everyone deserves a second chance

So, I really wasn't that thrilled with how last night's dinner came out, in case you couldn't tell.  By the time I got home from work today, amazed that Friday snuck up again so quickly, I was even less excited about tonight's dinner.

The plan was to make Chili and Polenta Casserole from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy, and although I've made it before, with some success, I just was not feeling it tonight.  In fact, when Mister asked me what I was making for dinner, my first impulse was to answer, "Reservations."

However, in this particular battle, FrugalMe won, so instead of doling out $12+ for a plate of pasta I know only cost $1 (tops) to make, I decided to get creative.  I issued myself the Basket Challenge.

my "basket"

I'm sure you can imagine we ended up with a mediterranean-themed dinner with those ingredients, but that was pretty much what I was going for anyway - that was what I had my tastebuds set on when I was searching urbanspoon for newly sprouted restaurants in Queen Village.  As I was gathering all of those items for their family photo, a plot started to hatch in my head.  So, hoping for a second chance to share with you a good recipe, as well as giving the canned tomatoes and beans, along with the polenta and nearly-freezer-burnt broccoli a second chance to be tasty, I made dinner.

Easy Vegetable Ragout on Mediterranean Polenta
4 servings

24 oz tube of prepared polenta
olive oil spray
Mediterranean sea salt blend (* I use McCormick brand)

2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 Tbsp dried organic basil
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth
14.5 oz can of Fire Roasted diced tomatoes
15 oz can kidney/cannellini beans
2 cups [frozen] broccoli florets

Open polenta over sink - a decent bit of water will squirt out when the plastic is pierced.  Unwrap and discard puckered ends.  Cut polenta into 12 equal rounds.  Spray a square skillet with olive oil and preheat on medium-high for at least one minute before adding polenta.  Cook polenta 12-15 minutes, flipping every 5 minutes and re-spraying.  After the first flip (@ 5 minutes), sprinkle Mediterranean salt blend over polenta, then spray with oil.  After the second flip (@10 minutes), sprinkle this side of the polenta with the salt blend, spray with a bit more oil.  You'll flip it once more for a few minutes to make sure the salt blend "rubs in," so to speak.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and saute a minute or two, taking care not to burn it.  Add undrained tomatoes, vinegar, tomato paste, and basil; stir to combine.  Increase heat and bring to a lively simmer, then reduce to medium low and allow to simmer gently 2-3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup vegetable broth and broccoli florets; stir to combine, then cover and allow to simmer about 5 minutes, stirring once.  Add another 1/4 cup of broth with the beans if the ragout seems too dry, stirring well to mix into the tomato mixture. 

Once all ragout ingredients are in the pot, cover and simmer a minute or two more while removing polenta from the skillet.  Place three polenta rounds on each plate, then top each plate with a quarter of the ragout.  Serve immediately, with mixed meze olives and a spicy red wine (for example, a pinotage or superTuscan) for a light, yet flavorful meal.

Enjoy!  We certainly did - the polenta was the most flavorful I've ever made it, owed completely to the salt enhancing the other spices/herbs in the blend and being complemented by the tomato sauce.  The balsamic vinegar was a total afterthought, but I'm so glad I included it - you can pick it out in the final product - it adds just the right amount of oomph.  The tomatoes were also delightful - the sweetness of the organic basil really enhanced the flavor of the roasted tomatoes and the crunch of broccoli, soaked with semi-sweet sauce was a good addition.  In the future, I'll use cannellini beans because they are far creamier than kidney beans and I think that will take this dish completely over the edge into hedonism territory.

As always, if you decide to give this a whirl, please let me know what you think!

comforts of homes

I should probably be packing right now, but instead I'm posting while inhaling the heavenly scent of baking seitan.  What an action-packed day!

It started at about 5 minutes before work, when my cellphone rang with the call I've been waiting on for nearly 2 weeks: we got the apartment we visited at the beginning of the month!  After a little negotiating, we set a date for Moving Day, so all the chaos surrounding me needs to find its way into boxes or the garbage or the thrift store between now and Valentines Day.  That's right, folks, the most romantic way Mister and I could think of to spend Valentines Day is by moving into our new home.  We'll probably also have a dinner date, but if we go to Horizons again (which has been the plan), we'll have to wait until Tuesday night anyway.

Anyway, when I got home from work, I grabbed Mister, ID, and our checkbook and headed over to our future landlord's house to sign the lease and put a deposit down to hold the apartment.  Afterward, we went to Superfresh, where I picked up polenta and found that the Broth Drought has already ended!  As a result, the seitan I needed to make for two of our dinners is currently baking, and we finally had the Chickpea Stew with Fried Polenta from Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook.

I don't know why I keep taking pictures of it - it always looks the same.  It also always tastes the same which is one of the many comforting things about this dinner.  It is so easy and comes together really quickly.  At this point, I pretty much have the recipe memorized and I just put the book out because I'm in the habit.  There is also always one serving left for me to take to work for lunch...which is good, since I was trying to explain to a colleague what polenta is and could not muster an adequate explanation, so now we can just do Show n' Tell.

Well, I must be moving along...I have dishes to wash (now that we have water!), seitan to flip, and a home to purge and pack!

chilly = chili

I could tell you how cold it is in Philadelphia, but you wouldn't believe me and you're probably tired of reading about it anyway. I'm way too tired to waste your time or mine, so I'll skip right to the solution:

Tonight, we dined on Chili and Polenta Casserole from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy.  I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've made this.  I did manage to escape injury this time around and though I don't have such an amazing memory that I can recall a dish last made in the first week of this year we're about to kiss goodbye, I am pretty sure it was very different from the first time I made it.  It sure looks different!

