everything here is eatable

Singapore Spice Lentils and Vegetables

2009-01-20T16:29:00.009-05:00

I return, with no good excuses, but a good recipe! I have to say, I just haven't been making anything all that interesting or trying out many new recipes since the beginning of the summer. Sure there has been the fabulous wedding recipe/Katie's birthday chia spice cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream icing, and some really amazing almost accidental sp iced molasses cookies at Christmas (you HAVE to try this recipe!), but the camera didn't make it out for those. Really, many other things have been keeping me occupied and eating new and interesting and photogenic food has fallen a bit by the wayside (along with nutrition, to a degree, causing an, um, slight ill-fitting of a lot of my clothing...). But one of my resolutions this year is to blog on here at least once a week, and I'm actually pretty good at keeping my resolutions. So I start this new year (albeit a few weeks late) with an actual real live recipe!

My parents have the good fortune of living less than a quarter mile from one of the few Penzeys Spices stores. This place is amazing...you can smell it from down the street and it is like entering a cook's heaven just walking in the door. Many many spices and blends, including a lot of things I've never seen anywhere else. I mean, they have five kinds of cinnamon! So, we go there a lot when we visit but when Katie and I headed down to Boston for New Years to spend a late Christmas, we were gifted with a whole lot of Penzeys things, most of them stuff we hadn't tried before. One was a packet of Singapore seasoning, which Penzeys describes as "the best of both East and West to produce a flavorful all-purpose Southeast Asian mix." It is basically a mild, sweet lemon pepper curry and one sniff just begged for lentils and coconut. So here you go, Singapore Spice :Lentils and Vegetables. If you aren't lucky enough to have access to a Penzeys and don't want to mail-order some, I'd try mixing 1/3 lemon pepper with the good sweet curry like garam masala or something similar, but Penzeys also has the ingredients, sans proportions, for all their spice blends on their site.

Singapore Spice Lentils and Vegetables

1 1/4 c dry red lentils
2 tbsp Penzeys Singapore Spice seasoning
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp or to taste red pepper flakes
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch or so peeled grated fresh ginger
2 carrots, sliced thinly
3-4 cups other vegetables of choice (I used spinach, peas and a frozen tri-color pepper blend)
1 cup lite coconut milk, or, if one is following an Eat to Live-style low fat diet or just trying to cut down the calories, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk and 1/8 tsp coconut flavoring works almost as well
salt or Bragg's Liquid Aminos to taste

In a large, deep, lidded skillet, saute the onions in a bit of cooking spray and water over medium heat until they begin to soften. Add garlic and carrots and saute for a few more minutes. Add ginger, lentils and dry spices. Toss to coat. Add enough water to cover plus about 1/4 inch and let come a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Let simmer 10 to 15 minutes, adding additional water if necessary (I never time lentils, just check them occasionally), until the lentils are almost cooked. Add coconut milk (or flavored almond milk) and remaining veggies, plus an addition 1/2 of water if necessary. Bring back up to a boil, reduve heat again and cover, allowing to cook until the veggies are soft and the lentils are cooked through. Remove from heat, taste and add salt or Bragg's as necessary. Let sit 10-15 minutes for the flavors to mellow a bit (we ate it right away and the first helping seemed a bit too lemony but the second was perfect). Serve dressed with some chopped cilantro and/or fresh scallions (neither of which we had).

Makes 5-6 servings.

I just realized that next week, I may not be able to blog, as the computer has to go back to Dell for a few days to a week to fix the DVD drive. But I will get back on again as soon as I can, I swear!

A cupcake update and stories from the Rochester underground

2008-10-14T09:35:00.004-05:00

I am quite happy to be able to report that the second batch of cupcakes, despite previous misgivings, turned out awesome. I made the second batch to take to a church thing on sunday, so they were sitting in the fridge from Friday night to around 3:30 on sunday. Apparently, a 2 day nap was all they needed to turn into little tasty and very red bites of goodness. I had tried one (non-mini) on saturday morning (yum, cupcakes for breakfast) and I had noticed that the color had moved decidely from the dissappointing brown of the night before to a rusty red.

Well, I wish I had thought to snap a few shots of the minis before they got snarfed up, because they got really red. The beety flavor also toned itself down a lot (probably helped by generous dollops of frosting) and they were super moist and velvety, as opposed to the first batch, which was a bit dry and gummy. They needed a bit more sugar, but that is easily fixed next time. I think with one more test batch (far in the future, I am so red velveted out right now!) these should be recipe-posting ready!

In other, non-food related news, on Saturday we went on a tour of the Rochester aquaduct/canalway/subway tunnels, which was amazingly cool. Apparently, at one point the part of the Erie Canal that ran through Rochester was, once drained, was used as subway tunnels, making Rochester the only city of its size in the country to ever have a subway system. Although its abandoned now, a lot of the exiisting structures are still there below the city; stairways, stations, work buildings, all built within the old canal system. The tour took us through the part of downtown where you can see both the still-functioning parts of the canal and drainage system and the remains of the aquaducts from above ground, and then down into subway tunnels. There is a push by the group leading the tours (I believe the Canal Association of New York or something like that) to revitilize the old canalways running through the city as both a tourist attraction and eventually as a functioning commerce route. I'm just going to post a bunch of the pictures I took in a vague order. There was a lot more things deeper under, including the old stations and more stairways, but my camera isn't too good in the dark so I didn't gett many decent shots. The tunnel does run about a mile under the city and it is possible to walk all the way to the end, but it is only open to public access at certain times.

red-ish velvet-ish cupcakes

2008-10-10T21:18:00.003-05:00

The future wife and Asher-the-devil-dog hiking through the autumn landscape

We've decided to have cupcakes in place of a traditional cake for the wedding. Not only cupcakes, but 3 flavors of gluten-free vegan cupcakes. The 3 flavors are, tentatively, red velvet w/ cream cheese icing, chai w/ cinnamon buttercream icing and peanut butter w/ chocolate icing. And the testing began today.

My goal is to figure a way to make the red velvet cakes without the 4000 gallons (or 2-4 ounces...) of red dye 40, which terrifies me and is something I don't feel is appropriate for human consumption. Although there is an amazing amount of debate on the subject, and seemingly on all subjects related to red velvet cake, most sources cite 2 possible natural sources for the red; the natural chemical reaction between the cocoa powder and the acidity of the batter (which has both buttermilk and vinegar traditionally), and some combination of beet products, from shredded beets (raw or cooked), pureed beets, beet juice, pickled beet juice, etc. I like the more subtle forms of red velvet that are basically a white cake with a small amount of cocoa powder, so I didn't trust using just the cocoa powder to get the color, so I made one batch using a small amount of pureed pickled beets along with a syrup made from boiling down the pickled beet juice (which usually contains HFCS, which I didn't know when I bought it...ugh).

The results were, um, disappointingly...not red. Pink isn't really even an adequate description...perhaps "brain colored"? "Salmon"? I don't know, but not red. The flavor, however, is really good, just enough cocoa as to not taste like a chocolate cake but still to taste like something more than vanilla. It probably helps that I used really good expensive cocoa powder...but, alas, the color bumped this variation out of the running.

So, I made another batch...or another 1/2 batch, using a combination of pureed canned beets (not pickled) and beet juice.

The batter was a lovely shade of purply red, and the top of the cupcakes looked lovely.

The inside...still brown, but not so brain-like, so I guess that an improvement. They do, however, taste slightly of beets. Which is not so ideal. And the color still isn't there. But the tops are pretty!

I fear that I may have to compromise my values a bit and use some red dye if I want these things to actually look red. I'll keep trying a bit though. All I have to say is, now that I have about a billion cupcakes, I am so glad I'm visiting family tomorrow and have a church thing on Sunday where we're supposed to bring food...because I am quite sick of odd colored cuppers...

Oh, and we took some "engagement" photos the other day at our venue, since we wanted to see how the foliage would look.

This one came out pretty cute, helped out a lot by the dogs (look at Kasie peeking over Ash's head!). Please ignore the craziness of my socks!

I know, I know, I'm sorry!

2008-10-07T10:30:00.002-05:00

Hey there, I'm back from the dead! Well, no, not really, but it has been so very very long since I have posted and even longer since I've made a "real" post, with a recipe and pictures and everything. This summer sort of got away from me, between gardening, work, a new dog and all that. Throw in a dead laptop, missing (for months!) battery charger for the camera, and general distraction and you've got a very bad blogger. But, wait, I now have motivation to post again, a reason to blog because...Katie and I are getting married, legally! Now that Massachusetts did away with their law banning out-of-state couple from marrying there, and New York announced that they will recognize "foreign" same-sex marriages, we've decided to go ahead and make it official next October (1 year and, eek, 4 days from now!). And, because planning a wedding (especially one that involves two actual ceremonies) isn't complicated enough, we are DIYing about 90% of the thing...including food. So, yes, now we need to pick, plan and test a full menu of gluten-free vegan appetizers, entrees and cupcakes to feed 60-70 people, most of whom are not gluten-free or vegan and will need to be won over by the wonderful tastiness of whatever we make. We actually have a semi-planned out menu at this point, but much testing and tweaking needs to be done, and, hopefully, that process will be played out here for the world to see (yay?). Plus, the "food season" is starting, beginning with Katie's birthday on the 25th, and we are hosting Thanksgiving for an as-yet-to-be-determined number of people this year, there will be much food to be blogged about in the coming months.

Anyway, I just wanted to crawl out from under my rock and say...stay tuned for the first wedding cupcake testing coming friday....

Introducing the boys!

2008-06-08T14:21:00.003-05:00

Allow me to digress from food posts for a bit and take some time to introduce the three newest members of our family. A few weeks back, Bazu posted about 70+ rats who, after being used as psychology class test subjects, needed homes. Katie and I used to have rats, lots of rats in fact, and we lost our last girl a little over 6 months ago. Nearly all of our ratties were rescues, some with chronic health problems, some with neurological and psychological issues, but they were all such incredible sweeties and we missed having them around. When I saw Bazu's post about how some of these rats were coming to Syracuse, being fostered by a SARO member, Katie and I decided to adopt some of these boys. Actually, the foster, who had, I think, 40-something rats in her dining room at that point, lives just 2 blocks away from us, so, after contacting her, we took a carrier and walked down the street to pick them up. It was hard to pick 3 out of 40, especially 40 pink-eyed-white males, but our boys made themselves known.

Their names are Cedric,

Francois (Franny) and Beauregard (Beau).

Cedric is the biggest (he's , um, quite large, actually, as you can see below) and most likely the oldest, from the fall semester, making him about 6-7 month old,

while Franny and Beau are smaller, so far, and are most likely 4-5 month old.

Since they are males, they will actually all get bigger, as males rats don't really stop growing until they are 3 or so (and most rats don't live much longer than that). I'd guess Cedric come in close to a pound, though he should be, ahem, a *bit* less, and the other two are around .5-.75 lbs each.

They are all quite skittish, though the "little boys" a lot more so, but friendly and interested in us and, while they are very nervous about being picked up, they don't mind being held or petted. Cedric "popcorned" for the first time in front of us the other night, a ratty version of a happy dance. We are looking forward to seeing them brux, a happy eye-boggling, teeth-grinding thing they do when they are happy and relaxed.

