a curry to beat the cold

I'm sure this will come as a surprise, but it hasn't actually warmed up since I last wrote - today's high didn't breach 30 degrees.  I think tomorrow we might hit a balmy 38 as the high.  Who cares about the weather, though?  Someone had a birthday yesterday...

That's right - Me.  I'm still here, despite my pitiful recent blogging.  I don't normally like to designate "favorite" gifts because I love what all gifts represent - that a person loved me enough to think of me and give me a little something special.

Or, sometimes, a big something special.  Story Time!

A few nights ago, probably toward the beginning of the week, Mister and I were talking about something that made this next comment appropriate.  He said something and my response was, "Exactly, which is why I need a 1-qt All-Clad saucepan."  I'm not ashamed to say that my new 4-qt saute pan has started a dangerous and expensive "addiction" to this wonderful cookware.  Besides, I like that I can feel good about contributing to an American-owned and American-operated company, based in Pennsylvania, still doing everything in the USA, and though it hurts my wallet, I will gladly pay more to support that.

Anyway, I came home from an interesting day of teaching (nothing says, "today's gonna be great" like getting a call while you're on the train, asking if you're coming in today because the student no one told you was starting an hour before your earliest known student is in the store waiting for you) to go out for my birthday dinner at Vedge.  It was good, but I think there are still some quirks waiting to be worked out.  The noise level can get a little intense when it's a full house, and they dropped the ball on three kind of important things.

• our original reservation, made through the magic and convenience of OpenTable, was for 9pm.  I didn't really want to eat that late, but it was the earliest time available, so I took it, figuring I'd ask about changing when they called to confirm.  They called to confirm on Friday, and I asked the girl if we could swing an earlier time.  She said there was a table available at 8:30.  When we arrived a little after 8:30, the hostess gave me the impression she thought we were early...
• After confirming we'd like the 8:30 time, I asked if it would be possible to get a table that was not smushed in between two other 2 tops - it makes Mister and I very uncomfortable.  Him more than me, but I didn't want anything to impede our nice dinner for my birthday.  When we arrived and were told that our table was "already" ready, we were led to the only open table - a 2-top in between another 2-top and a 4-top occupied by a loud, obnoxious "party."
• The waitress suggested 3-4 plates per person, since the new concept at Vedge is small plates so you can sample a wider variety of dishes.  Following her advice, I ordered two old favorites from Horizons, which I knew would be at least a little different for the sake of novelty: Eggplant-Cauliflower Braciole and Golden Beets.  We also got Fingerling Fries and Black Olives as kind of an antipasti.  I never got my beets.  Fortunately, that left plenty of room for the amazing Sticky Toffee Pudding with salted caramel and a scoop of vanilla-bourbon ice cream.

I don't want to come out and say I'm disappointed in Vedge, but so far Mister and I have yet to be wowed like we consistently were at Horizons.  I'm pretty adventurous about my cuisine, but when Mister has to read and re-read the menu for the better part of 10 minutes, I think it'll be a hard sell to get him back there anytime soon.

On to the happy!  It was freezing last night, so we gave the bus around 1 minute to show up then hailed a cab and got home in relative warmth.  Upon our return, Mister presented me with my gift.

Have you guessed what it is yet?

If you guessed 1-qt All-Clad Saucepan you'd be right!  Apparently, he'd already gotten it by the time I made the comment about it on Monday and told me today that his thought then was "oh good, then I can get rid of the receipt!"  I can hardly wait to make my oatmeal in the morning...except that I'm out of soymilk, so it'll have to wait a day.

I'm also out of crushed tomatoes, which is why I didn't make a neat spin-off on a shepherd's pie made with winter vegetables and covered with a blanket of couscous, not mashed potatoes.  Instead, I had to use my brain and figure out what to do with what I did have: red cabbage, carrots, peas, and chickpeas.

So I made something up and it came out well enough to share:

3-C Curry
(makes about 6 servings)
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 small shallots, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
head of red cabbage, chopped
4 carrots
15 oz chickpeas
1 cup frozen peas
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp za'atar
1 Tbsp tamari/soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water, more if needed
brown rice for serving


Heat oil in pan over medium heat.  When oil is "shimmering," add shallots and garlic.  Stir to coat with oil, then lower heat and cook about 10 minutes, until shallots begin to brown and get a little crispy.  Add chopped cabbage and water, cover and let cook for about 10 minutes.  When the cabbage is at least half-wilted, stir in the curry powder, salt, and tamari, then add the carrots and peas.  Stir well to distribute spices throughout the curry.  Cover and cook for another 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  Stir in chickpeas, taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.  Serve over brown rice.

It was pretty good - it had this amazing color scheme going on: every bad color combination that was "hip" in the 1960s, I think.  We had the deep purple cabbage with bright orange carrots, vibrant green peas and beige chickpeas.  I added a little more salt at the end of cooking to enhance the curry flavors and it was tasty enough for Mister and I to each have two servings.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the curry flavors develop between now and lunch tomorrow.

perfect timing!

