Archive for December, 2008

Christmas Dinner

December 27, 2008 at 4:13 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Happy day after day after Christmas!  I hope everyone had a good one.  We’ve been at bf’s mom’s house since Wednesday afternoon, just chilling out and spending time with his family.  I packed up a whole bunch of food to get me through four days away from home.  The big party here is on Christmas Eve, and  I wanted to keep things simple food-wise.  Ever since Thanksgiving I’ve been thinking of those “leftover sandwiches” people make, so I made my own version.  I started with bread on Sunday, made in the bread machine.

I used a recipe for Whole Wheat Bread that came with the machine, and subbed half the flour with spelt flour, quinoa flour, oats and wheat germ for greater grain variety.  This was a very tasty bread – perfect for sandwiches and SO good as toast.

The sandwich insides were spinach, tofurkey, vegan cream cheese and cranberry sauce.  I toasted this one in a pan.

Here’s a better picture of a test-run sandwich I made a couple days before.  This one also had red onion and pickles and was heated in my sandwich press.

To go on the side I made coleslaw with dried cranberries and pecans.  I originally wanted to make broccoli slaw, but I didn’t anticipate that they don’t sell broccoli slaw out here!  Must be a southern thing.

I also made orange-ginger mashed yams.  I roasted baby sweet potatoes and yams with shallots, garlic & ginger then mashed with a bit of orange juice.

I was going to take a picture of my plate, but I was getting enough weird looks for having a sandwich at Christmas Eve Dinner, so I abstained.

For dessert, I made Pumpkin Whoopie Pies again, by request.

I haven’t met a person yet who doesn’t love these.  I used canned pumpkin instead of fresh this time, so there was a little less than two cups.  I also baked them about ten minutes longer, since last time they were so soft that they stuck to the plate.  They were just a bit crunchy on the outside but still super soft on the inside.  So good.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!  Santa was quite good to me.  Kitchen related presents received were Vegan Lunchbox, Vegan Fire & Spicy, a cast iron skillet, cast iron pizza pan, stock pot, large flat-bottomed saute pan, rice cooker, and a julienne peeler.  I am so excited to try all my new toys, thanks Santa!

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Farmers Market Roasted Veggie Salad

December 21, 2008 at 7:54 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , ,

Last weekend I had some free time Saturday morning, so I went to the farmers market.  I don’t think I can say enough how much I love the farmers market.

On a tangent of sorts, bf and I always laugh about how whenever someone is walking with groceries in the movies there are carrot tops or a baguette sticking out the top of the bag.  Always.  Even though in real life you never see it.  So I chuckled when my bag looked like this.

For less than $19 I got all this:

broccoli, swiss chard, carrots, golden beets, fingerling potatoes, salad greens

persimmons, kiwi, navel orange, apples, asian pear, sourdough bread

I’ve been thinking about how I never eat salads anymore because it’s so darned cold all the time.  So I figured, I’ll make a warm salad that’s still healthy and chock full of good stuff.  I roasted the potatoes, beets, broccoli, carrots and some leeks I had in the fridge.  I made a sweet triple mustard dressing from yellow, brown and dijon mustards, agave, and a dash of white wine vinegar.  No oil, salt or pepper in the dressing since the roasted veggies already had them.  Toss the dressing with the warm roasted veggies and serve over greens, and you’ve got a happy tummy.

I also sprinkled chopped carrot tops on the salad.  I found out that they’re totally edible and pretty nutritious.  They taste good - just a little bitter, which was a nice counter to the tangy, sweet dressing.

The next morning, I continued my quest for the perfect pancake.  I picked up some of Bob’s Red Mill buckwheat pancake & waffle mix, and gave it a whirl.

I used egg replacer and subbed applesauce for the oil.  They looked very nice and pretty fluffy, but the texture was a little gummy and they tasted “healthy”.  I’m definitely okay with making these for myself, but they’re not that exact perfect pancake I’m looking for.  On with the search!

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Make-At-Home Mexican, Takeout Thai & Laptop Lunches

December 19, 2008 at 1:31 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , ,

Firstly, the winner of my 1000th comment non-contest is Megan/Herbstonne of The Sisters Vegan!  Which is pretty cool, since she lives all of 20 miles or so from me.  Thank you to everyone who reads and comments on this here blog, it always makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

As a freak coincidence, bf and I both had a mad craving for Mexican on the same day last week.  Specifically, we wanted food from our favorite Mexican restaurant in Gainesville.  But unfortunately it is all the way across the country.  So I poked around online and found a family-owned Mexican joint in town to try.  Things are picking up a bit financially, enough so that we can finally afford to go out for a meal or two.

