Singer Eats

Hearty Split Pea Soup

2012-02-07T07:23:00.000-08:00

So easy and pantry-friendly, this soup was wonderful to cook up on a whim last week and sip out of my Shakespearian Love-Quote mug. The split peas do take a while to break down, so some patience is required.

Hearty Split Pea Soup
Serves 4-6
1-3 hours cooking time

olive oil
1 onion, diced small
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1-2 carrots, diced small
1 cup yellow split peas, soaked 3-8 hours, drained and rinsed
5 cups vegetable broth
liquid smoke

1) Saute onions in olive oil for 5 minutes, until soft. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute, then add salt and spices.
2) Add in the carrot and saute for a few more minutes.
3) Add in the split peas and vegetable broth, stirring well and scraping the bottom of the pot to release any spices or onions that may have been stuck.
4) Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer 1-2 hours or until split peas are very soft.
5) Add liquid smoke and salt to taste (1-2 dashes of the liquid smoke was enough for me). Blend part or all of the soup if desired, or leave it chunky.

Healthy Sips

2012-01-31T10:33:00.000-08:00

I've been both on and off the green juice bandwagon at different times over the past few years. I've never been one to have a juice instead of a meal- I need real food, and lots of it!- but I do enjoy incorporating them into my diet.
However, there are some pretty big CONS that go with juicing as well, and it's usually one or a few of these cons that cause me to fall off the bandwagon. Here are my personal pro and con concerns with juicing:

PRO:
-they're supposed to be very good for you, and make me feel as though I'm bumping up my veggie and greens intake, which is always something to strive for.
-I enjoy the taste of them, so it's like a treat for me!
-they give me a crazy burst of energy right away!

CON:
-I'm not convinced on how healthy they really are- although the vitamins and minerals from the veggies are going directly into the bloodstream, so is the sugar, with no fiber to slow down its absorption. It's possible this is where my energy burst comes from.
-I'm not buying a juicer, and buying juice is expensive- $5-$8 per 16oz cup!
-Buying juice is also wasteful, with all those plastic cups and straws the juice bars use.

Well, pro or con, I'm back on the bandwagon for 2-4 juices a week, and I'm going to see how they make me feel. I don't spend all that much money on food any more since I get fed at work and school so often, so I'm not worried about the extra cost, and I bought this BPA-free reusable cup at Bed Bath & Beyond (in the picture above) to cut down on plastic cup waste, so that knocks 2 cons right into the water!
I love this cute little organic cafe called "Healthy Nibbles" on Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn. All the produce they use is organic and their juices are delicious! I love the I Am Alive juice with Kale, Spinach, Celery, Apple, Lemon and Ginger.
Healthy Nibbles is not all vegan but they do have an impressive array of vegan juices, smoothies, sandwiches, and cupcakes and other treats which I can't wait to try.

Something Brewing

2012-01-29T09:33:00.000-08:00

Guess what scary thing has been growing in my kitchen for the past two weeks?
Brains! Just kidding, it's Kombucha! I was lucky enough to work a kombucha-making class at NGI a few weeks ago, led by the founder of Kombucha Brooklyn- which, by the way, is now making home brew kits for the average Jane like me to brew their own 'booch in a snap! I didn't get the whole kit, but he did gift us with some big ol' mother SCOBYs (the big white thing floating in the jar) to make our own.

I swear, I did everything wrong in making this batch of kombucha and it still worked. It's such a strong culture, so it's hard for even me to mess it up! I guestimated the amount of loose tea I used, I didn't sanitize anything, I split the batch into two half-gallon jars instead of one gallon jar, and I didn't even have enough starter liquid! To boot, I let them brew on top of my microwave. And still, after two weeks, my jars had a new baby SCOBY growing on top:

I'm not going to go into all of the details on how to make your own kombucha, but the Kombucha Brooklyn Kits have step-by-step instructions, and Coffee & Sunshine blog had a good post about making your own kombucha last year.
I drank some kombucha right out of the brew jar when I thought it was ready, and it was sooooo delicious! Quite tart, and full of flavor. I bottled and flavored a few bottles with ginger juice, cherry juice, and blueberries, and now they're doing a second fermentation for a few days to see if I can get some bubbles in there.
If you had told me last year that I'd start brewing my own kombucha, I would have laughed so hard...but now it's crazy how excited I am about this! I can't wait to bring some into work :-)

Angelica Kitchen

2012-01-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

I had wanted to go to Angelica Kitchen for a while and finally got to with the boyfriend for my birthday last fall. And you know what? We were kind of underwhelmed. The soups we got- miso and potato-something- as well as the chai tea and hummus were all yummy, but the entrees were just blah. I know we should have expected the food to be simple, given that Angelica has a macrobiotic background so it uses all good, whole foods and not too much salt or oil or anything, but I was still kind of disappointed since I had heard so many great reviews of the place.

BUT- always give a place a second chance! I needed a healthy, filling lunch in the East Village yesterday and I decided to drop by the AK and try something new, by myself this time. I sat at the communal table that already had a conversation going between two strangers, and an extra bonus was that my friend R was waitressing there at the time! She kindly brought me some of the delicious Chai Tea with Soymilk and Agave right away:
I wanted a sandwich, and was particularly drawn to the Sam or I Sandwich- marinated tofu with crispy (raw, I think) daikon, hijiki, arame, ruby red saurkraut, and a delicious tahini sauce. R said she loves the Marinated Tofu Sandwich and the Tempeh Reuben as well so I may have to come back for those eventually too. And of course, I had to start with a cup of the Miso Soup:
Some people may not like the miso soup here because it is very salty, but that's just perfect for me after a workout. And the sandwich was absolutely delicious:
I'm so glad I came back to Angelica! It's perfect for light, healthy, simple food presented in a casual but lovely way. Plus, it was quite affordable. I forsee many more Angelica lunches in my future...

Perfect Popcorn

2012-01-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

Normally, my days are so busy that I don't really snack, and I feel great eating three solid meals in a day with no nibbling in between. But on the occasional day when I am home, I tend to snack more. Maybe it's from boredom, maybe it's because every spot in my apartment is no more than 20 feet away from my kitchen...but I don't mind, because it's still an occasional thing rather than every day.

Even so, on my especially nibbly days I try to find healthy, whole-food, high-volume snack options so I don't make myself sick! I love dried or fresh fruit, roasted seaweed snacks, tea, granola, and nuts, but if I'm feeling indulgent, I love to make a big bowl of popcorn!
Making stovetop popcorn is so easy and so superior to the microwavable crap I grew up with. I've learned the best way to pop it, too:

1. Use a heavy, lidded pot. I use my soup pot for this.

2. Use a high-heat oil- canola oil is fine, but coconut oil is really best for popcorn. I like to use virgin coconut oil because of its health properties, and because it makes the popcorn silky and slightly coconutty, but not greasy at all. If you don't want that coconut taste, use refined coconut oil.

3. Preheat the oil for a minute on high heat, then add popcorn kernels- enough to coat the bottom of the pan or less, but no more. Give them a quick stir, then put on the lid.

4. When you hear the first kernel pop, turn the heat down to medium-high. If it takes a long time for all of them to pop, give the pan a shake occasionally so the popped ones don't burn. Then, when you think they have all popped, turn off the heat but keep the lid on for a minute or two because there might be a few more "poppers" to go.

5. Add your seasonings of choice into the pot and shake it to distribute evenly, then pour into a bowl. I love salt and nutritional yeast, but I know some people do oregano, herbes de provence, dulse, cinnamon, cayenne, curry powder...the possibilities are endless!

Tempeh Shepherdess Pie

2012-01-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about Shepherd's Pie all winter for some reason. I've never made one before, and I don't even think I've even eaten a proper Shepherd's Pie! But the idea is perfect to me- a cozy, hearty savory pie with mashed potatoes on top instead of a finicky pie crust.

So I finally got around to making the Shepherd's Pie from Veganomicon, which says that it's different from a regular Shepherd's Pie not only because it uses ground tempeh instead of meat, but because it uses a mushroom gravy as the liquid base of the filling rather than a tomato sauce, which is apparently more traditional. Not that I would know!
The pie, while it had several steps- marinate the tempeh, cook the potatoes, prepare the filling, add the gravy, mash the potatoes- was quite easy, and since the only vegetables in it were frozen corn and peas and a bunch of mushrooms, there wasn't actually that much prep work. It was nice to spend an easy hour or so cooking and I was rewarded with a huge 13x9 pan of dense, filling dinner. It was tasty, too, but I would make some changes next time. I froze a few individual portions of it to eat on busy nights- we'll see how it turns out as a frozen dinner!
If I were to make this recipe again, I would probably:

-add a little more salt to the mashed potatoes (my fault) and maybe Earth Balance instead of olive oil

-marinate the tempeh overnight in something yummy and skip the simmering step

-use less tempeh and add more veggies and gravy- broccoli, carrots, or even greens seem like they would make nice additions, and more gravy is needed to flavor up the potatoes

There's still plenty of winter left to try more Shepherd's Pies, though!

Gustorganics

2012-01-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

I met a friend for lunch last week at New York's first certified organic restaurant, Gustorganics. It's a cozy, casual restaurant right by Union Square, with lovely rustic wooden decor and a South American-influenced menu. It's not vegan or vegetarian, but it has clearly marked Gluten Free, Vegetarian and Vegan options on the menu.
I got there really early, so I sat at the bar for a while and admired their wonderful cocktail list. I ended up getting a pint....
of green juice! This was Rose's Garden, a mix of greens, apple, lemon, and ginger. I don't drink a lot of green juice, but this was delicious and I praised the bartender on how smooth and balanced it was.

Once we both sat down to look at the menu, I had a lot of options. I knew a Lentil Stew over Brown Rice would be best in terms of whole foods, but I went with what I really wanted- a Veggie Burger:
The veggie burger is marked "vegan" on the menu, but mine did come with a side of mayo as well as ketchup, so next time I'll remember to ask them to hold it. It also came with a side of sweet potato chips and a nice mesclun salad. It has the soft consistency of a homemade veggie burger, and a great taste- not too much of any one flavor. The bun was whole grain, too!

Overall, Gustorganics is a nice place with lots of options to catch lunch with a friend, but the food isn't exactly of the highest quality. I love that everything they offer is organic, though- and the fact that they were the first to do it is impressive.

Comfort Food

2012-01-15T11:29:00.001-08:00

Mashed potatoes, finely chopped steamed kale, chickpeas, and my favorite cheezy sauce from The 30-Minute Vegan. It really doesn't get any better than this...

Mmmiso Soup!

2012-01-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

I love breakfast. It is the one meal a day that I always get to have at home, and I always make sure I wake up early enough to make and eat a good breakfast. My go-to is creamy Scottish oats with a touch of maple syrup, ground flax, cinnamon, fresh/frozen/dried fruit, and toasted nuts or nut butter- I'm definitely a sweet breakfast gal. But when I was researching more about Macrobiotics a few months back, I tried savory breakfasts with whole grains, seaweed, and tons of veggies for a few weeks. Eventually I fell back into my natural sweet oatmeal or cereal habit, but now and then I like a good savory breakfast such as the macro staple of miso soup.

I love miso soup for breakfast because it gets tons of veggies in my body first thing in the morning, which provides a really mellow and constant energy until lunch, unlike the energy spike and drop of sugary cereals and coffee. It takes about the same amount of time and energy to make as stovetop oats; i.e. it's not instant, but doesn't take very long either. I use whatever veggies I have on hand, wakame, sweet white or barley miso, and tofu, edamame, black soybeans, or even chickpeas for protein. I also like to add a touch of soy sauce and my new favorite ingredient...kimchi! I got the idea to put kimchi in miso soup from Tiffany- genius! It adds a delicious briny flavor to the broth, as well as even more veggies.

This is my miso soup from this morning. It contained red onions, red cabbage, bok choy, wakame, a dried shiitake mushroom, a mix of vegetable broth and water, mellow white miso and kimchi. Delicious!

What is a Whole Food?

2012-01-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

Ha ha, try typing whole foods into Google and see how many hits you get about actual food, not the grocery store.

While trying to eat all whole foods since December 27th, I have been struck with a series of decisions regarding what I will let myself think is a whole food. I know what a whole food technically is, for that is what they teach at the Natural Gourmet Institute:

"A whole food is a food, taken from nature, with all of its edible parts intact."

To elaborate, the food must be from nature, not made in a lab. That's obvious. For a food to have all of its edible parts intact, however, is where it gets more tricky. For example, a whole carrot, according to this definition, would have to be one with its skin and greens still on, all of which are edible. A whole nut would be a shelled nut with the skin still on because you can eat the skin and the nut but not the hard shell. Would my natural peanut butter, made from roasted peanuts and their skins, be a whole food? Would whole-grain flour be a whole food? After all, both of those things include the entire edible part of the peanuts and grains, just ground up. Therefore, I would say yes. But I'm not sure whether everyone would agree.

Of course, true to form, I have not been eating 100% whole foods for the past two weeks. Right off the bat, I made the decision to include oil, nutritional yeast, my liquid vitamin, and wholesome sweeteners like juice, maple syrup and agave in my life because in my opinion there is no health-related reason to exclude them. Then the decisions started coming: Should I make thumbprint cookies with all-fruit jam and flour? Heck yes. Should I order my favorite veggie pizza while out to dinner with my boyfriend? No, but I will eat the small piece of bread that comes with the lentil soup and salad I get instead. Should I help judge this vegan pie contest at NGI? Well, how often do you get to judge a pie contest?! I didn't need the sugar, but I had to do it- and I only had one bite of each pie. Can I have alcohol? Originally I intended no, but the occasional glass of red wine when out with friends has snuck in and I'm happy about that. I've had two so far, and only when out with others, not at home by myself.

So what is the point of all this? Well, although the changes in my diet have been small, I have noticed these larger changes about myself:

-Better skin
-I wake up more easily in the morning
-Less hunger between meals, and I fill up on less at meals

There's motivation to continue if I ever saw it!

Thumbprint Cookies

2012-01-08T11:58:00.001-08:00

After a week and a half with almost no processed foods and definitely no processed sugar, I was ready for a cookie! My big ol' stash of dried fruit, while delicious, was not what I wanted. I really wanted to make the thumbprint cookies we make at Natural Gourmet Institute, which I've blogged about before here, because they're the most wholesome cookies I know- made from almond, oat, and whole wheat flour, sweetened only with maple syrup and an all-fruit jam, and with beneficial virgin coconut oil as the fat.

Although I remembered enough about the cookies to buy the ingredients for them from memory, I needed the recipe to make them. Enter a scene of me diving through my million recipe packets in my two overstuffed folders of NGI handouts. But I couldn't find the one I was looking for! Thankfully, after quite a while Googling the cookies, I found an almost-exact recipe on Sarah's blog through a review of hers on Fran Costigan's cookbook! Yaaaay Sarah and Fran! The only difference I could remember between Fran's recipe for "Famous Thumbprint Cookies" and the original was that she uses walnuts instead of almonds and adds nutmeg and baking powder, which I left out. So I finally made the friggin' cookies:
And they were delicious. The coconut oil gives the dough a crisp exterior, with a satisfying crumbliness, contrasted by the chewy sweetness of the jam. The almond extract and faint coconut taste from the coconut oil work wonderfully together. In fact, I brought most of them to work so I wouldn't eat them all, and everyone's reaction was "mmm...coconut!" These are perfect with a cup of tea in the afternoon. I wish I had one now!

Curried Chickpeas and Eggplant

2012-01-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

I tried another recipe from Appetite from Reduction this week: Curried Chickpeas and Eggplant. Eggplant is diced and stewed into creaminess with tomatoes, onion and spices, then added to chickpeas and served over a starch. The author says the eggplant becomes "lucious," which it sure did, with only a teaspoon of oil.

I made a few changes to the recipe- a can of diced tomatoes instead of two cups of fresh diced tomatoes. Then I realized that I didn't have any garam masala, so in addition to the curry powder and cumin and salt in the pot, I added a sprinkle each of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and black pepper, all of which are in garam masala, according to a brief glance online.

I enjoyed it over leftover wheat berries with some sauteed kale, and ate some of the leftovers today with sweet potato fries and a big ol' dollop of garlic hummus, which was really good. I would like to try the recipe again with the garam, because the clove taste was a bit overwhelming- perhaps they use a different kind in the Indian spice mix?

