Keep Your Food Close

Attack of the Cruciferae: Roasted Cauliflower

2011-02-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

Mmmmm, aborted floral meristems.
I like cauliflower. A great, easy way to make a tasty cauliflower dish is to roast it. Little preparation is needed.

Indian Spiced Roasted Cauliflower:
1 head cauliflower, chopped into your favorite sized portions
1 T vegetable oil
1/2 tsp Madras curry powder
1/2 tsp sambar powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and roast at 400F, 30-40 minutes, until starting to brown.

Seitan Roast via the Pressure Cooker: Recipe Soon

2010-11-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Meaty Seitan Roast

Pizza: Baked at home in 3 minutes

2010-10-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

I like pizza.

Quick Cooking Pizza at Home

I am usually dissatisfied with homemade pizza results. The crust usually isn't cooked completely or burns if I wait for the top side to finish. I knew that if I had a pizza stone things could be different. Pizza stones seem pricey for what they are: a stone. I knew to make a better pizza I needed heat from above and below, enter cast iron skillet.

Dough (2 - 10 inch pizzas):
1 1/4 C AP Flour
1 C Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1/2 tsp Salt
1 T Oil
1 T Sugar
1 C Water

Sauce:
1 C Tomato Puree
1 T Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning

Toppings:
Cheese, cherry tomatoes and bell peppers.

Process:
Mix warm water (~100F), yeast and sugar together. Lets stand for 5 minutes. Combine dry ingredients. Add oil to yeast mixture. Add this to dry ingredients. Knead. Set aside covered until doubled in volume. Deflate, let stand, covered another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile begin to heat a 10 inch cast iron skillet over a high flame and preheat broiler. Split the dough into two. Shape dough into a 10 inch round.. After 10 minutes of heating, 'drop' the dough into the cast iron pan Immediately sauce and top the pizza. Place pan under broiler and watch for done-ness 2-3 minutes. Carefully remove from broiler and pan.

Pizza

Note: I sauced and topped before transferring to cast iron pan once. When I did I had spillage. It also makes it easier to get a thin crust off my cutting board (no pizza peel for me) without the encumbrance of toppings/sauce.

Bubble and Squeak Meets Ethiopia

2010-09-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

I don't eat enough cabbage. I am usually afraid that I won't be able to eat a whole head before it turns, or I turn on it. However, one of my favorite recipes for cabbage is bubble and squeak. It reminds me of Tikil Gomen. I deciced to use my homemade cold-pressed canola oil based niter kibbeh and berbere for the seasoning. I also don't have leftovers from (seitan) roast dinners often, so I make it fresh. Also for little more sumtin sumtin I added some chopped homemade, baked tofu. I cook mine in a 10 in cast-iron skillet.

Recipe:
1 head green cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, sliced
1 lb chopped carrots
4 large russet potatoes, chopped
8 oz chopped baked tofu
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C niter kibbeh, halved
1 - 2 T berbere

Boil potatoes and carrots separately until just soft. Drain and set aside. Fry onion in half of the niter kibbeh until soft. Add berbere. Add cabbage and cook for 10 minutes. Add garlic and tofu. Add carrots and potatoes. Add remaining niter kibeh. Crudely mash. Try not to turn until browned bits form. Mix it up occasionally. Cook until the browned sections are too your liking. Adjust salt and pepper as necessary.

Spiced Carrot Dip

2010-09-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

I recently have been enjoying a spiced carrot dip. This is my attempt at recreating something I ate at a farmers market in Monterrey.

Recipe (yields about 2 cups):
1 lb carrots
1 clove garlic
1/2 - 2 tsp sweetener (e.g. sugar, honey, agave) [depends on the sweetness of the carrots]
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp each cumin, ginger, chile
1/4 tsp each cinnamon, cayenne (or less depending on heat/spice tolerance)
2 - 4 T orange juice (may substitute 1 - 2 T lime or lemon juice)
salt and pepper to taste

Boil carrots with garlic clove until tender. Remove and add carrots and garlic to food processor, reserve cooking water. Process with other ingredients until smooth. Adjust thickness to desired consistency via cooking water and/or juice additions.

Serve warm or cold with dipping agents (e.g. pita chips, pretzels, pea pods).

First Carrot of the Season

2010-08-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

Carrot Time!

