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.

Compassionate Cooks (Colleen Patrick-Goudreau)

I discovered Colleen Patrick-Goudreau a couple months ago while looking for podcasts of vegetarianism and veganism. She has a company called Compassionate Cooks, several books, a cooking DVD, and an informative website. Her podcast talks are sometimes light and sometimes heavy (discussing exploitation, torture, and abuse of animals.) She has an eloquent and heartfelt way of talking about the animals. She has many cooking demo videos on You Tube:



And here's one where she visits a farm sanctuary: