Food I've Been Eating Lately

I have a few posts that are still in draft form and a couple of recipes that need to be refined before sharing, so I thought I'd offer you some food porn today. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2009 - We followed this recipe for the tofu and gravy. Yum!

Rachael Ray Redux

Off-the-cuff Mexican-type casserole with a mole-like sauce - I'm going to play around with this one some more. I really liked it and the kid LOVED it.

I used to love eggs in a basket and my son still does. We had tofu in a basket for breakfast on Christmas Eve and plan on making it a tradition.

Christmas dinner 2009 - My sister and I made potato kale burritos with mole sauce, and as she so astutely proclaimed, chocolate is always a good choice for dinner! (Or something like that.)

Have you heard of the Texan "treat" called armadillo eggs (or atomic buffalo turds)? My dad recently told me that he had made a ton of them over the summer and I immediately started worrying about his blood pressure and general coronary health. I told him I would try and come up with a vegan version of this truly offensive dish. I'm not there yet, but I did make these. Mini sweet peppers halved, seeded, filled with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, topped with an olive or mushroom and sprinkled with some Spike seasoning. I put them in a 325 degree oven for about 12 minutes. They tasted even better cold the next day.

Curry Thing

I could live the rest of my life eating nothing but curry. I prefer Indian curries, but never make them because they require ingredients that I'm either not familiar with or am intimidated by. Most of the curries I make at home utilize one of those bottled pastes or powders and coconut milk. Knowing that I love curry so much, I don't know why I hadn't made it in such a long time. So when my son asked for curry last night, I eagerly obliged. Yesterday we picked up our bi-weekly produce box. I used the potatoes, carrots and lovely red onion from the box along with some curry flavor Small Planet tofu. Yum. I had leftovers for lunch today.I don't know what I had planned for dinner tonight, but when Ben asked for curry again, how could I say no? Again I looked for inspiration in the vegetable crisper. This time I found celery, carrots and onions. (What's that French term for the trinity of these three aromatics? I've watched enough cooking shows in my life to know that these ingredients mean something together, I just can't remember what it is.) I threw in the rest of the tofu, more coconut milk and this time added a little tahini and some garbanzo beans. Looks like I'll have leftovers for lunch again tomorrow. There really aren't any major flavor differences between these two (or four) meals, but I don't care. That's how much I love curry.

I served a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA a few years ago and I had to go to a few three or four-day training conferences where we stayed overnight in another city. They always had the meals catered and much to my surprise, always had vegan offerings. On one of these trips, the first veggie meal served was a delicious peanut butter curry that was subsequently used in each of the following meals for the duration of our stay - even as a topping for baked potatoes! After day two, everyone was complaining, but I was in heaven. Food at a catered event like that can be iffy, even if it is vegan. But I feasted on delicious curry for the better part of that week.

More Soup!

We celebrated my mom's birthday on Sunday. Her has back was giving her trouble (she's not that old!) so we stayed in and made soup! We took the idea of Vegan Dad's Creamy Chunky Cauliflower Chowder and used it as a base. My mom wanted curried cauliflower soup, but my step-dad really doesn't like curry, so we made two batches. We added coconut milk to both, curry to one and went super savory on the other with lots of Dijon mustard. Vegan Dad's recipe is great to play around with and build on. The chowder takes a lot of prep, so it probably isn't a weeknight dinner, but it's totally worth the effort!


I had a great time cooking with my family and the soup was awesome! (In fact, I was so busy enjoying my dinner, I almost forgot to take a picture until it was almost gone.) My mom said it was better than anything she could have ordered out and was happy we stayed in. And it was all vegan! After dinner, we had some GF vegan chocolate cupcakes (a Cherrybrook Kitchen mix - meh) and watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Happy birthday, mom!

Soup Season

This is the year of soup! Until recently, I never really got too excited about soups or stews. I don't know what changed, but all of a sudden I'm crazy about the comforting ease of making and eating soup. I've been eying a recipe for pasta & bean soup from Maxine Clark's cookbook, Italian Kitchen that was printed in October's issue of Woman's Day magazine and finally decided to give it a try. Once again, my co-worker's abundant magazine subscriptions and my employer's frugality inspired my dinner. Who knew?

(Please forgive the poor picture quality. Soup tends to be a little camera shy and photographing steaming-hot food is a bit of a challenge.)

The original recipe calls for dried beans, but I used canned and adjusted things accordingly. I also used a Not Chicken veggie bouillon instead of the broth called for in the recipe. The bouillon added more salt and oil, I believe, so I adjusted the oil and did not add any additional salt. The soup turned out really well! We'll happily be eating leftovers for lunch the next two days. Another great thing about soups - leftovers!