We've switched them over to a diet based on Gluten-Free Vegan's rat diet , though at this point, anything that is not a nut or pellet that they eat is a victory. So far, strawberries are a big hit, as is watermelon, and, though they don't want to admit it, they like broccoli. The kale and apple that they got last night mysteriously disappeared overnight, though I did find a 2 day old piece of carrot buried in their bedding this afternoon. Tonight, we try lentils, which will be their first beans, and possibly asparagus. Hopefully we'll be able to undo their first few months on a lab diet and help prevent tumors and cancer later on. (Look, I tied this post back into food, woohoo!)

Thanks, Bazu, for letting us know about these boys! Hopefully we can make up for how badly they were treated as babies and they can learn to trust people again.

Jar-Cakes and Jackfruit

2008-05-29T10:37:00.000-05:00

I wrote this awhile ago, drafted it until I could get the pictures uploaded and forgot about it until today...so , um, pretend its 5/6/08...

I've been meaning to try out making Cakes-In-A-Jar for awhile now...I'm sure most other bakers have already tried these things, but I really don't bake all that often, since baking normally involves more sugar than I like to use. But I decided, for Mother's day, since I won't be able to make it down to Boston until mid June, I'd make my mom some jar-muffins and send them down for a little Mother's day breakfast treat. After some not-so-subtle questioning about preferred sweet bread flavors, I settled on lemon-poppy seed. I ended up using the recipe from VWAV, though I added lemon juice to replace some of the rice milk (adding flavor and making buttermilk) and doubled the poppy seeds...and used spelt flour, since we don't even have "real" wheat flour in the house anymore. I decided to use 4-z canning jars, since they are just about muffin sized and would be easier to ship. I was a bit skeptical about the whole jar thing working, I do have to say...I only made half the batch in the jars, so I'd have some actual muffins to send just in case, but they sealed up just fine. Which worked out nicely, since now there are muffins for us to snack on...or there were, before breakfast this morning. They were pretty good, though I do have to say, I think the recipe calls for a bit too much baking powder...1 tbsp seems like a lot (though they didn't seem to be overleavened) and there was a tiny bit of a bitterness to them, though that could have been from me overzesting the lemon and going too far into the pith. I think next time, for the muffins-in-a-jar, I'll make a quick glaze with just some lemon juice and powdered sugar and put it on right before sealing them up.

here are some non-jarred muffins...just in case the jars didn't seal...really shows off all the random crap on my counter...

And, also yesterday, I finally found a way to use a can of green jackfruit I picked up a few months ago. Thanks to textual bulldog for bringing this recipe from the Urban Housewife
to my attention! Jackfruit carnitas tacos will definitely be made again here...not only are they super easy but they were so good! Next time, 2 cans of jackfruit though, because, even though I made it a bit too hot and it felt like we were breathing fire, I think we both could have eaten more and there were not nearly enough leftovers to pick at the next day.

Asparagus! or, Why do vegans need a giant grill?

2008-05-06T17:16:00.003-05:00

I love spring...the sun is shining (when its not raining), flowers are blooming, birds are singing, bugs are buzzing (just take a look above at the little guy I found on my baby pepper plant!) everyone is wandering around in their t-shirts, looking slightly dazed and pale...oh, yes, and my favorite food season is just getting into the swing of things. We picked up our first local asparagus at the farmer's market on Saturday! I have to admit, although I try, I'm not a very good locavore in the winter...there comes a point where one just can't force oneself to eat yet another meal of cabbage...but I draw the line at buying two things out of season; tomatoes and asparagus. Its just not worth it! Plus, the anticipation alone makes them tasty so incredible when they finally come into season. So when we saw the booths with row after row of spiky bundles of green, we snatched one up.

Originally, I intended just to lightly steam it and then sprinkle with crushed garlic and lemon juice, but then Katie suggested grilling it. You see, we got a grill for my birthday...and not just any grill, a kinda-large grill, with a side burner and one of those baking rack things so you can toast buns or bake potatoes or whatever. At first, I was thinking, 'this is a bit ridiculously large! Really, how much grilling space do we really need?" (we don't eat a lot of veggie burgers and all that), but we've used it twice so far and, both times, we managed to fill up the whole thing. To accompany the asparagus, I halved some red peppers, some mini eggplants, some mushrooms on a skewer, and some leeks, and whipped up a quick glaze made from wheat-free hoisin sauce, balsamic vinegar, a drizzle of agave nectar, garlic powder and crushed red pepper flakes. All those roasted to perfection, with the addition of some sweet potatoes wrapped in foil and placed on the above-mentioned baking rack thinger, and we had an amazing meal. I swear, I'm never going to eat sweet potatoes baked any other way again!

And the asparagus? Perfection. Slightly sweet from the glaze and slightly smoky but still crisp. I love spring.

2 Hummuses (Hummusi?) and some baby food!

2008-04-22T09:48:00.004-05:00

What is the plural of hummus anyway?

Two tasty hummus recipes: One is a slight variation on SusanV's Shiny Happy Hummus, made with carrots and (in my version) lots of ginger. This is a lovely, light-tasting hummus, with a little bit of a bite and a really "shiny happy" flavor...tastes like spring so it was very seasonally appropriate. The only real change I made to the recipe was to double the ginger and add a tad bit more heat.

The other, a tomato basil hummus, looking a bit salmon-esque in the picture:

2 cups cooked chickpeas
3 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried basil or a small handful of fresh basil, minced
pinch of cayenne
1 tbsp lemon juice
a bit of water to aid in blending
salt and black pepper to taste.

Blend everything together. Eat.

The tomato one was okay, but the Shiny Happy Hummus? Susan, awesome, as always!

Oh yes, and baby food? No, not food for babies, but food in its infant state. We have lots of baby plants! Baby pictures are always cute, even when they are plants (AAAWWWHH! Baby plants!)

Fairy Tale eggplant seedlings:

And about 1 month later (the leaves are about 3 inches long and 1 1/2-2 inches across):

Kale seedlings:

And 1 month later (these are going outside today):

Jubilee Tomato:

Amaranth:

Black Seeded Simpson (lettuce):

Garlic!:

Blueberries...or will be in a few years:

Spiced Apricot Granola

2008-04-22T08:57:00.003-05:00

I have been on a granola kick lately...mostly involving the wonderfully delicious varieties available in the Wegman's bulk section. And, although packed full of fiber and other goodness, I am quite glad that the nutrition information isn't available on the tubs...not only because I have sworn off reading nutrition labels (other than the ingredients panel) but because I'm sure that reading the nutrition information would result in the shattering of all my illusions about the healthy nature of packaged granola. It also seems kind of pointless to continue to buy premade granola when I know its easy to make at home, not to mention cheaper and healthier, since I can control whats in it. I looked at a bunch of recipes for low fat and fat free granola and then sort of threw things together until it looked good (honestly, when was the last time I followed a recipe exactly?). And it came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. This recipe is wheat-free and could easily be made gluten-free if one used GF-certified oats or another kind of oat-like rolled cereal and could be made fat free if you leave out the nuts and seeds...but, really, please don't.

Low-Fat Spiced Apricot Granola

2 cups rolled oats
2 tbsp white sorghum flour or other flour
1 tsp Ener-G egg replacer
6-7 dried apricots, cut into thin slices
2 tbsp golden raisins
1 tbsp sesame seeds (I used black for some color variation)
1-2 tbsp ground flax seed
2 tbsp green pumpkin seeds
1/2 c crisp rice cereal or other crunchy cereal (I used "Nutty Rice")
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp "Cake Spice" or:
-pinch nutmeg
-pinch allspice
-pinch ginger
-pinch cardamon
-tiny pinch ground cloves
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 c white grape juice, apple juice or orange juice
1/2-1 tsp agave nectar (optional, I just wanted it a tiny bit sweeter)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray. Mix all the dry ingreidents and spices together until well blended. Add the vanilla, juice and agave nectar, if using and blend well until the whole mass is sticky. Spread in an even, thin layer over the cookie sheet and press down on some clumps to make it stick together (if you don't like chunky granola, the skip this step). Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and starting to brown (watch the edges, this may burn quickly. Really, see the pictures.). Let cool then transfer to a jar or bag and store in the freezer.

This is not very sweet but has a nice flavor. Its awesome with unsweetened vanilla almond milk and fresh or frozen fruit.

Birthday

2008-04-08T14:06:00.003-05:00

I have been a bad, bad blogger. Sorry. Hopefully there is anyone out there still reading this occasionally, seeing if I'm still alive or whatever. But anyway, here are some awesome pictures to make up for it...

Last week, Katie cooked up a massive amount of food for a sort-of surprise birthday party for me. Sort of because I knew there was a party and I knew when it was and I knew some of the people coming, but I didn't know about a few really good friends from college who I hadn't seen in ages and I didn't know about a lot of the food.

I, however, knew I was having carrot cake because I had been craving the perfect carrot cake for a long time. The PERFECT carrot cake...it needed to be dense, moist, full of "stuff", spicy, with cream cheese icing and those ubiquitous bright orange piped carrots on top. Two test batches later (without icing), I found it. I had high hopes for the carrot macadamia ginger coconut cake in VWAV, but, as tasty as it is, its just not right...its a lovely spice cake, but its not a carrot cake...just a spice cake with carrots...and the crystalized ginger is very distracting. So I settled on veganizing and de-wheating Sam's Famous Carrot Cake moist but not gummy or heavy, nicely spiced and crunchy-chewy with all the good stuff (walnuts, pineapple, coconut AND carrots!) jammed into this cake. I then made a basic cream cheese icing using earth balance, tofutti cream cheese and organic powdered sugar (just enough to make it sweet but still taste like cheesecake)...add a dash of vanilla and a bunch o recipe from allrecipes.com. 252 4-or-5-star reviews, I figured it was worth it...and omg, yes! I replaced the wheat flour with spelt and a pinch of xanthan gum, Ener-G for the eggs, applesauce for the oil, and almond milk w/ lemon juice for the buttermilk and then added a little ground ginger and a little nutmeg, plus some more carrot as a lot of the reviews recommended. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Dense andf shredded coconut and we had an amazingly tasty icing that quickly negated any health benefits gained by leaving the oil out of the cake, lol! I baked and iced, then was promptly kicked out the kitchen so Katie could decorate. Here are the results:

How professional does that look! My aunt thought the cake was from wegmans and that we were kidding about having baked/decorated it ourselves.

And then Katie whipped out the cupcakes: gluten-free versions of the Mucho Margarita and Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes (a hot version and a not-so-hot version) from VCTOTW. They were both amazing but the icing on the margarita ones was out of this world...everyone was raving about them and I ate far too many.

One issue, what is with the gluten-freedom cupcake recipes and their lack of gluten-replacement? No xanthan gum, no egg replacer, no whipped-up silken tofu...Katie made the first batch and they, no surprise, didn't rise at all and were rubbery-dense. Second batch, added some xanthan gum and they were perfect. We both were kind of disappointed in that shortcoming in an otherwise amazing cookbook.

Unfortunately, we were having too much fun catching up with old friends and eating to take pictures of any more food, but there was a taco/burrito bar with mock-a-mole (guac made with half peas, half avocado), homemade mole sauce, roasted veggies, fresh veggies, vegan salsa-cheese dip, spanish rice, jicama salad, tropical chex mix, various salsas and chips, strawberry and blueberry margaritas...way too much really awesome food (and I think we still have some olives left in the fridge). I'm so happy that everyone came and that Katie managed to put everything together with me only knowing a little bit about it (along with my mom, who helped out in the sneakiness).

