nooch noob

The past couple of days have inadvertently presented plenty of opportunities to try new things, or at the very least, [accidentally] develop alternative versions of tastes I associate elsewhere. For example, last night I made Pomegranate Saute on Cinnamon Bulghur. Unfortunately, in so doing, I found the bottom of my previously bottomless bottle of pomegranate molasses, and I found it after adding only half the amount I had written into the recipe. I also discovered that I had no more red wine vinegar and it didn't occur to me exactly how different white wine vinegar would taste, especially with the not-100% apple juice I used. While I wouldn't call the results disastrous, I don't want to repeat the version I made last night. I prefer the original.


I used Mott's for Tots, which is only 54% juice - the other 46% is water, in an attempt to cut calories. They come in perfectly portioned 6 oz servings, which was exactly how much I needed for the recipe, and since they're almost half water they have only 50 calories. I don't actually care about that, but I got to thinking about two things: how sick it is that we have calorie-reduced drinks for toddlers, but more importantly (since I work in the weight loss industry and have parents calling frequently about their obese offspring) how sick it is that we actually do need to worry about this.

So, the half-juice, the half-pomegranate molasses, and the not-red wine vinegar combined in a way that might actually be beneficial in a chili, but not in my saute. It tasted like beer. I don't like beer, but at least now I know how to emulate the flavor in case a recipe calls for it.

Thursday was kind of lost to me because I finally got my taxes done, but it was so windy and cold I didn't feel like going grocery shopping if I didn't have to. And I didn't have to, because I still had the ingredients for the Saute and could easily pick up a couple of things on my way home from work last night if I needed to. I finally made it to the store today and when I was studying the Wall of Bars at WF, in order to drop one off for Mister on my way home (he works around the corner from WF - lucky dog!), I found something new! I was hoping that if I stared hard enough I might be able to will the Luna cookies to transform into Nectar bars. No dice, but I found this instead:
The brand new Clif C bars, meant to replace my truly defunct Nectar treats. These babies pack about 130 calories each, making them a reasonable snack, and they also provide 1 serving of fruit per bar. That's a little disappointing, since Nectar bars provided 2, but I actually like eating fruit, so I guess it's not necessary. Clif C bars are available in four flavors: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry Pomegranate, and Raspberry. I picked Apple because it seemed the least likely to be a bad first experience. It was pretty good, but the nuts on top were not crunchy and I felt they should be. I will not be excited about these until they find a way to replace my loved-and-lost Lemon Cashew bar. Sniff.
I have one left, which I am hording in my drawer at work, waiting until the perfect moment to enjoy it for the last time. I should probably check the expiration date soon.

Tonight, with all the ingredients assembled for a week of dinners, I faced my usual conundrum of where to start. Today was actually a really nice day in Philadelphia and since I came home from teaching to find my husband had actually opened one of the windows (which he does on every first day of 50-degree weather after weeks of mid-30s highs), so I didn't think his hot Greek blood would tolerate a soup dinner. Fortunately, that eliminated two choices. Ultimately, even though there was almost nothing perishable in this dinner, I made Pasta Florentine from The 30 Minute Vegan.

This was my first time ever cooking with the magical ingredient known across vegetarian and vegan circles worldwide as "nooch." I have seen multiple recipes calling for nutritional yeast, but I have shied away for two main reasons. First, I couldn't find it for the longest time, until another Philadelphia food blogger told me she gets it at Whole Foods. I looked in the bulk aisle, where she said it would be, and to my great surprise - it was there! Second, it just sounded so bizarre, I couldn't believe I would actually want to eat it. Like many things, though, the power of persuasion lies mostly in presence: the more I read about it in cookbooks and blogs, the more I thought, "Surely, all these people couldn't be wrong."

