Indianapolis

So Indianapolis is behind us and we are driving onwards to st Louis. I don't remember seeing this many 18-wheelers the last time we drove through thee middle west.
I am enjoying being able to post from my phone as we are driving, I am going to see what else this app can do.
Nothing else to report at this time, just empty fields and lots of road ahead of us.

Mofo #8 Cookbooks You Don't Use Nearly Enough

i know we just did one of these, but we're doing one again!

tonight: "vegan taste of france" by linda majzlik. i know, i know. we did a vegan taste of... book last time. too bad.

for dinner tonight, i made the country cider casserole. holy.crap. this was another recipe that took a long time. remember the gyros took a few hours what with the chilling and everything? this is similar. an hour soak on some beans, cooking time, then baking time. overall, it took a little over 3 hours. but it was worth every minute.

leeks, onions, carrot, garlic, beans, apples, and cider all baked together and topped with crunchy walnuts and fresh chervil. whoa. amazing. i love leeks, so right off the bat, i knew i was at least going to like this. but the way the cider infuses into all of the veggies and gives everything a slight sweetness just really sent this over the top for me.


the only thing i would have liked was some nice crusty bread on the side. oh well, next time! and there will be a next time. soon.

a couple weeks ago, i picked up some trader joe's instant pudding. because the boxes were really cute. it says right on the package not to use soy or rice milk. so i used almond milk, hoping it would have enough fat to make the pudding set. it wasn't perfect - more of a soft set, but it got the job done. i love chocolate pudding on veggie casserole night. so cozy.

Mofo #7 Cookbooks You Don't Use Nearly Enough

some of the "vegan taste of..." books have gotten a bad rap. i have both a "vegan taste of greece" and a "vegan taste of france". before this evening, i had never used either, but thought there were several recipes that sounded good.

tonight i made the vegan gyros from linda majzlik's "vegan taste of greece" and warm chickpea salad from joanne stepaniak's "vegan deli".

the gyros were easy enough to put together, but they needed to be refrigerated for 2 hours. which just seemed like an awfully long time to me. the recipe called for them to be pan fried, but i stuck them in the oven and heated them that way.
they certainly weren't bad, but they weren't fantastic. they were a little bland, but that could be because i used a pretty bland broth to reconstitute the tvp. a more flavorful broth would have made for a more flavorful end product.

served on pita with some spinach, tomato, and tsatsiki

alongside the gyros was the warm chickpea salad from "vegan deli". i've made recipes from the book before, but i don't use it often enough. everything i've made from it so far has been great and this was no exception. light and flavorful, the chickpeas complemented the gyros perfectly. also, i love radishes!

Mofo #6: Who Loves Peanut Butter and Jelly?

this guy!

there are few meals that make me happier than the humble peanut (or in my case, almond) butter and jelly sandwich. there are as many ways to make pbj as there are types of nut butters and jellies combined. grape jelly? or strawberry? peanut butter on one slice, boysenberry jelly on the other? cashew butter on both slices, apple jelly in the middle? crusts? no crusts? wonder white or whole grain wheat?

do you use a spoon or a knife for the spreads? do you use the same utensil for each? or a new one? peanut butter first? or jelly? apparently these things are up for debate.



for me, it's gobs of creamy almond butter spread on two slices of white bread with a dollop of black or blueberry jam in the middle. a few weeks ago, at whole foods, i found a single serving packet of justin's maple almond butter. it was amazing. i need to pick up an entire jar for abj sandwiches. i use a knife for spreading - first in the almond butter then the same knife in the jelly. toss some green grapes on the side of the plate and hand me a juice box because i'm ready to go!

and have i mentioned my pbj friendship necklace that i got on etsy and wear every.single.day? it's awesome.


how do you like your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

Mofo #5: Let's Show the Vegan Food Etsy-ers Some Love, Shall We?

i started selling cookies on etsy about 2 1/2 years ago. when i started i was one of the only shops out there selling vegan baked goods. type "vegan" and "food" into the etsy search bar now and whoa... lots more. lots lots more. which is awesome.

tonight, my top 3 vegan food etsy-ers. need a foodie gift to send to your vegan-mocking omni co-workers? keep these guys in mind.

1. Sweet Fritsy: whimsical cupcakes, chocolates with killer flavor combinations, donuts, candy. unbelievable.


2. The Cupcake Mint: new jersey represent! lemon amaretto buttercream? triple chocolate heaven? chocolate raspberry?!? YES PLEASE!


