Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Dinner

Sometimes cooking is enough.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Gingerbread Cookies

Used Post Punk Kitchen recipe as the base. For the two cups of whole
wheat pastry flour subbed in 1/2 cup buckwheat, 1/2 cup stone ground
whole wheat, and 1 cup whole wheat bread flour (because that is what I
had). Used cut dried apricots, cranberries, and raisins to give them a
little personality. Skipped the icing. I made a few plain ones that
are great with a little peanut butter spread on top. Pretty crumbly
and sticky dough but I worked in small batches on a floured counter
and did fine. I used the stone ground flour on my working surface
which resulted in the flecks you see. Next time I will work with a
finer flour on the work surface.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Easy Dinner 04

Made a slaw for dinner. Served with a caramelized tofu and nicely
paired with a brown ale.
1 small red cabbage, sliced
1 celery rib, chopped
2 carrot, peeled and grated
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 small Granny Smith apple, finely chopped
1/2 cup veganaise
1/2 lime juiced
1 very small clove of garlic, mashed with salt
1/3 cup pried sweetened cranberries
1 lb of tofu, sautéed and glazed*
Salt, pepper, oregano, and thyme
Mix veganaise with shallot and garlic. Add cabbage, carrot, celery,
and apple and mix. Add herbs and mix. Set aside. Make tofu and let
cool to room temperature. Serve slaw with tofu on top.

*Glazed tofu is based on Healthy Hedonist recipe. Agave for maple
syrup and added a sriracha.

Easy Dinner 03

Looks like I forgot to snap a picture of our chili and cornbread.
Chili was my own recipe based one 1 jar of tomatoes, 2 cans of beans,
and a package do seitan ground up in food processor. Of course there
were onions, jalapeños, carrots, celery, cumin, coriander, oregano,
salt, pepper, soy sauce, fresh cilantro, and lime juice. The corn
bread was based on Berley's vegan skillet corn bread. Made 6 servings.
Excellent as left overs.

..-..ll..-..

Weekend Dinner 01

This is an easy dinner but the dough for the crust takes a bit of time
so I am calling it a weekend meal. This is typically a Sunday meal for
us but with the snow I was home early on Friday so I decided to give
it a try. We were very close to giving into frozen pizza. So glad we
didn't.

Crust is a 60% whole wheat crust. As I recall I used: 1 cup water, 1
tbsp yeast, 1 cup white bread flour, 1 cup whole wheat bread flour,
1/2 cup stone ground whole wheat flour, 2 tbsp wheat gluten, 2 tbsp
olive oil, and 20 or so grindings of sea salt. All in bread machine on
dough setting. Divided into three balls and then rolled out for thin
crusts. Used hearth stone in oven and fancy peel for delivery.

Pizza 1: Garlic and olive oil on crust, potatoes boiled 10 minutes in
skin then sliced, sliced shallot, drizzle of olive oil, and sprinkling
of oregano, salt, and pepper. Baked 7 minutes.

Pizza 2: Caramelized red onion, Brussels sprouts boiled for 5 minutes
and sliced, drizzle of olive oil, and sprinkling of thyme, salt, and
pepper. Baked 7 minutes.

Pizza 3: Spaghetti sauce, sliced green pepper, sliced shallot, pan
fried tofu, and sprinkling of fake mozzarella.

Overall quite good. Next time going to try putting the onions on top
of the sprouts to keep them from rolling.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Easy Dinner 02

Butternut Squash with Quinoa Pilaf:

Not a beauty and won't be making this exact version for company anytime soon but a pretty enjoyable weeknight dinner.

In this meal the cooking time is set by the squash so put it in the oven then figure out the rest.

1 butternut squash
1 cup quinoa
2 cup water
4 garlic clove
2 onions
1 stem celery
Thyme
Sage
Bay leaf
Salt
Pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp mirin
1/2 cup Dried sweetened cranberries
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup Hulled sunflower seeds


Cut squash in half, remove seeds, baked cut side down for 45 minutes in 400 degree oven. Turn over and drizzle on olive oil and mirin. Broil for 5 minutes.

