VEG-IN-TRAINING

Garlic Fest in My Soup

2012-01-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

Man did the farmers market have such a nice variety of goodies this week. The greens were out of this world. I had a huge bunch of kale that was screaming to be used. I thought about kale chips, I though about just sauteing them up. But I just wasn't feeling it. I love the cooler days of winter...soup weather, so that's what I decided to do.

I wanted a lot of flavor and not a lot of ingredients. Something really tasty and special but not overly complicated. Something anyone could make on a weeknight. Now I have to tell you no vampires will come near you after this one! My house is still full of the beautiful smell of garlic. I had some leftover butternut squash and the kale both from Horny Toad Farms. The earthy mushrooms and thyme combine with garlic and marsala give this soup a very special flavor.

Garlic Wonder Soup

Makes 6 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small white onion, roughly chopped
10 large cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup marsala wine (not sweet)
1 cup butternut squash, 1/2 inch dice
4 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
4 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pound kale, ribs removed chopped, about 2 1/2 cups after ribs are removed
1 can navy beans with liquid

In a 4 quart heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, saute onion, until slightly golden, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in thyme, black pepper and salt and saute for another minute. Pour in marsala wine to deglaze pan, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pot. Saute for another minute or two until liquid is reduced by half. Reduce heat to low. Add cubed butternut squash and saute until it is just starting to slightly caramelize, about 3-5 minutes. Add vegetable broth and bay leaf. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Turn heat back down to medium low and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until butternut squash is al dente. Add mushrooms and simmer for 5-10 more minute until mushrooms and butternut squash are soft. Add kale and simmer for about 5 more minutes. Add navy beans with their liquid and simmer until they are heated through. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crusty bread and feel the wonder! Oh yes and don't forget to brush your teeth after :)

Farmers Market Featured Ingredient - Tatsoi

2012-01-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago Farmer Stella from Horny Toad Farms introduced me to a green I had never seen before: Tatsoi. It may just show up in the Horny Toad farm CSA this week. If you are looking for a good way to use this interesting green, keep reading.

When Fred asked me what it was I told him that it reminds me of a cross between spinach and bok choy. Funny, when I looked it up on wikipedia it said it was also called spinach mustard, spoon mustard or rosette bok choy. So I wasn't too far off. This lusciously dark green sautes up like a dream. The stems stay slightly crunchy which is beautiful with soba or udon noodles. They have just the slightest mustard-like bite to them. Quite lovely in the recipe below.

Miso Ginger Grilled Tempeh with Tatsoi and Soba Saute

1-8 oz package tempeh

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon red miso

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

6 oz. soba noodles

1 tablespoon, toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon dry sake or mirin

1 teaspoon sriracha sauce

1/4 teaspoon five spice powder

3 bunches tatsoi roughly chopped, about 10 cups

Cut tempeh into 8 triangles 1/4" thick. Steam tempeh for 10 minute. While tempeh is steaming in 8 x 8 baking dish mix water, miso, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and sesame oil until completely mix. Marinate for at least two hours, preferably overnight.

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking and set aside.

To cook tempeh:

Heat a grill pan or grill to approx. 350 degrees. When grill/pan is hot, grill tempeh for about 3-4 minutes per side, brushing each side with marinade. Tempeh should have nice grill marks and be heated through.

While tempeh is cooking prepare the greens.

In a large saute pan over medium high heat, saute ginger and garlic in sesame oil for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Deglaze pan with sake/mirin stirring to remove stuck on bits. Add soy sauce, five spice powder and stems of tatsoi. Saute for about 2 minutes. Add remaining tatsoi and saute for about 3-5 more minute until greens are tender and just slightly crisp. Toss in soba or udon noodles and heat through.

Divide noodle mixture evenly among 4 plates. Top with two pieces of grilled tempeh. Serve immediately.

What's With the Name Change?

2012-01-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

It's a new year and a new focus for me. As you old timers know, I originally started this blog with the focus of converting myself and old recipes to vegan versions. The conversion of the person is still in the works (I have gone from omnivore to pescatarian to vegetarian since the blog started).

While it is still my passion to convert recipes of family, friends, fellow internet foodies and celeb chefs; I have found, like many other people, that plant based, vegan recipes are incredible on their own. They don't need to have their origins from a animal based recipe to rock your world.

From here forward I plan to focus more on fresh local ingredients. We have some wonderful local farms and farmers markets here. I will be featuring their produce more often and bring you some great ways to use what you find in their CSA boxes.

Don't fear! Vine and Dine and Food Network Friday are here to stay (even if I am late to post them on occasion). I am still crazy about finding fun exotic ingredients to work with too. So there will be the occassional travel to another part of the world kind of posts.

2012 is sure to be a delicious year here at the new and improved Veg-In-Training blog!!

Now go and eat your veggies!

Pictured below is my new love TATSOI! I got a beautiful bunch from Horny Toad Farms (like them on Facebook!) this weekend. I will be posting a recipe for it this week!

Winter Vegetable Wonderland

2012-01-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

Root vegetables. They spend their growing days in the dark like a bear hibernating for the winter. That is until the day they are released from their earthy cave by the scruff of their stems. After a good scrubbing, they are ready for some love and oven time.

There has been a mother load of root vegetables at the farmers market for the past few weeks. It's so that time of the year. I grabbed some beautiful, bulbous, colorful magnificence in the form of golden and red beets, sweet potatoes, turnips and parsnips (ok the last two aren't so colorful, but whatevs).

To me root vegetables scream "roast me!". I love to roast them until they are golden and caramelized giving them that earthy sweetness and nice slightly chewy texture. Oh man, that is winter cooking at it's finest.

We had lots of people coming for Thanksmas and I thought a root vegetable roast would be a fabulous way to show them how much I love them.

Root Vegetable and Fennel Roast

2 lbs golden beets
2 lbs red beets
3/4 pounds turnips
1/2 lb parsnips
1 lb orange sweet potatoes or garnet yams
1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced, about 1 cup
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
6 cloves garlic, one minced, 5 thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.

Peel beets, turnips, parsnips and sweet potatoes. Cut into 1/2" dice. In a very large 1 inch or deeper pan, toss all ingredients together.

In a very large baking pan lined with parchment toss all ingredients together. Roast uncovered for about 40 to 50 minutes turning once or twice until softened and caramelized. Salt and pepper to taste.

Vine and Dine - Candle 79 - Chile Grilled Tofu with Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce

2012-01-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

The title of this post alone pretty much says it all: chile avocado tomatillo. My passion for southwestern ingredients has been fully satisfied. I could just stop here and be done, but I won't.

As a HUGE fan of most things southwestern and chile related it was not surprise that this version of Vine and Dine would make me very happy. The biggest bummer was that I totally spaced out that is was V & D week. SO I did not get to marinate my tofu for any length of time. I did simmer it for about 45 minutes hoping to speed the process. I think it was fairly successful. I'm certainly not going to complain.

This is the third recipe I've made from Candle 79. This book is really growing on me. One thing that often throws me with many recipes is the measurement of fresh herbs. I am never 100% sure if they are measured before or after chopping. I usually guess well, but still, I would like to make sure.

I'm still in heaven from the intermingling flavors of the dueling sauces. Guajillo chiles are a beautiful smoky wonder. The chile sauce is divine in its own, but pair it with the Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce...bliss. The smoky earthiness of the chile sauce and the bright, slightly acidic Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce combined to make a perfect party in my mouth.

I chose Wildwood tofu for this dish. It is a very firm tofu that holds up well on the grill. I tend to use this brand mostly when I know it will be served with a very flavorful sauce as it doesn't really absorb marinades as well as some other brands. It was a dream on the grill, perfect for this dish. I had some left over black beans simmered with tomato and cumin. I combined them with some quinoa and made a little quinoa cake for the base. I loved the texture with the tofu. Wow I'm chatty tonight. I better stop so you will hang in there to read Fred's wine review! But just look at those vibrant colors!

Here's Fred!

I showed my wine guy, (one of many, I feel like such a wine tramp) tonight's recipe and he said this is a no brainer. A semi-dry Riesling would be soft with the avocado and just sweet enough with the chili. We chose a "Jean Baptiste 2009 Riesling Kabinett (German)". It is definitely a fun wine but after the first bite the wine became sweeter, really too sweet for this dish. I said wrongo bongo, I ran to the wine cellar (small fridge in front room) and grabbed a French "Trimbach Riesling, 2008". This is from the alsace region in France. It borders France and Germany in a mountainous region that compares with Napa Valley in that it also is on a fault line with a a lot of different soil types in a small area. It is known primarily for its whites, so there you go. Although this wine was much drier, it became sweeter after another bite, niccccce... What a complimentary wine, floral, minerals, fruitier smelling than it tasted, yeah!! I know, unsweet Riesling, hot cold, bitter sweet, but I gotta say this worked great. The Jean Baptiste was fantastic as a desert wine for this venue. One thing that I have learned, in my research for "Vegan" wines it is hard to find the association between centuries old wineries and please don't kill our animal friends. Start from the basics, don't use words like vegan, fining, or processing. Keep it simple and use "filtering" when asking questions to the winemakers, this does not confront and make it an attack on age old processes. I have found many more sites available to me this way when I search with filtering as the term. Cheer on!

New Year's Eve - Course #1

2012-01-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

We started out our incredible dinner with an outstanding appetizer. This was a ricotta and spinach fritter with frizzled spinach and a fresh tomato sauce. Ladies and gentlemen, I could have stopped right here. I desperately wanted to eat more than one, but I knew there were 3 more courses on the way. My friends have promised to share the recipe with me. As soon as they do, I will post it. I do know that they used a variation of the tofu ricotta from Vegan with a Vengeance, breadcrumbs made from their own home made bread and panko. The rest is still a mystery...a delicious, tantalizing mystery.

New Year's Eve - Course #2

2012-01-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

For the second course I chose the Mediterranean Salad with Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette from Candle 79. What a wonderful salad! We used fresh herbs from our wine barrel planter for the dressing and tender nutty arugula fresh from our garden in the salad. The creamy roasted yukon fingerlings were a perfect complement to the slightly bitter arugula. I've made a couple of things for Candle 79. It's a really nice book. I am looking forward to many more delicious culinary treats from that one!

The Entree from New Year's Eve

2012-01-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

In part two of our four part series of NYE dinner we are featuring the entree of the evening. This incredible dish was made by the team effort of my awesome friends Beth and Jerry. Kindred foodie spirits with one another and me, they assembled a most scrumptious ravioli. Beth has promised to share the recipe. When she does, I will post it here with her permission. In the mean time, I will tease you with photographic evidence of the awesomeness we got to experience.

Wild Mushroom Ravioli with San Marzano Ragout

Happy 2012!!!

2012-01-01T12:57:00.000-08:00

We had yet another incredible New Year's Eve feast. Several years ago a friend of mine invited us to be part of a 4 course wine pairing dinner. Back then Fred and I were still eating meat. As a matter of fact it was at one of these dinners that we had or very last meal with meat.

We loved the tradition so much, we decided to carry on with a vegan version. We found that a few of our friends were up for joining us in the vegan version, which just thrilled me! This year my good friends Beth and Jerry were our fantastic hosts. I love these two for many reasons. One of those reasons is that they love to create in the kitchen as much as I do. It makes our dinner party celebrations even more awesome. This year they decided on an Italian themed dinner.

The next couple of days I will be posting about our adventures course by course. I am going to do it in reverse for no other reason than I took a long time to write up my dessert recipe in my wine induced day after fog.

I must start off by saying, desserts and pastries are still my Archilles heal. It is always a challenge for me to come up with something worth serving to others on my own, at least without having to try and try again. My original plan was to make white chocolate mousse stuffed cannolis using the white chocolate mousse recipe from The Artful Vegan. The mousse was an epic fail. It was completely liquid after sitting in the fridge all night. It was a really sad and expensive fail. But the show must go on.

To keep with the Italian theme I then thought that something with "marscapone" would be a good idea. I didn't want to do tiramisu, because I felt that would be too obvious. So I started playing around with the marscapone idea first. I had some egg nog in the fridge that I had bought for Christmas and never used and the Egg Nog Marcapone Cream was born.

We had a white elephant exchange a couple of night ago and I walked away with some yummy fig balsamic vinegar from Queen Creek Olive Mill. As soon as I got this I knew I had to use it somehow for this dinner.

After the syrup was made, I was having a hard time deciding on the poaching liquid. I wanted to make sure there weren't too many opposing flavors going on. I ran to our local AJ's food market and talked to Chris their wine and spirits expert. He immediately took me to where there was a lovely pear liquor. It was pricey, but I had to have it. I was toying with the idea of using a sweet marsala, which I think would work well here for a lot less dinero. The reason I steered away from that this time was the wine Fred had chosen for the original pairing: a lovely Pirovano Extra Dry Prosecco. The wine expert at Whole Foods said this one is vegan.

While this was not easy on the wallet, it was very lovely on the plate and the palette. We were about 5 bottles in by this time so I must apologize that I didn't get a super close up. I chose to cut the puff pastry into a square for the bottom layer and a fun star for the top.

Happy 2012 my friends! May it be a prosperous, joyful and delicious year for you!

Poached Pear Napoleon with Eggnog Marscapone Cream and Fig Balsamic Drizzle

Makes 6 Serving

There are several components to this dish and it may look a bit overwhelming. None are too complicated and several can be done in advance. I recommend making the marcapone cream, toasted walnuts and the balsamic syrup a day ahead of time to make assembly a snap.

Eggnog Marscapone Cream

1/2 cup tofutti cream cheese

1/2 cup tofutti sour cream

1/2 cup Earth Balance Egg Nog

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Poached Pears

4 ripe but firm anjou pears (peeled, cored and halved)
1 bottle Mathilde Poire Liqueur, (or other pear liqueur) 3 tablespoons separated out
1 whole vanilla bean scrapped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons light brown sugar

Fig Balsamic Syrup

1 bottle Queen Creek Fig Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 cup agave nectar

2 tablespoons sugar

Toasted Walnuts

1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon sugar

touch of salt

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed

For the Eggnog Marscapone Cream:

In medium sized bowl combine the cream cheese through vanilla. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Combine until mixture is fairly smooth. This can be made a day ahead of time and refrigerated in a sealed container. If mixture is too loose add a bit more cream cheese. If it is too thick add a bit more eggnog.

For the poached pears:

In a small bowl whisk together 3 tablespoons pear liqueur, vanilla beans, cinnamon and nutmeg until sugar is dissolved. In a large saute pan (large enough to hold all of the pears in one layer) over medium-low heat stir remaining liqueur with sugar mixtures. Place pears cut side down in pan. Cover and poach for 30-40 minutes (depending on the ripeness of the pears) turning 1/2 way through. Let pears cool enough to handle them and slice to about 1/4" thick. Then let them cool to room temperature.

For the Fig Balsamic Syrup:

While the pears are poaching, combine syrup ingredients in small saucepan. Simmer over medium low heat until the liquid is reduced by 1/2, about 20 minutes. Be careful not to let it boil or you will have a sticky icky mess. When the pears are through poaching. Add 1/2 cup of the poaching liquid to the syrup and stir to combine. Let the syrup and the pears cool to room temperature.

Carefully lay out the puff pastry sheet(s). Using your choice shape of cookie or biscuit cutter (approx 3" size) cut out 12 pieces of puff pastry. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake according to package directions (usually 10-12 minutes in a 400 degree oven). Let cool to room temperature.

For the toasted walnuts:

In an 8 x 8 baking dish (or similar size) combine walnuts through oil until evenly coated. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 4-5 minutes, until lightly toasted. Let cool to room temperature. Can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks.

To assemble:

Place about 1 tablespoon marscapone cream on middle of serving plate. Place one piece of cooked puff pastry on top. Next add about 6-8 slices of the poached pears another tablespoon or two of marscapone cream (this stuff is like crack so use as much as you want within reason). Place a second puff pastry piece next. Dollop with a little more marscapone cream. Drizzle decoratively with syrup and garnish with cinnamon toasted walnuts.

Listen to the oooohs and aaaahs of your guests.

Merry Christmas Dinner

2011-12-25T20:36:00.000-08:00

Sheesh! Blogging has really gotten away from me. I miss the days I had lots of time to play on the internet. The kitchen has been rocking busy the last couple of weeks. Sadly, I have been very bad about taking pictures. Today I did manage to get the camera out after making dinner.

Fred has had a hankering for mashed potatoes and gravy. This was a request I was more than happy to fill. 'Taters and gravy are one of those holiday (and non-holiday for that matter) comfort foods that make me soooooo happy. We needed something green after all the holiday cookies, so we had simple steamed broccoli with a little spike seasoning. To round out the meal I had some seitan in the fridge that was a bit funky in the texture department. It was too chewy sauteed, so I decided to make it chicken fried. Now I didn't really measure, but it went something like this:

Chicken Fried Seitan Nuggets

2 seitan cutlets cut into nuggets

3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 1/2 cups oil for frying in a 10 inch skillet

Preheat oil to 350 (when flour sizzles in oil).

In one shallow bowl mix panko through paprika. In a second shallow bowl combine soy milk through dijon mustard. Place seitan nuggets in soy milk mixture and soak for about 1 minute. Dredge in panko mixture and carefully place in oil. Make sure not to crowd pan (it will take 2-3 batches). Fry for about 3 minutes then flip over and fry other side for about 3 more minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan on put on paper towel lined plate. Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy or with your favorite dipping sauce.

I hope you all had a love and joy filled Christmas Day!

Vine and Dine - Candle 79 - Panko Crusted Seitan Milanese

2011-12-19T12:49:00.000-08:00

This round of Vine and Dine was from Candle 79 cookbook. I had the original Candle Cafe Cookbook, but I had to order this one. There are some wonderful pictures and interesting looking recipes as well. This week we tested out the Panko-Crusted Seitan Milanese. I am sad to say, I didn't have the best of luck with this dish. I opted to use the seitan cutlets from AVK. Something went very wrong with my seitan. It was really rubbery for some reason. (Mom didn't even eat hers. It reminded her of raw meat...fail). The crock pot method is always flawless for me, but I didn't plan far enough ahead. The seitan texture was one issue, I also had a misfire on cooking the seitan. I didn't have enough oil in the pan, so the browning was not happening. To try and save it, I added oil. Unfortunately, this made the coating a little oily. I felt that the beautifully flavored marinade was really not prominent in the final dish, which was just a shame. I saw that others used the marinade on their pasta....great idea. I also think it would have been tasty just drizzled on top of the seitan.

We were psyched to be able to use fresh arugula from our garden for the topping. It had a beautful nutty flavor. It doesn't get much fresher! We got some heirlooms from the farmers' market. They are a bit out of season, so they had a little less flavor than summer tomatoes, but I'm not complaining. They were a nice treat for the winter. To make the plate complete, I served some simple asparagus roasted with garlic and olive oil.

As a side note: The wine definitely won the day after my pathetic performance in the kitchen. Honestly, I am not one to look twice at the pinky wines in general. They tend to be too fruity for my palate. This one was perfect with this dish!! I'll let Fred tell you the rest of the story.

Today's recipe seemed to be pretty simple, but I realized that there was more than one acid in it . Lemon juice, tomatoes, and vinegar all joined in the end so I stayed safe and kept away from any wines that were lemony or had an acid tone. I chose a dry Rose from Spain. It has a nice, full fruit taste but is very light on the tongue and has a nice soft finish. The 2009 Marques de Caceres from western Spain is good all by itself, one you would give to someone who is just learning about wines, but yet it is just complex enough to be interesting to an expert. This wine actually tasted better after a few bites, melding with the basil and arugula nicely. It was a good pairing to the last drop and we can attest to that! Not a drop was wasted!

Check out what the others chose to pair this dish with over at Vegan Appetite.

Vine and Dine - The Millennium Cookbook - Baked Madras-Glazed Tofu

2011-11-27T11:38:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to the return of Vine and Dine. A fabulous cooking challenge where the players do their best to procure and match vegan wines with a delicious dish from a variety of cookbooks. Vine and Dine is hosted by the lovely Tami Noyes over at Vegan Appetite blog where she will be posting this round's great wine finds and recipe interpretations.

This time around she let me choose the book we'd be using. I chose the Millennium Cookbook. I had the opportunity to visit Millennium a few years back and was awed! The recipes in this book often times make me freak out when I see all of the ingredients and components, so the book gathers dust too often. I thought this would be a great opportunity to use it again! Tami selected the Baked Madras-Glazed Tofu with Saffron Basmati Pilaf, Sauteed Vegetables, and Peach-Lime Chutney. That title is a mouthful all on its own!

This recipe had several components: tofu that had to be marinated, curried onions and vegetables, chutney and rice pilaf. Nothing was overly complicated, but it did take a bit of coordinating. The marinade and chutney could certainly be made ahead of time, making this much more simple to pull together. I didn't plan ahead, so all was made last night.

I did have to make a few substitutions. How I ran out of brown basmati rice is beyond me, but I did have long grain brown rice. I know the basmati would have given the dish a more complex and aromatic layer, but with all of the other flavors going on here, it worked out just fine. I wasn't able to find fresh peaches or apricots this time of the year, so used the dried apricot variation.

Sadly I have a bit of a nasty cold, so my tastebuds are a bit off. This was a great dish for that though! There are a lot of bold flavors going on here that even I could taste! The tandoori marinade had a hint of bitterness that was nicely complemented by the sweetness of the chutney. I loved the hint of lime in both the marinade and the chutney. I thought they were a great match up. I think the tandoori may have been overpowering without the chutney. The saffron made the rice a gorgeous color and gave it a hint of grassy flavor. The curried onions and vegetables rounded this out beautifully. I used zucchini, carrots and broccoli. I'd get a hit of the tandoori, then bang, the curry, followed by the sweet flavors of the chutney. It was really amazing. Eric Tucker sure knows how to marry his flavors. The colors were so vibrant. It was a very pretty plate!

I made the full amount of the marinade and only half the rest of the recipes. I have some green beens and spinach that need to be used up. I may try simmering some tempeh with them in the leftover marinade...oh, and maybe kabocha squash.

