Insomniac Chef

Bride of Vegan

2008-06-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

We are getting hitched. We're actually in the thick of wedding plans now. We're planning a small but elegant country wedding in central Vermont. People keep asking why VT. When people get married in The Bahamas no one asks them why The Bahamas. Apparently only people who like the beach are supposed to have destination weddings. We do not like the beach, we like the mountains, and we wanted a destination wedding. It's a good excuse to keep the affair small and intimate, which means we get to talk to all of our guests instead of just saying hi to hundreds of people we barely know.

Also, we like Vermont. It's beautiful and relaxing. Lots of green and mountains and fresh air. It's also a civil union state, and since weddings are so expensive, I'd rather spend our thousands of dollars supporting the wedding economy in a state where everyone can be legally joined with their partner. I am all for straight couples boycotting the wedding industry in states that discriminate against same sex couples. The wedding industry makes big money, and refusing to spend your wedding dollars in a place that discriminates is a good way to let lawmakers know that there are economic consequences for their bigotry. What about the poor caterers, photographers, florists, etc. in red state USA? Other industries that want laws made that are favorable to their business get together to pressure lawmakers to change policies in their favor. If the wedding industry cares about this, they too can lobby for a change in policy. If enough people make this a political and financial issue for lawmakers, they'll change what they're doing. Until they do, my wedding money goes to states like Vermont.

Any way, the trickiest part about wedding planning is the vegan thing. Most chefs either do not want to deal with vegans, or don't really understand what's involved with cooking for vegans. We don't eat eggs or dairy or meat. That means we do not eat butter and chicken stock. You'd think this would go without saying, but people seem to not understand that "I do not eat meat" means I also do not eat things made from meat. Also, fish is meat. I know omnivores think otherwise, but take my word for it, vegetarians and vegans do not eat it. If they do, they are not vegans or vegetarians. We also do not eat fish sauce or gelatin. I know it sounds like there is a long list of things we do not eat, but it's a short list and the list only gets long if you mention everything made from the short list of stuff we do not eat. The list of things we do eat is much longer.

The other thing most chefs do not understand is that vegans do not live on granola and hemp seeds. In fact, I can't remember the last time I ate either of those things. We do not want to spend $100 per plate on spaghetti, and we do not consider steaming carrots and broccoli with a dusting of paprika to be haute cuisine. We cook a lot, and are very knowledgeable about food. We can identify celery root and yucca on sight. We can tell you what every item in the produce department is and how to work with it. We have a over dozen kinds of oil and vinegar in our pantry. We know food and we like food. This is our wedding, and we want the food to be just as good as it would be if you were cooking for omnivores. In fact, you could probably get away with being less creative for an omnivore audience. Most of them might not know the difference between olive oil and hazelnut oil. We however do know the difference and we want you to wow us because we are spending a lot of money.

We are planning a trip to VT in a couple of weeks for tastings at wedding venues we liked. So far we have only tried the food at one place (The Weathersfield Inn) and their chef is super amazing. Here is what he made for us:

The Weathersfield is all around a cool place. It's eco-friendly and works with local farmers so the food is always really fresh. In the summer you can eat out under the stars around their cozy fire pit. This inn is worth visiting for any foodie couple looking for a romantic weekend getaway. The chef was really accommodating and nice, not to mention a great cook.

Normally, I do not like to bother people about my dietary choices. I'll join you at the restaurant of your choice and eat a completely lame wedge of Iceberg lettuce for dinner while you eat a steak and never complain. I do not like to impose, and do not like to perpetuate the reputation of vegans being difficult. All of that said, my wedding is my party and it's a day where things need to be done my way. When wedding venues seem put out about my wanting a great vegan meal for the reception it just tells me I need to find some place else that actually wants my money, and understands that this isn't me judging them or telling them to go vegan, or trying to annoy their chef. This is one of the most important parties I'm going to throw in my life and I need to work with a wedding venue that's going to accommodate my requests.

Long Time No Post

2008-06-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

I have not been posting because I've been super busy/not cooking as much as usual. I have a few pics from recent adventures in the kitchen but I'm ashamed to say that it's been so long since I've messed around with food pics that I forgot what a few things were!

In any case, now that it's summer. I feel less like cooking and more like drinking. Maybe I should switch to posting about booze. I did make an amazing strawberry shortcake:

I hacked together some not vegan recipes from Food Network's site and veganized them. I also veganized Alton Brown's heavenly home made soft pretzels.

It hasn't been 100% booze and junk food however. I have been playing with my miso soup recipe

At what point is it no longer miso soup? It now includes lemongrass, ginger, spinach, shiitake and baked lemon pepper tofu.

I also made mini pizzas using giant portobello mushrooms instead of dough. I just washed these babies and scooped out the gills with a spoon. Sprayed with olive oil cooking spray and roasted 'em on both sides under the broiler until tender. Then I spooned on some tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella soy cheese. I topped it with some shredded basil from the garden and popped it back under the broiler to melt the cheese. Delicious!

About the soy cheese in my little low carb pizzas above: I used a soy cheese called Teese which is made in Chicago and available from Pangea. If you are a vegan YOU NEED THIS PRODUCT!!!! It melts, for real, better than FYH! We also made a lasagna with it.

Sexy Tomato Soup

2008-03-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

I really like soup so it's tough to play favorites, but this one really was amazing and as a bonus it's easy to make! We used veg stock instead of beef stock and Tofutti sour cream instead of Crème Fraiche. Otherwise, we just followed the recipe and ended up making this soup a few times a month thereafter.

Pizza and Wine

2008-02-24T17:34:00.001-08:00

We found ourselves hungry and in the mood for booze last night so we made ourselves an awesome pizza from scratch. Unfortunately we drank a bottle of wine while we were cooking so the photo isn't the best.

We used a pretty basic pizza dough recipe but we made ours with whole wheat flour. We used jarred pasta sauce that we enhanced with sautéed shallots and garlic and several generous shakes of dried thyme and oregano. We topped our pizza with fresh basil, mushrooms, soy pepperoni and bell peppers. It was really the best pizza ever, despite our drunken cooking. Actually, maybe the drunkenness improved our enjoyment of the pizza.

Eggplant Adoration

2008-02-24T16:54:00.001-08:00

If you love eggplant as much as we do you'll love this roasted eggplant and tomato panino as a mid week meal.

If you are interested in a fancier dinner time eggplant experience, these eggplant tomato stacks look great and they're a breeze to make.

We just sliced eggplants and tomatoes, brushed them with olive oil and roasted them in the oven at 450 degrees untl they started to brown. We then stacked our roasted veggies, sprinkling salt and black pepper and drizzling balsamic between each layer. We topped each stack with grated soy mozzarella and broiled the completed stacks to melt the cheese. We topped our finished stacks with basil chiffonade and served with a side of fresh spinach salad.

Lemongrass Miso

2008-02-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

We love lemongrass and we love miso soup so we had to try this recipe.

The results were fantastic. It's a refreshing take on a classic Asian recipe. We did spice our version up a bit with some chili paste though. If you like a little spiciness this makes a perfect addition.

Meatless Mushroomletta

2008-02-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

If you love a salty, vinegary, cheesy, messy muffaletta sub but you're looking for a lighter way to indulge you'll really like this mushroom-based alternative. Carb-avoiders take note!

Ingredients:
Olive oil for cooking
4 large portobello mushroom caps cleaned and gills removed
1/2 cup onions, chopped
3/4 cup green olives, chopped
1/3 cup pepperoncinis, chopped
1/2 cup chopped red hot peppers (a jarred version of these should be available at your supermarket)
1 large kosker pickle, chopped
5 oz soy mozzarella

Brush the mushrooms with some olive oil and cook them under a broiler until they become very dark in color and cooked all the way through.

While the mushrooms cook sauté the onions in olive oil until they become golden brown. Combine the cooked onions with the remaining ingredients and mix up the "salad" until everything is evenly distributed. You can adjust the ingredients to taste.

When the mushrooms are cooked spoon the olive mixture into them. Heat the cheese in the microwave to liquefy it and pour cheese over the tops of the stuffed mushrooms.

January Vegetarian Times

2008-01-30T17:15:00.000-08:00

We made a few things from the January Veggie Times this month

Broccoli With Peanut Sauce

Tofu Frittata with Zucchini and Onion

Vegetarian Pho (this was so good we made it twice!)

Southwestern Stew

Mushrooms Love Wine

2008-01-24T16:35:00.000-08:00

We've been doing a fair amount of cooking with mushrooms and wine and the results have been delicious. We veganized Michael Chiarello's Polenta Bites with Caramelized Mushrooms by using soy cheese, vegetable stock and soy creamer. We were too lazy to do the recipe's suggested presentation (which would have been more suitable for party snacks than dinner for two any way) but the meal was tasty nonetheless.

We also made a crostini dish inspired by this recipe with portobellos, cherry tomatoes and soy mozzarella.

Here's our vegan crostini recipe:

Ingredients:
2 Tbs soy margarine
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups Portobello mushrooms (cleaned and sliced)
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tbs soy creamer (we used Silk non-dairy creamer)
1/4 cup soy mozzarella cheese (we used Follow Your Heart)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
baguette (sliced and toasted)
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced
2 Tbs soy Parmesan cheese

Heat butter in a sauté pan over medium heat and add the garlic. When the garlic becomes fragrant add in the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste and cook until the mushrooms become golden brown (approximately 10 minutes).

Deglaze the pan with the wine and then add the cream and cheese. Simmer until the cheese is melted and you have a thickened sauce.

Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. Spoon the mushrooms onto the sliced bread and top with tomatoes and a sprinkle of Parmesan. Arrange the crostini on a baking sheet and broil until the tomatoes begin to brown.

Middle Eastern Vegetable Stew

2008-01-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

We made this from Linda Fraser's "Essential Vegetarian Cookbook", which I've had around for years but haven't cracked open in forever. If you're considering going veg this is the book to get. It's got lots of really good easy recipes and tons of pictures.

The stew pretty much involved bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, celery, potaotes, chopped tomatoes, chili powder, fresh mint, ground cumin, chickpeas, salt and pepper cooked up in a large casserole in a bit of veggie broth. To get the detailed recipe, look for the cookbook. If you're a seasoned cook, it's the kind of thing you can probably pretty much figure out how to make with the ingredients list. It's a stew so really you just cook everything up in a big pot until tender.

Mmm Chocolate

2007-12-29T17:25:00.000-08:00

Once a year I make like 100 chocolate truffles. I spend an entire day on them and make them with different flavored booze and roll them in fancy toppings. They make great holiday gifts for people who kinda already have everything (aka parents and other adult relatives) and people you have no idea how to shop for.

My truffles, are of course, vegan. I use this recipe which works so well that every non-vegan in your life will be pleased with the results. In fact, an omnivore foodie friend of mine who is into candy making actually traded in her truffle recipe for this vegan version several years ago because she was so much happier with the flavor and texture of these truffles than any other recipe she'd ever tried.

Here's a picture of my creations:

Spicy Lemongrass Chicken and Broccoli

2007-12-19T02:53:00.000-08:00

Adapted from "Simple, Tasty Vietnamese Cooking" in Food & Wine Magazine, Oct 2007

2 T soy sauce
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 T curry powder
2 1/2 T sugar
1 package soy chicken, diced (I used Morningstar Farms soy chicken strips)
3 T water
2 lemongrass stalks, minced
1 shallot, sliced
3 chilies, seeded and minced
2 cups broccoli florets, steamed to tender crisp texture
1 scallion, finely sliced
cooking spray

In a small bowl whisk together the soy sauce, garlic, curry and 1/2 Tbs sugar. Then add the soy chicken to the sauce and toss to coat.

In a small pan mix the rest of the sugar with 1 Tbs of water and cook over high heat until the sugar dissolves. Cook until a deep amber caramel forms. Rmove from heat and stir in the rest of the water. Set this mixture aside in a bowl.

Heat a wok over high heat and coat with cooking spray. Add the lemongrass, shallot, and chilies. Stirfry for about a minute. Add the chicken (with the marinade), broccoli and caramel mixture to the wok and cook until heated through.

Top the dish with the sliced scallions and serve over steamed basmati rice or rice noodles.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2007-12-19T02:16:00.000-08:00

So warm up with a steaming bowl of soup. Soup is one of my favorite winter meals. Here are a few I've tried lately and liked:

Rosemary Cauliflower Soup by La Tartine Gourmande

The great thing about this soup was that it was really rich and creamy without being heavy and filling. It's perfect comfort food without the calories. I did find the original recipe somewhat lacking in flavor so you'll want to raid your spice cabinet for additional flavor. I added garlic salt, onion powder, coriander and cumin.

Butternut Squash Soup with Caramelized Onions and Apples from Spa Flyer

This recipe had the perfect flavor profile. The butternut squash, onions and apples were ideal compliments to each other. We ended up using vanilla (soy) yogurt for garnish and found the slightly sweet vanilla flavor actually enhanced the flavor of the soup greatly.

Heirloom Tomato Soup by Two Yolks

It's tough to imagine why any one would ever eat soup from a can with recipes this simple and delicious around. This soup derives it's "creamy" consistency from rice. It was a great excuse to pull out our immersion blender so we can feel like Food Network cooks. We served this light soup with some roasted potatoes seasoned with fresh dill and topped with a vegan mayo/horseradish dip.

Chorizo and lentil soup by Seven Spoons

Who says you need veg recipes to make a vegetarian meal? We substituted vegetable stock, soy sausage and soy Parmesan for the chicken stock, sausage and Parmesan this soup recipe called for. The variety of ingredients made for a rich hearty flavor.

Ode to Eggplant

2007-12-15T04:10:00.000-08:00

Whether you're looking for a quickie or a long romantic evening with Eggplant it's happy to accommodate. I can't say enough good things about this versatile and underrated veggie so here are a couple of things I've done with it lately that were delicious.