Well, unbeknownst to us the restaurant we wanted to try is closed on Mondays, and a Monday it was.  So we decided to make it ourselves.    A quick trip to the grocery store yielded the makings of veggie fajitas with refried beans and spanish rice.  I picked the quick cooking rice since we were very hungry by then.

We spent less money, had leftovers, and I was triply sure that everything was vegan.  Win-win.

By Friday night I was really itching to eat out somewhere.  While I love cooking at home, sometimes I just want to walk into a restaurant and pick something up.  I didn’t think there would be many vegan options in San Leandro, but I came up with a few and opted for Thai Satay, which is “downtown”.  I kind of felt like being a piggy, and also wanted leftovers, so I chose two entrees – pad thai and basil eggplant.

The pad thai was just okay.  I’ve definitely had better veggie pad thai at a few places.  The basil eggplant, however, was quite good.  The eggplant was melt-in-your-mouth, and the sauce had a very nice flavor.  The rice was just sticky enough and didn’t get dry in the fridge overnight.  I will definitely be going back and trying something else off their menu, especially since it’s so close to home.

Laptop lunches from last week!

12-8 snobby joes, ezekiel bread, marinated mushrooms,
boiled cabbage, snickerdoodle, pb cup

12-9  fajitas – veggies, spanish rice, refried beans,
multigrain tortillas that I put on top, salsa, guacamole,
and a macadamia white chocolate chip cookie

12-10 quesadillas with refried beans & fajita veggies, spanish rice, celery

12-12 whole wheat fettuccine with marinara, meatless meatballs,
braised celery, cookies over a piece of fudge

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100th Post! Sweets Swap

December 12, 2008 at 1:47 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , ,

Yep.  I started this little blog just over nine months ago, and this is my 100th post!  I feel like I should’ve done something big for it.  I knew it was coming.  I should’ve, and I didn’t.  But I did go to a PPK-arranged vegan sweets swap, and I have pictures to prove it.  Also check out Melisser’s and Herbstonne’s posts with more pictures.  They got there before I did so they have better photos of the spread.

Everyone brought sweets to share.  There were a lot of people, and WAY too many sweets.  I brought a tupperware container with me, and I immediately put most of this away so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat it all.

I’m not even sure what some of this is, but all of it was delicious.  Melisser made this ridiculous layered trifle thing with custard, brownies, chic-o-sticks and magic.  Everyone quickly went into a sugar coma.

I made speculaas to take.  I’d never heard of speculaas until I saw them on Cupcake Kitteh, and I was immediately interested in trying them out.  According to Wikipedia, “speculaas is a type of shortcrust biscuit, traditionally baked for consumption on St. Nicholas’ Eve (December 5)  in Belgium and the Netherlands”.  They typically have all those wintery spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.  I used the same recipe Mandee used, and like her I made them gluten free since that would provide more options for party goers.  I also added black pepper, cause Wikipedia said I could.

Since I changed up the recipe quite a bit, I am going to post it.  My coworker at my fairly new job said of the leftovers “I never would’ve known it was vegan!”.  They have just been introduced to the excellence that is vegan baked goods.

Speculaas

1 Tbs ground flax
3 Tbs hot water
1 c brown rice flour
1/2 c quinoa flour or other gluten free flour
1/4 tsp xantham gum
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp  cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c earth balance, softened
3/4 c firmly packed light brown sugar
finely grated rind of 1 large lemon
whole almonds, halved, or slivered almonds

In a small bowl, whisk together the ground flax and hot water.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the next nine ingredients (rice flour through salt).

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the flax mixture and lemon zest until well combined.  Add the flour mixture and beat until combined.  Flatten the dough into a round, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.  Using the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, flatten each ball of dough to 1/4 inch thick.  Press an almond half into the top of the cookie, or sprinkle with slivered almonds.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges.  Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Also attending the party were two very precious dogs.  Molly, who I like to call Snaggletooth.

And Strummer, who is just…small.  And awesome.

