Black Bean Brownies

These are from page 209 of the Happy Herbivore by Lindsay Nixon.  This book was a gift from my friend Sandie!  It's full of good pictures and simple low-fat, healthy vegan recipes.

1 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 ripe bananas
1/3 c. agave nectar
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. raw sugar (optional, so I omitted this)
1/4 tsp. salt (optional)
1/4 c. instant oats (I used quick oats, and they worked fine)

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Combine all ingredients except oats in a blender and blend until smooth.  Stir in oats.  Bake in a greased 9-inch square pan (I just lined an old scratched one with parchment paper, no grease) for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely before slicing.

These looked delicious, but tasted a little weird on their own.  I thought they were better heated with soy ice cream.  Some variations Lindsay suggests are: extra cocoa for "dark chocolate", omit cinnamon and add mint extract, add cayenne pepper, add instant coffee.  She also says you can try these with chickpeas, black-eyed peas, and adzuki beans.

Tuscan White Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I admit I forgot to photograph this dish, so borrowed this photo from Cookies with Christel.  My beans turned out mushier than hers, and I didn't add zucchini and yellow squash (forgot to buy them, but used some fresh veggies from the farmer's market.)

This recipe is adapted from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.  It's one of my favorite cookbooks because of the interesting recipes, thoughtful words, and beautiful photography.  Colleen said she and her husband ordered this dish often on a trip to Florence.  I made this recipe for an "Italian night" party.  I cooked it that afternoon and put it in a small crock-pot to carry to the party.  It got rave reviews, from my husband, too, and was great leftover.  I plan to make it again, adding the zucchini and yellow squash from Colleen's original recipe.  Because my sun-dried tomatoes were packed in oil, I think sauteing in oil was unnecessary.  The sun-dried tomatoes really made the recipe.

1 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes (I used Melissa's brand, which are packed in olive oil and herbs.  If using dry, you have to soak them first.)
1 tablespoon olive oil or water for sauteeing
1 large-size yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
3 cups fresh spinach (I had delicious fresh spinach from the farmer's market)
3 cans small white beans 15 oz (I used 2 cans Navy beans, and one can garbanzos)
1 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon dried pepper flakes
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil  (since basil isn't in season, I used some dried basil and a fresh Japanese herb called mitsuba)

Heat oil or water in a large saute pan. Add onion and saute for approximately 5 minutes.  Then add garlic, spinach, beans, tomatoes, water, sage, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.  Add fresh basil or mitsuba just before serving.

tofu "cheese"

I read about this in Living Vegan for Dummies, which I'm slowly reading from cover to cover.  It's by Alexandra Jamieson, who was Morgan Spurlock's vegan girlfriend in the documentary "Supersize Me".  Anyway, she has lots of good advice, and quite a few recipes.  In her section about what to do if you miss cheese, she suggests ways to use nutritional yeast, mochi, nuts, and tofu to make "cheese analogues."

To make this tofu cheese:

1. Drain & press a block of extra-firm tofu.  I also tried the freezing & thawing method, which makes tofu spongier, but the pressed type works better.
2. Spread miso paste (fermented soybean paste) about 1/2 inch thick on a dinner plate.
3. Put the tofu on top, and frost it like a cake with about 1/2 inch thick miso paste.  Cover all parts of the tofu.  
4. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit refrigerated 8 hours, and up to 3 days, depending on how strong you want the flavor.
5. Take out of the fridge and scrape off the miso.  Save the miso for another use.  Rinse the tofu gently in cool water, and slice as needed.

The first time I tried this dark "hikari miso", but next time I tried white miso.  There are many kinds of miso paste.  Read the labels, because some misos contain dashi (a powdered flavoring made partially from fish.)  Miso pastes take up half an aisle in a Japanese grocery store!  I can't always read the labels well, but do my best.  I hear it's easy to buy in the USA, too.

This was excellent sliced and eaten on crackers!  With a beer.

Chinese Stir-Fry

My first Chinese stir-fry!  I used a recipe from Good Housekeeping Vegetarian Cookbook as my guide.

It was easy, as long as I took some prep time before-hand to press and cube the tofu, wash and chop the veggies, soak & cut up some dried shiitake mushrooms, and rinse & drain some canned veggies.  I doubled the amount of sauce because we had company to celebrate the new year.

Sauce:
1 cup cool water
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
Whisk together in a bowl and set aside.

Sautee about 3 cloves garlic and 2 Tbsp. minced ginger in oil (I used peanut oil.)

