flashbacks are fun!

Everyone have their Flashback Hats on?  Okay, hold on tight - here we go!

It was sometime in the autumn of a day in the mid-1990s.  I was in college, sitting in my dorm room.  It was later in the evening, I'd probably just finished some homework and had no other plans for the evening. I was hungry, but all food options on campus (aside from the healthful options in 1990s vending machines) were closed down for the night.

What's this?

My eyes fall on a plastic milk-crate beneath my nailed-to-the-wall desk.  It's packed to the gills with all kinds of "food."  When I shipped off to college, a group of dear friends had assembled this Care Package for me, full of strange and exotic foods I'd never eaten before.  Well, okay, I'd had PopTarts on the rare occasion my mother was willing to permit them as a breakfast treat, but never artificially purple frosted Wildberry PopTarts.  By the way - they're revolting.  If you've never had them, there's no reason to start now.

I pulled the crate out in to the glow of the flattering fluorescent overhead light and poked through the contents for something that would qualify as Substantial Food.  Finally, I pulled out a plastic packet which I pulled open to reveal a brick of dried "noodles" and a packet of seasoning that I think was supposed to taste like chicken.

That's right.  Ramen Noodles.

I had never had them before, but I broke the brick into smaller bits, sprinkled the seasoning over top and filled the bowl with hot water.  It was love at first slurp.

I can't even imagine what my body thought of the extraordinary sodium increase, but 10 (or so) pounds later, the love affair began to fade...

Don't fret!  There is still time for a happy ending!

So a few months ago, vegan ramen started being a new foodie trend and for the first time, I learned that ramen is not just a 10-for-$1 phenomenon that prevents college students from starving at midnight (while raising their blood pressure and increasing their waistlines).  NO!  It's also a normal, everyday Japanese dish, ordinarily made with a savory (albeit animal-based) broth, plenty of fresh veggies, and long slender noodles.

Imagine my delight upon paging through Celebrate Vegan for this week's menu to find that Dynise had included her own ramen recipe.  Tonight's dinner, then, was the ubiquitous Ramen Noodle Bowl from that very same book and it was far more delicious than those bricks of dry noodles soaked in reconstituted broth could ever be (no matter how long I'd been writing a term paper, preparing a speech, or studying for a test).

I don't know why the picture is green - all I can think of is the reflection from the placemats?  Anyway... per the recipe instructions, I simmered ginger and garlic in a vegetable broth, along with carrots, green cabbage, broccoli, and green onions, topping it off with cappellini noodles standing in for those old, crumbly bricks (and also, because of a sale, the box of cappellini cost less than a six-pack of prepacked ramen noodles).  It was delicious - Mister and I both slurped up two bowls with reckless abandon for our waistlines or blood pressure, and although I'm sure we could do without the concentrated sodium in the cubes of Rapunzel bouillon I used for the broth, I'm sure we could have (and have) done worse.

I was impressed with how much more flavorful and, for lack of a less pretentious word, complex the broth and noodles were.  I'm not going to pretend that the cabbage added some je ne sais quoi, but I will say that the drizzling of toasted dark sesame oil to finish the dish did so with such a flair, it's hard to believe someone would bother simplifying all that jazz to sell by the penny to poor [stupid] college kids.

By the way - if you're wondering where the Freshman Fifteen comes from, it's not the beer Freshmen are too young to drink legally - it's from the Ramen their parents willingly buy them to get them through all-night study sessions (which really do happen!).

mister loves pasta

In case I haven't made it clear in the past, Mister loves pasta a whole heck of a lot.  He loves pasta so much that sometimes he even lets me serve him noodles made of all kinds of weird stuff, like buckwheat soba and rice noodles.  As such, I'm rewarding him with his patience for my recent soup spree with a week that is almost 50% noodles of some sort.  In fact, tonight we kicked off the new menu with dinner #1: Pasta E Fagioli from Veganomicon.

I made it with fun and sturdy Rotelle, but aside from that and the incredibly strong flavor of garlic, nothing was any more outstanding about this dish than normal.  And when I say "normal" what I mean is "indescribably good," which is why I won't try.  Just get the book and make it yourself (but increase the garlic to 8-9 cloves, if you dare...)

Every once in a while I serve "weird" noodles, like whole wheat spaghetti, and Mister isn't quite as thrilled.  I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with the soba noodles later in the week.  Fortunately, he's joined me in my love of these weird little rice noodles, which makes recipe creation a little easier.

