still alive - be thankful!

I know other bloggers have gone far longer than a week without a post, but I am not normally among them so it feels like forever.  I hope you'll excuse my absence, considering how busy I've been preparing for Thanksgiving and Black Friday - or I should say it like this:

1. the first Thanksgiving (or holiday at all) that I've hosted in my own home!
2. the first Black Friday I've worked retail in fifteen years.

Fortunately, both went off pretty well, yet both were fairly stressful in the days leading up to them.  Additionally, I just haven't felt like I had anything interesting to say.  I realized recently that one of the reasons I've found blogging to be so much fun and so fulfilling in the first two years of this little blog was because I was still learning how to cook new and interesting things, so I was always trying to make something I hadn't made yet so I could come up with a unique post.  Over the last several months, I've found myself perfectly happy to repeat "favorites" from the last few years, and although I only rotate recipes every few months, I still didn't have anything interesting to say about making "this" dish again.

Here is a quick recap of my Celebrate Vegan mini-menu:

The two pasta dishes (Pasta with Shallots and Chard and Pasta with Red Peppers and Basil) were just like I remembered them - relatively easy with a ton of flavor.  Neither of them made as much as I thought I remembered, but believe me, with Thanksgiving coming up, there was no place in our fridge for leftovers anyway.

I made one new recipe from the book I wasn't able to make before because it needed tweaking for Mister's intestinal safety, the Jambalaya and it was quite tasty and fake-meat-alicious!

So let's switch gears.

There's a lovely song by Josh Groban (which you can hear a beautiful cover of here) with the following lyrics:

Some days we forget to look around us.

Some days we can't see the joy that surrounds us.

So caught up inside ourselves, we take when we should give,

So for tonight, we pray for what we know can be,

And on this day we hope for what we still can't see.  

It's up to us to be the change,

And even though we all can still do more...

There's so much to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for a great many things, not the least of which being how well my first Thanksgiving as the cook and hostess turned out!  Here was our menu:

When my parents arrived, we set out mixed olives, veggie crudites with Muhammara (from Celebrate Vegan) and store-bought dill dip (thanks, Mister), and Spanakopita (from The Accidental Vegan).  The main course was a Torfurky Roast which Mister has wanted since his first non-meat-eating Thanksgiving and I was thrilled to be able to give it to him.  Alongside the Tofurky was mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli, and my mom's becoming-famous salad, then dessert was Apple Pie with Vanilla "ice cream" by So Delicious.  Dad brought two delightful bottles of my favorite wines - Apothic Red and the 2009 vintage of Georges deBoeuf Beaujolais-Villages, as well as a four-pack of mini-champagnes "for after work."

Oh?  You wanted a picture parade?  Okay!

I began my preparations on Monday or Tuesday night, starting with the Muhammara dip since it would taste the best after sitting in the fridge for a few days.  I figured it was best to make it the same night we had Pasta with Shallots and Chard since my home already stank of an onion sibling (and since I already had the book out).  After simmering three chopped red peppers with a chopped onion and sliced garlic for an hour, I dry-toasted some walnuts,

And then placed everything in the blending machine...

and pureed it until it was mostly smooth and homogenously orange.

After it cooled a little, I scooped it into a "tupperware" and stuck it in the fridge, to be forgotten until Thursday.

Wednesday night, I intended to make the spanakopita because I've found that it sticks together better if it's made the night before it's eaten.  So I chopped up a shallot to substitute for the revolting onion in the recipe and sauteed the onion and spinach while the lentils cooked.

Added the brown lentils (I'm not actually sure why, either)

and then a big heap of crumbled feta tofu,

and stirred it all together.

This is where it gets fun.  By the time I started making this, I'd only worked one eight-hour day at work (the others went long in preparation for Black Friday) and after that 8-hour day (of being one half of the sales force, since one person got sent home with an eye infection) I had a 2.5 hour hair appointment (oh, how I missed you, Candi KaBoom!), so I really wasn't on my most... "with it" behavior.

I realized after all the work of assembling the spanakopita, including gluing sheets of phyllo together with olive oil while listening to the darkly angelic voice of Amy Lee through my earbuds, that I had missed one step of the two-step process required to preheat my ancient oven.  So, finding (at 2am) that my oven was still cold after it was "preheating" for 30 minutes, I covered the spanakopita with plastic, put it in the fridge and went to bed.

It came out just fine when I baked it the next morning.

Then came the piece de resistance.

Mister's long-awaited Tofurky Roast, complete with wild rice stuffing.

I put it in a little Corningware casserole dish and surrounded it with quartered potatoes and carrots, then poured half of the sage marinade over it and stuck that puppy in the oven.

It's not a real puppy, by the way.

appetizers - from the top: Muhammara, Dill dip, olives

more apps: Spanakopita, crudites

The Torfurky, all basted and roasted and ready to eat!

Sides: mashterpaters, roasted broccoli, and the canned
cranberry "sauce" Mister insisted we needed

I realized in a panic a few days before Thanksgiving (and a few days after I constructed the menu) that I had completely neglected to get/make gravy.  In an incredible (and incredibly fortunate) coincidence, my dear Mama Pea posted this recipe to save my butt.  It was good and easy to make in a pinch, but a little too thick to become a regular occurrence in our home, so next year we'll think ahead and find something a little more pourable.