Now here is Fred to talk about his wine pairing (which was quite lovely I must say).

This dish is a sea of swirling flavors, spices and textures, one that could wash away a weak wine or clash with a strong one.

I found a Pinot Noir that turned out to be an island that held it's own but yet coexisted delightfully with everything in this dish. One sip gave me a smokey raspberry taste and the next was a light plumish aftertaste.

She was not a cheap date at 27 dollars, but she was worth it. This 2008 "Duck Pond" from the Willamette Valley in Oregon has a strong presence but yet knows how to blend in with the crowd. This wine complimented this intricate dish at every level. It went well with Indian seasonings, held up to the heat, and seemed to really bring out the flavor of the veggies.

It was like a couple dancing where the main course is leading but the wine really knows how to move and they both come off looking great together. I will buy this wine again as I think it would be fantastic by itself as well as an accompaniment to a meal.

Happy Thanksliving!

2011-11-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

I was so excited today to experience my very first ThanksLiving at Green in Scottsdale. Honestly, it was totally weird to celebrate Thanksgiving and not cook. I truly missed spending the day in the kitchen. However, I certainly did not miss out on amazing food.

Today I was blessed by the company of friends for a gorgeous morning hike. Then I was doubly blessed to be able to have ThanksLiving dinner with my beautiful sister and some long lost friends. It was so fun to talk with young college students who are compassionate, kind, bright and as an added bonus passionate about vegan food! What a blast!

The folks at Green put on a fantastic event. There was music, crafts and a very informative presentation by Bruce Friedrich, from Farm Sanctuary. He did a great job at talking about the advantages of veganism by not only pointing out the animal rights issues (as would be expected from a Farm Sanctuary representative) but also providing information on how veganism is also a great way to help the environment and the world's poor. He is an excellent speaker.

The turnout was impressive. I heard one of the employees say 500 tickets were sold. When we arrived there was a huge line outside the restaurant.

There were tents set up outside with lots of people enjoying the entertainment, the food, the great weather and the compassionate company. People were encouraged to bring towels and blankets for the Humane Society.

My indoor pictures are a little blurry, but I am posting them anyway because I have to give props to the amazingly friendly and fun staff at Green! Here they are serving up dinner for the hungry thankful crowd.

Lets talk food. There was not a thing on my plate that I didn't like. As a matter of fact there wasn't a dish on my plate I didn't think was incredible. The crust on the seitan was beautifully crisp. The mashed potatoes had a beautiful mushroom gravy. The stuffing was dotted with fresh cranberries and had the perfect amount of earthy sage. Both my sister and I have never been big fans of brussel sprouts, but they were so delicious, I found myself wanting more...same with the asparagus. Cranberry sauce is often overly sweet in my opinion. I have to say theirs was perfect.

There were three desserts to choose from: Pumpkin Pie, GF Pecan Pie and GF Cobbler. I only had the opportunity to taste the pecan pie. This was the only course I thought was just OK. It was a bit too soft and overly sweet for my taste. But the cobbler and pumpkin pie looked amazing.

There are so many things that I am thankful for: great friends, wonderful family, a beautiful home, a gorgeous dog, the ability to give to those less fortunate...but I have to say, I am especially thankful to be blessed with the best sister in the world. I love you so much sistah!

The return of FNF! - Paula Dean's Turkey Pot Pie

2011-11-18T01:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a couple of months but we are back at it. It is the return of Food Network Friday's hosted by Tami of Vegan Appetite. Make sure to visit her blog to see how the other participants created their dishes for the challenge.

This time we are taking on Paula Dean by veganizing her recipe for Turkey Pot Pie. She loves to poo poo tofu and thinks nothing can be made without full cream butter, heavy cream and fatty meat. Despite these shortcomings, I do enjoy watching her. She has a very sunny personality. Her anti-vegetarian bent made this week's conversion even more fun.

My original plan was to not only veganize the butter queen's recipe, but to make a healthy version. I was super motivated to also make it a hand pie. While my intentions were good, once I got cooking I ended up abandoning both of my ideas. I found a box of vegan creamy portobello soup, so instead of taking the lighter road, I ripped open the box and forged on! The hand pies were still on the agenda...until my puff pastry decided to be uncooperative. So what the heck, I cut the pastry into strips and carried on.

I thought the proportion of cranberries was too much, so I reduced them to 1 cup. I used TVP chunks re-hydrated in water with Bill's Chiknish Seasoning. I had to play around with my puff pastry. I decided to serve this as a deconstructed pie. The filling was placed in small ramekins and garnished with puff pastry strips. Alternately you could make the lattices like she does in her dish, but I almost think that might make it too heavy. The cranberries provided the perfect hint of tart to mellow out the richness of the rest of the filling. I served it straight up. It was so rich, I knew I wouldn't be able to eat anything else with it. Look how pretty it is! Wouldn't it be lovely on your Thanksgiving table?

The verdict is in. I took samples of this too work for my anything but vegetarian co-workers. They were amazed at how "meaty" and really delicious this was. One guy even had seconds! I say that's another win for vegananizing another FN recipe!!!

Deconstructed Thanksgiving Pot Pie

2 cups water

2 teaspoons Bill's Best Chik'nish Seasoning

1 1/2 cups TVP chunks

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 stalks celery, diced small

1 medium onion, diced small

6 oz white or cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 cup broth (using liquid drained from TVP)

1 - 16 oz container of Imagine Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup

2 cups butternut squash, cut into 1/2" cubes

1 cup fresh cranberries

1/2 cup soy milk

1 tablespoon arrowroot

1 sheet puff pastry, cut into 1 x 3 inch strips

In a medium saucepan heat water and Bill's Best Chik'nish Seasoning to boiling. Add TVP. Turn off heat and let re-hydrate for 20-25 minutes. Drain and reserve liquid.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place puff pastry strips on un-greased baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch between strips. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and keep warm.

While the TVP is rehydrating in a large saucepan (or small stock pot) over medium heat add olive oil, onions and celery. Saute until just soft, about 5-7 minutes. Add mushrooms, thyme, sage, pepper and salt. Saute until mushrooms start to release their liquid, about 3 more minutes. Stir in flour and nutritional yeast, stirring to incorporate. Saute for about 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and simmer until mixture starts to thicken, about 5 minutes. Whisk in creamy portobello mushroom soup, butternut squash and rehydrated TVP. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes until squash is tender. Add cranberries and simmer for about 5 more minutes. Whisk arrowroot powder into cold soy milk until dissolved. Whisk arrowroot mixture into squash mixture. Simmer until mixture thickens. Ladle stew into 1 cup ramekins and garnish with 4-5 strips of puff pastry.

Martinis and Manicures for the Wellness Community!!!

2011-11-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

I usually reserve this blog for blogging about food related subjects. However, today I am making an exception. A very monumental day is coming up. After an entire year of chemo, my great friend Piot will be celebrating her final treatment. Her wish is to give back to an organization that has given so much to her and other people affected by cancer: The Wellness Community - Arizona.

This organization is amazing. They offer support services for those dealing with cancer and their loved ones...absolutely free. If you have been affected by cancer, you know how important having sources and resources at your disposal during one of the most intense and life changing times of your life. We want to help them continue to be able to provide their awesome programs.

We also want to make it a great time. To celebrate Piot's last day of chemo we are hosing our second annual Martinis and Manicures soire brought to you by the generous owner of Party Nails! Those of you who attended last year, I am sure, will attest to what a great time we had! Drinks, free snacks (there will be vegan goodies available), beauty, friends, fun. Doesn't get much better than that.

Here are the details:

Date: Wednesday, November 30th (Piot's last day of Chemo!!!)
Time: Appointment times start at 4pm - Last appointment is at 830pm.
Place: Party Nails - 3875 W Ray Road #14, Chandler, AZ 85226

Manicure or Pedicure - $20.00 suggested minimum donation*
Deluxe Combo - $35.00 suggested minimum donation*
Martini or Wine (soft drinks are complementary) - $5.00 suggested minimum donation*

*Gratuity and additional services not included. Proceeds to benefit the Wellness Community - Arizona

To make things easier for you, you can book your appointment and pay online (see the top of the blog). Just choose the service you'd like (Mani/Pedi or Deluxe Combo for both) then choose your appointment time. It's that easy! If you don't want to pay online, please contact me at vegintraining at gmail dot com to pay by cash or check.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all again this year.

Space is very limited, so make sure you book as soon as you can!!

Bloody, Bloody Sunday - Marys that is!

2011-11-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

My friend Darlene is always making me drool and making me envious of her Sunday Bloody Mary's. I am sure her recipe is ridiculously good, but sadly we live over 1500 miles apart, so often I sit here and just covet her delicious libations. Often this daydream includes a distant memory of the best bloody mary I ever put to my lips. My friends in Illinois may remember the old Castleview Restaurant in Fox River Grove? They had the most incredible bloody marys I remember ever tasting. The restaurant has been gone for years, but the memory still lingers...

This daydreaming came to a screeching halt last weekend. While at the farmer's market I was lucky to make the acquaintance of Fran Rons, the owner of Zorroz Brand Specialty Foods of Scottsdale, AZ. He was giving out samples of his incredible Bold and Spicy Bloody Mary Mix ($8.00 for a 32 oz. bottle). Oh, my friends, I was elated when I tasted it! It's beautiful bright red color, the rich tomato flavor, the perfect texture, not too thick not too thin, and the crowning glory? The perfect balance of flavors, nice and spicy! To add to my glee, their delicious recipe is all natural, has no preservatives and no Worcestershire...so it is VEGAN!! Yay!!

I couldn't wait to share my discovery with two of my very great friends. Fred and I packed up our new treasure, a bottle of Kettle one, some celery, picked red jalapeno peppers and spanish olives and headed over to their house. We spend an awesome Sunday afternoon in the kitchen making home made tortillas and vegan tacos, watching footballs and living the Bloody Mary dream. We polished off almost the hole giant bottle! You can order their mix online or at some of the local farmers' markets.

Ah behold the ultimate Bloody Mary!!

Engrained Cafe - ASU Campus, Tempe AZ

2011-11-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

My sister recently sent me an invitation to attend a talk and book signing by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. My niece is part of the School of Sustainability at ASU and their school organized the entire event. I was pretty excited to check out the lecture and the venue. I was also very excited to get my copy of The Vegan Table autographed! The room itself had a seriously modern flair. The high ceilings make it feel even bigger than it is. They use sustainable materials throughout for decorating and functional purposes. It's quite an impressive place.

Engrained Cafe's goal is to reduce their environmental footprint by educating, sourcing locally (must be within 150 mile radius) and using eco-friendly products in the cafe.

I had the opportunity to speak to Executive Chef, Jerome Fressinier about the evenings menu and Engrained's vegan offerings. He told me that about 20% of their menu offerings are vegan, 25% more are vegetarian. I'm hoping the percentage of vegan offerings will go up as plant based foods certainly leave less of an environmental footprint than their animal based counterparts. But it is a good start!! I'm super excited to see such an emphasis on sustainability as it is one of the top reasons I love vegan cooking and eating!

This was my first visit to Engrained. It was a special event with all vegan food. They did a wonderful job with presentation and flavor, so I am looking forward to going back and trying the restaurant on a normal day. They are open for breakfast and lunch (11am-4pm Monday - Friday). They also offer catering options. I'm amazed and impressed at the effort put forth by the students who put this event together and the staff at Engrained for providing delicious vegan food that looked and tasted good by vegan or omni standards.

The tasting menu for this event provided a really nice diversity of ingredients and presentations. How I forgot to bring my regular camera is beyond me, so forgive my cell phone images, they certainly don't do the beauty of the food justice.

So be good to your body, be good to your planet and be good to the animals by getting yourself some local, sustanable and vegan awesomeness and Engrained.

Apache Fry Bred Sample Tube, Corn Coulis Tofu, Singh's (local farmer) Moringa

Singh's Tepary: Almond Hummus, Heirloom Sun Dried Tomato, Queen Creek's Olives

Potato Onion Present, Engrained's Catchup Amaranth

Vegan Brownie

Giveaway - ThanksLiving at Green!!!!

2011-11-09T08:04:00.000-08:00

OK. Drumroll please...the winner of the Thanksliving Ticket is #6 John Oberg!!! Congrats John!!!

John, please contact me at vegintraining at gmail dot com to arrange your ticket pickup!

If you have commented and are not yet a follower, please make sure to click the "FOLLOW THIS SITE" button to be eligible to win the awesome ThanksLiving ticket!!

I just love to give things away. It is just one more thing to be thankful for. Speaking of being thankful, what are you doing for Thanksgiving? The Fredster is working and we don't really have any plans during the day on Thanksgiving, so this year I finally get to attend Thanksliving at Green in Scottsdale. I've raved about them in a couple of reviews, so you already know the food is going to be good.

What you may not know is that not only will you finally get a Thanksgiving feast that is completely vegan (and delicious), you will also be treated to music, guest speakers and kids crafts. What is also really cool is kids under 12 get a discounted rate of $8.95 per kid! Click here to check out this year's yummy menu!

Here is the really exciting news! I bought an extra ticket to the extravaganza and I want to give it to one of you my fabulous followers. Here is all you have to do: make sure you are already a follower of the blog on blogger (click join this site button on the side bar), then leave a comment on this post about what you are most thankful for (make sure to leave only one comment, duplicates will be deleted). The winner will be drawn at random this Sunday, November 13th. Please make sure to check back to see if you are the winner and good luck!!!

MOFO 2011 Finale

2011-10-31T16:12:00.000-07:00

It has been a fun protein-filled month for me. I hope you enjoyed this year's MOFO theme "But...where do you get your protein?" I sure had fun finding creative and delicious ways to share the protein love with you this month. I had grand plans to crate a crazy dish with a bunch of different categories of protein, but alas, the Halloween celebrations slowed my MOFO MOJO down. So instead I leave you with some more protein tidbits:

If you don't have a gluten intolerance, seitan is one of the best protein bangs for the calories. For each 100 calories you get about 22.1 grams of protein.

Want a quick option? Veggie burgers and dogs will give you about 13 grams of protein per hundred calories (so will spinach by the way, but you have to eat a lot of it to get 100 calories).

My suggestion is to mix match and have fun with all the great vegetable based proteins. There were some I didn't get to that are staples in the vegan diet: peanut butter, tahini etc. So I have more fodder for future posts.

I am hoping that the one thing you come away with from this months posts is that it is really very easy to get more than enough protein without having to slice up Bessie or Porky. Your body, the planet and the beasts will be so much more happy! Click here for another great vegan protein guide.

I still haven't heard back from a couple giveaway winners. If I don't hear back by next week, I am going to re-draw, so check back next week!

Thank you so very, very much for following my blog I am super excited to have so many new readers and so very grateful for you veterans! Have a very safe and Happy Halloween!

MOFO - Day 30 - Chick Peas

2011-10-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Wow! Only one more day of MOFO 2011. I thank all of you for reading along. I hope I was able to share some interesting and informative protein information. This was a fun challenge for me and really made me think a lot about how easy it is to add protein to meals and snacks.

Chickpeas also known as garbanzo beans are another good source of protein. Each 1/2 cup serving has about 7.5 grams of protein and 25% of your RDA of fiber. They are also a pretty darn good source of iron, providing 13% of the RDA per 1/2 cup serving.

While I love many things made with chickpeas, Fred has asked that I only eat them when he is out of town. This is one bean that really makes me get the stinkies. I will never forget the time I made Veganomicon Chickpea Cutlets and Vegan with a Vengeance Punk Rock Chick Pea Gravy. Wow that was an explosive evening. Hopefully you don't have this issue because they are so good for you and so yummy. Many a hummous dip are made using chickpeas. One of my all time favorite recipes was a crazy awesome falafel recipe by Joanna Vaught.

I am a huge lover of gravy. Sometimes you just need that hearty, stick to your ribs goodness. Gravy tends to be a little high in fat, which never helps the ol' waistline. Pictured below is a great low fat gravy courtesy of Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, published by Lifelong Books so you can enjoy your gravy and still fit into those skinny jeans.

MOFO - Day 29 - Navy Beans - A sweet story

2011-10-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

I almost always think savory when it comes to my beans. I have been very intrigued by the idea of using beans in sweet dishes. This curiosity started when I posted about Adzuki beans earlier this week. I searched the internet over for ideas. I settled on this Oatmeal-Chococlate Chip (and Beans!) recipe from Epicurious. You can feel good about eating these because not only are they a delicious treat, they have some added fiber and protein from the beans! Win-win.

The recipe had to be modified a bit for veganization. A while back I bought some Ener-G egg replacer for a test recipe. I haven't used it since. I figured this would be as good a time as any to put it to use. So I replaced the eggs with 3 teaspoons Ener-G and 3 tablespoons bean liquid. I ended up having to add another 2 or 3 tablespoons of liquid to get the dough to the right consistency. In the spirit of the upcoming Hallow's Eve I opted to use 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 butterscotch chips ("black" and orange get it?). The cookies came out more cake like than cookie like. The outside had a nice bit of crunch. They are tasty little morsels!

Navy beans are a good source of fiber, iron and calcium. They will give you 7g of protein per 1/2 cup serving. OK, so to get a 1/2 cup serving out of these cookies, you will have to eat about 20, but at least you'll get a little bit more nutrition than you would with the non-bean version. Plus replacing some of the fat in the recipes with low fat beans will make your waistline happy!

OK kids! The moment we have all been waiting for! The winner of the Eden Organic bean giveaway is...

# 30 - Kris!!! Kris make sure to email me with your contact information at vegintraining at gmail dot com so Eden Foods can get those off to you. I can't wait to hear what you make!!!

MOFO - Day 28 - Black Eyed Peas if You Please

2011-10-28T01:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not talkin' Fergie and Will I. Am. No, not those Black Eyed Peas. Although a little funk never hurt anyone. I'm talking about the kind you eat of course.

Black eyed peas are a common ingredient in southern Soul Food dishes. They are thought to bring prosperity when eaten on New Year's day. Hoppin' John is one such famous southern dish. It is traditionally made with ham hocks (gross), but there are some excellent vegan versions to be found. I've had some great BBQ versions with greens, but not this time.

I opted for a less traditional, but no less delicious preparation for dinner. I dusted off my copy of Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moscowitz to find a delicious and healthy preparation. I had a health analysis yesterday and my body fat percentage did not please me :) I'm going to be whipping out more recipes from this book for sure. I was feeling kind of rasta-ish and thought I should run with a dish from the islands. The Caribbean Curried Black-Eyed Peas with Plantains (pg. 129) caught my eye. Fred called and said he was on his way to the grocery store, so I had him pick up some of the ingredients. It took only about 1/2 hour to whip this up.

What a great flavor profile! The habeneros gave it a nice amount of heat, but not too hot. The cocunut milk tamed 'em down a little bit. I usually use hot curry powder, but the recipe called for mild. It was a perfect balance with the heat from the habeneros, the creaminess of the coconut milk and the hint of sweetness from the red peppers and agave. We all loved that we weren't totally stuffed after. Love those BEPs!

Rather than explain all the goodness you can get from these cute little legumes with their little eyes, I thought I'd let you check out the nutritional info for yourselves.

Now if you haven't done it already don't forget to make a comment on THIS POST for your chance to win some Eden Organic Beans.

MOFO - Day 27 - Eden Organic Bean Giveaway!!

2011-10-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION POSTERS!! I HAVEN'T HEARD FROM THE WINNER OF THIS GIVEAWAY - KRIS. IF I DON'T HEAR BACK FROM THE WINNER BY 11/15/11 I WILL RE-DRAW A WINNER ON 11/16/11.

I've been singing the praises of Eden Organic beans all week, so y'all know how much I believe in the quality and awesomeness of their products. Well here is another reason to love them: a giveaway! I spoke to some very nice people in their office in Michigan today about my love of their BPA-free cans and their beans. For the heck of it, I thought I would ask if they might be willing to provide some beans for one of you, dear readers. I am thrilled to tell you they were happy to do it! YAY!!!

I'm all about the convenience of canned beans, but I also appreciate making them from dried. Eden Foods offers both. They also have refried, seasoned and rice and beans in the can. For this week's awesome giveaway, Eden Foods will be providing 1 can of each of black beans, navy beans, pinto beans and butter beans. What a great variety!!! All you have to do, my dear readers, is a)be a follower of the blog, b) have a US shipping address and c) post a comment on this post about what you would make with the Eden Organic beans if you win them by midnight on Friday 10/28/11. A winner will be drawn at random on Saturday. I will post the winner's name here and on Saturday's post, so make sure to check back and good luck!!

Check out this variety from my very own pantry.

MOFO - Day 26 - Pinto Beans - Burger Me!

2011-10-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

It's becoming a musical week in our house as Fred and I indulge in many beany dishes. I don't usually have issues with beans, but after having many bean dishes in a row, well I'll leave that to the imagination. Haha. Today's protein fix comes to you courtesy of the pinto bean. Pinto beans are very common in Mexican cooking. They are great in re-fried beans and simmered whole for Mexican dishes. Pinto beans have 6 grams of protein per 1/2 cup serving. They also have 6 grams of fiber. Click here to find out more about the BPA free cans that Eden Organics uses. Very interesting and health promoting stuff!

Black bean burgers are popular on many menus across our great nation. But pinto beans are a great substitute in this version of the Black Bean BBQ Burger from Joni Marie Newman's The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet (pg. 90). I was out of black beans and slipped the pintos in instead. They were really good. The texture is most excellent after letting them chill in the fridge for several hours before forming the patties. I served mine with a nice spicy pico de gallo and lots of BBQ sauce. I also made the sweet potato fries from the same book. What a great and really filling lunch!!!

MOFO - Day 25 - Cannellini Beans

2011-10-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

Today we are going to talk about another bean I've grown to love, the Cannellini Bean. As you might be able to tell by its name, it is a very popular bean in Italy. They are found in traditional Minestrone and lots of other Tuscan dishes.