Inspired by Jaden's Steamy Kitchen, I halved some baby eggplants, brushed them with olive oil and roasted them at 375 F for 10 minutes. Then I put them under the broiler (set to high) for a couple of more minutes. I topped them with jarred Whole Foods brand artichoke bruschetta and fresh julienned basil. We had a quick tasty meal in less than fifteen minutes and it was colorful and well-presented to boot!

We also tried out Mario Batali's Eggplant Caponata recipe. This exotic rendition of caponata called for cinnamon and cocoa powder! The results were spicy, unique, and flavorful with just a hint of sweetness.

Thanksgiving Not-Vegan Style

2007-12-02T03:59:00.000-08:00

We spent actual Thanksgiving at my parents' house. My mother shared the kitchen with me so we were able to make a few things for ourselves. They really made a special effort to offer food we could eat. This was, of course, appreciated. Actually, there was a lot more vegan food than Matt and I could ever have eaten between the two of us any way. The salad alone was so good I didn't really need anything else. I love a great salad!

"I've Died and Gone to Heaven" Salad with toasted almond slivers, olives, spinach, cucumbers, peppers, red onions, carrots and I forget what else. Yum!

The omnivore spread

Cherry and Clove Spiced Cranberries prepared by your's truly

Baked apples filled with stuffing that my mom made for me and Matt

French Vanilla Pumpkin Pie with a Ginger Praline Crust that I made for the family

Thanksgiving Vegan Style

2007-12-01T03:09:00.000-08:00

Usually we have a giant dinner party at our house for Thanksgiving. We cook up a huge vegan feast and all of our (mostly vegetarian) friends come over and we stuff ourselves and get drunk and have a terrific time. This year our presence was, well, demanded at my parents' house so we had to have our annual Thanksgiving dinner party early. It was a great time, albeit a bit hectic. The power company has a habit of fucking with our electricity around this time of year and we had a 13 hour outage that started as soon as I began cutting veggies for our meal the night before and lasted until about 2 hours before our guests arrived. As a result, we had to borrow a friend's kitchen in order to make this dinner happen. This was tough since the friend is a bachelor and has a kitchen you'd imagine a bachelor would have. It's not just ill-equipped, it's small and sort of in the process of being rehabbed. We felt like we were trapped in some kind of horrible Top Chef challenge.

"Tonight on Top Chef the chefs are working in teams of two to prepare a dinner party for 12. They have 6 hours, no electricity and 8 square feet of space, stay tuned for the dramatic event."

The Menu:
- A Salad of Winter Greens with Roasted Beets, Crushed Hazelnuts and a Pomegranate Balsamic Reduction with White Truffle Oil (adapted from the Millenium Cookbook)
- Spinach Garlic and Chickpea Soup
- Garlic Mashed Potatoes (made by friends, don't have the recipe details)
- Cherry and Clove Spiced Cranberries
- Homemade Chestnut Stuffing (made by friends, don't have the recipe details)
- Soy and Seitan "Turkey" with mushroom gravy
- French Vanilla Pumpkin Pie with a Ginger Praline Crust
- Apple Crisp

I am not going to try to convince any omnivores reading this entry that vegan turkey is similar or comparable to real turkey. I've been a vegan since I was a kid so I wouldn't really have any basis for comparison any way. It's a good substitute if you don't eat meat and it is tasty but meat has just never appealed to me so a vegan version of it doesn't thrill me like an amazing salad or delectable pie. We make it out of tradition but I am not trying to sell anyone on the idea of it.

This year was the first year I ever made cranberries from scratch. I don't know what took me so long. The cherries and cloves with the cranberries were amazing!!! Matt wanted to eat it all himself. I doubled the sugar that the recipe I linked called for. That is my only suggested alteration, other than maybe doubling this recipe since it's really really good.

About the pie, I am going to level with you here, I am not a huge fan of pumpkin pie. It's always been my least favorite really. This changed when I happened upon this particular pumpkin pie recipe last year though. The original recipe came from Fine Cooking Magazine and was written by Abigail Johnson Dodge. Here is my vegan version though:

Pie Crust
1-1/4 C flour
1/2 Tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c soy margarine
2 Tbs cold vegetable shortening
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
3 Tbs cold water

Praline
1/2 c dark brown sugar
1 Tbs soy margarine
1 Tbs finely chopped fresh ginger

Filling
1-2/3 c canned pumpkin puree
2/3 c dark brown sugar
4 tsp flour
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp salt
6 Tbs cornstarch
3 Tbs soy milk
1 cup French Vanilla Silk Non-Dairy Creamer
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine flour sugar and salt in a food processor, pulsing to combine. Add the bugger and shortening, pulsing until crumbs form. Tyrn the dough onto a work surface and shape into a disk. Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to one day.

Roll the dough out and line a 9" pie pan with it. Chill in the freezer for 30 minutes then bake it in the oven at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes or until the crust's edge is golden brown.

For the praline: In a bowl mix the sugar, soy butter and fresh ginger until well blended. Cumble the praline evenly over the bottom. Bake until the sides of the crust are golden and the praline is bubbling -- about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce heat to 325 degrees F.

For the filling: In a bowl, whisk the pumpkin, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves, and salt until smooth. Add the remaining filling ingredients and whisk until blended. When the praline is hardened but still warm pour the filling into the crust.

Bake for about 45 minutes and then cool on a rack. Refrigerate over night before serving.

This is what a vegan Thanksgiving platter looks like

Our friends gathered around our dining room table

Fancy Salad

Dessert!

Tangerine Chicken with Honey Chipotle Glaze

2007-11-30T04:27:00.000-08:00

Check out these grill marks, baby!

If you've got a hankering for sweet, tangy, and spicy barbecue type fare check out this recipe from Bon Appétit magazine.

I used Morningstar Farms soy chicken strips to make this recipe vegetarian.

Baby Bites

2007-11-19T04:35:00.000-08:00

Because I love miniature and bite-sized foods. I sometimes have them for dinner, even though they're typically considered party fare. I like to audition these eats as mid-week meals so I have an arsenal of recipes when cocktail party time rolls around. Most recently I made:

White Bean and Watercress Tartines (from the latest issue of Vegetarian Times)

Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed with Spanish Olive Tapenade

Veg Times

2007-10-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

Fall issues of Vegetarian Times tend to be favorites for me since they are usually loaded with lots of savory rich hearty meals involving root veggies and gourds in particular. Here are the recipes we tried from the latest 2 issues (all of it was terrific):

Hoppin' John with Collard Greens

Harvest Vegetable Medley

Herbed Winter Vegetable Roast

Moussaka

Attack of the Killer Squid

2007-10-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Ever since the spring a package of vegan squid has been staring me down from the pantry. I bought it on a lark when we went to NYC earlier this year and went on a shopping spree in the May Wah vegetarian grocery, which has a veg version of just about anything under the sun. I bought the squid because it was there and I figured I'd find a use for it eventually. Finally, I gave it a purpose and tried my hand at calamari. I used a recipe I found on another food blog and it turned out surprisingly well. We served it with some homemade cocktail sauce and a completely delicious caponata-like dish from Cookthink.

Who Needs Take Out?

2007-10-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

You can throw the Chinese take out menus away if you've got this Kung Pao recipe in your repertoire. It beats any of the greasy slop you'll get at most take out joints in terms of deliciousness and making it yourself probably means its going to be better for you too. To make our version veg, we used soy chicken and soy sauce instead of chicken and oyster sauce. One word of caution: this recipe is HOT HOT HOT, much hotter than anything you'd get at a typical Chinese restaurant. If you do not have a high tolerance for spicy reduce the amount of peppercorns and peppers and recipe calls for.

Greens n Potatoes

2007-10-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

This Colcannon recipe by vegan yum yum is the ultimate in comfort food. It combines creamy rich mashed potatoes with greens and seitan making for a hearty, filling, salty, garlicky, buttery, savory dish that's perfect for fall.

From Russia With Love

2007-10-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

Matt's 82 year old Russian grandmother is a fantastic cook. She makes the best soup I've ever eaten in my life and ever since my first bite I was after her recipe. The trouble with his grandmother's recipes is that they aren't hidden away in a cookbook or even written down, they're all in her head, and the only way to learn to make any of her recipes is to watch and take notes. If you ask her "how did you make this?" the answer is always something like "I just put some stuff in a pot." If you want to know what stuff, for how long or in what order you've got to see it for yourself. So one afternoon I went over to her house to watch her make borscht and here's how it goes:

2 onions chopped finely
2 Tbs olive oil
5 celery stalks, finely chopped
6 cups vegetable stock
handful of parsley
2 bay leaves
handful of basil
several shakes of dried Italian seasoning (thyme, basil, oregano)
several cloves of finely minced garlic
3 carrots, chopped finely
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped finely
3/4 cup barley
2 cans chopped tomatoes
3/4 head of green cabbage, julienned
1 can sliced beets, chopped finely, in their juice
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tsp sugar
coriander and curry powder to taste
2 packages of veggie ground beef

Sautee the onions in 2 Tbs olive oil. Add the celery, cover and cook until onions are translucent, then add the stock, parsley, bay leaves, basil, Italian seasoning and garlic.

When the soup begins to boil add carrots, potatoes and barley. Reduce to a simmer and add 2 cans chopped tomatoes along with their juice.

Once the barley is tender, add the caggage and beets (including the juice the beets came with). Add the ketchup sugar, curry powder, coriander and veggie ground beef. Continue to simmer for about 30 minutes.

Notes: The original recipe contained real ground beef and chicken stock. I am not sure how it works with real ground beef but if that is an ingredient you are used to working with you can probably figure it out. Matt's grandma has been great about using veg substitutions in her original recipes. Everyone should be so lucky as to have such a cool granny!

Kitchen Neglect

2007-09-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

This morning's posting is a monster edition of what I've made this month. I have not been updating since I've been so crazy busy with other projects. This also means I have been cooking less than usual and what's worse, I have not been all that creative. I've mostly been working from recipes, which is fine, but I like to come up with ideas of my own too. Friday night Matt and I stayed in and I made dinner. I made roasted root vegetable stacks with a tahini, honey and white balsamic dressing. I paired the veggies with broiled large white button mushrooms stuffed with a sauté of spicy veg Italian sausage and Braeburn apples. I topped my dish with fresh thyme leaves. The dish turned out really well, like the taste of fall in your mouth. Recipe follows...

Tahini Honey Balsamic Sauce:
3 Tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons white balsamic
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon soy sace
Whisk these ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Slice a large turnip, a large beet, and slice and peel a parsnip. The slices should be about 1/4" thick. Grease a baking sheet or pan with olive oil, put the turnips in the pan and brush them with more olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Cook them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until soft. Turn them over half way through the cooking for even cooking. Repeat this with the beet and parsnips. While the veggies cook shave some carrots for garnish using a vegetable y-peeler with micro blades.

To assemble:
Place some of the tahini sauce on the plate, then place a large slice of turnip on top, top the turnip with a beet slice and top the beet with a parsnip slice. Drizzle more sauce on top and garnish the the shaved carrots. Top that with some fresh thyme leaves.

The mushrooms:
Clean about 6 large white button mushrooms and pull out the stems so there's a hollow cavity. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, place the mushrooms on the sheet and then brush mushrooms with olive oil on both top and bottoms. Cook the mushrooms under a broiler set on high until they are softened and cooked through, flip the mushrooms half way through cooking to get them cooked evenly.

Meanwhile, chop up a large spicy vegetarian Italian Sausage link into a fine dice(or not vegetarian if you prefer but I do not know the cook time or instructions for that so you will have to wing it there). Also chop half of a crisp apple such as a Macintosh or Braeburn. Combine the apple and sausage in a sauté pan with some vegetable oil and cook over medium high heat until the apple is tender crisp.

Stuff the sausage mixture into the cooked mushrooms and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese (we used soy cheese but regular cheese is also fine).

Par Les Vous Delicious

2007-09-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

The other night I wanted something different. Something I do not usually make. I wanted a culinary adventure. I decided to make something French. I never make French food. It tends to involve a lot of rich heavy cream sauces and weird meats and other things that I'm not really interested in. I managed to get a mostly veg recipe though and decided to give it a go. This Mushroom Strudel with Braised Shallots and French Lentils, with a Port Demi-Glaze called for espagnole sauce, a thick veal stock common in French cooking. I used the recipe here to replace it. The dish came out delectable, rich and filling. As much as we really enjoyed the meal, we kind of felt like we couldn't move for hours after eating it so it's the kind of thing we will not make very often.

Spicy Chicken Salad and Miso Eggplant

2007-09-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

I loved this salad. We used Morningstar Farms soy Chicken and soy sauce instead of fish sauce. The salad had a really nice crunchy texture and the contrast of the sugar, chilies, vinegar, garlic and mint made for a really excellent flavor.

We served the salad with Jaden's miso eggplant which was also really good and even approved by the eggplant skeptic Matt.

Indonesian Style Mahogany Glazed Chicken

2007-09-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed this meal because it was flavorful but light so we were satisfied without feeling all puffed up after dinner. We pretty much followed this recipe. We used Morningstar Farms soy Chicken strips and skipped the shrimp.

Some Like It Hot

2007-09-27T07:05:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Matt and I had to buy some chipotle chilies in adobo sauce for a recipe, oddly these things seem to be scarce around here and often out of stock. We live in an area with a huge Latino population so I am not sure why this stuff is so hard to come by. Any way, we stocked up, worried we might need more soon and not get any. Then we had a lot of these chipotle chilies around and felt compelled to make use of them. Chipotle chilies tend to go with Mexican and Southwestern cuisine, not really our thing, so we turned to Epicurious. Epicurious, like a lot of the culinary world, is pretty meat-obsessed. Not being meat eaters, we didn't let this stop us from giving their recipes a try.