Breakfast.

2012-01-03T18:50:00.000-08:00

Hey there!...Miss me?

So, my New Year's Resolution this year was to start blogging again. I'm not sure why exactly I stopped in the first place, but I got back from a vacation in August and just didn't feel like it any more. And even now, I can't guarantee that I will be around very often- I'm still either working or at school or co-op seven days a week most weeks- but I could use the extra kick in the pants to stay experimental and active in the kitchen. So here I am.

I'm also trying to eat mostly whole foods this month! The biggest culprits I'm trying to get rid of are coffee, alcohol, and sugar, but I'm trying not to eat bread or flour or other processed foods either (oil and salt and vinegar and the like will stay in my dishes for sure, though). This led me to pick up a copy of Appetite for Reduction from the library, which I've already read cover-to-cover and tried a few things from. I'm certainly not trying to lose weight, but I love the simple whole-foods focus of this cookbook.

Now, I decided that my first post back should feature a dish for the first meal of the day- breakfast! Yesterday, I made a lovely morning meal for the boyfriend and myself from AfR: Brussels Sprout and Potato Hash:

It's a simple hash of Yukon Gold potatoes, brussels sprouts, onions and garic, and I added mushrooms for good measure. Flavored with lemon zest and thyme and cooked until soft and crispy in a cast-iron pan, this was a delicious and easy holiday breakfast! I also had a grapefruit with it, pictured above.

Happy New Year!

Blossom

2011-08-09T10:19:00.001-07:00

I finally got to go to Blossom! I've been wanting to go to this famous vegan restaurant on the West side of Manhattan forever. I ended up going a few weeks ago with a girl from my church new to both veganism and NYC that wants to try all the vegan restaurants around here- in other words, my new favorite person! We were both so excited by the amazing menu it took us about half an hour to order, but we started with some delicious and refreshing (and big!) glasses of sangria.
For an appetizer, we shared the famous Blackeyed Pea Cake: a slightly spicy, thick cake of Yukon Golds, Blackeyed Peas, peppers, and other yummies with a big dollop of tartar sauce.
We then decided on two entrees to share: the Phyllo Roulade- French Lentils and veggies rolled in phyllo dough and served with a lovely carrot broth and garlicky sauteed greens, and the Hickory Basted Tempeh, the most perfect southern-style barbecue dish I've ever had, with hickory-scented BBQ Tempeh, roasted potatoes, and perfect collard greens. If I could get my hands on a bottle of that BBQ sauce I would smother it on everything.
We were stuffed after the entrees, but of course we had to get dessert! I'm a sucker for lavender flavored desserts, so the Lavender Creme Brulee was made for me- I had never had vegan creme brulee, either! This dish captured the crackly sugar top, the dense pudding texture, and the not-too-sweet flavor of traditional creme brulee. I have to try to replicate this! My friend had never had vegan ice cream, so we got a scoop each of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. The vanilla flavor had the best creamy texture and robust taste.

I wanted to stop by Cocoa V, their chocolate and bake shop across the street, on the way home, but we were both so stuffed we couldn't stand the sight of more food. Next time!

By the way, I noticed A Soy Bean also blogged about Blossom recently, and got a lot of the same dishes as I did! Check out her review here!

New Grain: Amaranth

2011-08-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

I've been trying out some new whole grains, especially for breakfast, which is the one meal I still get to make at home every day! Instead of rolled or steel-cut oats, I've gotten better at cooking whole oat groats, which make a wonderfully creamy-yet-chewy, filling oatmeal. When I'm in a rush, though, quick-cooking whole grains are a lifesaver, and none cook more quickly than quinoa or amaranth!

I was scared to try amaranth for a while for no particular reason other than it's different. I knew people cooked it into a drink or porridge traditionally, but I went the porridge route, cooking it just like quinoa- 1 part grain to 2 parts water, brought to a boil, then simmered about 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Amaranth is so cute when it's all cooked up- the germ comes out and wraps around the grain, just like little tiny quinoas!

Like oatmeal, amaranth has proved to be a versatile and satisfying vehicle for both sweet and savory mix-ins: the above picture has a bowl of amaranth porridge with peach chunks and nuts. The texture is kind of grainy, not completely smooth, but pretty creamy and not chewy since the grains are so small.

Other breakfast grains I love: rice pudding, quinoa, whole oatmeal. All of these are good with either fruit or vegetables. Anyone know some other good ones?

John's on 12th Street

2011-07-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

I've been hoping to go to John's for quite a while. It is another great NYC restaurant that offers loads of both vegan and non-vegan options, in traditional Italian style! The ambiance and service were classic: white tablecloths; friendly and precise but unobtrusive service. I went with the boyfriend last night to feast before going to the movies. We shared the vegan bruschetta and the vegan caesar salad to start:

This avocado, tomato and basil bruschetta was amazing! The bread was crisp and light, the avocado creamy, and the fresh tomatoes drenched in garlic and olive oil.

The caesar salad was not a hit with either of us. The dressing was far too strong and...pungent. Perhaps they put dulse in it, but way too much?

For my entree, I had to try the seitan marsala. For one thing, I had never had a marsala sauce before, which is apparently mushrooms cooked in red wine:

The seitan was nice here- moist, not too chewy. The dish also came with a little side of pasta and even vegan parmesan! I kind of wish it came with some kind of vegetable besides the mushrooms though- which were strangely sweet from the wine they were cooked in!

Although the vegan cannoli was calling my name, we opted out of dessert there and instead walked down the street for ice cream. I got scoops of salted caramel pecan and chocolate walnut turtle soy-based ice creams from Stogo:

It's so nice to go out and have something delicious for everyone to eat!

Pressed Salad

2011-07-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Like Nishime, Pressed Salads are another simple cooking technique that I was first introduced to when reading The Kind Diet, but ignored until they entered my life in a cooking class more recently. I think actually seeing something done in real life makes it less intimidating than reading about it in a book.

Pressed salads are kind of like coleslaw- they can be made from any vegetable but are best with vegetables that hold a bit of water and crunch and can stand up to a bit of manhandling, like cabbage, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, etc. The basic technique is to toss the shaved or shredded veggies with some salt to draw the water out, then "press" them down with a weight for a few minutes- just like pressing tofu! Then the veggies can be eaten as-is or rinsed if they are too salty, or tossed with a dressing. This is a great way to eat raw veggies without them tasting raw, since the salt breaks down some of the fiber walls.

I've found that my favorite way to do this is by tossing the veggies with umeboshi vinegar and a little mustard. There's enough salt in the umeboshi vinegar to do the pressing work, and then it's like the veggies are already dressed for me! It's super quick- my salad can be pressing while I prepare the rest of the meal- and super yum! I think it's one of my favorite summer dishes thus far.

Candle 79

2011-07-12T16:06:00.001-07:00

Remember that new job I mentioned a few weeks back? Well, I feel comfortable enough there now to reveal to you that yes, I'm working as a server at this famous vegan restaurant. The food, atmosphere, wine and cocktails really are as good as everyone says they are, and what I love most about working there is knowing that the restaurant really cares about the environment and reusing/recycling, unlike other places I've worked. So please come by and know that you're making the right choice ;-)

Since we recently changed to our summer menu, I dined there myself with the boyfriend and another couple to try some of the new offerings:

Spinach-Lobster Mushroom Ravioli

Live Heirloom Tomato Lasagne

Fried Goodness: Onion Rings, Polenta Fries, Roasted Potatoes, and Plantains

Live Peach Parfait with Mexican Chocolate Brownies in the background and...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss

Like a Virgin Fresh Cherry Pie

2011-07-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Remember that February recipe from Sarah Kramer's Go Vegan! Wall Calendar that I put off making because I couldn't get good fresh cherries in February? Well, July 4th seemed like the perfect time to make an all-American cherry pie. This one is intense, with a sweet, buttery, coconutty crumb topping.
Even after an hour of baking, the cherries held their shape and firmness, unlike the gelatinous cherry goo one would get out of a can. Honestly, I enjoy both ways, but in the summer I love having identifiable fresh fruit in my pies! Like the Nanaimo Bars, the crumb topping was maybe a bit overboard with the Earth Balance and sugar, but some creamy, unsweetened coconut whipped cream helped to balance out the sweet-salty crunch.

To make coconut whipped cream: Refrigerate a can of coconut milk for a few hours. The fat, or "cream," will rise to the top and firm up. Open the top, and carefully scoop out the white cream, leaving the clear water in the can. Put the cream in a bowl, add a smidge of maple syrup and vanilla if desired, and whip with egg beaters or in a food processor until all the little lumps are gone. It won't increase much in volume like real cream, but the result is light, cool, and creamy- perfect for pies!

Nanaimo Bars

2011-06-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

The June recipe of Sarah Kramer's Go Vegan! Wall Calendar is a no-bake bar cookie that is apparently popular to make in Canada, but I had never heard of it. In fact, I spent most of this month skeptically looking at the long recipe, wondering when I would remember to buy vegan graham crackers.

Nanaimo Bars have three layers. The first is a crumb crust-type thing made from crushed walnuts and graham crackers, dried coconut, and a cocoa-sugar-Earth Balance mixture. This would be delicious on its own as no-bake cookie balls.

The second layer is, essentially, vanilla buttercream frosting. The third is a thin chocolate layer; chocolate melted with yet more Earth Balance that solidifies in the fridge. The recipe on the calendar calls for unsweetened chocolate for this, which I think may be a typo. It makes sense at first, because the other two layers are so sweet, but when you accidentally get a bite of just the top layer it is very bitter!
The boyfriend looooooooved these bars! I like them; the difference in textures between the layers is very nice: the crunchy-chewy sandiness of the bottom crust, the creamy, sweet frosting, and the bitter, smooth, firm chocolate top are all very pleasing. The flavors are nice, too; who doesn't like chocolate cookies with vanilla frosting? But it's all a little too much for me. There's so much Earth Balance and sugar in this cookie, and it tastes like it! It kind of makes me feel like I'm eating a frosting sandwich. And yes, I know those exist, too. Buuuut I'm not saying I won't enjoy eating said frosting sandwiches for the next few days...hee hee hee.

Nishime

2011-06-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

Ever since I read The Kind Diet I've been curious about this traditional Japanese root vegetable stew. This week I unexpectedly came home with a giant daikon radish, so I browsed the Kind Diet recipe for Nishime as well as one for "Daikon Nishime" by Renee Loux and a few Japanese-American food blogs. Apparently the dish is traditionally made for New Year's and eaten the whole week.

Besides the daikon and kombu seaweed, I didn't have a lot of the usual ingredients like lotus root, mountain yam, or even shiitake mushrooms. Instead, I used carrots, Napa cabbage, bok choy, and celery. I cooked them in big chunks in a pot with some mirin, soy sauce, and about 2 inches of water. Silverstone is right about how the slow stewing makes the vegetables sweet- this was like candy! It was very comforting...and now I have stew to eat for a week!

Baby Bok Choy with Umeboshi Vinaigrette

2011-06-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

In addition to Terry Walters' potato recipe the other day, I tried out Alicia Silverstone's bok choy recipe from The Kind Diet. The farmer's market didn't have any asparagus, which is what I originally wanted to make, but it did have some beautiful bok choy, so I opted for this simple preparation of steaming it (mostly) whole and sprinkling it with a simple vinaigrette.

Rather than following the recipe exactly, I made up the vinaigrette using splashes of olive oil, umeboshi vinegar, toasted sesame oil, and a bit of tamari. The black stuff in the picture is gomasio left over from a Natural Gourmet class ages ago- except I think we ground black sesame seeds with seaweed for that, rather than with sea salt, which is traditional.

I really liked this preparation of the bok choy, especially with the delicious potatoes and seitan. I usually find bok choy very bitter but the steaming and the sourness of the vinaigrette left no bitter taste. Unfortunately, the boyfriend had a different opinion and discovered that umeboshi tastes like ink to him...maybe next time we'll try brown rice vinegar?

Clean Food

2011-06-16T05:34:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to try more recipes from the beautiful cookbook Clean Food- I've already tried the "Chewy Chocolate Macaroons" and can't wait to make more! This week the boyfriend and I took our day off to go to the farmer's market and cook whatever bounty we found, so it was the perfect opportunity to use the seasonally-based, simple and produce-heavy recipes.

I tried a recipe from the "Summer" section- new potatoes tossed in a onion-herb sauce. I used cubed Yukon Golds instead of new potatoes and delicate red spring onions for the sauce- as well as herbs from my garden, of course!
I made extra onion-herb mix and rubbed it all over our steaks, too (seitan steak for me, that is). So simple, but so delicious! The sweetness of the onions really came through, especially on the sweet potatoes.

Smokey Chickpea Burgers

2011-06-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

When I saw JL's post about grilling her chickpea-TVP burgers, I knew I had to try them because I've been looking for a veggie burger that will hold up on a grill and not disintegrate or stick. Sadly, I didn't get to test these on my grill because as soon as everything was ready to cook it started to drizzle. But I did get to test them pan-fried!

These burgers are made of a fairly simple mix of ground chickpeas, TVP, and spices. I didn't read JL's whole post before I made them or I would have added a bit more wet ingredients, but they held together pretty well- only one crumbled a bit- and made a nicely dense, toothsome burger. I didn't taste the liquid smoke, strangely, but that might have been more accentuated had I used a grill.

I accompanied the burgers with a summery side dish of marinated and pan-seared pattypan and zucchini squash. These definitely would have been better grilled, but I had never had pattypan squash before. I love their cute saucer shape and the way their seeds just melt down when cooked! I've seen a lot of recipes for stuffed pattypan, which sounds wonderful.

Peanut Butter Blondies

2011-06-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

When the baking bug hit last weekend, I didn't have very many supplies handy- no soy yogurt, for example, to make my usual blondies.

Once again, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar came to the recue! I already blogged about their Sweet Potato Blondies here, but this is a rich, peanut-butter-and-chocolatey, more boyfriend-friendly blondie. It's like a super moist, fudgy, brown-sugary peanut butter cookie, and of course I had to add chocolate chips!

These were amazing! It's funny, I avoided them for a while because I actually tried the recipe before and they came out too soft in the middle and too peanut-buttery (is there such a thing?). But I've realized that I have since had success with many recipes that didn't cook evenly in the past, so I'm going to blame it on my old oven. Yay new oven!

Crispy Kale Chips

2011-06-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Along with the fruit salad and veg sandwiches, I also made kale chips last week! These crispy greens have been in the blog world for at least a year or two now, but it was my first time making them (successfully, at least). Since I wasn't sure whether my friend would like them, I opted for the simplest preparation of olive oil, salt, pepper, and a dash of nutritional yeast.

I took an entire bunch of curly kale, washed and patted dry the leaves, tore them into bite-sized pieces and spread them out over three sheet pans. I drizzled each pan with EVOO, sprinkled them with sea salt, black pepper and nutritional yeast, and lightly massaged the kale to make sure it was well coated. Then I baked it at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes altogether- I checked after 15 and it was still a bit chewy for my taste, so I kept them in for another five minutes, then kept them in the warm, turned-off oven for a few minutes more to really dry them out without burning them. I stirred/flipped them a couple times, too.
We both loved how these turned out! The nooch gave them a nice flavor without tasting weird or noochy, and they were nice and crispy. My friend said she loved how they "melt in your mouth." We ended up discussing the vitamin K content in kale- it has one of the highest amouts of all the greens.

The chips lasted a long time in a sealed container without losing any of their crisp, too. I had the rest with lunch a whole week later. I love how kale chips are such a portable way to get your greens in!

Fabulous Fruit Salad

2011-06-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

I had a little picnic with a friend last week, for which she brought cucumber, avocado and hummus sandwiches (which were freakin' amazing), and I brought the sides.

Since it was so hot, I went with an indulgent summer classic: fruit salad! I would never buy so many exotic fruits on a normal day, but for fruit salad I splurged on mangoes, pineapple, watermelon, blueberries, and organic strawberries.

I used Chocolate Covered Katie's delicious fruit salad recipe, which jazzes up the fruit with a blend of lemon juice, fresh mint, and a teensy bit of sugar. The mint really made it taste amazing, especially on the pineapple and mango. Plus, I used our homegrown peppermint!