I never realize how many e-magazines and other lifestyle websites have my email address until this time of year.  This past week, I've been bombarded with emails from Real Simple, Martha Stewart, and probably some others, on how to have a healthy, happy, full-of-variety, outside-the-box-but-still-traditional, cholesterol-free, chocolatey Thanksgiving.

I do actually intend to pick through each and every email, especially since I get to host Thanksgiving this year!  This is mega-exciting for me.  One of the biggest reasons Mister and I moved from our old closet to a slightly larger one (think "dressing room," folks) is because I love to entertain but had no space to do it in our old apartment.  I am so excited about Thanksgiving, I've even managed to block out the anticipated trauma of Black Friday (the first time it's mattered in 17 years).  I will be wandering off shortly to sift through emails and websites and.....

My new cookbook which arrived just today!  Woo hoo!  This is probably one of the best Mondays ever: my make-up came out great and garnered several compliments from customers, my dad came to visit and we made plans to have Thanksgiving at my home this year, I sold more than anyone else in the store (closest person "behind" me was over $2000 behind), and I came home to Celebrate Vegan, the long-awaited second cookbook from Philly's own Urban Vegan, Dynise Balcavage.

I'm sure you can imagine the sole source of next week's menu.

I will be posting a review of this book, just in case I haven't already enticed you into purchasing your own copy.  Hey - Black Friday Christmas is coming!  Time to make those lists!

Ironically, I made my favorite recipe for Sloppy Joes last night, and I remember thinking, "Gee, I hope I get my new cookbook soon...I love these sloppy joes, but I could just drool thinking of those new recipes [that I haven't beaten to death and will do again tomorrow night]."

In fact, tonight's dinner was Farfalle Rotini with Cabbage and White Beans from Vegan on the Cheap and when I saw that I had the new Celebrate Vegan and a pile of shallots, I almost abandoned dinner to remake this sure-to-be-classic/heavily-rotated recipe.  I was too busy daydreaming to take pictures of tonight's dinner, but let me assure you, the most interesting part was Angst wishing he could overturn one of our dishes and steal all the "slimy," wilted cabbage.

It's a good thing I have so many more tasty things left on this week's menu, because I'm already looking forward to plotting next week's (and Thanksgiving! so off I go).  Sweet dreams are made of this!

far from farfalle

There's no need to build up to it with a clever story.  Tonight's dinner was Farfalle with White Beans and Cabbage from Vegan on the Cheap.

Now, those among you who consider yourselves observant may notice there is something wrong with the farfalle.  Namely, it looks an awful lot like rotini, not butterflies or bow-ties or whatever farfalle looks like.  That, friends, is because it is rotini - rotini primavera, to be exact, which is the clever name they give the naturally colored pasta (which is no more nutritional than plain pasta).  Apparently, we're having a Farfalle Famine here in Philadelphia, because try as I did, there was not a single box at Superfresh and I'm not paying $3-4 for special pasta made from Vietnamese rice harvested under a full moon by blessed virgins at Whole Foods.

I would kind of like to leave it there, but I'm just not that short-winded, no matter how epic a closing line that would have been.

Although the tri-colored rotini was very pretty, it really does not work with this dish.  The cabbage stays flat and gets limp through the cooking process, so it seems to actually need the flat farfalle noodles to work with it.  I was, however, quite pleased with the improved flavor of the cabbage/bean saute - I added a very healthy dozen shakes of Mediterranean Sea salt, as well as a few pinches of plain Jane salt and pepper.

Angst could not get enough slimy, savory cabbage... even if Mister was making fun of him for slurping it up off the floor.

Happy Sunday - it's time to braise!

Hopefully, some church-going readers found the punny humor in the title.  It's better than the original title I had floating about in my brain: Praise Satan!  Er...Braised Seitan.

Let's back the Blasphemy Train up a moment and talk about dinner - Braised Cabbage with Seitan from Appetite for Reduction.

Every once in a while, when I put my menu together on the second glass of wine of a Friday night, I come back to it after I've bought all of the ingredients for the delectable meals I've chosen and thought to myself, What was I thinking?

As such, the only meal on the menu I had even the remotest desire to make tonight was this braised dish. Part of the reason I wasn't terribly interested in my menu was because I'd kind of gotten going out for dinner on my brain, but after spending about $100 on groceries, I just couldn't justify it.  Besides, next week is Mister's birthday, so we may go out to celebrate then.

Anyway, I grabbed the seitan and cabbage from the fridge and started the basmati to steaming.  I sauteed the seitan until it was nice and browned and almost looking a bit crispy, then stirred in the garlic and thyme for a moment before finally layering on the cabbage and two cups of vegetable broth.  It smelled amazing - I love the way things smell when they include thyme.

You can even see how the 15 minutes of braising time plumped the dried leaves back up to beautiful dark green, well, leaves.  You can also see how it kind of looks like the seitan lost most of the beautiful brown color I sauteed onto it, can't you?

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little disappointed in this dish.  I don't know what went wrong, but it didn't taste nearly as flavorful as it smelled.  Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. my tastebuds are burnt out from San Francisco
2. Pacific Organic Vegetable Broth is not flavorful enough for braising
3. I should have used baked seitan instead of the kind that comes in a tub with liquid

The reasoning behind #1 is that it seems like nothing tastes like much of anything after those four days of extremely well-seasoned meals, but I think this is probably BS and if I look back over the last 10 days of posts I'll find evidence otherwise.