Rinse quinoa and add to sauce pan with water, 2 cloves garlic, spig if thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover, cook for 15 minutes, let rest covered till needed. Remove bay leaf and thyme stem and smash garlic before using.

Toast sunflower seeds and set aside.
Sauté chopped onion in olive oil, add 2 garlic cloves, celery stem chopped, and chopped herbs. Mix in cranberries and wine. Mix in quinoa and cover over low heat till squash is ready. Stir in sunflower seeds and salt and pepper. Serve with squash.

Makes 4 servings at about 450 calories.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Easy Dinner 01

Pasta with Beans and Red Sauce
1 lb whole wheat pasta
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 lb green beans, 1 inch pieces
1 can chickpeas, rinsed
Put water on to boil in pasta pot. Heat sauce and chickpeas in large sauce pan. Cook green beans in pasta water for 5 minutes then drain and add to sauce. Cook pasta and drain. Toss all together in the empty pasta pot. Makes 5 servings at about 500 calories each. Great as leftovers for lunch warm or cold.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Saturday Morning

I love lingering over coffee and breakfast on Saturday morning. Today
I will be heading out early for a conference but I still wanted to
enjoy my morning. Made basic whole wheat waffles and black coffee. It
was made special by the lavender ginger peach preserve that Teresa
Todd made and shared with us. Such great flavor against the strong
black coffee. Waffles were 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tbsp corn
meal, 1 tsp baking powder, and about 1/3 cup soy milk.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Ground Cherry Jam and Whole Wheat Waffle

I can't claim the ground cherry jam. Ground cherries were grown and
jam made by my friend Peggy. I can claim it is excellent. Many
thanks are owed to Peggy for sharing the fruits of her labor.
Waffle today was single serve:
1/4 cup whole wheat bread flour
1/8 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp stone ground corn meal
1/2 tsp flax meal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 tbsp water
Results were fine and any weaknesses covered by the excellent jam.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Spicy Mustard Chickpeas and Cream of Vegetables Soup

First two recipes I tried from Happy Herbivore Abroad. The chickpeas
are definitely a keeper. The soup was fine but my mix ended a little
to heavy on the carrot side. Ended up swirling in a bit of balsamic
at the table and enjoyed. Served the chickpeas on a romaine salad
tossed with a bit of dressing made with mustard, hot sauce, lemon
juice, agave, and touch of broth. A successful meal made without
added oil. This new cookbook looks promising.

Quick Chili Mole and Cornbread

Pictured is our chili and cornbread set next to the photo in Happy
Herbivore Abroad. Third recipe we tried. Matt picked it the day before
from the picture. Made Berley's cornbread.
We liked this meal and expect it will become an easy pantry friendly
staple in weeknight dinner category. Lindsay Nixon appears to cook
and approach food the way I aspire to. I think we have found a new
cookbook.
Didn't have refried beans so rinsed a can of pintos and whirled in the
mini micro food processor with some cumin, enchilada sauce, garlic
powder, and onion powder. For cornbread had to use cornmeal for masa
harina so a little course.
Might be nice to add a little crunchy slaw on the side.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Sesame Tofu and Broccoli with a side of Spinach

For the tofu we tried an Orange and Sesame Tofu recipe from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. You bake the tofu in the sauce then sprinkle on seeds and green onions when done. We were missing green onions which I think would be a nice add and we used corn starch for the thickener. The result was a nice soft tofu and enough thickened sauce to treat the broccoli as well. Next time we would go ahead and toss them together before serving. Broccoli was from Immer and is simply steamed then tossed with sesame oil, ginger, and seeds. Spinach was from Immer sans the cream. We did use some fresh ground nutmeg which was nice. Meal paired nicely with a California Chardonnay. Excited to have this tofu recipe to add to the basic tool kit. Had not had much success with this approach before but I don't think previous versions had the thickener.