Five-Spice Seitan and Noodles
4 servings

Ingredients:
12 oz seitan (in broth)
8 oz rice noodles, prepared according to package directions
green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup julienned carrots (about 1 large carrot or 2 smaller ones)
4 cloves of garlic, pressed/minced
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1 tsp Five-Spice powder
3 Tbsp tamari/soy sauce
2 tsp miso (I used white, but you can use whatever you have), dissolved in 1/3 cup warm water
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil


Heat peanut oil in a saute pan or wok on medium heat.  Add garlic, pepper slices, and carrots.  Cook, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes, then add seitan and mix.  Cook for 5 more minutes, then sprinkle on the Five Spice powder and tamari.  Mix well and lower heat to medium low.

Drain noodles and add to the pot with the miso-water mixture and sesame oil.  Cook, stirring frequently, for about three more minutes, until almost all the liquid is absorbed.

slimy noodles

Ordinarily, when I make Better-Than-Takeout Tofu Stir-fry from Vegan on the Cheap, I serve it over rice.  "Ordinarily," I say, as though I make this all the time and not just twice before.  Anyway, it's a pretty saucy "stirfry" and I'm not talking about its demeanor.  As such, when I put it on the menu, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be fun to see how this works as a noodle dish?"

I'll admit, it's because I like to eat Asian-inspired food with chopsticks and in my opinion, noodles are far more fun and far easier to eat with chopsticks than rice dishes.

Anyway, as I was cooking the tofu and veggies, I boiled half a box of linguini and once it was finished, added it to the nice, thick, goopy sauce.

It came out great!  A little messy, I'll grant you, but very tasty and I am pretty sure I will make it like this again... possibly always.  The sauce made the noodles a bit slippery, which made my eating a bit slurpy and napkin-intensive.  Mister was eating with such gusto that I asked him if he had eaten anything today.  He explained that he had, but that he had to eat the noodles quickly because they were "slimy" and wanted to fall out of his chopstick grip.  He has such a way with words.

Today was a gorgeous fall day, part of which I spent on a coffee-date with an old friend and part of which I spent shopping for the following menu:

1. Penne with Spinach and Chickpeas in Garlic Sauce from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures.  I used to make this all the time so I hope my memories haven't built it up too much - I hate being disappointed!

2. Curried Bulghur with Chickpeas and Vegetables, also from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures.  I really find the name of that book rather amusing.  This is another dish I made so much that I took a long break from it and the last time I came back to it, I couldn't believe it was so tasty.  Then again, I suppose there was probably a reason I used to make it so much!

3. Spicy Ragout of Vegetables and Tofu, also from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures.

4. Rice Island Casserole from Vegan on the Cheap.  This recipe specifically names dark red kidney beans in the ingredients, but at least once I've substituted light-colored beans because SuperFresh is doing this weird thing where the dark kidney beans cost almost twice as much as the light ones.  Can anyone provide insight, like dark kidney beans are very rare and only grow from one bean plant located on top of a craggy mountain in Turkmenistan?  No?  What then?  The point, though, is that dark kidney beans were on sale this week (maybe they found a second bush somewhere) so I'll be true to the recipe.

5. Black Bean Soup with Kale and Rice from the Slow-Cooker chapter of Vegan on the Cheap.  I've made this once before, though, so I know the secret way to make it without a slow-cooker (hint: it involves your stovetop and a soup pot).

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!

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.

just not into the jerk

I've mentioned before how treacherous a place a recipe finds itself if it has to hang on to one of the last spots on the menu.  There are so many different reasons that could happen - normally it's a time concern, although other times I've lost interest.  Tonight, I dealt with kind of a combination.

See, we have a tie for "last place."  Tonight's choices for dinner were either Mama Pea's Chickpeas and Dumplings, accompanied by the spinach, lentil and tofeta salad from The Low GI Cookbook or Jerk Seitan from VwaV.  I have every faith in the universe that I will absolutely love the Chickpeas and Dumplings....yet, I've fallen out of love with the idea of cooking from my company-endorsed cookbook.  Too many bland/uninteresting recipes will do that to a person's drive.  Regardless, there were two things that kept me from making that meal tonight: first, it's hot as can be in my second-floor, non-corner-property apartment and by the time the A/C did anything effective, I'd have eaten my own fist (an hour and a half commute usually results in a pretty hungry Natalie by the time I get home).  Second, the tofeta needed to marinate for an hour, which was definitely not in the cards.  For the same reason, the Jerk Seitan, though delicious, fell out of my favor when I confirmed my suspicions - the seitan also had to marinate for an hour.

