Archive for February, 2009

Pea Shoot-Mushrooms Dumplings & Kale Pesto Pasta

February 28, 2009 at 3:57 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , ,

I must admit that when I got pea shoots in my CSA delivery for the first time, I had absolutely no idea what to do with them.  The leaves tasted nice plain, so I assumed they’d make a good salad, but apart from that I had no ideas.  So I did what I always do…I googled it.  From my extensive research I ascertained that they are good for two things – salads and asian food.  I saw some pasta ideas too, but I had other pasta plans already (see below).

Look how pretty!  I love the little tendrils, and I even got a flower.

Anywho, I decided to go the asian route and try my hand at dumplings.  As any vegan who has decided to make dumplings knows, most wonton wrappers aren’t vegan.  They all have egg.  Every darned one of them.  I figured to find a wrapper I could use I oughta take a trip to the asian market I had been eying for a while.

Their wonton wrappers had egg too, but lo and behold they had dumpling wrappers that were vegan.  Hooray!  I also bought rice noodles, sweet chili sauce, a pomelo (which I had never tried before), five spice powder, jackfruit and green onion.

Since I have just about zero dumpling knowledge, I went by this recipe  for vegetarian dumplings from Alton Brown, because I like AB a lot.   I subbed minced portobello and crimini mushrooms for the tofu and pea shoots for the cabbage, and left out the red bell pepper and egg.  I played around with two different shapes to see what worked best.

The dipping sauce is just sweet chili sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil, and I think I could probably eat an old shoe dipped in it, it was so good.

The dumplings were very tasty, and I was happy with how they turned out.  The only downsides were that the wrappers were a little thick, so the parts where the wrappers met were really chewy, and you can’t really make them ahead of time or eat them as leftovers.  They just don’t keep very well.

Since dumplings alone doth not a meal make, I also had some edamame and miso-mustard mashed sweet potatoes.  The potatoes were nice, but nothing to write home about.  Or write up a recipe for.

A few nights later, I used up the filling in a new shape.  I’m calling this one “the butterfly”.

Good, but still too doughy where the sides met.  I am no longer intimidated by dumplings though, and definitely want to have them again sooner than later.

My CSA is still sending at least two bunches of winter greens with every box, so I am always looking for new ways to eat them.  Not that I don’t like a nice plain steamed green, it’s just more fun to get creative.  I don’t recall how the idea of kale pesto popped into my head, but once it was there I had to have it.  I used this recipe, which called for walnuts instead of pine nuts.  I didn’t end up adding all of the olive oil called for, and used just less than a half cup of sesame parmesan.

Tossed with gluten free rotini and white beans for protein, this was a very tasty dish.  The pesto is much less zingy than regular basil pesto, although the garlic was intense at first.  It mellowed sitting overnight in the fridge, so leftovers weren’t quite so garlic-tastic.

I can’t seem to let myself eat just a bowl of pasta for dinner, even if it’s a very healthy bowl, so I also made a side salad to use up the rest of the pea shoots and mushrooms.

Along with the pea shoots and mushrooms, I added slivered red onion, some soy bleu cheese that was hanging around in the fridge, and some very thick tahini dressing.  For being so simple, this was one great salad.  The bleu cheese with the mushrooms and tahini dressing turned into something magical.

Well, the CSA sent me pea shoots again on Thursday, so I’ll be thinking up more ways to use them very soon!

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Enchiladas Then & Now, Laptop Lunches

February 22, 2009 at 4:57 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , ,

I became interested in photographing my food almost two years ago, after discovering The PPK and many vegan food blogs.  The first meal I made that I felt was photo-worthy was Cheesy Bean & Cheese Enchiladas.  When I got a gorgeous bunch of cilantro from my CSA, I immediately wanted to revisit this dish.

THEN:

NOW:

Slightly better, no?  It’s really nice to have evidence of how much my cooking and photography have improved since then.

The recipe I used is here, and I would definitely recommend it.  The only changes I made were to use two cans of beans instead of three, and only one onion.  I found the first time I made it that the onions were still a bit raw and crunchy after baking, so this time I steam-fried them first and it was perfect.  I also added a can of chopped green chiles to the filling.  You could easily get eight to ten enchiladas with all the filling, but I only made six this time because I’m a dummy and only bought six tortillas.  Who sells tortillas in a pack of six?  Whole Foods, that’s who.