I haven't made it sans deviation yet.  This time around, I did not include any pepper - neither jalapeno nor red bell pepper colored this dish, to its detriment, I believe.  It was also very hot, which is certainly helpful on the coldest day of the season so far, but I wasn't expecting it and could have done with a nice glass of Riesling to chase it.  At the last minute before putting it in the oven, I was incredibly disappointed by the bland appearance of the polenta, and I knew nothing much would change during the brief bake, so I sprinkled some extra chili powder over them.  Finally, for reasons I may never know, Whole Foods was 100% out of Yves meatless ground and it's the only brand of soy crumbles my stomach tolerates.  I didn't have it in me to check Essene and it's been too cold last night and tonight to detour past Whole Foods on my way home.  Fortunately, I had two Tofurky Italian sausages left over from last night's rice and beans, so I used them instead.  They worked in a pinch, but I won't do it again [on purpose].

Mister was pretty darn happy with dinner - apparently the polenta was an acceptable substitute for the usually mandatory tortilla chips we didn't have.

Time for a bedtime snack and then I'm taking my exhausted self to bed!  We were kept awake past 2am last night thanks to our less-than-considerate downstairs neighbors, but that's another rant for a more energetic time.  Sweet dreams, sweethearts.

rain in december

It just seems like that shouldn't happen.  Not in Pennsylvania, anyway.  It's been relatively overcast for a couple of days and yesterday we had a few moments of snow-globe weather that we paused a meeting at work to observe.  Tonight, streetlamps and traffic signals are reflected on the slick city streets.  I'll admit, I'm grateful they are reflecting on wet roads and not ice-coated roads, but there is something more depressing about December rain than rain in any other month (except possibly February).

Additionally, it seriously interferes with my weekend ritual of food shopping.  That is the one advantage I'll grant to suburb-dwellers - grocery shopping in the rain isn't that big a deal because you shop inside and are only outside long enough to move your groceries from your cart to your car before returning home in an enclosed, heated box.  I, on the other hand, walk to the store and walk home and I have to say - it's not easy to carry groceries and an umbrella.  I got the first leg of my shopping in before the rain but I'm a little leery about what tomorrow brings (according to weather.com, it brings nothing but more rain, but there must be a break in the clouds sometime).

Even though I didn't have my usual hectic schedule today, I still taught my lessons, which is becoming more time and effort consuming with the recent addition of two bright young ladies, so I didn't get a chance to relax.  Tomorrow morning is definitely for lounging, especially if it's going to be raining and gloomy, so I'm already plotting a luxurious breakfast (we'll see if it actually happens).  The point of all this blithering nonsense is that I got home from teaching around 7ish with exactly no motivation to make a pastry crust, find space to roll it out, and then take all the other necessary steps to make Samosa Pie.

Fortunately, Dragani and I put together a handsome menu last night and one of the options could be constructed solely from food I buy at Superfresh, so tonight's dinner was the perfectly hearty, homey, and savory Chickpea Stew with Fried Polenta from Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook.

I can't say it enough: I love this meal.  It is so easy to make that I probably should have saved it for a night I'm feeling more braindead, but I guess you could say I'm still recovering from the week.  It combines nearly all of my favorite things: polenta, blended sauces, savory garlicky-tomato goodness.  How could I go wrong?

As you've probably observed, I branched out for this week's menu, consulting more cookbooks than the one I've been using for three weeks straight.  We still don't have any money, but I had a few recipes on my mind that I really wanted to make and this week I am more interested in quick-cooking meals than inexpensive ones.  As a result, I spent twice as much at Superfresh as I spent on all of my groceries a couple of weeks ago, but I think Mister was about to cry for lack of frozen pizza anyway.

1. Samosa Pie from Vegan on the Cheap will be tomorrow night's dinner.  Tomorrow will probably be a lazy, inside-chore day (yay for laundry and the Christmas tree!), so I'll have plenty of time to make the crust during the afternoon hours. There might even be time (and energy) for cookies!

2. Jerk Seitan on Coconut Rice from Vegan With a Vengeance.  I got a huge craving for this when I made the Island Rice Casserole last week, so now, I'm going to fulfill my own fantasy.

3. Warm Chickpea Ragout with Swiss Chard, Carrots, and Harissa from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy because nothing warms you up inside quite like a burning tongue and lips.  Look how diverse I was this week - three meals, three cookbooks!

4. Chili and Polenta Casserole also from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy.  Once again, a meeting of all things beloved by me and the Mister: chili, polenta, and [ta da!] something I can prepare tomorrow and stick in the fridge for a couple of days before we eat it, a convenience that will come in darn handy by mid-week, I'm sure.

5. Potato Corn Chowder from The Accidental Vegan.  I couldn't tell you exactly what caused me to crave this, but this was another recipe I specifically hunted through this book to find.  I just seem to recall loving it more every time I made it, so it's kind of like comfort food.

6. Cajun Red Beans and Rice also from The Accidental Vegan.  Speaking of comfort food...as long as I had the book out, I flipped through looking for a final fast and easy meal and found this - I may be a vegan cliche, but this is my favorite rice-n-beans recipe.  Speaking of vegan cliches, how's this one for you: as I was riding the train to the southwest suburbs today, the train stopped to pick up passengers in University City (imagine that).  As I sat against my window, I noticed a little weed garden full of long, green leaves and thought to myself, "I wonder what those taste like.  Someone should gather those for cooking."  Then I realized they were probably skunk cabbage.