The only problem with this fruit salad was how much I made. I didn't measure anything; I just filled my big mixing bowl with fruit and tossed it in the dressing. So after at least four days of eating big bowls of fruit salad with breakfast or lunch, the last cup or so was too mushy and tired to save. Ah, well. It was good while it lasted.

Urban Gardening

2011-06-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

This may seem like small potatoes to all you folks that don't know how lucky you are to have an actual yard, but one of the reasons we moved to Brooklyn was to have any sort of outside space to start a garden. We settled for even the smallest balcony when we found this apartment, because it gets tons of southern light.

So this spring, my green-thumb boyfriend stayed true to his promise and planted me an extensive herb garden, tomatoes, strawberries, snap peas, microgreens, mint, and flowers- all on one little balcony. It's looking amazing, and I can't wait to cook with fresh herbs all summer!

The babies- he started all of the plants from seed

Nasturtiums! I've never eaten them, but I hope to put them in a salad soon!

It's so amazing to watch plants grow from nothing. Unfortunately, our building management has been calling to make us take the pots off the top of the railing since it's against building codes- ah, city life. I'm sure we'll figure out some sort of shelving unit to put along the wall instead.

What are your favorite things to grow?

Coffee Break Shortbread

2011-05-31T06:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, more sweets! I promise I've been eating real food too. But for a reading of The Odd Couple (Female Version) this weekend, I had to bring my usual donation of baked goods. I was feeling lazy, so I went with this five-ingredient recipe from My Sweet Vegan.

This simple, cut-out shortbread is made from margarine, confectioner's sugar, flour, vanilla, and instant coffee. That's it! It's a lot of instant coffee, too- a whole tablespoon- so these cookies will definitely give you a buzz. They're not super sweet; almost like biscuts because of their flaky and tender texture, and I think they would be wonderful with tea (or coffee, but you might pass out).

I was a little worried serving these to other people because of how strong the coffee flavor is, but they ended up being quite well received. People love their java!

Apple-Rhubarb Bars

2011-05-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

After devouring the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, I've been more inspired to seek out my produce from the farmer's market and take note of where it came from. And because of the first chapter in her book, I've been especially inspired to seek out rhubarb!

Although my mother grew up with rhubarb growing in her backyard, my own experiences with it have been few and far between. I think I've had rhubarb pie, and a year or two ago I bought a rhubarb muffin at a co-op fundraiser. But I had never cooked with it myself. So I went down to the farmer's market, bought five big stalks, and started searching the internet for ideas.

I thought a pie would be too obvious for my first rhubarb dish, so I decided on this bar recipe. The rhubarb is cooked in a thickened, sweetened gel between two layers of oaty-brown sugary shell, then cooled to firm up into bars.

Although mine did firm up when cooled, it was still super sticky on the bottom, so I ended eating all of it like a crisp. The brown sugar crust made the best crisp topping ever! I also ended up using all of the rhubarb, which made two cups, and adding a large chopped apple to fill it out. Since both the rhubarb and the apple were a light yellow-green color, it was hard to tell which was which when they cooked down! In fact, the boyfriend thought it was just an apple crisp...heh heh heh.

I'd like to cook more with rhubarb before the season's over! Does anyone have any favorite rhubarb recipes?

Tomato and Rice Soup

2011-05-27T05:04:00.000-07:00

I made this soup last week as some comfort food when it was still appropriate weather-wise (raining, cold) to make soup. Now, with 80-87 degree days, I'm thinking it won't be back for a while!
This is a great "pantry staple" soup from Veganomicon and may be my go-to tomato soup from now on. It has canned tomatoes, onion, brown rice that cooks in the tomato juice, navy beans for protein, and a whole bulb of roasted garlic! I also added a splash of fresh lemon juice at the end to brighten the tomatoey flavor.

With the leftovers, I started adding a big handful of spinach to wilt into it when I reheated it to make the soup an even more complete meal. And speaking of leftovers, the enormous recipe is easily halved to make six servings.

I know everyone is so ready for summer by this point, but I'm going to miss curling up with a bowl of soup in my robe! Get ready for lots of grilling, fresh fruit and salads, though!

Goodbye Job, Hello Cupcakes

2011-05-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I worked my last shift at my restaurant- I'll be starting at another, *vegan* restaurant this week- so I brought in cupcakes for everyone as a little "I'm sorry I'm abandoning you" present.

I don't usually like to make cupcakes because they take so much TIME! I seriously spent all day Saturday on them. I would much rather frost one big cake than thirty little cupcakes. That said, I'm super proud of how they turned out. This was my first major cupcake success where the cake part was perfectly cooked, the frosting was smooth and tasty, and the cupcakes themselves looked pretty. I used the basic chocolate and vanilla cupcake recipes and frosting recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

My vanilla cupcakes were sweet and simple- Golden Vanilla Cupcakes spread with Vanilla Frosting and dipped in toasted coconut shreds for a crunchy topping.

My chocolate cupcakes were a little more decadent- Basic Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Peanut Butter Frosting or Filling and topped with a rich Chocolate Ganache. I love how thick the ganache is; a little really goes a long way.

In terms of popularity, the two varieties were pretty much tied, and everybody looooved them! I told a few people that they were vegan, and they were blown away. Perhaps vegan cupcakes will take over the world after all....mwa hahahaha.

Baby Spinach and Strawberry Salad

2011-05-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

This month's recipe in Sarah Kramer's Go Vegan! Wall Calendar is a lovely, easy salad full of seasonal goodies. Spinach and strawberries are both booming at the Farmer's Market, so I had everything for this salad on hand already!

The salad is composed of baby spinach, sliced strawberries, toasted pine nuts (my favorite part), and a vinaigrette with strawberries blended in. Once I whipped up the dressing, it was such a bright pink it looked like kids' strawberry yogurt!

This was a lovely spring salad, and a nice departure from the usual, with the fruity dressing, strawberries and pine nuts, which are not my go-to salad ingredients. It made a good totable lunch, too- all I did was keep the salad in a bag with an ice pack and keep the dressing in a separate container until it was time to eat.
Next month's recipe is Nanaimo Bars. Yum!

The Fastest Mac 'n Cheese in the World

2011-05-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

Seriously, this dish took like ten minutes total to make, but it still turned out to be a delicious, healthy, well-rounded meal. I've seen this quickie version of "mac 'n cheese" on a few blogs, so it's definitely worth trying on one of those I-don't-really-want-to-cook-but-I-don't-want-cereal or those I-have-to-leave-in-half-an-hour! nights.

Step 1: Boil water.
Step 2: Salt boiling water, add pasta (I used kamut spirals!), stir once.
Step 3: After pasta has boiled for seven minutes, add some frozen veggies or small-cut fresh veggies for the last two minutes.
Step 4: Drain pasta and veggies.
Step 5: Add equal parts hummus and nutritional yeast, and maybe a splash of water.
Step 6: Plate and eat!

It's stupidly simple, but the hummus and nutritional yeast combine to make a tangy, cheesy, creamy sauce that takes zero preparation since you can just stir them in. Plus, they're a good way to add protein to a meal that typically doesn't have much- the kamut spirals or any whole-grain pasta will help with that too, though. Try it!

Quickie Black Bean Soup

2011-05-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

I don't cook a ton of beans at a time, and I don't cook exactly the right portion of beans for specific recipes, either, so more often than not I'm stuck with an odd cup or so of beans in my refrigerator just aching to be used as a shortcut meal. My favorite way to use them is to make a soup- throw together beans, veggies, water or broth and a few spices in a pot and you've got a meal in fifteen minutes!

I've already shown you my white bean version of making shortcut soup, but this week I had some spicy black beans (they were cooked with a dried chipotle and some salt) to use up so I made a more Mexican-inspired black bean soup.

It's not the most photogenic soup in the world, but it was quick and delicious and used up some of the dying veggies in my fridge. Along with the spicy black beans, I cooked some onion, carrots, celery, green pepper, garlic, and zucchini together, threw in a splash of ketchup (I didn't have any tomatoes but I wanted a little bit of tomato flavor), and topped the whole dish with nutritional yeast.

Since I've been working pretty much every evening lately I've had to make a lot of these "quickie" meals to eat just before I leave rather than trying out a lot of more complicated recipes- but I think knowing how to put together a delicious, balanced meal quickly is an invaluable knowledge, and I'm grateful to be getting so much practice at it! Next time I'll be featuring my stab at a popular shortcut version of "mac and cheese" :-)

This is My Happy Meal

2011-05-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

I wanted to finally try out the grill on my roof with the boyfriend last weekend, but it was already getting dark by the time I got home, so we stayed inside. However, I had already bought stuff to make burgers, so we had burgers anyway!

For mine, I used the roasted portobello recipe from Veganomicon, which consists of marinating some portobello caps, then roasting them in that marinade for a while. To make it a burger, I took two of the caps out of the marinade and roasted them naked topped with Daiya for just a few minutes at the end, to dry them out a little and to melt the Daiya.

I put both caps on a whole wheat burger bun and topped them with some caramelized red onions. Now that's what I call a double decker! It was a little messy from all the juices, but so worth it.

I accompanied my burger with some watermelon- I bought a little mini organic one just for the cookout, and it was so good!- and some spring veggies, carrots and asparagus, that I cooked lightly in coconut oil with thyme and salt, using this method. I think the addition of a delicious veggie side rounded out the meal so much better than potatoes would have, although I love my fries.
This meal got me all excited about warm-weather food. I can't wait to use my grill this summer- I'm thinking tempeh kebabs, grilled peaches and pineapples, grilled flatbread...so many possibilities!

Simple Dinner: Field Roast and Collards

2011-05-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

I finally tried the product everyone has already raved about: Field Roast Grain Sausages!

I got the Italian style from my co-op's freezer for a different source of protein- usually I get beans, nuts, seeds and tofu or tempeh for my protein during the week, as well as the protein naturally in the whole grains, some veggies, and nut butters I eat regularly, of course ;-). I've tried plenty of fake meat products and usually deem them okay but not worth buying regularly. I probably won't buy this regularly, either, but I thought the taste was fantastic!

The packaging calls it "Grain Meat Sausage" to sound healthy, I guess, but it's mostly wheat gluten, with seeds, herbs and spices thrown in to give it flavor and texture. I liked the not-perfectly-smooth-and-chewy texture that the seeds gave it, and the flavoring was spot on, a little bit spicy with no weird gluten-y aftertaste that so many seitan products have. I decided to use my first one in a simple peasant-y dish with collards.

I started by cutting up my sausage and browning it in some coconut oil. Then I sauteed the New Orleans "holy trinity": garlic, onion, and peppers, and added some chiffonaded collard greens, some salt, and a spicy spice mix I have with cayenne, paprika, and who knows what else. I sauteed everything together until the collards wilted, added the sausage back in, and dinner was served. This was a perfect filling meal, and I loved the spice from both the sausage and the seasonings I added to the dish. It would be great as a savory brunch dish, too, perhaps served with some hash browns or home fries!

Sarah Kramer's Raw Slaw

2011-05-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

I finally managed to make this super simple recipe from April of Sarah Kramer's Go Vegan! Wall Calendar- and while it was still April, too! I was feeling something fresh that wasn't salad, so this raw slaw of grated carrot, apple and sweet potato was the way to go.
Besides the grated stuff, the recipe has raisins, walnuts or pecans, and instructions to toss them all oil such as flax or hemp. Just oil sounded a little plain to me, so I added raisins, sunflower seeds, chopped parsley, and hemp seeds, and tossed the salad in a mix of olive oil and brown rice vinegar. It was pretty tasty- next time I might add some agave or other sweetener to the dressing, too.

The next day, I added a drizzle of flax oil and a sprinkle of sea salt and it was even better! This could be a great slaw in the summer for picnics and the like. I really like the addition of sweet potato and apple instead of the traditional cabbage.

Ortine

2011-05-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

There's a cute little restaurant, Ortine, right by my apartment that features a lot of seasonal, local, organic food and coffee. They don't have a lot of vegan options on the menu, but they are very vegetarian-conscious and were able to adapt several items to my needs. And they have a lentil salad on kale, so how could one go wrong here?
The boyfriend and I went during one of the lovely days last week and sat out on their patio, which has new picnic tables for communal dining. I got a local amber ale to drink, which was served in a jam jar. How cute! For our meals, we both got soup and pizza. He got the vegetarian French Onion Soup, and I got the soup du jour- parsnip! It was nice and warm, with the right amount of spices to balance the sweet, somewhat pungent parsnip flavor. It could have been blended a little more, though.
The boyfriend got a regular Margherita Pizza with caramelized onions for an entree, while I modified the squash and kale pesto pizza to come without cheese but with extra olives. This was possibly the most interesting pizza combination I've ever had, ever: garlicky kale "pesto" (just kale, garlic and olive oil from what I could tell) as a sauce, chunks of butternut squash, black and green olive slices, and almonds! It was kind of weird at first but grew on me, and I ended up eating the leftovers as soon as we got home.
I hope to go to Ortine regularly because I think their dedication to sustainable food is admirable, and the restaurant itself is just so cute and cozy, like being in someone's house!

Macademia Ginger Crunch Drops

2011-05-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

Craving cookies a few weeks ago, I decided to branch out from my usual go-to chocolate chip cookies and try a new recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. These Macademia Nut Ginger Crunch Drops have a basic cookie base with some yummy spices and coconut oil added, and are studded with buttery, crunchy macademia nuts and chewy candied ginger. I had to run out to get those add-ins from my local health food store, but otherwise they were an easy and pantry-friendly cookie to make. I don't like strong ginger flavor, but the finely chopped candied kind just lends a wonderful chewy texture to these cookies, rather than making them overly gingery.
The recipe made a lot, so I brought home a bunch to my parents when I visited them over Easter. They were especially enjoyed by my mother, who loves ginger! They also kept well for a few days before starting to get a little hard.

I'm far from getting through all the recipes in this book, but I'm working on it!

Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions

2011-05-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite recipes from Veganomicon: an easy, Indian-inspired dish of red lentils and brown rice, spiced with cumin, allspice, and a cinnamon stick, and mixed with lots of roasted, caramelized onions and olive oil. The mushy texture and warm spices make it comfort food for me, and it keeps and reheats well. I tend to make this when there's not much left in the pantry, because I always have onions and rice, and often have red lentils. In past incarnations, I have made the recipe with a heaping tablespoon of garam masala, a cinnamon stick and some salt instead of the spices listed.
This week I turned it into a meal with some tofu that was pressed really well, frozen, thawed, brushed with olive oil and panch phoran (Indian five-spice), and baked for about 20 minutes at 350. I've never made tofu like this before, and it turned out really well! Since so much of the water had been pressed out it absorbed the flavor and got a bit crispy on the outside. Of course, I also had a salad :-)

Harvest Seasonal Grill

2011-04-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

While I was visiting the family last weekend, we went out for dinner after seeing Hanna (great movie!) the night before Easter. I wanted to try out this new restaurant, Harvest, that features seasonal, organic and some local food.

We thought we would have to wait for seating because it was pretty crowded, but they were able to seat us right away outside on the patio! It was a beautiful night for it, too. We started with cocktails and an appetizer: the Hummus Trio, with edamame, bruscetta, and roasted garlic flavors of hummus. I appreciated that it came with carrot and cucumber sticks as well as pita triangles.

my cocktail- kind of a mint julep

For the entrees, there was a small Vegetarian section on the extensive menu, and I asked if the veggie burger was vegan. Our waitress wasn't sure, so I said I'd take the veggie kebabs as a second choice if it wasn't. However, when the food came out later, the food runner heard my mom say something about me being vegan, and he looked at the veggie kebab plate in his hand, went "You're vegan? I'll take this back- it has a cheese sauce on top!" Great catch by him, so I later got a cheeseless veggie kebab, but it was a little weird that that wasn't thought about in the first place.

The end of my kebabs- they came on some delicious Israeli couscous

My beer with dinner- a Peak Organic hop noir. Very good, chocolatey and bitter!

We skipped dessert- hello, Easter candy! But Harvest turned out to be a great choice, and I hope to go there again when I visit the fam. It's nice to find a hip, new place that cares about sustainable food choices, with an extensive and varied menu.