I'm gonna try to update this at least every couple weeks....its harder now that the weather is getting nicer and we are working hard to get the yard/garden in shape, there are more chances to hike, and I really don't want to stay inside at the computer any more than necessary, but I will make an effort! Hope everyone is having a happy spring!

banana doughnuts?

2008-02-28T18:27:00.002-05:00

note to self; the V-con jelly doughnut cupcake recipe works quite well when one subs out spelt for the AP flour, and chopped up banana for the jelly. Unfortunately, they get snarfed too fast to get a photo. Perhaps I'll just have to make more....

slacking...

2008-02-15T10:54:00.003-05:00

I've really been slacking on the posts here. Stuff has been going on and not much of it food related. You see, I love food but I usually love it a bit too much. I have issues with food and sometimes I just need to take a step back from eating just for the sake of pleasure and cooking just to try new recipes, because that puts me into a cycle of eating behaviors that are not good for me, mentally or physically (can we say eating half of a batch of soup that serves 4-6 people all by myself....and then having dessert? I have issues.). So I've been back on Eat to Live pretty strictly the past few weeks and eating a lot of simple foods that aren't necessarily blog-worthy. And, ugh, I've had to avoid any added sugars (with the exception of the occasional drizzle of agave nectar) and most grains and, double ugh, chocolate in any form, since all these trigger unhealthy eating for me right now...though I think the cravings are finally starting to dwindle, considering I was easily able to resist V-day chocolate gifts yesterday. But, all the food stuff on top of some sort of infection on my hand and feet, the resulting antibiotic-induced uckiness, sub-arctic temperatures, the beginning of the planting season fast approaching, work-related busyness and a missing camera cord have made me not so interested in blogging. But really, one of these days I'll get back into the swing of things. I do have some tasty V-day food picks to post once I find the above mentioned camera cord...

But anyway, does anyone know of a really good recipe for vegan wheat-free (doesn't have to necessarily be gluten-free) carrot cake? Like a really traditional-tasting recipe, just spicy enough, with stuff like walnuts and coconut and cream cheese frosting and all that good stuff? I can veganize recipes and de-wheat recipes but every carrot cake recipe I find has either eggs or wheat and I'm nervous about subbing out both of them. Perhaps spelt flour may be my savior here...since I'm intrigued by the VWAV recipe but am concerned about wheat-free textural problems and spelt tends to behave better....but, yes, I have until the last weekend in March to figure this one out, but since I'm taking a temporary break from good tasty sugaryness, my testing timetable is limited. Any suggestions, anyone? I really want a extra-tasty carrot cake or possibly carrot-cake cupcakes for my birthday but I fear I may end up with overly dense weirdness.

GF V-con Chickpea Cutlets...a sort-of success

2008-02-06T15:56:00.000-05:00

Everyone, and I mean everyone (or all the cool kids with vegan food blogs, that is), is raving about the chickpea cutlets in the Veganomicon. Alas, they are quite, well, wheaty and therefore off limits to me in their original form. Someone on the CHOW website, where the recipe was first posted, suggested a way to try to make these gluten-free. Obviously, some of the textural factors (that sounds crazy...) will be different, but the flavors would be the same, so I figured it was worth a try and so I futzed with the recipe and came up with something. And, well, it kind of worked...they were okay, nothing to rave about, which leads me to think that, in a taste comparison with the real thing, they might kinda suck, but they were more than edible and I think they would have been better had I fried them rather than baking them. But anyway, here's the recipe:

Gluten-free Chickpea Cutlets (inspired by the original recipe in the Veganomicon and by goodhealthgourmet on Chow.com)

1 c cooked chickpeas
2 tbsp olive oil or broth
2 tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 c veggie broth (I used some broth from cooking the beans, plus some vegebase bouillon)
2-3 tbsp chickpea, garfava, or soy flour
2 tbsp braggs liquid aminos
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp sage
1/4-1/2 c cornmeal or gf bread crumbs
Oil for frying, optional

In a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil, then remove from heat, add flax and whisk well. Cover and set aside. It will thicken within a few minutes.

Mash the chickpeas with the oil or 2 tbsp broth until smooth (I used a food processor because I am lazy and lack a potato masher). Add the seasonings, broth/flax mixture (once it thickens) and enough flour to make these dry enough to shape and handle.

Pour the cornmeal into a small dish and then form the cutlet "batter" into patties and gently dredge each patty in the cornmeal until it is coated with a fine layer.

If you want to fry these, heat a pan over medium heat, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan, and then fry each cutlet until it is golden brown on each side.

To bake, coat each cutlet in a fine spray of oil on each side and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes, flip and then bake for another 8-10 minutes or until they are beginning to brown.

I made 6 cutlets....round, not square-ish, like the original recipe calls for, only cuz this dough is not as easy to manipulate as I can imagine the gluten-tastic version is. Also, I recommend using the oil and, as I said above, pan-frying these, despite my usual inclinations away from using oil. I think this would have made them better.

I served these topped with an amazing jarred tomato sauce from Trader Joes plus some sauteed onions and a generous sprinkling of nooch. I normally don't go for jarred sauces, but I had heard good reviews of this one so I picked up a few jars last time I was in Boston and I wasn't disappointed. Plus, its fat-free and doesn't taste like it! Always a good thing. So, yeah, grab some Organic Tomato Sauce with Mushrooms if you are near a TJs.

On another note, we had a dinner party, a vegan dinner party and, yep, I forgot to take pictures. Sometimes I'm a dolt. But we had the Potato and Broccoli Soup with Fresh Herbs from V-Con and it was really, really good (I never knew I liked fresh dill). Plus, Susan's Crustless Mini-Quiches (made extra-mini), spinach and artichoke hummus, Dreena Burton's Roasted Red Pepper dip and vegan french onion dip (plus veggies and chips for dipping). Guests brought sushi, bruchetta with vegan-rella (very good when broiled and toasty!) and a rice and veggie casserole. Dessert was Sunbeam Pudding and vegan chocolate peanut butter No-Bake cookies. (just used earth balance and sugar-in-the-raw, plus some extra chocolate chips and crunchy peanut butter). yep, we had way too much food, but whatever, it was good. Maybe next time I'll actually remember to take pictures.

Yelloweye Pea Cassoulet

2008-01-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

All I wanted yesterday was comfort food...not for any reason in particular, things are pretty okay right now, but I just wanted rich, warm goodness....and a basic cassoulet is what kept coming to mind. Plus, we had these bags of yelloweye peas hanging around which were just begging to be cooked up. Yelloweye peas, also called butterscotch calypso beans, are off-white beans with a brown/yellow eye. I included a picture of them from the Cook's Thesaurus (because I'm too lazy to go to the kitchen and take a picture of the ones I have...). They say you can use Great Northern beans as a substitute but, if there is any way for you to get them, I wouldn't sub them out. They cook up incredibly soft and creamy and they have a great flavor....very smooth and nutty. I've only ever seen them for sale at one store (the Market Basket in Burlington, MA) but from the info I found, they are probably more readily available the farther south you go. But anyway, they are are awesome and work well in place of the usual white beans used in cassoulets.

Yelloweye Pea Cassoulet

1 cup dry yelloweye peas or white beans, soaked for at least 5 hours
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped into 1/4" pieces
2-3 small turnips, peeled and cubed into 1/4" cubes (can use potatoes)
1 cup chopped button mushrooms
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
pinch of ground sage
pinch of paprika
pinch of nutmeg
1-2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (I used black, white would be better)
1 cup frozen peas
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt/braggs to taste

Place beans, veggies except the peas and seasonings except vinegar, nooch and salt in a stock pot. Add water just enough to cover. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer until beans are very soft and beginning to form a bit of a "gravy," adding more water only if necessary. You want there to only be a little bit of stock, like a very thick stew. You can do all of the above in a pressure cooker...it took about 20 minutes with a quick release.

Add the peas, nooch and vinegar, taste for seasoning and add salt or braggs if necessary (I ended up adding about 1 tsp braggs). If the stock seems thin, smash some of the beans against the side of the pot and then let the whole thing simmer for a bit to thicken it up.

Serve over steamed veggies (we had it over steamed red cabbage) or rice or whatever you want. I used to eat cassoulets over a thick slice of hearty bread. Serves 4.

Creamy Adzuki Bean Soup

2008-01-23T11:50:00.000-05:00

For some reason, we can't seem to find adzuki beans here in Syracuse. I haven't really searched, but no where we normally shop has them. So when we were in Boston a few weeks ago, we hit up Whole Foods and bought a big bag of bulk adzukis, on top of lots of other things (Wildwood unsweetened plain soy yogurt!). They are such a lovely bean, so red and little and cute, and they cook up with such a wonderful nourishing flavor. When I want something Asian-y, I rarely think of beans in a minimally processed form and usually go for tempeh or tofu, but adzukis lend themselves to asian spices quite well. This soup is really easy to make, especially with a pressure cooker or starting with canned beans and is the perfect soup for a cold winter night...very rich without being too heavy and with a slightly spicy (or more so if you prefer) flavor that warms you up nicely. It may not be a pretty soup (hence my hiding the picture of the actual soup down at the bottom of the post) but it makes up for it.

Creamy Adzuki Bean Soup

1 1/4 c dry adzuki beans (pre-soak if not using a pressure cooker) or 2 cans canned (if you can't get adzuki beans, small red beans could probably be used here)
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp grated ginger
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp chinese 5-spice powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2-3 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp low sodium soy sauce/tamari (I used Braggs)
2 tsp-1 tbsp white miso paste
3 cups frozen/6 cups fresh mustard greens or other strong-flavored greens
1 cup frozen peas

Pressure cooker directions: In a 4-6 quart pressure cooker, combine the beans, onion, garlic, carrot, ginger, and spices, minus the soy sauce and miso. Add 5-6 cups water, enough to cover the ingredients with about an inch or so of water. Bring to pressure over high heat then reduce heat until the pressure guage is rocking gently. Let cook for about 20 minutes then release the pressure using a quick release method (I run the pot under cold water until the pressure releases).

Non-pressure cooker: Combine the pre-soaked beans, onion, garlic, carrot, ginger and spices minus the soy sauce and miso in a stock pot with 4-6 cups water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the beans are tender then proceed as written below.

Add the soy sauce and the miso and stir until the miso has dissolved, then, using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Or blend in batches in a blender or food processor. Return to the stove and turn the burner to low. Add the greens and peas. Continue to cook until the veggies are cooked/thawed, but do not bring back to a boil (boiling kills all the miso goodies). Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Serves 4, or, if you live here, two.

Balsamic Butternut Squash Soup

2007-12-31T13:46:00.000-05:00

My very first pressure cooked soup! And it was quite tasty, if I do say so myself.

Balsamic Butternut Squash Soup

1 medium butternut squash (can use any other yellow/orange winter squash here, like pumkin or acorn), peeled, seeded, and cubed
1 medium apple, cored and chopped
1 lrg onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp low-sodium veggie bouillon powder (I used Vegebase)
1/2-1/2 tsp ground sage
2-3 cups frozen greens (I used turnip but you can use spinach, collards, whatever)
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1. Add all ingredients except greens and balsamic to your 4-6 quart pressure cooker. Add enough water to be seen through the veggies (about 3-4 cups). Fasten lid and bring up to pressure. Let cook under pressure for 10 minutes then use a quick release method to bring pressure down. *
2. Once its ready, remove lid and either transfer ingredients in batches to a blender and blend until smooth, or blend in the pot with a hand blender.
3. Return to the stove and add the greens. Over low-med heat, heat through until the greens have thawed and are cooked through.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the balsamic. Garnish with additional balsamic and/or minced onion. Serves 4-6.