I ususally buy mine canned, but they are more commonly purchased dry. Like most dried bean they do best if you soak them overnight before cooking. One thing I learned about the dried beans is that is is very important that they are boiled for at least 10 minutes to remove those pesky substances that can cause, well some down-right unlady like issues. Stove top cooking requires about 1-2 hours of simmering time before they will be soft. If you make your beans in the slow cooker like I do, you are going to want to make sure that you boil these for 10 minutes before putting them in to the slow cooker or your belly with not be happy.

Here are some nutritional facts from the fine folks at Eden Foods:

One 1/2 cup serving of Cannellini beans provides 5 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, 10% of the RDA of Iron and a whopping 45% of the RDA of Thiamin (B1). You also get a nice little boost of zinc (10% RDA) and calcium (4% RDA). But frankly, to me, they just taste good. I love them because they are bigger than most other white beans, so they have a toothsome bite to them. They are great to toss into a big salad with a tasty vinegarette. They are dreamy in pastas and casseroles. One of my favorite way to get my Cannellinis is soup! It is still 95 degrees here, but as fall approaches, I often long for a nice cozy bowl of soup. This soup also has some yummy kale, which surprisingly has 2 grams of protein per 1 cup serving. Kale is another nutritional powerhouse. This same 1 cup serving boasts 206% of the RDA of vitamin A and 134% of the RDA of vitamin C! Holy anti-oxidants batman! So eat your soup and keep those nasty colds away and get some protein while you are at it.

Cannellini Bean and Kale Soup

Makes 6 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 stalks celery, cut on an angle about 1/8 inch wide,( approx 1 cup)
2 med carrots, peeled and thinly sliced, (approx 1 cup)
2 medium leeks, white part only, cleaned and thinly sliced (approx 2 cups)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon dried parsley (or ¼ cup fresh chopped)
½ teaspoon Herbs de Province
½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
¼ teaspoon white pepper
¼ cup dry white wine
1 – 15 oz. can Cannellini beans with liquid
6 cups broth
1 bay leaf
1 bunch kale vein removed, torn into bite sized pieces

In a heavy bottomed stock pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add leeks and sauté until they start to sweat, about 4-5 minutes. Add carrots and celery and sauté until they just start to soften, about 5-7 minutes. Add thyme, parsley, Herbs de Province and white pepper. Sauté for about two more minutes, until herbs become fragrant. Add white wine to deglaze. Simmer for about 3 more minutes until liquid is almost evaporated. Add vegetable broth and bay leaf. Reduce heat to med low to simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, stir in kale. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes or until kale has softened but is still bright green. Ladle into bowls and serve.

MOFO - Day 23 - Adzuki or Aduki Beans

2011-10-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

Adzuki beans are a fun little red bean commonly used (after fermentation) to make a sweet red bean paste that is used in pastries in same parts of East Asia. They are believed to have originated somewhere in the Himalayas. They come canned or dried. I am a huge fan of canned beans. They are super easy to keep in the pantry and quick to whip up in a pinch. Dried beans are awesome, but require a bit more planning. I buy almost exclusively Eden Organic brand canned beans. Their beans are consistently high quality and organic. They are one of the few brands that use cans that are not lined with BPA, which has been linked to breast cancer. (For those of you who might not know, I am an 11 year survivor so I am always on the lookout for companies who voluntarily eliminate suspected carcinogens from their products).

Adzuki Beans have 7g of protein per half cup serving and absolutely no fat! Oh did I mention they have 5 grams of fiber too? Add to the list a nice dose of iron, some calcium, B vitamins and trace minerals to make this a really nutritional little bean. It is worth mentioning that you can get zero fiber from meat, poultry or fish.

I look forward to trying some sweet dishes with this yummy little bean, but this fine day I opted for a nice spicy Asian Slaw.

Spicy Adzuki Savoy Slaw

1 small head savoy cabbage, shredded
1 small head red Belgian endive or radicchio, shredded
3 green onions, separated
1 - 15 oz can Adzuki beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons brown rice syrup
1 teaspoon sriracha sauce

Garnish each serving with black sesame seeds

In a large bowl, toss cabbage through beans. Separate green part of green onion from light green and white part. On an angle, thinly slice green part of green onion. Toss the sliced green onions in with cabbage mixture reserving the other part for the dressing.

In a small food processor or blender combine mayonnaise through five spice powder, adding roughly chopped white and light green part of green onions. Combine until smooth. Stir dressing into cabbage mixture.

Enjoy and come back tomorrow when we will be meeting the Cannelli Bean!

MOFO - Day 23 - Beans, Beans the Magical Fruit

2011-10-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

We are approaching the last week of vegan MOFO. This week the featured proteins will be not only beans, but dried peas and lentils too. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen today, but I was working on some test recipes. I'm a little spent, so this post is going to be short and sweet.

Beans rock my world. I love so many different varieties, I am very excited about exploring them this week. They can be used in so many ways: soups, salads, entrees, side dishes and even desserts. Not too long ago, I was testing for an upcoming sandwich book and had them in a wrap. Oh, yes, it was tasty! Here is a little preview of the mighty bean all dressed up in a wrap. It's going to be a magical and musical week!

MOFO - Day 22 - Roasted Asparagus and Porcini Risotto with Pine Nuts

2011-10-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

To wind up That's Just Nuts (and Seeds) Week I'm being a nut repeater, but I think this is worth it. Today's recipe has a bit o' the pine nut in it. Risotto is not difficult to make, but it does require patience. It is super important to keep stirring while it is cooking. This helps release the starches and coax the creamines from the grains. It is also very important that once the rice is added, all ingrdients that are added are warm or even hot so that the rice does not stop cooking. If it stops cooking during the process, you will end up with crunchy and not so creamy grains.

Once you have had a well made risotto, you will be hooked. 1 cup of cooked arborio rice (the kind you should have for a true risotto) has 4.4g of protein. Add the 1 tablespoon of pine nuts and add another 1.2 grams of protein. This recipe has a beautiful flavor profile. The earthy mushrooms combined with a hint of rosemary in the broth dance withe the garlic roasted asparagus and fresh oregano and thyme to give your tastebuds a subtle comfort food treat. The pine nuts add just the right amount of nutty crunch. Their creaminess is a great complement to the creamy risotto.

Roasted Asparagus and Porcini Risotto with Pine Nuts

Makes 8 Servings

1 cup dried porcini mushroom
1 1/4 cup boiling water
6 cups vegetable or mushroom broth
1 sprig fresh rosemary

½ pound asparagus, cut into ¼-1/2 inch pieces (approx 2 cups)
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced (approx 1 ¼ cup)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

½ cup dry white wine, warmed
2 cups Arborio rice
½ cup toasted pine nuts

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small glass bowl, pour boiling water over dried mushrooms and set aside to soften for at least 20 minutes.

In a large saucepan add vegetable/mushroom broth and rosemary. Heat until just about boiling and turn down to the lowest setting your stove has.

In a 8 x 8 roasting pan toss asparagus, garlic olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in oven for about 15 minutes until al dente. Turn off heat and keep warm. In the mean time, drain mushrooms reserving liquid and chop mushrooms to about the same size as asparagus. Add 1 cup reserved mushroom liquid to pan with broth. Add mushrooms to pan with asparagus in warm oven. (I actually did this while the risotto was cooking but you must be a good multi-tasker).

In a small stock pot or very large sauce pan over medium heat, add the onions, oregano, salt and pepper. Sauté until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes, being very careful not to burn. Add Arborio rice and sauté until the rice is just barely starting to turn a light tan. Add warmed wine (it is very important that the wine is warm, almost hot, or the rice will stop cooking and will not soften up properly), stirring constantly. When the wine is almost totally absorbed, add about 1 cup of hot broth using a ladle, still constantly stirring. It will take a bit of time for the rice to absorb this first round of broth, but be patient. It is sooooo worth the wait. When the liquid is almost completely absorbed, add the next cup of broth and repeat. Just before adding your last cup of hot broth, stir in the asparagus mushroom mixture. Then add the last cup of broth, still stirring constantly, until the liquid is mostly absorbed. You want a bit of liquid left so that it has a beautiful creamy texture.

To serve, spoon into a wide but shallow bowl. Garnish with 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts and one fresh rosemary sprig for each serving. Serve immediately.

And now...the winner of the Chicago Diner Cook Book is....#8 Em!!!! She says she'd opt for a classic burger and fries if she were at the diner! Can't go wrong there. Em, please contact me with your mailing address so I can get your copy of Chicago Diner on its way!!! Congrats!!!!

MOFO - Day 21 - Fabulous Flax!

2011-10-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

Flax seeds are a great source of omega-3 essential fatty acids. These important acids help lower LDL or bad cholesterol and help raise HDL or good cholesterol. These little babies are also believed to have an anti-inflammatory property that could possibly lower the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer. They are rich in the anti-oxidant vitamin E and several B vitamins. Add to that impressive list a few important minerals: manganese, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc and selenium and it is easy to see why this is a great addition to your diet. They do add a bit of protein as well. Each tablespoon of whole flax seeds has 2 grams of protein.

One important thing to remember about flax seeds is that they and their oils are very unstable and prone to oxidizing and going rancid. It is best to buy small quantities of the whole seeds at a time and grind them up in your spice or coffee grinder just before using them. If you do buy the pre-ground seeds, make sure to store them in the freezer until you use them. The oil should be refrigerated and used quickly. Both the seeds and the oil have a slightly sweet pleasant flavor.

I love to have them ground and sprinkled on oatmeal or yogurt. They are also a nice addition to salad dressing. Flax seeds are a great substitute for eggs in baking. They have incredible binding power. Use 1 tablespoon flax seeds and 3 tablespoons water. Mix them up until they are thick and creamy and voila! You have yourself a very healthy egg sub for your baked goods…like these fabulous cookies: Super Charge Me Cookies from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan (click here for the recipe). I used about 2 tablespoons of currants, 2 tablespoons vegan chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons walnuts for my add ins. These are a great breakfast cookie, snack before or after working out or just a yummy cookie treat.

I used Naturally Nutty Pepita Sun Butter for the nut butter in this recipe. I've posted about this amazing product before, but I have to say it again, this butter has organic flax, hemp, pepitas, sunflower seeds and it tastes amazing. It has 5 grams of protein per 2 tablespoon serving. You want to talk about health benefits? I also threw in a few walnuts for a little more omega power and 4.3g of protein per 1 oz. serving. These three bad boys together? Your heart should be happy and healthy!

As you can see, it is really quite easy to rack up those protein grams without having to touch any animal products!

MOFO - Day 20 - Chicago Diner!!!

2011-10-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

I know I am still breaking from my theme, but I do hope you will forgive me when I share yet another great dining out experience.

I was lucky enough to get to visit the Chicago Diner for my 3rd Chicago PPK meet-up! This is a threepete for me and the sweet and awesome Kelly Peloza of Seitan Beats Your Meat and author of the Vegan Cookie Connoisseur. I also got to meet two new friends from the PPK: the Harmless Hunter of the Harmless Hunter blog and Pepperpot!!!! It was a great time. They are both super awesome!

The diner is a long narrow room with, well, a very diner-ish atmosphere. Nothing fancy pants here. The server we had was really great. He made sure we were well taken care of without being intrusive. The bathrooms are very clean (always a good sign that the kitchen is clean too).

The Diner has such a kickin' menu, it was really hard to decide what to order. I wanted to try something I hadn't had before, but I really couldn't remember what I had before, so it was a shot in the dark. This time I opted for the Radical Reuben ($10.50). The swirled rye bread was soft and lucious and TDF. As you can see by the pictures the "pastrami" is a very cool pink color and looked very close to actual pastrami. The texture was great: just the right amount of chewy. This sammy was just perfect.

I had an easy time convincing one of my best childhood friends to join me in my vegan culinary adventures in Chicago. To quote her "I'm a big fan of the veggies." (Love you so much by the way!!!) After much deliberation she decided on the Sweet Potato Quesadilla ($10.50). It is stuffed with another fabulous version of seitan, black beans, mashed sweet potatoes, spinach, salsa fresca and a choice of cheddar or mozz Daiya. She chose the mozz. This is a huge portion and stuffed with such tasty goodness. There was no way she could finish it.

Autumn Vegan (Kelly) and Pepperpot (Neicey hope I spelled that right) both got the BBQ "Bacon" Cheezeburger ($9.99) though they opted for different sides. AV got the mashed potatoes and gravy (which I must try next time) and PP got the sweet potato fries, which I know from prior exprerience are delish! I didn't get to try anyone elses stuff (besides the quesadilla) cuz I was blabbing away and totally forgot to ask for bites. Haha. But they both gave the burgers a thumbs up.

Last but certainly not least, Harmless Hunter (Tyler) ordered The Soul Bowl ($12.99). I was tempted to order this myself but I had to get the famous Reuben. I need to try this next time as it looked so incredible! It has spicy grilled tofu. The tofu was beautiful, seriously beautiful. It was a nice thick slice, blackened to perfection. Looking at the pictures makes me long for a bite. It was sreved with greens, sweet potatoes and black beans. Oh and I must not forget the Chimichurri sauce!

Here we all are happy as can be! L to R Pepperpot, Me, my most awesome friend Patrice, Harmless Hunter and Autumn Vegan

Sigh...I miss it already. But you can get in on some Chicago Diner action yourself. I am giving away a copy of the Chicago Diner Cookbook to one of you fabulous followers. All you have to do is be a follower of the Vegan Conversion Challenge and post a comment about your favorite diner food or experience or anything else diner related. Because I posted so late today, I will give everyone until tomorrow at midnight to post. I will draw the winner using Random.org on Saturday. Good luck and good posting!!!

I redrew today (11/13/11) because I haven't heard back from the original winner. The winner is #11 PEANUTTY PRINCESS!!!

MOFO - Day 19 - So Long Chicago!

2011-10-19T01:00:00.000-07:00

Today is a travel day for me, so my post will be short and sweet. My time in IL and Chicago is always too short. This trip was no exception. It is amazing what you can pack in to a few short days. I was so excited to dine at three really great vegan and vegan friendly places while I was here. In the next couple of days I will be chatting up both the Chicago Diner and Karyn's on Green.

Here is the even better news. Tomorrow I will be hosting another giveaway!! In honor of my trip to Chicago, I am going to give away a copy of the Chicago Diner Cookbook! How can you win your copy, you might ask? Well, tomorrow I will be posting a review of our PPK meetup at the Chicago Diner. All you need to do to be eligible to win is be a follower of the blog and post a comment on tomorrow's post. It's that easy.

Well kiddies, it is late here and I must get ready for my travels. Make sure to check in and comment tomorrow!!

MOFO - Day 18 - Vegan in the Chicago 'Burbs - Miraculous

2011-10-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

The other night my friends and I happened upon a bar close to the train station in Crystal Lake, IL called Duke's Alehouse and Kitchen. For my non-Illinois readers, Crystal Lake is in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, very close to the Wisconsin border. This is the land of dairy, beef and many things non-vegan. We stopped in very late at night for a drink before heading home on the train. While waiting at the bar to order, I saw a sign that said they were voted the #1 vegan friendly restaurant in the northwest suburbs by Urban Spoon.

I grew up in this area and visit every year. Usually I can find a gratuitous vegetarian dish here and there on a menu if I am lucky. I was thrilled to see they actually mentioned the word vegan on the menu. Well today, my mom and I went back to check it out. I was even more excited to find out that not only did they have vegan friendly fare, but most of it is local and organic! I was swooning to say the least.

Now the first visit was late night and it was pretty much a bar scene complete with karaoke. Today we went for lunch and the vibe was more comfy bistro. The wood floors and the brickwork gave it a rustic feel. The many windows made it bright and sunny on a cold, windy day.

Duke's sources much of their food from local and organic farms. They even have their own gardens. They have a cool blackboard on the wall that displays where they get their fresh ingredients from. I am hoping next time I am in town I might have time to check out their gardens!!

The menu offered several choices for the veg set. Our server had some knowledge of what was vegan and what was not. What he didn't know, he took the time to go to the kitchen and ask. As a good blogger should, I ordered way more than I could eat, but I wanted to check out several of the vegan offerings.

The Tempura Beans ($9.00) had a very light and crispy batter on them. These are offered in a vegan and non-vegan version. I wanted to find out how they made the tempura batter. It was not very greasy (yay!), crispy and light and served with a teriyaki type sauce.

I didn't need to try these, I had to try these; the Inferno Fries ($4.00/$6.00). These hand cut golden beauties were sprinkled with a mild cajun spice. The name Inferno is a quite an over-exageration, as they weren't very spicy. There was no doubt that these were fresh cut and fantastic though. There were none left!

The next delectable dish was the Raw Spaghetti Salad ($8.00). As the name indicates it is raw. It is also vegan and gluten free. This was a huge hit for me. The fresh zucchini was sliced thinly. It appeared that the mandolin they had was not working quite right as you could see the slice marks, but it had not cut all the way through. This was truly inconsequential to the dish because the zucchini was thinly sliced, the sun dried tomatoes were juicy and flavorful and teh kalamata olives lent the perfect amount of salty yumminess to the dish. I loved the fried basic garnish.

The Grilled Vegetable Flatbread Pizza ($8.00/$10.00) was amazing (and was 1/2 price for Meatless Monday). The flatbread was thin and crispy. The arugula was crazy fresh and nutty tasting. The tomato pesto was perfectly balanced. There was no doubt that the vegetables were fresh and perfectly grilled. I asked the server about the cheese. It tasted like Daiya to me, but I thought that maybe in the land of Soy Dairy Teese, they may have been using Teese. But I was correct. It was indeed Daiya. Mom and I both loved it!

Duke's features Meatless Mondays. They offer 1/2 price on selected vegetarian items when you purchase two bevvies. So my traveling friends and my friends who live in IL, rejoice! There is a great place you can go to tantalize your tastebuds, have a nice glass of wine or one of many beers offered. I hope other restaurants in the northwest 'burbs take note of what Duke's is doing! Take a ride on the train and get of the Crystal Lake exit. Duke's will be right there when you get off of the train!

MOFO - Day 17 - Cashews and Pine Nuts

2011-10-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another nutty day at VCC. Today's featured nuts are cashews and pine nuts. Cashews are a slightly sweet nut that are fantastic as a snack on their own (I love mine roasted and lightly salted personally). They are also wonderful ground up into a paste and used to make creamy soups, sauces and other dishes. Try making a tasty cashew dip with fresh lemon juice and fresh herbs. Just soak a big handful (maybe about a cup) of the cashews for an hour or more. Drain them and add them to a food processor or blender with 2 or 3 roasted garlic cloves, a little fresh lemon juice, a touch of thyme, oregano and if you like it spicy, add a bit of chipotle or cayenne pepper. This makes a tasty dip for veggies, pita chips or crackers. Cashews are an excellent source of selenium, a nutrient known for its anti-oxidant properties. These babies are a good source of iron. Each 1 oz. serving has 5 grams of protien. All of this and they are just tasty tasty tasty!

Pine nuts, like other nuts, are a good source of several minerals including manganese. The oleic and pinolenic acids in these little gems are believed to lower LDL (the bad cholesterol). Pine nuts are also a good source of vitamin E. They provide about 3.8 g of protein for a 1 oz. serving.

I whipped up Sun Dried Tomato Pesto from 500 Vegan Recipes (pg.91) for our family gathering last night. Both of these nuts are used to make this rich and flavorful pesto that is great on sliced baguettes or over pasta. I'm not going to lie, this is not a low fat venture, but all of the fats are heart healthy and you are going to get a significant anti-oxidant kick. Even better, your taste buds will be so very happy.

MOFO - Day 16 - Now That's Just Nuts (and Seeds) Week!

2011-10-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to that's just nuts and seeds week! I am planning on visiting a few vegan and vegan friendly eateries while I am here in Illinois and reporting back. I fear that Mr. Nut and his faithful compaining Master Seed may get a big short changed this week. But I'm sure they will forgive me because veg friendly eateries must be flaunted, especially when you can find them in the suburbs.

Well on to today's featured protein: the almond. This unassuming little guy packs quite the nutritional punch. Some studies show that almonds are protective against certain cancers and even heart disease. The reason is that they contain calcium, magnesium, vitamin E and phytochemicals that help prevent disease. The almond contains many other trace minerals needed to keep your body healthy. There is even better news: a one ounce serving of almonds contains 6 grams or 12% of the RDA for protein! Yay almonds!

It is super easy to make almonds part of your regular diet. You can buy them already sliced and put them in your cereal, oatmeal, salads, vegetables, you name it. One of my favorite ways to eat them is toasted with different flavorings. Craving something sweet? Toss them in a little oil with a touch of brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmet and bake them for about 20 mintues turning a couple of times to prevent burning. Almonds can be ground up and used in muffins and other baked goods. Almond milk is awesome on cold cereal.

Today I am heading over to my aunt's house. I though I would have some nutty fun with almonds. I made an easy to eat snack from 500 Vegan Recipes. I made a variation of the Chili Roasted Peanuts (pg. 96) using almonds. The spice combination is very interesting and tasty. The combo of the chili, brown sugar and other spices are perfect with the creaminess of the almonds.

MOFO - Day 15 - Vegan Soul Kitchen

2011-10-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

This week's cookbook challenge book was Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry. I've always been curious about this book. Interestingly enough, this past week I have a new co-worker who just happens to be doing some non-vegan catering with his wife. Their theme: soul food and Mexican fusion. So I asked him if he had any veg friendly menu items. He said they really didn't. I brought this book in for him to check out for ideas and also gave him a try of the Red Beans and brown rice from the book. He was impressed. Score another point for awesome vegan goodness.

I have to say that when I first looked through the book, I was pretty indifferent. I guess the saying you eat with your eyes first is true. The book has a few black and white pictures and that is it. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I love pictures in cookbook, the more the better. It is kind of cool that he suggestes music with all of the recipes. It gives the book a fun little twist.

