Posts Tagged chickpeas

VeganMoFo: Dyspepsia Diet Stage III

September 11, 2013 at 7:58 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

As I mentioned in the first post about my dyspepsia diet, I stayed in Stage II a bit longer than originally planned, because I didn’t feel ready to move on.  By this point in the plan I was feeling much better and had the inflammation/acid issue under control, so it was more about adding healing and soothing foods like miso, lemon, turmeric, root vegetables, and fruits.  I was able to reintroduce most foods at this point except the major culprits.  I also started taking papaya enzyme and artichoke leaf extract since they are supposed to help with digestion.

I welcomed acidic fruit back into my life in the form of kiwi, on yogurt topped with Nature’s Path cereal.

Oatmeal is good for the stomach all the time, so I made a savory oatmeal bowl with tempeh, greens, roasted mushrooms and Oh She Glows’ Butternut Cheese Sauce, which I loooove.  I usually use canned pumpkin instead of the butternut, just for ease.

I had some fennel from the CSA to use up, so I sauteed it with carrots, peas, and chickpeas and seasoned it with ginger and turmeric.  Served over Caulipots from Appetite for Reduction.

Asparagus was in season at the time, so I used some in the Asparagus and Spinach Soup from Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons, subbing kale for spinach.  The soup also contained wild rice, mushrooms and summer squash, and was light yet hearty at the same time.  On the side are Cheese and Herb Corn Muffins from the same book, which are quite good and freeze well.

To use root vegetables and lentils, which are supposed to be good for the stomach lining, I made the Red Lentil and Root Vegetable Dal from Appetite for Reduction.  I really liked the texture of this dish, but the flavor was a little off for me.  The recipe calls for parsnips and turnips OR rutabaga.  I went with rutabaga, and I think the root vegetables were a little sour when combined with all the spices.  I love turnips, so I’m sure I would like the dish more that way.

Stage III eating was very similar to how I usually eat, just without the more acidic/irritating ingredients like vinegar, mustard, tomatoes and pepper.  It wasn’t difficult to find delicious food to eat in this stage, and by the end I was feeling much better!  Afterward, I incorporated ingredients I had been avoiding very slowly back into my diet, and I am happy to say that in the six months since then I haven’t had any tummy troubles!

Comments (4)

VeganMoFo: Sweet & Sour Chickpeas

September 3, 2013 at 8:47 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , ,

I was ready to get back to cooking right away after moving into our new house.  What felt like weeks of eating takeaway while packing, cleaning, moving, unpacking, and more cleaning left me craving healthy, homemade food.

At the same time, there were still boxes everywhere and I only had access to about half of our kitchen equipment and some of our pantry ingredients.  A nice looking package of pineapple led me to these sweet & sour chickpeas, which could be accomplished with what was available to me.

To start, I water sauteed onion, garlic and fresh ginger, then added sliced mushroom and red and yellow bell peppers and let them cook down.  (You could certainly use oil for more caramelization.)  I added a can of chickpeas, fresh pineapple, and baby spinach and cooked just long enough for the spinach to wilt.  Lastly, I poured in this sweet & sour sauce, plus a tablespoon of soy sauce and a dash of sriracha.  It was served with pre-cooked brown rice (from Trader Joe’s) and garnished with green onions.

I enjoyed this dish even more than expected.  The mushrooms gave it enough earthiness to keep it from being too sweet, and it was hearty and filling.

Comments (1)

Christmas with Candle 79

February 29, 2012 at 10:36 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Candle 79 is one of those “dream” vegan restaurants…one that you absolutely don’t miss if you have the chance to eat there.  Sadly, I haven’t had the opportunity to visit Candle 79 myself, and I have no plans to travel to New York in the near future.  However, with the Candle 79 Cookbook, everyone has the chance to experience their food!

The cookbook is a large hardback volume with gorgeous color photos and delectable sounding recipes.  Including appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, sides, sauces, brunch, desserts and drinks, there are plenty of different types of dishes to try.  What first caught my attention about this book is that it is high end, yet it doesn’t call for expensive ingredients or crazy techniques.  It’s just good cooking methods mixed with quality ingredients and interesting flavor profiles, resulting in delicious food.