First we tried their Chipotle Beef Chili with Lime Creama. We used veg ground beef and soy sour cream. The chili was, well, meaty, and thus this was not our favorite dish. We really love veggies and tend to prefer meat (or meat substitutes) as an element in a dish rather than having it as the central component. We did like the lime sour cream however and would definitely use it in chili again. We might even re-use some of this recipe, we just found the lack of vegetables in this recipe made for a boring dish in terms of texture and flavor.

Next, we tried their short ribs braised in coffee ancho chile sauce. If you like spicy this is the meal for you. We used fat-free vegan's ribz recipe for the ribs and otherwise followed the recipe instructions from Epicurious. The dish came out super hot and the sauce had a nice, rich, sticky mouth feel to it. It made for a sort of heavy, rich, dense meal I wouldn't want to eat too often but definitely one that could be enjoyed if that is what you are in the mood for.

Liquor + Cake

2007-09-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

Cupcakes and Cocktails; it's not only adorable in its alliterative nature, these two lovelies embody some of my favorite things. They're delicious, tiny and nice to look at. The only trouble with these things is that you can only have so much of either one before you run into trouble. The only solution -- miniature cupcakes and miniature cocktails! Over the weekend I had my friends over and orchestrated a five course meal of decadence that revolved entirely around cake and booze. In order to maximize cake and liquor consumption I miniaturized both and created a tasting menu fit for a hedonist.

You can find miniature cupcake tins and miniature cupcake liners at bakery suppliers and some craft stores (Michael's carries these things). You can also find these things at stores with a large kitchen equipment department like Bed Bath and Beyond. For my party I served a drink that coordinated with each cake. In order to make the drink size appropriate for the cakes I scored some votive candle holders at Target for about 50 cents a piece that looked like oversized shot glasses.

I am going to apologize now for my laziness, I do not feel like typing up every recipe I used for my party. I made 5 kinds of cake and 5 kinds of cocktails. That's 10 recipes. If you're considering a cocktails and cupcakes party of your own there's no real need to get hung up on my recipes any way, just take away from this post the concept of a cupcakes and cocktails party and use your favorite recipes. If there's something you're really dying to know how to make I can give you details, but your favorite cupcakes will be just as good as mine I'm sure. One thing to keep in mind however is that little cupcakes bake very quickly. Most of my cakes needed only 8 minutes. Keep a very close eye on your oven.

For the first course I served chocolate cupcakes with a homemade cocoa hazelnut frosting, topped with crushed hazelnuts, chocolate dust and a raspberry for a pop of tartness. I paired this cake with Kahlua and cream. (Vegans: I used soy creamer so if you are also a vegan, that is the ingredient I recommend.)

Next up: Berries and cream layer cake with champagne frosting. I replaced the liquid content of a buttercream frosting recipe with bubbly. Then I baked 24 mini mixed berry cupcakes and stacked them in 2 layer cakes (gluing them together with frosting). I topped each cake with a generous amount of frosting and a sliced strawberry. I served this cake with a mixed drink consisting of equal parts champagne, Stoli Raspberry and raspberry schnapps.

After the berry cakes, I served cherry cordial cupcakes with apricot hot toddies. My cupcakes were chocolate with a cream and cherry center. I topped each cake with chocolate ganache and a cherry from a jar of cherry pie filling. I made my hot toddies with apricot brandy flavored black tea, lemon juice, honey (vegans: use agave) and a shot of brandy.

Following the cordials came the tiramisu and coffee. I made the tiramisu using the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World recipe and I served with with a coffee cocktail that consisted of cream, coffee, Stoli Vanilla, and Amaretto.

I capped off the meal with chai tea cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream frosting and a dusting of cinnamon. I served these cakes with an apple cider and spiced rum cocktail.

I have not updated...

2007-08-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

I have not updated because I have really been too busy to eat. Also I think I ate too many chocolate chip cookies over the last few weeks and I should probably not eat any way. My beloved Kitchenaid makes the most amazing cookies you can imagine. Any way, I have mostly been busy working on a couple of websites: Cutique and Loungeluxe. Both are websites that promote talented indie designers. Visit them and buy neat stuff...

In addition to cookies, I also ate some vegan Mac n Cheese last week. It was very good and prepared by cheese-obsessed Matt. You can see why a diet is in order, right? It is really difficult being equally obsessed with gluttony and looking good naked so I have to allow my vices to take turns.

If you too would like your pants to not fit you can make Matt's Mac n Cheese as follows:
Ingredients
1/4 cup soy margarine
1/4 cup soy milk
8 oz soy cheese -- melted (we used Follow Your Heart Cheddar)
salt to taste
macaroni noodles

Boil macaroni until tender and drain. Return the noodles to the pan and stir in the above ingredients. Keep the pan on low as you stir ingredients and stir until everything is combined.

Matt also made some very cute and tasty tempeh stuffed cabbages recently. I think he got the recipe from a recent issue of Vegetarian Times magazine.

Mini Italian

2007-08-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

I adore miniature foods. They are both cute and easy to manage, and mini foods mean greater variety. I love tapas, sushi and dim sum because you get to try like 5 different things in one meal. This is also why I love cocktail parties. Who doesn't love hors d'oeuvre s?

For dinner Matt and I made two snacktastic Italian dishes. Albondigas (Meatballs in Garlic-Tomato Sauce) and Tuscan Mushrooms. For the meatball recipe, we used pre=packaged veggie meatballs from Whole Foods so we just used this recipe for the sauce. This was a predictably tasty and satisfying dish. I do not mean that in a bad way, but really what could possibly be bad smothered in tomato sauce and garlic? They are reliably delicious ingredients and a recipe starring the combo really would be hard pressed to disappoint.

As for the mushrooms, they were as delicious as they were beautiful. We used vegan Parmesan in place of the Romano cheese.

I've kind of gotten away from reading vegan websites, blogs and cookbooks. The mindset of vegan cooks is often too limited and things get repetitive. I have been able to find much more interesting recipes reading stuff from non-vegan cooks. I just replace their not-vegan ingredients with vegan versions. Doesn't work with a grilled steak so much, but I do not really want a grilled steak any way.

Curry and Cupcakes

2007-08-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

I pretty much followed this recipe for dinner tonight, except that I was out of tofu so I used some Morning Star Farms vegetarian steak strips instead of tofu.

I also made the Dulce Sin Leche cupcakes from the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook. They were sweet, moist and delicious -- a big hit with our friends.

Eggplant Stewed in Honey and Spices

2007-08-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

This recipe was so unbelievably good -- seriously, it is like a 10 star recipe. It's a the perfect mix of sweet, spicy, garlicy and gingery. If you do not eat honey agave will probably work. I served this with some steamed asparagus. If you love eggplant you would be foolish to not make this recipe as soon as possible and if you do not love eggplant this dish is so good that it may change your mind.

Mango Chicken With Broccoli

2007-08-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

1 lb broccoli florets
1 lb vegetarian chicken strips (I use Morning Star Farms)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 Tbs brown sugar
3/4 tsp arrowroot
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 mango, diced
2 Tbs lime juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
20 fresh mint leaves

In a steamer basket, steam the broccoli until tender crisp.

Heat some cooking spray in a large wok or skillet and add the "chicken". Cook until it begins to brown, transfer to a plate and set aside.

While the chicken cooks, mix orange juice, brown sugar and arrowroot in a small bowl and set aside.

Add jalapeno, garlic, and ginger to the pan and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add broth and stir for an additonal minute. Stir in orange juice mixture and bring to a simmer. Continue to stir until thickend and slightly reduced.

Stir in mango, tofu and broccoli and cook until heated.

Remove from heat and stir in lime juice, salt and pepper. Garnish with mint and serve with rice or thin rice noodles.

Spicy Tofu and Zucchini with Lemongrass, Lime and Basil

2007-08-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

This recipe (based largely on this recipe with a few changes) combines pretty much all of the most delicious of savory flavors and the lemongrass smells amazing while cooking up on your stove.

1 lb extra-firm tofu, cubed
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch half-rounds
1 jalapneo chile, seeded and thinly sliced
1 4-inch piece lemongrass, minced
1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tsp lime juice
1/4 cup basil leaves, julienned

Heat some cooking spray in a large wok over high heat and add the tofu. Cook the tofu until it starts to brown and then add in the zucchini. Cook the tofu until it is well browned on all sides,

Add the jalapeno, lemongrass, and shallot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is soft, 1-2 more minutes.

Add the vegetable broth, soy sauce and lime juice and cook until the broth thickens, 1-2 more minutes. Stir in the basil. Serve over a bed of rice noodles or another grain of your choice.

My Big Fat Greek Salad

2007-08-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

I had vegan feta around from a recipe I made last week (I made the vegan feta using the recipe in the Uncheese Cookbook) so I had to put it to use. I made a giant Greek salad. It was delicious. It was so good that, although Matt and I planned to eat the left overs for lunch the next day, we gobbled them all up as a late night snack.

My salad contained:
1/2 lb vegan feta
1 package grape tomatoes, sliced into halves
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 small seedless cucmber, cut into bite sized chunks
1 small cubanelle pepper, seeded and diced
1 small jar of pepperoccini peppers, sliced
1 cup kalamata olives
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
8 oz package of vegetarian chicken strips, chopped (I used Morning Star Farms)
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped

I stirred up all of the above ingredients into a giant salad bowl. Goes well with pita bread but I didn't bother with it since the salad was so good, I didn't want any bread cluttering valuable space in my stomach for this salad.

The Taste of Summer

2007-08-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

Matt and I had the perfect summer meal planned -- veggie burgers and these awesome watermelon cups. We were enticed by the veggie burger on the cover of the July/August Vegetarian Times and we set to work on that. Unfortunately, the recipe, as printed in the magazine, does not work. You cannot form solid patties based on their recipe and our attempts to do so quickly fell apart -- literally. If you are considering attempting these "Hot Tamale Burgers" you are going to want to put the ingredients in the food processor with some cornstarch, refrigerate, and then form patties which you will need to fry in a pan with some cooking oil. If you go this route you will get some pretty good burgers.

As for the watermelon cups, I pretty much followed their recipe. I used vegan sour cream and I used vegan feta (made with the recipe in the Uncheese Cookbook).

I had lots of left over watermelon so I made some watermelon granita which turned out really well.

Any way, now I have lots of left over vegan feta and no idea what to do with it. What should I do with this feta?

Mushroom Stacks and Cheesecake Strawberries

2007-07-31T00:27:00.000-07:00

We tried out this mushroom stack recipe for dinner tonight and it was fantastic. We could not get the porcinis that the recipe called for but we found some mid sized portobellos that worked out nicely. We had to buy scotch just for this dish. It certainly made things tasty but scotch is awfully expensive and neither of us drinks it so now we need more recipes that involve cooking with it.

For dessert I worked up a new creation, cheesecake strawberries. No not stawberry cheesecakes but cheesecake strawberries. This recipe is quick, easy, looks nice and doesn't involve one bit of baking. It also allows the berries to take center stage, instead of just the accent role they usually get with cheesecake.

For this recipe you need:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
8 oz cream cheese (I used vegan cream cheese, I am sure the regular variety will also work just as well)
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
About 20 medium strawberries, washed and cored (If you can get the luxurious, giant, long-stemmed variety those would be nice, but they are not necessary. If you go that route you probably will need fewer berries)

First create your filling by combining the sugar and cream cheese in a medium bowl. Beat until smooth with an electric mixer. Stir in the cookie crumbs. Allow your filling to cool in the fridge for a bit while you gather your cake decorating gear. You will want to use a pastry bag with a star tip. (If you do not have this you can probably spoon your filling into your berries but it will not look as nice.) Fill your pastry bag with chilled filling and pipe some filling into the hollowed out center of your berries. Chill the berries until you are ready to serve them.

Late Night Cook In

2007-07-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Matt and I did not get around to making dinner last night until about 1am. It was too late for a cook out, we didn't want to disturb the neighbors. We had been meaning to try this recipe, so instead we had a cook in with our beloved grill rack. The "ribz" came out very well.

We served them with this deliciously refreshing cucumber mojito salad.

The grill rack has been getting tons of use. Last week we grilled portobellos and red peppers and put them into a toasted sandwich with some miso and tahini. We also grilled some tofu for tofu, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. If you do not have a grill rack yet, you must get one. I do not know how we lived without this delightful kitchen essential for so long.

Junk Food'ish

2007-07-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

As much as we like to try to stay healthy, we do enjoy junk food. Last week we made two junk food'ish dishes a little bit healthier. First up, we made a taco salad. It's pretty much just a taco minus the shell. I like this meal because it's quick and easy to make and tasty. In our salad we included:
- baby spinach
- cucumbers
- shredded carrots
- diced celery
- diced avocado
- taco seasoned veggie ground beef (Smart brand)
- homemade salsa (store bought is fine, we just had some herbs, hot peppers and tomatoes in the garden that we needed to put to work)
- vegan sour cream
- a dash of tobasco

Matt and I also made some sweet potato (un)fries. I mostly followed this recipe, except that I put my fries under a broiler for a few minutes before serving, this improved the crispiness of the fries.

Coconut Lime Tofu with Tomatoes and Spinach

2007-07-25T01:05:00.000-07:00

You have a bit of a dilemma often with Asian cooking. Thai style dishes can be overly creamy and heavy while a lot of other Asian style cuisine can be too light to satisfy. I like this dish because it's the perfect compromise between light and satisfying.

1/3 cup light coconut milk
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup tomato, seeded and diced
1 package baby spinach
1 lb tofu, cut into 1/2" thick 1"x2" rectangles

Cook the tofu in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat with some cooking spray until it turns golden brown on all sides.

In a large bowl, combine coconut milk, chiles, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, lime juice and brown sugar. Add the cooked tofu and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour, tossing every 15 minutes.

Drain the marinade from the tofu and set it aside.

In a large skillet or wok, heat some cooking spray and add the tofu. Cook the tofu until it is heated through and then add the tomato and spinach, cooking until the spinach begins to wilt.

Stir in the marinade and simmer until thickened and then serve immediately.