A person might think that after working their butt off all week, like I did, a dinner where most of the prep time involves sitting and screwing around while something marinates would be ideal.  That would be logical.  However, I am to the point of delirium and exhaustion where I fear what would happen during that idle time - I don't like pre-dinner naps, so I wanted to make something active.  Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, I'm pretty darn hungry by the time I get home from work, so sitting around would just make me focus on that hunger.  I wanted to keep my mind and hands busy enough that even though dinner ended up taking just as much time as it would have if I'd let the tofu or seitan marinate, I was active the whole time.  Was I sweaty by the time I plunked dinner down on the table?  Yes, but was I awake?  Yes, so I consider it a win.

This, I also consider a win.  Since I vetoed both of the remaining dinners, I now had two new options: go out to Cedars or Stella for a relatively inexpensive dinner I didn't have to prepare or clean up, or improvise.  Since Horizons called me this evening to confirm our 9pm reservations there tomorrow night (the last night! boo hoo!!), I decided it was far more fiscally responsible to make something up as I went along.

I opened up my mind and the refrigerator to take stock of what I had to work with.  Gathering up the green pepper meant for the Jerk Seitan, as well as the seitan itself, I also grabbed my big bag o' carrots, the tamari, and my tub of white miso.  Oh yes, and also the wine.  Happy Friday!

Five-Spice Seitan Noodle Bowl
serves 4
Ingredients:
8 oz rice noodles
12 oz seitan in broth, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 generous cup of julienne carrots
4 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil
3 Tbsp tamari/soy sauce
2 tsp miso, dissolved in 1/3 cup hot water (steal from noodle water before you drain the noodles but after it stops boiling)
1 tsp Chinese 5-Spice powder

Prepare the noodles according to package directions.  If possible, coordinate the pasta's cook time with the time you start sauteing the vegetables.  Julienne the carrots and slice the pepper thinly, lengthwise.

Heat the peanut oil on medium heat.  Add garlic, peppers, and carrots - stir well to coat evenly with oil. 

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3-5 minutes, until crisp-tender, then add the sliced seitan and stir well to combine.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until seitan begins to brown, then sprinkle on the 5-Spice powder and tamari.  Mix well and lower heat to medium low. 

The noodles should be ready by now.  Remove from heat and steal 1/3 cup of the hot water to dissolve your miso, then drain the noodles.  Whisk together the miso and hot water until completely dissolved, then pour into seitan mixture along with the sesame oil and drained noodles.  Cook, stirring constantly, about three minutes more, until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

It was very easy to eat - the savory notes of the tamari balanced by the sweetness of the white miso I used.  As is the intention, the 5-spice powder completed the flavor spectrum in an extraordinarily subtle way - you really had to be paying attention to know it was in there.  I was hesitant to add fresh ginger, but I think the dish will benefit from just a bit of it in the future.  Due to the generally savory nature of the dish, Mister asked if it was "beef" stroganoff.  I didn't have a response other than to just stare at him until he retracted it and I pointed out that we were using chopsticks to eat, which usually indicates an Asian-intentioned meal.

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 :)

miso bad at beans + chopsticks

I really need to stop doing that.  I mean, really, there are only so many times you can turn "miso" into a culturally insensitive pun before it's not funny anymore.  Or, maybe it was never funny and I'm too much like my father.  Regardless, I couldn't resist, so forgive me this one last time.

In case my wretched title didn't give it away, tonight's dinner was Miso Udon Stirfry with Greens and Beans from Appetite for Reduction.  I was a little hesitant by the time I started prepping because it seemed like a lot of work.  Somewhere in my pondering, though, it appears I started combining the ingredients lists for two separate recipes because after I had washed my plum tomatoes and pulled out the ginger, I realized they weren't a part of this recipe and back in their chilly home they went. 

Once I set about prepping the ingredients that actually are a part of the recipe, everything went pretty quickly.  Once again, I must attribute my new-found speed with my handsome new knives.  Whenever someone says "size doesn't matter," I've become convinced they don't know how valuable an extra couple of inches are.

I'm talking about my 6" utility knife.  Get your mind out of the gutter.

