Posts Tagged cauliflower

Cruciferous Calzones

August 17, 2011 at 10:11 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , ,

After I made the Lasagna with Roasted Cauliflower Ricotta from Appetite For Reduction, I was immensely curious to see how the cauliflower ricotta would hold up in other applications, specifically a calzone.

For the crust I used this recipe for Pumpkin Pizza Crust, substituting sweet potato puree for the pumpkin.  You can’t tell from the photo, but the crust was pretty orange.  The flavor of the crust was good, but it was a little too puffy for calzones.

For the filling I mixed the cauliflower ricotta with blanched broccoli florets and some shredded mozzarella Daiya.  I really liked how the filing turned out, and the meltiness of the Daiya gave it a cheesy authenticity.  It did taste cruciferous though…I wouldn’t recommend this meal to someone who doesn’t love broccoli and cauliflower.

I had some of the filling leftover, so I baked it with brown rice pasta and marinara.  Pasta bake!

Side notes:

– I started another blog, The Vegan Weight Watcher, which will chronicle my adventures with weight loss and fitness.  I’ll be writing short posts every day-ish, and the content will be a lot more personal, as weight loss topics tends to be.  Check it out if you like!  I’ll keep writing here as well, talking more about food and cooking, and occasionally posting recipes.

– I’m going to Portland next weekend for Vida Vegan Con!  I’m giving consideration to the idea of live blogging using my phone, but I feel like the event might be busy and intense enough without trying to blog constantly too.  However I report it, I’m sure there will be hundreds of other accounts around the web.

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Cauliflower Ricotta?!

March 8, 2011 at 11:39 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Cauliflower Ricotta, indeed.  This is Lasagna with Roasted Cauliflower Ricotta from Appetite For Reduction.  To make the ricotta, you roast cauliflower then combine it with tofu, nutritional yeast and some other tasty stuff.  Genius!  I pulsed my ricotta in the food processor instead of mashing it like the recipe said to do, and it turned out thicker and a little more difficult to spread, but it was no biggie.  I roasted the cauliflower the night before to speed up the prep work and get lasagna in my belly more quickly.

I substituted beet greens for the spinach, since I was having beets on the side.  I also added a pinch of red pepper flakes to the sauce, because I can’t seem to make red sauce without them.

I really enjoyed this lasagna for the flavor and comfort factor, and even more so because it was much lighter in comparison to most lasagnas.  If you eat the cauliflower ricotta on its own you can kind of taste the cauliflower, but in cahoots with the whole dish you would never know the secret ingredient.

Reminder – there’s still time to enter the giveaway for a signed copy of Appetite For Reduction by going to this post and leaving a comment with a healthy cooking tip.  The contest closes at midnight PST Wednesday 3/9.

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Vegan Scallops

February 16, 2011 at 9:41 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , ,

I usually like to post in chronological order, but I was so pleased with how this meal turned out that I had to share it now!

When I received king trumpet mushrooms from my CSA, I knew right away what I wanted to try to do with them.  I had seen scallops made from mushrooms around the internet before but couldn’t find a recipe, so I made up my own.  I’m really happy with how they look…kind of like real scallops?  I googled seared scallops to get a picture of what I should be going for, and I think I came pretty close.  I wasn’t enamored with the flavor of the mushrooms on their own, but when I ate one with a bit of the lemony sauteed spinach, it came to life flavor-wise.  The lemon is essential!

Vegan Scallops

The nonstick skillet and high heat are important to get a proper sear.  Be sure not to overcrowd the pan.

1/2 lb king trumpet mushrooms, stems about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
1 cup vegetable broth or water, plus more as needed
2 Tbs vegetarian fish sauce
1 Tbs agave nectar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
lemon wedges

1. Slice off the ends of the mushroom stems, then slice the stems into pieces about 1 1/2-inches long.  Save the caps for another purpose.
2. In a shallow container large enough to hold all of the mushrooms, whisk together the vegetable broth, vegetarian fish sauce and agave nectar.  Add the mushrooms, and add more broth if needed, just to cover the mushrooms.  Place another dish on top to keep the mushrooms submerged.  Place in the refrigerator and marinate at least 8 hours.
3. Drain the mushrooms and pat them as dry as possible.  Heat a nonstick skillet over high heat.
4. Season a few mushrooms lightly with salt and pepper on both cut sides.  Place in the skillet, cut side down, and don’t move them for at least 1 minute.  Check the mushrooms; they should be well-seared and pretty brown.  If not, continue to let them cook until brown.  Flip the mushrooms and sear the other sides.  Remove to a plate and repeat until all mushrooms are cooked.
5. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Servings: 3
Yield: 15-16 scallops

Note:  I listed a recipe for vegetarian fish sauce in this post, or there’s a recipe in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian that would probably work too.