Garden Fresh Gazpacho

2010-08-04T17:26:00.000-07:00


Gratuitous Gazpacho Close-Up

I made some Gazpacho utilizing the harvest's from my garden.

Gazpacho (serves 6):

1 cucumber: peeled, seeded and chopped
2 poblano chiles: seeded and chopped
1/2 onion: finely chopped
1 clove garlic: minced
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
2 large tomatoes chopped
2 cups tomato juice
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tsp dry oregano
2 T red wine vinegar
1 tsp hot sauce
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. Remove a third of the gazpacho and blend and return, or blend in-situ with immersion blender. Adjust consistency with tomato juice to your liking. Chill before serving.

Another Garden Harvest - July 2010

2010-07-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

Another Harvest

Let the Harvest Begin

2010-06-11T22:18:00.000-07:00

The First Harvest of 2010 (not including lemons from the Winter):
Radishes of the French Breakfast persuasion:

Biscuits and Gravy

2010-05-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

V*gan Biscuits and Gravy

Biscuits and Gravy:
Seitan Sausage (adapted from Vegan Dad):

- 1/2 C refried beans
- 1/2 C vegetable broth

- 1/2 C apple juice
- 2 T tahini
- 3 T soy sauce

- 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 1/4 C vital gluten
- 1/3 C nutritional yeast

- 1 T light miso
- 1 tsp each thyme and sage ground in mortar and pestle
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1 tsp smoked paprika

Combine all ingredients except gluten. Then mix in gluten with spoon. Once well combined form the mixture into 10 portions. Roll them into sausages. Wrap in foil. Then steam for 25 minutes. When cool enough to handle chop one cup of sausage.

Biscuits ~ 15:
- 2 C all-purpose flour
- 1 T baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 C vegetable shortening
- 1 C milk curdled with 1 T lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425 F. Mix dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until the mixture resembles crumbs. Mix in curdled milk until the flour is moistened. Turn dough onto floured surface. Knead for one minute. Push the down into a circle approximately 3/4 inch thick. Cut dough with a 2 inch biscuit cutter. Place biscuits, slightly separated, onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 - 17 minutes or until golden brown.

Gravy:

2 1/4 C milk (of your choice) warmed
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
dash of cayenne
2 T flour
2 T butter, margarine, oil

Heat fat until liquid over medium heat. Add in flour and whisk constantly until the mixture smells nutty. Whisk in milk until no lumps remain. Add remaining ingredients. Whisk often until gravy reaches a boil. Then add 1 cup chopped sausage. Remove from heat. Serve over biscuits.

I've been cooking, but have done a poor job documenting it.

2010-05-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have been making my own whole wheat sandwich bread for the last couple months (with and without my own sourdough culture).

And other stuff.

I made the dosa below sometime ago. I used long grain white rice and red lentils (tandoor dal). I googled dosa and then combined, tweaked the recipes to then mostly make-up my own. I did ferment it over night. They were tasty, but probably a little thick.

Dosa - A Southern India Delight

Super Easy Broccoli Soup with Seitan Meatballs

2010-03-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

A while ago I saw a television cooking program hosted by Gordon Ramsay. His recipe for broccoli soup was incredibly simple. It was broccoli, water and salt. I decided to make something very similar. I had made some seitan sausages that were lacking flavor, so I decided to reinvent them as meatballs. The results were great.

Broccoli Soup ~ 3 servings
1 lb broccoli, coarsely chopped
1 T salt
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 T yogurt

Bring 8 cups of water to boil with salt. Add broccoli and cook until tender. Remove broccoli from water and put in blender. Add about 2 cups of water from the boil. Blend. Add pepper, oil and yogurt. Season to taste and add cooking water to achieve desired thickness.

Seitan balls (6):
1 C shredded seitan ( I used the grating disk on my food processor)
1/4 C cracker crumbs
1/4 C gluten
2 T flax seeds blended in 1/4 C water
1 T soy sauce
2 T ketchup
1 tsp Italian seasonsings

Form into balls and bake on slightly greased sheet at 350F for about 30 minutes or until slightly browned, flipping once.

