rosemary Spelt crackers, so of course I needed to make something just as exciting to slather them with. We scored a HUGE bag of sundried tomatoes last week, so the sundried tomato spread from V’con was looking pretty good. The only problem was that I didn’t have any almonds…I need to stock my pantry with nuts in general…the fats are really good for my complexion...or so I’m told.

That’s not just the lighting…this dip was very orange, and I couldn’t tell you why for the life of me.

I used “small white beans” whatever those are (I’m thinking they’re Great Northern in disguise) and ended up adding about half a cup of the liquid in which the tomatoes were re-hydrated. This is SO FRIGGIN GOOD. It’s a lot like a thicker, spreadable version of tomato sauce, which is cool with me. I feel like the almonds would add a smoky element this doesn’t have, but it’s more than edible without, and I could always add a bit of liquid smoke. I plan on spreading it on a roll nestled around one of V’con’s black bean burgers tomorrow…mmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it. As an added bonus, this stuff is practically fat free while tasting rich beyond all belief.

It was also time to try out the Pasta E Faglioli in V’con…which is apparently called Pasta Fazool in the real world…don’t ask me how they got to that. I didn’t realize just how simple this was until I finished making it, but I certainly can’t complain. While it was quite good, my other half said a green addition wouldn’t have hurt (some baby spinach perhaps?) and I was pining for a bit of spice…probably in the form of some dried chili flakes.

I used the same beans as were in the tomato spread, and I’d stick with my choice there. I’d definitely make this recipe again, but I’ll be jazzing it up a bit with some extra veggies and a spicy kick in the future.
Selah.

Tempeh and Onions

2008-11-10T21:01:00.002-05:00

This was a simple dish made to round out a meal of leftovers. I also made a pretty sweet salad combining the spicy citrus vinaigrette from V'con with half a papaya that met its fate on the mandolin. Sadly the salad never got as far as pictures, but it looked pretty average anyway, nothing telling of the exotic flavor.

I bought a block of "garden veggie" tempeh tonight, and although I could see tiny specks of vegetable in it, it tasted exactly the same as every other tempeh I've ever had. I coated a large skillet with olive oil, and added about two cloves minced garlic, along with the block of tempeh, cut into small cubes. Once the tempeh had cooked and was starting to brown on all sides, I added a whole onion; sliced, and decent servings of Spike (seasoning), white pepper, and Bac-Uns. Once the onion became translucent, about 5 baby bella mushrooms; sliced, joined the party. This took about ten more minutes for all the flavors to meld together, and was then served up.

I've really been surprised by how much tempeh is growing on me lately. I'm still a little hesitant of recipes calling for large pieces, like tempeh "ribs", since it's easier to cook out (or hide) the bitterness when it's chopped, crumbled, or mashed (as in the spicy tempeh rolls from V'con). This particular method is really good, simple, and filling, not to mention fast. I'm glad I have such a simple tempeh mainstay in my repertoire, the stuff really is great for you...

Selah.

Fondue Lo Mein

2008-11-10T07:53:00.000-05:00

The basic idea for this dish was: “dump everything left in the fridge into the fondue pot and see what happens”, and that was what I did. The one glaring mistake I made was in not re-hydrating the oyster mushrooms and dried lily buds ahead of time. I figured since they normally re-hydrate in boiling water, throwing them right in the pot would work out great…and it would’ve. The oyster mushrooms were fine, although a bit chewier than I like…the lily buds had a lightly bitter after taste, which I think I could have avoided by re-hydrating and draining them ahead of time.

Because there were so many ingredients in the pot, this ended up being closer to a lo mein in terms of consistency, which was fine with me, I’m always up for an Asian noodle dish.

Ingredients

1 pkg. Chinese style lo mein noodles

3 cups vegetable broth

1 tbsp. fresh minced ginger

1 tbsp. minced garlic

Dash five spice powder

1 crown broccoli, roughly sliced

1 onion, sliced

3 scallions; sliced

½ cup bamboo shoots in chili oil (my favorite food)

½ cup dried oyster mushrooms

½ cup dried lily buds.

¼ cup mirin

2 tbsp peanut oil

Directions

1. While this could just as easily be made in a saucepan, I used a fondue pot, and kept it at “6” throughout the cooking process.
2. While I didn’t do it, I’d definitely suggest boiling water and re-hydrating the oyster mushrooms and lily buds separately. The lily in particular can be quite bitter otherwise.
3. Heat the peanut oil in the fondue (or stock) pot, add ginger, garlic, and onion, cook until onions are translucent.
4. Add broth and mirin, once it comes to a boil, all the other ingredients can go in. Cook for 5-10 minutes and serve.

Overall this was a really good dish with spot on flavors…and in the future I’ll know to prepare the lily in particular separately. Who knows? It could say that on the bag…I just need to learn Chinese. Simple….

Selah.

Veggies and Stuffing

2008-11-06T17:30:00.001-05:00

We’re coming up on Thanksgiving, and even though thanks to my work schedule I’ll be spending the holiday alone, I’ve been feeling the need to make thanksgiving food anyway. Today’s dinner really consisted of a couple sides…some simple veggies, and a vegan stuffing.

The veggie side started off with some quickly blanched green beans. The beans were then drained, and quickly sautéed with olive oil, minced garlic, baby bella mushrooms, frozen peas and corn. They got generous grinds of salt and pepper before finishing.

This was (very) simple and good. Add red bell pepper, onions, perhaps a zucchini, and you’ll have a much heartier medley.

The stuffing was even easier, since I’ve made big fancy stuffings before, which were good…but I wasn’t feeling that motivated today.

This started with 6 cups of vegetable stock. The stock was put on the boil, and in the meantime I added 6 baby carrots; minced, half an onion, minced, a couple stalks of minced celery, a bay leaf, oregano, sage, cumin, salt, and pepper.

While the liquid was coming to a boil, I cubed a loaf of Italian bread. The bread went into a large casserole dish, and once the stock came to a boil, it was poured on top and the bay leaf was removed. I made sure all the bread was coated, and then baked in the oven for 30 minutes at 375F. This was very moist and loose when it came out of the oven, but I’m hoping with some fridge time it’ll firm up a bit. Even if it doesn’t, it still tastes REALLY good.

Selah.

Lobster Mushroom Bisque and Morell Mushroom Ravioli

2008-11-05T13:06:00.003-05:00

Tonight's dinner looked really fancy...and it tasted ok.

I started things off with the lobster mushroom bisque made by What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway a couple weeks ago. I replaced the cognac with white wine simply because I didn't have it, and last time I bought cognac for a dish, the remaining half bottle sat in my fridge door for a YEAR. Perhaps that was the element that truly pushed this dish over the edge, I don't know. I thought it was ok...nothing to write home about.

For the meal entree, I decided to make some fresh ravioli using the dried morel mushrooms I'd picked up a couple weeks ago. Once reconstituted, I chopped the mushrooms, and mixed them into the tofu ricotta from V'con with some cracked pepper and salt added. I made the pasta dough from the recipe on the back of the semolina flour bag.

These might have been ok, except that I made them WAY too thick. This dough would've been thick for perrogies, never mind ravioli. I'm still getting the hang of making fresh pasta, and I'm currently at the "thicker it is, less likely it will break stage", which while safe in terms of form, is apparently also very detrimental to the enjoyment of ravioli. The filling in these was ok, although it was nothing special either, again, I think I would have enjoyed it more if not encased in all that dough.

Selah.