My marinating vessel – two bread pans.

Don’t do like I did and season all the mushrooms at once!  The salt draws out moisture and makes it more difficult to get a good sear.

The Flavor Bible says that scallops go well with cauliflower and spinach, and so that is what I made for side dishes.  The spinach was sauteed very simply with shallots, garlic, and lemon juice and zest.  The cauliflower gratin was based on this recipe, and was very easy and tasty.  The only changes I made were to use almond milk and shredded Follow Your Heart cheddar.  A cheesy gratin based on a roux might taste more fatty and satisfying, but this low-fat version was a nice light addition to the meal.

On a side note, I added a new page for my budding chef business here.  Check it out!

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Showcase #2

August 19, 2010 at 9:32 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jeebus, I’ve been busy!  Between baseball games, a bachelorette party, a wedding, a going away picnic for Melisser, a fundraiser date at Souley Vegan and Beer Revolution, finishing up my externship, trying to exercise regularly and being really swamped at work, I have been a busy lady.  I have tons to catch up on here, so I’m hoping to start posting more often and get caught up to current.  Expect some long posts coming up!

I introduced the showcase in my last post – it was basically a catered dinner that served as our final group project for the Natural Chef program at Bauman College.  We started planning about two months in advance, and we were divided into committees – decorating, budget and shopping.  We were all involved in recipe planning and the cooking, and some students served as front of the house staff.  It was a lot of work and the entire class couldn’t agree on much anything, but in the end it all turned out well.

We went with a theme called “American Twist” and made updated, healthy versions of American classics.  All vegetarian and gluten free!

The Berkeley Bauman kitchen classroom isn’t the prettiest of rooms, so it was interesting trying to fancy it up on a budget.  We used a lot of things that we already owned, as well as flowers and plants from our yards.

Setting up during the day.

Guests – Dave and our friend Matt are in the back of the room.

The class, with out showcase instructor, Chef Lizette.

Ed Bauman’s wife Chris Bauman came and took lovely pictures while we worked.  (These pictures are published as a student, with her permission.)  She spent a lot of time in the front of the house and I was in the back cooking, so this is the only picture of just me.  I am very serious about sauteing these tempeh meatballs!

On to the important part – the food!

Our “welcome beverage” was my recipe for Green Ginger Ale.  The color is so beautiful, and it tastes fantastic!

Green Ginger Ale

(recipe scaled for 10 servings – to make a lesser amount, divide all ingredients by 3)

3 oranges, peeled
3 green apples, quartered and cored
3-inch piece ginger
3 cups spinach
20 oz sparkling mineral water

Juice the oranges, apples, ginger and spinach.  Combine with sparkling water and serve immediately.  One serving is 1/2 cup juice plus 1/4 cup sparkling water.

We decided on passed appetizers versus plated, so that we’d have less plates to wash!  The first appetizer was my Tempeh Meatballs with Maple BBQ Sauce.  These received mixed reviews.  I absolutely love them (after testing many, many versions), but I think people who aren’t used to tempeh might not have been too into them.

Tempeh Meatballs with Maple BBQ Sauce

8 oz tempeh
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1 Tbs maple syrup
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs water or Maple BBQ Sauce
1 1/2 Tbs wheat-free tamari
1 Tbs arrowroot
1 Tbs nutritional yeast
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 recipe Maple BBQ Sauce (recipe below)

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil.  Cube the tempeh and simmer it for 15 minutes.  Drain and let cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Place the dried sage, thyme, marjoram and fennel seed in a spice grinder and grind into a powder.
4. Finely crumble the tempeh into a large bowl.  Add all remaining ingredients, including ground spices, and mix very well.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
5. Roll 1 Tbs of the mixture into a ball, and repeat with the rest of the mixture.
6. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Line the skillet thinly with olive oil.  Place some of the meatballs in the skillet, being careful not to overcrowd, and saute, shaking the pan occasionally, until slightly browned.  Repeat with remaining batches, adding more oil as needed.  Dip the meatballs in the Maple BBQ Sauce to thinly coat, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
7. Bake the meatballs for 10 minutes.  Dip the meatballs in the sauce again and bake for another 10 minutes.  Serve immediately, topping with more sauce if needed.