Anyway, I burnt the broccoli, just like Isa said to and laughed to myself about a memory it evoked: [put on your flashback glasses and watch the screen] Many, many years ago, between becoming a vegetarian and learning how to cook, I moved into my first apartment in the city all by myself.  It was a terrific apartment - about twice the size of the one I moved into with my husband (yes, logic took a vacation in that decision-making process), with a bigger kitchen and a designated area to be used for dining.  I relied pretty heavily on frozen broccoli and "stir-frying" it in an old aluminum skillet as part of one of the only dinners I could make: veggie lo mein.  One night, I was doing my best impression of "making dinner" for Mister and I and he had the nerve to interrupt the rapt attention I was paying to the broccoli to give me hugs and kisses.  In the moments that followed, I burnt the broccoli and did not recognize this could be spun into a culinary delicacy.

So, after I purposely burnt the broccoli tonight, without Mister's help, I sauteed the garlic and chard while the udon boiled, and then completely forgot to steal a 1/2 cup of the pasta water to mix with the miso until I was watching the steam rise as I was pouring it down the sink.  Oh well.  This is another one of those things that always happens: If I make a fast-paced meal, like a stirfry, and especially if that meal includes broccoli (for some reason), I will inevitably forget something important and end up slowing myself down as a result.

I had two moments which gave me pause.  The first was the addition of the black beans.  I thought to myself, "how is this going to work?" while glancing at the table I set with chopsticks.  The second moment was when I was whisking the newly heated 1/2 cup of water with the 1/3 cup of miso and noticing how thick the sauce was.  As I poured it over the udon, beans, and greens, I wondered if I was missing something - tamari, oil, something.  I couldn't believe the entire "sauce" was just miso dissolved in water...but it was.  And it was delicious.

And Mister and I both had a pile of beans at the bottom of our bowls, because beans and chopsticks do not match.

it's right around the corner

"It" could be any variety of things.

It is currently approaching Midnight, which means it's almost Friday.
When I wake up, it will be Friday, which means all I need to do is survive the day and get home to begin my weekend (aside from that pesky working-on-Saturday thing).

Two weeks from today will find Mister and I settled into our hotel room in sunny San Clemente, looking forward to a well-deserved vacation and fun with our distant, beloved family.  The day after we return home will be our anniversary, so our next romantic dinner at Horizons is right around the corner.

Something struck me a couple of days ago.  It's October (if I haven't made that clear by my obnoxious imaginary jumping around for joy) and I hadn't heard a thing about VeganMoFo!  I enjoyed it so thoroughly last year and have been looking forward to it this year, but a week into the month it occupied last year and not a peep from any of the blogs I followed as a result of last year.  Then, finally, Jess from Get Sconed wrote the post I've been waiting for:

VeganMoFo IV is right around the corner!  This year, it will be during the month of November, which will provide a literary cornucopia of awesome vegan Thanksgiving celebrations from which I can steal ideas for next year to read about and enjoy!  I signed up as soon as the form was available on the Official Home of VeganMoFo and I'm already thinking of things more entertaining/insightful than "here's what I had for dinner tonight" to convince a whole new set of strangers that they want to read my nonsense.

Is that a great segue or what?  Here's what I had for dinner tonight:

Udon Bowl from The 30 Minute Vegan - descriptive name, don't you think?  Regardless of the unremarkable name, this dish was delightful.  I had a realization while I was sitting at the table waiting for Mister to wash his hands as the steam and scent wafted up my nostrils: I absolutely love tamari and ginger as a base.  The olfactory satisfaction I gleaned from just sniffing at my dinner was astonishing.  Fortunately for my other senses, it tasted just like it smelled: a charming combination of sweet and salty.  The recipe doesn't make a whole lot, but it is listed under the lunches so that makes sense, I guess.

Anyway, back to VeganMoFo, last year I solicited topics from my readers, so if anyone would like to leave me a comment with a suggestion for something you'd like me to write about next month for VeganMoFo, I'd be happy to hear from you.  Round-ups? Restaurant, book, or product reviews? Why Angst won't stop his relentless pleading for a piece of my Sweetzels?

a tasty way to save money

One of the recurring themes of Vegan on the Cheap is that you can save a ton of money through DIY (Do It Yourself).  Now, this makes sense to me in the way that I understand I will make my money go further by cooking most nights and only dining out on a monthly basis (if that frequently!), and I know I save money by taking my leftovers to work for my lunch.  Everyone who has paid any attention to the money-saving tips and advice articles that have been quite abundant in recent years is aware of the way convenience foods like bagged salad suck the money from your bank account.  I think we've become so used to other convenience foods that it hasn't even occurred to us that they are convenience foods.  This includes things like: condiments, lunch "meat," baked, flavored tofu, Tofurky sausages.  Although Isa has several awesome sausage recipes in Vegan Brunch, it still seemed more like a special occasion "Hey, look what I did just for you" kind of thing, meant to impress more than to save money.