PS: I still haven't slept, so it's still Saturday.   ;P

St. Patty's Potato Puddin'

I decided to celebrate St Patrick's day today, since yesterday was too crowded :)

Last night, I celebrated by doing about 45 minutes' worth of fruitless shoe shopping, since Spring is upon us and it's time to let my toes out of their pointy prison. After I battled with unskilled drivers and drunk pedestrians, I did actually get parking pretty easily, so I celebrated by having myself a proper Irish dinner: leftover Seitan Curry Bowl. I did let Smirnoff and Martini & Rossi keep me company, though, as I plotted out the new menu:

1. Sweet & Sour Tofu accompanied by Dark Leafy Greens with Sesame Miso Dressing from The Vegan Table. It's actually supposed to be tempeh, but we've had such a good run of Mister not having to use our health insurance, I figured I'd see how long we could ride that wave and I thought the tempeh might interfere with my plans.

2. Roasted Asparagus Soup with Thyme accompanied by Fruited Spinach Salad also from The Vegan Table. I'm really pushing it with soup on a menu for the most temperate and beautiful week yet in 2010, but it's supposed to get rainy and dismal in a few days, so I'm kind of counting on that. I had some reservations, because the soup is primarily a puree, dotted with roasted asparagus tips, but I think I can work something out. Perhaps Mister will be more forgiving since I'm using his favorite vegetable.

3. Crowd-Pleasing Pasta with Tomatoes and Artichokes also from The Vegan Table. I felt like I was neglecting this book, can you tell?

4. Pasta Jambalaya from Vegan Express, because we can't let that book collect dust!

5. Seitan & Polenta Skillet with Fresh Greens accompanied by these mashed potatoes.

I actually ended up making that tonight, because I thought it followed with the whole steak (seitan) and potatoes theme of Everyone-is-Irish-week. I've made the Seitan & Polenta Skillet before, though I am convinced it gets tastier every time. While I was simmering dinner, I was also following Mama Pea's recipe for strange mashed potatoes she ate on her recent Hawaiian vacation. I had only one variation - I used Yukon Gold potatoes, not sweet potatoes, because I would like to see my next wedding anniversary. I'm not sure if that's the difference, or if I'm just not adept at making mashed potatoes in a food processor, but I ended up making potato pudding. It was interesting...I think the subtle flavors of the nutritional yeast and magical secret ingredient hummus will intensify as it sits in the fridge a day or two, but the texture was bizarre. I will attempt this again because it sounds like it should work, but I will mash the potatoes by hand with my nifty masher and I will use twice as much hummus and nooch. I'll let you know how it turns out!

garlic as a weapon = self-OFfense?

I stabbed myself with a clove of garlic tonight. I almost want to look that up on Google and see if anyone else has ever managed to do that. When I say "stabbed" I mean that the point/tip of the outer shell-type-thing actually pierced my skin and stuck out the other side. I keep running my finger over the hole it cut out of my thumb because I can't believe I actually tore off a decent chunk of my own flesh with a clove of garlic. I mean, really - who does that??

Injuries aside, dinner was excellent, if I say so myself. Tonight I made Chili & Polenta Casserole, effectively combining one of my favorite things with one of Mister's favorite things. Angst even thought he would like to have his own bowl and I can't blame him - the scent was umami heaven. Even better was that it only had to bake for about 15 minutes. Still better than that is how pleased I am with myself for thinking to use my cast iron skillet so I could skip the step (and consequent additional things to wash later) of transferring the chili to a casserole dish to bake it.
I was pretty happy with the few deviations I took from the printed recipe. It had occurred to me when I was preparing the 1/4 cup of diced red pepper for last night's dinner that the remaining 2/3 of the pepper would make a charming addition to the chili, in place of the jalapeno. I have issues with jalapenos - if you're lucky, I'll share that embarrassing story someday. I also bought a 28 oz can of fire-roasted tomatoes instead of a 15 oz can...because I just really wasn't paying attention when I put my list together. Honestly, though, the 15 oz can would have been too little - it turned out "just right" the way I made it. I also omitted the shredded cheese in favor of a generous sprinkling of sea salt.

I like how this one kind of looks like an alien.
No, I didn't do it on purpose.

One final, completely unrelated story: When we went out to dinner with my husband's parents for Christmas Eve, his dad told us the story of taking our nephews (and their parents) to cut down a Christmas tree. They had never done this before because their father is horribly allergic to trees, apparently. For the same reason, the tree they cut down went home with my parents-in-law. The boys' other grandmother knew they were going to a tree farm, so when they returned home and she came to visit them, she asked where their Christmas tree was. They told her, "It's at Pappou's house!"

Fast forward to our Christmas Eve dinner at Lacroix: when we had finished our wonderful dining experience (I can't even call it a meal), we returned to the valet to get the car. While we were waiting, I snapped a picture of the gorgeous tree in the lobby. At dinner, we had discussed how Mister and I utterly failed to have a Christmas tree this year, due to lack of room, outlets, and creativity. So, taking my mother-in-law's suggestion, I want to show you my Christmas tree:

It's at the RittenHouse [Hotel].

all that's missing are the feathers

Like most people (I suppose), I find a blog-niche and stay with my 10 most familiar/comfortable blogs, in terms of my reading pleasure. When I find a new blog to read, it was normally linked to one of my favorites. In the case of Bittersweet, though, my Dad inadvertently led me there. That's why the next part of the story is so much funnier than it would have been if I had linked there from any of the blogs on the right side of the page here.