3. The Chocolate Muffin: cakes, pies, cupcakes - oh my!

Mofo #4: It's the Great Pumpkin Shortage, Charlie Brown!

for the past few weeks, i've gone to the supermarket in search of cans of pumpkin to begin the fall line-up: pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin soup, pumpkin ravioli, the obligatory pumpkin pie - you get the idea - only to be greeted with a vast expanse of empty supermarket shelving where the pumpkin puree once stood.

picture stolen from KCCI8 des moines

it's been weeks and pumpkin just started re-appearing in my part of new jersey. apparently, the nightmare is real and is part of the great pumpkin shortage of 2009. basically, a cold and wet spring made for a serious mess with this year's pumpkin crop.

consider this your psa to buy canned pumpkin when you see it, lest you be reduced to hours of pumpkin baking and scraping to make your own pumpkin puree (who the hell has the time?!?) or WORSE... going without.pumpkin. in october.

you're welcome.

Mofo #3: Cookbooks You Don't Use Nearly Enough

if you're anything like me, you have 950,000 cookbooks stashed around your kitchen, bedroom, living room, bathroom, laundry room... i have so many of them that i love, but inevitably some disappear from my direct sight and then my brain. which is kind of good because when i rediscover them, it's like getting a new cookbook.

asian vegan kitchen is such a fantastic cookbook, but i hardly ever cook from it. which is ridiculous. granted, there are a few recipes that require specific asian ingredients that aren't the easiest thing in the world for me to find, but most of them are based around fresh veggies and easily found spices.

so tonight, i decided to take on the vegetables manchurian recipe. loads of fresh grated veggies mashed into pop-into-your-mouth-sized pieces with a spicy glaze.

i started off making the stock for the glaze. super easy veggie scraps leftover from the veggie balls themselves. cauliflower, carrot, cilantro stems and roots, cabbage, and scallion simmered quickly to create a light, fresh-tasting broth that is lovely for light soups and sauces.


the balls (heh) have cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, ginger, garlic, scallions, and spices.

all held together with some flour (which i totally didn't think was going to work) and then pan-fried.



i served with some rice and extra sauce.
holy yumminess. since i normally don't fry things, i'd try baking these next time. but other than that, i wouldn't change anything. they're light, crispy, and veggifull - what's not to love?

Mofo #2 - Soup!

it's finally cold enough to make soup and not hate yourself!

michael is sick and told me to blog about things vegans eat when they are sick. i'm cold and was hoping to blog about something that made me feel warm. so this post was either going to be about hot chocolate or soup. because both of those fit into both of our criteria. i decided on soup for tonight, but keep an eye out for hot chocolate soon!

i've been doing some testing for isa chandra moskowitz's upcoming weight lossy-healthy food cookbook and this soup is one of the tester recipes. it's a really great black bean, sweet potato, citrus soup.


here's another tester recipe - this one is a potato soup from terry romero's upcoming vegan latina cookbook. anything that is topped with avocados is great, yes?


this one is from last year's mofo: carrot, apple, curry soup. really easy to put together and totally delicious.


soup is one of my favorite pantry meals. i can grab grains and beans out of the cabinets, veggie clippings from the freezer for stock, and random herbs and veggies from the fridge and create any number of combinations. i'm fond of lots of carrots, celery, potatoes, garlic, and onions with chickpeas in an herby broth. i usually have all of these things on hand - 10 minutes or so to chop everything up and get it all into a pot, then i can get some chores done while it's simmering away on the stove. if i'm feeling really ambitious, i'll make some bread to go with it. because there's nothing quite as amazing as fresh bread and some hot soup.

tomorrow is my farmer's market pick up. soup is always a good option for "what do i do with this?" veggies. have a bunch of greens you're tired of sauteeing? slice them into thin shreds and add them to soup! got some sort of weird knobby root looking veggie? throw it into some broth with a few other veggies and puree the whole thing after a long simmer. bumper crop of cantaloupe? cold fruit soup! see? so many possibilities.

i was going to end with a ridiculous "SOUP IS SOUPER!" pun, but i couldn't find any kind of graphic to go with it. google images, you fail me.

Next Time I Say I'm Out of Food, Punch Me

vegan mofo is back!
this year, i'm trying to make as many meals as possible with stuff from my cabinets. i think i'm going to do ok, no?


stay tuned for posts featuring things from my cabinets and freezer, with a few trips to the farmar and regular supermarket thrown in for some fresh veggie action.

since jess asked what other people have in mind for this year's mofo, i'm going to go ahead and post the ideas i had....
using cookbooks i don't use nearly enough, using ingredients i rarely use (if ever), and using ingredients that might have a neat back-story (the history of amaranth, anyone?) all while trying to stay with my goal of using up the items in my cabinets.

since i flaked yesterday (worked late AND got a haircut!), i'm considering this my first mofo post and will post more later tonight.

happy mofo-ing everyone!