Easter Supper

2011-04-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

I took a mini-vacation last weekend to go home to my parents' house for Easter. It was wonderful- the weather was nice, it was super relaxing, and we had some excellent food. I offered to make dinner on Easter, and although there are always some challenges in cooking for a non-vegan group with various food aversions (no nuts, broccoli or other super-fibrous veggies), I think I came up with one of my favorite menus thus far!
We started with these millet croquettes, recipe courtesy of Peter Berley, along with pre-dinner cocktails. I served the croquettes with an easy herb sauce- finely minced fresh herbs (I meant to use parsley, but I grabbed cilantro instead- and for a cilantro hater, I must say it turned out really well!) mixed with minced garlic, a little soy sauce, and lots of olive oil. Soooo good on any grain or a grain croquette like this.
For the entree, I made vegan lasagne and roasted cauliflower. It was simple enough; I made the tofu ricotta from Veganomicon and stuffed each layer with that and a sprinkle of Daiya mozzerella. Some sauteed swiss chard would have been perfect for a springtime lasagne, but the provincial suburban grocery stores don't have vegetables like that so I went with the classic spinach and mushrooms instead. Trader Joe's roasted garlic marinara and brown rice lasagne noodles made the dish a snap to make! My family loved the roasted cauliflower, too- I don't think they roast veggies much on their own ;-)
Finally, for dessert I made an agar-based chocolate pudding. Agar dissolved in soy milk simmered with cocoa powder, sweetener, and some extra starch for thickening makes the base, and once that gels up in the fridge it gets thrown in the food processor to whip up into a mousse. We were all stuffed from dinner, but this made a nice light sweet ending to the meal. After all, isn't Easter all about the chocolate?
Easter brought some lovely warm weather with it, too. It's finally spring!

New Grain: Millet

2011-04-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

Although I like to think I'm adventurous with trying new foods, it usually takes several self-motivating talks to get me to actually buy and make something I've never made before, usually because I simply have no idea what to do with it! I have tried millet in things, such as polenta triangles and mixed grain croquettes, at the Natural Gourmet, but I had never had it by itself nor made it myself until last week, when I finally bought some of the "birdseed."

In order to truly get to know millet, I decided to make it by itself first and use it like rice. It cooked just like rice, with a 2:1 ratio of water to millet, in about 30 minutes:
And I first ate it with some leftover anasazi bean and squash ragu. The meal was okay, but now I know why millet is usually featured with other grains in things- it is plain, plain plain by itself! I couldn't detect any of the woodsy, sweet, nutty flavor that other whole grains have- it was like a mouthful of starch. A pinch of salt and some onions in the pot with the millet would liven it up, but I think it's best used as a base for croquettes and polenta triangles. More on my millet madness to come next time!

Dao Palate

2011-04-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

Once in a blue moon I treat myself to a delivery dinner, and I'm lucky enough to even have some vegan options within my delivery zone! For example, Dao Palate, which is vegan pan-asian cuisine.

Like most vegan pan-asian restaurants I have experienced, Dao Palate is big on fake meats and soy protein-based dishes, and although that's not my usual fare at home, let me tell you, they do it so well! For my latest order I got General Tso's Soy Protein- chewy, tender little patties of seitan that are lightly fried and smothered in a smoky/sweet/orangey General Tso's sauce with broccoli and a side of brown rice and salad:
I also got Pumpkin Soup, which I expected to be a creamy pureed soup. I was surprised to find out that it was actually a spicy broth-based soup, with chunks of kabocha, a few white beans, and cilantro:
And of course, I had to order dessert. I got the delicious-sounding "Peanut Butter Bomb," which turned out to be a slice of the Vegan Treats specialty cake! Yummers! Their chocolate cake is out of this world dense and fudgy- not like any other chocolate cake I've ever had. And that peanut butter mousse frosting! Love.
Happy Passover!

Go Take a Hike

2011-04-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

I had a great opportunity to go hiking with a group from my Meeting today! We took a fairly easy but steep route in Cold Springs, NY. It's so nice to get out of the city and see views of more than just pavement and buildings:

For lunch, I packed lots of food for the day that was simple, simple, simple: a bagel with peanut butter, carrot sticks, an apple, a Prana bar, and a snack bag full of "Go Take a Hike" trail mix from the co-op:
Raw cashews and pistachios, mulberries, goji berries, golden raisins and cacao nibs. It's a little pricey, but so delicious.

I Won I Won!

2011-04-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

I admit I've never been super gung-ho about entering contests- I don't do the Twitter feed, Facebook page, etc. part of them- but I have entered quite a few and never won. So I was super excited to see my name drawn in FoodFeud's Crazy Sexy Diet giveaway!

Maud of FoodFeud generously offered one of her readers a CHOICE of either a copy of the book Crazy Sexy Diet or some of her homemade baked goods. I already had the book, so I opted for the goods :-)

Yesterday I came home late from work to find her package on my table! Hooray! She sent me zucchini bread with walnuts and chocolate chips. Sweet breads are one of my favorite things because they can be breakfast, a snack, OR dessert! An excuse to eat chocolate chips all day is okay by me :-). Plus, she used whole wheat pastry flour and applesauce in the loaf, so it's delicious and pretty healthy. Maud, I can't thank you enough for such a kind gift! Homemade vegan baked goods that I didn't have to make myself? What could be better?

Here's how excited I was when I found the package:
And a close-up of the yumminess:

Molasses Cookies

2011-04-12T07:02:00.001-07:00

Winter's last hurrah seems to be happening this week. Yesterday was 74 and sunny, and people were all over New York. It's like they just come out of the woodwork or something when the temperature is over 55! Before it ended, I decided to make a wintry cookie that I hadn't made since last year, which I also brought to the potluck on Sunday: molasses cookies!

I use a recipe from Hell Yeah It's Vegan! that uses simple ingredients to yield a soft, chewy, spicy, dark, delectable molasses cookie. I don't know why I have to keep reminding myself of this, but simple recipes are almost always the best choice. I usually go for cookies with chips or nuts or oats or other "stuff" in them, but these molasses cookies have so much flavor on their own, just from good blackstrap molasses, cinnamon, cloves and ginger.

They held up well to some changes I made, too: I used half white whole wheat flour, and sucanat instead of the brown sugar. The texture wasn't changed at all from what I could tell, and they're still moist and chewy two days later. Just look at the pretty, perfect little crackles on the top!

Goodbye, warm winter spices! I will miss you so!

Another Potluck Sunday

2011-04-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

My meeting house had another potluck this week, and since there seemed to be a lack of real main dishes at the last one, I decided to bring a protein-filled bean dish. Getting a couple cups of free red lentils made the decision for me: tried-and-true Cauliflower Dal with Panch Phoran was the way to go!
This is an old photo; I didn't bring any rice or anything to serve it with, but there was some cut-up french bread at the potluck. The one bit of trouble I came across was how to get the cooked, hot dal to the potluck. I decided to keep it in the pot I cooked it in, packing the hot pot in a reusable grocery bag. I was able to keep it on low heat on the stove at the site.

By the end of the night, the pot was scraped clean, so I will definitely keep this on the to-make-for-others list. I think the yummy-smelling Indian spices appeal to a lot of people, and most of us don't eat those flavors very often so it feels like a treat.

In addition to the dal I brought, there was lots of great food to eat: both vegetarian and non-veg chili, a fresh salad with arugula, cherry tomatoes, and avocado, a marinated dill-cucumber salad, veggies with ranch dip and hummus, brussels sprouts, fresh green grapes, a quiche, cookies, ice cream and sorbet. The organizer in me always freaks out at the prospect of an uneven array of dishes at a potluck, but it always seems to work out. It's wonderful to partake in the classic tradition of a community-created feast, too.

Leftovers-ville

2011-04-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

Since I usually work during dinnertime, I have to figure out creative ways to use up the leftovers I create when I make a whole recipe of something new. I usually eat or pack them for lunch and dinner, and I've been digging turning them into salads and wraps, which gives them a whole new personalitly.

For example, these Curried Chickpea Cakes are fantastic in a wrap with more spicy sauce or hummus, and some sprouts and veggies (you don't even have to heat them up!):
And this Barley and Red Bean bowl was lovely atop several salads until it got used up. It already had the dressing on it, and it could turn any salad into a full meal.
Salads and wraps and combining with other leftovers are pretty much the only way I've figured out how to finish leftover recipes, but there are so many ways to use up leftover produce, too.

-add everything to salads and wraps
-put it all in a soup or stir fry
-if it's really far gone, wash it, cut it up and freeze it to use for stock later

How do you get through all your leftovers? Or is it not a problem for you?

Chickpea Burrito Bowl

2011-04-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

I bullied the bf into staying home the other night so we could have dinner together, so I had planned to make one of his favorite things: quesadillas! It would be Monterey Jack and sauteed onions in his, and Daiya and sauteed onion, pepper and zucchini in mine. Then I realized I didn't really want my whole meal to center around a fake food. So I still made his quesadilla, but made a more deconstructed Mexican bowl for mine. All the component parts in my fussy Mexican-ish bowl certainly made a lot more dirty dishes than a simple one-pan quesadilla, but it was amazingly delicious and worth it!
In the bowl: I started with a base of leftover, reheated brown rice. Then I layered on some of Happy Herbivore's Chickpea Tacos- just the baked chickpea part. I sliced up some onion, zucchini, and peppers, tossed then in the leftover chickpea taco marinade, sauteed them, and dumped them in the bowl too. Then I made my very favorite cheezy sauce- the one from the Broccoli and Cheese recipe in 30 Minute Vegan. Finally, I topped the (already overflowing) bowl with some shredded lettuce, jicama, salsa, and guac. I'm not one to usually compose a dinner bowl out of anything but leftovers, but again, the way all these recipes came together was well worth it. Yummmeeeee!

Chewy Chocolate Macaroons

2011-04-05T15:12:00.001-07:00

Another cookbook I borrowed from the library recently is Terry Walters's Clean Start. Walters has been lauded by many chefs as well as health nuts, and her cookbook is a beautiful, simple, fresh tribute to seasonal vegetables and tastes. In fact, its recipes are organized by season. Although I plan to use the book a lot as an ideas reference for the upcoming spring veggies, I ended up trying a dessert first. Of course.

I brought these macaroons to my friend's reading of A Midsummer's Night Dream and, because my friends are so awesome and always try my weird vegan goodies, they were a big hit! They were possibly the fastest and easiest cookie I could make, and I didn't even have to run out and buy more flour. In fact, they were unintentionally also appropriate for Passover! I know it hasn't started yet but it's pretty near.
I used toasted unsweetened shredded dried coconut, as well as vanilla extract instead of almond, and they still turned out great. Straight out of the oven they were crispy on the outside and moist/chewy on the inside, but after a day in a tupperware they were softer and more brownie-like, although still chewy from all the coconut. Overall, I agree with the author that these should be made in bulk and frozen because they are so easy and simple and so good for any occasion!

Curried Chickpea Cakes

2011-03-31T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here's another recipe from The Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook that I've tried. I'm drawn to anything with the name "curried" in it, and anything that comes in a pan-seared patty, so these pretty much had me sold in the name alone. The simple ingredients list and directions were a plus, too. These little appetizer-y croquettes have pantry staples such as chickpeas, brown rice, curry powder, breadcrumbs, and coconut milk. The only thing I had to run out for was scallions, and if you didn't have coconut milk I'm sure you could sub another non-dairy milk, it's such a small amount...but don't tell them I told you that ;-)

The recipe came together in no time, too, although it takes a bit more planning if you like to cook your own chickpeas and rice, which I did this morning. Once that was done, though, it was really just a matter of mashing and mixing everything together and forming little hockey pucks out of them. The recipe has a glitch- the ingredients call for extra breadcrumbs for coating the formed cakes, but it doesn't mention dredging in the directions, so I just patted them with panko right before putting them in the mix of coconut oil and toasted sesame oil I used to pan-fry.
I was actually a little disappointed with how these turned out. I guess the only appetizer-cake type thing I've made before is the Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes from Vegan Brunch, and those set quite a high standard. While these Curried Chickpea Cakes had lots of great flavor, they turned out kind of dry. I did sub a scant 2 cups home-cooked chickpeas for canned and regular coconut milk mixed with water for light coconut milk, so I won't blame the recipe because it very well could have been my fault. In any case, they were still good- especially with some spicy sauce- but not great.
The spicy sauce, by the way, is inspired by a sushi restaurant staple- Vegenaise mixed with a splash each of spicy sesame oil and ume vinegar. Yum!

Lavender Breakfast Porridge

2011-03-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

For some reason I've always avoided having grains at breakfast other than oatmeal. Amaranth? Brown Rice? Quinoa? They all looked like nice options, sure, but it's hard to break a habit I suppose.

Well, today I did break that habit! I didn't have much oatmeal left to cook, and there was some already-cooked brown rice calling to me from the fridge, so I took the plunge and had rice for breakfast. More specifically, I had rice simmered in almond milk with raw honey, vanilla, and lavender petals for flavoring.
I got the idea to add the lavender from a memory I have of making lavender rice pudding in Paris when I studied there for a summer (ohh la la!). While this version is a little less time-consuming than waiting for some arborio rice to absorb four cups of lavender-scented milk, it was delicious and exotic, and quite simple! Lavender petals are very potent so you only need a few to add a lovely floral scent to your porridge. You can use fresh if you happen to have a lavender plant, but I just have some dried ones in my spice cabinet and they worked fine.

Ultimate Everyday Cooking

2011-03-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

I wanted to join Cook. Vegan. Lover.'s cookbook club this month to try out the Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook, but I couldn't get it from the library in time to sign up. However, I did pick it up this week, so on my day off I decided to make two recipes I had the ingredients for (all I had to pick up was two peppers!).

My first glance was somewhat influenced by Lindsay's review, which lamented the copious use of white flour, sugar and processed foods such as fake meats- all of which are against what the original Skinny Bitch preaches! However, it's pretty clear that this cookbook is meant as a base for people who just want to get in the kitchen and begin cooking, which is a fantastic kickoff on the way to good health, whether or not you start out using all fancy-schmancy whole grain flours and natural sweeteners. I like the simplicity and affordability of the recipes, and I think a lot of them would be very omni-friendly because they're not complicated or full of inaccessible vegan-y ingredients. But again, that's just my first impression. Only time will tell!

For lunch today, I made Kale With Peanut Sauce. In this recipe, steamed kale and julienned carrots get tossed with a standard asian-y peanut sauce, which was delicious and may make appearances on noodle dishes rather soon in my life :-). I added some hot sesame oil for a little spice, and garnished the dish with crushed cashews and red pepper flakes. It was a lovely lunch along with some more leftover kabocha squash soup!
For dinner, I tried out the Red Bean and Barley Bowl, another recipe in the side dish section. It says it's a healthier version of red beans and rice, but for that classic NOLA dish I envision the beans being slow-cooked with onion, garlic and peppers, while in this dish the peppers are left raw and the mix of grain, bean and peppers is tossed with a nice olive oil-parsley-vegan worcestershire dressing. It was very nice; I love grains in vinaigrette! I enjoyed this dish with some roasted daikon and carrots.
All in all, it was a good food day. Hopefully I'll have some time to try more of the recipes before I have to return the book!

The Cookie Jar

2011-03-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

The risotto I blogged about yesterday was actually meant for some of the bf's friends that were staying over the last two nights. As you know, I'm a sucker for dinner parties whenever possible, and what dinner isn't complete without dessert?

I knew they would be tired after a long day of visiting colleges and driving in the rain, so I made dessert low-key and made a basket of cookies. I thought it was a nice touch to make two different kinds of cookies, so there would be some variety:
I settled on two simple and classic recipes; chocolate chip cookies from VCIYCJ, and thumbprint cookies, a recipe by Jenny Matthau. The thumbprint cookies are great because the dough is made from ground nuts, oats, any kind of flour, coconut oil, and maple syrup, so they're really delicious filling and totally unprocessed. Of course, the chocolate chip cookies were far more popular- don't mess with peoples' childhood favorites ;-)

Mushroom Risotto

2011-03-25T13:54:00.001-07:00

I first started making risotto a few years back, probably after seeing some chef or other make it on Food Network. I used a recipe for mushroom risotto from The Essential Vegetarian by Diana Shaw, which became my go-to recipe for risotto for a while. I would actually do the separate step of making my own "light mushroom broth" from the cookbook, as well.