I've only made two dishes from it so far and both were really good: Crisp Green Beans with Roasted Shallots and Walnuts and Red Beans and Brown Rice with Red Wine Simmered Seitan. The recipe for the red beans and rice calls for an entire bottle of wine for simmering. I honestly think you could get away with 3 cups, saving a glass for yourself to drink while you are cooking. For me the real star of the show were the green beans. The roasted shallots gave them a creamy rich flavor. The toasted walnuts provided a beautiful earthiness and crunch to the dish. The tarragon dressing was more on the vinegary side...which I love! Somehow I ended up with far more dressing than I needed. But I am sure it will be great on a simple salad. I'm looking forward to trying some more from this one down the road. I just need to get over the lack of pictures thing.

The cover

MOFO - Day 14 - AVK Seiatan

2011-10-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while you run accross a recipe that is just perfect for what you need. This savory seitan is the perfect recipe for making recipes that need a good toothesome cutlet. I love to use this recipe for things like chicken fried seitan (shown below with jalapeno gravy), seitan parmesan and one of my favorite conversions, Seitan Oscar.You can also cut thiem into smaller pieces. They make fantastic chicken fingers or faux wingz. Get creative! These cutlets will make you happy.

Savory Seitan

2 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup soy flour

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon browning sauce, optional

1/4 cup red wine, or additional broth

1 1/2 cups plus 4 cups chilled vegetable broth, divided

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon canola oil

In a medium bowl, combine the vital wheat gluten, yeast and flour. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, ketchup, olive oil, browning sauce, wine, 1 1/4 cup vegetable broth and garlic. Mix well and add to the dry ingredients. Stir together with a wooden spoon, adding the remaining 1/4 cup broth, if needed to make a firm but workable dough. Knead for about 2 minutes, or until a cohesive dough is formed.

Let the dough rest for 15 minutes, then divide it into 10 dough balls. Place a dough ball between two sheets of parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll it out to 1/4 inch thickness. The cutlet will shrink some during cooking, so make it about 1-inch larger then you want it to be when cooked. Continue with the remaining dough balls, keeping the cutlets separated so they don't stick together.

Preheat oven to 300 F. Heat the canola oil in large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, add the cutlets in a large roasting pan and cover with the 4 cups of broth. Cover the pan tightly with foil and place in the oven. Bake 1 hour, turning once. Let the cutlets cool in the broth. The seitan is now ready to use or store until needed.

Printed with permission from American Vegan Kitchen (Vegan Heritage Press, 2010). Copyright Tamasin Noyes

There is an option for slow cooker method in the book.I am a huge fan of crock pot seitan recipes. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes to whip up your seitan dough, roll it into one or two roasts, depending on the shape and size you want. Put it in enough cold stock to cover your roasts and let it go on low for 8 hours. I like to add black peppercorns, bay leaves, smashed garlic cloves and a few sprigs of fresh parsley to the stock or broth for a little extra flavor!

MOFO - Day 13 - Cold Cuts

2011-10-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I told you about the Gobbler Slices from the upcoming sandwich book from Tami Noyes and Celene Steen. They have some other cold cuts in store for you as well. If you've ever bought Tofurkey or any other type of vegan cold cuts, you are painfully aware of how expensive they are and how little you get. These ladies make it very easy to make your own (and it's much cheaper too!) Making cold cuts is as easy as making loaf seitan. It slices like a dream and freezes well for those busy weeks.

You have to check out this masterpiece of a Muffaletta Sammich! It is gigantoid! I have never had a Muffaletta quite like this one. It is an impressive sandwich to say the least. It travels well and will keep for a day in the fridge or in the cooler.

I'm on the road to Chicago for the week. I will be posting from there. I am going to try and hit two popular vegan restaurants while I am there, so check back next week for reviews of Karyn's on Green and Chicago Diner!!!

MOFO - Day 12 - Seitan Invades Your Soup

2011-10-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

One thing worth mentioning about steaming seitan is that you don't have to buy a special steamer pot. You can use a pasta pot or regular stock pot with a steamer basket insert. Ikea carries the inserts for only $5.99, but I'm betting you could even find them in some dollar stores. Voila - a very inexpensive and effective steamer!

The steaming method of making seitan is not exclusive to sausage making. Steaming can also be used for roasts or logs. I have been testing for Celene Steen and Tami Noyes' upcoming sandwich book. They have come up with a few pretty ingenius recipes for vegan cold cuts. One such recipe is posted HERE for Gobbler Slices which are, you guesed it, vegan turkey slices! This is a seitan style log that also has beans in it for protein variety. The flavor is so good you might start gobbling yourself.

I screwed up the recipe test for these so mine came out too dry to use as lunch "meat". I didn't want it to go to waste, so I made this warm and wonderful soup. This is perfect for the chilly days that are sure to be around the corner. Serve it with crusty bread for a filling lunch or dinner.

Cream of Broccoli and Turkee Soup

Makes 10 cups

1/4 cup Earth Balance Vegan butter
1 medium onion, diced (approx 1 3/4 cup)
1 stalk celery, small dice
1 teaspoon rosemary, crushed
1/2 teaspoon leaf thyme
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
dash of nutmeg
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 head broccoli, stems diced small, head chopped in florets (approx 5 cups)
6 cups vegetable broth (chicken flavor if you have it)
8 oz. small diced Gobbler Slices, Tofurkey or chicken style seitan (approx. 2 cups)
2 cups soy unsweetened soy creamer

In a large soup pan over medium heat, sauce onions and celery in butter until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes or so. Add rosemary, thyme, white pepper, salt and nutmeg. Saute for about 30 seconds to release the oils from the herbs. Turn heat to very low. Stir in flour. Cook for 5 minutes stirring frequently so that the flour doesn't burn. Add about 1/4 cup of the broth to deglaze, making sure to scrape all of the goodies from the pan. Add remaining broth and chopped broccoli. Turn heat back up to medium. Bring to a simmer and simmer until broccoli is tender, about 10 minutes. Using a stick blender or a regular blender in batches, blend/puree soup. I like to leave it slightly chunky, but this is entirely up to you. Return to pan (if using regular blender). Stir in seitan and soy creamer. Simmer until it is heated through and slightly thicker, 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 10-15 minutes. This will intensify the flavors. Serve with a nice rustic bread.

MOFO - Day 11 - Seitan Sausages Steamin' Baby!

2011-10-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

Well I am not sure if they are world famous, but they should be! Julie Hasson is just a lovely person on top of being a ridiculously awesome vegan chef/author/ hostess. She has this recipe for vegan Italian Sausages that are so good even my meat eating family loves them. Here is a link to her video and recipe. You will truly be amazed at how easy they are to make.

I use them in many different ways, pizza, pasta, sandwiches. Oh man, now I'm hungry!!

Here they are nekid and browning up beautifully in the pan (after steaming of course)

Slathered with marinara over penne:

This one is not one of Julie's but was made by using a similar method. It is part of the infamous "Tater Pig"

Here is Kittee's Cajun version!

Here is my own version! This recipe for this one is still top secret, but here it is as a mexican hot dog!

All of these sausages are made by the steaming method. I puffy heart this method. It is quite easy and the results are consistently awesome. The sausages come out with a medium firm texture when they are cooked. You can slice them easily or just use them whole.

Like all seitan, there are so many variations! One cool thing about vegan sausages made by this method is that they don't require a casing. They kind of make their own as they steam. Another really great feature is that you can shape them into links or patties. Once you mix up the seitan dough and shape them, you wrap them individually in foil leaving a bit of room for them to expand. Throw them in the steamer for 30 minutes and you have some really incredible inexpensive home made snausages!

MOFO - Day 10 - Seitan is NOT the Devil - Giveaway Winner!!

2011-10-10T05:01:00.000-07:00

What is this seitan that we veg types speak of? While it is pronounced like Satan, it is not evil. Seitan which can also be called wheat gluten, gluten or mock meat is a meat analog (faux meat) made from vital wheat gluten, sometimes other flours, seasonings and flavored liquids. Vital wheat gluten is quite different from regular wheat flour. It is much higher in protein content, which makes it ideal for making a high protein meat substitution. The protein content can vary a bit from recipe to recipe and brand to brand. You can expect to get 20-30 grams of protein per 4 oz serving. Impressive I know!

In the days of the dinosaur, the traditional method of making seitan was kind of a pain and took a lot of time. The poor cook would have to mix flour and water to form a dough. Then it would have to be kneaded under running for like 30 minutes to remove the starch. After all of that manual labor, the dough would then be simmered for a couple of hours and if you were lucky, you would simmer it correctly and get an edible batch.

Thankfully, these days there are much simpler methods. A few of the most common methods are the simmering method, the baked method, the slow cooker method and the steamed method. I've tried them all. Each method yields a different texture. Which one you chose will depend on what recipes you want to make.

The first type of seitan I ever made was Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipe from Veganomicon that uses the simmering method. Amazingly the first time I made it, it turned out perfectly. The simmering method produces a very tender and juicy type of seitan which is great for searing or using in Asian dishes. I personally find this method the trickiest of those I've listed, but if you can get it down without producing "brainy" seitan, the flavor is just outstanding.

Let's talk about brains. Brainy seitan can ruin your day and your recipe. First, make sure that you start by putting your gluten dough into COLD simmering liquid with plenty of room to expand. Brainy or spongy seitan is usually caused by letting the simmering liquid come to a boil. This is a big no-no in making simmered seitan. To prevent the nasty globs of spongy gluten, you must actually watch the pot so it never boils! Seriously, do not let it boil. Keep the heat low enough so it very, very gently simmers. Hopefully after about an hour of gently simmering, you will have beautiful and delicious seitan.

Another word to the wise: when you are measuring and using vital wheat gluten, be careful not to spill much. If you do, wipe it up with a dry towel or else you will have a sticky mess on your wet towel. That gluten is crazy sticky stuff.

This top picture shows a seitan that has gone the way of the brain. You can see that there is no true form to the gluten. It actually looks mushy and spongy:

This next picture shows perfect simmered seitan. Look at how well formed these babies look:

Throughout the week, we will look at the different seitan cooking methods and some delicious seitan recipes. There are so many things you can do with a little vital wheat gluten!

Now we can't forget to announce the winner of the Butler Soy Curls giveaway!! The winner is #20 Cadyr's Kitchen!! She adores Vegan Brunch and wants to make some Courico Tacos with her new found stash of soy curls. Please make sure to email me a good shipping address at vegintraining @ gmail dot com so that I can send you your goodies. Have a delicious Monday!

MOFO - Day 9 - Soy Curls and another Giveaway!!!

2011-10-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of Soy You Think You Can Dance Week. I thought we should go out with an amazing product, Butler Soy Curls. These are like a miracle product! They are super easy to prepare and have an awesome texture. They can be used in any dish you may have used chicken like soups, casseroles, stir fry, fajitas, chick salads, you see where I'm going with this.

So, you might be thinking, what about the protein content? Well these will give you an impressive 10 g of protein per 3/4 cup serving! What I find so amazing about Soy Curls is that they are made with just one ingredient: textured whole non-GMO soy beans...that's it. They are super easy to use. To rehydrate you just soak in warm water for 10 minutes. They will soften up into a nice chewy texture. Like TVP, the curls themselves don't have much flavor, but they are amazing when added to your recipes. Butler foods has a listing of where you can buy Soy Curls HERE on their website. Those of you reading in the Phoenix area can buy them at Green New American Vegetarian in Scottsdale. You can also order them online.

One of my favorite and simple ways to eat them is to just rehydrate and drain them. Simmer them in your favorite BBQ sauce for about 10 minutes to absorb the flavor. Caramelize some onions and throw them all on a torpedo roll. MMMMmmmm MMMMmmmmm! A deliciously messy sandwich you will LOVE!

Here is another killer recipe using this miracle protein. Courico Tacos with Pineapple Salsa from Vegan Brunch. I found a preview of the recipe online. If you don't have Vegan Brunch, you can find the recipe here. Oh and if you don't have Vegan Brunch...get it. I tested for this book and made most everything from it. It has some amazing recipes!!

I really like giving stuff away, so today one of you will win a case (6 - 8 oz bags) of this amazing product. I know once you try them you will be hooked. Sorry guys, but this one is for US folks only this time around. The rules are the same as the last giveaway. All you have to do is be a follower and make a comment on this post by 11pm MST. To make it fun, tell us what you think you'd like to make with Soy Curls! The winner will be selected by random.org and I'll announce it tomorrow. Have a great Sunday!!!

MOFO - Day 8 - Soy Yogurt and Giveaway Winner!!!

2011-10-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

Today is supposed to be the last day of Soy You Think You Can Dance Week. However I still have another soy product I really want to share with you after today, so I am going to extend out one more day (sorry seitan, you get one less day). Today I bring you another soy product that comes in very handy for many things: Soy Yogurt. Pictured below is the Not Just for Breakfast Banana Split from the Vegan Table. It features soy yogurt standing in for ice cream to make a healthy breakfast version of a classic.

There are many brands of soy yogurt on the market. I started using Wildwood brand some time ago because their plain yogurt has less sugar than most others I've found. This was a big deal for me when using it for savory dishes. So I have just stuck with them. I used the vanilla flavor today. But they have many other varieties. You can find nutritional info on all of their varieties HERE. The vanilla has 5 g of protein and 20% of the RDA of calcium per 6 oz serving with only 3 g of fat and of course no cholesterol. Not bad stuff! I use it in baked goods and even savory dishes; anywhere you might use regular yogurt. Soy yogurt is super easy to find in most grocery stores too.

And now...the moment we've all been waiting for: The winner of the The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet Giveaway is: #6 - Beth!! Congrats to you! Please send me your mailing address so I can get that book headed your way!

Make sure to check back tomorrow for the last day of Soy You Think You can Dance week. I'll be talking about one of my favorite and convenient soy products: Butler Soy Curls. As an added bonus, I'm going to be giving a package of them away!

MOFO - Day 7 - Giveaway Day and TSP/TVP

2011-10-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

THE WINNER OF THE REDRAW IS #5 SARA FROM BUSY VEGAN MAMA BLOG! CONGRATS SARA!!

Welcome to day seven of MOFO 2011. Today we're going to chat a bit about another convenient soy protein source: TSP (textured soy protein) also called TVP (textured vegetable protein). It is made from defatted soy flour that is compressed and processed into small chunks. It is also sold in larger pieces called TVP Chunks. This is good for stews and soups. Both types are shown below.

Rehydrated TSP/TVP is a fantastic substitute for ground beef in many recipes. It is super easy to rehydrate. All you have to do it heat up water or broth to boiling, pour it over the TVP, let it sit for 10 minutes and you are ready to start cooking. On its own it has very little flavor, but it will readily take up the flavor of any liquid or flavoring it is cooked with. Here is the really good news: each 1/2 cup serving has 24 g of protein and less than 1/2 g of fat! Now that is a huge difference from ground beef. Extra lean ground beef has a whopping 9 g of fat per 3 oz. TVP = 0 cholesterol per serving, ground beef 74 mg of cholesterol. The numbers don't lie. If you are concerned about your fat and cholesterol intake, consider trying this out in some of your ground beef recipes.

As promised, today I will be giving one lucky follower a chance at winning The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni Marie Newman. This book is full of round patties of every variety (101 varieties to be exact). The traditional burger takes on all sorts of incarnations in her fun and creative book. Seriously...there are breakfast and dessert burgers in there! She also includes some yummy side dishes so you can make a complete meal from one book. Included are some great condiments and even a dessert section.

Joni even gives a little lesson how to re-hydrate TVP...how convenient! I decided to go a bit more traditional for my first recipe from the book. It features...go figure...TVP as the main protein. It is used in two different ways: as Imitation Bacon Bits (pg. 185) and as the main protein of the Bacon Cheeseburger (pg. 89) itself. I also started to make the Quick and Simple BBQ Sauce (pg. 183), but it wasn't my thing, so I doctored it up quite a bit. BBQ sauce is very subjective, but I found to be out of balance somehow. But getting back to the burger, there are three protein sources in the burger: TSP, vital wheat gluten and peanut butter. This is certainly an unorthodox combo, but it works. The texture is really firm and chewy, in the very best way. I cooked it on my griddle pan, but this burger would work beautifully on the grill. We served it topped with a grilled onion slice, tomato slices, spicy pickles and lots and lots of BBQ sauce. It takes a bit of time if you make your own bacon bits and BBQ sauce, but if you made those ahead of time, these come together pretty quickly. I'll make these again for sure!

Here is the moment we've all been waiting for: giveaway time! To be eligible to win all you have to do is be a follower of the blog and make a comment about anything burger related on this post by 11pm MST today! The winner will be selected by random.org tomorrow morning. Don't live in the US? That's OK, you can win too! Good luck and good eating!!!

MOFO - Day 6 - More Tempeh and The Vegan Table!

2011-10-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

Day six and still going strong! Today I bring you yet another delectable preparation for the might tempeh. One of my blogateers mentioned to me yesterday that tempeh is much more easily digestible than tofu for people who are sensitive to some soy products. Score another point for TEMPEH!

This week's cookbook challenge over at the PPK is The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I just got this book in the mail the other day. I am now asking myself, "What was I waiting for?" I really like her writing style and the layout of the book. She offers great seasonal menus and helpful hints for entertaining for all diffent kinds of events. The pictures are gorgeous! I love to entertain, so this book is a winner already in my book. If you aren't into entertaining, this book is still worth getting. It looks to be full of really great and pretty healthy recipes. I've only made one so far, but I have my eyes on quite a few.

I asked Fred to pick the first recipe. The only criteria I gave him is that it had to contain tempeh. Now, for those who have been following the blog for a while, you already probably know that Fred is not a fan of tempeh. He finds the hint of bitterness unappealing and something about the texture doesn't always work for him. I am happy to report that he ate his tempeh happily this time! He chose the Sweet and Sour Tempeh. He was semi-ashamed to admit that he loved the junky bright red sweet and sour sauce you get in cheap Chinese restaurants. I was never a fan, so I was quite pleased when this recipe didn't turn out anything like that version. It more closely resembled the Thai versions out there. I totally spaced out starting the rice ahead of time, so I threw on some quinoa. I have to say, I may want quinoa with all of my Asian inspired dishes from here on out (after all it is the only grain that is a complete protein---bonus!).

Don't forget to check back Friday! I will be giving some lucky follower their own brand spanking new copy of The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni Marie Newman. I just got my copy in the mail this week. It looks awesome and I can't wait to try some burgers! Make sure you comment of Friday's post to be eligible to win!! Tell your friends too!!!

Mofo - Day 5 - Touting Tempeh!

2011-10-05T05:14:00.000-07:00

Another fine source of protein made from the mighty soy bean is tempeh. Tempeh is produced by the controlled fermentation of cooked soybeans with a Rhizopus culture also called a tempeh starter. Sound like a science project? Maybe! But the results are delicious and nutritious. The fermentation process produces some great anti-oxidants. The fermented cakes are also a complete protein. Each 4 oz serving has a whopping 20 g of protein! Tempeh has a bit of a nutty flavor and a very interesting firm and chewy texture that lends itself to working in many types of recipes. It is sold in cakes in many stores these days. Again try to find organic non-GMO types. Below is one brand I love.

One important thing I have found with tempeh is that it is truly best if you steam it for 10 minutes before using it in recipes. There are two reasons for this. The first is that it seems to make the tempeh "pores" open up, making it absorb flavors better, but more importantly it can take out some of the slight bitter flavor tempeh can have. Now, there are times when I don't steam it, for instance, when it is marinated for extended periods of time. Even then, I am always tempted because I want that marinade to soak in.

My first experience with tempeh was several years ago. There was a great little tea house in Scottsdale called the Mandala Tea Room (sadly they closed their doors several years ago). They had a TLTA (Tempeh, Lettuce, Tomato and Avocado) Sandwich on the menu. I was still far from veg, but was trying to eat healthier, so a bacon alternative was very intriguing to me. I hate to use a cliche, but it was truly love at first bite!!!

Today I want to share with you my favorite tempeh bacon-ish recipe. It is not going to fool anyone into thinking it is the actual fatty nasty original, but it is awesome in its own rite. This one comes from Joanna Vaught, the illustrious author of Yellow Rose Recipes. This recipe and lots of other awesome recipes are included in her awesome 'zine Potluck Mania!

Maple Ginger Tempeh Strips

by Joanna Vaught

8 oz. tempeh
1/2 cup soy sauce or tamari
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup peanut oil
2" knob of ginger, peeled and julienned
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
2 teaspoon balsamic or apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
1/4 - 1/2 cup veggie broth

Slice Tempeh into 10-12 - 1/4 inch thick and 8" long strips.

In a long container with a cover whisk together all ingredients except for the tempeh. Gingerly slip tempeh strips into the marinade, being careful not to break them. If the marinade does not completely cover the strips, add a bit more broth.

Marinate for at least 8 hours and up to a week.

When you're ready to cook the strips, heat a nonstick, heavy-bottomed fry pan over medium eat. There is not need to add any oil because of the oil in the marinade. Add as many strips as will fit the pan (or how ever many you need). Allow to fry for 2-3 minutes, until they are dark brown. When they are dark enough, flip the strips.

Whisk the remaining marinade in the container and then, using a teaspoon, drizzle the marinade over the strips, "sealing" the strips. Saute until the second side is dark brown. Serve immediately.

I also love to cut them into cubes and use them as a smoky tempeh crouton on salads. The left over marinade is a good base for a smoky dressing for the very same salad!

I hope you try Joanna's awesome recipe and fall in love like I did!

MOFO - Day 4 - More Tofu!

2011-10-04T01:00:00.000-07:00

Lets talk more about tofu. Tofu is not tofu is not tofu. Different types of tofu have different uses. Newbie tofu users may find themselves confused of frustrated when they see the different types of tofu in the store. Here is a quickie rule of thumb.

Soft and/or silken tofu is just as it says: soft. It will crumble and fall apart very easily. It is best used for dishes where it can be mixed in uses as a thickener. I use it in the recipe below. It is also excellent for making smoothies, mousse, dressings, sauces...you get the picture. While I have seen silken tofu in the refrigerated section, it is usually found by the Asian section on the shelves of your grocery store. It can be stored in a cool dry place for up to a year. Pictured below is my preferred brand and type. As I mentioned earlier. I always try to buy and use organic, non-GMO tofu.

