Nacho Taco Salad

I've been cooking a lot, either from recipes or making things up, but haven't had time to blog.  I wanted to make this nacho taco salad for a long time.  It's from page 94 of Robin Robertson's Vegan on the Cheap.

You cook a can of black beans and a can of pinto beans (rinsed & drained) with salsa and extra chili powder.  Cook on medium for about 8 minutes.

Make some "Cheezee Sauce" (page 36 of Vegan on the Cheap) which has nutritional yeast, cornstarch, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, etc.  I think the mustard wasn't necessary.  There are other recipes for "cheese sauce" I think I'll try later.  Some use cashews or silken tofu.

Layer tortilla chips (or rice), bean mixture, cheezee sauce, shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, and other toppings as desired.  We used red onion, cilantro, avocado, and canned Rotel tomatoes.  Lime wedges on the side are a good Mexican touch.

This would also be good just using canned refried beans, Rotel tomatoes, store-bought guacamole.

various

Impromptu lunch with eggplant (nasu) roasted in a Japanese store-bought onion dressing; pinto beans and mushrooms simmered in sauteed onion, garlic, curry powder, Asian chili sauce, and cilantro; steamed kale.

Quick dinner with black beans and cornmeal (just mixed with water) from a neighbor, carrots, pickled red peppers, and a wasabi-seaweed sprinkle (I think it's vegan!)  Rounded out with mujicha (barley tea) and toast.



Tofu Scramble

After reading much talk of tofu scrambles, I finally tried it.  I used Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's recipe in The Vegan Table as a guide, and used what I had on hand.

Basically, you take some extra-firm tofu (not silken), drained and pressed.  It crumbles easily into a bowl.  Then saute whatever garlic, onion, and veggies you like, and add some turmeric for a yellow color (like scrambled eggs.)  I wanted an iron-rich meal, so I cooked it in my cast-iron skillet with chickpeas, mushrooms, tomato sauce, cilantro.  And I think I just squirted in some yellow mustard instead of turmeric powder.  Hot from the skillet, it was amazingly delicious and nourishing.

Strawberry Broccoli Salad

My friend Shannon gave me this recipe after she realized it was vegan.  I plan to make it soon.  Looks so healthy:

 

1 1/2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh cauliflower (I just added more broccoli)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
5 fresh strawberries, sliced
1/4 slivered almonds (they taste best toasted - yum!)
1/4 cup raspberry vinaigrette (I made my own with balsamic vinegar, all-fruit raspberry jam, salt, pepper, and garlic, but you can use any recipe you like or store bought)

Mix everything together in a large bowl. Eat right away or cover and chill for a couple hours before serving for best flavor.

road food

These are some "omiyage" (souvenir) foods I picked up on the road trip to Nagano.

Clockwise from top: pepper-infused nori (seaweed), sweet giant red beans, pickled & seasoned (in miso?) cucumbers, green mountain herb, seasoned hijiki (a sea vegetable). 

Center: mushroom-miso-veggie mix.

Good vegan snackin'!

Amazake Bars

Yummy and warm.  And I shared them with a bunch of my neighbors.

I bought this amazake at a farmer's market.  It looks a bit like a block of tofu, but it's made of fermented rice (so there's a sake taste to it.)  You can blend it in warm water for the traditional drink, or use it in desserts and smoothies.  It has a bit of alcohol, so I'm not sure why the Wikipedia article says it's used for babyfood!  Anyway, the taste is unusual, and Nene (pictured above) wants me to try more foods from her home country.

I found a few amazake dessert recipes online, and got my inspiration from Swell Vegan's Cardamom-Peach Amazake Scones.

I used my basic bar recipe, using pureed winter squash and amazake & warm water (all blended together) as my puree.  My puree was a little over 2 cups, so these were really moist.  The spices were 1 tsp. each of cardamom and ginger, and a pinch of ground cloves.  I also added a splash of almond extract and some chopped dried apricots.

playing with Garam Masala

I ordered several packs of garam masala (a spice mix) after seeing it listed in recipes.  This brand is from Pakistan.  I had a lot of pinto beans that I'd soaked and cooked, so decided to make garam masala pintos.

I sauteed onion, garlic, garam masala (maybe 1/4 c.), some cayenne pepper in oil until soft.  Then I added about 3 cups pinto beans, 1/2 bag "stew vegetables" cooked from frozen (pearl onion, celery, carrot, potato.)  I simmered that for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

This is my Cuisinart immersion blender.  I use it a lot, especially for soups and curries!  I love it.  I pureed the whole pot with this blender.  Then I added some mixed veggies (cooked from frozen: corn, peas, carrots, green beans), which remained whole.