Having made many valiant attempts to make a scrumptious vegetarian main dish for holiday dinners, my mother has more or less waved the white flag and given that responsibility to me. I'm more than happy to take it on, and with each new holiday I try to branch out and contribute even more. Maybe I'm practicing for when she's too decrepit to make family dinners (just kidding, Mom!) or maybe I'm excited to be able to offer some of the more interesting side dishes that I never make because it's just Mister and me. Anyway, I am elated to report that I have found one of my contributions for Thanksgiving and I can't wait to make my father eat it:

Tofu Turkey - how cool is that???

The marinade looks painlessly simple and the whole process seems quite effortless, but I am thrilled. Mister finally gets his "tofurky" even if it's not the "roast" in the freezer section of Whole Foods. I get to play with tofu and cookie cutters. My parents get to experience the wonder of tofu after it's been marinated and baked. This is going to be great!

Yes, Dad - if you're reading this, I really am going to make you eat one.

Now, where was I before I started waxing sentimental the past two days? Ah yes, prepping, cooking, and eating some great dinners that escaped my literary attention because I was thinking too hard. I blame it on Annie Lennox, but we can get into that later.

Last night, I made Seitan & Polenta Skillet with Fresh Greens and it was definitely better than the first time. The difference was in the seitan. Normally, I use White Wave Seitan, but I couldn't find it at Whole Foods. I also couldn't find it under the products on White Wave's website, so I'm wondering if it has met an untimely demise... Anyway, in its conspicuous absence, I stared blankly at the refrigerator, then furrowed my brow and tried to figure out which of the remaining seitans would be an acceptable substitute. I believe I chose wisely - I got Ray's Seitan Wheat Meat which looked utterly terrifying swimming in its little tub of broth. Apparently, it's locally produced and is the brand used by Horizons to make all of their amazing seitan dishes! So, despite how gross it looked before I cooked it, the minute it hit the pan I knew I'd made the right choice. It was so much better than the White Wave that I'm kicking myself for passing it by so many times...of course, it's also about twice as expensive, but whatever - you only live once, you may as well enjoy dinner.
Tonight, we had Two-Broccoli Stir-Fry on Soba Noodles. I have to hand it to Mister - he was a good sport. He's not a huge fan of non-spaghetti noodles...he doesn't even like whole-wheat italian-style pasta - durum semolina all the way, baby. However, as I've mentioned, Broccoli is one of his favorite vegetables, so perhaps the doubled broccoli won out over the weird noodles and hunks of tofu.

Also, having failed to locate and purchase my new kitchen toys, I just squeezed the hell out of three oranges. By the way - that's how many oranges you have to squeeze the hell, er, juice, out of to get 1/2 cup. I skipped the zesting bit...the peels weren't in very good condition after all that mutilation anyway.

Broccoli BFFs hanging out on a bed of soba noodles, leaning on tofu pillows
My attempt at a more artistic still life.

Anyway, two great dinners: I love polenta, the seitan was amazing, my hunks of tofu happily absorbed the murdered oranges' juice for a fun and juicy addition to the broccoli, and I have decided that (regardless of Mister's feelings) I love soba noodles.

at last, my love has come along..

My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
At last, the skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clovers
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh, yeah when you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine
At last

Today marked the anniversary of my second blissful year of marriage to my best friend and love of my life. Ironically, when I woke up this morning, it was gray and pouring rain, just like it was two years ago. I was running ahead of schedule (how many brides can say that?), had collected everything I needed the night before so that I wouldn't have to rush in the morning. All I had to do was shove Angst into his box (kitty carrier) and stumble through the rain to my car with him and all the other stuff I was taking. Oh, and don't forget the umbrella! I finally get out to my car and the remote entry wasn't working. Prepared to hit the killswitch on my car alarm the minute I pop open the door manually, I turn the key in the lock. No alarm. When I turn the key in the ignition...nothing. So about an hour later, after much swearing and pouting, Angst and I and all my stuff have been reloaded into Mister's truck and we're on our way to the beauty salon. At noon on the dot, the rain stopped, the clouds cleared and it was a beautiful sunny day, the wet spots on the road the only indication it had rained at all. Everything went beautifully until about two hours before the ceremony, when my husband's taxi breaks down and they have to get another one and they're still 45 minutes away from the church. Miraculously (obviously), he got there on time and commenced to making me the happiest woman on earth. And he still does, every day.

In any case, there isn't a whole lot of romance you can affect on a Tuesday evening after you've both just worked a full day and it's 8:30 pm. So Mister greeted me at the door with kisses and smiles and while I was putting down my bag and taking off my jacket, he disappeared into the bedroom and came out with gorgeous long-stemmed red roses. They smell so good (and so edible, to Angst) and roses are my favorites (I know, it's cliche, whatever) and red is my favorite color. I'm such a lucky little wife. After more smiles and kisses, I got to work on dinner. We both have off from work this Friday, so we're going to have a date and celebrate for real then. Tonight, we had Chickpea Stew with Fried Polenta and this time I didn't overpulvarize the stew/sauce:
Also, we had some fun accompaniments, resulting a gorgeous (and delicious) still life:
When I was at Whole Foods on Sunday, since I was just picking up olives for the sake of eating them and not because I needed a specific kind of olive for a specific recipe, I decided to get a few of all the different kinds we've never had before. It started with these amazingly emerald green olives, then some very plump purple olives, and I know we've had them before, but these other green olives are just so good, and I'll grab some mezze mix Greek olives while I'm here... So we sampled them with dinner. It's a shame I can't remember any names...the emerald green ones were very oily and mild in flavor, which was in total contrast to the plump purple ones that were SO flavorful and bitter that I forgot for a moment that Balsamic vinegar is not made from olives.