Vegan Mofo: Iron Chef Challenge

this week: pears and nuts.



i went with the fairly obvious this week, having nothing exciting going on for breakfast. one of my favorite things to make is the sour cream coffee cake from la dolce vegan, so this was kind of a no-brainer for me.

i veganized this recipe as follows:

Pear Walnut Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Topping
1 c. walnuts, chopped
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Filling
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. earth balance, chilled and cut into bits

Pears
2 medium pears, chopped
2 t. lemon juice

Cake
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. earth balance, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. tofutti better than sour cream

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. oil a 9" square pan and set aside.

mix the topping ingredients together and set aside.

for the filling, cut the margarine into the flour until coarse crumbs form. set aside.

mix the pears and lemon juice. set aside.

mix together the dry ingredients for the cake. set aside.

combine the room temp earth balance with the sugar and mix until smooth. you can do this any number of ways. using a mixer is easiest, but today i just used a whisk. it's a little annoying at first, but once you've gotten the earth balance beaten down, everything comes together. add the vanilla and sour cream. mix until smooth. pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with your favorite wooden spoon until just combined.

spread 2/3 of the batter into the pan. this stuff is sticky so good luck with this part. it seems thin, but it will puff up considerably while baking. sprinkle the filling over the batter. sprinkle the pears over the filling. spread the remaining batter over the pears. like i said, this stuff is sticky and really hard to spread around. you might just want to dollop the batter around. sprinkle the whole thing with the topping and bake for 40 minutes or until it's done. cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.



i'm bringing this as dessert tonight. my grandma is in town and i spent all day yesterday putting together a lasagna for dinner tonight. so stay tuned for tomorrow's lasagna post!

Vegan Mofo: My Favorite Restaurant Breakfast

there's really nothing more exciting than being able to wake up in providence and walk across the street to get (vegan! yummy!) breakfast. at home, if i want tofu scramble... i can go to my kitchen. and that's it. there are a couple places within walking distance of michael's, but i am most excited when we head over to julian's for some tofu scramble or tofu benedict.

i have been craving the benedict at julian's for a few weeks now and decided it was time to try to make it myself at home.

i came up with something pretty darn close.

i scooped the tofu straight out of the package with an ice cream scoop. drained it briefly by squeezing it gently, then dried it on some kitchen towels. the 'fu balls were then tossed in cornstarch and pan fried for about 3 minutes on each of 3 sides (fry on the flat side first, then knock it over on one side, then flip. voila. 3 sides.). the tofu was then drained on some newspaper.


while the tofu was cooking, i wilted some spinach in a pan, drizzled with some garlic oil that i had made earlier, then tossed with some lightly fried garlic from when i made the garlic oil.

i toasted 2 very thick slices of italian bread and then plated everything up: bread, spinach, tofu, and drenched everything in a bastardized version of bryanna clark grogan's hollandaise sauce (my version contained some mustard and tarragon). after taking the picture i doused the entire plate in salt, pepper, and ketchup and shoved all of it into my face.

Vegan Mofo: Cider Donuts

one of my favorite things about the fall is going apple picking. when i was younger, apple picking always meant a drive out to one of the farms a little further north and west. there were farm smells mixed with the smell of the fallen leaves and hay and apples and cider and always always always the inevitable cider donuts.

last year, nowheykatie posted her apple cider donuts based off this recipe. from what i remember, she just replaced the liquid in the recipe with apple cider. just make sure you have fresh yeast for these. the first batch i made (the ones you see in the pictures below) came out beautifully, but when i made them with michael a few weeks later, we must have used some older yeast because they never rose and they were greasy and awful. so go out and buy new yeast!

Vegan Mofo: The Best Idea I've Ever Had

taco.pasta.

i couldn't decide whether i wanted to make tacos or pasta last night. so i made both. it's vaguely reminiscent of hamburger helper. gross... in such a good way. this is what happens when i start running out of food and i'm too lazy to go shopping.

since i didn't really bother making something actually good for dinner, i redeemed myself with a quick apple crisp later in the evening.



and you'll be pleased to know that i went food shopping this evening so that things like taco pasta will not happen again. at least for a few weeks...

