M'damn Curry

I didn't drink a single green smoothie last week and began to worry about all the spinach that I was on the verge of wasting. I remembered I had copied a recipe from an Indian cookbook that sounded good, but while I was looking for that, I found the copies I had made from VWAV, which included the recipe for "Chickpea and Spinach Curry". Having had an imaginary and unfounded curry aversion in the past, I had not tried this recipe yet. It was the perfect thing to make use of all that spinach and help me get over my picky food past. For the record, I used to have a copy of the book, but I loaned it out and I have a feeling I may not ever see it again. I made a few copies to tide me over until I can buy another copy of one of my favorite cookbooks ever. You should buy it if you don't already have it!

I took a quick glance at the recipe and I seemed to have everything I needed, except for the asafoetida, which was optional, phew! It wasn't until I got further along that I realized I was missing something else, cardamom pods. I have whole nutmeg and cinammon sticks but no cardamom pods! I ran to the computer to see if I could use ground cardamom instead, even though it wouldn't be nearly as good, I had to try. I think it turned out well, but of course, will be even better next time when I have taken a better look at the ingredient list (and the cupboard!) before starting. Luckily I still had some basmati rice that I managed to cook without messing it up. I haven't cooked rice since college so it doesn't come quite as easily to me these days.

I can't wait to try more recipes like this, that push me out of my old comfort zone and give me more delicious options. I love Indian food when I am out, but I've not given much effort to making my own at home. I'd love to make my own naan, and even more than that, dosas. After I get enough practice it would be really fun to have a little theme dinner, hopefully with leftovers for lunch.

Vegan Mofo V Day 27: It's Easy Being Green

If you were traumatized by soggy brussels sprouts as a kid, I apologize. I never had them until I was an adult, and luckily they were quite scrumptious. That is largely due to Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks, which is one of my favorite blogs ever! Anyhow, if you've had them before and hated them, I beg you to try them at least one more time before you write them off for good.

Tonight I made the "Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Garlic" from VWAV. I will duck and cover while admitting it's the first time I've made them. Can I make up for that by saying it definitely will not be the last time. Hot damn were these good! I ate the whole pan, minus one, by myself. My mom tried a bite but didn't really like it. Oh well, more for me! I finished roasting them and tried a few morsels before taking P for her nightly walk. When I got back I popped the rest in the toaster oven, planning to eat them during Parks and Rec.

It was a good plan, until I came back and saw the plate I toasted them on broke during the process. It's an old thrift store plate that my sister bought some years ago and it already had some cracks in it. Maybe it was glued back together at some point. I have no idea and it was not my smartest kitchen move lately, that's for sure. I'm glad she wasn't planning on taking the plate with her when she moved, but this is the second one I've broken this month so I do feel bad about it. However I found two really cute xmas plates for myself at  the thrift store today so maybe I was subconsciously making room for those? Probably not.

We have a new inhabitant I'd like you to meet. S/he doesn't have a name yet, but I discovered him/her some time last week and finally snagged a photo tonight. I'd never seen one before so I was super excited. My mom will be thrilled that the cricket population will be under control, but I am a little sad because I love those little creatures too.

Vegan Mofo V Day 2: Slam!



One of the things I truly miss about being vegan is being able to go out for huge breakfasts and brunches. Granted, there are a few places I can go to, but most involve a good amount of time on the freeway and they're way overpriced. We all need to hang onto our money a lot tighter these days, so why not make your own damn slam?!<br>It's a little, okay, a lot more work, but just think you are burning off some of the calories before you eat it. Also, doesn't it taste better knowing how hard you worked getting that plate out?! If you break the tasks down, it's a bit easier. Or if you are badass you can time it so everything finishes around the same time. Orrrrrrrrr if you are me, you make the omelets one day, the fronch toast the next day and on the third day you pile it all on a plate and go to town.

I have to admit, omelet day was a bit of a challenge. I did the home fries, omelets, chard, and cheesy sauce (all from Vegan Brunch) in an afternoon. It was my normal "cooking" day, but instead of making multiple meals it was components for one huge meal. Everything turned out great, but I am going to two bunches of chard next time. It came out so good I wanted more. I'm still working on my flipping skills, but I did much better than last time.Woo!

This was my third time making the  VWAV "Fronch Toast". I love this recipe. The first time I made it I didn't have soy creamer, and it was good, but it is so much better with soy creamer if you can spring for it. I don't drink coffee so it's an extra ingredient to buy, luckily my sister will use the remainder so I am not wasting. Since these are baguette rounds instead of the big slices of bread we are used to, sometimes we just pick them up with our hands and eat them. Another benefit of eating at home is you can do that kind of stuff without getting stares (unless you live with the manners police).