Servings: 6
Yield: about 24 meatballs

Maple BBQ Sauce

28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup organic, sugar-free grape juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs molasses
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 Tbs vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
12 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Transfer to a medium saucepan.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes, stirring often.

Servings: 12

It was prime asparagus season at the time, so we wanted to be sure to incorporate asparagus with these asparagus pesto-stuffed mushrooms.  We based the asparagus pesto off of a recipe found online (might have been this one), and we tested a vegan version and vegetarian version with Parmesan.  The class preferred the one with cheese, so that’s what we used.

We chose to combine the soup and salad courses into a “soup, salad and sandwich” combination.

This is Roasted Cauliflower Bisque, Chopped Salad with Honey-Lemon Poppy Seed Vinaigrette, and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (raw gouda and caramelized shallots on gluten-free brioche).  The cauliflower soup wasn’t vegan as originally proposed, but they ended up making it vegan.  I don’t know what they switched out for the butter – probably oil – but here is the original recipe for you to veganize if you want.  I was glad I got to try the soup – it was fantastic!

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

1 head garlic
3 Tbs olive oil, divided
2 Tbs butter
3 medium onions, diced
4 tsp sea salt, divided
6 medium heads cauliflower, chopped
1 gallon vegetable stock, divided
2 bay leaves
fresh ground pepper to taste
3-4 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
truffle oil to drizzle
fresh thyme leaves for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice the top of the garlic head, exposing the cloves.  Drizzle 1 tsp olive oil over garlic and wrap tightly in parchment.  Bake upright in a small baking dish for 30 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

On three large, rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment, spread cauliflower pieces in an even layer.  Drizzle evenly with 2 to 3 Tbs olive oil.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until cooked through and slightly golden.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add onions and 1 tsp salt.  Saute for 5 minutes, until translucent.  Add cauliflower, garlic, bay leaves and 3/4 of the vegetable stock.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes.

Using a high speed blender, puree cauliflower-garlic mixture until smooth, working in batches.  Return puree to pot, add remaining vegetable stock, remaining salt and pepper to taste.  Simmer for 5 minutes until heated through.  Stir in lemon juice, nutmeg and paprika.  Ladle into bowls.  Drizzle with truffle oils and garnish with fresh thyme leaves.

Yields:  36 servings

The salad was so pretty!  It was also not vegan, so I never got to try it, but I can imagine it was very tasty.  It’s easily veganizable by swapping agave nectar for the honey, so here’s the recipe!

Chopped Salad with Honey-Lemon Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette:
1/4 c honey
1/4 c lemon juice
2 tsp chopped onion
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 c olive oil
1 Tbs poppy seeds
white pepper to taste

Salad:
1/2 c apple cider vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp agave nectar
2 red onions, sliced very thinly
1 bunch kale, chopped
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 lb Brussels sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 lb carrots (various colors – purple, white, red, yellow), matchstick cut
2 avocados, pitted and diced
1/4 c dried cranberries
1 cup diced apple (optional)

To prepare vinaigrette, place all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend well.  Add pepper to taste.  Set aside or refrigerate.

To prepare the salad, start by marinating the onions.  In a medium shallow bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil and agave.  Add onions and toss to coat thoroughly.  Set aside for 30 minutes to marinate.  Meanwhile, place kale in a large bowl and massage with sea salt.  Rinse.  Run kale through salad spinner to remove excess water.  Toss Brussels sprouts in a bowl to separate layers.

To assembly salad, place kale, Brussels sprouts, carrots, dried cranberries and avocado in a large bowl.  Add vinaigrette, 1/4 cup at a time and toss salad.  Top salad with marinated onions and apple before serving.  Each serving can be plated using a ring mold.

Serves 8.

For the entree, we served a Sprouted Chickpea Burger with Arugula, Caramelized Onion and Fennel, Sweet Potato and Parsnip Oven Fries, Homemade Ketchup and Cashew Mayo.