Also, I am sharing this tip because I know a lot of you who read this blog are critter lovers and have companion animals. We recently discovered that our cats also have very strong feelings about their food and we figured out that they both really love it when we serve their canned food lukewarm. Dogs may also appreciate that but I have no dog to try this out with. Any way, I just thought I'd share this discovery since I'd never heard of this from any one else with companion animals.

Corned Beef

2007-07-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

Matt and I really adore Asian food so we tend to make a lot of it and every once in a while I get a hankering for something completely different. This Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe really hit the spot. It was rich, robust, heavy and filling. Although the recipe author describes it as an Irish dish, it reminded me of something a little more Eastern European.

Pizza Minus The Dough

2007-07-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

We made these miniature portobello mushroom "pizzas" for dinner. We just replaced the mozzarella with vegan mozzarella. It's a perfect mid-week meal since it's quick to make and just the right amount of food for two if you're serving it as a main course. I also liked this recipe because it gave me a reason to use my new grill rack which I am now madly in love with. I now want to emblazon all of my food with those fancy grill marks. Tofu, look out, here I come.

Mediocrity Rules

2007-07-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

If given the choice to cook or eat out, I will almost always say cook. Not only do I enjoy cooking, I know what I am going to get if I cook and I know it's going to be great. I find going to restaurants is like gambling. Do I want to bet an average of 20 to 50 bucks that Mr or Ms supposedly-professional-cook won't ruin my evening? Well, the answer is usually that I do not.

Today Matt and I had long days and when he came home after 8pm I was famished and we had nothing in the fridge. "Let's go out!" we said. As I've mentioned, Matt's obsessed with veggie burgers and this brunch place, One World Cafe, usually has a veggie burger of the day that he never gets to order because we are always in there for breakfast foods on weekends. We've had dinner at OWC before but not in quite a while, either we were a lot more tolerant of mediocrity last time we ate there or things have really gone down hill.

With our menus we received a list of specials, the page boasted about Indian spiced vegetables, including fresh green beans and bell peppers, served with a baked marinated ginger tofu over a bed of rice in a coconut sauce. The page also informed us that the veggie burger of the day was a tofu vegetable burger with honey mustard and "the works". The day's special appetizer was baba ganoush. Sounds good doesn't it?

We placed our orders and disaster ensued. The baba ganoush had the flavor of a kindergartener's tub of paste and 8 skimpy strips of pita bread with which to scoop up a heaping mound of the stuff. Not that how we'd finish this slop was a concern since our main courses arrived about 6 bites into our appetizer.

Matt's "burger", although displaying a few grill marks for show, was soft and soggy, quickly falling apart and giving us reason to believe the main ingredient was not tofu, but in fact, mashed potatoes. Actually I think you could coax more solid texture out of mashed potatoes, so I am still at a loss as to how this "burger" was concocted. Speaking of mashed potatoes, Matt ordered a side of them, which he informed me had the blandness of sand. Although the potatoes supposedly were made with garlic, nary a hint of it was to be tasted.

As for my meal, it was about 2 lbs of rice topped with what I imagine was some sort of store-bought sauce mixed with frozen or canned green beans and red peppers that had been revived in a microwave. No tofu was present whatsoever. The lifeless, soft, soggy veggies came with no tofu and "spiced" for the palate of a 90 year old with high blood pressure and diabetes. I pushed my food around on my plate and got progressively more vocal about my green beans which were not "fresh green beans" but that sickly, muddy, boiled for days green of Gerber strained peas.

After about 20 minutes our server finally came to ask me if I wanted my mostly untouched meal to go. I told her I did not. I really dislike to complain in restaurants. It seems almost pointless since the person you are complaining to didn't cook the meal and probably doesn't know all that much about cooking any way. I imagine the average restaurant server subsists on a diet of day old coffee and cigarettes. In spite of all of this, I tried to calmly and politely explain that I was disappointed with my meal. The server replied "well, next time let us know earlier and we can bring you something else." LET YOU KNOW EARLIER?! Are you kidding? You just came by to fill our water glasses 20 minutes after our food was served. Do I want you to bring me something else at this point? No I do not, my dining companion has already choked down his meal and wants to get out of here and from what I've seen of the evenings offerings so far, I can't imagine something else is going to hit the spot any way. I will just take my atrociously overpriced bill and get the fuck out of here and go home and make myself something to eat.

I wanted to leave no tip. I couldn't really do it since I am always imagining restaurant servers are harried, struggling students without health care or something and I'd feel like a fascist for stiffing them. Fifteen percent was all I could muster. I normally leave over twenty and tend to be tolerant if the server is busy and not take bad cuisine out on them. It was this business of telling me I should have asked for something else that got to me. Maybe I would have if I'd been asked about that in a reasonable amount of time.

As we were leaving I saw a girl picking at her plate and overheard her say to her server (who did come to see how they were doing at her table) "Wasn't this supposed to come with tofu?"

Where's my chef's knife...

Montreal

2007-07-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Matt and I spent most of the week in Montreal. I am sorry to say but I was a little unimpressed with it overall. The people were not that friendly and EVERYONE smokes nonstop so even though the bars were smoke-free, walking down the street was a hazard to the lungs and made for poor air quality and left me with a sore throat and itchy eyes. The music shops had a poor selection so even a search of Canadian albums was pretty fruitless. Many of the restaurants had really slow service and one was even closed for the summer! Why would you close your restaurant for the summer in Montreal?! Montreal's subway only runs until midnight but bars are open until 3 and things are a bit spread out so you really get your walking in whether you want to or not. (We also found that you have to buy subway tickets from a cashier instead of a machine so you can end up waiting in a long line to buy a train ticket!) Generally I feel like I spent my trip choking on the air and waiting for things whether it was subway lines, getting around the city, waiting for restaurant service, waiting for bartender attention, etc.

If you are headed to Montreal, the good news is that it is an extremely vegetarian and somewhat vegan friendly city. Our first meal was at La Paryse -- mostly a burgers and fries place with a very good tofu burger (ask for it without mayo if you are a vegan). Matt is a huge veggie burger fan so he enjoyed this restaurant quite a bit.

The next day we got lunch at Commensal -- a vegetarian buffet style restaurant. I like this idea in theory. My trouble with veg eateries is that I always want to try a bite of everything but I can't eat everything on the menu myself. The problem with Commensal was the execution. All of the food was similar in taste and consistency. The sort of edible and not bad but nothing to write home about fare you'd expect at the home of a friend who's been vegetarian for about 6 months and just learned to cook with curry powder or something. The buffet consisted of salad, soup, chili, curries, baked tofu, etc. It is nice that the place is there and die hard vegetarians might even sort of like it but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there again. It was the kind of food I'd be happy to find at a rest stop on a road trip if that gives you some idea.

We got dinner at ChuChai, a vegan Thai restaurant. The food was outstanding. The menu was extensive and we liked everything we ordered. We got fresh rolls which were light and cool and refreshing. We got two spicy entrees, mine was "chicken" with basil and eggplant. Matt had something with mock duck. The entrees were the perfect degree of spicy and satisfying without making us feel overly stuffed. Although this was a pricey eatery, the food was definitely worth it.

We got drinks at Jello Bar. This bar was obscenely expensive ($10/drink!) but by far the most enjoyable that we found. They had a really good DJ and the drinks were excellent. If you are going to try just one we really loved their "Key West" martini which consisted of melon liquer, vodka and lime juice. All of the drinks were pretty tasty and buzz inducing though. This bar also had the friendliest bartender (even bartenders in Montreal were not all that friendly).

We also ate at a restaurant called Aux Vivres twice. The service left a lot to be desired. We waited over an hour for our meal and they rarely filled our glasses of water. The food was pretty good though and the entire restaurant was vegan. They had a very good smoothie that had celery in it and a decent selection of sandwiches including a coconut BLT. You can get any sandwich on Chapati bread which is fresh made at the restaurant. I think this works for some sandwiches more than others.

The chili was pretty good but I wasn't crazy about the sweet potato fries since they were kind of soggy. Matt didn't seem to mind though.

If you eat here skip dessert! The truffles were too rich to be enjoyable and the cheesecake was very tofu'ish. Overall the desserts were extremely vegan tasting (this is not a good thing), clearly they need a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

We went to another bar that was decent called Else's. They have vegan food and Hoegaarden (my favorite beer). They also had some indie rock CDs in rotation which we always appreciate.

We also checked out Le Cagibi, a cozy cafe with tasty coffee/tea drinks and vegan/vegetarian food and Le Divan Orange, a rock bar with vegan/vegetarian food.

One thing Montreal does have going for it is that you can get food and coffee (with soy milk even) 24 hours a day. There are many places to choose from and even vegetarian food is available at all hours. We really liked Sara on the corner of Mont Royal and St Laurant. This 24 hour Lebanaese fast food joint had all the standard Lebanese fare in a ready-in-a-jiffy format. The food was inexpensive, the staff was friendly and the potatoes were really outstanding -- salty and soft on the inside and slightly crisp at the edges. For under $10 we got a plate of grape leaves, potatoes, hummus, bread, grilled eggplant and and falafel.

Fridge Cleaning

2007-07-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

Matt and I are going away for the week so the fridge had to be emptied of all produce. We made:

Raw Veggies with Hummus (The hummus had chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and lots of fresh chives since they are growing like wild in our yard. the tomatoes were from the plant in our yard and they were delicious!)

Vegan with a Vengeance Balsamic Glazed Portabellos (a favorite around here)

Farmer's Market Honey Mushrooms Sauteed in oil and tossed with salt, pepper and a dash of honey

Farmer's Market Kale sauteed in olive oil with garlic, salt and pepper

Farmer's Market tomatoes caramelized with olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper underneath a broiler set on high, these were so fantastic that I wish I had some right now.

The Farmers Market

2007-07-02T15:33:00.001-07:00

Since Matt and I are insomniacs, we rarely we up early enough on weekends to hit the farmers market. This past weekend however we stayed up late enough to check it out. We stocked up on exotic goodies we do not see every day including:
- Squash Blossoms
- Honey Mushrooms
- Purple Bell Peppers
- Sweet Beets
- Garlic Scapes
- Gooseberries

Our Loot:

We peeled and sliced the beets (which were beautiful inside) and roasted them at 400 degrees with olive oil, salt and pepper until they were tender. They were so good I wish we'd bought more. This is what they looked like when sliced open:

We got our mushrooms from this crazy mushroom stand that had every mushroom under the sun. We considered getting some Morels but they were $15!

To prepare our squash blossoms we stuffed them with a mixture of vegan cream cheese, chopped fresh basil and shredded vegan mozarella, dipped them in a mixture of flour and soy milk (about 3 T flour and 1/2 cup soy milk) and fried them. They were tasty but fried food is not really our thing and they were a little too heavy for us to eat them all on our own. If we get squash blossoms again I will have to find another way to prepare them, but I certainly enjoyed the novelty of a new veggie.

Dinner Party

2007-07-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

We like to throw fancy dinner parties because it's an excuse to use our fancy entertaining gear and cook up elaborate meals. We also get to use our beautiful giant dining room table that seats up to ten.

For our first course we served roasted tomatoes over a bed of baby greens with home made croutons, fresh basil and braised garlic in a Zinfandel vinaigrette. The salad looked beautiful and had a refreshing, crisp, slightly tart flavor.

For the salad I got to use my new "ring mold." You will notice that in upscale eateries food is often arranged in a perfect cylindrical mound. They accomplish this with the use of a mold. You probably need a specialty cooking store to get one so I sort of made my own by cutting the top and bottom off of a clean empty water bottle. It worked out very nicely.

For our main course we served a rich and robust Chianti "Beef". I used this recipe but replaced the mutton with Morningstar Farms veggie steak strips. All of my omnivore dinner guests raved about the meal so I guess that is an endorsement for the substitution from an unbiased source.

For dessert I served white chocolate brownies with green tea cheesecake swirls. To make the brownies vegan I made my own white chocolate and used earth balance margarine instead of butter. I replaced the eggs with 2 Tbs cornstarch and 2 Tbs soy milk for every 1 egg. I also used vegan cream cheese. My white chocolate loving company really enjoyed these.

I also made Napoleons which were delicious and beautiful. Recipe follows...

Cake:
3/4 c sifted white flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbs cornstarch
1/4 c soy margarine
1/2 c sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c soy milk + 2 Tbs

Preheat oven to 400 F. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cornstarch. beat in butter using an electric mixer on low speed. Then beat in the sugar, vanilla and soy milk. Lightly oil a muffin pan and fill each muffin cup about 1/3 of the way with batter. (You will get about 12 cups filled) Bake your cakes for about 12 minutes or until inserting a toothpick in the center comes out dry. Once they come out of the oven allow them to cool.

While your cakes bake and cool prepare your chocolate ganache frosting and strawberry sauce. For strawberry sauce combine 1 cup fresh strawberries with 2 1/2 Tbs sugar and 1/2 tsp lemon juice in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. For the chocolate combine 2 Tbs soy margarine, 3/4 cup vegan dark chocolate, 1/4 cup + 2 Tbs vegan heavy cream (I use Alpro Soya Creamer), 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Place all ingredients except vanilla in a sauce pan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.

Turn cooled cupcakes out onto a cutting board. Slice the rounded tops off of each cake. Take 1 cake a spread strawberry sauce on top of it, top that cake with another cake and then cover the whole thing with the chocolate ganache frosting. Garnish with crushed hazelnuts, sliced strawberries and small dark chocolate wedges. You should end up with 6 mini layer cakes. I serve mine with a swirl of strawberry sauce.

Calzones

2007-06-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

Matt and I had sundried tomato and basil calzones for dinner. The recipe was in the Vegetarian Times cookbook and calzone recipes are easy to come by so I'll just share a few pics:

Bulgur Stuffed Veggies

2007-06-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

These colorful stuffed veggies with a moist, savory, bulgur filling offer a punch of sweet-tart goodness with currants.