Since the finished product just looked like brown mush, I dressed it up fusion-style with Ragu spaghetti sauce on the side, and fresh basil on top.  The garam masala mix tastes like seasoning on Kentucky Fried Chicken mashed potatoes (that black peppery taste.)  Garam masala does have black pepper, but also other pepper, clove, mace, nutmeg, cardamom, etc.  So the KFC taste was a bit shocking, especially after watching You Tube videos of farming & slaughterhouse practices from KFC suppliers.  But I still enjoyed the dish.

Basic Curry

Dal with jasmine rice and experimental Tom-Yam marinated tofu

In a large pot, saute onions and garlic in water or oil until soft.

Add things like curry powder, ginger, masala spice mixes, cumin, turmeric, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cayenne pepper....

Cook a little more, adding water or oil as needed.
Maybe add some tomatoes or tomato paste.

Add vegetable broth or water, then more veggies and/or pre-cooked/canned beans.

If adding dry lentils, bring to a boil before simmering.

Simmer 40  minutes or so, stirring occasionally.  Or transfer to slow cooker and cook on low however long you need to.  Salt to taste.  Serve with rice, quinoa, or other grain.  Or vegan naan bread!

Earthlings film

When reading up on veganism, lots of people mentioned this film.  It is a documentary narrated by Joaquin Phoenix.  It's about how we, as humans, treat animals.  The full film is available for viewing on You Tube.  I have only been able to watch a few minutes of it each month.

I watched a little more this morning, just to educate myself and re-affirm my reasons for becoming vegan.  I love being vegan, but I hate what happens to the animals.  When I see the animals, not only on this film, but in many undercover farm videos, I see innocent souls and bodies tortured in horrific ways.  The animals are often still alive while boiled and dismembered.  I wish I'd faced this truth and become vegan years ago.  Once you see it, the thought of eating animals and their secretions becomes so stomach-turning.  I think it's almost worse for animals who aren't killed right away (dairy cows and chicken-laying hens) because they live in such misery and suffer such abuse from their humans.

I wish I could let my cats hunt for themselves, so we're not supporting the factory farming and slaughter industries with their catfood.  I read dogs do very well on vegetarian diets, but cats don't always. 

Here's the film:

farmer's market craziness

Oh yeah, this is where I blow all my yen nowadays.  The long brown root (left) is gobo (burdock in English.)  Tomorrow I'll make kinpira stew with it.  The green on right is the tops of young daikon radish.  It's my new favorite - so tender and delicious when steamed.  Also hot pepper nori (seaweed) on right, and the white block in back is amazake, a byproduct of sake production.   I still haven't figured out what to do with it, but hopefully make a dessert.  I've had it as a warm drink in the winter - delicious!  I think it still has a little alcohol.

vegan breakfast (almost) at a Japanese inn

The owners and staff at Matsuya Ryokan in Shibu Onsen were careful to make us vegan breakfast both days.  I wish I'd taken my camera the first day, because there was beautiful Japanese eggplant (it's small) in a sweet-salty brown sauce.  Okay, so there might've been a little fish broth hidden in the sauces.  In fact, in the soup at the top, there's a white & pink circle, which is a slice of fish paste, often added to soups as a garnish.  I didn't eat the fish paste, but the thing about being vegan is you do the best you can and don't have to be perfect.  All the food was delicious.  Yes, the Japanese like to eat veggies, rice, lettuce salad, and miso soup at breakfast.  Ours was especialy delicious with various potatoes, seasoned tofu, and mushrooms.

As "Turkey Day" approaches

With USA Thanksgiving approaching, I wanted to point out Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's words about turkeys.  I have eaten so many turkeys in my life, and I'm so glad I stopped eating the horror and sadness and miserable lives & deaths they endure.  In Colleen's podcast on this subject, she reads accounts of horrific turkey abuse in slaughterhouses (they don't always die right away, and stressed workers often take out their aggressions on the animals.)  The podcasts are free on iTunes.  Here is a link to her blog post:

Talking Turkey

and a few quotes:

Colleen with turkeys at a sanctuary

"For those who have never met them, turkeys are magnificent animals, full of spunk and spark and affection, with individual personalities and charms. These animals, who have been abused and discarded by human beings, whose beaks and toes have been mutilated, and whose genetically overgrown bodies are susceptible to heart disease and leg deformities, still display immense affection towards humans. They are incredibly curious and follow you wherever you go, and their wonderful vocalizations include an array of clucks, purrs, coos, and cackles."

"Turkeys love to be caressed, and people often remark that they respond just like their own dogs and cats. Turkeys even make a purring sound when they are content, and not until you’ve had a hen fall asleep under your arm have you lived. She will literally melt under your touch, relax her body, and begin to close her eyes, softly clucking all the while. It’s a sight to see, and I’m moved every time I have the privilege to witness it."

"I grew up eating turkeys’ breasts, turkeys’ legs, and turkeys’ wings, and I'm still making amends to these extraordinary animals. I believe we’re able to mutilate certain animals for our gustatory pleasure because we don’t have relationships with them. We never meet them face to face. Once I met a turkey, I was never the same again. Once I began to celebrate Thanksgiving as turkey-free holiday, I learned for the first time what 'Happy Turkey Day' really means."   - Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Walnut-Crusted Tofu with Greens and Orange

WOW, this was good.  I found myself automatically looking for the gross parts because it was so much like chicken.  It was even better leftover.  It was a meal in itself, with a glass of red wine.  I think the Dijon mustard was a key flavor.

The recipe is from page 144 of Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson.  She has quite a few vegan cookbooks, including Vegan Planet (international recipes) that's in our library.  I modified the recipe based on what I had and what I wanted to use.

Ingredients I used:

• extra-firm tofu, 1 block, pressed and sliced into 8 slices, salted & peppered, marinated 24 hours in a Japanese onion salad dressing (there was no marinade in the original recipe, but once I pressed it, I couldn't just let the dry tofu sit there until I was ready to cook)
• 2/3 c. dry bread crumbs (made these from whole wheat bread in a mini-Cuisinart processor)
• 1/3 c. cornmeal (original recipe called for all-purpose flour)
• 1/3 cup ground walnuts
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp. tahini-miso dressing (recipe called for "Make your Own Mayo", but I didn't have time for that, so I had this improvised tahini-miso-water dressing in the fridge.  You could use a vegan mayonnaise or anything creamy, like a nut butter)
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• mustard greens (I didn't have spinach)
• 2 navel oranges, peeled and sectioned
• 1/2 tsp ground sage

Before starting, clear some counter space, pour some wine, and turn on Dora the Explorer (the babysitter.)  This was all much easier with my newly re-organized kitchen, tiered spice rack, and acrylic cookbook holder.
1. Preheat oven to 250 F (to keep cooked tofu warm as you sizzle it in batches)
2. Combine bread crumbs & walnuts in a shallow bowl.
3. In another shallow bowl, stir together soy sauce, mustard, maple syrup, and tahini dressing.
4. One at a time, dip the tofu slices into A) cornmeal, B) mustard mixture, C) walnut mixture (pressing walnut mixture into the tofu.)
5. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a skillet.  Add tofu slices and cook until golden brown on both sides (be careful if using cast-iron like I did; mine browned too quickly.)  Cook slices 2-3 minutes on each side.  Transfer to baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.
6. Toss spinach or other greens in the pan until wilted.  Stir in orange sections, sage, and salt & pepper to taste.  I used a fresh pan and oil for this, but Robin says to use the same pan.  My oil was too hot and used, and I've heard it's not healthy to re-use it.
7. To serve, top tofu with spinach mixture (mustard greens were just as delicious.)  Serve hot.

Fluffy Chocolate Sauce

My photo of this turned out too gross, but maybe I'll add one later.

Melt about 1/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (Ghirardelli semi-sweet are vegan) and a couple tablespoons non-dairy milk (i used almond milk) in a small bowl.  I used medium heat in a microwave for about 1 minute. 

Stir and heat again for 1 minute.  Stir.  It will be a bit liquidy, so stir in wheat germ with a fork until it gets fluffy.  Pour over your dessert of choice.

kitchen re-org

Basic Bars

I've settled on this as my quick "bar cookie/cake" recipe:

Mix these dry ingredients:
3 c. rolled oats, ground to a coarse flour in a blender
1 c. raw sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
spices of your choice (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, etc.)
any other dry flavoring (cocoa, tea, coffee)

In a separate bowl, mix these wet ingredients:
1/4 c. ground flax seeds, whisked with 1/2 c. water (this is the egg replacer)
3 bananas, or about 1 and 1/2 cups fruit or veggie puree (apple, squash, pumpkin, etc.)
1/4 c. oil
1 tsp. flavor extract (vanilla, almond, mint, etc.)