Now that I've made risotto a lot, and even branched out to- *gasp!*- DIFFERENT varieties, such as spinach risotto or the lemony pea and roasted red pepper risotto from Veganomicon, I know I don't really need a recipe for it at all. Risotto is just starchy rice (or other starchy grain, like barley) slow-cooked in good quality broth, usually starring a seasonal vegetable. I wanted to do a butternut squash and mushroom risotto to mimick something I had at Candle 79, but unfortunately my squash was a little past its prime. Starring only two kinds of mushrooms instead, this earthy classic was delicious.

Mushroom Risotto
Serves 4-6
Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
6 cups good quality vegetable broth, preferably homemade
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup minced shallots
2 cups finely diced mixed mushrooms (I used cremini and chanterelle)
1 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine
1 Tblsp. Earth Balance (optional)

1) Pour the vegetable broth in a medium pot and keep over medium low heat while you prep everything for the risotto.
2) Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or cast iron pan over medium high heat. Add the shallots and cook for five minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook for another five minutes or until they start to release their juices and smell delicious and mushroomy.
3) Stir in the spices, then the arborio rice and let it absorb the flavors for a minute or two.
4) Pour in the wine (you can add a few extra splashes if you like) and stir well until the wine has been absorbed by the rice.
5) Add 1 cup of vegetable stock and stir well. Let it absorb into the rice, which will take a few minutes, stirring often. Turn the heat down to medium or medium low, keeping the risotto at a simmer.
6) Continue adding stock, 1/2 cup at a time, letting it absorb each time and stirring often. When you get near the end of the stock, taste the rice now and then to see if it is done (you may need more or less stock than 6 cups, depending). It will be done when there is no longer a hard, starchy center in the middle of the rice and it just tastes creamy and a tad chewy. Once it is at that stage, add one last 1/2 cup broth along with the Earth Balance and salt to taste. When that has been absorbed, your risotto is ready to serve!

I like to serve risotto along with roasted vegetables, because they require no babying like the risotto does. They can be happily roasting away in the oven while I'm stirring away on the stovetop.
I think truffle oil would be a fantastic garnish on this, but since I don't have truffle oil, I garnished with toasted pine nuts and minced parsley, which were a lovely addition as well :-)

Frozen Dinner

2011-03-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

One interesting side effect of my new work study job at the Natural Gourmet is the vast quantity of leftovers I come home with. Although the school takes extra flour, uncut vegetables and packaged goods, a lot of the time we have vegetables that were cut and not used, bits and pieces of sweeteners and oils, and leftover dishes that were made during class. Sometimes it's not much, and sometimes there's ten cups of soup left over!

Of course, I don't take everything. We give back what we can and all of the stagieres and other workers split up what's left. Choruses of "does anyone what onions? You could make onion soup...hey, do you want to split that chopped kale?" ring out after cleanup every night.

I've found that I have a terrible habit of hoarding anything and everything that others don't want. While someone else might take some lettuce and refuse the rest, I come home with my bag splitting at the seams from all the leftovers.

Fortunately, my new apartment has a big freezer to hold all the soups and prepared dishes I don't plan to eat right away:
I also come home with some perishables that are interesting to find uses for:

(spiced reduced cranberry juice, miso, silken tofu, kale, swiss chard, red cabbage, and who knows what else)

While it's nice to know I have a few days' worth of gourmet food in my freezer, I feel GUILTY for even thinking about grocery shopping and cooking now! Of course I still do both- much less, admittedly- but it's still a race to figure out what to do with, say a quarter of red cabbage or already-cubed zucchini before it goes bad. But in situations where I haven't shopped in a while, it's priceless to have already-made food in my freezer. For example, this morning I had no fruit for a smoothie and didn't feel like oatmeal, so I heated up some kabocha squash soup.
Try not to be too jealous :-)

Potluck Nibbles

2011-03-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

Whew! The beautiful weather this weekend meant I had to work a lot more than usual. In fact, I didn't even have time to make the dinner I was planning for myself and the bf last night...but that can wait until next week, I suppose. Fortunately, I was off today as well as invited to a potluck with other young adults from my meeting house, so I finally got to spend an afternoon cooking.

I knew there would be mixed palates and certainly a few vegetarians, but I wasn't sure if there would be any vegans so I made two dishes: Broccoli Quiche and Spiced Sweet Potato Blondies.

The Broccoli Quiche I made into little mini quiches this time so they would be more user-friendly. Don't you think finger food is always the most accessible at potlucks? I cut the pastry dough into little circles which I stuffed into muffin tins, then spooned the filling into those and baked 30 minutes, although I think 25 would be better. The recipe, made with one basic pastry crust, made 14 mini quiches and one crustless one.
This was my first time making the Spiced Sweet Potato Blondies, from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I microwaved a large sweet potato to cook it, which turned out exactly 3/4 C mashed! The recipe was easy and was perfectly done after 28 minutes. The taste was not exactly something I'd call a Blondie- it was more reminiscent of a pumpkin muffin or something. But these things were divine. I tasted one as I was cutting them and immediately ate four more! (Granted, I made tiny bite-sized pieces).
I didn't want to be the weirdo with the camera at the potluck itself, but I got much more to eat than what I brought- a farfalle salad with sugar snap peas, shiitake mushrooms, and pine nuts, guacamole and homemade hummus with chips, and a spicy Indian lentil dish that reminded me of the spiced rice and lentil dish with caramelized onions from Veganomicon. Pretty much everyone took a mini quiche, but I did have to push the blondies ;-) I think people didn't really know what they were. They do kind of look like bread in the basket I put them in. Live and learn!

Sassy Sandwich Bread

2011-03-17T04:58:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Per usual, I'm not really cooking for the holiday- I'm not Irish, and I'll be serving beers to drunk tourists tonight instead of cooking my own dinner, so here's my review of Sarah Kramer's GoVegan Wall Calendar March recipe!

I baked up this Sassy Sandwich bread yesterday with nary a hitch. It was my second truly successful time using active yeast (check out this post if you are a yeast failure like I used to be), and the dough was super simple to make. Kramer doesn't even specify a certain amount of time to knead the dough- just until it is "smooth and elastic." I did five minutes, which was a nice change from the usual 10-minute kneading instruction I've found is popular in breadmaking.

I also used all white whole wheat all-purpose flour, which turned out really well. It is lighter than the whole wheat bread flour breads I used to make. The bread itself is light and moist, with lots of flavor from sugar, olive oil and salt. It's the kind of bread I love to eat plain fresh from the oven- which I did, two slices. I'm not sure if it will even get to serve as sandwich bread before I eat it all up as toast!

One other thing about making the recipe- my dough didn't rise much in the bowl or in the loaf pan, but it rose up in the oven just fine, so as long as you know your yeast is active don't sweat it if that happens to you. I also ended up cooking it for 35 minutes instead of 25 and it turned out perfect.

Extra-Luscious Vegan Cupcakery

2011-03-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

I got to work one of Fran Costigan's famous vegan cupcake classes last night, so of course I asked if I could bring my camera. Chef Fran is the author of More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally, and she had a demanding list of recipes for the class. Twelve people split up into four groups that made two different kinds of cupcakes each in two hours. Here's the line-up:

Chocolate Cream Soy-Free Cupcakes with Light Chocolate Cream
Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Water Glaze
'Buttermilk' Cupcakes with Pink Icing
Moist Carrot-Coconut Cupcakes with Magic Coconut Cream and Marzipan
Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes
Hostess with the Mostess Cupcakes
Pudding Filled Swirly Chocolate Cream Frosted Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cranberry Coulis Filling & Orange Agave Glaze

Whew! It was certainly stressful at times, but the class loved it, especially the end result. Just look how pretty they made everything!

Yum! I shared a bunch of different ones with others so I could try as many as possible. Someone had made a pumpkin cupcake but filled it with the vanilla pudding cream from the Boston Cream cupcake, which was my favorite combo. The gluten-free chocolate was my second favorite, I think. You can go to Fran Costigan's website to see more of her gorgeous creations from classes, weddings, and other events and find out her schedule for more classes.

Almost All-American Seitan Pot Pie

2011-03-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

The last few Fridays I've been lucky enough NOT to have work, so I've kind of turned them into an eat-at-home night for me and the bf. We rarely have dinner together unless we go out to eat, so this has become a special little tradition for me! The last two weeks we had guests and I cooked more with them in mind than him or me, but this week he requested a pot pie- the perfect time to try a new recipe from Veganomicon!

I had been eying this Almost All-American Seitan Pot Pie from the "casseroles" section for a while, but it didn't really seem worth it because what's the difference between a pot pie and my favorite leek and bean cassoulet, anyway? Well, I'm glad I made it, because it did turn out pretty different, with different flavorings, different veggies, and a crisp cornmeal crust instead of fluffy biscuits. But I think I like the cassoulet better!
Don't get me wrong, this pot pie is yummy and bellywarming. The recipe made four large (2-cup, maybe?) ramekins' worth and I was able to stretch the dough enough to have a top AND bottom crust for each one, which I wasn't expecting. The crust, which I made whole wheat, is crispy with a nice mouthfeel from the cornmeal, and slightly sweet. The inside gets a lot of flavor from white wine, and has that old-fashioned mire poix mix of veggies (I added cabbage and a little parsley, too!). I used tempeh instead of seitan and it worked well; the tempeh absorbed the flavor from the broth and the deep, interesting flavor of it married with the white-wine flavor in the rest of the pie. The bf got chicken in his instead of tempeh and thought it was really good. We each finished our ramekin :-)
So why wasn't I a superfan in the end? To be honest, it was just too much WORK! Making a crust, rolling it out, and then having to chop veggies and stand over a stove for almost an hour to make the filling, and THEN having to assemble the pies (I was not good at this- the crust is quite crumbly) and wait another hour to eat them? No thanks. I like the idea of a pot pie, but I'm pretty sure I could make up a simpler version that would be just as yummy.

Big Bubba Tofu

2011-03-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

While everyone else was thinking about what they were giving up for Lent on Wednesday, I cooked myself up a veritable Southern Vegetarian Feast! Yeah...I'm not very good at eating for the holidays. I've never had black eyed peas and greens on New Year's, for one. But on to the food:
I made this recipe from Ann Jackson's Cookin' Southern Vegetarian as a celebration of the first day in a week I was home for dinner! I was all by myself, too, so I could kick back and eat this on the sofa with a beer. Her quote on the recipe is: "Ready for a nice light dinner? Then skip to the next recipe. This hearty dish will fill your stomach and stay there all night. It hits the spot, it's easy, and men love it. You can't beat this on a cold night." Oooeee! I felt like I got a Southern accent just making this!

It involves breading and frying frozen and thawed tofu slices, then simmering them in a thick, soymilk-based onion gravy. I did substitute some veggie stock for half the soy milk to save money and add some flavor. I also realized that I had never fried anything before! It was both scary and exhilarating to pour more than a few tablespoons of oil in a pan. Here's the lil' tofus post-frying and pre-gravying:
The end result was beyond comfort food. Globby, oniony gravy thickly coated this chewy, bready tofu. It was a little bit sweet from the onions, but also creamy and salty. And she's right- while it used cooking methods I've never done before, it was quite easy. I had it with another favorite comfort food, mashed potatoes and cabbage, on the side:

Lunchtime Minestrone

2011-03-10T10:57:00.001-08:00

I came across Mark Bittman's article on customizable soups- "Creamy, Brothy, Earthy, Hearty"- and was reminded that soup was a great way of making something wonderful out of my seemingly bare fridge. Soup doesn't have to be made in vast quantities, either- I made this quickie lunchtime stew just for me.

I started with some navy beans and vegetable stock, both of which I had cooked over the weekend. Then I grabbed every vegetable in my fridge: carrots, onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and spinach. I started by sauteeing the carrots, onions and garlic, then adding the tomatoes, then finally the beans, spinach and vegetable broth to cover. I added salt, pepper, and some dried tarragon and let it simmer for about 20 minutes or until the carrots were soft. Then I had my most brilliant idea to date: add a spoonful of pesto!

The resultant soup, which may look like your everyday vegetable soup, was bursting with flavor and creaminess from the pesto in the broth. This is why soup will never get old; there are too many variations to think of! It was especially scrumptious with Earth Balance-smeared toast to sop up the delicious broth.

Carrot Cake Bread

2011-03-08T05:37:00.000-08:00

While perusing blogs the other day, I found a recipe on Nom!Nom!Nom! Blog that I just had to make that week. I think I have a physical need to bake at least once a week, so that may have been it, but quickbreads, muffins and other semi-sweet, baked snacks just make a lot of sense in my life. They work as breakfast, snacks, dessert, you can schmear them with any number of dips and spreads, you name it. Plus, carrot cake is my favorite AND I had all the necessary ingredients. 'Nuff said.
This carrot cake bread is kind of the same idea as banana or zucchini bread- warm fall spices, studded with nuts and dried fruit, dense texture, slightly sweet. I go crazy for that combination. It's super dense and unbelievable moist. It's actually a very different texture than anything else I've made. I made a few substitutions- half whole wheat pastry flour, sucanat for the sugar, mashed banana for the apple sauce, and pecans and cranberries for the walnuts and raisins- resulting in it being just sweet enough to be delicious, but not really sweet at all. This is a bread that doesn't trigger my giant-sized sweet tooth, which is excellent, and that I can feel good about nibbling on as a mid-morning or midafternoon snack.
What's your favorite quickbread? My mom used to have these boxed quickbread mixes- nutbread and cranberry-orange- that she'd whip up and bake in a cake pan for parties. I thought they were the best thing in the world!

Roasted Garlic and Basil Gnocchi

2011-03-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

So for the dinner party I mentioned yesterday, I conveniently forgot to take pictures of the actual *dinner*...but dessert is more important anyway, right? In any case, I feel obligated to tell you what I made, because it was so darn yummy!

The bf, while not a big pasta fan, has always loved my hit-or-miss attempts at gnocchi marinara. For dinner friday, I decided to try making the simple potato-dumpling pasta again, but kicked it up a notch by making Hell Yeah It's Vegan! Roasted Garlic and Basil Gnocchi.

I made the dough on tuesday and boiled a couple test gnocchi, and we fell in love. These soft pillows of potato pasta melt in your mouth and deliver an explosion of flavor, thanks to the buttery roasted garlic and fresh basil studded within the dough. I froze them on even layers in a tupperware, with plastic wrap between the layers. To cook them from frozen, I just plopped them in boiling water- still frozen- in batches of 10 for about 1-2 minutes each. They didn't rise to the top when they were done like they were supposed to, so I had to keep a close eye that they didn't overcook, because they barely took any time at all to go from perfect texture to soft and dissolving.

little gnocchis ready for the freezer

I served the gnocchi with Trader Joe's Garlic Marinara (double garlic power!) and a simple green salad, with whole wheat baguette and a trio of spreads- white bean aioli, pesto, and kalamata olive tapenade- for an appetizer. The one batch of gnocchi only gave a small serving to each of four of us, so in the future I would double a recipe for more than two people.

Cashew Creme Pear Tart

2011-03-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

Last night I had some friends over for dinner and I wanted an elegant but light dessert to serve that incorporated some fruit, but wasn't a pie. In other words, I didn't really know what I wanted. A flip through My Sweet Vegan was all I needed to decide on something for which I had most of the ingredients, looked fairly simple to make, but was still beautiful and different from anything I've ever made.

Hannah Kaminsky's Cashew Creme Pear Tart reminds me of those mini tartlets that you see in many French bakeries- a pretty little crust with a creamy custard inside and sugar-glazed fruit on top. Her version uses almond meal in the crust and a cashew-based cream for the inside. I kind of screwed it up a few different ways, and while it turned out pretty yummy, I think I will try not to make these mistakes next time:

-I used a disposable pie plate instead of a 9" springform pan. It actually came out pretty easily, so thankfully sticking was not a problem, but I think the pie plate was smaller, so the creme layer ended up being pretty thick. It's such a rich dessert- almost entirely nuts- that thickness can make it kind of hard to eat.

-I used almond pulp from making almond milk instead of almond meal. Turns out my pulp is wetter and also more grainy than almond meal, so the crust was very wet- I tried to prebake it a little to dry it out- and didn't hold together as well. If I used pulp again I would reduce the margarine and brown rice syrup.

-I used raw cashews, thinking they would make a smoother creme. I didn't know until I watched a video of Kaminsky making the dessert that she prefers roasted cashews. I still think it was delish, but I can see how roasted cashews would add more depth of flavor and perhaps make the creme less firm as well- I had to pat mine in with my fingers!