Apple Juice'd Tofu and Eggplant !! An Chinese Take-Out Inspired Dish

2010-02-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

I like to make things that remind me of Chinese take-out. This usually involves sweet and salty. Homemade Americanized-Chinese food lends itself to orange-something, but I find that if I use orange juice from-the-carton and cook it I don't necessarily like it. I am also not keen on using / preparing fresh squeezed. However, I usually have apple juice on hand and I like the way it tastes when cooked.

Recipe:
10 oz marinated and baked tofu
1 large eggplant, diced, salted for 30 minutes, rinsed
1 red pepper chopped
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 inch of ginger peeled and minced
1 tsp sesame oil
1 T vegetable oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2/3 C Apple Juice
1 - 2 T soy sauce
3-4 T chopped cilantro

Saute onions for 5 minutes in vegetable oil. Add eggplant and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes and cook for one minute. Add the remaining ingredients and cook about 5 more minutes until the apple juice has reduced by about half. Take off heat and add cilantro. Serve over your favorite whole grain.

Salt Risen / Rising Bread - Round 3: Success

2010-02-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

Clostridium perfringens: a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium of the genus Clostridium. In the United Kingdom and United States, C. perfringens bacteria are the third-most-common cause of food-borne illness. It also is responsible for the flavor and rising of Salt Risen Bread.

Does this sound tasty to you? It did to me. If so, continue on:

Background:
Once upon a time I was reading about sourdough starters and I came across salt risen / rising bread. There were some details, etc but what really caught my attention was where the fermentation was described as smelling like rotten cheese and that the bread was supposed to sorta, kinda taste like cheese. I was sold. I tried and failed. Now, about a year later I am at it again with all sorts of ideas that are not rooted in experience or know-how.

Recipe:

Starter:
1 T organic polenta
1/4 C organic whole wheat flour
1/4 C organic cornmeal
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
1 1/3 C water (I boiled it and then waited for the temperature to fall to 140F)
- Combine all ingredients, cover and keep near 100F for 8 - 16 hours. When its bubbling and some of the ingredients have formed a 'cloud' over the rest, its time to make the sponge.

Sponge:
Starter
1 C milk or water at ~ 115F
2 C AP flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 T sugar

- Mix to combine and cover. Keep at ~ 100F until it approximately doubles in volume. Took about 4 hours for me.

Bread:
Sponge
4 C AP Flour
1/2 C shortening
3/4 tsp kosher salt

Mix everything knead for about 5 minutes by hand. Shape and let rise in bread pans covered until double in volume. (I may have not waited long enough for double ~ I was at about 3 hours of rising time). Bake at 375F for 30 - 40 minutes until golden brown.

Notes:
I used a heating pad placed inside of closed coller to keep the starter warm. FYI: Leaving a heating pad on all the time is, perhaps, a bad idea. My cooler wasn't big enough for the starter or the dough in loaf pans. To keep these stages warm I put them in my oven on top of the heating pad and I would heat up a cast iron skillet on my stove top for about 10 minutes and then place in the oven about every hour or so to keep it cozy.

It really did smell pretty rank during the process. Which I delighted in mostly because it was nature and science at work. According to the tasters it had a cheese-y flavor. If you are concerned about the whole bacteria thing check out this medical journal article (PDF LINK - Page 28), from what I gather they deem it safe, but please feel free to make your own decision. There was a marked time investment to a successful load and it was delicious, but I am not sure I'll be making again it any time soon. Overall I had fun making the bread and getting to tell people its risen by "food poisoning".

Salt Risen / Rising Bread Round 2: Failure

2010-02-06T09:43:00.001-08:00

I didn't get the raisin/risin'/starter to start.
Round 3 already under way.

Baked: Seitan Bacon

2010-02-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

The taste: Delicious
The texture: A little dry
Other: No need to make seitan look like this. Make seitan like normal but with the intent and ingredients to make it bacony ... (e.g. smoke, maple, salt) and then keep it compressed, bake and slice.
Um: Didn't record my recipe.

Inspiration: here and here. They obviously had better results with respect to the bacon motif.

