Week Three

Okay, I don't know what I did with my camera. I remember taking pictures a few nights ago of squash and spinach stuff I made, but my camera has decided to hide from me since then, so I don't have any pictures from what I made last night.

I cooked bulgur for the first time ever. I had found a recipe in a magazine, (can't remember which one,) and realized I had everything for it except the bulgur itself. And since I'm really trying to take advantadge of trying new foods this month, the $4 I paid for a bag, was more then worth the cost. Not that I used the whole bag in one dish, I could probably make this at least three more times, since everything else is always in my pantry.

It was sauteed garlic with dried ginger powder, (the recipe called for fresh ginger, but I find it impossible to chop and a little bite of fresh just completely overpowers everything else, so I always just add a little dried powder instead, which with every other spice I refuse to do, especially dried onion and garlic.) But then I added the bulgur to that, with orange juice and vegetable broth, let it boil, then simmered it for about twenty minutes, and then mixed in a little bit of soy sauce and chopped almonds to finish it off.

It was really good. It had a nice Asian flavor to it that wasn't too over powering, and I steamed some broccoli to go along with it.

Tomorrow I plan to do my big weekly cooking, especially since I have company coming over Thursday night. I plan to make cookies, some kind of soup, a baked squash dish, and something with bagged stuffing I have. I also bought some delicious looking apple-raisin bread that I'm going to try and make a sweet vegan stratta out of. We'll see how that goes.

Colorful Food

So today I got back to cooking, not that I had really stopped on purpose, but after a few days of dining out or just eating sandwiches, I was glad to finally have some time to cook.

For lunch I made a recipe that I found on another Vegan Mofo blog, spaghetti squash with cashew-pumpkin sauce. Or at least that's what I'm calling it. I did things a little differently then the original. I roasted a whole spaghetti squash, which I then mixed with the "sauce" I made. The sauce was sauteed onion and garlic, spinach, sage, cashews, and canned pumpkin.

For dinner, I made fun finger food. I made the autumn latkes from Veganomicon, which were shredded sweet potato, beets, and carrots, mixed with onion and fennel seed. I really liked them, but they were so much work, and beets are so messy.

I love beets, but I don't eat a lot of them. I think it's because they are so messy, and I just don't like dealing with them. I still have a single beet leftover however, and I think I'm going to try to roast it and do some kind of orange glaze for it. We'll see how that goes.

I also made spinach-stuffing balls, and if I hadn't made them myself, I wouldn't have believed they were vegan. I used two packages of frozen spinach, mixed that with seasoned stuffing mix, (which I'm so glad I found a vegan variety of,) onions, garlic, some ener-g, Italian seasoning, oil, nutritional yeast, and some vegetable broth. I mixed it all up really well, and then let it sit for a little while so the stuffing could absorb some more moisture, then rollled it into balls, and baked them.

I keep on saying I'm going to make the pumpkin ziti from Veganomicon, but I never have the time or energy to do that it seems. Maybe tomorrow, but I doubt it since I have a full day of work.

Days Are too Short

I realize I haven't posted in the last couple days, but I've really just been crazy busy. I have been eating vegan, though finding vegan treats to eat, when I don't have time to cook, can be challenging, and I can't just live off Oreos. I did find these Mi-Del all natural vanilla snap cookies, (also available in lemon,) that I ate a bag of over the past couple days that were decent.

Tomorrow I plan to catch up on my cooking, a lot of cooking, so I have enough leftovers to last for a couple days. I plan on making at least one recipe from Veganomicon, probably two, as well as a squash recipe I found on another Mofo blog.

Mofo Iron Chef - Week One

I've always enjoyed the concept of the show Iron Chef. Give chefs an ingrediant that will challenge their creativity, and see what they come up with. So when I found out there was a Mofo Iron Chef, I knew I wanted to participate.




When I found out that the secret ingrediant for this week's challenge was mashed potatoes, I orginally thought of doing something with russet potatoes, but then I remembered I had sweet potatoes that had to be used, and I figured out what to do.


I give you, my mashed sweet potato and black bean cakes;

These were quite easy to make. I made mashed potatoes before I headed off to work today, so all I had to do tonight was make the actual cakes. I mixed the sweet potatoes with black beans, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, lime juice and zest, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt, bread crumbs, and silken tofu, then sauteed them until crispy on the outside, but still soft and mushy on the inside. The sauce is silken tofu, blended with cilantro and lime juice, garnished with lime zest and jalapeno pepper slices.

Vegan Mexican

Though I had Mexican for dinner, I have to start by telling you about the sandwich I had for lunch, which I thought was vegan, but after rereading the ingrediants, (which I had read when I bought the honey mustard dressing, I'm convinced the label somehow changed while it was in my fridge to magically changed,) I found out there was egg yolk. Still, I had thought I was eating vegan, and I obviously didn't use that dressing on purpose, and will next time just have to be more careful.