And, to serve as a “milkshake” with our burger and fries, the much anticipated Orange Coconut Creamsicle.  This stuff is so rich and good that a very small serving will do.  A high speed blender is really helpful with the preparation.

Orange-Coconut Creamsicle

6 large oranges
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 drops liquid stevia
1 pinch sea salt

1. Refrigerate the coconut milk.  Supreme the oranges over a freezer-safe bowl, catching the juice.  Squeeze any extra juice into the bowl.  Freeze the oranges and juice overnight.
2. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Thin with water 1 Tbs at a time if desired. Serve immediately.

Servings: 4

Our dessert was this amaaaaaazing chocolate cream pie thingy, which the recipe writer named Almost Grammy’s Chocolate Cream Mini-Pie.  They played around with this recipe a little, but I do know we added some cardamom and maybe a pinch of cayenne to the filling, so feel free to experiment!

Almost Grammy’s Chocolate Cream Mini-Pie

Equipment required:  high speed blender, food processor, mini-cheesecake pans, piping bag with decorating tip

Crust
1/4 c amaranth flour
1/4 c almond flour
1/4 c coconut flour
1/4 c potato starch
4 Tbs date sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/4 c solid coconut oil (chilled)
4 Tbs water
2 Tbs ground flax meal

Filling
1 1/2 c coconut milk cream, skimmed from the top of chilled coconut milk
1 Tbs agar agar flakes
1/2 c cocoa powder, raw and unsweetened
2 Tbs brown rice syrup
2 Tbs date sugar
2 Tbs date molasses (Middle Eastern Sylan)
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt

Frosting
1 1/2 c raw cashews; soaked, sprouted and drained
1/4 c coconut cream, skimmed from the top of chilled coconut milk
1/4 c fresh orange juice
2 Tbs date sugar
4 Tbs solid coconut oil, chilled
3 Tbs maple syrup
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
4 whole cloves, ground
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch cardamom
pinch sea salt

Garnish
strips of orange peel
cacao nibs

Preheat oven to 350F.

[crust] Mix flax seed meal and water in a small bowl.  Set aside to thicken.

[filling] Mix 1/2 c coconut milk cream and agar agar flakes in a small sauce pan.  Set to very low heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until flakes dissolve completely.  The final mixture should have the consistency of light eggnog.

[frosting] Combine all the ingredients into a high speed blender.  Pulse and gradually increase speed until the cream is silky and thick.  You may have to use a spatula to assure all ingredients blend thoroughly.  Taste and adjust as needed, especially if orange juice isn’t very sweet.  Transfer to a container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

[crust] Combine flours, date sugar, cinnamon and salt in a food processor fitted with a dough blade for 1 minutes.  Add coconut oil and process for approximately 2 minutes until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add flax meal slurry and process for 1 minute more, until dough forms.  Press dough evenly into the bottom of each mini cheesecake form, about 1/4 – 1/2″ thick.  Blind bake for 15 minutes or until golden.  Set aside to cool completely.

[filling] Combine all the ingredients in blender or food processor.  Add agar agar and coconut milk mixture.  Blend until silky smooth.  Taste and balance flavor as needed.  Final mixture should have the viscosity of chocolate cake batter, but should be completely silky.

Once the crust is cooled, fill each mini cheesecake form to the brim and place in refrigerator to set for at least two hours or overnight.

To serve, remove each mini pie from the cheesecake pan and transfer to a plate.  Pipe frosting on top and garnish with orange peel and cacao nibs.

Yields: 12 mini pies

(not my hands)

Dessert, waiting for the signal to enter the dining space.  This was a great moment, because it meant we were almost done!  Except for clean up, of course.

The showcase took a lot of work.  And a lot of time.  And a lot of energy.  And it stressed us all out.  But in the end it went really well!  I definitely gained some experience in menu planning, recipe scaling and cooking in larger quantities.

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Beet Hummus, Lots of Veggies, and Pancakes for One

July 6, 2010 at 10:03 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been pretty busy lately, and I realized tonight that I’m going to be even more busy for the next two or three weeks, so I wanted to make sure to get a post in before I go haywire!

Here’s a CSA delivery I got way back at the beginning of June.

broccolini, rosemary, lettuce & bok choy

blueberries, peaches, beets, potatoes, cantaloupe & cauliflower

With the beets and lettuce, I decided to make beet hummus lettuce wraps, even though I had never had beet hummus before.  It just sounded good.