It swirls to the left: Cinnamon Raisin Bread

2010-01-20T22:34:00.000-08:00

INGREDIENTS (makes 2 loaves)

- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

- 3/4 cup sugar

- 1 tsp salt

- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

- 1/4 c cornstarch

- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/3 cup warm water

- 1 cup soymilk

- 6 cup AP flour

- 2/3 cup brown sugar

- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- 2 cups raisins

Mix together ingredients through AP flour. Add AP flour 2 cups at a time until incorporated. Knead until shiny. Add raisins. Let rise one hour or until doubled. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together. Divide dough in two. Roll into rectangles. Spread cinnamon sugar mixture over rectangles. Roll up. Seal seam. Place in loaf pans and let rise one hour. Bake at 375 for 30 - 40 minutes. Until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped on bottom. Cool on rack.

Pumpkin and/or Sweet Potato Pie (vegan)

2010-01-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

I love pumpkin pie. I slightly adpated the recipe below from Bryanna Clark Grogan. I used the old timey Wesson Oil pie crust recipe. My first time making a pie crust. Everything was delicious.

1 can ~15 oz. pumpkin
1 c. milk (of your choice)
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
2 T. molasses
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. clove
Throw it all in the blender. Blend well. Put it into the pie crust. Bake for 60 minutes @ 350F (watch the edges). Cool, refrigerate and eat next or subsequent day(s).

Back to the Summer

2009-12-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time in the summer I made some tomato soup. I had a lot of tomatoes. The soup is easy and delicious. Adapted from a Tyler Florence recipe.

3 pounds tomatoes
5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 small yellow onions, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 quart vegetable stock
4 tablespoons butter/margarine
1/2 cup chopped basil leaves

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Bake the tomatoes, garlic and onions with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Put everything in a pot and cook for 30 minutes. Then add basil. Then puree the soup.

Back to the Summer.

2009-12-22T11:01:00.001-08:00

Bean & Seitan Tamales

2009-11-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

I like tamales. Traditional tamales like lard. Tamales without lard are hard to come by and are often too expensive and bland/janky for my tastes. I have made tamales many times before simply substituting corn oil for the lard and the end results were quite tasty. However, I knew they could be better, so this time I decided to use a room-temperature-solid fat to see if it yielded better results. Did it? Abso-tamale-lutely. I digress. I looked for inspiration here and here. But add some flair to accommodate the vegetarian palette.

Masa:
3 1/2 C masa harina
1 tsp each: smoked paprika, ancho chile, garlic and onion powder
1/3 C nutritional yeast flakes (optional)
2 C hot water
2 tsp baking powder
1 C non-hydrogentated vegetable shortening
1 1/2 C vegetable broth
1/4 C vegetable oil

Mix the dry ingredients together. Then begin to mix in shortening and oil. Then add Broth. Add water until the consitency is like a stiff cake batter.

Filling:
1 C refried/smashed beans
1 C seitan chopped (I used the kind I make in a slow cooker)
1/2 C corn kernels
1 bell pepper diced
1 onion diced
2-3 serrano peppers seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1 tsp cumin
1 bunch cilantro
3/4 C salsa verde
1 tsp smoked paprika

Cook the onions in some oil (2 T) until soft. Then add the garlic and chile and cook for one minute. Add spices and cook for 30 seconds. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Set aside.

Assemble the tamales as Chef Bayless suggests. I usually need to cook mine about 90 minutes. This might because I cram them into my pot and have a makeshift steamer.

More soup!

2009-10-07T14:49:00.001-07:00

Yes, my food photos needs some work. Next time?

Thanks to VP for the photo.

Autumn Harvest: Acorn Squash Soup in Whole Wheat Bread Bowl

2009-10-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

I recently harvested a bunch of acorn squashes. I made some empanadas with one of them, but have no pictures to share. I then made a batch of acorn squash soup.

Fragrant, Creamy Acorn Squash Soup:
- 3 Acorn squash (halved, seeded baked at 400F for about 35 minutes. Cool slightly and scoop out flesh)
- 3 cored, peeled, chopped ginger gold apples
- 4 peeled, chopped carrots
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 c vegetable broth
- 1 c apple juice
- 1 1/2 T Garam Masala
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 T fresh ginger, grated
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 4 seeded, chopped serrano chiles

Place the onions, carrots, chiles and apples in a pot with some oil and cook until soft. Then add the fresh ginger and cook about 1 minute. Add dry spices, cooking and stirring for about 30 seconds. Then add liquid and sqaush. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Then use an immersion blender and puree. Ta-da.

I made a simple whole wheat dough and draped it over steel bowls and baked to make these shells.