Possible add-ins:
dairy-free chocolate chips, dried or chopped fruit, coconut
nuts
citrus zest
grated vegetable (carrot, zucchini)


Pour into pan (9x13" or a bit smaller) and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack, and cut into rectangles.

Chile-Cornmeal Crusted Tofu

From page 125 of Veganomicon.  My friend Sandie made this first, so I had to try it.  I won't plagiarize the recipe, but here's the general idea.

Press the extra water from extra-firm tofu, cut it into slices, then triangles.

The wet batter is soy milk and cornstarch.  The breading is cornmeal, chile powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, lime zest, and salt.

Then fry it.  I wonder if baking would work, too.

Drain extra oil.  I ate crispy and hot with catsup, alongside assorted sides (greens, sweet potato, rice & buckwheat groats, carrots.)  Good with beer!

Squashy Matcha Bars

I wanted to make something matcha flavored.  Matcha is powdered green tea.  The Japanese often use it in baking.  It imparts a unique, slightly bitter flavor that I love.  I made up this recipe quickly with ingredients I had on hand.

I baked this mysterious zucchini-like squash, and pureed it to use in the bars.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl:

•  2 cups oats, ground coarsely in a blender
• 1 cup unbleached white flour (in the future, I'll just use all ground oats, because the texture is so fluffy and good)
• 1 package Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding (I read somewhere this is vegan, but I'm not really sure about the mono- and di-glycerides.)
• 1 cup Sugar in the Raw
• about 1 cup matcha powder (I used the whole package)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder

Mix 1/4 c. ground flax seeds with 1/2 c. water - this is your egg replacer.

Mix wet ingredients:

• flax egg replacer (see above)
• 2 mashed ripe bananas
• about 2 cups pureed mysterious green squash (or zucchini or another green vegetable)

Mix wet ingredients with dry, and pour into a pan (9x13 works).  Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes.  Cool and cut into bars.  These are moist, light, and cake-like.

Pepper Stew

This was a slow cooker invention, to use up my many farmer's market veggies.  I had a lot of small green peppers that are fairly mild and cheap, so I cut them up, seeds and all.

I sauteed one onion, a few garlic cloves, sliced myoga (the reddish things), mushrooms, and sliced peppers in sesame oil and a splash of soy sauce.

Then I put that in a slow cooker, along with chopped veggies (carrots, okra, green squash), and brown rice (uncooked.)  I partially pureed it with my Cuisinart stick blender, and ate on it for several days!

Eggplant Chickpea Curry

I had loads of cheap eggplant from the farmer's market to use.  This recipe is from page 230 of Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

I won't plagiarize the recipe, but basically, I sauteed onion, garlic, ginger, with cayenne pepper.  Then stirred in canned crushed tomatoes, diced eggplant, and salt.  After cooking a bit, I stirred in chana masala mix (the recipe called for garam masala, but I don't have it yet), cumin, vegetable broth, and chickpeas.  I simmered for about 40 minutes, then partially pureed it with my stick blender.  So mine looked a bit like brown mush, but tasted good!  I forgot to take a picture before I ate it, froze some, and gave some away.  So here's the cookbook picture (in which it's served with a rice dish - the curry is in back):

This turned out not overly spicy, but warm and comforting.  I'd make it again.  It's from a low-fat cookbook, but could be good with something creamy added, like coconut milk or ground cashews.

various

 From the farmer's market: butternut squash, mysterious green squash (tastes a bit like zucchini), renkon (lotus root), purple sweet potatoes (yellow on inside.)

 green squash

first time ("hajimete")

 roasted renkon: good for snacking on with beer
They taste a bit like potato.  Popular in Japanese dishes like oden, tempura, pickled veggies.

brunch sautee with mushrooms, carrots, collard greens, onions, stray soba noodles

Farmer's market veggies!  From top: carrots, spinach, sesame seeds covered in umeboshi flavor (pickled plum), myoga (a type of ginger/scallion vegetable), eggplant.  Colleen Patrick-Goudreau in her podcasts says to try to chop and prepare your veggies soon after you get them home, so they don't rot and you're more likely to eat them.  She says don't worry about how they'll lose nutrients - it's just so much better to eat them than waste them.  So I've been chopping, steaming, roasting... makes it so convenient to put together a quick meal.