I topped the wraps with shredded carrot and daikon radish, which was a great idea.  Right around this time, I started counting calories and making an effort to lower the fat content of my meals and include more veggies, so you’ll see a lot of meals like this from me for a while.  That’s why this hummus is low-fat, with no tahini or oil.  I went back and forth trying to decide if I should include at least a little tahini, but in the end the beets made the texture and flavor so nice that it didn’t need any added fat.  I meant to include a clove of garlic but forgot, so that would be a nice addition.

Low-Fat Beet Hummus

1 bunch beets, about three large
1 15.5-oz can chickpeas, or 1 1/2 cups cooked
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1 dash cayenne
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tsp minced fresh dill
3 Tbs water

1. Trim the beets, but do not peel.  Bring a medium pot of water to boil.  Add beets to water, cover, and simmer for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until beets are easily pierced with a fork.  Drain and let cool.  Once cool, peel the beets with the side of a spoon and chop.

2. Place beets and all remaining ingredients, except water, in a food processor.  Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides as necessary.  Add water, 1 Tbs at a time, to reach desired consistency.

Servings: 6

Amount Per Serving
Calories 102.58
Calories From Fat (7%) 7.04
% Daily Value
Total Fat 0.84g 1%
Saturated Fat 0.09g <1%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 311.27mg 13%
Potassium 334.15mg 10%
Total Carbohydrates 20.61g 7%
Fiber 4.61g 18%
Sugar 4.72g
Protein 4.11g 8%

Lunch the next day, with leftover risotto and dried pears.

This is kidney bean and broccoli stem ragout.  I meant to use the broccolini in whole for this dish, but by the time I got around to cooking it, the poor broccolini was looking pretty bad, so I just used the thin stems.

With the ragout, I served rosemary-potato-cauliflower mash.  Adding the cauliflower was a nice way to still have potatoes but cut the calories a little.

Lunch the next day, with persian cucumbers and blackberries.

Next CSA delivery:  lettuce, carrots, zucchini, chard & cauliflower.

Tomatoes, strawberries, plums, cantaloupe, blueberries and nectarines.

With the return of summer and fresh zucchini, I returned to my spiralizer.  This is soba and zucchini noodles with carrot-ginger sauce, mung beans, long beans, cilantro and green onion.  I adapted the carrot-ginger sauce from this recipe, but to be honest I didn’t like it very much.  I think I just don’t like fresh carrot juice though, so if it sounds good to you, give it a try!  One great tip I did learn from this meal is that when you mix cooked soba noodles and raw zucchini noodles, you can barely tell the difference texture-wise.  It’s a fantastic way to extend the volume of soba noodles without adding a ton of calories.

Along with the noodles, I sauteed some purple kohlrabi.  I wasn’t going to have a side dish, but when I saw the kohlrabi at the farmer’s market that morning, I had to have it.  I love kohlrabi.

I had leftover carrot-ginger sauce and mung beans, so I combined them with short grain brown rice, arame and steamed broccoli for another meal.

One pot meals rule my world!  This is tempeh with leeks, carrots, swiss chard, mushrooms, capers, tomatoes, white wine and quinoa.  Delish.

To use up the last of the CSA veggies, I turned to Vegan Fire & Spice.  This is the Kashmiri Vegetable Soup.  Simple yet tasty, I really enjoyed the emphasis on cardamom in the spice mix.  You could add protein and greens to this soup and call it a complete meal.  And, because the veggies are cut into chunks, the prep was really fast.

Soup close up!

To go with the soup, I made Many Bean Salad, also from Vegan Fire & Spice.  This certainly lived up to the cookbook title – it was spicy!  I really liked the combination of beans and the addition of peas, which gave the salad a lovely texture.

A few Sundays ago, Dave left the house ridiculously early to attend a Nascar race up in Sonoma, and when I finally got out of bed I had a mad craving for pancakes.  Seeing as I’m doing this calorie counting thing, I wanted to make filling, relatively low-cal pancakes without having any leftovers.  I googled pancakes for one and came across this Buckwheat Pancakes for One recipe, which turned out fabulously.

I didn’t have any buckwheat flour though, so I used half whole wheat pastry and half quinoa flour.  They were a little gummy in the middle, but I actually like my pancakes that way.  Because I only had to cook one batch, these pancakes were much more quick to make than my usual recipe.  And, my entire breakfast was less than 350 calories, including the 2 tsp of blueberry agave nectar on top.  I will definitely be adding this to my weekend repertoire!