Next year?

That's right!  It seems my parents enjoyed themselves enough to consider sharing the holidays - with any luck, that means I will always host Thanksgiving and they can have Christmas :)  In any case, thanks to my hard-working dishwasher and helpful husband, it didn't take all that long to clean up after dinner, allowing me to get to bed by nine(ish) since I had to be up at 3am to go to work.

In case you were wondering, Philadelphia is incredibly quiet and peaceful (and dark) at 5am.

I hurt all over

When I started working at the place I just left, about four and a half years ago, the hardest thing for me to get used to was sitting.  I just sat, tethered to a phone, all day.  Yes, I had a couple of breaks, and believe me, I used that time to move around as much as possible, but for the most part I just sat.  The reason this was so difficult for me was because I had been unemployed for nine months, during which time I got into wandering around the city when I wasn't begging people to hire me.  Before I was laid off, I had a pretty physical job - moving at least every hour to go from this room to that or this house to that school.

Conversely, I got a little too good at sitting over the last four years, and my 3 hours daily of commuting did not help.  I got comfortable and besides, sitting so much allowed me to pull off dangerously high heels (which I have consequently forgone in my new position...at least for now).  Now?  Well, my whole body hurts.  I have not had to stand up for 8 hours in a row for....well, probably 15 years, actually.  15 years ago, I worked retail between Black Friday and mid-January, but my body was 15 years younger and able to handle the stress - in heels!  Right now, I would love a good massage and a bottle of aspirin.

My new job had a Grand Opening celebration this weekend with all hands on deck from Friday until tonight.  Everyone was working the floor, including the President, Marketing Director, and a bunch of other people who usually spend a decent bit of time sitting at their desks.  I'm sure at least some of them are hurting, too.

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot to say about food.  I'm hoping to have some good stories next week so I can convince myself to write more.  I'm kind of in this place where I'm re-evaluating Angst Loves Spinach and trying to see what's important and where we're going here.  I started the blog in the hopes of developing myself as a creative chef and as an outlet for my love of writing.  I do love to write and I have had a ball the last two years doing so, but I've definitely gotten away from the original intention - to create recipes, not just babble about the recipes other people made up and I cooked.

I'd like to flatter myself into believing that at least a few people are reading these words in something akin to horror and thinking, "gee, I hope she's not ending the blog..."  If that is going through anyone's mind, let me give a word of comfort - that is not really my intention.  Here is what I am hoping for: I am currently adjusting to my new job and my new schedule.  Once I am adjusted, once my body finds a new strength so I'm not bone-tired when I get home from work, I will find that I have a ton more time.  My goal is to use at least some of that time to become more creative - set goals for myself, force myself to create something at least once a week.

I haven't heard anything (yet) about this year's VeganMoFo (and I truly hope it will occur again this year, but I certainly do not have the time or energy to be one of the initiators/organizers).  The last two years, this event has had a considerable influence on my posting and I'm hoping it will re-ignite the fire in my kitchen again this year.  I'm fairly certain that I will be up to speed and as comfortable as I'll ever be with my new job by the time it starts, so I want to make a schedule of goals to meet that month, culinarily speaking, so that I can spread my wings and stretch again.  I always feel such a sense of accomplishment when I come up with my own recipes, but lately I've been way to tired to do anything but follow someone else's [fabulous] recipe like a little KitchenZombie.

Nevertheless, I will, as I do every week, share the coming week's menu with you (as well as my joy that my new job is only a few short blocks from Trader Joe's, so I'll be stopping there after work tomorrow to pick up supplies):

1. Spanakopita from The Accidental Vegan with roasted fingerling potatoes.  I have never made this recipe.  I will admit, I'm a little nervous about making this recipe, the way I am always nervous when I try to make something Mister knows from his childhood of good eats made with love by a Greek father or a half-Sicilian mother.  My mother-in-law is getting awfully good at making Spanakopita from YiaYia's recipe, under her tutelage, so to go it alone like this is both invigorating and terrifying.  You can bet there will be a post the night I make this!

2. Seitan Pepper Steak, also from The Accidental Vegan.

3. Cajun Red Beans and Rice, also from The Accidental Vegan, because I used all of my self-control last week when I made the menu to not include this, since I had another beans-n-rice recipe on there, but this week, This is the beans-n-rice recipe.

4. Coconut Curry Rice from Vegan on the Cheap.

5. Baked Ziti, also from Vegan on the Cheap with sauteed cauliflower and broccoli.  This is also a new recipe (I believe - sometimes I space makings so far apart I forgot I made something before!), but when I was looking over the menu, I realized we had a lot of cuisines represented (Greek, Japanese, Cajun/Latina, Indian), but no Italian.  If I hadn't come upon this when I did, and if it hadn't looked as easy as it does, we'd have been reprising Isa's Pasta e Fagioli for the 100th time this year.

coming up for air

Should I cry about being a bad blogger again?  While I always feel a little guilty/bad when I miss a few days (because they always end up being more days than I thought), sometimes I think it's better just to be quiet.  After all, nothing is more boring that reading about dull, mundane events in someone else's life.