I topped the enchiladas with extra cilantro, Tapatio, and guacamole made from very yucky avocados.  I’ve been very unlucky with avocados lately.  Oh, and I think steamed spinach is the perfect accompaniment to the enchiladas, it’s nice to mix it up and get a little spinach in each bite.

On to this week’s lunches!

2-17 white pizza, salad (leaf lettuce, spinach, carrots,
tahini dressing), prunes, dried apricots

2-18 salad (arugula, radicchio, roasted radishes & apples, soy bleu cheese, red onion, pistachios, dried cranberries, balsamic vinaigrette), gf corn muffin, vanilla soy yogurt with blueberries

2-20 whole wheat wrap with radicchio, arugula, tahini dressing, red onion, soy bleu cheese, pistachios & cranberries, two carrots, roasted radishes & apples, snapea crisps, pb cookies.  This wrap was to-die-for.

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White Pizza & An Arugula Salad

February 20, 2009 at 1:42 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Last week bf and his friends ordered pizza from Zachary’s, whose crust is unfortunately not vegan.  Zachary’s is consistently rated among the best deep dish in the country, and the pizza smelled SO amazing, what with the fresh garlic and basil.  I knew that I must have pizza.  Normally I’m a regular ol’ pizza kind of gal, with tomato sauce and such, but for some reason I got it in my head that I wanted to try a white pizza.  So I did what I normally do and poked around the internet for ideas.  There are lots of recipes, but none were remotely veganizable, so I just winged it.  Wung it?

The pizza turned out certainly edible, but not as amazing as the pizza I had in my head.  The flavors were just a little bland and lacking.  I didn’t have time to make the typical risen crust, so I used this Whole Wheat Yeast Free Herbed Pizza Dough recipe which was recommended for white pizzas, subbing soy yogurt and adding extra herbs.  The crust came together very easily and tasted nice, but it was more biscuit-like than pizza crust like.  For the sauce I just made a basic white sauce with olive oil, flour and rice milk.  I sauteed four cloves of garlic in the oil before adding the flour, hoping that it would add a lot of garlic flavor, but by the time the sauce was thick enough the garlic flavor had mellowed out too much.  Next time I think I’ll add vegan parmesan to the sauce for zing, and sprinkle the garlic on top of the pizza for maximum flavor.  I used the Basil Tofu Ricotta recipe from Vegan With A Vengeance, but I left out the basil and garlic since I was using them elsewhere, and the mixture tasted mostly like plain tofu, which was my fault and not the recipe’s.  Overall the pizza was alright, but it failed to live up to the flavors I was hoping for.  I’ll just call this practice for next time.

I got another CSA delivery last week.

greens:  collards, baby spinach, kale, arugula, pea shoots & cilantro

non-greens:  fingerling potatoes, fuji apples, radicchio, kiwi (!), and tangelos

The arugula was so nice and fresh, perfect for a salad.  So that is what I did.   I tossed the radicchio in too, since I hadn’t tried it raw yet.  I wanted plenty of sweet components to offset the bitter greens, and some textural contrast.

So, underneath we have arugula and radicchio, dressed with balsamic vinaigrette.  Then there are roasted radishes and apples, thinly sliced red onion, dried cranberries, pistachios, and soy bleu cheese from Sunergia Soy Foods.  I was hoping to find Bleu Sheese, but the Whole Foods I went to didn’t have it.  They did have the Soy Bleu though, and I’ve always been curious about this brand.  The store I used to shop at in Gainesville carried the feta, but it was expensive and I always thought that I could marinate some cubes of tofu in something tangy and probably come up with the same result.  This bleu though, I could not make myself and I’m glad I tried it.  The taste is distinctively soy, moreso than the Sheese, and the bleu-ness is understated.  I didn’t really like the first taste on its own, but in the salad it was quite nice.  Overall I like the flavor of bleu Sheese better, but this bleu slices much easier.  Sheese tends to stick to itself and your fingers and everything else in sight.  I used the cheese slicing hole of my box grater probably for the first time ever, and this cheese held together and sliced perfectly.  If you miss bleu cheese and can’t get ahold of Sheese, I would recommend trying the Sunergia Soy brand as long as you can find it at a decent price.