Also pictured below is my beloved Veganaise. This variety is organic and does have a little soy in it. There is minimal protein in it, but man it tastes like the real deal!

Probably the most common style of tofu seen in the stores is called tub tofu. It comes in a little plastic tub and is soaking in water. This is found in the refrigerated section and must be kept refrigerated. I am a big fan of extra firm for most dishes, but the firm also works great in dishes like tofu scramble or making tofu based cheeses. This type of tofu has many other uses. It is great in stir frys, grilled, sauteed, fried, baked, just about any way you might use meat.

One important thing to remember about tub tofu is that for many recipes it should be drained and pressed. This is something that I learned the hard way. Pressing the tofu takes out extra moisture that can give the tofu an unpleasant, mushy texture in many recipes. There are several methods to pressing tofu. Being the gadget girl that I am, I bought myself a Tofu X-press, but two plates a bag of beans (or some other heavy food item from your pantry) and a clean kitchen towel will do nicely as well. Place the drained tofu on a towel lined plate. Top with the second plate and put your weight on top. Make sure the weight is not too heavy or it will crush your little block of tofu. Let it press for about an hour and you should be good to go. I often put my tofu in the fridge before I go to work and let it press all day for time-sake.

You may also find brick style tofu. This is similar to tub style, but is not swimming in liquid. It tends to be much more firm and is best in dishes with sauces as it doesn't absorb flavors as readily as the tub style.

Ok, now that you are an expert at the different type of tofu, I'm going to share with you a very tasty and fun way to use silken tofu (and Veganaise). It's not low fat, but it is a tasty and awesome party dish.

Special Spinach Artichoke Dip

Makes 3 1/2 cups

1 - 12.3 oz. package aseptic packaged silken firm tofu (like Nori-mu)
1/4 cup Vegannaise
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon capers, dained
2 large cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated onion
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

8 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed excess water squeezed out
1 - 8.5 oz can artichoke hearts, drained, corsely chopped
1 - jarred roasted red pepper, diced (approx 1/3 - 1/2 cup)
3 tablespoon chopped Kalamata olives
2 tablespoons chopped chives

In a food processor blend tofu through black pepper until smooth, scraping sides occasionally. Transfer to a large bowl. Add spinach and mix until well combined. Add remaining ingredients and gently stir until ingredients are evenly distributed. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. For best flavor, let sit in fridge for at least one hour for flavors to meld. Serve with pita chips, crusty bread and or fresh veggies.

Mofo - Day 3 - Hiking Protein and Other Goodies

2011-10-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of time on the trails with my hiking buds. This weekend we took part in the Arizona Trail Centennial Adventure. The event runs from September 15 - October 31, 2011. The goal of the event is to have groups of people traverse the entire 800 miles of the Arizona Trail. We did our part by hiking 8 miles of the trail from just outside Tusayan, AZ to the South Kaibab Trailhead at the Grand Canyon. We added on an extra mile for the heck of it. It was a beautiful hike! Our fearless scout leader said she was happy that for once she could hike by the Canyon without it being a near death experience.

One very important element to having a successful hike is to make sure you have enough good quality fuel. How do you get your protein on the trail you might ask? Well, this weekend I had a few protein packed tricks up my sleeve. It is actually pretty simple to get your fill of protein on the trail. More and more excellent vegan packable snacks are becoming available. One of my go to protein snacks are Primal Strips Vegan Jerky. They have several different flavors to choose from. Some are more soy-ful than others. The varieties I packed this time were the Shiitake Mushroom Hot and Spicy (6 g of protein) and the Soy Hickory Smoked (10 g of protein). As you can see from the picture I was also sporting some Lara Bars. While these pack a higher percentage of carbs for quick energy, you can usually count on 4-6 grams of protein per bar. I threw together my own trail mix using Planters Deluxe Mixed Nuts and cranberries. Each 1 oz serving of the nuts has 5 g of protein.

The hike was not nearly as strenuous as we usually do, so this was more than I could even eat at our lunch stop. The last mile it started to rain. But we scouts are not easily deterred from our post hike noshing and celebrating.

The beer did not provide protein, but I did mix up a yummy lemon dill dip made from a leftover sauce from recipe testing that I had done earlier in the week. I added some dill and hot sauce to the existing soy based sauce and voila! Veggie dip! It is made with Mori-nu Silken Tofu. Silken tofu is great to use in dips, smoothies, mousse and other sweet treats. The tofu boasts 4 g of protein per 3 oz serving. So as you can see, even when you are on the trail, you will be able to get lots of protein!

After we left the trail and got back to our lovely rental house in Williams, we had a great al Fresco happy hour on the patio. Check out all of the tomato goodness. Nom nom nom!!!

Tomorrow we will take a more in depth look at our friend silken tofu. Check back tomorrow for a yummy party/potluck recipe!

MOFO Day 2 - Soy You Think You can Dance

2011-10-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

Soy has been touted as the greatest protein source since sliced bread by many nutritionists and health advocates. Lately it has come under fire because of its estrogenic effects. Personally, I feel that the natural estrogenic compounds found in soy are a lot less harmful than the synthetic hormones, anti-biotics and sub standard feed forced upon the poor animals that end up on the plate; not to mention the increase in food borne illnesses caused by the unsanitary and unhealthy practices the mass meat producers use in their factory farms.

It pays to do your reasearch when you are in search of good sources of soy protein. Highly processed food are generally not the best for you, soy products included. That said, it is best to try and find organic, non-GMO minimally processed soy products for the best health benefits. Definitely stay away from any label that includes hydrolyzed soy protein or soy protein isloate or concentrate as much as you possibly can. Stick with products that are minimally processed like organic tofu, tempeh, miso and edamame. I do use soy milk and soy creamer in some of my recipes, but I tend to stick with the four I mentioned and Tamari or Shoyu sauce for flavor and saltiness (I'm a bit of a saltaholic).

Tofu is probably the most commonly known soy product to the average Joe or Joanne. Rarely do I meet someone who hasn't at least heard of it. Most have either turned their nose up to the innocent 'fu or had it improperly prepared and vowed to never eat it again. Hopefully many people are lucky enough to have an open mind and mouth and a darn good tofu recipe to try. There are some great vegan cook books out there that can provide you with the tools you need to make a delicious soy based meal.

I was never a big fan of the 'fu myself. But I have really grown to appreciate it's adaptability and flexibility for many recipes. Today's recipe includes tofu in, what I believe, to be its most common form: firm block tofu. This time I used a type I haven't used much in the past. I tried out Wildwood Brand's Tariyaki marinated tofu. It was not bad, but I much prefer to press and marinade my own to get just the flavor I want. More about pressing tofu (and about the many varieties and uses of tofu) in another post.

The recipe I bring to you today was a combination of "what do I have in the fridge?" and "how many proteins can I put in one dish?". Well to answer that I would have to say lots! First we have the soy group: tofu, edamame, miso, and tamari. Lets look at some of the other ingredients. Sesame seeds provide 4.8-6 grams of protein per ounce (toated/raw). If you get the unhulled variety you will gain a good dose of calcium as well. Each serving of soba noodles contains 10g of protein. Many vegetables contain trace amounts of protein as well.

According to Livestrong.com's MyPlate application, each serving of The following recipe boasts 34 grams of protein!!! That is well over half the RDA for men or women. Not too shabby for one delicious meatless meal!

Soba - Tofu Protein Packed Awesomeness

2 tablespoons sesame oil divided
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 large cloves garlic minced
1 cup edamame, thawed
1 cup snow peas, trimmed
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces, about 1 cup
3 green onions, sliced at an angle white and green parts separated.
8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch bok choy, cut into bite sized pieces, about 3 cups
Miso Sauce (recipe below)
6 oz soba noodles, cooked according to package directions, rinsed with cold water to stop cooking.
2 tablespoons un-hulled sesame seeds (you can use regular if that is what you have)

Make miso sauce first. In large wok or saute pan heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil over medium heat. Saute ginger and garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Increase heat to medium high. Add edamame, snow peas bell pepper, white and light green parts of green onion. Saute for about 3-4 minutes until peas and pepper are very slightly soft and turn bright colors. If veggies start sticking and pan is too dry, add a touch of water. Add remaining tablespoon of sesame oil and sliced mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms just start to release their liquid, about 3 minutes. Add bok choy and saute until the bok choy is al dente. Gently toss in rinsed soba noodles and miso sauce. Stir until just combined and heated through.

Garnish with sesame seeds and green parts of green onions.

Serve immediately.

Miso Sauce

1/2 cup low sodium vegetable broth or water
3 tablespoons red miso
1 tablespoon low sodium tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon 5 spice powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

In bowl, combine all ingredients until miso is dissolved. Can store for up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge.

Tune in tomorrow when I will be talking a bit about how to get your protein on the hiking trail!!

MOFO - Day 1 - But...Where Do You Get Your Protein?

2011-10-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

Once again I find myself feeling guilty and apologetic for neglecting you, my faithful blog followers! I never seem to find the time to sit down at the computer at home these days. I can't even begin to tell you how much I have been missing my kitchen and computer time!

Well that should all change today. Once again the crazy folks over at the PPK (Post Punk Kitchen for those of you who may not know) are bringing on Vegan MOFO (month of food). This is a challenge, for us blogger types, that is designed to encourage us to blog about vegan food yumminess. Each year I try to come up with a fun and interesting theme. This is my 4th year participating! Last year I think I blogged just about every day. I am hoping to get close again this year.

Of course, at this time of the year, I start going down blog-memory lane. The first year, 2008, I didn't really have a theme. But I had a lot of fun trying to blog every day. I remember being in Montana on vacation hunting down a computer at the hotel where we were staying. Fred should have realized how bad my obsession was back then, but he married me anyway. The second year I was a little more organized. The theme in 2009 was veganizing favorite family recipes. I loved this theme. It was fun to get my readers, friends and family involved. Last year my theme was chilis and chiles. It was a hot and spicy month in our kitchen. It's hard to pick a favorite theme! They were all so fun.

This year I have decided to answer the age old question posed to all vegans and vegetarians..."But where do you get your protein?" While many of my veg readers may already know the answer to this question, the answers may surprise a lot of you, because there are a lot of plant sources of protein all around us. This month is dedicated to bringing you lots of ideas and information on these building blocks of nutrition. Each week will feature a different group of proteins. To get you primed for our month of protein I found this very informative and handy chart that provides protein content of many different types of food. Some very interesting factoids on this list!

Week 1 - Soy You Think You can Dance. More than just tofu, this week will feature some familiar and not so familiar soy products that make eating veg even more interesting!

Week 2 - Seitan is not the Devil. Seitan is a meat replacement that is made from vital wheat gluten. It contains lots of protein and not a lot of fat. You can find this in stores, but it is super easy and cheap to make (and much better in my opinion). I love this stuff in all its forms. I hope you will too!

Week 3 - That's Just Nuts (and Seeds) - This week will feature some nuts and seeds that are familiar to all of us and a few that are not so common.

Week 4 - Beans, Beans the Magical Fruit. A musical homage to the mighty bean. This week will feature a variety of beans and lentils. These little guys are not only a great source of protein, but they are also very high in fiber.

There will be a few give-aways during the month. It will be easy to win, you just have to be a follower of the blog and post something the day of the contest. I don't have all of the prizes lined up yet, but I do know that the first one will be a copy of The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni Marie Newman. Just click on join this site to become a follower. Then make a comment on the October 7th post. On the 8th I will randomly select a winner! Good luck. Good eats and Good Day!!

PPK Cook Book Challenge '11 - Isa and Terry - VwaV

2011-09-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

I love cook book challenges. For that matter I like any excuse to have a food type theme. It also gives me motivation to pull some books out I haven't used in a while. This week we could choose from any book written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz or Terry Hope Romero. It is always a hard choice because their books are so great! I decided this week to go back to the beginning. Vegan with a Vengeance was the very first vegan cookbook I ever bought. It was the book that helped me realize vegan food could be fun, delicious, easy and satisfying. I am forever grateful. You will be too if you bust out a copy. The recipes are all pretty inexpensive too!

This time around I made a few recipes I hadn't tried before. First up was the Tempeh and White Bean Sausage. It was a pretty simple recipe. It was a bit more crumbly than I normally like something called "sausage" to be, but it was pretty tasty.

As an accompaniment I chose the Sweet Potato Hash with Watercress and Five Spice. I didn't have watercress, so I subbed spinach and added a touch of white pepper. I really liked the hash. I love greens and sweet potatoes. The touch of five spice was awesome in this. Yum.

Tonight Fred made dinner. I chose the Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy for him to make. I was up for some comfort food goodness. I know Fred likes gravy once in a while. It has been some time since we had anything like that. So it was a nice treat. We both loved this dish. The miso gravy had the perfect amount of saltiness and earthiness to complement the mushrooms. The tofu was perfectly tender and juicy. Oh and the potatoes...heavenly. This would be a great dish in the middle of a cold winter. MMMMmmmm.

Next week the featured cook book will be Tami Noyes' American Vegan Kitchen. I so love this book, so I'm excited to try some new stuff from it.

Oh Tomatoes - How Do I Love Thee?

2011-09-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the official first day of fall. While the temps are still in the 105 range here, this reminded me that most of you in other parts of the country are clinging on to the last few weeks of summer produce. The tomato is the epitome of summer to me. I love just picking them off the vine and eating them like an apple when they are juicy and perfectly ripe.

This past week I hit the jackpot at Whole Foods. Their organic heirlooms are usually crazy expensive at $4.99 per pound or more sometimes. I guess I am de-sensitized, because I thought $2.99 a pound was a great bargain. They had many great colors and varieties. I decided to go for three different kinds this time. It was a warm up for the tomato plants I put in 2 weeks ago. I planted like 6 different varieties. We are trying fall tomatoes with the hopes we will have better luck with them than we did our summer tomatoes. In the mean time, I am indulging in the fruits of someone else's labor. Behold - the regal tomato platter.

Pastarama - A Pantry Searching Creation

2011-09-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a "I don't have any urge to eat dinner" kind of night. However, Fred worked his tail off getting the 3 garden beds ready for fall planting. He was out there for hours. The boy needed some fuel. What to make? It needed to be substantial, fairly healthy and not too tough to make. The pantry had some promising items. I found a couple of partially used packages of fusilli pasta. There was that yummy pesto from the other day. I had one Fieldroast Italian sausage left and some jarred goodies. I thought, "I can come up with something pretty tasty with this stuff."

Here is what transpired:

Silli Fusilli

Makes 2 really big servings OINK!!

8 oz fusilli pasta
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 link Field Roast Italian sausage (or you favorite vegan Italian sausage link), sliced about 1/4" thick
1 small white onion, slivered
1 large roasted red bell pepper, cut in half and sliced into strips
4 oil packed sun dried tomatoes, sliced into thin strips
10 or so pitted Kalamata olives, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 cup vegan basil pesto
2 tablespoon parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain in a colander and run under cold water to stop cooking. Set aside.

While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in large iron skillet or saute pan over medium high heat. Add sliced sausage in a single layer. Saute until golden brown and slightly crispy, approximately 3-4 minutes. Turn slices, move to one side of the pan (on the cooler side of the pan) and brown the other side.

After turning the sausages, add sliced onions. Reduce heat to medium. Saute until the onions are nicely browned, about 5-7 minutes. If sausage is getting too browned, you can remove them from the pan and set aside on a small plate. Add the roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes and olives. Saute until they are heated through, about 3-5 minutes.

Add cooked pasta and stir until combined and heated through. Add pesto and toss until pasta is well coated. Saute for another 2 minutes or so until the pesto is warm.

Serve immediately. Garnish with chopped parsley. Yummy with a nice simple salad and garlic bread.

Another Look at the Conscious Cook

2011-09-06T05:35:00.000-07:00

For quite some time I had been reading and hearing about what a great book the Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen was. Truth is, I had kind of put a moratorium on buying new cook books and I hadn't bought this one yet. Thankfully, Tami Noyes over at Vegan Appetite chose his book for two of our Vine and Dine cook alongs giving me my first taste of Tal Ronnen's talent.

I've only made three recipes from the book so far, and I have to say each one was very, very good! I love hard cover cook books, so I was pleased when this one came in a hard cover version. The publisher includes some beautiful pictures of the food. There is a very nice section giving a little information on becoming vegan and some banter from guest chefs. The recipes are easy to read and understand. He is all about Gardein, which I am on the fence about. But it is easy enough to substitute your own home made seitan and proteins. This one is definitely worth considering for your cook book collection. I'm sure excited it is part of mine! I look forward to making more yumminess from it soon. I have my eye on the free form pasta!!!

Vine and Dine - Mushroom Bouillabaisse

2011-09-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

This week's featured recipe came from Horizons: The Cookbook: Gourmet Meatless Cuisine. This is a favorite of our hostess Tami Noyes over at Vegan Appetite. I've only made a couple of things from it so far and I can see why it is a favorite.

This week's recipe is far more difficult to spell than to make. I chose to use a good variety of wild mushrooms: cremini, portobello, Maitake and trumpet mushrooms. The mushrooms looked so good at Whole Paycheck this week. I'm so glad I did a variety as it really added some fun texture to the dish. I chose to follow the recommendation of grilling the mushrooms first. I do think it was a good choice as it made the mushrooms soooooo tasty.

This was a nice one pan meal (minus the croutons). I liked that it was not a heavy dish. The touch of fennel made it remind me a bit of my mom's chicken cacciatore recipe for some reason.

I used a basic french baguette sliced very thinly and then baked until crispy for the crouton. I very much liked the red pepper mixture on the bread. However, I didn't think it did anything to enhance the bouillabaisse. It didn't hurt either, just meh for me. I thought the tomato, mushroom and fennel combination was divine. This will be a summer favorite for us!!

Here is Fred's review of this week's wine selection.

The quest for easily found vegan wines continues. I have a bigger list but so many of them tell me most of the wines that come from a certain winery are vegan friendly, they just don't tell me which ones. I did find a vegan wine labeled 50% cab, 50% malbec from Chili. "Nuevo Mundo" makes organic, vegan, sustainable, and certified carbon neutral produced estate bottled wine. This was a very good middle of the road red wine, one that I would introduce to someone that was just starting to drink wine. It was very pleasant on the tongue after opening up for ten minutes.

Kim's dish was loaded with mushrooms so I think it needed a more exciting, stronger, spicier, wine to compliment it. The malbec grape seemed to match the dish to much, being kind of earthy itself. This wine would please everyone in a crowd but just didn't have enough pop for our dinner tonight, perhaps it would be nice with a spicy, tomatoey dish. I will definitely by more of this brand as it is so earth friendly and kinda good in it's own way.

Bread Glorious Bread!!!

2011-08-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday readers. Yes, it is surely a happy happy weekend. For those of you who read my blog regularly, you are painfully aware of my difficulties with baking bread. It has been my nemesis, Achilles Heal and just plain frustrating...until now.

This weekend I attended a free bread baking class held by the fabulous Stephanie Petersen also known as Chef Tess Bakeresse, at Honeyville Farms in Chandler. They hold many free classes and Chef Tess teaches many of them. She is fun and full of awesome knowledge that she loves to share. Check out her blog when you get a chance. She has lots of fun and fabulous cooking tips.

Stephanie has bread making in her genetic make up. Her mom was a master of the bread and now she is as well. I can attest to this first hand. For decades I have been defeated by loaf after loaf. I never thought I could get a beautiful, normal sized loaf of sandwich bread AND have it taste phenomenal. I wish you could actually feel my excitement through the computer screen. To lift me from my dismal bread making abyss is no small task. With her simple tips and easy to understand method, you can get great loaves too!! Honest!

I have to admit I did break on of her cardinal rules. I did not have super fresh ground flour. I had a bag of whole wheat flour in my pantry. I don't like to waste, so I had to use it up. I used rolled oats as my additional grain. After soaking it was very wet (even after draining), so I did have to add a bit more flour. I can't wait to try freshly ground kamut flour next. I also wanted to make it vegan, so I subbed maple syrup for the honey. Stephanie also suggested using brown rice syrup. Sadly mine had hardened to a candy like consistency, so maple syrup it was. The recipe on her site stated to bake at 425 for the first 15 minutes then 30-35 minutes more at 325. In class she mentioned that the bread should bake at 425 for 10 minutes and then at 325 for 20 minutes. I actually did 10 and then 25.

After suffering for years from flat, hocky puck loaves, I bring you this gorgeous whole grain loaf!!! Behold the tall, normal sized loaf. No short and squatty here. Feast your eyes on the beautiful texture and crumb, the golden crust and the whole grain goodness. It slices like a dream and eats like a fantasy. This perfect dough was made in a bucket, yes, a 3.5 gallon plastic bucket. Unorthodox? Perhaps. But very effective. I may never be able to eat a commercially produced bread again!!!

Here are my babies before hitting the oven. I was so excited that they rose so well and so perfectly. The loaves look a bit uneven, but that was my measuring not the dough.

Look at that beautiful golden crust! Are you drooling yet?

Charity Bake Sale Today at Mulligan's at Scottsdale

2011-08-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

Come to Mulligan's in Scottsdale 7381 E Stetson Drive (old town) today between 3 & closing to help us raise money for a wonderful young man that passed away this week, Andrew Waits, leaving behind a young son, Phoenix. A percentage of the sales will go into a trust for him and help and the family with the many expenses as he had no insurance. If you are headed out for a Saturday cocktail or dinner, please make it count for something very special. We will be hosting a bakesale and auction also. I work with his mother and sister and I know how deeply grateful they will be.

There will be a limited number of vegan items including these beauties: Chocolate mint cupcakes!! There will be some vegan cookies and muffins too. Make sure to get there early before they run out!

Food Network Friday - Slow Roasted "Pork" with Coconut Curry Sauce

2011-08-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

I have been really struggling with motivation to go out in the flipping heat and grocery shop. I got into my car today and my thermostat said 120!!! Granted the outside temp was ONLY 113, but parking lot temps are much higher. I braved the crazy heat to hit up the Asian/International market to re-create this very flavorful and spicy dish from the Food Network website.