Vegan Gourmet

2007-06-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have a bit of an inferiority complex about my limitations as a cook. I know most cooks look down on vegan cooking and imagine it is boring and un-fancy. Although I know this is untrue, I love to read fancy gourmet cooking magazines and turn their recipes vegan just to show it can be done and that it can turn out well.

Since I adore Thai food, this Hollywood Thai Beef Salad recipe seemed an ideal candidate for veganization. I skipped the fish sauce and used Morningstar Farms steak strips instead of steak. I also added in some diced celery.

The recipe made for a light tasting but filling meal. The refreshing combination of citrus, mint and cilantro made this a perfect summertime dinner.

Breakfast For Dinner

2007-06-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

When faced with a brunch menu my dilemma is always the same -- sweet or savory? Pancakes or Tofu Scramble? French Toast or a Vegan BLT? Today Matt and I had both. We've been wildly out of control with our sleep habits since he is on break from school. We've been going to bed at sunrise and getting up at 2pm. As a result meal times have kind of become a joke and we never know what meal we are eating or what time we should be eating.

We spent our Sunday preparing a delectable feast of club sandwich style lettuce wraps and vanilla scented "fronch" toast with maple syrup and loads of fresh fruit. I guess this was our brunch which we ate around 10pm but we began working on the feast around 4pm.

First of all, I have heard that Challah bread makes the most spectacular French toast so I began my day by making a couple of loaves of vegan Challah from scratch using a recipe I found online.

The Challah took a long time to make so while we waited for it we made club sandwich inspired lettuce wraps. To make the wraps we sliced the following into very skinny strips:
- cucumber
- tomatoes
- cubanelle pepper
- shallots
- celery

We also grated some baby carrots and fried some Smart brand veggie bacon in a pan. To assemble our wraps we placed a leaf of red leaf lettuce on a plate and put some Vegannaise (vegan mayo) on the edges of the leaf. Then we filled the leaf with our cut up veggies, a veggie bacon strip and a slice of Tofurky brand vegan turkey slice. (We applied a little additional vegan mayo to the "turkey" slices and then rolled them up and stuck them on top of the bacon and veggies.)

Then we rolled the leaf up and the mayo on the edges helped to keep the lettuce wraps closed up.

In retrospect, iceberg lettuce might have been easier to work with since it has bigger leaves. A lot of our wraps did not come out as pretty as the ones in the picture but they all came out completely delicious -- crunchy, light, crisp, savory, refreshing, and a little salty.

By the time we finished assembling our wraps, it was time to turn our attention to our Challah bread which was ready to be turned into French toast. We used the recipe in the Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook but we used vanilla flavored soy creamer instead of the plain kind that the recipe called for. We served our French toast with maple syrup and fresh bananas, blueberries and raspberries.

The French toast was completely amazing. I mean, imagine making French toast out of a loaf of fresh bread that you made from scratch and just pulled out of the oven. The French toast had a faint vanilla aroma and a nice slighty crisp and slightly salty toasty exterior with a melt-in-you-mouth, soft, doughy, yeasty interior. The French toast coupled with the sweet and tart berries and bananas and the sweet maple syrup made for a mouthful that delights every tastebud.

The whole meal was so worth the trouble and satisfying beyond words. I am still sort of on cloud nine from it. If you have a Sunday to waste, this is definitely a good project for it.

Sandwiches, Stir Frys, Etc.

2007-06-23T00:37:00.000-07:00

The new gadgets from our recent Bed Bath and Beyond shopping spree having been getting lots of use. I made another batch of Eggplant "pasta" using our new Y-peeler with micro-teeth and look how noodle-like my eggplant turned out.

That is all eggplant and homemade sauce. Not a carb in sight, in case you are trying to cut back on that kind of thing.

We've been a little off schedule with cooking since we had visiting relatives and a ton of leftovers from a catered party so we only made a few other things during the past week.

Club sandwiches with toasted whole wheat, baby spinach, tomato and celery slices, vegan mayo, veggie bacon and veggie turkey slices.

Ginger Mango Tofu with steamed asparagus from the Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook.

I actually thought this recipe could have been better. The original recipe calls for pressing, marinating and baking the tofu but this only got us soggy soft tofu and unless you like fairly raw tofu -- this is not the best thing. I ended up sticking the tofu in a pan to fry after the fact to improve its texture but if I were going to do this recipe again I would recommend that after you press the tofu, you slice the tofu and fry it in a pan with a bit of oil until golden brown and then go ahead with the marination and baking. The marinade the recipe involves is very good but rather time consuming to make.

Lastly, I adapted one of my favorite Thai style Veg Times recipes. The original recipe is nearly all eggplant, which is not Matt's favorite thing and calls for a lot of oil, which is not my favorite thing. We also had veggies in the refrigerator to use up so they got incorporated. Here's my version of the recipe:

2 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 baby eggplants, cubed into bite-sized chunks
1 medium-sized onion, diced
1 medium-sized red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 bunch asparagus
1 package flavored tofu*
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 Tbs. white vinegar
6 Tbs. dark soy sauce, such as tamari
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
20 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn

Add cooking spray to a wok or deep pan and heat the pan over high heat. Add the crushed red pepper and let it sizzle for about 10 seconds. Add the eggplant and cook it for a minute or two. Then add the onions, bell pepper, asparagus, tofu and garlic. Cook until all the vegetables are soft and then add the vinegar and soy sauce. Sprinkle with sugar and toss for a few minutes longer. Remove from heat and stir in the basil to wilt it. You can serve over rice noodles or rice if you like although it is perfectly good without that.

*The Asian market near our house sells "flavored tofu" in plastic pouches in a refrigerated case. It is kind of similar to vegetarian chicken. You can use any product that is similar -- seitan would also work.

Long Time No Post

2007-06-10T23:48:00.001-07:00

I've been terribly neglectful on the food blogging front but Matt and I have been really busy and not cooking every day. My parents are coming to visit us from Florida and we have been trying to get our act together around the house. But enough about that, here's what we've been making:

Last week, I got some purple scallions. Aren't they pretty? I made a miso soup with them. Matt and I have been out for Japanese food a few times in the last two weeks and we've decided that we can no longer enjoy ordering miso soup in restaurants because it is like a bowl of pond water compared to the miso soup we make at home. If you love miso soup give this recipe a shot, you'll never view restaurant miso soup the same way again.

We've been doing a lot of cookbook cooking. We made Balsamic Glazed Mushrooms and Garlicky Greens with Tahini Dressing from Vegan With A Vengeance. Both recipes were really good although my pictures of them didn't turn out as nicely as I would have hoped.

We also tried out a few recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. We tried the Cappuccino cupcakes which were good but not amazing. If I were to make them again I think I'd skip the coffee flavored pastry cream filling in favor of something that had more of a flavor contrast to offer. We also made the Tiramisu cupcakes which were really good but if you are looking for a more true-to-the-original tiramisu experience this tiramisu recipe is the way to go.

Lastly, Matt and I had friends over on Friday and I made some really good chickpea bruschetta. I regret that I did not write down the exact proportions of my ingredients but I don't think this is the kind of recipe you really have to measure to get right.

Ingredients:
6 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped (with their juice)
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
balsamic vinegar to taste
olive oil to taste
salt to taste
a bunch of fresh chopped basil
a bunch of fresh chopped oregano

I combined all of the above in a bowl and stirred it up and then spooned the mixture onto a loaf of sliced toasted French bread that had been rubbed with garlic.

Hot Cash Injection

2007-06-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

I could not decide what to title this blog entry. The updates have been sparse because I have not cooked much, yet a lot has happened in our culinary life. First of all our dishwasher broke. Matt and I hate doing dishes so this made us not cook very much for several days. Replacing a dishwasher should have been a snap but it turned into a huge ordeal that is not interesting enough to get into so let's just leave it at this -- it took longer than it should have to replace our dishwasher. The good news is our shiny new dishwasher is now in place. It is a fancy Energystar Kitchenaid dishwasher that does solid food disposal and has many special and glorious features but I do not remember what they all are. The dishwasher was pricey ($600) but it does a great job which is important since we cook a lot and do not enjoy washing dishes.

To celebrate the restoration of dishwashing in our house, Matt and I cooked up the contents of our crisper in a delicious stir fry. It had cabbage, broccoli, tofu and fresh basil from our yard. Speaking of the yard...

During this debacle Matt and I got a little charcoal grill! Matt and I live in the city in an adorable 19th century rowhouse with a really fancy private courtyard in the back. It has a koi pond and ivy covered privacy walls and our little organic container garden where we grow lots of fresh herbs and cherry tomatoes and strawberries and hot peppers. Last year our lovely little yard was overrun by motherfucking mosquitoes and we could not use it at all. This year we stuck a bunch of mosquito dunks in our pond and they've worked like gangbusters. Not a mosquito in sight. Why didn't any one tell us about these before? They rock. Anyway, this year we've actually been enjoying our lovely outdoor space and we got a grill so we could have friends over for cook outs. Last weekend we made kebabs, veggie hotdogs and asparagus. It was all super delicious. We got a marinade at Whole Foods that was pomegranate, pear and port flavored.

The spending did not stop there though. I finally got a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and made their Sexy Lowfat Vanilla Cupcakes. They were really really good. I was impressed.

Not having entirely depleted our bank accounts, Matt and I went on a very long overdue shopping spree at Bed Bath and Beyond and equipped our kitchen with several items that either Alton Brown convinced us our lives were meaningless without or items that we'd been fantasizing about owning for months. Lest you think this $700 shopping spree was totally frivolous and indulgent, I should point out that this was actually an early birthday present for someone who might be turning twenty-ten in a couple of weeks. Someone who shall remain nameless...

The loot included:
- 5 qt Kitchenaid mixer
- reversible stovetop grill/griddle
- Cuisinart popcorn machine
- immersion blender (Alton, this thing better be good)
- new french press (my old one was falling apart)
- mortar and pestle
- a very expensive, sharp-enough-to-murder-a-pumpkin Japanese chef's knife
- fancy knife sharpener
- strainers with fine mesh in various sizes
- a Wok
- Y peeler, ice cream scoop with release lever and other assorted utensils
- Crazy about Cupcakes, a cupcake cookbook with great art and petit fours recipes (I am starting to obsess about petit fours these days). The book is mostly not vegan but I can adjust their recipes for my purposes.

About the popcorn machine; I LOVE LOVE LOVE popcorn. I probably eat it almost everyday. Sometimes more than once a day. I could live on popcorn. Fellow popcorn addict Karin insisted this popcorn maker was the best thing ever and that all other popcorn pales in comparison so how could I not buy it. I am a little troubled by the amount of oil required with this new machine though. I am not a fan of very oily popcorn.

Still not yet in the poor house, Matt and I turned our attention to Mom's. If you crossed co-op health food shopping with Nordstrom, it would be this place. We spent $80 on assorted exotic treats including some vegan marshmallow fluff, a ton of fancy jam, agave nectar, and some beautiful purple scallions. I had no idea scallions came in purple. We also got some organic lemons and raspberries and I made the most glorious lemonade of all time.

To make your own Fizzy Raspberry Lemonade you need:

- 8 oz sparkling mineral water (I recommend Poland Springs raspberry lime mineral water)
- The juice of one lemon
- 2 Tbs sweetener (sugar, agave nectar, whatever you like. I used Splenda because we are watching our figures and it dissolves in cold water)
- 2 Tbs crushed fresh raspberries

If you wanted an adult version of this most delicious beverage, Stoli Ras and a dash of raspberry schnapps would work nicely. Serve over ice -- with a silly straw if you like.

I know it seems that we've spent an outrageous amount of cash on our culinary life this week but to be fair we do not do this sort of thing often, the dishwasher was needed, the BB&B spree was for a big birthday and well... we love to cook.

Chick'n Salad

2007-05-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight's dinner:
- Broccoli rabe and spinach, wilted in a pan with sauteed garlic and red pepper flakes and tossed with lime juice, salt, pepper and vinegar
- Vine-ripened tomatoes stuffed with "Chicken" salad

Vegan Chicken Salad Ingredients:
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 package Morningstar Farms soy chicken, chopped
1 cup carrot, choppeds
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 c veganaise
several sprinkles of celery seed
8 medium, hollowed out tomatoes

All ingredients were mixed up in a bowl using a fork and then stuffed into hollowed out tomatoes.

This made 4 servings (220 calories/serving including the tomatoes and the salad). Perfect for dinner tonight and lunches tomorrow.

Sweet Delicious Atonement

2007-05-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

Moving right along with our low-cal week, tonight I made pan-seared tofu with roasted asparagus and tomatoes in a balsamic garlic glaze.

Ingredients:
1 block of extra firm tofu, cut into 1/4" thick rectangles
3 cups asparagus cut into 1" pieces
1 cup grape tomatoes
1 Tbs garlic, minced
3 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs olive oil

Spray a skillet with cooking spray and place over high heat. Arrange tofu inside the skillet, cover and cook until browned on one side. Flip the tofu and brown on the other side. Then set the tofu aside.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and coat the veggies with the marinade. Then arrange the veggies on a baking sheet covered with foil and cook them under a broiler set to high for about 10 minutes or until the skin on the tomatoes is wrinkled.

While the veggies cook soak the cooked tofu in any marinade that remains at the bottom of the bowl you marinated the veggies in.

When the veggies come out of the oven sprinkle them with salt and black pepper, to taste. Then put the tofu on plates and pile the cooked veggies on top. Serves 3, 196 calories, 7.3 carbs, 4.13g sugar, 5g sodium per serving.

Pasta Imposter

2007-05-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Since Matt and I are trying to watch our calories this week, I came up with this low calorie version of spaghetti with chunky tomato sauce. Matt, who adores pasta, remarked that the eggplant substitute was almost like noodles. Mission accomplished!