The entire first section of VotC teaches you how to make everything from a two-pound seitan loaf (which can be diced for stews, roasted in a slow-cooker as Pot Roast, or thinly sliced for sandwiches) to simple things like mayonnaise or stock/broth.  The rest of the recipes usually refer back to this section for one or more ingredients.  Last week, I was a bit resistant to the "extra work" that appeared to create, but tonight's experience just might have changed my mind.

Tonight's dinner was Peanut Noodle Salad, which involved some fresh veggies, noodles I already had on hand, tofu, and a DIY peanut sauce that was so good I could only believe I made it because....well....I made it.  Whole Foods carries a store brand peanut sauce that I love and have been relying on since the very first vegetarian meal I prepared in my first solo apartment in this beautiful city.  If someone blindfolded me and had me taste that prepared sauce and then Robin's sauce, prepared with the two hands busy typing this post, I would not be able to tell you which was which.  I consider that worth the price of the book alone, because I had all the ingredients necessary for the sauce on hand, and I usually do, where I had been paying over $4 a bottle for the prepared one.

In other news, I can honestly say I spent at least 30% less on my groceries this week.  Just some food for thought...

vegan soup for the sickly soul

It's been a nutty week!  I really wish I could turn that into a pun involving the cashews in my crisper, but I can't.  Not yet, anyway - maybe later, but that's another tale for another time.

I could have posted about Tuesday night's dinner, Pasta Della California, but it didn't look any different than it did before and I didn't think it was blog-worthy to exclaim my excitement about finally finding and using a ripe avocado.  Scratch that - I don't think there was a single ripe avocado in the whole avo-pyramind they had set up at Whole Foods. I did, however, discover a secret that everyone else probably already knows - if you let your avocado sit on a pile of citrus (think lemons and limes) for a couple of days, it ripens up really nicely.  Think about that the next time you have a useless pile of citrus lying around.

I can't remember what I ate on Wednesday, but I know that it involved my leftover Eggplant Bites from my date.  Oh, and the leftover Pasta della California.  So I guess I do remember, it just wasn't anything special - before you know it, I'll rename Wednesday to Leftover Wednesdays (formerly One-Serving Wednesdays, formerly No-Cook Wednesdays).  Needless to say, it wasn't nearly exciting enough to photograph or write about.  "Mmmm, tonight I had leftovers that I barely bothered reheating!"  That'll keep you reading for sure.

Anyway, somewhere in there, Wednesday night, if memory serves, poor Mister got sick.  I woke up Thursday morning to find a cute little note he had written me while I was sleeping and he was sitting up sick and sad.  I called his work to let them know he wouldn't be in and left him sleeping while I trekked off to my new office (I didn't get a new job, just a new building and I'm still adjusting - it makes for an even longer commute in my aged and dying car). 

He wasn't up for eating when I got home, so I just threw something fun together for me.  I should have taken a picture, but I didn't know if it would be very attractive in the half-light of my kitchen.  It was made up of dark food - I took the last serving of Chickpeas Romesco, added some frozen spinach and one Tofurky kielbasa, quartered and sliced, and cooked up some of my black beluga lentils - it was very fun and I succeeded in making enough to take leftovers to work today.

Poor Mister realized he was a little hungry around 11 pm last night and here is my absolute favorite part of yesterday:  at 11:30, I was standing at my stove, in my apron, stirring a pot of aromatic, nourishing, steaming soup for the love of my life.  Many a time I have found myself popping a tray of cookies (well, almost-cookies) into a hot oven at that time of night, or maybe checking the "done-ness" of a batch of banana blondies, but there was something heart-warmingly nurturing about the soup.  It gave me such joy to throw together a bunch of fun ingredients (carrots, green pepper, shallots, garlic, chives, edamame, spinach, and orzo, along with the broth and some thyme and tamari) and make something tasty for my husband and his unfortunately challenged immune system. 

I have two distinct feelings about this soup:
1. PRIDE that I finally have enough "fluency" in cooking that I can just throw a bunch of things in a pot and call it soup...and then have someone else verify (without prompting) that it was very tasty.

2. REGRET that I didn't pay more attention while I was doing it so I could write up my first soup recipe...oh well, October will get here eventually.

When I returned from another fun and fascinating day at work and what felt like miles of loops looking for parking, I was still somewhat disappointed when Mister didn't want dinner again.  I briefly considered making the Pomegranate Tofu anyway, but that's a ton of work for just one person and more than half of it ending up as leftovers.  I poked around my cabinets and fridge, as well as prodded my little brain to come up with something creative and nutritious (otherwise, I could just take advantage of the charmingly close proximity of a bunch of great take-out restaurants).