Regarding the newest challenge of ethical decision making: I appreciate the feedback I got on my last post, specifically pointing me towards www.savethesheep.com, another PETA project. I really like it when people not only share with me their own opinions on matters like this but also provide resources that (I assume) helped them to make up their minds. I took quite a while to plod through that website and other links provided, and as always, found PETA's photojournalism to be shocking and in generally poor taste. I understand the point is to show the absolute brutal truth in the cruelty experienced in probably the vast majority of industry-related animal farming, but there is a very good reason people look at PETA fanatics the way they do: it seems like a cult. The tactics are very much the same - evoke a very strong reaction to something in order to win people to your point of view. And it works - after all, exposure to PETA propaganda and videos were what caused my first go-around with veganism in 2003.

The information on savethesheep.com and various other sites it linked to was somewhat helpful, at least in clearing up a few things regarding the treatment of wool-producing sheep and wool-harvesting procedures. I learned a few new and horrific vocabulary words, like mulesing (I'm not going into it on a full stomach - you can look it up if you're interested). However, there is a vital piece of the puzzle missing for me still. PETA has taken the time and extraordinary effort to put together a list of "cruelty-free" brands and vendors of various vegan things (leather alternatives, things of that nature) and at several points they praise the wonderful synthetic materials used in goods made at "value" stores like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, etc, as well as Victoria's Secret and other "high-end" retailers. The piece that's missing is people.

I have mentioned before that my primary reason for becoming a vegetarian was actually related to how the meat industry exploits and harms people, though I do find the mistreatment of the animals in question abhorrent as well. But what really helped me make my mind up was knowing how many more people we could share our food with if we just stopped feeding it all to the cows we breed and raise just to kill and use to overfeed our grossly overweight nation. Believe it or not (though, if you're reading this, you probably believe), there actually is enough food in the world to feed all the people of the world, but instead, we're feeding it to livestock that won't live much longer anyway. So when PETA pushes for the purchase of synthetic materials sold in the stores on their special "cruelty-free" list, it makes me wonder if PETA has forgotten that Humans, like Bees, are also animals and also should not be mistreated or exploited for other people's gain. If you took that list apart, you would probably find more of those shops purchase goods made in sweatshops than you'd be comfortable with. I don't care if I sound like a fundamentalist, God-made-man-to-rule-over-the-earth-and-everything-in-it ignoramus - I still think it's important to prevent cruelty to people who are treated about as well as these factory-farmed animals, and if that means wearing wool from a sheep rather than a cotton shirt stitched in the 11th hour of labor by a 12-year-old, well then I guess I'm just not a PETA spokesperson.

Nevertheless, I welcome more of your thoughts on how to be
1. warm
2. ethical/compassionate
3. stylish - I am NOT wearing polar-fleece or any of that other fuzzy crap and puffy coats should not exist outside of the juniors department of {insert store name here}.

So please, if you have insight for me, leave me a comment!

cardboard cask...classy

Due to several factors, I was actually off from work today. The first part of the day (after the coffee and strawberry/yogurt oatmeal part) was quite full of angst and Angst. It involved him hiding from me and me banging on things to try to get him to stop hiding - probably not the most effective strategy in hindsight. Anyway, after I gave up on trying to "unhide" the cat, I went on my food shopping adventures.

And so, faithful readers, in this post we will:
1. see this week's menu
2. see tonight's dinner
3. babble about wine (2 glasses in)
4. discuss neighborly behavior

Starting from the bottom up (no pun intended), I will now tell you the previously alluded to story of what it means to be a good neighbor. When I had my hair done last week, it took three hours to put two colors in and cut it. That's a lot of time to talk to the person slopping your head up with colored goo. In our conversation, Candi related a tale of not-so-neighborly conduct by some girls who work at a salon across the street, located in a gym, strangely enough. We shared our ridiculously out-of-fashion ideas of how new neighbors were greeted to the neighborhood "back in the day." I can remember being a child and accompanying my mother with a plate of brownies or chocolate chip cookies to the still-disheveled home of a new neighbor just moving in. Anyway, today I made 2 dozen ginger-coconut-carrot muffins and packed half of them up in a shiny gold shoebox, then marched them across the street to "welcome" Candi to the neighborhood. So, I'm feeling like a good neighbor right about now.

I bought wine today. I'm very amused that I can't say "I bought a bottle of wine" and the reason is that I bought a cask of wine. Or at least, that's what the manufacturers decided to call the cardboard box that houses the bag that holds my wine. Either way, it's 3 liters of delicious Pinot Noir - as summer ends, so does my affair with Riesling. I have had this wine before - it marks a brilliant crossroads between dry and fruity and the fruitiness is primarily a darker variety - cherry and blackberry - so it fits well with the drier qualities. Nevertheless, the whole reason I ever tried this wine was its name: Pinot Evil (see no evil, ha ha ha). It even has the three monkeys.
According to the box...er...cask of wine, those 3 liters represent 4 bottles of wine, so hopefully it will last me a while!

Tonight I made Polenta & Vegetable Bake for dinner.
It was wonderful - good enough for Mister to have thirds. It was perfectly hearty and very rich without being overly so. It was also extraordinarily easy to make and came together much more quickly than I thought it would. Mister doesn't like eggplant, so I just diced two zucchini. I also added two cloves of garlic because I just felt like it needed it. It was a little watery and was difficult to transport from the baking dish to our eating dishes, but it tasted amazing. I will definitely make this again. As a side note (hearkening back to that wretched Cavit Pinot Noir), my pretty glass of Pinot Evil was the perfect match to dinner's flavors.
Now for this week's menu (my refrigerator and cupboards are full of fun ingredients!):
1. Stewed Lentils with Soy Sausage; with Fingerling Fries (both from Vegan Express by Nava Atlas - I just can't get away from this book!)
2. Pasta Jambalaya (also from Vegan Express)
3. Pasta with Beans and Chard (also from Vegan Express)
4. Double Pea Soup with Roasted Red Peppers (from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero)
5. Roasted Yellow Pepper and Corn Bisque (also from Veganomicon)
6. French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme (also from Veganomicon)
7. Tuscan Vegetable Ragout (from Vegetarian Times Fast & Easy) This is another one of those old favorites you can lean on when you want something savory and simple. The whole book is great, but a little tofu-heavy. I like tofu now, but when I first got the book, I really wasn't a fan.