To make this dish you will need:
1 large eggplant
1 Tbs garlic, minced
1 cup onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut into very thin strips
3/4 c diced fire roasted tomatoes
3/4 cup white button mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 bag of baby spinach
2 Tbs fresh oregano, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
salt and black pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and as it heats peel the skin off of the eggplant with a vegetable peeler. Once the skin is removed peel the eggplant with a peeler so that you produce long thin strips of eggplant. Once the entire eggplant is in peels arrange it on a baking sheet covered with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle salt over the raw eggplant (arranging the eggplant on the baking sheet in layers is fine). Bake the eggplant for 15 minutes.

While the eggplant bakes coat a large deep frying pan with cooking spray, and cook the garlic and onions over medium high heat until the onions start to soften. Add in the bell peppers and tomatoes and cook for a few minutes more. Then add the mushrooms and tomato sauce, cooking until all the vegetables soften. Stir in the spinach and herbs, allowing them to wilt. Remove from heat and add the salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, arrange a pile of eggplant on a dish and top with the tomato mixture. Serves 3, 175 calories per serving.

Let the Penance Being

2007-05-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

This week Matt and I are to eschew chips, cakes, cookies, pastries, candy, fried anything, etc. We had too many baked goods and we are feeling very unattractive. We kicked our week off with soup and salad.

The Salad:
1/4 c chickpeas + 2 Tbs
1/4 c carrots, diced + 2 Tbs
1/2 package of baby spinach
1/4 cucumber, peeled and diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup cubanelle pepper, diced
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
1 tsp veg bacon bits
2 Tbs light balsamic dressing

Serves Two, 70 calories/serving

The Soup:
1/2 Tbs garlic, minced
1/2 c carrots, chopped finely
1/2 c onions, chopped finely
1 c celery, chopped finely
3 cups vegetable stock
1/2 c beets, chopped finely
1/6 c bulgar wheat
1/4 c chickpeas + 2 Tbs
3/4 c diced fire roasted tomatoes
2 c kale, julienned
fresh basil, chopped -- to taste
fresh oregano, chopped -- to taste
pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
cumin, to taste
chili powder, to taste

Heat a bit of cooking spray in the bottom of a large soup pot. Cook onions, garlic, carrots and celery on medium high heat until they just start to soften. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a rolling boil. Add the beets, bulgar, and chickpeas and boil for a few minutes. Reduce to a simmer and add the tomatoes, kale and herbs and spices. Allow the soup to simmer for about 45 minutes or until all the vegetables have become soft.

Serves Four, 120 calories/serving

So that was our less-than-200-calories dinner. The soup was delicious and filling and we had enough left over for lunches the next day.

I Want To Make Love To These Cinnamon Rolls

2007-05-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

I made these cinnamon buns over the weekend. They were totally amazing. I could have eaten all of them in one sitting. The only thing that stopped me was packing up half of them and taking them to friends.

Matt and I are feeling rather fat after all the baked goods and we've decided a week of "penance" is in order. We have a week of soup and salad consumption planned and a temporary moratorium on baking in effect.

Peanut Stew and Greens

2007-05-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

OK, here's the conclusion of my week of cooking recipes from the current issue of Veg Times magazine. I made their Out of Africa dishes including their Peanut Stew with Cucumber Sauce and Flash Cooked Greens. I added 1 tsp of brown sugar to the cucumber sauce which the recipe did not call for but it really needed. The stew was nice and the greens were divine. Here's the grub:

Holy Mother Of Nachos!

2007-05-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Last night Matt and I made a giant plate of super decadent nachos. I feel like I gained 10 lbs but they really were the most spectacular nachos of all time. We used a big pile of Tostitos chips and topped with them half a can of Amy's Organic Refried Beans. We covered that with half a block of melted Follow Your Heart Cheddar. Then we topped that with homemade guacamole, homemade salsa and Tofutti Sour Supreme (vegan sour cream).

For the guacamole I tried following the mock guac recipe from the current issue of Veg Times which calls for some boiled shelled peas (processed in food processor), chopped tomatoes, minced garlic, salt, pepper, hot sauce, cilantro, lime juice and chopped scallions but the peas alone were not quite Guacalicious so I added in some mashed Avocado and it turned out to be the best guac I have ever had.

For the salsa, Matt chopped a bunch of vine ripened tomatoes, garlic, a jalapeno pepper, scallions, onions, and cilantro and then added in some lime juice, olive oil, and chili powder.

Eat your heart out, Taco Bell.

Tofu Scramble and Layered Cakelets

2007-05-16T00:25:00.000-07:00

Yet again I made something from the current issue of Vegetarian Times. This time it was a Tofu Scramble. I did not really follow their directions exactly. I cooked the tofu longer than they suggested and I added pepper and garlic salt and a lot more minced garlic than they suggested since we love garlic around here. Any way here is how it came out:

Matt and I both enjoyed the scramble very much. I also decided to do some baking. Tonight I made cinnamon, apple and vanilla layered mini cakes.

The Cake:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbs cornstarch
1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla.
1/2 cup soy milk + 3 Tbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour a cupcake pan (I like the spray on stuff that has oil and flour in it together).

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cornstarch in a bowl. Using and eletric mixer on low beat in the butter. Beat in the sugar next. Add in the vanilla and soy milk with the mixer on medium high and beat until smooth.

Fill each cupcake holder 1/2 way and bake about 10 minutes (or until inserting a toothpick int he center of a cake comes out clean)

The Apples:
2 apples, peeled, sliced and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine all of the above ingredients in a medium pan and cook over medium high heat, stirring often, until the apples soften.

The Frosting:
1/4 cup margarine, softened
2 Tbs cup soy milk
1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

To assemble:
Slice a cupcake in half horizontally like so

Apply a thin layer of frosting to the sliced open cake on both halves

Spoon a generous helping of cooked apple onto one half of the sliced open cake

Place the top half of the cake over the apples and frost the top of the cake with cinnamon frosting. Serve with a fork.

Fava Beans

2007-05-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

I was attracted to the current issue of Vegetarian Times recipe for Fava Bean Ragout for two reasons:
1. It involved wine. I tend to like how stuff cooked in wine tastes and I appreciate having all the left over wine so I can feel like Julia Child and get totally hammered whilst preparing dinner.
2. It involved fava beans which I've seen around for a while but never knew what to do with 'em.

The recipe itself was just okay. Not bad but not amazing. The fava beans were a pain in the ass. They must be shelled, they must be boiled, they must be drained, they must be peeled. You know what fava beans? Fuck you guys. There are other veggies out there that are much less high maintenance.

Any way, here is the grub:

So much cake

2007-05-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

I got behind on posting about cake... I mean I have been posting about cake but I made more cake than I posted about, so here it is:

Chai Latte Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting (these were awesome by the way).

Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting and a Sliced Strawberry on Top

Coffee Flavored Cupcake with Hazelnut Frosting and Crushed Hazelnuts on Top

The coffee cupcake and hazelnut frosting was entirely my own made up recipe and although it turned out well I think I can make it even better so I'll hold off on sharing the recipe until I give these babies another go and get them perfect.

I Stir-Fryed Everything

2007-05-13T17:11:00.000-07:00

By the time the weekend rolled around Matt and I had a random assortment of stuff in the fridge; red cabbage, bell peppers, vegan skallops, tofu, asparagus, onions, garlic, ginger, cauliflower... There's only one thing to do when that happens -- cook all of it in a giant pan with some hoison, red curry paste, soy sauce, sesame oil and rice vinegar. The result was pretty and delicious.

P.S. I bought Sheese from Pangea. I did not like it one bit. It does not melt. It has a mediocre taste and texture. I very much prefer Follow Your Heart. In case any one out there in blogreaderland was considering this product, I thought I'd share.

Cupcakes Go Neopolitan

2007-05-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

With regard to my Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Filling and Peanut Butter Frosting, my friend asked, "could you make those without the banana or the peanut butter?" (Her hubby dislikes both.) I asked her what kind of cake he'd eat instead and she said chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry maybe. All very good suggestions but who can choose between them? I just made a cupcake with all three. I feel like cupcake is the wrong word here. These would get too messy to eat without a fork, maybe just mini-cake? Any way, here's the recipe.

The Cake:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbs cornstarch
1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla.
1/2 cup soy milk + 3 Tbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour a cupcake pan (I like the spray on stuff that has oil and flour in it together).

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cornstarch in a bowl. Using and eletric mixer on low beat in the butter. Beat in the sugar next. Add in the vanilla and soy milk with the mixer on medium high and beat until smooth.

Fill each cupcake holder 1/2 way and bake 12-15 minutes (or until inserting a toothpick int he center of a cake comes out clean)

The Chocolate:
3 Tbs cup soy milk,
1 Tbs soy margarine
1/2 cup very high quality vegan chocolate chips or chopped vegan chocolate.

Combine the soy milk and margarine in the top of a double broiler, heating until the margarine melts. Add the chocolate and stir until until the chocolate melts.

The Berries:
1/4 cup water
1 tbs sugar
2 tsp vanilla
10 medium strawberries, cut into small thin slices

Combine all of the above ingredients in a small bowl, stirring often to coat the berries with the mixture.

The Cream Topping:
I used Soya Too Canned Whipped Cream. You can get it online and maybe at your local hippiemart, er natural foods store if you're lucky. If you're not vegan, regular whipped cream is fine too.

The Procedure:
After the vanilla cakes have cooled remove them from their baking pan and cut out a well in the middle of each cake with a sharp paring knife. Reserve the cake cut outs.

Fill this well with some chocolate.

Top the chocolate with some of your marinated strawberries.

Make crumbs of the cake you cut out and set aside and arrange on some foil and toast until you have some cake breadcrumbs. Garnish each cake with the cake breadcrumbs.

Right before you serve your cakes top them with some whipped cream. If you want to be very fancy fill a squirt bottle with left over chocolate sauce and make a ring around your plate and then use a fork to drag some chocolate out from the circle making a cute spiky pattern like you see in the picture below.

Fancy Tofu

2007-05-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

Our friends came over for dinner tonight and we prepared one of our favorite tofu dishes. We like this recipe because it is delicious and beautiful...

Let me say I have two specific fetishes with food -- pretty food and miniature food, hence my interest in cupcakes. The only exception to this rule is soup. I love soup but it's not really soup season so you won't hear much about that for a few months unless I make a gazpacho which is unlikely since Matt considers gazpacho a watered down version of salsa and "who would want that?!" he says. Food that is both miniature and pretty is especially awesome. I'll blog about mini-foods in the near future, other than miniature cakes, but for now, the tofu...

This recipe was published in an issue of Veg Times but their directions were totally horrible so I am posting with my own instructions -- this serves two so double if you're entertaining guests.

You need:
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 Tbs. mirin
1 1/2 tsp. minced scallions (white part only)
1 tsp. dark sesame oil
3 tsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
6 scallions (white and light green parts), thinly sliced
1/2 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 small green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 tsp. tamari
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus extra for garish.
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
10 oz. baked marinated tofu, cut lengthwise into 4 equal pieces

Directions:
Prepare the sauce by combining the soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, minced scallions and sesame oil in a bowl. Stir the sauce and set aside.

In small pan or skillet, heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add scallions, bell peppers and tamari and cook until the vegetables are softened. Combine the cooked veggies with the cilantro in a bowl, mix with a large spoon and set aside (covered to keep warm).

In large pan or skillet, heat the rest of the oil over medium heat. Add curry powder and stir well. Add tofu slices in single layer and cook until golden on both sides. Remove from the pan and set on a tea towel or paper towel to drain.

To serve:
Holding knife parallel to work surface, slice each piece of tofu horizontally about 3/4 of the way through. Place the tofu on plates. Gently lift top of 1 piece of tofu and spoon some vegetable mixture over bottom portion. Replace top of tofu and spoon some of the sauce over the top of the tofu. Garnish with cilantro and serve. Goes well with miso soup.

What I've Been Eating

2007-05-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

I have not been creative. I've been following recipes to a T but I took pictures any way because everyone loves food porn...

On Wednesday we made Tofu with Peanut Ginger Sauce.

Surprisingly Matt gave this recipe higher marks than I did. It wasn't bad but I think the spectacular curry from earlier this week kind of ruined other recipes for me since it was so very good. It was hard for the peanut tofu to compete. It's also possible that I set myself up for disappointment because I have such a great affection for peanut butter that I expect all things that involve it to be amazing. I did find that a considerable amount of cayenne was necessary to make this dish enjoyable.

On Thursday I tried Fat-Free Vegan's Eggplant Pancakes Florentine.

I liked this recipe very much, it had loads of garlic which I adore and I was able to use fresh herbs from our container garden which I am always happy to do. I got to use our oregano for the first time this season, which has been growing like a champ. For this recipe I found adding more flour than recipe called for and some cornstarch to the eggplant batter was necessary to get my pancakes to hold together. If you try this recipe and have trouble that's what I suggest adding.

Veganized Tastespotting

2007-05-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

So I am kind of obsessed with Tastespotting and today I went on a Tastespotting spree, trying out some recipes I found on there, veganized of course.

First I tried these Scallops with Garlic Chips and Arugula-Mint Cream. I used Worthington's Skallops and vegan soy parmesan and Alpro Soya Heavy Cream Substitute. Matt declared this recipe to be just ok. Keep in mind that Matt is a critic and pretty spoiled because more often than not the things we cook around here are "That was almost better than sex, amazing!" The recipe isn't going to disappoint if you give it a shot, but yes, we've had other things we've liked more. (Non-vegan readers may assume we ruined the recipe by making it vegan and while I suppose it's a possibility, I think Matt's grievance was that the pesto was slightly bland and adding cream or parmesan probably wouldn't have changed that. Maybe I should have added more pepper...)

We paired the Skallops with Shaved Asparagus Salad. The only substitution here was soy parmesan in place of the romano cheese. The salad had a light mild taste and it certainly looked pretty on our plates. Matt gave the salad higher marks than the Skallops. The hazelnuts were a really nice touch.

