OK - so we've had the wussiest of winters in all of my years on this earth. But it's still been windy and cold and cloudy and yucky. I signed up for our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), and started thinking about what we're going to plant in our garden this year, and now I just can't wait for spring!
At the same time, it's made me realize that there's only about a month left when I'm going to want hot, comforting foods - so I'd better get cooking and make some of those soups, stews and chilis before it really does warm up! I started the week with these Sweet Potato Falafel, from Susan V.'s blog, Fat Free Vegan. I was looking for a way to use up my chickpea flour (they require a whole cup - woohoo!). These were easy, tasty and fun to eat! I made up my own yogurt tahini sauce (1 cup of plain or vanilla soy yogurt, mixed well with 1/3 tahini) and added some roasted Brussels sprouts (I eat these so often now!) and all was good! A strong three stars - they were a tad mushy in the middle ***.
And aren't they so cute?
I don't know why I didn't post about these already, but these Chocolate Cupcakes from VCTOTW are so easy and moist - you can't go wrong! This time, I used my silicone heart baking pan (see next photo). 
The kitchen smelled a bit like burning rubber, so I'm not so sure I would use these pans again and you DO have to use Pam or a non-stick spray on them!
However, they were a great V-day treat for my co-workers who have been working their tails off to help me get the YA area ready for our library's grand re-opening (1 week now!). I frosted them with homemade (vegan) frosting and (I think vegan) pink, red and V-day sprinkles. Lots of great reviews, of course! We love Isa's cupcakes!! Four stars, as always! ****
Meanwhile, I dragged out my dehydrator and finally cleaned it up and got it working (in other words, I turned it on)! I made Banana Chips from a raw food cookbook, but really you just slice them and dehydrate at the recommended temp for about 8 hours. They could have gone longer, I think, but I just couldn't wait! The whole house smelled like baking banana bread.... I found that slicing them on a diagonal worked better as far as speed of drying, looks, and size. Yum! Three stars ***!
To avoid commercialism and ruining the environment as much as possible (hubby did get me a dozen pesticide-laden but very gorgeous red roses!), we opted to make our 9th Valentine's Day together as laid back as possible. I slept in and he got up early so that we could to go the gym together in the morning. Afterwards, we had brunch together. I whipped up these Pumpkin Waffles (Belgian style) with our never before used wedding gift (that's five and a half years old) waffle iron. It was so easy to use, I was kicking myself for not opening it until now! Now that my carb-fearing days are over, I enjoyed every last bite of these delicious things from Vegan with a Vengeance. They weren't sweet, really, until you put the pure maple syrup on top (never ever use the fake stuff!). Although we had difficulties getting them crispy enough (they were a little mushy on the inside), they were still sooo good, after years of no waffles. :) Hubby enjoyed some vegetarian maple-flavored sausage patties on the side. We did a few other random things and then sat down to these Asparagus Sushi (which hubby helped make for the first time!).
I hate buying asparagus this early, but they were sooo skinny and delectable-looking, and hubby had mentioned them, so I bought them as a V-day surprise. I didn't have a recipe - just steamed them lightly, then made sushi rice and added bits of carrot, black sesame seeds and scallions. 
It felt a little like St. Patty's Day instead, with this beautiful green plate! We sauteed up some kale with garlic and olive oil, then ended up drizzling some sesame oil over the extra steamed asparagus - wow! That sesame oil was perfect! I'd like to say we fed each other the sushi in front of the fireplace, but we just played our new Trivial Pursuit game instead - and he won by one wedge :P
Earlier in the week, I baked this Vanilla Yogurt Pound Cake from Veganomicon, for a Sierra Club meeting. It rose up beautifully! Picture perfect. And it smelled amazing.
I swear the cake tester came out clean (and I use an oven thermometer) but inside they were just a little too moist for me. I guess it's hard to live up to my dad's perfect pound cake (homemade, of course). Otherwise, good reviews all over and a great flavor! Three and a half stars. ***1/2.
Sierra Club meetings have also given me an excuse to make lots of different dips over the years! This Curried Carrot Dip, also from Veganomicon, was so pretty and very easy to make. However, I wasn't too sure I liked the dip with the curry flavor. Just something weird about cold curry. At any rate, the leftovers made their way into lavash bread wraps with baby spinach and then it kicked some ass! Yum, yum, yum. Three stars as a sammich spread ***. Two and a half as a dip **1/2.