Actually, the past several days have been anything but dull, I just didn't think they really needed to be captured for all time in the pages of this blog.  I haven't been doing anything special with dinner - in case you didn't notice, every item on the current menu is an "old favorite" or at least "past success," so there weren't any ground-breaking discoveries to share.

So, what have I been up to?  Well, I spent the weekend teaching and shopping.  Food shopping, clothes shopping, shoe shopping - you name it.  As a result, I had plenty to say on Pretty Woman in an Ugly World, so if you have some time, why don't you read about my experiences?

• Macy's: The Good
• Macy's: Part 2, subtitle: Cross-Dressing is not Good Customer Service

Yesterday, I started my new job!  So that's fun, right?  Absolutely exhausting, too.  See, it's funny - for the last several years, I have been the one standing up in front of a group of new hires and teaching them about the company, processes, products, etc.  Now, I'm in the learner's seat and it's fun to see the other side - the side that is slightly bewildered, not by the information, but the speed at which it is delivered.  I'm learning quickly, though, which is good since we have a special event this weekend and need all hands on deck, so to speak.

I actually had intended to post last night, but was quite exhausted after all that learning and could not even focus on the screen so I just went to bed after convincing myself to wash the pots and knives so I could just come home and cook tonight without having to clean up.  That's another thing:

I get home when it's still light out.  You may or may not realize how incredible this is, but it is rare that I need my sunglasses on the way home from work, since I usually got home around 9pm.  Today, I was sitting on the bus for my 15 minute commute home (can I tell you how much I love that??) an hour and a half earlier than I would have been leaving my old job.  It was such an incredible feeling that I found myself grinning like a fool and the other folks must have thought I'd lost it.

Tonight, I made and ate dinner, cleaned up leftovers and started this blog before the time I would have even been putting dinner on the table two weeks ago.  Again, I cannot express (and I have a lot of words) how wonderful that realization was.  Not only are we eating dinner closer to times that "normal" people eat dinner, but I also don't have to start dinner the very moment I walk in the door to ensure that we can eat and I can clean up before bedtime.  I'm still getting used to that - four years of walking in the door and immediately starting dinner is a tough habit to break.

Enough about all that - let's have a food parade!

The last meal I made before starting my new job - Rotini with Spicy Vegetable Ragu from Vegan on the Cheap, at Mister's request.  If you haven't noticed that he always gets what he asks for, just keep reading.

It was tasty and pleasantly spicy, but I think I must have overcooked the rotini because it kept falling apart.  I feel like that happened last time I made it, though, so I might experiment with a more stable pasta shape in the future.  

I hate having an open package of Tofurky sausage lying around for very long, so the very next meal I made was the delightful and hearty Savory Sausage and Peppers, also from Vegan on the Cheap.

Depending on where you live or how much you care about the weather in other places, you may or may not know that it was miserable here in Philadelphia yesterday.  The temperatures didn't quite make it past 65 and it was pouring rain - in fact, it was the most opportune time possible for me to learn about the leak in my umbrella, as I was standing in the rain, in pumps, waiting for the bus...and then walking through a 2-3" puddle to get into the bus....poor shoes, poor feet.

Needless to say, after Mister finished coddling me and petting me and telling me what a cute little drowned rat I was, I stripped off my shoes, soaked stockings, wet clothes, and put on my "comfy clothes."  All I could think of cooking was something warm and slow and hearty...

Today, on the other hand, started out quite grim and foreboding, but by lunchtime the sky was clear and sunny and the weather turned out to be beautiful.  It almost seemed a shame to be inside a training room, and once again, I could feel sympathy for the hundreds of new hires I taught over the last few years, especially when the training room had no windows.  Nevertheless, preferring to see opportunity rather than obstacle, I just thought of how lovely it will be to take picnics in Rittenhouse Square this fall.

Speaking of lunch, from the rumors the seasoned employees are spreading and the way we've been treated so far, it seems the boss knows quite the way of "wining and dining" his new employees - we've been taken out to lunch or had lunch ordered for us and there will be a big grand opening party this weekend with food, fun, and open bar.... what a great introduction to the company!  From what I can tell, people are their primary focus and I'm completely on board with that - it is evident that every employee is valued, and because they feel appreciated, morale is high enough that everyone is completely pleasant and invested in passing on those "good vibes" to the customers.  What a great place to work.

Tonight, I made Kedgeree from The Accidental Vegan because if I didn't, Mister was going to eat all the kalamatas I bought for the recipe.  The recipe actually calls for mushrooms, but we don't do mushrooms, and long ago I decided that the earthy flavor of kalamata olives was an adequate substitute for them.  Regardless, Mister loves kalamatas, so though he knew he wasn't supposed to eat them, I could see the level in the clear plastic container dropping...

I love how dark emerald green the kale is...it's really gorgeous.  I used lacinto kale because it's a little easier to work with than curly kale and I think it went well in this recipe.

Shortly after dinner, Mister started poking around in the freezer and then the cupboards.  He did the same thing a few nights ago, so I asked him if he wanted something and this time, he told me.