At least it looked pretty:
I used red D'Anjou pears, which looked lovely and were juicy and flavorful. Two pears were actually too much for the top, although I thought the ratio of creme:pears was too much. A big layer of fresh, lightly glazed berries would be a nice counterbalance to the thick creme instead of pears, in my opinion.

But even though I wasn't sure about how it would turn out, my gracious guests (and even the bf!) ate it up without complaint. One even asked for seconds. I love it when my mistakes still turn out edible! Not like that time I used wheat gluten instead of flour to make muffins...

Seaweed for Lunch

2011-03-03T05:39:00.001-08:00

Normally I don't/can't take pictures at the Natural Gourmet but I wanted to show you some particularly amazing leftovers I took home the other day. I worked a "Mineral-Rich Sea Vegetables" demo class, led by Chef Jill Gusman, and we made six dishes, all using a different sea vegetable in a different way! The star entree was this Hijiki and Tempeh stew, served over medium-grain brown rice and sprinkled with dulse gomasio:

Hijiki, fried tempeh cubes, thinly sliced burdock and carrot, and onions were simmered in an apple juice/shoyu mixture to make a thick, wonderful, comforting stew full of nutrition. It was amazing for dinner that day and for lunch the next day. The best part, to me, is that it's so far beyond the realm of anything I would ever think of making myself! It's wonderful to watch other chefs- even if it's just your friends in their own kitchens- to learn different styles of cooking and different ingredients to feature.

Mocha Hazelnut Truffles

2011-03-01T06:42:00.001-08:00

Since I had to work on Oscar night, I thought I would bring some Oscar-worthy treats for the rest of the gang. These truffles are decadent and flavorful, but so easy to make!

I used this recipe, which I had made before to rave reviews, as a base, but made some changes to give the truffles more flavor.
Mocha Hazelnut Truffles
Makes 30 Truffles
Cook Time: 3 hours, most of it chilling time

3/4 Cup raw cashews
2/3 Cup cold brewed coffee
1 Tbsp Frangelico
1 tsp vanilla extract
enough cold water to make 3/4 cup liquid

1 lb bittersweet chocolate (I actually used a combination of 1/2 lb Baker's semi-sweet, 1/4 lb Ghiardelli 60% bittersweet, and 1/4 lb Ghiardelli 70% bittersweet)

Cocoa powder
Chopped toasted hazelnuts
Any other toppings you desire- coconut, cacao nibs, melted chocolate etc.

1) Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, then set aside to cool slightly while you make the cashew cream.

2) Mix together all the liquid ingredients to make sure you have 3/4 cup liquid all together, then blend with the cashews for 1-2 minutes (in a conventional blender; less in a high speed) or until the mixture is smooth and creamy with no pieces of cashew left.

3) Fold together the cashew cream and melted chocolate. Pour into a shallow pan, cover directly with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

4) Set out your toppings in little bowls, and using a mini ice cream scoop or a melon baller scoop out equal-sized balls from the chilled chocolate mixture. Roll the balls between your hands to make a perfect sphere, and roll or dip them in the toppings of your choice. This gets a bit messy so make sure you have everything out and ready to go so you don't have to open any kitchen drawers with chocolatey hands! Store finished truffles in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
Yum! I love my coworkers' reactions when they eat these because they seem so crazy decadent, but they're so easy to make.

Real Pizza and an Active Yeast Win

2011-02-27T11:38:00.000-08:00

After this week's pizza veggies, I was in the mood to have a pizza night in with the bf. I love making pizza because it's the best way to guarantee the pie is exactly the way I like it, but I don't do it that often because I'm scared of making the crust- namely, the "will the yeast rise?" game.

I've had bad luck using active yeast in the past, mostly because I never bothered to learn how to do it properly. This time, although I had to throw out several packs in the process, I made sure I got it right. The biggest problem I've had is getting the yeast to proof. This is usually the first step in a recipe, and it will say something like "sprinkle the yeast on top of the warm water and let sit for 5 minutes until foamy." In my experience, if I sprinkle the yeast on top, it just kind of floats there, then slowly sinks until I have brown, muddy looking water with yeast at the bottom. Not foamy. At first I thought my water might be too hot, because everyone always warns that you could kill your yeast if your water is too hot! BUT...no one ever talks about if the water is too COLD. I think that's been my problem; that using water (from the tap) that's slightly warm to the touch is not enough to activate my yeast, especially in a wintery apartment. After throwing out several batches of muddy yeast water that I thought was dead, I decided to officially proof a packet before doing anything else with the crust recipe.

I followed the packet directions of mixing one packet of active dry yeast with 1/4 cup warm water. I stirred it lightly until it was almost dissolved, then I stirred in 1 tsp sugar. Then I covered the measuring cup with plastic wrap, put a pot with an inch of water on to boil, and set the yeast mixture nearby. Sure enough, the warmth from the pot and burner got the yeast to rise. It "doubled in size," just like the package instructions. The foam was not bubbly looking, as I had imagined, but kind of like the foam on a beer or champagne; white and thick. Yay! I then used the proofed yeast and the rest of the necessary ingredients to make Gena's Herbed Pizza Crust, which turned out deliciously- kind of bready, but also light and chewy. I don't like my crusts super thin and crispy because then they don't hold all my toppings ;-)

This is the bf's pizza, which I made with marinara, fresh mozzerella and parmesan, red onions and fresh basil:
And mine, with marinara, Daiya mozzerella, red onions, red peppers, mushrooms, fresh basil and kalamata olives (love):
So yummy! We ate these delicious pies while watching The Godfather Part II. I hope I have the guts to use yeast more now that I know how to proof it.

Pizza Veggies!

2011-02-24T05:11:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Vegan Epicurean and Fat Free Vegan for saving my lunch the other day. I wanted a salad...but I also didn't want a salad. I decided to go with a cooked salad- inspired by Susan V's skillet salad from FFV- and put tomato sauce on it, inspired by VE's pizza veggies that I've seen her post about a few times.

I sauteed a bunch of veggies- kale, brussels sprouts, broccoli, mushrooms, onions and carrots- in water with some Bragg's and red pepper flakes until soft. I put a lid on for a few minutes, too, so it was more like a steam/saute. Then I mixed some of Trader Joe's Garlic Marinara into the mess and let it heat up around the veggies in the pan. I dumped the whole thing on top of some leftover bulgur and lentil pilaf and topped with a ton of nutritional yeast (much more than pictured, actually). Looks weird, tastes amazing! I love it when ideas from blogsurfing can make my quick meals even happier.
Side note: it always blows me away how amazing Nutritional Yeast is. I started getting it just for its mock cheesiness and for recipes, but now I've begun to see it for the supplement that it is. 120% of my Daily Value of B12 and 8 grams of protein...in only 1 1/2 Tablespoons! It has ridiculous amounts of several other vitamins and minerals, too. Yay nooch!

Cookies 'N Creme Pound Cake

2011-02-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a complete day off for me, and what better way to celebrate a day off than with baking?
I settled on Hannah Kasminsky's Cookies 'N Creme Pound Cake from My Sweet Vegan. It has a simple ingredient list and I was feeling a simple, cakey sweet rather than cookies or something more decadent. It came together very quickly and was in the oven in just a few minutes. The one thing I wasn't sure about was, how many cups is a 6oz yogurt container? I get big soy yogurts, so I had to measure it out. I settled on 2/3 cup, and that worked pretty well.

Mine sank on the top, of course. Why can't my baked goods ever look like her pictures? ;-p
The verdict? It was a yummy, easy "snack cake." The flavor really tastes like cookies 'n creme ice cream- I love the simple vanilla butter cake specked with Newman O's. I didn't do the confectioner's glaze on top, opting instead for twin drizzles of white and dark chocolate. But the texture was light and moist, like most vegan muffins and cupcakes I've made, rather than dense like a pound cake. In fact, I would really like to make this again as cupcakes with a fluffy vanilla frosting!

Bulgur and Lentil Pilaf

2011-02-20T14:07:00.001-08:00

I wasn't sure what to do with the other cup of bulgur wheat I had, because the only thing I knew to make with bulgur was tabouleh! I didn't want to make tabouleh again, and I figured the grain on its own would not be as yummy as rice, barley, quinoa etc. since it's kind of coarse. So I did some quick searching around the internet, and one of the first things that caught my eye was this recipe from The Food Network. It was perfect because I had all the ingredients on hand save a few that I could easily sub out. It also helped me use some the green lentils I didn't know what to do with, either!

These are the substitutions I made:
-vegetable stock instead of chicken stock (duh)
-red bell pepper instead of yellow
-fresh dill instead of the other herbs (I used about 2 Tbsp)
-juice and zest of 1 lemon; I didn't measure
-I added some red pepper flakes to the oil I sauteed the veggies in instead of using black pepper in the mix.

It also didn't take me the full hour the recipe says to make this. The longest cooking thing in it is the lentils, so if you do everything else while they're cooking it should come together in just over 30 minutes.

This was super easy to make and so yummy! I think I underestimate grain salads- I don't make them a lot because they come off as boring, but in reality they're filling, nutritious, and great for packing for lunches as an alternative to sandwiches (which is always a nice change for me...). I think this would also be delicious in a collard wrap. I've been packing this for lunch at work this weekend, as well as enjoying it at home with some big spinach, green lettuce, apple, cranberry and pecan salads:

I've really been digging the fruit-and-nut combination on salads lately, especially with balsamic vinaigrette. Yum.

Most Stylish Blogger Award

2011-02-19T06:54:00.000-08:00

I kept forgetting to post about this, but recently, TWO of my favorite blogs, Give Me Coffee and Sunshine and Vegan Crunk passed the Most Stylish Blogger Award to me. I'm flattered!

For it, I'm supposed to think of seven things about me to tell you and pass it on to seven other blogs. I'll try not to repeat anything from my last award, but I might not get to seven. *Ahem...*

I love EVERY season.

I am now a Brooklynite, not a Manhattanite!

I cut my hair maybe twice a year. I need to do it more often!

I have been an avid runner for eight years and was captain of my cross-country team in high school! I'm actually darn fast but I just run recreationally now.

I consider shopping a chore.

Since living in New York I've gotten super jumpy about strangers talking to me.

Well, six ain't bad, right?

I would like to pass this award on to a few blogs that I just discovered:

The Cookie Doe
Vegan Epicurean
Everyone Is Vegan
Food Feud

Weird Snacks

2011-02-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

You know you do it, too: that crazy culinary creation you made one late or boozy night has become a favorite comfort food snack. It's nothing you would dream of serving to friends or even letting anyone see you eat it, but it's oh so good on the occasion when nothing else seems edible. My weird snack? Everything Toast:

I can never decide what I want to put on toast. Nut butter? Avocado? Hummus? When I crave something late at night, though, it usually falls into the "savory" category, eliminating nut butter, at least. So I pile on everything savory, salty and briny from the fridge. My favorite is mashed avocado with salt, nutritional yeast, kimchi, and sprouts, as pictured.
The one on the left had hummus, sliced avocado, sprouts, nutritional yeast, and Bragg's. Not terribly different, but enough so to mix it up. Sometimes I'll go crazy and put some olive tapenade on there, too.

I don't eat these very often, but I think it's so strange that there are times when I can't think of eating anything else! I was inspired this morning to make a breakfast version of Everything Toast:
Coconut butter, sliced banana, blueberries, chopped toasted hazelnuts and cacao nibs. Yummy and satisfying! Why choose one toast topping when you can have five?

What are your weird snack attacks?

Vegan French Onion Soup

2011-02-12T13:24:00.000-08:00

The boyfriend and I love to dine out at French restaurants, most of which are surprisingly vegan-friendly due to the high number of vegetable soups, salads and vegetable sides. He always gets the French Onion Soup, and I always wish just a little bit that it didn't have to come with cheese and buttery bread (or beef stock, although a lot of restaurants use vegetable stock for it now). It's so simple and yet so different from any other soup I can think of.

So when I came home with a giant bag of sliced onions from a Natural Gourmet Knife Skills class, I knew just what to do with them. After browsing online for a recipe, I decided to just wing it and see what could happen. What happened was a complex, rich, authentic-tasting French Onion Soup. I didn't even put any cheese substitute on mine- the salty, savory bruschetta I made did the trick to balance the sweetness of the soup- but the bf did have some cheddar on top of his and loved it. Score! I didn't write down the recipe as I went, but this is an approximation of what I did.

Vegan French Onion Soup
Serves 6
Cook Time: 1.5-2 hours

2 Tbsp olive oil
4 jumbo onions (any kind- I used yellow), sliced into half-moons
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup red wine
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried tarragon
8 cups vegetable stock

For the bruschetta:
1 loaf French baguette
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme
fresh pepper

1) Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Dump in all the onions along with 1 tsp each salt and sugar. Stir to coat, and let cook for 1 hour, stirring every few minutes. Mine looked like this going in:
and like this after 1 hour:
They will cook down a lot, but they don't have to turn brown and completely caramelize. These were super soft and sweet but still yellow.

2) Add the soy sauce, red wine, thyme and tarragon and let cook into the onions for a minute or two, then add the stock and cover.

3) Bring to a boil, then let simmer with the cover OFF for 30-45 minutes, or until it tastes right- basically you're just condensing all the flavor together at this point. You may need to add a few more splashes of soy sauce and/or red wine.

4) While the soup is simmering, make the bruschetta. Slice the baguette into thick slices on the diagonal and lay out on a baking sheet. Combine the olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme, and brush onto the top of each slice, reserving half of the mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 7-10 minutes or until crisp, then turn the slices over, brush with the rest of the olive oil mix, and bake for another 5 minutes. They will be very crisp and hard. Let cool.

5) To serve, put a slice of bread into a bowl and ladle the soup over it so the soup soaks into the crunchy bruschetta. If you'd like, sprinkle some vegan cheese (I would do a mix of cheddar and mozzarella Daiya) over the top of the soup and pop the bowl into the broiler for a few minutes, until the cheese is melted and a little brown on top.

Yum. If you're getting sick of the regular old throw-everything-into-a-pot winter soup, make this rich, warming, savory goodness now.

Dulce de Coco Brownies

2011-02-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

Slowly moving my way through Hannah Kasminsky's Blondies and Brownies e-book, I recently tried a half-recipe of the "Dulce de Coco" brownies- a deep dark chocolate brownie with a caramel topping. The caramel is made with coconut milk, thus "dulce de coco" instead of "dulce de leche," and I added some toasted pecans on top to make them into turtle brownies. Chocolate, caramel and pecans, yum!
These brownies take some time, since the caramel takes an hour to make, then needs cooling time. This recipe doesn't have too many strange ingredients (as many of Kasminsky's recipes do, unfortunately) except for chickpea flour, which I had on hand anyway.

The brownie part turned out super dark chocolatey- there's more cocoa powder in it than flour- and a little more cakey than my favorite brownie recipe of hers thus far, the Cookies 'n Fudge. The caramel also boiled off a lot in the oven, making it difficult to get out of the pan and not making a pretty, perfect layer like in the e-book's picture. Maybe I didn't let it cool all the way?

In any case, these were darn good- and get even better after a day or two, a little more dense and fudgy, the way I like them. The toasted pecans were a great addition, getting sweet and crunchy by baking on top of the caramel.
Happy Thursday!

Simple Curry

2011-02-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

After working a "Southeast Vegan Feast" class at the Natural Gourmet, I found myself in possession of some leftover yellow pepper-coconut sauce and some extra coconut milk. It being the end of the week and with lots of veggies still taking up space in my fridge, I decided to clean it out with some curry!

When I still have veggies to use up by the end of the week, I usually make a batch of something like soup or stir fry or even just roasted veggies, something that's versatile and simple and makes a lot. Curry falls into this category for me because if you're not worried about authenticity, you can use virtually any veggies you want, simmer them in coconut milk and curry powder or paste, and have a delicious and fragrant dinner. I forgot to thaw my tempeh to make this, but tofu or tempeh is always a nice addition, too.
When I made curry for the first time a year or two ago, I was intimidated because I thought there would be a lot of spices involved. Lucky for me, those spices come pre-mixed together in one amazing powder! I used an online video (that I can't find now, sorry!) as a jumping-off point on how to make said curry, and now I just wing it using the same techniques. For this, I mixed together the yellow sauce, the coconut milk, and added enough veggie stock to thin it out a little, so I had two cups of liquid all together. I cut up two parsnips, a carrot, a couple mushrooms, half a red onion, and minced a little garlic and ginger. I sauteed everything, onion first, then garlic and ginger, then the rest of the veggies. I added salt and about a tablespoon of curry powder and a pinch of cayenne, stirred until fragrant, and poured in the liquid. I simmered everything together until the carrots and parsnips were tender, then added a third of a bag of frozen peas and some peanuts.