* Alternatively, if you don't have a pressure cooker, bring the contents to a boil then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until the squash is soft then proceed with the recipe.

Nutritional Info: Servings Per Recipe:6, Amount Per Serving: Calories: 143.9, Total Fat: 1.1 g, Cholesterol: 0.0 mg, Sodium: 513.8 mg, Total Carbs: 32.5 g, Dietary Fiber: 3.9 g, Protein: 5.1 g

Christmas Grub and stuff

2007-12-29T12:41:00.000-05:00

Merry (late) Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. This was the scene that met me from the window early Christmas morning...it almost made getting up at the crack of dawn worth it!

Other than inhumanly massive amounts of cookies (seriously, I have a cookie problem!), we actually had real food for Christmas. We spent the day with Katie's family, so we had to bring pretty much all of our food with us since I don't think there is anything in their house I can eat. But thats okay, since it was an excuse to try out a bunch of new recipes.

First, corn pudding. I posted the recipe for this earlier, since I made it for Thanksgiving, but this time I added green and red peppers, sauteed onion and garlic, plus some smoked paprika, cayenne and a little dried chipotle. It was quite good, but I think next time I add the veggies, I will cut down on the sugar a bit or at least seriously up the spices, because it was sort of in between a lot of flavors...not quite sweet, not quite savory, not quite spicy...but still good, so with some tweaking it may be a keeper.

Second, Collard, Pear and Caramelized Onion Casserole. A few years back, I spent several months working at Boston-area farmer's markets selling bread for a local bakery. The Massachusetts Farmer's Market Federation put out a series of recipe cards with beautiful food porn of local produce on the front and tasty recipes submitted by federation members on the back and this recipe was on one of the cards I picked up and managed to hold on to. The original recipe called for smoked gouda, but I substituted a smoky cheez sauce for the gouda with moderate success. Definitely needs some tweaking as well, but the flavor was really good, especially as leftovers.

Collard, Pear and Caramelized Onion Casserole

1 lb collard greens, stems removed, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 lb spanish or yellow onions, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 lb ripe pears (2 lrg), cored and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1/3 c dried cherries
1/2 c apple cider or apple juice
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 batch smoky cheddar cheez sauce (see below)
salt to taste
1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast
a sprinkling of smoked paprika

- In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onions in a little bit of water until carmellized, about 20 minutes. When soft, sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and let cool.

- In a large pot, cook collard greens, covered, in 1/2 c water until soft, about 8 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.

- In a small saucepan, combine apple cider or juice with dried cherries and simmer over low heat until cherries are plump. Set aside to cool.

- In a bowl, mix well together onions, pears, collards, cherries with juice, apple cider vinegar, coriander and cheez sauce (make this right before you mix these up so it doesn't set too much to easily combine). Season with salt to taste.

- Transfer mixture to an oiled 6-cup casserole dish, sprinkle with the nutritional yeast and smoked paprika and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until pears are soft.

Smoky Cheez Sauce (modified from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Melty Pizza Cheese recipe)

1 cup water
1/4 c nutritional yeast
2 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp tapioca starch or flour
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp white miso
1/8 tsp mustard powder
1/8 tsp liquid smoke
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in a blender until well blended. Will be very liquidy. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, then let simmer for about 30 seconds or until it begins to thicken. Remove from heat, and immediately stir in an additional 2 tbsp water. Use immediately or can be cooled and used as a spread.

I also made a GF chocolate ginger cake...which blew. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong but lets just say that if I hadn't added chocolate chips, the cake portion would have be totally inedible. Luckily it had a tasty pecan/crystallized ginger topping that had enough flavor to compensate so it wasn't a total waste. I won't even mention the cookbook I got it from and I didn't take any pictures.

So the two casseroles, combined with a baked sweet potato, some steamed broccoli and corn, made for a pretty awesome Christmas dinner, as you can see below.

On the gift front, the beasties had a very good christmas. The birds got newspaper stockings filled with popcorn, which, in case you didn't know, is the best food in the whole world. Here are some shots of Tequa, Dina and Widjic enjoying gorging themselves (it looked like a popcorn massacre!)

The bunnies got a similar stocking, only stuffed with romaine lettuce and banana slices. The piggies and bearded dragons got apple and carrot slices, the kitties got trader joes "tuna for cats", aka, kitty crack, sprinkled with catnip and garnished with pogo mouse treats from their grandma. Asher got LOTS of toys, especially when he got to Katie's parent's house, where he got their dog's hand-me-downs, some of which still had squeakers! He had fun, which was good, since his other gift was being neutered and he didn't like that one nearly as much! The people members of the family got a 6-quart pressure cooker, a 22-quart pressure canner, a coffee (aka spice) grinder and a mini food processor, plus other assorted goodies. The pressure cooker (the small one...I'll try out the canner this summer) is awesome...expect some pressure cooked recipes soon.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas or whatever winter holiday you celebrate!

Holiday Cookie ExtravaGANZA

2007-12-26T11:19:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays everyone! Katie had very ambitious plans this year for holiday cookie distribution, so it feels like we spent all of the past week baking and the kitchen is STILL a mess, even though Christmas is past. There were a variety of dietary needs considered for various batches of cookies, so we had gluten-free vegan low-or-no-added-fat cookies, wheat-free low-fat vegan cookies, "wheaty," full-fat vegan cookies and "regular" non-vegan, wheat-flour, full-fat cookies going out to a various people at various times in various places...and of course, many of them staying here and being consumed by us in far too copious quantities. But I'll spare you the non-vegan cookies, since this is supposedly a vegan blog. There is a lack of real recipes here, since they are all simply veganized and/or de-wheated and/or de-fatted versions of existing recipes.

First, some spelt gingerbread peoples and stars (no recipe here, just Betty Crocker's recipe veganized and wheat flour replaced with spelt flour).

Then some Banana Oat Drops:

The recipe is modified from this one, but the oil in the recipe replaced with mashed banana and then some more banana thrown in to replace the chocolate chips and make the whole thing more, well, banana-y.

Gluten free Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip cookies

Based on this recipe, but veganized with a flax egg and soy milk and the regular flours subbed out with my favorite gluten-free flour blend....and I upped the spices a bit but I'm not sure by how much...til it tasted good...

Vegan Spritz (not gluten- or wheat-free)

Katie made these and I'm not sure of the recipe she used, but aren't they pretty!?

Vegan GF Snickerdoodles

These were awfully pretty and very tasty when they first came out of the oven...but got really weird after they cooled. Still edible, but the recipe needs a lot of tweaking before it is shared with the public....

Dreena Burton's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies, made with all spelt flour.

There are some here (on top) with applesauce subbed out for all of the oil and some (on the bottom) with 1 tbsp oil and 3 tbsp applesauce. The one with the oil were better but the ones without were awesome too. I love this recipe!

Then Dreena Burton's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

These are with no oil, but I made some with the oil and they didn't really taste any different. Again, very tasty recipe and already wheat-free, yay!

Here's a picture of the vegan cookie basket Katie brought into work, with everything but the gingerbread and banana cookies making an appearance here:

This post is making me crave cookies again and I had WAY too much sugar yesterday, so the rest of the Christmas food blogging will have to wait until later.

Holiday giving

2007-12-12T11:29:00.001-05:00

Yep, no post for weeks then two in one day, woohoo! But this one is only barely about food. I'm sitting here (still listening to the snoring dog) going over my list of holiday gifts I have and those I still need to purchase. A week and a half 'til Christmas, Hanukkah is in full swing and Solstice is only days away. So, if you've been slacking, its time to get going. According to the USPS, in order to get your gifts to people by Christmas via parcel post, they need to be mailed by Saturday and cards have to be mailed by the 22nd.

Anyway, so what am I giving this year? I'm trying to be as conscious as I can be about the message my gifts are sending, along with the potential global and environmental impact they might have. I'm not succeeding as well as I might like (I was at Christmas Tree Shoppe and K-mart last night, and at the *shudder* mall on Saturday...) but every little bit helps. Here's how I'm trying to share the love a bit this season;

Service/Donation gifts are one of my favorite things to give to my relatives who "have it all" and who don't seem to appreciate object gifts. The past few years, my grandparents have received a donation in their name to Heifer International. I love Heifer, they really embody the idea of paying it forward and they get excellent ratings from charity rating services. Plus, I get far too much pleasure out of giving my grandparents a goat or a pig or a flock of chickens for Christmas (you'd understand if you knew them...). However, this year, I've gone a different way. The Food Project, a group based out of Massachusetts, works to support not only sustainable agriculture, local food production and environmental responsibility but also empowers at-risk kids by placing them in positions of responsibility and offering them opportunities to learn about where their food comes from and how what they eat impacts their lives. Local and sustainable agriculture is something I feel quite strongly about and any group that helps out kids is good in my book, plus they get fabulous ratings. Though I was awfully tempted by the World Toilet Organization, though I can't quite afford it. Not only is is for a good cause, but really, how fun is it to say "Merry Christmas, I got you a toilet!"?

I am also donating money to the Rabies Challenge Fund, a group that is doing long-term (5-7 years) testing on the immunity produced by the rabies vaccine. There is increasing evidence indicating that not only is vaccination against rabies every 1-3 years unnecessary to protect against the virus but that the government-mandated overvaccination is extremely harmful to our pets, potentially causing cancer, neurological problems, behavior changes and other long-term problems. The Rabies Challenge is the first long-term study of its kind and hopefully will be able to produce the results necessary to change the rabies vaccination guidelines. This is a issue that has touched me personally, as 3 of the dogs I grew up with suffered (and one is still suffering) with the effects of vaccinosis following rabies vaccines. So they are getting a donation in honor of my mother and Kirby and in memory of Kima and Dani (I hope my mother doesn't read this...I don't think she does).

And if you are thinking of giving a donation as a gift, check out the group on Charity Navigator first. They do an excellent job at giving you the pros and cons of various groups and showing you where your money is really going.

I'm also trying to give local this year. My aunts and my cousin are getting a "Taste of Syracuse" gift basket, consisting of a jar of something tasty from Natural Disorder, a local hot sauce and condiment company (Riesling-marinated garlic cloves, need I say more?) , some local wine (still need to buy this so not sure which winery), some Dinosaur Barbeque sauce, some Speidie Sauce, some hard pretzels, some local honey, a few local apples and some salt potatoes. The honey, apples and potatoes are from the farmer's market, and I picked up the Natural Disorder stuff and pretzels there too. I'm also picking up some odds and ends for stocking stuffers for my immediate family at the market this Saturday as well.

Everyone on my gift list is also getting homemade goodness, either in the form of cookies or peppermint bark, depending on how far the food has to travel. And my petsitting clients are getting homemade treats and possibly toys too, if I actually get around to it!

And if I can't (or don't want to) make it and can't find it locally, there's always Etsy! This site is way too cool...page after page after page of awesome hand-crafted, -painted, -baked, -sculpted -whatever awesomeness. Really, I think there is something for everyone here...I got the coolest earring and "hair jewelry" for Katie's sisters and something quite awesome for Katie. Plus there are some awesome dog clothes on there (poor Ash!).

Hopefully, if anyone out there reading this if stuck for gifts this season, I gave you some good ideas or at least a place to start. Happy Holidays!