#3 makes a certain amount of sense in that I know the recipe I use to make seitan produces irrefutably flavorful seitan and broth usually enhances it, since it's a little dry from not being stored in broth.  Also, unless you prepared store-bought seitan in a very special way, it usually just takes on the flavors around it.  In this case, that is going to lead inevitably to....

The unavoidable culpability of #2.  I'm sorry, Pacific Foods - I love you, you know I do, but your broth kind of sucks and the only reason I bought it is because I used up my Trader Joe's broth on the Granada Paella last night and the only broth Essene carries is yours.  I'll be sticking to your nutmilks from here on out - I hope I didn't hurt your feelings.

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.

pretty pink butterflies

I hate wasting things, which usually results in some really fun culinary exploration.  For example, when I made a salad last week that required only one tiny cup of shredded red cabbage, I tried to get a small head.  Unfortunately, there was only one head of red cabbage in all of Whole Foods, so it didn't matter much whether it was big or little.  As I was doing the menu planning for this week, I was very aware of the almost untouched head of cabbage in my crisper and engaged myself in a search for a recipe to use it up.

That, my friends, is the only reason I strayed from making a menu completely from The Complete Vegan Cookbook, because believe me, there is certainly enough material in there to make a week of meals. 

So tonight, I made Farfalle with White Beans and Cabbage from Vegan on the Cheap, so I could use up the red cabbage before it went all gross.  Sure, the recipe called for green cabbage, but variety is the spice of life, right?  Speaking of spices, this dish would benefit from some more.  I gave the sauteing cabbage what I thought was a generous sprinkling of Mediterranean Sea Salt, but I think I could have doubled that amount before a person could actually taste the salt part of the blend.

I have another recipe somewhere for red cabbage and kidney beans that didn't quite make it to my "Yes, I'll make this again" list, and I found myself thinking of that recipe after I added the cannellini beans to the sauteing cabbage and immediately realized two things:

1. the reason you saute red cabbage with red kidney beans is because they're both red.
2. the reason you saute green cabbage with cannellini (white kidney) beans is so that they don't turn a lovely shade of puce.

I felt like I should have expected that, but what I didn't expect was that the red would bleed out of the cabbage and color the farfalle (Italian for "butterflies") a pale shade of fuschia, too.  Fortunately, I was prepared for the slightly sweeter taste of the red cabbage, though now in retrospect, I think my seasoning would have been sufficient for green cabbage, as it is a little more of a flavor sponge than its stronger red sibling.

Today was the coolest it's supposed to be all week, with temperatures pushing toward the 100-degree mark toward mid-week.  I don't want to sound like a weenie (especially since it's been in the 90s for a while where my sister lives, but she's into that whole African sun/desert thing), but it is a little surprising that we're getting so hot so early - it's not even officially summer yet!  Makes me wonder what we're in for this summer... Thank heavens I have at least a dozen cookbooks brimming with salads I haven't made yet!

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 :)

green beer goggles

I don't actually like beer.  I think that is both a blessing and a curse.  On the one hand, beer is normally pretty cheap and easy to come by (although it takes way more beer than can fit in my belly to have any effect on me).  On the other hand, it doesn't taste very good, and by avoiding it I am also avoiding pointless calorie use and involving myself directly in scenes like this:

Apparently, shortly before I arrived home from work, there was a huge Irish band across the street, complete with a bagpipe choir and a marching band drumline.  Mister said the drums were making the apartment shake, which did not make our wee kitty happy.  They started up again while I was cooking dinner.  Mister started moaning but honestly, they weren't that bad - I kind of got a kick out them, as long as they kept it brief.  They did.

I never had the traditional corned beef and cabbage before I stopped eating animals, mainly because my family is not Irish and we didn't eat cabbage.  I don't even know what you do to beef to corn it, but it sounds kind of gross.  Nevertheless, I did feel the need to do something Irish and cabbagey for dinner tonight, so I made my own version of vegan corned beef and cabbage (with a little help from my friends).

That's some pretty purple cabbage just steam-simmering away with some garlic and caraway seeds right there.  While it was cooking, I reflected on a memory I might have made up, but I think I remember my mother telling me about the time my sister, as an adult, wanted to make some traditional German meal that involved cabbage and how it stunk up the whole house.  As I inhaled the sweet scent of my cabbage, I wondered just what a person has to do to cabbage to make it smell as bad as other people think it does.  I think the answer is: boil it.  I think as long as you refrain from boiling it for hours, it is just fine.

In place of the corned beef, I sliced a package of Tofurky kielbasa on the bias and then did a quick saute in a bit of olive oil.  Once it was lightly browned, I turned off the heat and finished cooking the cabbage.  Finally, I artfully arranged the "beef" over a bed of Red Cabbage with Caraway Seeds from The Urban Vegan.  