Vegetable Curry

Looked at about 5 recipes online to come up with approach. We cooked together so I had to pick one to follow. Picked one from an untested source so modified the spices a bit (upped cumin and lowered turmeric) when they looked suspicious. Also for modifications based on ingredients at hand we added fresh peas, removed potato and added some red lentils in place, added canned chickpeas, used homemade broth for water and upped a bit for the lentils, and reduced coconut milk to 5 oz. Base recipe at
http://www.discoveryourselfwell.com/kale-potato-and-cauliflower-yellow-curry-0
Meal was a success but not yet stellar. Would make a version again and further tweak.

Monday, May 27, 2013

White Bean Rosemary Soup with Jumbo Croutons & Fresh Basil

Trying out the Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan cookbook by Dreena Burton. It
appears to be pretty similar to the way I approach food and cooking.
Has made for some good week night ideas (use the book for ideas on how
to fake what I have in the house into a meal). This recipe I think I
came close to following. I cooked up the dried cannellini beans that
Mark and Betty gave us for Christmas to make this soup. Should have
posted back when I made this in April because I can't remember much
now. Per the recipe 2/3 of the beans are puréed and the remaining 1/3
is whole which I think is a great idea.

Partial Try at Greatness

This is our second go at some recipes by Jason Cunningham from Great
Chefs Cook Vegan. We made a version for our anniversary but we didn't
have the fava beans. This time we skipped the peppers.

Pictured is Sunflower Seed Risotto served with Fennel, Carrots, and
Fava Beans with Carrot Purée and Fava Purée. Also made the Butternut
Squash Soup with some substitutions and served with the Granny Smith
Apple and Radish Slaw.

A good meal but way too much work. Since I walked to the market to
get the fennel and made the broth all in the same day it may have been
a bit harder than it needed to be.

Whole Lot of Spring

Herbivore Spring Salad
Fava beans
Asparagus
Mint leaves
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Whole wheat orzo

This started out as Bittman's Fava Bean and Mint Salad with Asparagus
and became a pasta salad by upping the dressing a bit and adding the
orzo based on a memory of an asparagus salad from Culinate.

At the first bite I was not sure we had a winner but after a few bites
I could not stop raving. Found the left overs 5 days later and still
great. Leaving the mint leaves whole was a hard leap for me but made
for a successful salad feel.

Herbivore Mixed Vegetable Soup


Herbivore Mixed Vegetable Soup
2 tbsp canola oil
1 large onion chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
3 carrots peeled and chopped
2 sweet potatoes peeled and chopped
1 buttercup squash peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/2 lb fingerling potatoes chopped
3 tbsp fresh ginger peeled and minced
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 dash ground chipotle 
1/2 tsp Mo Better Hot Bishops Crown Pepper Powder
6 cups vegetable broth*
1 lb tofu puréed with 2 tbsp lime juice to smooth cream
2 ears of corn, kernels sliced off
1 bunch of chives chopped
Salt
Infused canola oil for serving

In soup pan, sauté first three veggies in oil.  
Add next three veggies and continue to cook. 
Add ground peppers, garlic, and ginger and sauté 1 min.  
Add broth and bring to a boil.  
Simmer for 45 minutes.  
Use immersion blender to puree soup.  
Purée tofu in food processor.  
Add tofu to soup and mix.  
Add water to desired consistency. 
Add salt to taste.
Stir in corn kernels and chives.  
Serve drizzled with oil. 

Broth was made with onion, leeks, fennel, carrots, celery, 
parsley, black pepper, salt, bay, wine, and water.  
Infused oil was made with canola oil and leafy greens.

Made for a nice filling soup.  
Probably could have left out the potato skins and maybe 
added the cobs to the soup while cooking.  
Would have used olive oil but was out.  
Measurements from memory so are just a general guide.

