angry belly

This has been the sickest winter in years.  I don't think I've been ill this frequently since I was working part-time in a public school and the other part of the time I was going into relatively filthy homes to tell other people how the county thought they should raise their children.  Just when I finally stopped sniffling and sneezing, something horrible happened to my digestive system.  But first, pictures of what has transpired since Friday:

On Saturday, I went food shopping.  In an utterly adorable move, Mister followed me out the door when I was on my way to Whole Foods.  Like a little puppy, he walked beside me and explained that he wanted to spend time with me (since I'm never home since I'm always either at work or commuting to/from).  He misses me when I'm at work, which I love.

However, after dodging drunkards to get to Whole Foods and Superfresh and filling our baskets despite a large number of people milling around without the vaguest clue why they came to this magical place with so much food, I had no desire to actually cook any of the food.  I don't want to lay blame on one of my favorite restaurants, but that may have been my most recent undoing.

Pictured just above is the Vegetable Sayadia at Cedars on 2nd and South.  We haven't been to Cedars in ages, but now it is literally around the corner.  In fact, I think if I could leap moderately tall buildings in a single bound, I could walk out of the little tunnel that leads to the street, jump one block East and be directly in front of the restaurant.  I got this once before with my friend, which inspired this recipe, and when I proposed that we dine there on Saturday, I knew that was what I was going to get.

Mister always orders fries with peppers and onions.  I always steal a few and eat around the onions.  We also got baba ghanouj for an appetizer and Mister wanted a plate of olives and feta.  I ordered my Sayadia without mushrooms this time, and as a testament to their continually spectacular service, our server asked if I would like to substitute eggplant for the fungus.

I love Cedars and would never want to accuse them of wrong doing, but something has not been right with my belly since Saturday night.  There was some kind of little growly thunderstorm going on Saturday night and woke up Sunday feeling extremely nauseated.  I'll spare some gory details, but let's just say my digestive system felt the need to cleanse itself of something...

That being said, I have also been dizzy and have a strange taste in my mouth, so I'm wondering if I have some kind of inner ear infection.  Since I get motion-sick pretty easily, being dizzy could be enough to nauseate me.  I'll admit, I was more than a little nervous about taking the no-way-out train to work today (and took two plastic bags, just in case).  I'm kind of hoping for the infection because I don't want to think I got food poisoning from one of my happy places.

Anyway, since I was not feeling my best, Sunday was not as productive as I wanted it to be, although there was an exciting hour and half that gave Mister and I the opportunity to see just how wet we could get when there is a drenching downpour and the Philly Car Share car won't unlock.  I made dinner last night and did not stuff myself with it only because I thought it might make me puke.  Not the dinner - dinner was awesome.  Just that whole putting food in my mouth and swallowing it action.

I made Forty-Clove Chickpeas and Broccoli from Appetite for Reduction.  I can't get over how wonderful it smells when its roasting away in the oven (which I'm still trying to figure out how to work, but I could probably fill a whole post with that adventure).  I really could have gone to town on this if my belly was behaving, but I could barely finish my broccoli on mashed potatoes.

When I got up this morning, I had really high hopes for my stomach.  Within minutes of waking, I was fairly certain I was going to lose my breakfast...although I hadn't actually eaten any yet.  For reasons I may never know, I did cut up and apple and make tea, even though I thought I was going to lose it the moment I put a slice of apple in my mouth.  Miraculously, I ate breakfast and took a shower before needing a short nap.  I made it to work (with my two bags) and upon returning home, was just hungry enough to try my hand at an old favorite:

Pasta with Beans and Chard from Vegan Express never lets me down.  I always forget how good it is until I'm eating it.  I put it on the menu because I remember that it's super-easy to make and tastes good, but then I take my first bite and can't believe I don't make this more frequently.

It's tasty, it's attractive, the only thing I would improve is how soupy it is at the bottom.  I think I should start draining the tomatoes, but I'm hesitant to do that since they're "Italian" which means the juices have all the good stuff.  Regardless, there is just too much liquid, so maybe it will be a compromise...half-drained?