So I made him cupcakes.  He didn't know whether he wanted cookies or cupcakes, so I gave him a few choices.  He chose Peanut Butter Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but I didn't feel like making the ganache-drizzle topping, so I just plopped 4 chocolate chips onto each cupcake while they were baking.

Nom.

choices, choices...

I've had a frustrating couple of days.  Not all day each day, but there has been at least a few frustrating hours between the two of them where I've been trying to find somewhere new and exciting to have dinner tomorrow night to celebrate Mister's birthday.  Philadelphia is really starting to be known as a foodie town, thanks in no small part to the innovative and contrary efforts of Jose Garces and Stephen Starr (who is preparing to open his 19th restaurant shortly).  I would like to write Mr. Starr a letter, though, and it would go something like this:

Dear Mr. Starr, I think you have a lot of neat ideas and your restaurants are masterpieces of design and creative cuisine.  However, I am only able to dine at two of them.  Would you please open a vegetarian restaurant for #20?  Thanks!

In case you're curious, those two restaurants are Pizzeria Stella and The Continental.  One of his restaurants, The Dandelion, has a head chef who is on record stating that "Vegetarianism is a disease."  Obviously, we won't be dining there.  There are a couple of others that have enough "small plates" (AKA appetizers and salads) that we could piece together a light meal, but it really turns me off when I get past the appetizers and salads to find that a restaurant does not offer a single entree my husband or I could eat.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia is a town of carni-foodies.  Every menu carries the coveted foie gras and most offer really ethical main courses like veal with an appetizer of bone marrow... Heavens, do people even think about that when they order it?  You have bone marrow, too, did you know?

Anyway, after hours of poring over websites and even directing a snippy tweet at OpenTable about the dearth of vegetarian restaurants (there is one on their site) available for reservations, I broke the news to Mister that there are absolutely no new restaurants in Philly worthy of my hard-earned dollars right now. We are both actively anticipating the opening of Vedge - it cannot come soon enough.  The closing of Horizons left a huge hole in the Philadelphia fine dining scene, especially for people like us who would prefer to have choices on a menu, rather than ordering the one entree offered that we can consume and trying to add creativity through appetizers.

Anyway, although it was Mister's request that we look around for new restaurants, I keep forgetting how much he loves pizza more than anything but me.  So we'll be dining at Stella tomorrow night.  I'm pretty happy about that, actually, because I've been wanting to go there for weeks.

In the course of our conversation about which Italian, Pizza-Serving restaurant we would dine at (Stella, Pietro's, or La Fourno), Mister got confused and thought we were eating out tonight.  I said I thought we would go out tomorrow, since that's his actual birthday and I did take the day off from work and everything.  He agreed, so then we had to decide what was for dinner tonight.  I consulted the menu and asked him if he wanted an Italian noodle dish or an Asian noodle dish.  Not surprisingly, as my husband seems to be seeking balance in his old age, he said we should have the Asian dish since we would have Italian tomorrow night.  As I walked back to the kitchen he was solving the philosophical conundrum of whether pizza is inherently Italian since all cultures seem to have embraced it.  I pointed out that okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) is not even remotely similar to "Italian" pizza.

With that brilliant contribution, I got to chopping up my bok choy napa cabbage for Ginger Bok Choy and Soba from Appetite for Reduction, with napa cabbage subbing for the bok choy, which has successfully hidden from me two weeks in a row, reinforcing my belief that bok choy is only available at Whole Foods.  Which sucks, since I've committed to avoiding WF for August.  Still saving money, by the way!

It came out so well, I'm not sure if I would have liked it as much with bok choy anyway!  To be completely honest, as I was slicing the napa cabbage, I nearly put the book away and grabbed The Accidental Vegan to just go ahead and make Yakisoba, but I wanted to give Isa a chance and I was not disappointed.

Since the fine edge I walk with Yakisoba is that the recipe calls for "too much ginger," I found that this recipe had it just right with 1 tablespoon of minced ginger.  I will definitely make this in the future because

1. I want to try it with real bok choy (so we'll at least have to wait until September, it seems).
2. Mister did not eat around or complain about the soba noodles - in fact, he had two big bowls!
3. It came together so quickly Mister thought I was kidding when I told him dinner was ready.  This is a very helpful quality during busy times at work or when I just don't feel like cooking (I know, it's crazy, but sometimes, I don't feel like making dinner from scratch after working all day and spending 3 hours commuting there and back).

Oh, hey - speaking of choices, there's a new post up at Pretty Woman in an Ugly World.  Go ahead and check out the epic battle between Sephora and MAC for my consumer vote and see how the winner won!

red, red wine... stay close to me

So TGIF, right?  It's funny how certain vices are so culturally acceptable that you can gain acceptance and approval merely by giving the sight-unseen, I-could-be-a-liar-but-you-don't-know impression that the happiest way to welcome a Friday evening, once safely home from work, is by begging your bottle of wine not to stray too far from your side.

As though it can actually move without my help.

Social persuasion and acceptable conformity aside, I must admit I was pleased to find my darling Apothic Red at a $2-off discount upon my "detour" on the way home from work.  I'm trying to keep my wine-drinking to the weekend, so the little sale tag was a welcome sight and the familiar taste and scent were similarly comforting.