Meanwhile, I'd been saving some bananas to make muffins or something to refill my freezer and snacking stock, and Veggie Girl's Banana-Pistachio-Fig Muffins came to the rescue! They were moist and flavorful and sweet but not too sweet, and the nuts gave it a neat little crunch! Best of all, they were gluten-free (I'm trying to bake more gluten-free for those in my Veg Group who are Celiacs). They were a tad underdone, which was hard to tell since the fig jam was in the middle. Three and a half stars ***1/2!
Last but not least, I made these Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Seed Rice Paper Rolls from Veganomicon, just a couple of hours ago. They were really pretty easy. Just 1/4" cube the squash, toss with olive oil and roast. Add these to rice noodles, cilantro and roasted, salted pumpkin seeds and wrap! They were so pretty, with the green and orange showing through the wrappers.
The rice papers did give me a bit of trouble tonight. Maybe the water bowl was too small, so they cracked and split as I put them in and thus the trouble rolling. At any rate, the recipe claims it makes 12 rolls (using 8" papers), but I only made about 9 rolls using maybe 5" wraps. I also had a TON of leftover rice noodles. Oh well! The dipping sauce was awesome and it was an easy meal, though I can't see me making these with a baby on the arm! (Not that there's any news, I'm just picturing the difficulty sometime in the future). I guess that's it for this post! Happy Vegan Valentine's Day to you all!
Well, today was a big day, and not just because I turned another year old (sigh!). I have been vegan for exactly three years now, and vegetarian for a decade! Phew - if I can do that, surely you omnis can do it for a meal, a day, a week or even a month during March (Meatout Month)! :)
Start off with this meal from The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook: Vegan Pot Roast! This hearty, winter type dish was my husband's meal choice this week, of course, but I have say, it was pretty darn good! We used my homemade seitan (see last post) which I had frozen in baggies with the broth (I label how many pounds or ounces in each bag). I thawed it, sliced it, marinated it in some great red wine sauce, and baked it in the oven in our never-before-used Dutch oven with some veggies! Everything was perfect, except perhaps there could have been more onions. Four star rating for this bad boy ****. Very good.
So, although today was my big day, I had to work today, so I spent the weekend doing my birthday ritual. Namely, relaxing, running, talking to friends and family, and shopping. No cleaning but of course I still had to cook (more on that later).
I had gotten some gift certificates to Pangea's (in Rockville, MD) so on Sunday hubby and I trekked up there to check out the store. Boy, was it tiny!! But, still very cool to know that every single thing there was vegan. I got some things I had been eyeing or craving for a while: that snazzy punk studded belt, white chocolate chips (ohhh....heaven!!), a humane mouse trap, Red Star nutritional yeast (has B12), Parma (which I was a little disappointed in - tasted like what I make at home), Chreese (mozzarella style mix), and some eye makeup (yes, most makeup is not vegan, as it has either animal urine or bug parts in it - yuck! This stuff was beautiful (No Miss brand)). Hubby wanted a big fat vegan cookie (500 calories for one!) and some Tofurky jerky. Thank you to Mum, Dad and hubby for the gift certificates! 
Here's my no-curves waist showing off that hip belt. Not sure if I'm supposed to put it through the loop holes or not....I feel like such a bad ass wearing it, though....(no pun intended)
Then, it was off to eat my birthday dinner! We supped at The Vegetable Garden, just five minutes down the road from Pangea. Awesome food! It is macrobiotic but the style is mostly Asian. We were first served with some homemade brown bread that had a tender pieces of zucchini and summer squash in it. Neat! After an appetizer of Asparagus wrapped with Seaweed (served warm - sooo good!), hubby had the General Tso's Chicken (mock meat, of course, and honestly, really good!), while I opted for...
The Garden Pan macrobiotic plate. I figured that I can make Chinese/Asian food just about any time. Those cool looking round veggies are lotus root slices. It was basically a stir fry with the lotus root, marinated tempeh cubes (delicious!), bok choy, carrots, tofu skin (yuba?), mushrooms and kelp. Scrumptious. And, they served it with the most tender brown rice. Everything was so good, I didn't even miss dessert (they served it, but I'm just staying away from refined sugar and sweet stuff for a while...)
The best part? Seeing several stickers on the door such as this one....!
Last week, I had a hankering to bake and this Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake from Veganomicon did the trick. It looked so perfect and smelled so good! I tested it a few minutes before it was supposed to be done, and the cake tester came out clean. Unfortunately, it was a little bit underdone. Let this baby cook the whole way! Beautiful flavor, though. Three and stars ***.