If I can pull this off anyone can, probably with less syrup/cheesy sauce comminglage too. I know I forgot the tempeh bacon, sorry!

Breakfast Thyme

I love to come home and have breakfast waiting for me, but that doesn't happen very often. To adjust for that I made my breakfast last night and reheated this morning after my walk. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day but I am usually too hungry to bother to make it, which is why I often make weekly scrambles ahead of time. It's so much easier to eat well when you plan.

Today I had VWAV Scrambled Tofu and Brussels Sprout-Potato Hash from Appetite for Reduction. These potatoes are my new jam. They are so flavorful and tender, I might just have to lay off the VB Diner Home Fries for a while. I like brussels sprouts, but I think that even people who don't like them will still enjoy this. My niece turned her nose up when I mentioned the sprouts but then she had a bite and quickly changed her mind.

Both of these recipes have thyme in them, which I absolutely love. I don't think I ever used thyme until I started cooking from Isa's books. Now I cannot keep a steady supply of it on hand, but that's good because it means I am cooking a lot of delicious food for myself. I just need to get a huge drum of it, or start growing my own.

Omelet You In On a Secret*

Diner Home Fries, Loaded Omelet, Tempeh Bacon Revamped

I finally made the omelets from Vegan Brunch.  Well I actually only made one omelet, on the fourth or fifth try. It took me a while to get the batter to the right consistency and then there was the matter of my flipping "skills". I will do a much better job next time, but my omelet failures did not go to waste. I did the next best thing and turned them into scrambled "eggs".  I finished cooking them up and then scrambled in the veggies that would have been omelet filling. It didn't look nearly as lovely, but it tasted great.

Afterward I started thinking of all the things I could make with scrambled egg type bits. Fried rice was the first thing to come to mind. The second was something we ate a lot as kids- hot dog and eggs. My dad would slice the hot dogs into rounds and then scramble them into the eggs. We would eat them in burritos with lots of ketchup. We would also eat hot dogs and potato burritos, which I am tempted to make with any home fries that survive my brunch week menu, but I'm not sure there will be any.

My "brunch week" wasn't too well planned out but I knew for sure I wanted to have tofu scramble, omelets,
"Fronch Toast" and maybe even waffles for dinner. I've done two out of the three so far. I have to double check whether or not I have molasses because the gingerbread waffles from Vegan Brunch sound really good to me right now. If I don't have any I will probably make the VWAV pumpkin waffles, those are delicious!


*There are no eggs on this plate!

Happy Ssert-Day To Me!

Today is my birthday. I had planned on going out tomorrow night but no one seemed interested so I scrapped that a week ago. Then I decided I would rather do something constructive and go for a hike tomorrow morning. I haven't hit the trail in over a month since my partner is out of commission, and I know my sister would love it. I thought this was going to be my "no one showed up to Il Cantinori for my dinner and I had to buy my own cake birthday", but I double checked and that isn't until CB's 35th birthday and I plan on it being much different for KG's 35th. I have a whole year to plan it!

Anyway, I decided I wanted a variety of desserts so I spent most of yesterday and today working toward that goal. I should have had someone else do it for me, but I like to bake and I have a ton of time on my hands these days. Plus it is fun to pretend that I burned a small fraction of the calories I would consume in advance. I mixed two cupcake batters, three icings, and another cookie type mix today. I lost count of how many dishes were washed and how many hours I was standing. I do know I finished a disc of "Arrested Development" .

I made Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes, stuffed them with Fluffy Vegan Buttercream and frosted them with Cream Cheese Frosting, all from VCTOTW. I also made the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes from VWAV, stuffed them with buttercream and topped with icing and chocolate drizzle. I also attempted a vegan version of these s'mores cookie bars. Mine didn't look too much like the photo but they are a gooey sticky delicious mess, so I am okay with it.

I'm enjoy the rest of my day by relaxing, reading and enjoying the gorgeous roses my sister and niece surprised me with this morning. This is going to be my last year of "rounding down" so I have to make the most of it, starting tomorrow.

I'm Cuckoo for Coconut!



naked



iced





close up

Its really odd, but I never really liked coconut until after I became vegan. Now I cannot get enough of the stuff. It started with moonpies at RFD (which are on menu now!), then the coconut white cake when they were out of something else I wanted. When I had the cake again it wasn't quite like I remembered. Maybe it really is never as good as the first time?