I didn't have the best day at work (that seems a trend lately, eh?) so I was glad that the less-than-coveted "Last Meal on the Menu" spot belonged to my very favorite recipe for beans-n-rice: Cajun Red Beans and Rice from The Accidental Vegan.

It was every bit as fabulous as I wanted it to be and the wine was a fairly complementary addition  Mister and I ate it all up, so if I haven't done so previously, let's add this to the No Leftovers pile.  Although I could probably go on and on about how awesome this recipe is, I'm sure I've done that already in plentiful previous posts about this dinner.  I'm hoping to have something slightly more exciting to babble about soon, so for now, the most exciting thing I can share with you is the new (exceptionally long for no good reason) menu:


1. Chickpea Croquettes with Green Salad Topping from Vegetarian Times: Quick and Healthy, which was really reprised from an earlier issue of the magazine I don't feel like finding right now.  I've made this before and it's a fun, light, quick summer meal.


2. Tuscan Vegetable Ragout from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy.  I figured it's been long enough since the last time I made this.  Hopefully, I can restrain at least some of my enthusiasm so I don't overcrowd the pot like I normally do.


3. Singapore-Style Rice Noodles with Snow Peas, Peppers, Cabbage, and Tofu also from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy.  I'm pretty confident that the reason I've never made this in all the time I've owned this cookbook (quite a few years now) is because the title is just overwhelmingly long.  I mean, seriously - once you've listed three vegetables, don't you think we could name it something like "Singapore-Style Noodles with Tofu and Vegetables"?  How likely is it, really, that simplifying the name would make it less appealing to someone looking for a "fast and easy" dinner recipe?  There's no need to list the ingredients in the title - it takes away all the mystery.


4. Chickpeas Romesco on Saffron-Garlic Rice, both from Veganomicon because one of my silly readers reminded me it was sitting on my bookshelf collecting dust and that made me sad.  Oh, and also because this is a kick-a$$ recipe.


5. Pasta Della California also from Veganomicon and also super-awesome.  Besides, my Sister-Trip is coming up - we've begun the "scheming an itinerary via email" phase of planning and squealing.


6. Pasta E Fagioli, also from Veganomicon.  It's still the reigning champ, so I figured it couldn't hurt to remind myself why.


7. Stewed Lentils with Soy Sausage from Vegan Express for two very viable reasons: one, I have an open package of Tofurky in my fridge that needs to be used (primarily the reason I sought this recipe out) and two, because my beluga lentils are threatening to find a different cupboard to live in - one where they'll occasionally get used.

1-2-3-delicious!

I like mnemonic devices - they make life so much easier.  Probably the most frequently used form of this device is the acronym: a collection of initials that make up another word.  For lack of a more tactful example, we'll go with a well-known one: AIDS.  Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.  I find another form of mnemonic device helpful when I teach piano lessons - anyone who's ever taken piano lessons knows what's coming.

Every Good Boy Does Fine helps children remember the letter names of the lines on the treble clef.  This is a helpful little device if you ever want to read music.  There are a host of others, including a very creative one brought to me by one of my students to help her remember the names of the spaces of the bass clef: All Cows Eat Grass Blades.

One of my recent new hires created a modified acronym to help her remember the Core Values of our company and counting things off tends to find its way into march songs and cadences (for obvious reasons).  And of course, that's where we're going with all of this.  Some of my favorite "go to" recipes involve numerical mnemonic devices (say THAT five times fast) which help me to cook faster because I don't have to refer to the recipe for exactly how many tablespoons of this and teaspoons of that.  I devoted this post to the singular additions that make magic in my favorite "Indian" recipe.  Isa has a fabulous 2X2 BBQ sauce recipe that she created for the same reason.  Tonight's dinner, then, is brought to you by the number Three.

Three is the number of bowls of Yakisoba I had before forcing myself to save some for Leftover Lunch purely so Mister doesn't go out and buy pizza and I am not subjected to the "Gee, I wonder what I can eat at the cafe that doesn't involve animal bits" game.  Clearly, this is another one of those "I could eat this until I get a stomachache" dinners.

Three is also the number of ingredients in the simple but incredibly delicious sauce.  Three ingredients is simple enough to remember, but it's even easier when you have a little mnemonic device to help... like 1-2-3.  1 Tbsp raw sugar, mixed with 2 Tbsp rice vinegar and 3 Tbsp tamari/soy sauce.  Voila!  Very tasty sauce, and just enough of it to thoroughly coat the veggies and soak the noodles with flavor.

Finally, Three is the number of items left on the menu I have been cooking from but haven't bothered to list.  Here's a preview of the rest of this week:

1. Cajun Red Beans and Rice from The Accidental Vegan (same book Sunday's Kedgeree and tonight's Yakisoba live in) because I am incapable of cooking from this book without making this recipe.  And why should I deprive myself of the best rice-n-beans recipe I have, anyway?

2. Jerk Seitan on Coconut Rice, both from Vegan With A Vengeance, and yes, both still leftover from last week's menu.  No, I haven't stopped by Whole Foods for the missing seitan yet.  That's what Thursday is for.