Lastly, I baked snickerdoodle muffins. These muffins were even more amazing than they sound -- light as air and fluffy and moist and sweet, like sweet cinnamon infused little clouds. I really wanted to eat every last one of them in one sitting. Just delicious! I replaced the 2 eggs with 1/4 cup of cornstarch and used Tofutti Sour Supreme in place of the sour cream. You should make these muffins immediately. Seriously, stop reading this blog now and get in the kitchen and make these, you will thank me later.

Curry in a Hurry

2007-05-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Got a hankering for a restaurant quality curry in the middle of the week? You don't need take out menus, Thai culinary school or even hours and hours of simmering for this deliciously flavorful spicy dish you can whip up in no time. (This is based on an Eating Well Magazine recipe that was not vegan, you can make a non-vegan version with chicken if you like.)

You Need:
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1- to 2-inch-long julienne strips
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1-1/2 teaspoons red curry paste
1 8 oz package of Seitan, cut into small bite sized pieces
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup "lite" coconut milk
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets
2 cups baby spinach
2 tablespoons basil, chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice

Heat oil in a large work or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper and onion; cook, stirring often, until slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in garlic, ginger and curry paste. Add seitan and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth, coconut milk, soy sauce and brown sugar and bring to a simmer. Add cauliflower, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in spinach, basil and lime juice; cook just until spinach and basil has wilted. Serve immediately over rice.

Sweet Stuffed Eggplant

2007-05-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

This is a Vegetarian Times cookbook recipe, I've made a few minor alterations though.

You'll need:
4 small-medium eggplants (but not baby eggplants, the original recipe called for Japanese eggplants but I've found Italian eggplants work better)
cooking spray
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
1 cup vegetable stock
1 Tbs minched fresh ginger root
2/3 cup tomato sauce
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/4 c raisins
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 Tbs curry powder

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9x13" baking pan with cooking spray. Cut out a deep groove deep length-wise into each eggplant (not cutting all the way through). Set eggplants aside and cut up the sliver you extracted from each eggplant into very small pieces.

In a large skillet or wok heat the oil and cook the onion and bell pepper over medium-high heat, stirring until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan (including the cut up eggplant scraps) and stir and simmer a few minutes more.

Spread a thin layer of filling you made in the pan on the bottom of the oiled baking pan. Spoon the rest of the filling into the cut of each eggplant and place the stuffed eggplants into the baking pan. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake another 25 minutes.

Chocolate Filled Banana Cupcakes With Peanut Butter Frosting

2007-05-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

These cupcakes are completely decadent. I am in awe of any one who can eat more than one in a single sitting. They're a deliciously sweet marriage of bananas, chocolate and peanut butter. Here's how to make them (yields about 10 cupcakes):

The Cupcakes:
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/4 cup white sugar + 2 tablespoons
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup soy margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray.

Spoon muffins into the muffin pans -- filling each about half way. Bake about 12-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and sticking a toothpick in the center of the cupcake comes up dry.

The Chocolate Filling:
1/4 cup soy milk, + 2 tablespoons
2 tablespoons soy margarine
1 cup very high quality vegan chocolate chips or chopped vegan chocolate.

Combine the soy milk and margarine in the top of a double broiler, heating until the margarine melts. Add the chocolate and stir until until the chocolate melts.

The Frosting:
2 Tablespoons soy margarine, softened
2 Tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tablespoons soy milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

Assembly:
Once cupcakes have cooled thoroughly use a sharp paring knife to cut the top off in a conical shape.

Spoon chocolate filling into the well you've created in the cupcakes (do not overfill). Place the cut off tops back onto the cupcakes.

Fill a ziplock bag with a hole in one corner or pastry bag with your peanut butter frosting and pipe frosting over the top of your cupcakes.

Although cupcakes are usually a food you eat with your hands, you may want to use a fork for these, they can get a bit messy.

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Mango Basil Vinaigrette

2007-05-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

Before I get into this, let me tell you, I've been on a baking kick. Thank goodness for the gym. I have been feeling very catholic about it lately. I bake a batch of cookies and then go confess my sins to the elliptical. I need to see my friends more often so I can unload cakes and other pastries on them. My problem with baking, and cooking in general, is that I want to make things and have a bite to see how they turned out. I do not want to eat the whole thing. Friends, please stop by, any time, day or night. I will make stuff for you.

This week, in addition to cinnamon bread, I made snickerdoodles and inside out carrot cake cookies. I didn't snap a pic of the carrot cake cookies because I was not entirely satisfied with the presentation that turned out and I think the recipe from Epicurious needs tweaking. I will try it again at some point and post about how I think the recipe should be done but in the mean time let me say this -- I did not care for their cream cheese frosting recipe. I suggest mixing cream cheese and powdered sugar with a hand mixer. Honey + Cream Cheese + Food Processor = Runny Mess. I also suggest halfing the size of the cookies, so you have smaller manageably portioned servings.

Any way, enough digression about baking. Let me tell you all about one of my most favorite recipes. Roasted veggies with homemade vinaigrette is great because it's a fancy recipe that's super easy. No complicated procedures, no special gear needed, and your friends will still ooh and ah if you serve this at your next dinner party. So here's how to go about it.

Roasted Veggies:
(You can use any veggies you like honestly, tons of them well work -- summer squash, eggplant, etc. Do not feel like you've got to use the veggies I used. I'm just telling you what I used for the sake of suggestion -- or for any one afraid to experiment with the ingredients. For non vegetarians: if you can't bear the thought of a meal without meat I am sure chicken would also make a fine addition to this dish.) You need:
- 1 large bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1 lb asparagus
- 6 large portabello mushrooms, sliced
- 1 lb extra firm tofu, sliced into thin rectangles

You can prepare the veggies on the grill if you've got one but I make mine in the oven. I cover a baking sheet with foil, coat lightly with olive oil and arrange my tofu slices on top. I cook the tofu under the broiler -- set to high, until browned. Flip the tofu and repeat until the other side browns, then set aside. Make sure there's still a coating of oil and then cook the asparagus under the broiler until it starts to brown. Repeat this process with the bell pepper and mushrooms or any other veggies you like until everything is cooked.

The Vinaigrette
This vinaigrette is pretty cool because it can be changed if you do not want basil or mango. You can use the leafy herb and fruit of your choice. Raspberries, strawberries, mint, kiwi -- all of these work very well in vinaigrettes but for the purposes of this rendition I went with basil and mango. You need:
1 handfull of basil, chopped
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1/2 cup mango, chopped (along with any mango juice that comes out while chopping)
balsamic vinegar, to taste
olive oil, to taste

Combine your basil, shallot and mango in a bowl. Add in your vinegar and oil in equal parts until your basil, shallot and mango are immersed. Then have a taste to see if you prefer your vinaigrette with a tarter taste (add vinegar) or a more mellow flavor (add oil).

To serve this this dish:
Arrange a bed of baby spinach on a large plate. Top the spinach with some rice. Top the rice with your cooked veggies. Stir your vinaigrette and spoon some onto the top of each plate.

CinnaSwirl!

2007-05-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

We have a commercial bakery a few blocks from our house so it often smells like cinnamon bread or rye bread or something else deliciously yeasty around here. The combination of our commercial bakery's aroma and this Kitchen Pantry entry had cinnamon on my mind. So I took a stab at their recipe but I had to convert it to US measurements and probably screwed up some of the calculations and ended up fudging things a bit. Here's what I came up with though:

Ingredients:
1 C warm water
2 Tbs fresh yeast
1-1/2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c spelt flour + 2 Tbs
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter (I used soy margarine)
2/3 c raisins
1/2 c sugar
1 Tbs cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
cooking spray

Combine the water, yeast and a pinch of sugar in a large bowl. Allow the yeast to dissolve and foam (should take about 10 mins).

Add flours, 1 Tbs sugar and 2 Tbs butter. Knead until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Form a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic and allow it to rise for about 90 minutes.

Roll the dough out between two large sheets of greased parchment paper. (I use cooking spray for this). Combine the sugar, remaining butter, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mix all over the rolled out dough. Roll the dough up tightly and close the ends. Lay in a large buttered pan, cover and allow dough to rise for 30 mins.

Then bake the bread in a 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350° F and bake for another 15 minutes.

Allow the bread to cool all the way through before slicing it.

Cheap Red Wine!

2007-04-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

You know that bottle of cheap red wine that's been collecting dust on your wine rack since your housewarming party? It's time to break it out for this Veg Times recipe. You will also need:

2 16 oz cans of chickpeas, rinsed (or 2 cups of cooked chickpeas)
1 cup uncooked couscous
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup tomato juice
2 Tbs dijon mustard
3 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
2 tsp thyme, finely chopped
2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs minced fresh parsley
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs olive oil

Combine couscous, red wine and tomato juice in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer until the liquid absorbs. Let this about 5 minutes.

Combine the couscous mixture and all other ingredients but the oil in a food processor and blend until smooth. (If your food processor is fussy process half of the ingredients at a time.)

Oil your hands and oil a large baking sheet. Shape 3 Tbs of the processed mixture at a time into balls. Place these balls on the baking sheet. (You will get about 20 balls in total.) Flatten the balls to form patties that are about 2" wide and 1/2" thick.

Brush the patties with olive oil and bake for 15 minus, turn them over, brush with oil and bake another 10-12 minutes.

We served our chickpea patties with steamed broccoli but any sort of cooked greens or a leafy green salad is a great accompaniment. Makes for a very delicious and filling low calorie meal -- serves four.

Potato Leek Torte

2007-04-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight we made this potato torte which I enjoyed and Matt thought was just ok. It could have been better with garlic and double the spices the recipe called for but even without that I still enjoyed it. We served it with steamed green beans.

Grilled Tomato & Eggplant Salad

2007-04-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

This dish is perfect for warm late spring evenings. You can prepare this on the grill or in your oven.

You'll need:
2 Tbs fresh basil, chopped
2 Tbs fresh thyme, chopped
2 Tbs fresh oregano, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c balsamic vinegar
1/2 c olive oil

4 small-medium vine ripened tomatoes, sliced into 1/2" thick rounds
1 large eggplant, sliced into 1/2" thick rounds
1 package baby spinach

Combine the herbs, garlic, oil and vinegar in a large bowl. Dip each eggplant round in the mixture and then either cook the rounds on a grill to cook or place them on a baking sheet in the oven under a broiler set to high. Cook your eggplant for about 5 minutes or until tender. Next dip each tomato round into the oil/vinegar mix and cook them for about 5 minutes either over a grill or in the oven. To serve, place some baby spinach on each plate, top with eggplant and tomatoes and drizzle any remaining oil/vinegar mixture over the top.

Summer Rolls

2007-04-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

This was a recipe in Veggie Times last summer. I've made a few minor changes.

Miso Dip
2 Tbs white miso paste
1 green onion, chipped
1/2 Tbs. lime juice
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1/2 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
1/2 Tbs. dark sesame oil
1/2 Tbs. light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. chili powder
2 Tbs olive oil

Summer Rolls
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and julienned
1/4 c cilantro leaves
1/4 c fresh mint leaves
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 lb spicy tofu, cut into thin slices*
12 rice paper wrappers

*You may be able to find prepared spicy tofu at an Asian market, that is where I got mine. If you cannot, get some extra firm tofu and cut it into 1/4" cubes and fry it in some wok oil, brown sugar and chili paste until golden brown.

Directions:

1. Prepare the miso dip by combining all of the ingredients in a food processor and blending until smooth.

2. To make Summer Rolls: heat some water until warm in a saute pan on the oven. Keep the water warm and soak 1 wrapper in the water until soft. Place on a towel and blog excess water with paper towels.

3. Place some of the carrots, cucumber, cilantro, mint, green onion and tofu inside the wrapper. Roll like a burrito and fold down the top and bottom of the wrap. Repeat this with the rest of the filling and wrappers and serve the finished rolls with the miso dip.

Spicy Seitan & Peppers

2007-04-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

This recipe is a southwest influenced treat that tastes great and looks beautiful on a plate. A surefire hit for dinner parties and quick and easy enough for a mid-week meal.

1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
salt, to taste

8 oz package of seitan
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 red bell peppers, sliced thinly
1 onion, halved and sliced thinly
canola oil for coating your pan
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 c coffee
1/4 c balsamic vinegar

Fresh watercress sprigs for garnish

Combine chili powder, coriander, cumin, black pepper and salt in a small bowl and rub the spice mix all over the seitan. Then cut the seitan into bite size pieces.

Heat enough canola oil in a large skillet to coat the bottom of the pan and cook the seitan on medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until it is browned on all sides. After it is done set it aside.

Add a little more oil to coat the skillet again and cook the bell peppers and onions for about 4 minutes, or until softened, stirring often. Add brown sugar and garlic, cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add the vinegar and coffee and cook for about 3 minutes more.

To assemble the dish: place a mound of watercress on the plate, top with the peppers and onions, add the seitan to the top of that. Pour a bit of the left over liquid from the pan over top.

I served this with steamed green beans which were very lightly buttered and tossed with salt, pepper and toasted almonds. This would also go nicely with a tomato soup or even a gazpacho now that the weather is warming up.

Spinach Shitake Miso & Ginger Garlic Slaw

2007-04-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight for dinner: Asian Style Coleslaw and classic Miso soup with a twist.

Miso Soup
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup Spinach, shredded
1/2 cup dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water to reconstitute
1 cup tofu, cut into very small cubes
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
2 1/2 Tbs white miso paste

In a large pot, bring the vegetable broth to a simmer. Add tofu, green onions, mushrooms and spinach and cook just until the greens wilt. Stir in the miso until it is dissolved. Remove from heat and serve. Serves about 6.

