Rosemary Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had some quiet time while Ariel was at school to make cookies from my new cookbook.  Sandie got me this for Christmas.  The author is a popular vegan chef, and she has a blog and video of this recipe here:

http://www.theppk.com/2013/10/rosemary-chocolate-chip-cookies-video/

2 years vegan

Yes, still vegan and trying new things (mostly made-up, some from recipes.)  Just no time for this blog!  maybe someday.

Tea-scented Tofu

 I tried an unusual way of "smoking" tofu from The Vegan Slow Cooker book.

Mix raw rice, loose tea (I had to open tea bags), and sugar.  Line the crock with foil and put the rice mixture in.  Put a vegetable steamer basket over that.

 Press and slice the tofu, and put it in the steamer basket.  The recipe said to put it single-layer if possible.  Next time I'd use my bigger Crock Pot.  Turn on high for 4-6 hours.  The longer it "smokes", the denser the tofu.  This method did create a slight smokey smell in the house.  Not something I was comfortable leaving.  You can also add other flavors and spices to the rice mixture.

The resulting tofu was fairly dense, and good to have on hand in the fridge to add to meals.

black bean burgers

As you can tell, I've been on break from blogging my vegan creations.  We were in the process of moving for a long time, and I just made up recipes from whatever ingredients we were trying to use up.  But now we're set up in a new house, and soon I'll have time to try and blog some new recipes.  We hope to grow some of our own veggies and herbs.  We have a few existing green bell pepper plants in the yard, and we started composting, which I think is really fun.

We've been wanting tor try our own veggie or bean burgers.  I think they are pretty simple.  There's a whole cookbook about making vegan burgers.  Here's one recipe I found on the Savvy Vegetarian website:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked black beans
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1 Tbsp cooking oil
• 2 - 4 cloves garlic minced (depends how much you like garlic)
• 1/2 cup red onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup green or red pepper, chopped fine
• 1 large stalk celery, chopped fine
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp dry ginger
• 1/4 tsp cayenne or chipotle pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp tahini
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
• 1 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (4 slices dry whole wheat bread crumbled into tiny pieces (hint: blender or food processor works great)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium low
2. Sauté garlic & onion in oil until soft
3. Add the celery & pepper, fry until softened and most of the liquid has evaporated
4. Mix in the herbs & spices and heat through
5. Mixing By Hand:
6. Puree half the beans with a pastry blender or potato masher - or a fork
7. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mash together with a pastry blender or your hands
8. Mix in tahini and/or liquid seasoning as needed for the mixture to hold together well
9. Add more breadcrumbs if the mixture seems too sticky
10. Mixing in a Food Processor:
11. Process all the ingredients except tahini and liquid seasoning until the mixture forms a loose ball. There should be recognizable bits of veggies and beans
12. Turn mixture out into a bowl. Mix in tahini and/or liquid seasoning as needed for the mixture to hold together well
13. Add more breadcrumbs if the mixture seems too sticky
14. Form the burger mixture into 10 equal sized balls, then flatten into patties 3 - 4 inches across
15. Cook on medium heat until brown, approx. 10 min per side
16. Fantastic with a little brown mustard, horseradish and sweet pickle

Lentil Loaf

From The Vegan Table.

I substituted ground Fritos for bread crumbs to make it gluten free.  It was delicious!  Especially leftover.  I forgot to take a photo until I was on the last crumbly serving.  It has ground walnuts, tomatoes, and thyme in it.  The ketchup on top made it extra yummy.

At first it looked too much like animal meat, so I gave half of it to a friend.  But as it sat in the fridge and freezer, it grew on me.  It was good cold on a warm day.

The big potato

Still vegan, and cooking a lot.  Mostly inventing or keeping it simple as we use up ingredients and get ready to move.

I got this big brown root at a local farmer's market.  My neighbor, who is Japanese, didn 't know what it was, but thought it might be like taro root.  I boiled it and made mashed potatoes (mashed with broccoli, garlic, and cilantro.)  Yummy, and had some interesting, uh, cleansing effects for the whole family.

Asian creation

A lunch bowl of leftovers: pho noodles, mung beans, red chilis & garlic, raw local greens.  I thought to take the photo after I started eating.  It was good.