My first encounter with the Clif C bar was slightly better than mediocre. My first encounter with nooch was sufficiently impressive to balance that out. I'm not sure I would say it tastes like cheese, but perhaps if I hadn't eaten cheese for years I could draw that correlation. It is certainly savory and has a good flavor. I only got a small bit from the bulk bin because I didn't know how things would go, but I think it's fair to say these funny little flakes will find a permanent home in my "pantry."

everyday I write the list

1. I am grateful for how quickly I can make Chickpea Stew with Fried Polenta when I get home from a long, exhausting day at work.

2. I am grateful that I had a Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Clif Bar that I could eat in the 10 minutes between training sessions.

3. I am grateful that my husband stayed awake long enough to take out the garbage tonight.

4. I am grateful for having the opportunity to overhear two people from Marketing at work tell the Director of my department that the training we did yesterday and today was the best training they had ever been to and the best organized.

Bonus: I am extremely grateful that I had the good fortune to overhear my Director's response to each of those two people: "It was really all Natalie - she did everything."

pepper steak and chocolate covered antioxidants

Let's go in reverse, shall we? I am just finishing my very first bag of these guys:
I love Nestle. Regardless of the 30-year-old formula debacle, Nestle still insists on trying to convince consumers that chocolate-covered fruit is good for you (and not just less bad for you than, say, Mike 'n' Ikes). Mister has a bad habit of buying candy from an indie convenience store up the street from our home...sometimes he takes me with him and sometimes I cave in...such was the case yesterday when we were out and about. I saw that Nestle wasn't content to only cover raisins with chocolate and I was kind of curious how chocolate-covered dried cranberries would taste, so I got a bag. Besides, it was just a 100 calorie bag. By the way - they're pretty good. A little sweeter than I'd like, and like most dried fruit, they stick in your teeth, but I would get them again if the mood struck. I was, however, amused as heck to turn over the bag to examine the ingredients list (not too many, actually) and see:

GOOD to KNOW
Dried cranberries are one of nature's best sources of fruit
ANTIOXIDANTS

That may be true, but there's this ridiculous thought poking me in the back of the head that somehow sweetening them with sugar and oil and then smothering them in milk chocolate probably counteracts any nutritional benefit they provide.

In order to be sure I covered my fruit servings, though, I did have that Cranberry, Apricot & Almond Nectar bar today. The apricot flavor really stood out in this bar, but it was just a little too sweet and kind of tough. I don't know if they're all like that when they "age" but I think it was actually the Apricot holding it together with leathery determination. Final Answer? Not worth hording.Finally, for dinner tonight I made Seitan Pepper Steak from The Accidental Vegan by Devra Gartenstein. I also made some brown rice because I felt like we needed a base and I didn't have confidence that the recipe would yield as much as it did. It turned out to provide roughly 5-6 servings and the rice was really unnecessary. I had a little, but I saved some to add a little more chunkiness to the corn soup I plan to reheat on Wednesday for dinner. It was very good, though the seitan was a little dry or tough or something. I think it would have been nicer to braise the seitan in something before adding it to the peppers. By the way - I don't know how long it takes you to thinly slice 4 large bell peppers, but make sure you are willing to make that time investment before you try this recipe. I think it actually took less time to cook the peppers than it did to slice them, but it gave me an opportunity to tell Mister about my day. It seems easiest to talk about work when I have a sharp knife in my hand...


I've been eating a lot of "crap" lately (not the dinner posted here, though) and I'm torn between two opposites: a really big (and seemingly growing) part of me really wants to detox and affect a kind of fast from all the sweets and various other garbage I've been eating while telling myself it's okay to indulge once in a while since I normally eat good, healthy food. Unfortunately, my "once in a whiles" are getting closer together... then there's the part of me that is painfully/blissfully aware that I haven't made my other recipe for cupcakes yet and I've gathered all the necessary ingredients to make them this week. So I'm thinking October will be a good month to renew my cleaner eating habits and try to detox myself...just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

soup's on!