Like many of my foodie/blogger friends, I don't usually shy away from hunting down specialty ingredients in the name of experimentation. Today's challenge was to try and find Chinese fermented black beans and keffir lime leaves. The leaves are not that hard to find, but this particular store has lots of herbs together. Some of them look very similar and the signs are in an Asian language of some sort. Thankfully there was a young man working in the department that helped me find them. The store is huge with shelves full of all kinds of sauces and other specialty ingredients. So it took me a good hour to get all of my goodies.

I did run across Jackfruit today. Most of the cans were the fruit in syrup. This dish needed some savory action. I was fortunate enough to find one brand that had the young fruit in brine. SCORE!! So I took my goods and headed out to the hellishly hot parking lot and gradually made my way back to the house.

I got a phone call from Tyler about a bake sale she and her friends are holding tomorrow. I changed gears and baked up some goodies, so this is getting posted late. I'll post tomorrow about that and my baking class with Chef Tess Bakeresse. I've been wanting to check out her classes so badly, so I am super excited there is one tomorrow near my house.

I stuck fairly close to the original recipe. I substituted Jackfruit for the pork. It was my first time using this very interesting fruit. It is native to Southern Asia and is also used in Jamaica and as a substitute for meat in curries in Sri Lanka. If it's good enough for Sri Lanka, its good enough for me! It is an amazing food. It really absorbs the flavor of the spices and has a very meat-like texture and look. It is high in fiber and even contains some B vitamins!! The Jackfruit takes quite a while to cook. I used the cooktop method as I did not do my homework. Next time I think I'd use the slow cooker.

I stayed true to the recipe for the Coconut Curry Sauce. I was even able to find the recommended brand of yellow curry after some searching. I may have been slightly heavy handed on the curry, but not by much. I did use light coconut milk rather than full fat for no other reason than it is what I had in the panty. In hind site, it was nice to cut back on some of the fat. It didn't take away from the dish at all. For the rice I subbed brown jasmine rice for the basmati. I also decided to forgo vegan butter. The salsa was another matter. Because it was so late and I was feeling a bit lazy, I used ground cumin instead of toasting the seeds and grinding. I used 1 teaspoon. I also decided to use some hot hatch green chiles instead of the jalapeno and pablano called for. I had both in the fridge, but the others were already roasted...lazy little short cut.

This dish had a lot going on both flavor and texture-wise. I love the heat from the curry and the chiles. There were a lot of components to it, but everything was pretty simple. This would really be a good weeknight meal if you use the slow cooker. The salsa can be made while the rice is cooking and there you go. A tasty, spicy, exotic meal in your own home on a weeknight no less!! It's been a while since I've done FNF. It's good to be back!!

Al Fresco Spanish Happy Hour

2011-08-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

There are so many wonderful moment and memories from our trip. Today I'm going to share an impromptu patio happy hour we had. Our friends invited us the Gijon for dinner one evening. When we arrived at their house, we parked ourselves on their beautiful patio. Laurie and Fred enjoyed a nice cigar and we all enjoyed a beautiful bottle of wine and some quick snacks. One of my new favorite finger foods are these wonderful caper berries and garlic. One of the things that really stood out for me was that the brine was not super acidic as sometimes they can be. The light brine let the true flavor of the caper berries shine. The piquant flavor of the capers combined with the garlic beautifully. I loved them so much, I stowed away a couple of jars in my suitcase to bring home! Move over olives, you have some serious competition!!!

Espana!

2011-08-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize for my long blogging break. Summer is the busiest time of year around here to begin with. This year we added a 16 day trip to Spain!

The Spain adventure began and ended in Madrid. We spent 3 nights total with out wonderful friends Jose and Nena. After taking us for a tour of Madrid and Segovia, we got to spend some quality time with them in their home. They went out of there way to make sure we had wonderful non-meat laden fare and lots of good wine and company. They also gave us a lovely place to stay. As an added bonus Nena agreed to share some recipes and film a little cooking video. The video will be forthcoming as I need time to edit it for your viewing pleasure. In the mean time, I will share pictures of the delights she made for us.

I have already forgotten the name of this incredible beet-tomato soup. Some of you may remember that beets and I do not always see eye to eye, but in the velvety flavorful cold soup, it was delicioso! The earthy flavor of the beets along with the nicely acidic tomatoes, throw in some fresh flavorful garlic and you've got crimsony perfection in a bowl. Nena recommends serving it on an all white table setting to make it the star that it is. Look at that gorgeous color!

Nena was born in the Canary Islands. She and Jose lived there when they were first married. She shared with me a very traditional Canary Island dish called Mojo Rojo. Mojo Rojo translates to wet red sauce (according to my lovely translator Laurie). So basically it is a wet dip for savory goodies. It is a relatively easy sauce to make. All of the ingredients are raw and pureed in the blender. Perfect for those lazy days where you want flavor but don't want to work long or hard in the kitchen.

I know I've said it many times before, but I am a total potato fiend, so I was thrilled that Nena's dish featured "wrinkled" potatoes. She has a special cooking method that makes the skin shrivel on the potatoes. She added that it is important to use thin skinned yellow potatoes (I'm thinking fingerlings or baby yukon golds are the perfect selection). She used a pressure cooker, so it only took about 10 minutes total to get these babies on the table.

OK kids, cover the eyes of those who are sensitive to language, these are f@$king awesome! No not just run of the mill awesome...way more than that! I could drink the sauce all on its own. It is smokey, piquant, rich with tomato flavor and has just the right balance of flavors. I had to restrain myself from licking the plate like a dog. Poured over the perfectly tender, creamy potatoes these will surely give you back your MOJO!

Check back for more Spanish adventures!!

La Grand Orange English Muffins

2011-07-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

So the other night I was out celebrating my buddy Laurie's birthday. She and I drink far too much wine together! But this time, our communal drink fest produced a great surprise.

After indulging in two lovely wines at Postino on Campbell and 40th St in Phoenix, we ventured over to La Grande Orange Pizzeria so that one of our companions could grab some 1/2 price cookies (after 7pm). They have a lovely deli counter and bakery, but it is decidedly not vegan focused.

As we walked into the deli, I noticed these impressive super gigantoid English muffins. They were so huge they actually looked like bagels, no lie. I was going to check out the ingredient list, when as plain as day the package read "vegan". Well shiver me timbers! I was so excited.

I am not one to shy away from spending some hard earned cash on an enticing product, but I was a little hesitant. They were a bit pricey at $9.00 for a package of 6, but I just had to try them. I decided to get two packages and bring them to work. Holy crap! These babies are incredible. They are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside like the perfect English muffin should be. Two caveats: one, they recommend toasting them twice (they are that big) and two, they are a bit oily. I didn't care though. I just grabbed another napkin. I slathered on some Naturally Nutty Cinnamon Almond Butter and had a crazy filling and delish breakfast.

If you want to splurge and you are in the area, run down and get a package. They would be killer as a "McGigantoidMuffin"

Mid-Summer Girlie Lunch

2011-07-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

It's no surprise that is is blazing hot here in the Valley of the Sun. I invited some of the girls over that I haven't seen in a while. We all worked in a fine dine restaurant together in the day. We have remained great friends since 1993-ish. We have all been around the block food-wise and these girls can tell stories of my meat eating ways that would probably turn your stomach. This fine group of ladies would probably tell you I was the least likely candidate for digging vegan food and cooking.

It's been a couple of years now, so they have gotten used to the idea that I'm not going to be serving the carnage of yore. I have to say, I still spend a lot of time contemplating what to make for them. I want to make sure they LOVE what I make. If they love it, I can usually be confident that it is pretty good. These gals know their food. It has been a very long time since all of us have been together. It was so much fun being with such long-time awesome friends. I loved hearing all of the conversation and laughter at the table. We were having such a great time our lunch lasted almost into dinner time, so I pulled out the leftovers and we started snacking again.

This fine week as the temperatures were reaching 112, I really didn't want to turn on the oven or even be out at the grill. I decided to go for a totally cold spread. This made for a pretty pleasant day in the kitchen. The only thing I had to cook was the beans (in the slow cooker) and some orzo pasta. While my intentions were to see my friends it never hurts to have an audience to try out some new original stuff. The reviews were really good! The kale salad was a surprise hit, so I will share the basic recipe with you. It is super easy to throw together.

Kale-Avocado Salad

8 servings (4 as a main dish)

1 large bunch green kale, stems removed and torn into bite sized pieces, about 8 cups
1 1/2 tablespoons good quality olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/3 cup cranberries
1/3 cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 large just ripe avocado (make sure it is still a bit firm so it doesn't turn to mush in the salad) diced into 1/2" cubes

In a large bowl place washed kale. Drizzle in olive oil and vinegar. Make sure to massage the kale with your hand until the kale is brighter green and a bit softer. This will take out some of the toughness and bitterness that kale can have. Add remaining ingredients except for the avocado and mix well. Gently toss in the avocado, being careful not to mush it up. Salt and pepper to taste.

Thats it! Simple. Beautiful. Delicious. Filling. Oh and as an added bonus for summer, no oven!!!

Vegan 4th of July? What are you going to grill?

2011-07-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

While much of the nation is grilling all kinds of different animal parts, we had our own plans for some grill action. I'm doing some testing again, so I had a few test recipes that were perfect for firing up the grill! It was super hot here again today, so I applaud Fred for firing up the charcoal grill. He smoked tofu, then I got to work.

I made some incredible stuffed jalapenos! These are a tester, so I can't divulge too much, but holy wow!! I thought the heat of the jalapenos was going to be too intense, but the grilling mellowed them...almost too much. It was hard for me to share them, they were that good.

I had visions of making potato or pasta salad today. But it just didn't happen. I didn't want to deal with it. Lazy lazy today. What I ended up doing was grilling up some corn, bok choy and Chipotle BBQ Tempeh. This is a vegan kind of BBQ! Now I have to decide what we should do for dessert!

Natually Nutty Winner Where ARE YOU?

2011-06-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hey Gang

I've been trying to reach the winner of the Naturally Nutty contest since June 17th. I do hope she sees this post, so I can get her contact info. If I don't hear from Kitten by Friday, July 1. The next poster (#12) will be the winner by default.

So Kitten, if you are reading, please contact me for your prize.

Restaurant Review - Cork

2011-06-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Once again I have to apologize for the photo quality. I didn't have high hopes for vegan friendliness on this one, so I left my camera at home. I am thrilled to tell you, that I was soooooo wrong.

We were taking Ty and Ry out for their birthdays (one way late and one a little early), so we asked them to pick a place they really wanted to try. I got a text from Ty that they wanted to try Cork in Chandler. I had heard really great things about their food, but the menu looked pretty meat and fish based. So I was prepared to have a salad and maybe some side dishes. Hence the reason the camera stayed parked at home.

We found the restaurant in a rather large mall area. It looked very unassuming and fairly small. When we stepped inside, the room was very tastefully decorated with a modern flair. The bar area was nicely appointed. Their wine cellar was on display behind a glass wall. It was very impressive. It was early, so there weren't many guests in the restaurant when we arrived. They sat us in a very spacious and comfortable booth.

Our server, Matthew greeted us very promptly. He let us know that for the evening they were only offering a 5 course chef's choice tasting ($55.00). The regular menu was not available. The restaurant is closing today for 2 1/2 weeks to have a gas line installed, so they needed to make the best use of the food they had left. We asked him if the kitchen could do a vegan version. I was so pleasantly surprised when he quickly returned and said it was no problem at all; the chef was very familiar with what was and was not vegan. I was happy as a pig in the mud!

Now, we don't eat meat anymore, but I have to tell you, each and every course that came out (vegan or not) was beautifully presented. The kids said their dishes had incredible flavor and were cooked to perfection. The wine list was outstanding. I ordered the first bottle. Fred, now armed with just enough wine knowledge to be dangerous, ordered the second bottle. Let me just say, he went more than a little overboard. But, queue the angel music HAAAAA it was a glorious selection. The service was very attentive and spot on without being intrusive. The servers know their food and know how to take care of their guests. We all left very full, very satisfied and very impressed with Cork. We will be going back again and again. It is hard to find a good independently owned upscale place in the east valley, let alone a vegan friendly one.

Ladies and gentleman of the vegan persuasion, prepare for a feast for your eyes. No matter what your dietary persuasion you need to go to Cork for a feast for your taste buds and tummies.

Fred's first course was a beet and greens salad with pine nuts. It was dressed with a light citrus vinaigrette. The greens were fresh and wonderful!

My first course was a duo of cold soups with roasted nuts. The pineapple soup was garnished with toasted coconut and the cantaloup soup with a fresh mint leaf. The nuts were beautiful. The has a very slight hint of sweetness and were a lovely complement to the sweet soups.

The second course was an incredible tabbouleh. I often find that tabbouleh has far to much mint in it for my taste. This one did not. It was perfectly balanced with mint, parsley, black and white quinoa. It was served with a very flavorful Romesco sauce and an herbed gremolata. Look at the beautiful presentation. I could have had this by itself and been totally satisfied for the evening, but oh no, we had three more courses to go.

For the third course. The chef sent out a light citrus salad with shaved fennel and toasted pecans. The pecans and the oranges were fantastic together. It was a nice palate cleanser for the 4th course.

The fourth course was another delightful surprise. I have found in the past when we do tasting menus at upscale restaurants that will accommodate our vegan request, the chef's often times are challenged on providing protein. Such was not the case with chef Brian Peterson (he used to cook at Lon's at the Hermosa, another of our favorites). He masterfully created this beautiful lentil dish flecked with baby asparagus, fresh zucchini and sliced baby bell pepper rings. I wish I had this recipe. The vegetables were perfectly cooked el dente. The lentils also had a perfect texture. The first bite I took I could taste a hint of sweetness, perhaps some fennel, then BAM there was a peppery spice that was just incredible. I love spicy food, so I was ecstatic. I made everyone at the table taste it. Ty said she wished she had gotten it as her entree too. So happy!!!

Last but not least was the 5th course: dessert. I was so full by the time we got to dessert, but this beautiful trio of sorbets was the perfect end to an incredible dining experience. The trio consisted of pineapple, raspberry and melon sorbets. They were light and fruity with just the right amount of sweetness.

If you really want to impress your date or yourself for that matter, you must make sure to check out this unique east valley experience.

Cork

4991 S Alma School Road, Suite 1

Chandler, AZ 85248

480-883-3773

Bountiful Baskets - Easy Breakfast Parfait

2011-06-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

Through the grapevine and a few friends I learned about Bountiful Baskets food co-op. This is not my first go around with produce co-ops or CSA's. I love the idea of both. The draw back for me was always that I had a hard time getting through all the produce (I was single and now there are just two of us) before I was required to get or pick up the next order. The really nice thing about Bountiful Baskets is that you have more control over when you get your produce. You don't have to worry about putting your deliveries on hold if you can't pick up your goodies one week. Each week, the organizers send out an e-mail that reminds you of the deadline for that week's pickup. If you decide you want a share, you go on line before the deadline and place your order for that week.

Each week is a surprise. You are never sure what beautiful goodies will come in your share. They get the freshest in season produce they can. I love this surprise element. It kind of forces me to be a bit more creative in the kitchen...and y'all know how much I hate that...NOT. I have noticed with three of the co-ops I have been involved with, there seems to be a lot of fruit. For me personally, this is the only down side. I eat a lots of veggies and not so much fruit. I am still a little hard pressed to use all of the fruit before it goes bad. But for most households, this would not be an issue. So take a look at all of the organic produce only $26.00 gets you. Below is a picture of this week's box contents. That is a lot of organic produce for that price!!!

My goal is to find healthy, creative and hopefully cool ways (it's going to be 112 here today). I'll be posting as I go this week. I got a very good start by making this simple breakfast parfait. I used some of those beautiful organic strawberries. I diced them into bite sized pieces. In a mini trifle dish, I layered strawberries, vanilla soy yogurt and Nature's Path Hemp Plus Granola cereal. Try this easy and cool dish for a quick summer breakfast.

Prescott Shopping Spree - Honeyman

2011-06-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

We took a little two day getaway to Prescott, AZ . Prescott is a really pretty little town. It has a small town feel and mentality. Everyone seems to know each other. The town square is bustling with locals and visitors alike. Prescott is also a popular stop for bikers. The famous Whiskey Row hosts lots of bars and bands. Even better than that, our granddaughter lives there. We got a little baby time with her.

We decided to stay at a cute little place called the Motor Lodge. The owners took a run down old motor lodge and turned it into this sweet boutique motel. The rooms have all been remodeled. Most of the rooms have a porch with a table and chairs. The rooms are very retro and very clean. The bed...OMG...like a cloud. The owners are awesome. They make you feel right at home and they take great pride in their place. Every morning they bring you warm, fresh baked cookies (not vegan, but if you are traveling with omnis it is such a great touch). We did do some hanging out on the porch watching the sun go down and playing Yatzee.

Oh, did I forget to mention, our room had a kitchenette? I didn't know this before we went. Next time, I'll be prepared!

Just around the corner we found this really kick booty little grocery store call the Honeyman. Much to my surprise they had a great selection of grains, beans, nuts, herbs, spices and holistic remedies. There were lots of vegan products to choose from. We were helped by a super awesome girl named Tamika. She had a great sense of humor and knew a lot about what was and wasn't vegan. Bonus!

I spent an inordinate amount of time checking out all of the stuff they had. There were so many things to check out. I had to hold myself back from buying too much. I have this tendency to do that, then I have to find room in my already bursting pantry. There were a few things I just felt I had to have or try. They had really good prices on wild rice and black sesame seeds. In the basket they went. I found a couple of things I hadn't seen or used before. One was a white dahl and the other was jade rice. I haven't quite figured out what I am going to do with them, but if you have suggestions...I'm all ears.

I'm sure I've mentioned more than once that I love chiles and spice. I'm not sure why, but I haven't really seen many guajillo chiles in my travels. They had the dried chiles and powder, so of course I bought them both. Some 20+ years ago I discovered szechwan peppercorns. I hadn't thought about them for quite a while. There they were, beckoning to be taken home with me.

I'm trying to make more beans from scratch rather than using canned. They had a great selection and I picked two: the very pretty Anasazi beans and cranberry beans. I think Terry has a recipe in Vegan Latina that uses cranberry beans. I'm going to have to check!

I'm super excited about creating with my bag of goodies. I'd love to get your ideas on what you would do with this take. If you have an idea of something I could create with these, leave me a comment. I just might custom make a recipe especially for you.

Fridge Cleaning = Yummy Pasta Dish

2011-06-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate when you have small amounts of a bunch of different ingredients in your fridge? You just hate to waste it, but you're not sure what to do with it?

I had a day like this the other day. I had recently opened a jar of organic roasted red peppers for a recipe that only called for a small amount. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back just a few days later and they are growing mold like a petri dish in science lab. They are not exactly inexpensive, so I was bound and determined to save this jar from an untimely demise. I was also determined to save a few other stragglers in the fridge and I needed to come up with a quick dinner for Fred as he was working yet another 15 hour day and I, my twelve.

Fred loves him some red sauce and I never seem to make enough of it for him. While this may not be what he would have normally expected, it ended up being really good. Good enough for him to eat two meals out of it in one day.

Now I was just throwing things in the pot and not accurately measuring, so I will do my best to re-create this "trash-can" sauce for you.

Meaty Red Pepper Spaghetti Sauce

2 teaspoons olive oil
5 large cloves garlic, minced
2 small onions, diced small
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 oz. cremini mushrooms, coarsely chopped
3/4 of a 12 oz. jar of roasted red peppers, approx 4 roasted peppers, peeled and seeded
3/4 cup browned TVP
1 - 28 oz. can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
1 - 14.5 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes

In a 6 qt sauce pot over medium heat, heat olive oil and add garlic and onions. Saute until onions are softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add oregano, thyme, basil, salt and peppers. Saute for another minute until herbs become fragrant. Add mushrooms and saute until mushrooms start releasing their juices, about 2 minutes. Add roasted red peppers and saute for 2 more minutes.Toss in your TVP, crushed and diced tomatoes. Turn heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes or more. The more you simmer, the better the flavor (up to 1 hour).

Can be served immediately over your favorite pasta or grain. It is even better the next day.

A couple of notes: feel free to use fresh herbs or adjust the herb amounts to your liking. This is a very rustic and chunky sauce. If you like a smoother sauce, add the tomatoes before the TVP and blend with a stick blender or in your regular blender, then add the TVP. I can totally see this as the sauce in a hearty lasagna.

Tonight there are other ingredients ready to expire, hope I can come up with another winner!

Restaurant Review - Green New American Vegetarian

2011-06-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

While I am tempted to have you wait and read my entire fabulous review of Green, I am going to be nice and announce the winner of the Naturally Nutty giveaway! But I do hope you stick around and read the rest, because, well, Green is awesome! The winner of the giveaway is commenter # 11 from the June 8, 2011 post. Congrats Kitten!!! Please make sure to get me your shipping info so you can get your yummy Pepita Sun Seed Butter!

I have to apologize for the image quality. I didn't have my camera so I had to use my phone. Not bad for a phone, huh?

Fred and I happened to pop into one of my favorite vegan spots, Green New American Vegetarian, for lunch the other day. I was reminded once again why I love this place. It is located in a very obscure little strip mall just north of McKellips Road on the west side of Scottsdale Rd right next to the Salvation Army Store. You would miss it if you weren't looking for it...and you really should be looking for it. They should be opening their new location in Phoenix (7th Street north of McDowell the old That's a Wrap location) any time now. The new trainees were all over the place.

There are a couple of small tables out front. They are great during the cooler months for dining al fresco. This time of the year we decided sitting inside would be a better idea. As you walk up to the counter you will see a small retail area to your left and a cooler to your right. You can stock up on Butler Soy curls and other awesome vegan pantry products that might be hard to find around town. The cooler has a nice selection of fun beverages, some awesome vegan cheezes (Daiya and Teese), mimi cream and some pastries.