When it looked cooked and the liquid was reduced a lot ( you don't have to do this if you like a soupy curry) I served it with some white jasmine rice cooked with a knob of ginger, and garnished with bean sprouts! This made two good dinners and left my fridge open for grocery shopping.

Roasted Beet Salad with Warm Maple Mustard Dressing

2011-02-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

I'm loving the new recipe blog on theppk.com! The posts are coming often, and they have all been so different and creative yet accessible and tantalizing. I want to make everything poster there, but since I've been craving both fresh and warm, substantive food a lot lately, this salad posted a while back really called out to me.

I'm not sure why I really wanted to make this salad, seeing as I'm a fan of neither beets nor mustard. But once I scarfed it down, I knew that I had made the right choice!
It was fun following a recipe for a salad, which I don't normally do. I felt very dutiful making the different components and patiently waiting for the beets to roast and the tempeh to marinate. It takes about an hour of very little work all together, so it's nice that the salad is an entree in itself. The tempeh croutons are spectacular; I saved the marinade and made extra tempeh slices in it for sandwiches. Roasting the beets in their skins in aluminum foil makes them extra tender and sweet- finally, a way to make beets so I like them! I still don't think they'll be a regular occurrence in my house, but now I know how to make them so that they're not hard and bitter. Oh, and the maple mustard dressing is finger-licking good. I used some good horseradish mustard I got in Maine.

If you're getting sick of your regular salads- or not eating enough salad because it's winter- I definitely recommend this recipe!

DunWell Doughnuts

2011-02-03T06:43:00.000-08:00

Last night at MooShoes, a vegan shoe store that also hosts vegan events, there was a launch party for a very exciting new business: vegan doughnuts!

Of course there are recipes and other vegan doughnuts available online, and Babycakes claims to have doughnuts (I think they're just doughnut-shaped cupcakes), but this new company, DunWell Doughnuts, is the real deal.

Dan, Me, and Christopher

Christopher and Dan, the founders of the company, hosted their launch party at MooShoes with promises of FREE mini doughnuts, ice cream from Lula's, and cocktails from Pine Box Rock Shop, an all-vegan bar in Williamsburg. It was enticing enough to even bring out 3 of my non-vegan friends. Woo!

Free food brought out lots and lots of hungry vegans...it was PACKED!
They even had to cut their mini doughnuts in half, but I stayed long enough to get seconds :-) First I tried a strawberry frosted doughnut, then a lemon poppyseed with lemon-lavender frosting. Sooo good! They are real, fresh, risen doughnuts, with lots of flavor in the dough- cinnamon in the strawberry-frosted, and delicate lemon for the lemon poppyseed. The frosting melts right onto your tongue, is not too sweet, and has enough flavor to enhance but not overwhelm the doughnut. We also got a mini scoop of mystery flavor ice cream from Lula's Sweet Apothecary- it tasted like toffee. The drinks were NOT mini- their signature cocktail was a huge glass of bourbon and champagne, topped with brandied cherries!
Cheers to DunWell Doughnuts! Great opening, guys!

Bushbaby

2011-02-01T09:47:00.000-08:00

I think I've talked before about how much I love brunch, but since weekends are the busiest time for both me and my boyfriend, I don't get to enjoy it that often. This weekend, I ditched the bf, who had to work all day Sunday, and instead got a friend to check out a brunch spot by my new apartment!

Dork that I am, I had searched several times on Google using "vegan" and my zip code. Bushbaby- located on Fulton and Bedford in Bushwick, Brooklyn- came up every time, with good reviews- and a menu of both omni food and vegan food, including french toast and pancakes!

A restaurant with delicious brunch options for everyone seemed too good to be true. I met my friend there at 1pm on a Sunday, so I thought it would be packed, but it was actually a chill order-at-the-counter cafe with maybe 8 tables of different heights and styles, with only three or four being taken up by casual brunchers.

The ordering and getting food process seemed a bit disorganized- we ordered and paid at the counter, then took a table, but I wasn't sure whether I would get my coffee right away or with the food...I ended up asking for it. The counter guy gave us water about 10-15 minutes after we ordered, and the food came much later after that. I didn't mind, because I think brunch should be slow-paced, but be warned that this place does have a reputation for slow food!

When it came out, it was a feast. I got the vegan french toast, which was perfect (soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, balance of savory and sweet tastes, and plenty of maple syrup):
A side of home fries, which come with both white and sweet potatoes:
And an extra side of vegan sausage, which was disappointingly dry, but I ate anyway dipped in maple syrup.
My friend got a non-vegan egg and bacon croissant, along with a side of french fries. His fries also came with sweet potato (which I ate), and were delicious and obviously homemade.
I wouldn't go here for a fancy dinner, but for a lazy, casual brunch, or even by myself with some work to do and a good book, it's perfect.

Delicious Winter Vegetables

2011-01-30T12:49:00.000-08:00

The very first class I worked for the Natural Gourmet Institute was called Cooking for Candida, led by the wonderful and friendly Andrea Beaman. An ex-vegan herself, she touts the healing properties of animal fat and protein (as well as vegetables and whole grains), so this wasn't a vegan class, but she made some great food and vegan versions of much of it for the veggies in the class.

My favorite dish was this method of cooking sweet winter vegetables- she used carrots and cabbage in the class. Beaman explained that because candida sufferers can't have sugar, or sometimes even fruit, they can satisfy their sweets craving with sweet vegetables like carrots. She uses lots of great spices in her cooking, as well, which fights candida, as well as fat- she used pastured butter for most of her dishes, but for the vegan one she used coconut oil, another excellent and healthful fat.
The method for this dish is so simple you don't even need a recipe. Heat some coconut oil in a pan while you chop up some winter veggies- again, Beaman used carrots and cabbage, but for a full dinner I used carrot, kabocha squash, cabbage, lacinata kale, and chickpeas. Add thyme and rosemary to the oil, add the veggies, and saute for a few minutes until all are coated with the oil mixture. Season with salt and pepper, pour in 1/2 cup or so of vegetable broth to cover the bottom of the pan, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and all the broth has evaporated.

This is the best way I have ever tasted carrots or cabbage, I'm telling you. They become melt-in-your-mouth tender, perfectly seasoned with mouthwatering herbs, and are so bellywarming and perfect for winter. To complete the comfort-food aspect of the meal, I served my re-created dish with creamy polenta and curled up with a blanket!

New Opportunities!

2011-01-27T09:50:00.000-08:00

I have a minor announcement to make: I am starting the work study program for the Natural Gourmet Institute! Although I got my degree in, and love, musical theatre, I have become more and more interested in cooking, health, and food in general over the past few years. This blog was one outlet for that, but I still wanted more, and finally decided that I did want to take the plunge and go to cooking school.
The Natural Gourmet Institute is the obvious choice of cooking school for someone with my interests, because they have an 80% plant-based program. They teach vegan cooking and baking techniques, but do work with the occasional organic egg and dairy product, and have two classes on fish and chicken. I'm happy to learn as much as I can about the cooking world if I know the ingredients we use are the best quality (they are).

However, I won't be entering the program right away. I can't pay for it, so I hastily entered their work-study program as soon as they had an opening. Basically, I'll be working as a stagiere for the public classes, assisting the chef by prepping veggies, cleaning up, measuring, etc., until I have worked enough hours to pay for the Chef's Training Program- probably about 1.5-2 years, if I work 2-3 nights per week. Yikes! But in the meantime, I'll be getting valuable on-the-job training, free meals, and lots of new recipes and cooking techniques! In fact, for my next post I've planned to share the most delicous way to prepare winter vegetables, which I learned in the first class I worked, led by Andrea Beaman. Stay tuned!

Collard Wraps

2011-01-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

Not a new concept to the vegan/healthy eating community, but I just discovered collard wraps in a whole new way. After a month of stuffing cookies in my face, my body was telling me, "I need greens!" so these last few weeks I've made a conscious effort to get more raw veggies and greens into my life. Gena of Choosing Raw inspired many of the ways I used to accomplish that goal, including making wraps out of collard greens instead of a tortilla!

I got a bunch of collards and trimmed off the stems in advance, keeping the whole leaves in a container in the fridge so they were ready to go when needed. These are much easier to wrap and roll than a tortilla, in my opinion, because greens are more pliable and less apt to tear when you try to fold the ends in. This makes them super packable- much easier to fit in my lunchbox than a salad!

This particular wrap I stuffed with hummus, olive tapenade, avocado, cucumber and red pepper and served with some of my Simple Tabouleh. Soooo yummy! I made other stuffed with both the hummus and tabouleh, which was awesome as well. This week I plan on using rice and beans and veggies, or perhaps a nut pate filling.

Date Night at Candle 79

2011-01-23T13:55:00.001-08:00

My boyfriend gave me the best birthday gift ever- a promise to take me to Candle 79, without complaint, on any day of my choosing! This weekend I cashed in the gift and took him to my favorite restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, the pictures turned out terribly because of the sexy restaurant lighting...but I'll try to paint the deliciousness with my words :-)

I got there early and had a cocktail at the bar called the "Bluecoat:" Bluecoat gin, orange peel, and bitters. It tasted like a Negroni, but not as bitter tasting. It was tasty and not too sweet. The bartender was so nice, too!

When the bf got there, we took our table and started with the amuse-bouche they give you right away: crostini with tomatoes, olive oil, and olives. Yum! Then we got the Angel's Nachos to start. These are crispy tortilla chips slathered with refried beans, seitan "sausage, Daiya, tomatoes and a little guacamole on top. They were really good but I actually would have preferred less topping or more chips, because we were left with a bean and seitan mess.

For our entrees, I got the entree special: Cashew-crusted seitan cutlets served over a bed of caramelized brussels sprouts and onions, with a ring of pureed cauliflower and garnished with some pomegranate seeds. This was out of this world! The cashew crust on the seitan was sweet and savory, the seitan itself was chewy but tender, the veggies were amazing, and the pomegranate seeds gave it zip. Every bite was heavenly.

The bf, not a veggie by any means, got a dish that didn't have fake meat in it (although he didn't hate the seitan in the nachos). He got the mushroom and butternut squash risotto, which was super creamy and yummy. The tiny bite I tried had the best of both veggies in it: a little sweetness and creaminess from the squash, and some earthy umami taste from the mushrooms. He also got a side of onion rings, which came with an amazingly smoky chipotle aioli.

I was ready to be rolled home after dinner, but we had to have dessert! I absolutely had to try the Mexican Chocolate Brownie- served with vanilla mole ice cream and caramelized banana. Sooo fudgy! It wasn't spicy, like I expected, but very deep and chocolatey. The ice cream was awesome, and the brownie was chewy and fudgy. The bottom was almost too chewy, like it was baked in the pan too long or something, but amazing nonetheless.

The bf got apple pie, which came in a light phyllo crust with perfect crumble topping. It also came with a berry coulis, which he requested on the side but I thought would be good all over the pie.

Afterwards we went to see "Black Swan," which was really good! I thought it would be overdramatic and silly, but I was sucked in and thoroughly disturbed through the whole film. Thank you, dear, for a wonderful night!

What's your favorite restaurant?

Simpler Tabouleh

2011-01-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

My first experience with tabouleh was at a hippie local cafe that opened near my house when I was in high school...and I have to say, I was not a fan. It was kind of sour from all the lemon juice in it, and soggy, leaving a pool of liquid at the bottom of the plate. It also had an overwhelming taste of parsley.

Every time I've tried store-bought tabouleh, I've experienced the same problems. Too much liquid and parsley. But I really, really wanted to like it! Made from whole grain and fresh veggies and herbs, and slightly exotic tasting, it seems like something I should like. Obviously, the way around this problem is to make it myself.

My tabouleh is simpler because I don't usually have all the ingredients used in typical tabouleh recipes, like fresh mint. But it still has the core ingredients of bulgur wheat, parsley, lemon, olive oil, tomatoes and cucumbers. It is dryer than the usual marinated-like consistency I described, and has much simpler taste- you can actually taste the bulgur! Of course, many people love the traditional version, but this is what I prefer. It also keeps for up to a week in the fridge because it's not too liquidy.
Simple Tabouleh
Makes 2-3 cups
Takes 30-45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup bulgur wheat
1 1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup tomato, diced small
1/2 cup cucumber, seeded and diced small
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste (I didn't use any, actually!)

1) Place the bulgur in a large mixing bowl. Boil the water (I just did it in my tea kettle) and pour over the bulgur. Cover the bowl with a plate and let sit for 20-30 minutes, or until all of the water is absorbed.
2) Pour the lemon juice and olive oil into the bulgur and mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss. That's it! Let cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge.

I've been enjoying this as an accompaniment to my meals as well as in collard wraps with hummus, both of which are excellent. This would be a great addition to a Middle Eastern-style night with falafel, hummus, and grape leaves!

My New Oven Has a Dehydrate Setting!

2011-01-19T05:29:00.001-08:00

So there I was, all set to make my first flax crackers using the "cheater" method where I would preheat my oven to the lowest setting, then turn it off and leave the flax in there overnight to dry out. But when I went to preheat it, right next to the "bake" and "broil" options was "dehydrate!" What?! So I was able to make them the right way- although I did set the oven to 120 degrees instead of 115. Oops.

Flax crackers are a super-simple, raw vegan alternative to crackers or chips that are made pretty much entirely out of flax seeds, which make a gooey, gelatinous "dough" when you mix them with water. I pretty much followed Gena's instructions on how to make them, although I changed the spices.
I mixed about 2 cups flax seeds with enough water to cover and let them sit until they had absorbed all the water and the mixture became gelatinous...eeewww. I stirred in some curry powder and sea salt at this point.

I spread the mix on two baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray (not raw, oops again ;-p). I tried to get it as thin as possible but the dough really wanted to stay in one big lump so this took some patience. I'd say the sheets were one flax seed thick in some places and up to three flax seeds thick in others.

I dehydrated these at 120 degrees F for three hours, took out the pans and used a spatula to slide under the sheets and flip them over. This was pretty easy; there wasn't a lot of sticking. And while the top was dry, the bottom was still gross and gooey, so flipping is important. I dehydrated the other side for two hours, cut them into crackers, then left the crackers on the sheets in the turned-off oven overnight for good measure. This morning....
Flax crackers!
I didn't think I had used a lot of curry powder and salt but these have a strong flavor, so I will be more ginger with the spices next time (no pun intended!).

I am so excited about my unintentional dehydrator! I can make kale chips without burning them! I can make buckwheat crispies! Aaaaah!

Housewarming Party

2011-01-16T19:39:00.000-08:00

I finally got the new place all set up, so this weekend it was time to invite friends over to show it off! I love making snack tables for parties, and I decided to go with a bunch of easy, tried-and-true favorites that I could make ahead of time for this one.

Easy veggie plate with onion dip- I also had chips on the side for this dip, a guilty pleasure! Come on, it's a party! This was one of those Lipton dried onion soup packs that you mix with sour cream to make party dip...Tofutti Better than Sour Cream didn't make much of a taste difference. Most people just ate the veggies plain anyway- healthy friends! ;-)
Stuffed mushrooms from The 30-Minute Vegan. Just like last time, these were a big hit even after they got cold! So easy, too. I made the filling and washed/stemmed the mushrooms the night before so all I had to do the day of was stuff & bake. By the way, I was able to stuff 30 average cremini mushrooms with this recipe and still had a little leftover filling. I don't know why the recipe only says it makes 18.
The sweet- I made the soft-set caramel from the November VegNews for the third time, and as always it is AMAZING! I can't stop eating the leftovers with a spoon! I think I like it the best with apple slices; I had Gala and Granny Smiths for variety. I can't wait to try melting some into apple cider! The caramel keeps for a while in the fridge, too, so I made it the night before.
Mama Pea's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls. I made them with white chocolate chips, like last time. Amazing.
I also tried making Mama Pea's Sugar Cookie Dough Balls for the first time...but like many of the commenters, mine turned into regular cookies in the oven. I hadn't added any soy milk to the dough, and it was chilled overnight because I made the cookie dough the night before for both of the cookies. However, as regular sugar cookies these were awesome! They tasted a lot like Pillsbury Slice & Bake to me, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your opinion...a friend mentioned they were kind of salty, and I agree; next time I won't add the extra salt since there's already some in the EB.