Herbivore Whole Wheat Waffle with Mango Butter


Herbivore Whole Wheat Waffle - Try 3
0.25 Cup      Flour
0.25 Cup      Whole wheat flour
1 Tsp            Corn meal
1 Tsp            Sugar
1 TbspFlax meal
1 Tsp            Baking powder
0.5 Cup         Soy milk
2 TbspWater
1 Tbsp.         Corn oil

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Stir together with fork and let react. Will be runny at first but soy milk and baking powder will react and mixture will thicken and expand. Makes two round waffles (almost). Topped with store bought mango butter which is made of mango purée, sugar, pectin, citric acid, and natural coconut flavor.

Nice breakfast for one with some strong black coffee. 

440 calories for the two waffles plus mango butter at 150 calories for 6 tbsp.


Friday, April 19, 2013

Pizza Friday Night

Can't believe I waited this long to make my first apple pizza. Main
course was a sort of sloppy joe, enchilada sauce, sautéed mushroom,
shallot and chive pizza that while successful wanted for a little
jalapeño. For dessert it was mango butter (no butter), Granny Smith,
sucanat, and cinnamon topped with the cream from the top of the
coconut milk.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas

Based this on Immer's Spicy Roasted Cauliflower and Okra. For spice seeds upped cumin by one half and used anise and caraway mix in place of fenugreek. Used baby bell peppers and rinsed chickpeas in place of okra. Dried ingredients and tossed with most of spices and drizzled on 1 tbsp olive oil. On stovetop sautéed remaining spices and garlic in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Added most of the salt but left out the sugar. Tossed with sautéed garlic and lemon juice when done roasting.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza

From the freezer section an Italian pizza crust topped with
caramelized onions, roasted eggplant and peppers, black olives, and
basil. Kept the oil low by just using in the onions which I
caramelized stovetop. Eggplant and peppers roasted dry under the
broiler then chopped and added to onions at the end of cooking. Used
some fresh thyme, shallot, and garlic in the onions. Peeled eggplant
before roasting in slabs and peeled peppers afterward. Worked great
with an Italian white wine. Two onions, one eggplant, three small
peppers, and a handful of olives was enough for two crusts. Maybe
some balsamic text time.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

My First Try at a (milk)Shake

Two large ripe bananas sliced and frozen for 3 hours
Two spoonfuls of crunchy peanut butter, refrigerated
5 oz can of coconut milk, refrigerated
Chocolate Sauce (1/2 cup sucanat, 2 rounded Tbsp cocoa, and 1/2 cup
soy milk mixed and boiled for one minute, dash of vanilla stirred in
and refrigerated)
In food processor purée bananas Add other ingredients and mix in food
processor. Serve with a strong straw.

Little bit of Spring

Carrot Greens and Basil Pesto on asparagus, sugar snap peas, and three
colors of baby potatoes

1 bunch Leaves of carrot greens
1 package basil leaves
1 large Garlic clove minced with salt
1/2 cup Pine nuts toasted
1/4 cup Olive oil
1 Tbsp Lemon juice
Fresh ground pepper
Salt
1.5 lb Potatoes boiled in skin (20 minutes from cold)
1 lb Asparagus in 1 to 2 inch pieces steamed 2 minutes
10 oz Sugar snap peas trimmed ends steamed 2 minutes
Purée first eight ingredients and toss with last three ingredients
when drained, dried, and slightly cooled.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Tempeh and Brussels

Followed Berley's recipe in Fresh Food Fast with two adjustments and three substitutions based on ingredients on hand. Used grapeseed oil in place of butter in quinoa. Used 1/4 cup of olive oil in place of 1/3 cup in the tempeh. Used carrots in place of bell pepper. Used pine nuts in place of almonds. For the 2 cups of onions used about 1 cup of shallot and at 2 minutes to go tossed in 4 green onions (white and greens) sliced.

Matt eventually moved from sticks to a fork due to success rate with the quinoa. I have always liked this dish. This time Matt said we should have it again.  We did not use all the quinoa. I think reducing from 1.5 cups to 1 would be fine next time.