A bit of catchup...and a new addition

2007-12-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

Yep, the biggest food holiday of the year happens and and I disappear from food blogging. Life's been getting in the way for the past few weeks...finally moving into the new house completely, Thanksgiving with lots of traveling and visiting family (and cooking), a little bit of new neighbor drama and a very distracting new addition to the family.

May I introduce Brannigan Asher Cogburn, aka Asher. He's a 2 (we think) year-old "big brown dog" who came home to us 2 weeks ago Friday after a 6 month stay at the CNYSPCA and is just about the sweetest thing.

I love this dog, I can't imagine life without him..and judging by the fact that he is currently stretched out on the couch, snoring loudly, he doesn't mind life with us too much either...even if he does have to put up with lots of hugs from Katie.

Anyway, yeah, back to the food. Even though we were spending Thanksgiving up near Rochester with my uncle and his family, I made lots of food....such is necessary when one is a vegan who is allergic to wheat. I felt kind of awkward bringing so much food but its a good thing we did since there wouldn't have been anything but salad for either of us to eat otherwise.

My mother gamely agreed to make a vegan, wheat free corn pudding (see recipe below), which came out awesome, though I have no photos. We brought orange-glazed roasted veggies

and a very stereotypical lentil loaf (only I used brown rice and added chopped craisins...just cuz) with mushroom gravy

and, for dessert, Chocolate Peanut butter Pretzel Pie, which, may I just say, was one of the most fabulous things I've had in a long time, despite the pretzels being less than crunchy since I had to make it the night before.

Ok, recipes...

Wheat-Free Vegan Corn Pudding

1 cup coarse cornmeal
1 c gluten-free baking flour blend or baking mix (if using baking mix, omit baking powder below)
1/4 c sugar or desired sweetener
1 tsp baking powder
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole kernel corn, UNDRAINED
1 med onion, chopped and sauteed until soft
2 eggs equivalent of your favorite vegan egg replacer (we used Ener-G)
1 1/4 cup tofu sour cream (see below)
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9"x13" casserole pan w/ non-stick spray.

Combine all the above ingredients and pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown around the edges...it will still be moist in the middle so the whole clean-knife trick won't work here, but it still tastes awesome if it is a bit underdone anyway. Let sit at least 10 minutes before serving. Is also excellent cold with a little maple syrup drizzled on top...

Tofu Sour cream

1 package lite firm silken tofu
4-5 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp sweetener of choice (agave nectar works well here)
1/2 tsp salt

Combine everything in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Adjust acidity/sweetness/saltiness to taste. Makes about 1 1/4-1 1/2 cups.

I don't really have a recipe for the veggies, but basically whisk together OJ concentrate, a little maple syrup, some cider vinegar, a little olive oil, some sage, some rosemary and lots of fresh ground black pepper, then toss over chopped up veggies of your choice (we used brussel sprouts, beets, butternut squash, onions, garlic cloves and turnips) and roast at 425 until they look done, stirring occasionally.

Now that we are getting settled into the new house, hopefully I'll manage to take more food photos and do some more experimenting worthy of being shared.

Veggie Lasagna

2007-11-14T19:23:00.000-05:00

Its cold, we are having new house drama (hopefully to be remedied tomorrow AM) and all I want is comfort food. Which means warm, rich goodness in whatever form my pantry/fridge yields for the day. Homemade chunky applesauce, "skillet supper" of chickpeas, beans and veggies, mixed bean soup, roasted squash...and lasagna.

I wasn't going to post about this since its really quite basic with no "real" recipe, but the picture turned out kinda cool and the whole thing was super tasty. Basically, I layered, in this order: tomato sauce, pre-cooked brown rice pasta, tofu "ricotta" made with firm tofu, nutritional yeast, a little lemon juice, garlic and fresh (frozen) basil, with some cooked greens (in this case turnip) mixed in, sauteed veggies (carrots, mushrooms, onions and garlic) w/ seasonings, then another layer of sauce, etc. Topped with more sauce and a whole bunch of nooch then stuck in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes, then under the broiler for another 5-10 to brown up the top. Let it set for about 15 minutes before cutting....it still kinda fell apart but tasted fine regardless. The picture's from the next day after it was in the fridge overnight and had really set well.

I really should stop self-medicating with food, but comfort food is so...comforting.

come on, everybody's doing it...

2007-11-14T09:53:00.000-05:00

yep, here's that freakin' vegan survey that so many people are doing. I'm nothing if not a follower... oh, and there's some craziness going on with the text formatting here...blogger seems to like italics, no matter what I do...

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
vanilla unsweetened almond milk...yum.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Crunchy Chocolate Truffle Pie, some sort of GF vegan scones, pumpkin rice pudding

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
penzys' northwoods seasoning....or nooch/maple syrup (kinda like kettle corn ish?)

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
Katie's birthday last year...first attempt at veganizing a cake...kinda fell apart...had to mold it back into shape...or into some sort of shape.... It may not have looked pretty but it sure tasted good., very, um, dense. I'll have to find the pictures and post them some time, it was quite amusing

5. Favorite pickled item?
carrots and garlic...or maybe watermelon?

6. How do you organize your recipes?
in a folder on my desktop and in my favorites folder and in a little index card holder and in a folder and in a bunched up pile in the kitchen...aka, i don't organize my recipes...

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
trash/disposal currently but we've stated a compost pile at the new house. Oh yes, and there's the insta-compost machines, the rabbits and pigs, who eat green scraps, carrot butts, etc.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
apples, lentils, dark chocolate cake

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
my mom's shepard's pie. or making snickerdoodles at my grandmother's house with my cousins and using FAR too much food coloring to make them "pretty"

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
temptations or purely decadent chocolate peanutbutter. Someone needs to make a wheat-free chocolate peanutbutter pretzel vegan ice cream...i still pine for my ben and jerry's chubby hubby!

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
immersion blender or mandoline

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Garlic

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
Compassionate Cook

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
elderberry or grape or blueberry/apricot

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
anything with vegan chocolate mousse...but now susan's "impossible pumpkin pie" may be the new go-to recipe, since EVERYONE loved it

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
tempeh just to eat straight (or at least minimally modified) but tofu is so versitile, I use it a lot more often.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
dinner or brunch

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
an empty cooler, a jar of quinoa, a jar of black mustard seeds, a whole lot of cans of beer and a bunch of newspapers

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
tomato paste, ground flax seed, the last 3 crispy chocolate peanut butter cupcakes...

20. What's on your grocery list?
nooch, apples, "veggies for thanksgiving", frozen fruit, tofu, tempeh, soy yogurt.

21. Favorite grocery store?
wegmans...followed closely by trader joes and then by harvest co-op in cambridge, MA

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
angel food cake...haha

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
have cake, will travel, where's the revolution?, fat free vegan

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
green and black's mint bar...or anything chocolate over 65%

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
various holiday soy beverages...and excessive amounts of sugar cookie tea

26. What was your favorite food BEFORE becoming veg*n?
bbq chicken...and before going vegan, grilled cheese

27. Veganaise or Nayonaise?: um, whichever one tastes like miracle whip. I usually make my own mayo-like stuff, though

28. What is one recipe or ingredient or cooking technique that you've become familiar with in the last year that you can't imagine you ever lived without?
steam-frying

29. What is your favorite veg*n cookbook?

not to be a stereotype, but VWAV...though I haven't bought a new cookbook in a long time and haven't seen a lot of the new ones that sound so very awesome.

30. Make up another question (and answer it!)

bunny-tasticness (and pickled carrots)

2007-11-13T10:15:00.000-05:00

Warning: the food-related content of the following blog is simply an excuse to post cute bunny pictures. Proceed at your own risk....

The other day I made this recipe, with some changes because about 2 months ago, we ordered pickled carrots at a restaurant and they were out, triggering a seemingly unquenchable craving. Good recipe (especially with my additions/substitutions) and I think the craving is tamed. However, Phina (aka, "big angry bunny") did not approve of my wasteful use of carrots...

Oh, yeah, the food....

Spicy Pickled Carrots

2 lbs large carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick pieces
6 cloves garlic peeled and diced
1 large red onion, quartered and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups water
10 bay leaves, whole
10peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
3 whole jalapeños, sliced widthwise

Spray a large saucepan with cooking spray and sauté the garlic and onions. Add in carrots and saute for 2-3 minutes. Carefully add in vinegar, peppercorns, salt, and and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes and then add water and jalapeños and bring to a simmer again for another 10 minutes.

Let it cool completely and then transfer the carrots and cooking liquid into a covered container and refrigerate overnight. Store the carrots in the liquid and use a slotted spoon to serve them. You may leave the bay leaves in the liquid to add to the flavor, but do not eat them!

Nutritional Info: Servings Per Recipe: 10, Amount Per Serving: Calories: 44.5, Total Fat: 0.2 g, Cholesterol: 0.0 mg, Sodium: 286.1 mg, Total Carbs: 11.3 g, Dietary Fiber: 3.1 g, Protein: 1.0 g

Feeding the Troops

2007-11-04T22:05:00.000-05:00

Firstly, I have to apologize in advance...I really meant to get back into the habit of regularly posting on here, but we finally closed on our new house (!!!!) and are in the slow process of moving. Thank goodness the house is only about a mile from our apartment, so we can do most of the move by car, but regardless, things are a crazy mess and that limits the blogging opportunities. That in combination with the fact that I somehow managed to melt the camera battery charger (long story...) and haven't replaced it yet will limit my posts for awhile. but anyway...

Saturday, a massive contingent of family from both sides descended upon Syracuse to help us move furniture over to the house. My policy is that when people help you out, you have to feed them....plus I wanted to try out the new appliances. So, after a long day of hauling heavy furniture and boxes down 3 flights of stairs and then up at least 2, sometimes 3, flights of stairs, inhaling massive quantities of rabbit hair and dust that had collected behind said furniture, dealing with Katie's wonderfully helpful but majorly OCD father, and actually having to go out and buy a pound of hamburger to appease the carnivores (my uncle and cousin installed our stove, microwave and dishwasher, plus figured out how to turn on our hot water heater and bought us one of those crazy turns-into-5-million-different-things ladder...if they wanted meat, we were willing to get them some meat), we at down to eat. The menu included:

Veggie Chili (with meat on the side, uck)
All-Corn Cornbread, fat-free-ified with applesauce/nutritional yeast
Susan's Impossible Vegan (and gluten-free) Pumpkin Pie made from real, not canned, pumpkin
and an awesome fruit salad made by my grandmother.

We had tons of leftover chili, cornbread and pie, mostly since we made it for 10-12 people and only 7 ended up staying for dinner, but that ok, cuz it all found a good home when we had friends over to help us paint today...the pie was amazing, especially for crust-haters like me, and the cornbread is officially my favorite cornbread recipe of all time. Plus the massive quantity of food managed to sustain us as we stayed up until 2 am hauling boxes around to clear out the rooms to be painted and setting up fishtanks to prevent fish-death. Can I just say that I LOVE daylight savings?!

Some day I will get pictures up of food/house, but until then, back to moving...

Chocolate Peanutbutter Crispy Cupcakes

2007-10-29T10:33:00.000-05:00

My camera seems to be on strike, so no pictures until I manage to get is working again (UPDATE: The camera is working...hence the pictures), but lets just say that when you combine rice crispy treats with chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate mousse and then add even more chocolate on top, very good things happen. Definately proves that "vegan" and "gluten-free" do not in any way have to equal healthy...