3. Mediterranean Chopped Salad from Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook.  This is another one of those salad recipes that is sinfully simple and completely satisfying.  A little twist this time around involves smoked tofu and colorful lettuce.

bonus round: VIP BBQ dinner

I know I only posted a little more than 5 hours ago, but I wanted to devote the whole post to the farewell to Horizons and not spread it out into a mega-post also detailing last night's dinner adventures and the super-awesome BBQ skillet I threw together to celebrate our country's independence.  Aside from obvious cultural norms, I don't know why July 4th food needs to be slathered in BBQ sauce, but I figured it was as good an excuse as any to use more of my gourmet VIP BBQ sauce.

Let's take a step or two back, though.  I thought about posting earlier yesterday afternoon about our fabulous finale at Horizons, but I got distracted by iTunes being a pain in my butt about importing the new Symphony X CD and then my computer promptly crashed. Horribly.  So much so that Mister and I were not completely certain it was going to come back to us.  Fortunately, my little Mac paramedic spent several hours last night in emergency surgery while I played solitaire on my old laptop and drank the last of the Riesling so now we're back in business.  Also while Mister was administering some form of human-machine CPR and the equivalent of a brain transplant (probably a little prayer and voodoo mixed in for good measure), I cooked up a long lost favorite for dinner.

The last time I made Bulgur and Red Lentil Pilaf with Kale and Olives from The Complete Vegan Cookbook I was trying to remember where I had a similar recipe.  I knew there were some subtle differences, such as the actual presence of kalamata olives in one recipe and the imagined/substituted presence of them in the other.  I found that other recipe when I was poking through The Accidental Vegan while creating our menu on Saturday afternoon, so I made Kedgeree for dinner last night.

Instead of chopping the carrots, I thought it might be more fun to julienne them (especially since I have that neat toy to help) and in place of the mushrooms Mister can't stand (and I don't exactly have a taste for either), I chopped up some kalamata olives.  The kedgeree itself was made up of brown rice and lentils, which I cooked together to save space (three pots on this smaller stove was not in the cards), resulting in a creamier dish, spiked with cumin and mustard, dotted with the charmingly contrasted colors of green (kale), orange (carrot), and purple (kalamata).

Angst was not at all impressed, electing to take a nap on the bathroom floor (a nice, cool, summertime nap spot) rather than watch his favorite food show, "the Mommy show."  I think he was just mad at me for changing my mind last minute about making the Jerk Seitan from VwaV.  By changing my mind, what I really mean is that I picked up the seitan at Whole Foods, put it down to pick up Tofurky sausages and smoked tofu and completely forgot to pick it back up and deposit in my cart.  Missing a vital ingredient (you know, the one in the recipe title?), I thought I should probably make something else.

Speaking of making something else, I had that same inclination after I finished the last little droplets of Riesling (insert sad face here) and Mister was still poking away at my computer on life-support.  I have had a recent hankering for tropical cocktails, and I figured a bottle of rum, which which I would mix things, will probably last a little longer in this house that a bottle of wine (which I feel compelled to drink quickly so it doesn't spoil), thereby stretching our budget a little until I get some figuring done.

I love this picture because it looks like my little baby Murloc is either trying to steal it or guard it.  That pretty little glass contains about one ounce of Malibu Pineapple Rum and a few more ounces of Santa Cruz organic Cherry Lemonade - delightful combination, by the way.  It made Solitaire a little more fun than usual.

So, tonight with dinner, I decided to make another little cocktail, this time using the last pouch of Honest Kids Berry Lemonade.  I'll admit, there's something a little twisted about using a children-oriented juice pouch product as a mixer, but we don't have kids, so someone's got to drink it.

Epic Cocktail

So, tropical drink prepared, I set to work on our BBQ dinner to celebrate the nation's birthday.

BBQ Tofu-Veggie Skillet
serves 4-6 (depending on portion size)


Ingredients:
14 oz extra-firm tofu, pressed and cubed
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 cup frozen/fresh corn
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup BBQ sauce


white basmati rice to serve over (1 cup rice to 2 cups water)
broccoli slaw, optional garnish


Heat the oil in a deep-sided skillet/sauteuse.  Add tofu and toss gently to coat with oil, then cover and cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tofu is golden-brown on most sides.  Remove lid and add celery and peppers; saute 2-3 minutes.

Add zucchini, corn, and salt; mix well and cover.

Saute 3-5 more minutes, then stir in BBQ sauce.  Cook, uncovered, until heated through and mixture is evenly coated with BBQ sauce.

To serve, lay a bed of rice on the bottom of a bowl or plate, sprinkle with broccoli slaw, if using, then cover with a few spoonfuls of the tofu-veggie BBQ mixture.

It was very good - every component played well with the others - the sweetness of the corn and peppers stood out within the pungent BBQ sauce, which the tofu and zucchini readily absorbed.  The lightness of the basmati rice provided a gentle foil to the intense flavors represented in the tofu-veggie mixture, calming the fire of the Ancho Chili BBQ sauce just enough but not too much.

Happy July 4th all!  I'm going to watch a movie with my mister to finish off a lovely long weekend of time spent together.

snark snark snark

Just testing... Wow.  Some people are super paranoid.