Vegan Mofo: Weekend Take-out

first, a cookie update. so, after making cookies all night friday and most of saturday, i wanted nothing more than to continue hiding in bed this morning when the alarm went off at 6:15 am. i mean, it's sunday, for christssake and it's pouring. and cold. who the hell wants to get out of bed to drive to long island? but i had two boxes of cookies on my living room floor that needed to be handed out.


i got to jones beach for the autism speaks walk at about 8:30 and was all set up at the wellness center for autism table by 9:30. i was out of cookies by 11. before the walk even started. i was so busy that i didn't even get any pictures. i had a good time and i was shocked that 100 bags of cookies disappeared so quickly, but now i've got a whole mess of business cards floating around long island. coolness.


so after all of this weekend's craziness, between baking and participating in the iron chef challenge, the last thing i wanted to do today was cook. so take-out it was. the area of northern new jersey that i live in is hardly a vegan haven. there is only one totally vegan restaurant within 15 miles of me and the rest aren't even close. don't get me wrong. i'm not complaining. new york is only 40-someodd miles away so if i need some fancy and vegan, i can just take a trip out there. anyway, despite not having entirely vegan restaurant options, i still have a lot of ethnic restaurants in the area, which are always great for finding vegan foods.

the indian place right around the corner from my house has their vegetarian menu marked clearly and even includes a little green "v" next to vegan items. awesome.

the chinese place around the other corner has an entirely vegan menu in addition to their regular menu. neat.

there is a great sushi place at the end of my street. who doesn't love sweet potato maki?

tonight, it was time for thai. the thai place is a little "far" (7 miles as opposed to the less than 5 miles of the other three places i mentioned above) so it usually gets left out of the take-out options. but not tonight.
i had some really great massaman curry with thai spring rolls. it's so nice to skip cooking sometimes.

Vegan Mofo: Iron Chef Challenge

cookie update: as of this morning, all of the cookies are baked and all but the last 25 are in bags and ready to go. whew! i will post the rest of the pictures and a wrap-up tomorrow evening. but for now: iron chef challenge!


katie suggested an iron chef challenge for vegan mofo. competitors would find out the secret ingredients on friday night and have until sunday afternoon to post what they made with the secret ingredients. katie announced the first secret ingredients, apples and ginger, last night. right away, i thought carrot soup. i wasn't going to participate in this week's challenge because i had all the cookies going on, but it turns out i had everything i needed to make soup right here. it was too easy to turn down.

carrot apple ginger curry soup
this soup is thick and sweet and just a bit spicy from the curry powder and ginger. wonderful for a chilly fall day.

i started by making stock out of frozen veggie scraps. you've heard this before, but it's really easy to save carrot peelings, onion skins, ends of celery, and herb stems in the fridge and then break them out every so often to make stock. this time, i had a ton of onion skins, some leek greens, various amounts of carrot and celery, and what looked like some parsley in my zip loc baggie in the freezer. i dumped it all in my big stock pot, added carrot peelings from the carrots i was using in the soup, some sprigs of thyme and rosemary from the fridge, and about a tablespoon of peppercorns.


i added enough water to cover and boiled away. after the stock had reduced to half, i let it cool a bit.

then i drained the veggies and set the stock aside. easy. time for soup!

ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
6-8 cups veggie stock
3 apples (any kind), chopped
2 sprigs thyme, plus extra for garnish
2 heaping tablespoons powdered ginger
1 heaping tablespoon curry powder

in a large soup pot, heat olive oil over med high heat. add carrots and onion and cook until they start to brown.

once they're brown and the onions have softened a bit, add the vinegar. once the vinegar as deglazed the pan and kind of evaporated off add 3 cups of the stock.

simmer the carrots and onions for 10 minutes. add the apples. for this, i used 2 macintosh and 1 granny smith. add more veggie stock if you need to - it should come up right to the top of the apples or slightly under. add the thyme (add stems and everything. the leaves will fall off into the soup while it's cooking and you can just fish out the stems before blending), ginger, and curry powder.

simmer for 45 minutes or until the carrots are very soft.

remove from heat and let it cool just a bit. using either a blender, food processor, or hand blender, blend until smooth.

i made croutons out of a leftover hotdog roll i found on top of my fridge. relax, i keep bread in a basket on top of my fridge. it's not like it was just rolling around up there.
for croutons, i cut up the hot dog roll into bits, melted some earth balance in a frying pan, added the bread and toasted lightly. i finished off the croutons by broiling them for 5 minutes. sprinkle with some adobo once they come out of the oven and voila. croutons.