You'll notice I've cited sources for all recipes on this week's menu, which means they aren't mine. Now that the weather is cooling down (to my ineffable delight), I want to make soups and baked dishes. The same way that I learned to create skillet suppers and sautes over the summer, I will learn to create savory baked dishes and soul-warming soups: by recreating other people's for a few weeks. I figure I'll spend September, maybe the first part of October "researching," and then I'll get another creative streak like I did in early August and pump out a bunch of casserole and soup recipes. So, for now, I will make what has been made before and I will focus every last tastebud on the purpose of discerning what makes this dish or that dish taste so good. And then I'll let you know!

One last thing: I have added a poll on the right side of this page because I want your opinion. If you think the name I've quasi-settled on is stupid, please leave me a comment and either tell me why you think it's stupid and/or what better name you would suggest. Thank you!!!

back in black

See? The title's funny because I more or less always wear black.

Anyway...I can't believe I haven't blogged since Tuesday - it's been a very busy and crazy week...I've had time to make and photograph food, but no time to tell stories about it.

Well, that changes now. I'm off from work today, so I can catch you up. Grab a (large) cup of coffee or tea and maybe a small snack and get comfy - this might take a while. I'm not going to go in chronological order, necessarily, but there will be order. First, the bar crawl...

On Wednesday, I had my Larabar Banana Bread Bar, and it was amazing. I am in love. From my taste-testing so far, if someone told me I could eat only one (Lara)bar for the rest of my life, this would be the one.
First of all, I have to admit, the packaging made me happy. Yes, I wear black all the time, but red is my favorite color and yellow just makes me happy (it reminds me of my sister).
It has 3 ingredients: almonds, dates, and unsweetened bananas. That's awesome in my world, and it made for a very intense bar - it was very banana-y but the nuts gave it this fabulous texture - it wasn't chewy the way a Snickers bar would be chewy, but rather the way a good bagel would be.
My only objection to this otherwise perfect bar is that I wish it were lower in calories: 220 to be exact, of which 100 come from the 11g fat in the bar (from the almonds). I understand it's good fat; I'm more focused on the 220 calories - it seems a little high for a snack bar, but there isn't enough substance for it to be a "meal replacement" bar. We'll put it on the Sometimes Foods list.

After work on Wednesday, I had to pick up a few items before heading home and I saw three boxes of Soyjoy bars. I've seen advertisements for these odd little bars in some magazines and they are so off-the-wall, it makes me curious. That's probably the point. At any rate, it worked! My choices were Strawberry, Apple Walnut, and Berry - I thought Apple Walnut was probably the safest bet.

I cracked this baby open at work on Thursday and was immediately taken aback by two things: it was teeny-tiny and so thoroughly baked it almost looked burnt. I wondered if I had purchased a biscotti instead of a bar and pondered my coffee for a moment before just biting off a reasonable chunk. I think it gave me TMJ because my jaw was making some horrible noises while I tried to chew it. The pieces of dried fruit were more like licorice you let sit out too long, and there was way too much flour/batter going on. I nearly threw it in my trashcan after that first bite, but I have a much bigger issue with throwing food away than I do with the possibility of that food disconnecting my lower jaw from my skull, so I finished it, hoping for a similar ending as the Jocalat story. No go, but fortunately, it only took me three more jaw-cracking bites to finish this itty bitty bar.

But hold onto your hats - I do have some positive things to say about the bar (but I still do not EVER plan to put one in my mouth again). One bar has only 140 calories, which makes it a more appropriately portioned snack bar in my world. The truly astounding thing, though, is that it might have been the most effective bar yet at helping me get through to my lunch break. I still won't get it again, especially due to the positively wretched list of ingredients that I should have checked before I bought it but I didn't because I was just so stupidly curious about the hype: Whole Soybean Powder, Raisin, Butter (from milk), Sugar, Walnut, Eggs, Dried Apple, Maltodextrin (natural fiber source), Dried Pineapple, Salt, Parmesan Cheese (from skim milk), Natural Flavors.
Butter? Really? And of course, my favorite: Natural Flavors. This is obviously not a vegan bar, but what really blew my mind was that in the Apple Walnut bar, they had the need to include Parmesan Cheese??? Color me boggled.

Alright, enough bitching about bars. I got a few more when I went food shopping today, so my review is far from complete. We still have the Coconut Cream Larabar and the Nectar bar. Today I added:
Apple Pie Larabar
Chocolate Coffee Jocalat bar
Cinnamon Roll Larabar
I could drool just looking at those names. Let's move on!

On No-Cook Wednesday (and thank heavens - I was in no mood), I came home and reheated the single serving left from the Farro Pasta with Sunshine Sauce and after I had gracefully dumped it into a pretty bowl (my days of eating right from the pot are over), I remembered that I had never really gotten a good picture of it when I made it originally. So here you go:
Still not great, but better than the way it looked hanging out at the bottom of the pot in which it was born.