On to the weekend!  I don't think I've been so happy to see Friday night since December and all its madness.  This last training class really took a lot of energy and my boss decided to treat himself to a 5-day weekend, so I was pretty happy to get on the train tonight.  I stopped on the way home to pick up a wine, but "accidentally" ended up with two bottles - I couldn't decide between red and white, until I remembered it was a long weekend, so I got both.  Cheers!

my first favorite Riesling of 2011

I had some trouble deciding what to make for dinner tonight - first of all, it's hot as Hades in Philadelphia right now, and secondly, it's darn difficult to try to follow a dinner at Horizons!  I'm not as insecure as some people, but I am well aware that my cooking is no where close to the caliber of Horizons' chefs.  By the way - rumor is, Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby (co-owners, spouses, cooks) are coming out with a third cookbook.  I wonder if they'll make it easy on me and put together a box set?

I decided to fight fire with fire and got to work cooking Seitan Pepper Steak from The Accidental Vegan.  Fortunately, in between healthy gulps of water that wasn't quite cold enough, the Asian nature of the cuisine helped me to decide between my Chateau Ste Michelle Harvest Select Riesling (best white wine ever) and my darling Apothic Red.

I sliced up what was left of the seitan and stirfried it with the peppers and some tamari.  I thought about adding some vegetable broth to moisten the seitan a little, but in the end decided the tamari would be an adequate (if not thirst-inducing) marinade.

Although Mister was not hungry when I started cooking, he managed to fit two healthy servings into his hot, sweaty belly before mopping his poor Greek forehead with his napkin and dissecting his PlayStation (since it wouldn't let him play games while I was cooking).  I had a little difficulty choosing between this and Seitan Cacciatore when I was putting the menu together, but I'm very glad I chose this one.

Now, on to enjoying my well-earned break!  I have some adventures planned for the weekend, so hopefully I will have some fun to share over the next few days, but what I'm looking forward to the most right now is not waking up to the sound of an alarm for the first time in weeks.  I will sleep until I'm done, even if it's afternoon when I finally get up.  Though, something tells me the heat won't allow that.  So much for our disastrous thunderstorms...I guess I'll just have to look for drama somewhere else.

welcome, Spring - you're only a month late

If I could figure out how to take a screenshot on my Mac, I would show you the weather forecast for Philadelphia this week - in the 70s all week.  Granted, tomorrow has a red outline and a warning to expect severe weather, but they've been calling for rain all week and I haven't seen a single raindrop.

Now that I've said that, you can expect a photo tomorrow night of the huge bruise I'm going to get when a golfball-sized piece of hail hits me in the forehead.

For now, though, you can see photos of our delightful spring dinners!  I have been at least halfway fortunate this week - I have worked earlier than usual yesterday and today, meaning I get home earlier than usual, so I've had a little more time to cook.  It also means I've been able to enjoy a few minutes of sunlight on my walk home from the train.  So with all my "extra" time (more like "different," since I've had to retire earlier as well to ensure adequate sleep), last night I made Cajun Red Beans and Rice from The Accidental Vegan, and was able to use "better for me" brown rice since I could let it cook longer.

I'm having kind of a huge ton of fun with my new measuring bowls.  I didn't actually need to measure a cup of diced green pepper, but I used the bowl to hold it while I was prepping other ingredients and I thought it looked pretty enough to share.

Unlike the Battle of Pasta Fagiolis, I don't think I will ever find a beans-n-rice recipe to knock this baby of her throne.  The combination of ingredients is nearly perfect: the savory and toothsome Tofurky Kielbasa, the smooth and creamy kidney beans with their gorgeous garnet hue, the crunch of lightly sauteed green peppers that most certainly taste "green."  I was reflecting on the amount of rice in the recipe, though, on my way to work - there is even more time to ruminate on pointless quandaries now that I don't have to pay attention to exits and traffic lights. 

After piling his second helping into his bowl, Mister went to the fridge and returned with a slice of bread.  Almost every time he does that, it means he perceives an absence in the carb department of the meal.  He was not completely off this time, either - the recipe calls for 1.5 cups of cooked rice, but that really spreads the rice thin, as though it's just kind of a decoration on the beans and tofurky.  In the future, I think I'll double the rice and see if that's sufficient for Mister's grain-appetite.

Tonight, I was home even earlier and therefore had even more time to play in my kitchen.  I had originally intended to make a quick-cooking meal tonight, but when I saw how much time I had, coupled with the surprising amount of energy I maintained after working a whole shift that started so early that I actually got on the train about the same time I usually get in the shower, I decided to make Spring Vegetable Curry, also from The Accidental Vegan.

DIY Curry spice mixture, clockwise starting at the top: cumin, cardamom, turmeric, coriander, and sea salt.  After I carefully mixed them all together into a fairly homogenous powder, I made a little well in the middle to hold the garlic and ginger.

Once the spices had a minute or two to cook and then garlic and ginger had softened slightly, I added my mountain of vegetables (the actual cooktime -apart from the rice- is only about 15 minutes; the rest is prep, lots and lots of prep): big, thick stalks of asparagus, a red bell pepper, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, and red chard.

By the way - did you know that 2 cups of red chard has 25 calories and 1 gram of protein?  Yeah, I didn't either until I read the nutritional label.  That's right - wrapped around the bottom of the bunch was a little piece of cardboard that contained the nutritional facts on a bunch of greens.  I don't know if that shows progress for our country or if I should mourn for abused paper.