I've really been wanting sweets and I'm less and less interested in paying someone else a bunch of money to make them for me. Sometimes it is nice to be served and not have to do the dishes, but other times I feel incredibly stupid paying five dollars for a cupcake or piece of pie, when I know I could make my own at home. Maybe I am getting a bit conceited, but the last few desserts I've had while out were not nearly as good as anything I've made myself.

Of course I'm never truly at it alone since I always have my favorite cookbooks at the ready. Today I made the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes from Vegan With A Vengeance. I can't believe I have had this book for so long and have never made them. I made two little mistakes, I put the coconut in with the wet ingredients instead of folding it in at the end. They turned out fine, but I had a moment of panic. I also should have left them naked instead of frosting them all at once. The icing is not very thick and could melt/run off your cupcakes. I've got to work on my icing skills, but I think next time I pipe instead of spreading. Anyway, they turned out amazing, so the presentation won't matter so much. You'll get more calls for seconds than you will decorating critiques (unless yours came out gorgeous).



 

                                                      

                                                                

 

Put the "U" in Reuben!

A week ago we went to see Forks Over Knives. Even though I like to think I know more than the average person about why we should stop eating animals, there is always more for me to learn. Also it reminds me that I need to go further than just "stop eating animals" and eat a hell of a lot more plants. I'd been in a health slump for a while now so this was exactly the reminder I needed to get back into gear and recommit myself to eating healthier, or at least making more of my own slightly unhealthy food (fried tofu!). Plus more cooking = more blogging, yay!

My new love for about a year now has been veganized Reuben sandwiches. I first had one at Real Food Daily so that was my benchmark for what they should taste like, having no remembrance of the meaty version. I tried another at Floré, and would have liked that one better, if I could find the tempeh. It was in strips and it seemed like they got lost in all of the avocado and cashew cheese, both of which were delicious, but I needed a bit more bite in my sammich. I will give them another chance next time I am out that way.

Since I can't always travel an hour just for a sammich, I tried making the RFD version at home. I unwisely did not figure out a way to reduce the recipes so I had way too much dressing and cheese spread with no one to feed it to. However, I did enjoy eating reubens for a few days without having to sit in traffic to get to them.

Luckily my favorite cookbook queen, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, saved the day like always. I don't know how I hadn't noticed her recipe for Tempeh Reubens in Vegan With a Vengeance, which is the first vegan cookbook I ever bought. I had almost all the ingredients, so I only needed a few items from the grocery store and I was ready to go. These sammiches turned out amazing and the first round was gobbled up too quickly to get a photo. I tried to get one of today's round two, but I was in such a hurry, I still didn't do it justice. Needless to say I will definitely be making these again. I'm glad I found a scaled down recipe that isn't as fussy with the ingredients without sacrificing any flavor. I didn't even miss the cheese since I had all that avocado goodness. They're fairly easy to make so get on it!

Vegan Mofo IV: Week 2- Waffle Iron Maiden

I just made my first batch of waffles, ever! We've had the waffle iron for a few months now but I've never used it all by myself. Ever since I was a kid, everyone would make fun of me for being uncoordinated or clumsy. I was stupid enough to believe it for way too long, but now I know, it's not true, at least not most of the time. Since I have the house to myself today, I knew I could try and make waffles without anyone poking their nose or comments in my face. It was really fun and I only goofed up once, hooray!

We had waffles on Friday night and it made me want to eat more waffles. Also I felt bad for cheating with mix and I wanted to do some from scratch. It always tastes better and I like to pretend I'm exercising my whisking/stirring muscles while I do it. I had been wanting to make the Pumpkin Waffles from VWAV since forever so I finally did. I had everything I needed, so I just had to re-read the waffle iron instructions and get down to business.

Everything mixed up beautifully but the batter was still rather thick. I re-read the manufacturer's instructions and it said for thicker batter to use more, which should make sense, but I am an instruction reader, so I had to find out that way. The first waffle takes the longest and after that it is smooth sailing. I was doing great until the 4th or 5th one when I started pouring the batter without spraying the iron first, so I only got to spray one side of it. Thankfully it didn't get burned or stuck, but I made sure not to do that again.

They smelled like delicious pumpkin spiced goodness and I couldn't wait to eat them all up. The recipe said 24 regular waffles or 12 Belgian waffles. I don't know what kind of crazy waffle iron I have or what kind of crazy mixing I did but I only got about 6. It's okay though because I was afraid of having too many extra.They were quite filling so I only ate two. I can't wait for someone else to try them, but if they don't love them, it's just more for me. 