In any case, I like the way the savory garlic-infused olive oil brings out the sweetness of the dried cranberries I sub for raisins since Mister is personally offended by them.  Although the recipe says a person could use cannellini beans or "pink" beans, I can't imagine anything fitting the texture need the way the cannellini beans do. 

Sweet dreams!  Here's hoping I don't wake up wanting to barf again!

limited time offer

So, I knew it wouldn't last forever.  Perhaps, if I ever get tired of the blog being called "Angst Loves Spinach" I'll change the name to Taming of the Brown Rice.  Not quite as catchy, I'll grant you, but I feel like I spend an inordinate amount of time discussing my inability to cook brown rice.

I finally tasted victory the other day, but I knew it would be short-lived and tonight's dinner reinforced that belief strongly.

I made Rice Island Casserole from Vegan on the Cheap.  When I started cooking, I asked Mister if anything on the menu jumped out at him.  He refrained from giving any guidance other than "you might want to make something that takes a while, since you're starting early."  Pretty good guidance, actually, considering how darn long it took to cook.

Fortunately, while it was simmering away...for about two hours...it smelled amazing.  That just made the waiting more difficult!  There was such a great combination of herbs and spices that just simmered away smelling very much like the pan of mulling spices left on a back burner in my mother-in-law's kitchen on Christmas Eve.  I thought, as it simmered and simmered, that once it was finally finished, if it tasted anything like it smelled, it couldn't help but be a phenomenal success.

I was absolutely right.  It was so good and it brought out a serious hankering for Isa's Jerk Seitan on Coconut Rice...

Bonus!  I made cookies for a colleague (and because cookies are awesome):

The recipe is that of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from VCIYCJ, but I used cranberries instead of raisins and I plumped them in some hot water while we were [finally] eating dinner.  My kitchen smells so good right now.

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.

mishmash minus mint

I couldn't do it...I couldn't add the mint that would make the recipe Minty Moroccan Mishmash. I just can't deal with the flavor combination. In my world, mint is a confection - it belongs in dessert, or at least a beverage. Funny thing is that I wrote this recipe specifically to use up some mint hanging out in my refrigerator...it's still hanging out.

Minus the mint, though, the Moroccan Mishmash was a smashing success, unlike lunch. Against his better judgment, I convinced Mister to go with me to Cafe Fulya today for lunch. I had a delightful Americano, a spinach pie that didn't suck but was nothing to write home about, and a very tasty cookie filled with shredded apple and walnuts. I ended up eating my cookie at home, though, while Mister wolfed down his Wawa hoagie. He got coffee, a shepherd's salad, and a strange egg dish...which he hated like he has hated no food before. The salad was pretty good, but it was a little heavy on the scallions and I have issues with onions.

The decor was fabulous - right up my alley. Everything was black and red - the chairs were clear and patterned with diamonds and a perfect red, which looked amazing with the black marble tabletops resting on wrought iron bases. We were seated on a red leather couch by the open window...which unfortunately allowed a group of flies to attempt to participate in our meal. The music was ambient and the stereo system was well camoflaged as it was black and surrounded by (unlit) red candles. I will go there again...probably alone.

In any case, as I mentioned, dinner made up for it:

Moroccan Mishmash
serves 4-6

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp oil
3 large cloves garlic, pressed/minced
2 medium carrots, chopped
12 oz soy crumbles (I use Yves brand)
14.5 oz can of diced petite tomatoes
15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup corn (I used frozen)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup V8 juice
dash of black pepper (to taste)
splash of balsamic vinegar
1 rounded cup of bulghur
14 oz (or 2 cups) vegetable broth

Bring broth to boiling in a medium saucepan. Add bulghur, stir and cover, then simmer on the lowest heat for about 15 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and bulghur is tender.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a deep pot on medium-low heat. Add garlic and carrots, cover and saute 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add soy crumbles and break up with a wooden spoon, then stir into carrots. Add undrained tomatoes and simmer 3-5 minutes, then stir in corn, chickpeas, cranberries, and V8. Simmer, uncovered, 2-3 more minutes, then add black pepper and vinegar. Simmer, uncovered, on low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
Serve over bulghur.