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And For My Next Post…Here’s a Bunch of Food.

June 13, 2010 at 12:45 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

There’s always a bad reason for not blogging, but here’s a good one:  My internet didn’t work for two weeks!  But I’m back now, and what better thing to do than post a whole bunch of random food and get caught up?  Some of this stuff dates from last October.  Eep!  I’ll jump right in.

Ginger Cashew Tofu from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, with fried quinoa

Salad with chickpeas, sauerkraut, crackers and “special sauce” dressing

Whole wheat pasta with cooked beets and beet greens.  Turned the whole thing red!

Pizza burrito!  Leftover pizza toppings wrapped up and served with pizza sauce.

These potatoes were sold as “teeny tiny potatoes” at Trader Joe’s.  How cute!  Roasted whole, with broccoli & tofu scramble.

Roasted Fennel Salad from Veganomicon – test run before Thanksgiving.

Amaranth porridge with apples and pecans

Tempeh Tetrazzini, adapted from a magazine recipe.  Was tasty but dry.

Teriyaki tofu and veggies with red quinoa

This was a total clean-out-the-fridge dinner before I left to visit family for Christmas:  sauteed cabbage and carrots with shredded bleu Sheese and brown rice.  It sounds weird, but it worked well enough.

Shells n’ cheese n’ Tofurkey.  Mom was making mac n’ cheese with leftover ham for the rest of the family, and she made the white sauce with Earth Balance and soy milk so that I could partake too.  I added shredded Follow Your Heart cheese, cooked shells, diced Tofurkey slices that needed to be used up, and some spinach so I could pretend that it was slightly healthy.

“Special Tofu” with peanut sauce and jasmine rice, from Royal Orchid restaurant in Ocala, Florida.  Beautiful and delicious.

Fried rice with red cabbage and baked tofu

Braised red cabbage and carrots

Roasted root veggies with greens and tahini sauce

Tofu scramble and an English muffin to scoop it up

Butternut squash stuffed with rice, kale and vegan sausage, served with mushrooms.  This was super tasty.

When the weather started warming up, we decided to grill twice in one weekend.  For this plate, I bought every vegetable worthy of grilling – baby squashes, radicchio, mushrooms, asparagus and garlic scapes.  We also had some grilled toast and drizzled everything with balsamic reduction.

The next day it was a little more simple – store bought baked tofu, a marinated portobello, brown rice with carrots and hijiki, and steamed veggies with gomasio.

Hot and sour cabbage stir fry with noodles and cilantro

For this tofu scramble, I crisped some diced potatoes first then added the tofu and other ingredients, and finished it with fresh dill.

Savory amaranth with broccoli and pecans

Pasta with parsley pesto, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and balsamic-roasted veggies

Crunchy salad with black eyed peas, hemp seeds and spicy apple cider vinegar dressing

Teriyaki tofu bowl with short grain brown rice, raw red cabbage, steamed broccoli, green onion and extra teriyaki sauce

Gardein Crispy Tenders!  I bought these to try when I had a coupon, and I LOVE them.  They’d be good with any sauce, but they were especially good straight out of the oven with warm marinara.  The only problem with these guys is that I could easily eat the whole package at once.

Seasoned mashed fava beans with red bell pepper on Ezekiel toast for breakfast.

Springtime brown rice risotto with fresh peas, aspragus and dill

For a light side to go with the risotto, I dry-roasted some cauliflower that was liberally seasoned with a dry rub mix.

Ahhhhhhh, I feel better having purged my unposted photos a little!  Hope you enjoyed it too.

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March Cleanse: Days 15 – 18 & Wrap-Up

March 21, 2010 at 9:21 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Well, I said that I was going to extend my cleanse until tomorrow, but I quit a bit early.  After work on Friday I was tired, stressed and hungry and I grabbed a burrito, and it was delicious.  While I enjoyed the food I had on the cleanse, it was a lot of work to prep it all every night, so I was ready to give it a rest!