It was a delightful combination of sweet and savory, a little crunchy and a little chewy.  We happily finished it all up while discussing how some famous people manage to have long, fruitful, and relevant careers (think Madonna, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Steven Tyler) while other celebs enjoyed a phenomenal career until the had some kind of major meltdown and never quite make it back to normal (for example, Mel Gibson, Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, Mariah Carey).

I love Mister's and my dinner conversations.

"fortune" teller

I love when I can see just a little glimpse into the future...enough to allow me to make a good decision. 

I was about halfway through yesterday when my throat started getting a little sore, so I wrapped a scarf around to keep it warm (I don't know why warm is supposed to battle sore, but follow me) and puttered through the rest of my day.  By the time I got home, I was frozen and just wanted to make Vegetable Lentil Stew from Vegan on the Cheap for all its warming comfort.  I'd actually skipped over this the first few times I went through the book because I know Mister prefers food he can chew on for dinner, but this time around I said, "It's February, it's snowing, and I want a warm, homey stew."

It's not a terribly attractive picture, but since I snuffled my way through preparing the stew and was pretty sure I was getting sick but still in a state where I could turn it around with enough vitamin C, detox tea, and sleep, I just didn't have the energy or investment to take a picture in the nice, bright light of the stove.

Despite all appearances, this soup is a real winner.  I would have rambled on about it all last night but I went to bed so soon after dinner that I didn't even clean up the dishes (thank you, Mister).  I'm glad I didn't write about it last night, though, because after sitting in the fridge overnight and then being reheated by my loving hubby after I woke up from the four-hour nap I took when I came home early from work today (which is a whole other story for a whole 'nother time), it was nothing short of heavenly.  With a rich, smoky broth made up of crushed tomatoes, bouillon, and some secret herbs and spices and packed with good-for-me veggies, I could eat this stew all day long...and I may need to if I don't shake whatever has claimed me.

On that note, I think it's time to reconsider my 2-hour Awake Spree.

strategic meal planning

If tofu was self-aware, it would probably feel pretty jilted right now.  I started last night's post by revealing I was going to make Punjabi Peppers and Tofu, but I made Chickpea Cutlets with french fries instead.  Tonight, I was absolutely planning to make the peppers and tofu, but it occurred to me on the way home that there would be no leftovers.  That is, of course, a goal for this week, but I ate the last of the Pasta e Fagioli leftovers for lunch today, meaning tomorrow would be PB&AppleB...unless I made Farfalle with White Beans and Cabbage from Vegan on the Cheap.

As I'm sure you can see, I used rotini instead of farfalle, since I have yet to encounter a 12 oz box of farfalle.  It was tasty but a bit bland.  I don't think I seasoned it nearly enough, but at the same time, I pressed 6 cloves of garlic into the oil in which the cabbage sauteed and I think that should have made a little more effort to show up in the flavor profile.  Although the recipe said to season with salt and pepper, that sounded kind of boring when I have a perfectly good shaker of Mediterranean Sea Salt at my disposal.  Unfortunately, I just didn't put enough on to make a big difference in the taste.

As I expected it to, the head of cabbage and box of pasta made a voluminous amount of dinner, so I should be set for work-lunch tomorrow and Friday.  It blows my mind that we're moving this weekend.  At least half of our [remaining] possessions are in boxes, hopefully more by the time I go to sleep tonight, but it just hasn't hit me that on Monday, this won't be where I live anymore.  Although I am completely psyched to get out of this closet, getting rid of a lot of excess crap in the doing, and although I am really looking forward to setting up our new home just the way I want it, this is a little bittersweet.  I've lived here for 6 years.  Even though the apartment is tiny, cramped, and falling apart, I know it and it's little quirks.  I love the view I have from my front and kitchen windows - I can see the Penns Landing fireworks from my kitchen and there's nothing like a corner property to watch people or snow (or people in snow).  Plus, isn't it just weird to leave a place you've called home for so long?

Time is ticking on, so if I want to do anything productive, I should probably start now.  Tomorrow, only take-out will keep me from making Punjabi Peppers and Tofu [shhh! don't say that!].

Mister likes it simple

My poor husband.  Every weekend, I sit around dreaming up some crazy new menu with as much culinary variety as I can muster, making an earnest effort to cook every recipe in my cookbooks that does not contain an ingredient Mister or I won't/can't eat (except my occasional sneakiness).  I make a list of exotic sounding dinners, both because I think they sound fun and because I am pretty sure no one wants to read about the Chinese take-out we ordered the other night.  Then, after all the plotting, planning, listing, and shopping, it comes time to cook these delights.  I always have trouble picking the first recipe of the week, so I usually solicit Mister's assistance.  Here is a rough transcript of our pre-dinner conversation:

Me: what looks good?
Him: uummmmm......
Me: anything jump out at you?
Him: uhhhhh.... one of these, because I don't know what Caulipots are and I don't want to eat Bulgur Kale Stew.

So, I made what I was leaning toward even before this interaction: Farfalle with White Beans and Cabbage, from Vegan on the Cheap.