I received the cookbook just before Christmas, which seemed like a great time to try out a few recipes.  We had a few friends over for Christmas dinner, and Dave made steak for their entree.  I wanted to prepare some sort of vegetable side dish, and the Wild Mushroom and Cipollini Salad with Fresh Horseradish Dressing seemed like a perfect match.

The salad starts by roasting the onions and sauteing the mushrooms.  I couldn’t find cipollini onions, so I used small sweet onions instead.  The flavorful and creamy horseradish dressing calls for sauteed shallot, horseradish, silken tofu, white wine vinegar and olive oil.  It was a perfect, rich and spicy counterpart to the fresh arugula and cherry tomatoes.  The recipe calls for pre-mixing and plating the salad, but I chose to serve it buffet style so that everyone could choose the quantity of ingredients.

The dressing also made a nice sauce for my entree, which was Gardein Beefless Tips.

After Christmas, I went to visit my family for a vacation in Anna Maria Island, Florida.  I wanted to cook a nice big fancy meal for them as a gift, making interesting vegan food that wouldn’t scare my brother away.  I chose the Moroccan-Spiced Chickpea Cakes with Red Bell Pepper-Curry Sauce and Apricot Chutney as the entree.

(The only plates at the rental house were bright red!)

Upon searching for images of this dish online, I found out that at the restaurant they serve the cake on top of a round of vegetables, so that is what I did.  The base is Red Bell Pepper-Curry Sauce, which includes coconut milk, onion, tomato paste, cilantro and spices.  The sauce was very tasty, but personally I could’ve used a little more spice.  I roasted the cauliflower very simply with olive oil and salt, and even my self-professed cauliflower-hating brother liked it.  To make the cakes, you combine chickpeas, onion, celery, flour and spices, including Old Bay.  I didn’t have access to a food processor, so I just mashed everything up with a fork.  My cakes were probably a little more chunky than they’re intended to be, but they held together fine.  The apricot chutney toed the line between savory and sweet, with onion, ginger and agave nectar.  It was decidedly not apricot season, so I bought dried apricots and reconstituted them in hot water.  To top it all off, you sprinkle on some toasted slivered almonds, which provided a nice texture contrast.

This dish was a little bit of work, and it’s definitely not weeknight meal material, but I would make it again for company or a fancy dinner at home.

I wanted to try one more recipe, and I got some really nice avocados in my recent CSA delivery, so I chose the Stuffed Avocado with Quinoa Pilaf and Chipotle-Avocado Dressing.  I’m watching my fat intake, so the stuffed avocado half became more of an avocado sliver, but this dish was delicious regardless.  The recipe is technically a salad and calls for mixed greens as the base, but I had kale in the fridge and steamed it to use instead.  This turned out to be a good decision, because the kale stood up well to the somewhat heavily dressed quinoa pilaf.  The pilaf incorporates corn, bell pepper, carrot, scallions and parsley, and you mix it with the dressing of  shallot, cilantro, guajillo chile, chipotle chile powder, white wine vinegar and even more avocado.  The dressing was very strong in flavor, but didn’t overpower the vegetables, and radish and hemp seeds were nice fresh toppings.  Plus, now I have chipotle chili powder in the pantry and I want to put it in everything.

Overall, I’m very impressed with the recipes in the Candle 79 Cookbook.  The recipes are well written, and range from simple to complex, so there’s something for everyone.  Some recipes that I hope to try in the future are Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Crispy Sage Leaves,  Kale, Vegetable, and Spelt Berry Salad with Chive Vinaigrette, the famous Seitan Picatta, and Chile-Grilled Tofu with Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce.

Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this book for review purposes.  The words, opinions and photos here are entirely my own.

Comments (9)

Appetite For Reduction – Review & Giveaway

March 6, 2011 at 10:06 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When I first heard about Appetite For Reduction, Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s latest cookbook, I knew it would be right up my alley.  The recipes are similar to how I usually cook – whole foods, high flavor, low fat and calories.  I bought the book a few weeks before Christmas and having been cooking from it since.  Most of the recipes I’ve chosen so far have been based on what has been in my CSA deliveries, and there are a lot more recipes I look forward to trying.

Broiled Blackened Tofu.  You just coat the tofu with the spice mix and broil it.  Simple and tasty!

Butternut Coconut Rice.  Mixing in mashed butternut squash is a smart way to make rice yummy and coconutty without adding a lot of fat.  The only thing I would change with this recipe is to dice the shallot instead of slicing it, because the long slices were  kind of weird compared to the texture of the rest of the dish.