Regardless, the curry was outstanding.  I'd never actually made this recipe before.  When I make curries, they are generally of the "warm you from the inside out" kind of curries, made up of generally hearty vegetables and beans (chickpeas).  This was definitely a lighter curry and I have 2/3 left of the 6oz can of coconut milk to prove it.  Now I'm trying to scheme how to get Mister to use it in his coffee.

SIN & my BIG FAT Greek Easter

Do they still have the Seven Deadly Sins?  If so, I fear I'm going straight to Hell - do not pass go and do not collect $200.  How else can it go when my entire celebration of Jesus's act of reconciliation involved gluttony?  Well, okay, maybe not the whole celebration, but the part that occurred outside of the church.

After church, we dined with my in-laws (17 of us total) at Estia on Broad and Locust.  It was an extravagant affair to say the least.  Honestly, I would be lying (another sin, surely) if I didn't admit that my favorite part of lunch was seeing all of our family again - it doesn't happen frequently enough.  I'm pretty sure (unfortunately) that the last time I saw my parents-in-law was Christmas - and if that's not a sin, I don't know what is.  Mister and I had a little gift for our nephews, as well, and there is something priceless about watching children take turns pulling off the wrapping paper so they can share every part of the gift - they're good at being brothers.  So my true delight was in the people; my beautiful SIL, a cousin who brought his new lady friend, my little angel baby.  Of course, another priceless moment was when my father-in-law parked himself across from me, attentive waiter behind him, and asked if I would like some "voov," while making a drinking motion with his hand.  In my momentary ignorance, I thought he had learned a new Greek word for "drink," possibly "wine," but once the waiter nodded, noted, and walked away with my FIL, I realized he had just enlisted my assistance in drinking a bottle of Veuve Clicquot!  It helped wash down the huge amount of food that covered every square inch of the table (and some of the round ones) - fried zucchini, various spreads (baba ghanoush, muhammara, hummus, tzatziki) with bread, pita, and crudites, as well as amazing marinated peasant salads of red and orange tomatoes, red and green peppers, and cucumbers.  I barely had space for my entree and resolved, next time my entree will merely be a salad.  There were also three decadent, huge Greek desserts and Greek coffee.  I love Greek stuff - I'm so lucky to be married into this family!

After 15 hugs and kisses, we excused ourselves to run (in heels) to the train station.  We hopped on the train just as it was about to leave us, and 45 minutes later found ourselves in my dad's car.  Once we arrived at the house, I could finally relieve my purse of the jar full of rice, spices, and cashews that I'd carried to church and lunch.  Mom and a cousin were industriously chopping tomatoes for bruschetta while the littlest cousin hunted for plastic candy-filled eggs in my parents' verdant backyard.  While Mom and I started cooking, my dad showed everyone photos and video of me as an infant and toddler, then took the whole merry party down to the basement to play with his bordering-on-obsession trainset.  It takes up the entire basement.  He cut holes in the walls to let the trains go through "tunnels."  I told Dad he has to take this stuff down before he gets decrepit because I don't want to deal with it.  We all figured, though, that the littlest cousin, presently 2 years old, should at least be a teenager before this becomes an issue, so we'll just hire him and some friends for pizza.

Once the Black Bottom Pineapple Tofu on Coconut Cashew Rice (from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy) was done cooking, Mom and I set up the table and called everyone away from the fun to eat dinner.  My plate was delightfully colorful!

Taking up the majority of the plate was the tofu dish, accompanied (counter-clockwise) by a delightful strawberry-walnut salad my mom made, as well as an apple-sweet potato roast.  What a lovely springtime meal, don't you think?

So tonight is the first night of the new menu.  What menu?  Glad you asked:

1. Chili and Polenta Casserole also from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy, and hopefully, it comes together as quickly as they say it does, because this is going to be a busy week, methinks.

2. Pasta Marinara with Kale and Beans - although this will be accompanied by a new recipe for you (yay!), don't get too excited - it's going to be a cheater recipe (with a rockstar name).

3. Spring Vegetable Curry from The Accidental Vegan - why not?  It's spring and Mister Loves Asparagus.

4. Cajun Red Beans and Rice, also from The Accidental Vegan, because it's my fav-fav-favorite rice-n-beans recipe. 

5. Yakisoba, also from The Accidental Vegan, which was dinner tonight.

It's a little bit bland, but there is a subtle aftertaste of ginger and not quite enough garlic.  Of course, I wanted to use my new toy - a ginger grater, so I grated the garlic and I don't think I got as much out of each clove as I do when I press it.  It did a fantastic job on the ginger, though, so well done, Essene!  Best $5 I ever spent (especially after flirting with the $20 Microplane Special People Grater/Zester at Williams-Sonoma when I picked up the gifts for the nephews).  That $15 will go toward the Buy-Natalie-a-4qt-Saute-Pan fund.  Attempting to "toss" a pound of noodles with the veggies and sauce tonight in my 3-qt pan was quite an adventure and pushed me over the Suck-It-Up-and-Spend-the-$$$ edge.  After the rent gets paid :)