It was very tasty in a subtle, slightly sweet way.  Green cabbage is really growing on me (not literally) and I replaced the onion the recipe called for with about 5-6 cloves of garlic, pressed.  In place of the liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper, I shook a generous amount of Mediterranean Sea Salt over it and I think that probably added a little extra something.

But...Mister's "outburst" got me thinking.  It's a little bizarre to feel badly for a man who never has leftovers for dinner and only has about a dozen repeat dinners in a year due to his crazy wife's penchant for culinary exploration, but stick with me.  I've mentioned before that Mister would probably be happy if 50% of our dinners were Italian-influenced; I'm starting to think Mister would be happy if every once in a while, I shelved the cookbooks and just made dinner.  Normal people dinner, like spaghetti with marinara or burgers and fries, or stuff like that.  I actually can't think of any others because I've gotten so good at wanting to "gourmetize" everything we eat that I don't really know what other people eat for dinner.  Maybe it's because we really don't know any other veg-folks, so I have no archetype for a "typical," June Cleaver-esque vegan meal.

Mister eats a lot of weird stuff he probably wouldn't choose from a menu at a restaurant.  To thank him for bearing with me through my wing-stretching and recipe-testing, I'm going to make an effort to have at least one "normal" recipe on each menu.  If I can actually think of more than one (right now, all I've got in my brain is pasta with sauce), maybe I'll do a "theme week" and just make simple, Mister-approved meals. 

No.  Probably not, but it was a nice thought.

lucky number 4

Do you have a lucky number?  Yes, I know that's kind of BS, but bear with me.  Although I know most things are purely chance, it does seem like 4 has done me well over the years.  It could be that I prefer the number 4 because everyone in my immediate family has a 4 in their birthday.  Mom's 4, I'm 14, Dad and Sis are 24 (of different months)...that's kind of cool, if you think about it - what are the chances?  Also, these four birthdays occur over the course of four months.

So, that's my excuse for favoring four.  Does anyone know Isa's?

One of the fun things about constructing a menu completely from one cookbook, or even from multiple cookbooks by the same author, is that you start to pick out patterns.  Now that I am....well...more than four meals into Appetite for Reduction, It seems like Isa's magic number for garlic is 4 cloves.

That was kind of a tangent that has nothing at all to do with dinner, but it was on my mind, so I thought I'd share.  Besides, it's better than the story of how Blogger wouldn't let me post anything last night, so now you get a two-fer.

Last night, I made Braised Cabbage with Seitan and finally, Jerk Asparagus.  It was fantastic.  It may or may not look like much, but it tasted heavenly.  Once again, even though I work for the #1 home-delivery weight loss program in the country, I was astounded that "diet food" could taste this downright decadent.  Granted, I probably violated the portion a little bit, but how can you really go wrong with cabbage?  Again, I was very pleased with the flavor and texture of the homemade seitan - it has the savory-spicy flavor of a Tofurky sausage and is nice and chewy.

Something I noticed while browning the seitan before adding the cabbage: since I just re-wrapped the seitan in the tin foil and stuck it in the fridge, it was quite thirsty and willing to rapidly soak up the broth I added to prevent it from sticking to my non-stick saute pan.  Perhaps next time I will experiment with a simmered seitan and store leftovers in leftover broth.  That will probably more closely mimic my dearly loved Ray's Seitan.

Because I used green cabbage and because I braised it in a relatively rich stock with a generous helping of thyme, the cabbage was surprisingly savory.  Normally, when I cook cabbage, it's red and retains some sweetness, regardless of the way I prepare it.  The flavors and textures of this dish complemented one another perfectly and it was a pretty easy dish to prepare, so I'm sure it will find its way into some kind of rotation.  The 15 minutes of braising on the stovetop gave me time to cook the Jerk Asparagus.

It was a different taste for me.  Ordinarily, I roast asparagus because ordinarily, I buy the thick stems.  These were not pencil-thin, but they only look so substantial in the picture because they are perched upon a 1940s bread and butter plate (did you know our dinner plates have increased in diameter by as many as 3 inches since the 1950s?).  The asparagus might have been a little cinnamon-heavy...I didn't add more than a dash, but it has such a pungent scent, I might do better in the future to either leave it out or counter it with a little more thyme.  It was good and Mister was thrilled, though.

Tonight, I made Ginger Bok Choy and Soba, which allowed me my treasured privilege of finding a rose at the bottom of one stalk:

I absolutely love how it does that, and the Evil Martha Stewart lurking within me will eventually collect a bunch of bok choy butts and spray-paint them gold for a centerpiece someday.

The finished product was not terribly attractive and upon first bite, not terribly exciting.  I added a little more tamari to mine and felt it was substantially improved.  Mister happily wolfed down two bowls before I was halfway through mine without additional seasoning, so it could be personal preference.  I don't enjoy ginger quite as much as Mister - I'm more of a tamari/umami kind of gal.