Green Tomato Pickles - Taste Test

2009-10-06T11:10:00.001-07:00

They taste just like they smell: delicious.

I ate them on a veggie burger and with an acorn squash empanada to test them out.

Green tomato dill pickles

2009-09-27T11:28:00.025-07:00

I purchased this pot for making beer. However, it's intended use was for water bath canning. Given that I am unable to keep up my consumption of red tomatoes with their ripening I decided to pickle them before that could happen. It was my first adventure into pickling and canning. Here's to NO botulism! After scouring the internet for quite some time I came up with a recipe and then proceeded to make 12 pints and 6 quarts of pickles. Hopefully they are tasty. I harvested the tomatoes, chiles and celery from my garden. I sliced big tomatoes, halved the medium sized ones and kept the cherry tomatoes whole.

I used a brine that was 2:1 water to vinegar (apple cider). For 3 quarts of liquid I used about a ~~1/2~~ 1/3 C sea salt and a teaspoon of sugar.

For the pint jars I added:
- 1 clove garlic
- at least 1 serrano chile
- 2 T freshly chopped dill
- 1/4 tsp dill seed
- carrots, celery, cauliflower, onion
- peppercorns, star anise (1/5 of a star), cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, mustard seed, coriander seed, caraway seed, clove, allspice

1/2 inch headspace. I used a 10 minute bath for pints, 15 minutes for quarts

I haven't tried them yet. It was a fun project, real frontiers-men like.

General Tso's Hobo Tofu

2009-09-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

Time to make some Americanized Chinese Food I thought.
Course of Action:
1. Search internet for recipes.
2. Process recipes through brain.
3. Create new masterful recipe.
4. Produce: General Tso's Hobo Tofu.

First I flavor inject the tofu with vegetable broth and stuff. Then I cut it up, coated it with cornstarch and fried it. Then I made the hobo sauce: sugar, ketchup, vinegar, bbq sauce, soy sauce, mushroom sauce, ginger, garlic, onions, peppers, sesame oil and cornstarch slurry to thicken. Add some vegetables. Ta-da. I call it hobo because of all the low-brow ingredients.

Fresh Corn, Tomato and Quinoa Salad

2009-09-02T13:29:00.001-07:00

I picked up some bicolor sweet corn whilst in Wisconsin and harvested some tomatoes and cucumbers from my garden and made this salad with some red quinoa.

It was well received.

Fried, Injected Tofu with Vegetables and Noodles

2009-08-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

I was left a Ronco Flavor Injector and I decided to use it to inject some marinade (veg. broth, lemon juice, garlic, basil) into some tofu. The marinade can definitely 'breach-the-levy' so to speak, but overall it worked to make the tofu more delicious without the forethought of a longer marinade. I then coated it in cornstarch and fried it. Then I added it to some quick cooked zucchini and mushrooms atop some noodles.

Black-eyed Peas and Gluten Vegan Seitan Sausages

2009-07-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

I used the recipes and techniques discussed at Vegan Dad and Everyday Dish as inspiration.

Black-eyed Peas and Gluten sausages. Pretty Good but admittedly I like them better when I use hummus for the bean component. I have a few variation for these sausages.

- 1 can black eyed peas, mashed
- 7/8 cup cold vegetable broth
- 1/4 C white wine
- 1 T soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed
- 1 1/3 cups vital wheat gluten
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp marjoram and parsley, each
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- liquid smoke, couple dashes
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/8 tsp clove
- 2 T tahini
- 2 T ketchup

Mix it all save gluten. Add gluten mix until combined. Form sausages. Roll them in foil. Steam for 40 minutes. Enjoy.

Popcorn Cookies

2009-07-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

I adapted this recipe to suit my v*gan and chocolate sensibilities.

Dry:
- 3/4 C unbleached AP Flour
- 1/2 C wheat germ
- 1/2 C old-fashioned oatmeal
- 1/4 C powdered coconut
- ~3.5 C popped popcorn (coarsely crushed)
- 1 1/2 T cornstarch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt

Wet:
- 1/2 C oil
- 2 T applesauce
- 1 1/2 T soymilk
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 1 1/8 C brown sugar

Add-ins:
- 1/2 C chocolate chips
- 1/2 C chopped raisins
- 1/4 C chopped pecans

Here's How:
Preheat oven to 350º F.