Yay! I love parties! What are your go-to nibbles for gatherings?

Classic Broccoli Quiche

2011-01-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

My mom used to make quiche with the classic egg, cheddar and ham combination and I looooved it. I was skeptical that a vegan recipe using tofu and cashews could truly mimic the classic French dish, but this recipe from Vegan Brunch did look enticing. I've actually made this recipe once before, but I forgot about the crust and just baked the filling in muffin tins for portable snacks. It was kind of a half-assed effort, and I thought it was just okay. But this time, I stayed true to the recipe and it was so, so worth it.
The only changes I made to the recipe this time were that I added a dash (1/4-1/2 tsp?) of black salt when I processed the tofu and cashews together and omitted the cherry tomatoes and tarragon, due to not having them. I used the Basic Single Pastry Crust recipe from Veganomicon (sans sugar) rather than the one in Vegan Brunch because I think the latter was edited wrong...1 1/4 cups shortening? I don't think so!

Making a vegan quiche does require a modicum of effort, unlike many of my slap-dash dinners, but barely. I thought about starting dinner around 5pm and was finished eating by 7pm- and an hour of that was baking and cooling time. I just had to make a crust, chop and saute some veggies and spices, process some cashews and tofu, and stick it all in the oven. The payoff for this "effort" was the best dinner I've made in a long time! Vegan quiche is hearty, salty, savory, and even had a cheesy flavor, which was weird because I didn't add any nutritional yeast! Maybe it's from the mustard? I would definitely consider making this to impress omnivore friends and family with what tofu can do. It's soooo good! And the best part is, I have a whole pie to last me the next few days ;-)

Banana Pecan Pancakes

2011-01-09T07:48:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Bianca of Vegan Crunk, I decided to get Sarah Kramer's Go Vegan! wall calendar this year (using a gift certificate to veganessentials.com from the bf- yay!). It's so cute; Kramer's theme this year is album covers; the whole calendar is her doing the poses of famous album covers and changing the titles to incorporate vegan themes.

The best part, though, is that there is a recipe for each month! This month's Banana Pecan Pancakes couldn't have come at a better time, because the bf's brother and his girlfriend stayed over for a few days this week and I wanted to treat us all to a nice breakfast, seeing as how they had to sleep on the floor and everything ;-). It turns out that the girlfriend loves banana-flavored things, too!

These were super easy- simple dry ingredients mixed with a wet mix of blended banana, rice milk and vanilla extract. No weird ingredients or curdled soy milk here! I tripled the recipe because it said it made 2 large pancakes or 4 small, so I figured we could have 12 small pancakes and eat three each. I also used 2/3 of the banana called for because the bf was wary of anything other than plain pancakes, and I didn't feel like killing my whole banana supply for pancakes. Even so, the tripled recipe made over 15 regular-sized pancakes (4-5" diameter)! So we had no shortage of pancakes, at least.

Instead of mixing the pecans into the batter, I did my usual method of sprinkling them on the batter after I poured it onto the pan, then gently pressing them in. I made pecan pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, and went crazy on a few and used both! Those were my favorite.
Served with fresh fruit and real maple syrup, these were a delicious way to start the day. They were still a little gummy, if I had to nitpick, which I have found is true of many vegan pancake recipes I have tried. But they cooked up beautifully and everyone liked them- even the bf!

Book Review: "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer

2011-01-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Book reviews aren't really something I want to include in my blog that often, but I finally got around to reading this much-talked-about book and, much to my surprise, it really spoke to me.
Foer is a Brooklyn-based intellectual, so his book is written from the perspective of an upper-middle class but regular guy that has dabbled in vegetarianism but never stayed with it for very long. His purported reason for writing this book was to learn as much about the meat industry as possible to figure out what to feed his newborn son. In the book, he explores factory farms (which he has to sneak into), family farms (who warmly invite him) slaughterhouses, and as many different animals as possible. I liked what a wide range he gave to his research, giving us as much of a view of the different ways animals are raised and killed as possible.

I knew much of the horrors of factory farming before I read the book, and I was afraid that it would just make me bored and sad to re-read it. But Foer throws so much well-researched information at us in Eating Animals, and intersperses it with letters he got from different farmers throughout the writing process as well as personal stories and anecdotes, that it is an informative and at times enjoyable read. He does go very deeply into the truths and horrors of factory farming, which is difficult to read, but is so important for everyone to know. The fact that he is writing as a writer and not as someone with an obvious agenda (like Skinny Bitch) gives this book hope, in my eyes, of bringing change to many readers' lives.

Even if you think you know all there is to know about farming practices in the USA, I would recommend this book. I think everyone should know exactly where their food comes from.

Christmas Wrap-Up

2011-01-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

Hello from the laundromat! Sorry for the weeklong hiatus, but I moved apartments on New Year's Eve and don't even have internet yet. Until I can show you pictures of my amazing new abode and some of the awesome restaurants down here, I'll amuse you with the last few pics of my Christmas week at home.

Christmas Eve is actually a bigger deal in my family than Christmas Day, because we open presents together that night, after dinner. It's a German tradition that my parents loved when we were little because they didn't have to get up early on Christmas! Mom always makes latkes and homemade applesauce for Christmas Eve dinner, and this year I emailed her the VegNews recipe for vegan latkes:

Also on the plate is sauteed red and green peppers and onions, and Trader Joe's vegetable dumplings.

For present-opening snacks, I whipped up some peanut butter fudge using a recipe I found through the ppk forum...although the exact location of the recipe is evading my memory right now. It really just involved boiling water and sugar and mixing that with peanut butter and vanilla. Very simple, and it firmed up nicely! This was rather addictive, too...I found myself eating it all weekend :-)
And of course, I had to try the Not-Nog Cupcakes from My Sweet Vegan! I finally indulged in a carton of Silk Nog while I was home and used it to make these nutmeggy, tender cupcakes with a chewy caramel topping. They were kind of hard to eat because the caramel was so hard and the cakes were so delicate, but they tasted great.

That's all for now, folks. Hopefully my new place will be put together by this weekend! I can't wait!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bombs

2010-12-29T06:08:00.000-08:00

Before I get into the food extravaganza that was Christmas Eve and Christmas, let me show you these cookies I made for the bf's birthday last week (yes, he has a birthday near Christmas, poor thing):
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pillows from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Actually, I'm not 100% sure that that's the official name, but I do know that I've made them twice, they're not that much more time-consuming than traditional drop cookies, and they are decadently fantastic.

The first time I made these the chocolate cookie wrapper encasing the sweet, peanut butter filling spread out more, so they actually looked like pillows- a cookie with a bump in the middle. But this time they stayed like little nuggets. The taste and texture was great, though- chewy, dark chocolate cookie hugging a sweet, creamy ball of peanut butter filling.

These don't last very long before the cookie part starts getting stale, so I would recommend freezing them....or eating them all!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T07:44:00.000-08:00

I hope your mornings were filled with something as delicious as these cinnamon rolls from Vegan Brunch...

So yummy. I did most of the cooking for these last night- kneading the dough, rising the dough, and forming the rolls- then left the pan with the ready-to-go rolls in the fridge overnight for a slow second rise. This morning I just left them on the counter for half and hour and then baked them according to the recipe. They're tender, sweet and cinnamony, a perfect Christmas morning treat.

Merry Christmas! Hope yours is a good one!

Black Bean Chili

2010-12-23T08:39:00.000-08:00

To my own surprise, I made my first *successful* chili yesterday. The first time I had attempted chili was also the first time I had ever worked with dried beans, and let's just say I didn't realize different beans had different cooking times. Since then chili has seemed like too big a task to warrant making a whole pot that just I would eat. Enter family time...also known as "experiment with new recipes time!"
I got this recipe from an old regular at a bar I used to tend, of all places. He recommended it highly, and it sat in my recipe box for the past two and a half years. Last night I pulled it out and, bravely, not only made the recipe but made enough changes to call it my own. Mark, wherever you are, I hope you don't mind me posting this!

This had a wonderful smoky flavor from the addition of chipotle in adobo and plenty of cumin, and while it was a little too hot for my mother (she had to douse it in sour cream and cheese), it was the perfect spiciness in my opinion- enough to make me sweat a little, but not so much that I was constantly reaching for the water glass. I served it with chopped raw red onion, avocado chunks, cheese and sour cream for the fam, and cornbread muffins from Vegan Brunch (the reduced sugar version), which were the perfect mild accompaniment to this flavorful chili- crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Black Bean Chili
serves 8-10
cook time: about 1 1/2 hours, plus soaking time

2 C dried black turtle beans
1 bay leaf
1 tsp salt
1 T cumin powder
1 T dried oregano
1 T paprika
2 T chile powder
2-3 dashes tabasco
3 T oil
2 onions, diced
2 green peppers, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 15-oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 chipotle in adobo, seeds removed and minced
1 tsp adobo sauce

1) Soak the beans for 6-8 hours in clean, cold water. I put them in around breakfast so they'd be ready to go when I started dinner.
2) Drain and rinse the soaked beans, then cover them with fresh water by about 1 inch. Don't go too crazy unless you want a soupier chili. Bring the beans to a boil, then cover and simmer while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
3) Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the onions and peppers. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes, then add the dry spices, salt and garlic. Let all the flavors cook together for another 5 minutes.
4) Add the canned tomatoes, chipotle, and dashes of tabasco to taste. Simmer the whole mess for 15 minutes, then add to the beans.
5) Simmer everything together for 30 minutes to an hour, or until the beans are soft and it has thickened up a bit. It might be nice to add some cooked rice or TVP at this point, too, especially if yours seems a little brothy, but I let mine be a thinner, black bean soup-like chili. Taste for spice and serve!

My dad had thirds of this and said he felt like he was in a Cuban restaurant. I'm not sure about that, but it sure is good, and I love the simplicity of the recipe- it doesn't have 10 different kinds of vegetables, and the spices are rather everyday ones. This would be perfect for a Superbowl party! Enjoy!

Home for Christmas

2010-12-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

I love being able to come home for a whole week for the Christmas holidays, even though I'm not a student with an official winter break any more. My mom greeted me tonight with the same white bean cassoulet she made over the Thanksgiving break, but this time I remembered to take a picture:

It seems very fast and easy to make, it's delicious, and it's a meal in itself; no side dishes needed. She sauteed some mushrooms and onions, added two cans of white beans, a can of chopped tomatoes, some cooked brown rice, and white balsamic vinegar. At the end she adds chopped fresh basil, which lends a lovely minty freshness to the whole sweet-and-savory mix. Yum!

Vaute Couture Winter Coats

2010-12-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

I needed a new winter coat this year, and rather than hit up some department store and look for a bargain as I usually do, I decided to treat myself to one of the new winter coats from the company voted Veg News' "best new clothing company:" Vaute Couture. It's an all-vegan coat, shirt and art company that uses recycled materials. They started out selling fall coats- peacoats and the like- but this year they began to offer three types of insulated winter coats; vegan versions of the comfy down coats most people choose to be warm walking around the city.

These winter coats were pre-order, and although they were supposed to be shipped by the end of November, I didn't get mine until mid-December because they were "still creating the materials," as an apology e-mail told me. This left me rather cold for a few weeks, since it dropped down below freezing by early December, but I finally got my coat and I love it!

I got the "Kinder," a short, insulated zipper coat with a very high collar. The other option for women is the "Airs," which is made of the same material but longer and with a belt. Both options come in either pink or black. It has elastic around the wrists to seal off your arms from the wind, and I love the high collar to protect my neck, which gets cold. I was worried about how warm it really would be, but it keeps me super protected from the cold and wind! I don't feel like I have to layer underneath it; the coat is enough.

Plus, it's cute! I like wearing it!

As with most small clothing companies, the price was rather exorbitant. It was painful to make the deposit at first, but I know I'm using the money to support a company I feel good about, which is a big part of veganism- using your monetary choices to make a statement. Only time will tell if it was truly worth it; I would hope that this coat lasts several years, at the price and the time it took to make. But at least this winter, I will stay warm, and hopefully spread the news of this company with my lovely new coat!

French Toast

2010-12-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I had nothing to do in the morning so I decided to indulge the bf and myself (mostly myself- I'm the brunch lover here) with some french toast! I didn't want to have to buy a lot of stuff, so I went with the easy flour-and-soy milk based recipe in My Sweet Vegan: Sweet and Simple French Toast.
I love French Toast because it's deceptively simple: bathe boring whole wheat bread in a sweetened, thickened milk mixture and fry it, and it's suddenly delicious enough to eat on its own! This particular recipe adds a small amount of nutritional yeast, of which I was skeptical at first, but turned out to give the finished product that slightly eggy taste reminiscent of the real thing. I also used half-and-half coconut milk and soy milk, making the mixture nice and thick and rich.

In addition to my beloved real maple syrup, I made an easy berry compote to go with it. I took 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1/4 cup sugar, and the zest of one clementine, and heated it in a pan until the berries had released all their juices. Then I boiled it until it had reduced to a thick, dark berry jam. It was messy, though- the burnt sugar stuck to my pan for a couple days. While it was good, I'm sure there are better ways to make berry compote :-) But Hannah Kasminsky's french toast recipe is a keeper- we both loved it!

The V Spot Cafe

2010-12-14T18:11:00.000-08:00

While apartment hunting in Brooklyn this past weekend, I treated myself to a quick lunch at the V Spot Cafe, an all-vegan eatery offering lunch, dinner and brunch.
It was pretty empty, although it was a little early for lunch on a Friday. There was a variety of tables and booths, and it had a simple, square atmosphere like Red Bamboo.

I really wanted a sandwich, so I settled on the Philly Cheesteak, something I haven't had since my trip to Philly this past spring. It came with a free small soup as a lunch special, so I got the butternut squash. This was perfect- I had actually been eying this soup on the menu! It was creamy and flavorful. They really let the flavor and texture of the actual squash shine.
By the time my sandwich finally came out, I didn't have much time to eat because my next appointment was looming five blocks away. I wolfed down half the sandwich and the whole salad, and boxed the other half.
The sandwich was good, but not great. It had a lot of cheddar "cheeze" in it, as well as a good mix of onions, peppers, mushrooms and soy protein. Since the soy protein was in chunks, I didn't get some in every bite, which is what I would expect from a cheesteak. I would have preferred a shredded-style protein for more even distribution. But the meltiness and the mix of onions, peppers and mushrooms was spot-on. I also liked the dressing they used for the salad that came on the side; it was a non-sweet vinaigrette, like Italian or something.

I'll probably stop by the V Spot now and then since I'll be living in Brooklyn soon (yay!) but it won't be a must-go destination. It was nice, and had a great variety of offerings, but in a city like New York, with many options for vegan foodies, it was nothing special.

First Christmas Party of the Season!

2010-12-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

My friend just held a Holiday Party to raise money for her new theatre company's spring production. It was an epic party night- 30 or 40 people came out to Brooklyn and paid the $10 donation to eat, drink wine (and lots of it) and sing carols all night.

So how flattered was I when, a month ago, she specifically asked me to help cater! The food was between me, her, and another one of the company's founders, so there wasn't a ton of pressure, but it was fun to think of a few different dishes to bring.

She specifically asked for something "bite-sized and savory" from me, so I tried The 30-Minute Vegan's Stellar Stuffed Mushrooms. The stuffing is made from veggies, tofu cream cheese, and spices- I added breadcrumbs, too, for heft. They tasted okay to me, but everyone else went crazy for them! They were already half gone by the time I could take a picture:

I also made some homemade soft caramel from the November issue of VegNews. This stuff is amazing. I made it over Thanksgiving, and ended up eating it with a spoon or having vegan ice cream just so I could drizzle this over it. It's also excellent with apples, which are what I served it with as an easy party-friendly snack:
And what are the holidays without fudge? I had a little extra time, so I whipped up this quick coconut fudge, sans extra coconut flakes, from My Sweet Vegan.
It was such a well-put together party. It made me feel so grown up! And all of my dishes were very well received, so thank goodness I didn't have too many leftovers to tempt me later.