You'll Need:

2 cans cannellini or Great Northern beans, drained
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
8 C vegetable broth or equivalent prepared veggie bouillon
1 C short pasta (I used Ancient Harvest quinoa elbows)
4 medium fresh tomatoes, chopped (thanks, Keena!)
1/4 C Italian parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Add broth (or prepared bouillon), reserving 1 cup, to a large soup pot with garlic and bring to a boil. Stir in pasta. While pasta cooks, puree 1 1/2 cans of the beans with reserved liquid and olive oil in a blender or food processor. Stir bean puree and remaining whole beans into pasta and broth, simmer until pasta is tender. Remove pot from heat and stir in tomatoes and parsley. Ladle into individual warmed bowls and garnish with fresh cracked black pepper. Bellissimo!

Curried Split-Pea Soup

I love soup. I also love curry.

So, one of my co-workers subscribes to about five different magazines. She brings them to work and leaves them in the lunch room with a few of those trashy celebrity magazines that someone else likes to read. What's my point? Well, since the mega-corporation that I work for decided that a subscription to the newspaper is an extravagant expense for our office, I end up reading a lot of home and garden magazines on my lunch breaks. In the Jan/Feb issue of Country Home, I came across this recipe for Curried Split-pea Soup. I was so excited to find a recipe in a main stream magazine that was already vegan! We tried it a week ago at my mom's house and it was a big hit. I changed things up a little because I don't follow directions well. I have a problem with authority. But that's OK. Baking is a science; measurements and method are important. Cooking, on the other hand, is an art. So be creative!

Here is a comparative list of ingredients called for in the recipe and my substitutions. (Follow the cooking instructions found in the recipe.)

Recipe/Substitution

2 14oz cans vegetable broth/32oz vegetable broth (Imagine aseptic package)
1 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk/SAME
2 1/3 C dry split peas/SAME
1 bay leaf/2 T dried sweet basil
2 medium sweet potatoes/SAME
1 LB shiitake mushrooms/1 LB cremini mushrooms
1 medium red sweet pepper/SAME
3 green onions/SAME
1 T soy sauce/omitted
2 t curry powder (add more to taste)/SAME
1/4 t crushed red pepper/1 bulb fresh roasted garlic
1/4 C fresh basil/1/4 C fresh cilantro

best. ever.

this stuff is amazing! with few exceptions, i've always been a little disappointed with soy and rice based ice cream alternatives. tofutti and good karma's carrot cake rice cream are always good, but most non-dairy ice creams just don't satisfy the craving for me. i need something rich and creamy. something fattening: an indulgence. then i found luna & larry's coconut bliss. they use coconut milk so it is dairy and soy free. i'm always looking for ways to diversify, as soy is a major staple in my diet and i don't like eating too much of any one food. but there are so many other reasons to love coconut bliss. the flavor is incredible and the texture is so smooth and creamy. they offer a handful of flavors, but my favorite is probably good old chocolate.

where you can find it in spokane:

fresh abundance
rosauer's
huckleberry's

Autumnal Inspiration

Fall is my favorite time of year. The leaves change, the skies are overrun by cotton ball clouds, we pull sweaters from our closets and we eat warm rich foods. One of my favorite foods to eat when the mercury drops are potatoes; any kind will do. I love the warm and exciting color of yams and the sweet rich flavor is a real treat. This dish was inspired by the earthiness of fall's colors and flavors. Although it's perhaps a tired denomination for foods of a certain taste, I like to call it harvest quinoa. The nutty flavor of the quinoa really shines here and compliments the sweetness of the raisins and yams.

You will need:

4 small yams, peeled and cubed
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T Italian seasoning
1 C quinoa
1/3 C raisins
1/4 C dry roasted pumpkin seeds
2 t olive oil
salt to taste

Method

Quinoa:
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add quinoa, cover and bring water back to boil. Turn off heat and let sit 5 minutes. Add raisins and pumpkin seeds and stir. Return lid and let sit until all water is absorbed.

Yams:
Boil yams for 3-5 minutes, until just soft. Heat olive oil in large pan or wok. Sauté garlic for minute. Add onion and sauté 3 minutes. When yams are just soft, drain and add to pan with Italian seasoning and cook until yams start to brown. Combine quinoa and yams in pan and salt to taste. Serve warm.

Variations on a theme: Add 1 cup mushrooms with yams, substitute cranberries for the raisins and/or use walnuts in place of pumpkin seeds. Add 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro before serving.