Chocolate-Peanutbutter Crispy Cupcakes w/ Mousse Filling

Makes 6 cupcakes

Ingredients:
Mousse:
1/2 block (6 oz?) lite silken tofu (the aseptic package)
2/3 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (or just do 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and ditch the almond)
(this will make a little bit too much mousse...but that's ok, because you can just eat the leftovers)

Cupcakes: (this recipe is a 1/2 version of this recipe which I guess is originally from How It All Vegan.)
1/2 cup sugar (I used sugar-in-the-raw)
1/2 cup brown rice syrup or corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter (I used natural unsalted unsweetened crunchy)
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
3 cups "crisped rice"

Topping:
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips
2 tsp non-dairy milk or yogurt

Instructions:
Mousse (do this first, maybe an hour in advance):
In a double boiler, melt the chocolate. In a blender, combine the tofu, extracts and melted chocolate until very smooth and uniform in color. Refrigerate for at least an hour so it sets.

Cupcakes:
Spray a 6 count muffin tin with cooking spray or pop in some cupcake liners. Set aside.

Combine the sugar and the syrup in a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-low heat...basically until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter until well combined. Add the chocolate and the crispies and stir gently until well blended and until the chocolate is all melty and gooey. Yum.

Take your muffin tin and drop a glob of the crispy mix into the first cup. Smoosh the crispies to form a bowl-shape, with the crispies going right up to the top edge of the cup. Get out your now-set mousse and drop a dollop of it into the crispy "bowl", enough to bring it up to the top of the cup. Continue on and make 5 more mousse-filled bowls in the remaining muffin cups. You should have a little less than half of the crispies left. Then take a big spoonful of the remaining crispies and shape it into a flat top-of-cupcake shape big enough to cover the top of each "bowl". Top each filled bowl with a top and gently press/smoosh to "seal" the top onto the bottom.

Melt the 1/4 cup of chocolate and the milk/yogurt in the double boiler until melted. Pour into an icing bag (aka, ziplock with the tip cut off) and drizzle the chocolate over top of the cupcakes. I have to admit, I didn't drizzle since my cheap-o dollarstore "zipper sealed" bag split and globbed chocolate all over the place...so I spread some on each cake and that worked well, even if it didn't look as pretty.

Let the cupcakes sit out for a bit until the chocolate topping sets, then carefully cover the tin and place in the fridge to finish setting. These are awesome served cold or even frozen.

Happy Birthday Katie, hope these were an appropriate birthday dessert!

Comments

2007-10-26T07:18:00.000-05:00

To anyone who commented on this blog in, oh, the last year, sorry for the lack of replies. Apparently someone (yahoo, blogger, the universe...) didn't want me to know I had comments and decided not to notify me. So, thanks everyone, I feel loved again!

Cookies in a cup!?

2007-10-26T06:30:00.000-05:00

I'm on a tea kick lately and my new favorite (bumping pomegranate redbush out of first place) is Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride. Seriously, people, it tastes like a liquid cookie. Add a dash of cinnamon and a splash of almond or soy milk and you're all set. But its seasonal only, so I'm stocking up. They also have a gingerbread one, which might be seriously dangerous. I know, I know, bag teas are out...but who can resist cookie tea?

Other teas I am drinking:
CS Moroccan Pomegranate Red
CS Peach African Honeybush
Twinnings Lemon Ginger
Stash Raspberry
Rishi Blueberry Rooibus (yes, finally, a looseleaf tea!)

Crunchy Kohlrabi Salad

2007-09-20T09:43:00.001-05:00

I had never had kohlrabi up until last summer, when I took the plunge and bought a lovely bunch of mixed purple and green bulbs from Wegmans. There is something about a vegetable that a)looks like some sort of alien spacecraft and b) is often bright purple that appeals to me. Plus, rumor had it that it tastes like broccoli stem, which I adore. Even so, they sat in the fridge for awhile, until I endeavored to trim and peel, then slice and stirfry the tasty things. Unfortunatly, the purple color does not extend below the skin, but, happily, kohlrabi does, in fact, taste like really good broccoli stem. I bought it a few more times, eating it either plain raw or stirfried with other stuff. And then I apparently forgot about it, because it was almost a year before I had it again. Sure, it made its way onto the giant, impossible list of "veggies I have to grow in my garden", but I seemed to forget it could be purchased in the meantime.

Luckily, Saturday at the farmer's market, there was a farmer selling kohlrabi bulbs, albeit huge ones (they are best when they are under 4 inches in diameter). I bought one, and, yet again, it sat around for several days, waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. Then I remembered a recipe I made for Valentines day last year, a salad involving mung sprouts, carrot, and tasty spicyness from the cookbook Vegan Planet. So, working from memory, I subbed out the mung sprouts for the kohlrabi...and it worked quite well.

Unfortunatly, I did forget to take a picture of the ginormous kohlrabi before I peeled it into submission and nakedity, but if you've never seen one, here is a picture that is not mine. The bulb I purchased was green, but purple is always better:

And the salad (sorry for the blur...)

Crunchy Kohlrabi Salad

1 large Kohlrabi bulb or 2-3 small bulbs

1 large carrot, well washed

1-2 scallions

2 jalapenos

3-4 small sprays of cilantro, yielding 1-2 tbsp minced

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 large lemon

Trim off the tough ends and any remaining leaves/branchlets of the kohlrabi. Using a paring knife or good quality vegetable peeler, peel the outer skin of the kohlrabi until the white flesh is revealed. Cut the bulb into julienne strips or other small, even-sized pieces (I recommend using a mandoline or food processor). Place in a large bowl. Should yield 5-6 cups.

Slice the carrot into thin disks and add to the bowl. Trim the scallion and cut into quarters lengthwise then mince finely. Add to the bowl.

Mince the jalapenos, leaving as much or as little of the seeds/membrane as you desire (the more you leave, the spicier it will be). Add to the bowl.

Mince the cilantro and add to the bowl.

In a small, dry pan, heat the mustard seeds and cumin seeds over medium-low heat, until they become aromatic, browning slightly and the mustard seeds begin to pop. Remove from heat and add to the salad.

Juice 1 lemon, removing the seeds and then pour the juice over the salad.

Toss the salad well to blend, then cover and chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Make sure to re-toss the salad right before serving.

Make 4-6 servings.

Nutrition data (for 4 servings):
Calories 71.3, Total Fat 0.4 g, Sodium 54.6 mg, Potassium 823.2 mg, Total Carbohydrate 16.5 g, Dietary Fiber 8.3 g, Sugars 6.8 g, Protein 4.0 g, Vitamin A 46.0 %, Vitamin C 18.1 %, Calcium 42.2 %, Iron 2.4 %

Orange-Sesame "Fried" Rice, Lentils and Veggies

2007-07-20T11:14:00.000-05:00

Orange-Sesame "Fried" Rice, Lentils and Veggies

1/2 c dry brown rice
1/2 c dry brown lentils
1 med onion
2 cloves garlic
1-2 tsp grated fresh ginger
2-3 cups chopped (1/2" dice) or already-small veggies (I used zucchini, carrot, peas, spinach and broccoli)
1/4 c water for steam-frying
2 tbsp orange juice concentrate
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or hot chili paste
1/4 tsp roasted sesame oil
1 tsp Braggs Liquid Aminos
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Cook the rice and lentils together with 2 1/2-3 c water in a covered pot until soft (you could cook them seperately, as they technically have different cooking times, but I usually just stick them together and it all works out just fine.) Set aside.

In a skillet, add the onions, ginger and garlic, plus a little water. Sautee over medium heat until beginning to carmelize. Add remaining veggies and cook until everything is relatively soft but still holding its shape. Add the rice/lentil mixture, the garlic powder, onion powder, orange juice concentrate and red pepper flakes/chili paste. Add additional water if necessary and sautee until everything is mixed up and the flavors begin to blend, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the Braggs, the sesame oil and 1/2 of the sesame seeds. Stir to blend. Serve topped with some of the remaining sesame seeds.

Ma Po Dofu

2007-07-20T10:42:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to post a recipe for this one because a) its from a cookbook and b) I forgot to write it down and I've since returned the book to the library. But anyway, this is Ma Po Dofu from Bryanna Clark Grogan's 20 Minutes to Dinner: Quick, Low-Fat, Low-Calorie, Vegetarian Meals. Ma Po Dofu (Mapoo Tofu, whatever yur local place calls it) is one of my favorite Chinese dishes. It is traditionally served with pork (tvp crumbles take that role here) and firm/extra firm silken tofu with lots of "brown" sauce for a delightfully slimy texture. Yeah, slimy...yummm, slimy.... If you are on a low-sodium diet, this is not for you, sorry. Tons of hoisin, soy sauce and chili paste. I made it with a LOT less soy sauce than she called for (I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos and only about 1/3 the amount) and I still found it a bit salty, but E2L has caused my tastebuds to be extra sensitive to salt.

Changes I will make next time I make this recipe: less cornstarch (it ended up far too gelatinous even with only 2/3 what she called for), and PEAS! Most places I've had Mapo tofu has served it with green peas mixed in and I would have done that but, alas, we were out. But overall, this recipe replicated the traditional dish quite well. The whole cookbook is really quite awesome, I highly recommend it. There is this cheez sauce recipe...but I digress.

Some Asian Inspired tastiness

2007-06-21T11:04:00.000-05:00

Here are two asian-inspired meals from this past week. The first is Miso Broccoli and Adzuki Stirfry....I believe thats the original name. Its a recipe from Nava Atlas' The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet. It is basically broccoli, onions, garlic, ginger, adzuki beans, miso, red pepper flakes and veggie broth. Obviously more than 5 ingredients there, but I think I added in the ginger and red pepper flakes. Excuse the dirty stove, things were splattering everywhere.

Next was Sesame Roasted Radishes served with kale, onion, tempeh and shiitakes sauteed with hoisin, braggs, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes.

The radish recipe came from Kalyn's Kitchen blog. though I modified it a bit to be more Eat to Live friendly...I didn't toss the radishes with oil before cooking, just moistened them with water and sprayed the cooking sheet with canola spray. I then tossed then with 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil, 1 tbsp braggs instead of regular soy sauce and I upped the sesame seeds to 2 tbsp. They were so good! Although as a child and a rabid Fraggle fan, I used to eat radishes like candy, as an adult, I'm pretty neutral about them when served raw.

However, roasted they are a totally different creature...they have a pretty gentle flavor, with a touch of sweetness and a texture a bit like a watery potato. Next time, I think I need to roast them a bit longer, since I realized afterwards that the radishes in Kalyn's blog were a lot more roasty-toasty looking. But they were still good! And the bunnies agree, radish leaves are excellent, though they decided to forego the sesame seeds and oil.

I never realized the radishes were so pretty!

Berry-Banana Nectarine Crisp

2007-06-19T10:38:00.000-05:00

Berry-Banana Nectarine Crisp (loosely based on the Fresh Fruit Cobbler recipe on fatfreevegan.com, plus about 4 other recipes...)

Filling:
2-3 ripe nectarines
2 cups mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, whatever)
2 small ripe bananas
1/4 cup no-sugar-added whole fruit preserves (I used apricot, but strongly considered cherry)
2 tsp lemon or orange juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cloves
1 tbsp flour

Topping:
3/4 c rolled oats
1/2 c raw almonds, ground up (can be a bit chunky)
2 tbsp molasses or maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the nectarines and bananas into 1/2-1 inch pieces. Cut the berries into similar sized pieces if necessary (raspberries and blackberries can be kept whole, its prettier). Toss together in a baking dish. Separately, mix the preserves, juice and spices together and then pour over the fruit. Sprinkle with the flour and toss to blend. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the fruit is bubbly.