To accompany my Yellow Tail Shiraz-Cabernet, aka Purple, I made what I have dubbed Carrot Noodles with Soba and Spinach.  Clever name, don't you think?  No, actually, you're probably thinking, "I wonder if she knows Soba are noodles and Carrot is a vegetable."  I am aware, thank you.  However, if you happen to have a nifty julienne peeler (which I do) or a spiralizer (nope, not yet), you can make "noodles" out of things like vegetables - in this case, carrots.  Here is a fun [rough] recipe:

Carrot Noodles with Soba and Spinach
4 oz soba noodles
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 medium carrots, julienne or spiralized (what a great word)
6 oz baby spinach
2-3 Tbsp brown rice miso (or whatever miso you prefer - white miso would probably taste good here, too)
1 Tbsp tamari/soy sauce

Boil noodles in water.  Meanwhile, briefly saute the garlic in oil on medium heat, then add carrots and stir well to coat with oil.  Saute, stirring often, 3-5 minutes, until carrots are noticeably more bendy (I hope that makes sense!).  Add spinach and stir in to wilt.

Before draining soba, reserve 1 cup of the water.  Mix water with miso until completely dissolved, then stir in tamari.  Pour this mixture into the carrot noodles and spinach, then add the noodles and cook another 10 minutes, stirring frequently to allow the noodles to soak up some of the sauce.

Eat with chopsticks because it's a sin to eat noodles like this with a fork.  Enjoy!

menu fail and vegan paneer

First things first:  I've been trying to be a little more creative in my photo taking - I recently remembered my camera has a zoom feature (most do, I'm sure).  Furthermore, if you hold real still and let it focus, you can actually get some highly enticing shots.  Exhibit A:

This shot really redeemed the number of photos I dragged to the "trash" because gooky sauce doesn't take pretty pictures.

Last night's dinner was Hunan-Style Orange "Beef" and Asparagus Stirfry from VTCC.  I got to use some of my favorite things in the making: the zester I was so excited to find in my Christmas stocking (despite the weird looks my mother gave me) and those funny rice noodles.  I also used two of Mister's favorite things: asparagus and fake beef.  There were a few amazing things about this dish.  For one, I didn't realize how much flavor the freshly grated zest of a whole orange would impart to the dish, even when added at the very end!  Second, I'm not sure what the point of coating the stirfry strips in cornstarch was, but it had two very noticeable effects: it coated the bottom of my wok with a layer of blech (that's the scientific name) that I had to scrape off with my fingernails (all the while realizing that the nonstick nature of the wok has absolutely left the building), and it made the 2 cups of sauce into a very gooky, sticky, lacquer (which probably didn't help the situation at the bottom of my wok).  Although I won't put this in regular rotation, it was certainly good enough to make again, and just one bowl each was quite enough for Mister and me.

Tonight, we had Tofu Saag from The 30 Minute Vegan.  It was extremely flavorful, thanks to the recent reunion I've had with my beloved Frontier Curry Powder as well as some cumin and coriander.  I continue to adore the way all recipes in that book that use tofu have you roasting it first.  It smelled so good in the oven and there was a richness of flavor that it added to the dish that would put real Indian paneer to shame. 

I used frozen spinach (per the recipe instructions) but neglected to thaw it first like the recipe suggests.  As a result of my own stupidity, it became more than a 30-minute meal, but we had nowhere to be, so there wasn't any rush. 

It tasted as good as it looks.  I served it on top of Jasmine rice, which does not take 40 minutes to cook, as the bag claims.  Fortunately, I checked on it "halfway" through (yes, I know you aren't supposed to lift the lid, but I'm just too good at making rice stick to nonstick cookware to take that chance) and found that it only needed about 5 more minutes.  Also, in place of the onion and to give it a little color, I sauteed a diced orange bell pepper with the garlic and ginger.  It was very flavorful and I absolutely would not be able to eat it without the rice.  While the noodle dish (above) was heavy enough that we only had a serving each, this meal is rich enough that we could only stomach one bowl.  I will definitely make this again, though I will probably cut down on the spice blend just a little.

Now, I know I said I would strive to have a menu this week which excluded an Indian-style meal.  Maybe next week...