Mix dry ingredients. Mix oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in dry mixture. (I used a spoon and it was a little messy. Add the add-ins. I ended up using my hands for this part. I used to half sheet pans with parchment, without parchment you might want to lightly grease. At first I used a 2 teaspoon disher to make the cookies, but this didn't work too well. So then I used my hands to make similar sized cookies, I smooshed just a bit. They were a bit crumbly. Leave about 2 inches between cookies for expansion. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on pan 5 minutes before transferring to racks.

Yield: ~3 dozen cookies

Thymed-tart

2009-06-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

Here, we have a lovely cornmeal-crusted tart with zucchini, tomato, goat cheese and fresh thyme. I used a mandoline to thinly slice the alternate layers of tomato and zucchini with some crumblings of goat cheese. I really think cornmeal has a buttery taste and often include some in breads. And the tart looks pretty.

It's that time again....

2009-06-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

Yup. Clove gum is available again for a short time. Adams, part of the Cadburry conglomerate only makes the gum every couple of years. In case you didn't know I love cloves. Or as they say in Spanish and then translated back into English: nail of aroma. If you are a Pump Up the Volume / Christian Slater fan you'll be happy to know that Black Jack gum is also available for a brief time too.

Tofu with Georgian Ketchup

2009-06-03T20:35:00.001-07:00

The country not the state. Here is a beautiful, quick dish made from fresh vegetables (zucchini, carrots, summer squash & kohlrabi), home-marinated tofu and tkemali a sauce made from plums. It is refreshingly tart and easy when you can just pour out the bottle. Georgian cuisine is really tasty and most dishes are easy to prepare as well as adaptable to the veg*n diet. This is a pretty good book if you are interested: "The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia"

Vegetarian Tamales

2009-05-28T22:42:00.001-07:00

Dough:
I use masa flour and then make the masa using vegetable broth and vegetable oil. Lard would be traditonal, vegtable shortening would be a close approximation but I am not into the hydrogenation too much, so...

Filling:
TVP, refried beans, salsa verde, corn, spices, chipotles in adobo, cilantro onions and garlic. Sometimes TVP sometimes tofu, but the addition of refried beans this time will now be the standard. I mix that all up and throw it in the tamale pot. I use cheese. You don't have to, but if you don't use more salsa in the filling to keep it moist.

I started using the tamale recipe from the New Farm Vegetarian cook book and its a good starting point for you veg*n tamales. The book is also good all around, even though it was published some time ago.

Camp Meal

2009-05-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

On a recent camping trip this was dinner. 'Fancy' ramen (rice) noodle pre-packaged soup and homemade vegan sausage. Just boil some water and eat. MMMM.... kerosene.

Keep it pert.

2009-04-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

Um, so I was tempted to only post about my vegan cooking here, with the hope that masses will flock to my amazing food related posts and feel obliged to stay. Most of the blogs out there about vegetarian cooking that I visit are straight up vegan. Sadly, I am not. Given the 10 page views I get a week, I feel like vegetarians are auto-included with vegans and then no one is left out. Welp, thats silly. I like cooking and cook stuff. Us veg*ns are, of course, no strangers to changing things up a bit when it comes to recipes. Not that I actually post recipes (not yet).

Food related post:
I like coffee, but that much caffeine makes me crazy. Solution: decaf. Also, to speak of consumerism and helping the GDP. This purchase might make you like decaf too. I really enjoy this french press and really really like the thermal glasses included with it. No filters and maximum flavor. However, given no filter to trap them, this coffee does keep some more of its flavorful oils (= added fat content) if that sort of things concerns you.

Banana Oatmeal Pistachio Raisin Cranberry Scone

2009-02-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

Yup, some people like to make their scones into wedges and make the really pretty and stuff. Not me. I like to portion amount into approximately equal sized globs. I found these to be quite tasty full of whole grains (oats and whole wheat) and vegan.

Gluten Delivered for Cheap - Make Your Own Seitan

2009-02-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

If you, like me, enjoy seitan but don't enjoy it price or availability at your local market you'll inevitably want to make it yourself. Then after spending time sifting through all of the seitan recipes you've collected, you'll know that you are going to need some vital wheat gluten. Roadblock: This wheat protein can be expensive and hard to find too. Solution: semi-bulk purchase from the internet. I've purchased the gluten for about $3.50 lb (5.5 lbs at a time w/ a subscription) with free shipping here. It's the best deal on gluten I could find and my local stores don't carry it.