Pineapple Collards.  This maybe doesn’t look too appealing because my ginger was stringy, but the flavor is great.  I just wish I had used more collards, because the pineapple/garlic/ginger combo was a little overpowering.  Plus, I wanted to eat more of it.

All packed up to take for lunch.

Curried Cabbage & Peas, served with quinoa.  The texture on these veggies was great – they were cooked enough to be tender, but still have a bite to them.  The curry flavor isn’t incredibly complex, but the dish comes together really quickly, so I’m not complaining!

Not from AFR – I ate this Romanesco Carrot Salad with the curried cabbage.  The recipe was in my CSA’s newsletter, and it was a nice way to use the romanesco.

Irish Stew with Potatoes & Seitan.  This was a bust for me, but not due to the recipe.  I used the steamed white seitan from Viva Vegan, and even after being sauteed the seitan was squishy like raw dough, and really unpleasant to eat.  I’ve heard about other people having trouble with the seitan recipe, and also others who have had success, so perhaps it was just me.  I picked all the seitan out, and the stew was pretty good.

Tempeh Helper.  This is one I was really excited about.  The recipe is posted here, on The PPK blog.  This is super good!  It tastes like junk food from a box, but isn’t junky at all.  I was skeptical about the technique – you cook the pasta and other ingredients in a pan with a smaller amount of water than normal – but it worked out well.  The pasta came out al dente, and the water cooked off without the dish getting dry.  Next time I want to crumble the tempeh more finely so it’s spread throughout the dish.

The Gravy Bowl, slightly modified.  I know how to put together a “bowl” on my own, but the suggestions in the three-page bowl section are good when you’re looking for something easy to throw together.  Brown rice, baked tofu, steamed kale and collards and silky chickpea gravy.  The gravy is not as flavor-intensive as some gravies, but for a gravy made with 1 teaspoon of oil it’s darned good.

Sushi Roll Edamame Salad.  I’m no stranger to the sushi salad.  I had tried this salad previously at a potluck, so I knew how good it was, which is why I was surprised that mine didn’t taste as good.  I think I put too much green onion in the dressing (maybe my onions were particularly strong), and then added more as garnish, and the onion overpowered the whole thing.  Less green onion next time, and it will be great.

Orange-Scented Broccoli, which I served alongside the sushi salad.  This one was not my favorite; it tasted like ginger, garlic, broccoli and orange separately, as opposed to coming together as one big flavor.  It was more cohesive as leftovers the next day, after the flavors had a chance to meld.  Still, next time I would probably just steam the broccoli.

Morrocan Chickpeas & Zucchini served with Caulipots.  I used some early-season, tender zucchini in this dish.  The flavor in this soup is fantastic.  It’s really easy to make, and turns out with a really wonderful spiciness throughout.  The caulipots (mashed potatoes made partly with cauliflower) were a nice, creamy counterpart.  I looked forward to eating these leftovers each day.

Butternut-Apple Soup and Fresh Corn & Scallion Cornbread.  Sadly, this soup was another dud for me.  It’s not a bad recipe by any means, just a matter of taste.  I think I’m learning that I just don’t like apples in soup.  The cornbread was nice dipped in the soup, and the whole corn kernels made for good texture.

Lastly for today, Yam & Black Bean Soup with Orange & Cilantro.  I wasn’t expecting anything amazing from this recipe, so I was pleasantly surprised that it tastes amazing!  The simple ingredients combine to make one wonderfully tasty soup.  The two serrano peppers really turn up the heat, and the orange juice keeps it fresh.  I baked some corn tortilla chips for dipping.

Considering how much I’ve enjoyed the recipes I’ve made so far, this might be the first cookbook that I end up making almost every recipe from.

Luckily for you guys, my mom is an excellent present-buyer.  She also knew that I would love AFR, and bought me a copy for Christmas, which I am now passing on to one of you!  And, I got the book signed when I had the pleasure of attending a cooking demo that Isa did a few weeks ago.  She made the Thai Roasted Root Vegetable Curry and Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits, both of which I now want to make myself.