Asian Coleslaw
(This is from a recipe on allrecipes.com by Bobbi Ritcheske)

Dressing
3 Tbs rice vinegar
3 Tbs canola oil
2-1/2 Tbs peanut butter
1-1/2 Tbs soy sauce
1-1/2 T brown sugar
1 Tbs ginger root, minced
2 Tbs garlic, minced

Slaw
2 cups green cabbage, sliced thin
2 cups red cabbage, sliced thin
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 carrot,julienned
3 scallions, chopped
1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped

To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend for a few seconds.

In a large bowl combine the slaw ingredients and toss with the dressing right before you serve. Serves about 6.

Spicy Sweet Potato and Cabbage Curry

2007-04-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

This deliciously spicy curry really hits the spot. It's satisfying without making you feel too stuffed to the gills and at only about 200 calories per serving, you can kinda pig out and not feel guilty in the morning. We got this recipe from Vegetarian Times but we've changed it a little so here's our version...

Matt and I like to get all our veggies washed and cut up before we start to cook. Usually one of us will chop and the other will clean and then one of us can start cooking while the last of the veggies get chopped. This makes cooking dinner go really fast in our house.

You will need:
1 T canola oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 T minced ginger
1/2 t salt
1 small onion, chopped
2 t curry powder
1/8 t caynenne
3 cups green cabbage, sliced very thin
1 sweet potato, peeled and finely diced
1 can chickpeas, rinsed
1/4 c raisins
1 c vegetable broth
1/4 c chopped cilantro
2 T chopped roasted cashews

Heat oil in a large wok or skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, curry powder, salt, and cayenne until the onion starts to brown -- about 5 minutes. Stir in cabbage, sweet potato, chickpeas, raisins, ginger and garlic. Saute 2 minutes more.

Stir in the broth and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes (stirring occasionally). When the veggies are soft spoon the curry into bowls and garnish with the cashews and cilantro.

Stuffed Swiss Chard

2007-04-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

This hearty Italian meal serves four.

You Will Need:
1 package veggie ground beef (we used Smart Ground)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 medium shallots, diced finely
1 handful of basil, chopped
1 handful thyme, chopped
1 handful oregano, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
8 large Swiss chard leaves, stems removed
2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
Parmesan cheese (optional)

In a large bowl combine the veggie beef, the bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon of shallots and 1/2 of the basil, thyme, oregano and garlic.

Spoon some of the ground beef mixture into the center of each chard leaf and place each filled leaf, seam side down, into a large skillet. (You will probably be able to fit about 4 stuffed leaves into your skillet at once.) Once you have about 4 leaves filled with the ground beef mix, pour 1 cup broth into the skillet, cover and bring to a boil over high head. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the stuffed leaves for about 8 minutes. Then, using a spatula, remove the cooked stuffed leaves from the skillet and set aside (cover them with a lid or foil to retain heat). Repeat this process with the rest of the stuffed leaves and the rest of the vegetable broth.

While your second batch of leaves cooks up, heat your oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the rest of the shallot, red pepper, black pepper, and the rest of the herbs and garlic. Cook about 1-2 minute and then add the can of tomatoes. (If you have any of the veggie beef mix left over this can be added in as well.) Cook for about 8 minutes, adjusting seasoning to taste.

To serve, put your rolls on a plate and top with the tomato sauce mixture. Garnish with cheese if you like.

Fast Food Nation and Orange Scented Veggie Beef

2007-04-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight for dinner Matt and I had Orange Veggie Beef. Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons chile-garlic paste (or 1 if you're sensitive to hot stuff)
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 pkg vegetarian beef (we get our's from our local Asian market, if you do not have one near you seitan will do nicely)
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 large onion, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 lb broccoli florets

1. Combine 1/4 cup broth, cornstarch, soy sauce, marmalade, vinegar and chile-garlic sauce in a small bowl; mix well.
2. Add 2 teaspoons oil to the wok. Add ginger and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Add onion; stir-fry for another 30 seconds. Add bell pepper and broccoli and veggie beef. Pour in the remaining 1/4 cup broth, cover and cook until the vegetables are crisp-tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir the sauce mixture and add it to the wok. Cook, stirring, until the sauce becomes thick and translucent. Serve with rice -- jasmine is nice but brown rice is good if you're trying to be super healthy.

After dinner we watched Fast Food Nation which was a really distressing movie that made us happy to be veggie. I have read the book, which is also horrifying but good, and have to say I have heard of more people going veg after reading it than any other catalyst. I wish it was required reading in for every high schooler.

I find it really hard to understand how people who are aware of the kind of terrible environmental and human rights (let alone animal cruelty) practices they're participating in by consuming these products can continue to do it. I am not normally too preachy about being veg (mainly because I find it pointless to bother) but I'm guessing if you're interested in this blog you're probably veggie too or at the very least you're reading a veggie blog so you are sort of asking for the occasional rant about vegetarianism. I guess most of the time I don't think of my own reasons for being veg as particularly altruistic and hippy'ish but watching a film like this makes me feel relieved that my consumer dollars don't support that industry and it makes me wish I did even more for humans and the planet than I already try to make a point of.

Garlic Spinach and Chickpea Soup

2007-04-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

This is Matt's favorite soup. It's deliciously spicy and flavorful. We like to serve it with rosemary onion bread.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
5 cups vegetable stock
12 ounces potatoes, peeled and chopped
15-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2/3 cup Silk non-dairy creamer (or heavy cream if you prefer)
2 tablespoons light tahini
7 ounces spinach, shredded
cayenne pepper to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the garlic and onion for until they are softened and golden brown. This will probably take about 5 minutes. Then stir in the cumin and coriander and cook tor another minute.

Pour the stock and add the chopped potatoes to the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chickpeas and simmer for five minutes or until the potatoes and chickpeas are just tender when pierced. Blend together the cornstarch, cream, tahini, salt, cayenne and black pepper. Stir into the soup with the spinach. Bring to a boil, stirring, and simmer for another 2 minutes. Adjust the amounts of cayenne, black pepper, salt, cumin and coriander to taste.

Snickerdoodles

2007-04-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

These cookies are probably my signature cookie. Every where they go they get rave reviews and requests for the recipe. The original recipe wasn't vegan and came from some place online (I cannot remember where). I modified the recipe I found and here is how I make my cookies:

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy margarine (softened)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
cinnamon sugar

In a mixer bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Add in the cornstarch and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing well. Roll the dough into 3/4" balls and roll each ball into the cinnamon sugar, coating all sides. Set the cookies 1" apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for about 10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.

Vegan Tiramisu

2007-04-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

For weeks I obsessed about vegan tiramisu. I'd tried vegan recipes in the past and came up with nothing good. This last time I was determined. Now there is a recipe floating around online for vegan tiramisu already and I gave that a shot first but here is what happened:
- the sponge cake came out kind of bitter and crumbly, even though it cooled a long time, cutting it caused it to break up.
- the "mascarpone" came out really runny.

So I tweaked that recipe and combined it with some other recipes and here is my successful version of vegan tiramisu. First make all the components of the recipe as follows.

Sponge Cake:
(Based on recipe I found online by Candace Naomi Sakuda)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 1/3 cups water

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth and free of lumps. Pour batter into a greased 9 inch pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool complete and then slice it into lady finger shaped strips. Put the strips on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 18 minutes.

"Mascarpone"
8 oz Soy Cream Cheese (I used toffuti's vegan cream cheese)
1/4 cup soy sour cream (I used toffuti's vegan sour cream)
1/4 cup vegan cream (you can try silk coffee creamer but I used Alpro Soya Heavy Cream which you can buy here)
2 tablespoons Amaretto
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon agar (this is a vegan gelatine, I found some at a Korean grocery near my house but if you do not have that kind of thing near you you may have to buy some online)

Bring heavy cream to a boil in a small sauce pan and then dissolve the agar into it and allow it to cool to room temperature. Combine the cream/agar mix with all the other ingredients above and beat well. Put the mix in the fridge to set for several hours.

Coffee/Liquor Dip
1 cup expresso
3 tablespoons amaretto
3 tablespoons sugar

Combine these ingredients and put in the fridge to cool.

Topping
1 high quality dark chocolate bar, grated (store in the refrigerator)

To assemble the dessert dip the "lady fingers" you made into the coffee dip and lay them in a large deep dish. Pour the "mascarpone" over top of the cake. Sprinkel the "mascarpone" with the grated chocolate and then chill the entire dish in the refrigerator for an hour or until you are ready to serve.

Rosemary Onion Bread

2007-04-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

I love to throw a nice dinner party. This means formal place settings at the dining room table, a table cloth, fabric napkins, good wine and best of all a chance to wow my friends with my latest favorite recipe. A nice touch for dinner parties, if you've got the time, is fresh baked bread. My favorite is this rosemary onion bread that is delicious with soup or salad.

You will need:
1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 cup whole-wheat flour
Approximately 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (more if needed)

In a large mixing bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water (105°F to 115°F); let stand for 5 minutes or until mixture becomes foamy.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until softened and edges start to turn golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Stir rosemary, salt and sugar into yeast mixture. Add onions and whole wheat flour and mix. Add enough all-purpose flour to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Place in a clean, oiled bowl and cover with a clean towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Punch dough down. Roll up and place in a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan or for a thinner, crunchier loaf, shape into desired shape and bake on a baking sheet.

Bake the bread for about 35 to 40 minutes or until a hollow sound is heard when tapped.

Tamarind-Infused Spinach with Chickpeas

2007-04-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

Serves 6

This is what we had for dinner tonight. It's a quick and simple dish that works really well as either a light appetizer for a group meal, or a stand-alone main course. The original recipe (We think it came courtesy of Vegetarian Times) called for safflower oil, but we've had excellent luck with various mid-grade olive oils. We also added garlic, just because it creates a more complex flavor in the base (that, and Matt is addicted to it). Everything else is verbatim in terms of the ingredients and their respective proportions, though feel free to substitute baby spinach with your favorite greens (the version pictured below contains a mixture of baby spinach and kale), and add as much or as little cayenne as your palate is comfortable with.

Ingredients:
-2 TB oil (olive, safflower or vegetable)
-1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
-Garlic, to taste (we use anywhere from 2-4 cloves), minced
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
-pinch of cayenne
-1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
-1/3 cup water
-1 tsp cane sugar
-1 tsp tamarind concentrate
-2 (15 oz) cans chickpeas, drained
-1 (6 oz) package pre-washed baby spinach (about 6 cups)
-1/4 tsp salt
-ground black pepper, to taste

*Note: Tamarind paste is derived from the pulp of the fruit that grows on the tamarind tree and is a common flavoring agent in South and Southeast Asian cooking. It stores well, and can be found in most Asian food markets.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until softened and golden brown, 5-7 minutes. Add cumin, coriander and cayenne to skillet and stir to coat onion and garlic with spices. Cook for one minute, then add diced tomatoes (with juice), water, sugar and tamarind concentrate. Stir to mix well. Add chickpeas and bring mixture to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer over medium-low heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Stir in spinach until wilted and evenly combined with mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Nutrition Info

Per Serving: 170 cal (50 from fat), 6g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 5g protein, 26g total carbohydrate (6g dietary fiber, 4g sugar), 0mg cholesterol, 440mg sodium

Foodie Tourism

2007-04-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

In March, Matt and I went to NYC for the express purpose of gluttony. Because we're kind of vain we spent the previous week eating nothing but salad so we wouldn't come home too hugely fat. It's kind of an odd position to be in -- adoring cooking and food and worrying about putting on weight. I think most people are in one camp or the other. Matt and I are usually in binge or diet mode though to keep things under control.

Any way, if there is one thing NYC has going for it, it's lots of great veg eateries. We hit up some old favorites, including VP2 and Red Bamboo but we also found a few new spots we loved. We were both completely taken with Gobo. Even my friends who are not vegetarian who joined us there were blown away. They have a delicious menu and their food presentation will knock your socks off. If you only go to one veg eatery in New York this one would be my suggestion.

Vegan French Toast With Bananas @ Counter

For breakfast, I really liked Counter on the lower east side. They had a perfectly decadent vegan french toast and Matt was pleased with their veggie burger. (Matt is a veggie burger afficianado.)

While in New York, we also paid a visit to the May Wah Vegetarian Grocery. A small storefront in Chinatown with nothing but frozen food cases. Inside you'll find a veg version of just about every meat product under the sun. I normally am not all that into meat substitutes but I enjoy the novelty of cooking with something new and sometimes I do wonder if my culinary repertoire is really suffering due to limiting my ingredients to things that came out of the ground. We bought a ton of stuff from this store, some of it was pretty good, some of it I probably wouldn't buy again.

The funny part about this experience is that once I got several shopping bags of these meat things home and into the freezer I had no idea what I wanted to do with them. I actually had to comb the web for recipes that involved meat! The best recipe I found was this one for Lamb Chianti. We made it using May Wah's vegetarian mutton which I think we'd buy again in the future. May Wah also has some vegan citrus ribs that are delightfully spicy. Some of the vegetarian fish (abalone and shrimp) were either a little rubbery or a little bland so they were not our favorites. If you're looking to give some of these products a go, May Wah does ship their products all over, just visit their site for details.

A Little About Us

2007-04-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

It's like one of those myspace surveys, but it's all about food :)

Favorite culinary celebs: Anthony Bordain, Alton Brown, Duff Goldman

Favorite food magazines: Vegetarian Times, Gourmet, Saveur

Where we like to shop: Han Ah Reum (mid-Atlantic Korean Supermarket), Pangea, Whole Foods

Some of our favorite ingredients: GARLIC, spinach, seitan, broccoli, tomatoes, cayenne, mushrooms, asparagus, balsamic vinegar

Products/Brands we love: Silk, Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Soy Cheese, Poland Springs Raspberry Lime Mineral Water, Smart Ground (and other Smart brand products), Morningstar Farms

Our favorite junk foods: Jolly Rancher Sours, Popcorn (her's), Starbursts (his), Peanut Butter Swirl Cereal

Favorite wines: most Reislings and Gwertztraminers, Little Penguin Shiraz

We also are huge fans of tea -- especially Chai.