If I could end on a tangent, the gorgeous, slimy bowl of noodles you see above almost didn't make its way onto the table tonight.  I know you're going to get tired of reading this because I know my car-less butt is going to be complaining about it all winter, but here it goes:  It was SO COLD when I was walking home from the train tonight.  As I got closer to home, I tried to take my mind off the dreadfulness nipping at my nose by plotting dinner.  As I drew nearer to Superfresh (if I detour a block I'll pass it), it occurred to me that I did not want noodles for dinner, I wanted something hearty and innard-warming.  I thought of creating a casserole, but didn't want to invest the time.  Suddenly, I remembered one of my favorite, fast-cooking slow-food recipes (figure that one out) and nearly ran to SF for supplies for Chickpea Stew with Fried Polenta, but in the end, decided I had such good momentum going that I didn't want to screw it up by taking a detour...  I wonder, though, if I'll make it home without a pit stop tomorrow, because it's still on my brain!

nothing like some audience participation

My home stinks tasty.

By way of introduction, I grew up in a church headed by a charismatic Irish preacher.  He told a great many stories, in the pulpit and out of it, even publishing a memoir dedicated to his mother and memories of growing up with her.  One of the stories that has stayed with me through the years, because it's just so darn funny, went something like this:

When he was entering adolescence, Pastor initiated an interest in the ladies, like most "men" at that age.  The day he decided to start wearing cologne happened to coincide with a flamboyant friend of his mother coming to visit for an afternoon.  As he was walking out the door to spend time with a co-ed group of friends, his mother's friend embraced him and exclaimed, "Boy, you sure stink pretty!"

Mortified by her comment, he didn't really absorb it.  All he heard was "you stink."  What apparently took him years to learn was that when she said "you stink pretty," she was paying him a compliment on his newly pleasant scent.

So, my home stinks tasty.  It stinks like I imagine Polish kitchens to stink, but not quite the way an Eastern European kitchen might stink - I feel like that would require garlic to enter the bouquet of food scents currently inhabiting my 4x6' kitchen (and spreading through the rest of our tiny home).  Surprisingly, I was able to refrain from adding garlic, in the interest of remaining faithful to the recipe, created from Dynise's childhood memories of plentiful cabbage and Polish family.

In case you can't guess, tonight's dinner was Red Cabbage with Caraway Seeds from The Urban Vegan, served up with sauteed slices of Tofurky Kielbasa.  Dinner was almost Chickpeas Romesco, but Mister intervened by enthusiastically requesting the cabbage dish.

I would say that I only select our dinner autocratically about 50% of the time.  I like to get Mister's input (as well as feedback) and he is usually hesitant to provide either (which drives me a little crazy sometimes).  When I haven't decided ahead of time exactly what I'm making, I'll usually show Mister the weekly menu and ask him if anything jumps out at him.  At least 90% of the time, he just smiles or shrugs and says "Whatever you want, baby."  Sometimes I try to at least narrow him into a cuisine (there's a pretty considerable distance between Italian and Polish influenced flavors!) and other times I just figure out what I'm most in the mood to make or eat.

On the rare occasions that he excitedly points at something and says, "Ooh, ooh!  Make that!" I find it more or less impossible to refuse whatever he wants.  So, while I was gearing up to make Chickpeas Romesco, he peeked over my shoulder and saw Red Cabbage with Caraway Seeds and made his fervent request, so I pulled the head of cabbage out of the crisper.  I thought he was excited about the kielbasa, but he was actually more excited about the cabbage.  I was most excited about the caraway seeds.

It came out really well.  It yielded a huge amount of cabbage, even after it cooked down a little.  I sliced four kielbasas on the diagonal and it seemed to be the perfect amount, but my need for larger pots was definitely reinforced by tonight's cooking experience.  The cabbage almost did not fit into my 6-qt stock pot - fortunately, that's the next piece of cookware in line to be replaced!

The cabbage cooked up with a hint of sweetness that was enhanced dramatically by the savory nature of the sausage.  Neither overwhelmed the other, rather they each provided the other with the perfect flavor foil, calming and complementing each ingredient's best features.  Additionally, the cabbage maintained just enough crunch through 15 minutes of cooking to add a fun texture against the chewy tenderness of the kielbasa.

Well done, Mister.  But now my kitchen reeks.

Time for the new menu!  We still haven't gotten to Chickpeas Romesco with Garlic Saffron Rice from Veganomicon, so that will carry over into the new week, probably kicking off tomorrow.  The rest of the week will be divided between these treats:

1. Cajun Spice Baked Tofu on Cajun Red Beans and Rice, both from The Accidental Vegan.  The Beans and Rice recipe is currently holding the title of Favorite for that category, but I've never made the baked tofu and I'm really looking forward to seeing how they work together.

2. Punjabi Peppers and Tofu from La Dolce Vegan, served with garlic naan.  I'll admit, I went into this book specifically for this recipe.  In addition to the two bottles of McCormick Garam Masala I picked up in California, my mother gave me a bottle she used for the one time she made this recipe, so I can't wait to make this again with my favorite Garam Masala!  Fortunately, while I was in the book, I also came away with...

3. Curry Fennel Cauliflower Bake which sounds fabulous and combines a bunch of things Mister loves (cauliflower and curry) with a few of my favorite things (tofu and fennel seeds).  With the help of the pre-cut cauliflower florets I picked up at Whole Foods, it should come together quickly as well.