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The Search For The Perfect Pancake Ends, & Laptop Lunches

February 18, 2009 at 1:00 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , ,

My quest has come to an end.  You may recall that I’ve been trying in vain to make what I consider the perfect pancake.  Well, I finally did it.  In a stroke of what might be called utter genius,  I used the recipe my mom uses.  And since that is what I’ve generally been going for all along, it’s a little disturbing to me that I didn’t just try that in the first place.  Doh!

Look how nice and thick!  And you don’t have to feel guilty at all, because these are relatively good for you.  They stay just a bit moist and almost undercooked in the middle, which is just how I like ‘em.  And I bet cooked on a proper griddle they’d look even nicer.  I’m working with a new griddle and still having some griddle issues.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Adapted from The Betty Crocker Cookbook.

1 Tbs lemon juice or vinegar
scant 1 c soy milk
2 Tbs flax meal
3 Tbs warm water
1 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs canola oil
1 c white whole wheat, whole wheat pastry, or all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat griddle to medium heat.

Put lemon juice or vinegar in a cup measure. Add soy milk to equal one cup. Stir and set aside to curdle.

Put warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add flax meal and whisk very well. Add sugar and canola oil to flax mixture, and stir to combine. Add the soy milk once it has had some time to curdle, and stir.

Add remaining ingredients (flour through salt) to wet mixture, and stir just until combined. Some lumps are okay.

To test the griddle, sprinkle with a few drops of water. If bubbles jump around before evaporating, the heat is just right. Grease griddle lightly with oil or Earth Balance if necessary.

For each pancake, pour slightly less than 1/4 cup batter onto the hot griddle. Cook until bubbly on top, puffed and dry around the edges. Flip and cook until golden brown.

Yields: 12 small pancakes.

On to the lunches…

2-9 curried noodle, veggie & edamame stirfry, salad (leaf lettuce,
sesame shiitake dressing & sunflower seeds,
and a salted papaya candy that’s waaaaay too salty

2-10 roasted veggie quiche, wheat bread, steamed brussels, orange wedges


2-12 green curry tofu & veggies, brown rice, vanilla soy yogurt with kiwi


2-13 clean-out-the-fridge stew, multigrain everything crackers, steamed brussels, pistachios, an apple & raisins

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CSA Dinners

February 13, 2009 at 2:38 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another glorious CSA delivery, more glorious meals.

broccoli, collards, brussels sprouts, fennel, celery, baby bok choy & leaf lettuce

beets, a yellow onion, apples, oranges & radicchio

I was supposed to get romanesco, and I was really excited because I’ve never had it before, but they ran out and gave me broccoli instead.  Which is fine, because I like broccoli and I was going to use the romanesco to replace broccoli in a recipe anyway.

This is the Cheesy Broccoli & Rice Casserole from The Uncheese Cookbook.  It is super tasty and super easy to make.  You pretty much mix together five things in a casserole dish and stick it in the oven.  Although if you want to use brown rice instead of white you should precook it a bit first, which I kind of knew beforehand but tried to get away with it anyway.

I served the casserole with shredded raw beets over leaf lettuce.  The beets were dressed with orange juice, sesame oil, soy sauce and agave nectar.

I’m still not a huge fan of radicchio, but I’m finding I like it cooked and paired with something sweet.  I was happy to find this recipe for Sausages with Caramelized Red Onions & Radicchio.  I envisioned making it with homemade seitan sausages, but that just wasn’t in the cards for a weeknight meal.

I halved the recipe but followed it almost exactly, subbing Earth Balance for butter and Tofurkey Italian Sausages for sausage  I also added a bit of sesame parmesan.  This dish was very tasty, but the caramelized onions were so good and sweet that they overshadowed the other ingredients.  Which meant I couldn’t taste the radicchio, so I guess it was okay.

The sausages were served atop polenta with beet greens.  The polenta was jut okay.  It’s the first time I’ve made polenta not from a recipe, so hopefully I’ll be better at flavoring it next time.

I used the bok choy, as per usual, in a stirfry.  A fancy, tasty stirfry based on a recipe.  I loosely followed the Curried Udon Stirfry from Veganomicon, and the sauce totally made the stirfry.

I am definitely interested in making the recipe as is sometime.  I was nervous about the roux not working, but it worked perfectly.

Some friends moved into a new house a few weeks ago, and they are now lucky enough to have a lemon tree, flowers, herbs, and among other things, a kaffir lime bush.  With kaffir lime leaves!  They smelled so good that I felt the need to steal some and make green curry.  So I did.