Add veggies and tofu.  Stir.  Pour in sauce.  Stir.  Add nuts (I used peanuts and cashews.)  Stir.  The mixture can cook on medium heat about 8 minutes (I didn't cover it), and can stay warm on low heat.  The recipe said to add the sauce at the end and boil the mixture for one minute.  In my haste, I didn't read that part, but it turned out fine, and the sauce thickened. Serve with rice or grain of choice.  Offer crushed red pepper, Asian chili paste (Sriracha sauce), sesame seeds, and extra soy sauce as condiments.

The instructions were more detailed about when to add which veggies.  I had already steamed some chopped carrots, so they didn't need much cooking.  Broccoli and red bell pepper made it nice and bright.  Lotus root (renkon) made it pretty.  It's the round sliced veggie with holes in it.  Renkon tastes like potato.

For choosy eaters, they can help you make their custom-made stir-fry first, before the big batch.  It was really no trouble and fun to see what they chose.

Green Almond Bars

This is a variation on my Basic Bars recipe.  Spinach (and other green vegetables) make them green!  Almond extract and almonds give them flavor.  Oats and ground flax seeds make the healthy.

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
about 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
about 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg (I just sprinkled in the spices)
1 box Jell-O Vanilla Pudding Mix

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)
1 and 1/2 cups green veggie puree (I used spinach and winter melon from the farmer's market.  I think Japanese winter melon is similar to Chinese pumpkin - a light green color and watery texture.)
1/4 c. oil
1 TABLESPOON almond extract

Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and add about 1 cup sliced or chopped almonds.

Bake in a 9x13" pan for about 30 minutes at 375 F.  Let cool in pan before cutting.

You could leave out the pudding mix and oil to make these healthier.  I think they'd be good with chopped dried apricots.

my kitchen and books

 I got a lot of produce at the grocery and farmer's market.  Amazingly, I get through it all by freezing, cooking, and making smoothies.

 My book collection.  The Kind Diet was the first vegan book I read.  I really like it.  Good recipes, info, and photos.  On the right is a Japan Vegan Restaurant Guide, written by a European guy who lives here.  It has tips in the back on eating vegan in Japan.

 Cookbook that came with our Vitamix blender.  Also, the Green Smoothie Revolution is good for smoothie-inventing ideas.  It makes you stop and think about how big animals like elephants, gorillas, cows, and giraffes get their calcium: from eating greens.

 A great book!  Love the pictures.

I need to delve into these more.  I have learned some things about spices and Asian ingredients.

 A raw book I picked up at the store, and Super Baby Food from Mom.  Both have easy ideas for nutritious veg eating.

 Baby daikon (white Japanese radish) greens from the farmer's market.  They're so buttery and yummy when steamed, but bitter raw.

Mikan (Japanese tangerines) are in season all winter.  Usually they're orange, but these greenish-yellow ones were discounted.  The orange fruits are regular oranges.  I got so many for smoothies.

Thai Pumpkin Soup and Potato Leek Soup

I've been cooking a lot, but forget to take pictures, and don't have much time to blog lately.  I did remember to photograph these two soups I made for a "soup & salad" social last month.  The first one is Thai Pumpkin Soup from the cookbook that came with my Vitamix blender.  After the first trial, I decided it was easier to cook it in a pot and use my immersion blender instead of transferring it to the Vitamix.  Supposedly the Vitamix can run several minutes and heat its ingredients into a warm soup, but my toddler won't let me run it that long.  Also, I added more lime and cilantro the second time I made this.

Ingredients were basically sauteed onion & garlic, canned pumpkin, ginger,green chile peppers, citrus juice (first time orange, second time lime), vegetable stock, tomato paste, coconut milk and coconut cream, salt & pepper.  When I served it for the party, I topped it with chopped peanuts and cilantro - yummy!

Potato-Leek soup from The Vegan Table.

I used potatoes from my Japanese friend's aunt's farm nearby, and "negi" (Japanese leeks.)  Now that I've practiced a few soups, I know they're easy, and fun to invent.

Potato-Leek soup with various leftovers, including ginger-garlic browned tofu cubes.

Dal

This is an Indian dish made with lentils ("dal" means lentils.)  I actually used the Yellow Split Pea Dal recipe from The Vegan Table, but used brown lentils.  It also has Indian spices, onion, garlic, and tomatoes.  Recently, I made a similar dal, but added Japanese sweet potatoes and garam masala powder (following a recipe from The Happy Herbivore as a guide.)

This recipe is so easy and makes the house smell good.  I've also let it cook in a slow cooker, but stove top is easy, too.

The tofu in this picture was marinated in Thai Tom-Yam soup mix.  It was okay.