Finally, last night I made Chickpea Stew with Fried Polenta from my Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook. It was everything it promised to be. It was a near-existential experience, because what I imagined it would taste like was exactly what it DID taste like. I was craving something comforting - I still can't find the words to describe how much garbage this week dumped on me - and when I looked at the recipe, I knew this was what would do it. It was hearty and rich, and as Mister pointed out, much more than met the eye. Not that it isn't nice to look at, but there is a lot of good, savory flavor and a very robust texture hiding in the stew. The chunks of fried polenta were the perfect final touch, even if I did manage to accidentally throw two chunks on the floor instead of into the pot. I think I over-processed the saucy part of the stew as well, because when I looked more closely at the recipe, it seemed to indicate a chunkier stew.
A couple of notes about some background items in ^this^ happy still life: Aside from my unfortunate experience with the Soyjoy bar, I have been almost accidentally vegan the past few weeks. It all started with that exciting journey through Vegan Express (which I will reprise briefly in this week's menu) and kept going. I realized that almost all of the recipes I have created have been vegan and that when I use a recipe from my cookbooks, I have been reaching for my vegan cookbooks more. The exceptions are that I do normally have yogurt and berries for breakfast and a couple of times I have finished the "broken" cereal Mister won't eat and have (against my own better taste) used his milk out of sheer morning laziness. I say all of this to lead up to this: The little bowl of parmesan cheese you see was for Mister. It actually didn't even occur to me to use it, and I think that is because of the primarily vegan way I've been eating lately.
The second note is about the wine: it's Cavit Pinot Noir and I would like to take an opportunity to give it a little review. It's the most gorgeous shade of red I've seen in ages! That's where the good part stops. I hate this wine - I'm not going to beat around the bush. I bought the little 4-pack bottles because I don't like what happens to a bottle of red wine if it sits open more than a few hours and I'm not enough of a lush to finish a bottle alone (Mister doesn't drink). I tried the little bottles in 4 different contexts because I couldn't believe how much it sucked - I like Cavit Cabernet, so I couldn't grasp that the Pinot Noir could be this bad. The final bottle tried really hard to work with last night's dinner...but like all the others, I got 2 sips in before I just couldn't convince myself to drink more.
I am at least somewhat convinced, though, that this would be a good choice to accompany filet mignon (for those of you who eat it) because it has the same woody, buttery taste to it as Beringer Cabernet, which is excellent with filet mignon (or was 10 years ago). This wine cannot be consumed by itself...it just can't. It has to go with something, and I have come to the conclusion that vegetarians don't eat anything that it complements.

This is the longest post ever. I'm almost done, so thanks for sticking with me if you're still there. Is your coffee gone yet? I can wait for you to refill if you need to. Seriously, though, all that is left is the new menu and a brief explanation of why it, too, is longer than usual.

1. Five-Spice Vegetables and Tofu on Coffee Rice
2. Peppered Pasta
3. Curried Tofu with Mixed Baby Greens
4. Minty Moroccan Mishmash
5. Red Rice and Beans
6. Mediterranean Risotto
7. BBQ Pomegranate Tofu on Coconut Rice (from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa)
8. BBQ-Flavored White Beans with Sausage and Spinach (from Vegan Express by Nava Atlas)

#1 is a repeat from last week's menu and this menu is 8 items long because of a recent change to my work schedule, resulting in alternating long and shorter weeks. I had forgotten that last week was shorter, so I ran over by one recipe which should start this "week." This coming week is longer, so I had to plan my menu to run from Tonight until next Saturday, because next Sunday is the next opportunity I will have to do serious food shopping. I'm giving Red Rice and Beans another try - I did a little troubleshooting and feel pretty confident I can cut the cooking time in half and actually have fully cooked rice this time! Similarly, I have made a few changes to the Mediterranean Risotto which I would like to try out (one is using Arborio rice to make a real risotto, thereby not making Mister eat "squishy wheat"). To be completely honest, when I decided to make Isa's Pomegranate Tofu (one of my all-time favorite recipes), I immediately thought to reprise Nava's "beans and franks" so I could use up the leftover BBQ sauce. Plus it's tasty and ultra-fast to make.

Despite your inevitable protests, I will return later to post about tonight's dinner!

pictures, pictures, and pizza!

As promised, I am back and I bring pictures! First, though - Dinner. Tonight, with the a/c blasting, I cranked the oven up to 450 for some pizza baking. Notes on the recipe - I have never put cubes of silken tofu on a pizza before...it was interesting and probably not something I'll do again. Also, in place of thinly slicing some tomatoes to provide the base, I briefly sauteed slightly more than a pint of grape tomatoes. Ultimately, dinner was a fail. It tasted fantastic, but pizza's only pizza if it sticks together and you can eat with your hands...the minute we picked up our slices, everything fell off. So, much like my cabbage adventures for yesterday's lunch, we just pretended we were eating bruschetta and piled everything back on and ate more carefully.

I think I used up all my words earlier, so now I'll leave you with a pretty picture show chronicling the last couple of days of food:

Monday's lunch: chutney bulghur, chickpeas, and kalamatas in a red cabbage leaf

Monday's dinner just after being washed...the colors were just so vibrant I had to share.

Monday's dinner - Seitan & Polenta with Fresh Greens

Tonight's pizza, pre-cooking. That's grape tomatoes, quartered artichoke hearts, diced silken tofu and chopped oil-cured black olives. It really didn't look any different post-cooking.

Tonight's little Mediterranean platter: green grapes, Pecorino di Pienza cheese, rosemary olive oil flatbread and mixed mezze olives.

It's only 9:30...there's still time for dessert...