So, Happy 100 To Me!  The non-contest I spoke of in my Thanksgiving post is still on.  Whoever posts my 1,000th approved comment will get a package of sweets in the mail.  I was a little premature in announcing…a little further from 1000 than I thought.  But hey, I was in the spirit of thanks and giving and whatnot.  So even if it’s just about how cute Molly and Strummer are, gimme a post!

ETA:  Eep!  I left the xantham gum out of the recipe.  Just added it.  – 12/12

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Snobby Joes & A Hot Toddy

December 10, 2008 at 2:10 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , ,

I’ve been wanting to try the Snobby Joes from Veganomicon ever since I got the book last Christmas, and last week I was in the mood.  The idea of using lentils intrigued me.  I like lentils but never eat them as much as I could, so I’m always looking for reasons to use them.

On the side I had plain boiled cabbage, which is my favorite way to eat it.  I also made a cream of mushroom and broccoli stem soup that didn’t turn out so well.  I kept adding a bit of this and a dash of that in attempts to make it taste good and rather than improving the flavor it just became more convoluted.  So I sprinkled some red bell pepper on top, which helped a bit, and got through it.

The Snobby Joe was pretty good.  I liked the texture a lot, and I love any recipe that starts with onion, green pepper and garlic.  I don’t know that I’ll make this recipe again though, because there’s a sloppy joe recipe in Minutemeals Vegetarian that I kind of love.  The only issue is that it’s made with processed meat substitute, which isn’t really that bad, but I’m trying to avoid processed ingredients as much as possible.  Made that way it really does taste like a regular ol’ sloppy joe.  Maybe I’ll try making that recipe with lentils instead of faux meat?  The recipe is more simple, made with tomato paste, ketchup and red wine vinegar.  I don’t think I cared for the maple syrup that sweetens the Snobby Joes.  However, I’m not saying you shouldn’t try it if you think it looks good!

Last week I had a minor head cold and was feeling generally crappy.  I came home from work Friday night and for whatever crazy reason, I thought I would treat my cold with a hot toddy.  Even though I’d never had one in my life.  That’s what they do on tv, right?  A search of the internet yielded many versions, so I stuck with a simple one.  I measured it out and drank it from a sweet Jameson glass that I inherited when my mom cleaned out her kitchen cabinets.  A lot of people find hot toddies repulsive, but I liked it.  Then again, I like whiskey, so…there you go.

Looks harmless, right?

Vegan Hot Toddy

1 1/2 oz whiskey
1 oz agave nectar
1/3 oz lemon juice
3 oz hot cider, tea, water or other hot beverage (I used orange tangerine tea)

Mix and drink.  It’ll cure what ails ya!

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Cajun Spiced Tofu

December 7, 2008 at 8:26 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , ,

I made another recipe from my healthy list.  The Cajun Spiced Tofu from Yellow Rose Recipes has received good reviews around the internets, so I gave it a try.  For the sides I chose roasted brussels sprouts and the Sweet Potato Fries from Vegan with a Vengeance, which are always a winner.  Although this time I used the mandoline to slice the sweet potatoes, so they came out a little too thin to be considered “fries”.

Verdict:  Cajun Spiced Tofu is really, really good.  It takes minimal preparation and minimal baking time, and the results are fantastic.  I especially liked the texture of the coating.  I normally fail to some extent with breading things, so I was happy that the breading sticks very well.

The recipe provides a cajun spice mix to make yourself, but I already had a homemade blend in the cabinet.  I didn’t realize until sitting down to dinner that my spice mix has no salt in it!  While lacking in the salt department, the tofu was still plenty tasty.  The recipe includes salt, thank goodness.

This tofu could be enjoyed many ways – as “fingers” with ketchup or hot sauce, or on a sandwich as seen below.  I actually had the last piece for breakfast.  The cornmeal crust reminded me a little of fried catfish, so I think next time I might throw in some seaweed flakes and see what happens.

And here are my lunches from last week…

12-1 sweet potato chili, cornbread dressing with gravy,
red bell pepper & celery, pumpkin pie brownie

12-2 veggie burger with mustard, ketchup & pickles,
stir-fried broccoli, grilled potatoes, clementine

12-3 cajun spiced tofu, mini wheat bagel with apricot jam,
roasted brussels sprouts, sweet potato fries, grapes

12-4 cajun spiced tofu sandwich on wheat with makeshift tartar sauce,
more roasted brussels, sweet potatoes & grapes

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