While the fruit is cooking, blend topping ingredients together (if you use the molasses it will be thick). Reduce the oven temp to 350 degrees and remove the fruit from the oven. Crumble/spread the topping over the fruit mixture. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Let sit for 10-15 minutes then serve.

I topped it with a drizzle of unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

More Picnic Food

2007-06-18T11:54:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, Katie and I spend the first half of the day hiking at Clark Reservation State Park in Jamesville. I packed a quick picnic lunch for us....Orange Marinated Chickpea and Onion Salad and Balsamic-Roasted Zucchini and Mushrooms, and some fresh local strawberries.

Orange-Marinated Chickpea and Onion Salad (Based on a recipe from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein)

2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 med red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/3 c dried cranberries
1/4 c orange juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1-2 c halved cherry or grape tomatoes
6-8 c chopped dark lettuce (romaine, red leaf, etc)

Toss together all the ingredients but the tomatoes and lettuce. Let marinate at least a hour but preferably overnight. Right before serving, prepare lettuce and tomatoes, then top with marinated chickpeas.

Balsamic Roasted Zucchini and Mushrooms (or whatever other veggies you want)

2 small zucchini, thinly sliced
20-30 small mushrooms, halved
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp or more fresh cracked black pepper

Prick the zucchini slices all over with a fork. Place the veggies in a large bowl or pan and add the remaining ingredients. Toss to coat and let marinate, blending occassionally, for a few hours to overnight. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes and then broil until right when they begin to darken. Or, if you are a cool person and have a grill, grill them and make them extra tasty. They are good hot, but they are better cold!

Scapes!

2007-06-17T11:35:00.000-05:00

Last year, spring and early summer was a hard time for us to make it to the farmer's market on a regular basis, but one of the times we were there, I met my favorite vegetable for the first time; garlic scapes. Crisp and spicy raw, smooth, creamy and almost asparagus-like cooked, garlic scapes are the sprout of the garlic bulb, the flowering stem before it is allowed to straighten and flower. Long and curly, they looked like a heap of green vines all tangled together when I first saw them on the farmer's table. Luckily, he had put out samples, otherwise I wouldn't have considered them or even asked what they were (I'm a sucker for free food...). But one bite and I was hooked. They have a really short growing season, with garlic greens (lik scallions) before and garlic bulbs afterwards, so we were only able to get them once last year. This year, we anxiously awaited their arrival, asking (along with everyone else in syracuse apparently) when the scapes would be ready. The last two weeks, they have been so we've stocked up. We put them in stir frys, soups, and casseroles, as well as raw on salads or just as a quick snack. My favorite way to have them, though, is just steamed and then tossed with garlic and maybe some red pepper flakes. Yum. if you ever get a chance to buy some of these, do it without hesitation. Its worth it.

Channa Masala with Kale

2007-06-03T08:15:00.000-05:00

Since eating out is difficult around here...very difficult, especially when one is trying to avoid added oil, when I got a major craving for Indian food the other night, it was either go out and try not to think about the ghee or oil added in copius amounts, or satisfy the craving here at home. Obviously, since I have a cooking blog, I have no issue with fixing stuff up at home. Someone on the Eat2Live yahoo group with impecable timing posted a recipe for Indian Spiced Chickpeas w/ Kale, which had the spices right, but I was looking for something closer to the Channa Masala, or Chhole, which is curried chickpeas with tomato and ginger, that I almost always get when we go out for Indian. Here's what I pulled together:

Channa Masala w/ Kale

1 cup dry chickpeas, cooked, water reserved

3 cloves garlic

1 large onion, chopped

7-8 c kale, coarsely chopped (or more if you want)

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garam masala seasoning (I used Penzys)

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/4 c tomato paste

2 plum tomatoes, chopped

Separate out 1/2 the onion and 1/2 the garlic. Steam-fry until carmelized. Combine 1/3-1/2 c of cooked chickpeas, the tomato paste, 1/2 of each of the spices and 1/2 the cooking water from the chickpeas in a blender and blend until it reaches a smooth consistency. Set aside.

Steam-fry the remaining onion and garlic. Add kale, chickpeas w/ remaining water, and spices. Cover and cook until thekale is bright green. Remove cover and toss to mix the kale, garlic and onion and to distribute the spices. Add the choppedtomatoes and toss again. Add the tomato/chickpea sauce and toss until the kale and chickpeas are well coated. Taste and adjust spices as needed (you may want to make it a lot hotter...this comes out pretty mild and I'm going to spice it up next time). Remove from heat and serve. Serves 2-4.

Nutrition Information (assumes 4 servings):
Amount Per Serving
Calories 259.8, Total Fat 3.3 g, Saturated Fat 0.4 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4 g, Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g, Sodium 174.9 mg, Potassium 1,064.9 mg, Total Carbohydrate 47.1 g, Dietary Fiber 11.9 g, Sugars 7.2 g, Protein 13.7 g, Vitamin A 263.2 %, Vitamin C 182.7 %, Calcium 19.1 %, Iron 30.0 %

The result is a spicy-sweet sauce coating the yummy chunky chickpeas and tomato and the chewy kale pieces...it came outclose enough to the real thing to completely satisfy my craving. This is definatly something that will be done again and again, as it is also really fast, assuming the chickpeas are precooked or canned.

Catch Up

2007-05-07T16:00:00.000-05:00

Last week was mildly busy and my computer is being stupidly slow, so I didn't get to put up any of the meals I made. But I'm doing the 5-day detox this week, which is the same 3 meals every day, so time to catch up a bit.

Angry Red Lentil Soup

This was from last Monday, I believe. We finally managed to get red lentils for under $1/pound thanks to my mother (Thanks Mom!) and I found a recipe by this same name awhile ago, but it wasn't nearly as good of a recipe as it is a recipe name, so I decided to just go with the theme and make my own. It consists of red lentils, carrots, tomato paste, onions, garlic, and lots o' spices; cayenne, red pepper flakes, chipotle, smoked paprika, a dash of cumin, some ginger. It came out more tex-mex-y than I intended due to the chipotle, but I'd like to try it again with hot chili oil, more ginger, ground black mustard seeds, maybe some thai basil and/or chopped tomatoes. The soup was served over steamed mustard greens.

Mock Crab Cakes and Sundried Tomato-Stuffed Artichokes

The "crab" cakes are made from a recipe from Susan's Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen blog (see it here: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/07/okara-crab-cakes.html), but modified a bunch. First, not having okara and not wanting tofu, I used tempeh. Also, celery is banned in this house since Katie has a phobia (don't ask) so that was out. I also added far less Old Bay seasoning than the original called for, as the seasoning I bought has a ridiculous amount of sodium in it, and doubled up on the dulse flakes to compensate a bit. They came out okay...nothing crazy exciting, and not really worth the effort, though I think they probably would have been awesome with the full amount of Old Bay. I found a salt-free Old Bay recipe after I had already mixed everything up, of course, but oh well, next time. The tempeh made them a bit more crumbly, so next time I shall use tofu or, if I can get it, okara.

The artichokes are just cleaned, trimmed, cored and steamed, then stuffed with a mixture of breadcrumbs, chopped sundried tomatoes, sauteed onions, and garlic. Then the whole thing was baked for another 15 minutes @ 350 degrees. I made up a quick dipping sauce for both the chokes and the cakes out of nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, pepper and red wine vinegar.

Last but not least, Cinqo de Mayo

Chipotle-Roasted Veggies (above) and the whole salad (below)

Cinqo de Mayo here in Syracuse consisted of a bunch of cleaning, a major farmer's market shopping spree and then a big Mexican-inspired salad; spring greens, chipotle-roasted zucchini, red onion, mushrooms, bell peppers and jalapenos, fat-free re"fried" beans, spicy chopped up seitan (I used the infamous seitan o' greatness recipe, quite good!), mock-a-mole and an awesome (yet not so hot) garlic chipotle hot sauce from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. The veggies are basically just chopped and tossed with a blend of ground chipotle, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and wine vinegar, then baked covered in foil until soft, then put under the broiler to get a nice finish. Mock-a-mole is quac made with half (or less) avocado and half (or more) thawed frozen green peas. To that basic mixture I added finely chopped raw onion, garlic, tomatoes and jalapenos, plus a dash of cumin and about 1/4 lime's worth of lime juice. It was quite tasty. The whole meal was a lot of work to prep all the individual things, but really good overall, especially the mock-a-mole.

Italian Lentil Salad

2007-05-02T08:46:00.000-05:00

Forgive me the multiple posts, but blogger and I were having a disagreement over my antiquated dial-up and uploading photos. This recipe is from Sunday...Katie and I took advantage of the nice weather and went to Onondaga Lake State Park for a picnic. Having about 45 minutes to make something picnic-able, I threw together a batch of Italian Salad, using puy lentils. We packed some plum tomato and red pepper slices, plus a couple of oranges for dessert.

Italian Lentil (or whatever) Salad

2/3 c dry puy lentils
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp Italian herb blend
a second clove of garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, chopped into 1/4" pieces
1 med-lrg green bell pepper, or a mix of green and red, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
8-10 sundried tomato halves, chopped
2/3 c frozen green peas, thawed
2/3 c frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Cover the lentils, along with the chopped onion and 1 of the garlic cloves, with water and cook, partially covered, until the lentils are soft but still holding shape. Drain and place in a large bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients. Stir well to blend. Cover and refridgerate for at least an hour. The longer it sits, the better the flavor but it is good right away, too.

Pesto-Adzuki Stuffed Zucchinis

2007-05-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

About a week ago, we were in Boston visiting the folks and we ended up buying a ginormous package of fresh basil so we could use maybe 3 tbsp of it in a dish we were bringing to a potluck. So this package of lettuce-leaf basil with at least a cup left ended up sitting in the back of our fridge. We also have a lovely little basil plant trying to grow big and strong in our window sill.My policy is when life gives you excessive amounts of basil, make pesto...so I did. I had never made vegan, low fat pesto before, but I do adore nutritional yeast. So a bunch of basil, some raw almonds, garlic, pepper, nutritional yeast and just enough water to get it to blend, and I got this:

For dinner on Friday I mixed about half of the pesto with some well-cooke adzuki beans, sauteed garlic and onion, thawed out frozen spinach and more nutritional yeast, pepper, some smoked paprika and some garlic powder. I then stuffed it into some zucchinis that really needed to be used and baked it all for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. The results? Nothing pretty, as you can see, but pretty tasty.

Next time, however, this will be stuffed into tomatoes, or at least have tomatoes added and perhaps used as a sauce? I dunno. The zuccs were lacking but definatly edible so we shall be tinkering further with this.

Curried Red Lentil Soup and Spicy Sauteed Broccoli with Garlic

2007-04-25T21:39:00.000-05:00

I'll get around to updating the rest of the page after my very long absense later but here are some pictures of tonight's dinner.

I made a modification of the Curried Red Lentil and Spinach soup from Nava Atlas' The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet, omitting the oil, switching out the spinach for mustard greens and adding more curry powder, ground cumin, cayenne and red pepper flakes (we like it spicy and spices cut down on the need for salt), plus a chopped carrot. It still was pretty mild but had a nice flavor. Next time I may sub out the regular curry for some garam masala and use sweet potato instead of carrot, or maybe add some apple or pear pieces.