When you arrive at the counter you are greeted by usually very friendly, tatooed and pierced young people. There is one girl that is always super sweet and helpful (and for the life of me I can't remember her name right now). They will efficiently take your order for you and bring it to your table. You will also find some very tempting sweets at the counter. The blackboard lets you know what the day's special is.

The room has a decidedly bistro-hipster type vibe, if you can picture that. There is plenty of seating and even a sofa to lounge on. It was pretty busy for this visit as you can see.

The menu has a good selection of appetizers, bowls, salads, sandwiches and pizzas. It is hard to make a decision, but may I recommend the Spicy "G" Po Boy? Buffalo chickn heaven on a bun. Fred loves the Mum's Meat Ball Po' Boy. This one is a good bet for any omni friends you might bring along for the ride.

There is a separate menu for what should be "World Famous" Soynamis. These tasty frozen concoctions from heaven deserve a menu of their own. They have a boat-load of options on the menu in addition to several specials that are listed on a blackboard. I am crazy about the Chunky Monkey that boasts, you got it, bananas, pecans and chocolate swirled in a creamy vanilla ice cream. (I've gotten my omni co-workers addicted).

Let's talk about what we ate on this visit. Because we both knew I'd be writing about our visit, we went to town ordering. First we ordered the Egglessrolls ($4.00). They were crispy and hot when they arrived. They are served with a sweet dipping sauce. I am not a fan of sweet sauces (total personal preference), but this was easily remedied by a splash of Sriracha sauce that you can find by the self serve tea and lemonade table. They were pretty tasty and I love some crunchy eggrolly goodness.

I much preferred the Vegan Chili Fries ($6.00). They take their fries and slather them with a healthy portion of their delicious chili. I really like the flavor of their chili, it could fool an omni any day and satisfy any chili lover. The only complaint I have is that it always seems a bit on the salty side for me...and I'm a salt lover. You can ask to have some yummy vegan cheese added for another $1.00. They don't really need it, but it's always nice to have options.

I am usually a creature of delicious habit. I usually order the Original Spicy "G" Po Boy or the Thee "Argentine" Po Boy (both $8.00). Both of these sandwiches will rock your world. I've also been known to indulge in many-a Jerk Tofu Salad ($6.00 for small and $9.00 for the large). This day, in the interest of investigative reporting, I strayed from my usuals and tried out the Ranchero Salad ($6.00 for small and $9.00 for the large). The BBQ sauce is on the sweet side and very tasty. The chicken was a bit chewy, but still very edible. They use the same salad mix in this salad as they do in the Jerk Tofu Salad. It has nice crunchy strips of corn tortillas added as a nice touch.

Fred did not stray from his usual fav the Mum's Meatball Po Boy ($8.00). The sandwiches come with a choice of sides. Fred opted for the recently added sweet potato puffs. They are a sweet 'tater version of tater tots. I'm a tot purist, so I wasn't crazy about these, but they are an interesting options and gluten free. As usual the sandwich made Fred very happy. It has a generous portion of meatballs, red sauce and Daiya Mozzarella. The flavor and texture of the sandwich are really yummy. I'd love a bit more red sauce please. But you truly can't go wrong with this one.

As you can probably imagine, we were ready to pop, so we did not partake in a Soynami this trip. But, dear readers, I will not disappoint. Below are four of the visions of loveliness that I picked up for my buddies at work. These are worth stopping in for alone.

What could they do better? Not much. Have Damon (the owner) open a fine dine? Offer vegan beers and wines perhaps? A girl can dream. Will omnis like Green? In my personal experience I would say a definite yes, depending on what they order. If they haven't had faux meats before, it might be best to try some dishes that are not so dependent on them; most of the apps, the Mom's Meatball Po Boy (this is a faux meat, but the texture is not "funky") and any of the bowls with tofu. Of course the Soynamis will blow them away.

I love the fact that I can go into a place and not have to worry about whether or not what I order is actually prepared totally vegan. There is never a doubt. I also like the fact that the food and service are consistently good and the atmosphere is pretty cool. If you haven't been yet, make sure you try them out!

Vine and Dine - Candle Cafe - Seitan Picatta with White Wine and Caper Sauce

2011-06-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another edition of Vine and Dine where Phat Freddie and I attempt to pair vegan wines with fabulous vegan recipes from different cook books. This challenge is actually brought to you by the bright mind of Tamasin Noyes from Vegan Appetite. She so kindly invited us to participate along with Liz and Matthew of Cooking the Vegan Books. Vegan Aide of Weekly Vegan Menu and her honey David have joined the ranks. I'm so excited we have so many participating. It's exciting finding more vegan wines to choose from!

This week's adventure in food comes from the Candle Cafe Cookbook by Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza. For those of you who may not know, Candle Cafe is a very famous vegan restaurant in New York. This book gives away some of their famous recipes for the home cook to recreate.

I've had this book for a very long time. I've only made a couple of things from it since I bought it a few years ago and I have to say, I've liked everything I've made so far. The Seitan Piccata with White Wine and Caper Sauce (pg. 119) is no exception. This challenge also included the Sauteed Mixed Greens (pg 147). We decided to forgo the garlic mashed potatoes this time. I was potato-ed out from the last Food Network Friday. I made a huge batch of potatoes and we ate them all last week. I opted to make a simple batch of quinoa with crushed garlic cloves instead.

This was a nice, quick, easy and truly impressive dish. I used my own beefy seitan recipe. I had a couple of thick cutlets in the freezer that I thawed out for the occasion. I sliced them in half lengthwise. I dredged them in the whole wheat flour. I used the left over flour to thicken the sauce rather than using AP. I was excited to be able to use onions and parsley from the garden and lemons from Ty and Ry's tree. For once I read the recipe ahead of time, so the meal was timed well. I started the quinoa before I started the main event. I thought of using the wine Fred picked for the sauce, but then thought better of it. I had a partial bottle of white in the fridge, so I was able to reserve his selection for drinking! I love the combination of the piquant capers, white wine and tart lemon, so I knew this dish would work for me. What I didn't expect was how quick and easy it was to make. I'd make this anytime; for a quick weeknight meal or to impress guests.

I don't know what the heck happened with our greens. They were crazy bitter. I used a combo of purple kale and collard greens. I didn't have the optional bacon bits, so I added just a sprinkle of liquid smoke. The first bite gave me bitter beer face, but they were salvageable with the yummy picatta sauce. I am a huge potato lover, so it was surprising even to me that I chose not to make them tonight. I was so happy I opted for the quinoa. It a perfect complement. It was over 100 here today, so we wanted a bit lighter side dish and this did the trick. We both really like this dish. Two thumbs up.

HERE'S PHAT FREDDY!

Kim's dinner tonight was one of my favorites but my wine selection faltered, I had wanted Kim to meet the guy at Total Wines that helps me the most but he was not on shift. Number two expert stepped up and in less than two minutes lost us when he said the weather in Napa does not affect the vineyards and wines very much.......(What the F*&^ dude) so we helped ourselves. What I did notice, as he tried to help Kim, he was product pushing rather than helping find what we were looking for, wrong move with me buddy!

Another problem we had was, we spent so much time making sure our wine was vegan I did not make sure it would compliment our meal, shoot!. We did find a "Sterling" Sauvignon Blanc, (2009) which is a very nice summer wine, bright with what they say is honeydew, lemon and lime zest but with our dinner came across as having more of a grapefruit characteristic. Although it didn't work with this dinner, at $11.99 for the bottle, it didn't break the bank either. I think it would be great as a spritzer by the pool, not as a dinner wine.

According to Barnivore, all of Sterling's white wines are vegan, SCORE! I have, over the years, had a few glasses of Sterling because it is reliable and good. This was before I knew what veganism was, so there you go. Kim's dinner had lemon in it and maybe that is why our wine was too bright on the tongue. I am trying to find a correlation of sorts between vegan wine lists on line and what is actually available at the store, all I can say is I am always looking and we'll see.

Naturally Nutty Pepita Sun Seed Butter - Giveaway!!

2011-06-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

I know that many people out there would die without their peanut butter fix, but there is something even more awesome out there. A while back I happened upon an incredible nut butter. This isn't your basic peanut, cashew or almond butter, oh no! This one is loaded with lots of omega 3's. I'd like to introduce you to Naturally Nutty Pepita Sun Seed Butter. This tasty treat is a fantastic combination of roasted seeds with a slight hint of cinnamon that I just love. It is outstanding slathered on a piece of bread or toast. It has such great flavor, you don't need anything else with it.

Ingredients: Organic Roasted Pepita Seeds, Organic Flax Seeds, Organic Roasted Sunflower Seeds, Organic Hemp Seeds, Organic Vanilla Powder (Organic Vanilla Bean, Organic Sucrose), Organic Allspice, Organic Cinnamon, Sea Salt. Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Nut Free

The owner, Katie Kearney, of Naturally Nutty, is a vegan mom out of the midwest. She really wanted to produce a healthy product for her family. She has come up with a fantastic line of organic nut butters. Most of the products in the line are vegan. Via e-mail she told me that any future products they develop will be vegan. The website is awesome. The products are clearly labeled for dietary requirements like vegan, gluten free, sugar free, etc. Her products are incredible and I just love supporting a family owned business. Click here to check out Naturally Nutty's other products.

Katie has generously donated a 5 pound container of my favorite Pepita Sun Seed Butter. This is a huge container so you can share with your friends!! Just leave a comment about how you would use this nut butter or your favorite nut butter. The winner will be picked at random on Friday, June 17, 2011 (date extended!). So make sure to post by Thursday night. Please make sure that I can get in touch with you if you are the winner! (This one is for US residents only).

Here is what I dreamed up for the Pepita Sun Seed Butter.

Chocolate Covered Nutty Frozen Bananas

6 Servings

3 large bananas
3/4 cup Pepita Sun Seed Butter
12 oz vegan chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 cup salted pepitas (shelled pumpkins seeds) roughly chopped
Six craft sticks

Peel bananas. Cut bananas in half length-wise. Spread 1/4 cup or so nut butter on one half of the banana. Place other half of the banana on top. Cut in half width-wise. Insert craft stick in the flat end of banana half. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with other two bananas. Freeze bananas for 2 hours to make sure bananas are frozen all the way through.

Place chocolate chips in top of double boiler. Over low heat, gently heat chips until they are almost melted. Pull of heat to let the last few pieces of chocolate melt, stirring occasionally. Let cool for 5 minutes.

While the chocolate cools, place pepitas on a small flat plate. Take prepared bananas out of freezer. Working quickly, dip the bananas in the chocolate to cover. You can also use a flexible rubber spatula to coat bananas. Before chocolate hardens roll chocolate coated bananas in pepitas. Place back on the parchment lined cookie sheet and place back in the freezer for about an hour. Serve immediately or cover with plastic wrap. Can keep in the freezer for up to two days for best results.

Food Network Friday - Guy Fieri's Chicken and the Bodacious Bulb

2011-06-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

Food Network Friday marches on. Check out the wrap up at Vegan Appetite

I am very late posting, but it was a very busy week last week. I didn't have much kitchen time. Tonight I took a crack at Guy Fieri's Chicken and the Bodacious Bulb.

For this recipe I think I used 7 pans! For the stock, I used Bill's Chickn-ish Seasoning, Better than Bouillon Organic Veggie base in 4 cups of water. I decided to roast the celery, carrots, onions and I added mushrooms and whole peppercorns. I put the roasted vegetables in the broth along with the garlic in cheese cloth. I did sub Earth Balance for the garlic oil so that I would have plenty for frying. Somehow I missed the instructions that said to put the garlic in the roux. This misstep made me miss out on some serious extra garlic flavor I'm sure.

For the chicken, I used tempeh. It was steamed first. Then it took a bath in some soy milk. It was coated with a mixture of corn starch and panko crumbs seasoned with granulated garlic, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Using the garlic oil to fry, the tempeh wound up with a really crispy crunchy crust. The coating was pretty awesome!

I did use the garlic cloves in some very tasty mashed potatoes. Those were made from red new potatoes whipped with the garlic cloves, a touch of Earth Balance, salt pepper and as an added bonus, I added some Bubbies horseradish to give them a little kick. The plate was finished of with some roasted broccoli that was tossed in a bit of the garlic oil, diced organic tomatoes, fresh parsley from the garden and the crispy fried sliced garlic. I am usually a pretty big fan of tempeh, but for some reason even after steaming, it was a bit bitter. It might be better if it was marinated in something first. I think this might actually be better with marinated tofu.

This one didn't sing to me. It seemed very heavy and high in calories and the flavor was not as good as I expected (this could be partly because of the garlic exclusion in the gravy, and not the recipe). I'm not sure I'd go for this one again. It could be personal preference, or it could be that I have been eating way too much rich food the past couple of weeks and I'm over salted and burned out on rich stuff. Fred said he drank 6 glasses of water after eating this, so maybe my broth had too much sodium. My fingers are still puffy. But I did love the garlic oil, so that is a win.

21 is Sweet

2011-06-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

This month my niece turned 21. It is hard to believe that she was only 7 months old when I moved to Arizona. She has really become a beautiful, caring, compassionate, creative and wonderful woman. Her love of family and friends is amazing. She is one person that is so pleasant and easy to be around. I am so proud of her and how far she has come. I can hardly wait to see where the next chapter of life takes her.

To celebrate the big 2 - 1. We had a Mustache (the mustaches are vegan hee hee) Cocktail Party. I was in charge of desserts. My sister requested that I make some mini cupcakes with edible glitter on them. I decided to make the basic vanilla cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. I added a touch of pink champagne to the batter. They were topped with a pink champagne buttercream, said edible glitter and marzipan 21's. To me chocolate is a must at any chick celebration, so I made two versions of truffles: chili chocolate and Kahlua. My recipe is still in progress. I am not totally happy with the texture, but they were rich and chocolate!

Happy Birthday Riley!

Vine and Dine - Voluptuous Vegan - OMG Raviolis!!

2011-05-31T00:14:00.000-07:00

OK, so they aren't really called OMG raviolis, but they should be. This was the second V & D that featured Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld. This week's Dine part of vine and dine was the Herbed Ravioli with Porcini Pesto and Tofu "Ricotta" (pg. 185) and Basil-Walnut Pesto (pg. 187). I will get to the OMG part, but I have a few other things to cover first. Don't forget to see what my other Vine and Dine buddies had to say about his dish and see what wines they paired with it at Vegan Appetite!

I had two really messed up errors in the kitchen today. First, while I was making biscuits for breakfast I added corn starch instead of baking powder...hello hockey pucks. Seriously, sometimes I think I'm really losing my mind. Have I never been in a kitchen before? Who puts cornstarch in biscuits? I can't even think of an excuse. The crazy mishap ended up being a blessing in disguise. I have been trying to come up with some breakfast items for the cookbook I am hoping will materialize in the near future. I regrouped and came up with a damned good southwestern biscuit that you will see in the future.

Next up, error number two. Well I guess we are going to have to call this challenge numbers two and three. A couple of weeks ago, I went about purging as I try to do every few years. I got a little over zealous and donated my pasta maker to a charity garage sale. Duh!!! This was something in my repertoire I actually do use! I had to hunt another one down for the ravioli. I headed over to Sur la Table aka Empty My Wallet, to see if they had said device. They did, but it was $75.00. Ouch. I fired up my trusty droid and found that Bed, Bath and Beyond had just what I needed for $34.99. I dragged my poor sister to the next store and scored my piece de resistance. With my trusty pasta maker in hand, I headed back to the casa. Here is where things got interesting yet again.

I headed out to the herb garden and the chive patch and rustled up some incredibly herbaceous herbs. (seen below) and got to chopping. It is amazing the volume of fresh herbs it takes to equal 1/3 cup finely minced. All proud of my mad mincing skills, I set about making the pasta dough. In this recipe, silken tofu stand in for the eggs traditionally found in many pasta doughs. I whipped up my tofu mixture and started kneading away as my trusty mama looked on. The dough was quite obviously dry and really not coming together. After a bit of kneading and water adding, I realized something was amiss. I looked over my ingredient list and much to my horror realized I had forgotten to add the olive oil to my tofu mixture. The big bummer about this, is that there was really no recovering the dough that I had trashed and the fresh herbs I had wasted. The herbs, my precious herbs, so sad. Luckily I had more to gather and mince.

The second batch was much improved. I started kneading away, when I thought, hey, there are 4 people watching me work away. I thought, hmmm, maybe I can talk one of them into kneading the dough. My lovely sister was more than willing to get her arm work out for the day. My mom said she could see me grinning as my sister was doing all the hard labor. Hee hee. Memories of childhood when I would promise to make it home to do my chores before Mom got home from work. Jackie would always end up having to pick up the slack and do all of my work.

Actually, it makes me ridiculously happy when my family cooks with me. We had a lot of this going on during Mom's trip. As is often the case in the arid desert climate, I had to add more water to the dough to get it to the right consistency. I had a few challenges getting the dough to roll out in a nice sheet. But after a few trials and tribulations, we finally got some good sheets!

Here is how it all went together.

The tofu ricotta and porcini pesto came together easily. I must admit I was a little concerned with the amount of rosemary in the ricotta recipe. Rosemary is a very potent herb and can overpower if not used with discretion. But I'm happy to say my concerns were for naught. The fresh herbs stole the show. They were everywhere: in the pasta dough, in the porcini pesto and the Basil-Walnut Pesto. I'm so happy we have our own herb garden, because super fresh herbs are the bomb! I absolutely adored the herbed pasta dough. The miso in the tofu ricotta and the pesto added the perfect amount of saltiness. Pine nuts are crazy expensive, so I used walnuts in porcini pesto. I tasted the ravioli naked before dunking in the pesto. They were incredible. The pesto was just an added treat. There was so much going on, creamy richness, earthy mushroom tones and of course the sunny flavor of all those fresh herbs! Gastronomic bliss.

Myra suggested serving this with her roasted pepper recipe. I am kind of a freak about using organic peppers and no fresh ones were available. So I cheated. I bought some crook neck squash and sauteed them in olive oil with dried oregano, thyme, granulated garlic, salt and pepper (which gave the plate a nice color contrast) and topped it with jarred organic sliced roasted red peppers. To round out the meal we found a really nice local baked multigrain bread. I made a garlic butter with Earth Balance, Carla Kelley's Cheezy Mix, fresh minced garlic and minced parsley (from the garden of course).

Fred, Mom and I were doing a lot of mmmm and ohhhhh-ing over this one. Mom has eaten a lot of vegan dishes a la Kim. She said that this one didn't taste vegan at all. Now mind you, mom doesn't turn her nose up at vegan food, she just wanted to make a point that no one would be able to tell it was vegan. I love her for so many reasons and her open mindedness when it come to trying anything I cook is just one of them. She's been here for two Vine and Dines this month. Sure wish we wasn't heading home as I'd love to do a few more for her!!

HEEEEEERE'S Phat Freddie's Wine Review

An " Andrew Peace" (remember this one) was our vegan red wine tonight (confirmed vegan). A 2009, again seems to be a good year for reds, mixture of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, and the deal maker or breaker, Mataro. This is an Australian (family owned) winery who do make a number of vegan wines, in fact I am finding Australia seems to be more vegan friendly in this arena than most other countries that have produced for a much longer time. As of today, Australia is the fourth leading exporter of wines in the world, so there must a reason or two. I think one of those reasons is innovation, hence our wine tonight. The Mataro grape is an earthy, blackberry driven grape that needs an ample water supply but can take more heat than most. It is higher in taninns and can be high in alcohol content when conditions are right. I think that is why they mixed it with the other three grapes to make it a more interesting, characterized wine. It worked for me. Kim's very organic, herbal dinner was a mid tongue blessing and I reveled in the mild but yet fruit forward blackberryness with pepper chasing a slight tobacco taste that covered the rest of my tongue. Kim and her mother would have rather stayed in their comfort zone with their food, not so much blackberry forwardness, perhaps a touch softer in the tannin area. All three of us agreed it was a very nice wine and would suggest it to friends in any occasion. In fact, I am one of my best friends and I believe I will find a couple of "Peace" wines in our fridge in the near future.

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK BACK FRIDAY FOR MY VEGANIZED VERSION OF THIS GUY FIERI RECIPE FOR FOOD NETWORK FRIDAY! Delay of game. I am behind on my FNF so this will not appear until Monday or so.

Feelin' the Love - On the dinner plate

2011-05-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

Whether he will admit it or not, Fred loves to shop. He loves to chat with the employees, the customers...just about anyone who comes across his path. He will spend hours toiling over labels, samples, new ingredients or just plain shooting the breeze. This is one of the reasons I totally love him, but it is also the reason I try not to get hung up on time frames if I need ingredients for something I am hoping to make on a given day. He has gotten into the very helpful habit of asking me if I need something right away before he heads out. This has saved me much time waiting and has saved him from getting that heavy sigh and disappointed look from me. (I have been told more than once that it is stressful to shop for me by both Fred and my sister...when did I become the kitchen nazi/diva?)

The other day I asked Fred if he could pick a few things up a the store for me (4 things to be exact). My mom said he left the house with his list of 4 things and disappeared. Several hours later, Fred reappeared at the house with several full shopping bags. He had purchased quite a variety of fresh produce and no less than 3 different kinds of mustard. As he kept pulling little surprises out of the bags, I couldn't help but smile and think of how many other women wished this was going on in their kitchen with their man. The point of this blathering is that we had a lot of produce that we needed to use before it went bad. Which meant a whole lot of cooking needed to be happening while I was working a long string of 12 hour days.

I did my best to whip up some simple dishes so that very little would go to waste, but by the 9th day, I was spent. I requested that Fred marinate some asparagus and throw some potatoes in the oven at 530pm so that I could make the rest of the dinner when I got home at 630pm. You might ask why I was making dinner rather than Fred? Fred is usually more than willing to cook occasionally when he is off of work and I am working like a crazy woman. However, Fred suffers from a chronic case of distraction. I am tempted to say ADD, but his is self induced. He always sees things that need to be done or things that interest him and off he goes. Often, when this happens, dinner will not materialize until close to 9pm. When you get up at 430am, this proves to be a bit problematic. I had fully intended on coming home and making the rest of the meal so an early bed time would be mine.