To enter to win this copy of Appetite For Reduction, leave a comment on this post with a healthy cooking tip.  It doesn’t have to be anything complicated, just any tip for cooking healthy vegan food.  The contest will be open until midnight PST this Wednesday, March 9, and I’ll pick a comment at random.  Please be sure to include your e-mail address (unless I’m able to find it by following a link to your blog).  I’ll be back on Thursday to announce the winner and show you a few more recipes I’ve made from AFR.  Good luck!

PS – I should mention that this is open to residents of the US and Canada only.  Sorry, everyone else!  If shipping was less costly, I would love to send it around the world!

Comments (55)

July CSA’s – Pizza, Almondine, Beety Potatoes & Delicious Italian Food

October 12, 2010 at 9:48 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m considering participating in VeganMoFo this year.  (If you don’t know what VeganMoFo is, check out Kittee’s post here.)  While some people save up pictures and posts to meet their self-set VeganMoFo post quota, I would like to catch up to at least fairly recent so I’m not blogging about food I ate three months ago!  It’s harder to remember the details of all these dishes, but I will do my best…

7/1/10 CSA:  cauliflower, gypsy peppers, green beans, zucchini, basil and lettuce

peaches, tomatoes, grapes, carrots and a watermelon

Taco salad!  Lettuce, tomatoes, roasted corn, cilantro, a quick ranch dressing made from Trader Joe’s reduced-fat mayo (which explains the weird color and sheen), and to be honest, I don’t remember what the taco part on top was.  I think it might have been sauteed peppers, mushrooms, onions, spices and other stuff – Whatever it was, I remember it being good!

Zucchini pizza on a brown rice tortilla with basil and Daiya mozzarella.

Tofu Almondine with Lemony Green Beans, adapted from Clean Eating Magazine’s Chicken Almondine recipe.  I also had some dry-roasted cauliflower on the side.  The flavor of the tofu and green beans was really good, but it was kind of dry.  I felt some sort of sauce would have brought it together.

7/15/10 CSA:  grapes, lettuce, beets, purple basil, corn and a lemon cucumber

peaches, tomatoes, plums, an onion, a cantaloupe and carrots

I wanted to eat the corn raw, and I remembered that when I was in England I tried corn mixed with tuna salad and actually really liked it.  So, I made some chickpea tuna salad, mixed in the corn, and rolled it up in a Flat Out with lettuce.  Those are Food Should Taste Good chips in the background.  I love their chips!  They’re so good that I don’t buy them very often, because I’ll eat the whole bag much too fast.

I don’t know what possessed me, but I decided that I would make beet-stuffed potatoes.  I baked the potatoes and beets, sauteed some minced leeks, scooped out the potatoes then mashed the insides with the beets, the leeks, some parsley and probably some sort of vinegar, knowing me.  They turned out a little dry, but tasted really good, and turned everything red!

Clean-out-the-fridge Roasted Veggies:  sweet potato, onion, portobello, tomato, swiss chard and possibly some other things.  I roasted everything except the chard, then tossed the hot veggies with the greens to wilt them slightly.

7/29/10 CSA:  watermelon, lettuce, cucumbers & corn.  I don’t know why they keep sending me watermelons!  I don’t like ’em!

tomatoes, an onion, nectarines, grapefruit and grapes

Salad:  lettuce, corn, black beans, lime-marinated cucumbers, salsa & pepitas.  Super tasty and light!

Caponata over gluten free pasta.  I used this recipe for the caponata.  The raisins and red wine vinegar and capers made this TOTALLY delicious.  The eggplant seemed a little undercooked, but that might have been because I reduced the oil called for a little.  I would definitely make this again.

To go with the caponata and add some protein, I made mashed white beans, I think using this recipe.  They were easy and tasty, with a very satisfying mouthfeel.

I was going to slice the zucchini into long, thin strips and use it as the “noodles” in a lasagna, but I was feeling really lazy the night I planned to make it, so I sliced it into half-moons instead and threw the lasagna together as a free-form casserole.  Still just as tasty.  Also in there was tofu ricotta, spinach, jarred sauce and Daiya mozzarella.  This post makes me feel like I eat a lot of Daiya since I’ve mentioned it twice, but I’m pretty sure the cheese here was leftover from the pizza above.

This isn’t CSA-related, but I wanted to share it because it was really good – Tofu Migas for breakfast.  I’ve never had real migas but have read several descriptions, so I figured I could wing it.  I scrambled the tofu with Mexican spices then added salsa, tortilla strips and some green onion.  I would definitely make something like this again if I had an extra tortilla laying around.