I ordered a 4-pack of these buckwheat groats.  Years ago, I remember loving their flavor, but not the gas.  Beano, which has always worked well for me, contains gelatin (from cow tendons and ligaments) and fish ingredients.  So I ordered Bean-zyme, a cruelty-free product.  It works even better.  The buckwheat groats are good with sweet or fruity syrup, or even cooked with brown rice for a savory mixture.

New books.  I really like the Vegan's Daily Companion.  It has nice bright pictures, stories of rescued animals, literature excerpts, recipes, and tips on talking about veganism.  Living Vegan for Dummies is a good reference book.  I'm reading many books at the same time these days (all very slowly.)

Pea Salad

The name makes me chuckle, that's why I don't come up with anything more catchy.  I made this on a whim to bring to a party.  It turned out good!  Next time I make it, I'll take a picture.

Mix all ingredients in a big bowl and serve chilled.  Amounts are estimates:

1 can blackeyed peas
2 cups frozen green peas, thawed or cooked
2 cups cooked pearl barley
a couple chopped cucumbers
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped canned peaches
fresh basil, chopped
3 minced garlic cloves
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
a little lime juice

various

beans look so pretty when they're soaking (in my Martha Stewart bowls!)

coffee bars

I made these up when I accidentally brewed the next morning's coffee and didn't want to waste it.  They were a bit rubbery, but good enough for me: coffee, molasses, ground oats, raw buckwheat groats, I forgot what else.  The groats gave it a little crunch (they softened a little upon baking.)

Masala Baked Tofu

 My first experience pressing and marinating extra-firm tofu.  I was surprised that this turned out like a "meat" dish.  I've been avoiding any "meat analogues" since learning so much about farming and slaughtering (just because of the ick factor.)  Many meat analogues (like Morningstar Farms Veggie Burgers) still contain animal products.  Anyway, after two months of nothing meat-like, this was pretty tasty.  I ate it with broccoli and basmati rice from a friend.  But I think it'd be excellent in a meal with other Indian dishes.

This recipe is from page 146 of Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Appetite for Reduction.

Getting ready to press some extra water out of the tofu.  Don't worry, the book was clean!  Pressing out extra water allows the tofu to soak up other flavors.

 I wrapped it in a clean kitchen towel on top of a tray, then put a heavy book and two heavy cans on top.  After 30 minutes, I flipped it, wrapped it in a dry towel, and pressed for 30  more minutes.

 The marinade called for mirin (I think rice vinegar is the same thing), soy sauce, vegetable broth (I used cooking liquid from greens), curry powder, garlic, and ginger.  I mixed the marinade in a rectangular Pyrex dish.

Slice the tofu and soak in the marinade for several hours (flipping once.)  In the recipe, Isa said I could try cutting the rectangles into triangles, but that looked weird.  I think cutting the tofu into smaller cubes would work, too.  Bake on a sprayed baking sheet for 20 minutes at 375.  Flip pieces, spoon more marinade on top, and bake another 10 minutes.  I spooned all the marinade on for baking.  It was so nice to deal with a marinade for once without worrying about Salmonella and meat slime.

And a few days later, I'm still enjoying the leftovers.  This day, I had it with veggies, beans, soba noodles, broccoli, sauteed mushrooms & shallots.  And Asahi beer!

gifts of food

It seems my friends want to share their food that is accidentally or intentionally vegan.  These are some of the treats they've served or given us recently:

• spicy cold soba noodles
• tofu and vegetable stir-fry
• mung bean soup
• home made rye bread
• veggie, bean, and tofu soup
• chickpeas and tomatoes
• barley and spinach
• veganized snickerdoodles and peaches
• pureed black bean & veggie soup
• whole wheat pasta salad with broccoli
• olive, garlic, and chickpea salad
• vegan "fried" basmati rice

It's fun to try all these offerings and share the things we make.  If our friend Sandie lived closer we could really have a good time sharing vegan creations!

Red Pepper Hummus

I threw this together for a small lunch party.  I didn't measure the ingredients exactly.  This hummus was especially good in a toasted pita with extra red peppers.  The Vlasic pickled roasted red peppers I bought are good, but do list sugar as an ingredient (white sugar is often processed through animal bone.)  So maybe next time I'd choose something different.

Ingredients:

• about 3 cups cooked or canned chickpeas
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp salt
• about 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 cloves garlic
• juice and zest of one lemon
• a few Tbsp. olive oil
• fresh parsley

Puree all ingredients (except parsley) in a blender, adding more chickpeas or liquid to get the consistency you want.  I stirred in chopped parsley at the end.  Serve with crackers, pita bread, or veggies.