Feast Day

Today was just full of tasty experiences! I feel like today was all about eating, but maybe I'm just more attuned to what I'm eating now, like I have to remember so I can give my oral report in class :)

I started my day with a nice bowl of perfectly ripe blueberries with Stonyfield Farms organic yogurt (plain). Last night, when I made the 'dillas, I had some stuffing left over and I thought it would make a great morning omelet for me and Mister to share. Unfortunately, after a month of 10-hour days getting me to work early, I'm having trouble sleeping in, so I just had berries - maybe we'll have the omelet tomorrow with some more of those juicy green grapes and multi-grain toast. I'll let you know tomorrow!

I believe I mentioned in an earlier post my plans for lunch today, but I'm pleased to report that I followed through and it was just as wonderful as I thought it would be (if not a little messier than I had hoped). I peeled the top leaf off my head of red cabbage and laid it as a bowl on my plate. I then proceeded to fill it with leftover chutney bulghur and sprinkled it with leftover chickpeas and just a few olives. I was going to chop them, but I was too lazy - I don't get many days off. Anyway, I attempted to roll it up, a la a burrito, and it was not havin' it. So then I figured I'd just "coax" it to fold in half like I do with pizza sometimes. No...that just caused a terrific amount of the bulghur and chickpeas to smush out the other side. I reloaded my little cabbage leaf and very carefully ate it like bruschetta. Still messy, but the best solution. I tried again with a second leaf and somehow managed to throw the bulghur between the table and the wall. I decided the best thing to do was sit at my table with my cabbage on a plate and my bulghur, chickpeas, and olives in their containers. I tore the cabbage leaves into fold-in-half-and-it'll-be-bite-sized pieces and then loaded each one up like bruschetta and pushed it into my mouth before anything could escape. So, it was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but it really did taste good.

A few hours after lunch, Mister and I took a walk down to the Italian Market. I visited the Spice Trader and got vanilla and peppermint extracts, brown sugar, and Swedish fish (for Mister). Then we went to Anthony's coffee house and got gelato, coffee, a roasted vegetable panini (for Mister) and a hunk of banana bread (for me). I had mint chocolate chip gelato and it was heavenly - the coffee was a perfect complement, too! Mister's panini arrived with a cute little bowl of pasta salad, which he gave to me - he also gave me the slices of roasted eggplant with which someone had "corrupted" his panini. I wished I had brought the camera, but again, it just didn't occur to me. After we enjoyed our treat, we walked home and then I went to the market to grab a few extra things I needed for dinner.

Dinner was wonderful - I made the Seitan and Polenta with Fresh Greens. It was so tasty! It smelled so good and was SO easy. I have to say, this Vegan Express book is working its way up my favorites list - everything I have made from there has been fast and easy. I have a couple of other books that promise fast meals, but this one really delivers! In addition to our main course, as I've mentioned, I'm trying to get better at side dishes. I was poking around online and came across one of the easiest things in the world and it sounded so refreshing, I had to give it a try.

Tomato and Strawberry Gazpacho - thank you Martha Stewart! You can follow the link to give credit where credit is due, but let me tell you the super easy recipe:
1 pound of ripe tomatoes
1 pound of strawberries
1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
1 blender or food processor

Voila! That's it. It took me about 3 minutes to put that together, including coring the tomatoes and stemming the strawberries. It was a gorgeous shade of rose pink (think deep, musty rose, not candy pink rose) and had a fantastically thick texture. I didn't get a picture because my camera battery died, and for that same reason I won't be posting any pictures tonight. However, there is some gazpacho leftover that I will probably dump (so gracefully) into a pretty glass and photograph tomorrow when the battery is all better, and then I will upload that picture as well as all the pretty things I ate for dinner and lunch.

I'm off again tomorrow and allegedly my air-conditioning will be fixed sometime in the morning/early afternoon. The reason for my extract and brown sugar shopping is a recipe I'm dying to make but I'm not trying to bake in this heat with no air conditioning. Also, I believe we're having pizza for dinner tomorrow, so the air better work!

I'm just giddy from what a great day today was. Pictures soon!

The new thing I love

Polenta. It's so good! Tonight's dinner was Polenta with Black Beans and Spinach. It was so simple to prepare that I thought I was messing up and it comes together ultra-fast! This is a great, hearty, savory meal - it will probably be amazing in the fall, come to think of it.

I popped my polenta cherry by slicing a 24 oz tube into 12 equal rounds, then grilling it on a skillet until golden and crispy. It looked a little bland, so despite the recipe author thinking polenta is fine the way it is (and she may be right!), I sprinkled each side of the polenta with some garlic powder and salt. I think it really added something, but someday I'll probably cook polenta without doing that, just to see what it tastes like unadorned.

While the polenta was sizzling away, I rejuvenated some sun-dried tomatoes (packed dry, no oil) in a cup of warm water, which I then added to the garlic and black beans in my saute pan. After flipping the polenta halfway through cooking, I laid some baby spinach atop the beans and tomatoes and covered the pot to let it wilt.

I'm still impressed with how tasty dinner was. I placed 3 polenta rounds on each plate and topped with the bean mixture. The table looked a bit bare, so I added a nice bowl of mixed Greek olives and Parmesan cheese.

I'm having a lot of first-time-I-cooked-with-that moments this week. I'm thrilled that they aren't colossal failures!

On a side note, I have no fun stories to tell of Angst begging for spinach tonight, since he was hiding in the bathroom from the thunder. I have another spinach recipe coming up later in the week, though, so hopefully I'll have my little kitchen helper then!

if you want to make this super-easy recipe, run out to your nearest bookstore and grab Vegan Express by Nava Atlas - you won't be sorry!