1. Orecchiette with Broccoli, Chickpeas, and Tomatoes from Vegan Italiano by Donna Klein (a good Italian name if ever I saw one).  I also purchased something special today to drink alongside:  Castello Banfi Centine Toscano, a Super-Tuscan.  I hope it's as awesome as it sounds!

2. Penne with Roasted Vegetables and Garlic Puree also from Vegan Italiano.  I fear the Fatkins Hysteria has infiltrated my mind in at least a small way, because I got this far into my menu and said "Okay, that's enough pasta for the week."  Someone save me.

3. Mediterranean Rice Salad with Roasted Red Peppers from One-Dish Vegetarian Meals by Robin Robertson.  Okay, you got me - rice is still one of those evil carbs, but I like to look at it as a whole grain :)  Besides, the Mediterranean diet makes a lot more sense in my little Greek(-Irish) household.

4. Indian-Spiced Vegetables over Basmati Rice also from One-Dish Vegetarian Meals.  I almost made it through, but Indian-style food is just too tasty to leave out!

5. Moroccan Chickpeas with Couscous from One-Dish Veg. Meals.  I have made this before, but it's probably been about a year, so I figured it was okay to dust this one off.  I love the flavors of Moroccan-inspired dishes, too, but I feel like most Moroccan dishes have been "anglicized" for our bland American tongues.  At the same time, I feel like there's probably a good reason for that and my Irish tongue is thanking me for that.

Just in time for Memorial Day, Summer has made an appearance today.  Here's how Angst is coping:

too muchi curry powder

No, I did not actually make a typo in my title - that "i" is on purpose.  I believe I've mentioned how much I love Frontier Brand Curry Powder - it smells great and has a savory flavor, packing just enough heat but not too much for my little Irish tongue.  Unfortunately, the last time I needed to buy curry powder, I was not the only one who had run out of it.  I ended up buying the Whole Pantry Muchi Curry Powder, thinking, "how different could it be?"  In a word? Very.

To be fair, it smells very similar to my regular curry powder and even looks somewhat similar.  Actually, because of it's milder yellowy-orange color, I thought it might actually be milder than the Frontier brand.  While I wasn't looking for that, I'll take it over make-my-lips-hurt hot.  Because I was actually in Whole Foods when I was confronted with this "decision," and because I am not [yet] addicted to an internet-wielding smartphone (primarily because I am unwilling to pay for the plan), I could not look up what "muchi" might mean so I went on looks alone.  As many hollywood-starlets-turned-trainwrecks (Britney, Lindsay, Amy, Robert Downey, Jr, I can go on) show, that isn't always a safe bet.

It turns out Muchi Curry is a very hot curry, sometimes referred to in Indian cooking as "the" hot curry because it contains in its mix not one, not two, but three ground peppers: black, red (cayenne), and white, in that order.  Silly me, I used the whole amount dictated by my recipe for Rice Noodle with Curried Tofu and Vegetables.   Another error in my thinking was that even if it was hotter than it smelled (it was, and no, I didn't think to read the ingredients before I bought it and even if I had, I wouldn't have recognized how hot they would make the mix), surely the coconut milk would mellow it out...you know, as opposed to spreading it around the entire dish so there were no safe bites.

It was extraordinarily flavorful, and prior to losing all sensation in my mouth, the cayenne did its job and absolutely enhanced all other flavors around it, not the least of which was a wine my friend recommended to me: Francis Coppola Celestial Blue Malbec.  As she promised, it was very easy to drink, which was very helpful last night.  It is smooth and very dark - I would recommend it to any everyone.  Ultimately, no matter how wonderful dinner was, I could barely finish my portion - it was just too hot.

So tonight, when I made Curried Bulghur Casserole with Garbanzo Beans, I cut the curry portion in half, more or less.  It worked, in terms of me being able to eat all of my dinner and it was delicious, but I should have made up for the other half of the portion by adding other curry spices ad hoc (cumin, coriander, maybe a dash of ginger). 

There really weren't many ingredients involved and I did make some minor changes.  I'm not a big fan of onions (actually, I hate them), so in place of the green onions (which are certainly the least offensive), I added about 4 cloves of garlic and a generous sprinkling of freeze-dried chives.  While the chives were instantly reconstituting, I had a little daydream which involved my generous colleague sharing the bounty of his herb garden with me again as he prepares to move in a month and a half.  I knew the veggies wouldn't look as good after baking as they do right here:

So anyway, it is high time to get to bed - I have a baby birthday party tomorrow afternoon!  Let me show you my menu (though I've already shared one part above) before that, though:

1. Pita Quesadillas with Hummus and Crash Hot Potatoes - The first recipe comes from the newest Vegetarian Times magazine, which sang its siren song when I was standing in line at Whole Foods.  The potatoes are courtesy of Vegan Yum Yum (the blog - I haven't bought the book...yet).