Having had the last of the lentil soup for lunch today, I came to the conclusion that if I was playing one of those silly games where people ask you questions like, "if you could only eat one soup for the rest of your life, what would it be?" my answer would be Isa's Amazing Lentil Soup. When I made it originally and posted about it, I included an excerpt from Veganomicon in which Isa writes that you'll never need another lentil soup recipe. I would like to amend her statement: you will never need another soup recipe. Period. I have eaten that soup on three occasions over the past week and every time I put the spoon in my mouth I am astonished anew by how delicious it is.

So, can anyone tell me why I pushed my luck and made another soup tonight? Actually, the answer to that is, "so I could take the menu off the freezer door and post the new one," since that was the last recipe on last week's menu. That does not explain, however, why there is another soup on the new menu. I digress - the point is, tonight I made Double Pea Soup with Roasted Red Peppers from Veganomicon. It was very good, made with split peas and "regular" peas, and very colorful from the green peas, orange carrots, and red peppers.
Also, today I did indeed return to Whole Foods to clear out their supply of my precious Nectar bars. See, it's funny - I go through snack phases and I'm either all about the bars or I absolutely want nothing to do with them. I had been on a raw rage due to a very pre-packaged and carbolicious winter, so I wouldn't even entertain the notion of a snack other than an apple, pear, cup of strawberries, you get the picture: Fruit in all it's untouched glory. And I'm sure that in the middle of February when all fruit is nasty and most of it has been trucked/flown in from other parts of the WORLD (not even country), I will crave fresh fruit like no one's business. At the moment, however, I am all about the bars.

I babbled about all of that just now because I think it's funny how I wouldn't have cared one whit about Clif discontinuing the Nectar line a few months ago and now I regard it as an apocalyptic tragedy. Here is my shrine to Nectar:
I have never actually had the lone Cranberry, Apricot, Almond Nectar bar in the middle, but when I went to Whole Foods, they had the 4 Cacao bars I snatched up, the 3.5 boxes of Lemon Vanilla Cashew of which I took 2, about 6 boxes of Cherry Pomegranate, and then these bars. I believe there are probably 6 boxes of what sounds like a teeth-achingly sweet bar for good reason, so I thought I'd see if the Cran-Apri-Almond bars were worth hording.

Finally, as if Fate had aligned certain factors to soften the trauma of Nectar's slow disappearance, Chocolate Covered Katie is hosting an Amazing Grass Chocolate SuperFood bars Giveaway! I entered, of course, and if you're interested in possibly trying some of these bars for free, just follow the link and read about the contest! While you're over there, check out the rest of her blog - it's primarily her fault I even remembered my love for the convenience of getting two fruit servings in a neatly wrapped bar. She focuses primarily on breakfast and dessert as far as I can tell, so she has some absolutely incredible ideas for that all-important first meal of the day.

harvesting the nectar before it's gone

It was a gorgeous almost-autumn day today. The temperature was hovering in the low 70s, the sun was out but there was a nice breeze blowing... I wandered down to the Italian Market to try (again) to get either Beluga lentils or more French lentils and they were out of both. How disappointing, but at least I got to take a walk. I bought bunches of vegetables, including 9 different bell peppers - it's going to be a pepper-heavy menu this week, but it seems there's a bumper crop, so it works out.

I also got more bananas which may or may not get to stay whole for more than a day... last time, I was just a day late in eating them all up and the fruit flies won that round. The little buggers only live about two days, but for those two days, they are annoying as hell. Chocolate Covered Katie has a recipe for banana butter which I'm considering, since I still haven't settled into an oatmeal routine. Maybe I won't - I could just spend the fall and winter experimenting, but I have learned several times over that I really just don't like chocolate oatmeal. That probably will not stop me from trying again, though.