The sandwich, however, was excellant. I'm sure some, if not most, of you have been to Disney World before, (if you can't tell from my screen name I am Disney-obsessed, so Disney references are sure to come up once inawhile.) In the Magic Kingdom there is a counter service restaurant in Liberty Square called Columbia Harbor House, (which if you happen to ever be in the Magic Kingdom, in need of a place to eat, head here,) and they have a fabulous sandwich, which they call the Lighthouse.

It's toasted whole wheat bread, with hummus, tomato slices, and broccoli salad. It is delicious, and I've been able to recreate it at home, mixing a bagged shredded broccoli with honey mustard dressing, and though I've made my own hummus before, the store bought stuff is so easy.

For dinner, I was definatly hungry for Mexican. I used TVP to make another batch of taco "meat" which was not as good as the other night's, but it was still fine. I think it's because I made more TVP then I had previously, but used the same amount of taco sauce. I think it definatly needed more taco sauce. Aside from a little Diaya cheddar, I also had some chopped red and yellow vine tomatoes with cilantro.

I also made a dip/salsa of black beans, corn, and roasted red peppers. Really easy to make, and something I've made for years, even before going vegetarain;

1 onion, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 box frozen corn kernals (I use Green Giant shoepeg corn)
1 can black beans
1 jar roasted red peppers, chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp red or white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar

Mix all together. It's really best after sitting for awhile to give the flavors time to combine. Also, the measurements for the oil, vinegar, and sugar are approximate, and you should really taste, and add more or less as needed.

I had a bag of Tostitos new garlic and black bean artisan tortilla chips that I used for my salsa, I recommend those. Or the Tostitos lime flavored chips, I've always been a fan of those.

An Apple a Day

I bought a huge bag of apples the other day. And I'm not even the biggest fan of apples. I mean, I like them all right, but I'm not sure what posessed me to buy a five-pound bag of them, especially while I had a pound or so already at home. So what was the solution to the abundance of apples I had. Baking!

First I decided to bake a recipe I'd seen in Vegan with a Vengeance, and had thought would be nice for Christmas, gingerbread apple pie. Though I have what I consider to be a considerable amount more then the average person in baking and pastry education and experience, I hadn't made pie crust from scratch in years, but I wanted to stick with the recipe, since it sounded so good, and be vegan.

The result? Delicious apple yumminess. I had nothing to fear, the crust was so easy to make. And pressing it into the pan, instead of having to roll it out, made it so much easier for me as well, since I don't have a lot of counter space. Though the finished crust seemed more like a cookie to me then a pie crust, not that I'm complaining.

The filling was very easy to make, but I'm very used to making my own fillings. While I always used refridgerated pie crust before, I absolutly refuse to buy canned fruit fillings, I find them much too overly sweet, plus, except for a few brands, most of them are full of HFCS and artifical flavors - complete crap, which I try to avoid whenever possible.

I loved the finished pie, it was sweet, but had a nice spicy flavor. Not spicy hot, but very spiced from the cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and whatever else the recipe called for, plus cardamom, which I add to almost everything with those flavors.

That still left me with a lot of apples. When life gives you lemons, you're supposed to make lemonade, so when life, (or my mindless grocery shopping,) gives me apples, I have to make apple sauce. Also from Vegan with a Vengeance, (I've only had this book a week, and have already used it a half dozen times at least,) the roasted applesauce.

I diced up all the remaining apples I had, which were a mix of gala and macintosh, mixed them with what the recipe called for, using extra cinnamon. Cursed myself for not having a real lemon handy to zest, (I switched to using lemon juice from a plastic lemon, which isn't nearly as good as juice from a real lemon, but the cost difference really leaves me no choice,) and threw it in the oven. And then forgot about it in the oven. Luckily, they didn't burn.

After roasting I just grabbed my imersion blender, which other then my chef's knife and saute pan, is probably the item I use the most in my whole kitchen, and I suggest anyone who makes smoothies, soups, purees, or now, applesauce, buy one. Honestly, they're cheap, (I think I paid $10 for mine,) and they work wonders in the kitchen, with very easy clean up.

I loved the applesauce. Reminded me of my grandma's applesauce, except thicker with nice big chunks of apples. (Notice the quickly dissapearing pie in the picture.)

Day Two

Today I did my major weekly grocery shopping, which was much larger then usual this week due to going vegan, and wanting speciality items like nutritional yeast. Altogether, I spent around $80, which might not sound like that much, but that's very high for me. I'm just going to go through my receipt, and post everything I bought; pumpkin soy milk, Daiya shredded cheese, (which I've heard is really good, if it's not, I think I'm giving up with vegan cheese replacements,) Earth Balance butter sticks, tofu, vegan Boca burgers, vegan chocolate chips, (which I'm so glad I was able to find, I bake quite a bit, and was worried I would have trouble finding vegan ones, or that they'd be very expensive,) molasses, nutritional yeast, flax seeds, sugar, vegan beef base, squashes, apples, beets, bean sprouts, tomatoes, and some cumin since I was running low. I also bought some adorable Halloween cookie cutters and some black cat plates that were reduced to clearance prices.