When I walked in the door, my adorable honey, my mom and my sis were all hanging out and there were some non-potato smells coming from the kitchen. I was so thrilled to learn that Fred et al had teamed up to make dinner, so that I could just relax. So NICE!!! Fred not only baked the potatoes and marinated the asparagus, he steamed some wonderful veggies (carrots and onions from our garden were included) and grilled the asparagus. My sister made some beautiful Quinoa Stuffed Peppers she found on Vegetarian Times website. She left the cheese off of a couple so they would be vegan. Mom (even though she is here "on vacation") has been pulling dish duty on a regular basis this week. To say I was grateful would be a horrible understatement. It was such a nice treat and truly awesome. I love my family!!! I hope you all get to feel the love this way soon. It does the soul good!

Stuffed Wild Mushroom Manicotti

2011-05-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend we headed up to the Grand Canyon. If you have never been there, it truly is a wonder of the world. However, the food service outlets are average at best. For the second time at the North Rim, the restaurant greatly disappointed our group. Last year the service was deplorable and the food cold. This year we thought we'd give them another try. We had a 645pm reservation. At 645pm we were told that two tour busses had come in and we wouldn't be seated for at least an hour. Are you kidding me? You have to make reservations far in advance for the dining room. Our group was getting up at 3am to hike. This was completely unacceptable and we will not spend our hard earned money there again.

We opted for the deli which had very few vegan options...not really any on the menu itself, but you could work it out. I ended up eating a lot of fried vegetables and chips. Yuck!! I did finally find a nice salad and a baked potato to hold me over. So you can imagine when I got home I was ready for some real, tasty, vegan fare. I was planning on doing something quick as I was pretty sleep deprived. Then I got this bug to get a bit more creative. I've been wanting to develop my own version of tofu-cashew ricotta for an upcoming Valley Dish appearance...and so I did. I decided to take it for a spin in these delicious stuffed manicotti. I still need to do a little work on the sauce, but you really could use your favorite marinara sauce on these with great success. I used a red-pepper sauce that I am toying with and don't quite have perfected. It was fantastic on this! Below I have posted a different sauce than I used, but this one is already tested and really yummy!

Stuffed Wild Mushroom Manicotti

Makes 10 Manicotti

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 shallot, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

2 tablespoons red wine

1/4 lb. Oyster Mushrooms, medium dice (about 2 cups)

1 large portobello, fins removed, medium dice (about 2 cups)

1 recipe Tofu-Cashew Ricotta (recipe below)

10 manicotti shells (cook up a few extra to compensate for any ripped pasta)

2 cups of marinara or your favorite red sauce* (or I have posted a recipe below)

Vegan Mozzarella or Vegan Parmesan (optional)

In a 12 inch cast iron pan or skillet heat olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and saute until just soft, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add black pepper, salt and oregano and combine. Deglaze with red wine. Saute until liquid is almost gone. About 2 minutes. Add diced mushrooms. Saute until they are almost dry, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare manicotti according to package directions. Drain and let cool.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare Tofu-Cashew Ricotta (recipe below).

In medium bowl combine the cooled mushroom mixture and the Tofu-Cashew Ricotta. Put mixture into a large pastry bag with no tip. Using your best pastry bag skills. Fill each pasta tube with the filling by squeezing mixture in slowly. Place each stuffed tube in a lightly oiled 9 x 13 pan. When all 10 are filled and in the pan, spread sauce over the top. Sprinkle on cheese (if using). Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered for the last 5 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Tofu-Cashew Ricotta

1/3 cup raw cashews

1 – 14 oz. firm tofu, water squeezed out

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

½ cup loosely packed basil, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon oregano, roughly chopped

2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ black pepper

Place cashews in a small bowl with enough water to cover and come over about 1 inch. Let soak for an hour or longer.

Drain cashews. In large food processor bowl, place cashews and remaining ingredients. Pulse to mix ingredients. Process until smooth (about 5 minutes), scraping sides of processor bowl as necessary.

Serve this with a simple salad or simple grilled vegetables for a nice filling meal.

* I like a lot of sauce, so if you are like me use 3 cups so you will have some on the side to slather on the pasta.

Roasted Pepper and Garlic Marinara

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large roasted red bell pepper, peeled, seeded and finely diced

1 head roasted garlic, peeled and chopped fine*

1 28 oz can fire roasted crushed tomatoes

1 15 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon dried leaf thyme

½ teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan over medium heat sauté garlic in olive oil until fragrant, 30-45 seconds. Add red pepper and roasted garlic and sauté for another minute or so. Add remaining ingredients. Let simmer on low for about 30 minutes to let the flavors really develop and meld. If you like a smoother sauce, feel free to blend with a stick blender, in a food processor, or blender. This will be even better the next day.

* To roast garlic, peel outer white layers off of garlic head. Cut top of head off to just barely expose cloves. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the head. It is done when the garlic will feel soft like a sponge. Squeeze each individual clove to get the beautiful garlic "meat" out. A note of caution, make sure you let your garlic cool before attempting to squeeze the garlic out. It is extremely hot when it first comes out of the oven.

Vine and Dine - The Voluptuous Vegan - Chickpea Crepes etc etc

2011-05-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

This episode of Vine and dine was supposed to be brought to you by the lovely chickpea. The featured recipe tonight from Voluptuous Vegan (VV) was the Chickpea Crepes with Wild Mushroom, Roasted Cauliflower, and Chickpea Filling. VV was one of the first vegan cookbooks I owned (after Vegan with a Vengeance). I was so thrilled with this book because it had a sort of fine dining edge that I loved!! Like many of my books this one is totally under-utilized.

One thing I love about cooking challenges is that I try recipes that I would probably pass up because of certain ingredients. I am semi-ashamed to admit that I am 1/2 Irish and I usually hate cooked cabbage or sauerkraut. Sue me. I'm also luke-warm on cauliflower, but I eat it because, darn it, it's good for you. I have been proven wrong a lot in the last year or so by some pretty yummy recipes. This was yet another case of in my face cauliflower and cabbage-goodness. The crepes have a really awesome texture and flavor. My mom said in a weird way they reminded her of an egg-roll-esque type flavor.

I do have to admit that I had to take a couple of liberties. As my traveling companions tomorrow will tell you, they will be eternally grateful that I subbed cannellini beans for the chick peas. As I was cooking along, I pulled out my soft tofu to make the horseradish cream. It had a funky and highly suspicious yellow film on it. So into the garbage it went. Thankfully I had some Toffutti sour cream in the fridge. I used that instead. I made a couple of other tweaks to the recipe that now escape me after a few too many glasses of wine and a bit of time in the sun and the pool. It was graduation day after all. The sauce was kind of a cross of a tzatziki and creamy dill dressing. Um awesome for sure. It was a perfect compliment to the crepes, but I think it would be equally awesome as a veggie dip. The arugula was almost too overpowering as a garnish. I found myself pushing it to the side and eating it later with the sauce on its own. We all thought this was an excellent choice.

Fred had a very educational and interesting evening hunting down wine tonight. It is my hope that he will share everything he learned. I'm also hoping that some of the perplexing questions that came up might be answered by someone out there as we were really curious why it is so damned difficult to find answers to the vegan wine questions Fred poses to the "wine experts" he encounters. Not to dog the incredibly accommodating and helpful people that share their knowledge at all, but the vegan component really seems to throw many a wine aficionado. Fred will be adding his bit a little later today if he can figure out how to update my blog, EEP!

As a side note, I had the unbridled joy of using onions I pulled from the garden just prior to cooking. I was going to post a picture of the onions, but dear readers, the pictures were wisely censored by my mom and my beloved Fred. Note to self, do not break out the camera when you are wearing your strapless swimsuit after an afternoon in the pool with adult beverages. Thank you Mom and Fred for saving me much embarrassment. That is true love.

Fred's Wine Adventure:

I could not confirm our Jean Albrecht "Pinot Gris" is vegan so I do not think it is, darn. My learning curve on vegan wines is going to be much bigger than I thought. This wine was a fantastic match for our dinner, gold in color, perfect acid content with a strong mineral base that would not wash away with strong foods like cabbage or dill. One of my wine experts actually read Kim's recipe and said it would be better matched with a beer. This wine is mellow and not sweet, a plus. It comes from a region in France that is rugged and a little dry. A Pinot Gris ( in Italy it is the same as a Pinot Grigio) is a finicky, thin skinned, tender grape with a lot of taste. I find it interesting that a grape of this nature thrives in a rugged appellation. It's sugar and alcohol content can change in a manner of a few days with changes from cool and rainy to warm and breezy. I chose this wine as it has a slight smokiness and a hint of mushroom undertone, which I hoped would twin up and become one with Kim's mushrooms. It gets this character from a little rot that happens in between picking and fermenting. There is such a thing as grand rot which is a whole nuther subject. I have read that 09 was a good year for this area producing very round and balanced wines which this one was. It matched dinner very nicely. I did learn that a list of vegan wines has to be updated constantly as one season a vineyard may not be vegan and the next it could be. A vineyard might try a fining process with clay or diatomaceous earth and it may not work with that years grapes or they may not fine at all one year. Unfortunately, most white wines need some type of filtering or they would turn out to be cloudy. The unvegan fining processes use one of, egg whites, casein (milk protein), gelatin, chitin (lobster and crab shell), or isinglass ( a gelatin made of fish bladders). One saving grace is that with the advent of mad cow disease, Europe made it illegal in the early 90's to fine wine through cow blood. My wine sommeliers are very helpful and knowledgeable but when I whip out the V word, time stops for 15 seconds while they uncross their eyes and gather themselves. It is not that they do not know about the V, it is that no one ever asks if slaughtered beings were used to make our feel good libation. It would be very helpful to put a V on the label and I do not know why they don't, I guess there is a stigmatism about them darn vegans. They are probably populating and drinking good vegan wine somewhere.
Next week, vegan wine!

Food Network Friday - Aarti Sequeira's Pretzel Crusted Steak with Mango Chutney Onion Gravy

2011-05-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

It's time for a another Food Network Friday where a few of us food bloggers and food lovers take a recipe posted on the Food Network site and make an awesome vegan conversion. Check out what my other friends did by check out Tami's wrap up at Vegan Appetite!

This week's Food Network Friday features new Food Network Star Aarti Sequeira. I have a tendency to pick chile laden and latin influenced recipes. This time I chose something that is not typical for me. Her recipe for Pretzel Crusted Steak with Mango Chutney Onion Gravy is far from typical. Am I glad we tried this one!

The pretzel crust on this is super crunchy. I highly recommend using the unassuming pretzel for breading and frying. It adds a spectacular crunch. I did not have fenugreek leaves so I used half the amount of ground fenugreek in the flour mixture. I used soy creamer with flax seeds in place of the eggs. It is probably no surprise that I used seitan cutlets for the protein. I am working on a personal project that I needed to develop a beefy seitan recipe. I was able to have success with both.

The onion gravy recipe called for 2 tablespoons of mango chutney. As it was my first full day back in the kitchen for a while, I was feeling particularly ambitious. Instead of using pre-jarred chutney I made Alton Brown's recipe for Mango Chutney and of course took the option of using hot curry powder. The gravy recipe called for 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture. I found this was not near enough. The gravy was far too thin for my liking. I let it reduce down quite a bit. My broth was a bit too salty, so the gravy was a bit salty. But still, it was really fantastic! I loved the hint of heat and ginger from the chutney. I chose to serve this with mildly spiced sliced sweet baked sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach and garlic and Israeli couscous with sliced almonds. I kept the side dishes simple and mildly seasoned because the gravy had so much flavor going on. It was a good call. The gravy kind of pooled on the plate and snuck into the spinach and cous cous. Oh happy mouth! It was delicious.

This was an all day project for me; making the seitan in the morning, the chutney in the afternoon and putting it all together in the evening. You could easily sub tofu for the seitan and buy the chutney for a quick and special dinner. I recommend giving it a try as it was a big hit with my crew last night. My mom and sister are omnis and they were both in the clean plate club last night. There were not leftovers.

Memory Lane - PIctures from Recipe Testing HAWT!

2011-05-11T09:20:00.002-07:00

Today is my Friday. This translates in to 12 hour work days = no kitchen time. All that I really want to do is head to the kitchen for a good creative day. But alas, this will have to wait until the morrow. I haven't posted for a few days and I am dedicated to posting more often. So today, while I don't have any new material to post, I did find lots of testing pictures.

The three books featured here today all came out this past year. I was lucky enough to be selected by the authors to be a recipe tester for all three. It seems like the testing was ages ago! Now, you might think I am biased because I was a tester. Admittedly there are always a few recipes I'm not crazy about. But honestly, I really loved so many recipes from each book, that I think they are worthy of your consideration. I am including links to Amazon to make it easy for you to find the descriptions and reviews of the books. This pictorial should give you a good sampling of some really excellent cook books you should add to your collection!

I'm going to go Alphabetical by book title in the name of fairness.

American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyes

It is hard to pick a favorite from AVK. But this San Fran Seitan Wrap is right up there. The marinated seitan is TDF but add the cool Asian slaw and experience something really special.

This Chicago girl can tell you that this Chicago Style Pizza is aces. Make sure to cook it in an iron skillet for a nice texture on the crust.

Check out the All American Incrediburgers. They are eerily like the texture of the meat version. They are incredible on the grill.

Quick & Easy Bake Sale by Carla Kelly

While the Nut-Topped Almond and Hazelnut Bundt Cake might not be the most photogenic selection from this book, this cake is a star. The nut topping is sublime. I had a totally vegan-phobic co-worker not just eat it, but he also requested the recipe so that he could have his wife make it for him.

Yes folks, this yeast bread challenged girl actually made these beautiful Hot Cross Buns. I still have a precarious relationship with yeast, but these turned out perfectly. This is a wonderful vegan version of an Easter classic.

I know I've posted these before, but they are so good, they deserve a double post. The Car Tire Cookies are a bit labor intensive. The results are more than worth the effort. These were by far my favorite recipe from the book.

Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson

There is a little backstory to this next pie, the Banana Pudding Pie. First off, I always LOVED banana cream pie. I thought I'd never again be able to indulge in the luscious creamy delight in a vegan version. I am so glad I was wrong. Fred and I had decided to visit Oregon. We met a bunch of the PDX PPK gang at the Bye and Bye. Here is where I was introduced to and solidified a food crush on the lovely Julie Hasson. She showed up with this pie and made my dreams come true. Besides being an awesome creator of crazy good recipe, she is as sweet as this here pie. After chatting for a while, she invited me to test for Vegan Diner. Oh happy day!

We need to get some savory in to the mix. Here is a Southwestern version of the Quinoa Burgers. Get your napkins ready and eat up!

No diner menu would be worth it's weight without a great onion ring recipe. Enter the Beer Battered All-American Onion Rings. The coating on these is crispy and perfect, leaving you with a creamy sweet onion on the inside. Pass the catsup and salt!

Cinco de Mayo 2011

2011-05-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I used to love the drinking holidays in my younger years. However, I've either gotten a lot older or smarter or both. I no longer stay out until the wee hours of the morning, wonder how I got home or nurse a nasty hangover. For these things I am truly grateful. OK that confirms it...I AM OLD! Hee hee.

Cinco de Mayo was not a holiday we celebrated back in my youth. I really only learned to appreciate this fine celebration after I moved to AZ. Many people incorrectly think that this holiday is Mexican Independence Day (which is actually September 16th). It is actually a celebration of the Mexican army's victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. 4000 Mexican soldiers took down an army of over 8000 French and renegade Mexican soldiers. It was a huge victory. Now that you know the true reason for the holiday, lets talk about food and drink.

Admittedly, I spent much of my day at work gorging myself on chips, salsa and guacamole. So by the time I was heading home, I had lost my entusiasmo for creating a festivo Mexican dinner. I was very torn to say the least. I hate passing up any day that allows me a theme for my kitchen toiling, so I had to find something to make.

I still had cornmeal pizza dough left over from Vine and Dine in the fridge. I set about digging through the disaster that is my fridge to see if I could scrounge up any reasonable ingredients for a tasty pizza. Somewhere in its depths I found a small amount of enchilada sauce. I have no idea which recipe I used it for originally or how long it had been in the fridge. But I gave it the sniff and taste test and decided it was safe. I found some mushrooms that needed to be used, stat. There was some Soyrizo I just happened to pick up the other day. A friend of mine had given me a load of fresh cilantro from his garden yesterday and I hit the garden to find a couple of lonely jalapenos to throw into the mix. The results of this impromptu fridge cleaning/Mexican themed creation were tasty!

Cinco de Mayo Pizza

Makes 8 slices

Cornmeal pizza dough (enough for one 14" pizza)
1/4 cup enchilada sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup soyrizo
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup vegan cheddar, mozzarella or combo ( I prefer Daiya)
2 fresh jalapenos, thinly sliced
few springs of cilantro, leaves only

Preheat Oven to 500.

In a 10 inch saute pan or iron skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms and Soyrizo and saute until mushrooms are just starting to release their liquid and Soyrizo is just browning. Remove from pan and set aside on a plate. Add a touch more oil and saute the onions until they just start to soften, about 3 minutes. Remove from pan.

Roll out pizza dough to 14" diameter. Place on corn meal dusted pizza pan. Using a large spoon, spread enchilada sauce onto dough. Sprinkle minced garlic evenly over the pie. Do the same with the mushrooms, Soyrizo and onions. Sprinkle the Daiya evenly over the other ingredients. Place jalapeno slices and cilantro leaves decoratively over the top of the cheese.

Place pizza pan on rack that is about 6" from top of he oven. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes. Cheese should be bubbling and the crust should be golden. Let sit for about 5 minutes before slicing. Wash down with a cold Mexican beer (example below).

Product Review - Doctor Hummus Spinach Artichoke Dip

2011-05-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

I have been a regular at our local farmers market for quite some time now. There are lots of vendors selling fresh fruits and veggies, organically raised fish, meats and lots of other non-vegan specialty food items. It seemed that finding vegan friendly boutique foods was a bit of a challenge. I always love to support individual vegan friendly businesses. Doctor Hummus is based right in Tempe, AZ. It doesn't get much more local than that for us. I read that the owner will be opening a restaurant called Wild Flavors (also in Tempe) this summer. I am hoping there will be lots of vegan options. I had visited Doctor Hummus' booth many times. They do have some delicious vegan hummus. One day I noticed they had this creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip.

Not often running across such vegan specialties, I thought I should bring some home and give it a try. I sliced up some crusty bread and got to eating. The dip is very rich and creamy. I thought the texture was great. It had a few nice chunks of artichoke and a good amount of spinach. What it did not have, however, was a lot of flavor. Something just seemed to be missing. I was very surprised as their hummus varieties have great flavor. I added chopped roasted red pepper and that seemed to help with the flavor. I might have added some more lemon and salt as well. I think that might have brought it up to a good flavor level.

The final verdict: the quality of the product is very good. The packaging was very nice. The texture was excellent. The flavor was a bit lacking. For me, I found the $7.00 cost for 8 oz. a bit high. It did inspire me to make my own artichoke dip. For about the same cost, I was able to make 3 times the amount. If you needed a vegan dip, that is not hummus, in a pinch this would be a good option.

Where to find Doctor Hummus Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip: Local farmers markets, Whole Foods, New Frontiers and AJ's Markets.

Cost: $7.00 for 8 oz. container

Valley Dish - Sloppy Chipotle Joses

2011-05-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a fun and fabulous day. I got to cook with Tram Mai, the awesome host of Valley Dish here in Phoenix. She is so fun and full of energy. She is passionate about food and is very interested in finding delicious healthy things to eat. A self-proclaimed carnivore, she was very excited to try some tasty vegan fare. I was thrilled to be able to bring some compassionate cooking to the studio kitchen. I do hope that I am able to dispel some of the misconceptions about vegan cooking being bland and boring.

When trying to come up with dishes for the show, I have a fun time trying to find vegan dishes that will appeal to all types of viewers and diners...that can also be prepped in 10 minutes or so. This flavorful Southwestern twist on a classic American favorite fit the bill for this episode. The actual cooking time is longer than 10 minutes of course, but prep is a snap. I've served this dish to kids, adults, carnivores, you name it, with great success. I love it because it is easy, low fat, healthy and really great for feeding a crowd. It doubles easily and freezes like a dream. So it is excellent for busy people. Click here to view the video of Tram and I dishing 'em up (courtesy of Valley Dish).

Sloppy Chipotle Joses

Makes 8 sandwiches

1 ½ cup brown lentils

5 cups water

2 ½ teaspoons Better than Bouillon vegetarian no beef flavor base

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large fresh pasilla/poblano chile, medium dice (approx ¾ cup)

1 medium yellow onion, diced small (approx 1 cup)

3 large cloves of garlic, minced (or 3-4 teaspoons pre-minced)

1 teaspoon ancho chili powder

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

2 teaspoons Mexican oregano

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

½ cup ketchup

8 oz. tomato sauce

2 chipotle peppers (in adobo sauce), minced (leave seeds in if you like a bit more heat)

In a two-quart saucepan combine the lentils, water and bouillon. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer lentils for about 20-30 minutes until cooked through. There should be a very small amount of liquid left (Lentils can be made a day or two ahead of time and refrigerated).

While the lentils are cooking, heat olive oil in a 4 quart saucepan over medium heat. Add pasilla chiles, yellow onion and garlic. Sauté until just soft, about 8 minutes. Add ancho chile powder, smoked paprika, Mexican oregano and salt. Saute for another minute or so until they become fragrant. If lentils are not quite, done turn heat on the vegetable mixture to the lowest setting and simmer. Add lentils and remaining ingredients to the pan. Simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes. You can serve immediately, but I recommend waiting 15 minutes or so to let the flavors really come out. This one is even better the next day for a quick lunch.

Serve on soft burger buns with a side of slaw.

Options:

If you like a lot of heat, you can add an extra chipotle chile and maybe even a hit of cayenne pepper.

Want it more sloppy? Feel free to add another 8 oz. can of tomato sauce.

Just for the fun of it, here is the nutritional information courtesy of livestrong.com