Here are some slices up close. Don't know if you can tell they are a bit underdone in the middle. It crumbled a bit, too.
This Chickpea Tomato Spelt Soup was actually a recipe that I clipped from Body and Soul magazine a while back! (Click on the "recipe" link for the recipe! I subbed veggie broth for the chicken, of course). I had some spelt in my pantry to use up (saving money!) and some cans of chopped tomatoes that we bought in bulk at BJ's. I had the parsley and carrot, too. 
The best part? I used some really cheap dried chickpeas and cooked them myself! You do have to plan in advance to do this (soaking overnight or at least in the morning before you cook dinner), but it's worth it! The chickpeas were done perfectly and with no salt - much better for you and definitely saves money! Not sure if it's more environmentally friendly, though, since you use energy and water this way, but I figure lots of energy and water go into the canning process, including the making and recycling of the can. Whatever. The soup was incredible. Four stars, easy ****(I'm on a four star rating plan at the moment -I may switch to five being the highest). I can't wait to make this for my Veg Group but unfortunately spelt is not quite gluten free!
I also made Jelly Donut Cupcakes from Veganomicon, but forgot to take a photo. The jelly kind of spread throughout the batter, but everyone who ate one seemed to like them well enough! (I didn't have one, remember? But the batter I licked was pretty darn good!). Three stars for these ***. I tried to make them gluten free with Bob's Red Mill flour, but I left out the xanthan gum and they were way too flat (zero stars). So, Berry-Coconut Crisp (yes, from Veganomicon!) to the rescue! This was gluten-free, with white rice and quinoa flours on top, and the coconut mixed with berry flavor was to die for! I had one tiny bite of this at the Veg Group and was in bliss! Four stars **** What a great way to celebrate so many milestones. Here's to good food - even in tiny bites!
I guess I've given up and accepted that it's really winter, but secretly, I also find hope in the fact that we are now one-third the way through this nasty season. Although this nasty season also gave me a snow day to catch up on reading and blogging and such, so I can't hate it too much. You don't have "too much sun" days off in July....
At any rate, I have been craving warm, filling and savory foods like there's no tomorrow. And a good thing, too, since I've been trying to keep relatively sugar-free (I still put agave nectar in my tea and god help me but I just can't help licking the batter bowl if I bake something!).
So, here is my first lasagna in a very long time, made for a couples potluck that we just started this past fall. This Spinach-Marinara Lasagna from Veganomicon was outstanding! The tofu ricotta was yummy and the "Almesan" (almond-Parmesan) topping was good, too! I'm not sure how the other couples liked it, as they didn't comment one way or another, but they all ate a good piece of it, alongside the meat version served by the hosts, and there were few leftovers!
My husband thought it was just as good as the meat one, if not better simply for the "sauciness." Good call by Isa to serve it with more marinara sauce! Three and a half stars ***1/2
But then there were these bananas, getting very ripe, very quickly on my counter, and there were too many to eat as-is! So, I tried out two new recipes: Banana Oatmeal Cookies from the Vegan Lunchbox Blog (but not in her book -hmmm!), and Banana Bread (rice version) from "You Won't Believe It's Gluten-Free!" - a cookbook I picked up from the library. Both were surprisingly good! I had to add about a cup more oats to the cookies, so they were a little tough, but otherwise I was pleased because they were sugar-free, oil-free and salt-free! Tasted like a healthy cookie and reminded me of Dreena's Banana Oat Bundles (but not nearly as good). I'll continue tweaking these for my diabetic friend at work.
The bread, however, was amazing! Fluffy, moist, and with a great taste, I really "didn't believe it was gluten-free!" Except it did have a slightly grainy texture due to the rice flour. This cookbook is great, because it gives a rice, potato, and corn version of nearly every baking recipe, with details as to the differences you will notice in each! I can't wait to make this for my celiac friends at the Veg Group next month (which starts tomorrow- ack!). 
Here is a beautiful plate of Tofu and Vegetable Lo Mein, from Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson. I fiddled with the recipe a tad, using soba noodles instead of Chinese ones (trying to use up my pantry items!), and adding red bell pepper and black sesame noodles. I accidentally shredded the cabbage too small, so it didn't turn out quite right, but I'm not a huge fan of cabbage anyway, so it was actually fine with me that it was "hidden!" This was a very quick, easy and three star recipe ***! I made it to go with the next item...