2. Quick Moroccan Tagine also from the latest Veg. Times, because I have yet to meet a tagine I didn't like, and this one looks like a fun variation from the ones I normally make.  Someday - that great someday when I have a huge chef's kitchen - I would like to have an actual clay tagine and make these things authentically.

3. Classic Lentil Stew from The Complete Vegan Cookbook.  Why not?

4. Curried Bulghur Casserole with Garbanzo Beans - done. 

5. Spicy Tomato Peanut and Kale Pasta from La Dolce Vegan - I missed this cookbook, and though I originally set out to repeat a couple of favorites (like Punjabi Peppers & Tofu), I saw this and wanted to try it.  I am growing quite fond of kale.

6. Baked Chili with Cornbread Biscuit Topping also from La Dolce Vegan and also something I haven't tried before.  Yes, I did get the tortilla chips ahead of time.

fun seitan chow

Actually, dinner was Seitan Chow Fun, but that wouldn't have made nearly as attention-grabbing a title! The final dinner in my two week tribute to Vegan Express was just as quick and easy as the rest - this book is definitely a winner. There were two great things about this recipe, both of which were kind of firsts.

For one thing, I had never cooked with udon noodles before. Mind-blowing, I know, but I hadn't. That actually resulted in a staring contest with the shelf of different kinds of udon noodles at the store - I (again, erroneously) expected there would be one lonely box on a shelf of otherwise "standard" pasta products, but how wrong I was! There were at least three different kinds of udon noodles in one brand alone! I can't remember now what my other choices were, but I think I chose wisely because I didn't get any objections from Mister (who complains about whole-wheat pasta).

The second first (let that sink in) was the sauce. Whenever I've ordered chinese food, I've tried not to think too hard about the sauce, because it's so thick and goopy I've always assumed it had something really gross in it, or at least a whole lot of fat. I don't know what they do in restaurants, but I do know that tonight I made the sauce I've tasted there and it wasn't gross at all - just vegetable broth whisked with corn starch, soy sauce, and dark sesame oil. It was delicious and cooked up just as thick as anything I've gotten in a restaurant, so that was somewhat comforting.

Here are some pictures of dinner, and then I'll tell my lunch tale:
My lunch today was awesome, even if it was missing the well-rounded-nutrition part. I can't think of a clever name for it, other than Garlic Soy Sauce Tofu Sandwich, but it was just so good. A little back-story: maintenance has been in my home every day this week (and will be back tomorrow, hopefully to finish everything). The good part of this intrusion is that I have only gone to work two days this week, and once I shake off the guilt of not being there to help with whatever important thing I'm missing, it's actually quite enjoyable. So, after the usual 4 hours in my home, the maintenance guy left around 3 and I decided to make lunch (I had a late breakfast and munched on a few more cookies than I needed to). I wanted to make scrambled tofu, either from Vegan with a Vengeance or How It All Vegan for breakfast, but I keep forgetting I'm braindead when I wake up, which is why I have berries with yogurt when the weather is warm and oatmeal when it's cold. I really don't stray much, and if I do, it's because Mister got up first and went out for pastries or made egg sandwiches. So I thought, "I'm awake now, I'll make it for lunch!" I didn't, though, because for some reason, the 10-12 minutes I was supposed to cook it seemed like too much of a time investment.

You're probably wondering where this is going if you're still with me. Anyway, I grabbed the silken tofu leftover from the pizza and sliced off two pieces, one of which fell apart between my grabby fingers. I sprayed a small pan and threw the tofu on there - I love the sound of sizzling tofu. I sprinkled on a generous amount of soy sauce and was thrilled by the puff of steam and sizzling sound that happened right before it promptly evaporated and burnt to the pan. Oh well, live and learn. So I added a little water to the pan, too, flipped the tofu over and added more soy sauce. I also sprinkled both sides with garlic powder. Once I felt it was done cooking (all the liquid evaporated and I didn't feel like adding more), I piled it onto a slice of multigrain bread (so good) and waited for the steady stream of steam to slow down before closing the bread over it and eating it like a cheesesteak with no cheese. I learned two things from this experience:
1. When the liquid part of soy sauce evaporates and what's left sticks to the pan and burns, it smells illegal (use your imagination).
2. Whatever I made today tasted better than any cheese steak I ever had when I ate meat.