I used this recipe from Food Network, subbing extra firm tofu for the chicken.  I added steamed broccoli, cauliflower & sweet potatoes, and just a bit of sugar toward the end of cooking.  And I couldn’t find Thai basil, so regular basil was a fine stand in.  It doesn’t look like a green curry, but the sauce is under there somewhere, I promise.  The only change I would make next time is to not add the extra 3/4 cup of liquid with the coconut milk, as the sauce wasn’t as thick as I would’ve liked.

And because a new CSA delivery came today, a clean-out-the-fridge stew for dinner tonight.

Ingredients:  onion, leek, carrot, celery, green pepper, jalapeno, garlic, bay leaf, liquid smoke, cooking wine, tomatoes, black eyed peas, lentils, collards and wild rice blend.  Perfect except that I added a wee bit too much liquid smoke.

I’m all caught up on posting!  Finally.  I may try to go back to more singular posts, as opposed to throwing five meals together in one.  Or I’ll get way behind again.  We shall see.

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Fennel Experiments

February 10, 2009 at 1:58 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

When I signed up for my CSA, I knew I’d be getting fennel.  I was a bit nervous about this, because fennel is one of the few vegetables I had never tasted, and all I knew about it was that it smelled and tasted like black licorice.  And I hate black licorice.  The CSA has an option to not receive any item you don’t like, but I figured I’d give fennel a chance before I took it off my list.  And I’m glad I did, cause I think I kinda like it.

I don’t remember where I got the idea to put fennel in a quiche, but I do know I read that roasted fennel does not taste like licorice, so I knew that was the way to go for my first try.  I based my quiche off of this broccoli quiche from The PPK.  For some reason I thought it would be okay to use silken tofu (it was not) and so my first try kinda fell apart.  It tasted fantastic though, so I knew I had to get it right.

Okay, so it didn’t exactly hold together this time either.  I have a hard time waiting for it to cool!  I promise it does stay together after time in the fridge, so I guess maybe I’d recommend chiling it for a few hours or overnight to ensure quiche stay-togetherness. 

I think this would also taste fantastic with summer vegetables – yellow squash, eggplant, red bell pepper, dill and maybe even fresh corn.

Quiche art:

Roasted Veggie Tofu Quiche

1 prepared 9-inch pie crust
1/2 fennel bulb, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 c unsalted cashews
1 lb extra-firm tofu
1 tsp yellow mustard
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 Tbs nutritional yeast
1 tsp kosher salt
black pepper
1/2 of a 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes, drained
2 Tbs chopped fennel frond

If your pie crust is frozen, take it out of the freezer to thaw.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the fennel bulb, onion, carrot and garlic in an aluminum foil lined pan. Drizzle the oil over the veggies and stir to coat. Roast the veggies in the oven for 25 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Take the veggies out of the oven and lower the temperature to 350F.

While the veggies are cooling, process the cashews in a food processor into fine crumbs. Drain the water from the tofu, and crumble it into the food processor. Add the mustard and process until mostly smooth, scraping down the sides with a spatula.

Transfer the tofu mixture to a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients (thyme through fennel frond) and mix until well combined. Use the spatula to pour the mixture into the pie crust, and smooth out the top. Bake for 40 minutes, and let cool to room temperature before serving.

This should probably serve 8, but I manage to eat it in 5 or 6 servings max.

With the halves left over from my first quiche (fennel, onion and canned tomatoes) I made a quick sauteed pasta sauce to go with whole wheat fettuccine, and topped it with sesame parmesan and (not quite toasted enough) butternut seeds.

Making this reinforced the fact that adding some pasta cooking water back to the pasta really does help with sauciness.

In an internet search for fennel recipes, I came across one for fennel-tuna sandwiches.  This recipe called only for the fennel fronds, and I had plenty of those left, so I made the Chickpea “Tuna” Salad from Vegan Deli and added lots of chopped fennel frond.  I also added some nori for fishiness.  The result was very tasty!  Perfect on a sandwich with lots of lettuce.  Although for some reason I could NOT get a decent picture of this meal.

Verdict:  Fennel is A-OK.  Give it a chance!

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Superbowl Sunday & Laptop Lunches

February 9, 2009 at 12:00 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

I didn’t feel emotionally invested at all in the Superbowl this year, but it IS a once a year event so we still had a few people over to watch.  I’m still trying to eat healthily and drop some pounds, so to keep my hands out of the chip bags I put together a veggie tray with hummus.  I used the hummus recipe in Veganomicon which is a nice, mild hummus.