Egg-rolls! I've made these before, also from Vegan Planet, but this time, I used a recipe a friend had hand-written and given to me. It uses phyllo dough instead of egg roll wrappers (which, along with wonton wrappers, contain the unfortunate addition of eggs- blech!). These were also super easy to make. Just saute some cabbage (that one cabbage went a long way this week!) with some ginger, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, and soy sauce, then wrap up and bake! Because I had just made almost three pounds of seitan last weekend (and it's so easy! - see my post about it here), I decided to add some chopped seitan to the egg rolls, like the pieces of pork would be in traditional ones. Results? Fabulous! Four stars **** With a sesame-soy dipping sauce from Veg News, they were perfect! I ate them all week by reheating them in the toaster oven to keep them crispy.
Making your own seitan is really easy AND much cheaper than buying it store bought. It costs over $4 at my local store in the box (and I think it's only 8 oz, not even a pound), while a box of gluten that costs maybe $2 tops, makes almost three pounds!
Here it is, finely chopped and waiting for the phyllo dough and cabbage.
Here is our 2009 Chinese New Year dinner, complete with sauteed kale (which kicked ass when drizzled with the dipping sauce).
The night before, my husband had promised to make this Warming Winter Vegetable Soup from The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook, but as he was busy putting together his new toolbox (the one I thought I had hidden so well from him before Christmas but he found anyway), I put this soup together. And actually is was way easier than his toolbox! I was thankful that he chooses pretty easy recipes to make - this was a cinch to put together and tasted great. With kidney beans, potatoes, carrots, spinach and parsnips, it was a party in my mouth with every bite. Three stars ***. 
Later in the week, I was looking for a way to use up some leftover canned pumpkin and stumbled across a recipe I had copied from a borrowed book: Vegetarian Celebrations, by Nava Atlas. These Pumpkin Turnovers were supposed to be desserts, but after cutting the sugar in half and adding some ground cayenne pepper, they were good enough for dinner! I don't usually make carb-loaded meals such as these (there is only a scant tablespoon of filling in each), but they were good just the same. And, I used whole wheat pastry flour. I guess they were still a little too sweet for me for dinner, as they started up my sweet cravings again, so I froze them for a later indulgence or afternoon snack. Three solid stars! ***
Here is a pretty shot of their insides. Piping hot!
First with the food... I've been wanting to make a white pizza for a while. For vegans, this usually entails a tofu-white-sauce, and then the other ingredients. I followed a recipe from Vegan Express, by Nava Atlas, and added my own toppings: sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, sauteed mushrooms, and steamed spinach. This combination was OK, but the real bummer was the sauce. There just wasn't any flavor to it! Since I made this, I've seen other tofu white sauce recipes that call for lots of different spices to be added to the tofu, and I think I'll try those next time. 
Still, it was definitely edible, and I enjoyed knowing that I wasn't ingesting any cholesterol or hormones! ;) The sauce was also a bit too thick, so next time I would use about half. Overall, two and a half stars **1/2. Very filling! This wasn't the cheapest meal so far, as I had to buy the crust, the silken tofu, and the other veggie toppings (except for the sun dried tomatoes - I've still got a huge jar in the cupboard from at least a year ago). Total cost? Probably $15.
My husband had more luck with this Mushroom Barley Soup, by Robin Robertson (from The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook). It has leeks and mushrooms and barley and some other spices with veggie broth in it. We found it to be way too thick, but when we ate it as reheats throughout the week, adding some water to it perked it up just fine. We love leeks! Three stars overall *** Total cost? Well, I only had quick-cooking barley, so we had to buy the medium pearled kind, as well as the veggies. About $8. It made a huge amount, though!
I had some old whole wheat tortillas kicking around, and a sweet potato, so I whipped up these super easy Black Bean-Sweet Potato Quesadillas from Veganomicon, in no time at all for dinner one night this past week. I just microwaved the potato, scraped out the innards (and ate the skin!), then added black beans and cumin. Fold, cook and done! Maybe 15 minutes total. I didn't have any salsa, so it was a little dry, but overall, three stars ***! (That is some sauteed kale on the side with a sesame-ginger dressing. We found that lots of garlic really helps mask the bitterness of the kale!). Total cost? $2, or about $4 if you have to buy the tortillas. The beans are under a dollar a can, and the potato, too. Add in the kale, and it only rises to $5-$9, depending on your tortilla stash.