If You Lived Here We'd Be Home Fries

I had breakfast all day on Friday. I really did. For breakfast I had egg mc vegans, three of them to be exact. We usually have potatoes, or another person eating with us, but since it was just me and my sister we were each allowed three sammiches. I ate all of mine but she did not. Needless to say I did not have lunch because I was still full from breakfast. It was basically half a brick of tofu, 3 English muffins, four slices veg Canadian bacon and about three slices of Tofutti American singles. But I drank Chocolate Silk Light, so that balances it out, right?

For dinner we had belgian waffles, Diner Home Fries (from VB and V'Con) and Gimme Lean sausage patties. I just realized that Gimme Lean is supposed to sound like Jimmy Dean. Duh! Anyhow I'd been wanting a waffle maker for a while now and they had some at my sister's work. After a few rounds of markdowns, she brought home a Waring Pro for only $24. It is so much better than the waffle iron we had twenty something years ago, which is the last time I had homemade waffles. I think it had visible springs on it and I remember it was a pain to clean it. Maybe that is why we stopped having waffles. Luckily this new one is super easy to clean and quite idiot-friendly. It came with a measuring cup for the batter and beeps to tell you when your waffle is ready. Our first waffles were from a box mix because we were in too much of a hurry to play with our new toy. After I replace the maple syrup I am going to make some from scratch. The Pumpkin Waffles from VWAV are really calling to me and you best believe I am gonna answer.


p.s. Penny's Food Revolution lost a battle so this little home fry has rice on her nose. We will win the war...eventually.

garlicious

after two lightning rounds of thanksgiving food shopping (tj's and vons), i made the garlicky kale from vwav, without the tahini dressing. this was amazing, a great first time effort, and i don't always have those. the first time i had kale was at souen with a.t.s. i was clearly blowing it up to that point. i lazily bought the emerald sesame kale at whole foods for years, continuing to blow it but not nearly as hard. three or so years later, here i am sauteeing my own kale for the very first time and loving it, almost to the point of needing a moment alone. so thanks to the a.t.s, my cooking hero isa chandra moskowitz, the organic produce at sprouts, and the instructables (how to chop kale), for making this possible. oh and i would also like to thank myself dee dee ramone style.

hopefully i can ride this wave of confidence though the holiday cooking season. i have a few new recipes i am really excited for this year. in addition to our first tofurkey, i also found some great vegetable dishes to round out the stuffing/potatoes/bread, or rather to "unround". here is what i'm making: "maple glazed sweet potatoes" and "roasted cauliflower" from martha stewart holiday, "for the love of squash casserole" from vegweb, and green bean casserole. dessert is susan v's "double layer pumpkin cheesecake" and "spiced carrot cake muffins" from happy herbivore's pudge free holidays e-book. thanks ladies, i hope i do right by you.

where have you bean? (vegan mofo day 9)

today was a vwav night. we had scrambled tofu, which i haven't made in a while, and tempeh bacon which i made for the first time. it was only my second time working with tempeh so i know i could have done a lot worse. next time i will use a bigger skillet and put the flame a bit higher. due to the crowding, some of the thinner slices broke into shorter pieces, but it was okay because i always break them up to put them in my burrito anyway. i thought of making some potatoes, but good thing i didn't start up since i was already behind schedule and i had another recipe to make after dinner.



i normally wouldn't push myself so hard. by the time i make dinner and do the dishes, i am equally done. this week i've been super low energy, but yesterday i had the best bean salad ever. a coworker went to a seminar about isogenics (first time hearing of it) and they had this salad. since i've been sharing my soup surpluses with her, she said she was going to make some and bring it to work the next day. everyone who tried it wanted the recipe which she gave me today so i absolutely had to make it tonight. it's fairly easy, two cans black beans+ two cans corn,(drained). chop 1 red bell pepper, 1 bunch green onions, 1 bunch cilantro. the dressing is 1/3 cup olive oil, juice of three limes, 2 cloves minced garlic and salt/pepper/cayenne/cumin to taste (she put 1 tbsp each so i did that too). i'm thinking about adding an orange pepper and cubed tofu and serving as tostadas. oh and i forgot, the most important thing, the avocado. i chopped and forked that in last for fear of smashing it up too much while mixing. i scooped out the last of one of the halves and thought this looked like a heart, or maybe africa. who doesn't heart africa?



p.s. this is great conditioning for the holiday cooking to come.