That doesn't really seem like $80 looking at that list, but I spent $10 on squash alone, on all different kinds, butternut, acorn, spaghetti, and two kinds I haven't tried before; carnival and delicata, $10 on three different kinds of sugar, and some of that other stuff was quite pricey by iteself, like the cheese.

What did I eat today? Aside from leftovers from yesterday I made another recipe from Vegan from a Vengeance, the Brooklyn pad thai, which I need to upload the picture of, but I think it turned out very well. The sauce was a little more spicy then I would like, so next time I make it, (and there will be a next time,) I'll use less hot sauce. It was also a little runny, but I blame myself for that since instead of tomato paste, (which I was out of,) I used tomato sauce. Overall, it was very good though. I also didn't have any cilantro on hand, which would have added some much needed color to the dish.

I also bought two new vegan cookbooks today; Veagnomicon, and Vegan Celebrations. I'm going through both tonight, making lists of recipes I'd like to try.

Day One a Success

Today went well as far as food goes. I finally got a chance to try out my new cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance, and ended up making three recipes from it.

First up, brunch; I made the scrambled tofu and the tempeh sausage crumbles. I made a few changes to the scrambled tofu recipe, instead of mushrooms, which I don't really care for in the first place, so I didn't have any on hand, so I used a nice green bell pepper I had instead. I also don't have any nutritional yeast, though I do have it on my shopping list for this week, so hopefully I'll be getting some. For the sausage tempeh, I did follow the recipe almost exactly, only substituting an herb blend for the separate herbs listed in the recipe, though it was basically the same in the mix as what Isa uses in her recipe, so not really different at all. I mixed some of that in with the scrambled tofu, and I have to say I really liked it.

Though I do prefer real sausage to the tempeh kind, it was nice knowing that no animals were harmed just so I could eat breakfast. What I really missed though was the grease, and it was the grainy almost rice-like texture of the tempeh that had me glad that I had mixed it with my tofu. It's like every other meat I've tried to impersonate with a vegan alternative, I wouldn't eat it alone, but it's fine mixed in with other things. The tofu on the other hand, I loved. I've never been a big fan of scrambled eggs, so I kind of suprised myself when I decided to make this my first recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, and my first official vegan meal of the month, but I loved these "eggs."

I think a major problem I usually have with real eggs, is they are usually under or over cooked, slimy or dry, and not very pleasant to eat. However the tofu was at the same consistancy that I love my eggs to be cooked at, and the spices, cumin, paprika, and tumeric, gave it a great flavor, and just enough yellow color to make it really look like eggs.

Anyway, I live in Pennsylvania, and it was pretty cool today, and it had been so nice last week, perfect autumn weather with the leaves turning color. If I had to pick a favorite season, it would be the fall. One of my favorite things about the fall, is the baking that I always do, though with becoming a pescatarian, who would rather not use any animal products at all, I have to rething some of my favorite fall recipes. Luckily Isa's recipe for pumpkin oatmeal cookies sounded like just the thing to bake today.

I didn't have any flax seeds, which are also on my grocery list, but they were optional anyway, so I didn't worry about it. I love anything pumpkin, and these did not dissapoint, though they could use a bit more of spices in them, even with me adding some cardamom, which I always add to anything pumpkin I make, so in addition to the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe, next time I'll add some ginger and cloves as well.

For dinner, I made a type of stew, which is actually still in the slow cooker, so I haven't tried it yet, but it smells delicious. It's onions, green bell peppers, canned tomatoes, extra canned pumpkin from the cookies, lentils, carrots, garlic, Italian seasoning, and vegetable broth. I can't wait to try it.

Vegan for a Month

Since November is national, (or not even national but international, which makes it even cooler,) vegan month, there's no better time to try to eat a vegan diet. I've tried it before, for a few days at a time, but always end up giving in to my cravings for chocolate, which I always seem to be surronded by a surplus of the non-vegan kind, and the fact that it's the day after Halloween doesn't help with that right now, or cheese, which I always have a drawer full of in my fridge.

But this time's going to be different.

I've stocked up on tofu, tempeh, and textured vegetable protien, though of the three I've only cooked with tofu before. I have plans to go to a speciality store on Wednesday, and pick up some products that I can't find at the regular grocery stores, like nutritional yeast, silken tofu, (they only sell the firm block kind where I do most of my regular shopping,) and flavored oils.

My vegan cookbook shelf, though small, is growing. I only have four cookbooks that are all-vegan, Vegan with a Vengeance, Urban Vegan, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, and the Vegan Cook's Bible. Vegan with a Vengeance is the only book I haven't gotten a chance to use yet, but I bought the ingrediants tonight for both the tempeh sausage, and the Brooklyn pad thai. I also have all the ingrediants needed for the pumpkin-oatmeal cookies in my pantry, so if I get a chance to bake in the next few days, I'm going to make those too.

I'm actually really looking foward to this next month.