Day 15:

water with lemon & chia seeds
breakfast juice:  cucumber, celery, orange, ginger, kale
green tea
snack smoothie:  banana, strawberries, hemp protein, amazing grass powder, udo’s oil, almond milk
salad:  leaf lettuce, radish, green onion, adzuki beans, mandarin orange, sesame-almond-ginger dressing
snack:  raw sprouted hummus with broccoli florets & asian pear slices
dinner:  fajita leftovers with tortilla chips, detox tea

Day 16:

water with lemon & chia seeds
breakfast juice:  cucumber, celery, carrot, apple, kale
earl grey tea
snack smoothie:  same as day 15
salad:  same as day 15, with asparagus & dulse flakes

snack:  raw sprouted hummus with broccoli florets
dinner:  white chili with potatoes & cilantro, sauteed swiss chard, detox tea

Day 17:

water with lemon & chia seeds
breakfast juice:  fennel, orange & kale
cinnamon black tea
snack smoothie:  same as day 15
lunch:  same as day 16
snack:  tortilla chips
dinner:  same as day 16, detox tea

Day 18:

water with lemon & chia seeds
breakfast juice:  fennel, carrot, green apple, kale
green tea
snack smoothie:  banana, pear, amazing grass, hemp protein powder, udo’s oil, multigrain milk
lunch:  raw cauliflower couscous, braised spinach with mustard dressing
snack:  raw sprouted hummus, broccoli florets
dinner:  same as day 16

I set out to make cauliflower “rice”, but I processed the cauliflower a little too much, and the texture was smaller than rice, so I’m calling it couscous.  The other ingredients were red bell pepper, jalapeno, carrot, lemon juice, salt, cilantro and parsley.  It was tasty but a little hard to chew all that cauliflower.

The “braised” spinach was adapted from The Raw Revolution Diet.  I didn’t have all of the ingredients for the dressing, so I changed it up a little, and also sprinkled some nutritional yeast on top.  To braise the spinach, you just mix the dressing in then massage it with your hands until it appears “cooked”.  The dressing was sweet, which was nice combined with the slightly bitter greens.

Thoughts on the cleanse:  It was relatively easy to follow.  I didn’t have a big problem eschewing gluten, sugar or coffee.  I quickly identified my vices though – tortilla chips and beer!  If there are tortilla chips around, I’ma eat ’em!  And, if it’s Saturday night, I like to have a beer or two.  I don’t think that those things destroyed the purpose of the cleanse though, as I do feel that I’ve reclaimed my appetite, and I feel a little lighter in my loafers.  The biggest pain in the butt was prepping everything the night before, and cleaning my juicer and blender every single morning.  I would definitely recommend a plan similar to this to anyone who wants to jam a whole lot of healthy foods into their body!

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Piccata, Risotto & Focaccia

April 13, 2009 at 8:39 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Time for some fancy foods!  Piccata, risotto and focaccia are all restauranty-sounding dishes to me, things that a few years ago I would have never thought I’d be making for myself.  They also all have double letters that I have a hard time remembering where to put.

Let’s start with the CSA delivery that brought me some of the ingredients:

leaf lettuce, chard, artichokes, collards, asparagus & rosemary

tangerines, beets, shallots, kiwis & apples

It was a lovely coincidence that I saw Lindsay’s post on piccata the very same week I received asparagus, which everyone knows is good with piccata.  Even those of us who’d never tried it before, like me.  She made hers with her chickpea cakes, which I’m sure are good, but I decided to go with the chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon, because I love them and it had been a very long time since I made them.  I followed Lindsay’s sauce recipe exactly though.  Like all of her recipes, the sauce is fat-free, so I feel like the end result might have been lacking a little bit of richness you might get from a “normal” piccata.  The sauce was definitely not lacking in flavor though.  In fact, I was quite happy the sauce was fat-free, because I used olive oil on the asparagus and earth balance in the mashed cauliflower.

Yes, I know that mashed potatoes go with piccata and asparagus.  But I like to use cauliflower instead of potatoes sometimes to lighten up a meal.  I chopped up a bit of fresh rosemary to go in the cauliflower, and it lent just the faintest hint of delicious rosemary flavor.  I was suspicious of using fresh rosemary because I’m not a huge fan of dried, but for serious:  fresh is awesome.  And it lasts a lot longer in the fridge than I thought it would.

I have always been intimidated by the thought of making risotto.  You hear about having to stand in front of a pot, stirring forever, and all for some flavored rice?  But I kept seeing risotto pop up on the internets, and it didn’t seem to be such a big deal.  So when the CSA newsletter came with a recipe for Red Chard Risotto, I gave it a whirl.