4. Vegetable Biryani, also from La Dolce Vegan.  I've been hesitant about this recipe in the past because I have a biryani recipe I love from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant, but this one is stovetop and requires a lot less time, effort, and ingredients.  Considering this week begins the busiest six weeks of my year, that's a good thing.

a sweater in august?

It is presently 66 degrees in Philadelphia.  That is a mere three degrees short of tomorrow's anticipated high.  Now, this happens every year - the minute the temperature falls below 70, everyone I freak out and put on a sweater.  Then I laugh at myself because the minute it hits the mid-60s in the spring, everyone is peeling off their clothes.  It's amazing how the context can change our perceptions of heat and cold.  After weeks and weeks of 90-degree days, the 60s are an unexpected and not entirely welcome change.  After all, it is August still.

Along those same lines, last night I started to make Cousin Natasha's Bean and Rice Salad from How It All Vegan.  As I gathered everything together, I realized that I just couldn't tolerate the idea of a cold dinner, so I converted it to "Cousin" Natalie's Bean and Rice Skillet.

It was fun, if not a little vinegary, though that probably works much better in the cooler context.  My avocado was pretty angry with me by the time I diced him, considering he was already ripe when I got him and in order to firm up the flesh, I put him in the fridge for a couple of days, and then the freezer for a few minutes before I cut him up.

I don't think I've composed that good of a run-on sentence since high school.

Anyway, it's a fun mixture of peppers, beans, avocado, and rice.  If I made it again as a skillet dinner, I would change the "vinaigrette" into a more savory simmer.

It was a heck of a Monday and the rain didn't help anyone's mood.  There's something in the artistry of slicing cabbage that will almost always center and soothe me, so I made Braised Sweet and Sour Cabbage with Kidney Beans from Vegan Italiano.  I also made it because it was the only thing left to make.

It's very pretty in a bizarre, beet-like way, don't you think?  Despite the vivid coloring of the dish, it was disappointingly unremarkable when it came to taste.  It had the crunch of cabbage, but despite being braised in a mixture of savory broth and a sugared vinegar, it tasted like I had braised all the flavor out of it.  I thought this was a weird entree, so I wanted to try it to see what would happen...but I won't be trying to tweak it.  Once was enough for me.

When I was picking up my fruit at Whole Foods, I saw this little carton of adorable yellow pear tomatoes and picked up a pack.  I've never had them before, so I wanted to bring them home and make them into something.  That something involved halving them lengthwise, then arranging them cut-side-up in a pie plate.  I then sprayed them with olive oil and sprinkled liberally with salt, pepper, and basil, before spraying them again.  I roasted them for about 7 minutes at 400, which might have been either too long or too hot.  They were good, but barely held together.

I don't know what will happen for tomorrow's dinner... stay tuned!

vegan exodus (and international cooking)

Portland, Oregon.  It is the largest city between Seattle and San Francisco.  It is jokingly said (with a grain of truth) that there are two seasons: rain and summer.  It is home to Mt. Hood, a volcano that paints a beautiful backdrop to a progressive urban area.  It has a temperate climate, prone to rain rather than snow, about 70 miles from the Pacific coast.  It is well-known as a city friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.


Portland is stealing our vegans. 

I think Jess of Get Sconed started it.  She was born in NYC and found her way out to Portland and is very involved in, well, it seems, everything food and vegan-oriented out there.  She has a particular affinity for soy latte reviews (helpful, since Portland is a big coffee town).  Isa, founder of the Post-Punk Kitchen and also a native New Yorker, moved out to Portland prior to writing Vegan Brunch.  I was hopping around to blogs I hadn't visited in a while earlier today and I found that one of the two Philadelphia vegans I am aware of...is no longer in Philadelphia.  If you guessed, "she moved to Portland," you win a prize - would you like a cookie or a biscuit?

Compared to the outlying suburbs and their inhabitants, Center City Philadelphia is a virtual oasis for vegans and vegetarians.  There is a huge number of veg-friendly chinese places in Chinatown.  The area in which I live has a sizeable Jewish population and was once known as the Jewish Quarter of Philadelphia, so there are a lot of vegan places to stay within kosher guidelines.  There are also a ton of ethnic restaurants all over the city that make it very easy to find food when dining out.  Compared to Portland, Philadelphia leaves quite a bit to be desired.  There is a very serious commitment to vegan culture out there and I appreciate that - I understand why it is so attractive to vegans to move out there.  It tempts me to do the same, yet I love my city so much.  Don't panic, Parents - we're not moving.

Ironically, we had Israeli Couscous with Vegetables and Lemon-Balsamic Vinaigrette for dinner last night.  If you don't know why that is ironic, in the context of a vegan exodus from the East to West Coast, please see the entire Book of Exodus in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.

I have never used Israeli couscous before and it was an interesting experience.  If possible, I would say this bigger size of couscous is actually lighter than the smaller grains.  The "lightness" lent the whole dish a creamy texture, despite that there was not a drop of anything creamy.  The vinaigrette was delightful and complex - although I thoroughly mixed the ingredients, there were some bites in which the vinegar was more pronounced and some bites that were very lemon-heavy (but not in a face puckering way).  I liked that the vegetables were roasted rather than sauteed, also.