Comments (4)

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.

Comments (10)

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!

Comments (16)

Good News, Bad News & Laptop Lunches

November 10, 2008 at 12:32 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , , ,

The good news is that I’m back to work and back to making laptop lunches every day.  The bad news is that my camera died and I had to take pictures of my lunches on my cellphone and I thought it was going to be a while before I got another camera.  The good news is that I got a new camera yesterday, a digital Fujifilm with a good feel and lots of nice features.  Hooray for spending more money I don’t have!

Here are the lunches I took last week, courtesy of my cell phone.

uncheese and crackers leftover from Halloween, spinach salad with apple,
red onion & balsamic vinaigrette, pumpkin cookie

veggie stirfry, wheat spaghetti, cashews for the stirfry, gherkins, grapes

chickpea-uncheese spread, wheat crackers, lettuce, broccoli, red peppers, goddess dressing, grapes

The chickpea-uncheese spread was an idea I had to use up some of the uncheese scraps, kind of like a chickpea no-tuna salad.  I thought it might go horribly wrong, but it was worth a try.  I mashed chickpeas and uncheese together and added dijon mustard and minced celery and red onion.  It wasn’t anything worth raving about, but it was good!  I’m glad I didn’t let all the leftover uncheese go to waste.  Here’s how I served it for dinner.

There are crackers under the lettuce.  I liked this presentation a lot, it was like a nice little bite you’d get for an appetizer at a party.

More good news:  I checked out the other farmers market in San Leandro, the one that purportedly goes year round.  I wasn’t expecting much from a farmers market held in a mall parking lot, but I was so pleasantly surprised!  There was practically every kind of fruit and vegetable you could want, even some things I didn’t recognize.  I think the Saturday farmers market is even better than the Wednesday one that closed down already.  More parking, more vendors, and Saturday is much better for me than the middle of the week.  I got all this for under $18!

Veggies:  zucchini, yams, fingerling potatoes, cauliflower, lettuce, small butternut squash, leeks (huge!), cucumbers, an eggplant, and a daikon radish on the bottom left.  I thought it was a parsnip at first, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a daikon so it suits me just fine.

Fruit:  strawberries, navel oranges, and kiwis!!!!!  These kiwis were the real find.  As much as I love kiwis, I’ve been avoiding buying them in stores since they’re always shipped from New Zealand or somewhere equally far away.  I didn’t even know kiwis grew in California!  Awesome.  I’ll probably try to go back in the next few weeks and stock up so I can freeze a bunch.  I love kiwis in smoothies.

Even with all this amazing produce on hand, I was feeling completely lazy and not up to cooking last night.  In the afternoon I went to going-out-of-business sales at Mervyn’s and Circuit City to hopefully scope out some deals.  These sales are crowded and draining and never as cool as you hope for.  The only thing I bought was my new camera, which is turning out to be great.  By dinner time I was pooped, and embarrassing as it may be, I ordered pizza delivery.

It’s from a local chain called Mountain Mike’s.  It’s so nice to be able to order a pizza and have it delivered sometimes!

And, to prove that I don’t always drink schwag, I decided to take a picture of this tasty beer a la my friend Tom at One Brew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, a fellow recent FL to CA mover.  Although looking now he seems to have stopped doing the whole beer-bottle-next-to-beer-in-a-glass thing.  Tom, are you taking pictures on the floor?  It’s cool.  I take pictures on the floor too.

I have a thing for seasonal beers.  I love summer ales in the summer and winter ales in the winter.  They’re just so…appropriate.  The Pyramid Snow Cap is a great beer.  It’s got the hoppiness of an ale, with plenty of malt to balance.  It’s darker like a stout but still with the characteristics of an ale.  It has good flavor without being overwhelming.  I like to talk about beer like I know what I’m saying.  The bottom line is, try the Snow Cap winter ale!  Or anything else from Pyramid, which is headquartered in Berkeley.  The Apricot Ale is particularly good too.

I may do an occasional beer review, depending.  This will probably be the only non-cheap beer I’ll drink for a while anyway.

I have plans for my farmers market goods which I will hopefully carry out in the next few days.  I will report back.  Everyone have a great Veteran’s Day!  I have Tuesday off.  Yes.

Comments (13)