Anyway, tonight's dinner was Stewed Lentils with Soy Sausage and Fingerling Fries, both from Vegan Express by Nava Atlas. It was not a fast meal, but that is owed to two factors:
1. I don't believe in canned lentils. They just seem gross.
2. My stove got crippled somewhere between reheating that amazing lentil soup we had earlier this week for lunch and making dinner tonight and all that came out of the burner was the wretched smell they put in natural gas to prevent you from killing yourself accidentally. So, down a front burner and too short to reach the back burners for something requiring frequent attention, it took a little longer because I had to trade off.

The stewed lentils looked kind of gross, but it tasted good and that's really what matters. The fries were both attractive and tasty, though a little bland because I'm very conservative with the salt (you can always add more, but you can't take it away, right?).
I stand corrected, now that I've made a whole bunch of recipes from Vegan Express - Nava has two standard ingredients: sun-dried tomatoes and Tofurky sausage. It kind of works out, though, because Mister loves Tofurky everything and I have thus far been unable to give him a Tofurky for a holiday feast. Someday...when our home is big enough for guests...

I thought I had finished my food shopping today, but it turns out I did forget to pick one thing up at Whole Foods. I'm glad I have to go back because when I was looking at some of the blogs I follow today, I found that my absolute favorite fruit and nut bars are being discontinued! So, I'm planning to march my butt back to Whole Foods tomorrow and buy every Lemon Vanilla Cashew Nectar bar and Dark Chocolate Walnut Nectar bar they have. It's ironic - after all my bar testing, those remained my favorites for many reasons.

In any case, here is the menu for this coming week. I still have one more Isa soup I'm making tomorrow night, though, from last week's menu.

1. Potato Corn Chowder (from Accidental Vegan by Devra Gartenstein)
2. Seitan Pepper Steak (also Accidental Vegan - this was one of the recipes that made me buy the book)
3. Vegetable Etoufee (from One-Dish Vegetarian Meals by Robin Robertson - this is another old standard that I make almost every time I flip through this cookbook)
4. Punjabi Peppers and Tofu (from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer, the crazy Canadian who introduced me to the wondrous world of vegan cooking, as well as the magical spice medley called Garam Masala)
5. Penne Pasta with Fresh Veggies (from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau) That has to be the most unimaginative name I've ever seen for a recipe, but we'll forgive her because she comes up with clever-cute names for her full menus.

3 meals, 3 things

It was a dark and stormy night...the rain beat against the windowpanes and below the window, cars could be heard splashing through the puddles. Angst had tucked his feet beneath his body and greatly resembled a large, fuzzy, gray egg.

So I made one of the most colorful meals imaginable, just for spite.
Tonight I made Fiestadillas again, although I did actually add a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella to each one to help it adhere to the tortilla better. It kind of worked, though I probably could have used more cheese. Surprisingly, I just wasn't all that interested in piling on something that used to be a favorite food and now seems to be loaded with unhealthiness. Don't mind me - I'm just over-analyzing. I did actually take a picture this time!Also, in my continuing attempt to make "well-rounded" and balanced meals, I made a side dish - Spiced Potatoes & Green Beans from the September Cooking Light magazine. It was pretty easy, smelled great, tasted even better, and to my delight and astonishment, it looked very much like it did in the magazine!No cupcake stories today...and it turns out my assistance is needed at work tomorrow, so I will have to hold off on my good-neighbor-cupcake-baking until Sunday (as well as the accompanying story). I won't leave you sweet-less, though!

When I was at Whole Foods the other day, I picked up this sweet treat - Clif nectar cacao bar, flavor: dark chocolate walnut.

At 160 calories and delivering two servings of fruit cloaked in the most realistic dark chocolate taste and texture I've found yet, this chocolate-oriented fruit & nut bar is my winner (as far as vegan chocolate fun goes). It actually reminded me a little of the first bar of vegan chocolate I ever ate, on my honeymoon in Lake Tahoe. My (brand new) husband and I went to a paradise within my heaven: a wine and chocolate store. Honestly - the only thing better than a wine & gourmet chocolate store was that it was located in the most beautiful and peaceful place I have ever been. So anyway, we gawked at $500 bottles of special vintage wines, poked at some way-too-exotic-for-our-tastes chocolates and ended up leaving with about $50 worth of organic, fair-trade, and vegan chocolates.