I knew I wouldn’t get by without something crunchy and munchy, so I made Chex Mix based on the original recipe.  I was all out of vegan worcestershire sauce, so I substituted a mixture of soy sauce, liquid smoke, hot sauce, chili powder and paprika.

Now I have multiple half eaten boxes of Chex in the pantry!

For my entree I kept it simple and just had a veggie burger, but I did come up with a new potato to go on the side.  I was thinking that I hadn’t had enough mustard in my life lately, and the weather was a little yucky, so I went for warm and majorly mustardy.

This recipe makes a boatload – enough for 10 or more, so if it’s just for you or your family I’d suggest halving the recipe.

Warm Mustard & Leek Potato Salad

4 lbs new potatoes, skin on, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 Tbs olive oil
2 leeks, white and light green parts thinly sliced and washed
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
1 Tbs olive oil
4 Tbs stone ground mustard
2 Tbs dijon mustard
3 Tbs white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 Tbs dried parsley
1 tsp fennel seed
1 Tbs sugar

Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat to medium high, and cook for 6-7 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork. Drain and transfer to a very large bowl.

In the meantime, heat the 2 Tbs olive oil to medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add the leeks and celery and saute 9-10 minutes, until soft.

Add the remaining ingredients (1 Tbs olive oil through sugar) to the saucepan, mix well and cook until heated through. Pour the dressing over the potatoes and carefully stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Serves 10-12.

I was worried that the leftovers would dry out in the fridge overnight, but this salad is equally as good as cold leftovers.

Here be some lunches I’ve taken to work.

1-22 roasted veggie quiche, raw collard & carrot ribbons,
pretzels, gherkins, piece of dark chocolate

1-27 white bean & leek cassoulet, steamed kale
with nutritional yeast, a pear

1-29 fennel-chickpea “tuna” salad sandwich, celery & broccoli, goddess dressing, piece of dark mint chocolate, kiwi & banana

2-2 veggies & hummus, mustard & leek potato salad, chex mix

2-3 cheesy broccoli & rice casserole, raw beet salad over lettuce, vanilla soy yogurt with blueberries, pretzels, piece of dark mint chocolate

2-4 polenta with beet greens, tofurkey italian sausage with caramelized onions & radicchio, baby carrots & hummus, grapes

2-5 cheesy broccoli & rice casserole, raw beet salad over lettuce,
mustard & leek potato salad, baby carrots, grapes

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Millennium & Greens Two Ways

February 4, 2009 at 3:19 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

When my parents were planning their visit to San Francisco, my mom asked me if there were any restaurants I’d like to go to.  I immediately thought of Millennium.  I’ve wanted to eat a meal there ever since I first heard about the restaurant, and our visit confirmed everything great that I’ve heard.

I was shy about taking pictures of our meal and didn’t use flash, so the pictures are almost unidentifiable.  My mom had the excellent idea of asking for a menu though, so I know exactly what was in each dish.

For appetizers we shared the Black Eyed Pea Fritters and the Sesame Crusted Oyster Mushrooms.

The fritters came with aji chile coconut cream and jicama-apple-pomegranate salsa, and I thought they were kind of like a take on falafel and tahini sauce.  The cold, crunchy salsa was great with the soft, hot inside of the fritters.  Our waitress described the mushrooms, which came with lemongrass-grapefruit-chile sambal and watermelon radish relish, as vegan calamari, and I have to say it was an accurate description.  We debated which appetizer each of us liked best, and I think the table was split in half.

I knew which entree I wanted almost right away, the one that seemed the most original:  Seared Nettle Polenta Cake.

I’d heard of nettle tea, but didn’t know for sure that nettles were edible.  Edible they were!  The polenta cake came with sage & Meyer lemon tofu “cheese”, seared rapini, chanternay carrots & artichokes, mushroom & fennel sugo, fried capers and pine nut bread crumbs.  To be perfectly honest, not all of these components were easily identifiable to me, but they came together perfectly.  The tofu “cheese” gave a distinct tang to what was otherwise an earthy dish, and the fried capers and pine nut bread crumbs provided good crunch.

Ah, that’s a better picture.  Mom got the Chimichurri Grilled Portobello Mushroom, which came with sunchoke & root vegetable hash, saffron scented IPA & French lentil brodo, escarole with caramelized onion & roasted apples and smoky orange-almond romesco sauce.  She said she was sold at “portobello”.