The recipe itself could use a little work - for example, I'd rather have some idea of how long you have to boil couscous to make it al dente instead of trying not to scald my tongue attempting to figure out if it's ready yet.  There were a few times I wasn't clear on when to add something or how much, so it's an okay recipe for people who can improvise, but if I was at an earlier stage in my culinary 'education,' this would have been too much of a challenge, I think.

Today Mister and I had a Mediterranean mid-day snack: whole wheat pita with hummus and black olives.  This is just mine - Mister had his own plate, piled a little higher in every regard:

Then, completely switching gears, we had a Japanese-influenced dinner: Yakisoba from The Accidental Vegan, accompanied by a bowl of pretty red cherries.

I made it with about half the ginger, since that was Mister's only complaint last time.  I used the cute little head of green cabbage I bought from the organic farmers at the FarMar on Tuesday instead of the recipe-prescribed napa cabbage, but I really don't think it made that big of a difference.

I also julienned the carrots instead of grating them for two reasons:
1. I love my julienne peeler.
2. I hate grating things.

Keeping with the Japanese theme, I served a bowl of cherries in place of salad or olives (our normal meal accompaniments).  Mister loves cherries so I was very happy when Whole Foods announced their Cherry Fest with great fanfare.  I was not so happy when I discovered that they think $7.99/lb is a reasonable sale price to introduce cherry season.

Fortunately, when I was wandering along the Italian Market yesterday, a lovely young man was willing to part with his pretty red cherries for only $1.50/lb.

They taste just as good as they look - go get some!

peanut butter makes everything taste better

Well, probably not everything but it sure does make a lot of things taste better. It kind of saved dinner tonight! Here's a quick story...

When I was doing my normal morning routine, I checked weather.com to see whether I would be able to go food shopping upon returning from work this evening. According to weather.com, it was going to pour buckets of rain all day...so I took my umbrella with me, but needed my sunglasses instead. However, as I drove home, the sky over my beautiful city was ominous and growing more gray with each passing moment. I checked the weather again when I got home (5:30ish) and this time weather.com told me I had enough time to run to Whole Foods, speed-shop, and run home again before the downpours started around 7:15 PM. Moments later, just as I was preparing to run out the door, Mister arrived home from what was apparently a pretty craptastic day at his job and proceeded to bend my ear with his tales of woe. He noticed I was only half paying attention, while I glanced out the window for some sign of the rain holding off, and asked what was up. I told him I wanted to go to Whole Foods and he said, "I don't think that's going to happen," just as the skies opened up and tons of rain began to drench the streets, cars, and unfortunate outside-people.

I had just about despaired of dinner and was starting to think of what flavor Chinese food I would order when Mister said "I have faith in you." That more or less sealed my determination to find something to turn into our dinner (this would also keep me more dry that running down the street for Chinese take-out). I looked in the miserably empty freezer, then in an eclectic but nearly empty cabinet, and finally in the crisper drawer and refrigerator. Slowly, a bizarre plot hatched itself in my mind and I thought, "Really? I hope this doesn't suck..."

To my ineffable surprise (and delight), dinner was an absolute triumph! I still can't believe how well it came out... I'm starting to think I might actually know a thing or two about this cooking game! Out of nowhere, stringing together what was, in my mind, a completely bizarre combination of ingredients, I have produced one of my favorite dinners in a while. It was also really easy to make, and only took about 45-50 minutes start to finish. Without further ado, I give you...

(okay, it's not very pretty, but it tastes good)
Peanut Butter Peas & Cabbage on Curried Rice
serves about 6

Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 Tbsp curry powder*
1/2 tsp salt
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1 cup water
1/3 cup red lentils
salt & pepper, to taste
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2 Tbsp oil
2 cups shredded red cabbage
8 oz green peas
4 oz apple juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/4 cup peanut butter**

1. Combine 2 cups water, curry powder, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in rice, cover and reduce heat to lowest setting. Simmer 45 minutes.
2. In a smaller saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Stir in lentils, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 10-15 minutes, then uncover and simmer until rice is done cooking. The lentils will be mushy and resemble a chunky sauce.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saute pan or large pot. Saute cabbage, covered, 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine apple juice, vinegar, and soy sauce and pour into cabbage. Bring to boiling, then stir in peanut butter until smooth. Stir in peas, cover and simmer on low for 5-10 minutes, until heated through.
4. Remove from heat and stir in lentils. Serve over rice.
notes:
* I use Frontier brand curry powder - it's the best I've found. It smells great and has a really bold taste - it's made up of: Turmeric, paprika, fenugreek, coriander, black pepper, cumin, ginger, celery seed, cloves, caraway, and cayenne. If your local food-selling establishments do not offer Frontier products and you cannot persuade them to start, you can order online at http://www.frontiercoop.com/ .
** You can use creamy or chunky peanut butter - I can't see how it would make a difference. If you care, I used chunky peanut butter because that's what we have. No brand, just the store's generic "brand." I think the chunky is more fun because then there are little peanuts in the food, too.

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!