Not a bad flavor association for a $1.19 bar made of dates, walnuts, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa, and vanilla (all organic) that can be easily purchased a mere 5 blocks from my home (rather than about 3,000 miles). So I think it goes without saying I was very happy with this bar and it will definitely find its way into my basket again!

I feel like it's Reverse Day. I started the blog with dinner, babbled about my midday snack, and now I'm going to tell you about breakfast (because I just remembered). Anyway, I think I got all my fruit servings in for the day with this morning's breakfast: Oatmeal, cooked in unsweetened soy milk, but here's the twist: I hulled 5 large strawberries and peeled my two remaining bananas, stuck them in my handy food processor, then stirred the resulting slop into my oatmeal. Oh my heavens was it good! It was just the right amount of sweet and perfectly thick. I was only going to do one banana until I realized that if I left the other one hanging there, fruit flies would take control of my home.

One last thing before I go - if you're feeling philosophical, check out my old buddy's new blog:
3 Things in DC.

wheat is out to get you

Shhh...don't make any noise or sudden movements - it will find you.

I made Mediterranean Risotto for dinner tonight, but I'm not posting any pictures because it didn't look any different than it did when I made it with barley. Here are the main changes:
1 cup of arborio rice (vs. 1 cup pearled barley), cooked in 2.5 cups broth added 1/2 cup at a time and allowed to absorb before adding more. 1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (packed dry, no oil, vs. 3/4 cup) added with the third addition of broth. I also completely left out the white pepper and didn't add the chopped peppers and olives until the last addition of broth.

The thing about wheat is this: Despite my alterations, this risotto is still way too intensely flavored, so we ate it with bread as scoops. Wheat bread. But we might not have known that wheat bread contains wheat if it weren't for the very helpful label on the back, letting us know that there is wheat in the wheat bread.

It's blurry, but the little white tag at the bottom says:
"Allergan Information: This product contains wheat."

What I want to know is this: are there really people that stupid? What did you think would be in wheat bread?

In other news... today I gave in to myself and ate my beloved Clif Nectar bar, flavor: lemon, vanilla & cashew. Again, the packaging itself makes me happy - it's a very mellow shade of yellow...one I can imagine painting a future kitchen.

This bar is absolutely sublime. I could just sniff it (and normally do, just before nibbling tenderly at it) and be happy because it smells SO good. All 5 ingredients (dates, cashews, goji berries, lemon juice concentrate, and vanilla) are certified organic. That may or may not mean something, but it makes me feel more like I'm ingesting pure sunshine.

Nutritionally, the price is right for a snack - 160 calories, only 6g fat, yet providing an equal 6g of dietary fiber and 4g protein (which isn't much, but you look for stuff like this after too many people ask how on earth you can possibly get enough protein without eating animal corpses *gasp!*). Also, this little 1.6 oz bar claims to provide 2 fruit servings in its delectable little self. The thing that really gets me about this bar is how creamy it is in texture, which I think is primarily owed to the velvety cashews. The ratio of vanilla to lemon is also perfect. I can't recommend this bar enough - I love, love, love it!

But here is my puzzle:
A Nectar bar is 1.6 oz.
A Larabar is also 1.6 oz.
A Nectar bar lays claim to 2 servings of fruit,
but A Larabar only claims 1 serving of fruit.
Both bars are made up of fruits and nuts.
All I can come up with so far is that Nectar bars are more concentrated on the fruit aspect of the bar, where Larabars depend heavily on nuts to texture their bars, therefore leaving less room for fruit. If you have a better answer, though, I'd love to know it - leave me a comment!