I had to figure out what “dry white wine” is to make this.  (Google it.)  And I learned that you don’t actually have to stir constantly; just a lot.  It turned out pretty well, but the rice could have been cooked more, and the flavor could use a boost.  So I will rework this soon and have a recipe.  The good news is that I am no longer scared of arborio rice.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the majority of my fresh rosemary, and the only idea that came to mind was focaccia, so I went with it.  I followed the recipe in Veganomicon, subbing half whole wheat flour.

This was very easy to make, and the rosemary flavor is awesome.  I have one question though:  What makes focaccia different from regular ol’ bread just shaped into a disc?  The texture seemed like normal bread.  Not that I’m complaining…I just want to know.

To go with the focaccia, I remade the stuffed collards that I first tried here.

My filling of choice was lentils and tempeh, and the flavor of the filling was great.  It didn’t quite stick together enough to recreate the original though.  I think I have a solution, and I happen to have collards in the fridge, so hopefully with one more tweak I will have a recipe to share.

Speaking of recipes that I’m working on, here’s a sneak peek.

It’s going to be my first recipe contest entry.  It’s fun to be working toward something instead of just cooking whatever I want sometimes.  Can anyone guess what the triangles are?  Hint:  it’s not tofu.

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Magical Roasted Fall Vegetables

November 12, 2008 at 1:50 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

I finally got around to using some of the veggies I picked up Saturday, and I decided to make some magic.  With a snap of my fingers, I turned this:

into this:

Okay, just kidding.  Between the chopping and the roasting it took about an hour.  But there was something magical about the flavor, and I’ll tell you what it was.  In addition to the olive oil, kosher salt and copious black pepper that I normally add to roasted veggies, on a whim I mixed in just a bit of apple cider vinegar and maple syrup, and I tell you what…it was a good call.  The combination of fall vegetables with the hints of sweetness and tang was so good.  I love the colors too.  They don’t come through too well under the yellow lights in my kitchen, but the colors reminded me of autumn leaves ready to fall off the tree.

Along with the veggies, I made Millet Mash from You Are What You Eat by Gillian McKeith.  I first saw her on the TV show by the same name on BBC America a couple months ago.  I really enjoyed watching her change people’s lives through diet and exercise, so I picked up the book to learn more about her program.  She has a lot of really good ideas about how to be healthy and lose weight, but it’s almost too much, for me at least.  I’m big on everything in moderation, and her plans and recipes have a very plain jane cleansing aspect.  For me it’s a good reminder of how I should be eating, and a jumping off point to expand upon.

I added leeks to the mash just because I could.  The directions tell you to mash with a potato masher.  I don’t know if I have a bad masher or if it’s just me, but after what felt like 20 minutes mashing it was still chunky, so that is how I ate it.

I liked it alright, because I like all the ingredients.  But it was definitely on the bland side.  So tonight when I had leftovers I added nutritional yeast and dill and whizzed it in the food processor.

Much better.  It’s still not the most flavor-packed side dish, but it’s healthy and I know it and sometimes that’s enough.  I don’t usually give out recipes from cookbooks, but I seriously doubt anybody reading this has the book, so here it is with my additions.

Millet-Cauliflower-Leek Mash

Serves 4.

1 cup millet
1 small head of cauliflower, finely chopped
white parts of 1 to 2 leeks, thinly sliced
2 1/2 cups water
pinch of sea salt
nutritional yeast, parsley and dill to taste

Put water and salt in a pot and bring to a boil.  Add the cauliflower, millet and leeks, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat.  Add seasonings and mash well, or blend in a food processor, adding water if necessary.

BF’s cousin stayed here last night, and this morning we all woke up hungry.  I’m calling this my big brown breakfast.

I pretty much always want to make pancakes even though I have yet to find the perfect recipe.  These were very tasty but still flatter than I want.  BF went to the store and I asked for some sort of potato product that wouldn’t take too long to prepare, and he came back with these hash brown patties that I always see in the freezer section and wonder who buys them.  Well, now we have them in our freezer!  I must say, they were pretty good.  Not exactly healthy, but as long as you bake them instead of re-frying they’re not too bad.

I’m off to enjoy a glass of warmed Silk Nog before bed, definitely one of the best parts about this time of year.

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