This potato only made about two meals, but then I had extra black beans. So guess what I did? I made up my own recipe! I had just one serving of penne pasta leftover, about a third cup of spaghetti sauce (my husband's) and some baby spinach kicking around. I sauteed some garlic, added the beans, spinach and sauce, and cooked that together while the penne boiled. I didn't take a photo because I didn't think it would be that great, but holy cow! It was good! I think it was the garlic, but yum-yum anyway! Three stars, maybe four ***. I rarely make up my own recipes, so I was really excited about this.
I'd been eying this Broccoli-Pepper Salad since I bought the book (Vegan Express, by Nava Atlas) and at last I got around to making it. Wicked easy. Just barely steam some fresh broccoli (I overdid it- oops), and then add chopped yellow bell pepper, toasted pine nuts, dried cranberries, and a super easy Sesame-Ginger dressing! Wow and yum. Fours stars for this one ****. So glad I finally made it! Cost? Not cheap, mostly because of the pine nuts. About $3 for the broccoli, $2.50 for the whole bag of cranberries (which I didn't use all of), pine nuts I buy in bulk, so I have no idea but maybe .50 cents worth?), and the pepper is about $2 I think. So, about $8 total. And I ate it as part of lunch all week. 
Sparkle-Ginger Cookies (or are they Ginger Sparkle Cookies?) from Vegan with a Vengeance were easy to whip up for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day festivities in town. They are a tried and true recipe for me now! Our Veg Group provided some eats (alongside the fried chicken and people's fur coats - blech!). These, along with Isa's awesome Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies, were the talk of the night! Several people were so excited, they promised to come to our next meeting -yay! Cost was negligible, due to everything being from my pantry....;)
I tried another new recipe for the MLK event: Date-Nut Diamonds, also from Vegan with a Vengeance. This was another one that I'd been eying for a while, as I love dates, nuts, and coconut (the three main ingredients). Unfortunately, as you can see by the photo here, there wasn't enough crust to cover the bottom of the pan (and it was a slightly smaller pan than called for) so it just burned. However ...
...there is something to be said for experience. I made the crust again, doubling it this time, and it turned out great!
The topping, or main part of the bar, made barely enough (again) to cover the crust. I really was spreading it thin. It isn't burned, though, despite the photo. That's just the darkness of the dates.
Once again, I was disappointed in the crust. Although there was enough this time, it still didn't seem quite right. After I cut the bars out of the pan, this is what was left. The crust was just too...powdery. It never firmed up like I thought it should.
I wasn't sure if I was going to serve these at the MLK event. But I did and everyone kept commenting on them - positively! I guess they were a three or four star, based on their comments, and truth be told, the crumbly base didn't matter when compared to the chewy topping, but I still only give it two and a half stars **1/2. Again, all pantry items!
This strange looking pancake has totally won me over this week. The Chickpea Flour Pizza from The UnCheese Cookbook is one of the easiest recipes I've ever made. Just a half cup of garbanzo bean flour (very high in protein!) with some pizza-type spices and a half cup of water, and you're ready to go! It is thin, in between a crepe and a pancake, and completely delicious. Cooks in 10 minutes (5 on each side). 
Cut into cute triangles, and served with some kalamata spread (tapenade), it was awesome! Four stars, for sure ****. I'm going to try it with some tomato sauce and other spreads in the coming weeks. I've been wanting to try this recipe and use up my chickpea flour for a long time! Cheap, cheap, cheap! And all pantry items.
Of course, all this food pales in comparison with the great event that occurred this past Tuesday! Need I say more??? Wish I had been there, but I'm not one for crowds or the cold...
A friend of mine got me this adorable cookie to celebrate. Not vegan but totally cool. Now, let's let him get to work and hope that good things will come. I'm not much into the celebrity side of all of this but have great hope that the environment and our international relations will improve over the next four years.
And last, happy almost Chinese New Year! The Year of the Ox starts tomorrow. We'll celebrate with some egg rolls and a noodle dish tomorrow night. But first, soup....
OK - so we've had the wussiest of winters in all of my years on this earth. But it's still been windy and cold and cloudy and yucky. I signed up for our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), and started thinking about what we're going to plant in our garden this year, and now I just can't wait for spring!
The kitchen smelled a bit like burning rubber, so I'm not so sure I would use these pans again and you DO have to use Pam or a non-stick spray on them!