Dad ordered the Winter Tamale – a roasted pumpkin, pinto bean & caramelized onion filling, chocolate-almond mole, sauteed winter greens, cabbage & avocado salad and carrot-habanero sauce.

BF got the Black Chanterelle Mushrooms En Papillote, which may not have been a great choice for him since he doesn’t like to touch his food.  As our waitress explained, En Papillote means “in paper”.  Don’t worry, he successfully opened the package with a knife and fork.  This dish included borlotti bean & leek confit with exotic mushrooms, barley risotto, creamy sherried root vegetable ragu and seared winter chicories.  He chose this for the mushrooms and barley, and I think he got more beans than he bargained for.

The picture of dessert is the worst of them all, and I don’t have the exact description, but I can tell you that it was a spiced ginger baby bundt cake that came with ice cream, the flavor of which I don’t recall.  I do recall that it was very, very tasty.

Summary:  Go to Millennium if you get the chance.  It’s just as good as you expect.  I will definitely be going back as often as possible.

Oh, and since mom likes taking pictures of me, here I am at the Saturday morning Ferry Building Farmers’ Market holding a daikon radish sample for mom, since she had never seen them before.

My CSA has not been stingy with the greens lately, so I’ve been trying to find different ways to prepare them.  Here’s the CSA delivery:

leeks, fennel, bok choy, chard, kale & collards

carrots, red onions, navel oranges and two kinds of pear

The CSA newsletter came with a recipe for Creamed Greens that looked really good, and so I tried veganizing it with the chard.  It didn’t turn out exactly as “creamed” as I expected, but it did taste really, really good, so I’m renaming it.

This is even better than it looks, I promise.

Creamy Greens

2 Tbs Earth Balance
1 large onion, diced
1 large bunch chard or kale, washed and cut into 1/2-inch wide ribbons, stems chopped
1/2 cup non-dairy creamer or milk
1/2 cup vegan parmesan (I used the sesame parmesan from Uncheese Cookbook)
salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and chopped stems, and saute on medium heat until translucent. Add greens to skillet and cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until greens are wilted. Turn heat to lowest setting and add creamer or milk. Stir for two to three minutes, the sauce will thickenn slightly. Add vegan parmesan, and continue to cook until sauce is thickened to your liking. Add salt & pepper to taste, and serve.

Serves 4.

In addition to cooking greens, I’ve been learning to enjoy them raw.  I knew I liked raw kale salad, but had my doubts about the heartier collard green.  I wilted the greens using the same method as kale and dressed ‘em as simply as possible, and this was very tasty.  I wouldn’t want to eat raw collards every day or anything, but when you’ve got greens coming out of your ears this is a nice alternative.

Also pictured is a roasted veggie tofu quiche that tasted amazing but didn’t hold together exactly well, so I’ll be making it again soon then posting the recipe.

Raw Collard & Carrot Ribbons

1 bunch collards, washed and cut across into thin strips
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
2 medium carrots, julienned
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp agave nectar

In a large bowl, combine collard, olive oil and salt. Massage with your hands until the collard turn a bright green and seem a bit wilted. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.

Serves 4.

Random baking:  I had a large portion of butternut squash just sitting on the counter, so I cooked it, pureed it, and subbed it for pumpkin in the Pumpkin & Carob Chip Muffins from Vegan Lunchbox.

There must’ve been something off about my batter, because the tops puffed up kind of funny.  They got crispy though, which is nice, and the muffins tasted great.

At one point I had large amounts of leeks piling up in the fridge, so I finally made the White Bean & Leek Cassoulet from Veganomicon.  I’ve been wanting to try this recipe ever since I got the book over a year ago.

I was expecting this to be really amazing based on other internet reviews, and while it was quite comforting and tasty, it left a little to be desired.  Maybe my hopes were too high.  I think maybe I used too many potatoes or cut them too large, because I felt like the starch of the potatoes overshadowed the biscuits.  Also, I didn’t put enough salt in the gravy, and I don’t think the biscuit recipe called for enough salt either.  The gravy was nice, but the overall flavor of the dish was a little “flat”, if that makes sense, so I think when I make it again (and I will), I’ll add some mustard or lemon juice, or something else that will give it some zing.

Next up:  My first experiences with fennel, including the quiche pictured above.

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