The broccoli was really easy, just thawed frozen"baby broccoli florets" sauteed with garlic, dry roasted and "popped" black mustard seeds and red pepper flakes, plus a generous twist of black pepper.

too hot to cook

2006-07-20T21:18:00.000-05:00

I've been living off these:

Fruit Slush

6 frozen strawberries
5-6 chunks of frozen pineapple
3 tbsp orange juice concentrate
3-4 ice cubes
1/2 cup water

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth and chunk-free.

Slow cooked beans and rice

2006-06-30T20:53:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I just want to be able to have a simple meal that takes barely any work...especially when I've been at the hospital all day and only have to feed myself. So I made this up on Wednesday night and have had it with some salad or quick soup for dinner the past 3 nights. I don't mind redundancy if I'm by myself.

Slow Cooked Beans and Rice

1 cup uncooked brown rice

1 cup dried beans of whatever variety you choose

1 small onion, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, minced

4 cups of water, or maybe a little more depending on the humidity

1 tsp paprika (smoked is extra nice)

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp fresh chopped oregano, basil, or a mix of both

1 tbsp nutritional yeast powder

3 tbsp ketchup or tomato paste

1 tbsp soy sauce or liquid aminos

salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients, excpet salt, to a slow cooker and cook for 6-8 hours. Add salt once beans are completely cooked. You can also add some fresh spinach towards the end of cooking. Try mixing in some fresh salsa, avocado pieces, fresh corn kernels, marinated tofu cubes, etc after cooking to complete the meal and add variety if eating over several nights.

Stuffed Collards

2006-06-23T14:35:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday at the farmer's market, we picked up this absolutly huge bunch of organic collards, along with an equally large bunch of swiss chard and some beautiful broccoli. I'm not sure what that farmer puts in the soil, but they are doing something right. So, before all the collards got fed off to the bearded dragons (Zeke loves his greens...) I used 4 of the leaves in place of cabbage to make a stuffed cabbage type dish.

Stuffed Collards

4 large collard leaves (12 inch diameter) or more if leaves are smaller

1 1/2 cups cooked couscous, quinoa, brown rice, millet or similar grain

1 cup dry tvp flakes

1/2 c veggie broth

3 tbsp braggs liquid aminos

1 large can diced tomatoes in water or sauce

1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese or mashed soft tofu

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp each of minced basil, sage and rosemary

1 tsp honey or other sweetener

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp paprika

Trim the stalks off the the collard leaves. Boil a large pot of water and place the collard leaves in, stalk-end down, for 5 minutes to soften stem. Remove and set aside.

In a large bowl, put dry tvp, broth, liquid aminos, 2/3 of a cup of the tomatoes, paprika and chili powder. Let sit until most or all of the liquid is absorbed by the tvp. Add the cooked grains, cottage cheese or tofu, and fresh herbs. Stir well to blend and let sit for about 20 minutes to blend and absorb remaining liquid.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a sauce pan, heat remaining canned tomatoes, honey, balsamic vinegar, and paprika. Let come to a boil and cook until it has thickened a little bit.

Take the collard leaves, position them underside facing up and place about a quarter of the stuffing (or an appropraite amount depending on the number of leaves you have) in the middle of the leaf. Fold the top of the leaf down over the stuffing, then the sides and then the stem end to make an envelope. Place seam side down in a large baking pan. Repeat until all leaves are stuffed.

Pour tomato sauce over top of the leaves. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 25-35 minutes.

It actually came out quite pretty...one of these days I manage to get pictures up here.

Summer Greens and Fruit Salad

2006-06-21T10:11:00.000-05:00

i need a digital camera.

The other night, since it was so Bleeping hot, we had a little air conditioned picnic in the bedroom. Part of this consisted of a store-bought veggie lasagna, but also a farmer's market special salad...with a few extras in the way of imported, yet still organic, fruits.

Summer Greens and Fruit Salad

4 cups mixed baby greens

1 banana, sliced

1/2 of a nectarine, sliced

6 large fresh strawberries, halved and sliced

1 large handful of almonds

1 large handful of cashews

1 large handful of dried cranberries

1 meduim handful sunflower seeds or pepitos

5-6 large basil leaves or 7-8 mint leaves, chopped into strips

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp sugar, honey or other sweetener

1 tsp seasoning salt (i used Penzyse's Northwood's Seasoning)

Mix greens, fruits and nuts/seeds together in a large bowl. Blend remaining ingredients together and pour over top of salad. Toss gently to coat, then serve.

I wish we had had some other fruits, maybe blueberries or raspberries, but hopefully later in the summer. The greens were from a local organic farmer, as were the strawberries. the banana and nectarine were from the grocery store. The herbs were from the windowsill, after I spluged and bought some basil, sage, rosemary and lemon thyme plants at the farmer's market a few weeks ago. There just isn't much better than balsamic vinegar over fruit, in my opinion.

mexican lasagna

2006-06-12T10:21:00.000-05:00

The other day I took the Vegetarian Time Complete Cookbook out from the library, dispite warnings on the yahoo Vegetarian_group that the recipes don't come out many times. Well, I made the Mexican lasagna on Saturday night and, yeah, it didn't come out. It was very good, mind you, but not lasagna-y at all, more like a mushy casserole without discerable layers. However, it was pretty and made an excellent dip the next day with leftover tortillas....I'm going to give the book a few more chances, but I also got another Nava Atlas cookbook, so I'm anxous to try some of those recipes.

dinner last night

2006-06-10T14:42:00.001-05:00

Ok, so we very often have baked marinated tofu "steaks" (firm tofu cut into large slices then frozen to give it a meaty texture), roasted salt potatoes and some form a steamed green veggie. Last night was no exception. You can actually bake both at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes (though i normally pull the tofu out after 20-15 minutes).

another tofu/seitan/veggie marinade

1/3 cup soy sauce or braggs or mix of both

1/4 c balsamic, red wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp honey or maple syrup or other sweetener

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp rosemary

blend and pour over tofu pieces or whatever you are marinating. Shake or stir to blend and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour.I like to bake marinated tofu slices at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

Roasted potatoes

1-2 lbs of salt potatoes, quartered

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp rosemary

1 tbsp salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place potatoes in a baking pan in a single layer.Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the spices. Stir to coat. Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes.

and we had steamed broccoli and sliced garlic and a little bit of soy sauce on top. heavy on the soy but its the first night this week.

lettuce wraps

2006-06-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Lettuce Wraps

2-4 large lettuce, escarole, large-leaf spinach leaves

1/4 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp salad dressing/sandwich spread

1 tbsp hummus

1/2 tsp nutritional yeast flakes

several thin tomato slices, cucumber slices, finely shredded carrot or other veggies

several pieces of vegetarian deli slices, veggie peperoni, bacon, thin sliced seitan pieces, cheese or veggie cheese pieces or whatever you have on hand

mix the balsamic vinegar and dressing. Spread the hummus in a thin layer on each leaf, then spread a layer of vinegar/dressing mix over that.Sprinkle a fine coating of nutritional yeast over the dressings. Layer any veggies you want over that, then the "meat" or cheese.Carefully roll the leaves, starting from the stem, to form a wrap. Fold extra edges over and pin with a toothpick if necessary. Very transportable as it doesn't run as much of a risk of getting sorry.

2 smoothies

2006-06-10T14:37:00.000-05:00

yay, an amazing way to get yogurt (probiotics), protein, fruit and powdered supplements in one great drink.

Katie's favorite smoothie

2/3 c yogurt or soy yogurt, plain

4 medium frozen strawberries

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate

2 tbsp ground flax seed

1 tsp l-glutamine powder (optional- for mouth sores)

1 tbsp soy protein powder (optional)a little bit of honey, if necessary

Put everything in a blender then blend on high until there are no fruit chunks remaining.

My favorite smoothie

2/3 c yogurt or soy yogurt

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1/4-1/2 cup frozen pineapple

1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate

2 tbsp ground flax seed

This can be a little bit thick, so I sometimes add a few tbsp of soy milk.

sushi salad

2006-06-06T17:52:00.000-05:00

i made this up for myself tonight...Katie still doesn't have much of an appetite since the first round of chemo, though she did admit it smelled good....

Sushi Salad

1 c uncooked brown rice

2 c water

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

1/2 a cucumber, cut into matchsticks or small slices

2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1 sheet nori, cut into 1/2 inch squares

2/3 c extra firm tofu cubes

1/4 rice vinegar

4 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari

Bring water to a boil, add rice and cook, covered, over medium heat for 30-35 minutes or until cooked. In the meantime, in a large bowl, combine the vinegar, sugar and soy sauce. Whisk until sugar is dissolved then add the vegetables (except seeds and nori) and tofu. Stir to coat and set aside. When rice is cooked, add to bowl with the veggies and sauce. Add nori and sesame seeds. Stir to blend and then cover and let cool in the fridge for a few hours, stirring once in awhile to redistribute the sauce. Serve cold.

new and memorial day menu

2006-05-30T09:35:00.001-05:00

So i've decided to seperate out the recipes from my main blog...it makes the whole thing seem very bipolar and fragmented with the recipes interspersed. so here it goes.

Last night, in honor of memorial day, we did a quasi barbeque theme. We ended up eating it all inside, since Katie's wrist was hurting so bad, but oh well. but yes, anyway, we ended up having pasta salad and three-bean burgers on bialys.

Pasta Salad (i should come up with a real name...)

Salad:

2/3 of a box of whole wheat rotini, cooked, rinsed and cooled

2 cups blanched mixed wax and green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 large tomato, dinced into 1/2-1/4 inch pieces

1/4 c roasted unsalted sunflower seeds

1/4 c fake bacon bits

Dressing:

1/4 c white vinegar

1/2 c olive oil

2 tbsp water

1/4 c dried non-fat milk (can use powdered soy milk, we just don't have any)

2 tbsp nutritional yeast, small flakes

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

2 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos

1 tsp "italian seasoning" (rosemary, thyme, basil, sage, oregano)

salt to taste

Mix all the salad ingredients and set aside. Mix the dressing and shake well. Pour over the salad, mix well, cover and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour for the flavors to blend. Can add more bacos at the end for a nice crunch.

Three-Bean burgers

4 cups mixed cooked beans (we used white, kidney and chickpeas), mashed

1 cup reconstitued tvp (seasoned with soy sauce, optional)

2 cups dry binder (bread crumbs, corn meal, ground oatmeal, crushed unsweetened cereal...we used a mix)

1 tbsp bragg's liquid aminos

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

fresh cracked pepper

Can add: lightly cooked veggies such as shredded carrot, onion, spinach, etc, but this was Katie's project and she's purist...

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F). Mix beans, any additional veggies, 1 1/4 cup of the binder, and seasonings. Form patties of whatever size you want. Add more binder if they seem too moist. Once patties are formed, coat them with remaining binder and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes at 425, then reduce the heat to 300 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. They will seem soft when they come out of the oven but they will firm up in a few minutes. They can be eaten like that, or grilled lightly. Left overs can be wrapped in tinfoil and frozen for up to a month.

We had them on toasted bialys from Rein's Deli in Rhode Island, a treat from mom and dad. I personally just had ketchup, but dress them however you like. Roasted red pepper strips would be nice...next time.

desert was apples from the farmer's market with natural peanut butter and a square of vegan 65% cocoa dark chocolate.