Vegan Sauerkraut Split Pea Soup and Vegan Hummus Sausage

2008-12-19T22:06:00.001-08:00

I thought sauerkraut and split pea soup sounded great. I made it. Apparently, other people do too. Mine had split peas, sauerkraut, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. I also made some seitan sausages that I made with hummus and some other stuff. I used the cooking method suggested by Vegan Dad. I have a poor quality pic. But this soup was and sausage was really tasty. I also made some rosemary wheat/rye bread.

Holiday Seitan Roast with Homemade Stuffing

2008-12-19T21:10:00.001-08:00

I made a seitan roast with homemade cranberry, bread, pecan and apple stuffing. I steamed and baked the seitan adapted from a method by Vegan Dad. It turned out quite well, but I need to work on getting the stuffing centered.

Salt Risen Bread: Failure

2008-12-19T20:45:00.001-08:00

I stumbled upon a recipe for Salt Risen Bread. When I read that smelled like cheese, how could I resist. A bread that is risen by a bacteria, Clostridium perfringens, which is a ubiquitous bacteria that can cause food poisoning. However, I found an academic article that its not going to sick-ify anyone.

1. Starter
2. Sponge
3. Bread

Supposedly, the starter is hardest to get going. It worked for me. I put the starter and and jar of boiling water in a cooler and let is set overnight. Then I made the Sponge which also was working. I got bubbles, clear liquid and a pungent odor. But then after the smell and stick, the bread did not rise and I was sad and have not tried again yet.

I got ideas from these two sites: 1 and 2.

I used a cornmeal & rye flour starter, but ran out of AP flour for the bread and used whole wheat, so maybe this was the problem.

Pumpkin Two Ways

2008-12-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

Using mostly produce from the CSA I made two pumpkin dishes.
1.) Pumpkin Saag
2.) Pumpkin, Carrot, Sweet Potato, Peanut "sauce"/stew

The pumpkins:

For the "sauce" which was originally going to be a soup but then got to thick, I used: Carrots, Onions, Garlic, Ginger, Sweet Potatoes, Peanut Butter, and a little Coconut.

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For the pumpkin saag again: Carrots, Onions, Garlic, Ginger, Sweet Potatoes and additionally spices, tomatoes, tomato sauce, tofu and finely chopped greens from the CSA.

Quick pasta

2008-08-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

I made some whole grain pasta and then made a quick sauce. The sauce was:

- diced tomatoes
- 1/2 onion
- garlic
- a few jalapeños
- basil

I sauteed those up and then pureed them. I then added some cream and some Parmesan. I added this to some scapes and green beans from the csa.

Pan-Asian Cuisine!!!

2008-08-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

This time I made a soup using kohlrabi, peas, green beans, garlic scapes and cauliflower. The base was sesame oil, ginger, garlic, veg. broth, nutritional yeast, Thai sweet chili sauce.

Shot with the longer cooking vegetables and broth.

Other veggies that were added after removed from flame.

I then fried up some pot stickers and added them.

More food: Saag Panner - July 6th

2008-08-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

So this is old news. and I am not sure what the produce delivered was. my goal to document it all has failed.

heat milk

acidulate milk (I usually use just vinegar, but this time I used vinegar, lime juice and yogurt. Why? Because I can.)

curds and whey

after straining, cheese pile

pressing the cheese

I made raita, by adding seeded, skin cucumbers and chopped tomatoes to some yogurt with spices.

scallions that got put into saag

Here I put together spices, garlic, ginger oil and greens from the CSA (collards, swiss chard, cabbage, rapini?) and some spinach.

the cheese (paneer) cubed.

I then pureed the greens and added some yogurt, cilantro and tomatoes.

all together.

CSA first pick-up

2008-06-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

Produce list: broccoli, cauliflower, collards, arrowhead cabbage, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, kohlrabi, purple scallions, and garlic scapes.

Meal 1: Stir fry of chinese cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, purple scallions, garlic scapes and seitan in a Lemongrass-ginger-white wine- citrus broth.

Meal 2. Homemade pizza with collards and tofu